The horses stepped gingerly over the slippery rocks of the creek bed as the girls chatted and laughed on their way to Table Mountain, a great flat-topped summit in the high hills.
Joy Evans suddenly laughed outright. "Bet Baxter, it would take you to think of a thing like this. What under the sun will we do with a copper mine if we do locate one? I'm very sure I have no use for one."
"Don't be a spoil-sport, Joy! Think of the romance and the fun. Why, we'll be mine owners!"
"What I want to know is, who will do the actual work?" It was Shirley
Williams, the practical girl of affairs who put the question.
"We'll hire the work done, of course. It would be foolish for us to waste our valuable time digging holes in the ground," returned Bet.
"Certainly," giggled Kit. "We'll do the brain work and let the greasers do the digging."
"Please don't call the Mexicans that horrid word again. It doesn't sound nice. I think the Mexican boys have such wonderful dreamy eyes."
"We've heard that before. Go on, Joy, rave some more!" Bet treated Joy's outbursts of enthusiasm over boys with contempt. "I'm going to do something useful in life."
"Like finding copper mines! Hm! What use are they?" snapped Joy.
"I'd rather think about boys any time."
"Of course you would! Go on and dream then!" Bet was angry. She and
Joy were often near to a quarrel, but somehow it was always averted.