The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1901-12-19
VOL. XL.

nERRINGER thought he had a
rood thing when he bought up
IL timber rights of Cleopatra cam
son The grade was down all the
wav to the opening and the inlet
made up close to the hills. Nothing
easier than to swing the great red
wood sections on the waiting freight
er and transport them to Monterey,
where the cheap Jap laborers could
mt on the finishing polish, convert
huge slabs of rough timber to shin
;ng monolithic table tops-for that
WAS his scheme, round tables, such
as King Arthur would have envied.
Already his friends-artists, dec
orators and millionaires in the coun-
try places, had filled his pocket with
orders, and he could clear up tidy
little sum which he needed sadly.
One acquisition he made, however,
upon which he had not counted-the
Dryad. He first saw her the day he
brought up his men and tools and set
them to building shacks by the spring
side. She advanced to meet him from
the trunk of giant sequoia, with a
hesitating, nervous step, paused some
ten feet away and observed him. In
turn he scrutinized her singular per-
son. She was tall and sinewy, and
her powerful shoulders were draped
in an old Spanish shawl of Chinese
crepe-a black ground embroidered
in colors-a tattered skirt of dark
silk hung below, and was gathered
full at the waist after the ante-bel-
lum fashion of California. The Dry
ads face was haunting, white and
hard like ivory, but cut by a strange
" scarlet mouth that made sudden
dash of color in it's pallid oval. Black
eyes that burned slumberously drew
down waxen lids to hide their fire,
and black brows met in straight
line over thin aquiline nose. Der
ringer looked, and his flesh crawled.
She continued to watch him in silence.
He wet his lips thrice, and then man.
aged at last to speak.
who are you-and what do YOU
J want?"
i am Carmelita,' she answered, in
Spanish. What are you come for?'
"The timber" he answered, rough
"; what business is that of yours? ?"
She looked at him sullenly. "What
for? You cannot move them; they
are fast as the hills-and they do not
wish to co.
He shrugged his shoulders and
turned away. She took step nearer.
ITO cut them?' she asked, in a
hnshed voice.
Again the uncanny culver shook
him.
Yes, what else? You don't expect
me to pull them up by the roots, do
you?'
She looked up ut the stately height
oi the tree beside her, rising massive
ana tall as cathedral spire till it
seemed to uphold the blue tent of
SKY, far above in the rift of the
canyon. She shook her head. "You
aaa better go away, man." she said,
calmly. "They will never let YOU. I
nave lived with them for years, and I
xnow them. Go away before they
show their strength" Derringer
s'ood still for a moment, then has
,ened off to camp with an uneasy
ueatlng in his usually placid heart.
Inc mad woman-for mad she nm
a.ouotedly was-moved his magma
n0n strangely. The Dryad turned,
1osiy retraced her steps to the Sc
auola' stepped inside the hollow at
Us roots, and disappeared. Later in
'ae evening Derringer saw thin line
y smoke climbing upward along the
roagn bark walls of her dwelling.
ueutiy the tree was her home.
Inc timber contractor, though
sieen' was no tenderfoot. He knew
=. naousn OF the surprises of California
- 70 expect strange things of the
peopie ne countered-dwellers up
.aa.eessloie canyons, or on the edge
'ae sage brush deserts. He had
met hoary old men a hundred miles
uom civilization who talked Emer-
sOh aad Plato with him, and had en-
O.neered more than one beautiful
.na renned woman recluse, ruling
any ranch in the very heart of the
soast range. But this woman. whom
= -, could not help calling "The Dry
~ was new and disconcertinp
vpe. However, he was bodily tired
1s ~ n'ght and so slept and forgot.
/, 1ue next morning, bright and ear
" 'ae great 15-foot, flexible steel
avs were uncrated, the finest red
suoo tree was surrounded by a scat
.ss aiag some 20 feet from the ground,
.no the work of destruction was be-
@ N earnest. Derringer thought
= more Of the strange woman or her
reuietions. But at noon. when the
.aen rested. ate their bacon and hard
.aa .ss' drank bad whisky and water,
Az, AZ s~apped stories, they were sud
eA'y arrested by the appearance Of