"Thought mebbe it'd be good for him," grinned Jerry in expectation. "Windy's pretty solid, but he's liable to get the notion that being from the East he knows 'bout everythin' that's—Wow!"
The speech ended in a startled yell. Jerry and Fly had been sitting in the vine-shaded swing at the end of the porch, and from the vines beside them came an unmistakable rattle. Jerry took one flying leap, lost his balance, and crashed into Dunk's chair. Fly followed him so closely that he tripped and all three rolled headfirst into Carlito. At the same instant there was a rustle among the vines and Herb jumped to the wall, where a revolver was hanging.
"Don't shoot!" came the laughing voice of Fred. As he poked his head through the vines a shout went up and Fred came around the corner of the veranda. "Pretty slick," he laughed, as Jerry scrambled up. "Hop Sing put me wise, though!"
"Say, did you make that blamed rattle?" inquired Fly uneasily.
"Sure," grinned Windy, holding up a string of rattles. "Hop gave me these and showed me how to use 'em."
"Oh, what I'll do to that Chink!" groaned Jerry as the crowd shouted with laughter. But just then Hop Sing appeared with a platter of doughnuts as propitiation, and peace was made.
During the afternoon Fred and Gray measured the others for their uniforms. These would consist of the breeches, puttees and coat, the latter being only necessary for trips up into the mountains where it was chilly. A complete list of everything that was wanted was made out and given to Herb, who would hand it over to his father to be ordered at once.
"Ever see a cliff dwelling, Windy?" asked Dunk, after they had been measured.
"No," answered Fred. "Any 'round here?"
"Sure," cried Fly eagerly. "Feller over at Silver City has a tame one—built it himself! Collects two bits each from tourists to see it."