"What happened to you?" asked Rhoda.

"I missed you, somehow. I don't know how it was," said the boy.

"You must have tried to guide your pony," Rhoda said.

"Yes."

"That is where you were wrong. He would probably have found us if
you had let him have his head."

"Well, I got under the shelter of a rock out of the wind," the boy
said. "But when it began to rain--blooey!"

"Well, thank goodness," said Nan, "it is all over and nobody is
hurt."

"But, oh, Walter!" cried his sister, "we got into a haunted cave,
and Mexicans came to shoot us, and Rhoda threatened to shoot them,
so they went away, and--"

"Whew! what's all this?" he demanded. "You are crazy, Sis."

"Not altogether," laughed Nan. "We did have some adventure, didn't
we, girls?"

And when Walter heard the particulars he agreed that the experience
must have been exciting. He rode along beside Nan in the rear of
the others, as they cantered toward the ranch house, and he put a