but, by way of fun, another ranchman caught him
as he escaped from Ephraim, and forcibly ducked his head and shoulders
in the washing-trough. After that he was let go and later on was given
a liberal supper at the messroom. He ate this as if he had not seen
food since he had gone away two days before, but he was greedy at all
times, and the present instance excited no comment.

The morning came and all was ready for the start. Every person at
Sobrante gathered before the cottage door, and each with his or her
word of farewell advice or good will. Aunt Sally, fluttering with
patchwork strips of already "pieced blocks," flung jauntily over
either shoulder, her spectacles slipping off the point of her nose and
her hands holding forth a fat fig pie, hot and dripping from the oven.

"I've been a-bakin' all night, Ephy. There's a pair of fowls, a ham,
four loaves, some hard-boiled eggs, salt, pepper, sugar, tea, coffee,
butter, dishes, five vials of medicine, some dish towels, some----"

"What in reason! How expect me to carry that great basket, as well as
the saddlebags, and myself--on one horse? You're old enough to have
sense--but you'll never learn it. One loaf----"

"Ephraim Marsh! Are you eighty years old or are you not? At your age
would you starve the little darling daughter of the best friends you
ever had? Here, Jessie. You get off that donkey. We'll wait till we can
pick out some other man that----"

"Give me the basket; I'll carry it if I have to on my head!"
interrupted "Forty-niner," indignantly. But he added to himself:
"I can chuck it into the first clump of mesquite I meet."

Jessica was upon Scruff, whose loss the small boys were bewailing
far more than that of the girl herself. Without Scruff they would be
compelled to stay within walking distance of the cottage, and this
was imprisonment. Without Jessica--well, there were many things one
could do better with Jessica away.

Mrs. Trent's face was pale but calm. Nobody knew what this first parting
with her helpful child was to her anxious heart, but it was her part to
send the travelers outward in good cheer.

"Put the saddlebags on Scruff, in front of Jessica. He's strong enough
to carry double, and they're not so heavy. Few girls, in my days at the
East, would have set out upon an indefinite journey, equipped with only
one flannel frock and a single change of underclothing."

"But the flannel frock is new and so is the pretty Tam that Elsa gave me