'Very well,' replied the Doctor. 'If you are all agreed, I suppose
we may as well begin roughing it now as at any time.'

You may have noticed sometimes, after having fortified yourself
against a terrible misfortune which seemed in store for you, that it
didn't come, after all. Well, it was so in this case; for just as
Dr. Winship and the boys started out over the hillside at a brisk
pace, an immense cloud of dust, some distance up the road, attracted
their attention, and they came to a sudden standstill.

The girls held their breath in anxious expectation, and at length
gave an irrepressible shout of joy and relief when there issued from
the dense grey cloud the familiar four-horse team, with Daisy, Tule
Molly, Villikins, and Dinah, looking as fresh as if they had not been
driven a mile, tough little mustangs that they were.

A long conversation in Spanish ensued, which, being translated by Dr.
Winship, furnished all necessary information concerning the delay.

S. D. M. F. H. N. stated that Pancho was neither faithless nor
stupid, but was waiting for them on the camping-ground, and that as
the goods were already packed in his wood-cart he would follow them
immediately. So the whole party started without more delay; Dr. and
Mrs. Winship, Master Paul, Jack Howard, and the three girls riding in
the wagon, while Geoffrey and Philip galloped ahead on horseback.

It was a long, dusty, tiresome ride; and Dicky, who had been as good
all day as any saint ever carved in marble and set in a niche, grew
rather warm, cross, and hungry, although he had been consuming