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"Hold her a minute, please, Denham," Blue Bonnet called from her bedroom window, which overlooked the side driveway. "I'll be down in two seconds." At that moment Alec and Knight rode up, and Alec, dismounting, threw Chula's bridle over his arm. Chula gave her head a toss and shied away. "There, girl!" Alec rubbed her nose and spoke kindly. "What's up? Too much high living?"
But Aunt Lucinda was far from satisfied, and at her first opportunity questioned Alec. "Don't you think Chula is a bit wild for Blue Bonnet after being out all winter?" she asked. Alec glanced at Blue Bonnet in surprise. "Oh, scarcely wild, Miss Clyde. She was a little frisky yesterday from having been in the stable a few days on extra rations.
Whether fiction is right in this particular, or whether Sam wore the mustache to conform with the best standards, is not important. He was sitting in a tilted chair, on the narrow strip of flooring which served the hotel as a veranda when Mendoza and his party wheezed into view. Penhallow's conventional welcome expanded into real warmth when he recognized Scott, who was well known in Chula Vista.
"That's it exactly, sir," Denham said, touching his hat respectfully. "I wanted Miss Blue Bonnet to let me give her a turn before she mounted, but she thinks she can manage her. She's just feelin' her oats, sir. She'll settle down after the first mile or two." But Chula did not settle down after the first mile; nor the second.
Catch her quickly! If she goes home without me it will frighten Grandmother to death." Knight was off in a twinkling, coming back in a few minutes leading Chula by her bridle. "Little devil!" he said, laughing. "She was browsing up there on the hillside as peaceful as a lamb. Weren't you, old girl?"
The horses were walking now, and Alec leaned over and put his hand on the pummel of Chula's saddle; presently it slipped down in a caress on the mare's shoulder. "I beg your pardon, Chula girl," he said. "I was pretty hard on you, wasn't I? Are you ready to forgive me?" And whether it was because at that moment Mrs.
"Well, girlie, I don't know I'd rather like to see Hard and Mrs. Conrad married, myself. Don't you think maybe you could get the Padre to do both jobs over here?" Thus it was that a double wedding took place in the small room which the invalid occupied. Chula Vista, or at least those citizens who were allowed to witness the ceremony, were loud in their praises of the brides.
When, some years ago, a Mexican bandit raided Chula Vista and carried off a young woman, the citizens of the town organized an expedition, followed him across the line, and recovered the lady, none the worse for her experience; which proves not only that Chula Vista is a wide-awake town, but that some bandits are not as black as they are painted.
The car, a small one, pulled up the hill and started down toward Chula Vista. Scott rode into the middle of the road. "Stop!" he called, authoritatively. The car stopped. It was driven by a fat man who was its only occupant. "What's the matter with you fools?" he demanded, angrily. "Don't you know this here's the sheriff's car?" Scott lowered his gun. "That so?" he said.
When it leaked out that there was a kidnapping involved, the chivalrous instincts of Chula Vista were aroused. Horses were eagerly offered and a posse was to be formed as soon as Sam Penhallow could be located. Unfortunately, the only machine in town, owned by the sheriff, had been loaned that morning to Ed Merriam who had driven it over to the railroad junction.
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