The Kenna record. (Kenna, Roosevelt County, N.M.) 190?-1924, 1913-04-25
'ICHT 1903 BY THE eoBB3 -t1ERRILL CO.

chllu anu beppO, uucOnSclOuSiy he nd0
dropped 1t, but this he did not now
explain. Il didn't bring one"
Didn't bring one?"
NO" said the boy, flushing slightly.
And not a bone or scrap in the
larder! Niggardly fishermen! A small
enough wage-for going to sea and
helping them"
"Oh, could have had what | want
ed. And they are not niggardly!
ONLY forgot"
Forgot" The man lifted his hands,
but any further evidence of surprise
or expostulation was interrupted by
sudden ebullition in the pot. n
Left to his thoughts, the boy stepped
to the window; for some time stood
motionless, gazing through a forest
rift at the end of which uprose the
top of an Aladdin-like structure, by
an optical illusion become a part of
that locality; conJuror's castle in
the wood!
THE Mount looks near tonight,
Sanchez"
"Near?" The man took from its
hook the pot and set it on the table
Not too near to suit the governor,
perhaps!"
And why should 1t suit him?"
drawing a stool to the table and sit
ting down.
Because he must be so fond of
looking at the forest"
And does that-please him?"
How could it fail to? Isn't it a
nico wood? Oh, yes, I'll warrant you
he finds 1t to his liking. And all the
lands about the forest that used to be-
long to the old Seigneurs, and which
the peasants have taken-waste lands
they have tilled-he must think them
very fine to look at, now! And what
hubbub there would be, II the lazy
peasants had to pay their metayage,
and fire-tax and road-tax-and all the
other taxes-the way the other peas
ants do-to him"
What do you mean?"
"Nothingl" The mans Jaw closed
like steel trap. "'The porridge is
burned"
And with no further word the meal
proceeded. The man, first to finish,
lighted his pipe, moved again to the
fire, and, maintaining a taciturnity
that had become more or less habit
ual, stolidly devoted himself to the
solace of the weed and the compan-
ionship of his own reflections. Once
or twice the boy seemed about to
speak and did not; finally, however,
he leaned forward, more resolute
light in his sparkling black eyes.
You never learned to read, San
chez?"
At the unexpected question, the
smoke pulled suddenly from the mans
lips. mot l."
Nor writer"
The man made rough gesture.
"Nor sail to the moon!" he returned
derisively. Read? Rubbish! Write?
What for? Does it bring more fish
to your nets?"
"Who-could show me how to read
and writer"
Your" Sanchez stared.
why uOLs
Books are the tools of the DEVIL"
declared Sanchez shortly. There
was a black man here today with a
paper-a writ think he called it
or a service of some hnd-anyhow
1t must have been in Latin" violently,
for such gibberlsh, never heard
and"
The boy rose. People who can't
read and write are low and ignorant!'
"Ehi What's come over your"
my father was a gentleman"
Your father!-yes-"
"And a Seigneur!-"
"A Seigneur truly!"
"And I mean to be one!" said the
boy suddenly, closing his fists.
"Oh, oh! So that's it," derisiveIy.
you! A Seigneur? Whose mother"
who could teach me?" Determined,
but with a trace of color on his brown
cheek, the boy looked down.
"Who?" The man began to recover
from his surprise. That's not so
easy to tell. But If you must know
well, there's Gabriel Gabarie, for one,
a poet of the people. He might do 1t
although there's talk of cutting on
his head"
What for?"
For knowing how to write"
The lad reached for his hat.
where are you going"