“Nice, isn’t it?” Valerie asked dreamily.
“So quiet!” Gale agreed. “It would be a relief to hear a noise.”
In the distance a coyote howled mournfully and the girls shivered. Arm in arm they strolled toward the corral.
“I wish Virginia’s parents would let us take that camping trip,” Valerie said. “It would be fun.”
At supper Janet and Carol had proposed a camping trip which the others received with enthusiasm. The idea was to take their horses and camping equipment and go camping up in the mountains, or down across the desert to Mexico. The girls, Virginia included, and Tom were decidedly in favor of it, but Mr. Wilson had demurred. It was dangerous, he said, for a party of young people to go camping about the hills just now. Too many bandits and disturbances along the Mexican border. However, the girls had refused to drop the subject.
“Are you sure it wouldn’t be too much for you?” Gale asked anxiously. “You can’t do too much, you know.”
“We could take our time,” Valerie answered. “I think it would be good for me, sleeping in the open air and all.”
The girls had been walking along the corral fence and now stopped in the darkness. Around the corner from them two men were talking. The girls recognized the voices of Mr. Wilson and Tom.
“I tell you it would be a perfect cover for Jim and me,” Tom was saying excitedly.
“But I don’t want to run the girls into danger,” Mr. Wilson insisted.