In May, Carley returned to Flagstaff to take up with earnest inspiration

the labors of homebuilding in a primitive land.

It required two trucks to transport her baggage and purchases out to

Deep Lake. The road was good for eighteen miles of the distance, until

it branched off to reach her land, and from there it was desert rock

and sand. But eventually they made it; and Carley found herself and

belongings dumped out into the windy and sunny open. The moment was

singularly thrilling and full of transport. She was free. She had shaken

off the shackles. She faced lonely, wild, barren desert that must be

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made habitable by the genius of her direction and the labor of her

hands. Always a thought of Glenn hovered tenderly, dreamily in the back

of her consciousness, but she welcomed the opportunity to have a few

weeks of work and activity and solitude before taking up her life with

him. She wanted to adapt herself to the metamorphosis that had been

wrought in her.

To her amazement and delight, a very considerable progress had been made

with her plans. Under a sheltered red cliff among the cedars had

been erected the tents where she expected to live until the house

was completed. These tents were large, with broad floors high off the

ground, and there were four of them. Her living tent had a porch under

a wide canvas awning. The bed was a boxlike affair, raised off the floor

two feet, and it contained a great, fragrant mass of cedar boughs upon

which the blankets were to be spread. At one end was a dresser with

large mirror, and a chiffonier. There were table and lamp, a low rocking

chair, a shelf for books, a row of hooks upon which to hang things,

a washstand with its necessary accessories, a little stove and a

neat stack of cedar chips and sticks. Navajo rugs on the floor lent

brightness and comfort.

Carley heard the rustling of cedar branches over her head, and saw

where they brushed against the tent roof. It appeared warm and fragrant

inside, and protected from the wind, and a subdued white light filtered

through the canvas. Almost she felt like reproving herself for the

comfort surrounding her. For she had come West to welcome the hard

knocks of primitive life.

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.




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