And build a bonfire to roast--" began Billiard, but paused,
remembering that it was too early for green corn yet, and not being
able to think of anything else roastable.

"Mosquitoes," finished Toady mischievously.

But Tabitha's face clouded anxiously. "I am afraid we'll have to let
the bonfire go this time," she said gravely. "There is a law against
such things here in Silver Bow. A fire is such a hard thing to fight
on the desert, supposing it once gets started; so no one takes any
risks."

Toady's face fell and Billiard looked rebellious, seeing which, Tabitha
hastily continued, "Some day we will go down to the river----"

"Oh, and have a picnic!" squealed Susie, giving such an eager little
hop of anticipation that the cup she was drying flew out of her hand
and half-way across the room, falling with a dull thud in a pan of
bread sponge which Tabitha had just been mixing.

"My!" breathed Irene enviously, "I wish my dishes would do that! When
_I_ drop one it always bu'sts."

Her peculiar grievance, coupled with Susie's look of utter amazement at
the performance of her cup, caused a merry laugh all around, and the
subject of bonfire was speedily forgotten, to Tabitha's unbounded
relief.

The dishes were soon washed and piled away in the cupboard, the evening
chores completed, and the troop of eager children romped gaily up the
rocky trail to the summit of the mountain, on which the Eagles' Nest
was built. It was just such a night as Tabitha loved, and she would
gladly have sat in silence the whole evening through, watching the
barren landscape lying glorified in the white moonlight; but not so
with the younger members of the party. To be sure, it was a pretty
picture that the old moon revealed to their eyes, but even the most
beautiful pictures cannot hold a child's attention long. It is
excitement that they desire; so scarcely had the party reached their
goal than Inez demanded imperiously, "Now Tabitha, speak something for
us."

"Oh, not right away," protested the older girl, glancing wistfully
about her at the beauties of the night, and longing for a few moments
of solitude that she might enjoy herself in her own peculiar fashion.
"Let's watch the moon come up."

"No," clamored the boys, who had heard Tabitha's many talents lauded by
their cousins until their curiosity had well-nigh reached the bursting
point. "Speak right away. It's no fun watching the old moon come up!
Besides, it's high enou