ide in a minute."

"Inside?"

"To Los Angeles, I mean. People here on the desert call that 'inside,'
though I never could see why. Please, Mr. Goodwin, give me a blank. I
want to send a telegram."

The man behind the counter supplied her with the necessary materials,
and stood waiting curiously for the message to be written. But another
idea had occurred to Tabitha, and turning away from the operator with
the blank in her hand, she whispered to Gloriana in dismay, "I don't
dare telegraph. Mr. Goodwin is a worse gossip than any old maid I ever
knew, and he'd tell it all over town before noon!"

"Then write a letter."

"It takes nearly a week for mail to travel that far. It might be too
late by--I've got it! How will this do?"

Rapidly she scribbled a few hasty words on the slip in her hands and
passed it to Gloriana, who read in amazement this queer scrawl:

"Wire five hundred silver headed eagles. Must get rich quick. Ask
Carrie to translate. Letter follows.

Tabitha Catt."

"That is more than ten words, but I can't help it. I'm willing to pay
for it if it does the work."

"But, Kitty, what does it mean?" asked mystified Gloriana, privately
thinking it the silliest piece of nonsense she had ever heard of.
"Will he know what you want?"

"Carrie will. We used to write notes to each other in cipher when we
were little. _We_ called it cipher. Of course it was all utter
nonsense, but I am sure she will remember."

"It doesn't sound--sensible--to me," Gloriana confessed. "I suppose
five hundred silver headed eagles means five hundred dollars, but what
is that about getting rich?"

Tabitha laughed gleefully. "Rosslyn McKittrick was a long time
learning to say his own name when he was a baby," she explained. "As
near as he could get it, 'twas 'Russ Getrich.' Mr. Carson was
superintendent of the Silver Legion then, instead of one of the owners,
and as Mr. McKittrick was working there when Rosslyn was born, the
miners made him their mascot, and Mr. Carson used to tease him by
calling him 'Must get rich quick.' I couldn't write 'McKittrick' in
the telegram without Goodwin suspecting what I am up to; so I did the
next best thing I could think of."

"But--" It all still seemed so ridiculous to the red-haired girl.

"You think he will wonder if I am crazy?" Tabitha had read the look of
doubt in her companion's face, and correctly surmised what she was
thinking. "Perhaps he will, but I don't