Uncle Fred

“ Uncle Fred resolutely averted his gaze, and turned again to his niece.
"This is Miss Lyle," announced Marjorie. "We share the flat. Liss, dear, this is my uncle, Mr. Clegg. Well, Uncle Fred, how are you? I'm sorry we can't offer you tea, but we—we have practically all our meals at a restaurant. Don't we, Liss?"
"We simply live there!" affirmed Liss.
"Will you have a cigarette?" continued Marjorie, offering a box. "Don't mind about that being the last one! There are plenty more."
"I do not smoke," replied Uncle Fred coldly. ”

“ The cattle and horses are far away."
"Let's go out and see this mysterious spring of yours," said Daddy Bunker. "I'm eager to have a look at it. I'll take the camera along and get some pictures. Come, children!"
Rose and Violet, with Margy and Mun Bun, followed their father and mother and Uncle Fred. Laddie and Russ lagged behind.
"Aren't you coming?" asked their mother.
"I'm going to make a lasso," said Russ. [82]
"So'm I," added Laddie.
"Oh, let them play by themselves," said Uncle Fred. "They can't do any damage nor come to any harm. They can see the spring later." ”

“ If he was awake he did not remember it. He must have toddled down the aisle of the car, all by himself, and then have crawled into the berth with the strange man. The latter was not awakened until he had his queer dream about his pet dog, and then he found Mun Bun.
"And just in time, too," said Uncle Fred, as they were all laughing about it at breakfast the next morning. "I wouldn't have liked to get all the passengers awake to find a lost boy. After this, Mun Bun, we'll have to put a hobble on you."
"What's a hobble?" asked Russ.
"Is it an Indian?" Violet wanted to know. ”

“ Then the rest of the little Bunkers came [49] down, each one eager to see Uncle Fred and hear more of his wonderful stories of the West. And he was glad to tell them, for he liked the children, and, knowing they had never been out on a ranch, he realized how strange it all was to them.
"If we are really going West," said Mother Bunker to Daddy Bunker, after breakfast, "I must begin to think of packing up again. It seems we do nothing but travel!" ”

“ I think I would dig, if I were you."
"I will," said Uncle Fred. "I'll go back [180] to the house now and get picks and shovels. You can wait here for me."
"I'll come with you," said Daddy Bunker. "The children will be all right here."
"I'll go with you, Daddy," said Vi. "I must look after my mud pie I left in the sun to bake." ”

“ Uncle Fred looked into Phil’s bright, frank face with an approving glance. He liked the boy all the better for his honest confession of a fault.
“That is right, my boy. Never try to shirk blame when you feel you have deserved it. Why did you not take Bertie’s part, then, when you understood so well how frightened it made him to be on the water?” ”

“ Bitterly ashamed at having his motives thus misconstrued, Uncle Fred hurried away. His course now took him westward along the Strand, which was packed from end to end with seekers after diversion—mostly soldiers and their adherents. He plodded steadily through the press, with the air of a man who has a definite goal before him. This was the second week of his search for Marjorie, but he had considerably modified the plan of action laid down for him by his elder brother. ”

“ Marjorie restored her small, hysterical, half-famished champion to the arm-chair.
"That's all right, Baby," she said placidly. "He means well, but he's had the same upbringing as father—poor old man! Sit down! Sit down too, Uncle Fred!" (The dazed ambassador was groping for the door.) "I want to talk to you."
The symposium resumed its session. Uncle Fred was so benumbed by his recent experience that when his late assailant deliberately renovated the scarlet of her lips in his presence he made no protest at all. How quickly a man can become a roué, even at fifty-nine! ”

“ Uncle Fred examined the document mechanically, and handed it back.
"That seems quite in order," he muttered.
"Father is a business man, I know," continued Marjorie, with a cheery smile; "and I know business men like to see evidence in black and white. You can keep that licence, if you like, and send it to him from me, as a certificate of character, and tell him that I am very well—and busy—and happy—and respectable—and don't require providing for in any way whatever. And you can give my love to mother." ”

“ Hank said it [190] was badly cut, and he put some salve and a clean bandage on it, for which Red Feather seemed very grateful.
"No can walk good," he said, when his foot was wrapped up. "I go sleep out there!" and he pointed to the tall grass of the plain.
"Oh, no, I guess we can fix you up a place to sleep," said Uncle Fred kindly. "There are some bunks in the barn where the extra cowboys used to sleep. You can stay there until your foot gets well, and Bill Johnson can give you something to eat now and then."
"Oh, I'll feed him all right," said the cook. "He seems like a good Indian. ”

“ The grown folk stayed up a bit later, talking about different things, and the queer spring on Uncle Fred's ranch.
"I hope I can find the men who have been taking my cattle," said the Westerner, as he got ready for his berth, as the beds in the sleeping-car are called.
"We'll help you find the bad chaps," said Daddy Bunker.
"And the children will want to help, too," added Mrs. Bunker. "Especially Russ and Laddie. They think they are getting to be quite big boys now. They may find out what is the matter with your spring, Fred." ”

“ We do not want you to do anything to darken the life of one who has been like a father to you when you were so sadly in need of love and care. My darling, we think that your place is still here with the Squire, if you are content to stay. We shall see you every day; you will always be our little boy too. You will have two homes instead of one, and loving parents in both. But, as you say yourself, I have Uncle Fred to take care of me now, and be my companion always, whilst he has nobody but his little Bertie. ”

“ This horn is what the cowboys fasten their lassos around when they catch a wild steer or a pony.
Behind the boys could be heard the thunder of the hoofs of the stampeding steers. They were running close together, and, even in the half-darkness of the evening, a big cloud of dust raised by the many feet could be seen. [177]
"What's the matter?" cried Uncle Fred, as the two cowboys rode up to the ranch with Laddie and Russ.
"Stampede!" was the answer. "Big bunch of cattle running away."
"Oh, my!" exclaimed Uncle Fred. "Well, get right after 'em! Stop 'em!" ”

“ Then there is still another house where they eat their meals. This has a lot of big windows in it that can be opened wide on a hot day."
"Who is Captain Roy?" asked Russ. "Is he an old soldier, like Jerry Simms?"
"Yes, Captain Robert Roy used to be in the United States army," answered Uncle Fred. "He is retired now, and he helps me at the ranch. He is a partner of mine, and he looks after things while I am away. You six little Bunkers will like him, for he loves children." ”

“ Every day some of the six little Bunkers, and, sometimes, all of them, went to the mysterious spring, to see if any of the water had run out, but it seemed to be all right, and behaving just as a spring should.
"Though there's no telling when it will go dry again," said Uncle Fred. "We'll have to keep watch of it. For nearly every time the spring goes dry I lose some cattle."
"May we go for a ride on our ponies to-day?" asked Russ of his mother one morning. "Laddie and I want a ride." ”

“ Captain Roy, the father, had just come back.
"Yes, a few were driven off, as almost always happens when the spring goes dry," said the ranchman in answer to Captain Roy's question. "It is a puzzle—beats Laddie's riddles all to pieces."
"I suppose he'll be getting up some new ones about the Indian to-morrow," said Captain Roy.
"If the Indian doesn't run off in the night with one of the ponies," said Daddy Bunker.
"Oh, he won't go," declared Uncle Fred. "He's being treated too nicely here. He'll stay until his foot gets better." ”

“ There is no such thing existing as a family where men have been always Bayards and its women always beyond reproach. Upon him had fallen the blow of finding out the things concealed: the blot on the scutcheon, the ugly stories of the past: the poor relations and the unworthy relations. The discovery humiliated him at the outset: it became rapidly a thing apart from himself and outside himself. Uncle Fred might be an impostor and fraud. Very good. It mattered nothing to him. Uncle Christopher was a pretender and a humbug—what did it matter? ”

“ Russ could pull on the ropes fast to the front wheels, and steer his "ship" out of the way of stones and holes.
"Well, the youngsters did pretty well!" exclaimed Uncle Fred, as he saw Russ and Laddie sailing along.
"Yes, they did better than I expected they would," said their father. "If they don't upset they'll be all right."
Laddie and Russ did not seem to be going to do this. The wind wagon appeared to be a great success.
"Oh, who made it? Where did you get it? Whose is it? Can't I have a ride?" cried Violet, when she saw the new toy. ”

“ I'll show them to you," said Uncle Fred. "We'll go back by way of the spring. I have some Shetland ponies," he went on to Daddy Bunker. "I raised a few and may raise more. The larger children can ride on them while they're at the ranch."
"That will be fine!" exclaimed Mrs. Bunker. "Oh, I'm sure the children will love it here."
They turned back toward the spring to go to the pony corral.
"I'm thirsty!" exclaimed Russ, as they reached the water hole. "I'm going to run on ahead and get a drink." ”

“ Each time cattle were taken the spring was made to go dry, and the men thus fooled Uncle Fred and his cowboys. The bad men would hide the cattle and sell them to other men who did not know they were stolen.
So the secret of the spring might never have been discovered except for Laddie and Russ making that race to the bridge where they found the cowboy with the broken leg.
Sam Thurston became good after that, his leg healed, and he worked for Uncle Fred for a number of years. The bad men were sent to prison for a long time, and had no more chance to take cattle from any one. ”

“ And that is just what the Indian girl had done. Later they heard the story, and it was just as Uncle Fred had said.
Red Feather and some other Indians, with their squaws, children, and little papooses, had left their reservation and started out to see some friends. On the way Sage Flower, which was the name of the Indian girl, became lost. She wandered away from the camp. ”

“ Hurt your foot?" asked Daddy Bunker.
"Much hurt—yes," was the answer, but the Indian did not stop. He kept on his limping way to the ranch houses.
"Is it all right for him to wander around over your ranch this way?" asked Daddy Bunker of Uncle Fred. "Won't he take some of your horses or cattle?"
"Oh, no, the cowboys will be on the watch. I guess Red Feather is all right, though I never saw him before. The Indians often get tired of staying on the reservation and wander off. They go visiting. They stop here now and then, and Bill Johnson feeds 'em. He sort of likes the Indians. ”

“ She was not prepared to admit that fear was ever anything but cowardly, and was half vexed when Phil looked up and said, lightly,—
“I know what you mean, Uncle Fred, only you know it’s awfully hard for a fellow to think of all that, and to be afraid when he ought. It’s much easier to be like Queenie,—like all of us, in fact,—and not to be afraid of anything.”
Phil was always a favorite with everybody. He 177was so merry and bright and outspoken, that it was impossible not to like him, and Uncle Fred smiled at the boy as he answered his remark. ”

“ If bad men take my cattle away in the night, as they do, without paying me, I lose money. And that's why I came on East here."
"Surely you didn't come all the way from Moon City to find out who was taking your cattle at Three Star Ranch!" exclaimed Mother Bunker.
"Oh, no. The men who are doing that are right out there. I've left some of my cow [39] boys to attend to them," answered Uncle Fred. "What I came on for, besides getting you to go back with me, is to get some books about springs and streams of water, and also to talk with some engineers about a queer spring on my ranch." ”

“ So back they went to where Laddie, Rose and the others were waiting.
"Did you get him?" asked Laddie eagerly, when he saw Russ.
"No, he got me," was the answer. "I guess we won't play Wild West any more. We'll be Indians and not cowboys. Indians don't have to lasso buffaloes, do they, Uncle Fred."
"No, Indians have it sort of easy out here [90] on their reservation," said Mr. Bell with a laugh. "I guess it will be safer for you boys to be Indians."
"That'll be fun too," agreed Russ.
"But we must have some feathers for our heads," said Laddie. ”

“ Bunker.
"Oh, no!" answered Uncle Fred. "The [86] calves don't have horns. Russ will be all right, though he may be mussed up a bit."
"It will teach him not to lasso calves after this," said Mr. Bunker.
"I'm not so sure of that," murmured Mrs. Bunker. "It is more apt to make the others want to try the same thing."
A moment later they turned around the corner of one of the ranch buildings and came in sight of the corral. In one end they could see some frightened calves standing huddled together. In the middle of the corral was a cloud of dust.
"That must be Russ and the calf," said Uncle Fred. ”