The Savannah morning news., 1903-06-07
XVI.

AND GELS IL BACh AGAlN.
The girl had seen all that Lafond
had seen an more. She knew now that
Billy Knapp was easily the most i'm
portant figure in the camp; that Chey
enne Harry was the most admired and
feared that Jack Graham was the most
likely to be heard from in the future.
I he other men fell into the background
behind these three figures. The situa-
ton was simplified by the fact. All
she needed now for complete triumph
was, to discover the vulnerable points
of these three, attack them craftily,
and the game was hers.
She thought she knew the way She
fell asleep dreaming of it. She awoke
in the early morning with the days
plan clear and perfect in her mind,
each move in the game she was to play
clearly outlined before her. 1t had
come to her in the night without con-
scious effort on her own part.
She dressed herself in the Semi-ob
security of the wagon body, and stepped
out into the morning. The brook was
not far away She discovered it, and
bathed her face and throat in its ice
cold waters. Then she returned to the
wagon, where she made breakfast of a
huge irregular chunk of bread and
slices of cold bacon, sitting on the
wagon tongue and swinging her feet
CdIGltSSly DdCh anu lOI III WIlIC SdlillS-
Occasionally she threw a remnant to
the few silent Canada jays that drifted
here and there in the sleeping town,
fiuffed out like wilkweed pollen in the
summer, searching for scraps. They
swooped to her offerings on swift mo-
tionless wing, and then retreated to a
distance, whence they abused their ben
efactor with strident voice. The girl
watched them idly.
low fn INN her a1itxy in
the most agreeable way on the great
est number of men! The problem was
many faceted. She must not show
favoritism; therefore the method must
be general. She must render herself
and not merely her sex agreeable;
therefore it would have to be personal
1t must appeal to the mems sense of
protection rather than to their mere
admiration; therefore in it she must
efface herself, and exalt them. This
was all apparently contradictory. But,
no; she saw it clearly in a flash. She
must let them do her a favor. In
stinctively she realized, though she did
not formulate the thought that this is
one of the sure ways of gaining n
mans good will. She cast back over
the necessities of the case, and saw
that it would suffice. In doing some
thing for her. they would at once stand
well in their own eyes, because of a
| certain consciousness of unselfsh eff
fort; they would expand protectively
toward her, because of her weakness,
| implied in the fact that they could
do her kindness. What was the favor
| to be? The wagon behind her an
swered the question. They should build
| her a house.
All this passed through her mind, as
a drift setting in from upstream glid-
| ing before her consciousness, and float
| ing on down stream in unhasting pro-
gression. She did not realize that she
was thinking out a problem; at least
she made no effort to do so. 1t came
to her as she needed it. To all ap-
| pearance she was watching idly, with
unruffied brow the tenuous threads of
smoke which indicated that the camp
! was awakening. The number of these
smoke signals suggested a new prob
lem. She could hardly enlist the en-
tire population of a camp the size of
| Copper Creek in the task of building
one little log cabin. The idea OF the
| swarming multitude struck her as SO
funny that she laughed aloud. She
must choose; and the choice must be
! judicious. The men selected must rep
resent the influential element, the lead
| ers OF opinion; while those denied the
| privilege Of serving her must be the
sort who always follow with the ma
| jority. Here her intuition baked, and
| her scanty knowledge could not help
II out. She was frankly puzzled.
As she sat there knitting her brows,
a boy came up the street He was
] barefoot, straw-hatted, freckled. lie
1 had wide gray eyes, q snub nose, and
/ an impudeni mouth His clothes were
varied and inadequate. over his arm
be carried q little rne About him. AZ
wary distance, frifked Peter, "a