The Mystery of Rainbow Gulch

by Norvin Pallas

  “Can you get them now?”

  “As long as he is living, I would need his consent. But I understand his condition is critical, and if he doesn’t make it, it will require a court order.”

  “Yes, I just about had it figured out that the hermit was Mr. Franton. What do you expect to find in the drawer?”

  “Proof that this little girl is his daughter, for one thing. And probably all the other valuable papers he possesses, even his claim to the oil leases, if he has such a right.”

  “Where are you going now?”

  “I’m packing to leave. My work here is done. I’ll want to talk with Mr. Fontaine before I go, and I’ll see Mr. Franton, if they let me.”

  Mr. Fontaine and Nelson soon arrived home, and Ted went down to greet them.

  Tony had been upstairs, but she came outside and was swept up into Mr. Fontaine’s arms. Then, to everyone’s surprise, she began to cry.

  “Why, Tony, what’s the matter?”

  “It wasn’t a game, was it? It was real.”

  Mr. Fontaine patted her gently. “Yes, Tony, I guess it was real. But it’s all over now, and you did have a nice airplane ride, didn’t you? I think you’re very sleepy. I’m going to take you in the house.”

  Now Ted, Nelson, and Bob had a little time together, and were soon showing their relief by punching each other as if to show that they were all in one piece.

  After Tony was asleep and the neighbors had left, they held a little conference—the Fontaines, Cox, Ted, and Nelson—in which everyone told everything he knew about the affair.

  “Are we going to start calling Tony ‘Marilyn,’ Mom?” asked Bob.

  “Why not? That seems to be her name, and she likes it.”

  “Yes,” said Mr. Fontaine, “and I believe that Cox is right, the safety-deposit drawer will clear up the matter of the adoption in short order.”

  “Are we still going through with the adoption, Dad? It was one thing while she was homeless and without friends, but now that she may be rich, everything seems different.”

  “Why should things be different?” said Mr. Fontaine. “She loved us before, and she will love us still. I can’t see that anything has changed. If it happens she should be wealthy, it will open a chance for a different kind of life for her as an adult, but while she is small we’ll go on here just the way we always have.”

  “Is there any chance Mr. Franton will recover?” asked Ted.

  “They didn’t seem to think so at the hospital.”

  “Isn’t it a shame that it had to happen to him just after he recovered his senses?” asked Mrs. Fontaine sympathetically.

  Mr. Fontaine shook his head. “The doctor didn’t seem to think that he had really recovered. It was just a remission, brought on by the shock of the fire. If he were to live, it wouldn’t be as Mr. Franton, but as the hermit of Rainbow Gulch.”

  “Are we ever going to tell Tony about the hermit, Dad?”

  “No, I think it would be better not to. She is entitled to know her real name, and something about her mother and her father. But she doesn’t need to know the hermit was her father. As far as I am concerned, Mr. Franton died in that farmhouse fire two years ago.”

  “Yes, Dad,” Bob agreed, “except that he came to life once more during those few hours when we needed him.”

  “I don’t suppose Mr. Manners felt he was doing anything so terrible,” Mrs. Fontaine mused. “He felt the rights to the oil were really his, and it was his own house he burned down. But out of his single act of violence everything else developed beyond his control.”

  “I feel grateful toward everyone,” Bob went on, “especially when I think how many people it took today to save us: all the neighbors who discovered the fire in time, Nelson and his mirror, Mr. Franton who got well just in time, all the rangers, and Captain Leland and the helicopter crew. And Ted there—all the time just as cool as could be.”

  “Don’t ever believe that!” Ted objected. “If I was calmer than you, it was only because I didn’t have the decisions to make. I had a hunch you’d get us out all right.”

  “And we both knew we had to stay calm—for Marilyn.”

  Bob had one more thanks to give, and he took care of it later that night. When Ted and Nelson looked for him they found him standing with his head close to Starlight, speaking quietly in her ear.

  “You great big wonderful girl. No other horse could have made it through that fire.”

  Ted signaled Nelson with a grin and they turned back to the house.