Page:Ruth Fielding at Silver Ranch.djvu/14

4 steers go up in the air when they sets eyes on the choo-choo wagon," chuckled Bud. "That'll about finish the automobile business, I bet yuh!"

"Come on, Bud!" shouted his mate, already astride his pony.

The two cowboys were off and lashing their ponies to a sharp run in half a minute. Scarcely had they disappeared behind a grove of scrub trees on the wind-swept ridge beyond the store when the honk of an automobile horn startled the slow-motioned storekeeper out of his chair.

A balloon of dust appeared far down the trail. Out of this there shot the long hood of a heavy touring car, which came chugging up the rise making almost as much noise as a steam roller. Lem Dickson shuffled to the door of the store and stuck his head within.

"Sally!" he bawled. "Sally!"

"Yes, Paw," replied a sweet, if rather shrill, voice from the open stairway that led to the upper chamber of the store-building.

"Here comes somebody I reckon you'll wanter see," bawled the old man.

There was a light step on the stair; but it halted on the last tread and a lithe, red-haired, peachy compexioned girl looked into the big room.

"Well, now, Paw," she said, sharply. "You ain't got me down yere for that bashful Ike Stedman, have you? For if he's come prognosticat-