CHAPTER XXI. The Trip to St. Louis.

“Well, Thompson, what do think of the situation?” asked Carl, after waiting for some time to hear what the foreman had on his mind.

“I hain’t got nothing to wear,” said Thompson.

“You have as much as I have,” replied Carl.

“Everybody will look at us as we go tramping along the streets, and they will think we came from the hills, sure enough.”

“Well, you do, don’t you?” said Carl with a smile. “They looked at me the same way too, when I first went there, but I didn’t care for that. We will stay there one night and come away the next day. You can surely stand it that long.”

Yes, Thompson thought that he could do that, and adjourned to his own room to give Page 259 his clothes the needed brushing. They would do well enough out there where everybody wore clothing of the same description, but he did not know how they would look in a place containing so large a population as St. Louis. He concluded that everything would pass muster except his chaparejos, his cowboy’s riding-pants, which he thought were a little too well-worn to pass muster anywhere. But then he could exchange with one of the new men whom Mr. Preston had hired a short time before his death.

“I declare, they look shabby,” said the foreman, standing off with his brush and giving his clothes a good looking over. “Well, I would like to see anybody who has been out here as long as I have, go there looking any better. If it were not for such fellows as me, some of them would go hungry for their beef.”

Claude came in shortly after that and began to pack his trunk. Now, that trunk was the source of a great deal of annoyance to Carl. If it had not been for that they could have gone on horseback, and thus completed their journey in half the time. As it was, they Page 260 were obliged to take a wagon with them, and that would delay them just four days.

“At any rate I shall see the last of you,” soliloquized Carl, as he passed along the hall and saw Claude at work with his trunk. “I wish you had never come here. I know Thompson will be glad that you are gone.”

It must not be supposed that Carl really disliked his cousin, for he did not; but at the same time candor compelled him to say that affairs about the ranch did not move as smoothly as they did before he came there. He seemed to possess the faculty of getting the cowboys into a turmoil. Every little thing that was said out on the range went straight to his father’s ears, until Mr. Preston told him that his cowboys satisfied him, and he didn’t want to have any more stories brought to him. Thompson was the one who had the most fault to find with him. If he started him off to find certain cattle that had strayed off the range, he would perhaps find him, in an hour or two, miles away from his post, stretched out beneath the shade of a tree and taking matters easy. At such a time Thompson always gave him Page 261 the full benefit of his tongue, and it seemed to be hung in the middle, so that he could keep both ends of it clattering at once.

“There is one thing that I forgot to speak to you about,” said Carl, going into Thompson’s room. “Do you suppose that father ever said a word about my taking Claude into partnership with me?”

Thompson looked at Carl, and then backed toward the nearest chair and dropped into it.

“Claude told me of that this morning,” continued Carl. “He says he don’t know what he shall do to support himself if I let him go home.”

“How much money has he got coming to him?” asked Thompson.

“Counting in the thousand, he has fifteen hundred dollars. At any rate, that is what I shall pay him.”

“He can certainly get something to do before that is gone. If he can’t, he ought to go hungry.”

“That is what I told him. Do you suppose father said a word to him about going into partnership with me?”

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“No,” said Thompson emphatically. “I will tell you what is a fact, Carl. I love the ranch, I love every horse and cow on it, but if you take that man into business with you, you can get another foreman.”

“You need not worry yourself. I have no intention of doing it.”

The next morning the cowboys were all up at four o’clock to see the journey begun. If good wishes could have anything to do with them, they would certainly get back in as fine order as they were when they started. Claude’s trunk had been thrown into the wagon without much regard to consequences, much to that young gentleman’s disgust, and in ten minutes more the ranch was out of sight. They stopped that night at the fort, and if we were to say that everybody was glad to see Carl we should be touching the matter very lightly. Everybody had something to say about the loss of his father, and the kind words brought tears to Carl’s eyes. He got away from the officers and went to see the commandant of the fort. He wanted to get a position for himself as bad as Claude did. Page 263 The colonel just listened to him until he found out what he had come there for, and then got up and shook him by the hand.

“Of course I have got a position for you,” said he. “You want to hurry back from St. Louis and get here as soon as possible. I will have business for you every day.”

Thompson was not at all pleased to hear this. Of course he would be given charge of the ranch during his employer’s absence, but that did not suit him. He wanted Carl around so that he could take orders from him, and the place would be lonely without him. Claude, too, looked glum when he heard of it.

“You seem to find something to do without going out of your own country,” said he with evident disgust, “and I have got to go to St. Louis, and probably will not find anything there to suit me.”

Carl did not know what reply to make to this, so he said nothing. The next day they started on again, and in four days arrived at Standing Rock Agency. They made arrangements with the teamsters to keep their mules until they came back, and then Carl found Page 264 the quartermaster, of whom they obtained a permit to go down to Fort Scully on his boat. It was a small boat, built to run when the water in the river was shallow, and the time they had in getting down to their journey’s end filled Carl with impatience. There seemed to be a bar in every bend, and the boat was kept busy “sparring off” to enable her to continue on her way; but at length Fort Scully was sighted and the boat made her landing.

“I don’t expect we will be here when you come back,” said the captain, to whom Carl had gone for some information on the subject. “We shall probably be up at Standing Rock Agency; but if we are not here, you can wait.”

This was bad news for Carl, who wanted to get through with the trip and get back to his ranch without loss of time. He found another boat that was going to St. Louis, and on her he took passage, and after a pleasant journey—there was not as much “sparring off” to do on this boat as there was on the quartermaster’s—they reached their destination. Thompson now had some fault to find with the men, and women, too, whom he met on this journey. A Page 265 good many of them gazed in surprise at his long hair, his wide sombrero and the clothing he wore, and he came to Carl and complained about it.

“I told you just how it would be,” said he. “The folks all think I don’t belong here.”

“Do just as I do; pay no attention to them,” said Carl. “You have only got to stand it for a little while. We will soon be on our way back again.”

One morning when Carl awoke and raised himself on his elbow he found that the boat was tied up to the levee. He arose and went to the door, and could see nothing but boats on either side of him. Thompson slept in the bunk above him, and it was the work of but a few minutes to arouse him. Claude, we ought to say, did not approve of this arrangement at all. He thought he ought to occupy the same state-room with his cousin, but he was put into a room with an entire stranger. He first muttered gloomy threats over it, and then tried to think up the men he would get to assist him in waylaying Carl and getting his ten thousand dollars out of him.

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“You think you are bothering me by paying so much attention to that miserable foreman,” said he. “Wait till we get to the city and you are given charge of that money. If Thompson is not afraid to shoot, I will get somebody who isn’t afraid either.”

“Thompson, wake up!” said Carl, when he had satisfied himself that he was at his journey’s end. “This boat got here and we never knew it. Now, we will stay on board and get our breakfast, and in the meantime I will see the captain and find out at what hour this boat will start up the river again. When nine o’clock comes we’ll go up to the bank.”

“Here you are,” exclaimed Claude, as they opened the door and stepped into the cabin. “You come with me, and I will take you where you can get a breakfast that will do you good. I am tired of living on these steamboats.”

“Where is the captain?” asked Carl. “Have you seen him?”

“He is around here somewhere. What do you want to see him for?”

“We want to find out when this boat is going to start again.”

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“Are you going back so soon?” inquired Claude. “Why, you haven’t seen any fun at all. You want to go to the theatre——”

“We did not come out to see fun on this trip,” said Carl. “We came out on business; and when that is done we are going back.”

“Well, that is no way to do,” said Claude, somewhat alarmed. He wanted to see two of his boon companions by the time that Carl thought of going back, and if he was going to start up the river that night or to-morrow morning, he would be pressed for time. “You showed me all there was to be seen about your ranch, and you must let me do the same. I am acquainted here in St. Louis——”

“There’s the captain now,” interrupted Carl. “Come on, Thompson. Let us go and see him.”

Claude was angry, as he always was whenever he had anything important to say to his cousin, and stood there and watched them while they hurried forward to interview the captain. Carl made known his wants in a few words, and the skipper said:

“We shall start out to-morrow night, if we Page 268 can get loaded. Is there any boat that will start before this one? I don’t know, but you can look around and see. If you don’t find any, come aboard of us.”

Claude loafed about just long enough to hear the captain say this, and then turned and walked out on the guards.

“If I only had my money in my pockets I would go and hunt up those men the first thing I do,” said he. “It is ‘Thompson, do this,’ or ‘Thompson, do that,’ and ‘Claude, you can go to smash,’ until I have grown sick and tired of hearing it. I bet you that I will get the start of them yet.”

It was a long time before breakfast was ready, and Claude remained alone on the guards, as Carl and Thompson were perfectly willing he should do. They were sitting on the forward part of the boiler deck engaged in conversation, and when the breakfast-bell rang they went into the cabin. Only once during the meal hour did Carl address his cousin, and then it was to the effect that they would go up town as soon as the bank opened, and he would be glad to have his cousin go with him.

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“Mr. Morphy will give you your own money with his own hands, and then you will know that you have got it right,” said he in conclusion. “He will give you fifteen hundred dollars.”

“And that is three thousand less than I deserve,” said Claude to himself. “If anybody would lay their plans to rob your safe I would not tell you of it.”

After breakfast there came two hours of loafing around with nothing to do, and Carl grew very weary over it. Thompson was looking for somebody to make fun of his clothes, and every time some one passed him and turned to take a second look the foreman would gaze angrily at them and slip his hand into the inside pocket of his coat. Carl saw it, and it was all he could do to keep from laughing in Thompson’s face; but at length the hands on his watch told him that the hour had come, and he jumped up, uttering the order he had so long been used to—

“Catch up!”