The Powder River County examiner and the Broadus independent. [volume] (Broadus, Mont.) 1919-1935, 1919-08-29

Double track most Of the way; sidings
every three miles. Rock must -
rushed: the trains must be pusneo
through. He itched to begin. 1t never
occurred to him that, like Hardin. ne
might fail. .;it.E @
i Though its no pink tea" he told
himself, "it's no picnic" At Tucson
he knew that the situation was
grave one, but his talk with Brandon.
who knew his river a. does q good In.
dian, made the year q significant,
eventful one. Matt Hamlin. too. whose
shrewd eyes had grown rlver-wise. he.
too, had had tales to tell Of the tricky
river. Maldonad0, 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 Cornell. 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
malevolent, hooking personality; no
could see it a 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 q mild mood to rise sud-
denly with its Wild fellow. the ella.
sending boat and boatmen to their
swift doom.
Richard was thinking Of the half
breed, Maldonado, as he inspected tho
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 1t worth while
to ride the twenty miles from down
the river to talk with him. The mans
suavity, his narrow Sits of eyes. the
lips thin and facile. deep lines of cru.
city falling from them. had repealed
his visitor. The mystery Of the place
followed him. Why the 'dobe wall
which completely surrounded the
small, low dwellings? Why the eau.
tious admittance, the atmosphere Of
suspicion? Richard had seen the wife,
| a frightened shadow Of a woman had
|
for her. He had questioned Cornell
about the half-breed. He was remem-
herring the wrinkles Of contempt on the
old Indians face as he delivered him
self Of an oracular grunt.
"White man? No. Indian? MOI
Coyote!'
Though he suspected Maldonado
would lie on principle. though 1t might
be that two-thirds Of his glib tissue
were false. yet thread of truth CO.
incident with the others. Brandon and
Hamlin and Cornell. might be pulled
| out Of his romantic fabric.
"When the waters Of the Gila run
red look out for troubled" He doubt
ed that they ever ran red. He would
ask Cornel. He had also spoken of
a cycle, known to Indians, Of hum
drelth year, when the Dragon grows
| restless; this he had declared was a
hundredth year.
Following his talk with Maldonado
and the accidental happy chance meet
ing with COrOnel at the Crossing Rick
ard had written his first report to Tod
Marshall. Before he had come to the
Heading he had expected to advise
against the completion of the wooden
headgate at the Crossing. Hamlin
had given him new viewpoint. There
was fighting chance. And he wanted
to be fair. Next to being successful
he wanted to be fair
TITS time to be hearing from Mar
SHALL" Richard was thinking. as he
walked back to the hotel. II wonder
what he will say" He felt 1t had
been fair to put it up to Marshall +:
personally, he would like to begin with
clean slat-begin right. Clumsy
work had been done. 1t was true. yet
there were urgent reasons now for
haste; and the gate was nearly half
done! II, had gone carefully over
the situation. The heavy snowfall. un-
precedented for years. hundred, &c
corling to Thea Indinns-on the Wind
Rover mOuntains-the lakes swollen
with ice, the ella restless. the summer
floods yet to be met; perhaps. he now
thought. he had been Overfair in en-
phasizing the arguments for the head
|
thousand feet-yet he had spoken
OF that to Marshall: Calculate for
yourself the difference in expense
since the flood widened the break. It
Is a vastly different problem now.
Disaster island. which they figured on
for anchor. is a mere pit Of cOrroding
sugar in the channel. An infant COL
orado could wash 1t away. However.
lot OF work has already been done.
and lot Of money spent. There IL .
lighting chance. Perhaps the bad year
Is all Indian talk"
A guess. at best. whatever they did
1t was pure gamble what the tricky
Colorado would do. Anyway. he had
given the whole situation to Narshall.
In his box Mt the hotel was q tele-
gram which had been sent over from
the offlce-from Tod Marshall. take