Evening star., 1935-07-03


Later, 20 miles frcm the nearest
town, in the very heart of the New
Mexican Desert, The front wheels Of
his car hit q road-dif3 at the wrong
angle and he broke q spring. The
youth got out aid wrIggled unc er the
machine with nlisgivinge and thiughts
Of walking 20 miles to bring help.
Crawling into the daylight once
more he discovered that two automo-
biles, one bearing New Mexico Ii
censs tag, and second with Ari-
zons plates, had conc to stand
still and their occupants were strid-
ing toward him. Row knew Q mo-
mentary flash OF fear A noid-up!
He'd read stores about such things,
seen them in the moves. Well. they
could have what ne f.ad -.
Trouble, son?' The New Mexico
car owner smiled pleasantly. These
road dips are bad sometimes Here,
lenime take a LOOK And 70 the
youths astonShment the man got
down on his hards and knees and
scuirted under the car Meanwhile,
the Arizona driver was grinning ami
ably. I'm heading for Duncan" he
Offered. "I1l sen1 repair car back. :"
mo need" said New Mexico get
ting to his feet. I'VE can fix her up
so she'll reach Duncan under her own
power"
An hour later. still family amazed
and somewhat Chagrined because
neither of his benefactors would ac-
cept money for his help, Roy drove
slowly into the outskirts Of Duncan.
thinking Of the technical school pro-
fessor they become selfish and
grasping!" The youth knew o sud-
den feeling Of coctempt for the peda-
gogicai man.
That afternoon the youth passed
through country that he had read
about. but could never convince him.
self actually existed. A vsritable
fairyland, it was. Desert! Well, it
wasn't his idea cf desert. True. the
growth was scrubby and there was
sand But there were also flowers
and cacti and thousands Of varieties
of shrubs. All about him were noun
tains, rearing uIer treeless slopes out
Of the desert like ghost ships on q
phantom sea. Toward sundown he
ascerded one Of the ranges and drove
through . canyon that was like q
CHAPTER from a story book. The high
way Skirted the face of a cliff. with
dizzy heights IN one hand and sheer.
fathomless descents on the other.
Rushing streams! Snow! A man
made lake in the very heart of the
deserti The stuper.dous Coolidge
Dam! Precipitous descents! Flat, hot
tableland once morel A blood-red
sunset! And then the thriving metrop-
oils of Phoenix, Arizona's capital and
largest city.
Beyond Phoenix was more desert,
then Yuma. And beyond Yuma. Cali
forpia. with its varied climate and
varied landscape. All in a single
hour Roy was driving across wind
blown sweeps If diy. hot sand. Amer
,cais Sahara" and was abruptly up
in the frigid zones Of the high Sierras,
with snow and i>e on every hano
Driving up :te coast from San
Diego to Los Angeles he saw tue for
tifications along the cliffs, tns fleet
anchored in the bay at Long eeach,
each vessel with the Stsrs and Stripes
floating from Ter stern, and some
thing inside of MIN swelled Out and
there was O eaten n his throat This
was Americal The land tnsf the
orator and the dentisS and technical
school professor mad begun talking
about by saying: The trouble with
this country IS" Trouble! There
wasn't anything wroi.s with it that
ne could see. 1t was pretty good
place to live. Tire orator ano the
dentist and professor and a. the
others were sudd.uly very far sway.
There were no longer brooding
thoughts in Roy's mind. He was i'm
mensely happy and glad that &c was
an American, ttat he was here in
America-a part Of II AL.
, (Copyright. 1850