his coffee in silence, glad for once that
the cup was large enough to hide his face.

CHAPTER XII

THE ROMAN EMPEROR

The late August days came relentlessly on, each in turn being seized by
the Vigilantes and placed in a treasure-house of never-to-be-forgotten
joys. The month which they had planned in June was lengthening into six
weeks. Mr. Hunter and Virginia had insisted and Aunt Nan seemed very loath
to go. Already they were quite Westernized. They "rustled" and "cached"
and "packed" things without even stopping to think, and _r's_ were
unmistakably creeping into Priscilla's strictly Bostonian speech. What
_would_ the Winthrop family say?

Every day the country grew lovelier. A veil of bronze and purple was being
laid softly over the foot-hills, and the waiting wheat stood golden. Day
after day the sun rose in glory, and after a cloudless journey set in a
golden sea. In the woods the berries of the kinnikinnick grew red, and on
the lawn the mountain ash trees stood clothed in holiday attire. The air
was clear and bracing; the nights were cold. One morning the highest
mountain was white with snow, which, when the sun rose higher, hurried
away, as though it had told a secret. September was on the way, and these
were her forerunners.

"I never supposed," announced Priscilla one morning at breakfast, "that
weeks could go so fast. It makes old age seem awfully close. And still I
know how slowly they go sometimes, like January at St. Helen's, for
instance. Just sixteen more days, and we'll be going back East, Virginia.
Dad says if I'm not back by the tenth, they'll motor to the White
Mountains without me. I'm afraid I can't help feeling superior when I view
the White Mountains after seeing these!"

Virginia was busily counting on her fingers.

"I'm trying to remember just what we've done and what we haven't done,"
she said. "Then we can see what's left. We've ridden hundreds of miles,
and we've climbed mountains, and trapped a bear, and shot gophers, and
fished, and homesteaded, and camped, and visited Aunt Deborah and Jean
MacDonald. I'm so glad Jean went to Aunt Deborah's with us. It was such
fun having her along. Then we've been up to Mystic Lake, and out on the
range with Joe and William, and----"

"But you haven't visited the Roman Emperor," interrupted her father. "I
stopped at his place yesterday on my way home from Willow Creek, and found
him at home, flag out and all. He promised me some water-c