Western news and the Libby times. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1920-1933, 1931-06-11

II Was a Hard Trip for the Child.
started fires. He tended Gin like
nurse. played with him. sang to him,
helped put him TO bed, slept anywhere,
like little dog.
Yancey pointed out the defniteness
with which the land changed when
they left Kansas and came into the
Oklahoma country okla homa,' he
explained to Gin. That's Choctaw.
Okla-people. Humma--red. Red
people. That's what they called II
when the Indians came here to live"
Suddenly the land. too, had become
red: red clay as far as the eye could
see. When tile trail led through il
cleft In a hill the blood red of the
clay on either side was like gaping
wound. Sahra shranl from it. Its
glare scared the eyebals
1t WIS hard trip for the child. He
was by turns unruly and istless. He
could not run about, except when they
stopped To make camp. Sabra. curl
ously enough, had not the gift OF
amusing him as Yancey had. or even
Isaiah Isaiah told him tales that
were negro folklore, handed down by
word Of mouth through the years.
Often the days were gay enough.
They fell into the routine, adjusted
themselves to the discomfort. Sabra
got out the sunbonnet which one OF
the less formidable Venables had jok-
ingly given her at parting, and this
she wore to shield her eyes from the
pitiless glare OF sky and plain. The
sight OF her In that prairie wilderness
engaged in the domestic task OF beat
ing up bowl Of biscuit dough struck
no one as being homogeneous The
bread supply was early exhausted. She
baked In a little portable tin oven that
Yancey had fitted out for her.
AS for Yancey himself, Sabra had
never known him SO happy. He was
tireless, charming, varied. She herself
was fascinated BY his tales OF hidden
mines, Of Spanish doubloons Of iron
chests plowed up by some gaunt home
steader's hand pillow hitched to a
stumbling mule.
The wind, at certain periods OF the
year, blows almost without ceaslng In
Oklahoma. And when 1t rains the
roads become sIthering boys OF
creased red dough, so that a wagon
will sink and slide at the same time.
They had two days OF rain during
which they plodded miserably, inch by
inch. Gin squalled, Isaiah became
just shvering black lump Of misery,
and Sabra thought Of her dimity-hung
bed back home in Wichita; Of the
garden in the cool OF the evening, of
the family gathered in the dining
room of, the pleasant food, the easy
talk, the luxurious ease.
At Pawnee Yancey saw fresh deer
tracks. He saddled horse and was
Off. They had, before this, caught
bass In the streams, and Yancey had
shot prairie chicken and quail, and
Sabra had fried them delicately. But
this was their first promise Of big
game. Sabra welcomed this unex-
pected halt She and Isaiah carried
water from the creek and washed
few bits OF clothes and hung them to
dry. She bathed Gin. She heated
water for herself and bathed CRATE
fully. She set Isaiah to gathering fuel
for the evening meal, while CHM played
in the shade OF the clump OF scrub
oak. She was quite serene. She lis
tened for the sound Of horses hoofs
that would announce Yancey's trium-
phRnt return. Vaguely size began to
wonder II Yancey should not have re-
turned by now. She brushed her hair
thoroughly, enjoying the motion,
throwing 1t over her head and bending
far forward In that contortionistic at
titude required by her task. After
she had braided II she decided to leave
1t in long thick plat down her back.
Audaciously she tied It With bright
red ribbon, smiling to think Of what