“Adrian, my dear boy, is it really you?” he exclaimed, quivering all over with pleasure, as he wrung the hand of the boy; then like a flash some terrible thought seemed to fly through his mind, for he lost his color, and there came into his eyes a troubled look.
“Well, what I’ve been dreading for months has come on me at last,” he went on to say, with a gasp. “But all the same I’m glad to see you, glad
that this agony of mind will now be over. But you will despise me, my boy, when you learn how I’ve lost all my independence. How has the mighty fallen, to be tied to the apron strings of a woman! Just this very day I had resolved after this last blow to end it all by flight. I believed I could not stand it any longer, and keep my mind. But your unexpected coming has changed all that; and now I’ll stick it out; yes, I’ll stay to give you an account of my unjust stewardship; and then gladly take the consequences, whatever they may be.”
He poured this out swiftly, in a low tone meant only for the ear of the boy who had by now jumped from his saddle, and was standing close beside his uncle.
Adrian was not in the least surprised. He had expected just this very thing, and the facts simply corroborated his suspicions.
How his old bachelor uncle had been coaxed into marrying, he could not understand, but it had happened; and evidently he had yoked up with a mind that was even stronger than his own. As constant dripping water will wear away a stone in time, so by degrees had Mr. Comstock come under the subjection of his wife. Doubtless he had rebelled fiercely at first, but slowly he had found himself compelled to give in, sometimes only after a pitched battle, until now much of his once vaunted bravery was gone, and in her presence he trembled.
It was almost pitiable, and Adrian felt very sorry for Uncle Fred. At the same time he was determined that he would not fall under the same sway; and that if it was at all possible he would oust this woman from the position she had assumed as boss of the manager of Bar-S Ranch.
“I think I understand it all, Uncle,” he said, hastily, yet with such a vein of sympathy in his voice that the man started, and seemed to catch a little new courage. “And while I’m here I mean to see if something can’t be done to remedy matters. By the greatest good luck in the world we managed to get back this bunch of cattle that was stolen last night. There were four of the rustlers in camp at Bittersweet Coulie; and only three of us boys, but we took them by surprise, made them prisoners, and here you see the missing herd, with only one steer lacking.”
Mr. Comstock’s eyes showed the astonishment he felt.
“You did all that, my dear Adrian, and you only three boys?” he ejaculated. “Well, the Sherwood blood will tell every time. I’m glad you’ve come, no matter what happens to me. It had got to the breaking point anyway, and tonight I meant to run away. Oh! what I have gone through with, nobody can ever know; but this marks the beginning of the end, I seem to feel it, and welcome it. When you kick us off the place perhaps she won’t