The Call Of The Canyon, Zane Grey [good non fiction books to read txt] 📗
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- Author: Zane Grey
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If Spring Came At All To Oak Creek Canyon It Warmed Into Summer Before
Carley Had Time To Languish With The Fever Characteristic Of Early June In
The East.
As If By Magic It Seemed The Green Grass Sprang Up, The Green Buds Opened
Into Leaves, The Bluebells And Primroses Bloomed, The Apple And Peach
Chapter 6 Pg 89Blossoms Burst Exquisitely White And Pink Against The Blue Sky. Oak Creek
Fell To A Transparent, Beautiful Brook, Leisurely Eddying In The Stone
Walled Nooks, Hurrying With Murmur And Babble Over The Little Falls. The
Mornings Broke Clear And Fragrantly Cool, The Noon Hours Seemed To Lag
Under A Hot Sun, The Nights Fell Like Dark Mantles From The Melancholy
Star-Sown Sky.
Carley Had Stubbornly Kept On Riding And Climbing Until She Killed Her
Secret Doubt That She Was Really A Thoroughbred, Until She Satisfied Her
Own Insistent Vanity That She Could Train To A Point Where This Outdoor
Life Was Not Too Much For Her Strength. She Lost Flesh Despite Increase Of
Appetite; She Lost Her Pallor For A Complexion Of Gold-Brown She Knew Her
Eastern Friends Would Admire; She Wore Out The Blisters And Aches And
Pains; She Found Herself Growing Firmer Of Muscle, Lither Of Line, Deeper
Of Chest. And In Addition To These Physical Manifestations There Were
Subtle Intimations Of A Delight In A Freedom Of Body She Had Never Before
Known, Of An Exhilaration In Action That Made Her Hot And Made Her Breathe,
Of A Sloughing Off Of Numberless Petty And Fussy And Luxurious Little
Superficialities Which She Had Supposed Were Necessary To Her Happiness.
What She Had Undertaken In Vain Conquest Of Glenn's Pride And Flo Hutter's
Western Tolerance She Had Found To Be A Boomerang. She Had Won Glenn's
Admiration; She Had Won The Western Girl's Recognition. But Her Passionate,
Stubborn Desire Had Been Ignoble, And Was Proved So By The Rebound Of Her
Achievement, Coming Home To Her With A Sweetness She Had Not The Courage To
Accept. She Forced It From Her. This West With Its Rawness, Its Ruggedness,
She Hated.
Nevertheless, The June Days Passed, Growing Dreamily Swift, Growing More
Incomprehensibly Full; And Still She Had Not Broached To Glenn The Main
Object Of Her Visit--To Take Him Back East. Yet A Little While Longer! She
Hated His Work And Had Not Talked Of That. Yet An Honest Consciousness Told
Her That As Time Flew By She Feared More And More To Tell Him That He Was
Wasting His Life There And That She Could Not Bear It. Still Was He Wasting
It? Once In A While A Timid And Unfamiliar Carley Burch Voiced A Pregnant
Query. Perhaps What Held Carley Back Most Was The Happiness She Achieved In
Her Walks And Rides With Glenn. She Lingered Because Of Them. Every Day She
Loved Him More, And Yet--There Was Something. Was It In Her Or In Him? She
Had A Woman's Assurance Of His Love And Sometimes She Caught Her Breath--
Chapter 6 Pg 90Sweet And Strong Was The Tumultuous Emotion It Stirred. She Preferred To
Enjoy While She Could, To Dream Instead Of Think. But It Was Not Possible
To Hold A Blank, Dreamy, Lulled Consciousness All The Time. Thought Would
Return. And Not Always Could She Drive Away A Feeling That Glenn Would
Never Be Her Slave. She Divined Something In His Mind That Kept Him Gentle
And Kindly, Restrained Always, Sometimes Melancholy And Aloof, As If He
Were An Impassive Destiny Waiting For The Iron Consequences He Knew
Inevitably Must Fall. What Was This That He Knew Which She Did Not Know?
The Idea Haunted Her. Perhaps It Was That Which Compelled Her To Use All
Her Woman's Wiles And Charms On Glenn. Still, Though It Thrilled Her To See
She Made Him Love Her More As The Days Passed, She Could Not Blind Herself
To The Truth That No Softness Or Allurement Of Hers Changed This Strange
Restraint In Him. How That Baffled Her! Was It Resistance Or Knowledge Or
Nobility Or Doubt?
Flo Hutter's Twentieth Birthday Came Along The Middle Of June, And All The
Neighbors And Range Hands For Miles Around Were Invited To Celebrate It.
For The Second Time During Her Visit Carley Put On The White Gown That Had
Made Flo Gasp With Delight, And Had Stunned Mrs. Hutter, And Had Brought A
Reluctant Compliment From Glenn. Carley Liked To Create A Sensation. What
Were Exquisite And Expensive Gowns For, If Not That?
It Was Twilight On This Particular June Night When She Was Ready To Go
Downstairs, And She Tarried A While On The Long Porch. The Evening Star, So
Lonely And Radiant, So Cold And Passionless In The Dusky Blue, Had Become
An Object She Waited For And Watched, The Same As She Had Come To Love The
Dreaming, Murmuring Melody Of The Waterfall. She Lingered There. What Had
The Sights And Sounds And Smells Of This Wild Canyon Come To Mean To Her?
She Could Not Say. But They Had Changed Her Immeasurably.
Her Soft Slippers Made No Sound On The Porch, And As She Turned The Corner
Of The House, Where Shadows Hovered Thick, She Heard Lee Stanton's Voice:
"But, Flo, You Loved Me Before Kilbourne Came."
The Content, The Pathos, Of His Voice Chained Carley To The Spot. Some
Situations, Like Fate, Were Beyond Resisting.
Chapter 6 Pg 91
"Shore I Did," Replied Flo, Dreamily. This Was The Voice Of A Girl Who Was
Being Confronted By Happy And Sad Thoughts On Her Birthday.
"Don't You--Love Me--Still?" He Asked, Huskily.
"Why, Of Course, Lee! I Don't Change," She Said.
"But Then, Why--" There For The Moment His Utterance Or Courage Failed.
"Lee, Do You Want The Honest To God's Truth?"
"I Reckon--I Do."
"Well, I Love You Just As I Always Did," Replied Flo, Earnestly. "But, Lee,
I Love Him More Than You Or Anybody."
"My Heaven! Flo--You'll Ruin Us All!" He Exclaimed, Hoarsely.
"No, I Won't Either. You Can't Say I'm Not Level Headed. I Hated To Tell
You This, Lee, But You Made Me."
"Flo, You Love Me An' Him--Two Men?" Queried Stanton, Incredulously.
"I Shore Do," She Drawled, With A Soft Laugh. "And It's No Fun."
"Reckon I Don't Cut Much Of A Figure Alongside Kilbourne," Said Stanton,
Disconsolately.
"Lee, You Could Stand Alongside Any Man," Replied Flo, Eloquently. "You're
Western, And You're Steady And Loyal, And You'll--Well, Some Day You'll Be
Like Dad. Could I Say More? . . . But, Lee, This Man Is Different. He Is
Wonderful. I Can't Explain It, But I Feel It. He Has Been Through Hell's
Fire. Oh! Will I Ever Forget His Ravings When He Lay So Ill? He Means More
To Me Than Just One Man. He's American. You're American, Too, Lee, And You
Trained To Be A Soldier, And You Would Have Made A Grand One--If I Know Old
Arizona. But You Were Not Called To France. . . . Glenn Kilbourne Went. God
Only Knows What That Means. But He Went. And There's The Difference. I Saw
The Wreck Of Him. I Did A Little To Save His Life And His Mind. I Wouldn't
Be An American Girl If I Didn't Love Him. . . . Oh, Lee, Can't You
Understand?"
"I Reckon So. I'm Not Begrudging Glenn What--What You Care. I'm Only Afraid
Chapter 6 Pg 92I'll Lose You."
"I Never Promised To Marry You, Did I?"
"Not In Words. But Kisses Ought To--?"
"Yes, Kisses Mean A Lot," She Replied. "And So Far I Stand Committed. I
Suppose I'll Marry You Some Day And Be Blamed Lucky. I'll Be Happy, Too--
Don't You Overlook That Hunch. . . . You Needn't Worry. Glenn Is In Love
With Carley. She's Beautiful, Rich--And Of His Class. How Could He Ever See
Me?"
"Flo, You Can Never Tell," Replied Stanton, Thoughtfully. "I Didn't Like
Her At First. But I'm Comin' Round. The Thing Is, Flo, Does She Love Him As
You Love Him?"
"Oh, I Think So--I Hope So," Answered Flo, As If In Distress.
"I'm Not So Shore. But Then I Can't Savvy Her. Lord Knows I Hope So, Too.
If She Doesn't--If She Goes Back East An' Leaves Him Here--I Reckon My
Case--"
"Hush! I Know She's Out Here To Take Him Back. Let's Go Downstairs Now."
"Aw, Wait--Flo," He Begged. "What's Your Hurry? . . . Come-Give Me--"
"There! That's All You Get, Birthday Or No Birthday," Replied Flo, Gayly.
Carley Heard The Soft Kiss And Stanton's Deep Breath, And Then Footsteps As
They Walked Away In The Gloom Toward The Stairway. Carley Leaned Against
The Log Wall. She Felt The Rough Wood--Smelled The Rusty Pine Rosin. Her
Other Hand Pressed Her Bosom Where Her Heart Beat With Unwonted Vigor.
Footsteps And Voices Sounded Beneath Her. Twilight Had Deepened Into Night.
The Low Murmur Of The Waterfall And The Babble Of The Brook Floated To Her
Strained Ears.
Listeners Never Heard Good Of Themselves. But Stanton's Subtle Doubt Of Any
Depth To Her, Though It Hurt, Was Not So Conflicting As The Ringing Truth
Of Flo Hutter's Love For Glenn. This Unsought Knowledge Powerfully Affected
Carley. She Was Forewarned And Forearmed Now. It Saddened Her, Yet Did Not
Lessen Her Confidence In Her Hold On Glenn. But It Stirred To Perplexing
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