The Delta independent., 1916-02-11

who had Deen introduced TO the Chi
cago money gods in his hour of need,
could scarcely do less than to take the
time. The project. he explained, con-
templated the building of high dam
across the upper end of the Niquoia
canyon and the converting of the in
land valley above into a great storage
reservoir. From this reservoir series
of distributing canals would lead the
water out upon the arid lands of the
'Buckskin and the miracle would be
fact accomplished.
Sure, sure!" said the cheerful quer-
ist, feeling in the pockets of the au-
tomobile coat for a cigar At the
match-striking instant he remembered
q thing neglected. by George! you'll
have to pardon me. Mr. Brouillard; I'm
always forgetting the little social dew
dabs. Let me present you to my
daughter Genevieve. Gene, shake
hands with the son of my good old
friend, Judge Antoine Brouillard of
Vincennes."
1t was rather awkwardly done, and
somehow Brouillard could not help
fancying that Mr.. Cortwright could
have done it better. But when the
unquenchable beauty stripped her
gauntlet and gave him her hand, with
q dazzling smile and a word of ac-
knowledgment which was not bor-
rowed from her fathers effusive vo-
cabulary, he straightway fell into an.
other pit of triteness and his saving
first impressions of Mr. ]. Wesley Cort-
xur-fO q 6o
I'm immensely Interested" was
Miss Cortwright's comment on the out
lining of the reclamation project do
you mean to say that real farms with
green things growing on them can be
made out Of that frightful desert we
drove over yesterday afternoon?"
Brouillard smiled and plunged fatu-
ously. "Oh. yes; the farms are al
ready there. Nature made them, you
know; she merely forgot to arrange
for their watering" He was going on
to tell about the exhaustive expert
ments the department Of agriculture
experts had been making upon the
Buckskin soils when the gentleman
whose name had once figured upon
countless thousands Of lard packages
cut in.
"Mr. Brouillard. how far is It up to
where you are going to build your
damn"
I'll be glad to show you the way If
you care to try" Brouillard offered;
and the tentative invitation was
promptly accepted.
The transfer Of viewpoints from the
lower end of the canyon to the upper
was effected without incident, save at
Its beginning, when the father would
have called down to the young man
who had waded ashore and was drying
himself before the campfire Van
Bruce won't care to CO." the daughter
hastened to say; and Rrouillard, whose
gift 1t was to be able to pick out and
identify the human derelict at long
range, understood perfectly well the
reason for the young woman's hasty
interruption. One result of the sue
cessfully marketed lard packages was
very plainly evident in the dissipated
face and hangdog attitude of the mar
keter's son.
Conversation tagged on the climb
from the Buckskin level to that of the
reservoir valley; but when they
reached the pine tree OF the anchored
blueprints at the upper portal, Mr..
Cortwright recovered his breath sufii-
ciently to gasp his appreciation of the
prospect and its possibilities.
"Why. good goodness, Mr. Brouil-
lard. it's practically all done for you'll"
he wheezed. taking in the level, noun
tain-inclosed valley with an appraisive
eye-SWeep "What will Won do2-huiId
your dam right here and take out your
canal through the canyon? Is that the
plan?"
Brouillard nodded and went a little
further into details. showing how the
fnward-arching barrier would be an
chored into the two opposing mountain
buttresses.
"And the structure itself-how high
Is 1t to be?"
1.-TWO hundred feet above the spill.
way apron foot; concrete and steel. "
Then you are going to need Port
land cement-a whole lot OF it. Where
will you get 1t? And how will you get
AZ here?"
Brouillard smiled inwardly at the
pork packers suddenly awakened In
terest in the technical ways and
means. His four years in the desert
had taken him out OF touch with a
moneymaking world, and this momen
tary contact with one of its successful
devotees was Illuminating.
~ CHAPTER Ill M
No Easy Mark x