Pagina 248 de 439

After the manner of the old-fashioned Southern house a wide

"gallery" bisected it from porch to rear. Saddles hung from pegs

in the gallery. Horse blankets and bridles, spurs and saddlebags,

lay here and there in disarray. A disjointed rifle which some one

had started to clean was on the porch. Swiftly Arlie stripped

saddle, bridle, and blanket from her pony and flung them down as

a contribution to the general disorder, and at her suggestion

Fraser did the same. A half-grown lad came running to herd the

horses into a corral close at hand.

"I want you when you've finished feeding, Bobbie," Arlie told the

lad. Then briefly to her guest: "This way, please."