New Mexico state record. (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1914-19??, 1919-03-07
CHAPTER /.
Marshall Sends for Richard.

marshall SenOS TOR HICkdTu.
Tn" large round clock was striking
nine ms Casey Richards dancing stel
carried him into the outer office of TOT
Marshall. The ushering clerk, coat
less and v~estless in expectation of thu
third hot spring day, made Il critica
appraiSefnent of the engineers get-ul
before he spoke. Then he stated tina
Mr.. Marshall had not yet come.
For Il London tie and II white sill
shirt bcltrd into white serge trousers
wer" smart for Tucson. The clerk:
in tn" employ of the Overland Pacific
and of the Sonora and Yaqui railroads
had stared at Richard AS he entered
they followed his progress through The
room. He was II newcomer In Tucson
II" had not yet acquired the apathetit
habits of its citizens. He wore belts
instead of SuSpenders. His white
trousers, duck or serge, carried a new
ly pressed creasc each morning.
The office had not reached a verdict
on the subject Of X. e. Ricknrd. The
shirt-sl"cvcd, collarless clerks would
lluNf hf'Il uul'h W hlb MN IL Iull'lN
were it not for Il page of his history
that was puZzling them. He had held
a chair of engineering in Soinc eastern
city. He had resigned, the wind-toSScd
page" said, to 20 on the road as Il
fireman. His rapid promotion had
been spectacular; the last move, II
few years ago, to fill an office position
in Tucson. The summons had found
him on the west coast of Mexico,
where the Overland Pacific vas push
Ing its tracks.
"Iou can wait here" suggested the
cI"rh, looking covrrtly at the shoes Of
the man who ii few years before had
been shoveling coal on II Wyoming en-
gine. MIR. Marshall said to wait"
"Itilhons, instead of shoe laces! :"
carped the human machine that must
ever write letters which other men
sign. And IA blue pin to match his
tie! ! call that going Somc!"
1t would never have occurred to
Richard, had he thought about it at
all that morning AS he knotted his tie
- ~ W l'h 'iu' III 'iui nv
selection of his lapis pin was Il choice;
1t was an inevitable result. an instinc-
tive discretion of his fingers. 1t
warped, however, the suspended judg-
mcnt of MarShalrs men, who had
never seen him shoveling coal, disfig-
ured by IA denim jumper. They did
not know that they themselves We're
Stevens. ruined by the climate that
dulls vanity and willis collars.
Give him "A year to change some of
his fine habits' wagered Smythe, the
ltoop-shouldercd clerk, aS the door of
he inner office closed.
TO change his habits less amend
ID the office wit. And then they fell
% specializing what Marshall was 60
NJ TO do with him. What pawn was
ne in the game that everyone in Tue
son followed with eager sclf-interested
'oncprnt MarShall'S was the control
ling hand in Arizona politics; the
maker of governors, the arbitcr of big
corporations; president Of a half
siozrn railroads. Not Il move OF his
IN the board that escaped notice.
On the other side of the door Rick
ard was cchoin- the office question.
This play job, where did it lead To?
He had liked his work, under Stratton.
lh"r" had been some pretty problems
50 m"ot-What did Marshall mean to
l." with him;
The uute had set the appointment
Tor nine. Richard glanced at his
and took ont his Engineering
Rr>irv. II would be ten before that
door opened on Tod Marshall,
He knew that, on the road, Mar
Shall'S work began ut dawn. "A mar
won't break from uyerwork or rust
rom underworld if he follows the eX-
ample of the sun" Richard had often
heard him eXpound his favorite the
CRY. at is only the players, the Syba-
who can afford to pervert the
arrangement nature intended for us"
But ia Tucson, controlled by the wife
~ Solicitude of his Claudia, he was
rocrced into a regular ~perversion. His
office never saw him until the MORN
ing was half gone.
4 half-hour later Richard finished
a report on the diversion of a
great western river. The name of
Thomas Hardin had sent him off on
a tangent of memory. The Thomas
Hardin whose efforts to bring water
Ia the desert of the Colorado had been
SO spectacularly unsuccessful was the
Tom Hardin he had known. The sis
Ter had told him so, the girl with the !
odd bronze eyes; opal matriX they
with glints of gold, or was 1t
She herself was as unlike the
raw boor of his memory as 4 u
ain lily is like the coarse rock of its
background. Even a half-sister to
Hardin, as Marshall, their host at din
ler the week before. had explained
t-no. even that did not explain it.
That any of the Hardin blood should
De shared by the veins of that girl.
Why il was incredible! The name
Hardin suggested crudity. loud
nouthed Dragging; conceit. He could
understand the failure of the river
since The sister had assured