“‘Two wells afire in the north section, Mr. Gordon,’ he said, and at that every man shot from the table out into the air. We could just see the two thin spirals of smoke—that section must be four miles from the bunk house.
“Everybody ran for their horses, and Uncle Dick for his car. He cranked it and then saw me getting in with him.
“‘You go back and stay with Betty,’ he cried to me. ‘Stay with her every minute till I come back. If I’m gone three hours or three days or three years, don’t leave her. And keep her away from the oil fields. We’ll be overrun as soon as news of this gets out, and the kind of crowd that will be here is no place for a girl. Promise me, Bob.’
“So of course I promised,” concluded the lad earnestly. “He got into the car, and maybe he didn’t make that tin trap speed. All I saw was a cloud of dust. This afternoon all of Flame City has gone past here on foot, in cars, and on horseback. They say more wells have caught.”
“Do you think Uncle Dick is in danger?” faltered Betty. “Aren’t the fire fighters surrounded sometimes and suffocated with smoke?”
“What have you been reading?” demanded Bob with a stoutness he was far from feeling. “Uncle Dick knows too much to be caught like that. No, he may not get home for a couple of days more, but there is no need for you to lie awake and worry. Take my advice and go to bed the minute you’ve had supper; you look tired to death, Betty.”
“Oh, Bob!” For the moment Betty had actually forgotten her great news, but now it came rushing back to her. “Oh, Bob, I’ve something wonderful to tell you!”
“Won’t listen till you’ve had your supper,” said Bob firmly, marching her out to the dining-room table, as Grandma Watterby rang the bell. “You eat first, then you can talk.”
Betty could hardly touch her food for excitement, but she did not want the Prices to hear what she had to tell Bob, so she made a pretense of eating. The Watterby household was eager to hear what had happened to her on her unplanned-for ride, and she told them that Clover had taken her some miles before she could be halted. She did not go into details.