The Pony Rider Boys in the Rockies; Or, The Secret of the Lost Claim

by Frank Gee Patchin

  CHAPTER IV

  A SURPRISE, INDEED

  That makes fifteen dollars, mother. Tad Butler, with flashing eyes andheightened color, laid two crisp new one dollar bills in his mother'shand, and nervously brushed a shock of hair from his forehead.

  "My, that car was a big one," he continued. "Jinny couldn't quite pullit, so I had to get behind and push. But we made it."

  Mrs. Butler patted the disordered hair affectionately.

  "Need a comb, don't I?" he grinned. "Now, I am going to tell you aboutthe surprise I promised you, Mother. I've pieced together that oldbroken down buggy out in the barn, and, when I can afford to buy somepaint for it, you will have a carriage to ride in. You needn't beashamed of it, for it's a dandy. Nobody will know it from a newone. Then, when I am at school, you and Jinny can go out for a driveevery day. Come out and look at it, Mother, please."