The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1904-08-04
THE END OF A RAINBOW
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with speculative eyes. Apparently he
was searching for some particular
nook. At length his quest appeared
ended, for he drew the boat carefully
to the shore and held out his hand to
her. Then they wandered over wood
edy knoll nearby. This is the place,
am sure" he said at '"st. II have
seen 1t often In my dreams, and here
is Just where the end rested"
| She stared at him In mild surprise.
mo, am not out of mind" he as
sured her, II wanted to tell you
story, and had an unaccountable fan
cy for telling 1t to you In this spot.
VIII you hear it?"
rs it Interestingly Does 1t commence
Once upon timer"
"Of course 1t does. 1t would be an
exceedingly poor story If 1t didn't.
hope" and the mans face grew very
earnest, that you will be interested In
the poor little story-but--I cannot be
Sure-
Once upon time when the world
was nearly two decades younger than
it is now, boy and girl started from
the hotel down in that valley to find
pot Of gold at the end of a rainbow
at least the boy, who must have been
a very mercenary creature, was think
ing only Of the gold, but the girl was
much more poetic, for she cared moth
ing at all for the gold. She only wished
to see more closely that wonder of
mist and light which held and en-
thralled her fancy. They got lost; of
course, that was a foregone conclu-
sion, you know, and they were only
discovered and saved by kindly mir
acle Of fate. The girl was genuine
brick, though, and never taunted the
boy with his rashness and wickedness
In leading her into such peril. The
boy should have known better you
see, for he was considerably older, but
he was always a good bit Of fool.
lie did not find the end of the rain
bow, but for years he dreamed of 1t,
and In some mysterious way he came
to fancy that the treasure was not
gold after all, as his nurse had told
him, but that 1t was something inf
nitely more precious than gold. He
was never quite sure what the myste.
riOus treasure might be, but he knew
that when he was a man he must seek
it here-just on this very spot, for it
was here that the rainbow seemed TO
end as the children looked up to 1t
from the valley below-just here by
this little hill"
1nere was a silence. Her face was
turned quite away, The man locke / at
her keenly and then went on with his
story in a low voice which, perhaps,
shook just trihe.
And so-and so-he came here to. |
day. He knows now what the treasure
Is at the end Of the rainbow. A wom-
ans heart and a woman's love. He
does not know whether he dare claim
1t or not, but 1t is the gift which he
most covets from life. And-can |
have 1t. dear?"
Her face was still turned away. The
mans heart had time to grow very
heavy before she spoke.
81 was always wildly grateful to you
for not telling that 1t was actually l
who had proposed the expedition"
you don't mean" he inter
rupted breathlessly, that you were
"
"And-and-I did want to find the
end of the rainbow, too, and if you
think that we could, perhaps. ind--it
.together-why-"
He was holding her hand In tight
clasp, and was looking down at her
with eyes full of reverent, incredulous
joy.-Everywhere.