“Goodbye and good luck!” Margaret and Virginia called, as arm in arm they stood watching the good looking boy as he swung into his saddle and galloped away. Near the corral he was joined by Rusty Pete and the two boys turned and waved their wide sombreros while Malcolm’s horse reared and then plunged ahead, to the delight of the eastern girl. “How I do hope Babs will see Malcolm ride some day,” she said as they turned into the house.
Several weeks had passed since Margaret had attempted to ride Comrade, and Malcolm had taken every opportunity that presented since then to teach his ward to ride, and at last both gracefully and fearlessly she rode every day with Virginia.
Half an hour after Malcolm had departed, the two girls in their khaki riding habits (Margaret with a red handkerchief knotted about her neck and Virginia with a blue) started riding along the trail which led over the mesa, down into the dry creek and over toward the mountains. They were about a quarter of a mile away from the Seven Peak range when Virginia suddenly drew rein and gazed intently ahead. Margaret looked wonderingly in the same direction but saw nothing unusual.
“What is it, Virginia?” the eastern girl asked anxiously as she drew rein by the side of her friend and gazed across the shimmering desert.
“Has something startled you? What do you see?”
Margaret knew that Virginia’s desert trained eyes could perceive things that were invisible to her. “It may be nothing at all to be startled about,” Virginia replied, “but I overheard two cow-boys talking yesterday. One of them had just ridden in from Douglas and he said that an outlaw from Texas is hiding in the mountains. I did not mention this to brother, for, had I done so, he would not permit me to ride far from the house, and I am very sure that we can protect ourselves. However, I do not wish to run into trouble needlessly.”
“But what did you see that made you think this outlaw might be near?” Margaret inquired.
Virginia turned toward her. “You, too, must train your eyes,” she said. “Now look intently just to the left of the giant cactus, and close to the foot of the mountains; then tell me what you see.”
Margaret shaded her eyes and gazed for a long time before she spoke. “I think that I can see an old adobe hut,” she said softly. Then she asked, “Is that what you wished me to see?”
Virginia nodded. “Yes, but what do you notice about it?”