Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1919-03-08

] cne was pushing Ddck Def 0lSle1rt-
iened curIs when the beat Of horses
hoofs back Of them brought the blood
back into her wiRd-ehilled cheeks.
"Riel;ardl" she thought. HE must
have come in a specialT The gloom
suddenly disgorged MacLean.
'Hardinl Where is hep
whats up?" yelled Blinn. ''Is 1t
the riyer?" MacLean's face answered
him. His ranch secured again--God
Almighty
''The riverl" screamed the women.
The men were surrounding MacLean.
whose horse was prancing as If with
the importance Of having carried a
Revere. "The leveeI" called Mac
Lean. sWhere's HardinT He spurred
his mare toward Hardin. who was
blaeker than Napoleon at Austerlltz.
you're needed. They're all need
ed" The other voices broke In, the
men pressing up. This threatened
them all. Blinn's ranch lay In the
ravaged sixth district. Nothing would
save him. Youngberg belonged to
water company number one; their
bitches would go. Hollister and Will
son Of the Palo Verde saw ruin ahead
of them. Each man was visualizing
the mad onward sweep Of that de-
stroying power. Like ghosts, the
women huddled in the dust-blown
road.
TWhere is it now?' demanded Bllnn.
'It's here. right on US. You're all
needed at the levee," bawled Mac
Lean.
The levee! There was dash for
buggies, scraping of wheels, the
whinnying of frightened horses. Some
one recalled the flashes of light they
had seen on leaving town. "What
were those lights-signals?-
"From the water-tower" MacLean's
voice split the wind. "The wires are
all down between the Crossing and the
towns. Coronel was on the tower-he
got the signal from the Headlng-he's
been there each night for a week!"
This was a great night--for his chief,
Rickard!
Gerty Hardin caught the thrill of
his hero-worship. How splendid, how
triumphant!
Innes found herself In her brothers
buggy. His horse, under the whip.
dashed forward. Suddenly he pulled
! it back on its launches, narrowly
averting a jam. ''Where's Mac
LeanT
The boy rode back. "Who's call
ing mef"
"Giye me your horse" demanded
Hardin. "You take my sister home"
Gerty Hardin's party was torn like
a bow of useless finery. Facing the
wind now, no one could talk; no one
wanted to talk. Each was threshing
out his own thoughts; personal ruin
stared them in the face. Every man
was remembering that reckless ex-
posed cut of Hardin's; pinning their
hope to that ridiculed levee. The
horses broke into a reckless gallop.
the buggies lurching wildly as they
lodged one another. The axles
creaked and strained. The wind tore
away the hats Of the women, rent
their pretty chiffon wells.
The dusty road was peopled with
dark formless shapes. The signals
had spread the alarm; the desert
world was flocking to the gorge Of the
New river, to the levee.
The women were dumped without
ceremony on the sidewalk. under the
screened bird cage of the Desert
hotel. Shiyering, her pretty teeth
chattering. Gerty Hardin ushered
them into the deserted hall. The
Chinese cook snored away his vigil in
an armchair by the open fire. The
men had rushed away to the leyee.
Women must wait" Gerty's laugh
was hysterical. "We can do no good
down there" She threw herself, con-
scious of heroineship, into the ordeal
of her spoilt entertainment.
1t was always an incoherent dream
to Innes Hardin, that wild ride home
ward, the lurching scraplng buggies,
the apprehenslve silence, this budding
of women like scared rabbits around
table that had else been gay. The
women's teeth shiyered over the ices.
Their faces looked CHASTITY by the light
shed by Gerty's green shades. She
wished she were at the levee. She
simply must go to the levee. "I'm go
ing to get a wrap" she threw to Gerty
as she passed. 81 left 1t in the hail."
She stole through the deserted Of
flee, past the white and silver soda
fountain, and out into the speeding
blur Of the night. Formless shapes,
soft-footed, passed her. As she sped
past the French windows of the din
Ing room she could get a view of the
shattered party.
Innes made dive into the darkness.
There was a dim outline Of Fastening
figures In front Of her. She could
hear some one breathing heavily by
her side. They kept apace, stumbling,
occasionally. the moving gloom betray-
ing their feet A man came running
back toward the town. SITS cutting
baek!" He cried. Nothing but the
levee will save the townslp
The leveel
The harsh breathing followed her.