“What about the gems Mrs. Rhodes will be carrying? Shall we let her get away with it?”
“Theoretically, as the wife of Rhodes, she’d be acting as his agent. If she delivers the emeralds to the company office, we have no complaint.”
“Sure, but that’s not the plan,” Jack protested. “She intends to get them through, but for her own and her husband’s use.”
“We’ll tip Willie and War to what’s going on,” Mr. Livingston decided. “They can keep an eye on Mrs. Rhodes, and turn her in, if she doesn’t deliver the gems. Now get some sleep, Jack. Tomorrow may be a hard day.”
Shortly after dawn the next morning, Willie and War set off with Mrs. Rhodes on the difficult trip back to Bogota.
Aloof as always, the engineer’s wife coldly ignored her Scout escorts. She carried a minimum of personal luggage, but had provided herself with a more than generous supply of food, including a basket of bananas.
“Why does she take bananas?” Willie demanded in an undertone to Jack, just prior to the start down the lonely mountain trail.
“You got me!” Jack replied with a shrug. “Seems to me that back at Santa Marta, she said she disliked them.”
“That’s right! But she’s got some reason for carrying ’em. Mrs. Rhodes never does anything without a reason. Say, I got a hunch—”
His “hunch” remained unrevealed, for the caravan had started to move away. Mr. Livingston addressed a quiet word of warning to Willie as they shook hands in farewell.