Dale wheeled to see the girls peeping out.
"It"s time you"re up!" he called. "Your uncle Al is here."
For an instant after Helen sank back out of Dale"s sight she sat there perfectly motionless, so struck was she by the singular tone of Dale"s voice. She imagined that he regretted what this visiting cavalcade of hors.e.m.e.n meant--they had come to take her to her ranch in Pine. Helen"s heart suddenly began to beat fast, but thickly, as if m.u.f.fled within her breast.
"Hurry now, girls," called Dale.
Bo was already out, kneeling on the flat stone at the little brook, splashing water in a great hurry. Helen"s hands trembled so that she could scarcely lace her boots or brush her hair, and she was long behind Bo in making herself presentable. When Helen stepped out, a short, powerfully built man in coa.r.s.e garb and heavy boots stood holding Bo"s hands.
"Wal, wal! You favor the Rayners," he was saying, "I remember your dad, an" a fine feller he was."
Beside them stood Dale and Roy, and beyond was a group of horses and riders.
"Uncle, here comes Nell," said Bo, softly.
"Aw!" The old cattle-man breathed hard as he turned.
Helen hurried. She had not expected to remember this uncle, but one look into the brown, beaming face, with the blue eyes flashing, yet sad, and she recognized him, at the same instant recalling her mother.
He held out his arms to receive her.
"Nell Auchincloss all over again!" he exclaimed, in deep voice, as he kissed her. "I"d have knowed you anywhere!"
"Uncle Al!" murmured Helen. "I remember you--though I was only four."
"Wal, wal,--that"s fine," he replied. "I remember you straddled my knee once, an" your hair was brighter--an" curly. It ain"t neither now....
Sixteen years! An" you"re twenty now? What a fine, broad-shouldered girl you are! An", Nell, you"re the handsomest Auchincloss I ever seen!"
Helen found herself blushing, and withdrew her hands from his as Roy stepped forward to pay his respects. He stood bareheaded, lean and tall, with neither his clear eyes nor his still face, nor the proffered hand expressing anything of the proven quality of fidelity, of achievement, that Helen sensed in him.
"Howdy, Miss Helen? Howdy, Bo?" he said. "You all both look fine an"
brown.... I reckon I was sh.o.r.e slow rustlin" your uncle Al up here. But I was figgerin" you"d like Milt"s camp for a while."
"We sure did," replied Bo, archly.
"Aw!" breathed Auchincloss, heavily. "Lemme set down."
He drew the girls to the rustic seat Dale had built for them under the big pine.
"Oh, you must be tired! How--how are you?" asked Helen, anxiously.
"Tired! Wal, if I am it"s jest this here minit. When Joe Beeman rode in on me with thet news of you--wal, I jest fergot I was a worn-out old hoss. Haven"t felt so good in years. Mebbe two such young an" pretty nieces will make a new man of me."
"Uncle Al, you look strong and well to me," said Bo. "And young, too, and--"
"Haw! Haw! Thet "ll do," interrupted Al. "I see through you. What you"ll do to Uncle Al will be aplenty.... Yes, girls, I"m feelin" fine. But strange--strange! Mebbe thet"s my joy at seein" you safe--safe when I feared so thet d.a.m.ned greaser Beasley--"
In Helen"s grave gaze his face changed swiftly--and all the serried years of toil and battle and privation showed, with something that was not age, nor resignation, yet as tragic as both.
"Wal, never mind him--now," he added, slowly, and the warmer light returned to his face. "Dale--come here."
The hunter stepped closer.
"I reckon I owe you more "n I can ever pay," said Auchincloss, with an arm around each niece.
"No, Al, you don"t owe me anythin"," returned Dale, thoughtfully, as he looked away.
"A-huh!" grunted Al. "You hear him, girls.... Now listen, you wild hunter. An" you girls listen.... Milt, I never thought you much good, "cept for the wilds. But I reckon I"ll have to swallow thet. I do.
Comin" to me as you did--an" after bein" druv off--keepin" your council an" savin" my girls from thet hold-up, wal, it"s the biggest deal any man ever did for me.... An" I"m ashamed of my hard feelin"s, an" here"s my hand."
"Thanks, Al," replied Dale, with his fleeting smile, and he met the proffered hand. "Now, will you be makin" camp here?"
"Wal, no. I"ll rest a little, an" you can pack the girls" outfit--then we"ll go. Sure you"re goin" with us?"
"I"ll call the girls to breakfast," replied Dale, and he moved away without answering Auchincloss"s query.
Helen divined that Dale did not mean to go down to Pine with them, and the knowledge gave her a blank feeling of surprise. Had she expected him to go?
"Come here, Jeff," called Al, to one of his men.
A short, bow-legged horseman with dusty garb and sun-bleached face hobbled forth from the group. He was not young, but he had a boyish grin and bright little eyes. Awkwardly he doffed his slouch sombrero.
"Jeff, shake hands with my nieces," said Al. "This "s Helen, an" your boss from now on. An" this "s Bo, fer short. Her name was Nancy, but when she lay a baby in her cradle I called her Bo-Peep, an" the name"s stuck.... Girls, this here"s my foreman, Jeff Mulvey, who"s been with me twenty years."
The introduction caused embarra.s.sment to all three princ.i.p.als, particularly to Jeff.
"Jeff, throw the packs an" saddles fer a rest," was Al"s order to his foreman.
"Nell, reckon you"ll have fun bossin" thet outfit," chuckled Al. "None of "em"s got a wife. Lot of scalawags they are; no women would have them!"
"Uncle, I hope I"ll never have to be their boss," replied Helen.
"Wal, you"re goin" to be, right off," declared Al. "They ain"t a bad lot, after all. An" I got a likely new man."
With that he turned to Bo, and, after studying her pretty face, he asked, in apparently severe tone, "Did you send a cowboy named Carmichael to ask me for a job?"
Bo looked quite startled.
"Carmichael! Why, Uncle, I never heard that name before," replied Bo, bewilderedly.
"A-huh! Reckoned the young rascal was lyin"," said Auchincloss. "But I liked the fellar"s looks an" so let him stay."
Then the rancher turned to the group of lounging riders.
"Las Vegas, come here," he ordered, in a loud voice.
Helen thrilled at sight of a tall, superbly built cowboy reluctantly detaching himself from the group. He had a red-bronze face, young like a boy"s. Helen recognized it, and the flowing red scarf, and the swinging gun, and the slow, spur-clinking gait. No other than Bo"s Las Vegas cowboy admirer!
Then Helen flashed a look at Bo, which look gave her a delicious, almost irresistible desire to laugh. That young lady also recognized the reluctant individual approaching with flushed and downcast face. Helen recorded her first experience of Bo"s utter discomfiture. Bo turned white then red as a rose.