How strange life was, that she should hear these exquisite symbolic verses repeated by a Pagan in a land which had once belonged to his Pagan ancestors.
CHAPTER XIII
The Eternal Feminine
This morning there seemed to be a great deal of activity about the new Sunrise Hill camp. But then, no matter how people may talk of leading the simple life, there still remains a good deal of work to be done to make even the simple life agreeable.
The four tents stood in a kind of half circle in front of the small group of pine trees, which had influenced the choice of the camping site. Before the central tent was a tall totem pole, as yet uncolored and uncarved, which was later to record the experiences of the Arizona Sunrise Camp Fire club. It had been purchased from an Indian wood carver and had a strange head on top, resembling a sardonic American eagle.
Below and beyond the chosen mesa, and some distance off, lay Cottonwood Creek. The creek, fringed with tall cottonwood trees, was nearly a mile in length. To the south lay the Gardener ranch and toward the west the beginning of the desert, with the Hopi reservations farther on.
This morning, half a dozen yards from the kitchen tent, the camp fire was burning, and above it hung a huge iron pot.
Nearby, peering through a pair of large round glasses, Alice Ashton was engaged in studying a recipe book. The book had been compiled in Boston and Alice was baking beans for lunch. As the book had been a present from her mother to the Camp Fire club, Alice, although she knew exactly how the beans should be done, preferred resorting to it, as she always did to the wisdom of the printed page.
Ellen Deal was endeavoring to render her assistance but evidently her services were not desired. Nearly a month having passed with the Camp Fire club in Arizona, Ellen and Alice had become great friends. Alice conceded that the other girl had a scientific mind and was an authority on health but, when it came to baking beans, Boston must remain pre-eminent.
Mrs. Burton, sitting under one of the pine trees in her favorite place and reading a lot of mail, now and then glanced about her.
Alice’s earnestness was amusing—what a contrast she and Sally were, although they were sisters with only two years difference in their ages.