rs Bad News 355
XX The Captain Finds His Own 373

CHAPTER I

WITH HUZ AND BABY JILL IN THE PASTURE

"Chicken Little--Chicken Little!"

Mrs. Morton's face was flushed with the heat. She was frying doughnuts
over a hot stove and had been calling Chicken Little at intervals for
the past ten minutes. Providence did not seem to have designed Mrs.
Morton for frying doughnuts. She was very sensitive to heat and had
little taste for cooking. She had laid aside her silks and laces on
coming to the ranch, but the poise and dignity that come from years of
gentle living were still hers. Her formal manner always seemed a trifle
out of place in the old farm kitchen. On this particular morning she was
both annoyed and indignant.

"She is the most provoking child!" she exclaimed in exasperation as Dr.
Morton stepped into the kitchen.

"Provoking--who?--Chicken Little? What's the matter now?"

"That child is a perfect fly-away. I can no more lay my hands on her
when I need her than I could on a flea. She is off to the pasture, or
out watching the men plow, or trotting away, no one knows where, with
the two pups. And the worst of it is you encourage her in it, Father.
You forget she is thirteen years old--almost a woman in size! She is too
old to be such a tomboy. She should be spending her time on her music
and sewing, or learning to cook--now that school's out for the summer."

Dr. Morton laughed.

"Oh, let up on the music for a year or two, Mother. Chicken Little's
developing finely. She's a first rate little cook already. You couldn't
have prepared a better breakfast yourself than she gave us that morning
you were sick. You don't realize how much she does help you, and as to
running about the farm, that will be the making of her. She is growing
tall and strong and rosy. You don't want to make her into an old woman."

"It is all very well to talk, Father, but I intend to have my only
daughter an accomplished lady, and I think you ought to help me. She is
too old to be wasting her time this way. But have you any idea where she
is? I want to send her over to Benton's after eggs. I have used all mine
up for settings, and I can't make the custard pies you are so fond of,
till I get some."

Dr. Morton laughed again.

"Yes, I have an exact idea where she is. Set your kettle back on the
stove a moment and come and see."

Mrs. Morton followed him, leaving her doughnuts rather