She rose with the others and brushed her
glossy hair until it shone in the sunlight like the hair of a high-caste
Chinese woman. She tied upon it the new bows of red ribbon which she had
bought in the secret hope that they would be a part of her wedding finery. She
put on her Indian gala dress of beaded buckskin with the colored porcupine
quills--and then she smiled cunningly and drew a dress of red-and-blue striped
calico over her head and settled the folds of it about her with little,
smoothing pats, so that the two white women, Rosemary and Jean, should not
notice any unusual bulkiness of her figure.
She did not know how she would manage to escape the keen eyes of Wagalexa
Conka and to steal away from the ranch, especially if she had to work in the
picture that day. But Luck unconsciously opened wide the trail for her. He
announced at breakfast that they would work up in Bear Canon that day, and
that he would not need Jean or Annie either; and that, as it would be hotter
than the hinges of Gehenna up in that canon, they had better stay at home and
enjoy themselves.
Annie-Many-Ponies did not betray by so much as a flicker of the lashes that
she heard him much less that it was the best of good news to her.
Pages:
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113