CHAPTER VIII
"So you've really got here at last!" exclaimed Mr. Claxton, a big burly man of over fifty whose face bore the marks of kindliness and good nature.
"I've worried a little about you boys making such a long trip all alone," said Mrs. Claxton, a motherly looking woman, who made the boys feel at home at once. "But all's well that ends well, and now that you're here it's all right. We're going to do our best to give you a good time while you are here."
"We're very sure of that," laughed George, who, as the oldest, was the natural spokesman of the little party.
"We've been looking forward to the trip for a long time," put in Frank.
"And we're tickled to death to get here," added Bob.
"It's awful good of you to ask us to come," said Sammy.
"You aren't half as glad to come as we are to have you," said Mrs. Claxton. "We haven't any chick or child of our own, and we get fairly hungry for the sight of young faces. But come right along now and I'll show you your rooms and you can get washed and freshened up after your journey. By the time you do that, I guess supper will be just about ready."
She hurried into the house, followed by the boys to whom the word supper had a magical sound, and led the way to two big rooms on the second floor. One of them was for Frank and George and the other for Bob and Sammy. They were very comfortably furnished and the windows gave a splendid view of the surrounding country.
There was plenty of water and fresh towels and for the next few minutes there was a vigorous splashing and rubbing as the Fairview boys removed the dust of travel.
"Don't they seem nice, kind people?" said Sammy, between rubs. "They make you feel right away as though you'd known them for a long time."
"Mother said we'd feel at home the minute we got here," answered George.
"She thinks there's nobody like Mr. and Mrs. Claxton," put in Frank.
"It certainly looks as if we were going to have a dandy time here," prophesied Bob.
They had scarcely finished their dressing when the call came to supper, and they trooped down without needing a second summons. The long ride over the prairie had sharpened appetites that never needed sharpening anyway.
There was a royal abundance of deliciously cooked meats and vegetables together with hot biscuits and honey on the table, and the boys fairly gasped with pleasure as they saw what awaited them.
"You don't expect us to eat all this do you, Mrs. Claxton?" asked George with a grin.
"I certainly expect you to do your share," laughed Mrs. Claxton, "and I shall feel bad if you don't."
"Well, rather than make you feel bad, we'll do our very best," said Sammy.
"Mother said we were to mind you and do just what you said," smiled Frank, "so I guess we'd better start right in now."
Starting in was easy enough. It was when it came to finishing that the boys found it hard. Everything tasted so good that they hated to stop, and Mrs. Claxton beamed with pleasure as she saw the inroads they made upon the meal.
But the best of things must come to an end and the boys at last reached the limit of their capacity. And to any one who knew these four boys that meant a great deal.
"Huh," grunted Sammy, "I don't believe I ever ate so much in all my life before."
"Same here," echoed Bob. "I'd be like the fat boy in the circus if I lived out here all the time."
The table had been waited on by Tom Lee, a Chinese servant who had been with the Claxtons for a long time. He was a short, fat Chinaman with a face that was like a mask. He glanced out of his almond-shaped eyes at the boys every once in a while, but there was no expression in his glance. He walked as softly as a cat as he went to and fro.
The boys had not seen many Chinamen. There was no Chinese laundry in Fairview and they had only caught a glimpse of a Chinaman once in a while in other places. His dress and ways were a novelty to them, and now that their appetites were satisfied they watched him with a great deal of interest as he moved about clearing the table.
"Maybe he's a highbinder," said Sammy in a low tone to Frank, who was seated next to him.
"What's a highbinder?" asked Frank.
"Oh, I don't know exactly," answered Sammy. "But I think they're a kind of bandit or murderer that other Chinese hire when they have somebody that they want to put out of the way."
"There you go again," murmured Frank. "Can't you ever get over guessing about people, Sammy?"
"I didn't say hewasa highbinder," retorted Sammy. "I only said that hemightbe."
"Well, he can be a highbinder as much as he likes if he only keeps on cooking dinners like this."
They arose from the table and went into the sitting-room. Mrs. Claxton brought out her sewing and all settled down for a pleasant hour or two of conversation.
The Claxtons had a host of questions to ask about the parents of George and Frank. Then they questioned the boys about the incidents of their trip and listened with great interest to their replies.
It is needless to say that Sammy was careful to say nothing about the baseball incident, and it must be put down to the credit of the others that they were equally silent on that point.
While they were talking, Sammy's eyes had been fastened upon a great skin that lay on the sitting-room floor. At the first lull in the talk, he asked what it was.
"Oh, that," said Mr. Claxton, "is the skin of a grizzly bear."
The boys were all excitement in an instant.
"A grizzly bear!" they exclaimed in one breath.
In an instant they were down on hands and knees, examining the shaggy fur, the enormous paws and the pointed head, small out of all proportion to the huge body.
The Claxtons watched the eager boys with an indulgent smile.
"Whew, but he must have been a sockdolager!" exclaimed George.
"A lallapaloozer!" declared Bob.
"How big was he, Mr. Claxton?" asked Frank.
"Oh, I should say about ten feet from nose to tail," returned Mr. Claxton.
"Did you kill him yourself?" asked Sammy.
"Yes," replied their host.
"Tell us about it," begged Bob.
"Oh, there isn't very much to tell," rejoined Mr. Claxton. "I came on him one morning just when he had pulled down one of my calves and was making his dinner of it. I opened up on him with my rifle and was lucky enough to get him before he got me."
The boys looked at him with awe and envy. Here was a man who had done things. He had had a fight with a grizzly and brought the grizzly down. From that moment their quiet host rose many degrees in their estimation.
"Are there really grizzlies around these parts?" asked Sammy, hopefully.
Mr. Claxton shook his head.
"Not now," he replied. "There used to be up to ten years ago. It's just about that long since I got this fellow. But they keep moving further and further west as the settlers keep coming in, and now I don't think there are any within a hundred miles of here."
Sammy's face showed his disappointment, and Mr. Claxton smiled.
"You needn't feel bad about it," he said. "Take it from me, the best place to see a grizzly bear is behind the bars of a cage in a menagerie or in the Zoo."
"How about wolves?" asked George. "Do they trouble you much out here?"
"Not at all in the Summer time," replied the ranchman. "Sometimes during a hard Winter they get desperate and come around trying to get a calf out of the herd. But they don't succeed very often at that. The old bulls form a circle around the herd and catch the wolves on their horns when they try to get through. But in the Summer the nearest thing we have to the wolf is a coyote. But he's a cowardly brute and jumps at the sight of his own shadow."
"Are there any Indians out this way that ever go on the warpath?" asked Bob.
"Hardly," grinned Mr. Claxton. "The only Indians we ever see in these parts are those that hang around the saloons in the towns doing odd jobs for the sake of a drink."
It was not a very dignified picture of the noble red man, and the boys sighed in spirit. Hank Blair's hope that they would bring him a scalp seemed very far from being realized.
"Do the Chinese ever give you any trouble?" asked Sammy, desperately. If this hope failed him where was he to find material for the gallant exploits with which he hoped to dazzle the boys of Fairview?
This time Mr. Claxton laughed outright.
"The only trouble I have with them," he said, "is that sometimes the men get to teasing and browbeating Tom Lee and I have to stop it for the sake of fair play."
"I thought some of them were highbinders," said Sammy, feebly.
"I suppose there are some of that kind," assented Mr. Claxton with a careless nod; "but they stick pretty closely to the big cities, like Sacramento and San Francisco, and we never have to worry about them out here."
"I suppose you have rattlesnakes out here?" said Bob.
Mr. Claxton's face grew grave.
"More than we want," he said. "We've cleaned out a good many nests of them, but there are still enough of them around to make it necessary to be careful. I'm glad you spoke about them, for I want to warn you boys to keep your eyes about you while you're going around the ranch. If you hear a rattle, don't stop to look. Jump back out of the way first and look afterward."
"Will they chase you?" asked Frank in an awed voice.
"No, as a rule they're perfectly satisfied to let you alone if you let them alone. But they're quick as lightning, and they've got a mighty hot temper. Every once in a while a horse or steer is bitten by one, but my men have a healthy respect for them and keep their eyes open. I haven't had a case of snakebite among them for many years past."
"You boys will be dreaming of bears and wolves and snakes if we talk about them much longer," said Mrs. Claxton, smiling on them. "And I'm going to send you off to bed. You all must be dead tired after your trip."
"It will feel good to get into a regular bed after three nights in sleeping-car berths," agreed George.
They took the lamps that were furnished by their hostess, and after a hearty good-night went up to their rooms.
"Well," said Sammy, as they were undressing, "maybe we can't take any scalps back to the boys, but I shouldn't wonder if we might get a bunch of rattles for them."
"You'll have a case of rattles yourself if you ever catch sight of a snake," joked Bob.
In reply Sammy threw a pillow at him. The others joined in and there was a spirited pillow-fight for a few minutes. But the snowy beds looked too tempting to keep away from them long, and a few minutes later all were in the happy, healthy sleep of tired boyhood.