Show 04 M ARRON by edna ferber COPY copyright richt ty by ban jr boo sory I 1 4 WHAT WENT BEFORE yancey cravat just returned fr from am the newly opened indian territory where he ha participated in the run over the border relates hi his a adventures to a gathering catherine ot of tb the e venable family yancey Is a criminal lawyer editor of 0 the wichita wigwam and husband of sabra cravat yanc yancey e y w with ith hla his wife and four year old son cimarron start tor for the oklahoma country they arrive at osage where yancey plans to start a newspaper he declares ho he intends to find the murderer of editor ot of the rew day preparations is for tho the publication of tho the wigwam are completed yancey accepts an invitation to conduct church services on sunday sunda y before he starts his sermon yancey announces announce s he has learned who killed pe g or he stoops in time to escape a bullet fired bred by lon and then kills Yount YOU antle ls announcing that murdered becony child donna la Is three years old when she returns to wichita for her first visit yancey frustrates it a bank robbery and kills two desperadoes pera does becoming a hero in tile the territory he urges sabra to join him in the run nun at the opening of the cherokee strip she refuses ile he Is gone live five years dixie lee lea and her girls arouse the indignation of the wives and mothers of osage CHAPTER vill VIII continued 13 not usages seminoles Semi noles yes and creeks and choctaws and even chickasaws dut but the 0 usages sages except for intermarriage with whites have kept the tribe pure the information seemed to sabra to be unimportant and slightly silly purity of the tribe indeed I 1 usages I 1 she resolved to be matter of fact and sensible now that the shocking event was at hand waiting to be dealt with she herself felt guilty tor for this thing had bad happened in her own house she should have tore fore seen danger and avoided it isaiah had been a faithful blak black child in n her mind whereas he was in reality a man grown doctor valliant had finished his work the girl lay on the bed her dull black eyes fixed on them silent watchful hopeless isaiah crouched in the kitchen the child lay now in arms donna I 1 and were fortunately asleep for it was now long past midnight the tense excitement past the whole affair seemed to sabra sordid dreadful what would the town say what would the members of the club and the twentieth century culture club think doctor valliant came over to her and looked down at the queer shriveled morsel in tier her arms arins we must let his father see him sabra shrank oh no ile he took the baby from her and turned toward the kitchen ill do it let me have a drink of whisky will you sabra im dead tired slie she went past him into the dining in room without a glance at the negro boy cowering in the kitchen doctor valliant followed her As she poured a drink of Yance yanceys ys store of whisky almost untouched since he had bid left site she heard val giants voice very gentle and then the sound of isaials Isaia hs blubbering all tile the primness in her was outraged her fler ali arin ru mouth took on a still straighter line valliant took tonk the child back to the indian girls bed and placed it by her stile side ile he stumbled with weariness as be entered the dining oora where sabra stood at the table As he be reached for the drink sabra saw that ills his hand shook a tittle little as yanceys Yance ys used to do in that same gesture she must not think of that she must not think of that theres no use talking now doctor about what the usages do or dont do that you say is so pure the babas born I 1 shall send for the old man his fits name big knee As soon as arita can be moved he must take her home As for isaiah ive a notion to send him back to kansas as I 1 wanted to do years ago only he begged SO eo to stay and yancey let him and now this doctor valliant ant had swallowed the whisky at a gulp had bad thrown it down his throat ns as one takes medicine to relieve pain ile he P poured ared another glass ills face was tired and drawn it was late ills his nerves were not what they had been what with drink overwork and countless nights without alep as lie he rode the country on his black horse ile he swall his fits second drink nis ills face seemed less drawn his hand band steadier his whole bearing more alert now listen sabra you dont understand you dont u understand n tier the tills Is serious the usages have I 1 kept apt the tribe absolutely sol tree free of negro blood this is a bad business busin esq 11 ifer her patience was at an end what of it and how low do you know low how do you know 71 because they remove any member of the tribe that has had to do with a negro remove Ile move I 1 kill isy by torture she stared at him lie was drunk of course youre talking nonsense she said crisply she was very angry dont lot let tills this get crt around they might blanie blame you the they might ill just go and take another look at her the girl was sleeping sabra felt a pang of pity as ag she gazed down at tier 00 oo co to bed off with you suld said doctor valliant to isaiah the boys face was tet et pulpy with tears and sweat and fright he walked slackly blackly ns as though exhausted walt sabra cut him some bread from a loaf sliced a piece of meat left from supper here ent eat this everything will be all right in the morning the news got around perhaps doctor valliant Val llant talked in drink doubtless the girl who came in to help her perhaps isaiah who after a nights exhausted sleep had sud suddenly denly become proudly paternal and boasted loudly about the house and no doubt out of it of the size beauty and intelligence of the little lump of dusky flesh that lay beside aritas bed in tile the very cradle that had held donna when an infant arita was frantic to get up they aliey had to keep her in bed by main force she had not spoken a dozen words since the birth of the child on the fourth day following the childs birth sabra came into aritas room early in the morning and site she was not there the infant was not there their beds had been slept in and now were empty she ran straight into the yard where isaials Isaia hs little hut stood ne ile was not there she questioned the kirl girl who now helped with the housework and who slept on a couch in the dining room she had heard nothing seen nothing the three hid had vanished in the night well sabra thought philosophically they have rone gone oft isaiah can make out somehow perhaps lie he can even get a job as a printer somewhere lie he was handy bandy quick bright ile he had bad some money for I 1 she had given him in these later I 1 years a little weekly wage and he had earned a quarter here a half dollar there enough berha perhaps ps to take them by train back to kansas certainly they had not gone to aritas people for big knee questioned denied all knowledge of ills hig daughter of her child of 0 the black boy they could make nothing n oth of him his squaw stout silent only shook her head pretended that slie she neither spoke nor understood der stood english then the rumor rose spread re celled credence it was started by pete the old indian guide and plainsman who was married to a cherokee Che robee and who had even been adopted into the cherokee tribe ile he had got the story from a cherokee who in turn had had it from an osage the osage having managed to lay hands on some whisky and becoming very drunk now told the grisly tale for the first time there had been an osage meet ing of the principal chief old howling wolf the assistant chief the eight members of the council which included big knee aritas father there the news of the girls dereliction had been discussed her punishment gravely decided decide upon and that of isaiah they had come in the night and got them the black boy the indian girl the infant by what means no one knew arita and her child had been bound together placed in an nned and uncured steer tilde the hide was securely fastened they were carried then I 1 to 0 the open sunbaked sun baked bilked and deserted prattle prairie lind and left there with n R guard the hide shrank and shrank in the burning sun closer and closer day by day until soon there was no movement within it isaiah already half dead with fright was at noonday securely bound and fastened to a stake near by but not near enough quite to touch him was a rattlesnake so f 1 near by but not near enough to touch him was a rattlesnake caught by a leather thong that strike and coll coil and sarec e as it might it could not quite rel reach lell with its venomous head the writhing gibbering thing that lay staring with eyes that protruded out of all semblance t to 0 human features nut but as dusk came on the dew tell fell and the leather thomp stretched a little ill tile the wet and as twilight deepened and the dew grew heavier tile the leather thong holding the horrible reptile sit stretched etched more and more presently it was long enough CHAPTER IX ii R p the magnel to iv 11 1 I with spain I 1 you read this inflaming sentiment on posters and banners and on little white buttons pinned to coat lapels or dress fronts the oklahoma wigwam bristled with new words mardla bay hobson philippines through the southwest sombreros sombre ros suddenly became dust colored army hats bats with broad flat brims and peaked crowns rough here was something thin the oklahoma country knew and understood tall lean hard young men who had practically been born with a horse under them and a gun in hand riders hunters dead shots sunburned keen eyed daredevil their uniforms worn with a swagger had fiad about them a dashing something that the other regiments lacked and their lieutenant colonel and leader was that energetic toothy young fellow who was making something of a stir in new york state roosevelt his name was theodore roosevelt osage was shaken by chills and fever the hot spasms of patriotism the cold rigors of virtue one day the good wives of the community would have a meeting at which they arranged for a home cooked supper with coffee to be served to tills this or that regiment their features would soften with sentiment their bosoms heave with patriotic pride next day eyes narrowed lips forming a straight line they met to condemn dixie lee and her ilk and to discuss ways and means for ridding the town of their contaminating presence the existence of this woman in the town had bad always been a festering sore to sabra dixie lee the saloons that still lined pawhuska avenue the gambling houses all the paraphernalia of vice were anathema lumped together in the minds of the redoubtable nets A new political group had sprung up ostensibly on the platform of civic virtue in reality they were tired of seeing all the plums dropping into the laps of the early day crew made up of such strong arm politicians as had been the first to shake the territorial tree in the righteous ladles ladies of the wyatt type they saw their chance for a strong ally the saloons and an of the gamblers were too firmly in trenched to be moved by the reform element they had tried it sabra had been urged to help in tile the columns of the oklahoma wigwam she had unwisely essayed to conduct a campaign against wick Mon golds saloon in whose particularly ticul arly lawless back room it was known that the young boys of the community were in the habit of meeting with cims future in mind and as an excuse slie she wrote a stirring editorial in which she said bold things about shielding criminals and protecting tile alie flower of our S 0 ut 11 we s t S M manhood two days later a passerby passer by at seven to in the morning saw brisk elmes licking the foundation of the oklahoma wigwam office and the cravat dwelling behind it the whole had been nicely soaked in coal oil dut but for the chance passerby passer by sabra donna newspaper plant and house would have been charred beyond recognition As the town fire protection was still of tile scantiest the alarmed neighbors beat out the tire fire with blankets wet in the nearby near by horse borse trough it was learned that a mexican had been hired to do the job tor for twenty dollars mongold skipped shipped out after an interval reform turned its attention to that always vulnerable objective known then ns as the scarlet woman here it met with less legs opposition almost five years after yanceys Yance ys departure it looked very cry much as though dixie lee and her fine brick house and her plumed umed and girls would soon be routed by the spiritual broomsticks and sunbonnets sun bonnets of the purity squad it was characteristic that at tills this moment in usages history when the town was wag torn now by martial music now dow by tile call of civic virtue yancey cravat should have chosen to come riding home and not that alone but to come riding home in full panoply of war more das dashing more romantic more mysterious than on the day he had ridden away it was eight in tile the morning the case of dixie lee on tile the charge of disorderly conduct was due to come up at ten in the local court sabra had been at her hei desk in tile the wigwam ollice since seven Ilor horses ses hoofs at a gallop stopping spectacularly in front of tile the wigwam office offee in a mild of dust A quick light step that step I 1 but it be sabra sprang to tier her feet one hand nt at her breast one hand on the desk to steady hersell herself ile he strode into the office VOT for five years yeal s site she find pictured picture him hill returning to tier lier in dramatic fashion in ills white sombrero Boin brero ills his prince albert his high heeled boots for five years she had known what slie site would say how she would conduct herself toward him blun toward this min man who had deserted her without a word cruelly in un an instant at sight ight of him all tills this left tier her mind tier lier consciousness she was in ills his arms with an inarticulate cry sile she was weeping tier her arms were about him tile the buttons of ills his uniform crushed crushed her breasts ills uniform she realized then without surprise that lie was in the uniform of all the oklahoma rough kough riders iders It it Is no do use saying to a man alio hus bus been gone for lie years where have you been besides there was not time next morning lie was on ills his way to the philip noes it was not until lie he had gone that she realized tier her failure actually to put tills question that had teen been haunting flaunting her tor for half a decade clin and donna took him for granted as children do so did jesse richey with ills mind of a child for that matter yancey took his own return for granted ills his manner was nonchalant ills his spirits high ills exuberance infectious he set get the pitch there was about him nothing of the delinquent husband ile he now strode magnificently into the room where the children were she was in his arms at breakfast snatched them up kissed them you would have thought lie he had been gone cone a week donna was shy of him bun your tour daughters a venable mrs cravat lie he said and turned to the boy alm slender graceful taller than lie he seemed because of that trick or of lowering ills his fine head and gazing at you from beneath his too long lashes readied reached almost to yancey Tance ys Is broad shoulders but he had not yanceys Yance ys heroic bulk his vitality the cravit skull structure was contradicted by the narrow venable face the mouth was oversensitive the hands and feet too exquisite ahe he smile almost girlish in its sweetness gods how the son degenerates from tho the site sire yancey cried sabra in shocked protest it was as though the five years had never been do you want to see my dog bogl asked have you got a pony oh no ill buy you one this afternoon A pinto here look lie ile took from ills his pocket a little soft leathern pouch soiled and worn front from much handling it was laced through at the top with a bit of |