She was asleep at once. A body simply could not stay awake after bedtime, in that Colorado air! And it was well she could not. Else, the warm-hearted girl would have suffered fresh alarm.
It was a belated household which struggled out of heavy slumber the next day, and as Dorothy lazily yawned and stretched her arms above her head it seemed as if all the exciting events of the night must be part of her dreams. Alfy woke, too, as reluctantly as her mate and just as Helena appeared from her own room, looking a little heavy-eyed but fully dressed. She bade them good morning, but waited for no response before she added:
“The house seems unusually still, and I don’t smell coffee. I generally do, the first thing. I sometimes think it’s the odor of that wakes me. I wonder if Wun Sing’s fright and his worry about his poor hen has made him ill! I’ll go and see; and if the boys aren’t up I’ll call them.”
The lads answered sleepily to Helena’s summons, yet were not long in appearing on the porch, where the other girls promptly joined them. As if by common consent nobody mentioned the escapade of the night, though it was in the minds of all and all were really longing to discuss it. The boys because they wished to “explain,” and the girls thinking that to treat the “joke” with silent contempt would be their severest punishment. Nobody even mentioned unlucky Mateo, who had lent himself to the furtherance of the affair, only to be the one to suffer most from it.
“Hmm. Isn’t it past breakfast time?” asked Monty, at last.
Herbert looked at his watch, and exclaimed:
“Ten minutes to nine! Who’d have believed it? Horses to be groomed before drill, and time up already. I wonder—But here’s Nell. She’s coming from the kitchen and looks important. What’s up, Sis?”
“Several things. First, the hen of Wun Sing lies dead in her coop.”
“O-oh!” “Ah!” “Unwise, ambitious hen!” were the exclamations which responded; and Molly added:
“That isn’t all. There’s something worse on Helena’s mind than the death of a bewitched hen! Out with it, child! After—I mean—my nerves won’t stand any more.”