Alison felt the awkward silence which followed. She had no word of comfort to offer, and, as time went on, dreaded having the subject of Stephen’s disappearance come up. She realized that, though six months had passed, her sister had not forgotten.
Many improvements had been made within the time of their stay on the rancho. The cabin now had a gallery added; the upper room was partitioned off into three sleeping apartments, and John talked of still further increasing the accommodations by building a “man’s room,” so that theirs would be as commodious as any of the newer buildings. Six months, too, had increased the number of settlers in the neighborhood so that now the community was quite a large one, and in consequence all were safer. The Rosses, to be sure, were on the edge of the settlement, for John had declared he did not want to be crowded, and the farm was a large one. To the right of them lay the woodlands, to the left the prairie, while before them stretched the settlement, whose houses they could see beyond the clearing, and which gave them a sense of protection.
In less than an hour John returned, having dispatched his business with his usual energy. Now he was ready to make preparations for his departure. “Bud says he’ll do his best for us,” he told the girls. “Wishes he could go, too, but he says that though Santa Anna may be a one-legged man it is not to be expected that all one-legged men will fight. He has done his share of it, has Bud, and nobody will cast it up to him if he stays home. He has promised to slip up here whenever he can and you can depend upon him. If anything goes wrong just consult him about it.”
“And between times I can keep an eye on the place,” said Alison.
John laughed. “I believe that’s just what you will do. I’m not afraid of anything but losing the horses; all the horse thieves are not Injuns.”
“They shan’t steal our horses, whoever they are,” declared Alison.
“How are you going to help it?”
For answer Alison picked up her brother’s long rifle, stepped forward, aimed at a mark on the fence and fired. Then she ran down to examine the mark. “Within an inch,” she called back.
John followed her to the spot. “Humph! pretty good for a girl. The gun never made you flinch. Who taught you how to shoot?”
“Mr. Jordan. He said I ought to know, that it might come in handy some time. You must leave us firearms, John, for Louisa is pretty nearly as good a shot as I am, and Christine can use a pistol, though she hasn’t tried the rifle; she’s afraid it will kick. I had a lot of kicks in the beginning. The first time I tried I went over as if I had shot myself from the butt end. I was so mad. It wouldn’t have been half so bad if Neal hadn’t been there. It was his rifle I was using and he came out just in time to see me; but then he showed me how to use it properly, so perhaps, after all, it was as well.”