CHAPTER V
WESTWARD BOUND
There were just eight people gathered together that evening to have agood time. Besides Nellie Langdon, of course, Will's twin sister,Violet, graced the occasion with her presence; then there came MameCrosby, the vivacious girl with the auburn locks, who was so fond ofteasing Jerry; and last, but not least, pretty Susie Prescott, a dainty,prim little blonde, whom Will considered a bundle of sweetness.
What a splendid time this congenial little company had! For many a daythe memory of it would follow the four chums while far away.
All of the "material of war," as Mame called it, had been brought toFrank's house, so that it might be packed in one big trunk. Thus theboys would be bothered with only a suitcase and a gun apiece in the longjourney across the continent.
The girls insisted upon being shown the wonderful aggregation ofclothing and weapons. It was to them very much like a shoppingexpedition, and many were the exclamations of awe and curiosity as theylooked upon the exhibition.
Bluff, of course, was very proud of that wonderful hunting-knife of his.He even smiled to see the perceptible shudder with which Nellie surveyedhim as he cut imaginary circles in the air with the keen-edged weapon.
"Oh! I hope you won't have to use it very often, Bluff! It makes meshiver just to think of you meeting one of those fierce grizzly bears,such as I have seen in the menagerie," she said confidentially to him.
"But you wouldn't have me leave this jewel at home, would you, Nellie?"he asked in dismay.
"Oh, no! Not for the world!--since you say that perhaps your very lifemay depend on having it; but please, Bluff, be very careful. You mightcut yourself by accident, you know, and then--well, your mother andfather would grieve so much if anything happened to you."
"Well, would you care?" asked Bluff boldly.
Nellie gave him an arch look and ran down-stairs, as she said that shewas needed just then to superintend the placing of the refreshments onthe table. Bluff laid the wonderful hunting-knife, sheath and all, backon the stand where his things were gathered, and smiled as if pleased.He had occasion, later on, to recall each little incident of thatevening, when worrying his mind over a most mysterious thing thatpuzzled him.
The little company separated about eleven, for the boys expected toleave home long ere noon on the following day, and had a strenuousjourney before them.
After an early breakfast they gathered at Frank's, where the lastpacking was done in hot haste, as the time was short. So it happenedthat none of them had more than a confused idea of what was done duringthat last hour, save that, some way or other, their things were crammedinto the big trunk.
"We should have taken two, hang it!" grunted Bluff as he tugged at themetal catches, while a couple of his mates sat on top to induce the lidto come down.
"There! It's all right now!" cried Will, as the click of the catchannounced the desired union.
So the trunk was snatched up by the waiting men and carried off, to betaken to the station. Frank and his chums quickly followed. Quite agathering of relatives and friends were on hand to see them off.
Frank was taking a last look into the automobile, to make sure nothinghad been forgotten, when Hank Brady, who seemed to be making good withhis job, plucked at his sleeve.
"Hello! Came near forgetting to say good-by to you, Hank! Hope you geton fine and dandy while I'm gone," said the boy, holding out his hand.
"Thank you, Mr. Frank; but I only wanted to say a few words to you abouta brother of mine who is out there somewhere, we believe. Now, I knowthe Northwest is a big place, and you might as well think of lookin' fora needle in a haystack as for a certain feller there; but accidents dohappen, and by some sorter luck you might just happen to run acrossTeddy," said Hank quickly, and with a wistful look on his face that heldFrank's attention.
"And if I do, what then?" he asked softly.
"Tell him his mother's still a-grievin' after him. You see, he is herbaby, though a big feller for his age, which is seventeen about. He leftus in a huff two years back. We heard in an indirect way several times,but never straight. She worries when she thinks nobody is a-lookin'. IfTeddy would only write to her I think she'd be kinder reconciled," wenton Hank, heaving a deep sigh.
"All right. If by any good luck I happen to run across your brother, youcan depend on it I'll do my best to make him write. But how am I toknow him among the thousands of people I meet?" remarked Frank as he wasabout to turn away.
"Well, he has--"
Just then some one pounced on Frank, and dragged him off, so that henever really knew how he was to recognize this wandering brother of HankBrady in case he should meet him.
The train was almost due, and general good-bys were quickly said. Such achattering as ensued, which kept up until the four chums climbed intothe car that was to take them to the nearest city, where they wouldboard the through train for the Northwest.
After the last glimpse of their loved ones had been lost by a suddenbend in the road, they settled down to making themselves comfortable. Itwas expected that they would make connection in St. Paul with thewestern through train bound for Seattle. Then would begin the grandestride on the whole American continent, over boundless plains, and finallyup into the majestic mountains.
Day and night they would be carried swiftly onward across the many milesof entrancing scenery. Wonderful sights would fall to their portion.
St. Paul was reached in due season, and once more they started forth,this time headed west, with the hunting-land beckoning them on.
"Tell me about this, will you!" remarked Jerry, after they had crossedthe broad prairies and were climbing the tremendous heights that lielike a barrier between the center of the continent and the PacificSlope. "How much more of it do we have before us, Frank? I'm getting sofilled with wonder and awe that my tongue is getting into a rut withsaying 'Ah!' so much."
"Less than a day will see us through now. Once we get over this rangethere lies a long valley, and in that is where Martin Mabie has hisranch."
"Then we'll do our hunting along the sides of the mountains?" suggestedWill, who had used up nearly half his supply of films already, takingviews of the wonderful things they saw on the trip.
"That's my impression, from what he wrote," replied Frank.
"And he also said game was fairly plentiful, if I remember aright,"remarked Jerry.
"Well, he did say that they had been so busy of late on the ranch thatno one had had time for hunting, and consequently the game had not beenbothered very much; which, I suppose, amounts to the same thing."
"H'm! I hope he won't be so rushed with work that he can't take the timeto go with us. Half of the fun would be lost if Mr. Mabie couldn't bealong; for Jesse says he is the most entertaining man alive," gruntedBluff.
"Oh, you forget that he said by the time we got there the work wouldslacken up, and he promised himself a vacation, just to renew his oldpleasure of camping out in the wilderness, away from all mankind,"laughed Frank.
"That relieves my mind some," declared Bluff, brightening up.
"You're getting tired of all this travel, that's what ails you," saidJerry.
"No; it isn't that," remarked Frank. "Bluff has confessed to me that forthe life of him he can't remember putting that beautiful hunting-knifein the trunk along with his other traps; and if he left _that_ behind,half his pleasure would be lost. Now you know what's the matter."
"Not that I wish it to be so, but if such should prove to be the case,there'll be one delighted grizzly bear out in these same mountains--thechap Bluff calculated on carving with that big sticker," remarked Jerryjocosely.
But Bluff would not even smile. Truth to tell, he was counting thehours until he could open that trunk and relieve his distressed mind.
"Did you ever see a wilder bit of country?" said Frank, peering out intothe gathering dusk, and trying to imagine those wooded hillsidespopulated with elk and buffaloes, and all the big game of the past, whena white man was never known west of
the Great Lakes.
"Well, to tell the truth, I was thinking of that account I read in thepaper we bought, about the work of a sheriff's posse in this region,chasing the bad men who held up a railroad train not a hundred milesaway from here. It wouldn't be a pleasant experience for us to meetwith, eh, fellows?" asked Will, who was known to have a timid streak inhis make-up.
"Talk to me about your croakers!" jeered Jerry. "Will, here, is enoughto freeze the marrow in one's bones. There isn't one chance in athousand that such an adventure will come our way, and he knows it."
"Goodness! What a jar! The engineer must have thrown the air brakes onthen in a big hurry! We're coming to a sudden stop, too! Oh! I wonder ifanything can have happened? Are we going to have an accident, fellows?"cried Will.
With much creaking of the wheels the heavy train came to a stop, and atthe same moment the four chums, listening with considerableapprehension, caught the sound of many loud and excited voices justoutside the car.