Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell - "Wives and Daughters"

Sir Walter Scott - "Waverley"

Richard Marsh - "The Beetle"

George Sand, Gustave Flaubert - "The George Sand Gustave Flaubert Letters"

The Bobbsey Twins in the Great West

L >> Laura Lee Hope >> The Bobbsey Twins in the Great West




"You want to be careful about getting off your ponies when you see a
lone steer," the foreman told Bert and Nan. "Some animals think a
person on foot is a new kind of creature and want to give chase right
away. On a cattle ranch keep in the saddle as much as you can when you
are among the steers."

Bert and his sister said they would do this, and then they rode home
with the red flowers. Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey thanked the foreman for
again saving the children from harm.

Mr. Charles Dayton seemed to fit in well at Three Star ranch. He was
as good a ranchman as his brother Bill was a lumberman. And, true to
the promise he had given Mrs. Bobbsey, the ranch foreman wrote to
Bill, giving the address of Three Star.

"I had a letter from Bill to-day, Mrs. Bobbsey," said the ranch
foreman to the children's mother one afternoon.

"Did you? That's good!" she answered.

"And he says he'd like to see me," went on Mr. Charles Dayton. "He
says he has something to tell me."

"Did he say what it was about?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey, while Bert and Nan
stood near by. They were waiting for the foreman to saddle the ponies
for them, as he always wanted to be sure the girths were made tight
enough before the twins set out for a ride.

"No, Bill didn't say what it was he wanted to tell me," went on
Charley. "And he writes rather queerly."

"Your brother seemed to me to be a bit odd," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "As if
he had some sort of a secret."

"Oh, well, I guess he has had his troubles, the same as I have," said
the ranch foreman.

"We were boys together, and we didn't have a very good time. I suppose
it was as much our fault as any one's. But you don't think of that at
the time. Well, I'll be glad to see Bill again, but I don't know when
we'll get together. Are you waiting for me, Bobbsey twins?" he asked.

"Yes, if you please," answered Nan.

"We'd like our ponies," added Bert, "and you promised to show me some
more how to lasso."

"And so I will!" promised the foreman. He had already given Bert a few
lessons in casting the rope. Of course Bert could not use a lasso of
the regulation size, so one of the cowboys had made him a little one.
With this Bert did very well. Freddie also had to have one, but his
was only a toy. Freddie wanted his father to call him "little cowboy"
now, instead of "little fireman," and, to please Freddie, Mr. Bobbsey
did so once in a while.

After Bert had been given a few more lessons in casting the lasso, the
two older Bobbsey twins went for a ride on their ponies, while Mrs.
Bobbsey took Flossie and Freddie for a ride in the pony cart.

It was about a week after this that the Bobbsey twins were awakened
one morning by a loud shouting outside the ranch house where they
slept.

"What's the matter? Have the Indians come?" asked Bert, for some of
the cowboys had said a few Indians from a neighboring reservation
usually dropped in for a visit about this time of year.

"No, I don't see any Indians," answered Nan, who had looked out of a
window, after hurriedly getting dressed. "But I see a lot of the
cowboys."

"Oh, maybe they're going after the Indians!" exclaimed Bert. I'm going
to ask mother if I can go along!"

"I want to go, too, and get an Indian doll!" exclaimed Nan.

But when they went out into the main room, where their father and
mother were eating breakfast, and when the two Bobbsey twins had
begged to be allowed to go with the cowboys to see the Indians, Mr.
Bobbsey said: "This hasn't anything to do with Indians, Bert."

"What's it all about then?" asked the boy.

"It's the round-up," answered his father. "The cowboys are getting
ready for the half-yearly round-up, and that's what they're so excited
about."

"Oh, may I see the round-up?" begged Bert,

"What is it?" asked Nan. "What's a round-up?"

Before Mr. Bobbsey could answer Mr. Dayton, the foreman, came hurrying
into the room. He seemed quite excited.

"Excuse me for disturbing your breakfast," he said to Mr. and Mrs.
Bobbsey. "But I have some news for you. Some Indians have run off part
of your cattle!"




CHAPTER XXI

IN THE STORM


Bert Bobbsey did not pay much attention to what the foreman said,
except that one word "Indians."

"Oh, where are they?" cried the boy. "I want to see them!"

"And I'd like to see them myself!" exclaimed the foreman. "If I could
find them I'd get back the Three Star cattle."

"Did Indians really take some of the steers?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey.

"Yes," answered the foreman, "they did. You know we are getting ready
for the round-up. That is a time, twice a year, when we count the
cattle, and sell what we don't want to keep," he explained, for he saw
that Nan wanted to ask a question.

"Twice a year," went on the foreman, "once in the spring and again in
the fall, we have what is called a round-up. That is we gather
together all the cattle on the different parts of the ranch. Some
herds have been left to themselves for a long time, and it may happen
that cattle belonging to some other ranch-owner have got in with ours.
We separate, or 'cut out' as it is called, the strange cattle, give
them to the cowboys who come for them, and look after our own. That is
a round-up, and sometimes it lasts for a week or more. The cowboys
take a 'chuck', or kitchen wagon with them, and they cook their meals
out on the prairie."

"Oh, that's fun!" cried Bert. "Please, Daddy, mayn't I go on the
round-up?"

"And have the Indians catch you?" asked his mother.

"Oh, there isn't any real danger from the Indians," said the foreman.
"They are not the wild kind. Only, now and again, they run off a bunch
of cattle from some herd that is far off from the main ranch. This is
what has happened here."

"How did you find out about it?" asked Mr. Bobbsey.

"A cowboy from another ranch told me," answered the foreman. "Some of
his cattle were taken and he followed along the trail the Indians
left. He saw them, but could not catch them. But he saw some of the
cattle that had strayed away from the band of Indians, and these
steers were branded with our mark--the three stars."

"Well, maybe the poor Indians were hungry," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "And
that is why they took some of our steers."

"Yes, I reckon that's what they'd say, anyhow," remarked the foreman.
"But it won't do to let the redmen take cattle any time they feel like
it. They have money, and can buy what they want. I wouldn't mind
giving them a beef or two, but when it comes to taking part of a herd,
it must be stopped."

"How can it be stopped?" asked Mr. Bobbsey.

"That's just what I came in to talk to you about," went on Mr. Dayton.
"Shall I send some of the cowboys after the Indians to see if they can
catch them, and get back our cattle?"

"I suppose you had better," Mr. Bobbsey answered. "If we let this pass
the Indians will think we do not care, and will take more steers next
time. Yes, send the cowboys after the Indians."

"But let the Indians have a steer or two for food, if they need it,"
begged Mrs. Bobbsey, who had a kind heart even toward an Indian cattle
thief, or "rustler", as they are called.

"Well, that can be done," agreed Mr. Dayton. "Then I'll send some of
the cowboys on the round-up, and others after the Indians. They can
work together, the two bands of cowboys."

"Oh, mayn't I come?" begged Bert. "I can throw a lasso pretty good
now, and maybe I could rope an Indian."

"And maybe you could get me an Indian doll!" put in Nan.

"Oh, no! We couldn't think of letting you go, Bert," said Mr. Bobbsey.
"The cowboys will be gone several nights, and will sleep out on the
open prairie. When you get bigger you may go."

Bert looked so disappointed that the foreman said:

"I'll tell you what we can do. Toward the end of the round-up the boys
drive the cattle into the corrals not far from here. The children can
go over then and see how the cowboys cut out different steers, and how
we send some of the cattle over to the railroad to be shipped back
east. That will be seeing part of the round-up, anyhow."

And with this Bert had to be content. He and Nan, with Flossie and
Freddie, watched the cowboys riding away on their ponies, shouting,
laughing, waving their hats and firing their revolvers.

While the round-up was hard work for the cowboys, still they had
exciting times at it and they always were glad when it came. The ranch
seemed lonesome after the band of cowboys had ridden away, but Sing
Foo, the Chinese cook, was left, and one or two of the older men to
look after things around the buildings. Mr. Dayton also stayed to see
about matters for Mrs. Bobbsey.

It was well on toward fall now, though the weather was still warm. The
days spent by the Bobbsey twins in the great West had passed so
quickly that the children could hardly believe it was almost time for
them to go back to Lakeport.

"Can't we stay here all winter?" asked Bert. "If I'm going to be a
cowboy I'd better stay on a ranch all winter."

"Oh, the winters here are very cold," his father said. "We had better
go back to Lakeport for Christmas, anyhow," and he smiled at his wife.

"Maybe Santa Claus doesn't come out here so far," said Freddie.

"Then I don't want to stay," said Flossie. "I want to go where Santa
Claus is for Christmas."

"I think, then, we'd better plan to go back home," said Mrs. Bobbsey.

It was rather lonesome at the ranch now, with so many of the cowboys
away, but the children managed to have good times. The two smaller
twins often went riding in the pony cart, while Bert and Nan liked
saddle-riding best.

One day as Bert and his sister started off their mother said to them:
"Don't go too far now. I think there is going to be a storm."

"We won't go far!" Bert promised.

Now the two saddle ponies were feeling pretty frisky that day. They
seemed to know cold weather was coming, when they would have to trot
along at a lively pace to keep warm. And perhaps Nan and Bert,
remembering that they were soon to leave the ranch, rode farther and
faster than they meant to.

At any rate they went on and on, and pretty soon Nan said:

"We had better go back. We never came so far away before, all alone.
And I think it's going to rain!"

"Yes, it does look so," admitted Bert. "And I guess we had better go
back. I thought maybe I could see some of the cowboys coming home from
the round-up, but I guess I can't."

The children turned their ponies about, and headed them for the ranch
house. As they did so the rain drops began to fall, and they had not
ridden a half mile more before the storm suddenly broke.

"Oh, look at the rain!" cried Nan.

"And _feel_ it!" exclaimed Bert. "This is going to be a big
storm! Let's put on our ponchos."

The children carried ponchos on their saddles. A poncho is a rubber
blanket with a hole in the middle. To wear it you just put your head
through the hole, the rubber comes down over your shoulders and you
are kept quite dry, even in a hard storm.

Bert and Nan quickly put on their ponchos and then started their
ponies again. The rain was now coming down so hard that the brother
and sister could scarcely see where they were going.

"Are we headed right for the house?" asked Nan.

"I--I guess so," answered Bert. "But I'm not sure."




CHAPTER XXII

NEW NAMES


Bert and Nan rode on through the rain which seemed to come down harder
and harder. Soon it grew so dark, because it was getting to be late
afternoon and because of the rain clouds, that the children could not
see in the least where they were going.

"Oh, Bert, maybe we are lost!" said Nan, with almost a sob as she
guided her pony up beside that of her brother.

"Oh, I don't guess we are exactly _lost_," he said. "The ponies
know their way back to the ranch houses, even if we don't."

"Do you think so?" Nan asked.

"Yes, Mr. Dayton told me if ever I didn't know which way to go, just
to let the reins rest loose on the horse's neck, and he'd take me
home."

"We'll do that!" decided Nan.

But whether the ponies did not know their way, or whether the ranch
buildings were farther off than either Bert or Nan imagined, the
children did not know. All they knew was that they were out in the
rain, and they did not seem to be able to get to any shelter. There
were no trees on the prairies about Three Star ranch, as there were in
the woods at Lumberville.

"Oh, Bert, what shall we do?" cried Nan. "It's getting terribly dark
and I'm afraid!"

Bert was a little afraid also, but he was not going to let his sister
know that. He meant to be brave and look after her. They rode along a
little farther, and suddenly Nan cried:

"Oh, Bert! Look! Indians!"

Bert, who was riding along with his head bent low to keep the rain out
of his face, glanced up through the gathering dusk. He saw, just ahead
of him and coming toward him and his sister a line of men on horses.
But Bert either looked more closely than did his sister or else he
knew more about Indians. For after a second glance he cried:

"They aren't Indians! They're cowboys! Hello, there!" cried the boy.
"Will you please show us the way to the house on Three Star ranch?"

Some of the leading cowboys pulled up their horses, and stopped on
hearing this call. They peered through the rain and darkness and saw
the two children on ponies.

"Who's asking for Three Star ranch?" cried one cowboy.

"We are!" Bert answered. "We're the Bobbsey twins!"

"Oh, ho! I thought so!" came back the answer. "Well, don't worry!
We'll take you home all right!"

With that some of the cowboys (and they really were that and not
Indians) rode closer to Nan and Bert. And as soon as Bert caught a
glimpse of the faces of some of the men he cried:

"Why, you belong to Three Star!"

"Sure!" answered one, named Pete Baldwin. "We're part of the Three
Star outfit coming back from the round-up. But where are you two
youngsters going?"

"We came out for a ride," answered Bert "but it started to rain, and
we want to go home."

"Well, you won't get home the way you are going," said Pete. "You were
traveling right away from home when we met you. Turn your ponies
around, and head them the other way. We'll ride back with you."

Bert and Nan were glad enough to do this.

"It's a good thing we met you," said Bert, as he rode beside Pete
Baldwin. "And did you catch the Indians?"

"Yes, we found them, and got back your mother's cattle--all except one
or two we gave them."

"And is the round-up all over?" asked Bert.

"Yes, except for some cattle a few of the boys will drive in to-morrow
or next day," the cowboy answered. "You can see 'em then. It's a good
thing you youngsters had those rubber ponchos, or you'd be soaked
through."

The cowboys each had on one of these rubber blankets, and they did not
mind the rain. Some of them even sang as their horses plodded through
the wet.

Bert and Nan were no longer afraid, and in about half an hour they
rode with their cowboy friends into the cluster of ranch buildings.

"Oh, my poor, dear children! where have you been?" cried Mrs. Bobbsey.
"Daddy and Mr. Dayton were just going to start hunting for you! What
happened?"

"We got lost in the rain, but the cowboys found us," said Bert.

"And first I thought they were Indians," added Nan, as she shook the
water from her hair.

"Well, it's a good thing they did find you," said Mr. Bobbsey.

The two Bobbsey twins were given some warm milk to drink, and soon
they were telling Flossie and Freddie about their ride in the rain.

"I wish I could see an Indian," sighed Freddie.

"All I want now is an Indian doll," said Nan.

Two days later the cowboys came riding in with a bunch of cattle which
they had rounded-up and cut out from a larger herd. These steers were
to be shipped away, but, for a time, were kept in a corral, or fenced-
in pen, near the ranch buildings. There Bert and the other children
went to look at the big beasts, and the Bobbsey twins watched the
cowboys at work.

It was about a week after Bert and Nan had been lost in the rain that
Mrs. Bobbsey met the foreman, Charles Dayton on the porch of the ranch
house one day.

"Oh, Mr. Dayton!" called the children's mother, "I have had a letter
from your brother Bill, who has charge of my lumber tract. He is
coming on here."

"Bill is coming here?" exclaimed the cattleman in great surprise.
"Well, I'm right happy to hear that. I'll be glad to see him. Haven't
seen him for several years. Is he coming here just to see me?"

"No," answered Mrs. Bobbsey, "he is coming here to see Mr. Bobbsey and
myself about some lumber business. After we left your brother found
there were some papers I had not signed, so, instead of my going back
to Lumberville, I asked your brother to come here. I can sign the
papers here as well as there, and this will give you two brothers a
chance to meet."

"I am glad of that!" exclaimed the cattleman. "I suppose Bill and I
are going to be kept pretty busy--he among the trees and I among the
cattle--so we might not get a chance to meet for a long time, only for
this."

"That's what I thought," said Mrs. Bobbsey, while Bert and Nan
listened to the talk, "Well, your brother will be here next week."

"Oh, I'll be glad to see him!" exclaimed Bert.

"So will I!" echoed Nan. "I like our lumberman."

During the week that followed the Bobbsey twins had good times at
Three Star ranch. The weather was fine, but getting colder, and Mr.
and Mrs. Bobbsey began to think of packing to go home. They would do
this, they said, as soon as they had signed the papers Bill Dayton was
bringing to them.

And one day, when the wagon had been sent to the same station at which
the Bobbseys left the train some months before, the ranch foreman came
into the room where Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey were talking with the
children and said:

"He's here!"

"Who?" asked Bert's father.

"My brother Bill! He just arrived! My, but he has changed!"

"And I suppose he said the same thing about you," laughed Mrs.
Bobbsey.

"Yes, he did," admitted the ranch foreman. "It's been a good while
since we were boys together. Much has happened since then."

Bill Dayton came in to see Mrs. Bobbsey. The two brothers looked very
much alike when they were together, though Bill was younger. They
appeared very glad to see one another.

Bill Dayton had brought quite a bundle of papers for Mr. and Mrs.
Bobbsey to sign in connection with the timber business, and it took
two days to finish the work. During that time the Bobbsey twins had
fun in a number of ways, from riding on ponies and in the cart, to
watching the cowboys.

One day when Nan and Bert were putting their ponies in the stable
after a ride, they saw the two Dayton brothers talking together near
the barn. Without meaning to listen, the Bobbsey twins could not help
hearing what was said.

"Don't you think we ought to tell the boss?" asked the ranch foreman
of his brother, the timber foreman.

"You mean tell Mr. Bobbsey?" asked Bill Dayton.

"Yes, tell Mrs. Bobbsey--she's the boss as far as we are concerned. We
ought to tell them that our name isn't Dayton--or at least that that
isn't the only name we have. They've been so good to us that we ought
to tell them the truth," answered Charles.

"I suppose we ought," agreed Bill. "We'll do it!"

And then they walked away, not having noticed Bert or Nan.

The two Bobbsey twins looked at one another.

"I wonder what they meant?" asked Nan.

"I don't know," answered her brother. "We'd better tell daddy or
mother."

A little later that day Bert spoke to his father, asking:

"Daddy, can a man have two names?"

"Two names? Yes, of course. His first name and his last name."

"No, I mean can he have two last names?" went on Bert.

"Not generally," Mr. Bobbsey said "I think it would be queer for a man
to have two last names."

"Well, the two foremen have two last names," said Bert. "Haven't they,
Nan?"

"What do you mean?" asked their father.

Then Bert and Nan told of having overheard Bill and Charles talking
about the need for telling Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey the truth about their
name.

"What do you suppose this means?" asked Mr. Bobbsey of his wife.

"I don't know," she replied. "But you remember we did think there was
something queer about Bill Dayton at the lumber camp."

"I know we did. I think I'll have a talk with the two foremen," Mr.
Bobbsey went on. "Maybe they would like to tell us something, but feel
a little nervous over it. I'll just ask them a few questions."

And later, when Mr. Bobbsey did this, speaking of what Nan and Bert
had overheard, Bill Dayton said:

"Yes, Mr. Bobbsey, we have a secret to tell you. We were going to some
time ago, but we couldn't make up our minds to it. Now we are glad Nan
and Bert heard what we said. I'm going to tell you all about it."

"You children had better run into the house," said Mr. Bobbsey to Nan
and Bert, who stood near by.

"Oh, let them stay," said the ranch foreman. "It isn't anything they
shouldn't hear, and it may be a lesson to them. To go to the very
bottom, Mr. Bobbsey, Dayton isn't our name at all."

"What is, then?" asked Mr. Bobbsey.

"Hickson," was the unexpected answer. "We are Bill and Charley
Hickson. We took the name of Dayton when we ran away from home, as
that was our mother's name before she was married. And we have been
called Bill and Charley Dayton ever since. But Hickson is our real
name."

Bert and Nan looked at one another. They felt that they were on the
edge of a strange secret.

"Bill and Charley Hickson!" exclaimed Nan.

"Oh, is your father's name Hiram?" Bert asked excitedly.

"Hiram? Of course it is!" cried Bill. "Hiram Hickson is the name of
our father!"

"Hurray!" shouted Bert.

"Oh, oh!" squealed Nan.

"Then we've found you!" yelled both together.

"Found us?" echoed Bill. "Why, we weren't lost! That is, we--" he
stopped and looked at his brother.

"There seems to be more of a mystery here," said Charley Hickson to
give him his right name. "Do you know what it is?" he asked Mr.
Bobbsey.

"Oh, let me tell him!" cried Bert

"And I want to help!" added Nan.

"We know where your father is!" went on Bert eagerly.

"His name is Hiram Hickson!" broke in Nan.

"And he works in our father's lumberyard," added Bert.

"He said he had two boys who--who went away from home," said Nan, not
liking to use the words "ran away."

"And the boys names were Charley and Bill," went on Bert. "He said he
wished he could find you, and we said, when we started away from home,
that maybe we could help. But I didn't ever think we could."

"I didn't either," said Nan.

"Well, you seem to have found us all right," said Bill Dayton Hickson,
to give him his complete name. "Of course I'm not sure this Hiram
Hickson who works in your lumberyard is the same Hiram Hickson who is
our father," he added to Mr. Bobbsey.

"I believe he is," answered Mr. Bobbsey. "Three such names could
hardly be alike unless the persons were the same. But I'll write to
him and find out."

"And tell him we are sorry we ran away from home," added Charles. "We
haven't had very good luck since--at least, not until we met the
Bobbsey twins," he went on. "We were two foolish boys, and we ran away
after a quarrel."

"Your father says it was largely his fault," said Mrs. Bobbsey, who
had come to join in the talk. "I think you had all better forgive each
other and start all over again," she added.

"That's what we'll do!" exclaimed Bill.

It was not long before a letter came from Mr. Hickson of Lakeport,
saying he was sure the ranch and lumber foremen were his two missing
boys. Mr. Bobbsey sent the old man money to come out to the ranch,
where Bill and his brother were still staying. And on the day when
Hiram Hickson was to arrive the Bobbsey twins were very much excited
indeed.

"Maybe, after all, these won't be his boys," said Nan.

"Oh, I guess they will," declared Bert.

And, surely enough, when Hiram Hickson met the two foremen he held out
his hands to them and cried:

"My two boys! My lost boys! Grown to be men! Oh, I'm so glad I have
found you again!"

And then the Bobbseys and the cowboys who had witnessed the happy
reunion went away and left the father and sons together.

So everything turned out as Bert and Nan hoped it would, after they
had heard the two foremen speaking of their new name. And, in a way,
the Bobbsey twins had helped bring this happy time about. If they had
not gone to the railroad accident, if they had not heard Hiram Hickson
tell about his long-missing sons, and if they had not heard the cowboy
and the lumberman talking together, perhaps the little family would
not have been so happily brought together.

Mr. Hickson and his sons told each other their stories. As the old man
had said, there had been a quarrel at home, and his two sons, then
boys, had been hot-headed and had run away. They traveled together for
a time, and then separated. They did not want to go back home.

As the years went on, the two brothers saw each other once in a while,
and then for many months they would neither see nor hear from each
other. They kept the name Dayton, which they had taken after leaving
their father. As for Mr. Hickson, at first he did not try to find his
sons, but after his anger died away he felt lonely and wanted them
back. He felt that it was because of his queerness that they had gone
away.

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