theranch, and it costs nothing but the hire of the cowboys to raise them."
"Oh, yes, I know that. But I never heard of chickens and geese and ducksand pigs being raised on a ranch before."
"Well, they will probably have a hundred milch cows soon, for it doesn'tcost any more to keep them than it does to keep the beef cattle."
CHAPTER VI.
EVELYN'S FIRST DAY ON THE NEW RANCH.
Evelyn extended a cordial invitation to Mrs. Jones and her two daughtersto drive over to the ranch-house some day and spend the day with her,and the mother gladly accepted the invitation. The girls were twohealthy-looking lasses, both blondes with rosy cheeks and sparklingeyes.
Terry kept the old man busy telling him of the improvements that theywere contemplating making on the ranch and of the residence that theywould build down by the big mineral spring.
"Great rattlers!" the old man exclaimed. "You're sho gwine to spend alot of money, ain't you?"
"Yes, we've got to in order to get a good start. If you know of anyranchmen within a hundred miles of us who want to sell a hundred or twobeef cattle just tell us where to find him and we'll go after thecattle."
"Waal, I don't believe I know of any just now who want to sell anycattle other then to the market, but I reckon you can find plenty ofthem along the line of the railroad."
"How many cattle do you want to buy?" he asked.
"About one thousand," was the reply.
"Land! but you'll have a big lot of 'em."
"Oh, we could keep ten thousand on the ranch and keep them fat, too, forthe grass down here is very rich."
"Yes, too rich for the farmers. We raise grass on our farms all summer.We raise a heap of corn and cotton."
"Yes, we will raise corn, too, next year, for the use of our horses andhogs, but not for the cattle."
"Gwine to raise pork, eh?"
"Yes, pork will sell in the market just as readily as beef will, and weare going to raise our own supplies for our cowboys and for family use.We have forty thousand acres on the range, which is room enough to feedseveral hundred people, as well as the cattle on the range and ducks,pigs and chicken. I believe that our dairyman is making some of thefinest butter ever seen in this part of the South. It is sweet and richand as yellow as gold. Generally one can't get a glass of milk or apound of butter on any ranch, because the ranchmen don't take thetrouble to make it. Everything pays that is raised on a ranch, and thegreater the variety the more pay."
"That's so," said the old man, shaking the ashes from his corncob pipe;"but I reckon you'll have considerable trouble with coyotes and cattlethieves."
"Yes, we expect to have a little trouble with them, but we have a way ofdealing with cattle thieves which we have found to be very corrective.Every cowboy on our ranch has a Winchester rifle, and a lead pill fromone of them makes a cattle thief sick. Then, too, a rope is somethingvery distasteful to that breed of mankind, and as for coyotes, we willenclose that part of the ranch where we are keeping the pigs and ducksand chickens with a high wire-net fence, which no coyote can scale."
"Mister, wire fences cost a heap of money."
"Very true; but they will pay for themselves in one season."
By and by the old farmer's wife and daughters, having made their littlepurchases in the store, came out to the wagon ready to start home.
Evelyn came out with them and was on the best of terms with all three.She shook hands with Farmer Jones and told him that his wife anddaughters had promised to come over and spend the day with her in thenear future, and that if he put up any objection to that he wouldprobably get himself into trouble.
"All right, miss," said he. "I'll let 'em come and will drive 'em, too."
"Do so," she replied. "We'll set you down at the head of the table andsee that you get plenty to eat."
"Waal, miss, don't offer me any jerked beef, for I can't eat it."
"Neither can I," she laughed, "and we never have it on our table. We'llgive you fish, prairie chicken, quail, jack-rabbit and that genuine oldSouthern dish, bacon and greens."
"That's it. You can bet on my coming, and right soon, too. Bacon andgreens is a dish fit for a king, but you haven't got any on this ranch,I reckon."
"No, we'll buy that in town, as we do sugar and tea and coffee, and ifyou are fond of coffee, brother and Mr. Fearnot can certainly make thebest that you ever tasted."
"Gosh! I do love it."
Fred and Terry assisted the mother and her two daughters into the wagon,and the girls they literally lifted off their feet by catching themaround the waist and lifting them up as though they were littlefive-year-old-children. The girls blushed and laughed, and Evelyn reallyenjoyed their confusion.
They all drove off, waving their handkerchiefs at Evelyn and the boys.
"Fred," said Evelyn, "they are plain, good, honest folks. The mother isa good woman and the girls do their share of the household work at home.Their hands show it."
"Yes, and yet the old man is able to keep good servants for them, forblack servants are cheap down in this region, and by the way, dear, whenyou go up to Crabtree again, you must start an inquiry for a goodcolored cook among your lady friends. Tell them you want a good one, whounderstands washing and ironing and all about cooking. At present weboys do all the cooking down here and we send our laundry up toCrabtree, where there are only three Chinamen to the whole town."
"Fred, let me do the cooking at present," she asked.
"Oh, yes, it's fun for you now; but you would get tired at it after awhile."
"I'll make you boys do the rough work. When you go out to hunt in thewoods you go to sleep on the ground on blankets and do your own cooking,so it certainly won't hurt you to rough it a little now."
"No, it never did hurt us; but Terry and I know that there are at leasta score of young ladies in Crabtree who want to come down here out ofcuriosity and for a change. We are going to have two additional roomsbuilt onto the house so that the two bedrooms that are now furnished canbe given up to them and we boys will occupy the annex."
That evening they sat up quite late talking and planning.
"See here, Fred," said Terry, "we have no musical instrument on theranch, so sister had better go in to-morrow and buy a piano."
"Oh, my! how extravagant you boys are becoming," she exclaimed. "Theidea of a piano on a ranch would certainly astonish the natives."
"Yes, so it would, but for all that we've got to have it."
"Well, one of you must go in after it, for I won't."
"I'll go," said Terry, "for a good piano we must have; and, besidesthat, we must have a good violin, a good flute, and---"
"A bass drum," Evelyn interrupted.
"Yes," added Fred, "and a hurdy-gurdy."
The next morning Evelyn, was up before either of the boys, for as soonas she heard the little chickens peeping around she sprang up, put on awrapper and went out to see them and feed them.
The dairyman was up feeding and milking the cows. Evelyn looked on for awhile, and finally took up a pail and began milking, too. The dairymanlooked on in astonishment.
"Great rattlers, miss!" he exclaimed. "Where did you learn how to milk?"
"Why, up at my home in New York state," she replied. "I made all thebutter from two splendid cows, and more often did the milking than thehired help did."
"Well," said he, "I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen youmilking this morning."
She was talking with the dairyman when Fred showed up, exclaiming:
"Hello! Why didn't you make an alarm when you got up so that I couldhave heard it."
"Oh, I didn't like to break up little boys' sleep. It is good for them."
The dairyman chuckled at the retort, and so did Fred.
Evelyn milked the pail full, turned it over to the dairyman and went tosee the little pigs.
"Evelyn," said Fred, "how would you like to take a ride over the ranch?We'll get back in time for breakfast."
"I would like it very much, provided you give m
e a safe horse to ride."
Fred went into the stable and saddled the big grays. They were almost amatch in size and appearance for the two big grays which Evelyn had soldup North, and she greatly admired them. She stood there in the lotwaiting for them to be made ready, and then, without going into thehouse to get a hat or any other article of dress, she placed her foot inFred's hand, which he held out for her, and was quickly lifted in thesaddle.
"Are you going without your hat, Evelyn?" Fred asked.
"Yes, the early
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