CHAPTER VII
THE VIGILANTES HOMESTEAD
“John, do you really think it’s safe?”
It was Aunt Nan who asked the question. Mr. Hunter laughed.
“Safe, Nan? They couldn’t be safer. There’s nothing in the wide world to hurt them out there on the mesa. They’re safer there, in my opinion, than any place I know, and if they want to know what homesteading is like, why let them homestead for a night! It won’t hurt them a bit. If they go back to school with a few of Jean MacDonald’s ideas, they’ll be very fortunate.”
“It seems as though I ought to go,” said Aunt Nan, “and still I don’t know that my being there would do any good.”
“Not a bit,” returned Virginia’s father. “Roughing it at seventeen and thirty are two entirely different experiences. Stay at home and be civilized, 89 but let them go and don’t worry for a moment. They’ll show up to-morrow safe and sound with another bran-new experience for their Thought Books. See if they don’t!”
So it happened that Aunt Nan was convinced and gave her consent to Virginia’s just-born and dearly-beloved plan—namely, that the four Vigilantes should homestead for Jean MacDonald during her absence of one night from her cabin on the mesa. Jean had ridden over that morning on her way to town to spend the night with a friend, and Virginia’s plan had sprung full-born like Athena from the head of Zeus.
“Don’t you want us to homestead for you, Jean, while you’re away?” she had asked.
Jean had gladly accepted the offer. “It would be just the thing,” she said. Then they could really see why she loved the mesa as she did, and especially her very own corner of it. The dogs would be glad of company, for she had driven the three cows that very morning to the neighboring homestead, and except for the chickens, Watch and King were all alone. The cabin door had no lock, and 90 they might go right in and make themselves at home. There was an extra cot in the kitchen, bedding in plenty, and loads of food supplies. She would simply love to have them do it!