"Why, I know that man." Walker Jamieson summoned forth from his long experience as a newspaperman, the recollection of a story about an aviator who had been discharged from the airplane mail service because of irregularities. Here was a picture of the man.
Nan took it up and studied it. "Why, I know him too!" she exclaimed.
"Of course you do," Walker agreed. "He was one of the men who held up the plane, wasn't he?"
"Yes, and not only that," Nan now divulged a surprising bit of information, "he was present at the bull fight in Mexico City a few days ago."
"What do you mean?" Walker looked at her intently.
"He was there with a former schoolmate, a Linda Riggs, and he was introduced to Cousin Adair by her."
Nan searched back in her memory before she answered. "Arthur--"
"That's right." Nan was smiling now, thinking of Bess's glee when she found out what a position Linda would be in when this story came out.
"So, you perhaps can even locate him," Walker looked at the amazing youngster beside him.
"Linda is staying--oh, I don't know." Nan looked disappointed as she remembered that they hadn't exchanged addresses with the girl. But it didn't matter, before the night was over, Linda Riggs, thoroughly frightened because she had unwittingly entertained and been entertained by an international crook, revealed all she knew about his whereabouts. And before the morning run of the great metropolitan daily that Walker was associated with had gone to press, the story was completed.
Arthur Howard using visitors' passes stolen at the border and altered to suit his needs passed back and forth freely between the United States and Mexico. He was engaged in smuggling Chinese across and in this particularly daring attempt to finish up a big job had, after he held up the plane on which Nan had been a passenger, loaded it heavily with men who had paid high prices to make the trip.
The Chinese cook at the hacienda had been involved because he had paid a high price to try to get a relative of his across. The ring stolen from Nan was his last desperate effort to finish his payments, payments which had been draining all of his resources for months and had taken all of his life's savings. This was the part of his story that he had told Nan after she had won his confidence.