CHAPTER XXVIII—A JOLLY SURPRISE.
“Tom!” Virginia’s manner of uttering the name seemed almost like a cry of joy and the lad who was wearing a white apron chef-fashion, turned toward the open door with a pleasant smile of greeting. If he noted the surprised expression on the faces of the two girls, he did not attribute it to its real cause. He supposed that they naturally were surprised to behold the fine supper that was spread on the living-room table which had been drawn close to the grate where a cheerful log was burning.
“Oho! What a feast!” Margaret exclaimed hurriedly, to cover their all too evident amazement at finding the outlaw calmly preparing a meal when a posse from Texas was supposed to be searching for him. “Where did you get the young rabbits that you have fried such a crispy brown?”
“I took my gun as soon as you were gone,” the lad told them, “and went a-hunting, and, as you well know, Miss Virginia, it takes only a short time in the sage to bag as many young rabbits as one may desire. Tomorrow, if we are still cooks of the V. M. Ranch, I will vary the menu by bringing in quail.”
While they were eating Tom asked: “What news did you hear while you were away, or perhaps you didn’t see anyone who had news to tell.” He was looking at Virginia and his eyes seemed to hold an eager inquiry. What should she say? Ought she to tell him the truth and give him an opportunity to ride to the north where the mountains were wild, rugged and desolate and where he could hide with greater safety?
“Yes, we did hear news,” Virginia replied. “At the Junction we heard that a posse from Texas is searching for someone who is supposed to be hiding about here.”
Then impulsively she leaned toward the lad and placed a hand on his arm as she said pleadingly, “if you were my brother I would suggest that you ride to the north where the mountains are nearly impenetrable and stay there in hiding until this search is over. I do wish that you would go, Tom, this very night.”
The lad shook his head. “I can’t go—not tonight, Miss Virginia,” he said. “You two girls are all alone on V. M. Ranch and your brother trusts me to look after you. I will stay right where I am until your brother returns or until—well—until I am found.”
When the repast had been cleared away the three young people sat about the fireplace watching the burning log. They talked little. The eastern girl felt strangely uneasy and every little while she would glance at one of the uncurtained windows as though she expected to see a face peering in at them.
At last the clock chimed the hour of nine and Tom arose. “Miss Virginia, Miss Margaret,” he said as he held out a hand to each, “I want to thank you for having been so kind and sisterly to me. Do not be concerned about me. I promise to ride north as soon as you are well protected. Goodnight.”
The two girls lay awake for hours waiting for, they knew not what. It was nearly midnight before they slept. Half an hour later Margaret sat up suddenly and listened intently. Had she heard something, she wondered, and if so, what?
Again she heard the noise which she believed must have awakened her. Someone was trying to enter the house, of that she was sure. Springing up and throwing her bathrobe about her she ran into Virginia’s room and shook her friend.
“What is it?” that girl asked, on the alert at once.
“Hark!” whispered Margaret. “Can’t you hear someone at the kitchen door?”
The western girl listened, “I surely do,” she replied, “but my dear Megsy, it must be someone who feels he has a right to come in, for he is not trying to be quiet and he is using a key.”
“Do you suppose that it is your brother, Malcolm, returning?”
“Maybe,” Virginia replied as she arose and slipped on her robe. “Whoever it is has opened the door and has entered the kitchen. I’ll light a candle and investigate.”
“Oh, Virg! Please, please don’t go out there alone! Can’t we call Tom or someone?”
But it was too late for the girls could hear that whoever had entered the house was approaching Virginia’s bedroom. Margaret clung to her friend. Even Virginia was puzzled, but the thing that gave her confidence was the fact that the intruder was not trying to be quiet. A moment later there came a tap on the door.
“Who is it?” the girl asked, and, with a sigh of relief, she recognized the voice that replied, “Miss Virginia, dearie. Don’t be skeered. It’s jest me a comin’ home after all these weeks away. It’s yo’ old Uncle Tex, Miss Virginia, dearie.”
With a cry of delight, the door was flung open and the girl embraced the kind old man who had trotted her on his knee when she was a baby and had granted her every whim, if he could, since she was grown.
“Oh, Uncle Tex, where have you been ever since you ran away just because you didn’t want to take part in the ‘play-actin’?” the girl exclaimed.
The old man told that he had been way up north on a sheep ranch. “But ah got wistful feelin’s to see my little gal,” he said, “and so ah’s come back home. They’re needin’ help up thar and they didn’t want me to leave but ah tol’ them as how ah would send a younger man to take my place if ah could find one.” Then Uncle Tex scratched his head in a puzzled manner, for he had suddenly thought of something. “Miss Virginia, dearie,” he said, “thar’s a parcel of men camped in the dry creek bottom a mile below here. They stopped me, but they let me go quick. They’re lookin’ for an outlaw from Texas, and course they knew as ah wasn’t him. Said they’d be up here in the mornin’ and ask yo’ fo’ breakfast. Wall, good night, Miss Virginia, dearie. Ah’s sure glad to be home.”
When the old man was gone, Virginia began to dress hurriedly.
“What are you going to do?” Margaret inquired. “Warn Tom!” was her reply. “Uncle Tex is here to protect us now and Tom must start for the north without an hour’s delay.”