Kit grinned at him appreciatively, but was too busy getting water to ask questions. The wagon was rattling through the dry river bed and would arrive in a few minutes, and the first mules had to be got out of the way.
“You don’t get it,” said Billie alongside of him. “He means war. We’re in!”
“With Mexico? Again?” smiled Kit skeptically.
“No––something real––helping France!”
“No!” he protested with radiant eyes. “Me for it! Say, children, this is some homecoming!”
The three shook hands, all talking at once, and Kit and Billie forgot to let go.
“Of course you know Cap swore an alibi for you against that suspicion Conrad tried to head your way,” she stated a bit anxiously. “You stayed away so long!”
“Yes, yes, Lark-child,” he said reassuringly, “I know all that, and a lot more. I’ve brought letters of introduction for the government to some of Conrad’s useful pacifist friends along the border. Don’t you fret, Billie boy; the spoke we put in their wheel will overturn their applecart! The only thing worrying me just now,––beautifullest!––is whether you’ll wait for me till I enlist, get to France, do my stunt to help clean out the brown rats of the world, and come back home to marry you.”
“Yip-pee!” shrilled Pike who was slicing bacon into a skillet. “I’m getting a line now on how you made your other collections!”
Billie laughed and looked up at him a bit shyly.