Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1924-01-16
xLVr (continusd)


Dinwiddie was rubbing his hands
at the end of the table, covered
with blue china and mounds OF
homemade cake. stop quarrel
ing and sit down. Anywhere. No
ceremony here"
Some OF the guests were In their
seats. The others fairly swooped
into theirs, entirely regardless of
anything so UNBEATABLE as neigh.
bors. Mrs. Larsing, a tall, red.
haired, raw-boned New England
woman, had entered, bearing an
enormous platter of fried trout,
fresh from the lake. Larsing,
burnt almost as dark as an Indian.
followed with a lplate of potatoes
boiled in their jackets balanced on
one hand, and a small mountain
of johnny cake on the other. He
returned in a moment with two
large platters Of sliced ham and
eold boiled beef, and the guests
were left to wait on themselves.
The dinner was the gayest Mary
bad ever attended, for even the
sophistcatca, however lively, pre-.
served a certain formality in town
when she was present, at all
events Rollo Toaa broke into
periodical war whoops, to Mr. Din
%iddie5 manifest delight The
others burst into song, while wait
ing fer the travelling p!atters. Eva
Darling got up twice and danced
by herself, her pale bobbed head
and little white face eerily sus-
pended in the dark shadows of the
great room Other feet moved If,
resistibly under the table, Good
tories multiplied, and they laugh
"a uncontgollably at the worst Of
the jokes.
They drank Ettle, for the supply
was limited but tire altitude was
four thousand feet and the thin
light air went to their heads. They
were New Workers suddenly
snatched from the most feveEsh
pitch of modern civilization. but
no less primitive in soul than
woodsmen who had never seen a
city, and the men would have fixed
to put on war paint and run
through the forest with toma-
hawks
Todd when the dinner was over,
did seize a tomahawk from the
wall, drape himself in an Indian
blanket, and march up and down
the room roaring out terrific bat
tie cries. Three minutes later,
Minor and Bolton had followed his
example, and marched solemnly
behind him. brandishing their
weapons and making unearthly
noises. Mary, from her chair by
the hearth, watched them curious
iy. At first it was merely the ex-
aDerant spirits of their rslaAse and
the unaccustomed altitude hat in
spired them. but their counte-
nances grew more and more SOM
Der, their eyes wilder, their voices
more war-like. They were no long
er doing stunt, they we're atavis-
tic. Their voices reverberated
across the lake.
One by one the other men had
joined them, until even Mr.. Dinwid
die was in the procession marching
with loud stamping feet round and
round the big room. The cries be-
came shorter, menacing, abrupt
imperative. The high lamps cast
strange shadows on their lost
faces. The voices grew hoarse,
dropped to low growls. their faces
changed from ferocity to a mourn
full solemnity until they looked even
more like primal men than before;
but they continued their marching
and stamping until Cora, who, with
the other women, had begun to
fear that the rhythm would bring
down the house, had the inspira-
ton to insert Caruso disk into the
victrola; and as those immortal
notes flung themselves imperiously
across that wild scene, the primi-
tive in the men dropped like a
leaden plummet, and they threw
themselves on the floor by the fire.
But they smoked their pipes in
silence. They had had something
that no woman. could give them nor
share, and there was an ungallant
wish in every manly heart that
they had left the women at home
Caruso was succeeded by Emma
Games, and the great lost diva by
Farrar and Scott. Then, the con-
cert over, a yawning party stun
bled upstairs to bed and not
sound was heard from them until
the first bell rang at seven o'clock
next morning.
- aiasaes