“Righto!”
Since Dora was already in the rumble, Dick climbed in beside her and Jerry started his small car and turned toward the valley road. Dora said not one word but the glance her dark eyes gave her companion spoke volumes. His equally silent reply was understanding and eloquent.
Harry had a moment’s difficulty in starting his borrowed car and they did not overtake the others until they were out of the town and about to dip down into the desert valley. Then, when Jerry’s car was not far ahead, the young aviator slowed down and smiled at Mary in the friendliest way.
“So this is actually you,” he said. His tone inferred that it was hard to believe. “Pat had a picture of you in a fluffy white dress. That photographer was an artist all right. He caught the sunlight on your hair so that, to me, you looked, honestly, just like an angel from heaven come down. I thought the girl who had posed for that picture must be the earth’s sweetest.”
Wild roses could not have been pinker than Mary’s cheeks. She protested, “You mustn’t flatter me that way. I might believe it.”
“I rather hoped you would believe it,” the boy said earnestly, then abruptly he changed the subject. “This is a great country, isn’t it? And to think that you were born here. It’s all so rough and rugged, it’s hard to picture a frail flower—”
Mary laughingly interrupted. “You should see the exquisite blossoms that grow on a thorny cactus plant,” she told him. Then, seeing that Jerry had stopped his car and was waiting for them to come alongside, she exclaimed, “I wonder what Big Brother wants. We’re close to the side road, aren’t we, where you turned last night when you went over to ‘The Dragoons?’”
“I believe we are,” Harry replied absently, then asked, “Why do you call Jerry Newcomb ‘Big Brother?’”
“Oh, because we were playmates years ago when we were small and I’ve always called his mother ‘Aunt Mollie.’ He takes good care of me just like a real brother,” she ended rather lamely.
Harry was bringing his small car to a standstill near the other. He leaned close to Mary and said in a low voice, “I’m glad it’s only brother.”