The L'Anse sentinel., 1919-04-18

through. He itched to begin. 1t never
occurred to him that, like Hardin. no
might fail.
"Though It's no pink tea," he told
himself, "it's no picnic" At Tucson
he knew that the situation was a
grave one, but his talk with Brandon.
who knew his river as does a good In
dian, made the year significant.
eventful one. Matt Hamlin, too, whose
shrewd eyes had grown river-wise. ne.
too. had had tales to tell Of the tricky
river. Maldonado, the half-breed. had
confirmed their portents while they sat
together under his oleander, famous
throughout that section Of the coun-
try. And powerfully had Cor'nel, the
Indian who had piloted Estrada's party
across the desert, whom Rickard had
met at the Crossing, deeply had he I'm
pressed him. The river grew into a
malevolent, mocking personality; he
could see 1t a dragon of yellow waters,
dragging it's slow, sluggish length
across the baked desert sands; deceiv-
ing men by its inertness; Turing the
explorer by mild mood to rise sud-
denly with its wild fellow, the ella,
sending boat and boatmen to their
swift doom.
Rickard was thinking Of the half
breed, Maldonado, as he inspected the
new stretch of levee between the
towns. He had heard from others be-
sides Estrada Of the river knowledge
of this descendant OF trapper and
squaw, and had thought 1t worth while
to ride the twenty miles from down
the river to talk with him. The mans
suavity, his narrow slits Of eyes, the
lips thin and facile, deep lines of cru.
city falling from them, had repclled
his visitor. The mystery of the place
followed him. Why the 'dobe wall
which completely surrounded the
small, low dwellings? Why the eau
tious admittance, the atmosphere OF
suspicion? Richard had seen tho wife,
a frightened shadow of a woman; had
seen her finch when the brute called
for her. He had questioned Cor'nel
about the half-breed. He was remem-
old Indians face as he delivered him.
self of an oracular grunt.
"White man? No. Indian? Mol
Coyote"
Though he suspected Maldonado
would lie on principle, though it might
be that two-thirds of his glib tissue
were false, yet thread Of truth CO.
incident with the others, Brandon and
Hamlin and Cor'nel, might be pulled
out of his romantic fabric.
"When the waters Of the Gila run
red look out for trouble!" He doubt
cd that they ever ran red. He would
ask Cor'nel. He had also spoken Of
cycle, known to Indians, of q hun
dredth year, when the Dragon grows
restless; this he had declared was a
hundredth year.
Following his talk with Maldonado
and the accidental happy chance meet
ing with Coronel at the Crossing Rick
ard had written his first report to Tod
Marshall Before he had come to the
Heading he had expected to advise
against the completion Of the wooden
headgate at the Crossing. Hamlin
had given him new viewpoint. There
was fighting chance. And he wanted
to be fair. Next to being successful
he wanted to be fair.
ITS time to be hearing from Mar
SHALL" Rickard was thinking, as he
walked back to the hotel. II wonder
what he will say" He felt 1t had
been fair to put 1t up to Marshall;
personally, he would like to begin with
a clean slate-begin right. Clumsy
work had been done, 1t was true, yet
there were urgent reasons now for
haste; and the gate was nearly half
done! He had gone carefully over
the situation. The heavy snowfall, un-
precedented for years, hundred, ac-
cordlng to the Indians-on the Wind
Rover mountains-the lakes swollen
with Ice, the ella restless, the summer
floods yet to be met; perhaps. lie now
| thought, he had been overfair In en-
phasizing the arguments for the head
gate. For the hundred feet were now
thousand feet-yet he had spoken
Of that to Marshall: Calculate for
yourself the difference In expense
since the flood widened the break. q
Is vastly different problem now.
Disaster island, which they figured on
for anchor, is n mere pit Of corrodins
sugar In the channel. An infant Col
orado could wash 1t away. However,
lot of work has already been done.
and a lot Of money spent. There Is q
lighting chance. Perhaps the bad year
Is all Indian talk"
A guess, at best. whatever they did
1t was pure gamble what the tricky
Colorado would do. Anyway, he had
given the whole situation to Marshall.
In his box at the hotel was a tele-
gram which had been sent over from
the ofilce-from Tod Marshall. "Take
the fighting chance. But remember to
speak more respectfully of Indians"
Marshall all over," laughed his sub
ordinate. snow it's case Of hustle
But dollars to doughnuts, as Junior
says, We don't do itp