red around the old man as if he were indeed a child.

Long before daylight the next morning, Professor Gillette was awake and
he waited impatiently for the first sign of life in the house. It
would never do, he thought, to disturb the family on his first morning
in their house.

But he did not have to wait long. Dad Patten was an early riser and at
the first sound the professor was ready to go out in the yard. Here he
found Indian Joe already busy, going doggedly about his work, never in
a hurry, never flustered but accomplishing a surprising lot of jobs
during his long day.

He had brought in Kit's horse, a beautiful, dark, slender animal that
pawed the ground and whinneyed impatiently.

Kit slipped from the house with a cry of joy. "Oh, Powder, you dear,
dear old thing! I love you! And you'll never know how much I missed
you!"

There was a sparkle in Joe's eye as he hastily put on the saddle while
Kit ran into the house for her riding knickers. The professor watched
admiringly as she swung into the saddle. Then he stood paralyzed with
fear as the horse stood straight up on his hind legs, then with a
sudden spring he reversed his position with his hind legs in the air.

Kit had half expected this performance and had put on spurs which she
dug into his sides. Not for a second did she leave the saddle. She
finally turned the horse's head toward the road and with a prod of the
spurs sent the animal down it at a speed that made the professor gasp
in fright. Every moment he expected to see the girl thrown against the
jagged rocks at the side of the narrow thoroughfare. But Kit held the
reins. Soon she was out of sight and the old man went in search of Dad
Patten.

"Kit's horse is running away with her," he exclaimed, his hand
trembling.

But Dad Patten and Indian Joe merely smiled. "It had to come," said
the girl's father. "Whenever Kit leaves that horse, even for a week,
she has to go through this. Powder wants to be boss and tries to win,
but Kit is always master."

"She knows what she's doing," Ma Patten reassured the old man when he
excitedly pointed out Kit far over the mesa, struggling with her pony
who was once more bucking. "Kit has been riding a horse ever since she
was a baby."

Kit returned half an hour later, her cheeks glowing, her eyes dancing
with excitement. And when the professor voiced his fears to her, she
replied: "You know I don't believe that horse would throw me. I thin