ogress.

"I like that bird!" cried Joy with enthusiasm. "I believe it could be
taught to dance."

"You can have the job of teaching it," remarked Shirley Williams with a
shiver. "I wouldn't want to get a nip from that long bill."

"If you want to know what that bill can do, just get the opinion of the
rattlesnakes and lizards around here. Those birds are the worst
enemies the snakes have. They certainly fade away when Mr. Road Runner
is out for a walk. And by the way, Bet, this bird has a third name,
it's 'Snake killer'."

But Matt was calling impatiently and the girls finally left their
observations of desert life and took their seats in the car.

For a few miles Matt sent the machine ahead at a rate which troubled
the girls but finally his impatience wore away and he slowed down to
his ordinary careful driving.

Kit nodded approval and whispered to Bet: "Matt forgot he was driving a
car; he thought he was riding a bronc."

"I am greatly relieved," said the professor quietly. "Speed is the
curse of the age. We should take lessons from the Indians."

"That's all you know about Injins, Injins ain't so slow as you might
think. I've seen 'em with plenty of ginger in 'em. They're only slow
when there's work to be done." Matt Larkin had made the longest speech
that Kit had ever heard from him at one time. He was not a talkative
man, and rarely addressed anyone.

But that did not shake the professor in his conviction that Indians had
led a quiet, placid existence and should be an example.

"Yes, we have much to learn from the red man," he continued just as if
Matt had not spoken. And if he heard the contemptuous snort from the
driver, he did not let on.

Mile after mile slid by quickly and soon the walls of the ranch house
were visible.

"There it is!" cried Kit, hardly able to sit still. "We're almost
home!"

"At long last!" Joy burst out impatiently. "I had almost given up
expecting it. It's been ages since we left the station."

"But wasn't every minute of it perfect!" Enid Breckenridge was
enjoying the feeling of ownership in the land. Part of this strange
country was hers, her home. "Didn't you enjoy it all?"

"No, I didn't," Joy answered. "I got so tired of those tall
smoke-stack cactus things that I wanted to scream." She pointed her
hand at the towering pillars of the suhuaro, or giant cactus. "And I
hope I'll never have to see a cow again. They're everywhere! Only one
thing