An anxious group was waiting for the girls to arrive in camp. Ma Patten had run over to make her daily call on Mrs. Breckenridge. Even Tang and the two Chinese hoys were watching eagerly and scowling toward the tempestuous sky. A thunder and lightning storm in the hills was not a thing to laugh at. A flash! A roar! And a large mass of rock was cleft apart as if a mighty hammer had struck it.

Tommy Sharpe and Seedy Saunders had saddled their horses and gone in search of the girls as soon as the storm threatened, but not knowing in which direction they had headed, it was like hunting for a needle in a hay stack.

They did find Professor Gillette, however, soaked to the skin, a bedraggled, shivering figure that set the boys laughing in spite of the pathetic look of the old man. They helped him up the hill to the Patten household where he could be taken care of, and once more went in search of the girls.

But it was not until the storm was over and the girls were climbing up the last trail to the ranch that Tommy spied them.

"There they are, Seedy! They're safe!" Tommy's voice trembled with emotion. The mountain " storms still terrified the boy, although he had experienced so many of them.

By the time the girls reached the house, the strain they had undergone was beginning to wear off and they were able to laugh at their adventure. That all except Joy, who shuddered whenever she thought of it and turned pale when the women asked excited questions.

"I hate these mountains," whispered Joy to Shirley. "I wish I were going home tomorrow!"

"Why, Joy Evans, you know you don't." Shirley put her arm around the frightened girl. "You're having a grand time here, and the fun is just beginning. You're not going to quit over the first unpleasant thing that happens to you. That's not playing the game. What would Lady Betty Merriweather do?"

Joy laughed in spite of herself. "We always used to ask that question when we were in Lynnwood. Lady Betty meant a lot to us, didn't she? I guess she wouldn't have cried and taken on the way I did down there on the cliff."

"Do you remember," said Shirley softly, "how Lady Betty rode through the night to help her wounded husband? That was bravery!"

"But that was so long ago. The Revolutionary War seems like a story and not real life," Joy said with a toss of her head. "Maybe it didn't happen at all."

Lady Betty Merriweather had been the first owner of the Merriweather Estate, Bet's home on the Hudson, and from an old picture of her that adorned the great entrance hall of the Manor, the girls had come to feel that she was their friend and companion, an ideal for them to live up to.

"Anyway," continued Joy, "she liked horses. And I don't. And I don't like their old cactus plants with their sharp needles that seem to jump at you. And the sun is cruel. It bites. And even the mountains look hard and angry as if they wanted to do you a mean turn.—And that storm! Did you ever see anything more terrifying? I thought the day of judgment had come. I don't believe Lady Betty would have been any braver than I was. Well, not much braver!"

Shirley laughed softly. "Joy dear, how you exaggerate things! Arizona is wonderful. Did you ever see such glorious sunsets? I'm crazy about them."

"The sunrises are just as wonderful!" interrupted Bet. "And I'm wondering who is going to be game enough to start to Saugus before daylight some morning. Kit says we will have to take an early start if we are to make the trip in one day."

"Why are we going there?" asked Joy.

"To record our claims. We could mail the filled-in blanks but it's lots more exciting to take them. And it's good experience for us. Besides the County Recorder should get acquainted with us, for someday we'll own a great big mine and be people of importance."

The girls laughed at Bet's seriousness.

"Are you going to say you don't want to go?" Bet asked in a vexed tone.

"Of course we'll go!" assented Enid. "We're The Merriweather Girls; one for all and all for one! What day do we start?"

"Why not go tomorrow, if our folks agree? I'm anxious to see those claims put on record," said Shirley, "and the sooner business matters are attended to, the better for everyone. And just think, girls, it's our second business venture. Shirley's Shop was a success and still is, for mother is keeping it going, and she said in her last letter that she was not doing badly at all."

"Shirley's Shop was a success and the Merriweather Mining Company will be, too," Bet declared. "It must be a success."

"It will be!" determined Enid.

Only Joy did not share their optimism. "I think the storm was a bad omen, don't you, Kit? It's hoodooed!"

"Joy Evans!" cried Bet her eyes flashing. "Half an hour ago I would have let you say that, but now if the creek were near, in you'd go!"

Joy laughed and got beyond the reach of Bet's hand, then said impishly: "As for boys, I think they are simply wonderful! Mexican boys have beautiful eyes and Phil Gordon always smiles at you, Bet."

For answer Bet ran into the house and slammed the door to her own room. Joy had wept after the storm, and thus relaxed her nerve tension but Bet had not had any such relief. As a result of the strain she found herself irritated by Joy's nonsense and got out of the way to avoid a quarrel.

It was two days later when the girls started on their trip to Saugus. The first faint flush of dawn was in the sky as they set out, the exhilarating air acting as a stimulant. Even the horses seemed to feel it as they tossed their heads and pawed the ground when the girls were getting ready to start. The restless animals were as eager to be off as their riders, and at the first touch of the reins they sprang forward as if for a race.

"Take it easy, Powder," laughed Kit as she tightened the rein and drew up the horse's head. "You have a full day to show how clever you are." Kit talked to the pony as if it were a human being and the horse seemed to respond to whatever mood she was in. He slowed to a prancing trot, high-stepping along the level like a spirited race horse.

Kit leaned over and patted his neck with pride as she called: "Look,
Bet, isn't he a beauty?"

"He is!—That is in looks. But I don't like his disposition. You are welcome to ride him." Bet laughed aloud in her joy as she made her pony dance along the trail.

"But if Powder didn't act up like a perfect fiend at times, I'd be bored to death with him. I like them naughty. I hate a horse without any spirit. Powder keeps me on my toes all the time." Kit ran her finger along the horse's mane and with a spring Powder reared and bucked, and did all the things that an untamed bronco would do when he was first introduced to the saddle.

"You can have it all to yourself," said Bet, as Kit finally brought her quieted horse to a standstill. "I like riding, but I don't want to be a bronco buster."

Although they planned on being in the town by noon, the girls carried a lunch strapped to their saddles. A rest and a bite to eat along the way was half the fun and they had not gone more than a mile before Joy was digging into the little bag that hung from the horn of her saddle.

By ten o'clock when the other girls were ready for a rest and something to eat, Joy was down to the bottom of the bag.

"Never mind, Joy, you can have half of mine. Mother always puts up enough for an army."

"Aren't we ever going to get there?" complained Joy, as she squatted in the scant shade of a mesquite tree and ate some fudge.

"Five miles more!" Kit announced.

"I'll never be able to do it! If they only had a change of scenery, I wouldn't be so bored. And those tall, smokestack cactus make me sick."

"Smokestack cactus!" snapped Kit with contempt. "If you'd only take enough interest to learn the names of the trees and things you see, you wouldn't be so bored."

"Well, what are they called?"

"Sahuara. And if that word is too big for you to remember, call them
Giant Cactus."

Suddenly Bet shook Joy by the arm. "Keep quiet and watch that road runner. Isn't he a beauty?"

The bird had risen and poised above the mesa, then with fluttering wings darted downward. There was a rattling brr, and the girls knew what was happening. The road runner was attacking a rattlesnake.

"That bird isn't much of a sport," declared Bet, watching the little drama with eager eyes. "It doesn't give the snake a fighting chance. I feel sorry for it."

Kit laughed. "Don't waste your sympathy on rattlesnakes. Take something worthy of your respect."

Kit watched the struggle with little emotion but the other girls turned away not wanting to see the end of the uneven fight.

"Let's go," said Enid, jumping to her feet. "I've seen enough."

An hour later when the girls were entering the little desert town of Saugus, and just as they came to the first adobe houses, they saw a horseback rider coming toward them. As he rode nearer the man waved them a greeting.

"It's Kie Wicks! And he's good-natured," grunted Kit suspiciously. "Wonder what he's doing over here today? Up to some meanness, I know, otherwise he wouldn't be so cordial to us."

"Well his meanness doesn't concern us," answered Bet.

"You can't be sure of that. He's probably bought up some second hand food stuff that he plans to work off on the ranchers during the summer."

"And what's your errand over this way?" inquired Kie Wicks bluntly.

"I came to visit an ice cream parlor and go to a movie," chuckled Joy.

But Kit did not deign to answer the man. She dug her spurs into
Powder's sides and he leaped past the rider and raced toward the town.

"That fellow looks as if he had been taking advantage of someone. Wasn't he feeling good? On top of the world! The old cheat!" blustered Kit, as she dismounted at the stables where they were to leave their horses for a rest and a good feed.

The girls took their time, went leisurely about the town, ate their lunch at the Grand Palace Hotel and later went to the County Recording Office.

"Why, that's funny!" said the clerk, giving them a searching look. "Those same claims were recorded not more than an hour ago. Man by the name of Ramon Salazar. What are you trying to do, jump his claims?"

"Why, we wouldn't do such a thing," exclaimed Bet indignantly.

"Was Ramon here in person?" asked Kit.

"No, he sent the papers in by a neighbor," returned the young man. "A fellow by the name of Kie Wicks."

"Kie Wicks!" That explained everything.

The girls suddenly wilted. All their sparkle was gone as they watched the clerk checking over the descriptions with the ones already recorded.

"You have one here that has not been recorded," the clerk announced when he had finally finished the checking.

"Wonder how he happened to leave out that one?" snapped Kit.

Bet held out her hand for the blank. "Let's see which one it is. Oh, girls, what a shame! It's the most unpromising claim of all. That's the last one we located, the one we called, 'Little Orphan Annie.' It's too mean for anything." There were tears of disappointment and anger in Bet's eyes.

"Do you want it recorded?" The girls heard the clerk's voice but it seemed to come from far away.

"What's the use of one claim? You can't make a mine out of just one miserable claim!"

"I don't care, I want it anyway!" Bet shrugged her shoulders defiantly.

"I told you there was a hoodoo on those claims," Joy spoke cheerfully, as much as to say, "I told you so."

Joy's pessimism was all that was needed to decide Bet.

"Yes, we'll record it, and we'll be locating some more soon," she announced with determination. "We are not going to let Kie Wicks and Ramon Salazar beat us. We'll get even with them somehow."

"They wouldn't have dared to do this if we were men. Just because we are girls, they think they'll get away with it."

"Oh, by all means!" Joy taunted provokingly, "Be sure to locate some more claims and let that man take them away from us again."

Bet turned her back on Joy and watched the clerk as he put the blank through the usual routine and then turned to leave the office. The Merriweather Girls were the owners of one very unpromising copper claim.

They dragged wearily out into the fierce sunlight. There was a discouraged droop to their shoulders, but Bet suddenly straightened. Her eyes were flashing as she said:

"I have a hunch! Something tells me that we are not down and out on this deal."

Joy squatted on the steps of the General Mining Supply Company's office and laughed. "You ought to win with a disposition like that, Bet Baxter. I don't admire your judgment, but I do like your spunk. I'm with you. I'll never say a discouraging word again."

"I don't know why, but somehow that Little Orphan Annie claim is going to help us win out!"

"But how?" whispered Kit to herself.