Durant weekly news. (Durant, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 190?-1944, 1922-06-16

The men worked In a muck with |
their rubber sea-boots worn out by |
constant chatting. sweaters torn, the |
blades Of their shovels reduced by the |
work demanded Of them, the drills, |
shortened by steady sharpening, gone |
like the spare flesh of the laborers, |
who, at last began to show signs of
quicker and quicker exhaustion with
occasional mutterings of discomfort
while Lund, intent upon cleaning Off
the rock as dentist cleans a
| crumbling TOOTH coaxed and cursed,
! blamed and praised and bullied. and
did the actual work Of three Of them.
Dead with fatigue, filled with food,
drOwsy from the liberal grog allow
ance at the end of the day, the men
slept in a torpor every night and
showed less inclination to respond,
though the end of their labors was al
most In sight.
! "What's the use, we got enough"
was the comment beginning to he
heard more and more frequently.
"Lund. he's got more'n he can spend
in lifetime"
Rainey could not trace these NUT
terings to Deming's instigation. but
he suspected the hunter. There was
no poker; all hands were too tired for
play.
AS for Peggy Simms, she did not lose
the polish Of her culture, she was al
ways feminine, even dainty at times,
despite her work, that could not help
but be coarse to q certain extent She
was full Of vigor, she showed unex-
pected strength, she was source Of
encouragement to the men as she
waited on them. And also q source
Of undisguised admiration, all Of which
she shed as a duck sheds water.
Rainey gained an increasing respect
in her prowess, and swift conversion
to the equality Of the sexes. There
were times when he doubted his own
equality. Had she met him on his
own ground, in his own realm Of what
he considered vaguely as culture, he
would have known mastery that he
now lacked As It was, she averaged
higher, and she had an attraction Of
sex that was compelling.
Here was a girl who would demand
certain standards in the man with
whom she would mate. not merely &C
company through life. There were
times when Rainey felt irresistibly
the charm Of her as a woman. longed
for her in the powerful sex reactions
that Inevitably follow hard labor There
we're times when he felt that she die
not consider that he measured up t.
her guages. and he would strive Il
change the atmosphere, to dominate
> the situation in which Lund was th'
greater figure Of the two men.
Lund was centered on one achieve
ment, the gold harvest. He ordered
: the girl with the rest: there were evel
!, times when he reprimanded her, whil
! Rainey burned with the resentmen
$ she apparently did not share.
d A little before dawn on the eight
J. eenth day Of the work up tn
5 beach. Lund was out upon the foe eX
t amining the condition Of the Ice. II
o had declared that two days more
e hard endeavor would complete thei
@ lahors. What dirt remained Mt tn
IS end Of that time they would transshiI
d RaInev had ioined the girl and Tamad
J. Mt the cook fires.
r The sky was bright with the aur0r
p horealis that would pale before IN
a. Sun Tho men were not vet out q
tboir hunks They were bone an
k MUSCLE tired. and RaIney doubte
" ,,bothor Iund geunt and lean himsel
10 oo,,,d 90, two days of ton work OF
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