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

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  Speaker 1: The Ranch Girls at Rainbow Lodge by Margaret Vandercook, chapter
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  Speaker 1: twenty three. Jack is happy chillin's it's time for bed,
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  Speaker 1: Cousin Ruth announced softly. Freida has been asleep in my
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  Speaker 1: arms for the last ten minutes. Perhaps I can tumble
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  Speaker 1: her in bed without waking her. She is so frightened
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  Speaker 1: at the storm. Jean glanced up at the clock over
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  Speaker 1: the living room. Mantle. Do let's wait a little while longer,
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  Speaker 1: she begged. I am just at the most thrilling part
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  Speaker 1: of my book, and I'm bound to finish it before
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  Speaker 1: I go to bed. Jack, you stay here with me.
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  Speaker 1: If cousin Ruth is going with Frida. I don't like
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  Speaker 1: to sit up alone. This storm is a terror. Listen
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  Speaker 1: how the wind howls down the chimney. I hope our
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  Speaker 1: stock won't be frozen to death. To night. Ruth led
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  Speaker 1: Frida gently out of the sitting room, while Jack got
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  Speaker 1: up and wandered to the window, but the frost covered
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  Speaker 1: the glass. She scratched a little space away with a hairpin,
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  Speaker 1: but there was nothing to see outside save the snow.
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  Speaker 1: Jack walked restlessly up and down the room for a minute.
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  Speaker 1: It was just nine o'clock, and she did not feel
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  Speaker 1: like going to bed. She could not read as Jeane
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  Speaker 1: was doing. These terrible western storms that came once or
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  Speaker 1: twice every winter always filled her with foreboding. Jack was
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  Speaker 1: too good a rancher not to understand that they caused
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  Speaker 1: great suffering and loss among the cattle. The rude corrals
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  Speaker 1: which the wrenchmen built for their stock could not save them.
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  Speaker 1: On a night like this, Jack dropped down on her
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  Speaker 1: knees before their bookshelves and began to look over them
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  Speaker 1: collection of volumes that had once belonged to her father.
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  Speaker 1: The books were the same ones that Jean had found
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  Speaker 1: in her uncle's trunk and brought to the living room
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  Speaker 1: to impress their new governess on the day of her
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  Speaker 1: arrival at Rainbow Lodge. Shep got up from his warm
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  Speaker 1: place by the fire and trotted over to lie down
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  Speaker 1: by Jack, Seeming to know that she was worried and
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  Speaker 1: wishing to offer her his subtle sympathy. Jack turned over
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  Speaker 1: the pages of half a dozen books, shaking them so
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  Speaker 1: that every leaf fluttered apart. Jean glanced over at her cousin.
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  Speaker 1: Jack was quieter and older than ever tonight. What are
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  Speaker 1: you doing? Jack, want me to help you, Jeane asked lovingly. No, Jean,
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  Speaker 1: I'm not doing anything special. Jack replied quietly, I am
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  Speaker 1: just killing time. But Jean knew that her cousin was
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  Speaker 1: searching once more for the lost title deed to Rainbow Ranch,
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  Speaker 1: and she had gone to the window to gaze out
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  Speaker 1: on the snow with the thought of olive on her mind.
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  Speaker 1: Even light hearted, Jean sighed, it was only a few
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  Speaker 1: days before Christmas. Jack was getting up off the floor
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  Speaker 1: when a sound startled her. She jumped quickly to her feet.
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  Speaker 1: Old Chap gave a long howl. What is the matter
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  Speaker 1: with you, Jack Wilen Ralston, Jean demanded pettishly, partly because
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  Speaker 1: she had just been so sorry for Jack. You almost
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  Speaker 1: scared me out of my wits. Jack was pointing toward
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  Speaker 1: the window. I heard a noise outside in the snow,
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  Speaker 1: she exclaimed, excitedly. You did no such thing, Jack. It's
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  Speaker 1: only the wind, howling. It has been making a racket
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  Speaker 1: for the last four hours. I don't see why you
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  Speaker 1: are so surprised all of a sudden, I heard nothing unusual,
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  Speaker 1: Jane protested. But it wasn't the wind I heard, Jane.
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  Speaker 1: This noise was quite different. Shep heard it too. See
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  Speaker 1: how queerly he is acting, Jack argued old shep had
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  Speaker 1: gone to the front door of the ranch house and
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  Speaker 1: was stretched against it with his forepaws resting on the door. Well,
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  Speaker 1: if you didn't hear the wind, it is some animal
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  Speaker 1: that has seen the lights of the lodge and stolen
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  Speaker 1: near here for protection. Do sit down, Jack, You make
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  Speaker 1: me dreadfully nervous, daring like that. You know you haven't
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  Speaker 1: heard the sound a second time. Let's go to bed.
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  Speaker 1: Jane slipped her arm around Jack's waist, but Jack pushed
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  Speaker 1: her gently off. I am going out in the snow
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  Speaker 1: to find out what that cry meant, Jane, Jack announced decisive.
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  Speaker 1: Suppose it was an animal. I can't allow anything to
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  Speaker 1: die just outside our home tonight. Jeane clung to her
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  Speaker 1: cousin's skirts. You shan't go at that door, Jack, Jean avowed.
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  Speaker 1: You will be blown off your feet by the wind.
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  Speaker 1: You will be frozen. If a wild animal has come
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  Speaker 1: out of the woods for shelter, you will be torn
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  Speaker 1: to pieces. Jean pictured every horrible fate that she could imagine,
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  Speaker 1: overtaking Jacqueline, but Jack was quickly buttoning up her overcoat
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  Speaker 1: and tying a thick woolen scarf about her head. I
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  Speaker 1: won't stay out but a minute, Jean dear, She returned,
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  Speaker 1: SHEP will go with me. You will keep me from
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  Speaker 1: getting hurt. I'll call cousin Ruth. Jack, you are the
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  Speaker 1: most obstinate person in the world, Jean exclaimed passionately. But
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  Speaker 1: Jack had wrenched open the big front door of the
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  Speaker 1: wrench house and plunged out into the night. A gust
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  Speaker 1: of snow swept into the wide hall. Straining with all
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  Speaker 1: her might, Jack closed the door back of her so
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  Speaker 1: that Jean should not feel the fury of the storm.
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  Speaker 1: With SHEP by her side, Jack faced the white wilderness
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  Speaker 1: of snow. Jean ran down the hall toward Ruth's room,
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  Speaker 1: but Ruth had already heard the noise and joined her.
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  Speaker 1: For an instant, the two women awaited Jack's return. They
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  Speaker 1: believed that she would come into the house as soon
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  Speaker 1: as she saw what lay ahead of her. Jack seized
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  Speaker 1: the lantern that swung always above the door of their lodge.
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  Speaker 1: The light was out, but by crouching down and turning
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  Speaker 1: her back to the wind, Jack managed to relight it.
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  Speaker 1: She knew the light would soon blow out again, but
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  Speaker 1: for a minute it would serve a purpose. Jack climbed
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  Speaker 1: off the porch shep plowed in front of her. Jack
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  Speaker 1: Jack swung her lantern once twice. It flashed, then the
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  Speaker 1: wind blew it out. But in that space of time,
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  Speaker 1: she saw something dark in a mound of snow not
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  Speaker 1: far from the house. Jack felt her way toward it,
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  Speaker 1: guided by an overwhelming instinct. Shep shook all over, not
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  Speaker 1: with the cold, but with the foreknowledge of what was
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  Speaker 1: ahead of them. When Jack reached Olive, shep had already
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  Speaker 1: covered the still body with his own warm one. Jack
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  Speaker 1: pushed shep away. She had to feel under the drifting
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  Speaker 1: snow before she knew the object she touched was a
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  Speaker 1: human being. But it was not until her hand touched
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  Speaker 1: the delicate, frozen face that she realized that Olive was found.
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  Speaker 1: At last, Jack's cry for help brought Ruth, Jean, and
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  Speaker 1: from the kitchen, Aunt Ellen, and Zack. There was such
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  Speaker 1: agony in Jack's tones that they all believed some horrible
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  Speaker 1: thing had happened to her. The women got Olive inside
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  Speaker 1: the house, not one of them having an idea that
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  Speaker 1: she was alive, but no one dared to tell Jack
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  Speaker 1: so they stripped off the girl's clothes and found the
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  Speaker 1: little sandal wood box hidden inside her dress. If Jack
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  Speaker 1: had not already learned to love Ruth Drew, she would
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  Speaker 1: have begun to care for her tonight. For Ruth knew
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  Speaker 1: exactly what to do for Olive. She would not let
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  Speaker 1: the girls and Aunt Ellen carry Olive too near the fire.
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  Speaker 1: She sent Uncle Zack off to find Jim Colter. Ruth
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  Speaker 1: and Jack rubbed Olive's stiff body with snow until their
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  Speaker 1: hands felt almost as numb as hers, and forced hot
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  Speaker 1: tea between her clenched teeth. By and bye. Aunt Ellen
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  Speaker 1: and Jean were allowed to bring warm blankets and hot irons.
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  Speaker 1: At last, the blue, stark look left Olive's face. It
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  Speaker 1: was Jack who discovered a tiny bit of color in
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  Speaker 1: her lips. Jack flung herself on her knees, and, hardly
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  Speaker 1: knowing what she was doing, breathed all the warm, vibrant
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  Speaker 1: breath of her own vigorous body into Olive's almost frozen lungs.
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  Speaker 1: After another hour, Olive stirred and moved one hand. She
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  Speaker 1: half opened her black eyes. I am all right, Jack,
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  Speaker 1: she whispered, I have got home. At last, end of
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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty three