Sure enough, from around the side of the playhouse came Ma McKenzie and Calamity Kate, hauling the garden hose and some buckets.

“Look out, McKenzie,” said Kate in a mocking voice. “I see the Burpsey Twins hiding behind the tree.”

“Attack!” Burp shouted. He shoved Slingshot and the skull straight at the girls. “Attack!”

McKenzie dropped the buckets and turned the hose on them. The sudden blast of water knocked the boys sideways, and the skull fell to the ground.

“Is that old thing supposed to scare us?” said Kate, popping her gum.

“You’d better be scared,” said Burp. “It’s haunted!”

“We’re not afraid of any old bleached-out bone,” said McKenzie.

“Oh, yeah? Then I dare you to look closer,” said Slingshot.

The girls nosed slowly in. McKenzie acted bored. Kate giggled nervously.

Esssss!

The girls froze. In the next blink, a squirt of blood came flying out of an eye socket.

“Aaah!” The girls screamed like fire engines, dropped the hose and the other bucket, and ran to the playhouse.

They yanked open the door. But before they could get inside, where it was safe, the playhouse erupted with barks, yaps, and howls. Slingshot and Burp were knocked over by a tornado of feet and fur.

“Stampede!” they yelled, falling to the ground and covering their heads with their arms.

Five frisky dogs jumped all over the cowboys.

“They’re licking my face off!” said Burp. “Make them stop!”

“Princess! Sugarbaby! Trixie!” called McKenzie, laughing. “Come!” Princess and Sugarbaby, the two standard poodles, ran back to her side.

“First you pink our bunkhouse,” said Slingshot. “Then you fill it with poofy clown dogs.”

“It’s our dog-sitting business,” said McKenzie. “We get extra for grooming them. We practiced on our dolls, until you messed them up.”

“We call it Happy Tails!” said Kate, kneeling and scratching Princess behind the ears. Purple bows were stuck to the top of the poodle’s head. Two dogs had red nail polish painted on their claws. Another had ribbons and pom-poms dangling from its sparkly collar.

Only a small, frisky pup didn’t obey the girls’ commands. It kept darting at the boys and nipping at their ankles. It had bristly desert-brown hair, gangly legs, and pointy white-tipped ears.

“How come you don’t have this one all junked up?” asked Slingshot.

“That one,” said Kate, clucking her tongue. “Can’t get him to sit still.”

“He’s got wild in him,” said McKenzie. “Part coyote.”

“Here, boy,” said Slingshot, tussling with the puppy. “You’re not afraid of a little dirt, are you? I’ll bet you just want to be free. You want to be a cowboy dog with us, don’t you?”

“Guess what, Burp-Breaths,” said McKenzie, scooping up the pup. “The dogs are staying with us.”

“Yeah,” said Kate. “We’re staying with them in the playhouse. Overnight.”

“And since you killed our dolls,” said McKenzie, using a serious older-sister voice, “you two are on Pooper Scooper detail!”

“You’re cracked!” said Slingshot. “We don’t have time for any poop scooping. We’ve got plans of our own.”

“We do?” said Burp.

“Yeah, we do!” Slingshot grabbed the skull and pulled Burp with him. “Forget them,” he said. “They’re crazy!”

“So what’s our plan?” asked Burp.

The plan took a solid hour of begging, pleading, and promising. Their parents finally agreed to let the boys camp out in the backyard, but they had to cross their hearts and double-cousin solemnly swear not to bother their sisters in the playhouse. No matter what!

As the sun started sinking low, the boys spread their bedrolls beneath the cottonwood tree. It was cowboy camping at its best.

“You hungry?” said Slingshot. “Being on the trail makes me hungry.”

“How about beans and beef jerky?” asked Burp.

“Every cowboy’s favorite,” said Slingshot.

“I’ll grab it and be right back,” said Burp, taking off for his house.

When Burp got back with beans and jerky, he pried off the lid and shoveled two cold heaping spoonfuls into his mouth. “Mm-mmm!”

“My turn,” said Slingshot.

The cowboys snorted, howled, and burped out “Home on the Range,” “Back in the Saddle Again,” and “Don’t Fence Me In.”

“Double aces!” Slingshot hooted. “We’re cowboys on the open range.” They were so loud, they never heard the sisters coming.

“All your racket is stirring up the dogs,” said McKenzie with a glare.

“And keeping us awake,” said Kate, arms crossed and looking mad.

“You can’t tell us what to do,” Slingshot fired back.

“If the racket’s not over in ten minutes, you’ll be sorry,” said McKenzie. “So pipe down!”

“Yeah, pipe down!” echoed Kate.

With that, the girls turned and headed back to the playhouse.

“Guess we’d better keep it down.” Slingshot tilted his head in the direction of the playhouse. “We don’t want to end up back in jail.”

“They ruin everything,” said Burp, popping a few knuckles.

The boys got quiet, nestled into their bedrolls, and closed their eyes.

“Hey, get your paws off me, Burp,” said Slingshot.

“My paws?” said Burp. “How about you quit elbowing me!”

A wet nose and slurpy warm tongue startled the boys fully awake. It was the scruffy half-coyote pup.

“Hey, how’d you get out here, boy?” asked Slingshot.

“I bet he snuck out,” said Burp. “You want to sleep out here under the stars with us, don’t you, boy?” He gave the pup a piece of beef jerky, and the pup gobbled it up in one bite.

“A dog like this should be with us cowboys,” said Slingshot.

“Yeah. He’s a real trail dog. He’s a cowboy’s-best-friend kind of dog.”

“First thing tomorrow, we’ll take him with us to go after that loot,” said Slingshot, fighting back a yawn.

“And to find the rest of Windy’s skeleton!”

“Don’t worry, boy,” said Slingshot, pointing to the skull sitting by the old cottonwood tree. “We got Bloody Eyes to protect us while we sleep. Nobody will come near a haunted skull.”

Burp burped out a soft chorus of “Burp, Burp on the Range.” The boys’ eyes grew heavy. The pup turned around in one full circle, looked up at the boys, and then settled down between them.

Under a sliver of summer moon, the three Wild West friends fell asleep dreaming of loot, bones, and running free.