Tom drove through the bustling plaza to the Indian reservation three miles distant. Taos Pueblo, built before Columbus discovered 42 TRIPHIBIAN ATOMICAR
America, rose from a plain at the foot of the smoky-blue range like a child’s brown mud castle. It was rectangular and terraced, with crude wooden ladders leading from one story to the next higher one. Black-haired Indians, garbed in blankets, sat before the turquoise and red doors of their apartments.
“How fascinating!” Phyl exclaimed.
After touring the settlement, Tom drove back to the town. Here an Indian directed the visitors to the adobe studio of Benn Garth. The jeweler’s eyes lighted as Sandy showed him her ring.
“I’ve never seen a ruby quite like this before,” he said, examining the stone through a jeweler’s loop. “Looks rather like the kind from Afghanistan, but this has much finer fire.”
“Do you think it came from Kabulistan?” Tom asked casually.
Garth looked up at him. “Oddly enough, I do. I’ve seen only a few museum specimens from the Kabulistan mine, but this certainly resembles them in color.”
At that moment Phyl gasped and pointed toward the window. As the others turned, they saw a dark-featured man in an Oriental turban suddenly duck out of sight!
CHAPTER IV
STARTLING PHONE CALL
BUD whirled into action and darted out the front door of the studio. He collided head-on with the man in the turban!
The jolt left Bud speechless for a moment. Recovering, he gripped the man’s arm and demanded, “Why were you spying on us?”
“I beg your pardon, but I was not.” The dark-featured man shook off Bud’s arm. “I was merely passing the window on my way to enter the studio and happened to glance in. Now will you please allow me to get by?”