Dick rode the broncho, as a matter of course; and to him this journey was most enjoyable.
Not until the second day did the family arrive at their destination, and Dick received such a reception as caused his cheeks to redden with joy.
Bob Mason chanced to be in front of Mansfield's store when the party rode up, and insisted on their remaining there until he could summon the inhabitants of the settlement to give them welcome.
"We're glad you've come," Mr. Mason said when he believed the time had come for him to make a speech. "We've seen the kid, an' know how much sand he's got; so if the rest of the family are anything like him, and I reckon they must be, we're gettin' the kind of citizens we hanker after. I've pre-empted the boy, an' allow he'll look out for things on the ranch as well as any man I could hire, an' a good deal better'n the average run. We've got a house here for the rest of you, an' Stevens will find plenty of work if he's handy with tools. Now then, kid, we'll get the old folks settled, an' after that I'll yank you off with me."
Mason led the way to a rude shanty of boards, which was neither the best nor the worst dwelling in the town; and to Mrs. Stevens and Margie it seemed much like a palace, for it was a place they could call home, a pleasure they had not enjoyed since leaving Willow Point two years ago.
Dick observed with satisfaction that there was a sufficient amount of furniture in the shanty to serve his parents until money could be earned with which to purchase more; and then he rode away with Bob Mason, leading the team-horses to that gentleman's corral.
He had brought his family to a home, and had before him a good prospect of supplying them with food, even though his father should not be able to do any work until the coming spring; therefore Dick Stevens was a very happy boy.
Here we will leave him; for he is yet in Mason's employ, and it is said in Antelope Spring to-day, or was a few months ago, that when "Bob Mason hired that kid to oversee his ranch, he knew what he was about."
It is hard to believe that a boy only fifteen years of age (for Dick has now been an overseer, or "boss puncher" as it is termed in Nevada, nearly two years) could care for a ranch of six hundred acres; yet he has done it, as more than one can testify, and in such a satisfactory manner that next year he is to have an interest in the herds and flocks on the "Mason Place."
Mr. Stevens recovered from the wound in due time; and early in the spring after his arrival at the settlement, he joined Messrs. Parsons & Robinson in prospecting among the ranges.