The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1901-11-28
A SEQUOIA DRYAD
BY ETHEL WATTS MUr1FoRD.

hERRlNGER thought he had
good thing when he bought up
the timber rights of Cleopatra can
yon. The grade was down all the
way 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
put on the finishing polish, convert
huge slabs of rough timber to shin
ing 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 a 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
Iy scarlet mouth that made a 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 a straight
line over a 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
want?"
81 am Carmelita," she answered, in
Spanish, what are you come for?"
1.-The timber" he answered, rough
Iy; 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 go"
He shrugged his shoulders and
turned away. She took a step nearer.
''To cut them?" she asked, in a
hushed voice.
Again the uncanny culver shook
him.
Eyes, what else? You don't expect
me to pull them up by the roots, do
.you?"
She looked up at the stately height
OF the tree beside her, rising massive
and 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
had better go away, man." she said,
calmly. "They will never let you. 1
have lived with them for years, and I
know them. Go away before they
show their strength" Derringer
stood still for a moment, then has
tened off to camp with an uneasy
beating in his usually placid heart.
The mad woman-for mad she I'M
doubtedly was-moved his magma
ton strangely. The Dryad turned.
slowly retraced her steps to the Sc
quota, stepped inside the hollow at.
its roots, and disappeared. Later in
the evening Derringer saw thin line
of smoke climbing upward along the
rough bark walls of her dwelling.
Evidently the tree was her home.
The timber contractor, though
'green," was no tenderfoot. He knew
enough of the surprises of California
life to expect strange things of the
people he encountered-dwell ND
inaccessible canyons, or on the edge
of the sage brush deserts. He had
met hoary old men a hundred miles
from civilization who talked Fmer-
son and Plato with him, and had en-
countered more than one beautiful
and refined woman recluse, ruling a
tiny ranch in the very heart of the
coast range. But this woman. whom
he could not help calling 1.-THE Dry
ad," was a new and disconcerting
type. However, he was bodily tired
that night and so slept and forgot,
The next morning, bright and ear
ly, the great 15-foot, flexible steel
saws were uncrated, the finest red
wood tree was surrounded by a scat
folding some 20 feet from the ground,
and the work of destruction was be-
gun in earnest. Derringer thought
no more of the strange woman or her
predictions. But at noon, when the
men rested, ate their bacon and hard
tack, drank bad whisky and water,
aud snapped stories, they were sud
denly arrested by the appearance of