Chapter 2 THE MYSTERY MAN

After she had knocked several times, Peggy called out sleepily, "Who's that?"

"Open the door. Hurry!"

"All right-I'll be there-in a jiffy."

In a few moments Peggy flung the door open, and Jo Ann stepped inside, her eyes still dilated with excitement.

"I've just heard the strangest-most mysterious thing!" she gasped.

"You would!" Peggy declared. "But that's nothing unusual for you. You're always hearing and seeing mysterious things."

"What was it?" Florence called from the bed.

"Well, just as I had reached your door and was about to knock, I heard a man in the room directly across the hall say in the most earnest voice imaginable, 'I'm afraid I'm going to lose my life before this is over.'"

Both girls stared wide-eyed at Jo Ann; then Peggy, recovering from her first shock, asked half doubtfully, "You're sure you didn't misunderstand him? Your imagination runs riot now and then. Perhaps you just thought you heard him say that."

Jo Ann shook her head vigorously. "No imagination about it. I heard him as distinctly as I do you now."

"What on earth made him say that, do you suppose, Jo?" Florence asked curiously.

"That's what I'd like to know."

"What can that man be-a gangster?" Without waiting for an answer Peggy added, shuddering, "The idea of that man's being right across the hall from us gives me the creeps." She flew back to the door to see if she had locked it.

"I believe he must be a detective; I feel sure he wasn't a gangster," Jo Ann said quickly. "He didn't look like one."

"You saw him!" both girls exclaimed together.

"Yes, he came out of his door suddenly and caught me standing there listening. I hadn't any business eavesdropping-but I just couldn't help it. I wanted to know why he thought he was going to lose his life."

"Did you hear him say anything else?" queried Peggy in a whisper, glancing back toward the door as if she thought the man might be doing some eavesdropping himself.

"Not very much. Evidently he was talking to someone over the phone. I couldn't hear anyone answering. He said that he'd lost the trail because he'd been delayed on account of two flat tires."

"Lost the trail!" Florence repeated. "That sounds as if he's a detective, sure enough. Whom do you suppose he was after?"

"That's hard to say. I'd have to use my imagination to answer that."

"You've certainly run into a real mystery this time," put in Peggy, now thoroughly convinced that Jo Ann's tale was not fiction. "You ought to have thought up some kind of a solution by--"

A sharp knock at the door broke into Peggy's sentence, and all three girls gave little surprised jumps and stared at the door without saying a word.

The next instant Miss Prudence's voice called out crisply, "Girls!"

"Oh, it's just Miss Prudence!" Peggy exclaimed in relief. "I thought maybe that man...." She left her sentence unfinished and ran to the door.

Jo Ann's face reddened guiltily. She had forgotten entirely about dressing and telling the girls to hurry.

As soon as Miss Prudence stepped inside and saw that the girls were still in their pajamas, she looked over reproachfully at Jo Ann and said, "I thought you'd all be almost dressed by this time."

"We would've been ready, but...." Jo Ann rushed into an account of the strange telephone conversation she had heard, ending apologetically, "I was so excited that I forgot all about our having to dress."

As soon as Jo Ann had finished, Miss Prudence spoke up quickly, "The sooner we get out of this hotel the better. I don't like the idea of being in a room across from a man that's expecting to get killed any instant. Hurry fast as you can and get dressed."

"The man's not in his room now: I saw him go down the hall toward the elevator," Jo Ann reminded her.

"But he might come back any minute, and there might-well, something might happen. Hurry, girls."

Thus urged, the girls dressed hastily. Even Peggy, who usually was deliberate about arranging her auburn hair into neat waves, speeded up this part of her toilet and was dressed in record-breaking time.

After they had been joined by Carlitos they all went down to the coffee room for their breakfast and then on out to the garage to get the car.

Jo Ann slipped into the front seat of the car saying, "It's my turn to drive Jitters this morning."

"I'll sit with you to see that you don't go too fast," Florence remarked smilingly, dropping down beside her.

Jo Ann laughed. "It's Jitters herself that'll keep me from exceeding the speed limit."

After they had left the city and had gone several miles, Jo Ann noticed that in the automobile just ahead of them were three men, one wearing a uniform and the other two in civilian clothes and large felt hats similar to the one the mystery man had worn. "The biggest one of those men in that car ahead looks exactly like the man I overheard talking this morning," she remarked to Florence. "He's the same size and is wearing the same kind of hat."

Florence smiled. "It seems to me most of the men I've seen so far in Texas are big and wear that kind of hat. You have that mystery man on your mind: that's why you think you see a resemblance."

"Maybe so, but I believe it's that very man."

"It's possible that it is he, but"-Florence smiled-"I'm more interested in that man in the uniform. I believe he's a traffic cop and is going to get you for speeding."

"Look at that sign!" Jo Ann pointed to another road sign indicating that the speed limit was 80 miles. "And now look at the speedometer. I'm going to let Jitters do her best now and pass that car. I want to get a good look at that man and see if it is my mystery man. I'll feel relieved to know he's still alive."

Jo Ann stepped on the gas and soon was swinging out to the side of the road. As she passed by the other car, she threw a swift but keen 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.