trail sure sartin,’ was all Ah heard him say. Then Malcolm buckled on his gun belt. ‘Keep it dark which way we ride,’ he says to me, then they was gone. Ah was plumb puzzled and Ah sure am still, but on certain thought Malcolm’d be comin’ back by now or sendin’ word, knowin’ as yo-all was ’spected.”

“Well, I’ll not worry,” the girl said wisely. “Malcolm never runs into trouble needlessly.” Then, as they had overtaken the others, Virginia called as gaily as she could, that her guests need not know of her anxiety. “Who wants to be helper in the kitchen this noon? I’m going thither to be chief cook.”

“Oh, can’t we all help?” Margaret hurried to inquire. Then she nudged Virg and nodded toward the old man who (trying to keep behind them) was making frantic motions towards a kitchen window. When Virginia turned, he attempted to assume such an innocent expression that the girls were even more puzzled.

Virg pretending not to have seen his gestures, caught his hardened hand as she leaped up on the veranda, calling, “Uncle Tex, you come too, and be my advisor. It’s so long since I have cooked, maybe I have forgotten how.”

Virginia felt sure that another of the old man’s surprises awaited her in the kitchen, nor was she wrong.

 CHAPTER III MALCOLM’S RETURN 

CHAPTER III

MALCOLM’S RETURN

It was four in the afternoon and the girls, having had a long siesta after their lunch, had donned their muslin dresses (for the station master had arrived soon after noon with their trunks), and, taking Barbara’s cherished tea set, without which she never traveled, they had hied them to the summer house. Virg gathered a few of the scarlet blossoms that grew wild after the rains. Nearly all of them dried up but one clump had remained to welcome the girls. These she placed on the yucca table. Margaret was carrying a plate of small cakes. Betsy had a tray on which were five cups and saucers and tiny spoons. Babs, at the end of the line, held the fragile pot of delicate blue which was brimming with weak but hot tea.

Virg stood back to admire the table when it was set. Then laughingly she exclaimed: “I just can’t get over it. I never was more surprised in all my life. When I opened the kitchen door and saw that dear old Sing Long fussing around the stove, as though he weren’t expecting us, I just had to rush up and hug him.”

 Prev. P 12/133 next