When Sam came with the milk next day, he was surprised to see all four children on the back steps. They were waiting for him.
“Well, well! Early birds!” he said. “Why did you get up so early?”
“We wanted to see you, Sam,” said Henry.
“Here I am, but I’m not much to look at,” laughed Sam.
“Yes you are, Sam,” said Benny. “I think you are a very fine looking man. And besides, we want to talk to you.”
“Wait until I feed the chickens, and I’ll be glad to sit down and talk.”
The children went with Sam to the chicken houses and watched him.
“We want to know just how you do things,” said Jessie. “So please show us.”
Sam was glad to show them how to feed the chickens, give them water, and get the eggs.
In a little while, they were all sitting on boxes in the big open door of the barn.
Henry spoke up, “Aunt Jane says she is going to give us this ranch.”
“Give you her ranch?” cried Sam. He could not believe his ears. “You are too young to own a ranch.”
“Mr. Pond says we aren’t, if you would be our boss,” said Benny.
“Mr. Pond?” asked Sam. “Did he come here?”
“No, but he wrote letters to Aunt Jane,” said Henry. “He knows about things like that, Aunt Jane says.”
“He would know. But I still can’t believe it.”
Sam shook his head. “Just the same,” he went on, “I’d like to have a chance to fix up this old place! Now, if we had some money, I could start a good egg business for you.”
Sam stopped and shook his head again. “But I still can’t believe it,” he said.
“You’ll just have to believe it, Sam,” said Henry. “Aunt Jane said the ranch is ours right now. All she has to do is sign some papers.”
Sam picked a blade of grass and chewed on it. He was upset at this strange news.
“What would we do after we got the egg business started?” asked Jessie.
“Well, I’d raise wheat. There are about five hundred acres on this ranch that would grow wheat.”
“How big is this ranch?” asked Henry.
“The fields go way over to the mountains. Your aunt owns all that land.”
“We never thought anything like this would happen when we came to see Aunt Jane,” said Jessie.
The children and Sam sat looking at the big ranch that would soon be theirs.
“There’s another surprise!” Sam said. “I’ve seen your Mystery Man!”
“Oh, where is he?” asked Jessie.
“He is still in town, but no one knows why. We never have strangers in Centerville, and everyone wonders why he is there.”
“Haven’t you any police in Centerville?” asked Henry. “I think this man ought to be watched.”
“Oh, no, Henry,” said Jessie quickly. “If you ever saw him, you wouldn’t think that!”
“Well, we never had a policeman here, anyway,” said Sam. “No need of one. But there is a sheriff in Stony Creek. That’s the next town. His name is Bates.”
“Look what’s coming!” cried Benny. “A car!”
“It’s Mr. Pond, sure as I live!” said Sam. “I guess this story of yours must be true.”
“Mr. Pond is certainly early,” said Jessie, laughing. “We haven’t had breakfast.”
Watch got to his feet and stood still, looking at the stranger. Then he began to wag his tail a very little.
“Good morning, Sam!” called Mr. Pond. He came slowly toward the barn.
Watch did not bark. He walked slowly toward the strange man, wagging his tail more and more.
“Well, hello. What’s your name?” Mr. Pond asked the dog. “Are you a good dog?”
Benny said, “His name is Watch, and he is a very good dog. But he almost always barks at strangers.”
“Well, see that you don’t bark at me, old boy,” said Mr. Pond. He patted Watch. Then he looked at the children with a nice smile.
“Your aunt sent for me,” he said. “Suppose we go in and get this business done. You come too, Sam. Miss Jane doesn’t like to wait, when she has made up her mind.”
Henry said, “Will you wait just a minute, Mr. Pond? We want to talk to you before we see Aunt Jane.”
Mr. Pond said, “I suppose you are Henry.”
“Yes, sir. I am. We’d love to have this ranch. But it’s all Aunt Jane has, and we don’t want to take it away from her. Do you understand?”
“That’s very fine,” said Mr. Pond, nodding. “I can fix that easily. I can add a line saying that the money you get from the ranch will be used to take care of your aunt as long as she lives. Is that what you mean?”
“We’ll feel better that way,” said Jessie. “Of course, we would do it anyway. But it’s nice to have it in writing.”
They walked to the house where Maggie met them at the door.
“I am glad to see you, Mr. Pond,” she said. “Jane can’t wait a minute when she wants anything. She keeps asking why you haven’t come.”
“It won’t take very long,” said Mr. Pond, with a nice smile for Maggie. “I have all the papers right here with me. I’ll just put in another line that Henry wants.”
As Mr. Pond promised, it did not take long. Aunt Jane wrote her name. The four children wrote their names. Sam wrote his. And Mr. Pond was last.
In ten minutes, the ranch was owned by the four Alden children. Sam Weeks was the manager.
“Isn’t it funny,” said Benny, “what you can do by just writing your name?”
Mr. Pond laughed. “It gave you children twelve hundred and eighty acres of land, and a big ranch house.”
“And a hut, too,” said Benny, “where someone has been staying.”
“What? What’s that?” asked Aunt Jane. “I didn’t know there was a hut on my land.”
“We didn’t want to worry you,” said Henry. “But we did find a hut in the woods. And it looks as if somebody built a fire there.”
“We didn’t see anyone, though,” said Jessie.
Mr. Pond looked very serious. Then he smiled and said, “I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about. Now, you eat your breakfast and let me talk to Sam.”
The two men went out. They stood by the car for a long time talking, while Jessie got breakfast. She would have been surprised if she had known what they were saying. She would have been excited, too. For they were not talking about the ranch, but about the man on the train and the hut in the woods.
Jessie fixed a breakfast tray and took it into her aunt’s room. This morning Jessie did not ask her aunt to eat. She just put the tray down in front of the little woman. Miss Alden ate bacon and toast and an egg without saying a cross word.
“Aunt Jane,” said Jessie, “You’ll never be sorry that you gave us your ranch. We love it. We will take care of it. We love you, too, and we will always take care of you, even after we go home.”
Aunt Jane sighed. No one had ever wanted to take care of her before. She looked very happy.
“I feel safe, now,” she said. “I know that my ranch will be taken care of by people who love it.”
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