Malone's bedroom window.

"Dannie?" questioned Mary, half startled.

"Tell Jimmy!" cried Dannie's breathless voice outside. "Tell him the
Kingfisher has juist struck the river!"

Jimmy sat straight up in bed.

"Then glory be!" he cried. "To-morrow the Black Bass comes home!"

Chapter V

WHEN THE RAINBOW SET ITS ARCH IN THE SKY

"Where did Jimmy go?" asked Mary.

Jimmy had been up in time to feed the chickens and carry in the milk,
but he disappeared shortly after breakfast.

Dannie almost blushed as he answered: "He went to take a peep at the
river. It's going down fast. When it gets into its regular channel,
spawning will be over and the fish will come back to their old places.
We figure that the Black Bass will be home to-day."

"When you go digging for bait," said Mary, "I wonder if the two of you
could make it convanient to spade an onion bed. If I had it spaded I
could stick the sets mesilf."

"Now, that amna fair, Mary," said Dannie. "We never went fishing till
the garden was made, and the crops at least wouldna suffer. We'll make
the beds, of course, juist as soon as they can be spaded, and plant the
seed, too."

"I want to plant the seeds mesilf," said Mary.

"And we dinna want ye should," replied Dannie. "All we want ye to do,
is to boss."

"But I'm going to do the planting mesilf," Mary was emphatic. "It will
be good for me to be in the sunshine, and I do enjoy working in the
dirt, so that for a little while I'm happy."

"If ye want to put the onions in the highest place, I should think I
could spade ane bed now, and enough fra lettuce and radishes."

Dannie went after a spade, and Mary Malone laughed softly as she saw
that he also carried an old tin can. He tested the earth in several
places, and then called to her: "All right, Mary! Ground in prime
shape. Turns up dry and mellow. We will have the garden started in no
time."

He had spaded but a minute when Mary saw him run past the window, leap
the fence, and go hurrying down the path to the river. She went to the
door. At the head of the lane stood Jimmy, waving his hat, and the
fresh morning air carried his cry clearly: "Gee, Dannie! Come hear him
splash!"

Just why that cry, and the sight of Dannie Macnoun racing toward the
river, his spade lying on the upturned earth of her scarcely begun
onion bed, should have made her angry, it would be hard to explain. He
had no tackle or bait, and reason easily could have told her that he