AN UNFORTUNATE ARRIVAL.
THERE was no one on the platform when Ruth dismounted, but a tall man,
who was not looking for her. He was oddly handsome in spite of his queer
Western clothes, and Ruth wished for an instant that he might be Mr.
Colter. Evidently he was not. He stared at her curiously for a few
seconds, then searched anxiously along every other exit of the train.
Cousin Ruth could discover no one else. The madcap girl, who had run her
wild race with the train, was a little distance off. She was holding
three ponies by their bridles, and as one of them was dancing with
nervousness on account of the noise of the engine, the girl had her
hands full.
Ruth Drew's heart sank to ten degrees below zero. Had she traveled
across the continent to a wild Western town to find no one to meet her?
The ranch girls could not be so rude; and Ruth determined to ask the
good-looking man with the worried expression, what she ought to do.
[Illustration: "CAN I DO ANYTHING FOR YOU, MA'AM?"]
Jim was gazing sadly after the departing coaches. You see he was looking
for a white-haired woman of about fifty, and supposed that the old lady
hadn't known enough to get off the train at the right station, and had
gone on to the next stop. How in the world would he be able to connect
with her?
Jim saw the young woman on the platform, but she wasn't as large and
didn't seem to him to be much older than Jack. He supposed she had come
to visit some of their ranch neighbors, yet she looked unhappy, as
though she wanted to cry. Jim's heart was touched.
He took off his broad Mexican hat, and Ruth thought with a sudden gasp
that she had never seen such blue eyes and such black hair before.
"Can I do anything for you, ma'am?" Jim inquired politely. "It 'pears
like your folks haven't come to meet you."
Ruth shook her head. She was too full of tears to trust herself to speak
for a moment. "I am afraid not," she answered finally. "Will you be good
enough to tell me how I can get over to the Rainbow Ranch? I have come
to live with the Ralston girls. I am their cousin--"
"Not Ruth?" Jim exclaimed, forgetting his shyness in his surprise. "You
can't be Cousin Ruth, because the girls told me she was an old maid."
Jim stopped abruptly, conscious that he had put his foot in it with his
first remark to their new visitor.
Cousin Ruth drew herself up a little stiffly. She did not like to be
called "an old maid," perhaps because she knew she often acted and
looked like one, but she was too tired to care much about anything at
present. She only longed with all her heart to be driven home to Rainbow
Lodge.
"I am Cousin Ruth just the same," she answered feebly, trying to smile.
Jim grabbed her suit case, carried her umbrella like a shot gun, and
marched her toward the girl who was holding the three horses, the same
girl who had shocked and entertained her from the car window.
Jacqueline slid off her pony and passed the three bridles to Jim. She
did not know whether she ought to kiss her cousin or only to shake hands
with her, for there was something in Ruth's expression that froze Jack's
first affectionate intention. Ruth was truly horrified at Jack's
behavior. She didn't see how a girl could be so reckless of
appearances.
Jack held out a slim, cool hand. "I am awfully glad to see you, Cousin
Ruth. It was very good of you to come out to us. I hope you are not
tired," Jack remarked, as though she had learned her greeting out of an
etiquette book. She was as stiff as a wooden Indian, because she felt so
abominably shy.
Ruth's feelings were hurt. She did not think of her own manners, merely
of Jack's. "Yes, I am tired," she replied coldly. "Is the carriage
waiting for us in the town?"
Jack's face reddened. Jim gave a hasty glance of embarrassment toward
the two women. There was an awkward silence.
Jack found her voice first. "We didn't bring a wagon over for you,
Cousin Ruth. We don't own a carriage," Jack explained. "It is so late
that we didn't think we would get to the ranch before night, if we
drove. We brought a horse for you to ride."
Ruth Drew sank limply on the ground. "A horse to ride!" she exclaimed
faintly. "I have never been on a horse in my life. How far is it to the
ranch?"
"Ten miles," Jack acknowledged shame-facedly. Ten miles did sound like
a great distance to a stranger, although the ranch girls had always
thought that they lived very close to town; but the idea of a
full-grown, able-bodied woman not knowing how to ride horseback had
never entered Jacqueline Ralston's head. What on the face of the green
earth were they to do? "You had better go over into the town and see if
you can get a carriage, Jim," Jack advised. "I never thought of Cousin
Ruth's not liking to ride. I can lead the two horses home, if you will
drive her over."
Jack was really miserably embarrassed at her own failure as a hostess.
She knew that they were making a dreadful first impression on Cousin
Ruth, and Jean had warned her that first impressions were most
important. But Ruth Drew thought she caught something in Jack's tone
that sounded supercilious. There was nothing so extraordinary in Ruth's
being ignorant of horses, she had never been rich enough to own one; yet
it was quite impossible for the Eastern girl and the Western one to
understand each other's points of view.
Jim Colter came back utterly crestfallen; there was no carriage to be
had in the town.
With the courage of despair, Ruth let herself be swung up on the homely
broncho. She was horribly frightened, although Jack assured her that she
was riding the gentlest pony on the ranch, one that belonged to little
Frieda. It made no difference, Ruth slipped and slid. She clutched the
pony's mane in her hands and let Jim lead her, yet every time the pony
went out of a walk, Ruth wanted to shriek with fear. She had traveled
hundreds and hundreds of miles from Vermont to Wyoming, but the distance
was as nothing to her ten-mile horseback ride to Rainbow Lodge.
Every muscle in Ruth's body ached; she had a horrid stitch in her side
and swayed uncertainly in the saddle. Each moment she expected to fall
off.
The ride home seemed almost as long to Jack and Jim as it did to their
guest. They were so ashamed of themselves, and Jack's cheeks were hot
with blushes every time she looked at her new cousin.
After about an hour of slow traveling, Jack caught sight of Ruth. Her
face was grey with pain and fatigue.
"Stop, Jim," Jack called sharply. "Cousin Ruth is going to faint."
Ruth had a dim recollection of being lifted off her horse and for the
rest of her journey she felt herself being held up by a strong arm. Now
and then a man's voice spoke to her, as if she were a little girl and he
were trying to comfort her. He was a haven of refuge and Ruth did not
think or care who or what he was, and finally he brought her safely to
Rainbow Lodge.
Jack thought she had never seen her home so lovely. There was a golden
glow behind the house and the wind stirred through the quivering yellow
leaves of the cottonwood trees. Rainbow Creek lay on one side of them
and on the other the broad sweep of the plains. Jack gazed wistfully at
Ruth who was riding in front of Jim; surely their new cousin would show
some interest in her new home!
Jean, Frieda and Olive ran out in the yard to meet the cavalcade. Jack
waved her hand, but Cousin Ruth did not open her eyes.
"We are about home, now, Miss Drew," Jim found courage to say.
"Heaven be praised!" Ruth sighed. She could barely speak.
Aunt Ellen was waiting on the porch in a starched white apron, and took
in the situation with quick sympathy. She saw her girls' disappointed,
embarrassed faces and their cousin's worn one.
Aunt Ellen gathered Ruth in her arms. "Leave her alone, honies, she is
just tired out," she explained to the ranch girls. And without the least
effort from Ruth, Aunt Ellen got her in bed, fed her some broth and told
her to go to sleep and not to worry.
In the big living-room with its splendid pine fire, Jack, Jean, Frieda
and Olive ate their feast of welcome alone.
It was hardly worth while to have taken so much trouble to get ready for
a guest who looked neither at you nor your house when she came in to it.
Jack was plainly cast down. Jean, Frieda and Olive were almost as
discouraged.
"I think Cousin Ruth is tiresome," Jean exclaimed petulantly. "I don't
see why she couldn't have spoken to us."
Frieda's blue eyes filled with tears. "I don't believe she is going to
like us very much," she added disconsolately.
"I am dreadfully afraid of her already," Olive sighed. "Are you sure,
Jack, that you explained to her about me? She not like my living with
you at the ranch."
Jack put her arm about Olive and drew her toward the fire. "Of course
Cousin Ruth will care for you as much as she does for any one of us,
Olive; she has to," Jack insisted. "Remember that while you haven't any
name of your own, you are Olive Ralston. Isn't it splendid that old
Laska and Josef have left us in peace? I wonder if they do intend to
give you up to us without any more fuss!"
Olive shivered a little in Jack's grasp. "I hope so," she answered
fervently. "Laska and the old Indian life seem hundreds of years away.
Yet I have been at the ranch only a little less than a month."
"Don't worry, Olive," Jack returned thoughtfully. "Let us just be glad
to-night that we have one more evening alone;" which shows how Jack felt
about the arrival of the new chaperon.
The girls sat up quite late. Frieda went to sleep with her head in
Jack's lap, Jean fell to nodding, but Olive and Jack were wide awake.
Olive was older than the ranch girls had thought her at first. She must
have come next to Jack, although old Laska had never told Olive her
exact birthday.