They rode on and on. Finally the little cavalcade wound out of the
gap, down a slope, crossed a tumbling river that was yards broad
but not very deep, and the ponies quickened their pace as they
mounted again to a higher plain.

"There it is!" shouted Rhoda, and, waving her hat, she spurred her
pony ahead and passed the buckboard at full speed.

On a knoll the others saw a low-roofed, but wide-spreading,
bungalow sort of structure, with corrals and sheds beyond. The
latter were bare and ugly enough; but the ranch house was almost
covered to the eaves with climbing roses in luxurious bloom.




CHAPTER XIII

OPEN SPACES


"On, Nan!" cried Bess, squeezing her chum's arm, "what do you think
of it?"

"It is more beautiful than I had any idea of! And Rhoda had to come
away from all this just to go to school," answered the equally
excited Nan.

Here Grace Mason's usual timidity showed itself, as she said: