Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1917-11-30

tori You1l remember that h what
Billy starbuck tried to tell us when
the first Of the missing mlnlng-claim
owners began to shout at u.s."
"Starbuck has a long head, and what
he doesn't know about mining claims in
this part Of the country wouldn't all a
very big book, remewber be said
thefe had never been any prospecting
done in the upper Timanyoni gulches,
and now you'd think half the people In
the United States had been nosing
around up there with a pick and shovel
at one time or another. But Il was a
thing that Starbuck told me no longer
ngo than yesterday that set me to
thinking" Baldwin went on. "As you
know, the old Escalante Spanish grant
corners over In the western part Of this
park. When the old grants were mnde,
they were ruled of on the map with
out reference to mountain ranges or
other natural barriers"
williams nodded.
swell, as / say, One corner OF the Es-
calnnte reaches over the Hophras and
out into the park. covering about eight
or ten square miles Of the territory
Just beyond us on u side Of the river.
starbuck told me yesterday that a big
Eastern colonization company had got
a bill through congress alternating that
tract"
The chief Of construction bounded
out Of his chnir and began to walk the
floor. by G%eorgel" he said; and
again: "By Georgel That's what
we're up against, c%oloneli Where will
those fellows get the water for their
land7 There is no site for a dam lower
down than ours, and, anyway, that land
lies too high to be watered by any
thing but a nighttime ditchl I"
"Nice little brace game, isn't it7'
grOwled Baldwin. III we hadn't been
a lot Of hayseed amateurs. we might
have found out long ago that someone
was running In a cold deck on us,
What's your notion? Are we done up,
world without endT'
Williams laugh was grim.
"What we need, colonel, is to go out
on the street and yell for a doctor" he
said. "It's beginning to look as X we
} had acquired a pretty bad case Of ma.
lignant strangle-itls."
Baldwin ran his fingers through his
hair and admitted that he had lost his
sense Of humOr.
"This Eastern crowd is trying &c
freeze US out, to get our dam and reser
voir and ditch rights for their Esca
lante scheme. When they do, they'll
turn around and sell US wnter-at 6fty
dollars an inch. or something like
that"
"What breaks my heart is that WI
haven't been able to surround the sure
enough fact while there was still time
to do something" lamented the ex
reclamation man. 1.-THE first thing w
know, Stanton will own q majority o
) the stock and be voting us oil out o
2 q Job. You'll have to come around t
my suggestion, after all, and Advertise
for a doctor" It was said Of the chic
= Of construction that he would hay
. joked on his death-bed, and. as a FOL
e lower for the Joke, he added: "Wh!
3 don't you call Smith In and give hin
the JobT"
; "You don't really mean that, WI
s liams, do your" growled the colonel.
mo, / didn't mean 1t when / said It.
q was the engineers admission II wa
d only trying to get a rise out Of you. Blu
really, colonel, on second thought,
don't know but It is worth considering
AS l say, Smith seems to know tn
d money game from start to finish. Wha
is better still, he is a fighter from tn
word go-what you might call a joyou
" fighter. Suppose you drive out tomoI
It row Of next day and pry into him
IS little"
a The rancher-presldent had relapse
d once more into the slough Of dlscouI
agement.
IS "You are merely grabbing for hand
holds, Bartley-as l was a minute age
d We are In a bad row Of stumps whe
k we can sit here and talk s%erlousl
re about roplng down a young hobo an
putting him into the financial harness
Let's go around to Frascatl's and ca
T. before you go back to camp. It's bread
:" time, anyway"
1t The chief Of construction said n
lie more about his joking suggestion at IN
l. moment, but when they were walkln
around the square to the Brewster De
ID monlco's he went back to the droppe
subject in all seriousness, saying
W "Just the same, l wish you could kno'
ri Smith and size him up as I have.
-e can't help believing. some way, this
he's all to the good"
st =