Arizona -- Fiction; Grand Canyon (Ariz.) -- Fiction; Western stories
Jonas put his free hand on Enoch's shoulder. "Are you sure you're
right, boss?" he asked huskily.
"I know I'm right, Jonas."
"Well, I don't see it your way, boss, but what's right for you is right
for me. Good night, sir," and shaking his head, Jonas slowly left the
room.
But Enoch was destined to see the pictures after all. One day, after
Cabinet meeting, the President, in his friendly way, clapped Enoch on
the shoulder.
"First time in a great many years, Huntingdon, that the Indian Bureau
has distinguished itself for anything but trouble! I saw Miss Allen's
pictures last night. My word! What a sense of heat and peace and,
yes, by jove, passion! those photographs tell. The Bureau ought to own
those pictures, old man. Especially the huge enlargement of Bright
Angel trail and the Navaho hunters. Eh?"
"Well, to tell the truth, Mr. President," said Enoch slowly, "I haven't
seen the pictures."
"Not seen them! Why some one said you discovered Miss Allen!"
"In a way I did, but I don't deserve any credit for that."
"Not if he saw her first!" exclaimed the Secretary of State, who had
loitered behind the others.
The President nodded. "She is very lovely. I saw her at a distance,
and I want to meet her. Now, Mr. Huntingdon, it's very painful for me
to have to chide you for dereliction in office. But a man who will
neglect those pictures for the--well, the coal fields of Alaska, should
be dealt with severely."
"Hear! Hear!" cried the Secretary of State.
The President laughed. "And so I must ask you, Mr. Huntingdon, to
bring Miss Allen to see me, after you have gone carefully over the
pictures. Jokes aside, you know my keen interest in Indian ethnology?"
Enoch nodded, and the President went on. "If this girl has the brains
and breadth of vision I'm sure she must have to produce a series of
photographs like those, I want to know her and do what I can to push
her work. So neglect Mexico and Alaska for a little while, tomorrow,
will you, Huntingdon?"
Enoch's laughter was a little grim, but with a quick leap of his heart,
he answered. "A man can but obey the Commander in Chief, I suppose!"
As the door swung to behind him, the President said to the Secretary of
State, "Huntingdon is working too hard, I'm afraid. Does he ever play?"
"Horseback riding and golf. But he's a woman hater. At least, if not
a hater, an avoider!"
"I like him," said the President. "I want him to play."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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