IN THE CANYON
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 to _camp_ at 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 want _ten_ children 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 got _some_ ginger 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--they _look_ like pups."
"Yes, they do, but you found them pretty frisky for pups, didn't you?"
"They _were_ pretty lively," admitted the older boy slowly.
"And as scratchy as--" began Toady.
"As _cats_," 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.