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CHAPTER I.
Marshall Send for Rfckard.
The large round clock was striking
Wne as "Casey" Itickurd's dancing step
carried lilui Into the outer office of Tod
Marshall. The ushering clerk, cout
less and vcstless in expectation of the
third hot spring day, made a critical
appraisement of the engineer's get-up
before he spoke. Then he stated tliut
Mr. Mnrslmll had not yet come.
For a London tie and a white silk
shirt belted Into white serge trousers
were smart for Tucson. The clerks
In the employ of the Overland Pacific
and of the Sonora and Yaqul railroads
had stared at Rlckard as he entered ;
tbey followed his progress through the
room. He was a newcomer In Tucson.
Be bad not yet acquired the apathetic
habits of Its cltlicns. He wore belts.
Instead of suspenders. His white
trousers, duck or serge, carried a new
ly pressed crease each morning.
The office had not reached a verdict
on the subject of K. C. Rlckard. The
rhlrt-sleeved, collarless clerks 'would
have been quick to dub him a dandy
were It not for a page of his history
that was puncling them. He had held
a chair of engineering In some eastern
city. He had resigned, the wind-tossed
page said, to go on the road as a
fireman. His rapid promotion had
been spectacular; the last move, a
few years ago, to fill an office position
la Tucson. The summons hod found
hhn on the west coast of Mexico,
where the Overland Pacific was push
lag Its tracks.
Ton can wait here," suggested the
clerk, looking covertly at the shoes of
the man who jt few years before had
been shoveling coal on a Wyoming en
gine. "Mr. Marshall said to wait"
"Ribbons, Instead of shoe laces I"
carped the human machine that must
ever write letters which other men
algn. "And a blue pin to match his
tie t I call that going some!"
It would never have occurred to
Rlckard, hud he thought about It at
all that morning as he knotted his tie
of dark, brilliant blue silk, that the
selection of his lapis pin was a choice ;
It was an inevitable result, an Instinc
tive discretion of his fingers. It
warned, however, the suspended Judg
ment of Marshall's men, who hud
Sever seen him shoveling coal, disfig
ured by a denim Jumper. They did
not know that they themselves were
afovens, ruined by the climate that
dulls vanity and wilts collars.
"Give him a year to change some of
his fine hubits!" wagered Suiythe, the
etoop-shouldered clerk, as the door of
the Inner office closed.
"To change his habits less!" amend
ed the office wit. And then they fell
to speculating what Marshall was go
ing to do with him. What pawn was
he in the game that everyone In Tuc
son followed with eager self-interested
concern? Marshall's was the control
ling hand in Arizona politics; .the
maker of governors, the arbiter of big
corporations ; president of a half
dozen railroads. Not a move of bis
on the board that escaped notice.
On the other side of the door Rlck
ard was echoing the office question.
This play Job, where did It lead to?
He had liked his work, under Htrntton.
There had been some pretty problems
to meet what did Marshall muun to
do witli him)
The note bad set the appointment
for nine. Uickurd glanced at ins
watch and took out "nig Engineering
Ilsvlew. li would be ten before that
doqr opened on I od Hiyabal) !
Be knew that, on the road, Mur
ll's work begun at dawn, "A man
woti'i bn
; a.:
i iile oi the sun," II
itettn! him expound his favorite the
ory) "it is only the players, iiic syba
rites, who can afford to pervert the
arrangement nature intended lor us.'
ilutjn Tucson, controlled by pie wife
ly Kolicitude of bib Claudia, he was
coerced Into a regular perversion. His
office never suit liiin until the morn
ing was half gone.
A half-hour later Rlckard finished
reading a report on the diversion of u
great western river. The numi- of
Thomas Hardin had sent Dim off on
a tungeut of memory. The Thomas
Hardin whoso efforts to bring water
to the desert of the Colorado bad been
ro spectacularly unsuccessful wntl n,B
Tom Hardin he had known ! The sis
ter hud told blrn so, the girl with the
odd bronze eyes; opal matrix they
were, with glints of gold, or was It
green? She herself was as unlike the
raw boor of his memory as a moun
tain Illy is like the coarse rock of Its
background. Kvon a half-sister to
Hardin, us Marshall, their host at din
ner the week before, hud explained
it uo, even that did not explain It.
That any of the Hardin blood should
be (shared by the actus of thut girl,
why It was Incredible! The name
IgiardJn" eugtfestud crudity, loud
Lssz&
River.
qv
EDNAH
AIKEN
mouthed liingghig; conceit. lie eoniil
understand the failure of the river
project since I he sister had assured
him that It was the same Tom Hardin
who had gone to college at Lawrence ;
hod married flerty Holmes. Queer
business, life, that he should cross,
even so remotely, their orbits again.
That was a chapter he liked to skip.
He walked over to the windows,
shielded by bright awnings, and
looked down on the city where the
He Walked to the Window.
9
next few years of his life might be
caught Comforting to reflect that an
engineer Is like a soldier, never can
be certain about tomorrow. Time
enough to know that tomorrow meant
Tucson 1 What was that threadbare
proverb In the Overland Pacific that
Tod Marshall always keeps his men
until they lose their teeth? That de
fined the men wbo made themselvea
necessary I
His eyes were resting on the banali
ties of the modern city that had robbed
"old town" of its flavor. Were It not
for the beauty of the distant hills, the
jar and rumble of the trains whose
ronr culled to near-by pleasure cltlea,
twinkling lights and crowded theaters,
stretches of parks and recreation
grounds, he, who loved the thrill and
confinement of an engine, who had
found enticement In a desert, a char
ter of adventure In the barranca of
Mexico, would stifle In Tucson ! Amer
ican progress was as yet too tbin a
veneer on Mexican Indifference to
make the place endurable as a eity.
"I'm good for a lifetime here, If I
want It," his thoughts would work
back to the starting place. "If I
knuckle down to It, let him grow to
dei tend on me, It's as good as settled
that I am burled In Tucson 1" Hadn't
he heard Marshall himself say that he
"didn't keep a kindergarten that his
office wasn't a training school for
men I" He wanted his men to stay I
That, one of the reasons of the great
man's power; detail rested on the
shoulders of his employees. It kept
his own hruln clear, receptive to big
achievements.
"Perhaps as the work unrolls, as I
see more of what he wants of me, why
he wants me, I may like It, I may get
to shout for Tucson !" it wus Impos
sible enough to smile over! Child's
work, Compared to Mexico.
The distinction oi; serving Marshall
well Crtntkly had Its drawbacks. ,.
wai led to (week) on. Whether he had
a definite terminal, a concrete gout,
hod he ever Stopped in think '.' Bpe
i hud uhvuy u (iihcJii ,
for hint. It was thai which bad
thrown him oul o hi insti uctori hln
. n the fi i u on
Jl llld JIC ;,, , ,-,,,,, ,,. ;l .,,,, ily..
lo know one thing well, and then to
arove that lie knew it well! Ooti tent
ed In the Mexican hurra k& her.' be
was (haling, resilve, after a few
week of Tucson. Fur what was ho
getting here? Adding what scrap of
experlencs to the rounding Oi bjg pro
fession? Retrospectively engineering could
hardly be said to lie the work of his
choice. Rather hud It appeared to
choose him. From boyhood engii rs
hud always been, to him, the soldiers
of modern civilization. To compter
and subdue mountains, lo shackle wild
rivers, to suspend trestles over dizzy
heights, to throw the trucks of an ad
vancing civilization along u newly
blazed trail, there would always be a
thrill In It for him. It hud changed
the best quarterback of his high school
Into the primmest of students ut col
lege. Only for a short time hud he let
his vanity sidetrack him, when the
honor of teaching what he had learned
topped his own progress. A rut I
He remembered the duy when It hud
nurst on bin, the reallzutlon of the
ml he was In. He could see his Law
rence, schoolroom, eouhl see yet the
(ace under the red haired mop belong
ing- to Jerry Maismi queor he retnetn
bered tht rvs after all those years)
He e.inld picture the look oi eonslef"
nation when be throw down bis booJi
and announced his desertlou.
lie hud handed In his resignation
the next ilav. A month liter tind In
wus shoveling coal 09 the steep grades
of Wyoming.
"Marshall keeps his moo with him I"
She engineer' I glance traveled around
le lleekless office. A stranger to Mar
shall would get a wrong Idea of the
iiimii who worked In It I Those preclet
files, the desk, orderly and poll lied.
the gloaming linoleum nnd then thf
man Who made the negro Janitor's life
a proud burden I His dothip always
crumpled spots, too, unless his Clau
dia hud had u chance at them! Black
string lie gSkeW, all the outward vis
ible signs ot the southern gentleman
of assured ancestry, tioi even a viil't
would ever keep Tod Marshall UP M
the standard of thai office, Whal did
he have servants for, he had demand
ed jf Klekiil'd, If It Were not to Jump
i fief him, picking up the loose ends
lie dropped?
Curious thing, magnetism, That
man's step on the stair, and every
man-Jack of them would Jump to at
tention, from Pen, the colored Janitor,
who would not swap his post for a si
necure so long as Tod Mashall's OnS
lung kept him In Arizona, to Smythe,
the stoop shouldered clerk, who hud
followed Marshall's cough f om Sun
Francisco. It was su'd In Arlsona
he hlni'wlf bad met the st.iiiiient In
Tucson- that nuy man who had ever
worked for Tod Marshall would rather
be wurmed by the reflection of his
greatness than be given posta of per
sonal distinction.
Was It office routine Marshall In
tended him for? He admired without
stint Tod Marshall, but he preferred
to work by the side of the other kind,
the strong men, without physical han
dicap, the men who take risks, the
men who live the life of soldiers. That
was the life he wanted. He would
wait long enough to get Marshall's In
tention, and then, If It meant tfiH I
he Would break loose. He would go
hack to the front where he belonged
back to the firing line.
As the hands of the round clock In
the oui'T office were pointing to ten
thesdoor opened and Marshall entered
His clothes, of Indefinite buckish hue,
would buve disgraced an eastern man.
His string tie had a starboard list
and his hat was ready for a rummage
mle. But few would have looked at
his clothes. The latent energy of the
dynamic spirit that would frequently
torn that quiet office Into a mael
strom gleamed In those Indian-black
eyes. Beneath the ahabby cloth one
suspected the dally polished skin; un
der the old slouch hat was the mouth
of purpose, the lips that no woman,
even hla Claudia, had kissed without
the thrill of fesr.
Marshall glanced back at the clock,
and then toward bis visitor.
"On time !" he observed.
Rlckard, smiling, put his book in
his pocket.
CHAPTER II.
A Bit of Oratory.
Marshall threw his hat on a chair,
the morning paper on his desk. He
aimed his burned-out cigar at the near
est cuspidor, but It fell foul, the ashes
scattering over Sam's lately scoured
linoleum. Instantly there was appear
ance of settled disorder. Marshall
emptied his pockets of loose papers,
spreading them out on his flat-top
Mat,
"8lt down I"
Rlckard took the chair at the other
aide of the desk.
Marshall rang a bell. Instant; the
shirt-sleeved clerk entered.
"I shall not see anyone," the chief
announced. "I don't want to he Inter
rupted. Take these to Smytlie."
His eyes followed the shutting of
the door, then turned square upon
Rlckard. "I need you. It's a h 1 of
a mess !"
The engineer wanted to know what
kind of a "mess" It was.
"That river. It's running sway from
them. I'm going to send you down to
top It"
"The Col, .nolo!" exclaimed Itlekurd.
It was no hose li, he turned, simply,
off from a garden bed.
"(if emu. o you've been lotlowfna itll
' ' " one. or i l,i- biggest n .
happened In this pari ,t
'I U big for Hie run v, p ,
trying to swing It, ou'vo fold
thai n pori jM.-t now! "I've
there, i. hi i iui engineering pit
used to ge io me in Mexico, i .
read uil the report -."
ills superiors question was unchafs
aclorislieully superfluous, Who hud
nol read With thrilled nerval of that
wild river which men had been trying
to put under work harness? Who,
even among Hie slay-al-homes, hud not
followed the newspaper stories of thu
failure to muke a meek servant and
water eunier of the Colorado, that
wild steed of mountain and desert?
What engineer, no mutter how remote,
would not "follow" thut spectacular
struggle between men and Titans?
"Oolng to send me to Salton?" he
Inquired. The railroad hud been kent
Jumping to keep its feel dry. His
Job to be by thut Inland seu which
last year hud been desert 1
".No. Ilruluerd Is there. He eun
hier.nge the tracks. I am going to
send you down to the break."
Rlckard did not answer. He felt
the quest lonlng eyes of his chief.
The break -where those ilardlns
were how In thunder was he going
to get out of thiil, and save his skin?
Marshull liked his own way
"We'll consider It settled, then."
"Who's In charge there?" Rteknrd
wus only gaining lime, lie thought
tie knew the iuinie in- would hear,
Mm hails flrtt word surprised him,
"No oil". I'p lo It lew months ago
It was HnrdUh Tom Hardin. He Wag
general manager ol Hie c,..npuny. Me
was allowed to resign, to save his
e il ill ii
JJf
fom ss"! is
"I Am Going to Send You Down to the
Break."
face, as the Chinese say. 1 may tell
you that It was a case of firing. He'd
made a terrible fluke down there."
"I know," murmured Rlckard. It
was growing more difficult, more dis
tasteful. If Marshall wanted him to j
supplant Hardin ! It had been Incred
idle, that man's folly 1 Reckless gam
bling, nothing else. Make a rat In the '
banks of a wild river, without put-
ting in bead gates to control It; a
child would guess bettor) It waa a
problem now, all right ; the writer of
the report he'd Just read wasn't the
only one who was prophesying failure.
Let the river cut back, and the gov
ernment works at Laguna would be
nflHcAfl; a plk!e Hardin had made.
flHII t tfnlfi HSMA ka nr.fV4 41,. f '
Marshall tell him the situation. Tve
followed only the engineering aids at
It. I don't know the reistionahlp of
the two companies."
"Where the railroad came In? The
Inside of that story? I'm responsible
I guaranteed to Faraday the closing
of thut break. There was a big dis
trict to aave, a district that the rail
road tupped hut III tell you that
later." He was leisurely puffing blue,
perfectly formed rings Into the air,
his eyes admiring them.
"Perhaps you've beard how Estrada,
the general, took a party of men into
the desert to sell a mine he owned.
After the deal was made he decided
to let It slip. He'd found something
bigger to do, more to his liking than
the sale of a mine. Estrada waa a
big man. a great man. He bad the
Idea Powell and others had, of turn
Ing the river, of saving the desert He
dreamed himself of d,,te if if .i.ir. '
ness hadn't come to hlra the Colorado '
would be meekly carrying water now
Instead of flooding a country. IIty !
Kduardo. the son. Is not like him. He's I
like his mother you never know what I " WRnt 011 ,n control down there."
they are dreaming about. Not at all I Rlcknrd knew he was being appraised,
alike, my wife ond Estrada's." balanced all over again. It uiude uo
Then It came to Rlckard that he ' difference
had heard somewhere that Marshall ' "I'ln orry." he was beginning, when
and (ieneral Estrada had married sis- Marshall cut In.
ters, famous beauties of Ouudalajara. ! "Good Lord, you are not going to
lie began to piece together the per- turn It down?"
sonal background of the story.
"It was u long time before Estrada
could get it started, und It's a long
story. As soon as he began he was I
knocked down. Other men took hold, j
You'll hear It all In the valley. Har-
din took n day to tell It to me! He!
sees himself us a martyr. Promoters
got In; the thing swelled Into a
swindle, a speetiicnlur swindle. They
showed oranges on Hrondwny before
a drop of Water wus brought in. Hnr
dln has lots of grievances ! He'd made
the original survey. So when he sued
for his buck Wages i.e took thf papers
of the bankrupt company In settle
ment, lie's a grin, sort of Ineffectual
DUItaog. tie's clung With Ills teeth
to til,- Estrada Idea. And he's not big
enough for It. lie use, the optimistic
method rlcs you only half I i
hair of the probli in, ts b arted u i
it false ii:-, mlse, v, , be i ol up an
"Hi. r cempat... . ., ;.. ., ,,,. ,,!
1 f, tried to I
whitewash the desert project ; Ii
in bad o.ior th. ii, umt he managed t,
luiiig a iww drops of water to 'the
iii sort.'.'
"it was Hardin who did that?"
"But he couldn't deliver enough.
The cut silted up. He cut uguln, the
Mime story. He was In a pretty bad
hole. He'd brought colonlstN in al
ready; bed used their money, the
money they'll paid for laud with wa
ler lo make tho cuts. No wonder lie
was desperate."
It recalled the man Itlekurd had
disliked, the roughshod, loud-vol 1
student of his first class In engineer
ing. Thut was tho man who hud made
the tlumboyunt curpets of the Holmes'
boarding house Impossible any longer
to him. He hud a sudden disconcert
ing vision of a large unfinished fuce
peering through the honeysuckles ut
I man and a girl drawing apart In
confusion from their first and lust
kiss. He wunted to tell Marshall he
wus wasting his time.
"Overwhelmed with lawsulrs," Mar-'
shall wus siiylng. "llnrdlu hud to de-'
liver wuter to those colonists. It was
then thut ho ran over Into Mexico,
0 as to get a better gradient for his
canal, and made his cut there. y,m
k.iow the rest It ran away from hinj.
it mudc. tha Salton sea."
'Hid he ever elve you any rcte I n."
frowned Itlclmrd remlnlsceiilly, "any
pes omilile reason why he made flint
iiil Without soy head gale?"
"No money!" shrugged Marshall,
getiing out another cigar, "I told you'
he's a raw dancer, always starts off
tOO quick, begins on the wrong foot.
h, yes, he has reasons, lofs of them.
that fellow, hut, us you say, they're
nol reasonable, He never waits to gei
ready."
Why was It that the fucp of the
half-sister came to Hlekurd then, with
that look of sensitive high breeding
nnd guarded reserve? Ani she a Har
din I Sister to the loud spilling month I
Queer curds nature deals! And pretty
cards Marshall was trying to deal out
to hi in. (lo down there and finish
Hardin's Job, show hfm up to be the
fiiuihler lie was, give him orders, give
the husband of Uerty Holmes or
ders 1
"It was Hardin who came to me,
but not until he'd tried everything
else. They'd worked for months try
ing to dam the river with a few luce
handkerchiefs, and perhaps a chiffon
veil!" Marshall was twinkling over
his own humor. "Hardin did put up
a good tnlk. It was true, us he said ;
we'd had to move our tracks three.
no, four times at Bolton. It was true
that It ought to be one of the richest
districts tapped by the o. I'. But be
clenched me by a clever bait to put
out a spur In Mexico which would
keep any other railroad off by a fifty
mile parallel, nnd there the sandhills
make a railroad Impossible.
"The government must eventually
come to the rescue. Their works at
I. Minimi hung on the control of the
river down at the heading. Once, he
told me i don't know how much
truth there was In It the service, rec
lamation service, did try to buy up
their plant for a paltry sum. He
m-r.iilrln't unit Ttia atir,r-t m T numm.
' ,.,,.,, rsaaakMsl ...iln.. to
Faraday. I promised to turn that
river, save the district We expected
before the year was out fro have the
government take the responsibility off
our hands."
Rlckard made an Impatient shrug.
A nice problem Marshall had taken
unto himself. He wanted none of it
I "jS? ,h,nf w" 22?
ii- iih'L ingpnioij nmnnill tnnry.
He heard him aae: "Agreed with Far
aday. The Desert Reclamation com
pany waa aa helpless as a swaddled
Infant We made the condition that
we reorganise the company. I was
put In Hardin's place as president of
the corporation, and he was made gen
eral manager. Of count we had to
control the stock. We put up tws
hundred thousand dollars Hardin
had estimated It would coat ua less
than half thatl It's cost us already
a million. Things haven't been going
right Faraday's temper burst out
and Hardin a while back waa asked
to resign."
"And it la Hardin's position that
you wont me to All?" Hla voice
sounded queer to himself dry, mock
ing, as If anyone should know what
an tt,"uru' thlnK ne w" b,'K sk
to 1- 1Ie '"'t Marshall's sharp In-
dlan eye on Mm' a" lf Je'w"ng Pt-
Wp"' ne dlrtn care ,,,w Mnr"
"nuM nirpreiea it. 1 nut place wasn't
for Mm
He met Marshall's Incredulous
stare. "It's a Job I'd Jump at under
most circumstances. But I can't go.
sir"
mml
"GOING DOWN!" .,,. the elevator boy
The Burns Department Store says prices are RoirtKdown
This store is now on a cash basis which enables it to com
pete with any store in Eastern Oregon. See our new
proods which have just arrived and are for
sale at peace time prices.
LUNABURG, DALTON & CO.
BURNS, :: OREGON
The first to lower prices nnd the last l raise prices.
EVERYTHING FOR EVERYBODY
20,000 Acres
- SAGEBRUSH LANDS -with,
water rights for sale on
Blitzen River in tracts of 80
Acres or more. Reasonable
prices one-fifth cash balance
easy terms, six per cent in
terest. Eastern Oregon Live Stock
crane Company oregon
lorn Marshall leaned buck tie
swing of Ills swivel chair, Mntildl
BStOUnded. His eyes fold Ithknifl
that he bad been found woutln : -jj
had while bUiod In his veins.
"II Is good of you to think of misJ
pshaw I It is uiisuni io say .m
things. You know that I know it U
an honor to be picked out by you fJ
such a piece of work. Id like tJ
but I enn't."
The president of railroads, whs
knew men, had been watching tail
"Just Stop That Rlverl"
play of feature. "Take your time," htl
said. "Don't answer too hastily. Ttktl
Tour time."
He was playing the fool, or worst,
before Marshall, whom he respectai
whose partisanship mesnt so mw.
Bnt he couldn't help It. He couldn't
tell thst story he knew tbst Marshal
would brush It aside ae a cblid'u
end. He couldn't make It deer It
the man whose stare was balanrt
him why he could net oast Tom Has
die.
"In It a personal reason?" Hist
shaN's gaze had returned to his rlagj
making
Rlckard admitted It waa persons!
"Then I don't aceept It I wouldn't
be your friend If I didn't advise ysi
to disregard the little thing, to takt
the big thing. Maybe yon are goltf
to be married." He did not wait M
Hiekard's vigorous negative. "That!
ean wait. The river won't Tberra
a river running away down yondtr,!
ruining the valley, ruining the honw'
of families men have carried In wltt
them. I've asked you to aave then,'
There's a debt of honor to be paid,
My promise. I have asked you to pay
It. There's history being written li
that desert., I've asked you to writs
It And you say 'No'"
"No 1 I nay yes 1" slipped Rlckarij
The Marshall oratory bad swept hla;
to his feet,
The dramatic moment was chlllat
ly their Anglo-Saxon self-conscloo
i ness. An awkward silence bung. Thet:
' "When can you go?"
"Today, tomorrow, the first traUn
out."
"Good !"
"Any Instructions?"
"Just stop that river!"
"The expense?" demanded the eol
neer. "How far can I go."
D n the expense !" cried Tod I
Marshall. "Just go ahead."
(To be continued next week.)
We will do jour Job prlattag.
ii vEL
iiy rlmh vSflt MlillntUoffill
' j