Western news and the Libby times. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1920-1933, 1931-07-02


ing TO appear intensely practical.
"Well. let-me-see. There's cook
ing, Of course and all tlfe cleaning
around the house. and drinking, and
bathing. | always give Gin his bath
in the evening If can You wouldn't
believe how dirty that child gets by
the end Of the day. Well, | should
think ten barrels a day would be
enough
"'ren barrels sald Doc Nisbett, in
fiat voice. utterly devoid Of express
sion. "a day
II should think that would he am
pie" Sahra repeated, indieiously.
Doc Nisbett now regarded Sahra
with look Of active dislike Then he
did a strange thing. He walked
across the little porch. shut the front
door. locked II, put the key in his
pocket. seated himself in the chair and
tilted It mp against the wall at exactly
the angle at which they had come
upon him.
Sahra stood there Seeing her, 1t
would have been almost impossible to
believe that anyone SO bravely decked
ont in silk and plumes and pink roses
could present a figure SO bewIldered,
so diseonsolate. so defeated Literally,
she did not know what to do. She
had met and surmonnted many strange
experiences In these last ten days.
But she had been born OF generations
Of women 10 whom men had paid
| homage. Perhaps in all her life she
had never encountered the slightest
| discourtesy in man, much less this
| abysmal boorishness.
She looked at him. her face white,
| shocked. She looked up, in embarrass.
| ment at the garing steel sky she
| looked down at the binding red dust,
| size locked helplessiy In the direction
| that Yaneev had 50 blthely taken
| She glanced again at Doe Nishett
propped SO woodenly against the wall
Of his hateful house. She should. OF
I course have gone straight up to him
and said. DO YOU mean that ten bar
rels are too nnell2 | didn't know.
| am new to all this. Whatever you
say"
But she was Young. and inexperi-
/ enced, and full Of pride and terribly
| offended. So without another word
she turned and marched down the
| dusty street Her head in its plumed
! hat was high. On either cheek burned
scarlet patch. Her eyes, In her eff
fort to keep back the hot tears, were
blazing. liquid, enormous. She saw
nothing
From Doc Nisbett, Yancey received
laconic information to the effect that
| the house had been rented by family
| whose aquatic demands were more
modest than Sabra's. Sabra was in
consolable, but Yancey did not once
reproach her for her mistake. 1t was
/ characteristic OF him that he was most
charming and considerate In crises
which might have been expected to
| infuriate him. Never mind, sugar.
| Don't take on like that. Wen find a
| house. And, anyway we're here.
| That's the main thing.
He stretched his mighty arms. shook
| himself like great shaggy lion. In
| all this weller Of red clay and Indians
and shirt sleeves and tobacco juice
and drought he seemed to find a
beauty and an exhilaration that eluded
Sabra quite. But then Sabra, after
those first two days, had ceased to
search for reason for anything. She
met and accepted the most grotesque,
the most fantastic happenings When
she looked back on the things she had
done and the things she had said in
the first few hours Of her Oklahoma
experience II was as though she were
tolerantly regarding the nalvetes OF a
| child. Ten barrels Of water a day |!
She knew now that water, In this
burning land was a precious thing.
Life here was an anachronism, great
crude Joke. 1t was hard to realize
that while the rest OF the United
States In this year Of 1889, was living
conventIonally civilized and primy
Victorian existence, in which plumb
Ing, gasight. trees. gardens, books,
laws. millinery. Sunday churchgoing.
were taken for granted here in this
Oklahoma country life had been set
back according to the frontier stand
ards of half a century earlier. Lit
orally she WIS pioneering In wilder
ness surrounded but untouched by
civilization.
Yancey had reverted. Always
even In his staidest Wichita incarnn-
tfon--a somewhat incredibly romantic
figure, he now was remarkable even
In this town of fantastic humans gath
cred from every corner OF the bril-
liantly picturesque Southwest. His
towering form. his curling locks, his
massive head, his vibrant voice, hi,
dashing dress, his ford speech, his
magnetic personality drew attention
wherever he went. On the day follow
Ing their arrival Yancey had taken
from his trunk pair Of silver mounted
ivory-handled six-shooters and belt
and holster studded with silver. She
had never before seen them. His
white sombrero he had banded With =