Evening star., 1934-03-22
CHAPTER y.
rEJTNc, pIAN


xORMAN left her at the street
~ door and Judith assembled to
VI the floor If the BevinS Build
ing on which Big Tom kept
his private suite. She opened
the Goor with her own key, then stood
for a moment. The room was dark
and Big Tom sat before the wide
window opening onto the dusk and
city lights.
Thank you for coming, Judy" he
said Turn on the desk light. will
you, please. there" he sighed
queerly as the yellow glow revealed
the desk with its pile of neatly
Stacked papers.
Judith looked at it in surprise; she
looked at him.
"Mr. Bevins you're ILL.," she
cried.
mo. Judy. l was i'll this morning.
All right now. Judy. come here, come
close that's a girl"
He searched her face with an in
tent gaze, much as Delphy had
searched it an hour before, and like
the old colored woman, he nodded
satisfied
Judy he said, you're a fine girl
You've made up in great measure for
my not having a son. We've worked
here together for four years and 1
believe we understand each other
pretty thoroughly. don't we?"
Judith looked at him in surprise.
He seemed suddenly old-"Yes, in
deed, Big Tom"
II may do things in the future
which seem a little queer to you, but,
knowing me, I believe you'll see be-
low the surface to the motive. Now
to business.
Get that surveyors plat Of the
Rio Diablo Basin, will you that's
it. Now see the crest line then
those dotted lines beyond.
I've a record of the deeds filed In
Rio Mar here and I have a few new
deeds taking care of the upper dam.
l want you to check that map as
read these off you remember you
made a copy from the one in the
county clerks Office and see that
every inch of the basin, upper and
lower dam, spillway and two miles
beyond are covered. Ready?"
Half an hour later Judith looked
up. Its Water-tight, Mr.. Bevins
Except for the Scoggins farm angle
which juts into the main basin there
isn't an inch of ground you need that
you don't own"
Tomorrow, Judith, you will own it. :"
what what do you mean?"
This. After I left you last night
got the wires busy. By dawn I knew
Lampere was trying to double-cross
me- When our reports of the annual
water footage which might be ex
pected in the Rio Diablo Basin came
in Lampere discovered that what he
had thought an old fools hobby could
be made a veritable gold mine.
He thought that by purchasing a
salient piece of land, a piece neceS-
sary for my building of the dam, he
could force me to exploit the prof.
Get, charge the poor landholders eX-
Orbitant rates for their irrigation
privileges and utilize the water power
for selfish purposes.
HE discovered owned every bit of
the land save that owned by Scoggins
and sent representative to Scoggins
Offering him a remarkable price for
his land. Fortunately, he approached
the most loyal. land-loving man there.
He kept faith with me and refused to
sell Cyou understand. Judy, that Lam
pere did not show his hand in any of
this, but because of your friend Clia
I was able to trace it back to his in
fuence).
Having failed to obtain the land
around the lower dam, Lampere had
a willy engineer by the name of Man
hauser go over the copy of a blueprint,
obtained from the original real estate
people there, and he discovered that
they might switch the course Of the
Rio Diablo, through an artificial chan
mel, around the land owned by the
natives and through virgin territory
upon which Lampere quickly obtained
an option.
However, he first had to acquire
land around the upper dam, and,
thanks to that storm, I was spurred