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BLUE BONNET'S RANCH PARTY
The
Blue Bonnet Series
_By_
_Lela Horn Richards_
_and_
_Caroline E. Jacobs_
[Illustration]
Each, one vol., large 12mo, illustrated $1.75
A TEXAS BLUE BONNET
BLUE BONNET'S RANCH PARTY
BLUE BONNET IN BOSTON
BLUE BONNET KEEPS HOUSE
BLUE BONNET--DÉBUTANTE
BLUE BONNET OF THE SEVEN STARS
* * * * *
THE COSY CORNER SERIES
_By Caroline E. Jacobs_
Each, one vol., small 12mo, illustrated $0.75
BAB'S CHRISTMAS AT STANHOPE
THE CHRISTMAS SURPRISE PARTY
A CHRISTMAS PROMISE
[Illustration]
THE PAGE COMPANY
53 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass.
[Illustration: "BLUE BONNET . . . WATCHED THE SUN RISE OUT OF THE
PRAIRIE." (_See page 303._)]
BLUE BONNET'S RANCH PARTY
BY
C. E. JACOBS
AND
EDYTH ELLERBECK READ
A SEQUEL TO
A TEXAS BLUE BONNET
BY
C. E. JACOBS
_Illustrated by_
JOHN GOSS
[Illustration]
THE PAGE COMPANY
BOSTON - - PUBLISHERS
_Copyright, 1912_
BY THE PAGE COMPANY
* * * * *
_All rights reserved_
Made in U. S. A.
First Impression, July, 1912
Second Impression, October, 1912
Third Impression, May, 1913
Fourth Impression, January, 1914
Fifth Impression, April, 1914
Sixth Impression, February, 1915
Seventh Impression, June, 1915
Eighth Impression, July, 1916
Ninth Impression, April, 1917
Tenth Impression, March, 1918
Eleventh Impression, July, 1919
Twelfth Impression, May, 1920
Thirteenth Impression, December, 1921
PRINTED BY C. H. SIMONDS COMPANY
BOSTON, MASS., U. S. A.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE WANDERER 1
II. IN THE BLUE BONNET COUNTRY 16
III. THE GLORIOUS FOURTH 32
IV. THE ROUND ROBIN 45
V. THE SWIMMING HOLE 60
VI. AN ADVENTURE 71
VII. A FALLING OUT 86
VIII. CONSEQUENCES 101
IX. TEXAS AND MASSACHUSETTS 112
X. ENTER CARITA 124
XI. CAMPING BY THE BIG SPRING 142
XII. POCO TIEMPO 155
XIII. AROUND THE CAMP-FIRE 169
XIV. A FALLING IN 183
XV. SUNDAY 200
XVI. THE LOST SHEEP 215
XVII. SECRETS 230
XVIII. SOME ARRIVALS 242
XIX. BLUE BONNET'S BIRTHDAY 259
XX. CONFERENCES 275
XXI. BLUE BONNET DECIDES 290
XXII. HASTA LA VISTA 300
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
"BLUE BONNET . . . WATCHED THE SUN RISE OUT OF THE PRAIRIE"
(_See page 303_) _Frontispiece_
"COMANCHE . . . LEAPED FORWARD LIKE A CAT" 41
"'_I_ BELIEVE THE ONLY WAY TO LEARN TO SWIM IS TO DIVE IN
HEAD-FIRST'" 96
"THEY ALL GATHERED GYPSY-FASHION ABOUT THE FIRE" 187
"IT WAS AN EXQUISITE MINIATURE, PAINTED ON IVORY" 261
"ALEC SURVEYED HER PROUD LITTLE PROFILE" 290
Blue Bonnet's Ranch Party
CHAPTER I
THE WANDERER
BLUE BONNET put her head out of the car window for the hundredth time
that hour, and drew it back with a sigh of utter exasperation.
"Uncle Cliff," she declared impatiently, "if The Wanderer doesn't move
a little faster I'll simply have to get out and push!"
"Better blame the engine, Honey," said Uncle Cliff in his slow,
soothing way. "The Wanderer is doing her best. Might as well blame the
wagon for not making the horses gallop!"
"I know," she confessed. "But it seems as if we'd never get to
Woodford. This is the longest-seeming journey I ever took--even if it
is in a private car." Then, fearing to appear inappreciative, she
added quickly: "But I do think it is mighty good of Mr. Maldon to let
us take his very own car. I can just see the We are Sevens' eyes pop
right out when they see this style of travelling." Blue Bonnet's own
eyes roamed over the luxurious interior of The Wanderer, dwelling with
approval on the big, swinging easy chairs, the book-case cunningly
set in just over a writing-desk, the buffet shining with cut glass and
silver, and the thousand and one details that made the car a veritable
palace on wheels.
Blue Bonnet had been spending a few days in New York with her uncle,
who had insisted that she should have a little "lark" after her long
months in school. Now, in a private car belonging to one of Uncle
Cliff's friends, they were on their way back to Woodford, there to
gather up Grandmother Clyde, Alec Trent, and the other six of Blue
Bonnet's "We are Seven" Club, and bear them off to Texas for the
summer.
"I reckon Sarah Blake and Kitty Clark aren't very used to travelling?"
suggested Uncle Cliff, more to draw out Blue Bonnet than with any
consuming desire for information.
"Used to travelling! Why, Uncle Cliff--" Blue Bonnet shook her head
emphatically--"not one of the other We are Sevens has ever so much as
seen the inside of a Pullman in all her life!"
Mr. Ashe hid a smile under his moustache. The fact that Blue Bonnet's
own introduction to a Pullman car had occurred just nine months
before, seemed to have escaped the young lady's mind.
"Well, well," ejaculated Blue Bonnet's uncle, "they've some
experiences ahead of them, to be sure!"
"Oh, Uncle,"--Blue Bonnet was struck with a sudden fear,--"do you
suppose they will all be ready to go? We're two whole days earlier
than we said we'd be--"
"They'll be ready, don't you worry. Your grandmother is not one of the
unprepared sort, and the girls don't need much of a wardrobe for the
ranch. Besides, I wired them explicit directions--to meet The Wanderer
and be ready to come aboard immediately. We shall have only a few
minutes in Woodford."
Blue Bonnet settled back in her red velvet reclining chair and shut
her eyes. Slowly a smile wreathed her lips.
"What's the joke, Honey?"
Blue Bonnet looked up with dancing eyes. "Benita!" she laughed. "Won't
she be just--petrified, when she sees seven girls instead of one? And
can't you imagine the boys--"
"Benita had better not get petrified this summer," interrupted Uncle
Cliff. "She has to do some tall hustling. I've wired Uncle Joe to get
extra help while the ranch party is in session. If they can get old
Gertrudis from the Lone Star Ranch--she's the finest cook in the state
of Texas. And her granddaughter might wait on table."
"Oh, I do think a ranch party is the grandest thing in the world,"
cried Blue Bonnet. "I've read of house parties, but they must be
downright tame compared with this kind of a party. And it's not to
last just over a week-end either, but _two whole months_! Why, Uncle
Cliff, any ordinary man would be scared to pieces at the prospect."
"But I'm not an ordinary man, eh?" Mr. Ashe looked pleased as a boy as
he put the question.
"Well, I reckon not! You're a fairy godfather. You grant my wishes
before they're fairly out of my mouth. And I seem to have plenty of
wishes. Just think, Uncle, how many things I've wished for since my
last birthday!"
"First," said Uncle Cliff, "you wished to go away from the ranch."
Blue Bonnet nodded assent. "Because I was--afraid--to ride. Doesn't it
seem ridiculous, now I'm over that silliness? But oh, how I did wish I
could get over being afraid! That was about the only wish you couldn't
grant, Uncle Cliff."
"That wish was never expressed, Honey--don't forget that. Maybe I
could have helped even there," Mr. Ashe suggested gently.
"I know, it was my own fault. But I was--ashamed, Uncle Cliff. You
don't suppose--" Blue Bonnet's face clouded, "you don't think, do you,
that the fear will come again when I get back where I saw
José--dragged?" She shut her eyes and shuddered.
"Nonsense, Honey. That fear died and was buried the day you rode
Alec's horse, Victor. A good canter on Firefly over the Blue Bonnet
country will make you wonder that such a feeling was ever born."
"Dear old Firefly! Won't I make it up to him though! Isn't
it queer how many of my wishes have come true? It makes me feel
almost--breathless. I no sooner got through wishing I could leave the
ranch and go East and be with Grandmother--than I woke up in Woodford.
And I wanted--thought I wanted--to be called Elizabeth. Blue Bonnet
became Elizabeth!"
"A real lightning change artist," murmured Uncle Cliff.
"And I wanted to go to school. Granted. I wanted to know a lot of
girls, and behold the We are Sevens!"
"And when was it you changed names again?" Uncle Cliff asked slyly.
"When I got tired of being Elizabethed. Everybody thinks Blue Bonnet
suits me better, except Aunt Lucinda--on occasions."
"And the next wish? They're stacking up."
"I reckon it was about the Sargent prize in school. I wanted Alec
Trent to win it--and he did. And next I wished to pass my school
examinations--"
"And even that miracle was achieved!" said Uncle Cliff, pinching her
cheek.
"And, finally, I wanted to go back to Texas, and, at the same time, I
wished I didn't have to leave Grandmother and Alec and the girls. That
might seem a contrary pair of wishes, but it doesn't daunt Godfather
Ashe. He straightway makes a private car arise from--from what, Uncle
Cliff?"
"Tobacco smoke," promptly supplied Mr. Ashe, with a reminiscent smile
on his lips.
"Why tobacco smoke?" asked Blue Bonnet wonderingly.
"I taught Maldon to smoke when he was a young chap visiting out our
way, and we've been friends ever since. The private car seems to have
grown out of that," replied her uncle.
"I see," Blue Bonnet nodded. "But don't tell Aunt Lucinda,--I fancy
she doesn't approve of smoking."
"So I've noticed," rather grimly rejoined Mr. Ashe. Blue Bonnet's prim
New England aunt had not suffered him to remain long in ignorance of
her disapproval of tobacco in any form.
"There's one thing I don't understand at all," Blue Bonnet knitted her
pretty brows. "And that is what was in Uncle Joe Terry's telegram the
other day. Won't you tell me, Uncle?"
"Nothing much,--only that I must be back at the ranch Monday evening
without fail," answered Uncle Cliff with an air of evasion.
"There's some deep reason, I can just feel it. You mean well, Uncle,
but I just hate secrets." Blue Bonnet laid a coaxing hand on her
uncle's arm.
"Secret indeed!" scoffed Uncle Cliff, avoiding his niece's eye.
"You can't pretend a bit well," Blue Bonnet assured him gravely. "You
look just the way my dog Solomon does when he's pretending to be
asleep--and can't keep his tail from wagging!"
"Thank you!" said Uncle Cliff with well-assumed indignation.
"You're quite welcome. He's a mighty wise dog, Uncle Cliff--that's why
I named him Solomon. You know I think--" Blue Bonnet went on sagely,
"I think there is some trouble at the ranch,--because I saw the big
box you sent with our trunks and it was labelled 'dangerous.' Now, be
nice, and tell me what was in it."
"I understood that Miss Kitty was the inquisitive member of your
Club," Uncle Cliff parried provokingly.
Blue Bonnet sighed. "Well, I can thank Uncle Joe for cutting us out of
two whole days in New York. I'm sure Aunt Lucinda will be
disappointed."
"Aunt Lucinda--?" echoed Mr. Ashe.
"Yes, you see it was this way: Aunt Lucinda gave me a list of things I
ought to see in New York. Every day when you asked me 'what next?'--as
you did, you nice fairy godfather--I chose the things I'd rather see
and left the--the educational things for the last. You see the shops,
the Hippodrome, Coney Island, Peter Pan and the Goddess of Liberty
were so fascinating, and I'd wanted so long to see them, that-- Well,
to face the bitter truth, Uncle Cliff, we left New York without one
weenty peek in at the Metropolitan Museum!"
"Horrors!" Uncle Cliff looked properly stunned. Then he said craftily,
"Keep it dark, Honey. Maybe we can bluff."
Blue Bonnet shook her head. "Nobody can bluff Aunt Lucinda--I ought to
know! Why--Uncle Cliff--I believe we're there!"
And "there" they certainly were. While Blue Bonnet had been busily
chattering, The Wanderer had drawn in to the Woodford station.
Half the population of the village was assembled on the platform, it
seemed to Blue Bonnet as she sprang from the car steps. Grandmother
and Aunt Lucinda she saw first, and back of them Denham, the coachman,
bearing suitcases, umbrellas, magazines and wraps, besides holding on
by main force to a leash at which Solomon was straining frantically.
Beside him were Katie and Delia, on hand for a final farewell to Blue
Bonnet and Mrs. Clyde. Then came Kitty and Doctor Clark; Amanda and
the Parkers; Sarah and the whole crowd of Blakes, big and little; Alec
and the General; Debby, and a collection of sisters, cousins, uncles
and aunts that overflowed the platform and straggled clear out to the
line of hitching-posts, where all of Woodford's family conveyances
seemed drawn up at once.
The report of Blue Bonnet's ranch party had spread like wildfire
through the town, and the going away of so many of its most prominent
citizens to far-off Texas, had aroused quiet Woodford to a pitch of
excitement equalled only by that of a prohibition election, or a visit
from the President.
Blue Bonnet was swallowed up by the crowd the moment she alighted, and
it was a full five minutes before she emerged, flushed and minus her
hat, to ask breathlessly, "Oh, is everybody here?--I can't see anybody
for the crowd!"
"No time to lose," warned Mr. Ashe. "We must pull out in ten minutes
in order to reach Boston in time for the 5.17 to-night."
Even as he spoke, The Wanderer began to move.
"Uncle Cliff," cried Blue Bonnet in a panic, "they're going without
us!"
"Just switching," soothed her uncle. "The Wanderer has to be on the
other track so as to hook on to the train for Boston. That's due in
five minutes. Get your good-byes said so that everybody can go aboard
when she comes alongside."
During that five minutes while each girl was occupied with her own
family, Blue Bonnet had a moment alone with her aunt. "It's a good
thing we said our real good-bye before I went to New York, isn't it,
Aunt Lucinda?" she asked, slipping her hand shyly into that of her
tall, prim aunt. Somehow Aunt Lucinda had never seemed so dear as in
this moment of parting. Perhaps it was the look as of unshed tears in
her eyes, or the flush on her usually pale face that made her seem
more approachable. Blue Bonnet could not tell exactly what it was, but
there was a vague something about Aunt Lucinda that made her appear
almost--yes, almost, pathetic. Suddenly Blue Bonnet remembered--they
were leaving Aunt Lucinda all alone. Her heart reproached her. "Aunt
Lucinda," she whispered hurriedly, "won't you come, too?"
One of her rare sweet smiles lit Miss Clyde's face. "Thank you,
dear--it is sweet of you to want me. But not this time, for I have
promised friends to go abroad with them. I shall miss you, Blue
Bonnet,--you won't forget to write often?"
"No, indeed!" Blue Bonnet assured her, at the same moment registering
a solemn vow that she would write every week without fail. "And you'll
write too, Aunt Lucinda? It'll be so exciting getting letters from
funny, foreign places. And now it's good-bye. You--you are sure you've
no--a--advice to give me?"
Miss Clyde restrained an odd smile at the significant question. "No,
dear. Only this: be considerate of your grandmother, and bring her
back safely to me."
"I will! I will!" cried Blue Bonnet, and with another kiss was gone.
There was only a moment for a handshake with Katie and Delia, who
openly mopped their eyes at parting; a word with General Trent, a
chorus of good-byes to a score of We are Seven relations, and then
everybody crowded about the steps of The Wanderer.
"Grandmother first," said Blue Bonnet. "Denham, you'd better go aboard
and get her settled. Here, Bennie Blake--you hold Solomon till I'm
ready to take him. Now then, We are Sevens--forward!"
Suddenly Blue Bonnet gave a queer little exclamation and clapped her
hand on a leather case which hung from her shoulder. "Stop, everybody,
till I get a picture--I nearly forgot! And I want pictures of every
stage of the ranch party. Grandmother, please stay on the top step and
I'll group the girls below."
"That's right," cried Kitty. "Take one now and another when we get
back, and we can label them 'Before and After Taking!'"
Sarah, Kitty, Amanda and Debby, amid the teasing remarks of sundry
small boys, obediently took their places as designated by the young
artist. Then Blue Bonnet's eyes turned in search of the other two
girls.
"Susy! Ruth!" she called. "Why--where are they?"
An embarrassed hush fell on the group about the car. Blue Bonnet
looked inquiringly at the telltale faces. It did not take her long to
scent a mystery.
"What's the matter?" she cried impatiently.
Doctor Clark stepped forward, clearing his throat queerly. "Fact is,
Miss Blue Bonnet," he began, "they--they can't go."
"Can't go?" Blue Bonnet started incredulously at the stammering
doctor.
"No, you see,--well, in fact, they're ill," he completed lamely. Why
didn't some one help him out, the doctor fumed inwardly, instead of
letting him be the one to cloud that beaming face?
Suddenly Kitty leaned down from the car step and whispered: "Scarlet
fever!"
"Both?" exclaimed the startled Blue Bonnet.
"No, only Ruth. But Susy was exposed and Father didn't think it safe
for her to come."
"Oh, Kitty!" The tears sprang to Blue Bonnet's eyes--she fought them
but they would come.
"We're all broken up over it," said Kitty with her own lips trembling;
"but it might have been worse. It's only because we've been too busy
to go out there, that we weren't all exposed. Then it would have been
good-bye to the ranch party."
"Oh, Kitty, suppose you had!" The thought of the narrow escape dried
Blue Bonnet's tears. "I'm mighty glad you four could come. But it
won't be complete. And you know how I love to have things complete!"
"Never mind, Blue Bonnet, you still have me!" cried Alec, coming in
with a cheerful note.
"'The poor ye have always with you!'" chimed in Kitty, and while
everybody was laughing over this sally, Blue Bonnet took a snap-shot
of the group, and then all the travellers trooped aboard.
Mr. Ashe looked over the heads of the chattering crowd in the car and
met Mrs. Clyde's amused eye. "How do you like mothering a family of
this size?" he asked jocosely.
"I fancy I feel much like the hen that hatched duck's eggs," Mrs.
Clyde returned.
There was a laugh at this, in the midst of which Sarah Blake was heard
to remark solemnly: "Yes, children are a great responsibility."
Whereat there was more laughter, and hardly had it subsided when from
outside came the conductor's sonorous "All aboo--ard!"
"Girls, we're really going!" gasped Kitty.
There was a last vigorous waving of handkerchiefs out of the window.
Suddenly a wail burst from Blue Bonnet: "Solomon! Solomon!"
All looked at one another aghast. In the excitement of the last
moments no one had thought of the dog.
"Find Bennie Blake--he had Solomon last," cried Blue Bonnet, rushing
to the platform.
"I'll find him, don't you worry," exclaimed Alec, swinging down the
steps just as the first creaks of the car gave notice of starting.
"Alec--you'll get left!" cried Blue Bonnet. "There's Bennie,--oh,
quick!"
Sure enough, there on the edge of the crowd was Bennie, but alack!--no
Solomon.
"Stop the train, can't you, Uncle Cliff?" wailed Blue Bonnet. "Alec
will be left--and Solomon too--"
Uncle Cliff leaped to the bottom step,--the train was still only
crawling,--and with one hand on the rail leaned out and peered after
Alec. Blue Bonnet gave a nervous clutch at his sleeve. What he saw
evidently reassured Mr. Ashe, for suddenly he straightened up and held
out both arms. A second later a brown furry object came hurtling
through the air and was caught ignominiously by the tail. Quick as a
flash Uncle Cliff tossed the indignant Solomon to Blue Bonnet, and
bent down to lend a helping hand to Alec. That young gentleman
scrambled up with more haste than elegance, just as the train ceased
to crawl and settled down to the real business of travelling.
"I'll never forget this, Alec Trent, as long as I live,--I think you
deserve a Carnegie medal!" Blue Bonnet cried fervently. "I'd never get
over it if Solomon should be lost."
"He wouldn't have been--lost, exactly," returned Alec in an odd tone.
"Why, what do you mean? Where did you find him?" Blue Bonnet demanded.
And Alec, bursting into a laugh in spite of his awful news, returned:
"I found him just where that Blake boy left him--tied on to the end of
the car!"