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21 - Ranch Girls at Rainbow Lodge by Margaret Vandercook · Ranch Girls at Rainbow Lodge

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  Speaker 1: Visit LibriVox dot org. The Ranch Girls at Rainbow Lodge
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  Speaker 1: by Margaret Vandercook, chapter number twenty one, The Way of Escape.
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  Speaker 1: In the darkness, Olive kept tight hold of Carlos's hand.
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  Speaker 1: They ran swiftly and softly, like frightened hairs, each moment
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  Speaker 1: dreading to her footsteps behind them. But the darkness hid
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  Speaker 1: their tracks, and a wind was blowing which shifted the
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  Speaker 1: sand and whirled it into hills and hollows, so that
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  Speaker 1: not even an Indian could find the print of any
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  Speaker 1: passing foot. Besides Old Alaska slept soundly, and she had
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  Speaker 1: not stirred when Olive stole out from her tent. Carlos
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  Speaker 1: marched toward the east, where the sky looked less dark
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  Speaker 1: until the cold dawn broke. Before the sun was well up,
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  Speaker 1: the boy saw something glinting and glimmering ahead of them,
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  Speaker 1: like a long steel serpent. He gave a cry of victory.
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  Speaker 1: Breaking away from Olive, Carlos ran ahead. For a moment.
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  Speaker 1: He stood, balancing himself on the track rails, waving his
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  Speaker 1: thin brown arms and crowing like a young chanticler. We
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  Speaker 1: will rest here by the iron trail, he announced, happily,
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  Speaker 1: I will build a fire, and we will eat by
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  Speaker 1: and by. Your great wagon will pass by, roaring and
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  Speaker 1: snorting like an angry buffalo. It will take you with it.
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  Speaker 1: For a moment, the boy's face clouded. Then, as Olive
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  Speaker 1: reached his side, he laughed at the thought of her joy.
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  Speaker 1: But Carlos, Olive whispered, she was weary and almost frozen
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  Speaker 1: from her long tramp across the plains. You have brought
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  Speaker 1: me to the railroad track. But where is the station?
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  Speaker 1: Did you not know that the white man's trains will
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  Speaker 1: not stop unless there is a little house set up
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  Speaker 1: by a wooden platform, where a man at a window
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  Speaker 1: sells you small squares of paper. Carlos shook his head
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  Speaker 1: in confusion. He had no idea what Olive was talking about,
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  Speaker 1: for he had never seen a railroad depot in the
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  Speaker 1: twelve years of his wandering life. But he saw Olive's
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  Speaker 1: disappointment and knew that something in his beautiful plan for
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  Speaker 1: his friend was wrong. Never you mind, girl, Carlos insisted,
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  Speaker 1: shaking his straight black hair like a little foreign king.
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  Speaker 1: I will see that the wagon stops for you here
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  Speaker 1: where we wait. Olive dropped down on the ground too
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  Speaker 1: tired to argue or to explain any further, Carlos ran
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  Speaker 1: along the track. Finding a few odd sticks and pieces
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  Speaker 1: of wood, he made a little fire into which he
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  Speaker 1: stuck one long stick like a staff, which he had
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  Speaker 1: carried from the camp, But he saw that only the
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  Speaker 1: end of it burned hungrily. Olive eight she believed that
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  Speaker 1: she must follow the railroad track until she came to
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  Speaker 1: a depot. She had no way of guessing how many
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  Speaker 1: more miles she must walk, nor how many trains passed
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  Speaker 1: over this iron pathway through the desert. But she did
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  Speaker 1: know that she must save whatever strength she had, as
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  Speaker 1: her only hope was to reach a city somewhere. She
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  Speaker 1: had not Carlos's faith that the train would take her
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  Speaker 1: straight into the arms of her beloved friends. Yet she
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  Speaker 1: knew that once in a town, she could probably find
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  Speaker 1: a way of communicating with them. Carlos and Olive did
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  Speaker 1: not dare to talk. Olive was listening for the sound
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  Speaker 1: of a horse's hoofs, knowing that the journey which had
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  Speaker 1: been so long on foot, could be made on horseback
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  Speaker 1: in a little while. If Old Laska ever guessed the
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  Speaker 1: route they had taken. But Carlos listened for a louder noise,
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  Speaker 1: and one to him far less familiar. The boy and
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  Speaker 1: girl heard it at the same instant, and both sprang
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  Speaker 1: to their feet. Olive's face grew white and rigid with disappointment,
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  Speaker 1: but the boy's eyes flashed with excitement. The train was
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  Speaker 1: coming along the track past the spot where Olive and
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  Speaker 1: Carlos rested. Olive feared that her only chance of escape
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  Speaker 1: for that day was gone. She had hoped to reach
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  Speaker 1: the depot before a train went by them. Nearer the
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  Speaker 1: roar of the engine sounded. It was in sight, far
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  Speaker 1: off across the desert, but a very few minutes brought
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  Speaker 1: it close. Olive stepped quickly back to be out of danger,
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  Speaker 1: and seized Carlos by his woolen shirt to drag him
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  Speaker 1: with her. The boy jerked away, and before Olive could
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  Speaker 1: dream what he intended to do, he grabbed his burning
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  Speaker 1: stick from the fire. I'll stop the train for you,
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  Speaker 1: he shouted valiantly. Only be quick, you must get on
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  Speaker 1: when I command it. Like a flash, the brave brown
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  Speaker 1: figure ran along the track, waving his tiny torch and
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  Speaker 1: facing with all his feeble strength the great monster of
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  Speaker 1: iron and steel that was driving toward him. The blood
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  Speaker 1: of many centuries of Indian chiefs must have been back
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  Speaker 1: of little Carlos. He dared the unknown force of this
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  Speaker 1: engine today, as his ancestors had the bullets and powder
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  Speaker 1: of their white enemies, with the same blind belief in
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  Speaker 1: his own power against the forces of civilization. Olive saw
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  Speaker 1: Carlos go with a fleet, feeling of sickening horror. The
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  Speaker 1: boy was so small, so stupidly audacious. Olive's come back,
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  Speaker 1: come back was lost in the noise of the train,
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  Speaker 1: But Carlos would not have heeded her. What Indian chief
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  Speaker 1: has ever obeyed a woman. There seemed to be but
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  Speaker 1: one fate for him. He would be crushed to death
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  Speaker 1: in an instant. The engineer saw the boy running towards
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  Speaker 1: his train and the fire which Olive and Carlos had
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  Speaker 1: built near the track. He had but one thought. There
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  Speaker 1: must be danger somewhere ahead of them, and these children
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  Speaker 1: had come to warn him. Fortunately for Carlos, the train
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  Speaker 1: which he had chosen for Olive's escape was not one
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  Speaker 1: of passenger coaches, but a freight train. The engine was
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  Speaker 1: going at far less speed and quickly slowed down and stop. Come, come, Olive.
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  Speaker 1: The boy shouted triumphantly, this time waving his burning stick
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  Speaker 1: like a conquering hero. Olive ran toward the car day breathless,
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  Speaker 1: hardly knowing what had taken place nor what she was doing.
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  Speaker 1: The Indian boy's spirit had somehow seized hold on the situation.
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  Speaker 1: What has happened, imp, The engineer roared out of his
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  Speaker 1: car window. Is something wrong ahead on the track. Carlos
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  Speaker 1: danced up and down, as though he did not understand
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  Speaker 1: what the engineer asked. He had only a dim idea
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  Speaker 1: of the man's meaning, as he knew so few English words.
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  Speaker 1: Olive was slipping by him, and Carlos saw that she
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  Speaker 1: meant to do what he had planned. The engineer was
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  Speaker 1: climbing out of his cab, his back being turned so
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  Speaker 1: that he did not see Olive swing herself up into
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  Speaker 1: the next car. In an instant, the girl had hidden
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  Speaker 1: herself in the midst of great piles of boxes, unobserved
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  Speaker 1: by the other trained men, who were also interested in Carlos.
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  Speaker 1: The engineer was determined to find out what the Indian
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  Speaker 1: lad had to tell them. If the boy had fooled
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  Speaker 1: him and there was nothing for them to fear ahead,
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  Speaker 1: he should get the punishment he deserved. Carlos guessed the
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  Speaker 1: engineer's meaning from the expression of his face. The boy
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  Speaker 1: made a dark that was almost as swift as the
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  Speaker 1: first plunge of an arrow. From abow he was a
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  Speaker 1: small brown spot some distance off when the engineer made
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  Speaker 1: up his mind to run after him. The man did
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  Speaker 1: run for a few rods, but the idea of catching
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  Speaker 1: the boy was ridiculous. He was like a breath of
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  Speaker 1: wind blowing this way and not across the prairie. He
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  Speaker 1: could lead the engineer off into the desert so that
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  Speaker 1: he would not know how to return, And the man
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  Speaker 1: realized this. He climbed slowly back into his engine, determined
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  Speaker 1: to watch out himself for trouble along the track, believing, however,
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  Speaker 1: that Carlos had played an ugly trick on him. It
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  Speaker 1: would have gone hard with Olive if she had been discovered.
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  Speaker 1: At this time. The train went tardily on. Olive could
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  Speaker 1: hear the men moving on the top of the coach
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  Speaker 1: over her head. Once or twice, a dirty faced train
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  Speaker 1: man stuck his head in the open door of the
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  Speaker 1: freet but he saw nothing of the frightened girl huddled
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  Speaker 1: between the boxes. Olive of course, had no knowledge of
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  Speaker 1: where she was going. Her plan was to crawl out
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  Speaker 1: of the car as soon as it stopped at a
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  Speaker 1: town and then try to find someone to help her.
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  Speaker 1: But the car did not stop, and Olive finally fell asleep.
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  Speaker 1: End of chapter twenty one