Part 40 (1/2)
”Simms and I had to be careful what we said, so no one on the wire would get wise as to our real meaning, so I wrote out: 'Fine party on at the ranch. Big doings that Tom and you must be in on. Also bring your friend who came with you the time we talked about mining Rainbow Cliffs. Do not delay but start immediately, as the girls have the time of their lives set down for day after to-morrow. Don't write or wire, but come on receiving this message.' You see, that was the only way I could think of to get John off without letting others in on the secret.
Every one in these parts knows the city girls are with us, and they'll not wonder at our having the boys come home for a visit.”
When Sam Brewster concluded his explanation, Anne was smiling happily, and Barbara lifted her head a bit higher as she said: ”How nice it will be to see Tom Latimer again, his company _so_ much!”
Eleanor could not deny herself the mean little satisfaction in saying: ”Yes, Bob met him once, at our house, and _tried_ to meet him several times after that, at various social gatherings in Chicago.”
But Polly pinched her friend's arm for silence, as the two horses crowded close together to pa.s.s on a narrow ledge of the trail that ran up to the Cliffs.
”If Tom comes with John, and that expert engineer comes, too, mother, I don't see where we are going to put them up.”
”We were planning that as we rode along, just now,” said Mrs. Brewster.
”I think we can put up cot-beds, temporarily, in the loft over the first barn, where father keeps his account books and other business papers. Or we can pitch the large tent under the trees over by the terrace, and they can camp there. It will be far more comfortable, in either place, than they will have up on Top Notch, or what they have been having in the movable camp with the engineers, all this summer.”
”Finding sleeping quarters for the boys is the least of our worries now,” laughed Sam Brewster. ”Keeping off claim-jumpers and guarding the cave from miners who would steal the gold as fast as they could pick it, or blow it out of the rock, is more concern for us than any other problem, at present.”
”Well, we won't lack for excitement if all you fear is justly founded, eh?” laughed Eleanor, plainly showing how thoroughly she was enjoying the experience and its promised thrills.
”Even a westerner, immune to thrills, would have a few entirely new ones in this experience,” chuckled Mr. Brewster. ”But let a few city gals like you three, and a quiet little mouse like Polly, jump right into such a game as this promises to be, and there will be nothing left for you to thrill over, after that, in everyday life.”
”If only Jim Latimer and Ken Evans could be at the ranch to go with us when we start for the cave,” said Eleanor for the second time. This time her remark caused Mr. Brewster to think.
Then he said: ”It is queer how that boy resembled our old friend Montresor. If we only knew what part of the East Montresor came from. I have always said he was not traveling under his own name, but probably was using a family name to hide behind.”
”Yes, and that may explain the reason we never had any reply to our widely circulated advertis.e.m.e.nts for his relatives,” added Mrs.
Brewster.
”If Montresor really was related to this young man, father, he surely would have said something when Mr. Simms mentioned the resemblance, and asked the stranger if he knew of a relative being in Colorado,” said Polly.
”Montresor had white hair, it is true, but that did not say that he was an old man. He was prematurely wrinkled from worry and hards.h.i.+ps, but he was not much more than forty, I should say,” ventured Mr. Brewster.
”What are you leading up to, Sam?” asked Mrs. Brewster.
”I was just thinking, aloud, that Montresor could have had a son as old, or as young, as this Kenneth Evans. If he had gone to the Klondike, as we believed, the boy would have been too young to remember his dad very distinctly. Who knows what drove Old Montresor away from home, to seek adventure or gold so far north as in the Klondike? He and his wife may have separated through some misunderstanding such as that letter would lead us to infer, and his eastern relatives may have kept all facts or news of him from this boy. The poor man's pride and determination to prove himself innocent of some wrong kept him from communicating with his people; we know that from his own letter. So I would not be greatly surprised if we eventually learn that Kenneth Evans is really a son of Montresor's.”
”Oh, Mr. Brewster! Isn't that exactly what I said to you before, when you hushed me up!” declared Eleanor, delighted over her romantic vision.
”I hushed you up because you went on weaving stuff that dreams are made of--not because you hinted that this youth might be Montresor's son,”
corrected Sam Brewster.
The others laughed at Eleanor, and as they rode past the Cliffs, now glimmering faintly in the rays of the new moon rising over the edge of the old crater, Polly said with a sigh:
”Thank goodness, we are almost home in time for supper.”
The materialistic craving in Polly for a good meal was so different from Eleanor's dreams of romance for her friend that the two elder Brewsters felt relieved to hear the exclamation. Soon afterwards, the riders drew rein at the porch where Jeb was awaiting the return of the party.
”Wall, did you-all find out if the mine was the same as Old Man Montresor's claim?” asked Jeb, eagerly, as they dismounted.
”What's that, Jeb?” asked Sam Brewster, frowningly.
”Why, Sary says you-all went to Oak Crick to file papers and make sure that Montresor's claim is the same mine like Polly discovered up on the Trail. Ain't it so?” wondered Jeb, curiously.