Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1917-12-28

" M0 AAAN
ed-beileves IA the resoR-ess Of the
country and all that. But you can't
borrow money from him without secur-
ity. II that's what you're aiming to do"
Cant we7' smiled the young man
who knew banks and bankers. Lets
go and see, You may introduce me to
Knzie as your acting financial secre-
tary, II you like. Now one more ques-
ton: What Is Kinzie's attitude toward
Timanyoni DltchT
"At first he wa all kinds Of friend
ly; he Is a s~tockhOlder in a small way.
But after a while he began to cool
down a little, and now-well, l don't
know; I hate to think Il Of Dave, but
I'm afraid he's leaning the other way,
toward these Eastern fellows. He
tried to cover Stanton's tracks in the
stock-buying from Gardner and Boil
ling"
"That Is natural, too" said Smith,
whose point of view was always I'M
obscured In any battle Of business.
1.-THE big company would be a better
customer for the bank than your little
one could ever hope to be. I guess
that's all for the present. If you're
ready, wen go down and face the
music"
by Janders !" said the colonel with
an open smile; 81 believe you'd just as
soon tackle a banker as to eat your
dinner; and I'd about as soon take a
horsewhipping. Come on; I'll steer
you up against Dave, but I'm telling
you right now that the steering is
about all you can count on from me-
1t was while they were crossing the
street together that Mr.. Crawford
Stanton had his third morning caller.
a thlckset, bnrrel-bOdied man with
little piglike eyes, closely cropped hair.
a bristllng mustache, and n wooden
leg of the homemade sort. The mer
Of the camps called the cripple "Peg.
leg" or "Blue Pete" indlfferently
though not to his face. For though
the fat face was always relaxed in
good-natured smile, the crippled sa
loonkeeper was of those who kill witt
the knife.
Stanton looked up from his dssl
when the pad-and-cllck of the cripple!
step came in from the street.
"Hello, Slmms," he said, in cur
greeting. "Want to see mel 81
down."
Slmms threw the brim of his sof
hat up with a backhanded stroke ant
Shook his head. "It amt worth while
and 1 gotta get back to camp. 1 blew
In to tell y'u there's a fella out Their,
that needs tn sandbag."
"Who is it?"
"Fella name Smith. He's shown
'em how to cut too many corners
pace-settin', he calls 1t. First thin
they know, they'll get the concrete VI
to where the high water won't bust
out"
Stanton's laugh was impatient.
Don't make any mistake Of tina
sort, Simms," he said. eve don't wan
the dam destroyed; we'd work jus
as hard as they would to prevent that
All we want is to have other peOpl,
think it's likely to go out-thlnk
hard enough to keep them from put
ting up any more money. Let that &c
Is there any more fresh talk-amonI
the menu" Stanton prided himself
little upon the underground wire-pull
Ing which had resulted in putin
Simms on the ground rs the keeper o
the cOnstruction-camp canteen. 1t wa
a fairly original way Of keeping a lis
tenlng ear open for the camp GOSSIP
Little" said the cripple briefly
'This here bllnk-blank fella Smith
been tellln' Williams that I Ort to b
run of tn reservation; says tn booz
puts the brake on for speed"
$50 1t does" agreed Stanton mus
lngly. "But 1 guess you can stay
while longer. I have a notion tina
Smiths been sent hereby some Outf
that can to buck us. If he hasn'
any backing"
The interruption was the hurried il
coming Of the young man with sleep
eyes and the cigarette stains on hi
fingers, and for once in a way he wa
stirred out Of his customary attitud
Of cynical Indifference.
"Smith and Colonel Baldwin ar
over yonder In Kinzle's private office,
he reported hastily. Before they shu
the door l heard Baldwin introducln
Smith as the new acting financial SEE
rotary Of the Tlmanyonl Ditch con
panyP
CHAPTER TX,