That evening the two boys spent with their sweethearts at their respective homes.
Terry then told Mary what he wanted her to do, saying that Evelyn was going down with him and Fred to see their Texas ranch, and he wanted her to go, too.
"Mary," said he, "it is the richest ranch I ever saw in my life. We thought the one in Colorado was a grand one, and so it was, but the grass there was never so abundant or so nutritious as at our new ranch. It grows much taller, keeps fresh and green longer, and the soil itself is several degrees richer than the Colorado ranch. You never so many quail in your life as you can see there every day in the week all the year round. There are prairie chickens, and there are ten jack-rabbits there to one in Colorado."
"But, Terry, last winter you wrote me about some bad Mexican and American cowboys who had made trouble for you."
"Yes, but didn't we have the same trouble out in Colorado? Didn't I point out to you several times in Colorado the graves of horse thieves and cattle thieves whom our cowboys had shot to prevent them from plundering our ranch? Are not murders committed right here in New York City often, and don't you read of them in the papers? Why, there is no place in the country where bad men don't live, and bad women, too, for that matter; and by this time those cowboys have found out that Fred and I, as well as Jack, are deadshots and not afraid to pull a trigger on a bad character, so you can't say anything against that locality any more than you can any other in the West."
"Terry, is Evelyn going back with you?" she asked.
"Yes she has said that she would, but she wants you to go, too."
"Terry, I'm afraid that mother will never consent."
"By George, Mary, she must consent," said Terry. "I'm not going to let her destroy my happiness."
"Well, Terry, you will have to talk with her yourself."