EVELYN'S FIRST DAY ON THE NEW RANCH.
Evelyn extended a cordial invitation to Mrs. Jones and her two daughters
to drive over to the ranch-house some day and spend the day with her,
and the mother gladly accepted the invitation. The girls were two
healthy-looking lasses, both blondes with rosy cheeks and sparkling
eyes.
Terry kept the old man busy telling him of the improvements that they
were contemplating making on the ranch and of the residence that they
would build down by the big mineral spring.
"Great rattlers!" the old man exclaimed. "You're sho gwine to spend a
lot of money, ain't you?"
"Yes, we've got to in order to get a good start. If you know of any
ranchmen within a hundred miles of us who want to sell a hundred or two
beef cattle just tell us where to find him and we'll go after the
cattle."
"Waal, I don't believe I know of any just now who want to sell any
cattle other then to the market, but I reckon you can find plenty of
them along the line of the railroad."
"How many cattle do you want to buy?" he asked.
"About one thousand," was the reply.
"Land! but you'll have a big lot of 'em."
"Oh, we could keep ten thousand on the ranch and keep them fat, too, for
the grass down here is very rich."
"Yes, too rich for the farmers. We raise grass on our farms all summer.
We raise a heap of corn and cotton."
"Yes, we will raise corn, too, next year, for the use of our horses and
hogs, but not for the cattle."
"Gwine to raise pork, eh?"
"Yes, pork will sell in the market just as readily as beef will, and we
are going to raise our own supplies for our cowboys and for family use.
We have forty thousand acres on the range, which is room enough to feed
several hundred people, as well as the cattle on the range and ducks,
pigs and chicken. I believe that our dairyman is making some of the
finest butter ever seen in this part of the South. It is sweet and rich
and as yellow as gold. Generally one can't get a glass of milk or a
pound of butter on any ranch, because the ranchmen don't take the
trouble to make it. Everything pays that is raised on a ranch, and the
greater the variety the more pay."
"That's so," said the old man, shaking the ashes from his corncob pipe;
"but I reckon you'll have considerable trouble with coyotes and cattle
thieves."
"Yes, we expect to have a little trouble with them, but we have a way of
dealing with cattle thieves which we have found to be very corrective.
Every cowboy on our ranch has a Winchester rifle, and a lead pill from
one of them makes a cattle thief sick. Then, too, a rope is something
very distasteful to that breed of mankind, and as for coyotes, we will
enclose that part of the ranch where we are keeping the pigs and ducks
and chickens with a high wire-net fence, which no coyote can scale."
"Mister, wire fences cost a heap of money."
"Very true; but they will pay for themselves in one season."
By and by the old farmer's wife and daughters, having made their little
purchases in the store, came out to the wagon ready to start home.
Evelyn came out with them and was on the best of terms with all three.
She shook hands with Farmer Jones and told him that his wife and
daughters had promised to come over and spend the day with her in the
near future, and that if he put up any objection to that he would
probably get himself into trouble.
"All right, miss," said he. "I'll let 'em come and will drive 'em, too."
"Do so," she replied. "We'll set you down at the head of the table and
see that you get plenty to eat."
"Waal, miss, don't offer me any jerked beef, for I can't eat it."
"Neither can I," she laughed, "and we never have it on our table. We'll
give you fish, prairie chicken, quail, jack-rabbit and that genuine old
Southern dish, bacon and greens."
"That's it. You can bet on my coming, and right soon, too. Bacon and
greens is a dish fit for a king, but you haven't got any on this ranch,
I reckon."
"No, we'll buy that in town, as we do sugar and tea and coffee, and if
you are fond of coffee, brother and Mr. Fearnot can certainly make the
best that you ever tasted."
"Gosh! I do love it."
Fred and Terry assisted the mother and her two daughters into the wagon,
and the girls they literally lifted off their feet by catching them
around the waist and lifting them up as though they were little
five-year-old-children. The girls blushed and laughed, and Evelyn really
enjoyed their confusion.
They all drove off, waving their handkerchiefs at Evelyn and the boys.
"Fred," said Evelyn, "they are plain, good, honest folks. The mother is
a good woman and the girls do their share of the household work at home.
Their hands show it."
"Yes, and yet the old man is able to keep good servants for them, for
black servants are cheap down in this region, and by the way, dear, when
you go up to Crabtree again, you must start an inquiry for a good
colored cook among your lady friends. Tell them you want a good one, who
understands washing and ironing and all about cooking. At present we
boys do all the cooking down here and we send our laundry up to
Crabtree, where there are only three Chinamen to the whole town."
"Fred, let me do the cooking at present," she asked.
"Oh, yes, it's fun for you now; but you would get tired at it after a
while."
"I'll make you boys do the rough work. When you go out to hunt in the
woods you go to sleep on the ground on blankets and do your own cooking,
so it certainly won't hurt you to rough it a little now."
"No, it never did hurt us; but Terry and I know that there are at least
a score of young ladies in Crabtree who want to come down here out of
curiosity and for a change. We are going to have two additional rooms
built onto the house so that the two bedrooms that are now furnished can
be given up to them and we boys will occupy the annex."
That evening they sat up quite late talking and planning.
"See here, Fred," said Terry, "we have no musical instrument on the
ranch, so sister had better go in to-morrow and buy a piano."
"Oh, my! how extravagant you boys are becoming," she exclaimed. "The
idea of a piano on a ranch would certainly astonish the natives."
"Yes, so it would, but for all that we've got to have it."
"Well, one of you must go in after it, for I won't."
"I'll go," said Terry, "for a good piano we must have; and, besides
that, we must have a good violin, a good flute, and---"
"A bass drum," Evelyn interrupted.
"Yes," added Fred, "and a hurdy-gurdy."
The next morning Evelyn, was up before either of the boys, for as soon
as she heard the little chickens peeping around she sprang up, put on a
wrapper and went out to see them and feed them.
The dairyman was up feeding and milking the cows. Evelyn looked on for a
while, and finally took up a pail and began milking, too. The dairyman
looked on in astonishment.
"Great rattlers, miss!" he exclaimed. "Where did you learn how to milk?"
"Why, up at my home in New York state," she replied. "I made all the
butter from two splendid cows, and more often did the milking than the
hired help did."
"Well," said he, "I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen you
milking this morning."
She was talking with the dairyman when Fred showed up, exclaiming:
"Hello! Why didn't you make an alarm when you got up so that I could
have heard it."
"Oh, I didn't like to break up little boys' sleep. It is good for them."
The dairyman chuckled at the retort, and so did Fred.
Evelyn milked the pail full, turned it over to the dairyman and went to
see the little pigs.
"Evelyn," said Fred, "how would you like to take a ride over the ranch?
We'll get back in time for breakfast."
"I would like it very much, provided you give me a safe horse to ride."
Fred went into the stable and saddled the big grays. They were almost a
match in size and appearance for the two big grays which Evelyn had sold
up North, and she greatly admired them. She stood there in the lot
waiting for them to be made ready, and then, without going into the
house to get a hat or any other article of dress, she placed her foot in
Fred's hand, which he held out for her, and was quickly lifted in the
saddle.
"Are you going without your hat, Evelyn?" Fred asked.
"Yes, the early morning sun can do me no harm, for it has hardly got its
eyes open yet."
"All right; open the gate, Joe," and the dairyman went to the outer gate
and held it open for them to pass through.
They went dashing down toward the spring, and when they reached there
Fred dismounted, went to where a big, native-raised gourd was hanging to
a bush, dipped it full of the water and handed it up to her.
She drank copiously of it, smacked her lips and said:
"Oh, my, Fred! I can taste both sulphur and iron plainly."
"Yes, those ingredients are the strongest in its composition, if it were
nearer town it would become a the place of resort."
"Well, you must make it one, anyway. You must lay off the grounds
beautifully, thin out the timber somewhat so flowers will grow and yet
leave enough to form plenty of shade. Then if you build a few cottages,
or maybe a hotel, it would easily become a resort--that is, if I am any
judge of the water. It tastes perfectly delicious to me, and really I
believe that it will finally prove the most valuable part of the ranch."
Then Fred led the way further down the road in a southerly direction,
skirting the timber, and at almost every ten feet quail and prairie
chickens flew up out of their way.
After they had gone about a couple of miles Evelyn suddenly saw
something running through the tall grass as if trying to avoid being
seen.
"Fred." said she, "aren't those wolves out there?"
"Where?" and Fred gazed in the direction in which she was pointing.
He could barely catch a glimpse of their backs through the tall grass.
"I guess they are coyotes," he said. "Let's give them a race," and he
put spurs to his horse and dashed off after them. Evelyn, of course,
followed, for she was quite as good a rider as he.
To his surprise, he gained on them, and he knew that the coyote was
about the swiftest little animal of the kind anywhere, so he supposed
that the tall grass was impeding their progress.
When he urged his horse faster the brutes turned, growled, showed their
fangs and stood at bay.
"Great Scott, Evelyn!" he exclaimed, "they are timber wolves!" and his
horse showed fear of them.
Evelyn reined up her horse right alongside of Fred.
"Why, Fred," said she, "they seem to be defying us, which is a mighty
bold thing for them to do in the open daylight."
"Yes, indeed; but they saw that we were gaining on them. Luckily I have
my revolver in my pocket," and with that he drew the weapon and again
dashed toward the wolves, who seemed to be full of fight. When within
fifteen feet of them he fired and the wounded wolf yelped with pain,
while his mate seemed on the point of charging upon them. He fired the
second time and the bullet crashed through the wolf's head. They both
gave a single yelp, sank down in the grass and did a little kicking. The
first one he had shot at hadn't been hit in a vital spot.
So he stood by snarling and showing his fangs until another shot
stretched him on the ground alongside of his mate.
"Why, Fred," said Evelyn, as she rode up and looked at them after they
were dead, "is it possible that they come up so near the houses on the
ranch?"
"Well, I never saw them up so far this way before. I fear that they came
up during the night in search of a calf, and I dare say if we search
around we can find a dead calf half devoured somewhere in the
neighborhood; but we won't stop to look for it. We will go back to the
house and send two cowboys down here to get the wolves' pelts, for we
always let them have the pelts of any wild beasts that we kill." So they
rode back to the house, and just as Terry and Jack were placing
breakfast on the table Fred dismounted and assisted Evelyn to the
ground. She ran into the house, while Fred went to the stable with the
two horses and sent word around by the stableman to two of the cowboys
to go down and get the pelts of the two wolves and make a search for the
remains of any cow or calf that the wolves had probably killed during
the night.
Before he returned to the house Evelyn had acquainted Terry with the
result of their ride.
"I'm not surprised at it," said Terry. "Before we placed cattle on the
two ranches wolves were rarely seen in this part of the locality. They
come up from the river bottom, some thirty miles away, and I guess we
will have to have a grand wolf hunt pretty soon. Jack's and ours are the
only ranches between here and the river. There are farms, though; but
they don't raise cattle enough to tempt the wolves to leave the swamp,
and they kept their hogs pretty well protected by wire fences. I am
surprised, though, that only two wolves were seen, for generally they go
in gangs for protection. As a general thing they are afraid of the
long-horned cattle, and they rarely attack the grown ones; but they
manage to catch calves quite often, for these long-horned cattle can
toss a wolf high in the air and probably give him his death-wound."
Fred came in and then they sat down to the table, on which was fried
prairie chicken and broiled quail.
"Oh, my! such an appetite as I have," said Evelyn, "and I don't think I
ever sat down to a more appetizing meal in my life."
Her cheeks were like roses, for the brisk ride in the morning air had
flushed them beautifully.
"Terry, just look at those cheeks," said Fred, "did your ever see them
glow more than now?"
"Oh, they'll glow every morning down here if she takes rides before
breakfast."
They all ate heartily. Jack delighted in cooking since the new range had
been put up.
Terry was an expert at broiling quail and any other kind of game, and
they had fresh butter and milk.
"Brother," Evelyn said, during the meal, "last night Fred said that you
would have to go to town to buy a piano. Are you going?"
"Yes, I guess I will."
"Then I want you to take several balls of this butter to several
different ladies in town as presents from me and tell them that I want
them to pick out a good cook for me. Not that I am too lazy to do the
cooking myself, but because we will need a good, strong colored woman to
do household and laundry work."
"Sensible!" remarked Fred.
"Then bring one or two young ladies down with you," he added.
"Oh, you needn't bring anybody down vet. I'm not becoming lonesome yet
by any means. I don't believe I would ever get lonesome with chickens
and cows and pigs and, ducks to look after."
"My, sister! are you going to take all that responsibility on your
shoulders?"
"Yes, for I'm going to be boss of the entire ranch, boys and all."
"Good! Good!" exclaimed Fred.
"Fred, don't whoop until you get out of the woods," said Terry, "for you
will soon find out her style of bossing. You will find her sitting on
the fence somewhere yelling to you to do this and to do that, and be
quick about it. I know what it is to work for a girl boss, so I will be
sure that we'll get competent help if it can be had. I want to do a
little bossing myself."
As soon as Evelyn could fix up five or six pounds of the rich, golden
butter, pressed into pound cakes, Terry took the bucket in which she had
placed them and waited for the first freight train that came along.
Nearly a score of trains passed the ranch every twenty-four hours, going
either east or west, it was about an hour's ride from the ranch to
Crabtree. Terry sent the cakes of butter to the ladies whom Evelyn
wanted to have them and delivered her message to the effect that she
would be glad to have them find her a good, all-around cook and house
servant.
Mrs. Westervelt, the wife of the railroad superintendent, said that she
knew a cook who would fill the bill.
"Send for her at once, please, madam, and tell her to get ready to move
down to the ranch within a day or two. We will give her good wages and,
besides, allow her to make money out of the cowboys by doing their
washing, if she wishes to."
"Mr. Olcott," she asked, "did your sister make this butter?"
"No, she hasn't started that yet, but let me tell you there is no woman,
North or South, who can beat her at butter making."