“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.”
CHAPTER XIV
THE PIÑATA
Early the next morning the three girls began making preparations for the party for the little Mexican children.
“I’ll make some fudge,” suggested Peggy.
“That’ll be something new to them,” Florence told her. “I can make some molasses candy out of this brown sugar. Maybe they’ll know what that is.”
“I think we ought to have some kind of cakes, too,” put in Jo Ann. “I can make pretty good doughnuts. Do you think the children would like them, Florence?”