, facing Jim squarely. "I am Carlos, of the tribe
of the Blackfeet," he answered proudly. "Are you the Big Chief of this
ranch?"

Jim Colter shook his head gravely, although his eyes were smiling. "No,
I am Big Chief of nothing, sonnie," he replied kindly. "But you had
better come into the house with me; that is an uncommonly ugly wound you
have on your arm, and I've an idea you might be persuaded to eat a
little something."

CHAPTER IV

THE WAY TO ARCADY

"It can't be, Jim, that you think maybe we will be able to carry out our
scheme," Jean murmured, her voice hushed almost into a whisper from
sheer surprise. She held her fork in the air, hovering between her mouth
and her plate, while the other three girls leaned back limply in their
chairs at the breakfast table. To win a battle without a fight when all
your forces are drawn up for action is unsettling.

"Oh, well, I didn't exactly say I would agree to this caravan trip," Jim
hedged. "I don't know that it is a good plan for you to give up your
home and take to the woods; but I did say that the idea was worth
considering if Miss Ruth favors it. The thing that troubles me most is
who is to be the leader of this female cavalcade?" Jim frowned and
buttered his fourth hot biscuit. "Don't tell me, Jack Ralston, that you
can go it alone, for you can't. It is a good thing you were born in
Wyoming, the first state to declare for woman's suffrage, for if ever I
met a real natural born female suffragette, it's you. There isn't a
thing on this earth that a man does that you wouldn't try if you could.
I don't know, Miss Drew, but that we are a little more advanced on the
woman question out here than you are in Vermont," Jim drawled slowly.
"Kind of seems like it ought to help reconcile you to living among us."

Ruth laughed girlishly. She had on a white pique frock and looked as
dainty as a Dresden china shepherdess; she had plenty of color now and
her lips had lost their disapproving curve. "I don't need the vote to
reconcile me to living with the ranch girls, Mr. Colter," she insisted
sweetly. "And please understand I am just as anxious for the caravan
trip as I can be."

Jim looked thoughtfully at his plate without answering, until Jack gave
a little tug at his sleeve. "See here, Jim, dear," she argued quickly,
"even I haven't suggested that we undertake our trip without a man for
our guide. You know we want to follow one of the old, almost forgotten
trails ac