Nat was digging in our garden and he found an old
rusty cannon ball and a piece of a flintlock, and ever since that I've
always wanted to get a shovel and dig." Bet's voice had a longing in
it that set the girls into screams of laughter.

"You ridiculous girl!" cried Joy affectionately. "You would try to
start something!"

"But you'll have to acknowledge that Bet usually finds what she goes
out after," remarked the quiet Shirley, pointing her camera toward the
canyon wall opposite Tommy's door. "And while we usually object, we've
never had more fun or thrills than when she leads us into adventure."

"Maybe so. But..." began Joy.

"And so I say," continued Shirley, "let Bet lead the way and we'll
follow. If it's treasure, we'll help her dig. And if she goes in for
fancy bronco busting, that's O. K. too."

"Oh, Shirley, don't say that! You make me feel responsible and I don't
want that. Let's not make any plans at all. Just be ready to do
whatever comes our way. That's always more fun." Bet liked to have
the thrill of unexpected adventure, hoping that something new would
come their way.

"I have my heart set on teaching some of you to rope a steer," Kit
spoke up.

"Sure! It wouldn't do at all for them to go back east before they'd
learned that," agreed Tommy, his eyes glowing at the prospect of
showing off his skill with the rope.

"It isn't as hard as it looks," Kit encouraged the girls.

"I imagine we'll find it harder than it looks," laughed Bet as she tore
herself away from the map. "It doesn't look a bit difficult when that
rope twirls through the air. I've seen it in the movies and once I
tried it with the clothes line but I couldn't do more than get the rope
around my own neck. I know I'll never learn."

"Before the summer is over, Bet, you'll be a regular cowboy. I'll
teach you myself," Tommy asserted.

"And I don't want to be taught. I'm sure I'd hate it," exclaimed Joy.

"Nobody will learn if we are going to get interested in treasure maps
and that sort of thing," pouted Kit.

Bet spoke up firmly: "I've decided not to go treasure hunting. As a
work of art, that map is a treasure in itself, I love it, but I'm going
to leave the treasure hunting to Tommy and Kie Wicks and the cross-eyed
Mexican."

Bet was so positive in her assertion that the treasure could remain in
the ground for all she cared, that no one guessed that before the month
was out, not Bet alone, but all The Merri