Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1908-11-14

Cations cottage faced the Ala Moana
road at Honolulu, and backed on to
the Pacific. Indeed at high tide the
water circled and eddied about the
supports OF the lanai.
For some unaccountable reason Ca
ton liked to imagine himself writer
OF fiction. In the morning he padded
about in 4 Canadian canoe and mental
IL thrashed a recalcitrant brain for
3ts paucity Of Ideas. In the afternoon
he wallowed out to the reef, took
French leave OF plunge from the first
boat he encountered, and wallowed
back again to sit, In a pair Of ducks
and a pyjama jacket, and divide his at
tention between a cigar, a book, and
three delicate shades Of green out at
sea that respectively marked the shall
lows near shore, the coral reef half
mile out, and the deep water beyond.
In the evening he wandered into the
garden with a writing pad, an indeli
bic pencil cnewed to a stump, and a de-
terlnined expression, to sit beneath
huge mango tree, and-as he thought
write, but in reality to wait for Oyosi.
He had done this daily now for two
months, and he told himself it was
good. but even to himself he had never
admitted that the best part Of it all
was the appearance Of Oyosi.
This evening, however, he felt
strangely restless. More than once he
found himself looking up at the calen-
dar hanging on the wall, until he strug-
R1ed abruptly from the wicker chair,
strobe up to It and stared f1xedly at the
square containing the twenty-frst Of
thu month. / above the figures the
words prin Z in blue, "Mona. San
Francisco"
"Poor little Oyosi," he murmured
quietly to himself, "poor little devil"
Then he lit a fresh cigar and strolled
out into the garden.
Tho faint. rhythmical click-clock,
elick-clock Of approaching clogs sound
ed on the hard road. Over the low
hedge capped with flaming hibiscus
there appeared a dainty little head, sur
mounted with smooth Jet black hair
ElIstening with oil and pinned into pre-
else conformity with combs of strange
shapes and bright colors-but Cation
failed to see it. 1t was not until Oyosi
stood hesitating in the gateway that his
eve caught the bright red of her obi,
and he seized the stump Of indelible
pencil and bent industriously over the
writing pad.
Come in" he called, without raising
his head, and waving an arm blindly in
the air, "a good few fell last night"
Oyosi hesitated no longer, but unrOll-
ed the -four sack she carried in the
folds Of her kimono and threw it in the
grass beneath the big kiawi tree.
1t must be exploined that OyosPs
brother owned the dusty little store on
the corner Of WAIKIKI road, and inciden-
tally mule. and there is nothing quite
like kiawi beans as a cheap though sat
isfying substitute for oats.
Oyosi knelt in the grass and diligent-
" scoOped the beans into little brown
heaps. Her back was toward Cation, so
how was he TO know that she saw and
noted the frown on his forehead as he
sat watching her every movement?
What was he to say to the girl, and
how was he to say It? These were the
problems that rufficd his usually placid
brown brow. For two solid months she
has done precisely what she was doing
now. Presently she would stand the
-four sack full OF beans against the
trunk Of the tree, smile, and fetch the
guitar from the lanai and squat at his
feet humming the weird airs of her ma
tive land, confident that he appreciated
even If he did not understand. Then
70 her great delight he would play some
coon dances, watching her eyes dance
and her body sway in time with the
music Then he would order tea, strong
and black, in large cups-not sake in a
thimble-and they would talk Of every
thing under the sun, or rather he would
talk and she listen, sometimes under
standing a few words and fitting them
into her own mosaic Of meaning, some
times comprehending not a word, but
always a silent, attentive listener.
At last he would look into her eyes
she into his-they would both smile,
and she would so. That was ALL but
even that would have to erd-to-night.
Poor little girl, poor little devil"
Cation repeated the words over and
over to himself. He was probably her
world, and she would be an exile after
tonight. A scene from Madame But