“It will be easier riding, Ma’am,” said John Dempsey, turning and touching his hat respectfully, “when we get out of town. Don’t you be afraid, Ma’am.”
But the old coach did dip, and wiggle, and threaten to toss the girls and Mrs. White off at every turn. Tavia squealed, and then saw that people on the sidewalks were quietly enjoying her discomfort.
“Do let’s be dignified,” she said to Dorothy. “There! there’s a man staring—— Oh!”
“It’s Mr. Lance!” cried Dorothy, recognizing their friend, the cowboy from the Double Chain Outfit.
“My goodness! so it is,” agreed Tavia, and smiled upon the knight of the lariat ravishingly.
Dorothy would have been glad to introduce Lance to Aunt Winnie and the boys, but the time did not seem opportune. The Mexican twisted his team into a side street, and the coach took the corner on two wheels only!
As Dorothy caught at the rail and hung on for dear life, she looked back and saw Lance hailed by another man. She could not mistake this second individual; it was Mr. Philo Marsh. As their coach plunged around the corner Dorothy saw Marsh seize the cowboy by the arm and lead him confidentially away.
There was too much happening to her personally just then for Dorothy Dale to wonder much about this association of the cowpuncher and Philo Marsh. The mustangs settled into a gallop and the stagecoach was whirled out of town in a cloud of dust. But when the cobbles were left behind, the vehicle jounced less, and they could get their breath.
“Don’t ever ask me to sit upon such a thing again, Edward,” exclaimed Mrs. White, with some exasperation.
“But if you had gone inside, you’d have been shaken about like a loose pea in a pod,” declared her son. “I fancy you are better off up here, mother.”