“Look out for the two steps as you go into the cabin,” Peggie called last of all, and they followed Jean out into the night. It was bright with moonlight. Every shadow was distinct and black, and for a minute they stood and looked about, at the near-by buttes, rising bluffs of rock and sandstone, back of the ranch, that blended into the shadowy foothills beyond; and these again, led upward against the clear night sky, until one could see far, far away, outlines of ranges where Bear Lodge lay.
“We will take long trips on horseback as soon as you learn how to ride well, and can stand the saddles,” Jean told them. “Father said he would give us a few days of camping before it was time to go back, and it is much better to ride than to take the wagons or surrey.”
“Indeed we will ride just as soon as we are allowed to,” declared Polly, fervently. “I wouldn’t dare to go back home, unless I could ride, after all the nice things that grandfather said about you, Miss Jean. It will be the first thing he asks me, I’m sure—whether I can ride or not.”
“It won’t take very long. The ponies are all well broken, and used to the youngsters riding them. Peggie is in the saddle half the time in the summer, between here and Mrs. Sandy’s, and up with the boys and father on the sheep range.”
There was the flash of a moving lantern down at the corral. They could hear Don whistling as he moved around, looking after the ponies. From some place up in the hills there came a strange, appealing cry at intervals. Isabel stopped to listen.
“Is it a wild animal, Miss Murray?” she asked, doubtfully.
“Why, Isabel, I’m surprised. Don’t you know a mountain lion when you hear one?” Ted exclaimed, reproachfully.
“It’s only a hoot owl, Isabel,” Jean said, merrily. “There’s nothing to hurt you at all up here, unless you go farther West. There used to be a great deal of game, but they have gone farther West towards the mountains, and into the national reserve. We hardly ever see anything here except a stray bobcat, or a deer. Even the brown bears keep away unless they are hungry.”
“B-r-r-r-r,” shivered Isabel. “Don’t let’s talk any more about them. There might be a hungry one around some place.”
“If you like, I will sleep down here with you,” Jean said, when they came to the two-room log cabin, “but it is truly safe, girls. You can shut the door, and drop this bar across it. See?” She set the light down on the floor, and showed them how to fasten the door with a broad bar of wood, “just like the pictures of Davy Crockett keeping out the wolves,” as Polly said.