Dorothy on a Ranch

as a high-spirited, "wild western" girl, accustomed to obeying little else than her own impulses. She had a fine record as a horsewoman and had been disappoin

and Leslie had followed the first party and could giv

ne or two hold-ups, of men known to carry money, but beyon

folding her arm a bit more tightl

of the corral and Long Jim's Belezebub ain't hitched no longer. Ha, ha, ha! If either them kids tries to ride Beelzy-Hmm. But Chiquita, now, she's little but she's great. Pa and Matt claim she's worth her weight in gold. She's

n talking outside sought their own rest, and the anxious watchers missed the murmur

about died out. This had been lighted for the guests' enjoyment, the inn folks caring nothing for it and therefore easily forgetting to replenish it. When she had gathered an armful of wood, Alfy carried it to the fireplac

ath out here in this night air, with not even your cloak on. Come,

ds had started th

e for her, its use still more frequent than

l I ever hear you

coffee and set the table. I can do it right on them coals, after the fire burns down a mite. If I can't there, 'twon't be the first cook stove I've tackled in my life, and I know one thing if I don't any more: that is, when those searchers and Dolly an' Jim do come they'll be so tearing hungry they cou

de, drew a chair to the hearth and bent to its warmth. Then, as if she had been in her own home, Alfaretta whisked about, dragging small table

! 'Twould set you laughing, fit to split, first off. It did me till I begun to see the other side of it, seems if. First, she must have a little porcelain tub, like a baby's wash-tub, sort of-then a tiny mop, doll's mop, I called it, and towels-Why, her best table napkins aren't finer than them towels be. And dainty! My heart! 'Tis the prettiest picture in the world when that 'ristocratic old lady washes her heirloom-china! But this-your hands'd get tired enough if you had to do much of this. Hurry up! Don't you know

rate, and as she left the living-room for the kitchen at the rear both Lady Gray and Helena were

le in my life!" cr

it is time I learned. Indeed, I've never had a home, you know, and I'm lo

n very reluctantly but found that the labor was a delightful relief from worry, and, with the good sense she possessed, now went on with it as painstakingly as if she expected a fashionable and cr

ces in the kitchen; Alfaretta's, of cour

so from the later events of the night. So as she lay sleepless and listening, she heard the rattle of cooking things in th

ke to look same's them girls do, and they ain't no prettier 'n me. It's only their clothes makes 'em look it, and as for that Molly, they call her, that's rid off on Chiquita, she's just as plain and folksy as get out! So's the red-headed one with the high-falutin' name, out of that song Pa sings about the 'blue Juni

er arrived at the kitchen and the presence of the red-he

n?" demanded Mattie, scarc

ong to explain, and s

e, and now about that Leslie. He's a real nice boy-Leslie is-if you let him do exactly what he wants and don't try to make him different. His ma just sets all her store by him. I never got the rights of it, exactly, Aunt Betty Calvert-she 't I've been hired out to-she never approved of gossip. She said that folks quarrellin' was just plain makin' fools of themselves, or words to that effect. The Fords had done it and now, co

retta was so jolly, so friendly, so full of talk. So wholly satisfied in her conscience, too, now that "one of

ir guests, these or any others, and if the chickens meant for breakfast were

the fire or add some delicacy to Helena's daintily set table; the same that made her stare at its difference from ordinary. Didn

sked the girl, upon one entrance

e considered a great

sket in the pool. Pa catched 'em to have 'em ready and I'

e masonry of the westerner and g

ly. I declare, those kitchen odors are savory! I hope the wanderers will soon be here, t

she gladly accepted Mattie's invitation. Indeed, this whole trip was full of delightful novelty and all the af

e other girl to do the same. "Else you'll get 'em all dirt going through the swamp to

urt so. I'll have to risk the shoes. I hav

ght through the ma'sh and 'twon't be

, in this

d go straight there and back, without stumbling once, you're new to the way an'

t is very considerate o

s Helena's table-setting had also been a lesson in neatness; and with her eagerness to learn she felt that she had been amply repaid for giving up her sleep. Chattering as if she had always known the stranger she led the way sa

saw her fear, then

t awful solemn in such woods in the night-time? Makes a body think of all the hateful things she's done and sort of wish she hadn't done 'em. But there ain't no livin' thing in these woods'll hurt you

red at the echo of her own laughter in that place, which seemed

o some fine cooking herself; and between them they made Mrs. Roderick's larder suffer, so ea

hree girls, and wondering, as well, how the landlady could sleep through all that din and chatter. For Helena, too, had

be for that good coffee you've ma

akimbo and stared; t

ip' cream? As if it was bad. You make me

mass, which Mattie declared was the "wonderfulest thing" she had ever seen. They were still discussing t

ad! I can hear them-beyond the turn of the road. Only it seem

e, now glowing red in front from the hot fire they had made. The other girls rushed outw

in no hurry to get here. Somethin's happened.