The Ranch of the Golden Flowers
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- Synopsis
- "What--do--you--do--here, Gringo?" The tall girl with glossy jet-black hair stamped, her eyes flashing. "Si! You come to see what we have so that the men who are with you can later, in the night, steal!" He shook his head slowly, frowning in bewilderment. "Ain't no men with me, miss. Only Tess." Her lids narrowed. "Onlee Tess? Who is he?" "Tess is my sister. She's down there with Josie. That's the horse. Way down in the field yonder where all the purty gold flowers grow. Tess is all tired out, too; and she hoped the folks up here'd let us camp in the field, coz of the flowers. She's littler'n me an' younger, an', being' a girl, she ain't so strong." "How old?" She interrupted him, with a haughty gesture. "Tess is most fifteen. An' it's ben a terrible long hard trip. What made it longer an' harder was father gettin' so sick. He--he died--back there a ways an' we buried him--back there on the desert." He repeated the words huskily, and looked away. "Tess broke all up when--" He paused. "Look at me!" she commanded sharply. He turned his eyes to hers, which were wide with an expression almost of horror. "You tell me a girl almost fifteen--I am almost fifteen--cries in the field because the horse is fallen down, and the father is dead on the desert? You tell me the truth!" "Yes," he said. "You see--" "Oh, what a stupid gringo!" she snapped her fingers at him. "How long you stand there saying nothing! Talk, talk, yet say nothing!" Tears filled her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. "Wait!" She dashed away from him and into the house. Kansas ingenuity is about to meet Spanish benevolence in this story of Old California in the years just before the Gold Rush of1849. Taken in by the de Soto family, and befriended by Munita and her brother Ernesto, 16-year-old Lank and his sister Tess are determined to find a way to repay their kind hosts. Equally captivated by the gracious culture of Spanish colonial life and alarmed by its open-handed and, to Lank and Tess, downright improvident ways, the two set to work with a will. How they succeed in helping to prepare the de Sotos--and the Ranch of the Golden Flowers--for the tremendous changes about to occur, is played out with humor and suspense against a colorful background of skillful vaqueros, thrilling bullfights, daring horsemanship, audacious thieves and lots of plain, old-fashioned work.
- Copyright:
- 2015
Book Details
- Book Quality:
- Excellent
- Book Size:
- 136 Pages
- ISBN-13:
- 9781932350494
- Publisher:
- Bethlehem Books
- Date of Addition:
- 10/13/21
- Copyrighted By:
- the MacMillan Company
- Adult content:
- No
- Language:
- English
- Has Image Descriptions:
- No
- Categories:
- Children's Books, Literature and Fiction
- Grade Levels:
- Fourth grade, Eighth grade
- Reading Age:
- 10–13
- Submitted By:
- Melba June Thompson
- Proofread By:
- Lynn Thompson
- Usage Restrictions:
- This is a copyrighted book.