they can do, but will let us know in a week or two."

"And what about the girls?" questioned Fred quickly.

"Of course, they are to go along, too. Martha will go with Mary and her
folks, and May will, of course, be with my mother, and she is going to
try to get Ruth to go with her."

"But Ruth said she was going somewhere else," remarked Jack, and his face
showed disappointment.

"I know that, Jack. But I think May can get the Stevensons to allow her
to go. Anyway, all the girls are going to try."

After that the Rovers and Gif asked many other questions concerning Big
Horn Ranch and Spouter told them all he could.

"Of course, I know only what dad has written and what was said about the
ranch before we purchased it. I suppose I'll learn a lot more as soon as
I go home, and then I'll let you know about it."

"Gee! we ought to have the best time ever," exclaimed Andy gleefully, as
he caught Spouter by the shoulders and commenced to dance him around the
room.

"It was certainly well worth waiting for, Spouter," came from Jack.

"I don't see how you managed to keep it a secret," put in Randy. "I'd
have been bustin' to tell it every minute."

"Well, I had a job of it, believe me, with you fellows dinging at me all
the time," was Spouter's answer.

"When do you suppose we can start?" questioned Fred.

"That, of course, will depend a good deal on you and your folks,"
answered Spouter. "My folks are already out there, getting the ranch in
readiness for visitors. I suppose you'll want to go home over the Fourth
of July, but maybe you'll be able to start West right after that."

"I don't know what could hold us back."

"Is the ranch house big enough to accommodate such a large crowd?"
questioned Jack. "There are a lot of us, remember."

"I think so. You see the ranch is really a combination of two ranches,
the buildings of one ranch were located near the eastern boundary while
the buildings of the other ranch were set equally close to the western
boundary, and as a result the two sets of buildings are not very far
apart. Father and mother didn't know exactly what they were going to do.
They said they would either divide the party between the two ranch houses
or otherwise send all the hired help to one of the houses and keep our
whole party at the other."

"It would be nice if we could stick together," said Randy.

"Oh, it won't make much difference, because, as I understand it, it's
only a short walk from o