Blue Bonnet's Ranch Party

by Lillian Elizabeth Roy

  CHAPTER I

  THE WANDERER

  BLUE BONNET put her head out of the car window for the hundredth timethat hour, and drew it back with a sigh of utter exasperation.

  "Uncle Cliff," she declared impatiently, "if The Wanderer doesn't movea little faster I'll simply have to get out and push!"

  "Better blame the engine, Honey," said Uncle Cliff in his slow,soothing way. "The Wanderer is doing her best. Might as well blame thewagon for not making the horses gallop!"

  "I know," she confessed. "But it seems as if we'd never get toWoodford. This is the longest-seeming journey I ever took--even if itis in a private car." Then, fearing to appear inappreciative, sheadded quickly: "But I do think it is mighty good of Mr. Maldon to letus take his very own car. I can just see the We are Sevens' eyes popright out when they see this style of travelling." Blue Bonnet's owneyes roamed over the luxurious interior of The Wanderer, dwelling withapproval on the big, swinging easy chairs, the book-case cunninglyset in just over a writing-desk, the buffet shining with cut glass andsilver, and the thousand and one details that made the car a veritablepalace on wheels.

  Blue Bonnet had been spending a few days in New York with her uncle,who had insisted that she should have a little "lark" after her longmonths in school. Now, in a private car belonging to one of UncleCliff's friends, they were on their way back to Woodford, there togather up Grandmother Clyde, Alec Trent, and the other six of BlueBonnet's "We are Seven" Club, and bear them off to Texas for thesummer.

  "I reckon Sarah Blake and Kitty Clark aren't very used to travelling?"suggested Uncle Cliff, more to draw out Blue Bonnet than with anyconsuming desire for information.

  "Used to travelling! Why, Uncle Cliff--" Blue Bonnet shook her heademphatically--"not one of the other We are Sevens has ever so much asseen the inside of a Pullman in all her life!"

  Mr. Ashe hid a smile under his moustache. The fact that Blue Bonnet'sown introduction to a Pullman car had occurred just nine monthsbefore, seemed to have escaped the young lady's mind.

  "Well, well," ejaculated Blue Bonnet's uncle, "they've someexperiences ahead of them, to be sure!"

  "Oh, Uncle,"--Blue Bonnet was struck with a sudden fear,--"do yousuppose they will all be ready to go? We're two whole days earlierthan we said we'd be--"

  "They'll be ready, don't you worry. Your grandmother is not one of theunprepared sort, and the girls don't need much of a wardrobe for theranch. Besides, I wired them explicit directions--to meet The Wandererand be ready to come aboard immediately. We shall have only a fewminutes in Woodford."

  Blue Bonnet settled back in her red velvet reclining chair and shuther eyes. Slowly a smile wreathed her lips.

  "What's the joke, Honey?"

  Blue Bonnet looked up with dancing eyes. "Benita!" she laughed. "Won'tshe be just--petrified, when she sees seven girls instead of one? Andcan't you imagine the boys--"

  "Benita had better not get petrified this summer," interrupted UncleCliff. "She has to do some tall hustling. I've wired Uncle Joe to getextra help while the ranch party is in session. If they can get oldGertrudis from the Lone Star Ranch--she's the finest cook in the stateof Texas. And her granddaughter might wait on table."

  "Oh, I do think a ranch party is the grandest thing in the world,"cried Blue Bonnet. "I've read of house parties, but they must bedownright tame compared with this kind of a party. And it's not tolast just over a week-end either, but _two whole months_! Why, UncleCliff, any ordinary man would be scared to pieces at the prospect."

  "But I'm not an ordinary man, eh?" Mr. Ashe looked pleased as a boy ashe put the question.

  "Well, I reckon not! You're a fairy godfather. You grant my wishesbefore they're fairly out of my mouth. And I seem to have plenty ofwishes. Just think, Uncle, how many things I've wished for since mylast birthday!"

  "First," said Uncle Cliff, "you wished to go away from the ranch."

  Blue Bonnet nodded assent. "Because I was--afraid--to ride. Doesn't itseem ridiculous, now I'm over that silliness? But oh, how I did wish Icould get over being afraid! That was about the only wish you couldn'tgrant, Uncle Cliff."

  "That wish was never expressed, Honey--don't forget that. Maybe Icould have helped even there," Mr. Ashe suggested gently.

  "I know, it was my own fault. But I was--ashamed, Uncle Cliff. Youdon't suppose--" Blue Bonnet's face clouded, "you don't think, do you,that the fear will come again when I get back where I sawJose--dragged?" She shut her eyes and shuddered.

  "Nonsense, Honey. That fear died and was buried the day you rodeAlec's horse, Victor. A good canter on Firefly over the Blue Bonnetcountry will make you wonder that such a feeling was ever born."

  "Dear old Firefly! Won't I make it up to him though! Isn'tit queer how many of my wishes have come true? It makes me feelalmost--breathless. I no sooner got through wishing I could leave theranch and go East and be with Grandmother--than I woke up in Woodford.And I wanted--thought I wanted--to be called Elizabeth. Blue Bonnetbecame Elizabeth!"

  "A real lightning change artist," murmured Uncle Cliff.

  "And I wanted to go to school. Granted. I wanted to know a lot ofgirls, and behold the We are Sevens!"

  "And when was it you changed names again?" Uncle Cliff asked slyly.

  "When I got tired of being Elizabethed. Everybody thinks Blue Bonnetsuits me better, except Aunt Lucinda--on occasions."

  "And the next wish? They're stacking up."

  "I reckon it was about the Sargent prize in school. I wanted AlecTrent to win it--and he did. And next I wished to pass my schoolexaminations--"

  "And even that miracle was achieved!" said Uncle Cliff, pinching hercheek.

  "And, finally, I wanted to go back to Texas, and, at the same time, Iwished I didn't have to leave Grandmother and Alec and the girls. Thatmight seem a contrary pair of wishes, but it doesn't daunt GodfatherAshe. He straightway makes a private car arise from--from what, UncleCliff?"

  "Tobacco smoke," promptly supplied Mr. Ashe, with a reminiscent smileon his lips.

  "Why tobacco smoke?" asked Blue Bonnet wonderingly.

  "I taught Maldon to smoke when he was a young chap visiting out ourway, and we've been friends ever since. The private car seems to havegrown out of that," replied her uncle.

  "I see," Blue Bonnet nodded. "But don't tell Aunt Lucinda,--I fancyshe doesn't approve of smoking."

  "So I've noticed," rather grimly rejoined Mr. Ashe. Blue Bonnet's primNew England aunt had not suffered him to remain long in ignorance ofher disapproval of tobacco in any form.

  "There's one thing I don't understand at all," Blue Bonnet knitted herpretty brows. "And that is what was in Uncle Joe Terry's telegram theother day. Won't you tell me, Uncle?"

  "Nothing much,--only that I must be back at the ranch Monday eveningwithout fail," answered Uncle Cliff with an air of evasion.

  "There's some deep reason, I can just feel it. You mean well, Uncle,but I just hate secrets." Blue Bonnet laid a coaxing hand on heruncle's arm.

  "Secret indeed!" scoffed Uncle Cliff, avoiding his niece's eye.

  "You can't pretend a bit well," Blue Bonnet assured him gravely. "Youlook just the way my dog Solomon does when he's pretending to beasleep--and can't keep his tail from wagging!"

  "Thank you!" said Uncle Cliff with well-assumed indignation.

  "You're quite welcome. He's a mighty wise dog, Uncle Cliff--that's whyI named him Solomon. You know I think--" Blue Bonnet went on sagely,"I think there is some trouble at the ranch,--because I saw the bigbox you sent with our trunks and it was labelled 'dangerous.' Now, benice, and tell me what was in it."

  "I understood that Miss Kitty was the inquisitive member of yourClub," Uncle Cliff parried provokingly.

  Blue Bonnet sighed. "Well, I can thank Uncle Joe for cutting us out oftwo whole days in New York. I'm sure Aunt Lucinda will bedisappointed."

  "Aunt Lucinda--?" echoed Mr. Ashe.

  "Yes, you see it was this way: Aunt Lucinda gave me a list of things Iought to see in New York. Every da
y when you asked me 'what next?'--asyou did, you nice fairy godfather--I chose the things I'd rather seeand left the--the educational things for the last. You see the shops,the Hippodrome, Coney Island, Peter Pan and the Goddess of Libertywere so fascinating, and I'd wanted so long to see them, that-- Well,to face the bitter truth, Uncle Cliff, we left New York without oneweenty peek in at the Metropolitan Museum!"

  "Horrors!" Uncle Cliff looked properly stunned. Then he said craftily,"Keep it dark, Honey. Maybe we can bluff."

  Blue Bonnet shook her head. "Nobody can bluff Aunt Lucinda--I ought toknow! Why--Uncle Cliff--I believe we're there!"

  And "there" they certainly were. While Blue Bonnet had been busilychattering, The Wanderer had drawn in to the Woodford station.

  Half the population of the village was assembled on the platform, itseemed to Blue Bonnet as she sprang from the car steps. Grandmotherand Aunt Lucinda she saw first, and back of them Denham, the coachman,bearing suitcases, umbrellas, magazines and wraps, besides holding onby main force to a leash at which Solomon was straining frantically.Beside him were Katie and Delia, on hand for a final farewell to BlueBonnet and Mrs. Clyde. Then came Kitty and Doctor Clark; Amanda andthe Parkers; Sarah and the whole crowd of Blakes, big and little; Alecand the General; Debby, and a collection of sisters, cousins, unclesand aunts that overflowed the platform and straggled clear out to theline of hitching-posts, where all of Woodford's family conveyancesseemed drawn up at once.

  The report of Blue Bonnet's ranch party had spread like wildfirethrough the town, and the going away of so many of its most prominentcitizens to far-off Texas, had aroused quiet Woodford to a pitch ofexcitement equalled only by that of a prohibition election, or a visitfrom the President.

  Blue Bonnet was swallowed up by the crowd the moment she alighted, andit was a full five minutes before she emerged, flushed and minus herhat, to ask breathlessly, "Oh, is everybody here?--I can't see anybodyfor the crowd!"

  "No time to lose," warned Mr. Ashe. "We must pull out in ten minutesin order to reach Boston in time for the 5.17 to-night."

  Even as he spoke, The Wanderer began to move.

  "Uncle Cliff," cried Blue Bonnet in a panic, "they're going withoutus!"

  "Just switching," soothed her uncle. "The Wanderer has to be on theother track so as to hook on to the train for Boston. That's due infive minutes. Get your good-byes said so that everybody can go aboardwhen she comes alongside."

  During that five minutes while each girl was occupied with her ownfamily, Blue Bonnet had a moment alone with her aunt. "It's a goodthing we said our real good-bye before I went to New York, isn't it,Aunt Lucinda?" she asked, slipping her hand shyly into that of hertall, prim aunt. Somehow Aunt Lucinda had never seemed so dear as inthis moment of parting. Perhaps it was the look as of unshed tears inher eyes, or the flush on her usually pale face that made her seemmore approachable. Blue Bonnet could not tell exactly what it was, butthere was a vague something about Aunt Lucinda that made her appearalmost--yes, almost, pathetic. Suddenly Blue Bonnet remembered--theywere leaving Aunt Lucinda all alone. Her heart reproached her. "AuntLucinda," she whispered hurriedly, "won't you come, too?"

  One of her rare sweet smiles lit Miss Clyde's face. "Thank you,dear--it is sweet of you to want me. But not this time, for I havepromised friends to go abroad with them. I shall miss you, BlueBonnet,--you won't forget to write often?"

  "No, indeed!" Blue Bonnet assured her, at the same moment registeringa solemn vow that she would write every week without fail. "And you'llwrite too, Aunt Lucinda? It'll be so exciting getting letters fromfunny, foreign places. And now it's good-bye. You--you are sure you'veno--a--advice to give me?"

  Miss Clyde restrained an odd smile at the significant question. "No,dear. Only this: be considerate of your grandmother, and bring herback safely to me."

  "I will! I will!" cried Blue Bonnet, and with another kiss was gone.

  There was only a moment for a handshake with Katie and Delia, whoopenly mopped their eyes at parting; a word with General Trent, achorus of good-byes to a score of We are Seven relations, and theneverybody crowded about the steps of The Wanderer.

  "Grandmother first," said Blue Bonnet. "Denham, you'd better go aboardand get her settled. Here, Bennie Blake--you hold Solomon till I'mready to take him. Now then, We are Sevens--forward!"

  Suddenly Blue Bonnet gave a queer little exclamation and clapped herhand on a leather case which hung from her shoulder. "Stop, everybody,till I get a picture--I nearly forgot! And I want pictures of everystage of the ranch party. Grandmother, please stay on the top step andI'll group the girls below."

  "That's right," cried Kitty. "Take one now and another when we getback, and we can label them 'Before and After Taking!'"

  Sarah, Kitty, Amanda and Debby, amid the teasing remarks of sundrysmall boys, obediently took their places as designated by the youngartist. Then Blue Bonnet's eyes turned in search of the other twogirls.

  "Susy! Ruth!" she called. "Why--where are they?"

  An embarrassed hush fell on the group about the car. Blue Bonnetlooked inquiringly at the telltale faces. It did not take her long toscent a mystery.

  "What's the matter?" she cried impatiently.

  Doctor Clark stepped forward, clearing his throat queerly. "Fact is,Miss Blue Bonnet," he began, "they--they can't go."

  "Can't go?" Blue Bonnet started incredulously at the stammeringdoctor.

  "No, you see,--well, in fact, they're ill," he completed lamely. Whydidn't some one help him out, the doctor fumed inwardly, instead ofletting him be the one to cloud that beaming face?

  Suddenly Kitty leaned down from the car step and whispered: "Scarletfever!"

  "Both?" exclaimed the startled Blue Bonnet.

  "No, only Ruth. But Susy was exposed and Father didn't think it safefor her to come."

  "Oh, Kitty!" The tears sprang to Blue Bonnet's eyes--she fought thembut they would come.

  "We're all broken up over it," said Kitty with her own lips trembling;"but it might have been worse. It's only because we've been too busyto go out there, that we weren't all exposed. Then it would have beengood-bye to the ranch party."

  "Oh, Kitty, suppose you had!" The thought of the narrow escape driedBlue Bonnet's tears. "I'm mighty glad you four could come. But itwon't be complete. And you know how I love to have things complete!"

  "Never mind, Blue Bonnet, you still have me!" cried Alec, coming inwith a cheerful note.

  "'The poor ye have always with you!'" chimed in Kitty, and whileeverybody was laughing over this sally, Blue Bonnet took a snap-shotof the group, and then all the travellers trooped aboard.

  Mr. Ashe looked over the heads of the chattering crowd in the car andmet Mrs. Clyde's amused eye. "How do you like mothering a family ofthis size?" he asked jocosely.

  "I fancy I feel much like the hen that hatched duck's eggs," Mrs.Clyde returned.

  There was a laugh at this, in the midst of which Sarah Blake was heardto remark solemnly: "Yes, children are a great responsibility."

  Whereat there was more laughter, and hardly had it subsided when fromoutside came the conductor's sonorous "All aboo--ard!"

  "Girls, we're really going!" gasped Kitty.

  There was a last vigorous waving of handkerchiefs out of the window.Suddenly a wail burst from Blue Bonnet: "Solomon! Solomon!"

  All looked at one another aghast. In the excitement of the lastmoments no one had thought of the dog.

  "Find Bennie Blake--he had Solomon last," cried Blue Bonnet, rushingto the platform.

  "I'll find him, don't you worry," exclaimed Alec, swinging down thesteps just as the first creaks of the car gave notice of starting.

  "Alec--you'll get left!" cried Blue Bonnet. "There's Bennie,--oh,quick!"

  Sure enough, there on the edge of the crowd was Bennie, but alack!--noSolomon.

  "Stop the train, can't you, Uncle Cliff?" wailed Blue Bonnet. "Alecwill be left--and Solomon too--"

  Uncle Cliff leaped to the bottom step,--the train was
still onlycrawling,--and with one hand on the rail leaned out and peered afterAlec. Blue Bonnet gave a nervous clutch at his sleeve. What he sawevidently reassured Mr. Ashe, for suddenly he straightened up and heldout both arms. A second later a brown furry object came hurtlingthrough the air and was caught ignominiously by the tail. Quick as aflash Uncle Cliff tossed the indignant Solomon to Blue Bonnet, andbent down to lend a helping hand to Alec. That young gentlemanscrambled up with more haste than elegance, just as the train ceasedto crawl and settled down to the real business of travelling.

  "I'll never forget this, Alec Trent, as long as I live,--I think youdeserve a Carnegie medal!" Blue Bonnet cried fervently. "I'd never getover it if Solomon should be lost."

  "He wouldn't have been--lost, exactly," returned Alec in an odd tone.

  "Why, what do you mean? Where did you find him?" Blue Bonnet demanded.

  And Alec, bursting into a laugh in spite of his awful news, returned:"I found him just where that Blake boy left him--tied on to the end ofthe car!"