I'm afraid those men'll be furious when they find out you're buying her pottery at double the price they pay. You're heading for trouble."

Jo Ann's face grew grave. "I shouldn't be surprised, but I'm glad just the same that I could help that family. Those poor little children look half starved to me."

"They surely do," Peggy agreed.

As soon as Jo Ann woke the third morning after their trip to the village, she reminded Peggy that they must go back without fail today. "You know Florence said she'd either be there by noon, or that there'd be a letter telling exactly when to expect her. It all depended, she said, on which day her father had to go to the city."

Peggy half smiled. "That's not the only reason you want to go to the village. You want to get another look at those smugglers and get some information about them; now, don't you?"

"Yes. I want to be able to give the straight facts to the mystery man--if I ever see him again. I want to find out how often those men come to the village--where they go on their trips farther into the interior--what it is they're smuggling--exactly what route they take on their way back to the border, and----"

"What do you think you are--a glorified kind of Sherlock or a whole detective agency?"

"Neither. Only I think we've bumped into a fascinating mystery that's daring us to solve it. I want to play safe, but if we can get any information that'll aid in catching that band of smugglers and maybe help keep the mystery man from losing his life, I certainly want to get it."

"Well, don't get too venturesome. I've known you to get too enthusiastic about your mystery-solving. One good thing, José will go with us to the village. He'll be our bodyguard without knowing it."

To the girls' relief Miss Prudence gave her permission for them to accompany José to the village again. They were ready and waiting impatiently for him several minutes before he appeared with the horses and an extra pack burro.

"I'm afraid those smugglers'll have come for the pottery and gone before we get to the village, at this rate," Jo Ann fumed while she was waiting.

Peggy grinned. "So much the better for us. I, for one, never want to see them."

"I've got to find out their plans some way or other."

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