White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1931-07-09

in. She sat up in bed In her high
necked, long-sleeved nightgown. Her
eyes, in her white face, were two
black holes burned in a piece Of
paper.
"What was It? What was it?"
'What was what? Why aren't you
asleep, sugar?"
"Those shots. And the screaming.
And the men hollering."
"Shots?" He was unstrapping his
broad leather belt with its twin six
shooters whose menacing heads peered
just above their holsters. He wore it
always now. 1t came. in time, to rep
resent for her a sinister symbol Of all
the terrors, all the perils that lay wait
ing for them in this new existence.
"Why, sugar, don't recollect hearing
any Oh-that!" He threw back his
great head and laughed. "That was
just cowboy, feeling high, shooting
out the lights over in Strap Turket's
saloon. On his way home and having
a little fun with the boys. Scare you,
did it?"
He came over to her, put hand on
her shoulder. She shrugged away
from him, furious. She pressed her
hand frantically to her forehead. It
was cold and wet. She was painting
a little. II won't bring my boy up in
a town like this. I won't. I'm going
back. I'm going back home, tell
you"
"Wait till morning, anyhow, won't
you, honey?" he said, and took her in
his arms.
Next morning was, somehow, mag
ically, next morning, with the terrors
of the night vanished quite. The sun
was shining. For a moment Sabra
had the illusion that she was again at
home in her own bed at Wichita. Then
she realized that this was because
she had been awakened by familiar
sound 1t was the sound of Isaiah's
voice somewhere below in the dusty
yard. BE was polishing Yancey's
boots, splitting on them industriously
and singing as he rubbed Sabra
knew he was utterly happy.
There was much to be done-a
dwelling to be got somehow place
in which to house the newspaper plant.
If necessary, Yancey said, they could
live in the rear and set up the print
ing and law Office in the front. AL
most every one who conducted bust
ness in the town did this. "Houses
are mighty scarce" Yancey said, max
ing great masculine snorting and
| snuf1ing at the wash bowl az they
| dressed. "It's take what you can get
or live in tent. / heard last night
that Doc Nisbett's got good house.
Five rooms, and he'll furnish us with
water. There're dozen families after
1t, and Docs as Independent as hog
on ice"
Sabra rather welcomed this idea Of
! combining Office and home. She would
be near him all day. AS soon as break
| fast was over she and Yancey Jared
| forth, leaving Gin in Isaiah's care.
She had put on her black grosgrain
| silk with the three box pleats on each
| side, trimmed with the passementerie
| and jet buttons-so somewhat wrinkled
| from it's long stay in the trunk-and
| her modish hat with the five ostrich
plumes and the pink roses that had
| cost twelve dollars and fifty cents In
Wichita, and her best black buttoned
kid shoes and her black kid gloves. In
| the tightly basqued black silk she was
nineteen inches round the waist and
very proud of 1t.
Yancey, seeing her thus attired in
splendor, struck an attitude Of dazzle
| ment. Blank verse leaped to his
ready lips. "But who is this, what
thing Of land or sea-female of sex it
seems-that so bedeck'd, ornate, and
gay, comes this way sailing, like
stately ship Of Tarsus, bound for TIL
isles Of Javan or Gadire, with all her
bravery on.
"Oh, now, Yancey, don't talk non
sense. It's only my second-best black
grosgrafn."
.You're right, my darling. Even
Milton has no words for such beauty"
With his curling locks, his broad
brtmmed white sombrero, his high
heeled boots, his fine white shirt, the
ample skirts of his Prince Albert
spreading and swooping with the
yigor Of his movements, Yancey was
an equally striking figure, though per-
haps not so unusual as she, in this
day and place.
| The first thing Sabra noticed, as she
stepped into the dust of the street in
her modish dress and hat, caused her
heart to sing. The few women to be