ge bank of deep-purple cloud that had crept up,
blotting out everything. It was breathlessly hot and quite still--not a
leaf stirred on a tree, and the birds were quiet.

"Whew!" said Norah. "We're going to have a storm--and a big one!"

She listened. From far up faint calls and laughter still met her ears.
It was evident that the boys were finding the water very much to their
taste.

"Duffers!" Norah ejaculated. "We'll have the loveliest soaking--and
Dad'll be anxious."

She coo-ee'd several times, but no response came. Finally she rose,
with a little wrinkle in her brow.

"I guess I'd better saddle up," she said.

The horses were tied up in a clump of trees not far off, the saddles
out of reach of their restless feet. Norah saddled Bobs first, and then
the two stock horses--which was easy. To get Monarch ready, however, was
not such a simple matter: the youngster was uneasy and sweating, and
would not keep still for a moment; to get the saddle on and adjust
breastplate and rings was a fairly stiff task with a sixteen-hands
horse and a groom of fourteen years, hampered by a divided riding
skirt. At length the last buckle went home, and Norah gave a relieved
sigh.

"Bother you, Monarch!" she said. "You've taken me an awful time. Come
on, Bobs."

Leaving the other horses tied up, she mounted and cantered down the
bank, calling again and again. An answer came sooner than she had
expected, and the three boys, somewhat hastily arrayed, came running
through the trees.

"Jimmy, have you seen the weather?" asked his sister, indicating the
blackened sky.

"Only a few minutes ago," Jim said, visibly annoyed with himself. "We
were diving in a hole with the trees meeting overhead, and the scrub
thick all around us--hadn't an idea it was working up for this. Why
didn't you call us, you old duffer?"

"I did--but I couldn't make you hear," said Norah, somewhat injured.
"Hurry--I've saddled up."

"You have? You didn't saddle Monarch?" asked Jim quickly.

"Yes, he's all ready, and the valises are on. We're in for a ducking,
anyway, don't you think, Jim?"

"I think you hadn't any business to saddle Monarch," Jim said, soberly.
"I wish you wouldn't do those things, Norah."

"Oh, it was all right." She smiled down at him. "He was only a bit
fidgety; I believe he's frightened of the weather, Jim." She looked
across at Cecil, seeing that young gentleman, wonderful to relate, with
his stock folded awry, and his hair in w