“I don’t know, but I still feel that we’ll be stealing if we take them,” insisted Florence.
“I know what we’d better do!” exclaimed Jo Ann as a sudden solution of the problem occurred to her. “We can take them to Señor Rodriguez and let him dispose of them in the proper legal manner. Don’t you think that would be best?”
“Yes—perhaps so,” slowly agreed Florence. “He ought to know what would be right.”
While Florence and Jo Ann had been arguing about what to do with the pieces of jewelry, Peggy was putting them back in the black box.
“I can’t get all these things back in this box,” she sighed finally. “How in the world did they ever get so much in such a small box?”
“Wait! Don’t close it. We might not be able to get it open again.” Jo Ann reached over and took the box. “Let me tie this string around it so nothing’ll spill out.”
In a few minutes the box was securely tied. Holding it tightly, Jo Ann hastened back to the entrance to the tunnel, the other girls following closely.
CHAPTER XVI
MORE PRECIOUS THAN JEWELS
At the very moment that Peggy was lying terror-stricken at the feet of the mummies Dr. Blackwell had just made an alarming discovery.
He had been wakened from a deep peaceful sleep by the sound of vigorous knocking on the outer door and had quickly scrambled out of bed and into his clothes. He well knew that this knocking meant that someone was in distress and needed his professional services. Louder and louder had come the sound. Fearing that everyone in the house would be awakened, he had hurried down to answer the door.