Part 6 (2/2)
”Yes, and it was too bad of you to keep him all to yourself, Betty,”
said Grace reproachfully
”You ht at least have shown hi to show,” said Betty, experiencing again the feeling of distaste she had had for thehtly, ”e him a lot If it hadn't been for hi in this beautiful train, speeding to our great adventure I told Allen I could almost love Peter Levine for it”
”You did?” queried Mollie, her eyes dancing ”What did he say?”
”He left me rather suddenly,” said Betty, with a chuckle at the memory
”He said he was on his way to kill Peter”
”Poor Allen,” laughed Grace ”Itout to Gold Run, Betty?”
”As soon as he finishes this case he is on now,” answered Betty, flushi+ng in spite of herself as she thought of Allen ”There is really no great hurry about it, you know Dad has ular vacation while he's about it, and I iets hoo, be of the great city before they traveled farther west There was only half an hour between trains and, as every one knows, there can be little sightseeing done in that limited space of time As it was, for so train was over an hour late in starting If they had known this fact in advance they ed to spend their ti their heels in the station waiting rooirls who boarded the train for Gold Run and allowed Mr Nelson and the porter to find their seats for therue of herself in the narrow mirror between the s ”Here it is nearly seven o'clock and I'ry as a bear”
”Well,” said Betty, cheerfully, ”soirls, let's wash our hands and get soirls hardly knehich they enjoyed the most, their dinner or the novel scenery that slipped past them so swiftly It was their first venture into this part of the world, and they found the initiation fascinating
”The trouble is,” co and we'll have to miss all this,” with an expressive sweep of her hand toward the car
”It is too bad,” said Betty, regretfully adding, with a light laugh: ”If ere only like the princess in the story, the members of whose royal house never slept, ould probably see irls proved that Grace was not alone in her fondness for sleep There being no entlehters, they slept soundly through the long hours while the train plunged onward through the inky blackness of the night They did not stir until the sun, shi+ning on their faces, roused them to the realization that another beautiful day had dawned
That is, it was beautiful up to noon Then it clouded down, and they ate lunch while the rain dashed furiously on the s of the dining car
”I am thankful we are under cover,” said Betty
”Fancy riding on the ranch in this rain,” put in Amy
”No life in the saddle forthe afternoon the girls napped and read When the tilad to see that they had run away fro clearly
”Funny, how sleepy one gets,” drawled Grace, about nine o'clock ”I'll not stay up late”
No one wanted to do that, and in less than an hour all were sleeping soundly while the long train ru on its trip ard
”And this is the day,” breathed Mollie the next noon, as they h some half dozen other cars to their own
”Betty, I feel as if I couldn't wait to see your beautiful ranch”
”I wonder,” said Grace as they dropped into their seats onceas you say, Betty I must admit,” she added, as she viewed the ratherthat looks like a cowboy yet”
”Goodness, hear the child!” cried Betty airily ”She hasn't been near a ranch, yet she expects to see whole droves of cow-punchers----”