"But," insisted Bob, "to save us, it must be done quickly. Jenkins' cotton must be seized and held for his debts, and the water turned into the canals at once."
This was also promised as soon as legal papers could be prepared. In leaving the office Bob dropped the telegram from the consul, accidentally.
"It apparently will not be needed," he said to himself as he left the office, "but it won't hurt to lose it."
The telegram left in the office read:
Present your situation to the governor, and if immediate relief is not given I'll close the border within twenty-four hours so tight that not a man, a mule, nor a machine can cross it either way.
LANIER, Consul.
Two hours later a secretary who spoke good English and a Mexican captain appeared at the Chinese hotel where Bob was waiting.
"We have here," the secretary presented Bob with two papers, "an attachment for Señor Jenkins' cotton and an order that the water must be turned into the canals at once, and at the old rate. El Capitan and I will accompany you in the governor's own machine to see these orders are obeyed."
Rogeen requested that no message be sent to Mexicali regarding these attachments, as that would give Reedy a chance to dodge.
"Can we go back over the Mexican road, and come into the valley round the Laguna Salada?" Bob asked. Reedy might already be rushing his cotton on those trucks down to the waiting boat on the Gulf, and by going this route they would intercept them.
The road over the mountains was not completed, said the secretary, but they could have another machine from the valley to meet them, and in that machine make the circuit as proposed.