The Mystery in Arizona

school on account of it?”
    Trixie thought for a minute. “Bobby doesn’t cry very much. Why have you been crying, Petey?”
    He doubled up his grimy fists. “On account of my mommy is an ole meany. She wouldn’t let me go wif Granddaddy and all of ’em. So I’m gonna run away to where Granddaddy is. I’m not scared of that great big ole monkey.”
    “What monkey?” Trixie asked curiously.
    He pursed his Ups. “Guess maybe you’d call him a g’rilla, he’s that big. I’m not tailing about the little ones that sort of hop and dance around you. I’m talking about the great big ’normous one that’s way up high, you know, all ready to jump down on you and eat you all up.”
    It was Trixie’s turn to stare. “What are you talking about? Did your granddaddy go someplace where there are lots of monkeys? A zoo, maybe?”
    He shook his head. “Zoo! It’s sort of a cavelike place. But I’m not scared of that great big ole ape! I’m going to give him a great big swat just the way I did last year, and then I’m going to eat him all up.” Trixie frowned, tom between curiosity and the voice of her conscience, which told her that she shouldn’t try to get information from this child about where the Orlandos had gone.
    “You shouldn’t talk about running away, Petey,” she said at last and rather reluctantly. “You’re not old enough to go anywhere without your mother. I’m sure you know that.”
    He sniffed again. “I go to school wifout my mother. Guess I can go where Granddaddy went wifout her. And I’m not scared of that great big ole green man wif the big red eyes and the horns. Last year I was sort of scared of him, but I’m a big boy now. I’m six, and when he goes dancing and hopping all around the cave, I’m gonna just laugh and laugh.”
    Trixie’s curiosity got the better of the small voice of her conscience. “What cave?”
    Petey glared at her. “I just tole you. It’s sort of a cavelike place. It’s all dark and shadowy in the comers ’cause it’s not lighted ’cept with candles. And then all the horrible peoples come in and dance around, ’cept that they isn’t peoples. They is mostly sort of like animals.” He tucked his thumbs through the straps of his overalls. “I guess maybe my grand-mommy is sort of scared of ’em, ’cause she didn’t want to go this year, but then Tio came, and he and Granddaddy talked loud, and then Grandmommy began to pack, and she wanted to take me wif her, but my mommy kept saying, ‘No, no, no!’ ”
    Then, aware of the fact that he had been shouting,
    he clapped a small hand over his mouth and raced inside the cabin.
    Trixie went into the kitchen, more convinced than ever that the Orlandos had left for some mysterious reason. Where was the horrible cave Petey had described? Why would anyone want to go to such a place?
    The answer must be that they hadn’t wanted to go, but the man Petey called Tio must have threatened them. Who was Tio? He was, of course, the strange Mexican whom Uncle Monty had spoken about yesterday. But who was he? What power did he have over the Orlandos?
    The other girls were already seated at the long table about to eat something that smelled delicious.
    “How did you make out, Trix?” Honey asked. “We were beginning to get worried about you. Did you get held up by Calamity Jane?”
    “Not for long,” Trixie said, “although she did come back to her room before I finished, and she is awfully unhappy about something. She was crying like anything when I left, and it was she whom I heard crying out on the patio last night, Honey. I think she ought to be your special guest. I couldn’t dream up a word to say when she suddenly burst into tears.”
    “Maybe we should switch,” Honey said. “I got caught by Lady Astorbilt before I’d finished tidying her room, and, honestly, she looks so funny in Levi’s that I could hardly keep from laughing at her. She’s much too fat to wear them, and she’s going to look like a fool if she appears in that costume at the square dance tomorrow night.”
    “That’s what I’m going to wear at the square dance,” Trixie announced firmly.
    “No, you’re not,” Honey replied. “We’re all three going to wear our new cotton dresses with the low necks and full skirts. And we’ll wear sweaters and skirts to La Posada this evening.”
    “La Posada “, Trixie interrupted. “I guess we can’t go, can we? We’ll be setting the tables for dinner when it