She now patted Mrs. Burton’s shoulder, as if she had been a child needing encouragement.
“Nonsense, my dear; the young man will do you no harm. Husband and I are sorry that the man and wife we engaged for you disappointed us. But getting help of any kind out here is a problem. Besides, it’s better that those Camp Fire girls of yours should do their own cooking. This one young man cannot do any mischief when there are so many of you. His tent will be far enough away not to make him a nuisance, and yet you can get hold of him when you need him. But you must remember that husband and I are near and ready to be of whatever service we can.”
The fact that the new Sunrise camp would be anywhere from ten to twenty miles away did not suggest itself to Mrs. Gardener as representing distance, so little do people in the western states consider space. Then she broke into cheerful little good-natured chuckles.
“Were you planning, Mrs. Burton, to be a kind of Mother Superior, and run a nunnery in our Arizona wilderness? You’ll find it pretty hard work to hide those girls out here where girls are scarce. If they had not been, how do you suppose I would have gotten my good-looking husband?”
Then Polly turned in despair to Mr. Gardener.
“Your wife is an incorrigible woman. But at least tell me who this young man is, his name, and why you think he can be trusted as a safe protector for eight lone women? Really, you must find me a proper person, Mr. Gardener. Your young man will have to guide us today, since there is no one else, but in a few days—say, in a week—you’ll get somebody else?”
Mrs. Burton looked so young and so alarmed at the responsibilities she had assumed that Mr. Gardener nodded his head reassuringly.
“Certainly, I’ll find some one else for you in time, if you prefer. But Terry Benton is all right. He got tired of school and came out here to work for me and has been with me on the ranch for a year. He is a pretty nervy fellow to undertake this job, I think, and he wouldn’t except to accommodate me.” Mr. Gardener deliberately winked a very large, childlike blue eye. “I had to produce some one to keep my word. But I tell you I am nervous about Terry. There are enough girls to take care of themselves.”
Polly was uncertain whether she wanted to laugh or cry. Being a Camp Fire guardian under the present circumstances was not an easy position. Really, she had not anticipated the things that could happen.
“And you actually called our new guide, Terry, Mr. Gardener. You know that means he is an Irishman. Don’t contradict me. Being Irish myself, I shall know when I see him, anyhow. I expect to have a good many problems with my Camp Fire girls, but the Irish problem I won’t have.”