y Hall opens its doors again----"

"Aha!" triumphed Tabitha. "Then you don't like it now, do you? I
never could get you to admit it last winter."

"I haven't admitted it yet," Gloriana retorted spiritedly. "It looks
so much different in the summer time, but still seems queer to me with
its heaps of rocks and no trees except the stiff old Joshuas. I wonder
why they are called that. Even they don't seem like trees to me. They
look like giant cactus plants, and just as cruel."

"They have beautiful blossoms," Tabitha interrupted. "We are a little
too late to see them, though many of the other desert flowers are still
in bloom. Look across that stretch beyond the river road. Isn't it
pretty with its red and yellow carpet? May is the month to see the
desert in its glory, though. _Then_ it is truly beautiful. _No_ one
could think it ugly. But come, let's run over to Mercy's house. We
have swept and dusted, and you have finished unpacking. This is our
second day at home and I haven't been near to inquire how Mr.
McKittrick is. He was hurt before Christmas, so we never went there
during the holidays, you remember."

"Where do they live?"

"Why, I showed you the place--that queer brown house perched up-----"

"Oh, yes, on that great shelf of rock, overlooking the railway station."

"The first house we see on our way up here from the depot. Mr.
McKittrick always called it the Eagles' Nest, and his children the
eaglets."

"What a pretty idea! How many eaglets are there besides Mercedes and
the little boy you named?"

"Four other girls. Mercy is the oldest of the family. Then come
Susanne, or Susie, as they call her; the twins, Inez and Irene; Rosslyn
and the baby, Janie."

"That's quite a family. What nice times they must have together!"
sighed Gloriana wistfully, thinking of her own orphaned life with no
brothers or sisters with whom to make merry.

"Yes, I reckon they are a pretty lively bunch sometimes, for Susie is
as wild as Mercedes is quiet; and Inez should have been her twin
instead of Irene's. Janie is a regular little mischief, too, but such
a darling! You are sure to love her, though Rosslyn is my favorite.
Put on your hat and let's go down before dinner. Daddy won't be home
until evening, and there is nothing to keep us here."

Seizing her sunbonnet from its peg by the door, Tabitha started up the
path toward town with Gloriana hobbling along at her side, when they
saw Mercedes, w