The San Francisco call., 1908-11-08

ever inconsfderate Mr.. Colbrith was,
she was blameless.
Let me show you" he said. taking
the field glass and adjusting it for her.
Now hold 1t steadily and pick up the
line in the great loop. Have
you found It? Now follow 1T
slowly until you come to the point
where IL turns into the valley, and you
can trace it for miles by the cuts and
nlls"
She followed his directions until the
line of the extension became a vanish
ing thread in the distance, and then
was content to let the glass sweep the
Vastness beyond. When she spoke 1t
was of the topographic immensities
I heard you telling brother at the
dinner table in Chicago that you were
able to see more in this wilderness
than you have ever been able to make
any one else see. Can 1 see 1t with the
glass?"
4Iardly," he smiled. 'T was trying
TO tell your brother of the magnificent
possibilities of the country lying be-
tween this and that farthest noun
tain range; the country we are GO
ing to open up. 1t was a gospel
/ had been trying to preach to the di-
rectors, but none of them believed-not
even your uncle"
L see nothing but vastness and cold
gray grandeurs," she said, adding:
And the very bigness of it makes me
feel like mere atom, or a molecule-
whichever Is the smaller"
Yet II is a new empire in the
rough" he rejoined. with a touch of
the old enthusiasm. waiting only for
the coming of this"-putting his foot
again upon the steel of the new rail-
road line. What you are looking at
has been called part of the Great
American desert-the most forbidding
plOrers. Notwithstanding, there will
come a time when you can focus your
glass here on this mountain and look
out over what the promoters will then
be advertising as a 'peopled paradise
and these logs of wood in a row, with
two strands Of iron TO fasten them to-
gether' will bring IL to pass"
There was a flash of the enthusiasts
fire in the cool gray eyes to go with
the words, and Miss Adair wondered at
1t. He had stood for her as an embodi-
ment of things practical and prosaic;
as one too keenly watchful and alert
on the purely industrial side to be in
any sense a dreamer of dreams. Some
part of her thought slipped into speech.
No, am not an enthusiast" he de-
MED, in reply to her charge. AT bot
tom I'm only an engineer. with an am
bition to build railroads. But tt should
have learned no more than half of my
trade if I couldn't tell where il would
be profitable to build them"
Never mind; you seem to have con-
vinced Uncle Sidney and the directors
finally" she commented.
NO; your uncle and the directors
are not empire builders.meaning to
be- he objected. They are after the
present visible dollar in western out
let for the Pacific Southwestern. II we
reach Green Butte before our competi
tors can broaden their narrow gauge
to that point, we shall have a prac-
ticable line from Chicago to the Pacific
coast"
I understand" she said. But yours
is the higher ideal-the true American
ideal"
IT'S business he asserted
Well. isn't business the very heart
and soul of the American ideal?" she
laughed.
This time he laughed with her. for
getting his trouble for the moment.
u guess it is, in the last analysis"
he said. And then: I'm sorry to keep
you waiting so long, if you are anxious
to get back to the Nadia. But 1 warned
you beforehand. I must keep my ap-
pointment with Frisbie: Do you see
anything of him?" This because she
was again sweeping the western
wilderness with the fieldglass.
What am I TO look for?"
The smoke of an engine"
She focused the glass on the gorge at
the foot OF the pass. 4 see it!'' she
cried. "A little black beetle of thing
just barely crawling. Now 1t is turn
ing into the first curve of the great
loop"
Then we shan't have very much
longer to wait. Do you find the ten
thousand-foot breeze chilly? Turn up
the collar Of your coat and we'll walk
a bit"
1t was his first appreciable concern
for her comfort. and she gave him full
credit Coquetry was no part of Miss
Alicias equipment, but no woman likes
10 be utterly neglected on the the care
taking side, or TO be transformed ruth
lessly into a man companion whose we'll
being may be brusquely ignored. And
this young athlete in brown duck
shooting coat and service leggings, who
was patiently doing a sentry-go beside
her up and down the newly laid track
al the summit OF Plug pass, was quite
a different person from the abashed
apologist who had paid for her dinner
in the dining car on the night of purse
snatchings.