FRED AND TERRY AFTER CATTLE THIEVES.
Terry, being a good judge of musical instruments, went to a music store
in Crabtree, ran his fingers over the keys of half a dozen different
pianos, and quickly made his selection. Then he purchased a splendid
violin, paying seventy-five dollars for it, which was the most costly
violin that was ever sold in Crabtree, for he was very fond of good
violin music. Then he bought a guitar, a banjo and a splendid flute. The
dealer promised to send them all down to the ranch the next day.
"I'll take the violin and the flute myself," said Terry.
"Mr. Olcott," said the dealer, "we have a large selection of vocal and
instrumental music. Would you like to look over it to make some
selections?"
"Haven't time," he replied. "Sister may have a big quantity of her old
music in her trunk, but if she didn't bring any down with her she can
come down here some day and look over your stock."
"Here is a printed list of all the music now before the public."
"All right, I'll take that list to her," and he folded it up and put it
in his pocket.
Then he went to see the two young ladies whom Evelyn had told him to
bring down with him if they would come.
He found them, and, to his surprise, found them ready to go on an hour's
notice. He told them that he would drive around for them with a
carriage, as no passenger train ever stopped at the ranch unless it was
flagged.
They told him that it didn't make any difference so long as they didn't
have to walk.
They had never been on a ranch in their lives, although they were rather
familiar with farm life around that locality. He went to the livery
stable and hired the same team that had carried Evelyn out two days
before.
Then he went to a well-known grocer and bought several cases of
preserves and sweetmeats of various kinds to be sent down the next day,
laid in a good stock of magazines, then drove around to the residence of
the two young ladies, and when they were ready to go they started off
for the ranch. Their trunks were to come down in a wagon.
The girls were delighted with everything they saw on the way.
When they reached the ranch Evelyn and Fred and Jack were at the store
to greet them. While the two girls were hugging and kissing Evelyn, Fred
and Terry threw their arms around each other and imitated them to the
best of their ability; but, instead of kissing each other, they smacked
their mouths over each other's shoulders and uttered expressions of joy
in imitation of them. The girls were greatly amused, and the storekeeper
almost went into convulsions of merriment.
"Now, girls," said' Evelyn, "come over to the house with me and you'll
see how we are roughing it out here." So she led the way from the store
to the house which they called their home.
When they entered the two beautifully furnished rooms the girls uttered
exclamations of surprise.
"Why, Evelyn," one of them exclaimed, "there isn't a prettier furnished
house in all Crabtree. I can't see for the life of me why you call it
roughing."
"Well, I call it roughing because we can do just as we please out here.
There is nobody about to criticise us. I hope you brought some of your
old clothes with you that won't be hurt by roughing it!"
"Yes, we brought some old dresses with us."
"All right, just as soon as your trunks come in put on your roughest
suits and I'll show you how much fun we can have out here."
She then led them into the kitchen and dining-room.
One of the bedrooms had two beds in it, and all three of them would
sleep in there, leaving Fred and Terry to have the other room.
A half hour later the girls' trunks were brought into the house and they
proceeded at once to don what they called their home dresses.
Then Evelyn led them out to the poultry yard, to the cow-sheds and the
dairy-house, Then they went to the big lot in which lived the sows and
pigs. After that they visited the big stables, where Evelyn pointed with
great pride to two big grays which the boys had bought for her, and
there she told them the story of the grays she had owned before, how she
had trained them so that she could drive them without bridles anywhere
and guide them entirely by her voice.
One of the girls said that she couldn't train a Texas horse that way.
"Oh, any horse is susceptible to kindness, dear. I will soon have them
so trained that they will follow me wherever I go and I'll teach them
how to obey every command I give them. It takes time and patience,
though."
"Evelyn, where is the big spring that we have heard so much about?"
"It is about a mile down that way," and she pointed southward.
"To-morrow we will ride down there, for we have a large surrey and two
horses for domestic use."
About sunset Evelyn insisted on their going out to the cowpen and see
her milk. Up to that time they hadn't taken any stock in her claim that
she could milk cows and make butter, and they regarded her as simply a
society girl who wouldn't do any work at all; but the dairyman told them
that she was the best milker he had ever seen.
It was a pretty big job, but she milked the half dozen Jersey cows,
actually doing a man's work. Neither of the girls had ever milked a cow
in their lives, for their parents didn't keep any cows at their city
home.
That night they sat down to a game dinner of quail, jack-rabbits and
prairie chickens.
Evelyn insisted on their standing by her in the kitchen and seeing her
cook everything. They were satisfied that she had not been boasting, and
such biscuit they had never tasted in their lives, notwithstanding the
fact that their mother had a well-trained colored cook.
"Evelyn," the elder of the sisters asked, "you seem to know all about
housework, but tell me how you manage to keep your hands so soft and
white if you have been doing this sort of work before."
"Oh, I don't do it regularly, only when I take a notion to do so at
home; but I think it is every woman's duty to learn such things, so that
if she gets hold of an incompetent servant she can teach her."
The two girls were actually ashamed of their ignorance of domestic life.
During the evening Fred produced his violin and flute.
"Oh, my, brother!" exclaimed Evelyn, "that is a beautiful violin. What
did you buy such an expensive one for?"
"Why, you know me, sister," he replied; "a harsh note grates on me worse
than a crosscut saw going through a knotty log."
Evelyn seized the bow, resined it herself, tuned the violin and began
playing like an expert. Fred took up the flute and accompanied her,
making the most delightful music.
There were some cowboys in the store smoking and talking, but when they
heard the violin and flute they all rushed out and stood at the gate,
about forty feet away from the door, and listened, and there they stood,
quiet and silent, for upwards of an hour.
Then Terry took the flute and the girls saw that he could play equally
as well as Fred. Evelyn soon took up the guitar and accompanied him on
that instrument.
Then she handed the guitar to Fred and took the flute from Terry.
The girls soon saw that she was perfectly at home with any musical
instrument, and that the boys were, too.
Evelyn had the girls up with the sun the next morning. They were not in
the habit of starting the day so early, but she laughed at them and told
them they didn't know how to live.
She soon had them in the kitchen, where Jack had started a fire in the
range, and began giving them culinary lessons.
It was great fun for her, and also for Fred and Terry.
Some two or three days later Fred left the ranch, going up by the
passenger train, which was flagged for him to board it, and at Crabtree
he took a train for points a hundred miles east, where he hired a team
and driver to take him around among the ranches all through that
section. He spent a week inspecting cattle, buying them and having them
shipped down to the ranch.
Finally, in order to make up the order that he wanted, he had to drive
back to the railroad and go further eastward; so he was gone about ten
days. He paid for the cattle with checks on the bank at Crabtree, but in
some instances the cattlemen rode down to Crabtree to see whether or not
the checks were good before they would ship the cattle.
When Fred returned to the ranch he found the two girl visitors still
with Evelyn, and learned from them that they were willing to stay out
there just as long as Evelyn wished them to.
"You haven't gotten tired of the ranch yet?" he asked.
"No, indeed. We never enjoyed ourselves better away from home in our
lives. Mr. Olcott and Evelyn are undoubtedly the finest musicians we
ever heard. That piano is a grand instrument, and every evening, when
the weather is fine, the cowboys dance in the yard to their playing;
and, Mr. Fearnot, I really believe that every horse and cow and pig and
chicken on the ranch is in love with Evelyn Olcott, while she has such
influence over the cowboys that I believe she could make them do murder
at her command."
Fred laughed and said:
"Yes, she has that same influence over me, too."
The girls looked at Evelyn and laughed, and she remarked:
"Didn't I tell you that every sort of animal is susceptible to
kindness?"
"Why, do you mean to call Mr. Fearnot an animal?"
"Certainly. Every man and woman is just as much an animal as a horse or
cow is."
Both the girls opened their eyes wide and Evelyn and Fred and Terry
laughed heartily at them.
"Why, didn't you know that man is an animal?" Fred inquired.
"No, indeed. Never heard of such a thing before in my life," and then
both Fred and Terry fell to explaining the matter to them. The younger
of the two sisters said they made her feel "cheap" by proving to her
that she was a mere animal.
"Oh, be careful with your words. Neither of us have said that you were a
mere animal," said Terry. "Man belongs to the animal kingdom just as any
four-footed beast does. Generally the things that will kill any brute
will also kill a man. Both have flesh and blood, eat and drink; but man
is, of course, the highest grade of the animal kingdom. They are divided
into different tribes, just as animals are into different species. The
Caucasian is the highest type, and the grades go down from this point
until we reach the bushmen of Australia, who are said to be the lowest
type of mankind."
The girls were highly interested in his talk, and on the piazza and on
the front steps cowboys were listening with the deepest interest.
They, too, had never thought of the subject; but Fred and Terry were
very familiar with it, for they had both studied it very deeply.
A few days after Fred's return from his trip, during which he had bought
another thousand head of cattle, the cattle began arriving.
Then Fred and Terry and the cowboys were all very busy. The cars were
run down to the stockpen, where they were unloaded and turned loose into
their new home. Many of them were evidently very hungry, and had
probably been kept penned up for several days before the cars which were
to bring them down were sent up for them.
"By George, Terry," said Fred, "that lot of cattle is almost starved.
The ranchmen didn't feed them while keeping them penned up waiting for
the train."
"Yes, and they ought to be made to pay for it, Fred."
"Oh, what's the use? They'll soon pick up on this ranch, but really I
think they ought to be punished for their heartlessness. Just because
they were sold they wouldn't give them any extra feed."
The girls came down and saw the cattle leave the cars and run down the
gangway that led into the stockpen, from which they passed hurriedly
into the ranch.
Evelyn had seen cattle shipped and unloaded before, but her two visitors
had not, so they stood and watched the process of unloading for several
hours.
"Fred," said Terry, after seeing several carloads of the cattle turned
out, "I think that, on an average, they are a very fine lot of cattle."
"Well, I tried to be careful, Terry, and I am glad I was, for there were
quite a number who tried to pan off poor cattle on me. Their brand is
already registered, just the same as ours. Of course, their calves we
will have to put our registered brand on, and after a while we will have
to add it to the brand of the original owners."
The addition another thousand cattle to the ranch made a pretty good
display.
Both Fred and Terry made a careful count of every beef that arrived.
They both rather suspected that they would come up a little short, but
to their very great gratification every carload panned out according to
the bill.
They were all of the long-horned species, and some of them were very
large. The train was run on a sidetrack, and as fast as the cars were
emptied they were moved further down the sidetrack until every car had
been emptied.
"Oh, my, Fred!" said Evelyn, "surely some of those cattle must have been
hurt, crowded as they were in those cars, with such long horns."
A careful inspection was made and not one was found to be seriously
hurt. Fred had stipulated with the ranchmen whom he had bought front
that only a given number should be placed in a car, and Superintendent
Westervelt had warned the employees of the road not to exceed the limit.
That night Fred and Terry rode all around the enclosed part of the range
on the lookout for wolves, and also to let the cowboys see that they
were expected to do their work faithfully.
The new cattle grazed incessantly, but nothing occurred during the night
to start an alarm among them. The majority of them, as dark set in, laid
down to sleep or to chew their cud.
The two boys turned in at about two o'clock in the morning.
The next day one of the cowboys came in and reported that somebody down
at the lower end of the ranch had cut out a complete panel of the barbed
wire, thus leaving a wide gap for the cattle to go through.
Fred and Terry hurried down there on their horses with their
Winchesters, accompanied by two of their most expert and faithful
cowboys and made a thorough investigation.
They could see the tracks of three men, who had probably cut the wires;
but they were unable to find the trail of any cattle passing through the
gap. In fact, none of the cattle had done any grazing that far down.
They sent a cowboy back up to the ranch-house and had him bring down a
coil of wire and the necessary tools to connect it with the wires that
had been cut, and when that was done they detailed one-half of their
force to watch the line of the fence at that end of the ranch during the
following night.
They taught them a series of signals, which must be given and answered
before firing at any one.
"Now, boys," said Fred, "be careful. We don't want any innocent man
hurt, but if you find any one tampering with the fence give him a chance
to cut just one wire to establish his guilt and then call a halt. If he
doesn't hold up open fire on him, and keep firing until he comes down.
Both Olcott and I will be moving about the greater part of the night. We
want all cattle thieves to understand that they can't steal any of our
cattle with impunity."
That night, after singing and playing at the house with the girls, the
boys mounted their horses and started for the lower end of the ranch.
When they reached there they dismounted, hitched their horses in the
timber and started down the line on foot. They found the cowboys that
they had stationed along the line in their respective places. They were
very prompt in exchanging signals, and they spoke in whispers so that
their voices might not be overheard.
By and by in the starlight they saw about a score of cattle going
through the grass as though they were being driven by somebody.
Fred and Terry crouched down in the grass and watched them.
They both became fully satisfied that some one was driving them, and
they ran along with the cattle in order to ascertain where they were
going, and why. They were very near the corner of the fence, for, as the
reader doubtless remembers, they had enclosed only twenty of the forty
thousand acres, as they thought that was about as much as they would
have need for inside of the next two years.
Suddenly Terry tapped Fred on the shoulder and whispered:
"Down, Fred," and Fred dropped down on his knees.
Terry motioned with his hand and pointed out on his right where they
could both see the figures of two men moving cautiously and closely
behind the cattle, and they both wondered if another panel of the wire
had not been cut just ahead of them.
Suddenly one of the cattle turned in their direction, and one of the men
ran around to head him off. He ran almost over Fred, who sprang up and
dealt him a blow on the side of his head that caused him to sink down
unconscious.