Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1919-04-05
CHAPTER XIII.
A White Woman and a Brown.


For few weeks Mrs. Hardin found
the mess tent dlverting. Before the
Delta had expanded the capacity Of
the camp her soft nook had been over
taxed, her hospitality strained. The
men Of the reclamation service. thrown
into temporary inactivity, were eager
TO accept the opportunity created for
another. Failing that other, her zeal
had tagged. Events were moving
quickly at the break; Rickard was alb
s0rbed. Mrs. Hardin told herself that
II was the heat she wished TO escape I:
not to her own ear did she whisper
that she was following Rickard, nor
that the percolator and chatting dish,
her shelves and toy kitchen were a
wasted effort She kept on good terms
with herself by ignoring self-confi-
dences.
Rlckard, the discovery unfolded
slowly, took his meals irregularly. His
breakfast was gulped down before the
women appeared; his dinners where
he found them.
''No wonderw reflected Gerty Har-
diu "Lings cooking is SO bad" Small!
wonder the manager fornged for his
meals.
She worked out a mission as she
lay across her bed that hot afternoon.
Her duty became so clear that she
could no longer lie still Immediately
she must retrieve her weeks of idle
ness; what must Richard think of her?
She buttoned herself thoughtfully into
n frock Of pale colored muslin, cream
slipping toward canary. White was
too glaring on red-hot day like this.
Pink was too hot, blue too definite. A
parasol of pastel green, and she looked
Ike sprlg Of fragrant mignonette.
She found the open space Of the
trapezlum swarming with strange
dark faces. So silent their coming she
had not heard the arrival of the tribes.
She Isolated the Coeopahs, stately as
bronze statues, their long hair stream
Ing, or wound mud-cakcd under the
brilliant headcloths. Foregatherlng
with them were men Of other tribes;
these must be the Yumas and Degul-
nos, the men needed on the river.
These were the men who were to work
on the RATS, weave the great mat
tresscs. A squad of short-halred Pi-
mas with their squaws and babies
and their gaudy bundles, gaped at the
fnlr-halred woman as she passed. The
central space was filling up with Pi-
mas and Marlcopas, Papagoes. too
she knew them collectively by their
short hair. These were brush cutters.
This, then, meant the beginning of
real activity. Tom would at last be
lie would no longer sulk
and rage alternately at the hold-up of
the work.
Before she reached Richards ra-
mada she saw that another woman
was there. She caught an lmpassloned
gesture. Her only surmise rested ON
lmcs. Gerty saw that she was dark;
she looked the halfbreed. The brown
woman drew back as the white woman
Gerty smiled an airy reas-
surance. She herself would wait. She
did not want TO be hurried. She told
Richard that she had plenty Of time.
There is something you want to tell
meT Richards patience was cour-
lcous but firm. lie would hear her er-
rand first. Gerty remembering the
Implorlng attitude of the stranger, de- /.
lermlned that she would not be sent
away.
"Wlll you excuse me, senora2 II
VIII be only a minute"
She was 10 tell her errand, and
brlefyl Gerty swept past the Intruder. [
"Slt down, Mrs Hardin"
Resenilng the infection, she said /
she would stand. Her voice was a
little hard, her eyes were yelled. as
She told her mission. Her usual flu-
sncy dragged; she felt lack of SYM
'athy. In short, she proposed COM
nlsSary department. Herself in charge.
"rd Ike to feel was Of some use"
Urged Gerty. "Aly heart is bound up
n this undertaking; If I'm allowed to
stay. I'd like to help along. This Is
he only way can, the woman's way"
Aren't you taking a good deal on
'oDrself. sirs. Hordinfs