rom which
French windows, extending from the floor to the ceiling, opened,
admitting any breeze that might be stirring.

The room assigned to the boys was on the west side of the house,
and through the vines they could look across the plains to some
mountains that towered in the distance.

"Our room is the next one to yours," said Bill. "We'll wait there
till you are dressed. If you want anything, sing out."

Hastily Tom and Larry took off the clothes in which they had
traveled, and bathed, glad of the opportunity to remove the cinders
which had caused them no little discomfort.

"Bill and Horace seem just the same as when they lived in Bramley,"
observed Tom when they were alone. "Horace hasn't grown a bit."

"They are tanned up till they look like Indians, that's the only
change I can see," returned his brother. "Horace always will be
short, but Bill's tall enough for two."

"You can't wear those caps," declared Bill as Tom and Larry
appeared with the light baseball caps they had brought with them.

"But that's all we have," protested Larry, "except, of course, our
straw hats. You don't expect us to knock round in those, do you?"

"Sure not. But if you wore those caps you'd get sunstruck out on
the plains. We've got some sombreros you can take."

As the boys trooped out onto the piazza Tom espied a five-bar fence
about a hundred yards from the house.

"That's the horse corral," explained Horace, noting the direction
of his friend's gaze. "We don't keep our ponies in barns out here.
The horses are all out on the range now, except eight we keep at
home for ourselves."

Passing from the cool veranda, the boys walked toward a long
building some thirty yards away.

"This is the bunk-house, where the cowboys stay when they're home,"
announced Bill. "There are ten of them, the best boys in this part
of the country, but they are a lively lot. It's a good thing they
are with the cattle. You'll have a chance to get used to ranching
before they come in or they might amuse themselves at your expense.
Politeness isn't a cowboy's long suit."

"So I gathered," said Larry as he thought of his experience at the
crossing in Oklahoma. But his mind was quickly diverted by his
brother.

"What's that half-moon over the door mean?" asked the younger of
the Alden boys as he caught sight of a gilded crescent that
sparkled in the sunlight.

"Oh, tenderfoot! oh, tenderfoot! It is indeed fortunate the boys
are a