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
The medicine-man held her to the blanket and for a time she sat
quiescent. Then as the Indian lifted his hand from her shoulder the
bewilderment of her gray eyes changed to the wildness of delirium. She
looked toward the doorway where the dawn light made but little headway
against the dark interior. With one blue-veined hand on her panting
breast she slowly, stealthily gathered herself together, and with
unbelievable swiftness she sprang for the square of dawn light. She
leaped almost into the arms of a young buck who sat near the door. He
bore her back to her place while the chant continued without
interruption.
Exhausted, Rhoda lay listening to the song. Gradually it began to
exert its hypnotic influence over her. Its sense of melancholy
enveloped her drug-like. She lay prone, the tears coursing down her
cheeks, her twitching hands turned upward beside her. Slowly she
floated outward upon a dark sea whose waves beat a ceaseless requiem of
anguish on her ears. It seemed to her that she was enduring all the
sorrows of the ages; that she was brain-tortured by the death agonies
of all humanity; that all the uselessness, all the meaninglessness, all
the utter weariness of the death-ridden world pressed upon her,
suffocating her, forcing her to stillness, slowing the beating of her
heart, the intake of her breath. Slowly her white lids closed, yet
with one last conscious cry for life:
"Kut-le!" she wailed. "Kut-le!"
A quick shadow filled the doorway.
"Here, Rhoda! Here!"
Kut-le bounded into the room, upsetting the medicine-man, and lifted
Rhoda in his arms. She clung to him wildly.
"Take me away, Kut-le! Take me away!"
He soothed her with great tenderness.
"Dear one!" he murmured. "Dear one!" and she closed her eyes quietly.
During this time the Indians sat silent and watchful. Kut-le turned to
Alchise.
"You cursed fool!" he said.
"She get well now," replied Alchise anxiously. "Alchise save her for
you. Molly tell you where come."
For a moment Kut-le stared at Alchise; then, as if realizing the
futility of speech, "Come!" he said, and ignoring the other Indians, he
strode from the _campos_. Alchise and Cesca followed him, and outside
the anxious Molly seized Rhoda's limp hand with a little cry of joy.
Kut-le led the way to a quiet spot among the pines. Here he laid Rhoda
on a sheepskin and covered her with a tattered blanket, the spoils of
his previous night's trip.
About the middle of the morning Rhoda opened her eyes. As she stirred,
Kut-le came to her.
"I've had such horrible dreams, Kut-le. You won't go and leave me to
the Indians again?"
This appeal from Rhoda in her weakness almost overcame Kut-le but he
only smoothed her tangled hair and answered:
"No, dear one!"
"Where are we now?" she asked feebly.
Kut-le smiled.
"In the Rockies."
"I think I am very sick," continued Rhoda. "Do you think we can stay
quiet in one place today?"
Kut-le shook his head.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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