“Ri-i-i-ight!” sang out Roy, and pressed the accelerator. The car shot forward, Belle mingling her laughter with that of her brothers.
“Ten dollars if you keep that cab in sight!” she called, melodramatically pointing to the rabbit scurrying ahead. “And another ten if you catch it before it reaches the ship! Don’t spare the horses!”
“Yes, ma’am!” came the answer. “I suppose Miss Vere De Vere is in it with her uncle, who is kidnapping her so that he can get control of the family fortune—the dir-r-r-rty rat!”
“And then some!” Belle laughed, her eyes sparkling. “Roy, you ought to be on the stage. Say, you’d better slow down before you get another blowout.”
Her brother saw the wisdom of this advice, and took on a slower pace while the rabbit disappeared in the brush. The high spirits of the three were by no means lessened when they reached the 8 X 8, and they piled out with loud yells. Nell and Ethel ran into the yard when they heard the uproar.
“The stage has arrived!” Teddy shouted, grinning. “Good morning, Ethel and Nell. I hope our visit finds you well. It is with great pleasure we see you again—and—and— Now what else did mother tell me to say?”
“Dry up, Teddy,” Roy laughed, walking toward the two girls. “Don’t mind him. He gets that way every once in a while, but he’s harmless. How are you, Nell and Ethel? We brought our little sister over to see you.”
“Little!” Belle laughed scornfully. “I’m almost as big as you are, Roy Manley! And I can shoot almost as well as you can, too! Oh, Nell, what a lovely dress! Where did you get it!”
After Belle and the two boys had removed some of the stains of travel, they all gathered in the dining room for lunch. Belle said that they had had some sandwiches on the way, but Teddy quickly explained that they were very small, and, anyway, one couldn’t live on sandwiches. And, with this excuse for the coming slaughter, he and Roy proceeded to “go to work” on the very excellent food before them.
In the afternoon, while the girls were resting, the two boys wandered over toward the bunk-house to talk to Bug Eye, who was detailed to make out a list of the things needed on the ranch before the fall round-up. He was busily engaged when the brothers entered, and paused with his pencil to the paper and looked up.