Polly and Eleanor

CHAPTER I. Another Trip to Top Notch

ANOTHER TRIP TO TOP NOTCH

Six intensely interested individuals sat about the supper-table in the living room at Pebbly Pit Ranch-house, the evening of the day they rode to Oak Creek to file the claim on the gold mine. Sary, the maid-of-all-work, had the supper ready for the weary riders when they returned from their trip.

Having served the dessert, Sary went out to the barn to help Jeb, the foreman on the ranch, with the horses which had just come in from the long day's work. So the group about the table felt free to talk as they liked. But Polly Brewster and her friend Eleanor Maynard were almost talked out by the time they finished the last bit of Sary's delicious dessert; and Barbara Maynard tried her best to hide a yawn behind her hand, while Anne Stewart, the pretty teacher who was the fourth member in the party that spent a night in the cave, was eager to continue planning for the future of the mine, but Nature demanded rest after the three days' excitement.

Finally, Polly turned to her father and said: "I wish we could see John's face when he reads that telegram!"

"If we had only dared word it plainly, there sure would be something queer to laugh at when John read it. But we had to cipher it, you know," chuckled Sam Brewster.

"I can't see why such foolish fear of talking about it is entertained by all you folks," declared Barbara, loftily.

"Can't you? Well, then, Bob, Ah'll tell you plainly that that message had to be camouflaged, as we are not taking any risks on having your claim jumped over night. If we sent a wire to John telling him plainly that you girls discovered a vein of gold on Top Notch Trail, every last rascal in Oak Creek would hit the trail before that message was delivered," replied Mr. Brewster.

"Even as it is, I suppose every one who can read the records at Oak Creek will start out at once, so as to stake new claims as near to Montresor's Mine as possible; perhaps they'll try to pick up some nuggets from your claim, as well," added Mrs. Brewster.

"Then, when word spreads around the country--and such news always travels like lightning--every gambler and bunco man in Wyoming and Colorado will be seen camping on Top Notch Trail, each trying in his own way to wheedle money or gold-dust from the unwary ones," laughed Mr. Brewster.

"There now, Daddy! You've laughed, so I know your spell of worry is over with. Won't you tell us what made you so serious?" exclaimed Polly.

"Ah was trying to plan for the best way to avoid trouble over this claim; and at the same time protect our own rights, and any rights Old Montresor's family might have in this rediscovery. That is why Ah insisted upon Simms being one of our party, to-morrow; and the sheriff with his stalwart son, too. They are both strong, trusty men, and with Simms, Jeb and myself, we ought to be able to hold our own in case of an argument up there."

"Oh, Mr. Brewster! Do you mean there is likely to be a fight, and shooting?" cried Barbara, horrified at the very idea.

"Not so that you-all can notice it--if we get there first. But let those claim-jumpers camp on our grounds first, and we-all may have to use gun-persuasion to move them on to safer ground."

"Dear me, I think it is going to be more fun than a movie-picture play in the filming!" exclaimed Eleanor, her eyes shining with excitement.

"I hope we won't have the same kind of gun-play that we see in the wild-west films," hinted Anne Stewart, hitherto a listener.

"Would you rather remain here, Anne?" asked Barbara, with an eager expression as if to say: "'I hope you do--then I will stay with you.'"

"I should say no! I wouldn't miss the picnic we are going to have, to-morrow, for anything in Colorado!" declared Anne, emphatically.

Mrs. Brewster laughed at the young teacher's vehement tones, and then turned to her husband with a suggestion.

"Sam, what do you think of sending Jeb on before, in the morning, to tell Rattle-Snake Mike he must act as guide and cook for us while we are on the mountain? He is the cleverest Indian anywhere about, you know."

"Just the thing, Mary! Ah'm mighty glad you-all thought of it. Jeb can ride on whiles we-all branch off at Bear Forks for the Old Indian Trail. Then Mike and Jeb can catch up with us."

"I don't know about that, Sam," returned Mrs. Brewster, thoughtfully. "I'd rather see Jeb start from here about four o'clock, so Mike and he can meet us at five-thirty at the school-house."

"You must have some good reason for that," ventured Polly.

"Yes, Mike may hear about this claim and leave his cabin early, so as to act as guide to strangers who will be glad to pay him any price just to get him and his wonderful scouting experience."

"Right as usual, Mary! Ah'll run out, right now, and tell Jeb he'd better get to bed if he has to be up before four," exclaimed Mr. Brewster, starting for the bedroom over the barn where he knew Jeb would be.

"And we had better go to bed, too, so we can be up and have breakfast out of the way before the horses are brought to the door," suggested Mrs. Brewster, leading the way to the front door to look at the night sky.

"Why, it isn't eight o'clock," complained Barbara.

"No, but even that leaves us less than eight hours' sleep. After such exciting days as we have been through, we need a good full night's rest," replied Anne.

"Chances are Nolla and I won't close an eye! What, with gold mines, and John, and the Latimer boys, and Ken Evans coming to town--and claim-jumpers, and everything!" laughed Polly.

"You mean that young stranger we met at Oak Creek?" asked Barbara, frigidly.

"Yes,--the one who looked so pleasant but forlorn," said Eleanor, sympathetically.

"His name was Kenneth Evans, you know, Bob," explained Polly, innocently.

Eleanor and Anne exchanged glances and smiled, for they understood that Barbara meant to be condemnatory in her manner; but Polly, in her very guilelessness, countered the city girl's disparagement.

"It's too bad we couldn't have had him come home with us," added Eleanor, teasingly, to Barbara.

"Dear me, Nolla! By the time I get you back to Chicago you will need a complete training in social behavior again!" declared Barbara, frowning at her younger sister.

But her remark merely called forth a merry laugh from the light-hearted girl. Mrs. Brewster then started the usual preparations for bed, and the group followed her example.

For the benefit of any one who has not been fortunate enough to become acquainted with our western friends, in the first book of this series, we will introduce you while the girls are soundly sleeping.

Polly Brewster, a girl just past fourteen, was a true type of the honest, ambitious ranchers of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Her home, the extensive farm in the crater of an extinct volcano, was called Pebbly Pit because of the giant cliffs of colored stones guarding the entrance trail. This ranch was about eleven miles from Oak Creek, the mining settlement and railroad station for about a thousand inhabitants, where all shopping had to be done. The town was much like other rough, half-civilized western settlements, consisting of a post office, a bank, the sheriff's office, and several saloons. A general store was maintained in connection with the post office, and here one must buy anything needed for house or farm. The Brewsters, being affluent ranchers, ordered their clothing, house-furnishings, and many tools or luxuries by mail, from illustrated catalogues. But the rough road from the ranch to the town post office, being hard going in a heavy ranch-wagon, often caused the Brewsters to forego a mail order on cosmopolitan stores rather than drive in and cart the goods home from Oak Creek.

Polly had just completed her grammar course at the little Bear Forks' school-house where Anne Stewart had taught two years previous to this summer. Polly had never been elsewhere than at Oak Creek and now she yearned to attend High School in Denver.

Anne Stewart lived in Denver, and for the past year had been tutoring Eleanor Maynard, while the girl and her older sister Barbara boarded with Mrs. Stewart. The Maynard girls were from Chicago, but Eleanor, who was fourteen, was very delicate, so the doctor had recommended a high altitude for her.

Anne Stewart was helping her brother Paul through a college in Chicago, and during her visit to him, at the end of his first year, she met his friends--John Brewster who was Polly's older brother; Tom Latimer a promising young engineer from New York; and Pete Maynard who was a brother to Eleanor and Barbara. It was through this means that the Maynards heard of the Stewarts' home in Denver, and anxiously begged Anne to take the two girls into her home circle. As the salary offered for this privilege was so munificent, the young teacher eagerly accepted, and then found her youngest charge a lovable and merry girl.

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