“We thought sure we’d miss you,” said Nellie.  “It made us feel awfully.”

“Have you dined yet?” asked Dick.

“No.”

“Then you must all come and take dinner with us.  We want to hear all you’ve got to tell.”

“And we want to hear what you’ve got to tell too,” said Dora, with a merry laugh.  She was looking straight into Dick’s eyes.  “Have you had a good time at the Hall?”

“Yes, but we had a better time at the encampment.”

“I heard you met some very nice young ladies up there,” went on Dora.

“Who wrote to you about that, Dora?”

“Oh, never mind; I heard it, and that’s enough.”

“Well, we did meet some nice young ladies.”

“Oh!” And Dora turned away for a moment.  They were on their way to the dining room and the others were temporarily out of hearing.

“But I didn’t meet anybody half as nice as you!” went on Dick, in a low tone of voice, and caught her hand.

“Oh, Dick!” She said this with a toss of her head, but smiled, nevertheless.

“It’s true, Dora.  I wished you were there more than once.  I would have written more, only we had a whole lot of trouble with our enemies.”

“And you really did think of me?”

“I did—­nearly every day.  I suppose you forgot all about me, and that’s why you didn’t write.”

“Dick Rover, you know better than that!”

“I suppose you met some stunning Californian that owns a gold mine and he claimed all of your attention.”

“I did meet one rich young man, and—­and he proposed to me,” faltered Dora.

“Oh, Dora!” And now Dick’s heart seemed to stop beating.  “And you—­you didn’t accept him, did you?”

“Would you care if I did?” she whispered.  “Dora!” he answered, half fiercely.

“Well, I told him I didn’t want him, so there,” said Dora, hurriedly.  “I told him that I wanted to marry somebody that lived in the East, and that I—­I—­”

“And that you had the young man picked out?  Why didn’t you tell him that, Dora?  You know—­”

“Hi, you folks!” came in a cry from Tom.  “What are you steering for the smoking room for?  We are bound for the dining room.”

“Well, I never!” murmured Dora.  “Dick, we had better watch out where we are going.”

“That’s right.”  They turned toward the dining room.  “Dora, you know, as I was saying, that—­”

“Dick Rover, I thought we were going to dinner!  Just see the folks!  What a crowd!  You musn’t talk like that here.”

“Yes, that’s true, but—­”

“You really must mind, Dick.”  She gave him a bright smile.  “I—­I—­guess I understand you!”

And then all went in to dinner.

CHAPTER IX

THE ROVER BOYS AT HOME

There was a great deal to tell on all sides, and the dinner lasted over an hour.  The Stanhopes and the Lanings had had a grand time while at Santa Barbara and the widow was much improved in health, so much so, in fact, that she was now practically a well woman.  Those who had been in the Far West listened with interest to the boys’ doings at the Hall and during the encampment, and were amazed to think that Dan Baxter and his father had turned up once more, and that Arnold Baxter was trying to turn over a new leaf.