The Secret of Shadow Ranch by Carolyn G. Keene Page B

everybody’ ll see us!”
    Nancy smiled at the remark, then warned the others to say nothing about the man in the black ten-gallon hat or the other two men to anyone except the Rawleys.
    When the girls rode up to the corral, Dave and Tex and Bud were waiting there for them.
    “Where did you find Chief?” asked Dave. He surveyed their bedraggled condition but made no comment.
    Tex said, “Looks like you girls got caught in a little mountain sprinkle.”
    Bud grinned and said, “That was nothing. Wait till you all get caught in a real Western-style rain.”
    “No thanks,” Bess retorted.
    “We’ll tell you all about the dog later,” Nancy promised. The girls hastily dismounted and fled to the house.
    After hot showers they dressed for supper. Nancy wore a powder-blue sweater and skirt, and brushed her titian hair until it gleamed. George wore a smart dark-green linen dress. She was ready long before Bess, who wore a yellow sweater and skirt and changed her hair-do three times.
    “I want to look extra nice,” Bess said, “to make up for the extra awful way I looked this afternoon.”
    Before supper, the girls sat down in the living room with the Rawleys and told them of their afternoon’s adventures. Nancy passed lightly over the stream-crossing incident, but Bess refused to let the matter drop. When everyone had gathered around the table, she bragged of Nancy’s bravery. Nancy, always embarrassed by praise, changed the subject as soon as possible.
    When the meal was over, Dave called Nancy aside on the portico. “I owe you an apology,” he said soberly. “That was a mighty fine thing you did this afternoon. I see now that you’re not the tenderfoot nuisance I thought you were going to be.”
    Nancy smiled. “This is the first time since I arrived that you’ve been friendly. Are you always so gruff to newcomers?”
    He flushed. “No, but I—” He hesitated. “Well, I had a special reason.”
    Before Nancy could ask him what it was, he said, “I have to go now. We’ll talk again later.”
    Dave swung off the portico and headed toward the corral. Nancy watched him disappear into the dusk, puzzled by his remarks. Was he guilty of something or not? She was aware that Ed Rawley trusted him. On the other hand, she had no proof that Dave had been telling the truth about the mud on his shoes.
    She reminded herself that he knew about Frances Humber’s watch and therefore had a reason to trick the girls out of their room and later take the old green bottle.
    “Did Dave apologize in order to allay my suspicions of him?” she wondered.
    As Nancy started toward the living room she met the other girls and Aunt Bet coming out.
    “We’re going to a drive-in movie,” said Alice. “Want to come along?”
    “I’d love to,” Nancy replied, “but I think I’d better stay at home and keep watch.” Bess and George offered to remain with her, but Nancy urged them to go on.
    As Mrs. Rawley and the girls walked toward the ranch wagon, Nancy hurried to her bedroom. She changed into riding clothes, picked up a flashlight, and then headed for the stable. She had decided to saddle her mount and be ready to ride in case the phantom horse should appear. The young sleuth was determined to catch the ghost horse or examine its tracks before they were obscured by other pursuers.
    As Nancy reached the stable, Dave came out leading a horse which he mounted at once. He carried a flashlight. “Just checking up,” he said to her. “Snooping again?”
    “Yes,” Nancy replied. Quickly she changed the subject by asking whether anyone kept watch in the big meadow at night for the phantom.
    “No,” was the reply. “Shorty and I have the first patrol, while Tex keeps watch on the windmill and Bud stands guard at the east meadow. When it’s their turn to ride patrol, Shorty and I will switch jobs with them.”
    He added, “The foreman is riding fence in the east meadow—we even have to do it at night now. That way the cattle