Vanguards of the Plains | Page 4

somewhere, and a lot of soldiers are coming here to drill,
and drill, and drill. And then--"
The boy paused for effect.
"And then, and then, and then--or some time," Mat Nivers mimicked,
jumping into the pause. "Why, they'll go to Mexico, or somewhere.
And what Bev is really trying to tell hasn't anything to do with it--not
directly, anyhow," she added, wisely. "The only new thing is that Uncle
Esmond is going to Santa Fé right away. You know he has bought
goods of the Santa Fé traders since we couldn't remember. And now
he's going down there himself, and he's going to take you boys with
him. That's what Bev is trying to get out, or keep back."
"Whoopee-diddle-dee!" Beverly shouted, throwing himself backward
and kicking up his heels.
I jumped up and capered about in glee at the thought of such a journey.
But my heart-throb of childish delight was checked, mid-beat.
"Won't Mat go, too?" I asked, with a sudden pain at my throat. Mat
Nivers was a part of life to me.
The smile fell away from the girl's lips. Her big, sunshiny gray eyes
and her laughing good nature always made her beautiful to Beverly and
me.
"I don't want to go and leave Mat," I insisted.
"Oh, I do," Beverly declared, boastingly. "It would be real nice and
jolly without her. And what could a little girl do 'way out on the
prairies, and no mother to take care of her, while we were shooting
Indians?"
He sprang up and took aim at the fort with an imaginary bow and arrow.
But there was a hollow note in his voice as if it covered a sob.
"She can shoot Indians as good as you can, Beverly Clarenden, and,
besides, there isn't anybody to mother her here but Jondo, and I reckon
he'll go with us, won't he?" I urged.
Mothering was not in my stock of memories. The heart-hunger of the
orphan child had been eased by the gentleness of Jondo, the
championship of Mat Nivers, and the sure defense of Esmond
Clarenden, who said little to children, and was instinctively trusted by
all of them.
With Beverly's banter the smile came back quickly to Mat's eyes. It was

never lost from them long at a time.
"Beverly Clarenden, you keep your little mouth shut and your big ears
open," she began, laughingly. "I know the whole sheboodle better 'n
any of you, and I'm not teasing and whimpering both at the same time,
neither. Bev doesn't know anything except what I've told him, and I
wasn't through when you got here, Gail. There is going to be a big war
in Texas, and our soldiers are going to go, and to win, too. Just look up
at that flag there, and remember now, boys, that wherever the Stars and
Stripes go they stay."
"Who told you all that?" Beverly inquired.
"The stars up in the sky told me that last night," Mat replied, pulling
down the corners of her mouth solemnly. "But Uncle Esmond hasn't
anything to do with the war, nor soldiers, only like he has been doing
here," the girl went on. "He's a store-man, a merchant, and I guess he's
just about as good as a general--a colonel, anyhow. But he's too short to
fight, and too fat to run."
"He isn't any coward," Beverly objected.
"Who said he was?" Mat inquired. "He's one of them usefulest men that
keeps things going everywhere."
"I saw a real Mexican come up out of the ravine awhile ago and go
straight over toward Uncle Esmond's store. What do you suppose he
came here for? Is he a soldier from down there?" I asked.
"Oh, just one Mexican don't mean anything anywhere, but the war in
Mexico has something to do with our going to Santa Fé, even if Uncle
Esmond is just a nice little store-man. That's all a girl knows about
things," Beverly insisted.
Mat opened her big eyes wide and looked straight at the boy.
"I don't pretend to know what I don't know, but I'll bet a million billion
dollars there is something else besides just all this war stuff. I can't tell
it, I just feel it. Anyhow, I'm to stay here with Aunty Boone till you
come back. Girls can be trusted anywhere, but it may take the whole
Army of the West, yet, to follow up and look after two little runty boys.
And let me tell you something, Bev, something I heard Aunty Boone
say this morning." She said: "Taint goin' to be more 'n a minnit now till
them boys grows up an' grows together, same size, same age. They
been little and big, long as they goin' to be. Now you know what