"Bacon and eggs, my boy,
eggs! mind you, and Hudson's Bay biscuit and black strap. How's that?"
The boy, still lost in wonder, fell to with a great access of good
cheer, and made a hearty meal, while outside he could hear Jack
French's clear, cheery, commanding voice directing the packing of
his buckboard.
The packing of the buckboard was a business calling for some skill.
In the box seat were stowed away groceries and small parcels for
the ranch and for settlers along the trail. Upon the boards behind
the seat were loaded and roped securely, sides of pork, a sack of
flour, and various articles for domestic use. Last of all, and with
great care, French disposed a mysterious case packed with straw,
the contents of which were perfectly well known to the boy.
The buckboard packed, there followed the process of hitching up,
--a process at once spectacular and full of exciting incident, for
the trip to the Crossing was to the bronchos, unbroken even to the
halter, their first experience in the ways of civilized man. Wild,
timid and fiercely vicious, they were brought in from their night
pickets on a rope, holding back hard, plunging, snorting, in terror,
and were tied up securely in an out shed.
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