Cheyenne record., 1919-10-02

S1Ni sAdo-
Mrs. Hardin. foated by In her crisp
muslins. A few feet behind staiked
Godfrey. his eyes on the pretty figure
by his side Innes turned from his
look. abashed as though she had been
peerinz through q locked door.
Gayiy. with q nuttering Of rufies,
Gerty established herself on the bank,
q tribe out Of bearing distance. A
hard little smile played on the lips ac-
cented with Partisan rouge. The child
ish expression was gone; her look &C
cused Life Of having trthed with her.
But they would see
Don't look so unhappy. dearest" :"
whispered the man at her side. I'm
going to make you happy. dear~
She flushed q brilliant, finished smile
at him. Yes, she was proud Of him.
He satisfied her sense of romance, or
would, later, when she was away from
here, q dull pain pricking at her deiib-
crate planning. Godfrey found her
young. young and distracting. His
life had been hungry. too; the wife,
up there In Canada somewhere. had
never Understood him. Godfrey was
ambitious. ambitious ~ she was. She
would be his wife; she would see the
cities Of the world with him. the wei
coined wife Of Godfrey: she would
share the plaudits his wonderful voice
won.
questioning. not quite sure Of her. She
had worried him yesterday because
she would not pledge herself to marry
him II he sued for his divorce. She
had told him to ask her that after the
courts had set him free. She could
not have him sure Of her.
An exclamation from him recalled
her. She found that he was no longer
staring at her; his eyes were fixed on
the trembling structure over which a
"battleship." laden with rock, was
creeping.
II want to stay with you. you know
that dearest. But 1t doesn't feel right
to see them all working like niggers
and me loafng here. You don't mindT'
Oh. no, Gerty did not mind! She
was tired. anyway She was going
back to her tent!
He thrust a yellow paper into her
hands. II sent that OF today. Per-
haps you will be glad7'
She flung another Of her inscrutable
smiles at him. and went up the bank.
the paper unread in her hands.
The long afternoon wore away. They
were now dynamiting the largest rocks
on the cars before unloading them.
The heavy loads could not be emptIed
quickly enough. Not dribbled. the rock.
but dumped simultaneously, else the
gravel and rock might be washed
down stream faster than they could be
put together. Many cars must be un-
l0aded at once; the din on Silent's
train was terrific. His crew looked
like devils. drenched from the spray
which rose from the river each time
the rock-pour began: blSckened by the
smoke from the belching engine. The
river was ugly in Its wrath. 1t was
humping itself for its final stand
,ngninst the absurdlty of human inten-
tion: Its yellow tail swished through
the bents of the trestle.
Richard moved from bank to raft !;
knee deep In water. screaming orders
through the din: directing the gang1 !;
speeding the rock trains. Hardin oscil-
lated between the Ievee and dams. TAX
Ing orders. giving orders. His energy
was superb. 1t had grown dark. but
no one yet had thought Of the lights,
h.. nSt utr ntnh
across the channel. Suddenly, the
lights fiared out brightly.
Not one Of those who labOred or
watched would ever forget that night.
The spirit Of reckIessness entered
even into the stOlld native. The men
OF the Reclamation forgot this was not
their enterprise; the Hardin faction
watchers on the bank sat tense,
thrilled out of recognition of aching
muscles. or the midnight creeping chill.
No one would go home.
TO Innes. the struggle was vested
In two men, Rickard running down
yonder with that light foot OF his. and
Hardin with the fighting mouth tense.
anu SoHhC"uVsV' bhS
working with the rest. was Estrada.
Those three were fighting for the justi-
iicatiOn Of a visiOn-nn idea was at
stake. n hope for the future.
Richard passed and repnssed her.
And had not seen her! Not during
those hours would he think of her. not
until the idea failed. or was trium-
phant would he turn to look for her.
Visibly, the drama moved toward its
climax. Before mnny hours passed the
river would be captured or the Idea
forever mocked. Each time belchIng
engine pulled across that hazardous
track It flung credit to the mnn-side.
Each time the waters. slowly rising.
hurled their weight against the creak-
Ing trestles where the rock was thin