Accompanied by her sister Bo, a precocious girl of sixteen, Helen had left St. Joseph with a heart saddened by farewells to loved ones at home, yet full of thrilling and vivid anticipations of new strange life in the far West. All her people had the pioneer spirit: love of change, action, adventure was in her blood. Then duty to a widowed mother with large and growing family had called to Helen to accept this rich uncle’s offer. She had taught school and also her little brothers and sisters; she had helped along in other ways. And now, although the tearing up the roots of old loved ties was hard, this opportunity was irresistible in its call. The prayer of her dreams had been answered. To bring good fortune to her family, to take care of this beautiful wild little sister, to live on a wonderful ranch that was someday to be her own, to have fulfilled a deep instinctive and undeveloped love of horses, cattle, sheep, of desert and mountains, of trees and brooks and wildflowers—all this was the sum of her most passionate longings, now in some marvelous fairy-like way to come true.
