"Oh, isn't it just splendid!" cried Alice, clapping her hands.
"But it makes me so nervous!" protested Ruth.
"I just love to be nervous—this way," declared Alice, with a joyous laugh.
Away flew the eager cowboys, and those left behind proceeded to let their nerves quiet down after the strenuous times they had just passed through. The cook had come up and he at once prepared a little meal.
On the other side of the wide creek the prairie fire burned itself out. The blaze crept in the dry grass down to the very edge of the water, where it went out with puffs of steam, and vicious hisses.
"Oh, but I'm glad we're not there," sighed Ruth as she looked across at the smoke-palled and blackened stretch.
"Yes, it was a narrow escape," said her father.
"What happened after we left?" asked Alice.
"The fire really got a little too much for us," said Mr. Pertell. "And, as I had pictures enough, we decided to leave. We let the cabin burn, as we had arranged, and then came riding on.
"But the flames were a little too quick for us, and we had to turn off to one side. That's why we didn't get up to you more quickly. We were really quite worried about you."