“They must learn to ride well first.”
“Ride well? Don’t they ride well. Seems to me they look pretty well set up in their saddles. You’d better come over this week.”
“What are you doing way over here?” asked Jean.
“Blessed if I know yet myself, Jean.” He took off his broad-brimmed hat, and pushed back his gray curls doubtfully. “Bought out Zed’s claim down here in the gulch some time ago, more from sentiment than anything. Seemed too bad to see his shack and belongings taken up by strangers who wouldn’t know how much Zed thought of it all. And once in a while I ride over, and look around. It’s a mighty pretty spot he chose. Ever been down?”
“No, I haven’t. We hardly ever ride this way. It’s generally down towards town, along the old Topnotch road.”
“Where are you bound for now?”
“Over to where the boys are with the sheep. I wanted the girls to see the herder’s wagon, and how he lives. So I hardly think we had better stop to-day, but don’t be surprised if you find our trail around there before the week is up.”
“Come along any time. You’ll find a queer lot of things down here one way and another. Zed was a friend of mine, and I used to see a good deal of him about twenty years ago and more, when we and Wyoming were kind of young together. Zed was terribly well informed. There’s a lot of his books down there yet. Go in the old shack and look at them, girls, when you come over. The door’s always unlocked. You can’t miss the way if you follow the path from the bridge here. It leads up to the door.”
“Isn’t he nice,” exclaimed Polly, as they rode on. “He looks like the pictures of the old-time scouts, doesn’t he?”
“He was an old-time scout himself, and he’s never got over it,” laughed Jean. “Father says he’s a regular tenderfoot at ranching even now. But I love the Alameda place where he lives. It’s more like a mountain lodge, girls, and he’s planted flowers everywhere. He built it before he went back east after Miss Diantha, and carted rose slips and flower seeds all the way from Cheyenne and even from Omaha. Every time he’d go south with a bunch of cattle, father says, he’d bring back something for her to make her western home more like the one she had left. We’ll go over there next week. How do you stand the riding to-day? Is it easier?”