The Cairo bulletin., 1909-07-24
THE TREASURE OF THE STREAM.

1
hand, as one who pleads.
My good man, yoa're wasting my
| time. said the president of the com
pany affably He could afford to be
affable. Il can't help ii if you've no
water on your farm. Take my price
| two hundred and fifty-and it isn't
worth the fifty alone or stay here
| and rot
The irrigated lands, they
! called them with fine irony-had been
| first settled by miners. who had come
there attracted by marvellous stories
OF lost gold mine. They had labor
iously scraped the thin illuyial from
the banks of the stream and then de-
parted. Atterward the settlers came
Homesteads sprang up beside the
stream which made all the land fer
tile for seven miles on either side Of
il, But they were outwitted by cap
italists from the east. John Bascom
had seen. with the eye OF an expert,
The marvellous possibilities OF the dry
soil TWO miles eastward where once
the river had been. before the courses
Of the stream changed. He had ac-
CURED rights on the hillside and be-
gun To build the great dam which
was to divert the river into its ancient
bed and irligate thousands of acres
now nothing but sandy desert.
Meanwhile the settlers, finding their
water supply gradually diminishing,
had one by one sold out to the Land
Co. till only Gregson and his wife
remained
1t was not BaScom's intention to
divert the entire stream. He calcu-
lated, by leaving the end of the dam
open, he could divide the flow. and
thus acquire possession OF two tracts
of fertile soil. one along either tribu-
tary But first he must brighten Greg
son away Thus it was that. as the
dam drew to completion, the river
shrank daily until it was nothing but
a rivulet
God help us, Mary, we'll have to
60 Gregson muttered, staring out
over his parched acres. Ten years
a homestead built and prosperity fac
ing us-and now
II had been worth twelve thousand
the preceding year. Now the desert
had crept in, and where the broad riy-
er had been man could wade across.
The stream had been diverted and the
Land Co was growing rich.
We'll. Gregson are you ready to
move?" asked Bascom pleasantly the
following week, as he rode by,
Curse you, no." Gregson cried to
him, I'm rot first. You'll never get
this place-never.
Wait till next month"; said Bas-
com pleasantly.
Well. there was nothing but TO
complete the Gam and shut off the
entire stream. 1t would cost a cool
thousand to tear down the masonry
again. but Gregson's farm was worth
II times that-would be worth forty
thousand when properly divided up
into settlers lots. So. in due course
of time, Gregson and his wife were
left high and dry upon the face OF
the desert
Gregson drew HIS last penny from
the bank. He had $500 left in the
world, beside his worthless homestead.
It was too little to take them east,
even.
Well fight him While we are
alive" said his wife. DO you re-
member what that travelling surveyor
said two years ago, that there might
be an underground stream? Sink a
well, dear"
by God, I will" creid Gregson.
1t cost all that he had to run down
to rock level and board the sides
against the sand. And. when this
was done, there was no water.
"Gregson, I'll give you seventy-fve
for your house, to use for lumber"
said Bascom. Come, I'll make it
couple Of hundred, so that you can
get away Don't be a fool. man.
MIN vi gOhl NiiCs AOu fCN W
go; a mouse couldn't earn a living
here. Or. I'll sell you five lots in the
company's land, fifty down and five a
month"
And Gregson flung back his defiance
at him and still remained.
Now they had only food for week
They scooped up water
for drinking out Of the wet sand with
difficulty And even that failed them.
We've got to 60" said Gregson at
last. But well leave them nothing.
Let Us fill in the well, at any rate,
before we leave"
For three days they worked inces-
sanity, shoyeling sand from the bed
of the stream and filling up the well.
On the fourth day Gregson tripped in
the excavation and sat up with a cry. |
holding his foot. He had stubbed II
against boulder. His wife ran up TO |
him. She saw his face freeze sud |
denly; saw his features distorted. |
heard the laugh of a mailman come |
from his throat He pointed into the |