"You're just spoofing us, aren't you, Rhoda?" drawled Amelia Boggs.
"No, no. We do have Mexican bandits. There is Lobarto. He is no myth."
"Fancy!" exclaimed one of the other girls. "A live bandit!"
"Very much so," said Rhoda. "He has made us a lot of trouble, this Lobarto; although it has been six years since he came into our neighborhood last. He drove off a band of father's horses at that time. But our boys got after him so quick and chased him so hard that they say he took less back to Mexico with him than be brought over the border."
"What does that mean?" asked Bess quickly.
"Why, he brought with him a lot of plunder, they say," Rhoda explained, "and he could not carry it back."
"Then your folks got the plunder?" inquired Nan.
"Not exactly! Lobarto hid it. But our boys got back the horses. And they killed several of Lobarto's gang."
"Mercy! Just listen to her!" cried Laura excitedly. "Why! I was just making believe about your coming from the wild and woolly West; and you really do!"
"Not very woolly around Rose Ranch," said Rhoda grimly. "Father does not approve of sheep. The nesters make us trouble enough, without having sheepmen."