Part 2 (1/2)
”Oh, isn't she sweet!” cried Mollie fervently, adding, as one to whom inspiration had come: ”I tell you what, Betty, we'll take her with us!”
”Hoeet of you,” drawled Grace ”Especially since the ranch belongs to her!”
The other girls chuckled and Mollie looked rather sheepish
”Oh, well,” she ad”
”And I don't envy her the job,” said gentle Aazed their reproach
”Betty,” said Mollie, ”there is one very i that I would like to know”
”Well, I'inal little information bureau,” Betty assured her
”What will you have?”
”Does your dad really want to sell the ranch? Or is your ets her way,” said Betty confidently, adding: ”Besides, the ranch was left to mother, you know, and not to dad So really she has the say about it”
”Yes, but she e her mind,” said Grace pessimistically
”Fifteen thousand dollars is a lot of ht decide to sell the ranch, after all”
”Well,” said Betty, with an air of iirls were quick to notice, ”there is another reason why mother will probably hold on to the property, for a little while at least”
”Yes?” they queried eagerly
”You see,” Betty continued thoughtfully, ”mother has an idea that this John Josephs is a little too anxious to buy the ranch It's right up in the gold region, you know----”
”Gold!” shrieked Mollie ”You never said a word about gold, Betty Nelson! Do youinteresting,” admitted Grace, shaken out of her usual cal fast
”Yes,” said Betty ruefully ”That's what dad says mother is--romantic!
He says there isn't a chance in a thousand that there is real gold anywhere near that ranch----”
”Stop, woic scowl ”Wouldst put an end to all our dreams in one fell swoop----”
”Probably that is all we shall do--just drea practical ”It's an idea of mother's, that's all But she is really determined to see the ranch, at least, before she makes up her mind whether to sell or not In fact,” she hesitated, colored a little, then went on bravely, ”dad has decided to send Allen out there to look up the title There is some trouble about that, I think----”
”Oh, noe knohy she is so anxious to be a little cow girl,” teased Grace, while the others regarded Betty's pretty color gleefully
”Oh, Betty, Betty!” cried Mollie, shaking her head dolefully, ”you are altogether hopeless!”
For Allen Washburn, of whom Betty had spoken in connection with the ranch, was a very pro laas very fond of Betty Nelson And while the girls are shaking their heads over this fact a little time will be taken to describe the Outdoor Girls to those readers who have not already met them and to review briefly the many and varied adventures they had had up to this time
Betty Nelson, dark-haired, dark-eyed, and rosy-cheeked, was the natural leader of the four Outdoor Girls, a fact which had led to her being dubbed ”Little Captain” by the adoring girls Betty's father, Charles Nelson, had ood deal of money in his manufacture of carpets, and Betty's mother was a very sweet lady whom the name of Rose fitted exactly
Next ca black eyes, as almost as French in her manner as her very French mother