Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1919-03-14

Of Wooster. He had told Silent dis
tinctly to gather his men and rush the
levee. A good soldier had made bet
ter guess than his, and had stopped
the casual work at Black Butte, or
had found Indians! Thoughtfully
Rickard followed that last suggestion
across the ditch into Mexicali.
He gathered all the recruits he
needed that morning. The Indians,
lazy Cocopahs, crept out of their huts
to earn few of the silver dollars held
out to them by the new white boss.
A few Mexican laborers were bribed
to toss up earth to the west of the
town. Estrada, at his request, put a
squad of his road force at the service
of the manager. He could not spare
many men.
The railroad had already started
the line projected by Hardin to Mar
shall the year before, a spur across
the desert, dipping into Mexico be-
tween the lean, restless sandhills,
| from Calexico to Yuma The Mexican
|
thousand dollars a mile were the road
completed at a certain period. Estrada
was keeping his men on the jump to
| fill the contract, to make his nation
pay the price. The completion of the
road meant help to the valley; sup
plies, men, could be rushed through to
the break,
In spite of his haunting sense of
ultimate failure the growing belief in
the omnipotence ef the Great Yellow
Dragon as the Cocopahs visualized it.
EStrada'S work was as intense as
though he were Fastening a sure vic
tory. The dauntless spirit of the elder
Estrada pushed the track over the hot
sands where he must dance at times
to keep his feet from burning. Many
of the rails they laid at night.
Richards gone hog-wild," Hardin
told his family the next morning.
Building a levee between the towns
The man's<off his head"
There isn't any danger?" Gerty's
anxiety made the deep blue eyes look
black.
Innes looked up Tor Toms answer.
His face was ugly with passion.
Danger! It's a bluff, a big show
of activity here because he's buffa-
loed he doesn't know how to tackle
the job out there"
1t had begun to look that way to
} more than one. 1t was talked over
at Coulter's store; IN the outer Office
of the D. R. company where the engi
neers foregathered; among the chail
filters who idled in front of the Des
ert hotel. "The man does not know
! how to tackle his job!" A levee, ant
the gate held up! What protection tC
J the towns would be that toy levee il
) the river should return on one of it.
!, spectacular sprees? A levee, and tht
. intake itself not guarded? He wa:
? whispered of as incompetent; one o,
Marshall's clerks. He was given {
} short time to blow himself out. 4
!. bookman, a theorist.
e "As well put sentinels few mile
/ from prison and leave the Jail door
1 open!" This was Wooster's gibe. Al
saw the Colorado as q marauder a
large. "And little heap of san,
d stacked up to scare it off! It's
e scream ~
Mrs. Hardin found it difficult t
e meet with diplomacy the confidence
t which inevitably came her way. A
d Hardin's wife she was expected to en-
S JOY the universal censure the new ma
d was acquiring. Gerty's light touche:
: too slight for championship, passed a
t a sweet charity. Her own positio
d those days was trying. She did nc
# yet know her diplomatic lesson.
$ Apparently unaware of the tall
r Rickard spent the greater part of hi
e time experimenting the levee. H
It could trust no one else to do it, u
o one unless it were Estrada, who wa
It rushing his steel rails through to th
a front and was needed there.
e Things were moving under his col
stant goading. The extra pay wa
d showing results. He should be at th
Heading now. he kept telling himsel
!, but he was convinced that the instar
1t he turned his back, the work on til
1t levee would stop; and all the reason
excellent! Some emergency would /
cooked up to warrant the withdraw:
of the hands. Chafe as he might
the situation, it was to be guerrill
warfare. Not fight in the open, /
knew how to meet that, but that ba
ID fling resistance, the polite silence
1t the Office when he entered-"Wel
s they'll be doing my way pretty 500
ID or my name isn't Rickurd. That
E. fiat"
5. He was fretting to be at work,
D. start the wheels of the o. P, it's va
e. machinery toward his problem E
L knew that that organization, like we
p drilled militia, was ready for his ca
II The call Jagged, not that he did n,
ie need men, but there was no pla'
u ready for them. The camp, that W.
re another rub. There was no camp!
u
z 5: -