CHAPTER XVII
MAKING NEW FRIENDS
Professor Zepplin, fully as wet as the others, met the returning outfit.Everybody was wet. It seemed to have become their normal condition.
"Did you get the wagon over?" asked Tad.
"You bet," replied the foreman. "As soon as we get all the water shookout of that heathen we'll set him to making coffee for the outfit. It'stoo near dark now to do any more work; and, besides, I guess the cattleare bedded down for the night. I think they're ready for a night's restalong with ourselves. What happened to that pony?"
"I'm sure I don't know," answered Tad. "That was too bad, wasn't it?"
"Cramps I guess," suggested Big-foot. "They have been known to have 'emin the water. That water must have had an iceberg in it somewhere up thestate. Never saw such all-fired cold water in my life. Whew!"
"That's one pony more we've got to buy, that's all. But I don't care.I'd rather lose the whole bunch of them than have anything happen to thePinto," announced the foreman.
"Or the cook," added Tad, with a smile.
"Yes; it's a very serious matter for an outfit of this kind to lose itscook. We could get along without a foreman very well, but not without acook."
"Especially when you have a bunch of hungry boys with you. What aboutthe new ponies?"
"I'll ride over to Colonel McClure's ranch in the morning and see whatwe can do. You may go with me if you wish."
"I should like to very much. Is that where you expect to get the otherherd of cattle as well?"
"Yes. Better take an earlier trick on guard to-night, for we shall startright after breakfast in the morning."
"Very well," replied Tad. "Guess I'll get my coffee now."
Big-foot Sanders was already helping himself to the steaming beverage,when Tad reached the chuck wagon.
"Well, kid, what about it?" greeted the big cowman.
"What about what?"
"Trouble."
Tad smiled broadly.
"There does seem to be plenty of it."
"And plenty more coming. You'll see more fun before we are clear of thispart of the country."
"I don't very well see how we can have much more of it. I should imaginewe have had our share."
"Wait. We'll be here three or four days yet and mebby more," warned thecowboy.
Tad went out with the second guard that night. Contrary to theexpectations of Big-foot Sanders and some others, the night passedwithout incident, the next morning dawning bright and beautiful.
For some reason the foreman decided, at the last moment, that he wouldnot go to the Ox Bow ranch. Instead, he instructed Big-foot Sanders totake three of the men with him and pick out what ponies they needed fromColonel McClure's stock. They were to bring the animals out to campwhere the boys would break them in.
Tad set out with them, after a hurried breakfast, leaving his youngcompanions to amuse themselves as best they could.
"How far do we have to ride, Big-foot?" asked the lad after they were intheir saddles.
"Mile or two, I guess. It's been a long time since I was through theseparts. There's that church I've been telling you about."
"Where?"
"There, near the bedding-down ground. Seems as though the boss mighthave put the cows further away from the place."
Tad surveyed the structure with keen interest. The white walls of theold adobe church reflected back the morning light in a whitish glare.About the place he observed a rank growth of weeds and evil cacti, theonly touch of life to be seen being the birds that were perched on itscrumbling ridges, gayly piping their morning songs.
"It looks deserted."
"I reckon it is," answered Big-foot. "Anyway, it ought to be. Ain't fitfor human beings to roost in."
"Humph! I don't believe there is anything spooky about that building.I'm going to investigate, the first time I get the chance. Have we timeto stop this morning?"
"No; we'll have to be getting along. The ponies we are after will haveto be hobbled and got back to camp somehow. I expect we'll have a merrycircus with them. If we get back in time for supper we'll be lucky."
"That will be fun," exulted Tad. "Mr. Stallings promised me I mightbreak one of them. My pony having been drowned, I should like to break afresh one for myself."
"And break your neck at the same time. I know you've got the sand, butyou let that job out, kid. You don't know them bronchos."
"I thought you said I was no longer a tenderfoot," laughed Tad.
"Sure thing, but this is different."
"I'll chance it. You show me the pony I cannot ride, and I will confessthat I am a tenderfoot."
Their arrival at the Ox Bow ranch was the signal for all the dogs on theplace to try out their lungs, whereat a dozen cowboys appeared to learnthe cause of the uproar. The McClure house stood a little back, nestlingunder a bluff covered with scant verdure, but well screened from thebiting northers of the Texas winter. Further to the south were the ranchbuildings, corrals, the cook house and a log cabin, outside of whichhung any number of bridles and saddles, some of which the ranchers weremending and polishing when Stalling's men arrived on the scene.
Big-foot introduced himself and was received with many a shout andhandshake. Bill Blake, the foreman of the ranch after greeting the newarrival, turned inquiringly to Tad Butler, who had dismounted.
"I didn't know you used kids in your business, Big-foot," he grinned.
Big-foot flushed under the imputation.
"Mebby you call him a kid, but if you'd see the lad work you'd changeyour mind mighty quick," answered the big cowman, with a trace ofirritation in his voice. He explained to Blake what the boy was doingwith the outfit, at the same time relating some of the things that theslender, freckle-faced boy from the East had accomplished.
"Shake, Pinto," exclaimed Bill Blake cordially. "I reckon Mr. McClurewould like to talk with you. Big-foot and I have got some business overin the ranch house, you see," smiled the foreman.
"I see," replied Tad, though not wholly sure whether he did or not.
"He's over there talking with his boss wrangler now. Come along and I'llgive you a first-class knock-down to him."
Tad found the ranch owner to be a man of refinement and kindly nature,yet whose keen, quizzical eyes seemed to take the lad in from head tofoot in one comprehensive glance.
"So you are learning the business, eh? That's right, my lad. That's theway to go about it, and there's no place like a drive to learn it, forthat's where a man meets about every experience that comes in the lifeof a cowman."
Tad explained about the Pony Riders, and that their trip was in thenature of a pleasure jaunt, they being accompanied by Walter Perkins'sinstructor and that they were with the outfit for a brief trip only.
Mr. McClure became interested at once.
"I should like to hear more about your experiences," he said. "Won't youcome up to the house with me, while your man talks horse with myforeman?"
Tad flushed slightly as he glanced down over his own rough, dust-coveredclothes.
"I--I am afraid I am not fit, sir."
"Tut, tut. We ranchers learn to take a man for what he is worth, not forwhat he has on. You have been riding. Naturally you would not beexpected to appear in broadcloth. No more do we expect you to. Had I ason, I should feel far better satisfied to see him as you stand beforeme now, than in the finest of clothes. Come, I want you to meet myfamily."
Tad, somewhat reluctantly, followed the rancher to his house. Much tothe lad's discomfiture, he was ushered into the drawing-room of thefirst southern home he had ever entered.
"Be seated, sir. I will call my daughters. We have so few guests herethat the girls seldom see anyone during the time they are home fromschool."
Mr. McClure left the room, and Tad, after choosing a chair that heconsidered least liable to be soiled by his dusty clothes, sat down,gazing about him curiously. He found himself in a room that was by farthe handsomest he had ever seen, while from the walls a long line o
ffamily ancestors looked down at him from their gilt frames.
Tad had found time for only a brief glance about him, when the sound ofvoices attracted his attention. At first he was unable to decide whencethe voices came. They seemed to be in the room with him, yet there wasno one there save himself.
Turning about he discovered that a curtained doorway led directly intoanother room, and that it was from the adjoining room that the sound hadcome.
"You say Ruth is bad again to-day, Margaret?"
"No, mother, I would not say that exactly. Yet she does not seem to bequite herself, and I thought it best to tell you. I feared that perhapsshe was going to have one of her old attacks."
"Say nothing to her of your suspicions. The last one passed over, Ithink largely because we appeared to treat her mood lightly. Poor child,she has never ceased to grieve for the man whom her parents refused topermit her to marry. I think your Aunt Jane made a grievous mistake. Itold her so plainly when she brought Ruth here to us, hoping she mightforget her youthful love affair."
Tad Butler's cheeks burned.
That he had unwittingly played eavesdropper troubled him not a little.The boy rose and walking to a window on the further side of the room,stood with hat crumpled in both hands behind him, gazing out.
The voices ceased. Yet a moment later Tad started and turned sharply.
"Well, young man, what are you doing here?"
Before him he saw a woman just short of middle age. He inferred at oncethat she was the elder of the two women whom he had heard speakingbehind the curtain.
"I am waiting for Mr. McClure," answered Tad, bowing politely, his faceflushing under its tan.
"Does he know that you are here?" she asked in a milder tone.
"Oh, yes. He asked me to wait here until he returned."
"Pardon me, I----"
"Ah, here you are, my dear. I have been looking for you. I wish you tomeet Master Thaddeus Butler, who, with three companions and a tutor, iscrossing the state with the Miller herd. It is the most unique vacationin these days. Master Butler, this is Mrs. McClure. My daughters willjoin us in a moment."
Mrs. McClure shook hands cordially with their young guest.
"Welcome to Ox Bow," she smiled. "At first, as your back was turned tome, I took you for one of the men. Instantly you faced me I saw themistake I had made. Won't you be seated?"
Under her cordial manner Tad Butler was soon at his ease. Almost beforehe was aware of the fact Mrs. McClure had drawn from him the main factsrelating to the journeyings of the Pony Riders.
Mrs. McClure's two daughters, Sadie and Margaret, entered the room soonafterwards, Tad being presented to them. Margaret, the elder of the two,was a fair-haired girl of perhaps nineteen years, while her sisterSadie, who was darker, Tad judged to be about his own age.
Both girls shook hands smilingly with their guest.
"I hope you will pardon me for appearing in such a disreputablecondition," begged the lad. "I really am not fit to be seen."
His quaint way of putting it brought forth a general laugh.
"You need make no apology. We are all ranchers here. Even my daughtersand my niece ride, and sometimes accompany the foreman on drives fromone part of the ranch to another. As for my niece, though brought up inthe East, she is a born cattle woman. There is hardly a cowman on theplace who can ride better than she."
"Your man tells us that you are the best horseman in your outfit," saidMr. McClure.
"I don't think I quite deserve that compliment, sir," answered Tad. "ButI am very fond of horses. I find, by kind treatment, one can do almostanything with them."
"My idea exactly," nodded Mr. McClure approvingly. "The cowpuncherdoesn't look at it that way, however. He wouldn't feel at home on ahorse that didn't break the monotony by bucking now and then. Did youever ride a bucker?"
"Once. I expect to break one of the animals I understand we are to getfrom you."
His host whistled softly.
"You have a large contract on hand, young man. The ponies I am turningoff are the worst specimens we ever had on the ranch. Some of them neverhad a bridle on, for the very good reason that no one ever has been ableto get close enough to them to put bridles on. I hope you will not befoolish enough to try to break any of that stock."
"Oh, we'll rope them and get a headstall on, anyway. The rest will comealong all right, I think," smiled Tad.
"Ah, my niece, Miss Brayton!" exclaimed the rancher, introducing a youngwoman who had just entered the room.
"With the Miller outfit?" she asked.
"Yes," answered Tad.
"Who is your foreman?"
"Stallings--Bob Stallings."
Tad thought Miss Brayton one of the most beautiful women he had everseen. Yet there was something about her that affected him strangely.Perhaps it was her abrupt manner of speaking. At any rate the ladexperienced a sense of uneasiness the moment she entered the room. Hedid not stop to ask himself why. Tad merely knew that this was true.Miss Brayton had little to say, but her quietness was more than atonedfor by the vivacity of Sadie and Margaret.
As Tad was taking his leave the entire family accompanied him out intothe yard.
"If your duties will permit we should like to have you and yourcompanions dine with us to-morrow evening," said Colonel McClure.
"Yes; by all means," added Mrs. McClure.
"Yes, Mr. Butler, we should love to have you," added Sadie.
"Besides, we want to meet your friends," said Margaret.
"And I am sure we should enjoy coming. It seems almost an imposition forfour of us boys to camp out in your dining room at the same time,"laughed Tad.
"I assure you it will be doing us a favor," protested the rancher. "Youwill bring your Professor, also. We'll have a real family party."
Tad somewhat reluctantly agreed to bring his companions, though hedisliked the idea of going to so fine a place for dinner in their rough,weather-beaten clothing.
The boy bade them all good-bye and strode off toward the corral, wherethe ponies were being roped preparatory to being taken over to theMiller herd.
"Oh, Mr. Butler!"
Tad wheeled sharply. Ruth Brayton was hurrying toward him.
The lad lifted his hat courteously and awaited the young woman'sapproach.
"Yes, Miss Brayton."
"Tell me again who your foreman is."
"Bob Stallings."
"Stallings--Stallings. Where have I heard that name before?" mused thegirl, staring at Tad with vacant eyes.
"Are you sure it isn't Hamilton--Robert Hamilton?"
"Quite sure," smiled the lad.
"Do you know a cowboy or foreman by that name?"
"No, I never heard the name before."
Miss Brayton turned abruptly and hurried away. Tad heard her repeatingthe name of his foreman as she walked swiftly toward the ranch house.