April 17, 2025 • 10 mins
In this closing volume of the Ranch Girls series, romance takes center stage as the four girls return to Rainbow Ranch. Familiar faces and new adventures lead to heartfelt conclusions.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. He visited
to Rainbow Mine two days later. As things were once
more in working order at the Rainbow Mine, Ralph Merritt
suggested that Jim colderbring Ruth and the girls and Frank
Kent down to see how things were going, and soon
after luncheon the little party started. A trip to the
(00:22):
mine was actually like an expedition to a foreign place.
So long a time had passed since the family been
allowed in its vicinity, and so of course everybody was
in especially fine spirits. It was well to have Rainbow
Mine running again, and a relief to find that the
striking miners had yielded to circumstances so much more readily
(00:43):
and peaceably than their first threats suggested. They had influenced
the mine workers near at home to have nothing to
do with Ralph Merritt's management. Nevertheless, since the arrival of
his new force, the atmosphere about Rainbow Ranch had remained
serene and untroubled, so that evidently the strikers were not
to be heard from. True, a single ugly letter had
(01:06):
mysteriously appeared at daylight this morning, left before the door
of the new foreman, But except for mentioning it to Ralph,
the men had made no further attention to it, and Ralph,
in the interest and excitement of getting things into working
order at the mine, had given it less consideration than
it deserved. For the annoyance was not so much in
(01:26):
the threat of trouble that the letter contained as in
the puzzle of its being found at the quarters built
for the Rainbow mine workers, which were not far from
the old ranch house. No outsider had been seen anywhere
about the great ranch, either on the preceding day or night.
Jim and Frank and Jack walked on ahead in order
(01:47):
that they might have a few moments conversation with the
new miners, for no one had yet gone down the
shaft into the mine. Before lunch, they had been going
over the machinery and seeing that the elevators for the
men and for the oar in good working order. Now
Ralph Merritt was insisting that he be lowered first into
the mining pit, and that his new men, with their
(02:08):
hammers and chisels and other mining paraphernalia, follow after him. However,
observing that Ruth and the other girls were coming nearer,
he went forward to speak to them. Not since the
evening when he and his friend had taken dinner at
the Rainbow Lodge had he seen any one of them.
We are awfully pleased, Ralph, that affairs are straightening out
(02:29):
so comfortably, Ruth began. I think we owe you a
vote of thanks. She had not known what had been
making Ralph merrit so unlike himself for the past few months,
since neither Jim nor Jean had seen fit to confide
Ralph's weakness to any one else, but she did recognize
the change for the better in him to day. She
had never before thought of Ralph as especially handsome, yet
(02:52):
he looked so fine and capable. His expression was so
full of energy and ability that instinctively, Ruth, however, hand
go in and win. Ralph, She added, half laughing and
half serious. I don't know just what it is that
you are fighting for, except to make more money for
the girls who don't deserve it. But whatever it is,
(03:13):
I'm going to put my money on you, even though
betting is against my Puritan traditions, for you'll win in
the end. Why, Ralph, you look like the famous statue
of the minute Man near Boston, except that you have
not his gun on knapsack. You're just as typical an
American fighter and just as ready for action, Crimsoning like
(03:33):
a small boy at unexpected praise, Ralph crushed Bruce's hand
in reply until she had to repress a cry of pain.
I'm not worth the powder to blow me up if
you really knew the truth about me, missus Colter. But
just the same, any kind of fellow likes a compliment
now and then, and I don't remember when I have
had one, he returned. A movement of Jean's graceful shoulders
(03:57):
in a single glance from her two rear dark eyes
made the young man swing half way round to face her.
You are not disputing that statement, are you, he demanded.
Why shouldn't a fellow like a compliment as well as
a girl. Jean slipped off the big pink straw hat
she had been wearing, and with a velvet ribbon about it,
swung it on her arm like a basket. Oh, I
(04:20):
am not disputing that part of your statement, if you please, sir,
she answered, I am only regretting that you have forgotten
all the other compliments which you have received in the past.
For when I remember how many I have bestowed upon
you lately. It is discouraging to think what a failure
I have been in trying to make myself agreeable. Just
why recently? Indeed, ever since their conversation together that afternoon
(04:44):
on the veranda at the lodge and later here in
the shadow of one of the great rocks, Jean Bruce
had been trying to make herself particularly a rear bol
to Ralph merrit and to win back his former attention
in friendship. The girl herself did not know. On her
return from Europe after a few months at home, she
had certainly discouraged Ralph's devotion, feeling instinctively that his affection
(05:08):
for her had now become more serious than in the past,
when he had looked upon her as only a half
grown girl. For Jean did not wish to be unkind
or unfair, and assuredly Ralph had none of the things
to offer her which she desired. Perhaps because of this,
she had talked more of wealth and of worldly ambition
(05:28):
than she might otherwise have done, and Ralph had either
understood her intention or else had recovered from his former
affection for in the past few months, during his foolish
and futdal struggle for money through speculations, he had entirely
ceased making love to her or treating her in any
way differently from the other girls. At heart, Jean was
(05:49):
essentially a coquette, one of those girls and women who,
having once gained a man's admiration, cannot bear to find
themselves losing it. And surely Jack and Freda and Olive
had often accused her of this vice. Now, knowing that
Ralph cared at present more for the successful working of
the Rainbow mine than for anything else, Jean pointed, with
(06:12):
apparently the deepest concern toward the group of new men.
Tell us about the new miners, won't you please, Ralph?
She asked their names and where some of them came from?
Anything you know? They are a splendid looking lout of fellows.
But at this moment Frieda interrupted the conversation to ask
a question, who is that thin man over there all
(06:34):
by himself in the blue overalls and old hat. Why
isn't he with the others who are being introduced to
Jim and Frank and Jack. I wonder if Jim knows him? Then,
quite unaccountably, Ralph Merritt appeared extremely uncomfortable see here of Frida.
I might as well tell you, for you would be
sure to find out anyhow if I didn't. That fellow
(06:56):
isn't one of the new miners. He is Russell, the
friend I brought up to the lodge with me to
dinner the other night, you see. But Frieda's eyes were wiping,
and in truth, the other three women seemed almost equally surprised.
But I thought Professor Russell had gone away from Rainbow Ranch.
Frita protested why he told us good bye the night
(07:18):
he left, and said that he would have to be
off so early the next morning that he could not
see any of us again. Ralph nodded, I know he
conceded in some embarrassment, and you're still to think he
has gone. If you please, don't any one of you
go near enough to Russell to speak to him, or
he will properly die of confusion before your eyes. I
(07:40):
am afraid I forgot he was round, and he is
under the impression that he is safely disguised. You see,
the truth of the matter is this. When Russell got
me away from the lodge the other night, there is
nothing he did not say to me for having taken
him I'm prepared to a place where he had to
meet four girls. He declared it nearly killed him, and
(08:02):
he had every intention of sneaking away from the ranch
house the next morning on foot rather than suffer the
chance of meeting any one of you again. He is
an awful ass, but just the same he is a
tremendously clever fellow. And I was awfully anxious to show
him the mind, and he wanted to see it almost
as much. So I persuaded him that he could just
(08:22):
stay on at the ranch house with me for a
few days, letting you believe he had disappeared until he
saw how things down here looked and worked. I assured
him no one of you ever came near the men's quarters.
But now he is hanging around the mine waiting for me.
As I promised to take him down into the pit
as soon as we start work. Don't scare him to
(08:43):
death beforehand. Ruth and Jean and Olive laughed, and Olive
said sympathetically, poor fellow. I can feel for him. I
used to feel so shy that nearly all strangers made
me wretched. But I don't see just why he should
be so special severe upon girls because he is a goose.
(09:04):
Frida returned so sententiously that every one else laughed, so
plainly was she offended at her own failure to charm
their strange guest. A night or so before it was
time for Ralph to say good bye, arrangements at the
pit shaft had been made so that the first elevator
could be lowered into it. He then waved his hand
(09:24):
in farewell to his friends as he and the new
foreman of the mine, and the odd looking figure of
Henry Russell, climbed on to the elevator. I shall go
away before they come up again, so that foolish fellow
won't even have to look at me, Frida remarked scornfully,
as without any hitch or delay, the car slowly disappeared
(09:44):
into the bowels of the earth. End of Chapter thirteen,
read by Nancy Cochwin Gergen Gilbert, Arizona, February eighth, two thousand,
twenty three.
This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. He visited
to Rainbow Mine two days later. As things were once
more in working order at the Rainbow Mine, Ralph Merritt
suggested that Jim colderbring Ruth and the girls and Frank
Kent down to see how things were going, and soon
after luncheon the little party started. A trip to the
(00:22):
mine was actually like an expedition to a foreign place.
So long a time had passed since the family been
allowed in its vicinity, and so of course everybody was
in especially fine spirits. It was well to have Rainbow
Mine running again, and a relief to find that the
striking miners had yielded to circumstances so much more readily
(00:43):
and peaceably than their first threats suggested. They had influenced
the mine workers near at home to have nothing to
do with Ralph Merritt's management. Nevertheless, since the arrival of
his new force, the atmosphere about Rainbow Ranch had remained
serene and untroubled, so that evidently the strikers were not
to be heard from. True, a single ugly letter had
(01:06):
mysteriously appeared at daylight this morning, left before the door
of the new foreman, But except for mentioning it to Ralph,
the men had made no further attention to it, and Ralph,
in the interest and excitement of getting things into working
order at the mine, had given it less consideration than
it deserved. For the annoyance was not so much in
(01:26):
the threat of trouble that the letter contained as in
the puzzle of its being found at the quarters built
for the Rainbow mine workers, which were not far from
the old ranch house. No outsider had been seen anywhere
about the great ranch, either on the preceding day or night.
Jim and Frank and Jack walked on ahead in order
(01:47):
that they might have a few moments conversation with the
new miners, for no one had yet gone down the
shaft into the mine. Before lunch, they had been going
over the machinery and seeing that the elevators for the
men and for the oar in good working order. Now
Ralph Merritt was insisting that he be lowered first into
the mining pit, and that his new men, with their
(02:08):
hammers and chisels and other mining paraphernalia, follow after him. However,
observing that Ruth and the other girls were coming nearer,
he went forward to speak to them. Not since the
evening when he and his friend had taken dinner at
the Rainbow Lodge had he seen any one of them.
We are awfully pleased, Ralph, that affairs are straightening out
(02:29):
so comfortably, Ruth began. I think we owe you a
vote of thanks. She had not known what had been
making Ralph merrit so unlike himself for the past few months,
since neither Jim nor Jean had seen fit to confide
Ralph's weakness to any one else, but she did recognize
the change for the better in him to day. She
had never before thought of Ralph as especially handsome, yet
(02:52):
he looked so fine and capable. His expression was so
full of energy and ability that instinctively, Ruth, however, hand
go in and win. Ralph, She added, half laughing and
half serious. I don't know just what it is that
you are fighting for, except to make more money for
the girls who don't deserve it. But whatever it is,
(03:13):
I'm going to put my money on you, even though
betting is against my Puritan traditions, for you'll win in
the end. Why, Ralph, you look like the famous statue
of the minute Man near Boston, except that you have
not his gun on knapsack. You're just as typical an
American fighter and just as ready for action, Crimsoning like
(03:33):
a small boy at unexpected praise, Ralph crushed Bruce's hand
in reply until she had to repress a cry of pain.
I'm not worth the powder to blow me up if
you really knew the truth about me, missus Colter. But
just the same, any kind of fellow likes a compliment
now and then, and I don't remember when I have
had one, he returned. A movement of Jean's graceful shoulders
(03:57):
in a single glance from her two rear dark eyes
made the young man swing half way round to face her.
You are not disputing that statement, are you, he demanded.
Why shouldn't a fellow like a compliment as well as
a girl. Jean slipped off the big pink straw hat
she had been wearing, and with a velvet ribbon about it,
swung it on her arm like a basket. Oh, I
(04:20):
am not disputing that part of your statement, if you please, sir,
she answered, I am only regretting that you have forgotten
all the other compliments which you have received in the past.
For when I remember how many I have bestowed upon
you lately. It is discouraging to think what a failure
I have been in trying to make myself agreeable. Just
why recently? Indeed, ever since their conversation together that afternoon
(04:44):
on the veranda at the lodge and later here in
the shadow of one of the great rocks, Jean Bruce
had been trying to make herself particularly a rear bol
to Ralph merrit and to win back his former attention
in friendship. The girl herself did not know. On her
return from Europe after a few months at home, she
had certainly discouraged Ralph's devotion, feeling instinctively that his affection
(05:08):
for her had now become more serious than in the past,
when he had looked upon her as only a half
grown girl. For Jean did not wish to be unkind
or unfair, and assuredly Ralph had none of the things
to offer her which she desired. Perhaps because of this,
she had talked more of wealth and of worldly ambition
(05:28):
than she might otherwise have done, and Ralph had either
understood her intention or else had recovered from his former
affection for in the past few months, during his foolish
and futdal struggle for money through speculations, he had entirely
ceased making love to her or treating her in any
way differently from the other girls. At heart, Jean was
(05:49):
essentially a coquette, one of those girls and women who,
having once gained a man's admiration, cannot bear to find
themselves losing it. And surely Jack and Freda and Olive
had often accused her of this vice. Now, knowing that
Ralph cared at present more for the successful working of
the Rainbow mine than for anything else, Jean pointed, with
(06:12):
apparently the deepest concern toward the group of new men.
Tell us about the new miners, won't you please, Ralph?
She asked their names and where some of them came from?
Anything you know? They are a splendid looking lout of fellows.
But at this moment Frieda interrupted the conversation to ask
a question, who is that thin man over there all
(06:34):
by himself in the blue overalls and old hat. Why
isn't he with the others who are being introduced to
Jim and Frank and Jack. I wonder if Jim knows him? Then,
quite unaccountably, Ralph Merritt appeared extremely uncomfortable see here of Frida.
I might as well tell you, for you would be
sure to find out anyhow if I didn't. That fellow
(06:56):
isn't one of the new miners. He is Russell, the
friend I brought up to the lodge with me to
dinner the other night, you see. But Frieda's eyes were wiping,
and in truth, the other three women seemed almost equally surprised.
But I thought Professor Russell had gone away from Rainbow Ranch.
Frita protested why he told us good bye the night
(07:18):
he left, and said that he would have to be
off so early the next morning that he could not
see any of us again. Ralph nodded, I know he
conceded in some embarrassment, and you're still to think he
has gone. If you please, don't any one of you
go near enough to Russell to speak to him, or
he will properly die of confusion before your eyes. I
(07:40):
am afraid I forgot he was round, and he is
under the impression that he is safely disguised. You see,
the truth of the matter is this. When Russell got
me away from the lodge the other night, there is
nothing he did not say to me for having taken
him I'm prepared to a place where he had to
meet four girls. He declared it nearly killed him, and
(08:02):
he had every intention of sneaking away from the ranch
house the next morning on foot rather than suffer the
chance of meeting any one of you again. He is
an awful ass, but just the same he is a
tremendously clever fellow. And I was awfully anxious to show
him the mind, and he wanted to see it almost
as much. So I persuaded him that he could just
(08:22):
stay on at the ranch house with me for a
few days, letting you believe he had disappeared until he
saw how things down here looked and worked. I assured
him no one of you ever came near the men's quarters.
But now he is hanging around the mine waiting for me.
As I promised to take him down into the pit
as soon as we start work. Don't scare him to
(08:43):
death beforehand. Ruth and Jean and Olive laughed, and Olive
said sympathetically, poor fellow. I can feel for him. I
used to feel so shy that nearly all strangers made
me wretched. But I don't see just why he should
be so special severe upon girls because he is a goose.
(09:04):
Frida returned so sententiously that every one else laughed, so
plainly was she offended at her own failure to charm
their strange guest. A night or so before it was
time for Ralph to say good bye, arrangements at the
pit shaft had been made so that the first elevator
could be lowered into it. He then waved his hand
(09:24):
in farewell to his friends as he and the new
foreman of the mine, and the odd looking figure of
Henry Russell, climbed on to the elevator. I shall go
away before they come up again, so that foolish fellow
won't even have to look at me, Frida remarked scornfully,
as without any hitch or delay, the car slowly disappeared
(09:44):
into the bowels of the earth. End of Chapter thirteen,
read by Nancy Cochwin Gergen Gilbert, Arizona, February eighth, two thousand,
twenty three.
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