“Do you like this road, Mr. Butts?” she asked tenderly. “It’s quite
famous. The guests always like it. I do think that this is one of the
nicest trips we have, even if it _is_ included in the regular Detour.
The first and third days may be more educational, but today I think
you’ll have a lovely time besides.”
Mr. Butts merely grunted, but there was a satisfactory reaction from the
old lady who sat in front of him. She turned and smiled nervously.
“Isn’t this road dangerous for the speed we’re going?” she quavered. “Of
course it’s perfectly beautiful. Mr. Butts, do look at that, right
behind you!”
Mr. Butts turned his head resignedly and looked. The bus had come to a
place that gave a short glimpse of Santa Fé behind them, tiny and white
and scattered. It was immediately hidden by the dark turbulent waves of
hill around it as they drove on.
“Pretty,” said Mr. Butts in his brief way.
Gin gave it up for the moment and settled back, fanning herself with her
hat. The bus was hot and stuffy, although all the glass windows were
open. She yawned and drifted off, thankful that she wasn’t feeling
particularly nauseated today by the constant motion. Some of the girls
could never get used to it, but she seemed to be adjusted. She looked
around apathetically at the dudes and wondered if they were all as
stupid as they appeared or if it was because she needed sleep. Some
days, it was true, everyone was perfectly charming. Those were the days
that followed good healthy nights of sleep. There weren’t many of them,
she thought ruefully. She often thought ruefully of her habits, but
never to the extent of changing them. No one did in Santa Fé when they
had lived there as long as she had.
One of the crowd today wasn’t so bad, she thought. She had noticed him
at the hotel office when he signed on at the last minute for the trip.
As skilful as the clerk in sizing up the tourists, she had put him
immediately in the pigeon-hole reserved for summer visitors who stayed
the season. He was no train-tripper. He probably lived in one of the big
houses outside of town, with a swimming-pool and a stable. A
nice-looking kid, just a baby, probably sixteen. Since she had not seen
him before, he must be new. Since he was wearing summer clothes of an
extreme carelessness—blue shirt and white trousers and no hat—he was
not a resident; residents of Santa Fé never admitted that it was a
summer resort; they tried to dress as if Santa Fé were New York. Well,
he’d be around now, riding around the Plaza, playing tennis with Teddy
Madden, looking scornfully at the newcomers after he had been there a
week, and talking learnedly of Indian customs. He was new, though: she
could tell it by the fact that he was taking a trip with her and looking
at everything with an ingenuous pleasure. She liked the way he looked
out of the window. He was taking it hard.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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