Poor little man, he has lost his curls, too, and
looks rather like a convict.'
Mrs. Howard came in the door while Bell was speaking, and laughed
heartily at the description of Dicky's curious outfit. 'What time do
you start?' she asked, as she laid a bunch of mignonette on Elsie's
table.
'At eleven to-morrow morning,' Bell answered. 'Everything is packed.
We are to start in the steamer, and when we come to our old landing,
about forty miles down the coast, we are to get off and take a three-
seated thorough-brace wagon, and drive over to Las Flores Canyon.
Pancho has hired a funny little pack mule; he says we shall need one
in going up the mountain, and that the boys can take him when they go
out shooting,--to carry the deer home, you know.'
'If I can bring Elsie down, as I hope, we must come by land,' said
Mrs. Howard. 'I thought we could take two days for the journey,
sleeping at the Burtons' ranch on the way. The doctor says that if
she can get strength enough to bear the ride, the open-air life will
do her good, even if she does nothing but lie in the hammock.'
'And be waited upon by six willing slaves,' added Polly.
'And be fed on canned corned beef and tomato stew,' laughed Bell.
'Not a bit of it,' said Margery. 'Hop Yet is a splendid cook, if he
has anything to cook, and we'll feed her on broiled titbits of baby
venison, goat's milk, wild bees' honey, and cunning little mourning
doves, roasted on a spit.
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