"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."
As before, they rode down the mountain, then left their horses and the burro at the rough thatched shed where their car was stored.
"Let's give this shed a name," Peggy suggested as they climbed into the car.
"All right," Jo Ann agreed. "How about calling it Jitters' House? That's what it is now. It's the first time the garage was so far away that I had to ride horseback to get to it."
Peggy smiled. "Hereafter, then, this is Jitters' House."
On nearing the Mexican woman's shack Jo Ann began looking eagerly to see if the pottery were still piled up beside it.
"Good!" she exclaimed. "The pottery's still there. That means the men haven't----" She stopped in the middle of her sentence. José was beginning to understand English much better now that he was staying at Mr. Eldridge's home, and so might be able to get an inkling of what she was talking about.
As it was, Peggy understood, since Jo Ann had been worrying all the way down the mountain lest the pottery and the men should be gone.
Jo Ann drove straight to Pedro's store, the scheduled meeting place again, as it had been the day they had all driven from the city. There was no sign of Florence's small trim figure to be seen outside the store or inside.