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_.”