The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1916-01-27
CHAPTER XIV.

runway SduuTy was Sldu 10 see DER,
but the critical point was at hand and
he scarce took time to eat or sleep
from the great work of the contract.
The mammoth raft was ready, the
largest, according to Daily, hat the
camp had eve sent out in all its life,
and a special boat from the Portland
Mills company would lay off Yaquina
to receive it on the sixteenth.
On the night of the second, Daily
caught a glimmer of white on the lin
tel. 1t was a paper, stuck in with a
thumb-tack.
Watch your raft" it said, for pow
der"
That was all, and it was unsigned.
Daily told Sandry of the incident and
showed the warning.
So for the remaining nights the
great raft was lighted from end to
end and four Of the Indians patrolled
it in shifts, armed with rifles and I'M
der orders to shoot at the first sign of
trouble.
The work went forward rapidly. The
S~iwashes, born and raised in the tim
Der country, knew all the work of the
camp and they needed no driving.
They were a godsend to Sandry in
the pressing days and he came to look
upon them with a wide tolerance
"'In serving you we serve S1etz,'"
he quoted to himself, for she's your
, woman" And an odd sensation
prickled his skin, tingled at the roots
Of his hair. Some way. somehow,
these were Siletz' people-these silent,
shiftless, well-taught creatures, who
made no use of their talents, yet who
did hard, unnecessary labor at the call
Of the blood
That night, with the raft and even
the two engines under guard and all
the length of track %patrolled, he came
in tired, worn to a thin edge with
sleeplessness, tense and taut as a sing
ing wire, to meet Miss Ordway.
She slipped her hand into his arm
with a little, familiar gesture and
turned him about.
Come along and relax" she said,
you're almost hysterical."
Il believe | am" said Sandry wea-
rily, though as he stepped out into the
night, soft already with the breath of
| spring as is the way with the coast
country, where the seasons shoulder
each other suddenly for place, he
looked ~uneasily for Siletz.
Lets go up to the old rollway. It's
deserted and l have things to tell
you-oh, many things!"
She laughed, her little ripping
laugh that was so soft and rich, and it
soothed the mans strained nerves like
a narcotic.
Miss Ordway sat down, or rather
climbed up, on a log hat lay beside
the rollway and drew her gray broad
| cloth aside.
Sandry settled himself beside her
and took off his hat. The soft, changed
breath of the night air vas grateful
to him.
"Whe-ew! I'll be thankful when this
strain is over, that raft headed out to
sea and my contract fulfilled! never
knew business was so strenuous"
Miss Ordway looked at him through
the dusk with admiring eyes.
But look how you're succeeding!
Why, it's great!"
"Yes-but for how much Of it can
| thank myself? Hampden has me in
a bad hole about my great East Belt
the best timber in the region and the
base, practically, Of the Dillingworth's
future-and but for these Indians l
would be now-well, l hate to think
where I'd have been"
"Sh!" said Miss Ordway; mot so
fast about that bad hole. Instead, Mr..
Walter Sandry, we've got your friend
Hampden in the deepest hole he was
ever in in all his life. In fact, when
we say the word, he'll turn rel the
East Belt with both hands"
Sandry held out a hand and Miss
Ordway took it, not after her usual
manner of ~hail-fellow, but with a
gentle, proprietary motion. She tapped
the breast of her princess gown.
Il have right here copies Of filings
on sixteen claims, all duly put through
by cash entry by as many different
men-and 1 know that Hampden owns
all these numbers, that he furnished
the money for building the cabins, for
filing fees, for advertising, for final
proofs at the land office and for the
government price of the land. In re-
turn for all this these bogus entry.
men-your drifting gentry OF the
spiked boots and the turkey in mos
cases-received four hundred dollars
eacn for the breaking OF their faith
with the government. No wonder
hampden is rich!'
For a long moment Sandry sat IN
a silence SO deep that he ceased to
breathe. He was grasping the magni.
tude OF the man s daring-the gigantic
risk ne ran with his safety in the un'
certain hands OF sixteen men.
And also ne was beginning to com
prehend. wonderingly, the daring OF
this woman, her ~finesse, e clever
ness and her success.