g of him," Uncle Cliff assured her. "He'll go
back to Massachusetts as husky as Pinto Pete, if he'll just learn to
live outdoors, and leave books alone for a while."

"I'm going to hide every book he has brought with him," declared Blue
Bonnet. "And Sarah Blake will need looking after--she has the book
habit, too."

Uncle Joe shook his head. "It seems to be a germ disease they have
back there in Massachusetts. Glad you didn't catch it, Blue Bonnet."

"Oh, I'm immune!" laughed she, as she said good-night and went to seek
Benita.

She found her old nurse in the kitchen, resting after an arduous day.
Gertrudis, the famous cook "loaned" for the summer by a neighboring
ranch, was mixing something mysterious in a wooden bowl, while her
granddaughter Juanita, a nut-brown beauty, pirouetted about the room,
showing off her new rosettes in a Spanish dance.

Blue Bonnet clapped her hands. "That's a pretty step, Juanita,--will
you teach it to me some day?"

"Si, Senorita," she assented eagerly, showing all her white teeth in a
delighted smile. "It is the _cachucha_."

"The girls will all want to learn it," Blue Bonnet assured her. She
draw Benita into the dining-room and then gave her a hearty squeeze.
"Everything's just lovely, you old dear," she cried. "The girls are
crazy about the nursery, and they think you are the dearest ever!"

Benita's wrinkled face beamed. "If the Senorita is pleased, old Benita
is happy," she said deprecatingly.

"Benita, I missed you dreadfully, off there in Woodford. I had to make
my own bed and do my own mending!"

Benita gave an odd little sound of distress. "But Benita will do it
now," she urged anxiously.

"You'll have to get around Grandmother then, Benita,--I can't."

"The Senora is kind--" Benita began.

"--but firm," added Blue Bonnet. "I leave her to you!"

It was so late before the girls finally settled down into their
respective corners, that it seemed only about five minutes before they
were awakened at daybreak by the most terrific tumult that ever smote
the ears of slumbering innocence.

Bang, bang! Boom, crash, bang! Shouts, yells, wild Comanche-like cries
rent the ear, and punctuated the incessant booming that shook even the
thick adobe walls of the nursery.

Four terrified faces were raised simultaneously from four white beds,
and four voices in chorus whispered: "What is it?" No one dared stir.

Suddenly the door was burst open and in sprang a white-robed figure,