She said that if she were worth a million dollars, that there was no amus.e.m.e.nt she would rather indulge in than to milk cows, feed chickens, gather eggs, and do all sorts of domestic work.

The idea of a society girl indulging in such amus.e.m.e.nts seemed incredible to the ladies at the hotel.

Three days pa.s.sed, which Fred and Terry improved by cleaning up around the house. When the carpets came down, with men to lay them, the furniture was moved in, and shades and lace curtains put up, until really the plain little ranch house was more elegantly furnished than many of the homes of the richest citizens in Crabtree.

Then, Terry went up to Crabtree after Evelyn. He went on a freight train engine, and Evelyn wanted to come back on the same; but he insisted upon hiring a carriage at the livery stable and driving her through.

CHAPTER V.

EVELYN ON THE NEW RANCH.

Two young ladies at Crabtree offered to go down to the ranch with Evelyn, but she suggested to them to wait until she first found out whether the new home was one to which she would like to invite them.

"If the place is such that I can offer you comfort, I will notify you, without delay," so they remained behind at the hotel.

The driver then started off down the road at a clipping pace. Terry had hired a splendid team, and the driver understood well how to manage the beautiful horses.

The dirt road ran all the way down in sight of the railroad. They pa.s.sed many beautiful suburban residences during the first three or four miles, after which they pa.s.sed farmhouses and then the road stretched white and straight over the wide prairies.

Terry had directed that Evelyn's two trunks be sent down by freight.

Evelyn enjoyed the ride very much.

"Brother," said she, "the gra.s.s seems to be greener and richer down through this country than up in Colorado."

"Yes, and so it is, else we wouldn't have bought down here. We have some advantages here that we didn't have up there. There we had to drive our cattle and receive our freight twenty miles away; but now the railroad runs right along beside us, and the depot is on our side of the track.

Jack's ranch borders the road on the other side. The company has laid side tracks for each ranch, and built a good depot. I think, in the course of time, we'll have a far more beautiful home down here than we had up in Colorado. Of course, though, Fred has told you all about the magnificent mineral spring a mile from the railroad and on the ranch."

"Yes, both of you have told me all about it."

"Well, Fred thinks it best to build a residence right down there near the spring in order that we may have the use of the water and some large shade trees in the yard."

"Terry, isn't there any building there now?"

"No, the only buildings we have now are merely four-room frame buildings for the men on the place, and we have fixed up one of them for our home until we build a larger and better house down near the spring. There isn't a particle of swamp about it; but there is plenty of good solid earth all around it. Of course, we can cut a splendid road from the depot down to it. We will build stables and all the necessary out-houses down there, too, and will fence it in, so that the cattle cannot annoy the residents of the place. There isn't a pa.s.senger depot built yet, and pa.s.senger trains don't even stop there, unless they are flagged by the freight agent."

The road pa.s.sed through several patches of timber and wide stretches of prairie land presenting scenery that Evelyn loved and admired very much.

The splendid team made the trip in a little over two hours, a distance of twenty miles.

"You see that big building going up out there?" said Terry, pointing to Jack's new home.

"Yes."

"Well, that is the new house that Jack is building for his mother and his wife. It has a dozen large rooms in it."

"Well, what in the world does he want with such a big house away out here?" Evelyn asked.

"Well, it is the first house he ever owned, and he says he wants it roomy enough for his wife's and mother's friends to come down and stay as long as they please, as it will cost him nothing to board them. I guess that Fred and I will build a house just as big as that."

"Terry, you and Fred must not indulge in any such extravagance."

"Sister, don't you know that comfort is not extravagance?" The driver had never been out there before, so he turned and asked Terry where he must stop.

"Right in front of that house out there," and he pointed to the house which he and Fred had furnished for their home until a big house could be put up.

Both Fred and Jack were on the lookout for them. Evelyn saw them waving their hats and she waved her parasol in return. They reached the house about the time that the carriage did, and of course, as Fred lifted her out of the carriage he caught Evelyn in his arms and kissed her several times. Jack seized her hand and kissed it, saying:

"Heavens, Miss Evelyn, but I am glad to see you way down here."

"Thank you, Jack," said Evelyn.

Then she turned and glanced around at the wild prairies on either side of the railroad track.

"Evelyn," said Fred, "come in and see the little home we have fixed up for you," and he led her up on the little piazza and into the two rooms that had been furnished up for her.

Of course, she recognized the carpet, because she had chosen it herself up in Crabtree, and also every piece of furniture.

"Oh, my, how beautiful!" she exclaimed. "But how out of place such furniture in a ranch house! I dare say there is not another so beautifully furnished as this is in the State of Texas."

"No," said Fred, "nor is there another house in all Texas with such a beautiful mistress to reign over it."

She laughed and seemed pleased with the compliment.

As soon as she could throw off her hat and light coat she said:

"Now, Fred, let me see the kitchen and the dining-room."

"All right. This leads into the dining-room," so she went in there and seemed equally pleased with its furnishings and then she looked into the china closet and found two complete sets of china dishes.

Then she went into the kitchen, where Fred and Terry had set up a first-cla.s.s range to take the place of the wide-open fireplace which Jack had been using. The carpenters had built a splendid closet for all the cooking utensils. There were all the necessary tables and chairs there in the kitchen. She went to the sink and, turning the faucet, saw a splendid flow of water.

"Why, where in the world does this water come from?" she asked, very much surprised.

"Oh, that is one of Jack's ideas," replied Fred. "While we were away he got permission from the superintendent of the railroad to run a pipe from the railroad company's tank, some three hundred yards away, and thus provided for a supply of water for household purposes as well as a bathroom. Those are New York ideas which he brought out here with him, and people who have visited the premises wondered what the Yankee boy was up to. Of course the water isn't for drinking purposes, for he has a driven well out in the yard, and the water is very good; but still it is not like that down at the spring."

She turned around and patting Jack on the shoulder said:

"Jack, were you thinking of your mother or of Katy when you were fixing up all these comforts?"

"Of both, Miss Evelyn," he answered, "for mother is as fond of comforts as any other woman. She does her own cooking, and I am having water pipes run from the same source into our house."

"By and by," he continued, "I'm going to see if I can't find artesian water somewhere on the premises, and have it running through the house all the time."

"Good boy! Good boy!" laughed Evelyn. "Now, brother tells me that you have pigs and chickens and milch-cows on the place, and I want to see them at once."

Terry and Fred and Jack went out with her. They first went to the big stable, saw the saddle and carriage horses that they had bought, and she was pleased with their appearance.

"Evelyn, here are a pair of grays," said Fred, "which Terry and I say belong to you and Mary, and we hope you will love them as much and train them as you did those up at Fredonia."