CHAPTER VI.
PREPARATIONS FOR DEPARTURE.
"Randy Portney!" came from the lips of the boy addressed, as he turned to stare at the person who had called out his name. "And Earl, too! Where—where did you come from?"
"From Basco, of course," returned Randy. "How did you get away out here?"
"I—I came out on a train from Chicago," stammered Fred Dobson, but he did not add that the train had been a freight, and that the stolen ride had been both uncomfortable and full of peril.
"We met your father in Boston," put in Earl. "He said if we should ever run across you to tell you to come home."
"I'm not going back," was the reply of the squire's son. "I came out here to make my fortune."
"I'm afraid you'll find it rather hard work," ventured Randy, and he glanced at Fred's shabby suit. Around Basco the youth had dressed better than any one else.
"I've been playing in hard luck lately," was the
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