The Ordway new era., 1919-05-16

every three miles. Rock must be
rushed; the trains must be pushed
through. He itched to begin. 1t never
occurred to him that, .like Hardin. he
might fall.
Though It's no pink tea," he told
himself, ats no picnic" At Tucson
he knew that the situation was
grave one, but his talk with Brandon.
who knew his river as does q good In
dian. made the year a significant,
eventful one. Matt Hamlin. too. whose
shrewd eyes had grown river-wise. he,
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 Q
malevolent. mocking personality; he
could see 1t dragon of yellow waters,
dragging its slow, sluggish length
across the baked desert sands deceiv-
ing men by its inertness; Turing the
explorer by q mild mood to rise sud-
denly with its wild fellow, the Gila,
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 Sits of eyes, the
lips thin and facile. deep lines of cru
city falling from them. had repelled
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? Rickard had seen the 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-
bering the wrinkles of contempt on the
old Indians face as he delivered him.
self of an oracular grunt.
"white MANI No. Indian? Mol
Coyotep
Though he suspected Maldonado
would lie on principle. though 1t 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 troubled" He doubt
ed that they ever ran red. He would
ask Cor'nel. He had also spoken of
q cycle known to Indians, of hum
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.
'Tt's time to be hearing from Mar
SHALL" Rickard was thinking. as he
walked back to the hotel. 81 wonder
what he will say" He felt 1t had
been fair to put 1t up to Marshall;
personally, he would like to begin with
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
donei He had gone carefully over
the situation. The heavy snowfall. un-
fprecedented for years. hundred, &C
cording to the IndIans-on the Wind
Rover mountains-the lakes swollen
with Ice, the ella restless, the summer
floods yet to be met; perhaps. he now
thought. he had been overfair In enl-
phasizing the arguments for the head
gate. For the hundred feet were now
a thousand feet-yet he had spoken
of that to Marshall: Calculate for
yourself the difference in expense
since the flood widened the break. 1t
is vastly different problem now.
Disaster island, which they figured on
for anchor. is mere pit Of corroding
sugar In the channel. An infant Col
orado could wash 1t away. However,
a lot of work has already been done.
and lot of money spent. There Is a
fighting chance. Perhaps the bad year
is all Indian talk"
A guess, at best, whatever they didI
It 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 tele-
gram which had been sent over from
the office-from Tod Marshall. "Take
the fighting chance. But remember to