Annie Roe Carr

“ I can flock by myself," said Rhoda, quite cheerfully.
"But you can have so much better times if you are friends with the other girls."
"I don't know about that. I don't like any of them—as far as I've gone. Except you. Out where I come from—at Rose Ranch—there are plenty of Mexican girls and Indian girls who are much more ladylike than this crowd. Why! these girls are savages."
"Oh, no, Rhoda! Not quite that," laughed Nan. "You don't understand. And I am afraid they won't understand you." ”

“ They are leading the herd and will spread out at the mouth of the canyon and keep the flanks of the mob from drifting."
"Oh! The ponies!" shrieked Bess suddenly.
Out of the rolling dust cloud below them were thrust the bobbing heads, shaking manes, and plunging forefeet of the leaders of the herd. Black horses, red horses, gray, white, all shades of roan, pinto, and the coveted buckskin color, which always sells well in the West.
The tossing manes became like the surf of an angry sea. The thunder of hoofs was all but deafening. ”

“ We call it a round-up. 'Rodeo' is Mexican for it. We drive them into the branding pens and mark the colts. Then we cut out the horses that are needed on the ranch, or to train for sale, and let the others drift again."
"And do all the poor horses have to be burned?" murmured Grace, with a shudder.
"And our cattle, too. How else would we know them from other people's cattle?" demanded Rhoda. "It's nowhere near so horrid as it sounds. The smart is soon over. And, really, how else could we tell the creatures apart?"
"Goodness! don't ask me" said Grace. "I am not in the cattle business." ”

“ Nan explained to Bess and Grace afterward, "I think we more than half convinced that Mexican girl that it was not her mother's money that dressed Rhoda so nicely."
"How you talk!" exclaimed Rhoda. "I am sorry for that Mex. But, goodness! how mad she was. Just as mad as a lion!"
"'Lion'!" sniffed Bess. "What do you know about lions?"
"We have them about Rose Ranch," said Rhoda, smiling wickedly.
"Oh, never!" squealed Grace.
"Why, lions grow in Africa," said Bess, doubtfully.
"More properly they are pumas, I suppose. But the boys call 'em lions," laughed Rhoda. ”

“ The disaster was one that would be long remembered by the Rose Ranch cowpunchers, as well as by the ranch owner himself. A more disastrous stampede had seldom been known in that vicinity.
Already the coyotes were appearing—slip-footed and sneaking! They began to gorge on the more distant carcasses of the dead cattle before the chuck wagon was out of sight. And around and around overhead the buzzards circled, dropping at last to the ground and pecking at the stiffened carcasses. Bald-headed these vultures, with scrofulous looking necks and unwinking eyes. ”

“ But I think," said Rhoda, closing the glasses and putting them in the case again, "that they are a band of wanderers. Perhaps a raiding party led by one of the so-called 'liberators' of Mexico. You know, there are more 'liberators' in Mexico than you can shake a stick at," and the girl of Rose Ranch laughed.
"You mean bandits!" cried Nan.
"Well, that is a harsh word. They are political leaders for the most part. Sometimes they become important leaders. But when they come over on this side of the Border they need just as close watching as a pack of wolves." ”

“ Their ponies were still excited, and Rhoda warned her companions to keep them well in hand.
Skulking among the rocks at the edge of the plain, they saw several tawny creatures whose eyes were evidently fixed longingly on the herd of horses.
"Coyotes," said Rhoda. "They haven't a chance, unless a colt goes lame and loses its mother."
"Why don't we shoot them?" demanded Walter eagerly.
"They are not worth the powder we'd waste," declared Rhoda. "And then, they are sort of scavengers. We would not think of shooting a vulture; so why not let the coyotes live—out here? ”

“ Nan, however, awoke long before dawn again. She felt lame and stiff, like an old person afflicted with rheumatism. The unusualness of the previous day's activities caused this stiffness of the joints and soreness of her muscles.
She heard the fires crackling and saw the reflection of firelight on the side of the tent, so she knew the cooks were astir. But nobody else seemed to be moving yet, and Nan might have turned over for another nap had it not been for a peculiar sound which suddenly smote upon her ear, and seemingly from a long way off. ”

“ Tom Collins, the cook, was a talkative man, if Hesitation Kane was not. Tom reined his pony into the group of young people and began spinning yarns, some of which perhaps had but a thin warp of truth. He thought it was his privilege to "string along the tenderfoots" a little. One thing he told the girls and Walter, however, interested them immensely.
"You know, I came pretty near roping that black outlaw the day of the tornado. Criminy, if I'd got him!"
"Now, Tom, don't tell us that," commanded Rhoda. "You know there isn't a horse on the ranch that can come anywhere near him in speed." ”

“ Rhoda had to look up her mother's friend.
"What are you going to do, Rhoda?" asked the bubbling Bess. "Track her down as you would an Indian? Look for signs—?"
"I don't believe in signs," responded Rhoda. "I am going to look for the best dressed woman in Chicago. Such lovely clothes as she wears!"
"I guess that must be so," said Grace as Rhoda walked out of ear-shot, "for Mrs. Janeway chose Rhoda's own outfit, and you know there wasn't a better dressed girl at Lakeview."
"Wow!" murmured her brother. "What a long tale about dress! Don't you girls ever think of anything but what you put on?" ”

“ I wanted to know which was the more dangerous end of a gun."
"Bravo!" cried Nan, laughing.
"Why, if you want, I can supply you all with firearms," said Rhoda. "There are plenty at the ranch. And the boys most always lug around a 'gat,' as they call 'em, because of the coyotes."
"Oh, dear me! are they dangerous?" demanded Grace.
"The coyotes? Only to stray calves and lame cattle. We seldom see anything more dangerous. And as long as you are on horseback you are perfectly safe, anyway, even from a lion."
"There she goes talking about lions again," murmured Bess. ”

“ And I guess it's true," said Walter.
Rhoda had run across the tracks toward where a two-seated buckboard, drawn by a pair of eager ponies, was standing. Beside it stood two saddle horses, their heads drooping and their reins trailing before them in the dust. The man who drove the ponies wore a huge straw sombrero of Mexican manufacture. When he turned to look at his employer's daughter the others saw a very solemn and sunburned visage.
"Oh, Hess!" cried Rhoda. "How are you? Is mother all right?" ”

“ The four girls, keeping close together, entered suddenly a gulch, the side of which broke the velocity of the wind. They stood there, the four ponies huddled together, in a whirl of dust and flying debris.
"Shout for him!" commanded Rhoda. "Don't cry, Grace. Walter is quite smart enough to look out for himself."
"Don't be a baby, dear," Nan said, leaning forward to pat Grace's arm. "He will be all right. And so shall we."
"But not standing here!" exclaimed Rhoda, after they had almost split their throats, as Bess declared, shrieking for the missing boy. "We must go farther up the gulch. ”

“ Nan and Bess had no means of keeping horses at home if they owned them; so when they left Rose Ranch they bade their pretty steeds good-by—perhaps with a few secret tears. For the little beasts had carried them for many miles, and safely, over the ranges.
Life at Rose Ranch never lacked variety, it seemed. Never again would the Eastern girls pity Rhoda Hammond because of her home life, and wonder if she did not miss much that they considered necessary to their happiness and comfort. ”

“ Both Nan and Bess received letters from home, and they ran at once to Room Seven, Corridor Four, to read them. Scarcely had they broken the seals of the two fat missives when the door was flung open and Grace Mason fairly catapulted herself into the room in such a state of excitement that she startled the Tillbury chums.
"What is the matter, Grace?" gasped Bess, as the smaller girl threw herself into Nan's arms.
"Why! she's only happy," said Nan, holding her off and viewing her flushed and animated countenance. "Do get your breath, Gracie." ”

“ It isn't the sun shining on guns, is it?"
"Nonsense!" cried Nan Sherwood.
"No-o," said Rhoda. "People don't carry guns that way around here. Besides, the only part of a gun that the sun would flash on would be the bayonet; and we don't carry army rifles in this country," and she laughed.
"There it is again!" exclaimed Walter.
"I see it, too," said Nan. "Rhoda, what can it be? Something is surely moving this way on a road."
"That is the old Spanish Trail," said the Rose Ranch girl. "It is the trail I told you about, by which the old Conquistadors of Cortez reached this part of the country. ”

“ Grace began to sob. Nan and Bess were really frightened dumb for the time. Rhoda Hammond felt that she should keep up their courage.
"Don't, Gracie. Don't get all worked up. There must be some sensible explanation of the sound. It is nothing that is going to hurt us—"
"How do you know?" demanded Grace.
"Because, if it was any animal that might attack us, it surely would have come nearer. And it hasn't. Besides, if it were a dangerous beast, the ponies would have shown signs of uneasiness long since." ”

“ This time it was Walter who gathered up her belongings rather than Nan.
"I never do know what I do with things," sighed Bess. "When I start on a journey I have so few; and when I arrive at my destination it does seem as though I am always in possession of much more than my share. Thank you, Walter," she concluded demurely. "I think boys are awfully nice to have around."
"In that case," said Rhoda, leading the way out of the car as the train slowed down, "you are going to have plenty of boys to wait on you when you get to Rose Ranch. ”

“ Rhoda and Walter both carried rifles now, and Nan was eager to get a shot at something besides a tin can.
The herd of horses had gone down into the valley, of course; therefore more timid creatures ventured out of the hills on to the plain. It was not an hour after high-noon when Rhoda descried through her glasses a group of grazing animals some distance ahead.
"Goodness! what are they?" demanded Bess, when her attention had been called to them. "Chickens?"
"The idea!"
"They don't look any bigger than chickens," said Bess, with confidence. ”

“ But he says it isn't often necessary to speak to a horse. The less you talk to them the better trained they are. And Hess is daddy's boss wrangler."
"'Wrangler'?"
"Horse wrangler. Horse trainer, that means."
"But, my goodness!" chuckled Walter, "'to wrangle' certainly means quarreling in speech. I should think it was almost like a Quaker meeting when this Mr. Kane trains a pony."
"It is a fact," laughed Rhoda, "that the ponies make much more noise than Hesitation does."
As they entered this deeper gulch, the girls cried out in delight. The trail was narrow and grassy. ”

“ And that seems impossible. There is no wild man about, of course, Rhoda?"
"Not that I ever heard of," said the girl of Rose Ranch. "Nobody wilder than our cowboys," and she tried to laugh.
"Well, then, we must not pay any attention to the noise," said Nan, the practical.
"Come on, now," said Rhoda, starting to one side with the pony she led. "Bring them all over here and I will hobble them. Then we can find some place to sit down and wait for the storm to pass. It will rain terribly after the wind. It always does."
"That is all right, Rhoda. I had forgotten about the tornado," said
Bess. ”

“ Out of sight of the ranch house they very quickly found themselves in what seemed to the visitors a pathless plain. Off to the left a huge herd of red and white cattle was feeding. It was broken up into little groups and the creatures looked no more harmful than cows back home. There was not a herdsman in sight.
"Why," said Bess, "I expected to see cowboys riding around and around the cattle all the time, and hear them singing songs."
"They do do that at night. The riding, anyway. And most of the boys try to sing. It takes up time and keeps 'em from being lonely," replied Rhoda. ”

“ Rhoda declared. "When he learns all about it he will decide who is to have the horse. Of course, he was originally the property of the Long Bow Ranch and that brand is on him now. But daddy will fix it right."
"Say!" suddenly cried Bess, "did this party start out from Rose Ranch to hunt wild horses? I—should—say—not! We are after treasure—"
"Oh, girls, see here!" interrupted Grace Mason suddenly. "What do you suppose this can be?"
While the horse wrangler went for a rope to use in holding and leading the wild horse, Grace had gone back a way into the tunnel. ”

“ Swerving down an arroyo, all green and lush at the bottom, they cantered up into the mouth of a broad gulch, the walls of which later became so steep that it might well be called a canyon.
The ponies never walked—up grade, or down. They cantered or galloped. Hesitation Kane never spoke to them; but they seemed to know just what he wanted them to do by the way he used the reins—and they did it.
"I don't see how he does it," said Walter to Rhoda. "It doesn't seem really possible that one could make a horse understand without speech." ”

“ For a moment Nan Sherwood wondered if the older girls intended to reach the subterranean passage which connected the trunk room with the boathouse at the foot of the cliff. Then she remembered that the trunk room would be locked at this hour and that Mrs. Cupp had the key.
But the gymnasium was down here, too. The cellars under the school were enormous. Castle-like, the great, rambling building had been constructed by a man with more imagination than money. ”

“ The other girls would never have dared venture into the dark pocket behind that boulder had Rhoda not led them. She dismounted, and, seizing her pony's bridle, started around the huge rock and into the cavity.
"Must we take in the horses, too?" cried Bess. "I never!"
"I won't balk at a stable, if we can get out of this wind," Nan declared. "Go ahead, Gracie, dear. Don't cry. Walter will be all right."
"But do you think we shall be all right?" asked Bess of her chum, when Grace had started in behind Rhoda. ”

“ The girls and Walter dismounted, and Rhoda warned them to stand in front of their mounts and keep the bridle-reins in their hands.
They could not yet see the head of the herd; but above the boulders they saw a cloud of dust rising. This dust rolled down the canyon and reached the observers first. Then appeared several horsemen riding at a sharp canter. The range horse almost never trots.
Rhoda had to shout to make her voice heard by her friends above the clatter of hoofs:
"Some of those are our men; others belong to the Long Bow, Gridiron, and Bar One outfits. ”

“ Time and again the girls ventured through the tunnel. The water did not rise much higher; but it did not decrease. Nightfall must be approaching. Bess and Grace both wore wrist watches; but they had no matches and it was too dark to see the faces of the timepieces.
The girls were growing very hungry; but that was no criterion, for they had eaten no lunch. Time is bound to drag by very slowly when people are thrust into such a position as this; it might not be near supper time after all.
"I do hope we shan't have to stay here over night. Can't we wade out through the gully, Rhoda?" Grace asked. ”