The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1931-06-05
Edna Ferber
Copyright by Edna Fsrber.
.WNU service.i

"Oh, plenty" echoed Sabra, thinking
Of the nine or ten visiting Venables
always comfortably tucked away in
the various high-ceilinged bedrooms in
the Wichita house.
They resumed their walk. Sabra
wondered IL she had imagined the
shooting outside the Red Dog saloon.
Doc Nisbett (veterinarian) shirt
sleeved. shrewd, with generations Of
New England ancestry behind him.
was seated in chair tipped up against
the front of his coveted property. In
the rush for Territory town sites at
the time Of the Opening he had man
aged to lay his gnarled hands on five
choice pieces. On these he erected
dwellings, tilted his chair up against
each in turn, and took his pick OF late
Corners frantic for some sort OF shelter
they could call a home.
The dwelling itself looked like one OF
Gins childish drawings Of house.
The roof was an inverted v; there
was front door, a side door, and a
spindling little porch. It was a box,
a shelter merely, as angular and un-
lovely as the man who owned it.
Taking her cue from Yancey-
Lovely" murmured Sabra, agonized.
do very nicely. Perfectly comfort
able. see. / see l see."
"There you are!" They stood on
the porch, the tour completed. Yam
cey slapped his hands together gayly,
as though by so doing he had sum-
moned a genie who had tossed up the
house before their very eyes. In the
discussion of monthly rental he had
been a child in the hands Of this lean
and grasping New Highlander. "There
you are! That's all settled" He
struck an attitude. Survey our en-
pire, and behold our homer"
"Heh, hold on minute" rasped Doc
Nisbett. slow about water?"
"Sabra, honey, you settle these little
matters between you-you and the Doc
will you? I've got to run down the
street and see Jesse Hickey about put
ting up the press and setting up the
type racks and helping me haul the
form tables, and then we've got the
furniture to buy for the house. Meet
you down the street at Hefner's Furhi-
ture store. Ten minutes"
He was off, with flirt Of his coat
tails. She would have called, "Yan-
cey! Don't leave mer but for a
prideful reluctance to show fear be-
fore this dourvisaged man with the
tight lips and the gimlet eyes.
swell, now" repeated Doc Nisbett,
nasally, "about water"
"Water?"
slow much you going to need?
Renting this house depends on how
much water you think you going to
need. How many barrels"
Sabra had always taken. water for
granted, like air and sunshine. 1t was
one Of the elements. 1t was simply
there But since leaving Wichita
there was always talk Of water. Yam
cey, on the prairie Journey, made it
the basis of their camping site.
"Oh, barrels" she now repeated, try
ing to appear intensely practical.
"Well, let-me-see. There's cook
ing, of course, and all the cleaning
around the house, and drinking, and
bathing. I 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 day would be
enough"
"Ten barrels" said Doc Nisbett. in
fiat voice utterly devoid of express
sion, "a day."
IT should think that would be am
ple," Sabra repeated, judiciously.
Doc Nisbett now regarded Sabra
with look of active dislike. Then he
did a strange thing, He walked
across the little porch, shut the front
door, locked it, put the key in his
pocket, seated himself in the chair and
tilted it up against the wall at exactly
the angle at which they had come
upon him.
Sabra stood there. Seeing her, 1t
would have been almost impossible to