very close together.

"To think," sighed Bess, when they had dismounted at the house some
time later and given the ponies over to the care of two Mexican
boys who came up from the corrals for them, "that one is liable to
run across lions and tigers and all kinds of wild beasts so near
such a beautiful house as this. It must have been a dream."

"That puma skin doesn't look like a dream," said Walter, laughing
and pointing to the pelt of the beast which hung from Rhoda's
saddle and made all the ponies nervous.

"Well," said Bess, with determination, "I am willing to learn to
shoot. And hereafter I won't go out of our bedroom without
strapping a pistol to my waist."

They all laughed at this statement. But they spent that afternoon,
with revolvers and light rifles, on what Rhoda called "the rifle
range," down behind the bunk houses. Hesitation Kane, the horse
wrangler, as silent almost as the sphinx, drifted out to the spot
and showed them by gestures, if not by many words, how to hit the
bull's-eye. Nan, as well as her chum, became much interested in
this sport. The adventure with the big puma really had made Nan
feel as though she should know how to use a gun.

Several days passed before the party rode far from Rose Ranch
again. But every day the young folks were in the saddle for a few
hours, and all became fair horsewomen--all but Walter, of course,
who was already a horseman.