CHAPTER XXI
AT THE RANCH
As the ranchman watched this scene, his face was a study, but he soon forgot it in listening to the conversation between Thomas and Bob.
"Do you think it was quite fair to run away while I was trying to find a pony for you?" asked the agent.
"Don't scold, Hal," returned Bob. "I suppose it wasn't quite fair. But I wanted to surprise you by getting a job myself, without anybody's help."
Smiling at the boy's independence, Thomas asked:
"Have you got it?"
Before Bob could answer, the ranchman interposed:
"Looks like it, don't it? First he won my—I mean his—dog, and then he won me. Yes, Hal, Bob's landed and you can tell Ned Higgins from me that if he tries to put up any more jokes on Bob, I'll fix him so he can't speak for a year."
"All right, John," smiled the agent. "But I reckon he won't try any more!"
So significant was the agent's tone that Bob inquired anxiously:
"You didn't do anything to him for sending me to Mr. Ford, did you, Hal?"
"No, not much," returned Thomas grimly. Yet had he told the entire truth he would have said he had administered such a beating to the practical joker, upon learning where he had sent Bob, as Fairfax had never seen given by one man to another.
"Won't you come in?" asked the ranchman.
"No, thanks. Can't stop. Got to get back for a train. Here, Bob, come and mount Firefly. He's yours."
"What, you bought Firefly for this boy?" exclaimed Ford in surprise.
"That's what." Then turning to Bob, he added, "Put your left foot in the stirrup and swing into the saddle. That's the way. Say, John, let Bob ride back a way with me. I want to show him a few things about a pony."
"Oh, do!" chimed in Bob.
"All right, though I was calculating to teach him myself," returned Ford, a light such as the station agent had never before seen in his eyes.
"Can I take Chester?" asked Bob.
"Sure, he's yours!"
"Come, boy," called Bob. Then noticing that Hal wanted to say a word to the ranchman, he exclaimed: "Don't tell him who I am, please." And as the agent hesitated, he added, shrewdly, "Mr. Nichols wouldn't like it."
"All right, if you say not," returned Hal.
And wheeling their ponies, the two rode off across the plains, the dog bounding joyfully along at Bob's side.
Gazing after them, even when they had disappeared from sight, stood John Ford.
As the agent had said, Firefly was so gentle and had such an easy gait that after the first few minutes' fear had passed Bob found he could not only keep in the saddle, but could enjoy the motion of the pony.
Critically Thomas watched him, riding close at his side to be at hand in case of trouble, finally exclaiming in hearty approval:
"You take to a horse like a duck to water, Bob."
"Do you mean that, Hal?"
"I sure do. Now dismount and I'll show you a trick or two." And as soon as the boy was on the ground, he continued: "Some ponies have a mean way of starting just as soon as you put your foot in the stirrups. No matter how nervous your mount is, by drawing the left rein—remember you always handle a saddle horse from the left side—so short that it turns the pony's head, you can make him circle round and round, instead of running straight ahead, which will give you a chance to swing into the saddle. Now try it."
Without difficulty Bob performed the feat.
"Good," commented his instructor. "We'll both dismount and I'll teach you how to hobble your pony. Whenever you turn a pony loose on the plains, whether in the day time or at night, always hobble him. You never know what may happen when you are 'punching cattle' and oftentimes by having your pony handy it will save you a lot of trouble, to put it mildly."
While he was speaking, Thomas had taken Bob's lariat, which hung from the pommel of his saddle, and drawing the noose small had slipped it over his pony's right hoof.
"There are two ways of hobbling," he continued, "one, to tie the front and hind feet on the same side, the other, to tie both front feet. As ponies are often mighty lively animals, I don't need to tell you the danger or difficulty of trying to put a rope around their hind legs. But tying the front feet is easy. Allow about seven inches of rope, then take a couple of turns around the left fetlock, make a half-hitch and tie the rest of your rope about the pony's neck.
"Always remember to do that. If you don't, some time the rope end may catch between the rocks or become tangled in some way and cause trouble.
"When you stop to rest after a hard ride, always unsaddle, whether you unbridle or not, and then wipe the dirt and sweat from where the saddle has been. It rests a pony more than anything you can do.
"At night, when you are on the plains, always use your saddle for a pillow, then no one can steal it from you.
"Those are the main points. Any special tricks you'll pick up from John and the boys.
"Oh, there's one more thing: whenever you dismount for any length of time, pull the reins over the pony's head and either throw them over a post or else let them drag on the ground. I don't know why it is, but it seems to make the pony think he is tied."
The lesson over, Bob and Hal remounted and rode on.
At the request of the latter, the boy related his experience at Ford's ranch. As he did so, the agent looked at him with an expression of mingled amazement and approval, and as the story was finished, exclaimed:
"Bob, you sure are a wonder! How you had the nerve to face that dog on foot, I don't see. Many a man on horseback has been forced to turn and flee. How did you do it?"
"Oh, I don't know. Just looked him In the eye and spoke to him, that's all."
But the explanation did not satisfy the agent.
"I don't understand it," he said. "I fully expected to find you lying in Ford's cabin all chewed up. And here your clothes aren't even torn. I don't understand it. This is the first time Chester has ever made friends with anybody. He only minds Ford because he's afraid of him."