Toady kept his promise not to mention Billiard's runaway expedition to anyone else save Gloriana; but being human, he could not keep from twitting his brother occasionally, and the days which followed that memorable night were full of misery for the unhappy boy. His cousins avoided him, Tabitha ignored him, Toady tormented him, and even Gloriana seemed indifferent to his plight. In his fright at discovering himself lost on the desert at night, he had resolved to follow Toady's example and turn over a new leaf. He could not quite make up his mind to confess his sins to eagle-eyed Tabitha, but was really sincere in his desire to do better; and was as surprised as he was disappointed to find that no one paid any attention to the sudden change in his deportment.
"Might as well have kept on being bad," he growled with an injured air one afternoon when a fortnight had passed without any noticeable change in the atmosphere. "Wish I hadn't come back that night. Guess they'd have sung a different tune then! Maybe a coyote would have got me, or I'd have stepped into a rattlesnake's nest and been stung to death. Bet they'd have felt sorry when they found me—," he hesitated. His picture was too vivid, and he shuddered as he thought what a fate would have been his had a rattlesnake bitten him as he tramped across the pathless waste in his flight. "Pretty near dead," he finished finally, unable to endure the thought that theymighthave found him dead.
"If I had kept on, I'd be in Los Angeles now,—maybe in the navy already. I've a good notion to try again. I could almost go by train, now that my 'lowance has come. Mercy says it takes twelve dollars, and I've got ten. 'T any rate, I could ride as far as that would take me, and—by George, I b'lieve I could beat my way without spending a cent! That's the way tramps travel from city to city."
He winced at the idea of being classed with tramps, and fell to debating whether he would buy a ticket and ride like a gentleman as far as his ten dollars would carry him, or whether he would attempt the hobo's hazardous method of transportation. Before he had arrived at any satisfactory conclusion, he heard the tramp of feet close by, and the lively chatter of voices, and around the bend of the path came Toady with his six cousins. They did not see him at first, half hidden as he was by the heap of ragged rocks on which he lay stretched full length, but even when they did become aware of his presence, they merely glanced indifferently at the lazy figure and passed by without speaking.
Angered at thus being ignored and left out in the cold, Billiard resolved to display no interest in them, either, although he was consumed with curiosity as to where they were bound; but a chance remark of Susie's about being lowered in a bucket overcame his resolve, and he called after them, "Where you going, kids?"
"Don't you wish you knew?" Inez flung back with a saucy toss of her head.
"Up Pike's Peak," said Toady, without so touch as looking back.
"You mean down Ali Baba's cave," suggested Mercedes laughingly.
"Shall we tell him?" asked Irene, relenting as she glanced back at the lonely figure on the rocks.
"He'll just be bad if we let him come," warned Susie.
"He hasn't been bad for a long time," gentle Irene reminded them.
"Aw, what do you s'pose I care where you are going?" sung out Billiard, more hurt by their manner than he cared to acknowledge. "Keep on to Jericho, if you want to."
"We ain't going to Jericho," said Irene, lagging uncertainly behind the others. "Only just across town to that hill over there where is a—a 'bandoned mine. Toady's never seen what one looks like, so we're taking him along to get a peek at it. Have you ever seen a mine?"
Billiard shook his head.
"Tabitha says if we're real good, she'll see if the superintendent won't take us all through the Silver Legion mine before the summer is over; but to-day we're just going to show Toady how the miners go up and down the shaft. He won't b'lieve they use a bucket. Don't you want to come too?"
"Nope, guess not," Billiard answered promptly, though the wistful look in his eyes belied his words.
"It's int'resting," urged Irene, who somehow seemed to understand that Billiard did not really mean what he said.
"Is it a real bucket?" he could not refrain from asking.
"Yes."
"Like a water bucket?"
"Yes, only bigger."
"I sh'd think the miners would fall out."
"Oh, it's big enough so they can't tumble if they mind the rules; but you've got to keep your head down inside, or you'll be killed by the big beans—" she meant beams—"which are built in to hold the dirt from caving in and filling up the mine. Come and see for yourself."
"Well, p'r'aps I will." With a great show of indifference, the boy uncoiled his legs, slid to the ground beside Irene, and hurried with her after the others, now a considerable distance in advance; but the little group had reached their goal and were gingerly peering into the black depths of the abandoned shaft when Billiard and Irene joined them.
"Ugh!" shuddered Mercedes, drawing back with a shiver from the yawning mouth of the hole. "It smells like lizards. I'll bet the bottom of the shaft is full of them."
"It didn't use to be," remarked Susie, dropping a pebble over the brink and listening to the hollow echoes it awoke as it bounded from timber to timber.
"Were you ever down there?" asked Toady in surprise.
"No, but papa was one of the men here when the mine was working."
"What did it quit working for?" ventured Billiard, testing the weather-stained rope still coiled about the winch above the shaft.
"The vein of rich silver stopped all of a sudden and they couldn't make the other ore pay, so they shut down, and the men went to work in other mines, or else moved away."
"How deep is a shaft?" asked Toady, as Susie sent another pebble spinning after the first and counted rapidly until it struck the bottom.
"Some arehundredsof feet deep," replied Mercedes impressively, glad of a chance to air her meagre knowledge of mining affairs. "But this——"
"Is only a hole," finished Inez contemptuously.
"What do you mean by that?" demanded Billiard, mystified. "Ain't this a sure-enough shaft?"
"Oh, yes," Mercedes hastened to inform him; "only 'tisn't the main one. That's all boarded up, and no one can go down it any more. This was dug later. Someone thought there was more silver here, and they made this shaft. It's not very deep——"
"Let's go down it!" proposed Billiard, boyishly eager for such an adventure.
"Oh, horrors!" shrieked Mercedes. "With all those lizards down there?"
"Shucks! Lizards won't hurt a fellow."
"Maybe there are snakes, too," said Rosslyn, hastily backing away from the place.
"We'd have heard them," Billiard answered promptly. "Susie has fired enough rocks at 'em to stir 'em up if there was any there."
"But Tabitha mightn't like it," suggested Irene in troubled tones.
"Did she ever say youcouldn'tgo?"
"N-o."
"Or did your mother?"
"N-o."
"Then what's to hinder?"
"S'posing the rope should bu'st," mused Irene aloud.
"Thatrope? Why, it's half as big as my arm! Yes, bigger."
"But it has been here a long, long time. Ever since I can remember. Doesn't rope rot?"
"I'll bet that's as strong as iron," boasted Billiard. "There's nothing rotten about it. I'll stump any of you to go down with me."
"Will you go first and see if there are any snakes?" demanded Susie, whose love of adventure was constantly leading her into mischief.
"If you'll promise honor bright to come next."
"I will," Susie rashly promised, her eyes dancing with excitement and eagerness. "Will you go, too, Toady?"
"Sure, but who's going to let us down? I'll bet it takes some work to keep the rope unwinding just right."
"I'll lower you all," proposed Mercedes magnanimously, for the idea of descending into that black, musty hole did not appeal to her in the least, but she could not bear to appear less brave than fly-away Susie.
"You! Pooh! You are just a girl! The bucket would get away from you the first thing, and then where'd the rest of us be? No, I've got a better plan than that. You and Toady and Irene let Susie and Inez and me down first; and after we have had a look at the thing, we'll come up and let you down. How does that suit you?"
"It's a go," Toady readily responded.
"All right," quavered Mercedes.
But Irene held her peace. Nothing could tempt her to crouch in that great, swaying bucket and be dropped into the blackness of that yawning pit, but she did not mean to voice her opinions until the proper moment. So she took her place beside Mercedes and Toady and puffed and panted as the rope slowly unwound, and Billiard, scrooched low in the bucket, disappeared from view. It was hard work and slow, to pay out the rope evenly, but Billiard did not seem at all inclined to be critical, and accepted his rough, jolting descent without a murmur. Had the truth been known, the boy was too nearly paralyzed with fright to notice anything of his surroundings, and more than once he was on the point of signalling for his companions to hoist him to the surface again, but fear of ridicule kept him tongue-tied until it was too late.
With a final jerk and jolt, the bucket stood still, and cautiously opening his eyes for the first time since he had stepped into his queer elevator. Billiard beheld a row of black, shadowy heads hovering over the brink of the aperture, and heard Toady's voice, sounding strangely muffled and far away, call cheerfully, "Well, you've struck bottom, old boy! What does it look like?"
Bottom? Billiard blinked and rubbed his eyes, and peered about him in surprise; but at first in the semi-darkness, he could distinguish nothing. Then as he grew more accustomed to the blackness, he could see before him the mouth of a still blacker cavern, which to his vivid imagination seemed yawning to swallow him up; and he shudderingly shrank back into the friendly protection of the bucket.
"Why don't you answer?" demanded an impatient voice from above.
"Arethere snakes and lizards?" called Mercedes.
Snakes! Lizards! Billiard had forgotten them, but with a sigh of relief he realized that there was not a sound of anything stirring about him. "Naw!" he yelled back, trying to make his voice sound brave and scornful. "Guess not. I can't see a thing. Might as well haul me up, 'cause no one could tell what a mine looks like in this blackness."
"Got any matches?" inquired Toady.
Billiard rapidly felt through his pockets. "One," he announced.
"Then here's a candle. Catch it!"
Toady let it drop almost before the words were out of his mouth, and with a tremendous thump it struck poor Billiard on the head before he had caught the significance of the directions from above; and with a yelp of surprise and pain, he tumbled out of the bucket against a timber, which shivered and splintered under his weight. But in some mysterious manner, he found himself in possession of the candle when he had righted himself once more and brushed the rotten wood from his eyes and mouth. He lost no time in striking his one lone match and lighting the slender taper in his hand, much to the relief of the group hovering anxiously about the shaft.
"There!" he heard Susie ejaculate. "I was sure he had killed himself."
"You mean that Toady did," spluttered the indignant Billiard. "What do you think my head is made of—iron?"
"Icouldn't tell that it would hit you on the head, could I?" protested the younger boy apologetically. "Why didn't you dodge?"
"Dodge? D'ye think I'm a cat with eyes that see in the dark?"
"Never mind," soothed Irene, who had ventured near enough the curbing to take an occasional peep down into the blackness. "It's too bad it hurt you. Put some cold water on the bump——"
A derisive shout from her sisters stopped her, and even Billiard had to smile, though he felt grateful toward the little twin who was sorry he was hurt. By this time the pale candle flame had ceased to sputter and flicker uncertainly, but burned with a steady light, and with a thrill of exultation Billiard looked curiously about him, relieved to find no snakes or crawly things in the abandoned shaft, and pleased beyond measure to think he had actually braved the terrors of the dark to explore this mysterious place, so he could crow over his brother and cousins because of his courage.
"Say, but it's great down here," he called, venturing just inside the timbered cross-cut and staring at the rocky walls which here and there glistened alluringly. "And there's pecks of silver sticking out of every stone. Why don't you come on down, Toady?"
"Can't till you come up. It's Susie and Inez now. Going, girls?"
"You bet!" cried Susie enthusiastically. "Pull up the bucket and help me in."
Eagerly they turned the creaking old windlass and Susie descended to join Billiard in his underground explorations. Being much lighter than her cousin, it was easier to lower her down the shaft; and still easier with Inez in the bucket; but once the trio were safely at the bottom, the little group above became all impatience for their turn. Mercy's courage had returned as she saw how simple an operation it was to let down the loaded bucket, and even Irene began to feel a desire to explore the mysteries of the abandoned mine with the rest of her mates. Only Rosslyn and Janie hung back, but no one cared. In fact, it simplified matters not to have to bother with such little tads; but it was a nuisance to have Billiard linger so long when he knew the others were just dying to go down.
At last Toady could resist temptation no longer. "I'm going, too," he announced with determination.
"Before Billiard comes up?"
He nodded grimly.
"But s'posing you're too heavy for just Irene and me," suggested Mercedes.
"I shall slide down the rope. I'd rather do that than have you drop me or let the rope out too fast."
"But—how can you?" Mercedes demurred.
"It's so far down there," said Irene.
"Aw, in gym work at school we slide down poles and bars and all sorts of things. It oughtn't to be any harder with a rope. I'm going to try, anyway."
Silently but enviously, the girls watched him spit on his palms, test the rope, and finally let himself slowly down into the shaft, with legs wrapped tightly about his slender, swaying support, and hands grasping the rough strands with a desperate grip, for, too late, he realized what a horrible fate would be his if he should fall; but when he would have gone back, he could not.
"How in the world will we ever get them up?" whispered Irene wonderingly; but before Mercedes could frame a reply, there was a crash from below, a cry, a grating sound of falling rock and then hideous, horrible silence.
"Toady!" shrieked the girls in frenzy, "did you fall?"
"No," came back a muffled answer. "I'm all right, but we have knocked down some boards and can't get out."
"Can't get out!" they repeated dully.
"No. Run for help! Our candle has gone out and it's as black as pitch in here."
"Who'll I go for?" wailed panic-stricken Mercedes, while Irene danced frantically around the shaft and wrung her hands as she chanted, "They'll smother, they'll smother, they'll smother!"
"Anyone, but hustle up!" yelled Toady impatiently, for his companions in the disaster had uttered not a sound since their first wild scream, and a horrible fear that they were hurt or even killed gripped his heart.
However, little Rosslyn was already half-way down the mountain, fairly skimming over the rocks and rubbish, and almost before the distracted girls had recovered their senses enough to be of any aid to the prisoners, the little fellow stumbled across the threshold of the Eagles' Nest, gasping, "They've caved in—Bill and Toady and the girls. I guess maybe they're dead by now!"
Tabitha was on her feet in an instant and the pan of potatoes which she was peeling went spinning across the floor. "Where, Rosslyn?"
Mutely he pointed, too spent for words; and the girl, remembering the old, unprotected shaft of the abandoned Selfridge mine, flew to the rescue of her brood, pausing only to snatch a lantern from a peg on the wall, and a handful of matches from the pantry shelf.
Mercedes had disappeared when she reached the spot of the accident, but Irene was tugging desperately at the huge windlass, slowly winding up the heavy bucket, moaning all the while in a distracted undertone, while tears of fright trickled down her dirty face. So busy was she that she never heard the patter of Tabitha's feet behind her, and the first intimation she had of help at hand was when the older girl jerked her back from the mouth of the shaft, released the half-raised bucket, and sent it hurtling back into the pit once more.
"Go for the assayer," she commanded hoarsely, seizing the heavy rope with both hands, and preparing to descend as Toady had done. "Run, hurry! And then get Dr. Hayes. We may need him."
The windlass creaked and groaned, the rope swayed and strained, as Tabitha slid out of sight, while Irene raced madly away to do her bidding. Unmindful of bumps or bruises, and almost unaware that her hands were cruelly burned and torn from her too rapid descent, the black-eyed girl had scarcely touched the bottom of the shaft before she had her lantern lighted and was digging like mad at the fallen rock and debris which almost completely blocked the entrance of the narrow cross-cut.
"Who is it?" called a voice from behind the barrier.
"Thank God!" breathed Tabitha, working with renewed fury. "That you, Toady?"
"Bet you!" came the cheering response.
"Are you hurt?"
"Nope!"
"Where are the others?"
"Here!"
"Safe?"
"I—don't know. I can feel 'em, but they don't answer."
At that instant, without any warning, one of the fallen timbers slipped from its position, and revealed a narrow aperture into the crosscut, through which Tabitha caught a glimpse of Toady's white face and the gleam of Susie's scarlet dress.
"Can you crawl through?" she demanded.
"Yes."
"Carefully now, so as not to start another landslide. There! Now, can you help me make the opening bigger?"
But other aid was at hand. The assayer with three men from the town had arrived and the rescue of the quintette at the bottom of the shaft was speedily effected.
"Are they—" Tabitha's voice faltered as she stood at last on the rocky mountainside and looked down into the still, white faces of Billiard, Susie and Inez. How could she ever have let them out of her sight? How could she ever break the news to the mother?
"Merely stunned," replied the doctor, examining the victims with rapid, practised fingers. "See, the girls are coming to their senses. It's nothing short of a miracle that— Hello, Susie, what did you say?"
"It wasn't gold at all," murmured the child faintly; "just quartz, but he wouldn't b'lieve it."
Billiard opened his eyes slowly. "She says gold don't look like gold in a mine, but I got a pocketful of—" His sentence ended in a groan of pain, and the hand he was trying to thrust into his trousers fell limply at his side.
"Aha!" cried the doctor. "Let's see what we have here."
"A break?" questioned the assayer.
"Bad sprain, I think, but it will keep the young man out of mischief for one while. Are your legs all right? Then I reckon we better move on to town."
So it happened that no serious results came from their latest prank, but Tabitha, in her thankfulness that all her brood was safe and sound, fell into a fit of bitter weeping as soon as the children were back in the Eagles' Nest once more and the rescuers had departed.
"Don't," begged Janie tearfully. "I loves 'oo! I was dood!"
"Please don't," pleaded the other sisters in great distress. "We'll never do it again."
"It was all my fault," cried Toady contritely. "I'm ever so sorry."
"It was not," muttered Billiard, wincing with the pain in his arm, but truly repentant. "I dared 'em to go. Honest, Tabby,Iwas to blame! Will you—will you—er—forgive me? I'm horribly—sorry. Won't you try me again?"
So sincere was his tone, so straightforward his confession, so manly his bearing, that Tabitha could not fail to be convinced of his earnestness of purpose, and drying her eyes, she took Billiard's proffered hand in a hearty grasp, saying with quivering, smiling lips, "Let's all try each other again."
"Let's!" cried the rest of the brood; and they meant it, every one.
"Let's make some candy. It's too hot to play."
Susie and the twins were sitting idly on a great, shaggy, redwood log in the scanty shade of the house, fanning themselves as briskly as their tired arms would move, and longing for the cool of sundown.
Irene looked startled at the older sister's suggestion, and began, "Tabitha——"
"Oh, I know she made us promise not to get into mischief," Susie impatiently interrupted her, "but taffy ain't mischief. We'll make a big batch so's there will be plenty for the others when they get back."
"It's so hot," objected Inez, as Susie turned to her for approval.
"We'll use the gasolene stove."
"But you've never lighted it. How'll you——"
"Oh, Irene, you make me tired! Don't you s'pose I know how? Haven't I watched mamma and Tabitha hundreds of times? Guess I can manage it if Mercy can. Come on, Inez!"
"Do you know how to make taffy?" questioned the undaunted Irene, following the other two into the sweltering kitchen.
"Course! Molasses and sugar and vinegar and butter. Ask me something hard."
"Tabitha measures 'em."
"So shall I. You go fetch the m'lasses jug and a cup. Inez, bring the vinegar and butter, and I'll measure things after I get the stove a-going." Mopping her face and bustling energetically about the small room, Susie marshalled her forces and set to work with contagious enthusiasm. All three donned huge aprons, hunted up long-handled spoons, and rattled among the neat array of pots and pans until it sounded as if a whole regiment had been turned loose in the kitchen.
The stove was lighted without any trouble, much to the relief of the breathless trio, and the candy making was soon in progress. Sugar was measured and molasses spilled with reckless abandon over table, floor and stove, in their hurry to get their delectable sweet on cooking before the rest of the family should return from their day's outing and interfere, for, secretly, each be-aproned girl, paddling in the pot with her sticky spoon and dribbling syrup wherever she ran, felt that she was not strictly obeying Tabitha's parting injunction, and was anxious to have a peace offering ready when she returned with the rest of her brood.
They had gone for a drive to the river, and as there was not room in the light wagon for all the large family, Susie and the twins had been bribed to remain at home with the promise of ice-cream sodas at the little drug-store. However, that unusual treat had disappeared long ago down the three eager throats, and they had begun to rue their bargain when Susie's inspiration fired them with enthusiasm once more.
"I wish we had some nuts," panted perspiring Inez, stirring the bubbling mess in the kettle so vigorously that a great spatter flew up and struck Irene on the hand.
"Ooo!" screeched the unfortunate victim. "What made you do that?"
"I didn't do it a-purpose," indignantly denied her twin. "Stop your jumping and suck it off."
Irene obediently thrust the smarting wound into her mouth, and immediately let out another howl of anguish, for the sticky mass had burned the little tongue sadly, and the tears rained down the rosy cheeks unchecked while the dismayed sisters racked their brains for some soothing remedy to deaden the pain.
"Try this," suggested Susie, hurrying out of the pantry with a can of baking powder in her hand, vaguely recalling that some kind of white powder used in cooking was good for burns.
"I will not," sobbed Irene angrily. "You don't know what it will do. You're just guessing."
"Gloriana put coal oil on Toady's foot," timidly began Inez, half distracted at having been the cause of all her sister's woe.
"And you think I'll stick mytongueinthat?" roared the usually gentle twin so savagely that both her companions fell silent, perplexed at the unhappy situation.
Meanwhile the bubbling syrup had been forgotten, and with an ominous hiss and a pungent odor, the seething mass boiled over the top of the kettle and was promptly licked up by the eager flames of the stove. A great cloud of smoke filled the kitchen, and the paralyzed girls awoke to their danger with a sickening horror.
"Oh, oh, oh!" they screamed in frenzy. "The house will catch! We'll all be burned up! What will mamma say?"
"Hush! Shut up! Give me your apron!" commanded an authoritative voice behind them, and a big, shabby stranger rushed past them, snatched Susie's apron, gave a deft twist to the flaming burner, seized the smoking kettle, and vanished through the kitchen door before any of the sisters realized what had happened. He was soon back with the blackened pot in his hands and a reassuring smile on his lips. "It's all right, kids," he announced cheerily, noting the terror in their faces. "No harm's done. It won't take but a few minutes to clean up that stove and pan and no one will be the wiser. You are housekeeping by yourselves to-day, I see." His quick, restless, eager eyes had noted the tell-tale signs of mischief about him before he hazarded that remark.
"Yes, oh, yes!" breathed Susie in great relief. "Tabitha's taken the rest of the children down to the river, and we're all alone."
"The river?"
"The Colorado. We often go there when we can get the assayer's horses, but the wagon won't hold us all, so we three stayed at home to-day."
"And had ice-cream sodas for being good," added Irene.
"Wewantedto make some taffy," mourned Inez, ruefully eyeing the blackened mass which the mysterious stranger was deftly removing from the stove and floor.
"'Twas so lonesome here by ourselves," supplemented Susie apologetically, remembering that she was responsible for the candy suggestion.
"So 'while the cat's away the mice will play'," chuckled the man, beginning a vigorous scraping of the sticky kettle.
"Why, how did you know her name was Catt?" cried Irene in amazement.
"Goosie!" exclaimed Susie sarcastically.
"He didn't know. That's not what he meant. But truly, mister, I don't think Tabitha would have minded a bit if our candy had come out all right. As 'tis, we've wasted such a lot of m'lasses and sugar that I reckon she'll scold——"
"If she ever finds it out," broke in Inez.
"That's it—ifshe ever finds it out," chuckled the man again. "Who is this mysterious Tabitha that you are so scared of?"
"We ain'tscaredof her," protested Susie loyally. "Her name is Tabitha Catt, and she's taking care of us while mamma is with papa at the hospital in Los Angeles. She's only a girl herself, but we promised to mind her so mamma could go, and not fret about us all the time, and we're trying hard to keep our promise."
"But sometimes we forget," said truthful Irene. "We oughtn't to have made that candy, 'cause we told her we wouldn't get into mischief while she was gone. I guess that's why it burnt up."
"I guess it's no such thing!" Inez contradicted hotly. "You made such a fuss over nothing that Susie and me forgot to watch it and it boiled over."
"I guess you'd have made a fuss if I'd blistered your hand like you did mine," cried Irene in great indignation, suddenly remembering her grievance, and affectionately regarding the white blister on her plump hand. "Then on top of that you told me to suck it off, when you knew it was boiling hot and would skin my whole mouth."
"Tut, tut!" interrupted the stranger, seeing that a quarrel was imminent. "Now don't get mad all at once. I've a proposition to make to you——"
"A what?" asked Susie, glad she had taken no part in the flare-up between the twins.
"A bargain. I'll make you a mess of candy that'll pop your eyes out if you will give me a square meal,—something to eat, you know, and plenty of it. I'm hungry as the deuce, and candy ain't very filling. Is it a go?"
Susie looked at her crestfallen companions, and they looked at her.
"There were no potatoes left from dinner," began Irene.
"But there's any number of cans of stuff in the pantry," said Inez hastily.
"Salmon and sardines and veal loaf and corned beef and vegetables," added Susie hopefully, yet fearful lest the menu should not prove sufficiently tempting to the queer, unexpected, unknown visitor. "And Tabitha cut the cake for dinner."
"Besides cookies and crackers and bread," murmured Irene, seeing reproof in her sisters' eyes, and feeling that she had been inhospitable to their hungry guest.
"Good!" promptly answered the man. "I reckon we'll make out. Just open a tin of salmon, make a pot of strong coffee, and bring on your bread and cake and sauce—lots of it, now, for I haven't had a bite to eat since last night. Lost my money, you know, and it hurts a decent fellow's pride to beg."
The trio nodded sympathetically, and hurried to do his bidding, while he rapidly measured out fresh supplies of sugar and syrup, and briskly began stirring the mass over the fire, talking all the while. "I just happened to be passing when I smelled your stuff burning, and thinks I, now there's trouble in there. Just then you all commenced screaming, and I was sure the house was a-fire, so I rushed in to help. Good gracious, but I was scared for a minute when I see the flames jumping so high. You might have had an explosion any minute."
"Yes," gravely agreed the girls, the look of terror returning to their eyes.
"If it hadn't been for you, I reckon the house would have burned down, and it's the only one we've got," said Irene.
He nodded. "I understand, and so I thought you wouldn't begrudge me a bite to eat, after I had put out the fire and cleaned up the clutter so Tabitha wouldn't know that you had been in mischief."
"Course we're glad to give you something to eat," Inez again hastily interrupted. "'Specially when you are making us some more candy. Are you ready for your—lunch—now?"
"In a jiffy. Just grease a pan for this dope and I'll pour it out to cool. Bet it beats yours all hollow. There! Set it in the window—so! Now, I'll sample your larder. Looks fine and smells bully. Which store is best here in town?"
"Brinkley's," promptly answered the trio, with longing eyes fixed upon the golden flood of syrup cooling in the window.
"Though Dawley's is bigger," added Irene.
"Do they make much money?"
"They ought to. Prices are high enough," answered Susie with a comically grown-up air.
"Most of the miners trade at Dawley's, 'cause he don't hurry 'em so about paying," said Inez naively. "But the Carsons and Catts and Dr. Hayes, and those folks buy at Brinkley's, 'cause his stuff is nicer."
"Wedidtrade there," began Irene, but Susie interrupted, "Most of our stuff comes from Los Angeles now. It's cheaper to trade that way, and anyhow, papa knows the man real well, and now that he's sick in the hospital, he doesn't have to worry about pay day all the time, for this man will wait till he is well enough to work again."
"When is pay day?" casually inquired the man. "I mean how often does it come?"
"Once a month—the fifteenth."
The stranger's eyes glittered with satisfaction, and he muttered, "The fifteenth,—that's to-morrow."
"What did you say?" asked Susie.
"I was just thinking," he replied, glancing uneasily from one bright face to the other to see if any of the children had caught his indiscreet remark. "By the way, who lives in that little, unpainted house on the edge of town?" He pointed vaguely over his shoulder, and the sisters looked at each other in bewilderment.
"The pest house?" suggested Irene.
"The Ramsey place?" said Inez questioningly.
"The haunted house?" ventured Susie. "You see, there are so many unpainted houses on the edge of town."
"The haunted house!" laughed the stranger incredulously. "Whoever heard tell of a haunted house in a mining camp!"
"Silver Bow has one," stoutly asserted the twins.
"Where? Which one? I confess I am curious."
"It's the last one on the East End Lode," replied Susie with dignity, feeling that the reputation of her town was at stake.
"The queer old shack beyond Tabitha's," added Inez.
"There are only three houses in that hollow," explained Irene. "The Carson's big house, the Catt's littler one, and this haunted house."
"What haunts it?" jeered the man, pushing back from the table and glancing sharply down the trail toward town.
"A—a ghost," the twins half whispered.
"A man killed himself there once," said Susie.
"Or was murdered," shuddered Inez.
"Or else he just died," put in practical-minded Irene. "Anyway, they found him there dead."
"And sometimes now folks hear queer things there."
"And see lights."
"Tabitha never has," Irene declared. "And she lives nearest it."
"Well, 't any rate, it's haunted and no one ever goes there now, not even Tabitha, who ain't afraid of athing."
The stranger rose slowly to his feet, yawned as if bored by their chatter, picked up his hat, and started for the door; then paused, and casually surveying the pan of taffy on the window sill, remarked, "Believe if I was you, I'd eat that all up before the rest of the folks get back. There's just about enough for three, and I've a notion that Miss Tabitha will think you didn't keep your promise very well if she ever finds out how near you came to setting the house a-fire. She'll never dare trust you again. It might be well not to mention that I dropped in, either. Tramps aren't often welcome visitors, even in a mining camp, you know. But I appreciate your dinner, and thank you kindly. Good-day, ladies."
"Good-day," they echoed mechanically, and with puzzled eyes watched him disappear in the direction of the railroad station on the flats. Then they faced each other.
"Do you s'pose we better—" began Susie slowly.
"Not tell?" ventured Inez.
"And eat all the candy ourselves?" added Irene.
There was a moment's pause while three active brains worked furiously.
Then Susie sighed, "I b'lieve he's right. Tabitha would never trust us again. We better keep still about the whole thing."
"Then we'll have to hurry and clear up this mess," said Irene. "We can hide the candy until later, but this table would give everything away."
So the trio flew to work again, put away the remains of the tramp's dinner, washed the telltale dishes, and had the kitchen in its usual spick and span order when the rest of the large family returned an hour later from their sojourn to the river. If their consciences pricked them a little for their deception, they said nothing, not even to each other; and it was several days before the young housekeeper discovered their secret.
The next day was Saturday, and the morning dawned so hot and sultry that almost before the old kitchen clock struck five, the restless eaglets were stirring once more.
"Now's the time I wish we didn't live so far up the mountain," sighed Mercedes, mopping her perspiring face on her sleeve as she struggled to button the dress she had just donned.
"Yes, summer's an awful trial here in this house," agreed Susie, trying to decide whether to put on her shoes and stockings and suffer from the heat in that manner, or to go bare-footed and burn her tender soles on the hot sands.
"Le's do down to the river to-day," lisped Janie, lifting eager eyes to scan the dark face bending over, as Tabitha patiently brushed the tangled curls into smooth ringlets.
"Oh, let's!" seconded the twins.
"You know we had to stay at home yesterday when the rest of you went," wheedled Inez.
"And 'twould have been awful lonesome," began Irene, "if it hadn't been for that——"
"Ice-cream," hastily interposed Susie, giving the little blunderbus a warning glance. "Can't we go, Tabitha? It would be so much cooler there."
"I don't see how we can manage it," answered the flushed housekeeper, glancing longingly out of the window down the yellow ribbon of a road which wound its way in and out among the rocks and yuccas on its way to the muddy Colorado, seven miles away. "The assayer will be wanting his horses to-day and it's too far to walk."
"Can't we hire a team from the stables?" proposed Inez.
"And pay ten dollars a day for it?" scoffed Mercedes. "Where are you going to get your money to foot the bill?"
"Then let's catch enough burros to lug us all," suggested the resourceful Susie. "No one would care. They run loose on the desert all the time."
Tabitha shook her head slowly, although her eyes gleamed appreciatively at the plan. If only Rosslyn and Janie were older! How she would enjoy such a frolic as Susie's suggestion would mean.
Only Gloriana remained discreetly silent.
She shuddered whenever she recalled her first and only ride on one of the wicked little beasts,—that wild New Years Even when she and Tabitha had tried to keep Mr. McKittrick's claims from being jumped,—and she drew an audible sigh of relief at Tabitha's decision. But the next instant her heart sank within her, for with a scurry of feet in the narrow hallway, the door of the room was unceremoniously flung open, and two eager, boyish faces peered in.
"I say, Tab," began Billiard, so excited he could hardly refrain from shouting his news, "your Uncle Decker is out here——"
"And he's brung a whole—flock—of burros," broke in Toady, so anxious to tell part of the good news that he could not stop for choice of words.
"Saddled," Billiard hurried on, trying to beat Toady to the climax.
"For us!" cried the smaller boy.
"To ride to the canyon on!" bellowed the two as with one voice.
"Really?" gasped Tabitha.
"How perfectly scrumptious!" squealed the tribe of McKittrick.
"But Janie and Rosslyn," faltered Gloriana faintly. "Aren't they too small——"
"Oh, he's got a buckboard, too," grinned Billiard, who had recently discovered the red-haired maid's poor little secret; but forbore to make unkind remarks about it because he himself stood somewhat in awe of the sleepy-eyed demons of the desert, since one had unexpectedly kicked him when he was trying to mount. "He drove in for some provisions, and your father told him to bring us all back with him, and we're tocampat the mines until Monday. Won't that be great? Whoop-ee!" He leaped into the air, cracked his heels together and came down with a resounding thump which shook the whole house and made the dishes in the pantry rattle.
But no word of reproof was uttered, for Tabitha had seized the half-dressed, half-combed Janie in her arms, and rushed from the room. It seemed impossible that anyone could have come up that narrow, rocky trail to the Eagles' Nest with a half dozen or more burros and a buckboard without her having heard them, but there they were lined up by the kitchen steps,—seven sleepy-eyed, wicked little burros, saddled and bridled, and a pair of small, wiry mustangs hitched to a light wagon, and driven by Decker Simmons, Mr. Catt's partner.
"Why, Uncle Decker!" Tabitha began.
"Didn't we tell you he was here?" exulted the two boys who had followed her.
"But—but—" she stammered.
"But she didn't b'lieve us," crowed Toady.
"I thought you must be mistaken," she confessed, "for I could not imagine anyone so crazy as to wanttenchildren under foot at a mine. Whatever possessed Dad, Uncle Decker?"
The man laughed good-naturedly. "Thought we all needed a vacation, I reckon," he answered. "Are you anywhere near ready? Better hurry. Sun will soon be unmercifully hot, and the canyon isn't exactly within walking distance. Can't I help?"
"No, thanks. It won't take us long——"
"We're ready now," announced the procession of girls crowded around her.
"Mercy finished Janie's hair while you stood here gabbing. Glory packed up what duds we'd need, and Billiard's got the house all locked up. Who's to take which burro?"
"Makes no difference," answered the man, chuckling at the despatch with which preparations for the outing were made. "Put the little tikes in here with me, and any of the rest of you who perfer the buckboard can pile in. That red—the girl with the game hip—you better ride with us, too."
This suited Gloriana perfectly, and she lost no time in making herself comfortable among the leather cushions with Rosslyn and Janie beside her; but the rest of the party declined that method of transportation, and mounted the animals standing patiently in the scant shade of the porch. In less time than it takes to tell, the hilarious procession was on its way to the canyon, and the baking town was left behind.
"Let's race," cried Billiard, who was mounted on an innocent-looking, lazy beast.
"Come on!" cried Susie, giving her animal a prod with a sharp stick she had snatched from the woodpile as they clattered out of the yard; and away they flew, shouting and flapping reins, urging the stolid little burros out of their poky gait into a surprised run.
But the race came to an abrupt and unexpected end. Susie's mount seemed more ambitious than its mates, or else the youthful rider goaded it to desperation; for, with a mighty spurt, it took the lead, and shot three lengths ahead of the rest, cantering off across the desert as if racing were its daily delight. Rosy-cheeked Susie glanced back over her shoulder, waved the sharp stick triumphantly in the air, and jeered, "Yah, yah! Why don't you come along? Has you burro gone to sleep?"
This was too much for Billiard, and grabbing a needle-pointed Spanish bayonet frond from the hands of his brother, he gave the brown-coated beast beneath him a vicious stab, as he yelled in disgust, "Giddap, you old demon! Wake up and stretch your legs a lit——"
Brownie awoke into surprising activity, leaped forward with unseating suddenness, planted his forefeet firmly among the rocks, and with one deliberate, energetic kick, sent Billiard flying through the air. The watchers behind held their breath in terror. Would the boy be killed for his folly? Then a wild shout of laughter rose from eight throats. But who could have resisted it? For the luckless Billiard, after turning a summersault high in the air, fell astraddle the neck of Toady's burro, and slipped to the ground in a sprawling heap, while the second startled beast bolted across the desert with its plucky rider still clinging to its back.
The dazed Billiard picked himself up from the ground considerably shaken but not hurt, and gazing ruefully first after his own fleeing burro, and then after Toady's, now far in advance of Susie's little animal, remarked, "Well, the old thing has gotsomeginger in him after all! Do you suppose I can ever catch him?"
"I'll help," quickly volunteered Tabitha, trying hard to suppress her mirth, so meek and woebegone was the tumbled figure standing in the roadway; and with a nimble spring she landed beside him, tethering her burro to a yucca, growing close at hand. Mercedes and the twins followed her example, but it was a lively chase they had before the unruly animal was finally captured, and the party continued its journey, reaching their destination without further mishap.
Gloriana was disappointed at first, as she looked about her while her companions were dismounting, for she had expected to see a canyon like those lovely spots hidden among the San Bernardino hills; but this place was no different from the rocky, barren mountains surrounding Silver Bow. However, there was little time for lamentations, for with surprising ingenuity, Mr. Catt had arranged a delightful program for the two days the young folks were in camp, and not a moment of the brief holiday was dull even for Rosslyn and Janie. So it was with reluctant hearts that the party mounted their burros Monday morning for their return trip.
"Where are the boys?" inquired Mercedes curiously, as she sprang nimbly into her saddle and gathered up the reins ready to start.
"Susie isn't here, either," said Tabitha, pausing in her task of packing to count noses. "They must be in the tent. I saw them not very long ago. Dad, are the boys ready?"
"Haven't seen them," he answered emerging from one of the tents with a light grip and dumping it into the back of the buckboard.
"I saw Billiard and Toady whispering something to Susie just as the wagon drove up," tattled Inez, provoked to think she had not been included in the secret, "and they all ran off that way." She pointed up the mountainside, where the mesquite and cacti grew thickest, and huge boulders made climbing difficult.
"What in the world possessed them to go off like that?" fretted Tabitha, impatient at the unexpected delay.
"Bet I know," Irene piped up. "They prob'ly went for a last look at the puppies."
"Puppies!" cried the others in amazement. "Where are there any puppies about here?"
"Quite a piece up there on the other side,—they weren't going to tell the rest of us, but I happened to find them myself."
"Here they come now," Rosslyn excitedly interrupted; and sure enough, the trio had appeared on the hillcrest, each tugging something which squirmed and twisted, and snarled and yapped until their flushed, panting owners could scarcely hold them.
"Holy snakes!" ejaculated Decker Simmons.
Mr. Catt whistled. The rest of the party stared.
"What in creation have you got, Susie McKittrick?" demanded Mercedes, with all the severity her gentle nature could muster, as the three children came within speaking distance, Susie in advance.
"A pup," gasped the red-faced girl, taking a fresh grip on the wriggling, sharp-nosed little animal, half hidden in the torn skirt of her dress. "Isn't he cute? See what bright eyes he's got."
"And see how you've snagged your clothes," said Irene reprovingly.
"And scratched your face," added Inez, glad now that she had not been a party in the expedition.
"That's nothing to what Billiard's did to him," Susie retorted sharply, nettled at her reception. "He picked out the prettiest of the bunch for Tabitha. We told him how much you used to want a dog all your own, Kitty. But it's the wildest thing I ever saw. Here he comes now. Billiard, didn't you choose your pup for Tabitha?"
"Would you accept it?" he panted somewhat shyly, embarrassed and a little provoked that Susie should have announced his intentions the first thing. "I—I got the handsomest fellow of them all, but I pretty near had to club it to death before it would come along peaceably."
"But Billiard," gasped Tabitha, finding her tongue at last, "that isn't a pup!"
"What is it then?" Susie bristled so aggressively that she forgot to keep a tight hold on her unwilling prisoner, and with a final scratch and yap of exultation, it freed itself from her arms, and darted away among the sagebrush.
"A coyote."
"No!" Toady dropped his as if it were poison, and lifted startled eyes to Tabitha's face.
"You're fooling!" cried Susie in exasperation over her loss.
"Dad, Uncle Decker, isn't that a baby coyote?"
Both men nodded silently, a look of amusement flickering about their lips.
"But—but—" spluttered Billiard, still hugging his half-smothered treasure to his bosom. "It—theylooklike pups."
"Yes, they do, but you found them pretty frisky for pups, didn't you?"
"Theywerepretty lively," admitted the older boy slowly.
"And as scratchy as—" began Toady.
"Ascats," finished Susie, angry at Tabitha for calling the animals coyotes, angry at her sisters for laughing, and angry at herself for not knowing the truth of the matter without being told.
"That's so, too," agreed Mr. Catt amiably. "It beats me how you ever managed to catch them."
"It was a job," sighed Billiard regretfully, freeing the pretty little ball wrapped so snugly in his coat, and watching it skulk away after its two brothers. "We had some empty sacks——"
"But they weren't much good," Susie broke in contemptuously. "If it hadn't been for that can of meat we swiped, we'd never have caught 'em. They bite like everything, as well as scratch."
"Yes," said Billiard mournfully, taking the reins from Tabitha's hands and mounting his burro, "and we had all our pains for nothing."
"Not quite," whispered Tabitha sympathetically. "I understand, and I'm glad you took such trouble for me. But hurry. It's late already, and will be terribly hot before we reach home."
So the party said good-bye to the canyon and set out briskly on their long ride back to Silver Bow, but Tabitha was exultant, for Billiard, unruly, rebellious Billiard was at last completely won.