Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-02-01

was going to the Spanish Causeway
Which question startled the young man
very disagreeably until he learned that
Everybody" merely meant himself and one
other person taken thither by the same
driver the day before.
Further, he learned that this person was
woman from the North, completely
equipped for camping as was he.
WAS she all alone?" he inquired of his
cracker driver.
''Yaas, subj"
Poor thing, Did she seem young and
inexperienced"
"Yaas, suh-'scusin she all has right
smart O. red HAIR"
What" exclaimed White excitedly
You say she is young and that she seemed
inexperienced, except for her red hair!"
'Yaas, sub. She all has a right smart
hank of red ha'r on her haid. amt never
knowcd nobody with red ha'r what ain t
had a heap mo- 'sperience than the mostest :"
'D-d-did you say that you drove her over
to the Spanish Causeway yesterday"
stammered the dismayed young man.
"Yaas, sun
Mortified thoughts filled his mind For
there could be scarcely any doubt that this
intruder was his red-haired neighbor across
the aisle at the library sale.
In his mental panic he remembered that
at least the title to his land was secure
That thought comforted him for a few
moments, until he began to wonder whether
the land he had acquired was really suffi-
cient to cover certain section of perhaps
half an acre along the Causeway.
According to his calculations he had given
himself ample margin in every direction
for the spot he desired to control ought to
lie somewhere about midway between Lot
200 and Lot 2Io.
Had he miscalculated? Had she miscal-
culated? Why had she purchased that
strip from half of Lot 2Io to Lot go?
There could be only one answer: this clever
and astoundingly enterprising young girl had
read Valdez, had decided to take chance
had proved her sporting spirit by backing her
judgment, and had started straight as an ar
row for the terrifying territory in question
Either he or she had miscalculated
Which?
Dreadfully worried, he sat in silence beside
his taciturn driver, gazing at the thanking
forest through which the gray road wound
White did not remember the road al
though when child he must have traversed
it to the Causeway. Nor when he came in
sight of the Causeway did he recognize it,
where it ran through glade of high, silvery
grass set sparsely with tall palmettos.
But here it was, and the cracker turned
his mules into it, swinging sharply to the
left along Coakachee Creek and proceeding
for about two miles, where shell mound
enabled him to turn his team.
A wagon could proceed no farther because
the crumbling Causeway narrowed to foot
path beyond. So here they unloaded the
cracker rested his mules for a while, then
said brief good-by to White and shook
the reins.
When he had driven out of sight, White
started to drag his tent and tent-poles along
the dixie top toward his own property, which
ought to lie just ahead-somewhere near
the curve that the Causeway made some
yards beyond. So intent was he on avoiding
the playful attentions of RATHER or moccasin
that it was only when he almost ran into it
that he discovered another tent pitched di-
rectly in his path.
OF course he had expected to find her en-
camped there on the Causeway, but he was
surprised, nevertheless, and his tent poles
fell, Gathering.
A second later the flap of her tent was
pushed aside, and his ed-haired neighbor Of
the galleries stepped out, plainly startled
She seemed to be still more startled when
she saw him: her blue eyes dilated; the
color which had ebbed came back, suffusing
her pretty features. But when she recog-
nized him, fear, dismay, establishment, and
anxiety blended in swift confusion, leaving