Nan Sherwood on the Mexican Border Part 13

"Why, Nancy Sherwood, I never in all the world thought you were the bloodthirsty creature that you are," Bess laughed at her pal.

"Oh, you are just the same, Elizabeth Harley," Nan returned. "When Cousin Adair told us at the luncheon table what we were going to do this afternoon, you were just as excited as the rest of us."

"I know it," Bess confessed. "But I expect to hold my ears and close my eyes through the worst parts. They do say they can be very gory spectacles with blood streaming all over everything."

"That's right," Nan admitted. "It scares me to think of that part, but I want to see it anyway." As the girls talked, they dressed, combed their hair, and then tidied up the room.

"Ready?" Laura stuck her head through the door and asked. "Amelia and Grace are already downstairs. We better get started, or Grace will be backing down. Really, I think she's scared to death, but is afraid to admit it. Me, I'm going to love this."

"Me, too," Nan admitted. "I can hardly wait. I've read about them so often. Remember the lecturer at Lakeview who had all those slides about bullfights in Spain. I've wanted to see one ever since then."

"Yes, Mrs. Cupp was so angry over that. She didn't think it was the proper sort of thing for young ladies to see. She thought it would coa.r.s.en them," Laura finished primly. "Wait until we get back to Lakeview, will we ever have some tales to tell her that will make her hair stand on end! She'll have to go to bed for a week to recover."

"Oh, Laura," Nan laughed, "you sound as though you'd be brave enough to tell her all about it yourself."

"Well, if I'm not," Laura joined in the laughter, "because we aren't exactly bosom pals, you know, she'll find out. Nothing escapes her."

"Truer words were never spoken," Nan agreed as she adjusted her hat in front of the mirror. "Come on, now, I'm ready. Are you, Bess?"

"Just a second." Bess was rummaging through her purse. "There's everything here except the thing I want."

"Looks almost like an over-night bag," Laura commented as Bess poured the contents out on the dresser.

"What in the world are you looking for?" Nan asked somewhat impatiently.

Bess never could find things in her purse because she had a habit of saving everything and never cleaning the pocket-book out.

"Oh, my pa.s.sport--I mean my visitors' pa.s.s." Bess really did look worried. "I had it this morning. I know I did."

"All I can say is," Laura commented dryly, "if you've lost that, you might just as well go out and drown yourself, because if you don't, Mr.

MacKenzie will roar so loud when you tell him that the earth will just open up and swallow us all."

"I know it." Bess was almost in tears. She didn't like to be roared at.

She took scoldings harder than anyone else in the crowd, because at home she had always been made to feel that what she did was right.

"Bessie, you're such a silly," Nan laughed. "You've got the wrong pocket-book. That isn't the one you had with you this morning. You had the little black one and that's over there on your trunk. Remember, you put it there when you came in so that you would be sure to know where it was when you wanted it again."

Bess laughed too now. "Isn't that just like me, always hunting for something and always finding it just where it ought to be?"

"I do that too," Laura sympathized as they three left the room. And so does everyone, but Bess had a habit of getting confused and impatient as soon as things went wrong and using all her energy in getting excited.

Nan generally remained calm and found things. Laura was calm too and that because she never took anything very seriously. If she couldn't find one thing, another would do, and so she always went happily on her way.

Bess was thinking of this, as Nan pushed the b.u.t.ton for the automatic elevator. "But you couldn't have subst.i.tuted anything for the visitors'

pa.s.s." She directed her remark to Laura as though they had been talking over the thing she was thinking about.

"Whatever are you talking about?" Laura laughed. "Or, is it a secret?

You know what happens to people in this country who go around talking to themselves? They throw them to the bulls. Now, come on, Bessie," she finished. "You may be a harum-scarum child, but we love you. Cheer up."

At this, the elevator jolted and settled to its place on the first floor and the three girls stepped out to find Adair, Alice, Walker Jamieson and the rest all waiting for them.

"Thought you had cold feet, and were backing out." Walker Jamieson greeted them with this sally as they all walked down the entrance stairs and out to their waiting car.

"Look!" Nan pointed at a street car they were pa.s.sing.

"At what?" Laura questioned.

"Oh, you were too late," Nan answered while she adjusted her camera so that it would be ready for her to take pictures when she wanted to.

"There was a sign on that car which said, 'Toreo.'"

"What does that mean?" Grace questioned.

"Bullfight, darling, that's where you are going now," Laura answered.

"See, there's the sign that Nan saw again. It's on the front of that bus that's stopped across the street. This must be a holiday. Practically everyone seems to have dusted off his best sombrero and come out on the streets."

"It's a holiday everyday here." Adair MacKenzie turned around to join in the conversation. "Saw a calendar of festivals posted in the hotel lobby. No end to it. No wonder the people never get anything done."

"I saw that too," Walker Jamieson remarked. "Saw something else posted on a bulletin board that was interesting. It was a warning to everyone to take good care of his visitor's pa.s.s. Right beside it was the announcement of a reward being offered to anyone who could give information as to the whereabouts of one Antonio Mazaro, an American citizen and former aviator, who is suspected of being an accomplice in an international smuggling ring."

"They must be the smugglers Mr. Nogales told us about at the border,"

Nan remarked.

Walker Jamieson said nothing further. The truth, was, however, that he had just an hour before received an a.s.signment from a big New York newspaper to cover certain aspects of this smuggling ring story, and he was already wondering whether or not it was going to be possible for him to go on to the Hacienda as he had planned.

"These Mexicans will never catch anyone, much less a band of American crooks." Adair MacKenzie looked around again. "Need a couple of good G-men down here, if they're going to find out anything at all."

"Think so too," Walker agreed, "they are sending some down, I understand."

"You got your nose in the story?" Adair MacKenzie asked abruptly, and everyone looked at Walker, waiting for his answer.

CHAPTER XV

A BULLFIGHT

"Oh, always interested in whatever goes on," Walker answered off-handedly. "You know how it is. See a story breaking, you want to be in on the kill. Just can't help yourself. Gets in your blood, after you've worked on any paper for a while.

"Back four years ago, I went up into northern Canada for a vacation.

Chose that spot because I thought it would be far away from newspapers and stories of all kinds. I guess I was feeling rather disgusted with everything and wanted to get away, so when an old newspaper buddy who had struck out a claim for himself asked me to go up and do a little prospecting for gold with him, I jumped at the chance.

"It looked like an ideal set-up. We were to go alone to his cabin which was miles away from civilization and stay there for the summer. We stocked up with plenty of food, some books I had been wanting to read for a long time, and took a radio along.

"I had a book I wanted to write, something I had started and never found time to finish. Oh, it was nothing," he added as Nan and the rest looked impressed. "All newspaper people think that some day they'll write a book that will take the world by storm.

"Well, I thought I would finish that, do some prospecting and just have a nice quiet time for myself. The chap I was going up with was a nice sort of fellow, quiet like myself.

"We went by train as far as we could go, and then got an old Indian to paddle us the rest of the way in a canoe. It was nice going. We took it leisurely, stopped and fished along the banks of the river, and camped for three days in a gorgeous spot that seemed as remote from civilization as any place could possibly be.