The Merriweather Girls and the Mystery of the Queen's Fan Part 2

Kit laughed heartily at these new friends and Bet continued: "Oh yes, Auntie Gibbs makes a sort of religion out of her cooking. And when she hits upon something especially good, she guards the recipe as if it were a treasure and freezes up hard if anyone asks her how she made it."

"I wonder why?" ventured Kit.

"She says if everybody makes the same thing, it's no treat."

"This is very different from an Arizona picnic, girls," exclaimed Kit suddenly.

"Do tell us about it, Kit. What did you eat?"

"We mostly had Arizona strawberries and mountain trout," chuckled Kit and was pleased to see Bet's face express disbelief.

"Why, I didn't know you had strawberries in Arizona."

"And where do you get trout in that hot desert country, when the streams all go dry half the time?" asked s.h.i.+rley.

Kit laughed with all her might. "There I knew I'd get caught at that old joke. Well you see it's this way. Arizona strawberries are the little red Mexican beans, which we pretty nearly live on out there.

And the mountain trout are the strips of bacon that are fried to go with them."

"Oh you mean thing, trying to fool us like that!" shouted Joy, who had been sitting still so long that she had grown tired. Now she danced away down the path with a sandwich held above her head.

"What else would you have for a lunch?" asked s.h.i.+rley.

"Oh like as not we'd take a Dutch oven along and bake biscuit--and make coffee. They are great on coffee in the desert. Sometimes we have great big picnics when people for miles around come."

"And are there lots of cowboys there?" asked Joy. "Now I'm getting interested. Imagine a picnic with lots of handsome cowboys. Oh, Kit you should have seen the show the other night. It was simply grand!"

"Oh, Joy, do keep quiet! Kit was telling us about the big picnic.

What do they have at that?" Bet was interested in the description of the country that was unknown to her.

"That's when they have a barbecue."

"What in the world is that?" demanded Joy.

"The men dig great holes in the ground, and make a fire in it, and when there is a good bed of coals they hang a whole steer in it until it is roasted."

"I don't see how they can do it," said Bet.

"Of course the men have to dig the big trench and get the fire going the night before in order to get the bed of coals. Then they put in the sides of beef on iron rods, and cover it all over with green boughs. --And when that meat is roasted, you never tasted anything so good."

"It must be nice to live out there," mused Joy.

"I'd like to go and take pictures sometime," said s.h.i.+rley.

"Maybe you can someday. Wouldn't I love to show you my mountains and desert!"

"And would you let me ride Powder?" asked Bet.

"Yes, that is if you _wanted_ to after you'd see him buck. That horse is a rascal. And how he bucks! Even I have to hold on for dear life."

The picnic lunch ended with iced orangeade and little tarts filled with raspberries.

"Those must have been cooked for you, Kit, for we've never had any of them before," laughed Bet. "And one thing sure, if Auntie Gibbs had known that there was to be a new girl with us, she would have made her something special. She's a dear!"

"This lunch was simply perfect, Bet. I've eaten too much, as usual.

I'm a little piggy. But oh how happy I am!" sang Joy.

s.h.i.+rley had finished some time before and was setting the camera in place for a picture, arranging the attachment that enabled her to be in the group.

"What's she doing?" asked Kit as s.h.i.+rley announced that everything was ready.

"It's this way," replied the girl. "I'm the only one who knows how to take a decent picture, so I have always had to be left out. I got tired of it and bought an attachment so I can snap the thing and be in it at the same time."

"That's clever! I've read about it, but I've never seen it worked."

Joy, who had been dancing around on one foot, suddenly came to a stop, munched the last of a raspberry tart and exclaimed: "Girls, I've got an idea!"

"Hooray!" cried Bet. "Joy has an idea, the first one today! Speak, child!"

"Wait a minute, girls,--now keep still just a second! There, okay!

The picture is taken!" announced s.h.i.+rley.

"Now for that idea, Joy. Let's hear it." The girls selected a shady spot and seated themselves while Joy continued:

"Wouldn't it be nice to form a club of some sort and meet every Sat.u.r.day?"

"And as many times during the week as possible," readily agreed Bet.

"What fun we can have!"

"But if we are a club, we should have a serious purpose. All clubs do," said s.h.i.+rley.

"We might even do things for other people, like the Camp Fire Girls or the Girl Scouts," suggested Kit.

"Of course we wouldn't want to be selfish and think only of ourselves.

We must stand for something. Honor, Loyalty and Friends.h.i.+p!" prompted s.h.i.+rley again.

"Oh isn't that a good idea!" exclaimed Bet. "Let's do it."

"And we must have a name for our club," said Joy. "Bet, you think of something nice."

Bet buried her face in her two hands to shut out all the disturbing things about her, the trees, the blue sky and the big dark cloud in the distance. Usually she had ideas at the tip of her tongue, but it was the quiet s.h.i.+rley who had an inspiration.

"Let's call ourselves the Merriweather Girls! I do love the name of Colonel Baxter's estate. Merriweather Manor!"

"How lovely!" exclaimed Kit. "Merriweather, what a pretty name! I'd love to be called a Merriweather Girl. --And wouldn't Mother be proud!"

"And we can take as our ideal the lovely Lady Betty Merriweather, the Lady of the Manor," said Bet thoughtfully.

"Oh tell me about her!" begged Kit.