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Page 85
It took less than an hour to have her trunks stored in one of the spare
tents, and to unpack clothes and necessaries for immediate use. Carley
donned the comfortable and somewhat shabby outdoor garb she had worn at Oak
Creek the year before; and it seemed to be the last thing needed to make
her fully realize the glorious truth of the present.
"I'm here," she said to her pale, yet happy face in the mirror. "The
impossible has happened. I have accepted Glenn's life. I have answered that
strange call out of the West."
She wanted to throw herself on the sunlit woolly blankets of her bed and
hug them, to think and think of the bewildering present happiness, to dream
of the future, but she could not lie or sit still, nor keep her mind from
grasping at actualities and possibilities of this place, nor her hands from
itching to do things.
It developed, presently, that she could not have idled away the time even
if she had wanted to, for the Mexican woman came for her, with smiling
gesticulation and jabber that manifestly meant dinner. Carley could not
understand many Mexican words, and herein she saw another task. This
swarthy woman and her sloe-eyed husband favorably impressed Carley.
Next to claim her was Hoyle, the superintendent. "Miss Burch," he said, "in
the early days we could run up a log cabin in a jiffy. Axes, horses, strong
arms, and a few pegs--that was all we needed. But this house you've planned
is different. It's good you've come to take the responsibility."
Carley had chosen the site for her home on top of the knoll where Glenn had
taken her to show her the magnificent view of mountains and desert. Carley
climbed it now with beating heart and mingled emotions. A thousand times
already that day, it seemed, she had turned to gaze up at the noble
white-clad peaks. They were closer now, apparently looming over her, and
she felt a great sense of peace and protection in the thought that they
would always be there. But she had not yet seen the desert that had haunted
her for a year. When she reached the summit of the knoll and gazed out
across the open space it seemed that she must stand spellbound. How green
the cedared foreground--how gray and barren the downward slope--how
wonderful the painted steppes! The vision that had lived in her memory
shrank to nothingness. The reality was immense, more than beautiful,
appalling in its isolation, beyond comprehension with its lure and strength
to uplift.
But the superintendent drew her attention to the business at hand.
Carley had planned an L-shaped house of one story. Some of her ideas
appeared to be impractical, and these she abandoned. The framework was up
and half a dozen carpenters were lustily at work with saw and hammer.
"We'd made better progress if this house was in an ordinary place,"
explained Hoyle. "But you see the wind blows here, so the framework had to
be made as solid and strong as possible. In fact, it's bolted to the
sills."
Both living room and sleeping room were arranged so that the Painted Desert
could be seen from one window, and on the other side the whole of the San
Francisco Mountains. Both rooms were to have open fireplaces. Carley's idea
was for service and durability. She thought of comfort in the severe
winters of that high latitude, but elegance and luxury had no more
significance in her life.
Hoyle made his suggestions as to changes and adaptations, and, receiving
her approval, he went on to show her what had been already accomplished.
Back on higher ground a reservoir of concrete was being constructed near an
ever-flowing spring of snow water from the peaks. This water was being
piped by gravity to the house, and was a matter of greatest satisfaction to
Hoyle, for he claimed that it would never freeze in winter, and would be
cold and abundant during the hottest and driest of summers. This assurance
solved the most difficult and serious problem of ranch life in the desert.
Next Hoyle led Carley down off the knoll to the wide cedar valley adjacent
to the lake. He was enthusiastic over its possibilities. Two small corrals
and a large one had been erected, the latter having a low flat barn
connected with it. Ground was already being cleared along the lake where
alfalfa and hay were to be raised. Carley saw the blue and yellow smoke
from burning brush, and the fragrant odor thrilled her. Mexicans were
chopping the cleared cedars into firewood for winter use.
The day was spent before she realized it. At sunset the carpenters and
mechanics left in two old Ford cars for town. The Mexicans had a camp in
the cedars, and the Hoyles had theirs at the spring under the knoll where
Carley had camped with Glenn and the Hutters. Carley watched the golden
rosy sunset, and as the day ended she breathed deeply as if in unutterable
relief. Supper found her with appetite she had long since lost. Twilight
brought cold wind, the staccato bark of coyotes, the flicker of camp fires
through the cedars. She tried to embrace all her sensations, but they were
so rapid and many that she failed.
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