“But how could they have ever got in that secret underground room?” asked Florence.
Señor Rodriguez shook his head. “Dat I do not know. I t’ink perhaps someone carry dem to de padre, and he hide dem along wid odder valuable t’ings which had been sent to him. De tunnels under de church had been used for carrying reinforcements and food to de army at de outskirts of de city. Dat is why dey could hold out so long against de American forces.”
“No wonder we couldn’t find the other end of the tunnel!” exclaimed Jo Ann. “It must be several miles long.” She turned to Señor Rodriguez. “Do the jewels belong to your family, too?”
“Ah, dat I do not know. Some of dem I t’ink belong to my family, but it is impossible to be sure. My gran’modder say she sure dis little ring—dis little ring you admire so much, Mees Jo—was her Gran’modder Guerrero’s ring.”
He went on to explain how, since they had no way of finding exactly to whom the jewels had belonged, they had decided it would be better to return them to the church, as it had been very poor for years.
“Oh, señor!” exclaimed Jo Ann, her eyes shining. “Will there be enough money then to repair that old ruined part of the church? I think an old historic building like that ought to be restored.”
The Señor smiled approvingly. “Dat is a ver’ good plan, Mees Jo. De padre and I haf already discuss dat.” He went on to add that the jewels alone would not be sufficient to furnish funds for the restoring of the building, but that some of the old papers cleared up titles to valuable property belonging to the church, and that from this property enough could be secured for that purpose.
“I’m so glad you’re going to do that!” rejoiced Jo Ann. “That old church has held a fascination for me from the first time I saw it. To think that we girls will have a part in restoring it—that is wonderful!”
“And they can use those beautiful candelabra we found,” put in Florence.
“When they restore that part of the building, they’ll open the passage to those underground rooms, and it’ll be easy to get the candelabra out then,” said Jo Ann. She turned to the Señor and the padre. “You might find more valuable things down there—we didn’t search thoroughly.” She stopped a moment, then added, “Won’t there be enough money to help those poor people who attend the church?”