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

gap at the intake, Hardin's grotesque
folly,. Widened from one hundred feet
TO ten times the original cut; widening
every day, with neither equipment nor
camp adequate to push through work
OF half the original magnitude. Cut
ting away, moreover. was the island,
Disaster island; it had received apt
christening by the engineers, its bap-
tismal water the Colorado. The last
Hoods had played with it as though it
were a bar of sugar. There. was no
rock at hand; no rock on the way, no
rock ordered. Could anyone piece to-
gether such recklessness?
Rickard knew where he would get
his rock. Already he had requisitioned
the entire output of the Tacna and
Patagonia quarries. He had ordered
steam shovels to be installed at the
quarry back of old Hamlin's. That
rock pit would be his first crutch, and
the gravel bed-that was a find! AS
he paced the levee west of the towns,
he was planning his campaign. Por
ter was securing Zacatecas for men;
he himself had offered, as bait, free
transportation the o. P. he knew
would back him. He was going to
throw out a spur-track from the Head
ing, touching at the quarry and gravel
pit, on to the main road at Yuma.
Double track most of the way; sidings
every three miles. Rock must be
rushed; the trains must be pushed
through. He itched to begin. 1t never
occurred to him that, like Hardin, he
might fail.
Though it's no pink tea," he told
| himself, sits no picnic" At Tucson
he knew that the situation was a
grave one, but his talk with Brandon,
who knew his river as does a good In
dian, made the year Z significant,
eventful one. Matt Hamlin, too, whose
shrewd eyes had grown rlver-wise, he,
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 piloted Estrada's party
across the desert, whom Richard had
met at the Crossing, deeply had he i'm
pressed him. The river grew into q
malevolent, mocking personality; he
could see it dragon of yellow waters
dragging it's slow. sluggish length
across the baked desert sands; deceiv
ing men by it's inertness; Turing the
explorer by a mild mood to rise sud
denly with its wild fellow, the Gila
sending boat and boatmen to theil
swift doom.
Rickard was thinking of the half
new stretch of levee between tht
towns. He had heard from others be
sides Estrada of the river knowledge
of this descendant of trapper ant
squaw, and had thought it worth Will
to ride the twenty miles from dow
: the river to talk with him. The man
suavity, his narrow Sits of eyes, tn
lips thin and facile. deep lines of cru
city falling from them, had repelle
his visitor The mystery of the plac
followed him. Why the 'dobe wal
which completely surrounded tn
| small, low dwellings? Why the cat
tious admittance, the atmosphere @
} suspicion? Rickard had seen the wifi
) q frightened shadow of woman; ha
5 seen her finch when the brute calle
: for her. He had questioned Cor'nt
4 about the half-breed. He was remen
!; bering the wrinkles of contempt on tn
3 old Indians face as he delivered hin
\ self of an oracular grunt.
t "White man? No. Indian? No
Coyote!"
Though he suspected Maldonad
$ would lie on principle, though it migf
a be that two-thirds of his glib tissu
q were false vet thread of truth G.
g incident with the others, Brandon an