Grace Harlowe's Overland Riders in the High Sierras

  CHAPTER I

  OLD FRIENDS GET TOGETHER

  "Who is this Stacy Brown that you girls are speaking of?" questionedEmma Dean as the Overland girls sat down to dinner in Grace Harlowe'shospitable Haven Home.

  "He is my Hippy's nephew," Nora Wingate informed her. "You will like'Chunky,' as he is known to his friends, and I promise you that he willkeep this outfit from getting lonely," added Nora laughingly.

  "He was one of the members of the Pony Rider Boys' outfit," volunteeredGrace. "You know we have heard of them several times on our journeyings.They used to go out in search of adventure every summer, so Stacy is aseasoned campaigner. We shall need him where we are going, too."

  "By the way, where are we going, Grace?" spoke up Elfreda Briggs. "Ibelieve our destination is to be in the nature of a surprise--a mystery,as it were."

  "I just dote on mysteries," bubbled Emma. "Of course I could havelearned all about it had I not been too conscientious."

  "That is characteristic of your sex," replied Hippy Wingate soberly."May I ask you how you could have found out?"

  "I thank you for the compliment, and regret exceedingly that I cannotreturn the compliment in kind. How could I have found out? Why, by thetransmigration of thought."

  "The what?" cried Elfreda laughingly. "Is this some new freak, EmmaDean?"

  "It may be new with me, but the principle is as old as the ages. Ibelong to the Society for the Promotion of Thought Transmigration. Ourgreat and Most Worthy Master lives in Benares, India, where numbers ofthe faithful journey for instruction and inspiration once every twoyears."

  "Do you mean to say that you belong to that fool outfit?" wonderedHippy.

  "I am happy to say that I do. I joined last winter, and, novice that Iam, I have realized some remarkable results," replied Emma.

  "Nora, we ought to take her to a specialist before we start on ourjourney. It won't do to have a crazy person with us. She might get usinto no end of trouble," suggested Hippy.

  "Humph! I'd much prefer to be crazy than to have a bungalow head,"retorted Emma scornfully.

  "A bungalow head?" exclaimed the girls.

  "Yes. A bungalow has no upper story, you know."

  "Ouch!" cried Hippy Wingate, clapping both hands to his head. "Now thatour Sage of India has spoken, suppose Grace and Tom enlighten us as towhere we are going this summer. In view of the fact that this is mytreat--that I have offered to pay the expenses of the Overland Riders onthis journey--it might not be inappropriate for me to inquire where weare going. Elfreda's question in that direction is as yet unanswered."

  Tom Gray nodded to his wife.

  "I had intended to wait until Stacy Brown arrived, but as he is not amember of our little organization, there is no reason why our businessmatters should be discussed with him," said Grace. "Dear friends, we aregoing to the High Sierras, the great snow-clad peaks of the far west.Adventure, hardship and health are awaiting us there. It will be a longjourney before we reach the beginning of our real objective, but Ibelieve you folks will agree with me that the preliminary journey iswell worth while."

  "You say that Hippy is paying the bills?" interjected Emma.

  "He has so said. However, Tom will not have it that way, so we haveagreed that Tom and Hippy shall share equally in the expense of thejourney. Both feel quite rich now since they cleaned up on their biglumber deal in the North Woods," replied Grace.

  Elfreda said that such an arrangement would not please her at all,declaring that she would pay her own expenses.

  "You have nothing to say about it," laughed Tom. "The subject is closed.So far as our having Stacy Brown as our guest, is concerned, you allagreed to that when Grace wrote to you about his wish to join us on oursummer outing. Are you still of the same mind?"

  "Yes," answered the girls in chorus.

  "What about a guide? Is that arranged for?" asked Miss Briggs.

  "Not yet," answered Grace. "We thought we would leave that until wereached our destination. Oh, girls, I have some of the loveliest tripsin mind for several seasons ahead, but I'm not going to tell you a wordabout them now. In the meantime, anyone that has a suggestion to offerwill please offer it."

  "I have no suggestions to offer, but I should like to ask further lighton this new dope that Emma Dean has sprung on us. What is it, and howdoes it work?" asked Hippy.

  "If you won't make fun of me I'll tell you," replied Emma. "Thetransmigration of thought is 'tuning-in' one's mind to receive messagesfrom the mind of another person, just as a wireless operator 'tunes-in'his instrument to catch the message being sent by another operator faraway. In other words, persons so attuned to each other may converse,read each other's thoughts and hold communion, even though separated bythousands of miles of sea or land or both."

  "Marvelous!" breathed Hippy. "For instance, please tune-in your mind andtell me what I am thinking about. Let's see you do that, if you can," hedeclared triumphantly.

  "Our minds never could be in perfect accord, Theophilus Wingate. We areas far apart as the poles, but our range being so short, I can easilytell you what you are thinking about. Not being a deep thinker, you areas transparent as a piece of clear crystal."

  "Emma, don't you say that about my Hippy," protested Nora indignantly."My Hippy has a mind as big as his heart, and--"

  "You are thinking," interjected Emma gravely, "what a shallow littlebutterfly I am, but what you do not know is that that thought is merelythe reflection of your own mentality. You are, in other words, seeingyourself as others see you, Hippy Wingate."

  A peal of laughter from the Overland girls greeted Emma's retort. Hippyflushed, then joined in the laughter.

  "This is so sudden," he murmured. "I'll tell you what you do. Wait untilStacy arrives, then you just practice your transmigration stuff on him.Stacy will make a wonderful subject for you. He is so temperamental, sospiritual, that I am positive you and he will get wonderful results."Hippy winked at Nora as he said it.

  None of the others had ever seen Stacy Brown, so they had not the leastidea what was in store for them from the comedian of the Pony RiderBoys' outfit. Stacy was an old campaigner, however, and Hippy knew thathe would prove a valuable member of their party on the ride into theHigh Sierras. Stacy knew the open, and with his companions hadexperienced many exciting adventures in the wilder parts of the country.The Overland Riders, too, had had their full share of thrillingadventure, first as members of the Overton College Unit in France duringthe great war, where Hippy Wingate had won honors as a fighting airpilot, and Tom Gray at the front as a captain of engineers. However,they had a new phase of excitement to experience in "Chunky" Brown, andthe first of those experiences was near at hand.

  A shot suddenly broke the summer stillness of Haven Home, a shot thatbrought the Overland Riders to their feet.

  "_Bang, bang, bang!_"

  "Merciful Heaven! Are we attacked?" cried Elfreda Briggs.

  "Whoop! Yeo-o-o-o-o-w!"

  Three more shots were fired, followed by a succession of startlingwhoops and yells.

  "What does it mean? I'm afraid!" cried Emma.

  The Overlanders ran out of the dining room to the veranda, but no onewas in sight.

  "Chunky has arrived. Don't be afraid, girls," laughed Hippy Wingate. "Heis on the other side of the house. There he comes!"

  A short, fat young fellow, riding a gray bronco and perched high on hissaddle, at this juncture dashed around the end of the house, firing twoshots into the air as he passed the amazed group. Just as he swept past,his sombrero fell off, but Chunky did not stop. In a minute or two hewas back, and, making a graceful dip from the saddle, reached down forthe hat. As he did so, the pony swerved and Stacy Brown landed on thegrass of Haven Home, flopped over on his back, and after a few dazedseconds got up and shook himself.

  Stacy made a low bow to the spectators gathered on the veranda.

  "Oh, my dear, my dear! Are you hurt?" begged Nora, running to him.

&n
bsp; "Hurt? Of course not. I always fall off before dinner. It puts a keenedge on my appetite. Hulloa, folks! Glad to meet ye. Hey, Bismarck! Comehere," he ordered.

  His dusty gray pony trotted to him and nosed Stacy's cheekaffectionately.

  "Got anything loose around the house? I'm half starved," urged Chunky."Uncle Hip, introduce me to these beautiful young ladies. I've heard ofyou folks, and so has Bismarck. You'll find him right friendly,especially the front end of him, but I shouldn't advise you to get tooclose to the tail end. He is very light there. Let him browse in theyard while I feed the inner man."

  "Indeed not," objected Grace. "I am not going to have my flowerstrampled down after all my hard work on them this spring. Tom, pleaselead Stacy's pony around to the stables. I will put something on thetable for you at once, Stacy. Come right in. We were just finishingdinner when you arrived so violently. Oh! Pardon me. You haven't yetbeen introduced to the girls."

  "Thanks!" bowed Stacy. "Thanks for the invitation, but come to think ofit don't introduce me until after dinner. I never like to meet strangerson an empty stomach."

  "This is Miss Elfreda Briggs, a rising young lawyeress, and here is thelife of our Overland party, Miss Emma Dean. We address each other by ourfirst names, so you may call her Emma. Come now, Stacy."

  "You're a funny fellow, aren't you?" said Emma, surveying the newcomercuriously as they walked towards the house.

  "Then we are a pair of 'em, eh?" chuckled the fat boy.

  "I am not a boy, thank my lucky stars and all the saints," objectedEmma. "I'll have you understand that, sir."

  "Let the dove of peace rest over your touchy spirit, Emma," laughedGrace chidingly.

  "It isn't a dove. It's a crow," corrected Chunky. "A thousand pardons,Emma dear. I--"

  "I'm not your dear," answered Emma with considerable heat.

  "Yes, you are, but you don't know it. To realize it you will have toemerge from the unconscious state in which you now so sweetly repose,"teased Stacy, amid the laughter of the others.

  "I should prefer to be unconscious all the time," flung back Emma.

  "Ah! The food does smell good. Food always has a strange effect on me,and really, I haven't smelled any in almost a thousand years--not sincebreakfast this morning. By the way, where do we go and when do westart?"

  "To the Sierras," answered Tom Gray. "How are you, Chunky?" he added,extending a hand.

  "Starved. How's yourself?"

  "I think after we go back to the dining room and after I have my dessertthat I shall feel fit as a fiddle," replied Tom. "To answer the rest ofyour question, we expect to start tomorrow forenoon. The ponies will beshipped in a car that is now on the siding at Oakdale."

  "Girls, what do you think of my nephew?" cried Hippy jovially, as theyagain seated themselves at the table.

  "So far as I am concerned, I think that he is another of those bungalowfellows just like yourself, Hippy," answered Emma. "Mr. Brown, may I askif you ever have had any experience with mental transmigration?" sheasked, turning to Chunky.

  Chunky, his mouth full of food, surveyed her solemnly.

  "Uh-huh!" he replied thickly. "I met one of those animals once in theRocky Mountains. You see it was this way. We had been riding far intothe night to find a suitable camping place, when we were suddenly haltedby a savage growl just ahead of us. I went on ahead, with my trustyrifle ready, to slay the beast whatever it might be. Suddenly I saw him.He was the most terrible looking object that I've ever come up with inall my mountain experience. I threw up my rifle and shot the beast deadin his tracks."

  "Wonderful!" breathed Emma. "But what has that to do with mentaltransmigration?"

  "I'm coming to that. It is wonderful--I mean it was. Will you believeit, that terrible beast came to life. Yes, sir, he rose right up andmade for us. My pony bolted, and I fell off--just as I ordinarily dobefore meal time. My feet at the moment chanced to be out of thestirrups and I fell off. Well, I might have been killed--I surely wouldhave been killed, but I wasn't, just because of that stunt that youmentioned. I transmigrated myself out of that vicinity with a speed thatleft that terrible object so far behind that he just lay down and diedagain," finished Stacy Brown solemnly, amid shouts of laughter, in whichall but Emma Dean joined.

  Stacy gave her a quick sidelong glance, and Hippy Wingate, observing thelook, knew that war had been declared between Stacy Brown and Emma Dean.