The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1919-04-25
CHAPTER XIII.
A White Woman and a Brown.

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
sorbed. Mrs. Hardin told herself that
it was the heat she wished to escape;
not to her own ear did she whisper
that she was following Richard, nor
that the 'percolator and chatting dish,
her shelves and toy kitchen were q
wasted effort. She kept on good terms
with herself by ignoring self-con6-
dences.
Rickard, the discovery unfolded
slowly, took his meals irregularly. His
breakfast was gulped down before the
women appeared; his dinners where
he foun5 them.
"No wonderT reflected Gerty Har-
din. "Ling's cooking is so bad" Small
wonder the manager foraged foc ai'
meals.
She worked out q mission as She
lay across her bed that hot afternoon
Hcr duty became so clear that SHE
could no longer lie still. Immediatel!
she must retrieve her weeks Of idle
ness; what must Rickard think Of her.
She buttoned herself thoughtfully into
frock of pale colored muslin, cream
slipping toward canary. White was
too glaring on q red-hot day like this
Pink was too hot, blue too Definite. A
parasol Of pastel green, and she looked
like a sprig Of fragrant mig9onette.
She found the open space Of the
trapezium swarming with strange
dark faces. So silent their coming she
had not heard the arrival Of the tribes
She isolated the Cocopahs, stately as
bronze statues, their long hair stream;
ing, or wound mud-caked under the
brilliant headcloths. Foregatherine
With them were men Of other tribes: !:
these must be the Yumas and Degui.
nos, the men needed on the river.
These were the men who were to work
on the rafts, weave the great mat
tresses. A squad Of short-haired Pi-
mas with their squaws and babies
and their gaudy bundles, gaped at the
fair-haired woman as she passed. The
central space was filling up with Pi-
mas and Maricopas, 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
satisfied. He would no longer sulk
and rage alternately at the hold-up of
the work. .... a..
Before she reached Richards ra-
mazda she saw that another woman
was there. She caught an impassioned
gesture. Her only surmise rested on
Innes. Gerty saw that she was dark;
she looked the halfbreed. The brown
woman drew back as the white woman
entered. 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
me?" Richards patience was cour-
teous but firm. He would hear her err
rand first. Gerty, remembering the
imploring attitude Of the stranger, de-
termined that she would not be sent
away.
"Will you excuse me, sonora? It
will be only q minute"
She was to tell her errand, and
briefly! Gerty swept past the intruder.
"Sit down, Mrs. Hardin"
Resenting the infection, she said
she would stand. Her voice was q
little hard. her eyes were yelled, as
she told her mission. Her usual flu
ency dragged; she felt lack Of sym.
pathy. In short, she proposed COM
missary department., herself in charge.
'I'd like to feel was of some use,"
urged Gerty. "My heart Is bound up
in this undertaking; if I'm allowed to
stay, I'd like to help along. This is
the only way I can, the woman's way"
"Aren't you taking a good deal on
yourself, Mrs. Hardin?"
Then she forgave his hesitation
quite, as it was Of her he was think,
ing. "Not If it helps" Her voice was
low and soft, as if this were a secret
between them.
"Why, Of course, anything you want,
Mrs. Hardin" And, remembering her
former position, he added, "The camps
yours as much as mine"
A glad smile rewarded him. She
went out, reluctantly. There was a
new significance in MacLean's absence
from the ramada. What could that
woman have to say that MacLean
must not hear2 For the first time
the weak tenure on her old lover came
to her. Not q sign had he yet given
Of their understanding, Of the piquant
situation. Themselves old sweethearts,
thrown together In this wilderness.