no running water, but plenty in the buckets,” Mrs. Saylor said. “We make our own electricity, but we can’t have running water, as we have to get it from wells, and they’re fifteen hundred feet deep. Now I’ll make you some supper.
“I didn’t expect anybody, so you’ll just have to take pot luck,” she added. “Come into the kitchen when you are ready, and I’ll see if I can’t scare up some fried chicken and tomato soup, with some squash and yams and corn-pudding. I think I had some left over, and pie and coffee.”
After Mrs. Saylor had gone back to the kitchen, Doris and Kitty examined their room more closely.
“Isn’t this attractive?” Kitty asked. “The whole country, too.”
“Lovely,” replied Doris. “So lovely I wish I didn’t have to think about any unpleasant things while we’re here. But I’m afraid I’ll have to get right down to business.”
“Well,” came the suggestion from the irrepressible Kitty, “there’s such a thing as combining business with pleasure.”
CHAPTER X
Nothing But Trouble
“Say, this is the real thing all right,” Marshmallow exclaimed.
“What do you mean?” Dave asked.
“Oh, the primitive frontier life but with most modern conveniences,” Marshmallow answered. “Cowboys and Indians, rattlesnakes and cactus, electric lights and swell food! Do you think we could get ourselves some of those leather sailor pants?”
It was the next day after the arrival of Doris and her friends. The two boys were in the courtyard of the Crazy Bear ranch-house, waiting for their three charming companions to appear for breakfast.
Overhead the bluest sky in the world was arched. The whitewashed adobe walls of the house framed green grass, fragrant in the early morning air.
“I’d feel funny dressed up in chaps,” Dave admitted. “What I’d rather locate is an auto.”
“Say, that’s an idea!” Marshmallow exclaimed. “Let’s ask Bill Saylor if there is one we can hire around here.”
“Let’s go find him, but don’t let on to the others,” Dave suggested.
While the young men were plotting their little surprise, Doris and Kitty were discussing what attire they would don for the first day on the ranch.
“I guess it will have to be our riding habits,” Doris said. “We will want to explore a lot, and I have to get into town to see about the deed.”
“Horseback is the way to travel in this part of the world,” Kitty added. “That doesn’t make me mad at all.”
A few minutes later the girls stepped out of their room into the patio, Doris trim in whipcord breeches and top boots, with a green polo shirt worn open at the throat. Kitty wore long trousers faced with chamois, and jodhpur half-boots nattily strapped across the ankle, with a yellow shirt which showed her brown hair and tanned complexion off to best advantage.
“Wonder where Marshmallow and Dave are?” each said aloud. “They were talking here a minute ago. Oh—good morning, Mrs. Mallow.”
“Good morning. Are the boys up yet?”
Mrs. Mallow was dressed for comfort, not for action, in a summery cotton print frock.
“I’m worried, girls,” she said. “I think unpleasant news is a bad appetizer for breakfast, but I have lost my handbag!”
“Oh, was there money in it?” Doris cried.
“Yes, there was,” Mrs. Mallow admitted. “Except for the bank letter of credit, which I kept in my suitcase, there was all the money I took along. Over a hundred dollars, and my rings and other personal things.”
“Oh, you surely must have left it in the auto last night,” Kitty said soothingly. “We will call Ben Corlies—if there is such a thing as a telephone around.”
“I hope so, but I just can’t remember having the bag at all,” Mrs. Mallow frowned. “The last time I recall having it was way back in Indiana.”
Doris looked at her left hand, where the great ruby given to her by the Gates twins flashed fire. She was glad that precious jewel was not mislaid, for its romantic history made it valuable to her far above its not inconsiderable worth in money.
“Hey, slow-pokes!”
The hail came from a doorway opposite the worried little group.
It was Marshmallow, announcing breakfast.
“Go ahead, you two,” Doris said. “I’ll just search our room to make sure your bag did not get mixed up with our things last night, and then I’ll join you.”
While the others began breakfast Doris searched through the effects of Kitty and herself, but no handbag was found.
* * * *
At the breakfast table, the lost bag was the main topic of conversation, with Mrs. Saylor listening sympathetically.
“You can telephone to the G Clef Ranch, all right,” the pleasant woman said. “The ’phone is in the sitting room. I’ll show you where.”
Breakfast over, Doris called up the opera singer’s ranch, but learned that no one in authority was at home. Miss Bedelle was already trying out her new airplane, and Ben himself was supervising some tractor work a mile from the house.
“Please explain to Mr. Corlies that we think we left the bag in his car,” Doris repeated. “And have him call up Mrs. Mallow at the Crazy Bear Ranch whether he finds it or not.”
With that the travelers had to be satisfied.
“If you girls want horses just walk over to the corral and whichever one of the ranch-hands is out there, tell him what kind of mount you want,” Mrs. Saylor told Kitty and Doris.
The boys had already started out.
“It’s sort of selfish of them to run off without waiting for us,” Kitty pouted.
The corral, built of skinned pinon poles, /housed a dozen wiry cow ponies varying from coal black to pure white and spotted “pintos,” or “paints,” as the girls learned the cowboys called them.
“There is no one here,” Doris said, looking around. “I wonder where Dave and Marsh could have gone?”
“Here come a couple of cowboys now,” Kitty pointed.
Two chap-clad and sombrero-topped figures shambled around the corner of a long, low building, and a third hurried and joined them. The last comer seemed to be in some sort of pain, from the way in which he pressed his hands to his side and staggered as he walked.
“Why—it’s— Doris, look! It’s Marshmallow and Dave!”
Doris stared at Kitty’s command and burst out laughing.
“What’s
