RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 Hfl 
 
 
 m 
 
 
 FRANCES-MARIAN- MITCHELL
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 UNIT. OF CAUF. LIBRARY. LOS ANGELES
 
 - 
 
 "SEE, HE is ENCHANTED, RODNEY!" Page 229.
 
 JOAN 
 
 OF 
 
 RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 BY 
 
 FRANCES MARIAN MITCHELL 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BT F. VAUX WILSON 
 
 BOSTON 
 LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO.
 
 Published, August, 1911 
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1911, BY LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD Co. 
 
 All Rights Reserved 
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 Rorwoos press 
 
 BERWICK & SMITH Co. 
 
 Norwood, Mass. 
 
 U.S.A.
 
 JO MY MOTHER 
 IN MEMORY OF MY BROTHER 
 
 2131658
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 "SEE, HE is ENCHANTED, RODNEY ! " (page 229) Frontispiece 
 
 FACING 
 PAGE 
 
 "YOU ARE A SWEET SPIRIT COME TO RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 TO BRING PEACE TO THE HEARTS OF MANY" . . 82 
 
 SOME DAY HE WOULD AWAKEN THE WOMAN-LOVE THAT 
 
 LAY HIDDEN UNDER THE CHILD-LOVE . . . 324 
 
 THE STRAINS OF THE VIOLIN FLOATED OUT OVER THE 
 
 DESERT, FILLED WITH LOVE AND LONGING . . 468
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW 
 SPRINGS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 IT was Christmas Eve. The Snow King was 
 abroad that night with a great, wild wind. 
 
 As the night grew old, the wind gradually 
 strengthened to a gale and turned the steady down- 
 fall of white snowflakes into a lashing scourge. It 
 whipped the soft mantle of white from the earth and 
 sent it swirling through the frigid air as if it re- 
 gretted the moments spent in gentle drifting. 
 Shrieking and howling, it rattled windows and tore 
 at the roofs of the sedate white houses that flanked 
 the main streets of the little town of Orion, Ver- 
 mont, even as it rattled windows and tore at the 
 roofs of other houses in many other towns, for the 
 wind was on mischief bent that night. 
 
 It swept up the tracks of the one car line Orion 
 boasted, and took a fiendish joy in burying the cold 
 rails under an icy shroud of white.
 
 12 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 Out toward the end of the car line a square white 
 house stands at a dignified distance back from the 
 street. From the sidewalk to the door runs a well- 
 beaten path bounded on each side by great silver 
 maple trees, their gaunt limbs now ice-bound and 
 unsuggestive of the sap of spring hidden in their 
 hearts. 
 
 With a shrilly whistled song of rage the blizzard 
 caught the square white house in its icy grasp and 
 shook it until it quivered and creaked. With a 
 howl of joy it sent a sparkling drift of snow into the 
 long hall, for the outer door stood slightly ajar. So 
 had it stood every Christmas Eve for sixty years, 
 because on that storm-scourged Christmas Eve so 
 many years before, an old gentleman and a beau- 
 tiful maiden, who had been lost in the snow, had 
 found their way to the square white house, through 
 the sudden opening of the outer door by one within 
 who had heard their cry for help during a mo- 
 mentary lull in the storm. 
 
 The old man had passed on the next day to the 
 great beyond, but the beautiful maiden had re- 
 mained and was the revered grandmother of the 
 present Rodney White, who, with a maiden aunt, 
 lived in the house whose inmates one by one had 
 been laid to rest in the churchyard until only these 
 two remained. The aunt was as cold and gaunt
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 13 
 
 as the ice-bound maples that flanked the path from 
 the street to the door. If the sap of the spring was 
 in her heart, it had never been revealed to the 
 motherless boy she had raised, not for love of the 
 boy, but because her stern New England conscience 
 demanded it. 
 
 In the hush that followed the passing of the storm 
 the strains of a violin floated out through the open 
 door. 
 
 Rodney White was playing Vieuxtemps' " Rev- 
 erie," and the exquisite harmony of it seemed to 
 come from the inmost soul of the violin vibrant 
 with longing, a-quiver with prayer and pain. The 
 rich, full chords of it trembled far out into the 
 night and across the snow-buried car tracks until 
 they reached the consciousness of a small storm- 
 scourged mite of humanity. 
 
 In some subtile, mysterious manner the violin 
 seemed to call direct to the heart of the little way- 
 farer and set her free from bondage seemed to 
 calm the storm that had raged within her while she 
 battled against the fury of the wind and snow. It 
 gave her a sense of protection she had never known 
 before in her eleven years of unprotected, unchild- 
 like life. She ceased to feel the stinging cold of the 
 bitter night. 
 
 For an instant she stood motionless, her lithe fig-
 
 14 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 ure erect, her head slightly bent the better to hear 
 the exquisite melody; then with a sharp intake of 
 breath she nodded her head slightly, as one who 
 catches a distant measure, and with a sob of joy 
 darted toward the square white house. She had 
 reached the path between the maples before the 
 snow began to fall again in large loose flakes that 
 quickly filled her footprints. 
 
 An old shawl wrapped around her head caught 
 upon a low limb of a maple tree, and when she had 
 pulled herself free she noticed that the outer door 
 of the house stood slightly ajar and the snow was 
 drifting in. 
 
 She stumbled up the steps and across the ridge 
 of snow in the doorway. Once in the hall she hesi- 
 tated an instant and caught her breath sharply be- 
 fore she slipped into the room whence came the 
 voice of the violin. 
 
 Oh, the unutterable joy of it after the hour out 
 in the storm, this being again within sheltering 
 walls ! How grateful the subtile sense of protection 
 given by the crackling blaze of the open fire send- 
 ing its merry, dancing light and warmth into every 
 corner of the room into the very marrow of her 
 chilled bones! Oh, the ecstasy of the peace that 
 enveloped her the fragrance of the pine knots on
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 15 
 
 their leaping bed of fire the thrill of joy brought 
 by the nearness of a human being and the divine 
 music that had called to her out there in the 
 night ! 
 
 Rodney White, nervously pacing the room with 
 the soft light from the dancing fire outlining his 
 boyish face with its square chin, looked pale and 
 careworn. His deep gray eyes stared unseeingly 
 over the responsive strings of the violin, and the 
 dark circles around them spoke eloquently of the 
 sleepless nights that had been his. The tense set 
 of his firm mouth told of the battle being waged 
 between body and soul. 
 
 Once he ceased playing for an instant, and the 
 little listener in front of the fire caught her breath 
 with a sense of fear he looked so stern and somber 
 when a deep, harsh cough racked his body, but 
 again his long nervous fingers caressed the strings 
 and he began to improvise, weaving together 
 themes of Christmas carols with a prayer of in- 
 finite longing throbbing through them, with an 
 undercurrent of renunciation that had not been 
 manifest in the " Reverie." 
 
 The little listener knew nothing of the meaning 
 of the music nor the idea it interpreted, yet the 
 emotions of it seized upon her, giving her the feeling
 
 16 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 that something sweet and inexplainable had found 
 her and was holding her in a close embrace as a 
 mother holds her child. 
 
 Her breath came quick and fast and when the 
 player, with a sigh that was almost a sob, began 
 to play Gounod's " Ave Maria," it seemed as 
 though she must cry out because of the strange 
 mingling of joy and pain that enthralled her be- 
 cause of the nearness of the spirit that enfolded her 
 in its gentle yet sorrowing embrace because of 
 the presence of the spirit which believes all things, 
 suffers all things, and triumphs at last through all 
 things. 
 
 Then clear and surpassingly sweet came a splen- 
 did chord of victory. A superb chord that buried 
 deep all individual grief a chord that rang with 
 a thrill of hope; and the notes that followed sang 
 with a sweet faith in the infinite and the ultimate 
 triumph of the infinite over the finite world of pain. 
 All the beauty of the world was a part of that 
 matchless melody of divine harmony and, on and 
 on and through it all, rang a throbbing current of 
 individual triumph until with the last sweet note 
 the " peace that passeth understanding " pervaded 
 the room where infinite love had conquered finite 
 pain. 
 
 Still with that rapt look on his face, Rodney
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 17 
 
 White walked across the room to the violin case 
 that lay open on the corner of the square piano. 
 
 Reverently and tenderly he wrapped the violin 
 in a silk scarf and laid it in its case and softly 
 snapped the cover down. 
 
 In some strange way the watcher felt that she 
 was in some Holy of Holies, that she was witness- 
 ing some sacred rite, and a sob of pain and regret 
 burst from her. 
 
 Rodney White heard the sob and, turning at the 
 sound, found an odd little figure crouched before 
 the fire. 
 
 " Well," he said, kindly. " Where did you come 
 from, little girl, and who are you? I hoped some 
 one would come through my open door to-night," 
 he added, advancing toward her with a welcoming 
 smile. 
 
 " I am glad you are not cross because I came in. 
 I I ran away from Mrs. Pepper's to-night and 
 and my name is Joan Worthington," came the 
 answer in an unsteady voice, as the child sprang 
 to her feet. 
 
 " Whew ! All this way through the snow, little 
 girl. Why, it's a regular blizzard out to-night, and 
 it's a good mile from here to the Pepper place. I 
 don't blame you for running away from her, 
 though," he added, with a whimsical smile. " She's
 
 i8 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 a vixen if ever there was one. But why did you 
 run away on a night like this ? " 
 
 " Why ! " There was nothing unsteady now in 
 the voice of the pathetic little figure in her very 
 short, very ugly dress of murky brown flannel, with 
 an old black shawl wrapped around her head. Be- 
 neath the shawl, hanging down her back, was a thick 
 braid of gold-brown hair. Her face was pinched 
 and colorless but for the dark, arched brows and 
 the blue eyes flashing fire between long heavy 
 lashes. 
 
 Rodney White, at that moment, was conscious 
 only of the flashing eyes. The thin white face, and 
 the wistful mouth with its pinched corners, he no- 
 ticed later when the fire had died out of the great 
 dark eyes. 
 
 " Why ! " came the voice again, and this time 
 there was a note of pain in it. For a moment the 
 child could not speak for the sob that she bravely 
 choked back. 
 
 " Go on," Rodney prompted, gently. 
 
 " Yes, I'll go on," she flashed, with a look of faith 
 in her direct, candid eyes. " I don't believe you 
 could be cruel and play that ^s you do." She 
 nodded toward the violin. 
 
 Rodney's somber face brightened with a smile of 
 peculiar sweetness.
 
 19 
 
 " Go on, little snow girl," he urged. 
 
 " Mrs. Pepper called me a thief." The low voice 
 was tragic. " She had a five-dollar gold piece. Jim 
 took it," she panted. " I saw him, but Mrs. Pepper 
 accused me. Oh ! Oh ! she accused me," she wailed. 
 
 Suddenly the strange little being ceased sobbing 
 and drew her lithe form erect. " I am not a thief," 
 she said, proudly, with her well-poised head tilted 
 back. 
 
 She met Rodney's searching look with a direct, 
 unflinching gaze. On her face was the light of 
 truth and the look in her eyes was not the look of 
 a thief. 
 
 " I shall see Mrs. Pepper to-morrow," Rodney 
 said, quietly, his lips firm set. " I know you are 
 not a thief," he added, in answer to the question in 
 the dark, tragic eyes. 
 
 With a cry of joy she flung herself down on her 
 knees at his feet, clasped her hands about his knees, 
 and bent her head on them. 
 
 " O God in Heaven, I thank you for his faith 
 in me," she cried, with a ringing note of joy in 
 her voice. 
 
 In spite of himself, Rodney smiled as he gently 
 raised her to her feet. 
 
 " Of course I believe you," he said, softly, " and 
 to-morrow we shall make Mrs. Pepper acknowl-
 
 20 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 edge her wrong. She knows me and will not trifle 
 with me when I go with you to see her." 
 
 " And you'll go there with me ? " Incredulity 
 struggled with joy in the eager voice. 
 
 " Yes," Rodney said, with a smile. 
 
 " And you are going to let me stay here to- 
 night?" 
 
 " Of course. Didn't I leave the outer door open 
 with a prayer that if any one was out in the storm 
 he would enter the open door. And you came, little 
 snow girl, and you shall stay until your people come 
 for you; but why were you at Mrs. Pepper's, if I 
 may ask ? " 
 
 " I have no people," was the answer, in a dull, 
 hopeless voice from which all the light and life had 
 gone. 
 
 For a moment Rodney thought she was about to 
 cry again, but the thin shoulders squared themselves 
 and the flicker of a smile played about the pale lips. 
 
 " I am not often so weak-jointed," with an apolo- 
 getic air. " I'm generally glad just to be alive. It's 
 such an interesting world to live in, and the thought 
 of the good things that might happen makes being 
 an orphan not half bad at times. Of course a 
 woman like Mrs. Pepper is bound to be trying on 
 any one, but it was lots better there than it was at 
 lots of places until this trouble came up that makes
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 21 
 
 it impossible for me to live there any longer even 
 if she should acknowledge her wrong. I could 
 never, never, live in the house with any one who 
 had called me a thief ! Never ! Never ! " 
 
 And Rodney White, looking into the clear, honest 
 depths of her eyes, knew that it would be impossible 
 for such a child to forget such a wrong. 
 
 " An asylum is awful," she went on, with a bitter 
 little smile. "If you'd ever been an orphan in an 
 asylum you'd understand how the very thought of 
 going back to it is most harrowing. The asylum is 
 so monotonous but then life hasn't been all 
 monotony to me. I've been handed about on trial 
 so many times, but every time I'd begin to think I 
 was going to be adopted something would happen 
 and back I'd go to the asylum. Once an old maid 
 she was a Christian Scientist and taught me sev- 
 eral things that make life more bearable kept me 
 for over six months and had fully decided to adopt 
 me, but when she was about ready a man came 
 along and spoiled it all. She took the man, and 
 back to the asylum went little Joan with a parting 
 injunction to remember ' God is Love and an ex- 
 pression of Love ' meaning I was an expression 
 of Love ' could not be unhappy.' ' 
 
 " Did you ever go to school ? " Rodney asked, 
 hiding his smiling lips with his hand.
 
 22 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 " Not a great deal. I went most of the time I 
 stayed with Miss Warren, the old maid, I just told 
 you about. She was good to me in spite of her 
 queerness," she added, reflectively. " And of 
 course I went some while I was doing spasms in the 
 asylum and I love to read books, especially if they 
 give you a crinkly feeling up and down your back. 
 I haven't read very extensively. Do you love to 
 read?" 
 
 Rodney smiled an affirmative at the child. The 
 old shawl had fallen back from the thin face now 
 vivid with animation. 
 
 " Sit there in that chair facing me and we'll talk 
 it all out," he suggested, indicating the great arm- 
 chair on the other side of the hearth. 
 
 The child sank into the chair with a luxurious 
 sigh. 
 
 " My ! this is nice. I wonder if it's much nicer 
 in heaven. I never dreamed I'd come to this when 
 I left Mrs. Pepper's. I was madder than a wild- 
 cat then and I just raged and raged and tramped 
 on and on until I heard your music. Oh, how mad 
 I was ! " And at the thought of the indignity she 
 had suffered at the hands of Mrs. Pepper a steely 
 flash came into her eyes and a flare of anger set 
 its signals at the corners of her lips and nostrils. 
 
 With his eyes on the pinched little face, lighted
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 23 
 
 by the dark blue eyes with glints of gold in the 
 iris, Rodney White compared the life of the child 
 with his own life, and a shamed feeling swept over 
 him because he had not met defeat in his life-work 
 more bravely. 
 
 " I am an orphan, too," he said at last, very 
 gently, " but I've never lived in an asylum nor been 
 handed around." 
 
 " Of course not," Joan broke in eagerly. " Any 
 one with half an eye could see you'd never lived 
 in an asylum you've been an orphan with a home. 
 I'm the homeless kind, and that makes a vast differ- 
 ence between us. I used to be very rebellious in 
 spite of the fact that I read my Bible diligently, 
 but ever since I lived with Miss Warren I've felt 
 different. Isn't there lots of consolation in that 
 verse about Jesus that reads : ' Foxes have holes and 
 the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man 
 has not where to lay his head ' ? I never failed to 
 gain comfort from that until to-night, and only that 
 only that," she repeated reverently, " could have 
 reached through the howling wilderness of woe in 
 my heart to-night." 
 
 Rodney's eyes followed hers to the violin. 
 
 " Poor little kid ! " he murmured, gently. And 
 then silence came. A silence of understanding be- 
 tween these two widely different specimens of hu-
 
 24 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 manity drawn together by the tie of the motherless 
 and fatherless. 
 
 Minutes passed. 
 
 Rodney gazed vacantly at the fire. Again he 
 heard his friend the noted physician say, " Your 
 only chance is to go to California. You must live 
 out of doors I know the very place for you an 
 oasis in the heart of the Colorado Desert a place 
 where many brave men have fought the great white 
 plague, where some have conquered and some have 
 died, but died righting remember that, Rodney. I 
 do not say even Rainbow Springs will cure you. It 
 depends largely on yourself. Take my advice and 
 it will at least prolong your life. God grant that 
 you may get well. But you will at least have fought 
 the fight, whatever the outcome. The violin you 
 must lay away for at least three years perhaps 
 longer. You must, if you can, forget the triumph 
 that was to have been yours on your contem- 
 plated tour. Tell your manager that life is bet- 
 ter than fame. Had you followed my advice when 
 you came back from Europe six months ago you 
 would have been much better now. But fight, man, 
 fight, and think victory. I want you to realize your 
 danger but never measure your own grave, Rodney. 
 Leave that for some one else and perhaps there will 
 be no measuring done."
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 25 
 
 Rodney forgot the little girl in the great arm- 
 chair forgot everything but the giving up of his 
 beloved violin. He lived again his agony of suffer- 
 ing as he played for the last time for months, per- 
 haps forever, his beloved Amati, the delicate, re- 
 sponsive instrument he loved with all the soul of a 
 man nearly thirty whose heart has never been 
 stirred by love for a woman. 
 
 Peace had come to him in the last measures of 
 the " Ave Maria " a strange, enveloping peace. 
 
 Suddenly he thought of the child who had come 
 in as he played the child who had answered the 
 voice of the violin calling, calling, calling out into 
 the night. 
 
 With the thought of her came recollection of the 
 significance of the open door. 
 
 Slowly solemnly came the voice of the clock on 
 the mantel in twelve clear, ringing strokes. 
 
 Christmas had dawned once more. Rodney went 
 out into the hall and swept the drifts of snow out 
 of it; then softly closed the outer door. When he 
 came back to the fire his breath was coming pain- 
 fully short and fast. He looked at the odd little 
 figure in the great arm-chair. 
 
 The child was asleep. In the dim light of the 
 fire, that had ceased to crackle merrily, the little 
 face looked even more pinched and pathetic and
 
 26 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 cold than it had when she snuggled down in the 
 chair. 
 
 "Poor little kid!" he whispered softly. "I'll 
 keep her I don't care what Aunt Prue says. I'll 
 keep her just the same. She shan't be a ' hand-me- 
 around orphan ' any more. I'd be a mighty poor 
 descendant of that other Rodney White if I didn't 
 keep the gift the storm brought on Christmas Eve. 
 And for what other reason is the door always left 
 open on Christmas Eve, I'd like to know ? " he de- 
 manded, as if arguing with the stern, gaunt woman 
 long since asleep, under her immaculate covers, after 
 a futile and yearly voicement of her contempt of 
 the open outer door " just to get the hall all mussed 
 up and the carpet spoiled." 
 
 Rodney had laughed at her this Christmas Eve 
 as he had every Christmas Eve of his life since his 
 father died and left him the trust of keeping the 
 door ajar for the chance wayfarer of the Holy Eve. 
 
 His aunt had scornfully accused him of coming 
 from Europe at Christmas tide, each of the six 
 years he had spent abroad, " just to keep up the 
 foolish custom," as she called it, begun so long ago 
 by that other Rodney White to whom had come 
 the beautiful maiden the maiden who had asked 
 that the outer door be left ajar each Christmas Eve 
 until some one again came to the square white house
 
 27 
 
 out of a stormy night. " Could she have foreseen 
 this night?" he asked himself, with a whimsical 
 little laugh, his eyes on the sleeping child. 
 
 " That kid ought to be in bed," he reflected. 
 " But I can't rouse Aunt Prue; she'd frighten the 
 little thing to death before I got a chance to let her 
 know I want her." 
 
 He decided at last to rekindle the fire and let 
 the child sleep in the chair. 
 
 " Poor little kid ! " he repeated, as he knelt on 
 the hearth and stirred the embers until they snapped 
 and glowed and caught eagerly at the pine knots he 
 piled on them. Soon the fire was crackling merrily. 
 The leaping light awoke the child. 
 
 The man smiled as the level, sleep-misted eyes 
 looked into his. 
 
 " You have had a nice sleep," he announced, 
 cheerfully, " and now I am going to ask you a few 
 questions, then trot you off to bed." 
 
 The child smiled at him sleepily. 
 
 His dark, somber face brightened with a smile 
 of peculiar sweetness. 
 
 " Joan Worthington," he demanded, in a boy- 
 ishly judicial voice, " would you like to stay with 
 me always? I could adopt you, you know. I am 
 old enough to make it highly proper. We'll do it 
 all up to-morrow, if you say the word. There shall
 
 28 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 be no old maid procrastination in our case. Would 
 you like to have me adopt you? Just speak the 
 word, young lady." 
 
 " Like to stay ! " Joan cried, springing to her 
 feet. " Oh, tell me quick tell me you are not fool- 
 ing me but you couldn't joke when it's so serious 
 to me, could you? Besides you don't look like the 
 fooling kind. Why I haven't belonged to any one 
 since I was two years old. Oh, tell me again that 
 you'll adopt me ! I'll try so hard to always be good 
 if you take me. You shall never be sorry that you 
 took pity on a poor little orphan girl. Oh, I'll try 
 so hard to be good and please you every way if 
 you'll take me! It's rather strenuous work for me 
 to be absolutely and perfectly good, although I'm 
 never really ungodly wicked except when I get in 
 a temper like I was to-night," she added, with an 
 apologetic grin. 
 
 " Yes, I shall adopt you to-morrow if there is 
 nothing to keep me from it," Rodney White broke 
 in, with a radiant smile. The manifest happiness 
 of the child was good to see. 
 
 " Oh, I'm so happy I'll have to cry or burst ! " she 
 suddenly exclaimed, and cry she did most gustily. 
 An outburst of the shut-in storm of years. 
 
 Finally Rodney laid his hand on her head. 
 " There is no need to cry, little girl."
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 29 
 
 "No need to cry?" she sobbed. "When the 
 dream of my life has come true when I am to 
 live with you and that." She pointed a trembling 
 finger toward the violin. 
 
 " Yes, little girl, you are to live with me and 
 that, but," his voice broke, " the violin is to be 
 silent for many months." 
 
 And while the child sobbed on, but less violently, 
 he told her of the " sword of the consumptive " 
 hanging over his head of the farewell he had 
 bidden his violin during those last hours with it 
 the farewell that had spoken to her out in the 
 storm. 
 
 When he had finished, she looked at him with 
 eyes soft and gentle as the eyes that looked at him 
 from the miniature of his mother. 
 
 " It seems wrong for me to be so happy when 
 you have to give up so much," she said shyly, after 
 a moment's silence. 
 
 Rodney had been poking the astonished fire with 
 vicious thrusts with the brass poker, as if the hiss 
 and crackle of the angry sparks appeased him. 
 
 He ceased poking the fire and turned to the child 
 with a smile. " Never mind me now, little girl," he 
 said, softly. " I am sure your presence is going to 
 make me very happy. And I hope you will always 
 be as happy as you are now."
 
 30 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 " Happy ! " she cried, passionately. " Happy I 
 am so happy that I am thrilling from head to foot 
 with happiness perfect happiness. And oh, it will 
 be good, good if I can make you happy, too! It 
 will come out all right, I know it will," she said, 
 after a pause during which Rodney studied her in- 
 tently. " Miss Warren always said ' Divine Love 
 always has met and always will meet every human 
 need.' And oh, it does ! It does ! Divine Love has 
 met my most human need. I belong to some one at 
 last. Oh, it's good ! Good, to have some one to be- 
 long to ! " 
 
 " What a kid it is ! " he laughed. 
 
 She moved a little from the chair. In the new 
 attitude her profile was cut like a cameo against the 
 sooty background of the fireplace. It was an irreg- 
 ular outline, gaining its greatest charm from the 
 long curling lashes; the sensitive nostrils and curved 
 lips trembling with a happy smile. 
 
 Rodney watched her steadily, his eyes sparkling. 
 
 Suddenly she whirled to him with a motion not 
 unlike that of the flames sparkling on the hearth. 
 
 " Are you perfectly sure you want me ? " she 
 challenged. 
 
 An almost holy light came into the man's eyes. 
 
 " I need you; need you to help me bear the giving 
 up of that yes, indeed, I want you."
 
 JO A N OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 31 
 
 Her eyes followed his to the incased violin. 
 
 In the man's eyes was the artistic capacity for 
 intense joy as well as the intense suffering that had 
 set its seal in the lineaments of his strong, artistic 
 face. And there was more joy than pain in his gray 
 eyes now there was a prophetic forecast of the 
 knowledge that he did need this child as he had 
 never before needed anything. 
 
 He looked at her to find her regarding him with 
 puzzled gravity. 
 
 "Well?" 
 
 " You haven't asked me anything about my par- 
 entage." 
 
 Rodney laughed. " A wise man once said, ' The 
 knowing nothing of one is precisely right. When 
 we know nothing of one we can take it for granted 
 that one is everything we could wish for.' That 
 is the way I am willing to take you, little girl, if 
 there is no one else who has a better right to you." 
 
 " No one has," she answered, soberly. " But 
 I'd like to show you my mother's picture," she 
 added, shyly. 
 
 " If you wish, little girl." 
 
 The child turned her back toward him. An in- 
 stant later she held out to him a miniature framed 
 in pearls. A sweet face was pictured upon the 
 ivory in delicate colors a face like that of the girl
 
 32 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 before him the face of a girl scarcely out of her 
 teens, with a mass of gold-brown hair piled high 
 on her delicately poised head. 
 
 Between heavy, curling lashes the same blue eyes, 
 with glints of gold in them, met his gaze with a 
 direct, wistful look wistfully sad eyes were those 
 of the miniature girl eyes with a depth of longing 
 in them that held the man transfixed for an instant. 
 
 " Turn it over," Joan said, softly. 
 
 On the back of the locket, engraved in the dull 
 gold, were the words " Joanna from Norman." 
 
 " Norman was my father," Joan explained. " He 
 disappeared when I was six months old. My mother 
 died when I was two years old. I have their mar- 
 riage certificate," she added, with a note of pride 
 in her voice likewise a challenging note was there, 
 as if she recalled some word of doubt that had in 
 the past been directed at the beautiful mother she so 
 plainly adored. 
 
 " I am glad you showed me that," Rodney said 
 at last, when she had turned again to replace the 
 miniature. 
 
 Under his breath he cursed the father who could 
 have deserted the little girl child and the wistful- 
 eyed girl mother. 
 
 " Shall I call you Joan or Joanna ? " he asked, at 
 last.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 33 
 
 The child turned with a happy light in her eyes. 
 
 "Call me either one you choose. I like to be 
 called Joan, but oh, I hate to be called Jone, as Mrs. 
 Pepper pronounces it! She was always called 
 Joan," she added, softly, and Rodney knew that the 
 " she " was the girl-mother. 
 
 " What shall I call you ? " she demanded, in turn. 
 " According to all the books I've read, I'd call you 
 ' Guardy,' but I never liked that, someway." 
 
 " Call me Rodney," he suggested, with a smile. 
 
 She laughed. " That sounds nice, but hardly 
 proper." 
 
 " I like it." He stood up and looked down upon 
 her with a smile. 
 
 " We'll get properly adopted and classified by 
 high noon. It's to bed, now. Can you step 
 lightly?" 
 
 " As light as a cat," she flashed back. 
 
 " Well, I have an aunt, you know, and we 
 wouldn't like to awaken her. She's well, she's 
 exceedingly nice, you know, and all that, but it isn't 
 just the thing to awaken a maiden lady at this time 
 of the morning, is it ? " 
 
 Joan smiled understandingly. 
 
 " She might not like it," she volunteered. 
 
 " Just so; you are a very discerning young lady. 
 So walk easy. Straight up the stairs, then to the
 
 34 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 right to the second room. You'll find a bed there 
 you can lose yourself in, and a good sleep is what 
 you need." 
 
 He took a candle from the mantel, lighted it, 
 and handed it to her with a kindly " Good-night, 
 or, rather, good-morning, little girl." 
 
 With an intense " Good-morning," Joan left the 
 room. Not once did the stairs creak under her 
 careful tread. 
 
 Rodney settled himself before the fire and poked 
 it reflectively. " She's stanch and true or I miss 
 my guess and there's fire in her, too." He smiled 
 whimsically as he recalled the flash in her eyes 
 when she told of Mrs. Pepper's unjust accusation. 
 
 Toward dawn the storm swept back from the open 
 country with an added strength and fury. The 
 wild, lashing wind whipped a steady downfall of 
 snow against the windows and tore at the roof of 
 the square white house, but through it all Rodney 
 White slept in his chair before a fitful fire. Slept 
 and dreamed of the maiden who had come out of 
 the storm to that other Rodney White so long ago 
 and of the child who had come to him in answer to 
 the call of his violin and in his dream his great 
 love for his violin seemed, in a measure, to have 
 been transferred to the child, Joan.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 IT was almost noon when Joan awoke. For an 
 instant she stared in a bewildered way at the 
 pale wintry sun glimmering in through the 
 windows. Then came an exhilarating thrill of re- 
 membrance. It was Christmas Day and, yes, she 
 at last had the promise of a home! And there was 
 a maple tree just outside the window with its ice- 
 shrouded limbs glistening and sparkling under the 
 subtle warmth of the sun. 
 
 With a cry of delight, she bounded out of bed 
 and across the floor and dropped on her knees be- 
 fore the window, rejoicing that she had carefully 
 raised the shades, when she crept softly up to bed. 
 
 Her luminous eyes danced with delight as she 
 looked out over the glistening world. The fantastic 
 shapes of the icicles hanging from the roof of the 
 house and the limbs of the trees appealed to her 
 fertile imagination, and she fell to weaving a won- 
 derful story of an enchanted ice world ruled by a 
 fairy queen with two magic wands one of gold to 
 brighten and warm the world by day; the other of 
 silver to shed a mystic glow over the night. 
 
 35
 
 36 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 It was characteristic of Joan that until the 
 phantasy was finished in her mind she was con- 
 scious of nothing but her delight in it. 
 
 As she put on her skimpy dress she had of 
 necessity slept in her scanty undergarments she 
 greedily drank in the beauty of the world revealed 
 to her through the window. 
 
 On both sides of the house were glistening ice- 
 covered trees. Off across the buried car tracks were 
 low, sloping fields of glittering white. To the left 
 lay the town. 
 
 " Oh, I love the whole world ! " she cried at last, 
 ecstatically. " The dear mother earth is laughing 
 under her beautiful robe of snow. I know she is 
 laughing and chuckling over the thought of the little 
 spring flowers held close to her heart." 
 
 Suddenly she realized that she was hungry and 
 downstairs was the man who had promised to adopt 
 her the man who represented the fulfillment of 
 the dream of her life. 
 
 Perhaps he was expecting her that very instant. 
 She trembled with ecstatic excitement at the very 
 thought of it while she combed her heavy brown 
 hair with a huge comb. 
 
 She was hilariously happy, as she started down 
 the long narrow stairway she longed to slide down 
 the banister to give vent to her exuberance, but, re-
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 37 
 
 membering her determination to be dignity incar- 
 nate, descended the long flight of stairs as sedately 
 as would have a Colonial dame. 
 
 Her hand was on the door of the room she had 
 spent such memorable moments in, a few hours 
 before, when the sound of voices arrested her. 
 
 A woman was speaking, and the words chilled the 
 heart of the little listener with a more deadly cold 
 than had the storm of the night before. 
 
 She did not listen in the spirit of an eaves- 
 dropper. She could not have moved to save her 
 life. 
 
 " Rodney ! Surely you are not serious. You can- 
 not intend to adopt a child of whom you know 
 nothing a perfect scarecrow of a child at that. I 
 saw her with my own eyes on the best feather bed 
 in the house ! " 
 
 " But I do, Aunt Prudence, I assure you. I in- 
 tend to take this child and do what I can for her 
 during the next few years if if I have a few 
 years." His voice quivered, but the icy hand about 
 Joan's heart relaxed its grip a little, then tightened 
 again as the cold, metallic voice of the woman came 
 again. 
 
 " A child about the house will make a great dif- 
 ference, Rodney. And such a child," she added, 
 with a snort of rage, " asleep on the best feather
 
 38 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 bed in Poke County with part of her clothing on ! " 
 
 " Aunt Prudence," Rodney broke in. " I intend 
 to raise that child. Please remember that, and also 
 please remember that the child is sensitive, and until 
 I can get her some more clothing she must not be 
 made to feel there is anything out of the ordinary 
 in her sleeping as she did last night. Poor little 
 girl, she may not even know any better, but she is 
 bright, Aunt Prue! She's a perfect witch of a 
 child." 
 
 " That's just it, Rodney White. You are be- 
 witched. I don't doubt that in the least design- 
 ing little imp some one has told her of that fool 
 custom of leaving the door open on Christmas Eve 
 and she's come then just to work on your feelings. 
 No doubt she's a witch, as you call her. Men usually 
 get hoodwinked by the big-eyed kind and all you 
 can talk about is her appealing big eyes appealing 
 fiddlesticks! She's some nameless brat, mark my 
 words, Rodney White." 
 
 The retort on Rodney White's lips was never 
 voiced. 
 
 The door burst open and with one bound Joan 
 crossed the room and stood before Prudence White, 
 her eyes blazing with anger, her mouth quivering, 
 and her whole slight figure shaking from head to 
 foot.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 39 
 
 The band about her heart had turned from ice 
 into a heat that almost suffocated her. 
 
 " You wicked, wicked woman ! " she cried, in a 
 choked voice, stamping her foot on the floor. 
 
 " How can you calmly call any one a nameless 
 brat when you know absolutely nothing about them ? 
 I am not nameless, thank God! I am also well 
 aware of the proper garments to wear at night." 
 
 For a moment she continued to face Prudence 
 White unflinchingly, her head tilted back the spirit 
 of anger incarnate. As suddenly as ceases an April 
 shower the flare of anger left her eyes. 
 
 With a pathetic little moan she turned to Rodney. 
 
 " Forgive me, forgive me ! " she pleaded, her lips 
 quivering. " I am exceedingly sorry I spit out at 
 her, if she's the aunt you mentioned last night. 
 The trouble with me is I never stop to think when 
 I am angry. I should not have listened, either. I 
 did not intend to. I came downstairs with a flood 
 of sunshine and love in my heart and now I'm deso- 
 late again. You can't want me after exploding at 
 her that way. Oh, oh, I'm perfectly miserable ! " 
 She looked it, as she flung herself down on her 
 knees before the irate woman sitting bolt upright 
 on the extreme edge of her chair. 
 
 " Well, I never ! " Prudence White gasped, as 
 Joan looked up at her imploringly.
 
 40 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 " I am so sorry," Joan said, her voice quivering 
 with emotion. " Honesty compels me to repeat 
 you were unjust to talk the way you did, and a 
 woman of your age must know perfectly well that 
 the Bible says to ' judge not.' At the same time, 
 I had no right to blaze out at you as I did, and I 
 repeat that I am extremely sorry." 
 
 " Well, I never ! " Prudence White repeated. 
 For the life of her she could not have said 
 more. 
 
 Rodney broke the tension of the moments that 
 followed moments that neither Prudence White 
 nor the child kneeling before her ever forgot. 
 
 " Tell her you forgive her, Aunt Prue," his voice 
 had a note of pleading in it. 
 
 " Yes, please forgive me," Joan cried, eagerly. 
 " Let's have ' Peace and good will ' among us 
 all." 
 
 Prudence White moved her lips to say, she knew 
 not what, and the words that she did speak were 
 no more of a surprise to Rodney White than they 
 were to her. 
 
 " Get up, child, I forgive you. You are not my 
 kettle of fish to fry, anyway. I've always tried to 
 do my duty by Rodney White, and if he wants you 
 I suppose it's my duty to let him have you, and 
 that settles it as far as I am concerned."
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 41 
 
 " Oh ! Oh ! I do thank you and forgive you, 
 too, for saying what you did, although for a mo- 
 ment I hated you." 
 
 Prudence smiled grimly. She was not aware that 
 she had asked to be forgiven. 
 
 " Oh ! Oh ! I am so happy again," Joan cried, 
 springing to her feet and, before the astonished 
 woman could prevent it, planted a tremulous kiss on 
 the woman's smooth cheek. 
 
 "Well, I never!" Prudence gasped, as she me- 
 chanically rubbed the spot touched by the child's 
 lips. 
 
 Rodney smiled and drew the child to him. She 
 nestled in his arms with a sigh of content. 
 
 Prudence White looked at the man and the child 
 a moment in silence, then said, dryly : 
 
 " I don't envy you your charge, Rodney, but if 
 you're satisfied I reckon I'll have to be. I'll get 
 her something to eat. She looks hungry enough, 
 goodness knows." 
 
 Joan's eyes gave one ominous flash; then a gleam 
 of mirth danced in them, as Prudence White stalked 
 majestically from the room. 
 
 Any one who knew Prudence White would have 
 been amazed at the quick concession she had made. 
 
 She had never pretended to be fond of children 
 and was openly and publicly thankful when Rodney
 
 42 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 White, her dead brother's child, outgrew the age of 
 pinafores and dependence. 
 
 His mother never lived to see the man-child for 
 whom she had prayed and for whom she had gladly 
 given her life. 
 
 Prudence White secretly took a sort of stony 
 pride in her nephew's achievements at school and 
 his growing mastery of the violin from the age of 
 seven until it was now said of him in more than 
 one land, " He is greater than Ysaye." 
 
 Although she frankly admitted to herself that she 
 did not in the least understand it, she secretly cher- 
 ished one of many newspaper clippings, which read 
 in part: 
 
 " His notes are always charged with clearness 
 and authority. The thrill of his music runs like an 
 electric chain about his audience. 
 
 " His tones are all shades of color and illimitable 
 interpretative resonance, human sympathy, and im- 
 pulsive and propulsive temperament. 
 
 " He is at home in every style of music. He 
 lends majesty to Handel, poetical charm to Viotti, 
 tenderness to Beethoven, grace to Boccherini, soul- 
 fulness to Weber, and nobility to Mozart." 
 
 Prudence White never let her nephew see her 
 gratification in him, but in the depths of her heart
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 43 
 
 was an almost unconscious dread of the time when 
 he should bring a wife to his home; for Prudence 
 White, forty-five and a spinster, held old-fashioned 
 notions concerning a woman's sphere, and even the 
 quiet, prim young women of Orion did not quite 
 meet with her approval of what the wife of Rodney 
 White should be. 
 
 " Aunt Prue means well, little girl," said Rodney, 
 encouragingly, as the library door was jerked to 
 with a subdued slam. 
 
 Joan pressed her cheek against the arm he had 
 about her neck. 
 
 " She's made that way, I imagine," she said, 
 slowly. " So many of them are in this town. They 
 get so perpendicular it's a wonder they don't break 
 when they move quick." 
 
 The spontaneity of Rodney's laugh brought the 
 blood stinging to the girl's face. 
 
 Seeing the hurt light in her eyes he endeavored 
 to check his mirth. 
 
 "Did you ever go to a circus, Joan?" he ques- 
 tioned, abruptly. 
 
 She smiled, a little reminiscent smile. " I went 
 once, and it exceeded even my wildest anticipations 
 of it. I had to swallow lumps in my throat all the 
 time, I was so thrilled, and when a perfectly 
 gorgeous man took a dive of sixty feet through
 
 44 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 space, little cold feelings chased themselves up and 
 down my spine until I got so excited I went over 
 backward. Fortunately for me we were on the 
 fourth row of seats from the ground and I wasn't 
 hurt except my pride." 
 
 Her clear treble merged with Rodney's deeper 
 laugh this time, and the ring of it reached Prudence 
 White in her immaculate kitchen. At the sound of 
 it she clicked her lips tight together and through 
 her set teeth emitted a snort of disdain, even as she 
 dropped three spoonfuls of her famous buckwheat 
 batter on the hot spider. 
 
 Prudence White was a conscientious woman, as 
 stern with herself as with her neighbors and she 
 browned the hot cakes for Joan as carefully as she 
 would have browned them for the President. She 
 and Rodney had breakfasted early in the morning, 
 fully three hours before she knew of Joan's pres- 
 ence in the house. 
 
 While Joan was eating breakfast, Rodney left 
 the house on a mission of his own, with a promise 
 to Joan, that after his return they would call on 
 Mrs. Pepper. 
 
 " I can forgive even her this morning," Joan had 
 responded happily, then applied herself to Prudence 
 White's justly famous buckwheat cakes. 
 
 Prudence watched Joan carefully, and by the end
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 45 
 
 of the meal was inclined to think well of her. It 
 was not her expressive eyes, and certainly not her 
 quick way of speaking for herself. It was the 
 manner in which she ate and appreciated the cakes. 
 
 With Joan's table manners no fault could be 
 found by one even more fastidious than her present 
 critic. Besides that, she ate with appreciative ejac- 
 ulations interjected between bites, such as, " I never 
 ate anything like these cakes, never! Never! I 
 don't believe the manna fed to the children of Israel 
 could have tasted better." 
 
 " You seem rather familiar with the Bible," Pru- 
 dence remarked, dryly, after the manna outburst. 
 
 " I should think I ought to be," Joan flashed 
 back. " I own exactly one Bible and one book of 
 fairy tales. I've read the Bible through from cover 
 to cover exactly six times the fairy book seventeen 
 times." 
 
 " Humph ! " said Prudence, sharply, eying the 
 child as if it were a serious shortcoming to have 
 read the Bible through but six times. 
 
 Joan realized that she was being looked upon dis- 
 approvingly. She sighed. " I suppose I should 
 have read the Bible more times than I have, but it's 
 such a large book compared to the fairy tales or 
 perhaps you think I should not have read the fairy 
 tales at all. Miss Warren did not approve of them."
 
 4 6 
 
 " I am not judging you," retorted Prudence, 
 stiffly. 
 
 Joan was meekly silent until she had finished her 
 breakfast. 
 
 Prudence broke the silence. " I suppose you are 
 not quite a heathen if you have read the Bible so 
 many times that is if you remember enough of it 
 to do you any good," she added, suspiciously. 
 
 " Indeed, I remember more than you think I 
 know all the ' Sermon on the Mount,' " Joan broke 
 in, eagerly, and promptly and glibly and correctly 
 repeated it. " I know all of ' Job/ too," she added, 
 proudly " and " 
 
 " Why Job ? " Prudence asked, involuntarily, or 
 so it ever afterward seemed to her. 
 
 " Well, Job was afflicted, you know, and had his 
 proud spirit humbled and tried, and I've been tried 
 and humbled all my life, and when I'm in the deep- 
 est valley of humiliation it comforts me to remem- 
 ber Job, although Miss Warren said I did not un- 
 derstand Job properly. I suppose I don't," she 
 added, ruefully. " But the thought of Job's trials 
 and tribulations has been a staff to my fainting 
 soul many a time in spite of Miss Warren shaking 
 my faith in my own interpretation of it." 
 
 "Well, I never!" Prudence ejaculated, weakly. 
 
 "Shall I repeat something else?" Joan ques-
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 47 
 
 tioned, eagerly. " I know most of the ' Gospel of 
 St. John ' all of ' Esther ' and ' Ruth ' and part 
 of ' Revelation.' Isn't there something splendid 
 about the roll of some of the verses in ' Revela- 
 tion ' ? Some of them give me such a creepy feel- 
 ing up and down my back that I love to say them 
 when I am tired out with the cares of the day, like I 
 always was at night at Mrs. Pepper's. I know a 
 lot of other things, too," she continued, brightly, 
 as she began deftly to clear the table. 
 
 Prudence White sat stiffly on the edge of her chair 
 and stared at the odd little being talking so freely 
 about the Bible. It made her quake inwardly be- 
 because of such seeming irreverence. Prudence 
 White was accustomed when speaking of things 
 Biblical to speak with what she considered proper 
 diffidence. 
 
 Joan shocked her, and yet she realized that the 
 child was not lacking in veneration of the words 
 she repeated so easily. Of a sudden she realized 
 that Joan was not quoting the Bible. 
 
 " ' Man is tributary to God, Spirit, and to nothing 
 else. God's being is infinity, freedom, harmony, 
 and boundless bliss,' " she heard as if in a dream. 
 
 " ' There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor sub- 
 stance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its in- 
 finite manifestation, for God is All in All. Spirit
 
 48 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 is Immortal Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit 
 is the real and eternal; matter the unreal and tem- 
 poral. Spirit is God and man is His image and 
 likeness; hence man is spiritual and not material/ ' 
 Joan quoted as she deftly washed, rinsed, and care- 
 fully dried her breakfast dishes and set them on the 
 table. 
 
 "What is that?" Prudence demanded, weakly, 
 as Joan hesitated an instant before giving further 
 demonstrations of her mental capacity for mem- 
 orizing. 
 
 "That I just finished?" 
 
 Prudence nodded. 
 
 " Why, that is the scientific statement of being," 
 Joan explained, cheerfully. " Sounds splendid, 
 don't it? This one is the scientific statement of life. 
 I learned a lot out of the Christian Science book 
 while I was with Miss Warren. I think this sounds 
 fine, ' Life is divine Principle, Mind, Soul, Spirit, 
 without beginning and without end. Eternity, not 
 time ' " 
 
 " Stop ! " Prudence interrupted, firmly. " Stop 
 right there ! " she repeated, as if to give herself some 
 mental support. 
 
 Joan stopped so suddenly she choked, and by the 
 time she had emptied a glass of water and was 
 ready to continue Prudence was herself again.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 49 
 
 " You've got a long tongue," she said, dryly. 
 " Too long to suit me, but I'm fair enough to admit 
 you seem to know quite a bit, but just remember in 
 the future I don't care to hear any of the things 
 you've been saying unless it is the Bible verses, and 
 I can read them for myself, thank the Lord, so 
 there's no call for you to say any of them to me. 
 
 " As for what I heard of the rest of your speak- 
 ing, it sounds mightily like heresy to me. You may 
 not understand what you're saying and again you 
 may, but you can talk less and you must, do you 
 understand ? " 
 
 " Yes, ma'am," Joan answered, meekly, all ani- 
 mation gone out of her eyes. 
 
 " Now go into the other room until Rodney 
 comes," Prudence added, less sternly. 
 
 Joan gladly obeyed. 
 
 When the door closed behind the child, Prudence 
 drew a long sigh of relief and clicked her lips to- 
 gether as she began to put the dishes away. 
 
 And in the library, Joan, with her thin face 
 pressed against the cold window, looked wistfully 
 out on the maple-bordered path for Rodney White.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 JUDGE WHEATON lived three doors from 
 Rodney White's, straight down the car line, 
 in a rambling Colonial mansion set well back 
 from the street and surrounded by gigantic silver 
 maple trees that had reared their proud heads sky- 
 ward for more than a hundred years. 
 
 The Judge was unfeignedly delighted to see 
 Rodney. 
 
 " Well ! Well ! It's good to see you. Christmas 
 greetings, my boy," he cried, heartily. With Rod- 
 ney's hand still grasped in his, he drew the young 
 man into his library, where in the great fireplace, 
 on huge dog irons, a Yuletide log crackled a sea- 
 sonable lay. 
 
 " The Season's best cheer to you, Judge," said 
 Rodney, giving an answering pressure to the strong 
 hand clasping his. 
 
 Judge Wheaton was a hale, twinkling-eyed man 
 of sixty a man who had ever been as a foster fa- 
 ther to the dreamy lad whose aunt had never encour- 
 aged him to break down the barrier of reserve by 
 
 50
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 51 
 
 which he was surrounded, a barrier that hedged him 
 in a world of his own, a world to the door of which 
 only two men held the key, and one of them was 
 the man who now sat on the other side of the jovial 
 fire; the other, the famous physician who had de- 
 creed the desert for him. 
 
 " What is this the doctor writes me about your 
 going to California?" came at last from the man 
 in whose veins flowed the good red blood of per- 
 fect health. 
 
 " So Stephen wrote you, did he ? " 
 
 Rodney gave a sigh, drew his chair up with a 
 little jerk, and passed his long fingers slowly 
 through his heavy dark hair. " I thought he would 
 write," he added. " In fact, I suggested that he 
 write you before I returned." 
 
 Judge Wheaton's hand shot out to meet Rod- 
 ney's with a man's grip of silent, sympathetic under- 
 standing. 
 
 The fire glowed and popped and crackled; the 
 grandfather clock in the corner ticked off the min- 
 utes with majestic pomp while Rodney White glided 
 into one of those strange mental experiences where 
 all that happens seems preordained, a mere repeti- 
 tion of the same moment spent in the same manner 
 centuries before. 
 
 Even before Judge Wheaton broke the silence,
 
 52 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 Rodney knew that his friend was about to speak 
 knew what he was about to say. 
 
 " By treating the subject lightly, lad, the disease 
 will be robbed of half its terrors." 
 
 The sturdy man avoided the wistful eyes of the 
 young man. " And, remember," he continued, 
 gravely, " with the same kindly persistence that na- 
 ture uses in healing the bleeding stump of one of 
 her forest giants or covering the uneven and un- 
 sightly surfaces of the earth with vegetation, she 
 is ready to give life and strength to the ones who 
 get close enough to her generous, life-renewing 
 heart. When do you go ? " he broke off, abruptly. 
 
 " Day after to-morrow, Judge." 
 
 " Good boy, that is the spirit ! Can I do anything 
 for you before you start ? " 
 
 " Rather, yes," Rodney laughed boyishly. 
 " That is one reason why I am here so early this 
 morning. I want you to make a family man of me 
 this very day." 
 
 "What?" 
 
 " Just so," Rodney replied, gravely, enjoying his 
 friend's astonishment. 
 
 " You ! You ! You cannot mean that you are 
 going to get married ? " 
 
 " No." Rodney grew grave again. " Even 
 though I cared for a woman, Judge, the barrier of
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 53 
 
 my disease stands between me and that may al- 
 ways stand between me and that. What I do want 
 is your legal aid in adopting a child." 
 
 " Explain yourself," the Judge commanded, 
 tersely. He listened with varying flashes of amuse- 
 ment and sympathetic understanding flashing across 
 his expressive face as Rodney told of his farewell 
 to his violin, and of the sprite of a child who had 
 come to him the night before. 
 
 " And I want to adopt her to-day, Judge," Rod- 
 ney concluded, with a wistful note in his voice. " I 
 want to give the little kid the legal proof of a home 
 as a Christmas gift, besides I have often thought 
 I should like to try my hand at bringing up a child," 
 he added, whimsically. " I will confess that I would 
 much prefer a boy, still this gives me an oppor- 
 tunity to see what I can do in that line and her 
 gratitude at the very thought of having a home, at 
 last, is about the sweetest thing that has ever come 
 to me. And you know she came out of the storm 
 just as my grandmother did. It almost seems as if 
 my grandmother knew that she would come and 
 had the door left ajar all these years on Christmas 
 Eve for her. I shudder to think what would have 
 become of her if the door had not been open." 
 
 " How does Prudence take it ? " 
 
 " Like a martyr," Rodney responded. " She con-
 
 54 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 siders it her Christian duty to let me make a fool 
 of myself if I'm determined to, anyway," he added, 
 whimsically. " What do you think about it, Judge ? " 
 
 Judge Wheaton studied the young man's face in- 
 tently, as he answered with judicial gravity. 
 " From what you say, my boy, the child must be of 
 the right mettle. If so, I am with you. Anybody 
 is happier by having a child about." A tender light 
 came into the Judge's eyes. His own little grand- 
 daughter, Bess, was about the age of this child- 
 waif. 
 
 " Yes, and I'll go you one better," he cried, en- 
 thusiastically. " I sent to New York for some 
 clothes for Bess, a whole outfit. They are too small 
 for her, though, so I'll add those to my legal 
 services for good measure. Perhaps they will just 
 fit your lassie." 
 
 " Good ! " Rodney exclaimed. " To quote her, I 
 was in the depths of despair about clothing for her 
 to-day. I'll pay you for them, however. You see," 
 he added, as he met the objection that sprang to 
 his friend's eyes, " you have had a long time in 
 which to enjoy purchasing such things and I want 
 to begin right now." 
 
 The Judge smiled assent, thinking how dear the 
 young man was to him how he had always wished 
 the sensitive lad had been his own son.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 55 
 
 " Now, give me the name cf the asylum and I'll 
 wire there for corroboration of the child's story, 
 also for information." 
 
 " Ask for information in detail at my expense," 
 Rodney broke in, eagerly. " You will be able to 
 get authority from there to make out the adoption 
 papers right away, will you not ? " 
 
 The Judge nodded a smiling assent, as he rang 
 the call bell on his desk. He foresaw that the little 
 waif might mean life itself for his friend. There 
 was an animated light in the young man's dark eyes 
 that had not been there since this disease began to 
 fasten itself upon him. 
 
 The Judge's negro servant, Joe, took the tele- 
 gram he had written to the matron of Hope Orphan 
 Asylum. 
 
 Joe's wife, Mirandy, intercepted Joe in the hall, 
 and Joe's reply to Mirandy's inquisitive desire to 
 know the whys and wherefores of his errand 
 reached the men in the library. 
 
 " Go long, nigger," they heard Joe say, disgust- 
 edly. Very important was Joe when dealing with 
 women of his own color. 
 
 " I'se gwine on de Jedge's business. An' I cain't 
 see why you am always wagglin' dat fool tongue 
 ob yours ober his business for, nohow." 
 
 " Good for Joe," Rodney laughed.
 
 56 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 " He is the head of his household, all right," the 
 Judge responded, with a musical chuckle, then a 
 flush spread over his fine face. The Judge was 
 not lord and master of his own home. 
 
 An hour later the answer came to the Judge's 
 wire, and, woman-like, the matron of the asylum 
 had answered the message in detail with a splendid 
 disregard for the fact that telegrams cost a certain 
 number of cents for each and every word. 
 
 Rodney openly exulted as the Judge read aloud : 
 
 " JUDGE SAMUEL WHEATON, 
 
 " Orion, Vermont. 
 " Esteemed Sir: 
 
 " The child of whom you inquire, Joan Worth- 
 ington, came accidently to Hope Asylum when about 
 two years of age. An old Scotchwoman, presuma- 
 bly her nurse, was killed by a runaway horse in 
 front of the refuge door. The child escaped un- 
 harmed. She will be twelve years old the first of 
 May, next. In an old hand satchel carried by the 
 woman was found a marriage certificate evidently 
 of the child's parents, as a locket worn by the child 
 had the same given name engraved upon it as was 
 on the back of the marriage certificate with the date 
 of the child's birth. Advertising failed to bring 
 any one to claim the child, so she became a charge
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 57 
 
 of the asylum, eligible for adoption. Since you 
 vouch for your client, there is no known reason 
 why he should not become her legal guardian. 
 " Respectfully, 
 
 " MARTHA KENT, 
 " Matron of Hope Orphan Asylum." 
 
 " I don't envy you your telegraph toll," the 
 Judge laughed, when he had finished reading the 
 message. 
 
 " Every word more than pays for itself," Rodney 
 returned, cheerfully, as the Judge set about getting 
 the papers ready. 
 
 " It's a good thing she is just a child yet," the 
 Judge said, meaningly, as he indicated the space on 
 the adoption papers for Rodney's signature. 
 
 Rodney felt a distinct sense of pleasure as he 
 affixed his name to the papers that legally gave him 
 the guardianship of the child of whose very exist- 
 ance he had not known twenty- four hours previous. 
 
 " Mrs. Pepper's next," he said, gravely, as he 
 caught sight of Joan's eager face pressed against 
 the library window as he turned into the maple 
 flanked path. 
 
 He waved his hand at the child and smiled hap- 
 pily, as she came flying out at the door, letting it 
 bang cheerfully behind her.
 
 58 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 He set the box containing the clothing he had 
 acquired for her from his friend down on the icy 
 path, running like a silver ribbon from the street 
 to the door, and caught the child in his arms, with 
 " Well, young lady, how did you and Aunt Prue 
 manage to get along? " 
 
 Joan's expressive face clouded. " I am afraid I 
 talked too much. In fact, I know I did," she an- 
 swered, truthfully. 
 
 " I have something for you in that box." Rodney 
 changed the subject, somewhat surprised at his 
 irritation at his aunt. 
 
 " In this box ! " Joan cried, flinging herself down 
 on her knees on the frozen path, face alight, eyes 
 glowing. " Oh ! Oh ! You are too good to me ! " 
 Now there was a liquid quiver, like a thrush's note, 
 in her voice, and the man caught himself wonder- 
 ing how any one could be harsh or unkind to such 
 a child. How glad he was that she had come to 
 him that she belonged to him now ! 
 
 " Don't ! Oh, please don't tell me what is in 
 it ! " she cried, interrupting him as he was about 
 to speak. " I never had anything so delightful and 
 mysterious happen,to me before. Oh, I am almost 
 too excited to live ! Isn't it an exquisite feeling to 
 have a box right before one's eyes fairly bursting 
 with some wonderful surprise? And not be able
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 59 
 
 to even imagine what is inside it ! Oh ! Oh ! " She 
 was all a-tremble with excitement. 
 
 Rodney smiled boyishly. " How glad I am to 
 have her ! " he said to himself. 
 
 " I'd take it inside and open it if I were you," 
 he said aloud. 
 
 Joan drew a long, quivering breath of delight. 
 
 Rodney caught the box up with one hand and 
 held the other out to the child. 
 
 " Come on inside; there is another surprise for 
 you." 
 
 " Another ! I never was so thrilled in all my 
 life." 
 
 Safely inside the library, Rodney gravely handed 
 her the adoption papers and turned away while she 
 read them. 
 
 " Will you pinch me, please ? " 
 
 "Pinch you? What for?" he demanded, turn- 
 ing to face the radiant-faced child with just a shade 
 of doubt in her eyes. 
 
 " I want to be perfectly sure I am not dreaming. 
 Mrs. Pepper said once I'd go batty some day if I 
 didn't keep my head down out of the clouds more." 
 
 Rodney smiled. " You are not dreaming, little 
 girl. My little girl," he added, tenderly. 
 
 The child flew to him and stood on tiptoe to fling 
 vehement arms about his neck.
 
 60 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 " I am almost too happy to live," she sobbed. 
 
 "Well, I never!" Prudence White ejaculated. 
 
 Neither Rodney nor Joan had heard her enter 
 the room. 
 
 " Suppose she told you that I said her tongue 
 was too long," she sniffed at Rodney. 
 
 " No, Aunt Prue. She's crying for joy, poor 
 little kid." 
 
 " Humph ! Funny thing to cry over." 
 
 " Didn't you ever cry for joy? " Joan 
 spoke each word between long, quivering breaths, 
 while Rodney held her close to him. 
 
 " Certainly not," snapped Prudence. 
 
 " Well you've missed a lot of thrills if you 
 haven't," Joan quavered. 
 
 " I have never hunted thrills," retorted Prudence. 
 " And if you are through crying all over Rodney's 
 fresh-ironed shirt front I'd like to have his atten- 
 tion long enough for him to tell me what clothes 
 he wants to take to California." 
 
 Joan sprang away from Rodney, and for an in- 
 stant her eyes flashed fire. 
 
 "Peppery, ain't you?" Prudence snorted. 
 
 " Aunt Prue, I want you and Joan to be friends," 
 Rodney said, gravely. " I have just legally adopted 
 her, and I want, if possible, to make her forget 
 the past unkindness of the world toward her."
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 61 
 
 " Please let us be friends," Joan said, shyly. " I 
 am peppery," she added, frankly, " but I am also 
 endowed with intelligence and shall endeavor never 
 to cross you since I am to live with him." Her 
 eyes met Rodney's amused glance, a wealth of grati- 
 tude in their blue depths. 
 
 " Intelligence, pouff ! " snorted Prudence. " You 
 may be smart enough, but I doubt if you even know 
 the meaning of intelligence." 
 
 " I do," Joan flashed. " According to the dic- 
 tionary, intelligence means ' a capacity to know or 
 understand.' I looked it up one day when Miss 
 Kent at the asylum told a lady that although I was 
 not pretty I was endowed with intelligence. And 
 after I went to Miss Warren's I learned the Chris- 
 tian Science statement of it : ' Intelligence is om- 
 niscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence. It is the 
 Infinite Mind the triune Principle, or Love, 
 Truth, and ' " 
 
 "Stop!" commanded Prudence, her voice quiv- 
 ering with outraged indignation. " Didn't I tell 
 you never to talk that heresy around me again ? " 
 Prudence's eyes flashed threateningly. 
 
 " It is not heresy," Joan began, eagerly, " or at 
 least I don't believe it is," she added, honestly. 
 " If heresy is such a terrible thing as one would 
 suppose it to be from your attitude toward it, it sim-
 
 62 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 ply can't be heresy. I regret that I do not know 
 the meaning of heresy, but Miss Warren was a 
 very earnest Christian, and she would not believe 
 in anything so very dreadful and she certainly was 
 a firm believer in Christian Science. Of course 
 she did not believe in the devil, as some people do, 
 which seemed very strange to me when I first went 
 there. I had always been told that there was a devil 
 and a hell, too, and I know the Bible speaks of both 
 the devil and hell, but Miss Warren understood the 
 Bible differently from the other people I have 
 known. She says few people understand the Bible 
 properly and " 
 
 " Will you stop her ? " Prudence turned on Rod- 
 ney, and her voice trembled with rage. 
 
 Rodney turned away to hide his twitching lips. 
 
 " Suppose you take your surprise upstairs to 
 your room, Joan, and see if you can make use 
 of it." 
 
 " I've done the wrong thing again," Joan cried, 
 with a crestfallen air. " I am about as much at 
 home with her as a coon is at church, but I'll try 
 to please her for your sake. If she does not care 
 to hear about Miss Warren and her belief I shall 
 try exceedingly hard to remember never to mention 
 them in her presence," she said, pathetically. 
 
 When the child had gone, Prudence gave Rod-
 
 JO A N OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 63 
 
 ney a clear and concise report of Joan's conversa- 
 tion earlier in the day. 
 
 " She certainly is an interesting little thing," 
 Rodney said, trying to conceal his mirth. " And 
 I am more than glad she came to me last night," he 
 added, gravely. 
 
 Prudence sniffed. " Well, all I've got to say is, 
 you've got your hands full. I am sure I never in 
 all my life saw nor heard anything equal her." 
 
 Rodney smiled, and Prudence, with an irritating 
 sense of having wasted words and breath, launched 
 out into a discussion of the things to pack for the 
 California trip, which to her was an almost ungodly 
 act of foolishness. She intended to accompany her 
 nephew from an acknowledged sense of duty and 
 from an unacknowledged desire to see more of 
 the world than had been revealed to her by the 
 journeys she had taken, all within a radius of a 
 hundred miles from Orion. 
 
 Still, most clearly did she make Rodney feel that 
 her sympathies did not go out readily to him be- 
 cause of an affliction she did not understand and 
 in the seriousness of which she did not believe. 
 
 Upstairs, Joan turned the box over and over 
 and looked at every side and then untied the string 
 very slowly, meanwhile imagining and imagining 
 what would be inside.
 
 64 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 Joan was never one to slur the luxurious pleas- 
 ures of anticipation. 
 
 But at last she threw off the cover. Everything 
 inside was wrapped in tissue paper, so that looking 
 at each article was a distinct and separate pleasure. 
 
 First there was a soft brown beaver hat, turned 
 up on the left side with a dashing green quill thrust 
 through a gold buckle a band of crushed green 
 ribbon was around the crown. A thing of joy was 
 that hat to Joan. 
 
 Then there was a long, brown fur coat. A soft 
 brown serge sailor suit, brown stockings, brown 
 shoes, and red-brown kid gloves, and other things 
 too numerous to mention. 
 
 It was a glowing, sparkling Joan that appeared 
 before her guardian half an hour later and even 
 Prudence White, while she sniffed at Rodney's ex- 
 travagant foolishness, as she called it, had to admit 
 that the child looked nice. 
 
 When Rodney and Joan started toward Mrs. Pep- 
 per's, Prudence admonished Joan to remember that 
 to be vain was to be ungodly. And some way 
 Joan's meek, " Yes, ma'am," disappointed her, al- 
 though she would not have admitted even to herself 
 that she expected more than that very proper re- 
 sponse. 
 
 As they drove along, Rodney guided the slow
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 65 
 
 black horse abstractedly, while he pondered over the 
 unchildlike life Joan had had. For Rodney White 
 was shrewd, even though he was a dreamy musician, 
 and he knew Mrs. Pepper and knew that Joan's 
 experience of drudgery with her was only a repeti- 
 tion of the drudgery that had been her portion with 
 other shrewish women. 
 
 No wonder the child was so delighted with the 
 realization of the long-looked-for home. 
 
 " Poor little kid ! " he sighed, as he looked at the 
 rapt little figure beside him. 
 
 As for Joan, she gave herself up to silent rap- 
 ture over the beauties of the day and her own inner 
 joy. 
 
 " I don't care how cross Mrs. Pepper is ! " she 
 cried, as they drew near that worthy woman's small 
 cottage. 
 
 " I am too happy and too grateful for anything 
 she says to hurt me after she acknowledges I am 
 not a thief," she added, passionately. " She must 
 do that." 
 
 " She shall," Rodney said, gravely, and the light 
 in his eyes boded no good for Mrs. Pepper if she 
 did not acknowledge her wrong very speedily. 
 
 Mrs. Pepper did not at first recognize Joan, but 
 when she had grasped the important fact of Joan's 
 good fortune she readily admitted that her son, Jim,
 
 66 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 had confessed taking the money soon after Joan's 
 abrupt departure the night before. 
 
 But the woman demurred when Joan asked for 
 her modest grip, which, as she had naively told 
 Rodney, held all that she owned in the world, 
 namely, one Bible, one book of fairy tales, a 
 few skimpy clothes, and the precious marriage 
 certificate. 
 
 " Kindly get my ward's belongings or let her get 
 them," Rodney demanded, tensely. 
 
 " But I really ought to have damages for her 
 leaving me in the lurch like this," the woman 
 whined. " The baby is cross and the twins are 
 croupy and I'll have to worry along alone until I 
 can get another girl to help me." 
 
 Rodney contemptuously held out a bill with a 
 brief, " Get those things in a hurry, if you 
 please." 
 
 The sharp-faced woman took the bill greedily. 
 
 " Now, sign this," Rodney 'demanded, when 
 Joan announced that she again possessed her 
 worldly belongings intact. 
 
 The woman signed the paper Judge Wheaton 
 had prepared, at the instigation of Rodney, and the 
 paper legally bound Mrs. Pepper to her confession 
 that Joan was innocent of her unjust accusation 
 against her.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 67 
 
 When Joan started upstairs to bed that night her 
 face was a glow of delight. 
 
 " You've given me everything everything that 
 I have been hungry for all my life!" she cried, 
 happily, as she bade Rodney good-night. " And I 
 am simply thrilling with delicious excitement over 
 the very thought that I shall see California with 
 my own eyes California, the land of my fondest 
 dreams," she added, ecstatically. 
 
 And Rodney White, looking at the elfin little 
 figure, fancied he could see the thrill that ran 
 through her frame, from her new shoes up, up to 
 the new brown hair ribbon perched jauntily on 
 the top of her gold-brown hair. And more than 
 that, he felt forcibly that the soul back of those 
 luminous eyes had depths and measures he could 
 never fathom. 
 
 So the rapidly flying shuttle of life snapped the 
 old thread, and with new threads his and the 
 child's began weaving a new pattern on the tapes- 
 try of time. 
 
 And thus it happened that Joan, fully satisfied 
 in body and soul and with a great love for all the 
 world, even Mrs. Pepper, went blissfully to sleep 
 during the same hour she had spent battling 
 against the fury of the wind and snow the night 
 before.
 
 68 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 And the peaceful Christmas moon, treading its 
 predestined way across the star-studded sky, laid 
 silver lines of light over the little town the lines 
 of light on the square white house lingering caress- 
 ingly a full measure, well held, because of its per- 
 fect note in the anthem of life.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 OF all oases on the great Colorado Desert, 
 Rainbow Springs is the most interesting 
 and the most delightful. 
 
 It has from time immemorial been like a garden 
 of Eden to the Indians who gave it its name. It 
 was a delightful oasis long before the coming of 
 the white men who added to its natural beauty. 
 
 There are hot springs there, and springs, the 
 cold, pure sparkling water of which cannot be sur- 
 passed in all the world. The Indians claim that 
 the hot springs are medicinal waters, given by a 
 great spirit to the chosen ones of their race at the 
 beginning of the world. And they tell a legend to 
 the effect that in the days of the ancient rulers 
 for many suns and many moons seven rainbows 
 hung in the sky above the springs. Rainbows by 
 day and rainbows by night. Radiant half-circles of 
 colored light intense against the splendor of the 
 sky by day. Pale-hued on the moonlit background 
 of pale, phosphorescent light. Seven symbols ex- 
 pressing the love of the Sun and Moon gods for 
 their Earth-born children. 
 
 69
 
 70 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 Some of the older Indians claim to have seen the 
 mystic rainbows fade away, to the mysterious realm 
 of the great beyond where dwell the spirits, and 
 this on the third hour after the coming of the white 
 men. 
 
 And even to this day, when a rainbow hangs in 
 the sky over the springs, the Indians reach their 
 hands skyward in worship of the Sign of the Sun 
 and Moon gods while they chant prayers to the 
 Great Spirit. They end their prayers with a moon 
 dance and great feasting and a certain sacred rite 
 which no white man has ever witnessed. 
 
 That the nearest railroad station is fully seven 
 miles from Rainbow Springs seems fitting to those 
 to whom the oasis is like the great true heart of a 
 mother with vast outstretched mountain arms keep- 
 ing guard over the fertile little kingdom ensconced 
 in their sheltering embrace. 
 
 But to Prudence White, made irascible by the 
 long, unaccustomed overland journey, the little sta- 
 tion, where the train stopped in the early winter 
 dusk, seemed little short of an added insult to her 
 already outraged nerves. 
 
 The Indian who chanced to be driving the buggy 
 that was to convey them across the expanse of 
 desert between the station and Rainbow Springs 
 was, to her overwrought mind, a painted warrior
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 71 
 
 of the race she feared and hated with all the in- 
 tensity of her stern New England nature. 
 
 She did not see the beauty of the mystic desert 
 moon, riding high in the zenith, spreading its bars 
 of light across the sage and greasewood-dotted 
 sand and the half-revealed, half-hidden mountains 
 in the distance. 
 
 The serene desert stars had no charm for her. 
 But to Rodney and Joan the majesty of the desert 
 spoke, enthralling them by its mystery and that 
 haunting sense of the unknown that is felt in the 
 vast silence and solitude of a desert night. The 
 mystic light of the moon touched Joan's upturned 
 face, etherealizing it. Even the stinging discomfort 
 of the biting wind sweeping over them in uncon- 
 trolled fury was not felt by her, but Prudence 
 White, on the back seat of the buggy with Rodney, 
 felt it; covered her head with a shawl and gave 
 herself up to bitter reflection. 
 
 Not once was the silence of the ride broken until 
 the lapping of the water running in the irrigating 
 ditches, through the Indian village, could be heard, 
 and the barking of the Indian dogs broke the sol- 
 emn stillness of the moonlit night. 
 
 " What do you think of it, Joan? " Rodney asked 
 the next morning as they stood, in the early dawn,
 
 72 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 on the steps of the snug cottage he had secured, 
 just across from the Indian village. 
 
 To the left of them lay the desert expanse dotted 
 with greasewood and cacti, and with scanty grasses 
 scarce hiding its anatomy. 
 
 Beyond lay the shifting sand-hills with their glis- 
 tening grains piled high, wave upon wave, from the 
 face of the desert to the ridges that seemed to meet 
 the sky. 
 
 To the right towered the gigantic San Jacinto 
 mountains, and nearer were the low ridges, the out- 
 stretched arms about the little oasis. 
 
 The man and the girl faced the mountains. On 
 one of the splintered peaks of the mountain range, 
 half-hidden in a mystic purple veil, the skyward- 
 shooting flames of the morning sun revealed a grim 
 rock head, like the stern visage of some bygone 
 Indian chief athwart the pearly gray sky. 
 
 Joan did not answer Rodney's question until the 
 illusion faded away, and when she spoke her voice 
 was quivering. 
 
 " I love it ! Love it ! " she cried, passionately, as 
 she slipped her hand in his. " No one but God 
 could have done it." 
 
 " No, little girl." 
 
 Then they both stood spellbound, hand in hand, 
 for it was given them to see two mirages on that
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 73 
 
 never- forgotten day. The illusion of the sculptured 
 head of the old Indian chief was followed by that 
 of an ancient city with a thousand spires piercing 
 the sky. A city on the edge of a vast sea with 
 white-capped breakers rolling in upon the shore. 
 A moment passed, and a mighty ship rose out of the 
 sea and anchored just without the city walls and 
 back of the city on the crest of a low hill were the 
 crumbling turret walls and broken towers of a 
 castle. 
 
 Slowly the second mirage faded from the sky and 
 the quaint Indian village, across the way, lay bathed 
 in the full light of the sun now high above the 
 mountain peaks. 
 
 The Indian dogs, silent until now, began clamor- 
 ing for their morning meal, while out of the Indian 
 huts tumbled a horde of half -clad copper-hued chil- 
 dren followed more sedately by their elders. 
 
 The Indian village was awake and the awakening 
 of the American portion of the village followed, 
 until finally all the place was astir with activity. 
 
 The tinkling of bells added to the general medley 
 of the morning and from the southern portion of 
 the little village came an odd caravan. 
 
 An old man was in the lead. He was garbed in 
 corduroy trousers and a gray flannel shirt open 
 at the neck. On his head was a broad-brimmed
 
 74 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 felt hat with a rattlesnake band. Reddish-brown 
 shoes completed the outfit. His eyes were mild and 
 blue, and his finely chiseled patriarchal face was 
 framed by a mass of long silvery hair. 
 
 Close behind the old man were two pack-bur- 
 dened burros, with the nose of the one sporting the 
 bells thrust against the old man's shoulder. Behind 
 the burros were three beautiful collies, a mother 
 and two half -grown frolicsome pups. At least, one 
 of them was gamboling about its master the other 
 limped decidedly. 
 
 " Good-morning, stranger," the old man called, 
 in cheery greeting. 
 
 " Good-morning," Rodney responded, cordially. 
 To him the old man seemed a fitting picture 
 against the background of the desert vastness 
 a note in harmony with the general scheme of 
 things. 
 
 As for Joan, she was instantly down on her knees 
 beside the injured pup. It had limped to her as its 
 master spoke and thrust its moist little nose into her 
 hand. 
 
 " I see you are on neutral ground," the old man 
 said. 
 
 "How so?" 
 
 " You certainly are a stranger here ! " The old 
 man chuckled. " I'd even go so far as to wager
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 75 
 
 that you have not been here twenty-four hours." 
 He spat reflectively on the sandy road. 
 
 " You are correct. I arrived here last evening; 
 but why do you say that I am on neutral 
 ground ? " 
 
 The old man removed his broad hat, baring his 
 white head to whatever stray breeze might deign to 
 come, for the morning was already growing warm 
 with that peculiar desert warmth that follows close 
 upon the heels of the dawn. 
 
 He passed his long fingers through the shining 
 silver strands upon his brow. The air felt good to 
 him. He gave a sigh, threw his shoulders back, 
 and again spat upon the sandy road, deftly and re- 
 flectively. Then his mild blue eyes met Rodney's. 
 
 As Rodney watched him, he was at first amused, 
 then in some subtle way he felt strangely sorry for 
 the old man. His face showed so plainly the marks 
 of some mental strain through which he had passed 
 and which had, now that he observed him more 
 closely, left a mark of vagueness in the mild blue 
 eyes. 
 
 " Fine day, stranger." The old man at last re- 
 placed his hat and moved as if to start on. 
 
 Rodney laid a detaining hand on the old man's 
 shoulder. " I am much interested in your state- 
 ment that I am on neutral ground," he said, in a
 
 76 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 certain boyishly winning manner that seemed pe- 
 culiarly his own. 
 
 " Forget it, lad, forget it." The old man wagged 
 his head sadly. " They'll tell you that Dad Sher- 
 wood is cracked," he said, pitifully. His lips 
 quivered and the mist of tears in the mild eyes 
 made a queer lump rise in Rodney's throat. 
 
 The old man read the look of sympathy aright, 
 and like a flash he held his head stiffly and the light 
 of a mystic shone for an instant in his eyes. His 
 face was stern now, yet transfigured and illumined 
 with an inner light. The stern look vanished almost 
 as quickly as it came, leaving his face beautifully 
 gentle. He looked at Rodney with a tender 
 smile. 
 
 " The * Man of Sorrows ' will help you bear it, 
 lad; He helps me bear my affliction." He tapped 
 Rodney on his chest with his long, tapering fingers. 
 " Bear the disease in the highest way, lad. My 
 golden days are past, taken from me by the same 
 disease; but meet everything bravely meet every- 
 thing bravely, lad. I'll be going now," he added, 
 with his gentle smile. 
 
 "Prospecting?" Rodney felt a strange longing 
 to listen to the musical voice of the old man. 
 
 " Yes, going out to my mine. Sometimes I find 
 it sometimes it seems to have vanished. That is
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 77 
 
 why they say I am cracked. Mebby I am, mebby 
 I am. I've had much sorrow, lad." 
 
 " I hope you find your mine this time, Mr. Sher- 
 wood." 
 
 " Call me Dad, lad call me Dad. I prefer it, 
 my son. I think I shall find the mine this time, but 
 I never can tell. Peculiar mine, son, most peculiar." 
 His eyes followed Rodney's to the burdened burros. 
 
 He tapped the load on the lead-burro with his 
 cane. " There is plenty of bacon there for two, 
 son. If you could come along I would share the 
 mine with you, if I find it again. I like you, lad, 
 and the little girl over there takes me back to one 
 of my own." He sighed and his eyes filled. 
 
 Joan was now sitting on the lower step of the 
 porch, one arm about the collie's neck, her free 
 hand stroking the lame foot. 
 
 " Has a heap of sense, hasn't he? " The old man 
 nodded at the collie, responding to Joan's caresses; 
 his rough red tongue kissing the hand under his 
 long, pointed, sensitive nose. 
 
 Rodney smiled his appreciation of the picture. 
 It had not taken him long to discover the difference 
 Joan was going to make in his life. 
 
 " Burros have sense, too," the old man contin- 
 ued, after Rodney had properly introduced himself 
 and his ward.
 
 78 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 11 1 started out without my water canteens once 
 those are full " the old man indicated, with his 
 staff, the lead-burro's load of water canteens 
 " went two days without missing the water that 
 was one of the times I seemed to forget everything. 
 Perhaps I am queer at times." He sighed wistfully. 
 " When I did remember," he continued, with a little 
 reminiscent smile, " we were in the grasp of a sand 
 storm that soon brushed the cobwebs from my mind. 
 A sand-storm is more terrible than an Eastern bliz- 
 zard, lad. And this was the stinging, biting kind 
 of a sand-storm that beats against every exposed 
 portion of one's anatomy more viciously than a fury 
 of Eastern hail. 
 
 " When the storm was over, I found myself on 
 the edge of the village here, near my own little 
 cabin they call me a hermit, lad, because I do not 
 mingle with them any more than I can help, but 
 you and the child shall always be welcome there, 
 my lad; but to finish my story," he went on, after 
 Rodney's low-voiced thanks, " the burro had 
 brought me home, either because of an almost 
 human sagacity that understood my condition 
 mentally, or because of its keen scent for 
 water." 
 
 He passed his hand across his forehead and, by 
 the changed light in his eyes, Rodney knew that
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 79 
 
 he had already forgotten the tale of the burro's 
 intelligence. 
 
 " The desert is the place for reflection, lad. You 
 have left the world of action, let the desert speak 
 to your very soul. Listen to its weird solitude, its 
 great silence. Oh, how I love the grim desolation 
 of it all! I love it! I love it! It is God's land, 
 my son His very presence is ever here." His eyes 
 brightened and he held out both arms as if to em- 
 brace the sweeping sands in the distance. 
 
 " It is a sublime symphony a land of divine 
 music. The master musician has set it apart for 
 a Mecca of strength to those who can catch the 
 measure of its majestic chords of splintered peaks, 
 sanded valleys, and hot skies. It has dawns of 
 many colors and each color a measure of sweetest 
 music. It has mystic nights when the moon and 
 stars hanging low touch the sands into a song of 
 primal forces an adagio of love and might and 
 death an allegro of hope and peace and life. 
 There is a charm in the spell the desert throws 
 over one, my lad, because it deals with the Infinite. 
 And from sun to sun the desert is ever true. It 
 never gives a false note back to the Infinite. It is 
 true true and sincere, lad. Sometimes the melody 
 it plays is calm and serene like some ' Reverie ' 
 played by a master musician on some rare old vio-
 
 80 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 lin; then again it's like the wild pulsating throbs 
 of some gigantic pipe organ, played by some Titan 
 musician, with all the stops open and the loud pedal 
 on, in a wild defiant battle song. But every note 
 rings true, lad, every note rings true. I hope I 
 haven't talked too much," he exclaimed, suddenly. 
 " I'll be going now." 
 
 " Not until I thank you for your description of 
 the desert," Rodney cried, grasping the old man's 
 hand and shaking it appreciatively. 
 
 " Aye, lad, it will speak to you as it has spoken 
 to me. Good-by for a time, son. I must be on my 
 way. Stay on neutral ground if possible, lad." 
 
 Rodney checked an impulse to ask him to explain 
 what he meant by his reference to neutral ground 
 and the old man's silver voice flowed on. " I think 
 I'll leave the chap with the little girl, if she wants 
 him. He's a fine laddie, but I'll be glad to give 
 him to her. That sprained foot of his would pain 
 him, most likely, out there where we are going. And 
 then look at them, lad, they love each other al- 
 ready. Come, Queen come, Prince," he called. 
 " Stay there, Don," he added, as the pup with Joan 
 started to come, reluctantly. 
 
 " Joan ! " Rodney called. " This gentleman, he 
 wishes us to call him * Dad,' is going to give that 
 collie to you."
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 81 
 
 Joan flew toward the old man, and the pup, his 
 yellow coat shining like spun gold in the sunlight, 
 dashed along beside her, his injured foot, for the 
 moment, forgotten. 
 
 " Do you really mean that I am to have this 
 beauty for my very own?" Joan demanded, her 
 face aglow. 
 
 " Yes, little girl," the old man said, gently, laying 
 a hand as light as thistle-down on her head. 
 
 In a flash, Joan was on her knees beside the collie, 
 her arms around its neck. " Oh, you beauty, you 
 darling ! " she cooed. " You are to be mine, mine ! 
 Oh, I am so happy ! " 
 
 The old man smiled. " A beautiful sight to re- 
 member when alone with the stars," he said, gently. 
 
 " Oh, how can I ever thank you enough ? " Joan 
 sprang to her feet, manners suddenly remembered. 
 
 " You have more than thanked me already," he 
 answered, with a beautiful smile. 
 
 " Oh, but I should like to do something to show 
 my appreciation of the beauty. Why, he is the very 
 first live thing I ever owned in all my life, and the 
 dear Lord knows how I have prayed for some liv- 
 ing thing of my very own to love. I didn't pray for 
 this beauty, though, for that would have been covet- 
 ing your neighbor's goods, but I could not help 
 longing for one like him, and Miss Warren said:
 
 82 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 1 Desire is prayer,' so perhaps after all he is in an- 
 swer to such a prayer. I'd like to think so, because 
 it is such a beautiful thing to have a prayer an- 
 swered, isn't it ? " 
 
 The old man raised her chin with the tips of his 
 long fingers. " You are a sweet spirit come to 
 Rainbow Springs to bring peace to the hearts of 
 many," he said, with the light of prophecy in his 
 eyes. 
 
 He turned after a time to Rodney and held out 
 his hand. " Good-morning, lad. I hope to find you 
 much improved when I return. You will find health 
 here, lad." To Joan he said, gently : " The memory 
 of you will go with me like the perfume of some 
 beautiful flower. Take Don now, and if there is 
 any cause for gratitude in your heart, pray for Dad 
 Sherwood and be kind to Mona when you start to 
 school." 
 
 In a few minutes the old man with his burros 
 and dogs became merged into a distant speck danc- 
 ing up and down on the desert. Rodney stood 
 watching the vibrating speck with a dreamy light 
 in his eyes until he heard a heavy step on the sand 
 beside him.
 
 YOU ARE A SWEET SPIRIT COMK TO RAINBOW SPRINGS TO BRING) 
 PEACE TO THE HEARTS OF MANY." Page 82.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 " /^>l OOD-MORNING, I am Major Phillips, 
 
 V ~W at your service, suh ! " There was a 
 
 distinct Southern tang in the voice of 
 
 the corpulent gentleman of military appearance, 
 
 who greeted Rodney with an outstretched smooth 
 
 white hand. 
 
 " You are Rodney White, I believe, suh." The 
 Major eyed the young man approvingly, as he 
 stroked his goatee. The goatee and the military 
 mustache of the Major's immediately attracted one's 
 attention because of their contrast to his hair and 
 bushy eyebrows, which were white, while the mus- 
 tache and goatee were of raven blackness. 
 
 " I am Rodney White, and very much delighted 
 to meet you, Major," Rodney responded, genially. 
 " This is my ward, Joan Worthington," he added, 
 his hand resting for a moment on Joan's shoulder. 
 
 The Major looked his surprise as he greeted 
 Joan. 
 
 " Jim Allison did not mention a ward when he 
 wrote me that you had engaged his cottage. I am 
 sure the child will make no difference to Allison, 
 
 83
 
 84 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 though," he added, hastily. " Fine man is Allison 
 and there is nothing like this air for growing chil- 
 dren, still it's strange Allison did not mention her 
 to me," and his bushy eyebrows were raised in- 
 quiringly. 
 
 "Ah, didn't I mention her to Mr. Allison?" 
 Rodney's voice suggested polite surprise at his omis- 
 sion. He did not care to enlighten the Major to the 
 fact that he did not even dream of Joan's existence 
 when he engaged the cottage. He had decided not 
 to tell any one of his recent adoption of Joan lest 
 it prove embarrassing to the sensitive child. He 
 had prevailed upon his aunt, much to Joan's de- 
 light, to allow the child to call her Aunt Prudence. 
 
 He smiled whimsically as he recalled his aunt's 
 martyr-like air as she gave her consent to become 
 an aunt by adoption. 
 
 " You have a maiden aunt with you, have you 
 not ? " the imperturbable Major continued. " I 
 could have cared for you at ' The Sign of the Rain- 
 bow/ " he added, reproachfully. " I have quite a 
 few guests, and it's a comfortable place, suh." He 
 waved a pudgy hand in the direction of a rambling 
 green building which, sprawled as it was over the 
 Major's grounds, occupied fully half of the little 
 oasis. " ' The Sign of the Rainbow,' " the Major 
 said, pompously. " Even though you are not my
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 85 
 
 permanent guest I hope you will feel free to come 
 over at any time, suh," he added, hospitably. 
 
 " But I want to caution you, suh." He stepped 
 close to Rodney and took hold of the lapel of his 
 coat. 
 
 " There is a serpent in our Eden, suh. As dif- 
 ficult as it may seem to the newcomer to this beau- 
 tiful spot where we dwell in peace with our red 
 brothers, the serpent is also in our midst. Up 
 there," he continued, nodding toward the north of 
 the village. Rodney's eyes followed the Major's 
 until they rested on a few small unpainted cottages 
 and a low roomy building, also guiltless of paint, 
 flanked on the left by a square building painted a 
 dull drab, which later proved to be the government 
 schoolhouse, and on the right by a small red brick 
 church. 
 
 " The serpent lives in that largest building," the 
 Major said, as Rodney turned to him inquiringly, 
 after a lingering survey of the building. 
 
 " The serpent is Sam Welch, suh, and I advise 
 you as a friend and a gentleman to have nothing 
 to do with him, suh." 
 
 Rodney began to understand the old prospector's 
 reference to his being on neutral ground. 
 
 " Sam Welch is a regular dog in the manger, 
 suh. A blot on the fair escutcheon of this beautiful
 
 86 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 flower of the desert, suh." He swept his arms 
 majestically in the direction of " The Sign of the 
 Rainbow." 
 
 Suddenly the Major noticed the collie pup romp- 
 ing in the sandy road, with Joan. Across the road, 
 a horde of dusky Indian children watched the dog 
 and the white child. 
 
 " Dad Sherwood's prize collie, by all that's 
 holy! " he exclaimed. " Where is dad? " he added. 
 " I thought I saw him drifting out with his outfit 
 as I came up." 
 
 " Mr. Sherwood gave the pup to my ward," Rod- 
 ney answered, somewhat stiffly. He was glad now 
 that his aunt had insisted on accompanying him to 
 the Springs. He would not like to have Joan under 
 the constant espionage of the Major. To Rodney, 
 it seemed a profanation of something holy to call 
 an inhabitant of this beautiful place " a dog and 
 a serpent." 
 
 " Whewee ! " The Major whistled through his 
 teeth. " Why, Dad fairly worships those dogs. 
 What made him do it? " he added, shrewdly. 
 
 " I am sure I do not know," Rodney answered, 
 curtly. The reserve in his manner was apparent 
 even to the Major and he stiffened perceptibly. 
 
 " No harm intended, suh. It is rather strange, 
 though, that Dad should deliberately give away one
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 87 
 
 of his dogs. Off here," he added, tapping his fore- 
 head. " A most pathetic case of mental aberration. 
 Too bad ! Too bad ! He was once a most brilliant 
 and successful pastor of a large church in Mem- 
 phis." The Major wagged his head solemnly. The 
 Major ever loved to hear the sound of his own 
 voice. " Came here with two daughters, beautiful 
 girls, suh, believe me. They both died the same 
 week, suh. The old preacher has been queer ever 
 since, suh. He makes long trips across the desert 
 from time to time. Sometimes he comes back with 
 his pockets bulging with gold nuggets. At others 
 he comes back half-starved and without a sign of 
 gold. Says he can find his mine at times, at others 
 he can find no trace of it. And even the Indians 
 have never been able to trace him to the mine." 
 Rodney caught the gleam of avarice in the Major's 
 eyes and at that instant read him aright. 
 
 " He spoke of some one by the name of Mona," 
 Rodney advanced. 
 
 " Ah ! " The Major gave a little deprecatory 
 cough. " Dad must have taken a fancy to you, suh. 
 Mona is one of his hobbies. There she is now," he 
 added, pointing to the Indian children across the 
 road. " The tall one there with the gray eyes." 
 
 " Why, she is not an Indian ! " Rodney cried. 
 " I understood there were no white children here."
 
 88 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 " Half-breed," the Major answered, succinctly. 
 
 Some two years older than Joan was the little 
 half-breed. Tall and slender and accurately pro- 
 portioned, with features so perfectly symmetrical 
 that a sculptor might have chiseled them. Her 
 olive-tinted skin was of a clear, velvety texture, her 
 forehead broad and intelligent, and her hair fell 
 back from a natural center parting in rippling cop- 
 per-tinted waves. There was truly little likeness 
 to the Indian in the child, her eyes were large and 
 luminous and as gray as Rodney's. 
 
 As the men watched her a slow smile crept over 
 her face, accentuating her perfect beauty. The slow 
 smile was followed by a soft wistful look in the 
 great eyes, which seemed in its way to enhance her 
 physical charm as much as had the slow smile. 
 
 " Jove ! She is a regular beauty," Rodney ex- 
 claimed, with true artistic appreciation of the beau- 
 tiful. " Tell me about her, please." 
 
 The Major chuckled. " Her father was a white 
 man who came here too late to be fully restored 
 to health. Her mother was a fly-up-the-creek of an 
 Indian squaw with wonderful black eyes and so 
 beautifully formed that it is no wonder the poor 
 chap went wild over her. They were married, In- 
 dian fashion, a boy came first and Mona followed 
 about three years later, just about the time the
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 89 
 
 poor chap died. The squaw died soon after- 
 ward." 
 
 " Who cares for the child? " Rodney asked. The 
 story had stirred him and he caught the wistful 
 light in the little half-breed's eyes a light that 
 had escaped the eyes of the unsensitive man. 
 
 " Old Cecilia, the grandmother," the Major an- 
 swered, in a tone that indicated that he was about 
 to end the subject. 
 
 " But the brother, you spoke of a brother? " 
 
 " The brother is a devil," the Major snapped. 
 " He is a reincarnation of his great-grandfather, 
 Fighting Wolf, the Indian Chief who was responsi- 
 ble for every outrage committed upon the white set- 
 tlers in the early days. Children were never more 
 unlike. She is almost white every way he is all 
 Indian. Mona attends school and speaks fairly 
 decent English, while Chawa, the brother, runs wild 
 all the time. The few days his uncle, the chief, Jias 
 compelled him to attend school have been days of 
 trouble from beginning to end." 
 
 " I want Joan to attend school, if possible." 
 Rodney's voice was tender as he watched Joan cross 
 the road to the group of Indian children circled 
 around the little half-breed. Rodney could almost 
 see the ever-changing light in the child's eyes. 
 
 " Fine school here, suh." The Major's voice,
 
 90 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 now pompous, brought Rodney's eyes back from 
 Joan and the half-breed child, Mona, who had left 
 the Indian children and was now beside Joan talk- 
 ing to her eagerly. 
 
 Rodney wished that he could have watched the 
 two children longer, but said heartily : " That is 
 good, Major. What kind of a teacher have you 
 now ? " 
 
 " Lois Reeves is in charge now. A fine girl," 
 said the Major, impressively. " A most splendid 
 young woman, suh. Slightly afflicted bronchially, 
 but a splendid young woman, suh. Mona worships 
 her and the Indian children are better controlled 
 now than ever before. There is only one fault to 
 find with her." He tapped his finger-tips together 
 impressively. " She will stay up there in a shack 
 belonging to that viper." He spat contemptuously 
 on the ground. 
 
 Rodney smiled in spite of himself. The Major's 
 beady eyes snapped malevolently at the very thought 
 of his enemy. 
 
 " Rodney ! Rodney ! Breakfast is ready," came 
 the thin voice of Prudence White from the doorway 
 of their cottage. 
 
 Rodney turned. " My aunt, Miss White, 
 Major." 
 
 " Delighted ! I assure you, I appreciate the honor
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 91 
 
 of bidding such a charming lady welcome to the 
 Springs." The Major bent low over the hand Pru- 
 dence offered him somewhat reluctantly. 
 
 She turned from the Major in evident relief. 
 "Rodney," she snapped, "call Joan; you may be 
 willing to allow her to associate with those half- 
 clad savages, but I am not. Call her immediately, 
 Rodney," her voice grew shrill. Joan and Mona, 
 followed by the half-clad Indian children, were 
 crossing the open space between the road and the 
 first Indian hut. 
 
 " Joan will come for you, Aunt Prue," Rodney 
 said, with a smile. 
 
 " Joan ! Joan ! " Prudence almost shrieked in 
 her shrill excitement. 
 
 Joan turned back reluctantly after a word or two 
 of explanation to Mona. 
 
 When Joan reached the little group on the porch, 
 Prudence was fanning her hot face with her apron. 
 " You can march right into the house and stay 
 there," Prudence commanded, stridently. " I never 
 was so upset in my whole life. Isn't the dreadful 
 heat of this place on a winter day, when it ought 
 by every law of nature to be cold, enough to dis- 
 tract a civilized mortal without your worrying them 
 by consorting with those terrible Indians? We 
 shall all be killed in our beds, I know we will. It
 
 92 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 will serve us right, too, for being in such a place," 
 she snorted, as she turned to enter the house. 
 
 Joan followed after her in apparent meekness, 
 but Rodney had caught the flare of angry rebellion 
 in her eyes, and sighed as the collie followed her 
 before he could prevent it. 
 
 " Come in to breakfast, Major," said Rodney, 
 trying to cover his aunt's retreat with a degree of 
 cordiality he was far from feeling. 
 
 The Major accepted the invitation with alacrity. 
 
 " I believe I will, suh. Your aunt is most inter- 
 esting, suh, most interesting." 
 
 On the very threshold of the door they beat a 
 hasty retreat. 
 
 " Take that beast out of here ! " they heard the 
 strident voice of Prudence. 
 
 " Oh, Aunt Prue, please let the pup alone," Rod- 
 ney pleaded, as the gaunt, irate woman came 
 through the house prodding a surprised pup with 
 the bushy part of the broom. 
 
 Joan followed, a defiant little figure, her eyes 
 blazing, her lips set rigidly. 
 
 " I'll not have a dog in the house, Rodney 
 White," Prudence snapped. " I've had my feelings 
 upset enough since I left Orion without having a 
 miserable dog added to my troubles." 
 
 Out in the small yard, its sandy surface broken
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 93 
 
 by a few palms and some orange trees, Joan knelt 
 with her arms around Don's neck and her face was 
 set and determined. 
 
 " Come in this house immediately, Joan," Pru- 
 dence commanded, but her voice was less harsh. 
 
 " I'll come in when Don can," Joan returned, 
 spiritedly. 
 
 The Major chuckled. 
 
 Rodney turned away to hide his twiching lips. 
 
 " Come inside this instant, Joan." There was a 
 cold metallic ring in the voice of Prudence. 
 
 Joan stroked Don's head in studied indifference. 
 
 "Joan, please come in for me; we will give Don 
 his breakfast together before we eat ours," Rodney 
 said, softly. 
 
 At the sound of Rodney's voice, the set, defiant 
 look left Joan's face and the angry flare of light 
 vanished from her eyes. Her lips moved, and three 
 astonished people heard her say slowly, solemnly, 
 " ' God is Love,' Don, and ' God is All. We are 
 expressions of love,' Don, and ' expressions of 
 Love cannot hold angry thoughts in their hearts.' ' 
 She hugged Don close to her and whispered some- 
 thing in his ear, and the pup wagged his tail in 
 sympathetic understanding. 
 
 " Remember that ' God is Love,' Don," she re- 
 peated, aloud. " And everything will come out all
 
 94 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 right, because Love rights everything. Aunt Pru- 
 dence may love you well enough some day to let you 
 come into her house and it is not right for me to 
 refuse to obey Rodney, so I'll have to retract my 
 words spoken in unrighteous anger and obey." She 
 pressed a rapturous kiss on Don's silky head and 
 bounded toward the house. 
 
 " I am extremely sorry to have refused to obey 
 you promptly, Aunt Prudence," Joan said, sincerely, 
 as she reached the side of Prudence. " You must 
 stay on the porch, Don," she commanded, as Don 
 started to follow her into the house. " Good boy," 
 she approved, as Don lay down beside the door 
 and rested his nose meditatively on his fore 
 paws. 
 
 " Holy Mother of Cork ! " gasped the Major, as 
 he entered the cottage with Rodney. 
 
 Rodney smiled but said nothing. 
 
 Prudence White, despite her mental disturbance, 
 had prepared breakfast with her usual culinary 
 skill. 
 
 " I understand your not coming to ' The Sign of 
 the Rainbow.' ' The Major addressed Rodney, as 
 he held his seventh hot biscuit in the air and but- 
 tered it with epicurean skill. 
 
 " Miss White," he turned to Prudence, " I have 
 not eaten such biscuits since I ate those made by
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 95 
 
 my old black mammy, in Virginia. Even my deeply 
 lamented wife, who left me desolate and alone in 
 the world, save for a graceless nephew, could not 
 make bread like this. You have achieved here a 
 biscuit that would make an angel long to leave the 
 pleasures of Paradise for the space of time neces- 
 sary to thoroughly enjoy such a triumph of culinary 
 art." He eyed the buttered biscuit with the air of 
 a connoisseur. 
 
 Rodney looked from the Major to his aunt and 
 was surprised to find that which he had never seen 
 before on her colorless, almost masculine face with 
 the scant tresses strained tightly back from her 
 forehead. 
 
 "Could it be?" he asked himself. Yes, with- 
 out doubt there was a tinge of red, that might 
 safely be termed a blush, on that stern face and a 
 contortion, that might safely be called a smile, 
 jerked at the corners of her thin lips. 
 
 "I've cooked enough to know how to make eata- 
 ble bread," Prudence jerked out, with an evident 
 effort. 
 
 " I would that I were in your shoes, young man." 
 The Major, with rare tact, looked away from Pru- 
 dence, as he helped himself to another of the deli- 
 cately browned biscuits. 
 
 Rodney's face was beginning to express his sub-
 
 96 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 conscious annoyance. In some unexplainable man- 
 ner the loquacious Major rasped his nerves. 
 
 Joan ate her breakfast absently. 
 
 Prudence, struggling to regain her wonted com- 
 posure, noticed Joan's inattention to her food. 
 
 " You are not eating anything," she said, sharply 
 eying Joan as if she were committing some serious 
 crime. 
 
 Joan sighed. 
 
 " I can't eat. Can you eat when your spirit is 
 in one place and your body in another ? " 
 
 " I have never been in that condition," Prudence 
 snapped, glad to vent her embarrassment on Joan. 
 
 The Major calmly helped himself to another bis- 
 suit and looked at Joan, a twinkle in his beady eyes. 
 
 " You are a disciple of Brahma, I suppose? " 
 
 Joan's eyes flashed, but she made no response. 
 She did not like the Major. Therefore did not 
 enjoy being ridiculed by him. 
 
 Prudence came to the Major's rescue, as a red 
 flare of anger spread itself over his puffy face. 
 
 " Answer the Major, Joan, or leave the table," 
 Prudence snapped. 
 
 Rodney started to speak but the flash of steel in 
 his aunt's eyes warned him to silence. 
 
 None of them were prepared for the child's next 
 move.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 97 
 
 " Thank you, Aunt Prudence," Joan said, gravely, 
 as she left the table. She turned to Rodney and 
 favored him with an expressive wink. Prudence 
 gasped. She had a baffling sense of a punishment 
 gone astray. 
 
 At the door, Joan paused. " I am not a disciple 
 of Brahma," she said, with her head on one side. 
 " In fact, I do not believe in any non-Christian re- 
 ligion. I believe in the Lord of Hosts, the God of 
 Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and " 
 
 " That will do, Joan," Prudence snapped. 
 " You'll be giving us some of your heresy next. 
 Please remember that I have repeatedly told you 
 I do not care to hear your views on religion." 
 
 " Very well, Aunt Prudence. I just wanted him 
 to understand." Joan nodded toward the Major. 
 Before Prudence could further voice her wrath, 
 Joan was gone. An instant later came her joyous, 
 " Come on, Don," and Rodney knew, as well as if 
 he could see her, the little half-breed would join 
 Joan in front of the cottage. 
 
 "Is she like that all the time?" the Major 
 asked, his eyes still flashing angrily. The Major 
 could not bear to be worsted in a matter of wits 
 in fact, opposition of any kind always riled the 
 Major, and the Major was an unforgiving man. 
 
 " Like that, only worse," Prudence sniffed.
 
 98 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 " I've been more unsettled since we've had her than 
 I ever was before in all my life." 
 
 " How long has she been with you ? " The Ma- 
 jor scented a mystery, as he recalled the omission 
 of any mention of Joan in Rodney's letter to Al- 
 lison. 
 
 " Only " Prudence began. 
 
 " For some time, Major," Rodney interrupted his 
 aunt, with a glance she understood. 
 
 She scowled and lapsed into a sulky silence. 
 
 " Ah, just so," the Major returned, a velvety note 
 in his voice. Later he would see the woman alone 
 and unearth the mystery, if there was a mystery as 
 he supposed. At any rate he would, in some way, 
 get even with the child for getting the better of 
 him. 
 
 " She seems to know something of religion." He 
 addressed Prudence now, and his voice was soft 
 and bland. 
 
 " She has read the Bible through about a dozen 
 times," Prudence returned, dryly. 
 
 The Major raised his eyebrows in astonishment, 
 as he carefully buttered another biscuit. Nothing 
 impaired the Major's appetite. That the biscuit 
 was the last on the table and no one had properly 
 breakfasted but himself the major did not realize, 
 or if he did he calmly ignored the fact. The Major
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 99 
 
 was enjoying his breakfast. He had what he called 
 a " beast of a cook " at " The Sign of the Rainbow." 
 
 Prudence, with a look of defiance at Rodney, 
 gave an account of Joan's ability to quote the Bible 
 and heresy, as she termed Christian Science. 
 
 The Major laughed uproariously, but Rodney's 
 eyes flashed more than once, for Rodney had, dur- 
 ing the few days Joan had been with him, learned 
 to love the child with a greater love than he had 
 ever been able to give his aunt. 
 
 The Major lingered at the little cottage until 
 high noon, and Prudence White, for the first time 
 in her life, left the breakfast dishes unwashed while 
 she listened to the Major's tongue, which was un- 
 deniably long and much given to intonations of 
 praise of himself. 
 
 Meantime, Joan and Mona, with the collie pup 
 at their heels, left the village, bound for the fa- 
 vorite playground of the little half-breed. Their 
 way led them past the burying ground of the In- 
 dians where, Mona told Joan, her white father and 
 dusky mother were buried. 
 
 Joan's eyes filled with tears as she looked at the 
 graves marked by rude wooden crosses manifesting 
 the influence of the Franciscans and the teachings 
 of their Church upon the Indians. 
 
 Joan slipped her hand in Mona's. " I don't even
 
 ioo JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 know where my little mother is buried, but, Mona, 
 I just love to imagine that like Elijah, she went 
 straight to heaven in a chariot of fire when she 
 left me. Don't you love to imagine things, Mona ? " 
 
 Mona's eyes had in them a wonderful soft look 
 as she gazed down on Joan's upturned, radiant 
 face. 
 
 " What is it this to imagine ? " she asked, in a 
 puzzled way. The slow smile, that Rodney had 
 admired, crept over her face. 
 
 " Imaginations are thoughts, Mona. Mine are 
 often wild and extravagant, according to Miss 
 Warren. Imagination is just thinking anything 
 you wish, whether it is so or not, Mona," she added, 
 patiently, as the puzzled look still lingered in Mona's 
 expressive eyes. 
 
 " Ye-es, imag-i-nation is what I call dreaming, 
 eh ? " Mona gave a triumphant glance into Joan's 
 face, as Joan squeezed her hand with an ecstatic, 
 low-toned, " Yes." 
 
 Joan had found a much-longed-for kindred spirit 
 in Mona and was, as usual when delighted, quiver- 
 ing with the intensity of her pleasure. 
 
 " You are a dear, Mona," she cried, impulsively, 
 " and I love you." 
 
 Mona searched Joan's face with inscrutable, seri- 
 ous eyes and as she met the wealth of affection and
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 101 
 
 sincerity in Joan's candid gaze, her slow smile again 
 appeared. 
 
 Then there was silence for some time, as they 
 left the village behind them and began the ascent 
 of the trail that led up the low mountain to Rainbow 
 Ridge. The old Indian trail is steep and at times 
 so narrow that the dense sagebrush flanking the 
 trail makes the path difficult of ascent. About half 
 a mile up the trail, two palms rise majestically out 
 of the rocky soil beside the path, and tower sentinel- 
 like, one at each side of the steep trail. 
 
 At the base of the twin palms Mona stopped and 
 motioned for Joan to be seated on a flat rock beside 
 the path. 
 
 Like some dusky young goddess, she stood and 
 gazed down on the little village bathed in the 
 warmth and light of the morning sun. 
 
 Don, limping again, threw himself down at Joan's 
 feet and licked his sprained foot with an injured 
 air. 
 
 " Poor old baby." Joan gathered him up in her 
 arms and cooed over him, while he licked her hand 
 with delight. 
 
 " I am sorry I forgot your sore foot, Don boy," 
 she cried, penitently. " So many things have hap- 
 pened this morning to fill me with joy that I am so 
 a-thrill with happiness that you would pardon me
 
 102 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 if you could just imagine how full of joy I 
 am." 
 
 Mona turned and looked at Joan with that won- 
 derful soft light again in her dark eyes. 
 
 " Down there, you said you loved me," she said, 
 softly. 
 
 " Indeed I do love you ! " Joan cried, sincerely. 
 
 A dreamy light came into Mona's eyes and her 
 voice was as the voice of a mystic as she spoke, 
 " The spirit of my white father answered you then 
 with love for love I spoke not then for the spirit 
 of my mother is also within me and her spirit is 
 the spirit of the race that does not give or take in 
 haste. But here, where my brothers, the palms, 
 guard the trail to the land where first was seen the 
 seven rainbows the gifts of the Sun and Moon 
 gods to her Earth-born children here, where gath- 
 ers the dust blown by the four winds, I, Mona 
 the half-breed, pledge you my love for all eternity. 
 May my spirit enter the body of a wolf if that love 
 ever fails." She stood there, exalted, beautiful, 
 with her hands raised high above her head. 
 
 "Oh, Mona! Mona! how beautiful," Joan cried, 
 springing to her feet and bestowing an ardent kiss 
 on Mona's red lips. 
 
 " Pledge first thy lasting love," Mona said, with 
 a stern note in her liquid voice.
 
 JO A N OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 103 
 
 " I pledge you by the four winds," obeyed the 
 rapt Joan. She was thoroughly reveling in Mona's 
 somewhat tragic declaration of eternal friendship. 
 It appealed to the dramatic instinct in her. 
 
 " And and may my spirit enter the body of a 
 swine if my love ever fails," she canted, solemnly. 
 She was secretly proud of substituting " swine " for 
 " wolf," because of her sudden remembrance of the 
 casting of the devils into the swine by the Saviour. 
 
 Mona remembered and abode by that morning's 
 vow of eternal friendship, although it almost cost 
 her own life. No less faithful to the vow was 
 Joan, but she was never tried and tested as was 
 Mona. 
 
 " Let us go on," Mona said at last, and again 
 they climbed the narrow path until they came 
 to a large cave, its entrance half-hidden by a flat 
 mass of overhanging rock. Here in the ancient 
 days many Indians had dwelt, for the cave ex- 
 tends many feet back into the mountain-side and 
 in it there are remnants of those bygone days in 
 the shape of mortars hewn out of solid rock 
 wherein the Indians once pounded their acorns and 
 dates and mesquite beans. Here also are ollas of 
 that same half-forgotten period. The ollas Mona 
 kept filled with water from a neighboring spring. 
 
 " My house of dreaming," Mona announced,
 
 104 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 proudly, as she and Joan stood in the semi-darkness 
 of the cave. 
 
 "And you share it with me?" Joan whispered, 
 in an awed little voice. 
 
 " With you, my friend, yes," Mona answered, 
 proudly. 
 
 " Oh, Mona ! Mona ! truly the Lord has dealt 
 kindly with me," Joan returned, fervently. 
 
 " What do you call it? " she asked, after a silence 
 in which Mona enjoyed to the fullest her friend's 
 admiration of the place that had ever been to her 
 a sacred retreat from the strife and disappointment 
 that was often her portion in the Indian village. 
 
 " I call it the Cave of Rest," Mona answered, 
 softly. 
 
 " Oh, let us rename it in honor of the day let 
 us call it the Enchanted Chamber of Peace," Joan 
 cried, eagerly. 
 
 " It shall be as my friend wishes," Mona re- 
 turned, with a trace of sadness in her voice. 
 
 Joan caught the wistful note and turned and em- 
 braced her friend in her usual impulsive manner. 
 
 " I believe after all the Cave of Rest is the only 
 name for it," she whispered, enthusiastically. 
 
 She was more than repaid for the concession by 
 the grateful light that dawned in Mona's eyes. 
 
 They sat down at last with arms about each
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 105 
 
 other, on a flat rock covered with a blanket Mona 
 had brought there months before. 
 
 Don stretched himself out at their feet and barked 
 and whined fitfully as he slept and dreamed of some 
 prehistoric days when, in another life, he fought 
 and killed some savage wolf. 
 
 Mona was a dreamer of dreams, but Joan opened 
 up a new world to her that day in the Cave of Rest 
 a fairy world of mystic lore.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 WHEN Joan went to her room that night, 
 Prudence followed her. 
 
 Rodney noted the proceeding with a 
 sigh. It had not pleased him to have his aunt so 
 absorbed by the Major as she had been. That night 
 at supper a few sharp words had passed between 
 him and his aunt because of the latter's lecturing 
 Joan about playing with Mona. 
 
 Rodney was perfectly willing that Joan should 
 associate with the little half-breed, and had decided 
 the discussion in favor of the two children being 
 allowed to play together. 
 
 He liked the appearance of the little half-breed 
 and then he had made inquiries about her and all 
 the villagers spoke well of the girl. And wasn't 
 she a protegee of the old minister's? That was cer- 
 tainly in the child's favor with Rodney. The old 
 man appealed to Rodney, and more than once, dur- 
 ing the hours Joan was with Mona, he had pictured 
 the aged minister out on the desert with his burros 
 and dogs. Under all his interest in the old man, 
 with his burden of sorrow, there was an underly- 
 
 106
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 107 
 
 ing sense of uneasiness about him which Rodney 
 could not explain to himself. He tried to shake off 
 the feeling, but it clung to him not only that day 
 but during all the days that followed until he again 
 saw the old minister. 
 
 That afternoon Rodney had met Sam Welch, the 
 Major's object of hate, and found in him a man 
 more to his liking than was the voluble Major. 
 
 Sam Welch was an attenuated, sallow- faced man 
 with iron-gray hair and a hollow, mournful voice. 
 He suggested melancholy personified, yet Rodney 
 liked the man. That Welch was bitter toward the 
 Major was evident, though he did not vilify his 
 enemy. But in a quiet, sorrowful manner, he in- 
 formed Rodney that there was bad blood between 
 him and the Major, because he, Welch, had been 
 appointed postmaster of the Springs, thereby oust- 
 ing the Major, who until the coming of Welch had 
 run the village as it suited him. 
 
 Welch had lived at the Springs five years. He 
 had come there with a maiden sister and an in- 
 valid wife the wife had passed away shortly after 
 his arrival. He had broken all his ties to the outer 
 world and since his sister was content to remain 
 there with him, he had taken a sort of mournful 
 pride in staying where his wife had died. 
 
 He invested his small capital in a few acres of
 
 io8 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 land on the north side of the village, and on this 
 piece of ground he had erected a few shacks and 
 the roomy building in which he lived with his sister. 
 The shacks he rented at a modest price, forming 
 another thorn in the flesh of the grasping Major, 
 who, until the coming of Welch had obtained ex- 
 orbitant prices for room and board at " The Sign of 
 the Rainbow." 
 
 Martha Welch boarded some of the renters of 
 Welch's shacks, and more and more were Welch 
 and his sister gaining in popularity and number of 
 paying guests. 
 
 The Major railed, and threatened even the gov- 
 ernment if Welch were not removed from his official 
 position as postmaster and he reinstated, but he 
 railed and threatened to no avail. Welch remained, 
 and the Major hurled invectives at him and his 
 sister and all those who lived on his ground, until 
 Lois Reeves arrived. 
 
 The Major was privately casting his eyes about 
 for another helpmeet and Lois Reeves had met with 
 his unbounded approval for that very desirable posi- 
 tion, until the coming of Prudence White with her 
 art in cooking. 
 
 All day the Major had debated between youthful 
 beauty and middle-aged culinary skill. He ended 
 the day's argument in the favor of Prudence, for
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 109 
 
 the taste of her bread was still with him, besides 
 a shrewd New England woman like her would mean 
 money for him. And money was the Major's god. 
 
 With Prudence in his kitchen there would no 
 longer be a ceaseless string of unsatisfactory cooks 
 worrying him and depleting his coffers. That either 
 Prudence or Lois would refuse him if put to the 
 test he did not question for an instant. The Major 
 never underrated himself. 
 
 All day his hatred of Joan had grown. The 
 mole-hill of ruffled vanity was now a mountain of 
 vindictive detestation. 
 
 Ignorant of the fact that Judge Wheaton, Rod- 
 ney's own particular friend, was Justice of the 
 Peace of Orion, the Major had, before he retired 
 that night, written a letter, addressing it to Orion's 
 Justice of the Peace. He had learned, by clever 
 pumping of Prudence, that Joan had been adopted 
 by Rodney on Christmas day, that he had not known 
 of the child's existence twenty-four hours before he 
 adopted her, and that Prudence herself knew noth- 
 ing of the child's life before she came to them ex- 
 cept her declaration of heresy, to quote Prudence, 
 which she had learned at a certain Miss Warren's. 
 
 The Major's letter won a grunt of disgust from 
 Judge Wheaton, and the Judge immediately in- 
 closed it in one of his own to Rodney. In turn he
 
 no JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 wrote a letter to the Major, scathing him for his 
 unmanly conduct and assuring him that in Joan's 
 life there was nothing but good and that there was 
 no taint in her parentage. 
 
 All this added to the Major's hatred of Joan until 
 in time the man became obsessed with his desire in 
 some manner to vent his spite on her or Rodney. 
 
 But to return to Joan and Prudence that second 
 night at Rainbow Springs. 
 
 " Joan, I wish to talk to you about your conduct 
 to-day," Prudence began, stiffly, when alone with 
 Joan. 
 
 " You mean, I suppose, my going off with 
 Mona," Joan returned, spiritedly. " I thought we 
 thrashed all that out at the supper table to-night." 
 Joan was in an irritable mood. It had wounded 
 her sensitive spirit to be obliged to imprison Don 
 in the woodshed. She resented Prudence's harsh 
 presence at the very time she wanted to be alone 
 with her grief over leaving the pup alone. 
 
 Prudence's cold eyes glittered, but she remem- 
 bered Rodney's decision in regard to that subject, 
 and snapped crossly, " It's about another matter." 
 
 " Another ! " Joan sighed. 
 
 " Yes, another. Rodney is a perfect lunatic over 
 you, and as far as he is concerned I shall have noth- 
 ing more to say. Later on I shall sympathize with
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS in 
 
 him for the trouble he is bringing upon himself, but 
 just now I am going to let you both absolutely 
 alone, except when something concerns me or my 
 friends." Prudence almost blushed. That day she 
 had taken her first peep into the land of romance. 
 Never before had the gate to that enchanted land 
 ever been even approached by the opposite sex and 
 the Major had leaned far over the magic gate, and 
 it was only natural that his words of admiration 
 and scarce-veiled advances of something more ten- 
 der had gone to her head like wine. 
 
 Joan's eyes flashed at the reference Prudence 
 made to future trouble brought on Rodney by her, 
 but she bit her lip and forced back the angry tears 
 that rushed to her eyes at the very thought of 
 bringing trouble to the man she idolized. 
 
 " Please explain the other cause of your anger 
 toward me," she said, with a manner as stiff as 
 Prudence's own. Her head was tiptilted in the way 
 Rodney had grown to love, but her face was drawn 
 with a look that would have hurt him. 
 
 She seemed suddenly old and worn, unchildlike. 
 The continuous excitement of the day had been al- 
 most too much for her high-strung nerves. 
 
 " I refer to the Major," Prudence began, severely. 
 
 Joan threw herself on her bed and shook with 
 a mixture of laughter and tears.
 
 ii2 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 "Joan, what are you doing?" Prudence de- 
 manded, sharply. 
 
 " I I think I am laughing," Joan responded, rais- 
 ing herself up on her elbow and looking at Prudence 
 through a maze of tears. " I am so relieved," she 
 continued, blithely. " I thought perhaps I had un- 
 consciously done something dreadfully wrong. 
 You see, I am not cut the same way of the cloth 
 that you are and it's hard to fit us together, but I 
 assure you, you have lifted a weight from the very 
 depths of my soul." 
 
 " Humph ! " Prudence snorted : " When I was 
 your age nothing would have been more dreadful 
 than having been impolite to a guest. I should have 
 been severely and very justly whipped had I acted 
 the way you did and to such a man as the Ma- 
 jor," she added, with a flush spreading over her 
 thin features. Prudence had actually blushed a 
 number of times that day. 
 
 Joan sprang from the bed and faced Prudence 
 with a rapt look in her eyes. 
 
 "Would it relieve you any to whip me?" she 
 demanded, her head thrown back, her gleaming eyes 
 meeting the cold ones of Prudence with a direct, 
 unflinching gaze. 
 
 "If it would, I assure you, I am perfectly will- 
 ing for you to whip me. I have been whipped be-
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 113 
 
 fore, and I assure you that I prefer a whipping to 
 any tongue-lashing that ever was conjured up. So 
 whip me, if you wish, and then let us forget the 
 whole matter. I believe in chastisement and then 
 forgiveness. The Bible says : ' Spare the rod and 
 spoil the child,' and I do not want to be spoiled, so 
 whip away if you want to, but please do it quickly. 
 Slowness in anything always gets on my nerves. 
 Miss Warren told me never to acknowledge I had 
 nerves, but at school I was compelled to admit them 
 and declare before a room full of scholars that the 
 human body was simply alive with them. It is so 
 hard to know just what to believe in this world," 
 she added, reflectively. 
 
 " Are you through ? " Prudence demanded. 
 
 " Yes, if you wish it so," Joan answered, meekly, 
 suddenly remembering that Prudence was always 
 objecting to her talking too much. 
 
 " I suppose I have talked too much again," she 
 said, contritely. 
 
 " You've talked plenty." Prudence was recov- 
 ing her usual composure. 
 
 " Well, I am sincerely glad that it's no worse." 
 
 " Humph ! " Prudence snorted, as she started to 
 leave the room. " And as for whipping you," she 
 added, with an evident effort, " much as you need 
 it at times, I shall never lay hands on you. You
 
 ii 4 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 are Rodney's affair, not mine, thank goodness, but 
 please treat the Major with proper courtesy next 
 time he comes." The door banged and Prudence 
 was gone. 
 
 " Dear Lord, I thank Thee that I am Rodney's 
 affair, not hers," Joan murmured, reverently, as 
 she began to undress for bed. 
 
 Rodney smiled when he heard the door slam. 
 He had heard that same subdued slam of exaspera- 
 tion a number of times since Joan came into his 
 life. 
 
 He loved Joan with a tender, protective love, 
 and the love he gave his aunt, while sincere, was the 
 manner of love one ever accords a stern, unyield- 
 ing relative. 
 
 The Major called again early the next morning 
 and again ate and praised Prudence's great skill in 
 cooking. 
 
 " Joan, I am going for the mail. Do you want 
 to come with me ? " Rodney said, quietly, as they 
 left the breakfast table. 
 
 " You will excuse me, will you not, Major? " he 
 inquired, politely. " I also wish to send out some 
 letters in the early mail," he added. He was glad 
 he really had some letters prepared for the early 
 mail, even while he acknowledged to himself that 
 he would have made some excuse to quit the Ma-
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 115 
 
 jor's company even if the mentioned letters were a 
 myth. 
 
 The Major excused himself pompously. " Would 
 go with you, my boy, if I didn't always rest half 
 an hour after eating. I shall enjoy the company 
 of your estimable aunt while you are gone, if I may 
 have the honor." 
 
 It is needless to say he was accorded the honor, 
 by Prudence. 
 
 " We are not pining for the Major's company, 
 are we, little girl ? " Rodney asked, smiling at the 
 child dancing along beside him, with Don at her 
 heels barking and capering exuberantly. The collie 
 had mourned for his mother and brother and the 
 good old man, his master, during all the long hours 
 of the night, when his lame foot pained him, but 
 this morning the pain was entirely gone and he 
 transferred his faithful alliance to Joan an alli- 
 ance from which he never wavered. 
 
 Joan immediately liked Sam Welch. His mourn- 
 ful manner appealed to her fertile imagination. 
 And the placid Martha Welch won her heart with 
 a motherly hug. Joan always responded to the 
 demonstrations of affection from those she loved 
 as a flower responds to the caresses of the sun and 
 rain. 
 
 " We had a very sick man over here last night,"
 
 n6 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 Welch announced to Rodney, in his solemn way, 
 as he sorted the morning mail. 
 
 " Where is he ? " Joan demanded, eagerly. " Oh, 
 could I do something for him ? " 
 
 Rodney smiled at her. " Go see him, kiddie, if 
 you wish. If you can brighten him up as you do 
 me, you will do more for him than medicine 
 could." 
 
 Martha Welch pointed out the sick man's cot- 
 tage to the eager child and Joan was off like a 
 flash. 
 
 Suddenly she darted back. " I forgot to ask 
 his name," she explained, in answer to the quizzical 
 look of amusement in Rodney's eyes. 
 
 " William Arth," Sam Welch explained, with an 
 admiring look at the animated child. 
 
 " Oh, what a charming name ! " Joan cried. 
 " William Arth William Arth, William Arth, you 
 cannot be sick with that name," she chanted, as she 
 bounded again toward the unpainted shack where 
 lived the sick man. 
 
 A thrill of excitement ran through her, as she 
 knocked on the front door of the little two-room 
 shack. There was something very fascinating to 
 her in this calling, like a grown person, on some 
 one sick. 
 
 The man's ungracious " Come in," brought her
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 117 
 
 back to earth with a little shock such as one feels 
 when cold water is dashed in one's face. 
 
 William Arth was a morose man of saturnine 
 appearance. He lay propped up in bed, on very 
 much soiled pillows, and scowled moodily at Joan, 
 when she entered the room. 
 
 " Good-morning," she said, in such evident cheer- 
 fulness that the sullen look in a manner left the 
 man's pain-drawn face. 
 
 " Shall I bring my dog in, or shall I come in 
 alone ? " Joan asked, with her hand on the door. 
 " Perhaps I had better come in alone, it will be less 
 for you to get used to," she added, as the man did 
 not answer. " Stay out, Don," she commanded the 
 collie. She smiled gratefully when Don showed his 
 disappointment by a low whine, as he obediently 
 stretched himself out in front of the shack. 
 
 " I am sure I shall be enough for this time." Joan 
 advanced, with a winning smile, toward Arth's bed. 
 " Besides, if Don were in here, I might not do all 
 I intend to do for you, with your permission, and I 
 am sure you will give that," she went on, blithely, 
 serenely unconscious of the man's sullen silence. 
 
 " I have had quite a little experience with sick- 
 ness during my checkered career," she said, brightly. 
 " I am not exactly certain of what a checkered 
 career is," she added, honestly, " but I read of one
 
 n8 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 once in a perfectly adorable book the hero was 
 the one who had had a checkered career and he was 
 perfectly charming, and ever since then I have called 
 my career checkered, because it sounds so fascinat- 
 ing and my life certainly has been unusual." 
 
 That the child herself was unusual Arth ad- 
 mitted to himself, as Joan deftly straightened the 
 front room, washed the dishes, and put to order 
 the kitchen, finally finishing her cleaning by thor- 
 oughly sweeping the two rooms with a dampened 
 broom, after she had opened both doors and the 
 windows and covered Arth's face with a thin quilt, 
 to keep the dust from him. 
 
 " Now, you will feel better with something clean 
 to rest your eyes on," she said cheerily, as she 
 removed the quilt. 
 
 " Now, I shall begin on you." She smiled at 
 Arth with a light in her eyes that he had seen in the 
 eyes of his mother, checking the refusal to allow her 
 to begin on him that trembled on his thin, colorless 
 lips. 
 
 So Joan, unconscious that the man was in some 
 vague way resentful of her ministrations to his 
 comfort, chattered blithely of her enjoyment of 
 Rainbow Springs, of the Cave of Rest and Mona 
 and the dog Don, and of the wonderful Rodney 
 who had brought her to the Springs. She finished
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 119 
 
 with a whimsical allusion to Prudence and the 
 Major. 
 
 " I hate that fat old popinjay," Arth snarled, 
 when she mentioned the Major. 
 
 " I hated him yesterday," Joan said, honestly. 
 " He seems just like a big fat toad to me, and yet 
 I know he is God's child and we are commanded 
 not to hate and this morning I am so full of love 
 for the whole world that I can tolerate the Major." 
 
 The ghost of a smile played about Arth's mouth. 
 But the smile was followed by a scowl as Joan 
 deftly slipped the pillows from under his head. She 
 gave them a brisk shaking and returned them in 
 clean, fresh slips she found in the dresser drawer. 
 
 She finished the indignity by asking Arth if he 
 could get up while she put clean sheets on the bed. 
 " Those sheets are dreadful," she said, frankly, 
 " but you are a man and sick at that, so don't feel 
 bad about it. You should have a woman to take 
 care of you, every man should," she added, with 
 an air of great wisdom that became her well. " A 
 man is so helpless when it comes to the things that 
 belong to the sphere of woman." 
 
 Arth smiled in spite of himself. And when the 
 child had gone into the other room so he could 
 dress, he struggled into his clothing with an effort, 
 for the man was sicker than the child knew.
 
 120 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 Joan whacked and patted and straightened the 
 bed with great pride; then went back to the kitchen 
 to prepare a light breakfast for the sick man, while 
 Arth went gratefully if somewhat sullenly, to his 
 fresh, clean bed. 
 
 He ate the breakfast Joan brought him, with evi- 
 dent relish, while she perched on his trunk at the 
 foot of his bed, chattering like a magpie. 
 
 Much to his own surprise Arth was enjoying 
 himself. As is the case with most invalids, he liked 
 talkative people about him when they were willing 
 to do all the talking themselves without expecting 
 him to exert himself likewise. Besides, this was 
 a novel specimen of the genus feminine a witch 
 of vivacity and vitality. Moreover, to his un- 
 bounded surprise he found himself longing to tell 
 this child, that which no one in Rainbow Springs 
 knew, although he had been there for more than 
 half a year. 
 
 William Arth when quite young had married 
 an emotional girl, with an artistic temperament 
 which he did not in the least understand. He had 
 always commanded and never explained. He con- 
 sidered the implicit affection of his wife a legal 
 duty, a sort of commercial article that he had pur- 
 chased rather than something fine to be kept by 
 watchful tenderness.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 121 
 
 Within three years things had come to a climax. 
 And on occasion of his absence one day, his wife 
 had taken her departure, leaving behind a curt little 
 note to the effect that as he did not care for her any 
 more she did not care to live longer under the same 
 roof with him. The humiliation of it was more 
 than he could endure, besides, in his way, he loved 
 his wife, but he made no effort at reconciliation 
 and resigned his position and went to New York, 
 where his present disease fastened itself upon him. 
 He had never heard directly from his wife, but he 
 knew that her brother had died shortly after her 
 desertion of him, and left her a fortune. 
 
 His wife lived in the same town as his only 
 sister, who, while not a newsmonger, kept him in- 
 formed about his wife, and from her he learned 
 that his wife had become a marked social success. 
 
 All this Arth unaccountably longed to tell Joan. 
 When he could no longer work he had come to 
 Rainbow Springs and hedged himself, by his in- 
 flexible will, within a barrier of reserve. This had 
 been gradually accepted by the people in the village, 
 who had at first made friendly advances to him, 
 until this coming of Joan marked the advent of the 
 first visitor he had had for over four months. 
 
 The night before he had had a hemorrhage at 
 the post-office, and in his usual manner had refused
 
 122 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 the kindly offer of Welch and his sister to bring 
 him home. He forgot the chattering child after a 
 time, forgot even the food he was eating, which 
 was the first for nearly six months that had not 
 been prepared in an indifferent manner by himself. 
 
 Joan noted the far-off look in his eyes. 
 
 "Would you rather I did not talk?" she asked, 
 as she removed the breakfast tray. 
 
 " Keep on," he growled. " I don't mind your 
 talk." 
 
 " Oh, I am so glad ! " Joan cried. " I think you 
 and I are going to get along fine together. It is 
 such a relief to find some one willing to be talked 
 to. Rodney likes to hear me talk, he assures me 
 that he does, but Aunt Prudence is always stop- 
 ping me when I get strung off on Christian Science, 
 and all I know, to talk about, is a heap of the Bible 
 and some statements of Christian Science I learned 
 when at Miss Warren's, but Aunt Prudence she 
 is not really my aunt, as I explained before calls 
 the Science statements heresy. Heresy must be 
 something dreadful by the way she acts about it, so 
 I shall keep those things to myself or at least try 
 to until I can learn the definition of heresy. I 
 haven't asked Rodney the meaning of it, because 
 we have been alone so very little that I have not 
 even finished my expressions of gratitude to him
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 123 
 
 for letting me belong to him." Since Prudence had 
 told the Major of Joan's recent adoption, and Pru- 
 dence had conscientiously told Rodney of her tell- 
 ing, Rodney had decided that it would be best to 
 let every one else know of it also. 
 
 With a patience that surprised him, William Arth 
 explained the meaning of the word " heresy," and 
 each word he uttered added to the glow of delight 
 in Joan's expressive eyes. 
 
 " I am so delighted ! " she cried, as he finished. 
 " Don't it give one a delicious thrill to find that 
 the one we like best of two people is correct? I 
 knew Miss Warren would not believe in anything 
 bad even if she might believe in the unusual and 
 sectarian. But Aunt Prudence is so set in her 
 ways, she is just like a rod of iron. She seems 
 to be perfectly unbendable, and a stiff-necked per- 
 son is to be pitied, don't you think so ? " 
 
 Arth nodded. To himself, he admitted that a 
 stiff-necked person was to be more than pitied. 
 For William Arth longed for his wife and fireside 
 joys of his own, and knew that his own stubborn 
 will had banished them from him forever. 
 
 " You might try some of your Christian Science 
 talk on me," he suggested at last, with a smile jerk- 
 ing at his lips. 
 
 Joan smiled delightedly and began. She repeated
 
 124 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 all she knew of the science, then added the last 
 two chapters of " Revelation," " for good meas- 
 ure," as she expressed it. " I might tell you some of 
 my imaginations some day," she said, shyly, after 
 Arth had whole-heartedly thanked her for her ef- 
 forts. " I have a whole stack of fairy tales stored up 
 in my mind and I've always longed to tell them to 
 some one with a mature mind. I, of course, told 
 them to the Pepper children, and while they were 
 perfectly fascinated by them, they were not overly 
 bright, so I could never make up my mind whether 
 the tales I told them had any merit in them or 
 whether anything else would have kept those kids 
 amused just as well as they did. I have read very 
 few books except the Bible, Christian Science, and 
 the fairy book I own." She sighed. 
 
 " It has been my fate to live with two old maids, 
 and I assure you that I hope it will not be my por- 
 tion of sorrow to die an old maid like Miss Blake 
 did. Miss Blake was not like Miss Warren in the 
 least. She seldom read the Bible and would never 
 allow me to quote it to her. She had me read to 
 her, though, for three or four hours each day. 
 
 " Some of the books were horrid, all lally-gag- 
 ging, but some of them kept me so thrilled that I 
 could not sleep nights, but would keep my head 
 covered and shiver and shake and expect a ghost to
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 125 
 
 appear at the foot of my bed every minute, although 
 I'd strengthen my fainting soul with all the Bible 
 promises of protection that I could remember; but it 
 was very difficult to remember any of them when 
 the last thing I had been allowed to read that day 
 was something harrowing. Still, I like thrilling 
 books," she added, reflectively. " There was one 
 book in particular, a book called ' She,' which I have 
 always longed to finish. It was so thrilling. I was 
 about half through it when Miss Blake was taken 
 with her last illness. Of course I could not finish 
 the book to her and it's been my fate never to be 
 able to get hold of that book since then. It sends 
 nice prickly feelings all over me, though, just to 
 think about it, and I cannot help being sorry Miss 
 Blake will never know how it ended. She was so 
 fascinated by the first chapters of it. Of course 
 I shall know how it ended some day, if I live long 
 enough, but think how tragic it must be to die with- 
 out knowing how such a book ends." 
 
 Arth roared with laughter. Welch and Rodney, 
 coming toward the shack for Joan, heard that 
 spontaneous laugh. 
 
 " By gum ! " Welch exclaimed. " That man has 
 not even smiled before, since he came here." 
 
 Arth could have told them that he had not 
 laughed before in more than four years.
 
 126 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 He greeted the two men cordially. Rodney took 
 his fancy as Joan had taken it. 
 
 After that morning, much to Prudence's disgust, 
 Joan spent an hour or more each day cheering the 
 sick man and putting his house to rights. 
 
 When feeling fit, Rodney went with her, and 
 after Lois Reeves came back from her Christmas 
 vacation, she and Martha Welch would sometimes 
 spend the evening on Arth's porch, while Joan, with 
 Mona beside her and Don at her feet, chattered to 
 the delight of them all. To Rodney and Arth, be- 
 tween whom a sincere friendship had sprung up, 
 these evenings were especially delightful. 
 
 Meantime there took place that winter an un- 
 usual courtship. Welch made Prudence a melan- 
 choly offering of love, as he understood it. The 
 Major, with desire for a good cook and a frugal 
 hand at the helm of his household affairs, courted 
 Prudence with words of flattery and honied 
 speeches. 
 
 For Lois Reeves, Joan immediately conceived an 
 affection that bordered upon idolatry and she could 
 hardly contain herself the two days that elapsed be- 
 tween the return of the school teacher and the first 
 day of school, even though she and Mona, accom- 
 panied by the collie, made many trips to the Cave 
 of Rest.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 R)DNEY saw Joan start off that first day of 
 school, with a smile of rare sweetness, but 
 with secret misgivings in his heart. Joan 
 was such an odd child. He knew that she loved 
 Mona devotedly, but how would she get along with 
 the horde of Indian children from whom she shrank, 
 if they came near? 
 
 With Rodney, as well as Joan, Mona seemed set 
 apart, different from the full-blooded Indian chil- 
 dren. Hers was a strange nature a mixture of 
 gentleness and fire. She might have been the off- 
 spring of an innocent woodland doe and a flame 
 spirit, but the full-blooded Indian children were the 
 ordinary half -barbaric offspring of a half -civilized 
 race. 
 
 But things went better that day than Rodney even 
 hoped for. As far as he could learn Joan's be- 
 havior had been exemplary. She came home in 
 high spirits. 
 
 " I think I am going to like school here better 
 
 than I ever liked it any* place," she cried, joyfully, 
 
 127
 
 128 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 as she flung her arms around Rodney's neck, on her 
 return from the afternoon session. 
 
 Rodney drew her to him happily. He had re- 
 gretted all day that his ill health made it necessary 
 for Joan to attend an Indian school. Yet he in- 
 stinctively knew that she would not be worsted by 
 contact with any kind of people. Her spirit would 
 triumph over any environment, and she would rise 
 true and with a flower-like purity out of any asso- 
 ciation. 
 
 " I hope you behaved with some degree of pro- 
 priety," Prudence interrupted Joan, in the midst of 
 a vivid account of some of the actions of the smaller 
 Indian children. Mona chanced to be the oldest 
 scholar in school when Chawa, her brother, did 
 not attend. Her young cousins, Flying Eagle, aged 
 seven, and Marina, aged six, had come to school 
 that noon-day in such scanty attire that Miss Reeves 
 had been compelled to send them home for more 
 conventional raiment. 
 
 Joan finished her broken narrative, but with a 
 visible decrease of pleasure in it. 
 
 '' Yes, ma'am; I was extremely good." She 
 turned to Prudence. " Our seat is right by the win- 
 dow this way, and I can look straight up the road 
 here, and see Rodney when he takes a turn in the 
 yard."
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 129 
 
 " Humph ! You had better be studying than ey- 
 ing Rodney. I should think you would be mortified 
 almost to death at having to sit with an Indian. 
 Rodney should speak to the teacher and have your 
 seat changed," Prudence sniffed. 
 
 " I assure you that I am sitting with Mona by 
 my own request," Joan returned, with a stiffness 
 that matched Prudence's own. " Mona is not an 
 Indian, either. She is only half Indian, and she 
 had a most magnificent white father. She showed 
 me his picture to-day, and while the picture is a 
 very poor piece of photographic skill, it portrays a 
 very handsome and romantic-looking man. I adore 
 Mona, too. She has an imagination, and besides 
 that she is extremely kind to me, and please remem- 
 ber, Aunt Prudence, she is the very first bosom 
 friend I ever had, and is especially dear to 
 me." 
 
 " Well, I never ! " Prudence returned, dryly, as 
 she left the room. 
 
 The instant Prudence was gone, Joan seized 
 Rodney's face between both hands and gave it a 
 well-meant, if somewhat rough, rubbing. 
 
 " Oh, life is so interesting out here! " she cried, 
 happily. " And you are so good to me, dear, dear 
 Rodney!" 
 
 Rodney drew her close in his arms. " You are a
 
 130 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 witch, little girl," he said, with a vibrant note of 
 joy in his voice. 
 
 Joan was a new joy to him every day. Her face 
 was so full of an ever-changing charm. She had a 
 new face for every day, or so it seemed to Rodney, 
 and the artistic element in him was sufficiently sel- 
 fish to rejoice in the pleasure her irregular little 
 profile afforded his eyes. 
 
 Her brown hair now caught the level rays of the 
 sun dancing in through the window, and showed 
 golden on the wind- roughened curves of the thick 
 waves. Her face was flushed from the wild run 
 she and Mona and Don, followed by the horde of 
 Indian children, had made from the school house 
 to the cottage. 
 
 She drew a long breath of happiness as she 
 snuggled closer to him. 
 
 " Life is so very interesting, Rodney, dear." She 
 sighed, ecstatically. " And Miss Reeves is so beauti- 
 ful and so exceedingly helpful and sympathetic. 
 She said she hoped I would continue to imagine 
 fairy tales, except during school hours. During 
 school hours she is extremely desirous of having 
 me acquire a general knowledge of things. Miss 
 Reeves is also exceedingly well versed in the Bible, 
 Rodney. We had a long talk about it this after- 
 noon at recess. She is extremely logical, too. She
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 131 
 
 almost completely shattered my faith in Christian 
 Science. Although, I think one should always think 
 health. It makes one so much happier. But Miss 
 Reeves made me see plainly that Christ never denied 
 the existence of disease, and I should rather believe 
 what He says than Miss Warren. I am so glad I 
 met Miss Reeves. It is so hard for a little girl to 
 see things clearly, and while I have a mind of my 
 own [Rodney smiled] I do not pretend to think I 
 understand everything as I should." 
 
 Rodney's eyes were full of love and pride as he 
 smiled down into the upturned face, with the rapt, 
 wonderful eyes. 
 
 "What subject do you like best?" he asked, 
 suddenly. 
 
 " Geography," Joan returned, promptly. " Espe- 
 cially the California portion when I studied about 
 California to-day, I imagined it was just as de- 
 lightful as eating a dish of ice cream. I am so 
 extremely interested in it. Did you ever eat ice 
 cream, Rodney ? " She drew away from him and 
 looked up into his face, her level eyes scintillating 
 with interest. 
 
 Rodney put his hand up to his face to hide the 
 mirth he could not keep from twitching at his 
 lips. 
 
 " Yes, dear," he said at last and very gently.
 
 132 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 It had just dawned upon him that perhaps this 
 child had never eaten ice cream. 
 
 " Oh ! I am so delighted. Please tell me exactly 
 how ice cream tastes. I've read and read about 
 ice cream, especially strawberry ice cream, until I've 
 been so thrilled I could scarcely breathe at the very 
 thought of it, and you are the very first person it 
 has been my fate to meet who can and will tell 
 me how ice cream feels on your tongue. I know it 
 is very cold, for the ice part of it proves that, and 
 I've eaten loads and loads of icicles and tried to 
 imagine them ice cream, but I always suffered 
 agonies with my throat afterward. I tried it once 
 while I was at Miss Warren's, and she said my 
 thinking my throat was sore was just another mis- 
 take of mortal mind. I was convinced at the time 
 my throat was really sore because I could scarcely 
 swallow. I asked Miss Warren for a piece of red 
 flannel to tie around my throat, but she would not 
 give it to me. She said : * It will not do to pamper 
 mortal mind.' Miss Warren was not stingy, either," 
 she added, honestly. " She was not even nigh. It 
 was a matter of principle with her, and while I 
 believed thoroughly in the red flannel, because I 
 had tried it often in the past, I admired Miss 
 Warren's adherence to principle. I read about 
 ' adherence to principle ' once in a book, and it
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 133 
 
 sounded so magnificent that I have always remem- 
 bered it. ' Adherence to principle ' is a wonderful 
 thing," she rolled the words in evident enjoyment. 
 " My throat was all right next morning, and Miss 
 Warren said it never had been sore, but I have never 
 eaten icicles since, for fear I'd imagine it was sore 
 again." 
 
 Rodney got up and moved over to the window, 
 and looked out across the sandy road. Mona was 
 just outside the gate, waiting for Joan. His eyes 
 came back to Don, lying curled up on the porch 
 like a ball of gold. 
 
 When he again looked at Joan, she was sitting 
 on the floor by his chair, her elbows on her knees, 
 her chin in her palms, a world of mystery in her 
 fathomless eyes. 
 
 " Joan, how would you like to have a party ? " 
 he asked. "We'll have one if you like; there will 
 be ice cream, so that you can taste the real straw- 
 berry article, and ..." 
 
 Like a flash Joan was across the room and had 
 him pinioned by the lapels of his coat, her hands 
 trembling as they grasped the cloth. 
 
 " Oh, Rodney ! Rodney ! How perfectly lovely ! 
 I have longed, all my life, for a really and truly 
 party. Rodney ! Rodney ! You are so good to me. 
 I can just see myself asking Mona if she will have
 
 134 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 another helping of ice cream Ice cream ! " she 
 repeated, shutting her eyes the better to foresee that 
 triumphant moment. 
 
 " And we will invite Miss Reeves, too, won't we, 
 Rodney? I love Miss Reeves with every bit of my 
 heart that is not already given to you and Mona. 
 She has such charming manners, and I feel in- 
 stinctively that she is a kindred spirit. Just think, 
 Rodney! We are going to have recitations every 
 Friday afternoon, just like they have in city schools 
 every Friday. Miss Reeves says she observed 
 Friday afternoon all last term, although she ob- 
 served it by reading to the children. She says Mona 
 is able to recite very nicely, and she believes I will 
 be able to give something interesting." 
 
 Rodney did not doubt but that Joan would give 
 something interesting if left to her own devices, 
 as he hoped she would be. 
 
 " Miss Reeves says that perhaps you will come 
 over and listen to the programme, and perhaps, just 
 perhaps, we can get poor Mr. Arth to go and take 
 some real enjoyment in life. I had thought of re- 
 citing the last two chapters of " Revelation." I can 
 put my whole soul in them, but I say them to Mr. 
 Arth every morning, because he enjoys them so. 
 He says until I came over there the other morning 
 that he had almost forgotten the very existence of
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 135 
 
 the Bible can you even imagine such a thing, 
 Rodney? But now he says he is beginning to feel 
 like a Christian again. Isn't that splendid ? " 
 
 Before Rodney could answer, Joan was chattering 
 about the proposed party, but he could hear the 
 silver voice of the old minister saying : " You are 
 a sweet spirit come to Rainbow Springs to bring 
 peace to the hearts of many." 
 
 Rodney called on Arth that evening and found 
 the sick man propped up in bed reading Joan's 
 Bible, which she had taken over to him that morn- 
 ing, because he had none of his own. 
 
 Arth smiled dryly at Rodney, as he held out his 
 long, thin hand, and said : " I think she is going to 
 help me die like a Christian, old man." 
 
 Rodney pressed the thin hand sympathetically, as 
 he returned fervently, " The same here, Arth. If 
 I live, I shall live the better for her coming into my 
 life, and if I do not live my greatest regret will be 
 that I cannot see her grown and educated as she 
 should be. She says it's the dream of her life to go 
 to college some day, and that dream shall come true 
 if I live, although I will not even think what her 
 being away even for a day will mean to me. Of 
 course, should I not live she will be well provided 
 for; I have already seen to that. Shall I tell you 
 about the night she came to me ? "
 
 136 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 Arth nodded. He had heard the story from 
 Joan, but was content to hear it from Rodney 
 also. 
 
 So Rodney held the sick man's hand in his tender, 
 understanding grasp while he told him of his lonely 
 childhood, unbrightened by a tender woman's love. 
 A life void of the demonstrations of love he had 
 craved all his life. He told how until Joan came 
 into his life his whole soul was full of love for his 
 violin. He spared nothing in the telling, but re- 
 counted the yearly custom of leaving the door open 
 on Christmas Eve, because his grandmother had 
 requested that it should be left ajar every Holy Eve 
 until some one came again out of the storm. His 
 voice quivered as he told of his farewell to his be- 
 loved Amati and the coming of Joan in answer to 
 its call. Arth's eyes brightened when Rodney told 
 him of the old minister's prophetic speech concern- 
 ing the child. He laughed when Rodney told him of 
 Joan's almost shattered faith in Miss Warren's be- 
 lief, and his eyes grew tender over the icicle episode 
 and enthusiastically beaming when Rodney told of 
 the proposed party. 
 
 " I'll come, old man," Arth said, as Rodney 
 started to leave. "If it's the last thing I do, I'll 
 be there if if I am here to do it," he added, 
 whimsically.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 137 
 
 While Rodney made his call on Arth, Joan and 
 Mona made their way to the Cave of Rest, in the 
 early twilight. 
 
 Some one has fitly called the desert " The land 
 of mystic silence and thin air." The mysterious 
 charm of it was ever making its appeal to Joan. 
 She had not missed a sunrise since that first mem- 
 orable morning when she and Rodney had witnessed 
 the double mirage. She had not seen another 
 mirage, but she loved the dawns, with their pearly 
 gray tints, shot across 'by flashes of blood-red flames 
 of the morning sun creeping up from behind the 
 rugged mountains. And then the softening of the 
 vivid red as the sun itself soared high above the 
 mountains in an opalescent sky. How beautiful it 
 was when the purple veil of coming night was 
 flung over the dimpling mountains ! 
 
 But at night, when the mystic desert moon rode 
 high in the zenith, Joan was filled with such ecstasy 
 that she could almost see a vision of heaven itself 
 in the tranquil path of the moon. 
 
 On this night, the hand of God had decorated 
 the sky and the half-hidden, half-revealed desert 
 world with a soft translucent radiance so sublime 
 that Joan could only look upon the majesty of the 
 night in awed silence, her hand clasped tight in 
 Mona's, until they reached the twin palms and
 
 138 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 looked back down on the mystically shadowed vil- 
 lage. Back of the village lay the desert, silver- 
 tipped, serene, and peaceful, swept by a cool breeze. 
 The night was a poem of deep shadows and silver 
 bars of light laid lightly over the mystic land. 
 
 " I had a mind full of mortal triumph and a 
 mouth watering for ice cream," Joan said at last, 
 in an awed little voice. " Oh, I was just full of 
 imaginations of how nice and thrilling it would be 
 to have a real party when we started up here, and 
 now I feel as if the sight of God's beautiful world 
 is almost more than I can bear. I'll never pine for 
 anything like ice cream again, Mona. I am not sure 
 that it is not wicked to long for such things. How 
 can God have patience with such a small piece of 
 his handiwork, as I am when I'm always longing 
 for something I do not need and such unspiritual 
 things as parties and ice cream. Mona, dear, I am 
 so disgusted at myself at times, I am so eternally 
 wanting something I have never had before. Just 
 think what God has given me this past month, a 
 home and Rodney, and you and Don and Aunt 
 Prudence. I am very fond of Aunt Prudence, even 
 though she does not approve of much I do. There's 
 another thing I'm always wanting, and that is to 
 have her hug and kiss me as Rodney does. I believe 
 she is softening at me just a little bit at the corners,
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 139 
 
 but she never wanted me, and deep down in the 
 bottom of my heart I do not blame her. I am 
 perfectly sure I am not anxious to share Rodney 
 with everybody, myself, but then she does not show 
 Rodney any more affection than she does me in any 
 way except in her cooking. She is the most beauti- 
 ful cook in the world, Mona, dear; you know that 
 by the few things you have sampled, and she takes 
 great pains to prepare Rodney everything he likes 
 best just as he likes it. That would seem to indi- 
 cate that she loved him, but was not built so that 
 she could show her love by tender words and hugs 
 and kisses. 
 
 " But to go back to the ice cream subject, Mona. 
 I brought you up here to tell it to you, and I am 
 going to enjoy your pleasure in it, and the party 
 and Rodney's pleasure in spoiling me, as Aunt Pru- 
 dence calls his always humoring me in every imagi- 
 nable way, but I'll remember this night, and if I get 
 to taking too much bodily enjoyment in it all myself, 
 I hope I shall not be punished by the Lord as he 
 punished the Israelites when they howled and cried 
 for meat. But then, I suppose there is not the same 
 danger. Rodney is going to give me the ice cream, 
 and I am sure, much as I deserve it, he would not 
 bury me in it as the Lord submerged the Israelites 
 with quail, but just the same, something out here
 
 140 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 in the night makes me feel ticklish about it all. 
 Such happiness, as I have had ever since Christmas 
 surely can not last forever." 
 
 She sighed, and then forgot Mona and her fears 
 for her over-indulgence as she gazed wide-eyed at 
 the beauties of the desert world by night. 
 
 Mona did not in the least comprehend her white 
 friend, and her only response to Joan's frequent 
 outbursts was a silent pressure of the hand almost 
 always nestling in her stronger one. Mona .loved 
 Joan with all the intensity of her passionate nature. 
 The subject mattered little to her at any time, it 
 was the sound of Joan's voice and the light in her 
 eyes that were dear to Mona. Now she watched 
 Joan, rapt and radiant, standing there like some 
 exalted mystic, until the night grew chill, and she 
 knew by the passage of the moon across the sky that 
 it was long past Joan's bedtime. 
 
 " Your Rodney would wish you home now," she 
 said at last, very softly. 
 
 Joan turned to her with a smile, and only one 
 of them realized that they had not finished their 
 trip to the Cave of Rest. 
 
 . Prudence did not approve of the plan for the 
 party, but Miss Reeves entered into the spirit of 
 it, and helped Rodney so materially by suggestions,
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 141 
 
 with such whole-hearted joy, that Rodney appre- 
 ciated her all the more before the eventful day 
 arrived. 
 
 Lois Reeves was not a pretty young woman, but 
 she had that baffling, provoking modern beauty 
 which secures its charming effect by some vividness 
 of accent, and triumphs by some ugliness subdued. 
 Lois was a charming, womanly girl, with a happy 
 way of winning and holding friends. She had the 
 gift, too, to bring out all that was best in those with 
 whom she came in contact. Even the stolid little 
 Indian children became less stolid and more re- 
 sponsive under her tutelage, and they had seemed 
 an almost hopeless proposition to her when they 
 were first ranged up before her by their parents. 
 
 Lois Reeves loved Mona and spent many hours 
 with her before the arrival of Joan, and now Joan 
 had crept into her heart, and she spent every possible 
 hour with the two little girls. 
 
 And under her affectionate and wholesome in- 
 fluence Joan expanded like a flower. 
 
 Lois had heard several of Joan's fairy tales, and 
 looked forward with much pleasure to the new 
 order of Friday afternoons. 
 
 That first Friday afternoon Joan was thrilled 
 with happiness and something akin to fear, because 
 not only Rodney and Arth attended the school ex-
 
 142 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 ercises, but Sam Welch and Martha were also there, 
 and to the surprise of them all, Prudence honored 
 the place with her presence, sitting bold upright on 
 the edge of her chair between the Major and Welch. 
 The two men were even then in the beginning of 
 the courtship that served as an exquisite bit of 
 amusement to Rodney and Arth all that long, in- 
 active winter. 
 
 Prudence, made conspicuous by the presence of 
 her two cavaliers, had a bright red spot on either 
 cheek, and scarce heard a word of the mumbled 
 lines spoken by several of the Indian children, per- 
 suaded by Lois Reeves up to the hour itself, and 
 their backsliding spirits renewed to the actual effort 
 itself by Rodney's<promise of much candy if they 
 would only do as their teacher wished. 
 
 Mona next spoke, very quaintly, a short piece, and 
 then came Joan's turn to render one of her own 
 fairy tales. 
 
 " Once upon a time," Joan began, her voice all 
 trembling. " Once upon a time," she repeated, 
 firmly, as she caught the flicker of a mocking smile 
 on the Major's face. 
 
 A third time she repeated those four talismanic 
 words, then continued: 
 
 " There were two Kings. One of them was a 
 giant. The giant's home was on an island in the
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 143 
 
 midst of the sea. The island was called ' Rab,' 
 because that was the giant's name. 
 
 " The giant had once, many years before, been 
 a man of ordinary stature. This was before he 
 stole the Golden Butterfly from King Jethone of the 
 land of Jethone. The Golden Butterfly was a magic 
 butterfly, and enabled him to change his stature 
 by making a wish. By wishes he also raised up a 
 people of giants about him, and built by wishes 
 many magnificent castles on the top of the mountain 
 that rose two thousand feet or more in height in 
 the center of the island. 
 
 " Now the King Jethone of that time was the 
 grandson of the King Jethone from whom King 
 Rab had stolen the Golden Butterfly. And this 
 King Jethone had great need of the Golden Butterfly 
 that was his by right, because he was well stricken 
 with years, and the kings of the surrounding 
 countries, knowing his weakness, were making in- 
 vasions into the outer borders of the land of Jethone. 
 They carried away with them each time more than 
 a thousand sheep, and horses and cattle too numer- 
 ous to mention. 
 
 " At last King Jethone announced that he would 
 give his daughter, in marriage, to the youth who 
 brought to him the magic Golden Butterfly, then in 
 possession of King Rab, the giant.
 
 144 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 " King Jethone's daughter, Ethelina, was the 
 most beautiful princess in the whole world even 
 as fair was she as were the second daughters of 
 Job. So many youths answered the summons and 
 made valiant efforts to secure the Golden Butterfly. 
 But none of them were ever permitted to cross the 
 restless water betwen Rab's island and the main 
 land. 
 
 " One day when King Jethone was in the deepest 
 depths of despair, one of his prime ministers told 
 him that a strange musician was at the outer gate 
 of the palace and wished to come in and play before 
 the King. The King loved music, so he graciously 
 permitted the musician to enter and play to him. 
 
 " And it came to pass that the musician was as 
 handsome as Ethelina was beautiful, and as he 
 played his violin all the troubles of the King seemed 
 to vanish as by magic." 
 
 For just an instant she hesitated, and her eyes 
 met Rodney's, in a sweet, grateful flash, then she 
 continued. 
 
 " The heart of the King at last grew so light 
 that he forgot the Golden Butterfly, for which he 
 had longed with all his heart until that hour. 
 
 " When the musician grew weary and rested, the 
 King bethought himself of the Golden Butterfly, 
 and told the tale of its magic to the young musician.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 145 
 
 " The musician's name was Romo, and when the 
 King had finished his story, Rome's eyes were 
 flashing with determination. He told the King that 
 he, Romo, would bring him the Golden Butter- 
 fly and win for himself the beautiful Ethelina, 
 of whom he had heard much in far and distant 
 lands. 
 
 " That evening Romo played for the Queen and 
 Ethelina, and to him, as he played, Ethelina gave 
 her maiden heart's first and last love, and the Queen 
 was glad, because she greatly admired Romo, and 
 believed he would succeed where all the rest had 
 failed. 
 
 " Next morning Ethelina pinned a white rose on 
 Romo's coat, and he started forth in his quest, 
 with his violin under his arm. As he journeyed 
 along toward his goal, Romo played his violin 
 before many and strange people, but at last he 
 reached the edge of the water surrounding Rab's 
 island. 
 
 " A lone boatman rowed close up to the shore and, 
 to him, Romo made his appeal to row him over 
 to Rab's island. 
 
 " The boatman opened his mouth and showed 
 Romo a tongueless cavity that proved beyond doubt 
 that he could not speak. 
 
 "As he dolefully shook his head that he would
 
 146 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 not row Romo across the glittering expanse of 
 rippling water, Romo girded his clothing about him 
 and sprang into the boat. 
 
 " The old boatman said not a word, but reached 
 into his pocket and took from it a crumpled rose 
 leaf. He opened the rose leaf, and Romo saw a 
 few golden grains of fine powder, before the old 
 man gently hurled the rose leaf at him. When 
 Romo looked down at where his hands and feet 
 were, he could not see them. He held his hand 
 up before his eyes, but could not see it, neither was 
 his violin visible, but he could still feel it, so he 
 suddenly realized that the old man had made him 
 invisible, whch proved beyond doubt that the old 
 man wished him to succeed, so Romo's heart beat 
 joyfully, and his soul sang within him as the boat 
 bumped against the island. 
 
 " He looked about him, and behold ! the old man 
 and the boat were also invisible, so Romo marked 
 well the spot where he landed, with a peculiar stone 
 he found near by. 
 
 " Then he saw before his very eyes the giant King, 
 stretched out asleep at the foot of the mountain. 
 He took his violin out of its case and began to play. 
 Presently the giant opened his eyes, and they were 
 so large and fierce that Romo was exceedingly 
 frightened until he gratefully remembered that the
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 147 
 
 giant could not see him, so he played on and on 
 most beautifully, until the giant rose and started 
 up the mountain in great fear and much trembling, 
 for the violin sounded to the giant like the voice 
 of many angels, and his conscience began to prick 
 him sore because he had stolen the Golden Butterfly 
 so many years before. 
 
 " Romo ceased playing his violin, and followed 
 the King up the mountain. At the top of the moun- 
 tain the King was joined by other giants, and he 
 began to imagine he had been dreaming instead of 
 hearing music, and so his pangs of conscience left 
 him, and he went into one of the palaces to a gor- 
 geous dinner with numerous other giants and 
 giantesses. 
 
 " Romo started to follow the giant King, when 
 he noticed a great building like a cathedral. The 
 door was open, so he went in there. There was a 
 great pipe organ at the back of the building, the 
 inside of which was studded with precious stones. 
 That building was almost as beautiful within and 
 without as the ' New Holy City ' described in 
 ' Revelation/ and Romo stood spellbound in silent 
 admiration until a man in a robe entered from a 
 door at the side of the pipe organ. The robed man 
 seated himself before the huge organ and com- 
 menced to play. Of course the man was a giant or
 
 148 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 he could not have managed to play such an immense 
 instrument. 
 
 " The music was so beautiful and wonderful that 
 for a time Romo wanted to hide from the splendor 
 of it. After a time he could bear it better, and by 
 and by he began to play his violin. He could not 
 help it. The music of the organ seemed to compel 
 him to answer it with his violin. 
 
 " As he played there came out of the organ a 
 beautiful Golden Butterfly, very large and brilliant. 
 It sailed about over Romo's head for awhile, and 
 then lighted on his violin. 
 
 " Romo could from that moment play no more 
 in the wonderful building, and presently the giant 
 at the organ ceased playing, and with a little sigh, 
 the Golden Butterfly folded its wings and crept 
 into Romo's violin. 
 
 " So Romo realized that he had met with the 
 approval of the great spirit of magic, and the Golden 
 Butterfly was his, to take to the King of the land 
 of Jethone. 
 
 " He hastened down to the water's edge and 
 found the rock laid on the edge of the island to 
 mark the place where he had left the boat. And 
 it came about that he found the invisible boat 
 and the invisible boatman, and was rowed across 
 to the main land.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 149 
 
 " On the journey across the rippling waves, 
 Romo wished that the boatman had his tongue 
 again and everything he wished for in the 
 world. 
 
 " And it happened that when the boat touched 
 the main land that the boatman was suddenly visible 
 and so was he. 
 
 " And even as he wished, the boatman had a new 
 tongue in his head, and he opened his mouth and 
 spoke to Romo, and thanked him for wishing his 
 tongue restored, and then he said : ' Now let thy 
 servant die in peace with all the members of his 
 body with him,' and so he died, and Romo hastened 
 on to the Jethone country. 
 
 " King Jethone met Romo with open arms, and 
 the Princess Ethelina was so happy he had come 
 back to her in safety that she shed many happy tears 
 on his manly shoulder. 
 
 "The Golden Butterfly is still in the Jethone 
 country, and when Romo plays it often perches on 
 his shoulder and listens to the beautiful strains of 
 his music, while the King, his youth and health re- 
 newed, listens while he and the Queen and Romo's 
 beautiful bride rejoice that such a noble youth as 
 Romo restored to them the wonderful Golden But- 
 terfly and their Kingdom." 
 
 Every one but the Major and Prudence encored
 
 ISO JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 Joan warmly. Even William Arth clapped his 
 hands with all his feeble strength. 
 
 Prudence was secretly proud of Joan's manner of 
 speaking, which was truly dramatic, but she did not 
 intend to encourage the child in speaking such pieces. 
 Not for an instant did she, at that time, dream that 
 the story was Joan's own. 
 
 The Major would not approve in any way any 
 thing Joan did. And he glared contemptuously at 
 Sam Welch, who clapped his hands until they were 
 almost blistered. 
 
 As an encore, Joan recited the " Sermon on the 
 Mount," and even Prudence involuntarily added 
 her share of approval to the applause that 
 followed. 
 
 There was an unseen listener there that day. The 
 Indian lad, Chawa. And the inspired Joan touched 
 a chord in his savage heart that had never been 
 touched before. 
 
 When they reached home, Prudence announced 
 that she had a headache. " And no wonder," she 
 snapped, crossly. " It's enough to make any one's 
 head ache to hear a tale about giants. Don't you 
 know there never were any giants, Joan ? " 
 
 Joan's lips quivered for an instant, then she an- 
 swered with her usual spirit. 
 
 " I know there are no giants now, Aunt Prudence,
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 151 
 
 but there were giants upon the earth at one time." 
 
 " Don't be silly, Joan. There never were any 
 giants," Prudence snorted, her eyes cold and sharp. 
 
 Rodney sighed. 
 
 " I beg your pardon, but there were giants in 
 Bible times," Joan returned, politely but firmly. 
 " Some place in Genesis it says : * There were giants 
 in the earth in those days.' ' 
 
 " Joan, I am ashamed of you," Prudence snapped. 
 " You spoke ' The Sermon on the Mount ' very 
 nicely, and I am very glad you refrained from giving 
 us any heresy, as I was afraid you would, but you 
 should be very careful not to say things are in the 
 Bible when they are not." She set her lips together 
 and started from the room. 
 
 " Please wait a minute, Aunt Prudence," Joan 
 pleaded. Then she turned to Rodney. " Rodney, 
 will you lend me your Bible?" 
 
 " It is on my table," Rodney answered, inwardly 
 hoping that Joan was correct, although he confessed 
 that for the life of him he could not remember any 
 mention of giants in the Bible. 
 
 It was a very proud, very triumphant Joan who 
 flew into the room an instant later, with the Bible 
 open at the sixth chapter of Genesis. 
 
 " Read it for yourself," she demanded, facing 
 Prudence, with her finger on the fourth verse.
 
 152 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 Prudence read, then without a word left the room, 
 her head high in the air. 
 
 Her conscience forced her to return a moment 
 later. 
 
 " You are correct, Joan," she said, stiffly, " but I 
 do not approve of that tale of yours, just the 
 same." 
 
 Prudence never did approve of Joan's fairy tales, 
 but Rodney did, and that was all-sufficient for Joan. 
 And each day Rodney asked himself which Joan 
 he loved best. The dreamy-eyed Joan of the story- 
 telling hour, for Joan told Rodney and Arth fairy 
 tales of her own making every night after that, or 
 the will-o'-the-wisp Joan flying over the desert with 
 Mona and Don. 
 
 Joan invited the Major to her party, but he re- 
 fused very stiffly, saying : " I don't eat with half- 
 breeds and serpents." 
 
 " Eating with Mona and Mr. Welch would not 
 hurt you, I am sure," Joan flashed back at him, add- 
 ing to his store of hatred of her. " Jesus ate with 
 Zaccheus, and Zaccheus was a sinner, and I am sure 
 Mona and Mr. Welch are no more sinners than you 
 are, and if Jesus could eat with publicans and sin- 
 ners, you surely could eat with Mr. Welch and 
 Mona, but I am sure I do not want you to come 
 unless you wish to," she added, and was gone before
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 153 
 
 the Major could make a sufficiently bitter retort. 
 So the Major was not at the party, although several 
 of his paying guests were there, and no one missed 
 the Major, unless perchance Prudence did, but that 
 is difficult to imagine since Welch was so mournfully 
 attentive to her that no one else had more than a 
 passing chance to speak to her. 
 
 In spite of her resolve not to be too much thrilled 
 by the party and other mortal enjoyments, Joan 
 was so afire with excitement that she was like 
 some beautiful winged thing, and Rodney and Arth 
 and Lois smiled more than once at her sheer ex- 
 uberance of childish joy. 
 
 Chawa, whom all the Indians, and even Mona, 
 thought to be somewhere out on the desert, where 
 he spent more than half his time, in the Major's 
 pay, searching for the old minister's mysterious 
 mines, looked on the happy party from his post 
 of vantage, in the shady crotch of a huge pepper 
 tree that spread itself in feathery beauty over the 
 northern half of the porch, and for the first time 
 in Chawa's savage existence, he felt a strange long- 
 ing to be one of the happy group he looked upon. 
 It was the first struggle of the spirit of his white 
 father pitted against the more pronounced spirit 
 of his great-grandfather, Fighting Wolf. 
 
 Joan went to her bed that night, so athrill with
 
 i$4 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 the perfect realization of long-imagined happiness 
 that it was long before she went to sleep, and when 
 she did sleep her dreams were rose-hued, unsugges- 
 tive of the exciting things that would happen on the 
 morrow.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 RUNBOW SPRINGS awoke that next morn- 
 ing in the throes of a sand-storm. The 
 atmosphere was surcharged with that haunt- 
 ing sense of the unknown and mysterious that is 
 felt most strongly whenever the elements make war 
 within the desert boundaries. 
 
 The mountains were half-hidden by a mist of fine 
 sand through which the sun shone fitfully. The 
 shifting sand hills, revealed by lulls in the fury of 
 the storm, seemed to be moving restlessly wave upon 
 wave, drift upon drift, swirl upon swirl in subtle 
 serpentine undulations. Close upon the heels of each 
 momentary lull in the storm, a swirling cloud of 
 sand would rise and whirl majestically up the road, 
 and a good stiff wind, with its fingers on the keys 
 of the gyrating spiral, whistled a merry carol of 
 joy because the crest of that whirling column of 
 sand touched the sky while the feet of it playfully 
 scuffed the fine sand up from the willing road. 
 
 While the storm raged, Joan and Mona and Don 
 danced gleefully about in the little yard in front 
 
 155
 
 156 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 of Rodney's cottage with spirits as willfully exuber- 
 ant as the spirit of the wind and sand. 
 
 Rodney watched the gleeful trio with a smile of 
 artistic appreciation, then he laughed aloud, as up 
 the road came two flying Indian children, their little 
 bodies glistening like copper in the misty yellow 
 glow of the sun-illumined gale of sand. With arms 
 widespread, Flying Eagle and Marina swept past 
 the house, against the full force of the wind, howling 
 and shouting with savage glee. 
 
 " The spirit of their great-grandfather, Fighting 
 Wolf, is in them," spoke the Major at Rodney's 
 elbow. 
 
 " Ah, good-morning, Major," Rodney said, stiffly. 
 " I did not know you were here." 
 
 The Major laughed, and rubbed his sleek, white 
 hands together. " That very estimable aunt of 
 yours and I have been having a brief conversation," 
 he answered, with a suave smile. " Splendid 
 woman, my boy, and a most excellent cook." 
 
 Rodney smiled, dryly. 
 
 Flying Eagle and Marina came racing down the 
 road again, arms flapping bird-like, copper-hued 
 bodies glowing, voices shrill with childish and bar- 
 baric enjoyment. 
 
 " Chawa is back," the Major said, abruptly. 
 "He's a devil, too," he added. "But he is the
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 157 
 
 exact replica of the great Fighting Wolf, therefore 
 idolized by the whole tribe. So is Flying Eagle, 
 the taller of those two rushing up the road clad 
 only in nature's garments." 
 
 " Yes." Rodney spoke the monosyllable ab- 
 stractedly. In some strange manner he seemed over- 
 whelmed with a sense of foreboding evil evil to 
 the child, Joan. As one in a dream he heard the 
 Major's oily voice saying, " Chawa and Flying 
 Eagle are the only direct descendants of Fighting 
 Wolf. Chawa is debarred from the chiefship be- 
 cause of his white blood. Flying Eagle will be 
 chief some day soon instead of Pedro, who is the 
 grandson of the brother of the great Fighting Wolf. 
 Were this a hundred years ago, Flying Eagle, young 
 as he is, would be the chief. But the white man 
 decrees that Pedro shall rule yet awhile." 
 
 "What white man?" Rodney asked, disinter- 
 estedly. 
 
 " Ah ! " The word was long drawn and syco- 
 phantic. " Dear boy, how should I know ? " 
 
 Rodney caught a certain crafty gleam in the 
 beady eyes, and with a short, " How, indeed ? " 
 moved to the door and called Joan in to breakfast. 
 
 Joan came joyfully, Don bounding beside her. 
 Mona slipped across into the reservation with a 
 low-voiced farewell until school.
 
 158 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 Rodney unconsciously frowned at the retreating 
 back of the little half-breed. The Major had 
 rasped his nerves as usual, and the gleam he had 
 caught in the Major's eyes accentuated his feeling 
 of impending evil. 
 
 The happy light died out of Joan's eyes when she 
 saw the unctuous Major, and she went stiffly from 
 the room. 
 
 By the time breakfast was over the sand-storm 
 was in the last throes of dissolution. The fitfully 
 flying sand, the last fling of the capricious wind, 
 was luminous with a beautiful golden light, and 
 the mountains stood out in purple-toned relief 
 against a many-hued sky. 
 
 When Joan started for school, after her usual 
 hour spent in caring for Arth, the sky was as blue 
 and serene as only the desert sky can be. 
 
 Only in the Indian children could the after effects 
 of the sand-storm be felt. They were restless and 
 unruly, and by the middle of the forenoon, Lois 
 Reeves was almost worn out by her efforts to keep 
 Flying Eagle and Marina, the most restless of all 
 the children, in their seats. To make them even 
 pretend to study was impossible, although she ex- 
 erted every faculty to gain control of them. 
 
 When Chawa suddenly appeared in the doorway 
 she felt that her cup of trouble was more than full.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 159 
 
 The coming of Chawa was the coming of trouble 
 even when the other children were under con- 
 trol. 
 
 Chawa, like Mona, was perfectly symmetrical. 
 But his eyes were the eyes of the untamed savage, 
 black and flashing, full of barbaric fire. Chawa's 
 face was as delicately chiseled as his sister's, but 
 was of savage darkness, and his beakish nose was 
 the nose of the true Indian. 
 
 Still, as he stood there in the doorway, Lois 
 could not but admire the untamed spirit he pre- 
 sented. An instant later she regretted having, even 
 for a moment, allowed herself to admire Chawa's 
 wild beauty. 
 
 He stalked majestically into the room, glancing 
 neither to the right or left, and took his seat directly 
 in front of Mona and Joan. 
 
 Flying Eagle sat directly across the aisle from 
 the two girls; Marina sat just in front of Flying 
 Eagle and directly across the aisle from the seat 
 Chawa had taken unto himself. 
 
 From his pockets, the half-breed lad took two 
 wriggling lizards, each dangling at the end of a 
 long string. With an air of complete nonchalance, 
 he tossed the lizards across the aisle one to Fly- 
 ing Eagle, one to Marina. 
 
 Lois knew at that moment she had lost control
 
 i6o JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 of her school for that day. Punishment, as applied 
 by the rod, was not allowed her. No one is ever 
 permitted to strike an Indian child. " It would 
 break their spirits," claim the Indian parents and 
 the breaking of the spirit of the Indian child is 
 something not permitted. 
 
 With fiendish cries of triumph, Flying Eagle and 
 Marina fell upon the lizards, and before Lois could 
 reach them, were tearing the little creatures to 
 pieces. That the lizards wriggled and struggled 
 to free their partially dismembered bodies from 
 their tormentors only added to the zest of the game ' 
 to the little barbarians. 
 
 Lois had seen such sights before, but she knew 
 that to Joan such cruelty was something new, and 
 to a child like her was torture. 
 
 Lois intended, in her sweet way, to reason with 
 the culprits and perhaps stand them in a corner for 
 an hour or so. This mode of punishment was 
 permitted her. 
 
 But neither Lois nor Mona, knowing Chawa as 
 they did, were prepared for his next move. 
 
 When Lois was opposite him, he took from his 
 pocket a dead rattlesnake, perhaps a foot long, of 
 the " side-winder " type, and flung it with unerring 
 aim in the face of the teacher. 
 
 Lois Reeves, mortally afraid of snakes living or
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 161 
 
 dead, promptly fainted. Chawa sprang over her 
 prostrate body and was off like a flash. 
 
 Flying Eagle and Marina, wrought to a high 
 state of savage fury by the events of the morning, 
 flung themselves upon Lois, and began to tear at 
 her clothing and flay her with their hands while 
 they shouted and shrieked in savage triumph. 
 
 Joan had been spellbound, unable to move, dur- 
 ing the first part of the excitement, but the sight 
 of her beloved teacher prone on her face, with 
 the little Indians tearing at her as they had 
 torn at the lizards a few minutes before, aroused 
 her. 
 
 With a cry of rage she sprang from her seat, 
 and an instant later had Flying Eagle and Marina 
 in a firm grasp. 
 
 " Get some water," she commanded Mona, and 
 Mona flew to do the bidding of her white friend, 
 her great eyes grave and sad. She had witnessed 
 the outrage on her beloved teacher with an aching 
 heart but with the stoical patience bequeathed her 
 by her Indian mother. 
 
 Chawa had thrown the water from the pail in the 
 anteroom on his way out, so Mona had to go to 
 the spring, fully a block away, for the desired 
 water. 
 
 When she returned the teacher was sitting up on
 
 1 62 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 the floor, vainly imploring Joan to cease her pun- 
 ishment of the Indian children. 
 
 Joan, with a strength that seemed superhuman, 
 when one thought only of her slender body, was 
 shaking the two little Indians, terrier-like, while 
 she poured a torrent of invectives upon them. 
 
 " You dirty little beasts," she panted, as she 
 shook them. And in spite of herself, Lois could 
 not help smiling at the fire blazing in Joan's eyes. 
 Purple and steel flashing eyes were they now. 
 
 "Crack! Crack!" 
 
 The heads of the two Indian children came to- 
 gether with a final spurt of Joan's fury-given 
 strength. 
 
 " I'll never forgive you for what you have done, 
 never ! never ! " she cried, holding Flying Eagle 
 and Marina from her while she rested an instant. 
 
 Then " Crack ! Crack ! " The two heads came 
 together with another vehement impact. 
 
 " How dare you, how dare you treat Miss Reeves 
 as you do? It's bad enough to tear poor little 
 living things to pieces, but to do such things to 
 Miss Reeves ! " A sob burst from Joan, but she 
 banged the Indian heads together again, while she 
 panted and sobbed in her anger. 
 
 " Joan ! Stop instantly," Lois cried, as Mona 
 dashed into the room with the water.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 163 
 
 Only one of them saw Chawa peering in at one 
 of the windows, but Chawa had been a delighted 
 witness of the whole proceeding. 
 
 " Joan, please stop; you do not know my people," 
 Mona pleaded, as Joan, unmindful of Miss Reeves, 
 still shook the little Indians, banging their heads to- 
 gether at regular intervals, but with ever-decreas- 
 ing strength. With a final impact of the two black 
 heads, Joan flung the children down, and fell on 
 the floor beside the teacher, who still sat on the 
 floor too weak to rise. 
 
 " Oh ! Oh ! I am so sorry you saw such an 
 exhibition of my wicked temper," Joan wailed, 
 flinging her arms around Lois. 
 
 Lois drew the shaking little form in a tender 
 embrace. 
 
 " Don't cry, dear," she pleaded, patting Joan's 
 shoulders. 
 
 " I am so miserable, I must cry," Joan sobbed. 
 " I feel perfectly justified in punishing Flying 
 Eagle and Marina, but I should not have allowed 
 myself to become so angry. I've vented my tem- 
 per on Mona's cousins, and will perhaps lose her 
 friendship for life and I couldn't stand to lose 
 Mona's friendship, Miss Reeves. She is my first 
 and only bosom friend, and I prayed for one all 
 my life, and she has always seemed the most beauti-
 
 1 64 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 ful answer to that prayer besides I am afraid you 
 will not care any longer for one who can get so 
 terribly angry. I ought to be sorry aside from 
 losing yours and Mona's friendship, but something 
 inside me is just clamoring with joy because I 
 punished Flying Eagle and Marina for their out- 
 rage on you. If I could just get hold of Chawa 
 I know he is Mona's brother, and they are orphans 
 too I'd punish him with every remnant of strength 
 I have left, and the remnant I have seems rather 
 worn; in fact, I feel rather shaky all over." 
 
 Lois pushed the tangled hair back from the damp, 
 flushed face. " You are a dear child," she said, 
 tenderly, " and I assure you I love you, and if 
 nothing comes of this to harm you, I shall forgive 
 Chawa and the children most gladly." 
 
 Chawa, at the window, grinned wickedly. 
 
 " And you really love me ? " Joan questioned, 
 eyes alight, face aglow. 
 
 Lois drew her closer. " Yes, dear, so does 
 Mona." 
 
 Joan embraced 'Lois rapturously; then looked 
 around at Mona. 
 
 Mona smiled at her wistful face, yet her eyes 
 were very grave as she answered. 
 
 " I, Mona, gave my white friend my love up there 
 where gathers the dust blown by the four winds.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 165 
 
 I, Mona, am true my love is true. Even now I 
 love my friend more than ever before now when 
 she most needs my love." She stooped and kissed 
 a very grateful yet somewhat awed Joan, then 
 flung herself in the seat she and Joan had shared 
 for such a short time in perfect joy. Her face was 
 hidden in her arms, and her shoulders shook. Not 
 a tear would she shed, but those dry, hard sobs 
 racked her slender body. 
 
 A very wide-eyed, awed Flying Eagle, with a 
 large bump on the right side of his forehead, sat 
 beside an equally awed and wide-eyed Marina on 
 the seat where Joan had flung them. The only 
 difference in the general appearance of the children 
 was noticeable in the rapidly swelling bumps on 
 their foreheads Marina's swelling was on the left 
 instead of on the right of her forehead. 
 
 Lois could not repress a smile as she looked at 
 them over Joan's shoulder. 
 
 The dead snake lay close beside Lois, but she 
 saw nothing but the trembling little body she held 
 close to her while she murmured over her tender, 
 soothing, cooing love phrases. The dignity of the 
 school teacher was submerged by the tender mater- 
 nal love that welled up in her heart for the little 
 motherless child. 
 
 From time to time she looked pityingly at Mona,
 
 166 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 but she could not bring herself to pet her as she 
 was petting Joan. She loved Mona perhaps as 
 well as she did Joan, but just then the Indian blood 
 in the little half-breed stood like a huge red wall 
 between her and Lois. 
 
 Chawa finally left his post of vantage, outside 
 the window, in great disgust. He did not care to 
 see longer a set of sniveling squaws. 
 
 His eyes had flashed with admiration while Joan 
 banged the heads of his cousins together, but a 
 sobbing Joan disgusted him, yet strangely enough, 
 he realized that he was not nearly so disgusted at 
 Joan as he was at Mona, and he knew that Joan 
 was shedding real tears and Mona was as dry-eyed 
 as was he. 
 
 It was high noon before even a semblance of 
 order was restored in the school. The dozen or 
 more Indian children who had not been actively 
 connected with the excitement had looked on the 
 whole affair with immobile faces, and if one of 
 them was in the least thrilled with the zest of the 
 battle not for an instant was it reflected on their 
 countenances. Flying Eagle and Marina at last 
 took their accustomed places, subdued and strangely 
 eager to respond to the slightest command of Lois. 
 
 It had been Mona a very sorrowful, grave-eyed 
 Mona who cleared away the dead snake and the
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 167 
 
 still quivering members of the lizards. When she 
 took her place by Joan she drew her close in a 
 protective embrace, and so held her all the rest of 
 the morning. Lois kept the children as late as 
 she dared that morning, then accompanied Joan 
 home. 
 
 The Major was still at Rodney's, and when he 
 had heard the story of the morning, he tapped his 
 finger-tips together and assumed a tragically pater- 
 nal air toward Joan that was extremely irritating 
 to Rodney. 
 
 " I am afraid there will be trouble between the 
 Indians and their pale-faced brethren over this. 
 You should have been discreet, my child. I have 
 influence with my red brothers." He turned and 
 swept the little group with his beady eyes. " But," 
 he lowered his voice, tragically, " the very first 
 schoolmaster here, many years ago, was killed by 
 the Indians for whipping an Indian child and 
 that child was not a little chief Flying Eagle is, 
 but we will see, yes, we will see what can be done. 
 I am the only one who can influence Pedro, and 
 it all depends on Pedro." He pursed up his thick 
 lips and tapped his finger-tips together while he re- 
 peated, " Yes, it depends on Pedro and myself." 
 
 Lois Reeves knew that the Major spoke the truth 
 when he said he was the only one who could influ-
 
 i68 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 ence Pedro. And the Major had an almost un- 
 canny power over the Indian chief. 
 
 Her eyes met Rodney's in a swift, meaning look 
 that made Rodney recall the Major's conversation 
 of the early morning. 
 
 The Major, then, was the white man who kept 
 Pedro his chiefship. Truly the Major did have 
 influence over the Indians. With Joan in the circle 
 of his arms, he began to form a plan to leave 
 Rainbow Springs on the next train. 
 
 The Major evidently read his thoughts. 
 
 " That would not do," he snapped. " You must 
 stay with it. If you started to leave here before 
 the powwow the Indians will have to-night, you 
 would cause an uprising of all the Indians of the 
 Reservation. You would never reach the station. 
 Trust it all to me." 
 
 " Oh, if you can really be trusted," Lois mused, 
 as she watched his shifting, beady eyes, with the 
 gleam of avarice back of them a gleam that she 
 and Rodney read aright. 
 
 Prudence, who had listened thus far without 
 speaking, now turned on Rodney. 
 
 " This is what you get by taking in a strange 
 child of whom you know nothing. We shall all be 
 scalped. I feel it in my bones, and all because 
 of that fool custom of leaving the door open on
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 169 
 
 Christmas Eve for any vagabond to come in that 
 happens along. Bah! You are a fool. All the 
 male Whites have been fools ever since your grand- 
 father's wife come into the house with her big 
 eyes and appealing kittenish ways. The women 
 have some sense, thank goodness." 
 
 " It is true, Aunt Prue, that I have had Joan 
 only since Christmas, but she is mine now legally, 
 thank God, and I shall hear nothing said against 
 her. I know all of Joan's childhood, and it is as 
 pure and true as yours or mine. 
 
 "If she has caused any trouble for us she caused 
 it by doing the only honorable and courageous thing 
 possible for her teacher. I glory in what she did. 
 I believe every one who properly respects Miss 
 Reeves should be willing to take the effects of 
 Joan's just punishment of Miss Reeves's tormentors 
 and I have no doubt that the good Major will 
 straighten everything out with the chief." 
 
 At the close of Rodney's somewhat heated 
 speech, Joan flung vehement arms about his neck, 
 and began to sob softly. He drew her close to 
 him, and Lois Reeves gave a little prayer of thanks 
 because such a man was the guardian of the sensi- 
 tive, loyal child. 
 
 Prudence sniffed and left the room with her head 
 held high in the air. She had openly defied Rodney
 
 170 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 and told of Joan's recent adoption. She did not 
 know that Rodney had told both Arth and Lois 
 Reeves. 
 
 " Of course the Major knows it," Prudence 
 mused, as she went through the dining-room, " but 
 then the Major is such a wonderful man it is right 
 to tell him everything. I am glad I spit it out," 
 she said aloud, defiantly, as she reached the kitchen, 
 yet she knew that deep down in her heart she was 
 vaguely sorry for the way she had spoken about 
 the child. She cared more for Joan than she would 
 have acknowledged to herself. 
 
 When Sam Welch, more mournful in appearance 
 than ever, knocked at the kitchen door, she wel- 
 comed him in a manner that made his pale eyes 
 glow for an instant before they drifted back into 
 their gloomy, set way of looking at the world. 
 
 When Welch and Prudence entered the living- 
 room, they found Joan on a stool at Lois's feet. 
 The Major and Rodney were out on the porch talk- 
 ing in low tones. 
 
 " Well, little girl, you've made the Injuns mad- 
 der than a few at you, have you?" Welch de- 
 manded, solemnly, as he took Joan's hands in his 
 and shook them in his own loose way. 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Welch, you can understand how I 
 feel, I know you can ! " Joan cried, springing to
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 171 
 
 her feet. " Miss Reeves and Rodney understand 
 me, but Aunt Prudence does not, and the Major 
 acts as if I had committed some dreadful crime. 
 
 " I did not know that the Indians would not let 
 any one punish their children, how could I? Of 
 course though my not knowing about their cus- 
 toms will not be anything in my favor with the 
 Indians, and I know this minute if I had such a 
 tempest of anger in me as I did then, I would 
 punish them again, and that's all there is to it." 
 
 Welch smiled his sorrowful approval at her, 
 while he wagged his head solemnly. 
 
 "If I'm scalped to-night, I'll die saying I lost 
 my hair in a good cause," he returned, soberly, 
 rubbing his bald head in grim appreciation of his 
 first attempt to be humorous. 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Welch, I am so exceedingly glad the 
 Lord has raised up still another friend for me," 
 Joan breathed, fervently, and almost dazzled the 
 poor man with the radiance of the smile she flashed 
 at him. 
 
 " The Major has influence with the Indians, per- 
 haps he will be able to make them view the matter 
 reasonably," Lois advanced, hopefully. 
 
 " Yes, the Major has influence," Welch grunted, 
 " so has the devil," he added, in an undertone. 
 
 Welch's reference to his Satanic Majesty won
 
 172 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 from Prudence a cold smile that nearly froze him, 
 so he told Martha afterward, but the smile Lois 
 flashed him was warm and approving. 
 
 " Aunt Prudence does not generally approve of 
 my religious views," Joan said, in a steady little 
 voice, " but I think it's a very appropriate time for 
 us all to have the same religious views for a few 
 minutes. Let us pray over the matter here and 
 now all of us together, for you know there is a 
 promise to answer the prayers of the two or three 
 gathered together in His name. I am sure that 
 the Lord knows I am anxious to take all the anger 
 of the Indians to myself; if they are so angry they 
 must take their mad out on some one. Still, I am 
 sure, if we ask Him in the right spirit, He will 
 soften their hearts, for they are also His children." 
 
 "Well, I never!" Prudence exclaimed, as Joan 
 followed her words, by flinging herself on her 
 knees in front of Rodney's chair. 
 
 " I never prayed before any one in my life," 
 Welch said, mournfully, "but I'll do it now if it 
 kills me," and he went stiffly down by his chair, 
 while Lois, with a little tremulous smile, knelt 
 beside Joan. 
 
 Joan's vibrant voice breathed the first prayer, 
 and it was such a mixture of censure for the 
 extreme anger she had in her heart when she pun-
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 173 
 
 ished the children, coupled as it was with the plea 
 that she could not do otherwise than she had, that 
 even Prudence's thin lips jerked with flickering 
 smiles as she, too, knelt beside her chair. She did 
 not want to kneel, but the voice of the child com- 
 pelled her, and when Sam Welch and Lois had 
 prayed a prayer that was all for the safety of the 
 child, Prudence also prayed, and while the mumbled 
 words of her prayer were intelligible only to the 
 recording angel, the prayer was not all for herself. 
 
 Rodney entered the room just as the odd quar- 
 tette arose from their knees. 
 
 " The Major will see the chief, the uncle of 
 the children," he announced, with forced cheerful- 
 ness. " It will all come out all right, little girl," 
 he said, tenderly, as he drew Joan to him. " The 
 Indians are incensed because of the unusual punish- 
 ment of the children, but the children themselves 
 are not angry, which is good for our cause, and 
 beside that the Indians know better than to harm 
 a white person now. Anyway, there are not 
 enough Indians here to bother us," he added. 
 
 "That's the talk," Welch exclaimed, with an 
 enthusiasm that served to cover from all but him- 
 self his embarrassment over the recent prayer event. 
 
 Yet Sam Welch, keen man of the desert that he 
 was, knew that the Indians, if they were as in-
 
 174 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 censed as he feared they were, could in a few hours 
 wipe out the white settlers in the little village. 
 
 There were more than a hundred grown Indians 
 in the Reservation. In the white village there were 
 about fifty white people, half of them too weak to 
 fight if there were any weapons among them to 
 fight with, and Welch doubted if there were ten 
 weapons owned by the white settlers, while he 
 secretly knew that the Major had recently supplied 
 the Indians with a number of contraband arms at 
 a snug profit to himself. 
 
 " By the way, you have a corral, have you 
 not ? " Rodney asked, casually, as Welch arose, say- 
 ing, " I 'low I'd better be moving toward home ; 
 Martha will have dinner ready." 
 
 "Yes, why?" Welch demanded, quickly. 
 
 Rodney's face flushed under the man's keen 
 scrutiny. " Oh, I just bought the Major's black 
 saddle horse," he answered, avoiding the other 
 man's eyes. 
 
 " Just so," Welch returned, musingly. 
 
 " Why, Rodney, why did you buy a horse, now 
 of all times?" Prudence exclaimed, irritably. 
 
 " Oh, I'll want one to ride later on, Aunt Pru- 
 dence, and now is as good a time as ever to buy 
 one. The Major let me have his black beauty at 
 a bargain."
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 175 
 
 " A bargain to himself, no doubt," Welch mut- 
 tered between his teeth. Both he and Lois were 
 shrewd enough to know that the Major was going 
 to use his influence with the Indians for the con- 
 sideration Rodney gave him for the black horse, 
 unusually beautiful, but of well-known disagree- 
 able temper. 
 
 That the Major had not openly bargained with 
 Rodney, Welch also shrewdly guessed. 
 
 The fact was, the big black horse changed hands 
 at an exorbitant price, with less words being directly 
 spoken than are usually used in such exchanges of 
 ownership of horses. 
 
 The Major had made a pompous speech, much 
 filled with praise of himself and his influence over 
 the Indians, which ended with the sudden seemingly 
 irrelevant remark, " I have a horse that will about 
 suit you, my boy." 
 
 " I am willing to buy the horse, Major, if that 
 will insure Joan's safety now and in the future 
 as far as regards this episode," Rodney returned, 
 with a direct searching look. 
 
 " You have my hand on it that the Indians will 
 not harm a hair of the child's head after I am 
 through with them, now or in the future, as far as 
 this episode is concerned." 
 
 The Major held out his hand, and while Rodney
 
 176 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 hated to touch it, he dared not openly show his 
 disgust, so allowed the Major to pump his arm up 
 and down until it ached. 
 
 " Now about the horse, my boy," the Major 
 chuckled. " You'll get full value out of it." 
 
 " Very well, Major, what do you ask for the 
 horse? I will take him." 
 
 The Major named a price that would have shaken 
 the composure of most men, but Rodney took it 
 so coolly that the Major reviled himself all the way 
 over to Pedro's cottage because he had not doubled 
 the amount, although the price paid him would 
 have bought a famous racehorse. 
 
 " Still," the Major mused, complacently, as he 
 neared Pedro's. " There will be a handsome profit 
 for me. A little fire water for Pedro, coupled 
 with a few discreet remarks about his sinecure as 
 chief he owes it all to me will settle the affair." 
 Just as the Major tapped with his cane on Pedro's 
 door, Chawa came around the corner of the house, 
 and with a grin of contempt at the Major, sped 
 across the Reservation and the road to Rodney's 
 cottage. He approached the cottage as stealthily 
 as could have his great-grandfather, Fighting 
 Wolf, and silently laid a gaudy bow and a 
 half-dozen beautifully chipped flint-tipped arrows 
 beside it.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 177 
 
 " Damn," the Major muttered under his breath, 
 as Chawa sped past him. Then his face bright- 
 ened as he began to plan the powwow for the 
 night . . . there must be a powwow, he mused 
 ... to properly impress Joan with the seriousness 
 of her offense. He even determined to give Marie, 
 the mother of Flying Eagle and Marina, a bolt of 
 bright-hued calico. Past master of art at such fix- 
 ing of the Indians was the Major. 
 
 When Welch and Lois started for home, Lois 
 found Chawa's peace-offering in front of the door. 
 
 " Here is an offering of love and faith from 
 Mona," Lois called, gayly. " Mona told me one 
 day that a present of a bow and six arrows 
 meant love and peace to the one who received 
 the gift." 
 
 Welch wagged his head solemnly, but said 
 nothing. He had seen the stealthy giver, and knew 
 it was not Mona. 
 
 Joan gathered the gift to her with a little cry 
 of Joy. " How like Mona to give them to me 
 now," she cried. 
 
 When Mona slipped over to Joan's just before 
 the powwow that evening, Joan began to thank her 
 for the bow and arrows, but Mona denied the gift 
 and her eyes, when she turned to leave her white 
 friend, were grave and troubled. She knew from
 
 178 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 whom the gift came, and it troubled her even more 
 than had the events of the morning. 
 
 The Indian matures early, and Mona understood 
 the look she had caught in Chawa's flashing eyes 
 as he peered in at the window that morning.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 EIS had but one pupil that afternoon, and 
 that one Joan. Rodney accompanied his 
 ward. He could not bear to have the child 
 out of his sight an instant, and for the first time 
 in his life felt a great fear fear for the beloved 
 child. 
 
 He knew that even then the versatile Major was 
 holding a powwow with Pedro, and from what he 
 knew of the man he was confident that Joan's safety 
 was assured the instant he gave to the greedy Major 
 the price of that safety; still he was troubled. Joan 
 meant more to him than life itself. He smiled at 
 her skipping along beside him. Joan seemed to 
 have forgotten the events of the morning. Not 
 since the odd prayer service had a shadow of doubt 
 assailed her about the outcome of the affair. Joan's 
 faith in the Infinite was something sublime. And 
 every now and then her laugh rang out like the 
 ripple of deep water kissed by the sun and wind. 
 
 When Rodney, Lois, and the child started home 
 in the late afternoon, they found the Major await- 
 ing them at the door. The Major pointed tri- 
 
 179
 
 i8o JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 umphantly to a solar bow that hung in the sky 
 over the Springs. 
 
 " Nothing could have been better for our cause, 
 my boy," he said, unctuously, as he patted Rodney's 
 shoulder. " That shower was worth a great deal 
 to us, my boy, a great deal. The Indians will com- 
 bine their worship of the rainbow with the council 
 powwow to-night and all will go as merrily as we 
 could ask. But never touch an Indian child again, 
 young lady," he admonished Joan, with a pudgy 
 forefinger under her chin. 
 
 Joan shrank back from him, and her eyes flashed 
 fire as she slipped her hand in Lois's with a swift 
 little movement that spoke as plainly as could words 
 that she would fight her beloved teacher's battles 
 every day in the year if need be. 
 
 " I do not believe there will be occasion for a 
 repetition of to-day's trouble," Rodney said, stiffly. 
 
 The Major changed the subject. " I see you 
 have the colt all ready." He waved a fat hand 
 toward Sam Welch's corral, where the big black 
 beauty was pawing angrily. 
 
 " Yes, and he is a beauty, Major. I am very 
 glad I own him," Rodney answered, dryly. " I 
 shall get one of the Indians to break him." 
 
 " No need, my boy, no need ; he is as gentle as 
 a kitten." The Major tapped his finger-tips to-
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 181 
 
 gether impressively. " As gentle as a kitten, suh." 
 
 " As gentle as some kittens, no doubt, Major," 
 Rodney returned, pleasantly. 
 
 Rodney had the horse's reputation from Welch. 
 The black beauty had crippled three Indians al- 
 ready and was yet unconquered. 
 
 " I'll leave you now," Lois said, with a flash of 
 amusement in her dark eyes. She stooped and 
 kissed Joan, and impulsively held out her hand to 
 Rodney. The Major she ignored or at best in- 
 cluded him in the brief, " I'm going in to cheer 
 up Mr. Arth," as she turned into Arth's yard. 
 
 The Major accompanied Rodney and Joan home, 
 explaining impressively and at great length his try- 
 ing time with the Indian chief, Pedro, before he 
 could secure a promise of peace to all the pale faces, 
 and peace and safety for Joan. 
 
 At the cottage he repeated the harangue, and 
 Prudence believed every word of it. The Major 
 held all the winning cards in the odd love affair 
 that evening. 
 
 " It's a heathenish country anyway," Prudence 
 said at last. " Think of a rain like we had this 
 afternoon and the ground perfectly dry now. It is 
 fit only for the Indians here. I am surprised that 
 a man like you, Major, should keep on living here." 
 
 " My lungs brought me here, dear lady, just as
 
 1 82 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 the dear boy's brought him. I stayed on because 
 I became interested in my red brethren," he con- 
 tinued, with his hand on where his heart should 
 have been. " Then my wife passed away and left 
 me desolate." He wiped his eyes with a great white 
 silk handkerchief. " But now life is beginning to 
 brighten for me," he said, pompously, with a mean- 
 ing look at Prudence, as he emerged from behind 
 the handkerchief. 
 
 There was silence for a time. A heavy impres- 
 sive silence during which the face of Prudence red- 
 dened and paled a number of times. Joan at last 
 slipped out on the porch where she was joined by 
 Mona. Rodney followed Joan to the door and 
 requested her to remain in the yard. A wonderful 
 smile brightened Mona's face and lurked in her 
 great gray eyes as she flashed an approving glance 
 at Rodney. In an instant the smile was gone and 
 her eyes were steady, serious, inscrutable. 
 
 She came close to Rodney, and spoke quickly, in 
 a low voice. 
 
 " Chawa very fierce he grown now same as you 
 I love him, he is my brother, but I love the pale- 
 face child more. She make Mona very happy 
 here." She placed her hand on her heart. 
 
 " You love her much." Rodney's eyes followed 
 hers to Joan, her bright head bent over the gift of
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 183 
 
 Chawa. Unconsciously Rodney had been led out 
 of Joan's hearing by the little half-breed. 
 
 " Those Chawa's gifts." Mona pointed to the 
 bow and arrows. " He, Chawa, love Joan he 
 fight to win her. In his veins flows the blood of 
 the great fighting chief, Fighting Wolf. Chawa 
 not of my father's people, no, no, he all of the red 
 blood. We must watch Chawa do not think he 
 is child Chawa is not he as grown as you." Her 
 voice trembled, and her eyes were troubled and 
 grave. " You watch, too, that Major man in there. 
 I hate him," she said, vehemently, her voice con- 
 temptuous and raspy with hate. " He give Pedro 
 much fire-water to-day. He make enemy of all 
 for her, if he could. He hates her as I hate him, 
 but I love her; I, Mona, stand ready to give my 
 life for my white friend. So have I sworn by the 
 Sun and Moon gods so have I declared at the 
 feet of my brother, the palms, on the spot where 
 blows the dust gathered by the four winds, and I, 
 Mona, keep my word." 
 
 She spoke quite simply, yet her voice was vibrant 
 with truth, and Rodney knew that she did not speak 
 lightly. 
 
 Mona was only two years older than Joan, but 
 Joan was a child and Mona stood on the invisible 
 border line between childhood and womanhood.
 
 1 84 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 " What a magnificent creature of fire and dew 
 she is ! " Rodney mused, as he watched the chang- 
 ing lights in the great dark eyes. 
 
 " I glad you love her. You take her to you 
 forever some day as my white father took my dark 
 mother. She loves you, love for love," she said, 
 softly, a note of joy blended with a note of ex- 
 quisite renunciation in the liquid voice, and sud- 
 denly she had crossed the invisible border line, and 
 a woman stood before the man, and for one instant 
 it was given him to read the words of a great love 
 that were written in the eyes wonderfully soft now 
 and misty with love and pain and renunciation. 
 Then the eyes were once more grave, inscrutable. 
 
 " I go now," she said, gravely. " You need not 
 fear for the child we both love; I, Mona, watch 
 her." She smiled gravely as she turned to leave 
 the man, who stood silent, spellbound. 
 
 With an effort Rodney pulled himself together 
 and said, huskily, " I thank you, Mona, and I trust 
 you with the child dearer to me than life." 
 
 The man never forgot the smile the girl-woman 
 flashed at him. 
 
 " Come, Joan, Mona is going," Rodney called. 
 Joan came joyously, and threw her arms caress- 
 ingly about Mona. 
 
 Joan had been weaving a fanciful story about
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 185 
 
 the bow and arrows and a beautiful princess, to 
 whom they were given. She fancied the beautiful 
 princess going forth from her own country to a 
 strange land to rescue her lover, a handsome prince, 
 who had been stolen by a giant and imprisoned in 
 a great cave in the strange land, and as usual, when 
 weaving tales, had forgotten the existence of all be- 
 side her fancy. To her the bow and arrows were 
 magic things and the nucleus of many a fanciful 
 tale. 
 
 Mona returned Joan's embrace with a tender, 
 protective one, and Rodney smiled happily at the 
 picture they made there in the early twilight. 
 
 " I go now," Mona said at last. " You come to 
 Mr. Arth's to-night my mother's people have 
 dance to-night just across from his place you both 
 enjoy it. You come? " she asked directly of Rod- 
 ney. " You see something if you do, also you bring 
 her, that stern woman inside, she see much do her 
 good." 
 
 Rodney laughed. " Yes, Mona, we will come." 
 
 " Good," Mona said, softly, and was gone. 
 
 " Wonder what Aunt Prudence will see that will 
 do her good," he mused, as he entered the cottage, 
 his arm about Joan. 
 
 That the Major had been pressing his suit when 
 they entered was very apparent by Prudence's em-
 
 1 86 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 barrassment and the Major's flash of anger when 
 Rodney calmly took his seat and began talking 
 about the coming powwow. " I am going," he 
 said, cheerfully, ignoring the Major's scowls. 
 
 " You'd better stay home," the Major growled, 
 as he mopped his forehead. Prudence had made it 
 very difficult for him to propose to her, and now 
 the interruption at the most crucial moment was 
 very trying. The Major was pardonable for some 
 of his spleen. 
 
 " Oh, yes, I am going," Rodney repeated, 
 calmly, enjoying the Major's discomfiture. " I 
 think Aunt Prudence will enjoy it. She will have 
 to go or be left alone, and I am sure she will prefer 
 going." 
 
 "Are you going, Major?" Prudence asked, 
 timidly. 
 
 " Yes er no, that is I have a business engage- 
 ment a little later, dear lady, or I would gladly 
 come and stay with you, if your nephew is not 
 considerate enough to do so." 
 
 Prudence flushed painfully. She had a sense of 
 having said something unmaidenly. 
 
 " I will go with Rodney, Major," she said, stiffly. 
 
 " Go on and get ready, Aunt Prue," Rodney said, 
 cheerfully. " Perhaps we may see you at the dance, 
 Major." Rodney turned to the Major. The
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 187 
 
 Major's eyes flashed malevolently as he gnawed at 
 his long mustache. 
 
 " Sorry, but you will not," he said, stiffly, just as 
 Prudence returned to the room, ready to accompany 
 Rodney and Joan. " I have to go to the station 
 to-night to meet the late freight," the Major lied, 
 calmly. 
 
 " I fancy, Mona, girl, that I owe you a debt 
 of gratitude in that direction," Rodney mused, as 
 he and Joan followed Prudence and the Major down 
 the sandy road to Arth's cottage, where most of the 
 white people were already gathered to witness the 
 Indian rites. 
 
 The Major left them just before the cottage was 
 reached. 
 
 " Damn Pedro," he growled, as he went across 
 the road toward the Reservation. " Damn him," he 
 jerked out again, as he neared Pedro's cottage. 
 " Why in thunder did he insist on me being there." 
 As he knocked on the door with his cane, he 
 shrugged his shoulders and grunted philosophically. 
 " No use to grunt about'it. I can push Pedro just 
 so far. Damn it all, I'll have to grin and do it, 
 but if that young cuss had stayed out five minutes 
 longer I would have had the old gal's word." 
 
 He banged the door again impatiently. It opened 
 and the darkness of the room swallowed him up.
 
 1 88 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 The calm desert moon looked down upon a 
 strange scene that night, but one upon which it had 
 looked many, many times. 
 
 Across from Arth's cottage lay the open desert, 
 and there the Indians gathered for their sacred 
 dance to the rainbow, symbol of the love of the 
 Sun and Moon gods for their Earth-born children. 
 
 Seven great fires marked the boundaries of a 
 great clearing. Superstitious reverence to the seven 
 rainbows of the ancient days demanded this setting. 
 
 The glow of the fires threw into flickering relief 
 the Indians gathered in one serpentine wave within 
 the boundary limits. 
 
 With a start, Rodney recognized that the man at 
 the end of the line nearest the road was not an 
 Indian, although he was wrapped in a blanket as 
 were the Indians, but his rotundity suggested the 
 Major. 
 
 He startled the group about him by suddenly 
 giving a shrill whistle. The man at the end of the 
 line half turned for just an instant, and the man 
 was the Major. 
 
 Without question the Major had influence over 
 the Indians of Rainbow Springs, and equally un- 
 questionable was the fact that even Prudence had 
 recognized the Major. 
 
 Beyond the fires lay the desert serene and peace-
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 189 
 
 ful, majestic in its purple shadows and vast silence. 
 In the midst of the circle was a giant cacti " Cereus 
 Giganteus," with more than a dozen columns twenty 
 feet or more in height flanking the main body. 
 
 On the faces of all the Indians was a superstitious 
 expression that was almost fanatically dangerous. 
 The end man kept his face hidden in the folds of 
 his blanket, while he wondered who had emitted 
 that shrill whistle and if he had turned his face 
 far enough to be visible to the white people across 
 the road. It was a subject to ponder over. 
 
 Suddenly the solemn stillness of the night was 
 broken by a low humming murmur that came from 
 the throats of the Indians. At first it was faint and 
 low, characterless, but it began to swell and gain 
 in power as a stream of water swells and grows in 
 force as it nears the sea. 
 
 As the chanting gained in volume and musical 
 character the faces of the Indians grew distorted 
 with their wild exertions. A distinct and majestic 
 harmony was now manifest in the intonating sound 
 and at the close of several high bird-like calls, 
 from the throats of the women, seven of the men 
 separated themselves from the serpentine line, and 
 began to dance about the cacti, while the voices of 
 the singers rose and fell in plaintive, harmonic 
 cadences.
 
 190 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 The seven were medicine men, and as the dance 
 grew wilder they threw offerings of beads and birds 
 and lizards at the base of the giant cacti, and an 
 untamed note crept into the voices of them all, 
 while fiercer and wilder grew the antics of the 
 seven medicine men capering about the giant cacti. 
 
 Rodney noticed with a sense of relief that the 
 Major was not dancing with the Indians, but was 
 huddled in his blanket in the shadows. 
 
 The fires burned fiercer now, and at a sign from 
 one of the medicine men a slight, dark figure left 
 the far end of the line of dancers. 
 
 The youth stood for a moment in bold relief 
 against the background of dancing fire, and in that 
 moment Rodney recognized Chawa, the brother of 
 Mona. There was no trace now of the white blood 
 that flowed in the veins of the half-breed lad. 
 Indian, all Indian, was Chawa as he stood there, 
 his patrician blood showing in every lineament of 
 his lithe body. 
 
 Rodney could not but admire that sinewy form, 
 as lithe and graceful as a panther, yet he instinc- 
 tively drew Joan close to him, as he suddenly re- 
 called the words of Mona. 
 
 Chawa swept the dancers with a haughty glance, 
 before he advanced to the nearest burning heap 
 and lighted a torch that lay beside it.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 191 
 
 With the burning torch in his hand, he ran 
 swiftly to the six remaining heaps of fire and thrust 
 the burning brand into the flames of each, then 
 advanced toward the giant cacti with slow and 
 graceful contortions of his perfect body clad only 
 in a breechcloth of tawny lion-skin. 
 
 The seven medicine men formed a circle about 
 the cacti and raised their voices in a howling, dis- 
 cordant cry to the Sun and Moon gods to witness 
 the burning of their offerings. 
 
 Chawa held the burning torch for an instant 
 against the base of the giant cacti, and a fitful, 
 flickering flame began to play about it. 
 
 The seven medicine men broke their circle and 
 began to dance slowly backward until they reached 
 the serpentine line of Indians, now motionless. 
 
 For a time the flames flickered about the trunk 
 of the cacti; then with a crackling noise ran fiercely 
 up the ribbed columns, seeking and burning all the 
 spines thereon. 
 
 As the flames crept higher, in their leaping way 
 to the tops of the columns, the Indians began to 
 dance again, swaying with rhythmic movements 
 indescribably graceful. 
 
 As the flames began to die out, the chanting grew 
 softer and softer, until it was only a low musical 
 whisper.
 
 192 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 The savage light faded from the faces of all but 
 Chawa. Chawa's face was still savage, his eyes 
 flashing, his head held high. Unlike the others he 
 did not feel the presence of the Sun and Moon 
 gods, neither did he linger with them until all the 
 fires died out and the midnight wind came in answer 
 to the prayers of the medicine men to scatter to 
 the ends of the earth the ashes of the homage fires. 
 
 Neither did Chawa appear to that sacred rite that 
 followed the dance and to which no white man has 
 ever been a witness. 
 
 Next day Joan found a bright Indian basket on 
 her side of the desk when she and Mona slipped 
 into their seat. 
 
 She turned to Mona, a happy light in her lumi- 
 nous eyes, to find Mona regarding her with a 
 troubled look. 
 
 " I did not bring it, little friend," Mona said, 
 gravely. 
 
 " Oh, you dear, dear Mona, you love to surprise 
 me and make things mysterious," Joan cried, with 
 a warm kiss on Mona's red lips. " I thought when 
 we first went to the Cave of Rest that you were 
 not imaginative, even though I knew we were meant 
 for lifelong friends the instant I saw you, but you 
 are imaginative, Mona, dear, and everything else 
 that makes you perfectly adorable."
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 193 
 
 " I did not bring it, little friend," Mona re- 
 peated, but Joan only hugged her the more warmly, 
 and refused to believe otherwise. 
 
 Mona did not tell Joan the gift was the gift of 
 Chawa; that would have been disloyal to her 
 brother, and Mona was true to Chawa, even though 
 she did not understand him and was determined to 
 protect her white friend from him. 
 
 No one understood Chawa in the weeks that fol- 
 lowed. He appeared at school one morning and 
 behaved himself perfectly all that day, and after 
 that he attended the school regularly. He was 
 as intelligent as he was wild and beautiful. Lois, 
 after she began to have faith in his regener- 
 ation, took a great pride in his rapid advance- 
 ment. 
 
 Almost every morning there was a gift of some 
 kind for Joan. After a time Joan was forced to 
 believe the gifts were not from Mona, but this only 
 added to the enjoyment she took in their mysterious 
 appearance each morning. She never once connected 
 the gifts with Chawa, for not once during the 
 weeks he attended school did Chawa speak to Joan. 
 But Chawa, unknown to Joan, spent many minutes 
 looking at the white child when she was lost in 
 study, and the light in his eyes grew more intense 
 each day, and Mona grew more and more troubled
 
 194 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 until at last she sought Rodney, and warned him 
 that Chawa was getting restless, and some day 
 Rodney would awaken to find Joan gone spirited 
 away. " The Major will help Chawa," she added, 
 as she turned to leave the startled man. " If I were 
 you I'd see my uncle, Pedro. For much money he 
 will send Chawa to a school Chawa cannot leave 
 for as long a time as you wish." 
 
 Like a flash she vanished as silently and noise- 
 lessly as she had come, and Rodney set out for 
 Pedro's. 
 
 After a long talk there was the passing of money 
 from a fine white hand to a dirty red one. The 
 following morning Chawa disappeared from Rain- 
 bow Springs. Pedro had promised that Chawa 
 would remain away three years. Rodney hoped 
 by that time to be able to leave Rainbow Springs 
 in perfect health. 
 
 With the going of Chawa no more gifts appeared 
 on Joan's desk, and finally Joan connected their 
 absence with Chawa. She never mentioned her 
 discovery to any one, but the gifts lost their magic 
 power to charm her, for Joan could never forget 
 the sight of her beloved teacher when Chawa threw 
 the snake in her face. 
 
 The two girls and the gold-coated collie spent 
 many happy hours in the Cave of Rest in the fairy
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 195 
 
 world to which only the young and innocent have 
 the key. 
 
 One memorable day Mona took Joan to see her 
 grandmother, the ancient Cecilia. 
 
 The sun beat down on the Indian village that 
 April day with rare intensity. 
 
 The shack where Mona lived with her grand- 
 mother was less than two city blocks from the 
 cottage where Joan lived, but Joan had never been 
 inside the Reservation since the first morning at 
 the Springs, and then she had not gone fifty yards 
 before Prudence called her back. 
 
 Mona's face flushed sensitively as they neared 
 her home, but Joan, chattering animatedly as usual 
 beside her, did not notice her embarrassment. 
 
 " My grandmother," Mona announced, stoically, 
 as they turned the corner of the shack and came 
 upon Cecilia lying flat upon her back under the 
 broiling sun. 
 
 In lieu of a pillow the ancient one's head rested 
 on an upturned tin pan, and her shrunken body 
 was bare save for a short skirt that scarce reached 
 to her knees. 
 
 Cecilia knew but few words of English, but she 
 did know that Joan was the friend Mona had told 
 her much about she knew that Mona idolized the 
 white child; she worshipped Mona, so she raised
 
 196 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 herself to a sitting posture and grunted an amiable 
 "How do?" 
 
 Joan took her outstretched bony hand, and shook 
 it cordially. Mona watched her little friend closely, 
 but her keen eyes could not detect the shiver of 
 repulsion that ran through Joan and was intensified 
 by the sight of the filthy pipe clutched tight between 
 the toothless gums of the old squaw, her lips curled 
 back in a welcoming grin. 
 
 " I am well, thank you, and I hope you are enjoy- 
 ing good health," Joan returned, in answer to 
 Cecilia's "How do?" 
 
 The manner of the child evidently pleased the 
 ancient one, for she hunched herself up into a more 
 comfortable position, and took the pipe from her 
 mouth, extending it to Joan with the brief, " We 
 friends smoke Cecilia's love pipe." 
 
 Mona spoke rapidly to her grandmother in the 
 low, not unmusical, dialect of the tribe, pleading the 
 old squaw not to force the pipe upon her friend, but 
 the squaw was obdurate. 
 
 " Smoke ! " she demanded. " Smoke with 
 Cecilia." 
 
 Seeing the troubled look in Mona's eyes, Joan 
 squatted down beside Cecilia. She had read about 
 the " pipe of peace " of the Indians, and suddenly 
 determined to smoke it with Cecilia.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 197 
 
 " It is all right, Mona," she said, with a trace 
 of eagerness in her vibrant voice. " I am sure the 
 experience will amply repay me. In after years, 
 when you and I are grown and in a beautiful home 
 of our own, it will be a great pleasure to look back 
 on this day. I assure you, Mona, I shall revel in 
 smoking the ' pipe of peace ' with your grand- 
 mother. It is thrilling just to think about 
 it." 
 
 Cecilia did not in the least understand Joan's 
 rapid speech, but there was no mistaking the sin- 
 cerity written in every line of that bright, expressive 
 face. 
 
 Even Mona understood that her friend was truly 
 enjoying the thoroughness of her abasement in 
 making a call on a full-blooded Indian squaw. 
 
 Joan beamed upon Cecilia as she thrust the dirty 
 pipe between her teeth, and puffed tentatively at it. 
 
 Mona watched her in dismay. There was a light 
 in Joan's eyes that warned her that it was useless 
 to interfere with her friend while her mind was 
 making a flight to realms unknown. So she 
 watched her grandmother and Joan smoke the pipe 
 turn about until the old squaw signified by a con- 
 tented grunt that the smoke session was at an 
 end. 
 
 With another grunt Cecilia lay back down with
 
 198 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 her head on the tin pan, and soon began to snore 
 contentedly, drifting asleep with the quickness and 
 ease of the very young or very old. 
 
 Joan struggled weakly to her feet. 
 
 " I am very dizzy, Mona," she said, in a weak 
 little voice. Her face was drawn and gray. 
 
 " I assure you, though, that I am very happy 
 to have smoked with your grandmother. I am 
 sure she enjoyed it. I feel very sick, but although 
 my faith is shaken in Miss Warren's belief just 
 as she believed it, still I shall try to believe this is 
 only imagination. It may even help me to repeat 
 the Scientific Statement of Life ' There is no life, 
 truth, intelligence nor substance in matter,' Mona 
 dear. ' All is Infinite Mind and its Infinite mani- 
 festations,' so I cannot feel badly, Mona, dear, 
 even though error is trying to make me believe 
 otherwise. Your grandmother smokes that pipe 
 right along with a perfectly harmonious feeling, and 
 why should not the result be the same in my case. 
 I smoked the pipe to please her, but oh, Mona, dear, 
 let us get home to Rodney quickly." 
 
 She staggered weakly as they started across the 
 road. Mona supported her wavering footsteps while 
 a band tightened about her heart. She had prom- 
 ised the beautiful white man, as she called Rod- 
 ney, to care for the child he loved, and now
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 199 
 
 she was bringing that child home with a wild 
 mind. 
 
 Very bravely Joan fought the almost overpower- 
 ing nausea that assailed her, until the cottage door 
 was reached, but when Rodney opened the door, she 
 crumpled up in a weak little heap at his feet, crying 
 " Oh, Rodney ! Rodney ! " 
 
 " What is the matter? " Rodney turned to Mona, 
 his voice quivering with anger and anxiety. 
 
 Mona quickly and vividly recounted their visit 
 to her grandmother Cecilia. 
 
 Rodney could not refrain from smiling at Mona's 
 dramatic sketch of the smoke session, even though 
 Joan hung limp in his arms as he carried her into 
 her room. 
 
 Rodney had gone through the same sickness in 
 boyhood, and knew that it was not necessarily dan- 
 gerous. 
 
 He called Prudence, and Prudence undressed 
 Joan almost tenderly; then plunged her feet into 
 the tub of hot water she had Mona bring her from 
 the kitchen. And to the credit of Prudence be it 
 said, she gave thanks that the boiling water was on 
 the stove ready for a chicken she had intended to 
 dress for supper that night. 
 
 In an hour Joan was almost herself again. She 
 was still weak and dizzy when she tried to stand on
 
 200 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 her feet, and Prudence, a tender note in her voice 
 Rodney had never heard before, decreed that Joan 
 should have her supper in bed. 
 
 Joan had a happy hour after supper, for Lois 
 came over then, and she and Mona each held a moist 
 little hand in theirs, while Prudence looked on with 
 a grim yet not unkind smile. 
 
 Joan never regretted smoking the " pipe of peace " 
 with the ancient Cecilia, indeed she was heartily 
 glad she had done so when a week later Cecilia's 
 spirit went to join the spirits of her ancestors in 
 the great beyond.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 WILLIAM ARTH grew very fond of Joan 
 during the long winter months. Every 
 morning she came to his cottage like a 
 ray of sunshine. The brightness of the hour she 
 spent with him lingered with him all the weary 
 day and in the long, sleepless hours of the night 
 the thought of her was the anchor upon which he 
 rested. 
 
 Arth had been complaining for some days, and 
 one night late in April he suffered from an acute 
 attack of lung congestion, and to Joan his condition 
 was alarming. He tried to quiet Joan's fear when, 
 as was her custom, she ran over in the early twilight 
 to bid him good-night. 
 
 " We'll try to believe you are not sick at all," she 
 said, with forced brightness. " You repeat the 
 Ninety-first Psalm while I run over to the house for 
 a minute. I'll come back." She answered the wist- 
 ful look in the sick man's eyes. 
 
 She ran all the way up the sandy road to the 
 Major's, and dashed into the Major's presence with- 
 out the formality of knocking for admission. 
 
 201
 
 202 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 " I want to use your telephone immediately," she 
 cried. " I want to call the hermit doctor for Mr. 
 Arth." 
 
 " The telephone is out of order," the Major 
 growled, as Joan dashed across the room to it. 
 
 If Joan heard, there was no sign of it manifested 
 by her movements. She assured herself that the 
 telephone was indeed useless, and was off like a 
 flash before the Major could make a fittingly scath- 
 ing remark about her intrusion. This disgusted the 
 Major greatly, and he settled back in his chair, 
 scowling at the telephone the only one at the 
 Springs. At last his beady eyes gleamed with an 
 unholy light. It would be impossible to secure the 
 service of the hermit doctor, who lived all alone at 
 a place he called " Seven Pine Lodge " because of 
 the seven great pines that towered sentinel-like 
 over his snug little cottage on the ridge of the moun- 
 tain. Seven Pine Lodge was twelve miles from 
 Rainbow Springs. The doctor was a queer char- 
 acter, a man who lived absolutely alone, but a man 
 nevertheless who was ever ready to answer the call 
 of any one ill. The Major hated Arth for the simple 
 reason that Arth lived in one of Sam Welch's cot- 
 tages, and he took a grim joy in the thought that 
 on the morrow one of Welch's cottages might be 
 vacant.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 203 
 
 Rodney was starting a fire in the huge fireplace 
 in the living-room, for the nights were cool, when 
 Joan dashed in. 
 
 " We'll have to get a doctor for Mr. Arth quicker 
 than lightning," Joan cried, excitedly, her face 
 flushed with excitement. 
 
 "What is the matter?" Rodney demanded, his 
 eyes lighting with the love light that always came 
 to them at sight of Joan. 
 
 " He has lung fever or pneumonia very bad, and 
 he'll have to get better mighty quick or die. I am 
 sure if Miss Warren was here even she would have 
 to admit that something more than mortal mind is 
 the matter with him; but oh, I do wish she was here 
 to make one of her demonstrations over him ! " 
 
 "What!" Rodney gasped, still struggling with 
 the refractory fire. 
 
 " I've been to the Major's to telephone the hermit 
 doctor. You know Mr. Welch said the other day 
 ' the hermit doctor is always ready to come to any 
 one sick,' but the Major's 'phone is out of order, 
 and now I'll pin all my faith on God and Mona." 
 
 The fire on the hearth began to crackle and dance 
 merrily, giving Joan's eager little face a witch-like 
 radiance. 
 
 Rodney stood up and faced her, his eyes reflect- 
 ing the light of her face. " Little witch girl, count
 
 204 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 on me," he said, with a smile. " I'll go over and 
 see the poor chap." 
 
 " Well, but we must hurry," Joan panted, as she 
 started out the door. " I'm going for Mona now," 
 she flung over her shoulder. " I am glad you are 
 going to him, I know you are not well, either, but 
 some one of age and discretion should be with him 
 now." 
 
 " What ever is the matter, Joan?" Prudence de- 
 manded. Prudence had come in the room so quietly 
 that neither Rodney nor the excited child had heard 
 her. 
 
 Joan paused an instant in the doorway. " It's 
 Mr. Arth, Aunt Prudence. Please go over to see 
 him. He needs a woman with him now if any one 
 ever did." 
 
 " Well, I never ! " Prudence gasped, as Joan dis- 
 appeared in the shadows of a night when the moon 
 rises late. 
 
 " She has gone for Mona," Rodney said, quietly, 
 as he went into the other room for his hat and coat. 
 
 " Humph ! " Prudence grunted, as she carefully 
 turned down the light in the living-room. " Rodney 
 is a perfect lunatic. Joan can do as she pleases with 
 him, but if I had my way she'd catch it good and 
 plenty for going over to that Indian's after night. 
 Humph!"
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 205 
 
 Joan was as unceremonious in her entrance to 
 Mona's room as she had been at the Major's. Mona 
 had lived with her uncle, the chief, ever since the 
 death of Cecilia, and Joan knew Mona's room a 
 room shared with Flying Eagle and Marina, so lost 
 no time in climbing in through the open window a 
 window open perforce because it was but a hole in 
 the wall. 
 
 Mona was alone. She looked up with a start 
 when Joan stood panting before her." 
 
 "What is it, little friend?" she asked, in her 
 low, musical voice. 
 
 " Mona ! Mona ! You are the only one who can 
 save Mr. Arth," Joan panted. " He is very, very 
 sick, and the Major's telephone is out of order. 
 Only one of your people can save him now. Some 
 one must go for the hermit doctor and get him here 
 quickly or Mr. Arth will die, and we can't stand 
 that, Mona, dear. You will go for the doctor, won't 
 you, Mona, dear? I hate to ask you to go, but the 
 Lord of Hosts will be with you, Mona, and you will 
 be going in His cause, for you will go through love, 
 Mona, dear. I would go if I only knew the way, 
 but I don't, and I know you said one day you had 
 been there. I will stay with Mr. Arth and pray the 
 dear God to help me do something for him while 
 you are gone."
 
 206 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 " I go," Mona said, simply. Then a troubled 
 look came into her dark eyes. " I no have way," 
 she said, plaintively. " My uncle he turn all the 
 ponies out to-night. It might take me hours to 
 catch one. Mr. Welch's team go to Thermal, you 
 know, with Miss Reeves and his sister. And the 
 Major's horses turned out with my uncle's. There 
 is nothing left for Mona to ride." 
 
 For just an instant Joan's eyes reflected the 
 troubled look in Mona's, then they flashed with in- 
 spired light. 
 
 "Mona! Mona! There is King Solomon," she 
 cried. King Solomon was Joan's name for the wild 
 beauty Rodney had purchased from the Major. 
 
 Almost immediately the exalted light in her eyes 
 was followed by a veil of disappointment. " But he 
 is impossible, I suppose," she sighed. " You could 
 not ride him." 
 
 Mona drew herself up with a certain savage 
 regalness. " I ride heem ... I ride more wild 
 than heem many times." She spread out her hands. 
 " I go now, my friend. Haste is needed." Mona's 
 haste was an almost incredible haste. In a marvel- 
 ously short time she had bridled King Solomon and 
 was off like a flash across the desert, lying in silent 
 majesty under an inky sky lavishly studded with 
 glittering star jewels.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 207 
 
 Mona's dark eyes, as she clung to the silky coat 
 of the black horse, were brilliant with a wonderful 
 tender light, for the touch of Joan's loving parting 
 kiss was still sweet upon her lips. 
 
 Prudence accompanied Rodney to Arth's. When 
 Arth, tossing upon his bed, heard her voice, he 
 straightened up with a heroic effort. " I'll be all 
 right in the morning," he said, in answer to her stiff 
 offer to do something for him. 
 
 " Ginger tea is good I'll make you some, if you 
 wish it," Prudence offered, still standing in the door- 
 way. She had never been in Arth's cottage, and de- 
 spite the many sick people in the village, she had 
 neither sympathy nor understanding for any of 
 them. 
 
 She had never been seriously sick a day in her 
 life, and this disease was something she would have 
 been ashamed to acknowledge had she been afflicted 
 with it. 
 
 " You are very kind," Arth smiled, with an effort, 
 " but I will get along nicely, thank you." 
 
 " I'll stay with Arth a while you might as well 
 go back home, Aunt Prue," Rodney said at last. 
 His aunt still stood in the doorway, undecided 
 what to do, and Arth's efforts to suppress his 
 great pain became more evident each passing 
 minute.
 
 " I am sure I am more than willing to do some- 
 thing," Prudence hesitated. 
 
 " Thank you, but I shall be all right in the morn- 
 ing," Arth returned, weakly, a flicker of a smile 
 playing about his pain-drawn mouth. 
 
 The woman meant well, he knew, and because 
 she was Rodney's aunt he would exert his last 
 lingering bit of strength to be polite to her. Never- 
 theless he groaned in relief, as her well-meaning 
 footsteps died away. 
 
 " Did you do something for him ? " Joan panted, 
 as she came dashing back from seeing Mona 
 off. 
 
 Prudence was just turning down the road toward 
 home. 
 
 " No, I do not think he is very sick ; he would 
 not let me do anything for him," Prudence an- 
 swered. " Come on home to bed, Joan, and don't 
 worry yourself. It is nearly nine o'clock. I de- 
 clare, I never did see such a child." 
 
 " You can go on home to bed, Aunt Prudence. 
 I will not, until something is done for poor Mr. 
 Arth. I'll do all I can for him. Rodney will help 
 me, and we will trust in God to help him over this 
 attack. Oh, how I wish it were not Friday night 
 and Miss Reeves gone ! " Lois had taken Martha 
 home with her that afternoon to remain until late
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 209 
 
 Sunday, and as it happened there was no other 
 woman in the village to whom Joan could appeal. 
 
 " Well, you are Rodney's affair, not mine, as I 
 have said before, and if he wants to let you act like 
 this, I have nothing more to say. As for myself, I 
 shall go on home to bed, where all sensible people 
 ought to be. If your Miss Reeves were here she 
 would do the same. I offered to make the man some 
 ginger tea, and he would not have it," Prudence 
 sniffed. 
 
 " Oh, Aunt Prudence, don't you know you don't 
 want to offer to do things for sick people you 
 simply want to go ahead and do them ! " 
 
 " Well, Miss Smarty, go ahead and do things," 
 Prudence snorted, " but if I had the right I'd march 
 you home to bed, and keep you there until you were 
 different," she added, grimly. 
 
 Joan's eyes flashed, but she said nothing. Pru- 
 dence grunted and stalked home with her head high 
 in the air. She was shivering all over with the fear 
 that an Indian might spring upon her and carve 
 her thin tresses from her head. 
 
 Joan watched the retreating shadowy bulk of the 
 woman for an instant, then with a little catch in 
 her breath dashed back to the sick man's cottage. 
 She gave one look at Arth, then turned to Rodney. 
 
 " I'll make a fire and put some water on to boil,
 
 210 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 Rodney, while you go to the Major's and get a 
 can of antiphlogistine from him. I saw several 
 cans on that shelf back of the telephone. Mrs. 
 Brown used to use whole stacks of it on Mr. Brown 
 when he was like that." She nodded over her 
 shoulder at Arth. 
 
 " All right, little girl." Rodney tip-tilted the de- 
 termined little chin with his long fingers, and looked 
 down into the glowing face while he said softly to 
 himself, 
 
 " God grant that she is always as she is now." 
 He stooped and kissed the flushed cheeks, and hur- 
 ried off to the Major's. 
 
 " I've fixed it for Mr. Brown lots of times," Joan 
 said, briskly, as she set the can of antiphlogistine 
 in the pan of water, boiling merrily by the time 
 Rodney returned. From the dresser drawer she 
 took a pillow case, calmly ripped it open, and tore 
 it into two pieces suitable for her use. " I am sure 
 Mr. Welch will be glad I took one of his pillow 
 slips for Mr. Arth," she added, as she tore the 
 slip. 
 
 " If he is not, we will buy him another one in 
 place of this one." Rodney smiled at the vivid little 
 face. 
 
 " I am sure you will make it all right, Rodney," 
 Joan said, briskly, as she covered the sick man's
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 211 
 
 chest, back, and front with a lavish coating of the 
 hot paste. 
 
 Arth smiled at Rodney while the child patted and 
 fixed him comfortably. 
 
 "What now?" he asked, with a gleam of mirth 
 in his eyes, as Joan brought a basin of fresh tepid 
 water to the bed. 
 
 " I'll bathe you, and your fever will go down 
 some," she answered, as she began to sponge the 
 man's burning face. 
 
 " Mona has gone for the hermit doctor," she 
 added, tersely. 
 
 Arth smiled and closed his eyes. For the first 
 time in hours he was almost free from pain. 
 
 Rodney watched the child with the light of a 
 great love in his eyes. His dream of the early 
 Christmas morning had come true. He still loved 
 his violin, but his love for Joan was so much greater 
 that the very overwhelming volume of it made him 
 catch his breath sharply. Into his eyes came an 
 almost holy light, and on his face was the rapt look 
 with which the devotee is pictured. 
 
 After a time Arth slept fitfully. 
 
 Rodney went outside and began to pace slowly 
 up and down in front of the cottage. 
 
 Joan came out after a while and slipped her hand 
 in his.
 
 212 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 "Is he worse?" Rodney asked, quickly. 
 
 " He is sleeping now, but, Rodney, dear, he could 
 not get worse without dying. I came out to get you 
 to pray with me, Rodney. You remember when I 
 made the Indians mad at me over punishing Flying 
 Eagle and Marina, Aunt Prudence, Mr. Welch, and 
 Lois and I prayed while you were out front talking 
 to the Major, and you know that prayer was an- 
 swered so let us pray now, Rodney, out here in 
 the starlight. It seems that the dear God must be 
 very near to us here in this vast beautiful land. 
 Let us pray quick, Rodney." 
 
 " All right, little girl." Rodney's voice was very 
 tender. 
 
 So they prayed out there on the crusted sand, and 
 when they had finished the late moon was just 
 peeping up over the mountain tops, its silver bars 
 of light laid daintily on the purple veiled mountains. 
 
 When Joan went back into the cottage, Arth was 
 awake. She knelt beside him and began to bathe 
 his hot forehead. 
 
 " Why are you so good to me why do you do 
 this for me ? " Arth asked, slowly, his voice coming 
 thick and painfully. 
 
 Joan dampened her wash-cloth before replying. 
 
 " I love to do what I am doing," she said at last. 
 " And, beside that, there is your mother I have
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 213 
 
 just seen her silver hair and beautiful tender mother 
 mouth ever since you told me about her. I know she 
 is in heaven, but I believe she is looking down on us 
 now and is being glad some one is with her boy. 
 I can see her smile over you being bathed as she 
 would bathe you were she here. Don't you love 
 to imagine your mother being happy over the things 
 you enjoy? I do, I love to imagine how happy my 
 little mother is since Rodney took me. When I was 
 being handed around, I tried to believe she could not 
 see me, I was so unhappy at times, but now every 
 minute of the day I want her to see me and know 
 how happy I am." 
 
 Arth looked up and smiled up into her tender 
 eyes, shining with a radiant faraway look. 
 
 " I hope my mother can see me now," he said, 
 softly. " But my mother always kissed me when 
 I was sick," he added, whimsically. " A kiss 
 is a blessed thing, Joan, when it is the pure sweet 
 kiss of love." 
 
 Joan bent suddenly and kissed the hot forehead. 
 " That is for your mother," she said, sweetly. 
 
 " Dear little girl," Arth murmured, gratefully. 
 It seemed that the kiss was the kiss of his mother. 
 
 After a while Arth slept again. Suddenly the 
 night grew dark, and the desert seethed and heaved 
 in the throes of a sudden sand-storm.
 
 214 
 
 Rodney came in the cottage looking pale and 
 worn. Rodney was slowly regaining his health, but 
 Rodney was still a sick man. 
 
 " Rodney ! Rodney ! You must lie down," Joan 
 cried, as she looked into his pale face. " Please, 
 please, Rodney, lie down to please me," she pleaded, 
 when he started to sit down beside Arth. 
 
 " There is a nice cot in the kitchen," Joan added, 
 as she slipped her hand in his and led the way to- 
 ward the little rear room. " And you will lie 
 down," she said, firmly. 
 
 "But what about my little girl?" Rodney ex- 
 postulated. 
 
 " She is very happy," Joan flashed back, " and 
 will be still happier if Rodney White will lie down." 
 
 " You are the boss," Rodney returned, in mock 
 meekness. " Do with me as you will." 
 
 Joan smiled at him radiantly when once he was 
 settled on the cot with a comforter over him. 
 
 Almost instantly was the exhausted man asleep, 
 and Joan tiptoed into the other room with a happy 
 light in her eyes. 
 
 Arth did not speak much as the night wore on. 
 Joan watched and prayed beside him. Not once was 
 her faith in Mona's return with the doctor, and 
 Arth's ultimate recovery shaken in the least. 
 
 The wind howled and raged and threw showers
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS ~ 215 
 
 of sand against the windows. It came rushing 
 across the desert, swept round the cottage, and 
 shook it in wanton playfulness. It raced blustering 
 and whistling up the rocky sides of the great moun- 
 tains, and all the time through a rift in the clouds 
 the desert moon looked calmly down on the desert's 
 dashing concerto. 
 
 " Joan, am I going to die ? " Arth asked at last. 
 The strength had all gone out of the man ; he could 
 no longer battle with the suffocating pains in his 
 lungs. 
 
 " I am afraid I will never be able to even imagine 
 that disease is an illusion of mortal mind after this," 
 Joan said, slowly. " The Bible speaks of being sick 
 unto death, and you are really and truly sick, there 
 is no imagination about it, but you've got the grit 
 to pull through, and God answers prayer. Rodney 
 and I prayed most earnestly and faithfully for you 
 to recover while we were out in front of the house 
 before the storm came, and I am sure God will 
 answer that prayer. No, I honestly do not believe 
 you are going to die now," she said, gravely. 
 
 Arth turned his face to the wall. Joan saw the 
 shadow of a great fear upon it, so hastened to re- 
 assure him. 
 
 " Don't worry about it," she said, with assumed 
 cheerfulness. " You'll never die until the Lord of
 
 216 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 Hosts is ready for you. When He is ready, you will 
 be glad to go to Him. Just think how beautiful the 
 shining kingdom is. Don't you remember the beauti- 
 ful psalm ? ' Yea, though I walk through the valley 
 of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for 
 Thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they com- 
 fort me!'" 
 
 Arth had heard that verse many times, but now 
 he clung to it desperately, for it brought with it a 
 strange comforting peace he had never felt before. 
 He put his hand over his eyes; his pain was for- 
 gotten. 
 
 " ' Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.' Yes, 
 yes," he murmured. " It is all right either way, 
 little girl. I am ready now. I told Rodney, a long 
 time ago, you would help me die like a Christian 
 should, and you will, little girl. ' Surely goodness 
 and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, 
 and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever,' ' 
 he quoted softly; then he smiled brightly. " It's all 
 right now," he murmured, as he slowly repeated 
 the words again, " ' I shall dwell in the house of 
 the Lord forever.' Joan," he said, reaching out a 
 burning hand until it rested in hers, " all my letters 
 are in my suit-case. I I don't want any one to 
 see them but you until I am well again. You 
 understand? "
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 217 
 
 Joan nodded. 
 
 " And and if I go to my mother, she shall know 
 that I had loving hands about me at the last, for I 
 shall tell her." 
 
 Joan gently stroked his hand. 
 
 " I am not afraid now; " his voice grew steadier. 
 " And Joan, dear little Joan, I owe not being afraid 
 to you. There is one other thing, Joan, I have a 
 wife she left me, but I was stiff-necked and caused 
 it I believe she loves me yet. Her address is in 
 my note-book in my vest pocket. Please get my 
 note-book now and keep it until well until it is 
 all over, and then write to her. Tell her I loved 
 her always. I love her now, oh my God, how I 
 love her!" His voice grew fainter and trailed 
 away. After a minute he spoke again. 
 
 "You have my note-book, Joan?" 
 
 " Yes," Joan answered, softly. 
 
 " Please give me the little picture out of it it is 
 her picture." 
 
 When Joan gave him the little picture, he clutched 
 it to his lips with a half articulate cry of joy. 
 " Jeanette! Jeanette! My Jeanette," he said, softly, 
 over and over. 
 
 Joan went to the window and looked out on the 
 storm-scourged night. The sand still beat against the 
 windows, but less fiercely than it had an hour ago.
 
 218 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 She turned at the sound of Arth's voice. 
 
 " Pray, Joan the Lord's Prayer," he called 
 faintly. 
 
 Joan dropped to her knees, " ' Our Father who 
 art in Heaven,' " she began, then stopped suddenly. 
 There were hoof-beats coming down the road com- 
 ing in mad haste. 
 
 " The doctor ! " she cried, springing to her 
 feet. 
 
 The doctor sprang from his horse, as she opened 
 the door. Mona slipped from the back of King 
 Solomon and flung her arms about Joan's neck. 
 
 Joan kissed her in silent rapture; then turned to 
 the doctor. 
 
 " Oh, doctor ! Doctor ! " she cried. " The Lord 
 has been more than good to bring you here in such 
 a storm, but please hurry in. He is sick really 
 and truly sick. There is no imagination of mortal 
 mind about it." 
 
 The hermit doctor smiled at the odd greeting, 
 then hurried in to the sick man. 
 
 Arth's breath was coming with a rasping noise, 
 and his head rolled back and forth on the pillow in 
 a vain search for rest. 
 
 " Do you want some hot water, doctor ? " Joan 
 asked. 
 
 The doctor nodded. With his ear at the sick
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 219 
 
 man's chest, he listened at the labored breathing. 
 His eyes were alert, an indomitable light in them 
 as he went to work. 
 
 An hour later Arth was sleeping peacefully, the 
 flush gone from his face, his breath coming less 
 painfully. 
 
 Defeated death wrapped her dark robes about 
 her and left the village in the wake of the sand- 
 storm. 
 
 The hermit doctor laid his hand gently on Joan's 
 tumbled hair, as Rodney came into the room. 
 
 " She saved him," the doctor said, as he greeted 
 Rodney. 
 
 " Oh, it is good, good to know he is saved ! " 
 Joan cried, " but I was only one instrument that 
 God put here to help him until you came, and Mona 
 brought you, doctor. Mona was another of God's 
 instruments." 
 
 The doctor looked at her blankly. This was his 
 first visit to the village since the advent of Joan. 
 
 Rodney gathered the child up in his arms, and 
 smiled at the doctor. 
 
 " She is the dearest and bravest little girl in the 
 world, doctor, with a wonderful and sublime faith 
 in the Infinite," Rodney said, gently. 
 
 " A wonderful and sublime faith in the Infinite," 
 the hermit doctor repeated to himself, after Rodney
 
 220 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 and Joan had gone and he was alone with the sick 
 man. 
 
 " Well, such namby-pamby Sunday School belief 
 is all right for children," he said, with a short laugh, 
 as he walked across the room and looked out over 
 the desert. The moon hung low in the sky now, and 
 earth and heaven met in a flood of silver light. 
 
 " A wonderful and sublime faith in the Infinite," 
 the doctor again repeated the words almost uncon- 
 sciously. The next instant he shrugged his shoul- 
 ders in self-disgust. He had convinced himself 
 during the hours he had spent alone in his self- 
 imposed isolation, that there was no such thing as a 
 soul or a soul's immortality. No God. No life be- 
 yond the grave. He took a certain pride in pro- 
 claiming to the desert, stretching itself in majestic 
 silence about him, that he was an agnostic; that he 
 had risen superior to all canting religious dogma. 
 He prided himself on his renunciation of the ortho- 
 dox religion of his forefathers; flattered himself 
 that he had discovered the highest law of life life 
 that ended at dissolution when he discovered that 
 there was no soul, no God. 
 
 Belief in spirituality was, so he argued to the 
 silent desert, something for old women and weak 
 men to cant about over their tea. What need of 
 such belief had a strong man? According to him
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 221 
 
 the utter heartlessness and aimlessness of God if 
 there was a God had been proven in his own case. 
 
 Hadn't he called upon God in his hour of despair 
 he had believed in God then but how could any 
 sane man continue to believe in Infinite Love when 
 the supposed God turned a deaf ear to one pleading 
 for something more precious than life itself. He 
 struck his open palm with hard-clenched knuckles. 
 " No ! A thousand times no, there is no God," he 
 cried aloud, forgetting that he was not alone as 
 he had been the last long years. 
 
 The sick man stirred and mumbled faintly, 
 " ' And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for- 
 ever.' " 
 
 The doctor scowled at the sick man, his brows 
 creased in anger. " What right has he? " he de- 
 manded of his inner self, " what right has he to 
 say those words now" Then he smiled remi- 
 niscently. How often his stern old father had 
 quoted those words to him they were the last words 
 his mother ever spoke. Close on the heels of this 
 memory came the words of Mona, the half-breed, 
 that same night when he asked her if she had not 
 been afraid on her long, lonely ride. He could 
 almost see her fathomless eyes now, could almost 
 hear the low-voiced words, " I, Mona, was not 
 afraid, her Lord of Hosts was with me."
 
 222 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 He had wondered then at the words of the little 
 half-breed, now he knew that she had referred to 
 the odd child, who had saved the life of the sick 
 man, and whose clear blue eyes, with the vivid 
 dashes of gold in the iris, were so hauntingly fami- 
 liar of other eyes that had once smiled at him. 
 
 The odd child had called herself an instrument 
 of God. He sat down by the sick man. If there 
 was a God surely he would not let any one suffer 
 as this man had suffered this night. " Bah, it is 
 all a farce, this belief in God but is it a farce? " 
 
 The sick man muttered in his sleep. " ' I shall 
 dwell in the house of the Lord forever ' yes, for- 
 ever, little Joan." 
 
 " Joan ! Joan ! " The doctor repeated the word 
 over and over. " Joan ! Joan ! " Cold sweat broke 
 out all over him. It was years since he had heard 
 that name years since he had even allowed himself 
 to think of it and now this sick man called some 
 one Joan was it the odd child? The name would 
 fit her. He got up slowly, like a man suddenly 
 stricken with age. He opened the door softly, and 
 went out into the night. Up and down, back and 
 forth he paced in front of the little cottage back 
 and forth over the very spot where Rodney and 
 Joan had knelt in prayer a few hours before. 
 
 Toward morning, peace came to the man peace
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 223 
 
 and a new understanding. He entered the cottage, 
 his face radiant with the light of the new joy that 
 had come to him. 
 
 " Eternity ! Eternity ! " he whispered in reveren- 
 tial awe, looking down on the peaceful face of the 
 sleeping man. 
 
 " Yes, old chap, you will ' dwell in the house of 
 the Lord forever,' and even I may also dwell there 
 with you some day. I was blind, but now I see. 
 I see! Thank God, I see! I understand! Thank 
 God for you and the child ' with a wonderful and 
 sublime faith in the Infinite.' How true it is ' A 
 little child shall lead them ' . . . Yes, and thank 
 God, too, for the little half-breed," he added, with 
 a tender, reminiscent smile. "She said the little 
 half-breed was also God's instrument. And so she 
 was so she was." He looked down on Arth again. 
 " Your life is prolonged by this night's work, old 
 chap, and my soul is saved. How wonderful are 
 the ways of the Lord. Old chap, I, too, am saved." 
 
 The hermit doctor stayed at the village several 
 days, and from Lois Reeves and Arth had a clear 
 account of Joan. When he started to leave, he took 
 Joan's hands in his and said gravely : " You have 
 done more for me, little girl, than you will ever 
 know. I needed saving a thousand times more than 
 poor Arth did. Arth was square with his God when
 
 224 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 I came to him. I was not. You must not hope for 
 Arth's complete recovery, little Joan. Some time he 
 will not recover, no matter how quickly I get to him, 
 but you have saved a soul for all time. I am going 
 back to Seven Pine Lodge now, but I shall not go 
 alone. I am coming back, too, for that birthday 
 party of yours, and sooner if you need me." 
 
 Joan smiled at him, but her heart was heavy 
 because there was no hope for Arth's complete re- 
 covery. Joan was very fond of the dark, silent 
 man, and she prayed now, as the hermit doctor rode 
 away, that Arth would live long enough to see his 
 wife. 
 
 That very morning she had, with Rodney's 
 approval, written a letter to Arth's wife, in which 
 she gave a characteristic and accurate account of 
 Arth's almost fatal attack and his present serious 
 condition. 
 
 She did not tell Arth of this letter. She knew 
 that he intended for her to write to his wife only in 
 case of his death, but it had seemed right to both her 
 and Rodney for Arth's wife to know of his condi- 
 tion. They both hoped Arth's wife would come to 
 him immediately upon receipt of the letter. From 
 Sam Welch, Joan secured a railroad time-table, and 
 began to count the hours that must elapse before 
 Jeanette Arth could reach her sick husband.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 225 
 
 Each day she and Mona spent an hour or more 
 at the Cave of Rest. They held a prayer service 
 there. Joan prayed daily for Jeanette Arth to come 
 quickly, the prayers growing in length and fervor 
 as the days passed and no word came from the sick 
 man's wife. 
 
 Mona, at Joan's request, had mastered the Lord's 
 Prayer, and each day she repeated it after Joan, and 
 to Joan, Mona's part of the prayer service was 
 something very sweet. 
 
 Each passing day Mona grew more and more like 
 her white father. Looking into her face, lighted by 
 the great gray eyes, Rodney found it hard to believe 
 that the blood of the great Fighting Wolf flowed 
 in her veins. 
 
 Mona had received the warm praise of every one, 
 except the Major, for her wild ride on King Solo- 
 mon. Even Prudence had openly expressed her 
 admiration for such bravery. Prudence was not a 
 little ashamed over the part she had played that 
 night. She had been unusually kind to Joan ever 
 since, and was planning with Rodney and Lois 
 Reeves for the birthday party they were to give 
 Joan and Mona on the first of May. As nearly as 
 any one could learn, Mona's natal day was the same 
 as Joan's, and this to Joan was a thrilling thought 
 over which to rejoice.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 ON the morning of her birthday, Joan was up 
 and out while the moon still hung pale in 
 the sky, flanked by a myriad of stars just 
 beginning to twinkle their last farewell to the night, 
 before the curtain of dawn was flung across them 
 with the promise of a glorious day written rose- 
 hued upon it. 
 
 Joan stood on the lower step of the cottage, revel- 
 ing in the beauty of the morning, while Don, 
 at her feet, rolled in ecstasy, gleaming like a 
 ball of gold against the dull glow of the crusted 
 sand. 
 
 To Joan, the desert was ever calling with an in- 
 sistent voice. The shifting sand hills ever held out 
 beckoning, rippling arms to her. To her, the desert 
 never seemed harsh or ugly even when a burn- 
 ing, scorching heat fell upon it, withering even 
 the scant vegetation to which it gave reluctant 
 sustenance. 
 
 It was given to Joan to see the soul of things, not 
 the body alone. 
 
 She heard the song of the desert, every note of 
 226
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 227 
 
 it ringing true. The song the desert sings may be 
 an adagio of pain and distress or an allegro of de- 
 lirium and death, but through it all there is that 
 distinct and flowing undercurrent of divine peace 
 found nowhere else. 
 
 Joan was atune with the harmony of it all. She 
 answered the desert's call with a soul as sincere as 
 the desert itself answered it even as she had an- 
 swered the call of Rodney's violin. 
 
 To her, the morning stars were ever singing in 
 a very exuberance of joy because they were per- 
 mitted to shine on a land so hallowed so full of 
 strength so full of silence, that vast uncompre- 
 hending silence where the soul of man may come 
 into its own fullness of strength. 
 
 One by one the stars faded away and the rising 
 sun flung rosy streamers of Celestial fire athwart 
 the pale gray sky. 
 
 Suddenly, in the sky, high above the Cave of 
 Rest, there appeared a magic city. A city of golden 
 streets, trodden by radiant celestial beings. 
 
 " Oh ! Oh ! It must be a glimpse of heaven," 
 Joan cried. 
 
 And then the city was gone and the sun shot 
 upward, a glorious trail of fire marking its path- 
 way through the blue, blue sky. 
 
 Joan never forgot that matchless dawn. She
 
 228 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 stood for a moment in awed silence, then cried, 
 " Oh, Father in Heaven, I thank thee for the 
 glimpse of the shining kingdom." 
 
 The barking of the dogs in the Indian village, 
 followed by the tumbling of half-clad Indian chil- 
 dren out of the shacks, brought her back to the 
 earth and things earthy. 
 
 Although Joan had not mentioned the fact to 
 any one, she had been secretly thrilling with the 
 thought of riding King Solomon ever since Mona's 
 wild ride for the hermit doctor. Each day she 
 made a visit to the corral with an offering of a 
 lump of sugar and the big black beauty ever greeted 
 her with a welcoming whinny. 
 
 Many were the fairy tales Joan had woven about 
 King Solomon King Solomon with his proudly 
 dilating nostrils, sweeping mane and tail, and glossy 
 black satin skin. 
 
 Joan had almost convinced herself that King 
 Solomon was enchanted and could be ridden only 
 by those who had won the favor of the magician 
 who had control of him. 
 
 Mona was one of the favored ones, who could 
 safely ride him Joan believed she was also one 
 who could in safety ride the beauty. 
 
 Joe, the Indian, whom Rodney had hired to con- 
 quer King Solomon, had made one attempt in that
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 229 
 
 direction and was now nursing a broken arm be- 
 cause of it. 
 
 But Joe's misfortune was not even weighed in 
 the balance with desire and Mona's achievement. 
 How could it be by one of Joan's temperament ? 
 
 Joan flung her arms about Don's neck and whis- 
 pered something in his ear. Don wagged his tail 
 and barked joyfully. 
 
 " Come on, Don," Joan called, aloud, and started 
 down the road to Sam Welch's corral. 
 
 Rodney got to the cottage door just as Joan was 
 disappearing in the distance on top of King Solo- 
 mon. Rodney never forgot the anguish of the 
 minutes that followed minutes that were eternities 
 of time. 
 
 " O Lord, she'll be killed and " 
 
 He did not finish the sentence. Joan came tear- 
 ing back on the big black; her hair was flying, her 
 eyes dancing, and she was laughing laughing out 
 loud. Light and easy she pulled the horse up be- 
 side the steps, and called out, " Oh, Rodney ! Rod- 
 ney! this is lovely, this is magnificent, this is 
 almost too good to be true. See, he is enchanted, 
 Rodney!" 
 
 Truly King Solomon did seem enchanted to Rod- 
 ney, an enchanted demon, his sensitive nostrils were 
 dilated, clouds of steam came from them, as King
 
 230 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 Solomon restlessly pawed the sandy ground in 
 impatient desire to be off across the glistening 
 sand. 
 
 " Get off that brute," Rodney growled, making 
 a reach for the bit, but the animal shied, whirled, 
 and nearly kicked his head off. So he stood quite 
 still in a daze of terror while Joan circled about on 
 the horse, quieting him again. 
 
 " Didn't I tell you he was an enchanted horse, 
 Rodney ? " Joan demanded, as she was circling 
 about. " Isn't it splendid that Mona taught me to 
 ride this winter, now I can ride him every day. I 
 had hoped you could master him, too, but it seems 
 that only Mona and I can do that, although Miss 
 Reeves might be another one." 
 
 Rodney heard little of what Joan was saying. 
 
 " She'll be killed, she'll be killed," he moaned 
 over and over, his voice trembling with anguish. 
 
 " Get off, please, Joan," he pleaded, as the beau- 
 tiful animal was at last brought to a standstill before 
 the steps. Joan was off in an instant, light and 
 graceful as the fairies she so dearly loved to im- 
 agine existed somewhere out there across the 
 stretch of sand between her and the shifting sand 
 hills. 
 
 The horse never stirred while she patted him on 
 his silky nose.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 231 
 
 " Go into the house, Joan," Rodney commanded, 
 as fierce as a wounded bear. 
 
 Joan clipped her lips together. " I'll take King 
 Solomon back to the corral first," she returned, with 
 a trace of anger in her low voice. 
 
 Rodney faced her and his eyes were stern and 
 hard as he repeated, " Go on into the house, Joan." 
 
 " What is the trouble? " came the mournful voice 
 of Sam Welch. 
 
 Welch had missed King Solomon and had fol- 
 lowed his hoofprints to Rodney's cottage, never 
 dreaming for an instant that Joan had taken the 
 wild animal from the corral. 
 
 " I rode King Solomon and it worried Rodney," 
 Joan began, eagerly, as Rodney still stood there 
 silent, stern, unyielding. He was too weak to 
 move. All life and vigor seemed to have left his 
 body. 
 
 " King Solomon is enchanted, Mr. Welch," Joan 
 continued. " Mona and I can ride him in perfect 
 safety. I had hoped Rodney could ride him, but 
 King Solomon will not even allow Rodney to touch 
 him." 
 
 Welch smiled whimsically as Joan rapidly and 
 animatedly sketched her early greeting to the day 
 and her sudden intention to surprise Rodney with 
 her equestrian ability.
 
 232 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 Rodney's face softened as a pleading note crept 
 into the child's voice. 
 
 " Mr. Welch will take King Solomon back, dear," 
 he said at last, very tenderly. " You are willing, 
 are you not ? " 
 
 " If you wish it," Joan answered, calmly, a wist- 
 ful light in her expressive eyes. 
 
 Rodney had never spoken harshly to her before, 
 and her heart was like a leaden weight. All the 
 beauty of the morning was gone for her. 
 
 Welch spat on the sand reflectively; then wiped 
 his mouth with a great red bandanna handkerchief. 
 
 " Reckon you'd best be some easy with her," he 
 said to Rodney. " She's the grittiest girl-child I 
 ever saw. Rode this brute, whew-ee! I call that 
 going some! Well, I'll be going, but go easy with 
 her, son, go easy with a high-strung girl-child like 
 that." 
 
 He turned and walked slowly, solemnly away, 
 wagging his head, while King Solomon jerked rest- 
 lessly at the reins Welch gripped tight in his strong 
 hand. 
 
 "Think of it!" Welch addressed the desert. 
 " A little thing like her, no bigger than a pound of 
 soap after a hard day's washing, riding a horse like 
 this one. Whew-ee! Of course Mona rode him, 
 but an Indian is different, someway. They may be
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 233 
 
 all human, but they don't seem it to me." He spat 
 on the ground again with great dexterity, then 
 stopped and eyed King Solomon tentatively. 
 
 " I'd ride you myself if I only had the backbone 
 of that little tyke back there," he addressed King 
 Solomon now. 
 
 King Solomon snorted in seeming disdain and 
 shied at some imaginary foe. 
 
 " I reckon I'll not ride you yet awhile if ever." 
 Welch wagged his head sorrowfully. " Haven't 
 got the backbone to do it. Whew-ee ! " 
 
 " Joan rode this thing," he announced, mourn- 
 fully, to Arth, as he passed the sick man's cottage. 
 
 " Oh, my Lord ! " Arth's face blanched, as he 
 leaned weakly against the door for support. 
 
 " Yep, she did," Welch repeated. " And I don't 
 mind telling you that is something I wouldn't do 
 myself. Whoa! Whoa, there, you brute." He 
 pulled King Solomon back from an attempt to make 
 a dash across the desert that called him to its 
 alluring mysteries. 
 
 Welch enjoyed himself that morning, as he made 
 a round of the village, recounting in his solemn way 
 Joan's exploit of the early morning. 
 
 When Welch had gone, Rodney drew Joan to 
 him. 
 
 " I was not so cross as I was hurt and fright-
 
 234 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 ened, dear," he said, softly. " You won't ride that 
 beast again, will you ? " 
 
 Joan nestled in his arms with a happy sigh. 
 
 " I will not ride him again, if you do not wish 
 it, Rodney, but I assure you Mona and I are per- 
 fectly safe on him. 
 
 " I like him because he is gingery. The old pinto 
 I have been riding is so slow and unimaginative, 
 and I know King Solomon is just bursting with 
 imagination, but I'll try in the future to believe the 
 pinto is like he was this morning. I am full of 
 thrills yet over my brief flight on King Solomon. 
 And, Rodney dear, I am not ungrateful for being 
 allowed to ride the pinto." She drew back from 
 him, with face aglow. 
 
 " A year ago I never dreamed I would ever ride 
 anything so nice as the pinto, and I assure you I 
 will clip my aspirations to ride King Solomon. You 
 do not mind my petting him with the corral bars 
 between us, do you, Rodney? I have been doing 
 that ever since you had him. He is very fond of 
 sugar, and I am sure he would miss that attention. 
 He is such a sensitive and misunderstood animal." 
 
 It was news to Rodney this having petted King 
 Solomon all winter, but it explained in a measure 
 the animal's allowing Mona and Joan to ride him, 
 for Rodney shrewdly guessed that Joan's shadow,
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 235 
 
 as he called Mona, was present at these daily visits. 
 
 " And you will ride the pinto, if I ask it, will 
 you, little girl ? " 
 
 " Certainly I will. I would do anything for you, 
 Rodney." 
 
 Rodney, looking into her glowing eyes, realized 
 that the child's love for him was a truly great and 
 precious love to be treasured and cared for with 
 unceasing tenderness and patience. 
 
 " What a witch of a child she is," he mused. 
 " Moonlight and dawn fire and dew turned into 
 a girl. Her feet may be on the ground, but her 
 fancy is ever mounted on pinions." 
 
 How well he knew that the child retired to her 
 citadel of dreams, even while her hands mechan- 
 ically and correctly obeyed the dictates of her sub- 
 conscious mind while she performed the few house- 
 hold tasks allotted her by Prudence. How many 
 times he had seen her emerge from her fancies re- 
 freshed and radiant as one who catches the measure 
 of the song of the elements. 
 
 Suddenly he came out of his reverie. Joan was 
 saying, passionately, " For you for you I'd do 
 anything imagined by the mind of man. If you 
 wished it, I'd follow you across the desert in the 
 fiercest heat of the day. I'd follow you as long as I 
 could walk and when I couldn't walk, I'd crawl,
 
 236 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 and when I couldn't crawl " She stopped for a 
 
 moment, at a loss for a word to express the image 
 she had evoked of herself following Rodney across 
 the desert under the torturing glare of the noonday 
 sun. 
 
 " Then what ? " Rodney demanded, his eyes 
 sparkling. 
 
 " Why, I'd wriggle on after you until my tongue 
 hung out of my mouth and my strength utterly 
 failed, and then I'd die rejoicing because the Lord 
 of Hosts had given me the strength to follow you 
 as far as I did. And when I fell by the wayside, 
 you would turn back and sit beside me, and in your 
 heart you would be glad that I had loved you as 
 
 I do and and " the vision became so real, her 
 
 eyes filled with tears. " Oh, Rodney ! Rodney ! " 
 she cried, " I never want to die and leave you, 
 I want to live with you always." 
 
 Rodney drew her to him, looking deep into her 
 somber eyes. 
 
 " I pray we may never be separated, little girl," 
 he said, softly. 
 
 Joan pressed her cheek against the arm he had 
 about her, and so for a long interval they stood 
 there in the silence which is the sweetest gift of 
 friendship and love. 
 
 Prudence broke the silence by a call to break-
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 237 
 
 fast. They were still at the table enjoying a tri- 
 umph of her culinary skill a superb breakfast not 
 shared by the Major, much to the joy of Rod- 
 ney and Joan when a knock came at the front 
 door. 
 
 Prudence was also secretly glad that just they 
 three shared that birthday breakfast Prudence had 
 never felt secure with the Major since the night of 
 the Indian powwow and dance in fact the star of 
 the mournful Welch was now steadily ascending 
 Love's zenith. 
 
 Rodney answered the knock at the door. He 
 came back visibly pleased. 
 
 " Was it Mona ? " Joan demanded, eagerly. 
 
 " Not Mona, and no more questions, little girl. 
 People should never ask questions on a day like 
 this." 
 
 "Oh! Oh!" Joan cried, ecstatically. "It is 
 going to be another of your surprises. I am 
 just quivering all over at the very thought of it. 
 I am too happy for anything. 
 
 " Do you know this is the first the very first 
 birthday I ever had when I could feel in my very 
 bones that some delightful something was going 
 to happen to me. I was so full of thrills this 
 morning I just had to ride King Solomon he 
 seemed to fit right in with my feelings and then
 
 238 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 I thought it would be such a surprise to you, 
 Rodney." 
 
 She sighed. 
 
 " It was a surprise," Rodney returned, dryly. 
 
 " Well, eat your breakfast," Prudence snapped, 
 but her voice had a note of amusement in it for 
 all of its seeming harshness. 
 
 It was easy to see that Joan was in the clouds 
 again. Her fork was poised in mid-air, a juicy 
 bite of delicately fried ham on it. 
 
 Joan came back to earth with another long-drawn 
 sigh. 
 
 " What now ? " Rodney demanded, hiding his 
 twitching lips with his hand. 
 
 " I was just imagining whatever could have come 
 to the door. Oh, I am simply thrilling so that I 
 cannot eat ! " 
 
 " That imagination of yours will be the death 
 of you some day," Prudence said, though not un- 
 kindly. 
 
 " I suppose I do seem sort of crazy to you, Aunt 
 Prudence," Joan said, with a wry little smile. 
 " You are so matter of fact and and reliable." 
 
 " There's a dandy compliment for you, Aunt 
 Prue," Rodney laughed. 
 
 A flush swept over the woman's face, softening 
 it until Rodney was surprised at the glimpse of
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 239 
 
 tenderness for an instant revealed before the every- 
 day mask slipped back over the face of the real 
 woman the woman making an unconscious strug- 
 gle to awaken from the lethargy of sternness that 
 had held her captive through all the years when the 
 tenderness of a woman's heart is usually written 
 upon her face and in the depths of her eyes. 
 
 " I am glad you think I am reliable," Prudence 
 jerked out. 
 
 " Indeed you are reliable, Aunt Prudence. That 
 word suits you exactly. You would no more think 
 of doing such a wild thing, as Rodney thinks I 
 did when I rode King Solomon this morning, than 
 would that mountain over there." 
 
 She nodded toward the mountain, revealed 
 through the window, a misty, purple-veiled guardian 
 of the desert world, outlined against a sky serene. 
 
 " Humph," Prudence ejaculated, but she was 
 pleased nevertheless. 
 
 "So you rode King Solomon, did you?" she 
 asked. " The Lord only knows what you will do 
 next, but I must say you are improving every day." 
 
 " Oh, thank you, thank you, Aunt Prudence." 
 Joan slipped out of her chair and planted a fervent 
 kiss on Prudence's thin lips. 
 
 Prudence's lips did not respond to Joan's, but 
 the woman was conscious of a strange feeling of
 
 240 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 enjoyment, as Joan and Rodney dashed out of the 
 room like the two childhen they were. Rodney 
 White would never grow old in him beat the heart 
 of eternal youth. 
 
 " She's an affectionate little thing," Prudence 
 whispered, as she cleared the table. " Kissed me 
 like she meant it, too. Humph, reckon she did 
 mean it she is honest." She thought a little 
 shamedly of the first kiss Joan had given her the 
 kiss she had wiped off with her apron. This kiss 
 she did not efface, not even the memory of it, 
 and the memory lingered with her for many 
 days. 
 
 " Aunt Prudence ! Aunt Prudence ! " Joan's 
 voice floated in to her, clear and sweet with a ring 
 of joy throbbing in it. 
 
 " Well ? " Prudence demanded tartly, as she an- 
 swered the call, rubbing her hands on her apron. 
 
 " See ! See ! " Joan cried, dancing up and down. 
 " One for me and one for Mona. Oh ! Oh ! You 
 beauties." She flew to the pair of glossy brown 
 Shetland ponies hitched to the porch posts and threw 
 her arms about the neck of the nearest one, and, 
 as was her habit when overwrought with either 
 pleasure or grief, burst into tears. 
 
 " Well, I never ! " Prudence gasped, as Joan 
 raised her tear-stained face from the pony's neck,
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 241 
 
 and with a cry of " Oh, Rodney ! " flung herself 
 upon her guardian. 
 
 " I expected this, so sat down to it," Rodney said, 
 over the tumbled head on his shoulder. 
 
 " Humph ! " Prudence sniffed, but her mouth 
 jerked with a grim smile. 
 
 Mona was as eagerly happy over the gift, in her 
 quiet way, as Joan was in her vivid gratitude. 
 Mona was a bright picture on her sturdy little pony, 
 but to Rodney White nothing was ever so good to 
 look upon as was Joan, vivid and alert, eyes shining, 
 face aglow, as she mounted her pony. 
 
 " Can you imagine he is as good to ride as King 
 Solomon ? " Rodney asked, as he and the two little 
 girls started for a long-planned ride to the deserted 
 village of Tellput. 
 
 For an instant Joan's eyes flashed in memory 
 of that wild dash on King Solomon; then she faced 
 Rodney, the light of truth in her eyes. 
 
 " I love my birthday gift best, Rodney dear. I 
 would rather ride him than King Solomon because 
 I could never ride King Solomon again with just 
 the same feeling I had when I rode him this morn- 
 ing." 
 
 Rodney laughed and turned to Mona. He caught 
 the light in her eyes that had been there the night 
 she crossed the boundary line from childhood to
 
 242 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 womanhood. The look passed in an instant, and 
 Mona smiled past him at Joan, her eyes grave, in- 
 scrutable, her voice low and musical as she said, 
 " I thank you, not only for the joy the gift brings 
 me but for the happiness it also brings her. When 
 she, my friend, is happy, I, Mona, am full of joy." 
 
 After Mona's low-toned words the ride was con- 
 tinued in silence. A silence full of love and under- 
 standing and the undertone of pain in the heart 
 of one only made sweeter the score of perfect 
 harmony. 
 
 From Rainbow Springs, a living green garden 
 amidst the wide stretch of dull-colored sand dotted 
 here and there with cacti and sage redolent with 
 an odor found nowhere but on the desert, the way 
 lay straight across the glistening sand in a waving, 
 serpentine, half -hidden trail until it reached the 
 climbing path that led up the sage-grown side of 
 Lone Pine Ridge. On the other side of Lone Pine 
 Ridge lay the silent, deserted Indian village of 
 Tellput. 
 
 When the morning lifted the purple veils from 
 the mountains, their peaks were revealed in snow- 
 crowned splendor, kissed by the ardent sun into daz- 
 zling brightness. 
 
 Under their white crests the mountains dimpled 
 with a bewitching, alluring beauty.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 243 
 
 A stray breeze swept across the stretch of sand 
 and blew Joan's rebellious hair back from her fore- 
 head. 
 
 " Oh, it's good, good, just to live on a morning- 
 like this ! " she cried, holding out her hands to the 
 whispering breeze. 
 
 Don barked joyfully at the sound of her beloved 
 voice. Don was having an active time that morn- 
 ing, dashing over the sand in quest of imaginary 
 prey, for there was no sign of animal life abroad 
 on the desert that morning. 
 
 As they turned up the winding path that wound 
 round and around in its upward climb to the top of 
 Lone Pine Ridge, they rode again in silence, en- 
 tranced by the panorama of beauty that lay before 
 them as they climbed higher and higher up the side 
 of the ridge. 
 
 On the very top of Lone Pine Ridge, they looked 
 down, on either side of it, upon the desert, majestic, 
 mysterious. Beside the trail, perched on a pro- 
 jecting ledge of the ridge, under the lone pine that 
 gives the ridge its name, stood a dilapidated three- 
 room cottage with a shambling shed clinging to the 
 rear room. 
 
 As they rested there under the shade of the great 
 pine, Mona told of the last occupant of that crum- 
 bling shack : A consumptive had lived there alone
 
 244 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 had been found there many months after his spirit 
 had gone to the great unknown. 
 
 When Mona had finished the pitiful story, Joan's 
 eyes were misty with tears, she was all aquiver with 
 sympathy for the lonely youth, who had lived there 
 for a time in sublime confidence that health would 
 come to such an earnest wooer of it as was he. She 
 could almost feel the calm resignation with which 
 he faced death there, where he could, to the last, 
 overlook the vast solitude of the desert on either 
 side of him. 
 
 Joan had cause to remember that cottage all the 
 rest of her life, for the next time she saw it she 
 was filled with anger and fear. 
 
 As they began the descent to the deserted village 
 that lay a crumbling heap on the desert's quiet 
 bosom, Don, some distance ahead of them, set up 
 a furious barking. 
 
 The sun was high in the sky now, the atmosphere 
 surcharged with a heat, the fierceness of which 
 was never felt at Rainbow Springs. Rodney 
 felt the heat, but Joan was as fresh and cool 
 as when they started out in the early morning, 
 while Mona was calm and as inscrutably grave 
 as ever. 
 
 With a little cry of excitement, because of Don's 
 continued barking, Joan urged her placid pony
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 245 
 
 ahead of Rodney and Mona in her eagerness to find 
 the cause of Don's excitement. 
 
 " I fear she be sad by what she find," Mona said, 
 gravely. " Something tells me so here." She 
 placed her hand on her heart. 
 
 The sun-glints on her wonderful copper-tinted 
 hair made it ripple and glisten with a vivid glow. 
 
 " What an exquisite picture she makes here with 
 the desert her fitting background," Rodney mused, 
 as he lightly returned, " It is only one of Don's 
 usual wild fancies." Around Rodney's mouth were 
 the imprints of many smiles, but his face grew as 
 grave as Mona's when they reached a pitiful, quiv- 
 ering-lipped, little Joan, looking down on the half- 
 eaten body of a dog a dog Rodney, as well as she, 
 instantly remembered. It was one of the two that 
 followed the old minister across the desert the first 
 morning they were at Rainbow Springs. 
 
 Some half -starved coyote had feasted upon the 
 poor animal no longer ago than that morning. 
 
 Rodney dismounted and began to examine a 
 strange adornment, if adornment it had been, that 
 hung by a wire to the dog's collar. 
 
 " Am in old Indian well, Tellput, leg broken. 
 God is here. Dad Sherwood," was the message 
 faintly scratched on a small tin can lid, a lid such 
 as comes on three-pound lard tins.
 
 246 . JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 Rodney turned to Joan and Mona, and read aloud 
 the message scratched on the can lid. " We'll find 
 him alive, I pray," he added, as he mounted the 
 tough buckskin Indian pony he had hired from 
 Pedro for the day. 
 
 Joan's lips still quivered, but there was a rapt 
 light in her eyes and Rodney knew she was silently 
 praying. 
 
 A quarter of a mile further on they came to a 
 heap of whitened human skeletons, flanked by other 
 whitened bones the grim outlines of horses and 
 burros. Beside them lay also the bodies of two 
 burros and a young collie dog, silent yet of such 
 recent demise that they seemed to be sleeping. In 
 the center of the grim setting lay the cause of the 
 tragic story which had its beginning in the whitest 
 heap of bones beside it a pool of poisoned water, 
 sparkling in deceptive allurement. 
 
 " Dad Sherwood would not drink it," Mona said, 
 in answer to the unspoken fear in Rodney's eyes. 
 " He knows the desert well. He would read and 
 understand." She pointed to the whitened bones. 
 
 Rodney was glad to believe her, glad also to leave 
 the deceiving pool of water. They cantered on to 
 the deserted village in silence, hoping yet fearing 
 to find the old man they sought. Rodney could al- 
 most see the silver-haired, silver-voiced old man as
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 247 
 
 he saw him that morning as he started across the 
 desert with his burros and dogs. How the old 
 man loved the desert the land of harmony! 
 
 Rodney loved the desert, too, even though he 
 knew that it held many tragic secrets in its mys- 
 terious embrace tragedies like those of the poi- 
 soned spring they had just passed. But were those 
 tragedies the fault of the desert? Surely the fault 
 was not the fault of the land, the music of which 
 touched a responsive chord in his innermost soul 
 the land God had endowed with life-giving power 
 and soul-refreshing strength the land that was to 
 Rodney White a divine symphony. Its vast si- 
 lence, jagged mountains, and blue skies the theme. 
 Its adagios, variations of the defiant and the de- 
 fensive. Its allegros, the elusive stretches of sand, 
 the unexplored canyons. The matchless whole 
 softened and shaded to an exquisite paean, bright- 
 ened and illuminated by vivid dawns and purple- 
 hued twilights with mystic interludes of moon- 
 silvered nights. 
 
 The deserted village of Tellput is in the last 
 crumbling stages of utter dissolution. The broken 
 adobe walls and infirm thatch huts, squatting on 
 the narrow trail-like streets, are the last lingering 
 notes of the little village that once rang with the 
 musical voices of a vanishing race.
 
 248 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 In the heart of the deserted village, Rodney and 
 the girls came upon a typical Indian well of bygone 
 days. 
 
 A well at the bottom of a great terraced pit, with 
 narrow crumbling steps leading down to the little 
 space of ground around the pool of sparkling water. 
 There in the ancient days many a dusky belle had 
 gone to fill her olla, conscious of the admiring gaze 
 of some stalwart copper-hued brave. 
 
 At the bottom of the pit, Rodney found Dad 
 Sherwood, gaunt and almost starved, but not suf- 
 fering from that desert thirst that drives men mad 
 and causes some to call the desert " The land God 
 forgot." By such the harmony of the desert can 
 never be heard, but to Rodney and Dad Sherwood 
 and the two girls riding the same pony on the home- 
 ward trip that day (the old minister rode the other 
 one) the desert sang a superb anthem of joy.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 THAT evening at seven o'clock the birthday 
 festivities, for Mona and Joan, began. 
 Joan was immediately exalted to dizzy 
 realms of delight. 
 
 Even the most desperately ill of the consumptives, 
 at the Springs, had managed to come to the party, 
 and the little cottage rang with laughter and jests, 
 some of the jests grim, but through all the merri- 
 ment, with the shadow of death hanging over many, 
 .there predominated the strain of humor mercifully 
 given to most tubercular sufferers. 
 
 The garb of the sick men ran largely to the pic- 
 turesque, for many of the men were college grad- 
 uates. To most, the knowledge of their grim dis- 
 ease had come as a complete surprise something 
 wholly unexpected a something that revolution- 
 ized their entire life. 
 
 When the hermit doctor came into the living-room 
 after attending to the old minister's broken leg, the 
 sick men greeted him with shouts of delight. Since 
 the night of Arth's critical attack, the hermit doc- 
 tor had spent the greater part of his time at the 
 
 249
 
 250 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 Springs and had rendered most of the sick men 
 some professional service. 
 
 "How is Brown?" the hermit doctor asked a 
 laughing-eyed youth in the last stages of the grim 
 disease. Brown, the man in question, had been at 
 one time a successful dentist in Los Angeles. Brown 
 had been at Rainbow Springs most of the winter, a 
 victim also of the great white plague; the previous 
 week he had gone to Los Angeles on business. 
 
 The reply of the sick lad was characteristic of 
 the manner in which most of the men took the prom- 
 ise of the future. " Oh, Brown is all right," laughed 
 the sick man, " I heard about him to-day he is 
 filling his last cavity." 
 
 The hermit doctor could not repress a smile 
 the young fellow was so heroically cheerful, with 
 the same cavity yawning at his very feet. 
 
 Lois Reeves and Martha Welch arrived just then. 
 The doctor greeted Lois with an unmistakable light 
 in his eyes; then he went out on the porch. As he 
 stood there, looking across the desert, its ever pre- 
 vailing, haunting sense of the unknown clasping 
 hands with the dusk gathering on its sweeping si- 
 lence until the distant line of horizon was merged 
 into the low-hanging sky and the mountains were 
 half-hidden by misty veils of purple and the canyons 
 were packed full of black shadows, the doctor real-
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 251 
 
 ized as never before how the majestic, mysterious 
 desert had taken him to its heart, giving him 
 strength first, then peace and understanding that 
 night at Arth's. 
 
 Since that memorable night, the hermit doctor 
 had taken a keen interest in the future that might 
 yet be his. Joan had aroused the soul in him Lois 
 Reeves had awakened his heart the heart he had 
 thought buried forever in some unknown yet be- 
 loved and hallowed spot. 
 
 He sighed as memory marched before him its 
 phantoms of joy and pain. 
 
 Suddenly came the thought of the youth in there 
 making his grim jest about the last cavity, and as 
 suddenly came the determination to go East to study 
 the new Rattlesnake Cure of which he had read 
 only that morning. He had the means, he loved 
 the desert, and, surely such heroic spirits, as those 
 making merry in there, should have a great chance 
 to win the health they wooed so heroically. 
 
 He knew that many of them had little or no 
 means; that many of them depended upon the dry 
 air alone to win life's battle for them. The ones 
 who came after that brave chap in there would be 
 in the same financial condition. He regretted then, 
 as he had regretted it scores of times during his 
 few awakened days, that he had not applied his at-
 
 252 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 tention to this disease, when he studied abroad, in- 
 stead of to surgery. 
 
 He smiled as he thought of Joan. What a paean 
 of joy she had been to all in the village; how every 
 one loved her " all spirit and fire and dew " that 
 she was. 
 
 He thought whimsically that Prudence White 
 would approve more of the child's conduct if she 
 were demure and prim, but every one else loved 
 her best as she was, with her impulsive soul. He 
 smiled again, as he thought how easily the child 
 responded to joy. He knew, as did Rodney, 
 that Joan would never and could never enjoy 
 or suffer tranquilly. She would ever take the 
 pleasure or pain life brought her with trebled 
 intensity. 
 
 Joan's clear, happy laugh floated out to him with 
 a haunting familiarity. He had a strange sensa- 
 tion of having heard that laugh and loved it in some 
 other existence. The child's eyes were always 
 haunting him with their resemblance to other eyes 
 that had smiled into his. 
 
 He had smoked as he stood there; now he threw 
 the cigar away and went back into the house. High 
 carnival met him Dad Sherwood had been car- 
 ried in on his cot. Rodney had brought the old 
 man home with him from Tellput, and intended to
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 253 
 
 keep him, as his guest, until the old minister was 
 entirely himself again. 
 
 Joan was fluttering about the old man's cot. As 
 she bent over the old minister to straighten an al- 
 ready immaculate pillow, the doctor was suddenly 
 conscious of whom she reminded him. Over his 
 face crept an ashy pallor and he seemed suddenly to 
 have crossed the boundary line between the fullness 
 of life and extreme old age. 
 
 The Major was the only white person in the vil- 
 lage who was not present at the party that night. 
 The Major sulked beside his own fire; he had made 
 his first complete proposal to Prudence that day. 
 He had met with an unexpected rejection a rejec- 
 tion so firm that neither cajolery, flattery, nor pro- 
 testations of an undying love moved it. Prudence 
 was inflexible; although her heart throbbed 
 strangely the Major's proposal was the first that 
 had ever been made to her and it had shaken her 
 to the very depths shaken her so that she was un- 
 usually kind to Welch that night, for Prudence had 
 an unaccountable longing to hear from Welch the 
 words she had scorned from the Major. 
 
 Mona was very beautiful and very happy that 
 night. Her great eyes glowed with a soft radiance 
 that made Rodney rejoice every time he looked at 
 her. But the will-o'-the-wisp Joan was, to him, the
 
 254 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 most glorious thing on earth, as she flitted about 
 among the guests with a bright, encouraging word 
 for every one. His heart throbbed with joy, as he 
 looked into the faces of the sick men after the child 
 had spoken to them one and all they reflected the 
 light of joy so vivid in the child's expressive coun- 
 tenance. 
 
 At Rodney's request every one had remembered 
 Joan and Mona with gifts identical this, that 
 Joan's sensitive heart should not be wounded as it 
 would have been, had she received more than did 
 Mona. 
 
 Rodney alone made a difference of gifts between 
 the two this was a secret between him and Joan 
 but for the first time, Joan, that night, wore her 
 locket on the outside of her dress, and this night a 
 slender gold chain had taken the place of the well- 
 worn ribbon to which it had been fastened when 
 Rodney first saw the miniatured face, in its setting 
 of pearls. 
 
 The hermit doctor watched the old minister 
 closely as the merriment grew in volume about them. 
 
 The old minister finally caught the look in the 
 younger man's eyes and beckoned to him. 
 
 When the doctor was seated beside him, the old 
 man said softly, " You notice, I see, that I am my- 
 self again."
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 255 
 
 The doctor nodded. 
 
 " The fall seemed to clear all the blur away, and 
 during the hours I spent down there in the old well 
 I came to my right mind. The trouble will never 
 come back, will it? " There was a note of anxiety 
 now, in the low musical voice. 
 
 The doctor studied the fine old face intently. 
 The light of reason, in the old eyes, was as clear as 
 that in his own. He held out his hand and 
 gripped the old one that met it so eagerly. His 
 voice, when he spoke, was husky. 
 
 " You need never fear the return of the cloud. 
 Often a fall, such as you had, restores one to per- 
 fect sanity and, I am happy to say that you are per- 
 fectly normal now, Mr. Sherwood." 
 
 The old man pressed his hand gratefully. " It 
 is good, good," he said, softly. " Those were long 
 hours I spent in the old well. I was unconscious 
 for a long time, but when reason came again it 
 brought with it a clarity of reason that had not 
 been mine since my great loss." He sighed; then 
 his eyes brightened, as Joan came flying to him, 
 holding triumphantly aloft a handsome silver dog 
 collar. 
 
 " For Don," she cried. " Mr. Welch brought 
 it to Don." As the silver and gold-brown heads 
 bent together over the dog collar, the locket Joan
 
 256 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 wore swung out on the slender gold chain and flew 
 open, revealing the miniature face in all its wistful 
 beauty. 
 
 The doctor saw and was held speechless by the 
 pictured face so like Joan's the face of the other 
 Joanna. Over his face crept a slow, ashen-gray 
 wave, and his hand shook as he lifted it slowly and 
 closed it a minute upon his eyes as one does to 
 clear a blurred vision. 
 
 So the shuttles of life fly swiftly to and fro 
 through the years swiftly, silently weaving pat- 
 terns which one may not trace. Patterns woven in 
 the strange loom of Life while fate shifts the 
 frames and now and then ties a broken thread, 
 linking the past with the present after a lapse of 
 many years. 
 
 The voice of the old minister, at last, reached 
 through the questioning reverie into which the her- 
 mit doctor had drifted. He heard the silver voice 
 as one hears dream voices, but he never forgot the 
 words. 
 
 "You open before me memory's casket of jew- 
 els, little girl," the old minister was saying. " Once 
 I would have looked upon them with naught but 
 pain in my heart, now there is sweetness where once 
 pain reigned supreme." 
 
 Joan curled up on the cot beside the old man and
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 257 
 
 buried her chin in her hands her eyes were mystic 
 wells of interest now. 
 
 The hermit doctor watched the child; his hand 
 still shading his eyes. 
 
 " Memory's casket is of gold and wonderfully 
 carved by the goldsmith of life," continued the 
 mellow voice. " It is full of jewels, little girl. 
 All the jewels that are in the foundation of 
 the New Jerusalem are there. Jaspers made of 
 the mistakes of our lives, opaque and highly 
 polished. 
 
 " Sapphires of the golden days and care-free 
 nights. Chalcedonies lustrous with mingled pleas- 
 ure and pain. Emeralds made of the joys of youth. 
 Sardonyx of evil thoughts and white forgiveness. 
 Sardius speaking of the heart's deepest love. 
 Chrysolite speaking of ' Green pastures and still 
 waters.' Some day we will look at them all, little 
 girl, even the Pearls that are the unshed tears of 
 our heart's deepest sorrows, but now, if I mistake 
 not, we are going to hear something that will be as 
 a cup of cold water to our thirsty souls." 
 
 Joan's eyes followed his and her heart throbbed 
 with joy. Rodney stood across the room with his 
 violin tucked under his chin. She clutched at her 
 throat; she knew Rodney was going to play for 
 her; her heart seemed to almost stop beating at the
 
 258 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 thought of again hearing the voice of the violin. 
 
 In almost a whisper came the voice of the violin, 
 soft and full and sweet as an angel's call. 
 
 By invisible degrees the melody grew in volume, 
 full of life and majesty, yet with a throbbing, thrill- 
 ing, whispering undertone of peace and perfect un- 
 derstanding. 
 
 The majesty of the song of the desert, as it had 
 spoken to Rodney, was there, and he wove a mas- 
 terful improvisation of it in that wonderful theme. 
 The defiant and defensive, the minor plaintive notes 
 lightened and brightened by days of clear skies, 
 moon-silvered nights, rippling whispers of some 
 grateful breeze with variations of the trills of the 
 mocking bird that lived in the great pepper tree 
 that overshadowed the house. 
 
 Then came a brighter theme; its variations 
 frolicsome and mirthful as a bubbling brook, 
 chuckling with joy as it flows on and on until 
 caught up by other babbling brooks and merged at 
 last in a rushing river of swirling eddies and tur- 
 bulent currents the river of life itself life as 
 Rodney had known it a river that flowed on and 
 on throbbing with resounding chords and epic songs 
 of prayer and pain and joy and peace until with 
 a final chord, majestic in its absolute surrender to 
 the will of the Infinite the power that leads the
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 259 
 
 brook on to the river, the river on to the sea of 
 fulfillment the violin ceased speaking. 
 
 Joan only half stifled a sob that was a strange 
 mingling of joy and pain. Rodney smiled at her 
 as his fingers began to shape the melody of the 
 " Ave Maria." 
 
 Joan recognized the melody and smiled with joy, 
 while the melody itself was being interpreted by a 
 master, who expressed in it himself. Rodney saw 
 again that little pathetic figure crouched in front 
 of his fire and the violin spoke softly; then laughed 
 and thrilled with a holy joy because the child had 
 answered an earlier cry of pain of sorrow, fol- 
 lowed by sweet resignation. 
 
 Then came a note of hope in the violin's voice 
 and it spoke of hope to those from whom hope had 
 fled. 
 
 Life seemed to take on a new promise of ex- 
 tension seemed to have been given for something 
 besides patient endurance. Enjoyment, peace, and 
 fulfillment of something majestic and full of recom- 
 pense seemed also to be included in the scheme of 
 things. 
 
 When the guests, of that memorable night, de- 
 parted, on their faces was a reflection of that ex- 
 altation that shone in Joan's eyes and radiated her 
 every feature. Happiness hung round Joan like a
 
 260 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 garment she seemed to have been bathed in some 
 ethereal fountain of supreme joy a joy that was 
 contagious. Every one there felt some of the un- 
 alloyed joy she represented. 
 
 The hermit doctor lingered after all the rest of 
 the guests had gone. After Joan had gone reluc- 
 tantly to bed, too thrilled to sleep, the doctor asked 
 Rodney if the miniature face in Joan's locket was 
 the face of some relative of the child. 
 
 " Her mother," Rodney answered, tersely. 
 " Her father was a cur, he deserted her and her 
 child-mother when my Joan was a little baby." 
 Rodney's voice was raspy with hate now; he de- 
 tested the man who had deserted the child and the 
 wistful-eyed mother. 
 
 As he spoke the doctor's face blanched with the 
 gray pallor that is not the pallor of death but some- 
 thing more ghastly. 
 
 " Perhaps there were extenuating circumstances," 
 he advanced, when Rodney ceased his tirade against 
 Joan's father. 
 
 " There could be none for such a wrong," Rod- 
 ney returned heatedly, and the doctor's heart felt 
 like lead until the old minister lightened the leaden 
 weight by a low-voiced, " We cannot know, my 
 boy, the circumstances we should not judge. We 
 must always remember the One who forgives all
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 261 
 
 things and commands us to forgive even as we hope 
 to be forgiven. It's a grand life we live, boys, if 
 we live it as we should. Every one has his own 
 fight to make every one knows his own limitations 
 knows his own soul. When the Lord is with us 
 when the soul is right a man can conquer any- 
 thing, can be forgiven anything." 
 
 " When the soul is right a man can conquer any- 
 thing," the doctor repeated, softly, as he went down 
 the sandy road toward Arth's cottage. There was 
 a light shining in Arth's window and the shade was 
 not drawn. The doctor walked close to the window 
 and looked in, not after the manner of one who 
 spies on others. The doctor looked to assure him- 
 self of Arth's physical condition, after the hours 
 he had spent in unusual excitement. 
 
 Arth was sitting on the side of his bed ; his face, 
 revealed by the dim light of the smoky lamp, was 
 pain drawn, his lips were quivering, his eyes misty, 
 as he looked upon the little photograph he held in 
 his hand. 
 
 The doctor turned away, a low moan of sym- 
 pathy wrung from him. " Every man has his own 
 fight to make." He quoted the old minister again. 
 
 " God knows I have my fight to make," he said, 
 hoarsely. In the translucent moonlight, he looked
 
 262 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 white and spent. He walked down the road past 
 Lois' cottage, as walk the very old or those who 
 have just left a freshly filled grave. 
 
 Before his eyes was the face of Lois as he had 
 seen it ever since it had first been indelibly stamped 
 upon his mind in all its winsome and alluring wom- 
 anly tenderness. 
 
 Until he saw the miniature that night, he had 
 hoped and prayed that he might win Lois, but could 
 he ever make her understand could he make her 
 believe in the extenuating circumstances? There 
 was only his word against the contradictory evi- 
 dence of the years. " Would she understand ? " 
 He appealed to the serene moon and stars, mocking 
 him with their serenity. 
 
 And yet Lois Reeves was, to him, the very acme 
 of intelligence. Divinely womanly was she, there- 
 fore divinely forgiving, " but would she under- 
 stand?" he questioned over and over. How un- 
 speakably desirable was she, this woman he might 
 hope to win, but for the specter of the past, his past 
 the gaunt, grim specter of circumstantial evi- 
 dence. 
 
 Would she ever believe he was not to blame? 
 
 Suddenly came the thought that he need not tell 
 her of the grim specter. No one need ever know 
 of the past. No one had seen him when he looked
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 263 
 
 upon that miniatured, wistful face the face that 
 confirmed his wild thoughts the wild fancies that 
 were proven correct. How his brain had whirled 
 with them ever since he first looked into the child's 
 hauntingly familiar eyes. 
 
 Compounded in the winsome personality of the 
 child was all that was good and noble of that other 
 Joanna of those blissful days of his youth. The 
 child was like some young goddess now the rep- 
 lica of the child-mother who had borne her, yet in 
 her was his own fiery temper. He could again hear 
 the voice of Rodney White, as he said : " Joan is 
 like some rare strain of music with an occasional 
 discord of temper." 
 
 The doctor's face flushed as he recalled the ring 
 in Rodney's voice as he told of Joan's pride in the 
 marriage certificate how the sensitive, high-strung 
 child must have been made to suffer by some un- 
 scrupulous harpy. Some one had no doubt called 
 the adored mother an unkind name or the marriage 
 certificate that proved that mother's purity would 
 not be so cherished by a child. 
 
 The man's innermost consciousness seemed to 
 shrink as from a sudden blow. His cringing cow- 
 ardice was the cause of the child's humiliation. 
 How Rodney White hated the man who had caused 
 it and how cordial Rodney White was to him.
 
 264 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 He laughed. " O God, what a farce life is, after 
 all ! " He shrugged his shoulders as if to shake off 
 a burden that was grievous to bear. He knew that 
 the time might come when he could no longer keep 
 silent not even to win Lois. 
 
 A great, surging flood of paternal love swept over 
 him. He turned and looked back toward the little 
 unpainted shack where Lois lived and the paternal 
 love receded, was swept away by an overwhelming 
 tide of love for the winsome, womanly girl, mak- 
 ing such a brave fight for her health while she 
 taught the Indian school and and oh, the irony 
 of it her only white pupil was the child, 
 Joan. 
 
 He tried to moisten his dry lips with his parched 
 tongue. Lois had been very sweet and gracious to 
 him that night. 
 
 His eyes brightened at the thought of her. How 
 proud he would be of her as his wife! He struck 
 his open palm with clenched knuckles. " I'll win 
 her," he cried, triumphantly. He smiled again very 
 tenderly, his eyes on the little unpainted shack with 
 silver moonlit bars of light laid lightly over it, soft- 
 ening its crude outlines. 
 
 Yes, he would marry Lois Reeves and cease to be 
 sad and conscience-stricken over his discovery. The 
 child was well cared for. He must forget his dis-
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 265 
 
 covery, and yet how hauntingly sweet was she the 
 replica of his first love. 
 
 " O God ! " he cried. " Drawn to her as I am 
 by every fiber of my being, still I dare not own her 
 now. I must I must win Lois. Lois! Lois! 
 You are far more dear to me than was my first love. 
 I love now as a man then I was a boy. Lois! 
 Lois ! I must win you. I simply haven't the cour- 
 age to acknowledge that first love and and the 
 child I cannot lose you, Lois. And why should I 
 ever mention the past ? " he demanded, fiercely, 
 wringing his locked hands. " I will go East, as I 
 planned to-night before my fears were confirmed, 
 and when I come back I will do a work here of 
 which you will be proud, Lois dear. And some day 
 some day, Lois dear, you will be mine. I love 
 you, Lois, as woman never was loved before. I 
 long for you in spirit and body as woman was 
 never desired before. 
 
 " I love you ten thousand times more than I 
 loved the love of my youth, and yet God knows 
 how I loved her love her still as one loves the 
 memory of something very precious and lovely 
 that has been laid away for years in a golden casket 
 such as the old minister told of to-night." 
 
 Raising his eyes to the serene, star- jeweled sky, 
 he tried to frame a prayer, but he could not pray.
 
 266 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 " There shall be nothing hidden that shall not be 
 revealed," came to him with the force of a catapult, 
 hurling him back to the beginning again back 
 where he was when he came out into the starry 
 night. 
 
 He turned and walked back through the village 
 to the old Indian graveyard, and sank down upon 
 a flat bowlder. 
 
 He remained there on the rock and watched the 
 moon go down and the soft veil of utter darkness 
 fall over the desert world the veil of utter black- 
 ness that precedes the dawn. The desert throbbed 
 and pulsated in some mystic, majestic music and 
 still the man sat there without any sense of fatigue 
 without reaching any final solution of the prob- 
 lem that confronted him. At daybreak he went 
 back to the village, without meeting any one. A 
 light still burned low in Arth's cottage. He quick- 
 ened his pace, fearing that Arm might have been 
 taken suddenly worse. He peered in at the same 
 window through which he had looked just after 
 he left Rodney's. He sighed with relief, as his 
 eyes rested on Arth sleeping peacefully. He turned 
 away from the window and looked down the road 
 toward Lois' cottage. 
 
 The first rays of the morning sun touched the 
 little unpainted shack with a kindly light.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 267 
 
 " Lois ! Lois ! God grant that you may some 
 day be mine," he cried, softly, reverently baring his 
 head. 
 
 A few days later the hermit doctor went East 
 his problem still unsolved; his secret still his 
 own. 
 
 A beautiful May gave place to a warm but radi- 
 antly beautiful June. Each passing day was a paean 
 of joy fqr Rodney and Joan and the old minister, 
 who still remained at Rodney's, although his broken 
 leg was long since healed. 
 
 The porch was the Mecca of the three these days. 
 The instant Joan returned from school, she curled 
 up on the cot beside the old minister, while he told 
 her of the Southern city, on the edge of which had 
 been the ivy-covered church, where he had min- 
 istered to his flock for more than twoscore years 
 loving his people and understanding them as only 
 a poet soul, endowed with a spiritual divinity, can 
 love and understand. 
 
 " We are going to have splendid school exer- 
 cises next week when school closes," Joan cried, 
 one day, as she flung herself on the cot beside the 
 old man, breathless and flushed from the wild run 
 she, and Mona, and Don had made up the sandy 
 road, gleaming like a golden ribbon under the 
 summer sun.
 
 268 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 "Where is Rodney?" she demanded, when she 
 had caught her breath. 
 
 " With Arth. Poor Arth, he is not so well to- 
 day. Yet, why should I call him poor Arth? He 
 is a divinely fortunate Arth he is God's own child 
 ready to be gathered to the ' realm of pure de- 
 light/ " he murmured to himself. 
 
 Joan's face clouded and a tender, wistful look 
 crept into her eyes. Arth was never so well these 
 days and his wife had not come. Joan was glad 
 now that Arth did not know of the letter she had 
 written his wife so many weeks ago. Each morn- 
 ing when she looked into the sick man's feverish 
 face, her heart ached and throbbed in sympathy and 
 understanding of the longing, wistful look in his 
 eyes. 
 
 Her early, unchildlike life had taught her the 
 lesson of pain and longing for the touch of a hand 
 of love and understanding for the presence of 
 one's very own loved ones. 
 
 She knew that Arth each day longed more and 
 more for his wife, because the little picture was al- 
 ways on the pillow beside him the days he was too 
 spent to be up. 
 
 The old man sighed and brushed his shining silver 
 hair back from his forehead. 
 
 A cool breeze swept in across the desert. The
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 269 
 
 air felt good to him. He sighed with distinct relief. 
 This was almost as good as being in his garden 
 at home the garden beside the ivy-covered 
 church. 
 
 He looked at Joan with a tender smile. The 
 child's face showed her misery over the thought of 
 Arth. 
 
 How tender she was how quickly touched she 
 was by the suffering of others how generous she 
 was to his protegee, Mona, and yet what an un- 
 tamable firefly of a child she was, he mused. He 
 sought now to divert her to bring the sparkle of 
 light back to her eyes. 
 
 " I can just see, yonder in that purple veil over 
 the mountain, my churchyard wall and beyond it 
 the red gables of my rectory," he said, whimsi- 
 cally. 
 
 Joan's eyes followed his, and he knew by the up- 
 lift of her head that she too saw the vision. 
 
 He laughed a low, musical laugh of pleasure. 
 The wind came in stronger and cooler now, and 
 blew his white hair about like threads of silver 
 tapestry. 
 
 " I can almost smell my old-fashioned clove pinks, 
 lassie," he said, gently. 
 
 " So can I." Joan's face was radiant. " Let us 
 have a garden here," she cried, eagerly.
 
 270 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 " So we shall, lassie, so we shall," agreed the 
 old minister. " We'll send back to my old home 
 for some cuttings and seeds from the old garden, 
 and " 
 
 "And, Dad! Dad!" Joan interrupted, her eyes 
 shining. " There is a church here. Oh, Dad ! 
 Dad ! you'll preach in it, won't you ? " 
 
 The old man's eyes followed hers to the little 
 church silhouetted against the shadows banking 
 up between it and the mountains. His eyes 
 lighted and his face was transfigured with an 
 inner glory, as he saw the little church in a new 
 light. 
 
 " So I can, so I can, and shall, lassie," he said 
 at last. " I wonder I did not think of it the little 
 church I have longed for the little church ready 
 and waiting for me," he mused, as Joan flew down 
 the road to meet Rodney. 
 
 Then he sighed, as he remembered the cloud that 
 had darkened his intellect before his fall. 
 
 " ' And a little child shall lead them,' " he said 
 to Rodney, his voice soft with emotion, as Rodney 
 and Joan came up the steps hand in hand, chatting 
 joyously. 
 
 " Come on in, Joan," came the voice of Prudence 
 from the living-room. 
 
 " Coming, Aunt Prudence," Joan responded,
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 271 
 
 meekly. She wondered if she had done anything 
 to merit the displeasure of Prudence. 
 
 " Hope Aunt Prue does not scold her," Rodney 
 said, taking a chair near the old man. 
 
 " She won't," the old minister returned, cheer- 
 fully. " I smell cookies," he added, boyishly. " I 
 prophesy they are coming our way, too." 
 
 " You are a good prophet, Dad," Rodney 
 laughed, as Joan came dashing out to them, all 
 flushed and glowing, a plate heaped high with 
 fragrant cookies, held out before her. 
 
 " I am to take Mr. Arth some," she cried, ex- 
 citedly, setting the plate of cookies on a small table 
 in easy reach of both men. " Aunt Prudence is 
 too good for anything," she flung over her shoulder, 
 as she came out the second time with a heaping 
 plate of the delicately browned dainties. 
 
 " I repeat ' a little child shall lead them,' " the 
 old man said, fervently. 
 
 " Something has changed Aunt Prue," Rodney 
 said, softly. " I never had cookies when I was a 
 little chap, unless Judge Wheaton gave them to me 
 when his wife baked and I am sure he slipped 
 them for me," he added, with a little reminiscent 
 sigh. 
 
 The old minister smiled at him understandingly ; 
 then began to tell Rodney of his talk with Joan that
 
 272 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 afternoon, becoming more and more enthusiastic as 
 he expressed his suddenly formed plan to open the 
 little church, so long only a silent building of God, 
 and make of it a house of worship for all those in 
 the little village.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 " "IT "JT T ELL, what now ? " demanded Prudence, 
 V/Y/ one day, as Joan came dashing in with 
 Don. 
 
 " Take that dog out of here, Joan Worthington," 
 she commanded tartly, her keen eyes cold now, as 
 Don gamboled about Joan, leaping and barking for 
 the letter the child held high above her head. 
 
 " Oh, Aunt Prue, let Don alone a minute," Rod- 
 ney pleaded. " Please let him alone, can't you see 
 Joan is excited." 
 
 " She's always excited," Prudence snapped 
 crossly, as she prodded Don out of the room. 
 
 " Never mind, dear," Rodney comforted. 
 
 " I can't mind now, but I shall feel perfectly ter- 
 rible over my excitement getting dear old Don in 
 trouble, after I have time to recover from the thrills 
 this letter has brought me." 
 
 Rodney smiled and flung himself down in a great 
 armchair. He knew full well that Joan would 
 perch on the arm of it the next instant. 
 
 He was not mistaken. In her favorite place, on 
 the chair arm, her cheek pressed close against 
 
 273
 
 274 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 Rodney's, Joan held out at arm length the cause 
 of her excitement. 
 
 " Listen, Rodney White ! Just listen, ' Miss Joan 
 Worthington, Rainbow Springs, California.' Now, 
 what do you think of that? Just think of being 
 called ' Miss.' I am so thrilled, Rodney." 
 
 There was no doubt about Joan being thrilled, 
 her dancing eyes and glowing face testified elo- 
 quently to the excitement that had set its signals 
 there. 
 
 "Have you opened it?" Rodney asked, sud- 
 denly. 
 
 Joan looked at him reproachfully. 
 
 "As if I would, Rodney, when I never would 
 have had it if it were not for you. I'm not half 
 as ungrateful for all you've done for me as were 
 the Israelites to the Lord of Hosts. I am grateful 
 to him, too, for leading me to you that night 
 more grateful than you can imagine I don't see 
 how I ever lived all those weary, weary years with- 
 out you, Rodney." Very sober and serious was 
 Joan now, as she half smothered her guardian with 
 a bear-like hug. 
 
 " I don't see how I ever managed to live without 
 you either, little sunshine," Rodney returned, with 
 a catch in his breath. He often wondered these 
 days how he would have lived, all the months here
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 275 
 
 at Rainbow Springs, without the child. The words 
 of the old minister came back to him, as he held 
 Joan close in his arms. He repeated them, softly, 
 " ' She is a sweet spirit come to Rainbow Springs 
 to bring peace to the hearts of many.' ' How true 
 the prophecy had been! She had indeed brought 
 peace to the hearts of many. More than one had 
 died a Christian because of her. Almost every day 
 he heard from some one, " She has taught me how 
 to live and how to die." 
 
 " Wake up and let's open it." Joan's laughing 
 voice brought him out of his reverie. 
 
 " Let us do so of course it is from Arth's 
 Jeanette we'll go to meet her together and bring 
 her to him, what say ? " he cried, boyishly. 
 
 " Oh, how fascinating that will be ! " Joan be- 
 gan to carefully tear open the envelope. She was 
 never one to slur the happiness of anticipation by 
 undue haste. 
 
 " I shall feel that I have not lived in vain if dear 
 Mr. Arth's wife comes before it is too late " 
 her voice trembled. 
 
 " Oh ! Oh ! It is not from her," she wailed, as 
 womanlike she read the name signed at the close 
 of the letter, before beginning to read the letter 
 itself. 
 
 " What now? " Prudence demanded, as she came
 
 276 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 into the room, over her sulk about the forbidden 
 entrance of Don. 
 
 " Oh ! Oh ! My fond hopes are all shattered. 
 I fear I have lived in vain," Joan wailed. 
 
 "Well, I never!" Prudence sniffed, as she 
 stooped and picked the letter up from the floor 
 where it had fallen from Joan's nerveless fingers. 
 
 " Joan, I wish you wouldn't cry on Rodney's 
 shirt fronts," she said. " It makes them hard to 
 wash," with a note of dry humor in her voice. 
 
 " Does it, Aunt Prudence ? " Joan sprang peni- 
 tently to her feet. " I'll cry some place else when 
 I have to burst into tears again." 
 
 Rodney pressed his lips together in rigid deter- 
 mination not to hurt the child by laughing, but his 
 eyes danced behind half-closed lids. 
 
 " Come back, Joan," he entreated, when he could 
 control his voice enough to speak. 
 
 " Not until I am perfectly sure I shall weep no 
 more," Joan returned, with a little catch in her 
 voice. 
 
 " Suppose you read your letter," Prudence sug- 
 gested. Prudence was endowed with a certain 
 amount of feminine curiosity. 
 
 " I suppose I might as well," Joan said, slowly. 
 " But it is perfectly dreadful to know it is not from 
 Mr. Arth's wife. I think I can safely sit on your
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 277 
 
 chair arm, now, Rodney. I am quite sure I have 
 perfect control of myself." She turned to Pru- 
 dence. " I'll try to remember not to cry on Rod- 
 ney in the future, Aunt Prudence, but just imagine 
 what a pleasure it is to have some one to cry on 
 after a life-time spent in bearing one's sorrows 
 alone. I assure you, however, that I am exceed- 
 ingly sorry to have added to your care of me by 
 yielding to such an extremely feminine weakness. 
 
 " You have been more than kind to bear it in 
 silence so long. I certainly appreciate the many 
 times I have been allowed to cry on Rodney." 
 
 " Well, read your letter," Prudence snapped, but 
 her eyes, as they met Rodney's, were not devoid of 
 humor. 
 
 The letter was from the hermit doctor a nice 
 cordial little- letter in which the hermit doctor an- 
 nounced that he was enthusiastic over his first im- 
 pressions of the new cure for tuberculosis. The 
 letter closed with best wishes to all and a brief 
 mention of a small present for Joan and Mona, 
 being forwarded by express. 
 
 " Oh, isn't it perfectly splendid to think of hav- 
 ing a present sent by express! I really don't see 
 how I am to live until it conies. I am thrilling all 
 over, nice cold shivers of joy are playing hide-and- 
 go-seek all over me."
 
 278 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 Rodney smiled at the happy child. 
 
 " I must go right over and tell Mona," she cried, 
 and was off like a flash, waving the letter high above 
 her head. 
 
 " Come on, Don," she shouted, and Don leaped 
 and bounded beside her, his grief over being 
 ejected from the house forgotten in this new, 
 wild dash. 
 
 " What is it, my friend ? " Mona asked, with a 
 note of amusement in her soft, flowery voice, as 
 Joan faced her, flushed and breathless. 
 
 " Let us go to the Cave of Rest," Joan panted. 
 
 "If you wish, but what is that?" Mona indi- 
 cated the letter still held triumphantly aloft. 
 
 " It is the reason we are going to the Cave of 
 Rest." Joan pressed Mona's hand. " We'll not say 
 a single word until we get there, please." 
 
 Mona nodded acquiescence. So they climbed the 
 well-worn trail to the Cave of Rest in breathless 
 silence a silence broken only by Don's exuberant 
 barks, as he dashed ahead of them, seeking some 
 imaginary prey. 
 
 At the Cave of Rest, Mona listened in silence, 
 while Joan read the brief letter. 
 
 " I am radiantly happy, aren't you, Mona ? " Joan 
 demanded, leaning back against her friend, with a 
 little sigh of joy.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 279 
 
 Mona smiled dreamily. " When you are happy, 
 little friend, I, Mona, am more than happy." 
 
 " Isn't it splendid not to know his name," Joan 
 went on, not noticing that Mona had expressed hap- 
 piness only because of her pleasure. 
 
 Mona nodded. 
 
 " The hermit doctor ! " Joan rolled the words 
 luxuriously. " That is the way he signs himself 
 here, Mona, and I have imagined the most wonder- 
 ful story about him. I have asked ever so many 
 what his real name is and no one knows, not even 
 the Major nor Mr. Welch." 
 
 " Tell your imagined story," Mona demanded. 
 
 Joan flung herself down on the blanket-covered 
 bowlder, near the entrance to the cave, face down, 
 her chin buried in the hollows of her hands, her 
 eyes glowing as they ever glowed when her soul 
 took flight to the realm of fancy. 
 
 Mona took her place on a small flat rock facing 
 her, her elbows on her knees, her chin in her palm, 
 silent a world of mystery in her great dark eyes. 
 
 " Well, to begin with, he has a secret sorrow," 
 Joan said, with her eyes on the twin palms, re- 
 vealed through the half -concealed opening of the 
 cave. 
 
 " A secret sorrow that gnaws at his very vitals 
 with a consuming fierceness. I read that in a book
 
 280 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 once, Mona, so don't credit me with thinking up 
 such a beautiful expression." 
 
 Joan closed her eyes dreamily. 
 
 " In the dear, dead past he must have loved a 
 beautiful maiden with glorious blue eyes and sun- 
 kissed hair. I think he and the beautiful maiden 
 must have married and lived in unspeakable happi- 
 ness for a brief all too brief a time. That last is 
 another sentence out of the same book, but it de- 
 scribes my feelings about this perfectly. The hero- 
 ine in the book had raven hair and an alabaster 
 brow, with teeth of pearl and midnight eyes, but 
 the hermit doctor would never find a kindred spirit 
 in any one who had raven hair and midnight eyes 
 I feel that instinctively. I imagine Miss Reeves 
 is very like his beautiful bride must have been. 
 
 " Mona, do you know you have very romantic 
 hair? copper-hued tresses and even red hair is so 
 romantic, so many, many heroines have red hair. 
 Of course raven hair is also popular, but then I do 
 not care for raven-haired heroines. Every one does 
 not see alike, and Rodney says : ' It is a splendid 
 thing they do not.' I am sure everything is very 
 interesting the way it is, and it is naturally perfect 
 or the Lord would not have made so many different 
 people in the beginning. You remember He speaks 
 of divers tongues and many diversities of things
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 281 
 
 that does not sound just right, but the meaning is 
 perfectly clear to me." 
 
 " But what about the doctor and the beautiful 
 maiden ? " demanded Mona. Mona was interested 
 in the fancy. 
 
 " Oh, they lived in happiness and beauty side by 
 side," returned Joan, cheerfully. " Don't you think 
 the hermit doctor could be called beautiful, Mona? 
 I do. I suppose Miss Reeves would call him hand- 
 some. His eyes are so sad when he forgets him- 
 self, and his face is so long and perfect. Hand- 
 some men seem to always have long, clean-cut faces 
 and sad eyes." 
 
 " Go on," Mona pleaded. 
 
 " Well," Joan said, resignedly. " I'll go on with 
 the story, Mona dear, but it is nice to 'sidetrack/ 
 as Rodney calls it. For the sake of my own feel- 
 ings I shall call both the hermit doctor and the 
 maiden beautiful, as they lived in joy supreme until 
 the villain comes upon the scene and with one blow 
 of his evil breath smites their fond hearts asunder. 
 
 " He I mean the villain, now carries the beau- 
 tiful bride away and hides her in a lonely prison 
 until she dies of a broken heart. Then the villain 
 tells the beautiful man that he may as well cease his 
 search for his lost joy, up and down and to and 
 fro on the face of the earth, for the beautiful bride
 
 282 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 is dead. The villain will not even tell the beau- 
 tiful man where the body of the heart-broken 
 maiden rests so the sorrowful husband turns his 
 face toward the setting sun and no man from that 
 day has known his name. I have sometimes thought 
 there might have been a beautiful, golden-haired 
 child come to cheer the broken-hearted maiden, but 
 it seemed so perfectly heartless to kill it off, as I 
 should have been obliged to, for even a villain 
 would not have been so hard-hearted as to have kept 
 a little child from the heart-broken husband after 
 the beautiful bride was dead." 
 
 " It sounds lovely," sighed Mona. " I don't see 
 how you ever imagine such things, Joan." 
 
 " It's easy, Mona, dear. You could imagine per- 
 fectly fascinating things if you would only cultivate 
 your imagination. I know you dream beautiful 
 things. I wish you would tell me some of 
 them." 
 
 Mona smiled at her. " You tell; Mona listen." 
 
 " Shall I tell you the fairy tale I have imagined 
 for the close of school ? " Joan sprang to her feet, 
 quivering with excitement. 
 
 " Yes, yes," Mona cried, eagerly. 
 
 " You know I am to speak the Fern piece, 
 Mona?" 
 
 Mona nodded, her lips parted in a little half
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 283 
 
 smile. She had listened to Joan recite the Fern 
 piece at least fifty times. 
 
 " Well, the other day, Miss Reeves asked me to 
 tell a fairy tale of my own besides the Fern piece 
 which, as you know, comes right at the beginning 
 of the programme. Miss Reeves says I may choose 
 any of those I have been telling Friday afternoons, 
 but I shall give an entirely new one one that will 
 surprise even Miss Reeves. I am sure Mr. Arth 
 is at the bottom of the whole affair. He has al- 
 ways wanted all the boys at the Major's to hear 
 some of the fairy tales I have imagined in the past 
 and all the boys are coming to the exercises. I am 
 afraid I shall have stage fright, Mona, but I shall 
 try to do my best for Rodney's sake. I want you, 
 too, and Mr. Arth and Miss Reeves to be proud of 
 my achievement. I shall spend the last half hour, 
 before the exercises, in prayer. I am sure that will 
 strengthen me. I am sure the Major will be there, 
 and I would rather die an untimely death than to 
 fail before him. I know the Lord says : ' Love your 
 enemies,' and I feel instinctively that the Major is 
 my enemy. I felt it even before this coldness 
 sprang up that exists between him and Aunt Pru- 
 dence. Impossible as it may seem for people of their 
 age to fall in love, I believe the Major is in love with 
 Aunt Prudence or at least he has pretended to be
 
 284 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 in love with her. For a time I think she recipro- 
 cated his affections, but she does not seem to like 
 him at all now. 
 
 " Any one could tell at a glance that they were 
 not kindred souls, and it is a mistake for any one 
 to love one who is not a kindred soul, Mona, 
 dear. 
 
 " Rodney says Mr. Welch is in love with Aunt 
 Prudence, really and truly in love, and I am sure if 
 Aunt Prudence is going to take unto herself a hus- 
 band at her time of life I hope for her own sake 
 she takes Mr. Welch. Mr. Welch is a good man, 
 Mona." 
 
 "What is the fairy tale?" Mona interrupted. 
 Mona could not even imagine the austere Prudence 
 a bride. 
 
 " This is the story of The Silver Squirrel," Joan 
 said, dreamily, settling herself back down on the 
 blanket. 
 
 " Come, Don, you must listen," she commanded, 
 as Don dashed into the cave. 
 
 Don possessed a sense of duty. He lay down 
 beside her, and struggled hard to keep his eyes open 
 tried to remain alert, but was fast asleep almost 
 before the story began. 
 
 " Oh, that is beautiful," Mona cried, when Joan 
 finished.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 285 
 
 When they reached home in the mystic twilight, 
 the express package, from the hermit doctor, had 
 arrived. 
 
 Joan watched Rodney pry the lid off the box, in 
 reverent, silent expectancy. Mona, from her seat in 
 a shadowy corner, dreamily watched the face of 
 her friend, alive with anticipation. 
 
 At last the cover was off the box and Rodney 
 held out two tissue-wrapped parcels. 
 
 Joan opened her package with trembling fingers, 
 while Mona held hers in her arms and crooned 
 softly over it, as Joan, having opened her package, 
 shook out a filmy white dress a dress that was a 
 dainty thing of pin tucks and lace ruffles. 
 
 " There is a note pinned to it," Prudence re- 
 marked, having observed more closely than the 
 others. 
 
 " Oh ! Oh ! " Joan panted, her breath coming 
 short and fast. 
 
 Prudence feigned to be contemptuously setting 
 the supper table, but nevertheless had watched the 
 scene out of the corner of her eye with an ill-con- 
 cealed air of interest. 
 
 " Yes, read the note, Joan," Rodney prompted, 
 his eyes shining. 
 
 " After Mona opens her present," Joan returned, 
 in an awed little voice.
 
 286 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 " Yes, open yours, Mona," commanded Prudence, 
 her voice icy. c< Joan will not be able to enjoy her 
 dress with her usual complete abstraction unless 
 your dress I suppose that is what it is has the 
 same number of tucks in it." 
 
 " Open yours quickly, Mona," Rodney urged. 
 
 Mona's ringers trembled as she opened her par- 
 cel, but her face was inscrutably expressionless, save 
 for the great glowing eyes. 
 
 Mona's package proved to contain a dress the 
 exact duplicate of Joan's, except it was some longer 
 and a little larger in size. 
 
 " Why, Joan, what is it? " Rodney demanded, as 
 Joan started toward him, eyes misty with tears, then 
 suddenly dashed around on the side of the table 
 opposite him. 
 
 " Oh ! Oh ! I am so happy, Rodney. Oh ! Rod- 
 ney ! Rodney ! I am so happy ! " Joan laid her 
 dress across a chair and turned radiant but misty 
 eyes to Rodney. 
 
 " I came very near bursting into tears on your 
 shirt front after promising Aunt Prudence this 
 very afternoon that I would be careful in the future. 
 I am glad I never cried on you this time, Rodney. 
 And now I think I am sufficiently controlled to read 
 the note." 
 
 The note ran :
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 287 
 
 " I believe little girls always wear fluffy white 
 dresses on the last day of school. I send these to 
 you and Mona in memory of the night Mona came 
 for me on King Solomon the night I found you 
 at Arth's. I am sure your guardian will not grudge 
 me this pleasure. 
 
 " THE HERMIT DOCTOR." 
 
 " Oh, how perfectly lovely ! " Joan cried. " I am 
 so happy. I hope this is not all a happy dream 
 but every good thing has been real since I came to 
 you, Rodney." 
 
 Rodney held out his arms, as she fluttered toward 
 him for an instant. 
 
 " I suppose I'd better not." She retreated with a 
 wry little smile. " I'm shivering all over with hap- 
 piness and I might burst into tears if I was too near 
 you." 
 
 Rodney looked at his aunt reproachfully. 
 
 Prudence turned away, a grim little smile twitch- 
 ing at her lips. 
 
 " Come on to supper," she said, tartly. " Yes, 
 ask Mona to stay," she responded to the wistful 
 look in Joan's eyes. " There is no use in my trying 
 to use judgment and discretion with you when every 
 one else is determined to spoil you." 
 
 " I don't see how I'm ever going to eat, even your 
 delicious cooking, Aunt Prudence. I know I am
 
 288 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 not up to your standard of a good little girl, but 
 I just can't be prim and sedate, no matter how hard 
 I try, when I am so perfectly happy as I am. When 
 is Dad coming back? " she turned to Rodney. " I 
 feel that he and Mr. Arth must see our dresses to- 
 night." 
 
 " Well, eat your supper now," was Prudence's 
 crisp reply. " I will do the dishes to-night. You 
 will have time to show your dress to Mr. Arth 
 and the teacher, too. When does Miss Reeves 
 leave?" she asked of Rodney. The next instant 
 she regretted mentioning the leaving of Miss Reeves 
 for her summer vacation, because Joan instantly 
 burst into tears. She felt that she could not bear 
 even the thought of not seeing her beloved teacher 
 for more than three months. 
 
 Not until she saw Arth did Joan remember her 
 disappointment that the hermit doctor's letter was 
 not from Arth's wife. When she looked into his 
 pale face, she most bitterly reproached herself for 
 her delight in the dainty dress, and that night sobbed 
 herself to sleep because of her selfishness in being 
 happy when he was miserable. 
 
 The last day of school came at last. In mid- 
 afternoon the closing exercises were held. 
 
 When Rodney complimented Joan on her ap- 
 pearance, as she stood expectant before him, she
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 289 
 
 stood on tiptoe and flung vehement arms about his 
 neck. 
 
 " Oh, Rodney ! Rodney ! I do love to have you 
 think I look nice. Of course I know I shall never 
 be a perfectly ravishing beauty like Mona is, but 
 I do love to look nice to you. Your opinion means 
 everything in the whole world to me." Now there 
 came a liquid vibration to her words like the quiver 
 of a thrush's note. 
 
 Rodney caught her to him. A pang, which he 
 tried to banish as unworthy of him, went through 
 him and lingered with a haunting sense of regret 
 because the fluffy dress, that enhanced the spiritual 
 look of the child, had not been his gift instead of 
 the gift of a man whose name he did not even 
 know, yet he counted the man his friend. 
 
 " You look very neat, and if you behave as a 
 proper child should you'll be a credit to Rodney, 
 but don't give us any giant nonsense." Prudence 
 ended her speech with a sound that might have been 
 a grunt of disdain or a sniff of appreciation. 
 
 Prudence was gaunt and gray, endowed with 
 numerous angles, but Joan, walking between her 
 and Rodney, was very proud of the middle-aged 
 woman in her rustling gray silk dress. To please 
 Prudence, Joan tried to keep her restive feet atune 
 with Prudence's sedate walk, but it was impossible.
 
 290 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 In spite of her, her feet would dance in a very ex- 
 uberance of joy, all the way down the sandy road 
 to the schoolhouse. 
 
 But when she stood facing her audience, an hour 
 later, she was, as she afterward expressed it, 
 " frightfully weak-kneed." The stage fright lasted 
 only an instant. Joan caught a mocking gleam in 
 the Major's eyes, and, as it had once before, it now 
 spurred her on to an achievement of which Rodney 
 was justly proud. 
 
 Rodney played his violin that day played stir- 
 ring patriotic hymns they all knew. The violin 
 throbbed and thrilled with delightful little love songs 
 that flew straight to the heart with thrilling, an- 
 swering intensity. 
 
 Dad Sherwood gave a beautiful and whimsically 
 humorous address and the old minister had, in his 
 native city been famous for his gift of humor. 
 
 Lois and four college boys, rapidly recovering 
 their health, gave a comical little farce that brought 
 the house down. 
 
 Joan told the tale of the Silver Squirrel and was 
 vigorously applauded. 
 
 To please Arth, who was there, very pale and 
 weak, Lois closed the programme with a poem 
 written by herself, which Arth had read that month 
 in a Los Angeles magazine.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 291 
 
 Lois gave the poem in a somewhat shaky voice, 
 because the effort was her own, but she looked so 
 sweet and winsome that Rodney wished the hermit 
 doctor were there to see her. Rodney had caught 
 the light in the doctor's eyes, brought there by Lois, 
 and he had read the light aright. 
 
 While Lois spoke, Joan held tight to Rodney's 
 hand, breathing sharply to keep from crying then 
 and there because her beloved teacher was going 
 away in the morning for three long months. 
 
 So the shuttle of life ever flies swiftly to and 
 fro weaving and interweaving threads of pleasure 
 and pain in the strange web of life.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 JULY came with a glare of heat. Waves of 
 heat rolled in like billows across the white, 
 shadowless desert that stretched itself in glis- 
 tening, heat-parched grandeur between Rainbow 
 Springs and the station seven miles away. 
 
 Day by day the sun-struck air lay somnolent, un- 
 quivering under the serene sapphire sky, but the 
 nights were cool, under their jeweled canopies. 
 
 Joan spent the greater part of each heat-bound 
 day with Arth, who grew steadily weaker until even 
 the child knew the end was near. 
 
 Sam Welch spent the nights with the sick man 
 and was as tender with him as a woman could have 
 been. 
 
 The evenings Rodney and Joan spent in the sad- 
 dle. Sometimes Mona accompanied them, but more 
 often they went alone. Usually they had no par- 
 ticular goal as to the course they took, leaving the 
 choice with Joan's Shetland pony, which she had 
 christened Pegasus, after much consideration of 
 the subject. The name was a misnomer. This 
 Pegasus was a slow, plodding little beast, with a 
 manner that suggested that he had grown weary of 
 
 292
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 293 
 
 the civilization in which he had played a part before 
 Rodney had him brought to the desert oasis from 
 Los Angeles. Each evening, as if atavistically re- 
 calling scenes of some former wildness, he always 
 took to the trails that led up some wild canyon, on 
 being given free rein. 
 
 On these trips Joan wove many fancies while 
 she and Rodney rode in silence. Twilight on the 
 desert is the time for silence as the desert itself is 
 the place for reflection. 
 
 Rodney and Joan never tired of the infinite va- 
 riety of the desert's colorings, ever changing ac- 
 cording to the hour and the atmospheric condition. 
 The mountains were almost irresistibly alluring, 
 now tinted with a glorious sapphire, now purple- 
 veiled, now shadowy, moon-tipped outlines. 
 
 It was after one of these rides, they found Welch 
 at the cottage with a telegram for Joan. Rodney 
 opened the yellow envelope with trembling fingers. 
 At that moment he thought some ill had happened 
 the hermit doctor, but the message was from 
 Jeanette Arth, and read : 
 
 " Miss JOAN WORTHINGTON, 
 
 " Rainbow Springs, Cal. 
 
 " Received your letter in Paris will reach Rain- 
 bow Springs to-night, 
 
 " JEANETTE ARTH."
 
 294 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 When Rodney had finished reading the message, 
 Joan dashed into her room, banging the door be- 
 hind her. 
 
 " What now, I wonder ? " Rodney exclaimed. " I 
 thought she would take the direction of Arth's." 
 
 " I suppose she went in there to pray some of her 
 thankfulness out," Prudence returned, dryly. " I 
 have tried hard enough, goodness knows, to teach 
 her that praying before people is not just the thing. 
 She goes to her room now when she gets prayer- 
 struck. I've broken her of her eternal quoting of 
 the Bible, too," Prudence added, with a self-satisfied 
 sniff. 
 
 " Well, now, I like to hear the little thing pray. 
 She quotes Scripture down there every day and we 
 enjoy it," Welch said, wagging his head in the 
 direction of Arth's cottage. 
 
 " Humph ! " Prudence snorted. " I don't know 
 who spoils her the most." 
 
 " She couldn't be spoiled," Welch returned, as 
 Joan entered the room. She had, as Prudence said, 
 gone to offer up a prayer of gratitude. 
 
 " Holy smoke ! " Welch ejaculated, struck by a 
 sudden thought, and losing for an instant his sor- 
 rowful air. " When is she to come, Rodney? " 
 
 " To-night." Rodney scanned the telegram again. 
 
 " Well, I'll hike right over for her want to
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 295 
 
 come along, young lady? Seeing as she wouldn't 
 be here but for you, I reckon you should go 'long." 
 
 " She'd better go to bed," Prudence snapped. 
 Nevertheless, it was Prudence who helped Joan get 
 ready for the trip while Welch hitched up. 
 
 It was decided that Rodney should prepare Arth 
 for his wife's coming. 
 
 They found Arth's wife pacing up and down the 
 little station platform, eagerly awaiting some one to 
 take her to the Springs and Arth. 
 
 Jeanette Arth was a graceful little, bird-like per- 
 son a lovely fashioning of God. 
 
 " Oh, please, please don't let me be too late ! " 
 she prayed over and over, as she waited alone on 
 the little deserted station platform, her lips tight- 
 pressed with pain. 
 
 Joan never forgot that ride across the desert 
 with Jeanette Arth's hand tightly clasping her's, 
 while she told Arth's wife of Arth as she knew 
 him. 
 
 " I can never repay you for what you have done 
 for Billie never, never ! " Jeanette cried, when 
 Joan had finished. The barking of the Indian dogs 
 now heralded the nearness of the village. 
 
 " There is no question of pay," Joan returned 
 stiffly, drawing her hand away.
 
 296 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 Jeanette Arth impulsively drew the child to her. 
 
 " Dear little girl, I did not mean money pay I 
 mean a repayment in love and gratitude ! " 
 
 Joan snuggled close to the dainty little woman. 
 " I will be glad to have you love me," she said, win- 
 somely. " I instinctively felt that you were a kin- 
 dred spirit when Mr. Arth first mentioned you. 
 When I saw you at the station I was sure of it. 
 I sorrowfully feared I was mistaken a minute ago, 
 but I am thrilling with happiness now I understand 
 your meaning." 
 
 Jeanette kissed the child just as Welch drew rein 
 in front of Arth's shack. 
 
 " He lives here," Welch said, succinctly. 
 
 " This will be the happiest moment of the dear 
 man's life," Joan cried, as she sprang out of the 
 carriage. 
 
 " You go in first," Jeanette returned, in a 
 quavering voice. A band of fear had suddenly 
 tightened about her heart. Oh, if she should be 
 too late too late to tell him she had always loved 
 him to tell him how she had traveled night and 
 day ever since Joan's letter reached her in Paris 
 where she had gone in a vain attempt to stifle her 
 longing for him! Oh, how she prayed for time 
 enough in which to tell him she had not known of 
 his sickness until that letter came if she had
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 297 
 
 known she would have been with him and shared 
 his suffering ! 
 
 She stood silent, almost frozen with fear while 
 Joan dashed into the cottage. 
 
 Joan came flying out almost instantly, eyes alight, 
 face aglow in the moonlight like the face of some 
 ethereal creature. " He's better this evening than 
 he has been for months," Joan panted. " He is 
 waiting for you. Hurry, please, hurry! Rodney 
 told him. He is waiting for you. Oh, hurry! 
 Hurry!" 
 
 " Yes I'll hurry." Jeanette Arth's tongue al- 
 most refused to frame the words. She felt sud- 
 denly very weak and faint and was exceedingly 
 glad of the child's aid to the door. 
 
 It seemed years before she could cross the 
 threshold an eternity of time before she had her 
 arms about the gaunt, eager-eyed man, who held 
 out pitiful shrunken arms to her. 
 
 " Oh, I am so happy," Joan cried, as she and Rod- 
 ney went home, leaving the two alone together. 
 
 The angel of death hovered over the little cot- 
 tage that night where joy and sorrow mingled 
 together in a sweet, plaintive melody. In the early 
 morning, when the sky was threaded with the rose 
 tints of dawn, death entered and went forth not 
 alone.
 
 298 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 The old minister was passing the cottage at the 
 time. He went in in answer to the cry of the 
 woman. Dad Sherwood had been at many death- 
 bed scenes, but never had his sympathies been, as 
 now, worked to their highest pitch. 
 
 The presence that lingers after death seemed to 
 fill the little room with an almost unsupportable 
 majesty, oppressing him like the weight of many 
 waters. 
 
 He stood silent and bowed, sorrowful, for a 
 time looking down on the majestic outlines of the 
 form of his friend. A few minutes later his face 
 was glorified and he began to comfort the woman 
 who had not been too late to give unspeakable joy 
 to the man she had always loved. 
 
 " Try not to grieve so," he said, tenderly, laying 
 his slender hand on the shaking figure of the woman 
 kneeling beside her dead. " Can you not, at a time 
 like this, unburden your heart to the Man of Sor- 
 rows ? " he pleaded. 
 
 The answer was a moaning cry. 
 
 " He wants to comfort and strengthen you," he 
 pleaded, his beautiful, silver voice strong, yet 
 caressing. 
 
 To his infinite relief the woman moved away from 
 the bed and looked out over the strength-giving 
 desert.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 299 
 
 He followed her to the window. 
 
 " It typifies the majesty and power of God," he 
 said, his eyes following hers across the desert vast- 
 ness. 
 
 He laid a hand light as a moonbeam on her head. 
 
 " I'll go now, leaving you in the hands of God. 
 Later I shall send the child to you." 
 
 He did not call Joan's name, but the woman knew 
 he meant the child who had brought her to her 
 husband. 
 
 " Please send her now," she pleaded. 
 
 The old man's face brightened with a divine 
 light. 
 
 " I go now thankfully," he returned, leaving the 
 woman alone to glide instantly into one of those 
 strange experiences where all that happens seems 
 preordained, a repetition of something that hap- 
 pened in another existance centuries before. A rare 
 experience in which she saw clearly, for an instant, 
 all the patterns the flying shuttles of life had woven 
 in the tapestry of her past life with Arth saw 
 dimly the swiftly-moving shuttles weaving broken 
 patterns on the filmy mesh of the future patterns 
 that at last were perfect in another life where broken 
 threads were tied and on the tapestry of that far-off 
 future life she and Arth walked side by side. 
 
 Two days later, the old minister opened the little
 
 300 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 church for the funeral. The old minister, ever since 
 his talk with Joan about opening the church, had 
 planned to begin holding regular services there as 
 soon as the months of extreme heat were over and 
 the village began to fill up again. 
 
 There were only a few white people in the village 
 now. The Major did not have a single guest. Al- 
 most all the sick folk went to a cooler climate dur- 
 ing the summer months. 
 
 Rodney had stayed at the Springs during the 
 summer because his friend, the noted physician, ad- 
 vised it. He was willing to stay. He loved the 
 desert loved the quiet little oasis. And, since she 
 was so happy there, he could not have taken Joan 
 away from Arth these last weeks. 
 
 Rodney and Joan sat by Jeanette Arth that day 
 in the little church and the woman held tight to 
 Joan's hand, seeming to derive strength from the 
 answering pressure of the child's slim fingers. 
 
 Joan kept her eyes fixed on the minister's face. 
 
 " There is no death," rang out the silver voice. 
 
 Joan felt suddenly enveloped in a triumphant, 
 enfolding peace. As the minister's voice flowed on 
 with an almost divine thrill in it, she could see 
 glistening white-robed angels hovering over the 
 casket at his feet. 
 
 She could see, in her fancy, the shadowy angel
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 301 
 
 forms rise higher and higher until she had to raise 
 her head to see them with a glad thrill of joy, she 
 saw Arth among them. She leaned back and looked 
 up, up, all the pent-up faith of the centuries surging 
 through her open heart, as she saw the roof of the 
 church rent asunder and the blue sky above open to 
 receive its own. 
 
 Her face seemed to Rodney to be transfigured, 
 as he looked into it before he started forward to 
 add his tribute to his friend. 
 
 Softly upon the close of the minister's tribute to 
 life came the voice of the violin full of deep chords 
 and splendid running notes of triumph over that 
 which is called death but is only transition. 
 
 Jeanette had heard the greatest musical artists of 
 the world, but she had never listened to such play- 
 ing before. 
 
 It counseled acceptance of the life that lay be- 
 fore her. It whispered of resignation because of 
 the life that had gone to the great beyond. It prom- 
 ised divine restitution throughout countless ages 
 after this brief earth-span of life had been merged 
 into that higher life that lies beyond the grave. 
 
 Her individual grief sank into insignificance, as 
 the violin spoke softly of those who know not of 
 the life that is for those who believe, as it mourned 
 for the unbelief of the world of sin.
 
 302 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 Something vast and appealing took the place of 
 her own sorrow and heart-break, and in the great- 
 ness of it came peace and understanding. It seemed 
 that her beloved no longer lay dead but was alive, 
 vitally alive, as she should be alive divinely alive 
 some day. 
 
 And the voice of the violin sang on and on in 
 deep, quivering tones that were a part of the beauty 
 of the whole world. The sound of many waters 
 ran through it and on their rippling waves there 
 came a revelation of the working of the divine law 
 that deals with the infinite came an understand- 
 ing of the power of the infinite love that shelters 
 the finite world that whispers softly to the heart 
 of each individual, " Because I live, ye shall live 
 also." 
 
 When the last note of the violin died away, the 
 old minister's voice rang out in a musical bene- 
 diction. 
 
 And so it happened that the little cortege which 
 followed William Arth to his resting place, under 
 a great pepper tree, just as the sunset flames en- 
 circled the mountains in a myriad of tints, were 
 filled with a great peace and a sublime understand- 
 ing of the infinite love. 
 
 The following morning, Jeanette Arth went East, 
 to devote the rest of her life and her wealth to
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 303 
 
 those who had need of her to those of whom the 
 violin had spoken. 
 
 After the departure of Arth's wife, the little vil- 
 lage settled down again to its heat-bound quiet. 
 
 The old minister, Welch and his sister Martha, 
 Prudence, Rodney, and Joan were the only white 
 people now at the Springs. The Major was away 
 on a secret mission of his own. The Major had 
 learned the reason of Chawa's absence from the vil- 
 lage and was trying to locate the half-breed lad. 
 
 September brought with it cooler days. It also 
 brought the Major with a new Cuban negro cook 
 and a horde of guests. 
 
 Lois Reeves returned during the first week of 
 the month and Joan was all athrill with the joy of 
 her beloved teacher's presence in the village. There 
 were four new white pupils that term. Joan wel- 
 comed their advent with her usual impulsiveness, 
 but the days of her happiness in them were few. 
 
 The four children were of two different families, 
 and lived, with their parents, in two of the Major's 
 cottages. 
 
 From the Major, the parents of the children 
 learned that Joan was an orphan, Mona, her chum, 
 a half-breed. 
 
 Tom and Gertie Peyson would have treated Joan 
 and Mona kindly they were much taken with the
 
 304 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 two girls but Maud and Bert Ward, with whom 
 they had chummed in an Eastern town, had a shrew- 
 ish and gossiping mother. 
 
 The Major had found what Joan would have 
 called a kindred spirit in Mrs. Ward. He told her 
 a delightfully scandalous tale of Joan's recent adop- 
 tion by Rodney White. He accompanied his nar- 
 rative with many suggestive winks and deprecative 
 waves of his pudgy hands until he had his reward 
 the woman in a whirl of righteous indignation 
 silenced the protests of her invalid husband and 
 commanded Bert and Maud to shun Joan and the 
 half-breed. 
 
 The Major had brought Mona into the lime-light, 
 labeling her an improper associate of a white child. 
 
 " I shall start a school of my own here, in a few 
 months," the Major advanced, pompously. " Not a 
 government school, run by a government-appointed 
 teacher who encourages the intermingling of In- 
 dians and white children." 
 
 The Major was much incensed at Lois these 
 days. Fired by her winsome womanliness, the first 
 day after her return to the Springs he had mag- 
 nanimously offered to share himself and " The Sign 
 of the Rainbow " with her. Lois had refused the 
 magnificent offer in no uncertain terms. This had 
 in a measure increased his ire at Joan, unjust as
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 305 
 
 that was. He likewise detested the child more each 
 day because each day he was less certain of ever 
 winning the wary Prudence. 
 
 The following day, after the Major's evening 
 spent at the Wards' in slurring Joan, the child came 
 home from school, dejected and spiritless, utterly 
 unlike the Joan Rodney loved with every fiber of 
 his being. 
 
 " What is it, little girl ? " Rodney asked, as she 
 passed him silently. She, who usually was over- 
 flowing with laughter and impulsive recountings of 
 the happenings of the school hours. 
 
 " Nothing," Joan answered, in a lifeless little 
 voice, as she went into her room. 
 
 Rodney knew she had gone into her room to pray 
 knew that she would come to him as soon as 
 she had received the comfort she sought. 
 
 " What can have happened ? " he murmured, over 
 and over, as he restlessly paced the room. He had 
 just decided to go to Lois Reeves to find the cause 
 of the trouble when Joan came out to him. There 
 was a certain look of peace on her face and her 
 eyes were not so set and staring as they had been 
 when she entered the house. 
 
 "What is it, dear?" Rodney demanded, as she 
 perched, in her favorite place, on his chair arm. 
 
 She caught his hands in hers and held them
 
 3o6 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 tightly while she told in a quivering voice of the 
 slights and insults she had suffered from the young 
 Wards that day and of the influence the Ward 
 children had on the sturdier, stauncher Tom and 
 Gertie. 
 
 Rodney's eyes flashed ominously from time to 
 time, but he said not a word as the quivering little 
 voice went on, adding to his hatred of the Major, 
 for Rodney knew where to place the injustice of 
 it all. 
 
 He caught himself up sharply, as Joan said : " I 
 took all their slights of me with a Christian forti- 
 tude of which I am sure you would have been 
 proud." 
 
 He drew her close to him in loving proof of his 
 pride of her in all things. 
 
 She faltered an instant, then continued, and her 
 voice was firmer now : " When they began on Mona, 
 I simply boiled over. I could not stand them call- 
 ing her a ' greaser.' She looked so crushed, poor 
 little wilted flower. I didn't see anything but mad 
 red for a while, they were so mean to her, and at 
 last I could not stand it any longer, so I simply 
 sailed in on them just as school was called after 
 recess. I had the drawing stick in my hand and 
 I lammed them all over the head with it. I hit 
 every one of them, Rodney. Miss Reeves had been
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 307 
 
 out in the yard and had not heard much of the 
 trouble, so could not understand why I was hitting 
 them, when she came in with Flying Eagle and 
 Marina. 
 
 " Oh ! Oh ! " she wailed. " Miss Reeves was so 
 hurt. She stood me in the corner all the rest of 
 the afternoon. I broke the drawing stick over Bert's 
 head, you know, so something had to be done with 
 me. Miss Reeves was very sweet about it all, and 
 I forgave her right at the time for not punishing 
 the others I could not tell her about the trouble. 
 Of course, Mona tried to, but Miss Reeves thought 
 she was only going to take my part, so she would 
 not listen she asked the other children to explain 
 and they would not, so she just looked sad and told 
 me she was extremely sorry to have to punish me, 
 but she must keep order in the school or she would 
 not be doing her duty. 
 
 " I told her I understood her position thoroughly 
 and would forgive her any indignity she heaped 
 upon me. I assured her she would understand the 
 whole matter after I talked to you. Miss Reeves 
 did not say a word, but her lips quivered and my 
 heart almost broke because I had hurt her, but I 
 could not tell her about it until I came to you, 
 could I, Rodney?" 
 
 " No, little girl," he answered, understandingly.
 
 308 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 Joan sighed and snuggled closer to him. " I can- 
 not understand Mona," she said, wistfully. " When 
 Miss Reeves told her to keep quiet, Mona got up and 
 marched out of the schoolhouse with her head high 
 like some beautiful outraged princess. If she had 
 only stayed where I could have looked into her soul- 
 ful eyes it would have helped me, but Mona is so 
 odd at times." 
 
 " I will go now, and straighten the whole matter 
 out," Rodney said, briskly. " You run along to 
 the Cave of Rest take Don with you, I fancy Mona 
 is there waiting for you." 
 
 " Oh, Rodney ! You have lifted such a burden 
 from my heart; I am sure Mona is there, but I 
 never dreamed of it until you spoke. I feared I had 
 lost her forever, and it would almost kill me to lose 
 Mona, Rodney, dear. I knew you would straighten 
 everything out," she whispered, gratefully, rubbing 
 her cheek against his. 
 
 The Major never forgot the interview he had 
 with Rodney. Rodney's first call was upon the 
 Major, with the letter the Major had written Judge 
 Wheaton, and which the Judge had sent to Rodney 
 to show him the Major's true character, if such a 
 warped nature could possess a character of any kind. 
 
 When shown his own letter, the Major cowered 
 low in his chair, muttering an apology which made
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 309 
 
 Rodney's lips curl contemptuously. " All's fair in 
 love or war, my boy," the Major whimpered. 
 " When I wrote that letter, and the devil alone 
 knows how you got hold of it, I thought if I could 
 find out anything against the child I might cause 
 a separation between you and your aunt. I knew 
 you would stick to the child even then, and you 
 seem more loony over her than ever now. I thought 
 she might be yours until I wrote the letter, and 
 that if I could prove it and cause the separation be- 
 tween you and your aunt, your aunt would nat- 
 urally turn to me. She seemed to be rather taken 
 with me then. Curse it all, I can't see what has 
 come over her lately." 
 
 " You do not deserve the reason," Rodney said, 
 sharply, " but the reason lies in the fact that my 
 aunt saw you in the Indian powwow you remem- 
 ber the night, you made enough out of your devil of 
 a horse that day to remember the date for some 
 time." 
 
 From the Major's lips there poured forth a 
 string of sulphurous oaths that surprised even Rod- 
 ney, knowing the man as he thought he knew him. 
 
 " Excitement often brings on apoplexy," Rodney 
 said, in grim humor, as he left the Major's profane 
 presence. 
 
 The Major watched Rodney cross the lawn to
 
 3 io JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 the cottages where dwelt the Wards and Peysons, a 
 malevolent light in his beady eyes. Then he cursed 
 violently, profanely as he started across the desert 
 to the station. At the station he met a tall, slender 
 youth in conventional American garb a youth with 
 the flashing eyes of the untamed savage. 
 
 The Major cursed anew, as he drew near the 
 youth, but his voice, when he addressed the arrogant 
 lad, was oily, flattering, soothing. " The time is 
 not ripe, Chawa, my lad," he said, unctuously. " I 
 made a mistake in allowing you to come to-day. 
 She is too young yet, Chawa." 
 
 The half-breed faced the Major, his flashing 
 eyes burning with the savage desire of his restless, 
 untamed spirit. 
 
 Those flashing eyes made the Major feel very 
 uncomfortable. He laid his hand on the straight, 
 haughty shoulders. 
 
 Chawa flung him off impatiently. 
 
 " You must return quickly," the Major whined. 
 " I tell you, my boy, I should not have allowed you 
 to come so soon. You are young, I have done much 
 for you, am willing to do more, if you will wait in 
 patience only two short years, I swear by all the 
 Great Spirits of your race, for you are all Indian, 
 my Chawa, that I will be true to you and give you 
 your heart's desire. Trust me, Chawa lad, and
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 311 
 
 humor an old man's whim. In two years that fool 
 guardian of hers will be entirely well. Curse him, 
 he grows stronger every day. In two years you 
 will be completely Americanized in appearance," 
 he chuckled. " In two years the man will love her 
 even better than he does now, your victory over him 
 will be more sweet, and and, you are shrewd, 
 Chawa, my revenge will be more complete, if we 
 wait two years." 
 
 " So ! " Chawa's lips curled back from his per- 
 fect teeth. " You want more revenge on the white- 
 faced man who loves her in his puny way, do you? 
 What is his love to the love that burns in the heart 
 of Chawa? What is your desire for revenge com- 
 pared to the desire that throbs through the veins of 
 Chawa ? Why should I, Chawa, wait two years that 
 he, the pale-faced weakling, may love her more? I 
 care not how much he loves her I care only that 
 she belongs to me. 
 
 " Why should I wait two years for you to treas- 
 ure revenge in your heart why should I ? Answer, 
 and do not forget that the blood of the great Fight- 
 ing Wolf flows in the blood of Chawa the half- 
 breed." He drew himself up proudly. 
 
 The Major came close to the half-breed and 
 whispered something into his ear. 
 
 The hot blood flooded up under the dark cheeks,
 
 312 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 but the flashing eyes that burned in the perfectly 
 chiseled face were not lowered, their untamable 
 light mocked the Major, yet the Major knew his 
 cause was won, by the twitching of the dark lips. 
 
 " So ! " Chawa said, when the Major had finished 
 and turned away with a triumphant light in his 
 beady eyes. 
 
 " You will go back on the midnight train? " the 
 Major asked, after a long silence, during which the 
 half-breed restlessly paced the station platform. 
 
 " No," Chawa returned, proudly. " I shall see 
 the witch-child before I sleep. Child she may be, 
 too young for Chawa now she may be, but Chawa's 
 fit mate, and Chawa shall see her before he sleeps. 
 Come, old man, let us hasten to your den of iniquity. 
 When I leave, I shall give you my answer as to 
 the length of time I shall wait for my mate. I, 
 Chawa, shall watch and see if you have told Chawa 
 the truth." 
 
 So unknown to all but the Major, Chawa spent 
 three weeks in the little village weeks of torture 
 for the Major, whose hatred of Rodney grew in 
 leaps and bounds. 
 
 At the end of the three weeks, Chawa returned 
 to the Eastern city to add to the cloak of civiliza- 
 tion that wrapped itself in deceiving folds about his 
 savage spirit.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 313 
 
 When Rodney returned from the Wards' and 
 Peysons' the night of his exposure of the Major, he 
 found Joan, curled upon the porch cot, sobbing as 
 if her heart would break. Mona was neither at the 
 Cave of Rest nor at any other place known to Joan. 
 
 " She's gone off to die of a broken heart, I know 
 she has," Joan wailed on Rodney's shirt front, in 
 entire forgetfulness of her promise to Prudence to 
 refrain from that luxury. 
 
 " Stuff and nonsense ! " Prudence sniffed, when 
 she had drawn from Rodney as much of the tale 
 as he cared for her to know. " I am sure I don't 
 see, Joan, why you want to stir up another Indian 
 mess for, anyway," Prudence added, tartly. 
 
 " There is no mess, Aunt Prudence," Rodney re- 
 turned stiffly, drawing Joan closer to him. " Joan 
 simply took her friend's part as one of her nature 
 was bound to take it and " 
 
 " Pshaw ! " interrupted Prudence. " When I was 
 growing up, there was not so much talk about na- 
 ture and temperament. Children were not excused 
 for everything they did, as you excuse and pamper 
 Joan. Her nature pouff! If she ever amounts 
 to shucks it will be a wonder," and Prudence 
 flounced out of the room. 
 
 " Don't mind her, little girl," Rodney comforted. 
 " She feels badly because the Major is such a dis-
 
 314 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 appointment to her." Rodney unconsciously hit 
 upon the head the nail of truth. The Major had 
 been the first swain to approach her little garden of 
 midddle-age romance and it hurt Prudence to learn 
 of the Major's imperfections. She did not trust 
 him, herself had secretly feared him since the night 
 of the Indian powwow still she looked at him 
 through eyes yet filmy with the glamor of romance. 
 
 " I don't mind Aunt Prudence any more she 
 is so good at heart. I know it's hard on her to find 
 the Major out. I think I should die if I ever found 
 any secret evil in Mona. Aunt Prudence is so good 
 to me, I love her no matter how cross she seems at 
 times. I am a great trial to her, I know I am, Rod- 
 ney," Joan whispered, softly. 
 
 After a time the child fell asleep, and Rodney sat 
 there, holding her in his arms until all the desert 
 world was enveloped in the mystic glow of a yellow 
 autumn moon. 
 
 Mona came to school the following morning, a 
 triumphant light in her great eyes. Joan embraced 
 her rapturously, whispering loving greetings in her 
 ears. Lois Reeves caught the half -savage gleam of 
 triumph in the little half-breed's eyes and wondered 
 at it. It was the first savage look she had ever 
 seen in Mona's eyes. 
 
 Very sorry was Lois Reeves over her punish-
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 315 
 
 ment of Joan the previous afternoon. She re- 
 gretted, too, that she had refused to allow Mona 
 to speak. From Rodney she had heard the true 
 story of the Major's perfidity, had even read the 
 Major's letter to Judge Wheaton. 
 
 With an arm about each of the two girls, Lois 
 told them of her regret over the unkindness of the 
 four children. Joan responded impulsively, loving 
 as ever. Mona was quieter, more reserved, yet her 
 eyes were very tender and soft as they met her be- 
 loved teacher's. Mona held nothing against Miss 
 Reeves. Lois knew the little half-breed forgave 
 her, yet she was puzzled and troubled by that half- 
 barbaric gleam in the great gray eyes until the Ward 
 and Peyson children arrived. 
 
 There was a livid w y elt on the cheeks of each of 
 the four children and in their eyes for many days 
 there lingered a shadow of fear a fear of the 
 intangible a fear of that unknown something that 
 had awakened each of them in the middle of the 
 night by a stinging lash on the face with a keen 
 whip. 
 
 Very subdued and very respectful were they to 
 Mona and Joan all the rest of the term, but Joan 
 never renewed her former good-fellowship with 
 them. She treated them with an unvarying kind- 
 ness and courtesy, but even at that age Joan had the
 
 316 TO AN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 power of erecting an invisible, impassable wall be- 
 tween her and those with whom she did not choose 
 to become intimate. Mona ignored the four white 
 children. To her it was as if they did not exist, had 
 never existed. 
 
 Perhaps Lois Reeves was the only one in the vil- 
 lage who ever guessed the real cause of the mys- 
 terious welts that remained on the faces of the four 
 children a number of days. 
 
 Lois Reeves intuitively knew that at some time 
 during the hours the village lay asleep, there had 
 been a barbaric payment of the wrong done the 
 chum of the little half-breed.
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 THE desert lay serene and beautiful under a 
 rose-tinted glow in the eastern sky. White 
 clouds hung, poised like beautiful swans, in 
 the deep blue of the western heavens. 
 
 Just to breathe was a delight that beautiful May 
 morning, the air was so sweet with the breath of a 
 desert spring. The night before, a last April shower 
 had washed clean all the desert world. 
 
 The air vibrated with a jubilant melody of hope. 
 Nature seemed gracious generous a-quiver with 
 joy, and the scanty desert vegetation seemed to 
 have been touched by a magic wand, so beautiful 
 was it and so odorous, with that purely desert odor 
 that invigorates and stimulates. 
 
 In tune to the desert symphony of color and song, 
 and up the clean, sandy road toward the trail that 
 led past the Indian burying ground past the huge 
 pepper tree under which Arth's white headstone 
 glistened under the rose-tinted sky towards the 
 well-worn path that led to the Cave of Rest, went 
 Joan that spring morning. 
 
 It was Joan's fifteenth birthday, and there was a 
 317
 
 318 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 divine, mystic light in the eyes, azure as the sky 
 above to which their clear glance was uplifted. 
 Her hair was gold-tinted, caressed as it was by the 
 shooting rays of the morning sun. The mysterious 
 half-light of the coming day touched the girl's face 
 into an ethereal, Madonna-like beauty. Strong and 
 brave and kind was Joan's face, with its signals of 
 pride set about the mouth, and in the very poise of 
 her well-carried head. 
 
 She walked with a certain boyish stride, as Rosa- 
 lind might have walked in Arden. 
 
 When she reached the twin palms she turned and 
 looked down on the village revealed by the mystic 
 morning glow. 
 
 " Oh, this is good ! " She drew in deep breaths 
 of the spring-scented air. " Oh, it's good, good to 
 be alive ! " Just to breathe seemed an exquisite joy 
 to her as she flung herself down on the flat rock 
 at the base of the twin palms. 
 
 The gleaming desert sand was fanned by per- 
 fume-laden zephyrs; the call of a mocking bird 
 vibrated on the still morning air. 
 
 Joan's eyes kindled with delight as she listened 
 an instant, then turned and tried to count the tent- 
 houses dotted all about on the desert from the north- 
 ern part of the village to the many-hued mountains 
 piercing the sky.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 319 
 
 She thrilled with joy, as she leaned eagerly for- 
 ward, her eyes on the door of Rodney's cottage. 
 The door opened, and Rodney himself came out 
 on the porch and shaded his eyes with his hand, 
 as he scanned the sandy road for a glimpse of 
 her. 
 
 Her lips parted in a little half -smile of sheer de- 
 light, as he saw her, perched up there on the rock 
 a blur of white against the green of the palms 
 and waved his handkerchief at her. She laughed 
 aloud, and the rippling music of it was as sweet as 
 the call of the mocking bird, as the man started up 
 the trail toward her, walking with the long swing- 
 ing strides of a man in almost perfect health. 
 
 Her heart gave a glad, exultant throb, then the 
 hot color flooded her face up to her hair roots until 
 she became so conscious of it that she put her hand 
 up as though to shade her eyes from the light. 
 
 When she looked up again at the rugged mountain 
 peaks, on the ragged spur of one of the peaks, out- 
 lined against the rose-hued sky, was the grim head 
 of a bygone Indian chief. 
 
 "Oh, oh!" she breathed, ecstatically, "we saw 
 that the first morning we were here." 
 
 The head of the Indian chief faded from the sky, 
 and a beautiful pearly cloud drifted across the 
 rugged peak.
 
 320 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 To Joan it seemed as if her future was folded and 
 hidden in the beautiful mist. 
 
 A marvelous change had taken place in Rainbow 
 Springs since Joan witnessed with Rodney the first 
 mirage of the head of the Indian chief. 
 
 Two years before Joan's fifteenth birthday morn- 
 ing, surveyors had come across from the desert 
 station. For days they had stretched their tape 
 over the glittering sand, and jotted down figures 
 in their leather-backed note-books. 
 
 When they had gone, a horde of workmen came 
 and for many days the sound of hammer and saw 
 rang and hissed with the song of progress, while 
 as if by magic scores of tent-houses sprang up like 
 leopard spots on the desert's welcoming heart. The 
 tents were flanked about a huge rambling building, 
 its myriad of windows giving it a pavilion-like air. 
 
 This building, known as the Hall of Hope, stood 
 on the spot where once had stood Welch's modest 
 hostelry and the unpainted cottages. The govern- 
 ment schoolhouse and the little drab-colored church 
 were the only buildings in the entire northern por- 
 tion of the village that had been there when Joan 
 and Mona made their first trip to the Cave of Rest. 
 
 The hermit doctor was the magician back of the 
 transformation, and every one reverenced him as a 
 benefactor.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 321 
 
 The Hall of Hope was a splendid building, with 
 a vast dining-room, and clean, white-tiled kitchens* 
 snug offices and consulting-rooms for the doctor, 
 and an immense room the hall for the tent- 
 dwellers. The hall abounded with couches and easy 
 chairs circled about a grand piano. 
 
 Scattered about on low reading-tables were the 
 latest magazines of helpful character, and numbers 
 of the late books of hopeful, cheerful nature. In 
 the corner of the hall opposite the piano was a 
 phonograph of inviting appearance, and on shelves 
 back of it were any number of records. 
 
 The hall was the Mecca of joy to the many young 
 men who came flocking to this model community 
 where the maximum of all they needed was given 
 them for a minimum of money. 
 
 The cost to the tubercular patients was so small 
 in fact that even the poorest could come here 
 and retain their gift of pride. The price there was 
 to all the same, likewise the treatment accorded 
 them was a replica of the motto over the entrance 
 door, " Here all men are equal." 
 
 And the man who had, by means of his unlimited 
 wealth, achieved all this, was rejuvenated. Not 
 since his youth had he known the kind of sleep he 
 now enjoyed. Not a day passed but he rejoiced 
 in the work that rescued so many high-minded
 
 322 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 youthful men from the clutches of their grim 
 disease, and restored them to lives of usefulness. 
 Surely this was a work worthy of his highest 
 powers. The new cure was a wonder, and in his 
 skilled hands a marvel to the outer world of science 
 that looked on his great work and approved. 
 
 The old minister was very happy these days. He 
 held daily readings and talks at the Hall of Hope. 
 There the blessedness as well as the necessity of the 
 altruistic life became intelligible by his simple pre- 
 sentation of the truth, and many a conversion 
 followed. He taught the sick how to live as well 
 as how to die, for some of them did die those who 
 came too late. 
 
 The old minister, Joan, and Mona had also 
 achieved a wonderful garden of flowers and long 
 sweeping plots of vegetables. Truly it could be 
 said: the desert oasis was a full-blossomed rose, 
 fragrant and fair to look upon. 
 
 The Major's hotel was deserted these days. He 
 lived alone, surly and vindictive, with his super- 
 annuated Cuban negro cook. 
 
 The doctor had tried to purchase the Major's 
 interest in the village, but the Major refused scorn- 
 fully and pompously. 
 
 As Rodney climbed the trail to Joan, his heart 
 beat with joy.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 323 
 
 His love for Joan had grown apace with the 
 years; he made no attempt to deceive himself. He 
 loved her as a child, and he loved her as the one 
 man loves the one woman. 
 
 He knew that Joan loved him with a love as great 
 as his own, but he kept his man-love hidden far 
 out of sight, believing that Joan loved him only as 
 a child loves. 
 
 Some day he would awaken the woman-love that 
 lay hidden under the child-love that some day 
 would be when there were five more years added to 
 the fifteen. 
 
 " You missed the head of the Indian chief, and 
 it was just like it was the first morning we were 
 here," was Joan's greeting, as she made room for 
 him on the flat rock beside her. 
 
 Rodney fanned his hot face with his hat, and 
 mopped the moisture from his forehead. 
 
 " You should not have climbed up here so fast," 
 Joan said, reproachfully, her eyes soft with the 
 maternal glow that shines in the eyes of every true 
 woman. 
 
 Sometimes, as now, she seemed years older than 
 Rodney. 
 
 Rodney laughed. 
 
 " But we are all to see the wonderful Cave of 
 Rest to-day, and I wanted to see it first. Think
 
 324 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 how long I have existed without seeing that en- 
 chanted spot. Shall we move on?" 
 
 " Not without Mona. I promised her I would 
 wait for her, and she may .not be here for an hour," 
 Joan returned, softly, a wistful light in her eyes. 
 She was sorry she had promised Mona to wait for 
 her, yet the Cave of Rest was Mona's first, and 
 Joan was loyal. 
 
 " I'll wait," Rodney said, with a low laugh. " It 
 is good to see you once in a while without your 
 shadow or those idolizing youths of the doctor's 
 flocking eternally about you. Humph ! Added an- 
 other inch or so to the length of your dress, I see. 
 You grow up mighty fast, young lady." 
 
 Joan touched the soft folds of the handsome skirt 
 with caressing fingers. 
 
 " Yes, it is longer," she said, softly. " Wasn't 
 Aunt Prudence a dear to make this dress for my 
 birthday?" 
 
 " Aunt Prue is not so severe as she once was." 
 Rodney shaded his eyes with his hat, and through 
 half -closed lips watched the expressive face of the 
 girl. 
 
 " Aunt Prudence is a dear, Rodney White." 
 
 " Well, she broke you of crying on my shirt 
 front, and I'll never forgive her for that," he re- 
 torted, eying his shirt front pensively. " Besides,
 
 SOME DAY HE WOULD AWAKEN THE WOMAN-LOVE THAT LAY HIDDEN 
 UNDER THE CHILD-LOVE. Page 323.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 325 
 
 I heard her telling you last night that you were too 
 old to kiss me any more, I am indignant at her. 
 There is a limit to even my forbearance." 
 
 Joan's clear laugh rang out like rippling water. 
 
 " What a comfort I took in crying on you ! " She 
 eyed him now, half wistfully. " I am too old for 
 so many things," she said, with a trace of sadness 
 in her low voice. 
 
 Rodney pulled a wavy lock of his heavy hair down 
 on his forehead, and peered up at it critically. 
 
 " Gray gray," he murmured, in mock sorrow. 
 " Joan is getting too old for so many things, and 
 I am decrepit with age." 
 
 He sighed, and shook his head mournfully. 
 
 " I am sorry for the poor old man," Joan mocked, 
 her eyes dancing. " There is Chawa," she cried 
 suddenly. " See ! That is he, dashing across the 
 desert towards the station. 
 
 In an instant Rodney's laughing manner was 
 gone. He seemed suddenly and truly to cross the 
 border line between maturity and old age. 
 
 " How long has he been here, Joan ? " 
 
 " Over a week, and isn't he fine and romantic- 
 looking in his American clothes. He is so tall and 
 straight and beautiful. He looks like some statue 
 of the bronze Mercury." 
 
 " I hate him," Rodney snarled, savagely.
 
 326 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 The very thought of Chawa always sent a shiver 
 of fear through him fear not for himself, but a 
 fear that seemed a shivering menace of some evil 
 to come through Chawa to Joan. He was sud- 
 denly extremely sorry that he had not taken Joan 
 East that spring. He was strong enough, but both 
 he and the child loved the desert so that he hated 
 to leave it or take her from it. She was so happy 
 there. 
 
 "Why, Rodney White!" Joan's voice dispelled 
 his sudden reverie. " There is no room for hate on 
 a day like this. Love is the only thing that owns 
 to-day, Rodney dear." 
 
 Rodney's face softened. Chawa was now only 
 a black dot dancing up and down in the distance. 
 
 " Mona told me last night that he stays at the 
 Major's. Isn't that queer?" 
 
 A quick flash of understanding came into 
 Rodney's eyes. 
 
 " He stays at the Major's, eh ? " His voice 
 sounded indifferent, but every nerve was a-quiver 
 with interest and added fear. 
 
 " Yes, Mona says he does. She asked him why. 
 He told her it was for the same reason that she 
 lives with Miss Reeves and Aunt Martha because 
 he is too civilized to stay with the Indians." 
 
 Rodney gave a short laugh. He could almost see
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 327 
 
 the flashing savage light in Chawa's black eyes, 
 and he knew it was not for the sake of civilization 
 or any of its attributes that Chawa was hobnobbing 
 with the Major. 
 
 " Mona is coming ! " Joan gave a quick, happy 
 cry, and dashed down the trail to meet her friend. 
 
 Rodney scowled as he watched the two girls come 
 up the trail arm in arm. Mona had seventeen years 
 of unsullied maidenhood to her credit. The soul 
 of a brave, true-hearted woman looked out through 
 her dark, mystic eyes, but Rodney could not forget 
 that the blood of the great Fighting Wolf flowed 
 through her veins could not forget that she was 
 the sister of Chawa. 
 
 When the two stood before him he still scowled, 
 even though Mona standing there in the sunlight 
 looked like an exquisite bit of tinted marble 
 sculptured into perfectness by the hand of God. 
 And he knew that Mona was as pure and true- 
 hearted as the girl he loved with every fiber of 
 his being. 
 
 "Where is Don?" Joan demanded, suddenly, as 
 they made their way up the rest of the trail that 
 lay between the twin palms and the Cave of Rest 
 a trail smoothed and hardened by the daily treading 
 of it, by the two girls. 
 
 " Don is with Dad," Mona answered, her gray
 
 328 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 eyes glowing with love, as they met Joan's laugh- 
 ing blue ones. 
 
 " I'll take his place at your feet, while you tell 
 me a fairy story," Rodney offered, with a laugh and 
 a mocking low bow. Rodney was himself again 
 he again trusted Mona the half-breed. 
 
 " We shall see about it," Joan flung back, as she 
 disappeared into the coolness of the cave. 
 
 An instant later she emerged with flashing eyes. 
 
 " Some one has been here and spoiled it all," she 
 panted. Her eyes were almost black with anger. 
 Rodney smiled. He had secretly longed for more 
 than a year to see the old flare of anger set its 
 signals at the corner of that sensitive mouth. 
 
 Mona's eyes grew grave, serious, inscrutable. 
 She understood now, Chawa's old time barbaric 
 laugh of triumph, as he darted past her on his pony, 
 his supple body bent low, in true Indian fashion. 
 
 Under his thin veneer of civilization, Chawa was 
 the same untamed reincarnation of the great Fight- 
 ing Wolf. 
 
 "What is the matter?" Rodney demanded. 
 
 Joan barred the entrance to the cave. 
 
 " Some one has been here and spoiled all our 
 surprise for you," she sobbed. " I thought no one 
 ever came here but Mona and I, and and we spent 
 hours yesterday decorating the inside of the cave
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 329 
 
 with palm leaves. We had Chinese lanterns all 
 around the walls I was going to light them just 
 now, and they are gone gone ! " Her voice rose 
 tragically. " Oh, oh," she wailed. " I am so 
 miserable, I shall have to cry even the rugs and 
 and everything else are all gone. Oh, oh, I shall 
 surely cry, and it is awful to cry on one's fifteenth 
 birthday." 
 
 " My shirt front is at your service, fair maiden," 
 Rodney said, whimsically. " Come, use it for old 
 time's sake. I suggest, however, that we go inside 
 your cave. It is becoming rather warm out here 
 for a sick man." 
 
 Joan smiled at him through her tears. " Poor 
 sick man ! " she mocked. " I never let myself 
 believe you were sick, Rodney. I thought health for 
 you every hour in the day. Not just as Miss 
 Warren used to teach we should believe health, 
 because I cannot believe just as she did. But I do 
 believe, ' As a man thinketh in his heart so he is.' 
 And I do believe thinking health for you helped." 
 She was serious now. The threatened April shower 
 had given place to a bright May face. " We'll make 
 the best of our dismantled cave," she flashed, sud- 
 denly. " There are plenty more lanterns at the 
 house. You are so extravagant, Rodney White. 
 Mona and I will go down and bring some things
 
 330 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 up with the rest of the crowd. We shall have to 
 imagine the decorations, but we can do that. Come 
 on, Mona." 
 
 Rodney's face fell comically. " I fear to stay 
 alone wild beasts might come and devour me 
 some of the horde of giants you have conjured up 
 here might steal me away while alone in my help- 
 lessness," he said, whimsically. 
 
 Joan laughed, and started down the trail. 
 
 Mona came close to Rodney. Her eyes were 
 grave and troubled as they searched his suddenly- 
 sobered face. 
 
 " You watch Joan," she whispered. " Chawa is 
 here. He is very fierce fiercer than he was when 
 I warned you before. He loves Joan, but not as 
 you love her. His love is the love of the tiger for 
 its mate. Your love is as the love of an angel, 
 true and gentle. Chawa is my brother the same 
 blood flows in our veins, but," she reached her 
 arms skyward. " I once swore eternal love to my 
 white friend. I love her, love her with the strong 
 love of my Indian mother and with the tender love 
 of my white father. 
 
 " I love her with every throb of my heart. The 
 nights are sweet because she has been beside me 
 through the day. The days are like glimpses of 
 the heaven Dad tells about, because the days are
 
 JO A N OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 331 
 
 brightened by her smiles. I love our Joan with 
 every fiber of my being for her I would suffer 
 any torture for her I would give my life. You 
 cannot understand how one with the blood of the 
 Indian in them loves. I can understand Chawa, 
 although Chawa is more of the red race than am I. 
 Chawa is our great chief, Fighting Wolf, born 
 again, so says the Chief Pedro. 
 
 " The white blood of our white father is sub- 
 merged in the stronger current of the centuries of 
 untamed blood that flows through Chawa's veins. 
 Chawa wears the raiment of the white race, but 
 Chawa is not of them. There is not a full-blooded 
 Indian on the Reservation as untamed and savage 
 as is Chawa. You watch Joan. I watch Chawa. 
 
 " The Major is planning with Chawa to steal 
 Joan. He would give Joan to Chawa would mate 
 the cactus with the rose. It shall not be. I, Mona, 
 swear it by the God of my father, by the Great 
 Spirits of my mother's people." 
 
 Like a flash she was gone. Rodney saw that she 
 overtook Joan at the twin palms, and hand in hand 
 they sped down the trail together, leaving him alone 
 with a consuming fear for Joan. 
 
 It seemed that he was afire with hate of the Major 
 and Chawa. At that moment he knew no reason; 
 for a time he paced up and down in front of the
 
 332 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 cave, unmindful of the heat, like a man suddenly 
 bereft of reason. Calmness came with a sudden 
 determination to seek Pedro on the morrow and see 
 if he could again have Chawa sent away from the 
 Reservation. If that plan failed he would take 
 Joan East. 
 
 Long since had there ceased to be even a pre- 
 tense of friendship between the oily Major and 
 Rodney. 
 
 Prudence and Welch were planning to be married 
 in the Fall, and were to live in Orion, in the square 
 white house set back from the street, with a maple- 
 bordered path running like a silver thread from the 
 street to the door when the earth was snow and 
 ice-bound as it was the night Joan came to the 
 square white house in answer to the call of the 
 violin. 
 
 Rodney threw himself down at last under the 
 shade of the overhanging rocks half concealing the 
 entrance to the cave. As he sat there eagerly await- 
 ing the return of Joan, a shadow fell before him. 
 
 He looked up quickly, and for a second met the 
 flashing, mockingly triumphant, savage eyes of 
 Chawa. 
 
 " You devil ! " Rodney snarled. 
 
 " Ah ! " Chawa's red lips curled back from his 
 firm, even teeth. " Devil I may be, but I shall win
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 333 
 
 from you the maiden of laughing eyes and sun-kissed 
 hair. She shall be the mate of Chawa. I, Chawa, 
 swear it. Bah! You watch Joan. Mona watch 
 Chawa. So ! " A triumphant leer distorted the 
 handsome savage face, then the half-breed was 
 gone. 
 
 Rodney sprang to his feet, his eyes searching the 
 trail both above and below the cave, but there was 
 no sign of the savage. He began to wonder if his 
 eyes and his mind had been playing tricks on him. 
 Hadn't he and Joan seen Chawa disappear over 
 the desert toward the station just a short hour ago. 
 How could Chawa be near the Cave of Rest? But 
 the day was spoiled for him, nevertheless. 
 
 But no one noticed his preoccupation when there 
 was no need for him to exert himself for the pleasure 
 of the rest, save Mona. Only Mona saw the shadow 
 on his face when he laughingly greeted the pic- 
 nickers. 
 
 " I call it plumb foolishness for one of my age 
 to come up here when I might be comfortable and 
 make a pretense of being cool at home," Prudence 
 grumbled, as she flung herself down on a rug spread 
 for her by the attentively solemn Welch. 
 
 The cave was cool and aglow with the lanterns 
 Mona had brought and quickly placed and lighted 
 while Joan held the crowd without the cave, by
 
 334 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 pointing out the magnificent view of the serene 
 desert vastness. 
 
 " It is cool enough here for any one," Rodney 
 said, making an effort to laugh naturally. " And 
 you should not talk of ' your age ' when you are 
 going to beat all us younger chaps to the matri- 
 monial altar. You and the youthful Samuel are of 
 those who have eternal youth," Rodney bantered. 
 
 A slow, deep red surged over the face that was 
 strangely like and as strangely unlike the gaunt, 
 grim face of the Prudence White of two years 
 before. 
 
 "Now, Rodney, I wouldn't plague her; she is 
 tired." Welch wagged his head, mournfully. 
 
 " No, let us eat, drink, and be merry for to- 
 morrow we " 
 
 " Live." The silver voice of the old minister 
 finished the quotation to his own satisfaction. 
 
 Gray, who had begun it, and over whose head 
 hung the sword of the consumptive, added soberly, 
 " I hope so, Dad." 
 
 " Let us eat and drink at any rate." The doctor 
 laughed. " The inner man of me is clamoring for 
 the flesh-pots. Who will begin to feed me? Don't 
 all speak at once, but some one speak quick." His 
 eyes were on Lois now, and a slow flush mantled 
 her face, as she answered involuntarily, " I will."
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 335 
 
 " Good for you, Lois," Welch shouted. " He is 
 slower than I was." Welch smiled almost brightly 
 now at Prudence. Every one but Lois and the 
 doctor joined in the laugh that followed Welch's 
 sally. Lois bent her head to hide the scarlet flush 
 that dyed her face, and the doctor's face paled, as 
 he looked from her to Joan with a pained light in 
 his eyes. 
 
 Every one in the village knew that the doctor 
 loved Lois. All of them wondered why he did 
 not speak. 
 
 " While you prepare to feed the doctor and the 
 rest of us, I'll play for you," Rodney said, quickly, 
 eager to shield Lois from further embarrassment. 
 
 "You brought the violin, didn't you, Joan?" 
 
 " Could you think for a minute that I would 
 forget that, Rodney White? For such a doubt I 
 am half inclined to give the doctor the biggest piece 
 of the pie I baked all by myself." Joan held 
 the violin behind her and faced Rodney, a teas- 
 ing light in her eyes. " I had intended to give 
 my beloved guardian the largest piece," she 
 teased. 
 
 Rodney dropped to his knees in mocking humility. 
 " Forgive me, fair maiden," he pleaded. " Never- 
 more shall I doubt you." 
 
 " Swear it," Joan demanded.
 
 336 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 " Good for you, Joan," the irrepressible Gray 
 shouted. " You would have graced the Olympian 
 garden of the Gods. Of such as you are the god- 
 desses made." 
 
 Rodney smiled his approval of the youth. 
 
 " Swear, or no pie for you at all," Joan de- 
 manded, firmly, with a sidewise glance at Gray. 
 Gray beamed at her. 
 
 " Hurry up and swear, if you must, Rodney; do 
 anything she asks you. Swearing is ungodly, but 
 you'll do in the end anything Joan tells you to, so 
 you might as well get it over with." 
 
 Prudence was tired. She was unused to climbs 
 or long walks, beside she was still ruffled over Rod- 
 ney's teasing. 
 
 " I swear," Rodney said, quickly. 
 
 With the violin tucked under his chin, he turned 
 his back to the picnickers and looked out across the 
 desert, as revealed from the cave. The sun rode high 
 in the sky now, and the desert glistened under its 
 hot rays. 
 
 From the heart of the violin came deep, quivering 
 notes and majestic chords. On the crest of some 
 of those splendid chords the little group of merry- 
 makers were swept back into some primeval exist- 
 ence back to the very beginning of things. Pierc- 
 ing flights of melody and deep chords alternated
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 337 
 
 through the theme that was of the primeval and 
 things primal. 
 
 The doctor's eyes never left Lois' face, and his 
 own face was pale and rigid, yet on it was written 
 the light of a new determination. His eyes held 
 hers as the melody swept on and on in matchless 
 harmony, and Lois knew that her days of waiting 
 were over knew that he would speak soon knew 
 that he would explain his long silence, a silence of 
 lips only, for his eyes were ever afire with love 
 when they looked into hers. 
 
 In the revealing notes of the throbbing melody, 
 one could see the naked soul of things, for the voice 
 of the violin laid bare life as it is. 
 
 One could hear in the undercurrent of the theme 
 the rustling of the leaves in some virgin forest 
 could hear the voices of the first men and their 
 mates laughing in primal joy. 
 
 And the song ran on and on until a quiver of 
 pain came in it as the rustling of the leaves of the 
 virgin forest gave place to the ring of progress. 
 
 With a final resounding chord, Rodney ceased 
 playing, and turning, caught the light in Joan's 
 eyes, as she leaned forward, her lips half -parted, 
 spellbound by the majesty of the music. 
 
 An almost holy look came into the man's eyes 
 as his fingers began to shape the melody of the
 
 338 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 " Ave Maria." It was the melody Joan loved best, 
 and under the theme of it ran an undercurrent of 
 his great love for the child. And through it all 
 throbbed the spirit of his self-imposed renunciation 
 his renunciation of Joan until she would be 
 twenty. 
 
 There was silence when the last notes trembled 
 far out across the desert ... a silence that was 
 more appreciative than any spoken applause. 
 
 "Where is my pie?" Rodney demanded at last, 
 boyishly. 
 
 Martha Welch dabbed her eyes with her hand- 
 kerchief, and looked at Prudence. " I forgot eat- 
 ing," she said, helplessly. 
 
 Rodney laughed. He was very fond of the good 
 Martha. 
 
 " We have been fed on the food of the immortal 
 gods," said Gray, and he voiced the feelings of 
 them all. 
 
 " I starve, nevertheless," Rodney said, playfully. 
 " I have a longing for something that looks like cold 
 fried chicken. Aunt Prue and Miss Welch fried 
 enough chicks yesterday so that there ought to be 
 some coming our way to-day." 
 
 So they ate fried chicken and other dainty acces- 
 sories, and all went merrily until Joan's pie was 
 served.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 339 
 
 Welch took a bite of his piece first and a peculiar 
 expression passed over his face, accentuating- its 
 usual mournful appearance. Not a word did he 
 say, however, but munched his pie slowly, solemnly, 
 as if such pie was a thing of delight. 
 
 Prudence saw the expression on Welch's face, 
 and hastened to taste her piece of pie, as she 
 glanced around at the entire assemblage eating pie 
 in a peculiarly tense silence. 
 
 " Joan Worthington ! " Prudence exclaimed. 
 " What did you put in this pie? " 
 
 " Nothing but what you told me, Aunt Pru- 
 dence," cried Joan, her face clouding. " Isn't it 
 good? I sliced the apples and put the spice in and 
 the sugar and oh, is it so bad ? " 
 
 " It is all right, little girl," Rodney responded, 
 as he took a huge bite of the pie and began to 
 chew it, smiling ecstatically, as if the pie was ex- 
 ceedingly delicious. 
 
 " Stop eating that pie this instant, Rodney 
 White," Prudence snapped. " It is simply horrid, 
 and besides it may contain poison. Taste it your- 
 self, Joan. Don't stand there gaping while a lot 
 of foolish men eat such pie just because you 
 baked it." 
 
 "Oh, oh, it is simply dreadful; I am mortified 
 to death ! " Joan wailed, her mouth quivering piti-
 
 340 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 fully, as she took a bite of the pie over which she 
 had been so proud that morning. " That spice did 
 not smell right, Aunt Prudence, but I thought the 
 baking would make it all right." 
 
 " Where did you get that spice ? " Prudence de- 
 manded, suddenly suspicious. 
 
 " Out of the spice-box on the end of the top shelf 
 in the pantry," Joan returned, spiritedly. " And it 
 said, ' Best mixed spices ' on the box, just as 
 plain as could be." 
 
 " Joan, you've done it now," Prudence snapped, 
 then her face flushed. " I suppose it is my fault, 
 though I put that new kind of flea powder in it 
 that Samuel brought over the other day." She 
 turned reproachfully to Welch. 
 
 " But for pity's sake, Joan, why couldn't you 
 have got the box of spice on the first shelf? " She 
 turned back to Joan, her eyes flashing. " There is 
 no sense in your keeping your head in the air all 
 the time. You promised me if I'd let you make 
 the pies you'd make them just as I told you, and 
 now you have probably poisoned us all." 
 
 " Never mind, Joan, I have a stomach pump," 
 the doctor laughed, but there was a pain in his heart 
 because Prudence was so sharp with the child. 
 
 " What's spice for the fleas should be spice for 
 the flee-ers," Gray broke in. " But, Joan, I'll mag-
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 341 
 
 nanimously give the rest of my pie to the fleas, since 
 Miss White says the spice in your truly excellently 
 baked pies belong to those worthy little workers 
 who make life interesting when alone in one's tent 
 at night with just the stars and thoughts of happy 
 childhood." 
 
 Joan began to cry. Rodney drew her down be- 
 side him. 
 
 " She can weep on my shirt front to-day, can't 
 she, Aunt Prue? " Rodney asked, boyishly. 
 
 " She had better be praying for us all to be 
 saved from being poisoned like rats," Prudence 
 snapped. 
 
 " You meant like poisoned fleas, Miss White, did 
 you not?" Gray asked, dryly. " If I am to die 
 in the cause of the weeping maiden I want to 
 be sure just what kind of powder was used so 
 effectively." 
 
 Every one but Prudence laughed at Gray's sally. 
 Even Joan smiled through a mist of tears. Then 
 suddenly she sprang to her feet and drew her lithe 
 form erect with a quick intake of her breath. " We 
 shall none of us suffer any ill effect from the pow- 
 der," she exclaimed, a rapt light in her eyes. 
 "'They shall take up serpents; and if they drink 
 any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them,' " she 
 quoted softly. " We have His promise. The pie
 
 342 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 is not good to the taste, but it will not harm any 
 of us." 
 
 " Amen! " came the silver voice of the old min- 
 ister. 
 
 "Right-o!" approved Gray. 
 
 " Humph ! " sniffed Prudence. 
 
 " Well, here's to the pie and here's to the flea, 
 
 And here's to the powder too. 
 And here's to the girl who mixed powder and spice, 
 And here's to her eyes so blue. 
 
 " Come, let us drink to her," cried Gray, spring- 
 ing to his feet, a glass of sparkling spring water 
 held high above his head. 
 
 " Drink ! Drink ! Drink the nectar of the gods 
 to the pride of Rainbow Springs." 
 
 " Now here's to the Princess Mona ! " cried 
 Graham, another of the sick fellows, when the trib- 
 ute had been given to Joan. 
 
 " I'm with you, boys. They are both the finest 
 girls in the world, but I wouldn't mind a bit if the 
 drink was a little stronger." Welch winked at 
 Rodney, and wagged his head mournfully, as he 
 drank the tribute to the chum of Joan. 
 
 Joan's eyes scintillated with pleasure, as she 
 pressed Mona's hand in hers. 
 
 " Humph ! " Prudence sniffed. " Water is strong
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 343 
 
 enough for any man to drink, Samuel." Prudence's 
 voice showed her disapproval of Welch's reference 
 to something stronger. 
 
 Welch scratched his head solemnly. " I swear 
 to you, Prudence, I was thinking of your coffee 
 when I said something stronger." 
 
 A hot flush that might have been embarrassment 
 or pride swept over Prudence's face. 
 
 Rodney began to play softly to break the ten- 
 sion, and as before luncheon, everything was 
 forgotten while they all listened to the matchless 
 harmony. 
 
 Mona was the only one who caught for an instant 
 the glimpse of a laughing, triumphant savage face, 
 as Chawa passed the cave's entrance. 
 
 Her eyes were very grave and troubled when 
 they all went down to the village in the purple 
 twilight. 
 
 " I want to talk to you to-night," the doctor said, 
 as he paused for an instant with Rodney, beside the 
 tree under which Arth rested. " It is about her." 
 He nodded toward Joan, coming down the road, her 
 arm about Mona's supple waist. 
 
 "All right, old man; I've been waiting for it," 
 Rodney returned. The doctor did not notice the 
 last of Rodney's response, his eyes were on Lois. 
 
 A pang shot through Rodney as he waited for
 
 344 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 Joan and Mona to catch up with him. Rodney 
 shrewdly imagined what the doctor was going to 
 talk about that night, still the pain was lessened 
 as he watched the doctor overtake Lois and raise 
 his hat to her. There had been that in the doctor's 
 face all day which assured Rodney the doctor would 
 also talk to Lois that night. 
 
 " Come on in, Joan. Aunt Prue and Welch will 
 be a long time getting here," Rodney said, as he and 
 Joan entered their own yard. 
 
 " I've just been imagining what I would do when 
 you grew up and some Prince Charming dashed up 
 on his charger a la young Lochinvar out of the 
 west and carried you off from me," Rodney said, 
 whimsically. He teased that he might see the fire- 
 light flash in her eyes, but he was astounded when 
 she flashed back with a trace of her old-time anger 
 in her voice, " Your imagination outruns your com- 
 mon sense, then." 
 
 " Well, well, that from my little Joan," he said, 
 lightly, as she stood erect and flashing-eyed before 
 him, and suddenly the girl Joan seemed to have 
 vanished from his life, leaving a woman Joan, un- 
 utterably sweet. 
 
 He jerked himself together with an effort, as he 
 recalled his determination to wait five long years 
 before he told Joan all that was in his heart to tell
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 345 
 
 her now, strange, divinely sweet mixture of child 
 and woman that she was. 
 
 " What a kid it is ! " he said, with a laugh, when 
 he could control his voice. 
 
 The frank, teasing tone seemed to disappoint the 
 somber blue eyes searching his face. 
 
 " Come on in, then," she returned, with just a 
 trace of impatience in her low voice. " I'll give you 
 your supper before Aunt Prudence gets here." 
 
 " Not if I know myself, you won't," came the 
 voice of Prudence. 
 
 " Oh, please let me get the supper to-night, Aunt 
 Prudence; I'll be careful," Joan pleaded. 
 
 " No, I'll get it," Prudence returned, ungra- 
 ciously. "I left you to get supper last night, and 
 you put sugar in the oyster soup instead of salt, and 
 salt in Rodney's coffee when he distinctly asked for 
 sugar, and . . . " 
 
 " Don't name anything else to-night, please, Aunt 
 Prudence," pleaded a very meek Joan. " But no 
 one was sick because of the pie," she cried, trium- 
 phantly, as she disappeared in the house, Rodney 
 close beside her. 
 
 " Stay out here a while, Prudence," Welch begged 
 timidly. " Don't you love the way the wind blows 
 in all full of sweetness when the shadows of night 
 begin to creep softly over the desert?"
 
 346 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 " You are daffy over this desert country just as 
 Rodney and Joan are," Prudence retorted, as she 
 brushed aside Welch's timidly detaining hand and 
 went in to get supper. 
 
 Prudence was frankly past the age of romancing 
 in the moonlight. She tried to make Welch realize 
 it, yet liked him all the better because he would not 
 be a prosaic middle-aged lover, as she told him he 
 should be. 
 
 In spite of his funereal appearance, Welch had 
 the spring of eternal youth in his heart, and was 
 as boyish in this second romance as he had been in 
 his first homage to the goddess of love. 
 
 " Humph, moonlight and shadows of night creep- 
 ing softly over the desert," Prudence sniffed, her 
 mouth twitching, as she mixed her bread, her supple 
 wrists moving in rhythmic flexibility. 
 
 " Samuel acts like a boy, or would if I'd let him. 
 I hope I never shall act as silly as he does, but 
 Samuel is a good man, and I'll be proud of him in 
 Orion. He looks so dignified and scholarly. Sam- 
 uel is such a handsome man," she sighed, happily. 
 
 Not for worlds would Prudence have called 
 Welch " Sam." Even when alone she thought of 
 him as " Samuel." 
 
 " Tell Samuel he can stay to supper if he wants 
 to," she jerked out, as Joan came in to set the table
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 347 
 
 for supper. " I think Mona will be here presently ; 
 I told her to come in half an hour . . . now don't 
 get me all messed up," she grumbled, secretly 
 pleased, however, when Joan flung her arms about 
 her neck and kissed her. 
 
 " Oh, you are good, good ! " Joan whispered, 
 implanting a kiss upon the ear into which she had 
 just whispered, then she flew from the room to bid 
 Welch stay for supper. 
 
 " I knew she'd ask me to stay if I hung round 
 long enough," Welch returned, with a solemn wink 
 at the moon, rising silver-winged in the sky. 
 
 The supper was a delight. Such biscuits as only 
 Prudence could make were flanked by potatoes as 
 well cooked as the bread, rich and tender ham, 
 fried just as Joan liked it best, with clear amber 
 coffee that had an aromatic fragrance, found only 
 in the coffee brewed by Prudence. 
 
 " Promise Mona you will not leave the house to- 
 night," Mona pleaded, as Joan bade her good-night 
 after supper. 
 
 "Why?" Joan demanded. 
 
 " Because I, Mona, wish it," Mona returned, 
 softly. " Would you not grant me such a small 
 wish, little friend?" 
 
 " I would do almost anything for you, Mona, 
 dear," Joan returned, with a fervent kiss. " But I
 
 348 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 had thought of going up to the twin palms to-night 
 to meditate on having reached the ripe old age of 
 fifteen, but I love you well enough to wait another 
 year for that meditation, and then I'll have another 
 year to think about," Joan added, with a happy 
 little laugh. 
 
 " I am glad you love Mona so," Mona said, 
 gratefully, and glided off down the road toward 
 home with the graceful, swinging glide that was her 
 own peculiar seductive gift. 
 
 An hour later Joan started up the trail that led 
 to the Cave of Rest. She had thought of going for 
 Mona to accompany her, but the cottage windows 
 were dark, and she supposed Mona was asleep. It 
 was long past her bedtime. 
 
 " I am glad I did not promise outright not to go 
 away from the house to-night, but I implied it," she 
 added, honestly, as she looked back ruefully. 
 " Nothing but that would make me go after even 
 an implied promise, but I cannot leave Her up there 
 to-night. I simply cannot. It must have slipped off 
 when Mona and I were spreading the rugs down." 
 She put her hand regretfully to her throat where, 
 ever since she could remember, had rested the locket 
 containing her mother's miniature. She had looked 
 at it the first thing every morning of her life since 
 she was old enough to know what it meant . . .
 
 349 
 
 and now it was gone. She had missed it when she 
 started to look into the sweet eyes so like her own, 
 before preparing for bed. 
 
 It would have been impossible for one of her 
 temperament to wait until morning to search for 
 the precious locket. 
 
 She slipped out through the side door without 
 disturbing either Rodney and the doctor, who were 
 talking in low tones in the living-room, or Welch 
 and Prudence in the dining-room. 
 
 As she passed the Indian burying ground, she 
 wondered, a bit regretfully, where Don could be, 
 then she smiled as she thought of him with the old 
 man she loved so dearly and who she had insisted 
 should be joint owner, with her, of the beautiful 
 collie. She smiled again dreamily, happily, as she 
 recalled many of the events that had taken place 
 during the eventful three years that had passed 
 since she and Rodney and Mona had found the old 
 man in the old well at Tellput. 
 
 But for the first time in her life and she had 
 gone there alone at midnight she shivered as she 
 entered the Cave of Rest and lighted one of the 
 lanterns that had added to the brightness of the 
 cave that day. 
 
 She found the locket near the spot where Rodney 
 had stood when he played that day, and her eyes
 
 350 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 glowed with a light that would have gladdened 
 Rodney. The light still lingered in her eyes as she 
 started down the trail and, with the locket once 
 more resting where it had rested so long, she was 
 inclined to laugh at her fears until just as she 
 reached the twin palms Chawa, with a triumphant 
 light in his flashing, savage eyes, suddenly appeared 
 before her.
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 'ONDER where Gray is? " Bentley ques- 
 tioned at large of the group of men 
 around one of the reading-tables in the 
 Hall of Hope. 
 
 " Don't know; he started down the trail with the 
 divine Martha," said Hobson, one of the half-dozen 
 boys whom the doctor had deemed able to make the 
 climb to the Cave of Rest. 
 
 " If I'd had my way, I would have come down 
 with that royal princess, Mona," piped up Graham, 
 a young Englishman. " But she'd have none of 
 me," he added, with a comically mournful air. 
 " She and White's ward came down together, with 
 White and Dad close behind them." 
 
 Graham had only been a few weeks at the village, 
 but ever since his arrival he had been half in love 
 with Mona. 
 
 " Oh, fudge, your royal princess is just a half- 
 breed," Hobson said, sneeringly. 
 
 " Don't care, she's the real article," Graham re- 
 turned, heatedly. 
 
 35
 
 352 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 " Mona is all that is good and pure and true," 
 came the voice of the old minister. " And further- 
 more, gentlemen, I stand to her as Rodney White 
 does to Joan. It may also interest you to know she 
 has finally consented to be adopted by me. I have 
 applied for the necessary papers . . . soon she will 
 be my daughter, by adoption. This Fall I expect to 
 send her off to a finishing school. I want both her 
 and Joan to attend Mills." 
 
 The old minister moved directly in front of the 
 boys and faced Hobson. 
 
 " Mona is God's child, Hobson, my boy, and a 
 lady," he said, gently. 
 
 Hobson fell back from the searching gaze of the 
 old man. 
 
 " I assure you, I meant to treat her as a lady," 
 piped Graham. " By Jove, I did, you know. And 
 hang me, Mr. Sherwood, I shall ask you for her 
 hand some day. She'd grace a crown, by Jove. 
 Not that I'll ever have a crown to offer her, you 
 know, but she's a princess, sir, a princess. And I 
 love her, by Jove, I do. My love is real and sincere, 
 sir." Graham's face flushed, and his voice shook. 
 
 " Good for you, Graham ; I did not know you had 
 it in you. You are of the stuff of which men are 
 made," sang out one of the men in the back- 
 ground.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 353 
 
 Hobson started toward the door, muttering under 
 his breath. 
 
 " Come back, Hobson, boy," the old man said, 
 kindly. 
 
 Hobson obeyed sulkily. 
 
 Dad's eyes met Hobson's somber ones with a 
 tender, compassionate look; suddenly the old man 
 smiled. 
 
 Hobson never forgot that smile. It seemed to 
 him then and in the future that the smile was the 
 benediction of some Holy Spirit. 
 
 All anger and defiance left Hobson's eyes. " For- 
 give me, Dad," he cried, his voice ringing true. 
 
 " Aye, lad, that I had done before you spoke. I 
 called you back because I love all my boys ; I cannot 
 let any of them go from me wounded. It is the gift 
 of the young to speak lightly. I would trust my 
 Mona with you any place, lad." 
 
 Just then Martha came to the door. " Where is 
 Mr. Gray ? " she asked, with a trace of anxiety in 
 her voice. 
 
 Martha was the matron of the doctor's ideal 
 resort, and at last Martha had found her true 
 vocation in life. The maternal spirit in her ever 
 looked out of her mild eyes, and she mothered her 
 " boys," as she called the sick men, with a truly 
 beautiful, motherly tenderness. Moreover, she over-
 
 354 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 saw the cooking, and every meal was a triumph of 
 nourishing delectability. 
 
 " I think he turned in at the Major's," said Mer- 
 rimac, a silent, diffident chap, who seldom spoke 
 unless necessary. Merrimac was a university grad- 
 uate, had taken a year's course at Cooper's Med- 
 ical College. He was of valuable assistance to the 
 doctor, and the doctor was helping him in a course 
 of study that would be of greater value to him 
 than the training at the Medical College would have 
 been during his second and third years there. 
 
 " Reckon Gray has gone to plague Cuby," Gra- 
 ham advanced. " By Jove, you know, that nigger 
 is a heap of fun, he's real sport, by Jove. Flanni- 
 gan went with him," he added. 
 
 Merrimac turned a page of the book he was read- 
 ing, and lost the trend of the conversation. 
 
 " He is all right, Martha," Dad said, cheerfully, 
 but his pale face became a more silver gray, and 
 a pained look crept into his eyes. 
 
 " There he is now," exclaimed Hobson. A door 
 at the side of the hall swung open, and Gray en- 
 tered with a cheerful, " Hello, stay-at-homes, I've 
 been making a call on Cuby." 
 
 " Faith, and he wint to call on Cuby, so he did," 
 broke in Flannigan, brushing back his red Irish 
 hair with a freckled hand. " Begorry, and I wint
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 355 
 
 with him, and whin we got there Cuby was 
 alone." 
 
 " Saw the Major shying off with that young 
 Apollo, Chawa, or we should not have paid our 
 respects to Cuby," laughed Gray, perching himself 
 on the edge of the table near the old minister. 
 
 The old man smiled at the lad, and laid his gentle 
 hand on the thin shoulders. Gray was the life of 
 the village despite the fact that none knew better 
 that himself how short a time he might be there. 
 He had made the climb to the Cave of Rest that 
 day against the strict orders of the doctor not to 
 do so. When reproached by the doctor for dis- 
 obeying orders, Gray made answer in his usual 
 flippant manner. " How could Joan be fifteen and 
 have her picnic party, doctor, dear, without me 
 there to oversee the job? I'll not go next year, eh, 
 doctor?" 
 
 And the doctor had turned away misty-eyed. 
 The doctor was very fond of Gray every one was. 
 He was so cheerful, so patient, and withal so un- 
 selfish and ever ready to do something for the other 
 sick men, almost all of whom were much more able 
 to do for him than he for them. 
 
 " What now between you and Cuby ? " asked the 
 old minister. 
 
 " Faith and there was plinty," said Flannigan.
 
 356 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 " It's meself that calls no more with Mister Gray. 
 We had to lave so sudden like. I was half-way 
 down the home road when Gray overtook me. 
 ' The divil,' says I, ' but I hate to run from a 
 dommed nigger,' begging your pardon, Dad, but 
 that's what Cuby is. Gray coughed." 
 
 " Never mind the cough, Flannigan, that is a 
 minor detail," interrupted Gray. 
 
 " Well, as I was saying," Flannigan mopped his 
 flushed face. " As I was saying, Gray coughed, 
 and . . ." 
 
 " I acknowledge the cough, red head, but don't 
 linger on it until the judgment day," snapped Gray, 
 whimsically. 
 
 " Well, he coughed," said Flannigan, beginning 
 again. 
 
 Gray shrugged his shoulders with a comical air. 
 
 " Then he panted, and says he, ' It's not the first 
 time we've moved for Cuba,' and I call that a 
 dommed good joke, even if Gray did run alongside 
 of me like the divil was after us entirely," Flanni- 
 gan chuckled. 
 
 Gray smiled at him in a quizzical way. " Who is 
 going to tell the first of the story, Flannigan ? " 
 
 " Faith and you have the floor, and it's long- 
 winded you are when it comes to yarning, so go 
 on, while I rest me weary soul a bit."
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 357 
 
 Flannigan flung himself down on one of the 
 leather cots with which the hall abounded, and 
 propped himself up on his elbows. 
 
 " Hadn't you better lie down and rest, lad ? " 
 The old minister looked searchingly into the eyes 
 so unnaturally bright. He sighed as his gaze swept 
 on down the pale cheeks with the spots of vivid 
 red burning in them. 
 
 " I am living now, Dad, let me be gay ; I'll have 
 to lie down soon enough," Gray pleaded, boyishly. 
 
 " Tell the story now, lad, then off to bed," the 
 old man returned, softly, watching the boy lovingly, 
 as he told the story. 
 
 " I turned up my collar and pulled down my hat 
 before I knocked on the door Flannigan hid be- 
 hind the orange tree there at the side door to watch 
 the fun. 
 
 "'Is the Major at home, good sir?' I asked, 
 suavely, when Cuby opened the door. 
 
 " ' No,' he jerked out, and started to close the 
 door. I stuck my foot over the threshold . . . 
 Good big foot, mine, and rather persuasive-looking 
 if I do say it myself. ..." 
 
 Gray eyed his feet reflectively, then went on with 
 a low chuckle. 
 
 " Cuby stood there scowling. ' I might do busi- 
 ness with you, my friend,' I began. ' I represent the
 
 358 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 great American Insurance Company. You pay our 
 company the small sum of fifty cents weekly. We, 
 in turn, pay you five dollars a month as long as you 
 live. We also pledge ourselves to give you the 
 finest funeral imaginable when you shuffle off.' 
 
 " ' What am dat last ? ' Cuby asked. His face 
 was full of interest now. He opened wide the door 
 and stood back to let me enter. I didn't accept his 
 implied invitation. It is sometimes easier to get 
 into a house than it is to get out of it. I began to 
 explain to Cuby, as if I did not see that the door 
 was open. I said, * When you cash in when you 
 die, to put it plainly, we will give you the most 
 elegant funeral you ever saw in all your life. Our 
 society is especially beneficial to all of your color. 
 In fact, the great American Insurance Company 
 caters especially to your unjustly down-trodden 
 race.' " 
 
 " Said that just like a preacher, be gob, but he 
 did," shouted Flannigan. 
 
 " Shut up," Gray said, succinctly. " I am telling 
 this tale. The door began to come to, inch by inch, 
 began to pinch my number tens, in fact," he 
 chuckled. " I knew I had tacked wrong some way. 
 While I was getting my bearings again, Cuby broke 
 forth into language, and he's a beaut, Cuby is, when 
 he gets going.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 359 
 
 " ' Sassieties Organizations Protective Insur- 
 ance Companies. Yes, indeed, they cater to my 
 down-trodden race. Huh ! ' grunted Cuby. His 
 eyes glittered and he seemed about to warm up to 
 the subject. 
 
 " ' My dear sir,' I said, sweetly. ' The great 
 American Insurance Company is like unto no other 
 in this great wide world, I assure you.' ' 
 
 " And Cuby looked so wild, I thought he was 
 going to bat him one right then," Flannigan broke 
 in, eagerly. 
 
 " Keep still, son, I have the floor. I looked Cuby 
 straight in the eye and said mournfully, ' Sir, you 
 have to die some day. We all have to die. It is 
 the privilege of the human race. It's the one sure 
 thing. You have to die, my dear man.' 
 
 " ' Reckon I knows I'se got to die,' Cuby re- 
 torted. ' Dey's dying ebber once in de while in dis 
 burg. I'm mighty damn glad the boss is going to 
 clear out ob here soon.' ' 
 
 " What is that? " Dad interrupted, eagerly. 
 
 " Surest thing you know, that's what he said ; I 
 heard him," Flannigan cried, excitedly. 
 
 " Go to sleep, son, you need it," Gray admonished, 
 then turned to the old minister. " Cuby implied 
 that he and the exquisite Major were going to van- 
 ish soon, sir."
 
 360 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 He hesitated an instant. 
 
 " Go on with your story, lad," the old minister re- 
 turned, but his eyes were troubled. 
 
 " ' Well, my dear sir,' I continued, ' I am glad you 
 realize we all have to die, but while we live let us 
 all take advantage of having an income of five 
 dollars every month by the small payment of fifty 
 cents a week. Think what a good thing we offer 
 you, my dear sir.' 
 
 " ' Things that look too good am generally to be 
 suspicionated ob,' Cuby interrupted me. 
 
 " ' Not the great American Insurance Com ' 
 
 I began. 
 
 " ' I know de rest ob it/ Cuby interrupted again. 
 He was very dignified too, was Cuby. ' I'se been . 
 hoodwinked by seberal new-fangled sassieties dat 
 wa'n't wuth a postage stamp after it had gone 
 through the mails. I jined the Fraternal Unity once 
 when dey was habin' a ruction an' a hullabaloo in 
 our town, and dey got more money out ob me in a 
 week den I'd intended dey should in a whole life 
 time,' quoth Cuby. ' Dey promised me to allers 
 treat me as a brother no matter how down I got in 
 de world. I believed dem 'til one day I fin' I hab 
 no money. I went up to de Fraternal Unity house 
 to a little social time dey was a habin' a few nights 
 later. De gal at de desk in de anteroom says:
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 361 
 
 " You'se not a member any more case you habn't 
 paid your dues for two months you'se done crossed 
 off our book ..." I don't jine no more com- 
 panies/ says Cuby, very haughty like. 
 
 " ' But we are not that kind of a company, dear 
 sir/ I said, sweetly, and then that fool Flannigan 
 had to laugh and spoil everything. I would have 
 had Cuby going good and plenty pretty soon. Gee ! 
 Cuby's face was something fierce to look upon when 
 he found a joke was being played on him. He 
 grabbed his gun and ..." 
 
 " And we run run like the divil," burst out 
 Flannigan. 
 
 " That is the truth, we did run," Gray laughed, 
 joining in the uproar of laughter that followed 
 laughter in which even the quiet Merrimac 
 joined. 
 
 " Did he recognize you ? " Dad asked, anxiously. 
 
 " He didn't have time," Flannigan shouted. 
 " When Gray saw the jig was up, he did a 
 fancy getaway that would do credit to a bank 
 burglar." 
 
 The old man smiled his relief. 
 
 " It is time for bed, lads," he said, gently. " But 
 before you go, I will tell you all the joke on Joan 
 to-day. She asked me to tell it; since some of the 
 boys knew it, she did not think it fair to keep it
 
 362 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 from the rest of you, and the chaps who knew it, 
 being gentlemen, would not mention it." 
 
 " Thank you, Dad," Gray said, softly. 
 
 " We are to stay here until the doctor comes to- 
 night," Hobson advanced, quietly. " He requested 
 it just after he came down from the picnic this 
 evening. Said he would be here about ten o'clock." 
 
 " Ah," murmured the old man. " So he is going 
 to speak at last," he mused. 
 
 " By Jove, but I felt creepy and little when Joan 
 stood up there like some ancient goddess or saint 
 and quoted Scripture at us," said Graham, when 
 the old minister had finished telling of the flea- 
 powder pies. " I was beginning to feel all sick and 
 crampy, too," he added, with a wry smile, " but 
 when she stood there, looking so exalted, and said, 
 in that cock-sure manner of hers, that none of us 
 would feel any bad effects from the pie, by Jove, the 
 sick feeling left, and I haven't felt it since." 
 
 " Same here," said Gray. " Joan is a wonder. 
 She told me the Christian Science statement of 
 being the other day. I asked her if she was a Chris- 
 tian Scientist. * I hope I am a Christian/ she 
 flashed back. ' I am not a Christian Scientist, but 
 I do believe in the efficacy of prayer. I know there 
 are many wonderful faith cures now, even as there 
 were when Christ was upon the earth. I just re-
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 363 
 
 cited to you the Christian Science statement of be- 
 ing. They deny that sickness exists. Christ healed 
 the sick, but he did not deny that there was sickness 
 and sin in the world. 
 
 " ' There are other sects in the world who heal 
 by faith, and effect as many wonderful cures as do 
 the Christian Scientists, and these other sects do 
 not deny that sickness and sin exist. There is good 
 in all of them, Mr. Gray. And the main thing after 
 all is to believe in Christ, and we all want to go to 
 Him some day, so it does not really matter how 
 young we are when we go, does it? Dad says, 
 " when one gathers a choice bouquet of flowers he 
 mixes the buds with the full-blown blossoms, and so 
 it is when God gathers His bouquets from His 
 flower garden." I am so glad you are ready to be 
 gathered whenever the Lord is ready,' she said, 
 seriously. ' And I am excedingly glad I did not 
 remain long enough with Miss Warren to become 
 a full-fledged Christian Scientist as she wished me 
 to. I felt exceedingly bad for a time because she 
 did not adopt me as she had intended, but the Lord 
 had better things in store for me, and Rodney says, 
 " All life is so, ' everything works together for the 
 good of those who love the Lord.' " I am sure every- 
 thing worked together for my good, even if I did not 
 fully appreciate the method of working at the time.'
 
 364 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 " She said all this as solemn as solemn could be, 
 mind you, looking straight at me with that rapt 
 light in her eyes that makes one think they are talk- 
 ing to their mother, especially if one's mother hap- 
 pens to be dead, as mine is. 
 
 " Mona came along about that time, and hang 
 my grandmother's pet cat if that Joan girl wasn't 
 flying off across the desert on Pegasus almost be- 
 fore I could say scat ! Mona was on her pony, and 
 Joan was laughing like she does when she is per- 
 fectly happy, just as if a serious thought had never 
 crossed her mind." 
 
 Dad smiled. The tale was so highly characteris- 
 tic of Joan. 
 
 " Wonder where she gets such a mixture of 
 ideas?" said Hobson, who had been silent until 
 now. 
 
 " She has been with Rodney a little over three 
 years," the old man answered, with a little reminis- 
 cent smile. " You should have seen her when I 
 first knew her. That worthy aunt of Rodney's has 
 ding-donged at her until she is not half so impulsive 
 and free to talk as she was. When she came to 
 Rodney you have all heard the tale of how she 
 came to him she owned, to quote her, ' exactly 
 one Bible, one book of fairy tales,' and had spent 
 six months with a Christian Science practitioner."
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 365 
 
 " That explains it," laughed Gray. " I believe she 
 can quote most of the Christian Science text-book, 
 and I am confident she knows almost all of the Bible 
 by heart." 
 
 " Not quite," Dad returned, with a smile, " but the 
 child knows more of the Bible than most of us do, 
 and she knows how to apply it, too." 
 
 So they discussed Joan and praised her, for they 
 all idolized the child, while Joan faced her danger 
 alone, and the doctor and Rodney talked together 
 in Rodney's living-room. 
 
 " I hardly know how to begin," the doctor said, 
 sadly. 
 
 " Rodney, I am going to tell you all my real 
 name everything and please God from this day 
 on I go by my own name. Thank God, my life my 
 past my present my future shall be as an open 
 book for all men to read. Even though I lose your 
 friendship, and I value it above that of any other 
 man's I shall speak. You caused me to speak 
 to-night, lad, you and your magic music. Man! 
 Man ! what a gift you have. You make the violin 
 talk. God! It flays a man's soul until it is raw, 
 then heals it with one magic note. You'll speak to 
 the world some day. Some day you and your violin 
 will be famous, but to my confession, man, for con- 
 fession it is."
 
 366 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 Rodney raised his hand, interrupting the doctor 
 as he was about to continue. " Let me say right 
 here, doctor, that nothing, nothing do you under- 
 stand ? can lessen my friendship for you. I prayed 
 you would speak when I was playing up there to-day 
 and yet I dreaded to have you speak. As for the 
 violin and fame. I had my dream of fame my 
 dream of the world at my feet, sobbing or laughing 
 at my will I had the power have it now. I sac- 
 rificed health itself to my great ambition. I would 
 almost have given my soul for fame fame such as 
 I knew might be mine given a few years of perfect 
 health. I came to the cross roads where I must take 
 one way or the other one winter day. I had to 
 choose between a brief triumphant tour and life. 
 I fought the battle out on Christmas Eve you know 
 the story of how Joan came to me out of the storm. 
 I had not won the battle when she crept in the 
 room in answer to the call of my violin. I think 
 I must have felt her presence before the battle was 
 won between fame and life. I think her presence 
 there turned the tide in favor of life. I know a 
 divine peace came suddenly. I played on played 
 the ' Ave Maria,' I remember, and then, I looked 
 around and saw her. I have played only a few 
 times since we have been here. Until to-day the old 
 pain, excruciatingly intense, followed each hour with
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 367 
 
 my violin. To-day I have not felt the usual after- 
 math of pain." 
 
 He arose and began to pace the floor with long, 
 swinging strides. " But I find the old ambition is 
 gone. I mean the desire to bring the world to my 
 feet has left me. I am still ambitious, but Joan, 
 bless her, and your wonderful work here have to- 
 gether opened the true life-book for me to read I 
 have read read and understood. I intended to 
 come to you to-morrow to offer to play an hour or 
 so each day for the boys at the hall. Their joy in 
 it will be sweeter to me than would have been the 
 applause of the entire world three years ago. I'll 
 never forget the light in Gray's eyes when I looked 
 at him to-day when I was playing the ' Ave Maria.' 
 Brave old Gray, is there no hope for him? " 
 
 " No, he cannot recover he came too late," the 
 doctor answered. " He will go some day with a jest 
 on his lips, but Gray is square with his Maker even 
 if a jest at fate is the last word that falls from his 
 lips . . . and I expect he will die jesting," he 
 added, not knowing how truly he spoke. 
 
 " Will the violin help over there as I hope it 
 will ? " Rodney broke the silence that followed, and 
 his voice was shaky. Every one loved Gray. 
 
 " Help ! " the doctor exclaimed, fervently. " I 
 sometimes think diversion as much as medicine is
 
 368 fOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 what the men need. And music such music as 
 yours, man will be of untold pleasure and benefit. 
 The lads all love music they need diversion I 
 would not know what to do with them at times were 
 it not for Joan and and Lois." His fine face 
 flushed as he reverently spoke the name " Lois." 
 Suddenly he recalled why he was there remem- 
 bered, too, that he had asked Lois to wait for him to 
 come to her at ten o'clock, and it must be after nine 
 now. The boys were going to wait for him, too. 
 
 Rodney saw the look on his friend's face, and 
 understood it 
 
 " You came to talk, old man," Rodney said, un- 
 derstandingly. " Go ahead, and remember that 
 nothing you say can break our friendship or shake 
 my faith in you." 
 
 " And yet, you condemned me once most bit- 
 terly," the doctor returned, gravely. " You are 
 young yet, Rodney boy. You may judge me 
 harshly, as you once did unconsciously. Do not 
 promise your continuance of friendship until I have 
 finished for there is a woman in the story." 
 
 " I have guessed lots, old man, but here is my 
 hand in friendship just the same," Rodney inter- 
 rupted. 
 
 The doctor took the outstretched hand and held 
 it.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 369 
 
 " I wear the brand of philanthropy on my fore- 
 head," he began, gravely, " but on my heart there 
 is a scar caused by a moment's weakness, and the 
 scar scourges me every hour I live, with a burning, 
 torturing intensity. 
 
 " I must tell you the story of the scar, Rodney. 
 Then I shall tell it to Lois and the boys. To you 
 I shall tell all Lois, too, shall know all. But to 
 you I must talk first. You shall be my spiritual 
 sanctuary you shall judge me. I believe you will 
 judge as would the Saviour ... as He does judge 
 me. Shall I begin, Rodney ? " 
 
 " Yes," Rodney breathed, softly. 
 
 The doctor sighed, passed his hand across his 
 eyes as one does to shut out an intense light, then 
 he began. 
 
 " You spoke of ambition a while ago. I always, 
 until the scar came, had a great ambition of my 
 own, but back of my ambition was my father with 
 an intense ambition for his only son such as he had 
 not had even for himself, and my father was an 
 ambitious man. When I tell you his name, you will 
 recognize him as one of the greatest medical lights 
 of the century. 
 
 " I was only nineteen when the woman, or rather 
 girl, entered my life only nineteen and the sixth 
 in direct line of descent of great medical men. I
 
 370 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 had never in all those nineteen years had the in- 
 fluence of good women or bad ones either for that 
 matter. My life had been strangely lacking the 
 gift of a woman's divine presence. My mother gave 
 her life for mine, and ..." 
 
 " Mine also," Rodney interrupted, softly. 
 
 The doctor smiled and pressed his friend's hand 
 understandingly. 
 
 " My early days were spent in the usual manner 
 of the sons of rich men . . . with this exception, 
 I was always taken care of by men, never by women. 
 My nurse was a man my tutors were men. I 
 passed my school days in a boys' preparatory school, 
 but I read books as some of the other boys did not. 
 And the books dealt with women women invari- 
 ably divine and fair to look upon. When I entered 
 medical college, I idolized women to such extent 
 that I never discerned that even the fairer sex could 
 have feet of clay. I should have doubted an angel 
 straight from heaven as quickly as I would have 
 doubted the worst woman on earth. 
 
 " I remember once I knocked one of the fellows 
 down because he sneered at the negro washerwoman 
 who did up our shirts for us. I offered my incense 
 at the shrine of that old colored woman because 
 she was a woman. I showered her with flowers and 
 dress lengths and bonbons even as I would have
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 371 
 
 pressed those things upon all the women I knew had 
 I not been as timid with them as I was full of 
 worship for them. You should have heard that old 
 negro woman's, ' God bress you, honey chile.' I 
 am glad I made her happy. She was a dear old 
 black mammy. Our home was in Virginia. I went 
 home for Christmas vacation as usual that year. 
 One snow-smothered day, I went down to the vil- 
 lage. I was just opposite an almost snow-buried 
 cottage, when I saw her the first woman a slim, 
 shivering girl in a faded black dress. Her face was 
 pinched and blue with cold ; her eyes, blue and wist- 
 ful, as they met mine seemed to hold an unknown 
 world of sorrow in their somber depths. 
 
 " Her slender, cold hands could not work the 
 key in the door of the half-buried cottage. She be- 
 gan to sob dry, harsh sobs unlike a woman; she 
 sobbed but shed no tears. 
 
 " I had stood spellbound until now. At the sight 
 of her grief, there surged over me and through me 
 an overwhelming, overmastering desire to take her 
 in my arms and comfort her. 
 
 " I cannot explain my feelings. I felt thrilled 
 with the same joy that Adam must have felt when 
 he first saw Eve and knew that she belonged to 
 him. I knew the girl was mine had been mine 
 through countless ages. Even now, I cannot think
 
 372 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 of that moment without the same feeling" of having 
 awaited that moment since the beginning of time 
 itself. 
 
 " I held her eyes with mine, and some of the 
 sorrow seemed to leave them; the pitiful little mouth 
 almost smiled. 
 
 " To make a long story short, it was I who turned 
 the key in the door. We entered the poorly but 
 neatly furnished cottage together. When she had 
 lighted the lamp, for it was dusk now, I asked 
 where to find fuel to build a fire. 
 
 " ' There is none,' she answered, in a lifeless voice. 
 
 " I went into another room the kitchen when 
 I came back to her I had wood to build the fire. 
 That the fuel I held in my arms had once been a 
 kitchen chair, she knew, but she smiled at me, a wan, 
 pitiful little smile, as I knelt on the cold hearth and 
 coaxed the fire to burn. I was very proud of that 
 the first fire I ever made. I dragged an easy-chair 
 up before the jovial blaze, and gently led her to it. 
 Ah ! the grateful warmth of that fire out of the old 
 chair." He sighed reminiscently. " ' Is there any 
 tea in the house ? ' I asked, as she held out her 
 chilled hands to the crackling blaze. She shook 
 her head. 
 
 " ' I'll be back soon,' I flung over my shoulder, as 
 I left her. I ran all the way down to the business
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 373 
 
 section of the little village, now gripped in an Arctic 
 blast. The streets were almost deserted. I saw no 
 one who knew me. The stores I entered were 
 empty, save for some clerk with half -frozen hands. 
 
 " When I returned to the cottage, with my arms 
 full, the fire had died down and the girl was crying 
 crying as women cry. 
 
 " I had forgotten to purchase fuel, but that did 
 not bother me. I rekindled the fire with another 
 kitchen chair, while the girl dried her eyes and 
 sobbed out the cause of her grief. Her mother 
 had died the day before had been buried that day 
 the girl was alone and penniless. She and her 
 mother had lived only a short time in the village. 
 Until a few months before she had been counted 
 one of the wealthiest girls in Mississippi; a few 
 months before I found her her father had lost his 
 fortune and her mother's also in a sudden slump in 
 the cotton market. A bullet did the rest as far 
 as he was concerned. The girl, who had been con- 
 sidered a great heiress one day, was a pauper the 
 next. 
 
 " The mother owned this little cottage, and she 
 and the girl came to it as soon as everything was 
 over. They had only a few dollars ; these soon went 
 for medicine and food. 
 
 " The mother broke down under the strain of it
 
 374 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 all. Everything of value in the little cottage was 
 sold the first weeks of the mother's illness. Later 
 the house was mortgaged to the squire of the village 
 a heartless, grasping wretch, who had told the girl 
 before the last clod had covered her mother from 
 her sight, that he would be ' round to take posses- 
 sion of his house the following morning.' 
 
 " I comforted her while she ate the food I brought 
 her. I had bought wine also, and it soon gave 
 a faint glow of color to the pinched, white face. 
 
 " I obeyed a sudden uncontrollable impulse and 
 took her in my arms, where she remained as con- 
 tent and trustful as a little child, while I planned 
 for her future our future for it had come to 
 that life without her was not to be considered. 
 
 " Love had come to us both at the same instant. 
 We burned most of the furniture that night, and 
 the fire I fed so lavishly, roared and crackled its 
 approval of our youthful, innocent plans. I knew 
 my father would think I was spending the night 
 with a boy chum of mine. I often did that without 
 previous mention of my intentions to him. 
 
 " The following day we were married in an ad- 
 joining county. . . . We were secretly married 
 I knew my father, and even though it hurt me to 
 ask my darling's consent to secrecy when I longed 
 to blazon my love and pride of her to all the world
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 375 
 
 I asked that our marriage be secret, and she agreed, 
 that is why I wear the scar on my heart. I feared 
 my father's wrath feared to be cut off from the 
 liberal allowance which would allow my girl-wife 
 and I to live in some degree of luxury. 
 
 " When I returned to college, she accompanied 
 me. We lived in a well-furnished apartment near 
 the college dormitory, where I still kept the rooms 
 I had had ever since I entered the college. We were 
 blissfully happy, Rodney. Such happiness could not 
 last forever. My beautiful girl-wife grew more 
 lovely every day. Each day I grew more eager for 
 the time when I should have finished college and 
 could support her and acknowledge her to the world. 
 
 " Then the unexpected happened a child came to 
 us. We were happy in this added blessing, though, 
 divinely happy. We knew that it increased our 
 danger of discovery, and I feared that discovery 
 more than ever now. I knew my father would dis- 
 continue my allowance that was the worst I ac- 
 credited him of being capable of doing in those 
 days I could not bear the thought of my girl-wife 
 or my innocent baby-girl perhaps suffering for the 
 very necessities of life while I struggled to keep 
 them clothed and fed. I am not advancing my 
 standpoint to win your sympathy or a lenient judg- 
 ment. No man could judge me more harshly than
 
 376 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 I judge myself, but I was still very young, Rodney, 
 just a little over twenty. 
 
 " The inevitable happened. My father, in some 
 manner, obtained an inkling of the affair run his 
 clew to earth, and walked in on us, unheralded and 
 unannounced, one evening just after we had finished 
 our dinner and were having our usual evening romp 
 with the baby, then six months old and the image 
 of her mother. 
 
 " There was a scene I do not like to recall it 
 I stood by my wife, I shall always rejoice that 
 nothing my father said or threatened moved me in 
 my intentions to be true to her and fight for her 
 no matter what happened or what the future brought 
 us. 
 
 " I can see her now, with our baby in her arms, 
 held close, in mother fashion, while she looked first 
 at my father, then at me, and each time her eyes 
 met mine they were full of love and faith and pride 
 of me like the look of an angel was that level 
 glance of hers. 
 
 " Finally, my father suggested a walk around the 
 square while we continued our talk. ' We will see 
 what the fresh air does for both of us, madam/ 
 he said, bowing low to my wife. My father, even 
 when most angry, was ever courteous to women. 
 
 " I kissed my wife and baby, and went with him
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 377 
 
 out into the night a beautiful night with a white, 
 caressing moon. 
 
 " ' We'll just walk over to my hotel,' father said, 
 after we had taken a heated turn or two around 
 the square. 
 
 " I went with him, God help me. He proposed 
 a drink, and although I seldom drank, I could not 
 refuse my father. And fool that I was, I thought 
 the liquor would give me strength to battle on 
 against that indomitable will of his, against which 
 I had never been hurled before. I drank. The 
 next I knew, it was broad daylight, and my head 
 felt like lead. 
 
 " I was dazed for a long time. When I could 
 see clearly, I realized that my father had drugged 
 me in order to carry out some preconceived plan 
 of his to separate me from my wife and baby. I 
 rushed from the hotel like a madman. Hatless 
 and coatless, I ran every step of the way to the little 
 apartment where we had been so happy together 
 my girl- wife and I and the little girl-baby. 
 
 " God help me, Rodney, my wife and baby were 
 not there. They were gone gone! It almost 
 drives me mad even now to think of that moment 
 when I realized they were not there. I raved for 
 hours. I ransacked the little apartment inch by 
 inch, but there was no clew no note nothing left
 
 378 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 to give me an inkling of what had happened while 
 I lay senseless at the hotel. My wife and child had 
 vanished as completely as if they had never existed. 
 
 " At last, I went back to the hotel. I wanted to 
 murder my father, I thought to find him there, but 
 he was gone. The clerk gave me a curt little note 
 from him. The note was to the effect that he had 
 straightened things out for me this time, but did 
 not want to have to repeat the performance. That 
 drove me wilder than ever. The implied insult was 
 almost more than I could bear and retain my reason. 
 
 " I wished I had never been born. I grabbed my 
 coat and hat, and put them on as I went out of 
 the hotel. When I again reached the dismantled 
 flat, the janitor met me at the door and said an 
 expressman had just taken away the furnishings of 
 my apartment. 
 
 " I raved at him ; cursed him to the uttermost 
 parts of the earth for allowing such a thing. 
 Through it all he smoked a dirty clay pipe and 
 leered at me out of his squinting eyes. ' I'm in the 
 pay of the ould gint,' he said at last, as he spat 
 almost on my feet. 
 
 " God ! I could have murdered the huge brute. 
 When I see a man of his type, it always brings 
 back that day when he stood there barring my way 
 to the little flat, by brute strength alone.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 379 
 
 " Defeated by him, I went over to my college 
 quarters and wrote a letter to my father I dared 
 not go home I should have killed my father had I 
 seen him then. I did not want to do that, for my 
 mother's sake and for the sake of my girl-wife and 
 baby, wherever they were. 
 
 " Very childish was that letter to my father, but 
 full of an undying love for my wife and child. 
 
 " My father's answer was characteristic of the 
 man ; he said : ' Another outbreak of puppy love 
 over the affair I have just canceled will result in 
 the marriage being annulled. Remember, you are 
 not of age. Be sensible and go on with your studies, 
 or force me to act harshly with you as you choose 
 the result as far as your so-called wife and her 
 child is concerned is the same you never shall see 
 the woman or the child again.' 
 
 " I wrote another letter of appeal, a letter that 
 would have softened a man less stern and unyield- 
 ing than was my father. ' My child shall not be 
 dishonored by an annulment of our marriage,' I 
 added at the close. 
 
 " ' Dishonor, you young fool,' was the reply. 
 ' You do not even know the meaning of the word. 
 Go to work and forget you have been a donkey. 
 Your ears are extra long, but you will succeed if 
 you try.'
 
 380 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 " So he tried to break me with his wrath and 
 ridicule every time I appealed to him. I put de- 
 tectives to work, but they were previously paid to 
 follow no clew for me. I searched for some clew 
 myself but failed absolutely. 
 
 " Nearly two years after that terrible night, when 
 my father spirited my wife away, he came to me 
 and told me very kindly my wife was dead. He 
 said my child was with an old Scotchwoman who 
 would give her life for it if need be. 
 
 " I raved at my father then as I had not raved 
 even when he took my wife and baby from me. I 
 was mad to see our baby, the replica of my darling. 
 My father let me rave, impotently rage until I wore 
 myself out. He would not even tell me where my 
 wife was buried. 
 
 " I moved all the machinery in my power to 
 locate the child. I failed. I plunged into my work 
 and studied as I had never studied before. I hoped 
 against hope that some day my father would relent 
 would tell me where my child was, if I could only 
 fully satisfy his great ambition for me in the work 
 he laid out for me. I had no will of my own those 
 days. 
 
 " And then my father fell ill dangerously, critic- 
 ally ill. He had ever been kind to me except in 
 this. I forgave him before he died forgave him
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 381 
 
 everything, even though he told me in the last 
 hour he lived that he did not even know where my 
 child was had not known since the year after 
 my wife's death when a check he had mailed to 
 the old Scotchwoman was returned, the letter 
 unopened. 
 
 " My father regretted then what he had done. 
 He saw in that last hour that he had not been in 
 the right, yet he was proud of my achievements in 
 the medical world, and even at the end believed 
 my success was greater than it would have been had 
 he not dealt with me as he had. 
 
 " My father left me great wealth, but it meant 
 nothing to me, my last hope of ever seeing my 
 child was gone. I had no doubt but that the child 
 was dead. I could not bear to practice my profes- 
 sion. I was feted and flattered as every son of 
 rich and famous men is flattered, especially if that 
 son has just come into the wealth of the father. 
 I was sick of everything in the world when I came 
 out here. 
 
 " I turned my back on my Creator during the first 
 years I was out here, Rodney. Seven Pine Lodge 
 heard my profanity and sacrilege every waking 
 hour, until I returned to it after that first visit to 
 Arth. 
 
 " I found peace and a new love a love strong
 
 382 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 and sincere at almost the same hour. The child 
 led me back to God, Rodney. Lois taught me love, 
 a love that will last as long as I do. I did not know 
 the child was mine my own little girl-child, when 
 she led me back to my Creator, although her eyes 
 haunted me with their resemblance to other eyes. I 
 loved the child from the first with a love so paternal 
 that it astounded me until I knew she was of my 
 own flesh and blood. The night of her twelfth 
 birthday party the night I set Dad's broken leg I 
 learned she was my child. My real name is Nor- 
 man Worthington, Rodney, and now, my boy, what 
 about the friendship ? " 
 
 Rodney caught his breath sharply, and his voice 
 broke when he tried to speak. 
 
 " I am your friend just as I said I would be," 
 he said, huskily. " I ask your pardon, too, for the 
 hatred I have had all these years for Joan's father. 
 But you will not take Joan from me, will you, old 
 man ? I want her. I love her with a love that is as 
 great as yours ever was for her mother. When 
 she is old enough to know the meaning of such love, 
 if she loves me the way I pray she will, I want her 
 for my wife . . . want her as you wanted that 
 other Joan as you want Lois." Rodney's voice 
 broke again. 
 
 Norman Worthington reached out his arms and
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 383 
 
 drew Rodney to him. " God bless you for all you 
 have been to her," he said, hoarsely, and Rodney 
 felt hot tears a strong man's tears splashing- on 
 him. 
 
 " She is your child, Rodney some day, God 
 grant she may be your wife, but, Rodney, I must 
 tell her I am her father, even if I lose Lois by the 
 telling," the doctor said, after a long silence, during 
 which soul had met soul and communed. 
 
 " She shall know you are her father, my friend, 
 as soon as you care to tell her, and I expect that 
 will be early in the morning. She will be very 
 happy, for she loves you now. She has always 
 censured her father for leaving her mother, but 
 she will forgive you when you tell her how it hap- 
 pened. Joan is of a divinely forgiving nature, and 
 if I have read Lois Reeves aright, she will be as 
 true. She will love you none the less because of 
 your first love." 
 
 The doctor's face became suddenly illumined 
 all the shadows seemed to have been lifted from it 
 by Rodney's last words. 
 
 " God grant you are right, Rodney," he said, 
 searching Rodney's face, a tender light in his keen 
 eyes. 
 
 " Dad is going to send Mona to Mills this Septem- 
 ber; I should like to have Joan go with her, if you
 
 384 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 are willing she is gifted beyond her years I 
 should like for her to have music, she loves it so, 
 and besides, she should be given a chance to mingle 
 with other girls and boys of her own age." 
 
 This was something for Rodney to think about 
 after the doctor had left him and the soul of the 
 man was rent within him. " How can I give her 
 up for four long years?" he demanded, fiercely, 
 pacing the floor with long, restless strides. " How 
 can I give her up away from me four years she 
 may find some one else she will love," he moaned 
 over and over, after he had exhausted himself walk- 
 ing, and flung himself on the couch. 
 
 " Joan ! Joan ! I love you love you," he cried, 
 reaching out his arms, as if to draw her within their 
 loving shelter. Throughout all the night the tem- 
 pest raged in the soul of the man. With the coming 
 of the dawn came peace and renunciation. 
 
 Gray was in the midst of a vivid account of some 
 college prank when the doctor entered the hall. 
 
 Not a man there but knew something unusual was 
 about to be announced. The doctor carried his head 
 high, his mouth was set firm, and his whole attitude 
 breathed of the unusual breathed it tensely. 
 
 Gray stopped in the midst of a word, and stared 
 with the rest at the doctor. Suddenly filled with
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 385 
 
 some nameless fear, the old minister left Gray's 
 side and tersely demanded of the doctor, " What is 
 it?" When he looked closer at the man, the old 
 minister saw he was exalted rather than dejected, 
 and fear gave way to a pleasant hope for the old 
 minister had often guessed the relationship that ex- 
 isted between the doctor and Joan. He had seen 
 the man turn pale more than once when Joan sud- 
 denly appeared before him had caught the paternal 
 light in his eyes when he looked at the child. 
 
 The doctor laid his hand on Dad's shoulder. 
 He raised his other hand as if to invoke silence 
 where silence already reigned; then his voice rang 
 out, clear and strong. 
 
 " I want you boys all to know my true name 
 I am Norman Worthington. My father was the 
 Norman Worthington of whom you have all heard, 
 and of whom you, Gray, were speaking just yes- 
 terday. That is not all, boys," he added, hastily, as 
 one of them started to speak. " I am Joan's father." 
 
 There was a tense silence now. The doctor 
 smiled. " There is nothing to be ashamed of, boys, 
 she is my legal child. I shall tell the whole story 
 to Dad, just as I told it to Rodney White to-night. 
 To-morrow, Dad or I will tell you the whole story. 
 You must all go to bed now. There is another 
 whom I must tell to-night. Come, Dad, I shall
 
 386 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 tell you the story. Now to bed, boys, and God 
 bless you all." 
 
 Before any of the boys could speak he was 
 gone. 
 
 " Come on home with me, Merrimac," Hobson 
 said at last, breaking the tense silence that followed 
 his departure. 
 
 " You are going with me, Merry," Gray said, 
 softly, laying his thin hand on Merrimac's shoulder. 
 Merrimac was looking at a book, but he was not 
 reading. 
 
 " Merrimac is coming home with me," Hobson 
 said, stubbornly. 
 
 Gray turned and smiled at him. " Nay, nay, 
 Hobson, my boy, do you think I would trust a 
 Merrimac with a Hobson? " 
 
 " You'll die joshing," Hobson grumbled, as he 
 turned and left the hall, slamming the door behind 
 him. 
 
 " Hope I shall, sweet-tempered youth," Gray 
 flung after him. " Come, fellows, let's give three 
 cheers and a tiger for the whitest man on earth, 
 Doctor Norman Worthington, Joan's father. Three 
 cheers and a tiger, boys! Now three more and a 
 whooper-up for White and Dad." 
 
 When the doctor came back to the Hall of Hope, 
 an hour later, the hall was empty. He threw him-
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 387 
 
 self in the chair Merrimac had vacated, and propped 
 his chin up on his palms. 
 
 He awaited a message from Lois, and the hall 
 seemed strangely quiet and silent, yet it seemed 
 vibrating, ringing with a soft undertone of the 
 cheers for him, which had rung out on the moon- 
 laden air just as he knocked at the door of Lois' 
 cottage.
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 a T T has been a good day," Martha Welch said, 
 placidly, as in the shadows of the coming 
 night she opened the door of the little cottage, 
 where she and Lois lived. 
 
 " ' Good ' is not the word, Martha," Lois re- 
 turned, dreamily. She stood on tiptoe, on the porch, 
 and stretched out her arms to the moon just peeping 
 up from behind the mountains. " This has been a 
 day straight down from heaven and it has not 
 ended yet." 
 
 Martha looked at the girl, standing there like 
 some ancient goddess paying her tribute of praise 
 to the Moon Spirit, and a dry smile played about 
 her tender mouth. 
 
 Then the smile faded away, and sorrow an old 
 sorrow that had engraved deep lines of pain bravely 
 borne on the kind, matronly face set its signals at 
 the corners of her mouth and in her kind eyes. 
 
 " Come on in, I want to talk to you, dear." 
 
 The girl's arms dropped to her sides. With a 
 lingering look at the moon now riding high above 
 
 the mountain peaks silvered by its bars of light, she 
 
 388
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 389 
 
 reluctantly followed the good Martha into the 
 house. 
 
 Once inside she tried to speak and act naturally, 
 but she could not. The doctor's words lingered too 
 sweetly, and her blood was coursing too madly 
 through her veins for calmness to come quickly. 
 
 " I must speak to Rodney first, then may I come 
 to you at ten o'clock, Lois dear? " Lois repeated 
 the doctor's words softly under her breath. Yet 
 it had been the look in his eyes rather than the 
 words that was the key to her madly throbbing 
 pulse. 
 
 Martha smiled at the girl, as she set the table and 
 laid the simple meal. 
 
 " Mona is to go to Joan's for supper," she said. 
 Lois was at the window now, peering up the road 
 toward Rodney's cottage. She almost imagined she 
 saw the doctor swinging up the sandy road. Ah, 
 when he should come to her ! She caught her breath 
 sharply at the thought. 
 
 " Tea is very soothing, Lois," Martha said, dryly, 
 as she laid a tender, motherly hand on the girl's 
 shoulder. " And, 7 want to talk to you." 
 
 Lois turned and smiled at the woman, who caught 
 her in her arms and pressed her close in a motherly 
 embrace. 
 
 " Oh, Lois, dear, be kind to him," she whispered.
 
 390 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 " Do not let the little green-eyed god spoil your life 
 as as I let it spoil mine. Remember, Lois, Love is 
 the best thing in life after all, and no one is perfect, 
 dear. You must remember that a man is different 
 from a woman. A woman a true woman loves 
 but once. Most men can love twice, Lois. My hap- 
 piness was shattered because the man I loved had 
 loved before. I pray you will not allow the same 
 thing to blight your life. The doctor is a true 
 man, Lois, worthy of even you." 
 
 Lois held the older woman out from her and 
 looked into the mild eyes, tender with love's 
 memory. 
 
 " Martha ! Martha ! " she cried, as she buried her 
 face on the woman's broad, comfortable shoulder. 
 " How did you know ? Oh, Martha ! Martha ! I 
 am so happy." 
 
 " Then keep your happiness, child. And remem- 
 ber that I am not blind, Lois, and and well, never 
 mind." 
 
 " But I do mind, Martha, dear ! " cried Lois, ten- 
 der and sorry for Martha's lost dream of happiness. 
 She was strangely atune with this older, more placid 
 woman to-night. Her own love made her under- 
 stand the other woman's brief hour in Love's para- 
 dise. She shuddered as she thought of what might 
 be the meaning of the doctor's long silence she
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 391 
 
 could stand anything except another woman before 
 her. 
 
 Martha caught the look in the girl's eyes and read 
 it aright. 
 
 " Come on to supper, Lois," she said, gently. 
 " And you may as well prepare yourself for the 
 other woman. How I wish some one had tried to 
 prepare me for that first woman." 
 
 Lois complied and smiled at Martha, as she 
 sipped her tea and buttered her bread. The tea and 
 bread were excellent, but the tea could have been 
 bitter and the bread dry and hard and buttered 
 with sawdust, Lois would not have noticed the 
 difference. 
 
 " I don't think he has done anything worse than 
 gambling or or perhaps killed some one in self- 
 defense," Lois said, cheerfully. 
 
 " What a small matter murder is compared to a 
 first love," Martha laughed, then she grew grave. 
 " Never send him away because of the other woman, 
 Lois, dear. He loves you truly and honestly, he 
 has loved you ever since that night Mona brought 
 him to see poor Mr. Arth, and just think of all 
 he has accomplished here at the Springs, Lois. 
 When he tells you of the other woman just remem- 
 ber all he is doing to stamp out the dread disease 
 just remember all he has done to make the sick boys
 
 392 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 happy and comfortable think what he has done for 
 me for all of us ! " 
 
 " Isn't his work splendid ? " cried Lois, forgetting 
 to make even a pretense of eating. 
 
 " Bread is rather staying, Lois," Martha said, 
 quietly. 
 
 Lois blushed, and began to eat again. " Oh, he is 
 so good ! " she cried, after she had eaten steadily 
 for perhaps a minute. " He is doing what no 
 other man in the whole world has ever done for 
 the poor consumptives. Think how many went 
 away well this winter . . . well and with money 
 in their pockets to keep them until they could pre- 
 pare themselves for good positions. Would any 
 other man do it? 
 
 " Just think, even the president of the nation is 
 coming to visit him here and inspect his wonderful 
 work. One cannot pick up a newspaper these days 
 without reading about the wonderful Consumptive 
 Health Resort supported and ideally run by a doc- 
 tor whose real name is known only to a few high 
 in authority and to his brothers in the medical! 
 world. But to-night, Martha, dear, we shall all 
 know who he is he is coming at ten, Martha, and 
 I am so happy ! 
 
 " Oh, it is good, good, this work of his. Ever 
 since I was a very little girl, and the disease robbed
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 393 
 
 me of my parents, I have dreamed of just such a 
 place as this but before he came, it seemed im- 
 possible that such a place could ever exist except 
 in my dreams it's like one of Joan's fairy tales 
 come true, isn't it ? " 
 
 " What a dear child Joan is," Martha said, smil- 
 ing reminiscently, as she recalled Joan's flea-powder 
 pie, and the child, with that rapt light in her eyes, 
 declaring there would no harm come to any of 
 them. 
 
 " The doctor says she is the best medicine he has 
 for the boys except except . . . " Lois blushed. 
 
 " Except Lois Reeves," Martha finished, dryly. 
 
 " Isn't Joan a dear, and Mona, too ? " Lois said, 
 hastily. " I am not sure which I love the better. 
 I am so glad there have been no other white children 
 here since the Wards and Peysons." 
 
 " So am I. Yet they were well-behaved enough, 
 I suppose, after Rodney showed their parents the 
 letter that mean Major wrote to his friend the 
 Judge. Joan and Mona seem to be all the children 
 I want to care for. They are enough for us." 
 
 " And for each other," Lois returned. " What 
 splendid foils they are ! How true of them : ' Faith- 
 ful friendship doth them both suppress, and them 
 with mastering discipline doth tame.' The divine 
 Spenser surely understood true friendship, Martha,
 
 394 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 dear. You love your work here, don't you?" she 
 added, after a long dreamy silence. 
 
 Martha came back from her own dreams with 
 a start. " Love it, Lois, child ! " she cried. " No 
 one but my God will ever know how I love the 
 work. The boys are so dear all of them, and 
 Gray especially. I wish Gray were mine, Lois, even 
 as I have often wished you were my own little 
 girl." 
 
 "I am yours, Martha ; you are my only mother, 
 and oh, you are such a good mother to me," she 
 cried, passionately. " You have been as good as any 
 mother could be to a child, ever since I first came 
 here." 
 
 " Will you stay here after after . . . ? " 
 Martha faltered. She longed so, yet feared to hear 
 the answer. 
 
 " If there is an after, Martha, dear," Lois blushed. 
 " I'll always want to stay here here with him and 
 the work he loves. Life could have nothing fuller 
 or better for me, Martha, than living with him 
 here. Just think of working with him, Martha, as 
 only his wife could work with him." 
 
 Lois made no further pretense of eating. She 
 left her chair and knelt beside Martha and woman- 
 like they cried in each other's arms for sheer joy. 
 
 " Keep Mona with you to-night, please, Martha,"
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 395 
 
 Lois asked, as she started to go into the room she 
 had shared with Mona for more than two years. 
 
 " I understand ; you want to be alone a while be- 
 fore he comes- Mona will be home soon, and I will 
 take her in with me. I must run over to the hall 
 now to see where my boy Gray is; he didn't come 
 home with us, neither did the Irish lad, but it is my 
 own boy I am worried about." 
 
 Martha kissed the girl good-night, then started 
 for the hall. As she returned, after having seen 
 Gray and Flannigan, she met Mona coming from 
 Joan's, and they went in together. 
 
 Alone in her own room, Lois drew the curtains 
 and turned on the electric light. She smiled as the 
 light flooded the room. Electricity was another 
 luxury which had been brought to the little village 
 by the doctor. 
 
 An enveloping, enfolding splendor of joy seemed 
 to hover over her and fill the room with a mystic 
 glow. She went to her mirror, and stood there 
 looking at herself; she felt a strange excitement as 
 she smiled at the image reflected there. Could it be 
 that love's fulfillment was to be her cup to drink 
 from this night on. 
 
 The glass reflected a charming, womanly girl 
 incredibly feminine and alive. 
 
 This glorious reflection smiling back at her was
 
 396 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 a marvel to Lois. She was so incomprehensibly, 
 so superlatively happy. Her eyes, her mouth, her 
 hands, and even her feet were gloriously happy. 
 She seemed to have developed a perfectly preposter- 
 ous capacity for enjoyment. She lifted her skirts 
 in happy hands, and danced across the room as 
 gracefully and ethereally as could have some wood- 
 land nymph. 
 
 She heard Martha and Mona talking, as they 
 came in together. Later she heard Welch, as he 
 passed and called in a happy, " good-night " to 
 Martha. She knew it was ten o'clock then, for 
 Prudence always sent Welch home at that hour. 
 She heard Martha and Mona retreat to Martha's 
 bedroom, and knew the living-room was free for 
 her and the doctor. She gave one last look at the 
 happy face reflected in the mirror; then turned out 
 the light, and stood expectant in the dark the dark 
 that was not darkness to her until she heard his 
 knock on the door. 
 
 She went to meet him, all radiant and glowing. 
 Half an hour later she came back to her room with 
 lagging, weary footsteps. It was as if all life and 
 strength had left her as if she were suddenly very 
 old and very feeble. She threw herself down on 
 the side of her bed, and sat there very stiff and 
 very straight and very still. She held herself rigid
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 397 
 
 as if she were facing a crowd of strangers who 
 knew not of her sorrow and could not recognize her 
 right to her grief stranger people who constrained 
 her to suffer in silence. 
 
 The existence of that other woman of Joan's 
 mother that there ever could have been another 
 woman before her stabbed her very soul with live 
 flashes of pain. 
 
 She had asked for time when he stood white- 
 faced before her at the close of his confession the 
 same confession he had made twice, yes, thrice be- 
 fore that same evening, meeting each time before 
 understanding and pardon. 
 
 But Lois she felt now it would take her an 
 eternity to readjust herself to this new order of 
 things. She would have ended it all there, when 
 she sat facing him, as he told of that other girl with 
 the pinched, pale face and numb fingers, and how 
 he had taken her in his arms would have sent him 
 away forever, if it had not been for Martha's warn- 
 ing at the supper table. She had gripped her fingers 
 around the chair rounds until they were numb, only 
 in this way could she keep silent while he told of 
 his happiness with that other woman. The doctor 
 had told her the story of that first love as he told 
 it to Rodney told it as a man tells a thing to a 
 man, forgetting he was dealing with a woman.
 
 398 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 When he finished he realized the difference. Rod- 
 ney and Dad had censured him only for keeping 
 his marriage a secret in the beginning. Lois cen- 
 sured him for loving the other woman. 
 
 An hour passed; two hours, and still Lois sat 
 there on the side of the bed. She knew the doctor 
 was waiting at the hall for an answer from her 
 the answer she had half promised to send by Mona 
 before she slept knew that the doctor would stay 
 at the hall until morning unless he was called to 
 see one of the boys. 
 
 She gloried in the very thought of him waiting 
 there alone, perhaps suffering. "Let him suffer; I 
 am in agony," she half wailed at last, as she began 
 to prepare for bed. She would send him no message 
 that night perhaps never she might even take the 
 morning train from the Springs and vanish from 
 his life forever. 
 
 Her footsteps as she was undressing were hushed. 
 She moved silently as one does when there has been 
 a death in the house and the body lies in the next 
 room. Something had died in the next room that 
 night. 
 
 In bed, she lay rigid, with her face to the wall, 
 her head covered as if to hide even the darkness 
 from her vision. She had a strange, shivering 
 sense of there being only a wall between her and
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 399 
 
 the dead, that something that had died out there in 
 the living-room that night out there in the room 
 to which she had gone all radiant and glowing with 
 love's celestial fire. Could it be that love lay dead 
 out there, or was it the other woman, Joan's mother, 
 who lay cold and silent where love had gone in 
 triumph ? 
 
 For the first time she thought of Joan compre- 
 hensively. Her own love had made her keen to 
 read love's signals in the lives of others. She knew 
 Rodney loved Joan with all the power of his splen- 
 didly strong nature. And more she knew Joan 
 unconsciously loved Rodney with the same love 
 knew, too, some day the awakening would come 
 and life unfold before those two a perfect love and 
 understanding. 
 
 She almost wished she could change places with 
 Joan it must be such a wonderful thing to have a 
 heart's first love. Even Mona, the half-breed, had 
 the first love. Graham was a splendid chap in spite 
 of his English peculiarities he was worthy of 
 Mona. Then a pang for Graham shot through her. 
 If Mona ever returned the love of Graham it would 
 not be the heart's first love. Mona's first love was 
 given to Rodney White. She had read the light 
 in Mona's wonderful dark eyes the love-light 
 Mona tried so bravely to keep hidden from those
 
 400 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 about her. How strange life and love were after 
 all, she mused. Still she was comforted because 
 Graham, if he ever won Mona, would have the 
 second love she was not alone. Then she sat bolt 
 upright in bed. Martha had said, " A woman a 
 true woman never loves twice." Poor Graham! 
 Thinking of Graham, she fell asleep. She awakened 
 in the early morning when that strange darkness, 
 tense and baffling, hangs over the earth, just before 
 dawn comes. At first her nerves were recharged 
 with torture with pain with remembrance of 
 that thing sleep had most mercifully hidden. 
 Then suddenly there came a song of joy dispel- 
 ling the pains of remembrance. She found her- 
 self, wrapped as she was in that sublime darkness, 
 forgiving the mother of Joan forgetting that dead 
 thing in the other room. There was nothing dead 
 out there after all. Love had only been stunned 
 a while. Now love was gloriously, magnificently 
 alive. Her heart was large enough now for Nor- 
 man Worthington, also large enough for Joan. 
 She had cast Joan out of her heart while she lis- 
 tened to the doctor; she could not love her then 
 because she was the other woman's child. 
 
 She began to dress herself with trembling fingers. 
 There was no jealousy in her heart. She seemed 
 suffused with a glowing, intense love for everything
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 401 
 
 on earth. She went into the living-room, but that 
 room was unbearable, because she had been so 
 cruelly unresponsive in it such a short time before. 
 " Why did I make him wait all night for the an- 
 swer myself?" she wondered, passionately. 
 
 She went back into her own room and turned on 
 the light his light her heart throbbing with joy 
 at the very thought of it. She sat down on her 
 bedside and was caught agreeably by the image re- 
 flected to her in the mirror. She was all womanly 
 and sweet and glowing again. The cold, stern face 
 that had stared at her when she last looked in the 
 glass had startled her with its cold, dead look. 
 
 Some one tapped on her window. 
 
 She turned out the light and raised the sash. Fly- 
 ing Eagle stood there. " I have note for teacher," 
 he said, thrusting a folded paper into her hand, then 
 was off like a flash in the brightening morning. 
 
 Lois turned back in the room, and opened the note 
 with trembling ringers. She was compelled to turn 
 on the light before she could read the closely written 
 lines. Her eyes were misty when she finished read- 
 ing misty with happiness. 
 
 The note ran: 
 
 " Lois, the light shining from your window tells 
 me you are awake and bids me hope. I have been
 
 402 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 on my knees most of the night, dear, imploring the 
 divine giver of love for your love. 
 
 " Love is life, dear life is love. 
 
 " I know you love me, please do not let my con- 
 fession stand between us and love's fulfillment of 
 peace and joy. I love you, Lois, as I never loved 
 before love you as the one man loves the one 
 woman. 
 
 " I am on my knees now, praying you will answer 
 love with love. I shall remain on my knees until 
 your answer comes. God grant the answer may be 
 yourself my love." 
 
 " May be yourself," she repeated, with a throb of 
 joy, as she flung a thin scarf about her head and 
 sped out of the house. 
 
 The sky was all rosy now with the promise of a 
 glorious day. Just one star remained to twinkle 
 its understanding sympathy, as she searched the sky 
 with her dark eyes, her lips trembling in a prayer 
 of gratitude because the one man was waiting for 
 her on his knees. 
 
 Her blood sang as it dashed through her veins 
 and surged through her heart with an almost suffo- 
 cating tumult of joy because the answer would be 
 herself. 
 
 When she stood at last at the door of the 
 hall, her heart stopped its wild beating, and she
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 403 
 
 stood silent, trance-like, her hand on the door 
 knob. 
 
 The man on his knees had heard her footsteps 
 on the sandy path that led to the door. Her feet 
 had scarcely touched the ground, but the ears of 
 love are keen. 
 
 He went to the door, softly, reverently. 
 
 " I am coming, dear," she heard him say, and 
 still she stood there; she could not have moved to 
 save her life. Her heart gave one great exultant 
 throb, then quivered in perfect joy when he gathered 
 her in his arms. In a silence of perfect love and 
 understanding they stood there until o'er the eastern 
 sky 
 
 " One wavelet, then another, curled, 
 Till the whole sunrise not to be suppress'd, 
 Rose, reddened, and its seething breast 
 Flickered in bounds, grew gold, then overflowed the world." 
 
 " Lois ! Lois ! " the man cried at last, holding her 
 from him and looking into her eyes, lover-like. 
 
 Her eyes met his squarely, even though the 
 pulsing red swept up from her throat up up until 
 it was lost in the glory of her dark hair. 
 
 " You are my answer," he said, softly. 
 
 " Look," she whispered, " your answer for all 
 time is written in my face."
 
 404 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 For one tense second they stood there, reading 
 in each other's eyes the long, glorious, perfect 
 future. 
 
 With his arms still about her, they looked toward 
 the mountains bathed in the dawn's bright waves, 
 and as they looked, outlined against the tinted sky, 
 on a jagged spur of the mountain, appeared the 
 grim head of an Indian chief. 
 
 " Look ! Look ! It is Joan's mirage," Lois cried. 
 As she spoke, the illusion of the head of the ancient 
 chief faded from the sky, and there appeared an 
 ancient city with its thousand spires piercing the 
 sky. A beautiful sheet of water tumbling with 
 white-capped billows reached from the mountain 
 peaks to the walls of the city. A soft, vapory 
 atmosphere hung over the sea, and a gentle tropical 
 breeze brought into view an ancient ship which 
 anchored just without the city walls in a sea of 
 rippling waves. 
 
 Back of the city were cool stretches of some 
 tropical forest, and on the crest of a hill were the 
 tumbling towers and crumbling walls of some 
 ancient castle. 
 
 " I have seen it many times, but never so beauti- 
 ful as this," the man said, softly, as the vision faded 
 away. 
 
 Lois turned to him rapt-eyed. " How can any
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 405 
 
 one doubt God, when He gives us so much ! " she 
 cried, passionately, lifting her arms skyward. Her 
 loose, flowing sleeves fell back from her wrists, 
 revealing arms of exquisite roundness. 
 
 The man, looking at them, prayed a little prayer 
 of deepest gratitude to God and his desert for giving 
 her health perfect health. He shuddered as he 
 thought of the disease which had brought her to 
 the Springs, even as he rejoiced because she was 
 there, but what if she had gone as had Arth and 
 others as poor Gray was going? He caught his 
 breath sharply. 
 
 " Let us go to Joan," Lois said, softly. She 
 turned to him. In her eyes he read the answer to 
 his prayer that she would love his child. 
 
 " I love her, have always loved her," Lois whis- 
 pered. " But she is dearer to me than ever this 
 morning for your sake." 
 
 He caught her to him rapturously. 
 
 The sun was high in the sky now, and the village 
 was beginning to throb with the song of stirring 
 life. 
 
 Hand in hand, the doctor and Lois went down 
 the sandy road, glistening like a ribbon of gold 
 under the sun's bright rays. 
 
 They found Rodney on the porch, searching the 
 trail that led to the Cave of Rest. The man looked
 
 406 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 pale and spent, and his eyes were anxious. Shadows 
 of disappointment were creeping over his face, deep- 
 ening the lines and emphasizing the look of weari- 
 ness and strife that had been in the soul of him 
 during the hours of the night before the spirit of 
 renunciation came and enfolded him in its com- 
 forting embrace. 
 
 No Joan was visible, outlined against the palms 
 as on the yesterday, and Rodney sighed as he turned 
 to greet his friends. 
 
 " We are happy, old man," the doctor cried, joy- 
 fully, as he gripped Rodney's hands in his strong 
 grasp. 
 
 A smile of peculiar sweetness brightened Rod- 
 ney's face. He smiled at Lois as he ever smiled 
 at Joan. 
 
 " We come to tell Joan," Lois said, softly. " Oh, 
 man! man! Foolish man! " she exclaimed, as Rod- 
 ney's face grew grave and his eyes saddened. 
 " Don't you know you will have Joan all your life 
 even as Norman will have me." It was the first time 
 Lois had spoken the doctor's name. She said it 
 shyly, while the deep red surged over her face, then 
 receded, leaving it tenderly glowing. 
 
 " I I don't understand you," Rodney said, 
 slowly. " The doctor is her father. He wants her 
 to go off to school. She shall go. I will never stand
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 407 
 
 between her and happiness, and and there may be 
 some one." 
 
 " You make me impatient." Lois stamped her 
 dainty foot. The doctor smiled at her, a twinkling 
 light in his eyes. 
 
 " What do you mean ? " Rodney demanded, 
 hoarsely. 
 
 " I mean, foolish man, Joan loves you both as a 
 child loves and as a woman loves. She is conscious 
 of the child love is beginning to feel the woman 
 love. Some day, Rodney White, you will thor- 
 oughly awaken the woman love, and then 
 then" 
 
 " God grant you are as happy as I am now," the 
 doctor supplemented, eagerly. 
 
 Rodney's face brightened with an almost holy 
 light. He lifted his eyes to the azure depths of the 
 sky, and stood silent with that rapt light in his eyes 
 with which the devotee is pictured so might an 
 angel look at the first glimpse of paradise. 
 
 " I'll go in and bring Joan to to her father," 
 Lois said at last, feeling she had no right there no 
 right to witness the holy light in the man's eyes. 
 
 Lois went softly into Joan's room, thinking the 
 child might be asleep, although she knew Joan was 
 usually up to greet the sun's first rays of light flung 
 athwart the desert sky.
 
 408 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 As she crossed the threshold and saw the covers 
 of the bed turned back, but the bed itself unrumpled, 
 her heart seemed to be suddenly clutched in a sharp 
 iron grasp. 
 
 Lois could never explain even to herself why she 
 was posssessed by such a nameless fear as she stood 
 there. At that time she did not know of Rodney's 
 fear of Chawa the fear shared by Mona. 
 
 When she could move, she left the room softly 
 and went in search of Prudence. She could not 
 voice her nameless fear to the man out there en- 
 veloped in the glowing promise of love's future. 
 
 She found Prudence deep in the intricacies of 
 her famous bread-making. 
 
 " Where is Joan ? " Lois asked. 
 
 " Out mooning over the beauty of the sky and 
 desert, I suppose," Prudence returned, dryly. 
 Why ? " She began to mold her biscuits, and Lois 
 stood silent an instant, admiring the woman's deft- 
 ness. 
 
 " Her bed does not look as if it had been slept 
 in. Did she stay here last night, Miss White, or 
 did she go home with Mona? I I was rather ab- 
 sorbed last night well I I but I did not hear 
 her talking with Martha and Mona, but it is just 
 possible that I would not have heard her were she 
 with them."
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 409 
 
 Prudence looked at her, her pale eyes twinkling. 
 " I expect you were not the only one absorbed last 
 night," she said, stiffly. " But Joan was home. 
 Mona left right after supper and Joan went 
 directly to her room. I supposed she had gone to 
 bed. The doctor and Rodney were in the living- 
 room, and I well I was," her stern features re- 
 laxed and a slow flush swept over her, changing 
 her entire appearance. " Well, I was ..." 
 
 " I understand perfectly, Miss White," Lois 
 smiled understandingly, then her face saddened. 
 She again felt that strange sense of fear she had 
 felt in Joan's room. 
 
 " We must find Joan," she said, suddenly, and the 
 look in her eyes caused even Prudence to feel a 
 momentary sense of fear, but she shook it off lightly. 
 
 " You'll find her with Mona, I reckon," she said, 
 dryly. The woman's attitude reassured Lois. She 
 blushingly told Prudence of her engagement to the 
 doctor, told her the doctor's name, also told her he 
 was Joan's father, for she shrewdly guessed that 
 Rodney, man-like, had forgotten to tell his aunt. 
 
 " Well, I never ! " Prudence gasped. She sat 
 down weakly on the nearest chair. " Well, I 
 never ! " she repeated, then, true housewoman that 
 she was, suddenly remembered her bread, and flew 
 to the stove to tend to it.
 
 410 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 " But Joan's bed does not look as if it had been 
 slept in," Lois said, as Prudence began to set the 
 table, Joan's task. 
 
 "What is that?" Rodney demanded. 
 
 Unheard by either of them, he had entered the 
 room in time to hear Lois. 
 
 Lois looked at him, and her eyes fell before the 
 look in his, as he leaned against the door for an 
 instant, as if he was suddenly very weak. 
 
 It was difficult for Lois to voice her unknown 
 fear to this man. She opened her lips to speak, 
 but he was gone. They heard the door to Joan's 
 room flung open heard it slam shut. Caught the 
 sound of the outer door being flung open heard 
 it bang to, then came the sound of running feet 
 on the hard path, and when Lois reached the 
 porch, the doctor was standing in amazed silence, 
 looking after the swiftly running figure of a man, 
 almost opposite the hall. 
 
 " It's Rodney," the doctor explained, as Lois 
 gasped and pointed at the vanishing figure. " He 
 ran by me just now. He looked perfectly wild. 
 ' It's that damned half-breed ! ' he shouted, and was 
 down the road before I could even think of stopping 
 him. He seemed perfectly sane when he went in 
 to see if breakfast was ready wanted us to remain 
 for breakfast, in fact."
 
 Hurriedly, Lois told the doctor of her own name- 
 less fear, caused by the unrumpled bed. 
 
 " But surely Rodney did not mean Mona," the 
 doctor exclaimed, as they started down the road to 
 the hall. 
 
 " No, no, he must mean Chawa," Lois panted. 
 
 They found a wild-eyed Martha at the cottage. 
 " Mr. White just left here," Martha explained, her 
 voice quivering. " He acts like a crazy man do 
 you think he has gone suddenly insane, doctor? He 
 wanted to see Mona. It is queer, but we could not 
 awaken Mona. I tried first, and then he rushed in 
 there." She pointed to her bedroom. " He shook 
 Mona like a cat shakes a mouse, but she still sleeps 
 on; she did not stir even when he flung her 
 down with an oath. Oh, oh, what does it all 
 mean?" Her voice quavered. "You look as if 
 you had seen ghosts, too, both of you. What is the 
 matter ? It has been a terrible time to me ever since 
 last night when I saw it . . ." 
 
 "Saw what?" the doctor thundered. 
 
 " It," Martha repeated, dully. " If I believed in 
 ghosts, I would believe I saw one last night; as it 
 is, I must have seen an omen. Some shadowy form 
 was bending over Mona when I awakened sud- 
 denly, just before you came last night," she spoke 
 directly to the doctor. " I could not have been
 
 4 i2 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 asleep more than half an hour. I raised up in bed, 
 and it vanished. I lay there and shivered most of 
 the night; I seemed to be conscious of everything 
 but was powerless to move or call out. There was 
 such a queer smell in the room it seemed to take 
 my breath. It was so sweet and sickening. You 
 can smell it in there now, and . . ." 
 
 " I'll see Mona," the doctor interrupted, tersely. 
 He turned to Lois. " Tell her about about Joan," 
 his voice quivered. 
 
 When he came back from Mona's room, a moment 
 later, his eyes glittered and his mouth was stern set. 
 
 " Your ghost was real, Martha an omen of the 
 devil. Your awakening saved you from a good 
 sound sleep. Your sweet smell is chloroform. I 
 opened the windows. Mona will wake up in a few 
 hours." He was gone. 
 
 Lois gasped and sank weakly into the nearest 
 chair. What could it all mean? She flung her 
 arms about Martha, as the good woman bent over 
 her, and they quivered and sobbed together. 
 
 The doctor and the old minister came back to 
 the cottage, Welch close at their heels, all of them 
 white- faced and steely-eyed. 
 
 " Rodney is out on Solomon," the old man panted. 
 
 " On Solomon ! " Lois cried, clutching her breast. 
 " When was he brought back ? " she demanded.
 
 413 
 
 " What does it all mean ? Tell me quick, Norman. 
 Do you know where Joan is is she hurt ? " She 
 never forgot the look the three men gave her. 
 
 " We don't know where she is, dear," the doctor 
 said, gently. " We pray she is is not hurt. As 
 for Solomon, I was the cause of his being brought 
 back, God help me," groaned the doctor. " Rodney 
 had him brought back for me. I wanted a horse 
 to drive. Rodney and I thought were he well 
 broken he would be just the horse I need. O God, 
 that he had not been brought back ! " 
 
 For almost three years, King Solomon had run 
 wild with a herd of Indian ponies in a canyon where 
 there was plenty of water and wild grass in abun- 
 dance. 
 
 " O God ! God ! he may be killed," he groaned. 
 " I reached the corral just in time to see Rodney 
 dash away on him. Rodney's face was like death, 
 his eyes were blazing like fire. Joan ! Joan ! Little 
 Joan ! " he moaned, forgetting Rodney in his agony 
 over the child. 
 
 " I understand all too plainly why he rode King 
 Solomon," the old minister said, quietly. " He is 
 the only horse in the village everything is gone, 
 even the Shetland ponies are missing." 
 
 The cunning of the Indian and the villainy of 
 the Major were set forth in that sentence.
 
 414 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 " Look ! Look ! " Martha cried, sharply. 
 Through the open door she had caught a glimpse 
 of a sight that sent chill waves of terror to the 
 hearts of them all, as their eyes followed hers up 
 the road toward the Indian burying ground, just as 
 Don came dashing around the corner of the house, 
 barking his excitement because of the unusual, felt 
 in the very air. 
 
 For an instant Rodney, on the big black, was 
 outlined against the white headstones, then the big 
 brute wheeled and with thundering hoofs dashed 
 past the cottage. Rodney tugged in vain at the 
 reins; King Solomon held the bit gripped tight in 
 his wicked teeth. 
 
 Just beyond the hall, where the road turned 
 slightly, King Solomon wheeled again, and once 
 more thundered past the cottage. On on into the 
 old burying ground went the wild beast. 
 
 " Oh ! Oh ! he will go into the well," Lois cried, 
 her face blanching. 
 
 The doctor drew her to him protectingly. " We 
 will pray not, dear," he said, softly. 
 
 The thought of that ancient well, like the deep 
 terraced well into which the old minister had fallen 
 in Tellput, had sent its flashes of terror to the 
 hearts of them all. In the very center of the burying 
 ground was the yawning open mouth, with its crum-
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 415 
 
 bling steps leading down to the placid pool of water 
 in the center of the square at the bottom of the 
 ragged walls. 
 
 Suddenly the old minister knelt beside the collie, 
 put his arms about his neck, and whispered some- 
 thing in his ear. Don bristled, but never made a 
 sound, but his upper lip curled until one could catch 
 a glimpse of strong, white teeth, and then he was 
 off like a flash, after the plunging black. 
 
 It all happened in less than a minute, but it 
 seemed an eternity to the terrified group, before the 
 dog reached the side of the horse. They saw Don 
 give a long, swinging jump and fasten his jaws 
 on the big black's nose; then the rude crosses and 
 gleaming headstones that marked the graves of the 
 bygone Indians hid the plunging horse and the flash 
 of gold from view. 
 
 When they reached the burying ground, they 
 found Rodney in a crumpled heap at the very edge 
 of the well. His face was gray and drawn and 
 looked strangely old. His eyes were closed; his 
 breath coming short and painfully. 
 
 " His leg is broken that is all," the doctor an- 
 nounced, huskily, when he had assured himself that 
 Rodney's heart action was good though feeble. 
 " I'll give him an injection," he added. Baring 
 his friend's arm, he shot the needle in.
 
 416 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 " Now we will get him home," he said, briskly, 
 as he straightened up. His face was pain-drawn 
 and his broad shoulders stooped a little, while his 
 eyes were dimmed as though by mist. 
 
 " He will be all right in a few days, Dad," he 
 said, softly. The old minister rose from his knees 
 beside his friend, where he had been kneeling in 
 silent prayer. 
 
 " Thank God I love him as a son, aye he is the 
 son of my old age." 
 
 " Lois ! Lois ! I might have expected this of 
 you." The doctor turned to face Lois and Welch, 
 who had run from the hall with a canvas cot, upon 
 which they tenderly placed the injured man. 
 
 " He will not regain consciousness until after I 
 have set his leg," the doctor answered the question 
 in her eyes. " He will be all right soon, little girl, 
 especially if we find Joan quickly." 
 
 "Where is Don?" Lois asked, her voice quiver- 
 ing. " Dear old Don, he saved him." 
 
 " Come back," the doctor said, sharply, as Lois 
 started toward the well. " Solomon is dead down 
 there." 
 
 " Don is there, too," she flashed back, as she 
 started down the crumbling steps. 
 
 " Stay with her, Dad, please," the doctor said, 
 huskily. " We must get Rodney home quickly."
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 417 
 
 Don lay on top of the black horse, an inert, golden 
 heap. In an instant, Lois was feeling over his body. 
 In the dim light down there by the dead horse and 
 the dark pool of water she felt strangely alone and 
 not a little frightened. She gathered Don up in her 
 strong young arms and picked her way back up 
 the steps. 
 
 The old minister had sent Martha after a pail 
 of water when they first reached the scene of the 
 accident. Martha again reached the spot just as 
 Lois reached the ground again, with Don in her 
 arms. 
 
 Martha did not usually lose her head, but she had 
 lost it this time and was blubbering like a baby. 
 
 " Good old chap," the old minister said, softly, 
 kneeling beside Don, as Lois sat down with the dog 
 in her arms. 
 
 " He's alive, Dad. He is alive ! " Lois cried. 
 " Give me some water quick, Martha." 
 
 Martha gave her the pail of water, and Lois 
 began to bathe an ugly cut on the dog's head with 
 a ridiculously small handkerchief. 
 
 " Don ! Don ! " Lois cried. As if in answer to 
 her call Don opened his eyes, and even tried to wag 
 his tail. 
 
 " He will be the same old Don as ever by to- 
 morrow," the old minister said, gratefully. Don
 
 418 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 wagged his tail, stronger this time, and looked un- 
 derstandingly into the three faces bending over 
 him. 
 
 When Rodney regained consciousness, his first 
 words were, "Joan! Joan!" 
 
 A queer thing happened to Prudence the minute 
 she heard his voice. All at once there surged over 
 her a tender, trembling, overpowering flood of love. 
 Crooning words, such as a mother uses to her child, 
 trembled on her tongue yet refused to be uttered. 
 Her calm demeanor suddenly left her vanished, 
 too, that stern, unemotional rock behind which she 
 had so often hidden the softer feelings which had for 
 some time been struggling to be recognized. Her 
 heart throbbed wildly in her breast, and for the 
 first time since she had outgrown her pinafores, she 
 wanted to cry, wanted to sob as she had seen other 
 women sob she had thought them crazy then 
 now she knew they had been divinely sane. 
 
 At last she could speak. " Rodney ! Rodney ! 
 My own Rodney," she cried, as she flung herself 
 down beside Rodney, and for the first time gathered 
 him close in her arms and crooned over him like a 
 mother. 
 
 When she recovered herself, she and Rodney were 
 alone together.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 419 
 
 " Aunt Prue, I always wanted you to hug me," 
 Rodney said, boyishly, nestling in her arms. 
 
 " Oh, Rodney ! Rodney ! how wrong and cold I 
 have been. Rodney! Rodney!" Her pale eyes 
 were aglow with light, her cheeks were softly 
 flushed. She knew her transition, from a stern, 
 unresponsive woman into a glowing, throbbing new 
 creation, with a wealth of awakened maternal love 
 surging through her heart, had been witnessed by 
 more than Rodney, but that did not disturb her in 
 the least. She was a new woman a real woman 
 at last, and she cared not if all the world knew it.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 THE light of a barbaric lover mingled with 
 the savagely triumphant light in the eyes of 
 Chawa, as Joan stood white-faced before 
 him, her hands clutching her heart in a nameless 
 fear that held her captive. 
 
 Chawa folded his arms and stood silent a pace 
 below her ; his shoulders were squared, and his head 
 held high, like the royal-blooded savage he was. 
 
 In the silver light of the moon, he looked like 
 some young god, so perfectly was he modeled. 
 
 So they stood there silent, until Joan uncon- 
 sciously drew her lithe form erect. Her hands fell 
 to her sides the shadow of fear in her eyes gave 
 way to a fearless glow. 
 
 " Thou shalt not be afraid of the terror by night, 
 nor the arrow that flyeth by day," seemed to be 
 spoken to her by some inner voice, dispelling that 
 nameless fear. Yet, young as she was, she realized 
 Chawa's attitude toward her. 
 
 She moved as if to pass him on the narrow trail. 
 He blocked her way with outstretched arms. 
 
 " Chawa loves the maiden of sunshine," he said, 
 420
 
 JOAN OF RAWBOW SPRINGS 421 
 
 softly, his low, musical voice quivering with a soft, 
 caressing note". His eyes were steady and flashing 
 as ever, yet in them was also written his savage 
 love ... a dark flush glowed under the dusky 
 skin of his cheeks. 
 
 " Don't be a fool, Chawa," Joan snapped. She 
 was beginning to be angry. 
 
 " I, Chawa, love the maiden with eyes of scorn," 
 said the unruffled Chawa. " I, Chawa, in whose 
 veins flows the blood of many great chiefs, such 
 as the pale face race knows not, love the maiden of 
 sunshine and scorn. . . . For her I have for- 
 saken the ways of the Indian my ways. For her I 
 have become even as the pale faced man with whom 
 she has lived." His eyes were softer now, aglow 
 with love. 
 
 " You make me tired," Joan cried, stamping her 
 foot. " I am ashamed of you, Chawa. You are 
 silly. I am going home." 
 
 " I think not." Chawa's voice rang out like the 
 snap of a whip, as Joan lightly swerved to one 
 side, eluded his outstretched arms, and darted past 
 him. 
 
 " I think not," he repeated, with a snarl, as with 
 long, swinging strides he overtook her and caught 
 her in his arms. 
 
 His face was changed now, contorted with Indian
 
 422 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 ferocity. He crushed the trembling, little form to 
 him, laughing aloud in savage triumph. The spirit 
 of his white father prompted the kisses he began 
 to shower on the pale, little face, the blue eyes glow- 
 ing like wells of fire. 
 
 " Ah, the pale faced maiden would scorn the love 
 of Chawa, would she?" he demanded, ceasing to 
 kiss the scornful, upturned face. 
 
 Joan's eyes flashed, but her mouth was set tight 
 in a stern little white line. 
 
 Chawa laughed, kissed her again, then started 
 up the trail, bearing her in his arms. 
 
 At the Cave of Rest he hesitated an instant, then 
 went on again, chuckling triumphantly. 
 
 Up up to the very top of the ridge of the low 
 mountain he went with the ease and grace of a 
 panther. 
 
 The burden in his arms was not a light one, but 
 he carried it as if it were a feather's weight. 
 
 At the crest of the ridge, where a huge white 
 rock barred the ridge of the mountain toward Lone 
 Pine Ridge, he stood Joan on her feet and fumbled 
 an instant at the rock. It swung back, and on the 
 other side lay a dim trail leading along the ridge of 
 the mountain to the lonely cabin under the great 
 pine tree. Chawa drew Joan through the opening; 
 the rock swung back into place; he took Joan in his
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 423 
 
 arms again, and carried her for fully a mile. He 
 did not speak again until he set her on her 
 feet. 
 
 " Look," he said, briefly, pointing to the moon 
 riding high in the zenith. " Look, oh maiden of 
 sunshine, princess of the moonlight, the smile of 
 the Moon God is upon us. The great Moon Spirit 
 is pleased with Chawa because he has taken the 
 maiden with the laughing eyes for his own." 
 
 Joan looked at him scornfully, then her gaze was 
 held by the beauty of the night. Under the soft 
 effulgence of the moon, the shifting sand hills and 
 vast stretches of sand, dotted with greasewood and 
 cacti, lay half revealed, half hidden. In the mystic 
 dome of the sky countless myriads of stars blazed 
 in magic splendor, woven as they were, by a divine 
 hand, in the rich tapestry of the heavens. 
 
 "Oh! Oh! It is beautiful, beautiful," Joan 
 cried, forgetting Chawa, forgetting everything ex- 
 cept the matchless glory of the night. Never had 
 the divine presence seemed so near to her. She felt 
 wrapped in the sheltering folds of the unseen but 
 protective love. 
 
 So they stood there in the splendor of the night, 
 silent. So near and yet so many countless ages 
 apart were the souls of them, revealed by the pale, 
 phosphorescent light of the desert moon.
 
 424 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 Chawa's voice broke the silence. " Ah, you love 
 it so," he said, softly. 
 
 " Love it ! Love it ! Yes, yes, I love it." Joan 
 wheeled toward him, half dazzling him with the 
 radiance of her eyes. 
 
 Never before had she seemed so desirable to 
 Chawa, never so unattainable. They were alone in 
 the heart of a vastness so great as to be almost 
 appalling, still she seemed something set apart from 
 him, as unreachable as were the moon and stars. 
 
 So silent was the night they could hear the faint 
 beatings of their own hearts. Silent, yet throbbing 
 with the strains of divine music. It was as if the 
 very hand of God was playing a matchless melody 
 on a marvelous instrument. The mountains, the 
 silvered stretches of sand, the low drifting sand hills 
 and the dark-shadowed canyons were the strings, 
 quivering and thrilling under their master's touch. 
 
 " Come," Chawa said at last, but he did not 
 touch her, a strange something seemed to stand 
 between them. 
 
 " Yes, let us return to the village," Joan returned, 
 softly. " Chawa, I thank you for this glorious 
 vision." She stretched her arms toward the shift- 
 ing sand hills rippling and glistening in the moon- 
 light. 
 
 " Come, Chawa, let us go home and forget to-
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 425 
 
 night, all but this." His eyes followed hers over 
 the moon-kissed stretches. At that instant he might 
 have obeyed her, but a noxious voice broke the 
 charm of sublimity. It was only an innocent burro 
 braying his gratitude to the moon, but it shattered 
 the divine harmony of the night for Chawa. 
 
 " Come," he said, roughly, taking Joan by the 
 shoulder. "It is time to cease dreaming under the 
 Moon God." 
 
 Joan struggled for freedom, striking Chawa with 
 her small, clenched hands. 
 
 He laughed at the impotent blows, his eyes glowed 
 with a dangerous barbaric intensity as he dragged 
 her along the ridge of the mountain until they 
 reached the deserted cottage under the lone pine 
 tree. 
 
 " You've been long enough getting here," a voice 
 growled. Chawa suddenly passed a handkerchief 
 about Joan's eyes, and drew it tight. 
 
 " Why didn't you do that before, you young 
 fool," the same voice snarled. With a start Joan 
 recognized the voice as the Major's. 
 
 " Shut up," Chawa retorted. He lifted Joan in 
 his strong, young arms, and carried her into the 
 cottage. 
 
 When the bandage was removed from her eyes, 
 in the dim light from a smoky lantern near the
 
 426 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 door, Joan saw she was alone with Chawa, in a 
 room in which a bed with rumpled blankets, a 
 rickety chair, and a small sheet-iron stove were the 
 only pieces of furniture. Through a half-closed 
 inner door she caught a glimpse of a shadowy 
 figure which she knew to be the Major's. 
 
 " Rodney will settle with you, you dirty sneaks," 
 she blazed. " I hate you, hate you ! hate you both ! 
 I demand to be taken home immediately. Let me 
 out of here and I will go home alone. Oh, oh," 
 she wailed, " please let me out of here ; I want to 
 go home to Rodney ! " 
 
 At the mention of Rodney's name all the pent-up 
 savageness of Chawa seemed to be suddenly freed 
 from the restraining bonds of civilization. He 
 caught Joan to him in savage passion. 
 
 " You are mine mine ! " he exulted. " Soon I 
 shall bring a priest, and you shall become the bride 
 of Chawa. You love Mona. Her parents are also 
 my parents; why do you not love Chawa? " 
 
 " You ! You ! I hate you, I hate you ! " Joan 
 cried, striking at the dark, flushed face. 
 
 Chawa laughed. " Hate Chawa, do you, oh 
 maiden with eyes of scorn? Take this for your hate 
 of Chawa," he laughed, kissing her trembling 
 lips. " Chawa cares not at all that his maiden hates 
 him. Chawa's love is all-sufficient with the object
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 427 
 
 of that love in his arms. Some day the maiden will 
 return the love of Chawa some day when the 
 smoke from our tepee rises upward and is lost in 
 the breeze blowing in from the sea, for Chawa and 
 the palefaced maiden will go westward until the 
 great body of water that laps the western shore 
 ripples for our delight. We will live as lived the 
 forefathers of my mother's people, oh, maiden 
 whose eyes can laugh as well as shoot flashes of 
 fire. Some day you will laugh and smile at Chawa, 
 your master. 
 
 " You will forget the palefaced man you smile 
 upon now, for you love the call of nature, you will 
 love the care-free life we shall live in our wigwam 
 by the sea. Were it not for a foolish desire to 
 finally win the love of the scornful maiden, Chawa 
 would not bring a priest to wed him and the maiden, 
 after the manner of the white-faced people. But 
 the love of the sunlight maiden must be Chawa's 
 some day." 
 
 Holding her tightly in one arm, he tip-tilted her 
 chin with the long, slender fingers of his free hand. 
 He laughed exultantly, looking into the blue eyes, 
 almost black now, so full of quivering fire were 
 they. " Until you are all Chawa's," he said, lightly, 
 kissing the quivering lips. 
 
 " Quit that, you young fool ; we must get back
 
 428 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 to the village before we are missed. But for your 
 fool idea of having a priest we would have been 
 on our way before now. My revenge would be 
 sweeter were the priest omitted," grumbled the 
 Major from the inner room. 
 
 Chawa's eyes blazed, but he freed Joan. Like 
 a flash she sped into the other room. 
 
 "Major Phillips! Major Phillips!" she cried. 
 " I am sure you will not leave me here. Think of 
 your mother, please. Major Phillips, she would 
 not want you to leave a poor, little helpless girl 
 up here with an Indian. Please take me back to 
 Rodney, Major Phillips." 
 
 The pleading note in the liquid voice, and the 
 reference to his mother moved the Major, and ap- 
 pealed to a certain chivalry latent in all Southerners, 
 but the mention of Rodney's name hardened him. 
 
 " Take your wild cat, Chawa," he snarled, push- 
 ing Joan from him, " and may you have joy of 
 her in that wigwam you have been mooning about. 
 Here, I'll fix her myself," he added, grimly, draw- 
 ing her back to him. " Now forward march," he 
 commanded, briskly, pushing her before him into 
 the other room. He knelt suddenly and snapped 
 a steel bracelet around her right ankle. The bracelet 
 was attached to a three-foot chain securely fastened 
 by an iron ring in the floor behind the little stove.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 429 
 
 Arms folded, eyes aglow with savage passion, 
 Chawa watched the Major until he had finished, 
 then with a low bow to Joan, he silently left the 
 room. 
 
 The Major drew a package from each coat pocket 
 and laid them beside Joan on the dusty floor. 
 
 " Bread and water," he said, shortly. " I've lived 
 on it in my day. Chawa will be back before you 
 realize it. You will have a sweet time as the squaw 
 of the young devil. 
 
 " You can reach that bed if you want to lie 
 down. It is just as it was left when they lifted 
 Greenleaf out of it a few months after he died up 
 here alone. Nice place this for that imagination of 
 yours to get busy in. Hope Greenleaf's ghost don't 
 bother you." He laughed shortly, his beady eyes 
 glittering triumphantly. 
 
 " There are no ghosts, Major Phillips," Joan 
 returned, firmly, looking the Major straight in the 
 eyes. Her level glance caused a slow flush to sweep 
 over his face. 
 
 " You are a villain," Joan continued, calmly. 
 " You should be ashamed of yourself, Major Phil- 
 lips, but God is with me and will rescue rne, so I 
 am not afraid as you would like for me to be. I 
 shall be glad when I am alone. I hate you, but I 
 shall try to pray for you. I shall also pray for
 
 430 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 Chawa, although I hate him too, but I shall most 
 earnestly pray that your hearts may be soft- 
 ened ..." 
 
 " Chawa's is soft enough now about you," the 
 Major interrupted, with a short laugh. " I do not 
 care for your prayers, young lady, do not need 
 them. You had better pray for yourself. Your 
 master will not be an angel; I know him. Chawa 
 is a devil. You will learn much of the devil soon 
 to offset some of your religious knowledge. You 
 will wish you were a Brahma before you have 
 lived long in that wigwam Chawa speaks so flowery 
 about now. When you are old and ugly like all 
 squaws get in time, I shall come to call on you." 
 He laughed again, and went out, locking the door 
 behind him. He carried with him the smoky lan- 
 tern, leaving Joan alone with the shadows shot by 
 the flickering light of the moon glimmering in 
 through the window shaded by the lone pine 
 tree. 
 
 When she was alone, Joan went the length of her 
 chain every direction. She found she could, as the 
 Major had said, reach the bed, likewise the rickety 
 chair. 
 
 She sat down in the chair, and tried to think 
 calmly. " Oh, if I had only promised Mona out- 
 right to stay at home," she moaned. " She must
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 431 
 
 have imagined something like this would happen 
 if I left home to-night. Oh, Mona! Mona! if I 
 had only promised you ! " 
 
 She straightened her shoulders and drew her lips 
 tightly together. She tried bravely to think of 
 other things beside herself. 
 
 " The doctor says there are millions and millions 
 of tubercular baccili in all of these places," she 
 said, aloud, as if imparting a choice bit of informa- 
 tion to some one. 
 
 " There may be millions on my feet by this time, 
 but I am not afraid of a single one of them." Her 
 voice trailed off into shaky silence. 
 
 " I must remember the Lord of Hosts is here," 
 she whispered, firmly, trying to pull herself to- 
 gether. 
 
 " I am glad I have you, dear little mother," she 
 whispered, opening the locket. She could not see 
 the wistful-eyed, miniatured face, but she pressed 
 it close to her cheek. " It would have happened 
 some day, since it did happen, so it is just as well 
 it happened to-night as any time." She was be- 
 ginning to be philosophically cheerful, when the 
 long, wailing, eerie howl of a hungry coyote broke 
 the stillness of the night and shattered every bit of 
 her courage. 
 
 She flung herself on her knees beside the chair
 
 432 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 and sobbed and cried aloud in her agony of fear 
 until the day dawned. 
 
 When the first flickering light of the sun came 
 creeping into the dusty room, she grew calm, and 
 was heartily ashamed of her terror of the night. 
 
 " Joan Worthington, you are nothing but a cow- 
 ard, and you have always professed to be very brave. 
 I am ashamed of you," she said, firmly. " You 
 know Rodney will come for you to-day. Won't it 
 be lovely to have to tell him how sniveling you 
 were all night. I am ashamed of you, thoroughly 
 ashamed of you." Her eyes flashed, and a little 
 color found its way to the pale cheeks, as she grew 
 more courageous in her self-abasement. Neverthe- 
 less, her eyes filled with tears the instant she ceased 
 talking; it was as if the sound of her voice gave 
 her courage. She began again. " You know Rod- 
 ney will come for you to-day. You must not let 
 him find you weak- jointed, blubbering like a baby. 
 I have no patience with you. Get down on your 
 knees and pray, Joan Worthington; if you ever 
 needed the Lord, you need Him now." 
 
 She flung herself on her knees beside the bed, 
 with never a thought of microbes, and the prayer 
 she prayed was truly characteristic. 
 
 When she arose from her knees, she felt calmed, 
 recharged with hope.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 433 
 
 Noon found her still hopeful, listening for the 
 sound of Rodney's voice. But the noon hour passed 
 and she was still alone. Lengthening shadows 
 across the floor heralded the rapid coming of the 
 night. 
 
 Suddenly she thought of Job. She opened the 
 door of the little stove, and her eyes brightened with 
 fanatic intensity as they fell upon the heap of ashes 
 within. 
 
 With a small stick she found on the floor near 
 her, she scooped the ashes out on the floor and scat- 
 tered them about until she had a circle large enough 
 for her to sit in with her feet drawn up under her 
 Turk fashion. 
 
 " I'll imagine I'm Job," she addressed the chair. 
 " It will make it easier to stay until Rodney comes," 
 her voice broke, but she heroically smiled through 
 the tears that misted her eyes. 
 
 " I haven't any boils," she said, cheerfully. She 
 smiled bravely, determined to enjoy the game. " So 
 I have no need of a potsherd to scrape myself withal. 
 That is fortunate, for I am sure there is no potsherd 
 here. I wonder what a potsherd is? " she reflected, 
 as she made herself comfortable, her back against 
 the stove. Suddenly she remembered that there 
 was no mention of a stove to support Job's back. 
 
 " Sit up straight," she commanded herself,
 
 434 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 sternly. She frowned, for the thought of the pots- 
 herd still lingered, disturbing her idea of the com- 
 pleteness of things. Like a flash she remembered 
 the stick she had spread her ashes with. 
 
 " I'll imagine you are the potsherd." She picked 
 the stick up and eyed it tentatively. " I can imagine 
 it very easily because I do not know what a real 
 potsherd is like. Now, I'll scrape myself withal and 
 open my mouth and speak as did Job. How ex- 
 tremely fortunate it is that I am conversant with 
 Job." 
 
 She began at the beginning of Job, and skimmed 
 lightly through it, her voice vibrating with her in- 
 terest in the play. She impersonated Job, Eliphaz, 
 Bildad, and Zophar each in his turn, her voice 
 changing with the shifting of the characters. She 
 was lost in her own dramatization of the sacred 
 epic, and was unconscious of the sand-storm sweep- 
 ing over the desert world. The play went on until 
 the room was filled with ghostly shadows, and still 
 she held herself rigid, still was she lost in the play, 
 but her voice was tired and shaky while she im- 
 personated Elihu, but when she came to Job speak- 
 ing with the Lord, her voice rang out, pregnant with 
 the majesty of the words she spoke. 
 
 She had not eaten any of the food the Major left 
 her. She scorned to even touch it, and the pangs
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 435 
 
 of healthful hunger shot through her. She wel- 
 comed them. Job had fasted, so would she fast. 
 
 " So Job died, being old and full of days," she 
 ended the play, with a little regretful sigh. The 
 room was dark now, and her courage began to ebb 
 away as the shadows deepened. 
 
 She straightened her tired little shoulders with an 
 impatient shrug. " You are not old and full of 
 days," she said, sternly. " Just remember that Job's 
 afflictions did not last always, neither will yours. 
 And ' the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more 
 than his beginning,' " she whispered, softly. " So 
 will he bless me." In the thought of how she could 
 be more blessed than she had been since she came 
 to Rodney out of the storm, she forgot the fear night 
 had brought with it. Gradually she leaned farther 
 back until finally she rested against the stove and so 
 fell asleep. 
 
 When Mona recovered from the effects of the 
 chloroform that day, the doctor hurried with her to 
 Rodney. 
 
 The doctor had listened to the advice of the old 
 minister. There must be some system in the search 
 made for Joan. The old minister counseled waiting 
 until Mona awakened before making a move; he 
 knew Mona would be invaluable in the search.
 
 436 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 Chawa and the Major were both much in evidence 
 in the little village that morning. As long as they 
 were there, the men felt that the child was safe. 
 They believed the Major and Chawa had kidnapped 
 Joan, because Rodney asserted he was sure of it. 
 Of Chawa's love for Joan, Rodney told no one. 
 Every one in the village knew the Major hated both 
 Joan and Rodney, and it seemed natural to them 
 he should use Chawa to aid him in his nefarious 
 plans. 
 
 The slowness of the doctor, Dad, and Welch 
 rasped on Rodney's nerves. He wanted them to go 
 post-haste in their search of the child, and when 
 the doctor and Mona entered his room he was almost 
 beside himself. 
 
 "Where is she?" he demanded, raising himself 
 on his elbow and glaring at Mona. 
 
 Mona's eyes were somber with pain. 
 
 " I know not," she returned, in her soft, musical 
 voice. 
 
 " Bah ! " Rodney flung at her. " Once an Indian 
 always an Indian. Fool that I have been to allow 
 Joan with you so much. Tell me quick, where is 
 she?" 
 
 The pained light in Mona's eyes deepened. 
 
 " Rodney, you are beside yourself. You are say- 
 ing things you will regret later on," the doctor
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 437 
 
 said, quietly, his heart throbbing with pity for 
 Mona. 
 
 " Shut up," Rodney growled. All the savage in 
 him rasped in his voice. He felt like some chained 
 thing, bound down as he was by his broken limb. 
 
 The doctor's voice somewhat sobered him. He 
 fell back on his pillow and flung his arm across his 
 face, while hot tears rolled down his cheeks. 
 
 " Poor old chap," the doctor said, gently, laying 
 his hand on Rodney's arm. 
 
 Rodney flung the hand off impatiently, and again 
 raised himself upon his elbow, facing Mona with 
 an angry light in his eyes. 
 
 " Why don't you speak ? " he thundered. 
 
 " My love for my friend, Joan, is as the waters 
 of the sea, unfathomable," she returned, softly, her 
 head regally erect. " I promised her my eternal 
 friendship under the shade of the twin palms where 
 gathers the dust blown by the four winds. I swore 
 that friendship by the God of my white father, by 
 the Great Spirits of my mother's race. The love 
 of Mona, the half-breed, for the child Joan is eter- 
 nal. I love her, I would have saved her this if I 
 could; I warned you. I thought she would stay 
 home last night," her voice quivered, she had taken 
 Joan's declaration of affection as a promise. She 
 knew her little friend would not have broken a
 
 438 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 promise, yet it hurt her because she had disregarded 
 the binding power of the implied promise. She 
 turned toward the window and stretched her arms 
 out in a sweeping movement, taking in the low, 
 shifting sand hills, the mountain ridges, and the 
 stretches of sand lying between. 
 
 " Somewhere out there, Mona will find her 
 friend." 
 
 She turned back to Rodney. " I, Mona, swear by 
 the God of your people I will bring her back to 
 you. I will give my life for her if need be, but if I 
 bring her not back myself, through me she shall 
 come back to you." Her eyes had in them the look 
 of some priestess of ancient days. 
 
 " Come here, Mona," Rodney said, boyishly, his 
 eyes misty. " I am ashamed of myself," he added, 
 humbly. 
 
 Mona came, treading softly, like a stately god- 
 dess, her eyes glowing with a soft, sweet light. 
 
 " Forgive me," Rodney said, entreatingly. His 
 voice was peculiarly sweet and wistful now. 
 
 Into Mona's eyes came a look that dazzled him, 
 so full of love and a worship that was something 
 infinitely greater than love. The look passed 
 swiftly and her eyes were grave, steady, in- 
 scrutable. 
 
 " I would forgive you anything," she said, softly,
 
 JO A N OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 439 
 
 so softly that only Rodney heard her. " I go now 
 to seek my friend." 
 
 " You are a trump, yes, an angel," Rodney called 
 after her. 
 
 " Forgive me, old man," he held out his hand 
 to the doctor. " I know I acted like a cad, but I've 
 been half wild ever since I've been tied down 
 here." 
 
 " I know, old chap," the doctor returned, pressing 
 the hand he held. "You are certainly pardoned. 
 Mona and I will go now. The villains forgot the 
 burros, thank God, so we are not forced to go 
 afoot." 
 
 When they were gone, Rodney turned his face 
 to the wall, groaning, " O God ! God ! If I could 
 only go, too." He struck the wall with his knuckles 
 until they were raw. 
 
 " O my God ! My God ! Save her, save her," he 
 pleaded over and over. " I love her with every fiber 
 in me. My mind, my heart, my very soul stirs 
 with love for her, as my violin vibrates under the 
 touch of my fingers. 
 
 " O God ! God ! I have always believed you sent 
 her to me that night. I have always thought you 
 intended her to be my life's companion in the high- 
 est sense of the word in a life of perfect love love 
 purified, intensified, spiritualized. O my Father,
 
 440 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 do not let her go from me in this horrible manner. 
 If she is not to be mine, let it be death that sep- 
 arates us, not this terrible thing I fear. Oh, that 
 I had never brought her here. If I had only come 
 alone, but I loved her then; loved as I did not then 
 realize I could love any living creature. Child that 
 she was I loved her as a man loves the spirit of 
 his mate. O God! God! I love her, love her." 
 He buried his face in his hands and sobbed with 
 grief and fear until the doctor coming in, just be- 
 fore the little band of searchers started, mercifully 
 put him to sleep with a soothing injection. 
 
 Half a mile from the village, with a cry of sullen 
 fury a sweep of wind enveloped the searchers in a 
 pale, gray pall of sand. They forced their way on 
 for a quarter of a mile or more, while the sand 
 beat at their faces with impish fury. 
 
 " We'll have to go back, boys," the old minister 
 said at last, his voice hoarse and quivering. " We 
 cannot go on in this. We cannot see our hands 
 before us, how can we find our child? We must 
 wait until the storm ceases, then start again." 
 
 Like the fierce leaping of the waves of a storm- 
 swept sea the sand under them leaped and eddied, 
 flinging itself upon them, stinging them with its 
 sharp impact, almost suffocating them with its 
 density.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 441 
 
 Over the swirling tide of sand they made their 
 way back to the hall, silent, worried. Not until they 
 reached the hall did they notice Mona was not with 
 them. 
 
 For hours the storm raged and the wind tore in 
 fury at the roof of the Hall of Hope and rattled 
 the windows in fiendish glee. 
 
 Through it all Graham walked the floor, racked 
 with fear for Mona. 
 
 In little huddled groups the men talked together. 
 All were somber, even Gray making no effort to 
 bring cheer to them while the storm moved ma- 
 jestically over the desert earth. 
 
 Toward the end of the storm the sun glimmered 
 through the flying sand, turning it red as blood. 
 
 Graham walked with unsteady feet now walked 
 as a man walks under a heavy load. 
 
 " Come sit down, Graham," Gray said at last, 
 laying his thin hand on Graham's shoulder. 
 
 Graham obeyed him, noticing as he did so 
 Gray's breath was coming painfully short and fast 
 and his eyes were glitteringly bright with a fixed 
 look in them. 
 
 " You had better lie down, old chap. By Jove, 
 but you are about all in," Graham said, as he flung 
 himself in a great armchair facing the window. 
 The sand was beating against the window in its last
 
 442 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 fling of rage, and to Graham the world outside in 
 its storm-swept majesty was something terrible to 
 look upon. Mona was out in the storm and his 
 heart was sick within him. He looked up at Gray. 
 
 " By Jove, you are sick, old chap," he cried. 
 
 Gray smiled at him, then his face was suddenly 
 distorted with pain. Again he smiled as the pained 
 look faded from it. 
 
 " You are batty, Graham," he returned, with a 
 smile Graham never forgot, as he clutched at his 
 throat. 
 
 " Doctor Worthington," Graham called, sharply. 
 
 " That's right, ball a man out when he is about 
 all in," Gray said, with a laugh that was almost a 
 cry of pain. 
 
 He staggered, but by a supreme effort recovered 
 himself a smile played about his pain-drawn lips. 
 
 " Clear out, you rubes," he said, gaspingly, as a 
 little group closed in about him. " This is my 
 funeral." 
 
 Again came the pain that distorted the face over 
 which the gray pallor of death was already surging. 
 
 Suddenly he raised both hands. For one long 
 minute he looked straight up into the face of God. 
 Then he fell. 
 
 " I'm going fast, boys," he rallied, with an effort. 
 His lips jerked in a vain attempt to smile. " But,
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 443 
 
 smile boys smile. Don't look so solemn 
 the joke's on me." He smiled now, a glorious 
 smile of joy, a smile that was never forgotten by 
 those who saw it. 
 
 When the doctor reached him he was dead. 
 
 " I always said he would die joking," the doctor 
 said, huskily, as he raised the limp form tenderly 
 in his arms. 
 
 At the door he met Martha Welch. 
 
 Martha gave a cry when she looked into Gray's 
 face. The doctor silenced her with a sharp, " There 
 are things worse than death, Martha." 
 
 Martha caught her breath sharply. His words 
 recalled Joan alone somewhere at the mercy of a 
 savage and a villain. She led the way to Gray's 
 tent silently. Not until after the doctor had gone 
 did she allow herself to grieve over the boy she had 
 loved best of all the brave fellows about her. 
 
 When the sand-storm had passed the entire desert 
 world seemed to have been clarified, purified, as if 
 God himself had been in the heart of the tempest. 
 
 Once more the doctor, Dad, and Welch started on 
 the quest for Joan. They were headed toward the 
 lone cabin on the crest of Lone Pine Ridge. There 
 Mona, reading her brother aright, had thought they 
 would find Joan. 
 
 It was dusk now, and the habitually solemn face
 
 444 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 of Welch was no more sorrowful than were the 
 faces of the other two men as they urged their 
 slow, plodding burros on over the sandy stretches, 
 glistening now in placid content. 
 
 Swirling and stinging had been the same sand 
 when Mona slipped silently away from the three 
 men when they turned back to the village because 
 of its baffling intensity. 
 
 " There is need for great haste," she whispered, 
 as she bent her body to the fury of the storm. 
 
 No one knew so well as Mona the haste that was 
 indeed needed. Mona had gone to Chawa after she 
 left Rodney. She had pleaded with him with all 
 the intensity of her passionate nature, but he had 
 met her entreaties with exultant, triumphant taunts. 
 
 " She shall never be yours," Mona had cried at 
 last. 
 
 "So!" Chawa flung at her. "We shall see." 
 He sprang toward Mona just as the Major came 
 up behind them. 
 
 " What now, you young fool ? " the Major 
 growled, taking Chawa by the shoulder. 
 
 " Fool yourself," Chawa hissed, wrenching him- 
 self free. A knife flashed in the sunlight. " I've 
 had enough of you and your bossing," Chawa 
 panted, crouching panther-like, his lithe body trem- 
 bling with rage.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 445 
 
 " Put up your knife, Chawa," Mona commanded, 
 sharply, as the Major drew his revolver. " If you 
 hurt him, I'll kill you," she said, turning on the 
 Major. 
 
 There was that in her voice which compelled obe- 
 dience. The Major lowered the weapon. Chawa 
 returned the knife to his bosom. And so they stood 
 there for one memorable instant, all of them 
 trembling with anger and hate. 
 
 " I know where Joan is," Mona said at last. " I 
 shall save her from you both. I shall give my life 
 for hers, if need be, but save her I shall," and her 
 voice rang with passion. She turned to Chawa. 
 " Henceforth you are no brother of mine." She 
 whirled on the Major, hissing, " You should be 
 burned for your part in this. Shame on you, shame 
 on you for the coward's part you have played ! " 
 
 For an instant she stood there holding them both 
 by the light in her eyes. 
 
 She turned at last. She had gone but a few steps 
 when the sounds of a struggle caused her to turn. 
 
 The Major was prone on his back, Chawa was 
 just rising to his feet; in his hands he held the 
 Major's revolver. 
 
 "So, you would shoot, eh?" she heard Chawa 
 say, then he spurned the Major with his foot. 
 
 " I'll get even with you," the Major snarled.
 
 446 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 Mona did not linger longer. With the Major 
 and Chawa hostile to one another the danger to 
 Joan was intensified. 
 
 She shuddered as she urged her burro on through 
 the storm of stinging sand. 
 
 It was a mad concerto played within the desert 
 borders that day a concerto of crashing chords of 
 the fierce, the defiant and defensive, with plaintive 
 running notes of the sublime running through it. 
 
 " O God of my father. Great Spirits of my 
 mother's people, I pray I may reach my friend be- 
 fore they do," Mona prayed over and over, as she 
 struggled on through the whipping, lashing scourge 
 of sand. 
 
 She reached the crest of Lone Pine Ridge half 
 an hour after the last wild note of the dirge of the 
 elements died away. The lone cabin looked peace- 
 ful, friendly under the tender light of the moon. 
 The song of the night was sweet and soothing, and 
 Mona's heart throbbed with joy. She must be in 
 time, after all. 
 
 Just as she leaped from the burro and started 
 toward the sagging door, Chawa darted around the 
 house from one side, the Major from the other. 
 Almost before she realized their presence, so sud- 
 denly and silently had their coming been, a shot rang 
 out and the Major fell in his tracks, almost at her
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 447 
 
 feet. With a cry she sprang toward Chawa. As 
 if in answer to her cry a lonely coyote gave a 
 mourning, long-drawn howl a howl such as the 
 Indians claim they ever give when a soul takes its 
 flight to the land of the great unknown.
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 /^\ HAWA ! Chawa ! " Mona cried, her voice 
 
 Y^ A tense with pain. 
 
 Chawa laughed, a ringing, mocking, 
 triumphant laugh, covering her with the still smok- 
 ing revolver. 
 
 " I shall give you a dose of the same medicine I 
 gave the white dog if you try to stop me," he cried, 
 his voice shrill in the intensity of his passion. He 
 laughed again, such a laugh as might have escaped 
 from the great Fighting Wolf, as he nodded lightly 
 toward the Major, over whose face the death 
 shadow was drawn in a hideous gray contortion. 
 
 Mona shuddered as her eyes followed his. She 
 had disliked the Major in life, but the Major in 
 death with his distorted face upturned to the moon 
 was a something to be pitied, even though he de- 
 served his fate. 
 
 " Oh, Chawa ! Chawa ! My brother, why did 
 you do it ? " She came close to him now, and still 
 he held the revolver, its cold, gleaming barrel 
 pointed straight at her heart. She felt strangely 
 unafraid of that gleaming thing that had felled the 
 
 448
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 449 
 
 Major, and her voice grew sweet and tender as she 
 spoke again. 
 
 " Chawa," she said, softly, " I said once to-day 
 you were no longer a brother of mine. I was very 
 angry then, but now I am sorry because you, my 
 brother, are in danger. It is a serious thing to kill 
 a man, Chawa, my brother. You are in grave dan- 
 ger and the ties of blood are strong. I will help 
 you flee from this place, Chawa, my brother. Come, 
 make haste, the men will soon be here. They must 
 not find you here with that." She nodded at the 
 crumpled heap. 
 
 Chawa's eyes softened. " We'll forget our lit- 
 tle flare of anger back there, then, eh," he laughed, 
 softly. " Takes a little excitement to make any 
 half-breed all Indian. You do well to aid your 
 brother, my sister. I shall flee with the white 
 maiden, and when we are settled in the little valley 
 I have in mind, I shall send for you, my sister. We 
 shall live the life of our mother's people together, 
 we and the palefaced maiden, whose ways shall 
 soon be our ways. 
 
 " The garments, the ways of the palefaced ones 
 are irksome to me. I would live as lived our peo- 
 ple, the race of great fighting braves and working 
 squaws; I would live as live the Indians where the 
 white race have not disturbed them.
 
 450 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 " I know of a little valley where the virgin soil 
 has never been defiled by the treading of the white 
 race, where the wild deer graze in peace awaiting 
 the song of my arrow. Ah, Mona, my sister, we 
 shall live ! " His eyes were bright now with the 
 vision of the life he longed for, the revolver fell 
 to his side, for the moment forgotten. His way 
 was clear now. He loved Mona in his wild, un- 
 tamed fashion; he would be glad to share his tepee 
 with her. 
 
 " You do not understand me, my brother," Mona 
 said, sadly. 
 
 The tone of her voice awoke Chawa, the light of 
 the vision left his dark eyes, they were again flash- 
 ing, savage. Again he covered Mona with the re- 
 volver. 
 
 " I do not fear that," she said, wearily. " I fear 
 nothing for myself. Sometimes I would be glad 
 to go to the great beyond." 
 
 Chawa looked at her oddly. " You love some 
 one, eh?" 
 
 Mona's eyes fell. 
 
 Chawa eyed her intently, searchingly. " By 
 damn, I believe you love that paleface guardian of 
 hers," he laughed, shortly. 
 
 " Well, if you will not help me, we will drop 
 that subject. I shall take the palefaced maiden.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 451 
 
 You stay on. Perhaps in time some white-faced 
 weakling will take you for his squaw," he sneered. 
 
 Mona smiled sadly. " Do not speak so, my 
 brother. I shall not help you flee with my white 
 friend. I shall prevent it, but you are my brother, 
 I will help you flee alone from the scene of your 
 crime. Go now to the ancient cave above the cave 
 where I go with my white friend. I have kept the 
 secret of that ancient cave all these years, not even 
 to my white friend have I told of its existence, be- 
 cause you asked me not to. I would die for you, 
 my brother, but this you ask can never be." 
 
 " You do not understand," Chawa's voice rang 
 out passionately. " I, Chawa, love the palefaced 
 maiden. I am consumed with love for her. My 
 veins throb with the swift leaping of my blood at 
 the very thought of her. I have loved her ever 
 since I first saw her, as I now know you have loved 
 the man. I will have her or die. I cannot live 
 longer without her. I am mad with love of her. 
 My blood is afire with my longing for her. I swear, 
 by the Sun and Moon gods, I, Chawa, will have her 
 or die." 
 
 " Chawa, my brother, speak not so," Mona 
 pleaded. " I tell you, my brother, I indeed love the 
 paleface man, but he loves her, my friend. They 
 love each other, Chawa. They are of the same
 
 452 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 race, the same pure blood, blood of the white race 
 flows in their veins. Joan could never be happy with 
 you, my brother. With you she would wither and 
 fade away like a delicate flower. The fierce in- 
 tensity of your love would consume her as the fire 
 consumes the sacrificial offering. You must not 
 commit this sin, oh, my brother ! " 
 
 Chawa laughed exultantly. " Plead no more, 
 my sister," he said, shortly. 
 
 "You will go and leave her?" Mona's voice 
 was eager now. 
 
 " No." Chawa's voice rang out passionately. 
 
 " I shall take the pale faced maiden. She may 
 wither, as you say, but I, Chawa, will have first 
 held her in my arms. She shall be mine. There is 
 no escape from the passion of Chawa. I will kill 
 her first, then myself, if ever you lead the white 
 men to my hiding-place. I'll take her now to the 
 ancient cave. You shall bring us food each day 
 until I can flee with her to the valley of which I 
 have already spoken. Remember, before she shall 
 be taken from me, I will kill her." 
 
 " Oh, oh, you will not kill her, Chawa. Promise 
 me, my brother, you will never take her life! " 
 
 Chawa laughed triumphantly, laughed as a devil 
 might laugh in an ungodly hour of triumph. 
 
 " I think you will help me now," he exulted.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 453 
 
 " You would rather she were the mate of Chawa 
 than like that," he spurned the Major's body with 
 his foot." 
 
 Mona's eyes darkened with pain. " I shall never 
 help you," she said, sadly. " I would rather see 
 her like that than know she was your mate. 
 Good-by, Chawa, my brother, if you take my pale- 
 faced friend, you take her when I am like that." 
 His eyes followed hers to the Major's body. Lithe 
 as a panther she sprang to one side and darted 
 toward the corner of the house. She was confident 
 Joan was in the middle room and knew if she could 
 reach the window of it she could enter that way 
 and perhaps save her friend. 
 
 Chawa snarled, the revolver rang out again; its 
 leaden messenger went home. With a cry Mona 
 sank to the ground. 
 
 Chawa turned to enter the house, his face dis- 
 torted with savage, fiendish joy. He was full of the 
 blood-lust now. Even the silver moon looked to 
 him like a huge red ball and the desert bathed in 
 its light took on the same fiery hue. He laughed 
 aloud as he started up the steps. 
 
 There were two steps, rotten with age, before 
 the door of the cottage. Chawa caught his foot 
 on the second step and lost his balance. 
 
 In striving to regain his balance, the hand hold-
 
 454 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 ing the still smoking revolver crashed against the 
 door. Another shot rang out, and Chawa fell in 
 a heap on the lower step. 
 
 The ring of the three shots reached the three 
 men urging their slow plodding beasts up the trail 
 to the lonely cottage. 
 
 "My God!" the doctor cried. "What can it 
 mean? Oh, Joan! Joan! My own little Joan. 
 Why, oh why was I such a coward? Why 
 did I keep silent- so long? O God, God, do 
 not let her be taken from me before she knows 
 I am her father, before she knows I did not inten- 
 tionally desert her mother." 
 
 " God grant it," the old minister said, softly, his 
 eyes upturned to the serene sky. His fine, patri- 
 archal face, outlined by the light of the moon, 
 looked almost unearthly pale and hallowed. To him 
 the firing of the three shots had but one meaning. 
 Chawa had killed Mona, then after that interval 
 had killed Joan, then himself. He would have al- 
 most rejoiced if the three shots had rung out in 
 quick succession. The intermission between the 
 first and last shots brought the intense, pained look 
 into his eyes. His shoulders were stooped a little 
 and he felt the springing tears, as he turned from 
 the serene sky to the suffering man beside him 
 the child's father.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 455 
 
 The shots awakened Joan. She struggled to her 
 feet with a moaning cry. " Oh, Rodney ! Rodney ! 
 Rodney!" It was for Rodney she feared now. 
 And the fear grew in leaps and bounds while she 
 tugged at the chain in a vain struggle to free her- 
 self. "Rodney! Rodney!" she moaned over and 
 over. 
 
 With a cry of anguish, at the sound of the last 
 shot, she flung herself on her knees by the bed and 
 began to pray. 
 
 The prayer quieted her fears. She seemed to 
 have a whispered promise of Rodney's safety. At 
 last she sat down in her circle of ashes again. The 
 ashes recalled her impersonification of Job. She 
 smiled whimsically, " I can truly say with Job, ' Oh, 
 that this day had never been for me.' ' 
 
 It was a grewsome sight that met the gaze of 
 the three men there on Lone Pine Ridge under the 
 calm light of the moon. Grewsome yet strangely 
 comforting. There was hope for the child. 
 
 " Dead," the doctor said, tersely, as he straight- 
 ened up from his brief examination of the Major. 
 " Dead," he repeated, after his survey of Chawa. 
 
 " Here is Mona," Dad cried, bending over her 
 where she lay in the shadow of the great pine. 
 
 " Living, thank God," the doctor said, fervently,
 
 456 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 as he raised his head from Mona's chest. " It's 
 only a flesh wound, a clean miss of the shoulder 
 bone," he announced, as he further examined the 
 unconscious girl. 
 
 " Thank God," Dad said, reverently, lifting his 
 wide hat from his white head. 
 
 His face was stern set, yet his eyes were soft as 
 he looked at the upturned face of the girl, as they 
 gently carried her out of the shadows into the soft 
 light. The mystic light of the moon touched the 
 beautifully chiseled face, turning it into a Madonna- 
 like, ethereal beauty. 
 
 These keen men of the desert read clearly the 
 story told there in all its grim setting. They needed 
 no one to tell them Chawa had killed the Major, 
 that Mona had talked with Chawa, implored him 
 to spare her friend needed no one to tell them 
 of Chawa's refusal and that he had shot Mona 
 as she tried to escape around the corner of the 
 house. 
 
 That Chawa's death was accidental they also 
 knew. Chawa's fine, dark face was set in its lines 
 of savage triumph Death had come too swiftly for 
 the lines to change. His staring eyes glowed with a 
 baleful, exultant, passionate light. 
 
 Welch dragged the dead around to the shed room 
 at the back of the cottage, while the doctor worked
 
 JOAN OF. RAINBOW SPRINGS 457 
 
 over Mona and the old minister went within to 
 Joan. 
 
 " There," Welch grunted, as he threw a piece of 
 canvas over the two bodies, " I'm not a cussing 
 man generally, but I'll be damned if you haven't got 
 your just dues both of you and and if I find 
 any harm has come to Joan I'll forget I am a white 
 man and drag you out for the coyotes to feed on." 
 
 He reached the doctor, still working over Mona, 
 just as the old minister came out of the cottage. 
 
 He caught his breath sharply. "God! If any 
 harm has come to the child." 
 
 " She is safe, boys," the old minister said, rais- 
 ing his hand reverently, as if in some sublime bene- 
 diction. 
 
 " I found her sitting in a circle of ashes. She 
 has been impersonating Job to keep her courage 
 up," he added, with just a trace of amusement in 
 his silver voice. 
 
 "By gad, I I," Welch began, then broke off 
 and sobbed like a baby. " I I don't care," he 
 blubbered. " I think it's enough to to cry over 
 I'm so dad-blasted happy I could almost forgive 
 those dead cusses." 
 
 " She will be all right in a few hours." The doc- 
 tor raised up from Mona. " And, thank God, 
 thank God, my baby is safe."
 
 458 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 Mona opened her eyes. " No ! No ! Chawa, you 
 would not kill her." 
 
 " My God ! " The doctor flung his arm across 
 his eyes as if to shut out some horrible vision. 
 
 " I didn't tell her you were out here, boys," the 
 old minister said, softly. " I told her I would come 
 back for her when I found a key to the chain 
 the " 
 
 " Say damned skunks, if you want to, Dad. I've 
 cussed like a trooper and I feel better," Welch said, 
 eagerly. 
 
 Dad smiled at Welch. " I am too full of grati- 
 tude to my heavenly Father to be profane, but 
 I'm not reprimanding you," he added, with a 
 twinkle in his eyes at sight of Welch's drooping 
 face. 
 
 " We'll do the sulphur part for you, Dad," the 
 doctor said, as he gave Mona another strengthening 
 injection, "but did they chain her my baby?" he 
 demanded, his face working. 
 
 " Yes," the old man said, shortly, " but don't go 
 in there," he pleaded, as the doctor started toward 
 the door. 
 
 " She is overwrought, a very little more excite- 
 ment would cause a nervous sick spell. I know, I 
 know," he said, sadly. " I know. Human nature 
 will stand only so much excitement. It would be
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 459 
 
 almost impossible for you to see her now and not 
 reveal your relationship to her." 
 
 " You are right," the doctor's voice was husky. 
 " I kept silent for myself, now I shall keep silent 
 for her until she recovers from the effects of all 
 she must have gone through. Oh, my baby! My 
 baby!" 
 
 " I shudder to think what would have happened 
 to her, high-strung as she is, alone here in such a 
 place had it not been for her sublime faith in the 
 love of God," the old minister returned, softly. 
 
 " I got it," Welch broke in triumphantly, his 
 somber face distorted by a huge grin. He held up 
 a peculiar-shaped key. " I've seen 'em before. Was 
 sheriff in Texas once seen a heap of these kind of 
 keys there. If the old boy hadn't a prison record 
 to his credit I am a knock-kneed donkey." 
 
 "Ah, the key to the chain's band," Dad said, 
 quietly. 
 
 " Yes, the key to the ankle-bracelet, to give it 
 its correct name, Dad." 
 
 The old man sighed and passed his hand wearily 
 over his forehead, brushing back the silver strands 
 of hair. 
 
 " We must get Mona under shelter as soon as 
 possible," the doctor broke in, eagerly. "Now I 
 know my baby is safe I'll take Mona down to the
 
 460 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 village and leave you to bring Joan," he turned 
 to the old minister. 
 
 "Jumping wild cats, where do I come in at?" 
 Welch demanded, wagging his head mournfully. 
 
 " It will take you and I both to take Mona down 
 very carefully," the doctor returned. " We will 
 ride our burros side by side and hold her in our 
 arms. We can make better time that way than if we 
 made a litter and walked beside her." 
 
 " Good ! " approved Dad. " Now, I'll go back to 
 our child. It was necessary for me to tell her that 
 Rodney was injured by King Solomon this morning. 
 She feared so for him when she heard those shots, 
 poor little girl." 
 
 " Fortunate little girl, with the love of a man 
 like White to shield her all his life," returned the 
 doctor. 
 
 When the doctor and Welch reached the village 
 in the dawn's first glow, they met Prudence near 
 Rodney's. 
 
 "It is not Joan," the doctor sang out, as Pru- 
 dence ran white- faced to meet them. 
 
 " She saved her saved little Joan. She is white 
 through and through," Welch said, solemnly, as 
 he and the doctor started to carry Mona into the 
 house. 
 
 :< You are a good man, Samuel." Prudence laid
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 461 
 
 her hand timidly on his shoulder. It was the first 
 suggestion of a caress she had ever given him. 
 
 " We brought her here, because the doctor 
 thought it would be best," Welch said, boyishly. 
 " You are a dear woman, Prudence." 
 
 " To be sure, bring her on in, Samuel. If she 
 was any place else Joan would have her spirit in 
 two places and in no time would wear her body out 
 running back and forth between her and Rodney." 
 
 The doctor smiled at the utter ignoring of him 
 and his authority, as Prudence directed Welch 
 where to carry the still unconscious girl. 
 
 In a few minutes Lois was there with Mona, 
 and by the time Mona recovered her consciousness 
 the village was ringing with the sounds of early 
 morning activity. 
 
 "What is it, dear?" Lois asked, bending over 
 Mona. 
 
 " Tell my uncle," Mona said, weakly. " Chawa 
 did not kill himself. I was not unconscious 
 when he fell. It was an accident but I am glad 
 my friend is saved." She closed her eyes to shut 
 her sorrow away from Lois, but Lois had seen the 
 mist of tears in the great dark eyes and knew 
 that while Mona rejoiced because her friend was 
 saved, her heart was very heavy over her brother's 
 death.
 
 462 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 " I'll tell him, dear." Lois stooped and kissed 
 the pale cheeks. 
 
 " I sleep now," Mona returned, gravely. 
 
 " Poor little girl," Lois said, softly, as she left the 
 room. " How glad I am she is to recover if all 
 goes well, and it will go well with him back of 
 it ! " She blushed and her eyes glowed with pride 
 of her doctor. 
 
 With the fullness of the dawn came the old min- 
 ister and Joan. 
 
 The doctor met them at the cottage door, telling 
 Joan gravely and briefly that Mona was inside, in- 
 jured, but sleeping quietly and must not be dis- 
 turbed. His lips trembled and quivered with his 
 desire to tell her she belonged to him she was his 
 child. His arms ached with his desire to hold her 
 as a father, but he squared his shoulders in quick 
 determination. He would wait the child had 
 enough to bear. He knew how she would grieve 
 when she learned that Gray was dead. Some one 
 must tell her, too, that the Major and Chawa were 
 dead. His eyes followed her into the house long- 
 ingly, but he turned resolutely toward the Major's 
 hotel to send Cuby after his master's body. 
 
 At " The Sign of the Rainbow," the doctor found 
 Cuby lying in a pool of his own blood. The negro 
 was dying.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 463 
 
 " De Maja done finish Cuby," the negro moaned, 
 as the doctor bent over him. 
 
 "Why?" the doctor demanded, after he had 
 lifted the dying man to a more comfortable position 
 on the couch, and had forced some brandy down the 
 closing throat. 
 
 " De Maja kill you if I tole you," Cuby said, 
 thickly. 
 
 " The Major is dead." 
 
 An unholy light broke through the film gather- 
 ing over the negro's eyes. With an effort he raised 
 himself on his elbow. " I'll I'll," he began, and 
 fell back dead. 
 
 As Joan crossed the threshold into the living- 
 room she was suddenly gathered up in the arms of 
 the new Prudence. 
 
 " Oh, oh, it is good to be home and have you 
 kiss me ! " Joan murmured, snuggling close to Pru- 
 dence as she had always secretly longed to. 
 
 " I think my latter end is going to be better than 
 the beginning just like Job's was," she whispered, 
 ecstatically. 
 
 Prudence smiled at her, tenderly. " My own 
 little Joan," she whispered, then half sobbed, " Go 
 in to Rodney and and cry all you want to on his 
 shirt front." 
 
 " Thank you, Aunt Prudence," returned Joan,
 
 464 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 suddenly grave. She longed to see Rodney, longed 
 to have his loving arms about her, but the child was 
 a woman now, she had crossed that invisible bound- 
 ary line between childhood and womanhood up there 
 on Lone Pine Ridge when the three shots rang out 
 on the still air, and much as she longed to be en- 
 folded in Rodney's arms, it was hard to tell him of 
 Chawa's hot kisses and tell him she must. With 
 her hand on the doorknob, she breathed a prayer for 
 courage. 
 
 " Hurry ! Hurry ! Joan ! Joan ! " Rodney's 
 voice came to her, and in an instant she had flung the 
 door open; a second and she was on her knees be- 
 side him sobbing out the whole story. 
 
 Rodney drew her to him, and as of old she 
 nestled in the hollow of his arms, while he told her 
 of his ride on Solomon, of Mona of Gray, the 
 Major, and Chawa. 
 
 When he had finished, Rodney's shirt front was 
 indeed wet with tears. 
 
 " Aunt Prudence said I could weep on you all 
 I wanted to-day," Joan said at last, with a little 
 catch in her voice. 
 
 " Yes, but if you have finished you might have 
 something to eat," Prudence said, in a character- 
 istic way. Neither of them had heard her enter the 
 room.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 465 
 
 " Oh, Aunt Prudence, I am so hungry," Joan 
 cried. " I feel like I could never get enough of 
 your good cooking." 
 
 " Humph," Prudence grunted, happily, her eyes 
 on Rodney's shirt front. " I see you did a good 
 job," she commented, dryly. 
 
 Joan looked from Prudence to Rodney. " Oh, I 
 am so happy," she cried, her face suddenly pressed 
 against Rodney's. " I hope it is not wrong to be so 
 happy when there is so much sorrow about us, but 
 I can't help being happy because I am with you." 
 
 " I thought you were hungry," Prudence inter- 
 rupted. 
 
 " I am," Joan cried, springing to her feet. At 
 the door she turned and looked again at Rodney, 
 with such a depth of love and promise in her eyes 
 that after she was gone, he flung his arm across 
 his eyes as if to hold there the vision of her eyes 
 aglow with that promise. 
 
 The next day was a day given largely over to the 
 dead at the Springs. The doctor had wired to Joe 
 Phillips in Los Angeles. In answer came Joe Phil- 
 lips, the Major's only relative and his heir. The 
 nephew, in fulfillment of a promise made his uncle 
 some years before, started south on the early morn- 
 ing train to lay his uncle's body in the old family 
 burying ground.
 
 466 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 In mid-afternoon Gray was tenderly, reverently 
 laid to rest beside Arth under the same great pepper 
 tree. 
 
 In the early twilight Cuby was buried on a low 
 hillside near the village. And that night, shrill and 
 loud with a primitive frenzy that seemed to pierce 
 the sky and reach to the very edge of the desert, 
 resounding against the mountains, re-echoing up the 
 canyons went the sound of the voices of the In- 
 dians wailing for Chawa. The cry of a primitive 
 people, mourning in a traditional manner for their 
 dead a cry that was an echo of the voice of primal 
 man raised against the heavy hand of Fate.
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 THE rosy fingers of dawn moved lightly over 
 the throbbing desert world in a divine pre- 
 lude of a golden September day, filling the 
 ambient air with a translucent melody that no hu- 
 man mind could interpret. It was as though the 
 very hand of God played the dawn's salutation to 
 the desert world. 
 
 Its caressing influence folded itself about the 
 man and girl standing on the steps of the cottage, 
 waving their handkerchiefs at the man and woman 
 in the tonneau of the great touring car speeding 
 toward the station, across the stretch of gleaming 
 sand fanned by the perfume-laden zephyrs of the 
 dawn. 
 
 A silence dense and throbbing fell upon the two, 
 on the steps, as the car vanished in the distance. 
 
 Suddenly the girl turned toward the man, and 
 the eyes that met his were not the eyes of a child, 
 but unutterably sweet, divinely womanly were they. 
 
 " Well, little girl," the man broke the silence. 
 " Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Welch are making good 
 
 time toward the station. They are sure to make 
 
 467
 
 468 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 the East-bound Flyer. What a splendid innovation 
 the motor is ! " 
 
 Still the girl looked at him, saying nothing. 
 
 " Great wedding they had last night, wasn't it ? " 
 The man mopped his damp forehead with his hand- 
 kerchief. " Aunt Prue made a very charming 
 bride, didn't she?" 
 
 No answer. 
 
 The morning was cool but the man seemed to be 
 suffocating. His face was pale and his mouth set 
 in grim lines. 
 
 "Well, what are you thinking?" he demanded 
 at last, nervously. If those tender, womanly eyes 
 looked so steadily into his much longer he would 
 forget his self-imposed promise to wait until she 
 was twenty before he told her all that was in his 
 heart to tell her now. 
 
 "Joan! Joan! Talk! Talk !" he cried at last, 
 turning his eyes from her to the eastern sky. The 
 prelude of the dawn was passing into the anthem 
 of the day. From the vast stretches of the desert 
 he gained strength to again meet those glowing 
 eyes. 
 
 When he turned back to her, Joan's eyes fell. 
 " It seems like the end of everything," she said, 
 with a little catch in her voice. " Nothing will ever 
 be the same again. Oh, Rodney! Rodney! I am
 
 TlIK STRAINS OF THE VIOLIN FLOATED OUT OVER THK DESERT, FILLED 
 . WITH LOVE AND LONGING. Page 480.
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 469 
 
 glad Aunt Prudence is happy, but how can I leave 
 you? Rodney, I am grateful for the life that has 
 come to me through you. I should be willing to do 
 anything you wish me to, I would if I believed you 
 really wished it, but I believe the doc my father 
 is the instigator of it. It has been a great trial 
 for me to give my father the love and respect a 
 child should give such a father, Rodney. I must 
 tell you this now, I thank God every night my little 
 mother was not forsaken as I always thought she 
 had been. I will never forget how grateful I was, 
 for her, that day you told me all about it how 
 he came to leave her, I mean. I have forgiven him, 
 Rodney, but I know she would never have been 
 deserted had she been your wife, for there would 
 never have been any secret about your marriage. 
 But we will not talk about that, Rodney. I am 
 glad he is to have dear Lois. I should be sorry 
 if he knew exactly how I feel, and with Lois he 
 will never notice how hard it is for me to feel as 
 a daughter should toward him. Oh, Rodney! 
 Rodney! How grateful I am you were not killed 
 over me that dreadful day! I have always believed 
 the Lord let your leg be broken to save you from 
 being killed by one of those dreadful men. Rod- 
 ney, tell me again that you have forgiven me for 
 being the cause of your great worry. I should not
 
 470 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 have left the house that night without telling 
 you." 
 
 She turned to him, longing to have him take her 
 in his arms. He seemed strangely reluctant about 
 even kissing her lately. She smiled a little womanly 
 smile of understanding, as he started toward her, 
 then abruptly turned away again. But oh, if he 
 would only open his arms to her, hold her close 
 and never send her away from him, no matter how 
 much the doctor and Dad wanted her to go away to 
 school with Mona! 
 
 " When I come home to stay, after I have fin- 
 ished at Mills, I suppose I shall have to live with 
 my father and Lois." Her voice was even, but if 
 he could have seen her eyes they were dancing with 
 a teasing light. 
 
 " I hope not, little girl. You certainly shall not 
 if I have anything to say about it." Tenderly sweet 
 was the man's voice. 
 
 " This is just the end of one chapter of our lives, 
 dear," Rodney smiled at her that peculiarly sweet 
 smile that seemed to belong to him alone. 
 
 She moved as if to go to him. He turned and 
 looked across the desert again. 
 
 The light died out of her eyes; they were misted 
 with tears now. 
 
 " You and Mona will be happy at Mills," he
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 471 
 
 said, gently. " You know, you once said it was the 
 dream of your life to go to college." 
 
 " Yes, I know I did, but I was a child then," Joan 
 broke out, impatiently. 
 
 "And what are you now, pray?" Rodney de- 
 manded, a teasing light in his eyes, as he faced her. 
 
 Joan shrugged her shoulders and turned away. 
 
 " When Mona and I come back, we will keep old- 
 maid hall together; how will that suit you?" she 
 said, with studied indifference, her eyes now fol- 
 lowing the well-worn trail leading up to the Cave 
 of Rest. 
 
 " Not if I know myself, you will not." Some- 
 thing in his voice thrilled her. 
 
 " What will you have to say about it, Sir Rod- 
 ney ? " She whirled on him, eyes aglow. " You are 
 sending me away like a naughty child, when I 
 begged and begged to stay here and help cheer up the 
 poor sick boys. You know yourself I could learn 
 right here all the Latin, and well, everything I'll 
 learn at Mills, just as well as leaving this beautiful 
 place four years. Each term there will be so many 
 things happen I'll never be able to catch up with them 
 during vacations. Think of all that has happened 
 this summer ! ' The Sign of the Rainbow ' turned 
 into a hospital for the boys too sick to go to the 
 hall for their meals. Just think how Don will miss
 
 472 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 me! Aren't you ashamed to send me away, Rod- 
 ney White ? Why won't you let me stay here ? " 
 Now she pleaded, her voice low and tremulous. 
 
 Rodney started toward her, an unmistakable light 
 in his eyes, then he resolutely turned away. 
 
 Joan's eyes were radiant. Given time enough 
 she might win her way, even now. " What if I had 
 missed that funny dicker between Mr. Phillips and 
 my father ! " she said, whimsically, recalling the 
 day her father had purchased " The Sign of the 
 Rainbow " from the Major's nephew. 
 
 " Oh, Rodney, I want to stay here." Her eyes 
 were somber again, yet aglow with a hope that even 
 at this late hour she could break down the wall 
 of self-renunciation Rodney had erected between 
 them. She would go happily then, if she could 
 only leave him the promise of her love to cheer him 
 while she was away from him. 
 
 She looked out over the desert again as if she 
 could see the future of the hope of the con- 
 sumptives as if it were given her to see a vision 
 of the Rainbow Springs of the future when to reach 
 the village one passed through a land of rippling 
 grain where cacti and greasewood now grew in 
 stunted reluctance as if she could see the time 
 when Rodney and Norman Worthington carried 
 on the great work together as if she could hear
 
 JO A N OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 473 
 
 the voice of the future head of the nation saying 
 with pride: " It is the garden of Eden for all those 
 suffering from the great white plague." 
 
 " I'll I'll bid you good-by here," Joan said at 
 last, her lips quivering, a rosy flush staining her 
 face. Her future was close- folded, hidden still, yet 
 she knew the man holding her eyes now with his 
 would some day break the silence of the next four 
 years of earnest work knew that a sudden shaft 
 of Love's dazzling light would be flung athwart 
 life's book and all the pages of the future would 
 be illuminated as she and the man she loved the 
 man who loved her with such a perfect love would 
 turn the pages together, one by one, with the rhythm 
 and music of their love. 
 
 Joan suddenly tingled all over with the romance 
 of it all. After all she could and would wait pa- 
 tiently. It would be so thrilling to think of that 
 hour when he would tell her all his eyes told her 
 now. Her eyes glowed iridescently. She tilted her 
 head to one side and stood listening as if she caught 
 the measure of some wonderful strain of music 
 played only to her. 
 
 " It is time to come now," said the old minister, 
 softly. A tender smile played about his mouth. 
 
 So unconscious of his approach had they been 
 that Joan gave a little involuntary cry of surprise
 
 474 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 at the sound of his voice. Her eyes grew misty 
 again. 
 
 " Four years seem like a lifetime to you now, 
 little girl," he said, gently, reading her aright. 
 " But they will pass before you realize it and you 
 will, for them, be all the better fitted for the life 
 which will be yours here where the spirit of God 
 is so divinely with us." 
 
 " Oh, Dad ! Dad ! I love it so here," she cried. 
 " I always wanted to go to college as Rodney just 
 reminded me. It was the dream of my life when 
 I was a poor little hand-me-around orphan and I 
 want a better education now, Dad, dear. I do 
 indeed want it, but these last three years have been 
 so like heaven to me it's hard to think about leaving 
 you and and Rodney. I am grateful because I am 
 going to Mills, Dad, but I shall miss you all so! 
 Oh, what would I do if Mona were not going with 
 me ? " her voice broke. 
 
 " Yes, I know," the old minister said, gravely. 
 " I think I understand exactly how you feel, dear. 
 But you must not cry, Mona is going with you, 
 and we want our girls to be the pride of Mills, don't 
 we, Rodney ? " 
 
 Rodney nodded. He could not trust his voice 
 to speak. 
 
 Dad laid his hand lightly on Joan's head. His
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 475 
 
 face was transfigured, illumined with an inner 
 glory. " The future is all golden for you, dear." 
 There was the light of prophecy in his eyes now. 
 " And when you and Mona come back to us to 
 stay, we will have such a garden as was mine in 
 those old golden days of mine in the sunny south- 
 land. Our flowers will be the lace upon the desert's 
 altar cloth. We will have an abundance of clove 
 pinks, lassie, pinks that will gladden the hearts of 
 the lads who come to us the girls, too for the 
 girls will be coming soon to the doctor's wonderful 
 Hall of Hope. Aye, the lassies will come, for the 
 disease that will be stamped out here fastens itself 
 upon them, too," he sighed. He had almost for- 
 gotten the presence of the man and the girl. 
 
 " There comes Mona," Joan cried, suddenly. 
 
 The old minister turned to them again with a 
 low musical laugh. " She and Graham were dawn- 
 gazing together when I started over here. I heard 
 Graham say : ' Well, by Jove, you simply must write 
 to a chap, you know.' I believe she will do it, too," 
 he added. Mona had been very gentle and kind to 
 Graham ever since she recovered from her wound. 
 He had been so wonderfully kind to her while she 
 was convalescing after that terrible night on Lone 
 Pine Ridge. He was such a frank, manly fellow 
 and so earnestly in love with her, she could not
 
 476 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 but pity him and pity is a dangerous ally of the 
 little love god, but Mona was serenely unconscious 
 of this, as she gave Graham a laughing half promise 
 to write him. 
 
 " I will go on with Mona to the hall," Dad said, 
 noting with a gleam of amusement in his kind eyes 
 the shadows that had unconsciously fallen on the 
 faces of the man and maid when he joined them. 
 
 " And you'll play the * Ave Maria ' as we start 
 off. I can stand it better if you do and and, so 
 can you," said the woman-wise Joan, as she looked 
 into Rodney's love-lit eyes, as they drew near the 
 Hall of Hope. 
 
 From within came shouts of joy the boys were 
 most certainly enjoying themselves. 
 
 " Yes, I'll play the ' Ave Maria/ little girl, but I 
 wanted to go to the train with you." 
 
 " I I couldn't stand that," Joan's voice was 
 shaky. " It will take all the thrill of the dash in 
 the automobile to keep me from being a baby as it 
 is. If I had to face parting from my beloved 
 guardian at the train I could never stand it never ! 
 Never! I'll have to pray pray as I never prayed 
 before to stand it, anyway. I'll have to pray every 
 minute, Rodney White," her voice broke. She had 
 intended to be very grave had even intended to 
 say something to tease him when she said " my
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 477 
 
 beloved guardian," he hated to be called guardian 
 so badly, but, she thought, with a quivering of 
 her lips, " there is nothing humorous about any- 
 thing." 
 
 " What a dear child it is," Rodney smiled then 
 added, softly, " And remember, Joan my own lit- 
 tle Joan I love you " 
 
 " Oh! " She turned eager eyes to him " Well, 
 as any proper guardian should love his ward," he 
 finished, lamely, and drew her into the hall of mirth. 
 
 At the end of the hall on a low platform under 
 a wedding bell of white carnations stood the doctor 
 and Lois, eyes alight, faces aglow with love's prom- 
 ise of the future. 
 
 Just in front of them stood the old minister. 
 About them in groups were the boys. At one side 
 stood Martha with an arm about Mona. Joan has- 
 tened to join Martha and Mona. She and Rodney 
 both were serenely unconscious of the exchange of 
 smiles that greeted their entrance to the hall. 
 
 Slowly, impressively, the old minister read the 
 beautiful marriage service while the voice of Rod- 
 ney's violin rang out in a dainty, delicate obligate 
 a melody as delicate in structure as was the in- 
 strument itself. 
 
 To all but Joan, the music was simply an exquisite
 
 478 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 melody, bright and airy as shimmering moonlight, 
 dainty as the song of a rippling brook gliding 
 through the green aisles of some magic forest a 
 sweet promise of life itself, but to Joan it was 
 more than that it was all that, too. To her it was 
 a-thrill with the song of the first man for the first 
 woman. It sounded through her consciousness, 
 calling, calling, calling to the depths of her soul, 
 and Rodney, looking past that other man and 
 woman, read love's answer in her eyes *ead and 
 was satisfied. 
 
 Just as the doctor and his wife stepped into the 
 purring machine waiting for them in front of the 
 hall, a very beautiful and symbolic thing happened. 
 On the ragged spur of a giant mountain peak, sud- 
 denly appeared the head of an Indian chief out- 
 lined as it was against the sun-bright sky, the grim 
 lips were curved into a kindly smile. 
 
 " Oh ! Oh, Rodney, look ! " Joan cried from her 
 place on the middle seat of the huge car. 
 
 Rodney tucked his violin under his arm and came 
 close to the side of the pulsating machine throbbing 
 to be off across the desert expanse, quivering like 
 some live thing poised ready for flight. 
 
 With his hands holding hers, they watched the 
 head of the ancient chief fade away, its place taken
 
 JOAN OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 479 
 
 almost instantly by the ancient city with its thou- 
 sand spires piercing the sky. 
 
 The doctor broke the tense silence which held 
 them all spellbound. Even the group of boys, wait- 
 ing to fling a shower of rice upon the doctor and 
 Lois the instant the car started, were silent. 
 
 " We'll return next week, old man," the doctor 
 said, smiling at Rodney. " We shall get our girls 
 settled at Mills, spend a day or so at Santa Barbara 
 on our way down the coast, then home, eh, dear ? " 
 he turned to Lois. 
 
 She raised glowing eyes to him, " Then home," 
 she returned, softly. 
 
 " By Jove, you know I'll expect a letter next 
 week and and I'll get a fever up if it doesn't come 
 on time, a regular hummer of a fever, and you 
 know how cross a fever makes the doctor so you'd 
 better write, Mona, dear," the voice of Graham, un- 
 consciously raised in the intensity of his feelings, 
 rang out clear and distinct. He had been carrying 
 on a low-voiced conversation with Mona ever since 
 the mirage of the ancient city had faded away. 
 
 Above the laugh that followed, the doctor's voice 
 rang clear, " You'll do, Graham I promise you 
 Mona shall not be allowed to cause your temperature 
 to rise." And then the big car shot suddenly for- 
 ward. The silver voice of the old minister followed
 
 480 JO A N OF RAINBOW SPRINGS 
 
 it in a sublime benediction, while the strains of the 
 violin floated out over the desert, filled with love 
 and longing, a-quiver with passion and pain, throb- 
 bing with an ecstasy of renunciation, thrilling with 
 the promise of the future, as Rodney's fingers swept 
 caressingly over the responsive strings shaping the 
 melody Joan loved best the exquisite " Ave 
 Maria." 
 
 THE END
 
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