The Wilmington morning star., 1947-02-12

P0Ce ~ ll1C ONh
quarters camp.
But for Tiff the eliminating
drawback of Janet'.s presence was
that it meant Madison's presence
too. He was constantly drnpplng IN
st camp, sometimes during the
dav. sometimes in the evenl1g'
and he would stay for hours chat-
ting with Janet. or take her up
with him to New Dixie.
The more Cliff saw of Clarloel S
nephew. the less he liked him. II
wasn't only his air of P~ossesslve-
ness toward Janet; it was rather
the easy arrogance he showed to
ward Cliff and all his men. And
this. of course. might have been
imagination Madison apparently
took a sardonic satisfaction IN
knowing that, so far as Janet was
concerned, he himself had tled
Cliffs hands.
Cliff could always tell in advance
what evenings Madison was ex
pected, for Janet. who usually wore
Stacks and a light flannel shirt
about the camp. Invariably
changed to a sports dress. On those
nights. the men seemed to with
draw from her, as if the sight OF
a skirt made them realize they
were dealing with a woman instead
of the red-naired, friendly boy who
worked with them through The day.
and sewed on their buttons at
night.
Once. just before dinner, while
Cliff was sitting in the office. he
heard Janet enter, and seeing that
she had changed from Stacks to
dress, said testify, so we're hav
ing a social evening tonight"
She flushed, but her tone was
mot if you have anything
you want me to do"
"Just what can you do? I've
been wondering"
She bit her lip. Pm pretty good
at drawing" she answered. "And
I can letter."
Cliff drew from the files a large
map and stretched it open on the
desk. Ever see anything like
this?" he asked.
She leaned over his arm. It's a
contol map, isn't it?
He blinked in surprise. what
do you know about control maps?"
"Father taught me. l used tc
make them for him on his irriga-
ton work" There was just the
touch of a barb in her voice as she
added, He couldn't draw much
better than you"
Cliff laughed outright. IF you
can do better-and hope to God
you can-you've got a job"
Before they went to supper thai
night he had outlined his system
of transferring to the map the in
tricate field notes his men were
making back in the plantations.
"Thinh you catch on" he asked
douptfully. remembering his pas
experience.
II think So"
And she did. 1t was a hard, ex'
acting task, and highly important
for mistakes could mean costly de
lays. All through supper he won
dered if he were not committing
another blunder in turning thu
work over to her. but he noticed
that Janet spent the evening witt
Madison in the office. and, heat
bent over the map. she was OBJ
viously paying lite attention t.
her guest. An hour later Cliff
smiled ~ccntentedly to e Clari
bells nephew riding back up th'
trail-never before had he left ST
early.
ror the next week Cliff made
point of checking up daily OF
Janet's work, but he could find M
least error, and lie marveled no
only at her accuracy, out at the
clea-, precise lettering. in contras
to his own uneven and impatien
scrawl. Best of all, she was max
ing quick progress. Already SHE
had saved him several nights o
drrdgery. 1t was the first ray O.
light-she might be a help to hin
after all.
What surprised Cliff most wa;
The interest Janet took III ner new
occupation. showing a lively curl
osity. about the location of ever,
| tral. ranch house and waterWa,