April 17, 2025 • 14 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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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ibrivoc's recordings in the public domain a desert storm. Perhaps
(00:05):
no one except an Indian could have found Jack so swiftly,
and yet Carlos was engaged in the search for her
for over an hour, for the girl had gone some
distance beyond the place of their last meeting and still
had found no trace of their lost stock. She was
vexed for a moment at Carlos's reappearance, but gave no sign. Indeed,
(00:26):
she managed to say thank you when he briefly explained
that he had taken Olive near enough home to have
her make the rest of the journey without an escort,
and then that she had sent him back to continue
the hunt. Not a suggestion did he give of Olive's
real message for Jack to return home immediately. A girl
with Jack and Ralston's knowledge and experience of western life
(00:48):
should have required no such message, had she taken her
usual normal interest in her surroundings, for there was a
sufficient forewarning of what was approaching for her to have understood. Nevertheless,
for once in her life, Jack was almost completely oblivious
of the landscape and of the conditions of the sky
in atmosphere. For her conversation with Olive had made her
(01:10):
more unhappy and puzzled than she had previously been, since
she had surely succeeded only in making the tangle harder
for any one of them to unravel. Now and then,
as she continued her ride beyond the end of the
Rainbow Creek and into the broader sweep of their prairie lands,
the girl almost forgot the original object of Rideau's excursion,
only feeling that more than anything, she desired to be
(01:33):
outdoors and alone, so that instead of leading the way
as she had done in the morning, she now allowed
the boy Carlos to take his own trail, following without
much thought close behind. By far the larger portion of
the broad area of the Ralston Ranch was cultivated land,
to the extent that the fields beyond the lodge were,
most of them planted with alfalfa, grass and other grains
(01:56):
according to their fertility. Occasionally there were barren spaces of
a land where the sands from the desert had settled
too deeply for any growing fame, and as these were
at the outermost edges of the ranch, Jim Coltrand left
them undisturbed, waiting for a time when there should be
less work near home. Therefore, when Jack suddenly discovered her
(02:17):
horse plowing heavily through one of these sandy stretches, she
realized that they were farther away from Rainbow Lodge than
she had appreciated, and certainly it was now time to
turn back. She was afraid that she could hardly manage
to arrive at home before dinner time, and that would
mean a scolding from Jim, who would hardly consider the
rescue of a few lost mares and colts a sufficient
(02:38):
excuse for making the rest of them uncomfortable and uneasy.
Jack smiled a little, ruefully checking her horse and allowing
him a few moments of rest. She had not even
that good excuse to take home with her, for she
had not seen a trace of the stray stock, and
had really scarcely looked for them since luncheon. But then
Carlos must have been more attentive. She was really surprised
(03:01):
at the boy's apparent interest. Since he rejoined her, he
had taken the entire initiative. Even now he was some
distance ahead and going too fast for her horse's strength
in such difficult ground. Carlos, Carlos, the girl called as
loudly as possible then she patted Romeo's deck with swift penitence.
(03:23):
Ordinarily she was quick to remember the comfort of her
own mouth, but to day she had been most extraordinarily selfish. However,
it was odd that, in spite of his long day's travel,
her horse did not seem to wish to stand still
even for a moment. He kept buying the earth, sniffing
in turning half way round in his eagerness to start
(03:43):
for home. The mystery needed only a little time for solving.
All afternoon, in a subconscious fashion, Jack had realized that
the air was unpleasantly hot and stifling, and that the
sun had not been shining since luncheon. The little cloud
she had first noticed in the west, a queer funnel
shaped cloud, had been constantly growing larger. Of course, had
(04:07):
been a storm, but it was still far enough away
not to be immediately alarming. However, they must get home
as soon as possible, and Carlos evidently had not heard
her cry. Twice again, Jack shouted his name, but as
he did not turn his head, she touched her pony
lightly with her riding whip and rode after him. She
(04:28):
regretted now that she had allowed the boy to get
so far ahead of her for her own few minutes
delay had naturally increased the distance between them. Yet Jack
did not feel that it would be fair for her
to turn back without informing her companion. It seemed almost
cruel to force her jaded horse at such a pace
through the loose sands. Yet how else could she ever
(04:50):
hope to catch up with her escort. Carlos did not
usually show such poor judgment with his own steed. Then, finally,
it occurred to the girl that the inn Median boy
was refusing deliberately to answer her as a punishment for
their trouble earlier in the day. If this were true,
she was foolish to waste any more time and energy
in pursuit of him. She could get back home alone
(05:12):
long before bedtime by allowing her horse to walk for
part of the way. Then, if the storm should overtake her,
she would not be far enough from the lodge to
have it make any serious difference. As for her scolding, well,
Jack felt that she would have to accept that as
philosophically as possible under the circumstances. For Jim would have
(05:32):
a double grievance, since he did not like any one
of them to ride for any distance with only Carlos
as a companion, shrugging her shoulders, too tired really to
be angry. Again that day, Jack called once more, This time,
to her surprise, Carlos actually rose in his saddle, pointing
with evident excitement towards some indeterminate objects at a little
(05:55):
distance off. Jack could not see what they were, although
she guessed at once. After all, their hard day's work
had not been in vain Carlos had assuredly discovered the
lost stock. True, they must have wandered beyond the confines
of the Rainbow Ranch, since Jack was familiar enough with
their own boundary lines to know that Carlos was even
at this instant passing beyond the wire fence which circumscribed it.
(06:19):
Their stock oftentimes got outside the ranch by mysterious methods
of their own. Therefore, if Carlos believed that he saw
the mares they had been searching for the entire day,
it would be foolish to turn back without them. It
was unfortunate that the heavy cloud in the west seemed
to be driving toward them with so much greater speed
in these last fifteen minutes. Still, if it should reach
(06:42):
their vicinity. Before they could get the lost mares and
colds into some kind of shelter, the animals must perish,
for the mares would never desert their young, and the
colts could never endure the force of the wind and
the great blankets of sand that would probably sweep over
and cover them. Jack was not mistaken in one point
of view. She knew, as only a Westerner could, that
(07:05):
the storm approaching was not rain, but when, and that
it might mean a sandstorm in the desert. A saner judgment, however,
would have suggested that Jack and Ralston start back home
at once, leaving Carlos to follow her. But she appreciated
the tremendous difficulty that the boy would have in rounding
up the frightened animals alone and forcing them into some
(07:27):
place of refuge. Really, it never occurred to Jack not
to help. She had been so accustomed to just such
work on the ranch from the time she was a
small girl. So on she rode now straight after the
Indian boy, perhaps for an eighth of a mile or
more beyond their boundary. Yet still the loose, thick sands
which were swirling and eddying in gusts around her horses
(07:50):
feet and always Carlos kept as far as possible ahead.
Jack finally came to a position where she found out
the mistake which she believed bothshe and the Indian boy
had innocently made. The dark objects ahead of them had
been only a group of close growing sage bushes that
they had mistaken for the lost stock. Crying out once
(08:10):
more to the boy to turn back, Jack now made
no pretense of waiting to discover whether or not he
heated her, for the wind was blowing more fiercely, bringing
with it the heat of Asroco, and the sand was
pouring into her eyes and ears, almost blinding and choking her.
Beyond her there were false sand hills in vines where
a few moments before, the earth had lain smooth as
(08:31):
a carpet. Jack perfectly understood that the full fury of
the storm had not yet reached her vicinity. Her effort
must be to get beyond the sand plains, back, if possible,
to the neighborhood of Rainbow Creek, where behind one of
its great rocks she might find partial shelter. But her
heart was pounding uncomfortably, and her fair skin felt as
(08:53):
though it was being pricked by innumerable needles. Moreover, Jack
was frightened. She knew just what a sand storm meant
on the western prairies. She was not far from the
edge of a portion of bare lands that formed a
kind of miniature desert. And the worst of the situation
was that she herself was very tired, and that, through
(09:13):
her own selfish forgetfulness, her horse was even more so.
Every foot of the way, the girl strove to encourage
the exhausted animal, Yet it was impossible to make real
headway in such a soil while buffeted by such a gale.
Then Jacqueline Ralston heard a strange noise, and as she
had heard it once before in her life, she must
(09:34):
have recognized it, had not. Her other senses also added
their warning. The roar and rush behind her were seldom
equaled by any other kind of tempest. For half an instant,
rising in her saddle, the girl glanced back. Carlos was
not far off now, and spurring his horse remorselessly for
beyond the boy, at no great distance in driving rapidly forward,
(09:57):
was an immense, dark yellow cloud. The The peculiarity of
this cloud was not merely in its color, size, and shape,
but that instead of being overhead, it almost touched the
surface of the land. The girl slid off her horse
down down, she said, quietly, pulling hard on her bridle,
And then as her horse's knees touched the ground before him,
(10:19):
Jack flung herself face downward, clutching at the loose earth
for endurance and strength. The cloud would be upon them
in another moment, with terrible destructive force, for not alone
did it represent the fury of the wind, but was
formed of a mountain of sand driven before it. A
sound which the girl guessed must have come from Carlos
suggested that he was following her example. Yet she dared
(10:43):
not look back to sea. Now the sand storm was
upon them. The thunder and tear of it are past understanding.
One chance, only Jack believed they had for their lives.
If the sand cloud was sufficiently high above the earth
not to touch them, they would be safe. Otherwise they
would be driven before it like chips of straw. But
(11:05):
of any actual conscious sensation, which she suffered as the
cloud passed over her, Jack was not aware. She knew
that she was praying the instant before, but at the
time itself, she only clung the closer and sank deeper
down into the earth, which is the finer refuge of us.
All the moment following, however, the girl felt as if
she had been bruised and beaten by a thousand furies.
(11:27):
Her body ached with fatigue, her tongue felt scorched and swollen,
and her eyes smarted with intense pain. There was no
further danger. Storms of this character come with one terrible
driving blast of wind, and then go straight on in
their course. Jack blinked and stirred sufficiently to turn over
and see that her horse was safe as well as
(11:47):
its master. A Western Bronco understands how to meet strange
weather conditions that would bring destruction to any other animal.
With a sigh of thankfulness, the girl then stretched herself
more comfortably along on the ground, resting one elbow in
the sand and leaning her head upon it. For Carlos
and his pony were equally safe, and evidently not so
frightened as she was, for the boy was already staggering
(12:10):
toward her, dragging his horse by the bridle. The girl
was not yet able to speak, yet she watched Carlos
with indifference and entirely without suspicion, as he came to
within a few feet of her, and, reaching downward, pulled
her horse on to his feet. Again, the horse stagger,
and Jack had half an inclination asked the boy to
(12:31):
wait a little while before forcing him to stand. However,
she did not seem to have strength enough even to
make this protest, nor did she speak at first, when
she saw Carlos leading the two horses away from the
place where she was resting, What on earth did the
boy have in mind to do? It was useless to
try to brush the sand from the horse's coats, and
(12:52):
there was no water near enough to give them each
a drink. Jack frowned. Then she not only sat up,
but rose quickly on her feet, for Carlos had mounted
his own pony, and without a word to her, was
riding away, taking her horse within The girl called, but
again the Indian boy was afflicted with a curious deafness
(13:13):
that had affected him all afternoon. Then Jack ran after him,
stumbling and crying as she ran, But she was far
too exhausted to make much headway, and still Carlos would
not glance around. He was not even going in the
direction of the Rainbow ranch. Just how long her feudal
chase actually continued. Jack and Ralston did not realize. So
(13:34):
long as she could manage to keep the boy in sight,
she followed him, floundering in the sands and uncertain of
her direction. However, when he was so far away that
she could no longer see him, Jack sat down again.
What annoying freak had possessed Carlos to ride off with
her horse without offering any explanation, Well, he would doubtless
(13:56):
return within a short time, so there was nothing to
do except wakee. End of Chapter sixteen, read by Nancy Cochrane,
Gergen Gilbert, Arizona, February twenty six, two thousand, twenty three.
Ibrivoc's recordings in the public domain a desert storm. Perhaps
(00:05):
no one except an Indian could have found Jack so swiftly,
and yet Carlos was engaged in the search for her
for over an hour, for the girl had gone some
distance beyond the place of their last meeting and still
had found no trace of their lost stock. She was
vexed for a moment at Carlos's reappearance, but gave no sign. Indeed,
(00:26):
she managed to say thank you when he briefly explained
that he had taken Olive near enough home to have
her make the rest of the journey without an escort,
and then that she had sent him back to continue
the hunt. Not a suggestion did he give of Olive's
real message for Jack to return home immediately. A girl
with Jack and Ralston's knowledge and experience of western life
(00:48):
should have required no such message, had she taken her
usual normal interest in her surroundings, for there was a
sufficient forewarning of what was approaching for her to have understood. Nevertheless,
for once in her life, Jack was almost completely oblivious
of the landscape and of the conditions of the sky
in atmosphere. For her conversation with Olive had made her
(01:10):
more unhappy and puzzled than she had previously been, since
she had surely succeeded only in making the tangle harder
for any one of them to unravel. Now and then,
as she continued her ride beyond the end of the
Rainbow Creek and into the broader sweep of their prairie lands,
the girl almost forgot the original object of Rideau's excursion,
only feeling that more than anything, she desired to be
(01:33):
outdoors and alone, so that instead of leading the way
as she had done in the morning, she now allowed
the boy Carlos to take his own trail, following without
much thought close behind. By far the larger portion of
the broad area of the Ralston Ranch was cultivated land,
to the extent that the fields beyond the lodge were,
most of them planted with alfalfa, grass and other grains
(01:56):
according to their fertility. Occasionally there were barren spaces of
a land where the sands from the desert had settled
too deeply for any growing fame, and as these were
at the outermost edges of the ranch, Jim Coltrand left
them undisturbed, waiting for a time when there should be
less work near home. Therefore, when Jack suddenly discovered her
(02:17):
horse plowing heavily through one of these sandy stretches, she
realized that they were farther away from Rainbow Lodge than
she had appreciated, and certainly it was now time to
turn back. She was afraid that she could hardly manage
to arrive at home before dinner time, and that would
mean a scolding from Jim, who would hardly consider the
rescue of a few lost mares and colts a sufficient
(02:38):
excuse for making the rest of them uncomfortable and uneasy.
Jack smiled a little, ruefully checking her horse and allowing
him a few moments of rest. She had not even
that good excuse to take home with her, for she
had not seen a trace of the stray stock, and
had really scarcely looked for them since luncheon. But then
Carlos must have been more attentive. She was really surprised
(03:01):
at the boy's apparent interest. Since he rejoined her, he
had taken the entire initiative. Even now he was some
distance ahead and going too fast for her horse's strength
in such difficult ground. Carlos, Carlos, the girl called as
loudly as possible then she patted Romeo's deck with swift penitence.
(03:23):
Ordinarily she was quick to remember the comfort of her
own mouth, but to day she had been most extraordinarily selfish. However,
it was odd that, in spite of his long day's travel,
her horse did not seem to wish to stand still
even for a moment. He kept buying the earth, sniffing
in turning half way round in his eagerness to start
(03:43):
for home. The mystery needed only a little time for solving.
All afternoon, in a subconscious fashion, Jack had realized that
the air was unpleasantly hot and stifling, and that the
sun had not been shining since luncheon. The little cloud
she had first noticed in the west, a queer funnel
shaped cloud, had been constantly growing larger. Of course, had
(04:07):
been a storm, but it was still far enough away
not to be immediately alarming. However, they must get home
as soon as possible, and Carlos evidently had not heard
her cry. Twice again, Jack shouted his name, but as
he did not turn his head, she touched her pony
lightly with her riding whip and rode after him. She
(04:28):
regretted now that she had allowed the boy to get
so far ahead of her for her own few minutes
delay had naturally increased the distance between them. Yet Jack
did not feel that it would be fair for her
to turn back without informing her companion. It seemed almost
cruel to force her jaded horse at such a pace
through the loose sands. Yet how else could she ever
(04:50):
hope to catch up with her escort. Carlos did not
usually show such poor judgment with his own steed. Then, finally,
it occurred to the girl that the inn Median boy
was refusing deliberately to answer her as a punishment for
their trouble earlier in the day. If this were true,
she was foolish to waste any more time and energy
in pursuit of him. She could get back home alone
(05:12):
long before bedtime by allowing her horse to walk for
part of the way. Then, if the storm should overtake her,
she would not be far enough from the lodge to
have it make any serious difference. As for her scolding, well,
Jack felt that she would have to accept that as
philosophically as possible under the circumstances. For Jim would have
(05:32):
a double grievance, since he did not like any one
of them to ride for any distance with only Carlos
as a companion, shrugging her shoulders, too tired really to
be angry. Again that day, Jack called once more, This time,
to her surprise, Carlos actually rose in his saddle, pointing
with evident excitement towards some indeterminate objects at a little
(05:55):
distance off. Jack could not see what they were, although
she guessed at once. After all, their hard day's work
had not been in vain Carlos had assuredly discovered the
lost stock. True, they must have wandered beyond the confines
of the Rainbow Ranch, since Jack was familiar enough with
their own boundary lines to know that Carlos was even
at this instant passing beyond the wire fence which circumscribed it.
(06:19):
Their stock oftentimes got outside the ranch by mysterious methods
of their own. Therefore, if Carlos believed that he saw
the mares they had been searching for the entire day,
it would be foolish to turn back without them. It
was unfortunate that the heavy cloud in the west seemed
to be driving toward them with so much greater speed
in these last fifteen minutes. Still, if it should reach
(06:42):
their vicinity. Before they could get the lost mares and
colds into some kind of shelter, the animals must perish,
for the mares would never desert their young, and the
colts could never endure the force of the wind and
the great blankets of sand that would probably sweep over
and cover them. Jack was not mistaken in one point
of view. She knew, as only a Westerner could, that
(07:05):
the storm approaching was not rain, but when, and that
it might mean a sandstorm in the desert. A saner judgment, however,
would have suggested that Jack and Ralston start back home
at once, leaving Carlos to follow her. But she appreciated
the tremendous difficulty that the boy would have in rounding
up the frightened animals alone and forcing them into some
(07:27):
place of refuge. Really, it never occurred to Jack not
to help. She had been so accustomed to just such
work on the ranch from the time she was a
small girl. So on she rode now straight after the
Indian boy, perhaps for an eighth of a mile or
more beyond their boundary. Yet still the loose, thick sands
which were swirling and eddying in gusts around her horses
(07:50):
feet and always Carlos kept as far as possible ahead.
Jack finally came to a position where she found out
the mistake which she believed bothshe and the Indian boy
had innocently made. The dark objects ahead of them had
been only a group of close growing sage bushes that
they had mistaken for the lost stock. Crying out once
(08:10):
more to the boy to turn back, Jack now made
no pretense of waiting to discover whether or not he
heated her, for the wind was blowing more fiercely, bringing
with it the heat of Asroco, and the sand was
pouring into her eyes and ears, almost blinding and choking her.
Beyond her there were false sand hills in vines where
a few moments before, the earth had lain smooth as
(08:31):
a carpet. Jack perfectly understood that the full fury of
the storm had not yet reached her vicinity. Her effort
must be to get beyond the sand plains, back, if possible,
to the neighborhood of Rainbow Creek, where behind one of
its great rocks she might find partial shelter. But her
heart was pounding uncomfortably, and her fair skin felt as
(08:53):
though it was being pricked by innumerable needles. Moreover, Jack
was frightened. She knew just what a sand storm meant
on the western prairies. She was not far from the
edge of a portion of bare lands that formed a
kind of miniature desert. And the worst of the situation
was that she herself was very tired, and that, through
(09:13):
her own selfish forgetfulness, her horse was even more so.
Every foot of the way, the girl strove to encourage
the exhausted animal, Yet it was impossible to make real
headway in such a soil while buffeted by such a gale.
Then Jacqueline Ralston heard a strange noise, and as she
had heard it once before in her life, she must
(09:34):
have recognized it, had not. Her other senses also added
their warning. The roar and rush behind her were seldom
equaled by any other kind of tempest. For half an instant,
rising in her saddle, the girl glanced back. Carlos was
not far off now, and spurring his horse remorselessly for
beyond the boy, at no great distance in driving rapidly forward,
(09:57):
was an immense, dark yellow cloud. The The peculiarity of
this cloud was not merely in its color, size, and shape,
but that instead of being overhead, it almost touched the
surface of the land. The girl slid off her horse
down down, she said, quietly, pulling hard on her bridle,
And then as her horse's knees touched the ground before him,
(10:19):
Jack flung herself face downward, clutching at the loose earth
for endurance and strength. The cloud would be upon them
in another moment, with terrible destructive force, for not alone
did it represent the fury of the wind, but was
formed of a mountain of sand driven before it. A
sound which the girl guessed must have come from Carlos
suggested that he was following her example. Yet she dared
(10:43):
not look back to sea. Now the sand storm was
upon them. The thunder and tear of it are past understanding.
One chance, only Jack believed they had for their lives.
If the sand cloud was sufficiently high above the earth
not to touch them, they would be safe. Otherwise they
would be driven before it like chips of straw. But
(11:05):
of any actual conscious sensation, which she suffered as the
cloud passed over her, Jack was not aware. She knew
that she was praying the instant before, but at the
time itself, she only clung the closer and sank deeper
down into the earth, which is the finer refuge of us.
All the moment following, however, the girl felt as if
she had been bruised and beaten by a thousand furies.
(11:27):
Her body ached with fatigue, her tongue felt scorched and swollen,
and her eyes smarted with intense pain. There was no
further danger. Storms of this character come with one terrible
driving blast of wind, and then go straight on in
their course. Jack blinked and stirred sufficiently to turn over
and see that her horse was safe as well as
(11:47):
its master. A Western Bronco understands how to meet strange
weather conditions that would bring destruction to any other animal.
With a sigh of thankfulness, the girl then stretched herself
more comfortably along on the ground, resting one elbow in
the sand and leaning her head upon it. For Carlos
and his pony were equally safe, and evidently not so
frightened as she was, for the boy was already staggering
(12:10):
toward her, dragging his horse by the bridle. The girl
was not yet able to speak, yet she watched Carlos
with indifference and entirely without suspicion, as he came to
within a few feet of her, and, reaching downward, pulled
her horse on to his feet. Again, the horse stagger,
and Jack had half an inclination asked the boy to
(12:31):
wait a little while before forcing him to stand. However,
she did not seem to have strength enough even to
make this protest, nor did she speak at first, when
she saw Carlos leading the two horses away from the
place where she was resting, What on earth did the
boy have in mind to do? It was useless to
try to brush the sand from the horse's coats, and
(12:52):
there was no water near enough to give them each
a drink. Jack frowned. Then she not only sat up,
but rose quickly on her feet, for Carlos had mounted
his own pony, and without a word to her, was
riding away, taking her horse within The girl called, but
again the Indian boy was afflicted with a curious deafness
(13:13):
that had affected him all afternoon. Then Jack ran after him,
stumbling and crying as she ran, But she was far
too exhausted to make much headway, and still Carlos would
not glance around. He was not even going in the
direction of the Rainbow ranch. Just how long her feudal
chase actually continued. Jack and Ralston did not realize. So
(13:34):
long as she could manage to keep the boy in sight,
she followed him, floundering in the sands and uncertain of
her direction. However, when he was so far away that
she could no longer see him, Jack sat down again.
What annoying freak had possessed Carlos to ride off with
her horse without offering any explanation, Well, he would doubtless
(13:56):
return within a short time, so there was nothing to
do except wakee. End of Chapter sixteen, read by Nancy Cochrane,
Gergen Gilbert, Arizona, February twenty six, two thousand, twenty three.
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