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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Outdoor Girls in the Saddle, by Laura Lee
+Hope
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Outdoor Girls in the Saddle
+       Or, The Girl Miner of Gold Run
+
+
+Author: Laura Lee Hope
+
+
+
+Release Date: September 18, 2006  [eBook #19318]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN THE SADDLE***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Emmy, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 19318-h.htm or 19318-h.zip:
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/3/1/19318/19318-h/19318-h.htm)
+      or
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/3/1/19318/19318-h.zip)
+
+
+
+
+
+THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN THE SADDLE
+
+or The Girl Miner of Gold Run
+
+by
+
+LAURA LEE HOPE
+
+Author of "The Outdoor Girls of Deepdale," "The Outdoor Girls at Wild
+Rose Lodge," "The Moving Picture Girls," "The Bobbsey Twins," "Bunny
+Brown and His Sister Sue," "Six Little Bunkers at Grandma Bell's," Etc.
+
+Illustrated
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+New York
+Grosset & Dunlap
+Publishers
+Made in the United States of America
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+BOOKS FOR GIRLS
+
+BY LAURA LEE HOPE
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+12mo. Cloth. Illustrated.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+THE OUTDOOR GIRLS SERIES
+
+          THE OUTDOOR GIRLS OF DEEPDALE
+          THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT RAINBOW LAKE
+          THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A MOTOR CAR
+          THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A WINTER CAMP
+          THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN FLORIDA
+          THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT OCEAN VIEW
+          THE OUTDOOR GIRLS ON PINE ISLAND
+          THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN ARMY SERVICE
+          THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT THE HOSTESS HOUSE
+          THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT BLUFF POINT
+          THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT WILD ROSE LODGE
+          THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN THE SADDLE
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS SERIES
+
+          THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS AT OAK FARM
+          THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS SNOWBOUND
+          THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS UNDER THE PALMS
+          THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS AT ROCKY RANCH
+          THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS AT SEA
+          THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS IN WAR PLAYS
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+THE BOBBSEY TWINS SERIES
+
+(Fifteen Titles)
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+THE BUNNY BROWN SERIES
+
+(Twelve Titles)
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+SIX LITTLE BUNKERS SERIES
+
+(Eight Titles)
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York
+Copyright, 1922, by Grosset & Dunlap
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN THE SADDLE
+
+[Illustration: A LANDSLIDE--AND THEY WERE DIRECTLY IN ITS PATH!
+
+_The Outdoor Girls in the Saddle._ _Frontispiece_--(_Page_ 96)]
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+          CHAPTER                           PAGE
+
+              I A SUMMER IN THE SADDLE        1
+
+             II GREAT HOPES                   9
+
+            III ENTER PETER LEVINE           22
+
+             IV AN IMITATION HOLD-UP         33
+
+              V THE HANDSOME COWBOY          43
+
+             VI AT THE RANCH                 52
+
+            VII A SUDDEN STORM               62
+
+           VIII ALONG THE TRAIL              72
+
+             IX DANGER AHEAD                 81
+
+              X THE LANDSLIDE                88
+
+             XI IN THE CAVE                  97
+
+            XII IN THE DARKNESS             106
+
+           XIII THE LURE OF GOLD            112
+
+            XIV A DISCOVERY                 120
+
+             XV ALLEN ARRIVES               129
+
+            XVI A TIP                       137
+
+           XVII THE NET TIGHTENS            145
+
+          XVIII IN THE SHADOWS              154
+
+            XIX THE NEW MINE                165
+
+             XX THE VIOLINIST AGAIN         173
+
+            XXI A STARTLING TALE            180
+
+           XXII THE PLAN                    188
+
+          XXIII GREAT DAYS                  198
+
+           XXIV THE END OF PETER LEVINE     202
+
+            XXV INNOCENT                    210
+
+
+
+
+THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN THE SADDLE
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+A SUMMER IN THE SADDLE
+
+
+"Hello, hello! Oh, what is the matter with central!"
+
+The dark-haired, pink-cheeked girl at the telephone jiggled the receiver
+impatiently while a straight line of impatience marred her pretty mouth.
+
+"Oh dear, oh dear!"
+
+"At last! Is that you, Mollie Billette? I've been trying to get you for
+the last half hour. What's that? You've been home all morning twiddling
+your thumbs and wondering what to do with yourself? Of course! I knew it
+was central's fault all the time! Now listen! Goodness, what are you
+having over at your house? A jazz dance or something? I can hardly hear
+you speak for the noise."
+
+"No, it isn't a dance," came back Mollie's voice wearily from the other
+end of the wire. "It's just the twins. They want to talk to you. Hold
+the wire a minute while I shut them in the other room."
+
+Followed a silence during which Betty Nelson could distinctly hear the
+wails of Mollie's little brother and sister as they were ushered
+forcibly into an adjoining room. Then Mollie's voice again at the phone.
+
+"Hello," she said. "Still there, Betty? Guess I can hear you a little
+better now. Mother's out, and I've been taking care of the twins. Just
+rescued the cat from being dumped head down in the flour barrel."
+
+"Sounds natural," laughed the dark-haired, pink-cheeked one, as she
+visualized Mollie's little brother and sister, Dodo and Paul. They were
+twins, and always in trouble.
+
+"Anything special you called up about?" asked Mollie's voice from the
+other end of the wire. "Want to go for a ride or something?"
+
+"Not the kind of ride you mean," said the brown-eyed, pink-cheeked one,
+with a knowing little smile on her lips.
+
+At the lilt in her voice Mollie, at her end of the wire, sat up and
+stared inquiringly into the black mouth of the telephone.
+
+"Betty," she said hopefully, "you are hiding something from me. You
+have something up your sleeve."
+
+"You're right and wrong," giggled Betty. "I'm hiding something from you,
+but I can't get it up my sleeve, it's too big!"
+
+"Hurry up!" commanded Mollie in terrific accents. "Are you going to tell
+me what's on your mind, Betty Nelson?"
+
+"When will you be around?" countered Betty.
+
+"In five minutes."
+
+"Good!"
+
+"Betty, wait! Is it good news?"
+
+"The best ever," and Betty rang off.
+
+She twinkled at the telephone for a minute, then called another number.
+
+"That you, Gracie?"
+
+The fair-haired, tall, and very graceful girl at the other end of the
+wire acknowledged that it was.
+
+"Please suggest something interesting, Betty," she added plaintively, as
+she took a chocolate from the ever-present candy box and nibbled on it
+discontentedly. "I woke up with the most awful attack of the blues this
+morning."
+
+"What, with a whole summer full of blessed idleness before you?" mocked
+Betty.
+
+"Too much idleness," grumbled Grace. "That's the trouble."
+
+"Enter," said Betty drolly, "Doctor Elizabeth Nelson."
+
+Grace digested this remark for a moment, staring at the telephone in
+much the same manner as Mollie had done a few minutes before. Then she
+swallowed the last of her chocolate in such haste that it almost choked
+her.
+
+"Betty," she said, "I have heard you use that tone before. Is there
+really something in the wind?"
+
+"Come and see," said Betty and a click at the other end of the wire told
+Grace that the conversation was over.
+
+"Oh bother!" she cried, her pretty forehead drawn into a frown. "Now I
+suppose I've got to get dressed and go over there before I can find out
+what she meant."
+
+In the hall she nearly ran into her mother, who was dressed to go out.
+Mrs. Ford was a handsome woman, prominent in the social circles of
+Deepdale. She was kindly and sympathetic, and all who knew her loved
+her.
+
+So now, as she regarded her mother, a loving smile erased the frown from
+Grace's forehead.
+
+"I declare, Mother, you look younger than I do," she said fondly.
+"Whither away so early?"
+
+"The art club, this morning," replied Mrs. Ford, her eyes approving the
+fair prettiness of her daughter. "Are you going out? I thought you were
+deep in that new book."
+
+"I was," said Grace, with a sigh for what might have been. "But Betty
+called up and said she wanted me to come over. There's something in the
+wind, that's sure, but she wouldn't give me even the teeniest little
+hint of what it was. I wasn't going at first, but I----"
+
+"Thought better of it," finished Mrs. Ford, with a smile. "Better go,"
+she added, as she opened the door. "My experience with Betty Nelson is
+that she usually has something interesting to say. Good-by, dear. If any
+one should 'phone while you are here, will you tell them that I shan't
+be back till late afternoon?"
+
+Grace promised that she would and moved slowly up the stairs.
+
+Meanwhile Amy Blackford, the last of the trio to whom the dark-haired,
+pink-cheeked little person who was Betty Nelson had telephoned, had
+stopped merely to remove the apron from in front of her pink-checked
+gingham dress and was now flying along the two short blocks that
+separated her house from the Nelsons'.
+
+As for poor Mollie Billette, she was nearly distracted. Torn with
+curiosity, as that young person very often was, to know the facts that
+had prompted Betty's early call, she yet could not satisfy that
+curiosity. When she had told Betty that she would be around in five
+minutes she had fully meant to make that promise good. But--she had
+forgotten the twins!
+
+Upon entering the room where she had locked them while she talked to
+Betty, she found a sight that fairly took her breath away.
+
+Unfortunately, some one had left an open bottle of ink on the table. One
+of the twins, deciding to play "savages," had pounced upon the ink
+bottle as a means of making the play more realistic!
+
+"Oh, Dodo! Oh, Paul! How could you be so naughty?" moaned Mollie,
+sinking to the floor, while the tears of exasperation rolled down her
+face.
+
+"Paul did it," accused Dodo, waving a pudgy, ink-stained little fist in
+the direction of her brother. "He said, 'let's use this ink and play
+we're savagers----'"
+
+It was upon this scene that Mollie's little French-American mother, Mrs.
+Billette, came a moment later.
+
+"Oh! Oh!" she cried, raising her hands in the French gesture all French
+people know so well. "What is this? Mollie, have you gone quite mad?"
+
+Whereupon Mollie shook the tears of woe from her eyes and explained to
+her mother just what had happened.
+
+"And I was in such a hurry to get to Betty's," she finished dismally. "I
+just know she has something exciting to tell us. And now I don't suppose
+I will get there for hours."
+
+"Oh yes, you will," said Mrs. Billette, with the delicious, almost
+imperceptible, accent she had. "The ink has not yet dried, and luckily
+there is not much about the room. Run along, dear. I fully realize," she
+added, with the smile that made Mollie adore her, "that this, with you,
+is a very important occasion."
+
+"And you are the most precious mother in the world!" cried Mollie,
+flinging young arms about her mother and giving her a joyful hug. "I
+might have known you would understand." And before the words were fairly
+out of her mouth she was flying up the stairs.
+
+When she reached Betty's house at last, out of breath but happy, she
+found that Grace and Amy were there before her. She found them all,
+including Betty, up in Betty's room, a pretty place done in ivory and
+blue, awaiting her coming as patiently as they could.
+
+"Betty wouldn't tell us a thing until you came," was the greeting Grace
+flung at her.
+
+"So don't be surprised if you aren't very popular around here," laughed
+Betty, sitting very straight in her wicker chair, feet stretched out and
+crossed in front of her, hands tightly clasped in her lap. Her face was
+a pretty picture of animation.
+
+"Who cares for popularity?" cried Mollie, as she flung her sport hat on
+the bed and turned to face Betty. "Betty Nelson, bring out that
+surprise."
+
+"Who said it was a surprise?" asked Betty tantalizingly, but the next
+minute her face sobered and she regarded the girls gravely.
+
+"Girls," she said, "I think I see a chance for the most glorious outing
+we have had yet. How would you like----" she paused and regarded the
+expectant girls thoughtfully. "How would you like a summer _in the
+saddle_?"
+
+"In the saddle?" repeated Grace wonderingly, but Mollie broke in with a
+quick:
+
+"Betty, do you mean on horseback?"
+
+"Real horses?" breathed Amy Blackford.
+
+"Yes," said Betty, nodding. "That's just exactly what I mean."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+GREAT HOPES
+
+
+"But where are we to do all this?" asked Grace skeptically. "Is somebody
+giving away steeds for the asking? Wake me up, somebody, when Betty gets
+through dreaming."
+
+"Keep still, you old wet blanket," cried Mollie. "Can't you see Betty is
+really in earnest?"
+
+"Never mind them," said Amy, leaning a little breathlessly toward Betty.
+"Let them fight it out between themselves. What is the great news,
+Betty?"
+
+"It _is_ great news," said Betty radiantly. "Listen, my children. Mother
+has received a legacy from a great uncle that she had almost forgotten
+she had."
+
+"Money?" queried Grace, interested.
+
+"No, that's the best part of it," said Betty. "Oh, girls, it's a ranch,
+a great big beautiful ranch in the really, truly west!"
+
+"Honest-to-goodness, wild and woolly?" queried Mollie, beaming.
+
+"Better than that," answered Betty with the same lilt to her voice that
+the girls had heard over the telephone. "I shouldn't wonder if we should
+find the real old-fashioned, movie kind of cowboys there--sombreros, fur
+leggings, bandannas, and all."
+
+"But where," interrupted Mollie, who had been waiting with more or less
+patience for Betty to come to the point, "do we come in, in all this? I
+fail to see----"
+
+"Oh hush," cried Betty, her eyes dancing. "You interrupt entirely too
+much. Where do we come in, she wants to know," she paused to bestow a
+beaming glance on Grace and Amy. "That's the biggest joke of all. Where
+do we come in? Why, honey dear, we're the whole show!"
+
+"The whole show," they murmured, beginning to see the light.
+
+"You bet," said the brown-haired, rosy-checked one slangily. "Now
+listen. I think I've about argued mother and dad around to the point
+where they'll agree to let us have the use of this wild and woolly
+rancho for a real outdoor adventure. How does that idea strike you?"
+
+"Listen to the child," cried Mollie pityingly. "Such a question!"
+
+"It would be heavenly!" raved Grace. "Think of riding around all day in
+fur leggings and a sombrero. Wide hats are always becoming to me," she
+added musingly.
+
+The girls laughed and Betty threw a pillow at her, missing her by a
+hair's breadth.
+
+"You needn't worry about your hat," laughed Betty. "Reckon there won't
+be anybody around there to admire you but Indians and broncho busters."
+
+"Oh, aren't the boys coming?" Grace asked, her disappointment in her
+voice.
+
+"They haven't been asked, silly," Mollie interrupted impatiently. "Tell
+me, Betty," she cried, turning to the Little Captain. "Is it really
+certain that we'll have this chance?"
+
+"No, it isn't," admitted Betty, her bright face sobering. "That's why I
+don't want you to get too excited about it. You see," her voice lowered
+confidentially, "dad might decide to sell it."
+
+"Sell it!" they cried in dismay, and Grace added, with a decision that
+made the girls laugh:
+
+"Oh, he mustn't do that until the fall, anyway."
+
+"All right, Gracie," said Betty, with a chuckle. "I'll give dad his
+orders."
+
+"But why does he want to sell it, Betty?" Amy questioned.
+
+"We-el," said the Little Captain slowly. "You see mother has already
+received an offer of fifteen thousand dollars for it. There's a ranchman
+out there, I think his name is John Josephs, or some such name, who
+seems to want to get hold of our ranch. So his lawyers have offered
+mother fifteen thousand for it."
+
+"That's a pretty good lot of money," said Amy thoughtfully.
+
+"Yes, it is," agreed Betty. "And dad seems to think that the best thing
+mother could do would be to take the money and get rid of the ranch. He
+says it will be a sort of white elephant on our hands, since there isn't
+very much chance of our going out there to live," she ended, with a
+chuckle.
+
+"Well," said Grace, with an injured air, "I don't see why you called us
+all over here just to disappoint us. If your father is going to sell the
+place, then we certainly sha'n't be able to make ourselves beautiful
+with bandannas and picturesque hats----"
+
+"Ah, but you did not let me finish," hissed Betty, melodramatically. "We
+have one ally--my mother."
+
+"Your mother!" cried Mollie, eagerly. "Then she doesn't want to sell the
+ranch?"
+
+"Right, the first time," cried Betty hilariously. "I think mother has a
+sneaking notion that she might look pretty good in a cowboy make-up
+herself. You see," she added, with a twinkle, "mother has never had a
+chance to own a real honest-to-goodness ranch before."
+
+"Oh, isn't she sweet!" cried Mollie fervently, adding, as one to whom
+inspiration had come: "I tell you what, Betty, we'll take her with us!"
+
+"How sweet of you," drawled Grace. "Especially since the ranch belongs
+to her!"
+
+The other girls chuckled and Mollie looked rather sheepish.
+
+"Oh, well," she admitted, "I guess it would be a case of her taking us
+along."
+
+"And I don't envy her the job," said gentle Amy unexpectedly, while the
+girls gazed their reproach.
+
+"Betty," said Mollie, "there is one very important thing that I would
+like to know."
+
+"Well, I'm the original little information bureau," Betty assured her.
+"What will you have?"
+
+"Does your dad really want to sell the ranch? Or is your mother likely
+to win out?"
+
+"Oh, mother always gets her way," said Betty confidently, adding:
+"Besides, the ranch was left to mother, you know, and not to dad. So
+really she has the say about it."
+
+"Yes, but she might change her mind," said Grace pessimistically.
+"Fifteen thousand dollars is a lot of money, you know. She might decide
+to sell the ranch, after all."
+
+"Well," said Betty, with an air of importance that the girls were quick
+to notice, "there is another reason why mother will probably hold on to
+the property, for a little while at least."
+
+"Yes?" they queried eagerly.
+
+"You see," Betty continued thoughtfully, "mother has an idea that this
+John Josephs is a little too anxious to buy the ranch. It's right up in
+the gold region, you know----"
+
+"Gold!" shrieked Mollie. "You never said a word about gold, Betty
+Nelson! Do you mean there may be gold----"
+
+"Now she _is_ getting interesting," admitted Grace, shaken out of her
+usual calm.
+
+"How romantic," murmured Amy, breathing fast.
+
+"Yes," said Betty ruefully. "That's what dad says mother is--romantic!
+He says there isn't a chance in a thousand that there is real gold
+anywhere near that ranch----"
+
+"Stop, woman, stop!" cried Mollie, with her most tragic scowl. "Wouldst
+put an end to all our dreams in one fell swoop----"
+
+"Probably that is all we shall do--just dream," said Betty, insisting
+upon being practical. "It's an idea of mother's, that's all. But she is
+really determined to see the ranch, at least, before she makes up her
+mind whether to sell or not. In fact," she hesitated, colored a little,
+then went on bravely, "dad has decided to send Allen out there to look
+up the title. There is some trouble about that, I think----"
+
+"Oh, now we know why she is so anxious to be a little cow girl," teased
+Grace, while the others regarded Betty's pretty color gleefully.
+
+"Oh, Betty, Betty!" cried Mollie, shaking her head dolefully, "you are
+altogether hopeless!"
+
+For Allen Washburn, of whom Betty had spoken in connection with the
+ranch, was a very promising young lawyer. Also this promising young
+lawyer was very fond of Betty Nelson. And while the girls are shaking
+their heads over this fact a little time will be taken to describe the
+Outdoor Girls to those readers who have not already met them and to
+review briefly the many and varied adventures they had had up to this
+time.
+
+Betty Nelson, dark-haired, dark-eyed, and rosy-cheeked, was the natural
+leader of the four Outdoor Girls, a fact which had led to her being
+dubbed "Little Captain" by the adoring girls. Betty's father, Charles
+Nelson, had made a good deal of money in his manufacture of carpets,
+and Betty's mother was a very sweet lady whom the name of Rose fitted
+exactly.
+
+Next came Mollie Billette, dark-haired and with snapping black eyes, who
+was almost as French in her manner as her very French mother.
+
+Readers of the present volume must already feel very well acquainted
+with Grace Ford. Grace was the Gibson type, tall and slender and
+fair-haired and very pretty, with a decided liking for looking in
+mirrors.
+
+Last of the quartette came Amy Blackford. Amy was the ward of John and
+Sarah Stonington, and for a long time she had thought her own name was
+Stonington. The mystery of her past had been cleared up, however, and
+Amy had come into her own. Shy, gentle, sweet, she was beloved and
+protected by the more hardy and active Betty and Mollie. And Amy, as shy
+girls sometimes will, had begun to think very much of Grace Ford's
+attractive brother, Will--which is a reminder that it is time to
+introduce "the boys."
+
+Allen Washburn and his open fondness for Betty have already been spoken
+of. Allen was tall, nearly six feet. Sunburned and handsome of face and
+quick of action, Allen attracted every one wherever he went. And, truly,
+Betty was no exception to this rule! Allen had been one of the first to
+volunteer his services to the good old army of the U. S. A., and while
+he had gone over only a buck private, he had come back a lieutenant.
+
+There was Will Ford, Grace's brother, whom Grace and Amy both adored.
+Will had been in the secret service when our country entered the war,
+and because of this he had been the victim of considerable
+misunderstanding. Afterward he had joined the army with the other boys.
+This was after some skillful secret service work that won the praise of
+the government, as well as the fervent admiration of the boys and girls.
+
+The other two boys were Frank Haley and Roy Anderson who had come into
+the little group because of their friendship for Will and Allen. They
+were fine, clean-cut, likable boys, who had come through the war with
+colors flying.
+
+The young folks had lived all their lives in Deepdale, a thriving little
+city with a population of about fifteen thousand people and situated in
+the heart of New York State. Deepdale was situated on the Argono River,
+a beautiful and romantic stream where pleasure craft of all sorts
+disported themselves. A branch line of the railroad connected with the
+main line directly to what the four Outdoor Girls believed to be the
+most wonderful of all cities, New York.
+
+The name of "Outdoor Girls" had come to the quartette from the fact
+that they invariably spent their summer vacations, and winter holidays
+also, in some sort of outdoor sport. They could ride, swim, play tennis,
+drive, and, in fact, do everything that is expected of the athletic
+young girl of to-day.
+
+They would never forget that first tramping tour when they had tramped
+for miles over the country, meeting with a great many unusual adventures
+on the way, as related in the first volume of this series, entitled,
+"The Outdoor Girls of Deepdale." Nor those other times at Rainbow Lake,
+in Florida, at Ocean View, and later at Pine Island, where they had come
+across that marvelous, mysterious gypsy cave.
+
+Then had come the war with the boys on the other side, and the girls
+doing their "bit" at a Hostess House. And a little later what black
+distress overwhelmed them, when Will Ford was reported wounded and
+Allen's name was among the missing! This all happened while they were at
+Bluff Point taking a much-needed vacation from their work at the Hostess
+House.
+
+In the volume directly preceding this, entitled "The Outdoor Girls at
+Wild Rose Lodge," the girls had had same very exciting experiences. An
+old man, Professor Dempsey, by name, who had retired to a little log
+cabin in the woods to recover his health, had chanced to do the girls a
+very great favor. Of course the girls were grateful to him and were very
+much interested when he told them of his two sons who were in the war.
+Later, when the girls read of the death of his two sons in the paper,
+they went to the old man's lonely cabin in the woods, but found
+themselves too late. According to a friendly neighbor, the old man had
+become temporarily insane at the terrible news, had wrecked his cabin in
+an insane frenzy, and disappeared.
+
+Later, at Wild Rose Lodge, the girls were frightened several times by a
+strange apparition lurking in the woods around the lodge and Moonlight
+Falls, a beautiful fall of water not far from the cottage where the
+girls were staying. Later the boys came home from France and helped the
+girls solve the mystery.
+
+And now here was Betty proposing another outing that promised to be more
+fun than any the Outdoor Girls had had yet. No wonder that in the clamor
+of their excited questions and answers no one heard the telephone
+ringing noisily in the hall.
+
+Finally the Nelsons' maid came trudging up the stairs to answer it
+herself.
+
+"If I can hear myself think," she grumbled, as she took the receiver
+from the hook. "With all them girls a-gabberin' an' a-talkin' at the
+top o' their lungs. Hello--I can't hear you--you'll have to talk
+louder--you don't know the noise they is in this house. Miss
+Betty?--jus' a minute----"
+
+"A gen'leman to speak to you, Miss Betty," she announced a moment later,
+looking in on the hilarious girls. "An' le's hope you can hear him
+better'n I could, that's all," she grumbled, as Betty pushed by her in
+the doorway and gave her a friendly pat on the shoulder.
+
+"Oh, they'll keep quiet now, all right," she said, with a laughing
+glance over her shoulder at her chums. "They'll want to hear what I have
+to say."
+
+At which taunt the girls started such a dreadful clamor that she really
+had all she could do to hear Allen at the other end of the wire. Oh,
+yes, it was Allen!
+
+"Sech a noise," grumbled the maid, as she trudged down the steps again.
+"I never did see sech wild uns!"
+
+"Hello, hello, Allen," called Betty into the telephone. "The girls are
+here and--what's that? At Walnut Street? All right, that will be fine. I
+can't talk now. Tell you why later. Yes, we'll be there. Don't be silly.
+Good-by!"
+
+Her face was flushed when she confronted the girls again.
+
+"The boys have a half holiday--it's Saturday, you know," she told them,
+while they regarded her mischievously. "And they want us to pick them up
+in the car, get some lunch somewhere, and make a day of it. I told him
+we would."
+
+"By 'him' I suppose you mean Allen," said Mollie, to which Betty ducked
+her a bow and the other girls giggled. "I like their nerve wanting us to
+pick them up. Why doesn't Frank come for us in his big car?"
+
+"Allen figured it would take too long for them to come home and get it."
+
+"My, they must be in a hurry to see us," said Grace, with a simper that
+sent the girls off into gales of laughter.
+
+"Well," said Betty finally, "are you coming, or are you not?"
+
+For answer Mollie jumped up, pressed a hat upon Grace's indignant head,
+handed Amy her coat, and crushed her own sport hat down on her dark
+hair.
+
+"Be this our answer," she said dramatically.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+ENTER PETER LEVINE
+
+
+It is to be feared that the boys did not have as pleasant a time on that
+Saturday afternoon motor drive as they had hoped to have. For, whereas
+the girls should have showered their attentions upon them, the boys,
+they insisted upon talking about nothing but Gold Run Ranch, which was
+the name of the property left to Mrs. Nelson by her great uncle.
+
+"You aren't very complimentary to us," Frank grumbled, as he hunched
+himself over the wheel of Mollie's car. "You seem mighty glad to go out
+to this forsaken old ranch where you won't see us for the whole summer."
+
+"I guess we can stand it if you can," Mollie responded lightly, which
+only caused him to glower the more.
+
+"Now I'll say Allen knew what he was doing when he studied law,"
+remarked Roy Anderson gloomily, as he glanced over his shoulder at young
+Allen Washburn, who was driving Betty's neat little roadster with Betty
+herself beside him. "He sure falls in soft on this job."
+
+"Meaning, I suppose," drawled Grace, "that he will have the pleasure of
+our company at Gold Run Ranch. Never mind, old boy, you needn't look so
+dreadfully gloomy. Have a chocolate and brace up."
+
+"You give it to me," said Roy, laughing. Grace obediently popped a large
+juicy one into his mouth. It may be remarked that after this performance
+he really did look more cheerful.
+
+"Anyway, we'll be back sometime, I suppose," said Mollie, continuing on
+the subject that was uppermost in her mind.
+
+"Yes, if we don't run away with some of those handsome cowboys," put in
+Amy, with a chuckle. "Betty says they abound around Gold Run Ranch."
+
+The girls giggled, but Will looked fierce.
+
+"You had better not," he said, and though his look was for all the
+girls, Amy knew that the words were for her. She colored prettily and
+promised with her eyes that she wouldn't.
+
+Grace caught this by-play as she munched a chocolate grumpily. Adoring
+her brother Will as she did, she had always been a little jealous of his
+fancy for Amy.
+
+"Anyway, they don't have to be so silly in public," she told herself
+resentfully. As she roused herself from her musing, she heard Mollie
+say, with a laugh:
+
+"Don't be surprised if we come home with our pockets full of gold. Mrs.
+Nelson thinks there is some of it about there."
+
+"Oh, are you still talking about that silly old ranch?" Grace broke in
+petulantly. "I don't know why you are getting so excited about it when
+there is more than a chance that we sha'n't go at all."
+
+"Hooray!" cried Frank, and stepped on the accelerator.
+
+Mollie, beside him, turned to look at him coldly.
+
+"I'm glad you feel that way about it, Frank Haley," she said primly.
+"But I'm very sorry to say we don't."
+
+"Now, I have put my foot in it," cried Frank ruefully, turning his
+irresistible smile full upon her. "What shall I do to make up, Mollie?
+Hold your hand or something?"
+
+His free hand closed over hers, but she snatched her own away with
+indignation that ended in a chuckle.
+
+"Tend to your knitting," she warned him. "Didn't you see that we almost
+ran over that dog?"
+
+But however much they might joke about the possibility of their not
+realizing their dreams for the summer, the Outdoor Girls were really
+worried about it, and the next few days were anxious ones for them.
+
+Suppose Mrs. Nelson should yield to her husband's arguments and resolve
+to sell the ranch after all? For awhile it almost seemed as though she
+were about to do this very thing, and the suspense nearly drove the
+girls frantic.
+
+Then something happened to turn the tide in their direction. And how the
+girls afterwards blessed that loud-necktied, check-suited man!
+
+It was Betty who came to the door to admit this angel in disguise, it
+being the hired girl's day out. Her first glance at the stranger served
+to stamp him as one of those loud-voiced, flashily dressed persons
+commonly referred to as "sports," and at this first glance Betty took a
+violent dislike to him.
+
+However, being accustomed to treat every one with kindliness, she asked
+him gravely whom he wished to see.
+
+"Is Mrs. Nelson at home?" he asked ingratiatingly.
+
+"Why, yes," hesitated Betty, then her natural courtesy getting the
+better of the dislike she felt for this person, she added politely:
+"Won't you come in? I will call mother."
+
+With blandly murmured thanks the owner of the checked suit stepped over
+the threshold, his eyes still on Betty to such an extent that she was
+glad to be able to slip upstairs out of his sight.
+
+"Mother," she explained hurriedly, finding that lady in her pretty
+dressing room, "there's a horrid person downstairs who wants to see you.
+I don't like his looks, and if you don't want to see him I can tell him
+you aren't at home----"
+
+"Heavens, Betty, is he as bad as all that?" asked Mrs. Nelson, as she
+rose hastily and gave an automatic pat to her hair. "I hope he doesn't
+steal the silver. You shouldn't have left him alone, dear----" and with
+these words she swept out of the room and down the stairs.
+
+Betty heard her greet the man, and then slipped off to her own room and
+picked up some half-finished embroidery.
+
+"I hope he doesn't bother mother too much," she mused aloud. "I never
+saw a more unpleasant looking person in my life. I wonder what he can
+want, anyway."
+
+It was fully half an hour later that she heard the closing door
+downstairs that told her their unwelcome visitor had left. A minute
+later her mother herself opened the door of Betty's room, looking so
+troubled and unsettled that Betty jumped to her feet in quick alarm.
+
+"Mother, did that man say anything to make you feel bad?" she cried.
+"Because, if he did----"
+
+"No, no, dear," said Mrs. Nelson, sinking into a chair, while her eyes
+sought the window thoughtfully. "I am worried, that's all."
+
+Betty drew a low chair over beside her mother, and, sitting down, took
+Mrs. Nelson's hand in both her own.
+
+"Tell me, dear," she urged.
+
+Mrs. Nelson drew her troubled gaze away from the window and looked at
+the Little Captain intently.
+
+"Betty," she said, "there is something strange about this Gold Run Ranch
+of ours. This man----"
+
+"Yes?" prompted Betty, as her mother paused.
+
+"This man who called this morning wanted to buy the ranch for a western
+client of his. It seems this client is willing to pay me my own
+price--within reasonable limits of course. He seemed so strangely eager
+to make a deal with me----"
+
+"Yes?" prompted Betty again, beginning to look worried herself.
+
+"Well," continued Mrs. Nelson, "I decided then and there that I
+wouldn't sell to anybody."
+
+"Oh, Mother!" Betty was all eagerness now, "do you really mean it?"
+
+"Yes, I do," said Mrs. Nelson, determination replacing uncertainty.
+"There must be something unusual about Gold Run or John Josephs and this
+man, too, wouldn't be so anxious to get it away from me. I am certainly
+not going to let them drive me into selling, until I see my property at
+least."
+
+"Good for you, Mother!" cried Betty enthusiastically. "I've been
+fearfully worried for fear you wouldn't see it that way. Did you tell
+the man in the check suit that?"
+
+"No, I didn't," said Mrs. Nelson, smiling as she pressed Betty's hand.
+"Now you will see what a schemer your mother is, my dear. I told him I
+hadn't definitely decided yet on any course, that I had already had a
+very good offer for my ranch, and that he would have to see Allen
+Washburn, our attorney. I wanted Allen to have a chance to size this man
+up and see if he has the same impression of him that I had."
+
+"Mother," breathed Betty admiringly, "I think you are wonderful." Then
+after a little pause, she added shyly: "You really think a great deal
+of--of Allen's ability, don't you, Mother?"
+
+"I do, dear," said Mrs. Nelson, stroking the brown head gently. Then she
+added with a hint of mischief in her voice: "Your father and I have come
+to feel toward him almost as if he were our son."
+
+"Oh--" murmured Betty, very faintly.
+
+Two days went by--anxious ones for the girls. In the Nelson home, this
+time in the pretty living room, Allen Washburn was now a guest.
+
+"Well," Mrs. Nelson said, with more than a hint of eagerness in her
+voice, "what did you think of our loudly-dressed friend, Allen?"
+
+"Was he as bad as Mrs. Nelson's description makes him out to be?" asked
+Mr. Nelson, smiling genially through a cloud of cigar smoke.
+
+Betty, in a corner of the lounge, was trying her best to be calm while
+she waited eagerly for Allen's reply.
+
+"I don't know just how Mrs. Nelson described this fellow to you, I'm
+sure," he answered, with a smiling glance toward Betty's mother. "But
+I'm quite sure that she didn't say anything bad enough."
+
+"Then you didn't like him either?" asked Mrs. Nelson quickly.
+
+"I neither liked him nor trusted him," Allen replied decidedly, adding
+with a wry smile: "He calls himself Peter Levine, but I'm willing to
+wager about anything I have that that isn't his real name."
+
+"You think he's a sharper then?" Mr. Nelson interjected.
+
+"Yes, sir," responded Allen, his young face earnestly intent. "He looks
+to me like one of these confidence men who abound in the western boom
+towns--men who can talk the other fellow into putting his last cent into
+some 'sure thing.' 'Sure thing,'" he repeated disgustedly. "The only
+sure thing about most of those schemes is the certainty of 'going bust'
+and losing every penny you have in the world."
+
+"And yet," Mr. Nelson commented, "these sharpers, 'confidence men,' as
+you call them, often manage to keep just within the law."
+
+"Oh yes," said Allen, "they manage to keep the letter of the
+law--sometimes. But that is just a caution to save their own necks. It's
+the spirit of the law that they violate. But we are getting away from
+the point," he added, pulling himself up short with an apologetic smile
+toward Mrs. Nelson. "We were speaking of this Peter Levine. My summing
+up of him is that he is entirely untrustworthy."
+
+Mrs. Nelson shot a triumphant glance at her husband.
+
+"You see?" she said. "I was sure Allen would agree with me."
+
+"Of course I may be mistaken," Allen continued, rather hesitantly. "But
+I have a very distinct impression, a sort of seventh sense we fellows in
+the law game call it, that this Levine is in league with John Josephs,
+the man that offered you fifteen thousand for the ranch."
+
+"Oh!" said Mrs. Nelson, startled. "How can you know that?"
+
+"I don't know it," Allen told her. "I only suspect."
+
+"Then what would you advise us to do?"
+
+"Hold tight and not sell till you have had a chance to look matters over
+on the ground--not from a distance."
+
+"Well," said Mr. Nelson rising resignedly and knocking the ashes from
+his cigar, "I suppose that settles it. I shall have to leave my business
+to go to smash," he added, with a chuckle, "while I take my family into
+a barbarous land where every second man you meet has designs on a
+well-filled pocketbook----"
+
+But he got no further, for Betty had run over to him and turned him
+imperiously around till his smiling eyes looked down into her gleeful
+ones.
+
+"Daddy," she cried, "do you really mean it? We can all go to Gold
+Run--you and mother and the girls? We'll have to have the girls, you
+know!" she ended on a pleading note.
+
+"Oh yes, of course," said Mr. Nelson resignedly. "We will have to have
+the girls."
+
+It was a very radiant Betty who, a few minutes later, saw Allen Washburn
+to the door.
+
+"And to think," she murmured, while Allen smiled down at her, "that I
+didn't like that perfect angel, Peter Levine, at first. Why, I should
+have welcomed him with open arms!"
+
+"Why?" asked Allen, taken by surprise.
+
+"Don't you know?" asked Betty, mischievously wide-eyed. "If he hadn't
+happened along just when he did our glorious adventure would have
+dwindled into a might-have-been. Why, I could love him for it."
+
+"Good-night, I'm going!" ejaculated Allen, and before Betty could gasp
+he had flung out of the door.
+
+"Where are you going?" she called, laughter in her voice.
+
+"To kill Peter Levine," growled a voice out of the darkness, and Betty,
+closing the door very softly, chuckled to herself.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+AN IMITATION HOLD-UP
+
+
+It was all over. The bustling days of preparation for the long trip,
+during which the girls had hardly had time to give vent to their
+excitement, had passed, and here they were actually finding their places
+in the puffing, western bound train.
+
+"Here's number five," Grace said, as she slid into a velvet-covered seat
+with a sigh of thankfulness. "Who is coming in here with me?"
+
+"Guess I'm elected," laughed Betty. "And here's number seven for Mollie
+and Amy, and mother and dad are in six right across the way. That
+completes the family party."
+
+They were hardly settled when there was a last warning cry of "All
+aboard" and the train began to move ever so slowly from the station.
+
+The girls peered out to wave good-by to the boys and some of their other
+friends who had come to see them off. The young fellows looked rather
+gloomy--all except Allen. The latter shouted something that they took to
+be "See you later!" and then the train swept around a curve, hiding the
+station from view.
+
+"Well," said Grace, with a sigh, as she opened her grip to fish for the
+inevitable candy box, "the boys seemed to take our flitting pretty hard.
+They looked as if we were already dead and buried."
+
+"Far from it," murmured Betty happily, her eyes on the ever changing
+view from the window. "I feel as if we were just beginning to live."
+
+The hours of the morning passed like minutes to the girls, and they were
+surprised when the porter came through with his "Foist call fo' dinnah!"
+
+The afternoon passed uneventfully, and they amused themselves by making
+up stories about their fellow passengers. There was the quaint little
+man in number four who reminded them of Professor Arnold Dempsey and who
+might very easily have been a professor, judging from the number of
+books he carried.
+
+Then there was the freckled-faced small boy in number three whose antics
+kept his mother in a continual state of "nerves." Once when he bounced
+one of those implements commonly known as "spit balls" off of the
+bookish little man's bald head, the girls thought they would die trying
+to stifle their merriment.
+
+Then there was the very pretty, but much be-powdered and rouged girl
+behind them in number nine. Grace embarrassed Betty very much by turning
+around to look at her every five minutes or so.
+
+"She's a moving picture actress or something, I'm sure of it," Grace
+confided in Betty's unsympathetic ear. "I wonder if I could fix my hair
+the way she does. She fascinates me."
+
+"She seems to," Betty retorted dryly, adding with a twinkle. "You may be
+able to fix your hair like hers--though I doubt it--but please remember
+that your mother doesn't want you to use rouge."
+
+"Well, you know I wouldn't do that," said Grace in a huff, adding
+maliciously, "I guess you are just jealous, that's all."
+
+"Uh-huh, that must be it," said Betty, with an unruffled good-nature
+that made Grace secretly ashamed of herself.
+
+"I'm sorry, Betty," she said after a rather long pause, adding
+generously: "You don't need to be jealous of anybody."
+
+"Thanks," Betty answered, with a smile. "I knew you didn't mean it,
+dear."
+
+And so the long hours of the afternoon wore away, dusk came, shrouding
+the swiftly moving landscape in a veil of mystery. So engrossed were
+the girls in contemplation of the changing beauty of nature that it
+seemed almost sacrilege when the blatant lights of the train flashed
+forth, bringing them violently back to a realization of time and place.
+
+"Don't you want any supper?" Mr. Nelson was asking, in his pleasant
+voice. "It isn't like the Outdoor Girls to overlook meal time."
+
+"Far be it from us to spoil our good reputation," cried Mollie
+buoyantly, and away they rushed to the dressing room to wash for supper.
+Though dining on a train was no novelty to the girls, they never lost
+the keenness of their first delight in the experience.
+
+"It's fascinating," Mollie remarked once, spearing desperately at an
+elusive potato as the train jerked and jolted over the rails at sixty
+miles an hour, "to see how often you can raise your coffee cup without
+spilling the coffee all over your food!"
+
+On this night at supper Mollie was so screamingly funny that the girls
+had all they could do to keep their hilarity from making them
+conspicuous.
+
+Mr. and Mrs. Nelson at a table for two across the aisle smiled
+indulgently at their charges, and once Mrs. Nelson met her husband's
+glance and chuckled fondly.
+
+"Pretty nice set of girls?" she said softly.
+
+"Pretty nice!" Mr. Nelson agreed.
+
+"I'm beginning to wish we were at Gold Run now," confided Mollie, after
+dining. She and Amy had slipped into the seat opposite Betty and Grace.
+
+"Oh, I think it's all fun," cried Betty, for she was always the last of
+the Outdoor Girls to feel tired. "We change at Chicago to-morrow
+afternoon," she added. "And then two more nights on the train, and then
+Gold Run!"
+
+"Oh, that sounds good," cried Mollie, adding eagerly: "Tell me, Betty,
+shall we be able to choose any horse we want for our own particular
+mount?"
+
+"Oh, yes," said Betty, adding with a smile: "It will be interesting to
+see the kind of horse each one of you will choose. Amy will like the
+gentle one, Grace will choose hers for its looks and yours will be the
+most vicious one in the pack, Mollie."
+
+"Well, I like that!" said Mollie unperturbed. "She wants to kill me off
+even before I get there."
+
+"Pack?" murmured Amy. "Is a 'pack' of horses right?" But no one answered
+her.
+
+"I wonder," mused Grace dreamily, "if there will be a tan one--all tan,
+you know, without even a spot of any other color----"
+
+"Oh, of course," laughed Betty. "If we haven't an all tan one in the
+corrals at Gold Run, we'll send to the nearest ranch and have one
+imported for you. Don't worry your little head about that."
+
+A little while after that they stopped at a water station, and most of
+the passengers got off to stretch their cramped limbs. And, as the
+conductor informed them that they would be there for fifteen minutes at
+least, the girls followed the general example.
+
+However, in their enthusiasm at finding the good old solid earth under
+their feet once more, they wandered too far, and the warning toot of the
+starting train found them quite a distance from the platform.
+
+They had not earned the title of Outdoor Girls for nothing, however, and
+by sprinting for all they were worth they were able to make the last car
+just in the nick of time.
+
+"Whew, that was a close call," said Betty as they made their way,
+panting, through to their own car, where Mr. and Mrs. Nelson were
+looking frantically for them. "No more water stations for us."
+
+Darkness fell, and the porters moved about, making up berths and
+answering the hundred and one insistent calls of the passengers.
+
+The girls went to bed with no protest whatever and were soon sleeping
+the sleep of healthy youth. It was toward midnight that they were rather
+rudely jerked out of this beautiful sleep by a sudden and almost violent
+stopping of the train.
+
+Betty, who was sleeping in a lower berth, she and Grace having decided
+to take turns, sat up and peered out of the grimed window into the
+gloom. No station lights greeted her, as she expected confidently they
+would. Nothing but inky, startling blackness.
+
+That she was not the only one roused was proved by the subdued sound of
+voices raised in sleepy protest.
+
+"They ought to put that engineer in prison for stopping like that," said
+a man's voice.
+
+"Gee! I thought it was a wreck, sure," came another surly voice.
+
+At this moment a couple of legs dangled themselves over the side of
+Betty's berth and in another minute the owner of them slid down beside
+Betty. Betty giggled nervously, but Grace clutched her arm and shook it.
+
+"Listen!" she said. "There's nothing to laugh about. This is a hold-up,
+that's what it is! You know what your father said about there being a
+lot of them around this place."
+
+That this conclusion had been reached by some one else in the car was
+proved by a woman's voice that rose shrilly above the rest.
+
+"It's a hold-up, that's what it is!" she cried, adding, with what seemed
+to Betty ridiculous panic: "Oh, what shall I do, what shall I do?"
+
+"Better stop making a fuss, first off," growled another masculine voice,
+and again Betty giggled nervously.
+
+"Goodness, I hope I don't have to get out in my nightie," she said, and
+poked her head out through the curtains.
+
+"Look out," warned Grace, pulling her back. "You may get shot or
+something."
+
+"Don't be silly," retorted Betty, not altogether decided whether to be
+frightened or amused by the situation. "There isn't anything out there
+but a lot of funny looking heads sticking through the curtains."
+
+"I don't see how you can laugh about it," said Grace, through chattering
+teeth. "I don't think it would be any j-joke to have all our m-money
+taken from us----"
+
+"Sh-h--be quiet," warned Betty, peeping again through the slit in the
+curtain. "Somebody's coming. Listen!"
+
+Grace listened, and so, evidently, did every one else in the car. No
+wonder that, scared though she undoubtedly was, Betty found humor in
+the situation. Heads of every kind and description stuck through the
+curtains, women's, some in boudoir caps, some without, men's heads,
+either bald or with hair grotesquely ruffled by sleep, and on every face
+depicted every one of the varied emotions which have disturbed the human
+race since time began. And there they were, all frozen to immobility by
+the sound of two men's voices raised in heated discussion.
+
+Then the owners of the voices came into view, and the expression on all
+the faces changed to bewildered amazement. Instead of the masked bandit
+which they had half expected to see there was a very portly and very
+excited gentleman and with him was a conductor, not so portly but just
+as excited.
+
+"I tell you," the conductor was saying, his face red with wrath, "you
+are violating the rules of the company by flagging this train for a
+personal matter----"
+
+"You have told me that before," roared the portly gentleman, waxing
+almost apoplectic. "And I've told you I don't care a hang for the rules
+of the company. What I want to find is my daughter and that young scamp
+she ran away with. And if you don't help me, I'll wring your neck!"
+
+"I tell you there is no couple answering your description on this
+train," rasped the conductor, as the two made their way, shouting and
+gesticulating, through the two rows of amazed heads and so on into the
+next car.
+
+"Well, I'll be blowed," commented the voice belonging to one of the
+heads; and as if that were a signal, all the other heads promptly
+withdrew to the accompaniment of exclamations and laughter.
+
+In the darkness of the berth Betty chuckled.
+
+"Oh, they did look so funny, Gracie," she said. "All those people with
+their heads stuck out into the aisle. You should have taken a peek."
+
+"Humph," grunted Grace, unsympathetically, as she prepared to climb into
+her berth again. Then she said: "I hope if that man's daughter takes a
+notion to run away again, she won't do it on our train, that's all!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE HANDSOME COWBOY
+
+
+Next morning the girls were hilarious over the mirthful episode in the
+train the night before. Betty and Mollie "took off" the expressions on
+the faces of their fellow passengers till Amy and Grace shouted with
+glee.
+
+"Oh, stop it, you two," gasped Grace, finally. "I'm sore from laughing.
+I think you would make a hit as clowns in a circus."
+
+"My, isn't she complimentary?" lisped Mollie, and the girls went off in
+fresh gales of merriment.
+
+"I wish," said Grace, after a pause, "that we were going to reach Gold
+Run this afternoon, instead of Chicago. I'm half afraid to spend another
+night in the sleeper after the scare we got last night. It might be a
+_real_ bandit this time."
+
+"Oh, what would we care?" said Betty carelessly. "I'd rather like to
+meet a train robber, myself."
+
+"About all a bandit could do would be to take our money," added Mollie.
+
+"All!" cried Grace indignantly. "Yes, that's all. And what would we do
+without any money, I'd like to know!"
+
+"Goodness, we could always sell the ranch," said Betty, so
+matter-of-factly that the girls chuckled. "We have Peter Levine to fall
+back on, you know."
+
+"'Peter Levine,'" repeated Amy, then added quickly: "Oh yes, he was the
+man who wanted your mother to sell the ranch."
+
+"Yes, and it was too bad of you to keep him all to yourself, Betty,"
+said Grace reproachfully.
+
+"You might at least have shown him to the rest of us."
+
+"He wasn't anything to show," said Betty, experiencing again the feeling
+of distaste she had had for the man. "He was one of the most unpleasant
+looking men I ever saw. Just the same," she added lightly, "we owe him a
+lot. If it hadn't been for him we probably wouldn't be sitting in this
+beautiful train, speeding to our great adventure. I told Allen I could
+almost love Peter Levine for it."
+
+"You did?" queried Mollie, her eyes dancing. "What did he say?"
+
+"He left me rather suddenly," said Betty, with a chuckle at the memory.
+"He said he was on his way to kill Peter."
+
+"Poor Allen," laughed Grace. "It must be awful to be that way. When is
+he coming out to Gold Run, Betty?"
+
+"As soon as he finishes this case he is on now," answered Betty,
+flushing in spite of herself as she thought of Allen. "There is really
+no great hurry about it, you know. Dad has made up his mind to take a
+regular vacation while he's about it, and I imagine mother won't care if
+she never gets home."
+
+That afternoon they changed trains at Chicago, bemoaning the fact that
+they had not time to see something of the great city before they
+traveled farther west. There was only half an hour between trains and,
+as every one knows, there can be little sightseeing done in that limited
+space of time. As it was, for some reason they could not ascertain, the
+outgoing train was over an hour late in starting. If they had known this
+fact in advance they might have managed to spend their time more
+profitably than in cooling their heels in the station waiting room.
+
+As it was, it was a rather disgruntled set of girls who boarded the
+train for Gold Run and allowed Mr. Nelson and the porter to find their
+seats for them.
+
+"I don't see why trains can't be on time," grumbled Mollie, as she
+peered at the rather distorted image of herself in the narrow mirror
+between the windows. "Here it is nearly seven o'clock and I'm as hungry
+as a bear."
+
+"Well," said Betty, cheerfully, "something tells me they have a diner on
+this train. Come on, girls, let's wash our hands and get something to
+eat."
+
+The girls hardly knew which they enjoyed the most, their dinner or the
+novel scenery that slipped past them so swiftly. It was their first
+venture into this part of the world, and they found the initiation
+fascinating.
+
+"The trouble is," complained Amy, "it will be dark before long and we'll
+have to miss all this," with an expressive sweep of her hand toward the
+car window.
+
+"It is too bad," said Betty, regretfully adding, with a light laugh: "If
+we were only like the princess in the story, the members of whose royal
+house never slept, we would probably see more of the scenery."
+
+That night the girls proved that Grace was not alone in her fondness for
+sleep. There being no more interruptions in the shape of fuming
+gentlemen on the trail of runaway daughters, they slept soundly through
+the long hours while the train plunged onward through the inky
+blackness of the night. They did not stir until the sun, shining on
+their faces, roused them to the realization that another beautiful day
+had dawned.
+
+That is, it was beautiful up to noon. Then it clouded down, and they ate
+lunch while the rain dashed furiously on the windows of the dining car.
+
+"I am thankful we are under cover," said Betty.
+
+"Fancy riding on the ranch in this rain," put in Amy.
+
+"No life in the saddle for me when it rains," broke in Grace.
+
+During the afternoon the girls napped and read. When the time came to
+get supper they were glad to see that they had run away from the storm
+and the sun was setting clearly.
+
+"Funny, how sleepy one gets," drawled Grace, about nine o'clock. "I'll
+not stay up late."
+
+No one wanted to do that, and in less than an hour all were sleeping
+soundly while the long train rumbled along on its trip westward.
+
+"And this is the day," breathed Mollie the next noon, as they made their
+way from the dining car through some half dozen other cars to their own.
+"Betty, I feel as if I couldn't wait to see your beautiful ranch."
+
+"I wonder," said Grace as they dropped into their seats once more, "if
+those cowboys are really as good-looking as you say, Betty. I must
+admit," she added, as she viewed the rather monotonous landscape
+petulantly, "I haven't seen anything that looks like a cowboy yet."
+
+"Goodness, hear the child!" cried Betty airily. "She hasn't been near a
+ranch, yet she expects to see whole droves of cow-punchers----"
+
+"Look," Mollie interrupted, grasping her arm. They were slowing down at
+a station and there were no less than three picturesque looking young
+fellows loitering about the place. One was astride an extremely nervous
+horse that shied as the train puffed to a standstill and rose on his
+hind legs as though trying his best to shake his rider off. "There's a
+real show for you," Mollie cried joyfully. "How does that look to you,
+Gracie? True to life?"
+
+"Um, that's better," admitted Grace, while the girls craned their necks
+for a better view of the horseman. "Now if they only have that sort of
+thing at Gold Run----"
+
+"Well, we'll have a chance to find out pretty soon whether they do or
+not," broke in Betty, the thrill of suppressed excitement in her voice.
+"Dad says we ought to get there in an hour."
+
+"An hour!" wailed Amy, as the train jolted on its way once more and the
+romantic group on the station were lost to view. "And I thought we were
+almost there!"
+
+But the hour passed more quickly than the girls had anticipated, for the
+view from the car windows, becoming more and more interesting, absorbed
+their attention. As a general rule the country was flat, but now and
+then in the background could be caught glimpses of heavily wooded
+mountain ranges that would offer chances for all sorts of adventures to
+the four eager Outdoor Girls.
+
+"I wonder if there are wild animals in those woods," said Amy, her eyes
+widening at the thought. "Real ones."
+
+"You don't suppose they import stuffed ones, do you?" asked Grace dryly.
+
+"Of course there are wild animals--lots of 'em," said Betty, feeling
+more and more gloriously excited as they neared their destination.
+"Maybe we can borrow a gun or two from the cow-punchers and have a shot
+at 'em--animals, I mean, not cow-punchers," she explained, with a
+giggle.
+
+On top of these rather wild imaginings came Mr. Nelson, telling them it
+was time to get their things together, for they were within a few
+minutes of Gold Run.
+
+"I know how long it takes you girls to put a hat on," he laughed. "So I
+think you had better start right away."
+
+Then--Gold Run! with the dash for the door and Grace running back to
+rescue a half-empty but still precious candy box and Mollie wanting to
+know if Amy would please stop pressing her suitcase in the middle of her
+back----
+
+Someway, Mr. Nelson managed to get them all safely to the station
+platform, whereupon he breathed a sigh of relief.
+
+"Whew! that's the hardest job you ever gave me, Rose," he remarked to
+his wife, with a chuckle.
+
+Here, as at most of the other stations, was a handful of cowboys who had
+come to meet the train. One of these, a handsome young fellow, detached
+himself from the rest and approached Mrs. Nelson, sweeping off his
+sombrero as he did so.
+
+"Mrs. Nelson, ma'am?" he asked in a soft drawl that captivated the girls
+immediately.
+
+Mrs. Nelson smiled assent and the young fellow indicated a buckboard
+drawn up to the station.
+
+"I brought the wagon," he said, with a grin that showed a beautiful set
+of white teeth. "An' some saddle hosses, thinkin' you might like to
+ride----"
+
+However, the ladies decided on the buckboard, which was driven by a
+shy-eyed, sandy-haired young fellow who gave the girls one frightened
+glance and looked swiftly away again, for all the world, Mollie said
+afterwards, as if he expected them to bite him.
+
+Mr. Nelson elected to ride horseback with Andy Rawlinson, which was the
+name of the good-looking cowboy.
+
+As the driver chirruped to the horses and they clattered over the bumpy
+road, Grace turned to Betty with a smile.
+
+"I have realized the ambition of a life time!" she said dramatically. "I
+have seen one handsome cowboy!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+AT THE RANCH
+
+
+To the girls, that jolting ride was like an adventure straight from the
+Arabian Nights. The fact that they were squeezed four in a seat which
+was meant to accommodate only three, served to dampen their enthusiasm
+not a trifle. Mrs. Nelson, riding in front with the bashful driver,
+vainly sought to engage him in conversation. After repeated failures she
+settled down to enjoy the ride in silence.
+
+A dozen yards or so ahead of them Andy Rawlinson and Mr. Nelson cantered
+up the dusty road, their horses' hoofs making the dust fly in a white
+cloud.
+
+"Goodness!" sneezed Betty, extracting a small handkerchief from her
+pocket and applying it to her nose, "I do hope those two keep their
+distance. We'll be simply choked with dust."
+
+"I wonder," said Grace, as she rubbed her dust-filled eyes, "if they
+don't have any rain in this part of the world."
+
+"Of course they do; only this happens to be the dry season," said
+Mollie, instructively, from the heights of her superior intelligence. At
+least, that is what she called it.
+
+"I'll say it's dry," grumbled Grace.
+
+"Ooh, look," Amy interrupted ecstatically. "Isn't that a cactus over
+there? Oh, I've wanted all my life to see some real cacti. Now I know
+we're in the West."
+
+The girls were silent for a moment, gazing out over the rolling plain--a
+plain studded with stunted trees and sickly-looking bushes with here and
+there a cactus plant for variety's sake--out to the hazy mountains
+beyond, serene, calm, majestic, jutting jaggedly into the dazzling blue
+of a cloudless sky.
+
+"The mountains!" murmured Betty, half to herself. "How I love them. The
+plains are fascinating in a cruelly romantic way, but somehow the
+mountains make one think of hidden springs rushing swiftly into noisy
+foolish little brooks, of bird songs, and the smell of cool damp earth,
+of the crackling of dry twigs under one's feet, and the pungent woodsy
+smell of camp fires--but there," she broke off confusedly, as she
+realized the girls were regarding her with fond amusement. "I didn't
+mean to wax so poetic."
+
+"It's all right, honey," said Mollie, giving her hand a warm little
+squeeze. "You rave right along. I know just how you feel, for I get that
+way myself sometimes."
+
+"There _is_ something mighty wonderful about the mountains," added Grace
+softly.
+
+"Oh, I love them, too," broke in Amy, adding with such earnestness that
+the girls looked at her wonderingly. "They are everything that Betty has
+said. And yet when Betty spoke of the plains as being cruel I couldn't
+help wondering if the mountains weren't sometimes like that, too."
+
+"What do you mean?" they queried, with quick interest.
+
+"I was thinking," Amy continued slowly, "that the mountains might not
+seem so kind to one who was lost in them--without a gun perhaps. I have
+heard Will say that a person who had no knowledge of woodcraft would
+find it almost impossible to recover his path, once he had lost it.
+And," she added, with a shudder, her eyes fixed steadily on the distant
+mountain range, "there are wild animals in those forests."
+
+"Of course there are," agreed Betty lightly, as she saw how serious the
+girls' faces had become. "Oodles of foxes and bears and raccoons and
+things. Why, how would you expect to get pretty furs when you wanted
+them if those things didn't exist? Cheer up, Amy dear. We're a long way
+from being lost in the woods without a gun!"
+
+A minute later the girls lost interest in everything but the immediate
+present. For, in the distance, but distinctly visible, loomed a long low
+ranch house which the silent driver beside Mrs. Nelson deigned to admit
+was on Gold Run Ranch.
+
+"You see it, girls?" cried the lady, turning a beaming face to the
+girls. "You know, I feel just like a little girl with a beautiful new
+toy."
+
+"And we're awfully glad you've got the toy, Mrs. Nelson," said Grace,
+fervently.
+
+"Look," cried Mollie suddenly. "Your father and that cowboy are turning
+off from the main road. That must be where the ranch begins. Oh, girls,
+oh, girls, I'm glad I came!"
+
+A few minutes later their jolting buckboard turned in after the two
+horsemen, and since the new road proved to be nothing but two deep ruts
+worn in the grass and as the ponies attached to the buckboard showed
+considerable excitement at coming near home, the girls found themselves
+holding on to each other convulsively to keep from being thrown out on
+the stubbly grass at the side of the road.
+
+"Whew, I'm glad that's over!" exclaimed Mollie, as the driver drew in
+the rearing horses and spoke to them soothingly. "Come on, girls," she
+added, making ready to jump out. "I'm going to remove myself from this
+buckboard before one of those horses decides to sit in my lap."
+
+The girls laughed and followed her with alacrity.
+
+"Oh," cried Betty, hugging Amy ecstatically, simply because she happened
+to be the nearest one to hug. "There are the horse corrals over there!
+And, oh, girls! look at the cows, dozens and dozens and dozens of 'em.
+Mother," she cried, turning wide-eyed to the latter, "do all those
+'anymiles' really belong to you?"
+
+"I presume they do, dear," said Mrs. Nelson, her own face flushed with
+excitement. "I can't quite take in the amazing truth of it yet."
+
+They were standing beside the first of a long line of low buildings that
+seemed little more than glorified sheds and which the girls decided must
+be the "bunk houses" for the ranch hands.
+
+And while they were wondering if it would be possible to slip over to
+the corrals for a closer look at the horses, Mr. Nelson sauntered up to
+them, with handsome Andy Rawlinson keeping diffidently a little in the
+rear.
+
+"It's nearly supper time," he informed them smiling. "And Andy here," he
+indicated young Rawlinson, who grinned an acknowledgment, "says that
+everybody has supper sharp on the minute of six. So what do you say if
+we go up to the house and have a little refreshment?"
+
+The girls were not altogether reluctant to obey, much as they desired a
+closer look at the bronchos, for they realized that they were pretty
+hungry.
+
+The ranch house was one of those quaint old structures which had begun
+as a tiny, one-story frame cottage and had gradually been added to until
+now it seemed, Betty said, to "spread all over the landscape." It had
+porches and doors in the most unexpected places, but the whole house was
+painted such an immaculate white and the shutters were such a friendly
+green that the effect of the place was indescribably charming.
+
+"If the house is as clean inside as it looks outside," whispered Grace
+to Betty as Andy Rawlinson led them up on to one of the many porches,
+"I'll never dare go in. I never felt so mussy and dirty in all my life."
+
+"Never mind, we're all in the same boat," said Betty encouragingly, and
+then they stepped into one of the pleasantest rooms they had ever seen.
+
+It was big and cool and airy, in spite of the fact that supper
+preparations were going on at one end of it. Rough picturesque looking
+chairs were scattered about, and over near the windows a long table was
+invitingly set for six. And oh, the delicious odor of cooking things
+that was wafted on the air!
+
+At sight of them a stout but immaculately neat and rosy-faced woman left
+whatever she was doing with a frying pan on the stove and came over to
+them, wiping her hands on her apron, her face wreathed in smiles.
+
+"Go long with you, Andy Rawlinson," she cried as the youth lingered
+rather awkwardly in the doorway. "There's no need for you to tell me who
+these folks are, for I already know them for the new master and his lady
+and the young ladies, bless their pretty sweet faces. Come right in, all
+of you, and Lizzie here," turning to a wholesome-looking, mouse-haired
+girl who had come in from the other room, "Lizzie will take you to see
+the rooms and you can have your pick. But don't be long," she cautioned,
+as they started to follow Lizzie and she turned back to her frying pan
+on the stove, "for supper is all ready and you must be nearly famished."
+
+If the girls had been impressed by the quaintness of this quaint old
+house from the outside, they were even more delighted by its interior.
+
+They passed down a rather dark and narrow hall at the end of which were
+three low steps leading to such a series of rooms as the girls had never
+seen before, each furnished neatly but plainly, the only touch of color
+being the gay cretonne curtains at the windows. The rooms all seemed to
+be connected by doors and to reach these doors one was obliged to go up
+two steps or down three or up one, as the case might be.
+
+"Goodness," cried Betty, when Lizzie had led the way through three of
+these quaint little rooms and the open doors seemed to reveal several
+others, "I wonder if all these rooms were really occupied."
+
+"Yes, miss," said Lizzie, halting and speaking unexpectedly. "They was a
+time when these rooms wuz all filled. Old Mr. Barcolm"--this being the
+name of Mrs. Nelson's great uncle--"had a many children and
+grandchildren an' seemed like he was sot on 'em all livin' with him. But
+they got to quarrelin' and all left th' old man an' he was so mad he cut
+'em all out o' his will. At least," she finished, as though warned by
+the intent look of her listeners that she had said more than she had
+intended to, "that's what they says. But mebbe it ain't the truth, fer
+all I knows."
+
+Then she led them on again through the maze of rooms while the girls
+thought amazedly of what she had told them. Finally she came to a stop
+in a room, larger than the rest, and turned her rather stolid gaze upon
+Mr. and Mrs. Nelson.
+
+"Miz Cummins," she announced, dully--the girls were afterward to find
+out that Cummins was the name of the rosy-faced woman who had met them
+so cordially at the door and who seemed to be general housekeeper for
+the place--"Miz Cummins thought as how this would be a good room fer the
+mister and missus. They is some nice rooms back of these fer the young
+ladies. She sed, if you liked any of the other rooms better, to take
+your pick. They's fresh water in the pitchers," indicating a washstand
+with a bowl and two pitchers of gleaming water upon it, "an' if you want
+anythin' else, you wuz please to tell me." And with these words, uttered
+so precisely that it sounded like a rehearsed speech, which, in fact, it
+was, Lizzie disappeared, leaving the travelers to themselves.
+
+"Come on, girls," cried Betty, pushing them before her into the next
+room. "Let's see what kind of rooms 'Miz Cummins' has picked out for
+us."
+
+They were not at all unusual rooms, being both about the same size and
+nearly square and furnished about as simply as they could possibly be.
+
+"If it weren't for the different colored cretonne at the windows," said
+Mollie, with a chuckle, "these rooms might be twins. You and Grace can
+have the lavender cretonne, Amy, and Betty and I will take the blue."
+
+"Don't those beds look heavenly?" sighed Grace, as she pulled off her
+hat and threw herself upon the big, snowy-sheeted bed.
+
+"Goodness!" cried Amy, in dismay. "She's flopped. Get her up, somebody,
+before she gets the bed so dirty I can't sleep in it to-night."
+
+For answer Betty made a dash for Grace, pulled her to her feet, and
+pushed her over to the washstand.
+
+"See that water, Grace Ford?" she cried sternly. "Now use it!"
+
+"And make it snappy," added Mollie slangily, as she and Betty
+disappeared into the adjoining room. "I can smell 'Miz Cummins'' cooking
+clear in here!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+A SUDDEN STORM
+
+
+The girls spent the rest of that day getting acquainted, at which
+agreeable task Andy Rawlinson, the head cowboy, assisted pleasantly. The
+latter introduced them to several others of the ranch hands, all of whom
+were as picturesque and good-natured as Andy himself.
+
+Escorted by Rawlinson and followed by the admiring glances of the other
+cowboys, the girls were introduced to the interior of the bunk houses
+which, with their rude wooden cots built into the side of the walls,
+their scanty and rather severe furniture, and the romantic looking
+trophies fastened to the bare boards of the walls, filled the girls with
+curiosity and interest.
+
+Then on to the corrals, where some spectacular broncho busting was
+staged for the sole benefit of the visitors. In this dangerous business
+Andy himself took a part, and the girls gasped with dismay and later
+with admiration as the boy ran alongside a vicious looking animal for a
+few paces, then flung himself recklessly upon the beast's back and
+clung there, seemingly defying all the laws of gravitation.
+
+"Oh, he surely will be killed!" cried Amy, clutching Betty in terror.
+"That horse will throw him----"
+
+"Keep quiet, can't you, Amy?" cried Mollie impatiently, beside herself
+with excitement. "Don't you suppose he has ever done this sort of thing
+before?"
+
+Then followed such an exhibition of sheer grit and skill and dauntless
+courage as none of the girls would ever forget.
+
+The vicious brute raced madly around and around the corrals, cruel head
+upflung, nostrils dilated, but still the man upon his back clung with
+maddening persistence. Then he stopped so suddenly that the man was
+almost flung over his lowered head and the girls held their breath, but
+Andy recovered himself and touching the spurs to the beast's belly, sent
+it flying round the corral once more. There was sweat on its body and
+the flaring nostrils were blood red with the effort, but the spirit of
+the beast was still unbroken.
+
+Around and around the ring he plunged, the other horses galloping wildly
+from his path, then suddenly as though the thing on his back had
+maddened him past bearing, he began to buck and to plunge and to rear
+himself on his hind legs in a desperate effort to throw himself
+backward, until it seemed to the fascinated, terrified girls that Andy
+Rawlinson surely must be killed.
+
+[Illustration: HE CLUNG TO THE HORSE'S BACK AS THOUGH HE HAD BEEN A PART
+OF HIM.
+
+_The Outdoor Girls in the Saddle._ _Page 64_]
+
+But Andy Rawlinson had not spent his twenty-eight years in the saddle
+for nothing. He clung to that horse's back as though he had been a part
+of him, and when the outraged beast tried to throw himself over backward
+for the second time, Andy evidently decided that he had played enough.
+
+A cruel blow of his spurred heel brought the beast almost to its knees
+with a whinny of pain. Then it jumped high in the air, and once more
+began its furious race with this mysterious and horrible being that
+clung so tenaciously to his back.
+
+Andy rode him hard, cruelly hard, and when the beast, panting, sweating,
+beaten, would have stopped he dug the spurs in and drove him on, on,
+until the broncho's breath came in sobbing gasps and his legs trembled
+under him.
+
+Betty, who could never bear to see anything hurt, shouted to Andy
+Rawlinson as man and beast came abreast of her:
+
+"Isn't that enough?" she cried. "You've beaten him. Stop! Please
+stop!"
+
+And Andy Rawlinson, flashing his pleasant smile, flung himself from his
+mount, while the beautiful horse stood there, quivering, head hung in
+shame----
+
+"Game hoss, that," said Andy, as he vaulted the low railing and
+approached the girls. "Fought like a thoroughbred."
+
+"And you were wonderful," cried Betty, with her warm impulsiveness. "I
+never saw finer riding. We were all afraid you were going to be killed."
+
+Andy was pleased, but he looked at Betty rather quizzically.
+
+"Strange," he drawled, with a smile on his face, "strange what
+impressions you get sometimes. Now I kind o' thought you was mad at me,
+the way you called out to stop. Anyways, you looked mad."
+
+"I was only sorry for the horse," Betty explained gravely. "He was game,
+as you say, and I hated to see his spirit entirely broken."
+
+Andy Rawlinson looked at her with admiring approval in his nice eyes.
+
+"There speaks the real lover of animals," he cried enthusiastically. "I
+hate to break a good hoss myself, but you see it has to be done--for the
+sake of the hoss. A hoss that's a bad actor is mighty like a mad dog.
+It has to be killed--or broke. So we break 'em. But now," he said,
+glancing toward the corrals, "I reckon you young ladies would like to
+pick out some nice gentle hosses to ride while you're here."
+
+The girls nodded and crowded forward eagerly while Andy called to some
+of the cowboys who had been lingering enviously near.
+
+"Bring out the sorrel and Nigger, will you, Jake?" he said to one of
+them. "I'll corral Lady and Nabob."
+
+The girls watched with interest while the boys corraled the four horses
+Andy had selected and led them forth for the visitors' inspection.
+
+They were splendid specimens of horse flesh, and for a moment the girls
+were simply lost in admiration. Nigger, as his name implied, was a
+magnificent coal-black animal without a speck of white upon him
+anywhere. He and Betty seemed to form a mutual admiration society on the
+instant, for with a gentle whinny he cantered up to the girl and began
+nosing inquisitively in her pocket in search of sugar. Luckily Betty had
+brought some with her, and she fed a couple of lumps to the beautiful
+animal, thereby definitely sealing their pact of friendship.
+
+"Oh you, Nigger!" crooned Betty joyfully, as she rubbed the velvet
+muzzle. "You and I are going to be great little pals, aren't we? You
+perfect old darling!" And Nigger whinnied again and nosed about for more
+sugar.
+
+"Well, I like that," cried Grace, breaking the silence in which they had
+all been enjoyably regarding the little scene. "Betty doesn't have to
+choose her horse--it chooses her."
+
+"Oh well, Betty always did have a way with her," laughed Mollie, and
+promptly turned her attention to the remaining three horses.
+
+"Lady" was a lovely white filly with whom Amy fell in love immediately.
+
+"This one's mine," she cried, putting a possessive hand on Lady's flank
+while the latter turned her dainty head and regarded the girl out of
+softly-wistful brown eyes. "I wanted her as soon as I saw her."
+
+Her claim was not disputed, for Grace was raving over the horse called
+Nabob, who was, by a strange coincidence, that very light tan color
+which she most adored.
+
+"How did you know I always wanted a horse just like this?" she cried,
+turning joyfully to Andy Rawlinson who, with the other "boys" had been
+looking on amusedly.
+
+"Well," drawled Andy, with a grin, "seems like you are all suited pretty
+well."
+
+For Mollie, whose adventurous spirit craved a spice of the dangerous in
+everything, had taken immediately to the sorrel, who had apparently been
+given no name. He was a skittish horse, gentle, as Andy explained, but
+"pow'ful nervous--had to be sort o' coaxed along."
+
+"You're my horse, all right," Mollie declared, stroking the animal's
+muzzle fearlessly, unmindful of rolling eyes and nervously twitching
+ears. "I don't like 'em too tame, old boy. And by the way," she added,
+struck by a sudden inspiration, "I've thought of just the name for you.
+I'm going to call you 'Old Nick.'"
+
+And so, when the selection had been made, to everybody's satisfaction,
+nothing would do but the girls must try their mounts that very evening.
+They had brought their riding tags in preparation for their summer in
+the saddle, and when they had slipped into the tight breeches, and
+leather leggings, tailored coat, and snug fitting hat, they looked like
+what they were--four thoroughly modern and very pretty Outdoor Girls.
+
+Later, when they rode proudly about the ranch on their splendid mounts,
+the ranch hands were lost in admiration of them.
+
+"Gosh," said one, removing his hat and fanning himself with it, for the
+evening was warm, "when Andy said they was four girls comin' from the
+city to visit us I was plumb skeered. But these here girls, they ain't
+no ordinary kind, no siree. An' they sho' does know how to ride."
+
+However, the girls were satisfied with a rather short ride that evening
+for they were out of practice and they knew that sore muscles would be
+the price of over-exertion.
+
+In the days that followed they took longer and longer rides, even
+venturing along the rough forest trails when Andy Rawlinson was with
+them as guide and protector. Mr. and Mrs. Nelson rode, too, but, not
+being as strenuous as the girls, they were glad to have any one as
+capable as Andy Rawlinson to look out for their charges.
+
+But one day, much as they liked him, the girls got a little tired of
+Andy's chaperonage, and at Mollie's suggestion they decided to "give him
+the slip."
+
+"Anybody would think he was our granny, the way he dictates to us," she
+complained, as she flicked a fly from Old Nick's side, thereby causing
+him to shy wildly. "We know our way about all right now, and I'm sure we
+Outdoor Girls never needed anybody to look out for us, anyway."
+
+"Hear, hear," laughed Betty, half way between conviction and protest. "I
+don't like to have Andy around all the time, any more than you do,
+Mollie, but I'm not sure that we know our way about as well as we might.
+If we should get lost----"
+
+"Oh, don't be an old wet blanket," cried Mollie impatiently, and as Amy
+and Grace seemed for once to be of her mind, Betty had nothing to do but
+to surrender as gracefully as she could.
+
+It was after lunch that the girls managed to slip away without being
+observed to where their mounts were tethered at the edge of the
+woodland. And oh, what a glorious sense of freedom when they were
+mounted and cantering down a cool forest trail--alone!
+
+They had been this way with Andy before, so they had no fear of losing
+their path and they urged their horses to more and more speed,
+intoxicated by the sense of freedom.
+
+What they did not notice was that the sun had disappeared behind an
+ominous bank of clouds and the wind was rising threateningly. And so
+they were caught fairly and squarely by the deluge that swept upon them
+with a bewildering suddenness.
+
+Where to go? Where to turn for shelter from the driving rain and moaning
+wind? They checked their horses while they gazed at each other wildly.
+
+Suddenly Betty's straining eyes made out what seemed to be the outline
+of a little shed or cabin, half hidden by surrounding foliage.
+
+"There's a house over there," she cried, hastily dismounting and tying
+Nigger to a tree a little off the path. "Maybe whoever lives there will
+let us in till the rain stops."
+
+The girls followed her example and hurriedly made their way on foot
+toward their one hope of refuge. When they reached the house Betty
+started to knock, then paused uncertainly, her hand uplifted. For above
+the beat of the rain and the shrill whine of the wind came a strain of
+music, mournful, yet exquisitely beautiful. Amazed, forgetful of their
+discomfort, the girls listened while the throbbing, haunting melody
+wailed itself to a close.
+
+"I--I've heard that music before," Betty murmured, then rapped gently,
+almost timidly, on the door.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+ALONG THE TRAIL
+
+
+Betty's knock had to be repeated twice before the occupant of the cabin
+responded.
+
+"Knock harder, Betty, if----" Mollie was beginning when the door opened
+at last and a very strange person stood upon the threshold. Tall, with
+stooped shoulders and a head bent a little as though he had spent
+countless hours over his violin, with long, curly hair, and with the
+visioned eyes of the musician, the man was a figure that would have made
+people turn to stare at him anywhere.
+
+"I--we--we are very sorry to trouble you," said Betty hesitatingly, as
+the musician made no effort to break the silence. "But it is raining
+hard, as you see, and we thought----"
+
+The man started and frowned.
+
+"Ah yes, of course," he said, moving aside and motioning them into the
+room. "You will find shelter here, but very little else, I fear."
+
+As the girls entered rather hesitantly the man turned from them
+abruptly and, lifting the violin that lay upon the rough board table, he
+began with the utmost gentleness to put it in its case. The girls had
+the rather uncomfortable impression that the man was forcing himself to
+be polite to them--that if he had been any other than a gentleman he
+would have refused them admittance.
+
+They looked uneasily at each other and then toward the one window in the
+room, and one thought was in the minds of all of them--to escape from
+the enforced hospitality of this man.
+
+"I think the rain is letting up a little," said Grace softly.
+
+"I reckon we won't have to stay more than a few minutes," agreed Betty,
+then, as their long-haired host put down his case and turned toward
+them, she ventured a shy compliment.
+
+"We heard you playing as we came along," she said. "It was very
+wonderful."
+
+"Thank you," said the man gruffly, and turned away so abruptly that
+Betty felt as if some one had struck her.
+
+Mollie looked indignant and Amy put an arm about Betty as she whispered:
+
+"The rain has nearly stopped, honey. Don't you think we had better go?"
+
+So, with half-hearted expressions of thanks from the girls and no
+expression of regret at all from the man, the new acquaintances parted,
+the girls hurrying down the dripping path to where their horses were
+tethered.
+
+Once Mollie looked back toward the cabin, and her indignation burst
+forth.
+
+"Look, he could hardly wait for us to get outside to shut the door," she
+said. "Of all the ill-mannered----"
+
+"Oh, I don't think he meant to be ill-mannered," interposed Betty
+mildly, as she reached Nigger and he whinnied a welcome. "He was just
+distantly polite, that's all. He didn't want to be bothered, probably,
+and he had a hard time to keep from showing it."
+
+"Huh," grunted Mollie, as she flung herself upon Old Nick's back and
+patted him soothingly. "I'm sure he has some real reason for not wanting
+folks around. He acted mighty funny to me," she said.
+
+"Goodness, hear the child!" cried Grace, as they rode swiftly back the
+way they had come through the fine drizzle. "She never can resist making
+a thief or something out of a perfectly ordinary person."
+
+"Seems to me he is anything but ordinary," interposed Amy thoughtfully.
+"No ordinary person could play the violin the way he was playing it
+when we came up to the house. That sounded like the work of a master."
+
+"Yes," agreed Betty, a faraway look in her eyes. "He plays exquisitely,
+if he does live in a little house away up in the woods. And I can't
+shake off the impression that I have heard that same selection played in
+just that same way somewhere before."
+
+Though this first excursion had been somewhat of a failure, the girls
+were by no means discouraged and in the days that followed they rode
+almost constantly. Finally they began to know their way about like the
+natives.
+
+Their rides were taken mostly in the open country, however, for in the
+woods they knew lurked very real dangers. But these they avoided more to
+save Mrs. Nelson worry than from any personal fears.
+
+But one day, feeling more than usually adventurous and growing more and
+more confident of their ability to find their way around alone, they
+dared venture along a rocky trail that offered wonderful romantic
+opportunities.
+
+"Oh, this is the life!" cried Grace, as Nabob stepped daintily over the
+rocks and underbrush that almost completely overgrew the narrow path. "A
+peach of a horse under you, the whole day before you, and nothing to do
+but enjoy yourself. Whoa-up there, Nabob. What's the matter with you?"
+for the horse had whinnied softly and shied almost imperceptibly to the
+side of the trail.
+
+At the same time the other horses seemed to catch some of Nabob's
+uneasiness, and the girls were kept busy for the next few minutes
+soothing them and coaxing them back into a normal mode of progress.
+
+"Something scared them," said Amy nervously. "Don't you think we had
+better go back, girls? This trail seems to be getting narrower and
+narrower. I don't believe anybody comes along here very often."
+
+"Well, what of it?" cried Mollie sharply. "That's what we are here for,
+isn't it? If we wanted people, we could have plenty of them right back
+on the ranch."
+
+"Stop quarreling, girls," said Betty, matter-of-factly. "We'll eat
+pretty soon and that will make everybody feel better." Kindly Mrs.
+Cummins had put up an appetizing lunch for the girls.
+
+"Look!" she cried a moment later, as the trail broadened out and they
+reached a rather open space in the woods through which they could look
+straight down--for they were on a considerable elevation--into the
+thriving little mining town of Gold Run. "I didn't know you could see
+Gold Run from here."
+
+"Doesn't it look funny and tiny?" cried Mollie, reining in beside her.
+"It must be an awfully long way off."
+
+"Wouldn't this be a good place to eat?" queried Amy hopefully, and the
+girls laughed at her.
+
+"We aren't hungry enough yet," said Betty, as she turned her horse to
+continue down the trail.
+
+They rode on, following the trail as it wound deeper and deeper into the
+woodland, catching glimpses now and then of the mining camp down in the
+hollow.
+
+It seemed as if they were really getting closer to Gold Run and,
+fascinated by the new game they were playing, forgetting their fears in
+the new sights and sounds all about them, the girls rode farther and
+farther into the heart of a forest, whose smiling face often served to
+hide some hideous danger.
+
+But to the girls all was beauty and sunshine and they conversed merrily
+as they cantered along.
+
+"When is Allen coming, Betty?" asked Grace. "I had an idea he would be
+here before this."
+
+"Why, dad has written, asking him to come as soon as he can," answered
+Betty, striving to look unconscious. "You know what that girl Lizzie
+said about mother's relatives--she never knew she had them till she came
+here--and dad thinks some of these people may make up their minds to
+contest the will. They haven't made trouble yet--but you never can tell.
+Listen, girls," she added suddenly. "Will you promise not to breathe a
+word of it if I tell you a big secret?"
+
+"Hope to die," they chorused piously.
+
+"Well, our old friend Peter Levine has been around pestering mother
+again."
+
+At this news, Grace, who was riding ahead, checked her mount so suddenly
+that Betty had all she could do to keep Nigger from swallowing Nabob's
+tail.
+
+"For goodness' sake, put out your hand when you do that next time,"
+laughed Betty.
+
+"Well," said Grace as she gave Nabob a gentle slap that started him on
+again, "Peter Levine must want that ranch very badly, to be following us
+all over the continent this way."
+
+"He seems to be rather anxious," said Betty dryly. "He has offered
+mother twenty thousand for it this time."
+
+"Going up," cried Mollie, with a chuckle. "If your mother holds on much
+longer, Betty, she will be a millionaire."
+
+"Well, mother is more certain than ever that there is something unusual
+about Gold Run Ranch," went on Betty, as she urged Nigger up a gentle
+slope. "She confidently expects to discover a gold mine, and so that's
+another reason why she thinks Allen ought to be here."
+
+"Goodness, let's all get out and dig," cried Mollie.
+
+"Can we have all we find, Betty?" called Amy, with a laugh.
+
+"Every last gold brick," answered Betty happily, and then they came upon
+another open space, and there, lying not more than half a mile below
+them, was the mining town of Gold Run.
+
+"Now here's the place to have some lunch," said Betty, slipping to the
+ground and leading Nigger off a little way into the woods where she
+tethered him securely. "We can look right down into the town and eat our
+lunch at the same time."
+
+The girls followed suit, and it did not take them long afterward to
+discover that they were very hungry. So out came the lunch basket, and
+never did biscuits and cheese and fried chicken taste more delicious
+than they did to the girls right there in that romantic little spot in
+the woods.
+
+"I hope it doesn't rain the way it did the other day," said Mollie, as
+she lazily surveyed a cloudless sky.
+
+"We haven't even a cabin in the woods to go to this time," said Grace,
+adding, as the thought brought up a picture of the long-haired musician
+who had been so painfully polite: "I wonder what our friend, Long Hair,
+lives on, anyway. Maybe he goes out and kills bears and things. They say
+bear meat is very good eating," she added reflectively.
+
+"Maybe we can catch one ourselves and take it home for dinner,"
+suggested Mollie, and the girls looked as if they did not like her
+suggestion at all.
+
+"Methinks the bear would be more likely to catch us," Betty was saying
+when a chorus of low whinnyings and stampings coming from where the
+horses were tethered caused them to jump to their feet in alarm.
+Suddenly the nervousness of the animals changed to panic and they began
+to rear and plunge, straining madly at the tethering straps, snorting
+and screaming with terror.
+
+"Look!" cried Mollie, her voice shrilling above the noise. "There! In
+the woods! Oh, run for your lives, girls! Run!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+DANGER AHEAD
+
+
+Coming toward the girls through the trees, crouched low, sinister eyes
+fixed upon them, were two great timber wolves. The girls, terrified as
+they were, saw at a glance that it would be of no use to run, the
+movement would only infuriate the beasts and precipitate their attack.
+
+"The trees!" gasped Betty, feeling herself in the grip of the deadly
+inertia that one experiences sometimes in a nightmare. "Make for the
+trees, girls; they are our only chance."
+
+Luckily, the branches of the trees swung low to the ground, or the girls
+could never have saved themselves. As it was, they had barely time to
+swing themselves free of the ground when the great beasts darted into
+the open, fangs bared, snarling hideously. Then----
+
+Bang! Bang! Two sharp reports from the direction of the woodland and one
+of the wolves sprang clear of the ground, then slunk into the
+underbrush, while the other staggered, fell, struggled to its feet,
+fell again, and after one convulsive movement, lay still.
+
+While the girls stared, unable to follow this swift turn of events,
+there was the sound of running feet coming in their direction and the
+next moment two figures broke through into the cleared space.
+
+One was a little wizened man who seemed, for all his apparent age,
+extremely agile. The other was a girl, a splendid, big creature, who
+stood as tall as the man, and who, like him, carried a rifle.
+
+The two ran to the fallen animal, talking excitedly, and turned it over
+to be sure it was dead. They were so absorbed that they did not notice
+the girls, who dropped down quietly from their perches in the trees. The
+sight of the guns carried by the newcomers had had a tremendously
+reassuring effect upon them. The wonderful sensation of relief that
+swept over them as they realized their almost miraculous escape, was so
+keen as to be almost pain.
+
+Still, they were not quite free from fear as they approached the
+prostrate body of the big beast, over which their rescuers were still
+bending. It was the girl who first discovered them.
+
+"Hello!" she cried, straightening up and turning upon the girls a frank
+regard. "You was the ones this old boy was after, eh? Look, Dad," she
+added, pointing to where the four horses were still bucking and snorting
+in fright. "There's the hosses we heard, but I reckon 'twas these gals
+the wolves was after."
+
+"I guess you're right," said Betty, trying to smile through a shiver.
+"It wasn't very much fun while it lasted, either."
+
+At this the old man, who had very kindly, keen blue eyes in his seamed
+and wrinkled face, turned and spat upon the ground meditatively.
+
+"You don't mean to tell me," he said, looking from one to the other of
+the girls, "that you purty young girls was out hyar all alone, without
+even a gun to protect yourselves with?"
+
+"I guess we were." It was Mollie who spoke this time, and her tone was
+rueful. "We aren't used to this part of the world, you see, and so we
+didn't know what a risky thing we were doing."
+
+"They are most as bad as the Hermit of Gold Run, aren't they, Dad?"
+asked the big girl, her eyes twinkling. "He goes about everywhere
+through the woods without a gun and only his violin for company; and,
+somehow or other, the beasts never molest him. Some says he charms 'em
+with his violin, but I think it's just luck," she added, with a wise
+shake of her head.
+
+The girls, whose curiosity had revived as their fears subsided, listened
+with interest to this rather long speech of the mountain girl.
+
+"Has this--er--hermit, as you call him----" Betty interrogated eagerly,
+"has he long curly hair and is he tall----"
+
+"With stooped shoulders?" finished Amy.
+
+The mountain girl looked amazed.
+
+"Why yes. Do you know him?" she asked, adding, as though to explain her
+surprise: "He doesn't like to see people, you know, and folks round here
+don't know much about him 'cept that he plays the violin. That's why
+they calls him the hermit, 'cause he lives alone an' hates everybody."
+
+"All except Meggy, here," interposed the old man, a look of pride in his
+eyes as he gazed at his daughter. "He likes her fust rate. She says it's
+'cause she takes him grub an' good things to eat. But I know better."
+
+"Pshaw, Dad," cried the girl, flushing with embarrassment. "It's jest
+one of your idees that people like me better'n most when they don't at
+all." As though to change the subject, she touched the stiff animal at
+her feet with the toe of her stout boot.
+
+"What you aim to do with this one, Dad?" she asked. "It was your bullet
+got him. Mine went wild, an' I jest injured the other feller."
+
+"Waal," said the old man, his gaze fixed speculatively on the big beast,
+"he's not wuth the trouble o' skinning an' his meat ain't much good, so
+I reckon we'd better leave him, daughter. Time I was gettin' back to the
+mine."
+
+He turned to go, but Betty was before him, hand outstretched
+impulsively.
+
+"Oh, but you must let us thank you," she cried. "If you and your
+daughter hadn't happened along just then I don't know what we should
+have done."
+
+"Oh, thet's all right, thet's all right," said the old miner, too
+embarrassed to meet her eye. "Glad we could be some use to you, ma'am.
+But ef you'll take an old man's advice," he added, as he and his
+daughter started through the woods in the direction of Gold Run, "you
+won't go roaming around in these parts without a gun onto you. 'Tain't
+safe, noways."
+
+"We won't," they promised.
+
+Once their protectors were gone they were wild with impatience to get
+out of this place of dangers. Their fingers trembled as they untied the
+horses, and it was as much as they could do to get the animals to stand
+still long enough to mount them.
+
+However, once in the saddle, they galloped along that narrow trail at
+full speed, regardless of rocks and old stumps of trees and treacherous
+holes, their one thought to reach the open road--and safety.
+
+When at last the plain stretched before them, level and red hot in the
+blazing afternoon sun, they all uttered a silent prayer of thankfulness.
+
+"You were right, Amy," said Betty suddenly, as Amy came up abreast of
+her, "when you said the mountains could be cruel too."
+
+"We'll not ever dare tell the folks," said Grace, shuddering at the
+memory of their close escape. "They would never let us out of their
+sight again."
+
+"It was mighty lucky for us that Meggy and her father happened along
+just as they did," said Mollie. "I know I couldn't have held on very
+long where I was, and once on the ground I'd have made a lovely tender
+morsel for the little wolves."
+
+"You flatter yourself," retorted Grace, and Amy shivered.
+
+"I don't know how you girls can joke about such a thing," she said. "I
+was about frightened to death."
+
+"I suppose you think the rest of us enjoyed it," said Mollie, and at
+this point Betty thought it was about time to interfere.
+
+"Wasn't it odd--Meggy's speaking of our friend the musician and calling
+him the Hermit of Gold Run?" she said. "I'm glad the poor lonely fellow
+has a nice girl like Meggy to befriend him."
+
+"Huh, he didn't seem to want befriending very much when we saw him,"
+said Mollie. "We couldn't have been frozen more completely if we had
+dropped on an iceberg."
+
+"Oh, well, he has 'ze temperament,'" said Grace, with an elaborate
+gesture.
+
+"Seems kind of strange, his living up there all alone," said Amy
+thoughtfully. "You would think any one who could play the way he can
+would hate to bury himself in the wilderness. Unless----" she paused,
+and Mollie jumped joyfully into the opening.
+
+"Unless there is some reason why he has to," said the latter, adding
+with an I-told-you-so air, "I thought there was some mystery about that
+man, and now you are beginning to think so yourselves. You just keep
+your eyes open and watch for a surprise!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE LANDSLIDE
+
+
+After their perilous adventure, the Outdoor Girls shunned the forest
+unless they were accompanied by one or more of the cowboys at the ranch.
+Andy Rawlinson escorted them whenever he could, but his duties as
+foreman of the ranch kept him very busy and he sometimes appointed one
+of the ranch hands to take his place.
+
+However, these excursions became less and less frequent as the girls
+became more interested in the booming mining town of Gold Run.
+
+This they had visited with Mr. and Mrs. Nelson and Andy, and the whole
+thing made them feel more than ever as if they were living some motion
+picture drama.
+
+There was the regulation general store and the inevitable dance hall
+where the lucky miners came to spend their golden nuggets and the
+unlucky tried to drown their misery in the companionship of others.
+
+Their eyes wide with interest and pleasure and their tongues busy with
+questions, the girls cantered down the narrow, crooked wagon road called
+"Main Street." They read the names over the doors of the dingy little
+shops, commenting gayly upon their queerness.
+
+"Peter Levine, Attorney," read Betty aloud from a sign just a little
+dingier than the rest. Then she drew rein and waited for her mother, who
+was riding more slowly with Mr. Nelson. The other girls, who had ridden
+on ahead, suddenly missed her, saw that she had stopped, and came back
+curiously.
+
+"Look, Mother," Betty was saying as they came up. "This is where dear
+Peter Levine hails from. His checked suit and loud tie must look funny
+in that dingy little shop," she added, with a chuckle.
+
+"Well, let's ride along," suggested Mrs. Nelson nervously. "He might see
+us and take it into his head to come out. And I don't want to have
+anything more to do with him until Allen comes."
+
+"Allen," thought Betty, as they turned and cantered on again. "I wish he
+would hurry a little. He seems an awfully long time coming."
+
+After they had seen all that there was to see of the town itself, Andy
+led them to some of the important mines on the outskirts. They listened
+with lively interest while the young fellow explained to them how the
+ore was extracted from the mountain side where it had lain unmolested
+for thousands of years.
+
+"It almost seems a shame to disturb it," said Amy at this point, and the
+girls laughed at her.
+
+"Just give me a chance at it, that's all," said Mollie longingly.
+
+At one of these mines they met the old man and his daughter, Meggy,
+whose timely arrival a few days before had saved their lives. The two
+were in the midst of their work, the girl lifting and hauling with all
+the strength of a man, and they scarcely looked up as the party passed
+them, although the old man responded with a wave of his hand when Andy
+Rawlinson called to him.
+
+"How's it goin', Dan?" asked the former.
+
+"Oh, well enough, well enough," responded the man, with what seemed to
+the girls enforced cheerfulness. "We'll strike gold afore to-morrow,
+sure."
+
+"Poor old Dan Higgins," said Andy, with a sobering of his good-natured
+face. "He's always goin' to strike gold 'to-morrow.' Sure, there's no
+one I'd rather see strike it rich than Dan an' that girl of his. But I'm
+'fraid they're jest plumb unlucky. Funny thing, luck--and gold," he went
+on to soliloquize. "Some young fellers they come out here, thinkin' they
+can get back to the girl at home in a couple o' years with their
+pockets plumb full o' nuggets, an' instead, they toil their lives away
+till their hair grows white an' their skin gets crackly like parchment,
+an' never even a glimpse o' yellow. An' mebbe the feller next to him
+drills a hole three feet deep and he strikes a vein. Yes siree, if ever
+there was a real thing in this world, that thing is luck."
+
+The girls were impressed and their hearts ached for Dan Higgins, his
+years of hope and work and his profitless mine. As for the girl, his
+daughter, Meggy----
+
+"Are you sure Dan Higgins hasn't any chance of striking gold?" asked
+Betty, gravely.
+
+"Not a bit of it," returned Andy Rawlinson quickly. "There's gold all
+around here--everybody thought Dan was mighty lucky when he staked out
+his claim. He may find gold yet. But," he added, and there was a
+fatalistic quality in his tone that chilled the girls, "you always have
+to reckon on luck."
+
+In the days that followed it became quite the usual thing to see the
+Outdoor Girls, mounted on their splendid horses, galloping along the
+open road or cantering through the town of Gold Run. It was not long
+before they became general favorites in this country where girls of
+their type were scarce, and the girls knew most of the rough but
+good-hearted miners by name. But perhaps of them all, their best and
+staunchest friends were old Dan Higgins and his daughter, Meggy.
+
+The girls often visited the mine and were always greeted with the utmost
+heartiness by its owners. Once Betty had caught Meggy looking longingly
+at Nigger as he was trying his best to get some nourishment from the
+stubbly grass, and with the quick impulsiveness that was hers, she asked
+the girl if she would like a ride.
+
+At the sudden radiance that flooded Meggy's face, Betty turned away
+abashed. She felt as though she had been given a glimpse of the girl's
+soul.
+
+Meggy had her ride, and in the days that followed she had many others
+and the girl's fondness for Betty became almost worship. She liked the
+other girls, for they were always kind to her, but Betty was her idol.
+
+"I have wanted all my life to own a horse," she confided to the Little
+Captain one day, as she stroked Nigger's shining coat with almost
+reverent fingers. "It would be the first thing I would buy for myself if
+dad should strike it rich." Her tone was brave, but the eyes that sought
+her father's toiling figure were sad. "Poor old dad," she said softly,
+"I don't think he would keep on any longer, if it wasn't for me."
+
+On one of their visits to the mine the girls were astonished to find
+their mysterious musician there ahead of them. He seemed to be trying to
+help, but from where the girls watched unobserved, it looked as though
+he were more in the way than anything else.
+
+Meggy was the first to discover them, and as she called out a greeting,
+the Hermit of Gold Run rose quickly to his feet and disappeared into the
+woods.
+
+"Poor fellow," said Meggy, looking pityingly after him. "We let him try
+to help us because it seems to amuse him, but he really doesn't know how
+to work with his hands. His fingers were made for the fiddle."
+
+"I certainly would like to find out more about that man," said Mollie,
+her forehead puckered into a puzzled frown. "He sure does act pretty
+funny."
+
+"We'll have to visit him again some day," said Betty lightly, and then
+turned to question Meggy on the progress of the mine.
+
+On their way home they took up the subject of the strange musician whose
+queer comings and goings had begun to be of more than usual interest to
+them.
+
+"He acts--in a--a stealthy way," said Grace, striving for the exact
+words to express her meaning. "He positively sneaked away from us this
+morning. It seems to me people don't act like that unless they are
+afraid of something."
+
+"He might just be afraid of people," Betty reminded her. "Or he may
+dislike people and want to be left alone. That would account for the
+name of 'hermit' that the natives around here have given him."
+
+"But an ordinary hermit wouldn't be able to play like a virtuoso,"
+objected Amy.
+
+"Well, nobody said he was an ordinary hermit," retorted Mollie.
+
+"To change the subject before you girls get to the hair-pulling stage,"
+laughed Betty, as she turned Nigger's head toward the ranch, "I wish we
+could do something for Dan Higgins and Meggy. It's a shame for that
+splendid, loyal girl to have to spend all her youth, when she might be
+having good times like other girls, in doing the kind of work that's
+only fit for a man to do."
+
+"And she's so brave about it, too," added Grace admiringly. "She keeps
+her head up like a thoroughbred."
+
+"I've asked her to come over to the ranch," Betty went on thoughtfully.
+"She has a passion for horses, you know, and I told her we'd have Andy
+Rawlinson pick her out a beauty from the corrals. I could see that she
+was awfully tempted, but she said no, she couldn't leave her father."
+
+"Probably the real reason she refused was because she hadn't decent
+clothes to wear," said Mollie sagaciously. "The poor girl is almost in
+rags."
+
+"I wish we could help," sighed Betty. "But she and her father are proud,
+like most of the other people around here. They just have to stand on
+their own feet."
+
+"I wonder if they have enough to eat," mused Amy. "It would be dreadful
+to think of them actually hungry."
+
+"Oh, I guess there's no danger of that," said Mollie. "As long as there
+are wild animals in the woods and Dan Higgins and Meggy have guns they
+won't starve to death."
+
+"And maybe they really will find gold, anyway," said Grace hopefully.
+
+They rode along silently for a while. In their abstraction they had
+taken the long way home, instead of cutting directly across the ranch in
+the direction of the house. They were on a rather narrow trail, so
+narrow, that they could not ride two abreast but were strung out in
+single file, Indian fashion. On one side of them rose the mountain, huge
+and majestic, and on the other was a sheer drop of a hundred feet or so
+into a rocky canyon.
+
+The girls had always loved this ride because of the wonderful view it
+afforded them of the surrounding country. But that very morning Dan
+Higgins had warned them not to go that way.
+
+"The mountain is pow'ful oncertain," the old man had told them. "Part of
+it is apt to fall on you any time if you get too close to it."
+
+Betty thought of this warning, but too late. An ominous rumbling jerked
+her eyes upward and she saw a sight that almost froze the blood in her
+veins. It seemed indeed to her terrified fancy as if the whole mountain
+were falling upon them. A great mass of dirt and brush and rock was
+hurtling down upon them with sickening velocity. A landslide--and they
+were directly in its path!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+IN THE CAVE
+
+
+Luck was with the Outdoor Girls that day--or fate--call it what you
+will. In the side of the mountain close to where they were, had been
+drilled a hole forming a large, artificial cave--probably the work of
+some miner who had abandoned operations almost at the beginning either
+from lack of funds or ambition.
+
+Into this hole the girls dashed, driven on by their frightful peril. Amy
+was the last to enter, and she had barely urged her nervous little filly
+into the opening when, with a terrific rumbling and rattling, the mass
+of earth and stones fell, covering the mouth of the cave and leaving
+them in such absolute darkness that it seemed as if they must suddenly
+have been stricken blind.
+
+"Oh! oh!" moaned Amy, her trembling hand striving vainly to quiet the
+frightened animal under her. "We're buried alive, girls, we're buried
+alive! We'll never get out of this--never!"
+
+"Please stop that, Amy," Betty's voice came out of the darkness, harsh,
+unnatural, like the crack of a whip. "The only danger we're in is the
+danger of losing our heads. Whoa, there, Nigger, old boy. Take it easy,
+beauty--there's nothing to be frightened about--there--there----" and
+she crooned to the big beast soothingly.
+
+Someway, the other girls managed to follow her example, enough at least
+to quiet their restless mounts. Grace was sobbing, more from nervousness
+than fright, but she managed to say with a catch in her breath, "Stand
+still, Nabob--don't be such a s-silly. Isn't your Auntie Grace here with
+you?"
+
+But it was Mollie who had the real problem. For while "Old Nick's"
+skittishness was more amusing than dangerous in the open, here, in this
+small place, with the other horses already difficult to manage, any real
+panic on his part would be more than likely to precipitate a real
+tragedy.
+
+In the dark, unable to see a foot before their faces, only the power of
+their wills to prevent a stampede of their panicky horses which would
+mean death to them all and, worst of all, the possibility of smothering
+or starving to death in this walled-in cave! This was the appalling
+situation which confronted the four Outdoor Girls.
+
+Mollie, her teeth grimly set, her knees dug into Old Nick's sides, was
+doing her best to keep him from trying to climb on the back of one of
+the other horses.
+
+"Oh, Mollie, make him stop it," cried Amy frantically. "He'll kill poor
+Lady. Make him stop!"
+
+"What do you suppose I'm trying to do," gritted Mollie between clenched
+teeth. "Do you think I like riding the side of a wall? Get down there,
+Old Nick, you wicked beast. Just wait till I get you outside."
+
+Although this threat was uttered sternly, Mollie had never been nearer
+to crying in her life. Luckily, a cruel dig of her spurs in the horse's
+side brought the big beast to his senses. He dropped to the ground and
+stood there, quivering in every muscle and nickering plaintively.
+
+"Good work, Mollie, old girl," cried Betty's voice encouragingly, and
+Mollie, wiping a tell-tale drop from the corner of her nose, answered in
+a voice that held never a quiver: "I couldn't fail you, Little Captain.
+Not at a time like this," and then she felt very brave and heroic.
+
+The horses were quiet, huddled together at the farther end of the cave
+as though they found comfort in company, and thus one great danger was
+passed. But the girls had still the other and greater one to face.
+
+"We'd better dismount," said Betty's voice, surprisingly calm and
+matter-of-fact. It was this ability of Betty Nelson's to keep her nerve
+and her head in any difficulty, to see almost at a glance the best thing
+to do and the best way to do it, that had led the girls to call her
+their Little Captain. And now as they listened to her cool voice,
+directing them as always in an emergency, some of her self-control
+communicated itself to them and they followed her leadership without
+question.
+
+"The horses will stand quietly now, I think," she said, and swung
+herself cautiously from Nigger's tall back and felt her way slowly past
+the horses, out to the small open space between them and what had once
+been the mouth of the cave.
+
+The girls followed her example, the horses making no protest, save to
+whinny anxiously and crowd a little closer together.
+
+"Where are you, Betty?" cried Grace plaintively, stubbing her toe on a
+stone and emitting an injured "ouch."
+
+"I'm over here," responded Betty reassuringly. "Stretch out your hand
+and I'll grab it."
+
+"Oh, for a match, my kingdom for a match!" said Mollie, brushing her
+hand across her eyes as though to relieve them of the weight of that
+terrific darkness. "Why aren't we men so we could carry 'em in our
+pockets--the matches I mean, not the men," she added with a chuckle that
+ended in a sob.
+
+"Well, here we are," said Grace, when they had found each other in the
+inky blackness. "Now you've got us, Betty, what are you going to do with
+us?"
+
+"I don't know--yet," responded Betty honestly. "I guess we've got to
+talk it over and decide what it is best to do."
+
+Amy groaned.
+
+"Meanwhile we smother," she said.
+
+"Nonsense," retorted Betty briskly. "There's enough air in this place to
+keep us alive for twenty-four hours at least."
+
+"Twenty-four hours," protested Amy, the panic she had felt at the first
+threatening to overwhelm her again. "But, Betty, there isn't a chance in
+the world that anybody will come along here in the next twenty-four
+hours."
+
+"That's right, too," agreed Mollie, a prickly sensation of pure fright
+tickling the roots of her hair. "Dan Higgins said this trail was
+practically never used because of the danger from the mountain. This is
+a pretty pickle, this is!"
+
+"And even if anybody should come along," Grace pointed out gloomily,
+"they couldn't be expected to guess that there are four girls and four
+horses buried in this hole in the wall."
+
+"And I don't believe we could ever in the world make ourselves heard
+through that mass of rocks and dirt," added Mollie. "Looks as though we
+had just about come to the end of our rope, I should say."
+
+Amy began to cry again softly, and Betty, who had been listening with
+increasing irritation to this conversation, burst forth indignantly:
+
+"Of all the silly things I ever heard!" she denounced them hotly, "I
+think you girls are the worst. You seem to forget that you are Outdoor
+Girls and that we have been in a good many tight places that were almost
+as bad as this. Why, we can't expect to have good times and adventures
+without once in a while getting the worst of it. If this is the way you
+are going to take a little bad luck," she finished her tirade in a fury
+that whipped the girls like a lash, "then I'm through, that's all. I
+refuse to be one of four Outdoor Girls that don't deserve the name."
+
+She paused, and the girls were silent for a moment, feeling a little
+dazed. The tongue-lashing had been just what they needed, as Betty very
+well knew. It made them angry.
+
+"Oh well," said Mollie sullenly, "if you are so much better than the
+rest of us, Betty, perhaps you can tell us what to do. I'm sure we would
+be just as glad to get out of this as you."
+
+"Then help me think of some way to do it," Betty retorted, more quietly.
+"Surely we can't accomplish it by making up our minds ahead of time that
+we are doomed."
+
+"Suppose you suggest something, yourself," said Grace resentfully.
+
+"All right," said Betty, whose quick mind had been working busily. "I am
+as sure as you girls are that the possibility of rescue from anybody
+outside is slight. Of course," she added breathlessly, "when we don't
+come home dad and mother would become worried and start a search party."
+
+"They wouldn't miss us before night though," said Grace.
+
+"Exactly," Betty caught her up. "And at night they wouldn't be as apt to
+discover the landslide as they would in the daylight. They would
+naturally think of the woods first. But the next day, anybody familiar
+with the trail would be sure to notice that there had been a landslide
+and they would be almost sure to connect it with us----"
+
+"But Betty," wailed Grace, forgetting that a moment before she had been
+angry with the Little Captain, "all that is just supposition, and you
+know as well as we do that we are likely not to be discovered
+until--until----"
+
+"It's too late," finished Mollie. "Why don't you say it? It's the
+truth."
+
+"And since it is the truth," Betty took her up briskly, "there is all
+the more reason why we should take things in our own hands and work out
+our own salvation."
+
+Betty impatiently cut short Amy's discouraged "How?"
+
+"Now listen," she said. "There are plenty of stones in this cave----"
+
+"My toes cry aloud that they know it," interjected Grace, but no one
+laughed--they were too intent upon Betty. They were beginning to realize
+what she had in mind, and the realization brought a thrill of hope.
+
+"If we could find any sharp enough--stones I mean," Betty went on, "we
+might use them as a sort of shovel and try to dig our way out. Of
+course," she added, as the girls began to grope eagerly among the dirt
+and débris at their feet for stones sharp enough to answer the purpose,
+"the mouth of the cave may be choked up too solidly with dirt and
+underbrush and things for us to get through. But in that case we'd just
+have to think up some other way, that's all."
+
+"I've got a peach," cried Mollie slangily, as her hand struck a big
+stone sharp enough to serve her purpose. "I ought to be able to dig my
+way through the side of a house with this fellow."
+
+"And here's the very one that got too familiar with my toe," said Grace,
+as she picked up another serviceable stone. "I'm going to get even with
+it now. I shall make it work as it never worked before."
+
+After much groping and knocking of heads together, Betty and Amy also
+armed themselves with imitation shovels, and so the work began.
+
+And it was work indeed. For what seemed hours to the anxious girls they
+toiled, digging sometimes with the stones, sometimes in desperation with
+their hands until it seemed to them they must have dug their way half
+through the mountainside. And still that blank wall of dirt, that
+impenetrable darkness, that stubborn barrier between them and the
+blessed sunshine. Amy was the first to give way.
+
+She sank back on the dank floor of the cave and buried her face in her
+dirt-stained hands.
+
+"We'll never get out of here!" she sobbed. "And I'm st-starving to
+d-death!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+IN THE DARKNESS
+
+
+Now the girls had been hungry before the accident occurred and, it being
+several hours since then, they were, by this time, as any one could
+readily see, in a rather bad state. Therefore, Amy's complaint was very
+unfortunate and, had it not been for Betty, it might have ruined the
+morale of the girls completely.
+
+"Good gracious, Amy, don't talk about starving to death," cried Mollie,
+dismayed. "That's coming too near the truth for comfort. Oh, this
+miserable stone. It's cutting clear through my hand!"
+
+"And my back is nearly broken," said Grace, adding, as she turned
+ferociously upon the still-sobbing Amy: "Stop that crying, Amy
+Blackford. Don't you know it is catching?" and a suspicious break at the
+end of her sentence, proved the truth of the assertion.
+
+"Girls, please don't," begged Betty, still digging automatically at the
+stubborn wall of stones and dirt. "If you all begin to cry, then we
+might just as well throw up our hands and say we are beaten."
+
+It was not long after that that the girls found what they called their
+"second wind." They forgot that they were ravenous, that their backs
+ached and that their hands were scratched and torn. They worked
+furiously in the darkness, their goal the out-of-doors they loved so
+well.
+
+For a long time they did not notice that the air was becoming very close
+and oppressive and that the perspiration that bothered them so was
+caused not alone by their exertion. And when the realization did come it
+had the effect of goading them on to more furious effort.
+
+That the horses also felt the change in the atmosphere, was attested to
+by their increased nervousness. The trampling of their hoofs sounded
+ominous to the girls--they made queer little puffing noises as if they
+were getting their breath with greater and greater difficulty.
+
+In one terrible instant the girls realized what might happen when what
+was discomfort to the animals now, should become torture. Maddened by
+pain and fright, it would be no longer possible to quiet them. And
+then--and then----
+
+"Don't you think we'd better stop and try to quiet the horses?" asked
+Mollie once, as the champing and snorting in the blackness behind them
+became more marked.
+
+"I don't think it would do any good," Betty answered between clenched
+teeth as she scooped and dug, scooped and dug. "Better keep on working,
+girls. It's the one chance we have."
+
+Oh, the horror of it, the nightmare of it! The heavy air, the hideous
+dark, the nervous trampling of those death-bearing hoofs---- The girls
+spoke no longer. They were beyond speech. Almost maddened by terror
+themselves, they scooped and dug, scooped and dug----
+
+Once they thought they heard voices outside, and shrilly they cried to
+their imaginary rescuers. No answering "hallo" reached them, and the
+only effect of their cries seemed to be to add to the fright of their
+horses and so endanger themselves still more.
+
+On, on, on--while their aching muscles seemed to grow numb with the
+strain and their lungs nearly burst with the pressure upon them.
+
+At last they gave in--it seemed that they had to give in. All except
+Betty, who kept on desperately, doggedly, her muscles barely able to
+respond to the last call she was making upon them.
+
+"I can't go on any more. I'm all in," said Mollie, a desperate quiet in
+her voice. "My arms are like lead and my hands are so numb I can't feel
+the stone. I guess this is the last adventure of the Outdoor Girls. We
+have just had one too many, that's all."
+
+"Oh, Mollie!" Betty drew in a labored breath that caught on a sob.
+"Please don't give up--please! I've counted on you----" she paused,
+jerked her head up, her attention turned on the spot where her hand
+still automatically dug at the earth.
+
+She sniffed, experimentally, sniffed again, stilling the wild throb of
+hope that was almost a pain at her heart.
+
+"What is it, Betty, what is it?" cried Mollie, sensing something
+strange. Amy and Grace fought off the dizziness that was stealing over
+them and leaned forward.
+
+But Betty had jumped to her feet, had dropped the stone and was tearing
+with her bare hands at that thin place--that thin place---- It gave
+under her mad onslaught, and suddenly her hand slipped through into the
+air--the air---- A breath of it swept into her tortured lungs, and she
+leaned there, laughing, crying, the tears of sheer weakness running down
+her dirt-stained face.
+
+"Girls!" she babbled, "out there is the air--the good old air--enough of
+it for all of us! We're saved, do you hear? We're saved!"
+
+Exhausted as they were, the girls tore at the tiny hole that Betty had
+made until there was an opening big enough for them to crawl through.
+
+And oh! the indescribable ecstasy of it, the joy of it, just to lie
+there, trembling with weakness, and drink in great drafts of that
+life-giving air, thinking of nothing, caring for nothing but that they
+were alive there in their great out-of-doors. One never comes really to
+appreciate life until one has been close to death.
+
+It was a long time before they ventured to go on. They had not realized
+how near exhaustion they had been until the tension had relaxed. When at
+last they did start for home, on foot, they were still trembling and
+they dared not glance down the canyon at their right for fear of
+becoming dizzy.
+
+They had been long hours in the cave, and when they finally left the
+trail and cut across the plain toward the ranch it was nearly dark. They
+did not realize the startling sight they must present to any one who
+might not know of their plight until they met Andy Rawlinson and some
+other boys from the ranch starting out to search for them.
+
+At sight of the mud-stained, blood-stained Outdoor Girls, Andy Rawlinson
+fairly tumbled from his pony and came running toward them while the
+other boys stood agape.
+
+"What in the world----" began Andy, but Betty stopped him with a weary
+gesture. As briefly as she could she told him what had happened and
+asked him to go back and get their horses.
+
+"It's getting pretty dark now, you know," she reminded him, when he
+seemed inclined to linger and ask questions. "Soon you won't be able to
+see what you're doing. Won't you please hurry?"
+
+"Surest thing you know," responded the boy quickly, his nice eyes full
+of sympathy for them. "Some of the boys will see you home--your folks
+are getting awfully worried about you, you know--and the rest of us will
+go on and dig out the poor bronchos. So long. We'll be back pronto."
+
+"And now home," sighed Betty, as she looked at the ranch house just
+visible in the distance. "And a bath--and something to eat. What does
+that sound like, girls?"
+
+"Heaven!" they answered.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE LURE OF GOLD
+
+
+The task of releasing the imprisoned horses was not such an easy task as
+the girls and even Andy Rawlinson had thought it would be.
+
+In the first place, it took Andy and his company some time to discover
+the place along the trail where the landslide had occurred, for Betty's
+account had been hasty and excited and she had overlooked several
+details that might have helped them in their work.
+
+And when they did reach the scene of what might have been a tragedy the
+ranch hands were appalled by the immensity of the landslide. There had
+been several small ones in that vicinity, but this was what Andy termed
+a "humdinger."
+
+There was a stamping and snorting from inside that dirt-choked cavern
+that, there in that lonely spot on the very edge of night, seemed
+positively uncanny to the men who stood and listened.
+
+"Better get busy, boys," said Andy suddenly. "Those hosses ain't goin'
+to get any easier in they minds an' it's about time we dug 'em out of
+there. Back to Gold Run as fast as we can get there for the right kind
+of tools from the miners. We may need some more men, too. Gosh, but I
+didn't know it was as bad as that," he added with a glance over his
+shoulder as he turned his pony and dashed back down the trail in the
+direction of Gold Run. "Reckon 'twas just plain grit that got those
+girls out."
+
+Back in Gold Run they found several miners who were willing to offer
+both themselves and their tools toward the work of liberation, and soon
+the cowboys returned, accompanied by men with lanterns, and fell to work
+with a will.
+
+Two hours later, Andy Rawlinson ventured into the blackness of the cave,
+swinging his lantern before him, and led forth the first of the
+frightened horses.
+
+Meanwhile the girls had bathed away the stains of their adventure, and
+after a hearty meal cooked by an over solicitous "Miz Cummins" and
+served by a frankly envious and inquisitive Lizzie, they felt
+considerably more like their old self-confident selves.
+
+However, they begged not to have to go to bed, as Mrs. Nelson anxiously
+suggested, until the boys had returned with their horses.
+
+"I'm beginning to get dreadfully worried," Betty confessed after an
+interval of staring out into the darkness. They were on the biggest of
+the many porches boasted by the quaint old ranch house, waiting eagerly
+for the first sound that would announce the return of Andy and the
+others with their horses.
+
+"I'd never get over it if anything happened to Old Nick," said Mollie,
+taking up Betty's theme. "Maybe we'd better borrow some other horses
+from the corral and follow them."
+
+"You'll do nothing of the kind," said Mr. Nelson, his voice sounding
+unusually stern there in the darkness. "I am going to keep my eye on you
+for the rest of to-day, at least!"
+
+And so they contented themselves as well as they could with waiting and
+finally were rewarded by the regular beat of galloping horses in the
+distance.
+
+"They're coming!" cried Betty, springing to her feet, then turned to her
+father pleadingly: "You won't mind if we go down to meet them, will you,
+Dad?" she asked. "They are our chums, you know--the horses, I mean."
+
+Mr. Nelson nodded, and down the steps the girls sprang, racing out to
+meet that sound of galloping hoofs which was coming ever nearer. A few
+minutes later they were caressing the nervous animals that had gone with
+them into the very shadow of death, rubbing their noses, laughing and
+crying over them and calling them endearing names till it's a wonder the
+cowboys, who stood by, grinning sympathetically, did not turn green with
+envy.
+
+"Some anymiles do have all the luck," said one of them.
+
+After that the girls and their horses were almost inseparable. If left
+to themselves, the latter would follow the girls around like dogs. Even
+"Old Nick," who had been the most difficult to understand and win, now
+was devoted to Mollie. She was the only one who could quiet him, and
+though there were some who did not care to ride him because of his
+skittishness, he was never anything but gentle and docile with her.
+
+As the days passed the girls became more and more interested in Meggy
+Higgins until the longing to give her one good time, in spite of her
+pride, became almost an obsession with them.
+
+One day Betty begged so hard that the girl finally consented to take a
+holiday and go out with them for a day's fun. But Meggy surrendered
+reluctantly, in spite of the fact that this invitation of the girls had
+been like a glimpse of wonderland to her.
+
+"I reckon dad can get along one day without me, specially as the hermit
+can do part of my work. Pa's broke him in so he can be real helpful
+now----"
+
+But she got no farther, for Betty threw her arms around the surprised
+girl and hugged her happily.
+
+"I'm awfully glad!" she cried, adding with eyes that sparkled: "I tell
+you what I'll do. I'll let you ride Nigger. There's a darling little
+brown colt over at the ranch that I've been just dying to try out."
+
+Sudden tears sprang to Meggy's eyes, and with the disgust of all
+mountain folk for the expression of sentiment, she turned away
+impatiently to hide this tell-tale sign of weakness. But Betty had
+glimpsed the tears and she was satisfied.
+
+The day was all that even Meggy Higgins' starved imagination could have
+expected of it. The miner's daughter was so beatifically happy that the
+girls found a new and most satisfying thrill in her enjoyment.
+
+All her short, work-driven life Meggy Higgins had wanted a horse, a
+beautiful, sleek animal with supple limbs and shining coat like the one
+that she was riding now--Betty's Nigger. Many have desired a fortune,
+some political fame, others social position, but Meggy merely desired a
+horse. And even this had been denied her because her father had been
+dazzled by the lure of gold, a fortune always just before his eyes, but
+never to be grasped.
+
+The girls were sorry for old Dan Higgins and his thwarted hopes. But
+they were infinitely more sorry for this girl of his to whom hardship
+was a daily reality and pleasure a golden vision to be indulged in only
+by girls whose fathers did not own a worthless claim.
+
+"Sometimes," spoke up Mollie, as she reined Old Nick into a walk, "I
+wish I had the courage to rob somebody else's mine, Meggy, and plant the
+gold in yours. It doesn't seem fair for you to work all the time and get
+nothing for it."
+
+The girl smiled sadly.
+
+"I'm used to that," she said, with a grim philosophy far beyond her
+years. Then she added, with a quick loyalty that made the girls' hearts
+warm to her: "I don't mind. I'd do anything for dad an' I guess if he
+thought I was gettin' discouraged he'd jest plum up an' quit. He's
+gittin' old, he is, an' he ain't that spry like he used to be. All he
+has is his hope in that mine--an' me. Ef you killed that you might as
+well kill him."
+
+After a while they stopped in the shade of some stunted trees and had
+lunch. The girls could tell from Meggy's popping eyes that the
+delicacies they drew forth from Miz Cummins' lunch basket had never
+been dreamed of in all her hum-drum, joyless life.
+
+Tongue sandwiches, buttered corn-bread, fried chicken that you were at
+perfect liberty to take up in your fingers and nibble to your heart's
+content, jelly and olives and hot cocoa in the thermos bottle with rich
+cream already in it--truly a feast even worthy of the Outdoor Girls!
+
+After lunch the girls strolled around a bit, leaving their mounts to
+graze lazily. They talked of many things, the adventures they had had,
+the curious people they had met in their adventuring, while Meggy
+listened to it all, drinking it in thirstily.
+
+"To think of all the things you've seen," she breathed at last. "An'
+I've spent all my time sence I was able to toddle, I reckon, betwixt our
+cabin an' the mine--back an' forth, back an' forth----"
+
+After that they rode on again and it was quite late in the day when they
+decided it was time to be going back.
+
+"I don't see," said Grace, as they neared the ranch, "why we don't lay
+out some claims and start digging ourselves, girls. The north end of
+this ranch is quite near the other mines. We might strike gold."
+
+The words were spoken laughingly, but Meggy took them seriously.
+
+"Mebbe there's some truth in that," she said soberly. "Dad allus
+reckoned they might be gold on Gold Run Ranch."
+
+A short time later they left her at the mine and Betty mounted Nigger,
+leading the brown colt by the reins. Meggy had tried to stammer some
+words of thanks, but the girls would have none of it. They waved to her
+gayly and started for home.
+
+After an unusually long and thoughtful silence, Amy spoke up softly.
+
+"Betty," she said, "if Meggy is right about the ranch, there being gold
+here, I mean, then what your mother had thought all along may turn out
+to be the truth."
+
+"Well," said Betty, a joyous lilt to her voice that the girls knew well,
+"Allen will be here in a few days and then we'll start our gold hunt.
+Gold!" she repeated softly. "There is something romantic in the very
+sound of it!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+A DISCOVERY
+
+
+Up to this time the weather had been remarkably fine, but on this
+particular morning the Outdoor Girls woke to find that the sky was
+overcast and there was every indication of a stormy day.
+
+"Oh bother," grumbled Mollie, as after their breakfast she gloomily
+surveyed the landscape from the cretonne-curtained window. "Just as I
+was about to suggest a real adventure, too!"
+
+"What do you mean--'real adventure?'" queried Grace, lazily. The day
+before she had bought a new box of candy and a magazine, and so it
+happened that she was the only one of the four of them who really did
+not care whether it rained or not.
+
+Mollie turned from the window and regarded them resentfully. Then she
+looked more hopeful as her eyes rested on Betty, who was sorting the
+contents of a too-crowded dresser drawer.
+
+"You are with me, anyway, aren't you, Betty?" she asked, almost
+wistfully. "We'll leave these other two at home, and you and I will go
+on our adventure."
+
+"All right," said Betty, with a lack of enthusiasm that fell with a
+dampening effect upon Mollie's ears. The disastrous quality of their
+last adventure had had a dampening effect on the girls' enthusiasm for
+this form of entertainment, and for the present they preferred the
+safety of the ranch to the lure of the great unknown, as it were.
+However, this condition of mind was only temporary. They would soon be
+as eager as ever for new experiences. "I'm game for anything, Mollie
+dear, as long as you keep away from land-slides and wild animals."
+
+"Just hear the child!" said Mollie disgustedly. "As if an adventure
+would be an adventure without a little danger mixed in!"
+
+"Just what is your great idea, Mollie?" asked Betty mildly. Mollie was
+beginning to glower. And if somebody did not stop her at the beginning,
+there was sure to be a fracas. Betty knew this from experience. "Suppose
+you tell us about it and get it out of your system. As I said before,
+I'm willing to do anything if it isn't hunting lions and tigers."
+
+Mollie grunted disgustedly.
+
+"Well, there isn't a thing really exciting about it, if that's what you
+mean," she said. "I just thought that since we had nothing special to do
+to-day we might visit the Hermit of Gold Run again. We might be able to
+solve the mystery about him in some way," she added as a special
+inducement, since the girls still seemed unenthusiastic.
+
+Grace laughed indulgently.
+
+"Just how do you expect to solve this mystery?" she asked, with a
+giggle. "You certainly can't do it by looking at him."
+
+"Oh well, if that's the way you feel," retorted Mollie, feeling very
+much abused, "I'm sorry I spoke about it. Only I thought we had already
+decided to pay him a visit."
+
+"And so we had," said Betty, closing the dresser drawer with a bang and
+coming unexpectedly to her aid. "And I, for one, am with you in that,
+Mollie. I have felt from the first," she went on earnestly, while Mollie
+regarded her with growing hope, "that I had not only heard the selection
+that that man played but that I had seen him somewhere before--quite a
+long time ago."
+
+Impressed by Betty's earnestness, Grace had laid down her magazine and
+Amy was becoming interested.
+
+"I know it's ridiculous," Betty continued, as though to justify
+herself, "but I can't help feeling that way, just the same."
+
+"That thing he played sounded familiar to me, too," Grace admitted, now
+entirely abandoning her magazine and sitting up. "It has been haunting
+me ever since we heard him playing that day, and yet I can't think of
+the name of it."
+
+Softly Amy began to hum a popular song, but Mollie interrupted her
+impatiently.
+
+"Well then, since you all feel that way about it," she said eagerly, "I
+don't see why it wouldn't be fun to scout around his cabin a little bit
+and see if we can't pick up some information. I'm really curious about
+him."
+
+"All right, let's," said Betty, with the decision for which she was
+famed. "Get your riding togs on, girls, and we'll play detective."
+
+This time it was Mollie who held back.
+
+"How about the weather?" she demurred. "Looks as if we were likely to
+get wet."
+
+"Who cares?" said Betty airily, adding, as she stopped at the door to
+make them a little bow: "It would give us an excuse to see His Highness
+again."
+
+Half an hour later they had saddled their ponies and were cantering off
+briskly to visit the Hermit of Gold Run.
+
+"Aren't you a little bit afraid to go in there?" asked Amy, reining in
+as they reached the narrow trail through the woods that led near the
+musician's cabin. "We might run into some wolves, as we did that other
+time."
+
+"We were much further in the woods than the Hermit's cabin," said Mollie
+impatiently. "And it was in an entirely different direction, too. Go
+ahead, silly, or I'll ride right over you," and as she was urging Old
+Nick forward until he crowded uncomfortably against the little white
+filly, Amy had no other course but to do as she was bid.
+
+Nevertheless, she was not the only one who was uneasy, and it might have
+been observed that the girls glanced often into the shadows of the
+underbrush on either side of the narrow trail.
+
+There were wild animals in that forest, as they had good reason to know,
+and though they seldom ventured this close to civilization, still there
+was no use in tempting fate!
+
+"I didn't know it was as far in as this," said Grace, after they had
+ridden some distance in silence. "Are you sure we haven't passed the
+cabin, Betty?"
+
+"Why, we aren't nearly there yet," was Betty's discomforting reply.
+"It's quite a way beyond that next turn in the trail."
+
+Grace said nothing, but she gripped the reins harder in her hands. She
+had made up her mind that at the first sign of danger she would turn
+Nabob and make a dash back down the trail for safety.
+
+After that the silence became so pronounced that Mollie noticed it and
+laughed nervously.
+
+"Why all the noise?" she asked jocosely. "It nearly breaks my ear
+drums."
+
+"Hush," cried Amy warningly. "I thought I heard something."
+
+"That was your own heart hammering against the tree trunks," retorted
+Mollie dryly, at which the girls giggled and the tension relaxed.
+
+"Let's talk about something nice," Betty suggested. "Gold, for
+instance."
+
+"Or Allen," teased Grace. "I reckon you won't be glad or anything when
+he gets here."
+
+"I guess mother will be gladder than any of us," replied Betty promptly,
+trying to shift the spotlight from herself. "She was so excited when I
+told her what Dan Higgins said about the possibility of there being gold
+on the ranch that she hardly closed her eyes all night. I told her she
+was getting to be a regular adventuress."
+
+"Like her daughter," said Mollie, with a chuckle.
+
+"Just think of the story we can tell the boys when we get home," said
+Amy rapturously, adding apologetically as the girls glanced at her: "If
+we find the gold, I mean."
+
+"Listen to the child!" cried Betty gayly, while the other girls laughed.
+"And we haven't begun to dig yet. Hold your horses, Amy dear, hold your
+horses."
+
+They did this very thing literally the next moment, for they came in
+sight of the queer little cabin of the man whom the natives called the
+Hermit of Gold Run.
+
+Quickly they jumped down, tethered the horses as they had done before on
+the day when they had first made the acquaintance of this remarkable
+man, and started rather hesitantly down the path toward the house.
+
+As they came nearer the haunting strains of the music that had puzzled
+them before once more floated out through the open windows and they
+paused, lost once again in the spell of it.
+
+The music stopped, and they went on, hardly knowing what their next move
+was to be, yet drawn irresistibly by their curiosity. Then once more
+they heard the violin, but evidently the mood of the player had changed.
+The melody fraught with pathos, wailing, pleading, no longer reached
+them. The theme had changed--light, airy, sparkling, it reminded the
+girls of fairies dancing on the grass in the moonlight.
+
+Mollie grasped Betty's arm.
+
+"I know that!" she cried excitedly. "It's something of Chopin's, a
+nocturne, I think. Girls, I know where I heard that selection played
+just that way before."
+
+They gazed at her, their eyes asking the question before their lips
+could form it.
+
+"At the Hostess House!" cried Mollie. "Don't you remember that concert
+we gave with some of the great artists?"
+
+"That big benefit!" cried Betty excitedly. "You've got it, Mollie!
+That's what I was trying to think of!"
+
+"Sh-h," said Grace, a finger to her lips. "He has stopped playing. He
+may hear us."
+
+"All right," said Betty. "Let's get back to the trail where we can talk
+this thing over."
+
+They did not stop at the trail, however, for some memory of the danger
+lurking in the woods drove them out on to the main road where they might
+talk in peace.
+
+"Now then," said Betty eagerly, as they reached the road, crowding their
+horses close together and reining them in to a walk. "What do you make
+of this, girls? If this man is really one of those artists that played
+at that big concert, then he is famous and there is something more than
+strange in his hiding up here in the woods."
+
+"Goodness, we don't need anybody to tell us that," said Grace. "He
+certainly must be in hiding for something he's done--unless he has been
+disappointed in love," she added sentimentally.
+
+"I don't believe he was ever in love with anything but his violin," said
+Mollie.
+
+"Can't somebody think of the name of the violinist that played at the
+benefit?" asked Betty, who had been trying for some minutes past to
+accomplish that very thing.
+
+"It was something like Croup, I think," said Mollie, wrinkling her
+forehead.
+
+"Goodness, how romantic," said Grace, with a laugh.
+
+"I tell you how we can find out the name," said Amy suddenly.
+
+"How?" they questioned.
+
+"I think I have a program, and I can send home for it," said Amy.
+
+"Good girl!" cried Mollie, slapping her on the back with a violence that
+nearly threw her from Lady's back and caused that gentle little animal
+to turn her head inquiringly. "We little thought we had a genius in our
+midst!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+ALLEN ARRIVES
+
+
+Amy was delighted with the praise she received from the girls and the
+first thing she did after they returned to the ranch was to write home
+to her guardian for the concert program she had so luckily saved.
+
+Naturally the girls were more curious than ever after this second trip
+to his little cabin in the woods and longed to find out about this
+strange musician who hid himself so persistently from the world.
+
+"Of course," Grace said, during one of the many times when they talked
+the matter over, "we're not at all sure that the Hermit is the same man
+who played at our benefit."
+
+"Of course we're not," Mollie agreed with her. "There must be a great
+many musicians who can play those same selections that we heard him
+play."
+
+"That's all very true," said Betty argumentatively. "But if he is really
+this same musician that played at our benefit, then that explains the
+queer hunch I've had of having seen him somewhere before."
+
+"Well," said Mollie resignedly, "I guess all we can do for the present
+is to wait until Amy gets her program. When we find out the name of the
+violinist that played for us then we can decide what to do next about
+the Hermit."
+
+Reluctantly they admitted that what she said was true, and for the time
+being let the discussion rest there.
+
+Then came the day when Betty received a letter from Allen announcing
+that he would reach Gold Run the following afternoon on the
+four-thirty-five train. The letter ended by begging her to meet the
+train herself and please not to send any one else, for no one else would
+do!
+
+Betty's pretty face flushed a deeper pink and her eyes shone brighter as
+she read this passage--and two or three others--several times over. Then
+she went to find the girls and tell them the good news.
+
+They also had received mail from the other boys and some of the folks at
+home, and she found them all together on the eastern porch having the
+time of their lives. Mollie and Amy were perched on the railing while
+Grace and a box of candy reposed in a hammock.
+
+"Well, have you finished reading yours already?" Mollie greeted the
+Little Captain as she swung up the steps. "It was such a fat one I
+thought it would take you till lunch time at least to get through with
+it."
+
+"Speak for yourself," retorted Betty, too happy to mind being teased.
+"Guess what, girls!" she added, unable to keep the news to herself for
+another minute, "Allen arrives via the Western Limited at four-thirty or
+thereabouts to-morrow afternoon."
+
+"Hooray!" cried the girls, and momentarily forgot their own letters in
+very real delight. Allen Washburn was a favorite with all of them.
+
+"Will you let us all go to meet him, Betty dear?" asked Grace, with a
+twinkling smile. "Or does he insist on seeing you alone?"
+
+"Don't be silly," retorted Betty good-naturedly. "I know he would take
+it as a personal slight if you weren't all there to welcome him."
+
+"Well, I don't know," Mollie commented ruefully. "Something tells me he
+would manage to live through it even if we weren't there. But go on,
+Betty," she added. "Tell us what else he has to say."
+
+"That's pretty nearly all," said Betty truthfully. "He said he would
+save all the news until he saw me--us. One thing he did say," she
+added, dimpling: "The boys are simply wild with jealousy. They say it is
+all a deep dark scheme on Allen's part to get out here with us."
+
+"Us!" repeated Grace, with a giggle. "Much he cares about the rest of
+us."
+
+Be that as it may, they certainly all turned out that following
+afternoon to meet the Western Limited which was bearing Allen swiftly
+toward them.
+
+There was the usual gathering of picturesquely garbed miners and
+cow-punchers on the platform, and for most of these the girls had a
+smile and a nod.
+
+"Seems funny to think how strange everything looked to us when we first
+came," remarked Grace, as they waited for the train. "Now we feel as
+much at home as if we had lived here all our lives."
+
+"The people are all so nice and friendly, too," said Amy. "It's
+wonderful how soon you come to know them."
+
+"It is a nice atmosphere," Betty agreed. "At home in the East we want to
+know pretty much all there is to know about people we make our friends.
+But out here they take you for granted. Nobody seems to care where you
+came from or who your relatives are----"
+
+"Huh," grunted Mollie. "I guess in a good many cases it wouldn't do to
+be too curious," she said cynically. "If you believe the stories you
+read and the movies you see everybody who has committed a crime anywhere
+from petty larceny to murder skips out West to escape just punishment."
+
+"Then at this moment," drawled Grace, glancing around at the rather
+harmless looking crowd on the station platform, "we are surrounded by
+thieves and murderers. Though I must say they are a pretty nice looking
+set," she added, and the girls giggled.
+
+"Grace could forgive a man anything, if he was only good-looking
+enough," remarked Amy.
+
+"Here comes the train!" cried Betty suddenly, as the Western Limited
+thundered around a curve in the distance and steamed toward them.
+Immediately she forgot everything but that Allen was on that train and
+that in a moment more she would see him----
+
+Then Allen himself, handsome as ever, eagerly scanning the faces on the
+platform as he jumped from the train the instant the porter opened the
+door.
+
+It took him barely a moment to discover the group of girls, and he came
+toward them, hand outstretched, eyes alight with greeting.
+
+"Well, if this isn't great!" he cried in his hearty voice, shaking
+hands with all of them but looking mostly at Betty. "Knew I could trust
+the Outdoor Girls to turn out for a rousing welcome. How's everything?"
+
+"Just fine," they assured him, and then Betty took him in hand.
+
+"We've brought a wagon along from the ranch to carry your luggage," she
+said, dragging him over to the wagon beside which two of the boys from
+the ranch were waiting bashfully. "Come over and meet a couple of our
+cow-punchers, and they will help you load your trunk on board."
+
+All this accomplished, the cowboys and Allen having formed an immediate
+and staunch friendship, Betty introduced the latter to the horse she had
+brought for him to ride. The pony was a magnificent animal, dark brown
+in color with a curve to his graceful neck and a flash to his eye that
+proclaimed his thoroughbred ancestry.
+
+"Say, you old peach of a horse," said Allen, fondly stroking the soft
+muzzle, "you're just about the most perfect thing of your kind I've ever
+seen. It seems almost a sacrilege to ride you."
+
+"His name is Lightning," Amy volunteered. "The boys call him that
+because he can outrun almost any other horse on the ranch. Though," she
+added loyally, "I shouldn't wonder if Lady could beat him if they
+should give her a head start."
+
+This characteristic speech brought a laugh, and Allen regarded the four
+other beautiful horses in the group.
+
+"You girls seemed to have picked winners yourselves," he said
+admiringly. He studied them a moment, then his eyes narrowed quizzically
+as he turned to Betty.
+
+"I'll bet you a box of candy against a pair of gloves," he said, "that I
+can tell which horse belongs to which. Do you take me?"
+
+"Of course," said Betty. "Go ahead."
+
+He guessed them nearly right, except that he gave Nigger to Mollie and
+Old Nick to Betty.
+
+"Almost does not avail," sang Betty gayly. "You owe me a box of candy,
+Allen Washburn."
+
+He looked at her for a moment laughing, and suddenly her gaze faltered.
+There had been something new and forceful about Allen ever since he had
+come back from the war that had made Betty a little afraid of him. But
+she did not think any the less of him--oh, no indeed!
+
+"I'll give you a dozen of them if you'll take them," he was saying
+ardently--evidently in reference to the candies.
+
+"And if she won't take 'em, I will," said Grace, with a gusto that made
+them all laugh.
+
+On the way home the girls, with what they thought was great
+consideration, cantered along in front, leaving Allen and Betty to bring
+up the rear. Allen blessed them for it, but Betty was furious and kept
+up such a running fire of comment and laughing narrative that Allen had
+no chance to say the things he had wanted to say.
+
+Only once as they neared the ranch she paused a moment, pointing out
+over the dazzling plains to the purple tipped mountains in the distance.
+
+"Isn't the country beautiful, Allen?" she asked breathlessly. "I've
+fallen dead in love with it."
+
+"It looks too good to be true," Allen agreed seriously, then added
+boyishly, with a glance that took her in, as well as the scenery: "Just
+now, I don't care if I never go home!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+A TIP
+
+
+For the next few days the girls took possession of Allen, showing him
+the sights with a will and showering him with details of their
+adventures till the poor fellow's head was in a whirl and he could
+hardly tell whether it was the wolves or the landslide that had
+frightened the girls into the cave on that memorable afternoon.
+
+"Seems to me," he said, as the girls showed him the cave--at a safe
+distance from the mountain, one may be sure--"that you young ladies need
+a chaperone pretty badly."
+
+"Do you think you're it?" teased Mollie.
+
+"Great guns! I should hope not," said Allen, with a flash of his white
+teeth. "I would rather face a dugout full of Boches than try to keep
+tabs on you girls. See here," he added, suddenly serious. "Do you mean
+to tell me that you were really caught in that cave with your horses and
+nothing to dig your way out with but your hands?"
+
+"And a few sharp stones that we found," Betty nodded soberly.
+
+Allen whistled softly.
+
+"No, I should think not," he said slowly. "It's a wonder that with you
+and your horses, too, in that small space, you didn't smother before aid
+could reach you."
+
+"We should have," spoke up Amy quickly, "if it hadn't been for Betty.
+She was the one who kept us at it when we were ready to give up."
+
+"Yes, and she was the one that kept at it when the rest of us _had_
+given up," Mollie reminded her. "She was the one who kept digging until
+she forced the hole through. If it hadn't been for her we would have all
+given up and just died there, I guess."
+
+Betty, who had been getting redder and redder through this recital of
+her heroism, found it hard to meet Allen's eyes as he turned to her with
+all his heart in his own.
+
+"The girls give me altogether too much credit," she protested. "Anybody
+will fight when he has his back against the wall. And now let's take
+Allen to see Dan Higgins' mine," she added lightly. "Dan Higgins and his
+daughter Meggy are great friends of ours, Allen, and I know you will
+love them as much as we do."
+
+"Your friends will always be mine," Allen assured her gallantly, and
+they rode off gayly toward Gold Run.
+
+On the way they told him a good deal of Dan Higgins and Meggy, and Allen
+listened with sympathetic interest.
+
+"That surely is tough," he said boyishly. "But of course his case is no
+different from that of hundreds of others who have come out here to
+'God's Country' in the hope of beating the daily grind and jumping to
+fortune at one fell swoop. That sounds rather Irish, doesn't it?" he
+added, with his contagious grin.
+
+"You're right about that, I suppose," said Betty gravely. "As you say,
+Dan Higgins is just one of a hundred others in the same pitiful fix. But
+at least he has had his dreams and the excitement of gambling. He chose
+this sort of life, and so we don't feel so awfully sorry for him. But it
+is his daughter Meggy that we pity. She is really a wonderful girl,
+Allen, and to condemn her to a life of work and poverty is really a
+crime."
+
+"Well, I didn't do it," said Allen plaintively, adding quickly as
+Betty's face clouded: "I beg your pardon, little girl, I didn't mean to
+be flippant. But, like her father, there are many others in the
+position of this girl. A man can't choose to live a life like that
+without dragging his family into it too."
+
+"Then he shouldn't have a family," said Mollie hotly. "He should make up
+his mind to be an old bachelor--though I don't think there is anything
+worse under the sun," she added, with such emphasis that the girls
+giggled.
+
+"I agree with you there," said Allen, adding whimsically: "But what a
+man should do and what he does do are often very different things."
+
+"But you speak of Dan Higgins and Meggy as if they were just ordinary
+people," Grace objected, as she flicked the reins gently on Nabob's
+arching neck. "You seem to forget that they saved our lives--probably."
+
+"No, I don't forget that," said Allen gravely. "And I respect your wish
+to do something in return. I also owe them a debt of gratitude." His
+eyes unconsciously sought Betty's, and a quick glance passed between
+them that was more eloquent than words.
+
+"Then you will help us to help him?" said Betty quickly.
+
+"I'll do anything I can," Allen answered, adding, rather dubiously: "But
+I don't see what any one can do for them. If the old man hasn't struck
+gold yet and is short of funds to finance further search, I don't see
+what any one can do for him. Do you?" he added, looking at her.
+
+"No-o," admitted Betty reluctantly. "I haven't thought of a way yet. But
+I'm sure I shall," she added so bravely that the girls wanted to hug
+her.
+
+They reached the Higgins' mine soon after this, and at the sound of
+their approach Meggy ran eagerly out to them, as she always did. But
+when she saw Allen, looking to her unsophisticated eyes like some hero
+out of a story book, handsome and city-bred, she halted and turned red
+with embarrassment.
+
+However, Allen, by his own gracious and friendly manner, soon set her at
+ease, but her eyes continued to follow every movement of his as though
+in amazement that such a perfect creature could live.
+
+"Better look out, Betty," Grace whispered to the Little Captain when
+nobody was looking. "Meggy thinks Allen is pretty nice. Just watch her,
+she's hypnotized."
+
+But Betty only smiled. Somehow, she felt pretty sure of Allen.
+
+The latter struck up a great friendship with old Dan Higgins right
+away--wonderful how everybody took to Allen, thought Betty proudly--and
+soon they were talking like old friends. In five minutes Allen had
+found out more about Dan Higgins' mine and his prospects than the girls
+would have learned in a year.
+
+Toward the end Allen managed to put a few adroit questions concerning
+Gold Run Ranch and the possibility of there being gold upon it.
+
+"Waal now," drawled Higgins, spitting upon the ground reflectively,
+"folks here'bouts used to wonder why old Jed Barcolm didn't get busy and
+find out if there was gold on thet property, but somehow th' old man
+never seemed to get interested. Conservative old fellow, Jed Barcolm,
+anyways--allus said he'd made enough raisin' cattle and didn't aim to do
+no prospectin' at his time o' life."
+
+"But you think there is a good possibility of there being gold on the
+ranch?" insisted Allen, and the girls held their breath.
+
+Dan Higgins gave him a shrewd look and spat once more.
+
+"You thinkin' of doin' a little prospectin' on your own hook, Son?" he
+inquired.
+
+"Heavens, no!" answered Allen with convincing sincerity, adding with a
+smile: "It is barely possible that my client might, though."
+
+The old man started and stood upright, squaring his thin shoulders
+belligerently.
+
+"You don't mean to tell me you're one o' those ornery lawyer cusses,"
+he said, with a disgusted emphasis that angered the girls but apparently
+left Allen unmoved.
+
+"A lawyer--but not ornery, I hope," he said pleasantly. "And my client
+is Mrs. Nelson, the new owner of the ranch. Is there anything else you
+would like to know about me?"
+
+But the old man's anger had departed and he regarded Allen with a shrewd
+twinkle in his kindly blue eyes.
+
+"Sorry, Son," he said. "I reckon there are some honest lawyers, though I
+never ain't met one yet--not round here leastways."
+
+"Thanks for a rather doubtful compliment," laughed Allen. It was evident
+that he was enjoying the old man extremely. "I assure you, though I am
+not always honest, there are times when I try very hard to be." Then he
+suddenly added: "By the way, do you happen to know a man around
+here--one of those ornery lawyers--by the name of Peter Levine?"
+
+Again Dan Higgins spat disgustedly.
+
+"Know him!" he answered with a wealth of scorn in his voice. "I reckon
+most everybody round here knows him--an' they's mighty few knows any
+good o' him. Take my advice, Son, an' keep away from him."
+
+"Thanks," said Allen dryly. "But the problem seems to be to keep him
+away from us. He is representing a client who wants to buy Gold Run
+Ranch."
+
+The old man started and a gleam of excitement shot into his eyes while
+Meggy, seeming to share his emotion, crept closer to him.
+
+"Peter Levine wants you to sell," he repeated eagerly, then relaxed once
+more into his drawl, though his eyes reflected a strange inward turmoil.
+"Listen, Son," he said. "Ef you let that snake in the grass argy you
+into sellin', you're a bigger fool 'n I take you to be. An' what's
+more," his voice lowered and the girls leaned forward eagerly, "if Peter
+wants that there property of yourn there's gold on it, you can bet your
+last dollar onto it. Pete ain't no angel, an' he don't work for
+nothing."
+
+Burning with excitement themselves, the girls marveled that Allen could
+take this statement so calmly.
+
+"Thanks for the tip," he said, in his ordinary voice. "I had some such
+idea myself, but it certainly helps to have my judgment backed by
+somebody who knows the people in the case."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE NET TIGHTENS
+
+
+Allen learned much about Peter Levine and his associates and about Gold
+Run itself in the following conversation, and when he and the girls
+finally said good-by to the old man and his daughter and started off
+down the trail again, he was more than satisfied.
+
+As for the girls, they could hardly wait to get out of earshot of the
+mine before letting loose a flood of excited comment.
+
+"Well, I don't see anything to get so excited about," said Allen, after
+they had rattled on for several minutes. "Dan Higgins didn't tell us
+anything we didn't already know--or suspect, anyway. He simply confirmed
+our suspicions, that's all."
+
+"Seems to me that's enough," retorted Mollie. "It's one thing to think a
+thing yourself and an entirely different thing to find out somebody else
+thinks it too."
+
+"Don't be an old granddaddy, Allen," Betty said, adding threateningly:
+"If you don't look out we won't let you have any of that wonderful gold
+we are going to find--not one little tiny nugget."
+
+"That's gratitude for you," said Allen reproachfully. "Not one little
+nugget for a fellow who finds her a fortune."
+
+"You haven't found it yet," Amy reminded him.
+
+"No," said Allen suddenly animated, "I haven't found it--not yet--but
+I'm pretty sure I'm on the right track. Look here," he appealed to them:
+"It seems reasonable to me to suppose that if Peter Levine and the
+people above him are so anxious to get the property they know pretty
+well where they stand. They don't want the ranch simply because they
+_think_ there is gold on it."
+
+"Then you think----" Betty was beginning breathlessly, when Allen
+interrupted her with a rush of words.
+
+"Yes, that's just what I think," he said. "I've been pretty well over
+the whole of this ranch since I came, and I've noticed that this extreme
+northwest portion of it, the only part where there would be any
+possibility of finding gold, is pretty well deserted most of the
+time--absolutely so at night----"
+
+"Then you think," Betty burst forth, "that these people, whoever they
+are, may have made actual tests? That they are sure there is gold here?"
+
+Allen nodded.
+
+"That is my theory," he said gravely. "But of course the only way to
+prove the truth of it is to keep my eyes open and catch them, if that is
+possible, in the act."
+
+"But how could one conceal such a thing?" Grace objected. "A big thing
+like a mine can't be hidden away in the daytime like a rag doll. There
+must be some signs about the place to show that people have been
+here----"
+
+"Exactly," said Allen. "There probably are signs--only nobody has had
+the incentive--or the interest, maybe--to hunt for those signs up to
+this time. Although," he added thoughtfully, "there are many ways of
+camouflaging the entrance to a mine so that a casual observer, even an
+interested one, possibly, would be fooled--branches, leaves, a rock or
+two."
+
+"But wouldn't there be noise?" It was Amy who put the objection this
+time. "I should think they would make enough disturbance to rouse
+suspicion at least."
+
+"They might not," Allen contended. "Remember, they are right in the
+mining territory, so that if any of the miners heard an unusual noise
+they would think it was one of their neighbors working late. Anyway,"
+he finished, "their operations would necessarily have to be small, and
+they might be so small as not even to arouse suspicion. Sometimes," he
+added, and the girls hung on his words as though they were prophetic,
+"there need be no actual digging to ascertain that there is gold in a
+certain region. Sometimes the bed of a spring if sifted to get rid of
+pebbles and other débris will reveal gold enough to make the finder
+certain that there is a rich gold vein close by."
+
+"Goodness, let's go and hunt up some springs!" cried Mollie
+irrepressibly. "What's the use of leaving all this gold finding to Mr.
+Peter Levine?"
+
+"I remember seeing an old broken sieve around the ranch house
+somewhere," Grace suggested helpfully. "Don't you suppose we can go back
+and get it?"
+
+"But, Allen," Betty asked anxiously, "how do you expect to find out
+about these men? I suppose you intend to show them up?"
+
+"I most certainly do," responded Allen cheerfully. "It would give me the
+greatest delight to land Mr. Peter Levine and his associates in jail."
+
+"Well, you'd better look out you don't get landed yourself," said Mollie
+sagely. "I imagine these particular gentlemen are pretty handy with
+their guns--like most of the other people around here--and I reckon they
+wouldn't be very backward about using them."
+
+"It would be fifty-fifty, at that," said Allen, adding grimly: "I'm not
+so very unhandy with a gun myself. But the war's over and I haven't any
+idea of staging a tragedy," he added lightly, anxious to banish the
+cloud that had come over Betty's bright face. "I shall keep out of sight
+till I have them just where I want them, and when they find themselves
+caught I don't think they'll do much fighting. All crooks are more or
+less cowards, you know."
+
+"But what are you going to do in the meantime--while you are waiting for
+a chance to show them up?" Betty persisted. She did not half like the
+way things were going--even if there was a chance of finding a fortune
+on the ranch. It seemed to her that Allen was putting himself into too
+great danger. And if anything happened to him, what would all the gold
+in the world be worth?
+
+"'In the meantime?'" Allen was answering her question lightly. "Why, in
+the meantime I intend to keep my eyes and ears wide open and do a little
+scouting around Gold Run until I get a line on the doings of Peter
+Levine and his crowd--if he has a crowd. He may just be in partnership
+with one other rascal like himself, for all I know. That's one of the
+first things I want to find out. After the information of our friend,
+back there at the mine," he added, "there is no longer any doubt in my
+mind that this Levine is a crook."
+
+"Humph," said Betty, "I was sure of that the first time I laid eyes on
+him."
+
+"And yet you said you could almost love him for making your mother
+decide to come out here," Allen reminded her quizzically.
+
+"And you said you were on your way to kill him," said Betty, adding with
+a chuckle: "What made you change your mind?"
+
+"I didn't change my mind," retorted Allen, with a grin. "I just didn't
+happen to meet him, that's all."
+
+They had nearly reached the ranch house before Betty thought to ask
+Allen if he had talked his plans over with her mother.
+
+"No, I haven't," he admitted. "As a matter of fact, I hadn't made any
+definite plans until I had this confab with Dan Higgins. He made me see
+the whole thing straight, so to speak. I'll have a talk with your mother
+and father to-night," he promised.
+
+He kept his promise and had the satisfaction of knowing that both his
+clients were backing him heartily.
+
+"Go to it, Allen," Mr. Nelson said at the end of the conference. "Seems
+to me that you have gotten the correct angle on this thing, and if you
+need any help from me just call on me. Only," he warned, "don't run
+yourself into unnecessary trouble."
+
+"I've found, sir," said Allen, with that straight-forward look that made
+every one like and admire him, "that it's usually the fellow who runs
+away from trouble who gets the most of it. I'm not worrying about that
+end of the business."
+
+But if he did not worry, Betty certainly did in the days that followed.
+She had dreams at night in which she saw Allen riding about in the
+shadows. There would be a report, two reports, and he would topple over
+backwards to lie crumpled up and motionless. No wonder that she became
+pale and lost her appetite and made her mother worry even in the midst
+of the excitement over this double hunt--the hunt for men and gold.
+
+One night after dinner Allen asked her to ride with him a little way,
+said it would do him a lot of good just to talk to her. Betty agreed,
+and they cantered off in the twilight, their bodies swaying to the
+rhythm of the beautiful animals under them.
+
+For a long time they were silent, just enjoying the rapid motion, the
+sweet scented air that fanned their faces, the beauty of the hazy
+mountains in the distance. Then, suddenly Allen spoke.
+
+"Betty," he said, swinging round toward her, "you aren't letting this
+thing get on your nerves, are you?"
+
+"Wh-what do you mean?" she asked faintly. "What thing?"
+
+"This gold business--the excitement of it all," he said, waving his hand
+largely as though to take in the whole landscape. "I've noticed you
+looked tired lately," he went on gently, "and I've worried about it,
+little Betty. I--I have almost dared to hope," he leaned toward her, but
+Betty was looking the other way, "that you were a little anxious about
+me. Were you?"
+
+"Why--I--yes--no--why--I don't know," cried Betty wildly, then, meeting
+his eye, she laughed, a twinkling little laugh. "You shouldn't ask
+questions like that, not so suddenly, anyway," she said primly. "It
+isn't fair."
+
+"Never mind, I got my answer," said Allen jubilantly, and again Betty
+found it a little hard to look at him. "You mustn't worry though,
+little girl," he went on gently. "There isn't any danger--really. I'm
+just playing a delightful little game--and I'm going to win. Went to see
+Levine to-day, representing your mother," he added, and his tone
+suddenly became grim. "He made me feel, or at least he tried to make me
+feel, that he had as much respect for my ability as he would for a
+little speck of dirt."
+
+"The very idea!" cried Betty indignantly. "I'd just like to tell him
+what I think of--your ability----" she faltered on these last words, for
+Allen was gazing at her with a most disconcerting light in his eyes.
+
+Suddenly she whirled Nigger's head about and urged him to a gallop.
+
+"Race you home, Allen!" she challenged. "Winner gets the other fellow's
+piece of cake."
+
+"Who cares for cake!" cried Allen, but it might have been noticed that
+he followed her just the same.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+IN THE SHADOWS
+
+
+Allen was acting in two capacities at this time--that of lawyer and that
+of private detective. He probably would not have taken this rôle for
+anybody but Betty and her family, but in order to serve them he was
+willing to do pretty nearly anything.
+
+So he had taken to scouting around the northern end of the ranch after
+dark, in the hope that he might possibly discover something that would
+help him in his theory that there was really gold on the ranch and,
+also, that Peter Levine and his cronies, whoever they were, knew of it.
+
+However, as the days passed, bringing no new developments, the young
+fellow began to think that he had let his imagination run away with him.
+He even began to formulate plans by which he could lure the unsuspecting
+Peter Levine into telling what he knew.
+
+And then--just when he was beginning to despair of being any help at all
+to Betty and her family--fate or luck, or whatever one wishes to call
+it, chose to smile upon him once more.
+
+He was prowling around when quite unexpectedly he found himself
+confronted by Andy Rawlinson. He had struck up quite a liking for the
+head cowboy, and the two walked along together.
+
+Gradually they neared a patch of timber near the northern boundary of
+the ranch. The cowboy said he was looking for two calves that had
+strayed away.
+
+"And it ain't no use to follow 'em into the woods on hossback," he
+explained.
+
+"I have an object in coming here," declared Allen, at last. "I am
+watching out for Peter Levine." He felt he could trust Rawlinson.
+
+"I thought as much," replied the head cowboy, with a chuckle. "Believe
+me, I wouldn't trust Levine out o' my sight, if I was the boss. I've
+seen him prowlin' around here several times."
+
+"Then you think he has some secret motive in getting hold of the ranch?"
+
+"Sure as shootin'. That feller is a bad one--take it from me."
+
+"Please don't make too much noise around here," went on Allen. "I was
+thinking he might come again in the dark some night--to do a little
+prospecting, or something like that."
+
+"I get you. It would be just like him. Quiet it is." And after that the
+pair spoke only in whispers.
+
+Nothing was seen of the calves, and presently Rawlinson was on the point
+of going back, when, all at once, something occurred to make him remain.
+
+The night was intensely dark; not a star twinkled through the storm
+clouds that scudded across the sky. Allen had just stubbed his toe on a
+projecting root and had muttered something uncomplimentary to the
+darkness of the night when an unusual sound caught the ears of the two
+young men and stopped them dead in their tracks.
+
+Some one was coming through the brush. Some one, like Allen, had
+stumbled and was muttering under his breath.
+
+"Shut up, can't you?" a second voice growled, and Allen's hand
+instinctively went to Rawlinson's arm to quiet him.
+
+"Two of them," he thought exultantly, as he held himself and the cowboy
+against the trunk of a tree. "There may be some action after all."
+
+The two strangers passed close enough to Allen and Rawlinson to have
+touched them. But they did not notice the young men.
+
+Allen and the cowboy, their blood tingling with excitement, followed the
+pair, and when, some hundred yards on, the strangers stopped, they
+stopped too, keeping within the shadow of the trees.
+
+The strangers were bending over some sort of paper which they were
+examining by the light of an electric torch.
+
+"Here's the place, Jim," one of the men said, pointing first to the
+paper and then into the shadow of the woods. "There's gold running wild
+around here, man. I've tested the bed of the creek that runs down there,
+and it's chock full of yellow men. Why, if we can get hold of this ranch
+we're rich men--rich over night, I tell you!"
+
+"Huh!" grunted the other, noncommittally. "How are you goin' to get hold
+of this ranch? Ain't done it yet, so's any one could notice it."
+
+"No, that's where you come in, Jim," replied the other, and as he turned
+eagerly to his companion Allen and Rawlinson recognized the features of
+Peter Levine. "This woman, this Mrs. Nelson who owns the place, won't
+sell. I'm afraid she may have an idea that there's gold here. And she
+suspects me, for some reason."
+
+The other man laughed unpleasantly.
+
+"'Tain't hard for most of us to guess the reason for that, Pete." And
+at the sneer Levine gave a grunt.
+
+"You must have your little joke, Jim," he said. "But now let's get down
+to business. The woman distrusts me and she has sent for this insolent
+cub lawyer--Washburn, his name is. He's been to see me already, the
+unwhipped pup," he went on, while in the shadows Allen's hands gripped
+themselves into fists, "trying to find out more about my client and John
+Josephs. Say, that's a good joke, Jim. Here they are after that
+imaginary ranchman, John Josephs, and my client who they think are
+crooks, when all the time little Peter Levine is their meat and they
+don't know it."
+
+"You didn't let on you wuz the one that wanted the place?" questioned
+Jim, who was evidently able to appreciate this joke. "You wuz just the
+lawyer, and so nowise interested except jest in the fee?"
+
+"Righto!" chuckled the other. "And a good-sized fee it will be if once I
+can get my hands on it."
+
+"Which you ain't--yet," the other reminded him. "Get busy, Pete, and
+tell us your scheme. I don't want to be standin' around here all night."
+He gave an uneasy glance over his shoulder, and Allen and Rawlinson
+shrank still further into the shadows. They were not yet ready to make
+their presence known.
+
+"All right," said Peter Levine, speaking hurriedly. "If you'll agree to
+my suggestion, you're in for easy money, Jim. All you have to do is to
+approach this Mrs. Nelson and make her an offer for the ranch--for
+yourself, you understand. She doesn't know you, and she may have become
+tired of mooning around here by now, and there's just a chance that
+she'll take you--that is, if you handle the cards right. No eagerness,
+you understand--just sort of offhand and careless, as if you didn't care
+much whether she took you or not."
+
+"Huh!" said the other, with his noncommittal grunt. "Sounds easy, don't
+it? But what do I get out of it, ef I pull this deal off, eh?"
+
+"Half of all the gold we find, Jim," said the other, waving his hand
+largely. "You'll never regret it if you put this thing through. You'll
+be a rich man."
+
+"All right, I'm on," said Jim.
+
+"Then I guess it's about time we got back," returned Peter Levine, and
+the two men moved as if to leave that vicinity.
+
+"We don't want them to get away," Allen whispered excitedly to
+Rawlinson. "I want to get hold of that paper if possible."
+
+"I reckon that will be easy, Washburn," returned the head cowboy. "I'm
+armed, you know, and I'll take my chances against those two rascals any
+time. Just follow me."
+
+Without waiting for Allen to reply to this, Andy Rawlinson ran forward
+swiftly and silently, and in a few seconds had confronted the rascally
+pair. He had drawn his pistol, but he did not raise the weapon.
+
+"Halt, both of you!" he cried, sharply. "Hands up there!"
+
+"Hi! what's the meaning of this?" cried Levine, in astonishment. "Who
+are you?"
+
+"It's Rawlinson, the head man here," muttered the man called Jim.
+
+"Right!" answered the cowboy. "And here is a particular friend of yours,
+Levine," he added, as Allen stepped closer.
+
+"Washburn!" muttered the rascally lawyer from Gold Run. And then he
+added quickly: "Have you been spying on us?"
+
+"If we have, that's our affair," answered Allen coolly. "You'd better
+keep those hands up," he went on quickly, as he saw the two rascals
+making a move as if to start something.
+
+"They'll keep 'em up all right enough," broke in Rawlinson. "I reckon
+you know me," he went on sternly. "And I'll stand for no foolin'."
+
+"We haven't been doing anything wrong," came from Levine, lamely.
+
+"Oh, no! Of course not!" said Allen sarcastically. "Only trying to get
+hold of a bonanza for next to nothing!"
+
+"Wait a minute, Washburn," came from the head cowboy. "Just relieve 'em
+of their weapons first. Then maybe we'll be able to talk with more
+satisfaction."
+
+With Rawlinson confronting them, Levine and his companion did not dare
+offer any resistance, and quickly Allen took their weapons from them and
+handed the firearms to Rawlinson.
+
+"Now I'll thank you, Levine, for that paper you were examining so
+carefully just a few minutes ago," went on the young lawyer.
+
+"This is robbery!" fumed Peter Levine. "I'll have you before the courts
+for this."
+
+Allen eyed him steadily.
+
+"Do you represent the law in this place?" he asked. "If so, I am sorry
+for the inhabitants. But there is no use in prolonging this discussion,
+Levine. I want that paper. Hand it over at once."
+
+The rascally lawyer from Gold Run attempted to argue, but the sight of
+Rawlinson's weapon subdued him, and presently he handed over the
+crumpled sheet, which Allen seized with much satisfaction. During this
+transaction Jim remained sullenly silent.
+
+"Now I guess that's about all," said Allen to the cowboy.
+
+"If that's the case I guess we can bid you skunks good-evening," came
+quickly from Rawlinson. "Both of you beat it. And don't ever let me
+ketch you around here again."
+
+"What about my gun?" came feebly from Jim.
+
+"I'll send the guns over to Levine's office to-morrow," answered the
+head cowboy. "Now clear out, and be quick about it." And a moment later
+the two rascals stumbled away through the darkness.
+
+"This is certainly what I call luck," cried Allen excitedly, as he gazed
+at the scrap of paper Levine had passed over. "Rawlinson, you have
+certainly helped me do a good night's work. If what that scoundrel said
+is true, this will mean a fortune for Betty and her mother."
+
+"I'm glad I chanced along, Washburn," answered the head cowboy. "After
+this I think I'll set a guard. If it leaks out that there is gold on
+this ranch there will be all sorts of fellows beside those skunks trying
+to locate claims around here."
+
+"Will you go up to the house with me?"
+
+"No. I'll stick around here a while and see if those fellows come back.
+Besides, I want to see if I can get any trace of those strayed-away
+calves. You go ahead. You can tell me about it later. You can take their
+guns with you if you will."
+
+Half running, half stumbling, in his eagerness, Allen reached the house,
+took the steps of the porch three at a time, and burst into the big
+homelike kitchen, where he found the family assembled.
+
+"We've got 'em, folks!" he cried, waving the scrap of paper over his
+head, while they stared at him as though they thought he had gone mad.
+"I've been out hunting and brought home a prize. Come look at it."
+
+He went over to the table beside which Mr. and Mrs. Nelson were sitting
+and laid the two captured pistols upon the table. Infected by his
+excitement, the girls crowded around, demanding an explanation.
+
+[Illustration: THE GIRLS CROWDED AROUND, DEMANDING AN EXPLANATION.
+
+_The Outdoor Girls in the Saddle._ _Page 163_]
+
+"Pistols!" cried Betty, her eyes wide with dislike of the things. "Where
+did you get them, Allen?"
+
+"Oh, just picked them off the trees by the roadside," said Allen airily.
+Then, suddenly becoming serious, he laid the scrap of paper beside the
+weapons on the table. "There," he said, dramatically, "is the key that
+may open your door to a fortune."
+
+"A map," said Mrs. Nelson, her eyes glistening. "Oh, Allen, you've found
+out something wonderful. Tell us about it, please."
+
+And so Allen recounted what had taken place during that fruitful half
+hour in the shadows of the trees. His audience listened breathlessly.
+
+"Then this thing," said Mr. Nelson, taking the bit of paper which was
+crossed and criss-crossed with a number of lines and dotted with numbers
+until it seemed more like a jig-saw puzzle than a map, "is supposedly a
+map which will point out the probable location of gold."
+
+"Yes, sir," said Allen.
+
+"Then," said Mr. Nelson, feeling the thrill of adventure in his own
+blood, "we'll begin to look for this gold to-morrow. That is--" He
+paused and looked quizzically about at the group of tense young faces.
+"If everybody is willing."
+
+"Oh-h," was all that they could say--just then.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+THE NEW MINE
+
+
+The next day much excitement filled the ranch house. Betty declared that
+she had not slept a wink the night before, worrying for fear her father
+had not meant what he said.
+
+But Mr. Nelson had meant what he had said, and there was Mrs. Nelson as
+eager as the girls to keep him to his word.
+
+"The ranch is mine, you know," she laughingly reminded the girls. "And
+if there are gold mines on it I certainly intend to find them."
+
+It was settled, and Mr. Nelson and Allen set out for town to make
+arrangements for the enterprise. The girls wanted to go too, but Mr.
+Nelson pointed out that he and Allen could probably do the work more
+quickly if they were alone, and it was upon this point and this point
+only that the girls consented to let them go.
+
+"But that needn't keep us from the saddle," Mollie decided, as they
+watched the two men canter swiftly away. "I don't know about the rest
+of you, but I'm just longing for action."
+
+"Ditto," cried Betty, then added with bright eagerness: "Girls, I know
+what we can do! Let's go down to the place where Allen found those two
+men last night. That's where the mines are, you know, and we might stake
+out claims or something."
+
+"Your mother might have something to say to that," said Grace, making a
+funny face. "It isn't quite the thing to stake out claims on somebody
+else's property."
+
+"Oh well, you needn't be so particular," cried Betty airily. "Come on,
+girls, who's with me?"
+
+It seemed they all were, and, fairly dancing with excitement, they made
+their way to the corrals where Andy Rawlinson saddled their horses for
+them.
+
+The horses seemed to catch some of the girls' excitement, and it was all
+that the latter could do to hold the animals in.
+
+"It must be in the air," laughed Grace, as she pulled in Nabob sharply.
+"We've all got the gold fever."
+
+"Let's give them their heads," said Mollie suddenly. "I'd like a regular
+gallop this morning."
+
+"All right, let's go," sang out Betty, and in another minute they were
+off, the horses galloping like mad and the girls laughing and shouting
+in utter abandonment to their high spirits.
+
+At this rate it took them only a few minutes to reach the spot where
+Allen had had his adventure the night before.
+
+They reined in sharply, and Betty jumped down, throwing the reins over
+Nigger's neck and giving him a fond little pat on the flank.
+
+"There, old boy," she said. "Go and eat some grass for yourself while we
+do a little prospecting. Girls," she added as they in turn dismounted
+and ran up to her, "from Allen's description, it must have been just
+about here that he stood." She indicated the bent tree with the great
+bowlder behind it that Allen had described to them. "And the two men
+must have stood in there among that heavy shrubbery somewhere."
+
+"Then this is where they will begin work," cried Amy, a faint flush
+warming her face. "Oh, Betty, it all seems like a fairy story."
+
+"Fairy story, nothing!" exclaimed Mollie. "This is a real,
+honest-to-goodness adventure story. My, it's a wonder Allen didn't get
+shot up last night," she added thoughtfully. "It must have taken nerve
+to stand here, listening to those old scoundrels and not knowing what
+minute they might find him out and fire upon him."
+
+"I think Allen is perfectly wonderful, anyway," said Grace, and Betty
+thrilled at the tribute. "He never seems to know what it is to be
+afraid. And he always gets what he wants, too."
+
+"And to think that 'John Josephs' never existed!" chuckled Betty. "Peter
+Levine must have quite a good deal of imagination."
+
+"Well, what's the use of standing here?" said Amy, after a moment of
+silent musing. "Let's look around a little bit and see what we can see."
+
+So for a while they thrashed around in the bush, accomplishing very
+little besides scaring some rabbits and woodchucks into their holes.
+They found the tiny creek Peter Levine had spoken of, and they gazed
+with interest at its muddy, sluggish water.
+
+"Who would ever think there was gold in the bottom of that?" whispered
+Mollie.
+
+When they finally became convinced that there was nothing more to be
+seen they started reluctantly home again.
+
+"Let's go around by the mine and see how Meggy and her dad are coming
+on," suggested Betty, and so they changed their course a little to
+include the mine.
+
+Meggy was glad to see them as usual but they could tell by the weariness
+of her bearing that there was no good news as far as she was concerned
+and they had not the heart to tell her their own.
+
+"Can't you come over to the ranch for a little while?" asked Betty,
+eager to do some little thing toward cheering the girl. But Meggy shook
+her head.
+
+"I can't leave father--even for a little while," she said sadly. "He
+ain't feeling well, and I'm afraid if his luck doesn't change pretty
+soon I--I--won't have any dad----" she choked and turned away. Betty was
+beside her in a moment, her arm about the girl's shoulders.
+
+"We're awfully sorry, honey," she said compassionately. "We didn't know
+that your father was feeling bad. Is he--is he really sick?"
+
+"Sick of life, I guess," said Meggy, conquering her emotion and
+instantly ashamed of it. "I've heered of people dyin' of a broken heart,
+an' that's what dad's doin', I guess. Bad luck can kill you if it keeps
+up long enough."
+
+The girls rode home saddened by this brief encounter. It seemed almost
+wrong for them to be happy when Dan Higgins was "dyin' of a broken
+heart" and Meggy, brave, splendid girl that she was, had almost lost
+hope.
+
+"If only everybody in the world could be happy," said Grace plaintively.
+"It just spoils all your fun when you know that other people are
+miserable."
+
+"The worst of it is," said Betty soberly, "that with all this luck
+coming our way we can't pass on a single little bit of it to that poor
+girl and her dad. If only they weren't so proud----" The sentence
+trailed off into a sigh, and she gazed pensively out over the plain.
+
+"Well, there's no use of crying over it," said Mollie briskly. "We may
+find a way of being useful to Meggy yet, and until then, as my mother
+says, 'let's be canty with thinking about it.' Oh, look, girls, here
+comes Allen. I wonder what kind of news he has."
+
+They galloped gayly to meet him, and Allen thought they made a very
+pretty picture as they swept up to him.
+
+"Well," he said as they surrounded him, "everything is settled and they
+are to begin work to-morrow morning. Our news has aroused great
+excitement in town, and there's a rush to establish claims near that end
+of our ranch. Better give your friend, Dan Higgins, a hint, so that he
+can get in first. So long. I'm on to the house for the map, and then I'm
+going to join Mr. Nelson again in town."
+
+So he dashed off in the direction of the ranch and the girls wheeled and
+galloped back in the direction they had come--back toward Dan Higgins'
+mine to warn him to stake a new claim before others reached the spot.
+
+They were so excited that it was hard to make their purpose clear at
+first, but when the old man and Meggy comprehended what they were trying
+to tell them, they were immediately galvanized to action.
+
+"I'll show you the best place," Betty eagerly volunteered.
+
+Mollie offered to stay behind and give the old man her horse, and in a
+minute Betty and Dan Higgins were galloping over the plain to that part
+of the ranch where the new gold mines were to be. They had not far to
+go, and they saw with relief that they were the first on the spot.
+
+Betty pointed out the place where Peter Levine had said there was gold
+running wild, and old Dan Higgins staked his claim as near to the place
+as he could without actually encroaching upon the ranch itself.
+
+With trembling fingers he printed on two big placards the exact
+dimensions of his claim, and, with Betty's help, nailed them to two
+trees at the two extreme ends of his new property, and began to dig.
+
+"Thar," he sighed, after a few moments, taking off his hat to mop the
+perspiration from his forehead, "I've made another bargain with luck,
+an' mebbe this time I'll win."
+
+"I'm sure you will," cried Betty, with conviction. "If there is gold on
+our ranch, and we are sure there is, then there is almost certain to be
+some on your property also. Oh, Mr. Dan Higgins, I so dearly hope that
+there is!" This was so evidently a cry straight from her earnest young
+heart that the keen eyes of the hardened old miner filled with tears and
+he patted Betty's head with an unsteady hand.
+
+"You're a mighty fine little gal," he said finally. "Ef an old man's
+gratitude means anything to you, you sure have got it. I've a sort of
+sure feelin' you've changed the luck for Meggy and me."
+
+They were silent on the ride back to the mine, but as they reached the
+last stretch of the trail that led down to it the old man shifted in his
+saddle and looked at Betty earnestly.
+
+"An' ef Meggy's mother was alive," he said simply, "she would thank you,
+too."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+THE VIOLINIST AGAIN
+
+
+As Allen had predicted, there was a general rush on the part of the
+miners to establish claims on the property adjoining the ranch, and the
+girls congratulated themselves over and over again that they had reached
+Dan Higgins with the glad tidings in time for him to secure the best
+location.
+
+All day long the girls were in the saddle, hovering about the new gold
+diggings, fascinated at the way new mines seemed to spring up over
+night.
+
+Next to those on their own property, they were most interested in Dan
+Higgins' mine and in their hearts they would really rather have had him
+find gold than to find it themselves.
+
+"They need it so much more than we do," Betty said anxiously. "If Dan
+Higgins and Meggy have drawn another blank I don't know what they will
+do."
+
+In the midst of all this confusion and excitement, Amy received the
+program of the benefit concert given at the Hostess House for which she
+had sent home some time before. They had almost forgotten the hermit and
+it was with a shock of surprise that they remembered they had not seen
+him since the new mining operations. Before that they had run across him
+quite often attempting to help Meggy and Dan in his rather eccentric
+way.
+
+"Guess he must have been scared off by the crowd," said Mollie. "Too
+much excitement for the old boy."
+
+The four of them were sitting on the large front porch of the house,
+still in their riding habits, while their horses, at the foot of the
+steps, stamped their impatience to be off again. Nothing but the arrival
+of the mail could have drawn the girls from the fascination of the new
+gold diggings. They hardly took time to eat; and as for sleep, well,
+they took that in between times!
+
+Now Grace called to Amy, making room on the step beside her.
+
+"Come over here and show us your program," she said, extracting a bit of
+candy from some hidden recess somewhere about her person and popping it
+into her mouth. "I'm anxious to see what that violinist's name was."
+
+Amy obeyed, and as Grace opened the program Mollie and Betty drew closer
+and peeped over her shoulder.
+
+"Concerto--Liszt," read Grace, her finger pointing down the page. "No,
+that isn't it. That's for the piano. Hold on, here we are.
+Chopin--Nocturne--Paul Loup, violinist. There he is. Now will you please
+tell me how that helps us to find out anything about the hermit?" She
+paused with her finger still pointing to the name and looked up at them
+inquiringly.
+
+"We-el," said Betty thoughtfully, "it doesn't help very much, I must
+admit. It doesn't prove that Paul Loup is our Hermit of Gold Run. Only
+that funny feeling I have of having seen him before and heard him
+play----"
+
+"I tell you what we'll do!" Mollie snapped her fingers decisively. "It's
+a long chance and it may not work at all but--are you game to try it?"
+She paused and regarded the expectant girls eagerly.
+
+"Maybe," said Betty, noncommittally. "You might tell us the idea first."
+
+"Listen," cried Mollie. "My idea is that if we take the hermit by
+surprise, call him by his name of Paul Loup. Why--" She paused, and the
+light of inspiration filled her eyes. "I could even speak to him in
+French----"
+
+As the girls caught her full meaning they looked at her admiringly.
+
+"I shouldn't wonder if that plan would work," said Betty swiftly. "Why
+can't we go now? Dinner won't be ready for a couple of hours."
+
+"Right you are," cried Mollie, taking the four steps at one jump and
+springing upon her astonished horse. "Come on, girls, are you with us?"
+
+"We'll have to lead 'em a merry pace," said Betty to Mollie a moment
+later as they galloped abreast up the road. "If we don't get them there
+in a hurry they're apt to get cold feet and think we're crazy."
+
+"Maybe we are," chuckled Mollie, urging Old Nick on to even greater
+speed. "I've had a suspicion that way several times before."
+
+It was Betty's turn to chuckle.
+
+"So have I!" she said, adding with a sigh of resignation: "But oh, it is
+so much fun. Look behind, Mollie. Are they still coming?"
+
+"Strong," reported Mollie, with a glance over her shoulder. Then, as
+they reached the trail that led through the woods, she reined in a
+little, motioning for Betty to take the lead. "You know the trail
+better," she said.
+
+Over the rough woodland trail their progress necessarily became slower,
+a fact which the girls did not relish at all. It gave them time to
+reflect on what a really rash adventure they had embarked, and any but
+the Outdoor Girls might have turned back even at this last minute.
+
+However, curiosity, together with some vague hope that they might become
+of service to this strange sad fellow, urged them on. If Paul Loup and
+the Hermit of Gold Run were really one and the same person, then surely
+there was a real mystery which they might in some way help to unravel.
+
+They did not linger any longer on the way than was absolutely necessary,
+for the terrible experience they had had with the timber wolves soon
+after their arrival had made them suspicious of the forest, and try as
+they would they could not suppress an uncomfortable desire to search
+every shadow for some sinister, lurking presence.
+
+In vain had the cowboys on the ranch assured them that wolves were very
+scarce in this part of the forest, especially in the summer, and that
+they had had an unusual and unique experience. As Amy had said, one
+experience like that was enough to last a lifetime.
+
+They came in sight of the cabin without mishap, however, and they
+tethered their horses a little farther from the house than usual, so
+that their stamping and neighing might not frighten the hermit away.
+
+Then they made their way with as little noise as possible along the
+narrow path.
+
+"Suppose he isn't at home?" whispered Mollie to Betty.
+
+"Then we're out of luck, that's all," returned Betty cheerfully.
+
+But the hermit was at home. They could see him moving about, and as they
+came nearer they smelled an appetizing odor of frying bacon, as though
+he were cooking his dinner.
+
+"Hope he asks us to stay to lunch," said Grace, and the girls giggled
+nervously.
+
+"We'll be lucky if he doesn't slam the door in our faces," said Amy
+pessimistically.
+
+It was Mollie who knocked this time--and it was no timid little rap
+either, but a good, hearty rat-at-tat, that brought the occupant of the
+cabin to the door in a hurry. He had the frying pan still clutched in
+his hand and on his long narrow face was such a look of dread that the
+girls felt sorry for him.
+
+"Well," he said, the emotion within him making his voice sound stern and
+forbidding, "what is it you wish? It is not raining to-day as it was
+that other time." He gazed significantly up at the cloudless sky seen in
+little blue patches through the trees, and the girls flushed, partly
+from embarrassment and partly from anger. Somehow, they had not been
+prepared to have him take this attitude, and they resented it.
+
+For a moment they stood miserably tongue-tied. Even their usually
+quick-witted Little Captain seemed suddenly to have been stricken
+speechless. They were just about to turn and run when Mollie saved the
+day for them.
+
+Pushing forward through the group she confronted the man on the door
+step.
+
+"_Vous êtes Paul Loup, n'est-ce pas, monsieur?_" she said in a clear
+voice, gazing up at him fearlessly.
+
+While the girls gasped at her temerity a most astounding thing happened.
+The man dropped the frying pan and it clattered to the floor, its
+contents spilling out greasily. While they looked he seemed to crumple,
+shrivel, and his eyes stared at them glassily out of his white mask of a
+face.
+
+"_Mon Dieu!_" he cried hoarsely, staggering back into the shack. "You
+have found me! But I swear to you I did not kill him. _Mon Dieu_, I
+could not kill my brother!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+A STARTLING TALE
+
+
+Hardly able to believe that they were actually living this weird thing,
+the girls crowded into the shack after the stricken man and found that
+he had sunk upon a bench and covered his face with his hands.
+
+Strangely enough, though it had been Mollie who had precipitated this
+thing, it was Betty who now took the lead. Softly she went over to the
+shrinking man and put a gentle hand on his shoulder.
+
+"You say you did not kill your brother?" she questioned in so calm a
+voice that the girls marveled at her. "You are sure you did not?"
+
+"No! no!" cried the man again raising his haggard face, deep-lined with
+the marks of suffering, "No--I am not sure. Can you not see? It is that
+that is killing me. Yet in my sane moments I know that he was dead. He
+lay there, so white, so still, with only that red, red stream of blood
+to mar his whiteness. I leaned down, I listened to his heart----" The
+man had evidently forgotten the presence of the girls, engulfed as he
+was in the horror of the incident he related. Once more he was living
+the tragedy, and the girls, tense, strained, horrified, lived it with
+him.
+
+"I listened to his heart," the man repeated, his arms stretched out
+before him, his long, delicate hands gripped with a fierceness that made
+the knuckles go white. "There was no beating. I put my face close to his
+mouth to see if there was breath. But he had stopped breathing--forever!
+
+"My heart went cold. I seized him by the shoulders. I called him by his
+name--that brother that I had loved! Oh, how I had loved him. I begged
+him to come back to me, to open those gray lips that a moment before had
+been beautiful with life--to speak to me--and all the time----" his hand
+relaxed and pointed to the floor and the girls followed the movement
+fascinated--"there kept spreading and spreading on the rug a deep red
+stain--my brother's blood! _Mon Dieu!_ And when I staggered to my feet I
+found that the horrible stuff had clung to my fingers--they were dark
+and sticky--the fingers of a murderer! I went mad then, I think. I
+rushed from the house, from the place. One thing only was in my mind. To
+get away--to get away from Paris, that accursed city----" He paused,
+staring at the floor, and the girls waited, hardly daring to move for
+fear they would break the spell.
+
+"The rest is like a bad dream to me," the man continued in a weary
+voice. "Ghost-ridden, haunted, I came to this country incognito--under
+what you call an assumed name. For a short time I stayed in New
+Orleans----"
+
+"But your violin!" Betty interrupted in a voice that amazed her, it
+seemed so little and weak. "Surely you were under contract."
+
+The man turned on her what was almost a pitying look from his sunken
+eyes.
+
+"I could not play," he said, with a shrug of his shoulders. "To have
+gone to my manager would have been like going to the hangman--the
+electric chair, what you have in this country. No, mademoiselle, I was a
+murderer, a man hunted by his fellowmen. There was but one thing for me
+to do--to hide, to dodge about like a rabbit from a pack of baying dogs.
+Hide!" he added bitterly. "I could not hide from myself.
+
+"Always when the night grows dark and the wind it makes to howl around
+this place I can hear my brother's voice uplifted in anger. We quarreled
+over something my uncle had said--a foolish quarrel. He called me liar,
+and I--something snapped in my brain, I think, and for a moment
+everything went red. There was a wine bottle on the table--we had been
+drinking--blindly I struck out with it---- Now, when the darkness comes
+and the wildcat calls into the night with a scream like a soul in
+torment, I hear again the tinkling of that bottle as it shattered, the
+short groan, the falling of a heavy body.
+
+"It is a wonder that I have not gone mad," he said. "Many a time I have
+prayed that I might or that I might find courage to end this miserable
+life and go to join my brother. But I am a coward, a coward----" His
+voice lowered till it was almost inaudible and tears trickled through
+the long white fingers. "I have not the courage even to die. There is a
+tribunal above that I should have to face, more just, more awful, than
+any man-made law. There you have what Paul Loup has become."
+
+"But you must not speak that way," said Betty, whose quick mind had been
+forging ahead while the man had been speaking. "It is one thing to kill
+a man deliberately, and quite another to kill in hot blood, blindly.
+Besides," she added eagerly, "you are not even sure that you did kill
+your brother. Did you--have you seen the papers since--since you ran
+away?"
+
+"No," said the man. His tone was dead, hopeless. "I was afraid of what I
+might find there. He was dead, Mademoiselle," he added wearily. "When I
+say that there is a doubt of that it is simply to give myself one little
+excuse for continuing to live. He did not move, he did not breathe. Ah,
+yes, he was dead, quite dead."
+
+There was silence for a moment while Betty thought rapidly. Amy and
+Mollie and Grace stared wide-eyed with the feeling that they were
+witnessing some tremendous, swift-moving drama.
+
+"Of course," said the man, breaking the silence abruptly, his somber
+eyes upon Betty, "there is but one thing left for me now to do. I shall
+surrender to the authorities--a thing which I should have done long ago.
+Or," he added grimly, "you might rather go with me now. If you left me I
+might attempt to escape--so you will think, Mademoiselle?"
+
+There was a lift at the end of the sentence that made it a question and,
+startled, the girls looked at Betty to see what she would say.
+
+The Little Captain herself was startled. Evidently the man thought they
+had been tracking him, had used their knowledge to trap him.
+
+"Oh, it isn't as you think!" she cried impulsively. "We never had the
+slightest little wish to harm you. And please, please," she added
+earnestly, "don't give yourself up to the authorities, or do anything
+rash until you hear from me again. You may not believe me--I wouldn't
+blame you if you didn't----" she went on shyly, for the man had risen
+and was staring at her, "but all we want to do is to help you if we
+can----" she broke off confusedly for the look in the man's eyes
+silenced her.
+
+"You know I am Paul Loup," he cried hoarsely. "You have heard my story,
+my confession from my own lips, and still you say that you wish me no
+harm! Who are you? what are you? what do you want of me?" He had
+advanced toward them, and in a panic the girls moved back toward the
+open door. Only Betty stood fearlessly in his path.
+
+"We are the Outdoor Girls, and we are living just at present on Gold Run
+Ranch," she said quietly. "We found out who you were because you were
+good enough to play for us at a benefit we gave at the Hostess House at
+Camp Liberty some time ago. And we came up here because we thought that
+you were in trouble and that we might help you. If we can't help you,
+I'm sorry." And with head bravely uplifted Betty turned toward the door.
+
+She had almost reached it when he called to her.
+
+"You are a brave girl," said Paul Loup slowly, his eyes intent on
+Betty's pretty face, "How do you know that I--the murderer--will not
+kill you also for this knowledge you have of me?"
+
+Betty heard the frightened gasp of the girls behind her, but, strangely
+enough, she herself felt no fear.
+
+"You wouldn't do that," she said, her clear gaze holding his burning
+one. "You could not wish harm to a friend."
+
+"Is that what you wish me to consider you--a friend?" asked the strange
+man, feeling suddenly as though something warm and vital had closed
+about his heart.
+
+"If you will," replied Betty, reaching out her hand. "I would like very
+much to be."
+
+But Paul Loup, for all he was a murderer and an outcast, was also a
+Frenchman. With a quick gesture, ignoring her outstretched hand he
+caught her in his arms, held her there for a minute, then, releasing
+her, kissed her gently, first on one cheek, then on the other.
+
+"I had forgotten there were kind hearts in the world," he murmured
+brokenly, turning from her. "You have restored my faith. _Au revoir_, my
+friend."
+
+Someway, somehow, the girls found themselves outside that little cabin,
+making their way blindly down the path to where their horses were
+tethered. In a daze they mounted and rode off down the trail.
+
+When they came to the open trail they found that Betty was crying,
+openly, unashamed. Mollie pushed a handkerchief into her hand, but the
+Little Captain did not seem to notice it. She stared straight ahead, her
+cheeks burning, the tears rolling unchecked down her face.
+
+"Never mind, honey," said Mollie, trying to steady her voice. "It was
+hard for you, I know; but I would give anything I own to have made him
+feel that way about me. I don't care if he did commit murder. I'm for
+him--strong."
+
+"To be all alone," said Betty as though Mollie had not spoken, "and so
+heart-hungry that a little sympathy from a stranger----" A sob choked
+the rest of her sentence. But a moment later she faced the girls with a
+light of resolve shining in her eyes.
+
+"Girls," she said, "I don't believe Paul Loup is a murderer, and some
+way or other I'm going to prove it. A man like that just couldn't commit
+murder. I know it!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+THE PLAN
+
+
+Certainly the girls had never expected such startling developments from
+Mollie's simple little ruse to find out who the mysterious Hermit of
+Gold Run was. In the beginning it had been something of a lark, and they
+never dreamed that their interest and curiosity would uncover such a
+tragedy.
+
+However, they were not at all in sympathy with Betty's conviction that
+Paul Loup had not really killed his brother.
+
+"I don't see how you get that way, Betty," Grace argued hotly. "We all
+feel as sorry for the hermit as you do, but we have his own word for it
+that he really killed his brother."
+
+"He did seem to be pretty sure of it," said Amy, with a quaver in her
+voice. "When the wind rose last night and wailed around the house, I got
+all creepy thinking of him alone up in that dreary little shack, living
+that whole horrible thing over again."
+
+It was the next day, and the girls were in the saddle, as usual. They
+had visited the new gold diggings and found everybody excited and
+optimistic, though no gold had been uncovered as yet. And now they were
+trotting slowly along the open road, their thoughts busy with the
+startling happenings of the day before.
+
+"It's a wonder he doesn't go crazy," shuddered Mollie, taking up the
+thread where Amy had dropped it. "I know I would. What was it he said
+about being 'ghost-ridden?'"
+
+"I don't believe he is ghost-ridden at all, except by his imagination,"
+said Betty positively. "I think if he had taken the trouble to look at
+the newspapers before he decided that he was a hunted man he might have
+saved himself a lot of trouble and unhappiness."
+
+"Goodness, how do you get that way, Betty?" Grace said irritably. "The
+man ought to be the best judge of whether he killed anybody or not."
+
+"Well," said the Little Captain stubbornly, "it seems to me it would
+have had to be a pretty heavy bottle with a pretty strong arm behind it
+to kill a man with one blow. And a scalp wound bleeds horribly, you
+know."
+
+The girls looked a little thoughtful, and for the first time since Betty
+had advanced her theory they began to think that there might possibly
+be something in it after all.
+
+"That's right," said Amy, and then went on to relate an experience she
+had had when skylarking with Sarah Stonington.
+
+"She had hold of that heavy rocking chair we have in the library," Amy
+said. "She was trying to pull it away from me, and I was hanging on to
+it for dear life.
+
+"Then suddenly I let go, and Aunt Sarah--she's pretty heavy, you
+know--lost her balance as the chair swung forward, and fell over
+backward, striking her head on the sharp edge of the piano."
+
+"Goodness, you must have been scared," commented Mollie.
+
+"'Scared!'" echoed Amy. "Why, I was struck dumb with terror. I thought I
+had killed her. She lay there all white and funny, and her head was
+bleeding dreadfully----"
+
+"There's your scalp wound for you," Betty pointed out. "Just a little
+scratch will make the whole place look like a shambles."
+
+"But what happened to your aunt Sarah, Amy," pursued Mollie
+interestedly. "We know she didn't die."
+
+"Well, I should say she didn't!" said Amy roundly. "She was as good as
+ever in ten minutes and laughing at me for being so frightened. But we
+had to have the rug sent away to get the stain out," she added
+significantly.
+
+"Huh," said the girls, and once more became thoughtful.
+
+"But suppose you were right, Betty?" said Mollie, after a while.
+"Suppose our poor musician is torturing himself by thinking he has
+committed a crime that he hasn't? What could you possibly do about it?"
+
+"I don't just know," Betty admitted truthfully.
+
+"We might ask your father," Grace hazarded, but Betty turned on her,
+startled.
+
+"That's just the thing I don't want to do!" she said hurriedly. "Dad is
+just the best and most easy-going father in the world, but he has a
+terribly stern sense of justice. I'm not sure he wouldn't think we were
+making ourselves--oh, what do you call it----"
+
+"Accessories after the fact?" suggested Mollie, helpfully.
+
+"That's it," said Betty. "He might argue that we were committing a crime
+ourselves by helping to hide a criminal----"
+
+"Well, maybe we are, at that," said Grace, uncomfortably.
+
+"They can put you in jail for that sort of thing, can't they?" added
+Amy, a suggestion which certainly did not add to the cheerfulness of the
+atmosphere.
+
+"I don't care," said Betty stoutly. "I'd rather go to jail than deliver
+a man to a doubtful justice--especially when he may really be innocent.
+Anyway," she added, reasonably: "who is there to know that we went to
+Paul Loup's cabin the other day? I'm very sure no one saw us go in or
+come out, and if we keep quiet no one will have to know. That's why I
+didn't even want to take dad into our confidence."
+
+"But if our musician is, as you think, innocent," Grace insisted, "then
+your father could do more for him than we."
+
+"But we don't know that he is innocent. That's only my idea," said
+Betty. "And dad would probably think it was a very foolish one. Maybe it
+is, for all I know," she added dubiously.
+
+"How about Allen?" said Grace suddenly after another rather long
+silence. "He would certainly sympathize with our poor hermit and, being
+a lawyer, he would probably be able to think up some way that we might
+establish the man's innocence or guilt without giving away his
+whereabouts. There, how's that for a brilliant idea?" she finished
+proudly.
+
+"I had already thought of that," admitted Betty, while the girls turned
+amused eyes upon her. "But I was almost afraid to suggest it."
+
+"Maybe Allen would agree with your father that we, ought to turn him
+over to justice," said Mollie, but Betty shook her head vigorously.
+
+"Never! Not Allen!" she declared fervently. "He believes the other
+fellow innocent until he is proved guilty."
+
+"So does the law," said Amy wisely.
+
+"Yes, but the law has sent many an innocent man to prison nevertheless,"
+retorted Mollie. "We don't always find justice in the courts."
+
+"Hear, hear," cried Grace. "Get a soap box, Mollie."
+
+"Then it is settled that we are to tell Allen, is it?" said Betty
+eagerly. "I'm sure he will find some way to help us."
+
+"If we can pry him loose from the mining outfit," laughed Mollie. "He
+seems to have gold fever worse than any of them."
+
+But Allen had been busy, during the intervals when he could tear himself
+away from the fascination of the mining operations, on some legal
+matters.
+
+Mrs. Nelson, and her husband also, had feared that these numerous
+relatives of her great uncle, of whose existence she herself had
+scarcely been aware, might see fit to contest the old man's will
+especially when it became apparent that his property at this time was
+far more valuable than it had been at the time of his death.
+
+Allen, after considerable investigation, was able to set their fears at
+rest upon this point, however, by asserting that the old gentleman had
+made only one will and that he thought it very doubtful under the
+circumstances that the relatives would take the case into the courts.
+They were not Mr. Barcolm's children and grandchildren, as Lizzie had
+supposed, but distant relatives whom at one time and another the old man
+had befriended and gathered about him, but who had later quarreled with
+their benefactor.
+
+"Anyway," Mrs. Nelson decided happily, "if we really do find some gold I
+will give each one of them a share of it, even to the littlest."
+
+On this particular afternoon the girls found Allen, not at the mines as
+they supposed they would, but at the ranch house busy with some papers.
+
+When they besought him to come out for a ride, he hesitated at first,
+saying that he ought to get his work done before night. But they finally
+persuaded him not to let duty interfere with pleasure.
+
+"All right," he surrendered at last. "If you will get one of the boys
+to saddle Lightning for me I will be with you in ten minutes."
+
+He kept his promise, and in a short time was listening to the strangest
+tale he had ever heard. As he listened his face became more and more
+serious.
+
+"But, girls, this thing sounds impossible!" he burst forth, finally.
+"Are you telling me that you, alone and unprotected, managed to inveigle
+this murderer into confessing his crime to you? Gee, it's--it's
+unbelievable! The four of you would be a great help to me in my
+profession," he added, with a chuckle.
+
+"I didn't think you would take it as a joke," said Betty, reproachfully.
+
+"It isn't a joke," returned Allen, his face grave again. "It's a mighty
+serious business, if you will excuse my saying so. It makes me sick when
+I think of the chance you took." He was speaking to all the girls, but
+his look of concern was for Betty.
+
+"Oh, we don't want to think about ourselves," said the latter,
+impatiently. "We've done a good deal more dangerous things than that in
+our lives. We thought--we hoped--you might help us to prove his
+innocence----"
+
+"But the man's guilty," said Allen, surprised. "We have that by his own
+confession----"
+
+With a glance of despair at the others, Betty interrupted him.
+
+"Listen to me, Allen," she said. "This is what I think----" And she went
+on to tell him her idea while he listened, at first with a smile of
+faint amusement on his lips which gradually changed to grave admiration
+as he realized Betty's unfailing faith in the basic goodness of human
+nature.
+
+"I hope you are right, little girl," he said at last, when she had
+finished and was looking at him earnestly. "I'd like to believe you were
+right----"
+
+"But you can't?" she finished for him, trying to stifle the
+disappointment in her heart.
+
+"No, I can't," he answered truthfully. "When a man is so sure of his
+crime that he flees his own country, gives up money and fame to escape
+the law, you may be pretty sure that his crime was a real one."
+
+"But, Allen, you don't know the man," Betty pleaded, pretty close to
+tears in the bitterness of her disappointment. "No one could make the
+kind of music he does and be truly wicked. I wish you could have met
+him. I think you would have tried a little harder to help him."
+
+"I'm willing to help him, if I can," Allen answered gently, feeling that
+he would be almost willing to step into this poor musician's place if
+he might have Betty plead for him as she had just done for the other.
+"What is it you would like me to do?"
+
+Then suddenly the great idea popped full grown into Betty's head.
+
+"I have it!" she cried. "Why not write to Paul Loup's manager in New
+York and ask him for particulars?"
+
+"Capital!" replied Allen approvingly, while the girls looked at their
+Little Captain admiringly. "If anybody ought to be able to give us
+information, he surely is the one."
+
+"And, Allen," begged Betty, reining her horse close to Allen and laying
+a timid hand on his arm, "you won't even whisper a word of what we've
+told you--not for your foolish old law, or anything else?"
+
+"Of course not," said Allen, smiling at her. "We have to give the poor
+fellow his chance."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+GREAT DAYS
+
+
+That very afternoon Allen composed a letter to Paul Loup's concert
+manager--advised and censored by the girls, of course--and they all rode
+off to town to mail it in time to catch the four o'clock outgoing mail.
+
+"Now," said Mollie, as, this duty well performed, they started back to
+the ranch, "I feel better. We've started something, anyway."
+
+"Let's hope that we can finish it," added Grace, dubiously.
+
+They did not expect an answer to this epistle within ten days, and in
+the meantime they found plenty to keep them busy around the ranch.
+
+Progress at the mines was swift, and almost any minute now they might
+expect to hear the glorious tidings that some one had "struck it rich."
+
+Nothing had been seen of Peter Levine since that memorable night when
+the map had been taken from him, and it was rumored that the rascally
+lawyer had left town.
+
+"And the longer he keeps away the healthier it will be for him, I
+reckon," Allen said, adding with a laugh: "Gee, but it makes me happy
+every time I think of how sore that chap may be."
+
+Betty had dimpled sympathetically.
+
+"You have an awfully mean disposition, Allen," she chided him.
+
+Meggy and Dan Higgins were working furiously at their mine, but after a
+few days Betty was quick to see that they were not progressing as well
+as some of the others. After all Meggy, though unusually strong and
+robust for her age, was only a girl and her father was an old man who
+had just about worn out his energies in a fruitless search for fortune.
+
+Betty had besought her father to send help to these good friends of
+hers, and Mr. Nelson had immediately complied.
+
+There had been some trouble with Dan at first--with Meggy too, for that
+matter.
+
+"We can't take nothin' thet we can't pay fer, sir," the old fellow
+assured Mr. Nelson positively. But the latter reminded him that he and
+Meggy had saved his daughter's life, as well as those of the other
+girls, and that this put him, Mr. Nelson, deeply in the others' debt.
+In view of this the old fellow finally surrendered. In his heart he was
+deeply, fervently thankful for the help of the young, able-bodied man
+whom Mr. Nelson provided and for whose services he paid.
+
+"But ef I strike thet thar gold vein, sir," Dan assured Mr. Nelson
+earnestly, "I'm goin' to make it up to you, sir, every cent of it."
+
+"All right, we can talk about that later," Mr. Nelson said, and laughed
+and walked on to view his own operations, feeling that he had done a
+very good day's work.
+
+One morning, as the girls mounted their horses and turned their heads in
+the direction of the gold diggings, they heard what seemed to be wild
+cheering and shouting in the distance and with one impulse they urged
+their horses to a gallop.
+
+"Somebody's found something!" shouted Mollie, as the cheering and
+shouting became more distinct. "Oh, girls, I wonder who it is."
+
+"Maybe a mine has caved in, or something," Grace called back,
+pessimistically. "You'd better not get too happy, all at once."
+
+"You old wet-blanket!" cried Betty, as she leaned forward and whispered
+in Nigger's ear, urging him to greater speed. "That kind of mine doesn't
+cave in very often. Oh, Nigger, hurry, old boy! Don't you know we've
+got to get there quickly?"
+
+As they approached the noise became tumultuous, and as they topped a
+small hill that brought them in full view of the new diggings they saw a
+sight that they would never forget as long as they lived.
+
+They gazed on what seemed to be a mob gone wild. Men grasped each other
+around the waists, performing some kind of crazy dance that looked like
+an Indian cakewalk. Others tossed their hats in the air and shot holes
+through them as they fell to the ground. And all were laughing, crying,
+shouting, waving arms and head gear in a sort of wild, feverish, primal
+jubilation.
+
+The girls caught the thrill of it and they tingled to their finger tips.
+Putting spurs to their horses, they galloped down into the thick of it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+THE END OF PETER LEVINE
+
+
+The crowd scattered as the Outdoor Girls came whirling down into its
+midst, but in an instant it had closed about them again. They
+dismounted, leaving their excited horses to go where they would, and
+pushed their way through to the group that seemed to be the center of
+all this wild demonstration.
+
+And when they saw Meggy, fairly weeping with joy, and old Dan Higgins,
+holding a handful of precious golden nuggets, they nearly went mad
+themselves.
+
+They kissed and hugged Meggy till she cried aloud for mercy. They kissed
+and hugged old Dan, and he took it as though he had been used to being
+made much of by pretty girls all his life.
+
+Twenty years had fallen from the old man's age. No matter that he had
+wasted the best part of his life in a vain hunt for gold. His dream had
+been realized at last. There was a fortune in his grasp, and he felt
+again the thrill that had coursed through his veins when, as a young
+man, heart high with aspirations, he had started on his quest.
+
+He was young again! Young! It seemed as though the sight of those golden
+nuggets--his own--had renewed the fires of youth.
+
+Nimbly he sprang upon an empty powder keg and addressed his frenzied
+audience.
+
+"Friends and fellow gold hunters," he yelled, and there was a roar of
+appreciation. "They is a few words I'd like to say afore we go back to
+wrestlin' some more gold outen them rocks. An' these is them. Ef I'm a
+happy man to-day an' a rich one, then it's all due to these four young
+gals here. They set me on the trail o' this new thing when I was purty
+near tuckered out. You all knows 'em an' loves 'em. Now give 'em a
+cheer. Hearty, now, hearty----"
+
+Then arose such a roar that the Outdoor Girls' hearts swelled near to
+bursting and they felt the tears sting their eyes. That moment would be
+something to remember all their lives.
+
+The roar gradually subsided and the miners wandered back to their own
+operations again, followed by scattered groups of curious onlookers.
+They worked with redoubled energy, with redoubled hope. Gold had been
+found. More gold would be found. It was a thrilling, glorious race to
+see who would be the next to announce good fortune.
+
+Left to themselves, the girls crowded around Meggy, questioning her,
+congratulating her, demanding to know how it had all happened and when.
+
+"My--my mouth is so dry I can hardly speak," said Meggy, quivering with
+nervous reaction. "I--I can't jest make up my mind that it has happened
+yet."
+
+"We know," said Betty, soothingly. "You needn't tell us about it if you
+don't want to."
+
+"But I do--I've got to!" cried Meggy tensely. "Why, it seems like a
+dream. But I'm so happy, so wildly happy----" A sob caught in her throat
+and she paused for a moment, then went on swiftly, the words tumbling
+over each other in her eagerness: "It was jest this morning that it
+happened, jest a little while ago. You know we have been workin' awful
+hard the last few days, an' I was getting worried over dad again. He was
+gittin' that thin an' weak an' kind o' discouraged, too. Seemed like
+he'd jest made up his mind that there wasn't no luck fer him nowhere's.
+
+"Then----" she leaned forward, her eyes black as coals, her fingers
+clasped convulsively in front of her. "Then we uncovered it, that first
+little narrow vein o' gold runnin' through the rocks. I thought dad
+would go plumb crazy when he seen it. Honest, I was skeered for a
+minute, till I recollected thet joy never killed nobody.
+
+"Then I began to be skeered fer myself. I felt so kind o' queer an'
+wobbly inside o' me. Then dad came runnin' out to show the other fellers
+what he'd found, an' seemed like they went crazy too.
+
+"Then you come an'--an'--I guess thet's 'bout all."
+
+The girls drew a long breath.
+
+"All," repeated Grace, softly. "I should think it was about enough for
+one day!"
+
+"An' now," said Meggy, in a small little voice, "poor old dad an' me,
+we're rich--rich! Think of it--Meggy an' her dad! Now I can buy a hoss
+like--like--Nigger, mebbe----"
+
+"You funny girl," cried Betty, hugging her fondly. "Of course you can
+buy a horse--a dozen of them if you want to. But wouldn't you like
+anything else? Pretty clothes, a beautiful house to live in----"
+
+"Yes," agreed Meggy, but without any special enthusiasm. "I used to
+think when you gals come around lookin' all pretty an' stylish in your
+nice clothes thet I would like to dress thet way myself ef I wasn't as
+poor as dirt. An' I would like to live in somethin' besides a shack an'
+have sheets enough to your beds so's you could change 'em every day ef
+you wanted to. Sure, I'd like them things.
+
+"But a hoss----" Her voice lowered almost to a reverential pitch. "Ever
+sence I grew to be a long-legged gal, seems like all I've really wanted
+was a hoss. I s'pose," she turned dark, rather wistful eyes on the
+girls, "it's purty hard for you gals to understand what I'm talkin'
+about. You never longed fer a thing so's your heart ached till it seemed
+like it was dead inside of you. So you might think I was foolish to take
+on so 'bout only a hoss."
+
+"We don't think you're foolish, Meggy," said Betty, gently. "We think
+you're wonderful, and you deserve every bit of the splendid luck that
+has come to you. And I expect," she finished gayly, "that you will have
+the most beautiful horse in all Gold Run."
+
+Meggy's eyes lighted with joy. Then they misted suddenly as she looked
+at the girls.
+
+"It's jest like dad said," she murmured. "We wouldn't 'a' had nothin' ef
+it hadn't been fer you girls. You don't know how we feel about you,
+'cause we jest never could tell you."
+
+The days that followed seemed like a beautiful fairy tale to the happy
+girls. Peter Levine had known what he was talking about when he had
+asserted that "gold was running wild" about the northern end of the
+ranch and its environs.
+
+It was as though the finding of gold in the new Higgins' mine had been
+the key that unlocked the door to a steady stream of it.
+
+Every day brought glad tidings of a new find, and, as some of these were
+on the ranch, Betty began to realize that the Nelson family was becoming
+very wealthy. They had always been well-to-do, for her father had
+prospered in his business, that of carpet manufacturer in Deepdale. But
+now it seemed that they were to know what it felt like to be really
+rich.
+
+The girls realized this, and once Mollie put the new idea into words.
+
+"This is a wonderful thing for you, Betty dear," she said soberly. "You
+can have about anything in the world that you want now. I--I--hope you
+won't forget your old friends." She said the last laughingly, but Betty
+was deeply hurt and showed that she was.
+
+"If--if you ever dare say such a horrid thing to me again, Mollie
+Billette," she cried, half way between tears and anger, "I'll never,
+never forgive you! You--you--ought to know me better."
+
+And Mollie, heartily ashamed of herself, succeeded in placating the
+Little Captain only after having apologized most abjectly.
+
+Then one day something happened that amused them all mightily. They had
+all turned out to the gold diggings, Mrs. Nelson, Mr. Nelson, the four
+girls, and Allen. Mrs. Nelson and Allen were engaged in the joyful
+pursuit of trying to figure out how much her profits would be, when
+Betty edged up to Allen and, pulling his sleeve, pointed out a man some
+distance from them. The latter was standing alone, and he seemed to be
+regarding the operations rather morosely.
+
+"Peter Levine, by all that's holy!" murmured Allen. "Just hold tight for
+a minute, folks, and watch me chase him."
+
+With an elaborately casual air, Allen sauntered over to the morose
+individual. The man looked up as he approached, and the scowl on his
+face deepened.
+
+"Howdy," said Allen, loud enough to cause those near by to turn to look
+at him. "How's my old friend Levine this morning?"
+
+"None of your business," snarled the other, with a black look. "Lay off
+me, do you hear?"
+
+"Oh, yes, I hear," said Allen, loudly and cheerfully. "I'm quite
+exceptionally good at hearing. Shall I tell these friends of ours what
+Andy Rawlinson and I happened to hear the other night, beneath these
+very trees? Why, Levine, where are you going?" he asked with feigned
+surprise, as the other started to take his leave. "Don't you want to
+hear----"
+
+"Shut your mouth!" snarled Peter Levine, furiously, then turned and
+slunk off, followed by the jeers and catcalls of the crowd.
+
+"You shore hev got his number, boy," said one old timer, admiringly. "He
+loves you like the fox loves a trap."
+
+Allen grinned boyishly. "Suits me!" he said cheerfully.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+INNOCENT
+
+
+"That was good, Allen," said Mr. Nelson appreciatively, as the young
+fellow rejoined the group. "You've licked him in fine shape."
+
+"And we want to thank you for the way you have handled things for us,
+Allen," added Mrs. Nelson, warmly. "We might have got into all sorts of
+trouble if it hadn't been for you."
+
+The young lawyer was tremendously embarrassed by this praise, though
+Betty was aglow with it. It was splendid to have her family so fond of
+Allen.
+
+The latter noticed her silence, and under cover of the general
+conversation commented upon it.
+
+"How feels the millionairess this morning?" he asked lightly, though
+Betty felt that there was a deeper meaning hidden behind the words.
+
+"I'm feeling splendid," she answered, her voice vibrating with the joy
+of living. "Who wouldn't be--with all this?" and she waved her hand over
+the bustling scene.
+
+In spite of the excitement of all these wonderful happenings, the girls,
+especially Betty, had thought almost constantly of the poor musician
+whom his neighbors called the Hermit of Gold Run.
+
+He never came down to help Dan Higgins and Meggy any more, probably,
+Grace said, scared off by the bustle and confusion of the new gold boom.
+Meggy had mentioned casually once or twice that she still took food to
+the desperate man.
+
+"If he only doesn't give himself up to the authorities before we get
+news from the East!" Betty, worried, exclaimed over and over again.
+
+Then one day, along with the other letters in the mail, there arrived an
+important looking document from New York addressed to Allen.
+
+The latter was out at the gold diggings at the time, and the girls
+fairly lassoed him, bringing him home protesting but helpless.
+
+"I say, what's the row?" he demanded, and for answer Mollie thrust the
+important missive into his hand.
+
+"Read!" she commanded dramatically. "And tell us what lies within."
+
+Allen tore the envelope open and read the letter hastily through while
+the girls crowded around him and tried to read over his shoulder.
+
+Then he jumped to his feet and waved the paper at them excitedly.
+
+"By Jove!" he cried, "this proves that Betty was right. The man didn't
+kill his brother--simply injured him. He was taken to the hospital and
+he recovered long since. The manager says he has been trying to locate
+Paul Loup for weeks. He is losing a fortune every day----"
+
+But Betty could wait no longer. She snatched the letter from him and
+read it through aloud while the girls gaped at her.
+
+"Come on," she cried, reaching for her sailor hat and pushing it down on
+her shapely little head. "Don't stand there like wooden Indians. We've
+got to take this news to Paul Loup."
+
+Bent on their joyful mission, the girls approached the lonely little
+cabin in the woods swiftly. As they came near they heard again that same
+hauntingly sweet melody that had so moved them the first time they had
+heard it.
+
+Yet now that they understood the pain that prompted the rendering of
+that exquisite harmony, it seemed too bitterly sad to be beautiful, and
+their hearts ached dully in sympathy with Paul Loup's despair.
+
+Tears were in Betty's eyes, but there was a smile on her lips, as she
+pushed open the door of the little shack and stood waiting on the
+threshold.
+
+The musician saw her, ended the throbbing melody with a crash of
+discord, and gazed at her mutely. In all his tall, gaunt body only his
+glowing eyes seemed really alive, but in those eyes there was a welcome
+that gave Betty courage.
+
+"Look!" she cried, holding out the paper to him. "This is from your
+manager. Read it--and see that you are innocent."
+
+Slowly the man laid down his violin and bow, slowly he took the paper
+from Betty's trembling fingers. Like a man in a daze he read it
+through--then read it through again.
+
+"I did not kill him--my brother," he murmured aloud. "My brother--that I
+love--I did not kill him. He is alive--he is well. _Mon Dieu_, then I am
+free! Paul Loup--he is not a murderer--a hunted thing. He is again the
+artist--free--_free_----" His voice, which had been gradually rising as
+the truth bore in upon him, rose to a jubilant shout and he threw out
+his arms passionately as though to encompass them all in his newly found
+love of life. "The world----" he said brokenly, "the world is very
+beautiful!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Silently the girls rode through the sunshine and shadow-filled forest,
+their hearts filled with a happiness so poignant it seemed almost pain.
+
+"What a wonderful, wonderful summer!" breathed Mollie. "I don't believe
+we have ever had one like it, girls."
+
+"I wish we didn't have to go home," sighed Amy. "I shall miss my
+beautiful Lady so," and she laid a loving hand on the little animal's
+arching neck.
+
+"What about me?" wailed Grace. "I know I shall cry myself to sleep,
+longing for Nabob. He's one of the best chums I ever had."
+
+But the Little Captain did not hear them. Over and over again, like an
+echo, her mind was repeating those words of Paul Loup: "The world is
+very beautiful."
+
+"Girls," she murmured dreamily, "everybody is so happy--and I'm so
+happy--oh, please, don't wake me up--anybody!"
+
+And so, at the end of a wonderful outing, with life stretching
+gloriously before them, we will once more sadly, reluctantly, wave
+farewell to the Outdoor Girls.
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+THE OUTDOOR GIRLS SERIES
+
+By LAURA LEE HOPE
+
+Author of the "Bobbsey Twin Books" and "Bunny Brown" Series.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+          12mo. BOUND IN CLOTH.  ILLUSTRATED.  UNIFORM STYLE OF BINDING.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+These tales take in the various adventures participated in by several
+bright, up-to-date girls who love outdoor life. They are clean and
+wholesome, free from sensationalism, absorbing from the first chapter to
+the last.
+
+
+          THE OUTDOOR GIRLS OF DEEPDALE
+          Or Camping and Tramping for Fun and Health.
+
+Telling how the girls organized their Camping and Tramping Club, how
+they went on a tour, and of various adventures which befell them.
+
+
+          THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT RAINBOW LAKE
+          Or Stirring Cruise of the Motor Boat Gem.
+
+One of the girls becomes the proud possessor of a motor boat and invites
+her club members to take a trip down the river to Rainbow Lake, a
+beautiful sheet of water lying between the mountains.
+
+
+          THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A MOTOR CAR
+          Or The Haunted Mansion of Shadow Valley.
+
+One of the girls has learned to run a big motor car, and she invites the
+club to go on a tour to visit some distant relatives. On the way they
+stop at a deserted mansion and make a surprising discovery.
+
+
+          THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A WINTER CAMP
+          Or Glorious Days on Skates and Ice Boats.
+
+In this story, the scene is shifted to a winter season. The girls have
+some jolly times skating and ice boating, and visit a hunters' camp in
+the big woods.
+
+
+          THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN FLORIDA
+          Or Wintering in the Sunny South.
+
+The parents of one of the girls have bought an orange grove in Florida,
+and her companions are invited to visit the place. They take a trip into
+the interior, where several unusual things happen.
+
+
+          THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT OCEAN VIEW
+          Or The Box that Was Found in the Sand.
+
+The girls have great fun and solve a mystery while on an outing along
+the New England coast.
+
+
+          THE OUTDOOR GIRLS ON PINE ISLAND
+          Or A Cave and What it Contained.
+
+A bright, healthful story, full of good times at a bungalow camp on Pine
+Island.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+          GROSSET & DUNLAP,  PUBLISHERS,  NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH SERIES
+
+By GERTRUDE W. MORRISON
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+          12mo. BOUND IN CLOTH.  ILLUSTRATED.  UNIFORM STYLE OF BINDING.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Here is a series full of the spirit of high school life of to-day. The
+girls are real flesh-and-blood characters, and we follow them with
+interest in school and out. There are many contested matches on track
+and field, and on the water, as well as doings in the classroom and on
+the school stage. There is plenty of fun and excitement, all clean, pure
+and wholesome.
+
+
+          THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH
+          Or Rivals for all Honors.
+
+A stirring tale of high school life, full of fun, with a touch of
+mystery and a strange initiation.
+
+
+          THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH ON LAKE LUNA
+          Or The Crew That Won.
+
+Telling of water sports and fun galore, and of fine times in camp.
+
+
+          THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH AT BASKETBALL
+          Or The Great Gymnasium Mystery.
+
+Here we have a number of thrilling contests at basketball and in
+addition, the solving of a mystery which had bothered the high school
+authorities for a long while.
+
+
+          THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH ON THE STAGE
+          Or The Play That Took the Prize.
+
+How the girls went in for theatricals and how one of them wrote a play
+which afterward was made over for the professional stage and brought in
+some much-needed money.
+
+
+          THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH ON TRACK AND FIELD
+          Or The Girl Champions of the School League
+
+This story takes in high school athletics in their most approved and
+up-to-date fashion. Full of fun and excitement.
+
+
+          THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH IN CAMP
+          Or The Old Professor's Secret.
+
+The girls went camping on Acorn Island and had a delightful time at
+boating, swimming and picnic parties.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+   Obvious punctuation errors repaired.
+
+   Page 122, "draw" changed to "drawer". (dresser drawer)
+
+   Page 153, "get's" changed to "gets". (Winner gets)
+
+   Page 191, "Accessaries" changed to "Accessories" (Accessories
+             after the)
+
+   Page 204, "too" changed to "to". (I've got to!)
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN THE SADDLE***
+
+
+******* This file should be named 19318-8.txt or 19318-8.zip *******
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+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Outdoor Girls in the Saddle, by Laura Lee
+Hope</h1>
+<pre>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: The Outdoor Girls in the Saddle</p>
+<p>       Or, The Girl Miner of Gold Run</p>
+<p>Author: Laura Lee Hope</p>
+<p>Release Date: September 18, 2006  [eBook #19318]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN THE SADDLE***</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3>E-text prepared by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Emmy,<br />
+    and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br />
+    (http://www.pgdp.net)</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 254px;">
+<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="254" height="400" alt="Cover: The Outdoor Girls in the Saddle" title="Cover: The Outdoor Girls in the Saddle" />
+<br /></div>
+<p>&nbsp;<br /></p>
+<div class="bboxtitle">
+<h1>The Outdoor Girls<br />
+in the Saddle</h1>
+
+<h3>or</h3>
+
+<h2>The Girl Miner of Gold Run</h2>
+
+<h3>BY</h3>
+
+<h2>LAURA LEE HOPE</h2>
+
+<div class='center'><span class="smcap">Author of</span> "<span class="smcap">The Outdoor Girls of Deepdale</span>," "<span class="smcap">The<br />
+Outdoor Girls at Wild Rose Lodge</span>," "<span class="smcap">The Moving<br />
+Picture Girls</span>," "<span class="smcap">The Bobbsey Twins</span>,"<br />
+"<span class="smcap">Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue</span>,"<br />
+"<span class="smcap">Six Little Bunkers at Grandma<br />
+Bell's</span>," <span class="smcap">Etc.</span><br />
+<br /><br /><br />
+<i>ILLUSTRATED</i><br />
+<br />
+NEW YORK<br />
+<big>GROSSET &amp; DUNLAP</big><br />
+PUBLISHERS<br /></div></div>
+
+<div class='center'><br />Made in the United States of America</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class='bbox'>
+<h2>BOOKS FOR GIRLS</h2>
+
+<h3>BY LAURA LEE HOPE</h3>
+
+<hr style='width: 25%;' />
+
+<div class='center'>12mo. Cloth. Illustrated.</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 25%;' />
+
+<h3>THE OUTDOOR GIRLS SERIES</h3>
+
+
+
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Outdoor Girls Seriese">
+<tr><td align='left'>THE OUTDOOR GIRLS OF DEEPDALE</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT RAINBOW LAKE</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A MOTOR CAR</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A WINTER CAMP</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN FLORIDA</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT OCEAN VIEW</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>THE OUTDOOR GIRLS ON PINE ISLAND</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN ARMY SERVICE</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT THE HOSTESS HOUSE</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT BLUFF POINT</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT WILD ROSE LODGE</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN THE SADDLE</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<hr style='width: 25%;' />
+
+<h3>THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS SERIES</h3>
+
+
+
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Moving Picture Girls Series">
+<tr><td align='left'>THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS AT OAK FARM</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS SNOWBOUND</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS UNDER THE PALMS</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS AT ROCKY RANCH</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS AT SEA</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS IN WAR PLAYS</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<hr style='width: 25%;' />
+
+<h3>THE BOBBSEY TWINS SERIES</h3>
+
+<div class='center'>(Fifteen Titles)</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 25%;' />
+
+<h3>THE BUNNY BROWN SERIES</h3>
+
+<div class='center'>(Twelve Titles)</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 25%;' />
+
+<h3>SIX LITTLE BUNKERS SERIES</h3>
+
+<div class='center'>(Eight Titles)</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 25%;' />
+
+<div class='center'><span class="smcap">Grosset &amp; Dunlap, Publishers, New York</span></div>
+</div>
+<div class='center'><br /><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1922, by</span><br />
+GROSSET &amp; DUNLAP</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 25%;' />
+
+<div class='center'><span class="smcap">The Outdoor Girls in the Saddle</span></div>
+<hr style='width: 65%;' />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 259px;">
+<img src="images/p001.jpg" width="259" height="400" alt="A LANDSLIDE&mdash;AND THEY WERE DIRECTLY IN ITS PATH!" title="A LANDSLIDE&mdash;AND THEY WERE DIRECTLY IN ITS PATH!" />
+<span class="caption">A LANDSLIDE&mdash;AND THEY WERE DIRECTLY IN ITS PATH!</span>
+</div>
+
+<div class='center'><i>The Outdoor Girls in the Saddle.</i> <i>Frontispiece</i>&mdash;(<i>Page</i> 96)</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+
+
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents">
+<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">chapter</span></td><td align='left'></td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">page</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>I</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Summer in the Saddle</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_1'>1</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>II</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Great Hopes</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_9'>9</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>III</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Enter Peter Levine</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_22'>22</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>IV</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">An Imitation Hold-Up</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_33'>33</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>V</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Handsome Cowboy</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_43'>43</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>VI</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">At the Ranch</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_52'>52</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>VII</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Sudden Storm</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_62'>62</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>VIII</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Along the Trail</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_72'>72</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>IX</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Danger Ahead</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_81'>81</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>X</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Landslide</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_88'>88</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XI</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">In the Cave</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_97'>97</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XII</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">In the Darkness</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_106'>106</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XIII</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Lure of Gold</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_112'>112</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XIV</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Discovery</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_120'>120</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XV</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Allen Arrives</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_129'>129</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XVI</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Tip</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_137'>137</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XVII</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Net Tightens</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_145'>145</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XVIII</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">In the Shadows</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_154'>154</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XIX</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The New Mine</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_165'>165</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XX</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Violinist Again</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_173'>173</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XXI</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Startling Tale</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_180'>180</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XXII</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Plan</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_188'>188</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XXIII</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Great Days</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_198'>198</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XXIV</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The End of Peter Levine</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_202'>202</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XXV</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Innocent</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_210'>210</a></td></tr>
+</table></div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN<br />
+THE SADDLE</h2>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CHAPTER I</h2>
+
+<h3>A SUMMER IN THE SADDLE</h3>
+
+
+<p>"Hello, hello! Oh, what is the matter with
+central!"</p>
+
+<p>The dark-haired, pink-cheeked girl at the telephone
+jiggled the receiver impatiently while a
+straight line of impatience marred her pretty
+mouth.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh dear, oh dear!"</p>
+
+<p>"At last! Is that you, Mollie Billette? I've
+been trying to get you for the last half hour.
+What's that? You've been home all morning
+twiddling your thumbs and wondering what to
+do with yourself? Of course! I knew it was
+central's fault all the time! Now listen! Goodness,
+what are you having over at your house?
+A jazz dance or something? I can hardly hear
+you speak for the noise."</p>
+
+<p>"No, it isn't a dance," came back Mollie's voice<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span>
+wearily from the other end of the wire. "It's
+just the twins. They want to talk to you. Hold
+the wire a minute while I shut them in the other
+room."</p>
+
+<p>Followed a silence during which Betty Nelson
+could distinctly hear the wails of Mollie's little
+brother and sister as they were ushered forcibly
+into an adjoining room. Then Mollie's voice
+again at the phone.</p>
+
+<p>"Hello," she said. "Still there, Betty? Guess
+I can hear you a little better now. Mother's out,
+and I've been taking care of the twins. Just
+rescued the cat from being dumped head down
+in the flour barrel."</p>
+
+<p>"Sounds natural," laughed the dark-haired,
+pink-cheeked one, as she visualized Mollie's little
+brother and sister, Dodo and Paul. They were
+twins, and always in trouble.</p>
+
+<p>"Anything special you called up about?" asked
+Mollie's voice from the other end of the wire.
+"Want to go for a ride or something?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not the kind of ride you mean," said the
+brown-eyed, pink-cheeked one, with a knowing
+little smile on her lips.</p>
+
+<p>At the lilt in her voice Mollie, at her end of
+the wire, sat up and stared inquiringly into the
+black mouth of the telephone.</p>
+
+<p>"Betty," she said hopefully, "you are hiding<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span>
+something from me. You have something up
+your sleeve."</p>
+
+<p>"You're right and wrong," giggled Betty.
+"I'm hiding something from you, but I can't get
+it up my sleeve, it's too big!"</p>
+
+<p>"Hurry up!" commanded Mollie in terrific accents.
+"Are you going to tell me what's on your
+mind, Betty Nelson?"</p>
+
+<p>"When will you be around?" countered Betty.</p>
+
+<p>"In five minutes."</p>
+
+<p>"Good!"</p>
+
+<p>"Betty, wait! Is it good news?"</p>
+
+<p>"The best ever," and Betty rang off.</p>
+
+<p>She twinkled at the telephone for a minute,
+then called another number.</p>
+
+<p>"That you, Gracie?"</p>
+
+<p>The fair-haired, tall, and very graceful girl at
+the other end of the wire acknowledged that it
+was.</p>
+
+<p>"Please suggest something interesting, Betty,"
+she added plaintively, as she took a chocolate
+from the ever-present candy box and nibbled on
+it discontentedly. "I woke up with the most awful
+attack of the blues this morning."</p>
+
+<p>"What, with a whole summer full of blessed
+idleness before you?" mocked Betty.</p>
+
+<p>"Too much idleness," grumbled Grace.
+"That's the trouble."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Enter," said Betty drolly, "Doctor Elizabeth
+Nelson."</p>
+
+<p>Grace digested this remark for a moment, staring
+at the telephone in much the same manner
+as Mollie had done a few minutes before. Then
+she swallowed the last of her chocolate in such
+haste that it almost choked her.</p>
+
+<p>"Betty," she said, "I have heard you use that
+tone before. Is there really something in the
+wind?"</p>
+
+<p>"Come and see," said Betty and a click at the
+other end of the wire told Grace that the conversation
+was over.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh bother!" she cried, her pretty forehead
+drawn into a frown. "Now I suppose I've got
+to get dressed and go over there before I can
+find out what she meant."</p>
+
+<p>In the hall she nearly ran into her mother,
+who was dressed to go out. Mrs. Ford was a
+handsome woman, prominent in the social circles
+of Deepdale. She was kindly and sympathetic,
+and all who knew her loved her.</p>
+
+<p>So now, as she regarded her mother, a loving
+smile erased the frown from Grace's forehead.</p>
+
+<p>"I declare, Mother, you look younger than I
+do," she said fondly. "Whither away so early?"</p>
+
+<p>"The art club, this morning," replied Mrs.
+Ford, her eyes approving the fair prettiness of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span>
+her daughter. "Are you going out? I thought
+you were deep in that new book."</p>
+
+<p>"I was," said Grace, with a sigh for what might
+have been. "But Betty called up and said she
+wanted me to come over. There's something in
+the wind, that's sure, but she wouldn't give me
+even the teeniest little hint of what it was. I
+wasn't going at first, but I&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Thought better of it," finished Mrs. Ford,
+with a smile. "Better go," she added, as she
+opened the door. "My experience with Betty
+Nelson is that she usually has something interesting
+to say. Good-by, dear. If any one should
+'phone while you are here, will you tell them that
+I shan't be back till late afternoon?"</p>
+
+<p>Grace promised that she would and moved
+slowly up the stairs.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Amy Blackford, the last of the trio
+to whom the dark-haired, pink-cheeked little person
+who was Betty Nelson had telephoned, had
+stopped merely to remove the apron from in front
+of her pink-checked gingham dress and was now
+flying along the two short blocks that separated
+her house from the Nelsons'.</p>
+
+<p>As for poor Mollie Billette, she was nearly distracted.
+Torn with curiosity, as that young person
+very often was, to know the facts that had
+prompted Betty's early call, she yet could not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span>
+satisfy that curiosity. When she had told Betty
+that she would be around in five minutes she had
+fully meant to make that promise good. But&mdash;she
+had forgotten the twins!</p>
+
+<p>Upon entering the room where she had locked
+them while she talked to Betty, she found a sight
+that fairly took her breath away.</p>
+
+<p>Unfortunately, some one had left an open bottle
+of ink on the table. One of the twins, deciding
+to play "savages," had pounced upon the ink bottle
+as a means of making the play more realistic!</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Dodo! Oh, Paul! How could you be so
+naughty?" moaned Mollie, sinking to the floor,
+while the tears of exasperation rolled down her
+face.</p>
+
+<p>"Paul did it," accused Dodo, waving a pudgy,
+ink-stained little fist in the direction of her
+brother. "He said, 'let's use this ink and play
+we're savagers&mdash;&mdash;'"</p>
+
+<p>It was upon this scene that Mollie's little
+French-American mother, Mrs. Billette, came a
+moment later.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! Oh!" she cried, raising her hands in the
+French gesture all French people know so well.
+"What is this? Mollie, have you gone quite
+mad?"</p>
+
+<p>Whereupon Mollie shook the tears of woe<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span>
+from her eyes and explained to her mother just
+what had happened.</p>
+
+<p>"And I was in such a hurry to get to Betty's,"
+she finished dismally. "I just know she has
+something exciting to tell us. And now I don't
+suppose I will get there for hours."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, you will," said Mrs. Billette, with the
+delicious, almost imperceptible, accent she had.
+"The ink has not yet dried, and luckily there is
+not much about the room. Run along, dear. I
+fully realize," she added, with the smile that
+made Mollie adore her, "that this, with you, is a
+very important occasion."</p>
+
+<p>"And you are the most precious mother in the
+world!" cried Mollie, flinging young arms about
+her mother and giving her a joyful hug. "I
+might have known you would understand." And
+before the words were fairly out of her mouth
+she was flying up the stairs.</p>
+
+<p>When she reached Betty's house at last, out of
+breath but happy, she found that Grace and Amy
+were there before her. She found them all, including
+Betty, up in Betty's room, a pretty place
+done in ivory and blue, awaiting her coming as
+patiently as they could.</p>
+
+<p>"Betty wouldn't tell us a thing until you came,"
+was the greeting Grace flung at her.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"So don't be surprised if you aren't very popular
+around here," laughed Betty, sitting very
+straight in her wicker chair, feet stretched out
+and crossed in front of her, hands tightly clasped
+in her lap. Her face was a pretty picture of
+animation.</p>
+
+<p>"Who cares for popularity?" cried Mollie, as
+she flung her sport hat on the bed and turned to
+face Betty. "Betty Nelson, bring out that surprise."</p>
+
+<p>"Who said it was a surprise?" asked Betty
+tantalizingly, but the next minute her face sobered
+and she regarded the girls gravely.</p>
+
+<p>"Girls," she said, "I think I see a chance for
+the most glorious outing we have had yet. How
+would you like&mdash;&mdash;" she paused and regarded
+the expectant girls thoughtfully. "How would
+you like a summer <i>in the saddle?</i>"</p>
+
+<p>"In the saddle?" repeated Grace wonderingly,
+but Mollie broke in with a quick:</p>
+
+<p>"Betty, do you mean on horseback?"</p>
+
+<p>"Real horses?" breathed Amy Blackford.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Betty, nodding. "That's just
+exactly what I mean."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CHAPTER II</h2>
+
+<h3>GREAT HOPES</h3>
+
+
+<p>"But where are we to do all this?" asked Grace
+skeptically. "Is somebody giving away steeds
+for the asking? Wake me up, somebody, when
+Betty gets through dreaming."</p>
+
+<p>"Keep still, you old wet blanket," cried Mollie.
+"Can't you see Betty is really in earnest?"</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind them," said Amy, leaning a little
+breathlessly toward Betty. "Let them fight it
+out between themselves. What is the great news,
+Betty?"</p>
+
+<p>"It <i>is</i> great news," said Betty radiantly. "Listen,
+my children. Mother has received a legacy
+from a great uncle that she had almost forgotten
+she had."</p>
+
+<p>"Money?" queried Grace, interested.</p>
+
+<p>"No, that's the best part of it," said Betty.
+"Oh, girls, it's a ranch, a great big beautiful
+ranch in the really, truly west!"</p>
+
+<p>"Honest-to-goodness, wild and woolly?" queried
+Mollie, beaming.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Better than that," answered Betty with the
+same lilt to her voice that the girls had heard
+over the telephone. "I shouldn't wonder if we
+should find the real old-fashioned, movie kind of
+cowboys there&mdash;sombreros, fur leggings, bandannas,
+and all."</p>
+
+<p>"But where," interrupted Mollie, who had been
+waiting with more or less patience for Betty to
+come to the point, "do we come in, in all this? I
+fail to see&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh hush," cried Betty, her eyes dancing.
+"You interrupt entirely too much. Where do we
+come in, she wants to know," she paused to bestow
+a beaming glance on Grace and Amy.
+"That's the biggest joke of all. Where do we
+come in? Why, honey dear, we're the whole
+show!"</p>
+
+<p>"The whole show," they murmured, beginning
+to see the light.</p>
+
+<p>"You bet," said the brown-haired, rosy-checked
+one slangily. "Now listen. I think I've about
+argued mother and dad around to the point where
+they'll agree to let us have the use of this wild
+and woolly rancho for a real outdoor adventure.
+How does that idea strike you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Listen to the child," cried Mollie pityingly.
+"Such a question!"</p>
+
+<p>"It would be heavenly!" raved Grace. "Think<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span>
+of riding around all day in fur leggings and a
+sombrero. Wide hats are always becoming to
+me," she added musingly.</p>
+
+<p>The girls laughed and Betty threw a pillow at
+her, missing her by a hair's breadth.</p>
+
+<p>"You needn't worry about your hat," laughed
+Betty. "Reckon there won't be anybody around
+there to admire you but Indians and broncho
+busters."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, aren't the boys coming?" Grace asked,
+her disappointment in her voice.</p>
+
+<p>"They haven't been asked, silly," Mollie interrupted
+impatiently. "Tell me, Betty," she cried,
+turning to the Little Captain. "Is it really certain
+that we'll have this chance?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, it isn't," admitted Betty, her bright face
+sobering. "That's why I don't want you to get
+too excited about it. You see," her voice lowered
+confidentially, "dad might decide to sell it."</p>
+
+<p>"Sell it!" they cried in dismay, and Grace
+added, with a decision that made the girls laugh:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, he mustn't do that until the fall, anyway."</p>
+
+<p>"All right, Gracie," said Betty, with a chuckle.
+"I'll give dad his orders."</p>
+
+<p>"But why does he want to sell it, Betty?" Amy
+questioned.</p>
+
+<p>"We-el," said the Little Captain slowly. "You<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>
+see mother has already received an offer of fifteen
+thousand dollars for it. There's a ranchman
+out there, I think his name is John Josephs,
+or some such name, who seems to want to get
+hold of our ranch. So his lawyers have offered
+mother fifteen thousand for it."</p>
+
+<p>"That's a pretty good lot of money," said Amy
+thoughtfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it is," agreed Betty. "And dad seems to
+think that the best thing mother could do would
+be to take the money and get rid of the ranch.
+He says it will be a sort of white elephant on our
+hands, since there isn't very much chance of our
+going out there to live," she ended, with a
+chuckle.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Grace, with an injured air, "I
+don't see why you called us all over here just to
+disappoint us. If your father is going to sell the
+place, then we certainly sha'n't be able to make
+ourselves beautiful with bandannas and picturesque
+hats&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, but you did not let me finish," hissed
+Betty, melodramatically. "We have one ally&mdash;my
+mother."</p>
+
+<p>"Your mother!" cried Mollie, eagerly. "Then
+she doesn't want to sell the ranch?"</p>
+
+<p>"Right, the first time," cried Betty hilariously.
+"I think mother has a sneaking notion that she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>
+might look pretty good in a cowboy make-up herself.
+You see," she added, with a twinkle,
+"mother has never had a chance to own a real
+honest-to-goodness ranch before."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, isn't she sweet!" cried Mollie fervently,
+adding, as one to whom inspiration had come:
+"I tell you what, Betty, we'll take her with us!"</p>
+
+<p>"How sweet of you," drawled Grace. "Especially
+since the ranch belongs to her!"</p>
+
+<p>The other girls chuckled and Mollie looked
+rather sheepish.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, well," she admitted, "I guess it would be a
+case of her taking us along."</p>
+
+<p>"And I don't envy her the job," said gentle
+Amy unexpectedly, while the girls gazed their reproach.</p>
+
+<p>"Betty," said Mollie, "there is one very important
+thing that I would like to know."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I'm the original little information
+bureau," Betty assured her. "What will you
+have?"</p>
+
+<p>"Does your dad really want to sell the ranch?
+Or is your mother likely to win out?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, mother always gets her way," said Betty
+confidently, adding: "Besides, the ranch was left
+to mother, you know, and not to dad. So really
+she has the say about it."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but she might change her mind," said<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>
+Grace pessimistically. "Fifteen thousand dollars
+is a lot of money, you know. She might decide
+to sell the ranch, after all."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Betty, with an air of importance
+that the girls were quick to notice, "there is another
+reason why mother will probably hold on to
+the property, for a little while at least."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes?" they queried eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"You see," Betty continued thoughtfully,
+"mother has an idea that this John Josephs is a
+little too anxious to buy the ranch. It's right up
+in the gold region, you know&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Gold!" shrieked Mollie. "You never said a
+word about gold, Betty Nelson! Do you mean
+there may be gold&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Now she <i>is</i> getting interesting," admitted
+Grace, shaken out of her usual calm.</p>
+
+<p>"How romantic," murmured Amy, breathing
+fast.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Betty ruefully. "That's what dad
+says mother is&mdash;romantic! He says there isn't a
+chance in a thousand that there is real gold anywhere
+near that ranch&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Stop, woman, stop!" cried Mollie, with her
+most tragic scowl. "Wouldst put an end to all
+our dreams in one fell swoop&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Probably that is all we shall do&mdash;just dream,"
+said Betty, insisting upon being practical. "It's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>
+an idea of mother's, that's all. But she is really
+determined to see the ranch, at least, before she
+makes up her mind whether to sell or not. In
+fact," she hesitated, colored a little, then went on
+bravely, "dad has decided to send Allen out there
+to look up the title. There is some trouble
+about that, I think&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, now we know why she is so anxious to
+be a little cow girl," teased Grace, while the others
+regarded Betty's pretty color gleefully.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Betty, Betty!" cried Mollie, shaking her
+head dolefully, "you are altogether hopeless!"</p>
+
+<p>For Allen Washburn, of whom Betty had
+spoken in connection with the ranch, was a very
+promising young lawyer. Also this promising
+young lawyer was very fond of Betty Nelson.
+And while the girls are shaking their heads over
+this fact a little time will be taken to describe the
+Outdoor Girls to those readers who have not already
+met them and to review briefly the many
+and varied adventures they had had up to this
+time.</p>
+
+<p>Betty Nelson, dark-haired, dark-eyed, and
+rosy-cheeked, was the natural leader of the four
+Outdoor Girls, a fact which had led to her being
+dubbed "Little Captain" by the adoring girls.
+Betty's father, Charles Nelson, had made a good
+deal of money in his manufacture of carpets, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>
+Betty's mother was a very sweet lady whom the
+name of Rose fitted exactly.</p>
+
+<p>Next came Mollie Billette, dark-haired and
+with snapping black eyes, who was almost as
+French in her manner as her very French mother.</p>
+
+<p>Readers of the present volume must already
+feel very well acquainted with Grace Ford.
+Grace was the Gibson type, tall and slender and
+fair-haired and very pretty, with a decided liking
+for looking in mirrors.</p>
+
+<p>Last of the quartette came Amy Blackford.
+Amy was the ward of John and Sarah Stonington,
+and for a long time she had thought her own
+name was Stonington. The mystery of her past
+had been cleared up, however, and Amy had come
+into her own. Shy, gentle, sweet, she was beloved
+and protected by the more hardy and active
+Betty and Mollie. And Amy, as shy girls
+sometimes will, had begun to think very much of
+Grace Ford's attractive brother, Will&mdash;which is
+a reminder that it is time to introduce "the boys."</p>
+
+<p>Allen Washburn and his open fondness for
+Betty have already been spoken of. Allen was
+tall, nearly six feet. Sunburned and handsome
+of face and quick of action, Allen attracted every
+one wherever he went. And, truly, Betty was
+no exception to this rule! Allen had been one
+of the first to volunteer his services to the good<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>
+old army of the U. S. A., and while he had gone
+over only a buck private, he had come back a
+lieutenant.</p>
+
+<p>There was Will Ford, Grace's brother, whom
+Grace and Amy both adored. Will had been in
+the secret service when our country entered the
+war, and because of this he had been the victim
+of considerable misunderstanding. Afterward
+he had joined the army with the other boys.
+This was after some skillful secret service work
+that won the praise of the government, as well
+as the fervent admiration of the boys and girls.</p>
+
+<p>The other two boys were Frank Haley and
+Roy Anderson who had come into the little group
+because of their friendship for Will and Allen.
+They were fine, clean-cut, likable boys, who had
+come through the war with colors flying.</p>
+
+<p>The young folks had lived all their lives in
+Deepdale, a thriving little city with a population
+of about fifteen thousand people and situated in
+the heart of New York State. Deepdale was
+situated on the Argono River, a beautiful and
+romantic stream where pleasure craft of all sorts
+disported themselves. A branch line of the railroad
+connected with the main line directly to
+what the four Outdoor Girls believed to be the
+most wonderful of all cities, New York.</p>
+
+<p>The name of "Outdoor Girls" had come to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>
+quartette from the fact that they invariably spent
+their summer vacations, and winter holidays also,
+in some sort of outdoor sport. They could ride,
+swim, play tennis, drive, and, in fact, do everything
+that is expected of the athletic young girl
+of to-day.</p>
+
+<p>They would never forget that first tramping
+tour when they had tramped for miles over the
+country, meeting with a great many unusual adventures
+on the way, as related in the first volume
+of this series, entitled, "The Outdoor Girls
+of Deepdale." Nor those other times at Rainbow
+Lake, in Florida, at Ocean View, and later
+at Pine Island, where they had come across that
+marvelous, mysterious gypsy cave.</p>
+
+<p>Then had come the war with the boys on the
+other side, and the girls doing their "bit" at a
+Hostess House. And a little later what black
+distress overwhelmed them, when Will Ford was
+reported wounded and Allen's name was among
+the missing! This all happened while they were
+at Bluff Point taking a much-needed vacation
+from their work at the Hostess House.</p>
+
+<p>In the volume directly preceding this, entitled
+"The Outdoor Girls at Wild Rose Lodge," the
+girls had had same very exciting experiences.
+An old man, Professor Dempsey, by name, who
+had retired to a little log cabin in the woods to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>
+recover his health, had chanced to do the girls
+a very great favor. Of course the girls were
+grateful to him and were very much interested
+when he told them of his two sons who were in
+the war. Later, when the girls read of the death
+of his two sons in the paper, they went to the
+old man's lonely cabin in the woods, but found
+themselves too late. According to a friendly
+neighbor, the old man had become temporarily
+insane at the terrible news, had wrecked his cabin
+in an insane frenzy, and disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>Later, at Wild Rose Lodge, the girls were
+frightened several times by a strange apparition
+lurking in the woods around the lodge and Moonlight
+Falls, a beautiful fall of water not far from
+the cottage where the girls were staying. Later
+the boys came home from France and helped the
+girls solve the mystery.</p>
+
+<p>And now here was Betty proposing another
+outing that promised to be more fun than any
+the Outdoor Girls had had yet. No wonder that
+in the clamor of their excited questions and answers
+no one heard the telephone ringing noisily
+in the hall.</p>
+
+<p>Finally the Nelsons' maid came trudging up the
+stairs to answer it herself.</p>
+
+<p>"If I can hear myself think," she grumbled, as
+she took the receiver from the hook. "With all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>
+them girls a-gabberin' an' a-talkin' at the top o'
+their lungs. Hello&mdash;I can't hear you&mdash;you'll
+have to talk louder&mdash;you don't know the noise
+they is in this house. Miss Betty?&mdash;jus' a
+minute&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"A gen'leman to speak to you, Miss Betty,"
+she announced a moment later, looking in on the
+hilarious girls. "An' le's hope you can hear him
+better'n I could, that's all," she grumbled, as
+Betty pushed by her in the doorway and gave her
+a friendly pat on the shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, they'll keep quiet now, all right," she
+said, with a laughing glance over her shoulder at
+her chums. "They'll want to hear what I have
+to say."</p>
+
+<p>At which taunt the girls started such a dreadful
+clamor that she really had all she could do to
+hear Allen at the other end of the wire. Oh, yes,
+it was Allen!</p>
+
+<p>"Sech a noise," grumbled the maid, as she
+trudged down the steps again. "I never did see
+sech wild uns!"</p>
+
+<p>"Hello, hello, Allen," called Betty into the telephone.
+"The girls are here and&mdash;what's that?
+At Walnut Street? All right, that will be fine.
+I can't talk now. Tell you why later. Yes,
+we'll be there. Don't be silly. Good-by!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Her face was flushed when she confronted the
+girls again.</p>
+
+<p>"The boys have a half holiday&mdash;it's Saturday,
+you know," she told them, while they regarded
+her mischievously. "And they want us to pick
+them up in the car, get some lunch somewhere,
+and make a day of it. I told him we would."</p>
+
+<p>"By 'him' I suppose you mean Allen," said
+Mollie, to which Betty ducked her a bow and the
+other girls giggled. "I like their nerve wanting
+us to pick them up. Why doesn't Frank come
+for us in his big car?"</p>
+
+<p>"Allen figured it would take too long for them
+to come home and get it."</p>
+
+<p>"My, they must be in a hurry to see us," said
+Grace, with a simper that sent the girls off into
+gales of laughter.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Betty finally, "are you coming,
+or are you not?"</p>
+
+<p>For answer Mollie jumped up, pressed a hat
+upon Grace's indignant head, handed Amy her
+coat, and crushed her own sport hat down on her
+dark hair.</p>
+
+<p>"Be this our answer," she said dramatically.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CHAPTER III</h2>
+
+<h3>ENTER PETER LEVINE</h3>
+
+
+<p>It is to be feared that the boys did not have
+as pleasant a time on that Saturday afternoon
+motor drive as they had hoped to have. For,
+whereas the girls should have showered their attentions
+upon them, the boys, they insisted upon
+talking about nothing but Gold Run Ranch, which
+was the name of the property left to Mrs. Nelson
+by her great uncle.</p>
+
+<p>"You aren't very complimentary to us," Frank
+grumbled, as he hunched himself over the wheel
+of Mollie's car. "You seem mighty glad to go
+out to this forsaken old ranch where you won't
+see us for the whole summer."</p>
+
+<p>"I guess we can stand it if you can," Mollie
+responded lightly, which only caused him to
+glower the more.</p>
+
+<p>"Now I'll say Allen knew what he was doing
+when he studied law," remarked Roy Anderson
+gloomily, as he glanced over his shoulder at
+young Allen Washburn, who was driving Betty's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>
+neat little roadster with Betty herself beside him.
+"He sure falls in soft on this job."</p>
+
+<p>"Meaning, I suppose," drawled Grace, "that he
+will have the pleasure of our company at Gold
+Run Ranch. Never mind, old boy, you needn't
+look so dreadfully gloomy. Have a chocolate
+and brace up."</p>
+
+<p>"You give it to me," said Roy, laughing.
+Grace obediently popped a large juicy one into his
+mouth. It may be remarked that after this performance
+he really did look more cheerful.</p>
+
+<p>"Anyway, we'll be back sometime, I suppose,"
+said Mollie, continuing on the subject that was
+uppermost in her mind.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, if we don't run away with some of those
+handsome cowboys," put in Amy, with a chuckle.
+"Betty says they abound around Gold Run
+Ranch."</p>
+
+<p>The girls giggled, but Will looked fierce.</p>
+
+<p>"You had better not," he said, and though his
+look was for all the girls, Amy knew that the
+words were for her. She colored prettily and
+promised with her eyes that she wouldn't.</p>
+
+<p>Grace caught this by-play as she munched a
+chocolate grumpily. Adoring her brother Will
+as she did, she had always been a little jealous of
+his fancy for Amy.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span></p><p>"Anyway, they don't have to be so silly in public,"
+she told herself resentfully. As she roused
+herself from her musing, she heard Mollie say,
+with a laugh:</p>
+
+<p>"Don't be surprised if we come home with our
+pockets full of gold. Mrs. Nelson thinks there
+is some of it about there."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, are you still talking about that silly old
+ranch?" Grace broke in petulantly. "I don't
+know why you are getting so excited about it
+when there is more than a chance that we sha'n't
+go at all."</p>
+
+<p>"Hooray!" cried Frank, and stepped on the
+accelerator.</p>
+
+<p>Mollie, beside him, turned to look at him
+coldly.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm glad you feel that way about it, Frank
+Haley," she said primly. "But I'm very sorry
+to say we don't."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, I have put my foot in it," cried Frank
+ruefully, turning his irresistible smile full upon
+her. "What shall I do to make up, Mollie?
+Hold your hand or something?"</p>
+
+<p>His free hand closed over hers, but she
+snatched her own away with indignation that
+ended in a chuckle.</p>
+
+<p>"Tend to your knitting," she warned him.
+"Didn't you see that we almost ran over that
+dog?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But however much they might joke about the
+possibility of their not realizing their dreams for
+the summer, the Outdoor Girls were really worried
+about it, and the next few days were anxious
+ones for them.</p>
+
+<p>Suppose Mrs. Nelson should yield to her husband's
+arguments and resolve to sell the ranch
+after all? For awhile it almost seemed as though
+she were about to do this very thing, and the suspense
+nearly drove the girls frantic.</p>
+
+<p>Then something happened to turn the tide
+in their direction. And how the girls afterwards
+blessed that loud-necktied, check-suited
+man!</p>
+
+<p>It was Betty who came to the door to admit
+this angel in disguise, it being the hired girl's
+day out. Her first glance at the stranger served
+to stamp him as one of those loud-voiced,
+flashily dressed persons commonly referred to as
+"sports," and at this first glance Betty took a
+violent dislike to him.</p>
+
+<p>However, being accustomed to treat every one
+with kindliness, she asked him gravely whom he
+wished to see.</p>
+
+<p>"Is Mrs. Nelson at home?" he asked ingratiatingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes," hesitated Betty, then her natural
+courtesy getting the better of the dislike she felt<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>
+for this person, she added politely: "Won't you
+come in? I will call mother."</p>
+
+<p>With blandly murmured thanks the owner of
+the checked suit stepped over the threshold, his
+eyes still on Betty to such an extent that she was
+glad to be able to slip upstairs out of his sight.</p>
+
+<p>"Mother," she explained hurriedly, finding
+that lady in her pretty dressing room, "there's a
+horrid person downstairs who wants to see you.
+I don't like his looks, and if you don't want to
+see him I can tell him you aren't at home&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Heavens, Betty, is he as bad as all that?"
+asked Mrs. Nelson, as she rose hastily and gave
+an automatic pat to her hair. "I hope he doesn't
+steal the silver. You shouldn't have left him
+alone, dear&mdash;&mdash;" and with these words she swept
+out of the room and down the stairs.</p>
+
+<p>Betty heard her greet the man, and then slipped
+off to her own room and picked up some half-finished
+embroidery.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope he doesn't bother mother too much,"
+she mused aloud. "I never saw a more unpleasant
+looking person in my life. I wonder what
+he can want, anyway."</p>
+
+<p>It was fully half an hour later that she heard
+the closing door downstairs that told her their
+unwelcome visitor had left. A minute later her
+mother herself opened the door of Betty's room,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>
+looking so troubled and unsettled that Betty
+jumped to her feet in quick alarm.</p>
+
+<p>"Mother, did that man say anything to make
+you feel bad?" she cried. "Because, if he
+did&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, dear," said Mrs. Nelson, sinking into
+a chair, while her eyes sought the window
+thoughtfully. "I am worried, that's all."</p>
+
+<p>Betty drew a low chair over beside her mother,
+and, sitting down, took Mrs. Nelson's hand in
+both her own.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me, dear," she urged.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Nelson drew her troubled gaze away from
+the window and looked at the Little Captain intently.</p>
+
+<p>"Betty," she said, "there is something strange
+about this Gold Run Ranch of ours. This
+man&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes?" prompted Betty, as her mother paused.</p>
+
+<p>"This man who called this morning wanted to
+buy the ranch for a western client of his. It
+seems this client is willing to pay me my own
+price&mdash;within reasonable limits of course. He
+seemed so strangely eager to make a deal with
+me&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes?" prompted Betty again, beginning to
+look worried herself.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," continued Mrs. Nelson, "I decided<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>
+then and there that I wouldn't sell to anybody."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Mother!" Betty was all eagerness now,
+"do you really mean it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I do," said Mrs. Nelson, determination
+replacing uncertainty. "There must be something
+unusual about Gold Run or John Josephs
+and this man, too, wouldn't be so anxious to get
+it away from me. I am certainly not going to
+let them drive me into selling, until I see my
+property at least."</p>
+
+<p>"Good for you, Mother!" cried Betty enthusiastically.
+"I've been fearfully worried for fear
+you wouldn't see it that way. Did you tell the
+man in the check suit that?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I didn't," said Mrs. Nelson, smiling as
+she pressed Betty's hand. "Now you will see
+what a schemer your mother is, my dear. I told
+him I hadn't definitely decided yet on any course,
+that I had already had a very good offer for my
+ranch, and that he would have to see Allen Washburn,
+our attorney. I wanted Allen to have a
+chance to size this man up and see if he has the
+same impression of him that I had."</p>
+
+<p>"Mother," breathed Betty admiringly, "I think
+you are wonderful." Then after a little pause,
+she added shyly: "You really think a great deal
+of&mdash;of Allen's ability, don't you, Mother?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I do, dear," said Mrs. Nelson, stroking the
+brown head gently. Then she added with a hint
+of mischief in her voice: "Your father and I
+have come to feel toward him almost as if he
+were our son."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh&mdash;" murmured Betty, very faintly.</p>
+
+<p>Two days went by&mdash;anxious ones for the girls.
+In the Nelson home, this time in the pretty living
+room, Allen Washburn was now a guest.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," Mrs. Nelson said, with more than a
+hint of eagerness in her voice, "what did you
+think of our loudly-dressed friend, Allen?"</p>
+
+<p>"Was he as bad as Mrs. Nelson's description
+makes him out to be?" asked Mr. Nelson, smiling
+genially through a cloud of cigar smoke.</p>
+
+<p>Betty, in a corner of the lounge, was trying her
+best to be calm while she waited eagerly for
+Allen's reply.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know just how Mrs. Nelson described
+this fellow to you, I'm sure," he answered, with
+a smiling glance toward Betty's mother. "But
+I'm quite sure that she didn't say anything bad
+enough."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you didn't like him either?" asked Mrs.
+Nelson quickly.</p>
+
+<p>"I neither liked him nor trusted him," Allen
+replied decidedly, adding with a wry smile: "He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>
+calls himself Peter Levine, but I'm willing to
+wager about anything I have that that isn't his
+real name."</p>
+
+<p>"You think he's a sharper then?" Mr. Nelson
+interjected.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir," responded Allen, his young face
+earnestly intent. "He looks to me like one of
+these confidence men who abound in the western
+boom towns&mdash;men who can talk the other fellow
+into putting his last cent into some 'sure thing.'
+'Sure thing,'" he repeated disgustedly. "The
+only sure thing about most of those schemes is
+the certainty of 'going bust' and losing every
+penny you have in the world."</p>
+
+<p>"And yet," Mr. Nelson commented, "these
+sharpers, 'confidence men,' as you call them, often
+manage to keep just within the law."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes," said Allen, "they manage to keep
+the letter of the law&mdash;sometimes. But that is
+just a caution to save their own necks. It's the
+spirit of the law that they violate. But we are
+getting away from the point," he added, pulling
+himself up short with an apologetic smile toward
+Mrs. Nelson. "We were speaking of this Peter
+Levine. My summing up of him is that he is
+entirely untrustworthy."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Nelson shot a triumphant glance at her
+husband.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"You see?" she said. "I was sure Allen would
+agree with me."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course I may be mistaken," Allen continued,
+rather hesitantly. "But I have a very distinct
+impression, a sort of seventh sense we fellows
+in the law game call it, that this Levine is
+in league with John Josephs, the man that offered
+you fifteen thousand for the ranch."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" said Mrs. Nelson, startled. "How can
+you know that?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know it," Allen told her. "I only
+suspect."</p>
+
+<p>"Then what would you advise us to do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hold tight and not sell till you have had a
+chance to look matters over on the ground&mdash;not
+from a distance."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Mr. Nelson rising resignedly and
+knocking the ashes from his cigar, "I suppose
+that settles it. I shall have to leave my business
+to go to smash," he added, with a chuckle, "while
+I take my family into a barbarous land where
+every second man you meet has designs on a well-filled
+pocketbook&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>But he got no further, for Betty had run over
+to him and turned him imperiously around till
+his smiling eyes looked down into her gleeful
+ones.</p>
+
+<p>"Daddy," she cried, "do you really mean it?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>
+We can all go to Gold Run&mdash;you and mother and
+the girls? We'll have to have the girls, you
+know!" she ended on a pleading note.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, of course," said Mr. Nelson resignedly.
+"We will have to have the girls."</p>
+
+<p>It was a very radiant Betty who, a few minutes
+later, saw Allen Washburn to the door.</p>
+
+<p>"And to think," she murmured, while Allen
+smiled down at her, "that I didn't like that perfect
+angel, Peter Levine, at first. Why, I should
+have welcomed him with open arms!"</p>
+
+<p>"Why?" asked Allen, taken by surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you know?" asked Betty, mischievously
+wide-eyed. "If he hadn't happened along just
+when he did our glorious adventure would have
+dwindled into a might-have-been. Why, I could
+love him for it."</p>
+
+<p>"Good-night, I'm going!" ejaculated Allen, and
+before Betty could gasp he had flung out of the
+door.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are you going?" she called, laughter in
+her voice.</p>
+
+<p>"To kill Peter Levine," growled a voice out of
+the darkness, and Betty, closing the door very
+softly, chuckled to herself.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2>
+
+<h3>AN IMITATION HOLD-UP</h3>
+
+
+<p>It was all over. The bustling days of preparation
+for the long trip, during which the girls had
+hardly had time to give vent to their excitement,
+had passed, and here they were actually finding
+their places in the puffing, western bound train.</p>
+
+<p>"Here's number five," Grace said, as she slid
+into a velvet-covered seat with a sigh of thankfulness.
+"Who is coming in here with me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Guess I'm elected," laughed Betty. "And
+here's number seven for Mollie and Amy, and
+mother and dad are in six right across the way.
+That completes the family party."</p>
+
+<p>They were hardly settled when there was a last
+warning cry of "All aboard" and the train began
+to move ever so slowly from the station.</p>
+
+<p>The girls peered out to wave good-by to the
+boys and some of their other friends who had
+come to see them off. The young fellows looked
+rather gloomy&mdash;all except Allen. The latter
+shouted something that they took to be "See you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>
+later!" and then the train swept around a curve,
+hiding the station from view.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Grace, with a sigh, as she opened
+her grip to fish for the inevitable candy box, "the
+boys seemed to take our flitting pretty hard.
+They looked as if we were already dead and
+buried."</p>
+
+<p>"Far from it," murmured Betty happily, her
+eyes on the ever changing view from the window.
+"I feel as if we were just beginning to live."</p>
+
+<p>The hours of the morning passed like minutes
+to the girls, and they were surprised when the
+porter came through with his "Foist call fo'
+dinnah!"</p>
+
+<p>The afternoon passed uneventfully, and they
+amused themselves by making up stories about
+their fellow passengers. There was the quaint
+little man in number four who reminded them
+of Professor Arnold Dempsey and who might
+very easily have been a professor, judging from
+the number of books he carried.</p>
+
+<p>Then there was the freckled-faced small boy
+in number three whose antics kept his mother in
+a continual state of "nerves." Once when he
+bounced one of those implements commonly
+known as "spit balls" off of the bookish little
+man's bald head, the girls thought they would die
+trying to stifle their merriment.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Then there was the very pretty, but much be-powdered
+and rouged girl behind them in number
+nine. Grace embarrassed Betty very much by
+turning around to look at her every five minutes
+or so.</p>
+
+<p>"She's a moving picture actress or something,
+I'm sure of it," Grace confided in Betty's unsympathetic
+ear. "I wonder if I could fix my hair
+the way she does. She fascinates me."</p>
+
+<p>"She seems to," Betty retorted dryly, adding
+with a twinkle. "You may be able to fix your
+hair like hers&mdash;though I doubt it&mdash;but please
+remember that your mother doesn't want you
+to use rouge."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you know I wouldn't do that," said
+Grace in a huff, adding maliciously, "I guess you
+are just jealous, that's all."</p>
+
+<p>"Uh-huh, that must be it," said Betty, with
+an unruffled good-nature that made Grace secretly
+ashamed of herself.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sorry, Betty," she said after a rather
+long pause, adding generously: "You don't need
+to be jealous of anybody."</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks," Betty answered, with a smile. "I
+knew you didn't mean it, dear."</p>
+
+<p>And so the long hours of the afternoon wore
+away, dusk came, shrouding the swiftly moving
+landscape in a veil of mystery. So engrossed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>
+were the girls in contemplation of the changing
+beauty of nature that it seemed almost sacrilege
+when the blatant lights of the train flashed forth,
+bringing them violently back to a realization of
+time and place.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you want any supper?" Mr. Nelson
+was asking, in his pleasant voice. "It isn't like
+the Outdoor Girls to overlook meal time."</p>
+
+<p>"Far be it from us to spoil our good reputation,"
+cried Mollie buoyantly, and away they
+rushed to the dressing room to wash for supper.
+Though dining on a train was no novelty to the
+girls, they never lost the keenness of their first
+delight in the experience.</p>
+
+<p>"It's fascinating," Mollie remarked once, spearing
+desperately at an elusive potato as the train
+jerked and jolted over the rails at sixty miles
+an hour, "to see how often you can raise your
+coffee cup without spilling the coffee all over
+your food!"</p>
+
+<p>On this night at supper Mollie was so screamingly
+funny that the girls had all they could do
+to keep their hilarity from making them conspicuous.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. and Mrs. Nelson at a table for two across
+the aisle smiled indulgently at their charges, and
+once Mrs. Nelson met her husband's glance and
+chuckled fondly.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Pretty nice set of girls?" she said softly.</p>
+
+<p>"Pretty nice!" Mr. Nelson agreed.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm beginning to wish we were at Gold Run
+now," confided Mollie, after dining. She and
+Amy had slipped into the seat opposite Betty and
+Grace.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I think it's all fun," cried Betty, for she
+was always the last of the Outdoor Girls to feel
+tired. "We change at Chicago to-morrow afternoon,"
+she added. "And then two more nights
+on the train, and then Gold Run!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, that sounds good," cried Mollie, adding
+eagerly: "Tell me, Betty, shall we be able to
+choose any horse we want for our own particular
+mount?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes," said Betty, adding with a smile:
+"It will be interesting to see the kind of horse
+each one of you will choose. Amy will like the
+gentle one, Grace will choose hers for its looks
+and yours will be the most vicious one in the
+pack, Mollie."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I like that!" said Mollie unperturbed.
+"She wants to kill me off even before I get there."</p>
+
+<p>"Pack?" murmured Amy. "Is a 'pack' of
+horses right?" But no one answered her.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder," mused Grace dreamily, "if there
+will be a tan one&mdash;all tan, you know, without
+even a spot of any other color&mdash;&mdash;"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, of course," laughed Betty. "If we
+haven't an all tan one in the corrals at Gold
+Run, we'll send to the nearest ranch and have
+one imported for you. Don't worry your little
+head about that."</p>
+
+<p>A little while after that they stopped at a
+water station, and most of the passengers got off
+to stretch their cramped limbs. And, as the conductor
+informed them that they would be there
+for fifteen minutes at least, the girls followed
+the general example.</p>
+
+<p>However, in their enthusiasm at finding the
+good old solid earth under their feet once more,
+they wandered too far, and the warning toot of
+the starting train found them quite a distance
+from the platform.</p>
+
+<p>They had not earned the title of Outdoor Girls
+for nothing, however, and by sprinting for all
+they were worth they were able to make the last
+car just in the nick of time.</p>
+
+<p>"Whew, that was a close call," said Betty as
+they made their way, panting, through to their
+own car, where Mr. and Mrs. Nelson were looking
+frantically for them. "No more water stations
+for us."</p>
+
+<p>Darkness fell, and the porters moved about,
+making up berths and answering the hundred and
+one insistent calls of the passengers.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The girls went to bed with no protest whatever
+and were soon sleeping the sleep of healthy youth.
+It was toward midnight that they were rather
+rudely jerked out of this beautiful sleep by a sudden
+and almost violent stopping of the train.</p>
+
+<p>Betty, who was sleeping in a lower berth, she
+and Grace having decided to take turns, sat up and
+peered out of the grimed window into the gloom.
+No station lights greeted her, as she expected
+confidently they would. Nothing but inky, startling
+blackness.</p>
+
+<p>That she was not the only one roused was
+proved by the subdued sound of voices raised in
+sleepy protest.</p>
+
+<p>"They ought to put that engineer in prison for
+stopping like that," said a man's voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Gee! I thought it was a wreck, sure," came
+another surly voice.</p>
+
+<p>At this moment a couple of legs dangled themselves
+over the side of Betty's berth and in another
+minute the owner of them slid down beside
+Betty. Betty giggled nervously, but Grace
+clutched her arm and shook it.</p>
+
+<p>"Listen!" she said. "There's nothing to laugh
+about. This is a hold-up, that's what it is! You
+know what your father said about there being a
+lot of them around this place."</p>
+
+<p>That this conclusion had been reached by some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>
+one else in the car was proved by a woman's voice
+that rose shrilly above the rest.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a hold-up, that's what it is!" she cried,
+adding, with what seemed to Betty ridiculous
+panic: "Oh, what shall I do, what shall I do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Better stop making a fuss, first off," growled
+another masculine voice, and again Betty giggled
+nervously.</p>
+
+<p>"Goodness, I hope I don't have to get out in
+my nightie," she said, and poked her head out
+through the curtains.</p>
+
+<p>"Look out," warned Grace, pulling her back.
+"You may get shot or something."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't be silly," retorted Betty, not altogether
+decided whether to be frightened or amused by
+the situation. "There isn't anything out there but
+a lot of funny looking heads sticking through
+the curtains."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see how you can laugh about it," said
+Grace, through chattering teeth. "I don't think
+it would be any j-joke to have all our m-money
+taken from us&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Sh-h&mdash;be quiet," warned Betty, peeping again
+through the slit in the curtain. "Somebody's
+coming. Listen!"</p>
+
+<p>Grace listened, and so, evidently, did every one
+else in the car. No wonder that, scared though
+she undoubtedly was, Betty found humor in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>
+situation. Heads of every kind and description
+stuck through the curtains, women's, some in
+boudoir caps, some without, men's heads, either
+bald or with hair grotesquely ruffled by sleep, and
+on every face depicted every one of the varied
+emotions which have disturbed the human race
+since time began. And there they were, all frozen
+to immobility by the sound of two men's voices
+raised in heated discussion.</p>
+
+<p>Then the owners of the voices came into view,
+and the expression on all the faces changed to
+bewildered amazement. Instead of the masked
+bandit which they had half expected to see there
+was a very portly and very excited gentleman and
+with him was a conductor, not so portly but just
+as excited.</p>
+
+<p>"I tell you," the conductor was saying, his
+face red with wrath, "you are violating the rules
+of the company by flagging this train for a personal
+matter&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You have told me that before," roared the
+portly gentleman, waxing almost apoplectic.
+"And I've told you I don't care a hang for the
+rules of the company. What I want to find is my
+daughter and that young scamp she ran away
+with. And if you don't help me, I'll wring your
+neck!"</p>
+
+<p>"I tell you there is no couple answering your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>
+description on this train," rasped the conductor,
+as the two made their way, shouting and gesticulating,
+through the two rows of amazed heads and
+so on into the next car.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I'll be blowed," commented the voice belonging
+to one of the heads; and as if that were
+a signal, all the other heads promptly withdrew
+to the accompaniment of exclamations and
+laughter.</p>
+
+<p>In the darkness of the berth Betty chuckled.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, they did look so funny, Gracie," she said.
+"All those people with their heads stuck out into
+the aisle. You should have taken a peek."</p>
+
+<p>"Humph," grunted Grace, unsympathetically,
+as she prepared to climb into her berth again.
+Then she said: "I hope if that man's daughter
+takes a notion to run away again, she won't do it
+on our train, that's all!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CHAPTER V</h2>
+
+<h3>THE HANDSOME COWBOY</h3>
+
+
+<p>Next morning the girls were hilarious over the
+mirthful episode in the train the night before.
+Betty and Mollie "took off" the expressions on
+the faces of their fellow passengers till Amy and
+Grace shouted with glee.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, stop it, you two," gasped Grace, finally.
+"I'm sore from laughing. I think you would
+make a hit as clowns in a circus."</p>
+
+<p>"My, isn't she complimentary?" lisped Mollie,
+and the girls went off in fresh gales of merriment.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish," said Grace, after a pause, "that we
+were going to reach Gold Run this afternoon, instead
+of Chicago. I'm half afraid to spend another
+night in the sleeper after the scare we got
+last night. It might be a <i>real</i> bandit this
+time."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, what would we care?" said Betty carelessly.
+"I'd rather like to meet a train robber,
+myself."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"About all a bandit could do would be to take
+our money," added Mollie.</p>
+
+<p>"All!" cried Grace indignantly. "Yes, that's
+all. And what would we do without any money,
+I'd like to know!"</p>
+
+<p>"Goodness, we could always sell the ranch,"
+said Betty, so matter-of-factly that the girls
+chuckled. "We have Peter Levine to fall back
+on, you know."</p>
+
+<p>"'Peter Levine,'" repeated Amy, then added
+quickly: "Oh yes, he was the man who wanted
+your mother to sell the ranch."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and it was too bad of you to keep him
+all to yourself, Betty," said Grace reproachfully.</p>
+
+<p>"You might at least have shown him to the
+rest of us."</p>
+
+<p>"He wasn't anything to show," said Betty, experiencing
+again the feeling of distaste she had
+had for the man. "He was one of the most unpleasant
+looking men I ever saw. Just the same,"
+she added lightly, "we owe him a lot. If it
+hadn't been for him we probably wouldn't be sitting
+in this beautiful train, speeding to our great
+adventure. I told Allen I could almost love Peter
+Levine for it."</p>
+
+<p>"You did?" queried Mollie, her eyes dancing.
+"What did he say?"</p>
+
+<p>"He left me rather suddenly," said Betty, with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span>
+a chuckle at the memory. "He said he was on
+his way to kill Peter."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Allen," laughed Grace. "It must be
+awful to be that way. When is he coming out to
+Gold Run, Betty?"</p>
+
+<p>"As soon as he finishes this case he is on now,"
+answered Betty, flushing in spite of herself as she
+thought of Allen. "There is really no great
+hurry about it, you know. Dad has made up his
+mind to take a regular vacation while he's about
+it, and I imagine mother won't care if she never
+gets home."</p>
+
+<p>That afternoon they changed trains at Chicago,
+bemoaning the fact that they had not time
+to see something of the great city before they
+traveled farther west. There was only half an
+hour between trains and, as every one knows,
+there can be little sightseeing done in that limited
+space of time. As it was, for some reason they
+could not ascertain, the outgoing train was over
+an hour late in starting. If they had known this
+fact in advance they might have managed to
+spend their time more profitably than in cooling
+their heels in the station waiting room.</p>
+
+<p>As it was, it was a rather disgruntled set of
+girls who boarded the train for Gold Run and
+allowed Mr. Nelson and the porter to find their
+seats for them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I don't see why trains can't be on time,"
+grumbled Mollie, as she peered at the rather distorted
+image of herself in the narrow mirror
+between the windows. "Here it is nearly seven
+o'clock and I'm as hungry as a bear."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Betty, cheerfully, "something tells
+me they have a diner on this train. Come on,
+girls, let's wash our hands and get something to
+eat."</p>
+
+<p>The girls hardly knew which they enjoyed the
+most, their dinner or the novel scenery that
+slipped past them so swiftly. It was their first
+venture into this part of the world, and they
+found the initiation fascinating.</p>
+
+<p>"The trouble is," complained Amy, "it will be
+dark before long and we'll have to miss all this,"
+with an expressive sweep of her hand toward the
+car window.</p>
+
+<p>"It is too bad," said Betty, regretfully adding,
+with a light laugh: "If we were only like the
+princess in the story, the members of whose royal
+house never slept, we would probably see more of
+the scenery."</p>
+
+<p>That night the girls proved that Grace was not
+alone in her fondness for sleep. There being no
+more interruptions in the shape of fuming gentlemen
+on the trail of runaway daughters, they
+slept soundly through the long hours while the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>
+train plunged onward through the inky blackness
+of the night. They did not stir until the sun,
+shining on their faces, roused them to the realization
+that another beautiful day had dawned.</p>
+
+<p>That is, it was beautiful up to noon. Then it
+clouded down, and they ate lunch while the rain
+dashed furiously on the windows of the dining
+car.</p>
+
+<p>"I am thankful we are under cover," said
+Betty.</p>
+
+<p>"Fancy riding on the ranch in this rain," put
+in Amy.</p>
+
+<p>"No life in the saddle for me when it rains,"
+broke in Grace.</p>
+
+<p>During the afternoon the girls napped and
+read. When the time came to get supper they
+were glad to see that they had run away from
+the storm and the sun was setting clearly.</p>
+
+<p>"Funny, how sleepy one gets," drawled Grace,
+about nine o'clock. "I'll not stay up late."</p>
+
+<p>No one wanted to do that, and in less than an
+hour all were sleeping soundly while the long
+train rumbled along on its trip westward.</p>
+
+<p>"And this is the day," breathed Mollie the next
+noon, as they made their way from the dining
+car through some half dozen other cars to their
+own. "Betty, I feel as if I couldn't wait to see
+your beautiful ranch."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I wonder," said Grace as they dropped into
+their seats once more, "if those cowboys are
+really as good-looking as you say, Betty. I must
+admit," she added, as she viewed the rather monotonous
+landscape petulantly, "I haven't seen
+anything that looks like a cowboy yet."</p>
+
+<p>"Goodness, hear the child!" cried Betty airily.
+"She hasn't been near a ranch, yet she expects to
+see whole droves of cow-punchers&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Look," Mollie interrupted, grasping her arm.
+They were slowing down at a station and there
+were no less than three picturesque looking young
+fellows loitering about the place. One was
+astride an extremely nervous horse that shied as
+the train puffed to a standstill and rose on his
+hind legs as though trying his best to shake his
+rider off. "There's a real show for you," Mollie
+cried joyfully. "How does that look to you,
+Gracie? True to life?"</p>
+
+<p>"Um, that's better," admitted Grace, while the
+girls craned their necks for a better view of the
+horseman. "Now if they only have that sort of
+thing at Gold Run&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, we'll have a chance to find out pretty
+soon whether they do or not," broke in Betty, the
+thrill of suppressed excitement in her voice.
+"Dad says we ought to get there in an hour."</p>
+
+<p>"An hour!" wailed Amy, as the train jolted on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span>
+its way once more and the romantic group on
+the station were lost to view. "And I thought
+we were almost there!"</p>
+
+<p>But the hour passed more quickly than the
+girls had anticipated, for the view from the car
+windows, becoming more and more interesting,
+absorbed their attention. As a general rule the
+country was flat, but now and then in the background
+could be caught glimpses of heavily
+wooded mountain ranges that would offer chances
+for all sorts of adventures to the four eager
+Outdoor Girls.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder if there are wild animals in those
+woods," said Amy, her eyes widening at the
+thought. "Real ones."</p>
+
+<p>"You don't suppose they import stuffed ones,
+do you?" asked Grace dryly.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course there are wild animals&mdash;lots of
+'em," said Betty, feeling more and more gloriously
+excited as they neared their destination.
+"Maybe we can borrow a gun or two from the
+cow-punchers and have a shot at 'em&mdash;animals,
+I mean, not cow-punchers," she explained, with
+a giggle.</p>
+
+<p>On top of these rather wild imaginings came
+Mr. Nelson, telling them it was time to get their
+things together, for they were within a few minutes
+of Gold Run.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I know how long it takes you girls to put a
+hat on," he laughed. "So I think you had better
+start right away."</p>
+
+<p>Then&mdash;Gold Run! with the dash for the door
+and Grace running back to rescue a half-empty
+but still precious candy box and Mollie wanting
+to know if Amy would please stop pressing her
+suitcase in the middle of her back&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>Someway, Mr. Nelson managed to get them
+all safely to the station platform, whereupon he
+breathed a sigh of relief.</p>
+
+<p>"Whew! that's the hardest job you ever gave
+me, Rose," he remarked to his wife, with a
+chuckle.</p>
+
+<p>Here, as at most of the other stations, was a
+handful of cowboys who had come to meet the
+train. One of these, a handsome young fellow,
+detached himself from the rest and approached
+Mrs. Nelson, sweeping off his sombrero as he
+did so.</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Nelson, ma'am?" he asked in a soft
+drawl that captivated the girls immediately.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Nelson smiled assent and the young fellow
+indicated a buckboard drawn up to the station.</p>
+
+<p>"I brought the wagon," he said, with a grin
+that showed a beautiful set of white teeth. "An'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>
+some saddle hosses, thinkin' you might like to
+ride&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>However, the ladies decided on the buckboard,
+which was driven by a shy-eyed, sandy-haired
+young fellow who gave the girls one frightened
+glance and looked swiftly away again, for all
+the world, Mollie said afterwards, as if he expected
+them to bite him.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Nelson elected to ride horseback with
+Andy Rawlinson, which was the name of the
+good-looking cowboy.</p>
+
+<p>As the driver chirruped to the horses and they
+clattered over the bumpy road, Grace turned to
+Betty with a smile.</p>
+
+<p>"I have realized the ambition of a life time!"
+she said dramatically. "I have seen one handsome
+cowboy!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2>
+
+<h3>AT THE RANCH</h3>
+
+
+<p>To the girls, that jolting ride was like an adventure
+straight from the Arabian Nights. The
+fact that they were squeezed four in a seat which
+was meant to accommodate only three, served to
+dampen their enthusiasm not a trifle. Mrs. Nelson,
+riding in front with the bashful driver,
+vainly sought to engage him in conversation.
+After repeated failures she settled down to enjoy
+the ride in silence.</p>
+
+<p>A dozen yards or so ahead of them Andy Rawlinson
+and Mr. Nelson cantered up the dusty
+road, their horses' hoofs making the dust fly
+in a white cloud.</p>
+
+<p>"Goodness!" sneezed Betty, extracting a small
+handkerchief from her pocket and applying it to
+her nose, "I do hope those two keep their distance.
+We'll be simply choked with dust."</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder," said Grace, as she rubbed her
+dust-filled eyes, "if they don't have any rain in
+this part of the world."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Of course they do; only this happens to be
+the dry season," said Mollie, instructively, from
+the heights of her superior intelligence. At least,
+that is what she called it.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll say it's dry," grumbled Grace.</p>
+
+<p>"Ooh, look," Amy interrupted ecstatically.
+"Isn't that a cactus over there? Oh, I've wanted
+all my life to see some real cacti. Now I know
+we're in the West."</p>
+
+<p>The girls were silent for a moment, gazing out
+over the rolling plain&mdash;a plain studded with
+stunted trees and sickly-looking bushes with here
+and there a cactus plant for variety's sake&mdash;out
+to the hazy mountains beyond, serene, calm, majestic,
+jutting jaggedly into the dazzling blue of
+a cloudless sky.</p>
+
+<p>"The mountains!" murmured Betty, half to
+herself. "How I love them. The plains are fascinating
+in a cruelly romantic way, but somehow
+the mountains make one think of hidden springs
+rushing swiftly into noisy foolish little brooks,
+of bird songs, and the smell of cool damp earth,
+of the crackling of dry twigs under one's feet,
+and the pungent woodsy smell of camp fires&mdash;but
+there," she broke off confusedly, as she realized
+the girls were regarding her with fond amusement.
+"I didn't mean to wax so poetic."</p>
+
+<p>"It's all right, honey," said Mollie, giving her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>
+hand a warm little squeeze. "You rave right
+along. I know just how you feel, for I get that
+way myself sometimes."</p>
+
+<p>"There <i>is</i> something mighty wonderful about
+the mountains," added Grace softly.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I love them, too," broke in Amy, adding
+with such earnestness that the girls looked at her
+wonderingly. "They are everything that Betty
+has said. And yet when Betty spoke of the plains
+as being cruel I couldn't help wondering if the
+mountains weren't sometimes like that, too."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean?" they queried, with quick
+interest.</p>
+
+<p>"I was thinking," Amy continued slowly, "that
+the mountains might not seem so kind to one
+who was lost in them&mdash;without a gun perhaps. I
+have heard Will say that a person who had no
+knowledge of woodcraft would find it almost
+impossible to recover his path, once he had lost
+it. And," she added, with a shudder, her eyes
+fixed steadily on the distant mountain range,
+"there are wild animals in those forests."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course there are," agreed Betty lightly, as
+she saw how serious the girls' faces had become.
+"Oodles of foxes and bears and raccoons and
+things. Why, how would you expect to get pretty
+furs when you wanted them if those things didn't
+exist? Cheer up, Amy dear. We're a long way<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>
+from being lost in the woods without a gun!"</p>
+
+<p>A minute later the girls lost interest in everything
+but the immediate present. For, in the distance,
+but distinctly visible, loomed a long low
+ranch house which the silent driver beside Mrs.
+Nelson deigned to admit was on Gold Run Ranch.</p>
+
+<p>"You see it, girls?" cried the lady, turning a
+beaming face to the girls. "You know, I feel
+just like a little girl with a beautiful new toy."</p>
+
+<p>"And we're awfully glad you've got the toy,
+Mrs. Nelson," said Grace, fervently.</p>
+
+<p>"Look," cried Mollie suddenly. "Your father
+and that cowboy are turning off from the main
+road. That must be where the ranch begins. Oh,
+girls, oh, girls, I'm glad I came!"</p>
+
+<p>A few minutes later their jolting buckboard
+turned in after the two horsemen, and since the
+new road proved to be nothing but two deep ruts
+worn in the grass and as the ponies attached to
+the buckboard showed considerable excitement at
+coming near home, the girls found themselves
+holding on to each other convulsively to keep
+from being thrown out on the stubbly grass at
+the side of the road.</p>
+
+<p>"Whew, I'm glad that's over!" exclaimed Mollie,
+as the driver drew in the rearing horses and
+spoke to them soothingly. "Come on, girls," she
+added, making ready to jump out. "I'm going<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>
+to remove myself from this buckboard before one
+of those horses decides to sit in my lap."</p>
+
+<p>The girls laughed and followed her with alacrity.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," cried Betty, hugging Amy ecstatically,
+simply because she happened to be the nearest
+one to hug. "There are the horse corrals over
+there! And, oh, girls! look at the cows, dozens
+and dozens and dozens of 'em. Mother," she
+cried, turning wide-eyed to the latter, "do all
+those 'anymiles' really belong to you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I presume they do, dear," said Mrs. Nelson,
+her own face flushed with excitement. "I can't
+quite take in the amazing truth of it yet."</p>
+
+<p>They were standing beside the first of a long
+line of low buildings that seemed little more than
+glorified sheds and which the girls decided must
+be the "bunk houses" for the ranch hands.</p>
+
+<p>And while they were wondering if it would
+be possible to slip over to the corrals for a closer
+look at the horses, Mr. Nelson sauntered up to
+them, with handsome Andy Rawlinson keeping
+diffidently a little in the rear.</p>
+
+<p>"It's nearly supper time," he informed them
+smiling. "And Andy here," he indicated young
+Rawlinson, who grinned an acknowledgment,
+"says that everybody has supper sharp on the
+minute of six. So what do you say if we go up<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span>
+to the house and have a little refreshment?"</p>
+
+<p>The girls were not altogether reluctant to obey,
+much as they desired a closer look at the bronchos,
+for they realized that they were pretty hungry.</p>
+
+<p>The ranch house was one of those quaint old
+structures which had begun as a tiny, one-story
+frame cottage and had gradually been added to
+until now it seemed, Betty said, to "spread all
+over the landscape." It had porches and doors
+in the most unexpected places, but the whole
+house was painted such an immaculate white and
+the shutters were such a friendly green that the
+effect of the place was indescribably charming.</p>
+
+<p>"If the house is as clean inside as it looks outside,"
+whispered Grace to Betty as Andy Rawlinson
+led them up on to one of the many porches,
+"I'll never dare go in. I never felt so mussy and
+dirty in all my life."</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind, we're all in the same boat," said
+Betty encouragingly, and then they stepped into
+one of the pleasantest rooms they had ever seen.</p>
+
+<p>It was big and cool and airy, in spite of the
+fact that supper preparations were going on at
+one end of it. Rough picturesque looking chairs
+were scattered about, and over near the windows
+a long table was invitingly set for six. And oh,
+the delicious odor of cooking things that was
+wafted on the air!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>At sight of them a stout but immaculately neat
+and rosy-faced woman left whatever she was doing
+with a frying pan on the stove and came over
+to them, wiping her hands on her apron, her face
+wreathed in smiles.</p>
+
+<p>"Go long with you, Andy Rawlinson," she
+cried as the youth lingered rather awkwardly
+in the doorway. "There's no need for you to
+tell me who these folks are, for I already know
+them for the new master and his lady and the
+young ladies, bless their pretty sweet faces.
+Come right in, all of you, and Lizzie here," turning
+to a wholesome-looking, mouse-haired girl
+who had come in from the other room, "Lizzie
+will take you to see the rooms and you can have
+your pick. But don't be long," she cautioned, as
+they started to follow Lizzie and she turned back
+to her frying pan on the stove, "for supper is all
+ready and you must be nearly famished."</p>
+
+<p>If the girls had been impressed by the quaintness
+of this quaint old house from the outside,
+they were even more delighted by its interior.</p>
+
+<p>They passed down a rather dark and narrow
+hall at the end of which were three low steps
+leading to such a series of rooms as the girls had
+never seen before, each furnished neatly but
+plainly, the only touch of color being the gay
+cretonne curtains at the windows. The rooms<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>
+all seemed to be connected by doors and to reach
+these doors one was obliged to go up two steps
+or down three or up one, as the case might be.</p>
+
+<p>"Goodness," cried Betty, when Lizzie had led
+the way through three of these quaint little rooms
+and the open doors seemed to reveal several others,
+"I wonder if all these rooms were really
+occupied."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, miss," said Lizzie, halting and speaking
+unexpectedly. "They was a time when these
+rooms wuz all filled. Old Mr. Barcolm"&mdash;this
+being the name of Mrs. Nelson's great uncle&mdash;"had
+a many children and grandchildren an'
+seemed like he was sot on 'em all livin' with him.
+But they got to quarrelin' and all left th' old
+man an' he was so mad he cut 'em all out o' his
+will. At least," she finished, as though warned
+by the intent look of her listeners that she had
+said more than she had intended to, "that's what
+they says. But mebbe it ain't the truth, fer all
+I knows."</p>
+
+<p>Then she led them on again through the maze
+of rooms while the girls thought amazedly of
+what she had told them. Finally she came to a
+stop in a room, larger than the rest, and turned
+her rather stolid gaze upon Mr. and Mrs. Nelson.</p>
+
+<p>"Miz Cummins," she announced, dully&mdash;the
+girls were afterward to find out that Cummins<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>
+was the name of the rosy-faced woman who had
+met them so cordially at the door and who seemed
+to be general housekeeper for the place&mdash;"Miz
+Cummins thought as how this would be a good
+room fer the mister and missus. They is some
+nice rooms back of these fer the young ladies.
+She sed, if you liked any of the other rooms better,
+to take your pick. They's fresh water in the
+pitchers," indicating a washstand with a bowl
+and two pitchers of gleaming water upon it,
+"an' if you want anythin' else, you wuz please to
+tell me." And with these words, uttered so precisely
+that it sounded like a rehearsed speech,
+which, in fact, it was, Lizzie disappeared, leaving
+the travelers to themselves.</p>
+
+<p>"Come on, girls," cried Betty, pushing them
+before her into the next room. "Let's see what
+kind of rooms 'Miz Cummins' has picked out for
+us."</p>
+
+<p>They were not at all unusual rooms, being
+both about the same size and nearly square and
+furnished about as simply as they could possibly
+be.</p>
+
+<p>"If it weren't for the different colored cretonne
+at the windows," said Mollie, with a chuckle,
+"these rooms might be twins. You and Grace can
+have the lavender cretonne, Amy, and Betty and
+I will take the blue."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Don't those beds look heavenly?" sighed
+Grace, as she pulled off her hat and threw herself
+upon the big, snowy-sheeted bed.</p>
+
+<p>"Goodness!" cried Amy, in dismay. "She's
+flopped. Get her up, somebody, before she gets
+the bed so dirty I can't sleep in it to-night."</p>
+
+<p>For answer Betty made a dash for Grace,
+pulled her to her feet, and pushed her over to
+the washstand.</p>
+
+<p>"See that water, Grace Ford?" she cried
+sternly. "Now use it!"</p>
+
+<p>"And make it snappy," added Mollie slangily,
+as she and Betty disappeared into the adjoining
+room. "I can smell 'Miz Cummins'' cooking
+clear in here!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2>
+
+<h3>A SUDDEN STORM</h3>
+
+
+<p>The girls spent the rest of that day getting acquainted,
+at which agreeable task Andy Rawlinson,
+the head cowboy, assisted pleasantly. The
+latter introduced them to several others of the
+ranch hands, all of whom were as picturesque and
+good-natured as Andy himself.</p>
+
+<p>Escorted by Rawlinson and followed by the
+admiring glances of the other cowboys, the girls
+were introduced to the interior of the bunk houses
+which, with their rude wooden cots built into the
+side of the walls, their scanty and rather severe
+furniture, and the romantic looking trophies fastened
+to the bare boards of the walls, filled the girls
+with curiosity and interest.</p>
+
+<p>Then on to the corrals, where some spectacular
+broncho busting was staged for the sole benefit of
+the visitors. In this dangerous business Andy
+himself took a part, and the girls gasped with dismay
+and later with admiration as the boy ran
+alongside a vicious looking animal for a few<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span>
+paces, then flung himself recklessly upon the
+beast's back and clung there, seemingly defying
+all the laws of gravitation.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, he surely will be killed!" cried Amy,
+clutching Betty in terror. "That horse will throw
+him&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Keep quiet, can't you, Amy?" cried Mollie impatiently,
+beside herself with excitement. "Don't
+you suppose he has ever done this sort of thing
+before?"</p>
+
+<p>Then followed such an exhibition of sheer grit
+and skill and dauntless courage as none of the
+girls would ever forget.</p>
+
+<p>The vicious brute raced madly around and
+around the corrals, cruel head upflung, nostrils
+dilated, but still the man upon his back clung with
+maddening persistence. Then he stopped so suddenly
+that the man was almost flung over his lowered
+head and the girls held their breath, but
+Andy recovered himself and touching the spurs
+to the beast's belly, sent it flying round the corral
+once more. There was sweat on its body and the
+flaring nostrils were blood red with the effort, but
+the spirit of the beast was still unbroken.</p>
+
+<p>Around and around the ring he plunged, the
+other horses galloping wildly from his path, then
+suddenly as though the thing on his back had
+maddened him past bearing, he began to buck<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>
+and to plunge and to rear himself on his hind
+legs in a desperate effort to throw himself backward,
+until it seemed to the fascinated, terrified
+girls that Andy Rawlinson surely must be killed.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 261px;">
+<img src="images/p070.jpg" width="261" height="400" alt="HE CLUNG TO THE HORSE&#39;S BACK AS THOUGH HE HAD BEEN A PART OF HIM." title="HE CLUNG TO THE HORSE&#39;S BACK AS THOUGH HE HAD BEEN A PART OF HIM." />
+<span class="caption">HE CLUNG TO THE HORSE&#39;S BACK AS THOUGH HE HAD BEEN A PART OF HIM.</span>
+</div>
+
+<div class='center'><i>The Outdoor Girls in the Saddle.</i> <i>Page 64</i></div>
+
+<p>But Andy Rawlinson had not spent his twenty-eight
+years in the saddle for nothing. He clung
+to that horse's back as though he had been a part
+of him, and when the outraged beast tried to
+throw himself over backward for the second time,
+Andy evidently decided that he had played
+enough.</p>
+
+<p>A cruel blow of his spurred heel brought the
+beast almost to its knees with a whinny of pain.
+Then it jumped high in the air, and once more
+began its furious race with this mysterious and
+horrible being that clung so tenaciously to his
+back.</p>
+
+<p>Andy rode him hard, cruelly hard, and when
+the beast, panting, sweating, beaten, would have
+stopped he dug the spurs in and drove him on,
+on, until the broncho's breath came in sobbing
+gasps and his legs trembled under him.</p>
+
+<p>Betty, who could never bear to see anything
+hurt, shouted to Andy Rawlinson as man and
+beast came abreast of her:</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't that enough?" she cried. "You've
+beaten him. Stop! Please stop!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>And Andy Rawlinson, flashing his pleasant
+smile, flung himself from his mount, while the
+beautiful horse stood there, quivering, head hung
+in shame&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Game hoss, that," said Andy, as he vaulted
+the low railing and approached the girls.
+"Fought like a thoroughbred."</p>
+
+<p>"And you were wonderful," cried Betty, with
+her warm impulsiveness. "I never saw finer riding.
+We were all afraid you were going to be
+killed."</p>
+
+<p>Andy was pleased, but he looked at Betty rather
+quizzically.</p>
+
+<p>"Strange," he drawled, with a smile on his
+face, "strange what impressions you get sometimes.
+Now I kind o' thought you was mad at
+me, the way you called out to stop. Anyways,
+you looked mad."</p>
+
+<p>"I was only sorry for the horse," Betty explained
+gravely. "He was game, as you say, and
+I hated to see his spirit entirely broken."</p>
+
+<p>Andy Rawlinson looked at her with admiring
+approval in his nice eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"There speaks the real lover of animals," he
+cried enthusiastically. "I hate to break a good
+hoss myself, but you see it has to be done&mdash;for
+the sake of the hoss. A hoss that's a bad actor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span>
+is mighty like a mad dog. It has to be killed&mdash;or
+broke. So we break 'em. But now," he said,
+glancing toward the corrals, "I reckon you young
+ladies would like to pick out some nice gentle
+hosses to ride while you're here."</p>
+
+<p>The girls nodded and crowded forward eagerly
+while Andy called to some of the cowboys
+who had been lingering enviously near.</p>
+
+<p>"Bring out the sorrel and Nigger, will you,
+Jake?" he said to one of them. "I'll corral Lady
+and Nabob."</p>
+
+<p>The girls watched with interest while the boys
+corraled the four horses Andy had selected and
+led them forth for the visitors' inspection.</p>
+
+<p>They were splendid specimens of horse flesh,
+and for a moment the girls were simply lost in
+admiration. Nigger, as his name implied, was a
+magnificent coal-black animal without a speck of
+white upon him anywhere. He and Betty seemed
+to form a mutual admiration society on the instant,
+for with a gentle whinny he cantered up to
+the girl and began nosing inquisitively in her
+pocket in search of sugar. Luckily Betty had
+brought some with her, and she fed a couple of
+lumps to the beautiful animal, thereby definitely
+sealing their pact of friendship.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh you, Nigger!" crooned Betty joyfully, as
+she rubbed the velvet muzzle. "You and I are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span>
+going to be great little pals, aren't we? You perfect
+old darling!" And Nigger whinnied again
+and nosed about for more sugar.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I like that," cried Grace, breaking the
+silence in which they had all been enjoyably regarding
+the little scene. "Betty doesn't have to
+choose her horse&mdash;it chooses her."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh well, Betty always did have a way with
+her," laughed Mollie, and promptly turned her
+attention to the remaining three horses.</p>
+
+<p>"Lady" was a lovely white filly with whom
+Amy fell in love immediately.</p>
+
+<p>"This one's mine," she cried, putting a possessive
+hand on Lady's flank while the latter
+turned her dainty head and regarded the girl out
+of softly-wistful brown eyes. "I wanted her as
+soon as I saw her."</p>
+
+<p>Her claim was not disputed, for Grace was
+raving over the horse called Nabob, who was, by
+a strange coincidence, that very light tan color
+which she most adored.</p>
+
+<p>"How did you know I always wanted a horse
+just like this?" she cried, turning joyfully to
+Andy Rawlinson who, with the other "boys" had
+been looking on amusedly.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," drawled Andy, with a grin, "seems like
+you are all suited pretty well."</p>
+
+<p>For Mollie, whose adventurous spirit craved a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>
+spice of the dangerous in everything, had taken
+immediately to the sorrel, who had apparently
+been given no name. He was a skittish horse,
+gentle, as Andy explained, but "pow'ful nervous&mdash;had
+to be sort o' coaxed along."</p>
+
+<p>"You're my horse, all right," Mollie declared,
+stroking the animal's muzzle fearlessly, unmindful
+of rolling eyes and nervously twitching ears.
+"I don't like 'em too tame, old boy. And by the
+way," she added, struck by a sudden inspiration,
+"I've thought of just the name for you. I'm
+going to call you 'Old Nick.'"</p>
+
+<p>And so, when the selection had been made, to
+everybody's satisfaction, nothing would do but
+the girls must try their mounts that very evening.
+They had brought their riding tags in preparation
+for their summer in the saddle, and when they
+had slipped into the tight breeches, and leather
+leggings, tailored coat, and snug fitting hat,
+they looked like what they were&mdash;four thoroughly
+modern and very pretty Outdoor Girls.</p>
+
+<p>Later, when they rode proudly about the
+ranch on their splendid mounts, the ranch hands
+were lost in admiration of them.</p>
+
+<p>"Gosh," said one, removing his hat and fanning
+himself with it, for the evening was warm,
+"when Andy said they was four girls comin' from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>
+the city to visit us I was plumb skeered. But
+these here girls, they ain't no ordinary kind, no
+siree. An' they sho' does know how to ride."</p>
+
+<p>However, the girls were satisfied with a rather
+short ride that evening for they were out of practice
+and they knew that sore muscles would be
+the price of over-exertion.</p>
+
+<p>In the days that followed they took longer and
+longer rides, even venturing along the rough forest
+trails when Andy Rawlinson was with them
+as guide and protector. Mr. and Mrs. Nelson
+rode, too, but, not being as strenuous as the girls,
+they were glad to have any one as capable as
+Andy Rawlinson to look out for their charges.</p>
+
+<p>But one day, much as they liked him, the girls
+got a little tired of Andy's chaperonage, and at
+Mollie's suggestion they decided to "give him
+the slip."</p>
+
+<p>"Anybody would think he was our granny, the
+way he dictates to us," she complained, as she
+flicked a fly from Old Nick's side, thereby causing
+him to shy wildly. "We know our way about
+all right now, and I'm sure we Outdoor Girls
+never needed anybody to look out for us, anyway."</p>
+
+<p>"Hear, hear," laughed Betty, half way between
+conviction and protest. "I don't like to have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>
+Andy around all the time, any more than you
+do, Mollie, but I'm not sure that we know our
+way about as well as we might. If we should get
+lost&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, don't be an old wet blanket," cried Mollie
+impatiently, and as Amy and Grace seemed for
+once to be of her mind, Betty had nothing to do
+but to surrender as gracefully as she could.</p>
+
+<p>It was after lunch that the girls managed to
+slip away without being observed to where their
+mounts were tethered at the edge of the woodland.
+And oh, what a glorious sense of freedom
+when they were mounted and cantering down a
+cool forest trail&mdash;alone!</p>
+
+<p>They had been this way with Andy before, so
+they had no fear of losing their path and they
+urged their horses to more and more speed, intoxicated
+by the sense of freedom.</p>
+
+<p>What they did not notice was that the sun had
+disappeared behind an ominous bank of clouds
+and the wind was rising threateningly. And so
+they were caught fairly and squarely by the deluge
+that swept upon them with a bewildering
+suddenness.</p>
+
+<p>Where to go? Where to turn for shelter from
+the driving rain and moaning wind? They
+checked their horses while they gazed at each
+other wildly.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Suddenly Betty's straining eyes made out what
+seemed to be the outline of a little shed or cabin,
+half hidden by surrounding foliage.</p>
+
+<p>"There's a house over there," she cried, hastily
+dismounting and tying Nigger to a tree a little
+off the path. "Maybe whoever lives there will
+let us in till the rain stops."</p>
+
+<p>The girls followed her example and hurriedly
+made their way on foot toward their one hope
+of refuge. When they reached the house Betty
+started to knock, then paused uncertainly, her
+hand uplifted. For above the beat of the rain
+and the shrill whine of the wind came a strain of
+music, mournful, yet exquisitely beautiful.
+Amazed, forgetful of their discomfort, the girls
+listened while the throbbing, haunting melody
+wailed itself to a close.</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I've heard that music before," Betty murmured,
+then rapped gently, almost timidly, on the
+door.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2>
+
+<h3>ALONG THE TRAIL</h3>
+
+
+<p>Betty's knock had to be repeated twice before
+the occupant of the cabin responded.</p>
+
+<p>"Knock harder, Betty, if&mdash;&mdash;" Mollie was
+beginning when the door opened at last and a
+very strange person stood upon the threshold.
+Tall, with stooped shoulders and a head bent a
+little as though he had spent countless hours over
+his violin, with long, curly hair, and with the
+visioned eyes of the musician, the man was a
+figure that would have made people turn to stare
+at him anywhere.</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;we&mdash;we are very sorry to trouble you,"
+said Betty hesitatingly, as the musician made
+no effort to break the silence. "But it is raining
+hard, as you see, and we thought&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>The man started and frowned.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah yes, of course," he said, moving aside and
+motioning them into the room. "You will find
+shelter here, but very little else, I fear."</p>
+
+<p>As the girls entered rather hesitantly the man<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span>
+turned from them abruptly and, lifting the violin
+that lay upon the rough board table, he began
+with the utmost gentleness to put it in its case.
+The girls had the rather uncomfortable impression
+that the man was forcing himself to be polite
+to them&mdash;that if he had been any other than
+a gentleman he would have refused them admittance.</p>
+
+<p>They looked uneasily at each other and then
+toward the one window in the room, and one
+thought was in the minds of all of them&mdash;to escape
+from the enforced hospitality of this man.</p>
+
+<p>"I think the rain is letting up a little," said
+Grace softly.</p>
+
+<p>"I reckon we won't have to stay more than a
+few minutes," agreed Betty, then, as their long-haired
+host put down his case and turned toward
+them, she ventured a shy compliment.</p>
+
+<p>"We heard you playing as we came along," she
+said. "It was very wonderful."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you," said the man gruffly, and turned
+away so abruptly that Betty felt as if some one
+had struck her.</p>
+
+<p>Mollie looked indignant and Amy put an arm
+about Betty as she whispered:</p>
+
+<p>"The rain has nearly stopped, honey. Don't
+you think we had better go?"</p>
+
+<p>So, with half-hearted expressions of thanks<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span>
+from the girls and no expression of regret at all
+from the man, the new acquaintances parted, the
+girls hurrying down the dripping path to where
+their horses were tethered.</p>
+
+<p>Once Mollie looked back toward the cabin, and
+her indignation burst forth.</p>
+
+<p>"Look, he could hardly wait for us to get outside
+to shut the door," she said. "Of all the ill-mannered&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I don't think he meant to be ill-mannered,"
+interposed Betty mildly, as she reached
+Nigger and he whinnied a welcome. "He was
+just distantly polite, that's all. He didn't want
+to be bothered, probably, and he had a hard time
+to keep from showing it."</p>
+
+<p>"Huh," grunted Mollie, as she flung herself
+upon Old Nick's back and patted him soothingly.
+"I'm sure he has some real reason for not wanting
+folks around. He acted mighty funny to
+me," she said.</p>
+
+<p>"Goodness, hear the child!" cried Grace, as
+they rode swiftly back the way they had come
+through the fine drizzle. "She never can resist
+making a thief or something out of a perfectly
+ordinary person."</p>
+
+<p>"Seems to me he is anything but ordinary," interposed
+Amy thoughtfully. "No ordinary person
+could play the violin the way he was playing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span>
+it when we came up to the house. That sounded
+like the work of a master."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," agreed Betty, a faraway look in her
+eyes. "He plays exquisitely, if he does live in a
+little house away up in the woods. And I can't
+shake off the impression that I have heard that
+same selection played in just that same way somewhere
+before."</p>
+
+<p>Though this first excursion had been somewhat
+of a failure, the girls were by no means discouraged
+and in the days that followed they rode
+almost constantly. Finally they began to know
+their way about like the natives.</p>
+
+<p>Their rides were taken mostly in the open
+country, however, for in the woods they knew
+lurked very real dangers. But these they avoided
+more to save Mrs. Nelson worry than from any
+personal fears.</p>
+
+<p>But one day, feeling more than usually adventurous
+and growing more and more confident of
+their ability to find their way around alone, they
+dared venture along a rocky trail that offered
+wonderful romantic opportunities.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, this is the life!" cried Grace, as Nabob
+stepped daintily over the rocks and underbrush
+that almost completely overgrew the narrow path.
+"A peach of a horse under you, the whole day
+before you, and nothing to do but enjoy your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span>self.
+Whoa-up there, Nabob. What's the matter
+with you?" for the horse had whinnied softly
+and shied almost imperceptibly to the side of the
+trail.</p>
+
+<p>At the same time the other horses seemed to
+catch some of Nabob's uneasiness, and the girls
+were kept busy for the next few minutes soothing
+them and coaxing them back into a normal mode
+of progress.</p>
+
+<p>"Something scared them," said Amy nervously.
+"Don't you think we had better go back, girls?
+This trail seems to be getting narrower and narrower.
+I don't believe anybody comes along here
+very often."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what of it?" cried Mollie sharply.
+"That's what we are here for, isn't it? If we
+wanted people, we could have plenty of them
+right back on the ranch."</p>
+
+<p>"Stop quarreling, girls," said Betty, matter-of-factly.
+"We'll eat pretty soon and that will
+make everybody feel better." Kindly Mrs.
+Cummins had put up an appetizing lunch for the
+girls.</p>
+
+<p>"Look!" she cried a moment later, as the trail
+broadened out and they reached a rather open
+space in the woods through which they could look
+straight down&mdash;for they were on a considerable
+elevation&mdash;into the thriving little mining town of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>
+Gold Run. "I didn't know you could see Gold
+Run from here."</p>
+
+<p>"Doesn't it look funny and tiny?" cried Mollie,
+reining in beside her. "It must be an awfully
+long way off."</p>
+
+<p>"Wouldn't this be a good place to eat?" queried
+Amy hopefully, and the girls laughed at her.</p>
+
+<p>"We aren't hungry enough yet," said Betty, as
+she turned her horse to continue down the trail.</p>
+
+<p>They rode on, following the trail as it wound
+deeper and deeper into the woodland, catching
+glimpses now and then of the mining camp down
+in the hollow.</p>
+
+<p>It seemed as if they were really getting closer
+to Gold Run and, fascinated by the new game
+they were playing, forgetting their fears in the
+new sights and sounds all about them, the girls
+rode farther and farther into the heart of a forest,
+whose smiling face often served to hide some
+hideous danger.</p>
+
+<p>But to the girls all was beauty and sunshine
+and they conversed merrily as they cantered
+along.</p>
+
+<p>"When is Allen coming, Betty?" asked Grace.
+"I had an idea he would be here before this."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, dad has written, asking him to come
+as soon as he can," answered Betty, striving to
+look unconscious. "You know what that girl<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>
+Lizzie said about mother's relatives&mdash;she never
+knew she had them till she came here&mdash;and dad
+thinks some of these people may make up their
+minds to contest the will. They haven't made
+trouble yet&mdash;but you never can tell. Listen,
+girls," she added suddenly. "Will you promise
+not to breathe a word of it if I tell you a big
+secret?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hope to die," they chorused piously.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, our old friend Peter Levine has been
+around pestering mother again."</p>
+
+<p>At this news, Grace, who was riding ahead,
+checked her mount so suddenly that Betty had
+all she could do to keep Nigger from swallowing
+Nabob's tail.</p>
+
+<p>"For goodness' sake, put out your hand when
+you do that next time," laughed Betty.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Grace as she gave Nabob a gentle
+slap that started him on again, "Peter Levine
+must want that ranch very badly, to be following
+us all over the continent this way."</p>
+
+<p>"He seems to be rather anxious," said Betty
+dryly. "He has offered mother twenty thousand
+for it this time."</p>
+
+<p>"Going up," cried Mollie, with a chuckle. "If
+your mother holds on much longer, Betty, she
+will be a millionaire."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, mother is more certain than ever that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span>
+there is something unusual about Gold Run
+Ranch," went on Betty, as she urged Nigger up
+a gentle slope. "She confidently expects to discover
+a gold mine, and so that's another reason
+why she thinks Allen ought to be here."</p>
+
+<p>"Goodness, let's all get out and dig," cried Mollie.</p>
+
+<p>"Can we have all we find, Betty?" called Amy,
+with a laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"Every last gold brick," answered Betty happily,
+and then they came upon another open space,
+and there, lying not more than half a mile below
+them, was the mining town of Gold Run.</p>
+
+<p>"Now here's the place to have some lunch," said
+Betty, slipping to the ground and leading Nigger
+off a little way into the woods where she tethered
+him securely. "We can look right down into the
+town and eat our lunch at the same time."</p>
+
+<p>The girls followed suit, and it did not take
+them long afterward to discover that they were
+very hungry. So out came the lunch basket, and
+never did biscuits and cheese and fried chicken
+taste more delicious than they did to the girls
+right there in that romantic little spot in the
+woods.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope it doesn't rain the way it did the other
+day," said Mollie, as she lazily surveyed a cloudless
+sky.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"We haven't even a cabin in the woods to go
+to this time," said Grace, adding, as the thought
+brought up a picture of the long-haired musician
+who had been so painfully polite: "I wonder
+what our friend, Long Hair, lives on, anyway.
+Maybe he goes out and kills bears and things.
+They say bear meat is very good eating," she
+added reflectively.</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe we can catch one ourselves and take
+it home for dinner," suggested Mollie, and the
+girls looked as if they did not like her suggestion
+at all.</p>
+
+<p>"Methinks the bear would be more likely to
+catch us," Betty was saying when a chorus of low
+whinnyings and stampings coming from where
+the horses were tethered caused them to jump to
+their feet in alarm. Suddenly the nervousness
+of the animals changed to panic and they began
+to rear and plunge, straining madly at the tethering
+straps, snorting and screaming with terror.</p>
+
+<p>"Look!" cried Mollie, her voice shrilling above
+the noise. "There! In the woods! Oh, run for
+your lives, girls! Run!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CHAPTER IX</h2>
+
+<h3>DANGER AHEAD</h3>
+
+
+<p>Coming toward the girls through the trees,
+crouched low, sinister eyes fixed upon them, were
+two great timber wolves. The girls, terrified as
+they were, saw at a glance that it would be of
+no use to run, the movement would only infuriate
+the beasts and precipitate their attack.</p>
+
+<p>"The trees!" gasped Betty, feeling herself in
+the grip of the deadly inertia that one experiences
+sometimes in a nightmare. "Make for the trees,
+girls; they are our only chance."</p>
+
+<p>Luckily, the branches of the trees swung low
+to the ground, or the girls could never have saved
+themselves. As it was, they had barely time
+to swing themselves free of the ground when the
+great beasts darted into the open, fangs bared,
+snarling hideously. Then&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>Bang! Bang! Two sharp reports from the
+direction of the woodland and one of the wolves
+sprang clear of the ground, then slunk into the
+underbrush, while the other staggered, fell, strug<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span>gled
+to its feet, fell again, and after one convulsive
+movement, lay still.</p>
+
+<p>While the girls stared, unable to follow this
+swift turn of events, there was the sound of
+running feet coming in their direction and the
+next moment two figures broke through into the
+cleared space.</p>
+
+<p>One was a little wizened man who seemed, for
+all his apparent age, extremely agile. The other
+was a girl, a splendid, big creature, who stood
+as tall as the man, and who, like him, carried a
+rifle.</p>
+
+<p>The two ran to the fallen animal, talking excitedly,
+and turned it over to be sure it was dead.
+They were so absorbed that they did not notice
+the girls, who dropped down quietly from their
+perches in the trees. The sight of the guns carried
+by the newcomers had had a tremendously
+reassuring effect upon them. The wonderful
+sensation of relief that swept over them as they
+realized their almost miraculous escape, was so
+keen as to be almost pain.</p>
+
+<p>Still, they were not quite free from fear as
+they approached the prostrate body of the big
+beast, over which their rescuers were still bending.
+It was the girl who first discovered them.</p>
+
+<p>"Hello!" she cried, straightening up and turning
+upon the girls a frank regard. "You was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>
+the ones this old boy was after, eh? Look, Dad,"
+she added, pointing to where the four horses were
+still bucking and snorting in fright. "There's
+the hosses we heard, but I reckon 'twas these gals
+the wolves was after."</p>
+
+<p>"I guess you're right," said Betty, trying to
+smile through a shiver. "It wasn't very much
+fun while it lasted, either."</p>
+
+<p>At this the old man, who had very kindly, keen
+blue eyes in his seamed and wrinkled face, turned
+and spat upon the ground meditatively.</p>
+
+<p>"You don't mean to tell me," he said, looking
+from one to the other of the girls, "that you
+purty young girls was out hyar all alone, without
+even a gun to protect yourselves with?"</p>
+
+<p>"I guess we were." It was Mollie who spoke
+this time, and her tone was rueful. "We aren't
+used to this part of the world, you see, and so
+we didn't know what a risky thing we were
+doing."</p>
+
+<p>"They are most as bad as the Hermit of Gold
+Run, aren't they, Dad?" asked the big girl, her
+eyes twinkling. "He goes about everywhere
+through the woods without a gun and only his
+violin for company; and, somehow or other, the
+beasts never molest him. Some says he charms
+'em with his violin, but I think it's just luck,"
+she added, with a wise shake of her head.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The girls, whose curiosity had revived as their
+fears subsided, listened with interest to this
+rather long speech of the mountain girl.</p>
+
+<p>"Has this&mdash;er&mdash;hermit, as you call him&mdash;&mdash;"
+Betty interrogated eagerly, "has he long curly
+hair and is he tall&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"With stooped shoulders?" finished Amy.</p>
+
+<p>The mountain girl looked amazed.</p>
+
+<p>"Why yes. Do you know him?" she asked,
+adding, as though to explain her surprise: "He
+doesn't like to see people, you know, and folks
+round here don't know much about him 'cept that
+he plays the violin. That's why they calls him
+the hermit, 'cause he lives alone an' hates everybody."</p>
+
+<p>"All except Meggy, here," interposed the old
+man, a look of pride in his eyes as he gazed at
+his daughter. "He likes her fust rate. She says
+it's 'cause she takes him grub an' good things to
+eat. But I know better."</p>
+
+<p>"Pshaw, Dad," cried the girl, flushing with
+embarrassment. "It's jest one of your idees that
+people like me better'n most when they don't at
+all." As though to change the subject, she
+touched the stiff animal at her feet with the toe of
+her stout boot.</p>
+
+<p>"What you aim to do with this one, Dad?"
+she asked. "It was your bullet got him. Mine<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>
+went wild, an' I jest injured the other feller."</p>
+
+<p>"Waal," said the old man, his gaze fixed speculatively
+on the big beast, "he's not wuth the
+trouble o' skinning an' his meat ain't much good,
+so I reckon we'd better leave him, daughter.
+Time I was gettin' back to the mine."</p>
+
+<p>He turned to go, but Betty was before him,
+hand outstretched impulsively.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, but you must let us thank you," she
+cried. "If you and your daughter hadn't happened
+along just then I don't know what we
+should have done."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, thet's all right, thet's all right," said the
+old miner, too embarrassed to meet her eye.
+"Glad we could be some use to you, ma'am. But
+ef you'll take an old man's advice," he added, as
+he and his daughter started through the woods
+in the direction of Gold Run, "you won't go
+roaming around in these parts without a gun
+onto you. 'Tain't safe, noways."</p>
+
+<p>"We won't," they promised.</p>
+
+<p>Once their protectors were gone they were wild
+with impatience to get out of this place of dangers.
+Their fingers trembled as they untied the
+horses, and it was as much as they could do to
+get the animals to stand still long enough to
+mount them.</p>
+
+<p>However, once in the saddle, they galloped<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>
+along that narrow trail at full speed, regardless
+of rocks and old stumps of trees and treacherous
+holes, their one thought to reach the open road&mdash;and
+safety.</p>
+
+<p>When at last the plain stretched before them,
+level and red hot in the blazing afternoon sun,
+they all uttered a silent prayer of thankfulness.</p>
+
+<p>"You were right, Amy," said Betty suddenly,
+as Amy came up abreast of her, "when you said
+the mountains could be cruel too."</p>
+
+<p>"We'll not ever dare tell the folks," said Grace,
+shuddering at the memory of their close escape.
+"They would never let us out of their sight
+again."</p>
+
+<p>"It was mighty lucky for us that Meggy and
+her father happened along just as they did," said
+Mollie. "I know I couldn't have held on very
+long where I was, and once on the ground I'd
+have made a lovely tender morsel for the little
+wolves."</p>
+
+<p>"You flatter yourself," retorted Grace, and
+Amy shivered.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know how you girls can joke about
+such a thing," she said. "I was about frightened
+to death."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose you think the rest of us enjoyed it,"
+said Mollie, and at this point Betty thought it
+was about time to interfere.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Wasn't it odd&mdash;Meggy's speaking of our
+friend the musician and calling him the Hermit
+of Gold Run?" she said. "I'm glad the poor
+lonely fellow has a nice girl like Meggy to befriend
+him."</p>
+
+<p>"Huh, he didn't seem to want befriending very
+much when we saw him," said Mollie. "We
+couldn't have been frozen more completely if we
+had dropped on an iceberg."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, well, he has 'ze temperament,'" said
+Grace, with an elaborate gesture.</p>
+
+<p>"Seems kind of strange, his living up there all
+alone," said Amy thoughtfully. "You would
+think any one who could play the way he can
+would hate to bury himself in the wilderness.
+Unless&mdash;&mdash;" she paused, and Mollie jumped joyfully
+into the opening.</p>
+
+<p>"Unless there is some reason why he has to,"
+said the latter, adding with an I-told-you-so air,
+"I thought there was some mystery about that
+man, and now you are beginning to think so
+yourselves. You just keep your eyes open and
+watch for a surprise!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CHAPTER X</h2>
+
+<h3>THE LANDSLIDE</h3>
+
+
+<p>After their perilous adventure, the Outdoor
+Girls shunned the forest unless they were accompanied
+by one or more of the cowboys at the
+ranch. Andy Rawlinson escorted them whenever
+he could, but his duties as foreman of the
+ranch kept him very busy and he sometimes appointed
+one of the ranch hands to take his place.</p>
+
+<p>However, these excursions became less and less
+frequent as the girls became more interested in
+the booming mining town of Gold Run.</p>
+
+<p>This they had visited with Mr. and Mrs. Nelson
+and Andy, and the whole thing made them
+feel more than ever as if they were living some
+motion picture drama.</p>
+
+<p>There was the regulation general store and the
+inevitable dance hall where the lucky miners came
+to spend their golden nuggets and the unlucky
+tried to drown their misery in the companionship
+of others.</p>
+
+<p>Their eyes wide with interest and pleasure and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span>
+their tongues busy with questions, the girls cantered
+down the narrow, crooked wagon road
+called "Main Street." They read the names over
+the doors of the dingy little shops, commenting
+gayly upon their queerness.</p>
+
+<p>"Peter Levine, Attorney," read Betty aloud
+from a sign just a little dingier than the rest.
+Then she drew rein and waited for her mother,
+who was riding more slowly with Mr. Nelson.
+The other girls, who had ridden on ahead, suddenly
+missed her, saw that she had stopped, and
+came back curiously.</p>
+
+<p>"Look, Mother," Betty was saying as they
+came up. "This is where dear Peter Levine hails
+from. His checked suit and loud tie must look
+funny in that dingy little shop," she added, with
+a chuckle.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, let's ride along," suggested Mrs. Nelson
+nervously. "He might see us and take it into
+his head to come out. And I don't want to have
+anything more to do with him until Allen comes."</p>
+
+<p>"Allen," thought Betty, as they turned and
+cantered on again. "I wish he would hurry a
+little. He seems an awfully long time coming."</p>
+
+<p>After they had seen all that there was to see
+of the town itself, Andy led them to some of the
+important mines on the outskirts. They listened
+with lively interest while the young fellow ex<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>plained
+to them how the ore was extracted from
+the mountain side where it had lain unmolested
+for thousands of years.</p>
+
+<p>"It almost seems a shame to disturb it," said
+Amy at this point, and the girls laughed at her.</p>
+
+<p>"Just give me a chance at it, that's all," said
+Mollie longingly.</p>
+
+<p>At one of these mines they met the old man
+and his daughter, Meggy, whose timely arrival
+a few days before had saved their lives. The two
+were in the midst of their work, the girl lifting
+and hauling with all the strength of a man, and
+they scarcely looked up as the party passed them,
+although the old man responded with a wave of
+his hand when Andy Rawlinson called to him.</p>
+
+<p>"How's it goin', Dan?" asked the former.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, well enough, well enough," responded the
+man, with what seemed to the girls enforced
+cheerfulness. "We'll strike gold afore to-morrow,
+sure."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor old Dan Higgins," said Andy, with a
+sobering of his good-natured face. "He's always
+goin' to strike gold 'to-morrow.' Sure,
+there's no one I'd rather see strike it rich than
+Dan an' that girl of his. But I'm 'fraid they're
+jest plumb unlucky. Funny thing, luck&mdash;and
+gold," he went on to soliloquize. "Some young
+fellers they come out here, thinkin' they can get<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span>
+back to the girl at home in a couple o' years with
+their pockets plumb full o' nuggets, an' instead,
+they toil their lives away till their hair grows
+white an' their skin gets crackly like parchment,
+an' never even a glimpse o' yellow. An' mebbe
+the feller next to him drills a hole three feet deep
+and he strikes a vein. Yes siree, if ever there
+was a real thing in this world, that thing is
+luck."</p>
+
+<p>The girls were impressed and their hearts
+ached for Dan Higgins, his years of hope and
+work and his profitless mine. As for the girl, his
+daughter, Meggy&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Are you sure Dan Higgins hasn't any chance
+of striking gold?" asked Betty, gravely.</p>
+
+<p>"Not a bit of it," returned Andy Rawlinson
+quickly. "There's gold all around here&mdash;everybody
+thought Dan was mighty lucky when he
+staked out his claim. He may find gold yet.
+But," he added, and there was a fatalistic quality
+in his tone that chilled the girls, "you always have
+to reckon on luck."</p>
+
+<p>In the days that followed it became quite the
+usual thing to see the Outdoor Girls, mounted
+on their splendid horses, galloping along the open
+road or cantering through the town of Gold Run.
+It was not long before they became general favorites
+in this country where girls of their type<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span>
+were scarce, and the girls knew most of the
+rough but good-hearted miners by name. But
+perhaps of them all, their best and staunchest
+friends were old Dan Higgins and his daughter,
+Meggy.</p>
+
+<p>The girls often visited the mine and were always
+greeted with the utmost heartiness by its
+owners. Once Betty had caught Meggy looking
+longingly at Nigger as he was trying his best to
+get some nourishment from the stubbly grass,
+and with the quick impulsiveness that was hers,
+she asked the girl if she would like a ride.</p>
+
+<p>At the sudden radiance that flooded Meggy's
+face, Betty turned away abashed. She felt as
+though she had been given a glimpse of the
+girl's soul.</p>
+
+<p>Meggy had her ride, and in the days that followed
+she had many others and the girl's fondness
+for Betty became almost worship. She
+liked the other girls, for they were always kind
+to her, but Betty was her idol.</p>
+
+<p>"I have wanted all my life to own a horse,"
+she confided to the Little Captain one day, as she
+stroked Nigger's shining coat with almost reverent
+fingers. "It would be the first thing I
+would buy for myself if dad should strike it
+rich." Her tone was brave, but the eyes that
+sought her father's toiling figure were sad. "Poor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span>
+old dad," she said softly, "I don't think he would
+keep on any longer, if it wasn't for me."</p>
+
+<p>On one of their visits to the mine the girls
+were astonished to find their mysterious musician
+there ahead of them. He seemed to be trying to
+help, but from where the girls watched unobserved,
+it looked as though he were more in the
+way than anything else.</p>
+
+<p>Meggy was the first to discover them, and as
+she called out a greeting, the Hermit of Gold Run
+rose quickly to his feet and disappeared into the
+woods.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor fellow," said Meggy, looking pityingly
+after him. "We let him try to help us because
+it seems to amuse him, but he really doesn't know
+how to work with his hands. His fingers were
+made for the fiddle."</p>
+
+<p>"I certainly would like to find out more about
+that man," said Mollie, her forehead puckered
+into a puzzled frown. "He sure does act pretty
+funny."</p>
+
+<p>"We'll have to visit him again some day," said
+Betty lightly, and then turned to question Meggy
+on the progress of the mine.</p>
+
+<p>On their way home they took up the subject
+of the strange musician whose queer comings and
+goings had begun to be of more than usual interest
+to them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"He acts&mdash;in a&mdash;a stealthy way," said Grace,
+striving for the exact words to express her meaning.
+"He positively sneaked away from us this
+morning. It seems to me people don't act like
+that unless they are afraid of something."</p>
+
+<p>"He might just be afraid of people," Betty reminded
+her. "Or he may dislike people and want
+to be left alone. That would account for the
+name of 'hermit' that the natives around here
+have given him."</p>
+
+<p>"But an ordinary hermit wouldn't be able to
+play like a virtuoso," objected Amy.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, nobody said he was an ordinary hermit,"
+retorted Mollie.</p>
+
+<p>"To change the subject before you girls get
+to the hair-pulling stage," laughed Betty, as she
+turned Nigger's head toward the ranch, "I wish
+we could do something for Dan Higgins and
+Meggy. It's a shame for that splendid, loyal girl
+to have to spend all her youth, when she might be
+having good times like other girls, in doing the
+kind of work that's only fit for a man to do."</p>
+
+<p>"And she's so brave about it, too," added Grace
+admiringly. "She keeps her head up like a thoroughbred."</p>
+
+<p>"I've asked her to come over to the ranch,"
+Betty went on thoughtfully. "She has a passion
+for horses, you know, and I told her we'd have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span>
+Andy Rawlinson pick her out a beauty from the
+corrals. I could see that she was awfully tempted,
+but she said no, she couldn't leave her father."</p>
+
+<p>"Probably the real reason she refused was because
+she hadn't decent clothes to wear," said
+Mollie sagaciously. "The poor girl is almost in
+rags."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish we could help," sighed Betty. "But
+she and her father are proud, like most of the
+other people around here. They just have to
+stand on their own feet."</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder if they have enough to eat," mused
+Amy. "It would be dreadful to think of them
+actually hungry."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I guess there's no danger of that," said
+Mollie. "As long as there are wild animals in
+the woods and Dan Higgins and Meggy have
+guns they won't starve to death."</p>
+
+<p>"And maybe they really will find gold, anyway,"
+said Grace hopefully.</p>
+
+<p>They rode along silently for a while. In their
+abstraction they had taken the long way home,
+instead of cutting directly across the ranch in the
+direction of the house. They were on a rather
+narrow trail, so narrow, that they could not ride
+two abreast but were strung out in single file,
+Indian fashion. On one side of them rose the
+mountain, huge and majestic, and on the other<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span>
+was a sheer drop of a hundred feet or so into a
+rocky canyon.</p>
+
+<p>The girls had always loved this ride because
+of the wonderful view it afforded them of the
+surrounding country. But that very morning
+Dan Higgins had warned them not to go that
+way.</p>
+
+<p>"The mountain is pow'ful oncertain," the old
+man had told them. "Part of it is apt to fall on
+you any time if you get too close to it."</p>
+
+<p>Betty thought of this warning, but too late.
+An ominous rumbling jerked her eyes upward
+and she saw a sight that almost froze the blood in
+her veins. It seemed indeed to her terrified fancy
+as if the whole mountain were falling upon them.
+A great mass of dirt and brush and rock was
+hurtling down upon them with sickening velocity.
+A landslide&mdash;and they were directly in its path!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CHAPTER XI</h2>
+
+<h3>IN THE CAVE</h3>
+
+
+<p>Luck was with the Outdoor Girls that day&mdash;or
+fate&mdash;call it what you will. In the side of the
+mountain close to where they were, had been
+drilled a hole forming a large, artificial cave&mdash;probably
+the work of some miner who had abandoned
+operations almost at the beginning either
+from lack of funds or ambition.</p>
+
+<p>Into this hole the girls dashed, driven on by
+their frightful peril. Amy was the last to enter,
+and she had barely urged her nervous little filly
+into the opening when, with a terrific rumbling
+and rattling, the mass of earth and stones fell,
+covering the mouth of the cave and leaving them
+in such absolute darkness that it seemed as if
+they must suddenly have been stricken blind.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! oh!" moaned Amy, her trembling hand
+striving vainly to quiet the frightened animal
+under her. "We're buried alive, girls, we're
+buried alive! We'll never get out of this&mdash;never!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Please stop that, Amy," Betty's voice came
+out of the darkness, harsh, unnatural, like the
+crack of a whip. "The only danger we're in
+is the danger of losing our heads. Whoa, there,
+Nigger, old boy. Take it easy, beauty&mdash;there's
+nothing to be frightened about&mdash;there&mdash;there&mdash;&mdash;"
+and she crooned to the big beast soothingly.</p>
+
+<p>Someway, the other girls managed to follow
+her example, enough at least to quiet their restless
+mounts. Grace was sobbing, more from nervousness
+than fright, but she managed to say with
+a catch in her breath, "Stand still, Nabob&mdash;don't
+be such a s-silly. Isn't your Auntie Grace here
+with you?"</p>
+
+<p>But it was Mollie who had the real problem.
+For while "Old Nick's" skittishness was more
+amusing than dangerous in the open, here, in
+this small place, with the other horses already
+difficult to manage, any real panic on his part
+would be more than likely to precipitate a real
+tragedy.</p>
+
+<p>In the dark, unable to see a foot before their
+faces, only the power of their wills to prevent a
+stampede of their panicky horses which would
+mean death to them all and, worst of all, the
+possibility of smothering or starving to death in
+this walled-in cave! This was the appalling situation
+which confronted the four Outdoor Girls.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Mollie, her teeth grimly set, her knees dug into
+Old Nick's sides, was doing her best to keep him
+from trying to climb on the back of one of the
+other horses.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Mollie, make him stop it," cried Amy
+frantically. "He'll kill poor Lady. Make him
+stop!"</p>
+
+<p>"What do you suppose I'm trying to do,"
+gritted Mollie between clenched teeth. "Do you
+think I like riding the side of a wall? Get down
+there, Old Nick, you wicked beast. Just wait till
+I get you outside."</p>
+
+<p>Although this threat was uttered sternly, Mollie
+had never been nearer to crying in her life.
+Luckily, a cruel dig of her spurs in the horse's
+side brought the big beast to his senses. He
+dropped to the ground and stood there, quivering
+in every muscle and nickering plaintively.</p>
+
+<p>"Good work, Mollie, old girl," cried Betty's
+voice encouragingly, and Mollie, wiping a tell-tale
+drop from the corner of her nose, answered
+in a voice that held never a quiver: "I couldn't
+fail you, Little Captain. Not at a time like this,"
+and then she felt very brave and heroic.</p>
+
+<p>The horses were quiet, huddled together at the
+farther end of the cave as though they found comfort
+in company, and thus one great danger was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span>
+passed. But the girls had still the other and
+greater one to face.</p>
+
+<p>"We'd better dismount," said Betty's voice, surprisingly
+calm and matter-of-fact. It was this
+ability of Betty Nelson's to keep her nerve and
+her head in any difficulty, to see almost at a
+glance the best thing to do and the best way to do
+it, that had led the girls to call her their Little
+Captain. And now as they listened to her cool
+voice, directing them as always in an emergency,
+some of her self-control communicated itself to
+them and they followed her leadership without
+question.</p>
+
+<p>"The horses will stand quietly now, I think,"
+she said, and swung herself cautiously from Nigger's
+tall back and felt her way slowly past the
+horses, out to the small open space between them
+and what had once been the mouth of the cave.</p>
+
+<p>The girls followed her example, the horses
+making no protest, save to whinny anxiously and
+crowd a little closer together.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are you, Betty?" cried Grace plaintively,
+stubbing her toe on a stone and emitting
+an injured "ouch."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm over here," responded Betty reassuringly.
+"Stretch out your hand and I'll grab it."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, for a match, my kingdom for a match!"
+said Mollie, brushing her hand across her eyes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span>
+as though to relieve them of the weight of that
+terrific darkness. "Why aren't we men so we
+could carry 'em in our pockets&mdash;the matches I
+mean, not the men," she added with a chuckle that
+ended in a sob.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, here we are," said Grace, when they had
+found each other in the inky blackness. "Now
+you've got us, Betty, what are you going to do
+with us?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know&mdash;yet," responded Betty honestly.
+"I guess we've got to talk it over and decide what
+it is best to do."</p>
+
+<p>Amy groaned.</p>
+
+<p>"Meanwhile we smother," she said.</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense," retorted Betty briskly. "There's
+enough air in this place to keep us alive for
+twenty-four hours at least."</p>
+
+<p>"Twenty-four hours," protested Amy, the panic
+she had felt at the first threatening to overwhelm
+her again. "But, Betty, there isn't a chance in the
+world that anybody will come along here in the
+next twenty-four hours."</p>
+
+<p>"That's right, too," agreed Mollie, a prickly
+sensation of pure fright tickling the roots of her
+hair. "Dan Higgins said this trail was practically
+never used because of the danger from the mountain.
+This is a pretty pickle, this is!"</p>
+
+<p>"And even if anybody should come along,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span>
+Grace pointed out gloomily, "they couldn't be
+expected to guess that there are four girls and
+four horses buried in this hole in the wall."</p>
+
+<p>"And I don't believe we could ever in the world
+make ourselves heard through that mass of rocks
+and dirt," added Mollie. "Looks as though we
+had just about come to the end of our rope, I
+should say."</p>
+
+<p>Amy began to cry again softly, and Betty, who
+had been listening with increasing irritation to
+this conversation, burst forth indignantly:</p>
+
+<p>"Of all the silly things I ever heard!" she denounced
+them hotly, "I think you girls are the
+worst. You seem to forget that you are Outdoor
+Girls and that we have been in a good many tight
+places that were almost as bad as this. Why, we
+can't expect to have good times and adventures
+without once in a while getting the worst of it.
+If this is the way you are going to take a little
+bad luck," she finished her tirade in a fury that
+whipped the girls like a lash, "then I'm through,
+that's all. I refuse to be one of four Outdoor
+Girls that don't deserve the name."</p>
+
+<p>She paused, and the girls were silent for a moment,
+feeling a little dazed. The tongue-lashing
+had been just what they needed, as Betty very
+well knew. It made them angry.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh well," said Mollie sullenly, "if you are so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>
+much better than the rest of us, Betty, perhaps
+you can tell us what to do. I'm sure we would be
+just as glad to get out of this as you."</p>
+
+<p>"Then help me think of some way to do it,"
+Betty retorted, more quietly. "Surely we can't
+accomplish it by making up our minds ahead of
+time that we are doomed."</p>
+
+<p>"Suppose you suggest something, yourself,"
+said Grace resentfully.</p>
+
+<p>"All right," said Betty, whose quick mind had
+been working busily. "I am as sure as you girls
+are that the possibility of rescue from anybody
+outside is slight. Of course," she added breathlessly,
+"when we don't come home dad and mother
+would become worried and start a search party."</p>
+
+<p>"They wouldn't miss us before night though,"
+said Grace.</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly," Betty caught her up. "And at night
+they wouldn't be as apt to discover the landslide
+as they would in the daylight. They would
+naturally think of the woods first. But the next
+day, anybody familiar with the trail would be
+sure to notice that there had been a landslide and
+they would be almost sure to connect it with
+us&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"But Betty," wailed Grace, forgetting that a
+moment before she had been angry with the Little
+Captain, "all that is just supposition, and you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span>
+know as well as we do that we are likely not to
+be discovered until&mdash;until&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"It's too late," finished Mollie. "Why don't
+you say it? It's the truth."</p>
+
+<p>"And since it is the truth," Betty took her up
+briskly, "there is all the more reason why we
+should take things in our own hands and work
+out our own salvation."</p>
+
+<p>Betty impatiently cut short Amy's discouraged
+"How?"</p>
+
+<p>"Now listen," she said. "There are plenty of
+stones in this cave&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"My toes cry aloud that they know it," interjected
+Grace, but no one laughed&mdash;they were too
+intent upon Betty. They were beginning to realize
+what she had in mind, and the realization
+brought a thrill of hope.</p>
+
+<p>"If we could find any sharp enough&mdash;stones
+I mean," Betty went on, "we might use them as a
+sort of shovel and try to dig our way out. Of
+course," she added, as the girls began to grope
+eagerly among the dirt and d&eacute;bris at their feet
+for stones sharp enough to answer the purpose,
+"the mouth of the cave may be choked up too
+solidly with dirt and underbrush and things for
+us to get through. But in that case we'd just
+have to think up some other way, that's all."</p>
+
+<p>"I've got a peach," cried Mollie slangily, as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>
+her hand struck a big stone sharp enough to serve
+her purpose. "I ought to be able to dig my way
+through the side of a house with this fellow."</p>
+
+<p>"And here's the very one that got too familiar
+with my toe," said Grace, as she picked up another
+serviceable stone. "I'm going to get even
+with it now. I shall make it work as it never
+worked before."</p>
+
+<p>After much groping and knocking of heads
+together, Betty and Amy also armed themselves
+with imitation shovels, and so the work began.</p>
+
+<p>And it was work indeed. For what seemed
+hours to the anxious girls they toiled, digging
+sometimes with the stones, sometimes in desperation
+with their hands until it seemed to them they
+must have dug their way half through the mountainside.
+And still that blank wall of dirt, that
+impenetrable darkness, that stubborn barrier between
+them and the blessed sunshine. Amy was
+the first to give way.</p>
+
+<p>She sank back on the dank floor of the cave and
+buried her face in her dirt-stained hands.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll never get out of here!" she sobbed.
+"And I'm st-starving to d-death!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CHAPTER XII</h2>
+
+<h3>IN THE DARKNESS</h3>
+
+
+<p>Now the girls had been hungry before the
+accident occurred and, it being several hours
+since then, they were, by this time, as any one
+could readily see, in a rather bad state. Therefore,
+Amy's complaint was very unfortunate and,
+had it not been for Betty, it might have ruined
+the morale of the girls completely.</p>
+
+<p>"Good gracious, Amy, don't talk about starving
+to death," cried Mollie, dismayed. "That's coming
+too near the truth for comfort. Oh, this
+miserable stone. It's cutting clear through my
+hand!"</p>
+
+<p>"And my back is nearly broken," said Grace,
+adding, as she turned ferociously upon the still-sobbing
+Amy: "Stop that crying, Amy Blackford.
+Don't you know it is catching?" and a suspicious
+break at the end of her sentence, proved
+the truth of the assertion.</p>
+
+<p>"Girls, please don't," begged Betty, still digging
+automatically at the stubborn wall of stones<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>
+and dirt. "If you all begin to cry, then we might
+just as well throw up our hands and say we are
+beaten."</p>
+
+<p>It was not long after that that the girls found
+what they called their "second wind." They forgot
+that they were ravenous, that their backs
+ached and that their hands were scratched and
+torn. They worked furiously in the darkness,
+their goal the out-of-doors they loved so well.</p>
+
+<p>For a long time they did not notice that the air
+was becoming very close and oppressive and that
+the perspiration that bothered them so was caused
+not alone by their exertion. And when the realization
+did come it had the effect of goading them
+on to more furious effort.</p>
+
+<p>That the horses also felt the change in the atmosphere,
+was attested to by their increased nervousness.
+The trampling of their hoofs sounded
+ominous to the girls&mdash;they made queer little puffing
+noises as if they were getting their breath
+with greater and greater difficulty.</p>
+
+<p>In one terrible instant the girls realized what
+might happen when what was discomfort to the
+animals now, should become torture. Maddened
+by pain and fright, it would be no longer possible
+to quiet them. And then&mdash;and then&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you think we'd better stop and try to
+quiet the horses?" asked Mollie once, as the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span>
+champing and snorting in the blackness behind
+them became more marked.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think it would do any good," Betty
+answered between clenched teeth as she scooped
+and dug, scooped and dug. "Better keep on working,
+girls. It's the one chance we have."</p>
+
+<p>Oh, the horror of it, the nightmare of it! The
+heavy air, the hideous dark, the nervous trampling
+of those death-bearing hoofs&mdash;&mdash; The
+girls spoke no longer. They were beyond speech.
+Almost maddened by terror themselves, they
+scooped and dug, scooped and dug&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>Once they thought they heard voices outside,
+and shrilly they cried to their imaginary rescuers.
+No answering "hallo" reached them, and the only
+effect of their cries seemed to be to add to the
+fright of their horses and so endanger themselves
+still more.</p>
+
+<p>On, on, on&mdash;while their aching muscles seemed
+to grow numb with the strain and their lungs
+nearly burst with the pressure upon them.</p>
+
+<p>At last they gave in&mdash;it seemed that they had
+to give in. All except Betty, who kept on desperately,
+doggedly, her muscles barely able to respond
+to the last call she was making upon them.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't go on any more. I'm all in," said
+Mollie, a desperate quiet in her voice. "My arms
+are like lead and my hands are so numb I can't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span>
+feel the stone. I guess this is the last adventure
+of the Outdoor Girls. We have just had one too
+many, that's all."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Mollie!" Betty drew in a labored breath
+that caught on a sob. "Please don't give up&mdash;please!
+I've counted on you&mdash;&mdash;" she paused,
+jerked her head up, her attention turned on the
+spot where her hand still automatically dug at
+the earth.</p>
+
+<p>She sniffed, experimentally, sniffed again, stilling
+the wild throb of hope that was almost a pain
+at her heart.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it, Betty, what is it?" cried Mollie,
+sensing something strange. Amy and Grace
+fought off the dizziness that was stealing over
+them and leaned forward.</p>
+
+<p>But Betty had jumped to her feet, had dropped
+the stone and was tearing with her bare hands
+at that thin place&mdash;that thin place&mdash;&mdash; It gave
+under her mad onslaught, and suddenly her hand
+slipped through into the air&mdash;the air&mdash;&mdash; A
+breath of it swept into her tortured lungs, and
+she leaned there, laughing, crying, the tears of
+sheer weakness running down her dirt-stained
+face.</p>
+
+<p>"Girls!" she babbled, "out there is the air&mdash;the
+good old air&mdash;enough of it for all of us!
+We're saved, do you hear? We're saved!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Exhausted as they were, the girls tore at the
+tiny hole that Betty had made until there was an
+opening big enough for them to crawl through.</p>
+
+<p>And oh! the indescribable ecstasy of it, the joy
+of it, just to lie there, trembling with weakness,
+and drink in great drafts of that life-giving air,
+thinking of nothing, caring for nothing but that
+they were alive there in their great out-of-doors.
+One never comes really to appreciate life until
+one has been close to death.</p>
+
+<p>It was a long time before they ventured to go
+on. They had not realized how near exhaustion
+they had been until the tension had relaxed.
+When at last they did start for home, on foot,
+they were still trembling and they dared not
+glance down the canyon at their right for fear
+of becoming dizzy.</p>
+
+<p>They had been long hours in the cave, and
+when they finally left the trail and cut across
+the plain toward the ranch it was nearly dark.
+They did not realize the startling sight they must
+present to any one who might not know of their
+plight until they met Andy Rawlinson and some
+other boys from the ranch starting out to search
+for them.</p>
+
+<p>At sight of the mud-stained, blood-stained Outdoor
+Girls, Andy Rawlinson fairly tumbled from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>
+his pony and came running toward them while
+the other boys stood agape.</p>
+
+<p>"What in the world&mdash;&mdash;" began Andy, but
+Betty stopped him with a weary gesture. As
+briefly as she could she told him what had happened
+and asked him to go back and get their
+horses.</p>
+
+<p>"It's getting pretty dark now, you know," she
+reminded him, when he seemed inclined to linger
+and ask questions. "Soon you won't be able to
+see what you're doing. Won't you please hurry?"</p>
+
+<p>"Surest thing you know," responded the boy
+quickly, his nice eyes full of sympathy for them.
+"Some of the boys will see you home&mdash;your folks
+are getting awfully worried about you, you know&mdash;and
+the rest of us will go on and dig out the
+poor bronchos. So long. We'll be back pronto."</p>
+
+<p>"And now home," sighed Betty, as she looked
+at the ranch house just visible in the distance.
+"And a bath&mdash;and something to eat. What does
+that sound like, girls?"</p>
+
+<p>"Heaven!" they answered.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CHAPTER XIII</h2>
+
+<h3>THE LURE OF GOLD</h3>
+
+
+<p>The task of releasing the imprisoned horses
+was not such an easy task as the girls and even
+Andy Rawlinson had thought it would be.</p>
+
+<p>In the first place, it took Andy and his company
+some time to discover the place along the trail
+where the landslide had occurred, for Betty's account
+had been hasty and excited and she had
+overlooked several details that might have helped
+them in their work.</p>
+
+<p>And when they did reach the scene of what
+might have been a tragedy the ranch hands were
+appalled by the immensity of the landslide.
+There had been several small ones in that vicinity,
+but this was what Andy termed a "humdinger."</p>
+
+<p>There was a stamping and snorting from inside
+that dirt-choked cavern that, there in that lonely
+spot on the very edge of night, seemed positively
+uncanny to the men who stood and listened.</p>
+
+<p>"Better get busy, boys," said Andy suddenly.
+"Those hosses ain't goin' to get any easier in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span>
+they minds an' it's about time we dug 'em out of
+there. Back to Gold Run as fast as we can get
+there for the right kind of tools from the miners.
+We may need some more men, too. Gosh, but I
+didn't know it was as bad as that," he added with
+a glance over his shoulder as he turned his pony
+and dashed back down the trail in the direction of
+Gold Run. "Reckon 'twas just plain grit that
+got those girls out."</p>
+
+<p>Back in Gold Run they found several miners
+who were willing to offer both themselves and
+their tools toward the work of liberation, and
+soon the cowboys returned, accompanied by men
+with lanterns, and fell to work with a will.</p>
+
+<p>Two hours later, Andy Rawlinson ventured
+into the blackness of the cave, swinging his lantern
+before him, and led forth the first of the
+frightened horses.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the girls had bathed away the stains
+of their adventure, and after a hearty meal cooked
+by an over solicitous "Miz Cummins" and served
+by a frankly envious and inquisitive Lizzie, they
+felt considerably more like their old self-confident
+selves.</p>
+
+<p>However, they begged not to have to go to bed,
+as Mrs. Nelson anxiously suggested, until the
+boys had returned with their horses.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm beginning to get dreadfully worried,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span>
+Betty confessed after an interval of staring out
+into the darkness. They were on the biggest of
+the many porches boasted by the quaint old ranch
+house, waiting eagerly for the first sound that
+would announce the return of Andy and the others
+with their horses.</p>
+
+<p>"I'd never get over it if anything happened to
+Old Nick," said Mollie, taking up Betty's theme.
+"Maybe we'd better borrow some other horses
+from the corral and follow them."</p>
+
+<p>"You'll do nothing of the kind," said Mr. Nelson,
+his voice sounding unusually stern there in
+the darkness. "I am going to keep my eye on you
+for the rest of to-day, at least!"</p>
+
+<p>And so they contented themselves as well as
+they could with waiting and finally were rewarded
+by the regular beat of galloping horses in
+the distance.</p>
+
+<p>"They're coming!" cried Betty, springing to
+her feet, then turned to her father pleadingly:
+"You won't mind if we go down to meet them,
+will you, Dad?" she asked. "They are our
+chums, you know&mdash;the horses, I mean."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Nelson nodded, and down the steps the
+girls sprang, racing out to meet that sound of
+galloping hoofs which was coming ever nearer.
+A few minutes later they were caressing the nervous
+animals that had gone with them into the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span>
+very shadow of death, rubbing their noses, laughing
+and crying over them and calling them endearing
+names till it's a wonder the cowboys, who
+stood by, grinning sympathetically, did not turn
+green with envy.</p>
+
+<p>"Some anymiles do have all the luck," said
+one of them.</p>
+
+<p>After that the girls and their horses were almost
+inseparable. If left to themselves, the latter
+would follow the girls around like dogs. Even
+"Old Nick," who had been the most difficult to
+understand and win, now was devoted to Mollie.
+She was the only one who could quiet him, and
+though there were some who did not care to ride
+him because of his skittishness, he was never
+anything but gentle and docile with her.</p>
+
+<p>As the days passed the girls became more and
+more interested in Meggy Higgins until the longing
+to give her one good time, in spite of her
+pride, became almost an obsession with them.</p>
+
+<p>One day Betty begged so hard that the girl
+finally consented to take a holiday and go out
+with them for a day's fun. But Meggy surrendered
+reluctantly, in spite of the fact that this invitation
+of the girls had been like a glimpse of
+wonderland to her.</p>
+
+<p>"I reckon dad can get along one day without
+me, specially as the hermit can do part of my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>
+work. Pa's broke him in so he can be real helpful
+now&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>But she got no farther, for Betty threw her
+arms around the surprised girl and hugged her
+happily.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm awfully glad!" she cried, adding with
+eyes that sparkled: "I tell you what I'll do. I'll
+let you ride Nigger. There's a darling little
+brown colt over at the ranch that I've been just
+dying to try out."</p>
+
+<p>Sudden tears sprang to Meggy's eyes, and with
+the disgust of all mountain folk for the expression
+of sentiment, she turned away impatiently to hide
+this tell-tale sign of weakness. But Betty had
+glimpsed the tears and she was satisfied.</p>
+
+<p>The day was all that even Meggy Higgins'
+starved imagination could have expected of it.
+The miner's daughter was so beatifically happy
+that the girls found a new and most satisfying
+thrill in her enjoyment.</p>
+
+<p>All her short, work-driven life Meggy Higgins
+had wanted a horse, a beautiful, sleek animal
+with supple limbs and shining coat like the one
+that she was riding now&mdash;Betty's Nigger. Many
+have desired a fortune, some political fame, others
+social position, but Meggy merely desired a
+horse. And even this had been denied her because
+her father had been dazzled by the lure of gold,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span>
+a fortune always just before his eyes, but never to
+be grasped.</p>
+
+<p>The girls were sorry for old Dan Higgins and
+his thwarted hopes. But they were infinitely
+more sorry for this girl of his to whom hardship
+was a daily reality and pleasure a golden vision
+to be indulged in only by girls whose fathers did
+not own a worthless claim.</p>
+
+<p>"Sometimes," spoke up Mollie, as she reined
+Old Nick into a walk, "I wish I had the courage
+to rob somebody else's mine, Meggy, and plant
+the gold in yours. It doesn't seem fair for you to
+work all the time and get nothing for it."</p>
+
+<p>The girl smiled sadly.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm used to that," she said, with a grim philosophy
+far beyond her years. Then she added,
+with a quick loyalty that made the girls' hearts
+warm to her: "I don't mind. I'd do anything
+for dad an' I guess if he thought I was gettin'
+discouraged he'd jest plum up an' quit. He's gittin'
+old, he is, an' he ain't that spry like he used
+to be. All he has is his hope in that mine&mdash;an'
+me. Ef you killed that you might as well kill
+him."</p>
+
+<p>After a while they stopped in the shade of
+some stunted trees and had lunch. The girls
+could tell from Meggy's popping eyes that the
+delicacies they drew forth from Miz Cummins'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span>
+lunch basket had never been dreamed of in all her
+hum-drum, joyless life.</p>
+
+<p>Tongue sandwiches, buttered corn-bread, fried
+chicken that you were at perfect liberty to take
+up in your fingers and nibble to your heart's content,
+jelly and olives and hot cocoa in the thermos
+bottle with rich cream already in it&mdash;truly a feast
+even worthy of the Outdoor Girls!</p>
+
+<p>After lunch the girls strolled around a bit,
+leaving their mounts to graze lazily. They talked
+of many things, the adventures they had had,
+the curious people they had met in their adventuring,
+while Meggy listened to it all, drinking
+it in thirstily.</p>
+
+<p>"To think of all the things you've seen," she
+breathed at last. "An' I've spent all my time
+sence I was able to toddle, I reckon, betwixt our
+cabin an' the mine&mdash;back an' forth, back an'
+forth&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>After that they rode on again and it was quite
+late in the day when they decided it was time to
+be going back.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see," said Grace, as they neared the
+ranch, "why we don't lay out some claims and
+start digging ourselves, girls. The north end of
+this ranch is quite near the other mines. We
+might strike gold."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The words were spoken laughingly, but Meggy
+took them seriously.</p>
+
+<p>"Mebbe there's some truth in that," she said
+soberly. "Dad allus reckoned they might be gold
+on Gold Run Ranch."</p>
+
+<p>A short time later they left her at the mine and
+Betty mounted Nigger, leading the brown colt by
+the reins. Meggy had tried to stammer some
+words of thanks, but the girls would have none
+of it. They waved to her gayly and started for
+home.</p>
+
+<p>After an unusually long and thoughtful silence,
+Amy spoke up softly.</p>
+
+<p>"Betty," she said, "if Meggy is right about the
+ranch, there being gold here, I mean, then what
+your mother had thought all along may turn out
+to be the truth."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Betty, a joyous lilt to her voice
+that the girls knew well, "Allen will be here in a
+few days and then we'll start our gold hunt.
+Gold!" she repeated softly. "There is something
+romantic in the very sound of it!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CHAPTER XIV</h2>
+
+<h3>A DISCOVERY</h3>
+
+
+<p>Up to this time the weather had been remarkably
+fine, but on this particular morning the
+Outdoor Girls woke to find that the sky was
+overcast and there was every indication of a
+stormy day.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh bother," grumbled Mollie, as after their
+breakfast she gloomily surveyed the landscape
+from the cretonne-curtained window. "Just as
+I was about to suggest a real adventure, too!"</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean&mdash;'real adventure?'"
+queried Grace, lazily. The day before she had
+bought a new box of candy and a magazine, and
+so it happened that she was the only one of the
+four of them who really did not care whether it
+rained or not.</p>
+
+<p>Mollie turned from the window and regarded
+them resentfully. Then she looked more hopeful
+as her eyes rested on Betty, who was sorting the
+contents of a too-crowded dresser drawer.</p>
+
+<p>"You are with me, anyway, aren't you, Betty?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span>
+she asked, almost wistfully. "We'll leave these
+other two at home, and you and I will go on our
+adventure."</p>
+
+<p>"All right," said Betty, with a lack of enthusiasm
+that fell with a dampening effect upon Mollie's
+ears. The disastrous quality of their last adventure
+had had a dampening effect on the girls'
+enthusiasm for this form of entertainment, and
+for the present they preferred the safety of the
+ranch to the lure of the great unknown, as it
+were. However, this condition of mind was only
+temporary. They would soon be as eager as ever
+for new experiences. "I'm game for anything,
+Mollie dear, as long as you keep away from land-slides
+and wild animals."</p>
+
+<p>"Just hear the child!" said Mollie disgustedly.
+"As if an adventure would be an adventure without
+a little danger mixed in!"</p>
+
+<p>"Just what is your great idea, Mollie?" asked
+Betty mildly. Mollie was beginning to glower.
+And if somebody did not stop her at the beginning,
+there was sure to be a fracas. Betty knew
+this from experience. "Suppose you tell us about
+it and get it out of your system. As I said before,
+I'm willing to do anything if it isn't hunting
+lions and tigers."</p>
+
+<p>Mollie grunted disgustedly.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, there isn't a thing really exciting about<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span>
+it, if that's what you mean," she said. "I just
+thought that since we had nothing special to do
+to-day we might visit the Hermit of Gold Run
+again. We might be able to solve the mystery
+about him in some way," she added as a special
+inducement, since the girls still seemed unenthusiastic.</p>
+
+<p>Grace laughed indulgently.</p>
+
+<p>"Just how do you expect to solve this mystery?"
+she asked, with a giggle. "You certainly
+can't do it by looking at him."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh well, if that's the way you feel," retorted
+Mollie, feeling very much abused, "I'm sorry I
+spoke about it. Only I thought we had already
+decided to pay him a visit."</p>
+
+<p>"And so we had," said Betty, closing the
+dresser <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'draw'">drawer</ins> with a bang and coming unexpectedly
+to her aid. "And I, for one, am with you
+in that, Mollie. I have felt from the first," she
+went on earnestly, while Mollie regarded her with
+growing hope, "that I had not only heard the
+selection that that man played but that I had
+seen him somewhere before&mdash;quite a long time
+ago."</p>
+
+<p>Impressed by Betty's earnestness, Grace had
+laid down her magazine and Amy was becoming
+interested.</p>
+
+<p>"I know it's ridiculous," Betty continued, as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span>
+though to justify herself, "but I can't help feeling
+that way, just the same."</p>
+
+<p>"That thing he played sounded familiar to me,
+too," Grace admitted, now entirely abandoning
+her magazine and sitting up. "It has been haunting
+me ever since we heard him playing that day,
+and yet I can't think of the name of it."</p>
+
+<p>Softly Amy began to hum a popular song, but
+Mollie interrupted her impatiently.</p>
+
+<p>"Well then, since you all feel that way about
+it," she said eagerly, "I don't see why it wouldn't
+be fun to scout around his cabin a little bit and
+see if we can't pick up some information. I'm
+really curious about him."</p>
+
+<p>"All right, let's," said Betty, with the decision
+for which she was famed. "Get your riding
+togs on, girls, and we'll play detective."</p>
+
+<p>This time it was Mollie who held back.</p>
+
+<p>"How about the weather?" she demurred.
+"Looks as if we were likely to get wet."</p>
+
+<p>"Who cares?" said Betty airily, adding, as she
+stopped at the door to make them a little bow:
+"It would give us an excuse to see His Highness
+again."</p>
+
+<p>Half an hour later they had saddled their ponies
+and were cantering off briskly to visit the Hermit
+of Gold Run.</p>
+
+<p>"Aren't you a little bit afraid to go in there?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span>
+asked Amy, reining in as they reached the narrow
+trail through the woods that led near the
+musician's cabin. "We might run into some
+wolves, as we did that other time."</p>
+
+<p>"We were much further in the woods than the
+Hermit's cabin," said Mollie impatiently. "And
+it was in an entirely different direction, too. Go
+ahead, silly, or I'll ride right over you," and as
+she was urging Old Nick forward until he
+crowded uncomfortably against the little white
+filly, Amy had no other course but to do as she
+was bid.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, she was not the only one who
+was uneasy, and it might have been observed that
+the girls glanced often into the shadows of the
+underbrush on either side of the narrow trail.</p>
+
+<p>There were wild animals in that forest, as they
+had good reason to know, and though they seldom
+ventured this close to civilization, still there was
+no use in tempting fate!</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't know it was as far in as this," said
+Grace, after they had ridden some distance in
+silence. "Are you sure we haven't passed the
+cabin, Betty?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, we aren't nearly there yet," was Betty's
+discomforting reply. "It's quite a way beyond
+that next turn in the trail."</p>
+
+<p>Grace said nothing, but she gripped the reins<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span>
+harder in her hands. She had made up her
+mind that at the first sign of danger she would
+turn Nabob and make a dash back down the
+trail for safety.</p>
+
+<p>After that the silence became so pronounced
+that Mollie noticed it and laughed nervously.</p>
+
+<p>"Why all the noise?" she asked jocosely. "It
+nearly breaks my ear drums."</p>
+
+<p>"Hush," cried Amy warningly. "I thought I
+heard something."</p>
+
+<p>"That was your own heart hammering against
+the tree trunks," retorted Mollie dryly, at which
+the girls giggled and the tension relaxed.</p>
+
+<p>"Let's talk about something nice," Betty suggested.
+"Gold, for instance."</p>
+
+<p>"Or Allen," teased Grace. "I reckon you won't
+be glad or anything when he gets here."</p>
+
+<p>"I guess mother will be gladder than any of
+us," replied Betty promptly, trying to shift the
+spotlight from herself. "She was so excited
+when I told her what Dan Higgins said about the
+possibility of there being gold on the ranch that
+she hardly closed her eyes all night. I told her
+she was getting to be a regular adventuress."</p>
+
+<p>"Like her daughter," said Mollie, with a
+chuckle.</p>
+
+<p>"Just think of the story we can tell the boys
+when we get home," said Amy rapturously, add<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span>ing
+apologetically as the girls glanced at her:
+"If we find the gold, I mean."</p>
+
+<p>"Listen to the child!" cried Betty gayly, while
+the other girls laughed. "And we haven't begun
+to dig yet. Hold your horses, Amy dear, hold
+your horses."</p>
+
+<p>They did this very thing literally the next moment,
+for they came in sight of the queer little
+cabin of the man whom the natives called the
+Hermit of Gold Run.</p>
+
+<p>Quickly they jumped down, tethered the horses
+as they had done before on the day when they had
+first made the acquaintance of this remarkable
+man, and started rather hesitantly down the path
+toward the house.</p>
+
+<p>As they came nearer the haunting strains of
+the music that had puzzled them before once
+more floated out through the open windows and
+they paused, lost once again in the spell of it.</p>
+
+<p>The music stopped, and they went on, hardly
+knowing what their next move was to be, yet
+drawn irresistibly by their curiosity. Then once
+more they heard the violin, but evidently the
+mood of the player had changed. The melody
+fraught with pathos, wailing, pleading, no longer
+reached them. The theme had changed&mdash;light,
+airy, sparkling, it reminded the girls of fairies
+dancing on the grass in the moonlight.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Mollie grasped Betty's arm.</p>
+
+<p>"I know that!" she cried excitedly. "It's something
+of Chopin's, a nocturne, I think. Girls, I
+know where I heard that selection played just
+that way before."</p>
+
+<p>They gazed at her, their eyes asking the question
+before their lips could form it.</p>
+
+<p>"At the Hostess House!" cried Mollie. "Don't
+you remember that concert we gave with some
+of the great artists?"</p>
+
+<p>"That big benefit!" cried Betty excitedly.
+"You've got it, Mollie! That's what I was trying
+to think of!"</p>
+
+<p>"Sh-h," said Grace, a finger to her lips. "He
+has stopped playing. He may hear us."</p>
+
+<p>"All right," said Betty. "Let's get back to the
+trail where we can talk this thing over."</p>
+
+<p>They did not stop at the trail, however, for
+some memory of the danger lurking in the woods
+drove them out on to the main road where they
+might talk in peace.</p>
+
+<p>"Now then," said Betty eagerly, as they
+reached the road, crowding their horses close together
+and reining them in to a walk. "What do
+you make of this, girls? If this man is really one
+of those artists that played at that big concert,
+then he is famous and there is something more
+than strange in his hiding up here in the woods."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Goodness, we don't need anybody to tell us
+that," said Grace. "He certainly must be in hiding
+for something he's done&mdash;unless he has been
+disappointed in love," she added sentimentally.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe he was ever in love with anything
+but his violin," said Mollie.</p>
+
+<p>"Can't somebody think of the name of the
+violinist that played at the benefit?" asked Betty,
+who had been trying for some minutes past to
+accomplish that very thing.</p>
+
+<p>"It was something like Croup, I think," said
+Mollie, wrinkling her forehead.</p>
+
+<p>"Goodness, how romantic," said Grace, with a
+laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"I tell you how we can find out the name,"
+said Amy suddenly.</p>
+
+<p>"How?" they questioned.</p>
+
+<p>"I think I have a program, and I can send
+home for it," said Amy.</p>
+
+<p>"Good girl!" cried Mollie, slapping her on the
+back with a violence that nearly threw her from
+Lady's back and caused that gentle little animal
+to turn her head inquiringly. "We little thought
+we had a genius in our midst!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CHAPTER XV</h2>
+
+<h3>ALLEN ARRIVES</h3>
+
+
+<p>Amy was delighted with the praise she received
+from the girls and the first thing she did
+after they returned to the ranch was to write
+home to her guardian for the concert program
+she had so luckily saved.</p>
+
+<p>Naturally the girls were more curious than ever
+after this second trip to his little cabin in the
+woods and longed to find out about this strange
+musician who hid himself so persistently from
+the world.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course," Grace said, during one of the
+many times when they talked the matter over,
+"we're not at all sure that the Hermit is the same
+man who played at our benefit."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course we're not," Mollie agreed with her.
+"There must be a great many musicians who can
+play those same selections that we heard him
+play."</p>
+
+<p>"That's all very true," said Betty argumentatively.
+"But if he is really this same musician<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span>
+that played at our benefit, then that explains the
+queer hunch I've had of having seen him somewhere
+before."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Mollie resignedly, "I guess all
+we can do for the present is to wait until Amy
+gets her program. When we find out the name
+of the violinist that played for us then we can
+decide what to do next about the Hermit."</p>
+
+<p>Reluctantly they admitted that what she said
+was true, and for the time being let the discussion
+rest there.</p>
+
+<p>Then came the day when Betty received a letter
+from Allen announcing that he would reach Gold
+Run the following afternoon on the four-thirty-five
+train. The letter ended by begging her to
+meet the train herself and please not to send any
+one else, for no one else would do!</p>
+
+<p>Betty's pretty face flushed a deeper pink and
+her eyes shone brighter as she read this passage&mdash;and
+two or three others&mdash;several times over.
+Then she went to find the girls and tell them the
+good news.</p>
+
+<p>They also had received mail from the other
+boys and some of the folks at home, and she
+found them all together on the eastern porch
+having the time of their lives. Mollie and Amy
+were perched on the railing while Grace and a
+box of candy reposed in a hammock.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Well, have you finished reading yours already?"
+Mollie greeted the Little Captain as she
+swung up the steps. "It was such a fat one I
+thought it would take you till lunch time at least
+to get through with it."</p>
+
+<p>"Speak for yourself," retorted Betty, too happy
+to mind being teased. "Guess what, girls!" she
+added, unable to keep the news to herself for
+another minute, "Allen arrives via the Western
+Limited at four-thirty or thereabouts to-morrow
+afternoon."</p>
+
+<p>"Hooray!" cried the girls, and momentarily
+forgot their own letters in very real delight. Allen
+Washburn was a favorite with all of them.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you let us all go to meet him, Betty
+dear?" asked Grace, with a twinkling smile.
+"Or does he insist on seeing you alone?"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't be silly," retorted Betty good-naturedly.
+"I know he would take it as a personal
+slight if you weren't all there to welcome him."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I don't know," Mollie commented ruefully.
+"Something tells me he would manage to
+live through it even if we weren't there. But go
+on, Betty," she added. "Tell us what else he has
+to say."</p>
+
+<p>"That's pretty nearly all," said Betty truthfully.
+"He said he would save all the news until
+he saw me&mdash;us. One thing he did say," she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span>
+added, dimpling: "The boys are simply wild with
+jealousy. They say it is all a deep dark scheme
+on Allen's part to get out here with us."</p>
+
+<p>"Us!" repeated Grace, with a giggle. "Much
+he cares about the rest of us."</p>
+
+<p>Be that as it may, they certainly all turned out
+that following afternoon to meet the Western
+Limited which was bearing Allen swiftly toward
+them.</p>
+
+<p>There was the usual gathering of picturesquely
+garbed miners and cow-punchers on the platform,
+and for most of these the girls had a smile and a
+nod.</p>
+
+<p>"Seems funny to think how strange everything
+looked to us when we first came," remarked
+Grace, as they waited for the train. "Now we
+feel as much at home as if we had lived here
+all our lives."</p>
+
+<p>"The people are all so nice and friendly, too,"
+said Amy. "It's wonderful how soon you come
+to know them."</p>
+
+<p>"It is a nice atmosphere," Betty agreed. "At
+home in the East we want to know pretty much
+all there is to know about people we make our
+friends. But out here they take you for granted.
+Nobody seems to care where you came from or
+who your relatives are&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Huh," grunted Mollie. "I guess in a good<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span>
+many cases it wouldn't do to be too curious,"
+she said cynically. "If you believe the stories
+you read and the movies you see everybody who
+has committed a crime anywhere from petty larceny
+to murder skips out West to escape just punishment."</p>
+
+<p>"Then at this moment," drawled Grace, glancing
+around at the rather harmless looking crowd
+on the station platform, "we are surrounded by
+thieves and murderers. Though I must say they
+are a pretty nice looking set," she added, and the
+girls giggled.</p>
+
+<p>"Grace could forgive a man anything, if he
+was only good-looking enough," remarked Amy.</p>
+
+<p>"Here comes the train!" cried Betty suddenly,
+as the Western Limited thundered around a curve
+in the distance and steamed toward them. Immediately
+she forgot everything but that Allen
+was on that train and that in a moment more
+she would see him&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>Then Allen himself, handsome as ever, eagerly
+scanning the faces on the platform as he jumped
+from the train the instant the porter opened the
+door.</p>
+
+<p>It took him barely a moment to discover the
+group of girls, and he came toward them, hand
+outstretched, eyes alight with greeting.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, if this isn't great!" he cried in his hearty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span>
+voice, shaking hands with all of them but looking
+mostly at Betty. "Knew I could trust the
+Outdoor Girls to turn out for a rousing welcome.
+How's everything?"</p>
+
+<p>"Just fine," they assured him, and then Betty
+took him in hand.</p>
+
+<p>"We've brought a wagon along from the ranch
+to carry your luggage," she said, dragging him
+over to the wagon beside which two of the boys
+from the ranch were waiting bashfully. "Come
+over and meet a couple of our cow-punchers, and
+they will help you load your trunk on board."</p>
+
+<p>All this accomplished, the cowboys and Allen
+having formed an immediate and staunch friendship,
+Betty introduced the latter to the horse she
+had brought for him to ride. The pony was a
+magnificent animal, dark brown in color with
+a curve to his graceful neck and a flash to his
+eye that proclaimed his thoroughbred ancestry.</p>
+
+<p>"Say, you old peach of a horse," said Allen,
+fondly stroking the soft muzzle, "you're just
+about the most perfect thing of your kind I've
+ever seen. It seems almost a sacrilege to ride
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"His name is Lightning," Amy volunteered.
+"The boys call him that because he can outrun
+almost any other horse on the ranch. Though,"
+she added loyally, "I shouldn't wonder if Lady<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span>
+could beat him if they should give her a head
+start."</p>
+
+<p>This characteristic speech brought a laugh, and
+Allen regarded the four other beautiful horses
+in the group.</p>
+
+<p>"You girls seemed to have picked winners yourselves,"
+he said admiringly. He studied them
+a moment, then his eyes narrowed quizzically as
+he turned to Betty.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll bet you a box of candy against a pair of
+gloves," he said, "that I can tell which horse belongs
+to which. Do you take me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course," said Betty. "Go ahead."</p>
+
+<p>He guessed them nearly right, except that he
+gave Nigger to Mollie and Old Nick to Betty.</p>
+
+<p>"Almost does not avail," sang Betty gayly.
+"You owe me a box of candy, Allen Washburn."</p>
+
+<p>He looked at her for a moment laughing, and
+suddenly her gaze faltered. There had been
+something new and forceful about Allen ever
+since he had come back from the war that had
+made Betty a little afraid of him. But she did
+not think any the less of him&mdash;oh, no indeed!</p>
+
+<p>"I'll give you a dozen of them if you'll take
+them," he was saying ardently&mdash;evidently in reference
+to the candies.</p>
+
+<p>"And if she won't take 'em, I will," said Grace,
+with a gusto that made them all laugh.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>On the way home the girls, with what they
+thought was great consideration, cantered along
+in front, leaving Allen and Betty to bring up the
+rear. Allen blessed them for it, but Betty was
+furious and kept up such a running fire of comment
+and laughing narrative that Allen had no
+chance to say the things he had wanted to say.</p>
+
+<p>Only once as they neared the ranch she paused
+a moment, pointing out over the dazzling plains
+to the purple tipped mountains in the distance.</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't the country beautiful, Allen?" she asked
+breathlessly. "I've fallen dead in love with it."</p>
+
+<p>"It looks too good to be true," Allen agreed
+seriously, then added boyishly, with a glance that
+took her in, as well as the scenery: "Just now,
+I don't care if I never go home!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CHAPTER XVI</h2>
+
+<h3>A TIP</h3>
+
+
+<p>For the next few days the girls took possession
+of Allen, showing him the sights with a will
+and showering him with details of their adventures
+till the poor fellow's head was in a whirl
+and he could hardly tell whether it was the wolves
+or the landslide that had frightened the girls into
+the cave on that memorable afternoon.</p>
+
+<p>"Seems to me," he said, as the girls showed him
+the cave&mdash;at a safe distance from the mountain,
+one may be sure&mdash;"that you young ladies need a
+chaperone pretty badly."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think you're it?" teased Mollie.</p>
+
+<p>"Great guns! I should hope not," said Allen,
+with a flash of his white teeth. "I would rather
+face a dugout full of Boches than try to keep
+tabs on you girls. See here," he added, suddenly
+serious. "Do you mean to tell me that you were
+really caught in that cave with your horses and
+nothing to dig your way out with but your
+hands?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"And a few sharp stones that we found,"
+Betty nodded soberly.</p>
+
+<p>Allen whistled softly.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I should think not," he said slowly. "It's
+a wonder that with you and your horses, too, in
+that small space, you didn't smother before aid
+could reach you."</p>
+
+<p>"We should have," spoke up Amy quickly, "if
+it hadn't been for Betty. She was the one who
+kept us at it when we were ready to give up."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and she was the one that kept at it when
+the rest of us <i>had</i> given up," Mollie reminded
+her. "She was the one who kept digging until
+she forced the hole through. If it hadn't been
+for her we would have all given up and just died
+there, I guess."</p>
+
+<p>Betty, who had been getting redder and redder
+through this recital of her heroism, found it hard
+to meet Allen's eyes as he turned to her with all
+his heart in his own.</p>
+
+<p>"The girls give me altogether too much credit,"
+she protested. "Anybody will fight when he has
+his back against the wall. And now let's take Allen
+to see Dan Higgins' mine," she added lightly.
+"Dan Higgins and his daughter Meggy are great
+friends of ours, Allen, and I know you will love
+them as much as we do."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Your friends will always be mine," Allen assured
+her gallantly, and they rode off gayly toward
+Gold Run.</p>
+
+<p>On the way they told him a good deal of Dan
+Higgins and Meggy, and Allen listened with sympathetic
+interest.</p>
+
+<p>"That surely is tough," he said boyishly. "But
+of course his case is no different from that of
+hundreds of others who have come out here to
+'God's Country' in the hope of beating the daily
+grind and jumping to fortune at one fell swoop.
+That sounds rather Irish, doesn't it?" he added,
+with his contagious grin.</p>
+
+<p>"You're right about that, I suppose," said Betty
+gravely. "As you say, Dan Higgins is just one
+of a hundred others in the same pitiful fix. But
+at least he has had his dreams and the excitement
+of gambling. He chose this sort of life, and so
+we don't feel so awfully sorry for him. But it
+is his daughter Meggy that we pity. She is
+really a wonderful girl, Allen, and to condemn
+her to a life of work and poverty is really a
+crime."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I didn't do it," said Allen plaintively,
+adding quickly as Betty's face clouded: "I beg
+your pardon, little girl, I didn't mean to be flippant.
+But, like her father, there are many others<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span>
+in the position of this girl. A man can't choose
+to live a life like that without dragging his family
+into it too."</p>
+
+<p>"Then he shouldn't have a family," said Mollie
+hotly. "He should make up his mind to be
+an old bachelor&mdash;though I don't think there is
+anything worse under the sun," she added, with
+such emphasis that the girls giggled.</p>
+
+<p>"I agree with you there," said Allen, adding
+whimsically: "But what a man should do and
+what he does do are often very different things."</p>
+
+<p>"But you speak of Dan Higgins and Meggy as
+if they were just ordinary people," Grace objected,
+as she flicked the reins gently on Nabob's
+arching neck. "You seem to forget that they
+saved our lives&mdash;probably."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I don't forget that," said Allen gravely.
+"And I respect your wish to do something in
+return. I also owe them a debt of gratitude."
+His eyes unconsciously sought Betty's, and a
+quick glance passed between them that was more
+eloquent than words.</p>
+
+<p>"Then you will help us to help him?" said
+Betty quickly.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll do anything I can," Allen answered, adding,
+rather dubiously: "But I don't see what any
+one can do for them. If the old man hasn't
+struck gold yet and is short of funds to finance<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span>
+further search, I don't see what any one can do
+for him. Do you?" he added, looking at her.</p>
+
+<p>"No-o," admitted Betty reluctantly. "I
+haven't thought of a way yet. But I'm sure I
+shall," she added so bravely that the girls wanted
+to hug her.</p>
+
+<p>They reached the Higgins' mine soon after
+this, and at the sound of their approach Meggy
+ran eagerly out to them, as she always did. But
+when she saw Allen, looking to her unsophisticated
+eyes like some hero out of a story book,
+handsome and city-bred, she halted and turned
+red with embarrassment.</p>
+
+<p>However, Allen, by his own gracious and
+friendly manner, soon set her at ease, but her eyes
+continued to follow every movement of his as
+though in amazement that such a perfect creature
+could live.</p>
+
+<p>"Better look out, Betty," Grace whispered to
+the Little Captain when nobody was looking.
+"Meggy thinks Allen is pretty nice. Just watch
+her, she's hypnotized."</p>
+
+<p>But Betty only smiled. Somehow, she felt
+pretty sure of Allen.</p>
+
+<p>The latter struck up a great friendship with old
+Dan Higgins right away&mdash;wonderful how everybody
+took to Allen, thought Betty proudly&mdash;and
+soon they were talking like old friends. In five<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span>
+minutes Allen had found out more about Dan
+Higgins' mine and his prospects than the girls
+would have learned in a year.</p>
+
+<p>Toward the end Allen managed to put a few
+adroit questions concerning Gold Run Ranch and
+the possibility of there being gold upon it.</p>
+
+<p>"Waal now," drawled Higgins, spitting upon
+the ground reflectively, "folks here'bouts used to
+wonder why old Jed Barcolm didn't get busy
+and find out if there was gold on thet property,
+but somehow th' old man never seemed to get
+interested. Conservative old fellow, Jed Barcolm,
+anyways&mdash;allus said he'd made enough
+raisin' cattle and didn't aim to do no prospectin'
+at his time o' life."</p>
+
+<p>"But you think there is a good possibility of
+there being gold on the ranch?" insisted Allen,
+and the girls held their breath.</p>
+
+<p>Dan Higgins gave him a shrewd look and spat
+once more.</p>
+
+<p>"You thinkin' of doin' a little prospectin' on
+your own hook, Son?" he inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"Heavens, no!" answered Allen with convincing
+sincerity, adding with a smile: "It is barely
+possible that my client might, though."</p>
+
+<p>The old man started and stood upright, squaring
+his thin shoulders belligerently.</p>
+
+<p>"You don't mean to tell me you're one o' those<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span>
+ornery lawyer cusses," he said, with a disgusted
+emphasis that angered the girls but apparently
+left Allen unmoved.</p>
+
+<p>"A lawyer&mdash;but not ornery, I hope," he said
+pleasantly. "And my client is Mrs. Nelson, the
+new owner of the ranch. Is there anything else
+you would like to know about me?"</p>
+
+<p>But the old man's anger had departed and he
+regarded Allen with a shrewd twinkle in his
+kindly blue eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Sorry, Son," he said. "I reckon there are
+some honest lawyers, though I never ain't met
+one yet&mdash;not round here leastways."</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks for a rather doubtful compliment,"
+laughed Allen. It was evident that he was enjoying
+the old man extremely. "I assure you,
+though I am not always honest, there are times
+when I try very hard to be." Then he suddenly
+added: "By the way, do you happen to know a
+man around here&mdash;one of those ornery lawyers&mdash;by
+the name of Peter Levine?"</p>
+
+<p>Again Dan Higgins spat disgustedly.</p>
+
+<p>"Know him!" he answered with a wealth of
+scorn in his voice. "I reckon most everybody
+round here knows him&mdash;an' they's mighty few
+knows any good o' him. Take my advice, Son,
+an' keep away from him."</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks," said Allen dryly. "But the problem<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span>
+seems to be to keep him away from us. He is
+representing a client who wants to buy Gold Run
+Ranch."</p>
+
+<p>The old man started and a gleam of excitement
+shot into his eyes while Meggy, seeming to share
+his emotion, crept closer to him.</p>
+
+<p>"Peter Levine wants you to sell," he repeated
+eagerly, then relaxed once more into his drawl,
+though his eyes reflected a strange inward turmoil.
+"Listen, Son," he said. "Ef you let that
+snake in the grass argy you into sellin', you're
+a bigger fool 'n I take you to be. An' what's
+more," his voice lowered and the girls leaned
+forward eagerly, "if Peter wants that there property
+of yourn there's gold on it, you can bet
+your last dollar onto it. Pete ain't no angel, an'
+he don't work for nothing."</p>
+
+<p>Burning with excitement themselves, the girls
+marveled that Allen could take this statement so
+calmly.</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks for the tip," he said, in his ordinary
+voice. "I had some such idea myself, but it certainly
+helps to have my judgment backed by somebody
+who knows the people in the case."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CHAPTER XVII</h2>
+
+<h3>THE NET TIGHTENS</h3>
+
+
+<p>Allen learned much about Peter Levine and
+his associates and about Gold Run itself in the
+following conversation, and when he and the
+girls finally said good-by to the old man and
+his daughter and started off down the trail again,
+he was more than satisfied.</p>
+
+<p>As for the girls, they could hardly wait to get
+out of earshot of the mine before letting loose
+a flood of excited comment.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I don't see anything to get so excited
+about," said Allen, after they had rattled on for
+several minutes. "Dan Higgins didn't tell us
+anything we didn't already know&mdash;or suspect,
+anyway. He simply confirmed our suspicions,
+that's all."</p>
+
+<p>"Seems to me that's enough," retorted Mollie.
+"It's one thing to think a thing yourself and an
+entirely different thing to find out somebody else
+thinks it too."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't be an old granddaddy, Allen," Betty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span>
+said, adding threateningly: "If you don't look out
+we won't let you have any of that wonderful gold
+we are going to find&mdash;not one little tiny nugget."</p>
+
+<p>"That's gratitude for you," said Allen reproachfully.
+"Not one little nugget for a fellow who
+finds her a fortune."</p>
+
+<p>"You haven't found it yet," Amy reminded
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Allen suddenly animated, "I haven't
+found it&mdash;not yet&mdash;but I'm pretty sure I'm on
+the right track. Look here," he appealed to
+them: "It seems reasonable to me to suppose
+that if Peter Levine and the people above him
+are so anxious to get the property they know
+pretty well where they stand. They don't want
+the ranch simply because they <i>think</i> there is gold
+on it."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you think&mdash;&mdash;" Betty was beginning
+breathlessly, when Allen interrupted her with a
+rush of words.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that's just what I think," he said. "I've
+been pretty well over the whole of this ranch
+since I came, and I've noticed that this extreme
+northwest portion of it, the only part where there
+would be any possibility of finding gold, is pretty
+well deserted most of the time&mdash;absolutely so at
+night&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Then you think," Betty burst forth, "that these<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span>
+people, whoever they are, may have made actual
+tests? That they are sure there is gold here?"</p>
+
+<p>Allen nodded.</p>
+
+<p>"That is my theory," he said gravely. "But
+of course the only way to prove the truth of it
+is to keep my eyes open and catch them, if that
+is possible, in the act."</p>
+
+<p>"But how could one conceal such a thing?"
+Grace objected. "A big thing like a mine can't
+be hidden away in the daytime like a rag doll.
+There must be some signs about the place to show
+that people have been here&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly," said Allen. "There probably are
+signs&mdash;only nobody has had the incentive&mdash;or the
+interest, maybe&mdash;to hunt for those signs up to this
+time. Although," he added thoughtfully, "there
+are many ways of camouflaging the entrance to
+a mine so that a casual observer, even an interested
+one, possibly, would be fooled&mdash;branches,
+leaves, a rock or two."</p>
+
+<p>"But wouldn't there be noise?" It was Amy
+who put the objection this time. "I should
+think they would make enough disturbance to
+rouse suspicion at least."</p>
+
+<p>"They might not," Allen contended. "Remember,
+they are right in the mining territory,
+so that if any of the miners heard an unusual
+noise they would think it was one of their neigh<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span>bors
+working late. Anyway," he finished, "their
+operations would necessarily have to be small, and
+they might be so small as not even to arouse suspicion.
+Sometimes," he added, and the girls hung
+on his words as though they were prophetic,
+"there need be no actual digging to ascertain
+that there is gold in a certain region. Sometimes
+the bed of a spring if sifted to get rid of pebbles
+and other d&eacute;bris will reveal gold enough to make
+the finder certain that there is a rich gold vein
+close by."</p>
+
+<p>"Goodness, let's go and hunt up some springs!"
+cried Mollie irrepressibly. "What's the use of
+leaving all this gold finding to Mr. Peter Levine?"</p>
+
+<p>"I remember seeing an old broken sieve around
+the ranch house somewhere," Grace suggested
+helpfully. "Don't you suppose we can go back
+and get it?"</p>
+
+<p>"But, Allen," Betty asked anxiously, "how do
+you expect to find out about these men? I suppose
+you intend to show them up?"</p>
+
+<p>"I most certainly do," responded Allen cheerfully.
+"It would give me the greatest delight to
+land Mr. Peter Levine and his associates in jail."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you'd better look out you don't get
+landed yourself," said Mollie sagely. "I imagine
+these particular gentlemen are pretty handy with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span>
+their guns&mdash;like most of the other people around
+here&mdash;and I reckon they wouldn't be very backward
+about using them."</p>
+
+<p>"It would be fifty-fifty, at that," said Allen,
+adding grimly: "I'm not so very unhandy with
+a gun myself. But the war's over and I haven't
+any idea of staging a tragedy," he added lightly,
+anxious to banish the cloud that had come over
+Betty's bright face. "I shall keep out of sight till
+I have them just where I want them, and when
+they find themselves caught I don't think they'll
+do much fighting. All crooks are more or less
+cowards, you know."</p>
+
+<p>"But what are you going to do in the meantime&mdash;while
+you are waiting for a chance to
+show them up?" Betty persisted. She did not
+half like the way things were going&mdash;even if
+there was a chance of finding a fortune on the
+ranch. It seemed to her that Allen was putting
+himself into too great danger. And if anything
+happened to him, what would all the gold in the
+world be worth?</p>
+
+<p>"'In the meantime?'" Allen was answering her
+question lightly. "Why, in the meantime I intend
+to keep my eyes and ears wide open and do
+a little scouting around Gold Run until I get a
+line on the doings of Peter Levine and his crowd&mdash;if
+he has a crowd. He may just be in part<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span>nership
+with one other rascal like himself, for
+all I know. That's one of the first things I want
+to find out. After the information of our friend,
+back there at the mine," he added, "there is no
+longer any doubt in my mind that this Levine is
+a crook."</p>
+
+<p>"Humph," said Betty, "I was sure of that the
+first time I laid eyes on him."</p>
+
+<p>"And yet you said you could almost love him
+for making your mother decide to come out here,"
+Allen reminded her quizzically.</p>
+
+<p>"And you said you were on your way to kill
+him," said Betty, adding with a chuckle: "What
+made you change your mind?"</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't change my mind," retorted Allen,
+with a grin. "I just didn't happen to meet him,
+that's all."</p>
+
+<p>They had nearly reached the ranch house before
+Betty thought to ask Allen if he had talked
+his plans over with her mother.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I haven't," he admitted. "As a matter
+of fact, I hadn't made any definite plans until I
+had this confab with Dan Higgins. He made
+me see the whole thing straight, so to speak. I'll
+have a talk with your mother and father to-night,"
+he promised.</p>
+
+<p>He kept his promise and had the satisfaction of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span>
+knowing that both his clients were backing him
+heartily.</p>
+
+<p>"Go to it, Allen," Mr. Nelson said at the end of
+the conference. "Seems to me that you have
+gotten the correct angle on this thing, and if
+you need any help from me just call on me.
+Only," he warned, "don't run yourself into unnecessary
+trouble."</p>
+
+<p>"I've found, sir," said Allen, with that straight-forward
+look that made every one like and admire
+him, "that it's usually the fellow who runs away
+from trouble who gets the most of it. I'm not
+worrying about that end of the business."</p>
+
+<p>But if he did not worry, Betty certainly did in
+the days that followed. She had dreams at
+night in which she saw Allen riding about in the
+shadows. There would be a report, two reports,
+and he would topple over backwards to lie
+crumpled up and motionless. No wonder that
+she became pale and lost her appetite and made
+her mother worry even in the midst of the excitement
+over this double hunt&mdash;the hunt for men and
+gold.</p>
+
+<p>One night after dinner Allen asked her to ride
+with him a little way, said it would do him a
+lot of good just to talk to her. Betty agreed,
+and they cantered off in the twilight, their bodies<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span>
+swaying to the rhythm of the beautiful animals
+under them.</p>
+
+<p>For a long time they were silent, just enjoying
+the rapid motion, the sweet scented air that
+fanned their faces, the beauty of the hazy mountains
+in the distance. Then, suddenly Allen
+spoke.</p>
+
+<p>"Betty," he said, swinging round toward her,
+"you aren't letting this thing get on your nerves,
+are you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Wh-what do you mean?" she asked faintly.
+"What thing?"</p>
+
+<p>"This gold business&mdash;the excitement of it all,"
+he said, waving his hand largely as though to take
+in the whole landscape. "I've noticed you
+looked tired lately," he went on gently, "and I've
+worried about it, little Betty. I&mdash;I have almost
+dared to hope," he leaned toward her, but Betty
+was looking the other way, "that you were a
+little anxious about me. Were you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why&mdash;I&mdash;yes&mdash;no&mdash;why&mdash;I don't know,"
+cried Betty wildly, then, meeting his eye, she
+laughed, a twinkling little laugh. "You shouldn't
+ask questions like that, not so suddenly, anyway,"
+she said primly. "It isn't fair."</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind, I got my answer," said Allen
+jubilantly, and again Betty found it a little hard
+to look at him. "You mustn't worry though,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span>
+little girl," he went on gently. "There isn't any
+danger&mdash;really. I'm just playing a delightful
+little game&mdash;and I'm going to win. Went to see
+Levine to-day, representing your mother," he
+added, and his tone suddenly became grim. "He
+made me feel, or at least he tried to make me
+feel, that he had as much respect for my ability
+as he would for a little speck of dirt."</p>
+
+<p>"The very idea!" cried Betty indignantly. "I'd
+just like to tell him what I think of&mdash;your ability&mdash;&mdash;"
+she faltered on these last words, for
+Allen was gazing at her with a most disconcerting
+light in his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly she whirled Nigger's head about and
+urged him to a gallop.</p>
+
+<p>"Race you home, Allen!" she challenged.
+"Winner <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'get's'">gets</ins> the other fellow's piece of cake."</p>
+
+<p>"Who cares for cake!" cried Allen, but it
+might have been noticed that he followed her
+just the same.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CHAPTER XVIII</h2>
+
+<h3>IN THE SHADOWS</h3>
+
+
+<p>Allen was acting in two capacities at this
+time&mdash;that of lawyer and that of private detective.
+He probably would not have taken this
+r&ocirc;le for anybody but Betty and her family, but
+in order to serve them he was willing to do
+pretty nearly anything.</p>
+
+<p>So he had taken to scouting around the northern
+end of the ranch after dark, in the hope that
+he might possibly discover something that would
+help him in his theory that there was really gold
+on the ranch and, also, that Peter Levine and
+his cronies, whoever they were, knew of it.</p>
+
+<p>However, as the days passed, bringing no new
+developments, the young fellow began to think
+that he had let his imagination run away with
+him. He even began to formulate plans by which
+he could lure the unsuspecting Peter Levine into
+telling what he knew.</p>
+
+<p>And then&mdash;just when he was beginning to
+despair of being any help at all to Betty and her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span>
+family&mdash;fate or luck, or whatever one wishes to
+call it, chose to smile upon him once more.</p>
+
+<p>He was prowling around when quite unexpectedly
+he found himself confronted by Andy
+Rawlinson. He had struck up quite a liking for
+the head cowboy, and the two walked along together.</p>
+
+<p>Gradually they neared a patch of timber near
+the northern boundary of the ranch. The cowboy
+said he was looking for two calves that had
+strayed away.</p>
+
+<p>"And it ain't no use to follow 'em into the
+woods on hossback," he explained.</p>
+
+<p>"I have an object in coming here," declared
+Allen, at last. "I am watching out for Peter
+Levine." He felt he could trust Rawlinson.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought as much," replied the head cowboy,
+with a chuckle. "Believe me, I wouldn't trust
+Levine out o' my sight, if I was the boss. I've
+seen him prowlin' around here several times."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you think he has some secret motive in
+getting hold of the ranch?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sure as shootin'. That feller is a bad one&mdash;take
+it from me."</p>
+
+<p>"Please don't make too much noise around
+here," went on Allen. "I was thinking he might
+come again in the dark some night&mdash;to do a little
+prospecting, or something like that."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I get you. It would be just like him. Quiet
+it is." And after that the pair spoke only in
+whispers.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing was seen of the calves, and presently
+Rawlinson was on the point of going back, when,
+all at once, something occurred to make him remain.</p>
+
+<p>The night was intensely dark; not a star
+twinkled through the storm clouds that scudded
+across the sky. Allen had just stubbed his toe
+on a projecting root and had muttered something
+uncomplimentary to the darkness of the night
+when an unusual sound caught the ears of the
+two young men and stopped them dead in their
+tracks.</p>
+
+<p>Some one was coming through the brush.
+Some one, like Allen, had stumbled and was muttering
+under his breath.</p>
+
+<p>"Shut up, can't you?" a second voice growled,
+and Allen's hand instinctively went to Rawlinson's
+arm to quiet him.</p>
+
+<p>"Two of them," he thought exultantly, as he
+held himself and the cowboy against the trunk
+of a tree. "There may be some action after
+all."</p>
+
+<p>The two strangers passed close enough to Allen
+and Rawlinson to have touched them. But
+they did not notice the young men.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Allen and the cowboy, their blood tingling with
+excitement, followed the pair, and when, some
+hundred yards on, the strangers stopped, they
+stopped too, keeping within the shadow of the
+trees.</p>
+
+<p>The strangers were bending over some sort of
+paper which they were examining by the light
+of an electric torch.</p>
+
+<p>"Here's the place, Jim," one of the men said,
+pointing first to the paper and then into the
+shadow of the woods. "There's gold running
+wild around here, man. I've tested the bed of
+the creek that runs down there, and it's chock
+full of yellow men. Why, if we can get hold
+of this ranch we're rich men&mdash;rich over night, I
+tell you!"</p>
+
+<p>"Huh!" grunted the other, noncommittally.
+"How are you goin' to get hold of this ranch?
+Ain't done it yet, so's any one could notice it."</p>
+
+<p>"No, that's where you come in, Jim," replied
+the other, and as he turned eagerly to his companion
+Allen and Rawlinson recognized the features
+of Peter Levine. "This woman, this Mrs.
+Nelson who owns the place, won't sell. I'm
+afraid she may have an idea that there's gold
+here. And she suspects me, for some reason."</p>
+
+<p>The other man laughed unpleasantly.</p>
+
+<p>"'Tain't hard for most of us to guess the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span>
+reason for that, Pete." And at the sneer Levine
+gave a grunt.</p>
+
+<p>"You must have your little joke, Jim," he said.
+"But now let's get down to business. The woman
+distrusts me and she has sent for this insolent
+cub lawyer&mdash;Washburn, his name is. He's
+been to see me already, the unwhipped pup," he
+went on, while in the shadows Allen's hands gripped
+themselves into fists, "trying to find out more
+about my client and John Josephs. Say, that's
+a good joke, Jim. Here they are after that
+imaginary ranchman, John Josephs, and my client
+who they think are crooks, when all the time
+little Peter Levine is their meat and they don't
+know it."</p>
+
+<p>"You didn't let on you wuz the one that wanted
+the place?" questioned Jim, who was evidently
+able to appreciate this joke. "You wuz just the
+lawyer, and so nowise interested except jest in
+the fee?"</p>
+
+<p>"Righto!" chuckled the other. "And a good-sized
+fee it will be if once I can get my hands
+on it."</p>
+
+<p>"Which you ain't&mdash;yet," the other reminded
+him. "Get busy, Pete, and tell us your scheme.
+I don't want to be standin' around here all night."
+He gave an uneasy glance over his shoulder, and
+Allen and Rawlinson shrank still further into the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span>
+shadows. They were not yet ready to make their
+presence known.</p>
+
+<p>"All right," said Peter Levine, speaking hurriedly.
+"If you'll agree to my suggestion, you're
+in for easy money, Jim. All you have to do is
+to approach this Mrs. Nelson and make her an
+offer for the ranch&mdash;for yourself, you understand.
+She doesn't know you, and she may have
+become tired of mooning around here by now,
+and there's just a chance that she'll take you&mdash;that
+is, if you handle the cards right. No eagerness,
+you understand&mdash;just sort of offhand and
+careless, as if you didn't care much whether she
+took you or not."</p>
+
+<p>"Huh!" said the other, with his noncommittal
+grunt. "Sounds easy, don't it? But what do I
+get out of it, ef I pull this deal off, eh?"</p>
+
+<p>"Half of all the gold we find, Jim," said the
+other, waving his hand largely. "You'll never regret
+it if you put this thing through. You'll be
+a rich man."</p>
+
+<p>"All right, I'm on," said Jim.</p>
+
+<p>"Then I guess it's about time we got back,"
+returned Peter Levine, and the two men moved
+as if to leave that vicinity.</p>
+
+<p>"We don't want them to get away," Allen whispered
+excitedly to Rawlinson. "I want to get
+hold of that paper if possible."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I reckon that will be easy, Washburn," returned
+the head cowboy. "I'm armed, you know,
+and I'll take my chances against those two rascals
+any time. Just follow me."</p>
+
+<p>Without waiting for Allen to reply to this,
+Andy Rawlinson ran forward swiftly and silently,
+and in a few seconds had confronted the
+rascally pair. He had drawn his pistol, but he
+did not raise the weapon.</p>
+
+<p>"Halt, both of you!" he cried, sharply. "Hands
+up there!"</p>
+
+<p>"Hi! what's the meaning of this?" cried Levine,
+in astonishment. "Who are you?"</p>
+
+<p>"It's Rawlinson, the head man here," muttered
+the man called Jim.</p>
+
+<p>"Right!" answered the cowboy. "And here
+is a particular friend of yours, Levine," he added,
+as Allen stepped closer.</p>
+
+<p>"Washburn!" muttered the rascally lawyer
+from Gold Run. And then he added quickly:
+"Have you been spying on us?"</p>
+
+<p>"If we have, that's our affair," answered Allen
+coolly. "You'd better keep those hands up," he
+went on quickly, as he saw the two rascals making
+a move as if to start something.</p>
+
+<p>"They'll keep 'em up all right enough," broke
+in Rawlinson. "I reckon you know me," he went
+on sternly. "And I'll stand for no foolin'."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"We haven't been doing anything wrong,"
+came from Levine, lamely.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no! Of course not!" said Allen sarcastically.
+"Only trying to get hold of a bonanza for
+next to nothing!"</p>
+
+<p>"Wait a minute, Washburn," came from the
+head cowboy. "Just relieve 'em of their weapons
+first. Then maybe we'll be able to talk with
+more satisfaction."</p>
+
+<p>With Rawlinson confronting them, Levine and
+his companion did not dare offer any resistance,
+and quickly Allen took their weapons from them
+and handed the firearms to Rawlinson.</p>
+
+<p>"Now I'll thank you, Levine, for that paper
+you were examining so carefully just a few minutes
+ago," went on the young lawyer.</p>
+
+<p>"This is robbery!" fumed Peter Levine. "I'll
+have you before the courts for this."</p>
+
+<p>Allen eyed him steadily.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you represent the law in this place?" he
+asked. "If so, I am sorry for the inhabitants.
+But there is no use in prolonging this discussion,
+Levine. I want that paper. Hand it over at
+once."</p>
+
+<p>The rascally lawyer from Gold Run attempted
+to argue, but the sight of Rawlinson's weapon
+subdued him, and presently he handed over the
+crumpled sheet, which Allen seized with much<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span>
+satisfaction. During this transaction Jim remained
+sullenly silent.</p>
+
+<p>"Now I guess that's about all," said Allen to
+the cowboy.</p>
+
+<p>"If that's the case I guess we can bid you
+skunks good-evening," came quickly from Rawlinson.
+"Both of you beat it. And don't ever
+let me ketch you around here again."</p>
+
+<p>"What about my gun?" came feebly from
+Jim.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll send the guns over to Levine's office to-morrow,"
+answered the head cowboy. "Now
+clear out, and be quick about it." And a moment
+later the two rascals stumbled away through
+the darkness.</p>
+
+<p>"This is certainly what I call luck," cried Allen
+excitedly, as he gazed at the scrap of paper
+Levine had passed over. "Rawlinson, you have
+certainly helped me do a good night's work.
+If what that scoundrel said is true, this will
+mean a fortune for Betty and her mother."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm glad I chanced along, Washburn," answered
+the head cowboy. "After this I think
+I'll set a guard. If it leaks out that there is
+gold on this ranch there will be all sorts of fellows
+beside those skunks trying to locate claims
+around here."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you go up to the house with me?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"No. I'll stick around here a while and see
+if those fellows come back. Besides, I want to
+see if I can get any trace of those strayed-away
+calves. You go ahead. You can tell me about
+it later. You can take their guns with you if
+you will."</p>
+
+<p>Half running, half stumbling, in his eagerness,
+Allen reached the house, took the steps of the
+porch three at a time, and burst into the big
+homelike kitchen, where he found the family
+assembled.</p>
+
+<p>"We've got 'em, folks!" he cried, waving the
+scrap of paper over his head, while they stared
+at him as though they thought he had gone mad.
+"I've been out hunting and brought home a prize.
+Come look at it."</p>
+
+<p>He went over to the table beside which Mr.
+and Mrs. Nelson were sitting and laid the two
+captured pistols upon the table. Infected by his
+excitement, the girls crowded around, demanding
+an explanation.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 261px;">
+<img src="images/p172.jpg" width="261" height="400" alt="THE GIRLS CROWDED AROUND, DEMANDING AN EXPLANATION." title="THE GIRLS CROWDED AROUND, DEMANDING AN EXPLANATION." />
+<span class="caption">THE GIRLS CROWDED AROUND, DEMANDING AN EXPLANATION.</span>
+</div>
+
+<div class='center'><i>The Outdoor Girls in the Saddle.</i> <i>Page 163</i></div>
+
+<p>"Pistols!" cried Betty, her eyes wide with dislike
+of the things. "Where did you get them,
+Allen?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, just picked them off the trees by the
+roadside," said Allen airily. Then, suddenly becoming
+serious, he laid the scrap of paper beside
+the weapons on the table. "There," he said,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span>
+dramatically, "is the key that may open your door
+to a fortune."</p>
+
+<p>"A map," said Mrs. Nelson, her eyes glistening.
+"Oh, Allen, you've found out something
+wonderful. Tell us about it, please."</p>
+
+<p>And so Allen recounted what had taken place
+during that fruitful half hour in the shadows of
+the trees. His audience listened breathlessly.</p>
+
+<p>"Then this thing," said Mr. Nelson, taking the
+bit of paper which was crossed and criss-crossed
+with a number of lines and dotted with numbers
+until it seemed more like a jig-saw puzzle than
+a map, "is supposedly a map which will point
+out the probable location of gold."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir," said Allen.</p>
+
+<p>"Then," said Mr. Nelson, feeling the thrill of
+adventure in his own blood, "we'll begin to look
+for this gold to-morrow. That is&mdash;" He paused
+and looked quizzically about at the group of tense
+young faces. "If everybody is willing."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh-h," was all that they could say&mdash;just then.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CHAPTER XIX</h2>
+
+<h3>THE NEW MINE</h3>
+
+
+<p>The next day much excitement filled the
+ranch house. Betty declared that she had not
+slept a wink the night before, worrying for fear
+her father had not meant what he said.</p>
+
+<p>But Mr. Nelson had meant what he had said,
+and there was Mrs. Nelson as eager as the girls
+to keep him to his word.</p>
+
+<p>"The ranch is mine, you know," she laughingly
+reminded the girls. "And if there are gold
+mines on it I certainly intend to find them."</p>
+
+<p>It was settled, and Mr. Nelson and Allen set
+out for town to make arrangements for the enterprise.
+The girls wanted to go too, but Mr.
+Nelson pointed out that he and Allen could probably
+do the work more quickly if they were alone,
+and it was upon this point and this point only that
+the girls consented to let them go.</p>
+
+<p>"But that needn't keep us from the saddle,"
+Mollie decided, as they watched the two men
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span>canter swiftly away. "I don't know about
+the rest of you, but I'm just longing for
+action."</p>
+
+<p>"Ditto," cried Betty, then added with bright
+eagerness: "Girls, I know what we can do! Let's
+go down to the place where Allen found those
+two men last night. That's where the mines are,
+you know, and we might stake out claims or
+something."</p>
+
+<p>"Your mother might have something to say
+to that," said Grace, making a funny face.
+"It isn't quite the thing to stake out claims on
+somebody else's property."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh well, you needn't be so particular," cried
+Betty airily. "Come on, girls, who's with me?"</p>
+
+<p>It seemed they all were, and, fairly dancing
+with excitement, they made their way to the corrals
+where Andy Rawlinson saddled their horses
+for them.</p>
+
+<p>The horses seemed to catch some of the girls'
+excitement, and it was all that the latter could do
+to hold the animals in.</p>
+
+<p>"It must be in the air," laughed Grace, as she
+pulled in Nabob sharply. "We've all got the
+gold fever."</p>
+
+<p>"Let's give them their heads," said Mollie suddenly.
+"I'd like a regular gallop this morning."</p>
+
+<p>"All right, let's go," sang out Betty, and in another
+minute they were off, the horses galloping<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span>
+like mad and the girls laughing and shouting in
+utter abandonment to their high spirits.</p>
+
+<p>At this rate it took them only a few minutes
+to reach the spot where Allen had had his adventure
+the night before.</p>
+
+<p>They reined in sharply, and Betty jumped
+down, throwing the reins over Nigger's neck and
+giving him a fond little pat on the flank.</p>
+
+<p>"There, old boy," she said. "Go and eat some
+grass for yourself while we do a little prospecting.
+Girls," she added as they in turn dismounted
+and ran up to her, "from Allen's description,
+it must have been just about here that he
+stood." She indicated the bent tree with the
+great bowlder behind it that Allen had described
+to them. "And the two men must have stood
+in there among that heavy shrubbery somewhere."</p>
+
+<p>"Then this is where they will begin work,"
+cried Amy, a faint flush warming her face. "Oh,
+Betty, it all seems like a fairy story."</p>
+
+<p>"Fairy story, nothing!" exclaimed Mollie.
+"This is a real, honest-to-goodness adventure
+story. My, it's a wonder Allen didn't get shot
+up last night," she added thoughtfully. "It must
+have taken nerve to stand here, listening to those
+old scoundrels and not knowing what minute
+they might find him out and fire upon him."</p>
+
+<p>"I think Allen is perfectly wonderful, anyway,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span>
+said Grace, and Betty thrilled at the tribute. "He
+never seems to know what it is to be afraid. And
+he always gets what he wants, too."</p>
+
+<p>"And to think that 'John Josephs' never existed!"
+chuckled Betty. "Peter Levine must have
+quite a good deal of imagination."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what's the use of standing here?" said
+Amy, after a moment of silent musing. "Let's
+look around a little bit and see what we can see."</p>
+
+<p>So for a while they thrashed around in the
+bush, accomplishing very little besides scaring
+some rabbits and woodchucks into their holes.
+They found the tiny creek Peter Levine had
+spoken of, and they gazed with interest at its
+muddy, sluggish water.</p>
+
+<p>"Who would ever think there was gold in the
+bottom of that?" whispered Mollie.</p>
+
+<p>When they finally became convinced that there
+was nothing more to be seen they started reluctantly
+home again.</p>
+
+<p>"Let's go around by the mine and see how
+Meggy and her dad are coming on," suggested
+Betty, and so they changed their course a little
+to include the mine.</p>
+
+<p>Meggy was glad to see them as usual but they
+could tell by the weariness of her bearing that
+there was no good news as far as she was con<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span>cerned
+and they had not the heart to tell her their
+own.</p>
+
+<p>"Can't you come over to the ranch for a little
+while?" asked Betty, eager to do some little thing
+toward cheering the girl. But Meggy shook her
+head.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't leave father&mdash;even for a little while,"
+she said sadly. "He ain't feeling well, and I'm
+afraid if his luck doesn't change pretty soon I&mdash;I&mdash;won't
+have any dad&mdash;&mdash;" she choked and
+turned away. Betty was beside her in a moment,
+her arm about the girl's shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>"We're awfully sorry, honey," she said compassionately.
+"We didn't know that your father
+was feeling bad. Is he&mdash;is he really sick?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sick of life, I guess," said Meggy, conquering
+her emotion and instantly ashamed of it.
+"I've heered of people dyin' of a broken heart,
+an' that's what dad's doin', I guess. Bad luck
+can kill you if it keeps up long enough."</p>
+
+<p>The girls rode home saddened by this brief
+encounter. It seemed almost wrong for them to
+be happy when Dan Higgins was "dyin' of a
+broken heart" and Meggy, brave, splendid girl
+that she was, had almost lost hope.</p>
+
+<p>"If only everybody in the world could be
+happy," said Grace plaintively. "It just spoils<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span>
+all your fun when you know that other people
+are miserable."</p>
+
+<p>"The worst of it is," said Betty soberly, "that
+with all this luck coming our way we can't pass
+on a single little bit of it to that poor girl and her
+dad. If only they weren't so proud&mdash;&mdash;" The
+sentence trailed off into a sigh, and she gazed
+pensively out over the plain.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, there's no use of crying over it," said
+Mollie briskly. "We may find a way of being
+useful to Meggy yet, and until then, as my mother
+says, 'let's be canty with thinking about it.' Oh,
+look, girls, here comes Allen. I wonder what
+kind of news he has."</p>
+
+<p>They galloped gayly to meet him, and Allen
+thought they made a very pretty picture as they
+swept up to him.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," he said as they surrounded him, "everything
+is settled and they are to begin work to-morrow
+morning. Our news has aroused great
+excitement in town, and there's a rush to establish
+claims near that end of our ranch. Better
+give your friend, Dan Higgins, a hint, so that he
+can get in first. So long. I'm on to the house
+for the map, and then I'm going to join Mr. Nelson
+again in town."</p>
+
+<p>So he dashed off in the direction of the ranch
+and the girls wheeled and galloped back in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span>
+direction they had come&mdash;back toward Dan Higgins'
+mine to warn him to stake a new claim
+before others reached the spot.</p>
+
+<p>They were so excited that it was hard to make
+their purpose clear at first, but when the old man
+and Meggy comprehended what they were trying
+to tell them, they were immediately galvanized
+to action.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll show you the best place," Betty eagerly
+volunteered.</p>
+
+<p>Mollie offered to stay behind and give the
+old man her horse, and in a minute Betty and
+Dan Higgins were galloping over the plain to that
+part of the ranch where the new gold mines were
+to be. They had not far to go, and they saw
+with relief that they were the first on the spot.</p>
+
+<p>Betty pointed out the place where Peter Levine
+had said there was gold running wild, and old
+Dan Higgins staked his claim as near to the place
+as he could without actually encroaching upon
+the ranch itself.</p>
+
+<p>With trembling fingers he printed on two big
+placards the exact dimensions of his claim, and,
+with Betty's help, nailed them to two trees at the
+two extreme ends of his new property, and began
+to dig.</p>
+
+<p>"Thar," he sighed, after a few moments, taking
+off his hat to mop the perspiration from his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span>
+forehead, "I've made another bargain with luck,
+an' mebbe this time I'll win."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sure you will," cried Betty, with conviction.
+"If there is gold on our ranch, and we are
+sure there is, then there is almost certain to be
+some on your property also. Oh, Mr. Dan Higgins,
+I so dearly hope that there is!" This was so
+evidently a cry straight from her earnest young
+heart that the keen eyes of the hardened old miner
+filled with tears and he patted Betty's head with
+an unsteady hand.</p>
+
+<p>"You're a mighty fine little gal," he said finally.
+"Ef an old man's gratitude means anything to
+you, you sure have got it. I've a sort of sure
+feelin' you've changed the luck for Meggy and
+me."</p>
+
+<p>They were silent on the ride back to the mine,
+but as they reached the last stretch of the trail
+that led down to it the old man shifted in his
+saddle and looked at Betty earnestly.</p>
+
+<p>"An' ef Meggy's mother was alive," he said
+simply, "she would thank you, too."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CHAPTER XX</h2>
+
+<h3>THE VIOLINIST AGAIN</h3>
+
+
+<p>As Allen had predicted, there was a general
+rush on the part of the miners to establish claims
+on the property adjoining the ranch, and the girls
+congratulated themselves over and over again
+that they had reached Dan Higgins with the glad
+tidings in time for him to secure the best location.</p>
+
+<p>All day long the girls were in the saddle, hovering
+about the new gold diggings, fascinated at
+the way new mines seemed to spring up over
+night.</p>
+
+<p>Next to those on their own property, they were
+most interested in Dan Higgins' mine and in their
+hearts they would really rather have had him find
+gold than to find it themselves.</p>
+
+<p>"They need it so much more than we do,"
+Betty said anxiously. "If Dan Higgins and
+Meggy have drawn another blank I don't know
+what they will do."</p>
+
+<p>In the midst of all this confusion and excite<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span>ment,
+Amy received the program of the benefit
+concert given at the Hostess House for which
+she had sent home some time before. They had
+almost forgotten the hermit and it was with a
+shock of surprise that they remembered they had
+not seen him since the new mining operations.
+Before that they had run across him quite often
+attempting to help Meggy and Dan in his rather
+eccentric way.</p>
+
+<p>"Guess he must have been scared off by the
+crowd," said Mollie. "Too much excitement for
+the old boy."</p>
+
+<p>The four of them were sitting on the large
+front porch of the house, still in their riding
+habits, while their horses, at the foot of the
+steps, stamped their impatience to be off again.
+Nothing but the arrival of the mail could have
+drawn the girls from the fascination of the new
+gold diggings. They hardly took time to eat;
+and as for sleep, well, they took that in between
+times!</p>
+
+<p>Now Grace called to Amy, making room on
+the step beside her.</p>
+
+<p>"Come over here and show us your program,"
+she said, extracting a bit of candy from some
+hidden recess somewhere about her person and
+popping it into her mouth. "I'm anxious to see
+what that violinist's name was."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Amy obeyed, and as Grace opened the program
+Mollie and Betty drew closer and peeped over
+her shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"Concerto&mdash;Liszt," read Grace, her finger pointing
+down the page. "No, that isn't it. That's
+for the piano. Hold on, here we are. Chopin&mdash;Nocturne&mdash;Paul
+Loup, violinist. There he is.
+Now will you please tell me how that helps us
+to find out anything about the hermit?" She
+paused with her finger still pointing to the name
+and looked up at them inquiringly.</p>
+
+<p>"We-el," said Betty thoughtfully, "it doesn't
+help very much, I must admit. It doesn't prove
+that Paul Loup is our Hermit of Gold Run. Only
+that funny feeling I have of having seen him
+before and heard him play&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I tell you what we'll do!" Mollie snapped her
+fingers decisively. "It's a long chance and it
+may not work at all but&mdash;are you game to try
+it?" She paused and regarded the expectant girls
+eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe," said Betty, noncommittally. "You
+might tell us the idea first."</p>
+
+<p>"Listen," cried Mollie. "My idea is that if
+we take the hermit by surprise, call him by his
+name of Paul Loup. Why&mdash;" She paused, and
+the light of inspiration filled her eyes. "I could
+even speak to him in French&mdash;&mdash;"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>As the girls caught her full meaning they looked
+at her admiringly.</p>
+
+<p>"I shouldn't wonder if that plan would work,"
+said Betty swiftly. "Why can't we go now?
+Dinner won't be ready for a couple of hours."</p>
+
+<p>"Right you are," cried Mollie, taking the four
+steps at one jump and springing upon her astonished
+horse. "Come on, girls, are you with us?"</p>
+
+<p>"We'll have to lead 'em a merry pace," said
+Betty to Mollie a moment later as they galloped
+abreast up the road. "If we don't get them there
+in a hurry they're apt to get cold feet and think
+we're crazy."</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe we are," chuckled Mollie, urging Old
+Nick on to even greater speed. "I've had a suspicion
+that way several times before."</p>
+
+<p>It was Betty's turn to chuckle.</p>
+
+<p>"So have I!" she said, adding with a sigh of
+resignation: "But oh, it is so much fun. Look
+behind, Mollie. Are they still coming?"</p>
+
+<p>"Strong," reported Mollie, with a glance over
+her shoulder. Then, as they reached the trail
+that led through the woods, she reined in a little,
+motioning for Betty to take the lead. "You
+know the trail better," she said.</p>
+
+<p>Over the rough woodland trail their progress
+necessarily became slower, a fact which the girls
+did not relish at all. It gave them time to reflect<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span>
+on what a really rash adventure they had embarked,
+and any but the Outdoor Girls might have
+turned back even at this last minute.</p>
+
+<p>However, curiosity, together with some vague
+hope that they might become of service to this
+strange sad fellow, urged them on. If Paul
+Loup and the Hermit of Gold Run were really
+one and the same person, then surely there was
+a real mystery which they might in some way
+help to unravel.</p>
+
+<p>They did not linger any longer on the way
+than was absolutely necessary, for the terrible
+experience they had had with the timber wolves
+soon after their arrival had made them suspicious
+of the forest, and try as they would they could
+not suppress an uncomfortable desire to search
+every shadow for some sinister, lurking presence.</p>
+
+<p>In vain had the cowboys on the ranch assured
+them that wolves were very scarce in this part of
+the forest, especially in the summer, and that they
+had had an unusual and unique experience. As
+Amy had said, one experience like that was
+enough to last a lifetime.</p>
+
+<p>They came in sight of the cabin without mishap,
+however, and they tethered their horses a little
+farther from the house than usual, so that
+their stamping and neighing might not frighten
+the hermit away.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Then they made their way with as little noise
+as possible along the narrow path.</p>
+
+<p>"Suppose he isn't at home?" whispered Mollie
+to Betty.</p>
+
+<p>"Then we're out of luck, that's all," returned
+Betty cheerfully.</p>
+
+<p>But the hermit was at home. They could see
+him moving about, and as they came nearer they
+smelled an appetizing odor of frying bacon, as
+though he were cooking his dinner.</p>
+
+<p>"Hope he asks us to stay to lunch," said Grace,
+and the girls giggled nervously.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll be lucky if he doesn't slam the door in
+our faces," said Amy pessimistically.</p>
+
+<p>It was Mollie who knocked this time&mdash;and it
+was no timid little rap either, but a good, hearty
+rat-at-tat, that brought the occupant of the cabin
+to the door in a hurry. He had the frying pan
+still clutched in his hand and on his long narrow
+face was such a look of dread that the girls felt
+sorry for him.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," he said, the emotion within him making
+his voice sound stern and forbidding, "what is it
+you wish? It is not raining to-day as it was that
+other time." He gazed significantly up at the
+cloudless sky seen in little blue patches through
+the trees, and the girls flushed, partly from embarrassment
+and partly from anger. Somehow,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span>
+they had not been prepared to have him take this
+attitude, and they resented it.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment they stood miserably tongue-tied.
+Even their usually quick-witted Little Captain
+seemed suddenly to have been stricken speechless.
+They were just about to turn and run when
+Mollie saved the day for them.</p>
+
+<p>Pushing forward through the group she confronted
+the man on the door step.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Vous &ecirc;tes Paul Loup, n'est-ce pas, monsieur?</i>"
+she said in a clear voice, gazing up at
+him fearlessly.</p>
+
+<p>While the girls gasped at her temerity a most
+astounding thing happened. The man dropped
+the frying pan and it clattered to the floor, its
+contents spilling out greasily. While they looked
+he seemed to crumple, shrivel, and his eyes stared
+at them glassily out of his white mask of a face.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Mon Dieu!</i>" he cried hoarsely, staggering
+back into the shack. "You have found me!
+But I swear to you I did not kill him. <i>Mon Dieu</i>,
+I could not kill my brother!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CHAPTER XXI</h2>
+
+<h3>A STARTLING TALE</h3>
+
+
+<p>Hardly able to believe that they were actually
+living this weird thing, the girls crowded into the
+shack after the stricken man and found that he
+had sunk upon a bench and covered his face with
+his hands.</p>
+
+<p>Strangely enough, though it had been Mollie
+who had precipitated this thing, it was Betty who
+now took the lead. Softly she went over to the
+shrinking man and put a gentle hand on his
+shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"You say you did not kill your brother?" she
+questioned in so calm a voice that the girls marveled
+at her. "You are sure you did not?"</p>
+
+<p>"No! no!" cried the man again raising his
+haggard face, deep-lined with the marks of suffering,
+"No&mdash;I am not sure. Can you not see?
+It is that that is killing me. Yet in my sane
+moments I know that he was dead. He lay there,
+so white, so still, with only that red, red stream
+of blood to mar his whiteness. I leaned down,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span>
+I listened to his heart&mdash;&mdash;" The man had evidently
+forgotten the presence of the girls, engulfed
+as he was in the horror of the incident he related.
+Once more he was living the tragedy, and the
+girls, tense, strained, horrified, lived it with him.</p>
+
+<p>"I listened to his heart," the man repeated, his
+arms stretched out before him, his long, delicate
+hands gripped with a fierceness that made the
+knuckles go white. "There was no beating. I
+put my face close to his mouth to see if there was
+breath. But he had stopped breathing&mdash;forever!</p>
+
+<p>"My heart went cold. I seized him by the
+shoulders. I called him by his name&mdash;that
+brother that I had loved! Oh, how I had loved
+him. I begged him to come back to me, to open
+those gray lips that a moment before had been
+beautiful with life&mdash;to speak to me&mdash;and all the
+time&mdash;&mdash;" his hand relaxed and pointed to the
+floor and the girls followed the movement fascinated&mdash;"there
+kept spreading and spreading on
+the rug a deep red stain&mdash;my brother's blood!
+<i>Mon Dieu!</i> And when I staggered to my feet
+I found that the horrible stuff had clung to my
+fingers&mdash;they were dark and sticky&mdash;the fingers
+of a murderer! I went mad then, I think. I
+rushed from the house, from the place. One
+thing only was in my mind. To get away&mdash;to get
+away from Paris, that accursed city&mdash;&mdash;" He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span>
+paused, staring at the floor, and the girls waited,
+hardly daring to move for fear they would break
+the spell.</p>
+
+<p>"The rest is like a bad dream to me," the man
+continued in a weary voice. "Ghost-ridden,
+haunted, I came to this country incognito&mdash;under
+what you call an assumed name. For a short
+time I stayed in New Orleans&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"But your violin!" Betty interrupted in a voice
+that amazed her, it seemed so little and weak.
+"Surely you were under contract."</p>
+
+<p>The man turned on her what was almost a
+pitying look from his sunken eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"I could not play," he said, with a shrug of
+his shoulders. "To have gone to my manager
+would have been like going to the hangman&mdash;the
+electric chair, what you have in this country. No,
+mademoiselle, I was a murderer, a man hunted
+by his fellowmen. There was but one thing
+for me to do&mdash;to hide, to dodge about like a rabbit
+from a pack of baying dogs. Hide!" he
+added bitterly. "I could not hide from myself.</p>
+
+<p>"Always when the night grows dark and the
+wind it makes to howl around this place I can
+hear my brother's voice uplifted in anger. We
+quarreled over something my uncle had said&mdash;a
+foolish quarrel. He called me liar, and I&mdash;something
+snapped in my brain, I think, and for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span>
+a moment everything went red. There was a
+wine bottle on the table&mdash;we had been drinking&mdash;blindly
+I struck out with it&mdash;&mdash; Now, when
+the darkness comes and the wildcat calls into the
+night with a scream like a soul in torment, I hear
+again the tinkling of that bottle as it shattered,
+the short groan, the falling of a heavy body.</p>
+
+<p>"It is a wonder that I have not gone mad," he
+said. "Many a time I have prayed that I might
+or that I might find courage to end this miserable
+life and go to join my brother. But I am a
+coward, a coward&mdash;&mdash;" His voice lowered till
+it was almost inaudible and tears trickled through
+the long white fingers. "I have not the courage
+even to die. There is a tribunal above that I
+should have to face, more just, more awful, than
+any man-made law. There you have what Paul
+Loup has become."</p>
+
+<p>"But you must not speak that way," said Betty,
+whose quick mind had been forging ahead while
+the man had been speaking. "It is one thing to
+kill a man deliberately, and quite another to kill
+in hot blood, blindly. Besides," she added eagerly,
+"you are not even sure that you did kill
+your brother. Did you&mdash;have you seen the papers
+since&mdash;since you ran away?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said the man. His tone was dead, hopeless.
+"I was afraid of what I might find there.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span>
+He was dead, Mademoiselle," he added wearily.
+"When I say that there is a doubt of that it is
+simply to give myself one little excuse for continuing
+to live. He did not move, he did not
+breathe. Ah, yes, he was dead, quite dead."</p>
+
+<p>There was silence for a moment while Betty
+thought rapidly. Amy and Mollie and Grace
+stared wide-eyed with the feeling that they
+were witnessing some tremendous, swift-moving
+drama.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course," said the man, breaking the silence
+abruptly, his somber eyes upon Betty, "there
+is but one thing left for me now to do. I shall
+surrender to the authorities&mdash;a thing which I
+should have done long ago. Or," he added
+grimly, "you might rather go with me now. If
+you left me I might attempt to escape&mdash;so you
+will think, Mademoiselle?"</p>
+
+<p>There was a lift at the end of the sentence that
+made it a question and, startled, the girls looked
+at Betty to see what she would say.</p>
+
+<p>The Little Captain herself was startled. Evidently
+the man thought they had been tracking
+him, had used their knowledge to trap him.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it isn't as you think!" she cried impulsively.
+"We never had the slightest little wish
+to harm you. And please, please," she added
+earnestly, "don't give yourself up to the authori<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span>ties,
+or do anything rash until you hear from me
+again. You may not believe me&mdash;I wouldn't
+blame you if you didn't&mdash;&mdash;" she went on shyly,
+for the man had risen and was staring at her,
+"but all we want to do is to help you if we
+can&mdash;&mdash;" she broke off confusedly for the look
+in the man's eyes silenced her.</p>
+
+<p>"You know I am Paul Loup," he cried hoarsely.
+"You have heard my story, my confession from
+my own lips, and still you say that you wish me
+no harm! Who are you? what are you? what
+do you want of me?" He had advanced toward
+them, and in a panic the girls moved back toward
+the open door. Only Betty stood fearlessly
+in his path.</p>
+
+<p>"We are the Outdoor Girls, and we are living
+just at present on Gold Run Ranch," she said
+quietly. "We found out who you were because
+you were good enough to play for us at a benefit
+we gave at the Hostess House at Camp Liberty
+some time ago. And we came up here because
+we thought that you were in trouble and that
+we might help you. If we can't help you, I'm
+sorry." And with head bravely uplifted Betty
+turned toward the door.</p>
+
+<p>She had almost reached it when he called to
+her.</p>
+
+<p>"You are a brave girl," said Paul Loup slowly,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span>
+his eyes intent on Betty's pretty face, "How do
+you know that I&mdash;the murderer&mdash;will not kill you
+also for this knowledge you have of me?"</p>
+
+<p>Betty heard the frightened gasp of the girls behind
+her, but, strangely enough, she herself felt
+no fear.</p>
+
+<p>"You wouldn't do that," she said, her clear
+gaze holding his burning one. "You could not
+wish harm to a friend."</p>
+
+<p>"Is that what you wish me to consider you&mdash;a friend?"
+asked the strange man, feeling suddenly
+as though something warm and vital had
+closed about his heart.</p>
+
+<p>"If you will," replied Betty, reaching out her
+hand. "I would like very much to be."</p>
+
+<p>But Paul Loup, for all he was a murderer and
+an outcast, was also a Frenchman. With a quick
+gesture, ignoring her outstretched hand he caught
+her in his arms, held her there for a minute,
+then, releasing her, kissed her gently, first on
+one cheek, then on the other.</p>
+
+<p>"I had forgotten there were kind hearts in
+the world," he murmured brokenly, turning from
+her. "You have restored my faith. <i>Au revoir</i>,
+my friend."</p>
+
+<p>Someway, somehow, the girls found themselves
+outside that little cabin, making their way blindly
+down the path to where their horses were tethered.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span>
+In a daze they mounted and rode off down the
+trail.</p>
+
+<p>When they came to the open trail they found
+that Betty was crying, openly, unashamed. Mollie
+pushed a handkerchief into her hand, but the
+Little Captain did not seem to notice it. She
+stared straight ahead, her cheeks burning, the
+tears rolling unchecked down her face.</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind, honey," said Mollie, trying to
+steady her voice. "It was hard for you, I know;
+but I would give anything I own to have made
+him feel that way about me. I don't care if he
+did commit murder. I'm for him&mdash;strong."</p>
+
+<p>"To be all alone," said Betty as though Mollie
+had not spoken, "and so heart-hungry that a little
+sympathy from a stranger&mdash;&mdash;" A sob choked
+the rest of her sentence. But a moment later
+she faced the girls with a light of resolve shining
+in her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Girls," she said, "I don't believe Paul Loup
+is a murderer, and some way or other I'm going
+to prove it. A man like that just couldn't commit
+murder. I know it!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CHAPTER XXII</h2>
+
+<h3>THE PLAN</h3>
+
+
+<p>Certainly the girls had never expected such
+startling developments from Mollie's simple little
+ruse to find out who the mysterious Hermit of
+Gold Run was. In the beginning it had been
+something of a lark, and they never dreamed that
+their interest and curiosity would uncover such
+a tragedy.</p>
+
+<p>However, they were not at all in sympathy with
+Betty's conviction that Paul Loup had not really
+killed his brother.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see how you get that way, Betty,"
+Grace argued hotly. "We all feel as sorry for the
+hermit as you do, but we have his own word for
+it that he really killed his brother."</p>
+
+<p>"He did seem to be pretty sure of it," said
+Amy, with a quaver in her voice. "When the
+wind rose last night and wailed around the house,
+I got all creepy thinking of him alone up in that
+dreary little shack, living that whole horrible thing
+over again."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It was the next day, and the girls were in the
+saddle, as usual. They had visited the new gold
+diggings and found everybody excited and optimistic,
+though no gold had been uncovered as
+yet. And now they were trotting slowly along
+the open road, their thoughts busy with the startling
+happenings of the day before.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a wonder he doesn't go crazy," shuddered
+Mollie, taking up the thread where Amy had
+dropped it. "I know I would. What was it
+he said about being 'ghost-ridden?'"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't believe he is ghost-ridden at all, except
+by his imagination," said Betty positively.
+"I think if he had taken the trouble to look at
+the newspapers before he decided that he was a
+hunted man he might have saved himself a lot
+of trouble and unhappiness."</p>
+
+<p>"Goodness, how do you get that way, Betty?"
+Grace said irritably. "The man ought to be the
+best judge of whether he killed anybody or
+not."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said the Little Captain stubbornly, "it
+seems to me it would have had to be a pretty
+heavy bottle with a pretty strong arm behind it
+to kill a man with one blow. And a scalp wound
+bleeds horribly, you know."</p>
+
+<p>The girls looked a little thoughtful, and for
+the first time since Betty had advanced her theory<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span>
+they began to think that there might possibly be
+something in it after all.</p>
+
+<p>"That's right," said Amy, and then went on to
+relate an experience she had had when skylarking
+with Sarah Stonington.</p>
+
+<p>"She had hold of that heavy rocking chair we
+have in the library," Amy said. "She was trying
+to pull it away from me, and I was hanging
+on to it for dear life.</p>
+
+<p>"Then suddenly I let go, and Aunt Sarah&mdash;she's
+pretty heavy, you know&mdash;lost her balance as
+the chair swung forward, and fell over backward,
+striking her head on the sharp edge of the
+piano."</p>
+
+<p>"Goodness, you must have been scared," commented
+Mollie.</p>
+
+<p>"'Scared!'" echoed Amy. "Why, I was
+struck dumb with terror. I thought I had killed
+her. She lay there all white and funny, and her
+head was bleeding dreadfully&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"There's your scalp wound for you," Betty
+pointed out. "Just a little scratch will make the
+whole place look like a shambles."</p>
+
+<p>"But what happened to your aunt Sarah, Amy,"
+pursued Mollie interestedly. "We know she
+didn't die."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I should say she didn't!" said Amy
+roundly. "She was as good as ever in ten min<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span>utes
+and laughing at me for being so frightened.
+But we had to have the rug sent away to get
+the stain out," she added significantly.</p>
+
+<p>"Huh," said the girls, and once more became
+thoughtful.</p>
+
+<p>"But suppose you were right, Betty?" said
+Mollie, after a while. "Suppose our poor musician
+is torturing himself by thinking he has committed
+a crime that he hasn't? What could you
+possibly do about it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't just know," Betty admitted truthfully.</p>
+
+<p>"We might ask your father," Grace hazarded,
+but Betty turned on her, startled.</p>
+
+<p>"That's just the thing I don't want to do!"
+she said hurriedly. "Dad is just the best and
+most easy-going father in the world, but he has
+a terribly stern sense of justice. I'm not sure he
+wouldn't think we were making ourselves&mdash;oh,
+what do you call it&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"<ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'Accessaries'">Accessories</ins> after the fact?" suggested Mollie,
+helpfully.</p>
+
+<p>"That's it," said Betty. "He might argue that
+we were committing a crime ourselves by helping
+to hide a criminal&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, maybe we are, at that," said Grace, uncomfortably.</p>
+
+<p>"They can put you in jail for that sort of thing,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span>
+can't they?" added Amy, a suggestion which certainly
+did not add to the cheerfulness of the atmosphere.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't care," said Betty stoutly. "I'd rather
+go to jail than deliver a man to a doubtful justice&mdash;especially
+when he may really be innocent.
+Anyway," she added, reasonably: "who is there
+to know that we went to Paul Loup's cabin the
+other day? I'm very sure no one saw us go in
+or come out, and if we keep quiet no one will
+have to know. That's why I didn't even want
+to take dad into our confidence."</p>
+
+<p>"But if our musician is, as you think, innocent,"
+Grace insisted, "then your father could do
+more for him than we."</p>
+
+<p>"But we don't know that he is innocent. That's
+only my idea," said Betty. "And dad would
+probably think it was a very foolish one. Maybe
+it is, for all I know," she added dubiously.</p>
+
+<p>"How about Allen?" said Grace suddenly after
+another rather long silence. "He would certainly
+sympathize with our poor hermit and, being a
+lawyer, he would probably be able to think up
+some way that we might establish the man's innocence
+or guilt without giving away his whereabouts.
+There, how's that for a brilliant idea?"
+she finished proudly.</p>
+
+<p>"I had already thought of that," admitted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span>
+Betty, while the girls turned amused eyes upon
+her. "But I was almost afraid to suggest
+it."</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe Allen would agree with your father
+that we, ought to turn him over to justice," said
+Mollie, but Betty shook her head vigorously.</p>
+
+<p>"Never! Not Allen!" she declared fervently.
+"He believes the other fellow innocent until he
+is proved guilty."</p>
+
+<p>"So does the law," said Amy wisely.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but the law has sent many an innocent
+man to prison nevertheless," retorted Mollie.
+"We don't always find justice in the courts."</p>
+
+<p>"Hear, hear," cried Grace. "Get a soap box,
+Mollie."</p>
+
+<p>"Then it is settled that we are to tell Allen,
+is it?" said Betty eagerly. "I'm sure he will
+find some way to help us."</p>
+
+<p>"If we can pry him loose from the mining outfit,"
+laughed Mollie. "He seems to have gold
+fever worse than any of them."</p>
+
+<p>But Allen had been busy, during the intervals
+when he could tear himself away from the
+fascination of the mining operations, on some
+legal matters.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Nelson, and her husband also, had feared
+that these numerous relatives of her great uncle,
+of whose existence she herself had scarcely been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span>
+aware, might see fit to contest the old man's will
+especially when it became apparent that his property
+at this time was far more valuable than it
+had been at the time of his death.</p>
+
+<p>Allen, after considerable investigation, was able
+to set their fears at rest upon this point, however,
+by asserting that the old gentleman had made
+only one will and that he thought it very doubtful
+under the circumstances that the relatives would
+take the case into the courts. They were not
+Mr. Barcolm's children and grandchildren, as
+Lizzie had supposed, but distant relatives whom
+at one time and another the old man had befriended
+and gathered about him, but who had
+later quarreled with their benefactor.</p>
+
+<p>"Anyway," Mrs. Nelson decided happily, "if
+we really do find some gold I will give each one
+of them a share of it, even to the littlest."</p>
+
+<p>On this particular afternoon the girls found
+Allen, not at the mines as they supposed they
+would, but at the ranch house busy with some
+papers.</p>
+
+<p>When they besought him to come out for a ride,
+he hesitated at first, saying that he ought to get
+his work done before night. But they finally
+persuaded him not to let duty interfere with
+pleasure.</p>
+
+<p>"All right," he surrendered at last. "If you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span>
+will get one of the boys to saddle Lightning for
+me I will be with you in ten minutes."</p>
+
+<p>He kept his promise, and in a short time was
+listening to the strangest tale he had ever heard.
+As he listened his face became more and more
+serious.</p>
+
+<p>"But, girls, this thing sounds impossible!" he
+burst forth, finally. "Are you telling me that
+you, alone and unprotected, managed to inveigle
+this murderer into confessing his crime to you?
+Gee, it's&mdash;it's unbelievable! The four of you
+would be a great help to me in my profession,"
+he added, with a chuckle.</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't think you would take it as a joke,"
+said Betty, reproachfully.</p>
+
+<p>"It isn't a joke," returned Allen, his face grave
+again. "It's a mighty serious business, if you
+will excuse my saying so. It makes me sick
+when I think of the chance you took." He was
+speaking to all the girls, but his look of concern
+was for Betty.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, we don't want to think about ourselves,"
+said the latter, impatiently. "We've done a good
+deal more dangerous things than that in our lives.
+We thought&mdash;we hoped&mdash;you might help us to
+prove his innocence&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"But the man's guilty," said Allen, surprised.
+"We have that by his own confession&mdash;&mdash;"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>With a glance of despair at the others, Betty
+interrupted him.</p>
+
+<p>"Listen to me, Allen," she said. "This is
+what I think&mdash;&mdash;" And she went on to tell him
+her idea while he listened, at first with a smile of
+faint amusement on his lips which gradually
+changed to grave admiration as he realized Betty's
+unfailing faith in the basic goodness of human
+nature.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope you are right, little girl," he said at
+last, when she had finished and was looking at
+him earnestly. "I'd like to believe you were
+right&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"But you can't?" she finished for him, trying
+to stifle the disappointment in her heart.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I can't," he answered truthfully. "When
+a man is so sure of his crime that he flees his
+own country, gives up money and fame to escape
+the law, you may be pretty sure that his crime
+was a real one."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Allen, you don't know the man," Betty
+pleaded, pretty close to tears in the bitterness of
+her disappointment. "No one could make the
+kind of music he does and be truly wicked. I
+wish you could have met him. I think you would
+have tried a little harder to help him."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm willing to help him, if I can," Allen answered
+gently, feeling that he would be almost<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span>
+willing to step into this poor musician's place if
+he might have Betty plead for him as she had
+just done for the other. "What is it you would
+like me to do?"</p>
+
+<p>Then suddenly the great idea popped full grown
+into Betty's head.</p>
+
+<p>"I have it!" she cried. "Why not write to Paul
+Loup's manager in New York and ask him for
+particulars?"</p>
+
+<p>"Capital!" replied Allen approvingly, while the
+girls looked at their Little Captain admiringly.
+"If anybody ought to be able to give us information,
+he surely is the one."</p>
+
+<p>"And, Allen," begged Betty, reining her horse
+close to Allen and laying a timid hand on his
+arm, "you won't even whisper a word of what
+we've told you&mdash;not for your foolish old law,
+or anything else?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course not," said Allen, smiling at her.
+"We have to give the poor fellow his chance."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CHAPTER XXIII</h2>
+
+<h3>GREAT DAYS</h3>
+
+
+<p>That very afternoon Allen composed a letter
+to Paul Loup's concert manager&mdash;advised and
+censored by the girls, of course&mdash;and they all
+rode off to town to mail it in time to catch the
+four o'clock outgoing mail.</p>
+
+<p>"Now," said Mollie, as, this duty well performed,
+they started back to the ranch, "I feel better.
+We've started something, anyway."</p>
+
+<p>"Let's hope that we can finish it," added Grace,
+dubiously.</p>
+
+<p>They did not expect an answer to this epistle
+within ten days, and in the meantime they found
+plenty to keep them busy around the ranch.</p>
+
+<p>Progress at the mines was swift, and almost
+any minute now they might expect to hear the
+glorious tidings that some one had "struck it
+rich."</p>
+
+<p>Nothing had been seen of Peter Levine since
+that memorable night when the map had been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span>
+taken from him, and it was rumored that the rascally
+lawyer had left town.</p>
+
+<p>"And the longer he keeps away the healthier
+it will be for him, I reckon," Allen said, adding
+with a laugh: "Gee, but it makes me happy
+every time I think of how sore that chap may
+be."</p>
+
+<p>Betty had dimpled sympathetically.</p>
+
+<p>"You have an awfully mean disposition, Allen,"
+she chided him.</p>
+
+<p>Meggy and Dan Higgins were working furiously
+at their mine, but after a few days Betty
+was quick to see that they were not progressing
+as well as some of the others. After all Meggy,
+though unusually strong and robust for her age,
+was only a girl and her father was an old man
+who had just about worn out his energies in a
+fruitless search for fortune.</p>
+
+<p>Betty had besought her father to send help to
+these good friends of hers, and Mr. Nelson had
+immediately complied.</p>
+
+<p>There had been some trouble with Dan at first&mdash;with
+Meggy too, for that matter.</p>
+
+<p>"We can't take nothin' thet we can't pay fer,
+sir," the old fellow assured Mr. Nelson positively.
+But the latter reminded him that he and Meggy
+had saved his daughter's life, as well as those of
+the other girls, and that this put him, Mr. Nel<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span>son,
+deeply in the others' debt. In view of this
+the old fellow finally surrendered. In his heart
+he was deeply, fervently thankful for the help
+of the young, able-bodied man whom Mr. Nelson
+provided and for whose services he paid.</p>
+
+<p>"But ef I strike thet thar gold vein, sir," Dan
+assured Mr. Nelson earnestly, "I'm goin' to make
+it up to you, sir, every cent of it."</p>
+
+<p>"All right, we can talk about that later," Mr.
+Nelson said, and laughed and walked on to view
+his own operations, feeling that he had done a
+very good day's work.</p>
+
+<p>One morning, as the girls mounted their horses
+and turned their heads in the direction of the
+gold diggings, they heard what seemed to be wild
+cheering and shouting in the distance and with
+one impulse they urged their horses to a gallop.</p>
+
+<p>"Somebody's found something!" shouted Mollie,
+as the cheering and shouting became more
+distinct. "Oh, girls, I wonder who it is."</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe a mine has caved in, or something,"
+Grace called back, pessimistically. "You'd better
+not get too happy, all at once."</p>
+
+<p>"You old wet-blanket!" cried Betty, as she
+leaned forward and whispered in Nigger's ear,
+urging him to greater speed. "That kind of mine
+doesn't cave in very often. Oh, Nigger, hurry,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span>
+old boy! Don't you know we've got to get there
+quickly?"</p>
+
+<p>As they approached the noise became tumultuous,
+and as they topped a small hill that brought
+them in full view of the new diggings they saw
+a sight that they would never forget as long as
+they lived.</p>
+
+<p>They gazed on what seemed to be a mob gone
+wild. Men grasped each other around the waists,
+performing some kind of crazy dance that looked
+like an Indian cakewalk. Others tossed their
+hats in the air and shot holes through them as
+they fell to the ground. And all were laughing,
+crying, shouting, waving arms and head gear
+in a sort of wild, feverish, primal jubilation.</p>
+
+<p>The girls caught the thrill of it and they tingled
+to their finger tips. Putting spurs to their horses,
+they galloped down into the thick of it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CHAPTER XXIV</h2>
+
+<h3>THE END OF PETER LEVINE</h3>
+
+
+<p>The crowd scattered as the Outdoor Girls
+came whirling down into its midst, but in an instant
+it had closed about them again. They dismounted,
+leaving their excited horses to go where
+they would, and pushed their way through to the
+group that seemed to be the center of all this
+wild demonstration.</p>
+
+<p>And when they saw Meggy, fairly weeping with
+joy, and old Dan Higgins, holding a handful of
+precious golden nuggets, they nearly went mad
+themselves.</p>
+
+<p>They kissed and hugged Meggy till she cried
+aloud for mercy. They kissed and hugged old
+Dan, and he took it as though he had been used
+to being made much of by pretty girls all his
+life.</p>
+
+<p>Twenty years had fallen from the old man's
+age. No matter that he had wasted the best part
+of his life in a vain hunt for gold. His dream
+had been realized at last. There was a fortune<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span>
+in his grasp, and he felt again the thrill that
+had coursed through his veins when, as a young
+man, heart high with aspirations, he had started
+on his quest.</p>
+
+<p>He was young again! Young! It seemed as
+though the sight of those golden nuggets&mdash;his
+own&mdash;had renewed the fires of youth.</p>
+
+<p>Nimbly he sprang upon an empty powder
+keg and addressed his frenzied audience.</p>
+
+<p>"Friends and fellow gold hunters," he yelled,
+and there was a roar of appreciation. "They is a
+few words I'd like to say afore we go back to
+wrestlin' some more gold outen them rocks. An'
+these is them. Ef I'm a happy man to-day an' a
+rich one, then it's all due to these four young
+gals here. They set me on the trail o' this new
+thing when I was purty near tuckered out. You
+all knows 'em an' loves 'em. Now give 'em a
+cheer. Hearty, now, hearty&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Then arose such a roar that the Outdoor Girls'
+hearts swelled near to bursting and they felt
+the tears sting their eyes. That moment would
+be something to remember all their lives.</p>
+
+<p>The roar gradually subsided and the miners
+wandered back to their own operations again,
+followed by scattered groups of curious onlookers.
+They worked with redoubled energy, with
+redoubled hope. Gold had been found. More<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span>
+gold would be found. It was a thrilling, glorious
+race to see who would be the next to announce
+good fortune.</p>
+
+<p>Left to themselves, the girls crowded around
+Meggy, questioning her, congratulating her, demanding
+to know how it had all happened and
+when.</p>
+
+<p>"My&mdash;my mouth is so dry I can hardly speak,"
+said Meggy, quivering with nervous reaction.
+"I&mdash;I can't jest make up my mind that it has
+happened yet."</p>
+
+<p>"We know," said Betty, soothingly. "You
+needn't tell us about it if you don't want to."</p>
+
+<p>"But I do&mdash;I've got <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'too'">to</ins>!" cried Meggy tensely.
+"Why, it seems like a dream. But I'm so happy,
+so wildly happy&mdash;&mdash;" A sob caught in her throat
+and she paused for a moment, then went on
+swiftly, the words tumbling over each other in
+her eagerness: "It was jest this morning that
+it happened, jest a little while ago. You know we
+have been workin' awful hard the last few days,
+an' I was getting worried over dad again. He
+was gittin' that thin an' weak an' kind o' discouraged,
+too. Seemed like he'd jest made up
+his mind that there wasn't no luck fer him nowhere's.</p>
+
+<p>"Then&mdash;&mdash;" she leaned forward, her eyes
+black as coals, her fingers clasped convulsively in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span>
+front of her. "Then we uncovered it, that first
+little narrow vein o' gold runnin' through the
+rocks. I thought dad would go plumb crazy
+when he seen it. Honest, I was skeered for a
+minute, till I recollected thet joy never killed nobody.</p>
+
+<p>"Then I began to be skeered fer myself. I
+felt so kind o' queer an' wobbly inside o' me.
+Then dad came runnin' out to show the other
+fellers what he'd found, an' seemed like they went
+crazy too.</p>
+
+<p>"Then you come an'&mdash;an'&mdash;I guess thet's 'bout
+all."</p>
+
+<p>The girls drew a long breath.</p>
+
+<p>"All," repeated Grace, softly. "I should think
+it was about enough for one day!"</p>
+
+<p>"An' now," said Meggy, in a small little voice,
+"poor old dad an' me, we're rich&mdash;rich! Think
+of it&mdash;Meggy an' her dad! Now I can buy a hoss
+like&mdash;like&mdash;Nigger, mebbe&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You funny girl," cried Betty, hugging her
+fondly. "Of course you can buy a horse&mdash;a
+dozen of them if you want to. But wouldn't you
+like anything else? Pretty clothes, a beautiful
+house to live in&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," agreed Meggy, but without any special
+enthusiasm. "I used to think when you gals
+come around lookin' all pretty an' stylish in your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span>
+nice clothes thet I would like to dress thet way
+myself ef I wasn't as poor as dirt. An' I would
+like to live in somethin' besides a shack an' have
+sheets enough to your beds so's you could change
+'em every day ef you wanted to. Sure, I'd like
+them things.</p>
+
+<p>"But a hoss&mdash;&mdash;" Her voice lowered almost
+to a reverential pitch. "Ever sence I grew to be
+a long-legged gal, seems like all I've really wanted
+was a hoss. I s'pose," she turned dark, rather
+wistful eyes on the girls, "it's purty hard for you
+gals to understand what I'm talkin' about. You
+never longed fer a thing so's your heart ached
+till it seemed like it was dead inside of you. So
+you might think I was foolish to take on so 'bout
+only a hoss."</p>
+
+<p>"We don't think you're foolish, Meggy," said
+Betty, gently. "We think you're wonderful, and
+you deserve every bit of the splendid luck that
+has come to you. And I expect," she finished
+gayly, "that you will have the most beautiful horse
+in all Gold Run."</p>
+
+<p>Meggy's eyes lighted with joy. Then they
+misted suddenly as she looked at the girls.</p>
+
+<p>"It's jest like dad said," she murmured. "We
+wouldn't 'a' had nothin' ef it hadn't been fer you
+girls. You don't know how we feel about you,
+'cause we jest never could tell you."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The days that followed seemed like a beautiful
+fairy tale to the happy girls. Peter Levine had
+known what he was talking about when he had
+asserted that "gold was running wild" about the
+northern end of the ranch and its environs.</p>
+
+<p>It was as though the finding of gold in the
+new Higgins' mine had been the key that unlocked
+the door to a steady stream of it.</p>
+
+<p>Every day brought glad tidings of a new find,
+and, as some of these were on the ranch, Betty
+began to realize that the Nelson family was becoming
+very wealthy. They had always been
+well-to-do, for her father had prospered in his
+business, that of carpet manufacturer in Deepdale.
+But now it seemed that they were to know what
+it felt like to be really rich.</p>
+
+<p>The girls realized this, and once Mollie put the
+new idea into words.</p>
+
+<p>"This is a wonderful thing for you, Betty
+dear," she said soberly. "You can have about
+anything in the world that you want now. I&mdash;I&mdash;hope
+you won't forget your old friends." She
+said the last laughingly, but Betty was deeply
+hurt and showed that she was.</p>
+
+<p>"If&mdash;if you ever dare say such a horrid thing
+to me again, Mollie Billette," she cried, half way
+between tears and anger, "I'll never, never forgive
+you! You&mdash;you&mdash;ought to know me better."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>And Mollie, heartily ashamed of herself, succeeded
+in placating the Little Captain only after
+having apologized most abjectly.</p>
+
+<p>Then one day something happened that amused
+them all mightily. They had all turned out to the
+gold diggings, Mrs. Nelson, Mr. Nelson, the four
+girls, and Allen. Mrs. Nelson and Allen were
+engaged in the joyful pursuit of trying to figure
+out how much her profits would be, when Betty
+edged up to Allen and, pulling his sleeve, pointed
+out a man some distance from them. The latter
+was standing alone, and he seemed to be regarding
+the operations rather morosely.</p>
+
+<p>"Peter Levine, by all that's holy!" murmured
+Allen. "Just hold tight for a minute, folks, and
+watch me chase him."</p>
+
+<p>With an elaborately casual air, Allen sauntered
+over to the morose individual. The man looked
+up as he approached, and the scowl on his face
+deepened.</p>
+
+<p>"Howdy," said Allen, loud enough to cause
+those near by to turn to look at him. "How's
+my old friend Levine this morning?"</p>
+
+<p>"None of your business," snarled the other,
+with a black look. "Lay off me, do you hear?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, I hear," said Allen, loudly and cheerfully.
+"I'm quite exceptionally good at hearing.
+Shall I tell these friends of ours what Andy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span>
+Rawlinson and I happened to hear the other
+night, beneath these very trees? Why, Levine,
+where are you going?" he asked with feigned
+surprise, as the other started to take his leave.
+"Don't you want to hear&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Shut your mouth!" snarled Peter Levine, furiously,
+then turned and slunk off, followed by
+the jeers and catcalls of the crowd.</p>
+
+<p>"You shore hev got his number, boy," said
+one old timer, admiringly. "He loves you like
+the fox loves a trap."</p>
+
+<p>Allen grinned boyishly. "Suits me!" he said
+cheerfully.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CHAPTER XXV</h2>
+
+<h3>INNOCENT</h3>
+
+
+<p>"That was good, Allen," said Mr. Nelson appreciatively,
+as the young fellow rejoined the
+group. "You've licked him in fine shape."</p>
+
+<p>"And we want to thank you for the way you
+have handled things for us, Allen," added Mrs.
+Nelson, warmly. "We might have got into all
+sorts of trouble if it hadn't been for you."</p>
+
+<p>The young lawyer was tremendously embarrassed
+by this praise, though Betty was aglow
+with it. It was splendid to have her family so
+fond of Allen.</p>
+
+<p>The latter noticed her silence, and under cover
+of the general conversation commented upon it.</p>
+
+<p>"How feels the millionairess this morning?" he
+asked lightly, though Betty felt that there was a
+deeper meaning hidden behind the words.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm feeling splendid," she answered, her voice
+vibrating with the joy of living. "Who wouldn't
+be&mdash;with all this?" and she waved her hand over
+the bustling scene.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>In spite of the excitement of all these wonderful
+happenings, the girls, especially Betty, had
+thought almost constantly of the poor musician
+whom his neighbors called the Hermit of Gold
+Run.</p>
+
+<p>He never came down to help Dan Higgins and
+Meggy any more, probably, Grace said, scared
+off by the bustle and confusion of the new
+gold boom. Meggy had mentioned casually
+once or twice that she still took food to the desperate
+man.</p>
+
+<p>"If he only doesn't give himself up to the
+authorities before we get news from the East!"
+Betty, worried, exclaimed over and over again.</p>
+
+<p>Then one day, along with the other letters in
+the mail, there arrived an important looking document
+from New York addressed to Allen.</p>
+
+<p>The latter was out at the gold diggings at the
+time, and the girls fairly lassoed him, bringing
+him home protesting but helpless.</p>
+
+<p>"I say, what's the row?" he demanded, and
+for answer Mollie thrust the important missive
+into his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Read!" she commanded dramatically. "And
+tell us what lies within."</p>
+
+<p>Allen tore the envelope open and read the letter
+hastily through while the girls crowded around
+him and tried to read over his shoulder.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Then he jumped to his feet and waved the paper
+at them excitedly.</p>
+
+<p>"By Jove!" he cried, "this proves that Betty
+was right. The man didn't kill his brother&mdash;simply
+injured him. He was taken to the hospital
+and he recovered long since. The manager
+says he has been trying to locate Paul Loup for
+weeks. He is losing a fortune every day&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>But Betty could wait no longer. She snatched
+the letter from him and read it through aloud
+while the girls gaped at her.</p>
+
+<p>"Come on," she cried, reaching for her sailor
+hat and pushing it down on her shapely little
+head. "Don't stand there like wooden Indians.
+We've got to take this news to Paul Loup."</p>
+
+<p>Bent on their joyful mission, the girls approached
+the lonely little cabin in the woods
+swiftly. As they came near they heard again
+that same hauntingly sweet melody that had so
+moved them the first time they had heard it.</p>
+
+<p>Yet now that they understood the pain that
+prompted the rendering of that exquisite harmony,
+it seemed too bitterly sad to be beautiful,
+and their hearts ached dully in sympathy with
+Paul Loup's despair.</p>
+
+<p>Tears were in Betty's eyes, but there was a
+smile on her lips, as she pushed open the door<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span>
+of the little shack and stood waiting on the threshold.</p>
+
+<p>The musician saw her, ended the throbbing
+melody with a crash of discord, and gazed at her
+mutely. In all his tall, gaunt body only his glowing
+eyes seemed really alive, but in those eyes
+there was a welcome that gave Betty courage.</p>
+
+<p>"Look!" she cried, holding out the paper to
+him. "This is from your manager. Read it&mdash;and
+see that you are innocent."</p>
+
+<p>Slowly the man laid down his violin and bow,
+slowly he took the paper from Betty's trembling
+fingers. Like a man in a daze he read it through&mdash;then
+read it through again.</p>
+
+<p>"I did not kill him&mdash;my brother," he murmured
+aloud. "My brother&mdash;that I love&mdash;I did not kill
+him. He is alive&mdash;he is well. <i>Mon Dieu</i>, then
+I am free! Paul Loup&mdash;he is not a murderer&mdash;a
+hunted thing. He is again the artist&mdash;free&mdash;<i>free</i>&mdash;&mdash;"
+His voice, which had been gradually
+rising as the truth bore in upon him, rose to a
+jubilant shout and he threw out his arms passionately
+as though to encompass them all in his
+newly found love of life. "The world&mdash;&mdash;" he
+said brokenly, "the world is very beautiful!"</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Silently the girls rode through the sunshine and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span>
+shadow-filled forest, their hearts filled with a happiness
+so poignant it seemed almost pain.</p>
+
+<p>"What a wonderful, wonderful summer!"
+breathed Mollie. "I don't believe we have ever
+had one like it, girls."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish we didn't have to go home," sighed
+Amy. "I shall miss my beautiful Lady so," and
+she laid a loving hand on the little animal's
+arching neck.</p>
+
+<p>"What about me?" wailed Grace. "I know I
+shall cry myself to sleep, longing for Nabob.
+He's one of the best chums I ever had."</p>
+
+<p>But the Little Captain did not hear them.
+Over and over again, like an echo, her mind was
+repeating those words of Paul Loup: "The
+world is very beautiful."</p>
+
+<p>"Girls," she murmured dreamily, "everybody
+is so happy&mdash;and I'm so happy&mdash;oh, please, don't
+wake me up&mdash;anybody!"</p>
+
+<p>And so, at the end of a wonderful outing, with
+life stretching gloriously before them, we will
+once more sadly, reluctantly, wave farewell to the
+Outdoor Girls.</p>
+
+
+<h2>THE END</h2>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>THE OUTDOOR GIRLS SERIES</h2>
+
+<h3>By LAURA LEE HOPE</h3>
+
+<div class='center'>Author of the "Bobbsey Twin Books" and "Bunny Brown"
+Series.</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<div class='center'>
+<b>12mo. BOUND IN CLOTH.  ILLUSTRATED.  UNIFORM STYLE OF BINDING.</b><br />
+</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>These tales take in the various adventures participated in
+by several bright, up-to-date girls who love outdoor life.
+They are clean and wholesome, free from sensationalism,
+absorbing from the first chapter to the last.</p>
+
+
+<div class='unindent'><br />
+THE OUTDOOR GIRLS OF DEEPDALE<br />
+Or Camping and Tramping for Fun and Health.<br />
+</div>
+
+<p>Telling how the girls organized their Camping and Tramping Club,
+how they went on a tour, and of various adventures which befell them.</p>
+
+
+<div class='unindent'><br />
+THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT RAINBOW LAKE<br />
+Or Stirring Cruise of the Motor Boat Gem.<br />
+</div>
+
+<p>One of the girls becomes the proud possessor of a motor boat and
+invites her club members to take a trip down the river to Rainbow
+Lake, a beautiful sheet of water lying between the mountains.</p>
+
+
+<div class='unindent'><br />
+THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A MOTOR CAR<br />
+Or The Haunted Mansion of Shadow Valley.<br />
+</div>
+
+<p>One of the girls has learned to run a big motor car, and she invites
+the club to go on a tour to visit some distant relatives. On the way
+they stop at a deserted mansion and make a surprising discovery.</p>
+
+
+<div class='unindent'><br />
+THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A WINTER CAMP<br />
+Or Glorious Days on Skates and Ice Boats.<br />
+</div>
+
+<p>In this story, the scene is shifted to a winter season. The girls
+have some jolly times skating and ice boating, and visit a hunters'
+camp in the big woods.</p>
+
+
+<div class='unindent'><br />
+THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN FLORIDA<br />
+Or Wintering in the Sunny South.<br />
+</div>
+
+<p>The parents of one of the girls have bought an orange grove in
+Florida, and her companions are invited to visit the place. They take
+a trip into the interior, where several unusual things happen.</p>
+
+
+<div class='unindent'><br />
+THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT OCEAN VIEW<br />
+Or The Box that Was Found in the Sand.<br />
+</div>
+
+<p>The girls have great fun and solve a mystery while on an outing
+along the New England coast.</p>
+
+
+<div class='unindent'><br />
+THE OUTDOOR GIRLS ON PINE ISLAND<br />
+Or A Cave and What it Contained.<br />
+</div>
+
+<p>A bright, healthful story, full of good times at a bungalow camp
+on Pine Island.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<div class='center'>
+<span class="smcap">Grosset &amp; Dunlap,  Publishers,  New York</span><br />
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL<br />
+HIGH SERIES</h2>
+
+<h3>By GERTRUDE W. MORRISON</h3>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<div class='center'>
+<b>12mo. BOUND IN CLOTH.  ILLUSTRATED.  UNIFORM STYLE OF BINDING.</b><br />
+</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Here is a series full of the spirit of high school life of to-day.
+The girls are real flesh-and-blood characters, and we follow
+them with interest in school and out. There are many
+contested matches on track and field, and on the water, as well
+as doings in the classroom and on the school stage. There is
+plenty of fun and excitement, all clean, pure and wholesome.</p>
+
+
+<div class='unindent'><br />
+THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH<br />
+Or Rivals for all Honors.<br />
+</div>
+
+<p>A stirring tale of high school life, full of fun, with a touch
+of mystery and a strange initiation.</p>
+
+
+<div class='unindent'><br />
+THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH ON LAKE LUNA<br />
+Or The Crew That Won.<br />
+</div>
+
+<p>Telling of water sports and fun galore, and of fine times in camp.</p>
+
+
+<div class='unindent'><br />
+THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH AT BASKETBALL<br />
+Or The Great Gymnasium Mystery.<br />
+</div>
+
+<p>Here we have a number of thrilling contests at basketball and in
+addition, the solving of a mystery which had bothered the high
+school authorities for a long while.</p>
+
+
+<div class='unindent'><br />
+THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH ON THE STAGE<br />
+Or The Play That Took the Prize.<br />
+</div>
+
+<p>How the girls went in for theatricals and how one of them wrote
+a play which afterward was made over for the professional stage
+and brought in some much-needed money.</p>
+
+
+<div class='unindent'><br />
+THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH ON TRACK AND FIELD<br />
+Or The Girl Champions of the School League<br />
+</div>
+
+<p>This story takes in high school athletics in their most approved
+and up-to-date fashion. Full of fun and excitement.</p>
+
+
+<div class='unindent'><br />
+THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH IN CAMP<br />
+Or The Old Professor's Secret.<br />
+</div>
+
+<p>The girls went camping on Acorn Island and had a delightful
+time at boating, swimming and picnic parties.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<div class='center'><b><span class="smcap">Grosset &amp; Dunlap, Publishers, New York</span></b></div>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;' />
+
+<div class='tnote'><h3>Transcriber's Notes</h3>
+<p>Obvious punctuation errors repaired.</p>
+<p>The remaining corrections made are indicated by dotted lines under the corrections.
+Scroll the mouse over the word and the original text will <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'apprear'">appear</ins>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN THE SADDLE***</p>
+<p>******* This file should be named 19318-h.txt or 19318-h.zip *******</p>
+<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br />
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+</html>
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@@ -0,0 +1,6084 @@
+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Outdoor Girls in the Saddle, by Laura Lee
+Hope
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Outdoor Girls in the Saddle
+       Or, The Girl Miner of Gold Run
+
+
+Author: Laura Lee Hope
+
+
+
+Release Date: September 18, 2006  [eBook #19318]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN THE SADDLE***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Emmy, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 19318-h.htm or 19318-h.zip:
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/3/1/19318/19318-h/19318-h.htm)
+      or
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/3/1/19318/19318-h.zip)
+
+
+
+
+
+THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN THE SADDLE
+
+or The Girl Miner of Gold Run
+
+by
+
+LAURA LEE HOPE
+
+Author of "The Outdoor Girls of Deepdale," "The Outdoor Girls at Wild
+Rose Lodge," "The Moving Picture Girls," "The Bobbsey Twins," "Bunny
+Brown and His Sister Sue," "Six Little Bunkers at Grandma Bell's," Etc.
+
+Illustrated
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+New York
+Grosset & Dunlap
+Publishers
+Made in the United States of America
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+BOOKS FOR GIRLS
+
+BY LAURA LEE HOPE
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+12mo. Cloth. Illustrated.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+THE OUTDOOR GIRLS SERIES
+
+          THE OUTDOOR GIRLS OF DEEPDALE
+          THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT RAINBOW LAKE
+          THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A MOTOR CAR
+          THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A WINTER CAMP
+          THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN FLORIDA
+          THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT OCEAN VIEW
+          THE OUTDOOR GIRLS ON PINE ISLAND
+          THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN ARMY SERVICE
+          THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT THE HOSTESS HOUSE
+          THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT BLUFF POINT
+          THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT WILD ROSE LODGE
+          THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN THE SADDLE
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS SERIES
+
+          THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS AT OAK FARM
+          THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS SNOWBOUND
+          THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS UNDER THE PALMS
+          THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS AT ROCKY RANCH
+          THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS AT SEA
+          THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS IN WAR PLAYS
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+THE BOBBSEY TWINS SERIES
+
+(Fifteen Titles)
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+THE BUNNY BROWN SERIES
+
+(Twelve Titles)
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+SIX LITTLE BUNKERS SERIES
+
+(Eight Titles)
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York
+Copyright, 1922, by Grosset & Dunlap
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN THE SADDLE
+
+[Illustration: A LANDSLIDE--AND THEY WERE DIRECTLY IN ITS PATH!
+
+_The Outdoor Girls in the Saddle._ _Frontispiece_--(_Page_ 96)]
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+          CHAPTER                           PAGE
+
+              I A SUMMER IN THE SADDLE        1
+
+             II GREAT HOPES                   9
+
+            III ENTER PETER LEVINE           22
+
+             IV AN IMITATION HOLD-UP         33
+
+              V THE HANDSOME COWBOY          43
+
+             VI AT THE RANCH                 52
+
+            VII A SUDDEN STORM               62
+
+           VIII ALONG THE TRAIL              72
+
+             IX DANGER AHEAD                 81
+
+              X THE LANDSLIDE                88
+
+             XI IN THE CAVE                  97
+
+            XII IN THE DARKNESS             106
+
+           XIII THE LURE OF GOLD            112
+
+            XIV A DISCOVERY                 120
+
+             XV ALLEN ARRIVES               129
+
+            XVI A TIP                       137
+
+           XVII THE NET TIGHTENS            145
+
+          XVIII IN THE SHADOWS              154
+
+            XIX THE NEW MINE                165
+
+             XX THE VIOLINIST AGAIN         173
+
+            XXI A STARTLING TALE            180
+
+           XXII THE PLAN                    188
+
+          XXIII GREAT DAYS                  198
+
+           XXIV THE END OF PETER LEVINE     202
+
+            XXV INNOCENT                    210
+
+
+
+
+THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN THE SADDLE
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+A SUMMER IN THE SADDLE
+
+
+"Hello, hello! Oh, what is the matter with central!"
+
+The dark-haired, pink-cheeked girl at the telephone jiggled the receiver
+impatiently while a straight line of impatience marred her pretty mouth.
+
+"Oh dear, oh dear!"
+
+"At last! Is that you, Mollie Billette? I've been trying to get you for
+the last half hour. What's that? You've been home all morning twiddling
+your thumbs and wondering what to do with yourself? Of course! I knew it
+was central's fault all the time! Now listen! Goodness, what are you
+having over at your house? A jazz dance or something? I can hardly hear
+you speak for the noise."
+
+"No, it isn't a dance," came back Mollie's voice wearily from the other
+end of the wire. "It's just the twins. They want to talk to you. Hold
+the wire a minute while I shut them in the other room."
+
+Followed a silence during which Betty Nelson could distinctly hear the
+wails of Mollie's little brother and sister as they were ushered
+forcibly into an adjoining room. Then Mollie's voice again at the phone.
+
+"Hello," she said. "Still there, Betty? Guess I can hear you a little
+better now. Mother's out, and I've been taking care of the twins. Just
+rescued the cat from being dumped head down in the flour barrel."
+
+"Sounds natural," laughed the dark-haired, pink-cheeked one, as she
+visualized Mollie's little brother and sister, Dodo and Paul. They were
+twins, and always in trouble.
+
+"Anything special you called up about?" asked Mollie's voice from the
+other end of the wire. "Want to go for a ride or something?"
+
+"Not the kind of ride you mean," said the brown-eyed, pink-cheeked one,
+with a knowing little smile on her lips.
+
+At the lilt in her voice Mollie, at her end of the wire, sat up and
+stared inquiringly into the black mouth of the telephone.
+
+"Betty," she said hopefully, "you are hiding something from me. You
+have something up your sleeve."
+
+"You're right and wrong," giggled Betty. "I'm hiding something from you,
+but I can't get it up my sleeve, it's too big!"
+
+"Hurry up!" commanded Mollie in terrific accents. "Are you going to tell
+me what's on your mind, Betty Nelson?"
+
+"When will you be around?" countered Betty.
+
+"In five minutes."
+
+"Good!"
+
+"Betty, wait! Is it good news?"
+
+"The best ever," and Betty rang off.
+
+She twinkled at the telephone for a minute, then called another number.
+
+"That you, Gracie?"
+
+The fair-haired, tall, and very graceful girl at the other end of the
+wire acknowledged that it was.
+
+"Please suggest something interesting, Betty," she added plaintively, as
+she took a chocolate from the ever-present candy box and nibbled on it
+discontentedly. "I woke up with the most awful attack of the blues this
+morning."
+
+"What, with a whole summer full of blessed idleness before you?" mocked
+Betty.
+
+"Too much idleness," grumbled Grace. "That's the trouble."
+
+"Enter," said Betty drolly, "Doctor Elizabeth Nelson."
+
+Grace digested this remark for a moment, staring at the telephone in
+much the same manner as Mollie had done a few minutes before. Then she
+swallowed the last of her chocolate in such haste that it almost choked
+her.
+
+"Betty," she said, "I have heard you use that tone before. Is there
+really something in the wind?"
+
+"Come and see," said Betty and a click at the other end of the wire told
+Grace that the conversation was over.
+
+"Oh bother!" she cried, her pretty forehead drawn into a frown. "Now I
+suppose I've got to get dressed and go over there before I can find out
+what she meant."
+
+In the hall she nearly ran into her mother, who was dressed to go out.
+Mrs. Ford was a handsome woman, prominent in the social circles of
+Deepdale. She was kindly and sympathetic, and all who knew her loved
+her.
+
+So now, as she regarded her mother, a loving smile erased the frown from
+Grace's forehead.
+
+"I declare, Mother, you look younger than I do," she said fondly.
+"Whither away so early?"
+
+"The art club, this morning," replied Mrs. Ford, her eyes approving the
+fair prettiness of her daughter. "Are you going out? I thought you were
+deep in that new book."
+
+"I was," said Grace, with a sigh for what might have been. "But Betty
+called up and said she wanted me to come over. There's something in the
+wind, that's sure, but she wouldn't give me even the teeniest little
+hint of what it was. I wasn't going at first, but I----"
+
+"Thought better of it," finished Mrs. Ford, with a smile. "Better go,"
+she added, as she opened the door. "My experience with Betty Nelson is
+that she usually has something interesting to say. Good-by, dear. If any
+one should 'phone while you are here, will you tell them that I shan't
+be back till late afternoon?"
+
+Grace promised that she would and moved slowly up the stairs.
+
+Meanwhile Amy Blackford, the last of the trio to whom the dark-haired,
+pink-cheeked little person who was Betty Nelson had telephoned, had
+stopped merely to remove the apron from in front of her pink-checked
+gingham dress and was now flying along the two short blocks that
+separated her house from the Nelsons'.
+
+As for poor Mollie Billette, she was nearly distracted. Torn with
+curiosity, as that young person very often was, to know the facts that
+had prompted Betty's early call, she yet could not satisfy that
+curiosity. When she had told Betty that she would be around in five
+minutes she had fully meant to make that promise good. But--she had
+forgotten the twins!
+
+Upon entering the room where she had locked them while she talked to
+Betty, she found a sight that fairly took her breath away.
+
+Unfortunately, some one had left an open bottle of ink on the table. One
+of the twins, deciding to play "savages," had pounced upon the ink
+bottle as a means of making the play more realistic!
+
+"Oh, Dodo! Oh, Paul! How could you be so naughty?" moaned Mollie,
+sinking to the floor, while the tears of exasperation rolled down her
+face.
+
+"Paul did it," accused Dodo, waving a pudgy, ink-stained little fist in
+the direction of her brother. "He said, 'let's use this ink and play
+we're savagers----'"
+
+It was upon this scene that Mollie's little French-American mother, Mrs.
+Billette, came a moment later.
+
+"Oh! Oh!" she cried, raising her hands in the French gesture all French
+people know so well. "What is this? Mollie, have you gone quite mad?"
+
+Whereupon Mollie shook the tears of woe from her eyes and explained to
+her mother just what had happened.
+
+"And I was in such a hurry to get to Betty's," she finished dismally. "I
+just know she has something exciting to tell us. And now I don't suppose
+I will get there for hours."
+
+"Oh yes, you will," said Mrs. Billette, with the delicious, almost
+imperceptible, accent she had. "The ink has not yet dried, and luckily
+there is not much about the room. Run along, dear. I fully realize," she
+added, with the smile that made Mollie adore her, "that this, with you,
+is a very important occasion."
+
+"And you are the most precious mother in the world!" cried Mollie,
+flinging young arms about her mother and giving her a joyful hug. "I
+might have known you would understand." And before the words were fairly
+out of her mouth she was flying up the stairs.
+
+When she reached Betty's house at last, out of breath but happy, she
+found that Grace and Amy were there before her. She found them all,
+including Betty, up in Betty's room, a pretty place done in ivory and
+blue, awaiting her coming as patiently as they could.
+
+"Betty wouldn't tell us a thing until you came," was the greeting Grace
+flung at her.
+
+"So don't be surprised if you aren't very popular around here," laughed
+Betty, sitting very straight in her wicker chair, feet stretched out and
+crossed in front of her, hands tightly clasped in her lap. Her face was
+a pretty picture of animation.
+
+"Who cares for popularity?" cried Mollie, as she flung her sport hat on
+the bed and turned to face Betty. "Betty Nelson, bring out that
+surprise."
+
+"Who said it was a surprise?" asked Betty tantalizingly, but the next
+minute her face sobered and she regarded the girls gravely.
+
+"Girls," she said, "I think I see a chance for the most glorious outing
+we have had yet. How would you like----" she paused and regarded the
+expectant girls thoughtfully. "How would you like a summer _in the
+saddle_?"
+
+"In the saddle?" repeated Grace wonderingly, but Mollie broke in with a
+quick:
+
+"Betty, do you mean on horseback?"
+
+"Real horses?" breathed Amy Blackford.
+
+"Yes," said Betty, nodding. "That's just exactly what I mean."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+GREAT HOPES
+
+
+"But where are we to do all this?" asked Grace skeptically. "Is somebody
+giving away steeds for the asking? Wake me up, somebody, when Betty gets
+through dreaming."
+
+"Keep still, you old wet blanket," cried Mollie. "Can't you see Betty is
+really in earnest?"
+
+"Never mind them," said Amy, leaning a little breathlessly toward Betty.
+"Let them fight it out between themselves. What is the great news,
+Betty?"
+
+"It _is_ great news," said Betty radiantly. "Listen, my children. Mother
+has received a legacy from a great uncle that she had almost forgotten
+she had."
+
+"Money?" queried Grace, interested.
+
+"No, that's the best part of it," said Betty. "Oh, girls, it's a ranch,
+a great big beautiful ranch in the really, truly west!"
+
+"Honest-to-goodness, wild and woolly?" queried Mollie, beaming.
+
+"Better than that," answered Betty with the same lilt to her voice that
+the girls had heard over the telephone. "I shouldn't wonder if we should
+find the real old-fashioned, movie kind of cowboys there--sombreros, fur
+leggings, bandannas, and all."
+
+"But where," interrupted Mollie, who had been waiting with more or less
+patience for Betty to come to the point, "do we come in, in all this? I
+fail to see----"
+
+"Oh hush," cried Betty, her eyes dancing. "You interrupt entirely too
+much. Where do we come in, she wants to know," she paused to bestow a
+beaming glance on Grace and Amy. "That's the biggest joke of all. Where
+do we come in? Why, honey dear, we're the whole show!"
+
+"The whole show," they murmured, beginning to see the light.
+
+"You bet," said the brown-haired, rosy-checked one slangily. "Now
+listen. I think I've about argued mother and dad around to the point
+where they'll agree to let us have the use of this wild and woolly
+rancho for a real outdoor adventure. How does that idea strike you?"
+
+"Listen to the child," cried Mollie pityingly. "Such a question!"
+
+"It would be heavenly!" raved Grace. "Think of riding around all day in
+fur leggings and a sombrero. Wide hats are always becoming to me," she
+added musingly.
+
+The girls laughed and Betty threw a pillow at her, missing her by a
+hair's breadth.
+
+"You needn't worry about your hat," laughed Betty. "Reckon there won't
+be anybody around there to admire you but Indians and broncho busters."
+
+"Oh, aren't the boys coming?" Grace asked, her disappointment in her
+voice.
+
+"They haven't been asked, silly," Mollie interrupted impatiently. "Tell
+me, Betty," she cried, turning to the Little Captain. "Is it really
+certain that we'll have this chance?"
+
+"No, it isn't," admitted Betty, her bright face sobering. "That's why I
+don't want you to get too excited about it. You see," her voice lowered
+confidentially, "dad might decide to sell it."
+
+"Sell it!" they cried in dismay, and Grace added, with a decision that
+made the girls laugh:
+
+"Oh, he mustn't do that until the fall, anyway."
+
+"All right, Gracie," said Betty, with a chuckle. "I'll give dad his
+orders."
+
+"But why does he want to sell it, Betty?" Amy questioned.
+
+"We-el," said the Little Captain slowly. "You see mother has already
+received an offer of fifteen thousand dollars for it. There's a ranchman
+out there, I think his name is John Josephs, or some such name, who
+seems to want to get hold of our ranch. So his lawyers have offered
+mother fifteen thousand for it."
+
+"That's a pretty good lot of money," said Amy thoughtfully.
+
+"Yes, it is," agreed Betty. "And dad seems to think that the best thing
+mother could do would be to take the money and get rid of the ranch. He
+says it will be a sort of white elephant on our hands, since there isn't
+very much chance of our going out there to live," she ended, with a
+chuckle.
+
+"Well," said Grace, with an injured air, "I don't see why you called us
+all over here just to disappoint us. If your father is going to sell the
+place, then we certainly sha'n't be able to make ourselves beautiful
+with bandannas and picturesque hats----"
+
+"Ah, but you did not let me finish," hissed Betty, melodramatically. "We
+have one ally--my mother."
+
+"Your mother!" cried Mollie, eagerly. "Then she doesn't want to sell the
+ranch?"
+
+"Right, the first time," cried Betty hilariously. "I think mother has a
+sneaking notion that she might look pretty good in a cowboy make-up
+herself. You see," she added, with a twinkle, "mother has never had a
+chance to own a real honest-to-goodness ranch before."
+
+"Oh, isn't she sweet!" cried Mollie fervently, adding, as one to whom
+inspiration had come: "I tell you what, Betty, we'll take her with us!"
+
+"How sweet of you," drawled Grace. "Especially since the ranch belongs
+to her!"
+
+The other girls chuckled and Mollie looked rather sheepish.
+
+"Oh, well," she admitted, "I guess it would be a case of her taking us
+along."
+
+"And I don't envy her the job," said gentle Amy unexpectedly, while the
+girls gazed their reproach.
+
+"Betty," said Mollie, "there is one very important thing that I would
+like to know."
+
+"Well, I'm the original little information bureau," Betty assured her.
+"What will you have?"
+
+"Does your dad really want to sell the ranch? Or is your mother likely
+to win out?"
+
+"Oh, mother always gets her way," said Betty confidently, adding:
+"Besides, the ranch was left to mother, you know, and not to dad. So
+really she has the say about it."
+
+"Yes, but she might change her mind," said Grace pessimistically.
+"Fifteen thousand dollars is a lot of money, you know. She might decide
+to sell the ranch, after all."
+
+"Well," said Betty, with an air of importance that the girls were quick
+to notice, "there is another reason why mother will probably hold on to
+the property, for a little while at least."
+
+"Yes?" they queried eagerly.
+
+"You see," Betty continued thoughtfully, "mother has an idea that this
+John Josephs is a little too anxious to buy the ranch. It's right up in
+the gold region, you know----"
+
+"Gold!" shrieked Mollie. "You never said a word about gold, Betty
+Nelson! Do you mean there may be gold----"
+
+"Now she _is_ getting interesting," admitted Grace, shaken out of her
+usual calm.
+
+"How romantic," murmured Amy, breathing fast.
+
+"Yes," said Betty ruefully. "That's what dad says mother is--romantic!
+He says there isn't a chance in a thousand that there is real gold
+anywhere near that ranch----"
+
+"Stop, woman, stop!" cried Mollie, with her most tragic scowl. "Wouldst
+put an end to all our dreams in one fell swoop----"
+
+"Probably that is all we shall do--just dream," said Betty, insisting
+upon being practical. "It's an idea of mother's, that's all. But she is
+really determined to see the ranch, at least, before she makes up her
+mind whether to sell or not. In fact," she hesitated, colored a little,
+then went on bravely, "dad has decided to send Allen out there to look
+up the title. There is some trouble about that, I think----"
+
+"Oh, now we know why she is so anxious to be a little cow girl," teased
+Grace, while the others regarded Betty's pretty color gleefully.
+
+"Oh, Betty, Betty!" cried Mollie, shaking her head dolefully, "you are
+altogether hopeless!"
+
+For Allen Washburn, of whom Betty had spoken in connection with the
+ranch, was a very promising young lawyer. Also this promising young
+lawyer was very fond of Betty Nelson. And while the girls are shaking
+their heads over this fact a little time will be taken to describe the
+Outdoor Girls to those readers who have not already met them and to
+review briefly the many and varied adventures they had had up to this
+time.
+
+Betty Nelson, dark-haired, dark-eyed, and rosy-cheeked, was the natural
+leader of the four Outdoor Girls, a fact which had led to her being
+dubbed "Little Captain" by the adoring girls. Betty's father, Charles
+Nelson, had made a good deal of money in his manufacture of carpets,
+and Betty's mother was a very sweet lady whom the name of Rose fitted
+exactly.
+
+Next came Mollie Billette, dark-haired and with snapping black eyes, who
+was almost as French in her manner as her very French mother.
+
+Readers of the present volume must already feel very well acquainted
+with Grace Ford. Grace was the Gibson type, tall and slender and
+fair-haired and very pretty, with a decided liking for looking in
+mirrors.
+
+Last of the quartette came Amy Blackford. Amy was the ward of John and
+Sarah Stonington, and for a long time she had thought her own name was
+Stonington. The mystery of her past had been cleared up, however, and
+Amy had come into her own. Shy, gentle, sweet, she was beloved and
+protected by the more hardy and active Betty and Mollie. And Amy, as shy
+girls sometimes will, had begun to think very much of Grace Ford's
+attractive brother, Will--which is a reminder that it is time to
+introduce "the boys."
+
+Allen Washburn and his open fondness for Betty have already been spoken
+of. Allen was tall, nearly six feet. Sunburned and handsome of face and
+quick of action, Allen attracted every one wherever he went. And, truly,
+Betty was no exception to this rule! Allen had been one of the first to
+volunteer his services to the good old army of the U. S. A., and while
+he had gone over only a buck private, he had come back a lieutenant.
+
+There was Will Ford, Grace's brother, whom Grace and Amy both adored.
+Will had been in the secret service when our country entered the war,
+and because of this he had been the victim of considerable
+misunderstanding. Afterward he had joined the army with the other boys.
+This was after some skillful secret service work that won the praise of
+the government, as well as the fervent admiration of the boys and girls.
+
+The other two boys were Frank Haley and Roy Anderson who had come into
+the little group because of their friendship for Will and Allen. They
+were fine, clean-cut, likable boys, who had come through the war with
+colors flying.
+
+The young folks had lived all their lives in Deepdale, a thriving little
+city with a population of about fifteen thousand people and situated in
+the heart of New York State. Deepdale was situated on the Argono River,
+a beautiful and romantic stream where pleasure craft of all sorts
+disported themselves. A branch line of the railroad connected with the
+main line directly to what the four Outdoor Girls believed to be the
+most wonderful of all cities, New York.
+
+The name of "Outdoor Girls" had come to the quartette from the fact
+that they invariably spent their summer vacations, and winter holidays
+also, in some sort of outdoor sport. They could ride, swim, play tennis,
+drive, and, in fact, do everything that is expected of the athletic
+young girl of to-day.
+
+They would never forget that first tramping tour when they had tramped
+for miles over the country, meeting with a great many unusual adventures
+on the way, as related in the first volume of this series, entitled,
+"The Outdoor Girls of Deepdale." Nor those other times at Rainbow Lake,
+in Florida, at Ocean View, and later at Pine Island, where they had come
+across that marvelous, mysterious gypsy cave.
+
+Then had come the war with the boys on the other side, and the girls
+doing their "bit" at a Hostess House. And a little later what black
+distress overwhelmed them, when Will Ford was reported wounded and
+Allen's name was among the missing! This all happened while they were at
+Bluff Point taking a much-needed vacation from their work at the Hostess
+House.
+
+In the volume directly preceding this, entitled "The Outdoor Girls at
+Wild Rose Lodge," the girls had had same very exciting experiences. An
+old man, Professor Dempsey, by name, who had retired to a little log
+cabin in the woods to recover his health, had chanced to do the girls a
+very great favor. Of course the girls were grateful to him and were very
+much interested when he told them of his two sons who were in the war.
+Later, when the girls read of the death of his two sons in the paper,
+they went to the old man's lonely cabin in the woods, but found
+themselves too late. According to a friendly neighbor, the old man had
+become temporarily insane at the terrible news, had wrecked his cabin in
+an insane frenzy, and disappeared.
+
+Later, at Wild Rose Lodge, the girls were frightened several times by a
+strange apparition lurking in the woods around the lodge and Moonlight
+Falls, a beautiful fall of water not far from the cottage where the
+girls were staying. Later the boys came home from France and helped the
+girls solve the mystery.
+
+And now here was Betty proposing another outing that promised to be more
+fun than any the Outdoor Girls had had yet. No wonder that in the clamor
+of their excited questions and answers no one heard the telephone
+ringing noisily in the hall.
+
+Finally the Nelsons' maid came trudging up the stairs to answer it
+herself.
+
+"If I can hear myself think," she grumbled, as she took the receiver
+from the hook. "With all them girls a-gabberin' an' a-talkin' at the
+top o' their lungs. Hello--I can't hear you--you'll have to talk
+louder--you don't know the noise they is in this house. Miss
+Betty?--jus' a minute----"
+
+"A gen'leman to speak to you, Miss Betty," she announced a moment later,
+looking in on the hilarious girls. "An' le's hope you can hear him
+better'n I could, that's all," she grumbled, as Betty pushed by her in
+the doorway and gave her a friendly pat on the shoulder.
+
+"Oh, they'll keep quiet now, all right," she said, with a laughing
+glance over her shoulder at her chums. "They'll want to hear what I have
+to say."
+
+At which taunt the girls started such a dreadful clamor that she really
+had all she could do to hear Allen at the other end of the wire. Oh,
+yes, it was Allen!
+
+"Sech a noise," grumbled the maid, as she trudged down the steps again.
+"I never did see sech wild uns!"
+
+"Hello, hello, Allen," called Betty into the telephone. "The girls are
+here and--what's that? At Walnut Street? All right, that will be fine. I
+can't talk now. Tell you why later. Yes, we'll be there. Don't be silly.
+Good-by!"
+
+Her face was flushed when she confronted the girls again.
+
+"The boys have a half holiday--it's Saturday, you know," she told them,
+while they regarded her mischievously. "And they want us to pick them up
+in the car, get some lunch somewhere, and make a day of it. I told him
+we would."
+
+"By 'him' I suppose you mean Allen," said Mollie, to which Betty ducked
+her a bow and the other girls giggled. "I like their nerve wanting us to
+pick them up. Why doesn't Frank come for us in his big car?"
+
+"Allen figured it would take too long for them to come home and get it."
+
+"My, they must be in a hurry to see us," said Grace, with a simper that
+sent the girls off into gales of laughter.
+
+"Well," said Betty finally, "are you coming, or are you not?"
+
+For answer Mollie jumped up, pressed a hat upon Grace's indignant head,
+handed Amy her coat, and crushed her own sport hat down on her dark
+hair.
+
+"Be this our answer," she said dramatically.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+ENTER PETER LEVINE
+
+
+It is to be feared that the boys did not have as pleasant a time on that
+Saturday afternoon motor drive as they had hoped to have. For, whereas
+the girls should have showered their attentions upon them, the boys,
+they insisted upon talking about nothing but Gold Run Ranch, which was
+the name of the property left to Mrs. Nelson by her great uncle.
+
+"You aren't very complimentary to us," Frank grumbled, as he hunched
+himself over the wheel of Mollie's car. "You seem mighty glad to go out
+to this forsaken old ranch where you won't see us for the whole summer."
+
+"I guess we can stand it if you can," Mollie responded lightly, which
+only caused him to glower the more.
+
+"Now I'll say Allen knew what he was doing when he studied law,"
+remarked Roy Anderson gloomily, as he glanced over his shoulder at young
+Allen Washburn, who was driving Betty's neat little roadster with Betty
+herself beside him. "He sure falls in soft on this job."
+
+"Meaning, I suppose," drawled Grace, "that he will have the pleasure of
+our company at Gold Run Ranch. Never mind, old boy, you needn't look so
+dreadfully gloomy. Have a chocolate and brace up."
+
+"You give it to me," said Roy, laughing. Grace obediently popped a large
+juicy one into his mouth. It may be remarked that after this performance
+he really did look more cheerful.
+
+"Anyway, we'll be back sometime, I suppose," said Mollie, continuing on
+the subject that was uppermost in her mind.
+
+"Yes, if we don't run away with some of those handsome cowboys," put in
+Amy, with a chuckle. "Betty says they abound around Gold Run Ranch."
+
+The girls giggled, but Will looked fierce.
+
+"You had better not," he said, and though his look was for all the
+girls, Amy knew that the words were for her. She colored prettily and
+promised with her eyes that she wouldn't.
+
+Grace caught this by-play as she munched a chocolate grumpily. Adoring
+her brother Will as she did, she had always been a little jealous of his
+fancy for Amy.
+
+"Anyway, they don't have to be so silly in public," she told herself
+resentfully. As she roused herself from her musing, she heard Mollie
+say, with a laugh:
+
+"Don't be surprised if we come home with our pockets full of gold. Mrs.
+Nelson thinks there is some of it about there."
+
+"Oh, are you still talking about that silly old ranch?" Grace broke in
+petulantly. "I don't know why you are getting so excited about it when
+there is more than a chance that we sha'n't go at all."
+
+"Hooray!" cried Frank, and stepped on the accelerator.
+
+Mollie, beside him, turned to look at him coldly.
+
+"I'm glad you feel that way about it, Frank Haley," she said primly.
+"But I'm very sorry to say we don't."
+
+"Now, I have put my foot in it," cried Frank ruefully, turning his
+irresistible smile full upon her. "What shall I do to make up, Mollie?
+Hold your hand or something?"
+
+His free hand closed over hers, but she snatched her own away with
+indignation that ended in a chuckle.
+
+"Tend to your knitting," she warned him. "Didn't you see that we almost
+ran over that dog?"
+
+But however much they might joke about the possibility of their not
+realizing their dreams for the summer, the Outdoor Girls were really
+worried about it, and the next few days were anxious ones for them.
+
+Suppose Mrs. Nelson should yield to her husband's arguments and resolve
+to sell the ranch after all? For awhile it almost seemed as though she
+were about to do this very thing, and the suspense nearly drove the
+girls frantic.
+
+Then something happened to turn the tide in their direction. And how the
+girls afterwards blessed that loud-necktied, check-suited man!
+
+It was Betty who came to the door to admit this angel in disguise, it
+being the hired girl's day out. Her first glance at the stranger served
+to stamp him as one of those loud-voiced, flashily dressed persons
+commonly referred to as "sports," and at this first glance Betty took a
+violent dislike to him.
+
+However, being accustomed to treat every one with kindliness, she asked
+him gravely whom he wished to see.
+
+"Is Mrs. Nelson at home?" he asked ingratiatingly.
+
+"Why, yes," hesitated Betty, then her natural courtesy getting the
+better of the dislike she felt for this person, she added politely:
+"Won't you come in? I will call mother."
+
+With blandly murmured thanks the owner of the checked suit stepped over
+the threshold, his eyes still on Betty to such an extent that she was
+glad to be able to slip upstairs out of his sight.
+
+"Mother," she explained hurriedly, finding that lady in her pretty
+dressing room, "there's a horrid person downstairs who wants to see you.
+I don't like his looks, and if you don't want to see him I can tell him
+you aren't at home----"
+
+"Heavens, Betty, is he as bad as all that?" asked Mrs. Nelson, as she
+rose hastily and gave an automatic pat to her hair. "I hope he doesn't
+steal the silver. You shouldn't have left him alone, dear----" and with
+these words she swept out of the room and down the stairs.
+
+Betty heard her greet the man, and then slipped off to her own room and
+picked up some half-finished embroidery.
+
+"I hope he doesn't bother mother too much," she mused aloud. "I never
+saw a more unpleasant looking person in my life. I wonder what he can
+want, anyway."
+
+It was fully half an hour later that she heard the closing door
+downstairs that told her their unwelcome visitor had left. A minute
+later her mother herself opened the door of Betty's room, looking so
+troubled and unsettled that Betty jumped to her feet in quick alarm.
+
+"Mother, did that man say anything to make you feel bad?" she cried.
+"Because, if he did----"
+
+"No, no, dear," said Mrs. Nelson, sinking into a chair, while her eyes
+sought the window thoughtfully. "I am worried, that's all."
+
+Betty drew a low chair over beside her mother, and, sitting down, took
+Mrs. Nelson's hand in both her own.
+
+"Tell me, dear," she urged.
+
+Mrs. Nelson drew her troubled gaze away from the window and looked at
+the Little Captain intently.
+
+"Betty," she said, "there is something strange about this Gold Run Ranch
+of ours. This man----"
+
+"Yes?" prompted Betty, as her mother paused.
+
+"This man who called this morning wanted to buy the ranch for a western
+client of his. It seems this client is willing to pay me my own
+price--within reasonable limits of course. He seemed so strangely eager
+to make a deal with me----"
+
+"Yes?" prompted Betty again, beginning to look worried herself.
+
+"Well," continued Mrs. Nelson, "I decided then and there that I
+wouldn't sell to anybody."
+
+"Oh, Mother!" Betty was all eagerness now, "do you really mean it?"
+
+"Yes, I do," said Mrs. Nelson, determination replacing uncertainty.
+"There must be something unusual about Gold Run or John Josephs and this
+man, too, wouldn't be so anxious to get it away from me. I am certainly
+not going to let them drive me into selling, until I see my property at
+least."
+
+"Good for you, Mother!" cried Betty enthusiastically. "I've been
+fearfully worried for fear you wouldn't see it that way. Did you tell
+the man in the check suit that?"
+
+"No, I didn't," said Mrs. Nelson, smiling as she pressed Betty's hand.
+"Now you will see what a schemer your mother is, my dear. I told him I
+hadn't definitely decided yet on any course, that I had already had a
+very good offer for my ranch, and that he would have to see Allen
+Washburn, our attorney. I wanted Allen to have a chance to size this man
+up and see if he has the same impression of him that I had."
+
+"Mother," breathed Betty admiringly, "I think you are wonderful." Then
+after a little pause, she added shyly: "You really think a great deal
+of--of Allen's ability, don't you, Mother?"
+
+"I do, dear," said Mrs. Nelson, stroking the brown head gently. Then she
+added with a hint of mischief in her voice: "Your father and I have come
+to feel toward him almost as if he were our son."
+
+"Oh--" murmured Betty, very faintly.
+
+Two days went by--anxious ones for the girls. In the Nelson home, this
+time in the pretty living room, Allen Washburn was now a guest.
+
+"Well," Mrs. Nelson said, with more than a hint of eagerness in her
+voice, "what did you think of our loudly-dressed friend, Allen?"
+
+"Was he as bad as Mrs. Nelson's description makes him out to be?" asked
+Mr. Nelson, smiling genially through a cloud of cigar smoke.
+
+Betty, in a corner of the lounge, was trying her best to be calm while
+she waited eagerly for Allen's reply.
+
+"I don't know just how Mrs. Nelson described this fellow to you, I'm
+sure," he answered, with a smiling glance toward Betty's mother. "But
+I'm quite sure that she didn't say anything bad enough."
+
+"Then you didn't like him either?" asked Mrs. Nelson quickly.
+
+"I neither liked him nor trusted him," Allen replied decidedly, adding
+with a wry smile: "He calls himself Peter Levine, but I'm willing to
+wager about anything I have that that isn't his real name."
+
+"You think he's a sharper then?" Mr. Nelson interjected.
+
+"Yes, sir," responded Allen, his young face earnestly intent. "He looks
+to me like one of these confidence men who abound in the western boom
+towns--men who can talk the other fellow into putting his last cent into
+some 'sure thing.' 'Sure thing,'" he repeated disgustedly. "The only
+sure thing about most of those schemes is the certainty of 'going bust'
+and losing every penny you have in the world."
+
+"And yet," Mr. Nelson commented, "these sharpers, 'confidence men,' as
+you call them, often manage to keep just within the law."
+
+"Oh yes," said Allen, "they manage to keep the letter of the
+law--sometimes. But that is just a caution to save their own necks. It's
+the spirit of the law that they violate. But we are getting away from
+the point," he added, pulling himself up short with an apologetic smile
+toward Mrs. Nelson. "We were speaking of this Peter Levine. My summing
+up of him is that he is entirely untrustworthy."
+
+Mrs. Nelson shot a triumphant glance at her husband.
+
+"You see?" she said. "I was sure Allen would agree with me."
+
+"Of course I may be mistaken," Allen continued, rather hesitantly. "But
+I have a very distinct impression, a sort of seventh sense we fellows in
+the law game call it, that this Levine is in league with John Josephs,
+the man that offered you fifteen thousand for the ranch."
+
+"Oh!" said Mrs. Nelson, startled. "How can you know that?"
+
+"I don't know it," Allen told her. "I only suspect."
+
+"Then what would you advise us to do?"
+
+"Hold tight and not sell till you have had a chance to look matters over
+on the ground--not from a distance."
+
+"Well," said Mr. Nelson rising resignedly and knocking the ashes from
+his cigar, "I suppose that settles it. I shall have to leave my business
+to go to smash," he added, with a chuckle, "while I take my family into
+a barbarous land where every second man you meet has designs on a
+well-filled pocketbook----"
+
+But he got no further, for Betty had run over to him and turned him
+imperiously around till his smiling eyes looked down into her gleeful
+ones.
+
+"Daddy," she cried, "do you really mean it? We can all go to Gold
+Run--you and mother and the girls? We'll have to have the girls, you
+know!" she ended on a pleading note.
+
+"Oh yes, of course," said Mr. Nelson resignedly. "We will have to have
+the girls."
+
+It was a very radiant Betty who, a few minutes later, saw Allen Washburn
+to the door.
+
+"And to think," she murmured, while Allen smiled down at her, "that I
+didn't like that perfect angel, Peter Levine, at first. Why, I should
+have welcomed him with open arms!"
+
+"Why?" asked Allen, taken by surprise.
+
+"Don't you know?" asked Betty, mischievously wide-eyed. "If he hadn't
+happened along just when he did our glorious adventure would have
+dwindled into a might-have-been. Why, I could love him for it."
+
+"Good-night, I'm going!" ejaculated Allen, and before Betty could gasp
+he had flung out of the door.
+
+"Where are you going?" she called, laughter in her voice.
+
+"To kill Peter Levine," growled a voice out of the darkness, and Betty,
+closing the door very softly, chuckled to herself.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+AN IMITATION HOLD-UP
+
+
+It was all over. The bustling days of preparation for the long trip,
+during which the girls had hardly had time to give vent to their
+excitement, had passed, and here they were actually finding their places
+in the puffing, western bound train.
+
+"Here's number five," Grace said, as she slid into a velvet-covered seat
+with a sigh of thankfulness. "Who is coming in here with me?"
+
+"Guess I'm elected," laughed Betty. "And here's number seven for Mollie
+and Amy, and mother and dad are in six right across the way. That
+completes the family party."
+
+They were hardly settled when there was a last warning cry of "All
+aboard" and the train began to move ever so slowly from the station.
+
+The girls peered out to wave good-by to the boys and some of their other
+friends who had come to see them off. The young fellows looked rather
+gloomy--all except Allen. The latter shouted something that they took to
+be "See you later!" and then the train swept around a curve, hiding the
+station from view.
+
+"Well," said Grace, with a sigh, as she opened her grip to fish for the
+inevitable candy box, "the boys seemed to take our flitting pretty hard.
+They looked as if we were already dead and buried."
+
+"Far from it," murmured Betty happily, her eyes on the ever changing
+view from the window. "I feel as if we were just beginning to live."
+
+The hours of the morning passed like minutes to the girls, and they were
+surprised when the porter came through with his "Foist call fo' dinnah!"
+
+The afternoon passed uneventfully, and they amused themselves by making
+up stories about their fellow passengers. There was the quaint little
+man in number four who reminded them of Professor Arnold Dempsey and who
+might very easily have been a professor, judging from the number of
+books he carried.
+
+Then there was the freckled-faced small boy in number three whose antics
+kept his mother in a continual state of "nerves." Once when he bounced
+one of those implements commonly known as "spit balls" off of the
+bookish little man's bald head, the girls thought they would die trying
+to stifle their merriment.
+
+Then there was the very pretty, but much be-powdered and rouged girl
+behind them in number nine. Grace embarrassed Betty very much by turning
+around to look at her every five minutes or so.
+
+"She's a moving picture actress or something, I'm sure of it," Grace
+confided in Betty's unsympathetic ear. "I wonder if I could fix my hair
+the way she does. She fascinates me."
+
+"She seems to," Betty retorted dryly, adding with a twinkle. "You may be
+able to fix your hair like hers--though I doubt it--but please remember
+that your mother doesn't want you to use rouge."
+
+"Well, you know I wouldn't do that," said Grace in a huff, adding
+maliciously, "I guess you are just jealous, that's all."
+
+"Uh-huh, that must be it," said Betty, with an unruffled good-nature
+that made Grace secretly ashamed of herself.
+
+"I'm sorry, Betty," she said after a rather long pause, adding
+generously: "You don't need to be jealous of anybody."
+
+"Thanks," Betty answered, with a smile. "I knew you didn't mean it,
+dear."
+
+And so the long hours of the afternoon wore away, dusk came, shrouding
+the swiftly moving landscape in a veil of mystery. So engrossed were
+the girls in contemplation of the changing beauty of nature that it
+seemed almost sacrilege when the blatant lights of the train flashed
+forth, bringing them violently back to a realization of time and place.
+
+"Don't you want any supper?" Mr. Nelson was asking, in his pleasant
+voice. "It isn't like the Outdoor Girls to overlook meal time."
+
+"Far be it from us to spoil our good reputation," cried Mollie
+buoyantly, and away they rushed to the dressing room to wash for supper.
+Though dining on a train was no novelty to the girls, they never lost
+the keenness of their first delight in the experience.
+
+"It's fascinating," Mollie remarked once, spearing desperately at an
+elusive potato as the train jerked and jolted over the rails at sixty
+miles an hour, "to see how often you can raise your coffee cup without
+spilling the coffee all over your food!"
+
+On this night at supper Mollie was so screamingly funny that the girls
+had all they could do to keep their hilarity from making them
+conspicuous.
+
+Mr. and Mrs. Nelson at a table for two across the aisle smiled
+indulgently at their charges, and once Mrs. Nelson met her husband's
+glance and chuckled fondly.
+
+"Pretty nice set of girls?" she said softly.
+
+"Pretty nice!" Mr. Nelson agreed.
+
+"I'm beginning to wish we were at Gold Run now," confided Mollie, after
+dining. She and Amy had slipped into the seat opposite Betty and Grace.
+
+"Oh, I think it's all fun," cried Betty, for she was always the last of
+the Outdoor Girls to feel tired. "We change at Chicago to-morrow
+afternoon," she added. "And then two more nights on the train, and then
+Gold Run!"
+
+"Oh, that sounds good," cried Mollie, adding eagerly: "Tell me, Betty,
+shall we be able to choose any horse we want for our own particular
+mount?"
+
+"Oh, yes," said Betty, adding with a smile: "It will be interesting to
+see the kind of horse each one of you will choose. Amy will like the
+gentle one, Grace will choose hers for its looks and yours will be the
+most vicious one in the pack, Mollie."
+
+"Well, I like that!" said Mollie unperturbed. "She wants to kill me off
+even before I get there."
+
+"Pack?" murmured Amy. "Is a 'pack' of horses right?" But no one answered
+her.
+
+"I wonder," mused Grace dreamily, "if there will be a tan one--all tan,
+you know, without even a spot of any other color----"
+
+"Oh, of course," laughed Betty. "If we haven't an all tan one in the
+corrals at Gold Run, we'll send to the nearest ranch and have one
+imported for you. Don't worry your little head about that."
+
+A little while after that they stopped at a water station, and most of
+the passengers got off to stretch their cramped limbs. And, as the
+conductor informed them that they would be there for fifteen minutes at
+least, the girls followed the general example.
+
+However, in their enthusiasm at finding the good old solid earth under
+their feet once more, they wandered too far, and the warning toot of the
+starting train found them quite a distance from the platform.
+
+They had not earned the title of Outdoor Girls for nothing, however, and
+by sprinting for all they were worth they were able to make the last car
+just in the nick of time.
+
+"Whew, that was a close call," said Betty as they made their way,
+panting, through to their own car, where Mr. and Mrs. Nelson were
+looking frantically for them. "No more water stations for us."
+
+Darkness fell, and the porters moved about, making up berths and
+answering the hundred and one insistent calls of the passengers.
+
+The girls went to bed with no protest whatever and were soon sleeping
+the sleep of healthy youth. It was toward midnight that they were rather
+rudely jerked out of this beautiful sleep by a sudden and almost violent
+stopping of the train.
+
+Betty, who was sleeping in a lower berth, she and Grace having decided
+to take turns, sat up and peered out of the grimed window into the
+gloom. No station lights greeted her, as she expected confidently they
+would. Nothing but inky, startling blackness.
+
+That she was not the only one roused was proved by the subdued sound of
+voices raised in sleepy protest.
+
+"They ought to put that engineer in prison for stopping like that," said
+a man's voice.
+
+"Gee! I thought it was a wreck, sure," came another surly voice.
+
+At this moment a couple of legs dangled themselves over the side of
+Betty's berth and in another minute the owner of them slid down beside
+Betty. Betty giggled nervously, but Grace clutched her arm and shook it.
+
+"Listen!" she said. "There's nothing to laugh about. This is a hold-up,
+that's what it is! You know what your father said about there being a
+lot of them around this place."
+
+That this conclusion had been reached by some one else in the car was
+proved by a woman's voice that rose shrilly above the rest.
+
+"It's a hold-up, that's what it is!" she cried, adding, with what seemed
+to Betty ridiculous panic: "Oh, what shall I do, what shall I do?"
+
+"Better stop making a fuss, first off," growled another masculine voice,
+and again Betty giggled nervously.
+
+"Goodness, I hope I don't have to get out in my nightie," she said, and
+poked her head out through the curtains.
+
+"Look out," warned Grace, pulling her back. "You may get shot or
+something."
+
+"Don't be silly," retorted Betty, not altogether decided whether to be
+frightened or amused by the situation. "There isn't anything out there
+but a lot of funny looking heads sticking through the curtains."
+
+"I don't see how you can laugh about it," said Grace, through chattering
+teeth. "I don't think it would be any j-joke to have all our m-money
+taken from us----"
+
+"Sh-h--be quiet," warned Betty, peeping again through the slit in the
+curtain. "Somebody's coming. Listen!"
+
+Grace listened, and so, evidently, did every one else in the car. No
+wonder that, scared though she undoubtedly was, Betty found humor in
+the situation. Heads of every kind and description stuck through the
+curtains, women's, some in boudoir caps, some without, men's heads,
+either bald or with hair grotesquely ruffled by sleep, and on every face
+depicted every one of the varied emotions which have disturbed the human
+race since time began. And there they were, all frozen to immobility by
+the sound of two men's voices raised in heated discussion.
+
+Then the owners of the voices came into view, and the expression on all
+the faces changed to bewildered amazement. Instead of the masked bandit
+which they had half expected to see there was a very portly and very
+excited gentleman and with him was a conductor, not so portly but just
+as excited.
+
+"I tell you," the conductor was saying, his face red with wrath, "you
+are violating the rules of the company by flagging this train for a
+personal matter----"
+
+"You have told me that before," roared the portly gentleman, waxing
+almost apoplectic. "And I've told you I don't care a hang for the rules
+of the company. What I want to find is my daughter and that young scamp
+she ran away with. And if you don't help me, I'll wring your neck!"
+
+"I tell you there is no couple answering your description on this
+train," rasped the conductor, as the two made their way, shouting and
+gesticulating, through the two rows of amazed heads and so on into the
+next car.
+
+"Well, I'll be blowed," commented the voice belonging to one of the
+heads; and as if that were a signal, all the other heads promptly
+withdrew to the accompaniment of exclamations and laughter.
+
+In the darkness of the berth Betty chuckled.
+
+"Oh, they did look so funny, Gracie," she said. "All those people with
+their heads stuck out into the aisle. You should have taken a peek."
+
+"Humph," grunted Grace, unsympathetically, as she prepared to climb into
+her berth again. Then she said: "I hope if that man's daughter takes a
+notion to run away again, she won't do it on our train, that's all!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE HANDSOME COWBOY
+
+
+Next morning the girls were hilarious over the mirthful episode in the
+train the night before. Betty and Mollie "took off" the expressions on
+the faces of their fellow passengers till Amy and Grace shouted with
+glee.
+
+"Oh, stop it, you two," gasped Grace, finally. "I'm sore from laughing.
+I think you would make a hit as clowns in a circus."
+
+"My, isn't she complimentary?" lisped Mollie, and the girls went off in
+fresh gales of merriment.
+
+"I wish," said Grace, after a pause, "that we were going to reach Gold
+Run this afternoon, instead of Chicago. I'm half afraid to spend another
+night in the sleeper after the scare we got last night. It might be a
+_real_ bandit this time."
+
+"Oh, what would we care?" said Betty carelessly. "I'd rather like to
+meet a train robber, myself."
+
+"About all a bandit could do would be to take our money," added Mollie.
+
+"All!" cried Grace indignantly. "Yes, that's all. And what would we do
+without any money, I'd like to know!"
+
+"Goodness, we could always sell the ranch," said Betty, so
+matter-of-factly that the girls chuckled. "We have Peter Levine to fall
+back on, you know."
+
+"'Peter Levine,'" repeated Amy, then added quickly: "Oh yes, he was the
+man who wanted your mother to sell the ranch."
+
+"Yes, and it was too bad of you to keep him all to yourself, Betty,"
+said Grace reproachfully.
+
+"You might at least have shown him to the rest of us."
+
+"He wasn't anything to show," said Betty, experiencing again the feeling
+of distaste she had had for the man. "He was one of the most unpleasant
+looking men I ever saw. Just the same," she added lightly, "we owe him a
+lot. If it hadn't been for him we probably wouldn't be sitting in this
+beautiful train, speeding to our great adventure. I told Allen I could
+almost love Peter Levine for it."
+
+"You did?" queried Mollie, her eyes dancing. "What did he say?"
+
+"He left me rather suddenly," said Betty, with a chuckle at the memory.
+"He said he was on his way to kill Peter."
+
+"Poor Allen," laughed Grace. "It must be awful to be that way. When is
+he coming out to Gold Run, Betty?"
+
+"As soon as he finishes this case he is on now," answered Betty,
+flushing in spite of herself as she thought of Allen. "There is really
+no great hurry about it, you know. Dad has made up his mind to take a
+regular vacation while he's about it, and I imagine mother won't care if
+she never gets home."
+
+That afternoon they changed trains at Chicago, bemoaning the fact that
+they had not time to see something of the great city before they
+traveled farther west. There was only half an hour between trains and,
+as every one knows, there can be little sightseeing done in that limited
+space of time. As it was, for some reason they could not ascertain, the
+outgoing train was over an hour late in starting. If they had known this
+fact in advance they might have managed to spend their time more
+profitably than in cooling their heels in the station waiting room.
+
+As it was, it was a rather disgruntled set of girls who boarded the
+train for Gold Run and allowed Mr. Nelson and the porter to find their
+seats for them.
+
+"I don't see why trains can't be on time," grumbled Mollie, as she
+peered at the rather distorted image of herself in the narrow mirror
+between the windows. "Here it is nearly seven o'clock and I'm as hungry
+as a bear."
+
+"Well," said Betty, cheerfully, "something tells me they have a diner on
+this train. Come on, girls, let's wash our hands and get something to
+eat."
+
+The girls hardly knew which they enjoyed the most, their dinner or the
+novel scenery that slipped past them so swiftly. It was their first
+venture into this part of the world, and they found the initiation
+fascinating.
+
+"The trouble is," complained Amy, "it will be dark before long and we'll
+have to miss all this," with an expressive sweep of her hand toward the
+car window.
+
+"It is too bad," said Betty, regretfully adding, with a light laugh: "If
+we were only like the princess in the story, the members of whose royal
+house never slept, we would probably see more of the scenery."
+
+That night the girls proved that Grace was not alone in her fondness for
+sleep. There being no more interruptions in the shape of fuming
+gentlemen on the trail of runaway daughters, they slept soundly through
+the long hours while the train plunged onward through the inky
+blackness of the night. They did not stir until the sun, shining on
+their faces, roused them to the realization that another beautiful day
+had dawned.
+
+That is, it was beautiful up to noon. Then it clouded down, and they ate
+lunch while the rain dashed furiously on the windows of the dining car.
+
+"I am thankful we are under cover," said Betty.
+
+"Fancy riding on the ranch in this rain," put in Amy.
+
+"No life in the saddle for me when it rains," broke in Grace.
+
+During the afternoon the girls napped and read. When the time came to
+get supper they were glad to see that they had run away from the storm
+and the sun was setting clearly.
+
+"Funny, how sleepy one gets," drawled Grace, about nine o'clock. "I'll
+not stay up late."
+
+No one wanted to do that, and in less than an hour all were sleeping
+soundly while the long train rumbled along on its trip westward.
+
+"And this is the day," breathed Mollie the next noon, as they made their
+way from the dining car through some half dozen other cars to their own.
+"Betty, I feel as if I couldn't wait to see your beautiful ranch."
+
+"I wonder," said Grace as they dropped into their seats once more, "if
+those cowboys are really as good-looking as you say, Betty. I must
+admit," she added, as she viewed the rather monotonous landscape
+petulantly, "I haven't seen anything that looks like a cowboy yet."
+
+"Goodness, hear the child!" cried Betty airily. "She hasn't been near a
+ranch, yet she expects to see whole droves of cow-punchers----"
+
+"Look," Mollie interrupted, grasping her arm. They were slowing down at
+a station and there were no less than three picturesque looking young
+fellows loitering about the place. One was astride an extremely nervous
+horse that shied as the train puffed to a standstill and rose on his
+hind legs as though trying his best to shake his rider off. "There's a
+real show for you," Mollie cried joyfully. "How does that look to you,
+Gracie? True to life?"
+
+"Um, that's better," admitted Grace, while the girls craned their necks
+for a better view of the horseman. "Now if they only have that sort of
+thing at Gold Run----"
+
+"Well, we'll have a chance to find out pretty soon whether they do or
+not," broke in Betty, the thrill of suppressed excitement in her voice.
+"Dad says we ought to get there in an hour."
+
+"An hour!" wailed Amy, as the train jolted on its way once more and the
+romantic group on the station were lost to view. "And I thought we were
+almost there!"
+
+But the hour passed more quickly than the girls had anticipated, for the
+view from the car windows, becoming more and more interesting, absorbed
+their attention. As a general rule the country was flat, but now and
+then in the background could be caught glimpses of heavily wooded
+mountain ranges that would offer chances for all sorts of adventures to
+the four eager Outdoor Girls.
+
+"I wonder if there are wild animals in those woods," said Amy, her eyes
+widening at the thought. "Real ones."
+
+"You don't suppose they import stuffed ones, do you?" asked Grace dryly.
+
+"Of course there are wild animals--lots of 'em," said Betty, feeling
+more and more gloriously excited as they neared their destination.
+"Maybe we can borrow a gun or two from the cow-punchers and have a shot
+at 'em--animals, I mean, not cow-punchers," she explained, with a
+giggle.
+
+On top of these rather wild imaginings came Mr. Nelson, telling them it
+was time to get their things together, for they were within a few
+minutes of Gold Run.
+
+"I know how long it takes you girls to put a hat on," he laughed. "So I
+think you had better start right away."
+
+Then--Gold Run! with the dash for the door and Grace running back to
+rescue a half-empty but still precious candy box and Mollie wanting to
+know if Amy would please stop pressing her suitcase in the middle of her
+back----
+
+Someway, Mr. Nelson managed to get them all safely to the station
+platform, whereupon he breathed a sigh of relief.
+
+"Whew! that's the hardest job you ever gave me, Rose," he remarked to
+his wife, with a chuckle.
+
+Here, as at most of the other stations, was a handful of cowboys who had
+come to meet the train. One of these, a handsome young fellow, detached
+himself from the rest and approached Mrs. Nelson, sweeping off his
+sombrero as he did so.
+
+"Mrs. Nelson, ma'am?" he asked in a soft drawl that captivated the girls
+immediately.
+
+Mrs. Nelson smiled assent and the young fellow indicated a buckboard
+drawn up to the station.
+
+"I brought the wagon," he said, with a grin that showed a beautiful set
+of white teeth. "An' some saddle hosses, thinkin' you might like to
+ride----"
+
+However, the ladies decided on the buckboard, which was driven by a
+shy-eyed, sandy-haired young fellow who gave the girls one frightened
+glance and looked swiftly away again, for all the world, Mollie said
+afterwards, as if he expected them to bite him.
+
+Mr. Nelson elected to ride horseback with Andy Rawlinson, which was the
+name of the good-looking cowboy.
+
+As the driver chirruped to the horses and they clattered over the bumpy
+road, Grace turned to Betty with a smile.
+
+"I have realized the ambition of a life time!" she said dramatically. "I
+have seen one handsome cowboy!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+AT THE RANCH
+
+
+To the girls, that jolting ride was like an adventure straight from the
+Arabian Nights. The fact that they were squeezed four in a seat which
+was meant to accommodate only three, served to dampen their enthusiasm
+not a trifle. Mrs. Nelson, riding in front with the bashful driver,
+vainly sought to engage him in conversation. After repeated failures she
+settled down to enjoy the ride in silence.
+
+A dozen yards or so ahead of them Andy Rawlinson and Mr. Nelson cantered
+up the dusty road, their horses' hoofs making the dust fly in a white
+cloud.
+
+"Goodness!" sneezed Betty, extracting a small handkerchief from her
+pocket and applying it to her nose, "I do hope those two keep their
+distance. We'll be simply choked with dust."
+
+"I wonder," said Grace, as she rubbed her dust-filled eyes, "if they
+don't have any rain in this part of the world."
+
+"Of course they do; only this happens to be the dry season," said
+Mollie, instructively, from the heights of her superior intelligence. At
+least, that is what she called it.
+
+"I'll say it's dry," grumbled Grace.
+
+"Ooh, look," Amy interrupted ecstatically. "Isn't that a cactus over
+there? Oh, I've wanted all my life to see some real cacti. Now I know
+we're in the West."
+
+The girls were silent for a moment, gazing out over the rolling plain--a
+plain studded with stunted trees and sickly-looking bushes with here and
+there a cactus plant for variety's sake--out to the hazy mountains
+beyond, serene, calm, majestic, jutting jaggedly into the dazzling blue
+of a cloudless sky.
+
+"The mountains!" murmured Betty, half to herself. "How I love them. The
+plains are fascinating in a cruelly romantic way, but somehow the
+mountains make one think of hidden springs rushing swiftly into noisy
+foolish little brooks, of bird songs, and the smell of cool damp earth,
+of the crackling of dry twigs under one's feet, and the pungent woodsy
+smell of camp fires--but there," she broke off confusedly, as she
+realized the girls were regarding her with fond amusement. "I didn't
+mean to wax so poetic."
+
+"It's all right, honey," said Mollie, giving her hand a warm little
+squeeze. "You rave right along. I know just how you feel, for I get that
+way myself sometimes."
+
+"There _is_ something mighty wonderful about the mountains," added Grace
+softly.
+
+"Oh, I love them, too," broke in Amy, adding with such earnestness that
+the girls looked at her wonderingly. "They are everything that Betty has
+said. And yet when Betty spoke of the plains as being cruel I couldn't
+help wondering if the mountains weren't sometimes like that, too."
+
+"What do you mean?" they queried, with quick interest.
+
+"I was thinking," Amy continued slowly, "that the mountains might not
+seem so kind to one who was lost in them--without a gun perhaps. I have
+heard Will say that a person who had no knowledge of woodcraft would
+find it almost impossible to recover his path, once he had lost it.
+And," she added, with a shudder, her eyes fixed steadily on the distant
+mountain range, "there are wild animals in those forests."
+
+"Of course there are," agreed Betty lightly, as she saw how serious the
+girls' faces had become. "Oodles of foxes and bears and raccoons and
+things. Why, how would you expect to get pretty furs when you wanted
+them if those things didn't exist? Cheer up, Amy dear. We're a long way
+from being lost in the woods without a gun!"
+
+A minute later the girls lost interest in everything but the immediate
+present. For, in the distance, but distinctly visible, loomed a long low
+ranch house which the silent driver beside Mrs. Nelson deigned to admit
+was on Gold Run Ranch.
+
+"You see it, girls?" cried the lady, turning a beaming face to the
+girls. "You know, I feel just like a little girl with a beautiful new
+toy."
+
+"And we're awfully glad you've got the toy, Mrs. Nelson," said Grace,
+fervently.
+
+"Look," cried Mollie suddenly. "Your father and that cowboy are turning
+off from the main road. That must be where the ranch begins. Oh, girls,
+oh, girls, I'm glad I came!"
+
+A few minutes later their jolting buckboard turned in after the two
+horsemen, and since the new road proved to be nothing but two deep ruts
+worn in the grass and as the ponies attached to the buckboard showed
+considerable excitement at coming near home, the girls found themselves
+holding on to each other convulsively to keep from being thrown out on
+the stubbly grass at the side of the road.
+
+"Whew, I'm glad that's over!" exclaimed Mollie, as the driver drew in
+the rearing horses and spoke to them soothingly. "Come on, girls," she
+added, making ready to jump out. "I'm going to remove myself from this
+buckboard before one of those horses decides to sit in my lap."
+
+The girls laughed and followed her with alacrity.
+
+"Oh," cried Betty, hugging Amy ecstatically, simply because she happened
+to be the nearest one to hug. "There are the horse corrals over there!
+And, oh, girls! look at the cows, dozens and dozens and dozens of 'em.
+Mother," she cried, turning wide-eyed to the latter, "do all those
+'anymiles' really belong to you?"
+
+"I presume they do, dear," said Mrs. Nelson, her own face flushed with
+excitement. "I can't quite take in the amazing truth of it yet."
+
+They were standing beside the first of a long line of low buildings that
+seemed little more than glorified sheds and which the girls decided must
+be the "bunk houses" for the ranch hands.
+
+And while they were wondering if it would be possible to slip over to
+the corrals for a closer look at the horses, Mr. Nelson sauntered up to
+them, with handsome Andy Rawlinson keeping diffidently a little in the
+rear.
+
+"It's nearly supper time," he informed them smiling. "And Andy here," he
+indicated young Rawlinson, who grinned an acknowledgment, "says that
+everybody has supper sharp on the minute of six. So what do you say if
+we go up to the house and have a little refreshment?"
+
+The girls were not altogether reluctant to obey, much as they desired a
+closer look at the bronchos, for they realized that they were pretty
+hungry.
+
+The ranch house was one of those quaint old structures which had begun
+as a tiny, one-story frame cottage and had gradually been added to until
+now it seemed, Betty said, to "spread all over the landscape." It had
+porches and doors in the most unexpected places, but the whole house was
+painted such an immaculate white and the shutters were such a friendly
+green that the effect of the place was indescribably charming.
+
+"If the house is as clean inside as it looks outside," whispered Grace
+to Betty as Andy Rawlinson led them up on to one of the many porches,
+"I'll never dare go in. I never felt so mussy and dirty in all my life."
+
+"Never mind, we're all in the same boat," said Betty encouragingly, and
+then they stepped into one of the pleasantest rooms they had ever seen.
+
+It was big and cool and airy, in spite of the fact that supper
+preparations were going on at one end of it. Rough picturesque looking
+chairs were scattered about, and over near the windows a long table was
+invitingly set for six. And oh, the delicious odor of cooking things
+that was wafted on the air!
+
+At sight of them a stout but immaculately neat and rosy-faced woman left
+whatever she was doing with a frying pan on the stove and came over to
+them, wiping her hands on her apron, her face wreathed in smiles.
+
+"Go long with you, Andy Rawlinson," she cried as the youth lingered
+rather awkwardly in the doorway. "There's no need for you to tell me who
+these folks are, for I already know them for the new master and his lady
+and the young ladies, bless their pretty sweet faces. Come right in, all
+of you, and Lizzie here," turning to a wholesome-looking, mouse-haired
+girl who had come in from the other room, "Lizzie will take you to see
+the rooms and you can have your pick. But don't be long," she cautioned,
+as they started to follow Lizzie and she turned back to her frying pan
+on the stove, "for supper is all ready and you must be nearly famished."
+
+If the girls had been impressed by the quaintness of this quaint old
+house from the outside, they were even more delighted by its interior.
+
+They passed down a rather dark and narrow hall at the end of which were
+three low steps leading to such a series of rooms as the girls had never
+seen before, each furnished neatly but plainly, the only touch of color
+being the gay cretonne curtains at the windows. The rooms all seemed to
+be connected by doors and to reach these doors one was obliged to go up
+two steps or down three or up one, as the case might be.
+
+"Goodness," cried Betty, when Lizzie had led the way through three of
+these quaint little rooms and the open doors seemed to reveal several
+others, "I wonder if all these rooms were really occupied."
+
+"Yes, miss," said Lizzie, halting and speaking unexpectedly. "They was a
+time when these rooms wuz all filled. Old Mr. Barcolm"--this being the
+name of Mrs. Nelson's great uncle--"had a many children and
+grandchildren an' seemed like he was sot on 'em all livin' with him. But
+they got to quarrelin' and all left th' old man an' he was so mad he cut
+'em all out o' his will. At least," she finished, as though warned by
+the intent look of her listeners that she had said more than she had
+intended to, "that's what they says. But mebbe it ain't the truth, fer
+all I knows."
+
+Then she led them on again through the maze of rooms while the girls
+thought amazedly of what she had told them. Finally she came to a stop
+in a room, larger than the rest, and turned her rather stolid gaze upon
+Mr. and Mrs. Nelson.
+
+"Miz Cummins," she announced, dully--the girls were afterward to find
+out that Cummins was the name of the rosy-faced woman who had met them
+so cordially at the door and who seemed to be general housekeeper for
+the place--"Miz Cummins thought as how this would be a good room fer the
+mister and missus. They is some nice rooms back of these fer the young
+ladies. She sed, if you liked any of the other rooms better, to take
+your pick. They's fresh water in the pitchers," indicating a washstand
+with a bowl and two pitchers of gleaming water upon it, "an' if you want
+anythin' else, you wuz please to tell me." And with these words, uttered
+so precisely that it sounded like a rehearsed speech, which, in fact, it
+was, Lizzie disappeared, leaving the travelers to themselves.
+
+"Come on, girls," cried Betty, pushing them before her into the next
+room. "Let's see what kind of rooms 'Miz Cummins' has picked out for
+us."
+
+They were not at all unusual rooms, being both about the same size and
+nearly square and furnished about as simply as they could possibly be.
+
+"If it weren't for the different colored cretonne at the windows," said
+Mollie, with a chuckle, "these rooms might be twins. You and Grace can
+have the lavender cretonne, Amy, and Betty and I will take the blue."
+
+"Don't those beds look heavenly?" sighed Grace, as she pulled off her
+hat and threw herself upon the big, snowy-sheeted bed.
+
+"Goodness!" cried Amy, in dismay. "She's flopped. Get her up, somebody,
+before she gets the bed so dirty I can't sleep in it to-night."
+
+For answer Betty made a dash for Grace, pulled her to her feet, and
+pushed her over to the washstand.
+
+"See that water, Grace Ford?" she cried sternly. "Now use it!"
+
+"And make it snappy," added Mollie slangily, as she and Betty
+disappeared into the adjoining room. "I can smell 'Miz Cummins'' cooking
+clear in here!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+A SUDDEN STORM
+
+
+The girls spent the rest of that day getting acquainted, at which
+agreeable task Andy Rawlinson, the head cowboy, assisted pleasantly. The
+latter introduced them to several others of the ranch hands, all of whom
+were as picturesque and good-natured as Andy himself.
+
+Escorted by Rawlinson and followed by the admiring glances of the other
+cowboys, the girls were introduced to the interior of the bunk houses
+which, with their rude wooden cots built into the side of the walls,
+their scanty and rather severe furniture, and the romantic looking
+trophies fastened to the bare boards of the walls, filled the girls with
+curiosity and interest.
+
+Then on to the corrals, where some spectacular broncho busting was
+staged for the sole benefit of the visitors. In this dangerous business
+Andy himself took a part, and the girls gasped with dismay and later
+with admiration as the boy ran alongside a vicious looking animal for a
+few paces, then flung himself recklessly upon the beast's back and
+clung there, seemingly defying all the laws of gravitation.
+
+"Oh, he surely will be killed!" cried Amy, clutching Betty in terror.
+"That horse will throw him----"
+
+"Keep quiet, can't you, Amy?" cried Mollie impatiently, beside herself
+with excitement. "Don't you suppose he has ever done this sort of thing
+before?"
+
+Then followed such an exhibition of sheer grit and skill and dauntless
+courage as none of the girls would ever forget.
+
+The vicious brute raced madly around and around the corrals, cruel head
+upflung, nostrils dilated, but still the man upon his back clung with
+maddening persistence. Then he stopped so suddenly that the man was
+almost flung over his lowered head and the girls held their breath, but
+Andy recovered himself and touching the spurs to the beast's belly, sent
+it flying round the corral once more. There was sweat on its body and
+the flaring nostrils were blood red with the effort, but the spirit of
+the beast was still unbroken.
+
+Around and around the ring he plunged, the other horses galloping wildly
+from his path, then suddenly as though the thing on his back had
+maddened him past bearing, he began to buck and to plunge and to rear
+himself on his hind legs in a desperate effort to throw himself
+backward, until it seemed to the fascinated, terrified girls that Andy
+Rawlinson surely must be killed.
+
+[Illustration: HE CLUNG TO THE HORSE'S BACK AS THOUGH HE HAD BEEN A PART
+OF HIM.
+
+_The Outdoor Girls in the Saddle._ _Page 64_]
+
+But Andy Rawlinson had not spent his twenty-eight years in the saddle
+for nothing. He clung to that horse's back as though he had been a part
+of him, and when the outraged beast tried to throw himself over backward
+for the second time, Andy evidently decided that he had played enough.
+
+A cruel blow of his spurred heel brought the beast almost to its knees
+with a whinny of pain. Then it jumped high in the air, and once more
+began its furious race with this mysterious and horrible being that
+clung so tenaciously to his back.
+
+Andy rode him hard, cruelly hard, and when the beast, panting, sweating,
+beaten, would have stopped he dug the spurs in and drove him on, on,
+until the broncho's breath came in sobbing gasps and his legs trembled
+under him.
+
+Betty, who could never bear to see anything hurt, shouted to Andy
+Rawlinson as man and beast came abreast of her:
+
+"Isn't that enough?" she cried. "You've beaten him. Stop! Please
+stop!"
+
+And Andy Rawlinson, flashing his pleasant smile, flung himself from his
+mount, while the beautiful horse stood there, quivering, head hung in
+shame----
+
+"Game hoss, that," said Andy, as he vaulted the low railing and
+approached the girls. "Fought like a thoroughbred."
+
+"And you were wonderful," cried Betty, with her warm impulsiveness. "I
+never saw finer riding. We were all afraid you were going to be killed."
+
+Andy was pleased, but he looked at Betty rather quizzically.
+
+"Strange," he drawled, with a smile on his face, "strange what
+impressions you get sometimes. Now I kind o' thought you was mad at me,
+the way you called out to stop. Anyways, you looked mad."
+
+"I was only sorry for the horse," Betty explained gravely. "He was game,
+as you say, and I hated to see his spirit entirely broken."
+
+Andy Rawlinson looked at her with admiring approval in his nice eyes.
+
+"There speaks the real lover of animals," he cried enthusiastically. "I
+hate to break a good hoss myself, but you see it has to be done--for the
+sake of the hoss. A hoss that's a bad actor is mighty like a mad dog.
+It has to be killed--or broke. So we break 'em. But now," he said,
+glancing toward the corrals, "I reckon you young ladies would like to
+pick out some nice gentle hosses to ride while you're here."
+
+The girls nodded and crowded forward eagerly while Andy called to some
+of the cowboys who had been lingering enviously near.
+
+"Bring out the sorrel and Nigger, will you, Jake?" he said to one of
+them. "I'll corral Lady and Nabob."
+
+The girls watched with interest while the boys corraled the four horses
+Andy had selected and led them forth for the visitors' inspection.
+
+They were splendid specimens of horse flesh, and for a moment the girls
+were simply lost in admiration. Nigger, as his name implied, was a
+magnificent coal-black animal without a speck of white upon him
+anywhere. He and Betty seemed to form a mutual admiration society on the
+instant, for with a gentle whinny he cantered up to the girl and began
+nosing inquisitively in her pocket in search of sugar. Luckily Betty had
+brought some with her, and she fed a couple of lumps to the beautiful
+animal, thereby definitely sealing their pact of friendship.
+
+"Oh you, Nigger!" crooned Betty joyfully, as she rubbed the velvet
+muzzle. "You and I are going to be great little pals, aren't we? You
+perfect old darling!" And Nigger whinnied again and nosed about for more
+sugar.
+
+"Well, I like that," cried Grace, breaking the silence in which they had
+all been enjoyably regarding the little scene. "Betty doesn't have to
+choose her horse--it chooses her."
+
+"Oh well, Betty always did have a way with her," laughed Mollie, and
+promptly turned her attention to the remaining three horses.
+
+"Lady" was a lovely white filly with whom Amy fell in love immediately.
+
+"This one's mine," she cried, putting a possessive hand on Lady's flank
+while the latter turned her dainty head and regarded the girl out of
+softly-wistful brown eyes. "I wanted her as soon as I saw her."
+
+Her claim was not disputed, for Grace was raving over the horse called
+Nabob, who was, by a strange coincidence, that very light tan color
+which she most adored.
+
+"How did you know I always wanted a horse just like this?" she cried,
+turning joyfully to Andy Rawlinson who, with the other "boys" had been
+looking on amusedly.
+
+"Well," drawled Andy, with a grin, "seems like you are all suited pretty
+well."
+
+For Mollie, whose adventurous spirit craved a spice of the dangerous in
+everything, had taken immediately to the sorrel, who had apparently been
+given no name. He was a skittish horse, gentle, as Andy explained, but
+"pow'ful nervous--had to be sort o' coaxed along."
+
+"You're my horse, all right," Mollie declared, stroking the animal's
+muzzle fearlessly, unmindful of rolling eyes and nervously twitching
+ears. "I don't like 'em too tame, old boy. And by the way," she added,
+struck by a sudden inspiration, "I've thought of just the name for you.
+I'm going to call you 'Old Nick.'"
+
+And so, when the selection had been made, to everybody's satisfaction,
+nothing would do but the girls must try their mounts that very evening.
+They had brought their riding tags in preparation for their summer in
+the saddle, and when they had slipped into the tight breeches, and
+leather leggings, tailored coat, and snug fitting hat, they looked like
+what they were--four thoroughly modern and very pretty Outdoor Girls.
+
+Later, when they rode proudly about the ranch on their splendid mounts,
+the ranch hands were lost in admiration of them.
+
+"Gosh," said one, removing his hat and fanning himself with it, for the
+evening was warm, "when Andy said they was four girls comin' from the
+city to visit us I was plumb skeered. But these here girls, they ain't
+no ordinary kind, no siree. An' they sho' does know how to ride."
+
+However, the girls were satisfied with a rather short ride that evening
+for they were out of practice and they knew that sore muscles would be
+the price of over-exertion.
+
+In the days that followed they took longer and longer rides, even
+venturing along the rough forest trails when Andy Rawlinson was with
+them as guide and protector. Mr. and Mrs. Nelson rode, too, but, not
+being as strenuous as the girls, they were glad to have any one as
+capable as Andy Rawlinson to look out for their charges.
+
+But one day, much as they liked him, the girls got a little tired of
+Andy's chaperonage, and at Mollie's suggestion they decided to "give him
+the slip."
+
+"Anybody would think he was our granny, the way he dictates to us," she
+complained, as she flicked a fly from Old Nick's side, thereby causing
+him to shy wildly. "We know our way about all right now, and I'm sure we
+Outdoor Girls never needed anybody to look out for us, anyway."
+
+"Hear, hear," laughed Betty, half way between conviction and protest. "I
+don't like to have Andy around all the time, any more than you do,
+Mollie, but I'm not sure that we know our way about as well as we might.
+If we should get lost----"
+
+"Oh, don't be an old wet blanket," cried Mollie impatiently, and as Amy
+and Grace seemed for once to be of her mind, Betty had nothing to do but
+to surrender as gracefully as she could.
+
+It was after lunch that the girls managed to slip away without being
+observed to where their mounts were tethered at the edge of the
+woodland. And oh, what a glorious sense of freedom when they were
+mounted and cantering down a cool forest trail--alone!
+
+They had been this way with Andy before, so they had no fear of losing
+their path and they urged their horses to more and more speed,
+intoxicated by the sense of freedom.
+
+What they did not notice was that the sun had disappeared behind an
+ominous bank of clouds and the wind was rising threateningly. And so
+they were caught fairly and squarely by the deluge that swept upon them
+with a bewildering suddenness.
+
+Where to go? Where to turn for shelter from the driving rain and moaning
+wind? They checked their horses while they gazed at each other wildly.
+
+Suddenly Betty's straining eyes made out what seemed to be the outline
+of a little shed or cabin, half hidden by surrounding foliage.
+
+"There's a house over there," she cried, hastily dismounting and tying
+Nigger to a tree a little off the path. "Maybe whoever lives there will
+let us in till the rain stops."
+
+The girls followed her example and hurriedly made their way on foot
+toward their one hope of refuge. When they reached the house Betty
+started to knock, then paused uncertainly, her hand uplifted. For above
+the beat of the rain and the shrill whine of the wind came a strain of
+music, mournful, yet exquisitely beautiful. Amazed, forgetful of their
+discomfort, the girls listened while the throbbing, haunting melody
+wailed itself to a close.
+
+"I--I've heard that music before," Betty murmured, then rapped gently,
+almost timidly, on the door.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+ALONG THE TRAIL
+
+
+Betty's knock had to be repeated twice before the occupant of the cabin
+responded.
+
+"Knock harder, Betty, if----" Mollie was beginning when the door opened
+at last and a very strange person stood upon the threshold. Tall, with
+stooped shoulders and a head bent a little as though he had spent
+countless hours over his violin, with long, curly hair, and with the
+visioned eyes of the musician, the man was a figure that would have made
+people turn to stare at him anywhere.
+
+"I--we--we are very sorry to trouble you," said Betty hesitatingly, as
+the musician made no effort to break the silence. "But it is raining
+hard, as you see, and we thought----"
+
+The man started and frowned.
+
+"Ah yes, of course," he said, moving aside and motioning them into the
+room. "You will find shelter here, but very little else, I fear."
+
+As the girls entered rather hesitantly the man turned from them
+abruptly and, lifting the violin that lay upon the rough board table, he
+began with the utmost gentleness to put it in its case. The girls had
+the rather uncomfortable impression that the man was forcing himself to
+be polite to them--that if he had been any other than a gentleman he
+would have refused them admittance.
+
+They looked uneasily at each other and then toward the one window in the
+room, and one thought was in the minds of all of them--to escape from
+the enforced hospitality of this man.
+
+"I think the rain is letting up a little," said Grace softly.
+
+"I reckon we won't have to stay more than a few minutes," agreed Betty,
+then, as their long-haired host put down his case and turned toward
+them, she ventured a shy compliment.
+
+"We heard you playing as we came along," she said. "It was very
+wonderful."
+
+"Thank you," said the man gruffly, and turned away so abruptly that
+Betty felt as if some one had struck her.
+
+Mollie looked indignant and Amy put an arm about Betty as she whispered:
+
+"The rain has nearly stopped, honey. Don't you think we had better go?"
+
+So, with half-hearted expressions of thanks from the girls and no
+expression of regret at all from the man, the new acquaintances parted,
+the girls hurrying down the dripping path to where their horses were
+tethered.
+
+Once Mollie looked back toward the cabin, and her indignation burst
+forth.
+
+"Look, he could hardly wait for us to get outside to shut the door," she
+said. "Of all the ill-mannered----"
+
+"Oh, I don't think he meant to be ill-mannered," interposed Betty
+mildly, as she reached Nigger and he whinnied a welcome. "He was just
+distantly polite, that's all. He didn't want to be bothered, probably,
+and he had a hard time to keep from showing it."
+
+"Huh," grunted Mollie, as she flung herself upon Old Nick's back and
+patted him soothingly. "I'm sure he has some real reason for not wanting
+folks around. He acted mighty funny to me," she said.
+
+"Goodness, hear the child!" cried Grace, as they rode swiftly back the
+way they had come through the fine drizzle. "She never can resist making
+a thief or something out of a perfectly ordinary person."
+
+"Seems to me he is anything but ordinary," interposed Amy thoughtfully.
+"No ordinary person could play the violin the way he was playing it
+when we came up to the house. That sounded like the work of a master."
+
+"Yes," agreed Betty, a faraway look in her eyes. "He plays exquisitely,
+if he does live in a little house away up in the woods. And I can't
+shake off the impression that I have heard that same selection played in
+just that same way somewhere before."
+
+Though this first excursion had been somewhat of a failure, the girls
+were by no means discouraged and in the days that followed they rode
+almost constantly. Finally they began to know their way about like the
+natives.
+
+Their rides were taken mostly in the open country, however, for in the
+woods they knew lurked very real dangers. But these they avoided more to
+save Mrs. Nelson worry than from any personal fears.
+
+But one day, feeling more than usually adventurous and growing more and
+more confident of their ability to find their way around alone, they
+dared venture along a rocky trail that offered wonderful romantic
+opportunities.
+
+"Oh, this is the life!" cried Grace, as Nabob stepped daintily over the
+rocks and underbrush that almost completely overgrew the narrow path. "A
+peach of a horse under you, the whole day before you, and nothing to do
+but enjoy yourself. Whoa-up there, Nabob. What's the matter with you?"
+for the horse had whinnied softly and shied almost imperceptibly to the
+side of the trail.
+
+At the same time the other horses seemed to catch some of Nabob's
+uneasiness, and the girls were kept busy for the next few minutes
+soothing them and coaxing them back into a normal mode of progress.
+
+"Something scared them," said Amy nervously. "Don't you think we had
+better go back, girls? This trail seems to be getting narrower and
+narrower. I don't believe anybody comes along here very often."
+
+"Well, what of it?" cried Mollie sharply. "That's what we are here for,
+isn't it? If we wanted people, we could have plenty of them right back
+on the ranch."
+
+"Stop quarreling, girls," said Betty, matter-of-factly. "We'll eat
+pretty soon and that will make everybody feel better." Kindly Mrs.
+Cummins had put up an appetizing lunch for the girls.
+
+"Look!" she cried a moment later, as the trail broadened out and they
+reached a rather open space in the woods through which they could look
+straight down--for they were on a considerable elevation--into the
+thriving little mining town of Gold Run. "I didn't know you could see
+Gold Run from here."
+
+"Doesn't it look funny and tiny?" cried Mollie, reining in beside her.
+"It must be an awfully long way off."
+
+"Wouldn't this be a good place to eat?" queried Amy hopefully, and the
+girls laughed at her.
+
+"We aren't hungry enough yet," said Betty, as she turned her horse to
+continue down the trail.
+
+They rode on, following the trail as it wound deeper and deeper into the
+woodland, catching glimpses now and then of the mining camp down in the
+hollow.
+
+It seemed as if they were really getting closer to Gold Run and,
+fascinated by the new game they were playing, forgetting their fears in
+the new sights and sounds all about them, the girls rode farther and
+farther into the heart of a forest, whose smiling face often served to
+hide some hideous danger.
+
+But to the girls all was beauty and sunshine and they conversed merrily
+as they cantered along.
+
+"When is Allen coming, Betty?" asked Grace. "I had an idea he would be
+here before this."
+
+"Why, dad has written, asking him to come as soon as he can," answered
+Betty, striving to look unconscious. "You know what that girl Lizzie
+said about mother's relatives--she never knew she had them till she came
+here--and dad thinks some of these people may make up their minds to
+contest the will. They haven't made trouble yet--but you never can tell.
+Listen, girls," she added suddenly. "Will you promise not to breathe a
+word of it if I tell you a big secret?"
+
+"Hope to die," they chorused piously.
+
+"Well, our old friend Peter Levine has been around pestering mother
+again."
+
+At this news, Grace, who was riding ahead, checked her mount so suddenly
+that Betty had all she could do to keep Nigger from swallowing Nabob's
+tail.
+
+"For goodness' sake, put out your hand when you do that next time,"
+laughed Betty.
+
+"Well," said Grace as she gave Nabob a gentle slap that started him on
+again, "Peter Levine must want that ranch very badly, to be following us
+all over the continent this way."
+
+"He seems to be rather anxious," said Betty dryly. "He has offered
+mother twenty thousand for it this time."
+
+"Going up," cried Mollie, with a chuckle. "If your mother holds on much
+longer, Betty, she will be a millionaire."
+
+"Well, mother is more certain than ever that there is something unusual
+about Gold Run Ranch," went on Betty, as she urged Nigger up a gentle
+slope. "She confidently expects to discover a gold mine, and so that's
+another reason why she thinks Allen ought to be here."
+
+"Goodness, let's all get out and dig," cried Mollie.
+
+"Can we have all we find, Betty?" called Amy, with a laugh.
+
+"Every last gold brick," answered Betty happily, and then they came upon
+another open space, and there, lying not more than half a mile below
+them, was the mining town of Gold Run.
+
+"Now here's the place to have some lunch," said Betty, slipping to the
+ground and leading Nigger off a little way into the woods where she
+tethered him securely. "We can look right down into the town and eat our
+lunch at the same time."
+
+The girls followed suit, and it did not take them long afterward to
+discover that they were very hungry. So out came the lunch basket, and
+never did biscuits and cheese and fried chicken taste more delicious
+than they did to the girls right there in that romantic little spot in
+the woods.
+
+"I hope it doesn't rain the way it did the other day," said Mollie, as
+she lazily surveyed a cloudless sky.
+
+"We haven't even a cabin in the woods to go to this time," said Grace,
+adding, as the thought brought up a picture of the long-haired musician
+who had been so painfully polite: "I wonder what our friend, Long Hair,
+lives on, anyway. Maybe he goes out and kills bears and things. They say
+bear meat is very good eating," she added reflectively.
+
+"Maybe we can catch one ourselves and take it home for dinner,"
+suggested Mollie, and the girls looked as if they did not like her
+suggestion at all.
+
+"Methinks the bear would be more likely to catch us," Betty was saying
+when a chorus of low whinnyings and stampings coming from where the
+horses were tethered caused them to jump to their feet in alarm.
+Suddenly the nervousness of the animals changed to panic and they began
+to rear and plunge, straining madly at the tethering straps, snorting
+and screaming with terror.
+
+"Look!" cried Mollie, her voice shrilling above the noise. "There! In
+the woods! Oh, run for your lives, girls! Run!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+DANGER AHEAD
+
+
+Coming toward the girls through the trees, crouched low, sinister eyes
+fixed upon them, were two great timber wolves. The girls, terrified as
+they were, saw at a glance that it would be of no use to run, the
+movement would only infuriate the beasts and precipitate their attack.
+
+"The trees!" gasped Betty, feeling herself in the grip of the deadly
+inertia that one experiences sometimes in a nightmare. "Make for the
+trees, girls; they are our only chance."
+
+Luckily, the branches of the trees swung low to the ground, or the girls
+could never have saved themselves. As it was, they had barely time to
+swing themselves free of the ground when the great beasts darted into
+the open, fangs bared, snarling hideously. Then----
+
+Bang! Bang! Two sharp reports from the direction of the woodland and one
+of the wolves sprang clear of the ground, then slunk into the
+underbrush, while the other staggered, fell, struggled to its feet,
+fell again, and after one convulsive movement, lay still.
+
+While the girls stared, unable to follow this swift turn of events,
+there was the sound of running feet coming in their direction and the
+next moment two figures broke through into the cleared space.
+
+One was a little wizened man who seemed, for all his apparent age,
+extremely agile. The other was a girl, a splendid, big creature, who
+stood as tall as the man, and who, like him, carried a rifle.
+
+The two ran to the fallen animal, talking excitedly, and turned it over
+to be sure it was dead. They were so absorbed that they did not notice
+the girls, who dropped down quietly from their perches in the trees. The
+sight of the guns carried by the newcomers had had a tremendously
+reassuring effect upon them. The wonderful sensation of relief that
+swept over them as they realized their almost miraculous escape, was so
+keen as to be almost pain.
+
+Still, they were not quite free from fear as they approached the
+prostrate body of the big beast, over which their rescuers were still
+bending. It was the girl who first discovered them.
+
+"Hello!" she cried, straightening up and turning upon the girls a frank
+regard. "You was the ones this old boy was after, eh? Look, Dad," she
+added, pointing to where the four horses were still bucking and snorting
+in fright. "There's the hosses we heard, but I reckon 'twas these gals
+the wolves was after."
+
+"I guess you're right," said Betty, trying to smile through a shiver.
+"It wasn't very much fun while it lasted, either."
+
+At this the old man, who had very kindly, keen blue eyes in his seamed
+and wrinkled face, turned and spat upon the ground meditatively.
+
+"You don't mean to tell me," he said, looking from one to the other of
+the girls, "that you purty young girls was out hyar all alone, without
+even a gun to protect yourselves with?"
+
+"I guess we were." It was Mollie who spoke this time, and her tone was
+rueful. "We aren't used to this part of the world, you see, and so we
+didn't know what a risky thing we were doing."
+
+"They are most as bad as the Hermit of Gold Run, aren't they, Dad?"
+asked the big girl, her eyes twinkling. "He goes about everywhere
+through the woods without a gun and only his violin for company; and,
+somehow or other, the beasts never molest him. Some says he charms 'em
+with his violin, but I think it's just luck," she added, with a wise
+shake of her head.
+
+The girls, whose curiosity had revived as their fears subsided, listened
+with interest to this rather long speech of the mountain girl.
+
+"Has this--er--hermit, as you call him----" Betty interrogated eagerly,
+"has he long curly hair and is he tall----"
+
+"With stooped shoulders?" finished Amy.
+
+The mountain girl looked amazed.
+
+"Why yes. Do you know him?" she asked, adding, as though to explain her
+surprise: "He doesn't like to see people, you know, and folks round here
+don't know much about him 'cept that he plays the violin. That's why
+they calls him the hermit, 'cause he lives alone an' hates everybody."
+
+"All except Meggy, here," interposed the old man, a look of pride in his
+eyes as he gazed at his daughter. "He likes her fust rate. She says it's
+'cause she takes him grub an' good things to eat. But I know better."
+
+"Pshaw, Dad," cried the girl, flushing with embarrassment. "It's jest
+one of your idees that people like me better'n most when they don't at
+all." As though to change the subject, she touched the stiff animal at
+her feet with the toe of her stout boot.
+
+"What you aim to do with this one, Dad?" she asked. "It was your bullet
+got him. Mine went wild, an' I jest injured the other feller."
+
+"Waal," said the old man, his gaze fixed speculatively on the big beast,
+"he's not wuth the trouble o' skinning an' his meat ain't much good, so
+I reckon we'd better leave him, daughter. Time I was gettin' back to the
+mine."
+
+He turned to go, but Betty was before him, hand outstretched
+impulsively.
+
+"Oh, but you must let us thank you," she cried. "If you and your
+daughter hadn't happened along just then I don't know what we should
+have done."
+
+"Oh, thet's all right, thet's all right," said the old miner, too
+embarrassed to meet her eye. "Glad we could be some use to you, ma'am.
+But ef you'll take an old man's advice," he added, as he and his
+daughter started through the woods in the direction of Gold Run, "you
+won't go roaming around in these parts without a gun onto you. 'Tain't
+safe, noways."
+
+"We won't," they promised.
+
+Once their protectors were gone they were wild with impatience to get
+out of this place of dangers. Their fingers trembled as they untied the
+horses, and it was as much as they could do to get the animals to stand
+still long enough to mount them.
+
+However, once in the saddle, they galloped along that narrow trail at
+full speed, regardless of rocks and old stumps of trees and treacherous
+holes, their one thought to reach the open road--and safety.
+
+When at last the plain stretched before them, level and red hot in the
+blazing afternoon sun, they all uttered a silent prayer of thankfulness.
+
+"You were right, Amy," said Betty suddenly, as Amy came up abreast of
+her, "when you said the mountains could be cruel too."
+
+"We'll not ever dare tell the folks," said Grace, shuddering at the
+memory of their close escape. "They would never let us out of their
+sight again."
+
+"It was mighty lucky for us that Meggy and her father happened along
+just as they did," said Mollie. "I know I couldn't have held on very
+long where I was, and once on the ground I'd have made a lovely tender
+morsel for the little wolves."
+
+"You flatter yourself," retorted Grace, and Amy shivered.
+
+"I don't know how you girls can joke about such a thing," she said. "I
+was about frightened to death."
+
+"I suppose you think the rest of us enjoyed it," said Mollie, and at
+this point Betty thought it was about time to interfere.
+
+"Wasn't it odd--Meggy's speaking of our friend the musician and calling
+him the Hermit of Gold Run?" she said. "I'm glad the poor lonely fellow
+has a nice girl like Meggy to befriend him."
+
+"Huh, he didn't seem to want befriending very much when we saw him,"
+said Mollie. "We couldn't have been frozen more completely if we had
+dropped on an iceberg."
+
+"Oh, well, he has 'ze temperament,'" said Grace, with an elaborate
+gesture.
+
+"Seems kind of strange, his living up there all alone," said Amy
+thoughtfully. "You would think any one who could play the way he can
+would hate to bury himself in the wilderness. Unless----" she paused,
+and Mollie jumped joyfully into the opening.
+
+"Unless there is some reason why he has to," said the latter, adding
+with an I-told-you-so air, "I thought there was some mystery about that
+man, and now you are beginning to think so yourselves. You just keep
+your eyes open and watch for a surprise!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE LANDSLIDE
+
+
+After their perilous adventure, the Outdoor Girls shunned the forest
+unless they were accompanied by one or more of the cowboys at the ranch.
+Andy Rawlinson escorted them whenever he could, but his duties as
+foreman of the ranch kept him very busy and he sometimes appointed one
+of the ranch hands to take his place.
+
+However, these excursions became less and less frequent as the girls
+became more interested in the booming mining town of Gold Run.
+
+This they had visited with Mr. and Mrs. Nelson and Andy, and the whole
+thing made them feel more than ever as if they were living some motion
+picture drama.
+
+There was the regulation general store and the inevitable dance hall
+where the lucky miners came to spend their golden nuggets and the
+unlucky tried to drown their misery in the companionship of others.
+
+Their eyes wide with interest and pleasure and their tongues busy with
+questions, the girls cantered down the narrow, crooked wagon road called
+"Main Street." They read the names over the doors of the dingy little
+shops, commenting gayly upon their queerness.
+
+"Peter Levine, Attorney," read Betty aloud from a sign just a little
+dingier than the rest. Then she drew rein and waited for her mother, who
+was riding more slowly with Mr. Nelson. The other girls, who had ridden
+on ahead, suddenly missed her, saw that she had stopped, and came back
+curiously.
+
+"Look, Mother," Betty was saying as they came up. "This is where dear
+Peter Levine hails from. His checked suit and loud tie must look funny
+in that dingy little shop," she added, with a chuckle.
+
+"Well, let's ride along," suggested Mrs. Nelson nervously. "He might see
+us and take it into his head to come out. And I don't want to have
+anything more to do with him until Allen comes."
+
+"Allen," thought Betty, as they turned and cantered on again. "I wish he
+would hurry a little. He seems an awfully long time coming."
+
+After they had seen all that there was to see of the town itself, Andy
+led them to some of the important mines on the outskirts. They listened
+with lively interest while the young fellow explained to them how the
+ore was extracted from the mountain side where it had lain unmolested
+for thousands of years.
+
+"It almost seems a shame to disturb it," said Amy at this point, and the
+girls laughed at her.
+
+"Just give me a chance at it, that's all," said Mollie longingly.
+
+At one of these mines they met the old man and his daughter, Meggy,
+whose timely arrival a few days before had saved their lives. The two
+were in the midst of their work, the girl lifting and hauling with all
+the strength of a man, and they scarcely looked up as the party passed
+them, although the old man responded with a wave of his hand when Andy
+Rawlinson called to him.
+
+"How's it goin', Dan?" asked the former.
+
+"Oh, well enough, well enough," responded the man, with what seemed to
+the girls enforced cheerfulness. "We'll strike gold afore to-morrow,
+sure."
+
+"Poor old Dan Higgins," said Andy, with a sobering of his good-natured
+face. "He's always goin' to strike gold 'to-morrow.' Sure, there's no
+one I'd rather see strike it rich than Dan an' that girl of his. But I'm
+'fraid they're jest plumb unlucky. Funny thing, luck--and gold," he went
+on to soliloquize. "Some young fellers they come out here, thinkin' they
+can get back to the girl at home in a couple o' years with their
+pockets plumb full o' nuggets, an' instead, they toil their lives away
+till their hair grows white an' their skin gets crackly like parchment,
+an' never even a glimpse o' yellow. An' mebbe the feller next to him
+drills a hole three feet deep and he strikes a vein. Yes siree, if ever
+there was a real thing in this world, that thing is luck."
+
+The girls were impressed and their hearts ached for Dan Higgins, his
+years of hope and work and his profitless mine. As for the girl, his
+daughter, Meggy----
+
+"Are you sure Dan Higgins hasn't any chance of striking gold?" asked
+Betty, gravely.
+
+"Not a bit of it," returned Andy Rawlinson quickly. "There's gold all
+around here--everybody thought Dan was mighty lucky when he staked out
+his claim. He may find gold yet. But," he added, and there was a
+fatalistic quality in his tone that chilled the girls, "you always have
+to reckon on luck."
+
+In the days that followed it became quite the usual thing to see the
+Outdoor Girls, mounted on their splendid horses, galloping along the
+open road or cantering through the town of Gold Run. It was not long
+before they became general favorites in this country where girls of
+their type were scarce, and the girls knew most of the rough but
+good-hearted miners by name. But perhaps of them all, their best and
+staunchest friends were old Dan Higgins and his daughter, Meggy.
+
+The girls often visited the mine and were always greeted with the utmost
+heartiness by its owners. Once Betty had caught Meggy looking longingly
+at Nigger as he was trying his best to get some nourishment from the
+stubbly grass, and with the quick impulsiveness that was hers, she asked
+the girl if she would like a ride.
+
+At the sudden radiance that flooded Meggy's face, Betty turned away
+abashed. She felt as though she had been given a glimpse of the girl's
+soul.
+
+Meggy had her ride, and in the days that followed she had many others
+and the girl's fondness for Betty became almost worship. She liked the
+other girls, for they were always kind to her, but Betty was her idol.
+
+"I have wanted all my life to own a horse," she confided to the Little
+Captain one day, as she stroked Nigger's shining coat with almost
+reverent fingers. "It would be the first thing I would buy for myself if
+dad should strike it rich." Her tone was brave, but the eyes that sought
+her father's toiling figure were sad. "Poor old dad," she said softly,
+"I don't think he would keep on any longer, if it wasn't for me."
+
+On one of their visits to the mine the girls were astonished to find
+their mysterious musician there ahead of them. He seemed to be trying to
+help, but from where the girls watched unobserved, it looked as though
+he were more in the way than anything else.
+
+Meggy was the first to discover them, and as she called out a greeting,
+the Hermit of Gold Run rose quickly to his feet and disappeared into the
+woods.
+
+"Poor fellow," said Meggy, looking pityingly after him. "We let him try
+to help us because it seems to amuse him, but he really doesn't know how
+to work with his hands. His fingers were made for the fiddle."
+
+"I certainly would like to find out more about that man," said Mollie,
+her forehead puckered into a puzzled frown. "He sure does act pretty
+funny."
+
+"We'll have to visit him again some day," said Betty lightly, and then
+turned to question Meggy on the progress of the mine.
+
+On their way home they took up the subject of the strange musician whose
+queer comings and goings had begun to be of more than usual interest to
+them.
+
+"He acts--in a--a stealthy way," said Grace, striving for the exact
+words to express her meaning. "He positively sneaked away from us this
+morning. It seems to me people don't act like that unless they are
+afraid of something."
+
+"He might just be afraid of people," Betty reminded her. "Or he may
+dislike people and want to be left alone. That would account for the
+name of 'hermit' that the natives around here have given him."
+
+"But an ordinary hermit wouldn't be able to play like a virtuoso,"
+objected Amy.
+
+"Well, nobody said he was an ordinary hermit," retorted Mollie.
+
+"To change the subject before you girls get to the hair-pulling stage,"
+laughed Betty, as she turned Nigger's head toward the ranch, "I wish we
+could do something for Dan Higgins and Meggy. It's a shame for that
+splendid, loyal girl to have to spend all her youth, when she might be
+having good times like other girls, in doing the kind of work that's
+only fit for a man to do."
+
+"And she's so brave about it, too," added Grace admiringly. "She keeps
+her head up like a thoroughbred."
+
+"I've asked her to come over to the ranch," Betty went on thoughtfully.
+"She has a passion for horses, you know, and I told her we'd have Andy
+Rawlinson pick her out a beauty from the corrals. I could see that she
+was awfully tempted, but she said no, she couldn't leave her father."
+
+"Probably the real reason she refused was because she hadn't decent
+clothes to wear," said Mollie sagaciously. "The poor girl is almost in
+rags."
+
+"I wish we could help," sighed Betty. "But she and her father are proud,
+like most of the other people around here. They just have to stand on
+their own feet."
+
+"I wonder if they have enough to eat," mused Amy. "It would be dreadful
+to think of them actually hungry."
+
+"Oh, I guess there's no danger of that," said Mollie. "As long as there
+are wild animals in the woods and Dan Higgins and Meggy have guns they
+won't starve to death."
+
+"And maybe they really will find gold, anyway," said Grace hopefully.
+
+They rode along silently for a while. In their abstraction they had
+taken the long way home, instead of cutting directly across the ranch in
+the direction of the house. They were on a rather narrow trail, so
+narrow, that they could not ride two abreast but were strung out in
+single file, Indian fashion. On one side of them rose the mountain, huge
+and majestic, and on the other was a sheer drop of a hundred feet or so
+into a rocky canyon.
+
+The girls had always loved this ride because of the wonderful view it
+afforded them of the surrounding country. But that very morning Dan
+Higgins had warned them not to go that way.
+
+"The mountain is pow'ful oncertain," the old man had told them. "Part of
+it is apt to fall on you any time if you get too close to it."
+
+Betty thought of this warning, but too late. An ominous rumbling jerked
+her eyes upward and she saw a sight that almost froze the blood in her
+veins. It seemed indeed to her terrified fancy as if the whole mountain
+were falling upon them. A great mass of dirt and brush and rock was
+hurtling down upon them with sickening velocity. A landslide--and they
+were directly in its path!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+IN THE CAVE
+
+
+Luck was with the Outdoor Girls that day--or fate--call it what you
+will. In the side of the mountain close to where they were, had been
+drilled a hole forming a large, artificial cave--probably the work of
+some miner who had abandoned operations almost at the beginning either
+from lack of funds or ambition.
+
+Into this hole the girls dashed, driven on by their frightful peril. Amy
+was the last to enter, and she had barely urged her nervous little filly
+into the opening when, with a terrific rumbling and rattling, the mass
+of earth and stones fell, covering the mouth of the cave and leaving
+them in such absolute darkness that it seemed as if they must suddenly
+have been stricken blind.
+
+"Oh! oh!" moaned Amy, her trembling hand striving vainly to quiet the
+frightened animal under her. "We're buried alive, girls, we're buried
+alive! We'll never get out of this--never!"
+
+"Please stop that, Amy," Betty's voice came out of the darkness, harsh,
+unnatural, like the crack of a whip. "The only danger we're in is the
+danger of losing our heads. Whoa, there, Nigger, old boy. Take it easy,
+beauty--there's nothing to be frightened about--there--there----" and
+she crooned to the big beast soothingly.
+
+Someway, the other girls managed to follow her example, enough at least
+to quiet their restless mounts. Grace was sobbing, more from nervousness
+than fright, but she managed to say with a catch in her breath, "Stand
+still, Nabob--don't be such a s-silly. Isn't your Auntie Grace here with
+you?"
+
+But it was Mollie who had the real problem. For while "Old Nick's"
+skittishness was more amusing than dangerous in the open, here, in this
+small place, with the other horses already difficult to manage, any real
+panic on his part would be more than likely to precipitate a real
+tragedy.
+
+In the dark, unable to see a foot before their faces, only the power of
+their wills to prevent a stampede of their panicky horses which would
+mean death to them all and, worst of all, the possibility of smothering
+or starving to death in this walled-in cave! This was the appalling
+situation which confronted the four Outdoor Girls.
+
+Mollie, her teeth grimly set, her knees dug into Old Nick's sides, was
+doing her best to keep him from trying to climb on the back of one of
+the other horses.
+
+"Oh, Mollie, make him stop it," cried Amy frantically. "He'll kill poor
+Lady. Make him stop!"
+
+"What do you suppose I'm trying to do," gritted Mollie between clenched
+teeth. "Do you think I like riding the side of a wall? Get down there,
+Old Nick, you wicked beast. Just wait till I get you outside."
+
+Although this threat was uttered sternly, Mollie had never been nearer
+to crying in her life. Luckily, a cruel dig of her spurs in the horse's
+side brought the big beast to his senses. He dropped to the ground and
+stood there, quivering in every muscle and nickering plaintively.
+
+"Good work, Mollie, old girl," cried Betty's voice encouragingly, and
+Mollie, wiping a tell-tale drop from the corner of her nose, answered in
+a voice that held never a quiver: "I couldn't fail you, Little Captain.
+Not at a time like this," and then she felt very brave and heroic.
+
+The horses were quiet, huddled together at the farther end of the cave
+as though they found comfort in company, and thus one great danger was
+passed. But the girls had still the other and greater one to face.
+
+"We'd better dismount," said Betty's voice, surprisingly calm and
+matter-of-fact. It was this ability of Betty Nelson's to keep her nerve
+and her head in any difficulty, to see almost at a glance the best thing
+to do and the best way to do it, that had led the girls to call her
+their Little Captain. And now as they listened to her cool voice,
+directing them as always in an emergency, some of her self-control
+communicated itself to them and they followed her leadership without
+question.
+
+"The horses will stand quietly now, I think," she said, and swung
+herself cautiously from Nigger's tall back and felt her way slowly past
+the horses, out to the small open space between them and what had once
+been the mouth of the cave.
+
+The girls followed her example, the horses making no protest, save to
+whinny anxiously and crowd a little closer together.
+
+"Where are you, Betty?" cried Grace plaintively, stubbing her toe on a
+stone and emitting an injured "ouch."
+
+"I'm over here," responded Betty reassuringly. "Stretch out your hand
+and I'll grab it."
+
+"Oh, for a match, my kingdom for a match!" said Mollie, brushing her
+hand across her eyes as though to relieve them of the weight of that
+terrific darkness. "Why aren't we men so we could carry 'em in our
+pockets--the matches I mean, not the men," she added with a chuckle that
+ended in a sob.
+
+"Well, here we are," said Grace, when they had found each other in the
+inky blackness. "Now you've got us, Betty, what are you going to do with
+us?"
+
+"I don't know--yet," responded Betty honestly. "I guess we've got to
+talk it over and decide what it is best to do."
+
+Amy groaned.
+
+"Meanwhile we smother," she said.
+
+"Nonsense," retorted Betty briskly. "There's enough air in this place to
+keep us alive for twenty-four hours at least."
+
+"Twenty-four hours," protested Amy, the panic she had felt at the first
+threatening to overwhelm her again. "But, Betty, there isn't a chance in
+the world that anybody will come along here in the next twenty-four
+hours."
+
+"That's right, too," agreed Mollie, a prickly sensation of pure fright
+tickling the roots of her hair. "Dan Higgins said this trail was
+practically never used because of the danger from the mountain. This is
+a pretty pickle, this is!"
+
+"And even if anybody should come along," Grace pointed out gloomily,
+"they couldn't be expected to guess that there are four girls and four
+horses buried in this hole in the wall."
+
+"And I don't believe we could ever in the world make ourselves heard
+through that mass of rocks and dirt," added Mollie. "Looks as though we
+had just about come to the end of our rope, I should say."
+
+Amy began to cry again softly, and Betty, who had been listening with
+increasing irritation to this conversation, burst forth indignantly:
+
+"Of all the silly things I ever heard!" she denounced them hotly, "I
+think you girls are the worst. You seem to forget that you are Outdoor
+Girls and that we have been in a good many tight places that were almost
+as bad as this. Why, we can't expect to have good times and adventures
+without once in a while getting the worst of it. If this is the way you
+are going to take a little bad luck," she finished her tirade in a fury
+that whipped the girls like a lash, "then I'm through, that's all. I
+refuse to be one of four Outdoor Girls that don't deserve the name."
+
+She paused, and the girls were silent for a moment, feeling a little
+dazed. The tongue-lashing had been just what they needed, as Betty very
+well knew. It made them angry.
+
+"Oh well," said Mollie sullenly, "if you are so much better than the
+rest of us, Betty, perhaps you can tell us what to do. I'm sure we would
+be just as glad to get out of this as you."
+
+"Then help me think of some way to do it," Betty retorted, more quietly.
+"Surely we can't accomplish it by making up our minds ahead of time that
+we are doomed."
+
+"Suppose you suggest something, yourself," said Grace resentfully.
+
+"All right," said Betty, whose quick mind had been working busily. "I am
+as sure as you girls are that the possibility of rescue from anybody
+outside is slight. Of course," she added breathlessly, "when we don't
+come home dad and mother would become worried and start a search party."
+
+"They wouldn't miss us before night though," said Grace.
+
+"Exactly," Betty caught her up. "And at night they wouldn't be as apt to
+discover the landslide as they would in the daylight. They would
+naturally think of the woods first. But the next day, anybody familiar
+with the trail would be sure to notice that there had been a landslide
+and they would be almost sure to connect it with us----"
+
+"But Betty," wailed Grace, forgetting that a moment before she had been
+angry with the Little Captain, "all that is just supposition, and you
+know as well as we do that we are likely not to be discovered
+until--until----"
+
+"It's too late," finished Mollie. "Why don't you say it? It's the
+truth."
+
+"And since it is the truth," Betty took her up briskly, "there is all
+the more reason why we should take things in our own hands and work out
+our own salvation."
+
+Betty impatiently cut short Amy's discouraged "How?"
+
+"Now listen," she said. "There are plenty of stones in this cave----"
+
+"My toes cry aloud that they know it," interjected Grace, but no one
+laughed--they were too intent upon Betty. They were beginning to realize
+what she had in mind, and the realization brought a thrill of hope.
+
+"If we could find any sharp enough--stones I mean," Betty went on, "we
+might use them as a sort of shovel and try to dig our way out. Of
+course," she added, as the girls began to grope eagerly among the dirt
+and debris at their feet for stones sharp enough to answer the purpose,
+"the mouth of the cave may be choked up too solidly with dirt and
+underbrush and things for us to get through. But in that case we'd just
+have to think up some other way, that's all."
+
+"I've got a peach," cried Mollie slangily, as her hand struck a big
+stone sharp enough to serve her purpose. "I ought to be able to dig my
+way through the side of a house with this fellow."
+
+"And here's the very one that got too familiar with my toe," said Grace,
+as she picked up another serviceable stone. "I'm going to get even with
+it now. I shall make it work as it never worked before."
+
+After much groping and knocking of heads together, Betty and Amy also
+armed themselves with imitation shovels, and so the work began.
+
+And it was work indeed. For what seemed hours to the anxious girls they
+toiled, digging sometimes with the stones, sometimes in desperation with
+their hands until it seemed to them they must have dug their way half
+through the mountainside. And still that blank wall of dirt, that
+impenetrable darkness, that stubborn barrier between them and the
+blessed sunshine. Amy was the first to give way.
+
+She sank back on the dank floor of the cave and buried her face in her
+dirt-stained hands.
+
+"We'll never get out of here!" she sobbed. "And I'm st-starving to
+d-death!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+IN THE DARKNESS
+
+
+Now the girls had been hungry before the accident occurred and, it being
+several hours since then, they were, by this time, as any one could
+readily see, in a rather bad state. Therefore, Amy's complaint was very
+unfortunate and, had it not been for Betty, it might have ruined the
+morale of the girls completely.
+
+"Good gracious, Amy, don't talk about starving to death," cried Mollie,
+dismayed. "That's coming too near the truth for comfort. Oh, this
+miserable stone. It's cutting clear through my hand!"
+
+"And my back is nearly broken," said Grace, adding, as she turned
+ferociously upon the still-sobbing Amy: "Stop that crying, Amy
+Blackford. Don't you know it is catching?" and a suspicious break at the
+end of her sentence, proved the truth of the assertion.
+
+"Girls, please don't," begged Betty, still digging automatically at the
+stubborn wall of stones and dirt. "If you all begin to cry, then we
+might just as well throw up our hands and say we are beaten."
+
+It was not long after that that the girls found what they called their
+"second wind." They forgot that they were ravenous, that their backs
+ached and that their hands were scratched and torn. They worked
+furiously in the darkness, their goal the out-of-doors they loved so
+well.
+
+For a long time they did not notice that the air was becoming very close
+and oppressive and that the perspiration that bothered them so was
+caused not alone by their exertion. And when the realization did come it
+had the effect of goading them on to more furious effort.
+
+That the horses also felt the change in the atmosphere, was attested to
+by their increased nervousness. The trampling of their hoofs sounded
+ominous to the girls--they made queer little puffing noises as if they
+were getting their breath with greater and greater difficulty.
+
+In one terrible instant the girls realized what might happen when what
+was discomfort to the animals now, should become torture. Maddened by
+pain and fright, it would be no longer possible to quiet them. And
+then--and then----
+
+"Don't you think we'd better stop and try to quiet the horses?" asked
+Mollie once, as the champing and snorting in the blackness behind them
+became more marked.
+
+"I don't think it would do any good," Betty answered between clenched
+teeth as she scooped and dug, scooped and dug. "Better keep on working,
+girls. It's the one chance we have."
+
+Oh, the horror of it, the nightmare of it! The heavy air, the hideous
+dark, the nervous trampling of those death-bearing hoofs---- The girls
+spoke no longer. They were beyond speech. Almost maddened by terror
+themselves, they scooped and dug, scooped and dug----
+
+Once they thought they heard voices outside, and shrilly they cried to
+their imaginary rescuers. No answering "hallo" reached them, and the
+only effect of their cries seemed to be to add to the fright of their
+horses and so endanger themselves still more.
+
+On, on, on--while their aching muscles seemed to grow numb with the
+strain and their lungs nearly burst with the pressure upon them.
+
+At last they gave in--it seemed that they had to give in. All except
+Betty, who kept on desperately, doggedly, her muscles barely able to
+respond to the last call she was making upon them.
+
+"I can't go on any more. I'm all in," said Mollie, a desperate quiet in
+her voice. "My arms are like lead and my hands are so numb I can't feel
+the stone. I guess this is the last adventure of the Outdoor Girls. We
+have just had one too many, that's all."
+
+"Oh, Mollie!" Betty drew in a labored breath that caught on a sob.
+"Please don't give up--please! I've counted on you----" she paused,
+jerked her head up, her attention turned on the spot where her hand
+still automatically dug at the earth.
+
+She sniffed, experimentally, sniffed again, stilling the wild throb of
+hope that was almost a pain at her heart.
+
+"What is it, Betty, what is it?" cried Mollie, sensing something
+strange. Amy and Grace fought off the dizziness that was stealing over
+them and leaned forward.
+
+But Betty had jumped to her feet, had dropped the stone and was tearing
+with her bare hands at that thin place--that thin place---- It gave
+under her mad onslaught, and suddenly her hand slipped through into the
+air--the air---- A breath of it swept into her tortured lungs, and she
+leaned there, laughing, crying, the tears of sheer weakness running down
+her dirt-stained face.
+
+"Girls!" she babbled, "out there is the air--the good old air--enough of
+it for all of us! We're saved, do you hear? We're saved!"
+
+Exhausted as they were, the girls tore at the tiny hole that Betty had
+made until there was an opening big enough for them to crawl through.
+
+And oh! the indescribable ecstasy of it, the joy of it, just to lie
+there, trembling with weakness, and drink in great drafts of that
+life-giving air, thinking of nothing, caring for nothing but that they
+were alive there in their great out-of-doors. One never comes really to
+appreciate life until one has been close to death.
+
+It was a long time before they ventured to go on. They had not realized
+how near exhaustion they had been until the tension had relaxed. When at
+last they did start for home, on foot, they were still trembling and
+they dared not glance down the canyon at their right for fear of
+becoming dizzy.
+
+They had been long hours in the cave, and when they finally left the
+trail and cut across the plain toward the ranch it was nearly dark. They
+did not realize the startling sight they must present to any one who
+might not know of their plight until they met Andy Rawlinson and some
+other boys from the ranch starting out to search for them.
+
+At sight of the mud-stained, blood-stained Outdoor Girls, Andy Rawlinson
+fairly tumbled from his pony and came running toward them while the
+other boys stood agape.
+
+"What in the world----" began Andy, but Betty stopped him with a weary
+gesture. As briefly as she could she told him what had happened and
+asked him to go back and get their horses.
+
+"It's getting pretty dark now, you know," she reminded him, when he
+seemed inclined to linger and ask questions. "Soon you won't be able to
+see what you're doing. Won't you please hurry?"
+
+"Surest thing you know," responded the boy quickly, his nice eyes full
+of sympathy for them. "Some of the boys will see you home--your folks
+are getting awfully worried about you, you know--and the rest of us will
+go on and dig out the poor bronchos. So long. We'll be back pronto."
+
+"And now home," sighed Betty, as she looked at the ranch house just
+visible in the distance. "And a bath--and something to eat. What does
+that sound like, girls?"
+
+"Heaven!" they answered.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE LURE OF GOLD
+
+
+The task of releasing the imprisoned horses was not such an easy task as
+the girls and even Andy Rawlinson had thought it would be.
+
+In the first place, it took Andy and his company some time to discover
+the place along the trail where the landslide had occurred, for Betty's
+account had been hasty and excited and she had overlooked several
+details that might have helped them in their work.
+
+And when they did reach the scene of what might have been a tragedy the
+ranch hands were appalled by the immensity of the landslide. There had
+been several small ones in that vicinity, but this was what Andy termed
+a "humdinger."
+
+There was a stamping and snorting from inside that dirt-choked cavern
+that, there in that lonely spot on the very edge of night, seemed
+positively uncanny to the men who stood and listened.
+
+"Better get busy, boys," said Andy suddenly. "Those hosses ain't goin'
+to get any easier in they minds an' it's about time we dug 'em out of
+there. Back to Gold Run as fast as we can get there for the right kind
+of tools from the miners. We may need some more men, too. Gosh, but I
+didn't know it was as bad as that," he added with a glance over his
+shoulder as he turned his pony and dashed back down the trail in the
+direction of Gold Run. "Reckon 'twas just plain grit that got those
+girls out."
+
+Back in Gold Run they found several miners who were willing to offer
+both themselves and their tools toward the work of liberation, and soon
+the cowboys returned, accompanied by men with lanterns, and fell to work
+with a will.
+
+Two hours later, Andy Rawlinson ventured into the blackness of the cave,
+swinging his lantern before him, and led forth the first of the
+frightened horses.
+
+Meanwhile the girls had bathed away the stains of their adventure, and
+after a hearty meal cooked by an over solicitous "Miz Cummins" and
+served by a frankly envious and inquisitive Lizzie, they felt
+considerably more like their old self-confident selves.
+
+However, they begged not to have to go to bed, as Mrs. Nelson anxiously
+suggested, until the boys had returned with their horses.
+
+"I'm beginning to get dreadfully worried," Betty confessed after an
+interval of staring out into the darkness. They were on the biggest of
+the many porches boasted by the quaint old ranch house, waiting eagerly
+for the first sound that would announce the return of Andy and the
+others with their horses.
+
+"I'd never get over it if anything happened to Old Nick," said Mollie,
+taking up Betty's theme. "Maybe we'd better borrow some other horses
+from the corral and follow them."
+
+"You'll do nothing of the kind," said Mr. Nelson, his voice sounding
+unusually stern there in the darkness. "I am going to keep my eye on you
+for the rest of to-day, at least!"
+
+And so they contented themselves as well as they could with waiting and
+finally were rewarded by the regular beat of galloping horses in the
+distance.
+
+"They're coming!" cried Betty, springing to her feet, then turned to her
+father pleadingly: "You won't mind if we go down to meet them, will you,
+Dad?" she asked. "They are our chums, you know--the horses, I mean."
+
+Mr. Nelson nodded, and down the steps the girls sprang, racing out to
+meet that sound of galloping hoofs which was coming ever nearer. A few
+minutes later they were caressing the nervous animals that had gone with
+them into the very shadow of death, rubbing their noses, laughing and
+crying over them and calling them endearing names till it's a wonder the
+cowboys, who stood by, grinning sympathetically, did not turn green with
+envy.
+
+"Some anymiles do have all the luck," said one of them.
+
+After that the girls and their horses were almost inseparable. If left
+to themselves, the latter would follow the girls around like dogs. Even
+"Old Nick," who had been the most difficult to understand and win, now
+was devoted to Mollie. She was the only one who could quiet him, and
+though there were some who did not care to ride him because of his
+skittishness, he was never anything but gentle and docile with her.
+
+As the days passed the girls became more and more interested in Meggy
+Higgins until the longing to give her one good time, in spite of her
+pride, became almost an obsession with them.
+
+One day Betty begged so hard that the girl finally consented to take a
+holiday and go out with them for a day's fun. But Meggy surrendered
+reluctantly, in spite of the fact that this invitation of the girls had
+been like a glimpse of wonderland to her.
+
+"I reckon dad can get along one day without me, specially as the hermit
+can do part of my work. Pa's broke him in so he can be real helpful
+now----"
+
+But she got no farther, for Betty threw her arms around the surprised
+girl and hugged her happily.
+
+"I'm awfully glad!" she cried, adding with eyes that sparkled: "I tell
+you what I'll do. I'll let you ride Nigger. There's a darling little
+brown colt over at the ranch that I've been just dying to try out."
+
+Sudden tears sprang to Meggy's eyes, and with the disgust of all
+mountain folk for the expression of sentiment, she turned away
+impatiently to hide this tell-tale sign of weakness. But Betty had
+glimpsed the tears and she was satisfied.
+
+The day was all that even Meggy Higgins' starved imagination could have
+expected of it. The miner's daughter was so beatifically happy that the
+girls found a new and most satisfying thrill in her enjoyment.
+
+All her short, work-driven life Meggy Higgins had wanted a horse, a
+beautiful, sleek animal with supple limbs and shining coat like the one
+that she was riding now--Betty's Nigger. Many have desired a fortune,
+some political fame, others social position, but Meggy merely desired a
+horse. And even this had been denied her because her father had been
+dazzled by the lure of gold, a fortune always just before his eyes, but
+never to be grasped.
+
+The girls were sorry for old Dan Higgins and his thwarted hopes. But
+they were infinitely more sorry for this girl of his to whom hardship
+was a daily reality and pleasure a golden vision to be indulged in only
+by girls whose fathers did not own a worthless claim.
+
+"Sometimes," spoke up Mollie, as she reined Old Nick into a walk, "I
+wish I had the courage to rob somebody else's mine, Meggy, and plant the
+gold in yours. It doesn't seem fair for you to work all the time and get
+nothing for it."
+
+The girl smiled sadly.
+
+"I'm used to that," she said, with a grim philosophy far beyond her
+years. Then she added, with a quick loyalty that made the girls' hearts
+warm to her: "I don't mind. I'd do anything for dad an' I guess if he
+thought I was gettin' discouraged he'd jest plum up an' quit. He's
+gittin' old, he is, an' he ain't that spry like he used to be. All he
+has is his hope in that mine--an' me. Ef you killed that you might as
+well kill him."
+
+After a while they stopped in the shade of some stunted trees and had
+lunch. The girls could tell from Meggy's popping eyes that the
+delicacies they drew forth from Miz Cummins' lunch basket had never
+been dreamed of in all her hum-drum, joyless life.
+
+Tongue sandwiches, buttered corn-bread, fried chicken that you were at
+perfect liberty to take up in your fingers and nibble to your heart's
+content, jelly and olives and hot cocoa in the thermos bottle with rich
+cream already in it--truly a feast even worthy of the Outdoor Girls!
+
+After lunch the girls strolled around a bit, leaving their mounts to
+graze lazily. They talked of many things, the adventures they had had,
+the curious people they had met in their adventuring, while Meggy
+listened to it all, drinking it in thirstily.
+
+"To think of all the things you've seen," she breathed at last. "An'
+I've spent all my time sence I was able to toddle, I reckon, betwixt our
+cabin an' the mine--back an' forth, back an' forth----"
+
+After that they rode on again and it was quite late in the day when they
+decided it was time to be going back.
+
+"I don't see," said Grace, as they neared the ranch, "why we don't lay
+out some claims and start digging ourselves, girls. The north end of
+this ranch is quite near the other mines. We might strike gold."
+
+The words were spoken laughingly, but Meggy took them seriously.
+
+"Mebbe there's some truth in that," she said soberly. "Dad allus
+reckoned they might be gold on Gold Run Ranch."
+
+A short time later they left her at the mine and Betty mounted Nigger,
+leading the brown colt by the reins. Meggy had tried to stammer some
+words of thanks, but the girls would have none of it. They waved to her
+gayly and started for home.
+
+After an unusually long and thoughtful silence, Amy spoke up softly.
+
+"Betty," she said, "if Meggy is right about the ranch, there being gold
+here, I mean, then what your mother had thought all along may turn out
+to be the truth."
+
+"Well," said Betty, a joyous lilt to her voice that the girls knew well,
+"Allen will be here in a few days and then we'll start our gold hunt.
+Gold!" she repeated softly. "There is something romantic in the very
+sound of it!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+A DISCOVERY
+
+
+Up to this time the weather had been remarkably fine, but on this
+particular morning the Outdoor Girls woke to find that the sky was
+overcast and there was every indication of a stormy day.
+
+"Oh bother," grumbled Mollie, as after their breakfast she gloomily
+surveyed the landscape from the cretonne-curtained window. "Just as I
+was about to suggest a real adventure, too!"
+
+"What do you mean--'real adventure?'" queried Grace, lazily. The day
+before she had bought a new box of candy and a magazine, and so it
+happened that she was the only one of the four of them who really did
+not care whether it rained or not.
+
+Mollie turned from the window and regarded them resentfully. Then she
+looked more hopeful as her eyes rested on Betty, who was sorting the
+contents of a too-crowded dresser drawer.
+
+"You are with me, anyway, aren't you, Betty?" she asked, almost
+wistfully. "We'll leave these other two at home, and you and I will go
+on our adventure."
+
+"All right," said Betty, with a lack of enthusiasm that fell with a
+dampening effect upon Mollie's ears. The disastrous quality of their
+last adventure had had a dampening effect on the girls' enthusiasm for
+this form of entertainment, and for the present they preferred the
+safety of the ranch to the lure of the great unknown, as it were.
+However, this condition of mind was only temporary. They would soon be
+as eager as ever for new experiences. "I'm game for anything, Mollie
+dear, as long as you keep away from land-slides and wild animals."
+
+"Just hear the child!" said Mollie disgustedly. "As if an adventure
+would be an adventure without a little danger mixed in!"
+
+"Just what is your great idea, Mollie?" asked Betty mildly. Mollie was
+beginning to glower. And if somebody did not stop her at the beginning,
+there was sure to be a fracas. Betty knew this from experience. "Suppose
+you tell us about it and get it out of your system. As I said before,
+I'm willing to do anything if it isn't hunting lions and tigers."
+
+Mollie grunted disgustedly.
+
+"Well, there isn't a thing really exciting about it, if that's what you
+mean," she said. "I just thought that since we had nothing special to do
+to-day we might visit the Hermit of Gold Run again. We might be able to
+solve the mystery about him in some way," she added as a special
+inducement, since the girls still seemed unenthusiastic.
+
+Grace laughed indulgently.
+
+"Just how do you expect to solve this mystery?" she asked, with a
+giggle. "You certainly can't do it by looking at him."
+
+"Oh well, if that's the way you feel," retorted Mollie, feeling very
+much abused, "I'm sorry I spoke about it. Only I thought we had already
+decided to pay him a visit."
+
+"And so we had," said Betty, closing the dresser drawer with a bang and
+coming unexpectedly to her aid. "And I, for one, am with you in that,
+Mollie. I have felt from the first," she went on earnestly, while Mollie
+regarded her with growing hope, "that I had not only heard the selection
+that that man played but that I had seen him somewhere before--quite a
+long time ago."
+
+Impressed by Betty's earnestness, Grace had laid down her magazine and
+Amy was becoming interested.
+
+"I know it's ridiculous," Betty continued, as though to justify
+herself, "but I can't help feeling that way, just the same."
+
+"That thing he played sounded familiar to me, too," Grace admitted, now
+entirely abandoning her magazine and sitting up. "It has been haunting
+me ever since we heard him playing that day, and yet I can't think of
+the name of it."
+
+Softly Amy began to hum a popular song, but Mollie interrupted her
+impatiently.
+
+"Well then, since you all feel that way about it," she said eagerly, "I
+don't see why it wouldn't be fun to scout around his cabin a little bit
+and see if we can't pick up some information. I'm really curious about
+him."
+
+"All right, let's," said Betty, with the decision for which she was
+famed. "Get your riding togs on, girls, and we'll play detective."
+
+This time it was Mollie who held back.
+
+"How about the weather?" she demurred. "Looks as if we were likely to
+get wet."
+
+"Who cares?" said Betty airily, adding, as she stopped at the door to
+make them a little bow: "It would give us an excuse to see His Highness
+again."
+
+Half an hour later they had saddled their ponies and were cantering off
+briskly to visit the Hermit of Gold Run.
+
+"Aren't you a little bit afraid to go in there?" asked Amy, reining in
+as they reached the narrow trail through the woods that led near the
+musician's cabin. "We might run into some wolves, as we did that other
+time."
+
+"We were much further in the woods than the Hermit's cabin," said Mollie
+impatiently. "And it was in an entirely different direction, too. Go
+ahead, silly, or I'll ride right over you," and as she was urging Old
+Nick forward until he crowded uncomfortably against the little white
+filly, Amy had no other course but to do as she was bid.
+
+Nevertheless, she was not the only one who was uneasy, and it might have
+been observed that the girls glanced often into the shadows of the
+underbrush on either side of the narrow trail.
+
+There were wild animals in that forest, as they had good reason to know,
+and though they seldom ventured this close to civilization, still there
+was no use in tempting fate!
+
+"I didn't know it was as far in as this," said Grace, after they had
+ridden some distance in silence. "Are you sure we haven't passed the
+cabin, Betty?"
+
+"Why, we aren't nearly there yet," was Betty's discomforting reply.
+"It's quite a way beyond that next turn in the trail."
+
+Grace said nothing, but she gripped the reins harder in her hands. She
+had made up her mind that at the first sign of danger she would turn
+Nabob and make a dash back down the trail for safety.
+
+After that the silence became so pronounced that Mollie noticed it and
+laughed nervously.
+
+"Why all the noise?" she asked jocosely. "It nearly breaks my ear
+drums."
+
+"Hush," cried Amy warningly. "I thought I heard something."
+
+"That was your own heart hammering against the tree trunks," retorted
+Mollie dryly, at which the girls giggled and the tension relaxed.
+
+"Let's talk about something nice," Betty suggested. "Gold, for
+instance."
+
+"Or Allen," teased Grace. "I reckon you won't be glad or anything when
+he gets here."
+
+"I guess mother will be gladder than any of us," replied Betty promptly,
+trying to shift the spotlight from herself. "She was so excited when I
+told her what Dan Higgins said about the possibility of there being gold
+on the ranch that she hardly closed her eyes all night. I told her she
+was getting to be a regular adventuress."
+
+"Like her daughter," said Mollie, with a chuckle.
+
+"Just think of the story we can tell the boys when we get home," said
+Amy rapturously, adding apologetically as the girls glanced at her: "If
+we find the gold, I mean."
+
+"Listen to the child!" cried Betty gayly, while the other girls laughed.
+"And we haven't begun to dig yet. Hold your horses, Amy dear, hold your
+horses."
+
+They did this very thing literally the next moment, for they came in
+sight of the queer little cabin of the man whom the natives called the
+Hermit of Gold Run.
+
+Quickly they jumped down, tethered the horses as they had done before on
+the day when they had first made the acquaintance of this remarkable
+man, and started rather hesitantly down the path toward the house.
+
+As they came nearer the haunting strains of the music that had puzzled
+them before once more floated out through the open windows and they
+paused, lost once again in the spell of it.
+
+The music stopped, and they went on, hardly knowing what their next move
+was to be, yet drawn irresistibly by their curiosity. Then once more
+they heard the violin, but evidently the mood of the player had changed.
+The melody fraught with pathos, wailing, pleading, no longer reached
+them. The theme had changed--light, airy, sparkling, it reminded the
+girls of fairies dancing on the grass in the moonlight.
+
+Mollie grasped Betty's arm.
+
+"I know that!" she cried excitedly. "It's something of Chopin's, a
+nocturne, I think. Girls, I know where I heard that selection played
+just that way before."
+
+They gazed at her, their eyes asking the question before their lips
+could form it.
+
+"At the Hostess House!" cried Mollie. "Don't you remember that concert
+we gave with some of the great artists?"
+
+"That big benefit!" cried Betty excitedly. "You've got it, Mollie!
+That's what I was trying to think of!"
+
+"Sh-h," said Grace, a finger to her lips. "He has stopped playing. He
+may hear us."
+
+"All right," said Betty. "Let's get back to the trail where we can talk
+this thing over."
+
+They did not stop at the trail, however, for some memory of the danger
+lurking in the woods drove them out on to the main road where they might
+talk in peace.
+
+"Now then," said Betty eagerly, as they reached the road, crowding their
+horses close together and reining them in to a walk. "What do you make
+of this, girls? If this man is really one of those artists that played
+at that big concert, then he is famous and there is something more than
+strange in his hiding up here in the woods."
+
+"Goodness, we don't need anybody to tell us that," said Grace. "He
+certainly must be in hiding for something he's done--unless he has been
+disappointed in love," she added sentimentally.
+
+"I don't believe he was ever in love with anything but his violin," said
+Mollie.
+
+"Can't somebody think of the name of the violinist that played at the
+benefit?" asked Betty, who had been trying for some minutes past to
+accomplish that very thing.
+
+"It was something like Croup, I think," said Mollie, wrinkling her
+forehead.
+
+"Goodness, how romantic," said Grace, with a laugh.
+
+"I tell you how we can find out the name," said Amy suddenly.
+
+"How?" they questioned.
+
+"I think I have a program, and I can send home for it," said Amy.
+
+"Good girl!" cried Mollie, slapping her on the back with a violence that
+nearly threw her from Lady's back and caused that gentle little animal
+to turn her head inquiringly. "We little thought we had a genius in our
+midst!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+ALLEN ARRIVES
+
+
+Amy was delighted with the praise she received from the girls and the
+first thing she did after they returned to the ranch was to write home
+to her guardian for the concert program she had so luckily saved.
+
+Naturally the girls were more curious than ever after this second trip
+to his little cabin in the woods and longed to find out about this
+strange musician who hid himself so persistently from the world.
+
+"Of course," Grace said, during one of the many times when they talked
+the matter over, "we're not at all sure that the Hermit is the same man
+who played at our benefit."
+
+"Of course we're not," Mollie agreed with her. "There must be a great
+many musicians who can play those same selections that we heard him
+play."
+
+"That's all very true," said Betty argumentatively. "But if he is really
+this same musician that played at our benefit, then that explains the
+queer hunch I've had of having seen him somewhere before."
+
+"Well," said Mollie resignedly, "I guess all we can do for the present
+is to wait until Amy gets her program. When we find out the name of the
+violinist that played for us then we can decide what to do next about
+the Hermit."
+
+Reluctantly they admitted that what she said was true, and for the time
+being let the discussion rest there.
+
+Then came the day when Betty received a letter from Allen announcing
+that he would reach Gold Run the following afternoon on the
+four-thirty-five train. The letter ended by begging her to meet the
+train herself and please not to send any one else, for no one else would
+do!
+
+Betty's pretty face flushed a deeper pink and her eyes shone brighter as
+she read this passage--and two or three others--several times over. Then
+she went to find the girls and tell them the good news.
+
+They also had received mail from the other boys and some of the folks at
+home, and she found them all together on the eastern porch having the
+time of their lives. Mollie and Amy were perched on the railing while
+Grace and a box of candy reposed in a hammock.
+
+"Well, have you finished reading yours already?" Mollie greeted the
+Little Captain as she swung up the steps. "It was such a fat one I
+thought it would take you till lunch time at least to get through with
+it."
+
+"Speak for yourself," retorted Betty, too happy to mind being teased.
+"Guess what, girls!" she added, unable to keep the news to herself for
+another minute, "Allen arrives via the Western Limited at four-thirty or
+thereabouts to-morrow afternoon."
+
+"Hooray!" cried the girls, and momentarily forgot their own letters in
+very real delight. Allen Washburn was a favorite with all of them.
+
+"Will you let us all go to meet him, Betty dear?" asked Grace, with a
+twinkling smile. "Or does he insist on seeing you alone?"
+
+"Don't be silly," retorted Betty good-naturedly. "I know he would take
+it as a personal slight if you weren't all there to welcome him."
+
+"Well, I don't know," Mollie commented ruefully. "Something tells me he
+would manage to live through it even if we weren't there. But go on,
+Betty," she added. "Tell us what else he has to say."
+
+"That's pretty nearly all," said Betty truthfully. "He said he would
+save all the news until he saw me--us. One thing he did say," she
+added, dimpling: "The boys are simply wild with jealousy. They say it is
+all a deep dark scheme on Allen's part to get out here with us."
+
+"Us!" repeated Grace, with a giggle. "Much he cares about the rest of
+us."
+
+Be that as it may, they certainly all turned out that following
+afternoon to meet the Western Limited which was bearing Allen swiftly
+toward them.
+
+There was the usual gathering of picturesquely garbed miners and
+cow-punchers on the platform, and for most of these the girls had a
+smile and a nod.
+
+"Seems funny to think how strange everything looked to us when we first
+came," remarked Grace, as they waited for the train. "Now we feel as
+much at home as if we had lived here all our lives."
+
+"The people are all so nice and friendly, too," said Amy. "It's
+wonderful how soon you come to know them."
+
+"It is a nice atmosphere," Betty agreed. "At home in the East we want to
+know pretty much all there is to know about people we make our friends.
+But out here they take you for granted. Nobody seems to care where you
+came from or who your relatives are----"
+
+"Huh," grunted Mollie. "I guess in a good many cases it wouldn't do to
+be too curious," she said cynically. "If you believe the stories you
+read and the movies you see everybody who has committed a crime anywhere
+from petty larceny to murder skips out West to escape just punishment."
+
+"Then at this moment," drawled Grace, glancing around at the rather
+harmless looking crowd on the station platform, "we are surrounded by
+thieves and murderers. Though I must say they are a pretty nice looking
+set," she added, and the girls giggled.
+
+"Grace could forgive a man anything, if he was only good-looking
+enough," remarked Amy.
+
+"Here comes the train!" cried Betty suddenly, as the Western Limited
+thundered around a curve in the distance and steamed toward them.
+Immediately she forgot everything but that Allen was on that train and
+that in a moment more she would see him----
+
+Then Allen himself, handsome as ever, eagerly scanning the faces on the
+platform as he jumped from the train the instant the porter opened the
+door.
+
+It took him barely a moment to discover the group of girls, and he came
+toward them, hand outstretched, eyes alight with greeting.
+
+"Well, if this isn't great!" he cried in his hearty voice, shaking
+hands with all of them but looking mostly at Betty. "Knew I could trust
+the Outdoor Girls to turn out for a rousing welcome. How's everything?"
+
+"Just fine," they assured him, and then Betty took him in hand.
+
+"We've brought a wagon along from the ranch to carry your luggage," she
+said, dragging him over to the wagon beside which two of the boys from
+the ranch were waiting bashfully. "Come over and meet a couple of our
+cow-punchers, and they will help you load your trunk on board."
+
+All this accomplished, the cowboys and Allen having formed an immediate
+and staunch friendship, Betty introduced the latter to the horse she had
+brought for him to ride. The pony was a magnificent animal, dark brown
+in color with a curve to his graceful neck and a flash to his eye that
+proclaimed his thoroughbred ancestry.
+
+"Say, you old peach of a horse," said Allen, fondly stroking the soft
+muzzle, "you're just about the most perfect thing of your kind I've ever
+seen. It seems almost a sacrilege to ride you."
+
+"His name is Lightning," Amy volunteered. "The boys call him that
+because he can outrun almost any other horse on the ranch. Though," she
+added loyally, "I shouldn't wonder if Lady could beat him if they
+should give her a head start."
+
+This characteristic speech brought a laugh, and Allen regarded the four
+other beautiful horses in the group.
+
+"You girls seemed to have picked winners yourselves," he said
+admiringly. He studied them a moment, then his eyes narrowed quizzically
+as he turned to Betty.
+
+"I'll bet you a box of candy against a pair of gloves," he said, "that I
+can tell which horse belongs to which. Do you take me?"
+
+"Of course," said Betty. "Go ahead."
+
+He guessed them nearly right, except that he gave Nigger to Mollie and
+Old Nick to Betty.
+
+"Almost does not avail," sang Betty gayly. "You owe me a box of candy,
+Allen Washburn."
+
+He looked at her for a moment laughing, and suddenly her gaze faltered.
+There had been something new and forceful about Allen ever since he had
+come back from the war that had made Betty a little afraid of him. But
+she did not think any the less of him--oh, no indeed!
+
+"I'll give you a dozen of them if you'll take them," he was saying
+ardently--evidently in reference to the candies.
+
+"And if she won't take 'em, I will," said Grace, with a gusto that made
+them all laugh.
+
+On the way home the girls, with what they thought was great
+consideration, cantered along in front, leaving Allen and Betty to bring
+up the rear. Allen blessed them for it, but Betty was furious and kept
+up such a running fire of comment and laughing narrative that Allen had
+no chance to say the things he had wanted to say.
+
+Only once as they neared the ranch she paused a moment, pointing out
+over the dazzling plains to the purple tipped mountains in the distance.
+
+"Isn't the country beautiful, Allen?" she asked breathlessly. "I've
+fallen dead in love with it."
+
+"It looks too good to be true," Allen agreed seriously, then added
+boyishly, with a glance that took her in, as well as the scenery: "Just
+now, I don't care if I never go home!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+A TIP
+
+
+For the next few days the girls took possession of Allen, showing him
+the sights with a will and showering him with details of their
+adventures till the poor fellow's head was in a whirl and he could
+hardly tell whether it was the wolves or the landslide that had
+frightened the girls into the cave on that memorable afternoon.
+
+"Seems to me," he said, as the girls showed him the cave--at a safe
+distance from the mountain, one may be sure--"that you young ladies need
+a chaperone pretty badly."
+
+"Do you think you're it?" teased Mollie.
+
+"Great guns! I should hope not," said Allen, with a flash of his white
+teeth. "I would rather face a dugout full of Boches than try to keep
+tabs on you girls. See here," he added, suddenly serious. "Do you mean
+to tell me that you were really caught in that cave with your horses and
+nothing to dig your way out with but your hands?"
+
+"And a few sharp stones that we found," Betty nodded soberly.
+
+Allen whistled softly.
+
+"No, I should think not," he said slowly. "It's a wonder that with you
+and your horses, too, in that small space, you didn't smother before aid
+could reach you."
+
+"We should have," spoke up Amy quickly, "if it hadn't been for Betty.
+She was the one who kept us at it when we were ready to give up."
+
+"Yes, and she was the one that kept at it when the rest of us _had_
+given up," Mollie reminded her. "She was the one who kept digging until
+she forced the hole through. If it hadn't been for her we would have all
+given up and just died there, I guess."
+
+Betty, who had been getting redder and redder through this recital of
+her heroism, found it hard to meet Allen's eyes as he turned to her with
+all his heart in his own.
+
+"The girls give me altogether too much credit," she protested. "Anybody
+will fight when he has his back against the wall. And now let's take
+Allen to see Dan Higgins' mine," she added lightly. "Dan Higgins and his
+daughter Meggy are great friends of ours, Allen, and I know you will
+love them as much as we do."
+
+"Your friends will always be mine," Allen assured her gallantly, and
+they rode off gayly toward Gold Run.
+
+On the way they told him a good deal of Dan Higgins and Meggy, and Allen
+listened with sympathetic interest.
+
+"That surely is tough," he said boyishly. "But of course his case is no
+different from that of hundreds of others who have come out here to
+'God's Country' in the hope of beating the daily grind and jumping to
+fortune at one fell swoop. That sounds rather Irish, doesn't it?" he
+added, with his contagious grin.
+
+"You're right about that, I suppose," said Betty gravely. "As you say,
+Dan Higgins is just one of a hundred others in the same pitiful fix. But
+at least he has had his dreams and the excitement of gambling. He chose
+this sort of life, and so we don't feel so awfully sorry for him. But it
+is his daughter Meggy that we pity. She is really a wonderful girl,
+Allen, and to condemn her to a life of work and poverty is really a
+crime."
+
+"Well, I didn't do it," said Allen plaintively, adding quickly as
+Betty's face clouded: "I beg your pardon, little girl, I didn't mean to
+be flippant. But, like her father, there are many others in the
+position of this girl. A man can't choose to live a life like that
+without dragging his family into it too."
+
+"Then he shouldn't have a family," said Mollie hotly. "He should make up
+his mind to be an old bachelor--though I don't think there is anything
+worse under the sun," she added, with such emphasis that the girls
+giggled.
+
+"I agree with you there," said Allen, adding whimsically: "But what a
+man should do and what he does do are often very different things."
+
+"But you speak of Dan Higgins and Meggy as if they were just ordinary
+people," Grace objected, as she flicked the reins gently on Nabob's
+arching neck. "You seem to forget that they saved our lives--probably."
+
+"No, I don't forget that," said Allen gravely. "And I respect your wish
+to do something in return. I also owe them a debt of gratitude." His
+eyes unconsciously sought Betty's, and a quick glance passed between
+them that was more eloquent than words.
+
+"Then you will help us to help him?" said Betty quickly.
+
+"I'll do anything I can," Allen answered, adding, rather dubiously: "But
+I don't see what any one can do for them. If the old man hasn't struck
+gold yet and is short of funds to finance further search, I don't see
+what any one can do for him. Do you?" he added, looking at her.
+
+"No-o," admitted Betty reluctantly. "I haven't thought of a way yet. But
+I'm sure I shall," she added so bravely that the girls wanted to hug
+her.
+
+They reached the Higgins' mine soon after this, and at the sound of
+their approach Meggy ran eagerly out to them, as she always did. But
+when she saw Allen, looking to her unsophisticated eyes like some hero
+out of a story book, handsome and city-bred, she halted and turned red
+with embarrassment.
+
+However, Allen, by his own gracious and friendly manner, soon set her at
+ease, but her eyes continued to follow every movement of his as though
+in amazement that such a perfect creature could live.
+
+"Better look out, Betty," Grace whispered to the Little Captain when
+nobody was looking. "Meggy thinks Allen is pretty nice. Just watch her,
+she's hypnotized."
+
+But Betty only smiled. Somehow, she felt pretty sure of Allen.
+
+The latter struck up a great friendship with old Dan Higgins right
+away--wonderful how everybody took to Allen, thought Betty proudly--and
+soon they were talking like old friends. In five minutes Allen had
+found out more about Dan Higgins' mine and his prospects than the girls
+would have learned in a year.
+
+Toward the end Allen managed to put a few adroit questions concerning
+Gold Run Ranch and the possibility of there being gold upon it.
+
+"Waal now," drawled Higgins, spitting upon the ground reflectively,
+"folks here'bouts used to wonder why old Jed Barcolm didn't get busy and
+find out if there was gold on thet property, but somehow th' old man
+never seemed to get interested. Conservative old fellow, Jed Barcolm,
+anyways--allus said he'd made enough raisin' cattle and didn't aim to do
+no prospectin' at his time o' life."
+
+"But you think there is a good possibility of there being gold on the
+ranch?" insisted Allen, and the girls held their breath.
+
+Dan Higgins gave him a shrewd look and spat once more.
+
+"You thinkin' of doin' a little prospectin' on your own hook, Son?" he
+inquired.
+
+"Heavens, no!" answered Allen with convincing sincerity, adding with a
+smile: "It is barely possible that my client might, though."
+
+The old man started and stood upright, squaring his thin shoulders
+belligerently.
+
+"You don't mean to tell me you're one o' those ornery lawyer cusses,"
+he said, with a disgusted emphasis that angered the girls but apparently
+left Allen unmoved.
+
+"A lawyer--but not ornery, I hope," he said pleasantly. "And my client
+is Mrs. Nelson, the new owner of the ranch. Is there anything else you
+would like to know about me?"
+
+But the old man's anger had departed and he regarded Allen with a shrewd
+twinkle in his kindly blue eyes.
+
+"Sorry, Son," he said. "I reckon there are some honest lawyers, though I
+never ain't met one yet--not round here leastways."
+
+"Thanks for a rather doubtful compliment," laughed Allen. It was evident
+that he was enjoying the old man extremely. "I assure you, though I am
+not always honest, there are times when I try very hard to be." Then he
+suddenly added: "By the way, do you happen to know a man around
+here--one of those ornery lawyers--by the name of Peter Levine?"
+
+Again Dan Higgins spat disgustedly.
+
+"Know him!" he answered with a wealth of scorn in his voice. "I reckon
+most everybody round here knows him--an' they's mighty few knows any
+good o' him. Take my advice, Son, an' keep away from him."
+
+"Thanks," said Allen dryly. "But the problem seems to be to keep him
+away from us. He is representing a client who wants to buy Gold Run
+Ranch."
+
+The old man started and a gleam of excitement shot into his eyes while
+Meggy, seeming to share his emotion, crept closer to him.
+
+"Peter Levine wants you to sell," he repeated eagerly, then relaxed once
+more into his drawl, though his eyes reflected a strange inward turmoil.
+"Listen, Son," he said. "Ef you let that snake in the grass argy you
+into sellin', you're a bigger fool 'n I take you to be. An' what's
+more," his voice lowered and the girls leaned forward eagerly, "if Peter
+wants that there property of yourn there's gold on it, you can bet your
+last dollar onto it. Pete ain't no angel, an' he don't work for
+nothing."
+
+Burning with excitement themselves, the girls marveled that Allen could
+take this statement so calmly.
+
+"Thanks for the tip," he said, in his ordinary voice. "I had some such
+idea myself, but it certainly helps to have my judgment backed by
+somebody who knows the people in the case."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE NET TIGHTENS
+
+
+Allen learned much about Peter Levine and his associates and about Gold
+Run itself in the following conversation, and when he and the girls
+finally said good-by to the old man and his daughter and started off
+down the trail again, he was more than satisfied.
+
+As for the girls, they could hardly wait to get out of earshot of the
+mine before letting loose a flood of excited comment.
+
+"Well, I don't see anything to get so excited about," said Allen, after
+they had rattled on for several minutes. "Dan Higgins didn't tell us
+anything we didn't already know--or suspect, anyway. He simply confirmed
+our suspicions, that's all."
+
+"Seems to me that's enough," retorted Mollie. "It's one thing to think a
+thing yourself and an entirely different thing to find out somebody else
+thinks it too."
+
+"Don't be an old granddaddy, Allen," Betty said, adding threateningly:
+"If you don't look out we won't let you have any of that wonderful gold
+we are going to find--not one little tiny nugget."
+
+"That's gratitude for you," said Allen reproachfully. "Not one little
+nugget for a fellow who finds her a fortune."
+
+"You haven't found it yet," Amy reminded him.
+
+"No," said Allen suddenly animated, "I haven't found it--not yet--but
+I'm pretty sure I'm on the right track. Look here," he appealed to them:
+"It seems reasonable to me to suppose that if Peter Levine and the
+people above him are so anxious to get the property they know pretty
+well where they stand. They don't want the ranch simply because they
+_think_ there is gold on it."
+
+"Then you think----" Betty was beginning breathlessly, when Allen
+interrupted her with a rush of words.
+
+"Yes, that's just what I think," he said. "I've been pretty well over
+the whole of this ranch since I came, and I've noticed that this extreme
+northwest portion of it, the only part where there would be any
+possibility of finding gold, is pretty well deserted most of the
+time--absolutely so at night----"
+
+"Then you think," Betty burst forth, "that these people, whoever they
+are, may have made actual tests? That they are sure there is gold here?"
+
+Allen nodded.
+
+"That is my theory," he said gravely. "But of course the only way to
+prove the truth of it is to keep my eyes open and catch them, if that is
+possible, in the act."
+
+"But how could one conceal such a thing?" Grace objected. "A big thing
+like a mine can't be hidden away in the daytime like a rag doll. There
+must be some signs about the place to show that people have been
+here----"
+
+"Exactly," said Allen. "There probably are signs--only nobody has had
+the incentive--or the interest, maybe--to hunt for those signs up to
+this time. Although," he added thoughtfully, "there are many ways of
+camouflaging the entrance to a mine so that a casual observer, even an
+interested one, possibly, would be fooled--branches, leaves, a rock or
+two."
+
+"But wouldn't there be noise?" It was Amy who put the objection this
+time. "I should think they would make enough disturbance to rouse
+suspicion at least."
+
+"They might not," Allen contended. "Remember, they are right in the
+mining territory, so that if any of the miners heard an unusual noise
+they would think it was one of their neighbors working late. Anyway,"
+he finished, "their operations would necessarily have to be small, and
+they might be so small as not even to arouse suspicion. Sometimes," he
+added, and the girls hung on his words as though they were prophetic,
+"there need be no actual digging to ascertain that there is gold in a
+certain region. Sometimes the bed of a spring if sifted to get rid of
+pebbles and other debris will reveal gold enough to make the finder
+certain that there is a rich gold vein close by."
+
+"Goodness, let's go and hunt up some springs!" cried Mollie
+irrepressibly. "What's the use of leaving all this gold finding to Mr.
+Peter Levine?"
+
+"I remember seeing an old broken sieve around the ranch house
+somewhere," Grace suggested helpfully. "Don't you suppose we can go back
+and get it?"
+
+"But, Allen," Betty asked anxiously, "how do you expect to find out
+about these men? I suppose you intend to show them up?"
+
+"I most certainly do," responded Allen cheerfully. "It would give me the
+greatest delight to land Mr. Peter Levine and his associates in jail."
+
+"Well, you'd better look out you don't get landed yourself," said Mollie
+sagely. "I imagine these particular gentlemen are pretty handy with
+their guns--like most of the other people around here--and I reckon they
+wouldn't be very backward about using them."
+
+"It would be fifty-fifty, at that," said Allen, adding grimly: "I'm not
+so very unhandy with a gun myself. But the war's over and I haven't any
+idea of staging a tragedy," he added lightly, anxious to banish the
+cloud that had come over Betty's bright face. "I shall keep out of sight
+till I have them just where I want them, and when they find themselves
+caught I don't think they'll do much fighting. All crooks are more or
+less cowards, you know."
+
+"But what are you going to do in the meantime--while you are waiting for
+a chance to show them up?" Betty persisted. She did not half like the
+way things were going--even if there was a chance of finding a fortune
+on the ranch. It seemed to her that Allen was putting himself into too
+great danger. And if anything happened to him, what would all the gold
+in the world be worth?
+
+"'In the meantime?'" Allen was answering her question lightly. "Why, in
+the meantime I intend to keep my eyes and ears wide open and do a little
+scouting around Gold Run until I get a line on the doings of Peter
+Levine and his crowd--if he has a crowd. He may just be in partnership
+with one other rascal like himself, for all I know. That's one of the
+first things I want to find out. After the information of our friend,
+back there at the mine," he added, "there is no longer any doubt in my
+mind that this Levine is a crook."
+
+"Humph," said Betty, "I was sure of that the first time I laid eyes on
+him."
+
+"And yet you said you could almost love him for making your mother
+decide to come out here," Allen reminded her quizzically.
+
+"And you said you were on your way to kill him," said Betty, adding with
+a chuckle: "What made you change your mind?"
+
+"I didn't change my mind," retorted Allen, with a grin. "I just didn't
+happen to meet him, that's all."
+
+They had nearly reached the ranch house before Betty thought to ask
+Allen if he had talked his plans over with her mother.
+
+"No, I haven't," he admitted. "As a matter of fact, I hadn't made any
+definite plans until I had this confab with Dan Higgins. He made me see
+the whole thing straight, so to speak. I'll have a talk with your mother
+and father to-night," he promised.
+
+He kept his promise and had the satisfaction of knowing that both his
+clients were backing him heartily.
+
+"Go to it, Allen," Mr. Nelson said at the end of the conference. "Seems
+to me that you have gotten the correct angle on this thing, and if you
+need any help from me just call on me. Only," he warned, "don't run
+yourself into unnecessary trouble."
+
+"I've found, sir," said Allen, with that straight-forward look that made
+every one like and admire him, "that it's usually the fellow who runs
+away from trouble who gets the most of it. I'm not worrying about that
+end of the business."
+
+But if he did not worry, Betty certainly did in the days that followed.
+She had dreams at night in which she saw Allen riding about in the
+shadows. There would be a report, two reports, and he would topple over
+backwards to lie crumpled up and motionless. No wonder that she became
+pale and lost her appetite and made her mother worry even in the midst
+of the excitement over this double hunt--the hunt for men and gold.
+
+One night after dinner Allen asked her to ride with him a little way,
+said it would do him a lot of good just to talk to her. Betty agreed,
+and they cantered off in the twilight, their bodies swaying to the
+rhythm of the beautiful animals under them.
+
+For a long time they were silent, just enjoying the rapid motion, the
+sweet scented air that fanned their faces, the beauty of the hazy
+mountains in the distance. Then, suddenly Allen spoke.
+
+"Betty," he said, swinging round toward her, "you aren't letting this
+thing get on your nerves, are you?"
+
+"Wh-what do you mean?" she asked faintly. "What thing?"
+
+"This gold business--the excitement of it all," he said, waving his hand
+largely as though to take in the whole landscape. "I've noticed you
+looked tired lately," he went on gently, "and I've worried about it,
+little Betty. I--I have almost dared to hope," he leaned toward her, but
+Betty was looking the other way, "that you were a little anxious about
+me. Were you?"
+
+"Why--I--yes--no--why--I don't know," cried Betty wildly, then, meeting
+his eye, she laughed, a twinkling little laugh. "You shouldn't ask
+questions like that, not so suddenly, anyway," she said primly. "It
+isn't fair."
+
+"Never mind, I got my answer," said Allen jubilantly, and again Betty
+found it a little hard to look at him. "You mustn't worry though,
+little girl," he went on gently. "There isn't any danger--really. I'm
+just playing a delightful little game--and I'm going to win. Went to see
+Levine to-day, representing your mother," he added, and his tone
+suddenly became grim. "He made me feel, or at least he tried to make me
+feel, that he had as much respect for my ability as he would for a
+little speck of dirt."
+
+"The very idea!" cried Betty indignantly. "I'd just like to tell him
+what I think of--your ability----" she faltered on these last words, for
+Allen was gazing at her with a most disconcerting light in his eyes.
+
+Suddenly she whirled Nigger's head about and urged him to a gallop.
+
+"Race you home, Allen!" she challenged. "Winner gets the other fellow's
+piece of cake."
+
+"Who cares for cake!" cried Allen, but it might have been noticed that
+he followed her just the same.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+IN THE SHADOWS
+
+
+Allen was acting in two capacities at this time--that of lawyer and that
+of private detective. He probably would not have taken this role for
+anybody but Betty and her family, but in order to serve them he was
+willing to do pretty nearly anything.
+
+So he had taken to scouting around the northern end of the ranch after
+dark, in the hope that he might possibly discover something that would
+help him in his theory that there was really gold on the ranch and,
+also, that Peter Levine and his cronies, whoever they were, knew of it.
+
+However, as the days passed, bringing no new developments, the young
+fellow began to think that he had let his imagination run away with him.
+He even began to formulate plans by which he could lure the unsuspecting
+Peter Levine into telling what he knew.
+
+And then--just when he was beginning to despair of being any help at all
+to Betty and her family--fate or luck, or whatever one wishes to call
+it, chose to smile upon him once more.
+
+He was prowling around when quite unexpectedly he found himself
+confronted by Andy Rawlinson. He had struck up quite a liking for the
+head cowboy, and the two walked along together.
+
+Gradually they neared a patch of timber near the northern boundary of
+the ranch. The cowboy said he was looking for two calves that had
+strayed away.
+
+"And it ain't no use to follow 'em into the woods on hossback," he
+explained.
+
+"I have an object in coming here," declared Allen, at last. "I am
+watching out for Peter Levine." He felt he could trust Rawlinson.
+
+"I thought as much," replied the head cowboy, with a chuckle. "Believe
+me, I wouldn't trust Levine out o' my sight, if I was the boss. I've
+seen him prowlin' around here several times."
+
+"Then you think he has some secret motive in getting hold of the ranch?"
+
+"Sure as shootin'. That feller is a bad one--take it from me."
+
+"Please don't make too much noise around here," went on Allen. "I was
+thinking he might come again in the dark some night--to do a little
+prospecting, or something like that."
+
+"I get you. It would be just like him. Quiet it is." And after that the
+pair spoke only in whispers.
+
+Nothing was seen of the calves, and presently Rawlinson was on the point
+of going back, when, all at once, something occurred to make him remain.
+
+The night was intensely dark; not a star twinkled through the storm
+clouds that scudded across the sky. Allen had just stubbed his toe on a
+projecting root and had muttered something uncomplimentary to the
+darkness of the night when an unusual sound caught the ears of the two
+young men and stopped them dead in their tracks.
+
+Some one was coming through the brush. Some one, like Allen, had
+stumbled and was muttering under his breath.
+
+"Shut up, can't you?" a second voice growled, and Allen's hand
+instinctively went to Rawlinson's arm to quiet him.
+
+"Two of them," he thought exultantly, as he held himself and the cowboy
+against the trunk of a tree. "There may be some action after all."
+
+The two strangers passed close enough to Allen and Rawlinson to have
+touched them. But they did not notice the young men.
+
+Allen and the cowboy, their blood tingling with excitement, followed the
+pair, and when, some hundred yards on, the strangers stopped, they
+stopped too, keeping within the shadow of the trees.
+
+The strangers were bending over some sort of paper which they were
+examining by the light of an electric torch.
+
+"Here's the place, Jim," one of the men said, pointing first to the
+paper and then into the shadow of the woods. "There's gold running wild
+around here, man. I've tested the bed of the creek that runs down there,
+and it's chock full of yellow men. Why, if we can get hold of this ranch
+we're rich men--rich over night, I tell you!"
+
+"Huh!" grunted the other, noncommittally. "How are you goin' to get hold
+of this ranch? Ain't done it yet, so's any one could notice it."
+
+"No, that's where you come in, Jim," replied the other, and as he turned
+eagerly to his companion Allen and Rawlinson recognized the features of
+Peter Levine. "This woman, this Mrs. Nelson who owns the place, won't
+sell. I'm afraid she may have an idea that there's gold here. And she
+suspects me, for some reason."
+
+The other man laughed unpleasantly.
+
+"'Tain't hard for most of us to guess the reason for that, Pete." And
+at the sneer Levine gave a grunt.
+
+"You must have your little joke, Jim," he said. "But now let's get down
+to business. The woman distrusts me and she has sent for this insolent
+cub lawyer--Washburn, his name is. He's been to see me already, the
+unwhipped pup," he went on, while in the shadows Allen's hands gripped
+themselves into fists, "trying to find out more about my client and John
+Josephs. Say, that's a good joke, Jim. Here they are after that
+imaginary ranchman, John Josephs, and my client who they think are
+crooks, when all the time little Peter Levine is their meat and they
+don't know it."
+
+"You didn't let on you wuz the one that wanted the place?" questioned
+Jim, who was evidently able to appreciate this joke. "You wuz just the
+lawyer, and so nowise interested except jest in the fee?"
+
+"Righto!" chuckled the other. "And a good-sized fee it will be if once I
+can get my hands on it."
+
+"Which you ain't--yet," the other reminded him. "Get busy, Pete, and
+tell us your scheme. I don't want to be standin' around here all night."
+He gave an uneasy glance over his shoulder, and Allen and Rawlinson
+shrank still further into the shadows. They were not yet ready to make
+their presence known.
+
+"All right," said Peter Levine, speaking hurriedly. "If you'll agree to
+my suggestion, you're in for easy money, Jim. All you have to do is to
+approach this Mrs. Nelson and make her an offer for the ranch--for
+yourself, you understand. She doesn't know you, and she may have become
+tired of mooning around here by now, and there's just a chance that
+she'll take you--that is, if you handle the cards right. No eagerness,
+you understand--just sort of offhand and careless, as if you didn't care
+much whether she took you or not."
+
+"Huh!" said the other, with his noncommittal grunt. "Sounds easy, don't
+it? But what do I get out of it, ef I pull this deal off, eh?"
+
+"Half of all the gold we find, Jim," said the other, waving his hand
+largely. "You'll never regret it if you put this thing through. You'll
+be a rich man."
+
+"All right, I'm on," said Jim.
+
+"Then I guess it's about time we got back," returned Peter Levine, and
+the two men moved as if to leave that vicinity.
+
+"We don't want them to get away," Allen whispered excitedly to
+Rawlinson. "I want to get hold of that paper if possible."
+
+"I reckon that will be easy, Washburn," returned the head cowboy. "I'm
+armed, you know, and I'll take my chances against those two rascals any
+time. Just follow me."
+
+Without waiting for Allen to reply to this, Andy Rawlinson ran forward
+swiftly and silently, and in a few seconds had confronted the rascally
+pair. He had drawn his pistol, but he did not raise the weapon.
+
+"Halt, both of you!" he cried, sharply. "Hands up there!"
+
+"Hi! what's the meaning of this?" cried Levine, in astonishment. "Who
+are you?"
+
+"It's Rawlinson, the head man here," muttered the man called Jim.
+
+"Right!" answered the cowboy. "And here is a particular friend of yours,
+Levine," he added, as Allen stepped closer.
+
+"Washburn!" muttered the rascally lawyer from Gold Run. And then he
+added quickly: "Have you been spying on us?"
+
+"If we have, that's our affair," answered Allen coolly. "You'd better
+keep those hands up," he went on quickly, as he saw the two rascals
+making a move as if to start something.
+
+"They'll keep 'em up all right enough," broke in Rawlinson. "I reckon
+you know me," he went on sternly. "And I'll stand for no foolin'."
+
+"We haven't been doing anything wrong," came from Levine, lamely.
+
+"Oh, no! Of course not!" said Allen sarcastically. "Only trying to get
+hold of a bonanza for next to nothing!"
+
+"Wait a minute, Washburn," came from the head cowboy. "Just relieve 'em
+of their weapons first. Then maybe we'll be able to talk with more
+satisfaction."
+
+With Rawlinson confronting them, Levine and his companion did not dare
+offer any resistance, and quickly Allen took their weapons from them and
+handed the firearms to Rawlinson.
+
+"Now I'll thank you, Levine, for that paper you were examining so
+carefully just a few minutes ago," went on the young lawyer.
+
+"This is robbery!" fumed Peter Levine. "I'll have you before the courts
+for this."
+
+Allen eyed him steadily.
+
+"Do you represent the law in this place?" he asked. "If so, I am sorry
+for the inhabitants. But there is no use in prolonging this discussion,
+Levine. I want that paper. Hand it over at once."
+
+The rascally lawyer from Gold Run attempted to argue, but the sight of
+Rawlinson's weapon subdued him, and presently he handed over the
+crumpled sheet, which Allen seized with much satisfaction. During this
+transaction Jim remained sullenly silent.
+
+"Now I guess that's about all," said Allen to the cowboy.
+
+"If that's the case I guess we can bid you skunks good-evening," came
+quickly from Rawlinson. "Both of you beat it. And don't ever let me
+ketch you around here again."
+
+"What about my gun?" came feebly from Jim.
+
+"I'll send the guns over to Levine's office to-morrow," answered the
+head cowboy. "Now clear out, and be quick about it." And a moment later
+the two rascals stumbled away through the darkness.
+
+"This is certainly what I call luck," cried Allen excitedly, as he gazed
+at the scrap of paper Levine had passed over. "Rawlinson, you have
+certainly helped me do a good night's work. If what that scoundrel said
+is true, this will mean a fortune for Betty and her mother."
+
+"I'm glad I chanced along, Washburn," answered the head cowboy. "After
+this I think I'll set a guard. If it leaks out that there is gold on
+this ranch there will be all sorts of fellows beside those skunks trying
+to locate claims around here."
+
+"Will you go up to the house with me?"
+
+"No. I'll stick around here a while and see if those fellows come back.
+Besides, I want to see if I can get any trace of those strayed-away
+calves. You go ahead. You can tell me about it later. You can take their
+guns with you if you will."
+
+Half running, half stumbling, in his eagerness, Allen reached the house,
+took the steps of the porch three at a time, and burst into the big
+homelike kitchen, where he found the family assembled.
+
+"We've got 'em, folks!" he cried, waving the scrap of paper over his
+head, while they stared at him as though they thought he had gone mad.
+"I've been out hunting and brought home a prize. Come look at it."
+
+He went over to the table beside which Mr. and Mrs. Nelson were sitting
+and laid the two captured pistols upon the table. Infected by his
+excitement, the girls crowded around, demanding an explanation.
+
+[Illustration: THE GIRLS CROWDED AROUND, DEMANDING AN EXPLANATION.
+
+_The Outdoor Girls in the Saddle._ _Page 163_]
+
+"Pistols!" cried Betty, her eyes wide with dislike of the things. "Where
+did you get them, Allen?"
+
+"Oh, just picked them off the trees by the roadside," said Allen airily.
+Then, suddenly becoming serious, he laid the scrap of paper beside the
+weapons on the table. "There," he said, dramatically, "is the key that
+may open your door to a fortune."
+
+"A map," said Mrs. Nelson, her eyes glistening. "Oh, Allen, you've found
+out something wonderful. Tell us about it, please."
+
+And so Allen recounted what had taken place during that fruitful half
+hour in the shadows of the trees. His audience listened breathlessly.
+
+"Then this thing," said Mr. Nelson, taking the bit of paper which was
+crossed and criss-crossed with a number of lines and dotted with numbers
+until it seemed more like a jig-saw puzzle than a map, "is supposedly a
+map which will point out the probable location of gold."
+
+"Yes, sir," said Allen.
+
+"Then," said Mr. Nelson, feeling the thrill of adventure in his own
+blood, "we'll begin to look for this gold to-morrow. That is--" He
+paused and looked quizzically about at the group of tense young faces.
+"If everybody is willing."
+
+"Oh-h," was all that they could say--just then.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+THE NEW MINE
+
+
+The next day much excitement filled the ranch house. Betty declared that
+she had not slept a wink the night before, worrying for fear her father
+had not meant what he said.
+
+But Mr. Nelson had meant what he had said, and there was Mrs. Nelson as
+eager as the girls to keep him to his word.
+
+"The ranch is mine, you know," she laughingly reminded the girls. "And
+if there are gold mines on it I certainly intend to find them."
+
+It was settled, and Mr. Nelson and Allen set out for town to make
+arrangements for the enterprise. The girls wanted to go too, but Mr.
+Nelson pointed out that he and Allen could probably do the work more
+quickly if they were alone, and it was upon this point and this point
+only that the girls consented to let them go.
+
+"But that needn't keep us from the saddle," Mollie decided, as they
+watched the two men canter swiftly away. "I don't know about the rest
+of you, but I'm just longing for action."
+
+"Ditto," cried Betty, then added with bright eagerness: "Girls, I know
+what we can do! Let's go down to the place where Allen found those two
+men last night. That's where the mines are, you know, and we might stake
+out claims or something."
+
+"Your mother might have something to say to that," said Grace, making a
+funny face. "It isn't quite the thing to stake out claims on somebody
+else's property."
+
+"Oh well, you needn't be so particular," cried Betty airily. "Come on,
+girls, who's with me?"
+
+It seemed they all were, and, fairly dancing with excitement, they made
+their way to the corrals where Andy Rawlinson saddled their horses for
+them.
+
+The horses seemed to catch some of the girls' excitement, and it was all
+that the latter could do to hold the animals in.
+
+"It must be in the air," laughed Grace, as she pulled in Nabob sharply.
+"We've all got the gold fever."
+
+"Let's give them their heads," said Mollie suddenly. "I'd like a regular
+gallop this morning."
+
+"All right, let's go," sang out Betty, and in another minute they were
+off, the horses galloping like mad and the girls laughing and shouting
+in utter abandonment to their high spirits.
+
+At this rate it took them only a few minutes to reach the spot where
+Allen had had his adventure the night before.
+
+They reined in sharply, and Betty jumped down, throwing the reins over
+Nigger's neck and giving him a fond little pat on the flank.
+
+"There, old boy," she said. "Go and eat some grass for yourself while we
+do a little prospecting. Girls," she added as they in turn dismounted
+and ran up to her, "from Allen's description, it must have been just
+about here that he stood." She indicated the bent tree with the great
+bowlder behind it that Allen had described to them. "And the two men
+must have stood in there among that heavy shrubbery somewhere."
+
+"Then this is where they will begin work," cried Amy, a faint flush
+warming her face. "Oh, Betty, it all seems like a fairy story."
+
+"Fairy story, nothing!" exclaimed Mollie. "This is a real,
+honest-to-goodness adventure story. My, it's a wonder Allen didn't get
+shot up last night," she added thoughtfully. "It must have taken nerve
+to stand here, listening to those old scoundrels and not knowing what
+minute they might find him out and fire upon him."
+
+"I think Allen is perfectly wonderful, anyway," said Grace, and Betty
+thrilled at the tribute. "He never seems to know what it is to be
+afraid. And he always gets what he wants, too."
+
+"And to think that 'John Josephs' never existed!" chuckled Betty. "Peter
+Levine must have quite a good deal of imagination."
+
+"Well, what's the use of standing here?" said Amy, after a moment of
+silent musing. "Let's look around a little bit and see what we can see."
+
+So for a while they thrashed around in the bush, accomplishing very
+little besides scaring some rabbits and woodchucks into their holes.
+They found the tiny creek Peter Levine had spoken of, and they gazed
+with interest at its muddy, sluggish water.
+
+"Who would ever think there was gold in the bottom of that?" whispered
+Mollie.
+
+When they finally became convinced that there was nothing more to be
+seen they started reluctantly home again.
+
+"Let's go around by the mine and see how Meggy and her dad are coming
+on," suggested Betty, and so they changed their course a little to
+include the mine.
+
+Meggy was glad to see them as usual but they could tell by the weariness
+of her bearing that there was no good news as far as she was concerned
+and they had not the heart to tell her their own.
+
+"Can't you come over to the ranch for a little while?" asked Betty,
+eager to do some little thing toward cheering the girl. But Meggy shook
+her head.
+
+"I can't leave father--even for a little while," she said sadly. "He
+ain't feeling well, and I'm afraid if his luck doesn't change pretty
+soon I--I--won't have any dad----" she choked and turned away. Betty was
+beside her in a moment, her arm about the girl's shoulders.
+
+"We're awfully sorry, honey," she said compassionately. "We didn't know
+that your father was feeling bad. Is he--is he really sick?"
+
+"Sick of life, I guess," said Meggy, conquering her emotion and
+instantly ashamed of it. "I've heered of people dyin' of a broken heart,
+an' that's what dad's doin', I guess. Bad luck can kill you if it keeps
+up long enough."
+
+The girls rode home saddened by this brief encounter. It seemed almost
+wrong for them to be happy when Dan Higgins was "dyin' of a broken
+heart" and Meggy, brave, splendid girl that she was, had almost lost
+hope.
+
+"If only everybody in the world could be happy," said Grace plaintively.
+"It just spoils all your fun when you know that other people are
+miserable."
+
+"The worst of it is," said Betty soberly, "that with all this luck
+coming our way we can't pass on a single little bit of it to that poor
+girl and her dad. If only they weren't so proud----" The sentence
+trailed off into a sigh, and she gazed pensively out over the plain.
+
+"Well, there's no use of crying over it," said Mollie briskly. "We may
+find a way of being useful to Meggy yet, and until then, as my mother
+says, 'let's be canty with thinking about it.' Oh, look, girls, here
+comes Allen. I wonder what kind of news he has."
+
+They galloped gayly to meet him, and Allen thought they made a very
+pretty picture as they swept up to him.
+
+"Well," he said as they surrounded him, "everything is settled and they
+are to begin work to-morrow morning. Our news has aroused great
+excitement in town, and there's a rush to establish claims near that end
+of our ranch. Better give your friend, Dan Higgins, a hint, so that he
+can get in first. So long. I'm on to the house for the map, and then I'm
+going to join Mr. Nelson again in town."
+
+So he dashed off in the direction of the ranch and the girls wheeled and
+galloped back in the direction they had come--back toward Dan Higgins'
+mine to warn him to stake a new claim before others reached the spot.
+
+They were so excited that it was hard to make their purpose clear at
+first, but when the old man and Meggy comprehended what they were trying
+to tell them, they were immediately galvanized to action.
+
+"I'll show you the best place," Betty eagerly volunteered.
+
+Mollie offered to stay behind and give the old man her horse, and in a
+minute Betty and Dan Higgins were galloping over the plain to that part
+of the ranch where the new gold mines were to be. They had not far to
+go, and they saw with relief that they were the first on the spot.
+
+Betty pointed out the place where Peter Levine had said there was gold
+running wild, and old Dan Higgins staked his claim as near to the place
+as he could without actually encroaching upon the ranch itself.
+
+With trembling fingers he printed on two big placards the exact
+dimensions of his claim, and, with Betty's help, nailed them to two
+trees at the two extreme ends of his new property, and began to dig.
+
+"Thar," he sighed, after a few moments, taking off his hat to mop the
+perspiration from his forehead, "I've made another bargain with luck,
+an' mebbe this time I'll win."
+
+"I'm sure you will," cried Betty, with conviction. "If there is gold on
+our ranch, and we are sure there is, then there is almost certain to be
+some on your property also. Oh, Mr. Dan Higgins, I so dearly hope that
+there is!" This was so evidently a cry straight from her earnest young
+heart that the keen eyes of the hardened old miner filled with tears and
+he patted Betty's head with an unsteady hand.
+
+"You're a mighty fine little gal," he said finally. "Ef an old man's
+gratitude means anything to you, you sure have got it. I've a sort of
+sure feelin' you've changed the luck for Meggy and me."
+
+They were silent on the ride back to the mine, but as they reached the
+last stretch of the trail that led down to it the old man shifted in his
+saddle and looked at Betty earnestly.
+
+"An' ef Meggy's mother was alive," he said simply, "she would thank you,
+too."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+THE VIOLINIST AGAIN
+
+
+As Allen had predicted, there was a general rush on the part of the
+miners to establish claims on the property adjoining the ranch, and the
+girls congratulated themselves over and over again that they had reached
+Dan Higgins with the glad tidings in time for him to secure the best
+location.
+
+All day long the girls were in the saddle, hovering about the new gold
+diggings, fascinated at the way new mines seemed to spring up over
+night.
+
+Next to those on their own property, they were most interested in Dan
+Higgins' mine and in their hearts they would really rather have had him
+find gold than to find it themselves.
+
+"They need it so much more than we do," Betty said anxiously. "If Dan
+Higgins and Meggy have drawn another blank I don't know what they will
+do."
+
+In the midst of all this confusion and excitement, Amy received the
+program of the benefit concert given at the Hostess House for which she
+had sent home some time before. They had almost forgotten the hermit and
+it was with a shock of surprise that they remembered they had not seen
+him since the new mining operations. Before that they had run across him
+quite often attempting to help Meggy and Dan in his rather eccentric
+way.
+
+"Guess he must have been scared off by the crowd," said Mollie. "Too
+much excitement for the old boy."
+
+The four of them were sitting on the large front porch of the house,
+still in their riding habits, while their horses, at the foot of the
+steps, stamped their impatience to be off again. Nothing but the arrival
+of the mail could have drawn the girls from the fascination of the new
+gold diggings. They hardly took time to eat; and as for sleep, well,
+they took that in between times!
+
+Now Grace called to Amy, making room on the step beside her.
+
+"Come over here and show us your program," she said, extracting a bit of
+candy from some hidden recess somewhere about her person and popping it
+into her mouth. "I'm anxious to see what that violinist's name was."
+
+Amy obeyed, and as Grace opened the program Mollie and Betty drew closer
+and peeped over her shoulder.
+
+"Concerto--Liszt," read Grace, her finger pointing down the page. "No,
+that isn't it. That's for the piano. Hold on, here we are.
+Chopin--Nocturne--Paul Loup, violinist. There he is. Now will you please
+tell me how that helps us to find out anything about the hermit?" She
+paused with her finger still pointing to the name and looked up at them
+inquiringly.
+
+"We-el," said Betty thoughtfully, "it doesn't help very much, I must
+admit. It doesn't prove that Paul Loup is our Hermit of Gold Run. Only
+that funny feeling I have of having seen him before and heard him
+play----"
+
+"I tell you what we'll do!" Mollie snapped her fingers decisively. "It's
+a long chance and it may not work at all but--are you game to try it?"
+She paused and regarded the expectant girls eagerly.
+
+"Maybe," said Betty, noncommittally. "You might tell us the idea first."
+
+"Listen," cried Mollie. "My idea is that if we take the hermit by
+surprise, call him by his name of Paul Loup. Why--" She paused, and the
+light of inspiration filled her eyes. "I could even speak to him in
+French----"
+
+As the girls caught her full meaning they looked at her admiringly.
+
+"I shouldn't wonder if that plan would work," said Betty swiftly. "Why
+can't we go now? Dinner won't be ready for a couple of hours."
+
+"Right you are," cried Mollie, taking the four steps at one jump and
+springing upon her astonished horse. "Come on, girls, are you with us?"
+
+"We'll have to lead 'em a merry pace," said Betty to Mollie a moment
+later as they galloped abreast up the road. "If we don't get them there
+in a hurry they're apt to get cold feet and think we're crazy."
+
+"Maybe we are," chuckled Mollie, urging Old Nick on to even greater
+speed. "I've had a suspicion that way several times before."
+
+It was Betty's turn to chuckle.
+
+"So have I!" she said, adding with a sigh of resignation: "But oh, it is
+so much fun. Look behind, Mollie. Are they still coming?"
+
+"Strong," reported Mollie, with a glance over her shoulder. Then, as
+they reached the trail that led through the woods, she reined in a
+little, motioning for Betty to take the lead. "You know the trail
+better," she said.
+
+Over the rough woodland trail their progress necessarily became slower,
+a fact which the girls did not relish at all. It gave them time to
+reflect on what a really rash adventure they had embarked, and any but
+the Outdoor Girls might have turned back even at this last minute.
+
+However, curiosity, together with some vague hope that they might become
+of service to this strange sad fellow, urged them on. If Paul Loup and
+the Hermit of Gold Run were really one and the same person, then surely
+there was a real mystery which they might in some way help to unravel.
+
+They did not linger any longer on the way than was absolutely necessary,
+for the terrible experience they had had with the timber wolves soon
+after their arrival had made them suspicious of the forest, and try as
+they would they could not suppress an uncomfortable desire to search
+every shadow for some sinister, lurking presence.
+
+In vain had the cowboys on the ranch assured them that wolves were very
+scarce in this part of the forest, especially in the summer, and that
+they had had an unusual and unique experience. As Amy had said, one
+experience like that was enough to last a lifetime.
+
+They came in sight of the cabin without mishap, however, and they
+tethered their horses a little farther from the house than usual, so
+that their stamping and neighing might not frighten the hermit away.
+
+Then they made their way with as little noise as possible along the
+narrow path.
+
+"Suppose he isn't at home?" whispered Mollie to Betty.
+
+"Then we're out of luck, that's all," returned Betty cheerfully.
+
+But the hermit was at home. They could see him moving about, and as they
+came nearer they smelled an appetizing odor of frying bacon, as though
+he were cooking his dinner.
+
+"Hope he asks us to stay to lunch," said Grace, and the girls giggled
+nervously.
+
+"We'll be lucky if he doesn't slam the door in our faces," said Amy
+pessimistically.
+
+It was Mollie who knocked this time--and it was no timid little rap
+either, but a good, hearty rat-at-tat, that brought the occupant of the
+cabin to the door in a hurry. He had the frying pan still clutched in
+his hand and on his long narrow face was such a look of dread that the
+girls felt sorry for him.
+
+"Well," he said, the emotion within him making his voice sound stern and
+forbidding, "what is it you wish? It is not raining to-day as it was
+that other time." He gazed significantly up at the cloudless sky seen in
+little blue patches through the trees, and the girls flushed, partly
+from embarrassment and partly from anger. Somehow, they had not been
+prepared to have him take this attitude, and they resented it.
+
+For a moment they stood miserably tongue-tied. Even their usually
+quick-witted Little Captain seemed suddenly to have been stricken
+speechless. They were just about to turn and run when Mollie saved the
+day for them.
+
+Pushing forward through the group she confronted the man on the door
+step.
+
+"_Vous etes Paul Loup, n'est-ce pas, monsieur?_" she said in a clear
+voice, gazing up at him fearlessly.
+
+While the girls gasped at her temerity a most astounding thing happened.
+The man dropped the frying pan and it clattered to the floor, its
+contents spilling out greasily. While they looked he seemed to crumple,
+shrivel, and his eyes stared at them glassily out of his white mask of a
+face.
+
+"_Mon Dieu!_" he cried hoarsely, staggering back into the shack. "You
+have found me! But I swear to you I did not kill him. _Mon Dieu_, I
+could not kill my brother!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+A STARTLING TALE
+
+
+Hardly able to believe that they were actually living this weird thing,
+the girls crowded into the shack after the stricken man and found that
+he had sunk upon a bench and covered his face with his hands.
+
+Strangely enough, though it had been Mollie who had precipitated this
+thing, it was Betty who now took the lead. Softly she went over to the
+shrinking man and put a gentle hand on his shoulder.
+
+"You say you did not kill your brother?" she questioned in so calm a
+voice that the girls marveled at her. "You are sure you did not?"
+
+"No! no!" cried the man again raising his haggard face, deep-lined with
+the marks of suffering, "No--I am not sure. Can you not see? It is that
+that is killing me. Yet in my sane moments I know that he was dead. He
+lay there, so white, so still, with only that red, red stream of blood
+to mar his whiteness. I leaned down, I listened to his heart----" The
+man had evidently forgotten the presence of the girls, engulfed as he
+was in the horror of the incident he related. Once more he was living
+the tragedy, and the girls, tense, strained, horrified, lived it with
+him.
+
+"I listened to his heart," the man repeated, his arms stretched out
+before him, his long, delicate hands gripped with a fierceness that made
+the knuckles go white. "There was no beating. I put my face close to his
+mouth to see if there was breath. But he had stopped breathing--forever!
+
+"My heart went cold. I seized him by the shoulders. I called him by his
+name--that brother that I had loved! Oh, how I had loved him. I begged
+him to come back to me, to open those gray lips that a moment before had
+been beautiful with life--to speak to me--and all the time----" his hand
+relaxed and pointed to the floor and the girls followed the movement
+fascinated--"there kept spreading and spreading on the rug a deep red
+stain--my brother's blood! _Mon Dieu!_ And when I staggered to my feet I
+found that the horrible stuff had clung to my fingers--they were dark
+and sticky--the fingers of a murderer! I went mad then, I think. I
+rushed from the house, from the place. One thing only was in my mind. To
+get away--to get away from Paris, that accursed city----" He paused,
+staring at the floor, and the girls waited, hardly daring to move for
+fear they would break the spell.
+
+"The rest is like a bad dream to me," the man continued in a weary
+voice. "Ghost-ridden, haunted, I came to this country incognito--under
+what you call an assumed name. For a short time I stayed in New
+Orleans----"
+
+"But your violin!" Betty interrupted in a voice that amazed her, it
+seemed so little and weak. "Surely you were under contract."
+
+The man turned on her what was almost a pitying look from his sunken
+eyes.
+
+"I could not play," he said, with a shrug of his shoulders. "To have
+gone to my manager would have been like going to the hangman--the
+electric chair, what you have in this country. No, mademoiselle, I was a
+murderer, a man hunted by his fellowmen. There was but one thing for me
+to do--to hide, to dodge about like a rabbit from a pack of baying dogs.
+Hide!" he added bitterly. "I could not hide from myself.
+
+"Always when the night grows dark and the wind it makes to howl around
+this place I can hear my brother's voice uplifted in anger. We quarreled
+over something my uncle had said--a foolish quarrel. He called me liar,
+and I--something snapped in my brain, I think, and for a moment
+everything went red. There was a wine bottle on the table--we had been
+drinking--blindly I struck out with it---- Now, when the darkness comes
+and the wildcat calls into the night with a scream like a soul in
+torment, I hear again the tinkling of that bottle as it shattered, the
+short groan, the falling of a heavy body.
+
+"It is a wonder that I have not gone mad," he said. "Many a time I have
+prayed that I might or that I might find courage to end this miserable
+life and go to join my brother. But I am a coward, a coward----" His
+voice lowered till it was almost inaudible and tears trickled through
+the long white fingers. "I have not the courage even to die. There is a
+tribunal above that I should have to face, more just, more awful, than
+any man-made law. There you have what Paul Loup has become."
+
+"But you must not speak that way," said Betty, whose quick mind had been
+forging ahead while the man had been speaking. "It is one thing to kill
+a man deliberately, and quite another to kill in hot blood, blindly.
+Besides," she added eagerly, "you are not even sure that you did kill
+your brother. Did you--have you seen the papers since--since you ran
+away?"
+
+"No," said the man. His tone was dead, hopeless. "I was afraid of what I
+might find there. He was dead, Mademoiselle," he added wearily. "When I
+say that there is a doubt of that it is simply to give myself one little
+excuse for continuing to live. He did not move, he did not breathe. Ah,
+yes, he was dead, quite dead."
+
+There was silence for a moment while Betty thought rapidly. Amy and
+Mollie and Grace stared wide-eyed with the feeling that they were
+witnessing some tremendous, swift-moving drama.
+
+"Of course," said the man, breaking the silence abruptly, his somber
+eyes upon Betty, "there is but one thing left for me now to do. I shall
+surrender to the authorities--a thing which I should have done long ago.
+Or," he added grimly, "you might rather go with me now. If you left me I
+might attempt to escape--so you will think, Mademoiselle?"
+
+There was a lift at the end of the sentence that made it a question and,
+startled, the girls looked at Betty to see what she would say.
+
+The Little Captain herself was startled. Evidently the man thought they
+had been tracking him, had used their knowledge to trap him.
+
+"Oh, it isn't as you think!" she cried impulsively. "We never had the
+slightest little wish to harm you. And please, please," she added
+earnestly, "don't give yourself up to the authorities, or do anything
+rash until you hear from me again. You may not believe me--I wouldn't
+blame you if you didn't----" she went on shyly, for the man had risen
+and was staring at her, "but all we want to do is to help you if we
+can----" she broke off confusedly for the look in the man's eyes
+silenced her.
+
+"You know I am Paul Loup," he cried hoarsely. "You have heard my story,
+my confession from my own lips, and still you say that you wish me no
+harm! Who are you? what are you? what do you want of me?" He had
+advanced toward them, and in a panic the girls moved back toward the
+open door. Only Betty stood fearlessly in his path.
+
+"We are the Outdoor Girls, and we are living just at present on Gold Run
+Ranch," she said quietly. "We found out who you were because you were
+good enough to play for us at a benefit we gave at the Hostess House at
+Camp Liberty some time ago. And we came up here because we thought that
+you were in trouble and that we might help you. If we can't help you,
+I'm sorry." And with head bravely uplifted Betty turned toward the door.
+
+She had almost reached it when he called to her.
+
+"You are a brave girl," said Paul Loup slowly, his eyes intent on
+Betty's pretty face, "How do you know that I--the murderer--will not
+kill you also for this knowledge you have of me?"
+
+Betty heard the frightened gasp of the girls behind her, but, strangely
+enough, she herself felt no fear.
+
+"You wouldn't do that," she said, her clear gaze holding his burning
+one. "You could not wish harm to a friend."
+
+"Is that what you wish me to consider you--a friend?" asked the strange
+man, feeling suddenly as though something warm and vital had closed
+about his heart.
+
+"If you will," replied Betty, reaching out her hand. "I would like very
+much to be."
+
+But Paul Loup, for all he was a murderer and an outcast, was also a
+Frenchman. With a quick gesture, ignoring her outstretched hand he
+caught her in his arms, held her there for a minute, then, releasing
+her, kissed her gently, first on one cheek, then on the other.
+
+"I had forgotten there were kind hearts in the world," he murmured
+brokenly, turning from her. "You have restored my faith. _Au revoir_, my
+friend."
+
+Someway, somehow, the girls found themselves outside that little cabin,
+making their way blindly down the path to where their horses were
+tethered. In a daze they mounted and rode off down the trail.
+
+When they came to the open trail they found that Betty was crying,
+openly, unashamed. Mollie pushed a handkerchief into her hand, but the
+Little Captain did not seem to notice it. She stared straight ahead, her
+cheeks burning, the tears rolling unchecked down her face.
+
+"Never mind, honey," said Mollie, trying to steady her voice. "It was
+hard for you, I know; but I would give anything I own to have made him
+feel that way about me. I don't care if he did commit murder. I'm for
+him--strong."
+
+"To be all alone," said Betty as though Mollie had not spoken, "and so
+heart-hungry that a little sympathy from a stranger----" A sob choked
+the rest of her sentence. But a moment later she faced the girls with a
+light of resolve shining in her eyes.
+
+"Girls," she said, "I don't believe Paul Loup is a murderer, and some
+way or other I'm going to prove it. A man like that just couldn't commit
+murder. I know it!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+THE PLAN
+
+
+Certainly the girls had never expected such startling developments from
+Mollie's simple little ruse to find out who the mysterious Hermit of
+Gold Run was. In the beginning it had been something of a lark, and they
+never dreamed that their interest and curiosity would uncover such a
+tragedy.
+
+However, they were not at all in sympathy with Betty's conviction that
+Paul Loup had not really killed his brother.
+
+"I don't see how you get that way, Betty," Grace argued hotly. "We all
+feel as sorry for the hermit as you do, but we have his own word for it
+that he really killed his brother."
+
+"He did seem to be pretty sure of it," said Amy, with a quaver in her
+voice. "When the wind rose last night and wailed around the house, I got
+all creepy thinking of him alone up in that dreary little shack, living
+that whole horrible thing over again."
+
+It was the next day, and the girls were in the saddle, as usual. They
+had visited the new gold diggings and found everybody excited and
+optimistic, though no gold had been uncovered as yet. And now they were
+trotting slowly along the open road, their thoughts busy with the
+startling happenings of the day before.
+
+"It's a wonder he doesn't go crazy," shuddered Mollie, taking up the
+thread where Amy had dropped it. "I know I would. What was it he said
+about being 'ghost-ridden?'"
+
+"I don't believe he is ghost-ridden at all, except by his imagination,"
+said Betty positively. "I think if he had taken the trouble to look at
+the newspapers before he decided that he was a hunted man he might have
+saved himself a lot of trouble and unhappiness."
+
+"Goodness, how do you get that way, Betty?" Grace said irritably. "The
+man ought to be the best judge of whether he killed anybody or not."
+
+"Well," said the Little Captain stubbornly, "it seems to me it would
+have had to be a pretty heavy bottle with a pretty strong arm behind it
+to kill a man with one blow. And a scalp wound bleeds horribly, you
+know."
+
+The girls looked a little thoughtful, and for the first time since Betty
+had advanced her theory they began to think that there might possibly
+be something in it after all.
+
+"That's right," said Amy, and then went on to relate an experience she
+had had when skylarking with Sarah Stonington.
+
+"She had hold of that heavy rocking chair we have in the library," Amy
+said. "She was trying to pull it away from me, and I was hanging on to
+it for dear life.
+
+"Then suddenly I let go, and Aunt Sarah--she's pretty heavy, you
+know--lost her balance as the chair swung forward, and fell over
+backward, striking her head on the sharp edge of the piano."
+
+"Goodness, you must have been scared," commented Mollie.
+
+"'Scared!'" echoed Amy. "Why, I was struck dumb with terror. I thought I
+had killed her. She lay there all white and funny, and her head was
+bleeding dreadfully----"
+
+"There's your scalp wound for you," Betty pointed out. "Just a little
+scratch will make the whole place look like a shambles."
+
+"But what happened to your aunt Sarah, Amy," pursued Mollie
+interestedly. "We know she didn't die."
+
+"Well, I should say she didn't!" said Amy roundly. "She was as good as
+ever in ten minutes and laughing at me for being so frightened. But we
+had to have the rug sent away to get the stain out," she added
+significantly.
+
+"Huh," said the girls, and once more became thoughtful.
+
+"But suppose you were right, Betty?" said Mollie, after a while.
+"Suppose our poor musician is torturing himself by thinking he has
+committed a crime that he hasn't? What could you possibly do about it?"
+
+"I don't just know," Betty admitted truthfully.
+
+"We might ask your father," Grace hazarded, but Betty turned on her,
+startled.
+
+"That's just the thing I don't want to do!" she said hurriedly. "Dad is
+just the best and most easy-going father in the world, but he has a
+terribly stern sense of justice. I'm not sure he wouldn't think we were
+making ourselves--oh, what do you call it----"
+
+"Accessories after the fact?" suggested Mollie, helpfully.
+
+"That's it," said Betty. "He might argue that we were committing a crime
+ourselves by helping to hide a criminal----"
+
+"Well, maybe we are, at that," said Grace, uncomfortably.
+
+"They can put you in jail for that sort of thing, can't they?" added
+Amy, a suggestion which certainly did not add to the cheerfulness of the
+atmosphere.
+
+"I don't care," said Betty stoutly. "I'd rather go to jail than deliver
+a man to a doubtful justice--especially when he may really be innocent.
+Anyway," she added, reasonably: "who is there to know that we went to
+Paul Loup's cabin the other day? I'm very sure no one saw us go in or
+come out, and if we keep quiet no one will have to know. That's why I
+didn't even want to take dad into our confidence."
+
+"But if our musician is, as you think, innocent," Grace insisted, "then
+your father could do more for him than we."
+
+"But we don't know that he is innocent. That's only my idea," said
+Betty. "And dad would probably think it was a very foolish one. Maybe it
+is, for all I know," she added dubiously.
+
+"How about Allen?" said Grace suddenly after another rather long
+silence. "He would certainly sympathize with our poor hermit and, being
+a lawyer, he would probably be able to think up some way that we might
+establish the man's innocence or guilt without giving away his
+whereabouts. There, how's that for a brilliant idea?" she finished
+proudly.
+
+"I had already thought of that," admitted Betty, while the girls turned
+amused eyes upon her. "But I was almost afraid to suggest it."
+
+"Maybe Allen would agree with your father that we, ought to turn him
+over to justice," said Mollie, but Betty shook her head vigorously.
+
+"Never! Not Allen!" she declared fervently. "He believes the other
+fellow innocent until he is proved guilty."
+
+"So does the law," said Amy wisely.
+
+"Yes, but the law has sent many an innocent man to prison nevertheless,"
+retorted Mollie. "We don't always find justice in the courts."
+
+"Hear, hear," cried Grace. "Get a soap box, Mollie."
+
+"Then it is settled that we are to tell Allen, is it?" said Betty
+eagerly. "I'm sure he will find some way to help us."
+
+"If we can pry him loose from the mining outfit," laughed Mollie. "He
+seems to have gold fever worse than any of them."
+
+But Allen had been busy, during the intervals when he could tear himself
+away from the fascination of the mining operations, on some legal
+matters.
+
+Mrs. Nelson, and her husband also, had feared that these numerous
+relatives of her great uncle, of whose existence she herself had
+scarcely been aware, might see fit to contest the old man's will
+especially when it became apparent that his property at this time was
+far more valuable than it had been at the time of his death.
+
+Allen, after considerable investigation, was able to set their fears at
+rest upon this point, however, by asserting that the old gentleman had
+made only one will and that he thought it very doubtful under the
+circumstances that the relatives would take the case into the courts.
+They were not Mr. Barcolm's children and grandchildren, as Lizzie had
+supposed, but distant relatives whom at one time and another the old man
+had befriended and gathered about him, but who had later quarreled with
+their benefactor.
+
+"Anyway," Mrs. Nelson decided happily, "if we really do find some gold I
+will give each one of them a share of it, even to the littlest."
+
+On this particular afternoon the girls found Allen, not at the mines as
+they supposed they would, but at the ranch house busy with some papers.
+
+When they besought him to come out for a ride, he hesitated at first,
+saying that he ought to get his work done before night. But they finally
+persuaded him not to let duty interfere with pleasure.
+
+"All right," he surrendered at last. "If you will get one of the boys
+to saddle Lightning for me I will be with you in ten minutes."
+
+He kept his promise, and in a short time was listening to the strangest
+tale he had ever heard. As he listened his face became more and more
+serious.
+
+"But, girls, this thing sounds impossible!" he burst forth, finally.
+"Are you telling me that you, alone and unprotected, managed to inveigle
+this murderer into confessing his crime to you? Gee, it's--it's
+unbelievable! The four of you would be a great help to me in my
+profession," he added, with a chuckle.
+
+"I didn't think you would take it as a joke," said Betty, reproachfully.
+
+"It isn't a joke," returned Allen, his face grave again. "It's a mighty
+serious business, if you will excuse my saying so. It makes me sick when
+I think of the chance you took." He was speaking to all the girls, but
+his look of concern was for Betty.
+
+"Oh, we don't want to think about ourselves," said the latter,
+impatiently. "We've done a good deal more dangerous things than that in
+our lives. We thought--we hoped--you might help us to prove his
+innocence----"
+
+"But the man's guilty," said Allen, surprised. "We have that by his own
+confession----"
+
+With a glance of despair at the others, Betty interrupted him.
+
+"Listen to me, Allen," she said. "This is what I think----" And she went
+on to tell him her idea while he listened, at first with a smile of
+faint amusement on his lips which gradually changed to grave admiration
+as he realized Betty's unfailing faith in the basic goodness of human
+nature.
+
+"I hope you are right, little girl," he said at last, when she had
+finished and was looking at him earnestly. "I'd like to believe you were
+right----"
+
+"But you can't?" she finished for him, trying to stifle the
+disappointment in her heart.
+
+"No, I can't," he answered truthfully. "When a man is so sure of his
+crime that he flees his own country, gives up money and fame to escape
+the law, you may be pretty sure that his crime was a real one."
+
+"But, Allen, you don't know the man," Betty pleaded, pretty close to
+tears in the bitterness of her disappointment. "No one could make the
+kind of music he does and be truly wicked. I wish you could have met
+him. I think you would have tried a little harder to help him."
+
+"I'm willing to help him, if I can," Allen answered gently, feeling that
+he would be almost willing to step into this poor musician's place if
+he might have Betty plead for him as she had just done for the other.
+"What is it you would like me to do?"
+
+Then suddenly the great idea popped full grown into Betty's head.
+
+"I have it!" she cried. "Why not write to Paul Loup's manager in New
+York and ask him for particulars?"
+
+"Capital!" replied Allen approvingly, while the girls looked at their
+Little Captain admiringly. "If anybody ought to be able to give us
+information, he surely is the one."
+
+"And, Allen," begged Betty, reining her horse close to Allen and laying
+a timid hand on his arm, "you won't even whisper a word of what we've
+told you--not for your foolish old law, or anything else?"
+
+"Of course not," said Allen, smiling at her. "We have to give the poor
+fellow his chance."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+GREAT DAYS
+
+
+That very afternoon Allen composed a letter to Paul Loup's concert
+manager--advised and censored by the girls, of course--and they all rode
+off to town to mail it in time to catch the four o'clock outgoing mail.
+
+"Now," said Mollie, as, this duty well performed, they started back to
+the ranch, "I feel better. We've started something, anyway."
+
+"Let's hope that we can finish it," added Grace, dubiously.
+
+They did not expect an answer to this epistle within ten days, and in
+the meantime they found plenty to keep them busy around the ranch.
+
+Progress at the mines was swift, and almost any minute now they might
+expect to hear the glorious tidings that some one had "struck it rich."
+
+Nothing had been seen of Peter Levine since that memorable night when
+the map had been taken from him, and it was rumored that the rascally
+lawyer had left town.
+
+"And the longer he keeps away the healthier it will be for him, I
+reckon," Allen said, adding with a laugh: "Gee, but it makes me happy
+every time I think of how sore that chap may be."
+
+Betty had dimpled sympathetically.
+
+"You have an awfully mean disposition, Allen," she chided him.
+
+Meggy and Dan Higgins were working furiously at their mine, but after a
+few days Betty was quick to see that they were not progressing as well
+as some of the others. After all Meggy, though unusually strong and
+robust for her age, was only a girl and her father was an old man who
+had just about worn out his energies in a fruitless search for fortune.
+
+Betty had besought her father to send help to these good friends of
+hers, and Mr. Nelson had immediately complied.
+
+There had been some trouble with Dan at first--with Meggy too, for that
+matter.
+
+"We can't take nothin' thet we can't pay fer, sir," the old fellow
+assured Mr. Nelson positively. But the latter reminded him that he and
+Meggy had saved his daughter's life, as well as those of the other
+girls, and that this put him, Mr. Nelson, deeply in the others' debt.
+In view of this the old fellow finally surrendered. In his heart he was
+deeply, fervently thankful for the help of the young, able-bodied man
+whom Mr. Nelson provided and for whose services he paid.
+
+"But ef I strike thet thar gold vein, sir," Dan assured Mr. Nelson
+earnestly, "I'm goin' to make it up to you, sir, every cent of it."
+
+"All right, we can talk about that later," Mr. Nelson said, and laughed
+and walked on to view his own operations, feeling that he had done a
+very good day's work.
+
+One morning, as the girls mounted their horses and turned their heads in
+the direction of the gold diggings, they heard what seemed to be wild
+cheering and shouting in the distance and with one impulse they urged
+their horses to a gallop.
+
+"Somebody's found something!" shouted Mollie, as the cheering and
+shouting became more distinct. "Oh, girls, I wonder who it is."
+
+"Maybe a mine has caved in, or something," Grace called back,
+pessimistically. "You'd better not get too happy, all at once."
+
+"You old wet-blanket!" cried Betty, as she leaned forward and whispered
+in Nigger's ear, urging him to greater speed. "That kind of mine doesn't
+cave in very often. Oh, Nigger, hurry, old boy! Don't you know we've
+got to get there quickly?"
+
+As they approached the noise became tumultuous, and as they topped a
+small hill that brought them in full view of the new diggings they saw a
+sight that they would never forget as long as they lived.
+
+They gazed on what seemed to be a mob gone wild. Men grasped each other
+around the waists, performing some kind of crazy dance that looked like
+an Indian cakewalk. Others tossed their hats in the air and shot holes
+through them as they fell to the ground. And all were laughing, crying,
+shouting, waving arms and head gear in a sort of wild, feverish, primal
+jubilation.
+
+The girls caught the thrill of it and they tingled to their finger tips.
+Putting spurs to their horses, they galloped down into the thick of it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+THE END OF PETER LEVINE
+
+
+The crowd scattered as the Outdoor Girls came whirling down into its
+midst, but in an instant it had closed about them again. They
+dismounted, leaving their excited horses to go where they would, and
+pushed their way through to the group that seemed to be the center of
+all this wild demonstration.
+
+And when they saw Meggy, fairly weeping with joy, and old Dan Higgins,
+holding a handful of precious golden nuggets, they nearly went mad
+themselves.
+
+They kissed and hugged Meggy till she cried aloud for mercy. They kissed
+and hugged old Dan, and he took it as though he had been used to being
+made much of by pretty girls all his life.
+
+Twenty years had fallen from the old man's age. No matter that he had
+wasted the best part of his life in a vain hunt for gold. His dream had
+been realized at last. There was a fortune in his grasp, and he felt
+again the thrill that had coursed through his veins when, as a young
+man, heart high with aspirations, he had started on his quest.
+
+He was young again! Young! It seemed as though the sight of those golden
+nuggets--his own--had renewed the fires of youth.
+
+Nimbly he sprang upon an empty powder keg and addressed his frenzied
+audience.
+
+"Friends and fellow gold hunters," he yelled, and there was a roar of
+appreciation. "They is a few words I'd like to say afore we go back to
+wrestlin' some more gold outen them rocks. An' these is them. Ef I'm a
+happy man to-day an' a rich one, then it's all due to these four young
+gals here. They set me on the trail o' this new thing when I was purty
+near tuckered out. You all knows 'em an' loves 'em. Now give 'em a
+cheer. Hearty, now, hearty----"
+
+Then arose such a roar that the Outdoor Girls' hearts swelled near to
+bursting and they felt the tears sting their eyes. That moment would be
+something to remember all their lives.
+
+The roar gradually subsided and the miners wandered back to their own
+operations again, followed by scattered groups of curious onlookers.
+They worked with redoubled energy, with redoubled hope. Gold had been
+found. More gold would be found. It was a thrilling, glorious race to
+see who would be the next to announce good fortune.
+
+Left to themselves, the girls crowded around Meggy, questioning her,
+congratulating her, demanding to know how it had all happened and when.
+
+"My--my mouth is so dry I can hardly speak," said Meggy, quivering with
+nervous reaction. "I--I can't jest make up my mind that it has happened
+yet."
+
+"We know," said Betty, soothingly. "You needn't tell us about it if you
+don't want to."
+
+"But I do--I've got to!" cried Meggy tensely. "Why, it seems like a
+dream. But I'm so happy, so wildly happy----" A sob caught in her throat
+and she paused for a moment, then went on swiftly, the words tumbling
+over each other in her eagerness: "It was jest this morning that it
+happened, jest a little while ago. You know we have been workin' awful
+hard the last few days, an' I was getting worried over dad again. He was
+gittin' that thin an' weak an' kind o' discouraged, too. Seemed like
+he'd jest made up his mind that there wasn't no luck fer him nowhere's.
+
+"Then----" she leaned forward, her eyes black as coals, her fingers
+clasped convulsively in front of her. "Then we uncovered it, that first
+little narrow vein o' gold runnin' through the rocks. I thought dad
+would go plumb crazy when he seen it. Honest, I was skeered for a
+minute, till I recollected thet joy never killed nobody.
+
+"Then I began to be skeered fer myself. I felt so kind o' queer an'
+wobbly inside o' me. Then dad came runnin' out to show the other fellers
+what he'd found, an' seemed like they went crazy too.
+
+"Then you come an'--an'--I guess thet's 'bout all."
+
+The girls drew a long breath.
+
+"All," repeated Grace, softly. "I should think it was about enough for
+one day!"
+
+"An' now," said Meggy, in a small little voice, "poor old dad an' me,
+we're rich--rich! Think of it--Meggy an' her dad! Now I can buy a hoss
+like--like--Nigger, mebbe----"
+
+"You funny girl," cried Betty, hugging her fondly. "Of course you can
+buy a horse--a dozen of them if you want to. But wouldn't you like
+anything else? Pretty clothes, a beautiful house to live in----"
+
+"Yes," agreed Meggy, but without any special enthusiasm. "I used to
+think when you gals come around lookin' all pretty an' stylish in your
+nice clothes thet I would like to dress thet way myself ef I wasn't as
+poor as dirt. An' I would like to live in somethin' besides a shack an'
+have sheets enough to your beds so's you could change 'em every day ef
+you wanted to. Sure, I'd like them things.
+
+"But a hoss----" Her voice lowered almost to a reverential pitch. "Ever
+sence I grew to be a long-legged gal, seems like all I've really wanted
+was a hoss. I s'pose," she turned dark, rather wistful eyes on the
+girls, "it's purty hard for you gals to understand what I'm talkin'
+about. You never longed fer a thing so's your heart ached till it seemed
+like it was dead inside of you. So you might think I was foolish to take
+on so 'bout only a hoss."
+
+"We don't think you're foolish, Meggy," said Betty, gently. "We think
+you're wonderful, and you deserve every bit of the splendid luck that
+has come to you. And I expect," she finished gayly, "that you will have
+the most beautiful horse in all Gold Run."
+
+Meggy's eyes lighted with joy. Then they misted suddenly as she looked
+at the girls.
+
+"It's jest like dad said," she murmured. "We wouldn't 'a' had nothin' ef
+it hadn't been fer you girls. You don't know how we feel about you,
+'cause we jest never could tell you."
+
+The days that followed seemed like a beautiful fairy tale to the happy
+girls. Peter Levine had known what he was talking about when he had
+asserted that "gold was running wild" about the northern end of the
+ranch and its environs.
+
+It was as though the finding of gold in the new Higgins' mine had been
+the key that unlocked the door to a steady stream of it.
+
+Every day brought glad tidings of a new find, and, as some of these were
+on the ranch, Betty began to realize that the Nelson family was becoming
+very wealthy. They had always been well-to-do, for her father had
+prospered in his business, that of carpet manufacturer in Deepdale. But
+now it seemed that they were to know what it felt like to be really
+rich.
+
+The girls realized this, and once Mollie put the new idea into words.
+
+"This is a wonderful thing for you, Betty dear," she said soberly. "You
+can have about anything in the world that you want now. I--I--hope you
+won't forget your old friends." She said the last laughingly, but Betty
+was deeply hurt and showed that she was.
+
+"If--if you ever dare say such a horrid thing to me again, Mollie
+Billette," she cried, half way between tears and anger, "I'll never,
+never forgive you! You--you--ought to know me better."
+
+And Mollie, heartily ashamed of herself, succeeded in placating the
+Little Captain only after having apologized most abjectly.
+
+Then one day something happened that amused them all mightily. They had
+all turned out to the gold diggings, Mrs. Nelson, Mr. Nelson, the four
+girls, and Allen. Mrs. Nelson and Allen were engaged in the joyful
+pursuit of trying to figure out how much her profits would be, when
+Betty edged up to Allen and, pulling his sleeve, pointed out a man some
+distance from them. The latter was standing alone, and he seemed to be
+regarding the operations rather morosely.
+
+"Peter Levine, by all that's holy!" murmured Allen. "Just hold tight for
+a minute, folks, and watch me chase him."
+
+With an elaborately casual air, Allen sauntered over to the morose
+individual. The man looked up as he approached, and the scowl on his
+face deepened.
+
+"Howdy," said Allen, loud enough to cause those near by to turn to look
+at him. "How's my old friend Levine this morning?"
+
+"None of your business," snarled the other, with a black look. "Lay off
+me, do you hear?"
+
+"Oh, yes, I hear," said Allen, loudly and cheerfully. "I'm quite
+exceptionally good at hearing. Shall I tell these friends of ours what
+Andy Rawlinson and I happened to hear the other night, beneath these
+very trees? Why, Levine, where are you going?" he asked with feigned
+surprise, as the other started to take his leave. "Don't you want to
+hear----"
+
+"Shut your mouth!" snarled Peter Levine, furiously, then turned and
+slunk off, followed by the jeers and catcalls of the crowd.
+
+"You shore hev got his number, boy," said one old timer, admiringly. "He
+loves you like the fox loves a trap."
+
+Allen grinned boyishly. "Suits me!" he said cheerfully.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+INNOCENT
+
+
+"That was good, Allen," said Mr. Nelson appreciatively, as the young
+fellow rejoined the group. "You've licked him in fine shape."
+
+"And we want to thank you for the way you have handled things for us,
+Allen," added Mrs. Nelson, warmly. "We might have got into all sorts of
+trouble if it hadn't been for you."
+
+The young lawyer was tremendously embarrassed by this praise, though
+Betty was aglow with it. It was splendid to have her family so fond of
+Allen.
+
+The latter noticed her silence, and under cover of the general
+conversation commented upon it.
+
+"How feels the millionairess this morning?" he asked lightly, though
+Betty felt that there was a deeper meaning hidden behind the words.
+
+"I'm feeling splendid," she answered, her voice vibrating with the joy
+of living. "Who wouldn't be--with all this?" and she waved her hand over
+the bustling scene.
+
+In spite of the excitement of all these wonderful happenings, the girls,
+especially Betty, had thought almost constantly of the poor musician
+whom his neighbors called the Hermit of Gold Run.
+
+He never came down to help Dan Higgins and Meggy any more, probably,
+Grace said, scared off by the bustle and confusion of the new gold boom.
+Meggy had mentioned casually once or twice that she still took food to
+the desperate man.
+
+"If he only doesn't give himself up to the authorities before we get
+news from the East!" Betty, worried, exclaimed over and over again.
+
+Then one day, along with the other letters in the mail, there arrived an
+important looking document from New York addressed to Allen.
+
+The latter was out at the gold diggings at the time, and the girls
+fairly lassoed him, bringing him home protesting but helpless.
+
+"I say, what's the row?" he demanded, and for answer Mollie thrust the
+important missive into his hand.
+
+"Read!" she commanded dramatically. "And tell us what lies within."
+
+Allen tore the envelope open and read the letter hastily through while
+the girls crowded around him and tried to read over his shoulder.
+
+Then he jumped to his feet and waved the paper at them excitedly.
+
+"By Jove!" he cried, "this proves that Betty was right. The man didn't
+kill his brother--simply injured him. He was taken to the hospital and
+he recovered long since. The manager says he has been trying to locate
+Paul Loup for weeks. He is losing a fortune every day----"
+
+But Betty could wait no longer. She snatched the letter from him and
+read it through aloud while the girls gaped at her.
+
+"Come on," she cried, reaching for her sailor hat and pushing it down on
+her shapely little head. "Don't stand there like wooden Indians. We've
+got to take this news to Paul Loup."
+
+Bent on their joyful mission, the girls approached the lonely little
+cabin in the woods swiftly. As they came near they heard again that same
+hauntingly sweet melody that had so moved them the first time they had
+heard it.
+
+Yet now that they understood the pain that prompted the rendering of
+that exquisite harmony, it seemed too bitterly sad to be beautiful, and
+their hearts ached dully in sympathy with Paul Loup's despair.
+
+Tears were in Betty's eyes, but there was a smile on her lips, as she
+pushed open the door of the little shack and stood waiting on the
+threshold.
+
+The musician saw her, ended the throbbing melody with a crash of
+discord, and gazed at her mutely. In all his tall, gaunt body only his
+glowing eyes seemed really alive, but in those eyes there was a welcome
+that gave Betty courage.
+
+"Look!" she cried, holding out the paper to him. "This is from your
+manager. Read it--and see that you are innocent."
+
+Slowly the man laid down his violin and bow, slowly he took the paper
+from Betty's trembling fingers. Like a man in a daze he read it
+through--then read it through again.
+
+"I did not kill him--my brother," he murmured aloud. "My brother--that I
+love--I did not kill him. He is alive--he is well. _Mon Dieu_, then I am
+free! Paul Loup--he is not a murderer--a hunted thing. He is again the
+artist--free--_free_----" His voice, which had been gradually rising as
+the truth bore in upon him, rose to a jubilant shout and he threw out
+his arms passionately as though to encompass them all in his newly found
+love of life. "The world----" he said brokenly, "the world is very
+beautiful!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Silently the girls rode through the sunshine and shadow-filled forest,
+their hearts filled with a happiness so poignant it seemed almost pain.
+
+"What a wonderful, wonderful summer!" breathed Mollie. "I don't believe
+we have ever had one like it, girls."
+
+"I wish we didn't have to go home," sighed Amy. "I shall miss my
+beautiful Lady so," and she laid a loving hand on the little animal's
+arching neck.
+
+"What about me?" wailed Grace. "I know I shall cry myself to sleep,
+longing for Nabob. He's one of the best chums I ever had."
+
+But the Little Captain did not hear them. Over and over again, like an
+echo, her mind was repeating those words of Paul Loup: "The world is
+very beautiful."
+
+"Girls," she murmured dreamily, "everybody is so happy--and I'm so
+happy--oh, please, don't wake me up--anybody!"
+
+And so, at the end of a wonderful outing, with life stretching
+gloriously before them, we will once more sadly, reluctantly, wave
+farewell to the Outdoor Girls.
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+THE OUTDOOR GIRLS SERIES
+
+By LAURA LEE HOPE
+
+Author of the "Bobbsey Twin Books" and "Bunny Brown" Series.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+          12mo. BOUND IN CLOTH.  ILLUSTRATED.  UNIFORM STYLE OF BINDING.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+These tales take in the various adventures participated in by several
+bright, up-to-date girls who love outdoor life. They are clean and
+wholesome, free from sensationalism, absorbing from the first chapter to
+the last.
+
+
+          THE OUTDOOR GIRLS OF DEEPDALE
+          Or Camping and Tramping for Fun and Health.
+
+Telling how the girls organized their Camping and Tramping Club, how
+they went on a tour, and of various adventures which befell them.
+
+
+          THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT RAINBOW LAKE
+          Or Stirring Cruise of the Motor Boat Gem.
+
+One of the girls becomes the proud possessor of a motor boat and invites
+her club members to take a trip down the river to Rainbow Lake, a
+beautiful sheet of water lying between the mountains.
+
+
+          THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A MOTOR CAR
+          Or The Haunted Mansion of Shadow Valley.
+
+One of the girls has learned to run a big motor car, and she invites the
+club to go on a tour to visit some distant relatives. On the way they
+stop at a deserted mansion and make a surprising discovery.
+
+
+          THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A WINTER CAMP
+          Or Glorious Days on Skates and Ice Boats.
+
+In this story, the scene is shifted to a winter season. The girls have
+some jolly times skating and ice boating, and visit a hunters' camp in
+the big woods.
+
+
+          THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN FLORIDA
+          Or Wintering in the Sunny South.
+
+The parents of one of the girls have bought an orange grove in Florida,
+and her companions are invited to visit the place. They take a trip into
+the interior, where several unusual things happen.
+
+
+          THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT OCEAN VIEW
+          Or The Box that Was Found in the Sand.
+
+The girls have great fun and solve a mystery while on an outing along
+the New England coast.
+
+
+          THE OUTDOOR GIRLS ON PINE ISLAND
+          Or A Cave and What it Contained.
+
+A bright, healthful story, full of good times at a bungalow camp on Pine
+Island.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+          GROSSET & DUNLAP,  PUBLISHERS,  NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH SERIES
+
+By GERTRUDE W. MORRISON
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+          12mo. BOUND IN CLOTH.  ILLUSTRATED.  UNIFORM STYLE OF BINDING.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Here is a series full of the spirit of high school life of to-day. The
+girls are real flesh-and-blood characters, and we follow them with
+interest in school and out. There are many contested matches on track
+and field, and on the water, as well as doings in the classroom and on
+the school stage. There is plenty of fun and excitement, all clean, pure
+and wholesome.
+
+
+          THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH
+          Or Rivals for all Honors.
+
+A stirring tale of high school life, full of fun, with a touch of
+mystery and a strange initiation.
+
+
+          THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH ON LAKE LUNA
+          Or The Crew That Won.
+
+Telling of water sports and fun galore, and of fine times in camp.
+
+
+          THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH AT BASKETBALL
+          Or The Great Gymnasium Mystery.
+
+Here we have a number of thrilling contests at basketball and in
+addition, the solving of a mystery which had bothered the high school
+authorities for a long while.
+
+
+          THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH ON THE STAGE
+          Or The Play That Took the Prize.
+
+How the girls went in for theatricals and how one of them wrote a play
+which afterward was made over for the professional stage and brought in
+some much-needed money.
+
+
+          THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH ON TRACK AND FIELD
+          Or The Girl Champions of the School League
+
+This story takes in high school athletics in their most approved and
+up-to-date fashion. Full of fun and excitement.
+
+
+          THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH IN CAMP
+          Or The Old Professor's Secret.
+
+The girls went camping on Acorn Island and had a delightful time at
+boating, swimming and picnic parties.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+   Obvious punctuation errors repaired.
+
+   Page 122, "draw" changed to "drawer". (dresser drawer)
+
+   Page 153, "get's" changed to "gets". (Winner gets)
+
+   Page 191, "Accessaries" changed to "Accessories" (Accessories
+             after the)
+
+   Page 204, "too" changed to "to". (I've got to!)
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN THE SADDLE***
+
+
+******* This file should be named 19318.txt or 19318.zip *******
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