CHAPTER XXI
IN THE STORM
Bert Bobbsey did not pay much attention to what the foreman said,except that one word "Indians."
"Oh, where are they?" cried the boy. "I want to see them!"
"And I'd like to see them myself!" exclaimed the foreman. "If I couldfind them I'd get back the Three Star cattle."
"Did Indians really take some of the steers?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey.
"Yes," answered the foreman, "they did. You know we are getting readyfor the round-up. That is a time, twice a year, when we count thecattle, and sell what we don't want to keep," he explained, for he sawthat Nan wanted to ask a question.
"Twice a year," went on the foreman, "once in the spring and again inthe fall, we have what is called a round-up. That is we gathertogether all the cattle on the different parts of the ranch. Someherds have been left to themselves for a long time, and it may happenthat cattle belonging to some other ranch-owner have got in with ours.We separate, or 'cut out' as it is called, the strange cattle, givethem to the cowboys who come for them, and look after our own. That isa round-up, and sometimes it lasts for a week or more. The cowboystake a 'chuck', or kitchen wagon with them, and they cook their mealsout on the prairie."
"Oh, that's fun!" cried Bert. "Please, Daddy, mayn't I go on theround-up?"
"And have the Indians catch you?" asked his mother.
"Oh, there isn't any real danger from the Indians," said the foreman."They are not the wild kind. Only, now and again, they run off a bunchof cattle from some herd that is far off from the main ranch. This iswhat has happened here."
"How did you find out about it?" asked Mr. Bobbsey.
"A cowboy from another ranch told me," answered the foreman. "Some ofhis cattle were taken and he followed along the trail the Indiansleft. He saw them, but could not catch them. But he saw some of thecattle that had strayed away from the band of Indians, and thesesteers were branded with our mark--the three stars."
"Well, maybe the poor Indians were hungry," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Andthat is why they took some of our steers."
"Yes, I reckon that's what they'd say, anyhow," remarked the foreman."But it won't do to let the redmen take cattle any time they feel likeit. They have money, and can buy what they want. I wouldn't mindgiving them a beef or two, but when it comes to taking part of a herd,it must be stopped."
"How can it be stopped?" asked Mr. Bobbsey.
"That's just what I came in to talk to you about," went on Mr. Dayton."Shall I send some of the cowboys after the Indians to see if they cancatch them, and get back our cattle?"
"I suppose you had better," Mr. Bobbsey answered. "If we let this passthe Indians will think we do not care, and will take more steers nexttime. Yes, send the cowboys after the Indians."
"But let the Indians have a steer or two for food, if they need it,"begged Mrs. Bobbsey, who had a kind heart even toward an Indian cattlethief, or "rustler", as they are called.
"Well, that can be done," agreed Mr. Dayton. "Then I'll send some ofthe cowboys on the round-up, and others after the Indians. They canwork together, the two bands of cowboys."
"Oh, mayn't I come?" begged Bert. "I can throw a lasso pretty goodnow, and maybe I could rope an Indian."
"And maybe you could get me an Indian doll!" put in Nan.
"Oh, no! We couldn't think of letting you go, Bert," said Mr. Bobbsey."The cowboys will be gone several nights, and will sleep out on theopen prairie. When you get bigger you may go."
Bert looked so disappointed that the foreman said:
"I'll tell you what we can do. Toward the end of the round-up the boysdrive the cattle into the corrals not far from here. The children cango over then and see how the cowboys cut out different steers, and howwe send some of the cattle over to the railroad to be shipped backeast. That will be seeing part of the round-up, anyhow."
And with this Bert had to be content. He and Nan, with Flossie andFreddie, watched the cowboys riding away on their ponies, shouting,laughing, waving their hats and firing their revolvers.
While the round-up was hard work for the cowboys, still they hadexciting times at it and they always were glad when it came. The ranchseemed lonesome after the band of cowboys had ridden away, but SingFoo, the Chinese cook, was left, and one or two of the older men tolook after things around the buildings. Mr. Dayton also stayed to seeabout matters for Mrs. Bobbsey.
It was well on toward fall now, though the weather was still warm. Thedays spent by the Bobbsey twins in the great West had passed soquickly that the children could hardly believe it was almost time forthem to go back to Lakeport.
"Can't we stay here all winter?" asked Bert. "If I'm going to be acowboy I'd better stay on a ranch all winter."
"Oh, the winters here are very cold," his father said. "We had bettergo back to Lakeport for Christmas, anyhow," and he smiled at his wife.
"Maybe Santa Claus doesn't come out here so far," said Freddie.
"Then I don't want to stay," said Flossie. "I want to go where SantaClaus is for Christmas."
"I think, then, we'd better plan to go back home," said Mrs. Bobbsey.
It was rather lonesome at the ranch now, with so many of the cowboysaway, but the children managed to have good times. The two smallertwins often went riding in the pony cart, while Bert and Nan likedsaddle-riding best.
One day as Bert and his sister started off their mother said to them:"Don't go too far now. I think there is going to be a storm."
"We won't go far!" Bert promised.
Now the two saddle ponies were feeling pretty frisky that day. Theyseemed to know cold weather was coming, when they would have to trotalong at a lively pace to keep warm. And perhaps Nan and Bert,remembering that they were soon to leave the ranch, rode farther andfaster than they meant to.
At any rate they went on and on, and pretty soon Nan said:
"We had better go back. We never came so far away before, all alone.And I think it's going to rain!"
"Yes, it does look so," admitted Bert. "And I guess we had better goback. I thought maybe I could see some of the cowboys coming home fromthe round-up, but I guess I can't."
The children turned their ponies about, and headed them for the ranchhouse. As they did so the rain drops began to fall, and they had notridden a half mile more before the storm suddenly broke.
"Oh, look at the rain!" cried Nan.
"And _feel_ it!" exclaimed Bert. "This is going to be a bigstorm! Let's put on our ponchos."
The children carried ponchos on their saddles. A poncho is a rubberblanket with a hole in the middle. To wear it you just put your headthrough the hole, the rubber comes down over your shoulders and youare kept quite dry, even in a hard storm.
Bert and Nan quickly put on their ponchos and then started theirponies again. The rain was now coming down so hard that the brotherand sister could scarcely see where they were going.
"Are we headed right for the house?" asked Nan.
"I--I guess so," answered Bert. "But I'm not sure."
CHAPTER XXII
NEW NAMES
Bert and Nan rode on through the rain which seemed to come down harderand harder. Soon it grew so dark, because it was getting to be lateafternoon and because of the rain clouds, that the children could notsee in the least where they were going.
"Oh, Bert, maybe we are lost!" said Nan, with almost a sob as sheguided her pony up beside that of her brother.
"Oh, I don't guess we are exactly _lost_," he said. "The poniesknow their way back to the ranch houses, even if we don't."
"Do you think so?" Nan asked.
"Yes, Mr. Dayton told me if ever I didn't know which way to go, justto let the reins rest loose on the horse's neck, and he'd take mehome."
"We'll do that!" decided Nan.
But whether the ponies did not know their way, or whether the ranchbuildings were farther off than either Bert or Nan imagined, thechildren did not know. All they knew was that they were out in therain, and they did not seem to be able to get
to any shelter. Therewere no trees on the prairies about Three Star ranch, as there were inthe woods at Lumberville.
"Oh, Bert, what shall we do?" cried Nan. "It's getting terribly darkand I'm afraid!"
Bert was a little afraid also, but he was not going to let his sisterknow that. He meant to be brave and look after her. They rode along alittle farther, and suddenly Nan cried:
"Oh, Bert! Look! Indians!"
Bert, who was riding along with his head bent low to keep the rain outof his face, glanced up through the gathering dusk. He saw, just aheadof him and coming toward him and his sister a line of men on horses.But Bert either looked more closely than did his sister or else heknew more about Indians. For after a second glance he cried:
"They aren't Indians! They're cowboys! Hello, there!" cried the boy."Will you please show us the way to the house on Three Star ranch?"
Some of the leading cowboys pulled up their horses, and stopped onhearing this call. They peered through the rain and darkness and sawthe two children on ponies.
"Who's asking for Three Star ranch?" cried one cowboy.
"We are!" Bert answered. "We're the Bobbsey twins!"
"Oh, ho! I thought so!" came back the answer. "Well, don't worry!We'll take you home all right!"
With that some of the cowboys (and they really were that and notIndians) rode closer to Nan and Bert. And as soon as Bert caught aglimpse of the faces of some of the men he cried:
"Why, you belong to Three Star!"
"Sure!" answered one, named Pete Baldwin. "We're part of the ThreeStar outfit coming back from the round-up. But where are you twoyoungsters going?"
"We came out for a ride," answered Bert "but it started to rain, andwe want to go home."
"Well, you won't get home the way you are going," said Pete. "You weretraveling right away from home when we met you. Turn your poniesaround, and head them the other way. We'll ride back with you."
Bert and Nan were glad enough to do this.
"It's a good thing we met you," said Bert, as he rode beside PeteBaldwin. "And did you catch the Indians?"
"Yes, we found them, and got back your mother's cattle--all except oneor two we gave them."
"And is the round-up all over?" asked Bert.
"Yes, except for some cattle a few of the boys will drive in to-morrowor next day," the cowboy answered. "You can see 'em then. It's a goodthing you youngsters had those rubber ponchos, or you'd be soakedthrough."
The cowboys each had on one of these rubber blankets, and they did notmind the rain. Some of them even sang as their horses plodded throughthe wet.
Bert and Nan were no longer afraid, and in about half an hour theyrode with their cowboy friends into the cluster of ranch buildings.
"Oh, my poor, dear children! where have you been?" cried Mrs. Bobbsey."Daddy and Mr. Dayton were just going to start hunting for you! Whathappened?"
"We got lost in the rain, but the cowboys found us," said Bert.
"And first I thought they were Indians," added Nan, as she shook thewater from her hair.
"Well, it's a good thing they did find you," said Mr. Bobbsey.
The two Bobbsey twins were given some warm milk to drink, and soonthey were telling Flossie and Freddie about their ride in the rain.
"I wish I could see an Indian," sighed Freddie.
"All I want now is an Indian doll," said Nan.
Two days later the cowboys came riding in with a bunch of cattle whichthey had rounded-up and cut out from a larger herd. These steers wereto be shipped away, but, for a time, were kept in a corral, orfenced-in pen, near the ranch buildings. There Bert and the otherchildren went to look at the big beasts, and the Bobbsey twins watchedthe cowboys at work.
It was about a week after Bert and Nan had been lost in the rain thatMrs. Bobbsey met the foreman, Charles Dayton on the porch of the ranchhouse one day.
"Oh, Mr. Dayton!" called the children's mother, "I have had a letterfrom your brother Bill, who has charge of my lumber tract. He iscoming on here."
"Bill is coming here?" exclaimed the cattleman in great surprise."Well, I'm right happy to hear that. I'll be glad to see him. Haven'tseen him for several years. Is he coming here just to see me?"
"No," answered Mrs. Bobbsey, "he is coming here to see Mr. Bobbsey andmyself about some lumber business. After we left your brother foundthere were some papers I had not signed, so, instead of my going backto Lumberville, I asked your brother to come here. I can sign thepapers here as well as there, and this will give you two brothers achance to meet."
"I am glad of that!" exclaimed the cattleman. "I suppose Bill and Iare going to be kept pretty busy--he among the trees and I among thecattle--so we might not get a chance to meet for a long time, only forthis."
"That's what I thought," said Mrs. Bobbsey, while Bert and Nanlistened to the talk, "Well, your brother will be here next week."
"Oh, I'll be glad to see him!" exclaimed Bert.
"So will I!" echoed Nan. "I like our lumberman."
During the week that followed the Bobbsey twins had good times atThree Star ranch. The weather was fine, but getting colder, and Mr.and Mrs. Bobbsey began to think of packing to go home. They would dothis, they said, as soon as they had signed the papers Bill Dayton wasbringing to them.
And one day, when the wagon had been sent to the same station at whichthe Bobbseys left the train some months before, the ranch foreman cameinto the room where Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey were talking with thechildren and said:
"He's here!"
"Who?" asked Bert's father.
"My brother Bill! He just arrived! My, but he has changed!"
"And I suppose he said the same thing about you," laughed Mrs.Bobbsey.
"Yes, he did," admitted the ranch foreman. "It's been a good whilesince we were boys together. Much has happened since then."
Bill Dayton came in to see Mrs. Bobbsey. The two brothers looked verymuch alike when they were together, though Bill was younger. Theyappeared very glad to see one another.
Bill Dayton had brought quite a bundle of papers for Mr. and Mrs.Bobbsey to sign in connection with the timber business, and it tooktwo days to finish the work. During that time the Bobbsey twins hadfun in a number of ways, from riding on ponies and in the cart, towatching the cowboys.
One day when Nan and Bert were putting their ponies in the stableafter a ride, they saw the two Dayton brothers talking together nearthe barn. Without meaning to listen, the Bobbsey twins could not helphearing what was said.
"Don't you think we ought to tell the boss?" asked the ranch foremanof his brother, the timber foreman.
"You mean tell Mr. Bobbsey?" asked Bill Dayton.
"Yes, tell Mrs. Bobbsey--she's the boss as far as we are concerned. Weought to tell them that our name isn't Dayton--or at least that thatisn't the only name we have. They've been so good to us that we oughtto tell them the truth," answered Charles.
"I suppose we ought," agreed Bill. "We'll do it!"
And then they walked away, not having noticed Bert or Nan.
The two Bobbsey twins looked at one another.
"I wonder what they meant?" asked Nan.
"I don't know," answered her brother. "We'd better tell daddy ormother."
A little later that day Bert spoke to his father, asking:
"Daddy, can a man have two names?"
"Two names? Yes, of course. His first name and his last name."
"No, I mean can he have two last names?" went on Bert.
"Not generally," Mr. Bobbsey said "I think it would be queer for a manto have two last names."
"Well, the two foremen have two last names," said Bert. "Haven't they,Nan?"
"What do you mean?" asked their father.
Then Bert and Nan told of having overheard Bill and Charles talkingabout the need for telling Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey the truth about theirname.
"What do you suppose this means?" asked Mr. Bobbsey of his wife.
"I don't know," she replied. "But you remember we did think
there wassomething queer about Bill Dayton at the lumber camp."
"I know we did. I think I'll have a talk with the two foremen," Mr.Bobbsey went on. "Maybe they would like to tell us something, but feela little nervous over it. I'll just ask them a few questions."
And later, when Mr. Bobbsey did this, speaking of what Nan and Berthad overheard, Bill Dayton said:
"Yes, Mr. Bobbsey, we have a secret to tell you. We were going to sometime ago, but we couldn't make up our minds to it. Now we are glad Nanand Bert heard what we said. I'm going to tell you all about it."
"You children had better run into the house," said Mr. Bobbsey to Nanand Bert, who stood near by.
"Oh, let them stay," said the ranch foreman. "It isn't anything theyshouldn't hear, and it may be a lesson to them. To go to the verybottom, Mr. Bobbsey, Dayton isn't our name at all."
"What is, then?" asked Mr. Bobbsey.
"Hickson," was the unexpected answer. "We are Bill and CharleyHickson. We took the name of Dayton when we ran away from home, asthat was our mother's name before she was married. And we have beencalled Bill and Charley Dayton ever since. But Hickson is our realname."
Bert and Nan looked at one another. They felt that they were on theedge of a strange secret.
"Bill and Charley Hickson!" exclaimed Nan.
"Oh, is your father's name Hiram?" Bert asked excitedly.
"Hiram? Of course it is!" cried Bill. "Hiram Hickson is the name ofour father!"
"Hurray!" shouted Bert.
"Oh, oh!" squealed Nan.
"Then we've found you!" yelled both together.
"Found us?" echoed Bill. "Why, we weren't lost! That is, we--" hestopped and looked at his brother.
"There seems to be more of a mystery here," said Charley Hickson togive him his right name. "Do you know what it is?" he asked Mr.Bobbsey.
"Oh, let me tell him!" cried Bert
"And I want to help!" added Nan.
"We know where your father is!" went on Bert eagerly.
"His name is Hiram Hickson!" broke in Nan.
"And he works in our father's lumberyard," added Bert.
"He said he had two boys who--who went away from home," said Nan, notliking to use the words "ran away."
"And the boys names were Charley and Bill," went on Bert. "He said hewished he could find you, and we said, when we started away from home,that maybe we could help. But I didn't ever think we could."
"I didn't either," said Nan.
"Well, you seem to have found us all right," said Bill Dayton Hickson,to give him his complete name. "Of course I'm not sure this HiramHickson who works in your lumberyard is the same Hiram Hickson who isour father," he added to Mr. Bobbsey.
"I believe he is," answered Mr. Bobbsey. "Three such names couldhardly be alike unless the persons were the same. But I'll write tohim and find out."
"And tell him we are sorry we ran away from home," added Charles. "Wehaven't had very good luck since--at least, not until we met theBobbsey twins," he went on. "We were two foolish boys, and we ran awayafter a quarrel."
"Your father says it was largely his fault," said Mrs. Bobbsey, whohad come to join in the talk. "I think you had all better forgive eachother and start all over again," she added.
"That's what we'll do!" exclaimed Bill.
It was not long before a letter came from Mr. Hickson of Lakeport,saying he was sure the ranch and lumber foremen were his two missingboys. Mr. Bobbsey sent the old man money to come out to the ranch,where Bill and his brother were still staying. And on the day whenHiram Hickson was to arrive the Bobbsey twins were very much excitedindeed.
"Maybe, after all, these won't be his boys," said Nan.
"Oh, I guess they will," declared Bert.
And, surely enough, when Hiram Hickson met the two foremen he held outhis hands to them and cried:
"My two boys! My lost boys! Grown to be men! Oh, I'm so glad I havefound you again!"
And then the Bobbseys and the cowboys who had witnessed the happyreunion went away and left the father and sons together.
So everything turned out as Bert and Nan hoped it would, after theyhad heard the two foremen speaking of their new name. And, in a way,the Bobbsey twins had helped bring this happy time about. If they hadnot gone to the railroad accident, if they had not heard Hiram Hicksontell about his long-missing sons, and if they had not heard the cowboyand the lumberman talking together, perhaps the little family wouldnot have been so happily brought together.
Mr. Hickson and his sons told each other their stories. As the old manhad said, there had been a quarrel at home, and his two sons, thenboys, had been hot-headed and had run away. They traveled together fora time, and then separated. They did not want to go back home.
As the years went on, the two brothers saw each other once in a while,and then for many months they would neither see nor hear from eachother. They kept the name Dayton, which they had taken after leavingtheir father. As for Mr. Hickson, at first he did not try to find hissons, but after his anger died away he felt lonely and wanted themback. He felt that it was because of his queerness that they had goneaway.
But, though he searched, he could not find them.
"And I might never have found you if I hadn't been in the train wreckand met the Bobbsey twins," said Mr. Hickson. "Coming to Lakeport wasthe best thing I ever did."
"How's everything back in Lakeport?" asked Bert of Mr. Hickson, afterthe first greetings between father and sons were over.
"Oh, just about the same," was the answer, "We haven't had any moretrain wrecks, thank goodness."
"But we were in one!" exclaimed Freddie.
"So I heard. Well, I'm glad you weren't hurt. But I must begin tothink of getting back to your lumberyard, I guess, Mr. Bobbsey."
"No, you're going to live with us," declared Charley. "Part of thetime you can spend on Three Star ranch with me, and the rest of thetime you can live with Bill in the woods."
"Well, that will suit me all right," said Mr. Hickson, and so it wasarranged. He was to spend the winter on the ranch, where he would helphis son with Mrs. Bobbsey's cattle. Bill Hickson went back to thelumber camp, and a few days later the Bobbsey twins left for home.
Nan had her wish in getting an Indian doll. One day, just before theywere to leave the ranch, a traveling band of Indians stopped to buysome cattle. The Indian women had papooses, and some of the Indianchildren had queer dolls, made of pieces of wood with clothes of barkand skin. Mr. Bobbsey bought four of the dolls, one each for Nan andFlossie, and two for Nan's girl friends at home. For Bert and Freddiewere purchased some bows and arrows and some Indian moccasins, orslippers, and head-dresses of feathers. So, after all, the Bobbseytwins really saw some Indians.
"Good-bye, Bobbsey twins!" cried all the cowboys, and they fired theirrevolvers in the air. The Bobbseys were seated in the wagon, theirbaggage around them, ready to go to the station at Cowdon to take thetrain for the return to Lakeport. "Come and see us again!" yelled thecowboys.
"We will!" shouted Nan and Bert and Flossie and Freddie. They weredriven over the prairie to the railroad station, looking back now andthen to see the shouting, waving cowboys and Charles Hickson and hisfather. The Bobbsey twins left happy hearts behind them.
And now, as they are on their homeward way, back to Dinah and Sam,back to Snoop and Snap, we will take leave of the Bobbsey twins.
THE END
Thank you for reading books on BookFrom.Net Share this book with friends