tired and they
must stop for her to rest. Donald lifted her out and she sat down on the
trunk of an old tree with Olive, while Jack and Donald walked a few
yards farther on, leaving their horse to wait patiently for them.

"I am going to show you a discovery, Mr. Harmon," Jack declared in a
friendly fashion, anxious to make their new acquaintance feel at home.
"Years ago I found a secret trail along here which no one knew of. It
leads from this thick underbrush." Jack got down on her knees before a
clump of bushes and parted them. Sure enough there was the beginning of
an overgrown path which the eye could follow for a short distance. "I
found this trail one day when I was a little girl playing over here with
Jean and Frieda," she explained, "and I went on and on for miles until
I came to a cave in some rocks, where some settlers had once lived. Jim
Colter believes the path was made by gold seekers who came to get water
from Rainbow Creek. Some of our other men claim they were searching for
gold in our creek."

At this moment Elizabeth's impatient voice was heard, and Jack and
Donald went back to her, but not before Donald had made up his mind to
investigate the mysterious path pointed out to him. He meant to find out
whether an eastern tenderfoot could be trusted to find his way along
those first trails which the earliest pioneers had left.

Olive had been amusing Elizabeth by carving on the stump of a tree an
Indian design, a perfect square cut into four equal parts, representing
the direction of the four winds. Now Elizabeth insisted that they write
their names in the spaces to show the bond of friendship between them.
Neither Jack nor Olive wished to promise their friendship so readily to
comparative strangers, yet neither of them knew how to deny the sick
girl's whim. So the compact was made before they returned home.

Ruth and the girls were to have their last luncheon with Mr. and Mrs.
Harmon at the Lodge; Jim was not to be with them, as he scorned to have
anything to do with the strangers. The last course had been served and
they were just getting up from the table when a long, clear call was
heard. The five ranch girls sprang instantly to their feet and began to
gather up their coats and last remaining parcels. On the front porch
farewells were said to Mr. and Mrs. Harmon and Elizabeth and to Aunt
Ellen and Uncle Zack. The old woman, who was to stay to look after the
newcomers with her husband's help, had h