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Page 54
"I call it very fine," nodded Elfreda. "By the way, Mr. Lang, we
had another caller, a distant caller to-day. He didn't come near
the camp, but sat his pony for several hours apparently observing
us. Perhaps he was resting."
Hi Lang's face showed his interest. He asked questions and frowned
thoughtfully, requesting that they point out as closely as
possible the spot at which the man had been seen.
"You say he disappeared suddenly?"
"Yes, Mr. Lang," answered Grace.
"Was that when I was coming up?"
"You were."
"He evidently saw me and ducked. There's a high ridge of sand over
there where you saw him. He was on that ridge or you wouldn't have
seen him, and when he discovered me he just naturally slid his
pony down the other side and walked away under cover of the ridge
or else got down and peeked over the top of it. I don't like that.
You weren't thinking of going on to-night, were you?"
"Not unless you think best, Mr. Lang," replied Grace.
"Then I reckon I'll ride over there in the morning and see what
his tracks look like. To-morrow night we'll make camp by the water
hole I found to-day, unless some other party comes along and dips
the water all out or it disappears between now and then."
"Did you answer our signal shots that you say you thought you
heard?" asked Hippy.
"Of course I did, though I didn't think you would hear them, being
as there was a gentle breeze from this direction against me. I
staked the ponies down before I went away this morning, and that
black bronco of yours gave me some trouble, Mrs. Gray. I had to
lasso him. When are you going to learn to throw the rope?"
"When are you going to teach me?" returned Grace smilingly.
"That's the talk. We'll begin right now. Get your rope."
Grace was instructed first how to coil the rope, how to make the
loop and to properly grasp it by its hondo, or knot, before
throwing; then the real lesson began.
It was sorry work for her at first, but by the time Ping uttered
his shrill call for supper, Grace had learned to throw the rope
and let the loop drop to the ground without destroying the form of
the loop. Hi announced that, on the morrow, she should be able to
hit a mark on the ground but that considerable practice would be
necessary before she would be able to rope an object that was in
motion.
Supper was followed by an interesting evening, during which Hi
Lang told the Overland girls more of the desert secrets.
"We are now in the skunk country," he said, as they were about to
turn in.
"The what?" demanded Emma Dean.
"I do not mean the sort you probably are familiar with in the
east. The desert skunk is an entirely different animal. He bites,
and his bite is supposed to produce hydrophobia, which means death
out here. He is, therefore, known as the hydrophobia skunk. Go
into any desert camp just before turning-in time and you will hear
the desert wanderers speaking of rattlesnakes and skunks. Every
man who knows those two pests is actually afraid of them."
"This is a fine time of day to tell us," complained Nora.
"That's what I say," wailed Emma. "Why didn't you tell us after
breakfast instead of after supper?"
"Yes. I know I shall dream of snakes and skunks and other
creeping, crawling things to-night," added Anne.
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