The Coolidge examiner., 1931-10-16

! mats with broad, nat DrlmS ana
peaked crowns.
Rough Riders! Here was some
thing the Oklahoma country knew
and underStOOd-tall, lean, hard
young men who had practically
| been born with horse under them
and gun in hand; riders. hunters,
dead shots; sunburned, keen eyed,
daredevil. Their uniforms, worn
with swagger, had about them
a dashing something that the other
regiments lacked. And their lieu
tenant colonel and leader was that
energetic, toothy young fellow who
was making something of a stir
in New York state-Roosevelt, his
name was. Theodore Roosevelt.
Usage was shaken by chills and
fever; the hot spasms of patri-
otism, the cold rigors of virtue One
day the good wives Of the COM
munity would have a meeting at
which they arranged for a home
cooked supper, with coffee, to be
served to this or that regiment.
Their features would soften with
sentiment, their bosoms heave with
patriotic pride. Next day, eyes mar
rowed, lips forming a straight line,
| they met to condemn Dixie Lee
and her ilk, and to discuss ways
and means for Kidding the town of
their communicating presence.
The existence of this woman in
the town had always been a fester-
| ing sore to Sabra. Dixie Lee, the
saloons that still lined Pawhuska
avenue, the gambling houses, all
the paraphernalia of vice, were
anathema Jumped together in the
minds of the redoubtable sunbon-
nets. A new political group had
sprung up, ostensibly on the plat
form of civic virtue. In reality they
were tired of seeing all the plums
dropping into the laps Of the early
day crew, made up of such strong
arm politicians as had been the
first to shake the territorial tree.
In the righteous ladies of the
Wyatt type they saw their chance
for a strong ally. The saloons and
the gamblers were too firmly in
trenched to be moved by the re-
form element: they had tried II.
Sabra had been urged to help. In
the columns of the Oklahoma Wig
wan she had unwisely essayed to
conduct campaign against Wick
Mongold's saloon, in whose par
| ticularly lawless back room il was
known that the young boys of the
community were in the habit of
meeting. With Gins future in mind
(and as an excuse) she wrote
stirring editorial in which she said
bold things about shielding GRIM
inals and protecting the Flower of
our SOuthwest'S Manhood. Two
days later a paSSer-by at seven in
the morning saw brisk flames lick
ing the foundation of the Oklahoma
Wigwam office and the Cravat
dwelling behind it. The whole had
been nicely soaked in coal oil. But
for the chance pasSer-by, Sabra,
Cim, Donna, newspaper plant, and
house would have been charred be-
yond recognition. AS the town fire
protection was still of the scanti-
est the alarmed neighbors beat out
the fire with blankets wet in the
nearby horse trough. 1t was
learned that a Mexican had been
hired to do the job for twenty dol
lars. Mongold skipped out.
After an interval reform turned
its attention to that always vulner-
able objective known then as the
Scarlet Woman. Here it met with
less opposition. Almost five years
after Yanceys departure it looked
very much as though Dixie Lee
and her fine brick house and her
plumed and parasOled girls would
soon be routed by the spiritual
brOomsticks and sunbonnets of the
purity squad.
1t was characteristic that at this
moment in Osage's history, when
the town was torn, now by martial
music, now by the call of civic vir-
tue, Yancey Cravat should have
chosen to come riding home; and
not that alone, but to come riding
home in full panoply of war, more
dashing, more romantic, more mys-
terious than on the day he had
ridden away.
1t was eight o'clock in the morn
ing. The case of Dixie Lee Con the
charge of disorderly conduc) was
due TO come up at ten in the local
court. Sabra had been at her desk
in the Wigwam office since seven.
Horses hoofs at a gallOp, stop
ping spectacularly in front of the
Wigwam office in a whirl of dust.
A quick, light step. That step But
it couldn't be. Sabra sprang to her
feet, one hand at her breast, one
hand on the desk to steady herself.
He strobe into the office. For five
years she had pictured him return
ing to her in dramatic fashion; in
his white sombrerO, his Prince
| Albert, his high-heeled boots. For
! five years she had known what she
would say, how she would conduct
| herself toward him-tOward this
man who had deserted her without
a word cruelty. In an instant, at
sight of him, all this left her mind,
her consciousness. She was in his
arms with an inarticulate cry, she
was weeping, her arms were about
him, the buttons of his uniform
| crushed her breasts. His uniform.
! She realized then, without surprise,
that he was in the uniform of the
Oklahoma Rough Riders.
1t is no use saying to a man who