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 Welcome to today's triple Z..... The triple Z podcast is a daily recording that you can use to help you fall asleep each night. Just turn down the volume, lay back and enjoy as you fall asleep.

This episode we are reading The first few chapters of The Ranch Girls and the Silver Arrow By MARGARET VANDERCOOK.

Daughter of Joel Mayo Womack and Nannie Gibson (O'Bannon) Womack, she was born in Louisville, Kentucky, where she attended both public and private schools. In nineteen hundred she married John Filkin Vandercook, who later became the first president of the United Press Association. He died in 1908. Margaret Vandercook did not become a professional writer until after her husband's death, but has since been described as the queen of Camp Fire writers, writing 21 Camp Fire novels under her own name as well as the pseudonym "Margaret Love Sanderson." The pseudonym of Margaret Love Sanderson was also used by Emma Keats Speed Sampson, author of the Miss Minerva books. In addition to the Camp Fire Girls series, Margaret is also known for her other girls series books which include the Ranch Girls series, Red Cross Girls series, and Girl Scouts series. She was also a member of the Louisville Kentucky Authors' Club.

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The Ranch Girls and the Silver Arrow

BY MARGARET VANDERCOOK

CHAPTER One

THE SILVER ARROW

Four girls were leading their ponies along a narrow defile.

On either side of them arose tall cliffs. Overhead the sky showed a deep warm blue. A stream of water flowed along, ending in a small lake at some distance ahead.

"Absurd to have undertaken such a trip to-day of all days, Jeanette! Why keep up the pretense that we are not lost? As we will find our way home eventually, ordinarily I should not mind, but to be late this afternoon may create a situation that will be difficult to explain!"

"Nonsense, Lina. What does it matter? I for one do not care if we are not at home when father and our new stepmother reach there. I hope to be polite, but I won't pretend enthusiasm.

"What was the line of poetry we were trying to recall when we followed this new road down into the canyon?" asked Jeanette, wishing to divert her older sister's attention,

"We were dreamers dreaming greatly in the man-stifled town;

We yearned beyond the sky-line, where the strange roads go down."

the other girl repeated with a slight note of self-satisfaction. One so often feels this in remembering what other people have forgotten.

The four girls were daughters of Jim Colter of the Rainbow Ranch. His first wife had died, and he had married Jacqueline Ralston Kent, a former Ranch Girl much younger than himself, and was returning to the ranch with his bride after the honeymoon. The oldest of the girls was about fifteen years of age, the next fourteen, then twelve and eight.

"We have pursued a strange road. We seem to have descended into the heart of the world. Yet we were scarcely stifled at the ranch!" the third girl exclaimed, with a half whimsical, half wistful smile.

"I feel as Lina does, that we should reach home as soon as possible. We left a little after daylight and had we not taken this road down into the canyon would have been there an hour ago. Still it has been a wonderful experience! I did not know there was a canyon in this part of the country that we had not already explored!"

Lina Colter turned.

"Are you tired, Eda? If you wish to ride I can lead both our ponies."

The youngest of the four new Ranch Girls shook her head.

Named in honor of Frieda Ralston, who had been the youngest of another group of Ranch Girls some years before, Frieda Colter—more often called Eda—looked and was as unlike in character to the other Frieda as it was possible to imagine.

Slender and small, she had straight dark hair, deeply tanned skin, with a bright crimson in her cheeks and lips. Her eyes instead of being black, as one might have expected from her other coloring, were a light blue such as one sees in old china.

With her lashes down concealing the blue of her eyes, there was something about her that suggested an Indian. She possessed the grace and lightness of carriage of one who has lived always out of doors, and a peculiar litheness as if she were rarely tired.

Jeanette Colter laughed. The second of the girls, she was the moving spirit of their adventures, as Jacqueline Ralston had been in the past. Her hair was a light brown with obstinate waves. She wore it cut short in order that it should be less troublesome. She had gray-blue eyes, a short nose, a clear fresh skin in which the color came and went swiftly in answer to her moods. Her mouth showed a firm line unusual in so young a person.

"Via, you are more apt to be weary than Eda! You do look a little used up, child! Suppose we sit down and rest a while when we come to the edge of the enchanted lake we saw ahead of us a few moments ago. Although it has disappeared, I am sure we shall discover it again as soon as we pass on the other side of this cliff," Jeanette remarked.

She and Via were especially devoted to each other.

Via—or Olivia, to give her her full name—did appear more frail than her sisters. She had fair hair and dark eyes and a gentle manner.

Lina—short for Jacqueline—the oldest of the four girls, was studious and reserved, not giving her affection easily, but deeply devoted to a few persons.

Jeanette had made no mistake.

The path along the edge of the cliff became steeper and more difficult to follow.

Then turning the bend, the four girls uttered exclamations of delight.

Sheer embankments of stone hedged them in on three sides. Moving upward toward the far horizon was a single, little-traveled road.

Here, at the bottom of the canyon, like a sapphire set amid diamonds, a little lake appeared in the midst of hollowed-out stones.

Jeanette, who had been in the lead, dropped down first, making a cup of her hand.

"I am sure this water must be fresh and pure. How can it be otherwise in such a place? Suppose we drink first and then let the ponies drink. Afterwards we must eat the few sandwiches we have left and be merry. If we do not see father and our new and reverend stepmother"—Jeanette made a little grimace—"before bedtime, why, the misfortune is four times more her own than ours! It does seem absurd for father to have married some one so much younger than himself! He was her guardian, as we know, years before his marriage to our own mother. Personally, I don't believe in second marriages."

Jeanette's attention was now demanded. She held the reins of the two younger girls' ponies while they satisfied their thirst.

Five minutes later the four girls were seated in characteristic attitudes about the edge of the small lake. The ponies, glad to enjoy a brief rest, stood tethered to the forks of bushes that grew out of what seemed solid rock.

Olivia was leaning her fair head against Jeanette's strong young shoulder, a wistful droop to her figure.

Jeanette sat upright, her white teeth closing firmly on a sandwich. Her gray-blue eyes were looking down into the heart of the water. A strange mixture, Jeanette! She possessed an adventurous outdoor nature and yet now and then was oddly given to dreaming.

More intimate with her father and more his companion in the management of Rainbow Ranch than any one of her sisters, Jeanette resented his marriage more than the others.

"I wish, Jeanette dear, that you would not feel so unhappy over the future," Via murmured. The two girls had special names for each other that only a few outside persons employed. "After all, father is the person to consider! If he thinks that it is best for us to spend this summer together at the ranch making friends with our new mother, it need not last forever! If you wish, you and Lina some day can go away to school. Eda and I will be able to survive, I suppose, although it will be hard."

Olivia leaned over and let her slim hand sink into the bright water.

Although Jeanette was his most devoted friend and companion, three of the four new Ranch Girls believed that Via was their father's favorite child. There was an appealing quality in her gentleness and lack of self-reliance.

Eda, the youngest, was possessed of an odd temperament. She did not seem to care for affection. Never, even when a baby, had she permitted any one to treat her as one ordinarily treats a little girl. Not only had she objected to caresses, she did not wish to be amused. Her own projects and ideas were sufficient entertainment. Hours at a time she would play alone, hiding if need be from the other girls.

They would find her swinging her thin legs from the high rafters of one of the barns, or climbing one of the tall cottonwood trees in the road that led to the old Rainbow Lodge. Here the first four Ranch Girls lived before the discovery of their wealth in Rainbow Creek. After building the new house, Frieda Ralston, now Mrs. Henry Tilford Russell, had christened it Rainbow Castle.

"Really, Jeanette, there is no reason why you should be so prejudiced against our new stepmother. Dear me, what shall we call her? She did not wish to be called Lady Kent after the death of her first husband when she returned to live at our ranch," Lina argued.

Jeanette shrugged her shoulders.

"Rainbow Ranch isn't ours, kindly remember. Of course, father now owns a large share of the land, but the rest belongs to our new stepmother and the former Rainbow Ranch Girls. She will never accept the fact that we are the present-day Ranch Girls and I think will always insist upon occupying every position of prominence. As for what name we shall call her by, I intend to say Mrs. Colter. I must either say that, or Jack, and Jack is hardly a respectful title for one's stepmother, whatever one's inward feeling."

Jeanette Colter attempted to speak lightly, yet there was in her voice and manner an intensity of feeling that suggested shoals ahead.

"You have no right to frighten or prejudice the younger girls, whatever you may feel yourself," Lina whispered in an undertone. "I wish I disagreed with you more completely, then I would have more influence. In my heart of hearts I feel almost as uncomfortable as you do," Lina added.

"What a queer mix-up of a family!" said Via. "Father is at least a third older than his new wife, the new wife is a little more than twice as old as we are! There is only one thing we seem to have in common and that is affection for the old Rainbow Ranch! In any case I do hope we may be back at home before the travelers arrive. They were not positive at what hour they would reach home to-night."

As if the matter concerned her but little, Jeanette Colter yawned.

Then her expression softened and she rested her cheek on her younger sister's head, which still pressed against her shoulder.

"Oh, Olivia, you will keep the peace, or do your best! You will help now and then, Lina, when you are not too interested in your stupid old books to know what is taking place in the world. Eda and I probably will create the difficulties. If I am sent away from the beloved old ranch sooner than the rest of you, sorry as I shall be to leave you, don't shed tears for me. It may be I shall soon prefer to be away."

Suddenly Jeanette sat up abruptly. Via raised her head in quick surprise.

"At least there is one thing for which I am truly thankful. We are to be spared for this summer the presence of our new step-brother. He is one of the most objectionable boys I have ever known, and named for father, and father his guardian as well as other things. Oh, dear, it is too mixed-up a family skein for me to unravel!" Jeanette protested.

"Heavenly as this small lake is, lying amid its guard of giant stones, don't you think we should be wending our way upward and onward?" Lina inquired. "Once out of this defile, we shall know the direction we should take for home. Perhaps we shall reach there by dark, or if not there is a moon and a straight road over our own prairies, so what does it matter?"

Jeanette glanced upward, the other three girls following her example.

The first sunset rays had dropped down the western slope of the cliff, lighting it with strange and beautiful colors, mauve and rose and gold.

No sounds could be heard save the four young voices and the restlessness of the four ponies, who were beginning to demand to be taken home.

Suddenly, as if from out of the sky itself, there appeared a small object. Downward, straight as a plummet, it plunged into the surface of the water not far from where the four girls were seated.

Instinctively four hands were thrust forward.

Jeanette's hand drew the object forth.

The tip had been broken by striking against the hard bed of rock, and yet it was plain that the oddly discovered treasure was an arrow made of some dull metal.

Jeanette held it up for the others to observe. The arrow glistened with an unexpected radiance.

Reaching out for it, Lina, who was slightly near-sighted, held it closer to her eyes.

"The arrow is of silver, I believe! From whence could it have come? Who could have shot a silver arrow down into this hidden ravine? Oh, I presume it belongs to you, Jeanette, as you were first to find it."

Jeanette shook her head.

"No, the arrow is no more mine than yours or Via's or Eda's. I simply chanced to be nearest the side of the water where it fell."

"Well, I have something to suggest," Via remarked dreamily. "Suppose we take the arrow home and keep it always. When the day comes that one of us does something braver or better than the other, she is to possess the silver arrow until another earns it in the same fashion—or until some one claims it."

"A beautiful suggestion, Via! But come, we must leave this enchanted lake. At least we should manage to arrive at home by bedtime."

A few moments later the four Western ponies with their riders could be seen moving upward along the narrow trail.

CHAPTER Two

UNDER CHANGING SKIES

The moon was shining in a clear sky when Jim Colter, the former manager and one of the owners of the Rainbow Ranch, and his new wife returned home.

They had been married quietly about six weeks before in the presence of the family. Immediately after, they had left the ranch to spend their honeymoon camping in the Canadian Rockies.

To-night they were riding slowly along the familiar road which led from the railroad station to the front gate. This opened into the avenue, thickly bordered with cottonwood trees, forming the approach to the house.

On horseback, the riders were close beside each other, although rarely speaking.

Finally the woman gave a faint sigh,

"How many times we have taken this selfsame journey to the old place, Jim! Now once again I come back home, after a fashion a new person and to a new life. First, the headstrong, self-willed Jacqueline Ralston whose childhood and girlhood were spent here! After my marriage to Frank Kent, a bride returning to visit her former home! Then my widowhood with my small son, Jimmie, at the Rainbow Lodge. Now, the crowning honor of my varied career, I return as Mrs. James Colter!"

Jack, who never would be known by any other name to her family and intimate friends, laughed in the half teasing, half serious fashion with which her companion was familiar.

Characteristically she put up her hand to her head to remove her small traveling hat, hanging it on the pommel of her saddle.

"This is much more comfortable and I feel more like myself! Surely we shall see no one to-night except the four new Ranch Girls! I wonder how much they are going to dislike me, Jim, in my new character? I don't fancy I shall be a great success."

In the moonlight the woman who was speaking looked far younger than the middle-aged man who was her husband.

As a matter of fact, Jim Colter had been a grown man when Jacqueline Ralston was a young girl.

In those early days when out of nowhere he appeared to assist her father in the management of the Rainbow Ranch, nothing could have been farther from his imagination, or from her own, than a marriage between them.

Jack's golden-brown hair held the same lovely shades and was arranged in a close coil about her small head. Her skin was more tanned than usual from the six weeks in the mountains, following endless trails by day and sleeping at night under the stars.

Her figure was as slim as ever and she sat her horse with her accustomed ease and grace.

"Oh, I presume the girls will have some welcome arranged for our arrival! As our train was several hours late, I telegraphed ahead. But, child, do spend less time in worrying over your success or failure as a stepmother. We have given too much attention to the question for the past six weeks. The new Ranch Girls are wise enough to know in what luck they are playing! They may not be as grateful to you as I am; that is asking more than one should expect. What troubles me is not your rôle as a stepmother, but as the wife of a man as old as I am. Looking back now, I often wonder how I had the courage for our marriage!"[1]

"Courage! Jim, what a word to use! Yet of course I realize that it must have required courage to marry me! Jean and Olive and Frieda, your three other Ranch Girls of long ago, often have told you how much courage it would require. But on this night of our home-coming I did not expect to be reminded of it by you. By the way, will you please be kind enough not to call me 'child' in public? You did the other day. I can bear the title now and then in private, but in public it reflects on the dignity I'm afraid I never have been able to acquire. Now with four new daughters I really must learn to become a different individual!"

Jack rode nearer. Her horse leaned its head as if to confide in the other horse cantering quietly beside it.

"Jim, I was thinking of something just now, something real," she whispered. "I don't know whether I ought to say it. Remember the marriage ceremony says 'for better, for worse, for rich or for poor, in sickness and in health.' You and I have been through these experiences together as friends. Remember how poor we were in those old days before gold was discovered in Rainbow Creek? There was my long illness and the trouble we had in trying to keep the old ranch from being stolen from us!"[2]

"Never mind all these reminiscences, Jack; it is the future I am interested in at present, not the past," Mr. Colter remonstrated.

"One more promise you must make me. Promise never to interfere in my effort. The girls must either like or dislike me. I must win them myself, or never win at all."

Jack half arose in her saddle, pointing ahead. "See the lights of Rainbow Castle there in the distance!" She was as excited as if the house to which she was returning had not been her home in girlhood.

It was true that she was coming back in a new character, wife of her former guardian and stepmother to his four young daughters.

Her companion obeyed her suggestion.

Across the fields they beheld lights glimmering from a number of windows. They were still half a mile away.

Unconscious of what she was doing, the reins slackened in Jack's hands. Aware of this and with the knowledge that his stable was not far off, unexpectedly her horse broke into a swift canter.

As she felt the swing of his feet under her, the wind from the prairies sweeping across her cheeks and the fragrance of the purple clover in her nostrils, the new Mrs. Colter laughed aloud.

Instead of drawing her reins and pulling up, she touched her horse lightly with her whip and sped more swiftly ahead.

At the same instant there was a rushing and a patter of many hoofs across a nearby field.

Their manes flying, graceful and beautiful in the moonlight, their slender noses sniffing with curiosity and pleasure, half a dozen mares followed by their young colts raced close beside the rider.

Her companion followed, half amused and half protesting.

He had no fear. No one was more at home on horseback than the girl he had taught to ride so many years before. She was now his wife.

At the door of their home, Rainbow Castle, Jim lifted Jack down from her horse.

Ordinarily she would not wait for his or any one else's assistance.

To-night as her horse stopped she had a sudden feeling of oppression. She did not desire to go indoors. Often she had felt this after a long ride. All her life she had loved the outdoor world more than the four sides of a house.

To-night she had another reason. She was dreading to meet the young girls who were her stepdaughters.

She had known them before in the year she had spent with her son, Jimmie, at the Rainbow Lodge. Yet there had been no intimacy between them. She was not particularly sympathetic with young girls and had been busy with her own affairs. They had been friendly, but she never had tried to understand their different dispositions.

At the time her own sister, Frieda, who was now Mrs. Henry Tilford Russell, had been living at the big house with her husband and little girl. Jean, her cousin and a former Ranch Girl, had kept house at Rainbow Castle for Jim Colter and his motherless daughters.

Frieda and Jean not only understood the new Ranch Girls better than she did, but were more admired and loved by them.

Even then Jack realized that they did not enjoy her friendship with their father, which had ended with their marriage.

If the sound of their arrival was heard inside the big house, no one came to the front door to open it for the home-comers.

Jim Colter unlocked the door and he and Jack entered.

The drawing-room was lighted and the door partly open.

Stepping forward, Jack pushed it farther apart.

Inside the room four girls were seated.

One of them was curled up on a long sofa, a book in her hand. The leaves had fallen together, as if she were asleep.

Another figure, the smallest of all, was almost lost in an immense upholstered blue chair. Her black hair made a contrasting spot of color against the blue; her eyes were closed and the little figure was drooping with weariness. Her cheeks were a deep rose.

Seated beside each other on low stools close together were two other girls, who slowly arose at Jack's entrance.

They were Jeanette and Olivia Colter.

Jeanette's face was pale and her lips closed firmly together. Her gray-blue eyes looked darker, her uplifted nose more mutinous.

The fairer, gentler girl beside her appeared equally grave, if less unfriendly.

Crossing the room, Jeanette held out her hand stiffly to the newcomer.

Her father had delayed his entrance, thinking it might be easier for them all if his welcome came later.

"I am sorry we did not hear you arrive. You must have come on horseback. We thought the car was to be sent for you. We have been riding ourselves all day and got in very late. Lina and Eda, as you see, are asleep."

At this moment the oldest of the four new Ranch Girls opened her eyes and rose.

Plainly she was endeavoring to appear more enthusiastic than she felt.

She too shook hands. The new stepmother dared not ask that any one of the three girls welcome her more warmly.

She was leaning over to kiss the youngest of the four girls, when Eda slipped from her. With a swift movement of intense affection she flung her arms about her father.

At this moment he had entered the room.

The next the new stepmother found herself standing alone while the four new Ranch Girls were rejoicing over him.

CHAPTER III

THE DAWN

All night Jeanette had been unable to sleep more than half an hour at a time. Never in her life before could she recall such an experience.

Tired after their long excursion and the finding of the silver arrow, the excitement of meeting her father and the new stepmother, she had expected to fall into a sound slumber as soon as her head touched the pillow.

This had not happened and now it was dawn.

Getting out of bed, Jeanette walked over to a window.

Her room, which she occupied alone, was at the back of the big house. The view showed the carefully tended kitchen garden, the stables at some distance away, and beyond the long sweep of their own fields. One could catch a dim outline of a distant rim of hills.

The window was open. Thrusting out her head, Jeanette drew in a deep breath of the sweet morning air.

No one else on the place was yet astir.

Yawning, she glanced toward her bed and then outside again. Which called to her most? She was sleepy and yet felt she would be unable to sleep.

A ride before breakfast perhaps would put her in a better frame of mind to meet the new day. She dressed quickly in an old riding suit of blue corduroy.

Outside her window there was a long tangle of heavy vines supported by a lattice and twisting about the posts of the porch.

Wishing no one in the house to know of her departure, Jeanette crawled out of her window and clambered carefully down to the porch railing. This was not her first descent. By her own efforts the vines had been arranged to form a kind of natural stepladder.

Outdoors she hurried off to the stables. Here she saddled one of the ranch ponies. Her own had been too wearied by the long journey the day before.

She was about to ride away when she observed some one else slipping out of the house alone. She looked not a great deal older at this distance than Lina.

Jeanette recognized that she was the one person she did not wish to meet and talk with at the present time.

Without a sign she hurried off.

Not until she was a mile from home had she a sense of freedom.

Her stepmother she knew to be one of the most famous riders in the state.

Jeanette's fear had been that she might follow and ride with her.

She turned into a little-traveled bridle-path.

On ascending from the ravine the day before the four new Ranch Girls had found themselves not so great a distance from home as they feared. Near the ranch was an opening into the ravine which must for years have been closed with a thick tangle of underbrush. Of late some one had thrust the way through.

If she were pursued, Jeanette's idea was to hide behind the shrubs and thick sagebushes until she could safely emerge from shelter.

This was unnecessary.

Instead of concealing herself, she rode on a mile or so more. She planned to be back in time for breakfast.

The morning was too lovely to waste now that she had given up the hope of sleep.

Leaving the path, Jeanette set off across an open field.

Overhead the western larks were soaring and singing. The early spring wild flowers had gone, but the summer hedges of wild roses were in full bloom.

A few trees dotted the landscape, carefully planted and tended by the ranchmen. The pungent odor of the eucalyptus tree, an occasional scrub pine and tall bushes of sage alone broke Jeanette's view of the country.

Her pony swerved sharply before an object in his path.

Jeanette looked quickly down. Lying on the ground in a comfortable relaxed position was the figure of a boy about fifteen years old.

He had been asleep, but now sat up, looking indignant and rubbing his eyes.

"Your horse nearly ran over me! Why, you might have killed me!" he protested angrily.

Without intending to be disagreeable, Jeanette smiled. The following instant she slid off her horse.

"I am sorry to have alarmed you. Please explain to me why you are lying here in one of our fields asleep at this hour of the morning? I don't think we have seen each other before. Perhaps you are visiting one of our neighbors?"

Jeanette's sense of humor conquered her good manners.

This time she laughed aloud. Visitor or no visitor, why was he not in bed if he wished to sleep?

Seated in as disconsolate an attitude and wearing as aggrieved an expression as if he had been a child, Jeanette beheld a tall, thin boy with light hair curling close about a high, blue-veined forehead. He had blue eyes, a well-cut nose. It was his mouth, Jeanette decided, which gave him the infantile appearance. The lips were full and pouting as a spoiled girl's.

"I am glad you consider me amusing," he replied, a little sullenly. "I am not sure whether I am a visitor, or whether I have to live for some time in this plagued western country. I'd almost rather be dead than stay here many months. There is nothing to see, nothing to do. I feel as if I were a thousand miles from anywhere."

Jeanette glanced upward.

The sun had risen and was shining in the full golden glory of early summer morning. The fields planted in alfalfa or in grains were purple and green, the rolling prairies were velvet swards, the edges of the desert lines of silver.

Awake and about the business of their day were droves of sheep and cattle. Not far away young colts were frisking about their mothers.

On this occasion Jean showed no indication of laughter. Instead she frowned, a straight line appearing between her dark eyebrows.

"What an extraordinarily stupid and rude thing to say! Do get up off the ground, you look so absurd. Isn't that your pony grazing over there? I had not noticed before. By the time you ride back to your friends you surely will wish your breakfast. I only hope you are not so rude to them about their part of the country as you have been to me. I adore the West and everything about our ranch lands. Good-by, I must be off toward home."

Starting to turn away, Jeanette felt the skirt of her dress, tightly clutched.

Surprised and angered, she swung around. She discovered that her new acquaintance had risen to his feet and was blushing hotly.

"I beg your pardon, I did not intend being rude. Please do not go away at once. I don't suppose you have ever known what it means to be desperately homesick, so homesick it makes one actually ill. That is the way I feel at present.

"My home is in New York. I have never been anywhere else, except once to Europe and to our summer place on Long Island. My father is dead and I am the only child. Before I have been with my mother always.

"This summer for some strange reason she decided to go to Europe and not to take me with her. She said I was growing older and needed to become more manly. As my health has not been good the doctor advised I be sent West to live outdoors and ride and fish and hunt. I hate every outdoor sport.

"I am staying with Mr. Stevens—Peter Stevens. He is a lawyer and an old friend of my father's. They went to school together, I believe, so dad made him my guardian. I don't like him, either. If he had not come East on a visit and said I was growing up a mollycoddle, I should not have played in such poor luck as to be cast out here to live in the desert! Why, there isn't a theater, or a shop, or a human being worth looking at.—Oh, I say, I do beg your pardon honestly this time. Won't you have some candy?"

The boy put his hand into his pocket and drew forth a small box of French chocolates.

"Perhaps you will tell me your name and let me tell you mine?"

Jeanette shook her head.

"No, thank you, no candy at this hour of the morning. I confess I love it far too much at other times. Oh, I'll tell you my name gladly enough. It is Jeanette Colter. This is our ranch, the Rainbow Ranch. Mr. Stevens is a friend of my father's and my new stepmother's."

Unconsciously the girl's expression changed to one only a little less gloomy than her companion's had been a short time before.

At this he whistled sympathetically.

"Have you a stepmother? Is she new or have you had her some time? I tell you I never mean my mother to marry again. I have told her any number of times how I should hate it. She has promised never to marry without my consent—and that she will never receive."

"You strike me as being extremely selfish," Jeanette contemplated saying and then desisted. After all, her new companion was only expressing the sentiment she felt. Her wishes had not been consulted.

"You have not told me your name," she remarked more amiably than she so far had spoken.

"Cecil Perry. You won't like it. Mother prefers that people pronounce 'Cecil' in the English fashion."

Jeanette shrugged her shoulders.

"Oh, very well; I never heard the English pronunciation before. Good-by once more, Mr. Cecil Perry. I would ask you to tell Mr. Stevens to bring you to call on my father and sisters and me, and oh, yes, on my stepmother as well, if you did not find everybody in Wyoming so tiresome."

Again the young fellow flushed.

"I told you I was sorry. I don't understand why you pretend to be an angelic character. One can guess from seeing you that you often say and do the wrong thing. You have a lot of temper. If you were homesick in New York I should not be half so disagreeable to you."

Jeanette was annoyed by the truth in the strange boy's speech. She was also pleased that he was possessed of more spirit than she had suspected.

"Why not ride home to breakfast with me instead of waiting to have Mr. Stevens bring you? I shall be delighted not to have our breakfast this morning a strictly family affair."

CHAPTER four

AT BREAKFAST

When Jack, the present Mrs. Jim Colter, came out of the house a few moments after the younger girl, she was not aware of Jeanette's departure.

Observing her on the way to the stables, she had no thought of following her.

In fact, Jack distinctly recalled the days when, as one of the original Rainbow Ranch Girls, she had made just such early-morning escapes from her family and the problems that troubled her.

Already she was aware that among the four new Ranch Girls, Jeanette would probably be her chief problem, if she were to succeed in her determination to make friends.

Her husband had assured her otherwise. Jeanette always appeared easy enough to manage, provided one did not interfere with her tastes too seriously. She was boyish and frank and fond of the outdoors, a little as he recalled Jack herself to have been. If she were wilful now and then, she was seldom sullen. Always she was quick to forget an unpleasantness.

Jack had not the same impression. Not knowing Jeanette intimately, yet the year she had spent at Rainbow Lodge had afforded her a better opportunity for observing Jeanette than any one of the other girls.

Rarely ever with any degree of amiability, Jeanette and her own son, Jimmie, had spent a good many hours together. If they did not especially like each other, they had the same interests.

Jeanette was what old-fashioned persons once called a tomboy. She loved to ride and climb, fish and shoot, often excelling Jimmie, who was younger.

Jeanette had never been particularly sweet-tempered with Jimmie. Wanting her own way, she was apt to be difficult when opposed. From the first Jack had seen that Jeanette resented the boy's affection for his guardian, who was now his stepfather. More she resented her father's devotion to the only boy in the family.

If she could be jealous of this relation, how much greater her resentment against a stepmother, with such a strong claim upon her father.

There were breakers ahead.

Her husband had insisted that Eda, the youngest of the four girls, might be a trial. He never had understood her. A little more than a baby at her mother's death, she had been a shy, strange little person, thinking her own thoughts and living her own life with little regard to any one else.

Yet the thought of Eda did not trouble the new stepmother. Eda was young, was devoted to her older sister, and there was time enough to watch her character unfold.

Jack had a shrewd idea that Jeanette had her own way with her sisters more than any of them realized. Lina was studious and calm in temperament. Her interests were more in books than in the outside world. She seemed to love peace and quiet in order to pursue her own tastes. She would be inclined to surrender to Jeanette on some occasions because she was indifferent, on others to avoid argument.

Olivia, who was the gentlest of the four girls, with a wistful, imaginative quality, was under the spell of her next older sister's more active personality.

Without walking any distance from the house, Jack watched Jeanette ride away. She sat her pony fairly well, but more carelessly than Jack herself approved of.

She had no idea of riding before breakfast. She had come outdoors to walk for an hour about the place and watch its awakening.

She went first to the Rainbow Creek, where gold had first been discovered. There was little work going on at the mine at present.

Ralph Merritt, who had married Jean, her cousin, had accepted an engineering position farther West.

Jack regretted the fact that no one of the three other original Rainbow Ranch Girls would be at the old ranch during the present summer. She and her husband had decided this would be wisest. The others had agreed.

Frieda's husband, Professor Russell, having completed his scientific experiment, did not desire to remain longer at the ranch, now that Peace, their little girl, was in better health.

Olive and her husband, Captain Bryan MacDonnell, had returned to England, taking Jacqueline's own son, Jimmie Kent, to visit his father's people.

Returning to the house, Jack found her husband dressed and outdoors searching for her.

"I thought perhaps you might have run away, Mrs. Colter; you know you have in times past."

Jack shook her head.

"Never really run away, Jim, only for a few hours, or at most a day at a time. Now that I have grown elderly I suppose I should give up even such short breaks for liberty. If I ever do again, please remember that I shall always come back to you. What are you intending to do before breakfast?"

Jack made no mention of having seen Jeanette ride off a half hour before, not knowing whether it would meet her father's approval.

"I'm off to the ranch house to see the men before they start to work for the day. If I wait until after breakfast they will have gone. I shall ride out after them later."

Jack laughed.

"Glad to be at home and at work, Jim? A honeymoon is hard on a man, isn't it? No, I won't go with you. I am going into the kitchen for coffee. I want to be here when the girls come downstairs and to preside properly at the breakfast table the first morning of our home-coming. Don't be late."

Jack kept her eyes fastened on her husband for a moment after he turned away.

She was aware that many persons felt their marriage a mistake. Devoted as they were to their guardian, Jean and Olive, the two former Ranch Girls, had hesitated. Only Frieda, who so rarely approved of anything her older sister thought or did, had been openly pleased with Jack's marriage to their former guardian.

"Jim has always been the one person who could make Jack do what she should," Frieda had argued in a tone of relief, as though her own responsibility were partly lifted.

Entering the room for breakfast some little time later, Jack wore a cream-colored muslin dress, with brown shoes and stockings and a brown satin belt. She had a lace kerchief about her throat, which seemed to give her a properly domestic and elderly appearance.

Three of the four new Ranch Girls were waiting and appearing more friendly than the evening before.

Evidently they too had put on especially pretty morning dresses in honor of the occasion.

Jeanette was not present. Either she had failed to return, or else did not wish to come to breakfast until it was actually announced.

"Jeanette has disappeared. I hope you won't think she is rude if she does not get back in time for breakfast. She really should have known better than to be away the first morning of your and father's return," Lina apologized.

Eda, in a pink starched frock, with her black hair in a stiff halo about her face, looked like a slim Princess in a fairy tale. She condescendingly allowed herself to be kissed.

Lina only shook hands, but Olivia put up her lips in a sweet and natural fashion which gave her new stepmother a sensation of satisfaction and relief.

Small wonder that the grave, gentle girl was the favorite of the entire family.

Seeing her father enter at the same moment, she moved swiftly toward him and heard him whisper:

"If everybody were like you, Via, this would be a lovelier world. Where is Jeanette?"

When her absence was explained, he appeared more annoyed than the other girls were accustomed to seeing him.

"I think Jeanette might have postponed her ride a few hours this morning."

As he spoke steps were heard approaching and Jeanette entered the room with an unexpected companion, a tall, fair boy.

She looked flushed and excited. The young fellow appeared pale and weary.

The truth was that Jeanette had raced across the fields in order to be at home at this moment, unmindful of the fact that her companion knew little of riding and found it extremely difficult not to be left behind.

"I have discovered a new neighbor, father," said Jeanette, introducing the newcomer first to him and ignoring the presence of her new stepmother.

To her surprise Cecil Perry stretched out his hand.

"Is this Mrs. Colter? I know you cannot remember me, but I met you several years ago. How glad I am to see some one I have met before!"

CHAPTER Five

A LAWN PARTY

There were many persons in the neighborhood of the Rainbow Ranch who were friends of Mr. and Mrs. Colter.

After many years in the community Mr. Colter, who originally had taken slight interest in matters outside his own ranch, had become one of the most influential men in the western part of the state.

From her girlhood Jacqueline Ralston had excited keen attention. The oldest of the former Ranch Girls, she had been famous for her daring and independence. A serious illness, after which it was thought she would never ride or walk again, stirred pity and affection. Then followed her recovery and marriage to the young Englishman, Frank Kent, who afterwards inherited the title.

On the death of her husband, still a young woman, Lady Kent had returned to the old ranch. Here she had laid aside her title and devoted herself to politics. Running for Congress, she had failed to be elected and a few months later married her former guardian.

Two weeks following their honeymoon it was Mr. Colter's idea, not his wife's or daughters', that they give a large, informal reception to their friends.

One evening on the wide circular veranda at the left of the house and opening out of the dining-room, the family was seated at dinner.

"Don't you think we should give an entertainment of some kind to our neighbors?" Mr. Colter remarked unexpectedly.

Jack looked quickly at her husband, astonished and amused.

Lina's glance at her father, if not enthusiastic over the proposal, she was a little shy of strangers, expressed approval.

The two younger girls revealed no interest one way or the other.

Jeanette alone appeared annoyed.

Not that she objected to a party; she was fonder of society than any one of her sisters. She knew, however, that her father disliked every possible form of social entertainment and in her own mother's day rarely ever went anywhere outside their own home.

Why this present change?

She was not long to remain in doubt.

"I don't wonder at your surprise, Jack. I never have been a society man in the past, have I? I shall be out of place at present beside my wife and daughters. Still I don't wish our friends to believe that I shut you up here away from them. I have no right to be so selfish. I happen to remember that you were a very popular character in Wyoming before our marriage."

"So popular a person, Jim, that I was defeated in my election to Congress. I always have been glad Peter Stevens was chosen in my place. I am anxious to see him again and glad he is at home for the summer. He must recently have bought a ranch near ours."

Mr. Colter nodded.

"When Stevens resigned from his law practice he decided to spend the time he was not in Washington in the country. A cranky old bachelor, he is pretty sure to have his hands full making a Westerner out of the boy Jeanette introduced to us."

He was not enthusiastic over their neighbor, Peter Stevens, who had been one of his wife's admirers before their marriage.

"Oh, Cecil is all right if the girls will help him. He is in the wrong environment and I have learned to be sympathetic with people living under new conditions. I was uncomfortable when I first went to live in England.

"About our party? Girls, you must do all you can to assist me. I never have been the successful hostess of our family. Aunt Jean and Aunt Frieda were both more gifted, Olive was shy. I was always supposed to be too frank, a graceful fashion of saying I said and did the wrong thing."

Jack had finished dinner, which was a simple, early meal that the family shared.

The sun had gone down, but the afterglow was coloring the landscape. The radiance spread over the big veranda filled with graceful wicker furniture. A rose glow lay upon the table and the faces surrounding it.

There had been no special friction during the past two weeks, so that the new stepmother was beginning to feel her task might not be so difficult as she anticipated.

If the four girls still displayed no active liking for her, they did not seem to dislike her. Jeanette's manner showed a good deal of repression.

"Surely one of you new Ranch Girls must possess the social gift. Whom must I depend upon? In a few years you will be grown and entering more formal society, but before then I hope I shall learn to be a proper chaperon."

Jeanette arose.

"You need not trouble about me. I cannot understand father's sudden change of attitude. Never has he agreed that we give a party before, although I have often asked for the privilege.

"I hope, father, you will allow me to go East to school as soon as school opens. I have been thinking a good deal of this lately. If you ever have time for me again I should like to talk it over with you. I have an idea I want to study something to make my own living. You already have a large family and our share of the Rainbow Ranch is not a large one."

"Jeanette, this is not the time or place for such a discussion." In her father's voice there was a tone Jeanette had never heard before, which frightened and startled her. She had desired to vex him, not to make him seriously angry. Actually this had not occurred to her as a possibility. It was true, however, that they had not spent an hour together alone since his return from Canada.

Two or three times her father had invited her to ride to some distant point of the ranch with him, when he was on a tour of inspection. However, as her stepmother rode with him nearly every day Jeanette had preferred to decline on the few occasions when she was asked to play the part of a substitute.

At this moment Jeanette turned to leave the veranda. She was conscious of the unpleasant atmosphere one member of a family can always precipitate upon the other innocent members.

Her father was white with anger.

Lina appeared shocked and annoyed, disliking scenes at all times.

Olivia's lips were trembling and her blue eyes filling with tears.

Eda, not understanding, was nevertheless aware that no one near her was happy.

Jeanette could not know that the only person who had any real sympathy with her at present was the stepmother she disliked.

In times past when she was a girl Jack recalled having excited her husband's anger just as his daughter was doing at this time. She did not enjoy the reminiscence.

"I think I am still able to support my family, Jeanette. If you care to go East to school in the fall, possibly you may do as you wish. In the last two weeks you scarcely have made your presence at home so agreeable we cannot live without you."

These were the final words Jeanette heard as she vanished.

She had been ruder than an outsider could appreciate. A portion of the Rainbow Ranch belonged to her new stepmother. The house in which they were living had been built and paid for by the money discovered in Rainbow Creek. The house had been the property of the four original Ranch Girls.

Her father and mother had lived in it, because the former Ranch Girls had married and moved away.

The new Ranch Girls understood that their present home was too large and too handsome for their father's income and position. He accepted its use as a portion of the salary he received as manager of the large estate, which was now partly his own.

Jeanette understood that her stepmother's additional income from her former husband made her a wealthy woman. Concerning this fact her own father was sensitive. Now and then it was his impression that he had accepted more from his wife than he was able to give.

Upstairs in her room with the door locked Jeanette's cheeks burned. Like other persons in anger, she had said more than she intended and hurt the person she had not meant to injure. Her desire had been to arouse her stepmother's, not her father's resentment. But not once since her arrival had Jeanette been able to accomplish this.

All her girlhood Jacqueline Ralston had been famous for her sweet temper; now that she was older and had passed through many trying experiences, her sweetness and generosity of nature had deepened. If Jeanette Colter were to succeed in seriously annoying her, she must reveal some worse fault than a childish impulse to make scenes.

Now, as Jeanette sat curled up in her favorite position on a window seat, the fact that her stepmother had given her no cause for disliking her made her resentment keener.

One afternoon a week later the informal reception at the Rainbow Ranch took place.

Indoors Mr. and Mrs. Colter stood receiving their guests.

Outside on the front lawn Lina and Jeanette were entertaining their younger friends.

Apparently Jeanette was enjoying herself more than any one else. Lina was presiding at a heavily loaded tea table with Olivia assisting, while Jeanette was doing the greater part of the talking.

"Yes, it was curious, was it not, our finding a silver arrow in such an odd fashion. Actually it might have been shot from the sky from a winged chariot or whatever fanciful thing one may choose to imagine.

"The little lake at the bottom of the ravine is like an enchanted spot. I feel as if Lina, Via, Eda and I had taken part in a fairy story," Jeanette narrated.

A few feet from the tea table she was seated on the grass of the carefully tended front lawn before the big house. Grouped about her were half a dozen boys and girls near her age.

"May we see the famous arrow? It is hard to believe such a thing could have occurred," Eric Lawton asked. Living on an adjoining ranch, he and Jeanette Colter were especial friends.

"Would you really like to see it? I have always wanted to show the arrow to people outside the family and ask their theory from whence it could have come. We have our own pet ideas, none very sensible."

Slipping a small key from a chain she wore, Jeanette extended it toward her sister.

"You know where the arrow is securely hidden away, Via. Won't you be good enough to find it and bring it to us here? Lina, come and tell us the legend of the 'Silver Arrow' that you read the other day."

The oldest of the new quartette of Rainbow Ranch Girls arose and dropped down on the ground beside the others.

Cecil Perry, who had been Jeanette's original discovery, crossed over and took a seat beside her.

He and Lina had become intimate friends, while with Jeanette there was only an armed truce breaking into frequent warfare.

Lina laughed.

"Jeanette talks as if I casually picked up a book and there ran across a legend of a 'Silver Arrow.' The truth is I searched diligently for days. Whether or not it is true we cannot be certain, but the arrow we discovered seems to be an ancient one, which makes it more than ever a mystery."

"Well, do go on with your story, Lina; we are most impatient to hear," Martha Putnam, one of Lina's girl friends, expostulated.

Lina, who was accustomed to speaking slowly and deliberately, refused to be hurried.

The little circle gathered more closely about her.

"Please don't think I associate this story with our arrow. I only tell it to you for what it is worth. In any case it is an interesting tale, for one reason because the arrowheads of the American Indians were sometimes tipped with bronze or brass, never with silver. We know they had learned the uses of the first two metals before they were acquainted with the third."

Eda, who had been wandering around on the outskirts of the company, too shy to associate with them, at her sister's words came and slipped her hand inside a young man's. He was John Marshall, a number of years older than his present companions.

He appeared deeply interested in Lina's story.

"Long ago," Lina began in the approved story-telling fashion, "we know there was a race living in our western country who were possessed of far greater knowledge than our American Indians. They are supposed to have dwelt in ancient cities long since buried beneath the earth, to have learned the arts of weaving and dyeing, the use of bronze and copper and gold and silver.

"I am talking as if I were an extract from a page of American history. This is my background for the legend of the 'Silver Arrow.'

"Once upon a time an Indian boy, known to his companions as 'White Heart,' because of his gentleness and kindness, which they believed cowardice, went down into one of the deepest of the canyons to pray until the coming of dawn.

"At dawn he was to come forth from the canyon and join a group of Indian lads. Before the old chief, who lay dying, they were to appear and from the number the new chief would be chosen.

"During his long vigil White Heart prayed that the honor should not fall upon him. He had little reason to believe this possible, only a great fear. To be chief of his tribe meant that he must lead the warriors to battle. He must kill and urge others to destroy. If needs be he must lay waste other Indian villages and bear off the women and girls into captivity. And White Heart knew that for him to kill was impossible. The thought of suffering filled him with pity and tenderness. He grew faint and ill before the sight of blood. What availed him that he could run more swiftly, swim more strongly, shoot straighter to the center of a target, if he remained a coward both in war and peace?

"Many times he had been called a woman by his boy companions, but this a number of the Indian maidens resented. They felt no such weakness as White Heart revealed.

"'Better that I should never come forth from the depth of the canyon, rather than face the future,' White Heart murmured aloud more than once during the long night. He could not pray to be delivered from his weakness of character, as he had no desire to change, to grow hard of heart, to shed blood and create sorrow.

"The canyon was filled with a heavy mist. Dim figures of long-dead warriors floated past his view. They were clothed with light, but not one of them held a sword, an arrow or a spear.

"Before dawn White Heart wearied and fell asleep."

The story-teller paused.

"Perhaps I am boring you? I never would have agreed to tell the tale of the 'Silver Arrow' had I realized I would take so long."

"You must not stop at the instant of suspense," John Marshall urged above the heads of the others.

The ejaculations from the rest of the audience proved that they were in accord with him.

"The story is nearly finished," Lina continued.

"At daylight White Heart awakened. His resolve was steadfast. He would return to his people and confess that he had no wish to follow the law of his tribe. If, in the drawing of lots, the choice fell to him, he would not be chief. In any case he must become an outcast, following on the outskirts of his brother warriors as they went forth to battle, striving to heal their wounds.

"Rested and at peace, White Heart started to ascend the narrow trail that led from the heart of the canyon. He had gone but a few steps when a girl appeared before him. She was fairer than the girls of his own race, her long, light-brown hair fell to her shoulders and in her hand she carried an arrow, which she offered to White Heart.

"Gazing upon the arrow, he found it to be made of a shining metal with which he was unfamiliar.

"'The Silver Arrow represents wisdom and love. They are the true courage. Thy enemies shall not prevail against them.'

"The figure vanished. White Heart, the Silver Arrow in his clasp, climbed the hill and made his way to the tents of his people.

"There when the young warriors assembled after their long vigils White Heart was chosen chief.

"He kept the Arrow of Silver and afterwards became renowned for his wisdom and kindness. Other tribes sought alliance with his tribe until a great valley became filled with an industrious and peace-loving community. The Silver Arrow passed from one generation to the other."

Lina gave a little sigh.

"There is so much of the story I cannot tell you all. Strange that our silver arrow should have come into our possession in almost as mysterious a fashion!"

"Who knows but that I shot the silver arrow down into the canyon, or some other equally uninteresting person," Cecil Perry exclaimed. "We had a target on our place in Long Island and mother and her friends used to amuse themselves with bows and arrows. You did not know, Jeanette, that I can occasionally hit a target, if I am no good at other sports."

Jeanette paid no attention. She did not like the young fellow, and was apt to be slightly disdainful of persons whom she did not admire.

"Lina has not told you what I think is especially interesting concerning our silver arrow. The four of us saw it falling through the air. As it neared the ground instinctively we held our breath. I don't believe any one of us dreamed of being hurt. The arrow plunged into the water at the very edge near where I was seated, so that I drew it forth without difficulty. Afterwards the other girls were generous enough to say I had the right to own it. A moment later we made another decision. I cannot remember who suggested the idea, but at the end of a year our silver arrow is to be bestowed on the one of us who does the most courageous act."

Jeanette's glance challenged the little group.

"I don't see why we should think only of ourselves! Lina, if all of you agree, suppose we form a society, or a Club of the Silver Arrow. Do any of you wish to join? We could ask a number of older persons to judge to whom the arrow should be awarded.

"Cecil, perhaps you are like the young Indian, White Heart. You believe in wisdom and kindness, rather than in physical courage."

There was a little barbed arrow, not of silver, but of cruelty, in Jeanette Colter's speech. An instant later she regretted the unkindness. From the night of her stepmother's arrival at the Rainbow Ranch, Jeanette had felt an unaccustomed hardness and irritability.

A number of times since his arrival in the neighborhood Cecil Perry had showed himself lacking in ordinary physical courage. He was afraid of horses, of a sudden rush of cattle across the open country, of an unfriendly dog, and of half a dozen other small timidities he made no secret.

He flushed at Jeanette's speech, but offered no reply.

No one else spoke at this moment because Via was seen approaching, walking down the avenue from the house and holding the Silver Arrow in her outstretched hand.