The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1915-03-05
CHAPTER lV-Contlnued.

Once, when the Chauffeur was
away fishing, she begged me to kill
him. With tears in her eyes she
strong and violent man, and l was
afraid. Afterward | talked with him.
offered him my horse, my pony, my
dogs, all that i possessed, if he would
give Vesta to me. and he grinned in
my face and shook his head. He was
very insulting. He said that in the
old days he had been a servant, had
been dirt under the feet of men like
me and of women like Vesta, and that
now he had the greatest lady in the
land to be servant to him and cook his
food and nurse his brats You had
your day before the plague he said;
but this is my day, and a damned
good day 1t is wouldn't trade back
to the old times for anything Such
words he spoke, but they are not his
words. He was a vulgar, low-minded
man, and vile oaths fell continually
from his lips.
Also he told me that if he caught
me making eyes at his woman he'd
wiring my neck and give her a beating
as we'll. What was | to do? was
afraid. He was brute. That first
night, when l discovered the camp,
Vesta and I had great talk about the
things of our vanished world. We
talked Of art, and books, and poetry;
and the Chauffeur listened and grinned
and sneered. He was bored and an
gered by our way of speech which he
did not comprehend, and finally he
spoke up and said: And this is Vesta
Van Warden, one-time wife of Van
Warden the magnate-a high and
stuck-up beauty, who is now my
squaw. Eth, Professor Smith, times is
changed, times is changed. Here, you,
woman, take off my moccasins. and
lively about it. want Professor
Smith to see how well have you
trained
Il saw her clench her teeth, and the
flame of revolt rise in her face. He
drew back his gnarled fist to strike.
and | was afraid, and sick at heart. |
could do nothing to prevail against
him. So got up to go, and not be
witness to such indignity. But the
Chauffeur laughed and threatened me
with beating if did not stay and
behold And | sat there. perforce, by
the campfire on the shore of Lake
Temescal and saw Vesta, Vesta Van
Warden, kneel and remove the moe
casins of that grinning, hairy, ape
like human brute.
oh, you do not understand, my
grandsons. You have never known
anything else. and you do not under
stand
Halter broke and bride wise the
Chauffeur gloated, while she performed
that dreadful, mental task. "A trifle
balky at times, professor, trifle balky;
but clout alongside the jaw makes
her as meek and gentle as lamb
And another time he said: We've
got to start all over and replenisk the
earth and multiply. You're handi'
CdppeuS pIOlSoSOl' AOu ain 6ot ~
wife, and we're up against a regular
Garden-of-Eden proposition. But ]
amt proud. I'll tell you what, profess
sor.' He pointed at their little infant
barely year old. There's your wife
though you'll have to wait till she
grows up. It's rich, amt it? We're
all equals here, and I'm the biggest
toad in the splash. But amt stuck
up-not /. l do you the honor, Pro
lessor Smith, the very great honor, Of
betrothing to you my and Vesta War
den's daughter. Amt it cussed bad
that Van Warden amt here to see?
Il lived three weeks of infinite tor
ment there in the Chauffeur's camp
And then, one day, firing of me, OF
Of what to lin was my bad effect on
Vesta, he told me that the year before
wandering through the Contra Costa
hills to the straits of Carquinez, across
the straits he had seen smoke. This
meant that there were still other hui
man beings, and that for three weeks
he had kept this inestimable precious
information from me- l departed al
once. my dogs and horses, and jour
neyed across the Contra Costa hills tc
the straits. saw no smoke on the
other side, but at Port Costa discov
cred small steel barge on which
was able to embark my animals. OLD
canvas which found served me fol
sail, and southerly breeze famed
me across the straits and up to the
ruins OF Vallejo. Here, on the out
skirts of the city found evidences Of
a recently occupied camp. Many clam
shells showed me why these humans
had come to the shores of the bay
This was the Santa Rosa tribe, and
followed its track along the old rail
road right of way across the sail