our free livin's
an' doin's was to be interfered with, but we are now. Three cheers
for the company an' the treat they've give us, more especial for the
Little One, and--Long may she wave! Hip, hip, hurrar!"

The cheer was given with a will, and then again came the Captain's
order:

"Fall into line. Right about face. March! hep, hep, hep--hep!"

But as they filed away Dorothy had another inspiration and, acting upon
it, sent the delighted cowboys marching to the lively air of "Yankee,
Doodle, Doodle Doo."

"And now to bed!" advised the hostess. So within a very few moments all
were in their rooms, tired and happy despite the worries of the day, and
sure that all would come right at last.

The four girls shared two rooms, facing one another and with two dainty
beds in each. Milliken's chamber was at the end of the long passage
beyond theirs, and those of the rest of the household across a wide hall
which cut this wing of the house in two. In structure the building was
very like _El Paraiso_, which the Gray Lady had admired and where the
happiness of reunion had come to her; and it seemed to those who had
wintered in the old adobe that they had but stepped into another home.

Of course, sleep did not come at once. Four girls, even if together all
day long, find much to chatter about at night, and this had been a day
of "happenings" indeed.

Dolly and Alfy came across to sit on Helena's bed and watch her dainty,
slow preparations for retiring. Molly was already perched in the middle
of her own white bed, hugging her knees and proclaiming for the
twentieth time, at least:

"Oh! I am such a thankful girl! After I fired that rifle and saw that
purple mass of stuff lying on the ground I thought I was a murderer! I
did so. Yet I was mad, too, to think Wun Sing had been such an idiot as
to go between me and the target."

"Herbert claims the safest place for others, when a girl shoots, is
right behind the target. But it wasn't when Alfy hit the bull's-eye. How
did you do it, child? It was wonderful and at that distance--which
Captain Lemuel fixed for himself!" said Helena, brushing out her hair
preparatory to loosely braiding it.

"Oh! Nell, you're lovely that way! In that soft nightie--you do have
such lovely, lacey things. I wish Aunt Betty would buy me some like
them, but she won't. She's too sensible, and oh! dear! I wish I had my
arms around her neck this minute!"

"Put them around mine, Dolly Doodles, and quit