The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1919-05-15

Double track most Oh mo WAY eiuiHSn
every three miles. Rock must be
rushed; the trims must be pushed
through. He itched to begin. II never
occurred to him that, like Hardin. he
might fail.
Though it's no pink tea," he. tolf
himself, "it's no picnic" At Tucson
he knew that the situation was
grave one, but his talk with Brandon,
who knew his river as does good In
dian, made the year a 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 plloted Estrada's party
across the desert. whom Rickard had
met at the Crossing, deeply had he Inn
pressed him. The river grew into .
malevolent, mocking personality; he
could see 1t a dragon of yellow waters,
dragging Its slow, sluggish length
across the baked desert sands; deceiv.
ing men by its inertness; Turing the
explorer by a 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 tho
new stretch of levee between the
towns. He had heard from others be-
sides Estrada of the river knowledge
of this descendant of trnpper 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? Rlckard had seen the wife.
a frightened shadow Of 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 tho
old Indians face as he delivered him.
self Of an oracular grunt.
"White man? No. Indian? MOI
Coyote!'
Though he suspected Ma.donado
would lie on principle, though 1t ,uight
be that two-thirds Of his glib Tissue
were false, yet thread of truth co.
Incident with the others, Branden and
Hamlin and Cor'nel, might be pulled
out Of his romantic fabric.
"When the waters Of the Gila run
red look out for troublew He doubt
ed that they ever ran red. He would
ask Cor'nel. He had also spoken Of
a cycle, known to Indians, of q hun.
dredth year, when the Dragon grows
restless; this he had declared was q
hundredth year.
Following his talk with MaldoE ado
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 a new viewpoint. There
was fighting chance. And he wanted
to be fair, Next to being successfus
he wanted to be fair.
''It's time to be hearing from Mar
SHALL" Richard was thinking. as he
walked back to the hotel. II wcnder
what he will say" He felt it had
been fair to put 1t up to Marshall;
personally, he would like to begin with
a clean slate-begin right. Clumsy
work he'd 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
cOrding to the Indlans-on the Wind
Rover mountains-the lakes swollen
with ice, the Gila restless, the summer
floods yet to be met; perhaps. he now
thought. he had been overfair In ern~
phaslzing the arguments Cor the neao
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 food widened the break. 70
Is a vastly different problem now.
Disaster island. which they figured on
for anchor, Is mere pit of corrodinA
sugar In the channel. An infant Col-
orado could wash II away. However.
a lot OF work has already been done
| mn Ix~A~ "a SUxn--
lighting chance. Perhaps the bad year
Is all Indian talk"
A guess, mt best. whatever they ala T
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 tele.
gram which had been sent over frorS
the oflice-from Tod Marshall Take
the fighting chance. But remember to
snesk rpora racpactf,,lIv ~ TudIorsW