A SURPRISE COMING
There was a nice-looking railroad station at Cavallo and some rather
tall buildings in sight. There was a trolley line through the town, too,
and the children saw the cars almost as soon as they alighted from the
train. But they were all loudly wondering where the cow-ponies were, and
the cowboys whom they had expected to see.
The little Bunkers, of course, did not know that nowadays even the
cattle-shipping towns of the Great West are changed from what they were
in the old times. Whether they are improved by the coming in of other
business besides that connected with the raising of cattle, horses, and
sheep is a question that even the Westerners themselves do not answer
when you ask them. But, in any case, Cavallo had changed a good deal
since the time Daddy Bunker had previously seen it.
"And what can we expect? The range bosses ride around in automobiles now
because it is easier and cheaper than wearing out ponies. And I read
only the other day," added Mr. Bunker, "of a Montana ranch where they
hunt strays in the mountains from an airplane. What do you think of
that?"
"Are you sure Mr. Scarbontiskil got your message, Charles?" asked Mrs.
Bunker of daddy. "Perhaps we had better go to a hotel."
"Oh!" cried Laddie, "I want to go right out where the cows and horses
are."
"So do I," said Russ. "A hotel isn't very different from a Pullman
coach."
And they were all tired of _that_--even daddy and mother. But while they
were discussing this point (the children rather noisily, it must be
confessed) a big man in a gray suit came striding toward them, his hand
outstretched and a broad smile upon his bronzed face. He wore a crimson
necktie and a heavy gold watch-chain with a bunch of charms dangling
from it, and a diamond sparkled in the front of his silk shirt. Russ and
Rose noticed these rather astonishing ornaments, and although they
thought the man very pleasant looking, they knew that he was not dressed
as men dressed back home. At least, daddy would never have worn just
such clothes and ornaments. But he did not look at all like a cowboy.
"I reckon this is Charlie Bunker!" exclaimed the man in a booming voice.
"I'd most forgotten how you looked, Charlie. And is this the Missus?"
and he smiled even more broadly at Mother Bunker.
"That's who we are," cried Mr. Bunker quite as jovially as the big man
spoke. "And these are the six little Bunkers, Mr. Scarbontiskil."
"Oh! That's him!" whispered Rose to Russ. "And I know I never _can_ say
that name!"
The ranchman, however, at once put Rose and everybody else at their ease
on that point. When he took off his broad-brimmed hat to make Mrs.
Bunker a sweeping bow, he said:
"Don't put on any dog out here, Charlie. I've most forgotten the name I
was handicapped with when I was born. Nobody calls me anything like that
out here. Call me 'Jack'--just 'Cowboy Jack.' It fits me a sight better,
and that's true. I was a cow-puncher long before I got hold of a lot of
good Texas land and began to own mulley cows myself. Now, let me get
acquainted with all these little shavers. What's their names? I bet they
got better names than my folks could give me."
Rose and Russ, and even the smaller children, liked Cowboy Jack right
away. Who could help liking him, even if he did shout when he spoke and
wear such flashy clothes? His smile and his twinkling eyes would have
won him friends in any company of children, that was sure. And then,
though the clothes were odd, the children were not at all certain that
they were not more beautiful than those their father wore.
And what a game they made of telling Cowboy Jack their names, so that he
would remember them--"get 'em stuck in his mind" as he called it.
"I can remember 'Russ' because he is the oldest," declared Cowboy Jack.
"And 'Rose' is the sweetest flower that grows, and I can't forget her.
And 'Violet'? Why! she's the first blossom that comes up in the spring,
and I sure couldn't forget her. And this boy, her twin, you say?
'Laddie'? Why, that's just what he is--a laddie. I couldn't mistake him
for a lassie, so I'm sure to get _his_ name stuck in my mind," and
Cowboy Jack boomed a great laugh, shaking hands with each of the
children as daddy presented them.
"And this is 'Margy,'" proceeded the ranchman. "I'd know that was her
name just to look at her. She couldn't have any other name but 'Margy.'
No other would fit. Now, that's all, isn't it?" added Cowboy Jack, his
eyes twinkling very much as he looked right at Mun Bun but appeared not
to see him. "Russ, and Rose, and Violet, and Laddie, and Margy? Yes,
that must be all."
"There's _me_!" exclaimed the littlest Bunker, staring up at the big
man.
"What's that I hear?" asked Cowboy Jack, looking all about the platform,
and up in the air, and over the heads of the Bunker children. "Did I
hear somebody speak?"
The five older Bunker children began to giggle, but Mun Bun did not take
the matter as a joke at all. He was quite sure he was being overlooked
and that he was just as important as anybody else in the crowd.
"Here's me!" cried Mun Bun again, and he laid hold of the skirt of
Cowboy Jack's long coat and tugged at it. "You forgot me."
"Jumping grasshoppers!" exclaimed the big man, staring down at Mun Bun.
"What do I see? Another Bunker?"
"It's me," said Mun Bun soberly. "I have a name, too."
"I--I wouldn't have seen you if you hadn't pulled my coat-skirt,"
declared the ranchman quite as soberly as the little boy himself. "And
are you a Bunker? Honest?"
"I'm Mun Bun," said the little boy.
"Jumping grasshoppers!" ejaculated the ranchman, stooping down very low
and staring at Mun Bun. "Another Bunker--and named 'Mun Bun'? That's a
very easily remembered name, isn't it? I couldn't forget you--sure I
couldn't! For you see every time I go to the bake shop I buy buns--and
you are a bun, so you say. Are you a currant bun, or a cinnamon bun, or
what kind of a bun are you?"
"I'm a Bunker bun," declared the little boy. "And you can't eat me."
"No, I can't eat you," admitted the ranchman. "But I can pick you
up--this way--and carry you off, can't I?"
And he suited his action to the word and rose up with Mun Bun on one of
his palms, and held him right out on a level with his twinkling eyes and
smiling lips. Mun Bun squealed a little; but he liked it, too. It was
just like being carried about by a giant!
The next thing was to get something to eat in the lunchroom of the
railroad station. To be sure, breakfast had been not many hours before,
but there was a long trip yet before Cowboy Jack's ranch would be
reached, and one could always count on one or more of the six little
Bunkers being hungry if not fed at rather frequent intervals. So
sandwiches and buns--cinnamon buns, not Mun Buns--were bought, and milk
for the children and coffee for the grown-ups, and a light lunch was
eaten. There was really not very much to choose from, but the children
were satisfied with what was got for them.
"Now, come on, all you little Bunkers," said Cowboy Jack. "We've got to
start right away for my ranch, or we won't get there before supper time;
and then Maria Castrado, my cook, won't give us anything but beans for
supper."
"Oh! Where are your horses?" cried Laddie and Vi together.
"Out on the range," said Cowboy Jack. "Plenty of 'em there."
"But don't we ride out to your ranch on them?" Russ wanted to know, as
Cowboy Jack strode around the railroad station, again carrying Mun Bun,
and they all trooped after him.
"Got something that beats cayuses," declared Cowboy Jack. "What do you
think of _these_ for cow ponies?"
What he pointed out to them were two great, eight-cylinder touring-cars,
both painted blue, and behind the steering-wheel of each a smiling
Mexican who seemed as glad to see the Bunker children as Cowboy Jack was
himself.
"Pile in! Pile in!" said Cowboy Jack in his great voice.
He gave Mun Bun over to Mrs. Bunker, who got into one car with daddy and
the hand baggage. But he put all the other children into the tonneau of
the other car and got in with them. It was quite plain that he was fond
of children and proposed to have a lot of fun with the little Bunkers
who had come so far to visit him.
"I've got a lot to show you youngsters," he said to Russ and the others
when the cars started. "And I have a surprise for you out at my ranch."
"What is the surprise?" Vi asked. "Is it something we can eat? Or is it
a surprise we can play with?"
"You can't eat my surprise," said Cowboy Jack, with one of his widest
smiles. "But you can have a lot of fun with it."
"What is it?" asked Vi again.
"If I tell you now, it won't be a surprise," replied the ranchman. "So
you'll have to wait and see it."
They drove through the town in the automobiles, and it seemed a good
deal like an Eastern town after all. People dressed just the same as
they did in Pineville and there was a five-and-ten-cent store painted
red, and a firehouse with a motor-truck hook-and-ladder just like the
one at home. Russ and Laddie thought maybe they would not have any use
for their cowboy and Indian suits after all.
But by and by the motor-cars got clear of the town and struck into a
dusty road on which there were no houses at all. In the distance Rose
spied a moving bunch of cattle. _That_ looked like a ranch; but Cowboy
Jack told her that his ranch was still a good many miles ahead.
The little Bunkers liked riding in these big cars, for the Mexicans
drove them very rapidly. The road was quite smooth and they kept ahead
of the dust, except when they passed some other vehicle. The dust was
very white and powdery, and Margy and Laddie began to sneeze. Then they
grabbed each other's right little fingers, curling the fingers around
each other.
"Wish!" cried Violet eagerly. "Make a wish--both of you."
"What--what'll I wish?" stammered Laddie excitedly.
"Oh, dear! Now you spoiled it," declared Vi. "Didn't he, Rose?"
"He can't make the wish after he has spoken," agreed the older sister.
"No, Laddie; it is too late now."
Margy began to wave her hands and evidently wanted to speak.
"Did you wish, Margy?" asked Vi.
The smaller girl nodded vigorously. Cowboy Jack laughed very heartily,
but Rose said to the little girl:
"You can talk now, Margy."
"I wished we'd have waffles for supper," announced Margy, hungrily. "I
like waffles."
"And I bet we have 'em!" cried their host, laughing again. "Maria can
make dandy waffles."
"Well, I would have wished for something--just as nice if you'd let me,"
Laddie broke in. "I don't see why I couldn't wish, even if I did speak
first."
"That's something mighty mysterious," said the ranchman soberly. "We
can't change the laws about wishing. That would bust up everything."
He talked so queerly that sometimes the little Bunkers were not sure
whether he was in earnest, or only joking. But they all liked Cowboy
Jack very much. And best of all--so Rose thought--they did not have to
call him by his right name!
The sun was very low when the cars got into a winding road through a
scrubby sort of wood and then climbed into the range of hills that they
had been approaching for two hours. Mun Bun was asleep. But the
children in the ranchman's car were all eagerly on the outlook for the
first sight of the ranch houses which Cowboy Jack told them would soon
appear.
"And then for the surprise," said Russ to Rose. "I wonder what it can
be?"
"Something nice, I am sure," sighed his sister contentedly. "It must be
something nice, or Mr. Cowboy Jack would not have mentioned it."