Boo-oo-oo-ng!

"Horn ob Gabrul! what am dat?"

Toots gasped the words, as he sat up and stared about him in the semi-darkness.

Boo-oo-oo-ng! boo-oo-oo-ng!

"Wek up, chilluns!" gurgled the colored boy. "De crack ob doom hab come, an' ole Gabrul am tootin' ob his horn fo' suah!"

"Shimminy Gristmas!" grunted Hans, as he sat up. "Vos dot a Dexas cyclones vot you hear?"

"Gol darned if it don't saound like a kaow bellein'!" said Ephraim Gallup; "only a heap laouder."

"Is it a stameboat we're on, Oi dunno!" murmured Barney, sleepily. "It's th' foghorn Oi hear."

Rap! rap! rap! Rapp-er-ty-bang!

Some one was hammering on the door, and a voice called:

"Turn out-turn out for breakfast!"

"That was the breakfast horn, boys!" laughed Frank. "We must get a hustle on, for this is the day of the great tournament on Rodney's Ranch, and we are here for sport. Ye have been promised dead loads of fun. Up, fellows-up!"

The boys scrambled to their feet. None of them had fully undressed, and they had been sleeping in blankets spread on the floor of a large room in the ranch house.

Through the open window, which was on the eastern side of the house, a pink glow could be seen in the sky. In a moment, as it seemed, the rim of the sun came into view, and morning had dawned with startling suddenness.

"Oh, thunder!" grumbled Bruce. "The night was not half long enough. I'd like to sleep about five hours longer."

"That's natural with you," chuckled Harry, as he drew on his shoes. "You are always tired."

"Can't help it," admitted the big fellow. "I was born that way. This sporting tour is killing me. How'd we happen to know anything about this cowboy racket, anyway?"

"Oh, I'm onto all that's going," smiled Frank.

"That's right enough," agreed Bruce; "but you didn't know a thing about it at noon yesterday, and we were on our way eastward over the Texas and Pacific. None of us expected to stop short of Fort Worth, but, of a sudden, you yank us off the train at Stanton and run us out here to this ranch, without a word of explanation. When we arrive here we are received with open arms and made to feel as if we had been expected.

I'll acknowledge that I don't understand it."

"Your eyes were not sharp, old fellow," said Frank. "Had they been, you would have seen that we were invited here."

"By whom?"

"The daughter of the man who owns this ranch."

"Not the girl Miss Burrage met on the train?"

"Yes."

"How did Miss Burrage happen to know her?"

"The rancher's daughter went abroad last winter, and they became acquainted in Italy."

"And so she invited Inza here when they met by accident on the train. Is that the way of it?"

"Sure. Inza told her she and Miss Gale were traveling with us, and Miss Rodney made the invitation include the whole of us. I was glad enough to accept it when I learned there was to be a regular cowboy tournament here to-day, to end to-night with a dance."

"That's all right," said Bruce, "if you'll let us be spectators. I don't see any sense in getting out and trying to beat the punchers at their own tricks."

"Don't let that worry you. I am not chump enough to try to do any trick we'll not have an even show at. We'll see a bit of cowboy sport here, and our tour eastward would not have been complete without it."

"That's so! That's so!"

The others of the party were very enthusiastic over the prospect of a day of sport on a Texas cattle ranch.

"All right," grunted Bruce. "You fellows may hoe in and have all the sport you like. I'll keep still and look on."

It did not take the boys long to dress and prepare for breakfast.

Bill Rodney, the rancher, greeted the boys heartily, his free and easy manner making them feel that they were quite welcome.

"Sorry I had to stow you chaps the way I did, but every room in the old ranch was filled," he said. "If I'd known in advance that you were comin', I'd had better accommerdations for yer."

"We couldn't have asked for anything better," declared Frank, pleasantly. "I didn't know but you might think it an imposition for us to come the way we did, as--"

"My little gal asked ye, didn't she? Well, that settled it. What Sadie does goes on this ranch, you bet! If she invited the whole of Texas here, I'd do my best to entertain 'em. There'll be a few people here before night, and I want you chaps to sail right in and have the best time you can. Come on to breakfast."

They entered the big, low dining-room, trooping in after their host.

There were seats at the long table for twelve persons, and Toots had asked the privilege of showing them how a real "cullud ge'man" could wait on the party. This privilege had been granted, and he had disappeared to the kitchen.

Inza and Miss Abigail Gale were on hand to greet the boys, and then, one by one, the lads were introduced to a very pretty girl in a morning gown.

This was Sadie Rodney, the rancher's daughter, with whom Inza had become acquainted in Italy.

"Goodness!" exclaimed Miss Abigail; "what a crowd of men! It really makes me feel timid!"

She did not look at all timid, for she had a face that was almost masculine in its sternness, and she never seemed fl.u.s.tered.

The rancher sat at the head of the table, with Miss Rodney at the foot, having Miss Abigail and Inza on either hand.

Frank had a seat near Inza, while Hans was placed beside the spinster.

Then Toots appeared in a white ap.r.o.n, and breakfast began, with the morning sunshine streaming into the windows and lighting a pleasant scene.

"Now I want you to make yourselves right at home," said the rancher, sincerely. "We ain't able to put on so much style here as my gal has been accustomed to away at boarding school and travelin' abroad, but we have fodder that's fit to eat. Now, don't blush and shake your head at me, Sadie. It's all right. The boys don't expect me to put on frills, and I'd make a mess of it if I did."

He laughed heartily, and the girl blushed all the more.