“Well, well, you observant small woman. Yet you guessed right. I’ve a little miss of my own, away back in the east, getting educated to come out and help her old daddy, by and by. I shouldn’t like to have that young daughter right here now, in this particular spot, if she didn’t have any ‘others’ with her. Begin at the beginning, tell me your whole story, and make it short.”
The Captain motioned for Carlos, also, to join them, but the lad remained standing and watchful. He was not as sure as his sister that these strangers were friends, for what Miguel had said about the Disbrows had altered his faith in life. He feared that it might be a soldier’s duty to arrest runaway people and he preferred to be on his guard.
In the simplest, clearest manner possible the girl told their brief history, and when she had finished, the cavalrymen grouped about the little spring had gained a very vivid picture of the far-famed Refugio rancho. Then said the Captain:
“Thank you, my dear. That was excellently told; but, if I had a chance, I’d send you straight back to your deserted home—or the nearest guard house! I’m afraid you’ve done a mighty foolish thing.”
She looked so puzzled that he continued:
“Those gentlemen were not your ‘enemies,’ but your friends. They came to offer you a kindness, and there’s one thing I’m going to teach you in this other outdoor schoolroom, a lesson of military discipline, and that is: The first duty in life is obedience. I put it with a capital O. Say it after me, so you’ll never forget it: ‘The first duty of a soldier is Obedience.’ That lesson fits little girls even better than it does my lads, here.”
She repeated the time honored maxim, but added:
“I’ll remember; yet I don’t see how I’ve disobedienced any.”
“Wasn’t it you who proposed this runaway escapade?”
“It was I who decisioned about going to our father. We are going, too,” proudly.