"twenty-five thousand people—and more on the way! think of that!" exclaimed mr. richards, terry's father.

it was an evening in early april, 1859, and spring had come to the richards ranch, up the valley of the big blue, kansas territory. excitement had come, too, for harry (harry revere, that is, the clever, boyish virginia school-teacher who was a regular member of the family) had been down to the town of manhattan, south on the kansas river and the emigrant trail there, and had brought back some kansas city and st. louis papers. they were brimming with the news of a tremendous throng of gold-seekers swarming to cross the plains for the new gold fields, discovered only last year, in the pike's peak country of the rocky mountains.

"do you suppose it's true, ralph? so many?" appealed mrs. richards, doubting.

"whew!" gasped terry—the third man in the family. at least, he worked as hard as any man.

"i believe it," asserted harry. "manhattan's jammed and the trail in both directions is a sight!"

"so are kansas city and leavenworth, according to the dispatches," laughed terry's father. "people from the east are flocking across iowa, to the missouri river, and the steamboats up from st. louis are loaded to the guards—everybody bound for the pike's peak country and the cherry creek diggin's there. it beats the california rush of forty-nine and fifty."

"but twenty-five thousand, ralph!" mother richards protested.

"yes, and the papers say there'll be a hundred thousand before summer's over."

"oh, pa! can't we go?" pleaded terry.

"and quit the ranch?"

"but if we don't go now all the gold will be found."

"i think it would be sinful to leave this good ranch and go clear out there, with nothing certain," voiced his mother, anxiously. "you know it almost killed your father. he'd never have got home, if it hadn't been for you."

"that was when he was coming back, and we wouldn't need to come back," argued terry. "and he fetched some gold, too, didn't he?"

"and hasn't recovered yet!" triumphed mother richards. "he couldn't possibly stand another long overland trip—and i don't want to stand it, either. why, we're just nicely settled, all together again, on our own farm."

"well, some of us ought to go," persisted terry. "i'd a heap rather dig gold than plant it.'

"i notice you aren't extra fond of digging potatoes, though," slily remarked harry. "you say it makes your back ache!"

"digging gold's different," retorted terry. "besides, we've a gold mine already, haven't we? the one dad discovered. if we don't get there soon somebody else will dig everything out of it and we'll have only a hole."

"that will be a cellar for us, anyway, to put a house over," mused harry, who always saw opportunities.

"i don't lay much store on that claim of mine," confessed terry's father. "the country'll be over-run, and if the spot was worth anything it's probably jumped, or will be jumped very quickly. and i don't remember where it is."

"but what a rush!" faltered mrs. richards, glancing through the paper. "the news does say twenty-five thousand people about to cross the plains and more coming. i do declare! i'm sure some of them will suffer dreadfully."

"yes; they'll earn their way, all right," agreed father richards. "it's a tough region, yonder at the mountains—and the more people, the tighter the living, till they raise other crops than gold."

"then that's the reason why we ought to be starting—so as to get in ahead," persisted terry. "this ranching's awful slow, and it's toler'ble hard work, too. putting stuff in and taking it out again."

"you can't expect to 'take stuff out' unless you do put some in, first, can you?" demanded his father. "that's the law of life. but if you think you can dodge hard work, go on and try."

"where?" blurted terry.

"anywhere. to the pike's peak country. you have my permission." and his father's blue eyes twinkled.

"oh, ralph!" protested terry's mother, aghast. "don't joke about it."

"aw, i can't go alone," stammered terry, taken aback.

"i'm not joking," asserted father richards. "but he'll have to find his own outfit, like other gold-seekers. then he can go, and we'll follow when we can."

mother richards dropped the paper.

"ralph! have you the fever again? oh, dear!"

gold-fever she meant, of course. father richards smiled, and rubbed his hair where it showed a white streak over the wound received when on their road out from the missouri river, a year ago, to settle on the ranch, he had been knocked off his horse in fording wildcat creek, and had disappeared for months. only by great good fortune had terry found him, wandering in, through a blizzard, from the pike's peak gold fields; and had brought him home in time for a merry christmas.

"not 'again.' don't know as i'd call it gold-fever, exactly. but i feel a bit like terry does—i want to join the crowd. it was the same way, in coming to kansas. we thought this was to be the west; and now there's another west. this ranch can be made to pay—i'm certain it can if we're able to hold on long enough and weather the droughts and grasshoppers and low prices. but——"

"harry and terry and i made it pay," reminded mother richards, with a flash of pride.

"yes, you all did bravely. but you managed it by cutting and selling the timber. the timber won't last forever, and the grasshoppers may! this is rather a lonely life, for you, yet, up in here. out at the mountains, though, they've founded those two towns, denver and auraria, and probably others; and i believe opportunities will be more there than here."

"do you intend to sell the ranch?" asked mrs. richards, a little pale. she loved the ranch, which she had helped to make.

"we'll talk that over. i wouldn't sell unless you consented. it's your place; you and terry and harry've done most of the work."

"but you said i could go right away, pa; didn't you?" enthused terry. "then i'll take the wagon and buck and spot, and shep—and harry; and——"

"hold on," bade his father. "not quite so fast. i said you're to find your own outfit. if we sell the ranch, you'll have to leave part of it as a sample to show to customers. those oxen are valuable. oxen'll be as good as gold, in this country. the rush across the plains will sweep up every kind of work critter. if you take buck and spot, how'll anybody on this ranch do the ploughing? and if you take the wagon, what'll become of the hauling?"

"and if you take harry, who'll help your father and me?" chimed in his mother.

"shucks!" bemoaned terry. "there's the old mare, and the colt—and a cow—and——"

"and a half-buffalo, and a tame turkey, and a yellow mule twenty years of age if she's a day," completed his father. "buck and spot beat the lot of them put together. no, sir; i'll not spare those oxen, for any wild-goose chase across to the mountains. but i'll tell you what you can do. you can have harry, and find the rest of your come-along."

"hum!" murmured harry, who had been scratching his nose and looking wise. "that sounds like a dare. let's go outside, terry."

he rose. terry wonderingly followed him. within, mother richards gazed dubiously upon father richards.

"are you really in earnest, ralph?"

"yes; after a fashion. terry can't make such a trip alone; he's too young; but he'd be safe with harry. enough cultivating's done on the ranch so i can manage for the next few months. that would give you and me a chance to dispose of the place when we were ready—and it will sell better with the crops showing. and besides, i agree with you that i'm not quite in shape yet to stand the trip. by the time we were free to go, those two boys would have the country yonder pretty well spied out, and they'd send us back reliable information. harry has a level head."

"and maybe they'd be so disappointed they'd want to come back, themselves!" hopefully asserted mrs. richards. "terry'd be cured of his gold-seeking fever. anyway, they haven't gone, yet. they can't have the oxen, and they can't have my cow, and if they took the old mare how'd i ever visit my neighbors, and if they took the colt he's not heavy enough for hard work, and the yellow mule won't pull alone, and duke won't pull at all, and you've refused them the wagon—and i sha'n't let them walk. so i don't believe i'll worry."

"um—m!" muttered father richards, rubbing his hair. "i won't be positive about all that. what terry doesn't cook up, harry will. they're both of them too uncommon smart. i reckon they're into some scheme already."

and so they were. he resumed his reading of the papers. mrs. richards proceeded to finish the evening housework. suddenly they were interrupted. outside welled a frantic chorus of shouting and cheering and barking and clattering.

"for goodness' sake!" ejaculated mrs. richards; and they sprang to the door.

harry, who walked with a slight limp because when a boy down in virginia he had hurt his foot, had beckoned terry on, around the hen-house, out of ear-shot of the cabin. here he had paused, and scratched his long nose again—a sure sign of mischief. slender and smooth-faced and young was harry, but stronger than anybody'd think. the way he could ride bareback, and could fell timber—whew! and that long head of his was a mine in itself.

"shall we go?" he queried.

"will you, harry? do you want to go?"

"yes, i reckon i do. i always knew i was cut out for a miner instead of a schoolmaster or a farmer."

"how'll we go, then?" demanded terry. "thunder! we've nothing to start with, 'cept our feet. dad says we'll have to find our own outfit."

"and one of the feet's a bad one," commented harry. "i suppose we could walk, and carry our stuff—or carry part of it and come back for the rest."

"five hundred miles?" cried terry. "aw, jiminy! we'd be the last in, if we tried to carry stuff on our backs."

"and we'd be the first out, if we didn't carry stuff," returned harry. "we'd be frozen out and starved out, both. now, let's see." he scratched his nose, and was solemn—save that his pointed chin twitched, and his wide brown eyes laughed. "we can't have the oxen; and we mustn't take the old mare or the colt, because they're a part of the ranch; or the brindled cow, because she belongs to mother richards' butter and milk department; or pete the turkey, because he can't swim; so that leaves us jenny and duke."

"that old yellow mule, and a half-buffalo!" yapped terry. "but they're a part of the ranch stock, too, and besides——"

"no, they're ours," corrected harry. "jenny's mine, and i'm hers. i brought her in here—or, rather, she brought me in; in fact, we brought each other. and duke is yours. you rescued him from a life among the wild buffalo—a rough, low life, the ungrateful brute!—and his mother's disowned him since he learned to eat grass and hay, and nobody else wants him. jenny works for her keep, but he doesn't do a thing except bawl and eat and sleep and pick quarrels with his betters. he's only an idle good-for-nothing."

"what do you aim to do, then?" questioned terry, staring open-mouthed. "ride 'em? we can't have the wagon. you going to ride jenny and make me ride duke? we'd both of us be split in two! i'd rather walk. i'd make great time, wouldn't i, on that buffalo—and jenny mostly moves up and down in one spot! your saddle's falling to pieces. it's just tied with rope."

"hum!" mused harry. "we'll hitch them."

"what to?"

"a wagon. i know where there are two wheels and an axle."

"where?"

"in an old mud-hole. the front end traveled on, but the hind end stayed."

"jenny won't pull single, and duke won't pull at all."

"make 'em pull together, then."

"what'll we do for the rest of the wagon?"

"make it."

"huh!" reflected terry, trying to be convinced. "that'll be a great outfit. where'll we get our supplies?"

"maybe somebody'll grub-stake us, on shares. but no matter about that. we'll learn not to eat when we haven't anything to eat. if," continued harry, "a couple of fellows our size, with a yellow mule and a half-buffalo and two wagon-wheels, can't get through to the mountains, i'd like to know who can! so it's high time we started. come on."

"what are you going to do first?" demanded terry, bewildered by harry's sudden movement.

"educate duke, of course. we'll put him and jenny to the drag and give them their first lesson. you be driving duke in and i'll talk with jenny."

away hustled harry, at his rapid limp, for a halter and jenny, where in a stall she was munching a feed of hay as reward after her trip to town. with the interested shep (shaggy black dog) at his heels, prepared to help, terry hastened into the pasture and rounded up duke, the half-buffalo, from amidst the other animals. duke was now a yearling—grown to be a sturdy, stocky youngster since terry had captured him and his brindled cow mother during the buffalo hunt with the delaware indians last summer.

knowing terry well, and tamed to everything except work, duke submitted to being driven out. in the ranch yard harry was waiting with big, gaunt jenny, already attached by collar and traces to the drag. the drag was only an old rail, heavy and spike-studded, used to uproot the brush when the ranch land was cleared.

it required considerable maneuvering to fit an ox-bow around duke's short neck, and yoke him to the drag. he seemed dumbly astonished. jenny laid back her long ears in disgust with her strange mate.

"be patient with him, jenny," pleaded harry. "he's only a boy, and part indian, while you're a cultured lady. i think," he said, to terry, "that i'll do the driving, for the first spell on this pike's peak trail." holding the lines attached to jenny's bit (but duke, ox-fashion, had no lines), he fell a few paces to rear. "no," he added, "that won't answer. you drive duke and i'll drive jenny. get your whip."

terry stationed himself with the ox-whip at duke's flank. harry stepped upon the drag, and balanced.

"gid-dap, jenny!" he bade.

"g'lang, duke!" bade terry.

jenny, sidling as far as she could in the traces, her ears flat, started. duke stayed. consequently, jenny did not get very far.

"duke! g'lang, duke!" implored terry, desperately, cracking his whip.

"pull, jenny! pull!" encouraged harry, balancing on the drag now askew.

up went jenny's heels, down went duke's head, away went harry on the drag and terry on the run. shep, thinking it great sport, barked gaily.

"whoa, jenny! whoa now!"

"haw, duke! whoa-haw! gee! whoa!"

and from the cabin doorway father richards clapped and shouted, and mother richards called warnings.

harry was speedily thrown from the bouncing drag, but he clung to the lines. having careered, plunging and tugging and side-stepping, until she was astraddle of the outside trace, jenny stopped. duke, who had been bawling and galloping, half hauled, half frightened, stopped likewise, the yoke crooked on his neck; and all stood heaving.

"this'll never do," panted harry. "jenny's too fast for him—either her legs are too long or his are too short. we'll have to train them singly and hitch them tandem. that's it: tandem."

"you mean one in front of the other?" wheezed terry.

"yes."

"which where, then?"

"oh, jenny for the wheel team and duke for the lead team, i think," decided harry. "by rights, jenny ought to have the lead, because she's faster; and duke ought to have the pole, because he's heavier. but jenny is quick-tempered with her heels, you know, and duke is quick-tempered with his head, so we'd best keep their tempers separated. we can teach duke to 'haw' and 'gee,' but jenny's main accomplishment is simply to 'haw-haw.'"

"here comes george," announced terry. "now he'll 'haw-haw,' too."

through the gloaming another boy was loping in, on a spotted pony. he was a wiry, black-eyed boy—george stanton, from the stanton ranch some two miles down the valley.

"whoop-ee! which way you going?" he challenged. "what is it—a show?"

"going to pike's peak," retorted terry.

"tonight? with that team? aw——!"

"pretty soon, though. we're practising."

"watch us, and you'll see us drive to the corral," invited harry. "let's turn 'em around, terry. easy, now. i'll hold jenny back and you hurry duke."

"i'll help," proffered the obliging george. "gwan, duke."

"duke! gwan!" ordered terry.

"whoa, jenny! steady, jenny!" cautioned harry.

with harry hauling on the lines, george, pony-back, pressing against duke's shoulder, and terry urging him at the flank, they all managed to achieve a half circle. duke, his eyes bulging with rage and alarm, occasionally balked; jenny flattened her ears and shook her scarred head; but finally the corral bars were really reached. it seemed like quite a victory.

"first lesson ended," decreed harry. "too dark, and we're tired if they aren't. we'll put 'em in together and they can talk it over."

released into the corral, neither jenny nor duke appeared to be in very good humor. duke rumbled and pawed, flinging the dirt; jenny laid her ears and bared her teeth. suddenly duke charged; whereat jenny nimbly whirled, and met him with both hind hoofs. aside staggered duke, to stand a moment, glaring at her and rumbling; then he turned and stalked stiffly to the other end of the enclosure. jenny "hee-hawed" shrill and derisive, and kneeling down, rolled and kicked; scrambled up, shook herself, and began to nose about for husks.

"now they understand each other," remarked harry. "they've agreed to pull singly."

"say—are you fellows really going to pike's peak?" asked george. "with that team?"

"yes, sir-ee. we're in training, aren't we, terry?" responded harry.

"that's right. dad said if we'd find our own outfit we could strike out."

"we've got the fever, too, sort of, down at our house," confessed george. "that's what i rode up about. now i guess i'd better go back and tell the folks. maybe i can join you," he added, waxing excited.

"the more the merrier. that will make twenty-five thousand and three," laughed harry.

"if i can't, i'll be coming later," called back george.

"we'll locate a claim for you," promised terry, grandly—as if he and harry were already on the way.