Part 32 (1/2)

”Tom wouldn't put on so many airs if his father had to go to the poorhouse,” said Sinclair.

”Does he put on airs?”

”He seems to think he is as good as I am,” said Squire Hudson's heir.

”That is perfectly ridiculous,” said Mrs. Hudson. ”The boy must be a fool.”

”He is no fool,” said the squire, who did not allow prejudice to carry him so far as his wife and son. ”He is a boy of very fair abilities; but I apprehend he will find it harder to make his fortune than he antic.i.p.ated. However, time will show.”

”Most likely he'll come home in rags, and grow up a day-laborer,” said Sinclair complacently. ”When I'm a rich man I'll give him work. He won't feel like putting on airs, then.”

”What a good heart Sinclair has!” said Mrs. Hudson admiringly.

Squire Hudson said nothing. Possibly the goodness of his son's heart was not so manifest to him.

CHAPTER XXII.

THE YOUNG MAN FROM BOSTON.

Soon after leaving St. Joe, the emigrant train which Tom had joined, entered the territory of Kansas. At that early day the settlement of this now prosperous State had scarcely begun. Its rich soil was as yet unvexed by the plow and the spade, and the tall prairie gra.s.s and virgin forest stretched for many and many a mile westward in undisturbed loneliness.

One afternoon, toward the setting of the sun, the caravan halted on the site of the present capital of the State, Topeka. The patient oxen, wearied with the twenty miles they had traveled, were permitted to graze. The ten baggage wagons or ”s.h.i.+ps of the plain,” as they were sometimes called--came to anchor in a sea of verdure. They were ranged in a circle, the interior s.p.a.ce being occupied as a camping-ground. Then began preparations for supper. Some of the party were sent for water. A fire was built, and the travelers, with a luxurious enjoyment of rest, sank upon the gra.s.s.

Donald Ferguson looked thoughtfully over the vast expanse of unsettled prairie, and said to Tom, ”It's a great country, Tom. There seems no end to it.”

”That's the way I felt when I was plodding along to-day through the mud,” said Tom, laughing.

”It's because the soil is so rich,” said the Scotchman. ”It'll be a great farming country some day, I'm thinking.”

”I suppose the soil isn't so rich in Scotland, Mr. Ferguson?”

”No, my lad. It's rocky and barren, and covered with dry heather; but it produces rare men, for all that.”

Mr. Ferguson was patriotic to the backbone. He would not claim for Scotland what she could not fairly claim; but he was all ready with some compensating claim.

”How do you stand the walking, Mr. Ferguson?”

”I'm getting used to it.”

”Then it's more than I am. I think it's beastly.”

These words were not uttered by Tom, but by rather a dandified-looking young man, who came up limping. He was from Boston, and gave his name as Lawrence Peabody. He had always lived in Boston, where he had been employed in various genteel avocations; but in an evil hour he had been lured from his comfortable home by the seductive cry of gold, and, laying down his yardstick, had set out for California across the plains.

He was a slender young man, with limbs better fitted for dancing than for tramping across the prairie, and he felt bitterly the fatigue of the journey.

”Are you tired, Mr. Peabody?” asked Tom.

”I am just about dead. I didn't bargain for walking all the way across the prairies. Why couldn't old Fletcher let me ride?”