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The boys looked uncoo when they had coinia
"Well," said Stuart, "she hasn't had a chance to say anything yet Toot up, and To out over at the Fontaines' while we came over here"
"Didn't she say anything when you got hoht?"
"We were in luck last night Just before we got hoht in, and the place was in a stew The big brute -- he's a grand horse, Scarlett; you ht away -- he'd already bitten a hunk out of his groom on the way down here and he'd trampled two of Ma's darkies who ot home, he'd about kicked the stable down and half-killed Strawberry, Ma's old stallion When we got ho hi from the rafters, popeyed, they were so scared, but Ma was talking to the horse like he was folks and he was eating out of her hand There ain't nobody like Ma with a horse And when she saw us she said: 'In Heaven's naain? You're worse than the plagues of Egypt!' And then the horse began snorting and rearing and she said: 'Get out of here! Can't you see he's nervous, the big darling? I'll tend to you four in the ot away before she could catch us and left Boyd to handle her"
"Do you suppose she'll hit Boyd?" Scarlett, like the rest of the County, could never get used to the way s crop on their backs if the occasion seemed to warrant it
Beatrice Tarleton was a busy woe cotton plantation, a hundred negroes and eight children, but the largest horse-breeding farued by the frequent scrapes of her four sons, and while no one was permitted to whip a horse or a slave, she felt that a lick now and then didn't do the boys any harm
"Of course she won't hit Boyd She never did beat Boyd much because he's the oldest and besides he's the runt of the litter," said Stuart, proud of his six feet two "That's e left hiht to stop licking us! We're nineteen and Tom's twenty-one, and she acts like we're six years old"
"Will your mother ride the new horse to the Wilkes barbecue tomorrow?"
"She wants to, but Pa says he's too dangerous And, anyway, the girls won't let her They said they were going to have her go to one party at least like a lady, riding in the carriage"
"I hope it doesn't rain tomorrow," said Scarlett "It's rained nearly every day for a week There's nothing worse than a barbecue turned into an indoor picnic"
"Oh, it'll be clear tomorrow and hot as June," said Stuart "Look at Oat sunset I never saw one redder You can always tell weather by sunsets"
They looked out across the endless acres of Gerald O'Hara's newly plowed cotton fields toward the red horizon Now that the sun was setting in a welter of crimson behind tin lulls across the Flint River, the war into a faint but balmy chill
Spring had co of pink peach blosso hite stars the dark river swa was nearly finished, and the bloody glory of the sunset colored the fresh-cut furrows of red Georgia clay to even redder hues Theupturned for the cotton seeds, showed pinkish on the sandy tops of furrows, ver the sides of the trenches The ashed brick plantation house see, curving, crescent billows petrified suddenly at theinto surf For here were no long, straight furrows, such as could be seen in the yellow clay fields of the flat ia country or in the lush black earth of the coastal plantations The rolling foothill country of north Georgia was plowed in adown into the river bottoms
It was a savagely red land, blood-colored after rains, brick dust in droughts, the best cotton land in the world It was a pleasant land of white houses, peaceful plowed fields and sluggish yellow rivers, but a land of contrasts, of brightest sun glare and densest shade The plantation clearings and miles of cotton fields ses rose the virgin forests, dark and cool even in the hottest noons,to ith an age-old patience, to threaten with soft sighs: "Be careful! Be careful! We had you once We can take you back again"
To the ears of the three on the porch ca of harness chains and the shrill careless laughter of negro voices, as the field hands and mules came in from the fields From within the house floated the soft voice of Scarlett's irl who carried her basket of keys The high-pitched, childish voice answered "Yas' out the back way toward the smokehouse where Ellen would ration out the food to the ho hands There was the click of china and the rattle of silver as Pork, the valet-butler of Tara, laid the table for supper
At these last sounds, the twins realized it was ti hoered on the porch of Tara, ive them an invitation to supper
"Look, Scarlett About tomorrow," said Brent "Just because we've been away and didn't know about the barbecue and the ball, that's no reason e shouldn't get plenty of dances toht You haven't promised them all, have you?"
"Well, I have! How did I know you all would be ho on you two"
"You a wallflower!" The boys laughed uproariously
"Look, honey You've got to give ot to eat supper with us We'll sit on the stair landing like we did at the last ball and get Maain"
"I don't like Ma toblack entlemen"
"You like 'em red-