The Heart of the Desert (Kut-Le of the Desert)Morrow, Honoré
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The Heart of the Desert (Kut-Le of the Desert)
Morrow, Honoré
Indians of North America -- West (U.S.) -- Fiction; Love stories; Western stories
Kut-le put Rhoda in her saddle, fastened her securely and put a Navajo
about her shoulders. The night's misery was begun. Whether they went
up and down mountains, whether they crossed deserts, Rhoda neither knew
nor cared. The blind purpose of clinging to the saddle was the one aim
of the dreadful night. She was a little light-headed at times and with
her head against the horse's neck, she murmured John DeWitt's name, or
sitting erect she called to him wildly. At such times Kut-le's fingers
tightened and he clinched his teeth, but he did not go to her. When,
however, the frail figure drooped silently and inertly against the
waist strap he seemed to know even in the darkness. Then and then only
he lifted her down, the squaws massaged her wracked body, and she was
put in the saddle again. Over and over during the night this was
repeated until at dawn Rhoda was barely conscious that after being
lifted to the ground she was not remounted but was covered carefully
and left in peace.
It was late in the afternoon again when Rhoda woke. She pushed aside
her blankets and tried to get up but fell back with a groan. The
stiffness of the previous days was nothing whatever to the misery that
now held every muscle rigid. The overexertion of three nights in the
saddle which the massaging had so far mitigated had asserted itself and
every muscle in the girl's body seemed acutely painful. To lift her
hand to her hair, to draw a long breath, to turn her head, was almost
impossible.
Rhoda looked dismally about her. The camp this time was on the side of
a mountain that lay in a series of mighty ranges, each separated from
the other by a narrow strip of desert. White and gold gleamed the
snow-capped peaks. Purple and lavender melted the shimmering desert
into the lifting mesas. Rhoda threw her arm across her eyes to hide
the hateful sight, and moaned in pain at the movement.
Molly ran to her side.
"Your bones heap sick? Molly rub 'em?" she asked eagerly.
"O Molly, if you would!" replied Rhoda gratefully, and she wondered at
the skill and gentleness of the Indian woman who manipulated the aching
muscles with such rapidity and firmness that in a little while Rhoda
staggered stiffly to her feet.
"Molly," she said, "I want to wash my face."
Molly puckered up her own face in her effort to understand, and
scratched her head.
"Don't _sabe_ that," she said.
"Wash my face!" repeated Rhoda in astonishment. "Of course you
understand."
Molly laughed.
"No! You no wash! No use! You just get cold--heap cold!"
"Molly!" called Kut-le's authoritative voice.
Molly went flying toward the packs, from which she returned with a
canteen and a tiny pitch-smeared basket. Kut-le followed with a towel.
He grinned at Rhoda.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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