well, leopard, for instance.'

One beautiful day followed another, each the exact counterpart of the
one that had preceded it; for California boys and girls never have to
say 'wind and weather permitting' from March or April until November.
They always know what the weather is going to do; and whether this is
an advantage or not is a difficult matter to settle conclusively.

New England boys affirm that they wouldn't live in a country where it
couldn't rain any day it felt like it, and California lads retort
that they are glad their dispositions are not ruined by the freaks of
New England weather. At all events, it is a paradise for would-be
campers, and any one who should assert the contrary would meet with
energetic opposition from the loyal dwellers in Camp Chaparral.

Bell returned one day from a walk which she had taken by herself,
while the other girls were off on some errand with the Doctor. After
luncheon she drew them mysteriously into the square tent, and lowered
the curtains.

'What is it?' Polly whispered, with an anxious expression of
countenance. 'Have you lost your gold thimble again, or your temper,
or have you discovered a silver mine?'

'I have found,' she answered mysteriously, 'the most beautifully
secret place you ever beheld. It will be just the spot for us to
write and study in when we want to be alone; or it will even do for a
theatre; and it is scarcely more than half a mile up the canyon.'

'How did you find it?' asked Margery.