Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1919-05-28
CHAPTER III.

CHAPTER II.
THE TRAIL OF THE SHOES.
A great deal has been written about
David Noel, by his chosen people and
by others, but few of the chroniclers
look farther back than his eighteenth
OF twentieth year. 1t was then that
his figure began to before the
public vision from which 1t has
since withdrawn. Yet the years be-
tween the gift Of the little shoes and
his return 10 New York at sixteen
were those Of deepest change in him.
They, perhaps, fixed what he was to
be.
David made his first trip down the
coast. on the Maya Girl, as a useful
pet rather than a serious employee.
He was 30 very small ana thin, so in
tensely earnest and uncannily acute,
that he was almost embarrassing to
the good-natured men about him. Iie
insisted upon being Woodworking.
and he learned with avidity. He
wanted to stay on the Maya Girl; in
deed, he was secretly superstltlous
about her good luck for him ever
IN wfstful inquiry, and found she had
locked that very day. 1t really SEEM
ed that she had come for him, come
at the first moment when he was able
to go with her. His sailor had re-
membcred him, too; and bribed a
Chinese boy to desert that David
might have his opportunity. The
sailor 4 not yet been ashore to dis
pose of his wages in riotous living,
and had aided the boy in the wise
outlay Of his own money. Decidedly,
David's judgment. 49,
Am T gettin' enough doneoD was
his most frequent query, during the
first weeks. Am IL"
And the answer was always an as
sent. David had never read sea tales
OF the abuse OF cabin boys, and was
quite unaware Of how his experience
c~ontradicted tradition. He merely en-.
5oyed the fact Of kind treatment.
when the South began to open be.
fore him. there stirred in David Noel
tho seed OF that strong love which
was to grow, liana-like. and bind him
by. green tendrils to the tropics. From
the biting cold which his body loath-
ed in every shrinking fibre, the ship
slipped down the coasts into a
warmth like nothing his experience
could match. He knew stove heat, in
It's inevitable association with foul,
unaired rooms and evil doors, yet
nevertheless a magnificent luxury sell
dom enjoyed. He knew the sicken-
ing. poisonous heat of summer in the
slums Of a huge city; heat accom-
panied by, sounds as nauseous as the
atmosphere, when the tenement
jewellers lounged in windows or. door
ways and filled tho dirty streets in
stead of budding within walls. But
this new warmth-clean, both salt
and sweet, wind-swept and UNIVERSAL
Before it, he was in%articulate.
ThArA SyAAA A~t.fY~ .hlL -..-AA
have nnarred the voyage for a sybar-
ite. details OF which David was
scarcely conscious. Cockroaches OF
unbelievable size ana lustiness were
nothing to him, or the later advent of
great spiders Inc still stranger crea-
lures. He learned to dispose Of them
n~onchalantly, with casual indiffer-
ence, when they trespassed over tar.
The food seemed to him delicious,
and OF an almost ludicrous abundance
and regularity in appearance.
At Montevideo. he was allowed to
go ashore with the men. Mr.. Blake.
the ships second officer, had a bust
ness visit to pay and took David with
him.
That visit marked a new develop.
r,ent for the boy. He saw beauty Of
life for the second time, and recog-
ntzed it. The wide avenue of villas
SET III private parks violently colored
by such green's and 1ower-hues as he
had never conceived possible, the play
Of fountains in shaded patios, the
%leisurely people attended by native
servitors clad in white-David walked
through It all with a sensation of win
dows suddenly hung wide on every
side OF him, SO that vista after vista
leaped into his view. He said little.
But chanEed forever were his am
bitions. Never again would the house
on Madison avenue represent for him
the epitcme Of handsomeness and
wealth.
Rotten climate, old mani" Mr.,
Blake observed to his small COM
panion. as they walked back through
the town. "It's the wind OF the pam.
pas: the panhpero." 4
He moved his shoulders disgustedly,
But David did not agree with him.
I'm goin' to live here, sometime
he stated. soberly.
The officer stared. then laughed.
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