CHAPTER XIII

JOSÉ’S STRANGE STORY

A short time later the three girls and Dr. Blackwell went down to the cave, reaching there just as the family were finishing their feast of bear meat and the other food the girls had given them.

“Let me go in and talk to them first and tell them who you are, Dad,” Florence murmured.

She walked on inside and quickly explained to José that her father, who was a doctor, had come down to see how Pepito was getting along.

José stepped forward and politely shook hands with Dr. Blackwell; then each member of his family timidly followed his example.

“I’m much interested in your son Pepito,” Dr. Blackwell told José in his fluent Spanish. “I’d like to see if there’s anything I can do to help him.”

José hesitated a moment, then began apologetically, “I no have money and——”

With a little gesture of his hand Dr. Blackwell dismissed this objection. “That’s all right. I don’t want money.”

On hearing this José turned and called Pepito to his side.

Knowing the nature of the Indian so well, Dr. Blackwell realized that he must win Pepito’s confidence first before he could make a complete examination.

While he was busy with Pepito, María called the three girls to the back of the cave. She gestured proudly to the baby lying in a rope hammock. “See, my Pepito fix this like you say.”

Jo Ann smiled approvingly. “That was clever of Pepito to use my idea of a charcoal bag for a hammock, wasn’t it, girls?”

“It was clever of him to fasten it to these stalactites, too,” added Peggy. “Aren’t they beautiful? They’re so white and sparkling back here where the smoke hasn’t reached them. Stalactites always remind me of big icicles hanging from the roof.”

Noticing Carlitos at her side just then, Jo Ann remarked to Florence, “Before you forget it, you’d better tell Carlitos and the other children about the party.”

“All right.” As Florence knew that the word party had no meaning for the children she began explaining about the cakes and _dulces_ that she and the girls would have up at the house for them. Immediately their faces began to beam.

“Oh, señorita, we’ll be most happy to come!” Carlitos explained, acting as spokesman for the younger children.

As soon as Dr. Blackwell had completed the examination of Pepito, he came over beside the girls. With the keenest interest he eyed Carlitos and talked to him for a few minutes; then he turned to Florence and said, “I’m going back to your mother now, but you girls may stay as long as you like.”

“We’ll be along in a little while,” Florence replied. “We’re not quite ready to leave.”

After he had given the parents a few directions about caring for Pepito, he bade them all “_Adios_” and left.

No sooner had he gone than Jo Ann suggested to Florence that she ask José about the part the big mean boss had played in Carlitos’ life. “Ask him what made that man so mean to Carlitos’ mother and if he has any idea what became of his father.”

“Well, I’ll do my best, but first I want to tell María about Daddy’s not being able to find that Mr. Eldridge.”

After Florence had talked to María a few minutes, she began questioning José. Jo Ann listened intently to their conversation, but José talked so rapidly that she could catch only a word now and then. Finally, discouraged, she remarked to Peggy, “Why is it that foreigners always talk so much faster than Americans?”

Peggy laughed. “It does sound that way, but I suppose they really don’t.”

In spite of her failure to understand much, Jo Ann persisted in listening and watching the expression on their faces. All at once she saw Florence’s eyes widen as if in surprise. “What is it, Florence?” she broke out impulsively. “What did he tell you then?”

Florence turned quickly. “Oh, he said this mean boss was plotting to get rid of Carlitos! That’s why he took his family away from that mine and has been hiding up here in the mountains.”

“But why did that man want to get rid of Carlitos?” Jo Ann asked quickly.

“I can’t figure that out yet. He said that this mean boss had given orders for all the boys who were large enough to help at the mine. José and María sent Pepito up to work but kept Carlitos away—they were afraid the man would mistreat him.”

“But why should this man want to mistreat Carlitos?” Jo Ann queried curiously.

“One reason, José said, was that this man had been so mean to Carlitos’ mother. They had also suspected that he’d had something to do with the disappearance of his father and so were afraid to let him know that they even had Carlitos. José said they moved ’way back up in the mountains to keep him from finding out about Carlitos. José himself kept on working at the mine, though. All went well till one day when Pepito was sick and couldn’t go to work and Carlitos slipped off to the mine and took his place, because he was afraid the boss would beat Pepito when he returned.”

“That man must’ve been a terrible creature,” put in Jo Ann indignantly. “But go on. What happened?”

“Well, while Carlitos was working at the mine, the boss saw him and became suspicious about him. He asked José all kinds of questions about Carlitos, but José wouldn’t answer. He just shrugged his shoulders, threw up his hands and kept saying, ‘No _sabe_.’ That made the boss furious, as well as more suspicious, and he ordered José to make Carlitos work all the time thereafter. That evening, when José was leaving the mine, he chanced to overhear one of the miners bragging to another about the easy money he was going to get from the boss for kidnaping the blue-eyed boy for him. José was immediately terrified, because he knew that the boy was Carlitos.”

“Horrible!” Jo Ann ejaculated.

Florence turned back to José, and after talking to him again she translated to Jo Ann and Peggy, “José said on hearing this that he rushed home and told María and the grandmother that they must all leave immediately. They packed up their few possessions on the burro and left that very night. They wandered over the mountains then till they came here.”

“Isn’t that terrible!” exclaimed Jo Ann. “That man’s a demon. I feel sure he had something to do with the disappearance of Carlitos’ father. Ask José, Florence, what Carlitos’ father did at the mine—if he was the owner and if this mean boss had been in his employ.”

“Well.” Once more Florence translated Jo Ann’s questions to José. All eagerness, the two girls waited for his reply.

This time Jo Ann was able to catch the answer. Her eyes shone with excitement as she broke out, “That’s why that mean boss wanted to get rid of Carlitos. Carlitos is by rights the owner of the mine!”

“You’re right—he is!” Florence exclaimed.

“Gee, Jo, you’ve run into a thrilling mystery this time, sure enough!” Peggy burst out in an excited voice.

“I feel sure this mean boss was responsible for the disappearance of Carlitos’ father, too,” Jo Ann went on. “He wanted to keep the control of the mine in his own hands. He wanted to get rid of Carlitos so there’d be no possible chance of anyone’s ever claiming the mine. Ask José, Florence, how long Carlitos’ father had lived at the mine—where the mine is and what the name of it is.”

Florence nodded. “All right.”

After talking with José a few minutes, she explained to Jo Ann, “Don Carlos—that’s what José calls Carlitos’ father, had come down from the United States to inspect his mine and had been there only a short time. I gathered from what he said that Don Carlos had not liked the way the Mexican boss was handling things and had dismissed him. It was only a short time after that, he said, that Don Carlos disappeared and the boss took charge of the mine again.”

“That proves to me that the boss did steal the mine,” Jo Ann said in an emphatic tone. “Doesn’t it sound that way to you, Peg?”

“Yes, it does.” Peggy shook her head dubiously and added, “You’ll never be able to unravel this mystery—it’s too complicated for you.”

“José said it was a silver mine and that they called it La Esperanza,” Florence went on. “He couldn’t tell me where it was. All he did was to wave his hand toward the range of mountains across the valley and said it was beyond that. He could find it himself, of course. I asked him how they carried out the silver ore from the mine—if there weren’t a railroad near—and he looked blank and then shook his head and said they carried it out on burros.”

“That’s certainly a poky way to carry the ore,” observed Jo Ann. “It looks as if they ought to be able to build a railroad.”

“But it might be too steep for a railroad. And this is Mexico, remember. Labor’s cheaper than modern machinery. Come on, let’s hurry up to the house and talk it all over with Daddy before he leaves.”

“All right,” Peggy agreed.

As the girls started off, Florence called over her shoulder to the children, “Don’t forget to come to my house _mañana_.”