Western news and the Libby times. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1920-1933, 1931-06-04

/ loved, where they lunched In the open,
camped near stream. and he WAS
| allowed To run barefoot in the shadow
of his arIstocratie grandmothers cool
| disapproval.
| There was lunatic week preceding
their departure from Wichita. Fellee
/ fought their going to the last. and
| finally took TO her he'd with threats OF
impending dissolution which failed to
achieve the desired effect owing To the
preoecunation of the persons supposed
10 be stricken by her plight. From
time to time. intrigued by the thump-
ings, scnrryngs. shouts. laughter. quar-
rels, and general unheaval attendant
on the Cravats departure. Felice rose
from her bed and traled wanly about
the house. looking. in her white dimlty
wrapper. like bilious and distracted
ghost. She issued orders. Take this.
| Don't take that II can't he that you're
leaving those hehind Yolr own Amt
Sarah Moncrief du 1isne embroidered
every inch Of them with her own
"Rut. mammn. yon don't understand.
Yancey says there's very LITTLE society,
and lis Nil quite rough and unsettled
wild, almost"
THAT needn't prevent yon from re-
memberlng you're a lady hope. Tn
less You are planning fn he one of
| those hays In a snnhennet and no
teeth that yancey seems to have taken
such fancy to-"
So Sabra Cravat took along TO the
frontier wilderness such oddments and
elegancles as her training. lack of ex-
Derience. and southern family trad-
tion dictated. There were two wagons,
canvas covered and numbering Dishes.
trunks, bedding, boxes were snugly
slowed away in the capaclous belly of
one; the printing outfit. securely
roped and ashed went in the other.
There was. TO the Wichita eve moth
Ing unusual in the sight Of these huge
| covered freighters that would soon 20
numbering off toward the horizon.
Their like had worn many q track In
the Kansas prairie. Yet in this small
expedition faring forth there WAS
something that held The poignancy OF
the tragic and the ridiculous. The
man, huge. bizarre. impractical: the
woman, tight Tipped, terribly deter
mined, her eyes staring with the fixed,
unseeing gaze OF one who knows that
to blink but once is to be awash with
tears, the child. out Of hand with ex-
citement and Impotence to be gone.
From the day Of Yanceys recital OF
the Run, black Isaiah, small descend
ant of the Nenahles' black servants.
had begged to he taken along. De-
MED this he had sulked for a week
and now WAS nowhere to be found.
The wagons, packed, stood waiting
before the Venahle house. Pertains
never In the history Of the settling of
the West did woman 20 a-pioneerlng
In such a costume. Sabra had driven
horses all her life. SO now she stepped
agilely from ground to hub, from hub
to wheel top, perched herself on the
high wagon seat and gathered up the
reins with definess and outward COM
posnre. Her eyes were enormous. her
pale face paler. iancey had swung
Gin mp TO the calico-cushioned seat
beside Sabra. His short legs, In their
copper-toed boots, stuck straight out
in front OF him. His dark eyes were
huge with excitement why don't we
go.' he demanded. over and over. In
something like scream. He shouted
TO the horses as he had heard team
sters do. "Giddap In ere; Gee-opl
G'larng!' His grandmother and grand
father, gazing up with sudden agony
In their faces at sight of this little
expedition actually faring forth so alb
surdly into the unknown. had ceased
to exist for Chm AS Sabra drove one
wagon and Yancey the other, the boy
piyoted between them through the long
drive spending the morning in the
seat beside his mother, the afternoon
beside his father, with intervals OF
mapping curled up on the bedding at
the back OF the wagon.
Now, with lurch and a rattle and
a great clatter of hoofs the two
wagons were of. They had made an
early start. BY ten the boys eyes
were heavy with sleep. Sahra coaxed
him to curl up on the wagon seat, his
head In her lap. She held the reIns
In one hand; one arm was about the
child 1t was hot and still and
drowsy. Noon came with surprising
swiftness. They had brought along
precious key Of water and food
supply sufficient. they thought, to last
through most OF the trip--salt pork,
mince and apple pies, bread, dough-
nuts-but their appetites were enor-
nous. Al midday they stopped and
ate In the shade. Sahra prepared the
meal while Yancey tended the horses
Chm, wide awake now and refreshed,
ate largely with them OF the fried salt
pork and potatoes, the hard boiled
eggs, the mince pie. 1t was all very
gay and comfortable and relaxed
Short as the morning had been, the
afternoon stretched out, somehow, end
less. Sabra began to be horribly tired,
cramped. The boy whimpered. 1t