"How is Mindy?" Cindy pursued.

"Ha! You know what that crazy girl did? When you weren't there to take Mr. Brent's message, she took it. But she didn't know Thunder's an outlaw, so she rode him bareback. Can you imagine that?"

Cindy asked anxiously, "Was she hurt?"

"With Mindy, Thunder's gentle as a kitten," Alec assured her. He grinned again. "She wore some of my old jeans and a shirt for the ride, and now she wears them all the time."

Cindy got to the next important detail. "Did you bring food?" she asked eagerly.

"Yup."

"What kind?"

"Potatoes," Alec said.

"Wonderful!"

"Biscuits," said Alec.

"Gorgeous!" squealed Cindy.

"Beans," Alec said.

"Marvelous!"

"And bacon," Alec finished.

"Heavenly!" Cindy smacked her lips.

Alec looked at her sharply. "What's the matter with you, sis?"

"Matter!" Cindy said indignantly. "Do you know what we've been living on? Fish! Any more and I'll grow fins!"

"I like fish," Alec said.

"You can have 'em!" Cindy sighed. "I'll trade you my share for your portion of potatoes, biscuits, bacon, and beans! Um-m! I can hardly wait to start cooking! Did Mother send any dishes?"

"Think she'd expect us to cook without 'em?" Alec's eyes roved around the homestead. "Say! This looks like something!"

"It is something. Dad and I picked it."

"Huh," Alec sniffed. "Bet you had a lot to do with it."

"Nothing could have been done without me," Cindy said smugly.

"I'll switch off to Cal's place," Sim Macklin broke in, grinning.

"Thank you, Mr. Macklin," Cindy said. "I'll steer my brother home, and do come see us."

"I will," Sim promised.

He swung his wagon away. Cindy guided Alec in and slid off Sparkle. The roan pony tossed his head, kicked his heels, and went trotting off to join Sunshine and Pete's other pony. Jed Simpson came to the wagon, and beyond the oak grove Pete had left his work and was coming. Mr. Simpson smiled at his son.

"Hello, Alec!"

"Hi there, Dad!"

"How are your mother and sister?"

"Right as can be," Alec said. "Gramps and Granny have moved in with them, and Mother hopes you'll send for her soon."

"I'll do it as soon as things are ready," Mr. Simpson agreed.

"It better not be too long," Alec said. "Mother says she's coming anyhow, and Gramps knows the way."

"Hm-m," Mr. Simpson stroked his chin. "What did you bring?"

"Your plow, Mr. Brent's, spades, mattocks, saws, axes, nails." Alec listed the tools and supplies he had brought, and finished, "and Mother's dishes and stove along with plenty to eat."

Cindy said blissfully, "I'll fix a meal right away!"

"It's too early for supper," Alec protested.

"You," Jed Simpson told his son, "have not been living on unsalted fish for nearly two days. I suppose you brought harnesses for the mules?"

"Oh, sure. I didn't forget."

"Then the first thing we must do is plow a couple of furrows clear around this homestead. Afterwards we'll plant a vegetable garden."

"I'll plow the furrows!" Alec said eagerly. "Just show me where you want 'em!"

While their father showed Alec the corners, Cindy started preparing a meal. She couldn't fix any beans. They would have taken three hours, which was easily two and a half hours too long, but she bent over the skillet to sniff the aroma of frying bacon and lifted the top from the kettle a dozen times just to watch the potatoes bubbling.

While Mr. Simpson showed Alec the boundaries of their homestead, Pete unloaded both plows, unhitched the horses from the wagon and hitched them to his plow, and started plowing.

"Don't go too far," Cindy advised. "Dinner will be ready soon."

"I'll be ready too," Pete promised. "But there's about a month's work to be done, and it looks as though we'll have to do all of it this week."

Alec and Mr. Simpson came back, hitched the mules, and Alec started plowing furrows. Cindy tried the potatoes with a fork, discovered that they were soft clear through, and drained them. She added another small handful of salt to that which she had put in when the potatoes started cooking. Until she'd had to do without salt, she'd never known how much she could miss it or how important it was. When everything was ready, she called her father and Pete.

Letting his horses stand, Pete came trotting. Jed left his work on the house and came too. Alec, who hadn't missed any meals and was far too excited to eat anyhow, continued to plow. Cindy gave the men their portions and took her own. Too anxious to get back to work to have time for talking, the men ate hurriedly and silently. They took smaller second portions and handed their plates back to Cindy.

"Here you are, cook," Pete grinned.

"Would you like some more?" Cindy asked.

"If I eat any more, I'll bust."

"Will you plan supper for after dark?" her father asked. "We shouldn't waste any daylight. I want your mother and sister out here as soon as possible."

"And I want my father and mother," Pete said. "I know they're anxious to come, too."

"The important thing," said Mr. Simpson, "is to get the houses finished and vegetable gardens in. We'll have all summer to build barns for our stock and plow wheat land."

"We'll have to record our claims," Pete reminded him.

"That's true, but we can ride into Plains City and do that in a day." Mr. Simpson's eyes rested on Alec. "I hate to see that boy doing a man's work, but for a little while he must. There's so much to do and so few to do it."

"I'll help," Cindy offered.

Her father shook his head. "I don't believe in girls or women doing heavy field work, Cindy. You just see that our meals are ready."

Jed went back to work on the house. Pete continued plowing furrows around his own homestead, and Cindy spent the remainder of the afternoon cooking a big pot of beans. It was very nice to keep house for her father, Pete, and Alec. But it was also very boring. Cindy was glad when night fell and they came in from their work. After he'd eaten enough biscuits and beans to stuff a small horse, and washed it down with cold water, she looked hopefully at Alec. It would be fine to have a game, any kind of game, but Alec had worked very hard and now he nodded very sleepily. Cindy could not ask him to romp with her.

They slept in the wagon, which was much better and more comfortable than just sleeping on the ground. But Mr. Simpson was up and had the breakfast fire started before dawn. They had finished breakfast and were ready to go back to work by the time it was light enough to see.

"Just a cold snack at noon, Cindy," her father said. "We mustn't stop long enough for a hot meal."

"Yes, Daddy," said Cindy.

She washed the dishes and thought of the endless hours ahead. Mightily she wished she had someone to play with, but the only other youngsters around were boys like Alec who had to help their fathers, or children like the Wentworths', and what almost grown-up girl wanted to play with babies? The hardest work of all, Cindy found, was having nothing to do.

Finally a happy idea occurred to her, and she went to where her father was working on the house. Mr. Simpson stopped his work.

"Would it be all right," Cindy asked, "if I fixed your lunches and left them in the wagon?"

"What are you going to do?"

"I'd like to ride Sparkle to some places I haven't seen."

"Go right ahead, honey. I expect this must be pretty tiresome for you. Just be careful."

"I will," Cindy promised, "and I'll be back in time to make supper."

She prepared a cold lunch, then saddled and bridled Sparkle and rode toward a distant hill that rose to the west. Having done very little except eat grass, Sparkle was anxious for action too, and he set off at a fast canter. Everywhere were men who waved at Cindy as she passed, but they were too busy to stop and talk.

Then, after about two hours, there were no more people. Nearing the hill, the country became rough and broken. There were upthrust seams of rock, boulders, stones, and instead of rich grass, only brush and small trees. Nobody had staked this land, because it was too poor for good farming.

Cindy liked it, and it was fun to be alone. She'd had a secret hope of finding hostile Indians in Oklahoma and battling them, and she had been more than a little disappointed when told there weren't any. But she could imagine there were Indians here.

Reaching the top, Cindy found her path blocked by little evergreens whose branches were so thickly intertwined that Sparkle couldn't get through. It was dark beneath the trees, and mysterious, and far too interesting to pass by.

Tying Sparkle to a tree, Cindy got down on her hands and knees and crawled into the evergreens. A bunch of wild turkeys ran before her, squirrels flicked their tails, and a woodpecker hammered noisily. Cindy quivered with delight, for she had hoped to find just such a place.

Ten minutes after entering the evergreens, Cindy came to an arroyo, or canyon. About thirty feet deep, its walls were solid rock. Though they were steep, they were not too steep to descend or climb. The arroyo was perhaps forty feet from rim to rim, and on the far side was a roomy cave into which Cindy could see clearly. Water dripped into the cave, whose walls must have formed a natural sounding board, for Cindy could hear every drop as it fell.

She smiled happily. This was a marvelous discovery, and even though there were no hostile Indians, she and Alec could have a fine game of Indians in the cave. She must bring Alec here as soon as possible, but of course, some of the work would have to be caught up first. Cindy rode back to her father's homestead.

After several days, though the work was not done, it was quite far along. The house, with a tiny bedroom for Cindy and Mindy, a cubbyhole for Alec, a bedroom for their parents, and a large room that would serve as both kitchen and living quarters, was finished. The stove was set up and Mr. Simpson had even built shelves and cup-boards. Pete's house was ready too.

Cindy had spent hours on her knees, planting corn, melons, onions, everything that could be eaten and would grow. Alec and his father had planted a sizable potato patch. For the first time, Pete, Alec, and Mr. Simpson had quit work before darkness forced them to stop. Alec had wandered away somewhere, but Pete and Mr. Simpson were waiting for their supper.