CHAPTER V
THE HANDSOME COWBOY
Next morning the girls were hilarious over the mirthful episode in thetrain the night before. Betty and Mollie "took off" the expressions onthe faces of their fellow passengers till Amy and Grace shouted withglee.
"Oh, stop it, you two," gasped Grace, finally. "I'm sore from laughing.I think you would make a hit as clowns in a circus."
"My, isn't she complimentary?" lisped Mollie, and the girls went off infresh gales of merriment.
"I wish," said Grace, after a pause, "that we were going to reach GoldRun this afternoon, instead of Chicago. I'm half afraid to spend anothernight in the sleeper after the scare we got last night. It might be a_real_ bandit this time."
"Oh, what would we care?" said Betty carelessly. "I'd rather like tomeet a train robber, myself."
"About all a bandit could do would be to take our money," added Mollie.
"All!" cried Grace indignantly. "Yes, that's all. And what would we dowithout any money, I'd like to know!"
"Goodness, we could always sell the ranch," said Betty, somatter-of-factly that the girls chuckled. "We have Peter Levine to fallback on, you know."
"'Peter Levine,'" repeated Amy, then added quickly: "Oh yes, he was theman who wanted your mother to sell the ranch."
"Yes, and it was too bad of you to keep him all to yourself, Betty,"said Grace reproachfully.
"You might at least have shown him to the rest of us."
"He wasn't anything to show," said Betty, experiencing again the feelingof distaste she had had for the man. "He was one of the most unpleasantlooking men I ever saw. Just the same," she added lightly, "we owe him alot. If it hadn't been for him we probably wouldn't be sitting in thisbeautiful train, speeding to our great adventure. I told Allen I couldalmost love Peter Levine for it."
"You did?" queried Mollie, her eyes dancing. "What did he say?"
"He left me rather suddenly," said Betty, with a chuckle at the memory."He said he was on his way to kill Peter."
"Poor Allen," laughed Grace. "It must be awful to be that way. When ishe coming out to Gold Run, Betty?"
"As soon as he finishes this case he is on now," answered Betty,flushing in spite of herself as she thought of Allen. "There is reallyno great hurry about it, you know. Dad has made up his mind to take aregular vacation while he's about it, and I imagine mother won't care ifshe never gets home."
That afternoon they changed trains at Chicago, bemoaning the fact thatthey had not time to see something of the great city before theytraveled farther west. There was only half an hour between trains and,as every one knows, there can be little sightseeing done in that limitedspace of time. As it was, for some reason they could not ascertain, theoutgoing train was over an hour late in starting. If they had known thisfact in advance they might have managed to spend their time moreprofitably than in cooling their heels in the station waiting room.
As it was, it was a rather disgruntled set of girls who boarded thetrain for Gold Run and allowed Mr. Nelson and the porter to find theirseats for them.
"I don't see why trains can't be on time," grumbled Mollie, as shepeered at the rather distorted image of herself in the narrow mirrorbetween the windows. "Here it is nearly seven o'clock and I'm as hungryas a bear."
"Well," said Betty, cheerfully, "something tells me they have a diner onthis train. Come on, girls, let's wash our hands and get something toeat."
The girls hardly knew which they enjoyed the most, their dinner or thenovel scenery that slipped past them so swiftly. It was their firstventure into this part of the world, and they found the initiationfascinating.
"The trouble is," complained Amy, "it will be dark before long and we'llhave to miss all this," with an expressive sweep of her hand toward thecar window.
"It is too bad," said Betty, regretfully adding, with a light laugh: "Ifwe were only like the princess in the story, the members of whose royalhouse never slept, we would probably see more of the scenery."
That night the girls proved that Grace was not alone in her fondness forsleep. There being no more interruptions in the shape of fuminggentlemen on the trail of runaway daughters, they slept soundly throughthe long hours while the train plunged onward through the inkyblackness of the night. They did not stir until the sun, shining ontheir faces, roused them to the realization that another beautiful dayhad dawned.
That is, it was beautiful up to noon. Then it clouded down, and they atelunch while the rain dashed furiously on the windows of the dining car.
"I am thankful we are under cover," said Betty.
"Fancy riding on the ranch in this rain," put in Amy.
"No life in the saddle for me when it rains," broke in Grace.
During the afternoon the girls napped and read. When the time came toget supper they were glad to see that they had run away from the stormand the sun was setting clearly.
"Funny, how sleepy one gets," drawled Grace, about nine o'clock. "I'llnot stay up late."
No one wanted to do that, and in less than an hour all were sleepingsoundly while the long train rumbled along on its trip westward.
"And this is the day," breathed Mollie the next noon, as they made theirway from the dining car through some half dozen other cars to their own."Betty, I feel as if I couldn't wait to see your beautiful ranch."
"I wonder," said Grace as they dropped into their seats once more, "ifthose cowboys are really as good-looking as you say, Betty. I mustadmit," she added, as she viewed the rather monotonous landscapepetulantly, "I haven't seen anything that looks like a cowboy yet."
"Goodness, hear the child!" cried Betty airily. "She hasn't been near aranch, yet she expects to see whole droves of cow-punchers----"
"Look," Mollie interrupted, grasping her arm. They were slowing down ata station and there were no less than three picturesque looking youngfellows loitering about the place. One was astride an extremely nervoushorse that shied as the train puffed to a standstill and rose on hishind legs as though trying his best to shake his rider off. "There's areal show for you," Mollie cried joyfully. "How does that look to you,Gracie? True to life?"
"Um, that's better," admitted Grace, while the girls craned their necksfor a better view of the horseman. "Now if they only have that sort ofthing at Gold Run----"
"Well, we'll have a chance to find out pretty soon whether they do ornot," broke in Betty, the thrill of suppressed excitement in her voice."Dad says we ought to get there in an hour."
"An hour!" wailed Amy, as the train jolted on its way once more and theromantic group on the station were lost to view. "And I thought we werealmost there!"
But the hour passed more quickly than the girls had anticipated, for theview from the car windows, becoming more and more interesting, absorbedtheir attention. As a general rule the country was flat, but now andthen in the background could be caught glimpses of heavily woodedmountain ranges that would offer chances for all sorts of adventures tothe four eager Outdoor Girls.
"I wonder if there are wild animals in those woods," said Amy, her eyeswidening at the thought. "Real ones."
"You don't suppose they import stuffed ones, do you?" asked Grace dryly.
"Of course there are wild animals--lots of 'em," said Betty, feelingmore and more gloriously excited as they neared their destination."Maybe we can borrow a gun or two from the cow-punchers and have a shotat 'em--animals, I mean, not cow-punchers," she explained, with agiggle.
On top of these rather wild imaginings came Mr. Nelson, telling them itwas time to get their things together, for they were within a fewminutes of Gold Run.
"I know how long it takes you girls to put a hat on," he laughed. "So Ithink you had better start right away."
Then--Gold Run! with the dash for the door and Grace running back torescue a half-empty but still precious candy box and Mollie wanting toknow if Amy would please stop pressing her suitcase in the middle of herback----
Someway, Mr. Nelson managed to get them all safely to the stationplatfor
m, whereupon he breathed a sigh of relief.
"Whew! that's the hardest job you ever gave me, Rose," he remarked tohis wife, with a chuckle.
Here, as at most of the other stations, was a handful of cowboys who hadcome to meet the train. One of these, a handsome young fellow, detachedhimself from the rest and approached Mrs. Nelson, sweeping off hissombrero as he did so.
"Mrs. Nelson, ma'am?" he asked in a soft drawl that captivated the girlsimmediately.
Mrs. Nelson smiled assent and the young fellow indicated a buckboarddrawn up to the station.
"I brought the wagon," he said, with a grin that showed a beautiful setof white teeth. "An' some saddle hosses, thinkin' you might like toride----"
However, the ladies decided on the buckboard, which was driven by ashy-eyed, sandy-haired young fellow who gave the girls one frightenedglance and looked swiftly away again, for all the world, Mollie saidafterwards, as if he expected them to bite him.
Mr. Nelson elected to ride horseback with Andy Rawlinson, which was thename of the good-looking cowboy.
As the driver chirruped to the horses and they clattered over the bumpyroad, Grace turned to Betty with a smile.
"I have realized the ambition of a life time!" she said dramatically. "Ihave seen one handsome cowboy!"