enever the fancy took her, and now as she dashed out of
the corral with Don and Solomon racing madly after her, the men
grinned with satisfaction that the Senorita had returned to the ranch
unchanged.

As she neared the Kooch ranch she saw a solitary horseman emerging
from the gate. He was not looking towards her, and after a moment's
scrutiny she began to whistle "All the Blue Bonnets." With a start of
surprise Alec glanced up the road and at once galloped towards her.

"Is it really you?" he asked, hardly believing his eyes.

"Nae ither!" she laughed, turning Firefly and falling in with the
strawberry mare--whose four legs, she noted, were as sound as ever.

"Well, you are an early bird."

"Lucky you're not a worm,--I'm hungry enough to eat one!" she said
gaily. Under cover of the jest she stole a quick look at him. Yes, in
spite of the sunburn he looked worn out and ill; he needed to rest and
be taken care of. She refrained from asking how he felt and instead
kept up a steady fire of nonsense, describing their dull day at the
ranch without him. If Alec had felt any resentment at her coming for
him, it melted under her light treatment of the situation; and by the
time they reached the little "rio" he was more like his usual,
interested self.

"I think I'd like to follow up this cree--er--river, I mean," he
remarked, looking up the winding, willow-grown course.

"Not before breakfast, thank you!"

"Well, I didn't mean right this minute, but sometime," he corrected.

"We will, surely. I want to introduce you to the lovely spots of the
ranch, just as you showed me the charming places about Woodford. It
will be different from following the brook as we used to do there,
but I think you'll like it. There are picnic places along San
Franciscito that can't be beat."

"San Frances_cheeto_?" he echoed; "where's that?"

"That's the name of this river," she replied loftily.

Alec threw back his head and laughed. "The name's bigger than the
stream!" he declared.

"It has advantages over the brook, as you'll see. One of them is the
swimming hole. Do you swim?"

Alec's eyes glistened. "I'm ready to learn."

"Well, get Shady to teach you. I'm going to make the girls learn. You
boys and we girls will have the pool on alternate days,--won't it be
fun?"

"The best ever. This is the first I've heard of it."

"I wanted some things for surprises," Blue Bonnet declared. "Isn't it
odd your being here and seeing everythi