With one accord the girls ran to the corral and saddled their horses. Virginia, who had been to see Bobby often before, led the way to the broken down little cabin.
Gale had the check for the thousand dollars and the girls all agreed that she should be the one to present their gift to the little boy.
Before the cabin, its door hanging ajar on one rusty hinge, the girls dismounted. Virginia sent a ringing halloo into the interior and Bobby soon appeared. He gravely informed his visitors that his mother wasn’t home. He greeted Gale with a wide grin and smiled shyly at the other girls, who were all delighted with the appearance of their little protégé.
“Bobby, honey,” Virginia said, “Gale has something to tell you.”
“Yes, Bobby,” Gale said smiling broadly, “remember me telling you I might meet a fairy when I was riding back to the ranch?”
“Did you?” he demanded eagerly.
“I did,” Gale said gravely. “I told her all about you and how fine a man you are. I told her you wanted more than anything in the world to go to school and what do you think?”
“What?” Bobby asked, his wide, earnest gaze fixed on Gale’s face.
“She gave me this.” Gale handed Bobby the check and at his puzzled expression continued: “It is worth a whole lot of money, enough to send you to school for a couple of years.”
He looked dazedly from one smiling face to the other and back at Gale. “I’m goin’ to school?” he said in a dazed voice.