Tad found the ranch owner to be a man of refinement and kindly nature, yet whose keen, quizzical eyes seemed to take the lad in from head to foot in one comprehensive glance.
"So you are learning the business, eh? That"s right, my lad. That"s the way to go about it, and there"s no place like a drive to learn it, for that"s where a man meets about every experience that comes in the life of a cowman."
Tad explained about the Pony Riders, and that their trip was in the nature of a pleasure jaunt, they being accompanied by Walter Perkins"s instructor and that they were with the outfit for a brief trip only.
Mr. McClure became interested at once.
"I should like to hear more about your experiences," he said. "Won"t you come up to the house with me, while your man talks horse with my foreman?"
Tad flushed slightly as he glanced down over his own rough, dust-covered clothes.
"I--I am afraid I am not fit, sir."
"Tut, tut. We ranchers learn to take a man for what he is worth, not for what he has on. You have been riding. Naturally you would not be expected to appear in broadcloth. No more do we expect you to. Had I a son, I should feel far better satisfied to see him as you stand before me now, than in the finest of clothes. Come, I want you to meet my family."
Tad, somewhat reluctantly, followed the rancher to his house. Much to the lad"s discomfiture, he was ushered into the drawing-room of the first southern home he had ever entered.
"Be seated, sir. I will call my daughters. We have so few guests here that the girls seldom see anyone during the time they are home from school."
Mr. McClure left the room, and Tad, after choosing a chair that he considered least liable to be soiled by his dusty clothes, sat down, gazing about him curiously. He found himself in a room that was by far the handsomest he had ever seen, while from the walls a long line of family ancestors looked down at him from their gilt frames.
Tad had found time for only a brief glance about him, when the sound of voices attracted his attention. At first he was unable to decide whence the voices came. They seemed to be in the room with him, yet there was no one there save himself.
Turning about he discovered that a curtained doorway led directly into another room, and that it was from the adjoining room that the sound had come.
"You say Ruth is bad again to-day, Margaret?"
"No, mother, I would not say that exactly. Yet she does not seem to be quite herself, and I thought it best to tell you. I feared that perhaps she was going to have one of her old attacks."
"Say nothing to her of your suspicions. The last one pa.s.sed over, I think largely because we appeared to treat her mood lightly. Poor child, she has never ceased to grieve for the man whom her parents refused to permit her to marry. I think your Aunt Jane made a grievous mistake. I told her so plainly when she brought Ruth here to us, hoping she might forget her youthful love affair."
Tad Butler"s cheeks burned.
That he had unwittingly played eavesdropper troubled him not a little.
The boy rose and walking to a window on the further side of the room, stood with hat crumpled in both hands behind him, gazing out.
The voices ceased. Yet a moment later Tad started and turned sharply.
"Well, young man, what are you doing here?"
Before him he saw a woman just short of middle age. He inferred at once that she was the elder of the two women whom he had heard speaking behind the curtain.
"I am waiting for Mr. McClure," answered Tad, bowing politely, his face flushing under its tan.
"Does he know that you are here?" she asked in a milder tone.
"Oh, yes. He asked me to wait here until he returned."
"Pardon me, I----"
"Ah, here you are, my dear. I have been looking for you. I wish you to meet Master Thaddeus Butler, who, with three companions and a tutor, is crossing the state with the Miller herd. It is the most unique vacation in these days. Master Butler, this is Mrs. McClure. My daughters will join us in a moment."
Mrs. McClure shook hands cordially with their young guest.
"Welcome to Ox Bow," she smiled. "At first, as your back was turned to me, I took you for one of the men. Instantly you faced me I saw the mistake I had made. Won"t you be seated?"
Under her cordial manner Tad Butler was soon at his ease. Almost before he was aware of the fact Mrs. McClure had drawn from him the main facts relating to the journeyings of the Pony Riders.
Mrs. McClure"s two daughters, Sadie and Margaret, entered the room soon afterwards, Tad being presented to them. Margaret, the elder of the two, was a fair-haired girl of perhaps nineteen years, while her sister Sadie, who was darker, Tad judged to be about his own age.
Both girls shook hands smilingly with their guest.
"I hope you will pardon me for appearing in such a disreputable condition," begged the lad. "I really am not fit to be seen."
His quaint way of putting it brought forth a general laugh.
"You need make no apology. We are all ranchers here. Even my daughters and my niece ride, and sometimes accompany the foreman on drives from one part of the ranch to another. As for my niece, though brought up in the East, she is a born cattle woman. There is hardly a cowman on the place who can ride better than she."
"Your man tells us that you are the best horseman in your outfit," said Mr. McClure.
"I don"t think I quite deserve that compliment, sir," answered Tad. "But I am very fond of horses. I find, by kind treatment, one can do almost anything with them."
"My idea exactly," nodded Mr. McClure approvingly. "The cowpuncher doesn"t look at it that way, however. He wouldn"t feel at home on a horse that didn"t break the monotony by bucking now and then. Did you ever ride a bucker?"
"Once. I expect to break one of the animals I understand we are to get from you."
His host whistled softly.
"You have a large contract on hand, young man. The ponies I am turning off are the worst specimens we ever had on the ranch. Some of them never had a bridle on, for the very good reason that no one ever has been able to get close enough to them to put bridles on. I hope you will not be foolish enough to try to break any of that stock."
"Oh, we"ll rope them and get a headstall on, anyway. The rest will come along all right, I think," smiled Tad.
"Ah, my niece, Miss Brayton!" exclaimed the rancher, introducing a young woman who had just entered the room.
"With the Miller outfit?" she asked.
"Yes," answered Tad.
"Who is your foreman?"
"Stallings--Bob Stallings."
Tad thought Miss Brayton one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen. Yet there was something about her that affected him strangely.
Perhaps it was her abrupt manner of speaking. At any rate the lad experienced a sense of uneasiness the moment she entered the room. He did not stop to ask himself why. Tad merely knew that this was true.
Miss Brayton had little to say, but her quietness was more than atoned for by the vivacity of Sadie and Margaret.
As Tad was taking his leave the entire family accompanied him out into the yard.