CHAPTER XV
ALLEN ARRIVES
Amy was delighted with the praise she received from the girls and thefirst thing she did after they returned to the ranch was to write hometo her guardian for the concert program she had so luckily saved.
Naturally the girls were more curious than ever after this second tripto his little cabin in the woods and longed to find out about thisstrange musician who hid himself so persistently from the world.
"Of course," Grace said, during one of the many times when they talkedthe matter over, "we're not at all sure that the Hermit is the same manwho played at our benefit."
"Of course we're not," Mollie agreed with her. "There must be a greatmany musicians who can play those same selections that we heard himplay."
"That's all very true," said Betty argumentatively. "But if he is reallythis same musician that played at our benefit, then that explains thequeer hunch I've had of having seen him somewhere before."
"Well," said Mollie resignedly, "I guess all we can do for the presentis to wait until Amy gets her program. When we find out the name of theviolinist that played for us then we can decide what to do next aboutthe Hermit."
Reluctantly they admitted that what she said was true, and for the timebeing let the discussion rest there.
Then came the day when Betty received a letter from Allen announcingthat he would reach Gold Run the following afternoon on thefour-thirty-five train. The letter ended by begging her to meet thetrain herself and please not to send any one else, for no one else woulddo!
Betty's pretty face flushed a deeper pink and her eyes shone brighter asshe read this passage--and two or three others--several times over. Thenshe went to find the girls and tell them the good news.
They also had received mail from the other boys and some of the folks athome, and she found them all together on the eastern porch having thetime of their lives. Mollie and Amy were perched on the railing whileGrace and a box of candy reposed in a hammock.
"Well, have you finished reading yours already?" Mollie greeted theLittle Captain as she swung up the steps. "It was such a fat one Ithought it would take you till lunch time at least to get through withit."
"Speak for yourself," retorted Betty, too happy to mind being teased."Guess what, girls!" she added, unable to keep the news to herself foranother minute, "Allen arrives via the Western Limited at four-thirty orthereabouts to-morrow afternoon."
"Hooray!" cried the girls, and momentarily forgot their own letters invery real delight. Allen Washburn was a favorite with all of them.
"Will you let us all go to meet him, Betty dear?" asked Grace, with atwinkling smile. "Or does he insist on seeing you alone?"
"Don't be silly," retorted Betty good-naturedly. "I know he would takeit as a personal slight if you weren't all there to welcome him."
"Well, I don't know," Mollie commented ruefully. "Something tells me hewould manage to live through it even if we weren't there. But go on,Betty," she added. "Tell us what else he has to say."
"That's pretty nearly all," said Betty truthfully. "He said he wouldsave all the news until he saw me--us. One thing he did say," sheadded, dimpling: "The boys are simply wild with jealousy. They say it isall a deep dark scheme on Allen's part to get out here with us."
"Us!" repeated Grace, with a giggle. "Much he cares about the rest ofus."
Be that as it may, they certainly all turned out that followingafternoon to meet the Western Limited which was bearing Allen swiftlytoward them.
There was the usual gathering of picturesquely garbed miners andcow-punchers on the platform, and for most of these the girls had asmile and a nod.
"Seems funny to think how strange everything looked to us when we firstcame," remarked Grace, as they waited for the train. "Now we feel asmuch at home as if we had lived here all our lives."
"The people are all so nice and friendly, too," said Amy. "It'swonderful how soon you come to know them."
"It is a nice atmosphere," Betty agreed. "At home in the East we want toknow pretty much all there is to know about people we make our friends.But out here they take you for granted. Nobody seems to care where youcame from or who your relatives are----"
"Huh," grunted Mollie. "I guess in a good many cases it wouldn't do tobe too curious," she said cynically. "If you believe the stories youread and the movies you see everybody who has committed a crime anywherefrom petty larceny to murder skips out West to escape just punishment."
"Then at this moment," drawled Grace, glancing around at the ratherharmless looking crowd on the station platform, "we are surrounded bythieves and murderers. Though I must say they are a pretty nice lookingset," she added, and the girls giggled.
"Grace could forgive a man anything, if he was only good-lookingenough," remarked Amy.
"Here comes the train!" cried Betty suddenly, as the Western Limitedthundered around a curve in the distance and steamed toward them.Immediately she forgot everything but that Allen was on that train andthat in a moment more she would see him----
Then Allen himself, handsome as ever, eagerly scanning the faces on theplatform as he jumped from the train the instant the porter opened thedoor.
It took him barely a moment to discover the group of girls, and he cametoward them, hand outstretched, eyes alight with greeting.
"Well, if this isn't great!" he cried in his hearty voice, shakinghands with all of them but looking mostly at Betty. "Knew I could trustthe Outdoor Girls to turn out for a rousing welcome. How's everything?"
"Just fine," they assured him, and then Betty took him in hand.
"We've brought a wagon along from the ranch to carry your luggage," shesaid, dragging him over to the wagon beside which two of the boys fromthe ranch were waiting bashfully. "Come over and meet a couple of ourcow-punchers, and they will help you load your trunk on board."
All this accomplished, the cowboys and Allen having formed an immediateand staunch friendship, Betty introduced the latter to the horse she hadbrought for him to ride. The pony was a magnificent animal, dark brownin color with a curve to his graceful neck and a flash to his eye thatproclaimed his thoroughbred ancestry.
"Say, you old peach of a horse," said Allen, fondly stroking the softmuzzle, "you're just about the most perfect thing of your kind I've everseen. It seems almost a sacrilege to ride you."
"His name is Lightning," Amy volunteered. "The boys call him thatbecause he can outrun almost any other horse on the ranch. Though," sheadded loyally, "I shouldn't wonder if Lady could beat him if theyshould give her a head start."
This characteristic speech brought a laugh, and Allen regarded the fourother beautiful horses in the group.
"You girls seemed to have picked winners yourselves," he saidadmiringly. He studied them a moment, then his eyes narrowed quizzicallyas he turned to Betty.
"I'll bet you a box of candy against a pair of gloves," he said, "that Ican tell which horse belongs to which. Do you take me?"
"Of course," said Betty. "Go ahead."
He guessed them nearly right, except that he gave Nigger to Mollie andOld Nick to Betty.
"Almost does not avail," sang Betty gayly. "You owe me a box of candy,Allen Washburn."
He looked at her for a moment laughing, and suddenly her gaze faltered.There had been something new and forceful about Allen ever since he hadcome back from the war that had made Betty a little afraid of him. Butshe did not think any the less of him--oh, no indeed!
"I'll give you a dozen of them if you'll take them," he was sayingardently--evidently in reference to the candies.
"And if she won't take 'em, I will," said Grace, with a gusto that madethem all laugh.
On the way home the girls, with what they thought was greatconsideration, cantered along in front, leaving Allen and Betty to bringup the rear. Allen blessed them for it, but Betty was furious and keptup such a running fire of comment and laughing narrative that Allen hadno chance to say the things he had wanted to say.
Only once as they neared th
e ranch she paused a moment, pointing outover the dazzling plains to the purple tipped mountains in the distance.
"Isn't the country beautiful, Allen?" she asked breathlessly. "I'vefallen dead in love with it."
"It looks too good to be true," Allen agreed seriously, then addedboyishly, with a glance that took her in, as well as the scenery: "Justnow, I don't care if I never go home!"
The Outdoor Girls in the Saddle; Or, The Girl Miner of Gold Run Page 16