CHAPTER II
GREAT HOPES
"But where are we to do all this?" asked Grace skeptically. "Is somebodygiving away steeds for the asking? Wake me up, somebody, when Betty getsthrough dreaming."
"Keep still, you old wet blanket," cried Mollie. "Can't you see Betty isreally 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. Motherhas received a legacy from a great uncle that she had almost forgottenshe 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 thatthe girls had heard over the telephone. "I shouldn't wonder if we shouldfind the real old-fashioned, movie kind of cowboys there--sombreros, furleggings, bandannas, and all."
"But where," interrupted Mollie, who had been waiting with more or lesspatience for Betty to come to the point, "do we come in, in all this? Ifail to see----"
"Oh hush," cried Betty, her eyes dancing. "You interrupt entirely toomuch. Where do we come in, she wants to know," she paused to bestow abeaming glance on Grace and Amy. "That's the biggest joke of all. Wheredo 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. "Nowlisten. I think I've about argued mother and dad around to the pointwhere they'll agree to let us have the use of this wild and woollyrancho 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 infur leggings and a sombrero. Wide hats are always becoming to me," sheadded musingly.
The girls laughed and Betty threw a pillow at her, missing her by ahair's breadth.
"You needn't worry about your hat," laughed Betty. "Reckon there won'tbe anybody around there to admire you but Indians and broncho busters."
"Oh, aren't the boys coming?" Grace asked, her disappointment in hervoice.
"They haven't been asked, silly," Mollie interrupted impatiently. "Tellme, Betty," she cried, turning to the Little Captain. "Is it reallycertain that we'll have this chance?"
"No, it isn't," admitted Betty, her bright face sobering. "That's why Idon't want you to get too excited about it. You see," her voice loweredconfidentially, "dad might decide to sell it."
"Sell it!" they cried in dismay, and Grace added, with a decision thatmade the girls laugh:
"Oh, he mustn't do that until the fall, anyway."
"All right, Gracie," said Betty, with a chuckle. "I'll give dad hisorders."
"But why does he want to sell it, Betty?" Amy questioned.
"We-el," said the Little Captain slowly. "You see mother has alreadyreceived an offer of fifteen thousand dollars for it. There's a ranchmanout there, I think his name is John Josephs, or some such name, whoseems to want to get hold of our ranch. So his lawyers have offeredmother fifteen thousand for it."
"That's a pretty good lot of money," said Amy thoughtfully.
"Yes, it is," agreed Betty. "And dad seems to think that the best thingmother could do would be to take the money and get rid of the ranch. Hesays it will be a sort of white elephant on our hands, since there isn'tvery much chance of our going out there to live," she ended, with achuckle.
"Well," said Grace, with an injured air, "I don't see why you called usall over here just to disappoint us. If your father is going to sell theplace, then we certainly sha'n't be able to make ourselves beautifulwith bandannas and picturesque hats----"
"Ah, but you did not let me finish," hissed Betty, melodramatically. "Wehave one ally--my mother."
"Your mother!" cried Mollie, eagerly. "Then she doesn't want to sell theranch?"
"Right, the first time," cried Betty hilariously. "I think mother has asneaking notion that she might look pretty good in a cowboy make-upherself. You see," she added, with a twinkle, "mother has never had achance to own a real honest-to-goodness ranch before."
"Oh, isn't she sweet!" cried Mollie fervently, adding, as one to whominspiration had come: "I tell you what, Betty, we'll take her with us!"
"How sweet of you," drawled Grace. "Especially since the ranch belongsto her!"
The other girls chuckled and Mollie looked rather sheepish.
"Oh, well," she admitted, "I guess it would be a case of her taking usalong."
"And I don't envy her the job," said gentle Amy unexpectedly, while thegirls gazed their reproach.
"Betty," said Mollie, "there is one very important thing that I wouldlike to know."
"Well, I'm the original little information bureau," Betty assured her."What will you have?"
"Does your dad really want to sell the ranch? Or is your mother likelyto win out?"
"Oh, mother always gets her way," said Betty confidently, adding:"Besides, the ranch was left to mother, you know, and not to dad. Soreally she has the say about it."
"Yes, but she might change her mind," said Grace pessimistically."Fifteen thousand dollars is a lot of money, you know. She might decideto sell the ranch, after all."
"Well," said Betty, with an air of importance that the girls were quickto notice, "there is another reason why mother will probably hold on tothe property, for a little while at least."
"Yes?" they queried eagerly.
"You see," Betty continued thoughtfully, "mother has an idea that thisJohn Josephs is a little too anxious to buy the ranch. It's right up inthe gold region, you know----"
"Gold!" shrieked Mollie. "You never said a word about gold, BettyNelson! Do you mean there may be gold----"
"Now she _is_ getting interesting," admitted Grace, shaken out of herusual calm.
"How romantic," murmured Amy, breathing 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 goldanywhere near that ranch----"
"Stop, woman, stop!" cried Mollie, with her most tragic scowl. "Wouldstput an end to all our dreams in one fell swoop----"
"Probably that is all we shall do--just dream," said Betty, insistingupon being practical. "It's an idea of mother's, that's all. But she isreally determined to see the ranch, at least, before she makes up hermind 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 lookup the title. There is some trouble about that, I think----"
"Oh, now we know why she is so anxious to be a little cow girl," teasedGrace, while the others regarded Betty's pretty color gleefully.
"Oh, Betty, Betty!" cried Mollie, shaking her head dolefully, "you arealtogether hopeless!"
For Allen Washburn, of whom Betty had spoken in connection with theranch, was a very promising young lawyer. Also this promising younglawyer was very fond of Betty Nelson. And while the girls are shakingtheir heads over this fact a little time will be taken to describe theOutdoor Girls to those readers who have not already met them and toreview briefly the many and varied adventures they had had up to thistime.
Betty Nelson, dark-haired, dark-eyed, and rosy-cheeked, was the naturalleader of the four Outdoor Girls, a fact which had led to her beingdubbed "Little Captain" by the adoring girls. Betty's father, CharlesNelson, had made a good deal of money in his manufacture of carpets,and Betty's mother was a very sweet lady whom the name of Rose fittedexactly.
Next came Mollie Billette, dark-haired and with snapping black eyes, whowas almost as French in her manner as her very French mother.
Readers of the present volume must already feel very well acquaintedwith Grace Ford. Grace was the G
ibson type, tall and slender andfair-haired and very pretty, with a decided liking for looking inmirrors.
Last of the quartette came Amy Blackford. Amy was the ward of John andSarah Stonington, and for a long time she had thought her own name wasStonington. The mystery of her past had been cleared up, however, andAmy had come into her own. Shy, gentle, sweet, she was beloved andprotected by the more hardy and active Betty and Mollie. And Amy, as shygirls sometimes will, had begun to think very much of Grace Ford'sattractive brother, Will--which is a reminder that it is time tointroduce "the boys."
Allen Washburn and his open fondness for Betty have already been spokenof. Allen was tall, nearly six feet. Sunburned and handsome of face andquick of action, Allen attracted every one wherever he went. And, truly,Betty was no exception to this rule! Allen had been one of the first tovolunteer his services to the good old army of the U. S. A., and whilehe had gone over only a buck private, he had come back a lieutenant.
There was Will Ford, Grace's brother, whom Grace and Amy both adored.Will had been in the secret service when our country entered the war,and because of this he had been the victim of considerablemisunderstanding. Afterward he had joined the army with the other boys.This was after some skillful secret service work that won the praise ofthe government, as well as the fervent admiration of the boys and girls.
The other two boys were Frank Haley and Roy Anderson who had come intothe little group because of their friendship for Will and Allen. Theywere fine, clean-cut, likable boys, who had come through the war withcolors flying.
The young folks had lived all their lives in Deepdale, a thriving littlecity with a population of about fifteen thousand people and situated inthe heart of New York State. Deepdale was situated on the Argono River,a beautiful and romantic stream where pleasure craft of all sortsdisported themselves. A branch line of the railroad connected with themain line directly to what the four Outdoor Girls believed to be themost wonderful of all cities, New York.
The name of "Outdoor Girls" had come to the quartette from the factthat they invariably spent their summer vacations, and winter holidaysalso, in some sort of outdoor sport. They could ride, swim, play tennis,drive, and, in fact, do everything that is expected of the athleticyoung girl of to-day.
They would never forget that first tramping tour when they had trampedfor miles over the country, meeting with a great many unusual adventureson the way, as related in the first volume of this series, entitled,"The Outdoor Girls of Deepdale." Nor those other times at Rainbow Lake,in Florida, at Ocean View, and later at Pine Island, where they had comeacross that marvelous, mysterious gypsy cave.
Then had come the war with the boys on the other side, and the girlsdoing their "bit" at a Hostess House. And a little later what blackdistress overwhelmed them, when Will Ford was reported wounded andAllen's name was among the missing! This all happened while they were atBluff Point taking a much-needed vacation from their work at the HostessHouse.
In the volume directly preceding this, entitled "The Outdoor Girls atWild Rose Lodge," the girls had had same very exciting experiences. Anold man, Professor Dempsey, by name, who had retired to a little logcabin in the woods to recover his health, had chanced to do the girls avery great favor. Of course the girls were grateful to him and were verymuch interested when he told them of his two sons who were in the war.Later, when the girls read of the death of his two sons in the paper,they went to the old man's lonely cabin in the woods, but foundthemselves too late. According to a friendly neighbor, the old man hadbecome temporarily insane at the terrible news, had wrecked his cabin inan insane frenzy, and disappeared.
Later, at Wild Rose Lodge, the girls were frightened several times by astrange apparition lurking in the woods around the lodge and MoonlightFalls, a beautiful fall of water not far from the cottage where thegirls were staying. Later the boys came home from France and helped thegirls solve the mystery.
And now here was Betty proposing another outing that promised to be morefun than any the Outdoor Girls had had yet. No wonder that in the clamorof their excited questions and answers no one heard the telephoneringing noisily in the hall.
Finally the Nelsons' maid came trudging up the stairs to answer itherself.
"If I can hear myself think," she grumbled, as she took the receiverfrom the hook. "With all them girls a-gabberin' an' a-talkin' at thetop o' their lungs. Hello--I can't hear you--you'll have to talklouder--you don't know the noise they is in this house. MissBetty?--jus' a minute----"
"A gen'leman to speak to you, Miss Betty," she announced a moment later,looking in on the hilarious girls. "An' le's hope you can hear himbetter'n I could, that's all," she grumbled, as Betty pushed by her inthe doorway and gave her a friendly pat on the shoulder.
"Oh, they'll keep quiet now, all right," she said, with a laughingglance over her shoulder at her chums. "They'll want to hear what I haveto say."
At which taunt the girls started such a dreadful clamor that she reallyhad all she could do to hear Allen at the other end of the wire. Oh,yes, it was Allen!
"Sech a noise," grumbled the maid, as she trudged down the steps again."I never did see sech wild uns!"
"Hello, hello, Allen," called Betty into the telephone. "The girls arehere and--what's that? At Walnut Street? All right, that will be fine. Ican't talk now. Tell you why later. Yes, we'll be there. Don't be silly.Good-by!"
Her face was flushed when she confronted the girls again.
"The boys have a half holiday--it's Saturday, you know," she told them,while they regarded her mischievously. "And they want us to pick them upin the car, get some lunch somewhere, and make a day of it. I told himwe would."
"By 'him' I suppose you mean Allen," said Mollie, to which Betty duckedher a bow and the other girls giggled. "I like their nerve wanting us topick them up. Why doesn't Frank come for us in his big car?"
"Allen figured it would take too long for them to come home and get it."
"My, they must be in a hurry to see us," said Grace, with a simper thatsent the girls off into gales of laughter.
"Well," said Betty finally, "are you coming, or are you not?"
For answer Mollie jumped up, pressed a hat upon Grace's indignant head,handed Amy her coat, and crushed her own sport hat down on her darkhair.
"Be this our answer," she said dramatically.