Uncle Dick roared again.
“When Fowler began to question me on distances I had to be careful what I said,” continued Archie. “When he asked me how big the Rocky Mountains were, I told him that they covered at least five thousand square miles, and you ought to have seen him open his eyes. He said he had no idea that there was room enough in America for any such mountains. Now, since Ireland contains thirty-three thousand square miles, I think my proportion was a pretty good one. If you can come any closer to it in round numbers, I’d like to see you do it.”
Frank could not combat such arguments as these, so he went to his room and tumbled into bed.
CHAPTER VII.
MORE ABOUT THE CLERK.
The week following the one on which the Stranger was hauled into the dry-docks, found the Club settled on a sheep-farm a few miles in the interior, the guests of Uncle Dick’s friend and fellow-miner, Mr. Wilbur. If we should say that they enjoyed their liberty, their target shots, and horseback rides, we should be putting it very mildly. The change from their cramped quarters on board the schooner to the freedom of the country was a most agreeable one, and they made the most of it. They were almost constantly on the move, and there was not a station (in California it would have been called a ranche) for miles around that they did not visit, or a piece of woods that they did not explore.
It was while they remained here that the novel trial of speed which Archie had proposed came off. It was no novelty to Uncle Dick and Mr. Wilbur, who declared that the trapper was certain to prove the winner, but it was a new thing to the old members of the Club, who could not bring themselves to believe that a man could beat a horse in a fair race, until they had seen it with their own eyes. The arrangements were made one rainy day, when there was nothing else the Club could do except to sit in the house, and sing songs, and tell stories, and the next morning was set apart for the trial.
Eugene being allowed his choice of all the horses on the station, selected Mr. Wilbur’s own favorite riding nag, which had the reputation of being able to run a quarter of a mile in less time than any other horse on the island. After the arrangements had all been made, Archie noticed, with some uneasiness, that Mr. Wilbur and Eugene held frequent and earnest consultations, which they brought to a close whenever he came within earshot of them; and when the storm cleared away, just before night, he saw the horse, against which the trapper was to run, brought out and put through his paces. Mr. Wilbur had explained to Eugene that the place where the horse would lose the race would be at the turning-point. He would, beyond a doubt, run the hundred yards before the trapper could; but in stopping and turning he would lose ground, and Dick would be half way home before he could get under way again. Eugene thought he could remedy that by giving his horse a little practice beforehand, and the result of his experiment encouraged him greatly. The intelligent animal seemed to enter into the spirit of the matter with as much eagerness as his rider did, and after he had passed over the course a few times, he would stop on reaching the turning-point, wheel like a flash, and set out on the homestretch at the top of his speed; and he would do it, too, without a word from Eugene.
Archie, from his post on the veranda, witnessed the whole proceeding, and when it was concluded and the horse was led back to the stable, he hurried off to find the trapper. To his surprise Dick did not seem to be at all uneasy over what he had to tell him. “Never mind, leetle ’un,” said the trapper. “Sposen I should tell you that I had beat a hoss that had been practiced that way for a hul week, what would you say?”
“I should say that you had done it,” replied Archie.
“Wal, I have, and more’n onct, too.”