The horsehair whip was heavy and long. It cracked ominously as the outlaw swung it once around his head and brought it down on the floor.
Val jumped as it snapped scarcely six inches from her ankle. Two high spots of color burned in her cheeks and her eyes were blazing. She was beginning to conquer her terror and to feel exasperated with the situation, it was so like a melodramatic “thriller” of the movies. She was sure these men wouldn’t dare use the whip on them, but--she glanced apprehensively at Pedro, and saw his knife once more between his caressing fingers. Darn the man! Did he always have to look so much like a--pirate? Mentally she decided that was just the appearance he gave, ragged, dirty, daring--a pirate who was ready to make his victims walk the plank. Val wished frantically that their friends would return and upset the outlaws’ plans. Of course they wouldn’tdare to harm Gale and her, but just the same she wanted to be rid of them.
Gale was not as confident of escape from injury as Val. She believed the men were determined to seek the revenge which they claimed. Their threatening appearance certainly did not belie their words. The sight of the whip curled in the leader’s hand was enough to convince Gale of their purpose. They intended to use the whip on the girls, and unless something happened to interfere----
Gale was glad Val was conquering her terror. It seemed after the first surprise and terror were over, Val rallied surprisingly. Now she was standing beside Gale, calm and haughty. If the two of them kept their wits about them, they might be able to find a means of escape from the situation. But how? They could not look for help from their friends because they were still miles away. It was up to them to either take the horsewhipping, or to rebel and overthrow the tyranny of these two bandits. With lightning glances, Gale looked about the room for something, anything that might help, for she was determined to fight.
The girls were standing before an open window.The night breeze faintly rustled the curtain. Before them was the lamp that lighted the room, standing on a table among books and magazines. At one end of the room, effectively blocked by Pedro, was the door to the dining room and the kitchen beyond. At the other side of the room was the front door by which the chief outlaw had entered. A dash to either of the doors would be useless.
Pedro watched with a pleased grin while his companion stepped closer to the girls. Instinctively the girls gave ground until they were flat against the wall--by the window.
“Val,” Gale whispered.
“Yes?”
“Can you jump out the window in a minute?”
“Half a minute,” Val said at once. “But what----”
“Get ready,” Gale murmured urgently.
Gale had an idea. True it was a long chance, but it might work. If the room was suddenly plunged in darkness, the outlaws would momentarily be nonplussed. That moment was all they needed. Once outside they might have a chance of outrunning or tricking their pursuers. If they stayed here in the room, the whip was bound tofall on them. As it was, the bandit was swinging it viciously and it took agility to avoid the stinging lash.
Obedient to Gale’s command to get ready to drop out of the window, Val half turned to face the wall.
“Don’t think you can get out that way,” the outlaw said. “We’ve got you now and we’re going to settle a few things!” He swung the whip and it descended with a crack on Val’s shoulders.
At the same time Gale launched herself forward and with one sweep of her arm knocked the lamp to the floor. With a ringing crash, the room was plunged into darkness. She heard Pedro shout to his partner as she saw Val’s figure outlined against the window when her friend climbed over the sill. It all happened in a split second and Gale sprang to the front door which the outlaw had deserted when he sprang after Valerie. But ere she reached the door Pedro was behind her and a heavy hand on her shoulder pulled her stumbling back into the room. She eluded him and sprang away. She had the advantage of the bandits, for she knew the Wilson living room and she knew what to avoid but the men didn’t. They thrashed about, stumbling overthe furniture and muttering angrily. Sliding along the wall she reached the dining room door and slipped through while the men still sought her in the darkness.
She stepped into the silence of the other room and bumped into someone. She drew back with a stifled exclamation. Had the men stationed another of their friends in here?
“Gale?” a voice demanded.
“Tom! Quick, they’ll get away!” she said.
“How many are there?” he asked.
“Two. Oh, do be careful!”
“Phyllis and Val are outside, go out to them,” he said and pushed her to one side. He and Phyllis and Wong had met Valerie when she dropped from the window.
In quick strides he entered the living room and in another minute had flung himself on one of the men. Together they struggled in the darkness. Loo Wong had come up silently behind Gale and now he followed Tom into the confusion.
“They’ll kill each other,” Phyllis declared nervously as she and Val joined Gale.
“Tom has a hefty punch and I hope he uses it,” Valerie said determinedly. “I--oh!”
A revolver shot had crashed through the sound of struggle and there was an accompanying groan.
“Tom?” Gale called uncertainly.
When there was no answer she crept forward and into the living room. Suddenly all had become quiet and she scarcely dared to press the switch to light the overhead lights for fear of what she might see. The light disclosed Tom swaying over the prostrate form of the chief bandit, while Loo Wong sat calmly on Pedro’s chest, brandishing his meat cleaver.
“You’re hurt, Tom!” Gale said running forward.
“Just a scratch in the arm,” he answered. “I reckon we got these fellows this time.”
“Alle same velly blad business,” was Loo Wong’s opinion.
“Let me fix your arm, Tom,” Gale said.
“It’ll be all right,” he assured her.
But Gale insisted and after cutting away the bloody sleeve cleansed and wrapped the wound in clean bandages. As he had said it was not severe, but it was better that they should take no chances.
After Gale’s first-aid treatment was over, Tomand Loo Wong locked the two desperadoes with their partner in the bunkhouse and there they stayed until the Sheriff returned.
The others returned to the ranch house to set the living room to rights. It was a wreck, table overturned, lamp broken, magazines torn, and chairs upside down.
“It looks as though a cyclone had hit the place,” Phyllis declared.
“I’ll send your Mother a lamp when I get home,” Gale promised Tom. “It was my idea to put the place in darkness.”
“You don’t have to bother,” he said laughingly. “You’ll probably get a reward for capturing those fellows. We’ll let the Sheriff buy the lamp.”
“You and Loo Wong deserve the reward,” Val put in. “We didn’t do a thing.”
“You captured them that time in the cabin,” Tom said. “That’s what the reward is for. I don’t want any money. You can have every bit--to find some new adventures with,” he added laughingly.
By the time the others arrived home some semblance of order had been restored but much of the furniture still showed signs of rough usage.
“It was all a wild goose chase,” Janet greeted them, sinking into the first convenient chair. “I wish I had stayed home with you. Is there any fudge left?”
“Plenty,” Valerie said. “Didn’t you have any excitement?” she asked sweetly.
“Nary a crumb,” Carol declared. “For once Janet’s sixth sense was totally wrong.”
“You mean it led in the wrong direction,” Phyllis said. “You didn’t need to chase off after the excitement. It came to the ranch.”
“What are you talking about?” demanded Madge.
“What happened to Tom?” Virginia continued as her brother and the Sheriff and Mr. Wilson left the ranch house and walked toward the bunkhouse.
“Did he fall off his horse?” added Janet.
“He was shot,” Phyllis said innocently, gleefully noting the sensation her words created.
“What’s this?” Carol asked, rousing herself from a comfortable position. “Did I hear aright? Shot? How? By whom? And why?”
“Haven’t you noticed the living room is slightly awry?” Gale demanded.
“We thought maybe you were having footballpractice or something with the lamp,” Carol commented. “What happened?”
“Well, you see it was this way,” Valerie began mischievously, to keep them in suspense. “I was making fudge in the kitchen and you know how fussy Loo Wong is about his kitchen.”
“Don’t we!” Virginia agreed. “Did he catch you?”
“Yes, he did,” Gale laughed.
“And asked me to teach him to make fudge,” Valerie added.
“But what has that to do with mussing the living room?” Janet demanded. “I don’t see the point.”
“Oh, yes, I forgot to tell you, it was after that that the bank robbers called on us,” Valerie said nonchalantly.
“The bank robbers called on you,” Carol said slowly. “Are you joking?”
“No,” Gale assured her. “You’ll find three of them carefully subdued and locked in the bunkhouse.”
“One of them shot Tom,” Virginia said rather than asked.
“Exactly,” Phyllis agreed. “That was during the fight.”
“Fight? Don’t be so aggravating!” stormed Janet. “Give us the details!”
“All right,” Valerie said laughingly, “we’ll tell you, and maybe next time you will stay with us for your excitement.”
Phyllis told of her and Tom’s arrival at the ranch house and Gale and Valerie took turns describing what had happened at the ranch house. The other girls were half glad and half sorry that they had been absent. They were glad they had not had to face the two bandits, but at the same time sorry because they had missed the excitement.
“Gosh,” mourned Janet, “nothing happens when we are around.”
“Never mind,” consoled Valerie, “Tom says we will get a reward and you can help us spend it.”
“Hurrah! How much do you get?” demanded Carol brightly.
“I don’t know,” Gale answered. “Anyway, we shall probably have to wait until the prisoners are safely in jail. That means we won’t be able to go home day after tomorrow.”
“Oh well, if we stay another day or two it doesn’t make any difference,” Madge said, dismissingthat subject abruptly. “What do you propose to do with your reward?”
“We hadn’t thought about it,” Valerie said. “We shall all have to put our heads together and think of something--not anything crazy!” she said with a glance at Janet and Carol.
“Do you insinuate that anything crazy might come from our heads?” the latter two demanded crisply.
“I have known such times,” Val laughed.
“My friend, you wound me deeply,” Janet said with mock tears. “My thoughts are always for the betterment of humanity.”
Carol coughed loudly over a smothered giggle. “Quite so,” she agreed. “But that doesn’t settle the question of what to do with the reward.”
“Perhaps we better wait and see if there really is a reward,” Gale suggested dryly.
“Meanwhile, let’s eat,” Carol proposed and the rest were unanimous in agreement.
They all trooped to the kitchen, but there found Loo Wong already in the throes of making a late lunch and there was nothing they could do to help him so they went back to the living room to wait and to talk.
The sun was warm and dazzling. Gale felt uncomfortably hot as she rode along. The creak of saddle leather and the clop clop of her horse’s hoofs were all the sounds that disturbed the stillness. Somehow she had lost the others when she stopped some distance back and now she rode alone.
It was the day the Adventure Girls had planned to leave for home, but they hadn’t carried out their plans. Yesterday the notorious bandits had, under heavy guard, left for a federal prison. The Sheriff had bestowed the reward, one thousand dollars, upon the Adventure Girls. Now the question was, what were they to do with it? They had all agreed upon using it for some worthy cause rather than keeping it for themselves, but they couldn’t find a worthy cause.
Dismounting from her horse, Gale let him drink from a tiny brooklet. A low, cheerily whistled tune caught her attention and she lookedabout for the whistler. Several yards from her, industriously whittling a wooden twig, sat a small boy, with ragged clothes and tangled curly hair. His eyes, when he looked up at Gale, were as blue as the skies overhead.
“’Lo,” he said with an engaging grin.
“Hello,” she replied smilingly, dropping down beside him.
“Fine horse, that,” he declared. “You’re from the K Bar O, aintcha?”
“That’s right,” she answered. “Who are you?”
“I’m Bobby,” he answered brightly.
She accepted this wondering who in the world Bobby might be. “You live around here?” she asked.
“On t’other side of the hill,” he replied. “You’re just visitin’, huh?”
“Yes, I live in the East.”
“Where?”
“In Marchton, that’s a little town near the Atlantic Ocean,” she replied.
“What’s an ocean?” he wanted to know.
“Why an ocean is a--um--a big body of water,” she said.
“Somethin’ like a lake, huh?”
“Something like it, only much bigger,” she assured him. “Don’t you learn about oceans in school?”
“I don’t go to school,” he replied.
“Why not?” Gale asked.
“Cause my Mother hasn’t any money for my clothes or books,” he answered brightly. “Anyway, I’m goin’ to be a cowboy when I get big and I don’t haveta know much for that.”
“Wouldn’t you like to go to school?” she persisted.
He bent over his knife and the wood he was whittling. “Aw, shucks,” he said. “Course I would. But I can’t. I talk to the riders a lot an’ Tom and Virginia too. They tell me stories and Virginia teaches me ’rithmetic sometimes.”
Gale wondered why Virginia had never mentioned the little boy to the Adventure Girls. Then she remembered when they had first arrived Virginia had casually talked about him, but the girls had gone off on their camping trip and he had not been mentioned again. Gale liked him, he seemed a bright little fellow, quick to learn and to imitate.
“I can ride an’ fish an’ shoot,” he bragged.“Course I don’t know much outa books, but I’ll get along.”
Gale marveled that a youngster, scarcely eight, could be so optimistic and have such a cheerful acceptance of his destiny. She felt a trifle guilty that she didn’t have such philosophy about the things she wanted but couldn’t have.
“Do you have a horse of your own?” she asked.
“No,” he admitted, “but Tom loans me one lots of times.”
“Want to take a ride on mine?” she asked.
His eyes sparkled joyfully at the suggestion and he murmured a bashful “Gee!”
“Go ahead,” she invited. “I’ll wait here for you.”
His legs didn’t reach to the stirrups, but horse and rider seemed welded together as Bobby urged the roan across the valley. At first Gale was afraid he might be unseated, but she soon discovered she need have no fear. Bobby was a born rider, and knew as much about sticking in the saddle as Gale herself.
“He sure can run,” Bobby panted as he jumped off beside Gale and handed her the reins.
“He sure can,” she replied with a smile. Sheheld out her hand and Bobby placed his in it. “Goodbye, Bobby,” she said cheerfully. “Maybe I’ll see you again before I go home.”
“I live in the cabin over by the creek,” he said. “Ma an’ me’ll be glad to see ya,” he declared.
“Oh, and Bobby,” she said, pausing, one foot in the stirrup. “If a fairy gave you a wish what would you wish?”
“I’d wish to go to school,” he answered promptly. “Are you a fairy?” he added.
“Hardly,” Gale said, “but I might meet one and I’ll tell her about you.”
As she rode away she looked back at the sturdy little figure standing gazing after her. He was such an oldish little chap for his years. What a pity he had to waste his active little brain because his mother had no money to send him to the country school. What Gale admired was his fortitude and readiness to accept the little good things that did come his way.
She had an idea in her head and all the way back to the ranch house it persisted in teasing her. But what would the other girls think of her idea? That she meant to find out as soon as possible. She dismounted at the corral and Jim cameforward to take her horse. On the porch of the ranch house were gathered the Adventure Girls with Virginia.
“Aha, run away from us, will you?” accused Janet.
“You lost me,” Gale replied.
“We have been discussing ways of spending your reward,” Carol informed her. “We have about decided to save it for another trip out here next summer.”
“To meet some more bandits,” interposed Valerie dryly.
“That might not happen in another hundred years,” Virginia declared. “You would have to pick the summer that we were having trouble. Other years all is peaceful and serene.”
“Look,” Phyllis said laughingly, “if we hadn’t come out you might still be having trouble. We cleared everything up.”
“Of course,” Virginia laughed teasingly. “You’re good!”
“What do you think, Gale?” Madge asked.
“Hm?” Gale brought her gaze back from the tops of the far pine trees on the horizon. “About what?”
“You weren’t listening,” Janet accused.
Gale laughed. “No, I wasn’t,” she confessed. “What were you saying?”
“Don’t listen to them,” Val interrupted. “Each one has a worse idea how to spend the thousand dollars.”
“Haven’t you an idea that will put our minds at rest?” Phyllis demanded of Gale. “We really have to do something, you know. We start for home tomorrow and we haven’t much time.”
“Don’t you have a plan, Gale?” Janet demanded. “You must have, everybody else does. Come now, confess!”
“Yes,” Gale said, “I have a plan, and I’m wondering what you would think of it.”
“Well, we can’t think a thing unless you tell us what it is,” Carol said practically.
“Yes, Gale, tell us,” Phyllis agreed. “Yours will probably be the best. The rest of these weak minded people will soon suggest buying an airplane.”
“I resent that!” Janet said loudly. “What is the matter with an airplane?”
“Not a thing,” Phyllis consoled her. “I just----”
“Suppose we let Gale talk?” Madge cut in.
“This afternoon when I lost you girls I met alittle boy. A cute little chap. About eight, I should say. He has the most trusting blue eyes and curliest hair----”
“Are you going to adopt him?” interposed Carol.
“Silly,” Gale said. “Let me finish. I talked to him quite a while. He is awf’ly cunning and smart--as smart as any of you,” she added wickedly.
“He must be smart to compare with us,” Janet declared modestly.
“Hush!” Valerie commanded. “Go on, Gale.”
“He asked me where I lived and I told him a little town on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. He wanted to know what an ocean was.”
“I hope you could tell him,” Carol murmured mischievously.
“I wish you could have seen him, girls. He is positively thirsting for knowledge. But he can’t go to school because his mother has no money with which to send him. It is a shame because an education would certainly not be lost on him. It made my heart ache just to see him and to hear him tell about how fortunate he was that Tom and Virginia and the other cowboys told him stories and taught him a little of arithmeticand spelling. He is so cheerful with what he has, his riding and fishing and hunting. He could be such a fine man because he has an insatiable ambition.
“I thought we might give him the thousand dollars. It would see him through the little country school here and by the time he is older he might be able to earn more. It would be such a good use to which to put our money. We could always remember how happy we made one little boy. It is something he wants more than anything else in the world. Just to look at him made me want it, too.
“Of course all you girls have a share in the reward and it is up to you to do as you please, but I can tell you if you should agree with me Bobby would love it--and you,” she finished.
“Hurrah for Bobby!” Carol said loudly. “I want to meet him.”
“Didn’t I say Gale’s plan would be the best?” Phyllis demanded, hugging Gale affectionately. “You always seem to know just what we’d like,” she told her chum.
Virginia hugged Gale too. “You’re a darling, Gale, to think of Bobby. I know he’ll be tickled pink. Let’s go tell him now.”
With one accord the girls ran to the corral and saddled their horses. Virginia, who had been to see Bobby often before, led the way to the broken down little cabin.
Gale had the check for the thousand dollars and the girls all agreed that she should be the one to present their gift to the little boy.
Before the cabin, its door hanging ajar on one rusty hinge, the girls dismounted. Virginia sent a ringing halloo into the interior and Bobby soon appeared. He gravely informed his visitors that his mother wasn’t home. He greeted Gale with a wide grin and smiled shyly at the other girls, who were all delighted with the appearance of their little protégé.
“Bobby, honey,” Virginia said, “Gale has something to tell you.”
“Yes, Bobby,” Gale said smiling broadly, “remember me telling you I might meet a fairy when I was riding back to the ranch?”
“Did you?” he demanded eagerly.
“I did,” Gale said gravely. “I told her all about you and how fine a man you are. I told her you wanted more than anything in the world to go to school and what do you think?”
“What?” Bobby asked, his wide, earnest gaze fixed on Gale’s face.
“She gave me this.” Gale handed Bobby the check and at his puzzled expression continued: “It is worth a whole lot of money, enough to send you to school for a couple of years.”
He looked dazedly from one smiling face to the other and back at Gale. “I’m goin’ to school?” he said in a dazed voice.
“Yes, darling, as soon as it opens for the term,” Gale said.
To their surprise his lip puckered and he flung himself on Gale, hiding his face on her shoulder with a smothered sob. Across his blond head, Gale and Virginia exchanged a smiling glance, tears not far from the surface of either pair of clear eyes.
“Bobby,” Gale murmured, “aren’t you glad? Don’t you want to go to school?”
“Course I do,” he said, choking, “t-that’s why I’m cryin’.”
“Gosh,” Carol said when the girls rode away, leaving an ecstatic, beaming Bobby behind them. “I never knew it was so nice to play Santa Claus. We’ll have to do it often,” she said slyly tucking her handkerchief back into her pocket.
“I’m so glad you suggested giving the money to Bobby, Gale,” Val said, a suspicious thickness in her voice.
“So am I,” Janet declared, “but hang it all, I almost cried with him.”
“I guess we never realized before how fortunate we were,” Phyllis said, contemplating the blue sky overhead. “Didn’t it do something to you just now? I feel all sort of big inside. Like--like I wanted to be nice to everybody in the world.”
“It does make you happy just to make somebody else happy,” Madge agreed. “He is such a cunning little chap.”
“And worthy of anything we might do for him,” Virginia declared. “His mother has raised him with the best manners of any youngster in Arizona.”
“What happened to his father?” Valerie asked.
“He used to work in a silver mine,” Virginia said. “He and several other men owned it in partnership. Bobby’s father was killed trying to rescue one of the other men from a cave-in or something. I don’t know the exact facts. Bobby’s mother is wonderful with sewing and my mother and some other ladies from Coxton keep her supplied. That is the only way they get along.”
“I wish we had had two thousand dollars,” Janet said.
“But if Bobby’s father owned a silver mine why don’t they have money?” Madge asked.
“The mine never amounted to much,” Virginia answered. “It was only a small vein of silver and it didn’t last very long.”
The girls returned to the ranch house, each with a little warm glow in her heart. Making Bobby happy as they had done, had shown each one how much happiness there is in giving joy to some one else.
The Wilsons had prepared a festive program for their guests’ last night at the ranch. There were music and dancing and chatter and laughter. The hilarity kept up for hours.
“You know,” Janet said, “I feel like celebrating tonight--for Bobby.”
“Strange as it may seem, I was thinking the same thing,” Phyllis declared.
“I used to get the jitters every time I thought of Pedro and his knife,” Val confided to Gale in a secluded dark corner of the porch where they had gone for a breath of air between spurts of gaiety. “Now I’m glad we did meet them as we did.”
“Why?” Gale wanted to know.
“Well, look what we did with the money,” Valsaid. “It was worth all our adventures to see that little boy’s face this afternoon.”
“He was just about overwhelmed,” Gale smiled softly. “It is amazing that he could be so starved for knowledge and contact with other youngsters his age.”
“Tomorrow we shall leave all this,” Val said, motioning to the trees and sky, lit by the giant yellow moon and sparkling stars, and the ranch house and the corral.
“Wasn’t it a worth while summer, though?” Gale asked. “We’re all so much better able to cope with the studies and struggles we’ll have this, our last term, in high school.”
“Where are you going to college?” Val asked suddenly.
“Why--I don’t know----” Gale said vaguely. “I want to go to Briarhurst. I don’t know if I shall, though.”
“That’s my aim, too. I shall probably----”
“Say, aren’t you having a good time?” Carol demanded through the window.
“Sure we are,” Val declared.
“Then come in and join the party,” Carol commanded.
“The queen commands,” laughed Gale. “We have to obey.”
The two went back to the living room and danced some more. The noise kept up until the wee hours of the morning when, out of sheer necessity, the girls went off to bed. Each had a vague suspicion that they would not be able to get up the next morning and get the early start on which they had planned.
Their fears were confirmed. About ten o’clock the next morning Gale and Valerie managed to leave their beds for breakfast. But when they appeared in the dining room they discovered that they were the first and only ones to make their appearance. Mrs. Wilson despatched Valerie to bestir Phyllis and Madge and Gale departed to rouse Carol and Janet.
She knocked loudly on their door but all remained blissfully quiet. She peeped around the corner of the door and beheld her two friends curled like kittens, enjoying their nap.
“Hey!” she yelled. “Last call for breakfast.”
“Huh?” Carol cocked one sleepy eye in her direction while Janet remained in dreamland.
“I said,” Gale repeated painstakingly, “it is the last call for breakfast.”
“I don’t want any,” Carol said, turning over and burying her head in the covers.
“Come on, get up,” Gale urged, shaking her friend, “we want to get an early start.”
“Let’s go home tomorrow,” Carol begged. “I wanta sleep.”
“We have to leave today,” Gale insisted. “There can be no more putting it off. Come on, turn out, or I’ll pour cold water on you!” she threatened.
At that declaration Carol managed to sit up, but she was half asleep as she tried to struggle out of her pajamas.
“Lazy bones, get out of there,” Gale demanded of Janet.
The latter squinted frowningly at Gale. “Must you bother me?” she demanded. “Go away!”
“Not until you get up and dress,” Gale said calmly. “We’ve got to get started.”
“I want my breakfast,” Janet said.
“Well, you won’t get a bite unless you get up this minute!” Gale declared vigorously.
“In that case,” Janet yawned, “I reckon I’ll do without it. Good night.”
Gale went to the door. “Virginia,” she called, “bring me a bucket of cold water. The colder the better!”
“What’s that for?” Janet demanded.
“To pour on you,” Gale said calmly.
“I’m up!” Janet declared, tossing back the covers and jumping out of bed.
She was up, but it took her and Carol at least another half an hour to complete their dressing. When finally they appeared for breakfast, it was lunch time. After lunch there was frantic last minute scrambling to collect baggage.
The old car in which they had arrived at the K Bar O was brought to the front of the ranch house and there the girls viewed it with frowns.
“That tire is certainly flat,” Carol declared. “It looks like a deflated pancake.”
“Jim and I’ll have it fixed in no time,” Tom offered.
“Brothers are good for something,” Janet murmured satisfactorily to Virginia.
“Where’s Phyllis?” Gale asked.
“I don’t know,” Janet said. “Isn’t she in the house with Val?”
Gale went into the living room and called but neither Phyllis nor Valerie answered.
“Perhaps she is down at the corral kissing her horse goodbye,” suggested Carol brightly.
“Go see,” Janet said.
“Go yourself,” Carol murmured lazily.
“I have it,” Janet said. “We’ll both go. Maybe Loo Wong has an extra piece of cake,” she whispered in Carol’s ear.
“The way those two departed I’ll bet they were thinking of food,” Madge commented.
“Phyllis isn’t down at the corral and neither is Val,” Janet informed them when, after a lengthy absence, she and Carol returned.
“Were you eating anything?” Madge demanded suspiciously.
“Of course not,” Carol said with dignity. “Didn’t we just have lunch?”
“Then wipe that chocolate icing off your tie,” Madge said laughingly.
“Look. Here they come. What in the world is Phyllis carrying?” Carol demanded wonderingly.
“A cactus,” Janet giggled. “What are you going to do with that?” she asked.
“Take it home with me,” Phyllis grinned, “for a souvenir. You can sit on it in the car,” she invited.
“Thoughtful of you,” Janet grimaced.
“There’s your tire all fixed,” Tom said, dusting himself off as he straightened up from his work.
“Gee, I’m glad it went flat here and not ten miles away,” Phyllis sighed. “Just think, we might have had to fix it.”
“I hope the old thing holds together until we reach Phoenix,” Janet said, looking the car over. “I wouldn’t want to walk.”
“Why that car is good for years yet,” Carol declared, a twinkle in her eye.
“Sure, if it just sits in the garage,” agreed Phyllis.
“It’s getting rusty already,” Janet said.
“Well, there is one consolation,” Carol murmured, “the horn can never rust away.”
“Why not?” Janet wanted to know.
“Because it’ll break up in honks!” Carol answered.
Carol had been sitting on the porch step with Janet, but suddenly she found herself catapulted into the dust.
“That’s for that terrible joke,” Janet said firmly. “Another one like that and we will make you ride on the rear bumper.”
“We better get going,” Madge put in. “It is getting late.”
The girls had had such a good time and they had grown fond of Virginia. It was hard to say goodbye.
“I wish you were coming East with us,” Gale said sadly.
“Couldn’t you?” Phyllis asked eagerly.
Virginia shook her head. “No can do. But maybe I can visit you some time. I hope you can come out here again, too.”
“You will let us know how Bobby gets along in school?” Val asked. “We’ll want to know.”
“Of course,” Virginia assured them. “I want you all to write to me, too. Don’t forget.”
After their goodbyes were over the girls piled into the car, Gale at the wheel. Ineffectively she pressed her foot on the starter. There was a whirr but the engine refused to break into the longed-for roar. The girls exchanged exasperated glances.
“I suppose we’ll have to get out and push,” Carol groaned.
“Nothing doing!” Janet balked at the suggestion. “What’s the matter with the old thing anyway, Gale?”
Gale replied with a shrug of her shoulders and climbed out. She opened the engine hood and looked at the complicated array of gadgets. She knew a little, not much, about an automobile engine.
“Everything looks all right,” Tom declared. “I’ll get under and see what’s what.”
“How’s it?” Phyllis asked, leaning over the door.
“A couple bolts loose,” Tom yelled back.
Several minutes later Tom reappeared, streaked with grease but triumphant.
“Try it now,” he suggested.
But the car refused to obey the summons to action.
“Lizzie certainly isn’t a lady!” Janet declared impatiently. “Maybe she wants to be coaxed.”
“I’ve got it!” Gale said suddenly with a snap of her fingers.
“Goodness, hold onto it whatever it is,” Phyllis begged.
Gale grinned sheepishly. “We should have thought of it, sooner. I’ll wager we haven’t any gas.”
Tom looked at the tank and laughed. “Dry as the desert,” he declared. “But there is a five-gallon can in the bunkhouse. I’ll get it.”
The gas tank was filled and the engine responded readily now to Gale’s pressure on the starter. They said their goodbyes again.
“Goodbye, goodbye, parting is such sweet sorrow,”Janet said sorrowfully, clinging to Virginia’s hand.
“Now I know it is time to go,” Carol said. “When Janet quotes Shakespeare things will begin to happen.”
The car rattled and wheezed as it began to move.
“Hey, hold everything,” Phyllis called to Gale. “Here comes Loo Wong.”
Once more their departure was halted. Loo Wong had packed a lunch and he proceeded to present it to Janet with a low bow and a wide grin.
“Loo Wong wish many happiness. Bid all tloubles goodbye fo’lever.”
“Same to you, Loo Wong, and many of ’em,” Janet declared. “Girls, what would we have done without Loo Wong?”
“We couldn’t do without him,” Carol declared. “He makes the best pancakes I’ve ever eaten.”
“Don’t forget how to make fudge, Loo Wong,” Valerie called.
The Chinaman bobbed up and down, hands hidden in wide sleeves and his face wreathed in smiles.
“This time it is really goodbye,” Gale called. “Don’t forget to write, Virginia!”
The car wheezed and rattled out of the ranch yard onto the dusty road. Handkerchiefs fluttered until the car was swallowed up in a cloud of dust and the ranch house was hidden from view. They had a long trip ahead of them and they settled down comfortably for their last glimpse of Arizona scenery.
“Ah, now let’s eat,” proposed Janet. “Ouch!” Unwittingly she had leaned against the cactus plant Phyllis had stored in with the baggage.
“Get along, Liza,” Gale said, patting the steering wheel encouragingly as the engine coughed. “Don’t let us down now,” she pleaded.
So, with the girls hoping that the old car would hold together until they reached Phoenix where they would take the train to the East, let us leave the Adventure Girls. Those who have enjoyed the six girls’ adventures may join them again in “The Adventure Girls in the Air,” when they have some exciting times with airplanes and find themselves in new and surprising situations.