Part 14 (2/2)
”Write it to me,” said the Mexican girl eagerly. ”I must do all business for my modder. Yes. She do not know. She ees ver' poor.
But if what Lobarto stole from us is r-recover-red, we shall be reech again. By goodness, yes!”
”In the end,” Nan explained to Bess and Grace afterward, ”I think we more than half convinced that Mexican girl that it was not her mother's money that dressed Rhoda so nicely.”
”How you talk!” exclaimed Rhoda. ”I am sorry for that Mex. But, goodness! how mad she was. Just as mad as a lion!”
”'Lion'!” sniffed Bess. ”What do you know about lions?”
”We have them about Rose Ranch,” said Rhoda, smiling wickedly.
”Oh, never!” squealed Grace.
”Why, lions grow in Africa,” said Bess, doubtfully.
”More properly they are pumas, I suppose. But the boys call 'em lions,” laughed Rhoda. ”Oh, there are a lot of things about Rose Ranch that will surprise you.”
”Don't say a word! I guess that is so. Something besides the roses,” murmured Bess.
”I shall be afraid to go out of sight of the house,” complained Grace, who was timid in any environment. ”Don't tell me anything more, Rhoda.”
Nevertheless they were all--and all the time--thinking of the trip West. It did not interfere with their standing in cla.s.ses, but outside of study hours and the time they spent in sleep, the three girls who had been invited by Rhoda to visit Rose Ranch talked of little else. And, of course, Rhoda herself was always willing to talk of her home down near the Mexican Border.
”I am just as sorry for that Mexican girl and her mother as I can be,” Rhoda said on one occasion. ”I've written daddy about it. I expect he doesn't remember Mrs. O'Harra's coming to Rose Ranch with her daughter about the treasure. You know, that old treasure has made us a lot of trouble.”
”I suppose people keep coming up from Mexico looking for it?”
suggested Grace.
”Most of them think we have benefited by Lobarto's stealings,”
sighed Rhoda. ”You see, there is much hard feeling on the side of the Mexicans against the Americans. Even the Mexicans born on our side of the Border are not really Americans. They never learn to speak much English, and it makes them clannish and suspicious of English speaking people.”
”And how fierce they are!” murmured Nan.
”Juanita would have struck you. Scratched your face, maybe.”
”Well, that is only their excitable way. Perhaps she did not really intend to strike me,” Rhoda said. ”I do wish we could help her and her mother. Somehow, I am sorry for the poor thing.”
”Let's get up a searching party when we get to Rose Ranch,” said Bess excitedly, ”and find that old treasure.”
”Wouldn't that be great!” Nan agreed. ”But I am afraid if after six years all that plunder hasn't been found, we shouldn't be likely to find it.”
”Oh, it's been searched for,” Rhoda a.s.sured them. ”Time and time again. There have been as many men who believed they could find it as ever hunted for the old Pegleg Mine--and that is famous.”
”Never say die!” said Bess, nodding her curly head. ”I'm going to hunt for it myself.”
This raised a laugh; yet every member of the little party, including Walter when he heard the particulars about Juanita, was eagerly interested in the mystery of the treasure of Rose Ranch.
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