Comrades of the Saddle | Page 4

ma, what do
you say? Shall we take the boys with us or let them go to the ranch?"
With her quiet mother's eye Mrs. Alden caught the appeal on her sons'
faces and after a short deliberation replied:
"I think they'd be better off with the Wilders--that is, if they'd like to
have the boys visit them."
"Hooray! hooray!" cried the boys together.
"We can telegraph and ask Mr. Wilder tonight," said Larry. "Can we go
to Bramley and send the message, father?"
"You can telephone the message to the station and the operator will
send it."
And while the boys puzzled over the wording of the telegram, their
father re-read his letter from Scotland.
"I've got the telegram ready," Tom exclaimed presently. "Listen." And
picking up the piece of paper on which he had been scribbling he read:
"BILL AND HORACE WILDER, "Tolopah, New Mexico: "We can
leave Saturday to visit you. Do you want us? Answer quick. Father and
mother leave Friday for Scotland. We'll have to go, if you don't want us.
"LARRY AND TOM ALDEN."
"You might make it shorter," chuckled the farmer.
"And muddle it all up so they wouldn't understand it any better than
you do your lawyer's letter," returned Larry.
"That's a bull's-eye," grinned Joe, whose mind was running to shooting
terms.
And as neither their father nor mother interposed any objections, the
boys telephoned the message to the operator at Bramley, who promised
to send it at once.

CHAPTER III
WORD FROM THE WEST
Anxiously the two brothers waited for some news from the West and in
the meantime got ready for the trip to Scotland.
"Oh, I don't want to go to Scotland!" sighed Tom. "I want to go to the
ranch."
"Well, we've got to take what comes," answered his brother.
The boys went down to town and said good-by to their school chums.
All were sorry they were going away and said they would be missed
from the baseball team.
Returning to the farm, their mother met them with a peculiar smile on
her face.
"Any news?" they asked eagerly.
"Yes, word came over the telephone a while ago."
"And what Is it, ma?"
"The Wilders say to come and----"
"Hooray!"
"And not to bring a trunk," finished the mother. "The idea of two boys
going away all summer without a trunk!"
"Of course we won't need a trunk!" declared Tom. "From the time we
reach the ranch till we start for home I don't intend to wear a white shirt
or collar."
"When we get out there we can buy some cowboy outfits," said Larry.
"Hooray for Tolopah!"

The receipt of the message, which had been telephoned by the agent at
Bramley while the boys were on their way back from the town, was
more of a relief than either Larry or Tom was willing to acknowledge.
And they ate their food with greater relish in the certainty that their
dream of going to live on a ranch was to come true.
Each was absorbed in his own thoughts when the voice of their father
roused them.
"Now that it's decided you are going West," he was saying, "I reckon
I'll go over to Olmsted and make sure about our steamer tickets. We
won't have any too much time in New York. You boys can go with me
if you like."
Glad of the opportunity, the boys finished their dinner quickly and were
soon whirling over the hard clay road behind their father's span of
spirited horses.
"I've decided to give each of you two hundred and fifty dollars," said
Mr. Alden, as though expressing his thoughts out loud.
"Phew! Two hundred and fifty dollars! That's more money than I ever
had all at once," exclaimed Tom in delight. "Think of having all that to
spend, Larry."
"But you mustn't spend it all," warned their father. "I was going to say
when you interrupted, Tom, that out of this money you must pay your
railroad tickets, for your berths to sleep in, and for your meals. These
things will amount to about seventy-five dollars, I should think."
"But that will still leave us one hundred and seventy-five dollars,"
declared Tom.
"True enough, but don't forget it will cost seventy-five dollars to get
back. If I were you, when you get to the ranch, I would give the money
for your return tickets to Mr. Wilder. He'll keep it for you, so you'll be
sure not to spend it.

"It's a thing you ought always to remember when you take a trip of any
distance--always save enough out of your money to carry you back
home"
The boys promised to do as their father suggested, and the farmer
continued:
"This will be your first experience with the world, and I don't