Grace May North

“ Rizor. Good! Here is dear old V. M. I’m glad to be home, aren’t you, Megsy? I feel as though we had been away a year. Tom, there is the bunkhouse yonder, I think Slim and Rusty Pete must be there for their ponies are in the corral. Tell them that you are our new cow-boy. They’ll like you and I’m sure that you will like them.”
When the girls had dismounted at the wide front veranda, and Tom had led their ponies back to the corral, they entered the house and Margaret sank down in a big, comfortable chair as she said with a sigh of contentment. “Well, now I am beginning to feel real once more. ”

“ Half an hour later Margaret cantered away, feeling very brave indeed, as this was the first time she had started out on a desert trail all alone and unprotected. When she reached the mesa, she drew rein and looked about. Not a horseman was to be seen, only the gleaming white sand with here and there a mesquite brush, or a clump of wiry grass or a spot of flaming color where some hardy plant was blossoming. ”

“ Later, as Barbara and Margaret were riding side by side following the other two the impulsive Babs exclaimed, “Oh, Megsy, isn’t she truly beautiful? How her dark eyes glow and do see those thick shiny black braids that hang far below her waist. I just know that I am going to love her, too.”
“She is beautiful,” Margaret agreed, “but I think it is because there is something truly noble about her face. Virginia has told me that Winona longed to go away to school but she relinquished her desire that she might remain here and teach the little Papago children and help her own people.” ”

“ Poor Uncle Tex, dressed in a linen suit and wearing a wide panama hat, was miserably uncomfortable, and, as he stood at the window in the big living-room, he looked longingly toward the distant mountains. Even yet he could escape, but if his “gal” needed his help at this play acting, he’d try to do his best, but how he did wish that he might change places with Slim, the lithe young cow-boy who at that moment was within the range of the old man’s vision endeavoring to break the wild spirits of a bucking broncho. ”

“ Ten minutes later Virginia opened the door very quietly that she might not attract the attention of the old cow-man and together the two girls stepped out into the gathering darkness.
“What a cold black night it is,” Margaret said as she drew more closely about her the woollen scarf that she had thrown over her shoulders. “Hark, what is that moaning sound?”
“It’s the wind rising. I believe we are going to have a sand storm. Let’s creep low that we may keep hidden among the mesquite bushes. The house may be watched.” ”

“ Whirling his pony, the little Indian had galloped toward the dusky maiden, who paused to listen to what he had to say with an eager interest.
Then, placing her water jar upon a large, flat rock, she approached the newcomer who had dismounted, having first assured himself that the pack of wolf-like dogs was not in evidence.
To his surprise the Indian maiden spoke in the English language and, without the least embarrassment held out her slim, dark hand as she said, “Welcome, Virginia’s friend. You have traveled far and are hungry. I am Winona and I will give you breakfast.” ”

“ The other three girls often looked back as they climbed the cliff trail.
“Who is Barbara?” Winona asked. “I never heard you speak of her, Virginia.”
“That is because Virginia never knew her,” Margaret replied. “Babs was my roommate at boarding school. She is such a dear, lovable girl, but, though she seems happy-hearted, she is always grieving for her lost brother. She cares more for him than for any one else in the whole world, but it is so long since she has heard from him, she believes him to be dead.” ”

“ And so with the Slater cow-boy in the lead and Malcolm in the rear, the little procession started up the steep trail. But they had not gone far when Slick Cy whirled in his saddle and held up a warning hand. Malcolm had also heard the low ominous sound which seemed to be gathering in volume as though whatever caused it, with each second, was drawing nearer.
“What is it?” the eastern girl inquired, looking from one startled face to another.
“It’s the blizzard I dreaded,” Malcolm replied. “Cy, what shall we do? Just ahead of us the trail is exposed. ”

“ Then, catching Margaret’s hand, Virginia added: “Megsy, you would just love to have our friend visit you out here some time, wouldn’t you? Please tell her, when you write, that she will be most welcome whenever she wishes to come.”
“Oh, Virginia, thank you!” Margaret hugged the taller girl. “I believe Babs would come some day. She has an income of her own. You would just love her, I know.” ”

“ Half an hour later when the dishes were washed and cleared away and the girls retired to their rooms for an afternoon siesta, Virginia confided, “Megsy, I have never before been so interested in a boy as I am in Tom, have you? Do you suppose we will ever find out who he really is?” ”

“ Virginia and Margaret were happily excited. “Virg,” Megsy exclaimed, “don’t you think that Malcolm and Slick Cy act as though they have a secret that they don’t wish us to know?”
“Yes, I have noticed it,” Virginia said as she stood on a chair to place a tiny doll on the top-most bough. “What do you suppose it can be?”
“Perhaps they have a present for us,” Margaret replied. Then she added: “I keep thinking of poor Babs and wishing that she was with us.”
“Why poor? I thought you said that Babs has a good income.” Virginia held a toy horse as she glanced inquiringly at her friend. ”

“ Is he buried alive?” Margaret asked.
“No, not often that. Sometimes he turns and rides with the wind until it has abated. Let’s get the darning basket, shall we? This is such a cozy time to sit by the fire and mend. I always enjoy it most when there is a storm outside, don’t you?”
Fifteen minutes later the two girls were comfortably curled up in easy chairs in front of the wide grate on which a mesquite root was cheerfully burning. Margaret, dropping her darning into her lap sat watching the flames.
“A penny for your thoughts,” Virginia teased. Margaret looked up with a little laugh. ”

“ Babs sat up and looked interested. “Margaret, what if it should be a real cow-boy like the ones we have seen in the moving pictures. Those handsome young giants who are always helping damsels in distress. Wouldn’t that be romantic? I’m just wild to see a live cow-boy myself. They are fascinating on the screen.”
“Well, they don’t appeal to me,” Margaret replied, “I prefer boys who are dressed in civilized clothes and who know how to talk. All of the cow-boys in fiction use the queerest kind of a language.”
Four bells pealed through the corridors and Barbara rose reluctantly. ”

“ Harry asked as he held out his hand. “I will be able to read it.” Virginia gave him the small paper and then they all waited, scarcely breathing in their eagerness. The ticking of the big clock on the wall was the only sound that broke the stillness. Suddenly Harry leaped to his feet, his face tense, “Malcolm,” he cried, “there isn’t a minute to lose! Quick! Call the herders, we’ll need all the help we can get.” Then, not realizing that he had not told the message to the girls, he left the house, and raced toward the bunkhouse, shouting to Lopez. ”

“ Margaret sang out, as she and Virginia were hurled along at a merry pace from the “hen corral,” the small fenced-in enclosure whither the girls had been to gather eggs.
When they reached the shelter of the kitchen, Virginia declared, “It’s great fun to race with the wind back of one, but I wouldn’t care to go far across the desert facing this gale. I suppose that it will blow now for days and days. It usually does in March. Sometimes it hurls the sand against our windows in terrific gusts and woe to the horseman who is caught out in a such a storm.” ”

“ Barbara laughed. “I do not wonder that you are amazed,” she declared. “We three girls have been living in a whirl of strange adventure of late, and honestly I am not at all sure that we are real. Perhaps, as you first suggested, we may be merely visions, and yet,” she added doubtfully as she sniffed the appetizing odors, “can a vision be ravenously hungry for ham and eggs and coffee? But I am quite forgetting my manners. Doesn’t it seem queer that I had to cross a continent to introduce Miss Virginia Davis to her neighbor, Mr. Benjamin Wilson? ”

“ When the girls had gone, Megsy, I just threw myself down on your bed (no one has slept in it since you left) and I started to cry my eyes out, when I happened to remember what old Mrs. Tompkins, down at the candy shop, said once, “The best way to get over the miseries is to try to make somebody happy.” So I sprang right up and tried to think what I could do to add a mite of merriness to Christmas for you and Virginia. I decided to send you a jolly surprise box. ”

“ Wells opened the door, she exclaimed:
“Virginia Davis, what is your brother thinking of to permit you to ride around alone these days? Doesn’t he know there’s an outlaw supposed to be hiding near here in the mountains? Folks say he is fierce looking, like a story book pirate. There’s a posse over from Texas hunting for him and a reward offered for his capture dead or alive. He’ll be caught soon, of course, but till he is, seems like you girls ought to stay pretty close to home.” ”

“ There was a sudden exclamation from the western girl who had chanced to glance out of the wide window and over the sandy stretch of desert that was glistening in the early sunshine.
“A horse and rider are coming at top speed,” she said. “How I do hope that Malcolm is returning.”
The girls went out on the veranda and stood arm in arm awaiting the coming of, they knew not whom. As the rider neared, Virginia, looking through her glasses exclaimed: “Oh, it is only Pasqual, a small Mexican boy whose father is one of the Slater Range riders. Perhaps he is on his way to the Junction. ”

“ Margaret asked anxiously.
Virginia nodded. “It is a very lonely spot,” she said, “and so it is quite possible.”
“What is an outlaw?” the eastern girl inquired as they rode side by side toward the sand-hills.
“An outlaw is a man who has done something displeasing to his fellow citizens. He is driven from his home state and it would not be safe for him to return. Sometimes an outlaw is innocent of the charges against him and is just a victim of unfortunate circumstances, but one never knows, of course.” ”