before the wreck." José shrugged his shoulders. "I do not know who did it. Maybe it was Luis--maybe it was the strange man you saw." 

"Why did Mr. Eldridge discharge this Luis?"

"He steal ore."

As Miss Prudence entered the kitchen just then and sat down, Jo Ann could not question José further. She left the room wondering if after all she had not been wrong in her surmise about the smuggler's having wrecked the car. He might have become alarmed after she and Florence had seen him and have left immediately. She certainly hoped that was the case.By the time the girls had finished sewing, Jo Ann was thoroughly weary of staying in the house. "If I don't get outside for a long horseback ride or a climb up the mountains today, I'll go raving crazy," she said.

Peggy laughed at this exaggerated speech, and Florence remarked smilingly, "Well, by all means let's get out and explore the country this afternoon. I'm fed up with staying inside, too."

"To tell you the truth," Peggy put in, "I've been rather glad to stay inside. Ever since I heard about that smuggler's hanging around here, the house looks good to me."

"Oh, he's gone away by now, surely," Jo Ann answered. "José says no one else has said a word about having seen a stranger around, and in a small camp like this a stranger surely couldn't escape being noticed. I feel sure he's gone back to join the other man. If that man returns for the pottery the same time that he did last week, he'll be back at the village Friday. I've got to get word to the mystery man what day they're starting for the border."

"The woman promised me to save some of the pottery for me, but I want to select the best designs from the entire lot before she sells any of them," Florence put in.

"That means we'll have to go and get the pottery before those men come," Jo Ann remarked. "That suits me to a T. You've already written to your friend in St. Louis that you're sending the pottery in a few days, haven't you?"

"Yes."

"Well, that settles it. We'll go to the village to get the pottery Thursday morning and take it to the city and ship it from there. That'll give me a fine chance to find out from the woman when the smugglers're coming and to see the mystery man and tell him when to look out for them."

"I see where you're headed for more 

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