Cheyenne record., 1919-08-14
CHAPTER XII.
hardin'a Luck.

Two days later there was q shock of
earthQuake, so slight that the tapping
of the water in Richards bath was his
IntimatIon of the earth's uneasiness.
In the dining room Inter he found ev-
eryone discussing 1t. "Who could re-
member an earthquake In that desert?'
"The first shakel"
During the morning. unfathered. as
rumors are born. the whisper of dis
sster somewhere spread. Their own
slight shock was the edge of the con-
vulsiOn which had been serious else
where. no one knew quite where, or
why they knew 1t at all The men
who were shovcling earth on the levee
began to talk of San Francisco. Some
one said that morning that the city
vas badly hurt No one could confirm
The eumor. but 1t grew with the day.
Rtcknrd met ii at the office late in
the afternoon he went direct to the
telegraph operators desk
Get Los Angeles, the o. P. office.
And be quick about it" =
In ten minutes he was talking to
Babcock- Babcock said that the dam
age by the earthquake to that city was
not known. but it WINS afire- San Jose
had confirmed it Oakland had report
ed the flames creeping up the resi-
deDce hills OF that gay Western city.
Cinders were already falling IN the
transbay town.
Rickard dropped the receiver.
-Wheres HardinT'
Tom Hardin emerged from a knot
30 VIZ tull In
by the door.
, "Whcrc's that mnchineryT
"Whnt nAnchineryr
Ricknrd saw the answer to his ques-
ton in the others face.
"Thr drcdge machinery. Did you
attend to that2 Did you send for it 2"
"Oh, yes, that's all right. It's all
right"
"Is it here?'
Hardin attempted joculartty. II
didn't know rs you wanted 1t here.
ordered It sent to Yuma"
"Is it at Yumn?"
Hardin admitted that it was not yet
ut Yuma IT would be there soon ;Ihe
had written; oh, it was all right.
"When did you writer
Hardin Redeemed under the cate
Chism of questions. He resented be-
ing held up before his men, The 9th
erS felt the electricity in the air. Har-
din and his successor were glarlng at
each other like belligerents.
81 asked when did you writer"
'Yrsterdny."
"Ncstcrdny" RIckard ripped out
IN oath. yesterday. Why at all. I'd
like To know? Did you understand
thnt you were ordered to get that
here? Now. it's gone"
"GOne?' The others crowded up.
"Snn Francsico's burning" He
walked into his sinner office. mad clear
through. He was not thinking of the
ruin of the Gay young city; not n
thought yet did he have Of the human
tragedies enacting there; of homes.
lives fortunes swept into that huge
bonfire. As it affected the work atthe
river. tho first block to his campaign,
the catastrophe came home to him. He
had IL picture of tortured. twisted
iron. of ruined machinery, the ma
Chinery for his drcdge. He saw 1t lying
like Il spent LAGOON. writhing in It's
Inst struggle. He blamed himself for
leaving even such IL small detail as the
Fastening of the parts to Hardins
care. for Hardin wasn't fit to be trust
ed for anything. No one could tell
him now the man was unlucky; he
was Il fool. A month wasted, and
days were precious. A month"; Months
Hardin's luck. oh, hell!
Then he began to speculate as he
cooled over the trouble up yonder. A
whole city burning? They would sure
ly got it under control. He began to
think Of the isolation: the telegraph
wires all down. That might happen
anywhere! He walked to the door
AMI looked thoughtfully at the COM
rany's big water tower. That wasn't
such bad idea! He picked up his
hat. and went ont.