Lizette M. Edholm

“ Men who do big things always fall hard for a handful of fluff like you," returned Bet, her eyes flashing dangerously.
"And there you'd show your good sense," Joy smiled in a provoking way.
"I almost wish you were a man, Bet."
As everybody laughed Bet soon regained her poise. Such flare-ups were frequent with Bet, a sudden flash of fire and then calm. The girls understood her and did not resent her bursts of impatience.
Tommy Sharpe leaned over and picked up a small stone from the ground, exclaiming: "Look here, girls, while you're talking of discovering things, I find a treasure." ”

“ Sam's white teeth showed in a broad smile. After that, he was willing to do anything for Bet Baxter. He ushered her into his kitchen as if she were a queen.
When Bet came back triumphantly to the drawing room a few minutes later, Enid greeted her with a shake of her head:
"You certainly have a way with you, Bet Baxter. No one can resist you, no one!"
"What about Edith Whalen?" Bet reminded her.
"Oh, that girl!" said Enid contemptuously.
"Every rule has to have one exception. She doesn't count at all."
"Speaking of Edith, I wonder where she is this summer?" asked Kit. ”

“ The horses sensed the excitement and the tenseness that goes before a storm and raced through the creek-bed without any urging. Even the old horse, Dolly, needed neither spur nor whip. Snorting and blowing in good earnest, she held her own with the more spirited animals as they picked their way around boulders and pools of water.
At the first drop of rain, Kit drew in her pony. "We can't make it, girls! We'll never make it in time," she cried in a panic of fear.
"Of course we can make it. There it is right ahead of us," Enid encouraged them. "We can get through the pass." ”

“ Bet gazed out over the vast stretch of mesa as if she were living through those early days herself, instead of being carried along by a high-powered car that ate up the miles easily and swiftly.
A low whistle from Matt brought the girls out of their day dreams to follow his glance ahead.
Far along the sandy road was a man trudging along with a bundle over his shoulder.
"That ain't no desert man," said Matt quietly.
"How can you tell from here?" asked Bet.
"You can always tell a desert man by his walk. That fellow looks as if he were used to walking on city streets," Matt returned. ”

“ They were close to the wall of the cliff.
"What a funny rock!" said Enid. "I wonder what causes these strange formations. Doesn't that look like an altar? And there is a figure of a man in a long robe. And the professor will tell us that it is all made by the rain."
"Yes," said Joy indifferently. "You know, Enid, I'm tired of this Arizona country. I hate these bare mountains, and I hate the herds of cattle that stare at you and then race madly away. Everything is unfriendly. Yet, I'm almost sure I'll be homesick, like Kit, when I once get away." ”

“ What do you like to do more than anything else?" asked Enid Breckenridge.
"I like dancing. I'm not as much of an outdoor girl as the rest of you. I go along, not because I like it, but I like the company. Now it's different with dancing, I could dance all day and all night."
"She's the ladylike member of The Merriweather Girls' Club," smiled Bet with an affectionate glance toward Joy. "She's a butterfly. As for me, I can't imagine why Fate played me such a mean trick as to send me into the world a girl, when I'd just love to have been a boy." Bet shot out the words with a vicious snap. ”

“ The genial little professor entertained her on the way with details of his village.
Bet sighed as the last good-bye was said and she settled down in the car.
"We've had a marvelous time! We never dreamed we'd have such an adventure."
"Maybe it's just as well we couldn't forsee the struggle with Kie Wicks over that treasure," Shirley said with a happy smile. "Isn't it good to win out, no matter what you are doing?"
"Yes, we have the treasure and had the fun of the contest, but what did
Kie Wicks get out of it?" demanded Bet.
"Nothing at all!" chirruped Joy. "He's just out of luck. ”

“ By the time the girls reached the house, the strain they had undergone was beginning to wear off and they were able to laugh at their adventure. That all except Joy, who shuddered whenever she thought of it and turned pale when the women asked excited questions.
"I hate these mountains," whispered Joy to Shirley. "I wish I were going home tomorrow!"
"Why, Joy Evans, you know you don't." Shirley put her arm around the frightened girl. "You're having a grand time here, and the fun is just beginning. You're not going to quit over the first unpleasant thing that happens to you. ”

“ Somewhere there's a map that shows all this, and by that map you would know you had to look at that cliff for the arrow," explained the professor seriously.
"But where to next?" asked Bet.
"Follow the arrow, that's all we know," answered Kit.
There was no more digging on the claim that day. Even lunch was eaten by them in a half-hearted way. Joy was suffering with her ankle or she might have done justice to Tang's picnic spread.
The professor was in a delightful dream. This was the sort of thing that he loved.
"Do eat something, Professor Gillette. You'll be sick if you don't," pleaded Bet. ”

“ Bet's voice had a longing in it that set the girls into screams of laughter.
"You ridiculous girl!" cried Joy affectionately. "You would try to start something!"
"But you'll have to acknowledge that Bet usually finds what she goes out after," remarked the quiet Shirley, pointing her camera toward the canyon wall opposite Tommy's door. "And while we usually object, we've never had more fun or thrills than when she leads us into adventure."
"Maybe so. But..." began Joy.
"And so I say," continued Shirley, "let Bet lead the way and we'll follow. If it's treasure, we'll help her dig. ”

“ Their lunch preparations were to be quite elaborate, roast potatoes and corn on the cob and steak. Enid and Kit built the fire with care and soon a bed of coals was ready. While the two girls worked over the fire and Shirley gave attention to spreading the feast, Bet sat on the cliff, dreaming of the mine to be.
"This is adventure! This is romance!" she cried to her friends.
"Romance!" chuckled Joy. "It's not what I call romance."
"Dark brown eyes and a heavenly smile on the face of a boy, is your only idea of romance. You are a silly girl!" ”

“ You put all your soul and body into it. They don't get excited and they don't wear themselves out with wild flourishes. You see when a prospector has that work to do, he doesn't have to hurry. He has all the time there is."
"To tell you the truth," laughed the professor sheepishly, "I'm so anxious to start looking for the treasure that I don't want to dig this shaft, I'm like a child with a new toy."
"Come here, Kit," called Bet. "You hold this drill for a while and let me swing the hammer. I'm just dying to do it." ”

“ Lost Canyon, they met Kie Wicks.
"Nice weather for a picnic!" he called to them gaily with a wave of his dusty sombrero. "That's an interesting canyon!"
"Yes," the judge replied with his most courteous air. "We find it very interesting. The girls located a claim up that way, and have started work on it."
"You don't say so! Well, everybody to his liking. I'm through with locating claims. It's a slave's life, forever digging, digging, digging! I don't care if I never see another copper claim as long as I live," Kie Wicks returned with decision. "I run a store, that's a good, clean business." ”

“ Ahead of him was a great hole in the rock, an undertaking of his dated some years before and financed by his friends. He frowned at the tunnel dug into the bank, then his frown became a scowl and a ferocious one, for a man was standing there studying the workings, so intent on it that he did not hear the approach of the rider.
"What you doing there?" roared Kie Wicks. And as the man turned he recognized the little professor whom he had met at Judge Breckenridge's ranch the previous day. Kie laughed to himself. Here was one man he need never fear. ”

“ However as Ramon Salazar and Kie Wicks will reap the benefit, I think we might go on to other promising spots and let them have a free hand here. You are only girls and can't fight men like them."
No other remark could have roused all the spunk in the girls.
"I don't see why we can't hold our own against any man," sniffed Kit. "Ramon Salazar is a cross-eyed Mexican with a lame leg, and Kie Wicks is a coward. I guess The Merriweather Girls could beat them with their eyes shut." ”

“ Every old miner in the hills thinks that his own particular claims are going to be the biggest mine in sight," laughed the Arizona girl. "As soon as he builds a monument he begins to talk of private cars and mansions."
"I almost wish I were a prospector. It must be lots of fun to have marvelous hopes of success. If I hadn't come a girl, I'd be a prospector. Just think of it, not having anything to do in life but roam around the hills and look at the rocks!" Bet lost herself in her dreams.
"And build funny little play monuments!" added Enid. ”

“ Until then, I want to be just a girl and have lots of fun and adventure."
"You seem to be getting your wish, as you always do," Enid said as she tried to pat Bet's tousled locks into place.
"I didn't get my wish this time. Far from it. I wished for heaps of treasure, and I get nothing but a brass-bound chest."
Tommy Sharpe was gazing at the mud-crusted box with interest and suddenly burst out; "Say, Judge, if Kie Wicks gets an idea that the chest is worth more than a dollar and a half, he'll try to take it away from the girls. Don't you think we'd better take it back to the ranch?" ”

“ Although they planned on being in the town by noon, the girls carried a lunch strapped to their saddles. A rest and a bite to eat along the way was half the fun and they had not gone more than a mile before Joy was digging into the little bag that hung from the horn of her saddle.
By ten o'clock when the other girls were ready for a rest and something to eat, Joy was down to the bottom of the bag.
"Never mind, Joy, you can have half of mine. Mother always puts up enough for an army." ”

“ Joy dodged and slid from the granite rock just in time to miss the loop of rope that Bet had aimed at her with no gentle hand.
"Come on girls, you selfish things, give your horses a chance," and Kit stroked Powder's muzzle and gave him a nosebag of oats. All the girls followed her example, then while the potatoes were getting ready, Bet took a book from her pack behind the saddle and lost herself in a story.
"Do read aloud, Bet," begged Enid, dropping down beside her friend. "I will always remember how you read to me on Campers' Trail when I was hurt." ”

“ She exchanged a smile of understanding with Enid.
A shower of sand hit the chassis of the car as the driver started along the road. The girls gave a cry of alarm as they saw a jack rabbit that had been startled, bound ahead of them for a few yards, then with a wild jump it landed in the shelter of the sage brush.
"Doesn't everything smell good?" Shirley sniffed the air in long indrawn breaths.
"Didn't I tell you it was wonderful!" said Kit. "I used to get so lonesome just for a whiff of the desert. And you girls could never understand it." ”

“ After half an hour of slow travel through the creek, the girls were rewarded. The tiny canyon had widened out, the stream was larger and they found sufficient emerald green stain to suggest that there might be a large deposit of copper nearby. They also found more fragments of ore.
Dismounting, the girls left their horses standing with trailing bridles. Bet suggested unfastening the rope she had brought for practising, to tie her pony to a tree. Kit laughed.
"The very idea! Don't insult a mountain horse in that way. He'd never forgive you. Never! Look, here's a small outcrop!" ”