"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 pa.s.s 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 advertis.e.m.e.nts 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 pa.s.sed 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"