SARY'S AMBITIONS
"Dear me!" sighed Eleanor. "That boy makes me think of civilization
again."
Her companions laughed at her expression, and Polly said: "He's awfully
nice, isn't he?"
"Yes, but not half as nice as Jim Latimer," added Eleanor. "Oh, I think
he is. Jim just takes everything for granted, whether you agree with
him or not," rejoined Polly.
"Jim Latimer is only a child! Now his brother Tom is what I should call
wonderful! Not only handsome, but desirable, as well," remarked
Barbara, with more spirit than she usually showed in the younger girls'
conversation.
Eleanor smiled knowingly, and said: "If Tom was poverty stricken, maybe
you wouldn't find him so desirable."
"Why would any one care for a poverty-stricken friend?" asked Barbara,
wonderingly. But Anne hurriedly changed the subject.
"How long do you think it might take, before John gets that message,
Mr. Brewster?"
"Oh, he ought to be within hailing distance of his camp and he'd get
the wire when he went for meals, or to sleep. Allowing until morning
for it to reach him, and another day for him to pack up and travel, he
ought to be in Oak Creek the day after to-morrow."
Every one but Simms watched Anne's face to see her blush, or smile
joyously, but Simms was not aware of any tender feelings on the part of
the pretty teacher for John Brewster, so he abruptly suggested a plan.
"Ah wouldn't wait around the ranch for John's coming, Sam. If the women
folks are going up to Top Notch Trail with us, all well and good, but
waiting about until John and the engineer gets home will be risky
business for the claim. Before to-morrow, every thief in Oak Creek, and
for miles around, will be wise to that gold vein, and most of them will
want to sneak up there and try to jump the claim."
"Oh, no, we won't postpone going up there to guard the spot!" explained
Anne, anxiously. "I was wondering how long it would take that expert
engineer to arrive on the ground and render a reliable verdict about
the mine."
Eleanor tittered. "Sure! That is all. Anne never dreamed that John
Brewster might accompany the expert!"
"That will do from you, Nolla!" came reprovingly from Anne. But the
girls all laughed at her annoyance.
Having concluded all the business necessary in connection with filing
and signing papers, and arranging details about the trip back to the
mine on the following day, the ranch party said good-by to Mr. Simms,
and started on the long ride to Pebbly Pit.
The sole subject of conversation between the elder Brewsters and
Barbara was the gold mine and the possibilities of it. The engrossing
thought that kept Anne so quiet was the unexpected and imminent visit
of John to Pebbly Pit. But the topic that now enthused Polly and
Eleanor was the arrival of Kenneth Evans, and his acquaintance with Jim
Latimer, the pleasant young man who had spent a Sunday at the ranch
just before the city girls had arrived.
"I wish those boys could join our party up to the cave," remarked
Eleanor to Polly, as they rode behind the others along the road to
Pebbly Pit.
"So do I. But they are camping too far from us, for that. We are almost
directly opposite their camp site, using Oak Creek as a central point.
But the Government Survey plans will work them along to Yellow Jacket
Pass, and from that point, along the wilderness, until they reach
Buffalo Park and the Top Notch Trail where we were the other day. But
they won't reach that part of the work until late this season,"
explained Polly.
"Tom Latimer brought his younger brother Jim to see us in Chicago, when
Jim was on his way west, but I never thought he would be so near me,
this summer, as to be able to see him. Had I dreamed of such being the
case, I would have paid more attention to him at the time. I said to
myself, at that visit, 'Oh, we'll never meet again, so why waste time
over him?'"
Polly laughed at Eleanor's frank confession, and added: "Well, when Tom
wrote mother that his little brother would be near enough to Pebbly Pit
to permit him to ride over now and then for a visit, we sent word, at
once, for Carew to give him Sundays off to come and have dinner with
us. But he has only been over once. Now that this friend is in camp
with him, maybe he'll come oftener."
"If John would only bring Tom with him, wouldn't it be fine!" planned
Eleanor. "Anne would have her choice, John. Bob would be supremely
happy if she could flirt with Tom for a time, and you and I would have
Jim and Ken Evans."
Polly glanced at Eleanor in surprise, and said: "Why, Nolla! I wouldn't
like that at all. It will be lots more fun if we all go about together
for a good time. But John is coming to see about the mine--not to enjoy
himself."
"You don't think, do you, that having Anne Stewart right in reach, that
he's going to spend all his time working that mine? He's going to
divide time so that more than half of it will be given to Anne. Then
he'll work double-quick on the mine business to catch up on his work,"
was Eleanor's precocious statement.
Polly said nothing to this, as she had much food for thought given her
in Eleanor's words. Rather than pursue a subject that roused her
jealousy because of her brother John, she spurred her horse to gallop
forward to join the others of the party.
"Father, what did you say in your telegram to John?" asked Polly, when
she slowed up beside Sam Brewster.
"Simms and I had to be careful what we said, so no one on the wire
would get wise as to our real meaning, so I wrote out: 'Fine party on
at the ranch. Big doings that Tom and you must be in on. Also bring
your friend who came with you the time we talked about mining Rainbow
Cliffs. Do not delay but start immediately, as the girls have the time
of their lives set down for day after to-morrow. Don't write or wire,
but come on receiving this message.' You see, that was the only way I
could think of to get John off without letting others in on the secret.
Every one in these parts knows the city girls are with us, and they'll
not wonder at our having the boys come home for a visit."
When Sam Brewster concluded his explanation, Anne was smiling happily,
and Barbara lifted her head a bit higher as she said: "How nice it will
be to see Tom Latimer again, his company _so_ much!"
Eleanor could not deny herself the mean little satisfaction in saying:
"Yes, Bob met him once, at our house, and _tried_ to meet him several
times after that, at various social gatherings in Chicago."
But Polly pinched her friend's arm for silence, as the two horses
crowded close together to pass on a narrow ledge of the trail that ran
up to the Cliffs.
"If Tom comes with John, and that expert engineer comes, too, mother, I
don't see where we are going to put them up."
"We were planning that as we rode along, just now," said Mrs. Brewster.
"I think we can put up cot-beds, temporarily, in the loft over the
first barn, where father keeps his account books and other business
papers. Or we can pitch the large tent under the trees over by the
terrace, and they can camp there. It will be far more comfortable, in
either place, than they will have up on Top Notch, or what they have
been having in the movable camp with the engineers, all this summer."
"Finding sleeping quarters for the boys is the least of our worries
now," laughed Sam Brewster. "Keeping off claim-jumpers and guarding the
cave from miners who would steal the gold as fast as they could pick
it, or blow it out of the rock, is more concern for us than any other
problem, at present."
"Well, we won't lack for excitement if all you fear is justly founded,
eh?" laughed Eleanor, plainly showing how thoroughly she was enjoying
the experience and its promised thrills.
"Even a westerner, immune to thrills, would have a few entirely new
ones in this experience," chuckled Mr. Brewster. "But let a few city
gals like you three, and a quiet little mouse like Polly, jump right
into such a game as this promises to be, and there will be nothing left
for you to thrill over, after that, in everyday life."
"If only Jim Latimer and Ken Evans could be at the ranch to go with us
when we start for the cave," said Eleanor for the second time. This
time her remark caused Mr. Brewster to think.
Then he said: "It is queer how that boy resembled our old friend
Montresor. If we only knew what part of the East Montresor came from. I
have always said he was not traveling under his own name, but probably
was using a family name to hide behind."
"Yes, and that may explain the reason we never had any reply to our
widely circulated advertisements for his relatives," added Mrs.
Brewster.
"If Montresor really was related to this young man, father, he surely
would have said something when Mr. Simms mentioned the resemblance, and
asked the stranger if he knew of a relative being in Colorado," said
Polly.
"Montresor had white hair, it is true, but that did not say that he was
an old man. He was prematurely wrinkled from worry and hardships, but
he was not much more than forty, I should say," ventured Mr. Brewster.
"What are you leading up to, Sam?" asked Mrs. Brewster.
"I was just thinking, aloud, that Montresor could have had a son as
old, or as young, as this Kenneth Evans. If he had gone to the
Klondike, as we believed, the boy would have been too young to remember
his dad very distinctly. Who knows what drove Old Montresor away from
home, to seek adventure or gold so far north as in the Klondike? He and
his wife may have separated through some misunderstanding such as that
letter would lead us to infer, and his eastern relatives may have kept
all facts or news of him from this boy. The poor man's pride and
determination to prove himself innocent of some wrong kept him from
communicating with his people; we know that from his own letter. So I
would not be greatly surprised if we eventually learn that Kenneth
Evans is really a son of Montresor's."
"Oh, Mr. Brewster! Isn't that exactly what I said to you before, when
you hushed me up!" declared Eleanor, delighted over her romantic vision.
"I hushed you up because you went on weaving stuff that dreams are made
of--not because you hinted that this youth might be Montresor's son,"
corrected Sam Brewster.
The others laughed at Eleanor, and as they rode past the Cliffs, now
glimmering faintly in the rays of the new moon rising over the edge of
the old crater, Polly said with a sigh:
"Thank goodness, we are almost home in time for supper."
The materialistic craving in Polly for a good meal was so different
from Eleanor's dreams of romance for her friend that the two elder
Brewsters felt relieved to hear the exclamation. Soon afterwards, the
riders drew rein at the porch where Jeb was awaiting the return of the
party.
"Wall, did you-all find out if the mine was the same as Old Man
Montresor's claim?" asked Jeb, eagerly, as they dismounted.
"What's that, Jeb?" asked Sam Brewster, frowningly.
"Why, Sary says you-all went to Oak Crick to file papers and make sure
that Montresor's claim is the same mine like Polly discovered up on the
Trail. Ain't it so?" wondered Jeb, curiously.
The two elder Brewsters exchanged glances, and the girls had to laugh
at having been completely fooled by clever Sary Dodd. Then Mr. Brewster
thought best to make a clean breast of the entire matter.
"Well, we were not sure when we left Pebbly Pit, this morning, whether
this claim was good or not. So we did not say a word about it to either
Sary or you, but she must have overheard us speaking about it, last
night."
"Yeh--that's what she said to me. She had to wait so long fer you-all
to come to supper, last night, that she coulden' help hearin' what was
said. She says it will be a grand day fer her and me when you-all get
this mine goin'. Sary figgers that you-all won't stay in Oak Crick, ner
on a ranch, once you have all this money; 'cause Polly'll make you-all
go to some fine city to live," explained Jeb, innocently.
"Huh! Is that so!" sneered Sam Brewster, angrily.
Jeb was gathering up the reins of the horses as he spoke, and now he
turned to wonder at his master's tone. Mrs. Brewster was about to say
something conciliatory, when Sary rushed out of the side door.
"Ah was jus' comin' to see who rode up, when Ah hearn Jeb talk. Now
lissun to me, whiles Ah explains how-come Ah spoke: Me and Jeb was
sittin' over dinner, this noon, when Ah says to him, 'Ef the Brewsters
plan to leave Pebbly Pit, Jeb, will you-all stay on and wuk the ranch
fer 'em, or buy it outright?' Now wasn't that a most natchul thing to
ask?"
Sary's apparent guilelessness made the girls stare and her mistress
smile understandingly. "Of course, Sary--go on."
"Wall, then, Jeb diden' know a thing about the gold mine ner what
you-all rode to Oak Crick fer, so Ah hed to explain. He was that
flabbergasted! My, Ah feared he'd keel over right at table. So Ah
hurried to brace him up wid puttin' an ambitious idee in his head.
That's how-come Ah mentioned his takin' over Pebbly Pit."
Here Jeb interpolated: "But you-all said, Sary, that no self-respecking
woman could remain on the ranch ef all the ladies left. And you told me
a man needed a help-mate on such a big place."
Sary frowned down on meek little Jeb, but her displeasure was wasted,
for Jeb was too earnestly concerned over his master's future plans to
see the widow's expression. The girls were so intensely amused over
this new development in Sary's affairs that they forgot about their own
ambitions for the time being.
"Of course, Ah said that!" affirmed Sary, when all other escape by
excuses seemed vain. "Ah also said to Jeb that now he was callin' on me
evenin's, and by such ways showin' the public like-as-how he was
courtin' me, it was the right thing to do to marry afore you-all leave
the ranch. Then we both could pitch in and do fer your interests, as
well as fer our own, what two folks separate can't do as well. See?"
Every one could see plainly what Sary meant, and no one had the heart
to ruin her romance by trying to show Jeb that he was a doomed Benedict
if he allowed himself to be so beguiled by a scheming widow.
"Jeb, if there's any one on earth who can make me leave Pebbly Pit, let
me know who it is, and Ah'll mighty soon fight it out with him!"
declared Sam Brewster, fervently.
Mrs. Brewster and the girls laughed at his intensity, but Jeb's face
lighted up with relief, while Sary's clouded with doubt. Then Jeb led
the horses away, and a happy whistle sounded from his lips as he
marched towards the barn. And Sary stood looking after his receding
form as if she was seeing her future happiness vanish, also.
The weary riders went indoors, and after Mrs. Brewster had removed her
riding togs, she went to the kitchen to see what was ready for supper.
To her joy, she found Sary had prepared an unusually tempting meal, and
had everything in readiness to serve. The table had been set in the
living-room, as it was too dark to eat under the trees; and soon after
the girls had washed and changed their clothes, all sat down to enjoy
the well-cooked and carefully seasoned viands.
Sary and Jeb had had supper, _a la tete-a-tete_, more than an hour
before the riders got home, so Sary gave her attention to waiting on
the famished family. As she served and passed dishes, she conversed
volubly about the mine, and the claim, and the trouble so much work
would make for Mr. Brewster, if he kept on with the ranch at the same
time.
"Not at all, Sary. Ah shall have nothing to do with the work at the
mine. John and his engineers will look after all that. But this does
not mean that Jeb must always remain a hired man. If the time comes
when he wants to settle down at Pebbly Pit and take to himself a
spouse, Ah shall be the first man to reach out a hand to help him on in
life. He shall have certain parts of the ranch to work on shares, if he
prefers that, and he can build a good home for himself down on the road
that runs by the pastures."
"You-all ain't sayin' this in a joke, be yuh, Sam Brewster?" asked
Sary, breathlessly.
"No, indeed, Sary. Ah want Jeb to make a good match, that's all. He
seldom goes away from the ranch, other than driving to Oak Creek, and
he does not have opportunity to see or meet girls. So Ah am seriously
thinking of giving him a vacation, very soon, and sending him to Denver
for a week or two, just to give him a chance to get acquainted with
other women; and then he'll be able to judge what sort of a girl will
suit him best for a wife."
Sary gasped fearfully at this unexpected plan of Sam Brewster's, and
her grasp on the soup ladle relaxed so that it fell to the floor with a
ringing echo. But she paid no attention to it: she stood with mouth
open staring at the master of Pebbly Pit.
Mrs. Brewster felt sincerely sorry for her, but the four girls had to
smother their laughter behind the dinner napkins. Then Sary found her
power of speech.
"Why, Sam Brewster! You-all can't mean that! Send dear, innocent Jeb to
such a wicked city as Denver, all alone, to be caught by them ravenin'
wolves? Ain't you hear'n tell of flirty gals what goes about vampin'
nice young men jus' fer a good time? Like as not our Jeb'll get lassoed
by one of 'em, and she'll marry him fer his money, er git it all away
from him afore she lets him go. Ah've seen it all, over and over again,
in the movies at Oak Crick!" Sary almost wept as she described the
lamentable case of Jeb if he was permitted to visit Denver, alone.
"Don't worry over Jeb, Sary. He hasn't gone yet," said Mrs. Brewster,
sending her husband a signal to keep quiet.
Sary went out of the room, and when Polly called for a cup, no one
replied. So she had to jump up and go to the kitchen for her own cup,
but the kitchen was empty--no Sary to be seen, anywhere. Polly reported
this discovery when she came back to the table, and Mrs. Brewster spoke
impatiently to her husband.
"You haven't any judgment about love affairs, Sam! Don't you know that
you are actually throwing Jeb at Sary's head by saying such things, as
you did--about giving Jeb enough vacation to allow him to go to the
city and find a pretty girl for himself?"
Mr. Brewster sat back in his chair and dropped his fork upon the table
in surprise. He turned wondering eyes at his wife as he said: "Ah only
said that to show Sary that she must bide her time with Jeb, and give
him a chance to make an honest choice for a wife."
"That's what you _wanted_ to do, Sam, but what you actually
accomplished was to give Sary a fright over having Jeb get out of her
snare, and now she'll move heaven and earth to consummate her own
schemes to get Jeb. I wouldn't be one bit surprised if we should find
out that she is, even now, helping Jeb at the barn and trying to
wheedle him into an out and out proposal. There!" was Mrs. Brewster's
reply.
At that, Sam Brewster jumped up, and without asking to be excused,
rushed away and down the road that led to the barns. Mrs. Brewster,
with the girls, laughed at his sudden departure, and when supper was
over, with the master of the house still absent, they all cleared away
the meal and piled up the dishes for Sary to wash in the morning. Then
Mr. Brewster came back.
"Well, Mary! You must have second sight, is all Ah can say. Sary was
out helping Jeb with the horses, sure enough. And Ah overheard her
sayin', when Ah came up to the door: 'Jeb, if you-all ever has time to
go visitin' to Denver, or any such place, it would be a fine honeymoon
for me and you, woulden' it?'"
As Mr. Brewster repeated Sary's words, he glanced at his wife, but
every one laughed heartily at his expression and Sary's clever
anticipation of Jeb's vacation. Mrs. Brewster wagged her head wisely,
as she said:
"Didn't I tell you so, Sam? Now Sary will have no rest, nor indeed give
poor Jeb any peace of mind, until she has him firmly attached to her by
vows. Once the bans are announced at church, she knows Jeb will not try
to dodge them and his responsibility."
"Well, Mary, after this experience Ah swear Ah shall have nothing more
to do in trying to break up any matches. No, not even if my own
children plan to marry without having due time to judge what is best
for them!" His sigh of sacrifice in such a dire case made all eyes turn
to Anne, and her companions laughed teasingly at her blush.
"Now, girls--all off to bed at once, if you expect to go with us at
daybreak," was Mrs. Brewster's advice that cut the conversation short.
"I have no objections to tumbling into bed," confessed Polly.
"Nor I. If it were not for that ride to-morrow, I could sleep all day,"
added Eleanor, hiding a yawn.
"Ah will set the Big Ben to-night, I think," said Mr. Brewster, "so
that we will not miss Simms and his party at Lone Pine Blaze in the
morning."
"Who besides Simms is going with us, father?" asked Polly.
"Why, my old pal the Sheriff, and his men; Simms and a few of his best
friends, and Rattle-snake Mike as a guide."
"Oh, really! Why, it will be a large party, won't it?" cried Polly,
delightedly.
"We'll need a large party, Ah'm thinking, girls, if our surmises are
right. In fact, the Sheriff plans to send an extra posse up by a
different trail, in order to head off any strange-acting or
unfamiliar-looking men who might happen to meet them on this
unfrequented ride along Top Notch Trail."
"My! It makes me tingle deliciously at thought of the fun we will have
if we have to fight for the mine," said Eleanor.
"I don't think we women ought to go if there is the least danger,"
whimpered Barbara, glancing from one to the other in the group.
"You can stay at home and chaperone Sary," said Eleanor.
"I'll do nothing of the kind, Eleanor Maynard! If you and the others
go, I shall go too!" declared Barbara, jealously.
"Well, no one in this family will go unless you all get into bed inside
of the next five minutes," said Mr. Brewster. "Don't take time to use
cold cream and wrinkle plasters this night."
Laughingly, the girls said good-night and left the two adult Brewsters
alone. The moment the door closed upon the last girl, Mrs. Brewster
made sure that Sary was in her room with the door closed, and then she
tiptoed back to join her husband. She spoke in a whisper.
"Sam, do you really think there will be any danger of claim-jumpers,
to-morrow, on Top Notch?"
"There's always trouble where gold is to be had," returned Mr.
Brewster, seriously.
"But I mean, do you apprehend it and thus asked the Sheriff and his men
to ride with us?"
"Simms and the Sheriff think so. It was his idea to prepare against any
surprises along the road, and after we get there. But it was the
Sheriff's idea to get Rattlesnake Mike to guide us, and hire him to
cook while we are in camp. Mike is an honest Indian, you know, Mary,
and we may need one who is as good a woodsman as he is."
"Well, Sam, if I thought there was to be the slightest risk to these
girls, in any way whatever, I should refuse to allow them to go
to-morrow," declared Mrs. Brewster.
"You don't think that I would consent to have Polly go if I thought
there was to be any trouble do you? All the gold in the earth wouldn't
bribe me to do such a foolish thing."
"I thought you may belittle any risk we might run. You are so
accustomed to these ruffians at Oak Creek, but three city girls are
different from western ranchmen. Even Polly and I are better seasoned
for the adventures we may encounter than Anne and her friends," was
Mrs. Brewster's reply.
"Well, if you feel the least nervous over this trip you had better
remain at home with the girls. Ah reckon we-all can readily find the
cave by the descriptions Polly gave us, and by the claim she staked.
Then, too, Rattlesnake Mike can guide us to any spot on the
mountaintop."
"I don't want to deprive the girls of any safe adventure we may
experience, Sam, nor do I want them to run risks. So we had better wait
and leave it entirely to them, if you feel sure nothing would happen
through an encounter with ruffians," said Mrs. Brewster.
"Oh, if that is what worries you, Mary, rest your mind on that score.
No one will attack such a large party, especially when the Sheriff and
his men are in the party."
"Well, then, Sam, we'll get out the supplies you need to take for the
excursion, and then you can catch a few hours' sleep."
But it will take another book to tell what actually did happen there
and on Grizzly Slide; and who Ken proved to be; and whether John
Brewster loved Anne Stewart, or Tom Latimer fell a victim to Barbara's
blandishments. All these queries are answered in the second volume
called: "Polly and Eleanor."
THE END
End of Project Gutenberg's Polly of Pebbly Pit, by Lillian Elizabeth Roy