Will she not don the costume?"
"Put 'em on!" commanded Laura again, shaking the painter's suit
before the hesitating Western girl.
"She would better," said Amelia threateningly, "or I will call to
your aid all these, my faithful followers, who have already been
through the fiery trial."
"I don't want to go through any fiery trial," said Rhoda. "But if
you insist, I'll put on that jacket and the pants."
"'Pants' is truly Western, isn't it, Laura?" asked Amelia Boggs.
"Civilized folk say trousers."
"I see I have much to learn," said Rhoda, too meekly, perhaps.
She slipped quickly into the roomy overalls behind the curtain, and
then came forth, putting on the jumper. Her bare arms and shoulders
were brown and firm. Nan thought Rhoda's figure was as attractive
as her face was pretty. She caught the new girl's glance and smiled
encouragingly.
"Doesn't she make a darling boy!" whispered Bess Harley to her
chum.
But the other girls--at least, some of them--meant to make the
newcomer feel keenly her position as a "sawney."
"She wears 'em just as though she was at home in them," said Laura
drawlingly. "I tell you she is a regular cowgirl at home on the Hot
Dog Mesa. Isn't that so, Miss Rhoda?"
"You seem to know," replied the Western girl bruskly.
Laura suddenly whispered to the hooded Amelia. The latter cleared
her throat portentously and said:
"Sawney, it is evident that you must be taught your place.
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