Harry Castlemon

“ Now, Arthur, let me caution you. You have come out here intending to carry things with a high hand, but that will never do. For a while, at least, you must conduct yourself in all respects as though you had no more rights here than a casual visitor, and I will do the same. Our first hard work must be to learn something of the way in which a sheep ranch is conducted, and while we are doing that, we must make all the friends we can. After we have firmly established ourselves here, we can take the position to which we are entitled by the terms of the will. ”

“ Like Arthur, he was entirely unnoticed, the men about him having no sympathy for him. Their thoughts were with Bob and his companion.
“The old fellow seems to take it very much to heart,” said Mr. Jacobs. “But it’s my opinion it is all put on for the occasion.”
“That seems to be the opinion of the herdsmen, too, if one may judge by their looks and actions,” answered Mr. Evans. “If they had the least excuse for it, they would put the dogs on him and his son and drive them out of the valley.” ”

“ The newcomers were not at all disappointed in it. It proved to be even pleasanter than it looked from the distance at which they viewed it through their field-glasses.
Arthur thought it would be a nice place to live if that giant would only give up his useless struggles and die, and the country was settled by people of his own class, so that he could have somebody to associate with.
He knew little about books, and cared less. He took no interest whatever in the hunting and fishing to which Bob and George were looking forward with so much eagerness. ”

“ How is everything in the village?”
“Oh, the excitement is intense, and the fathers of those young rogues are very indignant! I have been called everything but a decent man by them and their friends; but I was justified in arresting them, for Benson and Forbes have made a full confession. Wallace is as defiant as ever, and neither denies nor acknowledges anything. Now, George, do you know where Dungan Brook is?” ”

“ There is no one to tell me what I shall do and what I shall not do, and all the money I make is my own. If I had agreed to Uncle Ruben’s proposition, I should have to go hungry and half clad, listen to a scolding from Aunt Polly Ann every hour in the day, and now and then I’d have to take a cowhiding from Uncle Ruben. I’d much rather live here alone than with them, and I don’t care if I never see—”
George’s soliloquy was interrupted by a sound that startled him—the clatter of a horse’s hoofs on the gravelly beach. ”

“ A PERSEVERING DIVER. Bob rowed the boat, George stood in the bow, divested of his clothing and all ready to make the plunge, and Dick sat in the stern and looked at the rocks.
“I tell you, they look ugly!” said he, with another involuntary shudder. “If it hadn’t been for you, George, there would have been two vacant seats at the Montford Academy next Monday. What’s that wedged in between those two high rocks, a little to the left of the point? It looks to me like a piece of my lost canoe.” ”

“ If my father is no worse when I reach home, I shall go to college. He wants me to do it, and I should like to carry out his wishes, although I expect to be a ranchman all my life. If he requires my presence at home, I shall remain there, and you must stay with me. I will give you a position as herdsman at good wages, and will pay you in money or sheep, or both, just as you prefer. You can make enough in a few years, by steady work and economy, to start a ranch of your own on a small scale.”
“You are very kind, Bob,” said George. ”

“ This ravine looks as though it might take us somewhere, but it may lead us slap into a pocket.”
“What’s a pocket?” asked George.
“It’s a place in the mountains that you can’t get out of except by the way you came in. If this valley was walled in as solidly as we thought it was, it would be a pocket, and a bad one, too; for we could not possibly get out of it.”
Bob then went on to explain that a mountain stream is like a tree pressed flat, the only difference being that the branches do not cross one another. ”

“ One of the tables was loaded with the bread, pies and cookies that had been baked for them the evening before.
“There isn’t room enough in the skiff for all that provender,” said George, who was fairly astonished.
“It’s got to go in,” replied Bob. “My schoolboy appetite clings to me yet, and I never go into camp without plenty to eat. If the fish don’t bite, we’ve got a side of bacon and a whole ham to fall back on.”
Having eaten breakfast and packed the bread, pies and cookies away in baskets which the cook brought out of the storeroom, they bade the latter good-by and left the ranch. ”

“ Whoever they are, they have been engaged in business of this kind before to-night, and when they are out on their raids, they drop their own names and answer to others. One of them, the timid one, is young Jesse James, and the leader is Wild Harry. Who the third one is, I don’t know; but I would almost swear that his right name is Will Forbes.”
“It can’t be possible!” said Dick. “Do you suppose that any of our academy boys—Bob Howard, you have been asleep and dreamed it all!” ”

“ This was a decided snub, but Uncle Ruben was not at all abashed by it. He took a peep into the cabin, and then went around behind it, followed by the sheriff and all his party.
Bob Howard held back, and, by the aid of some mysterious schoolboy telegraphy, brought his friend Dick to his side.
“Well, Bob, isn’t that a nice uncle for any decent boy to have?” said Dick. “If I were in George’s place, I wouldn’t acknowledge the relationship. He acts for all the world as though he wanted to find some evidence against his nephew. But what is the matter with you? Your face is a yard long.” ”

“ Evans who held only about four feet of the other end of the lariat in their hands, were running at the top of their speed toward the grove, evidently with the intention of using one of the trees as a snubbing-post.
“On shore, there,” shouted Bob, whose excitement was greater than it had been at any time since his oar broke in his hands. “Make another lariat fast to your end, so that you can give us plenty of slack when the strain comes. If we don’t have a good deal of slack the current will certainly carry us under, unless something breaks. ”

“ Arthur, who hadn’t soul enough in him to like either a dog or a horse, couldn’t see the use of such a pack of mongrels, some of which looked savage enough to tear him in pieces, and he did not hesitate to say so.
“There’s not a single mongrel in the whole lot,” said Bob, who was not accustomed to hearing his favorites spoken of so slightingly. “These two,” he added, putting his arms around a brace of glossy-coated setters, which sprang up, one on each side, and placed their 266paws on his shoulders, “are the best bird-dogs I ever saw, and cannot be beaten as land and water retrievers. ”

“ He did not think it would be quite safe to go back, for he knew too well what was coming. He led his horse around the corner of the cabin, and there is every reason to believe that he intended to mount him and ride away; but his purpose was defeated by Dick Langdon and George, who sprang around the opposite end of the cabin and ran along the front of it, just in time to seize the bridle of Benson’s horse as the young fellow was about to swing himself into the saddle.
“Look here, Benson! You’re only making a bad matter worse,” warned Dick. ”

“ Stebbins. They are gone.”
“There’s no use in wasting your breath in that fashion, either,” said Bob. “He’s so deaf he can hardly hear it thunder. Come back into the barn and let the window go.”
“Hold on!” replied Dick. “Perhaps he will come out, so that we can explain matters to him.”
“No, he won’t,” said Bob, earnestly. “He is frightened half to death, and he will not show his head before daylight. It would be dangerous for his most intimate friend to come near the house now, for he will stand guard at that window, and shoot at every living thing he sees, without stopping to ask questions.” ”

“ The Indians about here have a legend to the effect that this country once belonged to a giant, who, by some means or other, succeeded in getting into a row with his nearest neighbor—another giant—who overcame him in single combat, hurled him into a canyon, and put a mountain on top of him to hold him down. When we get into the valley, Bob will show you where that mountain is, and, when you see it, you will say that it really looks as though it had been thrown in there bottom up. ”

“ He had tried to draw his gun toward him, intending to put a cartridge into each barrel, and so prepare himself for any emergency that might arise.
The rustling he made in the hay, slight as it was, reached the ears of one of the intruders and alarmed them.
“I was certain I heard something,” continued the latter, in the same cautious whisper.
“No doubt you did,” replied one of his companions, with some impatience in his tones. “I have heard something ever since I have been in the barn. I have heard horses stamping and the cows eating their hay.” ”

“ OFF FOR CAMP. “I think Bob is taking a good deal upon himself when he presumes to say who shall be employed on this ranch, and who shall not,” said Arthur to himself. “He has no right to open his head. My father is boss here now, and Bob and Mr. Jacobs will find it out before they are many days older. I wonder if that’s Sam?”
While these thoughts were passing through Arthur’s mind, he was walking slowly along the porch. As he turned the corner of the building, he saw a broad-shouldered, smooth-faced young fellow, leaning against a door-casing, and talking with somebody in the kitchen. ”

“ Evans, who one day took him to task in the following style:
“Young man,” said he, shaking a piece of hardtack at Arthur, “I have traveled a good deal, spent some years in the army, associated with all sorts and kinds of people, and I have always noticed one thing—that those who never have anything worth eating at home are the very ones who growl the loudest at what is set before them when they are away from home.” ”

“ All he saw, as he looked about him, were a few acres of stony, unproductive land, a small, unpainted dwelling-house, and a few outbuildings, all of which showed signs of decay, in spite of the efforts the industrious George had made to keep them in repair.
It was no wonder that George did not want to talk to his uncle on this particular morning. He did not believe that there was 14a boy in the world who was so utterly miserable as he was, or who had so little to live for. ”

“ When I come here, after passing the fine houses on Crosby Street, where those happy young people spend every afternoon in playing croquet on the finely-kept lawns, I tell you it makes me feel wicked when I contrast their circumstances with my own. No one ever thinks of inviting me to make one of such a party, and yet I am just as good as 211the best of them. It’s the ready cash that determines one’s position in this world. ”

“ I want to be something better than a hermit. I intend to stay up there until I can save money enough to take me to some place where I am not known, and then I shall make a new start.”
“Well, we’ll wait until we hear what the selectmen have to say about that,” answered Uncle Ruben, with a grin and a wink which seemed to indicate that he felt sure of his ground. “Mebbe they’ll think, as I do, that it’s best for you to go with me, so that you can have somebody what knows something to take care on you. ”

“ Already skillful plots, that were intended to work his ruin, were being laid against him, and George was destined to see the day when he almost wished that he had accepted his uncle’s offer; but then it was too late.
“It seems to me that things might be made to work smoother and easier for some of us,” said George, to himself, as he took off his hat and stopped for a moment under the wide-spreading branches of the evergreens to enjoy the grateful shade. “Dame Fortune has nothing but smiles for some folks, and, as she hasn’t got enough to go round, the rest of us have to take frowns. ”

“ I don’t know what the old man will say when he finds that his safe has been emptied; and, in order to keep it from his knowledge as long as I can, I will take the key with me when I go. I wish now that I had told Sam to meet me about midnight. If he comes to the grove this afternoon, I will make new arrangements with him.”
Arthur spent the entire afternoon in the grove, with his thoughts for company; but Sam did not put in an appearance. He knew better.
He had made some threats against Bob in the presence of some of the herdsmen, and the valley was not a safe place for him. ”

“ After the guns and fishing-rods had been put in, and Bob had satisfied himself that nothing had been forgotten, he cast off the painter, hauled the boat broadside to the bank, and motioned to George to jump in. The latter looked dubiously at the water and hesitated.
“Hadn’t we better pull the skiff up the river a little before we get in?” said he. “This current runs like lightning, and I am afraid we can’t stem it.”
“Don’t be uneasy,” assured Bob. “There’s not the least danger. ”

“ If we could only make these men believe that we take the matter as much to heart as they do, they wouldn’t think so hard of us; but they are very obstinate and set in their ways, and it will take time to accomplish that.”
“But, father, I can’t stay here,” insisted Arthur, jumping to his feet, and walking nervously up and down the floor. “I shall go crazy if I do—I know I shall. If you won’t go with me, give me money and let me go alone. You’ve got plenty of it. I heard one 319of the men say that there were twenty or thirty thousand dollars in that safe.” ”