THE SECRET OF THE OLLA
The girls had thought that as usual José would accompany them to the
village the next day. As it happened, however, there was some extra work
for him to do about the mine, and Mr. Eldridge decided to send Carlitos
and Pepito as escorts for them in place of José. "Each boy can ride a
horse, and then on the way back they can ride double, as they did the
first day, and let Florence have the extra horse," he said.
"Fine!" Jo Ann exclaimed.
Peggy was silent. The thought had darted into her mind that if those
smugglers should chance to be in the village at the same time that they
were, it would be more comfortable to have José along instead of the
boys.
When they reached Jitters' House, the boys suddenly decided to stay there
and wait for the girls. "Pepito and I are going to build a dam in this
stream," Carlitos explained, gesturing toward the small stream near by.
When a half hour later the girls passed the pottery woman's shack without
seeing any sign of the smugglers' car, Peggy breathed a little more
freely. "We'll probably leave before they get here," she thought.
As if in answer to her thoughts, Jo Ann spoke up briskly, "I see where
we'll have to wait around the village till those men come. Since the
pottery's still there, I know they haven't come yet."
"Oh, I wouldn't do that," Peggy answered quickly. "We might have to stay
so long it'd be dark before we'd get back to the mine."
"Of course we can't wait that long. I'm in hopes they'll come soon, but I
want to see them if I possibly can."
When they came in sight of Pedro's store, they saw Florence standing out
in front, looking up the narrow street.
"Attaboy! There she is!" cried Jo Ann.
"She sees us now!" Peggy waved both arms vigorously, a gesture that was
answered equally enthusiastically by Florence.
As soon as the three girls had exchanged the warmest of greetings and
Florence and her baggage were settled in the car, Jo Ann broke into an
account of having seen the smugglers' car, and all the other details.
Florence was indignant over the ridiculously low price the men were
paying the villagers for their pottery. "You're right, Jo. Those men are
thieves," she said. "They're making three or four hundred per cent profit
on the pottery, to say nothing of what they're getting out of their
smuggling. I believe I can pay that woman and the other villagers more
than you did for their _ollas_, and ship them to the States, and still
break even. When I see these poverty-stricken women with their big
families to feed and clothe, I feel I've got to help them every chance I
get."
"I do, too," agreed Jo Ann.
"And I," added Peggy. "But I don't want to get those smugglers angry at
us. They'll be furious when they find out you're planning to buy all the
pottery."
Both Jo Ann and Florence were silent a moment; then Jo Ann remarked,
"Maybe we hadn't better buy all the pottery, because if we do, the men'll
stop coming here altogether, and I won't get a chance to find out more
about them to tell the mystery man. I want to help him--his life's at
stake."
Florence nodded. "That's so." She turned to Peggy then with, "You're
right. We'd better buy only a few pieces of pottery."
"Let's drive past the shack now and see if the smugglers' car is there,"
Jo Ann suggested, starting the car even as she spoke.
"That's all right with me if you'll keep on driving and not stop," Peggy
spoke up.
Jo Ann drove very slowly past the pottery woman's house, but there was no
sign of any kind of car to be seen. As the pottery was still there, she
knew the men were yet to come. She drove on a short distance, then turned
into a rough road circling into the village. To Peggy's disapproval she
turned again a few minutes later into the side road leading past the
woman's house.
Almost simultaneously Jo Ann and Florence caught sight of the old car
parked beside the house. "The smugglers' car!" they both gasped.
"Turn as fast as you can and get away from here," ordered Peggy.
Instead of obeying her command Jo Ann drew the car to the side of the
road and stopped. "You stay in the car, Peggy, while Florence and I see
if we can find out anything."
"Oh, do be careful!"
With Peggy's last words in their minds Jo Ann and Florence approached the
shack cautiously, coming up close to the back of the house, where they
halted. Though they could not see the smugglers and the woman except by
peeping around the corner of the shack, they could hear them talking.
"They're trying to make her come down on the price, aren't they?" Jo Ann
whispered.
"Yes; trying to force her down to a mere fraction of what the _ollas_ are
worth." An angry glint came into Florence's blue eyes. "I feel like
marching right out and telling her not to----" She stopped whispering to
listen to the woman's plaintive reply that she needed the money for food
for her children.
Jo Ann caught the woman's words and their meaning. "Come on, let's see if
we can't persuade or bluff them into giving more money."
Without hesitating, Florence stepped out, and together the two marched on
around to where the men and the woman were standing.
At their approach the two swarthy-skinned men looked up in surprise. The
taller one, who was a little squint-eyed and had a scar on his chin, drew
his brows together into a deep frown as he peered from under his sombrero
at Jo Ann.
Involuntarily Jo Ann caught her breath as the thought darted into her
mind that he looked as if he recognized her. "Perhaps he saw me there in
the gully," she thought.
By that time Florence was talking to the woman in rapid Spanish, offering
to buy all her pottery at almost three times more than the men had
offered.
The taller man whirled about to stare at Florence and to scowl more
fiercely than ever. "It is impossible for you to buy the _ollas_. She
promise us all--everything."
Florence ignored this remark and asked the woman, "How much did they say
in the first place that they would pay you?"
Between sobs the woman replied and added, "Now they say they will give me
only half of that."
"Since they won't pay you what they had promised, then sell your pottery
to me."
Both men broke into a torrent of protests, waving their arms and shaking
their heads violently.
While they were absorbed in arguing with Florence, Jo Ann gradually edged
over and looked into the back of the car, the bottom of which was filled
with pottery packed in straw. After one hasty glance over her shoulder at
the men, she reached over and pulled out a large _olla_ from the middle.
How heavy it was! She peered into it, then thrust her hand inside. There
was a package--a heavy one--at the bottom.
Just then a furious voice rang out, "Put that _olla_ back in the car!"
She wheeled about to see the shorter one of the men rushing angrily
toward her.