Lucky, the Boy Scout

THE surprise of the cowboys who had speculated as to Amy Wells and Mrs. Dean was so apparent that Jack Dean, who had an idea as to the reason for it, felt quite embarrassed. It amused Mrs. Dean, who knew many of the men and who with great tact made things easy. The men felt somewhat guilty, especially Al Graham.

But things soon were normal again. John Dean knew that all these men were friends of his, that they were his peers. His position was such that he was their leader, but he never had to make them feel that it was a case of employer and employee. He knew the sterling independence of the West, which held no man superior to another. And no one believed in the principle more than Dean. So that when the men were at ease there were great doings. The cowboys, when alone, were crude and rough. Now, with Mrs. Dean about, their manners were such as any gentleman might own. Perhaps a little rough in manner and appearance, but not one of them lacked manliness and gentleness, the main requisites of a gentleman. Of course, breeding is more than mere polish, but much more than just breeding is necessary for the true gentleman.

The men liked Mrs. Dean from the first moment. Her charm and her loveliness kept even the timid Smiles in the circle about her. She was pleasant to all and enjoyed their company so much that they responded naturally and their quick wit had full play.

Nor was Ted an outsider. Under the protecting wing of Red Mack the boy had a chance of meeting the men without awkwardness.

The men took to him. They tested him to find out if there were a man’s qualities in him. Your shrewd, self-reliant man of the plains soon sees through a person.

They found Ted true. He had a good-natured grin and a fearless eye. Green and new he was, and many pranks were played on him, but he took them all good-naturedly. Despite the protection his closeness to the boss, and the household would give him, it never entered Ted’s mind to complain. From afar Dean watched the trying out of the boy’s mettle with keen interest. He felt fairly certain of the result.

He learned to ride a horse in quick time. Red Mack felt that it was up to him to give the boy the rudiments of the rancher’s education. Ted could not have had a better teacher in the whole of western Canada.

The time passed very quickly in this way. Mrs. Dean attended to Ted’s education and each day he had to give three to four hours to study. At other times you could see him, sometimes with Smiles, sometimes with Al or Pete, but mostly with Red. Wherever he went, Wolf was at his heels. Wolf never would be a wolf, but he was growing and he was beginning to hold his own. The West seemed to be the place for him.

But if Ted spent most of his time while in action with the three men mentioned, he also liked to sit and listen to Pop, who had taken a deep interest in the boy. The cowboys had seen how much it had affected the older man when Ted came. They thought that perhaps Pop might have had a boy of that age and so it had brought memories. But they forebore to discuss or to question Pop, for, after all, it was his own affair.

There was, however, a good deal more to it than that. When Pop had heard the boy introduced as Ted Marsh, a curtain seemed to have been drawn aside—a curtain that had hidden about fourteen years of his life. And from what Pop heard of the boy’s history through Dean and as related by Ted himself, he realized that Fate had played a rather queer trick. There came a great hope to Pop, or, rather, Dick Smith, as he was known on the ranch. He dared to think that perhaps he could come through and that Ted would be the means.

For Pop, as the reader may realize, was the long lost father of Ted. He was the Bill Marsh that had disappeared and for whom Mrs. Marsh still mourned, not knowing whether he was dead or alive.

The hard times of the Marsh family, many years before, had worried Bill even more than Mrs. Marsh. A strong man, he brooded over his inability to make things go, and gradually, as he grew more and more despondent, took to drink. Then there had been a quarrel between husband and wife, and the man had felt that he was useless. Mrs. Marsh had been the one who had supported the family and this made the man morose and bitter. He left home, intent upon getting what he could not earn. He had been drinking heavily.

The only thing he remembered the next morning was that he had had a terrific fight sometime during the night. If he had not remembered it, he would have been sure to have known of it because of the condition he was in. He had been sentenced to sixty days. He knew that he must not let it be known who he was, as he did not want to disgrace his wife and daughter. It was while he was in the workhouse that he decided he would be of the greatest help to his family by dropping out altogether. He felt that his wife never could have any further use for him. So he had gone west and gradually had found things as satisfactory as anything could be under the circumstances at the Double X. He had sworn off drinking.

Now Ted, the babe that was born after he had left Chicago, was here.

He decided not to say anything, but let events develop. He must not force himself back into his family, for they seemed happy and contented as they were. But he was bound up in the boy. From him the boy also learned much. To him, also, the boy often spoke of the folks at home, because, instinctively, he felt that the man was interested.

The winter came on and Ted found many new things to interest him. There was skiing, skating, and then there would be times when, wrapped up in warm clothes, they would go off in sleighs to great distances. It was often 50 degrees below zero. Ted grew strong and Wolf especially seemed to acclimate himself.

And then spring came.