15 - Ranch Girls at Home Again by Margaret Vandercook

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.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. An unfortunate discussion.
But why won't either Jean or Free to come with us,
Olive asked a week after the unfortunate accident at the
Rainbow mine, with a surprise that she did not pretend
to hide. Jack Ralston turned to look at her friend.
I thought I had explained to you, dear, She protested that.

(00:22):
Jean said she felt it her duty to write a
long letter of sympathy to the Princess Cologna. You see,
she only heard yesterday of the death of the old prince,
and though she does not feel that the princess will
be exactly inconsolable, he was so much older, and they
thought so differently about many things. Yet, of course Jean

(00:42):
has to say that she is dreadfully sorry, and is
there anything she can do, and all that, It would
not surprise me in the least if the princess came
west and made us a visit. I told Jane to
invite her. She was born in this part of the country,
and I rather think she will be glad to get
away from Rome. While is in heavy morning. It is

(01:02):
a pity she did not have a son isn't it.
The title will have to go to her husband's nephew,
Giovanni Cologna. You remember he and Jean were such good friends.
But although the two girls were walking along side by
side toward the stables back of the Rainbow Lodge, it
was plain that Olivan made her was not listening with
any real interest to what her companion was saying. Then

(01:26):
why want free to ride with us? She expostulated. I
am sure it has been ages since before girls had
a long ride together, and it is a wonderfully beautiful morning.
What has become a frieda lately? Anyhow? I almost never
see her except at meal times. With a laugh, Jack
Ralston laid her arm lightly across her friend's shoulder. Poor

(01:46):
olive to have only my poor society. But dear, we
have not had but one other ride together, the one
that we took to the Indian village soon after your arrival.
Does it bore you so dreadfully to have only me
as a companion? You must not come with me? Then,
simply because I asked you, I can get one of
the boys to ride over the ranch with me. Perhaps

(02:08):
Carlos would be willing to do that much. I don't
know what has happened to Frida, but the child is
making a perfect martyr of herself. That poor young professor
seems not to wish anyone to do things for him
except Frieda or Ruth. You know, he perfectly hates the
sight of the rest of us, and as Ruth is
so busy with Jimmikins and the house, she can't nurse

(02:30):
him a great deal. So he just lies in his room,
which is Frida's, by the way, and moans and groans
until Frida comes to amuse him. What do you think
I beheld our baby doing the other day, reading him
some dreadful article on Egyptian hieroglyphics from a learning magazine.
She hadn't the faintest idea what it was all about,
and she looked like a big yellow butterfly in prison

(02:52):
in a dark place. I am sure, I am awfully
sorry the erudite young professor had to break his right
leg in the depth of ram Bahman, and that we
have him on our hands for six weeks or more.
Almost as sorry as he is, I expect. Still, I
am not going to have Frida sacrificing herself to him
much longer. I mean to tell her to borrow that

(03:13):
it is quite unnecessary. He's a dreadfully spoiled person. But
wouldn't Frank have enjoyed this long ride with you this morning,
Jack Olive repeated, still refusing to take any interest in
what Jack was saying, but instead clinging obstinately to her
own train of thought. I am sure Jim would have
let Frank off from the trip with him if he

(03:35):
had known that you had to take this long ride
to hunt the lost mayors and colts. Jack nodded, but
her expression was hurt and puzzled. Of course, Jim would
have let Frank come with me, or would have come
himself if he had known of the trouble. But both
Jim and Frank were way before I heard of the loss. Besides,
it does not make any difference, for I am sure

(03:57):
I have ridden over Rainbow Ranch looking up our lost
horses and cattle ever since I was fourteen or fifteen
years old. But if you think the ride may be
too long for you, please don't come, Olive. I shan't
be in the least hurt if you don't feel like it,
Kiss me good bye and go back to the lodge.
Ruth will be overjoyed at your return, and I'll be

(04:18):
perfect girl right with Carlos. But although Jack Ralston spoke
so cheerfully and in such good temper, she was not
truthful in pretending that Olive's present attitude was not hurting
her feelings. The truth is that she felt that Olive
had not been exactly the same toward her, since Frank
can't s arrival, And if Jack had needed any further

(04:39):
proof to add to her past conviction, this was sufficient.
Always before, Olive had loved her better than any one else,
even more than she did her friend, Miss Winthrop, and
Jack was certain that she had done nothing to make
all of angry or to wound her. She herself was
so utterly unchanged in her own affection. What a hopeless,
horrid puzzle a little was, And of all persons, was

(05:03):
not Jack and Ralston the most inadequate for straightening it out.
She had no methods but those of frankness. If only
she dared ask Olive how she actually felt. But Olive
would hardly have been able to explain to her, because
in these last few weeks, the girl had not understood herself.
Before Frank Kent's coming to the Rainbow lodge, she had

(05:24):
been sure of having entirely recovered from her past fancy
for him, had she not fought it all out in
those final weeks in England, when she had realized the
extent of Frank's devotion to Jack and the impossibility of
her own position. And now well, whatever turn events might take,
oliveh felt the fault would be largely Jacquelin's. For why

(05:45):
did Jack fail to return Frank's affection? Why did she
continue to treat him with such disregard and yet keep
him lingering on at the ranch? Really, Olive wondered if
her own emotion was not now one more of sympathy
for Frank and impatient with Jack. Surely Frank was too
fine a fellow, from every point of view to be
trifled with, and no one would ever have suspected Jack

(06:08):
of being a girl such a character. Olive again looked
closely into her friend's face, and what she saw there
for the moment disarmed her. Of course, she was more
angry with Jack than she had ever dreamed it possible
that she could be, And yet she had not meant
to wound her over this small question of their having
another ride together to search for lost stock. Perhaps this

(06:32):
very morning Jack might be in a humor to confide
in her the cause of her mysterious conduct. She must
have some vital reason. It was so unlike her to
be cruel or not to know her own mind. Of course,
I won't go back to the lodge, Olive finally protested,
for I do wish the ride immensely. It was only
that I thought it might be a pleasure for the

(06:52):
others too. And to this half hearted apology, the other
girl made no reply. A few moments later, having arrived
at the beautiful new stables built within the past year
at the Rainbow Ranch, Jack and all had found their
two horses already saddled, and a little while after finding
the Indian boy at Carlos at his own tendor, the

(07:14):
three of them mounted and rode away. Now riding with
Jack and Ralston over their great thousand acre Wyoming ranch
to seek for cattle or horses that had gone astray
was apt to be fairly strenuous, and no one unaccustomed
to riding should ever have thought of attempting it. Yet
Olive had done the same thing dozens of times in

(07:35):
the years when she had first come delivered Rainbow ranch,
and on starting out this morning, had no idea of
growing tired before her friend did. The first part of
their trip was easy enough, for although Jack cantered along
fairly rapidly, she made no detours, only keeping a careful
lookout in all possible directions, for she had no thought

(07:56):
of finding the lost mares and their young colts anywhere
within the meaning imediate neighborhood of that part of the ranch,
which was apt to be ridden over oftener than the
more distant fields, and Carlos had been asked to make
the few necessary excursions whenever rise in the landscape or
a group of trees or rocks made a possible hiding place.
But a short time before midday, the three riders came

(08:19):
to a distant part of Rainbow Creek, where the character
of the ranch land changed, and where there were frequent
hummocks and sand hills and great boulders split into natural
caves and canyons. This part of the creek had no
connection with the Rainbow Mine, but was sometimes used in
an emergency as a drinking place for the stock, although

(08:40):
the stock was not supposed to wander here without guidance,
as there were many ravines and dangerous places, where especially
the young cattle or coals were apt to be injured. Here,
the riding under Jacqueline's guidance became more difficult and fatiguing,
for not only did she leave the ordinary beaten trail,
but she made her horse pick his way along what

(09:02):
appeared an utterly impossible track, over rocks in the deep
blue sand, now following a partly dry creek bed, and
occasionally splashing through water so deep that it reached almost
to the writing boots. For another hour, Olive followed, not
realizing her own exhaustion, but wondering why her breath should
be coming in such short gasps, and why her back

(09:24):
should ache in such an unaccountable fashion. Curiously enough, it
was Carlos who first discovered Olive's predicament. For the past
ten minutes, he had been writing as clothes by her side,
as was possible under the conditions, not speaking a single word,
but examining her closely with his small, burning black eyes,
and when Olive, without being conscious of it, turned to

(09:47):
shade wider even then, he did not speak to her,
but instead rode silently forward until he was opposite Jack.
All women have not the strength of men. He began sullenly.
The girl's stared at him in amazement, not guessing what
he meant. Then Carlos grew angry, and his words came
faster than usual. If you think more of lost animals

(10:09):
than of her, whom you call friend, it is well
that you should go on until she falls? Have I
not often heard? And now see with my own eyes
that there are squaws who care nothing for their own sex.
Half rising in her saddle, Jack and Ralston lifted her
riding whip, and almost before realizing what she was doing,

(10:29):
she had struck the Indian boys sharply across his lean shoulders.
You are not to speak of American women as squaws, Carlos.
How often have mister Colter and I told you that
you were never to do it? And moreover, you are
to understand that I will not endure your impertinence. What
has happened to put you in so evil a mood?
Jack asked more quietly, now sorry for her own loss

(10:52):
of temper, for she realized in a small measure just
how keenly an Indian feels the degradation of a blow
from an enemy unless he is able to return it
with increased vengeance, and Jack had no illusion about Carlos's
attitude toward her. He had turned a kind of ashy
white under his brownze skin, and his body had quivered
once and then become perfectly tense, not from the force

(11:15):
of the blow, which had not cut deeply, but from
his own passion. However, before either the boy or Jack
could speak again, Olive had ridden up between them, grieved
and frightened over her friend's action and wondering what could
have occurred between them in so short a time. Jack, Dear,
what has Carloff's done? Or said? She demanded quickly, it

(11:37):
was not fair of you to strike him, knowing that
he could make no defense. Instantly, Jack and Ralston felt
her face flushing with a swift rushing of hot blood
to her cheeks, until her temples pounded and her eyes flashed.
Never before in their entire acquaintance had she remembered being
really angry with Olive. Yet had she not borne a

(11:59):
good deal already that day, and for several weeks beforehand,
in Olive's indifference and critical air towards her. Now, in
this trouble she had just had with Carlos, Olive was
immediately taking the Indian Boy's part, without even asking her
for an explanation. Nevertheless, a second glance at her friend's
face made her instantly control her own emotion, appreciating at

(12:23):
the same time what Carlos's impertinent speech to her had meant.
You are tired, Olive, I am so sorry, she replied
at once, instead of answering the other girl's question. I
did not realize how hard we had been riding, or
that you are out of practice after a year in
New York, while the rest of us were here at
the ranch. We'll have luncheon and rest, and then maybe

(12:45):
you'll feel better. Jack nodded curtly to Carlos to assist
Olive in dismounting while she slid off her own horse
without help. Then she put her arm about the other girl,
leaving the boy to leave the three horses. In a
little while, she and Olive had found a flat rock
shadowed by a cliff from the sun. Here, Olive sat
down while Jack opened up their luncheon boxes and made

(13:08):
the necessary preparations. But all the time she was reflecting
upon what she had best do or say to the
Indian boy. She was sorry that she had struck him
although still extremely angry at his manner and speech to her.
If Carlos had felt worried over Olive's exhaustion, it would
have been simple enough to have told her in a
more polite fashion. The truth was that she and jan

(13:31):
were both getting extremely tired of the Indian boy's presence
on Rainbow Ranch. She would talk over this incident to
day with her guardian and ask him if he felt
that she owed Carlos an apology. If he did, she
would make whatever reparation she could, and after that they
would try and find another home for him. But at
present she was still too annoyed to wish to have

(13:53):
the boy near her. You can find water for our
horses and tie them somewhere not far away, Carlos, Jack ordered,
leaving Olive and walking a few yards across the sand
though where the boy stood, still sullen and resentful in
his manner. Then ride on for another half hour and
see if you can find any of the lost mirrors
or colts. When you return, we will have lunch save

(14:16):
for you, and so Jack Ralston temporarily dismissed the difficulty
confronting her, for in any case, it was disagreeable to
have Carlo staring at them while she and Olive aid,
and she did not wish him as a companion of
their luncheon. Carlos's society could hardly have increased his comfort
of their meal, for Olive was either too weary or

(14:38):
too vexed to wish to talk, and Jack in too
strange a tumult of feeling. Then, suddenly, as the two
girls were sitting there together in the warm, caressing sunshine,
hardly more than a few feet apart, and yet sundered
by leagues of misunderstanding, it seemed to Jacqueline that she
could no longer endure all that she was suffering from

(14:58):
her friend unless Olive made some sign that her sacrifice
was worth while. For Jack made no effort to hide
from herself, however much she concealed it from other people,
that each day of her life she was learning to
care more and more for Frank Kent, for his love
and his complete understanding and sympathy with her temperament. She
knew that she had any faults, but she also knew

(15:20):
that Frank was aware of them and forgave them. However,
there was one fault that she did not have, and
it was not fair that she should bear the ignominy
of it. She would no longer hurt and confuse the
man she cared for by her apparent inability to make
up her mind. Jack's full red lips closed more tightly
than was usual to them as she lifted her head,

(15:43):
showing the firm line of her throat and chin. Then
she took a deep breath, straightening her shoulders, and glancing
with her wide open, heavily fringed gray eyes directly into
the eyes of her friend. Olive was more rested, was
less pale, but was evidently still as much stranged from her,
And though the conviction had come upon her suddenly, Jack

(16:05):
felt convinced that this was the appointed moment when she
must rest the truth from the other girl. She hated
herself for her own stupidity in not finding out by
more subtle means, and scarcely knew now what she intended
to do or say. It was as if she stood
on the bank of an icy stream, with a shore
of truth on the other side, a shore which by

(16:27):
some method she must reach. Therefore, with Jack and Ralston's disposition,
there appeared but one means boldly she must plunge in
no matter what the result, Olive, dear Jack, began abruptly,
not looking her friend, but at a small smoke colored
cloud over in the western sky. I know you are

(16:48):
angry with me about Carlos, and I am sorry he
was impertinent, But I don't suppose you would think that
justifies what I did. But it is not about what happened.
Just now that I want to talk, you have not
felt like you once diod for me for several weeks,
not since Frank Kent came to the lodge. Would you
mind telling me why? To Jack's directness of thought and speech,

(17:11):
her friend by this time should have grown accustomed, and indeed,
until now Olive had always loved and admired Jack for it.
But to day she was tired and her head ached,
and this unexpected question had taken her completely by surprise.
The girl's dark cheeks flushed richly, and her ordinarily gentle
expression changed. Jack, you are absurd, she answered, irritably. What

(17:37):
right have you anyhow to consider that my feeling for
you has any connection with Frank Kent? What does Frank
mean to me? Now? If only Jack had been content
with this answer, or had possessed some of Jean Bruce's
tact and resourcefulness. She had neither, So her gray eyes
darkened and her face grew white and unhappy. Forgive me, Olive,

(17:59):
she murmured, humbly enough for proud, high tempered Jack. But
that is what I oh so much want you to
tell me, For sometimes I have thought that perhaps you
do like Frank just a little bit more than an
ordinary friend. And if it is true, dear, don't you
feel that we have been close enough to each other
to have you make me your confidante. It was very

(18:22):
gently put, after all, and therefore Olive should not have
been so wounded or so angry. However, and perhaps because
there was so much of truth in the other girl's suggestion,
Olive was both hurt and embittered. You have not this
shadow of a right, Jacklyn Ralston, to say a thing
like that to me, she returned, with a passion and

(18:43):
protest of a too sensitive nature. How dare you sit
there and calmly suggest to me that I am in
love with Frank Kent when you know perfectly well that
he cares for no one in this world? But you
do you suppose that I have no pride and no
self respect? And then dropping head in her hands. All
that began crying, hardly understanding her own tears so much

(19:05):
were they a combination of pain and petulance. For the
questions she had just put to Jack were the very
ones that she had so often asked herself, And if
she had found no answer to them, how could any
one else? But Jack did not attempt making a reply.
For a moment she was silent, feeling miserably conscious of
the failure she had just made. For had she not

(19:27):
merely succeeded in mortifying her friend without arriving one bit
nearer the truth which she sought? But by and bye,
Jack laid her hand caressingly on the other girl's dark hair.
Don't cry, Olive, please, she begged. You know what a
stupid person I am, and how often Jean and Freida
think I do and say the wrong thing. Here comes Carlos,

(19:49):
and when he has eaten his lunch, you must let
him take you back to the lodge. You are too
tired to write any farther, and I can manage very
well by myself, or else you can send one of
the staple boice this way to find me. Without making
a reply, Olive continued to sob only now a little
more quietly, and in the meanwhile allowing Jack to make

(20:10):
all the arrangements for her return home. It was unfortunate, perhaps,
that she also paid so little attention to the Indian
boy who was sitting within a few yards of her,
pretending to eat. In reality, he was either keeping his
eyes fixed moodily upon her, or else turning them upon
Jack and Ralston with such an intensity of dislike that,

(20:31):
had she been aware of it, she must have been
vaguely disturbed. A little later, Olive and Carlo started home
together in Farewell. Olive simply nodded her head to Jack,
showing no other sign of forgiveness or affection. But she
had only ridden for a comparatively short distance when she
was as bitterly sorry and as ashamed of herself as

(20:52):
Jack had previously been, and at the moment would have
liked to turn back. She realized that she had been
both unreasonable and unkind. What could have been the matter
with her? Surely her fatigue must have had something to
do with it, for people were rarely sensible when overtired.
Jack had not intended breaking down the barrier of her
reserve for no reason, but idle curiosity. Then suddenly Allo's

(21:17):
hands tightened on her bridle reins and her black eyes softened.
How unutterably blind she had been for so long? For
was not Jack's recent question to her the keynote of
the whole puzzling situation. Jack certainly must fear that she
cared more for Frank than she should. Would this not
perfectly explain her attitude toward him since the beginning of

(21:38):
his love making. Olive quickly recalled the final visit of
their visit in England, then Jack's repeated efforts to thrust
her into Frank's society and so to evade him herself. Then,
since Jack Ralston's return to the ranch, had she not
resolutely refused to let Frank Kent come to see her
until Olive was also at the lodge. Sudden and leaving

(22:00):
tears rolled down the girl's hot cheeks, which she did
not for the moment attempt wiping away. How like her
quixotic Jack to refuse to accept her own happiness at
the price of her friends, And how near she Olive
had come to permitting Jack to sacrifice all three of
them to her mistaken sense of loyalty and love. Well,

(22:21):
to night. Olive intended straightening everything out by answering the
inquiry to which she had refused her apply to before.
For in the light of her present revelation, had she
not at last felt a weight lifting itself from her
own heart and a clear vision come to her mind?
Let her measure her affection for Frank Kent by that
which she felt for Jacqueline. Why she loved Jack a

(22:43):
hundred times better than she could ever Frank Jack had
been her first friend, all that she was she really
owed to her, if only she did not have to
wait an hour longer before making three persons happier than
they had been in many weeks. Half way around, Olive
turned her pony's head. But no, she was too tired
to go back to Jack, and besides, they could have

(23:04):
no intimate conversation under the present circumstances. Moreover, it had
been growing much warmer in this last half hour, in
spite of the fact that every once in a while
there were unexpected guests of wind blowing the sand into
her own eyes and her mares. The truth was that
she should never have consented to leaving Jack. She should
have insisted on her going home at the same time,

(23:27):
with them. Ruth and Jim Colter would both be annoyed
at the idea of Jack's writing about the ranch alone,
and any one of the men whom she might send
back to look for her would probably be several hours
in searching, and perhaps never discover her at all. For
the first time in half an hour, Olivan made her
glance across at the boy Carlos. He had not spoken

(23:48):
a dozen words to her in the course of their trip,
so how could she dream that all this while he
had been turning over and over in his mind the
bitterness of Jack's insult. Then, not only was his animosity
a personal one, but on coming back from the needless
errand upon which he had been driven away, had he
not found his one time princess in tears and such

(24:08):
sorrow that she had not yet ceased from grieving her
trouble could have but one source. Perhaps Miss Ralston had
even dared wound her in the same way that she
had him. And then Carlos had clenched his teeth, continuing
more rigid and doggedly quiet than before, For, of course,
he should soon be revenged. For both of them, the

(24:29):
only thing was to wait until his opportunity came Carlos.
Olive said unexpectedly. I am almost back at the lodge now,
and will have no difficulty in going the rest of
the way alone. But I wish you would go and
find Miss Ralston, tell her please to come home at once,
and I want to speak to her about something most important.

(24:49):
And I think you had better hurry, for I am
a little bit afraid that a storm was coming up.
Possibly Olive had expected a demure. If so, she was mistaken,
for without replying, the boy wheeled his horse and started
back in the direction from which they had just come.
End of Chapter fifteen, Read by Nancy Cochrane, Gergon Gilbert, Arizona,

(25:12):
February sixteen, two thousand, twenty three.