While she ate oranges in the shade of the trees, she surveyed the house and the gardens. Where did they get all the water? The land here was sandy desert nearly as dry as home — the panic grass and amaranth grew just as they did at home. She heard a buggy and horses, then voices from the road beyond the house; she had to find a better hiding place or the school search parties were certain to find her.
Indigo crept back up the steps, past the garden of red flowers and the white flower garden to the stone path that turned back to the barn and outbuildings behind the house. She listened for footsteps and voices but heard only the cicadas and a cactus wren; she darted around the corner of the barn to the strange glass house she noticed the afternoon before. The whitewash on the glass weathered off to reveal glimpses of green foliage and cascading spikes of white wisteria that grew up and out the roof vent. How wonderful the scent was! She closed her eyes and inhaled again and again; then she heard a sound — tap-tap-tap-tap, silence, then four more taps. She froze in her tracks; the hair on the back of her neck stood up; she turned quickly to locate the source of the sound. Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap! There it was again; someone was tapping on the inside of the glass house. She glanced over her shoulder as she retreated down the stone path to the gardens and caught a glimpse of the shining eyes and face of the little hairy monkey man who found her the previous morning. The monkey motioned for her to come to him.
♦ ♦ ♦
An early hurricane season in the Caribbean Sea had forced them to cut short their expedition. One after the other, the tropical storms lashed the Bahamas and the Keys. They attempted to wait out the first storm in St. Augustine, but a great gust of wind and ocean surge flung the small boat containing all their supplies against the crushed pier. Fortunately, all of Edward’s equipment and the precious collections he managed to make were in the hotel room with him. Before the second storm arrived, Edward tried to send a telegram to Mr. Talbot at the Bureau of Plant Industry to ask for authorization to extend the effective dates of their expedition and for funds to replace the lost and damaged supplies, but the high winds from the approaching storm knocked out telegraph communications as far north as Atlanta. Weeks later the downed lines were still not repaired, which was the reason his telegram to Hattie had arrived only hours before Edward. He was dubious when he asked the captain of a freighter bound for Galveston to send the telegram for him.
“The last thing I wanted was to upset you,” Edward said as he held Hattie’s chair for her at the table. But there was good news as welclass="underline" when their ship finally reached New Orleans, Edward found a telegram from Mr. Albert at Lowe & Company. Edward’s face flushed when he spoke of Lowe & Company. Though he had told her only a few details of the unfortunate expedition to Brazil, she recalled Lowe & Company was involved in a misunderstanding that occurred over certain rare orchids Edward was sent to collect for a group of private investors.
The cook had prepared lamb chops in mint jelly, green beans, and raisin-stuffed potatoes, special favorites of Edward’s, and there was mincemeat pie for dessert. Hattie did not care for the heavy flavor of lamb, and the odor of mincemeat pie had repelled her since the one bite of mince pie she took when she was eleven. She was too excited and happy to feel hungry so she daintily picked the raisins out of the potato and pushed the green beans across the plate with her fork while Edward related the new development: Lowe & Company had advanced him $5,000 for an expedition to Corsica. Now Hattie would have an opportunity to visit her aunt in England and they would see Italy as well. In little more than six weeks, they would depart for New York by train to visit their families on Long Island for a few weeks before they departed.
“But I’ve barely just arrived here,” Hattie said, surprised at the news. “I haven’t even unpacked our wedding gifts yet.” Edward smiled.
“Never mind that!” he said, taking both her hands in his. “You will have years and years to settle yourself here.”
He looked so distinguished and stalwart — the military posture from his prep school years in the east. As Hattie listened, she studied the face and the mouth, the intent expression in the eyes, and felt her heart beat faster because this was her beloved, still so new to her; it was still startling to see and realize here was her husband! Did she look as unfamiliar to him as well?
♦ ♦ ♦
The voyage from the Keys across the lower Gulf had taken a week longer than scheduled as the ship was forced to take refuge in protected coves to escape the high seas and winds that scoured the Keys and the coast. When they departed Veracruz the skies were blue and the wind calm, but as they began to cross the Bay of Campeche, the wind speed intensified. The ship’s captain steered for Tampico to escape the storm. With the expedition cut short, Edward was pleased for the opportunity to have a look around the public market in Tampico. He had made it his practice to collect samples of local and regional agriculture. The natives might possess unknown medicinal plants with commercial potential or a new variety of citrus or a new source for rubber. He was also eager to purchase archaeological artifacts and curiosities. Weather permitting, he would hire the cabin boy to assist him with his camera so the more interesting subjects could be photographed.
There were only light winds in Tampico; the topaz blue sky was scattered with cirrus clouds in a strong breeze that brought refreshment to the sweltering dockside streets with their stench of dead fish and sewage. Evidence of the civil unrest and the hurricane season were apparent: iron shutters were closed across shops; soldiers loitered in pairs on street corners smoking cigarettes, carbines slung over their backs. The streets were deserted though no one could name the cause. Rumors abounded: an outbreak of yellow fever, or an epidemic of rabid cats. There were always rumors of impending crisis in Tampico.
Earlier the first mate mentioned a recent uprising by half-castes and Indians who claimed to be guided by the Indian Virgin of Guadalupe against the state tax collectors. The early storm season and the dispute left a great many empty spaces and vacant stands; still, Edward was able to find a variety of muskmelon he had not seen before. Its shape reminded him of a human skull; its succulent sweet flesh was bright red. The melons were heaped in great piles on the old flagstones next to clay incense burners shaped like water lilies, filled with lumps of cloudy copal to fuel them. He purchased bunches of mysterious dried flowers beneficial to weak hearts and bald heads; he found strange roots the shape of a baby’s fingers, said to aid in digestion. He methodically peered into the stalls and shops that were closed lest he miss some unusual item. He noticed one stall that was actually the front of a tiny house at the entrance of the narrow alley behind the cathedral. He hesitated and nearly turned back because the stall was closed behind an iron gate; but then between the iron bars piled on the ground he saw chunks of lustrous black meteor iron for sale. He was always interested in acquiring meteor irons or other celestial curiosities. He knocked, but no one stirred inside; he would return later.
The massive stone towers of the old cathedral caught his eye; they were built with the stones of the Maya temple that once stood on the site. Edward felt he must photograph the cathedral and the market for his report; he returned to the ship for his camera and tripod and hired the cabin boy to assist him. While the cabin boy steadied the tripod legs, Edward adjusted the camera lens and arranged the black viewing cloth over his head. At this, the market fell strangely silent; Indian and mestizo women of the market hid their faces behind the corners of their shawls as they had when they told the price of a root or seeds.