e to the canyon on!" bellowed the two as with one voice.

"Really?" gasped Tabitha.

"How perfectly scrumptious!" squealed the tribe of McKittrick.

"But Janie and Rosslyn," faltered Gloriana faintly. "Aren't they too
small----"

"Oh, he's got a buckboard, too," grinned Billiard, who had recently
discovered the red-haired maid's poor little secret; but forbore to
make unkind remarks about it because he himself stood somewhat in awe
of the sleepy-eyed demons of the desert, since one had unexpectedly
kicked him when he was trying to mount. "He drove in for some
provisions, and your father told him to bring us all back with him, and
we're to _camp_ at the mines until Monday. Won't that be great?
Whoop-ee!" He leaped into the air, cracked his heels together and came
down with a resounding thump which shook the whole house and made the
dishes in the pantry rattle.

But no word of reproof was uttered, for Tabitha had seized the
half-dressed, half-combed Janie in her arms, and rushed from the room.
It seemed impossible that anyone could have come up that narrow, rocky
trail to the Eagles' Nest with a half dozen or more burros and a
buckboard without her having heard them, but there they were lined up
by the kitchen steps,--seven sleepy-eyed, wicked little burros, saddled
and bridled, and a pair of small, wiry mustangs hitched to a light
wagon, and driven by Decker Simmons, Mr. Catt's partner.

"Why, Uncle Decker!" Tabitha began.

"Didn't we tell you he was here?" exulted the two boys who had followed
her.

"But--but--" she stammered.

"But she didn't b'lieve us," crowed Toady.

"I thought you must be mistaken," she confessed, "for I could not
imagine anyone so crazy as to want _ten_ children under foot at a mine.
Whatever possessed Dad, Uncle Decker?"

The man laughed good-naturedly. "Thought we all needed a vacation, I
reckon," he answered. "Are you anywhere near ready? Better hurry.
Sun will soon be unmercifully hot, and the canyon isn't exactly within
walking distance. Can't I help?"

"No, thanks. It won't take us long----"

"We're ready now," announced the procession of girls crowded around her.

"Mercy finished Janie's hair while you stood here gabbing. Glory
packed up what duds we'd need, and Billiard's got the house all locked
up. Who's to take which burro?"

"Makes no difference," answered the man, chuckling at the despatch with
which preparations for the outing were made. "Put the little