CHAPTER XIII
JOSÉ’S STRANGE STORY
A short time later the three girls and Dr. Blackwell went down to the cave, reaching there just as the family were finishing their feast of bear meat and the other food the girls had given them.
“Let me go in and talk to them first and tell them who you are, Dad,” Florence murmured.
She walked on inside and quickly explained to José that her father, who was a doctor, had come down to see how Pepito was getting along.
José stepped forward and politely shook hands with Dr. Blackwell; then each member of his family timidly followed his example.
“I’m much interested in your son Pepito,” Dr. Blackwell told José in his fluent Spanish. “I’d like to see if there’s anything I can do to help him.”
José hesitated a moment, then began apologetically, “I no have money and—”
With a little gesture of his hand Dr. Blackwell dismissed this objection. “That’s all right. I don’t want money.”
On hearing this José turned and called Pepito to his side.
Knowing the nature of the Indian so well, Dr. Blackwell realized that he must win Pepito’s confidence first before he could make a complete examination.
While he was busy with Pepito, María called the three girls to the back of the cave. She gestured proudly to the baby lying in a rope hammock. “See, my Pepito fix this like you say.”
Jo Ann smiled approvingly. “That was clever of Pepito to use my idea of a charcoal bag for a hammock, wasn’t it, girls?”
“It was clever of him to fasten it to these stalactites, too,” added Peggy. “Aren’t they beautiful? They’re so white and sparkling back here where the smoke hasn’t reached them. Stalactites always remind me of big icicles hanging from the roof.”
Noticing Carlitos at her side just then, Jo Ann remarked to Florence, “Before you forget it, you’d better tell Carlitos and the other children about the party.”
“All right.” As Florence knew that the word party had no meaning for the children she began explaining about the cakes and dulces that she and the girls would have up at the house for them. Immediately their faces began to beam.
“Oh, señorita, we’ll be most happy to come!” Carlitos explained, acting as spokesman for the younger children.
As soon as Dr. Blackwell had completed the examination of Pepito, he came over beside the girls. With the keenest interest he eyed Carlitos and talked to him for a few minutes; then he turned to Florence and said, “I’m going back to your mother now, but you girls may stay as long as you like.”
“We’ll be along in a little while,” Florence replied. “We’re not quite ready to leave.”
After he had given the parents a few directions about caring for Pepito, he bade them all “Adios” and left.
No sooner had he gone than Jo Ann suggested to Florence that she ask José about the part the big mean boss had played in Carlitos’ life. “Ask him what made that man so mean to Carlitos’ mother and if he has any idea what became of his father.”
“Well, I’ll do my best, but first I want to tell María about Daddy’s not being able to find that Mr. Eldridge.”
After Florence had talked to María a few minutes, she began questioning José. Jo Ann listened intently to their conversation, but José talked so rapidly that she could catch only a word now and then. Finally, discouraged, she remarked to Peggy, “Why is it that foreigners always talk so much faster than Americans?”
Peggy laughed. “It does sound that way, but I suppose they really don’t.”
In spite of her failure to understand much, Jo Ann persisted in listening and watching the expression on their faces. All at once she saw Florence’s eyes widen as if in surprise. “What is it, Florence?” she broke out impulsively. “What did he tell you then?”
Florence turned quickly. “Oh, he said this mean boss was plotting to get rid of Carlitos! That’s why he took his family away from that mine and has been hiding up here in the mountains.”
“But why did that man want to get rid of Carlitos?” Jo Ann asked quickly.
“I can’t figure that out yet. He said that this mean boss had given orders for all the boys who were large enough to help at the mine. José and María sent Pepito up to work but kept Carlitos away—they were afraid the man would mistreat him.”
“But why should this man want to mistreat Carlitos?” Jo Ann queried curiously.
“One reason, José said, was that this man had been so mean to Carlitos’ mother. They had also suspected that he’d had something to do with the disappearance of his father and so were afraid to let him know that they even had Carlitos. José said they moved ’way back up in the mountains to keep him from finding out about Carlitos. José himself kept on working at the mine, though. All went well till one day when Pepito was sick and couldn’t go to work and Carlitos slipped off to the mine and took his place, because he was afraid the boss would beat Pepito when he returned.”
“That man must’ve been a terrible creature,” put in Jo Ann indignantly. “But go on. What happened?”
“Well, while Carlitos was working at the mine, the boss saw him and became suspicious about him. He asked José all kinds of questions about Carlitos, but José wouldn’t answer. He just shrugged his shoulders, threw up his hands and kept saying, ‘No sabe.’ That made the boss furious, as well as more suspicious, and he ordered José to make Carlitos work all the time thereafter. That evening, when José was leaving the mine, he chanced to overhear one of the miners bragging to another about the easy money he was going to get from the boss for kidnaping the blue-eyed boy for him. José was immediately terrified, because he knew that the boy was Carlitos.”
“Horrible!” Jo Ann ejaculated.
Florence turned back to José, and after talking to him again she translated to Jo Ann and Peggy, “José said on hearing this that he rushed home and told María and the grandmother that they must all leave immediately. They packed up their few possessions on the burro and left that very night. They wandered over the mountains then till they came here.”
“Isn’t that terrible!” exclaimed Jo Ann. “That man’s a demon. I feel sure he had something to do with the disappearance of Carlitos’ father. Ask José, Florence, what Carlitos’ father did at the mine—if he was the owner and if this mean boss had been in his employ.”
“Well.” Once more Florence translated Jo Ann’s questions to José. All eagerness, the two girls waited for his reply.
This time Jo Ann was able to catch the answer. Her eyes shone with excitement as she broke out, “That’s why that mean boss wanted to get rid of Carlitos. Carlitos is by rights the owner of the mine!”
“You’re right—he is!” Florence exclaimed.
“Gee, Jo, you’ve run into a thrilling mystery this time, sure enough!” Peggy burst out in an excited voice.
“I feel sure this mean boss was responsible for the disappearance of Carlitos’ father, too,” Jo Ann went on. “He wanted to keep the control of the mine in his own hands. He wanted to get rid of Carlitos so there’d be no possible chance of anyone’s ever claiming the mine. Ask José, Florence, how long Carlitos’ father had lived at the mine—where the mine is and what the name of it is.”
Florence nodded. “All right.”
After talking with José a few minutes, she explained to Jo Ann, “Don Carlos—that’s what José calls Carlitos’ father, had come down from the United States to inspect his mine and had been there only a short time. I gathered from what he said that Don Carlos had not liked the way the Mexican boss was handling things and had dismissed him. It was only a short time after that, he said, that Don Carlos disappeared and the boss took charge of the mine again.”
“That proves to me that the boss did steal the mine,” Jo Ann said in an emphatic tone. “Doesn’t it sound that way to you, Peg?”
“Yes, it does.” Peggy shook her head dubiously and added, “You’ll never be able to unravel this mystery—it’s too complicat
ed for you.”
“José said it was a silver mine and that they called it La Esperanza,” Florence went on. “He couldn’t tell me where it was. All he did was to wave his hand toward the range of mountains across the valley and said it was beyond that. He could find it himself, of course. I asked him how they carried out the silver ore from the mine—if there weren’t a railroad near—and he looked blank and then shook his head and said they carried it out on burros.”
“That’s certainly a poky way to carry the ore,” observed Jo Ann. “It looks as if they ought to be able to build a railroad.”
“But it might be too steep for a railroad. And this is Mexico, remember. Labor’s cheaper than modern machinery. Come on, let’s hurry up to the house and talk it all over with Daddy before he leaves.”
“All right,” Peggy agreed.
As the girls started off, Florence called over her shoulder to the children, “Don’t forget to come to my house mañana.”
CHAPTER XIV
THE PIÑATA
Early the next morning the three girls began making preparations for the party for the little Mexican children.
“I’ll make some fudge,” suggested Peggy.
“That’ll be something new to them,” Florence told her. “I can make some molasses candy out of this brown sugar. Maybe they’ll know what that is.”
“I think we ought to have some kind of cakes, too,” put in Jo Ann. “I can make pretty good doughnuts. Do you think the children would like them, Florence?”
“I’m sure they would. They won’t know what they are, but they’ll like them. I doubt if these children even know what candy is. Living out in the mountains as they have, they’ve probably never tasted many sweets. I know this party will be a real treat to them and their mothers, too.”
When they had finished their cooking, Florence remarked, “Now we must decorate the olla for the piñata.”
Peggy smiled. “I know what an olla is—it’s just a big earthen water jar, but what is a pin—pin—or whatever you called it?”
“That’s what I’m wondering, too,” added Jo Ann.
“Well, when we fill this olla”—she pointed to the big pottery jar on the table—“with the candy and doughnuts and decorate the outside with gay colors, then it’ll be called a piñata.”
“What do you do with it then?” queried Jo Ann.
“Hang it up by a rope and blindfold the children and let them see which one can break it; then they all scramble for the contents.”
The girls laughed, and Peggy added, “Sounds like a lot of fun. What’re we going to decorate the olla with?”
“The only thing I can think of is to cut some colored pictures out of magazines and paste them on it. Can you think of anything better?”
Both girls shook their heads.
Soon the three had selected the brightest advertisements from some magazines and had decorated the jar till it looked quite festive.
That afternoon, before they had finished their siestas, the guests began to arrive. First were the children from the goat ranch with their mother; then shortly afterwards María and the grandmother with their line of little stairsteps.
Jo Ann noticed at once that Carlitos was missing and asked Florence to inquire about him.
A moment later Florence explained to Jo Ann that Carlitos had gone up on the mountain with José to get the charcoal. “María says they’ll be down later—they’ll stop on their way down with the charcoal.”
“Let’s wait to have the piñata game till Carlitos gets here,” Jo Ann suggested to Florence. “I don’t want him to miss that. Let’s show them how to play some simple game like drop the handkerchief while we’re waiting.”
Florence smiled dubiously. “We can try it, but I’m sure they’ve never played it before.”
In spite of their strenuous efforts to start the game, they failed, as the children merely stared timidly with their big black eyes, not seeming to know how to enter into the fun.
“These are the quietest children I’ve ever seen in all my life,” Jo Ann declared. “Don’t they ever play, Florence?”
“Very seldom. They work most of the time. The older ones take care of the babies and help their mothers. I believe we’d better go ahead with the piñata. It’ll take them a long time to break the olla, and maybe Carlitos’ll be here before anyone succeeds.”
Florence blindfolded the largest one of the little girls and handed her a stick, then turned her around several times. “Now see if you can break the piñata.”
The girl took a few steps, then timidly struck out with her stick, only to miss the piñata by several feet.
“Don’t be afraid,” called Pepito. “Go closer.”
Florence smiled. “No, she gets only one turn this time. You come on, Pepito, and try.”
With his black eyes shining Pepito stepped forward to be blindfolded. Jo Ann was delighted to see how much stronger he seemed to be and was as pleased as he when he hit the piñata, even though he did not succeed in breaking it.
Jo Ann and Peggy clapped their hands in applause, and the little Mexican children, thinking that was part of the game, timidly followed their example.
Before all of the children had had a turn in trying to hit the piñata, Carlitos came running up to the porch, his hands and face streaked with the black charcoal dust.
Pepito pointed up to the piñata. “Look, Carlitos, a piñata! And I hit it!” He went on rapidly to explain about the game.
With the keenest interest the three girls watched Carlitos’ face brighten and his blue eyes sparkle bluer than ever against the black of his face.
“I’ll break it for you, Pepito,” he replied confidently.
Peggy turned to Jo Ann and Florence, smiling. “Say, Jo, your little blue-eyed Mexican seems to have turned into a little nigger. Don’t you think you’d better introduce him to some soap and water before the refreshments?”
“Not a bad idea,” Florence replied. “Jo, take him back and show him how to use the soap.”
Jo Ann’s eyes stretched to their widest. “Show him how to use soap! What do you mean?”
“He’s probably never seen toilet soap before.”
“Gracious! To think of an American boy living like that—not even having seen toilet soap!”
After she had demonstrated to Carlitos how to wash his hands with soap, she watched almost unbelievingly his evident delight in the white foamy suds and its magic effect.
“I’ve got to get that boy back to civilization. Something must be done right away,” she told herself.
As soon as he had finished, they hurried back to the porch, and Florence placed the blindfold on Carlitos. As he started toward the piñata Pepito called eagerly, “Hit it hard, Carlitos—very hard!”
With almost uncanny accuracy, Carlitos neared the piñata, then struck out vigorously.
There was a crashing sound as the pottery vessel cracked open and the contents scattered over the floor.
Carlitos jerked the blindfold off, while the children uttered little squeals of mingled excitement and delight.
Smiling, Florence pointed to the scattered sweets. “Go get them!” she exclaimed.
The children needed no more urging. Straightway they began scurrying about, their black eyes shining with delight as they picked up the candy and cakes and tasted them. With their usual unselfishness they took some of them over to their mothers and the grandmother.
Just then Jo Ann noticed José leaning against a near-by tree, a pleased expression on his face as he watched the children’s fun. “Come on and get some dulces,” she called to him.
Smiling, he came over to the porch and took the sweets Jo Ann offered.
While both the older people and the children were enjoying the treat, Jo Ann went out to examine the huge bags of charcoal that almost completely covered the small burro. She laughed aloud as she noticed that only his ears and his feet were visible.
“It’s a good thing that charcoal’s light, or that burr
o’d never be able to get to town with that load,” she thought.
When she went back to the porch she told José, chiefly by gestures, that she was glad he had made so much charcoal. “When are you going to take it to the village to sell?” she asked him.
“Mañana in the mañana,” he replied.
“That means early in the morning, doesn’t it?” she asked Florence.
Florence nodded.
Jo Ann put her hand on Carlitos’ shoulder. “Are the boys going with you, José?”
José shook his head. “No, I think it better that they do not go.”
Shortly after the children had finished eating their refreshments, each one politely thanked the girls and offered a grimy, sticky little hand in a farewell shake.
As María was leaving with her family she remarked to Florence again, “You have much kindness, señoritas—like Carlitos’ mamá. I have much joy that he has friends Americanos now.”
After they had all left Jo Ann said determinedly, “We’ve simply got to find Carlitos’ relatives right away. María and José are as kind to him as they can be—they treat him as if he were their own child—but they’re so pitifully poor and ignorant.”
Florence shook her head dubiously. “I wish we could find some of his relatives, but it looks as if we’re up against a stone wall now. We’ve done everything we could.”
“Oh, Jo’ll solve the mystery—she’ll climb right over the stone wall,” laughed Peggy. “She’s great on climbing.”
The next day, when the girls were busily preparing dinner on the outdoor fireplace, Jo Ann happened to glance down the road. “Good gracious!” she exclaimed. “Is that Pepito, running like that? It is! Why, he oughtn’t to run like that.”
She rushed out to meet him. “No, no, Pepito! You mustn’t run like that,” she called to him.
Gasping for breath, Pepito ejaculated, “Carlitos! Oh, Carlitos!”
CHAPTER XV
“CARLITOS—GONE!”
Before Jo Ann could ask any more questions Florence and Peggy came flying out.
“What is the matter, Pepito?” Florence asked quickly. “Why were you running so hard?”
“Car—li—tos—gone!” he panted, his eyes filled with tears.
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