Show F 1 9 v 1 a ID IDs s C 1 n r IU B y E d a n a F e Jr ir b Ja e r Jr nOV c t mr e n ft I w fry Q a C Copyright by r Edna Ferber p d U I J i u d p l r Jf I II II II iY CHAPTER XIII XIII-Continued XIII Continued 20 20 Sabra probably was the only woman of ot her own generation and social position position position tion in Osage who still wore on the third finger of her left hand the plain broad gold band of or a past long-past day duy Synchronous with the thc permanent wave vave n and d the reducing diet the thc rich oil-rich matrons of ot Sabra's a age e cast nt aside for fashion quietly 3 placed the clumsy band in a bureau drawer and appeared with a slim platinum platinum platinum the engraved engraved engraved en en- num circlet bearing perhaps graved anachronism SI M 1 G G. K L. L Certainly It was gas much more at ease among its square-cut square emerald and oblong diamond neighbors These ladles ladies explained or if at all am that the gold band had grown too tight light for forthe forthe forthe the linger finger or too loose Sabra looked down at the broad old fashioned wedding wedding wedding wed wed- ding ring on her own finger She had not once taken It off in over oyer forty years It was as much a part of ot her as the finger itself All the thc Oklahoma millionaire houses had libraries Yards and yards ards of or fine line leather libraries with gold tooling Ike Hawkes' Hawkes library had five the sets of Dickens alone handsomely bound In red green blue brown and black and Ike all unaware of or an any of them Moving picture palaces with white- white gloved glo ushers had all the big Broadnay Broadway Broad Broad- way nay super Gas filling stations on every ery corner not Hot do dos dog chili chill con carne and hamburger stands on the most remote country roads The Arverne Ar- Ar verne Terne Grand Opera company compan at the McKee theater for a whole week e cr every year and the best of ever everything Traviata Boheme Carmen Louise The Barber of Seville The display of or Jewels during that week made the diamond horseshoe at the Metropolitan tan look like the Black Hole of or Cal Cal- The sunbonnets had triumphed Still oil was oil and Indians were Indians There was no noa a way in which either of these native nati forces could quite be he molded to fit the thc New York pattern The still sUll whirled up and 1 down own the Oklahoma roads and those roads for hundreds of ot miles were still unpaved red prairie dust They crashed into ditches and draws and and culverts as of old walked back to town and entering the automobile salesroom in which they had bought the original car pointed with one dusky finger at a new and glittering model I Nother the they said succinctly And drove out with it It was common news that Charley Vest had smashed eight cars in a year ear but then Charley had a mysterious source through which he procured fire water Sabra Cravat had introduced a bill billioT for tor the further protection of the and rather took a away the breath of ot the house assembled b by advocating advocating ad ad- abolition of ot the Indian reservation reservation reser reser- atlon system Her lIeI speech radical though It was and sensational was greeted p with favor by some of the themore themore themore more liberal of or the congressmen They even conceded that this Idea of hers to the effect that the Indian would never de develop elop or express himself until he be was as free as the negro might some pome day become a reality These were the reformers the reformers the long hairs fanatics Oklahoma was very er proud of Sabra Cravat editor congresswoman pio pio- neer Osage said she embodied the finest spirit of or the thc state and of ot the Southwest When ten of Osage's most unctuous millionaires contributed fifty thousand dollars each for a hun five thousand dred statue that should embody the Oklahoma pioneer no one was surprised to hear that the thc sculptor sculptor sculptor tor Krbecek wanted to interview interview inter inter- view Sabra Cravat Osage was not familiar with the sculpture of or Krbecek but it was Impressed impressed im Im- pressed with the thc price of it Half a million dollars for a statue I Certainly said bald the committee calmly lies ulIes the best there Is Half Halfa a million Is nothing for his stuff He wouldn't kick a pebble for less than thana a 11 quarter of ot a million Do you ou suppose hell he'll do her as a pioneer woman In a sunbonnet Holding HoldIng Hold- Hold Ing little by the hand huh Or maybe In a covered wagon Sabra received Krbecek In fn a simple draped dress He lIc turned out to be ben bea n a quiet rather snuff little Pole In eyeglasses who looked more like a tailor a tailor a little tailor than tailor than a sculptor tor His 1118 eye ec roamed about a out the living room of the house on 1 The Theold Theold 01 old 1 wooden house had been covered With plaster In a n deep warm shade much the color of the thc native cla clay the gimcrack porch and the thc cupolas had been wen torn away and n a great square veranda and a terrace built at the side away from the thc street and screened by a n thick hedge and an Iron grille It was now In fact tact much the house that Yancey had planned when Sabra first built it years n ago o The Theold Theold old pieces of ot mahogany anI and glass and silver sH were back triumphant again over the thc plush and brocade with which Sabra Sabre had hat furnished the house when new old despised since pioneer days was again U tire the fashion In Osage there bere was vas the DeGrasse sll silver er the K U u cake dish with the carefree cupids the mantelpiece figures of or china You are arc very er comfortable here in Oklahoma said Krbecek He lie pronounced It syllable sellable b by syllable painfully ho kin home Sabra Sahra simple It Is a er very replied compared to the other places you rou hn have e s seen n hereabouts It lIt is the home of a good woman I said Krbecek dryly h ly Sabra Sahra was as a n trifle startled but hut she I said thank you primly You are a congress member you u are arc editor of a great newspaper you au are well known throughout the coun coun- try You American women you are fire really amazing A Again aln Sabra thanked him Tell me will you my mr dear lady he went on some ome of the many interesting interesting inter inter- esting things your our life and that of your our husband this Yancey Yance Cravat who so far preceded his time So Sabra Sahra told him Somehow as she sale talked the years ears rolled back hack curtaIn curtain curtain cur cur- tain after curtain Into the past The Run Hun Then the they were cro crossing sin the prairie there was the first glimpse of the mud wallow that was Osa Osage e the church meeting In the thc tent the Peg Peg- ler her murder the outlaws the early years of the paper the Indians oil ail She talked very well in her clear decisive decisive de de- voice At his request she showed shaved him the yellowed time photographs photographs photo photo- graphs of Yancey of herself Krbecek listened At the end It is touchIng touching touch touch- In ing he said It makes me weep weep Then he kissed her hand and went awn away taking one or two of the old photographs with him The statue of or the Spirit of the OI Oklahoma lahoma Pioneer was unveiled a year rear later with terrific ceremonies It was wasa a heroic figure of Yancey Cravat stepping forward with that light graceful stride In the high heeled fexas Texas star hoots boots the skirts of ot the Prince Albert billowing behind with the vigor igor of or his movements the sombrero sombrero sombrero som som- brero atop the great reat menacing buffalo buffalohead buffalohead buffalohead head one beautiful hand resting lightly light light- ly on the weapon in his two-gun two holster Behind him one hand just touching his shoulder for support stumbled the weary blanketed figure of au nn Indian CHAPTER XIV Sabra Cravat congresswoman from Oklahoma had Iad started a n against the disgraceful condition of ot the new oil towns With an Imposing party of or twenty made up of ot front front- page oil men senators congressmen and editors she led the way to Bovle Bowlegs Bowlegs Bow Bow- le legs s newest and crudest of the new oil strikes Cities like Uke Osage were suave enough In a surface way But what could a state do when oil was forever surgIng surging surging surg surg- ing up In iu unexpected places bringing the da days s 's of the Run Hun back baek again At each newly discovered pool there followed followed followed fol fol- fol- fol lowed the rush and scramble Another Another Another An An- other Bret Harte town sprang up on the prairie fields oozed slimy black oil rigs clanked front false-front wooden shacks lined a street one-street village Dance halls haUs Brothels Gunmen Brawls Heat Flies FUes Dirt Crime The clank of machinery machiner The roar of traffic boiling over oyer a road never meant for more than a plodding wagon NItro glycerIn cars bearing their deadly dead ead- deadly l ly freight Overalls corduroys blue blueprints blueprints blueprints prints engines The human scum of or each ench new v oil town was like the scum of the Run Hun but harder crueler cruder more wolfish and degraded The Imposing party part in powered high motor cars bumped over the terrible roads creating a red dust barrage It Is all due to our rotten Oklahoma Oklahoma Okla Okla- homa state politics Sabra explained to the great grent senator from Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Pennsyl Pennsyl- vania who sat at her right and the front relit rl It editor j from New V York o t e b v sa u at her left in the big 1 luxurious car Our laws are laughed at The capitol capitol cap cap- itol Is rotten with graft raft Anything goes Oklahoma Is still a territory In Ine e everything but title This town of Bowlegs Its It's a n throw back to the frontier days of fort forty years ears ago ago ato- and worse Its It's like hike the old ron People who have lived In Osage all their lives dont don't know what goes on out here rhe They dont don't care Its It's more oil more millions That's all An Any Anyone Anyone one of or you ou men well known as you arc are could come out here put on overalls overalls over over- alls and be as ns lost as though you had vanished In the thc wilderness The Thc Pennsylvania senator laughed a plump lau laugh h and with elbow nearest Sabra made a little movement that would have amounted to a nud nudge nudge nudge-in In e in anyone but a n. senator from Penns Pennsyl Pennsyl- l vania What the they need out here Is a woman governor governor o cr Lippmann to the great grent editor Sabra said nothing On th the drive out from Osage OSUte they stopped for lunch In an older oil town hotel dining room room room-a a surprisingly good lunch the senators and editors were glad to find with a tender steak and little green onions and near neur beer and cheese and coffee served In great thick cups hot and strong and refresh refresh- ing lug The waitress was deft left and friendly a tall angular woman with something frank and engaging about the two circles of vermilion on the parchment of her withered cheeks checks r How are you ou Nettle Nettie Sabra said to her Im grand Mis' Mis Cravat Hows How's all allour your our folks The senator from Ohio winked at Sabra Youre a u politician all nil right Arrived at Bowlegs Sabra showed them er e everything thIng pitilessly The dreadful dreadful dreadful dread dread- ful town lay in the hot June sun a scarred thing files flies buzzing over It the oil drooling down clown Its face a slimy stream A street one-street wooden woollen shanty shantytown shantytown shantytown town like the towns of the old t territory territory terri terri- tory days s 's but hut more sordid A red red- cheeked young Harvard engineer was their official guide an cn engaging aing boy In rimmed bone glasses and a very blue shirt that made his pink cheeks checks pinker That is what hat I wanted my to he be Sabra thought with a great reat wrench at her heart I mustn't think of or that now The drilling of or the oil The workmen's workmen's workmen's work work- mens men's shanties The trial of or a dance- dance hall han girl In the th room one pine pile shack that served sel as ns courtroom The Thc charge nonpayment of rent The little room stifling stinking was already crowded I r rt t t I Ia ft I a R S' S r t Vy r r- r tr Wife and Mother You Mother You Stainless Woman Hide Me Hide Me-Hide Hide Me In Your Love Lovel Men Ien and women filled the doorway lounged in the windows The judge fellow v with cud was a yellow faced a of tobacco in his cheek and a single ingle law book on a shelf as his library It was a trial by jury The jurors were nine in number their faces a rogues rogues' gallery There had happened to be benine benine benine nine men loafing near by It ml might ht have ha been less or more Bowlegs did not consider these fine legal points They wore overalls and shirts The defendant was a Un tiny rat-faced rat girl girlIn girlin girlin in a soiled green dress that parodied the fashions a n pathetic green poke bonnet heel down-at-heel shoes and a great run in her stocking Her lIeI friends were there there there-a a dozen or more hall dance-hall girls In striped overalls and jockey caps or length knee-length gingham dresses with sashes Their ages ranged from sixteen to nineteen perhaps It was incredible that life In those few years could ha have e etched that look on their faces The rhe girls were charming hospitable They made way for the Imposing vis vis- Come on in they said How like do-like do like like friendly children The mid mid- afternoon sun was pitiless on their sick eyes eJes their bad skin their unhealthy unhealthy unhealthy un un- healthy hair Clustered behind behin the rude bench on which the Jury sat the girls from time to time leaned a sociable elbow on a juryman's mans shoulder shoulder shoulder der occasionally enlivening the judicial judicial judicial judi judi- cial proceedings by hy a spirited comment comment comment com com- ment uttered in defense of their sister and spoken in the nea near near-by by ear or aloud for benefit of the packed close-packed crowd She never ne done no such thing 1 lies Hes a d n d-n n n liar an I can prove it No one least of all the tobacco- tobacco chewing judge appeared to find these girlish Informalities at all unusual In Inthe Inthe inthe the legal conduct of the case In the corner of the little room was wasa wasn a n kind of or pen made of wooden slats like a sizable coop and in It on the floor la lay a u man he there for Sabra asked one of tike the s girls What is that TIm Pill Hes He's In jail He Be shot shota a man last night and hes he's up for carr carrying concealed weapons It aint allowed Im Imm going to talk to him said Sabra And crossed the room through the crowd The jurors had Just filed flied out They hey repaired to a n draw at the side of ot the road rond to make their find- find Ing Two or three of the dance hall dance hall girls squatted on the floor were talkIng talkIng talk- talk Ing lug to Dill BUI through the bars The They asked Sabra her name and she told them and they gave her their own Toots Pewee Bee The face of ot the IJo boy on the floor was battered and blood There was wasa a festering sore on his left hand and the thc hand and arm were cre swollen s and an angry r looking You were carr carrying a concealed weapon Sabra asked squatting there therewith therewith therewith with the girls A senator or two nullan and null an editor were Just behind herT hies he heAn herTAn An Injured look softened Bills Bill's battered bat hat tenet features featurE's He lIe pouted like a u child No Xo maam I run the dance hall see And I was standing in the middle of the floor working and I had hull the gun right in my hand Anybody could see I wasn't carr carrying In no concealed concealed con con- concealed weapon The jur jury filed back hack Not guilty The rat-faced rat girls girl's sh shyster ster lawyer said |