TED AT HOME AT THE DOUBLE X
The surprise of the cowboys who had speculated as to Amy Wells and Mrs.
Dean was so apparent that Jack Dean, who had an idea as to the reason
for it, felt quite embarrassed. It amused Mrs. Dean, who knew many of
the men and who with great tact made things easy. The men felt somewhat
guilty, especially Al Graham.
But things soon were normal again. John Dean knew that all these
men were friends of his, that they were his peers. His position was
such that he was their leader, but he never had to make them feel
that it was a case of employer and employee. He knew the sterling
independence of the West, which held no man superior to another. And
no one believed in the principle more than Dean. So that when the
men were at ease there were great doings. The cowboys, when alone,
were crude and rough. Now, with Mrs. Dean about, their manners were
such as any gentleman might own. Perhaps a little rough in manner and
appearance, but not one of them lacked manliness and gentleness, the
main requisites of a gentleman. Of course, breeding is more than mere
polish, but much more than just breeding is necessary for the true
gentleman.
The men liked Mrs. Dean from the first moment. Her charm and her
loveliness kept even the timid Smiles in the circle about her. She was
pleasant to all and enjoyed their company so much that they responded
naturally and their quick wit had full play.
Nor was Ted an outsider. Under the protecting wing of Red Mack the boy
had a chance of meeting the men without awkwardness.
The men took to him. They tested him to find out if there were a man’s
qualities in him. Your shrewd, self-reliant man of the plains soon sees
through a person.
They found Ted true. He had a good-natured grin and a fearless eye.
Green and new he was, and many pranks were played on him, but he took
them all good-naturedly. Despite the protection his closeness to the
boss, and the household would give him, it never entered Ted’s mind to
complain. From afar Dean watched the trying out of the boy’s mettle
with keen interest. He felt fairly certain of the result.
He learned to ride a horse in quick time. Red Mack felt that it was up
to him to give the boy the rudiments of the rancher’s education. Ted
could not have had a better teacher in the whole of western Canada.
The time passed very quickly in this way. Mrs. Dean attended to Ted’s
education and each day he had to give three to four hours to study. At
other times you could see him, sometimes with Smiles, sometimes with Al
or Pete, but mostly with Red. Wherever he went, Wolf was at his heels.
Wolf never would be a wolf, but he was growing and he was beginning to
hold his own. The West seemed to be the place for him.
But if Ted spent most of his time while in action with the three men
mentioned, he also liked to sit and listen to Pop, who had taken a deep
interest in the boy. The cowboys had seen how much it had affected the
older man when Ted came. They thought that perhaps Pop might have had
a boy of that age and so it had brought memories. But they forebore to
discuss or to question Pop, for, after all, it was his own affair.
There was, however, a good deal more to it than that. When Pop had
heard the boy introduced as Ted Marsh, a curtain seemed to have been
drawn aside--a curtain that had hidden about fourteen years of his
life. And from what Pop heard of the boy’s history through Dean and as
related by Ted himself, he realized that Fate had played a rather queer
trick. There came a great hope to Pop, or, rather, Dick Smith, as he
was known on the ranch. He dared to think that perhaps he could come
through and that Ted would be the means.
For Pop, as the reader may realize, was the long lost father of Ted. He
was the Bill Marsh that had disappeared and for whom Mrs. Marsh still
mourned, not knowing whether he was dead or alive.
The hard times of the Marsh family, many years before, had worried Bill
even more than Mrs. Marsh. A strong man, he brooded over his inability
to make things go, and gradually, as he grew more and more despondent,
took to drink. Then there had been a quarrel between husband and wife,
and the man had felt that he was useless. Mrs. Marsh had been the one
who had supported the family and this made the man morose and bitter.
He left home, intent upon getting what he could not earn. He had been
drinking heavily.
The only thing he remembered the next morning was that he had had a
terrific fight sometime during the night. If he had not remembered it,
he would have been sure to have known of it because of the condition he
was in. He had been sentenced to sixty days. He knew that he must not
let it be known who he was, as he did not want to disgrace his wife and
daughter. It was while he was in the workhouse that he decided he would
be of the greatest help to his family by dropping out altogether. He
felt that his wife never could have any further use for him. So he had
gone west and gradually had found things as satisfactory as anything
could be under the circumstances at the Double X. He had sworn off
drinking.
Now Ted, the babe that was born after he had left Chicago, was here.
He decided not to say anything, but let events develop. He must not
force himself back into his family, for they seemed happy and contented
as they were. But he was bound up in the boy. From him the boy also
learned much. To him, also, the boy often spoke of the folks at home,
because, instinctively, he felt that the man was interested.
The winter came on and Ted found many new things to interest him. There
was skiing, skating, and then there would be times when, wrapped up in
warm clothes, they would go off in sleighs to great distances. It was
often 50 degrees below zero. Ted grew strong and Wolf especially seemed
to acclimate himself.
And then spring came.