Mr. Alexander might have spared his friends the disagreeable part of playing sweethearts to his wife, because the man who had been at the hotel when the Dalken party arrived, left there that same day, without having discovered that the supposed competitors for the envied tract of land south of Montezumas Castle were right at hand. But it was not so simple a matter to dispose of Mrs. Alexander’s yearnings to pretend to be a youthful magnet once more. Having received such an unusual suggestion from her practical, unromantic husband, she took full advantage of it—much to Mrs. Courtney’s disgust and certain pangs of jealousy. Thus the first surprise came to the three men who had been plotting to evade the man they thought was in Flagstaff for a secret purpose. Had they known that this same man was then on his way to Williams, where he had heard the New York and Chicago financiers were to be, what might have been their fears—knowing that Algy was lounging about that small town, waiting for Mrs. Alexander to give him the next cue?
While Mr. Alexander stood grinning at his two associates, after having confided to them the plan he had evolved to protect their interests, Jack crossed the room to join them. He saw the expressions of fierce rebellion upon the faces of Mr. Fuzzier and Mr. Dalken, but he had no key to the situation then.
“Say, Dalky, it’s pretty late to start for the Castle now, because there is no comfortable place where we could spend the night, you see?” asked Jack.
“I don’t care where we go—Alex. has made such a mess of things,” growled Mr. Dalken.
Mr. Alexander chuckled aloud, then turned to Jack and told of his wonderful plan to throw dust in the eyes of the supposed Director of the Copper Company. Jack laughed heartily, when he heard that his guardian and Mr. Fuzzier were expected to play the roles of romantic beaux.
Just at this moment Polly came down the stairs, and, seeing the men standing as though waiting for their friends, she hastened to join them.
“I left Nolla and Dodo with Mrs. Alexander, who is unusually anxious to make a good impression upon the gentlemen of our group,” explained Polly, with an amused laugh at Mr. Dalken.
“Humph!” came from that disgruntled individual.
Then Jack spoke to Polly. “I was just telling Dalky that it was too late to start for the Cliff Dwellings to-day. We ought to get up early in the morning and have a full day in which to properly see the Castle.”
“Yes, but I thought the main object in this trip was to help Dalky and the other two men to get out of the way of their competitor for that tract of land? If that is so, we’d better lose no more time, because I saw that man start off in an automobile just as I was about to leave my room, before coming down here,” explained Polly.