The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1922-07-06
The Squaw
Man
Observation-Disclosures

BY ANDREW r. THOMAS


Copyright. 1922. Western Newspaper Union.
1t was Estelle Denton's laugh that
the Squaw Man always remembered
after that day when, sodden with
drink, he opened his eyes to the sun
to see the little party of pleasure
seekers resting their horses outside
the adobe hut
THAT" she asked, pointing to him.
why, that used to be a man. Now it's
our only original squaw man."
The others laughed too and they
remounted and went on their way. Into
the hulk that had been the Right
Honorable Archibald Philip Cressley
there crept d little spark of shame.
1t was true, all true, only-none of
them guessed at the reason that had
brought him to what he was, the
shame, scandal, and laughing-stock of
Las Vegas, the little desert community
at the foot of the Sierras, where the
boom in citrus fruits was building up
a busy town on land that had been
too parched for anything but sage and
cactus until the irrigation company
built the big dam which diverted the
flow of the river into the ancient bed.
Cressley had gone out as one of the
original engineers. He had been q
pioneer in Las Vegas, respected once,
though hardly any one recalled those
days. Then-something happened that
made human faces, particularly
women's faces hateful to him. At
least, white women's.
Nobody knew; if any guessed, they
did not hazard their opinions. Cress-
ley had thrown up his job and left the
company. He reappeared as a COM
panion Of drunken Indians, prodigy
of those Woodworking regions white
pariah, Of whom nothing was too bad
to be said.
Perhaps Estelle Denton the only
daughter Of the companys president,
had seen him drunk asleep beside
the road. Perhaps that memory was
what had hardened her tone to the
point of disgust.
Yes, Cressley had dim memory Of
having been booted off the Denton
lawn by big young man, but, like all
the past, that memory was obscured
by the fumes of the poison that had
eaten away the moral nature of the
man, and left only shell behind.
The Squaw Man left his hut toward
shutdown and went up toward the
mountains He could breathe there,
he could think, above all, he could best
form those never-ending resolutions of
amendment up there. For here, where
the big dam held the torrent, he had
played mans part once. He hadscut
this conduit between the old and the
new river-beds; but he had not built
that span of masonry that stretched
had been the work of Holden, and
Cressley had told him he had not al
lowed for the force of the spring
freshets. If that ever gave
The Squaw Man was always a little
anxious about Holden's work. He
always made his way there :. -.
He uttered a cry Of dismay. Right
in the center Of the middle span the
scOur Of the torrent had displaced
three blocks Of masonry. A stream Of
muddy water was pouring through. 1t
would be the work of days to hold it.
1t was streaming down to the dam
below, instead Of into the bed Of the
river. Instantly the Squaw Man saw
the picture. Two hours, he estimated,
would be required to flood the dam;
once the level was reached the torrent
would pour down the valley and sweep
every vestige of Las Vegas forty miles
to the Pacific.
In another moment the Squaw Man
was running at full speed down the
mountains. He calculated that it
would take him the better part Of two
hours to reach Las Vegas. It had
grown dark long before he reached
there.
All the while he ran he listened sub
consciously for the sound of the tor
rent that would spell death to every
living soul within the valley.
The presidents house stood on the
bank Of the stream-a spacious man.
sion, with broad lawns and shady
trees. That would be the first to go.
Then the flood would pour through
the business section, widening into
the outskirts So.
Lights, music, dancing, laughter! He
broke into the crowded reception room.
He elbowed aside the men in evening
clothes who tried to stop him. He
had seen that big man somewhere-on
the lawn. He knocked him to the
floor.
1.-THE dams burst; ride for the
hills!' he shouted, seeing Estelle's
furious face-and broke away.
Now he was In the town, shouting
his message amid confusion Of horses
and cars. The streets were filled.
They knew! Some one had telephoned
from the Denton house. But there
were the Chinese cabins upon the out
skirts. Only Chinks-but he was a
squaw man!
But Las Vegas was empty! Still
ho ron IN and fro shouting his warn