“Do you think so? Then see here.” Jean handed over another picture. “That is the kind of pets the boys have, instead of lambs. That one is a cub bear, Prometheus. You know I told you about his eating up the Bishop’s Sunday dinner, Polly.”
“What are those things on the boy’s shoulders?” asked Ted. “And who is the boy?”
“That’s only Don, my youngest brother. Those are his pet ’coons. He has a tame crow, too, that is a highway robber. It steals everything it can lay its claws on, and hides it. Don tried to catch a magpie up in the hills, but they are too wary.”
“I shall like Don,” Ted said firmly. “I love animals.”
“If you win his trust, he may allow you to help Peggie take care of his pets. During the summer months, we hardly see the boys. They go out with the men at the harvesting, and eat either at the mess wagons with them, or out of doors some place.”
“Is it a real ranch, Miss Murray?” asked Sue, suddenly. “I mean with great roving herds of cattle, and cowboys, and Indians. I’ve been to a wild-west show once, so I know pretty well what to expect.”
Here Jean did laugh heartily.
“You poor, dear heathen of the Far East,” she exclaimed. “You won’t find that sort of a ranch around where we live, anyhow. I don’t think there are many of them left, except perhaps through Texas. You see, since the vast free ranges have been cut up into homestead plots by the government, and irrigation has been introduced, the old ranches have had to give way perforce. Why, father was a settler himself, years ago, a homesteader, I mean. The old ranchers called them ‘nesters,’ and despised them thoroughly. But I like the name. It stands for so much—‘nester.’”
“Why didn’t the big ranchers like them?” asked Ruth.
“Well, where the old-time rancher who had almost limitless land at his disposal, neglected it, and let nature do all his work for him, the ‘nester,’ cleared land, and improved it, and cultivated it. They took advantage of every chance Uncle Sam held out to them to irrigate, and clear their timber out, and build fences. It is getting late, or I could tell you more. The first important thing is to be sure you want to go, and then raise the money for the trip. Shall I write to mother to-night, and ask her what she would charge to feed and shelter five pilgrims from Virginia?”