Uncle Reginald and the trappers passed through the door into the yard, and Julian strolled along the hall, and not knowing where else to go, entered the reception-room. While he was walking about with his hands in his pocket, he was thinking over some portions of the conversation to which he had just listened.
“Captain?” he repeated. “What is Uncle Reginald captain of? Steal horses and rob miners! Silas told me that the mountains were full of men engaged in that kind of business, and I wonder if this new relative of mine is in any way connected with them! He must be; and he must be their leader, too, for Sanders acknowledged that he was bound to obey his orders. Good gracious! What sort of a place have I got into, anyhow?”
While Julian, appalled by this new discovery he had made, was pacing restlessly up and down the floor, Uncle Reginald hurried in. The scowl on his forehead indicated that he was in a bad humor about something, but it cleared away instantly when he discovered Julian, and advancing with outstretched hand he greeted him in the most cordial manner.
“I hope you rested well after the fatigues and excitements of yesterday,” said he with a friendly smile. “You look as if you had. Breakfast is waiting, and while we are discussing it we will have a social chat.”
The boy, making some satisfactory reply, returned his uncle’s smile and the hearty pressure of his hand, and accompanied him toward the breakfast-room, which was located at the farther end of the hall. He glanced over the well-filled table as he took the chair pointed out to him, and told himself that if this breakfast was a fair sample of Uncle Reginald’s style of living he would never go hungry while he remained under his roof. Corn bread, salt meat and buttermilk did not constitute the substantial part of the repast as they invariably did in the cabin of Jack Bowles. There were juicy venison steaks, hot muffins, wheat bread, eggs, boiled and fried, toast and potatoes in abundance, and also coffee and chocolate, which Pedro, who waited upon the table, drew from a silver urn which stood on the sideboard. More than that, the cloth was spotless, the dishes clean and white and the table was altogether so nicely arranged, and looked so inviting, that Julian grew hungry the moment his eyes rested upon it.
When Pedro had supplied the wants of his master and his guests, he retired, and the two were left alone.
“Well, Julian,” said Uncle Reginald in a cheery voice, “do you feel inclined for a gallop on a swift horse this morning? I have some business that will occupy my attention until dinner, and if you in the meantime wish to amuse yourself in that way, there is a very fine filly in the stable which I purchased expressly for you, and which I hope will supply the place of the horse you lost last night.”
“You must have been expecting me,” said the boy.
“Certainly. I have been looking for you every day for the last two months; and as this introduces the subject which I know you are impatient to talk about, I will now make the explanation I promised you. In the first place, do you know that last night you slept in your old home for the first time in eight years? You were born in this house, and every thing in and about it—money, horses, cattle and gold diggings—will come into your undisputed possession the moment you are twenty-one years old. It is a fact. You are by no means the pauper you have always supposed yourself to be.”
Julian dropped his knife and fork, and settling back in his chair looked the astonishment he could not express in words. He gazed earnestly at his uncle, and then ran his eyes around the room as if he were trying to make an estimate of the value of his possessions from the few articles he saw about him.