Chapter 10 THE INDEFINITE MA ANA

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."

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.

"Maybe we're too early," Peggy suggested.

"We have to wait for the mail, anyway-it hasn't come yet, Pedro said," Jo Ann replied. "If there isn't a letter from her, we'll know she's coming and will wait till she appears. This delay suits me to a T."

"Don't I know it! You're just aching for those old smugglers to appear while we're here. I hope they don't."

Undisturbed, Jo Ann went on, "While we're waiting, let's you and me go back to that shack and find out if any of the family knows exactly when the men are coming after the pottery."

"We-ell, I s'pose there couldn't be any danger about asking a few questions."

Peggy climbed back into the car with Jo Ann, leaving José squatting on the sidewalk smoking his corn-shuck cigarette and chatting with a group of his peon friends.

When they stopped in front of the shack, they noticed a little dark-eyed girl, the tallest of the stair-step children she had seen previously, standing close to the piles of pottery. Jo Ann promptly leaped out of the car and walked over and began admiring the pottery.

"The ollas are very beautiful," she said in her slow Spanish. "Did you help to decorate them?"

"Sí, I fix this one." She picked up a small, brightly colored jar.

"It is lovely," admired Jo Ann. "You are very artistic."

The girl's black eyes shone, and two dimples twinkled in her olive-tinted cheeks at this praise.

After she had looked at the pottery a few minutes longer, Jo Ann asked haltingly, "Do you know when the men are coming for your ollas?"

"Sí," the girl nodded, her long black braids swaying with the motion. "They tell my papa they come ma?ana."

"Ma?ana," Jo repeated to herself discouragedly. That was the most indefinite word in the Spanish language. It might mean tomorrow, and it might mean any time in months to come. "Do you mean Friday?" she asked.

"Sí, Friday."

"What time?"

The girl shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe in the morning; maybe in the afternoon-I do not know."

"What time did they come last time they bought your pottery?"

The child shook her head. "I do not remember."

Just then the girl's mother appeared in the doorway and smiled broadly on recognizing Jo Ann and Peggy.

Jo Ann walked over to the door and, after exchanging greetings with her, asked if she knew exactly when the men were coming after the pottery, ending, "Maybe they will sell me some more of your beautiful ollas when they come."

The woman answered with the same gesture as had her daughter-a shrug of her shoulders and, "I do not know."

"When do they usually come?" Jo Ann persisted.

"Last time they come about this hour. They stop at Pedro's store first; then they come here."

Jo Ann's eyes brightened. At last she had secured a bit of information.

As it turned out, this was the only piece forthcoming. Question after question brought forth only the inevitable but expressive shrug of the shoulders.

Though she could see Jo Ann was discouraged, Peggy could not help smiling and asking teasingly, "Have you learned yet what this means?" She raised her eyebrows and shrugged her shoulders in true Mexican style.

"Silly!" Jo Ann exploded. The next moment she grinned and replied, "It means anything and everything. I'm going to cultivate that gesture myself and use it when anyone tries to quiz me."

When they reached the store, the mail had arrived and in it a letter from Florence.

Jo Ann tore open the envelope quickly, glanced over the short note, and handed it to Peggy, saying, "She'll be here tomorrow afternoon-and so'll we be here." To herself she added that there might be two others who probably would not be very comfortable persons to have near.