Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1909-07-17

of II. IL gives you a chance TO look
after this operating for year your
self. We are going TO be swamped
with freight traffic this year. and
want IL moved through the mountains
like checkers for the next six months
You know what I mean. George"
To McCloud the news came. in spite
OF himself. as blow. The results he
had attained in building through the
lower valley had given him a name
among the engineers of the whole line
The splendid showing OF the winter
construction. on which be had de-
pended 10 enable him to finish the
whole work within the year. was by
this news brought to naught. Those
OF the railroad men who said he could
not deliver a completed line within
the year could never be answered now.
And there was some slight bitterness
in the reflection that the very stun
bling-block TO hold him back. 70 rob
him OF his chance for a reputation
with men like Glover and Bucks.
should be the lands OF Dicksie Dun
ming.
He made no complaint. On the dl-
vision he took hold with new en-
ergy aud bent his faculties on the op-
Grating problems. At Marions he
saw Dicksie at intervals. and only to
fall more hopelessly under her spell
each time She could be serious and
she could be volatile and she could be
something between which he could
never quite make out. She could be
serious with him when he was serious.
and tofa11v irro1rrpcihta tho povt min
ute with Marion. On the other hand.
when McCloud attempted to be iip-
pant. Dicksie could be confusingly
grave. Once when he was bantering
with her at Marion's she tried 10 say
something about her regret that com
plications over the right OF way
should have arisen: but McCloud made
light OF Il. and waved the matter aside
as IL he were a cavalier. Dicksie did
not like e. but it was only that ne
was afraid she would realize he was a
mere railroad superintendent with
hopes OF a record for promotion quite
blasted And as N this obstacle 10 a
greater reputation were not enough. a
wiher enemy threatened I'm the spring
10 leave only shreds and patches OF
what he had already earned.
The Crawling Stone river is said 10
embody. historically. all OF the de-
ceits known 90 mountain streams Be
low the Box Canyon IL plows through
a great bed OF yielding silt. its own
deposit between the two imposing
lines OF bluffs that resist its wander
ings from side TO side of the wide val
ley. This fertile soil makes up the
+, rich lands that are the envy OF less
, fortunate regions in the Great Basin:
but the Crawling Stone is not a river
TO give quiet title 90 one acre OF its
own making. The toll OF its centuries
spreads beautifully green under the
June skies. and the transporting set
tier lulled into security by many
sears OF the rivers repose. settles on
its level bench land and lays out his
long lines of possession: but the Sioux
will tell you In their own talk that this
man Is but a tenant at will: that IN
another time and az another place the
stranger will inherit his fields. and
that the Crawling Stone always comes
back for its own.
The winter had been an unusual one
even in land OF winters The sea
I
an average. but IL had fallen in the
/ spring and had been followed by ex-
/ cessively low temperatures throughout
the mountains. June came again. but
a strange June. The first rise OF the
Crawling Stone had not moved out
the winter frost. and the stream lay
bound from bank 10 bank. and for hun
dreds OF miles. under three feet OF ice.
When June opened. backward and
cold. there had been no spring Heavy
frosts lasting until the middle OF the
month gave sudden way to summer
heat, and the Indians on the upper
valley reservation began moving back
into the hills. Then came the rise.
Creek after creek In the higher noun.
tains. ice-bOund for six months, burst
without warning into food. Soft winds
struck with the sun and stripped the
mountain walls OF their, snow. Rains
set IN on the desert, and far in the
high northwest the Crawling Stone
lifting its four-foot cap of ice like
bed OF feathers began rolling il end
over end down the valley. In the Box.
40 feet OF water struck the canyon
wallS and ice-hoes were hurled like
torpedoes against the granite spurs;
the Crawling Stone was starting after
its own.
When the river rose. the earlier talk
OF Dunning's men had been that the
Crawling Stone would put an end 70
the railroad pretensions by washing
the $50 miles OF track back to the
Peace river. where IL had started. This
| much in the beginning was easy TO
predict; but the railroad men had
turned out in force to fight for their
holdings. and while the ranchers were
laughing. the river was flowing over
the bench lands in the upper valley.
CHAPTER XVII.