Blue Bonnets Ranch Party | Page 5

of which Sarah Blake was heard
to remark solemnly: "Yes, children are a great responsibility."
Whereat there was more laughter, and hardly had it subsided when
from outside came the conductor's sonorous "All aboo--ard!"
"Girls, we're really going!" gasped Kitty.
There was a last vigorous waving of handkerchiefs out of the window.
Suddenly a wail burst from Blue Bonnet: "Solomon! Solomon!"

All looked at one another aghast. In the excitement of the last moments
no one had thought of the dog.
"Find Bennie Blake--he had Solomon last," cried Blue Bonnet, rushing
to the platform.
"I'll find him, don't you worry," exclaimed Alec, swinging down the
steps just as the first creaks of the car gave notice of starting.
"Alec--you'll get left!" cried Blue Bonnet. "There's Bennie,--oh, quick!"
Sure enough, there on the edge of the crowd was Bennie, but alack!--no
Solomon.
"Stop the train, can't you, Uncle Cliff?" wailed Blue Bonnet. "Alec will
be left--and Solomon too--"
Uncle Cliff leaped to the bottom step,--the train was still only
crawling,--and with one hand on the rail leaned out and peered after
Alec. Blue Bonnet gave a nervous clutch at his sleeve. What he saw
evidently reassured Mr. Ashe, for suddenly he straightened up and held
out both arms. A second later a brown furry object came hurtling
through the air and was caught ignominiously by the tail. Quick as a
flash Uncle Cliff tossed the indignant Solomon to Blue Bonnet, and
bent down to lend a helping hand to Alec. That young gentleman
scrambled up with more haste than elegance, just as the train ceased to
crawl and settled down to the real business of travelling.
"I'll never forget this, Alec Trent, as long as I live,--I think you deserve
a Carnegie medal!" Blue Bonnet cried fervently. "I'd never get over it if
Solomon should be lost."
"He wouldn't have been--lost, exactly," returned Alec in an odd tone.
"Why, what do you mean? Where did you find him?" Blue Bonnet
demanded.
And Alec, bursting into a laugh in spite of his awful news, returned: "I

found him just where that Blake boy left him--tied on to the end of the
car!"
CHAPTER II
IN THE BLUE BONNET COUNTRY
"IF one of you speaks aloud in the next five minutes," declared Blue
Bonnet earnestly, "I'll never forgive you."
No one being inclined to risk Blue Bonnet's undying enmity, there was
complete silence for the space of time imposed. They were rolling
along the smooth white road between the railway station and the ranch,
Grandmother Clyde and the girls in a buckboard drawn by sturdy little
mustangs, while Alec, Uncle Joe and Uncle Cliff, who had stayed
behind to look after the luggage, were following on horseback.
Blue Bonnet sat tense and still, her hands clasped in her lap, the color
coming and going in her face in rapid waves of pink and white; her
eyes very shiny, her lips quivering. This home-coming was having an
effect she had not dreamed of. Every familiar object, every turn of the
road that brought her nearer the beloved ranch, gave her a new and
delicious thrill.
As they neared the modern wire fence two dusky little greaser
piccaninnies rose out of the chaparral, hurled themselves on the big
gate and held it open, standing like sentinels, bursting with importance,
as the buckboard rolled through.
"They're Pancho's twins!" cried Blue Bonnet. "Stop, Miguel, while I
give them something." Hurriedly seizing a half-eaten box of candy
from Amanda's surprised hands, Blue Bonnet leaned down and tossed it
to the grinning youngsters.
"Muchas gracias, Señorita!" they cried in a duet, their black eyes wide
with joy.
"Bless the babies!" exclaimed Kitty, "--did you hear what they called

you?"
Blue Bonnet laughed. "I'm never called anything else here. They meant
'Many thanks, Ma'am.' You will be 'Señorita' too,--better get used to it."
"Oh, I shall love it," cried Kitty. "It sounds like a title--'my lady' or
'your grace' or something grand."
"Grandmother will be 'Señora'--doesn't it just suit her, girls?" asked
Blue Bonnet.
"Mrs. Clyde, may we call you 'Señora,' too?" asked Debby, "--just
while we're on the ranch?"
"Debby believes in the eternal fitness of things," put in Kitty.
"Certainly, you may call me Señora," said Mrs. Clyde. "When you're in
Texas do as the Texans do," she paraphrased.
"I intend to learn all the Spanish I can while I'm here," remarked Sarah.
"I brought a grammar and a dictionary--"
A chorus of indignation went up from the other girls.
"This isn't a 'General Culture Club,' Sarah Blake," scolded Kitty. "We
didn't come to the Blue Bonnet ranch for mutual improvement--but for
fun!"
"We'll make a bonfire of those books," warned Blue Bonnet.
"All the Spanish that I can absorb through my--pores, is welcome to
stick," said Debby, "but I'm not