Evening star., 1921-06-19

No wonder her smils was as listless
He felt her hand on his shoulders.
I'm crazy to CO." she whispered
'Magella-anywhere I've played on
all the Instruments: I've pulled all the
strings I'm bored"
| He put his arm around her. and they
! clung together. crying little because
| they really loved each other. In her
! heart she was thinking: Poor old
dear. He needs rest" He thought:
Rita needs a perspective" And both
of them wee wrong. OF course:
! But they caught the fruit steamer
/ and sailed away with her out Of the
! crowded. brilliant harbor down sea
that deepened as they Travelled south
ward. into unimuEinable bluai gulis
hovered astern: dolphins turned SOM
ersaults and played pinwheel; the sun
rose in a glory and sank as with the
metallic clamor Of brass banda
shattering Of gilded fragments on the
rim Of the world.
! Rita had brought six trunks. two
saddle Miniature republics. were as
! far from her ken as they are from
yours and mine. For all she knew.
Magella was something like the first
act of "Florodora"-palms. show girls:
spotlights. comedians and syncopated
l
UNI pahing on the beach with cho-
rus of blond cannibals one-sterping
| in the bosky shadow Of artificial CO.
| coanut trees. She pictured hersef
flirting with naval officers in spotiess
duck. There would be a moon every
| night. of course. And some one with
! a guitar
! Rita possessed a heart. but she
would have said Nonsense" had you
dared to tell her SO. She had always
been proud Of her aloofness-.she
could turn her emotions on and off
with the ease Of bell boy welding
J An icewater spigot. She hoasted Of
being able to say to any man. under
any circumstances: II will not love
| YOU" And she never had. 1t is diff
ing it perfectly clear that you are.
mentally. physically and spiritually.
, invisible.
Mr. Blanchard watched her with
amazement and pity as the big fruit
! steamer cut swiftly southwark across a
bright as platinum-and equally precious:
Civilization had given her the polished
| surface. the patina Of all luxurious. ex-
pensive things Mr.. Blanchard thought
with a sort Of panic that she proba bly,
had faith in the perfect docility Of the
elements; she would patronize typhoon
J and face. WITHOUT 1inching. tidal wave.
:, All her life she had commanded people
and things. AS she paced the fruit
| steamers deck. with her hands in the
| the air of saying Nothing can happen
to this ship. because 1 am on board
And 1t terrified Mr.. Blanchard, who was
. responsible. He knew what lies in am
! bush for those who put their nose In the
air and keep it there. Life has a way
path such snares as love and poverty.
| failure and desire. And Rita was too
pretty, too confoundedly pretty.
We'll, my dear" he said, leaning on
the rail by Rita's side. and squinung at
the dazzling sky. we're almost there !!
Tomorrow Rio. then a short trip on the
| company boat. and then-Ma4ella. Does
! your heart skip a beat when you think
| Of palms and white sand and sombreros
and revolutions?'
| She glanced at him and shrugged her
| shoulders. 1T takes more than that to
make my heart skip beat she said.
! + II X 4
At Rio-not Rio de Janeiro.- by the
~ way, but a reeking hot coast town
farther north-they transferred them
selves and Rita's bulging trunks to the
| Rough Rider. and for a number OF days
/ vere bumped, rolled. pitched and kicked
down a steaming sea toward Magella-
The Rough Rider was dirty. She was
top heavy. Her narrow decks were ex-
posed to the vithering attentions OF an
ardent sun that popped out OF the ocean
before night was decentiy nnisho' .he tara aru
STAYED in the heavens until the stars
came out. There was no shade any
where during those burning. intoieraoie
davs Rita lay in her stuffy cabin ana
famed herself and thought OF New
York-New York wrapped IN snow: MI.
l l. chi
meager shelter Of the deckhouse. once.
when Rita ventured on deck Tor a orea.n
~ air she saw him playing CARDS WIN
three dark gentlemen in greasy pohch0s'
The Fairchild mines lay bsh,nd hssre the
citv Of MaEella in the cindery neart
oft the Santa Christian mountains.
American capital had flung railway
across the range, In the Campdena
on the other side. northward to tne
Concordian frontier. Anc AmerlcA"
capital. pouring into the nas,0nI snd RowIinr
Green, New York. had not only brougnt
Maeeila before the eyes OF the worid'
but had paved the way Tor spectacu-
lar future. Old man Fairchnds SON.
! armed with Yankee faith in. the IN
vincibility Of right. had not only sue.
lceeded in building the railway, but had
kept the opposing poiitical parues
| from flying at one another's throats:
The royalists. strongly propped and
reinforced by American dollars. "a
vored the Fairchild company' Inc Inc
and order. bit around the edges OF the
peaceful administration, looking Tor
an easy way in.
Administering Mageila was like see
ing to the moral and physical welfare
| Of Babeldom. There were perhaps
dozen pure FLOODED Magellans, in the
city--men who claimed to be descended
from Spaniards who came to the little
white city with the dawn of the new
world. bringing jewel-incrusted cruci-
fixes, saddles made of silver. coins of
the dreams of man. This handful of
| aristocrats had grown gray with hon.
ors. They lived in grilled houses
facing the Piazza Indepenepza- or the
fashionable Esplanade. =.
| For the rest. Magella was biracial
and bilingual. A Spanish-Italian mot
ley trod the narrow streets. bare.
| footed and wearing for shelter from
! the scorching sun enormous straw
hats with conical crowns. Ths rail-
way had brought about a social mince
pie-raciai. y. fl, fiot.am sam. from ron the -four
city in the wake of industry-Chinese.
! Germans. negroes from louisiana and
Alabama. Englishmen, Japanese. = The
! nationalists recruited malcontents
from this volatile element, prodded
| them with antf-American tfrades,
threw the gold dust of the ChriStiahas
into their eyes, and formed an army.
| The royalist forces were very we'll
drilled: when marching in holiday pa
| rades they flashed and glittered and
| meneuvered with all the spectacular
! elegance of West Point cadets on. re-
! view. But old man FairchHd'ss ssan-
4