There was a bunk-house for the cowboys, and a separate living apartment for the Chinese cook and his two assistants, for considerable food was required at Rocky Ranch, especially with the advent of the film players. The cowboys, their meal over, gathered in a group and looked curiously at the visitors. The novelty of seeing the pretty girls and the well-dressed men appealed to the rough but sterling chaps who had so little to soften their hard lives. Nearly every one of them smoked cigarettes, which they rolled skillfully and quickly. "Give us a song, Buster!" one of the cowboys called to a comrade. "Tune up! Bring out that mouth organ, Necktie!" "What odd names!" remarked Alice to Pete Batso, who constituted himself a sort of guide to Ruth and her sister. "They call Dick Jones 'Buster' because he's a good bronco trainer, or buster," the foreman said. "And Necktie Harry got his handle because he's so fussy about his ties. I'll wager he's got _three_, all different," and the foreman seemed to think that a great number. "You should see our Mr. Towne," laughed Paul, who had joined the girls. "I guess he must have thirty!" "Thirty!" cried Pete. "What is he--a wholesale dealer?" "Pretty nearly," admitted Paul. "Say, Pete!" called one of the cowboys, "can't some of them actor folks do a song and dance?" The foreman looked questioningly at Alice, with whom he was already on friendly terms because of her happy frankness. "I'm afraid that isn't in our line," she said. "I'll do that little sketch I did with Miss Pennington and Miss Dixon," offered Paul, who had been in vaudeville. "I've got my banjo and----" "Ki-yi, fellows! We're going to have a show!" yelled Bow Backus. "Come on!" and he fired his revolver in the air. Ruth jumped nervously. "Here, cut that out!" ordered the foreman to the offending cowboy. "Save your powder to mill the cattle." "I begs your pardon, Miss," said the cowboy, humbly. "But I jest couldn't help it--thinkin' we was goin' to have a little amusement. It's been powerful dull out here lately. Nothin' to do but shoot the queue off Ling Foo." "Oh! you don't do that; do you?" gasped Ruth. "Don't mind him, Miss," said the foreman, "he's jokin'." Miss Pennington and Miss Dixon were only too willing to show their talents to the appreciative audience of cowboys, and with Paul, who played the banjo, they went through the little sketch, with a side porch as a stage, and the setting sun as a spotlight. There were ample sleeping quarters at Rocky Ranch, though the bedrooms were rather of the camp, or bungalow, type. But there was hot and cold water and this made up for the lack of many other things. "Do you think you're going to like it here, Alice?" asked Ruth as they sat in the room they were to share. Ruth was manicuring her nails, and Alice was combing her hair. "Like it? Of course I'm going to like it. Aren't you?" "Well, it's--er--rather--rough," she hesitated.