The two largest bedroom tents were made of bright awning cloth, one
of red and white, the other of blue and white, both gaily decorated
with braid. They were pitched under the same giant oak, and yet were
nearly forty feet apart; that of the girls having a canvas floor.
They were not quite willing to sleep on the ground, so they had
brought empty bed-sacks with them, and Pancho's first duty after his
arrival had been to drive to a neighbouring ranch for a great load of
straw.
In a glorious tree near by was a 'sky parlour,' arranged by a few
boards nailed high up in the leafy branches, and reached from below
by a primitive ladder. This was the favourite sitting-room of the
girls by day, and served for Pancho's bedroom at night. It was
beautiful enough to be fit shelter for all the woodland nymphs, with
its festoons of mistletoe and wild grape-vines; but Pancho was rather
an unappreciative tenant, even going so far as to snore in the sacred
place!
Just beyond was a card-room,--imagine it--in which a square board,
nailed on a low stump, served for a table, where Dr. Paul and the
boys played many a game of crib, backgammon, and checkers. Here,
too, all Elsie's letters were written and Bell's nonsense verses, and
here was the identical spot where Jack Howard, that mischievous
knight of the brush, perpetrated those modern travesties on the
'William Henry pictures,' for Elsie's delectation.
The dressing-room was reached by a path cut through bushes to a
charming little pool.
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