he road the mustard plants were
blooming, making a broad field of the cloth of gold broken only by the
long trail.

Further along down the slope of a hillside a miniature orange grove had
been planted with trees no larger than would have comfortably shaded
dolls' houses.

Then, as they rode on, the Camp Fire girls drew nearer to the fine of
the coast. A fog was blowing in from the sea.

Finally, standing up in her stirrups for an instant, Peggy Webster
pointed ahead.

"See those three rocks down there that look like 'the Big Bear, the
Middle-Sized Bear and the Little Bear,' in the fairy story! Don't you
think they would form a comfortable background for our tea party? At
least they will be a protection from the wind. If we go on and the fog
grows much thicker we shall not be able even to see each other."

Soon after the horses and the wagon halted and Dan Webster climbed down,
bearing the tea basket. Mr. Simpson, who was continuing to act as guide,
took charge of the horses.

The coast looked bare and wind-swept. There were no trees nearby and no
driftwood along the shore.

However, nearly two hundred years before, when Father Juniper Serra
founded and built the Spanish missions of California, he and his brother
monks left behind them a golden harvest. In all their pilgrimages from
land's end to land's end they flung the seed of the mustard plant along
their route.

Leaving the other girls to unpack the tea basket, Marta Clark and
Bettina walked quickly back along the road until not a quarter of a mile
away they discovered another field of the omnipresent mustard.

Then the two girls began searching for the dried stems of the mustard
plant in order to start their camp fire.

Bettina was standing with her arms filled with the long stems when Marta
Clark came close up beside her. Both of the girls were knee deep among
the golden flowers.

"You look like Ruth among the corn, Bettina," Marta remarked, surveying
the other girl with generous admiration.

"Do you remember the story of Ruth in the Bible? 'So she gleaned in the
field until even, and beat out that she had gleaned. And she took it up
and went into the city.'"

Bettina shook her head. "No, I do not remember. It is wonderful to me,
your ability to quote so correctly. If ever you are able to do the thing
you desire, your memory will be a wonderful help. But I am not going to
talk about it. I know you feel as embarrassed over your ambition as I do
ov