The Dillon herald. [volume] (Dillon, S.C.) 1894-????, 1919-02-06
(copyright. Bobbs-Menill Company.
SYNOPSIS.

SYNOPSIS.
CHAPTER TX. C. Rickard. an engi-
neer of the Overland Pacific, is called to
the office of President Marshall IL Tue
son. Ariz Casey" is an enigma to the
office force; he wears dude" clothes
bot he had resigned chair Of engineer
fireman and his promotion had been spec
tacuiar While waiting for Marshall Rick
ara reads q report on the ravages or the
Colorado, despite the efforts of Thomas
Hardin Of the Desert Reclamation com.
pany. This Hardin had been a student
under Rickard and had married Gerty
Holmes, with whom Rickard had fancied
he was In love.
CHAPTER II-Marshall tells R!ckard
the Qyeriand Pacific has got to step In
to ssaye the Imperial Valley and sends
him to the break. Rickard declines be-
caiise he does not want to supplanS Har-
dHp, but is won over. stop the river;
ddfnn the expensa-" SAYS Marshal
"Yes?" returned Rickard, whose lik.
ing had been captured by the speaker.
The impression Of distinction sharp.
ened. The stranger wore laundered
p6ngee silk shirt, open at the neck but
restricted by brown silk tie; and 1t
was trinity belted. There were but
two neckties in the entire car, and
they occupied, Richard observed, the
same seat.
.aThe beginning of the canal sys-
tenn"
Rickard looked out upon fiat, one
toned country, marked off in rec
tangles by plows and scrapers. Far
ther south these rectangles were edged
by young willows. He fancied he
could see, even at that distance, the
gleam of water.
1t was the passing of the desert. A
few miles back he had seen the desert
in its primitive nakedness, which not
even cactus relieved. He was passing
over the land which man and horses
were preparing for water. And he
could see the land where water was.
'sThat was the way Riverside looked
when / first saw it," commented the
otter man who wore tie. "Come out
on the rear platform. We can see bet
ter"
Rickard followed to the back Of the
dust-swept, sitting car. The glare on
the platform was intense. He stood
watching the newly made checkerboard
of a country slip past him. Re:eding
Were the two lines of cleaning steel
rails which connected and separated
him from the world outside. He was
'fgeing in" Not IN Mexico even had
he such a feeling of ultimate remote
ness. The mountains, cOnverging per-
spectively toward the throat of the
va4ey, looked elusive and unreal In
their gauze draperies of rose and vio-
iet. The tender hour of day was cloth
Ing them with mystery, softening their
sharp outlines. They curtained the
world beyond. Rickard felt the sus-
pense Of the Rekt act.
II was q torpid imagination, he
thought. which would not quicken over
tbs conquest Of the desert. East OF
tie tract men and teams were Drepar-
tng the aewiy furrowed ground for the
seea. The curved land knives were
breaSing up the rich mold into ridges
& soft sea rs uncohesive and feathery
as paiveriBed chocolate. 1t vas the
dark colar of the chocolate of COM
rherce, this silt which had been pill
fered from the states through which
the yagraat river wandered. The smell
OF the upturned earth, Sweetly damp
struck against his nostrils. Rickard
Gaduiged a minute Of whimsical fancy
tits was California territory over
watch his train was passing, but the
sbfl, that dark earth those blades were
crUmbling, was it not the tribute OF
Other states, of despOiling Wyoming
OF rayishing Colorado and Arizona?
To the west new squares were being
leyeled and outlined. Shrubby rec
tangles were being cleared of their ere
osOte bush and tough mesquite. Com
pared with other countries, the prepa
ration for planting was the simplest
Horses were dragging over the grount
a railroad rail bent into a V angle
which pulled the bushes by the roots
and dragged them out of the way. BE
yond, farther west, could be seen th'
untouched desert. The surface fo
snsrv nrres was cracked Ey watel