“Oh, shoot! He’s gone!” she exclaimed, exasperated. “And I wanted to tell him about those smugglers we saw back there in the desert.”
CHAPTER VII
“WE MUST GET AN EARLY START”
Peggy stretched her eyes wide. “Smugglers! You actually saw some smugglers in the desert?”
“Sh! Not so loud,” Jo Ann warned, low-voiced. “We think they were smugglers, but of course we can’t be absolutely certain.”
“So that was what you and Florence were so excited about when you came back to the car out there in the desert. Hurry up and tell me all about it.”
“We can’t—not here, with all these people around. Wait till we get to the hotel; then we’ll tell you everything, won’t we, Florence?”
Florence nodded assent.
After a second time around the Plaza without seeing the mystery man, Jo Ann was more disappointed than ever.
When they reached the place where Miss Prudence and Carlitos were sitting, Miss Prudence gestured to them to step from the line and come to her side. “Girls,” she began as soon as they walked over, “I think we’d better leave now and go on back to the hotel. You know the trip tomorrow up the mountains to the mine is bound to be a very hard one. We must get an early start in the morning.”
On hearing these familiar words, “get an early start,” the girls exchanged swift glances but succeeded in keeping sober expressions on their faces.