“Come on into the house, Connie,” urged Enid hurriedly.
Connie spent a pleasant hour with her friend, but there were moments when they both felt ill at ease and at a loss for something to say.
“It’s only because we haven’t seen each other for such a long while,” Connie thought. When she left she gave Enid a cordial invitation to ride over to the Rainbow.
In the days which followed the girl found much to occupy her time at the ranch. She spent many hours in the saddle practicing for the rodeo. Sometimes she rode alone and occasionally with the new cowhand, Jim Barrows. He had proven himself to be both quiet and efficient, but his very ability seemed to infuriate Forest Blakeman who gave him the most disagreeable tasks about the ranch.
Twice Connie drove over to the Bradshaw Ranch. She and Enid had delightful visits and at times they came close to recapturing the old feeling of comradeship which had existed between them. But always Connie sensed that Pop Bradshaw did not seem to like her. At least he never became cordial or even as friendly as upon the day of their first meeting.
“Don’t mind Pop,” Enid said to her once. “He’s not himself these days. We’ve been losing money on the ranch, and you know what this place means to him. He’d rather give an eye than lose it.”
“I know exactly how he feels,” Connie replied.
Although she went many times to the Bradshaw Ranch, Enid never once came to the Rainbow. At first Connie was puzzled and then hurt.
“I feel almost as if Enid didn’t like me at times,” she thought. “Can it be that she’s jealous because I’ll compete against her in the riding contest?”
Connie could not really believe that Enid would take such a narrow-minded attitude. Yet something was wrong. She was certain of that.