Noddy considered Polly her particular charge and followed her about the
place like a dog. And when the burro was full-grown, she became the
daily companion that Polly rode to school, over the mountain trails, or
about the farm.

The wise western burros are not half appreciated by folks who do not
understand their unusual intelligence and their devotion to their
masters. They will seek for water or edible herbs when lost on the
desert or mountain peaks and sacrifice life to save that of the
rider's.

But Noddy's present condition was not due to sacrifice. Most of the
horses and burros at Pebbly Pit showed such an aversion to the Rainbow
Cliffs that they never grazed near there, although the luxuriant grass
made fine pasturage. These cliffs were the local wonder and gave the
farm its name. They were a section of jagged "pudding-stone" wall
composed of large and small fragments of gorgeously hued stones massed
together in loose formation, like shale. Great heaps of these jeweled
fragments, which crumbled easily from the cliff, lay piled up along the
base of the wall and sparkled brilliantly when the sun shone upon them,
or directly after a rain.

Noddy had been pasturing out the night before her accident, and at
sunrise found herself too near the tabooed cliffs. She lifted her ears
suspiciously, wrinkled her nose fearfully, and wheeled to run away to a
more desirable locality. But in that quick turn she loosened the shale
at the base of a steep descent. The treacherous rock slid and threw her
down. Before she could get up and away the great mass rumbled down and
covered her, but she finally managed to work her head free for breath.