e was right after all. Chiquita
was a true child of the South whose passions subsided as quickly as they
burst into flame. And as for the knife, it would make an excellent
paper-cutter.

"Oh, dear, this is too absurd!" she exclaimed. And no longer able to
control herself, she burst into a peal of laughter in which was easily
detected the scorn, good humor and pity she felt for her would-be rival.

Perhaps Chiquita was as much puzzled by Blanch's behavior as the latter
was by hers, for all the while Blanch laughed, she also regarded her
with an expression of mingled curiosity and amusement.

"Senorita," said Blanch at length, heaving a sigh, "who are you?"

The latter did not reply immediately. Her face took on an earnest
expression and for some moments she stood silent, gazing straight out
before her as though oblivious to her surroundings. Then, suddenly
recollecting herself, she said:

"I am a Tewana, and am called the Chiquita. My father was the Whirlwind,
the War Chief of my people."

"The Whirlwind?" echoed Blanch. "What an appropriate name for a
savage!"

"Ah, but you should have seen him! He was the tallest man of the tribe."

"Do you know," said Blanch musingly, "I fancy you must be something like
him, Senorita."

"In spirit perhaps, but only a little," she answered. "I often wish that
I were more like him, for although he was a child in many things, he was
a man nevertheless--civilization had not spoilt him."

Again that dreamy, far-away look came into her eyes and again she seemed
to forget for the moment the presence of the two girls as her thoughts
reverted to the past.

"Senorita," she said at last, "when one like me stands on the threshold
midway between savagery and civilization and compares the crudities and
at times barbarities of the one with the luxuries and vices of the
other, he often asks himself which is preferable, civilization and its
few virtues, or the simple life of the savage. Which, I ask, is the
greater--the man who tells the time by the sun and the stars or he who
gauges it with the watch? I have listened to your music and gazed upon
your art and read your books, but what harmonies compare to
nature's--what book contains her truths and hidden mysteries? When I
came here I was taught to revere your civilization and I did for a time
until the disillusionment came, when I was introduced to the great world
of men and discovered how shallow and inadequate it was. Your mechanical