and also the girls, sent telegrams to their folks, telling them that all was well.
Mrs. Stanhope was staying at Santa Barbara for her health. All of the girls had been stopping with her, and now it was decided that Dora, Nellie, and Grace should go to her again.
"It's too bad we must part," Dick had said, as he squeezed Dora's hand. "But you are coming East soon, aren't you?"
"In a month or two, yes. And what will you do?"
"Go back to Putnam Hall most likely—if the scarlet fever scare is over."
"Then we'll be likely to see you again before long," and Dora smiled her pleasure.
"It will be like old times to get back to the Hall again," Sam had put in. "But first, I want to go home and see the folks."
"Right you are," had come from Tom. "I reckon they are dead anxious to see us, too."
And so they had parted, with tight hand-squeezing and bright smiles that meant a good deal. One train had taken the girls southward to Santa Barbara, and another had taken the boys eastward to Denver and to Chicago. At the latter city the lads had made a quick change, and twenty-six hours later found them at Oak Run, and in the carriage for the farm.
