CHAPTER VI--A DINNER WITH THE NEIGHBORS
Escondido, the nearest town and post office to El Cajon Ranch, is aquaint little place with a decided Mexican atmosphere. Those Californiainhabitants whom we call, for convenience, "Mexicans," are not allnatives of Mexico, by any means. Most of them are a mixed breed derivedfrom the early Spanish settlers and the native Indian tribes--both alikepractically extinct in this locality--and have never stepped foot inMexican territory, although the boundary line is not far distant.Because the true Mexican is generally a similar admixture of Indian andSpaniard, it is customary to call these Californians by the sameappellation. The early Spaniards left a strong impress upon this state,and even in the newly settled districts the Spanish architectureappropriately prevails, as typical of a semi-tropical country which owedits first civilizing influences to old Spain.
The houses of Escondido are a queer mingling of modern bungalows andantique adobe dwellings. Even the business street shows many adobestructures. A quiet, dreamy little town, with a comfortable hotel andexcellent stores, it is much frequented by the wealthy ranchers in itsneighborhood.
After stopping at the post office, Arthur drove down a little sidestreet to a weather-beaten, unprepossessing building which bore the word"Restaurant" painted in dim white letters upon its one window. Here hehalted the machine.
"Oh," said Beth, drawing a long breath. "Is this one of your littlejokes, Arthur?"
"A joke? Didn't we come for luncheon, then?"
"We did, and I'm ravenous," said Patsy. "But you informed us that thereis a good hotel here, on the main street."
"So there is," admitted Arthur; "but it's like all hotels. Now, thisis--different. If you're hungry; if you want a treat--something out ofthe ordinary--just follow me."
Louise was laughing at their doubting expressions and this care-freelevity led them to obey their host's injunction. Then the dingy dooropened and out stepped a young fellow whom the girls decided must beeither a cowboy or a clever imitation of one.
He seemed very young--a mere boy--for all his stout little form. He wasbareheaded and a shock of light, tow-colored hair was in picturesquedisarray. A blue flannel shirt, rolled up at the sleeves, a pair of drabcorduroy trousers and rough shoes completed his attire. Pausingawkwardly in the doorway, he first flushed red and then advanced boldlyto shake Arthur's hand.
"Why, Weldon, this is an unexpected pleasure," he exclaimed in apleasant voice that belied his rude costume, for its tones were wellmodulated and cultured. "I've been trying to call you up for three days,but something is wrong with the line. How's baby?"
This last question was addressed to Louise, who shook the youth's handcordially.
"Baby is thriving finely," she reported, and then introduced her friendsto Mr. Rudolph Hahn, who, she explained, was one of their nearestneighbors.
"We almost crowd the Weldons," he said, "for our house is only fivemiles distant from theirs; so we've been getting quite chummy since theymoved to El Cajon. Helen--that's my wife, you know--is an humbleworshiper at the shrine of Miss Jane Weldon, as we all are, in fact."
"Your wife!" cried Patsy in surprise.
He laughed.
"You think I'm an infant, only fit to play with Jane," said he; "but Iassure you I could vote, if I wanted to--which I don't. I think, sir,"turning to Uncle John, "that my father knows you quite well."
"Why, surely you're not the son of Andy Hahn, the steel king?"
"I believe they do give him that royal title; but Dad is only a monarchin finance, and when he visits my ranch he's as much a boy as his son."
"It scarcely seems possible," declared Mr. Merrick, eyeing the roughcostume wonderingly but also with approval. "How long have you lived outhere?"
"Six years, sir. I'm an old inhabitant. Weldon, here, has only beenalive for six months."
"Alive?"
"Of course. One breathes, back east, but only lives in California."
During the laughter that followed this enthusiastic epigram Arthurushered the party into the quaint Spanish restaurant. The room was cleanand neat, despite the fact that the floor was strewn with sawdust andthe tables covered with white oilcloth. An anxious-eyed, dapper littleman with a foreign face and manner greeted them effusively and asked inbroken English their commands.
Arthur ordered the specialties of the house. "These friends, Castro, arefrom the far East, and I've told them of your famous cuisine. Don'tdisappoint them."
"May I join you?" asked Rudolph Hahn. "I wish I'd brought Nell overto-day; she'd have been delighted with this meeting. But we didn't knowyou were coming. That confounded telephone doesn't reach you at all."
"I'm going over to the office to see about that telephone," said Arthur."I believe I'll do the errand while Castro is preparing his compounds.I'm always uneasy when the telephone is out of order."
"You ought to be," said Rudolph, "with that blessed baby in the house.It might save you thirty precious minutes in getting a doctor."
"Does your line work?" asked Louise.
"Yes; it seems to get all connections but yours. So I imagine somethingis wrong with your phone, or near the house."
"I'll have them send a repair man out at once," said Arthur, anddeparted for the telephone office, accompanied by his fellow rancher.
While they were gone Louise told them something of young Hahn's history.He had eloped, at seventeen years of age, with his father'sstenographer, a charming girl of eighteen who belonged to one of thebest families in Washington. Old Hahn was at first furious andthreatened to disinherit the boy, but when he found the young bride'sfamily still more furious and preparing to annul the marriage on thegrounds of the groom's youth, the great financier's mood changed and hewhisked the pair off to California and bought for them ahalf-million-dollar ranch, where they had lived for six years a life ofunalloyed bliss. Having no children of their own, the Hahns were devotedto little Jane and it was Rudolph who had given the baby the sobriquetof "Toodlums." At almost any time, night or day, the Hahn automobile wasliable to arrive at El Cajon for a sight of the baby.
"Rudolph--we call him 'Dolph,' you know--has not a particle of businessinstinct," said Louise, "so he will never be able to take his father'splace in the financial world. And he runs his ranch so extravagantlythat it costs the pater a small fortune every year. Yet they areagreeable neighbors, artless and unconventional as children, and surelythe great Hahn fortune won't suffer much through their inroads."
When Arthur returned he brought with him still another neighboringranchman, an enormous individual fully six feet tall and broad inproportion, who fairly filled the doorway as he entered. This man wasabout thirty years of age, stern of feature and with shaggy brows thatoverhung a pair of peaceful blue eyes which ought to have been set inthe face of some child. This gave him a whimsical look that almostinvariably evoked a smile when anyone observed him for the first time.He walked with a vigorous, aggressive stride and handled his big bodywith consummate grace and ease. His bow, when Arthur introduced him, wasthat of an old world cavalier.
"Here is another of our good friends for you to know. He's our neighborat the north and is considered the most enterprising orange grower inall California," announced Weldon, with a chuckle that indicated he hadsaid something funny.
"Lemon," said the man, speaking in such a shrill, high-pitched tenorvoice that the sound was positively startling, coming from so massive achest.
"I meant lemon," Arthur hastened to say. "Permit me to introduce Mr.Bulwer Runyon, formerly of New York but now the pride of the Pacificcoast, where his superb oranges--"
"Lemons," piped the high, childish voice.
"Whose lemons are the sourest and--and--juiciest ever grown."
"What there are of them," added the man in a wailing tenor.
"We are highly honored to meet Mr. Bulwer Runyon," said the major,noticing that the girls were for once really embarrassed how to greetthis new acquaintance.
"Out here," remarked Dolph Hahn, with a grin, "we drop the handl
e to hisname and call him 'Bul Run' for short. Sounds sort of patriotic, youknow, and it's not inappropriate."
"You wrong me," said the big rancher, squeaking the words cheerfully butat the same time frowning in a way that might well have terrified apirate. "I'm not a bull and I don't run. It's enough exertion to walk.Therefore I ride. My new car is equipped with one of those remarkable--"
"Pardon me; we will not discuss your new car, if you please," saidArthur. "We wish to talk of agreeable things. The marvelous Castro isconcocting some of his mysterious dishes and we wish you to assist us injudging their merits."
"I shall be glad to, for I'm pitifully hungry," said the tenor voice. "Ihad breakfast at seven, you know--like a working man--and the ride overhere in my new six-cylinder machine, which has a wonderful--"
"Never mind the machine, please. Forget it, and try to be sociable,"begged Dolph.
"How is the baby, Mrs. Weldon?"
"Well and hearty, Bulwer," replied Louise. "Why haven't you been to seelittle Jane lately?"
"I heard you had company," said Mr. Runyon; "and the last time I came Istayed three days and forgot all about my ranch. I've made a will, Mrs.Weldon."
"A will! You're not going to die, I hope?"
"I join you in that hope, most fervently, for I'd hate to leave the newmachine and its--"
"Go on, Bulwer."
"But life is fleeting, and no one knows just when it'll get to the endof its fleet. Therefore, as I love the baby better than any other objecton earth--animate or inanimate--except--"
"Never mind your new car."
He sighed.
"Therefore, Mrs. Weldon, I've made Jane my heiress."
"Oh, Bul! Aren't you dreadfully in debt?"
"Yes'm."
"Is the place worth the mortgage?" inquired Arthur.
"Just about, although the money sharks don't think so. But all propertyout here is rapidly increasing in value," declared Runyon, earnestly,"so, if I can manage to hold on a while longer, Toodlums will inherita--a--several fine lemon trees, at least."
Uncle John was delighted with the big fellow with the small voice. Eventhe major clapped Bul Run on the shoulder and said the sentiment did himcredit, however big the mortgage might be.
By the time Castro brought in his first surprise--a delicious soup--ajovial and friendly party was gathered around the oilcloth board. Eventhe paper napkins could not dampen the joy of the occasion, or detractfrom the exquisite flavor of the broth.
The boyish Dolph bewailed anon the absence of his "Nell," who lovedCastro's cookery above everything else, while every endeavor of Mr.Runyon to explain the self-starter on his new car was so adroitly headedoff by his fellow ranchers that the poor fellow was in despair. The"lunch" turned out to be a seven course dinner and each courseintroduced such an enticing and unusual dish that every member of theparty became an audacious gormandizer. None of the girls--exceptLouise--had ever tasted such concoctions before, or might even guesswhat many of them were composed of; but all agreed with Patsy when sheenergetically asserted that "Castro out-cheffed both Rector and Sherry."
"If only he would have tablecloths and napkins, and decent rugs upon thefloor," added dainty Louise.
"Oh, that would ruin the charm of the place," protested Uncle John."Don't suggest such a horror to Castro, Louise; at least until after wehave returned to New York."
"I'll take you riding in my car," piped Runyon to Beth, who sat besidehim. "I don't have to crank it, you know; I just--"
"Have you sold your orange crop yet?" asked Arthur.
"Lemons, sir!" said the other reproachfully. And the laugh that followedagain prevented his explaining the self-starter.
The porch was shady and cool when they emerged from the feast room andArthur Weldon, as host, proposed they sit on the benches with theircoffee and cigars and have a social chat. But both Runyon and Hahnprotested this delay. They suggested, instead, that all ride back to ElCajon and play with the baby, and so earnest were they in this desirethat the proud young father and mother had not the grace to refuse.
Both men had their cars at the village garage and an hour later theprocession started. Beth riding beside "Bul Run" and Patsy accompanyingthe jolly "Dolph."
"We must stop and pick up Nell," said the latter, "for she'd be mad ashops if I went to see Toodlums without her."
"I don't wonder," replied Patsy. "Isn't my niece a dear baby?"
"Never was one born like her. She's the only woman I ever knew whorefuses to talk."
"She crows, though."
"To signify she agrees with everyone on every question; and her angelicsmile is so genuine and constant that it gets to your heart in spite ofall resistance."
"And she's so soft and mushy, as it were," continued Patsyenthusiastically; "but I suppose she'll outgrow that, in time."
Mrs. Helen Hahn, when the three automobiles drew up before her younghusband's handsome residence, promptly agreed to join Rudolph in a visitto the baby. She proved to be a retiring and rather shy young woman, butshe was very beautiful and her personality was most attractive. BothPatsy and Beth were delighted to find that Louise had so charming aneighbor, of nearly her own age.
Rudolph would not permit the party to proceed further until all hadpartaken of a refreshing glass of lemonade, and as this entailed more orless delay the sun was getting low as they traversed the five miles toEl Cajon, traveling slowly that they might enjoy the exquisite tintingsof the sky. Runyon, who was a bachelor, lived a few miles the other sideof Arthur's ranch. All three ranches had at one time been part of theSpanish grant to the Cristovals, and while Arthur now possessed the oldmansion, the greatest number of acres had been acquired by Rudolph Hahn,who had preferred to build for himself and his bride a more modernresidence.