"Well," said Gray, a slight, dark-haired, bright-eyed, thoughtful fellow, after some preliminary talk, "you begin with arithmetic; then comes algebra, then geometry and trigonometry in mathematics; the languages are Latin, Greek, French, and German."
The mere recital of these things was enough to scare John, who had scarcely heard the names before. When Gray went on to enlarge on the fine course of study the academy afforded, as a loyal student should, his hearer was appalled by the amount of learning necessary even to enter a school, and feared the ranch after all was the place for him.
THE DRIVE ... FORDING A STREAM. ([Page 315].)
"Some of the fellows are good workers," Gray went on, "but some do nothing but talk to the girls."
"Girls!" thought John. "So girls go to school with the boys here." This boy, who had hardly seen a girl, was terrified at the idea of being brought into such close association with them—he was quite sure now the ranch was the place for him.
That night he made up his mind to go back to Mr. Baker and ask for his old job, but the next morning was no better than the preceding ones.
For lack of something better to do, after much persuasion on Gray's part, he went with him to the academy.
The things he saw there were as strange to him as they would be to an Esquimau.