Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-02-01
CHAPTER XVI.

rr,unRF ia no stronger proof of mans s
evolution than his adaptability - MS
nover Of attainment through the material
NJ hand, however elementary. From the
very beginning tho necessities of his ne"
life called to Gcrry's dormant Instincts
For the first week he would not near
Tho mast loosens its tendrils Slowly re re
mas IistIess and loafed restlessly ABOUT
tna house, The two darkies worked for
Nc weIl-being, the two white women
waited on him hand and foot. AT nrst
q WAS lulling; then 1t was wearying. lie
began to wander from the house.
Put the week had not been altogether
lost He had gathered desultory put
primitive information. occasloiul IeoS S-
curing words began to be more than mere
aounds, The girls name was Margarlta'
The wrinkled little woman was her aunt
mona Maria. The two darkies were lin
caring relics of slave days. They mad
been born here. They had gone with
emancipation, but they had come PACK.
The name of the plantation was FaIenda
I,nraa To them il was the world. They
had wandered out of it hand in hand with
iihertv but they had come back because
freedom was here They needed some
one to serve. Margarita had long peen
an orphan. The place was hers ana had
once been rich. But before her day wa
ter had become scarce. The place was
uncared for and had fallen into its pres
ent ruin 1t was well, she said, for II
she had been rich suitors would nave
searched her out long ago. She was lS'
She had been n woman for years!
These things some of them distinct
some only half-formed impressions, ran
in Gerry's head as he wandered over lhe
fazenda It had once been rich, why was
1t not rich now Fertility sprang to his
view on every side save one. This was
the gentle slope away from the river ana
behind the house. Even here he dis
covered hummocks in alignment, vague
traces of the careful tilling of another
time. He climbed the slope till he came
to a depression running parallel to the
river. It made a line and beyond that
line was dessert untamed. Cactus ana
thorn dotted its barren soil. Gerry tol-
lowed the depression down to its enc
then turned back and followed II up. IL
wandered among rocks and hlllocks 10
natural cleft in the banks OF the great
river.
The cleft was long and straight, and at
its end he saw the turmoil of the rushlhs
current The water surged up the clett
to the gentle slope of sand at his ,eet
in an eternal come ana go. what pace
for a bath, he thought and then found
Margarta painting beside him, She had
followed him. She had been running
She held one hand to her heart and with
the other clutched his arm. When she
had got her breath she motioned him to
stand still. Then she picked up large
stone and, running down the hard sand
bank behind a receding wave, dropped II
and ran back.
The water rushed after her, picked up
a stone, played with it, and then the
terrific undertow carried 1t whirling down
the cleft and away. Gerry smiled and
nodded his thanks and comprehension.
He climbed a point of rock and gazed
around him. Far down to the left cleaned
the old plantation house in the midst or
its waste lands. His eye followed the
long depression and he began to under
stand many things. The ruin was
young ruin like himself. In itself 1t con-
tanned the seeds of rejuvenescence. 1t
had been robbed of its talisman and its
talisman was water. Tons of water
flowed past it and left 1t thirsting for
drops. Irrigation is coeyal with the birth
Of civilization. 1t had been here in. this
depression, lived, and passed away before 4
he and the girl were born. He tried to
explain to her what once had been, but
she shrugged her shoulders. She was not
Interested; she did not understand. To-
gether they walked back to the house
Gerry was silent and thoughtful. He saw
a vision of what Fazenda Flores had
once been, what work could make it
again,
The following day he rooted out two
rusty spades from the debris in the old
mill fitted new handles to them and took
the old darky, Bonifacio by name, off
with him to the depression. They began
the long task of digging out the silt of
years. Day after day, week after week,