e world are you doing?" Alice asked.

"Getting ready for my big jump," was the answer.

"Your big jump?"

"Yes, you know there is a scene where I carry a message from
headquarters to one of the Union generals at the front. Your father
plays the latter part."

"Oh, yes, now I remember. And Daddy is sure no one can do quite as well
as he can in the tent scene, where he salutes you and takes the message
you have brought through with such peril."

"Yes, that's nice. Well, I'm to ride along and be pursued by some
Confederate guerrillas. It's a race, and I decide to take a short cut,
not knowing the Confederates have burned the bridge. I have to leap my
horse down an embankment and ford the stream. I'm getting ready for the
jump now--that's why I'm padding myself. For Petro--that's my
horse--might slip or stumble in jumping down that embankment, and I want
to be ready to roll out of the way. It's much more comfortable to roll
in a padded suit--like a football player's--than in your ordinary
clothes. Your friend, Russ Dalwood, told me to do this, and I think it
is a good idea."

"It's sure to be if Russ told you, isn't it, Ruth?" asked Alice, with a
mischievous look at her sister, who had just come in.

"How should I know?" was the cool response. "I suppose Mr. Dalwood knows
what he is doing, though."

"Oh, how very formal we are all of a sudden," mocked Alice. "You two
haven't quarreled, have you?"

"Silly," returned Ruth, blushing.

"Are you really going to jump your horse down a cliff?" asked Alice.

"I really am," was the smiling answer. "There is to be no fake about
this. But really there is little danger. I am so used to horses."

"Yes, and I marvel at you," put in Ruth. "Where did you learn it all?"

"I don't know. It seems to come natural to me."

"You must have lived on a ranch a long time," ventured Ruth.

"Did I? Well, perhaps I did. Say, lace this up the back for me, that's a
dear," and she turned around so that Alice or Ruth could fasten a
corset-like pad that covered a large part of her body. It would not
show under her dress, but would be a protection in case of a fall.

Alice and Ruth were so greatly interested in the coming perilous leap of
Estelle's that they did not pursue their inquiries about her life on a
ranch, though Alice casually remarked that it was strange she did not
speak more about it.

The two DeVere girls had no part in this one scene, and they went to
watch it, safely out