glance at the largest one of the men.
"That is the mystery man!" she exclaimed a moment later. "I'm sure it's he. I certainly am glad he's still alive."
Florence relayed Jo Ann's words to Peggy, whereupon Peggy craned her neck to stare out of the rear window at the occupants of the car. "Where do you suppose they're going--to Mexico?" she asked Florence a moment later.
Florence shook her head. "Ask me an easy question. That's too hard for me."
"I wish I knew more about him. I wonder why he's in such terrible trouble. I hope he's going the same route we are."
"It's high time we're deciding whether we're going by way of Brownsville or Laredo," Florence called back, hoping that Miss Prudence would catch the anxious note in her voice. She and the other two girls had hinted very strongly to her that they would like to take the longer route, by way of Brownsville, so they could see Lucile Owen, one of their schoolmates, but Miss Prudence had so far refused to say definitely whether she would be willing.
"I'd love to see Lucile," Jo Ann put in, loud enough for Miss Prudence to hear, and adding also for her special benefit, "She says no one really knows Texas till he's seen the Rio Grande valley and its citrus groves."
"It's the most famous garden spot of Texas," added Peggy.
The girls could see that Miss Prudence was favorably impressed, but she still hesitated to give her approval, saying, "It's so far out of our way--four hundred miles at least."
"I believe if we keep singing the valley's praises she'll give her consent," Florence prophesied, low-voiced, to Jo Ann.
"Whichever way we go, I hope the mystery man goes the same way," Jo Ann replied. "I want to find out more about him. Is his car still following?"
Florence turned around to see, then reported, "Yes, just a short distance behind."
Several times afterwards Jo Ann asked that same question, to have it answered each time in the affirmative.
By about two o'clock she decided that they must be nearing the road turning off to Brownsville. "Miss Prudence'll have to decide very shortly now which way we're going," she told Florence.
Evidently Peggy was thinking the same thing, as the next moment they heard her appealing again to Miss Prudence to decide on that route. While Miss Prudence was still wavering about her decision, Jo Ann drove past the Brownsville road, but stopped as soon as Florence told her she had seen the sign. "We've got to decide right now," she ended.
CHAPTER III THE HITCH-HIKER
Just as Florence was speaking, she and Jo Ann saw the car that had been following whiz by them with only the two men in civilian clothes in it.
"Oh, there goes the mystery man!" Jo Ann exclaimed. "He's going the Laredo road. I wish I could follow and see if anything happens to him."
Miss Prudence spoke up 

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