Arizona -- Social life and customs -- Fiction; Man-woman relationships -- Fiction; Religious fiction; Teachers -- Fiction
Rosa awoke very early, for her sleep had been light and troubled. She
dressed hastily and sat down to compose a note which could be altered
slightly in case she found some one better than the half-breed; but
before she was half through the phrasing she heard a slight disturbance
below her window and a muttering in guttural tones from a strange voice.
Glancing hastily out, she saw some Indians below, talking with one of
the men, who was shaking his head and motioning to them that they must
go on, that this was no place for them to stop. The Indian motioned to
his squaw, sitting on a dilapidated little moth-eaten burro with a small
papoose in her arms and looking both dirty and miserable. He muttered as
though he were pleading for something.
We believe that God's angels follow the feet of little children and
needy ones to protect them; does the devil also send his angels to lead
unwary ones astray, and to protect the plan's of the erring ones? If so
then he must have sent these Indians that morning to further Rosa's
plans, and instantly she recognized her opportunity. She leaned out of
her window and spoke in a clear, reproving voice:
"James, what does he want? Breakfast? You know father wouldn't want any
hungry person to be turned away. Let them sit down on the bench there
and tell Dorset I said to give them a good hot breakfast, and get some
milk for the baby. Be quick about it, too!"
James started and frowned at the clear, commanding voice. The squaw
turned grateful animal eyes up to the little beauty in the window,
muttering some inarticulate thanks, while the stolid Indian's eyes
glittered hopefully, though the muscles of his mask-like countenance
changed not an atom.
Rosa smiled radiantly and ran down to see that her orders were obeyed.
She tried to talk a little with the squaw, but found she understood very
little English. The Indian spoke better and gave her their brief story.
They were on their way to the Navajo reservation to the far north. They
had been unfortunate enough to lose their last scanty provisions by
prowling coyotes during the night, and were in need of food. Rosa gave
them a place to sit down and a plentiful breakfast, and ordered that a
small store of provisions should be prepared for their journey after
they had rested. Then she hurried up to her room to finish her letter.
She had her plan well fixed now. These strangers should be her willing
messengers. Now and then, as she wrote she lifted her head and gazed out
of the window, where she could see the squaw busy with her little one,
and her eyes fairly glittered with satisfaction. Nothing could have been
better planned than this.
She wrote her note carefully:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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