six star ranch

THE PRAIRIE - AND MOONLIGHT (4)

There were callers at the ranch house, too.

Sometimes a cowboy from a neighboring ranch came to look after a lost pony, or to see if his cattle had strayed off the range through a broken fence.

Sometimes a hunter or trapper would stop for a chat on his way to or from Bolo.

Once Susie Billings in her khaki suit and cowboy hat came to spend the day; and once, on Sunday, Mr. Jones came to hold service again.

Much to the girls' disappointment, Quentina did not come with him. The mother's foot was better, Mr. Jones said, but the twins had come down with the whooping cough, and poor Quentina could not be spared to leave home. Sometimes a score of men and teams and cowboys with their strings of horses would pass on their way to a round-up; and once two huge prairie schooners "docked in the yard," as Tilly termed it; and their weary owners, at Mr. Hartley's invitation, stopped for a night's rest.

MINI-PAUSE

Spot the link!

A schooner is a sailing ship—but a prairie schooner traveled across land. A prairie schooner was a covered wagon. Its white canvas cover reminded people of a ship’s sail moving across a “sea” of grass. Now watch for the prairie schooners in the story! Why Is It Called a Prairie Schooner?