_DOUBLE DEALING_
An anxious group was waiting for the girls to arrive in camp. Ma
Patten had run over to make her daily call on Mrs. Breckenridge. Even
Tang and the two Chinese hoys were watching eagerly and scowling toward
the tempestuous sky. A thunder and lightning storm in the hills was
not a thing to laugh at. A flash! A roar! And a large mass of rock
was cleft apart as if a mighty hammer had struck it.
Tommy Sharpe and Seedy Saunders had saddled their horses and gone in
search of the girls as soon as the storm threatened, but not knowing in
which direction they had headed, it was like hunting for a needle in a
hay stack.
They did find Professor Gillette, however, soaked to the skin, a
bedraggled, shivering figure that set the boys laughing in spite of the
pathetic look of the old man. They helped him up the hill to the
Patten household where he could be taken care of, and once more went in
search of the girls.
But it was not until the storm was over and the girls were climbing up
the last trail to the ranch that Tommy spied them.
"There they are, Seedy! They're safe!" Tommy's voice trembled with
emotion. The mountain | storms still terrified the boy, although he
had experienced so many of them.
By the time the girls reached the house, the strain they had undergone
was beginning to wear off and they were able to laugh at their
adventure. That all except Joy, who shuddered whenever she thought of
it and turned pale when the women asked excited questions.
"I hate these mountains," whispered Joy to Shirley. "I wish I were
going home tomorrow!"
"Why, Joy Evans, you know you don't." Shirley put her arm around the
frightened girl. "You're having a grand time here, and the fun is just
beginning. You're not going to quit over the first unpleasant thing
that happens to you. That's not playing the game. What would Lady
Betty Merriweather do?"
Joy laughed in spite of herself. "We always used to ask that question
when we were in Lynnwood. Lady Betty meant a lot to us, didn't she? I
guess she wouldn't have cried and taken on the way I did down there on
the cliff."
"Do you remember," said Shirley softly, "how Lady Betty rode through
the night to help her wounded husband? That was bravery!"
"But that was so long ago. The Revolutionary War seems like a story
and not real life," Joy said with a toss of her head. "Maybe it didn't
happen at all."
Lady Betty Merriweather had been the first owner of the Merriweather
Estate, Bet's home on the Hudson, and from an old picture of her that
adorned the great entrance hall of the Manor, the girls had come to
feel that she was their friend and companion, an ideal for them to live
up to.
"Anyway," continued Joy, "she liked horses. And I don't. And I don't
like their old cactus plants with their sharp needles that seem to jump
at you. And the sun is cruel. It bites. And even the mountains look
hard and angry as if they wanted to do you a mean turn.--And that
storm! Did you ever see anything more terrifying? I thought the day
of judgment had come. I don't believe Lady Betty would have been any
braver than I was. Well, not much braver!"
Shirley laughed softly. "Joy dear, how you exaggerate things! Arizona
is wonderful. Did you ever see such glorious sunsets? I'm crazy about
them."
"The sunrises are just as wonderful!" interrupted Bet. "And I'm
wondering who is going to be game enough to start to Saugus before
daylight some morning. Kit says we will have to take an early start if
we are to make the trip in one day."
"Why are we going there?" asked Joy.
"To record our claims. We _could_ mail the filled-in blanks but it's
lots more exciting to take them. And it's good experience for us.
Besides the County Recorder should get acquainted with us, for someday
we'll own a great big mine and be people of importance."
The girls laughed at Bet's seriousness.
"Are you going to say you don't want to go?" Bet asked in a vexed tone.
"Of course we'll go!" assented Enid. "We're The Merriweather Girls;
one for all and all for one! What day do we start?"
"Why not go tomorrow, if our folks agree? I'm anxious to see those
claims put on record," said Shirley, "and the sooner business matters
are attended to, the better for everyone. And just think, girls, it's
our second business venture. Shirley's Shop was a success and still
is, for mother is keeping it going, and she said in her last letter
that she was not doing badly at all."
"Shirley's Shop was a success and the Merriweather Mining Company will
be, too," Bet declared. "It _must_ be a success."
"It will be!" determined Enid.
Only Joy did not share their optimism. "I think the storm was a bad
omen, don't you, Kit? It's hoodooed!"
"Joy Evans!" cried Bet her eyes flashing. "Half an hour ago I would
have let you say that, but now if the creek were near, in you'd go!"
Joy laughed and got beyond the reach of Bet's hand, then said impishly:
"As for boys, I think they are simply wonderful! Mexican boys have
beautiful eyes and Phil Gordon always smiles at you, Bet."
For answer Bet ran into the house and slammed the door to her own room.
Joy had wept after the storm, and thus relaxed her nerve tension but
Bet had not had any such relief. As a result of the strain she found
herself irritated by Joy's nonsense and got out of the way to avoid a
quarrel.
It was two days later when the girls started on their trip to Saugus.
The first faint flush of dawn was in the sky as they set out, the
exhilarating air acting as a stimulant. Even the horses seemed to feel
it as they tossed their heads and pawed the ground when the girls were
getting ready to start. The restless animals were as eager to be off
as their riders, and at the first touch of the reins they sprang
forward as if for a race.
"Take it easy, Powder," laughed Kit as she tightened the rein and drew
up the horse's head. "You have a full day to show how clever you are."
Kit talked to the pony as if it were a human being and the horse seemed
to respond to whatever mood she was in. He slowed to a prancing trot,
high-stepping along the level like a spirited race horse.
Kit leaned over and patted his neck with pride as she called: "Look,
Bet, isn't he a beauty?"
"He is!--That is in looks. But I don't like his disposition. You are
welcome to ride him." Bet laughed aloud in her joy as she made her
pony dance along the trail.
"But if Powder didn't act up like a perfect fiend at times, I'd be
bored to death with him. I like them naughty. I hate a horse without
any spirit. Powder keeps me on my toes all the time." Kit ran her
finger along the horse's mane and with a spring Powder reared and
bucked, and did all the things that an untamed bronco would do when he
was first introduced to the saddle.
"You can have it all to yourself," said Bet, as Kit finally brought her
quieted horse to a standstill. "I like riding, but I don't want to be
a bronco buster."
Although they planned on being in the town by noon, the girls carried a
lunch strapped to their saddles. A rest and a bite to eat along the
way was half the fun and they had not gone more than a mile before Joy
was digging into the little bag that hung from the horn of her saddle.
By ten o'clock when the other girls were ready for a rest and something
to eat, Joy was down to the bottom of the bag.
"Never mind, Joy, you can have half of mine. Mother always puts up
enough for an army."
"Aren't we ever going to get there?" complained Joy, as she squatted in
the scant shade of a mesquite tree and ate some fudge.
"Five miles more!" Kit announced.
"I'll never be able to do it! If they only had a change of scenery, I
wouldn't be so bored. And those tall, smokestack cactus make me sick."
"Smokestack cactus!" snapped Kit with contempt. "If you'd only take
enough interest to learn the names of the trees and things you see, you
wouldn't be so bored."
"Well, what are they called?"
"Sahuara. And if that word is too big for you to remember, call them
Giant Cactus."
Suddenly Bet shook Joy by the arm. "Keep quiet and watch that road
runner. Isn't he a beauty?"
The bird had risen and poised above the mesa, then with fluttering
wings darted downward. There was a rattling brr, and the girls knew
what was happening. The road runner was attacking a rattlesnake.
"That bird isn't much of a sport," declared Bet, watching the little
drama with eager eyes. "It doesn't give the snake a fighting chance.
I feel sorry for it."
Kit laughed. "Don't waste your sympathy on rattlesnakes. Take
something worthy of your respect."
Kit watched the struggle with little emotion but the other girls turned
away not wanting to see the end of the uneven fight.
"Let's go," said Enid, jumping to her feet. "I've seen enough."
An hour later when the girls were entering the little desert town of
Saugus, and just as they came to the first adobe houses, they saw a
horseback rider coming toward them. As he rode nearer the man waved
them a greeting.
"It's Kie Wicks! And he's good-natured," grunted Kit suspiciously.
"Wonder what he's doing over here today? Up to some meanness, I know,
otherwise he wouldn't be so cordial to us."
"Well his meanness doesn't concern us," answered Bet.
"You can't be sure of that. He's probably bought up some second hand
food stuff that he plans to work off on the ranchers during the summer."
"And what's your errand over this way?" inquired Kie Wicks bluntly.
"I came to visit an ice cream parlor and go to a movie," chuckled Joy.
But Kit did not deign to answer the man. She dug her spurs into
Powder's sides and he leaped past the rider and raced toward the town.
"That fellow looks as if he had been taking advantage of someone.
Wasn't he feeling good? On top of the world! The old cheat!"
blustered Kit, as she dismounted at the stables where they were to
leave their horses for a rest and a good feed.
The girls took their time, went leisurely about the town, ate their
lunch at the Grand Palace Hotel and later went to the County Recording
Office.
"Why, that's funny!" said the clerk, giving them a searching look.
"Those same claims were recorded not more than an hour ago. Man by the
name of Ramon Salazar. What are you trying to do, jump his claims?"
"Why, we wouldn't do such a thing," exclaimed Bet indignantly.
"Was Ramon here in person?" asked Kit.
"No, he sent the papers in by a neighbor," returned the young man. "A
fellow by the name of Kie Wicks."
"Kie Wicks!" That explained everything.
The girls suddenly wilted. All their sparkle was gone as they watched
the clerk checking over the descriptions with the ones already recorded.
"You have one here that has not been recorded," the clerk announced
when he had finally finished the checking.
"Wonder how he happened to leave out that one?" snapped Kit.
Bet held out her hand for the blank. "Let's see which one it is. Oh,
girls, what a shame! It's the most unpromising claim of all. That's
the last one we located, the one we called, 'Little Orphan Annie.'
It's too mean for anything." There were tears of disappointment and
anger in Bet's eyes.
"Do you want it recorded?" The girls heard the clerk's voice but it
seemed to come from far away.
"What's the use of one claim? You can't make a mine out of just one
miserable claim!"
"I don't care, I want it anyway!" Bet shrugged her shoulders defiantly.
"I told you there was a hoodoo on those claims," Joy spoke cheerfully,
as much as to say, "I told you so."
Joy's pessimism was all that was needed to decide Bet.
"Yes, we'll record it, and we'll be locating some more soon," she
announced with determination. "We are not going to let Kie Wicks and
Ramon Salazar beat us. We'll get even with them somehow."
"They wouldn't have dared to do this if we were men. Just because we
are girls, they think they'll get away with it."
"Oh, by all means!" Joy taunted provokingly, "Be sure to locate some
more claims and let that man take them away from us again."
Bet turned her back on Joy and watched the clerk as he put the blank
through the usual routine and then turned to leave the office. The
Merriweather Girls were the owners of one very unpromising copper claim.
They dragged wearily out into the fierce sunlight. There was a
discouraged droop to their shoulders, but Bet suddenly straightened.
Her eyes were flashing as she said:
"I have a hunch! Something tells me that we are not down and out on
this deal."
Joy squatted on the steps of the General Mining Supply Company's office
and laughed. "You ought to win with a disposition like that, Bet
Baxter. I don't admire your judgment, but I do like your spunk. I'm
with you. I'll never say a discouraging word again."
"I don't know why, but somehow that Little Orphan Annie claim is going
to help us win out!"
"But how?" whispered Kit to herself.