Left On The Prairie Part 8

JACK'S VISIT AT SWIFT CREEK RANCH.

The next morning Jack felt someone shaking him gently, and murmured drowsily, 'I'm so sleepy, Pedro. It can't be time to get up yet;' and then he opened his eyes to find Mr. Stuart standing by the sofa.

Jack woke up thoroughly at the sight of him, and remembering where he must be, jumped up, exclaiming, 'Am I very late, sir?'

'No, my boy; but we have all finished breakfast, and as I felt sure you must be ravenous after your long fast, I thought it wiser to wake you up. You'll like to have a wash and a brush, and then come into the kitchen.'

'Thank you, sir,' said Jack, following him, and after a good wash in a big basin of clear creek water, he felt quite refreshed and terribly hungry.

'There's the kitchen,' said Mr. Stuart, pointing to a door; 'find your way in there and they'll give you your breakfast. I must go to the corral.'

Jack walked to the house and knocked shyly at the door before entering.

Mrs. Stuart opened it and gave him a welcome.

'Come in, come in, Jack,' she said; 'I hope you are quite rested. I saw you last night, but you were so tired and fast asleep, we decided not to wake you up. We are very glad to see you here, and when you have had your breakfast, you must make friends with my little boy and girl. Look after him well, Martha,' she said, as she turned to leave the room, 'and give him plenty to eat.'

'I'll see to him, marm,' said the servant, who was a rough girl, but good-nature itself. She proceeded to heap his plate with food, and poured him out a cup of nice hot coffee, which smelt delicious to the hungry boy. She was very proud of her hot buckwheat cakes, and Jack did ample justice to them, smothered as they were in b.u.t.ter and syrup.

When he had finished, he pleased Martha very much by helping her to wash up the breakfast-things, and she was surprised and delighted to find how careful he was in drying and putting by the cups and saucers tidily in the cupboards.

He carried her in some buckets of water from the creek, and cleaned the knives.

'Is there anything else for me to do?' he asked presently.

'Can you work a bucksaw?' she said dubiously.

'Yes, I can,' returned Jack. 'I cut all my uncle's wood at Longview with one.'

'Well, I'd be glad enough for a few logs,' she said, 'for the boys are so busy this morning, they've quite forgot it's baking day, and I want plenty o' wood.'

'I'll cut it,' cried Jack, delighted to be of use, and hastened off to the wood pile. Here he found the bucksaw, and cut off a number of short lengths of wood. He was proceeding to split them with an axe, when he found himself being surveyed by a little boy and girl who were standing in front of him hand-in-hand. The boy was about six, and the girl a year younger, and they gazed at Jack with admiring eyes.

'Are you Jack?' asked the boy shyly.

'Yes, I am,' answered Jack, smiling at him.

'Well, I'm Teddy Stuart,' answered the new arrival, evidently anxious to converse, 'and this is Rita. She's my sister. Have you a sister?'

'No, I haven't,' returned Jack, 'but I've got a mother, though,' he added, not to be outdone.

'I know that,' said Teddy approvingly, 'and you've come _hundreds_ of miles to find her. I'd go a _million_ to see my mother if she went away.'

'No, you wouldn't, Teddy,' broke in Rita, speaking for the first time, 'cos you're too little. You're ever so much littler than Jack. Jack,'

she went on, with a funny grave look in her face, 'my daddy says you're a little hero, so I want to shake hands wiv you.'

She held out a small hand, and shook Jack's brown paw very solemnly, as if it was an important ceremony. Teddy, not to be behindhand, shook hands also.

'I like heroes,' Rita went on. 'Daddy tells me stories about them doing such brave things in battles. What grand things have you done, Jack?'

Jack looked puzzled at this question, but Teddy helped him by asking, in an awe-stricken voice: 'Did you _kill_ anybody, Jack?'

'Oh, no!' returned our little friend; 'I never hurt n.o.body but those Mexican boys as set on me at Las Vegas. I tried to hurt _them_ all I could,' he said honestly, 'but they were too many of 'em and they whipped me.'

'I wish I'd been there,' cried Teddy valiantly. 'I'd have helped you, Jack, and p'raps we'd have beaten them between us.'

'I'm afeared they'd have had the best o' it anyhow,' returned Jack, shaking his head.

Rita listened to this conversation with a frightened look in her brown eyes, but she felt a greater respect than heretofore for Teddy after his brave speech. Mrs. Stuart joined them at this moment, and seemed very pleased to see the work Jack had got through since breakfast.

'You are a useful boy,' she remarked pleasantly. 'You've wasted no time this morning. Now, children, I see you have already made friends with Jack. Help him to carry this firewood into the kitchen, and then take him about and show him the animals.'

Delighted to be useful, Teddy and Rita helped Jack to carry in the logs, and soon the big wood box behind the stove was quite full.

Then they took him off to a stable, where they showed him their two little ponies which their father had brought them from New York. Jack had never seen such tiny creatures before. They were real Shetlands, and their s.h.a.ggy manes and long flowing tails delighted the Western boy, who lingered near them as if quite fascinated. He utterly failed in his attempt to decide which he liked best, Teddy's black pony Raven, or Rita's white one called s...o...b..ll; for if the latter was the _prettiest_, Raven went the _fastest_ of the two. They were dear little ponies, and so quiet; they followed the children about like a couple of big dogs when they loosed them.

They came in their wanderings to the big corral, or yard, where a great excitement was going on. Some cowboys were breaking in a very wild colt, and it was giving them no end of trouble. Mr. Stuart was present, and when he saw the children he put them into a safe place to watch the proceedings. Jack was very excited, as he had never seen a really wild broncho broken in before, and was most anxious to see it done.

It was so unmanageable, a cowboy had at last to la.s.so it with a lariat and throw it down. While two or three men kept it prostrate, the others quickly put on a saddle and bridle, and strapped the 'cinches,'

or girths, up tight. The cowboy who was to ride the colt then gave a signal. The men let the animal struggle to its feet, and before it was aware, the youth with a quick bound was seated in the saddle.

Then began a terrible fight between the man and the horse. The latter tried to get its head down between its fore-legs, arching up its back and bucking wildly about, trying to unseat its rider, who, however, sat firm as a rock, holding the reins tight. After the horse had plunged and reared for some time, the bars of the corral were let down, and the cowboy worked the refractory steed towards this opening and out on the prairie. Here the animal made a fresh fight for victory; and, as if inspired to try another method to get free of its unwelcome burden, it suddenly darted away full gallop across the plain. They thundered along for miles, the rider quite powerless to check the runaway, nor did he wish to. He let the horse go, and at last it began to weary, and, of its own accord, lessened its speed. Slower and slower it went, until it would have stopped altogether, if the cowboy had permitted it.

But this was his opportunity to show he was master, and accordingly he kept the colt going on; and when at last he turned its head towards home and trotted it back to the corral, its sweat-stained coat and drooping tail showed that the victory was won and the wild spirit subdued. As it carried the cowboy quietly enough up to the waiting group of spectators, they knew that the worst was over, and the colt, after such a struggle, would never give the same trouble again.

Jack was very happy at the ranch, as everyone took an interest in such a little traveller and was good to him. Mr. Stuart made him wild with pleasure, as he said he would like to do Steve Byrne a good turn for his kindness, and intended to write on the chance of his coming to Longview, and offer to make him one of his cowboys. Jack knew Steve would like nothing better, and it pleased him to think that his good-natured cousin would benefit through him.

Jack had been only three days with the Stuarts, when one evening a strange-looking vehicle, called a buckboard, drawn by an old white mule, approached the ranch, and a tall, wiry old man jumped out and knocked at the door. He held himself very erect, and although his hair was gray, he looked many years younger than he really was. His appearance was hailed with shouts of delight, for he was well known and a favourite with all.

'Come in, man!' cried Mr. Stuart, greeting him like an old friend. 'No one could be more welcome than yourself. I've not seen you for months.'

'I've been up in Nebraska till lately,' returned the man. 'I've stayed there a bit too long, as I ought to be in the Gunnison by now. Anyhow, I couldn't cross the Range without running in to have a look at you all.'

'That's right, Joe,' said Mr. Stuart. 'You'll stay here the night, of course? Get your mule to his alfalfa, and come on in to supper.'

The man went off to the stables, and Jack felt in a great flutter of excitement, wondering if Mr. Stuart meant to ask the stranger to let him accompany him. A cowboy told him the man's name, and in Jack's eyes the new-comer was to be looked upon with respectful awe, for he was one of the most famous hunters in the West. He had long since earned the sobriquet among other hunters of 'Champion Joe,' from the long list of triumphs he had achieved in the destruction of wild animals.

Numberless mountain lions, bears, wolves, and other wild creatures had fallen victims to his unerring aim, and many a fierce fight for life had he had with dangerous foes. The hunter's fame had reached even the lonely village of Longview, and his name was quite familiar to Jack.

When Joe came in again, Mr. Stuart at once opened up the subject, told Jack's story briefly, and asked him to allow the little lad to be his companion.

'The boy can't go alone, Joe,' he said, 'and I'd sooner trust him to you than anyone. I was going to keep him here this winter, but as this opportunity has occurred, I think it is a pity to miss it, if you'll take him along. His people are somewhere on the Cochetopa Creek, and that can't be so very far the other side of the divide.'

'I'll take him for you,' said the hunter. 'Where is he?'

'Here, Jack, come along!' called out Mr. Stuart. 'I can tell you, you're in luck to have fallen in with such a travelling companion.

Here's the safest man to cross the mountains with, and he is going to take you with him.'

Jack came forward, and looked in the grizzled, tough old face with something akin to awe. The bright, keen eyes looked searchingly at him in return, as if their owner would read him through, and then the veteran held out his hand, saying in a deep mellow voice that sounded pleasantly in Jack's ears: 'Well, young un, so you and me's to be mates for a spell, eh? And I'm to keep the track clear of bears for you--is that so?'