Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1919-03-26

whispered of as incompetent; one Of
MarshalIs clerks. He was given a
short time to blow himself out. A
bookman. a theorist.
AS well put sentinels few miles
from prison and leave the jail doors
openP This was Wooster's gibe. All
saw the Colorado as a marauder at
large. "And little heap of sand
stacked up to scare 1t or It's
screamI''
Mrs. Hardin found it difficult to
meet with diplomacy the condolences
which inevitably came her way. AS
Hardin's wife she was expected TO en-
joy the universal censure the new man
was acquiring. Gerty's light touches.
too slight for championship, passed as
a sweet charity. Her own position
those days was trying. She did not
yet know her diplomatic lesson.
Apparently unaware of the talk,
Richard spent the greater part of his
time experimenting the levee. He
could trust no one else to do il, no
one unless il were Estrada, who was
rushing his steel rails through to the
front and was needed there.
Things We're moving under his con-
slant goading. The extra pay was
showing results. He should be at the
Heading now, he kept telling himself,
but he was convinced that the instant
he turned his back, the work on the
levee would stop; and all the reasons
excellent! Seine emergency would be
cooked up TO warrant the withdrawal
of the hands. Chafe as he mil ht at
the situation, it was TO be guel rilla
warfare. Not fight in the open, he
knew how to meet that, but that b..f-
fling resistance. the polite silence of
the office when he entered-"Weli,
they'll be doing my way pretty soon,
or my name isn't Richard. That's
fiat"
He was fretting to be at work, TO
start the wheels Of the o. r., its vast
machinery toward his problem. He
knew that that organization. like we'll
drilled militia, was ready for his call.
The call Jagged, not that he did not
need men, but there was no place
ready for them. The camp, that was
another rub. There was no camp. 1t
was not equipped for a sudden infla-
tion of men. The inefflclency of the
projectors of this desert scheme had
never seemed so criminal as when he
had surveyed the equipment at the In
take. Get ready first; your tools.
your stoves, your beds" That was the
training of the good executive, Of men
like Marshall and MacLean. Nothing
TO be left to chance; to foresee emer.
gencies, not to be taken by them I'M
aware. The reason of Hardin's down
fan was his slipshod habits. How could
he be a good officer who had never
drilled as soldier? There was the
gap mt 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; 1t had received apt
christening by the engineers, its bap"
tismal water the Colorado. The last
floods had played with 1t as though it
were bar of sugar. There was no
rock at hand; no rock on the way, no
rock ordered. Could anyone piece to-
gether such recklessness?
Richard 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 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. +. 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; sidlngs
every three miles. Rock must be
rushed; the trains must be pushed
through. He ltched TO begin. 1t never
occurred to him that Ike Hardin, he
might fail
Though it's no pink tea" he told
himself. "it's 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 significant,
eventful one. Matt Hamllu, too, whose
shrewd eyes had grown r1ver-wise, he,
too, had had tales to tell Of the tricky
river. Maldonado. the balf-breed had
confirmed their portents while they sat
together under his oleander. famous
throughout that section of the coun-
try. And powerfully had COrnel. the
Indian who had piloted Estradas party
across the desert, whom Richard had
me5 at the Crossing deeply had he i'm
pressed him. The river gTew into a
malevolent knocking personality ne
could see it a dragon Of yellow waters,
dragging IT'S 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 ella,
.sending boat and boatmen to their
swift doom.
Rickard was thinking Of the half
breed. Maldonado. as he inspected the
new stretch Of levee between the
towns. He had heard from others be-
sides Estrada Of the river knowledge
OF this descendant Of trapper and
squaw. and had thought it worth while
70 -idn tho fMentY miles from down