"Oh, Laura, you old meany," Nan laughed. "You know she isn't half as bad as you make her out to be."

"No, she isn't," Laura agreed. "Lakeview Hall certainly wouldn't be complete without her. Why, down here in Mexico--well, on the border of Mexico--when I'm going farther and farther away from her all the time, I can almost believe that I'm fond of her. But don't let me talk about it," she pretended to sniff as though she was going to cry, "or I'll be getting homesick for her."

"Small chance of your ever getting homesick for anyone," Bess remarked, "but let's hear what it is Amelia wants to tell us about and then go downstairs, I'm almost starved."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Amelia," Nan handed over the book, "I didn't mean to monopolize it." These Lakeview Hall girls, together for so many years under all sorts of circ.u.mstances, were still polite to one another and thoughtful about little things. They teased one another, laughed at one another's faults, and quarreled sometimes among themselves, but they were always eager to forgive and more than anxious to please. This was why they had been friends for so long. They were never really jealous of one another and were always ready to praise anyone in the group who did anything outstanding.

"It's all right, Nan," Amelia answered as she reached for the book. "I merely thought that this story of the founding of Mexico City might be fun to read. It's short, Bess, so we'll be downstairs in just a few minutes. Here it is.

"'When the Aztecs, a people that inhabited this part of Mexico long before the coming of the white man from across the water, were wandering from place to place in search of a spot on which to establish themselves, their head priest had a vision.

"'In it, he saw their War G.o.d and heard him telling them to go on and on until they found an eagle on a cactus growing from the rock. The cactus, the War G.o.d said, was the heart of his treacherous nephew who had waged war against him and lost. As punishment, he had been put to death and his heart was torn from him and thrown into the lake. It fell upon a rock among the reeds, and from it grew a cactus so big and strong that an eagle, seeking a place to build his nest, had made his home upon it.

"'The Aztecs heeded the words of their War G.o.d as told them by the priest. For years they wandered, until finally, one morning very early, their long search was rewarded. They came upon the eagle on the cactus!

His wings were extended to the rays of the sun and in his claws he held a snake.

"'So it was here that they built their city and even to this day, the cactus and the eagle, holding a snake in his beak, is Mexico's emblem.'"

With this, Amelia closed the book.

"So that's why I've been seeing that symbol on so many Mexican things all these years," Nan commented. "I've wondered what it meant, but was always too lazy to look it up. How strange the history of this country is that we are going into! I wonder what will happen."

"Probably everything," Laura said, "so, now I think we'd better go downstairs and eat, fortify ourselves so to speak for any emergency."

"Guess you're right," Nan laughed. And with this, Nan and her friends all hurried down to breakfast and to the beginning of another day in their Mexican adventure.

CHAPTER VII

BESS SMELLS A ROMANCE

"Well, how are the charming senoritas this morning?" Walker Jamieson dropped his feet from the chair next to him and rose as Nan and her friends entered the lounge of the hotel.

"Let's see, one, two, three, four, five, yes, there are six of you still. There was no victory for the mosquitoes last night I can see. I had an idea," he nodded his head slowly as though he had been seriously considering the subject, "that all would go well after my joust with the man-sized monster that forced its way into my room. Boy, was it a big one! It had a million legs like tentacles that wound themselves around me so that if it hadn't been for my trusty Excalibur, none of us would have been here this morning. It was a fight." He shook his head as though the recollection was more than he could bear.

"Yes, we can see it was." Alice, too, had been waiting for the girls to appear. "We can see the marks of the b.l.o.o.d.y battle all over your face."

"Can you really?" Walker Jamieson grinned down at the girl who was just a foot shorter than himself. "Well, they are all for you ladies," he pretended now to doff a big sombrero and sweep it across in front of him in the most approved style.

"What's all this nonsense?" Adair MacKenzie joined the party. "Can't stand silliness any time, and least of all before breakfast. Now, get out into that dining room and eat."

At this, the whole party moved. "Don't intend to spend the summer in Laredo," Adair muttered as he followed them.

Breakfast was a silent meal--silent that is, save for Adair's sputtering into his coffee. At its finish, he pushed his plate back, called the waiter and gave him an extraordinarily large tip, and turned to his young cousin.

"Well, Nancy," he said agreeably, "How are things with you this fine morning? Ready to move on? And you, Bess, and all the rest of you, are you all right? Now, let me tell you all a secret," he went on as he realized how quiet everyone had been throughout the meal, "I'm not really such a bad old soul. Oh, I lose my temper at times. I admit that," he said generously, "but I'm not bad, not bad at all." He shook his head as though he was entirely satisfied with himself and the world in general.

"And you there, Jamieson, you're not bad either," he went on.

Walker nodded his head as though he acquiesced entirely and Alice beamed on everyone. It was nice to have everyone in such a happy frame of mind, she thought, and then, for luck, crossed her fingers.

"And now, daddy," she ventured while he was still in his expansive mood, "What's on the program for today?"

"Oh, lots of things, lots of nice things," he looked very pleased with himself. "First off, how soon can you all be ready to move on? We should be moving along to Mexico City, a grand place, one of the most interesting cities I've ever visited. What say you, Jamieson?"

"Eh, what?" Jamieson had been quite bowled over by the old man's sudden change in mood and had been wondering whether it would be the right time now to ask whether he could kidnap Alice for part of the morning. He was trying to signal her to ask her opinion, when the question was addressed to him. Now, he was at a complete loss, for he had heard nothing of the conversation that preceded the query.

"I say," Adair repeated his question patiently, "isn't Mexico City a grand place?"

"Yes, yes, a grand place," Walker answered absently. Had Alice understood what he was signaling? He couldn't be sure. What was she telling him with her lips. Was it "Better wait" or "Better not." "What?"

The question came out audibly without his realizing it.

It was Nan, the darling, who saved the day. She had been watching the frantic efforts of Walker Jamieson to communicate with Alice and noted his lack of success. She, too, had been trying to read Alice's answer and was as startled as Walker when his "what?" was voiced. Now, like a "veteran" (Walker used the word later when he promised to buy her something, anything from a gorgeously colored serape to an jade bracelet for coming to his rescue) she filled the breach.

"I said," she affirmed, looking at Walker as though she was answering his question, "that we can all be ready to leave about noon, if it pleases cousin Adair." She turned to her cousin somewhat diffidently as she added this last. The truth was, of course, that she and her friends could have left in an hour, in a half hour, but it was fun trying to help Walker and Alice out.

"Let's see," Adair took out his big gold watch and considered. "Noon.

That gives us a few hours to make a good start on our way before dark.

Could you make it by eleven?"

Nan looked at Walker. "Eleven-thirty." She read his lips.

"Eleven-thirty," she smiled up at her cousin.

"You little beggar, you," he tweaked the pink ear that showed just beneath her brown bobbed hair, "you'll be able to barter with those Mexicans like a veteran. It's your Scotch blood." He looked proud of her as he turned to the others, "Well, Nan here says 'eleven-thirty', so eleven-thirty it is. Now get out, all of you, I've got some business to attend to, and I don't want to see any more of any of you until it's time to leave. No, not even you," he added as he looked at Alice.

They all strolled out of the dining room together and Walker executed a few fancy little steps for Nan's benefit, as, when they reached the elevators, he and Alice went on past them to the doors and out.

"Why, Nan Sherwood, it's a romance. Walker Jamieson is in love with Alice MacKenzie. I'll bet you anything." Bess's face was all alight as she closed the door of Nan's room. "It's just thrilling. Did you see the way the two of them walked away together. Why, they were so glad you said you couldn't be ready until eleven-thirty! I just know they were!"

Bess was fairly bubbling over with excitement. "Didn't you see it at all?"

"See what?" Nan pretended innocence.

"Why, how glad they were, of course," Bess seemed impatient with Nan's inability to see a romance when it was right under her nose.

"Oh, Bess, you imagine things," Nan answered. She didn't want Bess to be aware at all that she had tried to help Alice and Walker out.

"Imagine things! You're just blind, that's all," Bess was very proud of her discovery. "They are in love with one another and they'll get married in Mexico. You'll be the maid of honor and we'll be the bridesmaids and everything will be just grand, won't it?"

"Bess, Bess," Nan laughed, "how you do jump to conclusions! Have you ever considered that the bride has to have someone to give her away and have you tried to imagine cousin Adair giving Alice away?"

Bess was all soberness immediately. "No, I didn't think of that," she admitted. "Oh, what can we do about him?" she puckered her brows as if Adair was an immediate and very difficult problem. "If we could get him right after he has had a good breakfast," she laughed, "maybe he would be as nice as he was this morning and then I'm sure everything would be all right."

"Or," she continued, as a new and better idea came to her, "they could elope. Wouldn't that be exciting, Nan? And just think how mad your cousin would be. No, that's not so good either. Mr. MacKenzie would probably disown Alice and then they wouldn't have all his money."

"Bess!" Nan exclaimed, "how you do run on."