Nan Sherwood at Rose Ranch | Page 7

when Laura Polk was suddenly
missed.
"Now, where has she gone?" demanded Bess. "She's just like a flea!
You put your hand on her, and there she isn't!"
But Laura was back in a moment. She brought with her, and dangled
before their wondering gaze, a suit of paint-stained overalls, jumper
and all, that evidently by their size belonged to Henry, the boatkeeper
and man of all work of Lakeview Hall.
"I hid 'em the other day," declared the red-haired girl. "You never know
what may happen, or how such garments as these may come in use."
"But, for pity's sake, Laura!" gasped Nan, "what are they for?"

"Don't they make just the uniform needed for a cowgirl? What say? I
bet she rides astride, and these old overalls will remind her of home, at
Rustlers' Roost, and all that, you know."
The shrieks of laughter that answered this proposal threatened to bring
some of the teachers and so spoil the fun altogether. Finally, however,
Amelia Boggs got the crowd into line, and the parade marched out of
Room Seven into the corridor.
Room Eight was almost directly opposite the one occupied by Nan and
Bess; but Amelia led the procession the full length of the hall and
returned again before rapping a summons on Rhoda Hammond's door.
"Oh, yes! In a minute," cried a small voice from inside.
But Amelia waited on no appeal of this character. She found on turning
the knob that the door was unlocked. She flung it open and stalked in,
the other girls trailing two by two behind her.
"Oh, dear me! what do you want?" gasped Rhoda.
She had removed and hung up in the clothes-closet the beautiful furs,
dress, and hat. Her bag was open on the couch, but it seemed to contain
no kimono, and the Western girl remained half hidden behind the
portiere that hung before the closet.
"What do you want?" she repeated, gazing in wonder at the tall figure
of the Mistress of Ceremonies.
"We are just in time," said Amelia behind her mask, and in a
supposed-to-be-sepulchral voice. "The sawney is all prepared to don
her costume. Hither, slave! and see that she dons the costume quickly,
for we must haste."
"The slave hithers," said Laura jovially. "Here you are, Rambunctious
Rhoda from Rawhide Springs. Put 'em on."
She held out the overalls and jumper to the surprised new girl, who

hesitated to take them.
"_Hic jacet!_ The varlet refuses 'em!" hissed the red-haired girl.
"Goodness, Laura," whispered Nan. "That means 'here lies'--and
nobody is telling stories."
"She's got her Latin and Shakesperean English most awfully mixed,"
giggled one of the other girls.
"And 'varlet' is the wrong gender, anyway," observed Bess.
"Silence!" commanded the Mistress of Ceremonies. "Silence in the
ranks. Will she not don the costume?"
"Put 'em on!" commanded Laura again, shaking the painter's suit before
the hesitating Western girl.
"She would better," said Amelia threateningly, "or I will call to your
aid all these, my faithful followers, who have already been through the
fiery trial."
"I don't want to go through any fiery trial," said Rhoda. "But if you
insist, I'll put on that jacket and the pants."
"'Pants' is truly Western, isn't it, Laura?" asked Amelia Boggs.
"Civilized folk say trousers."
"I see I have much to learn," said Rhoda, too meekly, perhaps.
She slipped quickly into the roomy overalls behind the curtain, and
then came forth, putting on the jumper. Her bare arms and shoulders
were brown and firm. Nan thought Rhoda's figure was as attractive as
her face was pretty. She caught the new girl's glance and smiled
encouragingly.
"Doesn't she make a darling boy!" whispered Bess Harley to her chum.
But the other girls--at least, some of them--meant to make the

newcomer feel keenly her position as a "sawney."
"She wears 'em just as though she was at home in them," said Laura
drawlingly. "I tell you she is a regular cowgirl at home on the Hot Dog
Mesa. Isn't that so, Miss Rhoda?"
"You seem to know," replied the Western girl bruskly.
Laura suddenly whispered to the hooded Amelia. The latter cleared her
throat portentously and said:
"Sawney, it is evident that you must be taught your place. Meekness
becomes you lambkins when you first come to Lakeview Hall. Slave,
prepare the bandage."
"What's that?" demanded Rhoda. "Do you know, I don't like this
foolishness much."
"The fiery trial all right for yours!" exclaimed Laura, who had caught
up a towel and was folding it dexterously. "Turn around!"
"I won't!" declared Rhoda flatly.
"Mutiny!" exclaimed Amelia. "Seize the captive and bandage her eyes
at once," and she pounded on the floor with the broom handle.
Nan was one of those who grabbed the Western girl. But she did so to
whisper