The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-02-19
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 q thought you were never coming" he grumbled.
 Let me take ftp pleaded the en- gineer.
 Nonsense, there is no danger" Har- din saw personal affection in the plea He put his hand affectionately on the mans shoulder.
 You go home and catch a nap; this is my job" He was standing on the step. Crank her" There was nothing for Silent to do but to get out. Hardin pointed the long nose of the car into the darkness. She wns off like the greyhound she suggested, missing telegraph pole by half an inch. ''WhO Is in charge here7" a woman's voice was piercing the racket of wind and wave.
 The dawn was breaking. Down the New river he could see the wind whip ping the water into whitecapped fury. 'Vicious," he muttered. Those heavy waves play the Old Harry with the levee."
 'Where Is my brother2"
 Miss Hardin! !' cried Silent. "Where is hef" demanded Innes. Her hair streamed away from her face. Her cheeks were blanched. Her yellow eyes, peering into the dusk, looked owlish. Her wind-spanked skirts clung to her limbs. To Silent she looked boyish, as though clipped and trou- sered. ''Where is my brother?" she re- peated.
 Silent told her without reservations where he had gone and why. There was no feminine foolishness about that sister of Hardin's. A chip of the old block. Funny. the men all thought of her as Hardin's daughter on ac- count of the difference of age. AS to comrade, proudly, he bragged of the taking of the dynamite over that road less waste
 "Whom did he leave in his placer
 Silent knew, only, that he himself was not in charge! Hardin had or- dered him to bed.
 Maybe MT. Bstrada?' she haz- arded.
 He is not here, he went down the road to look after the track. Hardin went off in such a hurry, I guess he told nobody" chuckled the engineer, still glowing.
 "Then I'm itI" cried Innes Hardin. twill you take my orders, SilentT
 Sure" he chuckled again Through the rush of the wind and water came the whistle of 8 locomo- tive.
 "A special" !" cried Silent. Hardin's sister and his friend looked at each other, the same thought in mind: Rickard, in from the Headingi On her face Silent saw the some specta cuIar impulse which had flashed over Hardin's. features a short time | before.
 She put her hand on his arm. "Sf- lent you're his friend. Straighten thia 1 out. We can't have him come back l spying-and find this" She waved her ! hand toward the disOrganized groups, 1 'Pd take more orders," suggested 1 the engineer. ''Then send a third of them home, tell them to come back tonight at six. I Send away the other third, tell them ! to come back at noon. Keep the other i shift. Say you'll have coffee sent l from the hotel, tell them Hardin says to stop wasting stuff. Tell them, oh. tell them anything you can think of, Silent, before he comes." Her break down was girlish.
 She could hear the signal of the To- COmOtive; coming closer. Then she could hear the pant of the engine as 1t worked up the grade. It was a steady gentle climb all the way from the junction, two hundred feet below sealeveI, to the towns resting at the 1 level of the sea. It quiCkened her 1 thought of the power of the river. Nothing between it and the tracks at Salton- Nothing to stop it's flow into that spectacular new sea whose basin did not need a drop of the precious ! misguided flow. She could hear the bells; now the train was coming into the station; she would not wait fol Silent. She did not want to meet Rickard.
 No one saw her as she left the Ievee
 She passed Silent, who was issuing or
 ders. She beard him say, "The boss says so.'
 She took the road by the railroad
 sheds, to avoid the dismissed shifts
 moving downward. At full speed, sht | coll1ded with man, rounding th'
 sheds corner. It was Rickard. Hel
 veil had slipped to her shoulders ant
 he saw her face.
 Miss Hardin! !'' he exclaimed
 "Whatever are you doing hereF" 'T was looking for my brother"
 "You ought not to be out at nigh alone here.' 'Its morningF'
 'FWith every Indian in the countr! coming in. I'll send Parrish witt you"
 She recognized Parrish behind him . She tried to tell him that she knew
 every Indian in Mexicali, every Mext
 can in the twin towns, but he woulf not listen to her. I'm not going to le
 you go home alone"
 Continued Tomorrow.) 5 A 5Ua7stise in Tha FTiYoas