The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-02-21
CHAPTER XXI
THE HONEYMOON

pleasanter job than seeking oil
lands; you could give some atten-
ton to the view, the woods and
the hills, and other things you
really cared about; also it wasn't
such gamble, because you could
really find out about the water sup
ply, and have a chemical analysis
of the soil. 1t meant taking long
rides in the country; and since
Rachel was to one of the bosses, it
was good for her to go along. They
had time to falkland a lot to
talk about, since they were going
to take charge of bunch of young
radicals, boys and girls of all ages
-twenty-four hours a day.
They had looked at couple of
places, and there was another far
Their from the city, and Bunny re-
Marked "If we go to that, we'll be
late getting home" Rachel an
swered, "If it's too late, we can 90
to some hotel, and finish up in the
morning" Said Bunny, "That
would start the gossips." But Ra-
chel was not afraid of gossips, so
she declared.
They drove to the new site. 1t
was near the village called Mount
Hope, in little valley, with the
plowed land running up the slopes
of half dozen hills. 1t was early
November, and the rains had fallen
and the new grain had sprouted,
and there were lovely curving sur
faces that might have been the
muscles of great giants lying prone
giants with skins of the softest
bright green velvet. There were
orchards, and artesian water with
a pumping plant, and little
ranch-house-the people had ap-
parently gone to town, so the visi-
tors. would wander about and look
at everything, and make a find
a regular airdrome of a barn, gor-
geous with revolutionary red paint!
"Oh, Bunny, here's our meeting
place, all ready made! We have
only to put floor in and we can
have a dance the opening nightp
Imagine Rachel thinking about
dancing!
They climbed one of the slopes,
and here was park, with dark
live oaks and pale grey sycamores,
and carpet of new grass under
foot. The valley opened out to the
west, and the sun had just gone
down, in sky of flaming gold;
the quail were giving their last
calls, and deep down in Bunny's
heart was an ache of loneliness
because quail meant Dad, and those
beautiful hills of Paradise, and
happiness he had dreamed in vain.
Now it was Rachel dreaming.
"Oh, Bunny, this is too lovely! It's
exactly what we want! Mount
Hope College-we couldn't have
made up better name!"
Bunny laughed. eve don't want
to buy name. We must take
samples of the SOIL"
"How many acres did you say ?"
"Six hundred and forty, little
over a hundred in cultivation. That
more than Wen be able to take care
of for quite while"
"And only sixty-eight thousand!
That's a bargainw Rachel had
learned to think on Bunny's i'm
perial scale, since she had been
racing over the state in his fast
car, inspecting millionaire play
grounds and real estate promoters
paradises.
"The price is not bad" said
Bunny, IF we are sure about the
soil and water"
"You could see the state of the
growing things, before it got dark"
Maybe so. Well come back in
the morning, and have a talk with
the ranchman. Perhaps he's a ten
ant, and will tell us the truth"
Not for nothing had Bunny spent
his boyhood buying lands with his
shrewd old father!
Twilight yelled this valley of new
dreams, and across the way the
hills were purple shadows. Bunny
said, There's just one thing wor-
rying me about our plan now: Pm
afraid there's going to be a scan
dali"
"How do you meant"
"You and me being together all
the time, and going off and being
missing at night"
ooh, Bunny, what nonsensem
mo, really, I'm worried. ] toll
Peter Maggie we'd have to conform
to bourgeois standards, and sc re
beginning wrong. My Aunt Emma
is q bourgeois standard, and she
would never approve OF this, ana
neither would your mother. We
ought to go and get married"
"Oh, Bunnyl" She was staring
at him, but it was too dark to re-
veal any possible twinkle in his