The Coolidge examiner., 1931-09-04
CHAPTER Ill-Continued

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For one dreadful sickening sec
ond something closed with iron
fingers around Sabra Cravat's
heart and squeezed it, and it ceased
to beat. White faced, her dark
eyes searched her husbands face.
Wichita whispers. Kansas SANDER.
But that face was all exaltatiOn,
like the face of an evangelist, and
as pure. His eyes were glowing.
The iron fingers relaxed.
But Pegler. The men who killed
Pegler. Why are they so much
worse"
"Skunks. Dirty jackals hired by
white ivered politicians"
But why? Why?
Because Pegler had the same
idea | have-that here's a chance
to start clean, right from scratch.
Live and let live. Clean politics
instead of the skulduggery all
around; a new way of living and
of thinking, because we've had
chance to see how rotten and mar
row and bigOted the other way has
been. Here everything's fresh It's
all to do, and we can do It. There's
never been canoe like it in the
world. We can make a model en-
pira out of this Oklahoma country.
with all the mistakes of the other
pioneers TO profit by. New Eng
land. and California, and the set
tiers of the Middle WeSt-it got
away from them, and they fell into
the rut. Ugly politics, ugly towns,
ugly buildings, ugly minds" He
was off again. Sabra, all impatience,
stopped him.
But Pegler. What's that got to
do with Pegler?" She hated the
name. She hated the dead man
who was stalking their new life
and threatening to destroy it.
Il saw that one copy of his pa
per. He called it the New Day
poor devil. And in il he named
names, and be outlined policy
and belief something like-well-
along the lines I've tried to explain
TO you. He accused the govern
ment of rObbing the Indians. He
accused the settlers of cheating
them"
oh, my heavens. Yanceyl In
dians You and your miserable
dirty Indians You're always go
ing on about them as if they mat
tered! The sooner they're all dead
the better. What good are they?
Filthy, thieving, lazy things. They
won't work. You've said so your
self. They just squat there, rot
ting"
I've tried to explain to you"
Yancey began, gently. white men
can't do those things to help
less"
And so they killed him !" Sabra
cried. irrelevantly. And they'll
kill you. too. Oh, Yancey-please
-please-I don't want to be
pioneer woman. | thought | did,
but | don't. can't make things
different | liked them as they
were. Comfortable and safe. Let
them alone. | don't want to live
in a model empire. Darling! Darl-
ing! Let's just make ii town
like Wichita F.. with trees
and people being sociable . not
killing each other all the time .
church on Sunday :. a school for
Cim. :"
The face she adOred was mask.
The ocean-gray eyes were slate
gray now. with the look she had
seen and dreaded-cOld, deter
mined, relentless.
"All right Go back there. Go
back to your trees and your
churches and your sidewalks and
your Sunday roast beef and your
SNUG, dead-alive family. But not
mel Me. I'm staying here. And
when | find the man who killed
Pegler I'll face him with it, and
I'll publish mis- name. and if he's
alive by then III bring him to JUS
tice and I'll see him strung up on
a tree. If / don't it'll be because
I'm not alive myself"
"Oh. Cdr whimpered Sabra,
and sank, a limp bundle of misery.
into his arms. But those arms
were. suddenly, no haven, no shell
ter. He put her from him. gently
but with iron tirmneSs. and walked
out of the house, through the news
paper office, down the broad and
sinister red road.