The Outdoor Girls in the Saddle | Page 3

"Paul did it," accused Dodo, waving a pudgy, ink-stained little fist in
the direction of her brother. "He said, 'let's use this ink and play we're
savagers----'"
It was upon this scene that Mollie's little French-American mother, Mrs.
Billette, came a moment later.
"Oh! Oh!" she cried, raising her hands in the French gesture all French
people know so well. "What is this? Mollie, have you gone quite mad?"
Whereupon Mollie shook the tears of woe from her eyes and explained
to her mother just what had happened.

"And I was in such a hurry to get to Betty's," she finished dismally. "I
just know she has something exciting to tell us. And now I don't
suppose I will get there for hours."
"Oh yes, you will," said Mrs. Billette, with the delicious, almost
imperceptible, accent she had. "The ink has not yet dried, and luckily
there is not much about the room. Run along, dear. I fully realize," she
added, with the smile that made Mollie adore her, "that this, with you,
is a very important occasion."
"And you are the most precious mother in the world!" cried Mollie,
flinging young arms about her mother and giving her a joyful hug. "I
might have known you would understand." And before the words were
fairly out of her mouth she was flying up the stairs.
When she reached Betty's house at last, out of breath but happy, she
found that Grace and Amy were there before her. She found them all,
including Betty, up in Betty's room, a pretty place done in ivory and
blue, awaiting her coming as patiently as they could.
"Betty wouldn't tell us a thing until you came," was the greeting Grace
flung at her.
"So don't be surprised if you aren't very popular around here," laughed
Betty, sitting very straight in her wicker chair, feet stretched out and
crossed in front of her, hands tightly clasped in her lap. Her face was a
pretty picture of animation.
"Who cares for popularity?" cried Mollie, as she flung her sport hat on
the bed and turned to face Betty. "Betty Nelson, bring out that
surprise."
"Who said it was a surprise?" asked Betty tantalizingly, but the next
minute her face sobered and she regarded the girls gravely.
"Girls," she said, "I think I see a chance for the most glorious outing we
have had yet. How would you like----" she paused and regarded the
expectant girls thoughtfully. "How would you like a summer in the

saddle?"
"In the saddle?" repeated Grace wonderingly, but Mollie broke in with
a quick:
"Betty, do you mean on horseback?"
"Real horses?" breathed Amy Blackford.
"Yes," said Betty, nodding. "That's just exactly what I mean."
CHAPTER II
GREAT HOPES
"But where are we to do all this?" asked Grace skeptically. "Is
somebody giving away steeds for the asking? Wake me up, somebody,
when Betty gets through dreaming."
"Keep still, you old wet blanket," cried Mollie. "Can't you see Betty is
really in earnest?"
"Never mind them," said Amy, leaning a little breathlessly toward
Betty. "Let them fight it out between themselves. What is the great
news, Betty?"
"It is great news," said Betty radiantly. "Listen, my children. Mother
has received a legacy from a great uncle that she had almost forgotten
she had."
"Money?" queried Grace, interested.
"No, that's the best part of it," said Betty. "Oh, girls, it's a ranch, a great
big beautiful ranch in the really, truly west!"
"Honest-to-goodness, wild and woolly?" queried Mollie, beaming.
"Better than that," answered Betty with the same lilt to her voice that
the girls had heard over the telephone. "I shouldn't wonder if we should

find the real old-fashioned, movie kind of cowboys there--sombreros,
fur leggings, bandannas, and all."
"But where," interrupted Mollie, who had been waiting with more or
less patience for Betty to come to the point, "do we come in, in all this?
I fail to see----"
"Oh hush," cried Betty, her eyes dancing. "You interrupt entirely too
much. Where do we come in, she wants to know," she paused to bestow
a beaming glance on Grace and Amy. "That's the biggest joke of all.
Where do we come in? Why, honey dear, we're the whole show!"
"The whole show," they murmured, beginning to see the light.
"You bet," said the brown-haired, rosy-checked one slangily. "Now
listen. I think I've about argued mother and dad around to the point
where they'll agree to let us have the use of this wild and woolly rancho
for a real outdoor adventure. How does that idea strike you?"
"Listen to the child," cried Mollie pityingly. "Such a question!"
"It would be heavenly!" raved Grace. "Think of riding around all day in
fur leggings and a sombrero. Wide hats are always becoming to me,"
she added musingly.