“Never mind, sis, it won’t be long before I’ll send for you and mother. Be a good girl now, and help me pack.”
Going into the house, they were soon busy packing and thinking of the future.
The next morning Mason bid his parents goodbye and started on his trip West.
After long and tiresome travel on hot and dusty trains Mason alighted at a small station on the Union & Pacific where he was to take the stage that met all trains for Trader’s Post. Walking around the small platform of the depot he spied a dilapidated stage and a scraggy looking pair of horses. The driver was busily engaged filling a black clay pipe while talking with the telegraph operator. “Starting soon?” queried Mason pleasantly. The driver turned and looking Mason over, drawled:
“Thought I was going back empty, train stopped to let off some mail, but I didn’t see you get off. Be you the man the Bar X boys are expecting?”
“Guess I am,” said Mason, smiling.
“The boys are at the Grand Hotel,” explained the driver. “Jump in, we’ll be there in about an hour.”
“It’s four miles to the Post,” he added.
It was seven A. M. and Mason was anxious to get started on the long ride to the ranch. The driver kept up a running fire of talk as the stage rattled over the rough road.