diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:28:42 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:28:42 -0700 |
| commit | 0d4964d37c99f2d9d2cc6dec4023fc41577788bf (patch) | |
| tree | 14d36c61685392e3470ab7cde35a10a908284e0e | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 6997.txt | 14770 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 6997.zip | bin | 0 -> 281014 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/wbwor10.txt | 15205 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/wbwor10.zip | bin | 0 -> 286641 bytes |
7 files changed, 29991 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/6997.txt b/6997.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f9c23fe --- /dev/null +++ b/6997.txt @@ -0,0 +1,14770 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Winning of Barbara Worth, by Harold Bell Wright + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Winning of Barbara Worth + +Author: Harold Bell Wright + +Posting Date: August 7, 2012 [EBook #6997] +Release Date: November, 2004 +First Posted: February 20, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Barbara. Often as Barbara sat looking over that great +basin her heart cried out to know the secret it held.] + + + + +THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH + +BY + +HAROLD BELL WRIGHT + + + + + +ACKNOWLEDGMENT + +While this story is not in any way a history of this part of the +Colorado Desert now known as the Imperial Valley, nor a biography of +anyone connected with this splendid achievement, I must in honesty +admit that this work which in the past ten years has transformed a +vast, desolate waste into a beautiful land of homes, cities, and farms, +has been my inspiration. + +With much gratitude for their many helpful kindnesses, I acknowledge my +indebtedness to H. T. Cory, F. C. Hermann, C. R. Rockwood, C. N. Perry, +E. H. Gaines, Roy Kinkaid and the late George Sexsmith, engineers and +surveyors identified with this reclamation work; to W. K. Bowker, +Sidney McHarg, C. E. Paris, and many other business friends and +neighboring ranchers among our pioneers; and to William Mulholland, +Chief Engineer of the Los Angeles Aqueduct. + +I am particularly indebted to C. K. Clarke, Assistant Manager and Chief +Engineer of the California Development Company, and to Allen Kelly, +whose knowledge, insight and observations as a journalist and as a +student of Reclamation in the Far West have been invaluable to me. + +To my friend, Mr. W. F. Holt, in appreciation of his life and of his +work in the Imperial Valley, this story is inscribed. H. B. W. + +Tecolote Rancho, April 25, 1911. + + + + + "Give fools their gold, and knaves their power; + Let fortune's bubbles rise and fall, + Who sows a field, or trains a flower, + Or plants a tree, is more than all." + + + + +CONTENTS + + I. INTO THE INFINITE LONG AGO + + II. JEFFERSON WORTH'S OFFERING + + III. MISS BARBARA WORTH + + IV. YOU'D BETTER MAKE IT NINETY + + V. WHAT THE INDIAN TOLD THE SEER + + VI. THE STANDARD OF THE WEST + + VII. DON'T YOU LIKE MY DESERT, MR. HOLMES? + + VIII. WHY WILLARD HOLMES STAYED + + IX. THE MASTER PASSION--"GOOD BUSINESS" + + X. BARBARA'S LOVE FOR THE SEER + + XI. ABE LEE RESIGNS + + XII. SIGNS OF CONFLICT + + XIII. BARBARA'S CALL TO HER FRIENDS + + XIV. MUCH CONFUSION AND HAPPY EXCITEMENT + + XV. BARBARA COMES INTO HER OWN + + XVI. JEFFERSON WORTH'S OPERATIONS + + XVII. JAMES GREENFIELD SEEKS AN ADVANTAGE + + XVIII. THE GAME PROGRESSES + + XIX. GATHERED AT BARBARA'S COURT + + XX. WHAT THE STAKES REVEALED + + XXI. PABLO BRINGS NEWS TO BARBARA + + XXII. GATHERING OF OMINOUS FORCES + + XXIII. EXACTING ROYAL TRIBUTE + + XXIV. JEFFERSON WORTH GOES FOR HELP + + XXV. WILLARD HOLMES ON TRIAL + + XXVI. HELD IN SUSPENSE + + XXVII. ABE LEE'S RIDE TO SAVE JEFFERSON WORTH + + XXVIII. WHAT THE COMPANY MAN TOLD THE MEXICANS + + XXIX. TELL BARBARA I'M ALL RIGHT + + XXX. MANANA! MANANA! TO-MORROW! TO-MORROW! + + XXXI. BARBARA'S WAITIN' BREAKFAST FOR YOU + + XXXII. BARBARA MINISTERS TO THE WOUNDED + + XXXIII. WILLARD HOLMES RECEIVES HIS ANSWER + + XXXIV. BATTLING WITH THE RIVER + + XXXV. NATURE AND HUMAN NATURE + + XXXVI. OUT OF THE HOLLOW OF GOD'S HAND + + XXXVII. BACK TO THE OLD SAN FELIPE TRAIL + +XXXVIII. THE HERITAGE OF BARBARA WORTH + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +_Drawn by_ F. GRAHAM COOTES + +OFTEN AS BARBARA SAT LOOKING OVER THAT GREAT BASIN HER HEART CRIED OUT +TO KNOW THE SECRET IT HELD. + +HE HAD LIFTED THE CANTEEN AND WAS HOLDING IT UPSIDE DOWN. + +"BUT I DON'T RIDE, YOU KNOW." + +MORE TO REGAIN HIS COMPOSURE THAN BECAUSE HE WAS THIRSTY, HELPED +HIMSELF FROM THE EARTHEN WATER JAR. + +"ADIOS. TELL BARBARA I'M ALL RIGHT." + +WITHOUT A WORD--FOR NO WORD WAS NEEDED--THEIR HANDS MET IN A FIRM GRIP. + + + + +The Winning of Barbara Worth + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +INTO THE INFINITE LONG AGO. + + +Jefferson Worth's outfit of four mules and a big wagon pulled out of +San Felipe at daybreak, headed for Rubio City. From the swinging red +tassels on the bridles of the leaders to the galvanized iron water +bucket dangling from the tail of the reach back of the rear axle the +outfit wore an unmistakable air of prosperity. The wagon was loaded +only with a well-stocked "grub-box," the few necessary camp cooking +utensils, blankets and canvas tarpaulin, with rolled barley and bales +of hay for the team, and two water barrels--empty. Hanging by its +canvas strap from the spring of the driver's seat was a large, +cloth-covered canteen. Behind the driver there was another seat of the +same wide, comfortable type, but the man who held the reins was +apparently alone. Jefferson Worth was not with his outfit. + +By sending the heavy wagon on ahead and following later with a faster +team and a light buckboard, Mr. Worth could join his outfit in camp +that night, saving thus at least another half day for business in San +Felipe. Jefferson Worth, as he himself would have put it, "figured on +the value of time." Indeed Jefferson Worth figured on the value of +nearly everything. + +Now San Felipe, you must know, is where the big ships come in and the +air tingles with the electricity of commerce as men from all lands, +driven by the master passion of human kind--Good Business--seek each +his own. + +But Rubio City, though born of that same master passion of the race, is +where the thin edge of civilization is thinnest, on the Colorado River, +miles beyond the Coast Range Mountains, on the farther side of that +dreadful land where the thirsty atmosphere is charged with the awful +silence of uncounted ages. + +Between these two scenes of man's activity, so different and yet so +like, and crossing thus the land of my story, there was only a rude +trail--two hundred and more hard and lonely miles of it--the only mark +of man in all that desolate waste and itself marked every mile by the +graves of men and by the bleached bones of their cattle. + +All that forenoon, on every side of the outfit, the beautiful life of +the coast country throbbed and exulted. It called from the heaving +ocean with its many gleaming sails and dark drifting steamer smoke +under the wide sky; it sang from the harbor where the laden ships meet +the long trains that come and go on their continental errands; it cried +loudly from the busy streets of village and town and laughed out from +field and orchard. But always the road led toward those mountains that +lifted their oak-clad shoulders and pine-fringed ridges across the way +as though in dark and solemn warning to any who should dare set their +faces toward the dreadful land of want and death that lay on their +other side. + +In the afternoon every mile brought scenes more lonely until, in the +foothills, that creeping bit of life on the hard old trail was +forgotten by the busy world behind, even as it seemed to forget that +there was anywhere any life other than its creeping self. + +As the sweating mules pulled strongly up the heavy grades the man on +the high seat of the wagon repaid the indifference of his surroundings +with a like indifference. Unmoved by the forbidding grimness of the +mountains, unthoughtful of their solemn warning, he took his place as +much a part of the lonely scene as the hills themselves. Slouching +easily in his seat he gave heed only to his team and to the road ahead. +When he spoke to the mules his voice was a soft, good-natured drawl, as +though he spoke from out a pleasing reverie, and though his words were +often hard words they were carried to the animals on an under-current +of fellowship and understanding. The long whip, with coiled lash, was +in its socket at the end of the seat. The stops were frequent. Wise in +the wisdom of the unfenced country and knowing the land ahead, this +driver would conserve every ounce of his team's strength against a +possible time of great need. + +They were creeping across a flank of the hill when the off-leader +sprang to the left so violently that nothing but the instinctive +bracing of his trace-mate held them from going over the grade. The same +instant the wheel team repeated the maneuver, but not so quickly, as +the slouching figure on the seat sprang into action. A quick strong +pull on the reins, a sharp yell: "You, Buck! Molly!" and a rattling +volley of strong talk swung the four back into the narrow road before +the front wheels were out of the track. + +With a crash the heavy brake was set. The team stopped. As the driver +half rose and turned to look back he slipped the reins to his left hand +and his right dropped to his hip. With a motion too quick for the eye +to follow the free arm straightened and the mountain echoed wildly to +the loud report of a forty-five. By the side of the road in the rear of +the wagon a rattlesnake uncoiled its length and writhed slowly in the +dust. + +Before the echoes of the shot had died away a mad, inarticulate roar +came from the depths of the wagon box. The roar was followed by a thick +stream of oaths in an unmistakably Irish voice. The driver, who was +slipping a fresh cartridge into the cylinder, looked up to see a man +grasping the back of the rear seat for support while rising unsteadily +to his feet. + +The Irishman, as he stood glaring fiercely at the man who had so rudely +awakened him, was without hat or coat, and with bits of hay clinging to +a soiled shirt that was unbuttoned at the hairy throat, presented a +remarkable figure. His heavy body was fitted with legs like posts; his +wide shoulders and deep chest, with arms to match his legs, were so +huge as to appear almost grotesque; his round head, with its tumbled +thatch of sandy hair, was set on a thick bull-neck; while all over the +big bones of him the hard muscles lay in visible knots and bunches. The +unsteady poise, the red, unshaven, sweating face, and the angry, +blood-shot eyes, revealed the reason for his sleep under such +uncomfortable circumstances. The silent driver gazed at his fearsome +passenger with calm eyes that seemed to hold in their dark depths the +mystery of many a still night under the still stars. + +In a voice that rumbled up from his hairy chest--a husky, menacing +growl--the Irishman demanded: "Fwhat the hell do ye mane, dishturbin' +the peace wid yer clamor? For less than a sup av wather I'd go over to +ye wid me two hands." + +Calmly the other dropped his gun into its holster. Pointing to the +canteen that hung over the side of the wagon fastened by its canvas +strap to the seat spring, he drawled softly: "There's the water. Help +yourself, stranger." + +The gladiator, without a word, reached for the canteen and with huge, +hairy paws lifted it to his lips. After a draught of prodigious length +he heaved a long sigh and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. +Then he turned his fierce eyes again on the driver as if to inquire +what manner of person he might be who had so unceremoniously challenged +his threat. + +The Irishman saw a man, tall and spare, but of a stringy, tough and +supple leanness that gave him the look of being fashioned by the +out-of-doors. He, too, was coatless but wore a vest unbuttoned over a +loose, coarse shirt. A red bandana was knotted easily about his throat. +With his wide, high-crowned hat, rough trousers tucked in long boots, +laced-leather wrist guards and the loosely buckled cartridge belt with +its long forty-five, his very dress expressed the easy freedom of the +wild lands, while the dark, thin face, accented by jet black hair and a +long, straight mustache, had the look of the wide, sun-burned plains. + +With a grunt that might have expressed either approval or contempt, the +Irishman turned and groping about in the wagon found a sorry wreck of a +hat. Again he stooped and this time, from between the bales of hay, +lifted a coat, fit companion to the hat. Carefully he felt through +pocket after pocket. His search was rewarded by a short-stemmed clay +pipe and the half of a match--nothing more. With an effort he explored +the pockets of his trousers. Then again he searched the coat; muttering +to himself broken sentences, not the less expressive because +incomplete: "Where the divil--Now don't that bate--Well, I'll be--" +With a temper not improved by his loss he threw down the garment in +disgust and looked up angrily. The silent driver was holding toward him +a sack of tobacco. + +The Irishman, with another grunt, crawled under the empty seat and +climbing heavily over the back of the seat in front, planted himself +stolidly by the driver's side. Filling his pipe with care and +deliberation he returned the sack to its owner and struck the +half-match along one post-like leg. Shielding the tiny flame with his +hands before applying the light he remarked thoughtfully: "Ye are a +danged reckless fool to be so dishturbin' me honest slape by explodin' +that cannon ye carry. 'Tis on me mind to discipline ye for sich +outrageous conduct." The last word was followed by loud, smacking +puffs, as he started the fire in the pipe-bowl under his nose. + +While the Irishman was again uttering his threat, the driver, with a +skillful twist, rolled a cigarette and, leaning forward just in the +nick of time, he deliberately shared the half-match with his blustering +companion. In that instant the blue eyes above the pipe looked straight +into the black eyes above the cigarette, and a faint twinkle of +approval met a serious glance of understanding. + +Gathering up his reins and sorting them carefully, the driver spoke to +his team: "You, Buck! Molly! Jack! Pete!" The mules heaved ahead. Again +the silence of the world-old hills was shattered by the rattling rumble +of the heavy-tired wagon and the ring and clatter of iron-shod hoofs. + +Stolidly the Irishman pulled at the short-stemmed pipe, the wagon seat +sagging heavily with his weight at every jolt of the wheels, while from +under his tattered hat rim his fierce eyes looked out upon the wild +landscape with occasional side glances at his silent, indifferent +companion. + +Again the team was halted for a rest on the heavy grade. Long and +carefully the Irishman looked about him and then, turning suddenly upon +the still silent driver, he gazed at him for a full minute before +saying, with elaborate mock formality: "It may be, Sorr, that bein' ye +are sich a hell av a conversationalist, ut wouldn't tax yer vocal +powers beyand their shtrength av I should be so baould as to ax ye +fwhat the divil place is this?" + +The soft, slow drawl of the other answered: "Sure. That there is No +Man's Mountains ahead." + +"No Man's, is ut; an' ut looks that same. Where did ye say ye was +thryin' to go?" + +"We're headed for Rubio City. This here is the old San Felipe trail." + +"Uh-huh! So _we're_ goin' to Rubio City, are we? For all I know that +may as well be nowhere at all. Well, well, ut's news av intherest to +me. _We_ are goin' to Rubio City. Ut may be that ye would exshplain, +Sorr, how I come to be here at all." + +"Sure Mike! You come in this here wagon from San Felipe." + +At the drawling answer the hot blood flamed in the face of the +short-tempered Irishman and the veins in his thick neck stood out as if +they would burst. "Me name's not Mike at all, but Patrick Mooney!" he +roared. "I've two good eyes in me head that can see yer danged old +wagon for meself, an' fwhat's more I've two good hands that can break +ye in bits for the impedent dried herrin' that ye are, a-thinkin' ye +can take me anywhere at all be abductin' me widout me consent. For a +sup o' wather I'd go to ye--" He turned quickly to look behind him for +the driver was calmly pointing toward the end of the seat. "Fwhat is +ut? Fwhat's there?" he demanded. + +"The water," drawled the dark-faced man. "I don't reckon you drunk it +all the other time." + +Again the big man lifted the canteen and drank long and deep. When he +had wiped his mouth with the back of his hairy hand and had returned +the canteen to its place, he faced his companion--his blue eyes +twinkling with positive approval. Scratching his head meditatively, he +said: "An' all because av me wantin' to enjoy the blessin's an' +advantages av civilization agin afther three long months in that danged +gradin' camp, as is the right av ivery healthy man wid his pay in his +pocket." + +The teamster laughed softly. "You was sure enjoyin' of it a-plenty." + +The other looked at him with quickened interest. "Ye was there?" he +asked. + +"Some," was the laconic reply. + +The Irishman scratched his head again with a puzzled air. "I +disremimber entire. Was there some throuble maybe?" + +The other grinned. "Things was movin' a few." + +Patrick Mooney nodded his head. "Uh-huh: mostly they do under thim +circumstances. Av course there'd be a policeman, or maybe two?" + +"Five," said the man with the lines, gently. + +"Five! Howly Mither! I did mesilf proud. An' did they have the wagon? +Sure they wud--five policemen niver walked. Wan av thim might, av ut +was handy-like, but five--niver! Tell me, man, who else was at the +party? No--howld on a minut!" He interrupted himself, "Thim cops +stimulate me mimory a bit. Was there not a bunch av sailor-men from wan +av thim big ships?" + +The driver nodded. + +The other, pleased with the success of his mental effort, continued: +"Uh-huh--an' I was havin' a peaceful dhrink wid thim all whin somewan +made impedent remarks touchin' me appearance, or ancestors, I +disremimber which. But where was you?" + +"Well, you see," explained the driver in his slow way, "hit was like +this. That there saloon were plumb full of sailor-men all exceptin' you +an' me. I was a heap admirin' of the way you handled that big hombre +what opened the meetin' and also his two pardners, who aimed to back +his play. Hit was sure pretty work. The rest of the crowd sort o' +bunched in one end of the room an' when you began addressin' the +congregation, so to speak, on the habits, character, customs and +breedin' of sailor-men in general an' the present company in +particular, I see right there that you was a-bitin' off more 'n you +could chaw. It wasn't no way reasonable that any human could handle +that whole outfit with only just his bare hands, so I edged over your +way, plumb edified by your remarks, and when the rush for the mourners' +bench come I unlimbered an' headed the stampede pronto. Then I made my +little proposition. I told 'em that, bein' the only individual on the +premises not a sailor-man nor an Irishman, I felt it my duty to referee +the obsequies, so to speak, and that odds of twenty to one, not to +mention knives, was strictly agin my convictions. Moreover, bein' the +sole an' only uninterested audience, I had rights. Then I offers to bet +my pile, even money, that you could handle the whole bunch, takin' 'em +two at a throw. I knowed it were some odds, but I noticed that them +three what opened the meetin' was still under the influence. Also I +undertook to see that specifications was faithfully fulfilled." + +"Mither av Gawd, fwhat a sociable!" broke in the Irishman. "An' me too +dhrunk to remimber rightly! Did they take yer bet? Ye sun-burned limb +av the divil--did they take ut?" + +"They sure did," drawled the driver. "I had my gun on them all the +time." + +"Hurroo! An' did I do ut? Tell me quick--did I do ut? Sure I could aisy +av nothin' happened." + +"You laid your first pair on top of the three, then the police called +the game and the bets were off." + +"They pinched the house?" + +"They took you an' me." + +"Sure! av course they would take us two. 'Tis thim San Felipe police +knows their duty. But how could they do ut?" + +"I forget details right here, bein' temporarily incapacitated by one o' +them hittin' me with a club from behind. I woke up in a cell with you." + +The Irishman rubbed the back of his head. "Come to think av ut, I have +a bit av a bump on me own noodle that 'tis like helps to exshplain the +cell. But fwhat in the divil's name brung us here in this Gawd-forsaken +Nobody's Place? Pass me another pipeful an' tell me that av ye can." + +The driver passed over the tobacco sack and, stopping his team for +another rest, rolled a cigarette for himself. "That's easy," he said. +"This here is Jefferson Worth's outfit. He wanted me to start home this +morning, so he got me off. I don't know how he done it; mostly nobody +knows how Jefferson Worth does things. There was a man with him who +knowed you and, as I was some disinclined to leave you under the +circumstances, Mr. Worth fixed it up for you, too, then we all jest +throwed you in and fetched you along. Mr. Worth with the other man and +his kid are comin' on in a buckboard. They'll catch up with us where we +camp to-night. I don't mind sayin' that I plumb admired your spirit and +action and--sizin' up that police bunch--I could see your talents would +sure be wasted in that San Felipe country for some time to come. +There'll be plenty of room in Rubio City for you, leastwise 'till you +draw your pay again. If you don't like the accommodations you're +gettin' I reckon you'd better make good your talk back there and we'll +see whether you takes this outfit back to San Felipe or I takes her on +to Rubio City." + +The Irishman spat emphatically over the wheel. "An' 'tis a gintleman +wid proper instincts ye are, though, as a rule, I howld ut impolite to +carry a gun. But afther all, 'tis a matter av opinion an' I'm free to +admit that there are occasions. Anyhow ye handle ut wid grace an' +intilligence. An', fists er shticks, er knives, er guns, that's the +thing that marks the man. 'Tis not Patrick Mooney that'll fault a +gintleman for ways that he can't help owin' to his improper bringin' +up. Av ye don't mind, will ye tell me fwhat they call ye? I'll not be +so indelicate as to ax yer name. Fwhat they call ye will be enough." + +The other laughed. "My name is Joe Brannin. They call me Texas +Joe--Tex, for short." + +"Good bhoy, Tex! Ye look the divil av a lot like a red herrin', but +that's not sich a bad fish, an' ye have the right flavor. How could ye +help ut? Brannin an' Texas is handles to pull a man through hell wid. +But tell me this--who is this man that says he knows me?" + +Texas Joe shook his head and, picking out his lines, called to his +team. When they were under way again he said: "I didn't hear his name +but I judge from the talk that he is one o' them there civil engineers, +an' that he's headin' for Rubio City to build the railroad that's goin' +through to the coast. Mr. Worth told me that there would be another man +and a kid to go back with us, but I know that Mr. Worth hadn't never +seen them before himself." + +Pat shifted his heavy bulk to face the driver and, removing his pipe +from his mouth, asked with deliberation: "An' do ye mane to tell me +that this place we're goin' to is on the new line av the Southwestern +an' Continental?" + +"Sure. They're buildin' into Rubio City from the East now." + +The Irishman became excited. "An' this man that knows me--this +engineer--is he a fine, big, up-standin' man wid brown eyes an' the +look av a king?" + +"I ain't never seen no kings," drawled Tex, "but the rest of it sure +fits him." + +"Well, fwhat do ye think av that? 'Tis the Seer himsilf, or I'm not the +son av me own mither. I was hearin' in Frisco, where I went the last +time I drawed me pay, that he was like to be on the S. an' C. +extension. 'Twas that that took me to San Felipe, bein' wishful to get +a job wid him again. Well, well, an' to think ut's the Seer himsilf!" + +"What's that you call him?" + +"The Seer. I disremimber his other name but he's got wan all shtraight +an' proper. He's that kind. They call him the Seer because av his talk +av the great things that will be doin' in this country av no rain at +all whin ignorant savages like yersilf learn how to use the wather +that's in the rivers for irrigation. I've heard him say mesilf that +hundreds av thousands av acres av these big deserts will be turned into +farms, an' all that be what he calls 'Reclamation.' 'Twas for that some +danged yellow-legged surveyor give him the name, an' ut shtuck. But +most av the engineers--the rale engineers do ye mind--is wid him, +though they do be jokin' him the divil av a lot about what they calls +his visions." + +"He didn't _look_ like he was locoed," said Texas Joe thoughtfully, +"but he's sure some off on that there desert proposition as you'll see +before we lands in Rubio." + +"I dunno--I've seen some quare things in me time in the way av big jobs +that nobody thought could be done at all. But lave ut go. 'Tis not the +likes av me an' you that's qualified to give judgment on sich janiuses +as the Seer, who, I heard tell, has the right to put more big-manin' +letters afther his name than ye have teeth in yer head." + +"All the same it ain't the brand on a horse that makes him travel. A +man'll sure need somethin' more hefty than letters after his name when +he goes up against the desert." + +"Well, lave ut go at that. Wait 'til ye know him. But fwhat's this yer +tellin' me about a kid? The Seer has no family at all but himsilf an' +his job." + +Texas grinned. "Maybe not, pard; but he's sure got together part of a +family this trip." + +"Is ut a gurl, or a bhoy?" + +"Boy--'bout a ten-year-old, I'd say." + +The Irishman shook his head doubtfully. "I dunno. 'Tis a quare thing +for the Seer. Av it was me, or you, now--but the Seer! It's danged +quare! But tell me, fwhat's this man, yer boss? 'Tis a good healthy +pull he must have to be separatin' us from thim San Felipe police." + +Texas Joe deliberated so long before answering this that Pat glanced at +him uneasily several times. At last the driver drawled: "You're right +there; Jefferson Worth sure has some pull." + +Pat grunted. "But fwhat does he do?" + +"Do?" Tex swung his team around a spur of the mountain where the trail +leads along the side of a canyon to its head. Far below they heard the +tumbling roar of a stream in its rocky course. + +"Sure the man must do something?" + +"As near as I can make out Jefferson Worth does everybody." + +"Oh ho! So that's ut? I've no care for the cards mesilf, but av a man's +a professional an'--" + +"You're off there, pardner. Jefferson Worth ain't that kind. He's one +o' these here financierin' sports, an' so far as anybody that I ever +seen goes, he's got a dead cinch." + +"Ye mane he's a banker?" + +"Sure. The Pioneer in Rubio City. He started the game in the early days +an' he's been a-rollin' it up ever since. Hit's plumb curious about +this here financierin' business," continued Tex, in his slow, +meditative way. "Looks to me mostly jest plain, common hold-up, only +they do it with money 'stead of a gun. In the old days you used to get +the drop on your man with your six, all regular, an' take what he +happened to have in his clothes. Then the posse'd get after you an' +mebbe string you up, which was all right, bein' part of the game. Now +these fellows like Jefferson Worth, they get's your name on some +writin's an' when you ain't lookin' they slips up an' gets away with +all your worldly possessions, an' the sheriff he jest laughs an' says +hits good business. This here Worth man is jest about the coolest, +smoothest, hardest proposition in the game. He fair makes my back hair +raise. The common run o' people ain't got no more show stackin' up agin +Jefferson Worth than two-bits worth o' ice has in hell. Accordin' to my +notion hit's this here same financierin' game that's a-ruinin' the +West. The cattle range is about all gone now. If they keeps it up we +won't be no better out here than some o' them places I've heard about +back East." + +"'Tis a danged ignorant savage ye are, like the rest av yer thribe, wid +yer talk av ruinin' the West. Fwhat wud this counthry be without money? +'Tis thim same financiers that have brung ye the railroads, an' the +cities, an' the schools, an' the churches, an' all the other blessin's +an' joys of civilization that ye've got to take whither ye likes ut or +not. Look at the Seer, now. Fwhat could a man like him--an engineer, +mind ye--fwhat could the Seer do widout the men wid money to back him?" + +The Irishman's words were answered by a cheerful "Whoa!" and a crash of +the brakes as Texas Joe brought his team to a stand near the spring at +the head of the canyon. "We camp here," he announced. "This is the last +water we strike until we make it over the Pass to Mountain Springs on +the desert side. Jefferson Worth will be along with the Seer and his +kid most any time now." + +A little before dusk the banker, with his two companions, arrived. + +"Hello, Pat!" The man who leaped from the buckboard and strode toward +the waiting Irishman was tall and broad, with the head and chin of a +soldier, and the brown eyes of a dreamer. He was dressed in rough +corduroys, blue flannel shirt, laced boots, and Stetson, and he greeted +the burly Irishman as a fellow-laborer. + +A joyful grin spread over the battered features of the gladiator as he +grasped the Seer's outstretched hand. "Well, dang me but ut's glad I am +to see ye, Sorr, in this divil's own land. I had me natural doubts, av +course, whin I woke up in the wagon, but ut's all right. 'Tis proud I +am to be abducted by ye, Sorr." + +"Abducted!" The engineer's laugh awoke the echoes in the canyon. "It +was a rescue, man!" + +"Well, well, let ut go at that! But tell me, Sorr"--he lowered his +voice to a confidential rumble--"fwhat's this I hear that ye have yer +bhoy wid ye? Sure I niver knew that ye was a man av family." He looked +toward the slender lad who, with the readiness of a grown man, was +helping the driver of the buckboard to unhitch his team of four +broncos. "'Tis a good lad he is, or I'm a Dutchman." + +"You're right, Pat, Abe is a good boy," the Seer answered gravely. "I +picked him up in a mining camp on the edge of the Mojave Desert when I +was running a line of preliminary surveys through that country for the +S. and C. last year. He was born in the camp and his mother died when +he was a baby. God knows how he pulled through! You know what those +mining places are. His father, Frank Lee, was killed in a drunken row +while I was there, and Abe showed so much cool nerve and downright +manliness that I offered him a place with my party. He has been with me +ever since." + +Pat's voice was husky as he said: "I ax yer pardon, Sorr, for me +blunderin' impedence about yer bein' a man av family. I'm a danged old +rough-neck, wid no education but me two fists, an' no manners at all." + +The engineer's reply was prevented by the approach of Jefferson Worth +who had been talking with Texas Joe. The banker's head came but little +above the Seer's shoulders and in comparison with the Irishman's heavy +bulk he appeared almost insignificant, while his plain business suit of +gray seemed altogether out of place in the wild surroundings. His +smooth-shaven face was an expressionless gray mask and his deep-set +gray eyes turned from the Irishman to the engineer without a hint of +emotion. The two men felt that somewhere behind that gray mask they +were being carefully estimated--measured--valued--as possible factors +in some far-reaching plan. He spoke to the Seer, and his voice was +without a suggestion of color: "I see that your friend has recovered." +It was as though he stated a fact that he had just verified. + +Laughing at the memory of the Irishman's San Felipe experience, the +engineer said: "Mr. Worth, permit me to introduce Mr. Patrick Mooney +whom I have known for years as the best boss of a grading gang in the +West. Pat, this is Mr. Jefferson Worth, president of the Pioneer Bank +in Rubio City." + +The Irishman clutched at his tattered hat-brim in embarrassed +acknowledgment of the Seer's formality. Jefferson Worth, from behind +his gray mask, said in his exact, colorless voice: "He looks as though +he ought to handle men." + +As the banker passed on toward the big wagon the Irishman drew close to +the Seer and whispered hoarsely: "Now fwhat the hell kind av a man is +that? 'Tis the truth, Sorr, that whin he looked at me out av that +grave-yard face I could bare kape from crossin' mesilf!" + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +JEFFERSON WORTH'S OFFERING. + + +When day broke over the topmost ridges of No Man's Mountains, Jefferson +Worth's outfit was ready to move. The driver of the lighter rig with +its four broncos set out for San Felipe. On the front seat of the big +wagon Texas Joe picked up his reins, sorted them carefully, and glanced +over his shoulder at his employer. "All set?" + +"Go ahead." + +"You, Buck! Molly!" The lead mules straightened their traces. "Jack! +Pete!" As the brake was released with a clash and rattle of iron rods, +the wheelers threw their weight into their collars and the wagon moved +ahead. + +Grim, tireless, world-old sentinels, No Man's Mountains stood guard +between the fertile land on their seaward side and the desolate +forgotten wastes of the East. They said to the country of green life, +of progress and growth and civilization, that marched to their line on +the West, "Halt!" and it stopped. To the land of lean want, of gray +death, of gaunt hunger, and torturing thirst, that crept to their feet +on the other side, "Stop!" and it came no farther. With no land to +till, no mineral to dig, their very poverty was their protection. With +an air of grim finality, they declared strongly that as they had always +been they would always remain; and, at the beginning of my story, save +for that one, slender, man-made trail, their hoary boast had remained +unchallenged. + +Steadily, but with frequent rests on the grades, Jefferson Worth's +outfit climbed toward the summit and a little before noon gained the +Pass. The loud, rattling rumble of the wagon as the tires bumped and +ground over the stony, rock-floored way, with the sharp ring and +clatter of the iron-shod hoofs of the team, echoed, echoed, and echoed +again. Loudly, wildly, the rude sounds assaulted the stillness until +the quiet seemed hopelessly shattered by the din. Softly, tamely, the +sounds drifted away in the clear distance; through groves of live oak, +thickets of greasewood, juniper, manzanita and sage; into canyon and +wash; from bluff and ledge; along slope and spur and shoulder; over +ridge and saddle and peak; fainting, dying--the impotent sounds of +man's passing sank into the stillness and were lost. When the team +halted for a brief rest it was in a moment as if the silence had never +been broken. Grim, awful, the hills gave no signs of man's presence, +gave that creeping bit of life no heed. + +At Mountain Spring--a lonely little pool on the desert side of the huge +wall--they stopped for dinner. When the meal was over, Texas Joe, with +the assistance of Pat, filled the water barrels, while the boy busied +himself with the canteen and the Seer and Jefferson Worth looked on. + +"'Tis a dhry counthry ahead, I'm thinking'," remarked the Irishman +inquiringly as he lifted another dripping bucket. + +"Some," returned Tex. "There are three water holes between here and the +river where there's water sometimes. Mostly, though, when you need it +worst, there ain't none there, an' I reckon a dry water hole is about +the most discouragin' proposition there is. They'll all be dry this +trip. There wasn't nothin' but mud at Wolf Wells when we come through +last week." + +Again the barren rocks and the grim, forbidding hills echoed the loud +sound of wheel and hoof. Down the steep flank of the mountain, with +screaming, grinding brakes, they thundered and clattered into the +narrow hall-way of Devil's Canyon with its sheer walls and shadowy +gloom. The little stream that trickled down from the tiny spot of green +at the spring tried bravely to follow but soon sank exhausted into the +dry waste. A cool wind, like a draft through a tunnel, was in their +faces. After perhaps two hours of this the way widened out, the sides +of the canyon grew lower with now and then gaps and breaks. Then the +walls gave way to low, rounded hills, through which the winding trail +lay--a bed of sand and gravel--and here and there appeared clumps of +greasewood and cacti of several varieties. + +At length they passed out from between the last of the foot-hills and +suddenly--as though a mighty curtain were lifted--they faced the +desert. At their feet the Mesa lay in a blaze of white sunlight, and +beyond and below the edge of the bench the vast King's Basin country. + +At the edge of the Mesa Texas halted his team and the little party +looked out and away over those awful reaches of desolate solitude. The +Seer and Pat uttered involuntary exclamations. Jefferson Worth, Texas, +and Abe were silent, but the boy's thin features were aglow with eager +enthusiasm, and the face of the driver revealed an interest in the +scene that years of familiarity could not entirely deaden, but the gray +mask of the banker betrayed no emotion. + +In that view, of such magnitude that miles meant nothing, there was not +a sign of man save the one slender thread of road that was so soon lost +in the distance. From horizon to horizon, so far that the eye ached in +the effort to comprehend it, there was no cloud to cast a shadow, and +the deep sky poured its resistless flood of light upon the vast dun +plain with savage fury, as if to beat into helplessness any living +creature that might chance to be caught thereon. And the desert, +receiving that flood from the wide, hot sky, mysteriously wove with it +soft scarfs of lilac, misty veils of purple and filmy curtains of rose +and pearl and gold; strangely formed with it wide lakes of blue rimmed +with phantom hills of red and violet--constantly changing, shifting, +scene on scene, as dream pictures shift and change. + +Only the strange, silent life that, through long years, the desert had +taught to endure its hardships was there--the lizard, horned-toad, lean +jack-rabbit, gaunt coyote, and their kind. Only the hard growth that +the ages had evolved dotted the floor of the Basin in the near +distance--the salt-bush and greasewood, with here and there clumps of +mesquite. + +And over it all--over the strange hard life, the weird, constantly +shifting scenes, the wondrous, ever-changing colors--was the dominant, +insistent, compelling spirit of the land; a brooding, dreadful silence; +a waiting--waiting--waiting; a mystic call that was at once a threat +and a promise; a still drawing of the line across which no man might go +and live, save those master men who should win the right. + +After a while the engineer, pointing, said: "The line of the +Southwestern and Continental must follow the base of those hills away +over there--is that right, Texas?" + +"That'll be about it," the driver answered. "I hear you're goin' +through San Antonio Pass, an' that's to the north. Rubio City lies +about here--" he pointed a little south of east. "Our road runs through +them sand hills that you can see shinin' like gold a-way over there. +Dry River Crossin' is jest beyond. You can see Lone Mountain off here +to the south. Hit'll sure be some warm down there. Look at them +dust-devil's dancin'. An' over there, where you see that yellow mist +like, is a big sand storm. We ain't likely to get a long one this time +o' the year. But you can't tell what this old desert 'll do; she's sure +some uncertain. La Palma de la Mano de Dios, the Injuns call it, and I +always thought that--all things considerin'--the name fits mighty +close. You can see hit's jest a great big basin." + +"The Hollow of God's Hand." repeated the Seer in a low tone. He lifted +his hat with an unconscious gesture of reverence. + +The Irishman, as the engineer translated, crossed himself. "Howly +Mither, fwhat a name!" + +Jefferson Worth spoke. "Drive on, Texas." + +And so, with the yellow dust-devils dancing along their road and that +yellow cloud in the distance, they moved down the slope--down into The +King's Basin--into La Palma de la Mano de Dios, The Hollow of God's +Hand. + +"Is that true, sir?" asked Abe of the Seer. + +"Is what true, son?" + +"What Texas said about the ocean." + +"Yes it's true. The lowest point of this Basin is nearly three hundred +feet below sea level. The railroad we are going to build follows right +around the rim on the other side over there. This slope that we are +going down now is the ancient beach." Then, while they pushed on into +the silence and the heat of that dreadful land, the engineer told the +boy and his companions how the ages had wrought with river and wave and +sun and wind to make The King's Basin Desert. + +Wolf Wells they found dry as Texas had anticipated. Phantom Lake also +was dry. Occasionally they crossed dry, ancient water courses made by +the river when the land was being formed; sometimes there were glassy, +hard, bare alkali flats; again the trail led through jungle-like +patches of desert growth or twisted and wound between high hummocks. +Always there was the wide, hot sky, the glaring flood of light unbroken +by shadow masses to relieve the eye and reflected hotly from the sandy +floor of the old sea-bed. + +That evening, when they made camp, a heavy mass of clouds hung over the +top of No Man's Mountains and the long Coast Range that walled in the +Basin. Texas Joe, watching these clouds, said nothing; but when Pat +threw on the ground the water left in his cup after drinking, the +plainsman opened upon him with language that startled them all. + +The next day, noon found them in the first of the sand hills. There was +no sign of vegetation here, for the huge mounds and ridges of white +sand, piled like drifts of snow, were never quite still. Always they +move eastward before the prevailing winds from the west. Through the +greater part of the year they advance very slowly, but when the fierce +gales sweep down from the mountains they roll forward so swiftly that +any object in their path is quickly buried in their smothering depths. + +In the middle of the afternoon Texas climbed to the top of a huge drift +to look over the land. The others saw him stand a moment against the +sky, gazing to the northwest, then he turned and slid down the steep +side of the mound to the waiting wagon. + +"She's comin'!" he remarked, laconically, "an' she's a big one. I +reckon we may as well get as far as we can." + +A few minutes later they saw the sky behind them filling as with a +golden mist. The atmosphere, dry and hot, seemed charged with +mysterious, terrible power. The very mules tossed their heads uneasily +and tugged at the reins as if they felt themselves pursued by some +fearful thing. Straight and hard, with terrific velocity, the wind was +coming down through the mountain passes and sweeping across the wide +miles of desert, gathering the sand as it came. Swiftly the golden mist +extended over their heads, a thick, yellow fog, through which the sun +shone dully with a weird, unnatural light. Then the stinging, blinding, +choking blast was upon them with pitiless, savage fury. In a moment all +signs of the trail were obliterated. Over the high edges of the drift +the sand curled and streamed like blizzard snow. About the outfit it +whirled and eddied, cutting the faces of the men and forcing them, with +closed eyes, to gasp for breath. + +Of their own accord the mules stopped and Texas shouted to Mr. Worth: +"It ain't no use for us to try to go on, sir. There ain't no trail now, +and we'd jest drift around." + +As far from the lee of a drift as possible, all hands--under the desert +man's direction--worked to rig a tarpaulin on the windward side of the +wagon. Then, with the mules unhitched and securely tied to the vehicle, +the men crouched under their rude shelter. The Irishman was choking, +coughing, sputtering and cursing, the engineer laughed good-naturedly +at their predicament, and Abe Lee grinned in sympathy, while Texas Joe +accepted the situation grimly with the forbearance of long experience. +But Jefferson Worth's face was the same expressionless gray mask. He +gave no hint of impatience at the delay; no uneasiness at the +situation; no annoyance at the discomfort. It was as though he had +foreseen the situation and had prepared himself to meet it. "How long +do you figure this will last, Tex?" he asked in his colorless voice. + +"Not more than three days," returned the driver. "It may be over in +three hours." + +The morning of the second day they crawled from their blankets beneath +the wagon to find the sky clear and the air free from dust. Eagerly +they prepared to move. Against their shelter the sand had drifted +nearly to the top of the wheels, and the wagon-box itself was more than +half filled. The hair, eye-brows, beard and clothing of the men were +thickly coated with powdery dust, while every sign of the trail was +gone and the wheels sank heavily into the soft sand. + +Three times Texas halted the laboring team and, climbing to the summit +of a drift, determined his course by marks unknown to those who waited +below. Again they stopped for the plainsman to take an observation, and +this time the four in the wagon, watching the figure of the driver +against the sky, saw him turn abruptly and come down to them with long +plunging strides. Instinctively they knew that something unusual had +come under his eye. + +The Seer and Jefferson Worth spoke together. "What is it, Tex?" + +"A stray horse about a mile ahead." + +For the first time Texas Joe uncoiled the long lash of his whip and his +call "You, Buck! Molly!" was punctuated by pistol-like cracks that +sounded strangely in the death-like silence of the sandy waste. + +As they came within sight of the strange horse the poor beast staggered +wearily to meet the wagon--the broken strap of his halter swinging +loosely from his low-hanging head. + +"Look at the poor baste," said Pat. "'Tis near dead he is wid thirst." +He leaped to the ground and started toward the water barrel in the rear +of the wagon. + +"Hold on, Pat," said the colorless voice of Jefferson Worth. And his +words were followed by the report of Texas Joe's forty-five. + +The Irishman turned to see the strange horse lying dead on the sand. +"Fwhat the hell--" he demanded hotly, but Texas was eyeing him coolly, +and something checked the anger of the Irishman. + +"You don't seem to sabe," drawled the man of the desert, replacing the +empty shell in his gun. "There ain't hardly enough water to carry us +through now, an' we may have to pick up this other outfit." + +No one spoke as Pat climbed heavily back to his seat. + +For two miles the tracks of the strange horse were visible, then they +were blotted out by the sand that had filled them. "He made that much +since the blow," was Texas' slow comment. "How far we are from where he +started is all guess." + +As they pushed on, all eyes searched the country eagerly and before +long they found the spot for which they looked. A light spring wagon +with a piece of a halter strap tied to one of the wheels was more than +half-buried by the sand in the lee of a high drift. There was a small +water keg, empty, with its seams already beginning to open in the +fierce heat of the sun, a "grub-box," some bedding and part of a bale +of hay-nothing more. + +Jefferson Worth, Pat and the boy attempted to dig in the steep side of +the drift that rose above the half-buried outfit, but at their every +movement tons of the dry sand came sliding down upon them. "It ain't no +use, Mr. Worth," said Texas, as the banker straightened up, baffled in +his effort. "You will never know what's buried in there until God +Almighty uncovers it." + +Then the man of the desert and plains read the story of the tragedy as +though he had been an eye witness. "They was travelin' light an' +counted on makin' good time. They must have counted, too, on, findin' +water in the hole." He kicked the empty keg. "Their supply give out an' +then that sand-storm caught 'em and the horses broke loose. Of course +they would go to hunt their stock, not darin' to be left afoot and +without water, an' hits a thousand to one they never got back to the +outfit. We're takin' too many chances ourselves to lose much time and I +don't reckon there's any use, but we'd better look around maybe." + +He directed the little party to scatter and to keep on the high ground +so that they would not lose sight of each other. Until well on in the +afternoon they searched the vicinity, but with no reward, while the hot +sun, the dry burning waste and the glaring sands of the desert warned +them that every hour's delay might mean their own death. When they +returned at last to the wagon, called in by Texas, no one spoke. As +they went on their way each was busy with his own thoughts of the grim +evidence of the desert's power. + +Another hour passed. Suddenly Texas halted the mules and, with an +exclamation, leaped to the ground. The others saw that he was bending +over a dim track in the sand. + +"My God! men," he shouted, "hit's a woman." + +For a short way he followed the foot-prints, then, running back to the +wagon and springing to his seat, swung his long whip and urged the team +ahead. + +"Hit's a woman," he repeated. "When the others went away and didn't +come back she started ahead in the storm alone. She had got this far +when the blow quit, leavin' her tracks to show. We may--" He urged his +mules to greater effort. + +The prints of the woman's shoe could be plainly seen now. "Look!" said +Tex, pointing, "she's staggerin'--Now she's stopped! Whoa!" Throwing +his weight on the lines he leaned over from his seat. "Look, men! Look +there!" he cried, as he pointed. "She's carryin' a kid. See, there's +where she set it down for a rest." It was all too clear. Beside the +woman's track were the prints of two baby shoes. + +The Seer, with a long breath, drew his hand across his sand-begrimed +face. "Hurry, Tex. For God's sake, hurry!" + +The Irishman was cursing fiercely in impotent rage, clenching and +unclenching his huge, hairy fists. The boy cowered in his seat. But not +a change came over the mask-like features of Jefferson Worth. Only the +delicate, pointed fingers of his nervous hands caressed constantly his +unshaven chin, fingered his clothing, or--gripped the edge of the wagon +seat as he leaned forward in his place. Texas--grim, cool, alert, his +lean figure instinct now with action and his dark eyes alight--swung +his long whip and handled his reins with a master's skill, calling upon +every atom of his team's strength, while reading those tracks in the +sand as one would scan a printed page. + +It was all written there--that story of mother love; where she +staggered with fatigue; where she was forced to rest; where the baby +walked a little way; and once or twice where the little one stumbled +and fell as the sand proved too heavy for the little feet. And all the +while the desert, dragging with dead weight at the wheels, seemed to +fight against them. It was as though the dreadful land knew that only +time was needed to complete its work. Then the hot sun dropped beyond +the purple wall of mountain and the mystery of the long twilight began. + +"Dry River Crossing is just ahead," said Tex, and soon the outfit +pitched down the steep bank of a deep wash that had been made in some +forgotten age by an overflow of the great river. Occasionally, after +the infrequent rains of winter, some water was to be found here in a +hole under the high bank a short way from the trail. + +With a crash of brakes the team stopped at the bottom. The men, +springing from the wagon and leaving the panting mules to stand with +drooping heads, started to search the wash. But in a moment Texas +shouted and the others quickly joined him. Near the dry water hole lay +the body of a woman. By her side was a small canteen. + +[Illustration: He had lifted the canteen and was holding it upside +down.] + +The engineer bent to examine the still form for some sign of life. + +"It ain't no use, sir," said Texas. "She's gone." He had lifted the +canteen and was holding it upside down. With his finger he touched the +mouth of the vessel and held out his hand. The finger was wet. "You +see," he said, "when her men-folks didn't come back she started with +the kid an' what water she had. But she wouldn't drink none herself, +an' the hard trip in the heat and sand carryin' the baby, an' findin' +the water hole dry was too much for her. If only we had known an' come +on, instead of huntin' back there where it wasn't no use, we'd a-been +in time." + +As the little party--speechless at the words of Texas--stood in the +twilight, looking down upon the lifeless form, a chorus of wild, +snarling, barking yowls, with long-drawn, shrill howls, broke on the +still air. It was the coyotes' evening call. To the silent men the +weird sound seemed the triumphant cry of the Desert itself and they +started in horror. + +Then from the dusky shadow of the high bank farther up the wash came +another cry that broke the spell that was upon them and drew an +answering shout from their lips as they ran forward. + +"Mamma! Mamma! Barba wants drink. Please bring drink, mamma. Barba's +'fraid!" + +Jefferson Worth reached her first. Close under the bank, where she had +wandered after "mamma" lay down to sleep, and evidently just awakened +from a tired nap by the coyotes' cry, sat a little girl of not more +than four years. Her brown hair was all tumbled and tossed, and her big +brown eyes were wide with wondering fear at the four strange men and +the boy who stood over her. + +"Mamma! Mamma!" she whimpered, "Barba wants mamma." + +Jefferson Worth knelt before her, holding out his hands, and his voice, +as he spoke to the baby, made his companions look at him in wonder, it +was so full of tenderness. + +The little girl fixed her big eyes questioningly upon the kneeling man. +The others waited, breathless. Then suddenly, as if at something she +saw in the gray face of the financier, the little one drew back with +fear upon her baby features and in her baby voice. "Go 'way! Go 'way!" +she cried. Then again, "Mamma! Barba wants mamma." Jefferson Worth +turned sadly away, his head bowed as though with disappointment or +shame. + +The others, now, in turn tried to win her confidence. The plainsman and +the Irishman she regarded gravely, as she had looked at the banker, but +without fear. The boy won a little smile, but she still held +back--hesitating--reluctant. Then with a pitiful little gesture of +confidence and trust, she stretched forth her arms to the big +brown-eyed engineer. "Barba wants drink," she said, and the Seer took +her in his arms. + +At the wagon it was Jefferson Worth who offered her a tin cup of water, +but again she shrank from him, throwing her arms about the neck of the +Seer. The engineer, taking the cup from the banker's hands, gave her a +drink. + +While Mr. Worth and the boy prepared a hasty meal, Texas fed his team +and the Irishman, going back a short distance, made still another grave +beside the road already marked by so many. The child--still in the +engineer's arms--ate hungrily, and when the meal was over he took her +to the wagon, while the others, with a lantern, returned to the still +form by the dry water hole. At the banker's suggestion, a thorough +examination of the woman's clothing was made for some clue to her +identity, but no mark was found. With careful hands they reverently +wrapped the body in a blanket and laid it away in its rude, sandy bed. + +When the grave was filled and protected as best it could be, a short +consultation was held. Mr. Worth wished to return to the half buried +outfit to make another effort to learn the identity of the Desert's +victim, but Texas refused. "'Tain't that I ain't willin' to do what's +right," he said, "but you see how that sand acted. Why, Mr. Worth, you +couldn't move that there drift in a year, an' you know it. I jest gave +the mules the last water they'll get an' we're goin' to have all we can +do to make it through as it is. If we wait to go back there ain't one +chance in a hundred that we-all 'll ever see Rubio City again. It ain't +sense to risk killin' the kid when we've got a chance to save her--jest +on a slim chance o' findin' out who she is." + +Returning to the outfit they very quietly--so as not to awaken the +sleeping child--hitched the team to the wagon and took their places. As +the mules started the baby stirred uneasily in the Seer's arms and +murmured sleepily: "Mamma." But the low, soothing tones of the big man +calmed her and she slept. + +Hour after hour of the long night dragged by. They had left the sand +hills behind three miles before they reached Dry River and now the +wide, level reaches of the thinly covered plain, forbidding and ghostly +under the stars, seemed to stretch away on every side into infinite +space. Involuntarily all the members of the little party, except Texas +Joe, strained their eyes looking into the blank, silent distance for +lights, and, as they looked, they turned their heads constantly to +listen for some sound of human life. But in all that vast expanse there +was no light save the light of the stars; in all that silent waste +there was no sound save the occasional call of the coyote, the +plaintive, quivering note of the ground-owls, the muffled fall of the +mules' feet in the soft earth, and the dull chuck, creak, and rumble of +the wagon with the clink of trace chains and the squeak of straining +harness leather. And always it was as though that dreadful land clung +to them with heavy hands, matching its strength against the strength of +these who braved its silent threat, seeking to hold them as it held so +many others. The men spoke rarely and then in low tones. The baby in +the Seer's arms slept. Only Texas, and perhaps his team, knew how they +kept the dimly marked trail that led to life. Perhaps Texas himself did +not know. + +At daybreak they halted for a brief rest and for breakfast. The child +ate with the others, but still clung to the engineer, and while asking +often for "mamma," seemed to trust her big protector fully. From the +shelter of his arms she even smiled at the efforts of Texas, Pat and +the boy to amuse and keep her attention from her loss. From Jefferson +Worth she still shrank in fear and the others wondered at the pain in +that gray face as all his efforts to win a smile or a kind look from +the baby were steadily repulsed. + +It was Texas who, when they halted, poured the last of the water from +the barrel into the canteen and carefully measured out to each a small +portion. It was Texas now who gave the word to start again on their +journey. And when the desert man placed the canteen with their meager +supply of water in the corner of the wagon-box under his own feet the +others understood and made no comment. + +At noon, when each was given his carefully measured portion from the +canteen, Jefferson Worth, before they could check him, wet his +handkerchief with his share of the water and gave it to the Seer to +wipe the dust from the hot little face of the child. The eyes of the +big engineer filled and Texas, with an oath that was more reverent than +profane, poured another measure and forced the banker to drink. + +As the long, hot, thirsty hours of that afternoon dragged slowly past, +the faces of the men grew worn and haggard. The two days and nights in +the trying storm, the exertion of their search among the sand hills, +the excitement of finding the woman's body and the discovery of the +child, followed by the long sleepless night, and now the hard, hot, +dreary hours of the struggle with the Desert that seemed to gather all +its dreadful strength against them, were beginning to tell. Texas Joe, +forced to give constant attention to his team and hardened by years of +experience, showed the strain least, while Pat, unfitted for such a +trial by his protracted spree in San Felipe, undoubtedly suffered most. + +After dinner the Irishman sat motionless in his place with downcast +face, lifting his head only at long intervals to gaze with fierce hot +eyes upon the barren landscape, while muttering to himself in a +growling undertone. Later he seemed to sink into a stupor and appeared +to be scarcely conscious of his companions. Suddenly he roused himself +and, bending forward with a quick motion, reached the canteen from +under the driver's seat. In the act of unscrewing the cap he was halted +by the calm-voice of Texas: "Put that back." + +"Go to hell wid ye! I'm no sun-dried herrin'." + +The cap came loose, but as he raised the canteen and lifted his face +with open parched lips he looked straight into the muzzle of the big +forty-five and back of the gun into the steady eyes of the plainsman. +"I'm sorry, pard, but you can't do it." + +For an instant the Irishman sat as if suddenly turned to stone. The +water was within reach of his lips, but over the canteen certain death +looked at him, for there was no mistaking the expression on the face of +that man with the gun. Beside himself with thirst, forgetting +everything but the water, and utterly reckless he growled: "Shoot an' +be domned, ye murderin' savage!" and again started to lift the +cloth-covered vessel. + +At that instant the baby, catching sight of the canteen, called from +the rear seat: "Barba wants drink. Barba thirsty, too." + +As though Texas had pulled the trigger the Irishman dropped his hand. +Slowly he looked from face to face of his companions--a dazed +expression on his own countenance, as though he were awakening from a +dream. The child, clinging to the Seer with one hand and pointing with +the other, said again: "Barba thirsty; please give Barba drink." + +A look of horror and shame went over the face of the Irishman, his form +shook like a leaf and his trembling hands could scarcely hold the +canteen. "My Gawd! bhoys," he cried, "fwhat's this I was doin'?" Then +he burst suddenly upon Tex with: "Why the hell don't ye shoot, domn ye? +A baste like me is fit for nothin' but to rot in this Gawd-forsaken +land!" + +The fierce rage of the man at his own act was pitiful. Texas dropped +his gun into the holster and turned his face away. Jefferson Worth held +out a cup. "Give the little one some water, Pat," he said, in his cold, +exact way. + +With shaking hands the Irishman poured a little into the cup and, +screwing the cap back on the canteen, he returned it to its place. Then +with a groan he bowed his face in his great, hairy hands. + +Just before sun-down they climbed up the ancient beach line to the rim +of the Basin and the Mesa on the east. Halting here for a brief rest +and for supper, they looked back over the low, wide land through which +they had come. All along the western sky and far to the southward, the +wall-like mountains lifted their purple heights from the dun plain, a +seemingly impassable barrier, shutting in the land of death; shutting +out the life that came to their feet on the other side. To the north +the hills that rim the Basin caught the slanting rays of the setting +sun and glowed rose-color, and pink, and salmon, with deep purple +shadows where canyons opened, all rising out of drifts of silvery +light. To the northwest two distant, gleaming, snow-capped peaks of the +Coast Range marked San Antonio Pass. To the west Lone Mountain showed +dark blue against the purple of the hills beyond. Down in the desert +basin, drifting above and woven through the ever-shifting masses of +color, shimmering phantom lakes, and dull, dusky patches of green and +brown, long streamers, bars and threads of dust shone like gleaming +gold. + +Texas Joe, when he had poured for each his portion of water, shook the +canteen carefully, and a smile spread slowly over his sun-blackened +features. "What's left belongs to the kid," he said. "But we'll make +it. We'll jest about make it." + +The Irishman lifted his cup toward the Desert, saying solemnly: "Here's +to ye, domn ye! Ye ain't got us yet. May ye burn an' blishther an' +scorch an' bake 'til yer danged heart shrivels up an' blows away." + +Then he fell to amusing the child with loving fun-talk and queer +antics, until she laughed aloud and permitted him to catch her up in +his big hairy hands and to toss her high in the air. Texas and Abe, +joining in the frolic, shared with Pat the little lady's favor, while +the Seer looked smilingly on. But when Jefferson Worth approached, with +an offering of pretty stones and shells which he had gathered on the +old beach, she ran up to the engineer's arms. Still coaxing, the banker +held out his offering. The others were silent, watching. Timidly at +last, the child put forth her little hands and accepted the gift, +shrinking back quickly with her treasures to the shelter of the big +man's arms. + +It was just after noon the next day when the men at the wagon yard on +the edge of Rubio City looked up to see Jefferson Worth's outfit +approaching. The dust-covered, nearly-exhausted team staggered weakly +through the gate. On the driver's seat sat a haggard, begrimed figure +holding the reins in his right hand; and in his lap, supported by his +free arm, a little girl lay fast asleep. Then as one of the mules lay +down, the men went forward on the run. + +Texas stared at them dully for a moment. Then, as he dropped the reins, +his parched, cracked lips parted in what was meant for a smile and he +said, in a thick, choking whisper: "We made it, boys: we jest made it. +Somebody take the kid." + +Eager hands relieved him of his burden and he slid heavily to the +ground to stand dizzily holding on to a wheel for support. + +One of the men said sharply: "But where's Mr. Worth, Tex? What have you +done with Jefferson Worth an' what you doin' with a kid?" + +Texas Joe gazed at the questioner steadily as if summoning all his +strength of will in an effort to think. "Hello, Jack! Why--damned if I +know--he was with me a little while ago." + +The engineer, the banker, the Irishman and the boy were lying +unconscious on the bottom of the wagon. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +MISS BARBARA WORTH. + + +Mrs. Worth, sitting on the wide veranda of her home after a lonely +supper, lifted her eyes frequently from the work in her lap to look +down the street. Perhaps it was unusual for a banker's wife to be +darning her husband's socks; it may be, even, that bankers do not +usually wear socks that have been darned. But Mrs. Worth was not +sensible that her task was at all strange. + +A group of dust-covered cow-boys, coming into town for an evening's +pleasure, jogged past with loud laughter and soft-clinking spurs and +bridle-chains. "There's Jefferson Worth's place," said one. "D'ye +reckon he'll make good corralin' all the money there is in the world?" + +Now and then a carriage, filled with well-to-do citizens out for an +evening ride, drove slowly by. The people in the carriages always +saluted Mrs. Worth and she returned their salutations with a prim +little bow. But no one stopped to chat or to offer her a seat. In this, +also, there was nothing strange to the woman on the porch of the big, +empty house. Sometimes the people in the carriages, entertaining +visiting friends, pointed to Jefferson Worth's house, with proper +explanations, as they also called attention to the Pioneer +Bank--Jefferson Worth's bank. + +When dusk came and she could no longer see, Mrs. Worth laid aside her +work and sat with folded hands, her face turned down the street. Inside +the house the lights were not yet on; there was no need for them and +she liked to sit in the dark. + +The Indian servant woman came softly to the door. "Does the Senora wish +anything?" + +"No, thank you, Ynez; come and sit down." + +Noiselessly the woman seated herself on the top step. + +"It has been warm to-day, Ynez." + +"Si, Senora." + +"It is nearly three weeks since Mr. Worth left with Texas Joe for San +Felipe, Ynez." + +"Si, Senora." + +"Do you know how far it is across the Desert to San Felipe?" + +"Si. I think three--four day, maybe five, Senora." + +"It will be very hot." + +"Si, Senora. Las' year my sister's man--Jose--go for San Felipe. No +much water. He no come back." + +"Yes, I remember. What is it your people call The King's Basin Desert? +The Hollow of God's Hand, isn't it?" + +"Si, Senora. La Palma de la Mano de Dios." + +"I wish they would come." + +"He come pretty quick, I think. Mebbe so he not start when he think. +Mebbe so what you call 'beesness' not let him come," said the Indian +woman, soothingly. + +"But Mr. Worth expected to be back two days ago and he is always on +time, you know, Ynez." + +"Si, Senora. But mebbe so this one time different" + +"I do wish they would---Look, Ynez, look! There's some one stopping!" + +A carriage was turning in toward the house. + +"It is Senor Worth," said the Indian woman. + +"Someone is with him, Ynez. They have a child." + +As Jefferson Worth and the Seer came up the walk--the engineer carrying +the little girl--Mrs. Worth rose unsteadily to her feet. "Run, quick, +Ynez--quick! The lights!" + +That night when the Seer, with everything possible done for his +comfort, had retired, and the baby--bathed and fed--was sound asleep in +a child's bed that Ynez had brought from an unused room in the banker's +big house and placed in Mrs. Worth's own chamber, Jefferson Worth and +his wife crept softly to the little girl's bedside. Silently they +looked at the baby form under the snow-white coverlet and at the round, +baby face, with the tumbled brown hair, on the pillow. + +Mrs. Worth clasped her hands in eager longing as she whispered: "Oh, +Jeff, can we keep her? Can we?" + +Jefferson Worth answered in his careful manner: "Did you look for marks +on her clothing?" + +"There was nothing--not a letter even. And all that she can tell of her +name is Barba. I'm sure she means Barbara." As she answered, Mrs. Worth +searched her husband's face anxiously. Then she exclaimed: "Oh you do +want her; you do!" and added wistfully: "Of course we must try to find +her folks, but do you think it very wrong, Jeff, to wish--to wish that +we never do? I feel as though she were sent to take the place of our +own little girl. We need her so, Jeff. I need her so--and you--you will +need her, when--" There was a day coming that the banker and his wife +did not talk about. Since the birth and death of their one child, Mrs. +Worth had been a hopeless invalid. + +Several weeks passed and every effort to find little Barbara's people +was fruitless. Inquiry in Rubio City and San Felipe and through the +newspapers on the Coast brought no returns. The land in those days was +a land of strangers where people came and went with little notice and +were lost quickly in the ever-restless tide. It was not at all strange +that no one could identify an outfit of which it was possible to tell +only of a woman and child and one bay horse. There were many outfits +with a woman and child in the party and many that had among the two, +four, six, or more animals one bay horse. + +In the meantime, little Barbara, in her new home, was growing gradually +away from all that had gone before her long ride in the big wagon with +the men. Already she was beginning to talk of her "other mamma and +papa." Mrs. Worth slipped into the other woman's place in the childish +heart, even as little Barbara filled the empty mother-heart of the +woman. + +Toward Mr. Worth, though she no longer shrank from him in fear, the +little girl maintained an attitude of questioning regard. With Texas or +Pat or the boy Abe, who often went together to see her, she laughed and +chattered like a good little comrade and play-fellow. But when the Seer +came, as he did whenever his duties and his presence in town would +permit, she flew to him with eager love, climbing on his knee or +snuggling under his arm with entire confidence and understanding. + +Public interest in Rubio City, keen at first, died out quickly. Rubio +City, in those days of railroad building, had too many things of +interest to retain any one thing long. Still, because it was Jefferson +Worth, Rubio City could not altogether drop the matter. So it was one +evening in the Gold Bar saloon, where Pat, coming into town for a quiet +evening from the grading camp on the new road, and Texas Joe, who was +just back from another trip across the Desert, were having a friendly +glass in a quiet corner. + +"Is there anythin' doin' in that San Felipe I don't know?" was Pat's +natural question. "Things is that slow in this danged town I'm gettin' +all dead on me insides." + +Texas grinned in his slow way. "There'll be another pay day before +long." + +"Yes, an' 'tis ye that'll be 'round agin to kape me from proper +enjoyment av the blissin's av civilization wid yer talk av the gold +that's to be found in thim mountains that nobody but ye knows where +they are. 'Tis a fool I am to be listenin' to yer crazy drames." + +"Just keep your shirt on a little longer, pard," returned the other +soothingly. "We've most enough for a grub-stake now. When we're a +little mite better fixed we'll pull out of this sinful land o' +temptation an' when we come back"--he drew a long breath--"we'll do the +thing up proper." + +Pat dropped his glass with a thump. "We will," he said. "We will that. +An' it's to San Felipe we'll go. Tell me, did you see no wan there +inquirin' afther me good health this last thrip?" + +"I kept away from Sailor Mike's place, not wishin' to deprive you of +your share o' the sport. But I met a big policeman who said: 'Tell that +red-headed Irish bum that it'll be better for his health to stay away +from San Felipe.'" + +"He did, did he? He towld ye that? The big slob! He knows ut will be +better for him. Fwhat did ye tell him?" + +"I said you'd decided to locate here permanent." + +Pat gasped for breath. "Ye towld him that! Ye did! Yer a danged +sun-baked herrin' av a man wid no proper spirit at all. Fwhat the hell +do ye mane to be so slanderin' me reputation an' two or three hundred +miles av disert between me an' him? For a sup av wather I'd go to ye +wid me two hands." + +Texas Joe laughed outright. "Let's have another drink instead," he said. + +In the silence occasioned by the re-filling of their glasses the two +friends caught the name of Jefferson Worth. Instantly their attention +was attracted to a well-dressed, smart-looking stranger, who stood at +the bar talking loudly to a man known to Rubio City as a promoter of +somewhat doubtful mining schemes. Pat and Texas listened with amused +interest while the two in concert cursed Jefferson Worth with careful +and exhaustive attention to details. + +"Go to it, gentlemen!" put in the bar-keeper, as he returned to his +place from the table in the corner. "We-all sure endorses your +opinions. Have one on the house." He graciously helped them to more +liquor. + +"Brother Worth sure stands high with this here congregation," drawled +Texas Joe to his companion. + +"Hst!" whispered Pat. "They're askin' afther the kid." The casual, +amused interest of the two friends became intense. + +"They sure tried everything to find her folks," the saloon man was +saying, "but there ain't no thin' doin' so far. They say if nobody +shows up with a claim Jefferson Worth is goin' to adopt her an' bring +her up like his own." + +This statement of Jefferson Worth's intentions called forth from the +stranger an exhaustive opinion as to the banker's fitness to have the +child and her probable chances for right training and happiness in the +financier's hands. His remarks being cordially commended by the +promoter and the man in the white apron, the speaker was encouraged to +strengthen his position in reference to the future of this poor, +helpless orphan and to point out freely the duties of Rubio City in the +matter. He was interrupted by a light hand on his shoulder. Turning +with a start that spilled the liquor in his glass, he looked into the +lean face of Texas Joe. Behind the plainsman stood the heavy form of +the Irishman, a look of pleased anticipation on his battle-scarred +features. There was a sudden sympathetic hush in the room. Every face +was turned toward the group. + +"Excuse me, stranger," said Texas, in his softest tones; "but I sure am +moved to testify in this here meetin'." + +The man would have made some angry, blustering reply, but a warning +look from the promoter and a slight cough from the bar-tender checked +him. + +Tex proceeded. "That you-all has rights to your opinion regardin' Mr. +Jefferson Worth's character I ain't denyin', an' there's plenty in +Rubio City that'll agree with you. Mebbe you has reasons for feelin' +grieved. I don't sabe this here business game nohow. Mebbe you stacked +the deck an' he caught you at it. You sure impresses me that a-way, for +I've noticed that it ain't the sport who plays fair or loses fair that +squeals loudest when the cards are agin him. But when you touches on +said Jefferson Worth an' the future of that little kid, with free +remarks on the duties of Rubio City regardin' the same, you're sure +gettin' around where I live. Me an' this gent here"--he waved his hand +toward Pat with elaborate formality, to the huge delight of his +audience--"me an' this here gent is first uncles to that kid, an' any +pop-eyed, lop-eared, greasy-fingered cross between a coyot' an' a +jack-rabbit that comes a-pouncin' out o' the wilds o' civilization to +jump our claim by makin' insinuations that we ain't competent to see +that the aforementioned kid has proper bringin' up an' that Brother +Worth ain't a proper daddy for her, had best come loaded for trouble. +For trouble'll sure camp on his trail 'til he's reformed or been safely +planted." + +In the significant pause that followed no one moved. Texas stood +easily, looking into the eyes of the stranger. Pat shot fierce, +watchful glances around the room, from face to face. + +"I trust you get's the force o' my remarks," concluded Texas +suggestively. + +The stranger moved uneasily and looked hurriedly about for signs of +sympathy or assistance. Every face was a blank. Texas waited. + +"I suppose I was hasty," said the stranger, sullenly. "I beg your +pardon, gentlemen." + +"Consider the meetin' dismissed, gentlemen," said Texas, easily. "Me +an' my pardner trusts that the congregation will treasure our remarks +in the future. Now, you bar-tender, everybody drinks on us to the +health and happiness of our respected niece--Miss Barbara Worth." + +On the street a few minutes later Pat growled his disappointment. "The +divil take a man wid no bowels." + +Ignoring his friend's complaint, Texas returned meditatively; "Do you +think, Pat, that there might be anything in what that there gent said? +In spite o' what we seen of him on that trip, Jefferson Worth is sure a +cold proposition. Give it to me straight. What will he do for the +little one?" + +"An' it's just fwhat we see'd on that thrip that makes me think ut's a +question av fwhat the little girl will do to him," answered Pat, +thereby sustaining the reputation of his race. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +YOU'D BETTER MAKE IT NINETY. + + +Fifteen years of a changing age left few marks on Rubio City. Luxurious +overland trains, filled with tourists, now stopped at the depot where, +under the pepper trees, sadly civilized Indians sold Kansas City and +New Jersey-made curios--stopped and went on again along the rim of The +King's Basin, through San Antonio Pass to the great cities on the +western edge of the continent. But the town on the banks of the +Colorado, in an almost rainless land, had little to build upon. Still +on the street mingled the old-timers from desert, mountain and plain; +from prospecting trip, mine or ranch; the adventurer, the promoter, the +Indian, the Mexican, the frontier business man and the tourist. + +But there were few of the citizens of Rubio City now who knew the story +of the baby girl whom Jefferson Worth and his party had found in La +Palma de la Mano de Dios. For, though Rubio City was changed but little +since that day when Texas Joe brought the outfit with the child safely +out of the Desert, the people came and went always as is the manner of +their moving kind. The few "old-timers" who remained had long ceased to +tell the story. No one thought of the young woman, who rode down the +street that afternoon, save only as the daughter of Jefferson Worth. + +As she passed, the people turned to follow her with their eyes--the +"old-timers" with smiles of recognition and picturesque words of +admiring comment; the townspeople with cheerful greetings--a wave of +the hand or a nod when they caught her eye; the strangers from the East +with curious interest and ready kodaks. Here, the visitors told +themselves, was the real West. + +"How interesting!" gasped a tailor-made woman tourist to her escort. +"Look, George, she is wearing a divided skirt and riding a man's +saddle! And look! quick! where's your camera? She has a revolver!" + +That revolver, a dainty but effective pearl-handled weapon, was a gift +to Barbara from her "uncles," Texas and Pat; and though ornamental was +not for ornament. The girl often went alone, as she was going to-day, +for a long ride out on the Mesa, and the country still harbored many +wild and lawless characters. + +But the tailored woman tourist did not need to urge George to look. +There was something about the girl on the quick-stepping, spirited +horse that challenged attention. The khaki-clad figure was so richly +alive--there was such a wealth of vitality; such an abundance of young +woman's strength; such a glow of red blood expressed in every curved +line and revealed in every graceful movement--that the attraction was +irresistible. To look at Barbara Worth was a pleasure; to be near her +was a delight. + +At the Pioneer Bank the girl cheeked her horse and, swinging lightly to +the ground, threw the reins over the animal's head, thus tying him in +western fashion. As she stood now on the sidewalk laughing and chatting +with a group of friends, who had paused in passing to greet her, her +beautiful figure lost none of the compelling charm that made her, on +horseback, so good to look at. Every movement and gesture expressed +perfect health. The firm flesh of her rounded cheeks and full throat +was warmly browned and glowing with the abundance of red blood in her +veins. Though framed in a mass of waving brown hair under a wide +sombrero, her features were not pretty. The mouth was perhaps a bit too +large, though it was a good mouth, and, as she laughed with her +companions, revealed teeth that were faultless. But something looked +out of her brown eyes and made itself felt in every poise and movement +that forced one to forget to be critical. It was the wholesome, +challenging lure of an unmarred womanhood. + +"Oh, Barbara, how could you--how _could_ you miss last Thursday +afternoon at Miss Colson's? We had a perfectly lovely time!" cried a +vivacious member of the little group. + +"Yes indeed, young lady; explanations are in order," added another. +"Miss Colson didn't like it a bit. She had an exquisite luncheon, and +you know how people depend upon your appreciation of good things to +eat!" + +"Well, you see," answered Barbara, turning to pat her horse's neck as +the animal, edging closer to her side, rubbed his soft muzzle coaxingly +against her shoulder, "Pilot and I were out on the Mesa and he said he +didn't want to come back. Pilot doesn't care at all for afternoon +parties, do you old boy?"--with another pat--"so what could I do? I +didn't like to hurt Miss Colson's feelings, of course, but I didn't +like to hurt Pilot's feelings either; and the day was so perfect and +Pilot was feeling so good and we were having such fun together! I guess +it was a case of 'a bird in the hand,' or 'possession being nine +points,' you know; or something like that. Only for pity's sake, girls, +don't tell Miss Colson I said that." + +They all laughed understandingly and the vivacious one said: "I guess +it was possession all right. Could anything on earth induce you to give +up your horse and your desert, Barbara?" + +Inside the bank Jefferson Worth, with his customary careful, exact +manner, was explaining to a small rancher that it was impossible to +extend the loan secured by a mortgage on the farmer's property. +Personally Mr. Worth would be glad to accommodate him. But the loan had +already been extended three times and there were good reasons why the +bank must call it in. The farmer must remember that a bank's duty to +its stockholders and depositors was sacred. It was not a question of +the farmer's honesty; it was altogether a question of Good Business. + +The farmer was agitated and presented his case desperately. Mr. Worth +knew the situation--the unforeseen circumstances that made it +impossible for him to pay then. Only two months more were needed--until +his new crop matured. He could not blame Mr. Worth, of course. He +understood that it was business, but still--The farmer searched that +cold, mask-like face for a ray of hope as a man might hold out his +hands for pity to a machine. He was made to feel somehow that the +banker was not a man with human blood, but a mechanical something, +governed and run by a mighty irresistible power with which it had +nothing to do save to obey as a locomotive obeys its steam. + +Jefferson Worth began explaining again in exact, precise tones that the +loan, wholly for business reasons, was impossible, when Barbara entered +the bank. As the girl greeted the teller in front, her voice, full and +rich, with the same unconscious power that looked out of her eyes and +spoke in every movement of her body, came through the bronze grating at +the window and carried down the room. Jefferson Worth paused. With the +farmer he faced the open door of his apartment. Every man in the place +looked up. The desk-weary clerks smilingly answered her greeting and +turned back to their books with renewed energy. The cashier +straightened up from his papers and--leaning back in his +chair--exchanged a jest with her as she passed. + +"Oh, excuse me, father, I thought you were alone. How do you do, Mr. +Wheeler? And how is Mrs. Wheeler and that dear little baby?" + +The man's face lighted, his form straightened, his voice rang out +heartily. "Fine, Miss Barbara, fine, thank you. All we need in the +world now is for your father to give me time enough on that blamed note +to make a crop." + +Barbara Worth was just tall enough to look straight into her father's +eyes. As she looked at him now the banker felt a little as he had felt +that night in the Desert, when the baby, whose dead mother lay beside +the dry water hole, shrank back from him in fear. + +"Oh, I'm sure father will be glad to do that," the girl said eagerly. +"Won't you father? You know how hard Mr. Wheeler works and what trouble +he has had. And I want some money, too," she added; "that's what I came +in for." + +The farmer laughed loudly. Jefferson Worth smiled. + +"But I don't want it for myself," Barbara went on quickly, smiling at +them both. "I want it for that poor Mexican family down by the wagon +yard--the Garcias. Pablo's leg was broken in the mines, you know, and +there is no one to look after his mother and the children. Someone must +care for them." + +They were interrupted by a clerk who handed a paper to the banker. +"This is ready for your signature, sir." + +Jefferson Worth's face was again a cold, gray mask. Methodically he +affixed his name to the document. Then to the clerk: "You may give Miss +Worth whatever money she wants." + +The employe smiled as he answered: "Yes, sir," and withdrew. + +Barbara turned to follow. "Good-by, Mr. Wheeler. Tell Mrs. Wheeler I'm +going to ride out to see her soon. I haven't forgotten that good +buttermilk you see." + +"Good-by, Miss Barbara, good-by! I'll tell the wife. We're always glad +to see you." + +The farmer could not have said that Jefferson Worth's face changed or +that his voice altered a shade in tone as they turned again to the +business in hand. "I guess we can fix you out this time, Wheeler. Sixty +days, you say? You'd better make it ninety so you will not be crowded +in marketing your crop." + +Quickly the black horse carrying Barbara passed through the streets to +the outskirts of the city, where the adobe houses of the earlier days, +with tents and shacks of every description, were scattered in careless +disorder to the very edge of the barren Mesa. Beyond the wagon yard +Barbara turned Pilot toward a whitewashed house that stood by itself on +the extreme outskirts. Her approach was announced by the loud barking +of a lean dog and the joyful shouts of three half-naked Mexican +children; and as the horse stopped a woman appeared in the low doorway. + +"Buenas dias, Senorita," she called; then, still in her native tongue: +"Manuel, take the lady's horse. You Juanita, drive that dog away. This +is not the manner to receive a lady. Come in, come in, Senorita. May +God bless you for a good friend to the poor. Come in." + +Everything about the place, although showing unmistakable signs of +poverty, was clean and orderly, while the manner of the woman, though +quietly respectful and warmly grateful, showed a dignified +self-respect. In one corner of the room, on a rude bed, lay a young man. + +The girl returned the woman's greeting kindly in Spanish and, going to +the bedside, spoke, still in the soft, musical tongue of the South, to +the man. "How are you to-day, Pablo? Is the leg getting better all +right?" + +"Si, Senorita, thank you," he replied, his dark face beaming with +gladness and gratitude and his eyes looking up at her with an +expression of dumb devotion. "Yes, I think it gets better right along. +But it is slow and it is hard to lie here doing nothing for the mother +and the children. God knows what would become of us if it were not for +your goodness. La Senorita is an angel of mercy. We can never repay." + +The people were of the better class of industrious poor Mexicans. The +father was dead, and Pablo, the eldest son, who was the little family's +sole support, had been hurt in the mine some two weeks before. Barbara +visited them every few days, caring for their wants as indeed she +helped many of Rubio City's worthy poor. For this work Jefferson Worth +gave her without question all the money that she asked and often +expressed his interest in his own cold way, even telling her of certain +cases that came to his notice from time to time. So the banker's +daughter was hailed as an angel of mercy and greatly loved by the same +class that feared and cursed her father. + +For a little while the girl talked to Pablo and his mother cheerfully +and encouragingly, with understanding asking after their needs. Then, +placing a gold piece in the woman's hand and promising to come again, +she bade them--"Adios." + +For a short distance Barbara now followed the old San Felipe trail +along which, as a baby, she had been brought by her friends to +Jefferson Worth's home. But where the old road crosses the railroad +tracks, and leads northwest into The King's Basin, the girl turned to +the right toward the end of that range of low hills that rims the +Desert. + +As her horse traveled up the long gradual slope in the easy swinging +lope of western saddle stock, the view grew wider and wider. The sun +poured its flood of white light down upon the broad Mesa, and away in +the distance the ever-widening King's Basin lay, a magic, constantly +changing ocean of soft colors. Nearer ahead were the hills, brown and +tawny, with blue shadows in the canyons shading to rose and lilac and +purple as they stretched their long lengths away toward the lofty, +snow-capped sentinels of the Pass. Free from the city with its many +odors, the dry air was invigorating like wine and came to her rich with +the smell of the sun-burned, wind-swept plains. The girl breathed +deeply. Her cheeks glowed--her eyes shone. Even her horse, seeming to +catch her spirit, arched his neck and, in sheer joy of living, +pretended to be frightened now and then at something that was really +nothing at all. + +At the foot of the first low, rounded hill Barbara faced Pilot to the +northwest and bade him stand still. Motionless now the girl sat in her +saddle, looking away over La Palma de la Mano de Dios. It was to this +point that Barbara so often came, and as she looked now over the miles +and miles of that silent, dreadful land her face grew sad and wistful +and in her eyes there was an expression that the Seer sometimes said +made him think of the desert. + +Gentle Mrs. Worth had lived just long enough to leave an indelible +impression of her simple genuineness upon the life of the child, who +had come to take in her heart the place left vacant by the death of her +own baby girl. Since the loss of her second mother the girl had lived +with no woman companion save the Indian woman Ynez, and it was the Seer +rather than Jefferson Worth to whom she turned in fullest confidence +and trust. The childish instinct that had led the baby to the big +engineer's arms that night on the Desert had never wavered through the +years when she was growing into womanhood, and the Seer, whose work +after the completion of the S. and C. called him to many parts of the +West, managed every few months a visit to the girl he loved as his own. +To Mr. Worth who, as far as it was possible for him to be, was in all +things a father to her, Barbara gave in return a daughter's love, but +she had never been able to enter into the life of the banker as she +entered into the life of the engineer. So it was the Seer who became, +after Mrs. Worth, the dominant influence in forming the character of +the motherless girl. His dreams of Reclamation, his plans and efforts +to lead the world to recognize the value of that great work, with his +failures and disappointments, she shared at an early age with peculiar +sympathy, for she had not been kept in ignorance of the tragic part the +desert had played in her own life. Particularly did The King's Basin +Desert interest her. She felt that, in a way, it belonged to her; that +she belonged to it. It was _her_ Desert. Its desolation she shared; its +waiting she understood; something of its mystery colored her life; +something within her answered to its call. It was her Desert; she +feared it; hated it; loved it. + +Often as Barbara sat looking over that great basin her heart cried out +to know the secret it held. Who was she? Who were her people? What was +the name to which she had been born? What was the life from which the +desert had taken her? But no answer to her cry had ever come from the +awful "Hollow of God's Hand." + +Before Barbara had left her home that afternoon a man, walking with +long, easy stride, followed the San Felipe trail out from the city on +to the Mesa. He was a tall man and of so angular and lean a figure that +his body seemed made up mostly of bone somewhat loosely fastened +together with sinews almost as hard as the frame-work. His face, thin +and rugged, was burned to the color of saddle leather. He was dressed +in corduroy trousers, belted and tucked in high-laced boots, a soft +gray shirt and slouch hat, and over his square shoulders was the strap +of a small canteen. His long legs carried him over the ground at an +astonishing rate, so that before Barbara had left the Mexicans the +pedestrian had gained the foot of the low hill at the mouth of the +canyon. + +With remarkable ease the man ascended the rough, steep side of the +hill, where, selecting a convenient rock, he seated himself and gave +his attention to the wonderful scene that, from his feet, stretched +away miles and miles to the purple mountain wall on the west. So still +was he and so intent in his study of the landscape, that a horned-toad, +which had dodged under the edge of the rock at his approach, crept +forth again, venturing quite to the edge of his boot heel; and a +lizard, scaling the rock at his back, almost touched his shoulder. + +When Barbara had left the San Felipe trail and was riding toward the +hills, the man's eyes were attracted by the moving spot on the Mesa and +he stirred to take from the pocket of his coat a field glass, while at +his movement the horned-toad and the lizard scurried to cover. +Adjusting his glass he easily made out the figure of the girl on +horseback, who was coming in his direction. He turned again to his +study of the landscape, but later, when the horse and rider had drawn +nearer, lifted his glass for another look. This time he did not turn +away. + +Rapidly, as Barbara drew nearer and nearer, the details of her dress +and equipment became more distinct until the man with the glass could +even make out the fringe on her gauntlets, the contour of her face and +the color of her hair. When she stopped and turned to look over the +desert below he forgot the scene that had so interested him and +continued to gaze at her, until, as the girl turned her face in his +direction and apparently looked straight at him, he dropped the glass +in embarrassed confusion, forgetting for the instant that at that +distance, with his gray and yellow clothing so matching the ground and +rock, he would not be noticed. With a low chuckle at his absurd +situation he recovered himself and again lifting the glass turned it +upon Barbara, who was now riding swiftly toward the mouth of a little +canyon that opened behind the hill where he sat. + +Suddenly with an exclamation the young man sprang to his feet. The +running horse had stumbled and fallen. After a few struggling efforts +to rise the animal lay still. The girl did not move. With long, leaping +strides the man plunged down the rough, steep side of the hill. + +When Barbara slowly opened her eyes she was lying in the shadow of the +canyon wall some distance from the spot where her horse had stumbled. +Still dazed with the shock of her fall she looked slowly around, +striving to collect her scattered senses. She knew the place but could +not remember how she came there. And where was her horse--Pilot? And +how came that canteen on the ground by her side? At this she sat up and +looked around just in time to see a tall, gaunt, roughly-dressed figure +coming toward her from the direction of the canyon mouth. + +Instantly the girl reached for her gun. The holster was empty. + +The man, quite close now, seeing the suggestive gesture, halted; then, +coming nearer, silently held out her own pearl-handled revolver. + +Still confused and acting upon the impulse of the moment before, +Barbara caught the weapon from the out-stretched hand and in a flash +covered the silent stranger. + +Very deliberately the fellow drew back a few paces and stretched both +hands high above his head. + +"Who are you?" asked the girl sharply. + +"A white man," he answered whimsically, adding as if it were an +afterthought, "and a gentleman." + +"But why---What---How did I get here? Where did you come from?" + +"I was up on the hill back there. I saw your horse fall and went to you +the quickest way. You were unconscious and I carried you here out of +the sun." + +"I remember now," said Barbara. "We were running and Pilot fell. He +must have stepped into a hole." She put up her free hand to her +forehead and found it wet. Her eyes fell on the canteen and the color +came back into her face with a rush. "But you haven't told me who you +are," she said sternly to the man who still stood with hands uplifted. + +"I'm a surveyor going south with a party on some preliminary work. We +arrived in Rubio City this morning expecting to find the Chief, who +wrote me from New York to meet him here with an outfit. He has not +arrived and there was nothing to do so I walked out on the Mesa to have +another look at this King's Basin country." + +Barbara knew that the Seer had been called to New York by some +capitalists who had become interested in the financial possibilities of +the reclamation work. At the stranger's explanation of his presence she +regarded him with excited interest. "Do you mean--Is it the Seer whom +you expected to meet? Are you--with him?" + +The young man smiled gravely. "I was sure that it was you," he +answered. "You are the little girl whom we found in the desert." + +"And you"--burst forth Barbara, eagerly--"you must be Abe Lee!" + +The surveyor answered whimsically: "Don't you think I might take my +hands down now? I'm unarmed you know and you could still shoot me if +you thought I needed it." + +In her excitement Barbara had forgotten that she still held her weapon +pointed straight at him. She dropped the gun with a confused laugh. "I +beg your pardon, A--Mr. Lee. I did not realize that I was holding up +my"--she hesitated, then finished gravely--"my only brother." + +A quick glad light flashed into the sharp blue eyes of the surveyor. +"You have not forgotten me then?" + +"Forgotten! When father and the Seer and Texas and Pat and you are all +the--the family I have in the world." Her lips quivered, but she went +on bravely: "The Seer has told me so many things about you and I have +thought about you so much. But I did not realize, though, that you were +a big, grown-up man. The Seer always speaks of you as a boy and so I +have always called you my brother Abe as I call Texas and Pat my +uncles. But I think you might have come to see me sometimes. Why didn't +you come straight to me this morning instead of tramping 'way out here +alone?" + +Abe Lee was silent. How could he explain the place in his life that was +filled by the little girl whom he had known for the two years that the +building of the railroad had kept him with the Seer in Rubio City? How +could she understand the poverty and grinding hardship of his boyhood +struggle when the only time he could snatch from his work he must spend +on his books, while she was growing up in the banker's home? He was +more alone in the world than Barbara. Save for the Seer he had no one. +Texas and Pat he had met at intervals when they came together on some +construction work, and always they had talked about her; while the +engineer had often told him of Barbara's interest in her "brother"; and +sometimes the Seer even shared with him her letters. But all this had +only served to emphasize the distance that lay between them. It was not +a distance of miles but of position--of circumstances. The nameless +little waif of the desert had become the daughter of Jefferson Worth. +The child of the mining camp was--Abe Lee. So when, at last, his work +had brought him to Rubio City again he shrank from meeting her and had +gone out on to the Mesa to look away over La Palma de la Mano de +Dios--to be alone. + +Barbara, seeing his embarrassment at her question, guessed a part of +the reason and gently sought to relieve the situation. "I think we had +better find my horse and start for home now," she said. + +The thin, sun-tanned face of the surveyor was filled with sympathy as +he replied: "I'm sorry, but your pony is down and out." + +"Down and out! Pilot? Oh! you don't mean--You don't---" + +Abe explained simply. "His leg was broken and he couldn't get up. There +was nothing that could possibly be done for him. He was suffering so +that I----It was for that I borrowed your gun." + +For a long time she sat very still, and the man, understanding that she +wished to be alone, quietly went a little way up the canyon around the +jutting edge of the rocky wall. Deliberately he seated himself on a +boulder and taking from the pocket of his flannel shirt tobacco and +papers, rolled a cigarette. A deep inhalation and the gray cloud rose +slowly from his lips and nostrils. Stooping he carefully gathered a +handful of sharp pebbles and--one by one--flipped them idly toward the +opposite side of the canyon. Another generous puff of smoke and a +second handful of pebbles followed the first. Then rising he dropped +the cigarette and went back to her. + +"I think we should be going now"--he hesitated--"sister." + +She looked up with a smile of understanding. "Thank you--Abe. Can we go +back over the hill there, do you think? I--I don't want to see him +again." + +Together they climbed the low hill at the mouth of the canyon from +which he had seen the accident, the girl resolutely keeping her eyes +fixed ahead so as not to see the dead horse on the plain below. When +the top of the hill was between them and the canyon she made him stop +and together they stood looking down and far away over the wide reaches +of The King's Basin. + +"Isn't it grand? Isn't it awful?" she said in a low, reverent tone. "It +fairly hurts. It seems to be calling--calling; waiting--waiting for +some one. Sometimes I think it must be for me. I fear it--hate it--love +it so." Her voice vibrated with strong passion and the surveyor, +looking up, saw her wide-eyed, intense expression and felt as did the +Seer that somehow she was like the desert. + +"Do you come out here often?" he asked curiously. + +"Yes, often," she answered. "I could not get along without my Desert +and this is the finest place to see it. The Seer always comes out here +with me when he can. Do you think that land will ever be reclaimed?" +She faced him with the question. + +"Why, no one can say about that, you know," he answered slowly. "There +has never been a survey." + +"Well," she declared emphatically, "I know. It will be. Listen! Don't +you hear it calling? I think it's for that it has been waiting all +these ages." + +The surveyor smiled as one would humor a child. "Perhaps you are +right," he said. + +"Now you are laughing at me," she returned quickly. "They all do; +father and the Seer and Texas and Pat. But you shall see! I believe, +though, that the Seer thinks that I am right, only he always says as +you do that there has never been a survey; and sometimes I think that +even father--away down in his heart--believes it too." + +All the long walk to Barbara's home they talked of the Desert and the +Seer's dreams of Reclamation; and Abe told her how at last those +"stupid capitalists," as Barbara called them, had opened their eyes. +The great James Greenfield himself had read an article of the Seer's on +"Reclamation from the Investor's Point of View" and had written him. As +a result of their correspondence the engineer had gone to New York; and +now a company organized by Greenfield was sending him south to look +over a big territory and to report on the possibilities of its +development. + +When they arrived at Barbara's home they found the Seer himself. The +fifteen years had made no perceptible change in the general appearance +of the engineer. His form was still strongly erect and vigorous, but +his hair was a little gray, and to a close observer, his face in repose +revealed a touch of sadness--that indescribable look of one who is +beginning to feel less sure of himself, or rather who, from many +disappointments, is beginning to question whether he will live to see +his most cherished plans carried to completion--not because he has less +faith in his visions, but because he has less hope that he will be able +to make them clear to others. + +When the evening meal was over the surveyor said good-by, for the +expedition was to start in the morning and he had some work to do. When +he was gone Barbara joined her father and the engineer on the porch. +"Here they are," she said. "Haven't I kept them nicely for you?" She +was holding toward the Seer a box of cigars. + +"Indeed you have," returned the engineer in a pleased tone, helping +himself to a cool, moist Havana. "You are a dear, good girl." + +Jefferson Worth did not use tobacco, but it was an unwritten law of the +household that the Seer, when he came, should always have his evening +smoke on the porch and that Barbara should be the keeper of supplies. +She liked to see her friend's strong face brought suddenly out of the +dusk by the flare of the match and to watch the glow of the cigar end +in the dark while they talked. + +"And what do you think of your brother Abe, Barbara?" the big engineer +asked when his cigar was going nicely. "Didn't he talk you nearly to +death?" + +The girl laughed. "I guess he didn't have a chance. I always do most of +the talking, you know." + +The Seer chuckled. "Abe told me once that most of the time he felt like +an oyster and the rest of the time he was so mad at himself for being +an oyster that he couldn't find words to do the subject justice." + +"I think he is splendid!" retorted Barbara, enthusiastically. + +"He is," returned the engineer earnestly. "I don't know of a man in the +profession whom I would rely upon so wholly in work of a certain kind. +You see Abe was born and raised in the wild, uncivilized parts of the +country and he has a natural ability for his work that amounts almost +to genius. With a knowledge of nature gained through his remarkable +powers of observation and deduction, I doubt if Abe Lee to-day has an +equal as what might be called a 'surveyor scout.' I believe he is made +of iron. Hunger, cold, thirst, heat, wet, seem to make no impression on +him. He can out-walk, out-work, outlast and out-guess any man I ever +met. He has the instinct of a wild animal for finding his way and the +coldest nerve I ever saw. His honesty and loyalty amount almost to +fanaticism. But he is diffident and shy as a school girl and as +sensitive as a bashful boy. I verily believe he knows more to-day about +the great engineering projects in the West than nine-tenths of the +school men but I've seen him sit for an hour absolutely dumb, half +scared to death, listening to the cheap twaddle of some smart +'yellow-legs' with the ink not dry yet on their diplomas. Put him in +the field in charge of a party of that same bunch, though, and he would +be boss to the last stake on the line or the last bite of grub in the +outfit if he had to kill half of them to do it. I guess you'll think +I'm a bit enthusiastic about my right hand man," he finished, with a +short, apologetic laugh, "and I am. It's because I know him." + +He struck another match and Barbara saw his face for an instant. As the +match went out she drew a long breath. "I'm glad you said that," she +said softly. "I wanted you to. I'm sure he has earned it." + +Then they talked of the Seer's new expedition that would start south at +daybreak, and it seemed to Barbara that the very air was electric with +the coming of a mighty age when the race would direct its strength to +the turning of millions of acres of desolate, barren waste into +productive farms and beautiful homes for the people. + +At daybreak the girl was up to tell the Seer good-by. "I wish," she +said wistfully, as she stood with him a moment at the gate, "I wish it +was _my_ Desert that you and Abe were going to survey." + +The engineer smilingly answered: "Some day, perhaps, that, too, will +come." + +"I know it will," she said simply. + +And as she stood before him in all the beautiful strength of her young +womanhood, the Seer felt that sweet, mysterious power of her +personality--felt it with a father's loving pride. "I believe you do +know, Barbara," he said; "I believe you do." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +WHAT THE INDIAN TOLD THE SEER. + + +In the making of Barbara's Desert the canyon-carving, delta-building +river did not count the centuries of its labor; the rock-hewing, +beach-forming waves did not number the ages of their toil; the burning, +constant sun and the drying, drifting winds were not careful for the +years. Therefore is the time of the real beginning of what happened in +this, the land of my story, unknown. + +Somewhere in the eternity that lies back of all the yesterdays, the +great river found the salt waves of the ocean fathoms deep in what is +now The King's Basin and extending a hundred and seventy miles north of +the shore that takes their wash to-day. Slowly, through the centuries +of that age of all beginnings, the river, cutting canyons and valleys +in the north and carrying southward its load of silt, built from the +east across the gulf to Lone Mountain a mighty delta dam. + +South of this new land the ocean still received the river; to the north +the gulf became an inland sea. The upper edge of this new-born sea beat +helpless against a line of low, barren hills beyond which lay many +miles of a rainless land. Eastward lay yet more miles of desolate +waste. And between this sea and the parent ocean on the west, extending +southward past the delta dam, the mountains of the Coast Range shut out +every moisture-laden cloud and turned back every life-bearing stream. +Thus trapped and helpless, the bright waters, with all their life, fell +under the constant, fierce, beating rays of the semi-tropical sun and +shrank from the wearing sweep of the dry, tireless winds. Uncounted +still, the centuries of that age also passed and the bottom of that sea +lay bare, dry and lifeless under the burning sky, still beaten by the +pitiless sun, still swept by the scorching winds. The place that had +held the glad waters with their teeming life came to be an empty basin +of blinding sand, of quivering heat, of dreadful death. Unheeding the +ruin it had wrought, the river swept on its way. + +And so--hemmed in by mountain wall, barren hills and rainless plains; +forgotten by the ocean; deserted by the river, that thirsty land lay, +the loneliest, most desolate bit of this great Western Continent. + +But the river could not work this ruin without contributing to the +desert the rich strength it had gathered from its tributary lands. +Mingled with the sand of the ancient sea-bed was the silt from faraway +mountain and hill and plain. That basin of Death was more than a dusty +tomb of a life that had been; it was a sepulchre that held the vast +treasure of a life that would be--would be when the ages should have +made also the master men, who would dare say to the river: "Make +restitution!"--men who could, with power, command the rich life within +the tomb to come forth. + +But master men are not the product of years--scarcely, indeed, of +centuries. The people of my story have also their true beginnings in +ages too remote to be reckoned. The master passions, the governing +instincts, the leading desires and the driving fears that hew and carve +and form and fashion the race are as reckless of the years as are wave +and river and sun and wind. Therefore the forgotten land held its +wealth until Time should make the giants that could take it. + +In the centuries of those forgotten ages that went into the making of +The King's Basin Desert, the families of men grew slowly into tribes, +the tribes grew slowly into nations and the nations grew slowly into +worlds. New worlds became old; and other new worlds were discovered, +explored, developed and made old; war and famine and pestilence and +prosperity hewed and formed, carved and built and fashioned, even as +wave and river and sun and wind. The kingdoms of earth, air and water +yielded up their wealth as men grew strong to take it; the elements +bowed their necks to his yoke, to fetch and carry for him as he grew +wise to order; the wilderness fled, the mountains lay bare their +hearts, the waste places paid tribute as he grew brave to command. + +Across the wide continent the tracks of its wild life were trodden out +by the broad cattle trails, the paths of the herds were marked by the +wheels of immigrant wagons and the roads of the slow-moving teams +became swift highways of steel. In the East the great cities that +received the hordes from every land were growing ever greater. On the +far west coast the crowded multitude was building even as it was +building in the East. In the Southwest savage race succeeded savage +race, until at last the slow-footed padres overtook the swift-footed +Indian and the rude civilization made possible by the priests in turn +ran down the priest. + +About the land of my story, forgotten under the dry sky, this +ever-restless, ever-swelling tide of life swirled and eddied-swirled +and eddied, but touched it not. On the west it swept even to the foot +of the grim mountain wall. On the east one far-flung ripple reached +even to the river--when Rubio City was born. But the Desert waited, +silent and hot and fierce in its desolation, holding its treasures +under the seal of death against the coming of the strong ones; waited +until the man-making forces that wrought through those long ages should +have done also their work; waited for this age--for your age and +mine--for the age of the Seer and his companions--for the days of my +story, the days of Barbara and her friends. + +The Seer's expedition, returning from the south, made camp on the bank +of the Rio Colorado twenty miles below Rubio City. It was the last +night out. Supper was over and the men, with their pipes and +cigarettes, settled themselves in various careless attitudes of repose +after the long day. Their sun-burned faces, toughened figures and worn, +desert-stained clothing testified to their weeks of toil in the open +air under the dry sky of an almost rainless land. Some were +old-timers--veterans of many a similar campaign. Two were new recruits +on their first trip. All were strong, clean-cut, vigorous specimens of +intelligent, healthy manhood, for in all the professions, not excepting +the army and navy, there can be found no finer body of men than our +civil engineers. + +Easily they fell to talking of to-morrow night in Rubio City, of baths +and barbers and good beds and clean clothes and dinners and the +pleasures of civilization and prospective future jobs. Much +good-natured chaff was passed with hearty give and take. Jokes that had +become time-worn in the many days and nights that the party had been +cut off from all other society were revived with fresh interest. +Incidents and accidents of the trip were related and reviewed with +zest, with here and there a comment on the work itself that was still +fresh in their minds. + +Abe Lee, sitting with his back against a wagon-wheel and his long legs +stretched straight out in front, listened, enjoying it all in his own +way, taking his share of the chaff with a slow smile, exhaling great +clouds of cigarette smoke and only at rare intervals contributing a +word or a short sentence to the talk. Abe was at home with these men +out there in the desert night. Under the Chief he was their +master--respected, admired and loved. But the old-timers knew that +to-morrow, in town with these same men, dressed in conventional garb, +on the street or in the hotel, the surveyor would be as bashful and +awkward as a country boy. So they joked him about his numerous +sweethearts in Rubio City and related many entirely fictitious love +adventures and romantic experiences that he was said to have passed +through in different parts of the country during the years they had +known him. Not one of them but would have been astonished beyond words +had he known of Abe's adventure the afternoon before they left Rubio +City, and how, through every day of the hard, grilling labor with the +expedition, the image of the girl he had watched through his field +glass was before him. + +When the fire of the wits was turned on another mark Abe slowly arose +to his feet and slipped out of the circle. Going quietly to the +cook-wagon where the Chinaman sat smoking in solitary grandeur, he +asked: "Wing, where is the Chief? I saw him talking to you a little +while ago." + +"Me no sabe, Boss Abe. Chief, him go off that way." He pointed toward +the river with his long bamboo pipe. "Wing sabe Chief feel velly bad, +Boss Abe; damn." + +The white man regarded the Chinaman silently for a moment, then: +"You're a good boy, Wing. Good night." + +"Night, Boss Abe," came the plaintive answer, and the surveyor went on +to where a group of Cocopah Indian laborers made their rude camp. These +he greeted in Spanish and asked: "Has the Chief been with you since +supper?" + +"No, Senor. He by river there little time past," said one, pointing to +a clump of cottonwood trees that rose above a fringe of willows. + +"Buenos noches, hombres," said Abe. + +"Buenos noches, Senor," came the chorus of soft voices in the dusk. + +On the high bank under the cottonwoods the Seer sat with bowed head. He +did not heed the broad yellow tide of silt-laden water that swept by +him so silently; he did not see the myriad stars in the velvet sky, nor +notice the golden moon climbing slowly up from the dark level of the +land. The jovial voices and merry laughter of his men came to him from +the camp, but he did not hear. To-morrow the expedition would be over, +the party disbanded. He would make his report to the capitalists who +had sent him forth. His report!--the Seer groaned. Few words would be +needed to sum up the work of the last two months but it would not be +easy to frame them. His ear caught the snap of a twig and a whiff of +cigarette smoke floated to him. He turned his head quickly. "That you, +Abe?" + +The long figure of the surveyor settled on the bank by his side. For a +little neither spoke, while the Seer, with slow care, filled and +lighted his pipe. + +"Well, lad," he said at last, "we have about reached the end of another +failure." + +"Will you go to New York, sir?" + +"No, it will not be necessary. I can write in fifty words all there is +to say." + +"Perhaps they will send you out again," offered the surveyor. + +"Their interest is not strong enough. They only tackled this because +some other fellows were considering the proposition. That made them +think there might be something in it. If I had the capital to make +surveys and could go to them with data for some other project they +might consider it, but--" + +Abe rolled another cigarette and with the first cloud of smoke came the +slow words: "Well, then, let's get the data." + +Even at what seemed a hopeless suggestion the discouraged heart of the +old engineer beat more quickly. He turned his face toward the younger +man. "Where?" + +Abe stretched forth a long arm toward the broad Colorado at their feet +and toward the desert beyond. "The King's Basin. You've often told me +about that country. If I sabe the lay of the land we're somewhere at +the southern end of it, at the beginning of the high ground of the +delta that shuts out the ocean. There's water enough here for five +times that territory." + +"Do you mean--" the Seer began quickly and stopped. + +"I mean this: you already know the north and northeastern part of the +Basin from the railroad. You have been through it from the west on the +San Felipe trail. Send the outfit in to-morrow with the boys. Give them +orders on the bank for their pay and let them go. You and I can scout +around the delta end of that country over there for a week or two and +if it looks good, with what you have already seen, you have enough to +talk on. Then go on to New York and when you report on the southern +project turn loose on 'em with this." + +"Abe," said the engineer thoughtfully, "if anyone but you were to +propose that I go before these capitalists to interest them in a +project without ever having put an instrument on it I would knock him +down. Such recklessness would ruin any civil engineer in the world, +if--" + +"If he guessed wrong," finished Abe dryly. + +"If he guessed wrong," admitted the Seer reluctantly. + +"If it looked good enough for you to risk an opinion you would have +some strong talking points," ventured Abe. "There must be five hundred +thousand acres in that old sea-bed. The Colorado carries water enough +for five times that area. There's the railroad already built along one +side; there's San Felipe and the whole Coast country within easy reach. +It beats the other proposition a hundred to one, if it can be done at +all." + +The Seer rose and paced up and down in the bright moonlight. Presently +he said: "If you accept the position with Hunt up north you should go +on at once. That job would be the best thing you ever had. Don't you +want to take it?" + +"You know what I want, if you can use me." + +"I could manage your present salary for this trip but beyond that you +know how uncertain it all is. Hunt can't wait any longer." + +"Look here," said Abe, angrily, "I understood when I made my +proposition that our salaries would stop when we cut the outfit. Do you +think I meant for you to take all the risk? I'm only a surveyor and you +an educated engineer but this thing means as much to me as it does to +you. Let me share the expense and I'm with you but not on any other +terms. Hunt and his job can go hang. I don't see why you should assume +that it's only my pay that I work for." It was a long speech for Abe. + +The engineer put his big hand on the young man's shoulder. "Thank you, +Abe," he said. "That does me good. I've always known that it was there. +But it's a hard road, lad, a mighty hard road!" Then: "I wonder if we +have an Indian in the outfit who knows this country." + +"Yes, sir," Abe answered promptly. "Jose knows it well. I've been +pumping him for a month. I'll get him." + +As the tall figure of the surveyor disappeared in the direction of the +Oocopah camp the Seer smiled to himself. "Been pumping him for a +month," he repeated. "That means that he saw almost before I did that +the other proposition was no good. Humph!" + +He faced toward the river and looked away into the night where The +King's Basin lay--a weird dream-country under the light of the moon. +And because it was impossible to think of Barbara's Desert without +thinking of Barbara he smiled again, musing that there would be little +sleep that night for the girl in Rubio City if she knew what he and Abe +were considering. From across the river came the shrill, snarling, +yelping coyote chorus and the engineer saw again the body of a dead +woman at the dry water hole, an empty canteen, and a big-eyed, +brown-haired baby stretching out her arms to him. + +While the Seer was too careful an engineer to take quickly the +suggestion of Abe, he had seen too many tests of the desert-bred +surveyor's genius not to consider his proposition seriously. He was +also too much of a dreamer not to be influenced by thoughts of Barbara +and her association in his mind with this particular project. Could it +be that the land which had so tragically given the child into his life +was now to realize his dreams of Reclamation. + +He was interrupted by the return of Abe, who was followed by an old, +grizzly-haired Cocopah. + +"Tell the Chief what you have told me, Jose," said the surveyor and, +stepping aside, he rolled the inevitable cigarette with an air of +taking himself wholly out of the matter under consideration. + +"You sabe that country over there, Jose?" asked the Chief. + +"Si, Senor," came the soft answer, and reaching out, the Indian gently +turned the engineer so that the latter stood with his back squarely to +the river. Taking the Seer's right hand and holding it outstretched +with open palm upward in one of his own and tracing with the other +dark-skinned finger, as one might trace on a relief map, he continued +in Spanish, as he drew his finger carefully along the white man's thumb +from the wrist: "Here are the mountains that shut out the country by +the Big Sea where is San Felipe. I go there once, long time ago. My +people live there." He indicated the space between the first and second +joints of the thumb. Next he touched the base of the Seer's little +finger. "Here is Rubio City." Then tracing the outer rim of the palm +toward the wrist: "Here are the hills, and the railroad that the Senor +made." His finger paused in the depression between the base of the +thumb and the outer edge of the palm at the wrist. "The Senor's +railroad goes through the Pass in the high mountains here." Next, from +the outer edge of the hand he traced across the palm at the base of the +fingers. "The river goes this way to the big water that comes in from +the sea here." He indicated the open space between the extended thumb +and the inner edge of the palm. + +"We stand now here." He touched the base of the Seer's index finger. +"It is The Hollow of God's Hand, Senor--La Palma de la Mano de Dios," +he repeated reverently. He dropped the engineer's hand and stood +quietly waiting to be questioned. + +Again the Seer put forth his hand and pointing with his own finger to +the inner edge of the palm between the base of the index finger and the +thumb, he asked: "The land is high here?" + +"Si, Senor, a little. Just like the hand. It is much low here." He +touched the deepest part of the palm. "And a little high here where we +stand. Sometimes when much water comes the river goes all over here." +He indicated the extreme inner edge of the palm. "Most always this +water go all this way"--toward the open space between the thumb and +palm. "Sometimes a little goes here." He traced the lines that cross +the palm towards the wrist. + +"You can show us this country?" + +"Si, Senor." + +"How long will it take?" + +"What you like. From here to Lone Mountain straight--maybe one day go, +maybe two day go." + +"There is water?" + +[Illustration: MAP OF LA PALMA DE LA MANO DE DIOS (THE HOLLOW Of GOD'S +HAND) DRAWN BY ALLEN KELLY TECOLOTE RANCHO 1911] + +"Si. Much water left from the river last time big water come." + +The Chief looked at the silent Abe, then back to the old Indian. "All +right, Jose; we go in the morning--you, Senor Lee and I. Be ready." + +"Si, Senor. Buenos noches, Senores." + +"Good night! Good night!" returned the two white men. + +There was much conjecturing among the surprised surveyors next morning, +when the Chief gave to each man his pay check and placed an old-timer +in charge with instructions as to the disposition of the outfit when +they should arrive in Rubio City. + +Two loaded pack-mules and three saddle ponies were ready when the Seer +had finished his business with the men. Good-bys were spoken all around +and the Seer and Abe, with Jose in the lead, turned back toward the +south. + +"Looks like they had forgotten something," said one of the recruits as +the group stood watching the little party jog steadily into the +distance, apparently retracing the tracks the expedition had made the +day before. + +"Sonny," remarked the veteran left in charge, "what one of that pair +forgets the other is dead sure to remember. All the signs say that +they're makin' big medicine. All we have to do with it is to push for +Rubio City pronto and cash our pay checks. Lord! but wouldn't I like to +be in it," he added regretfully as he turned away. + +With provisions for three weeks on the pack-animals and the assurance +of Jose that there was feed and water in the overflow lands for the +horses, the Seer and Abe proposed to cover most of the territory lying +between the Rio Colorado and Lone Mountain. It was here that the great +river, in the ages long past, had built the delta dam, thus cutting off +the northern end of the gulf that was now The King's Basin Desert. It +was their plan to follow this high land that separated the ocean from +the Basin to the mountains, then to work back as far out in the Basin +from water and feed as they could. They would then follow the river on +the Basin side to Rubio City. + +They had barely passed beyond sight of the main party when Jose turned +directly toward the river. At that stage of water a long bar put out +into the stream and from its point the current set strongly toward the +opposite bank. + +"Here we cross," said the Indian briefly. + +Constructing a rude raft for their supplies and swimming the animals, +they reached the other shore some distance below the point of launching +with no accident, and that night camped well back from the river on the +delta land. + +Day after day they rode from sunrise until dark; studying the land, +estimating distances and grades, observing the courses of the channels +cut by the overflow and the marks of high water, noting the character +of the soil and the vegetation; sometimes together, sometimes +separated; with Jose to select their camping places and to help them +with his Indian knowledge of the country. + +And always at night, after the long hard day, when supper--cooked by +their own hands--was over, with pipe and cigarettes they reviewed their +observations and compared notes, summing up the results before rolling +in their blankets to sleep under the stars. + +Some day, perhaps, when the world is much older and very much wiser, +Civilization will erect a proper monument to the memory of such men as +these. But just now Civilization is too greedily quarreling over its +newly acquired wealth to acknowledge its debt of honor to those who +made this wealth possible. + +But the Seer and his companion concerned themselves with no such +thoughts as these. They thought only of the possibility of converting +the thousands of acres of The King's Basin Desert into productive +farms. For this they conceived to be their work. + +They had worked across the Basin to Lone Mountain and back to the river +to a point nearly opposite the clump of cotton woods where they had +left the expedition. To-morrow night they would be in Rubio City. + +"Abe," said the Seer, "our intake would go in right here. We could +follow the old channel of Dry River with our canal about twenty miles +out, put in a heading and lead off our mains and laterals." + +For two or three hours they discussed plans and estimates, then the +engineer shut his note-book with a snap. "If those New Yorkers don't +listen to what I can tell them of this country now they're a whole lot +slower than I take them to be." + +"Then you think you will make a guess on the proposition," asked Abe +slyly. + +The Seer laughed like a boy. "I start for New York to-morrow night," he +answered. + +In the afternoon of the next day they struck the San Felipe trail a few +miles from Rubio City. Perhaps it was the sight of that old road, with +its memories for the Seer and his companion, that led the engineer to +say: "It's curious, Abe, but I can't shake off the odd feeling that +Barbara's life is somehow wrapped up in that country out there." As he +spoke he turned in his saddle to look back toward the Basin. "She seems +to belong to it somehow as, in a way, it belongs to her. There is a +look in her eyes sometimes that makes me think of the desert and the +desert always reminds me of her. I know one thing," he finished with a +short laugh, "if I was to let out some of the fancies that have come to +me in this connection it would ruin me forever so far as my profession +goes." + +Abe made no reply, possibly because he also had fancies--fancies that +he could not tell even to the Seer. + +It is astonishing what a great cloud of dust five animals can stir up +on a desert trail. As the little outfit jogged slowly along, the great +yellow mass rolled up into the air high above their heads and hung--a +long, slow-drifting streamer--above the trail until it vanished in the +distance. + +Barbara, who was riding out from town on the Mesa, saw that cloud and +stopped to study it intently for a few moments as if debating some +question. Then touching her animal with the spur, she set off rapidly +in the direction of the approaching horsemen; while the two men watched +the dust that arose from the single horse's feet with the interest that +travelers in lonely lands always feel in any life that chances to come +their way. + +"Abe, that's a woman," exclaimed the Seer after a time. + +Abe said nothing. He had discovered that interesting fact some moments +before. + +The engineer rose in his stirrups. "Abe, I'll bet a month's salary it's +Barbara." + +"I'm not gambling," returned the other, smiling at his companion's +excitement. "I know it is." + +The big engineer dropped into his saddle with a grunt of disgust. +"Young man, you've got eyes like a buzzard," he said, twisting about to +face his companion. "By all traditions I suppose I should say 'eagle,' +but you certainly don't look much like that noble king of birds. You're +carrying dirt enough to bury a horse." + +The Seer took off his sombrero and began beating the dust from his own +shoulders, while the surveyor looked on in silent amusement. + +"She'll think by the dust you're a-raisin' that there's some kind of a +scrap goin' on and that she'd better head the other way." + +"Not much she wouldn't head the other way from a scrap. She would come +on all the faster. I thought you knew Barbara better than that." He +replaced his hat. "Why Abe, one time when she was--" + +The surveyor interrupted his Chief by standing up in his stirrups in +turn and swinging his hat in greeting, while the Seer, in waving his +own sombrero and whooping like a wild man, forgot what he was about to +relate. + +The girl came on at a run and--guiding her horse between the two +dust-covered men--held out a hand to each. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE STANDARD OF THE WEST. + + +Three days after the Seer's letters to Abe and Barbara telling them +that James Greenfield and his associates would finance an expedition to +make the preliminary surveys in The King's Basin Desert, the west-bound +overland dropped a passenger in Rubio City from New York. + +The stranger was really a fine looking young man with the appearance of +being exceptionally well-bred and well-kept. Indeed the most casual of +observers would not have hesitated to pronounce him a thoroughbred and +a good individual of the best type that the race has produced. + +A company of men and women--traveling acquaintances evidently--followed +him from the Pullman to bid him good-by and to look at the Indians, who +with their wealth of curios spread before them, squatted in a long row +beside the track--objects of never failing interest to travelers from +the East. + +"Ugh!" said a tall blonde, who displayed more bracelets, bangles, +chains and charms--both natural and manufactured--than any blanketed +squaw in the party of natives, "I suppose if we ever see you again +you'll be the color of that thing there." She pointed to a smoky, +copper-colored Papago in a green head-cloth and decorated shirt, who +posed in a watchful attitude near his thrifty help-meet. + +"How perfectly romantic!" gushed a billowy divorcee, clinging to the +young fellow's athletic arm with little shivers of delight. "To think +of you in this great, savage, wild land, among these strange people. +Aren't you just a little bit frightened?" + +"By George, I half wish I was going to stop with you. You'll get some +great shooting, don't you know!" exclaimed one of the men, while the +chorus joined in: "You'll die of loneliness!" "You'll find nothing fit +to eat!" "And do take care of yourself!" + +Then as the warning, "All aboard!" and the clang of the engine bell +came down the platform, there were quick good-bys and a rush for the +car. The colored porters tossed their steps aboard and followed. +Smoothly the long, dust-covered coaches slid past. There was a waving +of handkerchiefs and caps from the rear of the observation car, and the +young man turned to look curiously about. + +"Hotel?" + +The stranger glanced doubtfully at the tough-looking citizen who +reached for his suit case, and without replying stepped into the +questionable looking hack standing nearby. The driver threw the +suitcase into the vehicle after his passenger and climbing to his seat, +yelled to the team. + +There was no rush of brass-buttoned bell-boys to meet the guest at the +door of the hotel, and the room was well-filled with a group strange to +the eyes of the young man from New York. Bronzed-faced men in flannel +shirts and belted trousers talked to men well-dressed in more +conventional business clothes; others in their shirt sleeves sat +smoking with companions in blue overalls; two or three wore guns +loosely belted at their hips. Here and there was the pale-faced, +white-collared, tied and tailored tourist. In the corner near the big +window a group of women, some in white duck, some in khaki or corduroy, +sat chatting and enjoying the scene. No one paid the least attention to +the newcomer. The tough-looking driver of the hack dropped the suit +case near the desk with a bang and turned to reply to a good-natured +remark addressed to him by a jovial, well-dressed man standing near. +Only the clerk regarded the stranger. + +"Have you a room with bath?" + +The clerk smiled. "Certainly, sir." Then to a young fellow talking over +the cigar counter to a man in high-heeled boots and spurs: "Jack, show +this gentleman to forty-five." + +In the well-furnished room the guide threw open long French windows and +pointed to a cot on the screened-porch outside. "Better sleep on the +porch," he volunteered. + +"Sleep on the porch?" + +"Suit yourself," came the answer as the independent one turned away. + +"Look here!" The employe of the house paused. "I want my trunk sent up +immediately." + +"Sure Mike! Let's have your checks. So-long!" + +The stranger stood staring at the door, which the breezy young man, as +he disappeared with a cheery whistle, had shut behind him with a +vigorous bang. + +In the dining room the man from New York found the same easy freedom in +the manner of dress, the same lack of conventionalities and the same +atmosphere of general good-fellowship; yet he could not say that there +was any lack of real courtesy and certainly there was no rude and +boisterous talk. It was, to say the least, unsettling to the +exceptionally well-bred and well-kept stranger, accustomed to the +hotels and restaurants in the East frequented by his class. + +Early that evening the Easterner sallied forth, clearly bent on +sight-seeing. He had dressed for the occasion. The gray traveling suit +had been put aside for a tailor-made outfit of corduroy. The coat--worn +without a vest over a fine negligee shirt of silk--was Norfolk; the +trousers were riding trousers and above the tan shoes were pig-skin +puttees. All this, with the light, soft hat, neat tie and the +undeniably fine figure and handsome face, would have made him +attractive on any stage. The tourists turned to look after him with +expressions of admiring envy; the natives--white, red, black, yellow +and brown--accepted him with no more than a passing glance as a part of +the strange new life that the railroad was constantly bringing to Rubio +City. + +Calmly conscious of himself and openly interested, in a mildly +condescending way, the young man strolled down one side of the main +street to the end of the business section, then back on the other. +Twice he made the round, then, seeking scenes of further interest, +pushed open the swinging doors of Rubio City's most popular place of +amusement--the Gold Bar saloon. + +At a table in one corner two men--one tall, darkfaced, coatless, with +unbuttoned vest, leather wrist-guards, and a heavy gun loosely buckled +about his slim waist; the other thick-set, heavy, red-faced--were +holding animated conversation over their glasses. That is to say: the +thick, red-faced man was animated. Glaring at his companion he banged +his huge, hairy fist on the table until the glasses jumped. + +"Ye're a domned owld savage wid yer talk. Fwhat the hell is yer +counthry good for as ut is? A thousan' square miles av ut wouldn't feed +a jack-rabbit. 'Tis a blistherin', sizzlin', roastin', wilderness av +sand an' cactus, fit for nothin' but thim side-winders, horn'-toads, +heely-monsters an' all their poisonous relations, includin' yersilf." + +The New Yorker, standing at the end of the bar nearest the table +occupied by Barbara's "uncles," who had just arrived from the Gold +Center mines, heard the words of Pat and turned toward the two friends +with amused interest. + +Texas Joe silently lifted his glass and with a look of undisguised +admiration for his belligerent partner, waited for more. More came with +another thump of the huge fist. + +"'Tis civilization that ye need, an' 'tis civilization that we're +bringin' to ye, an' 'tis civilization that ye've got to take whether ye +like ut or not. Look at the Seer, now! Wan gintleman wid brains an' +education like him is wort' more to this counthry than all the +hell-roarin' savages like yersilf between the Coast an' Oklahoma, which +is not so much better than it was. We've brung ye money; we've brung ye +schools; we've brung ye railroads; an' we'll kape on bringin' ye the +blissin's an' joys av civilization 'til ye mend yer ways an' live like +Christians." + +He paused. Texas was staring with child-like simplicity at the +immaculate figure of the stranger in puttees. Pat turned to follow the +gaze of his companion just as the plainsman drawled softly: "And you've +brought us that." The Irishman's heavy jaw dropped. He gasped and +gulped like an uncouth monster. Then--speechless--he drained his glass. + +The stranger's face flushed but he did not move. + +"Pardner," drawled Texas, "your remarks is sure edifyin' a heap an' +some convincin'. But I'm still constrained to testify that the real +cause an' reason for the declinin' glory of this yere great western +country is poor shootin'. That same, in turn, bein' caused by the +incomin' herds from the effete East bein' so numerous as to hinder +gun-practice." + +"Guns is ut?" interrupted the other with a roar. "A man--mind ye: a +man--should be ashamed to go about all the time wid a cannon tied to +his middle. 'Tis the mark av a child. Look at ye, now, wid all yer +artillery an' me wid fingers that niver pushed a thrigger." He held out +his great paws and studied them admiringly. "Why, ye herrin', wid thim +two hands I could break ye, gun an' all, like I've--" + +He was interrupted by a wild-eyed individual who rushed into the room +from the street and, springing toward them, burst forth with: "Give me +your gun, Texas, quick! I ain't got mine on and that damned Red Hoyt is +a layin' for me at the corner!" + +Texas Joe dropped his slim hand caressingly on the big forty-five at +his side, leaned easily back in his chair and eyed the excited citizen +in a manner calmly judicial. "Bill, you're comin' is some opportune. +You're sure Johnny-on-the-spot." + +"Le' me have yer gun, Tex. Jes' loan her to me! I'll be back in a +minute." + +"Oh, I ain't doubtin' that you'd be back all right, Bill. That's jest +the p'int. When you blew in so promisc'us an' interrupted the meetin', +me an' my friend here was jest resolvin' that there's too much bad +shootin' bein' done in this here Rubio town. It's a spoilin' the fair +name an' a ruinin' the reputation of this country. For which said +reason us two undertakes to regulate an' reform some." He turned with +elaborate politeness to Pat. "I voices yer sentiments correct, pard?" + +The Irishman's fist struck the table and his eyes flashed. "To the +thrim av a gnat's heel," he roared. + +Texas bowed and continued: "Therefore, Bill, this here's our verdict. +You camp right here peaceable while I go out an' fetch this Red Hoyt +person what's been annoyin' you. We'll stand you up at fifteen steps, +with nothing between to obstruct ceremonies, an' drop the hat. Me an' +my friend referees the job an' undertakes to see that the remains is +duly and properly planted with all regular honors. Sabe?" + +The blood-thirsty one, growling something about attending to his own +funeral and finding a gun somewhere else, went quietly and quickly out. + +Before the pugnacious Pat could voice his disgust and disappointment at +the disappearance of the trouble-hunting citizen, a low, contemptuous +laugh from the well-built stranger at the bar drew the attention of the +two friends. The young man was watching them with an amused smile. + +Texas Joe and the Irishman regarded each other thoughtfully. "Pard," +said Tex in a low, earnest tone, "do you reckon that there hilarity was +in any ways directed toward this corner of the room?" + +The stranger, receiving his change from the bartender, was moving +leisurely toward the door when his way was barred by the heavy bulk of +Pat. There was no misunderstanding the expression on the battle-scarred +features of the Irish gladiator. Eyeing the athletic Easterner +fiercely, he growled with deliberate meaning: "Ye same to be findin' +plenty av amusement in the private affairs av me friend an' mesilf. +D'ye think that we are a coople av hoochy-koochy girls to be makin' +sphort for all the domned dudes that runs to look at us whin their +mammas don't know they're out?" + +The other regarded him with well-bred surprise. "Stand aside," he said +curtly. + +"Oh, ho! ye will lave widout properly apologizin' for yer outrageous +conduc' will ye? 'Tis an ambulance that ye'll nade to take ye home whin +I've taught ye manners, ye danged yellow-legged cock-a-doodle!" + +He lifted his fists and the stranger, without giving back an inch or +exhibiting the slightest suggestion of fear, but rather with the calm +self-confidence of a trained athlete, squared himself for the encounter. + +Eagerly the patrons of the place--miners, cowboys, ranchers, +adventurers, Mexicans, Indians--had gathered around the two men, +delighted with the prospect of what promised to be no tame exhibition. +Already several bets had been placed and critical estimates and +comments on the comparative merits of the two were being made freely +when a hand fell on Pat's uplifted arm. Turning with an oath of rage at +the interruption, the Irishman faced Abe Lee. + +"Hello, Pat! Amusing yourself as usual?" To the angry protests from the +crowd the tall surveyor gave not the slightest heed. + +For a moment the Irishman, looking up into that thin, sun-tanned face, +was speechless as though he faced some apparition. Then with a yell of +delight he caught the lank form of the Seer's assistant in a bear-like +hug. "For the love av Gawd is ut ye, ye owld sand-rat? Where the hell +did ye drop from, an? fwhat are ye doin' in this dishreputable company? +Look at Uncle Tex, there! The sentimental owld savage is fair +slobberin' wid delight an' eagerness to git at ye. Come, come; we must +have a dhrink." + +As quickly as it had risen the storm had passed. The crowd, as if moved +by a single impulse, separated and the room was filled with loud talk +and laughter. Glancing around, Pat's eye met the still defiant look of +the stranger who had not moved from his place but stood calmly watching +the Irishman and Abe as if waiting the pleasure of the man who had +challenged him. + +The Irishman grinned in appreciation. "Howld on a minut," he said to +Abe who was moving away with Texas Joe toward a vacant table. Then to +the stranger: "I axe yer pardon, Sorr, for goin' off me head that way. +'Tis a habit I have, worse luck to me--bein' sensitive, do ye see, +about me personal appearance an' some wishful for a bit av honest +enjoyment. Av ye'll have a dhrink wid me an' my friends here I'll take +ut kindly until we can find some betther cause for grievance." + +The young man's tense figure relaxed. A smile broke over his face. "And +I beg your pardon," he said heartily. "The fact is I was not laughing +at you at all but at the way you two men called the bluff of that +fellow who wanted the gun. I should have said so and apologized but I, +too, was a little upset and thrown off my guard." + +"Faith, ut looked to me that ye were thrown on your guard. 'Tis the +science ye have or I'm a Dutchman." He eyed the athletic limbs, deep +chest, broad shoulders and well-set head, with eyes that twinkled his +approval. "Some day--But niver mind now! Come." He led the way to the +table. + +As they seated themselves Pat regarded the surveyor with pleased +interest. "Well, well! 'tis a most unexpected worrld. Av 'twas the owld +divil himsilf that clapped his hand on me arm I'd be no more surprised +than I was to see the lad here. Tell us, me bhoy, fwhat 'tis that's +brung ye here." + +"Haven't you two been to see Barbara yet?" the surveyor demanded as +though charging them with some neglected duty. + +"We have not; an' by that ye will know that we've been in this town +less than an hour by Tex's watch that Barbara give him an' that he lost +down the shaft at Gold Center." + +When the surveyor had explained his presence in Rubio City and Texas +and Pat had agreed to join the King's Basin party, the stranger said: +"I think it is quite time now that I introduce myself. You are Mr. Lee, +I believe." + +Abe assented and with his two companions regarded him with interest. + +Taking a letter from his pocket and handing it to the surveyor, the +young man continued: "I am a civil engineer. I have instructions from +the Chief to report to you. My name is Willard Holmes." + +The next morning the young engineer from the East presented his card at +the Pioneer Bank and asked for Mr. Worth. The man who received the +correctly engraved bit of pasteboard merely nodded toward the other end +of the long partition of polished wood, plate glass and bronze bars. +"You'll find him back there, Mr. Holmes." + +The New Yorker smiled at the provincialism but sought the banker +without further ceremony. + +Closing the door with one hand Jefferson Worth with the other indicated +the chair at the end of his desk. "Sit down." + +"You have a letter from Mr. Greenfield relative to my coming?" asked +Willard Holmes. + +The banker lifted a typewritten sheet from his desk, glanced at it and +turned back to his visitor. "Yes," he said. + +The involuntary movement was the instinctive act of one who habitually +verifies every statement. Then, as those expressionless blue eyes were +fixed on the stranger's face, the engineer's sensation was as though +from behind that gray mask something reached out to grasp his innermost +thoughts and emotions. He felt strangely transparent and exposed as +one, alone in his lighted chamber at night, might feel someone in the +dark without, watching through the window. Presently the colorless, +exact voice of Jefferson Worth asked: "This is your first visit West?" + +"Yes sir. My work has been altogether in New York and the New England +states." + +"Five years with the New York Contracting and Construction Company?" +said Jefferson Worth exactly, laying his hand again on the letter on +his desk. + +"Yes. For the past two years I have had charge of their more important +operations." The engineer's tone was a shade impressive. + +But there was not the faintest shadow of a hint in the face or manner +of that man in the revolving chair to intimate that he was impressed. +The visitor might as well have spoken to the steel door of the big safe +in the other room. "You are well acquainted with Mr. Greenfield and his +associates?" + +"My father and Mr. Greenfield were boyhood friends and college +classmates," the engineer explained. "Since the death of my father when +I was a little chap, I have lived with Uncle Jim. He was my guardian +until I became of age." + +The young man did not think it necessary to add that the death of his +father had left him penniless and that his father's friend, who had +never married, had reared and educated the child of his old classmate +as his own son. Neither did he explain that his rapid advancement in +his profession was due largely to the powerful influence of the +capitalist and those closely associated with him, together with the +strength of the proud social position to which he was born, rather than +to hard work and experience. Probably Willard Holmes himself did not +realize how much these things had added to his own native ability and +technical training. He had never known anything else but these things +and he accepted them as unconsciously as his voice was colored with the +accent of the cultured East. + +"How do you size up this King's Basin proposition?" questioned the +banker. + +Again Willard Holmes smiled at the western man's words. "Sizing up" and +"proposition" were pleasingly novel forms of expression to him. +"Really," he answered, "I haven't gone into it very thoroughly as yet. +Mr. Greenfield asked me to come out because he and his associates +felt"--he paused; perhaps it would be just as well not to say what Mr. +Greenfield and his associates felt--"that with my experience in +connection with large corporations I could be of value to them in +certain phases of the work," he finished. He wondered if the man, who +listened with such an air of carefully considering every word and +mentally reaching out for whatever lay back of the verbal expression, +had grasped what he had been about to say. + +Jefferson Worth waited and Holmes continued: "Mr. Greenfield and his +friends are very anxious that you should come in with them on the +organization of this company, Mr. Worth; that is, of course, providing +the scheme proves to be practicable. They instructed me to urge you +personally to consider their proposal favorably and to ask you, by all +means, to represent them on this expedition if possible. They realize +that a man of your recognized ability and standing in the financial +world, particularly in the West, in close touch as you are with Capital +and conditions in this part of the country and no doubt familiar with +the Reclamation work, would be a valuable addition to their strength. +In fact I may say they would depend largely upon your judgment as to +whether the scheme was practicable from a business standpoint. On your +side I am sure you recognize the advantage of allying yourself with +such a group of capitalists, who are strong enough to finance any +undertaking, no matter how great. Their interests are already enormous. +As you know, they operate only on the largest scale and, if this survey +justifies the report already made, they will make a big thing out of +this for everyone interested." + +The cold, exact voice of Jefferson Worth came as if from a machine +incapable of inflection. "I have written Mr. Greenfield that I would +look into the proposition for him. I will go out with the outfit. Have +you seen Abe Lee?" + +"I met him last night and we had a little talk over things. I confess I +was a little surprised." + +"Why?" + +"Well--that he is in charge. I was instructed to report to him. I find +that he has had no schooling whatever; that, in fact, he is nothing but +a kind of a self-educated surveyor. I have no doubt that he is a good, +practical fellow, but it seems to me somewhat reckless to put him in +such a responsible position." + +Jefferson Worth did not say that he himself had had no more schooling +than the Seer's lieutenant. Perhaps that, also, was not necessary to +explain. He did say: "We have only one standard in the West, Mr. +Holmes." + +"And that?" + +"What can you do?" came the words as if spoken by cold iron. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +DON'T YOU LIKE MY DESERT, MR. HOLMES? + + +After his noon-day meal, Willard Holmes, following the example of +others, sought the shade of the arcade in front of the hotel. Helping +himself to a chair and moving a little away from the general company, +he sat enjoying his cigar, musing on the novelty of his surroundings +and reviewing his impressions of the last few hours. + +It was natural that he should make comparisons--that he should see men +and things in the light of the only men and things he had ever known. +Abe Lee he measured by the standing of his own school-trained +engineering friends, demanding that the desert-born and desert-trained +surveyor exhibit all the hall-marks of Boston. He might as consistently +have demanded that the flood of sunlight that fell in such blinding +glory upon the new world before him should shine as through the +smoke-grimed city atmosphere of New York. One was no more impossible +than the other. Jefferson Worth he compared with the college and +university friends of his father--with Mr. Greenfield and the New +York-bred business men of his class, demanding that the western pioneer +banker show the same characteristics that distinguished the cultured +capitalists whose great-great-grandfathers were pioneers. Rubio City he +saw in the light of those eastern cities that were founded in the days +when men knew not that there was any world west of the Alleghanies. + +Turning his head now and then to look over the typical groups that sat +in the shade of the arcade, dressed--or undressed--with all the easy +freedom of a land too young as yet to have conventions, he recalled his +favorite hotels in his home cities and smiled to think what would +happen if some of these roughly clad individuals were to appear there +among the guests. He did not know yet that some of these roughly clad +individuals were as much at home in those same favorite hotels as was +he himself. Likewise as he watched the passing citizens in the street +he recalled the scene from the windows of his club at home--a famous +club on a famous avenue. + +That young woman, for instance, with her khaki divided skirt, wide +sombrero, fringed gauntlets and the big western saddle coming there on +a horse whose feet seemed scarcely to touch the ground as he plunged +and pranced impatiently along, springing side-wise, with arched neck +and pointed ears, at every object that could possibly be made into +something frightful by his playful fancy! What a sensation she would +create at home! By Jove! but she could ride, though. He watched with +admiring eyes the strong, graceful figure that sat the high-strung, +uncertain horse as easily and unconsciously as any one of his women +friends at home would rest in a comfortable chair. + +As the horsewoman drew nearer he fell to wondering what she was like. +Could she talk, for instance, of anything but the homely details of her +own rough life? He shrugged his shoulders as he fancied her crude +attempts at conversation, her uncouth language and raw expressions. The +girl turned her horse toward the hotel entrance. As she drew still +nearer he saw that she was not pretty. Her mouth was too large, her +face too strong, her skin too tanned by the sun and wind. + +At the sidewalk the girl swung from the saddle lightly, and throwing +the bridle reins over the horse's head with a movement that brought out +the beautiful lines of her figure, she turned her back upon the pawing, +restless animal with as little concern as though she had delivered him +to a correctly uniformed groom. No she was not pretty; she +was--magnificent. The adjective forced itself upon him. + +All along the arcade people were smiling in greeting, the men lifting +their hats. Two cowboys in high-heeled boots and "chaps" paused in +passing. "That new hawss of yours is sure some hawss, Miss Barbara," +said one admiringly, sombrero in hand. + +The girl smiled and Holmes saw the flash of her perfect teeth. "Oh, +he'll do, Bob, when I've worked him down a little." + +She passed into the hotel, followed by the eyes of every man in sight +including the engineer, who had noted with surprise the purity and +richness of her voice. + +The New York man had turned and was watching a company of Indians +farther down the street when that voice close beside him said: "I beg +your pardon. Is this Mr. Holmes?" + +He turned quickly, rising to his feet. + +She smiled at his astonished look. "The clerk pointed you out to me. I +am Barbara Worth. You met father at the bank this morning. Texas Joe +and Pat told me about your being here and I could scarcely wait to see +you. I'm afraid you must have thought them a little rough last night +but really it's only their fun. They're as good as gold." + +As she stood now close to him--the red blood glowing under the soft +brown of her cheeks--Willard Holmes felt her rich personality as +distinctly as one senses the presence of the ocean, the atmosphere of +the woods or the air of meadows and fields. But by all his conventional +gods, this was the unconventional limit! that this girl, the daughter +of a banker, should openly seek out a total stranger to introduce +herself to him on the public street before a crowd of hotel loungers! +And the way she spoke of those rough men in the saloon, one would think +they were her intimate friends. + +He managed to say: "Really, I am delighted, Miss Worth. May I escort +you to the hotel parlor?" + +She looked at him curiously. "Oh, no indeed! It is much nicer out here +in the arcade, don't you think? But you may bring another chair." +Dumbly he obeyed, feeling that every eye was on him and flushing with +embarrassment for her. + +"When Texas and Pat told me that you were one of the engineers going +out with The King's Basin party I could scarcely wait to see you. It +makes it all seem so real, you know--your coming all the way out here +from New York. I have dreamed so much about the reclamation of The +King's Basin Desert; and you see I consider all civil engineers my +personal friends." + +"Indeed," he said. It is always safely correct to say "indeed" as he +said it, particularly when you have nothing else to say. + +She regarded him doubtfully with an open, straight-forward look which +was somewhat disconcerting. She was so unconscious of the strength of +her splendid womanhood and he felt her presence so vividly. + +"I suppose you must find everything out here very strange," she said +slowly. "Father says this is your first visit to the West and of course +it _can't_ be like your part of the country." + +"It is all very interesting," he murmured. This also was sane and safe. + +"I know that Abe is very busy and father never leaves the bank except +on business, so there is no one but me to look after you"--she +smiled--"that is--no one of our King's Basin people." + +Willard Holmes was of that type of corporation servant who recognizes +no interests but the financial interests of the capital employing him. +His services as a civil engineer belonged wholly to those who bought +them for their own profit. Barbara's innocent words aroused him. What +the deuce did she mean by "our King's Basin people"? Greenfield and his +friends thought that _they_ were The King's Basin people. In the +interests of his employers he must look into this. + +[Illustration: "But I don't ride, you know."] + +"It is very kind of you, I am sure," he said with a little more warmth. +"To tell the truth I _was_ feeling a bit strange, you know." + +"I'm sure you must be nearly dead with lonesomeness. Wouldn't you like +to go for a ride? I would so like to show you my Desert." + +"_Her_ Desert!" he mentally observed. Indeed he must look into this. +Fully alert now he answered heartily: "I should be delighted, I'm sure. +You are more than kind. When could we go?" + +"Right now," she said quickly. "Here comes Pablo Garcia. I'll send him +for another horse." She called to the passing Mexican: "Here Pablo." + +The young fellow came to her quickly and stood, sombrero in hand, his +dark eyes shining with pride at the recognition. In Spanish she +directed him to fetch a horse for the Senor. + +"Si, Senorita." With a low bow the Mexican turned to obey. + +The eastern man, not understanding the words, but awakening suddenly to +the meaning of the action, broke forth with--"Here, wait a minute." + +"Wait," repeated Barbara in Spanish. Pablo paused. + +"You are sending him for a horse and saddle?" asked Holmes. + +"Yes; it will take only a few minutes." + +"But I don't ride, you know." + +"You don't ride?" The girl looked at him in blank amazement. "I don't +think I ever saw a man before who didn't ride." + +He laughed indulgently. Something in her voice and manner touched his +sense of humor. "I'm very sorry. I know I ought to," he said in mock +humility. + +"Oh, well; we can drive. I'll have Pablo bring a rig." She explained +what she wanted to the Mexican in his native tongue, and this time he +mounted her horse and rode away. + +When the man returned a little later with a span of restless, half-wild +broncos hitched to a light buggy, the girl stepped into the vehicle and +took the reins as a matter of course. With a low chuckle of amusement +the engineer took his place at her left. He was beginning really to +enjoy the situation. Shying and plunging the team demanded all of +Barbara's attention but she managed to steal a look at her silent +companion now and then, as if expecting him to show signs of +nervousness. Willard Holmes, on his part, was wrapped in silent +admiration of her strength and skill. + +"They'll cool down in a little while," the girl volunteered, as if to +reassure her guest, after a particularly wild break on the part of the +horses. But on the extreme edge of town, where the wagon road runs +closest to the railroad track, a passing switch engine proved too much +for the excited team. In a moment the frightened animals were running +toward the Mesa at full speed. With all her strength Barbara struggled +to regain control, but her arms were a woman's arms and the horses, +quick to recognize their advantage, put back their ears and ran the +faster in mad defiance. + +The girl was not frightened; she was annoyed. "I--I'm afraid they are +running away," she gasped at last. + +To her surprise a hearty laugh was the only answer to her confession. +She shot a quick glance over her left shoulder. Her companion was +leaning back in his seat, his merry face expressing the keenest +enjoyment. + +Then the girl felt a big hard shoulder pressing against her; long +powerful arms stretched over hers; and two masterful hands closed on +the reins above her cramped fingers. She relinquished her hold and +shrank back out of the way with a sigh of relief and--yes, a look of +admiration as the horses, with a few wild leaps and ineffectual +attempts to run again, settled down to a more rational gait. + +"My!" she gasped, at the exhibition of the engineer's strength, "I +believe you could pull their front feet off the ground." + +Her companion was still smiling. + +"Why didn't you tell me you could drive?" she demanded. + +He chuckled maliciously, for he had understood her reason for taking +the reins at the start and he had not been insensible of the meaning of +her glances at the beginning of the ride. "You didn't ask me, and +besides I enjoyed seeing you handle them." + +"But you told me you couldn't _ride_," she said reproachfully. + +"I can't," he returned. "That is I never did; not as you people in this +country ride." Then he laughed again. "Confess now. Didn't you expect +me to jump, back there?" + +"I shall confess nothing," she retorted, sharply. "And hereafter I +shall take nothing for granted." + +On the high ground near the foot of the hill at the canyon's mouth she +asked him to turn around and stop. Willard Holmes had been too much +occupied with the team and the girl to notice the landscape; and now +that wonderful view of the Mesa, The King's Basin and the mountains +burst upon him without warning. No sane man could be insensible of the +grandeur of that scene. The man, whose eyes had looked only upon +eastern landscapes that bore in every square foot of their limited +range the evidence of man's presence, was silent--awe-stricken before +the mighty expanse of desert that lay as it was fashioned by the +creative forces that formed the world. Turning at last from the +glorious, ever-changing scenes, wrought in colors of gold and rose and +lilac and purple and blue, to the girl whose eyes were fixed +questioningly upon him, he said in a low voice: "Is it always like +this?" + +Barbara nodded. "Always like that, but always changing. It is never the +same, but always the same. Like--like life itself. Do you understand?" + +He turned again to the scene in silent wonder. + +"Do you like my Desert?" she asked, after a little time had passed. + +His mind caught at the expression. "Do you mean to say that that is The +King's Basin--that we are going _there_ to work?" + +"Why, of course." She laughed uneasily. "Don't you like it?" + +"Like it?" he repeated. "But is there anyone living out there?" + +She was amazed at his words. "Living there? Of course not. But you are +going to make it so that thousands and thousands can live there--you +and the others. Don't you understand?" Her voice expressed a shade of +impatience. + +"I'm afraid I did not realize," he answered slowly. + +"That's just it!" she cried, thoroughly aroused now and speaking +passionately. "That's just the trouble with you eastern men; you don't +realize. For years the dear old Seer and a few others have been trying +to make you see what a work there is to do out here, and you won't even +look up from your little old truck patches to give them intelligent +attention. You think this King's Basin is big? Why, the Seer says that +if every foot of that land was under cultivation it wouldn't be a posy +bed beside what there is to do in the West. I suppose you must have +done some great things in your profession, Mr. Holmes, or those +capitalists wouldn't have sent you out here; but you can't have done +anything that will mean to the world what the reclamation of The King's +Basin Desert will mean one hundred years from now, because this work is +going to make the people realize, don't you see?" + +The young engineer's face flushed under her words, and as he watched +her strong face glowing with enthusiasm for the Seer's dream, he felt +the sweet power of her personality sweep over him as he felt the breeze +from off the desert. He was held as though by some magic spell--not by +the lure of her splendid womanhood, but by that and something +else--something that was like the country of which she spoke so +passionately. And he remembered wondering if this girl could talk! + +He relieved the tense strain of the situation by holding out the reins +and saying, with a whimsical smile: + +"Here, you can drive." + +She caught his meaning and smiled in acknowledgment. "Thank you, but I +don't want to drive. That's really the man's part, you know. I +suppose," she added, "that you think me bold and mannish and coarse and +everything else that a girl ought not to be, but I"--she turned away +her face and her voice trembled--"but you can't understand, Mr. Holmes, +what this desert means to me." + +"Perhaps I don't understand," he said seriously. "But I am sure of +this: somewhere back of every really great work that has ever been +accomplished in any age there has been a woman like you." + +Then they drove back to the hotel where she left him and drove to the +barn herself. A few minutes later he saw her pass again, riding her own +quick-stepping horse. + +During the two weeks that followed before the Seer's return, while Abe +Lee was busy getting ready for the work in Barbara's Desert, Willard +Holmes and the girl were often together. The man from New York admitted +somewhat proudly, Barbara thought--as if the very confession somehow +established the superiority of the East--that he was shockingly +ignorant of all things Western. But apparently overlooking the subtle +assumption in the manner of his confession, she laughingly undertook +his education. For one thing he must learn to ride. + +"Really," he demurred, "I don't think I care for that particular +amusement. I have never taken it up at home, you know, but of course if +it is the thing to do, why--" + +"Amusement!" she laughed. "Riding isn't an amusement; it's a necessity. +The horse is our street car and railroad and steamboat. Where you think +city blocks and squares we think miles; and where you think miles we +think hundreds of miles. Two legs are not enough in this country, so we +double the number and go on four. You'll find yourself wishing for +eight before you get back from The King's Basin." + +So, at her bidding, Texas Joe secured a horse for him and almost every +afternoon the two were in their saddles. And every night over his +evening cigar at the hotel the engineer found himself reviewing the +incidents and conversations of the ride; forced to wonder at some new +and unexpected revelation of the mind and character of this western +girl who was so interested in the reclamation work and so unconscious +of her womanly power. He came quickly to look forward to their hours +together and to plan and carry out many conversational experiments. +Invariably he had his reward. + +One afternoon he tried skillfully to shape the conversation to the end +that he might tell her--quite without ostentation--of the proud history +and social position of his family and of his own rank in the upper +eastern world. + +She humored him patiently, helping him out with questions and artless, +admiring exclamations and comments, until he was quite sure that she +was properly impressed. Then she said, in a tone of honest sympathy: +"But you mustn't let all this worry you, you know." + +"Worry me?" he echoed in amazement. + +She nodded seriously, but with a glint of mischief in her eyes. "Yes, I +can understand that it must be hard for a man to do his work +handicapped as you are but no one away out here will count it against +you. Every man here has a chance no matter what his past has been. You +see, we don't care what a man has been or what his fathers were; we +accept him for what he is and value him for what he can do. So all you +need to do is to forget and go straight ahead with your work and you'll +easily live it down. Only, of course," she added gently, "I wouldn't +advise you to tell _everybody_ what you have told me. Some might not +understand." + +He retorted warmly: "Of course you cannot understand our point of view. +Everything is so new and raw out here that you have no social +standards." + +"New and raw?" She laughed again. "Why, Mr. Holmes, you are the only +new thing in this country. Do you see that man over there?" + +They were riding south on the road that follows the river and she +pointed to an Indian who sat idly in the shade of his pole and mud hut. + +"What's the matter with him?" asked the engineer. + +"Nothing. Only he, too, has ancestors. Ages and ages before your +forefathers knew that this continent existed, that man's people lived +in a city not far from here--a city with laws, customs, religions, +social standards--yes, and civil engineers, for you can easily trace +the lines of their canals, in which they brought water from the river +and carried it through a tunnel in the mountains to irrigate their +land, just as you modern engineers are planning to do. The Seer and I +rode over there once and he told me about it. I'll show you, if you +like. _New_! Why the West was ages old before the East was discovered! +The Seer says that if Columbus had come first to the western coast New +England to-day would still be an uninhabitable, howling wilderness." + +"But I don't see what all this has to do with social standards," he +said, nettled at her reply. + +"Simply this. If a man's position in life is to be fixed by the age of +his family or the number of years that they have occupied a certain +section of the country, then that Indian is your superior. His +ancestors lived here long before yours settled in New England." + +"But we are proud of our ancestors because of what they were and what +they accomplished. We have a right to be. Think of what the world owes +them!" + +"Oh, I must have misunderstood you. You seemed to place so much +emphasis on their having come over in the Mayflower. They _were_ +grand--those brave old pioneers. I am proud of them too for what they +were. And did they have social positions by which they fixed a man's +place in life, I wonder?" + +"Of course they could not have had a society with the wealth and +culture that we have now. The country was all new--something like the +West is to-day, I suppose." + +She laughed aloud. "And you are proud of them! How fine! Isn't it +splendid to think that in two or three hundred years, when the West has +been civilized and the Desert reclaimed as your pioneer forefathers +civilized and reclaimed the East, when wealth and culture have come, a +man's social standing will be determined by his relation to _us_ and +people will be proud of what _we_ are doing? After all, Mr. Holmes, the +only difference between the East and the West seems to be that you +_have_ ancestors and that we are _going to be_ ancestors. You look back +to what has been; we look forward to what will be. You are proud and +take rank because of what your forefathers did; we are proud and take +rank because of what we are doing. And we are doing exactly what they +did! Honestly now, which would you rather--worship an ancestor or be an +ancestor worshipped?" + +When they had laughed together over this he said: "I am beginning to +understand, Miss Worth, that the ideal American, whom we are always +hearing about but never meet, must be a Westerner; he couldn't possibly +be of the East, could he?" His words were almost a sneer. + +"The ideal American is neither Eastern nor Western in the way you mean, +Mr. Holmes. He is both." + +"Indeed? You admit that we of the East could give him something, then?" + +"You could give him all that your forefathers have given you." + +"And what could the West give him?" + +She looked at him steadily a moment before answering slowly: "I think +you will have to find that out for yourself." + +He was taken a little aback by her answer. It sounded as though she +wished to end the conversation. But her talk had stirred him strongly, +though he tried to hide this under cover of a cynical tone. He said +triumphantly: "But you see, after all, you admit that one is not +altogether hopeless because he happens to come of a good family!" + +"Certainly I admit it!" she cried, "but don't you see what I mean? +Ancestors are to be counted as a valuable asset, but not as working +capital." + +As she spoke she turned toward him again with that steady look, and the +man felt the strange, mysterious power of her personality, the +challenging lure of her young womanhood--that and more. What was it +back of those steady eyes that called to him, inspired him, that almost +frightened him; that made him feel as Barbara herself felt in the +presence of the Desert. + +There was no trace of cynicism in his voice now, nor any hint of a +sneer on his face, as Willard Holmes straightened unconsciously in his +saddle. + +"By George!" he said, "it's good to hear you say those things. Nobody +talks that way nowadays. I suppose our great-great-grandmothers did, +though." + +She colored with pleasure, but answered lightly: "That puts me a long +ways behind the times, doesn't it?" + +"Or a long way ahead," he offered. + +In the meantime, while the education of Willard Holmes progressed, the +party that was to make the first survey in Barbara's Desert was being +formed and equipped under the direction of Abe Lee. Horses, mules, +wagons, camp outfits and supplies, with Indian and Mexican laborers, +teamsters of several nationalities and here and there a Chinese cook, +were assembled. Toward the last from every part of the great West +country came the surveyors and engineers--sunburned, khaki-clad men +most of them, toughened by their out-of-doors life, overflowing with +health and good spirits. They hailed one another joyously and greeted +Abe with extravagant delight, overwhelming him with questions. For the +word had gone out that the Seer, beloved by all the tribe, and his +lieutenant, almost equally beloved, were making "big medicine" in The +King's Basin Desert. Not a man of them would have exchanged his chance +to go for a crown and scepter. + +The eastern engineer met these hardened professional brothers +cordially. He listened to their reminiscences of life and work in +mountain, plain and desert with interest, discovering to his surprise +that most of them were eastern born and bred, with technical training +in the schools with which he was familiar. But their almost boyish +enthusiasm over the work ahead, their admiration for the Chief and for +Abe Lee he viewed with cold indifference. + +With all his duties Abe found frequent opportunity to report to +Barbara, for the girl's interest in every detail of the preparations +was never failing. Her friends protested that they never saw her now at +their little social affairs, for she was always off somewhere with some +engineer, and that when they did chance to catch her alone she would +talk of nothing but that horrid King's Basin country. + +Every evening, early after supper, the surveyor would slip away from +his companions at the hotel to spend an hour on the veranda at the +banker's home talking in his straightforward way with Barbara and her +father, of the work that was so dear to the heart of the girl. And +because it was his work and in the nature of a report to one who, he +felt, had in some subtle way authority to hear, Abe talked with a +freedom that would have astonished many of his friends who thought they +knew him best. + +Three times while Abe was there Willard Holmes appeared, and each time, +at the engineer's presence, the surveyor's painful diffidence became +apparent and he soon--with some stammering excuse--left. + +The last time this happened Barbara walked down to the gate with the +painfully embarrassed surveyor. Everything was in readiness for the +coming of the Chief, who would arrive the next day, and the following +morning the expedition would start for the field. + +"Buenos noches, hermano--Good night, brother," called Barbara, as the +tall surveyor walked away down the street. + +"Buenos noches," came the answer. + +Willard Holmes heard and frowned. "You seem to be very fond of Spanish, +Miss Worth," he said, when the girl came back to the porch. "I notice +you use it so often with our long friend there." + +Barbara laughed at his evident displeasure. "The language seems to +belong so to this country. To me its colors are all soft and warm like +the colors of the Desert. I never thought of it before, but I suppose I +use it so often with Abe because he, too, seems to belong to this +country." + +The engineer looked at her curiously. "I don't think I quite see the +connection. You mean that he has Spanish blood?" + +"Not at all," said Barbara quickly. "But he is desert-born and +desert-trained. He has the same patient stillness, the same natural +bigness and the same unconquerable hardness." + +"Oh, but you say the desert is not unconquerable; that it will be +subdued. Your analogy is at fault." + +"No, Mr. Holmes, it is you who do not understand. There is something +about this country that will always remain as it is now. Abe Lee is +like that. Whatever changes may come, he will always be Abe Lee of the +Desert." + +"Your views are really poetical and your character analyses very +clever, Miss Worth, but after all men are men wherever you find them. +Human nature is the same the world over." + +"Oh, I'm sure that is so, Mr. Holmes. I know there must be many western +men in the east, only they haven't found themselves yet." + +He laughed heartily as he rose to go. "Will you ever bid me good night +in your language of the desert?" he asked. + +"Perhaps, when you have learned that language," she said with an +answering smile. + +"By George, I shall try to learn it," he answered. + +"Oh, I wish you would," came the earnest answer. "I know you could." + +And again the engineer felt strongly, back of her words, that unvoiced +appeal. As he went down the street he knew that she did not refer to +the Spanish tongue when she wished him to learn the language of her +Desert. + +Alone in her room that night Barbara's mind was too active for sleep +and she sat for a long time by the open window, looking out into the +vast silent world under the still stars. + +Until she introduced herself to Willard Holmes, Barbara had never known +eastern people. Tourists she had seen and, at rare intervals, met in a +casual way. But they had always examined her with such frankly curious +eyes that she had felt like some strange animal on exhibition and had +repaid their interest with all the indifference she could command. +Occasionally also she had been introduced to eastern business men, whom +she chanced upon talking with her father in the bank, but they had +turned quickly away to the matters of their world after the usual +polite nothings demanded by the introduction. The home-land and life of +Willard Holmes were as foreign to her as her land and life were strange +to him. + +So it happened in this instance also that in the education of the +eastern engineer the teacher learned quite as much as the pupil. + +The traits that stood out so prominently in the western men whom +Barbara knew and so much admired were, in Willard Holmes, buried deeply +under the habits and customs of the life and thought of the world to +which he belonged--buried so deeply that the man himself scarcely +realized that they were there and so was led to wonder at himself when +his blood tingled with some strong presentation of this western girl's +views. + +But Barbara knew. Beneath the conventionalities of his class the girl +felt the man a powerful character, with all the latent strength of his +nation-building ancestors. She wanted him--as she put it to herself--to +wake up. Would he? Would he learn the language of her Desert? She +believed that he would, even as she believed in the reclamation of The +King's Basin lands. + +And she was glad--glad that the Seer and Abe and Tex and Pat and her +father--the men who had brought her out of the Desert--were going now +back into that land of death to save that land itself from itself. +And--she whispered it softly under the stars--she was glad--glad that +Willard Holmes had come to go with them--to learn the language of her +land. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +WHY WILLARD HOLMES STAYED. + + +Slowly, day by day, the surveying party under the Seer pushed deeper +and deeper into the awful desolation of The King's Basin Desert. They +were the advance force of a mighty army ordered ahead by Good +Business--the master passion of the race. Their duty was to learn the +strength of the enemy, to measure its resources, to spy out its +weaknesses and to gather data upon which a campaign would be planned. + +Under the Seer the expedition was divided into several smaller parties, +each of which was assigned to certain defined districts. Here and +there, at seemingly careless intervals in the wide expanse, the white +tents of the division camps shone through the many colored veils of the +desert. Tall, thin columns of dust lifted into the sky from the water +wagons that crawled ceaselessly from water hole to camp and from camp +to water hole--hung in long clouds above the supply train laboring +heavily across the dun plain to and from Rubio City--or rose in quick +puffs and twisting spirals from the feet of some saddle horse bearing a +messenger from the Chief to some distant lieutenant. + +Every morning, from each of the camps, squads of khaki-clad men bearing +transit and level, stake and pole and flag--the weapons of their +warfare--put out in different directions into the vast silence that +seemed to engulf them. Every evening the squads returned, +desert-stained and weary, to their rest under the lonesome stars. Every +morning the sun broke fiercely up from the long level of the eastward +plain to pour its hot strength down upon these pigmy creatures, who +dared to invade the territory over which he had, for so many ages, held +undisputed dominion. Every evening the sun plunged fiercely down behind +the purple wall of mountains that shut in the Basin on the west, as if +to gather strength in some nether world for to-morrow's fight. + +Always there was the same flood of white light from the deep, dry sky +that was uncrossed by shred of cloud; always the same wide, tawny +waste, harshly glaring near at hand--filled with awful mysteries under +the many colored mists of the distance; until the eyes ached and the +soul cried out in wonder at it all. Always there were the same deep +nights, with the lonely stars so far away in the velvet purple +darkness; the soft breathing of the desert; the pungent smell of +greasewood and salt-bush; the weird, quavering call of the ground owl; +or the wild coyote chorus, as if the long lost spirits of long ago +savage races cried out a dreadful warning to these invaders. + +And in all of this the land made itself felt against these men in the +silent menace, the still waiting, the subtle call, the promise, the +threat and the challenge of La Palma de la Mano de Dios. + +To Barbara, who rode often in those days to the very rim of the Basin, +there to search the wild, wide land with straining eyes for signs of +her friends, the white glare of the camps was lost in the bewildering +maze of color. The columns, clouds and spirals of dust--save perhaps +from a near supply wagon coming in or passing out--could not be +distinguished from the whirling dust-devils that danced always over the +hot plains. The toiling pigmy dots of the little army were far beyond +her vision's range. It was as though the fierce land had swallowed up +horses, wagons and men. Only through the frequent letters brought by +the freighters did she know that all was going well. + +Perhaps the gray lizard that climbed to the top of a line stake +wondered at the strange new growth that had sprung so suddenly from the +familiar soil; or perhaps the horned-toad, scuttling to cover, marveled +at the strange sounds as the stakes were driven and man called to man +figures and directions. Perhaps the scaly side-winder, springing his +warning rattle at the approaching step, questioned what new enemy this +was; or the lone buzzard, wheeling high over head, watched the tiny +moving figures with wondering hopefulness, and the coyote, that hushed +for a little his wild music to follow up the wind this strange new +scent, laughed at the Seer's dream. + +These lines of stakes that every day stretched farther and farther into +and across the waste seemed, in the wideness of the land, pitifully +foolish. Looking back over the lines, the men who set them could +scarcely distinguish the way they had come. But they knew that the +stakes were there. They knew that some day that other, mightier +company, the main army, would move along the way they had marked to +meet the strength of the barren waste with the strength of the great +river and take for the race the wealth of the land. The sound of human +voices was flat and ineffectual in that age-old solitude, but the +speakers knew that following their feeble voices would come the +shouting, ringing, thundering chorus of the life that was to follow +them into that silent land of death. + +With the slow passing of the weeks came the trying out and testing of +character inevitable to such a work. The concealing habits of +civilization were dropped. Kindly, useful conventionalities were lost. +Face to face with the unconquered forces of nature, nothing remained +but the real strength or weakness of the individual himself. In some +there were developed unguessed powers of endurance that bore the hard +days without flinching; cheerful optimism that laughed at the appalling +immensity of the task; strength of spirit that made a jest of galling +discomforts; courage that smiled in the face of dangers. These were the +strength of the party. Some there were who grew sullen, quarrelsome, +and vicious in a kind of mad rebellion. These must be held in check, +controlled and governed by the Seer with the assistance of Abe Lee and +his helpers. Some became silent and moody, faint hearted and afraid. +These were strengthened and guarded and given fresh courage. Some grew +peevish and fretful, whining and complaining. These were disciplined +wisely, forced gently into line. Some staggered and fell by the way. +These were sent back and the ranks closed up. But the work--always the +work went on. + +To Willard Holmes the life was a slow torture, a revelation and an +education. He found himself stripped of everything upon which he was +accustomed to rely--family traditions, social position, influential +friends, scholarship, experience in the world to which he was born--all +these were nothing in The Hollow of God's Hand. Slowly he learned that +the power of such wealth is limited to certain fields. New York was +very far away. He felt that he had been hopelessly banished to a +strange world. Many times he would have thrown it all up and turned +back with other deserters, but there was red blood in his veins. +Stubborn pride and the thought of the girl who had hoped that he would +"learn the language of her country" enabled him to hold on. + +Once he ventured to speak to the Chief in a hopeless voice of the +evident impossibility of ever converting that terrible land into a +habitable country, and the Seer, strong in the strength of his dream, +had looked at him from the still depth of his brown eyes without a +word--looked until the younger man had turned away, his cheeks flushed +with shame and his spirit doing homage to the strength of the master +spirit of the work. And the eastern engineer remembered with new +understanding his talks with Barbara Worth. + +When they pulled the dead coyote from the only water hole within two +days' travel and Holmes nearly fainted at the sickening sight, it was +Texas Joe who saved the day for him by remarking, with an air of +philosophical musing, after a deep draught of the tepid, tainted water: +"Hit ain't so bad as you might think, Mr. Holmes, onct your oilfactory +nerves has become somewhat regulated to the aroma and your palate has +been eddicated to the point of appreciatin' the deliciously foreign +flavor. In the judgment of some connysoors, it has several points the +lead of them imported fancy drinks you get in Frisco." + +When a Mexican died horribly from the bite of a rattlesnake, and Holmes +himself was barely saved from a like fate by the prompt action and +ready knowledge of Abe Lee, it was the slow smile of the desert-bred +surveyor that stiffened him to go on. + +And when he was nearly beaten by a three days' sand-storm so searching +that even the flap-jacks and bacon gritted in his teeth and his +blood-shot eyes smarted in his head like coals of fire and his skin +felt as though it had been sand-papered, when he would have sold his +soul for a bath and actually began to get his things together in +readiness for the next wagon out, it was Pat, who, with the devilish +ingenuity of an Irish imp, mocked and jeered at him for a quitter, "fit +to act only as lady's maid or to serve soft dhrinks in a corner +drug-sthore," until his fainting heart took fire and, cursing his +tormentor with all the oaths he could muster, he offered to whip, +single-handed, the whole grinning camp and stayed. + +Thus he was advanced to the second degree, when he began to sense the +spirit of the untamed land and of the men who went to meet it with +sheer joy of the conquest; when he began to glory in the very greatness +of the task; and the long dormant spirit of his ancestors stirred +within him as he caught glimpses of the vision that inspired the Seer +or, perhaps it should be written, the vision that tempted his +employers, James Greenfield and his fellow capitalists. + +He was still far from ready for the final degree; but even that might +come. + +Through all those hard days Jefferson Worth moved with the same +careful, precise, certain manner that distinguished him in his work at +home. Even the desert sun that so tanned, blistered and blackened the +faces of his companions could not mark the gray pallor of that +mask-like face. No disturbing incident or unforeseen difficulty could +wring from him an exclamation or change the measured tones of his +colorless voice. He seemed to accept everything as though he had +foreseen, carefully considered and dismissed it from his mind before it +came to pass. Day after day he rode in every direction over the land +within easy reach of the many camps; familiarizing himself with every +detail of the work, observing soil, studying conditions, poring over +maps and figures with the Seer, verifying estimates, listening to and +taking part in the many councils of the leaders. But not once did +anyone catch a hint of what was going on behind those expressionless +blue eyes that seemed to see everything without effort and to be +incapable of expressing the emotions of the soul within. + +To the men he was the visible representative of that invisible power +that willed their going forth. He was Capital--Money--Business +incarnate. They set him apart as one not of their world. In his +presence laughter was hushed, jests were unspoken. Silently they waited +for him to speak first. When he conversed with them they answered +thoughtfully in subdued tones, seeming to feel that their words were +received by one who placed upon them undreamed-of values. Filled as +these men were with the enthusiasm of their work, they were never +unconscious of the knowledge that but for the power represented by +Jefferson Worth their work would be impossible. + +Small wonder, then, that there was consternation in the headquarters +camp that night when Pat appeared, hat in hand, before the company of +leaders in the Seer's office tent. "I beg yer pardon, Sorr." + +"What is it, Pat?" asked the Seer, and all eyes were turned upon the +burly Irishman, whose face and voice as well as his presence at that +hour betrayed some unusual incident. "'Tis this, Sorr. Has anywan seen +Mr. Worth this avenin'?" + +Every head was shaken negatively. + +"Was he not at supper wid you gintlemen?" + +"Why no, he was not," returned the Seer. "But it is nothing unusual for +him to be late. Have you asked the cook?" + +"We have, Sorr. Ye see, whin ut come time to turn in an' he hadn't +shown up an' Tex seen that his horse wasn't wid the bunch, we got a bit +unaisy like. We axed the cook, an' we've been to his tent, an' we've +axed the men." + +"Perhaps he has put up at one of the other camps," suggested a surveyor. + +"That's not like, Sorr, for he rode northeast this mornin'. Me an' Tex +watched him go; an' there's divil a camp in that direction as we all +know." + +"He surely intended to return here or he would have told us," said the +Seer. "You know how careful he is. What do you think, Abe?" + +Before Abe could answer a Mexican ran up, and Pat, turning, hauled him +into the tent by the neck. "Fwhat the hell is ut, ye greaser?" + +"Senor Texas send me quick," the little brown man panted, bowing low to +the company, sombrero in hand. "Senor Worth's horse, he just come. In +the saddle is no one. Senor Worth he is not come. I think he is gone." + +Before the Mexican finished speaking there was a rush of feet and he +was alone. With a shrug of his shoulders and a flash of his white +teeth, he turned leisurely to follow, saying half aloud: "It is all in +La Palma de la Mano de Dios, Senor Worth. Maybe so you come back, maybe +this time not." He stood for a moment looking into the black vault of +the night; then, with another shrug, retired to his blanket to sleep. + +Abe Lee was first to reach the corral where Texas Joe, by the light of +a lantern, was examining Mr. Worth's horse. No word was exchanged +between them while the surveyor in turn looked carefully over the +animal. The others, coming up, stood silent a little apart, waiting for +the word of these two. + +"What do you make of it, Abe?" asked the Seer when the long surveyor +turned toward him. + +Deliberately rolling a cigarette, Abe answered from a cloud of smoke: +"He is left afoot too far out to walk in, likely. We'll go for him in +the morning." + +A startled exclamation came from Willard Holmes, but no one heeded as +the surveyor turned to Texas Joe. "How do you figure it, Tex?" + +"The same," came the laconic answer. "This here cayuse wasn't broke to +stand. He must have been tied somewheres, 'cause the reins are busted." +He pointed to the pieces of leather hanging from the bit. "The canteen +is gone. Jefferson Worth is too old a hand on the desert to leave it on +the horse. He likely tied the pony to a bush and went to climb a hill +or something. Mr. Hawss breaks loose and pulls for home. It happened a +good way out, 'cause the pony's pretty well tired, which he wouldn't +a-been, travelin' light, if Mr. Worth hadn't ridden some distance +before it happened. An' if he was nearer the pony would have been in +earlier. He'll likely show us a smoke in the morning and even if he +don't it'll be easy to trail him, 'cause there ain't no wind. Will I +go, sir?" He looked at the Chief. + +"Yes; you and Abe, don't you think?" + +Abe assented and the men turned toward the tents while Texas led the +tired horse away. + +The New York engineer approached the Chief. "Do I understand, sir, that +you propose to do nothing until morning?" + +The Seer faced him. "There is nothing to do, Mr. Holmes," he said +simply. + +Willard Holmes was amazed at the man's apparent unconcern. "Nothing to +do?" he exclaimed. "Why don't you arouse the men and send them in every +direction to search? Why man, don't you realize the situation? Mr. +Worth may be hurt. He may even be dying alone out there! I protest! +It's monstrous! It's cowardly, inhuman, to do nothing!" + +The company, attracted by the loud words, paused. Abe Lee, standing +beside his Chief, rolled another cigarette while the engineer was +speaking. + +The Seer answered patiently: "But Mr. Holmes, we could accomplish +nothing by such a search as you suggest. The territory is too large to +cover with a hundred times the number of men we have in camp. At +daylight, when they can follow his trail, Abe and Tex will ride to him +as fast as their horses can go. Granting that the worst you suggest may +be true, our plan is the only sane way." "But I protest, sir. You +should make the attempt. I will not submit to idly doing nothing while +a life is in danger--particularly that of a man like Mr. Worth. I shall +go alone if no one will help me, and"--he straightened himself +haughtily--"I shall report this to Mr. Greenfield and the men +interested with him in this work." + +At the last words one of those rare changes swept over the big +engineer, and the witnesses saw a side of the Chief's nature that was +seldom revealed. His eyes flashed and his face hardened as he burst +forth in tones that startled his hearers: "Report me? You! Report and +be damned, sir. I was old at this work when you were a sucking babe. +These men were learning the desert when you were attending a +fashionable dancing school. Why, you damned lily-fingered tenderfoot, +you couldn't find your way five hundred yards in this country without a +guide or a compass. Now, sir, I'm running this outfit and if you have +any protests against my cowardly inhumanity I advise you to smother +them in your manly breast, or, by hell! I'll ship you out on the first +wagon to-morrow morning and let you report to Greenfield that you were +fired because you didn't know your work yourself and hadn't +intelligence enough to listen to those who did!" + +The Chief paused for breath, and Willard Holmes, whose experience with +large corporations was expected to make him peculiarly valuable to the +capitalists who sent him out, turned away with what dignity he could +command. + +"Howly Mither!" came a hoarse whisper from Pat to Abe; "I made sure the +poor bhoy wud shrivel up. Sich a witherin', blistherin' tongue lashin' +wud scorch the hide av the owld divil himsilf." He looked admiringly +after the Seer. "D'ye think, now, that the poor lad will be afther +tacklin' the job alone, like he said? Sure, ut's nerve he has all right +but he lacks judgment." + +"Yes, he has the nerve all right," returned Abe slowly, "and we'd +better keep an eye on him. Tell Tex." + +Willard Holmes knew that he owed his Chief an apology and he promised +himself to make it in the morning. But neither the explanation of the +Seer nor the bitter humiliation that he had brought upon himself could +turn his thoughts from Mr. Worth alone on the desert. To sleep was +impossible. The banker might be----As he tossed in his blankets the +engineer pictured to himself a hundred things that might have happened +to Barbara's father. + +It was some two hours later when Pat touched Abe Lee on the shoulder. + +"All right, Pat," said the surveyor, fully awake and in possession of +all his senses in an instant. + +"There's a light bobbin' off into nowhere an' the lad's blankets are +impty." + +Fifteen minutes later a quiet voice within three feet of Willard Holmes +asked: "Shall I go with you, sir?" + +The eastern man jumped like a nervous woman. He had not heard the +approach of the surveyor, who walked with the step of an Indian. "I +couldn't sleep," he explained. "I thought I would follow the tracks a +little way out at least. He may not be so far away as you think." + +After Abe had taken time to make his cigarette he spoke meditatively. +"Mr. Worth rode a horse." + +"I understand that," returned the man with the lantern tartly. "I saw +him go this morning and I saw the horse to-night. This is the track." + +From another cloud of smoke came the quiet, respectful answer: "But +this is a mule's track, Mr. Holmes. It is Manuel Ramirez's mule. See, +he has a broken shoe on the off fore-foot. I noticed it yesterday when +I sent Manuel to hunt a water hole. Besides, Mr. Worth rode northeast; +not in this direction." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE MASTER PASSION--"GOOD BUSINESS." + + +When Jefferson Worth left headquarters camp that morning, his purpose +was to ride over a part of the territory lying southeast of the old San +Felipe trail between the sand hills and the old beach-line. He had +covered practically all of the land on the western side of the ancient +sea-bed, from the delta dam at the southern end north to the lowest +point in the Basin, and southward again on the eastern side as far as +the old trail. There remained for him to see only this section in the +southeast. + +It was nearly noon when the banker, from a slight elevation that +afforded him a view of the surrounding country, recognized the group of +sand hills and, by the general course of Dry River, distinguished the +spot where the San Felipe trail crosses the deep arroyo. Occupied with +his thoughts, he had ridden farther from camp than he had realized. He +should turn back. But the distant scene of the desert tragedy called +him. He became possessed of a desire to visit once more the spot that +was so closely associated with the child, who had so strangely come +into his life and whom he loved as his own daughter. + +An hour later he dismounted to stand beside the water hole where, with +his companions, he had found the dead woman with the empty canteen by +her side. The incidents of that hour were as vivid in the banker's +memory as if it had all happened only the day before. He remembered how +Texas Joe had lifted the canteen and, inverting it, had held out to +them his finger moistened with the last drop of water in the +cloth-covered vessel; and how he and his companions, standing by the +dead body of the woman, had turned to each other in startled awe at the +coyotes' ghostly call in the dusk. He heard again with thrilling +clearness the baby's plaintive voice: "Mamma, mamma! Barba wants drink. +Please bring drink, mamma. Barba's 'fraid!" + +Going a short way up the wash, he stood with uncovered head on the very +spot where he had knelt with out-stretched hands before the big-eyed, +brown-haired baby girl, who, crouching under the high bank, shrank back +from him in fear. He saw the frightened look in her eyes and heard the +sweet voice cry: "Go 'way! Go 'way! Go 'way!" Then he saw the +expression on the little face change as Pat and Tex and the boy tried +to reassure her; saw her hold up her baby hands in full confidence to +the big engineer; and felt again the pain and humiliation in his heart. + +Why had the baby instinctively feared him? Why had she turned from him +to the Seer? Why, he asked himself bitterly, had she always feared him? +Why did she still shrink from him? For Barbara did shrink from him, +unconsciously--unintentionally--but, to Jefferson Worth, none the less +plainly now than when he knelt before her that night in the desert. And +it hurt him now as it had hurt him then; hurt the more, perhaps, +because Barbara did not know--because her attitude was instinctive. + +Still living over again the incidents and emotions of that hour in the +desert night, he walked back to the crossing and, leading his horse, +climbed the little hill out of the wash to the spot where, with Texas +and Pat, he had rendered the last possible service to the unknown +woman, who had given her life for the life of the child--the child that +was his but not his. Long ago he had marked the grave with a simple +headstone bearing the only name possible--the one word: "Mother"--and +the date of her death. + +Then mounting again, he rode swiftly along the old trail toward the +sand hills in the near distance. The great drifts, in the years that +had passed, had been moved on by the wind until the wagon and all that +remained of the half-buried outfit were now hidden somewhere deep in +its heart. But the general form of the sand hill was still the same. + +Dismounting, Mr. Worth tied his horse to a scraggly, half-buried +mesquite and, taking his canteen from the saddle, climbed laboriously +up the steep, sandy slope. He would look over the country from that +point and then make straight for camp, for it was getting well on in +the afternoon. From the top of the hill he could see the wide reaches +of The King's Basin Desert sweeping away on every side. At his feet the +bare sand hills themselves lay like huge, rolling, wind-piled drifts of +tawny snow glistening in the sunlight with a blinding glare. Beyond +these were the gray and green of salt-bush, mesquite and greasewood, +with the dun earth showing here and there in ragged patches. Still +farther away the detail of hill and hummock and bush and patch was lost +in the immensity of the scene, while the dull tones of gray and green +and brown were over-laid with the ever-changing tints of the distance, +until, to the eyes, the nearer plain became an island surrounded on +every side by a mighty, many-colored sea that broke only at the foot of +the purple mountain wall. + +The work of the expedition was nearly finished. The banker knew now +from the results of the survey and from his own careful observations +and estimates that the Seer's dream was not only possible from an +engineering point of view, but from the careful capitalist's +standpoint, would justify a large investment. Lying within the lines of +the ancient beach and thus below the level of the great river, were +hundreds of thousands of acres equal in richness of the soil to the +famous delta lands of the Nile. The bringing of the water from the +river and its distribution through a system of canals and ditches, +while a work of great magnitude requiring the expenditure of large sums +of money, was, as an engineering problem, comparatively simple. + +As Jefferson Worth gazed at the wonderful scene, a vision of the +changes that were to come to that land passed before him. He saw first, +following the nearly finished work of the engineers, an army of men +beginning at the river and pushing out into the desert with their +canals, bringing with them the life-giving water. Soon, with the coming +of the water, would begin the coming of the settlers. Hummocks would be +leveled, washes and arroyos filled, ditches would be made to the +company canals, and in place of the thin growth of gray-green desert +vegetation with the ragged patches of dun earth would come great fields +of luxuriant alfalfa, billowing acres of grain, with miles upon miles +of orchards, vineyards and groves. The fierce desert life would give +way to the herds and flocks and the home life of the farmer. The +railroad would stretch its steel strength into this new world; towns +and cities would come to be where now was only solitude and desolation; +and out from this world-old treasure house vast wealth would pour to +enrich the peoples of the earth. The wealth of an empire lay in that +land under the banker's eye, and Capital held the key. + +But while the work of the engineers was simple, it would be a great +work; and it was the magnitude of the enterprise and the consequent +requirement of large sums of money that gave Capital its opportunity. +Without water the desert was worthless. With water the productive +possibilities of that great territory were enormous. Without Capital +the water could not be had. Therefore Capital was master of the +situation and, by controlling the water, could exact royal tribute from +the wealth of the land. + +Knowing James Greenfield and his business associates as he knew them, +familiar with their operations as he was and knowing that they +represented the power of almost unlimited capital, Jefferson Worth +realized that they would plan to share in every dollar of wealth that +The King's Basin lands could be made to produce. Already, his trained +mind saw how easily, with the vast power in their hands, this could be +brought about. And these men, recognizing his peculiar value in such an +enterprise as this, wanted him to join them. + +It was a triumphant moment in the life and business career of the +western banker, the culmination of long, hard years of unceasing toil, +of unfaltering devotion to business, of struggle and disappointments, +of small victories and steady advance gained at the cost of sacrifice +and hard fighting. This proposed alliance with the great eastern +capitalists opened the door and invited him into the company of the +real leaders of the financial world. As one of the powerful corporation +that would literally hold the life of the future King's Basin in its +hand, the multitudes of toilers who would come to reclaim the desert +would be forced to toil not only for themselves but for him. A part of +every dollar of the millions that would be taken from that treasury by +the labor of the people would go to enrich him. + +The financier's thoughts were interrupted by a sound. He turned to see +his horse tugging at the bridle reins, snorting in fear. The man +started quickly down the hill, but before he could cover half the +distance that separated him from his mount the frightened animal broke +the reins and, wheeling about, disappeared down the trail on a wild +run. At the same instant a coyote trotted leisurely out from under the +lee of the sand drift and, with a side glance over his shoulder at the +banker, slipped around the point of the next low ridge. + +The man knew that to catch his horse would be impossible. The animal +would not stop until he reached his companions at the feed-rack in +camp. He knew also that to attempt to find his way to headquarters such +a distance and on foot, with night so near at hand, would be worse than +folly. He would only exhaust his strength and make it harder for his +friends to find him before his water, which could not last another day, +should give out. Someone, he knew, would take his trail in the morning. +The only thing he could do was to wait--to wait alone in the heart of +this silent, age-old, waiting land. + +Somewhere in those forgotten ages that went into the making of The +King's Basin Desert, a company of free-born citizens of the land, moved +by that master passion--Good Business, found their way to the banks of +the Colorado. In time Good Business led them to build their pueblos and +to cultivate their fields by irrigation with water from the river and +erect their rude altars to their now long-forgotten gods. Driven by the +same passion that drove the Indians, the emigrant wagons moved toward +the new gold country, and some financial genius saw Good Business at +the river-crossing near the site of the ancient city. At first it was +no more than a ferry, but soon others with eyes for profit established +a trading point where the overland voyagers could replenish their stock +of supplies, sure to be low after the hundreds of miles across the wide +plains. Then also, in obedience to Good Business, pleasures heard the +call, saloons, gambling houses and dance halls appeared, and for profit +the joys of civilization arrived in the savage land. Good Business sent +the prospectors who found the mines, the capital that developed them +and the laborers who dug the ore. Good Business sent the cattle barons +and their cowboys, sent the speculators and the pioneer merchants. Good +Business sent also, in the fulness of time, Jefferson Worth. + +Of old New England Puritan stock, Worth had come through the hard life +of a poor farm boy with two dominant elements in his character: an +almost super-human instinct for Good Business, inherited no doubt, and +an instinct, also inherited, for religion. The instinct for trade, from +much cultivation, had waxed strong and stronger with the years. The +religion that he had from his forefathers was become little more than a +superstition. It was his genius for business that led him, in his young +manhood, to leave the farm, and it was inevitable that from making +money he should come to making money make more money. It was the other +dominant element in his character that kept him scrupulously honest, +scrupulously moral. Besides this, honesty and morality were also "good +business." + +Seeking always larger opportunities for the employment of his small, +steadily-increasing financial strength, Mr. Worth established the +Pioneer Bank. Later, as he had foreseen, the same master passion +brought the great railroad with still larger opportunities for his +money to make more money. And now the same master passion that had +driven the Indian, the emigrant, the miner, the cowman, the banker and +the railroad was driving the eastern capitalists to spend their moneyed +strength in the reclamation of The King's Basin Desert. It was Good +Business that led Greenfield and his friends to seek the co-operation +of the western financier. It was Good Business that called to Jefferson +Worth now as he saw the immense possibilities of the land. + +As truly as the ages had made the barren desert with its hard, thirsty +life, the ages had produced Jefferson Worth, a carefully perfected, +money making machine, as silent, hard and lonely as the desert itself. +With apparently no vices, no passions, no mistakes, no failures, his +only relation to his fellow-men was a business relation. With his +almost supernatural ability to foresee, to measure, to weigh and judge, +with his cold, mask-like face and his manner of considering carefully +every word and of placing a value upon every trivial incident, he was +respected, feared, trusted, even admired--and that was all. No; not +all. By those who were forced, through circumstances--business +circumstances--to contribute to his prosperity and financial success, +he was hated. Such is the unreasonableness of human kind. + +Business, to this man as to many of his kind, was not the mean, sordid +grasping and hoarding of money. It was his profession, but it was even +more than a profession; it was the expression of his genius. Still more +it was, through him, the expression of the age in which he lived, the +expression of the master passion that in all ages had wrought in the +making of the race. He looked upon a successful deal as a good surgeon +looks upon a successful operation, as an architect upon the completion +of a building or an artist upon his finished picture. But to a greater +degree than to artist or surgeon, the success of his work was measured +by the accumulation of dollars. Apart from his work he valued the money +received from his operations no more than the surgeon his fee, the +artist his price. The work itself was his passion. Because dollars were +the tools of his craft he was careful of them. The more he succeeded, +the more power he gained for greater success. + +But extremely simple in his tastes, lacking, with his lack of +education, knowledge of the more costly luxuries of life, with the +habits of an ascetic, Jefferson Worth could not evidence his success; +and success hidden and unknown loses its power to reward. It is not +enough for the engineer to run his locomotive; he must have train loads +of goods and passengers to carry to some objective point. It is not +enough for the captain to have command of his ship; he must have a +port. Self to Jefferson Worth meant little; his nature demanded so +little. Nor could Mrs. Worth in this fill the need in her husband's +life, for her nature was as simple as his own. But a child, whose life +could be part of his life, filling out, supplementing and complementing +his own nature; a child who, dependent upon him, should have all the +training that he lacked, who should share his success and for whom he +could plan to succeed--a child, an heir, would fill the blank in his +empty career. For a brief time he had looked forward to a child of his +own blood. Then the death of the baby and the ill health of his wife +had left him hopeless. He continued his work because he knew no life +apart from his work. + +Then came the little girl so strangely the gift of the desert. The +banker's mind, trained to act quickly, had grasped the possibilities of +the situation instantly as he ran with his companions to answer the +call of that childish voice. From the moment when he knelt with +outstretched hands and pleading words before little Barbara, he had +never ceased trying to win her. Mrs. Worth, knowing that she could not +be with him many years, had said: "You need her, Jeff," and he did need +her. + +But Jefferson Worth knew that Barbara was not his. She shrank from him +as instinctively and unconsciously as she had drawn back that night of +her mother's death when he knelt before her in the desert. As she had +turned to the Seer then, she turned from the banker now. And now, far +more than then, his lonely heart hungered for her; for with the years +his need of her had grown. Envied of foolish men as men so foolishly +envy his class, the banker knew himself to be destitute, an object of +their pity. The poorest Mexican in his adobe hut, with his half-naked, +laughing children, was more wealthy than he. + +Jefferson Worth, that afternoon on the very scene of the tragedy that +had given Barbara to him, realized that in the land before him he faced +the greatest opportunity of his business career. He realized also that +he was as much alone in his life as he was alone in the silent, barren +waste that surrounded him. Would La Palma de la Mano de Dios, which had +given him the child that was not his child, give him wealth that still +never could be his? + +At last, from his place on the sand drift that held the secret of +Barbara's life, he saw the sun as it appeared to rest for a moment on +the western wall before plunging down into the world on the other side. +Watching, he saw the purple of the hills deepen and deepen and the +wondrous light on the wide sea of colors fade slowly out as the colors +themselves paled and grew dim in the misty dusk of the coming night. +Slowly the twilight sky grew dark, and into the velvet plain above came +the heavenly flocks until their number was past counting save by Him +who leadeth them in their fields. Against the last lingering light in +the west that marked where the day had gone, the mountains lifted their +vast bulk in solemn grandeur as if to bar forever the coming of another +day. Closing about him on every hand, coming dreadfully nearer and +nearer, the black walls of darkness shut him in. In the cool, +mysterious breath of the desert, in the grotesque, fantastic, nearby +shapes and monstrous forms of the sand dunes, in the mysterious phantom +voices that whispered in the dark, Jefferson Worth felt the close +approach of the spirit of the land; the calling of the age-old, waiting +land--the silent menace, the voiceless threat, the whispered promise. + +And there, alone--held close in The Hollow of God's Hand as the long +hours of the night passed--the spirit of the man's Puritan fathers +stirred within him. In the silent, naked heart of the Desert that, +knowing no hand but the hand of its Creator, seemed to hold in its +hushed mysteriousness the ages of a past eternity, he felt his life to +be but a little thing. Beside the awful forces that made themselves +felt in the spirit of Barbara's Desert, the might of Capital became +small and trivial. Sensing the dreadful power that had wrought to make +that land, he shrank within himself--he was afraid. He marveled that he +had dared dream of forcing La Palma de la Mano de Dios to contribute to +his gains. And so at last it was given him to know why Barbara +instinctively shrank from him in fear. + +With the coming of the day the banker went a little way back on the +trail where the vegetation was not entirely covered by the drifting +sand, and there gathered materials for a fire. Later, when he judged +his friends would be in sight, he fired the pile and, watching the +tall, thick column of smoke ascend, awaited the answer. In a little +while it came, faint and far away, the report of Texas Joe's +forty-five. Soon he heard the sound of voices calling loudly and, +following his answer, the swift hoof-beats of galloping horses; and Tex +and Abe, leading another horse appeared. + +But the Jefferson Worth who rode back to camp with his friends, there +to be greeted and congratulated by the party, was not the same +Jefferson Worth who had left camp the morning before, though no one +congratulated him because of that. + +It was three weeks later when a portly, well-fed gentleman entered the +Pioneer Bank in Rubio City and asked of the teller: "Is Mr. Worth in?" + +The man on the other side of the counter looked through his grated +window at the speaker with unusual interest. And in the teller's voice +there was a shade of unusual deference as he replied, "Yes, sir." + +"Tell him that Mr. Greenfield is here." + +At the magic of that name every man in the bank within sound of the +speaker's voice lifted his head and turned toward the face at the +window. + +"Yes, sir. Come this way, sir." + +A door in the partition opened and the visitor was admitted to the +sacred precincts behind the gratings, the bars and the plate glass. As +he moved down the room past counters and desks, every eye followed him +and there was an electrical hush in the atmosphere like the hush that +marks the massing of the forces in Nature before a conflict of the +elements. + +Jefferson Worth looked up as the imposing figure of the great financier +appeared on the threshold of his room, and at the name of James +Greenfield carefully pushed back the papers he had been considering and +rose. The movement, slight as it was, was as though he cleared his +decks for action. The clerk, withdrawing, carefully, closed the door. + +The two men shook hands with much the air of two wrestlers meeting for +a bout. For a moment neither spoke. Each knew that in the silence he +was being measured, estimated, searched for his weakness and his +strength, and each gave to the other this opportunity as his right. No +time was wasted in idle preliminaries. These men knew the value of +time. No formal words expressing pleasure at the meeting were spoken. +They tacitly accepted the fact that pleasure had not called them +together. + +James Greenfield was a fair representative of his class. His full, +well-colored face with carefully clipped gray mustache, bright blue +eyes and gray hair, was the calmly alert, well-controlled, thoughtful +face of power: not the face of one who does things, but of one who +causes things to be done; not the face of one who is himself powerful, +but of one who controls and directs power; such a face as you may see +leaning from the cab of a great locomotive that pulls the overland +limited, or looking down at you from the bridge of the ocean liner. It +was courageous, but with a courage not personal--a courage born rather +of an exact knowledge of the strength and duty of every bolt, rivet and +lever of the machine under his hand. It was confident, not in its own +strength, but in the strength that it ruled and directed. + +Jefferson Worth motioned toward a chair at the end of his desk and +seated himself. The man from the East found himself forced to make the +opening. + +"Mr. Worth," he said, "we find it very difficult to understand your +attitude toward our company. We do not see why you decline our +proposition. Your own report gives every reason in the world why you +should accept and you suggest no reason at all for declining. Frankly, +it looks strange to us and I have come out to have a little talk with +you over the matter and to see if we could not persuade you to +reconsider your decision, or at least to learn your reasons for +refusing to go in with us. Your report and your answer to our +proposition are so conflicting that we feel we have a right to some +definite reason for your unexpected decision." + +As he spoke, the president of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation +Company tried in vain to see behind the mask-like face of the man in +the revolving chair. His failure only excited his admiration and +respect. Instinctively he recognized the genius before him, and his +desire to add this strength to his forces increased. + +"My report was satisfactory?" The words were absolutely colorless. + +"Very. It was exactly what we wanted. With your opinion, confirming our +engineer's statements, we felt safe to go ahead with the organization +of the Company and have already set the wheels moving toward actual +work. It is because you so unhesitatingly and so strongly commend the +project as warranting our investment that we cannot understand your +refusal to share the profits of our enterprise." + +He paused for an answer, but was forced to continue. "Let me explain +more fully than I could outline in my letter just what we propose +doing. The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company, Mr. Worth, will +not confine its operations simply to furnishing water for the +reclamation and development of these lands. That is no more than the +beginning--the basis of our operations. With the settlement and +improvement of the country will come many other openings for profitable +investments--townsites, transportation lines, telephones, electric +power, banking and all that, you understand. Our connections and +resources make it possible for us to finance any industry or operation +that promises attractive returns, while our position as the originators +of the whole King's Basin movement and the owners of the irrigation +system will give us tremendous advantage over any outside capital that +may attempt to come in later, and will make competition practically +impossible." + +"I figured that was the way you would do it," was the unemotional reply. + +More than ever James Greenfield wanted this man. He considered +carefully a few minutes, with no help from Jefferson Worth, then tried +again. "If you feel that our proposition to you is not liberal enough, +Mr. Worth, I am prepared to double our offer." + +If the financier from New York thought to startle this little western +banker with a proposal that was more than princely he failed. His words +seemed to have no effect. It was as though he talked to a marble figure +of a man. + +"I appreciate your proposition, but must decline it." + +"May I ask your reason, sir?" + +"I must decline to give any." + +The other arose, the light of battle in his eyes, for to James +Greenfield's mind there could be only one possible meaning in the +answer. "That is, of course, your privilege, Mr. Worth," he said +coldly. And then with the weight of conscious power he added: "But I'll +tell you this, sir: if you think you can enter The King's Basin in +opposition to our Company you're making the mistake of your life. We'll +smash you, with your limited resources, so flat that you'll be glad for +a chance to make the price of a meal. Good day, sir!" + +"Good day." + +Before the great capitalist was out of the building, Jefferson Worth +was bending over the papers on his desk again as though declining to +accept flattering offers from gigantic corporations was an hourly +occurrence. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +BARBARA'S LOVE FOR THE SEER. + + +Jefferson Worth had not proceeded far with the work before him after +James Greenfield left when he was again interrupted. This time it was +the voice of Barbara in the other room. + +The banker lifted his head quickly. Again he pushed his papers from +him, but now the movement seemed to indicate weariness and uncertainty +rather than readiness for action. His head dropped forward, his thin +fingers nervously tapped the arms of his chair. When the girl's step +sounded at the door he looked up the fraction of a second before she +appeared. + +"I don't want to disturb you, father, but they told me that that big, +fine-looking man just going out was Mr. Greenfield. Is he--did he come +all the way from New York to see you?" + +"He came in here to see me," said Jefferson Worth exactly. + +"And the work?" + +"He says they have already started the wheels to moving." + +"And you, daddy; you?" + +Jefferson Worth arose and carefully closed the door. Then silently +indicating the chair at the end of his desk he resumed his seat. + +As Barbara looked into that mask-like face, the eager expectant light +in her brown eyes died out and a look of questioning doubt came. She +seemed to shrink back from him almost as she had turned away that first +time in the desert. + +If Jefferson Worth felt that look his face gave no sign; only those +thin, nervous fingers were lifted to caress his chin. + +"Are you--are you going to help, daddy? Will you join Mr. Greenfield's +company?" + +Still the man was silent, and the girl, watching, wondered what was +going on behind that gray mask, what questions were being weighed and +considered. + +At last he spoke one cold word: "Why?" + +Barbara flushed. "Because," she answered, carefully, "because it is +such a great work. You could do so much more than simply make money." + +"That is as you and the Seer see it." + +"But, father; it _is_ a great work, isn't it, to change the desert into +a land of farms and homes for thousands and thousands of people?" + +"Do you think that Greenfield and his crowd are going into this scheme +because it is a great thing for the people?" + +"But don't even capitalists sometimes undertake a great work just +because it is great and because thousands upon thousands of people, +through years and years to come, will be benefited even though the men +themselves do not make so awfully much money?" + +If Jefferson Worth felt her unconscious insinuation his face gave no +sign. Carefully he listened with his manner of considering and weighing +every word, while to Barbara his mind seemed to be reaching out on +every side or running far into the future. When he answered his words +were carefully exact. "Capitalists, as individuals might and do, spend +millions in projects from which they, personally, expect no returns. +But _Capital_ doesn't do such things. Anything that Capital, as +_Capital_, goes into must be purely a business proposition. If anything +like sentiment entered into it that would be the end of the whole +matter." + +Barbara moved uneasily. "I don't think I quite understand why," she +said. + +There was a shade of color now in the banker's voice as he explained by +asking: "How long do you think this bank could exist if we made loans +to Tom, Dick and Harry because they needed help, or put money into this +and that scheme simply because it was a beneficial thing? How long +would it be before we went to smash?" + +"But don't business men ever do anything except to make money? Doesn't +Capital, as you say, ever consider the people?" + +"This bank is a very substantial benefit to the people. But it can only +benefit them by doing business on strictly business principles. As an +individual any officer or stock holder can do what he pleases for +whatever reason moves him. He can burn his money if he wants to. But as +officers and directors of this corporation we can't burn the capital of +the institution." + +"But Mr. Greenfield and these New York men, who have organized the +company--are they not careful financiers?" + +"Very." + +"It seems to me that they must believe in the Seer and his work or they +wouldn't furnish him the money, would they?" + +"They believe in the Seer and his work from their standpoint. Their +capital is invested for just one purpose--dividends." + +Barbara sighed and moved impatiently. "You always make it so hard to +believe in men, father. I can't think that all business men--all +financiers, I mean,--are so cold and heartless." + +Again if Jefferson Worth felt the unconscious implication in her words +he gave no sign. The banker was not ignorant of the public sentiment +toward himself and the men of his class in his profession. He had come +to accept it with the indifference of his exact, machine-like habit. + +Barbara continued: "I feel sure that Mr. Greenfield and the men with +him are going to furnish the money for the Seer to do this work for +more than just what they will make out of it. I know that Mr. Holmes +does, and I had hoped that you"--her voice broke--"that you would--" + +If only Jefferson Worth could have broken the habit of a lifetime. If +he could have laid aside that gray mask and permitted the girl to look +into his hidden life, perhaps-- + +His colorless voice broke the silence, coldly exact: "What do you +figure Willard Holmes is in this thing for?" + +Barbara's face lighted up proudly. "He is in the work for the same +reason that the Seer and Abe are--because it is such a great work and +means so much to the world. I know, because since he returned he has +talked to me so much about it. When he first came out--just at +first--he didn't understand what the work really was. But now he +understands it as the Seer sees it." + +"Did the Seer send him out here?" + +"No, I believe Mr. Greenfield sent him." + +"Why?" + +"I suppose they wanted an eastern man, whom they knew better than they +knew the Seer, to represent them? It would be very natural, wouldn't +it?" + +"Very natural," agreed Jefferson Worth. + +"Have you given the Company your final answer, father?" + +"Yes." + +"And you--you won't have anything to do with the reclamation of my +Desert?" + +"I declined to join the Company." + +Blindly Barbara made her way out of the building. The place, with its +air of business and suggestions of wealth, was unbearably hateful to +her. At home she ordered her horse and started for the open country. +But she did not ride toward the Desert. She felt that she could not +bear the sight of The King's Basin that day. + +In her father's attitude toward the Company Barbara saw only his +seeming desire for selfish gain. He had told her so often that only one +thing could justify an investment of capital. Evidently he did not +think The King's Basin project would pay. She felt ashamed for him; he +seemed so incapable of considering anything but profit. Nothing but +profit, the sure promise of gain, could move him. He believed in the +work; he had reported in favor of it to the Company. He knew that the +Company was going ahead. He was willing enough that others should do +the work, she thought bitterly. They might take the risk. It was even +likely that he had some way planned by which, without risking anything +himself, he would reap large returns through their efforts. She thought +proudly of the Seer, who had given so many unpaid years to the +Reclamation work; of Abe and his loyalty to the Seer; and of Willard +Holmes, who was going to give himself to the work. + +Utterly sick at heart the girl did not meet her father at their evening +meal. She could not. Jefferson Worth ate alone and alone spent the +evening on the porch. On the way to his room he paused a moment at her +door. He knocked softly so as not to waken her if she was asleep. When +there was no answer he stole quietly away. But Barbara was not asleep. + +For three days Mr. Greenfield remained in Rubio City, "on the business +of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company," the papers said in a +long article setting forth the greatness of the work that was to be +undertaken in the desert through the magnificent enterprise of these +mighty eastern capitalists. + +During that time Barbara had not seen either the Seer, Holmes or Abe +Lee. She understood that they were engaged with Mr. Greenfield. She +read the glowing articles in the paper, the afternoon of Mr. +Greenfield's departure, with a thrill of pride. At last it had +come--the day for which the Seer had hoped all these years. The dear +old Seer! She was a little disappointed that the papers did not give +his name more prominence. It seemed to be all Greenfield and the +Company. But after all that did not matter. It was the Seer's work; the +Seer had brought it about. + +The front gate clicked and Barbara looked up from her paper to see her +old friend coming up the walk. She saw at a glance that something was +wrong. She thought he was ill. The big form of the engineer drooped +with weakness, his head dropped forward, his eyes were fixed on the +ground and he walked slowly, dragging his feet as with great weariness. +With a startled cry she ran to meet him, and as he caught her hands in +both his own she saw his face drawn and haggard and his brown eyes +filled with hopeless pain. He did not speak. + +Leading him to the shade of the porch she brought forward his favorite +chair. He sank into it as if overcome with exhaustion, but attempted to +smile his thanks. + +"What is it? Are you ill? Let me call a doctor?" + +"No, no, dear, I'm not sick. It's not that. I'm--I'm upset a bit, +that's all. I'll be all right in a little while. Only it was rather +unexpected." He turned his face away as though to hide something from +her. + +"What is it? Can't you tell me? What is the matter?" Barbara had never +seen the Seer so hopeless. + +"They have let me out." + +She did not understand. "Let you out?" + +He bowed his head slowly. "Yes; the Company, you know. They have +appointed Mr. Holmes chief engineer in my place." + +She cried out in indignant dismay. "But how could they? It is your +work--all your work! You have given years to bring it before the world. +They never would have known of The King's Basin at all but for you. How +dare they? They have no right!" + +The engineer smiled. "I was only an employe of Greenfield and the men +who organized the Company, you know. In their eyes my relation to the +work was the same as that of a Cocopah Indian laborer. Of course it was +understood in a general way that I was to have some stock in the +Company when it was organized, with the chief engineer's position at +least, but there was nothing settled. Nothing could be settled until +the actual completion of the survey, you know. I never dreamed of this. +I can see now that it was planned from the first and that this is what +Holmes came out here for. He is a great favorite of Greenfield's, and I +suppose they wanted a man of their own kind to look after their +interests. But it hurts, Barbara; it hurts." + +For an hour he stayed with her and she helped him as such a woman +always helps. But when she would have kept him for supper he said: "No, +I must find Abe. I want to tell the boy and have it over. You can tell +your father." + +When Jefferson Worth learned from his indignant daughter of the +Company's action he only said, in his precise way: "I figured that +would be their first move." There was no feeling in his voice or +manner. It was the simple verification of conclusions already reached +and considered. + +"Father!" cried Barbara. "Do you mean that you expected the Company to +put that man Holmes in the Seer's place?" + +"What reason was there to expect anything else?" + +"But you never said anything all the time the Seer was--" She could not +continue. It was maddening to think that while she had been dreaming +and planning with the Seer, her father had foreseen that their dreams +would come to nought. + +"If I had you would not have believed me." The words were merely a +calm, emotionless statement of fact. "I told you that the Company would +act only from a business standpoint." + +Suddenly a new phase of the situation flashed upon Barbara. Controlling +her emotions and searching her father's face she asked: "Daddy, tell me +please: was it because you saw this that you refused to join the +Company?" + +Jefferson Worth considered; then with marked caution answered: "That +was part of the reason." + +"I think I begin to understand a little. I'm glad--glad that you would +have nothing to do with those men. It would have killed me if you had +had any part in this now." + +Presently the banker asked: "Have you seen Abe Lee?" + +"No, why? Do you think--have they discharged him, too? He wouldn't stay +anyway after their treatment of the Seer. I wouldn't want him to." + +"They won't let him out if they can keep him. Holmes will need him," +said Worth. They he added: "You'd better tell Abe to stay." + +Barbara gasped. "What do you mean?" + +"Tell him to stay," repeated Worth slowly. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +ABE LEE RESIGNS. + + +In obedience to its master passion--Good Business--the race now began +pouring its life into the barren wastes of The King's Basin Desert. + +In the city by the sea at the end of the Southwestern and Continental +there was a suite of offices with real gold letters on the ground-glass +doors richly spelling "The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company." +Behind these doors there was real mahogany furniture, solid, +substantial and rich; a high safe; many attractive maps; and a +gentleman who--never having traveled west of Buffalo before--could +answer with authority every conceivable question relating to the +reclamation of the arid lands of the great West. When there were no +more questions to ask he could still tell you many things of the +wonderland of wealth that was being opened to the public by the +Company, demonstrating thus beyond the possibility of a doubt how many +times a dollar could be multiplied. + +From this office went forth to the advertising departments of the +magazines and papers, skillfully prepared copy, which in turn was +followed by pamphlets, circulars and letters innumerable. In one room a +company of clerks and book-keepers and accountants pored over their +tasks at desks and counters. In another a squad of stenographers filled +the air with the sound of their type-writers. Through the doors of the +different rooms passed an endless procession; men from the front with +the marks of the desert sun on their faces--engineers, superintendents, +bosses, messengers, agents--servants of the Company; laborers of every +sort and nationality came in answer to the cry: "Men wanted!"; special +salesmen from foundry, factory and shop drawn by prospective large +sales of machinery, implements and supplies; land-hungry men from +everywhere seeking information and opportunity for investment. + +At Deep Well (which is no well at all) on the rim of the Basin, +trainloads of supplies, implements, machinery, lumber and construction +material, horses, mules and men were daily side-tracked and unloaded on +the desert sands. Overland travelers gazed in startled wonder at the +scene of stirring activity that burst so suddenly upon them in the +midst of the barren land through which they had ridden for hours +without sight of a human habitation or sign of man. The great mountain +of goods, piled on the dun plain; the bands of horses and mules; the +camp-fires; the blankets spread on the bare ground; the men moving here +and there in seemingly hopeless confusion; all looked so ridiculously +out of place and so pitifully helpless. + +Every hour companies of men with teams and vehicles set out from the +camp to be swallowed up in the silent distance. Night and day the huge +mountain of goods was attacked by the freighters who, with their big +wagons drawn by six, eight, twelve, or more, mules, appeared +mysteriously out of the weird landscape as if they were spirits +materialized by some mighty unknown genii of the desert. Their heavy +wagons loaded, their water barrels filled, they turned again to the +unseen realm from which they had been summoned. The sound of the loud +voices of the drivers, the creaking of the wagons, the jingle of +harness, the shot-like reports of long whips died quickly away; while, +to the vision, the outfits passed slowly--fading, dissolving in their +great clouds of dust, into the land of mystery. + +In Rubio City Jefferson Worth continued on his machine-like way at the +Pioneer Bank, apparently paying no heed to the movement that offered +such opportunities for profitable investment. Barbara rarely spoke now +of the work that had been so dear to her, nor did she ever ride to the +foot of the hill on the Mesa to look over the Desert. The Seer was in +the northern railroad work again, but Abe Lee, with Tex and Pat and +Pablo Garcia, had gone with the beginning of the stream of life that +was pouring into the new country. + +True to the far-reaching plans of the Company, at the largest and most +central of the supply camps, located in the very heart of The King's +Basin, the townsite of Kingston was laid out, and even in the days when +every drop of water was hauled from three to ten miles town lots were +offered for sale and sold to eager speculators. + +A year from the beginning of the work at the intake at the river, water +was turned into the canals. With the coming of the water, Kingston +changed, almost between suns, from a rude supply camp to an established +town with post-office, stores, hotel, blacksmith shop, livery stables, +all in buildings more or less substantial. Most substantial of all was +the building owned and occupied by the offices of the Company. + +With the coming of the water also, the stream of human life that flowed +into the Basin was swollen by hundreds of settlers driven by the master +passion--Good Business--to toil and traffic, to build the city, to +subdue and cultivate the land and thus to realize the Seer's dream, +while the engineer himself was banished from the work to which he had +given his life. Every sunrise saw new tent-houses springing up on the +claims of the settlers around the Company town and new buildings +beginning in the center of it all--Kingston. Every sunset saw miles of +new ditches ready to receive the water from the canal and acres of new +land cleared and graded for irrigation. + +Thus it was that afternoon when, from his office window, Mr. Burk, the +General Manager of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company, +watched a freighter with a twelve-mule load of goods stop his team +directly across the street in front of the largest and most important +general store in the Basin. + +Deck Jordan, the merchant, came out and the Manager easily heard the +driver's loud voice: "Jim'll be along in 'bout another hour, I reckon. +We aim to get the rest in two more trips." + +"Six twelve-mule loads in that shipment," thought the Company's +manager; "and that fellow set up business with a two-horse load of +stuff!" + +An empty wagon was driven up to the store and the General Manager +recognized in the driver one of the Company's men from a grading camp +six miles away; while another wagon--a Company wagon also--nearly +filled with supplies moved away toward the open desert. + +Deck's business was assuming quite respectable proportions thought Mr. +Burk. And Deck's business was mostly with employes of the Company. +Taking a cigar from a box on his desk, Mr. Burk scratched a match on +the heel of his shoe and, leaning back in his office chair, continued +thinking. The Manager of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company +was paid to think. The Company hired Mr. Burk's peculiar talent even as +they hired the physical strength of their laborers or the professional +skill of their engineers. + +As he meditated, the Manager still watched from the window the +activities of the street. Soon from the open desert, beyond the last +new building down the street, he saw a horseman approaching. At an easy +swinging lope the rider came straight toward the Company's headquarters +and, as he drew near, the Manager recognized the chief engineer. +Greeting the man at the open window as he passed, Willard Holmes +dismounted at the entrance of the building and, going first to the +water tank, soon appeared in the doorway of the Manager's room. The +engineer's clothes from boots to Stetson were covered with dust and his +face was deeply bronzed by the months in the open air. + +Turning from the window Mr. Burk held out the box of cigars. + +"No thanks," said the Chief with a smile. "I'm hot as a lime kiln now. +Wait until after supper." + +Throwing his hat and gloves on the floor, he dropped into a chair with +a sigh of relief at the grateful coolness of the room after hours of +riding in the dazzling light of the desert sun. + +The other, returning the box to its place, tipped back in his chair and +elevated his well-dressed feet to his desk and, with his cigar in one +corner of his mouth and his head cocked suggestively to one side, +looked his companion over with a critical smile. "I say, Holmes, how +would you like to be in little old New York this evening?" + +At the question and the manner of the speaker the engineer held up his +hands with a motion of protest as he commanded, in tragic voice: "Get +thee behind me, Satan!" Then, at the Manager's laugh, he added +seriously: "New York is all right, Burk, but I guess I can manage to +stick it out here a while longer." + +Burk looked at the engineer with the same thoughtful expression that +had marked his face when he watched the wagon-load of supplies before +the store across the street. "I have noticed that you show symptoms of +slowly developing an interest in your job," he murmured. "You were at +the river yesterday." + +"No; I was at Number Five Heading. Abe Lee will be in from the intake +this afternoon. I was there day before yesterday." + +"How is the little old Colorado behaving herself?" + +"All right so far. Our work is all a guess though. There is not a scrap +of data to go on, you know." There was a hint of anxiety in the chief +engineer's answer. + +"I suppose you find the talkative Abe cheerfully optimistic about the +future of our structures as usual?" + +Holmes did not smile at the jesting tone of the Manager. "Lee is +certainly doing all he can to make things safe. He is a fiend for +thoroughness, and between you and me, Burk, the Company _ought_ to +spend more money on that intake at least. A few more thousands would +make it what it should be." + +The man who was paid to think held out a hand protestingly. "My dear +boy, how many times have we gone over that? The Company will spend just +what they must spend to get this scheme going and not a cent more. +Later, when the business justifies, they will improve the system. Don't +get yourself sidetracked by the notion that this whole project is for +the benefit of the dear people and that the Company is made up of +benevolent old gentlemen, who have nothing to do with their wealth but +promote philanthropic enterprises. You should know your Uncle Jim +better. Dividends, my boy, dividends; that's what we're all here for, +and you can't afford to forget it. By the way, did you have any dinner +to-day?" + +"I struck Camp Seven on the Alamitos at noon." + +"Hum-m. Sour bread, sow-belly, frijoles? Or was it canned corn? I say, +old man, do you remember some of the places where we used to dine at +home--flowers and music, and table linen, and real dishes, and waiters +with real food, and women--God bless 'em!--real women? What would you +give to-night, Holmes, for something to eat that had never been +preserved, embalmed, cured, dried or tinned? It's not a dream of +fairyland, my boy; there are such places in the world and there are +such things to eat. Come, what do you say? Where shall we dine tonight +and what will you have?" + +"You fiend!" growled Holmes. "You know I'd sell my soul this minute for +one good red apple." + +Lowering his feet to the floor and rising, the Manager of The King's +Basin Land and Irrigation Company crossed the room stealthily and +carefully closed the door. Then taking a bunch of keys from his pocket, +with an air of great secrecy he unlocked a drawer in his desk, pulled +it open and took out--_an apple_. + +The Company's chief engineer fell on the Manager with an exclamation of +amazement and delight. + +"Really," said Burk as he watched the fruit disappear, "your child-like +pleasure almost justifies my crime. I even feel repaid for my +self-denial. There were only three in the basket." + +"How did you do it?" asked Holmes between bites, gazing at the apple in +his hand as though to devour the treat with his eyes also, thereby +doubling the pleasure. + +"It was one of our dearly beloved prospective settlers," the thoughtful +Manager explained with an air of conscious merit. "He came in from +somewhere yesterday to spy out the land and, being a prudent and +thrifty farmer, he possesses, or is possessed by, a prudent and thrifty +wife. Said wife fitted out said farmer for his journey into this far +country with a market basket of provisions. Home-made provisions, +Willard, my son; _home made!_ A whole basket full! He had one feed left +and was finishing it out there on the sidewalk when I returned from +what we of this benighted land call dinner. How could I help looking. I +watched him devour the leg of a chicken. I watched him eat real bread +with jelly on it. Then I caught sight of three apples--_three!_ Holmes, +such wealth is criminal. I considered--I became an anarchist. He was a +big husky and I dared not assault him, so I talked--Lord forgive +me!--how I talked. I offered confidential advice, I conjured up visions +of wealth untold. I laid him under a spell and gently led him and his +basket into the office even as he finished the pie. I showed him maps; +I gave him a cigar; I urged him to leave his basket and satchel here in +my private office for safe-keeping while he looked around. Gladly he +accepted my invitation. His confidence was pathetic. How could the +poor, trusting farmer know that I was ready, if necessary, to murder +him for his fortune? When he had gone I locked the door and I--I--I +only took two, Holmes; I dared not take them all, for he was big and +rough, as I say. But I could not believe that a man with such wealth +could miss a part of it." + +"But you said you ate two," said the engineer severely, taking another +long, lingering bite. + +"I did," returned the Manager, with awful solemnity. "When that +trusting but husky farmer returned later for his possessions he thanked +me many times for my kindness while I trembled with the consciousness +of my guilt, assuring him that it was no trouble at all--no trouble at +all. And then--just as I felt sure that he was going and was beginning +to breathe easier--he stopped and fumbled around in his basket. My +heart stood still. 'Hannah put some fine apples in my dinner,' he +muttered. 'I thought maybe you might like some. Reckon I must a-et 'em +after all. I thought there was--no, by jocks! here she is.' Holmes, as +I live he handed me that other apple. It was positively uncanny. I was +speechless. Not until he was gone did I realize that it was prophetic. +In like manner shall the settlers, the farmers, save this land and us +from destruction." + +"It's Good Business," returned Holmes. "It exactly illustrates your +methods of dealing with the confiding public." + +"Humph!" grunted the other. "I observe that you do not hesitate to +enjoy the fruits of my financiering." + +A knock at the door prevented the engineer's reply. + +"Come in!" called Burk. + +The door opened and Abe Lee stood on the threshold. The two men greeted +the surveyor cordially but with that subtle touch in their voices that +hinted at consciousness of superior position and authority. + +Abe addressed himself directly to his Chief, saying: "We finished at +the intake last night, sir, and moved to Dry River Heading this morning +as you directed." + +"You left everything at the river in good shape, of course?" + +The surveyor did not answer. The tobacco and paper that, in his long +fingers, were assuming the form of a cigarette seemed to demand his +undivided attention. Burk was thoughtfully watching the two men. At the +critical moment he handed Abe a match. From the cloud of smoke Abe +spoke again. "The outfit will be ready to begin work at the Heading +to-morrow morning." + +Before Holmes could speak the Manager said: "You evidently still think, +Lee, that the work at the river is not satisfactory. Are you still +predicting that our intake will go out with the next high water?" + +"I don't know whether the next high water will do it or not. The Rio +Colorado alone won't hurt us, but when the Gila and the Little Colorado +go on the war-path and come down on top of a high Colorado flood you'll +catch hell. It may be this season; it may be next. It depends on the +snowfall in the upper countries and the weather in the spring, but it +_has_ come and it will come again." + +"How do you know? There have been no records kept and no surveys. We +have no data." + +"There's data enough. The Colorado leaves her own record. I know the +country; I know what the river has done and I know what the Indians +have told me." + +At the surveyor's words his Chief stirred impatiently and the Manager +answered: "But we can't spend twenty or thirty thousand dollars on a +mere guess at what _may_ happen, Lee. When the country is fairly well +settled and business justifies, we will put in a new intake. In the +meantime those structures will have to do. The K. B. L. and I. is not +in business for glory, you know." Abe spoke softly from a cloud of +smoke. "And are you explaining this situation to the people who are +coming here by the hundreds to settle? Do they understand the chances +they are taking when they buy water rights and go ahead to develop +their ranches?" + +"Certainly not. If we talked risks no one would come in. The Company +must protect its interests." + +"Who protects the settlers' interests?" + +The Manager stiffened. "I don't recognize your right to criticise the +Company's policy, Lee. Mr. Holmes is our chief engineer and he assures +me that our structures are as good as they can be made with the money +at our disposal. We can only carry out the policies of the Company and +we are responsible to them for the money we spend. You have no +responsibility in the matter whatever." + +"Oh, hell, Burk," drawled Abe, though his eyes contradicted flatly his +soft tone. "There's no occasion for you to climb so high up that +ladder. You've been a corporation mouthpiece so long you have no more +soul than the Company." He turned to his Chief. "I left Andy in charge +at camp. He understands that I will not be back. I dropped my +resignation in your box in the office as I came in. Adios." + +Leaving the office, Abe walked slowly down the street through the heart +of the Company's little town. On every hand he saw the work that was +being wrought in the Desert. There were business blocks and houses in +every stage of building from the new-laid foundation to the moving-in +of the tenants. The air rang with sound of hammer and saw. Teams and +wagons from the ranches lined the street. The very faces of the people +he met glowed with enthusiasm, while determination and purpose were +expressed in their very movements as they hurried by. + +A mile west of town the surveyor stopped on the bridge that spanned the +main canal. He paused to look around. He saw the country already dotted +with the white tent-houses of the settlers, and even as he looked three +new wagons, loaded with supplies and implements, passed, bound for the +claims of the owners. Under his feet the water from the distant river +ran strongly. To the west was a grading camp on the line of a Company +ditch; to the south was another. Far to the north and east, along the +rim of the Basin, he knew the railroad was bringing other pioneers by +the hundreds. He drew a deep breath and, taking off his sombrero, drank +in the scene. How he loved it all! It was the Seer's dream, but the +Seer could have no part in it. It was Barbara's Desert, but Barbara was +shut out--exiled. It was his work, but he was powerless to do it. The +Seer had told him to stay for his work's sake. He smiled grimly, +remembering the Manager's words. Barbara had told him to stay, but the +girl knew nothing of conditions--how could she know? Jefferson Worth +had told him to stay. Why? Barbara, in her letters, never spoke of the +work. The Seer seldom wrote; Jefferson Worth, never. Every month the +situation had grown more unbearable. Burk might insist that he had no +responsibility and Holmes might argue that they could only do their +best with what funds the Company would supply. Abe was not of their +school. Well, he was out of it now for good. He was not the kind of a +man the Company wanted. + +Returning to town he had supper at the little shack restaurant and, +going to the tent house owned by himself and two brother-surveyors that +they might have a place to sleep when in town, he gathered his few +possessions together in readiness for departure in the morning. + +When the brief task was finished and he had written a note to his two +friends, who were away, he went out again on the main street, because +there was nothing else to do. It was evening now and the usual crowd +was gathered in front of the post-office to watch the arrival of the +stage, the one event of never-failing interest to these hardy pioneers. +In the throng there were teamsters, laborers, ranchers, mechanics, +real-estate agents, speculators, surveyors--gathered from camp and +field and town. Some were expecting letters from the home folks in the +world outside; a few were looking for friends among the passengers. +Many were there, as was Abe, because it was the point of interest. All +were roughly clad, marked by the semi-tropical desert wind and sun. + +It was among such men as these that Abe Lee's life had been spent. Such +scenes as these were home scenes to him. In a peculiar way, through the +Seer and Barbara, the work that these men were doing was dear to him. +He felt that he was being cast out of his own place. As he passed +through the throng Abe heard always the same topic of conversation: the +work--the work--the work. News to these men meant more miles of canal +finished, new ditches dug, more land leveled and graded, new settlers +located. The surveyor thought of the future of these people, given +wholly into the hands of the Company; of the men in the East, who knew +nothing of their hardships but who would force them to pay royal +tribute out of the fruits of their toil; of how, even then, they were +increasing the value of the Company property. + +"Here she comes!" cried someone, and all eyes were turned to see the +stage swinging down the street. Abe drew back a little--to the thin +edge of the crowd; he was expecting neither letters nor friends. The +six broncos were brought to a stand in the midst of the crowd, the mail +bag was tossed to the post-master and the passengers began climbing +down from their seats. + +As the last man rose from his place he stood for a moment in a stooped +position, gripping with each hand one of the standards that supported +the canvas top of the vehicle. Looking out thus over the crowd he +seemed to be gathering data for an estimate of the population before he +felt cautiously with his foot for the step. + +Abe Lee started forward with an exclamation. + +It was Jefferson Worth! + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +SIGNS OF CONFLICT. + + +Not a line of Jefferson Worth's countenance changed as the tall +surveyor, pushing his way through the crowd about the new arrivals, +greeted him. But Abe Lee felt the man from behind his gray mask +reaching out to grasp his innermost thoughts and emotions. + +"Where is the hotel?" + +Abe explained that the rough board shelter that bore that name was full +to the door. People were even sleeping on the floor. "But there is room +in our tent, Mr. Worth," he finished and led the way out of the crowd. + +To the surveyor's eager questions the banker answered that Barbara was +visiting friends in the Coast city. + +When they had reached the tent and Abe had found and lighted a lantern, +Mr. Worth said--and his manner was as though he were continuing a +conversation that had been interrupted only for a moment--"well, I see +you stayed." + +At his words the surveyor, who was filling a tin wash-basin with fresh +water that his guest might wash away the dust of his journey, felt the +hot blood in his cheeks. Before answering he pulled an old cracker-box +from under a cot in one corner of the canvas room and, rummaging +therein, brought to light a clean towel. When he had placed this +evidence of civilization beside the basin on the box that did duty as a +wash-stand, he answered: "I quit the Company this afternoon." + +"Why?" + +"Because I won't do the kind of work the Company wants." The surveyor +spoke hotly now. The man busy with the basin of water made no comment, +and Abe continued: "Mr. Worth, they are putting in the cheapest +possible kind of wooden structures all through the system, even at +points where the safety of the whole project depends on the control of +the water. The intake itself is nothing but the flimsiest sort of a +makeshift. One good flood, such as we have every few years, and there +wouldn't be a damned stick of it left in twelve hours. You remember +what the grade is from the river at the point of the intake this way +into the Basin and you know how water cuts this soil. If that gate goes +out the whole river will come through; and these settlers, who are +tumbling over each other to put into this country every cent they have +in the world, will lose everything." + +"The Company takes its chances with the settlers, doesn't it?" + +"The Company takes mighty small chances compared to the risk the +settlers are carrying. As a matter of fact, Mr. Worth, it is the people +who are building this system; not the Company at all. To prove up on +these desert claims the government compels them to have the water. They +can't use the water without paying the Company for the right. After +they have bought the water rights then they must pay for every +acre-foot they use. All Greenfield and his bunch did was to put up +enough to start the thing going and the people are doing the rest. The +Company knows the risk and stakes a comparatively small amount of +capital. The settlers know nothing of the real conditions and stake +everything they have in the world. If the Company would tell the people +the situation it would be square, but you know what would happen if +they did that. No one would come in. As it is, the Company, by risking +the smallest amount possible, leads the people to risk everything they +have and yet the Greenfield crowd stands to win big on the whole stake." + +Mr. Worth was drying his slim fingers with careful precision. "I +figured that was the way it would be done. That's the way all these big +enterprises are launched. The first work is always done on a promoter's +estimate. Later, when the business justifies, the system will be +strengthened and improved." + +"Which means," retorted the surveyor, "that when the Company has taken +enough money from the settlers, whom they have induced to stake +everything they have on the gamble by letting them think it is a sure +thing, they will use _a part of it_ to give the people what they +_think_ they are getting now." + +The banker laid the towel carefully aside and disposed of the water in +the wash-basin by the primitive method of throwing it from the tent +door. Then he spoke again: "The people themselves could never start a +work like this, and if there wasn't a chance to make a big thing +Capital wouldn't. It's the size of the profit compared with the amount +invested that draws Capital into this kind of a thing. If the Company +had to take all the chance in this project they would simply stay out +and the work would never be done. This feature of unequal risk is the +very thing, and the only thing, that could attract the money to start +this proposition going; and that's what people like you and the Seer +and Barbara can't see. Holmes and Burk can't help themselves. It's +Greenfield and the Company, and they are just as honest as other men. +They are simply promoting this scheme in the only way possible to start +it and the people will share the results." + +"Holmes and Burk are all right, except that they're owned body and soul +by the Company," said Abe quickly. "But Greenfield and the men who +engineered this thing look to me like a bunch of green-goods men who +live on the confidence of the people." + +"The people will gain their farms just the same," returned the +financier. "They wouldn't have anything without the Company." + +The surveyor shrugged his shoulders. "Well, you may be right, Mr. +Worth; but I've had all I can stand of it." + +Again Jefferson Worth looked full into the younger man's eyes and Abe +felt that Something behind the mask reaching out to seize the thoughts +and motives that lay back of his words: "What are you going to do?" + +"I don't know. Punch steers or get a job in a mine somewhere, I reckon. +I'm going somewhere out of this. I've had enough of promoter's +estimates." + +"Suppose you stay and work for me." + +Abe Lee sprang to his feet. "Work for you? Here? I thought you had +refused to go into this deal?" + +"I declined to join Greenfield's Company," said the banker exactly. + +"Do you mean, Mr. Worth, that you are going to operate in the Basin +independently, knowing the Company's strength and the whole situation +as you do?" + +"I have decided to take a chance with the rest," was the unemotional +answer. "I sold out of the bank and cleaned up everything in Rubio City +last week." + +"But what are you going into here?" + +"I can use you if you want to stay," came the cautious answer. + +"Stay? Of course I'll stay!" + +It was characteristic of these men that nothing was said of salary on +either side. Extinguishing the lantern, Abe led the way out into the +night. The darkness was intense and unrelieved save by the thin broken +line of twinkling lights from the windows of the buildings, which gave +them the direction of the main street, and the few dull glowing tent +houses, whose tenants were at home. Overhead the desert stars shone +with a brilliance that put to shame the feeble efforts of the +earth-men, while about the little pioneer town the desert night drew +close with its circling wall of mystery. + +Did Jefferson Worth think, as he stumbled along by the surveyor's side, +of that other night in The Hollow of God's Hand, when he had faced, +alone, the spirit of the land? + +"This town needs an electric lighting system," he said in his colorless +voice. + +When Jefferson Worth had finished supper in the shack restaurant he +proposed cautiously that they look around a little. The street was +lined with teams and saddle horses, their forms shadowy and indistinct +in the dark places of vacant lots or where buildings were under +construction, but standing forth with startling clearness where the +light from a store streamed forth. The sidewalk was filled with men +from the ranches and grading camps, who had come to town after sunset +for their mail or supplies so that no hour of the day should be lost to +the work that had called them into the desert; and these ever-shifting +figures passed to and fro through the bands of light and darkness, +gathered in groups in front of the stores and dissolved again, to form +other groups or to lose themselves in the general throng. Every moment +a wagon-load of men, a party of horsemen, or a single rider would +appear suddenly and mysteriously out of the night, while others, +leaving the throng to depart in like manner, would be swallowed up as +mysteriously by the blackness. In the center of the picture and the +very heart of the activity was the general store opposite the office of +The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company. + +Deck Jordan had opened his store in the days when Kingston was still a +supply camp. No one knew much about Deck or how he had guessed that the +camp would become the chief town in the new country. He was a pleasing, +capable, but close-mouthed man, who knew what to buy, paid his bills +promptly and--with one exception--conducted his business on a cash +basis. + +The exception to the cash rule was in favor of the Company's employes. +It was on Deck's initiative that an arrangement was made with Mr. Burk +by which the Company men received credit at the store, the amount of +their bills being deducted from their wages each month by the Company +paymaster. It was this plan that, by giving Deck practically all of the +trade from the hundreds of Company employes, had increased his business +so rapidly. To the thoughtful Manager, also, the plan seemed good. He +foresaw how, with the Company thus controlling the bulk of the +merchant's business, he could, when the proper time came, "persuade" +Deck to enter into a still "closer" arrangement--thus carrying out the +Good Business policy of the Company. That very afternoon Mr. Burk had +decided the time had come and had so written Mr. Greenfield. + +Leisurely Jefferson Worth and his companion worked their way through +the crowd and into the store where Deck and his helpers were toiling to +supply the various needs of a small army of customers. From the open +doors and from the big implement shed in the rear of the building, a +steady stream of provisions, clothing, dry goods, hardware, blankets, +harness and tools flowed forth. + +In the midst of the confusion Deck himself was holding an animated +conversation with a would-be purchaser. "I'd be mighty glad to +accommodate you, Sam, if I could, but you know we're running this store +on a cash basis and I can't break my rules. If I begin with you I'll +have to do it for everybody and I can't." + +"You don't make these Company men pay cash. Anybody--Injuns, greasers +or anything else--gets what he wants and no questions asked if he works +for the Company." + +"But that's different, you see," explained Deck. "We have an +arrangement with the Company by which they hold out from each man's pay +the amount of my bills against him." + +"I understand that, but you'll find out that it's the rancher's trade +that'll keep you going. We'll be here long after these ditchers an' +mule skinners have left the country and we'll have money to spend. +You'll find, too, that when things _do_ begin to come our way we'll +stand by the store that'll stand by us now when we've got everything +goin' out an' nothin' comin' in." + +Deck, over the shoulder of the rancher, saw Jefferson Worth and the +surveyor, who with several others had drawn near, attracted by the loud +tones of the farmer. Abe thought that he caught a look of recognition +as Deck's eyes fell on his companion but the banker gave no sign. + +The merchant, answering his customer, said: "I know you are right about +that part of it, Sam, and I'd like to back every rancher in this Basin +if I could. But I can't." + +"Why not? Ain't you runnin' this store?" + +Before Deck could reply, to Abe's astonishment the quiet voice of +Jefferson Worth broke in. "You are improving a ranch of your own near +here?" + +The settler turned sharply. "You bet I am, Mister; leastwise, I'm +tryin' to, and if workin' from sun-up 'til dark an' livin' on nothin' +til I can make a crop will pull me through I'll make it." + +"I suppose the heaviest expense is all in getting started?" asked Mr. +Worth, as if seeking to verify an observation. + +"It sure is," replied the pioneer. "There's the outfit you've got to +have--work-stock an' tools; you've got to build your ditches and grade +your land; and you've got to buy water rights and pay for your water; +and you've got to make your payments to the government. Then there's +feed for your work-stock and yourself, an' there ain't nothin' to bring +in a cent 'til you can make a crop. The farmers that are comin' into +this country ain't got a great big pile of ready money stacked away, +Mister, an' they're mighty apt to run a little short the first year. +When our home merchants, who expect to make their money off from us, +won't even trust us for a few dollars' worth of provisions 'til we can +get a start, I'm damned if it ain't tough." + +"But everyone is a stranger in this new country," said Mr. Worth. "How +can a merchant know whether a man will pay or not? I suppose there are +ranchers coming in here who would beat a bill if they could. The +merchants have to pay for their goods or close up." + +"I reckon that's all so," returned the other. "And of course everybody +knows that there never was such a thing as dishonest store-keepers. +Merchants don't never beat anybody with short weight and all that?" + +This raised a laugh in which Deck joined as heartily as anyone. Even +the banker smiled coldly as he asked: "What did you say your name was?" + +"Didn't say; but it's Sam Warren." + +"Where is your ranch?" + +"Six miles north on the Number One main." + +"Well, Mr. Warren, I've been considering this proposition and I've got +it figured out like this. We all want to make what we can in this new +country; that's what we came in for. This store can't get along without +the ranchers' support and you ranchers can't get along without the +store. We've all got to pull together and help each other. I don't +believe that many of the men who come into this Desert to actually +settle on and improve the land are the kind of men who beat their +bills. I figured to run on a cash basis only until things got started +and sort of settled down, you see. I know that you people need credit +until you get on your feet. From now on you come here--for whatever you +actually need, you understand--and we'll carry you for any reasonable +amount until you get something coming in. All we ask in return is that +you ranchers do as you say and stand by us when you do get on top." + +At Jefferson Worth's simple and quietly spoken words a hush fell over +the group of men. Abe Lee looked at his companion in amazement. Sam +Warren turned from the stranger to the store-keeper and back to the +stranger. The man behind the counter was smiling broadly as if enjoying +the situation. + +When no one could find a word with which to break the silence, Deck +Jordan said: "Gentlemen, this is Mr. Jefferson Worth, the owner of this +store. George!" he called to a passing clerk, "give Sam whatever he +wants as soon as you can get around to it, and charge it." + +At this such a yell went up from the bystanders that a crowd from the +outside rushed in, and as the word passed and others voiced their +approval as loudly, the Manager of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation +Company in his rooms across the street thought that another fight was +on. + +The Manager was not far wrong in his conclusion. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +BARBARA'S CALL TO HER FRIENDS. + + +That night, long after Kingston was still and the Manager of The King's +Basin Land and Irrigation Company was fast asleep, Jefferson Worth and +Abe Lee talked in the little tent that, from the lantern within, glowed +in the darkness, seemingly the one spot of light under the desert stars. + +The next morning the surveyor left town on the stage, but not as he had +planned. Abe knew now where he was going and what he was going to do. +He was bound for the city by the sea and he carried in his pocket +several letters of introduction, written by his employer and addressed +to different firms engaged in manufacturing and selling things +electrical. And more than this, Abe would see Barbara. + +Jefferson Worth did not breakfast with Abe that morning nor did he see +him off on the stage, but a few minutes after the surveyor had left +town his employer passed down the street in the direction of the store. + +As Mr. Worth drew near his place of business he saw, posed just without +the door, one whom the most casual of observing strangers would have +supposed instantly to be the proprietor of the store, the owner of the +building--if not, indeed, the proprietor and owner of all Kingston and +many miles of country round about. + +The portly figure, clad in a business suit of gray, with a vast, +full-rounded expanse of white vest, expressed in every curve opulent +wealth and lordly generosity. The clean-shaven face, fat and florid, +beamed upon the world from above the clerical severity of a black tie +with truly paternal benevolence; while the massive head was not in +reality crowned but was covered by a hat such as commanding generals +always wear in pictures. The pose of the figure, the lift of the +countenance, the kingly mien of eye and brow made it impossible to +mistake his majesty. In comparison with this august personage, the +figure and air of Jefferson Worth were pitifully inadequate. + +The great one welcomed the financier at the latter's own door with an +air of royal hospitality. Extending his hand as if he stepped down only +one step from his throne and speaking in a tone that was meant to +confer marked distinction upon the humble recipient of his favor, he +said: "Mr. Worth, I am delighted, more delighted than I can express, to +welcome you to our city. It is a great day for this country--a great +day!" He wrung the financier's timid hand with two hundred and fifty +pounds of emotional energy. "Mr. Greenfield and I, with our friends and +associates in the East, and Mr. Burk and Holmes here in the field, are +doing what we can for these people, but there is a great work here yet +for men like you--men of some means and financial ability, who will get +behind the smaller business interests and build them up on a solid +foundation. My heart rejoiced for the country, sir, when I heard this +morning that you had purchased this establishment. Deck is a good +honest fellow, you know, but--" An expansive smile of confidential +understanding finished this sentence, and the words--"My name is +Blanton, Mr. Worth--Horace P. Blanton"--seemed to settle at once any +doubt as to the position and authority of the speaker. + +Jefferson Worth did not explain that he had owned the store from the +beginning and that Deck Jordan was no more than his very capable agent. +Indeed Mr. Worth said nothing at all. He even appeared to shrink with +becoming modesty though there was the faintest hint of a twinkle in the +corners of his eyes--a hint so faint that Horace P. Blanton, from his +great height, overlooked it. + +The big man, in a lower tone of confidential familiarity, asked: "Have +you heard from Greenfield lately?" + +"No." + +"I wrote Jim some time ago that he would have to come out here himself. +There are some conditions developing here that should have his personal +attention, and I'll be blessed if I'll stand seeing him neglect them! +I'm a western man myself, Worth; and you know we do things in this +country." + +"You are interested in The King's Basin Company?" + +The answer was given in a tone of tolerant surprise that any one should +think he would toy with a thing of such trifling importance. "Me? Oh +no!--that is, not directly you understand. But I am deeply interested +in the development of the country. Let me show you a little of what we +are doing here. It's amazing how the world outside fails utterly to +grasp the magnitude of the enterprise. Even the newspapers are +criminally negligent. Quite recently I had occasion to tell my good +friend, the editor of the Times, that if he didn't give us something +like a fair showing I would see to it personally that the bulk of our +business went to San Felipe. It's a burning shame the way they have +persistently ignored us." + +Mr. Worth made an ineffectual attempt to escape but the white vest +blocked his move. Pointing to a half-finished building on the nearest +corner, the great one explained in the tone of a personal conductor: +"That is our new hotel--one of the finest buildings in the southwest. +The young man who will run it for us is personally superintending the +construction. Bright boy, too. You must let me introduce you to him." + +Jefferson Worth, gazing at the modest building under construction, +murmured: "You are interested, you say?" + +"Oh no; that is--only in a way, you understand. I have a hand in most +of these enterprises." + +"This town needs a good hotel," said Mr. Worth, mildly. + +"That building farther down--the one where the foundation is just +completed--is our Opera House. It is being erected by one of the big +Coast syndicates and will be a magnificent hall of amusement and +entertainment as well as a place for public gatherings of all kinds. I +have been in close personal touch with the men in charge of the +enterprise and they understand that we will tolerate nothing that is +not first class." + +"The people need such a building," was the quiet comment. + +"In the block opposite our bank will be located. They will be working +on the vault in another two weeks. While the building is well under +way, as you see, the organization of the institution is not yet made +public. Only a few of us on the inside, you understand, know who is +back of the enterprise." + +"I see," said Jefferson Worth. "A bank is a good thing for the country." + +Pointing up the street, the great one in the white vest continued: +"There you see the office of our paper--The King's Basin Messenger. The +machinery is being installed now. I'm mighty proud of the young man who +is starting that work. He will be a credit to us I promise you. +Directly opposite is The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company +building with the offices of the Company. You must let me introduce you +to the manager, Mr. Burk, and to Holmes, the engineer. Come, we will go +over there now." He started forward with perspiring energy, but +Jefferson Worth, seizing the opportunity, gained the doorway of the +store and vanished. + +For two weeks Mr. Worth seemed to devote his time wholly to his store. +Though Deck Jordan still continued the active management, it was +generally understood that Mr. Worth, having but recently purchased the +establishment, retained Deck until, as it was generally expressed, he +got the run of the business. At an old desk in a cubby-hole of an +office roughly partitioned off in one corner of the room, the financier +spent nearly every hour of the day apparently poring over his accounts. + +Here the Manager from across the street found him when he called to +explain to Mr. Worth the advantage of an alliance between the store and +the Company. Mr. Burk did not stay long, but upon his return to his +office wrote a long, confidential letter to his superiors. The +thoughtful Manager's letters to his superiors were always confidential. + +Willard Holmes also called to pay his respects; to inquire whether Miss +Worth was well; and--as Holmes put it to himself when he was again +safely outside the building--to turn himself inside out for the +critical inspection of the man who hid behind that gray mask. + +So far as the Manager of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company +observed, Jefferson Worth, beside buying the store, made only one small +investment. He purchased from the Company a small tract of land just +inside the limits of the townsite. Then almost before Mr. Burk knew +that it was before them, the town council passed an ordinance granting +permission to the Worth Electric Company to place their poles and to +stretch wires on the streets of the town, and the first issue of The +King's Basin Messenger announced with a great flourish of trumpets that +Kingston was to have lights. + +The article explained that Mr. Abe Lee, the well known engineer, +formerly with the K. B. L. and I. Company, would have charge of the +construction work and would push it with his usual energy. For some +time Mr. Lee had been in the city arranging for material, which would +be shipped immediately. Mr. Worth had stated to the Messenger that Mr. +Lee would return to Kingston in a day or two and would break ground for +the power plant at once. The Messenger also gave an interesting history +of Jefferson Worth's successful career from farm-boy to financier with +an appreciation of his character and congratulated the citizens that a +man of such financial strength and genius had come to invest the fruit +of his toil in the new country. + +Mr. Burk read the Messenger's article thoughtfully. Then Mr. Burk wrote +another confidential letter to his superiors. + +Over this enterprise of Jefferson Worth, as set forth in the Messenger, +the citizens were enthusiastic. Horace P. Blanton was more than +enthusiastic. Meeting Mr. Burk as the latter was returning to his +office after dinner he blocked the Manager's way with his white vest +and, wiping the sweat of honest endeavor from his brow, delivered +himself. "Well, sir; we landed it. Biggest thing that ever happened to +Kingston. Double our population in three months. I told my friend Worth +that they would have to come through with that franchise whether they +wanted to or not, and by George! we landed it. There was nothing else +to do." + +The Manager thoughtfully flicked the ashes from his cigar. "And what is +this that you have landed?" + +"What! haven't you heard? Have you seen the Messenger?" He drew a paper +from his pocket and placed a finger on the headlines: "Electric Lights +for Kingston." + +The Manager shifted his cigar to the corner of his mouth and, casting +his head in the opposite direction, surveyed the excited Horace P. as +an artist might view an interesting picture. "So you are interested in +the Worth Electric Company?" + +"Oh no; that is, not exactly, you know. My name will not appear in the +company. But Jeff and I are very warm friends, you understand, and for +the sake of Kingston I am bound to take an interest in his enterprise." + +At this the thoughtful Mr. Burk became suddenly confidential. Tapping +his companion impressively on the arm and speaking in a low tone of +vast import, he said: "Blanton, be careful; be careful. Don't get into +Worth's schemes too deeply. A man of your standing and influence, you +know, can't afford to play into the hands of a four-flusher." + +Then the Manager of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company +slipped easily away before the other could reply. + +Three minutes later the man in the big white vest overtook the +Company's chief engineer in the doorway of the restaurant. "Good +morning, Holmes; good morning." The simple greeting seemed to come from +a great heart that was fairly staggering under a burden of other +people's woes. + +As the boy placed their dinners before them, Horace P. Blanton, shaking +his massive head, murmured sadly: "It's a burning shame, Holmes; a +burning shame." + +"The coffee, you mean?" queried the engineer, digging up a spoonful of +sediment from the bottom of his heavy cup and inspecting it critically. +"It looks shameful, all right; and it may have been overheated some +time in past ages, but the temperature doesn't appear to be above +normal to-day." + +The big man did not smile; his burden was too heavy. "I mean," he +explained, "the way these four-flushers come in here and attempt to +work their graft right under our eyes. Did you hear about this man +Worth getting that franchise out of the council? I did my level best, +but what's the use. It's all as plain as day but you can't hammer an +idea into the boneheads that run this town. I had a little talk with +Burk over the matter this morning. He agrees with me perfectly. We've +got to take hold of this thing, Mr. Holmes, or the town will go to the +dogs. I wish Greenfield would come on." + +The engineer agreed heartily that it might be well to take hold of +something. But what? That was the rub--what? He gently intimated that +if Horace P. Blanton could not find a way to avert the awful calamity +that threatened the public, the public was in a bad way. Clearly it was +up to Horace P. to save Kingston. + +The dinner over the men separated quickly: the man in the white vest to +carry the burden of Kingston's future on his fat shoulders, and the +engineer to inspect the work at Dry River Heading. + +The evening of the third day after Abe Lee's return to Kingston the +surveyor and his employer were in Mr. Worth's office. The work of +excavation for the foundation of the power plant would begin in the +morning, and Mr. Worth had planned to leave town the following morning +for a week's business trip to the city. + +The two men were interrupted in their conversation by a loud familiar +voice on the store side of the board partition. + +"Busy, be they? Well, fwhat the divil should they be but busy? Do ye +suppose I thought they was a-playin' dominoes?" + +Abe grinned at his employer. They both listened. + +Deck Jordan's voice said: "But you better not go in now, boys. They +will be through in a little while." + +"Go in? Who the hell's talkin' av goin' in? Do ye think, ye danged +counter-hopper, that we've no manners at all? For a sup o' wather I'd +go over to ye wid me two hands!" + +And another softer voice drawled: "Run along Deck. Me an' my pardner +promises not to turn violent or break into the sanctuary. We'll just +camp here peaceful 'til the meetin's over." + +Abe chuckled. "I knew they would be along as soon as they heard the +news." He lifted his voice. "Come in, boys." + +Instantly Barbara's "uncles" appeared. "We axes yer pardon, Sorr, for +not comin' before to pay our respects, but we only heard yestherday +that ye was in the counthry. Ye see, afther we finished at the river we +was transferred over on Number Three at the tail end av nowhere an' +knew nothin' at all 'til someone brung into camp the paper that towld +about yer doin's. An' how is our little girl?" + +"Very well," said Mr. Worth. "She told me to be sure and remember her +to you." + +"I saw her the other day," said Abe. "She sent you both her love." + +"Well, now, fwhat do ye think av that? Tex, ye danged owld sand rat, +ut's proud av yersilf ye should be to be the uncle av sich a darlin'. +An' tell us now, Sorr, fwhat's this I hear about yer buildin' a power +plant for electric lights, or street cars, or somethin'? We thought +that the lad here left the danged counthry for good, an' sarves thim +danged yellow-legs that boss the Company right for not knowin' a man +whin they see wan." + +"We begin work in the morning. Abe is in charge." + +"Hurroo!" exclaimed the delighted Irishman. "An' ut's men ye'll be +wantin' av course; wan to handle the greasers, which is cake to me, an' +wan to boss the mule skinners, which is pie for Tex. I'm thinkin' the +Company will be short handed at Number Three in the mornin'." + +"I have been holding these places open for you," Abe laughed. "If I +could get hold of Pablo, now, I would be all right. Barbara said to be +sure and get him too. He's still at Dry River Heading, I hear." + +As the two were leaving Texas Joe said to Abe: "Are you plumb certain +Pablo is at the Heading?" + +"That's what one of the crew told me to-day." + +"Well, then I reckon he'll be along pronto." + +The next morning when Abe went to the site of the work the first man he +saw was Barbara's friend, Pablo. The Mexican greeted the surveyor with +a show of white teeth. + +"Did you come to work?" asked Abe. + +"Si, Senor. Senor Texas he come las' night with two horses. He say +Senor Abe want you quick, Pablo. La Senorita say you come. So I am come +pronto, like he say." + +"Texas Joe went for you last night?" repeated Abe. + +"Si, Senor. If you want me come--if La Senorita want me come--Senor Tex +he go tell me come. I come. It is no much ride for vaqueros like Senor +Tex and me." + +"But you have your job with the Company?" + +The Mexican shrugged his shoulders and his teeth showed. "Senor Worth +and Senores Lee and Tex and Pat good company for Pablo. Beside, is +there not La Senorita? She was good to me when I was sick with no one +to help. Do not we all--Senores Lee and Tex and Pat, and Senor Worth +and me--do not we all work for La Senorita in La Palma de la Mano de +Dios? Is it not so? Beside I think sometime La Senorita come--then I +would be near. In the Company there is no Senorita." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +MUCH CONFUSION AND HAPPY EXCITEMENT. + + +As the trying months of the semi-tropical summer approached, the great +Desert, so awful in its fierce desolation, so pregnant with the life it +was still so reluctant to yield, gathered all its dreadful forces to +withstand the inflowing streams of human energy. In the fierce winds +that rushed through the mountain passes and swept across the hot plains +like a torrid furnace blast; in the blinding, stinging, choking, +smothering dust that moved in golden clouds from rim to rim of the +Basin; in the blazing, scorching strength of the sun; in the hard, hot +sky, without shred or raveling of cloud; in the creeping, silent, +poison life of insect and reptile; in the maddening dryness of the +thirsty vegetation; in the weird, beautiful falseness of the +ever-changing mirage, the spirit of the Desert issued its silent +challenge. + +It was not the majestic challenge of the mountains with their unsealed +heights of peak and dome and impassable barriers of rugged crag and +sheer cliff. It was not the glad challenge of the untamed wilderness +with its myriad formed life of tree and plant and glen and stream. It +was not the noble challenge of the wide-sweeping, pathless plains; nor +the wild challenge of the restless, storm-driven sea. It was the +silent, sinister, menacing threat of a desolation that had conquered by +cruel waiting and that lay in wait still to conquer. + +With grim determination, nervous energy, enduring strength and a dogged +tenacity of purpose, the invading flood of humanity, irresistibly +driven by that master passion, Good Business, matched its strength +against that of the Desert in the season of its greatest power. + +Steadily mile by mile, acre by acre, and at times almost foot by foot, +the pioneers wrested their future farms and homes from the dreadful +forces that had held them for ages. Steadily, with the inflowing stream +of life from the world beyond the Basin's rim, the area of improved +lands about Kingston extended and the work in the Company's town went +on. By midsummer many acres of alfalfa, with Egyptian corn and other +grains, showed broad fields of living green cut into the dull, dun +plain of the Desert and laced with silver threads of water shining in +the sun. + +Save for occasional brief business trips to the city, Jefferson Worth +did not leave Kingston. In the most trying of those grilling days of +heat and dust, when a man's skin felt like cracking parchment and his +eyes burned in their sockets and it seemed as though every particle of +moisture in his body was sucked up by the dry, scorching air, Barbara's +father gave no sign of discomfort. He accepted the most nerve-racking +situation with the even-tempered calmness of one who had foreseen it +and to whom it was but a trivial incident, inevitable to his +far-reaching plans. When others--their tempers tried to the breaking +point--cursed with dry, high-pitched, querulous curses the heat, the +land, the sun, the dust, the Company and their fellow-sufferers, +Jefferson Worth's cool, even tones and unruffled spirit helped them to +a needed self-control and gave them a new and stronger grip on things. +And many a baffled, discouraged and well-nigh beaten settler, ready to +give up, found in the man whose gray, mask-like face seemed so +incapable of expression, fresh inspiration and new courage; while the +store continued its policy of helping the worthy, hard-pressed ranchers +with necessary material assistance. + +And so it was that while James Greenfield and his fellow-capitalists of +The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company were taking their much +needed vacations and seeking relaxation and rest from business cares at +their seaside and mountain retreats, the desert pioneers were coming +more and more to Jefferson Worth for advice and counsel, for strength +and courage and help to go on with the work. By fall the financier's +position in the life of the new country seemed to be securely won. +Perhaps only Jefferson Worth himself, alone behind his gray mask, knew +the real value of his apparent victory. + +The Company's thoughtful Manager went out--as the pioneers had come to +say of those who left the Basin--for over a month, and for the rest of +the summer spent only a part of his time in Kingston. But the Company's +chief engineer refused to leave even for a week. To a pressing +invitation from Greenfield to join him on his vacation, Holmes answered +that he could not get away. All through the June rise of the river, +while the settlers, ignorant of the danger that threatened them through +the Good Business policy of the Company, were risking everything that +Capital might gain its greater profits, the engineer lived in his camp +at the intake. Day and night, as he watched the swelling yellow torrent +that threw its weight against his work, he remembered the words of the +desert-bred surveyor: "When the Gila and the Little Colorado go on the +warpath and come down on top of a high Colorado flood, you'll catch +hell." It had come in the past, Abe had declared, and it would come +again. + +But the flood waters of the Gila and the Little Colorado did not come +down on top of the larger river that year and the promoter's estimate +work stood. When the danger was past and the engineer was free again to +make Kingston his headquarters, his acquaintance with Jefferson Worth +grew into something like friendship. It became, indeed, an established +custom for Mr. Worth, Abe Lee and the chief engineer of the Company to +sit at the same table in the shack restaurant and, during their meals +of canned stuff, to talk over the work that held them from the comforts +and pleasures of civilization. + +But little work toward extending the Company system could be undertaken +during the hot summer months. It was difficult for Holmes to hold even +enough men to maintain that which was already in operation. But +Jefferson Worth did not fare so badly. Abe Lee was steadfast, of +course, while Texas, Pat and Pablo would, as the Irishman said, "have +fried thimsilves on the coals av hell" before they would quit their +job. Were there not letters every week from Barbara with messages to +the surveyor and his three helpers? Pablo said truly that "there was no +Senorita in the Company." So through Abe's leadership, Texas Joe's +diplomacy, Pat's wisdom and Pablo's influence with his countrymen, the +Worth enterprises did not suffer for lack of laborers but went steadily +ahead. + +In Kingston the different buildings for the power plant and lighting +system were nearly completed and several cottages were under +construction on lots owned by Jefferson Worth, while men and teams were +busy excavating and hauling materials for a large ice plant. In +Frontera, a little town that "just happened" to grow from a supply camp +in the southern end of the Basin, a hotel and a bank building were +being erected, while between the two communities poles for a telephone +system were being placed. + +Thus far very few women had come into the desert. When the torrid +summer was past, the first crops on the new ranches harvested and more +comfortable homes prepared, they would come with the children to join +the men-folks. Until then the new country would continue a man's +country--the poorest possible kind of a country, the men themselves +declared. + +Therefore when, late in September, The King's Basin Messenger, with an +extraordinary blare of trumpets, announced the birth of a child and +that the first-born of the new country was a boy, the news was received +with the greatest excitement. In Kingston, in Frontera, at grading +camps and ranches, as the word was passed, there were wild and joyous +celebrations. Such a crowd of male visitors closed in on the humble +tent home to beg for a look at the little pink stranger that the +matter-of-fact pioneer parents were heard to express the wish that they +themselves had never been born. Had the baby been forced to carry +through life all the names that were suggested he would undoubtedly +have echoed the parents' wish at an early age. + +Then came the terrible word to Kingston, brought by Texas Joe, that the +baby was ill. Tex, returning to town from a trip to Frontera, had +turned a mile aside to bring the latest news of the baby. It was early +evening and the light yet lingered in the sky back of No Man's +Mountains, when the citizens, relaxing after the heat of the day and +the evening meal, looked up to see him coming, riding like a mad man, +his horse white with foam. + +Jefferson Worth, with Abe and Holmes coming from the restaurant, had +paused a moment in front of the store before separating when Texas +leaped from his staggering mount. One thought flashed into the mind of +each: "The intake! The river!" Holmes went white under his tan; Abe's +jaws came together with a click; Jefferson Worth's slim fingers +caressed his chin. + +As the word passed quickly through the town, the crowd that followed +Mr. Worth and Texas Joe into the store grew until it over-flowed the +building and filled the street. Over all there was a solemn hush, save +for low-spoken words of inquiry, or explanation, and of advice. What to +do was the question. What could they do? There was no doctor nearer +than Rubio City and men who pioneer in a desert land are not men +experienced with sickness. + +On a high shelf in one back corner of the store there was a small +dust-covered stock of assorted patent medicines. Desperately they +pulled the bottles down and studied the labels and directions, but only +to their further confusion and doubt. At last, his pockets laden with +everything that seemed to promise a possible relief, Texas Joe set out +on a fresh horse, the first one handy, to be followed later by a spring +wagon drawn by four fast broncos and carrying four women. The entire +female population of Kingston had been mustered by Abe Lee, whom the +ladies declared then and there to be the only man of sense in all The +King's Basin. + +For the first evening since his arrival Jefferson Worth left his office +in the store to mingle with the restless crowds on the street that, in +ever-changing knots and groups, discussed in fearful voice this public +calamity. No one dreamed of retiring. No one had thoughts for sleep, +nor indeed for anything save the little sufferer in the tent house ten +miles out on the Desert. They smoked and talked and swore softly in +hushed tones and waited the return of Texas Joe. + +It was after midnight when he came again. Before he could dismount, the +crowd of silent men hemmed him in. From the saddle the old plainsman +looked down into their eager solemn faces and that slow smile broke +over his sun-blackened features. + +"Boys" he drawled, "I'm sure proud to bring you-all the unanimous +verdict of the female relief expedition sent out by our illustrious +fellow-citizen, Abe Lee. The kid's better and is headed straight for +good health and six or eight square meals a day." + +When the joyous chorus of yells that would have startled a coyote two +miles away subsided, Tex dismounted and approached Jefferson Worth. +"Mr. Worth, them women commanded me also to return to you with their +compliments and gratitude the various and sundry bottles with which +same my clothes is full. One of them angels of mercy, it seems, went to +the scene of action loaded with a flask of castor oil." + +Just before retiring that night Mr. Worth said to his superintendent: +"Abe, I'm going out in the morning. You had better push the work on +that largest cottage as fast as possible. I'll ship in an outfit of +furniture and things as soon as I get to the city. Let me know when the +house is finished and the goods arrive. You can stack the furniture up +on the porches or anywhere until I get back. The hot weather is about +over and the hotel will open up next week." + +"All right, sir," the surveyor answered quietly and made no comment on +this unexpected move of his employer, though his nerves tingled at the +evident purpose of his instructions. Abe Lee could not know how the +events of the evening had awakened in Jefferson Worth memories of +another baby in the desert-memories that stirred the child-hungry heart +of the lonely man and drove him to his daughter without an hour's delay. + +Did Abe Lee push the work on the house? Did he? Every man in Jefferson +Worth's employ, who could find a place to lay his hand on the building, +was put on the job. By the time the house was finished the furniture +had arrived. + +It was quitting time and Pablo, who with four Mexican laborers had been +at work grading the yard and removing the rubbish that had accumulated +incident to building, dismissed his helpers. The surveyor was gloomily +contemplating the pile of boxes, bales and crates on the front porch. +Evidently there was something not to the surveyor's liking. + +"Senor Lee." + +The surveyor turned sharply to face the Mexican, whose dark features +were glowing with pleasure. "Well?" + +"Pardon, but Senor Lee seems not pleased. Is not the work well done?" + +"The work is all right, Pablo. You have done well. It is not that. I +was wishing I had nerve enough to tackle another job." + +The Mexican smiled. "Oh, Senor, you make fun. What can not El Senor do? +He can do everything." + +"There is a job here all right I don't sabe, Pablo." Abe turned again +to the pile of household goods. + +"Si Senor, me sabe. It is that La Senorita come pronto an' Senor Lee +would have the house what you call ready." + +Abe started at the tone of quiet conviction. "How the devil do you know +that La Senorita is coming?" he asked sharply. + +The answer came with a flash of white teeth: "For what else does El +Senor hurry so the house? For what else does he all time cry--'Pronto! +pronto!' and go not much to the other work but stay all time here? And +is there not all this--" He waved his hand gracefully to indicate the +household goods. "For who should it be that Senor Lee is hurry so? When +Texas Joe come say--'Senor Worth is here,' I think quick some time La +Senorita come. I work for Senor Worth, as La Senorita send word, that I +may be near. All time I work I say--'It is for La Senorita.' Pretty +quick now she come and with Senor Lee will be happy to live in the +house he make." + +A deeper red than the desert color stained the surveyor's thin cheeks +as he said: "You're a good hombre, Pablo, but you're away off on part +of what you say. I reckon you're right enough that Miss Worth is +coming, but she will live here with her father just as they did in +Rubio City. And listen, Pablo. You must never say to anyone what you +have said to me. You sabe, Pablo? I am with La Senorita as you are, and +Tex and Pat; sabe?" + +"Si, Senor; forgive me; I am sorry. But sometime it will be if El Senor +is patient." + +The surveyor, annoyed at the Mexican's talk, but unwilling, because of +the spirit that prompted the words, to speak sharply, sought to dismiss +the matter by changing the subject. He explained to Pablo how he was +wishing that he could unpack the furniture and have the house all ready +when Mr. Worth and Barbara arrived. + +"Why not?" asked the Mexican. + +Abe shook his head. "It's out of my line. I don't sabe the job, Pablo." + +"Maybe so Tex and Pat, they would sabe." + +"By George, I believe Pat would. Texas wouldn't be any better than I, +but Pat ought to know something about such things. You go tell them I +want them at the office to-night. Pat was at the power house to-day and +Texas will be coming in from the line early." + +"Si, Senor. And Senor Lee! La Senorita will want a horse." + +"Hell, I forgot that!" + +Pablo smiled. "I know where is good one--a beautiful horse, Senor. Long +time I watch him and think some day he be for La Senorita when she +come. The man will sell for enough. Shall I go to-morrow?" + +"Yes, get him. Tell the man it is for me and that I will pay. No"--he +corrected himself--"tell him it is for Senor Worth and that he will +pay. Sabe? You must not speak of me." + +"Si, Senor; it shall be as you say. To-morrow night I return." + +That evening at the office in the rear of the store Abe laid the +situation before Pat and Texas Joe. Could the three undertake to have +the furniture unpacked and the house properly settled? The hotel had +been opened to receive guests, of course, but-- + +Texas Joe shook his head solemnly. "I pass, Abe. There ain't no use in +my affirmin' that I knows anything about such undertakings. Household +furnishin' such as is proper in a case like this is a long way off my +range." + +But the Irishman waxed indignant. "Sich ignorance as ye two do be +showin' is heathenish," he declared. "I suppose now ye wud be for +puttin' the cook stove in the parlor an' settin' up the piany in the +young lady's budwar." + +The strange word caught the attention of Texas instantly. "An' what +might that be, pard?" he drawled. "What's a budwar?" + +Pat snorted. "Budwar, ye ignorant owld limb, is polite for the girl's +bedroom, which in civilization is not discussed by thim as has manners." + +Such overwhelming evidence of the Irishman's familiarity with the best +social customs was not to be rejected. The morning stage carried a +telegram to be sent from Deep Well to Jefferson Worth, and all that day +the three toiled under command of Pat. When the evening stage brought a +message from Mr. Worth saying that he and Barbara would arrive the +following evening, they decided that a night shift was necessary and +worked until nearly morning, redoubling their efforts the following day. + +When the dusty old stage with its four half-broken horses pulled into +Kingston that night, three tired and anxious, but joyful, desert men +occupied the front rank of the waiting crowd before the new hotel. + +With all the grace of generous curves and ponderous dignity, Horace P. +Blanton was first to alight. When he turned his broad back to the +"common herd" and, with an indescribable air of proprietorship, +assisted Miss Worth to the ground, three darkened faces scowled with +disapproval and three smothered oaths expressed deep disgust. + +The excited citizens behind the three crowded closer. Even Ynez, +climbing down from the stage, was received with another cheer by the +delighted men. The irrepressible Horace P., quick to recognize the +spirit of the company and ever ready to do more than his part, burst +into an eloquent address of welcome in behalf of the entire population +of The King's Basin. But the ceremony was interrupted and the imposing +personage in the white vest was thrust roughly aside while Barbara, +with glad eyes and hands outstretched, greeted the rude disturbers of +the great man's dignity. + +"Texas! Pat! Mr. Lee! Oh, I'm glad! I have been hoping all day that you +would be here to meet me. It seemed to me that I would never get here. +It has been the longest day of my life." Which, considering that the +impressive attentions of Horace P. Blanton had been continuous since +the moment when he had forced an introduction from Mr. Worth on the +train that morning, was rather hard on his majesty. + +But much experience in similar situations had made Horace P. Blanton +immune to such thrusts. Even while Barbara was speaking he regained his +place at her side. With his voice and manner of a "personal +conductor"--before either of the three could speak--he followed her +words with: "Ah, Miss Worth, I see you already know some of our men. +Texas, Pat and Abe here are three of the best fellows we have. They--" + +Again he was interrupted. The young woman turned easily aside to Abe, +and Horace P. found himself very close to and facing the tall plainsman +and the heavy shouldered Irish boss. + +"Excuse me, Colonel," drawled Texas in tones so soft that no one in the +noisy crowd could hear; "but the welfare of the citizens of this here +community, as well as the safety of the country, demands your immediate +presence up the street." + +Without hesitation the lordly one exclaimed: "Ah, thank you, Tex. Miss +Worth will excuse me I'm sure. Please explain my absence to her." Then +before their startled eyes he faded away--if the vanishing of such a +bulk can be so described. + +A few minutes after the passing of Horace P. Blanton, Tex and Pat also +disappeared, for it was part of the carefully arranged plot that +Barbara's "uncles" were to see to the disposal of the girl's trunks +while she was at supper at the hotel with her father and Abe. + +At the table Barbara was all eagerness in her desire to know everything +about the work; and the surveyor, in answering her questions, found +himself drawn out of the dumbness that usually beset him in such +situations. + +"And our house?" asked the girl. "When can I begin settling? You see I +brought Ynez with me. Can we begin in the morning, Abe? And could you +spare Pat and Tex to help us?" + +Abe glanced at his employer. "If you would like to see the house we can +look at it this evening after supper." + +"Can we? Can we go, daddy?" + +Jefferson Worth met Abe's look with a twinkle in the corner of his eye, +but he only answered his eager daughter with a calm, "If you like." + +They found the house with every window brilliantly lighted, and on the +front porch, on opposite sides of the wide-open door, Texas and Pat +standing to welcome them. From one room to another Barbara ran in +laughing delight, followed by the three, who were perspiring in an +agony of suspense while Jefferson Worth looked on. The cook stove was +not in the parlor, nor was the piano--out of place. In the proper room +Barbara even found her trunks. There was a supply of provisions in the +pantry and kindlings even ready by the kitchen stove for the morning +fire. If there were little irregularities here and there, Barbara, with +graceful tact, did not see them but, to the delight of the three men, +declared again and again that no woman could have done it better. + +The climax came when she said that unless her father insisted she would +not even return to the hotel that evening. Could not someone go for the +hand luggage and Ynez? Breathless the three waited, and when Mr. Worth +said he saw no reason why they should leave their own home for a hotel +Tex and Pat could hold themselves no longer but made a wild run for the +door. + +When Barbara's "uncles" had returned with the Indian woman and the +grips, Pat stood in the center of the living room and looked curiously +about, an expression of wonder upon his battle-scarred Irish +countenance. "Now don't that bate the divil! Tell me"--he faced the +girl with mock severity--"fwhat's this ye've been doin' already?" + +"Doing?" exclaimed Barbara, "I haven't been doing anything, Uncle Pat." + +"Aw, go on, don't be tellin' me that. Aven Uncle Tex here can see that +ye've changed ivery blissid thing in the place. 'Tis not the same, at +all, an' afther us a-workin' our fingers to the bone to fix ut up. 'Tis +quare. I know now that Tex hung that curtain there. Ye could have heard +him swearin' a mile away, but ut's not that same curtain at all, at +all. 'Tis mighty quare." + +For an hour or more Barbara, at the piano, sang for them the simple +songs they loved, while many a tired horseman, riding past on his way +to his lonely desert shack or to some rough camp on the works, paused +to listen to the sweet voice and to dream perhaps of the time that was +to come when such sounds would no longer seem strange on the Desert. + +When the hour came for Texas and Pat and Abe to go, and Barbara with +shining eyes tried again to express her gratitude while insisting that +they must always come to her home as to their own, the three felt that +indeed they had their reward. And when later the girl kissed her father +good night Jefferson Worth also knew in his lonely heart that he had +done well. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +BARBARA COMES INTO HER OWN. + + +Jefferson Worth and his daughter had just finished their first +breakfast in the new home when their Indian servant woman entered the +room. + +"What is it, Ynez?" asked Barbara, seeing that the woman wished to +speak. + +Ynez's black eyes were shining and her voice was eager as she answered: +"There is someone without waiting for La Senorita." + +"Someone waiting outside for me, Ynez?" + +"Who is it?" asked Mr. Worth. + +"It is Pablo Garcia, Senor, and he say please ask La Senorita to come. +If La Senorita will go only to the door she can see." + +With an expression of excited interest Barbara, followed by her father, +went out on the porch. In front of the house stood Pablo holding a +beautiful saddle horse fully equipped and ready for a rider. The +Mexican's dark face shone with the pride and triumph of the moment +toward which he had looked forward for months. The horse, too, as if +sensing the importance of the occasion, pawed the earth with his dainty +hoofs, arched his neck and tossed his head--proudly impatient. + +Uttering low exclamations and little cries of delight the girl left the +porch and ran forward, greeting Pablo and moving about the horse, +admiring the animal from every point of view. "What a beauty! He is +perfect, Pablo; perfect! Where did you find him? Is he yours? What's +his name?" Her questions came tumbling from her lips in such eager +bursts that Pablo answered only the last. + +"He is yours, Senorita. His name El Capitan." + +"Mine?" Barbara turned to her father, who explained, Abe having told +him the night before of the purchase. + +When her father finished, the delighted girl announced that she "simply +couldn't wait" but must go for a ride immediately. Running into the +house she returned a few minutes later in her riding dress and, +mounting with--"I'll be back for dinner, daddy," and "Adios, +Pablo!"--rode away toward the open country, while the Mexican and the +banker watched her out of sight. + +By the time they had passed the last of the tent houses in the town +Barbara and El Capitan were friends. There is no doubt whatever that a +worthy horse appreciates a worthy rider and the girl, accustomed to +riding since childhood, certainly appreciated her mount. + +"Oh, you beauty!" she cried, leaning forward in the saddle to pat the +shining neck. "Oh, you beauty!" + +As though to return the compliment and express his pleasure at finding +such an agreeable companion, El Capitan turned his delicate pointed +ears forward, arched his neck, and, stepping as on a velvet carpet, +sprang lightly to the other side of the road in sheer overflow of good +spirits and confidence in his rider, while the girl, at his play, +laughed aloud. + +But Barbara had eyes and thoughts for more than her horse that morning. +It was her first day in "her Desert" and there was much for her to see. +Through her father she had kept in close touch with every phase of the +work of reclaiming The King's Basin and had often begged him to take +her with him into the new country. Now at last her wish was realized. +She was where she could see with her own eyes the Seer's dream--the +Seer's and her own--coming true. + +On either hand as she rode, stretching away until all fixed lines and +objects were lost in the shifting mirage and many-colored lights of the +desert, the dun plain with its thin growth of thirsty vegetation was +broken by the green cultivated fields, newly leveled acres, buildings +and stacks of the ranches, with canals, ditches and ponds filled with +water that reflected the colors of the morning. Everywhere, in what had +been a land of death, life was stirring. In one field beside the road a +herd of soft-eyed cattle, knee-deep in rich alfalfa, lifted their heads +to greet her. In another a band of horses and colts scampered along +with her as far as their fence would permit, as if good-naturedly +seeking her further acquaintance. Everywhere men with their teams were +at work in the fields newly won from the desert. At one house a woman +was hanging her weekly wash on the line, while a group of children +played in the yard. As the girl passed the woman waved her hand and the +children shouted a greeting. And a little farther on a meadow-lark, +perched on a fence-post, filled the world with liquid music. + +The wine-like atmosphere, the glorious light, the odor of the fields +and the strength and beauty of the life new-born in the desert, with +the spirit and freedom of the animal she rode, all appealed with almost +painful intensity to the girl who was herself so richly alive. She felt +her close kinship with it all and answered to it all out of the +fullness of her own young woman's strength. She wanted to cry aloud +with the joy and gladness of the victory over barrenness and +desolation. It was her Desert that was yielding itself to the strong +ones; for them it had waited--waited through the ages, and at last they +had come. + +Busy with her thoughts, Barbara rode on until she had passed out of the +settled district of which Kingston was the center and found herself in +the desert. Save for the lightly marked trail she was following and the +thin line of her father's telephone poles that led southward to +Frontera, she saw no sign of a human being. Checking her horse and +turning, she looked back. A tiny spot of thin color--the red of brick, +the yellow of new lumber and the white of tents--marked Kingston. The +ranches about the desert town were scattered spots of green scarcely +seen at that distance. All the rest, from the distant snow-capped +sentinels of the Pass in the north to Lone Mountain in the south and +from the purple mountain wall on the west to the sky-line of the Mesa +on the east, was the same dun plain as she had always known it. + +Barbara caught her breath. Seen near at hand the work accomplished had +seemed so great, so brave; seen from even so short a distance as she +had come, it looked so pitifully small, so helpless. The desert was so +huge, so masterful, so dominating in its silent grandeur, in its awful +loneliness. All her life Barbara had seen the desert from her home in +Rubio City. Many, many times she had ridden into it and back a day's +ride. But never had she felt the dreadful spirit of the land as she +felt it now, alone in the still, lonely heart of it. She was afraid +with an unreasoning fear. + +El Capitan, too, seemed to share her uneasiness. Tossing his head, +tugging at the bridle reins and pawing the ground and starting +nervously, he turned this way and that, signifying his desire to be +away. But just as Barbara, on the point of yielding to his impatience +and her own feeling of fear, lifted the reins to turn toward Kingston +again, he threw up his head with a loud neigh and with ears pointed +looked away toward the south, standing rigid and motionless as a horse +of stone. A cloud of dust rising from the trail told her that someone +was approaching. Instantly the girl's feeling of fear vanished. She +laughed aloud. + +"Company is coming, Capitan," she said. "Shall we wait until we see who +it is? We can easily run away if we don't like his looks." + +As she finished speaking, the light wind that was just strong enough to +carry the dust with the coming rider shifted for a moment and revealed +the horseman clearly. Barbara, not wishing to appear as though waiting, +started ahead toward Kingston, while the stranger, evidently catching +sight of a horse and rider on the road ahead and desiring company, +quickened his pace. + +Barbara glanced over her shoulder. "Shall we run, Capitan? No, we'll +not run yet. But be ready." Again she glanced quickly back. "It's no +one we know, Capitan. Be ready." + +Nearer and nearer came the stranger. + +When she heard the sound of his horse's feet on the sand Barbara turned +again, this time openly. Then she laughed. "I don't think we'll run +this time, Capitan." + +A moment later the horseman had overtaken her. + +"Good morning, Mr. Holmes. How do you do?" + +"Miss Worth!" + +Had the engineer checked his horse so suddenly a few months before he +would undoubtedly have gone over the animal's head. El Capitan also +stopped, while the man and the girl sat looking at each other, Barbara +smiling at the man's surprise. + +"Is it really you?" asked Holmes at last, "or is it some new trick of +this confounded desert?" He rubbed his eyes. "I never saw a mirage like +this before and I don't think the heat has affected my brain." He moved +his horse closer. "Could you shake hands?" + +Barbara held out her hand. "I assure you that I am very substantial," +she laughed, "and I am here to stay, too." + +"That's great! By George! it's good to see you," cried Holmes so +heartily that the girl turned away her face and caused her horse to +move ahead. + +The engineer's horse, with a word from his rider, kept his place by El +Capitan's side. + +"It's very nice of you to say that but I didn't see you anywhere around +last night when the stage arrived. Abe and Pat and Texas were there and +this morning even Pablo came the first thing after breakfast." + +Willard Holmes could not altogether hide his pleasure at her hinted +rebuke. So she had thought of him--had looked for him--had missed him. +"Indeed, you must forgive me. I did not know you were coming," he said +and explained how his work took him away from Kingston much of the time. + +"Of course, under those circumstances, I must forgive you," agreed +Barbara, then added seriously: "I think I could forgive anyone who +belonged to this desert work, anything, except one." + +"And that?" He was watching her face. "What is it that you could not +forgive?" + +She returned his look steadily. "Don't you know?" + +He drew a little back and she wondered at something in his voice and +manner as he answered: "Yes, I know. You could never forgive one for +being untrue to his work--for putting anything before the work itself." + +"Yes," she returned, "that is it. I could never forgive one who did +that." + +"But how would you know? How could you judge?" he asked almost roughly. +"Perhaps the very one whom you would call false to the work would, in +reality, be doing the best thing for the work. I have noticed that, +after all, those who have the loftiest ideals and the highest visions +of man's duty to man and all that are seldom the ones who accomplish +much of the actual work of the world. Look here, honestly now: how many +of the people who are reclaiming this desert--I mean all of +us--laborers, business men, ranchers, everybody who has come in here to +do this work--how many of them do you think see a single thing beyond +the dollars they have hoped to make on the venture? Whether it's the +high wage paid by the Company, the big profits of the business man or +the heavier crop of the rancher, it amounts to the same. And yet you +would insist that they must not be governed by this desire for gain. So +far as I can see, it is this same desire for gain that has driven men +into doing every really great thing that has ever been done. Look +carefully into every great enterprise that is of value to the world and +you will find at the beginning of it someone reaching for a dollar or +its equivalent. Your father, for instance--" + +Barbara threw out her hand protestingly. "Please don't, Mr. Holmes. I +know that what you say is every bit true. Father and I have gone over +it so many times. And yet I know, I know that what I feel is true also. +Oh, dear! what a muddle it is, isn't it? It seems so wrong to spend +one's life working for nothing but money. And yet all the really good +work in the world is done by those who don't work to do good at all but +for what they get out of it. I suppose now that you stayed in the +Desert all this past summer and worked so hard without any vacation at +all just for your salary." + +"How did you know that I took no vacation?" + +"Father told me. You seem to have made quite an impression on my +father. He has told me a great deal about you. But I want to know--did +you stay in the desert for money?" + +Holmes wondered if she knew the danger that threatened the settlers +because of the unsubstantial character of the Company's structures. +"Perhaps," he said, "it was to save my professional reputation. That +would amount to the same thing, wouldn't it?" + +Barbara laughed. "I don't think that your taking a vacation would have +lost you your reputation. That won't do, Mr. Chief Engineer." For some +reason Barbara seemed highly pleased at the turn the conversation had +taken. + +The man thought of those anxious days and nights at the intake, when +the safety of the success of the whole King's Basin project hung on the +whim of an uncertain river, but he did not explain to Barbara nor did +he tell her that a vacation would have made no difference in his salary. + +"I'll tell you why you stayed with the work in the Desert this summer, +Mr. Holmes," she said, and in her voice was a note of pleased triumph. + +"Why?" he asked. + +"Because you are learning the language of the country." + +For an instant he was puzzled. Then he remembered the evening he had +said good-by. "Si, Senorita. I suppose one could not help learning a +little in La Palma de la Mano de Dios, could he?" + +"Not if he had ancestors," came the answer. + +Holmes flushed. "What a snob I must have seemed to you that day," he +said in deep disgust at the recollection of his first attempt to +impress the western girl with the importance of his place in life. + +"I don't think snob is just the word," she answered. "I didn't mind +that ancestor business and all that one bit. In fact I think I rather +enjoyed it. You were such a tenderfoot! But there was something else I +did mind. Did you know that there was a time when I hated you with my +whole heart?" + +"Miss Worth!" + +"It's so. I even promised myself that I would never speak to you +again--never! Then I came after awhile to understand how foolish it was +of me to blame you and father told me so much of your work here this +summer that I became heartily ashamed of myself. I'm telling you now +because, you see, I have come here to stay and to be, in a way, a tiny +little part in this great work you are doing, and I feel that I ought +to tell you so that we can start square again." + +"But, Miss Worth, what in the world are you talking about?" + +"I know it was foolish of me for you were not at all to blame. But I +couldn't help it. It is all over though and we are square now--or will +be when you have said that you forgive me." + +"But I don't know what you mean. What on earth did I do?" + +She looked straight at him. "Can't you even guess?" + +"I haven't the ghost of an idea." + +"Well, I'm glad you haven't," she declared, "even if it does make me +appear so foolish. It was because the Seer was discharged and you were +put in his place." + +"But I--" + +"Oh, I know all about it," she interrupted. "You didn't do it. You were +not to blame. The Company did it because it was Good Business. I told +you it was all over now. But please, I don't think we'd better talk +about it only just for you to say that you forgive me. I had to tell +you for that, you see." + +Then the once carefully proper Willard Holmes did a thing that would +have astonished his most intimate eastern friends beyond expression. +Reining his horse close to El Capitan he held out his hand to Barbara. + +"Shake, pard! You're the squarest girl I ever knew." + +It was no flimsy, two-fingered ceremony, but a whole-hearted, +whole-handed grip that made the man's blood move more quickly. +Unconsciously, as he felt the warm strength in the touch of the girl's +hand, he leaned toward her with quick eagerness. And Barbara, who was +looking straight into his face with the open frankness of one man to +another, started and drew back a little, turning her head aside. + +For some distance they rode in silence, then she began questioning him +about his life in the desert and all the rest of the way home made him +talk of the work so dear to her heart. As he talked and the girl +watched his strong bronzed face and listened to his words, she found +something in his voice and manner that was not there that day when she +introduced him to "her Desert." There was a self-reliance, an +enthusiasm, a purpose that was good to hear. + +At the door of her new home when he, pleading his work, would not stay +for lunch but promised to call in the evening, she bade him "Adios" in +the soft tongue of the Southland and when he had wheeled his horse and +was riding away, Barbara turned on the porch to look after him. +Watching the khaki clad figure that was so easily at home in the saddle +and that, with the loping horse, seemed so much a part of the country, +the girl wondered at the change that was being wrought by the wild land +upon the man from the eastern city. + +"Indeed," she thought, "he is learning the language of the desert!" And +she, too, was glad. + +When Holmes arrived at the Company headquarters the General Manager +shifted his cigar to the corner of his mouth and cocked his head to one +side, looking him over critically. + +"Buenas dias, Senor," cried the engineer gaily, throwing his sombrero, +quirt and gloves on the floor and helping himself from the box of +cigars on the desk. Holmes was still thinking in the language of +Barbara's land. + +"Humph!" grunted the slender man at the desk, "I said 'hello' to you +when you passed the office, also I bowed my best New York bow, but you +were too engaged to see. Were you practicing your greaser lingo on her? +I suppose she talks it like a native." + +"She talks a language you would not understand, my friend," said Holmes +coolly, lighting a cigar. + +"Probably not," agreed the other. "Who am I that I should understand +the words of a being of such exalted rank? The whole fool town is crazy +over her already. I've heard nothing but Miss Worth, Miss Worth, all +morning. You would think the hotel was a ladies' sewing circle. Every +man on the street is wearing his Sunday clothes and walks with his head +twisted over his shoulder for fear he will miss a glimpse of her. +Horace P. Blanton is the man of the hour. He came in with her last +night and is arranging a public reception, talking like the business +manager of a Greek goddess. And now here you go riding down the street +with her, so interested that you can't even see me. Permit me to +congratulate you. You certainly have lost no time." + +Holmes scowled. "That fellow Blanton is an officious ass," he growled, +"and you"--he checked himself. + +"Go on; go on!" cried the delighted Burk. "Don't spare me. In the name +of the goddess, smite!" + +The engineer laughed in spite of himself, though he spoke sharply. "Cut +it out, Burk. I met Miss Worth in Rubio City when I landed fresh from +New York. She's a mighty charming girl, whom you'll be as glad as +anybody to know. She was riding over in the West District this morning +and I overtook her on my way in. Of course we came on together. Have +you heard from Uncle Jim?" + +The Manager dropped his bantering tone instantly and taking an open +letter from his desk, scanned it thoughtfully as he answered: "He'll be +here Saturday. He's not at all pleased, Holmes, with my report on the +Worth operations. Our friend Jeff's getting altogether too strong a +grip on things. It beats all the way he hops into a game and draws all +the high cards before you know he is on the other side of the table." + +The thoughtful Manager of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company +was evidently worried. Holmes made no reply. + +With his eyes still on the letter in his hand Burk asked: "How are you +getting on with the survey of the South Central District?" + +"Black finished yesterday. I brought in the data." + +"What do you think of it?" + +"It's no good, Burk. The land is a rough jumble of small hummocks, +covered with a heavy growth of greasewood and mesquite, and practically +all of it lies so high that we could never get the water on it at all." + +Burk considered. "Do you know whether Abe Lee ever went over that +district?" + +Holmes stiffened. "No, he never worked in that part of the Basin at +all, but what the deuce has Lee to do with it? Black is a graduate +engineer and as good a man as ever looked over a transit. If you can't +trust the men I send out, why"-- + +"Wow, wow!" cried Burk, "keep your shirt on, old man! I'm not making +insinuations against your pet surveyor. I merely asked for information. +Now if you please, turn your South Central data over to your office +force and tell them to get it in shape by Saturday without fail. It's +an order, my son. Selah!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +JEFFERSON WORTH'S OPERATIONS, + + +The crowd that waited in front of the new hotel for the arrival of the +stage, the evening James Greenfield came to Kingston, was unusually +large. The King's Basin Messenger had announced the coming of the +promoter and president of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company +and the pioneers had assembled to see the famous capitalist whose power +in the money world was making possible the reclamation of the desert. + +Mr. Greenfield's greeting in the lobby, under the perspiring efforts of +Horace P. Blanton, soon assumed the proportions of a public reception. +With his Manager to introduce the prominent citizens, and Horace P., +who was never farther than a yard from the capitalist's elbow to assist +in receiving them, the man from New York entered graciously into the +spirit of the occasion. And when the man in the white vest, intoxicated +by the atmosphere of greatness, burst forth in a speech of welcome, +setting forth the wonders of The King's Basin, the marvelous growth and +future of Kingston, the greatness of Greenfield and--quite +incidentally--the greatness of Horace P, Blanton, all in behalf of the +people, the Easterner replied with a few modest remarks, in which he +hinted at even greater things to come, promising by subtle suggestion +unlimited wealth for all who would invest their money and their lives +in The King's Basin project. + +Then Mr. Greenfield slipped away with Willard Holmes to his room. The +friendship between the engineer's own parents and his benefactor had +been lifelong and very close. It was a story, years ago forgotten by +the world, of how Grace Winton had chosen one of the two college chums +and why the other had never married. In the repeated business failures +of his old schoolmate and the consequent loss of his fortune the +successful financier had proven himself many times a friend in need, +and through the long illness of the man who had been successful in +winning the woman they both loved, Greenfield, with his wealth, had +been steadfast in his thoughtful care. When baby Willard's mother died +soon after the death of his father, she--knowing the heart of the man +whose love for her had kept him childless--committed to him her only +child, and Greenfield, accepting the trust, had taken the boy into his +life and heart as his own son. + +After the loss of William Greenfield, his only brother, James +Greenfield--whose power in the financial world was steadily +increasing--had no one to intimately share his success but young +Holmes, and when Willard had finished his school and chosen his +profession the older man used the influence of his own position to give +the young engineer every advantage. + +As the two men faced each other now after the longest separation they +had ever known, the Company's president studied his chief engineer with +interest. + +"Well, Willard, my boy," he said at last; "how do you like it? Say, but +you are looking fine. You always were a handsome youngster but +you're--you're improving, young man. I'm blessed if you don't look like +a work of art done in bronze." He laughed with the pleasure of his own +conceit and the other laughed with him. + +"Wait until this sun gets a shot at you, Uncle Jim." + +"Humph! I suppose you think it will make me into some sort of an +hideous old idol. I don't propose to stay long enough to give it a +chance," he added grimly, and as he finished a shadow fell over his +face and the laughter died out of his voice. + +"What's the matter; don't you like the West, Uncle Jim?" + +"I hate it, and with good reason. Don't you get too interested out +here, Willard. We'll clean up a nice little pile out of this scheme and +get back home where we belong. I miss you like the deuce, boy!" + +The engineer started to say something about the work, but Greenfield +held up his hand. "Not a word about business to-night, Willard. We'll +take that up to-morrow. Tell me where I can get a shave and then we'll +have dinner and after that a quiet evening together." + +Holmes laughed. "We have a barber, all right, Uncle Jim. He landed with +his outfit this afternoon. There was no place for him, and the +freighter unloaded him on a vacant lot about a block west of the hotel. +It's been a long time since most of us have seen a real barber and the +boys couldn't wait. Trade came with such a rush that he set up his +chair in the street and has been doing a land-office business ever +since. They say he's all right, too, but it looks funny." + +Mr. Greenfield, his curiosity aroused and being really in need of a +shave, sought out the shopless barber. He was easily found, for the +crowd that had gathered to witness the arrival of the great financier, +James Greenfield, had already drifted to the scene of Kingston's other +chief attraction. Piled in a vacant lot was the necessary furniture for +a well-equipped shop, but only the chair was in use. A goods-box nearby +held the instruments of the craft while a bucket of water, a tin basin, +and a supply of towels completed the arrangements. The delighted crowd +filled the air with good natured chaff and laughter as the customers +compared notes and attempted to express their emotion at finding +themselves properly groomed. + +Mr. Greenfield, highly amused at the novel sight, pushed his way well +into the circle. + +"Next!" shouted the man with the brush and razors in a voice that was +heard a block away. + +Some joker shouted: "Your turn, Mr. Greenfield," and "Greenfield! +Greenfield!" chimed the crowd. + +Amid yells of delight the president of The King's Basin Land and +Irrigation Company took his place in the chair. + +As the barber worked he talked. Never before in all his professional +career had he been so prominently in the public eye. "Yes sir, gents, +I'm here to tell you that that there man, Jefferson Worth, is a +prince--a prince. Let me tell you what he done for me. You see things +was gone all to the bad. Looked like every way I turned I went up +against it proper, and first thing I knowed my furniture was piled out +on the sidewalk and Mr. Sheriff he was a-sellin' it. Well, sir, Mr. +Worth he happened to come along just as they begun to ask for bids and +I'm darned if he didn't take the whole works just as if he had done +nothin' but buy barber shops all his life. I was layin' low in the +crowd, watchin', you see; and there was somethin' about him--the way he +stopped and bid the stuff in, or somethin', I dunno what--that struck +me, so I edged alongside and says, says I: 'Are you a barber?' Whew! +the minute he looked at me I seen my mistake, but he never batted a +eye. 'Not yet,' he says. 'This is a pretty good outfit, ain't it?' 'You +bet it is,' says I. 'It was mine a few minutes ago.' An' then I tells +him how I was up against it an' asks what he was goin' to do with the +stuff. 'I'm goin' to ship it to Kingston in The King's Basin country,' +says he. 'We need a good barber down there and I figured that if I got +the shop ready I could find the man to run it. How would you like to +tackle the job? I'll send you and your outfit to Kingston and sell you +your shop on good time, too, for just what it cost me.' An' here I +am--Next!" + +Mr. Greenfield slipped from the chair and silently tendered the +talkative barber a five dollar bill. As the barber was counting out the +change the eastern financier heard behind him murmurs of hearty +approval and admiration of Jefferson Worth. The barber's story had made +a deep impression and certainly no one in the crowd was more deeply +impressed than was the president of The King's Basin Land and +Irrigation Company. + +At dinner that evening the boy with the weekly edition of the Messenger +came into the dining room. Mr. Burk, taking his copy, glanced once at +the first page, folded it carefully and laid the sheet before his +employer with the headlines of a leading article uppermost. + +Mr. Greenfield read: "The Citizens Bank of Kingston--Jefferson Worth +owns the building opposite the opera house and has organized a bank." + +Mr. Greenfield did not need to read further. + +"Who did you say was building the opera house block?" he asked the +Manager. + +"It is owned by a syndicate. The local man in charge sits at that table +in the corner"--he nodded toward a clean, solid-looking young fellow, +who was enjoying his dinner and chatting with Abe Lee. + +In the lobby, a few minutes later, Greenfield whispered to Holmes: +"Introduce me to that young man, Willard." + +His order was easily obeyed and soon, in a corner, the president and +his new acquaintance were chatting pleasantly over cigars furnished by +the New Yorker. + +"That building of yours seems to be a very creditable piece of work," +offered Greenfield. "The investment ought to pay big later on. But +isn't it rather heavy for the present size of the town?" + +The other smiled pleasantly. "True; but you see we are not building it +for a town of this size, Mr. Greenfield. We expect Kingston to grow +rapidly and we realize the importance of being on the ground first." + +"That's right, too," returned Greenfield. "With the capital to do it +that is undoubtedly the right plan. I understand you represent a Coast +syndicate." + +Again the young man smiled. "That is the general understanding, Mr. +Greenfield, and until to-night I have not been at liberty to contradict +it. I can tell you now, however, that the syndicate which is putting up +that building is Mr. Jefferson Worth." + +Greenfield was too well-schooled to give vent to the slightest +expression of surprise. His tone was courtesy itself as he replied: +"Indeed? Mr. Worth seems to be doing a great deal for Kingston." + +Then the talk shifted easily into other channels until the president +found opportunity to leave his companion. Rejoining his Manager and +Holmes, Greenfield requested Burk's presence in his room and, once +there, threw aside the mask of politeness, making it clearly evident, +in words chosen for forcefulness rather than politeness, that he did +not approve of the situation that had developed under the thoughtful +Manager's eye. + +"And now," he finished, "send the proprietor of this hotel up here." + +The uncomfortable Burk obeyed. When the landlord arrived with an +anxious face, Greenfield was his courteous, affable self again. + +"Mr. Wheeler," he said, "there is a little business proposition I wish +to lay before you while I am here and I thought it better to mention it +this evening so that you can have time to think it over and give me +your answer before I leave. I can see, of course, that this hotel, +building and all, represents quite an investment and that, for a time, +the returns will not be large. I don't know, of course, how much +capital you have to swing it, but I can see that without good, +substantial backing the enterprise might not hold up, which would be +very bad for the reputation of the town in which, as you know, our +Company is so heavily interested. Now if we could bring about some +alliance between you and the Company it would be a good thing all +around, do you see?" + +"Yes sir, I see. This is a big undertaking for Kingston as conditions +are now, but later it is bound to be a good paying investment and we +realize the importance of getting in on the ground floor. But I am not +at liberty to consider or make any proposition whatever until I have +consulted the owner--" + +"The owner?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"I was told that you were the proprietor. Your name is on the hotel +stationery." + +"I have only a very small interest. My associate would not permit his +name to be used at all. I may tell you, however, confidentially, that +Mr. Worth owns the building and practically all the hotel equipment. +You can easily place your proposition before him. Whatever he does I am +bound to accept." + +James Greenfield chewed his cigar in savage silence. Clearly it was +time that he visited his town. + +"Do you know where Mr. Worth is this evening??' he asked as mildly as +he could speak. + +"In his office, I think." + +"Would you be good enough to send him a message that I would like to +see him on a matter of importance? I will wait in my room." + +"Certainly, sir." + +When the landlord was gone the president of The King's Basin Land and +Irrigation Company walked the floor, carefully reviewing his dealings +with Jefferson Worth from the beginning. So this was what the banker +had "up his sleeve" when he declined to join the Company! + +He was interrupted by the boy with Mr. Worth's answer. Mr. Worth would +be in his office at the store until ten o'clock. + +The eastern capitalist made his way to the little room in the store +where Jefferson Worth sat at his battered old desk. "How do you do?" + +"Sit down," came the colorless greeting as the western man with one +hand closed the door and with the other motioned toward the chair at +the end of the desk. Then seating himself again in his own chair he +waited behind his mask. + +"Well, Mr. Worth, I see you decided to come into the Basin after all." + +"I concluded to make a few small investments," came the exact reply. + +Greenfield laughed shortly. "Yes--this store, the electric power plant +and system, the bank building and bank, the opera house block, the +hotel, the telephone system--" The Company president's tone and manner +were intended to imply that he understood clearly the other's attitude +and that he recognized a fellow-craftsman. "Come now, Worth; let's get +down to good business. It's poor policy for you and me to go against +each other. You know what there is in it for all of us if we hang +together and you know as well as I that we can't afford, and that we +don't want, to fight each other. What sort of a deal will it take to +get you into the Company? I tell you squarely, we are going to make it +almighty hot for any independent operator who tries to start in here." + +"I must decline to consider any proposition at all from the Company, +Mr. Greenfield." + +In the silence that followed Greenfield sought in vain to look back of +that gray mask. He felt for the first time in his business career +powerless to make the next move in the game and somewhere back in his +active brain a warning signal flashed: "Go slow!" + +"Very well, Mr. Worth," he said at last, rising to go. "When you are +ready to consider the matter let me know. In the meantime"--he shrugged +his shoulders and smiled--"good night." + +Outside the store Greenfield paused irresolutely as one hesitates whose +mind is too preoccupied to direct his steps. Then his eye caught the +gleam of light from the printing office across the street next to the +Company building. + +A moment later he greeted the young man who edited and published the +Messenger. "You seem to be pretty well fixed here," offered Greenfield +after the usual greetings. "Seems to me your prospects are mighty good +for a young man. Your profits ought to be big if you can hold on and +grow with the development of the country." + +"Yes sir, I feel that our chances are good. Kingston is growing rapidly +and we are in on the ground floor." + +Greenfield looked at him sharply as he uttered the now familiar +expression. "You have all the capital you need?" + +"We are doing very well so far." + +"I have been looking your paper over with some care," the president +went on, "and I believe you have the right idea. A newspaper is a +powerful factor in a great enterprise like this and of course I am +anxious that everything that makes for the advancement of our project +should succeed. I would be sorry to see you crippled in any way for +lack of funds. If you are open to consider the matter I should be glad +to take a good big interest with you and to undertake to back you +handsomely." + +"I don't think my partner, who really furnished all the capital, would +sell, sir." + +"Ah! Then you are not alone?" + +"No sir. Mr. Jefferson Worth practically owns the plant." + +The first thing that met Mr. Greenfield's eye as he stepped through the +doorway on his return to the hotel was the broad back of Horace P. +Blanton, who--carried away as usual by the importance of the +occasion--was "orating" to a group of strangers. It should be said +that, save when the Kingston citizens were in a certain mood, Horace +"orated" usually to strangers. In this case so convincing was his +logic, so eloquent his flights of rhetoric, so irresistible his +appeals, that Greenfield saw the fat neck of him, where it showed +between the fat shoulder and the picture-general hat, grow red with the +fierceness of his eloquence. + +"There is no question in the world, gentlemen, that by long odds the +most able financier in the West to-day is my friend, Mr. Jefferson +Worth. His startling genius as a captain of industry is equaled only by +his splendid public spirit and his magnificent generosity to everyone +who needs a helping hand. Look what he has accomplished for Kingston, +while only a few of us who were on the inside knew what he was +doing--our opera house, our bank, our newspaper, our telephone lines, +our ice plant, and our power plant--which to-morrow night for the first +time will illuminate the heavens. Think of it! electric lights in the +midst of a desert that, since God made it, has known only the light of +the stars. I maintain, gentlemen, that it is the duty of every soul in +The King's Basin to be present at the celebration of the splendid +accomplishment and in honor to my friend, Worth. Not only has this +wizard given us in Kingston the blessings of modern civilization, but +there is scarcely a rancher for miles around whom he has not aided +materially by furnishing him with needed supplies from the big +department store, or by advancing him necessary capital. I am proud, +gentlemen--proud, to call such a public benefactor my friend. Kingston +is proud of her most distinguished citizen; the whole King's Basin +country is proud of him. I--Oh, excuse me a minute, gentlemen; as I see +my friend, Mr. Greenfield, the president of The King's Basin Land and +Irrigation Company, has just arrived." + +Greenfield made an effort to escape. He had heard quite enough. But it +was useless. The white-vested bulk of the orator barred the way; the +kingly countenance of Horace P. Blanton compelled recognition. "My dear +Greenfield, how are you?" The voice was the anxious voice of +unmistakable disinterested affection. "You have arrived at a most +auspicious moment. I have promised our people that you would address +them at the public meeting to-morrow evening in the opera house." + +"It is impossible, Mr.--Ah! Mr. Blanton; I never make public speeches." + +Before Greenfield had finished his curt reply the perspiring one had +him by the arm in friendly familiarity, and with the president's last +word the answer came in a low, confidential tone of complete +understanding. "Of course you understand that I have arranged this +little affair simply to encourage every one to do his part to boom +Kingston. It is to our interest, you know, to keep things going." + +Until a late hour the president of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation +Company, with his General Manager and chief engineer, in the Manager's +private office, discussed Jefferson Worth's operations and his growing +influence in The King's Basin country. James Greenfield had evidently +forgotten his determination to spend the evening with Willard Holmes. + +It was notable that the president and his Manager did most of the +talking. The engineer was, for the most part, a silent listener. When +appealed to directly he answered briefly, giving such information as he +had at his command, and several times his answers caused Greenfield to +look at him with questioning sharpness. + +Once the older man remarked: "I believe you wrote me, Burk, that +Worth's daughter had arrived and that they are to make their home in +Kingston. Is she likely to prove a factor in the matter of her father's +popularity and influence? Sometimes a woman, you know--" + +Burk's cigar shifted to the corner of his mouth and his head was cocked +to one side. "Ask Holmes," he muttered with a grin. + +"I think you'd better leave Miss Worth out of this, Uncle Jim," said +Holmes so sharply that Barbara's name was not mentioned again. Which +does not mean at all that Greenfield had dismissed the matter from his +mind. + +"You have that South Central District survey ready?" he asked. + +"I believe the boys have it in shape," answered Burk. The engineer laid +a map before them, explained the boundaries of the proposed district, +the line of the proposed canal, and on another sheet pointed out the +character of the land with the elevations that made irrigation of the +larger part of the tract impossible. + +"You can vouch for the correctness of these figures, Willard?" asked +Greenfield at last. + +"Certainly, sir. Black is one of the best men we have." + +"And it is your opinion that it would be a heavy loss to the Company to +build this canal and attempt to develop this section?" + +"I am sure that it would, sir. The district is practically worthless." + +"All right, boys; that will be all for this evening. We will start on +that inspection tour day after to-morrow instead of in the morning as I +had planned. I have a little business with our friend Worth to-morrow +morning." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +JAMES GREENFIELD SEEKS AN ADVANTAGE. + + +The next morning Jefferson Worth, in his office in the store building, +again received the president of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation +Company. James Greenfield, with outstretched hand, was quite cordial in +his greeting. + +"I owe you an apology, sir. I did not know until my return to the hotel +last night of the demonstration to be held this evening in your honor +and in celebration of the turning on of our new lights, or I should +have congratulated you sooner. I am glad the people of Kingston are +recognizing you in this public manner. Permit me to express my personal +appreciation also." + +"Thank you," said Worth from behind his mask. "I figure that my +interests in Kingston will pan out all right some day." + +Greenfield dropped his complimentary manner and came at once to +business. "Look here, Mr. Worth, I have been thinking over the matter I +mentioned last night. I can see the strength of your position here and +I appreciate the value of your operations in the development of this +country, which mean, of course, an added value to the Company's +property and interests. We don't want to fight you; such things are bad +for all concerned. We would all lose money and it would have a bad +effect on the whole project. If you won't come in with us, will you +consider a proposition that you can handle independently?" + +"What is your proposition?" + +"It is this. In forming our plans for extending the Company's system we +have laid out a new district--the South Central. Before placing the +water rights on the open market, it occurred to me that we might make a +deal whereby the development of the district would be assured and at +the same time we would be free to use our forces in still further +extensions. As you know, the settlers are coming in so rapidly now that +we need all our equipment to get the water to them as fast as they are +located. My proposition is this: We will sell you the entire amount of +water rights covering this South Central District--sixty thousand +shares--at the lowest figure we can make; you to build your own canals +and structures. The entire district will thus be altogether in your +hands to handle as you see fit, we, of course, being bound only to +deliver into your canals the amount of water called for by the regular +contract under which the rights are sold." + +"You have already completed the survey and formed the district?" + +"We have. The surveys have just been completed. We are all ready to go +ahead with our work and to sell the water." Greenfield did not say that +the Company was ready to go to work on this particular district, nor +did he say that the stock would be offered for sale save to Mr. Worth. +The president of course expected Worth to apply his statement to the +particular tract of land under consideration and to accept it as +establishing beyond question the value of the South Central District. +If Jefferson Worth noted the general character of Greenfield's answer +he gave no sign. + +"Where is the land located?" + +"If you will step over to our office I can show you the maps." + +When Jefferson Worth saw the boundaries of the South Central District +showing the course of Dry River and the San Felipe trail, for the first +time his long, tapering fingers, tapping softly the arm of his chair, +smoothing his gray cheek and caressing his chin betrayed emotion. The +spot where the San Felipe trail crossed Dry River and where the banker +and his party had found the baby girl was just within the boundary of +the district. + +Apparently studying the map before him, Barbara's father sat motionless +save for those nervous fingers; and Greenfield, thinking that the man's +mind was intent upon the business under consideration, spoke no word. +But Jefferson Worth was not thinking of business. He was seeing again a +brown-eyed, brown-haired baby girl, who shrank back from his +outstretched arms as though in fear. + +But that mask-like face betrayed no hint of emotion, and when the +banker spoke again it was to ask mechanically: "Where is your engineer?" + +Greenfield looked inquiringly at Burk. The Manager touched a button on +his desk. To the young man who answered the signal the Manager said: +"Charlie, if Mr. Holmes is in the building please ask him to step in +here a moment." + +Presently the chief engineer stood before them. An expression of +surprise flashed over his bronzed face as he saw Mr. Worth. From the +banker his glance moved swiftly to Burk and Greenfield, then fell on +the map before the three men. + +Instantly he saw Greenfield's purpose. But what did they want of him? +Surely they would not dare ask him to make a false statement regarding +the surveys! He could not interfere; it was not his business. It was +the creed of his type that in business transactions every man must take +care of himself; but the Company must not ask him to lie for them. As +these thoughts went through his mind his form straightened and his eyes +shot a warning--almost a defiant--look at his two superiors. + +Greenfield saw and signaled caution. Burk saw and smiled. But none of +the three Company men could have told whether Jefferson Worth, who was +bending over the map, saw or not. Before the others could speak the +banker, without looking up, said: "I just wanted to ask, Mr. Holmes, +whether you can tell me about the character of the soil in this new +district?" + +"The soil, Mr. Worth, is, I believe, as good as there is in the Basin." + +The three men awaited the next question with breathless interest. + +"Thank you, Mr. Holmes. Mr. Greenfield, I will consider the +proposition." + +The president and manager could scarcely believe their ears. The +engineer vanished. + +Jefferson Worth continued: "How long have you planned to be in the +Basin this trip, Mr. Greenfield?" + +"This week only. I start on my inspection with Mr. Burk and Mr. Holmes +in the morning." + +"I asked because I must go out in the morning for a few days, and I +suppose you wish to close the deal before you leave." + +"You think favorably of the proposition, then?" + +"If we can get together on the terms"--Worth spoke exactly, as if he +wished hie words to be remembered--"I will accept it. Suppose you put +your proposition in writing and mail it to me in the city to-morrow. +Then when I get back we will be in shape to finish the matter one way +or the other. If everything is satisfactory and I see I can't get home +before you leave I will wire you." + +Thirty minutes after Jefferson Worth had returned to his office, Abe +Lee came in. "You sent for me, sir?" + +Abe's employer arose and closed the door. + +That evening about dusk the surveyor rode out of Kingston on the road +toward Frontera. And that night, while the celebration was in full +swing and the new electric lights were sputtering and hissing in honor +of Jefferson Worth, a loaded wagon, drawn by four mules, quietly left +the rear of the Worth store. On the driver's seat sat Pablo. With +little noise the outfit, with its lone driver, left the town in the +midst of its demonstration and was soon in the open country on the road +leading south. + +An hour later they had passed the ranches and were in the Desert. Just +beyond where a party of Jefferson Worth's linemen, who were stringing +the telephone wires, was encamped, the Mexican halted his team and the +heavy form of Pat came out of the darkness and climbed with smothered +grunts and curses to his side. + +Another hour and they reached the point where the new road crossed the +old San Felipe trail. Again Pablo halted his team. Ten--fifteen--twenty +minutes they waited in listening silence, save for an occasional grunt +from the Irishman. Then from the south came the sound of wheels and +horses' feet. + +"Git under way, Pablo," mumbled Pat. "Ut may not be thim, an' Abe will +hang yer black hide on the new tiliphone line av anybody goin' to town +stops to pass ye the time av night." + +Pablo swung his team to the left and drove slowly ahead on the old +trail. A hundred yards farther on they were overtaken by Abe Lee and +Texas Joe, who were driving a light spring wagon. + +"Everything all right, boys?" asked the surveyor sharply. + +"Si, Senor," and "Yis, Sorr," came the answers. + +"Good. We'll hit the grit good and hard now for we must be in the sand +hills by morning." + +Twenty-four hours after Jefferson Worth left Kingston, the east bound +overland express came to a full stop in the Desert at a point about +twenty miles west of Rubio City. + +The trainmen and porters ran to the vestibules and, throwing open the +doors, looked out. Three or four passengers who had risen early +followed the crew, inquiring anxiously the reason for the delay. The +big conductor was standing by the rear steps of the Pullman and a +medium sized man swung down to the ground by his side. Back from the +track, in the gray of the morning, the watchers saw a tiny fire, over +which two roughly dressed figures crouched, evidently preparing +breakfast, while a team, with a light spring wagon, stood tied to a +nearby mesquite tree. On every hand the great desert stretched its vast +dun plain without a sign of life save for the train and the men and +horses by the lonely fire. + +"Right, sir?" asked the conductor of the man who alighted by his side. + +"All right," answered the other in a low tone. + +"Good-by, sir." + +"Good-by." + +The conductor lifted his hand, and, as the train started swung aboard. +The watchers saw the man walk, without a glance at the departing train, +straight toward the little group at the fire. + +"Well, what do you make of that?" cried an excited tourist as the +conductor came up the steps into the vestibule and the porter slammed +down the platform and closed the door. And--"Who is he?" "Where is he +going?" "What is he doing?" came in chorus from the others. + +The conductor shook his head with a smile. "Don't ask me. I had orders +to stop here to let him off; that's all I know." + +Jefferson Worth greeted Abe Lee and Texas Joe as coolly as though it +was his daily habit to meet them at that hour and place. "How is +everything, Abe?" + +"Not a hitch so far," answered the surveyor; and Tex drawled: "Coffee +and frijoles ready, Mr. Worth." + +"Can we make it to the outfit today?" asked Mr. Worth as they finished +their rude meal and prepared to start. + +"Easy," answered Abe. "We have plenty of water with us and this team +will do it without turning a hair." + +Just before sundown at a point on Dry River they found Pat and Pablo +with the outfit in a comfortable camp. + +While Abe Lee, with his helpers, was running his levels over the +proposed line of the canal staked out by the Company surveyors in the +South Central District, Willard Holmes was trying to make Mr. +Greenfield see the necessity of spending more money on the unsafe +structures and at Dry River heading. He explained, argued and pleaded +in vain. + +"My dear boy," said the Company's president. "You must understand that +we are not in this country for sweet charity's sake. Burk, here, can +tell you that we have not yet begun to get our investment back. When +the returns justify it we will give you the money for your construction +work, but we can't do it now. The rights of the men who are putting up +the capital for this project must be considered, you know. We can't use +a dollar of the Company's money except when it is necessary. If I were +to let you spend all the money you want, we never would pay a dividend." + +"But, Uncle Jim, you are forcing these settlers to take terrible +chances blindly. Have they not rights also? The interest of the Company +is mighty small compared with the interests of the men who are buying +the water rights and developing the land." + +Greenfield flushed angrily. "Look here, Willard, you have nothing to do +with the Company's business policy. As the engineer in charge, your +work is to protect both the settlers and us to the best of your +ability, but don't get any fool notions into your head. You can't +afford to go the way of that dreamer who started this work with the +exalted idea of making it a benefit to the whole human race. That line +of talk is all right for the boosters like Horace P. Blanton, but we've +got to make good in dollars and cents or the whole thing goes to smash." + +With the South Central deal still on his mind and the picture of +Barbara, as she talked to him of his work the morning he had met her in +the desert, in his heart, these business discussions with Greenfield +and Burk were almost unbearable to the engineer. After they had +inspected the intake, the Dry River heading and the levees of the main +canal he pleaded an urgent need of his presence at the office and left +the party, to reach Kingston two days in advance of their return. + +Barbara was on the porch when he stopped at the gate, tired, hot and +dusty from his long trip. The girl, dressed in some cool simple white +stuff and seated in her easy wicker chair in the deep shade of the wide +porch, made a picture wonderfully attractive to the man who had ridden +all day in the scorching heat of the desert sun. Of course he must come +in. What nonsense to talk of his appearance. He was not making a +fashionable social call. The weary engineer dropped into a chair and +gratefully accepted the glass of cool lemonade she brought. + +"I made it myself not five minutes ago, just as if I had known you were +coming," she said with a laugh that was as refreshing as the drink +itself. "Ynez is up town shopping for supper. Father is in the city. +Abe has gone away somewhere. Even Pablo has vanished and I haven't seen +Texas Joe nor Pat for a week. I was wishing someone would happen along. +I suppose that's really why I made the lemonade." + +Holmes set his glass carefully on the porch railing near at hand. + +"Won't you have some more?" + +"Thank you, no. You are quite deserted, aren't you? How long has Lee +been gone?" + +"Oh, he went the evening before father left and Pablo vanished the same +night. It was quite tragic, and the next day I was in the office when a +man from the line came in asking for Pat. He seems to have disappeared +the same way. I think they might at least have left some word or said +good-by." + +In her innocent talk Barbara had told the whole story. It was easy for +the Company engineer to guess where the surveyor and his helpers had +gone and what they were doing. "Are you sure that your father is in the +city?" he asked jokingly. + +Barbara laughed. "Oh, there's no doubt about father. His departure was +regular in every way." + +On his way to the office a little later Holmes chuckled to himself, +keenly enjoying the situation. He mentally pictured the chagrin of +Greenfield and Burk when he should tell them what he had learned. But +would he tell them? He had not told Mr. Worth what he knew of the +Company's survey in the South Central District. Why should he tell the +Company what he knew of Worth's surveyors? Once he would have +considered that loyalty to his employers demanded that he tell what he +had learned. But now, since he had been assured so very emphatically +and very recently that the policy of the Company was none of his +business, let the shrewd Manager and the president find out for +themselves. Anyway, he told himself, it could make no difference, for +he knew what the result of Abe's surveys would be and he was glad +indeed that Barbara's father had not walked into the trap set for him. +The engineer had concerned himself not a little about the probable view +Barbara would take of his attitude in permitting her father to purchase +water rights that he knew to be worthless. But now Mr. Worth himself +would discover the trick of the Company men and it would not matter. + +To his surprise and chagrin Jefferson Worth walked into the Company +office a few days later and, in his exact colorless voice, said: "I +will accept your proposition Mr. Greenfield. If you wish we can fix up +the contract and close the deal to-day." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +THE GAME PROGRESSES. + + +The purchase of the South Central District water rights by Jefferson +Worth was immediately announced by The King's Basin Messenger in a +lengthy article which began with the modest statement that this was the +largest and most important business transaction that had yet occurred +in the new country. The article declared that the name of Jefferson +Worth was a guarantee that the new district would be made the richest +and most prosperous section of the Basin and that--splendid as the +undertaking was--it was only the beginning of far greater things to be +wrought by the wizard of the desert whose genius had made him the +greatest factor in the reclamation and development of The King's Basin +country. The work would be begun at once--as soon as men and teams +could be secured. + +The thoughtful Manager of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company +read the article with a grin, shifted his cigar to the corner of his +mouth, cocked his head to one side and sent a marked copy of the paper +to the Company's president. + +James Greenfield read the article with the satisfaction of a good +business man who sees his competitor heavily over-stocked with a line +of goods for which there is no market. The pioneers in the desert who +were not already located, and the newly arriving prospectors read and +called upon Mr. Worth for further information. The article, reprinted +in the Rubio City papers, was read by many who, familiar with Jefferson +Worth's business record, took the San Felipe trail for the new district. + +The main supply camp for the new work was established at Dry River +Crossing, the location being ideal, with an abundant supply of running +water from the waste gate at the heading coming down the old channel +where Barbara's mother had perished of thirst beside a dry water hole. +From the camp, the San Felipe trail led in one direction straight to +Rubio City and in the other to the main road in the heart of the Basin +half way between Kingston and Frontera. At this camp Jefferson Worth +made his headquarters. Not a man, whether he presented himself +empty-handed or with team and tools, but was forced to talk with Mr. +Worth in his tent office before he was set to work under Abe Lee and +his three lieutenants--Texas, Pat and Pablo. + +It was in those days that Willard Holmes reported to the Manager that +many of his men were leaving the Company and were going to work for +Jefferson Worth. The news did not appear to alarm Mr. Burk. With a grin +he advised the engineer, "Don't worry, old man. They'll be damned glad +to come back to us before many weeks." "I was looking out a route for +the new central main yesterday," said Holmes, "and rode over to Worth's +camp at the Crossing. Judging from the size and activity of the camp, +he is planning to go in good and strong. He must have a big force at +work now and he is taking on men all the time." + +"Your Uncle Jim will be delighted to hear of Friend Jefferson's +enterprise." + +The engineer's face did not express appreciation of the Manager's wit. +"Have you heard the proposition that Mr. Worth is making to every man +on the job?" he asked. + +"No, what is he doing? Giving away one hundred and sixty shares of +stock with free telephones and electric lights, passes at the opera +house, unlimited credit at the store and a deposit at the bank as a +bonus to anyone who will locate in his district? He seems to have all +kinds of money to throw away." + +"It's not quite so bad as that," answered the other with a smile. "But +he tells every man, when he hires him, to file on any claim in the +district that he wants and he can have the water rights for it without +any cash payment and without any interest for five years. In a good +many cases he is even advancing money to pay the government entry fee +and promising to carry them for their equipment and supplies until they +make a crop. But he makes them agree to stay on the land and actually +farm the claims. He won't let a speculator even look in." + +Mr. Burk expressed his opinion of Jefferson Worth's ability in the +strongest terms. The man was insane, childish! Those fellows would +leave him high and dry. + +"That's what I said at first," agreed Holmes. "I asked Bill Watson, who +quit us with his team at Number Five to go to work in the South +Central, if he actually thought Worth was going to let his men make all +the money." + +"What did Bill say?" + +Holmes smiled. "You know how Bill talks? 'Hell, no,' he said. 'I put it +to the old man just that way myself. I says, say I: 'That sounds good +all right, Mr. Worth; but it ain't reasonable that you're leavin' +yourself out of this deal. Where do you come in?' says I. 'Who's the +joker in this little game?'" + +"And Worth explained?" put in Burk eagerly, shaken out of his usual +thoughtful calm by Holmes's story. + +"Bill says that Mr. Worth told him that he owns a big tract of land +where the camp is located and that he is going to build a town there +and would make his money by the increased value of his property that +would result from the development of the district; by business +enterprises that would depend on the prosperity of the ranchers; and by +the large increase in the value of water rights that he would sell +later to those who came in to invest after the district was developed. +I suggested to Bill that he could see how Worth was simply using him to +gain his own ends." + +"And did Bill see the point?" + +"He said: 'You're damned right he is, and so am I usin' Jefferson Worth +to gain my ends, ain't I? I might work for the Company a hundred years +and never get a cent more than the wages that you're payin' now. +Jefferson Worth, he pays me the same wages and gives me a chance to get +my share of all that comes out of what I do. I don't care a damn if he +makes ten millions out of the country. I hope he will, because he is +giving us poor devils, who ain't got nothin' now, a chance to get a +ranch an' do somethin' for ourselves. Of course he uses us to make +money for himself. So does the Company use us, don't they? The +difference is that Jefferson Worth lets us use _him_ and the Company +just counts us in with the rest of the live stock.'" + +"How did you get around that?" asked Burk, studying his companion's +face. + +"I didn't get around it," answered the engineer dryly. + +Burk leaned back in his chair and spoke with unusual earnestness. "Bill +is right, Holmes. We consider the men who work for us as we consider +horses and mules. We feed the stock; we pay wages to the men. When an +animal is worn out and useless, we kill him and get another. When a man +is down and out, we fire him and hire another, and you and I are no +better. The Company looks on us exactly the same way. We have no more +real interest in this work than the skinniest old plug on the job and +the Company won't permit us to have. They think they couldn't afford +it--that it wouldn't be Good Business. 'Get up!' 'Whoa!' 'Back!' 'Move, +damn you! and here's your corn and hay.' That's all we have to do with +it. If you balk and kick, out you go to rustle your own feed. It's a +beautiful system--for the Company. I almost wish that Worth had a +chance to try out his scheme. It would at least be an interesting +experiment to watch." + +"Well, why hasn't he a chance to try it out?" + +"You know very well why. Because the deal that your talented uncle +fixed up for our friend Jeff was loaded for the express purpose of +blowing that philanthropic promoter into financial Kingdom-come. Didn't +you report that the development of that South Central District was +practically impossible because of the elevations?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, ordinarily the project would have been abandoned then and there. +But I suggested to Mr. Greenfield that we go ahead as if everything was +all right and then unload it on Worth so that he would smash himself, +as he is doing." + +"You should be proud of your scheme." + +"I am proud of the scheme, but I'm not proud of myself. I'm being a +good mule, that's all. Jefferson Worth took our apparent purpose to go +ahead with the work as evidence that the proposition was all right and +that's why Jefferson Worth will not finish his intended experiment." + +"Yes, but the fact is he did not accept the proposition without +investigation." + +"What?" + +The engineer told the Manager what he had learned from Barbara. Burk +whistled softly. "Then you think the old fox sent Abe Lee out to check +our survey and framed up his trip to the city to gain time? Well, I'll +be--But look here, Holmes, Worth didn't accept our proposition until +after he had investigated?" + +"No." + +"Well; who makes the mistake then, your man Black or Abe Lee?" + +"That's exactly what I'd like to know," said the Company's chief +engineer grimly. + +The Manager grinned as he saw the possibilities of the situation, then +thoughtfully he selected a cigar. "Pretty game, isn't it, old man," he +said and offered the box to Holmes who declined. + +When the weed was going well the Manager's head tipped toward his left +shoulder and his cigar was in the opposite corner of his mouth. "And +you knew what Worth was up to before the deal was closed? Why didn't +you report it, Holmes?" + +The engineer frowned. "I didn't tell Mr. Worth what Black's survey +showed, and you must remember that Uncle Jim rubbed it into me good and +hard on the question of the construction work that the policy of the +Company was none of my business. This deal was not in my department." + +"Dear me," murmured the Manager with another grin. "What a well-broken +Company mule it is. And you were so dead sure of your man Black. Which +would you rather, my boy, have Black right and Abe wrong--the Company +to win; or have Black wrong and Abe right--and Jefferson Worth free to +go on with his little experiment?" + +"Speak for yourself," growled Holmes. + +"I will," returned Burk. "I have been a good mule, so my conscience is +clear. If I knew how and thought it would do any good I would pray that +Abe Lee made no mistake." + +"Well, I won't believe that it's Black's mistake. He comes from too +good a school," Holmes replied stubbornly. + +"And your confidence in your man is no doubt equaled by Worth's +confidence in his. Interesting, isn't it?" + +"You go to thunder!" growled the engineer unable to stand more. The +Manager's mocking laugh followed him out of the room. + +As the engineer passed the open window of the office a moment later +Burk called to him softly: "Oh, Holmes; I have an idea that may be +helpful to you in the matter." + +Against his will the engineer paused and drew close to the window. +"Well?" + +"Why don't you call on Miss Worth? Perhaps--" + +But Willard Holmes fled. And yet that which Burk suggested in jest was +exactly what Willard Holmes had already determined in his own mind to +do. + +The engineer had not seen Barbara since the conclusion of the South +Central deal and he was continually asking himself how the girl would +look upon his part in that transaction, or rather his failure to take a +part in it. Barbara's frank confession, when she had asked him to +forgive her for blaming him because of the Seer's dismissal that they +might start square, had put their friendship upon such a ground that +the man felt guilty in not confessing at once to her how he had aided +Greenfield and Burk in their effort to trap her father. He could not +shake off the conviction that she would undoubtedly look upon his +attitude as being what she had called untrue to the work--the one thing +she had declared she could not forgive. Would she forgive him? She had +been so interested in his work, and the engineer was beginning to +realize how very much this meant to him. At the Worth home the engineer +learned from the Indian woman that Barbara had left Kingston that +morning to visit her father in his camp in the South Central District. +She had gone with Texas Joe in the buckboard and they had taken her +saddle horse, El Capitan. + +When would La Senorita return? Ynez did not know. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +GATHERED AT BARBARA'S COURT. + + +Barbara's trip to the South Central District was full of interest. +Riding with Texas Joe in a light buckboard drawn by a span of lively +broncos with El Capitan leading behind, she was as merry as a +school-girl out for a long-talked-of holiday. The dark-faced old +plainsman, whose iron will and marvelous endurance had brought his +companions and the baby safely out of that land of death years before, +turned often to look at her now while his keen eyes, dark still under +their grizzly brows, were soft with fond regard, and his voice, gentle +and drawling as ever, was filled with tender affection. Under his +drooping gray mustache, black once, his slow smile came in the ready +answer of full sympathy with her mood. + +Eager as ever to know all about the work of reclaiming her Desert, the +young woman plied him with questions and Texas exerted himself to +recall scenes and incidents of which he had not told her before. He +reviewed the work from that first survey to the present with vivid +pictures of life in the camps, in the towns, or on the trail, with +construction gangs and grading crews or freighters' outfits, and the +glimpses of toil and hardship, discomforts and suffering lost none of +their reality in the dry humor of his words. Texas Joe was of that sort +who habitually laugh at hardships, who, indeed, could not otherwise +live in the wild lands they helped to tame. Nor did the shrewd old +frontiersman fail to observe how most of Barbara's questions required +in their answers something touching Willard Holmes, or how the +incidents that pleased her most were those in which the engineer +figured. On her part the young woman was secretly delighted to see how +loyally her companion spoke in admiring praise of the desert-bred +surveyor, Abe Lee. Whenever the name of Holmes was mentioned, Abe was +somehow brought into the story. + +"Mr. Holmes is really a fine engineer, don't you think?" asked Barbara +mischievously at the conclusion of a story in which both Holmes and Abe +figured. + +"Sure he is. I don't reckon them eastern schools ever turned out a +better. And what counts more, sometimes, he's all man, he is. But you +see, honey, he belongs to the Company. Abe now, wal--you see, Abe, he +sabeys the country like a burro does the cook shack and he's just as +good a man as the Easterner, though not so pretty to look at. And you +can bet there don't no Company get a hobble on Abe." + +"Do the men who work for the Company like Mr. Holmes?" + +"Sure they do. All the men like Holmes fine. But they just naturally +love Abe." + +But when they had turned into the San Felipe trail and were traveling +eastward, Barbara ceased to question Texas about the reclamation work +and led him to tell her again the familiar story of his journey from +San Felipe with Mr. Worth, the Seer, Pat and the boy Abe, in the days +when that old road was the only mark of man in all those miles of +desolate waste. + +Reaching a point where the sand hills could be distinguished, he +pointed them out to her, and the young woman, at sight of the huge +rolling drifts that shone all golden in the desert sun, grasped his arm +with a low exclamation. In silence, as they drew nearer, they watched +the low yellow hills lift their naked bulk up from the gray and green +patches of salt-bush and greasewood that so thinly carpeted the plain. +When even the desert vegetation could find no life in the ever shifting +sands and the first of the great drifts loomed huge and forbidding +against the sky, seeming to bar their way, Barbara spoke again. "Now +tell me, Uncle Tex; tell me as we go just how it was and show me the +places." + +The plainsman did not answer and she urged again: "Please, Uncle Tex, +tell me. I want to see it all just as it happened. I feel that I must, +don't you understand?" + +So the old plainsman told her and pointed out the places as nearly as +he could, explaining how the drifts moved always eastward under the +winds; how at times, most frequently in the spring months, when the +fierce gales swept down through the Pass and across the Basin, the huge +billows of sand would roll forward so swiftly that tents or wagons in +their path would be buried in a few hours, and how, in the calm +seasons, with every light breeze they work their silent way inch by +inch. Even as he spoke Barbara, looking, saw a thin film of sand, fine +as powdered snow, curl like mist over the edge of a drift as a breath +of air swept lightly up the western slope and over the summit of the +hill. + +At the point where Mr. Worth's party had camped to await the passing of +the storm, Texas stopped the team and showed her how they had rigged +their rude canvas shelter on one side of the wagon to protect +themselves from the cutting blast. Farther on he pointed out the spot +where they had found the horse with the broken halter strap, and then +they came to the great drift where her people had made their last camp +and where, later, Jefferson Worth had spent that night alone with the +spirit that lives in La Palma de la Mano de Dios. + +Again Texas halted his team, and Barbara, leaving her companion in the +buckboard, climbed to the top of the hill that held buried deep in its +heart--what? Was the body of her true father buried there? Were there +brothers, sisters, lying under that huge mound? Could the sands, if +they could speak, tell her who she was, her name and people? Could +they, if they would, make known to her relatives and friends of her own +blood? + +Coming slowly down the shoulder of the drift she went around to the +foot of the steep eastern side and there, in the lee of the billow that +curled high above her, she tried to dig with her hands a tiny hole. At +every movement that displaced a handful of sand, a dry golden flood +poured down from above, covering instantly the mark she had made. With +sudden, energy the young woman exerted all her strength, digging faster +and faster. But still, from above her head, down the steep side of the +drift the sand slid without effort, making a faint whispering sound as +if to mock her labors. Then Texas called and she went back to him, her +brown eyes hard and dry. + +The old plainsman, quick to feel her mood, would have driven swiftly on +past the remaining scenes of the tragedy and tried to talk of other +things. But she would not have it so. She must know all. So he showed +her where he had first found the tracks in the sand and then where the +baby feet had left their marks when the tired mother had set her down +to rest. + +Thus they came at last, when the day was almost gone, to the grave +beside the trail--the trail that had beside its many miles so many +graves. And Barbara stood before the simple headstone that bore only +the date and one word "Mother." And the silent man, who had in his wild +adventurous life witnessed so many scenes of death, turned away his +face that he might not see the girl kneeling beside the mound of earth. + +When Barbara, coming back to the buckboard, saw him so, she understood; +and when Texas, hearing her light steps, turned quickly toward her he +saw the brown eyes filled now with softening tears while her face +expressed the gratitude she could not put into words. + +Behind them the upper rim of the sun shone blood-red above the top of +the purple mountain wall; over their heads in the soft still depths of +the velvet sky an early star appeared. Around them on every side the +great desert lay under its seas of soft color, its veils of misty light +and streaming scarfs of lilac and rose. Even as they looked the dusk of +twilight fell upon the great plain. The ground-owl's weird call came +from a hummock near the trail, the ghostly form of a coyote slipped +stealthily past like a shadow moving from shadow to shadow until he was +lost in the deeper shade, out of which, as if in mocking challenge of a +spirit band to any mortal who would follow, came the wild, snarling, +unearthly cries of his invisible mates. And still to the eastward the +higher levels of the Mesa above the rim of the dark Basin, the slow +drifting clouds of dust that lifted from the tired feet of the grading +teams coming into the camp from the day's work on the canals, or from +freighters drawing near their journey's end, caught the last of the +light and showed long level bands and bars and threads of gold against +the deep purple of the hills beyond, whose peaks and domes and ridges +were flaming crimson, burnished copper and gleaming silver on the deep +background of the sky. Before them on the other side of the deep Dry +River channel, through which now a generous stream of water flowed, +they could see the tents of the camp--some glowing brightly from lights +within, others showing mere spots of dull white in the gloom, while +here and there lanterns, like great fireflies, flitted aimlessly to and +fro. + +Before two tent houses, some distance apart from the main camp and +built under a wide ramada made of willow poles and arrow weed brought +from the distant river, Texas stopped his team. From the open door of +one of the tents Jefferson Worth came quickly, at the sound of their +arrival, to receive his daughter, and from her father's arms Barbara +turned to greet Abe Lee who, following his chief from the canvas house, +had paused a little back from the group in the shadow of the ramada. +Later in the evening, when Barbara had had her supper with her father +and Abe in the big camp dining tent and the three were sitting in the +dark under the wide brush porch, Pat came with Texas, as the big +Irishman said, "to see how the new boss liked her quarters." And then +Pablo came softly out of the darkness with his guitar to bid La +Senorita welcome and to ask if she would care that night to listen a +little to the music that he knew she loved. + +So Barbara held her little court before the rude tent house under the +arrow weed ramada, in the heart of her Desert, within a stone's throw +of the spot where they had gathered once before around a baby girl +whose mother lay dead beside a dry water hole. And not one of them +thought of the significance of the group or how each, representing a +distinct type, stood for a vital element in the combination of human +forces that was working out for the race the reclamation of the land. +The tall, lean, desert-born surveyor, trained in no school but the +school of his work itself, with the dreams of the Seer ruling him in +his every professional service; the heavy-fisted, quick-witted, +aggressive Irishman, born and trained to handle that class of men that +will recognize in their labor no governing force higher than the +physical; the dark-faced frontiersman, whom the forces of nature, +through the hard years, had fashioned for his peculiar place in this +movement of the race as truly as wave and river and wind and sun had +made The King's Basin Desert itself; the self-hidden financier who, +behind his gray mask, wrought with the mighty force of his +age--Capital; and a little to one side, sitting on the ground, +reclining against one of the willow posts that upheld the arrow weed +shelter, dark Pablo, softly touching his guitar, representing a people +still far down on the ladder of the world's upward climb, but still +sharing, as all peoples would share, the work of all; and, in the midst +of the group, the center of her court--Barbara, true representative of +a true womanhood that holds in itself the future of the race, even as +the desert held in its earth womb life for the strong ones whom the +slow years had fitted to realize it. + +"Faith," said Pat, when Pablo's guitar was silent for a little, "av +only the Seer was here the family wud be altogether complete." + +"Dear old Seer," said Barbara softly. "How he would love to be here; +and how we would love to have him!" + +But under cover of the darkness a warm blush colored the young woman's +cheeks, for when Pat spoke she had not been thinking of the absence of +her old friend, but wishing for the presence of another engineer, who +also was working for the reclamation of her Desert and who was himself +in turn being wrought upon by his work, learning as the girl had hoped +he would learn, the language of the land. + +Jefferson Worth spoke in his exact way. "Even if he is not here this is +all the Seer's work." + +And just then from a distance up the old wash came the weird, unnatural +cry of a coyote. It was as though the spirit of the desert spoke in +answer to the banker's words. + +"Yell, ye sneaking thievin' imp. Yer time in this counthry is about +up!" exclaimed the Irishman with a growl of deep satisfaction. And +again out of the shadow the soft, plaintively sweet music of Pablo's +guitar floated away on the still darkness of the night. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +WHAT THE STAKES REVEALED. + + +James Greenfield, returning to Kingston from his tour of inspection, +left at once for his own world--a world of offices with mahogany +furniture, of men with white collars and pale faces, of banks and trust +companies, and Good Business. + +The afternoon of the day he left, Willard Holmes rode into the camp at +Dry River Crossing. The engineer explained that he was looking over the +route of a new main canal that was being surveyed by his men and that, +finding himself in the vicinity of Mr. Worth's headquarters, he had +taken the opportunity to call. + +From Barbara as well as from Jefferson Worth and Abe Lee the Company +man received a hearty welcome with a cordial invitation to ride with +them the next day over the line of their work. Although Holmes watched +with peculiar sensitiveness, there was no sign from either of the three +that they had yet discovered the real significance of the South Central +deal or that they knew the part he had played in it. His desire to end +the whole unpleasant situation by going over the work with Mr. Worth +and the surveyor, and by confessing to Barbara how he had permitted her +father to walk into the trap, led him to accept the invitation. + +The little party left camp early the next morning and following the +line of Black's survey found a mile or more of the canal already +completed, while a large force of men and teams was at work clearing +the ground and pushing the big ditch still farther in a general +southerly direction toward the Company canal fifteen miles away. + +Abe Lee explained to Barbara that other camps were located at points +farther on, thus dividing the whole district to be excavated into +several sections. "You see," he said turning to Holmes, "the waste from +Dry River Heading coming down the old channel gives us water at several +points so that we can handle this work to a little better advantage +than we used to do with the first of the Company canals." + +"I see," said the Company man. "And how many head of stock are you +working?" + +"About fifteen hundred now, but we are increasing the force right +along. We expect to handle about twice that." + +Instantly Willard Holmes saw that he could still save Jefferson Worth +from heavy financial loss. But it was to the interest of The King's +Basin Land and Irrigation Company for Jefferson Worth to lose heavily. +What should he do? + +They had left the first section of the work now and were following the +line of the survey where the brush had been roughly cleared. The +engineer, preoccupied in his struggle with the question that confronted +him, had dropped behind the others, when suddenly Barbara, looking +back, checked El Capitan. "What's the matter, Mr. Holmes?" she called. + +The others also looked back to see the engineer kneeling on the ground. +Jefferson Worth glanced quickly at his superintendent who chuckled +outright. + +"What is it?" cried Barbara at Abe's unusual laugh. "What's the joke?" + +Before either of the men could answer, Holmes sprang to his saddle and, +with a quick jab of his spurs in the horse's flanks, rejoined them on +the run. In his excitement the mental habits of his life asserted +themselves and he was again the typical corporation official dealing +with a mere private individual operating on a small scale. "Look here!" +he burst forth sharply to Abe; "these are not our Company stakes. You +are not following Black's line." + +The surveyor grinned. "We followed it for a half mile this side of the +cut, then we branched off. You evidently did not notice." + +"Where do you strike it again?" + +"We don't strike it again." + +"Then how do you get to the intake location?" + +"We don't get to the intake _you_ located at all. We strike your canal +three miles farther up." + +The Company's chief engineer retorted hotly: "But you can't do that. +Our survey shows"--he stopped. + +"Your survey shows what?" came Abe Lee's sharp challenge. "You are +undoubtedly familiar with the data turned in by your man Black, for you +told Mr. Worth the quality of the soil before he closed the deal. What +else does your survey show?" + +Before the engineer could answer, Jefferson Worth's cool voice broke +in. "You understand, Mr. Holmes, that there is nothing in my contract +with your Company that binds me to follow the line of your survey or +accept your location of the intake. The Company contracts to deliver +the water into my canal, that is all." + +The engineer regained control of himself. "I beg your pardon, Mr. +Worth; and yours, Lee. I forgot myself. I see that my man Black made a +mistake." + +Abe laughed dryly. "In checking over Black's work, Holmes, I found his +elevations correct at every point." + +Holmes himself smiled as he said: "Well, Lee, whether you believe me or +not, I am very glad you checked over Black's work, and, Mr. Worth, with +all my heart I wish you success in your project." + +"Thank you," said Worth, "I am already indebted to you for a valuable +piece of information." + +"Indebted to me?" + +"You remember what I asked you when I was going over this proposition +with Greenfield and Burk in the Company office?" + +"I remember that you asked me about the soil in the district." + +"You answered that the _soil_ was all right." + +Holmes drew a long breath. "And you let Uncle Jim and Burk think--" + +"I let them think what they wanted to think," said Jefferson Worth. + +Barbara, who had listened with intense interest to the conversation, at +Holmes's unfinished remark and her father's reply moved El Capitan +slowly away from his place beside Worth's horse and went close to Abe +Lee. All the gladness was gone from the young woman's face now, and +while she maintained a show of interest it was plainly forced. + +The banker, at his daughter's movement, retreated behind his gray mask +and for the rest of the trip spoke only when it was necessary, leaving +her entirely to the surveyor and Willard Holmes. + +Barbara had understood from the talk of the men that her father, by +using the unsuspecting engineer, had in some way shrewdly gained a +business advantage over the Company. The incident forced her, as she +thought, to see with a cruel clearness that to Jefferson Worth this +splendid work of reclaiming the desert was nothing but the opportunity +to win larger financial gains; that he was still practicing the tactics +for which he was famous. She shrank from him unconsciously but to the +man as plainly as she had drawn back in fear that night years before. +As the baby had turned from him to the Seer then, the young woman +turned from him to Abe Lee now. + +During the rest of the day Barbara kept so close to the surveyor's side +that Willard Holmes had no opportunity to talk with her alone, and when +they arrived again at the headquarters camp the engineer, promising to +call upon her soon in Kingston, left for one of his own camps a few +miles away. + +That evening Jefferson Worth and his daughter sat alone under the arrow +weed ramada facing the river. Moving her camp chair closer in the +dusk--so close that, reaching out she laid her warm young hand on the +hand of her father--Barbara said in a low tone: "Daddy, I wish you +would tell me all about this South Central District business." + +She felt the slim nervous fingers move uneasily. Never before had +Barbara asked him to explain any of his transactions. The man's habit +of retiring behind that gray mask whenever the subject of his business +was mentioned, together with the girl's instinctive shrinking lest his +answers to such a question should drive them farther apart, prevented. +But to-night, perhaps because Willard Holmes was concerned, perhaps +because of her peculiar interest in the work involved, Barbara forced +herself to ask. + +"What do you want to know?" + +At his expressionless tone it was to Barbara as though she felt the +chill of his cold mask coming between them, but she persisted and in +her voice was passionate earnestness. "I want to know all about it, +father; I must." + +"Why?" + +"Because"--she hesitated. "Because I understood from the conversation +to-day about the surveys that someone had made a mistake. I--I don't +want to make a mistake, daddy. Won't you please explain it all to me? +What was it that you let Mr. Greenfield and Mr. Burk think?" + +Perhaps because of the memories of the place, or because it was the +first time Barbara had ever sought an explanation, or again perhaps it +was because Willard Holmes was interested, Jefferson Worth answered: "I +let them think I was a fool." + +"But why was Mr. Holmes so excited to-day when he found out about those +stakes?" + +"He discovered that I was not such a fool as they thought." + +Then Jefferson Worth explained to the girl the whole situation. He made +clear Greenfield's reason for offering him the water rights; why he +would have taken the stock without investigation but for the hint he +received from the Company engineer's manner and the way Holmes had +answered that simple question about the soil; how he had made the +survey secretly, because Greenfield would have refused to close the +deal if he had known that Worth wanted it after he had it investigated, +and because if Greenfield believed the district stock to be valueless +he would sell at a very low figure rather than not sell at all; and how +it was that same low figure that enabled him to give the men who were +working on the canal a chance to acquire farms of their own. + +When he had made it all plain, the young woman exclaimed: "And this man +Greenfield and those with him in the Company are the men who are doing +the Seer's work; who are making the reclamation of the desert possible! +I don't--I can't understand it." + +"It is a very simple business deal," said Worth. "There is nothing +unusual about it. Greenfield and his men are good men; they are simply +defending their interests from a competitor. This Desert never could be +reclaimed at all without them or others like them." + +"Tell me again, daddy; was Mr. Holmes _sure_ that this land was +worthless?" + +"Certainly he was sure of it. He had all of Black's data giving the +elevations." + +"And he knew that they were trying to sell it to you?" + +"Yes." + +"But did he know _why?_ Did he know it was a trap to ruin your work?" + +"Certainly, he must have known." + +The girl's voice trembled. "Oh, why--why didn't he tell you? Why didn't +he warn you?" + +"He did." + +"Yes, daddy, but he did not _intend_ to do it, for to-day he did not +know that he had until you explained. And I thought-I thought--" Her +voice ended in a sob. + +"But Barbara, Holmes did just what he should have done. He is in the +employ of the Company. He had no right to interfere with their +business." + +"Every man has a right to be a man," she answered hotly. "Abe wouldn't +have kept still. The Seer would not have helped them in their schemes. +I don't wonder that the Company discharged the Seer to give Mr. Holmes +his place!" + +Jefferson Worth was silent for a little, then he said: "If I had +thought that you would blame Holmes I never would have told you." + +"But you did right to tell me. I am glad, for I see now that I _was_ +making a mistake--that I was making two mistakes. I misjudged you, +daddy--forgive me; and I--I have been mistaken about Mr. Holmes." + +For an hour or more the two sat silent, the mind of each occupied with +thoughts that were much the same. Barbara for the first time felt that +she could enter fully into her father's life. She had at last seen +behind his gray mask and found herself in full sympathy with him. And +the lonely man knew that at last he had gained that for which his heart +hungered--the fullest companionship of the girl he loved as his only +child. + +At last Barbara said softly: "Daddy, I am not going back to Kingston +to-morrow. I am going to stay here with you. You can have another tent +house built and Texas can go for Ynez who will bring what things I +need. I am going to make a home for you. You need me, daddy. You are so +alone in your work; no one understands you as I do now. Let me come and +help you." + +Awkwardly Jefferson Worth put out his hand and drawing his daughter +closer said in a tone that Barbara had never heard before: "I was +wishing that you would want to stay. You--you are not afraid of me now, +Barbara?" + +"Why, no, of course not; what a strange thing to ask! I have never been +afraid of you; why should I be?" + +And Barbara thought that she spoke truly--that she had never feared +him; though Jefferson Worth knew better. + +So another tent house was built and Texas went alone to Kingston, to +return with Ynez as Barbara had planned, and the young woman set about +making a home for her father in the rude desert camp. + +Every day nearly she rode El Capitan out to some part of the work, and +the men who were toiling for more than wages learned to know her and to +hail her presence as a good omen. Many a rough fellow, dreaming of wife +or sweetheart and the home he would make for them in the desert as he +drove his team and held the bar of his Fresno, worked the harder for a +cheery word from the daughter of his employer. + +And every evening under the ramada Barbara sat with her father, often +alone, sometimes with one or more of her little court; and always the +talk was of the work, save for the times when Pablo would come softly +to make music for his Senorita and then they would sit silently, +listening to the sweet harmonies that floated away into the night. + +Often Barbara would go the short distance from the house to the old +wash; there to sit almost on the very spot where her mother had +perished beside the dry water hole; and watching the stream that now +flowed through the old channel, or looking away across the deep cut to +the sand hills that showed clearly in the distance, she would live over +the story as she had learned it that day with Texas--asking the old, +old question, to which there was still no answer. + +One afternoon as she was sitting there, two wagons with a small party +of men appeared on the high bank of the stream opposite. As the men +climbed down from their seats, someone on horseback rode to the edge of +the cut and sat for a moment looking across. Even at that distance she +knew him; it was Willard Holmes. Watching she saw him turn and by his +motions guessed that he was giving some instructions to the men. Then +he rode away toward the Crossing. + +Quickly Barbara returned to the rude porch of the tent house and in a +few minutes saw the engineer approach. Dismounting and throwing the +reins over his horse's head he came to her smiling, sombrero in hand. +"Buenas dias, Senorita. Please may I have a drink?" + +"Certainly, Mr. Holmes; help yourself." She pointed to the olla hanging +in the shade of the ramada. + +The engineer started at her cool reply, given as she would have +addressed a stranger, and, more to regain his composure than because he +was thirsty, helped himself from the earthen water jar. When he could +delay no longer he turned again to her, and forcing himself to speak as +if he had not noticed the lack of warmth in her greeting said: "I was +sorry to miss you in town. I called several times." + +"I am keeping house here for father," she answered. + +"Then we will be neighbors," he said with assumed lightness; "at least +half-way neighbors. A party of my surveyors will be camped over there +across the river. I will be with them part of the time." + +When she made no reply to this, the man understood. Slowly he drew on +his gloves and, laying aside all pretense, said simply: "I have been +trying to see you, Miss Worth, because I wanted to tell you myself of +the miserable part I took in the shameful trick my uncle attempted to +play on your father. I see that you know all about it and I realize +that it is quite useless for me to ask you to forgive me." + +He paused, but still the young woman was silent. + +[Illustration: More to regain his composure than because he was thirsty +helped himself from the earthen water jar] + +The man could not know how she was fighting to keep back the tears. + +"You told me plainly that you could never forgive one who was untrue to +his work," he went on hopelessly, "and you are right. There was a time, +before I knew you, when I would have defended my action, when I would +have held that it was right; but I cannot now. Perhaps if I had known +you longer--But what's the use. I am a sad bungler in this great work, +Miss Worth. I am out of place in the big desert. I should have stayed +at home. I wish--I wish you had never wakened me to the possibilities +of life--real life. You would not need to feel ashamed for me now." + +When she looked up he was mounting his horse. Almost she cried out to +him, but he rode quickly out of her sight. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +PABLO BRINGS NEWS TO BARBARA. + + +All through the long hot months of that second summer Barbara stayed in +the desert with her father. Many times Mr. Worth insisted that she +should go to the coast or the mountains for a few weeks, while Abe, +Texas and Pat added their entreaties. But the young woman's answer was +always--to her father: "If you must stay, daddy, then I must stay to +take care of you;" to Abe it was: "Why don't you take a vacation? This +is just as much my work as it is yours;" to Texas it was a laughing +question whether he thought she was a "quitter," and to Pat she always +declared that the desert could not in the least hurt her complexion. + +"And look at the other women," she would argue. There was Jack Hanson's +little wife, with their children, in a twelve by fourteen tent out +there on their claim alone all day and many nights, while Jack was on +the work. And Mrs. White, who stoutly declared that she was "sure going +to stand by her Jim if it burned her to a crisp," and that they did not +have the money to spend even if they could leave the crops they had +managed to plant. And Mrs. Rollins and Mrs. Baird and Mrs. Cole and the +others, who were holding down their husbands' claims while the men were +earning money on the works to help them in getting their start. Surely +if these women could stay with their men-folk Barbara could. So Mr. +Worth let her have her way. And the other three strove among +themselves, with varied and picturesque figures of speech, and--it must +be confessed--some rather strong language, to express their admiration +for her courage and endurance, while all four taxed their inventive +powers to the limit devising ways to add to her comfort. + +The work in the South Central District continued steadily with no delay +through lack of help, and when the canal was finished and the water +ready, the men who had built it turned to making the ditches on their +own claims, leveling their land for irrigation, preparing for the first +crops and making what other improvements they could. Meanwhile the new +townsite was laid out on the ground already occupied by the +headquarters camp and the camp itself became the town of "Barba." + +But, perhaps because--as Pablo said--"there was no Senorita in the +Company," Greenfield's chief engineer again found it hard to hold his +men through the hot months and was obliged to discontinue work on their +Central Main. Holmes himself spent the weeks of the flood season at the +river, refusing to leave even for a day. Three times, when conditions +at the intake and heading were most critical and the danger that +threatened the unconscious settlers seemed imminent, the engineer sent +for Abe Lee, while Texas, Pat and Pablo were instructed by Mr. Worth to +be ready at an hour's notice to move the entire working force of the +district to the scene of the expected disaster. + +And still, even through those trying times Jefferson Worth continued +his operations in all parts of the Basin and started various +enterprises in his new town with the conviction of a born fatalist, +though he almost constantly now, except when he was with Barbara, wore +that expressionless gray mask. Abe Lee's thin face, burned dark by +constant exposure to the fierce desert sun, had a look of watchful +readiness. And Barbara, seeing, thought that it was all because of the +strain of their own work, for even Barbara was not told of the terrible +risk that the Company was forcing the pioneers to take. + +Meanwhile James Greenfield and the Company officials, from the outside, +watched the situation with the calmness of professional gamblers +watching the turn of the cards. Though he did not come into the desert +during the summer, the Company president spent most of his time in the +West now, for the Reclamation project launched by him was assuming such +proportions that his personal attention was justified. Only one thing +more was needed to bring such a flood of land-seekers, speculators and +investors that the Company's immense profits would be assured. The new +country must have a railroad. + +To this end, in the city by the sea, the eastern financier was bringing +every influence he could command to bear upon the officials of the +Southwestern and Continental that skirted the rim of the Basin. But the +great man who shaped the destinies of the S. & C., secure in the +knowledge that his road controlled the only pass through the range of +mountains that shut in the new country, for some reason refused to +build a branch line into the territory in which Mr. Greenfield was so +deeply interested. + +James Greenfield, himself a power of the first magnitude in the +financial world, was always admitted to the presence of the railroad +man without delay and was always received by the official with every +courtesy. His statements as to the extent and value of the lands that +were being developed by his Company, with his estimates of the volume +of business that a branch line would bring to the Southwestern and +Continental, were received without question. The railroad man even +betrayed unusual interest in the reclamation of The King's Basin +Desert, with a knowledge of conditions almost as complete as Mr. +Greenfield's. Frequently he asked of Jefferson Worth's operations and +of the development of the South Central District. But always he shook +his head when Greenfield urged immediate action. There were certain +reasons; he was not at liberty to go into details. Some day no doubt +the branch line would be built, but he could make no promises. + +This was the situation in the fall when, with the danger from the river +past and his canals finished, Jefferson Worth sought an interview with +the president of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company at his +office in the Coast city. + +Mr. Greenfield received the banker cordially, congratulated him upon +the success of his South Central District work and prophesied great +things for everybody interested in The King's Basin project. + +Jefferson Worth, behind his gray mask, at once made known the object of +his visit. He wished to secure from the Company the right to take water +from their Central Main for a small power house to be located in the +Dry River wash. Mr. Worth explained frankly the advantage it would give +the new town of Barba, in which he was interested, and stated that he +had, some time before, laid his proposition before the Company's +manager in order that Mr. Greenfield might be informed of the matter. + +Greenfield said that he had heard from Mr. Burk and that he thought it +might be arranged. Then, while Jefferson Worth listened with his usual +careful attention, the Company man set forth their great need of a +railroad. And by the way; was Mr. Worth personally acquainted with the +man who controlled the S. & C.? + +"I know of him," came the cautious reply. + +"Well, Mr. Worth," said the president; "I'll tell you what we'll do. We +need that railroad and we need it now. So far I have failed to get any +definite promise from the S. & C. that they will give us a branch line. +If you can secure a railroad for the Basin this year, we will give you +the right of way for your power canal and a contract for the water." + +"Is that your only proposition?" + +"That is my only proposition." + +The president of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company would +have been astonished if he could have witnessed the meeting of +Jefferson Worth and the railroad man an hour later. + +"Hello, Jeff!" came in hearty tones from the official as the door of +his private office closed behind the banker. "How are you? I hear that +Greenfield sold you a gold brick." + +Mr. Worth smiled while the other laughed heartily. "I tell you, Jeff, +we little Westerners have got to watch out for these big eastern +operators or they'll take the whole blamed country away from us." + +"The gold brick is panning out pretty well so far," said the banker. + +"So I understand. Crawford has been telling me all about it. In fact +the whole King's Basin proposition looks mighty good to me, except for +that New York bunch. I'm afraid of them, Jeff. Greenfield has been +camping on my trail for three months, wanting us to build them a branch +line. I told Crawford yesterday that it was about time for you to come +around." + +"When are you going to build that road?" asked Mr. Worth. + +The other shook his head. "Can't do it, Jeff. You know the situation as +well as I. If the river comes in the whole country will go to smash; +and with the class of structures they have put in to control it and +with an eastern engineer in charge, it's too big a chance. The S. & C. +is not spending money to help out wild-cat projects promoted by eastern +capital." + +"But if you give us the branch line it will insure the success of the +project, for it will make the Company property so valuable that they +will spend more money to protect it." + +"Or"--added the other--"_we_ would have to spend more money to protect +it. I'm sorry Jeff, if that's what you have been figuring on, but we +are not an insurance company--we are in the transportation business." + +"Then you won't build into the Basin?" + +"Not under existing conditions, Jeff." + +With as little show of emotion as he would have exhibited had he merely +proposed to purchase a morning paper, Jefferson Worth said: "All right, +then I'll build it myself." + +The railroad man knew that the quietly spoken words meant that the +banker had determined to stake everything he had in the world upon a +chance that even the S. & C., with its unlimited capital, refused to +take. With his already large investments in the new country, the +building of the railroad would tax Worth's resources to the very limit +and the failure of the Company's project would mean for him financial +ruin. + +During the flood season just past Jefferson Worth had seen the safety +of the Reclamation work hanging on a very slender thread. Every hour he +had looked for the disaster that would bring to nothing all that had +been accomplished by the desert pioneers, whose ruin he would share, +yet he calmly proposed now to throw into the venture everything that +years of unceasing toil had brought him--his capital, his credit, his +reputation. + +"Don't do it, Jeff," said his friend. "You are in deep enough now. +Better keep an anchor to windward." + +"I figured on taking a chance when I went into that country," said +Worth simply. It was as if he had foreseen this situation from the very +beginning and had planned how he would meet it. The railroad man's face +expressed his admiration for this display of nerve. + +"If I can do anything for you let me know, Jeff." + +"Thanks. If you would just not mention to anyone that I am connected +with this for a little while." + +"Oh, I see. Greenfield again, I suppose? What are you up to anyway, +Jeff; buying another gold brick?" + +Worth explained his plan for a power plant and Greenfield's proposition. + +"Hell!" exclaimed the dignified official. "You can't tell me that you +are going to build a railroad into Greenfield's town just to get a +dinky little power plant in your own district. I'm not from New York, +Jeff." + +To which Jefferson Worth answered from behind his mask: "The Basin +needs a railroad." + +The next day Greenfield sought the railroad office in haste. "I +understand that you have decided to build that branch road." + +The official, who had received his guest with the dignified courtesy +befitting one of his position, smiled at the other's manner as a +gracious sovereign might smile on granting a subject's petition. + +Greenfield accepted the smile as an assent. "May I ask when you will +begin the work?" + +"I cannot say exactly, Mr. Greenfield. The survey will probably be made +at once and the work begun as soon as it is possible to assemble men +and material." + +When The King's Basin Messenger announced that the survey was being +made for a railroad from the main line of the S. & C. at Deep Well to +Kingston, it did not mention the fact that Abe Lee was in charge of the +work. And James Greenfield, who signed the promised contract following +the announcement, did not learn until the next issue of the Messenger +that the road was not being built by the S. & C. but by Jefferson Worth +himself. + +Quickly the news that the railroad was building into The King's Basin +was spread by the papers throughout the surrounding country and from +every side the swelling flood of life poured in. Every section of the +new lands felt the influence of the rush. For miles around the towns, +every vacant tract was seized by the incoming settlers. Townsite +companies quickly laid out new towns, while in the towns already +established new business blocks and dwellings sprang up as if some +Aladdin had rubbed his lamp. Real estate values advanced to undreamed +figures and the property was sold, re-sold and sold again. And +Kingston, the heart and center of it all--Kingston, Texas Joe said, +"went plumb locoed." + +The name of Jefferson Worth was on every tongue. Was he not the wizard +who commanded prosperity and wealth to wait upon The King's Basin? Was +he not the Aladdin who rubbed the lamp? + +Horace P. Blanton, who seemed to increase magically as if, indeed, he +fed on the stuff of which booms are made, did not lack for audience now +as he talked in rolling phrases of his friend Worth and what "we" had +done, with suggestive hints of still greater things that "we" again +would do. To see the great Horace P. in all the glory of white vest and +picture-hat, as he escorted parties of awe-stricken newcomers about the +town and pointed out with majestic gestures "our" opera house, "our" +bank, "our" power house, "our" ice plant, the site of "our" new depot, +was an experience never to be forgotten. To watch him give orders, when +Pat was not near, to some laborer in the grading gang at work on the +roadbed and yards or to see him instructing a merchant in the finer +points of his business, was a delight. To hear him speak with authority +upon every question relating to The King's Basin project, from the +stage of the water in the river two years before the first survey, and +the future plans of Jefferson Worth, to the chemical properties of the +soil, the proper grade for irrigating alfalfa and the kinds and +varieties of fruits and vegetables best adapted to the climate, was as +instructive as it was interesting. + +With the beginning of the work on the railroad, Barbara and her father +again made their home in Kingston, and Horace P. Blanton, whenever he +could escape from his arduous duties, endeavored earnestly to make +himself agreeable to Jefferson Worth's daughter. There was no mistaking +either his purpose or his perfect confidence in his ability to achieve +success. Many and ingenious were the things that three members of +Barbara's court promised each other should happen to Horace P. + +It was on one of those afternoons, when the man with the white vest was +making himself very much at home on the front porch of the Worth +cottage, that Pablo riding in from the South Central District sought La +Senorita. Dismounting from his tired horse the Mexican, his spurs +clanking on the walk, approached Barbara, and with his sombrero +brushing the ground greeted her in his native tongue, turning an +inquiring eye meanwhile upon the portly Horace P. + +Barbara returned his greeting in Spanish, following her words in +English with: "This is Senor Blanton, Pablo. Mr. Blanton, this is my +friend Pablo Garcia." + +The white man acknowledged the introduction with a lordly gesture. + +The Mexican, with a gleam of his white teeth said: "I have the pleasure +to see the Senor sometimes before. He is what they call 'the booster.' +I have hear him talk many times on street." Then to Barbara: "I am come +quick, Senorita, to find Senor Worth or Senor Lee. You know if it is +far to where they are? I ride fast. My horse is tired." + +Before the young woman could answer, the big man, with a voice of +authority, said: "You will find them out on the line of the railroad +somewhere between here and Deep Well. Just follow the grade. You can't +miss it." + +Pablo should have considered himself dismissed but, ignoring Blanton, +he waited for Barbara's answer. "I don't know just where they are, +Pablo. You had better wait until they come in. Is there anything wrong?" + +The Mexican shrugged his shoulders with another glance toward her +companion. "I cannot say, Senorita. There is no what you call accident, +but I think better I come." + +"What is it, my man?" said Horace P., again interrupting. "I will see +Mr. Worth about it as soon as he comes in. You have no business +troubling Miss Worth." + +Barbara's slippered toe tapped the floor nervously although Barbara was +not a nervous young woman. + +Pablo, with another shrug, said coldly: "It is to tell Senor Worth or +Senor Lee that I come. If La Senorita tells me I trouble her that is +different." + +The young woman spoke. "Put your horse in the barn, Pablo, and then +come in. I know you have had nothing to eat since morning and you are +all tired out. Ynez is away, but I will find something for you and you +can rest here until father comes." + +Pablo retreated and Barbara rising, said: "You will excuse me, Mr. +Blanton." + +"Are you going to let that greaser spoil our afternoon?" he asked in a +tone of offended majesty. + +The girl laughed outright. "You are so funny when you puff yourself up +that way and try to look so kingly. Pray how is this _our_ afternoon? +What is left of it belongs to Pablo. I am going to find him something +to eat and then I mean to talk to him every minute until father comes. +You may stay if you like, but we shall talk in Spanish." + +The face of Horace P. Blanton expressed fat anguish. Rising, he went +closer and stood over her with a look which he imagined to be a look of +melting tenderness and, in a voice that fairly dripped with honeyed +sweetness, he began: "Miss Worth--Barbara, I--" + +_"Sir!"_ If Barbara had shot the word at him from Texas Joe's +forty-five it could not have been more effective. + +"I--I beg your pardon, Miss Worth," he stammered. "Certainly, +certainly; by all means, Miss Worth. Good-by." + +And that was as near as Horace P. Blanton ever came to achieving the +success of which he was so confident. + +A few minutes later Pablo, without hesitation, told Barbara what had +brought him to Kingston. A Mexican friend, who worked for The King's +Basin Land and Irrigation Company, had overheard a conversation between +the Company Manager and the chief engineer, who were together +inspecting the work on the Central Main Canal. Dropping into his quaint +English, Pablo repeated what his friend had told him. + +"Senor Holmes he say: 'The canal will go here where the stakes are +set.' Senor Burk say: 'No, you shall go that other way.' 'But that will +leave the power house away eight miles and the elevation it is not the +same,' say Senor Holmes. Senor Burk say: 'Power house is Mr. Worth's +not our. This way is good for us.' 'Senor Holmes no like it. He is very +mad,' say my friend. He say: 'I will not do it.' Then Senor Burk say: +'All right, you lose your job. Greenfield say it must go there; it is +an order.' Then they go 'way and my friend he tell me 'cause he think +maybe it is no good for power house. I think maybe so Senor Worth like +to know." + +The next morning Jefferson Worth called upon the Manager of The King's +Basin Land and Irrigation Company. + +"Mr. Burk, I understand that you are changing the line of your Central +Canal." + +"We are." + +"But my contract with your Company must be considered." + +"We have already considered it, Mr. Worth. It relates only to the +delivery of a certain amount of water into your canal. There is nothing +in it that binds us to build _our_ canal on the line surveyed." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +GATHERING OF OMINOUS FORCES. + + +Kingston was a boiling, seething, steaming volcano of hot wrath, +burning indignation and fiery protest. Kingston cursed, raved, stormed +and resoluted, then stormed, raved and resoluted some more. Kingston +was tricked, betrayed, cheated, defrauded, insulted and mocked. And the +unspeakable villain, the sordid wretch, the miserable gamester who had +ruined Kingston was Jefferson Worth. + +It is unknown to this day who first brought the news that all work on +the railroad for a distance of seven miles out from Kingston was +stopped and that the camps with their entire outfits had disappeared, +leaving the scenes of their stirring activity as still and lifeless as +if they had never existed. Next it was known that from Deep Well +southward the construction train was still pushing its way into the +Basin and that the work ahead of the train went on. + +Then, while Kingston was wondering, questioning, discussing, the word +went quickly around that the grading crews were setting up their camps +twelve miles east of the Company town and that a line of stakes led one +way to the town of Barba and the other way in the direction to meet the +construction train working out from the junction with the S. & C. at +Deep Well. + +Then the startled people grasped the truth of the appalling situation +and awoke from their dream. In the line of the railroad survey that had +led to Kingston as straight as you could draw a string, there was now a +curve seven miles away, the tangent of which would carry it twelve +miles east of the Company town and straight into Barba. + +Practically all business ceased, while the citizens in knots and groups +discussed the situation. Jefferson Worth was in the Coast city and +telegrams to him, all save one, received no answer. To a message from +Mr. Burk he replied that the line had been changed by his orders. As +for Abe Lee, they might as well have questioned one of the surveyor's +grade stakes. Even Barbara, besought by the distracted citizens, could +tell them nothing except that her father would return Saturday. There +was nothing to do save to wait for Mr. Worth and to prepare for his +coming. + +When the president of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company +arrived on the scene in answer to an urgent wire from his Manager, he +was at once the center of public interest. But Mr. Greenfield escaped +quickly from the crowd at the hotel and was very soon closeted with +Burk in the office. + +Then a boy found Horace P. Blanton. Horace P. was not hard to find. +With the word that Mr. Greenfield desired to see him immediately, +Horace P. Blanton increased visibly--so visibly that the spectators +watched the white vest with no little anxiety. + +"Tell Mr. Greenfield that I will see him immediately," he said in a +voice that was easily heard across the street. Then Horace P. arrived +at the door of the Company office a full length ahead of the messenger. + +An hour later, when Blanton reappeared to the public eye, the white +vest could no longer be buttoned over his expanding importance and +beads of portentous dignity stood on his massive brow. + +What did Greenfield want? What was the Company going to do? the crowd +demanded eagerly. + +From his lofty height the great one answered: "Our Company president +simply desired my opinion and advice in this little difficulty. As to +what we will do, I am not at liberty to make a public statement, but--" +That "but" was filled with tremendous potential power. + +"Did Mr. Greenfield know that the change in the railroad line was +contemplated?" + +"Certainly not. He learned of it first from the telegram that called +him to Kingston." + +"Why was the change in the road made?" + +Horace P. Blanton smiled. It was very easy to understand if they would +look over this man Worth's operations since he had been in the Basin. +What had he done? First he had quietly invested heavily in Kingston +real estate. Next he had as quietly, through his various companies and +agents, gained control of all the public utilities in the new country. +Then he had so manipulated things that he gained absolute control of +the whole South Central District, one of the richest sections of the +Basin, and had started the town of Barba on land owned by himself. His +next move was to gain control of the railroad, which, as every one +knew, was started as an S. & C. line. "Remember," said the perspiring +master of affairs, "that when this man Worth began work on the railroad +into Kingston, he still owned a large amount of Kingston real estate +with buildings and business establishments. To-day you will find +that--save for the newspaper, the telephone line, the power plant, the +ice plant, the bank and his home--he does not own a foot of land, a +building, or a business establishment in Kingston. What has he done? He +used the railroad to start a boom in our beautiful little city, then +sold out at an immense profit and now, having no further interest in +Kingston, changes the line of his road to Barba--the town that he owns, +leaving us to make the most of the situation." + +The orator's impressive climax called forth from every hearer furious +invectives against the absent financier. Following the announcement of +the coming of the road to Kingston, the name of Jefferson Worth had +been on every tongue. The same name was on every tongue now, but the +man that had been hailed as the good genius of the reclamation was now +cursed for a selfish fiend, who would lay waste the whole country for +his own greedy ends. + +Horace P. Blanton exhausted both himself and the English language in a +lurid, picturesque and vigorous delineation of the character of this +monstrous enemy of the race. It was such gold-thirsty pirates as +Jefferson Worth who, by preying upon legitimate business interests and +coining for themselves the heart-blood of the people, made it so hard +for such public benefactors as James Greenfield to promote the +interests of the country. + +It was beautiful to see how the speaker appreciated the splendid +character, matchless genius and noble life of his friend Greenfield, +the distinguished president of The King's Basin Company and the father +of Reclamation. Some day, he declared, the citizens of the reclaimed +desert, looking over their magnificent farms and beautiful homes, would +appreciate the work of this man and understand then, as they could not +now, how he had toiled in their interests. As for this fellow Jefferson +Worth, dark and dreadful were the hints that Horace P. dropped as to +his future. + +It was Horace P. Blanton who arranged for a public indignation meeting +in the Worth opera house the afternoon of Jefferson Worth's expected +return. When the day arrived Kingston entertained the largest crowd +that had ever gathered within the boundaries of the town. For word of +the situation had traveled throughout the Basin, and from every corner +of the new country men came to the scene of the excitement to attend +the mass-meeting and to be present when the man that threatened +Kingston with ruin should appear. Teamsters left their teams and +Fresnos on the Company works, ranchers left their crops and cattle, +newly located settlers forsook their ditching and leveling, zanjeros +deserted their water gates and levees. Bold, hardy, venturesome spirits +these were, with bodies toughened by hard toil in the open air and +faces blackened and bronzed by constant exposure to the semi-tropical +sun, for the desert did not yield to weaklings who would submit tamely +to being skillfully juggled out of their own by a slim-fingered +manipulator of business. Under the natural curiosity and love of +entertainment that drew these strong, roughly dressed, roughly speaking +pioneers to the point of interest, there was an under-current of grim +determination to protect their new country from the schemes of +unprincipled corporations. It was an old, old story. + +At the mass-meeting there were many vigorous speeches by hot-headed +ones, a masterly address by Horace P. Blanton, and--because he could +not escape this--a few words by James Greenfield, who was introduced by +Blanton as "the father of The King's Basin Reclamation work" and +received by the citizens with generous applause. Acting upon +Greenfield's suggestion, a committee was appointed to wait upon Mr. +Worth immediately upon his arrival and the meeting adjourned until nine +o'clock that evening, when the committee would report. + +As the eventful day drew near its close, horsemen from the South +Central District began to arrive. These were the men who had worked for +Jefferson Worth on the canals and who, through him, were now developing +ranches of their own. These South Central men scattered quietly through +the crowd and soon in every group there was one or more of the +new-comers, listening attentively. And it was a significant, though in +that country an unnoticed fact, that every man from Jefferson Worth's +district wore the familiar side-arms of the West. But these attentive +ones took no part in the discussions, speaking neither in defense nor +in condemnation of the man who had so stirred the public indignation. + +As the hour for the arrival of the stage approached, the crowd massed +in front of the hotel, filling the lobby, the arcade and the street, +and still scattered through the throng were the men from the South +Central District. + +When the stage was seen in the distance a low murmur, like the +threatening rumble of a coming storm, arose from the mass of men and, +following this, a hush like the hush of Nature before the storm breaks. +Into and through the strangely silent crowd the driver of the six +broncos forced his frightened team. As the stage stopped and the +passengers, looking curiously down into the excited faces of the +throng, prepared to alight, a murmur arose. The murmur swelled into a +roar. Jefferson Worth was not there! + +When the main line train discharged its Basin passengers at the +Junction that afternoon, the engine of the construction train on the +new road brought Mr. Worth as far as the rails were laid. Here Texas +Joe, with a fast team and light buckboard, was waiting. So it happened +that while the crowd was massing in front of the hotel awaiting the +arrival of the stage, Jefferson Worth was at his home quietly eating +his supper and reassuring his frightened daughter. + +When the assembled pioneers learned from the stage driver that the man +they waited for had left the Junction on the engine, they were not long +in arriving at the truth. The excitement, inflamed by what seemed the +fear of Jefferson Worth and increased by the judicious efforts of +Horace P. Blanton, was intense. From an orderly company of indignant +citizens waiting to interview a public man, the crowd became a mob +pursuing an escaping victim. With shouts and yells they started for the +Worth home. And with them went the quiet men from the South Central +District. + +As the sound of the approaching crowd reached the two at the table, +Barbara sprang to her feet, her face white with fear. "Daddy, they're +coming. They're coming!" she whispered, trembling with anxiety for her +father's safety. "Quick! El Capitan is ready. I told Pablo to have him +saddled." + +But Jefferson Worth, quietly sipping the cup of black coffee with which +he always finished his meal, returned calmly: "Sit down, Barbara. I +won't need El Capitan to-night." + +As he spoke the crowd arrived at the front of the house and, as if to +confirm his words, a sudden peaceful silence followed the uproar of +their coming. + +On the front porch, in the red level light of the sun that across the +desert was just touching the topmost ridge of No Man's Mountains, stood +the tall, grizzly-haired, dark-faced old-timer, Texas Joe; the +heavy-shouldered, bull-necked Irish gladiator, Pat; and the lean, +sinewy, iron-nerved man of the desert, Abe Lee; while quietly pushing +and elbowing their way to the front were the men from the South Central +District. + +The quiet was broken by the slow, drawling voice of Texas Joe. "Evenin' +boys. What for is the stampede? We-all trusts you ain't aimin' to tromp +out the grass none on Mr. Worth's premises." + +Within the house Barbara and her father heard the drawling challenge +and the color returned to the young woman's cheeks as she smiled and +whispered: "Good old Uncle Tex." + +There was in that soft, southern voice an undercurrent of such cool +readiness, such confident mastery of the situation, that her fears +vanished. Nor was the crowd in front slow to recognize that which +reassured Barbara. + +For a moment following Texas Joe's greeting there was a restless +shifting to and fro in the crowd, then the impressive bulk of Horace P. +Blanton detached itself from the "common herd." With hands uplifted and +a gesture of mingled command and appeal, he called: "No violence, men! +No violence! For God's sake don't shoot! Let me talk a minute." + +Whether he appealed to the three men on the porch or to the company +behind him was not clear, but Texas answered: "You-all has the floor as +usual, Senator. I don't reckon anybody here will be so impolite as to +interrupt your remarks." + +"Is Mr. Worth at home?" + +"He sure is; altogether and very much to home." + +"Could we--ah--see him to ask about a matter that concerns vitally +every gentleman in this company?" Horace P. was regaining his breath +and his poise at the same time. + +"Mr. Worth, just at this minute, is engaged with his daughter at the +supper table. His superintendent, Mr. Lee, is present and will be glad +to hear what you have to say." The exact, formal politeness of the old +plainsman was delightful. In spite of the gravity of the situation +several in the crowd chuckled audibly. + +"Mr. Worth will see your committee," said Abe crisply. + +The citizens had forgotten their committee. Horace P. Blanton had made +it difficult to remember. Three men now came out of the crowd at +different points and went forward, James Greenfield's orator following +them to the porch. But as the men came up the steps Abe spoke in a low +tone to his companions, and Blanton found his way barred by the solid +bulk of Pat. + +"Were you also appointed to interview Mr. Worth?" asked Abe, dryly. "I +understood it was a committee of three." + +"I'm not exactly a member of our committee, but I'm always glad to +offer my services in the best interests of the people." + +"Mr. Worth will see the committee," said Abe. + +"But you have no right, sir--This is an outrage, a disgrace! I--" + +A growl from the Irishman interrupted him. "That's just fwhat I'm +thinkin'. The presence av sich a domned hot air merchant as yersilf is +a disgrace to any Gawd-fearin' company av honest workin' men. Av Abe +here will only give me lave-" + +Horace P. backed away, and from beyond reach of those huge fists said +loftily: "My friend Mr. Worth shall hear of this." + +"'Tis likely that he will av ye stand widin rache of me two hands," +agreed Pat. + +Horace P. backed farther away. "I shall let him know that I offered my +services," he declared with all the dignity he could command. + +"Do," called the Irishman. "I think that av ye offered yersilf chape +enough he might give ye a job wid a shovel on the grade. 'Tis mesilf +wud be proud to have ye in me gang av rough-necks. Dom' me but I think +I cud rejuce yer waist line to more reshpectable an' presintable +deminsions." + +At this the crowd laughed outright, for not one of those hardy pioneers +but knew the real value of Horace P. Blanton to the reclamation work +and therefore the force of the Irish boss's remarks. + +While Pat and--against his will--the Company's representative were +amusing the crowd, Abe led the committee to Jefferson Worth. One of +these men was a prominent merchant who, for the first eight months of +his business in Kingston, had occupied a store-room in one of Worth's +buildings rent free. Another was a real estate man, whom the banker had +supplied with funds that enabled him to make several profitable deals +that would otherwise have been lost. The other man was a successful +rancher, who owned a half-section of improved land joining the +townsite. Deck Jordan had carried him at the store for implements, seed +and provisions the first two years. + +Jefferson Worth greeted them in his habitually colorless voice, and +they--striving to see behind that gray mask--felt that there might be +something in the situation that had not appeared on the surface in +spite of the fact that the situation had been made so clear by Horace +P. Blanton after his interview with the president of the Company. This +quiet voiced, calm-faced man, who had been so ready to help every +worthy settler in the new country, did not appear at all the monster in +disguise that the chief speaker at the mass-meeting had pictured. The +committee, free from the heat of the crowd and the eloquence of Horace +P., felt just a little ashamed. + +"Mr. Worth," said the spokesman with a smile, "we were appointed to +interview you about this railroad business." + +"What do you wish to know, Gordon?" + +"Well, first, is it true that you have sold out practically all of your +property in Kingston?" + +"Yes. It was my property." Jefferson Worth did not explain that he had +sold because he was forced to turn everything he could into cash in +order to build the railroad so badly needed by the new country. + +The committee looked serious. "Is it true," continued the spokesman, +"that you are changing the line of the railroad so as to take it to +Barba and leave Kingston out entirely?" + +"The line of the road is changed," came the exact, colorless answer. + +"Will it be possible to make some arrangement by which you would carry +out your former plan and build the road into Kingston?" + +"You mean a bonus?" + +"Yes." + +"I'm not in the market." + +"Is there nothing that we can do to change the situation?" + +The answer startled the committee. "Tell Greenfield that he had better +see me himself." + +Jefferson Worth's relation to The King's Basin Land and Irrigation +Company was always a much discussed question among the pioneers. The +new country was settled by working people of limited means, and if +there is one belief common to this class it is that all capitalists are +members of one great robber band, perfectly organized, firmly united +and operating in perfect harmony against their helpless victim--the +public. However much they might fight among themselves over the +division of the spoils, they were a unit in their common operations +against the masses. + +From the first Jefferson Worth was held by many to be the secret agent, +the silent co-partner, of Greenfield, and the South Central District +seemed to justify this opinion, for of course the public knew nothing +of the inside of that deal. The people accepted Mr. Worth's personal +assistance cheerfully, thankfully, and had come to look upon him as a +friend. But this did not in the least alter their belief that he +belonged to the band. He was simply a generous, gentlemanly sort of +robber, kin to the hold-up man who returns the railroad tickets of the +passengers and refuses to rob the ladies. This railroad situation had +seemed to deny the relationship between the banker and the Company, and +now came Worth's advice: "Tell Greenfield that he had better see me +himself." It was no wonder that the members of the committee looked at +each other startled and bewildered. Was it, after all, a fight between +the members of the band over the division of the spoils? It was too +deep for the committee. They could feel dimly that mighty forces were +stirring beneath the surface, but they could not fathom what it was all +about. One thing was clear: the one thing that is always clear when +capital speaks to business men of their class--they must obey. + +"What shall we report to the crowd?" they asked as they arose to go. + +"I figured that you would tell them what I have told you," came the +answer. + +The crowd, when the committee briefly reported their interview, were as +puzzled as the members of the committee, and questioned and discussed, +affirmed and denied until Pat said to his companions on the porch that +it sounded like "a flock av domned bumble bees." + +When the president of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company, who +dared not refuse the request of the committee, stood before Jefferson +Worth, the man behind the gray mask forced him to speak first. + +"I understand you wished to see me about this railroad matter, Mr. +Worth." + +"I told the committee that you had better see me," came the answer +without a trace of emotion in the colorless voice. + +"Well, I am here; what do you want?" + +"I want a new contract from your Company binding you to build your +Central Main Canal on the line of the original survey, bringing it to a +point within four hundred yards of the west line of the South Central +District where the San Felipe trail crosses Dry River, and agreeing to +deliver into my power canal without charge a flow of three hundred +second feet of water, as in the old contract; and in addition the +exclusive power rights in all of the Company's canals in the Basin." + +"If I give you this contract you will build the railroad into Kingston?" + +"When you change the line of your canal back to the original route I +will change the line of my road." + +"Suppose I refuse?" + +"My railroad will not come into Kingston and I will explain to the +crowd out there the reason. You have worked up a pretty strong public +feeling against me, Mr. Greenfield. Now make good or stand in my place +and take the consequences." + +James Greenfield was not slow to grasp the point. A simple explanation +of the situation from Jefferson Worth with the old contract to back it +up would turn the wrath of the people against the Company president. +Rising, he said with an oath: "You win, Mr. Worth. I'll have the +contract ready for your signature in the morning. Now what will we do +with that mob out there?" + +"It is your mob, Mr. Greenfield," answered Jefferson Worth. + +A few minutes later from the front porch of the Worth cottage, with +Texas Joe on his right hand and Pat on his left, Horace P. Blanton +announced: "Our committee will report at the opera house in half an +hour." + +The committee reported that Kingston was saved and the orator of the +day made another speech so far eclipsing all his former efforts that +the cheering citizens were evenly divided as to whether it was James +Greenfield, Jefferson Worth or Horace P. Blanton who saved it. + +"Well, boys," remarked one of the men from the South Central District +as the little party of horsemen set out for the long ride home, "one +thing is sure. Those Kingston fellows have got the railroad, but we +still have Jefferson Worth, an' I reckon that Jeff can build us a +railroad any old time he gets ready." + +"That's right," returned another, "but what in hell do you suppose it +was all about? What's Jeff's game anyhow?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +EXACTING ROYAL TRIBUTE. + + +In spite of the optimistic view of the man who said that Jefferson +Worth could build a railroad for Barba and the South Central District +whenever he wished, there was no little disappointment expressed in +Worth's town when it became known that the Company town was to have the +road. + +When the grading camps had returned to their former locations and the +construction train drew every day nearer Kingston, with the time +approaching when regular trains with passengers and freight would ply +to and from the Company town, the feeling of discontent in Barba grew. +It even came to be generally understood throughout the Basin that the +whole movement had been cleverly planned by Jefferson Worth to force +The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company to make a large +contribution to the railroad builder's personal fortune. The people +sensed something in the whole transaction that they could not clearly +grasp, an intangible, mysterious something, as great as it was +indefinite. They felt blindly that they were being used without their +consent in a game played by these master financiers, and they resented +being sacrificed as dumb pawns in a move, the purpose of which they +could not know. + +In the meantime, while the people were charging him with selling them +out to gain his own ends, the man whose purpose was known only to +himself was putting into his enterprise the last dollar of his +resources, and another flood season with its appalling danger was at +hand. + +Because his laborers on the railroad were not as the men who built the +South Central canals, working for more than their day's wage, and +because, though no one knew it, Jefferson Worth's finances were so +nearly exhausted, work on the road, as on the Company project, was +discontinued for the summer months, to be resumed in the fall--perhaps. + +Barbara again refused to leave her father and in the close +companionship and full understanding of his daughter, the man, who +lived so much alone behind his gray mask, found inspiration and +strength. + +The telephone now connected the heading at the river intake with +Kingston, and every hour of those hot days and nights Jefferson Worth +listened for a call from Willard Holmes, who also had refused to leave +his work, while three of the fastest saddle horses in the Basin were +stabled with El Capitan. Texas, Abe and Pablo were ready to ride at an +instant's notice to rally the pioneers, who were developing their +ranches, building their homes and planning their future unconscious of +the real danger that hung over them. + +Vague rumors of the dangerous condition of the Company structures +floated about and there were not wanting prophecies of disaster. But +not one in a hundred of the settlers had even visited the intake at the +river, or if they had, what could they judge of conditions there? The +settlers were ranchers, not civil engineers. The Company zanjeros +turned the water into their ditches when they asked for it; their +crops, growing marvelously in the rich soil, demanded constant +attention; they had neither time, inclination nor ability to +investigate every flying rumor. As for the prophets of evil, only +confirmed optimists can reclaim a desert or settle a new country and +the croakers received little attention. Besides, the great, +all-powerful Company would surely protect its own interests and, in +protecting its own, would protect the interests of the settlers. It was +the business of the Company engineers to look after the river. The +ranchers were looking after the ranches. + +Thus another summer went by and the great river, save for the small +toll taken by those who were reclaiming the desert it had created in +the ages of long ago, continued on its way to the sea. Its time was not +yet. + +With the return of the cooler weather and the still further increase in +the volume of new life that continued to pour into the Basin from the +great world outside, work on the railroad was begun again, but +Jefferson Worth knew that the first pay day would mark the end. He was +as a man with his back to a wall, fighting bravely to the last blow, +and he stood alone. + +Among the hundreds of pioneers with whom Worth had elected--as he had +told Abe Lee the night of his arrival in Kingston--to take a chance, +there was not one to take a chance with him now. If he lost he would +lose alone, for those who had built upon the work that he had done +would not suffer through his defeat. Had any of them known the +situation they could have done nothing to help him. But no one knew, +and this was the financier's one desperate chance--that no one did +know, not even Barbara. + +With his capital exhausted and no resources upon which he could +realize, he went ahead with the work apparently with the confidence of +one with millions behind him. It was, in the language of the West, all +a bluff. But it was a magnificent bluff. + +Two weeks of the month were gone when a telegram from the high official +of the S. & C. summoned him to the city. + +The railroad man, in the secrecy of his private office, greeted the +promoter with his usual, "Hello, Jeff. I see The King's Basin is still +on the map." + +Jefferson Worth smiled, then, as the official's eyes were fixed upon +his face in a way that he understood, he retreated behind his mask. +"Things are going very well," he answered. + +"Working full gangs on that railroad of yours?" + +"We have taken on all the men we can handle. We will be ready for that +last lot of steel in another two weeks." + +The other lay back in his chair and laughed with hearty admiration and +regard. "Jeff, you are a wonder! How long do you suppose it would take +Greenfield to start something with your creditors if he knew what I +know?" + +Not a line of Jefferson Worth's face changed, only his nervous fingers +caressed his chin and the railroad man, noting the familiar signal, +smiled again. Then leaning forward in his chair he said: "Jeff, I have +been keeping my eye on you ever since those days when our line was +building into Rubio City and you handled the right-of-way for us. I +have never caught you in a blunder yet. When it comes to sizing up a +proposition all around I don't believe you have an equal. Now look +here." With a quick movement he took a paper from a pigeon-hole in his +desk and laid it before the other. The paper was a carefully tabulated +statement of Jefferson Worth's financial condition at that moment. In +vain the official tried to see behind that gray mask. + +"Well." The word was absolutely colorless. + +"Well!" repeated the other savagely, "what I want to know is this: why +in hell you are bucking Greenfield and his crowd to such a limit?" + +"Because," said Jefferson Worth carefully, "I believe in the future of +The King's Basin project, providing--" he paused. + +"Providing what?" + +"Providing someone bucks Greenfield to the limit." + +In one instantaneous flash, the man whose clear brain directed +thousands of miles of a great railroad system caught a glimpse of the +real Jefferson Worth--the Jefferson Worth who was not, as the railroad +man had himself said, "doing it all for a dinky little power plant." + +"Jeff," he said slowly, "when you asked us to build a branch line into +the Basin I told you that we couldn't do it. As I said then, we are not +in the insurance business. A railroad's business depends upon the +actual development of a country, not upon backing promoters who open up +a new country simply as a speculative proposition. You say you believe +in the future of The King's Basin country providing some one bucks +Greenfield and you are sure giving him a run for his money. But you +have reached the end of your pile and I know it. Now, I have been +taking up this matter with our people and we are ready to take a chance +on your judgment. Suppose we take over your road as it stands at a fair +price--what would be your next move? Get out and leave us in the +insurance business?" + +"I would build a line from Kingston to Barba, tapping the South Central +District, which is the richest section of the Basin," came the instant +reply. + +"Good! But perhaps you don't want to sell the line you are building to +the S. & C.," he suggested with a smile. + +"I figured that you would be ready to make me a proposition about the +time I had it in shape for the last shipment of steel." + +Worth's bluff had won. + +The railroad man said again solemnly: "Jeff, you are a wonder!" + +With the passing of his nearly completed railroad into the hands of the +S. & C. Jefferson Worth began at once to arrange for the building of +the other line from Barba to Kingston. This new road, to be known as +the King's Basin Central, connecting with what was now the S. & C., +would give an outlet to the rich South Central District, while the +Southwestern and Continental Company announced that its new branch +would not stop at Kingston but would build on south to Frontera. + +With a main line branch of a trans-continental railroad building +straight through the heart of the new country, and their town located +just half way between the junction and the terminal, The King's Basin +Land and Irrigation Company saw the value of their property increased +many times. The day was not far distant now when every quarter section +of the desert land would be filed on by eager settlers, and the once +barren waste would rapidly give place to the fertile fields of the +ranchers, every foot of which should yield tribute to James Greenfield +and his associates. But the reclamation of the desert opened many +avenues for profit other than the irrigation system. + +From these also the Company, obeying the law of Good Business, had +planned to take toll, but the field for investment most closely allied +with the fields of the ranchers, and therefore keeping even pace with +the increasing wealth of the new country, had been preempted by +Jefferson Worth. The Company desired to add to their holdings those +enterprises that had come to be known as the Worth interests. They had +failed repeatedly to bring about a union of forces. Their only recourse +then was to force the independent operator to sell to them or to +eliminate him from The King's Basin project. To this end Greenfield and +Burk watched and planned on the well known principle that whatever +Jefferson Worth wanted was bad for the Company, until the day when the +interests of Worth and those of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation +Company should be the same or Jefferson Worth should be no longer a +factor in the new country. + +While the Worth enterprises were firmly established in all the centers +of activity in the Basin, the Company knew that his largest interests +were in Barba and the South Central District. Worth must have railroad +connections with the S. & C. line before he could even begin to realize +on his largest investments. There was every reason why he should desire +to make Kingston the junction point of the road he was now forced to +build. James Greenfield was not backward in letting Worth understand +that he would need to pay well for a right-of-way with terminal +facilities in the Company town. + +For two weeks Jefferson Worth tried to bring the Company president to +some reasonable settlement but his efforts only served to make +Greenfield more determined to exact royal tribute. "I tell you," said +the president triumphantly to his Manager, "he's forced to build that +line or go to smash with his town and district. No one will settle away +off there from the railroad as long as they can locate in reach of +Kingston or Frontera, and he has got to connect with the S. & C. branch +at Kingston, for we are the only place between the main line and the +terminal." + +When Mr. Worth reminded them that the proposed road would benefit +Kingston and that in view of its value to their town it would be only +just for them to give him the privileges he needed but for which he was +quite ready to pay a reasonable price, Greenfield declared that his +Company had already given Worth quite enough. Of course, if they could +find some basis upon which to unite their interests that would be +another matter. + +Then the evening mail brought to Mr. Worth certain legal looking papers +and the next morning he called again upon Mr. Greenfield. In a spring +wagon in front of the Company office Texas Joe and Abe Lee waited with +a prosperous looking stranger who also had arrived the evening before. + +"Mr. Greenfield, I have come for your final answer on this railroad +deal." + +On Greenfield's face there was a smile of satisfaction and triumph. +There were several reasons why he enjoyed seeing Jefferson Worth in a +corner. "I am ready to listen to any other proposition you have to +make, Mr. Worth." + +"You have the only proposition I shall make." + +"Really, I fear that we can do nothing this morning." + +The visitor turned on his heel and left the office. + +Later, in describing the interview to Willard Holmes, Burk commented +thoughtfully: "I very much fear your festive Uncle Jim played the game +a little too fine. You can take some things and most men for granted; +but a railroad, now, and Jefferson Worth----" he shifted his cigar to +the corner of his mouth and cocked his head in the opposite direction. +"I think, Willard, that something is going to happen." + +What happened was this: When Jefferson Worth left the Company's office +he stepped into the waiting rig beside the stranger. "Go ahead, Abe," +he said. Then the surveyor giving Texas the direction, the team sped +away. Once in the desert they stopped occasionally while the surveyor +examined the four by four redwood stakes. At a point on the S. & C. +four miles north of Kingston and therefore between the Company town and +the main line, Abe directed Texas to stop. + +The surveyor, taking a note book from his pocket, went to a corner +stake and indicated with outstretched hands the direction of the +boundary lines of a tract of land owned by his employer. "Here we are, +Mr. Worth." + +The place was raw desert and except for the railroad without sign of +life save the life of the hard, desolate land; though in the distance +could be seen the improved ranches, with Kingston in their midst. +Standing on the slight elevation of the railroad grade Jefferson Worth +looked around silently. Then, followed by the stranger and Abe, he +walked some distance west of the track. + +Pausing and striking his boot-heel into the soft earth, he said with +much less show of emotion than is exhibited by the average school boy +in laying out a ball-ground: "We will build a hotel here; over there a +bank. The main street will run toward the railroad. The Basin Central +from Barba will come in from the southeast." + +And this was the beginning of Republic, the town that was built on a +barren desert almost in the time it would have taken to prepare the +land, plant and grow a crop of corn. + +The stranger was the president of a townsite company organized by +Jefferson Worth while James Greenfield was congratulating himself that +he at last had that gentleman in a trap. Worth had given the company +the land and had entered into an agreement whereby he was to build a +hotel and several business blocks and furnish them, rent free, for one +year. + +With the railroad to deliver material in any desired quantity, work was +begun in a few days. The King's Basin Messenger and the papers in +Frontera and Barba, all owned by Worth, gave full accounts of the birth +of the new town and the reason why The King's Basin Central would not +be built into Kingston, with glowing accounts of Worth's plans for the +future of the Company's rival town. The Worth Electric Company moved +its plant from Kingston to Republic; the ice-plant, the bank, the +telephone office and every enterprise controlled by Worth followed; +while many merchants, lured by the success of the Wizard of the Desert +in every undertaking and by the promise of rent free, went with the +Worth industries; and from the world outside many, who had hesitated to +enter the new country before the railroad, rushed in to locate in the +new town. The first building completed in Republic was a cottage for +Barbara and her father. + +Meanwhile the work on the road to Barba and the South Central District +was begun. The "something" prophesied by Mr. Burk had happened. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +JEFFERSON WORTH GOES FOR HELP. + + +The winter following the birth of Republic witnessed the greatest +activities that had been seen in the new country. The freighters' +wagons that had once seemed so pitifully inadequate, as they crept +feebly away into the mysterious silences, were replaced now by long +trains, heavily loaded with building material and goods of every kind +and drawn by laboring engines that puffed and roared and clanged and +screamed their stirring answer to the challenge of the silent, age-old, +desolate land. And still the work that had been done was small in +comparison with that which was yet to do before the reclamation of +Barbara's Desert would be complete. The acres of land untouched by +grader's Fresno or rancher's plow were many more than the acres that +were producing crops. The miles of canals and ditches that were to be +built were many more than the miles already carrying water. The tent +houses and shacks of the pioneers were yet to be replaced by more +comfortable homes. The frontier towns--big in that new country--were +yet to grow into cities. From the top of any building in any one of the +four towns one could look into the barren desert. + +Tourists on the main line that skirted the rim of the Basin, from the +car windows saw only the mighty reaches of the dun plain, with its +thirsty vegetation, stretching away to the distant purple mountain +wall. Curiously the overland passengers looked at the crowds of +settlers waiting for the Basin train at the Junction, wondering at +their hardihood. Curiously they followed with their eyes the thin line +of rails and telegraph poles leading southward until it was lost in the +mystic depths of color. To the tourists it was a fantastic dream that +out there, somewhere in the barren waste, people were building towns, +cultivating fields, transacting business and engaging in all the Good +Business activities of the race. It was as impossible to them as it had +been to Willard Holmes when Barbara first introduced him to her Desert +and tried to make him see, as she saw, the greatness of the work of +which he was to become a part. + +The latter part of that winter found Jefferson Worth again with his +back to the wall. James Greenfield, in his attempt to hold up his rival +in the matter of the King's Basin Central junction, had wrought better +than he knew. While Worth's enterprises were barely as yet paying their +way, the railroad, which he was forced to build in order to protect his +own interests in the town of Barba and in the South Central District, +would require practically all he had realized on the sale of the other +line that had so nearly exhausted his resources. The Company president, +in forcing him to build the town of Republic in addition to his heavy +outlay on his new railroad, forced him to take another desperate +chance. For the first time he was unable to pay the men, and in thirty +days large obligations for material would be due; while certain rumors, +carefully started by Greenfield, made it almost impossible for him to +raise the funds he must have. + +"I'm sorry, Jeff," said his friend the railroad man. "But with present +unsafe conditions we can't load up with any more property in The King's +Basin. You know as well as I that if the river comes in we will have to +get in there to protect our interests, for if those ranchers were wiped +out our road wouldn't sell for scrap iron. You couldn't do it and the +Greenfield crowd wouldn't. Why, that New York bunch, outside of +Greenfield, don't know whether the Colorado is a trout stream or a mill +pond. Their actual investment doesn't amount to half what you have put +into your work, for the sale of water rights to the settlers is paying +all the expense of their extensions and they won't put up a cent to +rebuild their shaky old structures. And look where we stand! We have +put more money into that country now than the Company and you together, +and we won't pay operating expenses until the land is developed. And +still the public is roaring about our rates. We don't want another +desert line on our hands." + +Quietly Jefferson Worth sold his interest in the banks in Frontera, +Barba and Republic; and as quietly Greenfield, who was watching, set +about gaining control of these institutions. His South Central District +water stock was already sold and most of his property in Barba. Even +his little home in Republic was mortgaged. + +Thus Worth held on for a while longer. He dared not stop his work, for +such a move would not only ruin his chances of negotiating the loans he +needed, but by bringing upon him a swarm of creditors, would make it +impossible for him ever to recover his standing in the financial world. + +Another pay day passed without the men receiving their pay and the +third was drawing near. Already there was grumbling and complaining +among the men over the delayed pay checks. It would take but little +more to start serious trouble. + +There were many in the crowd at the depot that day when Jefferson Worth +waited for the train to the city, who looked with envy upon the builder +of towns and railroads. Horace P. Blanton proudly pointed out to a +stranger "his friend, the Wizard of the Desert," with the information +that Mr. Worth had cleaned up a cool million in the new country. +Several went out of their way for a closer look at him or for a +possible greeting. Others cursed him roundly under their breath for a +hated member of the class of parasites that live on the industry of the +laborer, a financier who robbed the people, a capitalist who produced +nothing. + +The train pulled in, and Mr. Worth, with a good-by to Barbara and Abe, +who had come to see him off, stepped aboard. No one save Abe Lee, not +even Barbara, knew that her father must raise fifty thousand dollars +before the first of the month or suffer financial ruin. And no one--not +even Jefferson Worth himself--knew where he could find the money. + +Barbara, when her father was gone, though she knew nothing of the +danger that threatened him, was restless and ill at ease, beset by +vague and nameless doubts and fears. The little desert town with its +bustling activity, its clamorous, rushing disorder, its naked newness +and glaring bareness, offended her. Nothing was completed. The streets, +the buildings, the very people, seemed so unsettled, so temporary. She +could not shake off the feeling that it would all vanish soon, as she +had often seen the phantom cities of the desert plain melt and +disappear. + +The morning after her father left, as she rode El Capitan slowly along +the little village streets that lay so dusty and flat and that ended so +quickly in the open country, she caught herself wondering how long the +dream would endure. The farms, too, with their new green fields and +their primitive, pioneer shacks, tent houses and shelters and their +acres of still unimproved land, all lying under the white blaze of the +semi-tropical sun, were they more than a mirage weirdly painted in the +air by the spirit of the dreadful land to lure foolish men to their +ruin? + +Near the crossing of a canal she saw a zanjero turning the water +through a new delivery gate into a new ditch, and checking El Capitan, +she watched the brown flood rolling down the channel prepared for it +and heard the dry earth hiss and purr as it sucked up the moisture with +the thirst of a thousand years. She wanted to cry out a protest. The +effort was so pitifully foolish. This awful, awful land would never +yield to the men who sought to subdue it with such feeble means. From +the little stream of water, no deeper than would reach to El Capitan's +knees and no wider than his stride, she looked away and around over the +seemingly endless miles of barren waste. + +The man at the delivery gate recorded the number of inches in his book +and, with a greeting to the young woman, mounted his horse and rode +away along the canal. Barbara, moving on, left the farms behind and +rode into the barren waste. This at least was real. This in its very +desolation, its dreadful silence, its still menace, was satisfying. But +as on that morning when she first rode El Capitan into the desert from +Kingston, she grew afraid. The dreadful spirit of the land so pressed +upon her that she turned her horse and fled as one might fly from an +approaching storm. + +Another restless, unsatisfying day and a lonely evening dragged by. +Texas and Pat she had not seen for a week. Even Abe had not been near +her since her father left. To-morrow, she told herself, she would find +them at their work and demand a reason for their neglect. + +The next morning she set out on El Capitan to follow the line of her +father's railroad until she should find her neglectful men-folk. As she +rode along the right-of-way she watched the hundreds of Mexican and +Indian laborers at their work on the grade and thought of the men who +had built the South Central Canal. Those men too had labored for her +father, but they worked also for themselves. The canal they built was +to reclaim their own land and to make for them farms and homes. These +poor fellows on the railroad, she reflected, had no share in that which +they were doing. There was in their toil nothing but the day's wage. +She could not feel, as she had felt in the South Central District, that +she had a part with them in their work. Here and there she recognized a +Mexican from Rubio City, and these returned her greeting pleasantly, +for they remembered the young woman's kindness to the poor. But by far +the greater number gave her only sullen glances. She was to them only +the daughter of the man for whom they toiled and who had not paid. + +Passing from gang to gang and camp to camp, watching the dark faces of +the laborers, listening to their sullen undertone, the young woman felt +the restless, threatening spirit of the little army as one may feel +sometimes the heavily charged atmosphere before an electric storm. But +she did not understand. She had never before ridden over the railroad +work alone as she had so often done in the South Central District. + +She grew a little frightened at last at the scowling looks and muttered +remarks that followed her as she went, and she was wishing that she had +not come when she saw just ahead Abe Lee and Pat. The surveyor was +giving some instructions to the Irish boss and both were so intent that +they did not see Barbara approaching. As the young woman drew quite +near, a low-browed Mexican who, in watching her approach, either forgot +the presence of his superiors or, in sheer ruffianly bravado, ignored +them, uttered a coarse remark to his companions about his employer's +daughter. + +The young woman heard and turned pale as death. Pat heard and, turning +quickly around, caught sight of Barbara and saw the ruffian who had +spoken looking at her. With a roar the Irishman leaped forward, and +with a blow of his huge, hairy fist dropped the Mexican a senseless +heap in the dirt. + +With cries of rage the fellow's countrymen ran toward the white man, +drawing their knives as they came. Barbara sat leaning forward in her +saddle breathless. Abe Lee was quietly rolling a cigarette. Pat stood +motionless, his battle-scarred features set and his eyes shining like +points of light. + +Within ten steps of their boss the little mob stopped. Then the +Irishman spoke in a voice that rumbled and shook with menacing rage. +"Ye, Manuel an' Pedro--drag that carrion off the right-av-way, an' tell +him when he wakes up av he values his life to shtay out av rache av me +two hands. The rest av ye hombres git the hell out av here!" + +The two whom he called by name did his bidding and the rest scattered +like sheep. Pat turned to Barbara. "'Tis sorry I am that ye should see +ut, me girl, but ut had to be done." + +"Oh, Pat! Did you--Is he--" She could not speak the word, but followed +with frightened eyes the still form of the unconscious man as his +companions half-dragged, half-carried him to the shade of a mesquite +tree. + +"There, there, don't worry," said her big friend soothingly. "He's not +as much hurted as he should be. He'll have a bit av a bump on his +noodle that'll maybe make him a bit careful wid his foul tongue for a +while, that's all." + +Barbara looked down into the face of the old gladiator whose eyes, as +they looked up at her, were soft as a childs. "Oh, Pat! Are you sure? +He--he crumpled up so! It was awful!" She shuddered. + +"There, there; av course I'm sure. Don't I know? Look at him; he's +sittin' up now. He'll be on his fate in a minute." + +Sure enough, as Barbara looked again she saw the Mexican rising to a +sitting posture and with his hand to his head look around in a dazed +manner as though awakening out of a deep sleep. The young woman drew a +long breath of relief and, with a faint smile, said to the surveyor, +who had drawn nearer: "I'm sorry I came, Abe. I'm afraid you'll think +that I'm only in the way to make trouble. But I was so lonesome all +alone at home." + +"Why, Barbara, you know how glad we always are to see you. You must not +mind this little incident. It's all in the day's work with Pat, you +see. That fellow there has had this coming to him for some time." + +The Irishman grinned and the young woman on the horse, with a little +laugh, said: "All the same I don't think I would like you for a boss, +Uncle Pat. You're too--too emphatic." + +And the big Irishman with twinkling eyes retorted: "Sure av ye was boss +av a gang ye wud break more hearts wid yer swate face than I could +heads wid me two hands." Which retort effectually closed the incident. + +When the three had chatted a while and Barbara had scolded them for not +coming to see her, Abe said: "I think you had better go back now, +Barbara. But don't follow the line. Strike west over the desert until +you come to the road and go in that way. We can't leave now to go with +you, and some of these greasers might get gay again. I'll see you this +evening." + +It was after nine o'clock that night when the surveyor finally reached +the Worth cottage. Somewhat awkwardly he entered and seated himself in +the nearest chair, while Barbara, returning to her favorite rocker by +the table, said: "It's time you came. I was so lonely I don't believe I +could have stood it another hour. Really you and Pat and Tex have +neglected me shamefully. You haven't been near since the day father +left. Even Pablo has forgotten me." + +"Pablo is at the power house at Dry River," Abe said slowly. "We've all +had our hands full for the last three days. I reckon you know we have +not stayed away because we wanted to." + +Something in the man's tone and manner caused Barbara to look at him +closely. Was it a fancy in keeping with her gloomy spirit of the last +few days, or did the surveyor's tall form droop as if with +discouragement? He was not looking at her with his usual +straightforward manner. He seemed to be studying the pattern of the +Navajo rug that lay between them, and certainly his lean, bronzed face +wore a careworn look that was new. She noticed too that he wore belt +and revolver, which was very unusual for Abe. + +"Of course; I know!" she exclaimed. "It was childish of me to complain. +Forgive me." + +Abe, without answering, looked at her--a straight, questioning, +challenging look that for some reason brought another flush to her +cheek. Then the surveyor turned his gaze again upon the Navajo rug. + +"I know you are tired," said the young woman again. "You have so much +to think about with all those men to look after and daddy away. Come +now; you sit right over here in this easy chair and shut your eyes and +smoke and forget all about the work and everything, while I make a +little music for you." + +Barbara did not realize how she tried this man of the desert with a +glimpse of a heaven that Abe knew could never be for him. For a moment +he sat motionless without answering, his eyes still fixed upon the +floor. Then with a quick, resolute movement he threw up his head and +straightened himself. "I'm sorry, Barbara, but I can't stay this +evening." + +"Can't stay?" she cried. "Why, Abe, you just came!" + +"Yes, I know. I--I just ran in to ask you--to see if you"--he hesitated +and stammered, then finished desperately--"to ask you to let me send +Texas to stay here to-night." + +She looked at him in bewildered amazement. "Why, what in the world do +you mean? Why should Texas stay here to-night?" + +Then as a sudden possible explanation came to her mind--"Abe, has Uncle +Tex--Is he in trouble?" + +The surveyor smiled at her words. "It's nothing like that, Barbara. Tex +is all right. But I don't think that you should be left alone here with +only Ynez just now. Pat is at the power house and I must be at the ice +plant, and Tex--" He checked himself in alarm. + +Barbara's face was white and her eyes, fixed upon his, were big with +sudden fear as, rising slowly to her feet, she went towards him. With +an exclamation he sprang from his seat but she regained control of +herself and, quietly taking another chair nearer him, said: "I think +you had better tell me, Abe, just exactly what the trouble is. I know +something is wrong or you would not want to send Texas here to me. You +know that I have always stayed with Ynez. Why are you afraid for me? +Why is Pat at the power house, and why are you going to stay at the ice +plant? And why do you wear that?" She pointed to the heavy Colt's +revolver. + +Little by little she forced from the reluctant superintendent an +explanation of the whole situation: how her father had been driven by +the Company to build the new town of Republic in addition to the +construction of his railroad to Barba and how conditions in the Basin +had made it impossible to sell this line to the S. & C. as he had sold +before. He told her as gently as he could that the men had not been +paid for nearly two months, and that if her father did not succeed in +raising the necessary funds quickly he would lose everything. The men +had been put off from day to day with explanations that their employer +was away and that they would receive their pay when he returned. But +ugly rumors were afloat among them and their angry uneasiness and +discontent were increasing. Threats against their employer and his +property were being made by the hot-headed leaders, who always appear +under such conditions, and the surveyor feared that serious trouble +might start at any hour. + +To Barbara the situation was almost incredible. Again and again she +exclaimed with pity for her father, and demanded to know why they had +all kept her in ignorance of the truth; and as she realized how +lovingly she had been shielded from every worry that she might feel +nothing of the burden that weighed so heavily upon them, her woman +heart cried out that she had not been permitted to bear her share. + +"But I know now," she said at last, brushing aside the tears that, +against her will, filled the brown eyes. "I know now and you men shall +see that I can do something to help." She stood before him--her strong +beautiful figure bravely erect, her face glowing with the light of a +determined purpose. + +The surveyor smiled his appreciation as he said: "It's almost as good +as money in the bank to hear you talk like that, Barbara. But you'll +let me send Tex over to-night, won't you?" + +"You must do whatever you think best, Abe. But you must promise me +this. From now on you will tell me everything, just as you have always +told me about the work." + +Abe drew a long breath. "I don't know what your father will say but +I'll do it. I've felt all along that it was hardly square to keep you +in the dark." + +"Of course it wasn't," she agreed. "And now listen! You and Pat come +here for breakfast with Texas Joe and me. Come as early as you like." + +He began to protest, saying that they would need to eat at daybreak in +order to get back to the work by seven o'clock, but she silenced him +with--"And do you think that I cannot even get up at sun-rise? You +shall not lose a minute's time and it will do you good to start out +with one of Ynez's good breakfasts." + +So the surveyor was forced to promise this also. Then with a soft +"Buenos noches, Senorita," he left her. + +Later Texas Joe came to sleep in Mr. Worth's room. The night passed +without incident, and when the first trace of silver gray light shone +above the eastern mesa beyond the rim of the Basin Abe Lee returned +with Pat to find the meal ready and Barbara waiting to pour the +fragrant coffee. While the sky was still aflame with the colors of the +morning and the desert lay under a curtain of fantastic figures and +grotesque patterns woven by the light, the three men mounted their +horses and set out for the field of the day's labors. And Barbara at +the gate watched them go until, in the distance, their forms too were +caught in the magic of the desert's loom and woven into the airy design. + +Before noon Abe came back. The men had struck. The surveyor had already +sent a telegram to Mr. Worth and in the afternoon they had his answer +that he was going to San Felipe. But there was no word of hope in the +message. + +All that day the men from the railroad were gathering in the little +town, and in the early evening the laborers from the power canal at +Barba joined the throng on the streets. This dark-faced, scowling crowd +of Mexicans and Indians was very different from the company of pioneers +that met in Kingston to receive Jefferson Worth a few months before. On +every hand they were heard cursing the man who owed them their wages +and threatening to take revenge if they were not soon paid. + +That night Texas Joe again slept at the Worth cottage, for Barbara +stoutly refused to leave her home, and Abe and Pat, with the little +handful of white men from the office force, stood guard at the power +house, the ice plant and the other buildings that were grouped near the +railroad on the edge of town. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +WILLARD HOLMES ON TRIAL. + + +Scarcely had the train with Jefferson Worth aboard passed beyond the +yard limits of Republic when the Manager of The King's Basin Land and +Irrigation Company in Kingston was called to the telephone by the +cashier of the bank in the Company's rival town. Ten minutes later a +Western Union message in cipher went from Mr. Burk to James Greenfield +in the city. + +The afternoon of the following day Willard Holmes, at the Dry River +Heading, was called to the telephone. Mr. Burk was at the other end of +the line. "There is a telegram here from your Uncle Jim ordering you to +go to the city on the first train. If you can make it, catch the +four-twenty at Frontera. I'll pack your grip and give it to you when +you go through." + +Mr. Greenfield met the engineer at the depot in the city the next +morning and escorted him to his rooms in a hotel. "I was almighty glad +to get Burk's wire that you were on the road," said the older man. "I +was afraid that he would not be able to find you in time; you go +gadding about the country so. Where did he catch you?" + +"Dry River Heading. My gadding takes me mostly there or to the intake +heading these days. Just now I am trying to patch up the spillway which +threatens to go out at any time altogether, and the heading itself is +so shaky I'm almost afraid to touch it for fear it will fall down on +top of me. No one ever dreamed that these structures would ever be +called upon to stand the strain they are under now. I wish--" + +"All right; all right, my boy; I think I've heard you say something +like that before. I called you in to help me on a little deal that will +put us in shape to build all the new structures you want." + +"You mean that the Company is at last going to make the appropriation I +have been begging for?" + +"Not exactly. They will if we can handle one individual." + +"Who?" + +"Jefferson Worth." + +"Jefferson Worth? What under heaven has he to do with the Company's +appropriations?" + +"He has a lot to do with the Company's profits, which amounts to the +same thing." + +At this Holmes was silent and his uncle was forced to continue: "You +know what Worth has been doing to the Company, don't you?" + +"Yes; and I know what the Company has been trying to do to him." + +"Exactly. And do you know his present situation?" + +"Only in a general way." + +"Well, in a definite way then: he is here in the city trying to raise +fifty thousand dollars. He must have it before the first of the month +or go to smash. If he goes to smash the Company will be able to get +hold of his interests, which will give us control of the whole King's +Basin project as we planned in the beginning. Then we would be able to +put what you want into the system. If Worth gets the fifty thousand he +is safe to make a million or two that would otherwise go to the Company +and we wouldn't feel justified in spending any more money on new +structures." + +"But Uncle Jim, what on earth have I to do with all this?" + +"It happens that you have a whole lot to do with it my boy, or I +wouldn't have called you away from your beloved headings. You remember +old George Cartwright, don't you?" + +Willard Holmes had grown to manhood with Cartwright's sons and his +earliest memories were of boyish good times at the old gentleman's +home. With James Greenfield, Mr. Cartwright had been one of his +father's oldest and warmest friends. The engineer listened with amazed +interest as Greenfield told him that his old friend was spending the +winter on the coast, and that some one, the general manager of the S. & +C., probably, had introduced Jefferson Worth to him. + +"And," Greenfield finished, "they have him all lined up to furnish +Worth with the capital he needs to go ahead. If he gets that money we +will never be able to block him." + +"But why don't you get Cartwright into your crowd, if he is so ready to +invest in reclamation projects?" asked the engineer. + +"I can't on account of White and some of the others. You know how +cranky the old man is. Besides, we don't want him in the Company. What +we want is to block Jefferson Worth from getting hold of that money. I +sent for you because you can do more with Cartwright on this +proposition than any man living." + +"You mean that you have sent for me to influence Mr. Cartwright against +Jefferson Worth's interests?" + +"I mean that I expect you to use your influence in the interests of the +Company--in my interests. Surely, Willard, that is not asking anything +unreasonable." + +"But Uncle Jim, you just said that if Worth gets this help he will +clean up a million or two. That looks like it would be safe enough for +Mr. Cartwright." + +"Yes, and I said also that if Worth did _not_ get that money the +Company would acquire his interests in The King's Basin." + +While the Company president was speaking a messenger boy knocked at the +door. Greenfield read the note and handed it to Holmes, who in turn +read: "Mr. Cartwright left this afternoon for San Felipe. Will probably +return in a week. Worth is still in town." + +"That means you must take a little vacation, Willard." + +"But I can't, Uncle Jim," protested the engineer. "My work is in such +shape that I--" + +The older man interrupted. "Your work! You seem to think that there is +nothing of importance to The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company +but drops and headings and intakes and canals, and the Lord knows what +else, you mess around with! If you handle old Cartwright in the +interests of the Company it will be the best week's work you ever did. +He is likely to return any day, and you've got to stay right here and +see this matter through." + +All that day the engineer roamed about the city, striving to find +distraction in the amusements offered but feeling strangely alone and +out of place. Under other circumstances he would have keenly enjoyed +the brief vacation and the change from the desert life and work, but +now he could think of nothing but the situation in which he so +unexpectedly found himself. + +Once he would not have hesitated an instant to do Greenfield's bidding. +Why should he hesitate now? + +Why, indeed; save for this--Willard Holmes knew that it would be better +for the people in the new country if Jefferson Worth continued his +operations. + +Willard Holmes's conception and understanding of his work as an +engineer had changed materially in the years since those first days +with Barbara in Rubio City, even as, under his hand, the desert itself +had changed. It may have been that in his long, lonely rides across the +great plain in the white light of the wide, cloudless sky, something of +the spirit of the slow, silent ages that had wrought in the making of +the desert had touched his spirit as it could not have been influenced +by the smoke-clouded atmosphere and crowded highways of the East; or +that in the lonely nights under the stars the weird, mysterious voices +of the desert had taught him truths he had never heard in the noisy +cries of the great cities. Perhaps, as he had looked day after day +across the wide far-reaching miles with their seas and scarfs and veils +of color to the purple mountains, the very greatness of the unpeopled +lands forced him to a larger thinking and planning and dreaming than +would have been possible in the limited views of his eastern homeland; +or that the spirit of the hardy settlers awoke the blood of his own +pioneer ancestors to a feeling of fellowship; or his constant struggle +with the river aroused the old conquering spirit of his race. Or again +it might be that some powerful chord, deep-hidden and silent in his +nature, had been touched by the spirit of the girl who had bidden him +learn the language of her country and who had said that she could never +forgive one who was untrue to the work itself. + +On the other hand there was the training of his whole professional +career. Up to the beginning of The King's Basin work the engineer had +known no other creed than the creed of those corporation servants who +have no higher interest than that of the machine they serve. There was +also his intimate relation with Mr. Greenfield and the debt of +gratitude he owed the man who had, in every way, been a father to him. +And there was the prejudice of class, the instinct that holds a man to +his own peculiar people, and the argument cleverly advanced by +Greenfield that the protection of The King's Basin project would be +secured. + +As the engineer was wandering, in the aimless and preoccupied manner of +one whose mind is not on his task, through one of the city parks, he +saw just ahead a man whose figure seemed familiar. With aroused +interest he quickened his pace. There was no mistaking that form, so +strongly upright, so instinct with vigorous power; nor those broad +shoulders and the finely poised head. It was the Seer. + +Overtaking the older engineer, Holmes greeted him eagerly and the brown +eyes of the old Chief shone with pleasure while he returned the young +man's greeting heartily. + +Had the Seer any engagement that afternoon? + +None at all. He had just arrived from the North Country and was loafing +a day or two. And Holmes? + +The younger man laughed. He was a stranger in a strange land, forced by +circumstances to do nothing. + +Good. They would find a quiet corner somewhere and Holmes could tell +his old Chief about The King's Basin work. Also The King's Basin man +could tell the Seer about Barbara. + +So they found a seat and Willard Holmes told how splendidly the Seer's +dream was coming true, and in answer to many questions talked of +Barbara and her life in the new country, of Jefferson Worth and his +operations, and of some of his own professional difficulties and +problems. And the Seer, as he led the younger man on and studied the +strong bronzed face that was all aglow with enthusiasm over the work, +smiled quietly as he remembered the tenderfoot who had once threatened +to report his Chief to the Company. + +Brave, great-hearted, generous Seer! There was in all his questioning +not a hint of any feeling against the younger man who had been given +the place that should have been his. He fell to wondering if after all +the Company had now in Holmes the man they thought they had, or the man +they did have, indeed, when they made him their chief engineer. If the +test were to come now--The Seer did not know that Willard Holmes was +even then undergoing that test. + +The two men dined together that evening and afterwards over the cigars +in the Seer's room the old engineer talked of the progress and future +of the great Reclamation work, of its value not only to our own nation +but to the over-crowded nations beyond the seas, and of its place in +the great forward march of the race. Then gravely he spoke to the +younger man of his own efforts to bring the work to the attention of +the people, of disappointments and failures, year after year, until at +last the work in Barbara's Desert had been launched, and following that +several other projects until now at last reclamation had become a great +national enterprise. And Willard Holmes knew that out of the millions +that would be realized from these reclaimed lands this man, who had +seen the vision, would receive nothing. The Seer had not even a +position with an irrigation company or with a reclamation project. + +As he listened to the man who had literally given the best of his life +to a great work, the Company engineer felt as he sometimes felt when +alone in the heart of the desert itself he heard its call, the call +that was at once a challenge, a threat and a promise; or as when he had +felt the sweet power of Barbara's presence. + +At his hotel Holmes found the president of The King's Basin Land and +Irrigation Company anxiously awaiting him: "Look here!" was +Greenfield's greeting. "This thing is approaching a climax." + +He handed the engineer a telegram from Burk. Willard Holmes glanced at +the yellow slip of paper. + +"Strike on the K. B. C. Looks serious." + +"Jefferson Worth left for San Felipe this afternoon," Greenfield said +quickly. "There's another train in thirty minutes. We mustn't miss it!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +HELD IN SUSPENSE. + + +George Cartwright, the retired New York capitalist, belonged to that +older school of American financiers who, having built up large fortunes +by taking advantage of the speculative opportunities of their day, look +somewhat doubtfully from the pinnacle of a successful old age upon the +same adventurous spirit when shown by the active younger generation. +George Cartwright was ready to take a chance, certainly. He had taken +chances all his life. But George Cartwright distrusted mightily what he +called the "slap-dash, smash-bang" system of the modern manipulators of +capital. Some day, he predicted, the manipulators themselves would go +"smash-bang" along with their methods. + +Though retired from the rush and drive of active business, the veteran +still enjoyed taking an occasional hand in the game, though more than +ever he played that hand with a dignified leisure befitting the stake. +"A business transaction," said he, "was not something to be put through +with a nod and wink or at most a half dozen monosyllables between as +many bites of a sandwich." + +Jefferson Worth was in desperate need of quick action. He was not +playing a game of business for the mere pleasure of playing. He was +fighting for his financial life and every hour's delay increased his +peril. But Jefferson Worth did not need his railroad friend's warning +that an attempt to rush George Cartwright would be disastrous. The old +financier was not at all backward in making known to Jefferson Worth +his opinions of Jim Greenfield and the men associated with him in the +Company. He had had some experience with them not altogether +satisfactory to himself. But an investment in actual improvement and +development enterprises, such as he understood Mr. Worth to be +promoting, was rather an attractive venture. He was going for a week's +trip to San Felipe and when he returned he would take the matter up. + +Barbara's father could not urge his need of immediate relief, for to do +so would have been to destroy his only hope. So he was forced to await +the New York man's pleasure. Nor was Mr. Worth ignorant of Greenfield's +efforts as indicated by the presence of Willard Holmes in the city. He +knew also the high regard that Cartwright held for the engineer and +that he would place great value upon the Company man's opinion. What +would Willard Holmes do? + +Abe Lee's telegram announcing the strike and the critical situation in +the Basin changed conditions instantly. Now Jefferson Worth's only hope +was to get to Cartwright without delay and to present the urgent need +of immediate action. For while the chances that the old capitalist +would come to the rescue were greatly lessened, Jefferson Worth's +financial ruin was certain if the critical situation at home was not +relieved instantly. Sending the telegram to Abe Lee he took the first +train for San Felipe. It was indeed a forlorn hope. + +Mr. Worth's train arrived in San Felipe about eleven o'clock in the +morning. Scanning the register at the principal hotel he found the +eastern man's name, but the clerk informed him that Mr. Cartwright was +out for the day sight-seeing with a party of friends from New York and +would not likely return until late in the evening. + +No one observing the quiet, gray-faced man who waited in the hotel +lobby that evening could have said that there was more on his mind than +a mild interest in the evening paper. Yet Jefferson Worth was reading +an account of The King's Basin strike. Finishing the article, he +dropped the paper on his knee while the slim fingers of his right hand +sought his chin with a nervous, caressing motion and his expressionless +eyes moved continually over the crowd in the big room. Outside, the +depot 'bus had just stopped in front of the hotel and a company of +newly arrived guests were entering the corridor, while the bell-boys +were running forward to relieve them of their luggage and lead them to +the spick-and-span clerk behind the register. + +First of the group Jefferson Worth saw the portly, well-groomed +president of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company and with him +his athletic, bronzed-faced chief engineer. + +Even as the two were talking with the clerk and, as Worth rightly +guessed, asking for Mr. Cartwright, the old gentleman with his party of +friends entered. At a word from the man behind the desk Greenfield and +Holmes turned to greet the entering capitalist and his party. They were +all New Yorkers--acquaintances and friends. Coming together with the +width of the continent between them and their homes, their greetings +were cordial--joyful--even boisterous. And as they parted to follow the +waiting bell-boys to their rooms, the western pioneer banker heard them +agreeing to meet and dine together a few minutes later. + +Jefferson Worth realized that a business interview with Mr. Cartwright +that evening was impossible. Without visible interest in anything else +he raised his paper again and continued reading. + +The next morning when the New York capitalist stepped from the elevator +on his way to breakfast he found himself face to face with the man who +so desperately needed financial assistance. "Why, how do you do, Mr. +Worth. When did you land in San Felipe?" Cartwright's tone seemed to +subtly change his commonplace question into--"Why are you in San +Felipe?" + +Jefferson Worth's answer was straightforward. "I arrived yesterday. +Conditions have arisen that make it necessary for me to see you at +once." + +The old veteran looked straight into Jefferson Worth's face with the +understanding of one who had himself passed through many a financial +crisis when the issue depended upon time gained or lost. Sometimes the +wheel of Fortune turns with dizzy speed. + +"Certainly, Mr. Worth. Come to my room in half an hour," he answered +quickly and as quickly moved away. + +When The King's Basin man had placed the situation fairly before him +and the old financier had asked a number of pertinent questions, he +said: "Mr. Worth, I understand that neither the value nor the safety of +my investment is necessarily impaired because you have a situation on +your hands demanding immediate relief. I can see that the capital you +ask me to put into your enterprise will relieve the situation at once +and enable you to place the whole business upon a solid foundation. If +you fail to raise this money, or if you get it too late, you go to the +wall and I lose a chance for what seems a profitable investment. As I +told you, legitimate promotion of actual development projects has +always been attractive to me, but I want to examine into matters a +little further before I give you my final answer. Frankly I want to ask +the opinion of Willard Holmes. I would not place too much confidence in +Mr. Greenfield's judgment, or rather, I should say, in any advice that +he would give me in this particular matter. But I have known Willard +from babyhood. I knew his father and the whole family, and I would be +guided by his opinion as an engineer of conditions in the new country +in which you are all interested. Fortunately Holmes is here in the +hotel. Let me have a little talk with him and I'll give you my answer +without delay." + +Writing a brief note asking the engineer to come to his room, he +summoned a boy and directed him to deliver the message immediately. A +few minutes later Jefferson Worth, in the lobby, saw the boy approach +Holmes, who was with Greenfield. The engineer took the note from the +boy, glanced at it and handed it to his companion. For a moment they +stood in earnest conversation; then the engineer turned and moved away. + +Jefferson Worth saw him enter the elevator, saw the ornamented iron +door close and the cage glide smoothly upward. + +James Greenfield, confident, self-possessed, with the air of one whose +position and future are secure, jovially greeted one of the New York +party, who came up on Holmes's departure, and the two stood laughing +and chatting over their cigars. + +Jefferson Worth sat alone in a secluded corner of the lobby. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +ABE LEE'S RIDE TO SAVE JEFFERSON WORTH. + + +The evening that Jefferson Worth spent in the San Felipe hotel lobby, +apparently absorbed in his paper while Greenfield, Holmes and +Cartwright with their New York friends were enjoying their dinner, +Barbara and her court had their anxious supper together in the Worth +home. + +The night that followed was one of wakeful readiness on the part of the +men who guarded the Worth property. But the strikers seemed content to +curse and threaten. Breakfast the next morning, in spite of Barbara's +efforts at cheerfulness, was a gloomy meal. Worn with their anxious +vigil the men ate in silence, save when they forced themselves to +respond to their young hostess's attempts at conversation. They knew +that another day of idleness would fit the striking laborers for +reckless action. + +When the meal was over Barbara insisted that they must get some sleep. +They protested, but she argued rightly that there was nothing else that +they could do and that they must keep themselves fit for a possible +need of their strength later. So she brought comforts and blankets for +a bed on the floor in the little sitting room and, drawing the shades, +announced that she would take her sewing to the front porch while they +slept. + +Three hours passed and a boy arrived from the telegraph office with a +message addressed to Abe Lee. Speaking in low tones that the tired men +within might not be disturbed, Barbara said that she would hand the +message to Mr. Lee, who was in the house, and signed her name in the +book. Then as the boy went down the walk the young woman, with +trembling fingers, tore open the yellow envelope. + +The message read: "Money to-day by wire from Tenth National Bank, New +York. Pay men and go on with work. I leave for home to-night ten-thirty. + +Jefferson Worth." + +Barbara and her Desert had won against the Company through Willard +Holmes, but Barbara did not know that. + +Behind her, as she stood with the yellow slip in her hand, the sitting +room door opened softly and turning she saw Abe standing on the +threshold. The alert surveyor had been aroused by the coming of the +messenger. Even before she spoke her face told him the good news. + +Abe went at once to notify the strikers that they would receive their +pay on the morrow without fail. To several of the leaders he exhibited +the telegram with Mr. Worth's instructions: "Pay men and go on with +work," and they in turn verified to their countrymen the good news. As +the word went around, the dark scowling faces were lighted with +satisfaction and pleased anticipation, curses and threats were silenced +in laughter and merry talk. In a short hour or two the little army of +striking laborers that had for days been in a mood for any violence +became a good natured crowd bent on enjoying to the full their short +holiday. + +Barbara insisted on serving dinner for her three friends, and with the +strike practically settled and the weary strain of the situation +removed the four made the meal a jolly one. When they could eat no more +they still sat idling at the table, reluctant to break the spell of +their companionship. + +Texas Joe, leaning back in his chair, with his slow smile drawled in an +inconsequential way: "I reckon, now that the financial obsequies of Mr. +Jefferson Worth has been indefinitely postponed owin' to the corpse +refusin' to perform, that Company bunch will wear mournin' because said +funeral didn't come off as per schedule. Them roosters are sure a +humorous lot." + +"Of course they will be sorry, Uncle Tex," said Barbara. "It's Good +Business, you know, to want your competitor to fail." + +The old plainsman shook his head. "I sure don't sabe this financierin' +game, honey, but I'm stakin' my pile on your dad just the same." + +"Well," said Pat, "we're all glad on Mr. Worth's account, av course, +that ut's over as aisy as ut is. But for mesilf, av ut was all the same +to him an' to ye Barbara, I'd be wishin' the danged greasers 'd kape on +a shtrikin' so long as ye wud lave me put my fate under yer table." + +They all laughed at Pat's sentiments, which the other two men endorsed +most heartily. Then the surveyor with his two helpers went up town. + +Stopping at the bank and showing the cashier his message from Mr. +Worth, Abe asked if he had heard from New York. + +Before answering, the man picked up a telegram from his desk and +scanned it thoughtfully. "No," said Greenfield's cashier, as if against +his will; "we have heard nothing to-day." + +Just before the close of banking hours the surveyor again called at the +bank. "Any news from New York yet?" + +"Yes. We had their wire just after you left." + +"Well?" asked Abe impatiently. "Isn't it all right?" + +"It's all right, Mr. Lee, except that we were forced to answer that we +could not handle the business." + +The surveyor searched his pockets for tobacco and cigarette papers. "I +think you'd better explain, Mr. Williams." + +Again the cashier hesitated, turning thoughtfully to the telegram on +his desk. Then he said reluctantly: "It is Mr. Greenfield's orders, +Lee." + +With a cloud of smoke from Abe's lips came the question: "And the other +banks in the Basin?" + +"You would only waste your time." + +"Thanks, Williams. Adios." + +Abe Lee walked slowly out of the building. Moving aimlessly down the +street, unseeing and unheeding, he ran fairly into Pat and Texas, who +were talking with a rancher from the South Central District. + +The voice of the Irishman aroused him. "Fwhat the hell! Is ut dhrunk ye +are?" Then, as he caught a good look at the surveyor's face--"For the +love av Gawd, fwhat's wrong wid ye, lad?" + +The rancher also was looking at him curiously. Abe gained control of +himself instantly with an apologetic laugh. "Excuse me, Pat. I was +thinking about the work and didn't see you. There's a little matter +that I want to take up with you this afternoon. I'll be too busy for it +to-morrow." + +The rancher, with another word or two, turned away. Then Abe, in a low +tone, exclaimed: "Let's get away from the crowd quick, where we can +talk." + +They started down the street and instinctively their feet turned toward +Jefferson Worth's home instead of toward the office. As they went Abe +explained the situation. Pat cursed the bank and James Greenfield and +the Company with no light weight curses. + +"Hell will sure be a-poppin' when them greasers don't get their pay +checks, as we've been promisin' them," drawled Texas Joe, shaking his +head mournfully. "For regular unexpectedness this here financierin' +business gets me plumb locoed. What will you do, Abe? Greenfield sure +takes this trick, don't he?" + +They had reached the gate of the Worth home and had paused as people +sometimes will when engaged in conversation of absorbing interest. +Before Abe could answer Texas, Barbara, who sat on the porch, called +laughingly: "What's the matter with you men? Are you hungry again? Why +don't you come in?" + +In consternation the three looked blankly at each other. Pat growled +another curse under his breath. Texas shook his head doubtfully. Abe +groaned: "She'll have to know, boys." + +Slowly they went up the walk and Barbara, as they drew near, did not +need words to tell her that something seriously wrong had happened. + +When Abe had explained it in as few words as possible she said: "But it +will only be for a few days." + +"A few days will be too late," said Abe bluntly. "We have promised +these greasers and Indians that we will pay to-morrow without fail. +When we don't pay, on top of all the trouble we have had, no +explanation will stand. They'll go on the warpath sure. If they were +white men it would be different." + +"Well, why don't you telegraph father and let him bring the money or +send it by express from San Felipe?" + +"But he couldn't get the cash started before to-morrow afternoon. Then +it would have to go around by the city and wouldn't get here until +three days later. Williams didn't tell me, you see, until he knew that +the San Felipe bank would be closed before I could, get a message +through." + +They sat in troubled silence--Pat in sullen rage, Texas squatting on +his heels cow-boy fashion, Abe pulling at a cigarette, Barbara leaning +forward in her chair. Three hours before they had been so merry because +the trouble was over; now they faced a situation many times more +perilous than before. + +With a quick gesture of decision Abe tossed aside his cigarette. "Tex, +where is that buckskin horse of yours?" + +"In Clark's stable. Want him?" + +"Yes. Give him a good feed and bring him here as soon as he is ready. +Bring one feed and a canteen, and while the horse is eating go around +to my room and get my gun." + +Without a question the old plainsman left the group and walked swiftly +away. + +Barbara puzzled for a moment then asked: "Are you sending Tex to San +Felipe for the money, Abe?" + +"I am going myself. Tex will be needed here. He's worth three of me at +this end of the game. To-day is Wednesday. That buckskin will make it +to San Felipe in twenty-six hours. That will be to-morrow evening. If +your father can have the money ready I should be back here by Friday +night." + +While speaking he was tearing a leaf from his note book. Quickly he +wrote a message to Jefferson Worth. "Pat, take this to the telegraph +office and make them rush it. It must catch Mr. Worth before he leaves +at ten-thirty to-night." + +Barbara sprang to her feet. "Oh, please let me go. Let me do something." + +Abe handed her the slip of paper with a smile. "If you don't mind I +will take a nap in your father's room. And will you ask Ynez to have a +bite to eat ready for me with a sandwich or two that I can slip into my +pocket. Pat, you stay here and don't let anyone disturb me until +five-thirty. Then call me sure. Tex will be here with the horse by that +time." With the last word he disappeared into the house. + +When Pat called him he was sleeping soundly. Barbara had sent the +telegram and with her own hands prepared his supper and a lunch. While +he ate, the surveyor gave brief instructions to his two helpers. + +Then Barbara went with him to the gate where the buckskin horse, one of +that tough, wiry, half-wild breed native to the western plains, waited, +head down with bridle reins hanging to the ground. As Abe tightened the +cinch and took his spurs from the saddle horn, the girl went closer to +his side. "I wish you did not have to go," she said as he stooped to +put on a spur. + +He straightened up and looked at her. The brown eyes regarded him +seriously. "Why, Barbara! you are not afraid? Texas and Pat will be +here." + +"It's not myself, Abe; it's you," she answered. "You have had such a +hard time since this trouble began and now this long, lonely ride. I +wish there was some other way." + +Stooping quickly so that she might not see his face he adjusted the +other spur with trembling fingers. + +"I shall think of you every minute, Abe," said the young woman softly. + +The strap of the spur required several ineffectual efforts before the +man could fasten it on the steel button. At length it was on and, +rising again, he threw the bridle reins over the horse's head, holding +them in his left hand on the animal's neck. Barbara came still closer +and with her finger traced the design carved on the heavy Mexican +saddle. "You will be careful, won't you, Abe?" + +The hand on the horse's neck tightened on the reins as the surveyor +looked straight into the young woman's eyes a moment as if searching +for something that he knew was not there. Then he held out his free +hand, saying in Spanish with a smile: "Adios, sister." + +Giving him her hand she answered in the same soft musical tongue: +"Adios, my brother." + +Turning he put his foot in the stirrup and, with the easy graceful +swing of the western horseman, he mounted and the buckskin, as his +rider lifted the bridle reins, struck at once into the long lazy lope +of his kind. + +Leisurely Abe Lee rode along the main street of the little town. The +strikers, idling in front of the stores, leaning against the buildings +or awning posts, squatting on their heels on the sidewalks, or sitting +in rows on the curbing, saw him pass without interest. If they thought +anything it was that the superintendent was going to Kingston on some +business or other for their employer, Senor Worth, or that to-morrow +the man on the buckskin horse would give them the slips of paper that +they would take to the senor at the bank, who would give them their +money. + +Still riding leisurely, Abe left behind the town that Jefferson Worth +had built in the barren desert and passed the newly improved ranches on +the outskirts. Without hurry, even checking his horse to a shuffling +fox-trot at times, he reached Kingston. + +From the window of his office in the Company building Mr. Burk saw the +horseman as he passed, and the Company manager, who was paid for +thinking, shifted his cigar to one corner of his mouth and, tilting his +head, grew thoughtful while the buckskin horse carried his rider out of +Kingston toward the south. + +Reaching the old San Felipe trail the surveyor swung his horse to the +west and, leaving behind all that man had so far wrought in La Palma de +la Mano de Dios, rode straight toward the mountain wall that in grim +barrenness and forbidding solitude had stood sentinel through the +unnumbered ages, shutting out from the land of death the world of life +that lay on the other side. As that mighty wall had from the beginning +turned back every moisture-laden cloud from the thirsty, starving land, +so it seemed now to impose itself as an impassable barrier against the +man who rode to save the work of Jefferson Worth. + +The buckskin horse, as if realizing that this was no jaunt of ten or +twenty miles, held to his steady, machine-like lope that measured the +distance of each swing with the accurate regularity of a pendulum; +while the lean, loose body of his rider, resting easily in the saddle, +yielded without resistance to the horse's every movement so that those +laboring muscles, working so smoothly under the yellow hide, might not +be called upon to adjust themselves to the sudden strain of unexpected +changes in balance. Mile after mile of the dun plain slipped away under +those apparently slow-measuring hoofs at surprising speed. Now and +then, at the slightest signal from Abe, the gait was changed from a +lope to that easy shuffling fox-trot that lifted the dust in a great +yellow cloud. + +Straight ahead the rider saw the sun go slowly down behind the mountain +wall. He watched the purple shadows that he knew were canyons deepen, +and the blue that he knew to be shoulders and spurs and points change +and darken until every detail was lost in the slate gray mass, while +against the light that lingered in the west every tooth, knob and peak +of the sky-line showed a sharp, clean-cut silhouette. He saw the colors +of the desert fade and melt as the dark mantle of the night was drawn +quietly over the plain. He heard the night voices of the desert +awakening and sensed the soft breathing of the lonely land. And in his +nostrils was the indescribable odor of the ancient sea-bed that, for +uncounted thousands of years, had lain under a blazing sun and +scorching wind and mistless nights, knowing no touch of human life save +the passing presence of those who dared to follow that one thin trail. + +And always with that dogged regularity the sandy miles were being +measured by those steady hoofs. At Wolf Wells, as the last faint tinge +of light went out of the sky beyond the black mass of No Man's +Mountains, Abe drew rein for the first time. Dismounting, he slipped +the bit from the horse's mouth and the animal plunged his nose deep +into the refreshing water. The buckskin, with the blood of his wild +ancestors strong in his veins, was no dainty, tenderly-nourished +aristocrat that needed to be rested, cooled and blanketed before he +could slake his thirst. Without pausing he drank his fill and then, +lifting his head, drew one long, deep breath of satisfaction and stood +ready. + +In the dark Abe felt his saddle girths, then ran his hand over the +moist warm neck and slapped the strong hips approvingly. "Good boy, +Buck! Good old boy!" Without thought of further rest they went +on--on--and on, without pause or cheek save the occasional change in +gait from the swinging lope to the shuffling fox-trot, until they +reached the line of the ancient beach, and the buckskin, with head +down, labored heavily up the steep grade to the Mesa. + +It was at this point, years before, that the four men and the boy had +stopped to look away over the awe-inspiring scenes of wide sky, +measureless plain, rolling sand hills, dream lakes and ever-changing +seas of color, all hidden now in the blackness of the night. + +In the dark, hall-like Devil's Canyon the sound of the horse's feet +echoed and re-echoed sharply from the rock walls, while the darkness +was so thick that Abe could not see the animal's head. + +At Mountain Spring, where travelers into the desert always filled their +water barrels, Abe stopped again. It was a little past midnight. +Loosing the saddle girth and removing the bridle, the surveyor let his +horse drink and, taking a sack with his one feed of rolled barley, he +deftly converted it into a rude nose-bag by cutting a strip in each +side two-thirds the length of the sack and tying it over the horse's +head. After eating his own lunch the surveyor stretched himself out +flat on his back on the ground with every muscle relaxed. The sound of +the horse munching his feed ceased; the animal's head dropped lower, +and he too--wise in the wisdom of the open country--relaxed his muscles +and rested. + +For an hour they remained there, then again the bridle was adjusted, +the saddle girths tightened, and they went on. But the gait was not so +measured now nor the pace so steady, for they were well into the +mountains, climbing toward the summit. But still there was no pause for +breath, no relief for the straining muscles of the horse or for the +weary aching body of the rider. + +Crossing over the summit at last they were on the long western slope of +the range with much better going, and the buckskin again carried his +rider swiftly on while the thud and ring of the iron-shod hoofs on the +rock-strewn road aroused the echoes in the dark and lonely hills. + +Hour after hour of the long night passed with no sound to break the +silence save the sound of the horse's feet, the rattle of bridle +chains, the clink of spur or the creak of saddle leather. And when the +gray of the morning came they were in the foot hills. Behind them the +mountains--a bare and forbidding wall on the desert side--lifted ridge +upon ridge with the green of pine on the heights, oak on the slopes and +benches, and sycamore in the lower canyons. Streams of bright water +tumbled merrily down their clean rocky courses or rested in quiet pools +in the cold shadows. Before them spread the beautiful Coast country, +sloping with many a dip and hollow and rolling ridge and rounding hill +westward to the sea. + +At the first ranch house they stopped. A short hour's rest with +breakfast for man and horse, and they were away again. For dinner Abe +drew rein in a beautiful little village in the heart of the rich +farming country and at four o'clock, from the summit of a low hill, he +saw the ocean, with the smoke of San Felipe dark against the blue of +sky and water. There were yet three hours of riding. The tired man +straightened himself in the saddle, the horse felt the motion and +responded with a slight quickening of the movements of those wonderful +muscles that still worked so steadily and smoothly under the buckskin +coat. The animal seemed to realize with the man that the end of the +journey was in sight. Yet it would take another hour and another of +that steady, measured lope and the easy shuffling fox-trot. + +The sun was dipping downward now toward the ocean's rim, and sea and +sky were a blaze of glorious light; while on that dazzling background +sail and mast and roof and steeple were painted black with edges of +yellow flame. The horse, with the dogged, determined spirit of his +breed, was drawing upon the last of his strength--the strength that had +brought them so many miles without faltering. But still he answered +gamely to the lifting of the reins with that measured, swinging lope. + +But as he watched the sun go down, Abe Lee forgot his weariness, forgot +his aching muscles and stiffened limbs. He remembered only that miles +away in the little desert town there was a mob of striking Mexicans and +Indian laborers who, disappointed and enraged at not receiving their +promised pay, would be ready now for any deed that promised to satisfy +their blind desire for vengeance. He knew that no explanations would be +accepted. No plea for patience would be heard. They could not +understand. In their eyes they had been tricked, fooled, cheated, +defrauded of their just dues. They knew no better way to redress their +wrongs than the primitive way--to destroy, to injure, perhaps to kill. +And Barbara--Barbara was there. If only they would let that one night +pass! If only Tex and Pat and the little handful of white men could +hold them off a few more hours until he could get back. + +Until he could get back! But what if Jefferson Worth had not received +the telegram before he left San Felipe? What if there should be a still +further delay in getting the money? + +Through the lighted streets of the harbor city the buckskin and his +rider finally made their way. A policeman, looking suspiciously at the +dust-begrimed, sweat-caked, trembling horse that stood with legs braced +wide and drooping head, and at the haggard-faced rider, directed the +surveyor to the hotel a block away, and then stood watching them as +they moved slowly toward the end of the ride. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +WHAT THE COMPANY MAN TOLD THE MEXICANS. + + +While Barbara and her three friends at home were rejoicing over the +message from Jefferson Worth telling them that he had secured the money +needed to go on with the work, Willard Holmes was alone in his room in +the San Felipe hotel. + +Following the engineer's interview with Mr. Cartwright, he had passed +through a stormy scene with James Greenfield and the words of the +president of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company were ringing +in his ears with painful monotony: "Discharged--discharged--discharged!" + +For the first time in his life the engineer had heard those words +addressed to himself. He could not rid himself of the feeling that he +had come suddenly to the end of his career. + +All his life Willard Holmes had had back of him the powerful influence +of his foster uncle. Positions and opportunities had come to him from +the first without effort on his part. Notwithstanding the fact that his +ability as an engineer was naturally of a high order and that his +training was of the best, he had never been dependent wholly upon these +things. Other and stronger considerations had always given him his +place. For the first time in his life he faced the world of his +profession with nothing but his naked ability as an engineer to speak +for him, while his abrupt dismissal from the Company compelled him to +realize with sudden force how over-shadowed his work had always been by +outside influences and how dependent he had been upon them. He felt +lost and bewildered, knowing not which way to turn. His future seemed a +blank. He had been anxious and eager to get back to his work in the +Basin. But he had not realized how much that work meant to him--how his +plans, his dreams, his whole life work had become centered in the +reclamation of The King's Basin Desert. + +If his dismissal had come from anything connected with his work, he +told himself, it would be different. He thought bitterly how he had +struggled with insufficient equipment and inadequate makeshifts of +every kind to hold the Company system together that the pioneers might +have the water, without which the work of reclamation could not be +done. He knew every stake and pile and plank and crack and patch in the +whole system. He had learned the tricks of the river and was familiar +with the conditions peculiar to the desert country. He knew the +terrible danger of the flood season that was only two months away. He +had planned and prepared to meet emergencies that would be sure to +arise. + +And now, because he had refused to deliver the settlers wholly into the +hands of these New York capitalists, who cared nothing at all for the +real work save as it could be made to increase their money bags, he was +turned out. There was now no reason even for his return to The King's +Basin. Why, he asked himself, should he go back? To see some other man +doing his work? To watch as an outsider the development of the land? or +perhaps--as was more likely--to stand idly by and watch its destruction? + +But even as he told himself that he could not do that, he knew that he +would go back; that, indeed, he must go. The desert called +him--summoned him imperatively;--the desert, and something else: +something that was as mysteriously impelling as the spirit of the land; +something that had grown into his life even as his work had grown; +something that seemed to him now a part of his work from the beginning. + +All that day the engineer avoided Greenfield and his eastern friends. +In the evening he dined alone and after the meal sat alone in the hotel +lobby with his back to the crowd, watching through the big window the +life of the street outside--watching without seeing. Moodily he pulled +at his cigar, his thoughts far away in Barbara's Desert where, unknown +to him, Abe Lee on the buckskin horse was riding--riding--riding to +save the work of Jefferson Worth. + +His thoughts were interrupted by the voice of Jefferson Worth himself, +who, seeing the engineer alone, had gone to him. Holmes, drawing +another chair close to his, greeted Barbara's father with eager +questions. "Have you heard from home? Is everything all right?" + +The older man accepted the chair by the engineer's side and answered +his questions by saying: "Mr. Cartwright instructed his New York +bankers to wire this money to my account in Republic. I notified Abe to +pay the men to-morrow and go on with the work." + +It was characteristic of Jefferson Worth that he did not attempt to +thank Holmes for his part in the transaction with Cartwright, but in +some subtle way the engineer was made to feel his gratitude and +appreciation. After a pause Worth continued: "I am going to start back +to-night on the ten-thirty. When are you figuring on going back?" + +The engineer smiled grimly. "I can't figure on anything definite just +now, Mr. Worth. I might as well tell you, I suppose, that I am no +longer connected with the Company." + +The announcement did not appear to be unexpected to Jefferson Worth, +but his slim fingers caressed his chin as he said: "I was afraid of +that. Have you anything in view?" + +Holmes felt that not only had Worth foreseen the situation, but that he +had already set in motion some movement to relieve it. "No, sir. It +came so suddenly that I have scarcely had time to think." + +"I figured some time ago that the Company would not be able to hold you +much longer," was the surprising comment. "The S. & C. has been looking +for a good man to put down in our country for some time. Your +experience on the river would make you particularly valuable to them +under existing conditions. I told them about you. They have been +holding off waiting developments. If I were you I would get in touch +with them at once. You can go up to the city with me to-night. We will +stop over and look into the proposition and then if it is all right and +agreeable to you we can go on home together." Jefferson Worth seemed to +understand perfectly the engineer's desire to return to The King's +Basin. + +Before Holmes could express his delight and gratitude at the unexpected +relief, a call-boy, passing among the guests, shouted: "Mr. Jefferson +Worth! Mr. Jefferson Worth!" + +The banker opened the message, read it, then--without a word-handed the +yellow slip to his companion. The engineer read: "Banks in Basin won't +accept New York business. Can't handle pay checks. Abe Lee starting for +San Felipe overland to-night. Have money and fresh horse ready. +Barbara." + +Holmes looked in consternation from the paper in his hand to Barbara's +father. The face of Jefferson Worth expressed nothing. It was perfectly +calm and emotionless, only the slim fingers were lifted to the chin as +if behind that gray mask the mind of the man was groping, seizing, +searching, examining every phase of the situation so suddenly +confronting him. In answer to the engineer's questioning look he spoke +in colorless words, with machine-like exactness, as if the matter under +consideration were a mere mathematical problem presented for his +solution. "The Company owns the banks. Greenfield went into the +telegraph office this morning as Cartwright and I came out. Abe would +get my message by nine o'clock. The banks would get Greenfield's +instructions the same time. Abe would at once promise the men their +money to-morrow. That cashier didn't tell him they wouldn't handle the +business until too late for him to get me before the banks closed here. +Greenfield is playing for time so that the strikers will make trouble. +Abe has it figured out right. He can get here and back before I could +get the money to him by train. He should reach here to-morrow night. +There is nothing to do except to see Cartwright this evening so that he +can wire New York to-night and I can get the cash through the bank here +before Abe gets in to-morrow." + +As he grasped the situation and the methods Greenfield had employed to +injure Worth's interests, the engineer's eyes flashed. "Mr. Worth," he +cried, "that is the dirtiest trick I ever saw turned." + +"It's business, Mr. Holmes. Mr. Greenfield is merely using his +advantage, that's all." + +The methods of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company in La Palma +de la Mano de Dios were the methods of capital, impersonal, +inhuman--the methods of a force governed by laws as fixed as the laws +of nature, neither cruel nor kind; inconsiderate of man's misery or +happiness, his life or death; using man for its own ends--profit, as +men use water and soil and sun and air. The methods of Jefferson Worth +were the methods of a man laboring with his brother men, sharing their +hardships, sharing their returns; a man using money as a workman uses +his tools to fashion and build and develop, adding thus to the welfare +of human kind. It was inevitable that the Company and Jefferson Worth +should war. + +James Greenfield served Capital; Jefferson Worth sought to make Capital +serve the race. But in the career of each of these men, who had been +driven by the master passion--Good Business, into The Hollow of God's +Hand, the dominant influence was a life. In the career of Jefferson +Worth it was Barbara. In the career of James Greenfield it was Willard +Holmes. + +In The King's Basin reclamation work, the New York financier, whose +relation to Willard Holmes was a tribute to his love for the engineer's +mother, felt that in some way--for some cause which he could not +understand--the younger man was growing away from him. Their relation +of employer and employe seemed to mar the close intimacy of the old +ties, and the older man looked forward eagerly to the time when his +business plans should be carried to a successful climax and they would +both leave the West for their eastern home. That morning in the hotel, +when he saw Holmes go with Cartwright to Jefferson Worth and by that +knew that the engineer had used his influence against the interests of +the Company, he was astonished and hurt. He felt that the boy whom he +had reared as his own had turned against him. As the president of the +Company he abruptly discharged the engineer, for he could do nothing +else. As the foster-father of Willard Holmes, he was still proud of the +younger man's strength of character, for under all his anger at being +thwarted in his plan against Worth he knew in his heart that the +engineer had done right. + +As the day passed and the engineer did not seek his company, while +Greenfield's own stubborn pride forbade him to go to Holmes, the older +man's heart grew more and more lonely. That evening, when he saw +Jefferson Worth and Holmes together in earnest conversation and through +all of the following day saw them apparently associated intimately in +some plan or enterprise, for the first time personal feeling entered +into his consideration of the whole situation. He felt that his +business rival had become his rival for the affections of the boy he +loved. The business victories of Jefferson Worth he could accept +without feeling; but that this man--a stranger--should come between him +and his foster-son, the child of the woman he had loved with lifelong +fidelity, stirred him to a vicious, personal hatred. + +At dusk that evening he saw Holmes and Worth dining together. When the +meal was over he sat in the lobby, ostensibly chatting with friends, +but covertly watching the two who seemed to be awaiting someone. +Suddenly he saw them rise quickly and start toward the main entrance. A +dusty, khaki-clad man of the desert was entering the hotel. Tall, lean, +bronzed, his face haggard and strained with anxiety, his eyes +blood-shot through loss of sleep, his figure expressing in every line +and movement deadly weariness and aching muscles, he strode forward +into the hotel lobby, his spurs clinking on the white tile floor. + +Greenfield recognized Abe Lee and grasped the situation instantly. The +president of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company knew why the +surveyor had come to San Felipe and he knew what he would carry back. +If the money to pay the strikers reached its destination, Jefferson +Worth would win; if not-- + +At half past nine o'clock that evening the thoughtful Manager of The +King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company received a cipher message from +his superior that drew a long, low whistle from his lips. For almost an +hour he considered with an occasional quiet curse. Then, because he was +a good Company man, he put on his hat and strolled leisurely down the +street of Kingston, apparently enjoying his evening cigar. Once he +stopped to greet a belated rancher. Again he paused to chat a moment +with a citizen. Once more he halted to exchange a word with a group of +Company men, and later stopped to greet three Mexicans who were in from +the Company's camps. + +The Manager asked of the work--if all was well. + +"Si, Senor." + +Then naturally Mr. Burk inquired for news of their countrymen, the +strikers of Republic. + +The Mexicans, coming from the distant camp, could tell him nothing. +They had heard little. Could Senor Burk tell them of the situation? + +The Manager was quite sure that everything would be all right with the +men on Jefferson Worth's railroad day after to-morrow. + +That was "bueno." + +Yes, Mr. Worth's superintendent was starting from San Felipe that very +evening with money--thousands of dollars, American gold--to pay the +men. He was coming alone through the mountains on horseback. Without +doubt the men would receive their pay. The Manager was glad! + +"Si, Senor." + +"Gracias, Senor!" + +"Buenos noches!" + +"Good night." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +TELL BARBARA I'M ALL RIGHT. + + +When Abe Lee, after twenty-six hard hours in the saddle, dismounted in +front of the San Felipe hotel and entered the lobby his usually perfect +nerves were strained almost to the breaking point. For weeks the +surveyor had carried the burden of Jefferson Worth's financial +condition as if it were his own. With the prospect of seeing the work +he loved better than his life wrecked and taken over by the Company, he +had for days faced the critical situation of the strike. Then, in the +very hour of relief, the situation had become seemingly hopeless. Abe +Lee, better than anyone, knew the temper of the Mexican and Indian +strikers. He realized fully how great the chances were that at the very +moment when he finished his ride for relief the town of Republic was +the scene of tragic violence. + +If Jefferson Worth had left San Felipe ignorant of the failure of his +effort to relieve the dangerous situation at home, or if by some chance +the money so desperately needed was not ready, Abe knew that the cause +was lost. The Company would triumph. + +As he entered the hotel his eyes, searching eagerly for his employer, +fell first on James Greenfield. With a movement wholly involuntary the +hand of the overwrought desert man came to rest on his hip close to the +heavy Colt's forty-five. Then he saw Jefferson Worth and Willard Holmes +moving towards him. + +When a man feels himself hard-pressed in a fight and is struggling +desperately to hold his ground, he has small thought for the trifling +courtesies demanded by custom. Without returning the greetings of the +two men and instinctively drawing apart from Holmes, the surveyor shot +a single question at his employer. "Have you got it?" + +"Everything is all right," answered Jefferson Worth, and with his words +something of his calm confidence went to Abe Lee. + +When the two men reached Worth's apartment the surveyor, without +hesitation, began stripping off his clothes. "I want a good bath +first," he said. "And while I am at it will you please have a good +thick beefsteak cooked rare and sent up here? Then I'll sleep for a +couple of hours. That buckskin of Texas Joe's is standing in from of +the hotel. He's about all in. I wish that you would see that he is +cared for." + +As he finished speaking the tall lean figure of the surveyor +disappeared through the bath room door. Mr. Worth sent the order for +his superintendent's supper to the cook with a sum of money that +insured immediate and careful attention. Then with his own hands he led +the buckskin horse to a barn where the animal would have the care he +had so well earned. + +When Mr. Worth returned to the hotel he opened the door of his room +softly. There was a tray of empty dishes on the table, an odor of +cigarette smoke in the atmosphere, and in his employer's bed the +surveyor, sound asleep. Abe Lee understood the value of every moment +even in taking rest. + +Two hours later Mr. Worth, going again to his room, found that the +surveyor had just finished dressing. With a smile the financier handed +Abe a slip of yellow paper. It was a message from Barbara saying that +so far all was well at home, and concluded with the words: "Love to +Abe." + +Without a word Abe turned away to buckle about his hips the broad +cartridge belt with its worn holster and his big black gun. But +Barbara's father did not see him slip the bit of yellow paper into the +pocket of his blue flannel shirt. + +Then Mr. Worth gave the surveyor a black leather bill-book stuffed to +its utmost capacity and secured with rubber bands. "Here it is," he +said. + +Abe stored the package in an inner pocket of his khaki coat and was +ready. + +At the barn they found Willard Holmes waiting with two horses. The +engineer wore a new belt, holster and revolver. When he had greeted +them he said: "Well, are we all ready? I have a lunch here. Is there +anything else?" + +Abe looked at him questioningly and turned to Mr. Worth. + +"Mr. Holmes is going back with you," said the banker. + +For an instant the surveyor hesitated. But something in his employer's +tone caused him to withhold any objection, and with no comment he +turned to inspect the horses. The animals were of the same tough breed +as the buckskin. "They're all right, are they?" Abe asked of the +liveryman. + +"You can see for yourself," came the answer. "You know the kind. The' +ain't nothin' can outlast 'em, an' Mr. Worth said that was what he +wanted." + +"We will need one feed apiece," said Abe. "Put it in two sacks, you +know." + +"Sure," returned the man. "I'd a-had it ready but this here gentleman +didn't tell me." + +While the liveryman was preparing the grain Abe examined saddles and +cinches. "Are your stirrups right?" he asked Holmes. + +"I think so." + +"You'd better know. We don't want to stop to monkey around in the dark." + +The barn man grinned, with a wink at the surveyor, as the engineer +decided, after trying, that he had better shorten the straps a hole. +Abe silently assisted him in adjusting them. Then--swinging into his +saddle--the surveyor said to his employer as the horses moved ahead: +"Good-by, sir. Wire little sister that I'm coming." + +Along the lighted city streets they rode at a pace that seemed to +Willard Holmes more fitting for ladies' gentle exercise than for two +men bound on an errand against time. The eastern man urged his horse +ahead, but his companion held back and Holmes was forced to check his +speed and wait for the other to come up with him. To the engineer's +attempts at conversation the other answered only in monosyllables or +not at all. + +There had been no opportunity for Mr. Worth to explain to Abe the +engineer's part in helping him to secure the money from Cartwright and +the consequent discharge of Holmes by Greenfield. To the surveyor's +mind his companion belonged to the enemy. He could not understand +why--with the victory or defeat of Jefferson Worth in his fight with +the Company hanging upon his superintendent's mission--the Company's +chief engineer should volunteer to accompany him. The presence of +Greenfield and Holmes in San Felipe, the action of the banks controlled +by the Company, made it clear to Abe that they understood the dangerous +situation of Mr. Worth and his urgent need of immediate relief. The +Company had everything to gain if the arrival of the money at the scene +of the strike could be delayed even for a few hours. But Abe had seen +that it was Jefferson Worth's wish that Holmes go with him and the +surveyor could not, in the presence of Holmes, discuss the question. + +On his part Holmes felt the antagonism of his silent companion but +could not guess the reason, while Abe's attitude of aloofness prevented +the engineer from making any explanation. He told himself that the +surveyor was naturally over-wrought with the mental and physical strain +of his long ride, and that later, at some more opportune time, when +they halted for lunch and rest perhaps, they would come to a more +agreeable spirit of companionship. + +But he could not content himself with the slow pace when there was such +evident need of haste. It was all a mistake, he thought, for the man +already wearied to undertake the return trip. A fresh rider was as +necessary as a fresh horse. The surveyor was evidently too exhausted to +push on at the necessary speed and Holmes felt that it fell upon him to +set the pace and thus force his companion to the exertion required. So +he continued urging his horse ahead while Abe's mount, held back by his +rider, tugged at the reins and grew restless, and the horse of Holmes, +now started sharply forward, now pulled down almost to a standstill, +became equally uneasy. So they rode out of the city beyond the lights +and movement of the streets into the stillness and the darkness of the +night. + +At last as Holmes again touched his horse with the spur, making him +bound several lengths ahead, and again pulled him down waiting for Abe +to overtake him, the western man broke the long silence. "You'll have +to quit that, Mr. Holmes," he said somewhat sharply. + +The engineer did not understand. "Quit what?" + +"Breaking ahead like that. I'll set the pace for this trip." + +"You don't seem to be in any hurry," retorted Holmes, nettled by the +surveyor's tone. + +"I ain't. Not in that kind of a hurry." + +"But look here, Abe. Don't you know that Mr. Worth expects us to make +the trip in the shortest possible time? We've got to get that money +into Republic to-morrow evening, and before if we can. There is too +much at stake to poke along like this." + +Abe reflected. The Company man certainly understood the situation. +Aloud he said: "I think I know what Jefferson Worth wants, Mr. Holmes, +and I reckon you'll have to trust me to carry out his wishes. I know +the distance; I know this road; and I know horse flesh a little. At the +rate you're trying to go you'll be afoot before noon to-morrow. You can +ride your own horse down if you want to, but you can't hinder me by +fretting mine into unnecessary exertion. He'll need every ounce of his +strength and I'm going to see that he doesn't waste any of it. Either +push ahead out of sight and hearing as fast as you please, or turn +back; but if you ride with me you'll quit this monkey business and ride +quietly at the gait I set." + +Willard Holmes instantly saw the force of the western man's words. "I +beg your pardon, Lee," he said. "Of course you know best. I'm so +anxious over this business that I'm acting like a fool." + +After that companionship was a little easier, but under the +circumstances the one topic most on the mind of each was carefully +avoided. At midnight they stopped at the crossing of a stream to water +and feed, and Abe showed his companion how to make a nosebag out of the +sack in which his grain was carried. + +Daybreak found them in the foothills. At the ranch where Abe had been +accommodated the morning before they again halted for breakfast. With +another feed for the horses tied behind their saddles, they began the +long climb of the western slope of the mountains and about four o'clock +in the afternoon had crossed over the summit and reached the spring at +the head of Devil's Canyon--the last water they would find until they +reached Wolf Wells in the desert. + +When they dismounted at the watering place some two hundred yards off +the trail, the surveyor, after slipping the bit from his horse's mouth +and loosening the saddle girth, moved slowly about the little glen, his +eyes on the ground. Holmes, standing by the horses which had their +muzzles deep in the cool water, watched his companion wearily. "Lost +something?" he asked, as Abe continued moving cautiously about. + +"Not yet," came the laconic reply. + +"Well, what the deuce are you looking for then?" + +Abe, coming back to arrange the feed for his horse, looked closely at +his companion but made no answer. + +When the two men had thrown themselves on the grass to eat their lunch +the surveyor, between bites of his sandwich, carefully scanned the +mountain side and the mouth of the canyon below. Suddenly reaching out +his hand he picked up a burnt cigarette butt and regarded it intently, +while the engineer watched him with curious, amused interest. + +"What the deuce is the matter, Abe? You act like one of Cooper's +Leather-Stocking heroes. What's the matter with that cigarette stub?" + +The man of the desert, knowing nothing of Cooper, did not smile but +answered shortly, eyeing the engineer as he spoke: "It ain't dry. There +was a party at this watering place not more than three hours ago." + +"Well, what of it? This is government property. Probably somebody ahead +of us going into the new country to locate." + +"There's been nobody ahead of us all day." + +"How do you know that?" + +Abe shrugged his shoulders. "How do I know that a party of five or six +watered here since noon?" + +"Perhaps it's someone going out." + +"Did we meet anyone? This is the only trail." + +"Well, maybe it was a party of prospectors or hunters. They would not +follow the road." + +"They would have pack burros or mules. Nothing but horses in this +bunch. They----" The surveyor turned his head quickly to look up the +hill. His ear had caught the sound of a horse's feet on the mountain +road above. + +Holmes, looking also, saw a horseman ride leisurely around the turn and +down the grade toward the canyon. Silently they watched and as the +newcomer came nearer they saw that he was a Mexican. When the traveler +reached the point where he should have turned aside to the water he did +not pause but jogged steadily past. "By George!" exclaimed Holmes, "I +believe that's one of our greasers from the outfit in Number Eight." + +"I know it is," said Abe. "Perhaps you can make a guess as to what he's +doing here and why he didn't stop for water." As the surveyor spoke he +was rolling a cigarette, and from the cloud of smoke he watched the +Mexican ride down the mountain side and disappear between the narrow +walls of Devil's Canyon. + +"I'm sure I don't know what he's doing. He seems to be going toward the +desert. There might be a hundred different reasons why he should have +been out somewhere." + +"There's only one reason why he didn't stop for water at this place." + +"What's that?" + +"He had already watered." + +"But there has been no chance for miles back!" + +"He watered here." + +Holmes spoke sharply. Abe's manner irritated him. "I don't see how you +know." + +"Because this is the only water for twenty miles going either way." + +"But you said you thought there was a party of five or six." + +"I know there are five or six." + +"Where are the others, then, if this man was one of the party?" + +"I don't know exactly where they are, but I can guess." + +By this time Willard Holmes had come to see that to his companion there +was a great deal more in the common-place incident than the surveyor +chose to put into words. Abe, throwing away his cigarette and rolling +another with his long-practiced fingers, seemed to be striving to +arrive at some conclusion about something that to the engineer was all +very much in the dark. + +Aggravated by the reticence of his companion, Holmes burst forth with: +"For heaven's sake! Abe, open up. What's on your mind? What's the +matter anyway? What's all this about?" + +Abe faced the engineer with a straight, hard look. "Don't you know what +it's all about?" + +"So far as I can see it's all about nothing at all. Tell me." + +"Well, Mr. Holmes, I will. But I'm not sure yet that it will be news to +you. The rest of the gang that watered here is down in Devil's Canyon +waiting for us. They were here something like three hours ago. After +watering, one of them went on over the ridge to watch for us and the +others went back down the canyon. They knew that we would stop here to +feed and water and that the lookout could jog along past, apparently +minding his own business, and tell 'em that we were coming." + +"You mean it's a hold-up?" cried Holmes, in some excitement. + +"That's what I would call it. Your Company would probably call it +intercepting Mr. Worth's messenger." + +"The Company? What has the Company to do with it?" + +"Greenfield and you were in San Felipe. You knew what I went after. You +know that the chances are big that Jefferson Worth will go to smash if +I don't make it to Republic to-night, and that greaser is a Company +man." + +In a flash Holmes saw the whole situation from his companion's point of +view and understood the surveyor's suspicions. At the same time the +engineer realized that it was now too late for him to explain his +presence or that he was no longer connected with the Company. In his +perplexity and chagrin and in the suddenness of it all he said the +worst thing possible. "Well, what are you going to do about it?" + +Abe's voice was hard. "I'm not going to take any fool chances. This may +be a plain ordinary case of hold-up or it may be a job framed up by the +Company simply to delay me. It's all the same to me, but this money +goes to Republic to-night. Sabe that?" + +The other would have spoken but Abe interrupted. + +"We've palavered long enough, Mr. Holmes. The horses have finished +their feed and it's time to start." + +When they were mounted the surveyor said shortly: "Now, sir, you just +ride ahead and you ride slow until I give the word--then you go like +hell. If you lift a hand to signal or make any mistakes like stopping +to fix your saddle girth or checking up to speak to that bunch or +turning 'round, I get you first and you can't afford to have any hazy +notions about my not wanting to kill you because you're from New York. +If you're square you can make good on those Company greasers down there +and I'll apologize afterwards. If you're in this deal with your damned +Company, you'll stop drawing your salary right here and there won't be +any funeral expenses for them to pay either! Go ahead." + +"Just a word first," and Abe saw that the engineer was as cool as a +veteran. "Granting that you are right about that crowd being down there +to stop us, if anything should happen to you tell me how to get into +Republic with the money. You will be taking no chances with that at +least." + +"Follow the trail to the telephone line. You know it from there. +There's water at Wolf Wells. Give your horse a drink but don't wait to +rest. You can push him from now on as hard as you like. You should make +it to Republic in six hours from here. Give the money to Miss Worth. +Anything else?" + +Holmes replied by turning in his saddle and moving ahead. Abe followed, +his horse's nose even with the flank of the animal in the lead. + +Easily they jogged ahead down the grade toward the narrow throat of the +canyon. A hundred yards from where two points of jutting rock in the +walls of the mountain hallway leave an opening not more than fifty feet +wide, Holmes, with the slightest turn of his head, spoke, over his +shoulder. "I see a man's face looking around that point of rock on the +right." + +"Be ready when I give the word." + +"Won't they pot us?" + +"Not if they can get the drop. They'll turn us loose on the desert." + +"Shall I shoot?" + +Behind the engineer's back Abe smiled grimly. "When they halt us and I +give the word, cut loose if you want to. I'll take all on the left." + +The distance lessened to a hundred feet. + +Suddenly from the left three mounted Mexicans pushed into the road and +from the right two more. + +Even as they threw up their guns and called: "Alto--Halt!" Abe gave the +word: + +"Now!" + +The two white men drove their spurs deep into their horses' flanks, +throwing themselves forward in their saddles with the same motion. With +mad plunges the animals leaped toward the highwaymen. Even as he spoke +Abe's gun had cracked thrice in quick succession--the Mexicans firing +at about the same instant. Two of the horsemen on the left went down +and the surveyor reeled almost out of his saddle. But Holmes did not +see. His own revolver barked a prompt second to Abe's, and on his side +a Mexican went over clutching at his saddle horn. The horses of the +Mexicans were rearing and plunging. The quick reports of the revolvers +echoed viciously from the rocky walls. + +But the white men went through. Down the rocky hallway they raced, side +by side now, as hard as their maddened horses could run. A moment to +slip fresh cartridges into his cylinder and Holmes cried to his +companion: "Good stuff, old man! Go on; I'll hold 'em." And before Abe +could grasp his purpose he had jerked his horse to his haunches and, +wheeling, faced back up the canyon and disappeared around a turn. + +Even as the surveyor was trying to check his own horse--a tough-mouthed +brute--another rattling volley of revolver shots echoed down the +canyon. By the time Abe had succeeded in turning his stubborn mount +Holmes re-appeared. + +"All over!" the engineer sang out, as his companion wheeled again and +rode beside him. "Two of 'em were coming after us. I got one and the +other turned tail." He winced with pain as he spoke. "They presented me +with a little souvenir, though." + +Abe saw that his left arm was swinging loosely. "You are hurt," he said +sharply, reining up his horse. "Where is it?" + +"Here, in my shoulder. It don't amount to anything. Let's get on to +water and I'll fix it up." With the word the engineer, whose mount had +also stopped, started ahead. The horse went a few steps and +stumbled--struggled to regain his feet--staggered weakly a few steps +farther--stumbled again--and went down. As he fell Holmes sprang clear. +The animal raised his head, made another attempt to rise and dropped +back. Another bullet from the last encounter had found a mark. + +The dismounted engineer, who stood as if dazed, staring at his dead +horse, was aroused by the voice of Abe Lee. "It looks like we'd got all +that was coming to us this trip." + +At his companion's tone Holmes looked up quickly. The surveyor's lips +were white and his face was drawn with pain. + +The man on the ground sprang toward him with a startled exclamation. +"You too; Abe! Where is it?" + +"My leg, on the other side." + +Quickly the engineer went around Lee's horse to find the leg of the +surveyor's khaki trousers darkly stained with blood. "Get down," he +commanded and, reaching with his uninjured arm, almost lifted his +companion from the saddle. An examination revealed an ugly hole in the +surveyor's thigh. With handkerchiefs and some strips cut from the +engineer's coat they dressed their wounds as best they could. When they +had finished, Holmes straightened up and looked around. Behind them was +the bold mountain wall, grim and forbidding; on either hand the dry, +barren Mesa; and ahead the miles and miles of desert. + +As if in answer to his thoughts the man on the ground said grimly: +"This is hell now, ain't it? Mr. Holmes, I'll make that apology. If you +please, would you mind shaking hands with me?" + +Willard Holmes grasped the out-stretched hand cordially. "You did just +right, old man. It was the only thing you could do. But I want to tell +you quick, before anything else happens, that I'm not a Company man any +more." + +"Not a Company man?' + +"Greenfield fired me because I helped Jefferson Worth to interest the +capitalist who is furnishing him the money he needs." + +For a moment Abe Lee looked at the engineer in silence; then his pale +lips twisted into a smile. "Mr. Holmes, would you mind shaking hands +again?" + +With a laugh the engineer once more held out his hand. Then he asked +seriously: "How are we going to get out of this, Abe?" + +The smile was already gone from the surveyor's face. He answered +slowly, with dogged determination in his voice. "We've got to get this +money to Republic to-night. It's the only thing that will stop those +cholos and Cocopahs. We'll make it to water together, then you can go +on. Help me up!" + +With the engineer's assistance Abe managed to gain his seat in the +saddle, Holmes mounting behind, and thus they made their way down into +the Basin and to Wolf Wells. + +[Illustration: "Adios. Tell Barbara I'm all right"] + +There Holmes helped his companion from the horse and to the shade of a +mesquite tree near the water hole, where he stood over him as he lay on +the ground, protesting vigorously against leaving him alone in the +desert. But the surveyor argued him down. "I couldn't possibly make it +if we had another horse," he said. "I'm down and out. There'll be hell +to pay in Republic to-night, even if the boys have held them off this +long. The money's got to get there this evening. You can reach there by +ten o'clock and send a wagon back for me. Don't you see there's no +other way?" He held out the black leather bill-book with the rubber +bands. "Here, take this and go on. Go on, man! What's a night in the +desert to me?" + +"But those greasers may come this way." + +"They won't. But if they should I have my gun, haven't I, and I'll see +them before they see me. Go on, I tell you. We've lost too much time +already. Think of that mob and Barbara. You've got to go, Holmes." + +The engineer turned towards his horse. "Good-by, old man." + +"Adios. Tell Barbara I'm all right." + +Abe Lee watched the loping horse grow smaller and smaller in the +distance, then watched the cloud of dust that lifted from the trail to +hang all golden in the last of the light. Turning he saw the summit of +the mountain wall sharply defined against the sky. With a groan his +form relaxed. He closed his eyes. He was indeed down and out. + +The desert night fell softly over the wide, thirsty plain. The snarling +coyote chorus came out of the gloom. Out there Willard Holmes was +riding--riding--riding--along the old San Felipe trail. Away over +there, somewhere under those stars, Barbara was waiting his return. He +remembered her parting words and how he had failed to find in her eyes +that which he had longed to see. He felt for the paper in the pocket of +his shirt: "Love to Abe." She would never have sent that message had +her love been other than it was. Abe Lee, born and reared in the +desert, was not the kind of man to deceive himself. For his work and +for the woman whose life was so strangely and closely bound up with it +he had given the utmost limit of his strength. And now another man +would finish the ride and go to her with the prize. Not that it would +make any difference to Barbara, but somehow it mattered a great deal to +Abe. + +Willard Holmes, who in spite of his splendid strength had not the +desert man's powers of endurance, clung grimly to one thought--the +money must go to Republic. The steady rhythm of his horse's feet seemed +to beat out the word: "Barbara! Barbara! Barbara!" + +The trying scene with Greenfield, the long hard hours in the saddle, +the excitement of the fight in the canyon, with his anxiety for his +wounded companion left alone in the desert, were almost too much. Could +he hold out? Could he make it? He _must_. + +The engineer held his seat with the strength of desperation. He _must!_ +The money must go to Republic that night--to Barbara! Barbara! Barbara! +The horse's feet seemed to have beaten out the word for ages. For ages +he had been riding--riding--riding towards some point out there ahead +in the desert night. + +The engineer knew now what it was that called him back. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +MANANA! MANANA! TO-MORROW! TO-MORROW! + + +The night when Abe Lee started on his ride from Republic to San Felipe +passed quietly in the little desert town. Texas and Pat with a few +faithful white men guarded the Worth property lest, in some way, the +news that Worth would be unable to pay as his superintendent had +promised should get out and precipitate a crisis. But the strikers +continued to enjoy peacefully their holiday, looking forward to the +morrow when they would be enriched with nearly two months' pay. When +the morrow came the laborers, their dark faces beaming with childish +happiness, gathered early in front of Jefferson Worth's office. Texas +and Pat, with the men of the office force who had been up all night, +were sleeping, for another night of guard duty was before them. + +When it was ten o'clock and no one had arrived at the office, the crowd +of laborers began to show signs of growing impatience. Then someone +recalled seeing Abe riding on the buckskin horse toward the south and +suspicion grew. At last a few of the more intelligent went in a body to +the bank. + +"We come to see you about money. You sabe about money?" + +"What money is that?" asked the man behind the window shortly. + +"Our money for work on railroad. Senor Worth was to pay. El +Superintendente say pay to-day sure. He no come. You sabe?" + +"I sabe that Worth won't pay." + +"No?" + +"No. He has no money here." + +The Mexicans exchanged glances. "No money? You are quite sure, Senor?" + +"Sure." + +"Gracias, Senor. Adios!" + +It was a dangerous crowd that filled the streets of Republic that +afternoon and evening, and all through the night that followed the +friends of Jefferson Worth expected every hour the fulfillment of the +strikers' threats. Soon after breakfast, which Pat and Tex shared with +Barbara, the message came from Mr. Worth telling them that Abe was on +his way home with the money. + +Again the men were told that they would receive their pay on the +morrow, but this time the announcement was received with black scowls +and muttered curses of disbelief. "They make us damn fools, one time. +How we know this time not the same?" asked one of the leaders, speaking +for the crowd. "Mebbe, Senor Tex, you not know. Mebbe they fool you +like us. We get money this day, we glad--go work. We no get money by +this night--" an expressive shrug of the shoulders finished the +sentence. + +The attitude of the citizens of Republic was one of angry indifference. +They were angry both with Jefferson Worth and the strikers because the +trouble was unsettling and harmful to the best interests of all the +business in the town and to some degree turned the inflowing stream of +settlers and investors towards other points of the new country. They +were indifferent because of that underlying conviction, brought about +by mysteriously authoritative rumors and whispered statements from +supposed inside sources, that the cause of the trouble was a fight +between Jefferson Worth and the Company. Whether capitalists rise or +capitalists fall is always a matter of indifference to all who are not +themselves of the capitalist class. For capital continues its mastery +of them just the same. No one doubted that the railroad would be +finished whether Jefferson Worth failed or not. Horace P. Blanton was +not backward in expressing the popular feeling, and the popular feeling +often expressed grows ever more popular. + +Toward the end of the afternoon Pablo, who had been mingling with his +countrymen all day, came to "headquarters" to report. The strikers were +planning to attack their employer's property that night. Pablo was +certain that the mob would go first to the power plant and the +adjoining buildings. + +No help was to be had from the citizens and, save for the few white men +in Mr. Worth's employ who had been made to understand the situation and +the reason for the delay, Tex and Pat were alone. They knew that there +was small chance of Abe's arrival until well toward midnight. For a +little they considered the situation. + +Then the old frontiersman spoke. "Hit stands to reason that Pablo here +is right an' that the stampede will head toward the works first, an' +they'll all go together. They ain't a-comin' here 'til later, after +they've made their biggest play. Now Pablo, you listen. Get two +horses--sabe, two--one for Ynez and one for yourself, and have them +with El Capitan for La Senorita ready by the back door. You watch. If +Senor Lee comes, tell him quick to go to the power house. If the men +come, take the women on the horses and get out of the way. You +understand?" + +"Si, Senor. I will care for La Senorita." + +Texas Joe turned to Barbara. "I don't reckon they'll get here at all, +for I bank on Pat an' me fixin' somethin' to interest 'em until Abe +gets here. But it's best to be fixed for what you ain't expectin'. +You'll be a heap better off with Pablo anywhere away from here if they +should come this way." + +When the night fell, Texas and Pat went to the scene of the expected +trouble and Barbara was left with Pablo. The Mexican prepared the +horses as Texas had instructed and then took up his position by the +front gate, proud and happy that they had so honored him--that they had +trusted him to guard his employer's daughter. The darkness deepened. +Watchful, alert--Pablo strove to see into the gloom and listened to +catch the first sound of approaching friend or enemy. The white men +should learn that he could protect La Senorita--La Senorita who, in +Rubio City, had been to him an angel of mercy when he was lying +injured--La Senorita, whom they all loved. + +Behind him the door of the house opened, letting out a flood of light; +then closed. In the darkness a voice called softly: "Pablo, are you +there?" + +"Si, Senorita. You want me?" + +Barbara came quickly down the walk to his side. "It's so lonely and +still in the house, Pablo; may I stay out here a little with you? We +can both watch." + +Surely La Senorita could stay. Why not? Pablo was to protect her, not +to keep her a prisoner. + +She laughed quietly. "I believe you would do anything for me, Pablo." + +"I would protect La Senorita with my life," he answered simply. + +"I believe you would, Pablo; and so would Tex and Pat and Abe. You are +all so good to me and I--I feel so good for nothing--so useless." + +In the darkness the musical voice of Pablo answered: "Our love for La +Senorita is so great. It is like the desert in the gentle moonlight, so +big and wide. It is like the soft night under the stars, so deep. +Everybody so loves La Senorita, and anyone loved that way cannot be +what you say--good for nothing. Sometime men love like the sun on the +desert in day time--fierce and hot, and that is different; that makes +sometimes trouble--sometime make men kill. It is not good, La Senorita, +but it is so." + +They heard a galloping horse coming nearer and nearer. Barbara touched +her companion's arm and Pablo laid a hand on his revolver. Was it Abe? +Was it someone to say that the mob was coming? + +The horse and rider passed and the sound of their going died away in +the stillness of the night. + +"Pablo, what time will they go to the power house?" + +"Any time now, Senorita." + +Barbara spoke quickly--eagerly now. "Are there not a good many of your +countrymen from Rubio City among them, Pablo?" + +"Si, Senorita." + +"And do they--do they remember me?" + +"Surely no one who lived in Rubio City could forget La Senorita, who +was so kind to the poor." + +"Then, Pablo, I have a plan to help. I did not tell Texas and Pat, but +Ynez is not in the house. I sent her away this evening to stay with a +friend on the other side of town." + +"Si, Senorita." The soft voice was perplexed and troubled. + +"Pablo, I am going to the power house to help." + +"No, no, Senorita; it cannot be." + +"Yes, Pablo, I must." + +"But, Senorita, that is not right." + +"You will go with me, Pablo--and no one will harm me." + +"But if Senor Lee comes?" + +"When he finds no one here he will understand and go to us." + +"No, no, Senorita; you must not! The father--Senor Texas, and Pat--they +will kill me. La Senorita does not want Pablo to be hurt." + +"Why Pablo, no one can blame you, and don't you see that I must do what +I can? Come; we are losing time. We must not be too late. You get the +horses." + +She went quickly into the house and when she came out again the +Mexican, still protesting, held the horses ready. + +At the power house Texas and Pat sat just inside the main entrance. In +the big room beyond them the great dynamos that furnished electricity +to all the towns for lights and supplied the ice plant, the shops and +every enterprise needing it throughout the Basin with power, hummed and +sang their monotonous song of industry. In front of the building a +large arc light made the immediate vicinity as bright as day. On every +side of all the buildings in the group where the little handful of +white men stood guard, similar lights had been placed by Abe at the +beginning of the trouble. + +"Howly Mither, wud ye look at that?" came from Pat as Barbara, followed +by Pablo, rode into the circle of light. With an oath from Texas Joe +the two men ran forward, and as they came up to the riders the Irishman +cried: "Fwhat the hell are ye doin' here? Fwhat's the matter? Did thim +divils go to the house first, or are ye crazy?" + +With a laugh Barbara dismounted and, telling Pablo to tie the horses to +the hitch rack a short distance away, faced the astonished men. +"There's nothing wrong at the house, but I knew you must be lonesome +here so I came to see you. You don't seem a bit glad to see me!" + +"Mither av Gawd!" groaned the Irishman. + +Texas called to Pablo. "Bring those horses back here." + +"Pablo," called Barbara, "do as I told you." + +The Mexican leading the horses moved on toward the hitching place. +Texas scratched his head in a puzzled way, while Pat grinned. "Will ye +roll that in yer cigarette an' shmoke it, Uncle Tex?" + +"I'll have to take a shot at that fool greaser for this," returned +Texas. + +"You'll do no such thing," declared the young woman. "You know he +couldn't help himself." + +"Be the Powers, ut's us that should know that same!" + +"But honey, you can't stay here. There's goin' to be trouble--real +trouble." + +"I know it, Uncle Tex, that's why I came to help." + +"To help!" The two men looked at her in amazement. + +Before they could find words for a question Pablo came running back to +them: "They're coming, Senorita! Senor Tex! They're coming!" + +He was right. Texas Joe caught Barbara by the arm and with the three +men she ran into the building just as the crowd of Mexican and Indian +laborers reached the outer edge of the lighted space. + +While still in the shadow of the night the crowd halted and the +watchers in the buildings could see them across the broad belt of +light--a stirring, restless mass of men, shadowy and indistinct. Now +and then a single figure in the white canvas jumper, trousers and wide +sombrero of the Mexicans, or wearing the blue overalls and black shirt +decorated with many brightly colored ribbons and the green, yellow or +orange head cloth of the Indians, would detach itself from the main +company and--coming nearer--would stand out with sudden startling +clearness, disappearing again as suddenly in the dark mass as it again +moved farther away. + +Here and there in the confusion of dusky moving forms a face would +appear as someone, looking up at the electric light caught its rays +full upon his swarthy features; or the watchers would catch the gleam +and flash from a weapon, a belt buckle or an ornament as the mob of men +moved uneasily about. Still farther away the restless, stirring mass +was dissolved in the darkness of the night. + +"They're palaverin' about the lights," said Texas to his companions. +"Can't jest figure the deal under Abe's illumination. They're all plumb +anxious, but they's nobody wishful to make himself conspicuous." + +"Oh, why doesn't Abe come; why doesn't he come?" exclaimed Barbara. + +"Av the saints will only kape thim cholos considerin', the lad may git +here yet." + +Even as the Irishman spoke the crowd, seemingly agreeing upon a plan, +moved forward slowly in a body. When they were well within the lighted +space Texas drawled: "Right here's where I feel moved to address the +meetin'," and throwing open the door he stepped out upon the platform, +which was built to the height of a wagon-bed above the level of the +ground with steps at each end. + +Standing thus in the bright light of the arc that sputtered over his +head, he was seen instantly by every eye in the crowd. As if by command +they halted, standing motionless, their dark faces turned toward the +old plainsman. + +Texas spoke in their own tongue. "Good evening, men. Why do you come +here at this time of the night? What do you want?" + +There was an angry shifting to and fro in the mass of men, and a +Mexican standing well to the front answered: "What should we want, +Senor Texas, but our pay? We have worked four--five--seven weeks +without money. We must have money to buy food--clothes--tobacco." + +"Do not the commissaries in the camps supply you with all that you +need? Surely you can wait a few hours longer. To-morrow you will be +paid every cent." + +"Manana, manana; always to-morrow! The superintendent promised other +time--'to-morrow.' The superintendent lied. Now we will not wait for +to-morrow." + +Cries of approval greeted the bold speech. + +"But we cannot pay you to-night. We have not the money here." + +"That is too bad for Senor Worth, then. If he cannot pay he should have +told us so that we could work for the Company. The Company can pay!" + +"But Mr. Worth will pay to-morrow morning." + +A chorus of angry, jeering yells greeted this repeated promise, with +cries of "Pronto!", "Esta dia!", and "No manana!"--"Now!", "To-day!", +and "Not to-morrow!" The movement toward the building began again. + +Instantly the arms of the man on the platform were extended and the mob +saw in each hand the familiar Colt's forty-five of the old time West. + +The forward movement was checked. + +"Men!" cried Texas, in his deliberate way, "you cannot come any nearer +these buildings. There are Americans here--friends of Mr. Worth, who +are ready to shoot when I give the word. I can kill twelve of you +myself before you can get to this platform. Go away quietly and in the +morning you will get your money. Come one step nearer this building and +many of you will die." + +The moment was intense. A shot, a yell, a sudden movement would have +precipitated a tragedy. + +In the full glare of the light against the blackness of the night, the +crowd of dusky-faced, picturesque laborers hesitated. Standing on the +platform under the arc that sputtered and sizzled--his back to the +building--the single figure of Texas Joe was ready with menacing +weapons. Behind the brick walls the handful of armed white men were +waiting--watching. Miles away in the desert, Abe Lee was lying wounded +and alone under the still stars, and somewhere in the night Willard +Holmes, desperately holding his seat in the saddle, was forcing his +already exhausted horse toward the end of his mission. + +As the muscles of a tiger work and twitch when the beast makes ready +for its spring, a movement agitated the mob, and a low growling murmur +came from the mass of men. Texas spoke sharply. "Ready, you fellows in +there! If they start let them have it." + +The murmur swelled in volume into an angry, inarticulate roar. The +movement increased. An instant more and it would launch the mob in a +mad rush. + +Suddenly, as a beast checked in its spring, they were still and +motionless. + +By the side of the old frontiersman on the platform under the light +stood Barbara. + +"Let me speak to them, Tex." + +Without pausing for the astonished man to reply she spoke to the mob in +Spanish, her voice rising clearly and sweetly. + +"Do you know me, friends?" + +From different points in the crowd came the answers. + +"Si, Senorita." "It is the daughter of Senor Worth." "Among the poor in +Rubio City La Senorita was an angel of mercy." + +"I remember many of you," Barbara continued. "Over there I see Jose +Gallegos, whose wife and baby were ill. How is the little family now, +Jose? Manuel Cortes, do you remember when you were hurt by a wicked +horse and I would come to see the wife and children? And Pablo Sanchez, +do you know how long you were without work until with father's help I +found a place for you? Francisco Gonzales, I helped you bury your +mother and gave money to the priest that masses might be said for her +soul. And you, Juan Arguello, and Francisco Montez--I remember you all, +and I am glad to see you. But I am sorry that you come to destroy my +father's buildings. Why do you wish to do that?" + +The Mexicans whom she called by name stirred uneasily but did not +answer. Those who had known Barbara in Rubio City were few among the +whole number of laborers, and to these others she was only the daughter +of the man who was robbing them of their pay. + +The one who had so far acted as spokesman answered angrily. "Must we +say again what we want? If you are, as they say, an angel of mercy, +give us our money and we will go away." + +Cries of "Si, si!", "Bueno!", "Muy pronto!", "El Dinero," and "Give us +our money!" arose on all sides. + +"You shall have your money to-morrow--every penny. Cannot you wait +until to-morrow morning?" + +The impatient cries were louder now. "La Senorita also say 'manana.' +All the rich say all time to the poor 'manana,' and manana never come. +Give us our money now." The cries were increasing in volume as man +after man joined in the chorus of threatening protest. + +White and trembling, Barbara realized that she could do nothing more. +Texas said, in a low voice: "For God's sake, honey; get inside before +they break loose! Go now! NOW!" His voice rose into a sharp command, +and his steady hands again brought the deadly revolvers into position. + +The young woman reluctantly drew a step backward in obedience, then +suddenly, with wide eyes staring over the crowd into the darkness +beyond and extended hand pointing, she sprang forward to the very edge +of the platform. + +"Texas! Texas! Look, he is coming! Abe is here!" + +Overcome with emotion she swayed and would have fallen, but Texas +caught and steadied her. Every man in the crowd turned quickly toward +the rear. A horseman, shadowy and indistinct beyond the circle of +light, was riding toward them. As the newcomer pushed his horse nearer +and they saw that it was Willard Holmes, Barbara uttered a cry and +turned away, but the quick eye of Texas Joe had seen that the +engineer's horse was staggering with exhaustion and that the man could +scarcely keep his seat in the saddle. + +"Wait, honey," he said, delaying the young woman. "This may pan out +yet." + +Barbara paused but did not turn toward the approaching engineer. Slowly +Holmes forced his horse, reeking with sweat and dust, into the crowd +that opened for him to pass and closed in behind him with excited +exclamations as the men saw that the rider reeled in his saddle--his +face haggard and drawn with pain and his useless left arm tied to his +side. + +But Barbara still turned away her face. + +Coming so close that his leg almost touched the edge of the platform, +the engineer--as though he saw no one but her--held out the black +leather bill-book. + +"Miss Worth! Barbara!" + +With a cry she turned as the rider sank and would have fallen had not +Texas, reaching out, lifted him bodily from the saddle to the platform +where Holmes sank unconscious. + +Barbara, with wonder and horror in her face, stood as if turned to +stone, while Pat and Pablo quickly carried the still form of the +engineer into the building. Unable to move, the girl followed them with +her eyes until Texas, who had caught up the leather bill-book, +exclaimed with an oath: "Look, it's the money!" + +She looked at him as though she did not comprehend and he held the +bundle of bills toward her. "It's the money, the money! You tell them!" + +Mechanically Barbara took the money and turned to the crowd that stood +silently wondering what it all meant--waiting to learn whether the +incident had anything to do with their pay. + +Under the powerful light she held up her two hands filled with bills. +"Look!" she cried. "Look! Here is the money for your pay. My father +sent it. Now will you believe?" + +Shouts and cheers of understanding burst from the crowd. + +"It is for you that it is here," continued the young woman. "Will you +go away now and come back in the morning--each man for what is his?" + +"Si, si, Senorita! Gracias, Senorita!" Laughing, talking and +gesticulating the crowd dissolved and moved away. + +Before the dispersing laborers had passed beyond the circle of light +Barbara was kneeling beside Willard Holmes. + +And when they would have taken the engineer to the hotel Barbara said +"No"; he must be taken to her home. + +Texas had just finished dressing with rude surgery the wound in the +engineer's shoulder, and Barbara--standing by the bedside--was looking +down into the still face when Holmes slowly came back to consciousness. +His opening eyes looked up full into the brown eyes that regarded him +so kindly. For a moment neither spoke, but a slow flush of color crept +into the girl's face. + +By some strange freak of his half awakened intellectual faculties, +Holmes was living over again the incident of his meeting Barbara on the +desert the morning after her first arrival in Kingston. "Is it really +you, or is it some new trick of this confounded desert?" he muttered. +"I never saw a mirage like this before. I don't think the heat has +affected my brain!" + +To Barbara the words had the effect of suddenly blotting out all that +had come between them and of putting them both back again to the day +when they had "started square." So she answered as she had answered +then: "I assure you that I am very substantial"--and added softly, "and +I am here to stay, too." + +"And you would never forgive one who was false to the work," muttered +the engineer, and with the words his mind caught at the suggestion of +the power that had enabled him to keep his seat in the saddle through +the seemingly endless hours of torture, and he remembered everything up +to the moment when he had handed the money to Barbara. + +With an exclamation he tried to raise himself. + +"Don't do that. You must lie still, Mr. Holmes," said the young woman. + +Texas and Pat in an adjoining room heard and came quickly to Barbara's +side. + +"I must get up, men!" cried Holmes appealingly, making another effort +to raise himself. "We must go for Abe Lee. He's hurt--alone--out there +in the desert. Why don't you move? Miss Worth, please--" + +Texas Joe quietly forced him back on his pillow. "You've got to take it +easy for a little while, Mr. Holmes. Get a grip on yourself and tell us +plain what happened. We'll move fast enough when we know which way to +go." + +When Holmes had told them briefly the story of the fight in Devil's +Canyon and how he had left Abe at Wolf Wells, Texas said: "Now Mr. +Holmes, you just keep quiet right here. Barbara'll take care of you and +we'll have Abe home before noon to-morrow. Also, we'll arrange for a +little seance with them greasers what put you and Abe in this fix." + +An hour later a light spring wagon with four horses, accompanied by a +party of five mounted men, moved swiftly out of Republic toward the +south. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +BARBARA'S WAITIN' BREAKFAST FOR YOU. + + +Alone on the desert, Abe Lee waited through the long, long hours of the +night for the morning and relief. + +At times the wounded surveyor sank into half unconsciousness when he +would again be riding--riding--riding, toward San Felipe that seemed +almost so far away that he could never hope to reach the end of his +journey. Again he would be at the hotel surrounded by a crowd of +people, who stared at him curiously as the clerk explained that +Jefferson Worth had never been there--that there was no money--no +money--no money. At other times he would be fighting desperately with +James Greenfield for the possession of a black leather bill-book +secured with rubber bands, or--with the Company engineer--would face a +crowd of Mexicans in Devil's Canyon in such numbers that he could not +count them, but could only fight, and fight, and fight. Often Barbara +came to plead with him to save her from some terrible danger, and when +he would struggle to go a great weight held him down and he could +not--and the brown eyes looked at him full of pleading reproach. Then +he would curse and cry aloud as Willard Holmes came to take her away +and he would watch the two riding into the distance through the green +fields and orchards of a beautiful land, in their happiness forgetting +him alone in the desert. + +At other times, fully conscious, he lay with aching body and that sharp +pain in his leg, looking up at the stars, calculating the time and the +distance Holmes had ridden since he left him--how long it would be +until the engineer would reach Republic--wondering if Tex and Pat could +hold the strikers or if already it was too late. + +Then again, when his mind would be losing its grip and slipping away +into the land of half-dreams, the sounds made by some animal at the +water hole or the fancied approach of the Mexicans would cause him to +start into keen readiness, to listen and watch with straining sense and +ready weapon. At last all knowledge of time left him. His exhausted +nerves and muscles no longer responded to suggestions of danger, his +brain refused to act. A soft, thick cloud of darkness that was not the +darkness of the night settled down upon him, enveloped him, wrapped him +as in a sable blanket of many folds--thicker and thicker, blacker and +blacker. Feebly he struggled against it for a little, then with a sigh +yielded and lay still. + +He did not see the stars pale and the thin streak of light above the +eastern rim of the Basin widen into the morning. He did not see the +hills, all rose and purple, develop magically against the sky. He did +not see the sun burst into view from the world below the line of the +dun plain and roll its flood of light over the wide desert. He knew +nothing more until someone was forcing something between his lips and a +grateful, stimulating warmth crept through his veins. A familiar voice +drawled: "He ain't a-goin' out this time, boys. Hit takes more than one +greaser bullet and a little ride to San Felipe an' back to send his +kind over the line." + +And a rich Irish brogue responded: "Ut's thim black hathen that'll be +goin' over the line in a bunch av I can git widin rache av thim wid me +two hands." + +Abe opened his eyes with a smile. "Mornin' boys! Did Holmes make it in +time?" + +An articulate yell of delight from Pat greeted his speech. The grizzled +plainsman, with a smile of understanding, answered his question. + +"Sure he made it. Everything's as peaceful as the parson's blessin' +after his discourse on the eternal fires of torment. Barbara's waitin' +breakfast for you, son. Wake up, an' come along." + +The surveyor did not need to ask why Texas Joe had brought so large a +party of mounted and armed friends. He gave Texas and his companions +all the information he could that would help them in their search for +the Mexicans. + +When they had made him as comfortable as possible on a cot in the +spring wagon, with Pat beside him and Pablo on the driver's seat, the +horsemen mounted and Texas riding alongside the wagon drawled: "There +ain't no tellin' when we'll get back, Abe; but I don't reckon we'll be +long an' there ain't no use me tellin' you to take things easy. So +adios!" + +"Adios," came the answer, "and good luck!" + +Pablo spoke to his team and they moved ahead. For a moment the horsemen +watched, then Tex spoke. + +"All set, boys?" + +"All set," came the answer. + +Wheeling about, the five men rode rapidly in the opposite direction +towards Devil's Canyon. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +BARBARA MINISTERS TO THE WOUNDED. + + +Willard Holmes, after a few hours of refreshing sleep and a good +breakfast prepared and served by his hostess with her own hands, +announced himself as well as ever. + +"But you need some fixing just the same," declared Barbara as the +Indian woman entered the room carrying warm water, towels and bandages. +While the young woman bent over the engineer and with firm, deft +fingers removed the wrappings from his shoulder, carefully cleansed the +wound and applied fresh dressing and clean bandages, he watched her +face, so near his own, and wondered that he had ever thought her plain. +Her skin, warmly browned by desert sun and air, was fresh and glowing +with the abundance of the rich red life in her veins; her brown hair, +soft and wavy, tempted him to reach up his free hand and put back a +rebellious lock. He moved slightly and the brown eyes, full of womanly +pity, met his. + +"Does it hurt?" + +He smiled and shook his head. "Not at all. In fact I think I rather +enjoy it." + +Her cheeks turned a deeper red and he felt her fingers tremble as she +went on with her task. + +"If you laugh at me I shall turn you over to Ynez," she threatened, at +which he promised so pitifully to be good that she smiled and he +stirred again impatiently. + +"I _am_ hurting you!" she cried. "I'm so sorry, but I'm almost +through--There now." She finished with a last touch and, straightening, +put back herself that rebellious lock of hair. + +As she stood before him beautifully strong and pure and fresh and clean +in mind and heart and body, her sweet personality, the spirit of her +complete womanhood swept to him--appealing, calling, exhilarating, +invigorating, strengthening, as he had often felt the early air of the +sun-filled morning sweeping over mountain and mesa and desert plain. + +The man drew a long deep breath. + +"Tired?" she asked softly, looking down upon him with almost a mother's +look in her eyes. + +"Heavens, no!" he exclaimed, his voice ringing out strongly. "I feel as +though I had been made over, re-created." + +She laughed gladly. + +"Do you know," he asked earnestly, "how wonderful you are?" + +"Nonsense!" she retorted. "You are growing delirious. You must be +quiet. I'm going to leave you alone for a little while now and you must +sleep." + +She followed the Indian woman from the room and he heard her voice +speaking in soft musical Spanish as they went. + +An hour later Barbara, moving quietly toward his room to see if he was +asleep or wanted anything, found him fully dressed in a big easy chair +in the living room. + +"Oh!" she exclaimed, in joyful surprise. "What are you doing out here? +I thought I told you to sleep." + +"Your orders were inconsistent," he returned lazily. "You can't cure a +patient and still continue treating him as if he were an invalid. I +don't need sleep. I need--Bring your chair and sit over here and let me +tell you what I need," he finished. + +She did not answer, but going to his room returned with a pillow, which +she arranged deftly behind his head; then, kneeling, adjusted the foot +rest of the reclining chair. "There; isn't that better?" + +"Bring your chair," he insisted. + +Again she left the room, returning this time with a bit of old soft +muslin. Drawing her easy chair to a position facing him she seated +herself and began converting the material in her hands into bandages. +"The men will be here with Abe any time now," she explained. "I have +everything ready except these." + +For a little while he watched her in silence as she tore the white +cloth into long strips and rolled them neatly. + +"Don't you care to know what it is that I need?" he asked at last. + +She bent her head over her work and answered softly: "Whenever you are +ready to tell me." + +"Before I can tell you I must know something." + +Carefully she rolled another white strip, her eyes on her task. "What +must you know?" + +"That you have forgiven me." + +The color rushed into her cheeks as she answered: "Don't you know that?" + +"But I must hear you say it so that we can start square again; don't +you see?" + +"I suppose that we will be always starting over again, won't we?" Then +as she saw his face she added quickly: "I mean--I--I was thinking of +the Company--and--father's work." + +"But you forgive me this time?" he insisted. + +"Yes; I forgive you, and I am glad--so glad that I can." + +"And we are square again?" + +"Yes; we are square again--until next time." She added the words sadly. + +"But there will be no next time." + +She shook her head with a doubtful smile. "The Company will make a +'next time.'" + +He laughed aloud with a sudden sense of freedom that was new to him. +"But you do not know," he said, "and I would not tell you until we were +square again. I am not with the Company now." + +She dropped her roll of bandages and looked at him. "Not with the +Company? When did you resign?" + +"I didn't resign. They discharged me." + +"Discharged you?" + +"Yes; disgraceful, isn't it? I felt pretty bad at first; then I came to +take it as a compliment; and now--now I am glad!" + +Then he told her why Greenfield had sent for him; how he had met the +Seer; and how he had advised Cartwright to supply the money her father +needed. + +"And you--you did--that, knowing it would cost you your position?" she +exclaimed. "Oh, I _am_ glad! That was fine; that was big--worthy your +ancestors!" In her interest she was leaning towards him with flushed +cheeks and bright eyes, and her voice was triumphant as if in some +subtle way she was vindicated through his victory. The engineer felt +her attitude and knew that she was right. It _was_ her victory. + +"Barbara," he said, holding out his hand; "Barbara, may I tell you now +what it is that I need?" + +Before she could answer they heard a team and wagon coming into the +yard beside the house. Barbara sprang to her feet. "It is the men with +Abe!" she exclaimed, and ran out of the room on to the porch. + +From where he lay in his chair, the engineer saw through the open door +Pablo and Pat coming up the steps of the porch carrying the surveyor on +the canvas cot, and Barbara with mute, frightened face watching. The +two men with their burden entered the room, followed by the young +woman, and carefully lowered the cot to the floor. The long form of the +surveyor lay motionless, his eyes closed. + +With a low cry Barbara threw herself on her knees beside the cot. With +one arm across the still form of the only brother she knew, and the +other pushing back the rough hair from his forehead, she bent over, +looking appealingly into the thin rugged face--her own face alight with +loving anxiety. + +"Abe! Abe! Abe!" she called softly; then again: "Abe! See dear; it's +Barbara." + +As if only that voice had power to call him back, the man's eyes +opened, a slow smile spread over his unshaven, dust-stained features, +and his voice expressed glad surprise. "Why, hello, Barbara!" + +Willard Holmes, who had half risen from his chair and was leaning +forward watching them with burning interest, sank back with a groan and +covered his face with his hands. But they did not see. + +Still kneeling Barbara took a glass from Ynez and turned again to the +injured surveyor. "Here, Abe; drink this." + +The Irishman lifted him in his huge arms and he obeyed. Then as he lay +looking up into Barbara's face, again that slow smile came and he said: +"Well, little girl; Holmes made it, didn't he? That buckskin horse of +Tex's is all right, and Holmes--Holmes is a man! He sure made good! How +is he?" + +Holmes rose dizzily and came forward. "I'm all right, old man, and so +will you be when Miss Worth has had a chance at you." + +Quickly the surveyor glanced from the engineer's face to that of the +young woman, whose brown eyes still regarded him with loving +solicitude. "I reckon you're right," he said slowly. + +Then Barbara directed them to carry him into the room she had prepared, +while Willard Holmes returned to his chair to lie with closed eyes, +suffering a deeper pain than the pain in his shoulder. + +When his wound had been dressed and he had eaten the tempting meal +Barbara brought, Abe fell asleep. But the young woman would not leave +him for long, so that Holmes saw very little of her all the rest of the +day. Occasionally she would run into the room where the engineer lay to +ask if he needed anything, but only for a moment. Sometimes, seeing him +so still, she thought that he was asleep and withdrew softly without +speaking; but he always knew. + +The next morning Holmes was just established in the big reclining chair +in the living room when a peremptory knock called Barbara to the front +door. It was James Greenfield. + +The president of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company was +greatly agitated and he scarcely noticed the young woman as he greeted +the engineer with affectionate regard that was genuine; explaining how +he had returned to Kingston the night before and, learning of Holmes's +injury that morning, had hurried to him at once. "But I can't +understand," he exclaimed half angrily, "how _you_ ever came to be +mixed up in this affair. When I missed you from the hotel I supposed of +course that you had taken the train back to Kingston and came on +expecting to find you there. What on earth possessed you to go off on +this wild ride over the mountains with that man Lee? You might have +been killed, and I--I--" He could not put into words the horrid thought +that was in his mind--how, had the Mexican's bullet gone true, he +himself would have been responsible for the death of the man he loved +as his own son. + +Holmes--understanding the man's thought--was touched by the +capitalist's unusual agitation, and for the moment did not attempt to +reply. Then with an attempt at lightness he said: "Oh, well; it's all +coming out right, Uncle Jim, Thanks to Miss Worth's care I am nearly +well now. The wound really didn't amount to much." + +As he spoke he looked at Barbara, and the older man also turned quickly +toward the young woman who, at the engineer's words, was blushing rosy +red. + +"Father and I owe Mr. Holmes a debt we can never pay," she said +quietly. Then, excusing herself on the plea that her other patient +needed her, she left the room. + +When the two men had watched her go, Greenfield said gently: "This is a +bad business, Willard; a damned bad business; I'll admit that I was +angry when you turned against us in that Cartwright deal, but confound +it, boy! I admire you for it just the same. Your father would have done +just as you did. It was that finer kind of honesty that made him a +failure in the business where the rest of us made fortunes, but we all +loved him for it, and your mother--" he looked away through the window +toward the distant mountains. "You understand, don't you Willard, that +I was forced to let you go when you turned the Company down? My +directors would never stand for anything else, you know. You don't feel +hard toward me, lad, because I had to let you out?" + +"Certainly not, Uncle Jim. I was hurt just at first, but when I had +taken time to think it over I did not blame you." + +"You are sure, Willard?" + +"Sure, Uncle Jim." + +The older man was studying the engineer's face intently. "I don't know +what it is, Willard, but something has changed you since you came into +this country. You know, my boy, that I have no one in the world but +you. All that I have will be yours. I have dreamed and planned for you +as for my own flesh and blood. I am telling you this now because I have +felt that something was taking you away from me. Something that I +cannot understand has come between us. I felt it the moment I met you +in Kingston and it has been growing ever since. It was that that made +me so angry over the Cartwright business. You know how I hate the West; +you know what it cost me years ago. I feel now that in some way I am +losing you too. What is it, Willard, that has come between us? Let's +clean it up and get back in our relations to where we were before we +left home." + +As James Greenfield made his appeal the engineer's eyes turned +involuntarily toward the door through which Barbara had left the room. +And when he did not answer immediately the older man was sure that he +understood what it was that had come between himself and the son of the +woman he loved, and why Holmes had used his influence in behalf of +Jefferson Worth. + +"Is it that girl, Willard?" + +The younger man faced him squarely and his answer meant much more to +the engineer himself than he could have explained to Greenfield. "Yes +sir, it is this girl." + +"You love her?" + +"As my father must have loved my mother." + +At the simple words Greenfield controlled himself, but his hatred for +Jefferson Worth was very bitter. That he should fail to win in the +business warfare with the western man was nothing, but that +Worth--through his daughter--should rob him of the son that was more +than a son to him was more than he could bear. + +"But, my dear boy," he said; "think what this means! Think of your +family--of your father and mother--of your friends and your future back +home. Who are these people? They are nobodies. This man Worth is an +ignorant, illiterate, common boor with no breeding, no +education--nothing but a certain native cunning that has enabled him to +make a little money. We have nothing in common with his class." + +"Mr. Worth is an honest, honorable man who is doing a great work," +answered Holmes stoutly; "and his daughter is--Uncle Jim, she is the +most wonderful woman I ever knew!" + +As Willard Holmes spoke, Barbara, coming from the kitchen into the +dining room, could not help hearing the words that came through the +partly opened door of the living room where the men were talking. +Involuntarily at the sound of the engineer's voice the red blood crept +into the young woman's face and her eyes shone with pleasure. The next +moment Greenfield's voice held her motionless. + +"But don't you know that she is not Worth's daughter?" + +"Not his daughter?" exclaimed Holmes. + +"No, not his daughter. She is a nameless waif whom he picked up and +adopted. No one knows her parentage--not even her name. She may even +have Mexican or Indian blood in her veins for all that anyone knows." + +It was not strange that Willard Holmes had never heard the story of how +Barbara was found in the desert. In the new country, where most of the +engineer's life in the West had been spent, comparatively few beyond +Worth's most intimate associates knew that she was the banker's +daughter only by adoption. Greenfield, who had learned the story while +inquiring for business reasons into the history of his competitor, told +the young man briefly of the finding of the unknown child. + +"Don't you see, my boy," finished the financier, "how impossible it is +that you should give your name--one of the oldest and best in the +history of the country--to a nameless woman of unknown breeding, whose +connection with this man Worth even is merely accidental? It would ruin +you, Willard. Think of your friends back home! How would they receive +her? Think of me--of my plans for you! I--I should feel that I had been +false to your mother, Willard, who gave you to me on her death-bed, if +I permitted such a thing as this. It's--it's monstrous!" + +Slowly the engineer raised his head and with a smile on his white face +that hurt the older man, he said: "I can at least relieve your mind on +that score, Uncle Jim. You need not fear that I will marry Miss Worth." + +At his words from beyond that partly closed door, Barbara made her way +blindly to her own room and, throwing herself face downward on her +couch, strove with clenched hands and throbbing veins to keep her self +control. She must not--she must not let them know, she whispered to +herself--moaning in pain. She must go to them again in a moment--and +they must not know. + +While the woman whom Willard Holmes loved fought for strength to hide +her pain, James Greenfield, in the other room, was leaning eagerly +toward the engineer. "She has refused you?" + +"I have not asked her. But don't misunderstand me. What you have told +me--what my friends at home might think or do--could make no +difference. Barbara Worth is worthy any man's love; and I love her and +would make her my wife. I would give up even you for her, Uncle Jim. +It's not that. It's because I know that she loves someone else too well +to listen to me." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +WILLARD HOLMES RECEIVES HIS ANSWER. + + +When Barbara returned to the living room with some trivial excuse to +explain her rather long absence, she found Holmes determined to go with +Mr. Greenfield to his rooms in the hotel in Kingston. + +When she protested he answered: "Really, Miss Worth, my shoulder +troubles me so little that I am ashamed to offer myself as an invalid; +and now that Uncle Jim is with me I haven't the shadow of an excuse for +burdening you any longer." + +"I am sorry if I have made you feel that you were a burden," she +returned with a brave smile. + +He answered warmly: "You know I did not mean to imply that. I shall +never forget your kindness--never." + +Greenfield too expressed his appreciation of her kindness but she +answered the engineer as if she had not heard the older man. "And I can +never thank you for what you have done for us." + +As they stood on the porch while Greenfield went on ahead to the buggy, +Holmes held out his hand. "And we are square again?" + +"Yes, we are square." + +"Then adios, Senorita." + +"Adios, amigo." + +Bravely she stood watching until the carriage disappeared down the +street. Then she went slowly into the house to Abe's room. + +The surveyor lay propped up in bed with pillows, looking quite +cheerful. "Well, sister," was his greeting; "you have lost one patient +and you are going to lose the other one before long. I feel like a new +man already." + +For a little she made no answer and, as she stood before him silent, +those eyes that were trained to let nothing escape their notice studied +her face and noted her hands clasped in nervous pain. "Why, Barbara! +What is it, sister? What has gone wrong?" + +At his words the brown eyes filled. + +"Barbara!" + +She dropped into the chair by the bedside and, throwing herself toward +him, buried her face in her arms in the pillow by his side, her form +shaking with sobs. + +The surveyor's face was white now under its bronze--white and set. +Lightly he placed his hand upon the soft brown hair so near his +shoulder and his eyes seemed now to be looking far away. When her grief +had spent itself a little he said quietly: "Don't you think, sister, +that you had better tell me about this?" + +When she did not answer he said again gently: "Do you care for him so +much, Barbara?" + +The brown head nodded her confession and for a moment the man closed +his eyes and turned away his face. Then: "Won't you let me help you?" + +Slowly, with many pauses, she told him what she had overheard. When she +had finished Abe said simply: "But he has not told you of his love, +Barbara. Perhaps you are mistaken." + +"No, Abe; I'm not mistaken. He has not told me--not in words, but I +know; I know!" + +"Then," said the surveyor, "he will tell you. Listen, Barbara. The man +who went through those Mexicans in Devil's Canyon with me is not the +kind of a man who gives up the woman he loves for what others think. +Wait a little, dear, and you will see that I am right. You have been +too quick. Be patient a little and you shall see." + +"But Abe, Mr. Greenfield is right. I am a nameless nobody; and he--he +is--" + +"He is a man and you are a woman, and this is La Palma de la Mano de +Dios where nothing else matters," said Abe Lee almost sternly. + +A few minutes later, when Barbara was gone, the surveyor slipped lower +on the pillows and wearily turned his face to the wall. Several times +that day Barbara looked in on him and at last, when he had not moved +for so long, called him softly. He answered with a smile, but when she +had arranged his pillows for him he closed his eyes again with a word +of thanks. + +Jefferson Worth arrived that evening and with him came the Seer, who +had joined him in the city by the sea. But Barbara's joy at their +coming was overshadowed by her anxiety for Abe, who seemed to have +fallen into a half-unconscious condition that was alarming. When they +entered his room the surveyor, who still lay with his face to the wall, +did not look up. + +"Daddy is here, Abe," said Barbara; "Daddy and the Seer." + +Slowly the man turned toward them and held out his hand with a word of +greeting for each. "I'm mighty glad you have come," he added; "Barbara +has had rather more than her hands full." + +But the old engineer noticed that he did not look at Barbara as he +spoke. + +While the three were at supper Barbara told the men the whole story, +and when they had finished the meal the Seer said: "Now Jeff, I know +you have important business needing your immediate attention and our +girl here must have a good night's rest--she has been through enough to +kill an average woman. I'm going to take care of Abe to-night myself." + +When his old chief was alone with the surveyor he drew a chair to the +bedside and sat for some time looking at the man on the bed. Then he +said: "I think, son, that you and I had better get to the bottom of +this. First, I'll have a look at that leg." + +When the examination was over the big man eyed the surveyor. "Humph! +This is not a scratch beside what that greaser did to you with his +knife in Arizona. You didn't even stop work for that. Your ride to San +Felipe and back ordinarily would call for about twelve hours sleep and +that's all. Come, lad, what's the matter? Out with it." Abe smiled. +"I'm down and out, I reckon." + +"Down and out, hell!" returned the big man. "That won't do, Abe. You +forget that you are talking to me." Then he leaned forward and spoke in +a low tone. "I know what it is, my boy. It's Barbara." By the pain in +the surveyor's eyes the Seer knew that he was right. + +Then the Seer in his own way did for Abe what Abe had done for Barbara. + +When the young woman brought in his breakfast the next morning Abe +greeted her with his old cheery "Hello!", and declared facetiously that +the Seer had talked him into a sleep from which he had awakened as +hungry as a bear and ready to go to work. + +Two days later Texas Joe, who had ridden in from somewhere late the +night before, came to report. + +"We were beginning to think that you were not coming back at all, Uncle +Tex," said Barbara, who with the others was curious to hear of the +old-timer's adventure. + +"I 'lowed once mebbe I wouldn't come back no more neither," he drawled. +"You see, Mr. Worth, after we-all got Abe at Wolf Wells I figured +that--bein' so far on the way--I might as well go on over to Felipe an' +get that ol' buckskin hawss o' mine what Abe had left." He paused, and, +turning his head to one side, looked meditatively down at the spur on +his high-heeled boot. "That there buckskin is sure some hawss, Barbara; +he sure is." + +"Did you get him?" asked Barbara. + +Texas looked up, mildly surprised. "Sure we got him. That's what I'm +a-tellin' you." + +Then he laughed softly as though mildly amused at some incident +suddenly remembered. "Abe, you know that greaser that tumbled into the +Dry River Spillway when we-all was puttin' in Number Five Gate?" + +"Yes." + +"I 'lowed you'd know him. I heard somethin' funny about him when I was +in San Felipe after that buckskin." + +"What was it, Texas?" + +"He's daid." + +The recovery of the two wounded men was rapid. For a while Holmes came +over from Kingston every day to see Lee, and the two, with the Seer and +Barbara, spent many delightful hours on the big front porch. + +Jefferson Worth's enterprises pushed steadily toward completion. The +power plant in Barba was finished and The King's Basin Central had +stretched its steel length from the junction at Republic to within +three miles of the terminal. + +When Abe was able to go back to his work, Holmes did not go so often to +the Worth home; but the presence of the Seer still enabled him to +excuse to himself his quite frequent visits. But while the young +engineer continually sought the Seer, not only because of their growing +friendship but because he was always sure of meeting Barbara, he +avoided seeing the girl alone for he felt that he could not trust +himself; and the young woman, feeling his attitude toward her, was +convinced against her will and Abe's protest that the man who loved her +guarded himself against her for the reasons that she had overheard +Greenfield urge upon him. + +Then Holmes received a letter from the Southwestern and Continental +Railroad Company offering him a position that would place him at the +head of the engineering department of the district that included The +King's Basin. The letter stated that the position was tendered on +recommendation of Jefferson Worth and, in view of the fact that the +flood season was at hand and that conditions seriously threatening to +the Company's property might be expected at any hour, urged him to +accept by wire and take charge immediately. + +With the letter in his hand a sudden desire to go with it to Barbara +mastered him. He knew that the Seer had planned to go that morning with +Abe Lee to Barba and that the young woman was alone. + +An hour later he dismounted in front of the Worth home. Barbara herself +met him at the door. "The Seer is not at home to-day" she said, as they +entered the living room. "I thought you knew." + +"I did not come to see the Seer to-day. I came to see you," he answered +bluntly. + +"To see me?" + +"Yes; to ask you how I shall answer this." He handed her the letter. + +She read it slowly, gaining time for self-control. "But I do not +understand why you should come to me." + +He studied her face a moment before he answered. How could he explain +to her the impulse that had prompted him, as every man is prompted to +take the big things of his life to the one woman who--if she be really +the one woman for him--is more than all? "I thought--I hoped that you +would be interested," he said. + +"And I am!" she cried eagerly, feeling that which he could not put into +words. "Of course I'm interested. I was only surprised that you should +hesitate a moment to accept. Don't you want to continue your work? +Don't you want to stay with us?" She added the last words wistfully and +the heart of the man longed to tell her that which she longed to hear. + +"Yes," he said slowly, "I want to stay, but I--I am afraid." The words +slipped out unbidden. + +Barbara interpreted his answer in the light of his conversation with +Greenfield, which she had overheard, and her woman's pride was aroused. +He should be made to understand that he was in no danger from her. Her +next words were a challenge. "Afraid of what?" + +"Afraid of you," he burst forth savagely. "Afraid of myself. Because I +love you. From the first day when you showed me the desert you have +been so closely associated in my mind with this work that I cannot +think of it without thinking of you. Everything I have done I have felt +was done for you. I would have given it all up a hundred times but my +thoughts of you would not let me. When I have been untrue to the work I +have felt that I have been untrue to you. If I have accomplished any +good here it has been through you. Everywhere I have gone in this +country you have seemed to me to be there. Everything I see speaks to +me of you. The desert--the mountains--the farms and homes and towns; it +is all you--and you--and you. I did not realize it at first, but I felt +it, and then as I came to love my work I came to love you. I did not +intend to tell you this. I hate myself for telling you--but I love you. +I love you! Do you understand now why I came to you with this letter? +Do you understand why I am afraid to stay?" + +At the man's passionate outburst that came as if dragged from him +against his will, Barbara shrank back as if he threatened her. He had +not asked if she loved him; he had only spoken brutally--savagely, of +his passion for her. She repeated insistently, blindly, to herself: "He +must not know! He must not know!" + +The man spoke again. "Forgive me, Miss Worth; I did not mean to let go +of myself. I know how you love this work--how hard you have tried to +hold me true to it. I could not bear that you should think of me as +leaving it without reason. But you see--you see how impossible it is +now for me to stay." + +As he spoke, a running horse stopped suddenly in front of the house and +through the open door they saw Pablo leap from the saddle and run +swiftly up the walk toward the house. + +"Senorita!" the Mexican cried, as Barbara sprang towards him; "the +river! the river! It has come. The Company works--it is all gone! Senor +Worth send me quick to tell Senor Holmes. I go to Kingston; he not +there. They say he ride this way. I come to you, Senorita; I think +maybe you know where I find him." He turned to the engineer. "Senor +Holmes, the river has come again into La Palma de la Mano de Dios like +the Indians say it was long time ago. Senor Worth say you come please +pronto!" + +Barbara wheeled on the engineer with flushed cheeks and blazing eyes. + +"This is your answer!" she cried. "Not for me; not for yourself; but +for the work--_your_ work--_our_ work!" + +For an instant he looked into her eyes, then turned and ran towards his +horse with Pablo at his heels. + +Barbara saw them spring into their saddles and disappear in a cloud of +dust, and the engineer, as he rode, remembered what Abe Lee had once +told him of Pablo's saying: "In the Company there is no Senorita!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +BATTLING WITH THE RIVER. + + +Some day, perhaps, the history of that River war will be written. It +can only be suggested in my story. + +It was a war of terrific forces waged for a great cause by men as brave +as any who ever fought with weapons that kill. + +The attacking force was the Rio Colorado that with power immeasurable +had, through the ages past, carved mile-deep canyons on its course and +with its mountains of silt had built the great delta dam across the +ancient gulf, thus turning back the waters of the sea that sun and wind +might lay bare the floor of the Basin and work the desolation of the +desert. + +Using the Seer's open hand for his map of La Palma de la Mano de Dios, +Jose, the Indian, had traced the course of the river along the base of +the fingers flowing toward the gulf which lies between the edge of the +palm and the thumb--this same inner edge of the hand representing +roughly the high ground that shuts out the waters of the sea. The +thousands of acres of The King's Basin lands lie from sea level to +nearly three hundred feet below. The river at the point where the +intake for the system of canals was located is, of course, higher than +sea level, for the waters that pass the intake flow on southward to the +gulf. + +It was the river flowing thus on higher ground that made irrigation and +reclamation of the desert possible. It was this also that made possible +the disaster that was now upon the hardy pioneers, who had staked +everything in their effort to realize the vast potential wealth of the +ancient sea-bed. The grade from the river at the intake to the lowest +point in the bottom of the Basin is much steeper than the established +fall of the river from the intake to the gulf. The water in the canals +on this steeper grade was controlled by headings, spillways, gates and +drops, while the structure at the intake, with gates to regulate the +flow into the main canal, prevented the river from leaving its old +channel altogether, pouring its entire volume into the Basin and in +time converting it again into an inland sea. + +The dangerously cheap and inadequate character of the vital parts, +built by the Company upon the usual promoter's estimates, had led Abe +Lee to protest against the risk forced upon the settlers and had +finally caused him to resign. Later, as the Company system of canals +was extended and more and more water was needed to supply the rapidly +increasing acreage of cultivated lands, Willard Holmes came to +appreciate the desert-bred surveyor's view of the danger and +insistently urged his employers to supply him with funds to replace the +temporary wooden structures with safe and lasting works of concrete and +steel. + +But the hunger of Capital for profits forbade. Some day the work would +be done, the directors promised. In the meantime, without increasing +the original investment by so much as a dollar but with the revenues +derived from the sale of water rights, they were extending the system +to supply the ever increasing fields of the settlers, thus shrewdly +forcing the people, who were ignorant of the terrible risk they were +carrying, to supply the funds to build the canals and ditches that +belonged to the Company; while for the water carried to the ranches the +farmers continued to pay the Company large rentals. The original +investment of the Company was very small compared with the thousands +invested by the pioneers who had been induced to settle in the new +country. And yet from every dollar of the wealth taken from the land +the Company would receive a share. + +But the Rio Colorado gave no heed to the decree of the New York +financiers. The forces that had made La Palma de la Mano de Dios are +not ruled by Wall street. + +Willard Holmes, who had come to understand that his work was not alone +to safeguard the property of his employers but to protect the interests +of the pioneers as well, had been discharged because he would not +deliver the people wholly into the hands of the Company. A new engineer +out of the East, as faithful to the interests of Capital as he was +unfamiliar with conditions in the new country, was placed in charge. + +It was as if the river, in the absence of the man whose constant +readiness had held it in check, saw its opportunity. Swiftly it +mustered its forces from mountain and plain. Hundreds of miles away it +gathered its strength and hurried to the assault. The sources of +information established by Holmes on the tributaries and headwaters +wired their reports: a foot rise on the Gila; three feet coming down +the Little Colorado; two feet rise in the Salt; five feet on the Grand. +The New York office-engineer received the messages with mild interest. +The daily reports from the weather bureau covering the countries +drained by the Rio Colorado lay on his desk unnoticed. + +Mr. Burk warned him, but the thoughtful Manager of the Company was not +an engineer. Willard Holmes tried to help him, but Holmes had been +discharged by the Company and the words of discharged men have little +weight with those who succeed to their positions. + +The daily reports from the gauge at Rubio City showed an increase in +the river's volume of twenty thousand second feet; then thirty thousand +more; and on top of that came another twenty thousand. The assistants +of the new chief engineer tried to tell him what it meant, but the +assistants were subordinates and friends of Willard Holmes. The man +from New York, who was privileged to write several letters after his +name, was supposed to know his business. + +Then the assembled forces of the river reached the intake, and the +trembling wooden structures that stood between the pioneers and ruin, +besieged by the rising flood, battered by the swirling currents, +bombarded by drift, gave way under the strain and the charging waters +plunged through the breach. + +Too late the Company's forces were rushed to the scene. Before their +very eyes the roaring waters, as if mad with destructive power, +wrenched and tore at the Company's property, twisting, ripping, +smashing, until not a trestle, plank or stick was left in place and the +terrific current, rushing with ever increasing volume and power through +the opening, plowed into the soft, alluvial soil of the embankment, +undermining and carrying it away until nearly the entire river was +admitted. + +As quickly as men and material could be assembled, the Company's chief +engineer began the battle to regain control of the mighty stream. The +warfare thus begun meant life or death to the greatest reclamation +project in the world. + +Millions already invested by the settlers in farms and towns and homes +and business enterprises were at stake. Many more millions that were +yet to be realized from the reclaimed lands depended upon the issue of +the fight. + +Against the efforts of the engineers and the army of laborers the river +massed from its tributaries in the regions of heavy rains and melting +snows the greatest strength it had assembled in many years. + +Five times, with piling and trestles and jetties and embankments, the +men who defended The King's Basin were in sight of victory. Five times +the river summoned fresh strength--twisted out the piling, wrecked the +trestles, undermined the jetties and embankments and swept the nearly +completed structures, smashing, grinding, crashing, away--a twisted, +tangled ruin. + +While the engineers and men of the Company were waging this war with +the river, the situation of the pioneers in the Basin grew daily more +perilous. Without a well-defined channel large enough to carry the +incoming stream, the flood spread over a wide territory in the southern +and western portions of the Basin, filling first the old channels and +washes left by the waters ages ago, forming next in the areas of nearly +level or slightly depressed sections shallow pools, lakes and seas, out +of which the higher ground and hummocks rose like new-born islands, +growing smaller and smaller as the rising tide submerged more and more +of their sandy bases. Meanwhile the whole flood, eddying slowly with +winding sluggish currents in the shallow places, moving more swiftly in +the deeper washes and channels, swept always onward toward the north +where, miles away, lay the deepest bottom of the great Basin. + +Many of the settlers in the flooded districts were forced to abandon +farms they had won with courage and toil, for the sweeping waters +covered alike fields of alfalfa and grain and barren desert waste. The +towns of Frontera and Kingston were protected from the inundation by +earthen levees, in the building of which men and women toiled in +desperate haste, and night and day these embankments were patrolled by +watchful guards, who frequently summoned the weary, besieged citizens +from their rest to protect or strengthen some threatened point in their +fortifications. + +The eastern side of the Basin being higher ground, the settlers in the +South Central District and east of Republic, with the two towns built +by Jefferson Worth, were in no immediate danger, but the old Dry River +channel became a roaring torrent, bank-full; and it was only a question +of time, if the river were not controlled, when every foot of the new +country with its wealth of improvements and its vast possibilities +would be buried deep beneath the surface of an inland sea. + +The situation was appalling. The remarkable development of the new +country, the marvelous richness of the reclaimed lands, with the +immense possibilities of the reclamation work as demonstrated by The +King's Basin project had attracted the attention of the nation. The +pioneers in Barbara's Desert were, in fact, leaders in a far greater +work that would add immeasurably to the nation's life--that would, +indeed, be world-wide in its influence. Because of this the attention +of the nation was fixed with peculiar interest upon the disaster that +had fallen upon The King's Basin. Throughout the land civil engineers +watched intently the efforts of the Company men to regain control of +the river and to force it back into its old channel. Many declared +that, because of the alluvial character of the soil, the absence of +anything like a rock floor to build upon and the great volume and +terrific velocity of the current, the feat was an engineering +impossibility. In the eyes of the engineering world The King's Basin +project was doomed. The settlers were advised to abandon the work they +had accomplished and to move out. But those strong ones who had forced +the desert to yield its wealth to their hands did not move. Those whose +farms were in the flooded district were forced to go. There was the +inevitable sifting of the timid-hearted and the weak, but the great +majority stood fast. + +Jefferson Worth, in the face of almost certain ruin, went steadily on +with his work on the railroad and continued pushing his other +enterprises toward completion--making improvements, erecting new +buildings, planning further investments and developments with a +confidence and conviction that was startling. Not once throughout that +trying period was he heard to express the slightest doubt as to the +ultimate triumph of the settlers. His business friends and associates +outside urged him to stop--to wait at least until the issue was +certain. He answered calmly that the issue was already certain and went +on with his work. + +His confidence and courage were the inspiration that fired the hearts +of that threatened people. Had he given ground, had he weakened and +drawn back it would have started a panic that nothing could have +checked and that would have resulted inevitably in the abandonment of +the cause forever. The King's Basin lands with the wealth of effort +that had already been expended would have been given over to the river, +lost irretrievably to the race. + +Hundreds went to him when they felt their courage failing and their +spirits weakening under the strain. And always they returned to their +farms or to their business with renewed strength to go on. As one, who +passed through that ordeal, long afterwards expressed it: "In those +times we all just lived on his nerve." + +Through all the Company's war with the river and its repeated defeats +Willard Holmes was forced to stand a mere observer, an idle looker-on. +Foreseeing the catastrophe that was now upon them, he had prepared +himself by careful study of every factor in the problem and by thorough +knowledge of the situation to meet the crisis when it came. With every +means at his command he had planned and worked that he might be ready +and so far as possible equipped for the struggle and now, when war was +declared and the battle being waged, he could only watch the ruin of +the work he loved while a stranger, who ignored his preparatory +efforts, took the place that should have been his. + +But the great man of the S. & C., with whom the engineer had many a +counsel in those days, warned him always to be ready for the time +when--as the western man put it--"The Company should throw up its +hands." + +The waters moving northward reached the lowest point in the Basin and +there formed an inland sea that, without an outlet and receiving the +full volume of the river, grew ever larger and larger. Flowing towards +the sea the flood developed swift currents in the depressions and +washes that led in the general direction of its course, seeking thus to +make for itself a well-defined channel. The largest of these ancient +washes, scarcely noticeable in the desert, led from the south to +Kingston, passing through the edge of the town, curved slightly to the +west and extended on northward, becoming deeper and more clearly +defined with higher ground on either side as it neared the lowest point +of the Basin. The general lay of the land drew the flood toward this +channel and developed a current that moved with increasing velocity as +the waters, nearing the sea, were concentrated more and more by the +greater depth of the old channel and the steeper grade of the land on +both sides. + +Then a new and alarming phase of the river's destructive work developed +and everyone saw that the war at the intake must be forced to a speedy +finish or the cause would be lost. The immense volume of water, flowing +with increased strength and velocity as it defined for itself a more +distinct channel down the steeper grade of the Basin, began cutting in +the soft soil a vertical fall that from the foot of the grade moved +swiftly up-stream; a mighty cataract from fifty to sixty feet in height +and a full quarter of a mile wide, moving at the rate of from one to +three miles a day and leaving as it went a great gorge through which a +new-made river flowed quietly to a new-born and ever-growing sea. The +roar of the plunging waters, the crashing and booming of the falling +masses of earth that were undermined by the roaring torrent were heard +miles away. Acres upon acres of the soft fertile land fell, melted and +were swept away down the gorge as banks of snow fall and melt in the +spring freshets. Day and night, night and day, the immeasurable power +of the canyon-cutting river drove the cataract southward toward the +break at the intake through which, by this time, the entire Colorado at +its highest flood stage was turned. + +The imminent danger that threatened the Basin was not the danger from +the ever-rising sea. Long before the waters could fill the old sea-bed, +that mighty cataract, moving ever upstream, would pass the intake; and +with the floor of the river lowered thus some fifty feet it would be +impossible to take the water out for irrigation. The lands reclaimed by +the pioneers would go back to desert years before they would be buried +once more under the surface of the sea. + +The complete destruction of all that the settlers had gained and the +utter desolation of the land was now a question of weeks. + +The Company town of Kingston was directly in the path of that moving +Niagara. While the Company's men were making a last desperate effort to +close the break, the great falls were eating their way nearer and +nearer the little city. When the roar of the water and the crashing and +booming of the falling banks could be heard on the streets and in the +offices of the Company, the people left their homes, their stores and +their shops; the town realizing that no human power now could avert the +disaster. + +Heroic efforts were made to direct the course of the new river away +from the little city, but the waters with savage, resistless power +chose their own way. The pioneers, who built the first town in the +heart of The King's Basin Desert, saw that mighty, thundering cataract +move upon the work of their hands and felt the earth trembling under +their feet as they watched homes, business blocks, the hotel, the opera +house, the bank and finally the Company building undermined and +tumbled, crashing into the deep canyon. + +In a few short hours it was over. The falls moved on and where Kingston +had once stood was that great gorge, with a few scattered houses only +remaining on each side. + +That same day the last attempt of the Company men to close the break +failed. + +With every hour the awful ruin drew nearer the point which, if reached, +would place The King's Basin forever beyond the reclaiming power of +men. Frantic appeals for help were made to the government, but before +the ponderous machinery of state, with its intricate and complicated +wheels within wheels, could unwind a sufficient quantity of red tape +the work of the pioneer citizens would be past saving. + +It was at this time that a telegram from Jefferson Worth to the great +man of the Southwestern and Continental brought a special train of +private cars into the Basin. At Deep Well Junction Jefferson Worth, Abe +Lee, the Seer and Willard Holmes boarded the train and entered the car +of the general manager, where the officials representing the highest +authority in the great transcontinental system had gathered to meet +them in consultation. + +At Republic the president of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation +Company with his manager and chief engineer joined them, and the train +moved on until, at a word from Holmes, the conductor gave the signal to +stop. From the windows and platform of the car the party could see the +water extending to the south and west mile after mile, and nearer the +huge plunging cataracts with leaping columns of spray, while the roar +of the falls, the crashing and booming of the caving banks shook the +air with heavy vibrations and the earth trembled with the shock of the +plunging waters and the falling masses of earth. Just ahead, where +Kingston had stood, the track ended on the bank of the deep gorge. From +here the party was driven in comfortable spring wagons to the scene of +the Company's defeat. + +Save for the camps of the laborers, the boats, pile-drivers, implements +and materials of their warfare and the debris of their wrecked +structures, not a sign of their work remained, while through the +breach--widened now to nearly a quarter of a mile--the great river +poured its hundred and fifty thousand second feet of muddy water with +terrific velocity and solemn, awful power. + +When the party had viewed the situation, the railroad men with Mr. +Greenfield retired to the tent of the Company's chief engineer. + +A little apart from Jefferson Worth and his two companions, Willard +Holmes stood alone on the brink of the broken embankment looking down +into the swirling muddy waters. He knew that his time had come. He knew +that at that moment the railroad officials were concluding a deal with +The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company through its president, by +which the S. & C. would assume control of the situation and attempt to +save the reclamation work. His chief had told him to be ready. He was +ready. + +In the railroad yards at Rubio City and on every available side-track +for several miles east and west were standing train-loads of ties and +rails. In the yards at the Coast city were cars loaded with machinery, +implements and supplies. In the yards at the harbor were other +train-loads of timber and piling. With the readiness of a perfectly +equipped and organized army the forces of the S. & C., backed by the +resources of that powerful system, waited the word, while every moment +the disaster that threatened the pioneers drew nearer. From the roaring +river at his feet Willard Holmes turned to look toward the tent. Why +were they so slow? + +Then his face lighted up and he took an eager step forward as the +private secretary of the general manager came out of the tent and +hurried toward him. + +"They want you, Mr. Holmes," said the young man. The engineer went +quickly to answer the call. + +When he entered the tent every man in the party turned toward the +engineer. "Holmes," said his chief, "we will attempt to close the +break. You will take charge at once." + +Within an hour the forces of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation +Company already on the ground were set to work under the Seer preparing +the grade for a spur-track that would leave the main line near the +river fifteen miles north of the break, and Holmes, with Abe Lee, set +out on horseback for Rubio. + +With the return of the general manager and his party to their train, +the movement already planned began. Without hurry but with ready +promptness the orders, voiced by the hundreds of clicking telegraph +instruments covering the district affected by the operations, were +obeyed. Special trains carried Jefferson Worth's force of railroad +builders with teams and equipment to the point at which the spur-track +would connect with the main line where, under Abe Lee, they began +pushing the grade southward to meet the forces that, under the Seer, +were working northward from the front. + +Throughout the Basin the call for men and teams was issued by Jefferson +Worth, and the pioneers, answering as the Minute Men of old, were +hurried to the scene where they found trainloads of equipment waiting +ready for their use, while every hour brought reinforcements--laborers +of many nationalities gathered in the cities of the coast by the agents +of the railroad company. + +The waiting trains loaded with ties and steel began to move and the +construction gangs followed close on the heels of the graders. And when +the last spike in the track to the scene of the decisive battle was +driven, the track-men with their sledges stepped aside to clear the way +for the panting engines that drew the first train loaded with piling +and timbers for the trestle. + +Hour by hour now, without pause or halt, the men under Willard Holmes +working in shifts met the Rio Colorado in a hand-to-hand fight for The +King's Basin lands. By day under the white, semi-tropical sun, by night +in the light of locomotive headlights that gleamed strangely over the +dark swirling floods, the trestles were forced further and further out +into the plunging current that wrenched and twisted and tugged with +terrific strength in a mad wrestle with those who dared attempt to +check its sullen destructive will, while steadily, irresistibly, the +canyon-cutting falls drew nearer and nearer. It was not alone the +magnitude of the task directed by Willard Holmes that made the work +heroic. It was that this seemingly impossible work must be accomplished +against time. In his fight with the river the engineer raced against a +destructive force which, if it reached the scene of the struggle before +the battle was won, would make final defeat certain and place the +Colorado, so far as The King's Basin reclamation was concerned, beyond +control of men. + +As the engineer stood on the trestle above the mad, whirling currents, +directing his men in their efforts to drive the piling in thirty feet +of water that--as one veteran expressed it--"ran like the mill tails of +hell," he fancied he could hear above the roar of the river against the +structure, the blows of the heavy driver, the rattle of cable and chain +and windlass, the grinding and squeaking of the straining timbers and +the shouts of the men--the menacing thunder of that moving cataract a +few miles away. While he paced the embankments, studying the set of the +currents, observing the form and action of the eddies or receiving the +hourly reports from the river gauge at Rubio City, and held +consultation with his assistants, he often turned his head +involuntarily to look anxiously away in the direction of the racing +falls. + +Only when his exhausted body and wearied brain refused to respond +longer to his will would he throw himself fully dressed upon a cot in +his tent for an hour's sleep. His face grew haggard and deeply lined +with anxious care, his hollow eyes--dark-rimmed--were bloodshot and +burning as if with fever, his jaws were set as if by sheer power of his +will he would beat the river into submission. And he barked his orders +shortly in a hoarse strained voice that told of nerves stretched almost +to the breaking point. In critical moments, when it looked as though +the river in the next instant would reduce their work to a hopeless +wreck, the engineer, standing on the trembling timbers or clinging to +the swaying pile-driver itself, seemed to those who did his bidding to +become the very incarnation of human courage and power. + +The Seer and Abe Lee, remembering the man who had come out from the +East to go with them on that preliminary survey, wondered at the +transformation. Then Willard Holmes was the servant of Capital that +used people for its own gain. He saw his work then only as a means to +the end that his Company might make money. Now, though employed still +by a corporation, he was a master who used the power at his command in +behalf of the people. He had come to look upon his work as a service to +the world and through that service only he served his employers. It was +as if in this man, born of the best blood of a nation-building people, +trained by the best of the cultured East--trained as truly by his life +and work in the desert--it was as though, in him, the best spirit of +the age and race found expression. + +At last the trestles were pushed across the break, the track was laid +and the gigantic work of filling the channel was begun. In every rock +quarry reached by the S. & C. within two hundred and fifty miles of the +battle, men were drilling and blasting and with steam shovels and +derricks were loading cars with material for the fill. At the word from +Willard Holmes these rock trains steamed swiftly to the front, +everything giving them the right of way. Merchants and manufacturers +east and west cursed the railroad because their shipments were delayed. +Passengers, held for hours on the sidings, complained, scolded, +protested and threatened. It was an outrage! declared the tourists in +their luxurious Pullmans that they should be forced to give up an hour +of their pleasure in order that a train load of rock might make better +time. But, unheeding, the great battleships, each with its fifty cubic +yards of stone, and the flats and gondolas, each with its tons of +material, thundered away to the scene of the struggle. Every five +minutes, night and day, from the moment of the completion of the +trestles until the fill was above the danger point a car of rock was +dumped into the break. + +So the task was accomplished; the fight was won. The Rio Colorado was +checked in its work of destruction and beaten back into its old +channel. The thousands of acres of The King's Basin lands that would +have been forever lost to the race through one corporation were saved +by another; and the man, who--without protest--had built for his +employers' gain the inadequate structures that endangered the work of +the pioneers, led the forces that won the victory. + +The afternoon of the day on which the break was finally closed three +private cars came in with the rock trains. The passengers were the +general manager and the general superintendent with their wives, +Jefferson Worth and a small party of friends. + +Leaving their cars the party walked toward a point below the rock +embankment where they could look down into the now empty gorge. With +this visible evidence of the river's power before them, the visitors +exclaimed with wonder. + +When the superintendent had explained the magnitude of the work, the +difficulties encountered and how the task had been accomplished, the +general manager, who--here and there--had added a word, said: "After +all, friends, taking into consideration money, equipment and +everything, the whole question of a work like this, or of any great +enterprise, resolves itself into a question of men. It's up to the _man +on the job_. We have the system, the machinery without which this work +could not have been done. We have the capital to supply material and +labor--but that man up there closed the break." + +As he spoke he pointed to a figure standing on the upper trestle above +the fill--outlined against the sky. + +Then the party climbed the grade to the tracks again and walked to the +end of the upper trestle. Turning, the engineer saw and came towards +them. Silently they stood to receive him. From boots to Stetson his +khaki trousers and rough shirt were stained with mud and grime, his +eyes were sunken in dark hollows, his worn face was unshaven and his +hair, when he removed his hat, was unkempt. He did not look like a +hero; he looked more like some ruffian just from a prolonged debauch. +But the little party burst into applause. + +The engineer smiled as his chief went forward from the group to grasp +him by the hand. For a moment they talked of the work. Then the +official, placing his hand on the engineer's arm, said: "Come, Holmes, +we have some women here who want to meet the man who mastered the +Colorado." + +The engineer protested. He was "not presentable." + +"Presentable! You're the most presentable man I know of this minute. +Come along, there's my wife making signs to me to hurry right now." + +There was nothing for Holmes to do but to go. A moment later he was +face to face with the rest of the party and--with Barbara Worth. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +NATURE AND HUMAN NATURE + + +Two weeks after the victory of Willard Holmes in the River war the +engineer arrived in Republic on the evening train from the city by the +sea. + +At the hotel he was quickly surrounded by the pioneer citizens, who +were eager to greet him with expressions of appreciation for his work. +But it was Horace P. Blanton who did the talking. + +Horace P., in his brave picture-general hat, his impressively swelling +front of white vest and his black clerical tie, was the personification +of economic, financial and scholastic--not to say ecclesiastic, +dignity. His greeting of the engineer was majestic. But, as a royal +sovereign might welcome the returning general of his conquering armies +with sadness at the thought of the lives his victories had cost, the +countenance of Horace P. expressed a noble grief. + +"Willard," he said, his voice charged with emotion, "I congratulate +you. You are the savior of this imperial King's Basin. When we saw that +Greenfield's Company was not able to handle the awful situation, I told +my friend the general manager and our other officials of the S. & C. +that they must _come_ to the rescue without an instant's delay and that +you must be put in charge of the work. I knew that if any man on earth +could stop that river, you could. So we decided to let you go ahead. +You have justified my confidence nobly, Willard; you certainly have. +I'm proud of you, old man; I am indeed." + +The engineer tried manfully to appreciate the spirit of the speaker's +words. With that white vest and black tie before him, to say nothing of +the picture hat that crowned the massive head, it was impossible for +Holmes not to wish that he could appreciate Horace P. Blanton's +spirit--it hungered so for appreciation. + +"I am very grateful to you, Mr. Blanton," said the engineer. "But +really I feel that you over-estimate my part in the work. I--" + +"Not at all; not at all, my dear boy. I knew my man and I was not +disappointed. But the cost--" he shook his kingly head sorrowfully and +heaved a majestic sigh. "Confidentially, Willard, I estimate that the +financial losses of Greenfield and myself alone are close on to a +million. I haven't a thing left. Wiped me out clean." + +Holmes looked really sympathetic. He knew that every dollar that Horace +P. Blanton ever spent was a dollar belonging to someone else, but even +mythical losses of mythical property, when suffered by Horace P., +demanded sympathy. The man in the white vest felt them so keenly and +strove with such noble courage to bear them bravely. + +Encouraged by the engineer's interest and the presence of the little +crowd of pioneers, the speaker continued: "When I saw our beautiful +town--the town that we had built with our own hands--falling in ruins +into that terrible chasm, I cried like a baby, sir." Even as he spoke +his eyes filled with manly tears which he made no attempt to hide. Then +he lifted his majestic bulk grandly and looked about with kingly +countenance. "But I shall stay with it, Willard. I shall stay and help +these people to regain their losses. We _can't_ desert them now. If my +creditors will give me a little time, and I am sure they will, not a +man shall lose a penny, no matter what it costs me." + +The sentence was a bit ambiguous but it was a noble resolution, worthy +of such a lofty soul. + +At this moment a boy with the evening papers approached the group. +"Here son, my paper," called Horace P. + +The boy gripped his wares with a firm hand. "I got to have my money +first. You ain't done nothin' but promise for a month." + +"Boy! Give me my paper. You shall have your money to-morrow," he +thundered from the depths beneath the white vest. + +The boy backed away, "I dassn't do it. I can't live on hot air." + +With an imperial air, as if tremendous stakes hung upon the trivial +incident, the great man said to Holmes: "Excuse me, Willard; I must see +about this," and with a firm and determined step he left the hotel. + +A hush fell upon the company of pioneers. Not one of them but would +have gladly--had he dared--offered the outraged monarch the price of a +paper. The King's Basin settlers were proud of Horace P. + +But that night Horace P. Blanton boarded the north-bound train and was +never seen in The King's Basin again. His creditors--and they are many, +from the newsboy to the hotel manager, the barber, the laundry agent, +the liveryman and boot-black--are still "giving him time," as he was +confident that they would. The pioneers miss him sorely, but they +manage to struggle along without him, living perhaps in the hope that +he will some day come back. + +In the silence that followed the passing of Horace P., Willard Holmes +slipped away from the group of men and approached the Manager of The +King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company, who was sitting alone with +his cigar in a far corner of the room. + +"Hello, old man," was Burk's greeting as the engineer approached. The +thoughtful Manager of the Company had been an interested observer of +his friend's reception and of the newspaper incident. As the two men +shook hands the Manager's cigar shifted to one corner of his mouth and +his head tipped toward the opposite shoulder. "How much did Horace P. +touch you for, Willard?" + +"I gave him my admiration and sympathy." + +The other shook his head wonderingly. "A special providence watches +over you, my son. After that, nothing could have saved your pocket-book +if that kid had not been sent by your guardian angel to your rescue. +When did you leave the river?" + +"Last week. The S. & C. called me into the city. I'm on my way back to +the work now. What's the news?" + +Burk grinned. "The first train over the King's Basin Central went out +this morning with a special party of distinguished citizens--Jefferson +Worth, the Seer, Abe Lee and Miss Worth. The lady will spend a week or +two in the town of Barba and with friends in the South Central +District. Texas Joe and Pat left this morning in a rig, leading Miss +Worth's saddle horse, El Capitan. It's all in The King's Basin +Messenger." He handed the paper to Holmes who mechanically stuffed it +into his pocket. + +"How's Uncle Jim?" + +"He is at the office, I think. You know he is winding up the affairs of +the poor old K. B. L. and I." + +"So I understand." + +The two men were silent for a moment, then Burk said thoughtfully: +"It's hard lines for the Company, Willard, but the mules, including +your humble servant, don't seem to care much. That's one advantage in +being a mule. I will be glad to get back to civilization and so will +your Uncle Jim I fancy. Take it altogether I don't think he has enjoyed +watching the success of Jefferson Worth's little experiments as much as +we have. The same beneficent power that has knocked out the Company +seems to have taken good care of friend Jeff." + +"You are not going to stay in the West?" asked the engineer. + +"I go Monday. I understand there is still a demand for good mules back +home." + +The president of the wrecked Company received his former chief engineer +warmly, and heartily congratulated him on the success of his battle +with the river. + +"I suppose you know, Willard," he said, "that The King's Basin Land and +Irrigation Company has virtually passed into the hands of the S. & C.? +We owe them a good half million for closing the break, which means that +they will have to take over the property. We knew when we went into the +deal how it would end, of course. If you had remained with the Company +the river never would have had a chance to get in at all." + +The younger man did not remind Mr. Greenfield of the many times the +Company had been urged to make the improvements that would have +prevented the disaster, nor did he suggest that he would have remained +with the Company had not the president himself discharged him. "Your +engineer did all that any man could do after the break was made," he +said warmly. "It was the equipment and organization of the S. & C. that +put the river back in its channel, and no other power on earth, under +the circumstances, could have done it in time to head off that +back-cut." + +The older man smiled. "We all know who closed the break, my boy. I +suppose you are planning to stay with the railroad?" + +"They have offered me the management of the irrigation work here in the +Basin. They are going to put in permanent structures and reconstruct +the whole system in first-class shape." + +"And you accepted?" There was a note of anxiety in the older man's +voice. + +"Not yet. I asked for a few days to consider." + +James Greenfield did not speak for several minutes, then he +said--hesitating as if searching for words: "Don't do it, Willard. +Don't do it, for my sake. Let's go back home. You know how I hate this +cursed country. I ought never to have gone into this deal after what I +had already suffered in the West. But it looked as if I could clean up +a good thing and get out. Personally, my money losses don't amount to +anything. I have enough left for both of us, and you know, Willard my +boy, that it's all yours when I go. Come back home with me and leave +this damned hole! We don't fit in here; let's go back where we belong. +I'm coming along now to the time when I must begin to think of getting +out of the game; and I need you, my boy, I need you." + +Willard Holmes was strongly moved by the appeal of this man for whom he +had a son's affection. "I wish I could say yes, Uncle Jim," he +answered. "I owe you more than I can ever repay, and if it was only the +work here I would go. But--there's something else--something that I +cannot give up if I would--that I have no right to give up." + +"You mean that girl? I thought that was all settled." + +"So did I," returned the other grimly. "When I talked with you about it +I thought there was no possible chance for me, and perhaps I was right. +But I can't let it go now without absolute certainty." + +"You don't mean, Willard, that you are going to offer yourself to a +woman whose love you have every reason to think belongs to another man?" + +The engineer rose to his feet and walked up and down the room. When he +spoke there was in his voice a suggestion of that which marked his +speech in the days of the river fight. "I mean this: that no man on +earth shall take this woman from me if I can prevent it. I would +deserve to lose her if I gave her up on the mere guess that she cared +for another man. I am going to know from her own words. If there is +still a chance for me I am going to stay and fight for it. If I have no +chance"--he dropped into a chair--"then I'll go back with you, Uncle +Jim." + +James Greenfield's face flushed hotly at the younger man's words and +then, in the silence that followed, grew pale and stern while his +fingers gripped his pencil nervously. "Very well, Willard," he said at +last. "You are a man and your own master. If your love for me cannot +influence you--" + +"Uncle Jim!" The engineer's cry was a protest and an appeal, but the +other continued as though he had not heard: "I can urge no other +consideration. But you must understand this. I will never receive this +nameless woman of unknown parentage as your wife. If you prefer her +with that illiterate, low, cunning trickster whom she calls father, you +need never expect to come back to me. I have been true to your mother +in my care for you. I have done all in my power to give you the place +in life that you are entitled to fill by your birth and family. You +have been my son in everything but blood. But, by God, sir! if you, +with your breeding and raising--if you can turn your back upon the +memory of your mother and father and upon me and all that we stand +for--if you can turn your back upon us, desert us for these--these +damned cattle, you can herd with them the rest of your life." + +He was on his feet now, pacing the floor angrily. The engineer had also +risen and stood waiting for this storm of wrath to spend itself. + +"Understand me," the older man continued. "If she refuses you, you can +come back. If she accepts you, you need never show your face to me +again, and I shall take good care that your friends at home understand +the reason. Probably if you let these people know what the result will +be if you are accepted it will make a great difference in the woman's +answer." + +Willard Holmes dared not speak. Nothing but his life-long love for the +man whose devotion to the engineer's mother had stood the test of years +enabled the younger man to control himself. When he could speak calmly +he said: "I am sorry, sir, that you said that; for you must see how you +have made it impossible for me now ever to go back with you. If Miss +Worth does not care for me, I would have been glad to go home with you, +for next to her, Uncle Jim, you are more to me than anyone in the +world. When you say that my relation to you shall depend upon her +answer you make it impossible for her answer to make any difference so +far as you and I are concerned. Won't you--won't you reconsider, Uncle +Jim? Won't you take back your words?" + +"No, sir; I have said exactly what I mean." + +"Good-by, sir." + +"Good-by." + +When the office door had closed behind the engineer, James Greenfield +stood motionless in the center of the room. Once he took a step toward +the door but checked himself. Then turning slowly, wearily, he sank +into the chair before his desk. For a few moments he fumbled aimlessly +over the papers and documents, then from his pocket took a flat leather +case and, opening it, held in his hand a portrait of the engineer's +mother. As he looked at the face of the woman who had never ceased to +hold the first place in his heart, his lips framed words he could not +speak aloud. + +Slowly his form drooped, his head bowed. Then, with the picture held +close, he buried his face in his arms among the business papers on his +desk. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +OUT OF THE HOLLOW OF GOD'S HAND. + + +The first train from Republic to Barba over the new King's Basin +Central arrived in the town by the old Dry River Crossing shortly after +noon. Later in the day Jefferson Worth with his daughter, his +superintendent and the Seer went to the power plant on the bank of Dry +River. + +When the plant was built it was placed as low in the old wash as the +depth of the ancient channel would permit, so that the greatest +possible fall from the Company canal above might be secured. As +Jefferson Worth and his companions stood now on the bank of the river +they saw the waste-way from the turbine wheel that ran the generators +nearly thirty feet above the bottom of the channel. The flood that had +cut the deep canyons through the heart of the Basin, destroying +Kingston on its course, had worked on a smaller scale in the old Dry +River wash, cutting a narrow gorge nearly fifty feet deep from its +outlet at the new sea past the power plant at Barba and nearly to the +spillway of the main canal. + +Standing almost on the very spot where they had found the baby girl +years before, the Seer asked Barbara's father: "Jeff, does your +contract with The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company call for a +certain amount of water, or for water to develop a certain amount of +power?" + +Jefferson Worth answered in his careful, exact voice: "The first +contract called for water to develop a certain amount of power. This +new one is a contract for three hundred inches of water. There's +nothing in it about the amount of power, but it gives me the sole +rights to all the power privileges on the Company property. You see, +when Greenfield tried to change the line of their canal so as to cut me +out, Abe and I had begun to figure that some day the water from the +spillway might cut down the channel and give us a little more drop. But +we never counted on this, of course. I simply figured that I might just +as well make the new contract safe." + +The Seer smiled. "You made it safe all right, Jeff. Do you know what +this cut means to you?" + +"In a way, yes. That's why I wanted you to look at it." + +"It means," said the Seer, "that you have rights here worth a million +dollars at least. By lowering your turbine to the bottom of this cut +you can, with the same amount of water that you are now using, develop +power enough to run every electric light system and turn every wheel in +all The King's Basin for years to come." + +"You mean that the river breaking in and doing this has made daddy's +property worth a million dollars?" asked Barbara breathlessly. + +The Seer turned toward her. "Yes, Barbara. The same force that +destroyed Kingston and wrecked the Company has increased the value of +your father's holding to fully that amount. A million is very +conservative." + +The young woman looked down into the gorge at their feet. Slowly she +said: "The Indians must be right. This must be indeed La Palma de la +Mano de Dios. Such things could happen nowhere else." + +She had just finished speaking when the sound of wheels behind caused +them to turn toward the desert and the old San Felipe trail. It was +Texas and Pat in the buckboard with El Capitan leading behind. + +Catching sight of the group on the river bank, the men turned aside +from the road and went to them. "Howdy folks," drawled Tex. "We 'lowed +we'd jest about meet up with you-all somewhere about here." + +"Sure, 'tis a family reunion we do be havin', wid no empthy chairs at +all," declared the Irishman, looking from face to face with twinkling +eyes. "Well, well, who'd a thought now that the little kid we found +under the bank here, shcared av the coyotes an' more shcared av us +rough-necks, wud av growed up like this? An' wid me a shwearin' by all +the saints I knew that I wud niver set fut on the disert again. Here we +are once more altogether, wid Barbara an' Abe bigger than life. 'Tis +the danged owld disert itsilf that's a-lavin' niver to come back at +all." He drew the back of his huge hairy hand across his eyes. + +Barbara's eyes too were wet, and the others turned away their faces. +Pat's words had recalled so vividly the scene at the dry water hole +with the changes that the years had brought both to them and to the +desert. + +It was Texas Joe who broke the silence. "Mr. Worth, Pat and I would +like to see you some time this evenin' if you ain't engaged." + +"What is it, Tex?" As he spoke Jefferson Worth looked straight into the +eyes of the old plainsman. Texas Joe, gazing steadily into the face of +his employer, drawled easily: "Jest a little matter we 'lowed maybe +you'd like to know about, sir. What time shall we come?" + +Something--the memories of the place, perhaps, aroused by the words of +Pat a moment before--caused Jefferson Worth to lift those nervous +fingers and softly caress his chin. "I guess I can go now. We're all +through here." He turned to the others. "I'll go on to the hotel with +Tex and Pat and you folks can come along later when you are ready." + +He stepped into the buckboard and with the two drove away. At a livery +barn where they stopped to leave the horses, Texas took from under the +seat of the buckboard something that was wrapped in a sack that had +held a feed of grain for the team and El Capitan. + +When they had reached the privacy of Mr. Worth's room, the old +plainsman and the Irishman stood as if each waited for the other to +begin. + +"Well, men," said Jefferson Worth. "What is it?" + +"Go on, ye owld oysther," growled Pat to Tex. "Why the hell don't ye +tell the boss what we've come to tell him. Shpake up." + +Texas Joe cleared his throat and began formally: "I don't reckon, Mr. +Worth, that you-all has forgot that outfit we left in them sand hills +back yonder on the old San Felipe trail the time we found the kid." + +At the words Jefferson Worth's face became a gray mask from behind +which his mind reached out as though to grasp what Texas would say +before the man put it into words. "Well?" The single word came with the +colorless sound of dull metal. + +"Also I reckon you know how them big drifts are allus on the move, so +that when they covers up anything, say an outfit like that one, it +stands to reason that some day they'll drift on an' leave it clear +again." + +Jefferson Worth's hands were gripping the arms of his chair. His gray +lips could frame no sound. + +"I've allus kind a-kept an eye on that there particular ridge," +continued Texas, "an' so to-day me and Pat stopped for a little look +around an'"--slowly he unwrapped the grain sack from a long tin +box--"an' we found this." He laid the box carefully on the table before +Barbara's father. "Hit was a-layin' with what was left of a bigger +wooden box or trunk, which same had gone to pieces, and there was a +part of that old wagon with that same piece of a halter-strap you +remember fastened to a wheel. There ain't no sort of doubt, Mr. Worth, +that hit's the same outfit an' hits mighty likely that there's papers +in here that'll tell us what we tried so hard to find out at first, but +what"--he paused and looked around, then finished in a low tone--"I +don't reckon any of us wants to know now." + +Jefferson Worth sat motionless in his chair, his eyes fixed upon the +tin box. + +The heavy voice of the Irishman broke the quiet. + +"Av Tex wud a listened to raison, Sorr, I'd a-dumped the danged thing +into the river, sayin' nothin' to nobody. Fwhat good can we do rakin' +up the past that's dead an' gone? The girl is as much yers as if she +was yer own flesh an' blood, an' who can say fwhat divil's own mess may +come out av this thing? Lave it alone, I say; an' fwhat nobody don't +know can't hurt thim. 'Twas wrong intirely to bring ut to ye afther all +ye've been sich a father to the little one. Lave it to me, Sorr. Give +me the word an' I'll"--he reached eagerly for the box, but Jefferson +Worth held up his slim, nervous hand. + +"Wait a moment, Pat. I--I don't think that would be right." + +Never before had these men seen Jefferson Worth hesitate. The will of +the man, whose cold decision had carried him through so many critical +situations and upon which the pioneers had relied in the recent time of +peril, seemed to fail him at last. The spectacle told the men more +clearly than words could have done what he suffered. "I--I don't know +what to do," he finished weakly. "Give me time. Let me think." He bowed +his face in his hands. + +Pat growled an oath under his breath and Texas turned his eyes from his +companions to the box and from the box back to his friends in +bewildered uncertainty. At last he said in his soft southern drawl: +"Mr. Worth, hit's dead sure that me an' Pat ain't helpin' you none in +this. I reckon I was all wrong to bring hit to you at all. But hit +seemed like I was plumb balled up an' couldn't rightly say what was +best. There ain't really no call to crowd this thing as I can see. +Suppose you takes your time to think it over. Me an' Pat'll let you +alone, an' if you decides to fergit all about hit, you can bet your +last red we'll be damn glad to help. Nobody but us three will ever +know. 'T ain't as if it was a-doin' anybody any harm." + +Jefferson Worth raised his head. "Thank you boys," he said. "I'll have +to figure on this thing a little." + +Left alone, Jefferson Worth faced the temptation of his life. Dearer to +this lonely-hearted man than all the wealth and power that he would +realize from his King's Basin work was the child who had come to him +out of the desert. The man knew that it was the influence of Barbara +upon his life that had prepared him for that night in the sand hills +and enabled him rightly to weigh and measure and value the efforts of +his kind. That afternoon at the power house it had all been brought +before him with startling vividness. He felt that in all that he had +accomplished in Barbara's Desert he had been led by the child, who had +come to him out of The Hollow of God's Hand. The desert had given her +to him; he had given himself in return to the work she loved. He could +not think of his work apart from her. She was his--his--his. His gray +lips whispered the words as he stood looking down at the box. No one +had the right to take her from him; to come into her life. And yet--and +yet. He reached out and laid his hand upon the box, then, turning +again, paced the room. + +Suddenly he whirled about and approached the table. With cold fury he +seized the box and placing it upon the floor, broke the light tin +fastening with his boot-heel. Again he paused and looked dully at the +thing in his hands. Then with a quick motion lie threw up the cover. +The box was filled with documents and letters, with four or five old +photographs. + +The address on a large unsealed envelope met his eye and he started +back with a low cry as though he had looked upon some startling +apparition. + +When Barbara with the Seer and Abe returned to the hotel that evening +the clerk gave her a note from her father who, the note explained, had +been called to Republic on business of importance. He would be back +to-morrow. + +The clerk said that Mr. Worth had left only a few minutes before with +the engine and car that had brought them to Barba that morning. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +BACK TO THE OLD SAN FELIPE TRAIL. + + +In the office of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company, James +Greenfield was aroused by a knock at the door. He lifted his head from +his arms and looked around as if awakened out of a deep sleep. + +Another knock, and he slipped the picture he held in his hand into his +pocket and called, "Come in." + +The door opened and Jefferson Worth stepped into the room. + +For a moment the president of the wrecked Company sat staring at his +business rival, then he leaped to his feet, his fists clenched and his +face working with passion. "You can't come in here, sir. Get out!" he +said with the voice and manner he would have assumed in speaking to a +trespassing dog. + +Jefferson Worth stood still. "I have business of importance with you, +Mr. Greenfield," he said, and his air of quiet dignity contrasted +strangely with the rage of the larger man. + +"You can have no business with me of any sort whatever. I have nothing +to do with your kind. This is my private office. I tell you to get out." + +Jefferson Worth turned calmly as though to obey, but instead of leaving +the room closed the door and locked it. Then, placing the small grip he +carried upon the table, he deliberately went close to the threatening +president and said coldly: "This is rank nonsense, Greenfield. I won't +leave this office until I'm through with what I came to do. I have +business with you that concerns you as much as it does me." + +"You're a damned thief, a low sharper! I tell you I have nothing to do +with you. Now get out or I'll throw you out!" + +Jefferson Worth answered in his exact, precise manner, as though +carefully choosing and considering his words: "No, you won't throw me +out. You'll listen to what I have come to tell you. The rest of your +statement, Greenfield, is false and you know it. It will be just as +well for you not to repeat it." The last low-spoken words did not +appear to be uttered as a threat but as a calm statement of a carefully +considered fact. James Greenfield felt as a man who permits himself to +rage against an immovable obstacle--as one who spends his strength +cursing a stone wall that bars his way or a rock that lies in his path. +With an effort he regained a measure of his self-control. + +"Well, out with it. What do you want?" + +"Sit down," said Worth, pointing to a chair. Mechanically the other +obeyed. "You have no reason for taking this attitude toward me, Mr. +Greenfield," began Worth with his air of simply stating a fact. + +At his words the wrath of the other again mastered him. "No reason! +You--you dare to tell me that? When you and the young woman that you +call your daughter have come between me and the boy who is more than a +son to me! When you have broken our close relationship of years' +standing and robbed me of his companionship! When you have wrecked and +ruined all my plans for his future! When you have defeated the object +of my life! No reason? But what can you understand of us? You're a +nobody, sir, without a place or a name in the world; a common, +low-bred, ignorant sharper with no family but a nameless daughter of +unknown parentage whom you found on the desert. How can you understand +what Willard Holmes is to me?" + +"I figured that you would feel this way about it," came the colorless +words. "That's what I came here for to-night--to fix it up." + +The angry amazement of Greenfield at what he considered the man's +presumption could find no expression. + +Worth continued: "I know a great deal more about you and your folks +than you think. When I saw that my"--he hesitated over the word, then +spoke it plainly--"my daughter was becoming interested in Willard +Holmes, I took some pains to look up his history. In doing that I +naturally found out a good deal about you. Later I learned a good deal +more." + +"It is immaterial to me what you know," muttered the other in a tone of +deep disgust. "What do you want?" + +Worth spoke with quiet dignity. "I want you to understand first, Mr. +Greenfield, that my girl is just as much to me as young Holmes is to +you. You are right; I am a nobody, ignorant and all that, but you must +not think Mr. Greenfield that because you belong in New York and I +belong in the West that this thing is harder for you than it is for me. +You are not going to lose your boy but I"--for the first time he +hesitated and his voice expressed emotion--"I am going to lose my girl." + +The pathos of this lonely man's words touched even Greenfield. His +manner was more gentle as he said gruffly: "It's a bad business, Mr. +Worth; a damned bad business for both of us. I wish I had never heard +of this country." + +"You'll feel different about that. Anyway I figure that this country +and this work will be here long after you and I are gone, and so will +these young people." Again he hesitated and his slim fingers caressed +his chin. Then from behind that gray mask he asked: "How much do you +know about our finding Barbara in the desert?" + +"I know the story in a general way, that's all. It does not interest +me." + +"Let me tell you the facts." + +In his brief, colorless sentences Jefferson Worth related the incidents +of that trip across the desert, and as he did so Greenfield began to +realize that some powerful motive had brought this man to him and was +forcing him to relate his story with such exact care for the details. + +"And you never found the slightest clue even to the child's name?" he +asked, when Worth had finished. + +Jefferson Worth hesitated, then: "Mr. Greenfield, you had a younger +brother who came West?" + +The man gazed at the speaker in amazement as he answered mechanically. +"Yes. He died out here somewhere--in California, I believe. I was never +able to learn the details. He was an adventurous lad and a good deal of +a rover. But why--how--" As the full import of the question dawned upon +him Greenfield started from his seat. "My God, man! You don't mean--you +cannot mean that it was my brother Will who was lost in that sandstorm +on the desert? That the woman you found by the water hole was his wife, +Gertrude, and that--that--" His voice sank to a whisper. "Will wrote me +that there was a child--that she had Gertrude's hair and eyes. I had +never seen her." He turned fiercely upon his companion. "And you have +kept this from me all these years? You have kept my only brother's +child from me? By God, sir! I--But perhaps this is all one of your +damnable tricks. What proof have you that this is so, and if it is, why +have you kept it a secret?" + +Jefferson Worth opened his satchel and laid the tin box on the desk +before the president of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company. +"This box was found this afternoon by Texas Joe and Pat, who brought it +to me. I opened it. It is all here." + +When Greenfield had examined the contents of the box--letters, some of +them written by himself to his brother, papers relating to William +Greenfield's business affairs and property, and photographs of the +little family and of the two brothers and their parents, he looked up +to see Jefferson Worth sitting motionless, his form relaxed, his head +dropped forward. + +[Illustration: Without a word--for no word was needed--their hands met +in a firm grip ] + +Suddenly the words of the man who had been a father to his brother's +child came back to Greenfield. "My girl is just as much to me as young +Holmes is to you. You are not going to lose your boy, but I am going to +lose my girl." In a flash the financier saw it all--saw how Jefferson +Worth loved Barbara as his own child, as Greenfield cared for Willard +Holmes; saw how Worth might have destroyed the papers so strangely +brought to light and kept the secret; saw and realized a little what +strength of character it had taken to overcome the temptation, and felt +what the man was suffering. + +As Greenfield's hand fell on his shoulder, Jefferson Worth slowly +lifted his head. Slowly he rose to his feet. In silence the two men +faced each other. Without a word--for no word was needed-their hands +met in a firm grip. + +After a little while Greenfield asked eagerly: "Where is she now, Mr. +Worth? Where is the girl? Does she know? I must see her at once. Come! +And Willard--I wonder if he is still in town. Come, we must go to them." + +But Jefferson Worth answered: "I've been figuring on that, Mr. +Greenfield. You had better let me tell Barbara myself. And if I was +you, after what you have probably said to Holmes on this subject, I +wouldn't be in a hurry to tell him. For the sake of their future we'd +better let Barbara handle that matter herself. You can easily figure it +out that it will be best for them that way." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +THE HERITAGE OF BARBARA WORTH. + + +Barbara, walking quickly, left the little village and, crossing Dry +River on the bridge that now spanned the deep gorge where the old San +Felipe trail once led down into the ancient wash, climbed the slight +grade to the grave that was marked by the simple headstone with its one +word--"Mother." + +That morning Jefferson Worth had told her of the tin box found by Texas +Joe and Pat. With reverent care she had read the papers and letters and +had looked long at the portraits of her parents and people. She could +not at first realize that the desert had at last given up the secret +that she had so longed to know. It was not real to her, the revelation +was so sudden, so startling. She could not think of herself save as the +daughter of Jefferson Worth, whom she loved as a father. + +As soon as the noon day meal was over she had left her room in the +hotel, and once out of doors her steps had instinctively turned toward +her mother's grave beside the old trail. + +Standing before the headstone she looked at the one word. "Mother," she +said softly. "Mother!" Then, still in a whisper, she repeated the +unfamiliar names: "Gertrude Greenfield; William Greenfield--my mother; +my father! I am Barbara Greenfield--Barbara Greenfield!" + +Seating herself on the ground beside the grave, she looked about: at +the sand hills in the distance; at the Dry River gorge and the power +plant; at the canals shining like silver bands among the green fields +of the ranchers to the southeast; and at the little town. An hour +passed; then another; and another. + +Across the river she saw Pablo riding out of the town and away along +the road that follows the canal. Then from the power house came Abe Lee +with the Seer. She watched them as they walked along the bank of the +old channel. Once she thought she would call to them, but hesitated. If +they crossed the bridge and came up the hill they would be sure to see +her. So she waited, keeping still. They passed the bridge and continued +on down the bank of the stream. + +Barbara knew instinctively that they were talking of her and the secret +that the desert had at last revealed, for she had asked her father to +tell them. She thought of her father who had gone to Republic. He would +return that evening and Mr. Greenfield, her uncle, would be with him. +"Her uncle"--how strange! + +Then Barbara saw on the other side of the river a horseman riding from +the south toward the town. She could not mistake the khaki-clad figure +that, while fully at home in the saddle, still lacked the +indescribable, easy looseness and swinging grace of the western rider. +It was Willard Holmes, and the young woman's heart told her why the +engineer had come. Since that meeting at the river in the hour of his +victory she had known that he would come and she had known what her +answer would be. + +He had evidently ridden from the river, from his work. Did he know? No, +she decided, he could not know yet. Then the quick thought came: he +_must not know until_--until she herself should tell him. Quickly the +young woman walked down the hill across the bridge toward the town. + +Willard Holmes arrived at the hotel and, learning that Miss Worth was +out, carried a chair to the arcade on the street to await her return. +He had not waited long when a voice at his shoulder said with mock +formality: "I believe this is Mr. Willard Holmes." + +The engineer sprang to his feet. "Miss Worth! They told me that you +were out. I was sitting here waiting for you." + +"I was out when you arrived," she confessed; "but I saw you coming and +hurried back pronto. I knew you had just left the river, you see. And +of course," she added, as though that explained her eagerness to see +him, "I wanted to hear the latest news from the work." + +"There is no news," he answered, as though dismissing the matter +finally. + +"And may I ask what brings you to Barba?" + +He looked at her steadily. "You brought me to Barba." + +"I?" + +"Yes--you. I stopped in Republic on my way back from the city the +evening of the day you left. I was forced to go on to the river, but +took the first opportunity to ride out here, for I understood you +expected to be in Barba several days. Surely you know why I have come. +The work I stayed in the Basin to do is finished. I have another offer +from the S. & C. which, if I accept, will keep me here for several +years. I have come to you with it as I came with the other. What shall +I do? Please don't pretend that you don't understand me." + +The direct forcefulness of the man almost made Barbara forget the +little plan she had arranged on her way to the hotel to meet him. "I +won't pretend, Mr. Holmes," she answered seriously. "But--will you go +with me for a little ride into the desert?" + +Her words recalled to his mind instantly their first meeting in Rubio +City, but Holmes was not astonished now. The invitation coming from +Barbara under the circumstances seemed the most natural thing in the +world. + +The young woman went to her room to make ready while the engineer +brought the horses, and in a very few minutes they had crossed the +river and were following the old San Felipe trail toward the sand hills. + +Very few words passed between them until they reached the great drift +that had held so long its secret. Leaving the horses at Barbara's +request, they climbed the steep sides of the great sand mound. From the +top they could see on every hand the many miles of The King's Basin +country--from Lone Mountain at the end of the delta dam to the +snow-capped sentinels of San Antonio Pass; and from the sky line of the +Mesa and the low hills on the east to No Man's Mountains and the bold +wall of the Coast Range that shuts out the beautiful country on the +west. + +The soft, many-colored veils and scarfs of the desert, with the gold of +the sand hills, the purple of the mountains, the gray and green of the +desert vegetation, with the ragged patches of dun plain, were all there +still as when Willard Holmes had first looked upon it, for the work of +Reclamation was still far from finished. + +But there was more in Barbara's Desert now than pictures woven +magically in the air. There were beautiful scenes of farms with houses +and barns and fences and stacks, with cattle and horses in the +pastures, and fields of growing grain, the dark green of alfalfa, with +threads and lines and spots of water that, under the flood of white +light from the wide sky, shone in the distance like gleaming silver. +Barbara and the engineer could even distinguish the little towns of +Republic and Frontera, with Barba nearby; and even as they looked they +marked the tall column of smoke from a locomotive on the S. & C. moving +toward the crossing of the old San Felipe trail, and on the King's +Basin Central another, coming toward the town on Dry River where once +beside a dry water hole a woman lay dead with an empty canteen by her +side. + +Willard Holmes drew a long breath. + +"You like my Desert?" asked the young woman softly, coming closer to +his side--so close that he felt her presence as clearly as he felt the +presence of the spirit that lives in the desert itself. + +"Like it!" he repeated, turning toward her. "It is my desert now; mine +as well as yours. Oh, Barbara! Barbara! I have learned the language of +your land. Must I leave it now? Won't you tell me to stay?" + +He held out his hands to her, but she drew back a little from his +eagerness. "Wait. I must know something first before I can answer." + +He looked at her questioningly. "What must you know, Barbara?" + +"Did you ever hear the story of what happened here in these very sand +hills? Do you know that I am not the daughter of Jefferson Worth?" + +"Yes," he answered gravely. "I know that Mr. Worth is not your own +father, but I did not know that this was the scene of the tragedy." + +"And you understand that I am nameless; that no one knows my parentage? +That there may even be Mexican or Indian blood in my veins? You +understand--you realize all that?" + +He started toward her almost roughly. "Yes, I understand all that, but +I care only that you are Barbara. I know only that I want you--you, +Barbara!" + +"But your family--Mr. Greenfield--your friends back home--think what it +means to them. Can you afford-" + +"Barbara," he cried. "Stop! Why are you saying these things? Listen to +me. Don't you _know_ that I love you? Don't you know that nothing else +matters? Your Desert has taught me many things, dear, but nothing so +great as this--that I want you and that nothing else matters. I want +you for my wife." + +"But you said once that you would never _marry me_," persisted the +young woman. "What has changed you?" + +"_I_ said that I would never marry you? I said that? That cannot be, +Barbara; you are mistaken." + +She shook her head. "That is what you said. I heard you myself. You +told Mr. Greenfield at my house that morning he came to see you when +you were hurt. I--I--the door into the dining room was open and I +heard." + +The light of quick understanding broke over the engineer's face. "And +you heard what Uncle Jim said to me? But Barbara, didn't you hear the +reason I gave him for saying that I would not marry you?" + +"I--I couldn't hear anything after that," she said simply. + +At her confession the man's strong face shone with triumph. "Listen, +dear, I told Uncle Jim I would never marry you because you loved +someone else and that there was no chance for me." + +Barbara's brown eyes opened wide. "You thought that?" + +"Yes. I thought you loved Abe Lee." + +"Why--why I _do_ love Abe." + +The man laughed. "Of course you do; but I thought you loved him as I +wanted you to love me; don't you understand?" + +"Oh-h!" The exclamation was a confession, an explanation and an +expression of complete understanding. "But that"--she added as she went +to him--"that _could not be_." + +And then-- + +But Barbara's words, rightly understood, mark the end of my story. + +Rarely is it given in the story of life, to those who work greatly or +love greatly, to gather the fruit of their toil or passion. But it is +given those others, perhaps--those for whom it could not be--to know a +happiness greater, it may be, than the joy of possession. + +THE END. + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Winning of Barbara Worth, by Harold Bell Wright + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH *** + +***** This file should be named 6997.txt or 6997.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/6/9/9/6997/ + +Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at + www.gutenberg.org/license. + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at 809 +North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email +contact links and up to date contact information can be found at the +Foundation's web site and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For forty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/6997.zip b/6997.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..dfaac07 --- /dev/null +++ b/6997.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..80f8d1b --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #6997 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6997) diff --git a/old/wbwor10.txt b/old/wbwor10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4b5a9dc --- /dev/null +++ b/old/wbwor10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15205 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Winning of Barbara Worth, by Harold B Wright +#5 in our series by Harold B Wright + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Winning of Barbara Worth + +Author: Harold B Wright + +Release Date: November, 2004 [EBook #6997] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on February 20, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH *** + + + + +This eBook was produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + + + +[Illustration: Barbara. Often as Barbara sat looking over that great +basin her heart cried out to know the secret it held.] + + + + +THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH + +BY + +HAROLD BELL WRIGHT + + + + + +ACKNOWLEDGMENT + +While this story is not in any way a history of this part of the +Colorado Desert now known as the Imperial Valley, nor a biography of +anyone connected with this splendid achievement, I must in honesty +admit that this work which in the past ten years has transformed a +vast, desolate waste into a beautiful land of homes, cities, and +farms, has been my inspiration. + +With much gratitude for their many helpful kindnesses, I acknowledge +my indebtedness to H. T. Cory, F. C. Hermann, C. R. Rockwood, C. N. +Perry, E. H. Gaines, Roy Kinkaid and the late George Sexsmith, +engineers and surveyors identified with this reclamation work; to W. +K. Bowker, Sidney McHarg, C. E. Paris, and many other business +friends and neighboring ranchers among our pioneers; and to William +Mulholland, Chief Engineer of the Los Angeles Aqueduct. + +I am particularly indebted to C. K. Clarke, Assistant Manager and +Chief Engineer of the California Development Company, and to Allen +Kelly, whose knowledge, insight and observations as a journalist and +as a student of Reclamation in the Far West have been invaluable to +me. + +To my friend, Mr. W. F. Holt, in appreciation of his life and of his +work in the Imperial Valley, this story is inscribed. H. B. W. + +Tecolote Rancho, April 25, 1911. + + + + + "Give fools their gold, and knaves their power; + Let fortune's bubbles rise and fall, + Who sows a field, or trains a flower, + Or plants a tree, is more than all." + + + + +CONTENTS + + I. INTO THE INFINITE LONG AGO + + II. JEFFERSON WORTH'S OFFERING + + III. MISS BARBARA WORTH + + IV. YOU'D BETTER MAKE IT NINETY + + V. WHAT THE INDIAN TOLD THE SEER + + VI. THE STANDARD OF THE WEST + + VII. DON'T YOU LIKE MY DESERT, MR. HOLMES? + + VIII. WHY WILLARD HOLMES STAYED + + IX. THE MASTER PASSION--"GOOD BUSINESS" + + X. BARBARA'S LOVE FOR THE SEER + + XI. ABE LEE RESIGNS + + XII. SIGNS OF CONFLICT + + XIII. BARBARA'S CALL TO HER FRIENDS + + XIV. MUCH CONFUSION AND HAPPY EXCITEMENT + + XV. BARBARA COMES INTO HER OWN + + XVI. JEFFERSON WORTH'S OPERATIONS + + XVII. JAMES GREENFIELD SEEKS AN ADVANTAGE + + XVIII. THE GAME PROGRESSES + + XIX. GATHERED AT BARBARA'S COURT + + XX. WHAT THE STAKES REVEALED + + XXI. PABLO BRINGS NEWS TO BARBARA + + XXII. GATHERING OF OMINOUS FORCES + + XXIII. EXACTING ROYAL TRIBUTE + + XXIV. JEFFERSON WORTH GOES FOR HELP + + XXV. WILLARD HOLMES ON TRIAL + + XXVI. HELD IN SUSPENSE + + XXVII. ABE LEE'S RIDE TO SAVE JEFFERSON WORTH + + XXVIII. WHAT THE COMPANY MAN TOLD THE MEXICANS + + XXIX. TELL BARBARA I'M ALL RIGHT + + XXX. MANANA! MANANA! TO-MORROW! TO-MORROW! + + XXXI. BARBARA'S WAITIN' BREAKFAST FOR YOU + + XXXII. BARBARA MINISTERS TO THE WOUNDED + + XXXIII. WILLARD HOLMES RECEIVES HIS ANSWER + + XXXIV. BATTLING WITH THE RIVER + + XXXV. NATURE AND HUMAN NATURE + + XXXVI. OUT OF THE HOLLOW OF GOD'S HAND + + XXXVII. BACK TO THE OLD SAN FELIPE TRAIL + +XXXVIII. THE HERITAGE OF BARBARA WORTH + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +_Drawn by_ +F. GRAHAM COOTES + +OFTEN AS BARBARA SAT LOOKING OVER THAT GREAT BASIN HER HEART CRIED +OUT TO KNOW THE SECRET IT HELD. + +HE HAD LIFTED THE CANTEEN AND WAS HOLDING IT UPSIDE DOWN. + +"BUT I DON'T RIDE, YOU KNOW." + +MORE TO REGAIN HIS COMPOSURE THAN BECAUSE HE WAS THIRSTY, HELPED +HIMSELF FROM THE EARTHEN WATER JAR. + +"ADIOS. TELL BARBARA I'M ALL RIGHT." + +WITHOUT A WORD--FOR NO WORD WAS NEEDED--THEIR HANDS MET IN A FIRM +GRIP. + + + + +The Winning of Barbara Worth + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +INTO THE INFINITE LONG AGO. + + +Jefferson Worth's outfit of four mules and a big wagon pulled out of +San Felipe at daybreak, headed for Rubio City. From the swinging red +tassels on the bridles of the leaders to the galvanized iron water +bucket dangling from the tail of the reach back of the rear axle the +outfit wore an unmistakable air of prosperity. The wagon was loaded +only with a well-stocked "grub-box," the few necessary camp cooking +utensils, blankets and canvas tarpaulin, with rolled barley and +bales of hay for the team, and two water barrels--empty. Hanging by +its canvas strap from the spring of the driver's seat was a large, +cloth-covered canteen. Behind the driver there was another seat of +the same wide, comfortable type, but the man who held the reins was +apparently alone. Jefferson Worth was not with his outfit. + +By sending the heavy wagon on ahead and following later with a +faster team and a light buckboard, Mr. Worth could join his outfit +in camp that night, saving thus at least another half day for +business in San Felipe. Jefferson Worth, as he himself would have +put it, "figured on the value of time." Indeed Jefferson Worth +figured on the value of nearly everything. + +Now San Felipe, you must know, is where the big ships come in and +the air tingles with the electricity of commerce as men from all +lands, driven by the master passion of human kind--Good Business-- +seek each his own. + +But Rubio City, though born of that same master passion of the race, +is where the thin edge of civilization is thinnest, on the Colorado +River, miles beyond the Coast Range Mountains, on the farther side +of that dreadful land where the thirsty atmosphere is charged with +the awful silence of uncounted ages. + +Between these two scenes of man's activity, so different and yet so +like, and crossing thus the land of my story, there was only a rude +trail--two hundred and more hard and lonely miles of it--the only +mark of man in all that desolate waste and itself marked every mile +by the graves of men and by the bleached bones of their cattle. + +All that forenoon, on every side of the outfit, the beautiful life +of the coast country throbbed and exulted. It called from the +heaving ocean with its many gleaming sails and dark drifting steamer +smoke under the wide sky; it sang from the harbor where the laden +ships meet the long trains that come and go on their continental +errands; it cried loudly from the busy streets of village and town +and laughed out from field and orchard. But always the road led +toward those mountains that lifted their oak-clad shoulders and +pine-fringed ridges across the way as though in dark and solemn +warning to any who should dare set their faces toward the dreadful +land of want and death that lay on their other side. + +In the afternoon every mile brought scenes more lonely until, in the +foothills, that creeping bit of life on the hard old trail was +forgotten by the busy world behind, even as it seemed to forget that +there was anywhere any life other than its creeping self. + +As the sweating mules pulled strongly up the heavy grades the man on +the high seat of the wagon repaid the indifference of his +surroundings with a like indifference. Unmoved by the forbidding +grimness of the mountains, unthoughtful of their solemn warning, he +took his place as much a part of the lonely scene as the hills +themselves. Slouching easily in his seat he gave heed only to his +team and to the road ahead. When he spoke to the mules his voice was +a soft, good-natured drawl, as though he spoke from out a pleasing +reverie, and though his words were often hard words they were +carried to the animals on an under-current of fellowship and +understanding. The long whip, with coiled lash, was in its socket at +the end of the seat. The stops were frequent. Wise in the wisdom of +the unfenced country and knowing the land ahead, this driver would +conserve every ounce of his team's strength against a possible time +of great need. + +They were creeping across a flank of the hill when the off-leader +sprang to the left so violently that nothing but the instinctive +bracing of his trace-mate held them from going over the grade. The +same instant the wheel team repeated the maneuver, but not so +quickly, as the slouching figure on the seat sprang into action. A +quick strong pull on the reins, a sharp yell: "You, Buck! Molly!" +and a rattling volley of strong talk swung the four back into the +narrow road before the front wheels were out of the track. + +With a crash the heavy brake was set. The team stopped. As the +driver half rose and turned to look back he slipped the reins to his +left hand and his right dropped to his hip. With a motion too quick +for the eye to follow the free arm straightened and the mountain +echoed wildly to the loud report of a forty-five. By the side of the +road in the rear of the wagon a rattlesnake uncoiled its length and +writhed slowly in the dust. + +Before the echoes of the shot had died away a mad, inarticulate roar +came from the depths of the wagon box. The roar was followed by a +thick stream of oaths in an unmistakably Irish voice. The driver, +who was slipping a fresh cartridge into the cylinder, looked up to +see a man grasping the back of the rear seat for support while +rising unsteadily to his feet. + +The Irishman, as he stood glaring fiercely at the man who had so +rudely awakened him, was without hat or coat, and with bits of hay +clinging to a soiled shirt that was unbuttoned at the hairy throat, +presented a remarkable figure. His heavy body was fitted with legs +like posts; his wide shoulders and deep chest, with arms to match +his legs, were so huge as to appear almost grotesque; his round +head, with its tumbled thatch of sandy hair, was set on a thick +bull-neck; while all over the big bones of him the hard muscles lay +in visible knots and bunches. The unsteady poise, the red, unshaven, +sweating face, and the angry, blood-shot eyes, revealed the reason +for his sleep under such uncomfortable circumstances. The silent +driver gazed at his fearsome passenger with calm eyes that seemed to +hold in their dark depths the mystery of many a still night under +the still stars. + +In a voice that rumbled up from his hairy chest--a husky, menacing +growl--the Irishman demanded: "Fwhat the hell do ye mane, +dishturbin' the peace wid yer clamor? For less than a sup av wather +I'd go over to ye wid me two hands." + +Calmly the other dropped his gun into its holster. Pointing to the +canteen that hung over the side of the wagon fastened by its canvas +strap to the seat spring, he drawled softly: "There's the water. +Help yourself, stranger." + +The gladiator, without a word, reached for the canteen and with +huge, hairy paws lifted it to his lips. After a draught of +prodigious length he heaved a long sigh and wiped his mouth with the +back of his hand. Then he turned his fierce eyes again on the driver +as if to inquire what manner of person he might be who had so +unceremoniously challenged his threat. + +The Irishman saw a man, tall and spare, but of a stringy, tough and +supple leanness that gave him the look of being fashioned by the +out-of-doors. He, too, was coatless but wore a vest unbuttoned over +a loose, coarse shirt. A red bandana was knotted easily about his +throat. With his wide, high-crowned hat, rough trousers tucked in +long boots, laced-leather wrist guards and the loosely buckled +cartridge belt with its long forty-five, his very dress expressed +the easy freedom of the wild lands, while the dark, thin face, +accented by jet black hair and a long, straight mustache, had the +look of the wide, sun-burned plains. + +With a grunt that might have expressed either approval or contempt, +the Irishman turned and groping about in the wagon found a sorry +wreck of a hat. Again he stooped and this time, from between the +bales of hay, lifted a coat, fit companion to the hat. Carefully he +felt through pocket after pocket. His search was rewarded by a +short-stemmed clay pipe and the half of a match--nothing more. With +an effort he explored the pockets of his trousers. Then again he +searched the coat; muttering to himself broken sentences, not the +less expressive because incomplete: "Where the divil--Now don't that +bate--Well, I'll be--" With a temper not improved by his loss he +threw down the garment in disgust and looked up angrily. The silent +driver was holding toward him a sack of tobacco. + +The Irishman, with another grunt, crawled under the empty seat and +climbing heavily over the back of the seat in front, planted himself +stolidly by the driver's side. Filling his pipe with care and +deliberation he returned the sack to its owner and struck the half- +match along one post-like leg. Shielding the tiny flame with his +hands before applying the light he remarked thoughtfully: "Ye are a +danged reckless fool to be so dishturbin' me honest slape by +explodin' that cannon ye carry. 'Tis on me mind to discipline ye for +sich outrageous conduct." The last word was followed by loud, +smacking puffs, as he started the fire in the pipe-bowl under his +nose. + +While the Irishman was again uttering his threat, the driver, with a +skillful twist, rolled a cigarette and, leaning forward just in the +nick of time, he deliberately shared the half-match with his +blustering companion. In that instant the blue eyes above the pipe +looked straight into the black eyes above the cigarette, and a faint +twinkle of approval met a serious glance of understanding. + +Gathering up his reins and sorting them carefully, the driver spoke +to his team: "You, Buck! Molly! Jack! Pete!" The mules heaved ahead. +Again the silence of the world-old hills was shattered by the +rattling rumble of the heavy-tired wagon and the ring and clatter of +iron-shod hoofs. + +Stolidly the Irishman pulled at the short-stemmed pipe, the wagon +seat sagging heavily with his weight at every jolt of the wheels, +while from under his tattered hat rim his fierce eyes looked out +upon the wild landscape with occasional side glances at his silent, +indifferent companion. + +Again the team was halted for a rest on the heavy grade. Long and +carefully the Irishman looked about him and then, turning suddenly +upon the still silent driver, he gazed at him for a full minute +before saying, with elaborate mock formality: "It may be, Sorr, that +bein' ye are sich a hell av a conversationalist, ut wouldn't tax yer +vocal powers beyand their shtrength av I should be so baould as to +ax ye fwhat the divil place is this?" + +The soft, slow drawl of the other answered: "Sure. That there is No +Man's Mountains ahead." + +"No Man's, is ut; an' ut looks that same. Where did ye say ye was +thryin' to go?" + +"We're headed for Rubio City. This here is the old San Felipe +trail." + +"Uh-huh! So _we're_ goin' to Rubio City, are we? For all I know that +may as well be nowhere at all. Well, well, ut's news av intherest to +me. _We_ are goin' to Rubio City. Ut may be that ye would exshplain, +Sorr, how I come to be here at all." + +"Sure Mike! You come in this here wagon from San Felipe." + +At the drawling answer the hot blood flamed in the face of the +short-tempered Irishman and the veins in his thick neck stood out as +if they would burst. "Me name's not Mike at all, but Patrick +Mooney!" he roared. "I've two good eyes in me head that can see yer +danged old wagon for meself, an' fwhat's more I've two good hands +that can break ye in bits for the impedent dried herrin' that ye +are, a-thinkin' ye can take me anywhere at all be abductin' me +widout me consent. For a sup o' wather I'd go to ye--" He turned +quickly to look behind him for the driver was calmly pointing toward +the end of the seat. "Fwhat is ut? Fwhat's there?" he demanded. + +"The water," drawled the dark-faced man. "I don't reckon you drunk +it all the other time." + +Again the big man lifted the canteen and drank long and deep. When +he had wiped his mouth with the back of his hairy hand and had +returned the canteen to its place, he faced his companion--his blue +eyes twinkling with positive approval. Scratching his head +meditatively, he said: "An' all because av me wantin' to enjoy the +blessin's an' advantages av civilization agin afther three long +months in that danged gradin' camp, as is the right av ivery healthy +man wid his pay in his pocket." + +The teamster laughed softly. "You was sure enjoyin' of it a-plenty." + +The other looked at him with quickened interest. "Ye was there?" he +asked. + +"Some," was the laconic reply. + +The Irishman scratched his head again with a puzzled air. "I +disremimber entire. Was there some throuble maybe?" + +The other grinned. "Things was movin' a few." + +Patrick Mooney nodded his head. "Uh-huh: mostly they do under thim +circumstances. Av course there'd be a policeman, or maybe two?" + +"Five," said the man with the lines, gently. + +"Five! Howly Mither! I did mesilf proud. An' did they have the +wagon? Sure they wud--five policemen niver walked. Wan av thim +might, av ut was handy-like, but five--niver! Tell me, man, who else +was at the party? No--howld on a minut!" He interrupted himself, +"Thim cops stimulate me mimory a bit. Was there not a bunch av +sailor-men from wan av thim big ships?" + +The driver nodded. + +The other, pleased with the success of his mental effort, continued: +"Uh-huh--an' I was havin' a peaceful dhrink wid thim all whin +somewan made impedent remarks touchin' me appearance, or ancestors, +I disremimber which. But where was you?" + +"Well, you see," explained the driver in his slow way, "hit was like +this. That there saloon were plumb full of sailor-men all exceptin' +you an' me. I was a heap admirin' of the way you handled that big +hombre what opened the meetin' and also his two pardners, who aimed +to back his play. Hit was sure pretty work. The rest of the crowd +sort o' bunched in one end of the room an' when you began addressin' +the congregation, so to speak, on the habits, character, customs and +breedin' of sailor-men in general an' the present company in +particular, I see right there that you was a-bitin' off more 'n you +could chaw. It wasn't no way reasonable that any human could handle +that whole outfit with only just his bare hands, so I edged over +your way, plumb edified by your remarks, and when the rush for the +mourners' bench come I unlimbered an' headed the stampede pronto. +Then I made my little proposition. I told 'em that, bein' the only +individual on the premises not a sailor-man nor an Irishman, I felt +it my duty to referee the obsequies, so to speak, and that odds of +twenty to one, not to mention knives, was strictly agin my +convictions. Moreover, bein' the sole an' only uninterested +audience, I had rights. Then I offers to bet my pile, even money, +that you could handle the whole bunch, takin' 'em two at a throw. I +knowed it were some odds, but I noticed that them three what opened +the meetin' was still under the influence. Also I undertook to see +that specifications was faithfully fulfilled." + +"Mither av Gawd, fwhat a sociable!" broke in the Irishman. "An' me +too dhrunk to remimber rightly! Did they take yer bet? Ye sun-burned +limb av the divil--did they take ut?" + +"They sure did," drawled the driver. "I had my gun on them all the +time." + +"Hurroo! An' did I do ut? Tell me quick--did I do ut? Sure I could +aisy av nothin' happened." + +"You laid your first pair on top of the three, then the police +called the game and the bets were off." + +"They pinched the house?" + +"They took you an' me." + +"Sure! av course they would take us two. 'Tis thim San Felipe police +knows their duty. But how could they do ut?" + +"I forget details right here, bein' temporarily incapacitated by one +o' them hittin' me with a club from behind. I woke up in a cell with +you." + +The Irishman rubbed the back of his head. "Come to think av ut, I +have a bit av a bump on me own noodle that 'tis like helps to +exshplain the cell. But fwhat in the divil's name brung us here in +this Gawd-forsaken Nobody's Place? Pass me another pipeful an' tell +me that av ye can." + +The driver passed over the tobacco sack and, stopping his team for +another rest, rolled a cigarette for himself. "That's easy," he +said. "This here is Jefferson Worth's outfit. He wanted me to start +home this morning, so he got me off. I don't know how he done it; +mostly nobody knows how Jefferson Worth does things. There was a man +with him who knowed you and, as I was some disinclined to leave you +under the circumstances, Mr. Worth fixed it up for you, too, then we +all jest throwed you in and fetched you along. Mr. Worth with the +other man and his kid are comin' on in a buckboard. They'll catch up +with us where we camp to-night. I don't mind sayin' that I plumb +admired your spirit and action and--sizin' up that police bunch--I +could see your talents would sure be wasted in that San Felipe +country for some time to come. There'll be plenty of room in Rubio +City for you, leastwise 'till you draw your pay again. If you don't +like the accommodations you're gettin' I reckon you'd better make +good your talk back there and we'll see whether you takes this +outfit back to San Felipe or I takes her on to Rubio City." + +The Irishman spat emphatically over the wheel. "An' 'tis a gintleman +wid proper instincts ye are, though, as a rule, I howld ut impolite +to carry a gun. But afther all, 'tis a matter av opinion an' I'm +free to admit that there are occasions. Anyhow ye handle ut wid +grace an' intilligence. An', fists er shticks, er knives, er guns, +that's the thing that marks the man. 'Tis not Patrick Mooney that'll +fault a gintleman for ways that he can't help owin' to his improper +bringin' up. Av ye don't mind, will ye tell me fwhat they call ye? +I'll not be so indelicate as to ax yer name. Fwhat they call ye will +be enough." + +The other laughed. "My name is Joe Brannin. They call me Texas Joe-- +Tex, for short." + +"Good bhoy, Tex! Ye look the divil av a lot like a red herrin', but +that's not sich a bad fish, an' ye have the right flavor. How could +ye help ut? Brannin an' Texas is handles to pull a man through hell +wid. But tell me this--who is this man that says he knows me?" + +Texas Joe shook his head and, picking out his lines, called to his +team. When they were under way again he said: "I didn't hear his +name but I judge from the talk that he is one o' them there civil +engineers, an' that he's headin' for Rubio City to build the +railroad that's goin' through to the coast. Mr. Worth told me that +there would be another man and a kid to go back with us, but I know +that Mr. Worth hadn't never seen them before himself." + +Pat shifted his heavy bulk to face the driver and, removing his pipe +from his mouth, asked with deliberation: "An' do ye mane to tell me +that this place we're goin' to is on the new line av the +Southwestern an' Continental?" + +"Sure. They're buildin' into Rubio City from the East now." + +The Irishman became excited. "An' this man that knows me--this +engineer--is he a fine, big, up-standin' man wid brown eyes an' the +look av a king?" + +"I ain't never seen no kings," drawled Tex, "but the rest of it sure +fits him." + +"Well, fwhat do ye think av that? 'Tis the Seer himsilf, or I'm not +the son av me own mither. I was hearin' in Frisco, where I went the +last time I drawed me pay, that he was like to be on the S. an' C. +extension. 'Twas that that took me to San Felipe, bein' wishful to +get a job wid him again. Well, well, an' to think ut's the Seer +himsilf!" + +"What's that you call him?" + +"The Seer. I disremimber his other name but he's got wan all +shtraight an' proper. He's that kind. They call him the Seer because +av his talk av the great things that will be doin' in this country +av no rain at all whin ignorant savages like yersilf learn how to +use the wather that's in the rivers for irrigation. I've heard him +say mesilf that hundreds av thousands av acres av these big deserts +will be turned into farms, an' all that be what he calls +'Reclamation.' 'Twas for that some danged yellow-legged surveyor +give him the name, an' ut shtuck. But most av the engineers--the +rale engineers do ye mind--is wid him, though they do be jokin' him +the divil av a lot about what they calls his visions." + +"He didn't _look_ like he was locoed," said Texas Joe thoughtfully, +"but he's sure some off on that there desert proposition as you'll +see before we lands in Rubio." + +"I dunno--I've seen some quare things in me time in the way av big +jobs that nobody thought could be done at all. But lave ut go. 'Tis +not the likes av me an' you that's qualified to give judgment on +sich janiuses as the Seer, who, I heard tell, has the right to put +more big-manin' letters afther his name than ye have teeth in yer +head." + +"All the same it ain't the brand on a horse that makes him travel. A +man'll sure need somethin' more hefty than letters after his name +when he goes up against the desert." + +"Well, lave ut go at that. Wait 'til ye know him. But fwhat's this +yer tellin' me about a kid? The Seer has no family at all but +himsilf an' his job." + +Texas grinned. "Maybe not, pard; but he's sure got together part of +a family this trip." + +"Is ut a gurl, or a bhoy?" + +"Boy--'bout a ten-year-old, I'd say." + +The Irishman shook his head doubtfully. "I dunno. 'Tis a quare thing +for the Seer. Av it was me, or you, now--but the Seer! It's danged +quare! But tell me, fwhat's this man, yer boss? 'Tis a good healthy +pull he must have to be separatin' us from thim San Felipe police." + +Texas Joe deliberated so long before answering this that Pat glanced +at him uneasily several times. At last the driver drawled: "You're +right there; Jefferson Worth sure has some pull." + +Pat grunted. "But fwhat does he do?" + +"Do?" Tex swung his team around a spur of the mountain where the +trail leads along the side of a canyon to its head. Far below they +heard the tumbling roar of a stream in its rocky course. + +"Sure the man must do something?" + +"As near as I can make out Jefferson Worth does everybody." + +"Oh ho! So that's ut? I've no care for the cards mesilf, but av a +man's a professional an'--" + +"You're off there, pardner. Jefferson Worth ain't that kind. He's +one o' these here financierin' sports, an' so far as anybody that I +ever seen goes, he's got a dead cinch." + +"Ye mane he's a banker?" + +"Sure. The Pioneer in Rubio City. He started the game in the early +days an' he's been a-rollin' it up ever since. Hit's plumb curious +about this here financierin' business," continued Tex, in his slow, +meditative way. "Looks to me mostly jest plain, common hold-up, only +they do it with money 'stead of a gun. In the old days you used to +get the drop on your man with your six, all regular, an' take what +he happened to have in his clothes. Then the posse'd get after you +an' mebbe string you up, which was all right, bein' part of the +game. Now these fellows like Jefferson Worth, they get's your name +on some writin's an' when you ain't lookin' they slips up an' gets +away with all your worldly possessions, an' the sheriff he jest +laughs an' says hits good business. This here Worth man is jest +about the coolest, smoothest, hardest proposition in the game. He +fair makes my back hair raise. The common run o' people ain't got no +more show stackin' up agin Jefferson Worth than two-bits worth o' +ice has in hell. Accordin' to my notion hit's this here same +financierin' game that's a-ruinin' the West. The cattle range is +about all gone now. If they keeps it up we won't be no better out +here than some o' them places I've heard about back East." + +"'Tis a danged ignorant savage ye are, like the rest av yer thribe, +wid yer talk av ruinin' the West. Fwhat wud this counthry be without +money? 'Tis thim same financiers that have brung ye the railroads, +an' the cities, an' the schools, an' the churches, an' all the other +blessin's an' joys of civilization that ye've got to take whither ye +likes ut or not. Look at the Seer, now. Fwhat could a man like him-- +an engineer, mind ye--fwhat could the Seer do widout the men wid +money to back him?" + +The Irishman's words were answered by a cheerful "Whoa!" and a crash +of the brakes as Texas Joe brought his team to a stand near the +spring at the head of the canyon. "We camp here," he announced. +"This is the last water we strike until we make it over the Pass to +Mountain Springs on the desert side. Jefferson Worth will be along +with the Seer and his kid most any time now." + +A little before dusk the banker, with his two companions, arrived. + +"Hello, Pat!" The man who leaped from the buckboard and strode +toward the waiting Irishman was tall and broad, with the head and +chin of a soldier, and the brown eyes of a dreamer. He was dressed +in rough corduroys, blue flannel shirt, laced boots, and Stetson, +and he greeted the burly Irishman as a fellow-laborer. + +A joyful grin spread over the battered features of the gladiator as +he grasped the Seer's outstretched hand. "Well, dang me but ut's +glad I am to see ye, Sorr, in this divil's own land. I had me +natural doubts, av course, whin I woke up in the wagon, but ut's all +right. 'Tis proud I am to be abducted by ye, Sorr." + +"Abducted!" The engineer's laugh awoke the echoes in the canyon. "It +was a rescue, man!" + +"Well, well, let ut go at that! But tell me, Sorr"--he lowered his +voice to a confidential rumble--"fwhat's this I hear that ye have +yer bhoy wid ye? Sure I niver knew that ye was a man av family." He +looked toward the slender lad who, with the readiness of a grown +man, was helping the driver of the buckboard to unhitch his team of +four broncos. "'Tis a good lad he is, or I'm a Dutchman." + +"You're right, Pat, Abe is a good boy," the Seer answered gravely. +"I picked him up in a mining camp on the edge of the Mojave Desert +when I was running a line of preliminary surveys through that +country for the S. and C. last year. He was born in the camp and his +mother died when he was a baby. God knows how he pulled through! You +know what those mining places are. His father, Frank Lee, was killed +in a drunken row while I was there, and Abe showed so much cool +nerve and downright manliness that I offered him a place with my +party. He has been with me ever since." + +Pat's voice was husky as he said: "I ax yer pardon, Sorr, for me +blunderin' impedence about yer bein' a man av family. I'm a danged +old rough-neck, wid no education but me two fists, an' no manners at +all." + +The engineer's reply was prevented by the approach of Jefferson +Worth who had been talking with Texas Joe. The banker's head came +but little above the Seer's shoulders and in comparison with the +Irishman's heavy bulk he appeared almost insignificant, while his +plain business suit of gray seemed altogether out of place in the +wild surroundings. His smooth-shaven face was an expressionless gray +mask and his deep-set gray eyes turned from the Irishman to the +engineer without a hint of emotion. The two men felt that somewhere +behind that gray mask they were being carefully estimated--measured +--valued--as possible factors in some far-reaching plan. He spoke to +the Seer, and his voice was without a suggestion of color: "I see +that your friend has recovered." It was as though he stated a fact +that he had just verified. + +Laughing at the memory of the Irishman's San Felipe experience, the +engineer said: "Mr. Worth, permit me to introduce Mr. Patrick Mooney +whom I have known for years as the best boss of a grading gang in +the West. Pat, this is Mr. Jefferson Worth, president of the Pioneer +Bank in Rubio City." + +The Irishman clutched at his tattered hat-brim in embarrassed +acknowledgment of the Seer's formality. Jefferson Worth, from behind +his gray mask, said in his exact, colorless voice: "He looks as +though he ought to handle men." + +As the banker passed on toward the big wagon the Irishman drew close +to the Seer and whispered hoarsely: "Now fwhat the hell kind av a +man is that? 'Tis the truth, Sorr, that whin he looked at me out av +that grave-yard face I could bare kape from crossin' mesilf!" + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +JEFFERSON WORTH'S OFFERING. + + +When day broke over the topmost ridges of No Man's Mountains, +Jefferson Worth's outfit was ready to move. The driver of the +lighter rig with its four broncos set out for San Felipe. On the +front seat of the big wagon Texas Joe picked up his reins, sorted +them carefully, and glanced over his shoulder at his employer. "All +set?" + +"Go ahead." + +"You, Buck! Molly!" The lead mules straightened their traces. "Jack! +Pete!" As the brake was released with a clash and rattle of iron +rods, the wheelers threw their weight into their collars and the +wagon moved ahead. + +Grim, tireless, world-old sentinels, No Man's Mountains stood guard +between the fertile land on their seaward side and the desolate +forgotten wastes of the East. They said to the country of green +life, of progress and growth and civilization, that marched to their +line on the West, "Halt!" and it stopped. To the land of lean want, +of gray death, of gaunt hunger, and torturing thirst, that crept to +their feet on the other side, "Stop!" and it came no farther. With +no land to till, no mineral to dig, their very poverty was their +protection. With an air of grim finality, they declared strongly +that as they had always been they would always remain; and, at the +beginning of my story, save for that one, slender, man-made trail, +their hoary boast had remained unchallenged. + +Steadily, but with frequent rests on the grades, Jefferson Worth's +outfit climbed toward the summit and a little before noon gained the +Pass. The loud, rattling rumble of the wagon as the tires bumped and +ground over the stony, rock-floored way, with the sharp ring and +clatter of the iron-shod hoofs of the team, echoed, echoed, and +echoed again. Loudly, wildly, the rude sounds assaulted the +stillness until the quiet seemed hopelessly shattered by the din. +Softly, tamely, the sounds drifted away in the clear distance; +through groves of live oak, thickets of greasewood, juniper, +manzanita and sage; into canyon and wash; from bluff and ledge; +along slope and spur and shoulder; over ridge and saddle and peak; +fainting, dying--the impotent sounds of man's passing sank into the +stillness and were lost. When the team halted for a brief rest it +was in a moment as if the silence had never been broken. Grim, +awful, the hills gave no signs of man's presence, gave that creeping +bit of life no heed. + +At Mountain Spring--a lonely little pool on the desert side of the +huge wall--they stopped for dinner. When the meal was over, Texas +Joe, with the assistance of Pat, filled the water barrels, while the +boy busied himself with the canteen and the Seer and Jefferson Worth +looked on. + +"'Tis a dhry counthry ahead, I'm thinking'," remarked the Irishman +inquiringly as he lifted another dripping bucket. + +"Some," returned Tex. "There are three water holes between here and +the river where there's water sometimes. Mostly, though, when you +need it worst, there ain't none there, an' I reckon a dry water hole +is about the most discouragin' proposition there is. They'll all be +dry this trip. There wasn't nothin' but mud at Wolf Wells when we +come through last week." + +Again the barren rocks and the grim, forbidding hills echoed the +loud sound of wheel and hoof. Down the steep flank of the mountain, +with screaming, grinding brakes, they thundered and clattered into +the narrow hall-way of Devil's Canyon with its sheer walls and +shadowy gloom. The little stream that trickled down from the tiny +spot of green at the spring tried bravely to follow but soon sank +exhausted into the dry waste. A cool wind, like a draft through a +tunnel, was in their faces. After perhaps two hours of this the way +widened out, the sides of the canyon grew lower with now and then +gaps and breaks. Then the walls gave way to low, rounded hills, +through which the winding trail lay--a bed of sand and gravel--and +here and there appeared clumps of greasewood and cacti of several +varieties. + +At length they passed out from between the last of the foot-hills +and suddenly--as though a mighty curtain were lifted--they faced the +desert. At their feet the Mesa lay in a blaze of white sunlight, and +beyond and below the edge of the bench the vast King's Basin +country. + +At the edge of the Mesa Texas halted his team and the little party +looked out and away over those awful reaches of desolate solitude. +The Seer and Pat uttered involuntary exclamations. Jefferson Worth, +Texas, and Abe were silent, but the boy's thin features were aglow +with eager enthusiasm, and the face of the driver revealed an +interest in the scene that years of familiarity could not entirely +deaden, but the gray mask of the banker betrayed no emotion. + +In that view, of such magnitude that miles meant nothing, there was +not a sign of man save the one slender thread of road that was so +soon lost in the distance. From horizon to horizon, so far that the +eye ached in the effort to comprehend it, there was no cloud to cast +a shadow, and the deep sky poured its resistless flood of light upon +the vast dun plain with savage fury, as if to beat into helplessness +any living creature that might chance to be caught thereon. And the +desert, receiving that flood from the wide, hot sky, mysteriously +wove with it soft scarfs of lilac, misty veils of purple and filmy +curtains of rose and pearl and gold; strangely formed with it wide +lakes of blue rimmed with phantom hills of red and violet-- +constantly changing, shifting, scene on scene, as dream pictures +shift and change. + +Only the strange, silent life that, through long years, the desert +had taught to endure its hardships was there--the lizard, horned- +toad, lean jack-rabbit, gaunt coyote, and their kind. Only the hard +growth that the ages had evolved dotted the floor of the Basin in +the near distance--the salt-bush and greasewood, with here and there +clumps of mesquite. + +And over it all--over the strange hard life, the weird, constantly +shifting scenes, the wondrous, ever-changing colors--was the +dominant, insistent, compelling spirit of the land; a brooding, +dreadful silence; a waiting--waiting--waiting; a mystic call that +was at once a threat and a promise; a still drawing of the line +across which no man might go and live, save those master men who +should win the right. + +After a while the engineer, pointing, said: "The line of the +Southwestern and Continental must follow the base of those hills +away over there--is that right, Texas?" + +"That'll be about it," the driver answered. "I hear you're goin' +through San Antonio Pass, an' that's to the north. Rubio City lies +about here--" he pointed a little south of east. "Our road runs +through them sand hills that you can see shinin' like gold a-way +over there. Dry River Crossin' is jest beyond. You can see Lone +Mountain off here to the south. Hit'll sure be some warm down there. +Look at them dust-devil's dancin'. An' over there, where you see +that yellow mist like, is a big sand storm. We ain't likely to get a +long one this time o' the year. But you can't tell what this old +desert 'll do; she's sure some uncertain. La Palma de la Mano de +Dios, the Injuns call it, and I always thought that--all things +considerin'--the name fits mighty close. You can see hit's jest a +great big basin." + +"The Hollow of God's Hand." repeated the Seer in a low tone. He +lifted his hat with an unconscious gesture of reverence. + +The Irishman, as the engineer translated, crossed himself. "Howly +Mither, fwhat a name!" + +Jefferson Worth spoke. "Drive on, Texas." + +And so, with the yellow dust-devils dancing along their road and +that yellow cloud in the distance, they moved down the slope--down +into The King's Basin--into La Palma de la Mano de Dios, The Hollow +of God's Hand. + +"Is that true, sir?" asked Abe of the Seer. + +"Is what true, son?" + +"What Texas said about the ocean." + +"Yes it's true. The lowest point of this Basin is nearly three +hundred feet below sea level. The railroad we are going to build +follows right around the rim on the other side over there. This +slope that we are going down now is the ancient beach." Then, while +they pushed on into the silence and the heat of that dreadful land, +the engineer told the boy and his companions how the ages had +wrought with river and wave and sun and wind to make The King's +Basin Desert. + +Wolf Wells they found dry as Texas had anticipated. Phantom Lake +also was dry. Occasionally they crossed dry, ancient water courses +made by the river when the land was being formed; sometimes there +were glassy, hard, bare alkali flats; again the trail led through +jungle-like patches of desert growth or twisted and wound between +high hummocks. Always there was the wide, hot sky, the glaring flood +of light unbroken by shadow masses to relieve the eye and reflected +hotly from the sandy floor of the old sea-bed. + +That evening, when they made camp, a heavy mass of clouds hung over +the top of No Man's Mountains and the long Coast Range that walled +in the Basin. Texas Joe, watching these clouds, said nothing; but +when Pat threw on the ground the water left in his cup after +drinking, the plainsman opened upon him with language that startled +them all. + +The next day, noon found them in the first of the sand hills. There +was no sign of vegetation here, for the huge mounds and ridges of +white sand, piled like drifts of snow, were never quite still. +Always they move eastward before the prevailing winds from the west. +Through the greater part of the year they advance very slowly, but +when the fierce gales sweep down from the mountains they roll +forward so swiftly that any object in their path is quickly buried +in their smothering depths. + +In the middle of the afternoon Texas climbed to the top of a huge +drift to look over the land. The others saw him stand a moment +against the sky, gazing to the northwest, then he turned and slid +down the steep side of the mound to the waiting wagon. + +"She's comin'!" he remarked, laconically, "an' she's a big one. I +reckon we may as well get as far as we can." + +A few minutes later they saw the sky behind them filling as with a +golden mist. The atmosphere, dry and hot, seemed charged with +mysterious, terrible power. The very mules tossed their heads +uneasily and tugged at the reins as if they felt themselves pursued +by some fearful thing. Straight and hard, with terrific velocity, +the wind was coming down through the mountain passes and sweeping +across the wide miles of desert, gathering the sand as it came. +Swiftly the golden mist extended over their heads, a thick, yellow +fog, through which the sun shone dully with a weird, unnatural +light. Then the stinging, blinding, choking blast was upon them with +pitiless, savage fury. In a moment all signs of the trail were +obliterated. Over the high edges of the drift the sand curled and +streamed like blizzard snow. About the outfit it whirled and eddied, +cutting the faces of the men and forcing them, with closed eyes, to +gasp for breath. + +Of their own accord the mules stopped and Texas shouted to Mr. +Worth: "It ain't no use for us to try to go on, sir. There ain't no +trail now, and we'd jest drift around." + +As far from the lee of a drift as possible, all hands--under the +desert man's direction--worked to rig a tarpaulin on the windward +side of the wagon. Then, with the mules unhitched and securely tied +to the vehicle, the men crouched under their rude shelter. The +Irishman was choking, coughing, sputtering and cursing, the engineer +laughed good-naturedly at their predicament, and Abe Lee grinned in +sympathy, while Texas Joe accepted the situation grimly with the +forbearance of long experience. But Jefferson Worth's face was the +same expressionless gray mask. He gave no hint of impatience at the +delay; no uneasiness at the situation; no annoyance at the +discomfort. It was as though he had foreseen the situation and had +prepared himself to meet it. "How long do you figure this will last, +Tex?" he asked in his colorless voice. + +"Not more than three days," returned the driver. "It may be over in +three hours." + +The morning of the second day they crawled from their blankets +beneath the wagon to find the sky clear and the air free from dust. +Eagerly they prepared to move. Against their shelter the sand had +drifted nearly to the top of the wheels, and the wagon-box itself +was more than half filled. The hair, eye-brows, beard and clothing +of the men were thickly coated with powdery dust, while every sign +of the trail was gone and the wheels sank heavily into the soft +sand. + +Three times Texas halted the laboring team and, climbing to the +summit of a drift, determined his course by marks unknown to those +who waited below. Again they stopped for the plainsman to take an +observation, and this time the four in the wagon, watching the +figure of the driver against the sky, saw him turn abruptly and come +down to them with long plunging strides. Instinctively they knew +that something unusual had come under his eye. + +The Seer and Jefferson Worth spoke together. "What is it, Tex?" + +"A stray horse about a mile ahead." + +For the first time Texas Joe uncoiled the long lash of his whip and +his call "You, Buck! Molly!" was punctuated by pistol-like cracks +that sounded strangely in the death-like silence of the sandy waste. + +As they came within sight of the strange horse the poor beast +staggered wearily to meet the wagon--the broken strap of his halter +swinging loosely from his low-hanging head. + +"Look at the poor baste," said Pat. "'Tis near dead he is wid +thirst." He leaped to the ground and started toward the water barrel +in the rear of the wagon. + +"Hold on, Pat," said the colorless voice of Jefferson Worth. And his +words were followed by the report of Texas Joe's forty-five. + +The Irishman turned to see the strange horse lying dead on the sand. +"Fwhat the hell--" he demanded hotly, but Texas was eyeing him +coolly, and something checked the anger of the Irishman. + +"You don't seem to sabe," drawled the man of the desert, replacing +the empty shell in his gun. "There ain't hardly enough water to +carry us through now, an' we may have to pick up this other outfit." + +No one spoke as Pat climbed heavily back to his seat. + +For two miles the tracks of the strange horse were visible, then +they were blotted out by the sand that had filled them. "He made +that much since the blow," was Texas' slow comment. "How far we are +from where he started is all guess." + +As they pushed on, all eyes searched the country eagerly and before +long they found the spot for which they looked. A light spring wagon +with a piece of a halter strap tied to one of the wheels was more +than half-buried by the sand in the lee of a high drift. There was a +small water keg, empty, with its seams already beginning to open in +the fierce heat of the sun, a "grub-box," some bedding and part of a +bale of hay-nothing more. + +Jefferson Worth, Pat and the boy attempted to dig in the steep side +of the drift that rose above the half-buried outfit, but at their +every movement tons of the dry sand came sliding down upon them. "It +ain't no use, Mr. Worth," said Texas, as the banker straightened up, +baffled in his effort. "You will never know what's buried in there +until God Almighty uncovers it." + +Then the man of the desert and plains read the story of the tragedy +as though he had been an eye witness. "They was travelin' light an' +counted on makin' good time. They must have counted, too, on, +findin' water in the hole." He kicked the empty keg. "Their supply +give out an' then that sand-storm caught 'em and the horses broke +loose. Of course they would go to hunt their stock, not darin' to be +left afoot and without water, an' hits a thousand to one they never +got back to the outfit. We're takin' too many chances ourselves to +lose much time and I don't reckon there's any use, but we'd better +look around maybe." + +He directed the little party to scatter and to keep on the high +ground so that they would not lose sight of each other. Until well +on in the afternoon they searched the vicinity, but with no reward, +while the hot sun, the dry burning waste and the glaring sands of +the desert warned them that every hour's delay might mean their own +death. When they returned at last to the wagon, called in by Texas, +no one spoke. As they went on their way each was busy with his own +thoughts of the grim evidence of the desert's power. + +Another hour passed. Suddenly Texas halted the mules and, with an +exclamation, leaped to the ground. The others saw that he was +bending over a dim track in the sand. + +"My God! men," he shouted, "hit's a woman." + +For a short way he followed the foot-prints, then, running back to +the wagon and springing to his seat, swung his long whip and urged +the team ahead. + +"Hit's a woman," he repeated. "When the others went away and didn't +come back she started ahead in the storm alone. She had got this far +when the blow quit, leavin' her tracks to show. We may--" He urged +his mules to greater effort. + +The prints of the woman's shoe could be plainly seen now. "Look!" +said Tex, pointing, "she's staggerin'--Now she's stopped! Whoa!" +Throwing his weight on the lines he leaned over from his seat. +"Look, men! Look there!" he cried, as he pointed. "She's carryin' a +kid. See, there's where she set it down for a rest." It was all too +clear. Beside the woman's track were the prints of two baby shoes. + +The Seer, with a long breath, drew his hand across his sand-begrimed +face. "Hurry, Tex. For God's sake, hurry!" + +The Irishman was cursing fiercely in impotent rage, clenching and +unclenching his huge, hairy fists. The boy cowered in his seat. But +not a change came over the mask-like features of Jefferson Worth. +Only the delicate, pointed fingers of his nervous hands caressed +constantly his unshaven chin, fingered his clothing, or--gripped the +edge of the wagon seat as he leaned forward in his place. Texas-- +grim, cool, alert, his lean figure instinct now with action and his +dark eyes alight--swung his long whip and handled his reins with a +master's skill, calling upon every atom of his team's strength, +while reading those tracks in the sand as one would scan a printed +page. + +It was all written there--that story of mother love; where she +staggered with fatigue; where she was forced to rest; where the baby +walked a little way; and once or twice where the little one stumbled +and fell as the sand proved too heavy for the little feet. And all +the while the desert, dragging with dead weight at the wheels, +seemed to fight against them. It was as though the dreadful land +knew that only time was needed to complete its work. Then the hot +sun dropped beyond the purple wall of mountain and the mystery of +the long twilight began. + +"Dry River Crossing is just ahead," said Tex, and soon the outfit +pitched down the steep bank of a deep wash that had been made in +some forgotten age by an overflow of the great river. Occasionally, +after the infrequent rains of winter, some water was to be found +here in a hole under the high bank a short way from the trail. + +With a crash of brakes the team stopped at the bottom. The men, +springing from the wagon and leaving the panting mules to stand with +drooping heads, started to search the wash. But in a moment Texas +shouted and the others quickly joined him. Near the dry water hole +lay the body of a woman. By her side was a small canteen. + +[Illustration: He had lifted the canteen and was holding it upside +down.] + +The engineer bent to examine the still form for some sign of life. + +"It ain't no use, sir," said Texas. "She's gone." He had lifted the +canteen and was holding it upside down. With his finger he touched +the mouth of the vessel and held out his hand. The finger was wet. +"You see," he said, "when her men-folks didn't come back she started +with the kid an' what water she had. But she wouldn't drink none +herself, an' the hard trip in the heat and sand carryin' the baby, +an' findin' the water hole dry was too much for her. If only we had +known an' come on, instead of huntin' back there where it wasn't no +use, we'd a-been in time." + +As the little party--speechless at the words of Texas--stood in the +twilight, looking down upon the lifeless form, a chorus of wild, +snarling, barking yowls, with long-drawn, shrill howls, broke on the +still air. It was the coyotes' evening call. To the silent men the +weird sound seemed the triumphant cry of the Desert itself and they +started in horror. + +Then from the dusky shadow of the high bank farther up the wash came +another cry that broke the spell that was upon them and drew an +answering shout from their lips as they ran forward. + +"Mamma! Mamma! Barba wants drink. Please bring drink, mamma. Barba's +'fraid!" + +Jefferson Worth reached her first. Close under the bank, where she +had wandered after "mamma" lay down to sleep, and evidently just +awakened from a tired nap by the coyotes' cry, sat a little girl of +not more than four years. Her brown hair was all tumbled and tossed, +and her big brown eyes were wide with wondering fear at the four +strange men and the boy who stood over her. + +"Mamma! Mamma!" she whimpered, "Barba wants mamma." + +Jefferson Worth knelt before her, holding out his hands, and his +voice, as he spoke to the baby, made his companions look at him in +wonder, it was so full of tenderness. + +The little girl fixed her big eyes questioningly upon the kneeling +man. The others waited, breathless. Then suddenly, as if at +something she saw in the gray face of the financier, the little one +drew back with fear upon her baby features and in her baby voice. +"Go 'way! Go 'way!" she cried. Then again, "Mamma! Barba wants +mamma." Jefferson Worth turned sadly away, his head bowed as though +with disappointment or shame. + +The others, now, in turn tried to win her confidence. The plainsman +and the Irishman she regarded gravely, as she had looked at the +banker, but without fear. The boy won a little smile, but she still +held back--hesitating--reluctant. Then with a pitiful little gesture +of confidence and trust, she stretched forth her arms to the big +brown-eyed engineer. "Barba wants drink," she said, and the Seer +took her in his arms. + +At the wagon it was Jefferson Worth who offered her a tin cup of +water, but again she shrank from him, throwing her arms about the +neck of the Seer. The engineer, taking the cup from the banker's +hands, gave her a drink. + +While Mr. Worth and the boy prepared a hasty meal, Texas fed his +team and the Irishman, going back a short distance, made still +another grave beside the road already marked by so many. The child-- +still in the engineer's arms--ate hungrily, and when the meal was +over he took her to the wagon, while the others, with a lantern, +returned to the still form by the dry water hole. At the banker's +suggestion, a thorough examination of the woman's clothing was made +for some clue to her identity, but no mark was found. With careful +hands they reverently wrapped the body in a blanket and laid it away +in its rude, sandy bed. + +When the grave was filled and protected as best it could be, a short +consultation was held. Mr. Worth wished to return to the half buried +outfit to make another effort to learn the identity of the Desert's +victim, but Texas refused. "'Tain't that I ain't willin' to do +what's right," he said, "but you see how that sand acted. Why, Mr. +Worth, you couldn't move that there drift in a year, an' you know +it. I jest gave the mules the last water they'll get an' we're goin' +to have all we can do to make it through as it is. If we wait to go +back there ain't one chance in a hundred that we-all 'll ever see +Rubio City again. It ain't sense to risk killin' the kid when we've +got a chance to save her--jest on a slim chance o' findin' out who +she is." + +Returning to the outfit they very quietly--so as not to awaken the +sleeping child--hitched the team to the wagon and took their places. +As the mules started the baby stirred uneasily in the Seer's arms +and murmured sleepily: "Mamma." But the low, soothing tones of the +big man calmed her and she slept. + +Hour after hour of the long night dragged by. They had left the sand +hills behind three miles before they reached Dry River and now the +wide, level reaches of the thinly covered plain, forbidding and +ghostly under the stars, seemed to stretch away on every side into +infinite space. Involuntarily all the members of the little party, +except Texas Joe, strained their eyes looking into the blank, silent +distance for lights, and, as they looked, they turned their heads +constantly to listen for some sound of human life. But in all that +vast expanse there was no light save the light of the stars; in all +that silent waste there was no sound save the occasional call of the +coyote, the plaintive, quivering note of the ground-owls, the +muffled fall of the mules' feet in the soft earth, and the dull +chuck, creak, and rumble of the wagon with the clink of trace chains +and the squeak of straining harness leather. And always it was as +though that dreadful land clung to them with heavy hands, matching +its strength against the strength of these who braved its silent +threat, seeking to hold them as it held so many others. The men +spoke rarely and then in low tones. The baby in the Seer's arms +slept. Only Texas, and perhaps his team, knew how they kept the +dimly marked trail that led to life. Perhaps Texas himself did not +know. + +At daybreak they halted for a brief rest and for breakfast. The +child ate with the others, but still clung to the engineer, and +while asking often for "mamma," seemed to trust her big protector +fully. From the shelter of his arms she even smiled at the efforts +of Texas, Pat and the boy to amuse and keep her attention from her +loss. From Jefferson Worth she still shrank in fear and the others +wondered at the pain in that gray face as all his efforts to win a +smile or a kind look from the baby were steadily repulsed. + +It was Texas who, when they halted, poured the last of the water +from the barrel into the canteen and carefully measured out to each +a small portion. It was Texas now who gave the word to start again +on their journey. And when the desert man placed the canteen with +their meager supply of water in the corner of the wagon-box under +his own feet the others understood and made no comment. + +At noon, when each was given his carefully measured portion from the +canteen, Jefferson Worth, before they could check him, wet his +handkerchief with his share of the water and gave it to the Seer to +wipe the dust from the hot little face of the child. The eyes of the +big engineer filled and Texas, with an oath that was more reverent +than profane, poured another measure and forced the banker to drink. + +As the long, hot, thirsty hours of that afternoon dragged slowly +past, the faces of the men grew worn and haggard. The two days and +nights in the trying storm, the exertion of their search among the +sand hills, the excitement of finding the woman's body and the +discovery of the child, followed by the long sleepless night, and +now the hard, hot, dreary hours of the struggle with the Desert that +seemed to gather all its dreadful strength against them, were +beginning to tell. Texas Joe, forced to give constant attention to +his team and hardened by years of experience, showed the strain +least, while Pat, unfitted for such a trial by his protracted spree +in San Felipe, undoubtedly suffered most. + +After dinner the Irishman sat motionless in his place with downcast +face, lifting his head only at long intervals to gaze with fierce +hot eyes upon the barren landscape, while muttering to himself in a +growling undertone. Later he seemed to sink into a stupor and +appeared to be scarcely conscious of his companions. Suddenly he +roused himself and, bending forward with a quick motion, reached the +canteen from under the driver's seat. In the act of unscrewing the +cap he was halted by the calm-voice of Texas: "Put that back." + +"Go to hell wid ye! I'm no sun-dried herrin'." + +The cap came loose, but as he raised the canteen and lifted his face +with open parched lips he looked straight into the muzzle of the big +forty-five and back of the gun into the steady eyes of the +plainsman. "I'm sorry, pard, but you can't do it." + +For an instant the Irishman sat as if suddenly turned to stone. The +water was within reach of his lips, but over the canteen certain +death looked at him, for there was no mistaking the expression on +the face of that man with the gun. Beside himself with thirst, +forgetting everything but the water, and utterly reckless he +growled: "Shoot an' be domned, ye murderin' savage!" and again +started to lift the cloth-covered vessel. + +At that instant the baby, catching sight of the canteen, called from +the rear seat: "Barba wants drink. Barba thirsty, too." + +As though Texas had pulled the trigger the Irishman dropped his +hand. Slowly he looked from face to face of his companions--a dazed +expression on his own countenance, as though he were awakening from +a dream. The child, clinging to the Seer with one hand and pointing +with the other, said again: "Barba thirsty; please give Barba +drink." + +A look of horror and shame went over the face of the Irishman, his +form shook like a leaf and his trembling hands could scarcely hold +the canteen. "My Gawd! bhoys," he cried, "fwhat's this I was doin'?" +Then he burst suddenly upon Tex with: "Why the hell don't ye shoot, +domn ye? A baste like me is fit for nothin' but to rot in this Gawd- +forsaken land!" + +The fierce rage of the man at his own act was pitiful. Texas dropped +his gun into the holster and turned his face away. Jefferson Worth +held out a cup. "Give the little one some water, Pat," he said, in +his cold, exact way. + +With shaking hands the Irishman poured a little into the cup and, +screwing the cap back on the canteen, he returned it to its place. +Then with a groan he bowed his face in his great, hairy hands. + +Just before sun-down they climbed up the ancient beach line to the +rim of the Basin and the Mesa on the east. Halting here for a brief +rest and for supper, they looked back over the low, wide land +through which they had come. All along the western sky and far to +the southward, the wall-like mountains lifted their purple heights +from the dun plain, a seemingly impassable barrier, shutting in the +land of death; shutting out the life that came to their feet on the +other side. To the north the hills that rim the Basin caught the +slanting rays of the setting sun and glowed rose-color, and pink, +and salmon, with deep purple shadows where canyons opened, all +rising out of drifts of silvery light. To the northwest two distant, +gleaming, snow-capped peaks of the Coast Range marked San Antonio +Pass. To the west Lone Mountain showed dark blue against the purple +of the hills beyond. Down in the desert basin, drifting above and +woven through the ever-shifting masses of color, shimmering phantom +lakes, and dull, dusky patches of green and brown, long streamers, +bars and threads of dust shone like gleaming gold. + +Texas Joe, when he had poured for each his portion of water, shook +the canteen carefully, and a smile spread slowly over his sun- +blackened features. "What's left belongs to the kid," he said. "But +we'll make it. We'll jest about make it." + +The Irishman lifted his cup toward the Desert, saying solemnly: +"Here's to ye, domn ye! Ye ain't got us yet. May ye burn an' +blishther an' scorch an' bake 'til yer danged heart shrivels up an' +blows away." + +Then he fell to amusing the child with loving fun-talk and queer +antics, until she laughed aloud and permitted him to catch her up in +his big hairy hands and to toss her high in the air. Texas and Abe, +joining in the frolic, shared with Pat the little lady's favor, +while the Seer looked smilingly on. But when Jefferson Worth +approached, with an offering of pretty stones and shells which he +had gathered on the old beach, she ran up to the engineer's arms. +Still coaxing, the banker held out his offering. The others were +silent, watching. Timidly at last, the child put forth her little +hands and accepted the gift, shrinking back quickly with her +treasures to the shelter of the big man's arms. + +It was just after noon the next day when the men at the wagon yard +on the edge of Rubio City looked up to see Jefferson Worth's outfit +approaching. The dust-covered, nearly-exhausted team staggered +weakly through the gate. On the driver's seat sat a haggard, +begrimed figure holding the reins in his right hand; and in his lap, +supported by his free arm, a little girl lay fast asleep. Then as +one of the mules lay down, the men went forward on the run. + +Texas stared at them dully for a moment. Then, as he dropped the +reins, his parched, cracked lips parted in what was meant for a +smile and he said, in a thick, choking whisper: "We made it, boys: +we jest made it. Somebody take the kid." + +Eager hands relieved him of his burden and he slid heavily to the +ground to stand dizzily holding on to a wheel for support. + +One of the men said sharply: "But where's Mr. Worth, Tex? What have +you done with Jefferson Worth an' what you doin' with a kid?" + +Texas Joe gazed at the questioner steadily as if summoning all his +strength of will in an effort to think. "Hello, Jack! Why--damned if +I know--he was with me a little while ago." + +The engineer, the banker, the Irishman and the boy were lying +unconscious on the bottom of the wagon. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +MISS BARBARA WORTH. + + +Mrs. Worth, sitting on the wide veranda of her home after a lonely +supper, lifted her eyes frequently from the work in her lap to look +down the street. Perhaps it was unusual for a banker's wife to be +darning her husband's socks; it may be, even, that bankers do not +usually wear socks that have been darned. But Mrs. Worth was not +sensible that her task was at all strange. + +A group of dust-covered cow-boys, coming into town for an evening's +pleasure, jogged past with loud laughter and soft-clinking spurs and +bridle-chains. "There's Jefferson Worth's place," said one. "D'ye +reckon he'll make good corralin' all the money there is in the +world?" + +Now and then a carriage, filled with well-to-do citizens out for an +evening ride, drove slowly by. The people in the carriages always +saluted Mrs. Worth and she returned their salutations with a prim +little bow. But no one stopped to chat or to offer her a seat. In +this, also, there was nothing strange to the woman on the porch of +the big, empty house. Sometimes the people in the carriages, +entertaining visiting friends, pointed to Jefferson Worth's house, +with proper explanations, as they also called attention to the +Pioneer Bank--Jefferson Worth's bank. + +When dusk came and she could no longer see, Mrs. Worth laid aside +her work and sat with folded hands, her face turned down the street. +Inside the house the lights were not yet on; there was no need for +them and she liked to sit in the dark. + +The Indian servant woman came softly to the door. "Does the Senora +wish anything?" + +"No, thank you, Ynez; come and sit down." + +Noiselessly the woman seated herself on the top step. + +"It has been warm to-day, Ynez." + +"Si, Senora." + +"It is nearly three weeks since Mr. Worth left with Texas Joe for +San Felipe, Ynez." + +"Si, Senora." + +"Do you know how far it is across the Desert to San Felipe?" + +"Si. I think three--four day, maybe five, Senora." + +"It will be very hot." + +"Si, Senora. Las' year my sister's man--Jose--go for San Felipe. No +much water. He no come back." + +"Yes, I remember. What is it your people call The King's Basin +Desert? The Hollow of God's Hand, isn't it?" + +"Si, Senora. La Palma de la Mano de Dios." + +"I wish they would come." + +"He come pretty quick, I think. Mebbe so he not start when he think. +Mebbe so what you call 'beesness' not let him come," said the Indian +woman, soothingly. + +"But Mr. Worth expected to be back two days ago and he is always on +time, you know, Ynez." + +"Si, Senora. But mebbe so this one time different" + +"I do wish they would---Look, Ynez, look! There's some one +stopping!" + +A carriage was turning in toward the house. + +"It is Senor Worth," said the Indian woman. + +"Someone is with him, Ynez. They have a child." + +As Jefferson Worth and the Seer came up the walk--the engineer +carrying the little girl--Mrs. Worth rose unsteadily to her feet. +"Run, quick, Ynez--quick! The lights!" + +That night when the Seer, with everything possible done for his +comfort, had retired, and the baby--bathed and fed--was sound asleep +in a child's bed that Ynez had brought from an unused room in the +banker's big house and placed in Mrs. Worth's own chamber, Jefferson +Worth and his wife crept softly to the little girl's bedside. +Silently they looked at the baby form under the snow-white coverlet +and at the round, baby face, with the tumbled brown hair, on the +pillow. + +Mrs. Worth clasped her hands in eager longing as she whispered: "Oh, +Jeff, can we keep her? Can we?" + +Jefferson Worth answered in his careful manner: "Did you look for +marks on her clothing?" + +"There was nothing--not a letter even. And all that she can tell of +her name is Barba. I'm sure she means Barbara." As she answered, +Mrs. Worth searched her husband's face anxiously. Then she +exclaimed: "Oh you do want her; you do!" and added wistfully: "Of +course we must try to find her folks, but do you think it very +wrong, Jeff, to wish--to wish that we never do? I feel as though she +were sent to take the place of our own little girl. We need her so, +Jeff. I need her so--and you--you will need her, when--" There was a +day coming that the banker and his wife did not talk about. Since +the birth and death of their one child, Mrs. Worth had been a +hopeless invalid. + +Several weeks passed and every effort to find little Barbara's +people was fruitless. Inquiry in Rubio City and San Felipe and +through the newspapers on the Coast brought no returns. The land in +those days was a land of strangers where people came and went with +little notice and were lost quickly in the ever-restless tide. It +was not at all strange that no one could identify an outfit of which +it was possible to tell only of a woman and child and one bay horse. +There were many outfits with a woman and child in the party and many +that had among the two, four, six, or more animals one bay horse. + +In the meantime, little Barbara, in her new home, was growing +gradually away from all that had gone before her long ride in the +big wagon with the men. Already she was beginning to talk of her +"other mamma and papa." Mrs. Worth slipped into the other woman's +place in the childish heart, even as little Barbara filled the empty +mother-heart of the woman. + +Toward Mr. Worth, though she no longer shrank from him in fear, the +little girl maintained an attitude of questioning regard. With Texas +or Pat or the boy Abe, who often went together to see her, she +laughed and chattered like a good little comrade and play-fellow. +But when the Seer came, as he did whenever his duties and his +presence in town would permit, she flew to him with eager love, +climbing on his knee or snuggling under his arm with entire +confidence and understanding. + +Public interest in Rubio City, keen at first, died out quickly. +Rubio City, in those days of railroad building, had too many things +of interest to retain any one thing long. Still, because it was +Jefferson Worth, Rubio City could not altogether drop the matter. So +it was one evening in the Gold Bar saloon, where Pat, coming into +town for a quiet evening from the grading camp on the new road, and +Texas Joe, who was just back from another trip across the Desert, +were having a friendly glass in a quiet corner. + +"Is there anythin' doin' in that San Felipe I don't know?" was Pat's +natural question. "Things is that slow in this danged town I'm +gettin' all dead on me insides." + +Texas grinned in his slow way. "There'll be another pay day before +long." + +"Yes, an' 'tis ye that'll be 'round agin to kape me from proper +enjoyment av the blissin's av civilization wid yer talk av the gold +that's to be found in thim mountains that nobody but ye knows where +they are. 'Tis a fool I am to be listenin' to yer crazy drames." + +"Just keep your shirt on a little longer, pard," returned the other +soothingly. "We've most enough for a grub-stake now. When we're a +little mite better fixed we'll pull out of this sinful land o' +temptation an' when we come back"--he drew a long breath--"we'll do +the thing up proper." + +Pat dropped his glass with a thump. "We will," he said. "We will +that. An' it's to San Felipe we'll go. Tell me, did you see no wan +there inquirin' afther me good health this last thrip?" + +"I kept away from Sailor Mike's place, not wishin' to deprive you of +your share o' the sport. But I met a big policeman who said: 'Tell +that red-headed Irish bum that it'll be better for his health to +stay away from San Felipe.'" + +"He did, did he? He towld ye that? The big slob! He knows ut will be +better for him. Fwhat did ye tell him?" + +"I said you'd decided to locate here permanent." + +Pat gasped for breath. "Ye towld him that! Ye did! Yer a danged sun- +baked herrin' av a man wid no proper spirit at all. Fwhat the hell +do ye mane to be so slanderin' me reputation an' two or three +hundred miles av disert between me an' him? For a sup av wather I'd +go to ye wid me two hands." + +Texas Joe laughed outright. "Let's have another drink instead," he +said. + +In the silence occasioned by the re-filling of their glasses the two +friends caught the name of Jefferson Worth. Instantly their +attention was attracted to a well-dressed, smart-looking stranger, +who stood at the bar talking loudly to a man known to Rubio City as +a promoter of somewhat doubtful mining schemes. Pat and Texas +listened with amused interest while the two in concert cursed +Jefferson Worth with careful and exhaustive attention to details. + +"Go to it, gentlemen!" put in the bar-keeper, as he returned to his +place from the table in the corner. "We-all sure endorses your +opinions. Have one on the house." He graciously helped them to more +liquor. + +"Brother Worth sure stands high with this here congregation," +drawled Texas Joe to his companion. + +"Hst!" whispered Pat. "They're askin' afther the kid." The casual, +amused interest of the two friends became intense. + +"They sure tried everything to find her folks," the saloon man was +saying, "but there ain't no thin' doin' so far. They say if nobody +shows up with a claim Jefferson Worth is goin' to adopt her an' +bring her up like his own." + +This statement of Jefferson Worth's intentions called forth from the +stranger an exhaustive opinion as to the banker's fitness to have +the child and her probable chances for right training and happiness +in the financier's hands. His remarks being cordially commended by +the promoter and the man in the white apron, the speaker was +encouraged to strengthen his position in reference to the future of +this poor, helpless orphan and to point out freely the duties of +Rubio City in the matter. He was interrupted by a light hand on his +shoulder. Turning with a start that spilled the liquor in his glass, +he looked into the lean face of Texas Joe. Behind the plainsman +stood the heavy form of the Irishman, a look of pleased anticipation +on his battle-scarred features. There was a sudden sympathetic hush +in the room. Every face was turned toward the group. + +"Excuse me, stranger," said Texas, in his softest tones; "but I sure +am moved to testify in this here meetin'." + +The man would have made some angry, blustering reply, but a warning +look from the promoter and a slight cough from the bar-tender +checked him. + +Tex proceeded. "That you-all has rights to your opinion regardin' +Mr. Jefferson Worth's character I ain't denyin', an' there's plenty +in Rubio City that'll agree with you. Mebbe you has reasons for +feelin' grieved. I don't sabe this here business game nohow. Mebbe +you stacked the deck an' he caught you at it. You sure impresses me +that a-way, for I've noticed that it ain't the sport who plays fair +or loses fair that squeals loudest when the cards are agin him. But +when you touches on said Jefferson Worth an' the future of that +little kid, with free remarks on the duties of Rubio City regardin' +the same, you're sure gettin' around where I live. Me an' this gent +here"--he waved his hand toward Pat with elaborate formality, to the +huge delight of his audience--"me an' this here gent is first uncles +to that kid, an' any pop-eyed, lop-eared, greasy-fingered cross +between a coyot' an' a jack-rabbit that comes a-pouncin' out o' the +wilds o' civilization to jump our claim by makin' insinuations that +we ain't competent to see that the aforementioned kid has proper +bringin' up an' that Brother Worth ain't a proper daddy for her, had +best come loaded for trouble. For trouble'll sure camp on his trail +'til he's reformed or been safely planted." + +In the significant pause that followed no one moved. Texas stood +easily, looking into the eyes of the stranger. Pat shot fierce, +watchful glances around the room, from face to face. + +"I trust you get's the force o' my remarks," concluded Texas +suggestively. + +The stranger moved uneasily and looked hurriedly about for signs of +sympathy or assistance. Every face was a blank. Texas waited. + +"I suppose I was hasty," said the stranger, sullenly. "I beg your +pardon, gentlemen." + +"Consider the meetin' dismissed, gentlemen," said Texas, easily. "Me +an' my pardner trusts that the congregation will treasure our +remarks in the future. Now, you bar-tender, everybody drinks on us +to the health and happiness of our respected niece--Miss Barbara +Worth." + +On the street a few minutes later Pat growled his disappointment. +"The divil take a man wid no bowels." + +Ignoring his friend's complaint, Texas returned meditatively; "Do +you think, Pat, that there might be anything in what that there gent +said? In spite o' what we seen of him on that trip, Jefferson Worth +is sure a cold proposition. Give it to me straight. What will he do +for the little one?" + +"An' it's just fwhat we see'd on that thrip that makes me think ut's +a question av fwhat the little girl will do to him," answered Pat, +thereby sustaining the reputation of his race. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +YOU'D BETTER MAKE IT NINETY. + + +Fifteen years of a changing age left few marks on Rubio City. +Luxurious overland trains, filled with tourists, now stopped at the +depot where, under the pepper trees, sadly civilized Indians sold +Kansas City and New Jersey-made curios--stopped and went on again +along the rim of The King's Basin, through San Antonio Pass to the +great cities on the western edge of the continent. But the town on +the banks of the Colorado, in an almost rainless land, had little to +build upon. Still on the street mingled the old-timers from desert, +mountain and plain; from prospecting trip, mine or ranch; the +adventurer, the promoter, the Indian, the Mexican, the frontier +business man and the tourist. + +But there were few of the citizens of Rubio City now who knew the +story of the baby girl whom Jefferson Worth and his party had found +in La Palma de la Mano de Dios. For, though Rubio City was changed +but little since that day when Texas Joe brought the outfit with the +child safely out of the Desert, the people came and went always as +is the manner of their moving kind. The few "old-timers" who +remained had long ceased to tell the story. No one thought of the +young woman, who rode down the street that afternoon, save only as +the daughter of Jefferson Worth. + +As she passed, the people turned to follow her with their eyes--the +"old-timers" with smiles of recognition and picturesque words of +admiring comment; the townspeople with cheerful greetings--a wave of +the hand or a nod when they caught her eye; the strangers from the +East with curious interest and ready kodaks. Here, the visitors told +themselves, was the real West. + +"How interesting!" gasped a tailor-made woman tourist to her escort. +"Look, George, she is wearing a divided skirt and riding a man's +saddle! And look! quick! where's your camera? She has a revolver!" + +That revolver, a dainty but effective pearl-handled weapon, was a +gift to Barbara from her "uncles," Texas and Pat; and though +ornamental was not for ornament. The girl often went alone, as she +was going to-day, for a long ride out on the Mesa, and the country +still harbored many wild and lawless characters. + +But the tailored woman tourist did not need to urge George to look. +There was something about the girl on the quick-stepping, spirited +horse that challenged attention. The khaki-clad figure was so richly +alive--there was such a wealth of vitality; such an abundance of +young woman's strength; such a glow of red blood expressed in every +curved line and revealed in every graceful movement--that the +attraction was irresistible. To look at Barbara Worth was a +pleasure; to be near her was a delight, + +At the Pioneer Bank the girl cheeked her horse and, swinging lightly +to the ground, threw the reins over the animal's head, thus tying +him in western fashion. As she stood now on the sidewalk laughing +and chatting with a group of friends, who had paused in passing to +greet her, her beautiful figure lost none of the compelling charm +that made her, on horseback, so good to look at. Every movement and +gesture expressed perfect health. The firm flesh of her rounded +cheeks and full throat was warmly browned and glowing with the +abundance of red blood in her veins. Though framed in a mass of +waving brown hair under a wide sombrero, her features were not +pretty. The mouth was perhaps a bit too large, though it was a good +mouth, and, as she laughed with her companions, revealed teeth that +were faultless. But something looked out of her brown eyes and made +itself felt in every poise and movement that forced one to forget to +be critical. It was the wholesome, challenging lure of an unmarred +womanhood. + +"Oh, Barbara, how could you--how _could_ you miss last Thursday +afternoon at Miss Colson's? We had a perfectly lovely time!" cried a +vivacious member of the little group. + +"Yes indeed, young lady; explanations are in order," added another. +"Miss Colson didn't like it a bit. She had an exquisite luncheon, +and you know how people depend upon your appreciation of good things +to eat!" + +"Well, you see," answered Barbara, turning to pat her horse's neck +as the animal, edging closer to her side, rubbed his soft muzzle +coaxingly against her shoulder, "Pilot and I were out on the Mesa +and he said he didn't want to come back. Pilot doesn't care at all +for afternoon parties, do you old boy?"--with another pat--"so what +could I do? I didn't like to hurt Miss Colson's feelings, of course, +but I didn't like to hurt Pilot's feelings either; and the day was +so perfect and Pilot was feeling so good and we were having such fun +together! I guess it was a case of 'a bird in the hand,' or +'possession being nine points,' you know; or something like that. +Only for pity's sake, girls, don't tell Miss Colson I said that." + +They all laughed understandingly and the vivacious one said: "I +guess it was possession all right. Could anything on earth induce +you to give up your horse and your desert, Barbara?" + +Inside the bank Jefferson Worth, with his customary careful, exact +manner, was explaining to a small rancher that it was impossible to +extend the loan secured by a mortgage on the farmer's property. +Personally Mr. Worth would be glad to accommodate him. But the loan +had already been extended three times and there were good reasons +why the bank must call it in. The farmer must remember that a bank's +duty to its stockholders and depositors was sacred. It was not a +question of the farmer's honesty; it was altogether a question of +Good Business. + +The farmer was agitated and presented his case desperately. Mr. +Worth knew the situation--the unforeseen circumstances that made it +impossible for him to pay then. Only two months more were needed-- +until his new crop matured. He could not blame Mr. Worth, of course. +He understood that it was business, but still--The farmer searched +that cold, mask-like face for a ray of hope as a man might hold out +his hands for pity to a machine. He was made to feel somehow that +the banker was not a man with human blood, but a mechanical +something, governed and run by a mighty irresistible power with +which it had nothing to do save to obey as a locomotive obeys its +steam. + +Jefferson Worth began explaining again in exact, precise tones that +the loan, wholly for business reasons, was impossible, when Barbara +entered the bank. As the girl greeted the teller in front, her +voice, full and rich, with the same unconscious power that looked +out of her eyes and spoke in every movement of her body, came +through the bronze grating at the window and carried down the room. +Jefferson Worth paused. With the farmer he faced the open door of +his apartment. Every man in the place looked up. The desk-weary +clerks smilingly answered her greeting and turned back to their +books with renewed energy. The cashier straightened up from his +papers and--leaning back in his chair--exchanged a jest with her as +she passed. + +"Oh, excuse me, father, I thought you were alone. How do you do, Mr. +Wheeler? And how is Mrs. Wheeler and that dear little baby?" + +The man's face lighted, his form straightened, his voice rang out +heartily. "Fine, Miss Barbara, fine, thank you. All we need in the +world now is for your father to give me time enough on that blamed +note to make a crop." + +Barbara Worth was just tall enough to look straight into her +father's eyes. As she looked at him now the banker felt a little as +he had felt that night in the Desert, when the baby, whose dead +mother lay beside the dry water hole, shrank back from him in fear. + +"Oh, I'm sure father will be glad to do that," the girl said +eagerly. "Won't you father? You know how hard Mr. Wheeler works and +what trouble he has had. And I want some money, too," she added; +"that's what I came in for." + +The farmer laughed loudly. Jefferson Worth smiled. + +"But I don't want it for myself," Barbara went on quickly, smiling +at them both. "I want it for that poor Mexican family down by the +wagon yard--the Garcias. Pablo's leg was broken in the mines, you +know, and there is no one to look after his mother and the children. +Someone must care for them." + +They were interrupted by a clerk who handed a paper to the banker. +"This is ready for your signature, sir." + +Jefferson Worth's face was again a cold, gray mask. Methodically he +affixed his name to the document. Then to the clerk: "You may give +Miss Worth whatever money she wants." + +The employe smiled as he answered: "Yes, sir," and withdrew. + +Barbara turned to follow. "Good-by, Mr. Wheeler. Tell Mrs. Wheeler +I'm going to ride out to see her soon. I haven't forgotten that good +buttermilk you see." + +"Good-by, Miss Barbara, good-by! I'll tell the wife. We're always +glad to see you." + +The farmer could not have said that Jefferson Worth's face changed +or that his voice altered a shade in tone as they turned again to +the business in hand. "I guess we can fix you out this time, +Wheeler. Sixty days, you say? You'd better make it ninety so you +will not be crowded in marketing your crop." + +Quickly the black horse carrying Barbara passed through the streets +to the outskirts of the city, where the adobe houses of the earlier +days, with tents and shacks of every description, were scattered in +careless disorder to the very edge of the barren Mesa. Beyond the +wagon yard Barbara turned Pilot toward a whitewashed house that +stood by itself on the extreme outskirts. Her approach was announced +by the loud barking of a lean dog and the joyful shouts of three +half-naked Mexican children; and as the horse stopped a woman +appeared in the low doorway. + +"Buenas dias, Senorita," she called; then, still in her native +tongue: "Manuel, take the lady's horse. You Juanita, drive that dog +away. This is not the manner to receive a lady. Come in, come in, +Senorita. May God bless you for a good friend to the poor. Come in." + +Everything about the place, although showing unmistakable signs of +poverty, was clean and orderly, while the manner of the woman, +though quietly respectful and warmly grateful, showed a dignified +self-respect. In one corner of the room, on a rude bed, lay a young +man. + +The girl returned the woman's greeting kindly in Spanish and, going +to the bedside, spoke, still in the soft, musical tongue of the +South, to the man. "How are you to-day, Pablo? Is the leg getting +better all right?" + +"Si, Senorita, thank you," he replied, his dark face beaming with +gladness and gratitude and his eyes looking up at her with an +expression of dumb devotion. "Yes, I think it gets better right +along. But it is slow and it is hard to lie here doing nothing for +the mother and the children. God knows what would become of us if it +were not for your goodness. La Senorita is an angel of mercy. We can +never repay." + +The people were of the better class of industrious poor Mexicans. +The father was dead, and Pablo, the eldest son, who was the little +family's sole support, had been hurt in the mine some two weeks +before. Barbara visited them every few days, caring for their wants +as indeed she helped many of Rubio City's worthy poor. For this work +Jefferson Worth gave her without question all the money that she +asked and often expressed his interest in his own cold way, even +telling her of certain cases that came to his notice from time to +time. So the banker's daughter was hailed as an angel of mercy and +greatly loved by the same class that feared and cursed her father. + +For a little while the girl talked to Pablo and his mother +cheerfully and encouragingly, with understanding asking after their +needs. Then, placing a gold piece in the woman's hand and promising +to come again, she bade them--"Adios." + +For a short distance Barbara now followed the old San Felipe trail +along which, as a baby, she had been brought by her friends to +Jefferson Worth's home. But where the old road crosses the railroad +tracks, and leads northwest into The King's Basin, the girl turned +to the right toward the end of that range of low hills that rims the +Desert. + +As her horse traveled up the long gradual slope in the easy swinging +lope of western saddle stock, the view grew wider and wider. The sun +poured its flood of white light down upon the broad Mesa, and away +in the distance the ever-widening King's Basin lay, a magic, +constantly changing ocean of soft colors. Nearer ahead were the +hills, brown and tawny, with blue shadows in the canyons shading to +rose and lilac and purple as they stretched their long lengths away +toward the lofty, snow-capped sentinels of the Pass. Free from the +city with its many odors, the dry air was invigorating like wine and +came to her rich with the smell of the sun-burned, wind-swept +plains. The girl breathed deeply. Her cheeks glowed--her eyes shone. +Even her horse, seeming to catch her spirit, arched his neck and, in +sheer joy of living, pretended to be frightened now and then at +something that was really nothing at all. + +At the foot of the first low, rounded hill Barbara faced Pilot to +the northwest and bade him stand still. Motionless now the girl sat +in her saddle, looking away over La Palma de la Mano de Dios. It was +to this point that Barbara so often came, and as she looked now over +the miles and miles of that silent, dreadful land her face grew sad +and wistful and in her eyes there was an expression that the Seer +sometimes said made him think of the desert. + +Gentle Mrs. Worth had lived just long enough to leave an indelible +impression of her simple genuineness upon the life of the child, who +had come to take in her heart the place left vacant by the death of +her own baby girl. Since the loss of her second mother the girl had +lived with no woman companion save the Indian woman Ynez, and it was +the Seer rather than Jefferson Worth to whom she turned in fullest +confidence and trust. The childish instinct that had led the baby to +the big engineer's arms that night on the Desert had never wavered +through the years when she was growing into womanhood, and the Seer, +whose work after the completion of the S. and C. called him to many +parts of the West, managed every few months a visit to the girl he +loved as his own. To Mr. Worth who, as far as it was possible for +him to be, was in all things a father to her, Barbara gave in return +a daughter's love, but she had never been able to enter into the +life of the banker as she entered into the life of the engineer. So +it was the Seer who became, after Mrs. Worth, the dominant influence +in forming the character of the motherless girl. His dreams of +Reclamation, his plans and efforts to lead the world to recognize +the value of that great work, with his failures and disappointments, +she shared at an early age with peculiar sympathy, for she had not +been kept in ignorance of the tragic part the desert had played in +her own life. Particularly did The King's Basin Desert interest her. +She felt that, in a way, it belonged to her; that she belonged to +it. It was _her_ Desert. Its desolation she shared; its waiting she +understood; something of its mystery colored her life; something +within her answered to its call. It was her Desert; she feared it; +hated it; loved it. + +Often as Barbara sat looking over that great basin her heart cried +out to know the secret it held. Who was she? Who were her people? +What was the name to which she had been born? What was the life from +which the desert had taken her? But no answer to her cry had ever +come from the awful "Hollow of God's Hand." + +Before Barbara had left her home that afternoon a man, walking with +long, easy stride, followed the San Felipe trail out from the city +on to the Mesa. He was a tall man and of so angular and lean a +figure that his body seemed made up mostly of bone somewhat loosely +fastened together with sinews almost as hard as the frame-work. His +face, thin and rugged, was burned to the color of saddle leather. He +was dressed in corduroy trousers, belted and tucked in high-laced +boots, a soft gray shirt and slouch hat, and over his square +shoulders was the strap of a small canteen. His long legs carried +him over the ground at an astonishing rate, so that before Barbara +had left the Mexicans the pedestrian had gained the foot of the low +hill at the mouth of the canyon. + +With remarkable ease the man ascended the rough, steep side of the +hill, where, selecting a convenient rock, he seated himself and gave +his attention to the wonderful scene that, from his feet, stretched +away miles and miles to the purple mountain wall on the west. So +still was he and so intent in his study of the landscape, that a +horned-toad, which had dodged under the edge of the rock at his +approach, crept forth again, venturing quite to the edge of his boot +heel; and a lizard, scaling the rock at his back, almost touched his +shoulder. + +When Barbara had left the San Felipe trail and was riding toward the +hills, the man's eyes were attracted by the moving spot on the Mesa +and he stirred to take from the pocket of his coat a field glass, +while at his movement the horned-toad and the lizard scurried to +cover. Adjusting his glass he easily made out the figure of the girl +on horseback, who was coming in his direction. He turned again to +his study of the landscape, but later, when the horse and rider had +drawn nearer, lifted his glass for another look. This time he did +not turn away. + +Rapidly, as Barbara drew nearer and nearer, the details of her dress +and equipment became more distinct until the man with the glass +could even make out the fringe on her gauntlets, the contour of her +face and the color of her hair. When she stopped and turned to look +over the desert below he forgot the scene that had so interested him +and continued to gaze at her, until, as the girl turned her face in +his direction and apparently looked straight at him, he dropped the +glass in embarrassed confusion, forgetting for the instant that at +that distance, with his gray and yellow clothing so matching the +ground and rock, he would not be noticed. With a low chuckle at his +absurd situation he recovered himself and again lifting the glass +turned it upon Barbara, who was now riding swiftly toward the mouth +of a little canyon that opened behind the hill where he sat. + +Suddenly with an exclamation the young man sprang to his feet. The +running horse had stumbled and fallen. After a few struggling +efforts to rise the animal lay still. The girl did not move. With +long, leaping strides the man plunged down the rough, steep side of +the hill. + +When Barbara slowly opened her eyes she was lying in the shadow of +the canyon wall some distance from the spot where her horse had +stumbled. Still dazed with the shock of her fall she looked slowly +around, striving to collect her scattered senses. She knew the place +but could not remember how she came there. And where was her horse-- +Pilot? And how came that canteen on the ground by her side? At this +she sat up and looked around just in time to see a tall, gaunt, +roughly-dressed figure coming toward her from the direction of the +canyon mouth. + +Instantly the girl reached for her gun. The holster was empty. + +The man, quite close now, seeing the suggestive gesture, halted; +then, coming nearer, silently held out her own pearl-handled +revolver. + +Still confused and acting upon the impulse of the moment before, +Barbara caught the weapon from the out-stretched hand and in a flash +covered the silent stranger. + +Very deliberately the fellow drew back a few paces and stretched +both hands high above his head. + +"Who are you?" asked the girl sharply. + +"A white man," he answered whimsically, adding as if it were an +afterthought, "and a gentleman." + +"But why---What---How did I get here? Where did you come from?" + +"I was up on the hill back there. I saw your horse fall and went to +you the quickest way. You were unconscious and I carried you here +out of the sun." + +"I remember now," said Barbara. "We were running and Pilot fell. He +must have stepped into a hole." She put up her free hand to her +forehead and found it wet. Her eyes fell on the canteen and the +color came back into her face with a rush. "But you haven't told me +who you are," she said sternly to the man who still stood with hands +uplifted. + +"I'm a surveyor going south with a party on some preliminary work. +We arrived in Rubio City this morning expecting to find the Chief, +who wrote me from New York to meet him here with an outfit. He has +not arrived and there was nothing to do so I walked out on the Mesa +to have another look at this King's Basin country." + +Barbara knew that the Seer had been called to New York by some +capitalists who had become interested in the financial possibilities +of the reclamation work. At the stranger's explanation of his +presence she regarded him with excited interest. "Do you mean--Is it +the Seer whom you expected to meet? Are you--with him?" + +The young man smiled gravely. "I was sure that it was you," he +answered. "You are the little girl whom we found in the desert." + +"And you"--burst forth Barbara, eagerly--"you must be Abe Lee!" + +The surveyor answered whimsically: "Don't you think I might take my +hands down now? I'm unarmed you know and you could still shoot me if +you thought I needed it." + +In her excitement Barbara had forgotten that she still held her +weapon pointed straight at him. She dropped the gun with a confused +laugh. "I beg your pardon, A--Mr. Lee. I did not realize that I was +holding up my"--she hesitated, then finished gravely--"my only +brother." + +A quick glad light flashed into the sharp blue eyes of the surveyor. +"You have not forgotten me then?" + +"Forgotten! When father and the Seer and Texas and Pat and you are +all the--the family I have in the world." Her lips quivered, but she +went on bravely: "The Seer has told me so many things about you and +I have thought about you so much. But I did not realize, though, +that you were a big, grown-up man. The Seer always speaks of you as +a boy and so I have always called you my brother Abe as I call Texas +and Pat my uncles. But I think you might have come to see me +sometimes. Why didn't you come straight to me this morning instead +of tramping 'way out here alone?" + +Abe Lee was silent. How could he explain the place in his life that +was filled by the little girl whom he had known for the two years +that the building of the railroad had kept him with the Seer in +Rubio City? How could she understand the poverty and grinding +hardship of his boyhood struggle when the only time he could snatch +from his work he must spend on his books, while she was growing up +in the banker's home? He was more alone in the world than Barbara. +Save for the Seer he had no one. Texas and Pat he had met at +intervals when they came together on some construction work, and +always they had talked about her; while the engineer had often told +him of Barbara's interest in her "brother"; and sometimes the Seer +even shared with him her letters. But all this had only served to +emphasize the distance that lay between them. It was not a distance +of miles but of position--of circumstances. The nameless little waif +of the desert had become the daughter of Jefferson Worth. The child +of the mining camp was--Abe Lee. So when, at last, his work had +brought him to Rubio City again he shrank from meeting her and had +gone out on to the Mesa to look away over La Palma de la Mano de +Dios--to be alone. + +Barbara, seeing his embarrassment at her question, guessed a part of +the reason and gently sought to relieve the situation. "I think we +had better find my horse and start for home now," she said. + +The thin, sun-tanned face of the surveyor was filled with sympathy +as he replied: "I'm sorry, but your pony is down and out." + +"Down and out! Pilot? Oh! you don't mean--You don't---" + +Abe explained simply. "His leg was broken and he couldn't get up. +There was nothing that could possibly be done for him. He was +suffering so that I----It was for that I borrowed your gun." + +For a long time she sat very still, and the man, understanding that +she wished to be alone, quietly went a little way up the canyon +around the jutting edge of the rocky wall. Deliberately he seated +himself on a boulder and taking from the pocket of his flannel shirt +tobacco and papers, rolled a cigarette. A deep inhalation and the +gray cloud rose slowly from his lips and nostrils. Stooping he +carefully gathered a handful of sharp pebbles and--one by one-- +flipped them idly toward the opposite side of the canyon. Another +generous puff of smoke and a second handful of pebbles followed the +first. Then rising he dropped the cigarette and went back to her. + +"I think we should be going now"--he hesitated--"sister." + +She looked up with a smile of understanding. "Thank you--Abe. Can we +go back over the hill there, do you think? I--I don't want to see +him again." + +Together they climbed the low hill at the mouth of the canyon from +which he had seen the accident, the girl resolutely keeping her eyes +fixed ahead so as not to see the dead horse on the plain below. When +the top of the hill was between them and the canyon she made him +stop and together they stood looking down and far away over the wide +reaches of The King's Basin. + +"Isn't it grand? Isn't it awful?" she said in a low, reverent tone. +"It fairly hurts. It seems to be calling--calling; waiting--waiting +for some one. Sometimes I think it must be for me. I fear it--hate +it--love it so." Her voice vibrated with strong passion and the +surveyor, looking up, saw her wide-eyed, intense expression and felt +as did the Seer that somehow she was like the desert. + +"Do you come out here often?" he asked curiously. + +"Yes, often," she answered. "I could not get along without my Desert +and this is the finest place to see it. The Seer always comes out +here with me when he can. Do you think that land will ever be +reclaimed?" She faced him with the question. + +"Why, no one can say about that, you know," he answered slowly. +"There has never been a survey." + +"Well," she declared emphatically, "I know. It will be. Listen! +Don't you hear it calling? I think it's for that it has been waiting +all these ages." + +The surveyor smiled as one would humor a child. "Perhaps you are +right," he said. + +"Now you are laughing at me," she returned quickly. "They all do; +father and the Seer and Texas and Pat. But you shall see! I believe, +though, that the Seer thinks that I am right, only he always says as +you do that there has never been a survey; and sometimes I think +that even father--away down in his heart--believes it too." + +All the long walk to Barbara's home they talked of the Desert and +the Seer's dreams of Reclamation; and Abe told her how at last those +"stupid capitalists," as Barbara called them, had opened their eyes. +The great James Greenfield himself had read an article of the Seer's +on "Reclamation from the Investor's Point of View" and had written +him. As a result of their correspondence the engineer had gone to +New York; and now a company organized by Greenfield was sending him +south to look over a big territory and to report on the +possibilities of its development. + +When they arrived at Barbara's home they found the Seer himself. The +fifteen years had made no perceptible change in the general +appearance of the engineer. His form was still strongly erect and +vigorous, but his hair was a little gray, and to a close observer, +his face in repose revealed a touch of sadness--that indescribable +look of one who is beginning to feel less sure of himself, or rather +who, from many disappointments, is beginning to question whether he +will live to see his most cherished plans carried to completion--not +because he has less faith in his visions, but because he has less +hope that he will be able to make them clear to others. + +When the evening meal was over the surveyor said good-by, for the +expedition was to start in the morning and he had some work to do. +When he was gone Barbara joined her father and the engineer on the +porch. "Here they are," she said. "Haven't I kept them nicely for +you?" She was holding toward the Seer a box of cigars. + +"Indeed you have," returned the engineer in a pleased tone, helping +himself to a cool, moist Havana. "You are a dear, good girl." + +Jefferson Worth did not use tobacco, but it was an unwritten law of +the household that the Seer, when he came, should always have his +evening smoke on the porch and that Barbara should be the keeper of +supplies. She liked to see her friend's strong face brought suddenly +out of the dusk by the flare of the match and to watch the glow of +the cigar end in the dark while they talked. + +"And what do you think of your brother Abe, Barbara?" the big +engineer asked when his cigar was going nicely. "Didn't he talk you +nearly to death?" + +The girl laughed. "I guess he didn't have a chance. I always do most +of the talking, you know." + +The Seer chuckled. "Abe told me once that most of the time he felt +like an oyster and the rest of the time he was so mad at himself for +being an oyster that he couldn't find words to do the subject +justice." + +"I think he is splendid!" retorted Barbara, enthusiastically. + +"He is," returned the engineer earnestly. "I don't know of a man in +the profession whom I would rely upon so wholly in work of a certain +kind. You see Abe was born and raised in the wild, uncivilized parts +of the country and he has a natural ability for his work that +amounts almost to genius. With a knowledge of nature gained through +his remarkable powers of observation and deduction, I doubt if Abe +Lee to-day has an equal as what might be called a 'surveyor scout.' +I believe he is made of iron. Hunger, cold, thirst, heat, wet, seem +to make no impression on him. He can out-walk, out-work, outlast and +out-guess any man I ever met. He has the instinct of a wild animal +for finding his way and the coldest nerve I ever saw. His honesty +and loyalty amount almost to fanaticism. But he is diffident and shy +as a school girl and as sensitive as a bashful boy. I verily believe +he knows more to-day about the great engineering projects in the +West than nine-tenths of the school men but I've seen him sit for an +hour absolutely dumb, half scared to death, listening to the cheap +twaddle of some smart 'yellow-legs' with the ink not dry yet on +their diplomas. Put him in the field in charge of a party of that +same bunch, though, and he would be boss to the last stake on the +line or the last bite of grub in the outfit if he had to kill half +of them to do it. I guess you'll think I'm a bit enthusiastic about +my right hand man," he finished, with a short, apologetic laugh, +"and I am. It's because I know him." + +He struck another match and Barbara saw his face for an instant. As +the match went out she drew a long breath. "I'm glad you said that," +she said softly. "I wanted you to. I'm sure he has earned it." + +Then they talked of the Seer's new expedition that would start south +at daybreak, and it seemed to Barbara that the very air was electric +with the coming of a mighty age when the race would direct its +strength to the turning of millions of acres of desolate, barren +waste into productive farms and beautiful homes for the people. + +At daybreak the girl was up to tell the Seer good-by. "I wish," she +said wistfully, as she stood with him a moment at the gate, "I wish +it was _my_ Desert that you and Abe were going to survey." + +The engineer smilingly answered: "Some day, perhaps, that, too, will +come." + +"I know it will," she said simply. + +And as she stood before him in all the beautiful strength of her +young womanhood, the Seer felt that sweet, mysterious power of her +personality--felt it with a father's loving pride. "I believe you do +know, Barbara," he said; "I believe you do." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +WHAT THE INDIAN TOLD THE SEER. + + +In the making of Barbara's Desert the canyon-carving, delta-building +river did not count the centuries of its labor; the rock-hewing, +beach-forming waves did not number the ages of their toil; the +burning, constant sun and the drying, drifting winds were not +careful for the years. Therefore is the time of the real beginning +of what happened in this, the land of my story, unknown. + +Somewhere in the eternity that lies back of all the yesterdays, the +great river found the salt waves of the ocean fathoms deep in what +is now The King's Basin and extending a hundred and seventy miles +north of the shore that takes their wash to-day. Slowly, through the +centuries of that age of all beginnings, the river, cutting canyons +and valleys in the north and carrying southward its load of silt, +built from the east across the gulf to Lone Mountain a mighty delta +dam. + +South of this new land the ocean still received the river; to the +north the gulf became an inland sea. The upper edge of this new-born +sea beat helpless against a line of low, barren hills beyond which +lay many miles of a rainless land. Eastward lay yet more miles of +desolate waste. And between this sea and the parent ocean on the +west, extending southward past the delta dam, the mountains of the +Coast Range shut out every moisture-laden cloud and turned back +every life-bearing stream. Thus trapped and helpless, the bright +waters, with all their life, fell under the constant, fierce, +beating rays of the semi-tropical sun and shrank from the wearing +sweep of the dry, tireless winds. Uncounted still, the centuries of +that age also passed and the bottom of that sea lay bare, dry and +lifeless under the burning sky, still beaten by the pitiless sun, +still swept by the scorching winds. The place that had held the glad +waters with their teeming life came to be an empty basin of blinding +sand, of quivering heat, of dreadful death. Unheeding the ruin it +had wrought, the river swept on its way. + +And so--hemmed in by mountain wall, barren hills and rainless +plains; forgotten by the ocean; deserted by the river, that thirsty +land lay, the loneliest, most desolate bit of this great Western +Continent. + +But the river could not work this ruin without contributing to the +desert the rich strength it had gathered from its tributary lands. +Mingled with the sand of the ancient sea-bed was the silt from +faraway mountain and hill and plain. That basin of Death was more +than a dusty tomb of a life that had been; it was a sepulchre that +held the vast treasure of a life that would be--would be when the +ages should have made also the master men, who would dare say to the +river: "Make restitution!"--men who could, with power, command the +rich life within the tomb to come forth. + +But master men are not the product of years--scarcely, indeed, of +centuries. The people of my story have also their true beginnings in +ages too remote to be reckoned. The master passions, the governing +instincts, the leading desires and the driving fears that hew and +carve and form and fashion the race are as reckless of the years as +are wave and river and sun and wind. Therefore the forgotten land +held its wealth until Time should make the giants that could take +it. + +In the centuries of those forgotten ages that went into the making +of The King's Basin Desert, the families of men grew slowly into +tribes, the tribes grew slowly into nations and the nations grew +slowly into worlds. New worlds became old; and other new worlds were +discovered, explored, developed and made old; war and famine and +pestilence and prosperity hewed and formed, carved and built and +fashioned, even as wave and river and sun and wind. The kingdoms of +earth, air and water yielded up their wealth as men grew strong to +take it; the elements bowed their necks to his yoke, to fetch and +carry for him as he grew wise to order; the wilderness fled, the +mountains lay bare their hearts, the waste places paid tribute as he +grew brave to command. + +Across the wide continent the tracks of its wild life were trodden +out by the broad cattle trails, the paths of the herds were marked +by the wheels of immigrant wagons and the roads of the slow-moving +teams became swift highways of steel. In the East the great cities +that received the hordes from every land were growing ever greater. +On the far west coast the crowded multitude was building even as it +was building in the East. In the Southwest savage race succeeded +savage race, until at last the slow-footed padres overtook the +swift-footed Indian and the rude civilization made possible by the +priests in turn ran down the priest. + +About the land of my story, forgotten under the dry sky, this ever- +restless, ever-swelling tide of life swirled and eddied-swirled and +eddied, but touched it not. On the west it swept even to the foot of +the grim mountain wall. On the east one far-flung ripple reached +even to the river--when Rubio City was born. But the Desert waited, +silent and hot and fierce in its desolation, holding its treasures +under the seal of death against the coming of the strong ones; +waited until the man-making forces that wrought through those long +ages should have done also their work; waited for this age--for your +age and mine--for the age of the Seer and his companions--for the +days of my story, the days of Barbara and her friends. + +The Seer's expedition, returning from the south, made camp on the +bank of the Rio Colorado twenty miles below Rubio City. It was the +last night out. Supper was over and the men, with their pipes and +cigarettes, settled themselves in various careless attitudes of +repose after the long day. Their sun-burned faces, toughened figures +and worn, desert-stained clothing testified to their weeks of toil +in the open air under the dry sky of an almost rainless land. Some +were old-timers--veterans of many a similar campaign. Two were new +recruits on their first trip. All were strong, clean-cut, vigorous +specimens of intelligent, healthy manhood, for in all the +professions, not excepting the army and navy, there can be found no +finer body of men than our civil engineers. + +Easily they fell to talking of to-morrow night in Rubio City, of +baths and barbers and good beds and clean clothes and dinners and +the pleasures of civilization and prospective future jobs. Much +good-natured chaff was passed with hearty give and take. Jokes that +had become time-worn in the many days and nights that the party had +been cut off from all other society were revived with fresh +interest. Incidents and accidents of the trip were related and +reviewed with zest, with here and there a comment on the work itself +that was still fresh in their minds. + +Abe Lee, sitting with his back against a wagon-wheel and his long +legs stretched straight out in front, listened, enjoying it all in +his own way, taking his share of the chaff with a slow smile, +exhaling great clouds of cigarette smoke and only at rare intervals +contributing a word or a short sentence to the talk. Abe was at home +with these men out there in the desert night. Under the Chief he was +their master--respected, admired and loved. But the old-timers knew +that to-morrow, in town with these same men, dressed in conventional +garb, on the street or in the hotel, the surveyor would be as +bashful and awkward as a country boy. So they joked him about his +numerous sweethearts in Rubio City and related many entirely +fictitious love adventures and romantic experiences that he was said +to have passed through in different parts of the country during the +years they had known him. Not one of them but would have been +astonished beyond words had he known of Abe's adventure the +afternoon before they left Rubio City, and how, through every day of +the hard, grilling labor with the expedition, the image of the girl +he had watched through his field glass was before him. + +When the fire of the wits was turned on another mark Abe slowly +arose to his feet and slipped out of the circle. Going quietly to +the cook-wagon where the Chinaman sat smoking in solitary grandeur, +he asked: "Wing, where is the Chief? I saw him talking to you a +little while ago." + +"Me no sabe, Boss Abe. Chief, him go off that way." He pointed +toward the river with his long bamboo pipe. "Wing sabe Chief feel +velly bad, Boss Abe; damn." + +The white man regarded the Chinaman silently for a moment, then: +"You're a good boy, Wing. Good night." + +"Night, Boss Abe," came the plaintive answer, and the surveyor went +on to where a group of Cocopah Indian laborers made their rude camp. +These he greeted in Spanish and asked: "Has the Chief been with you +since supper?" + +"No, Senor. He by river there little time past," said one, pointing +to a clump of cottonwood trees that rose above a fringe of willows. + +"Buenos noches, hombres," said Abe. + +"Buenos noches, Senor," came the chorus of soft voices in the dusk. + +On the high bank under the cottonwoods the Seer sat with bowed head. +He did not heed the broad yellow tide of silt-laden water that swept +by him so silently; he did not see the myriad stars in the velvet +sky, nor notice the golden moon climbing slowly up from the dark +level of the land. The jovial voices and merry laughter of his men +came to him from the camp, but he did not hear. To-morrow the +expedition would be over, the party disbanded. He would make his +report to the capitalists who had sent him forth. His report!--the +Seer groaned. Few words would be needed to sum up the work of the +last two months but it would not be easy to frame them. His ear +caught the snap of a twig and a whiff of cigarette smoke floated to +him. He turned his head quickly. "That you, Abe?" + +The long figure of the surveyor settled on the bank by his side. For +a little neither spoke, while the Seer, with slow care, filled and +lighted his pipe. + +"Well, lad," he said at last, "we have about reached the end of +another failure." + +"Will you go to New York, sir?" + +"No, it will not be necessary. I can write in fifty words all there +is to say." + +"Perhaps they will send you out again," offered the surveyor. + +"Their interest is not strong enough. They only tackled this because +some other fellows were considering the proposition. That made them +think there might be something in it. If I had the capital to make +surveys and could go to them with data for some other project they +might consider it, but--" + +Abe rolled another cigarette and with the first cloud of smoke came +the slow words: "Well, then, let's get the data." + +Even at what seemed a hopeless suggestion the discouraged heart of +the old engineer beat more quickly. He turned his face toward the +younger man. "Where?" + +Abe stretched forth a long arm toward the broad Colorado at their +feet and toward the desert beyond. "The King's Basin. You've often +told me about that country. If I sabe the lay of the land we're +somewhere at the southern end of it, at the beginning of the high +ground of the delta that shuts out the ocean. There's water enough +here for five times that territory." + +"Do you mean--" the Seer began quickly and stopped. + +"I mean this: you already know the north and northeastern part of +the Basin from the railroad. You have been through it from the west +on the San Felipe trail. Send the outfit in to-morrow with the boys. +Give them orders on the bank for their pay and let them go. You and +I can scout around the delta end of that country over there for a +week or two and if it looks good, with what you have already seen, +you have enough to talk on. Then go on to New York and when you +report on the southern project turn loose on 'em with this." + +"Abe," said the engineer thoughtfully, "if anyone but you were to +propose that I go before these capitalists to interest them in a +project without ever having put an instrument on it I would knock +him down. Such recklessness would ruin any civil engineer in the +world, if--" + +"If he guessed wrong," finished Abe dryly. + +"If he guessed wrong," admitted the Seer reluctantly. + +"If it looked good enough for you to risk an opinion you would have +some strong talking points," ventured Abe. "There must be five +hundred thousand acres in that old sea-bed. The Colorado carries +water enough for five times that area. There's the railroad already +built along one side; there's San Felipe and the whole Coast country +within easy reach. It beats the other proposition a hundred to one, +if it can be done at all." + +The Seer rose and paced up and down in the bright moonlight. +Presently he said: "If you accept the position with Hunt up north +you should go on at once. That job would be the best thing you ever +had. Don't you want to take it?" + +"You know what I want, if you can use me." + +"I could manage your present salary for this trip but beyond that +you know how uncertain it all is. Hunt can't wait any longer." + +"Look here," said Abe, angrily, "I understood when I made my +proposition that our salaries would stop when we cut the outfit. Do +you think I meant for you to take all the risk? I'm only a surveyor +and you an educated engineer but this thing means as much to me as +it does to you. Let me share the expense and I'm with you but not on +any other terms. Hunt and his job can go hang. I don't see why you +should assume that it's only my pay that I work for." It was a long +speech for Abe. + +The engineer put his big hand on the young man's shoulder. "Thank +you, Abe," he said. "That does me good. I've always known that it +was there. But it's a hard road, lad, a mighty hard road!" Then: "I +wonder if we have an Indian in the outfit who knows this country." + +"Yes, sir," Abe answered promptly. "Jose knows it well. I've been +pumping him for a month. I'll get him." + +As the tall figure of the surveyor disappeared in the direction of +the Oocopah camp the Seer smiled to himself. "Been pumping him for a +month," he repeated. "That means that he saw almost before I did +that the other proposition was no good. Humph!" + +He faced toward the river and looked away into the night where The +King's Basin lay--a weird dream-country under the light of the moon. +And because it was impossible to think of Barbara's Desert without +thinking of Barbara he smiled again, musing that there would be +little sleep that night for the girl in Rubio City if she knew what +he and Abe were considering. From across the river came the shrill, +snarling, yelping coyote chorus and the engineer saw again the body +of a dead woman at the dry water hole, an empty canteen, and a big- +eyed, brown-haired baby stretching out her arms to him. + +While the Seer was too careful an engineer to take quickly the +suggestion of Abe, he had seen too many tests of the desert-bred +surveyor's genius not to consider his proposition seriously. He was +also too much of a dreamer not to be influenced by thoughts of +Barbara and her association in his mind with this particular +project. Could it be that the land which had so tragically given the +child into his life was now to realize his dreams of Reclamation. + +He was interrupted by the return of Abe, who was followed by an old, +grizzly-haired Cocopah. + +"Tell the Chief what you have told me, Jose," said the surveyor and, +stepping aside, he rolled the inevitable cigarette with an air of +taking himself wholly out of the matter under consideration. + +"You sabe that country over there, Jose?" asked the Chief. + +"Si, Senor," came the soft answer, and reaching out, the Indian +gently turned the engineer so that the latter stood with his back +squarely to the river. Taking the Seer's right hand and holding it +outstretched with open palm upward in one of his own and tracing +with the other dark-skinned finger, as one might trace on a relief +map, he continued in Spanish, as he drew his finger carefully along +the white man's thumb from the wrist: "Here are the mountains that +shut out the country by the Big Sea where is San Felipe. I go there +once, long time ago. My people live there." He indicated the space +between the first and second joints of the thumb. Next he touched +the base of the Seer's little finger. "Here is Rubio City." Then +tracing the outer rim of the palm toward the wrist: "Here are the +hills, and the railroad that the Senor made." His finger paused in +the depression between the base of the thumb and the outer edge of +the palm at the wrist. "The Senor's railroad goes through the Pass +in the high mountains here." Next, from the outer edge of the hand +he traced across the palm at the base of the fingers. "The river +goes this way to the big water that comes in from the sea here." He +indicated the open space between the extended thumb and the inner +edge of the palm. + +"We stand now here." He touched the base of the Seer's index finger. +"It is The Hollow of God's Hand, Senor--La Palma de la Mano de +Dios," he repeated reverently. He dropped the engineer's hand and +stood quietly waiting to be questioned. + +Again the Seer put forth his hand and pointing with his own finger +to the inner edge of the palm between the base of the index finger +and the thumb, he asked: "The land is high here?" + +"Si, Senor, a little. Just like the hand. It is much low here." He +touched the deepest part of the palm. "And a little high here where +we stand. Sometimes when much water comes the river goes all over +here." He indicated the extreme inner edge of the palm. "Most always +this water go all this way"--toward the open space between the thumb +and palm. "Sometimes a little goes here." He traced the lines that +cross the palm towards the wrist. + +"You can show us this country?" + +"Si, Senor." "How long will it take?" + +"What you like. From here to Lone Mountain straight--maybe one day +go, maybe two day go." + +"There is water?" + +[Illustration: MAP OF LA PALMA DE LA MANO DE DIOS (THE HOLLOW Of +GOD'S HAND) DRAWN BY ALLEN KELLY TECOLOTE RANCHO 1911] + +"Si. Much water left from the river last time big water come." + +The Chief looked at the silent Abe, then back to the old Indian. +"All right, Jose; we go in the morning--you, Senor Lee and I. Be +ready." + +"Si, Senor. Buenos noches, Senores." + +"Good night! Good night!" returned the two white men. + +There was much conjecturing among the surprised surveyors next +morning, when the Chief gave to each man his pay check and placed an +old-timer in charge with instructions as to the disposition of the +outfit when they should arrive in Rubio City. + +Two loaded pack-mules and three saddle ponies were ready when the +Seer had finished his business with the men. Good-bys were spoken +all around and the Seer and Abe, with Jose in the lead, turned back +toward the south. + +"Looks like they had forgotten something," said one of the recruits +as the group stood watching the little party jog steadily into the +distance, apparently retracing the tracks the expedition had made +the day before. + +"Sonny," remarked the veteran left in charge, "what one of that pair +forgets the other is dead sure to remember. All the signs say that +they're makin' big medicine. All we have to do with it is to push +for Rubio City pronto and cash our pay checks. Lord! but wouldn't I +like to be in it," he added regretfully as he turned away. + +With provisions for three weeks on the pack-animals and the +assurance of Jose that there was feed and water in the overflow +lands for the horses, the Seer and Abe proposed to cover most of the +territory lying between the Rio Colorado and Lone Mountain. It was +here that the great river, in the ages long past, had built the +delta dam, thus cutting off the northern end of the gulf that was +now The King's Basin Desert. It was their plan to follow this high +land that separated the ocean from the Basin to the mountains, then +to work back as far out in the Basin from water and feed as they +could. They would then follow the river on the Basin side to Rubio +City. + +They had barely passed beyond sight of the main party when Jose +turned directly toward the river. At that stage of water a long bar +put out into the stream and from its point the current set strongly +toward the opposite bank. + +"Here we cross," said the Indian briefly. + +Constructing a rude raft for their supplies and swimming the +animals, they reached the other shore some distance below the point +of launching with no accident, and that night camped well back from +the river on the delta land. + +Day after day they rode from sunrise until dark; studying the land, +estimating distances and grades, observing the courses of the +channels cut by the overflow and the marks of high water, noting the +character of the soil and the vegetation; sometimes together, +sometimes separated; with Jose to select their camping places and to +help them with his Indian knowledge of the country. + +And always at night, after the long hard day, when supper--cooked by +their own hands--was over, with pipe and cigarettes they reviewed +their observations and compared notes, summing up the results before +rolling in their blankets to sleep under the stars. + +Some day, perhaps, when the world is much older and very much wiser, +Civilization will erect a proper monument to the memory of such men +as these. But just now Civilization is too greedily quarreling over +its newly acquired wealth to acknowledge its debt of honor to those +who made this wealth possible. + +But the Seer and his companion concerned themselves with no such +thoughts as these. They thought only of the possibility of +converting the thousands of acres of The King's Basin Desert into +productive farms. For this they conceived to be their work. + +They had worked across the Basin to Lone Mountain and back to the +river to a point nearly opposite the clump of cotton woods where +they had left the expedition. To-morrow night they would be in Rubio +City. + +"Abe," said the Seer, "our intake would go in right here. We could +follow the old channel of Dry River with our canal about twenty +miles out, put in a heading and lead off our mains and laterals." + +For two or three hours they discussed plans and estimates, then the +engineer shut his note-book with a snap. "If those New Yorkers don't +listen to what I can tell them of this country now they're a whole +lot slower than I take them to be." + +"Then you think you will make a guess on the proposition," asked Abe +slyly. + +The Seer laughed like a boy. "I start for New York to-morrow night," +he answered. + +In the afternoon of the next day they struck the San Felipe trail a +few miles from Rubio City. Perhaps it was the sight of that old +road, with its memories for the Seer and his companion, that led the +engineer to say: "It's curious, Abe, but I can't shake off the odd +feeling that Barbara's life is somehow wrapped up in that country +out there." As he spoke he turned in his saddle to look back toward +the Basin. "She seems to belong to it somehow as, in a way, it +belongs to her. There is a look in her eyes sometimes that makes me +think of the desert and the desert always reminds me of her. I know +one thing," he finished with a short laugh, "if I was to let out +some of the fancies that have come to me in this connection it would +ruin me forever so far as my profession goes." + +Abe made no reply, possibly because he also had fancies--fancies +that he could not tell even to the Seer. + +It is astonishing what a great cloud of dust five animals can stir +up on a desert trail. As the little outfit jogged slowly along, the +great yellow mass rolled up into the air high above their heads and +hung--a long, slow-drifting streamer--above the trail until it +vanished in the distance. + +Barbara, who was riding out from town on the Mesa, saw that cloud +and stopped to study it intently for a few moments as if debating +some question. Then touching her animal with the spur, she set off +rapidly in the direction of the approaching horsemen; while the two +men watched the dust that arose from the single horse's feet with +the interest that travelers in lonely lands always feel in any life +that chances to come their way. + +"Abe, that's a woman," exclaimed the Seer after a time. + +Abe said nothing. He had discovered that interesting fact some +moments before. + +The engineer rose in his stirrups. "Abe, I'll bet a month's salary +it's Barbara." + +"I'm not gambling," returned the other, smiling at his companion's +excitement. "I know it is." + +The big engineer dropped into his saddle with a grunt of disgust. +"Young man, you've got eyes like a buzzard," he said, twisting about +to face his companion. "By all traditions I suppose I should say +'eagle,' but you certainly don't look much like that noble king of +birds. You're carrying dirt enough to bury a horse." + +The Seer took off his sombrero and began beating the dust from his +own shoulders, while the surveyor looked on in silent amusement. + +"She'll think by the dust you're a-raisin' that there's some kind of +a scrap goin' on and that she'd better head the other way." + +"Not much she wouldn't head the other way from a scrap. She would +come on all the faster. I thought you knew Barbara better than +that." He replaced his hat. "Why Abe, one time when she was--" + +The surveyor interrupted his Chief by standing up in his stirrups in +turn and swinging his hat in greeting, while the Seer, in waving his +own sombrero and whooping like a wild man, forgot what he was about +to relate. + +The girl came on at a run and--guiding her horse between the two +dust-covered men--held out a hand to each. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE STANDARD OF THE WEST. + + +Three days after the Seer's letters to Abe and Barbara telling them +that James Greenfield and his associates would finance an expedition +to make the preliminary surveys in The King's Basin Desert, the +west-bound overland dropped a passenger in Rubio City from New York. + +The stranger was really a fine looking young man with the appearance +of being exceptionally well-bred and well-kept. Indeed the most +casual of observers would not have hesitated to pronounce him a +thoroughbred and a good individual of the best type that the race +has produced. + +A company of men and women--traveling acquaintances evidently-- +followed him from the Pullman to bid him good-by and to look at the +Indians, who with their wealth of curios spread before them, +squatted in a long row beside the track--objects of never failing +interest to travelers from the East. + +"Ugh!" said a tall blonde, who displayed more bracelets, bangles, +chains and charms--both natural and manufactured--than any blanketed +squaw in the party of natives, "I suppose if we ever see you again +you'll be the color of that thing there." She pointed to a smoky, +copper-colored Papago in a green head-cloth and decorated shirt, who +posed in a watchful attitude near his thrifty help-meet. + +"How perfectly romantic!" gushed a billowy divorcee, clinging to the +young fellow's athletic arm with little shivers of delight. "To +think of you in this great, savage, wild land, among these strange +people. Aren't you just a little bit frightened?" + +"By George, I half wish I was going to stop with you. You'll get +some great shooting, don't you know!" exclaimed one of the men, +while the chorus joined in: "You'll die of loneliness!" "You'll find +nothing fit to eat!" "And do take care of yourself!" + +Then as the warning, "All aboard!" and the clang of the engine bell +came down the platform, there were quick good-bys and a rush for the +car. The colored porters tossed their steps aboard and followed. +Smoothly the long, dust-covered coaches slid past. There was a +waving of handkerchiefs and caps from the rear of the observation +car, and the young man turned to look curiously about. + +"Hotel?" + +The stranger glanced doubtfully at the tough-looking citizen who +reached for his suit case, and without replying stepped into the +questionable looking hack standing nearby. The driver threw the +suitcase into the vehicle after his passenger and climbing to his +seat, yelled to the team. + +There was no rush of brass-buttoned bell-boys to meet the guest at +the door of the hotel, and the room was well-filled with a group +strange to the eyes of the young man from New York. Bronzed-faced +men in flannel shirts and belted trousers talked to men well-dressed +in more conventional business clothes; others in their shirt sleeves +sat smoking with companions in blue overalls; two or three wore guns +loosely belted at their hips. Here and there was the pale-faced, +white-collared, tied and tailored tourist. In the corner near the +big window a group of women, some in white duck, some in khaki or +corduroy, sat chatting and enjoying the scene. No one paid the least +attention to the newcomer. The tough-looking driver of the hack +dropped the suit case near the desk with a bang and turned to reply +to a good-natured remark addressed to him by a jovial, well-dressed +man standing near. Only the clerk regarded the stranger. + +"Have you a room with bath?" + +The clerk smiled. "Certainly, sir." Then to a young fellow talking +over the cigar counter to a man in high-heeled boots and spurs: +"Jack, show this gentleman to forty-five." + +In the well-furnished room the guide threw open long French windows +and pointed to a cot on the screened-porch outside. "Better sleep on +the porch," he volunteered. + +"Sleep on the porch?" + +"Suit yourself," came the answer as the independent one turned away. + +"Look here!" The employe of the house paused. "I want my trunk sent +up immediately." + +"Sure Mike! Let's have your checks. So-long!" + +The stranger stood staring at the door, which the breezy young man, +as he disappeared with a cheery whistle, had shut behind him with a +vigorous bang. + +In the dining room the man from New York found the same easy freedom +in the manner of dress, the same lack of conventionalities and the +same atmosphere of general good-fellowship; yet he could not say +that there was any lack of real courtesy and certainly there was no +rude and boisterous talk. It was, to say the least, unsettling to +the exceptionally well-bred and well-kept stranger, accustomed to +the hotels and restaurants in the East frequented by his class. + +Early that evening the Easterner sallied forth, clearly bent on +sight-seeing. He had dressed for the occasion. The gray traveling +suit had been put aside for a tailor-made outfit of corduroy. The +coat--worn without a vest over a fine negligee shirt of silk--was +Norfolk; the trousers were riding trousers and above the tan shoes +were pig-skin puttees. All this, with the light, soft hat, neat tie +and the undeniably fine figure and handsome face, would have made +him attractive on any stage. The tourists turned to look after him +with expressions of admiring envy; the natives--white, red, black, +yellow and brown--accepted him with no more than a passing glance as +a part of the strange new life that the railroad was constantly +bringing to Rubio City. + +Calmly conscious of himself and openly interested, in a mildly +condescending way, the young man strolled down one side of the main +street to the end of the business section, then back on the other. +Twice he made the round, then, seeking scenes of further interest, +pushed open the swinging doors of Rubio City's most popular place of +amusement--the Gold Bar saloon. + +At a table in one corner two men--one tall, darkfaced, coatless, +with unbuttoned vest, leather wrist-guards, and a heavy gun loosely +buckled about his slim waist; the other thick-set, heavy, red-faced +--were holding animated conversation over their glasses. That is to +say: the thick, red-faced man was animated. Glaring at his companion +he banged his huge, hairy fist on the table until the glasses +jumped. + +"Ye're a domned owld savage wid yer talk. Fwhat the hell is yer +counthry good for as ut is? A thousan' square miles av ut wouldn't +feed a jack-rabbit. 'Tis a blistherin', sizzlin', roastin', +wilderness av sand an' cactus, fit for nothin' but thim side- +winders, horn'-toads, heely-monsters an' all their poisonous +relations, includin' yersilf." + +The New Yorker, standing at the end of the bar nearest the table +occupied by Barbara's "uncles," who had just arrived from the Gold +Center mines, heard the words of Pat and turned toward the two +friends with amused interest. + +Texas Joe silently lifted his glass and with a look of undisguised +admiration for his belligerent partner, waited for more. More came +with another thump of the huge fist. + +"'Tis civilization that ye need, an' 'tis civilization that we're +bringin' to ye, an' 'tis civilization that ye've got to take whether +ye like ut or not. Look at the Seer, now! Wan gintleman wid brains +an' education like him is wort' more to this counthry than all the +hell-roarin' savages like yersilf between the Coast an' Oklahoma, +which is not so much better than it was. We've brung ye money; we've +brung ye schools; we've brung ye railroads; an' we'll kape on +bringin' ye the blissin's an' joys av civilization 'til ye mend yer +ways an' live like Christians." + +He paused. Texas was staring with child-like simplicity at the +immaculate figure of the stranger in puttees. Pat turned to follow +the gaze of his companion just as the plainsman drawled softly: "And +you've brought us that." The Irishman's heavy jaw dropped. He gasped +and gulped like an uncouth monster. Then--speechless--he drained his +glass. + +The stranger's face flushed but he did not move. + +"Pardner," drawled Texas, "your remarks is sure edifyin' a heap an' +some convincin'. But I'm still constrained to testify that the real +cause an' reason for the declinin' glory of this yere great western +country is poor shootin'. That same, in turn, bein' caused by the +incomin' herds from the effete East bein' so numerous as to hinder +gun-practice." + +"Guns is ut?" interrupted the other with a roar. "A man--mind ye: a +man--should be ashamed to go about all the time wid a cannon tied to +his middle. 'Tis the mark av a child. Look at ye, now, wid all yer +artillery an' me wid fingers that niver pushed a thrigger." He held +out his great paws and studied them admiringly. "Why, ye herrin', +wid thim two hands I could break ye, gun an' all, like I've--" + +He was interrupted by a wild-eyed individual who rushed into the +room from the street and, springing toward them, burst forth with: +"Give me your gun, Texas, quick! I ain't got mine on and that damned +Red Hoyt is a layin' for me at the corner!" + +Texas Joe dropped his slim hand caressingly on the big forty-five at +his side, leaned easily back in his chair and eyed the excited +citizen in a manner calmly judicial. "Bill, you're comin' is some +opportune. You're sure Johnny-on-the-spot." + +"Le' me have yer gun, Tex. Jes' loan her to me! I'll be back in a +minute." + +"Oh, I ain't doubtin' that you'd be back all right, Bill. That's +jest the p'int. When you blew in so promisc'us an' interrupted the +meetin', me an' my friend here was jest resolvin' that there's too +much bad shootin' bein' done in this here Rubio town. It's a +spoilin' the fair name an' a ruinin' the reputation of this country. +For which said reason us two undertakes to regulate an' reform +some." He turned with elaborate politeness to Pat. "I voices yer +sentiments correct, pard?" + +The Irishman's fist struck the table and his eyes flashed. "To the +thrim av a gnat's heel," he roared. + +Texas bowed and continued: "Therefore, Bill, this here's our +verdict. You camp right here peaceable while I go out an' fetch this +Red Hoyt person what's been annoyin' you. We'll stand you up at +fifteen steps, with nothing between to obstruct ceremonies, an' drop +the hat. Me an' my friend referees the job an' undertakes to see +that the remains is duly and properly planted with all regular +honors. Sabe?" + +The blood-thirsty one, growling something about attending to his own +funeral and finding a gun somewhere else, went quietly and quickly +out. + +Before the pugnacious Pat could voice his disgust and disappointment +at the disappearance of the trouble-hunting citizen, a low, +contemptuous laugh from the well-built stranger at the bar drew the +attention of the two friends. The young man was watching them with +an amused smile. + +Texas Joe and the Irishman regarded each other thoughtfully. "Pard," +said Tex in a low, earnest tone, "do you reckon that there hilarity +was in any ways directed toward this corner of the room?" + +The stranger, receiving his change from the bartender, was moving +leisurely toward the door when his way was barred by the heavy bulk +of Pat. There was no misunderstanding the expression on the battle- +scarred features of the Irish gladiator. Eyeing the athletic +Easterner fiercely, he growled with deliberate meaning: "Ye same to +be findin' plenty av amusement in the private affairs av me friend +an' mesilf. D'ye think that we are a coople av hoochy-koochy girls +to be makin' sphort for all the domned dudes that runs to look at us +whin their mammas don't know they're out?" + +The other regarded him with well-bred surprise. "Stand aside," he +said curtly. + +"Oh, ho! ye will lave widout properly apologizin' for yer outrageous +conduc' will ye? 'Tis an ambulance that ye'll nade to take ye home +whin I've taught ye manners, ye danged yellow-legged cock-a-doodle!" + +He lifted his fists and the stranger, without giving back an inch or +exhibiting the slightest suggestion of fear, but rather with the +calm self-confidence of a trained athlete, squared himself for the +encounter. + +Eagerly the patrons of the place--miners, cowboys, ranchers, +adventurers, Mexicans, Indians--had gathered around the two men, +delighted with the prospect of what promised to be no tame +exhibition. Already several bets had been placed and critical +estimates and comments on the comparative merits of the two were +being made freely when a hand fell on Pat's uplifted arm. Turning +with an oath of rage at the interruption, the Irishman faced Abe +Lee. + +"Hello, Pat! Amusing yourself as usual?" To the angry protests from +the crowd the tall surveyor gave not the slightest heed. + +For a moment the Irishman, looking up into that thin, sun-tanned +face, was speechless as though he faced some apparition. Then with a +yell of delight he caught the lank form of the Seer's assistant in a +bear-like hug. "For the love av Gawd is ut ye, ye owld sand-rat? +Where the hell did ye drop from, an? fwhat are ye doin' in this +dishreputable company? Look at Uncle Tex, there! The sentimental +owld savage is fair slobberin' wid delight an' eagerness to git at +ye. Come, come; we must have a dhrink." + +As quickly as it had risen the storm had passed. The crowd, as if +moved by a single impulse, separated and the room was filled with +loud talk and laughter. Glancing around, Pat's eye met the still +defiant look of the stranger who had not moved from his place but +stood calmly watching the Irishman and Abe as if waiting the +pleasure of the man who had challenged him. + +The Irishman grinned in appreciation. "Howld on a minut," he said to +Abe who was moving away with Texas Joe toward a vacant table. Then +to the stranger: "I axe yer pardon, Sorr, for goin' off me head that +way. 'Tis a habit I have, worse luck to me--bein' sensitive, do ye +see, about me personal appearance an' some wishful for a bit av +honest enjoyment. Av ye'll have a dhrink wid me an' my friends here +I'll take ut kindly until we can find some betther cause for +grievance." + +The young man's tense figure relaxed. A smile broke over his face. +"And I beg your pardon," he said heartily. "The fact is I was not +laughing at you at all but at the way you two men called the bluff +of that fellow who wanted the gun. I should have said so and +apologized but I, too, was a little upset and thrown off my guard." + +"Faith, ut looked to me that ye were thrown on your guard. 'Tis the +science ye have or I'm a Dutchman." He eyed the athletic limbs, deep +chest, broad shoulders and well-set head, with eyes that twinkled +his approval. "Some day--But niver mind now! Come." He led the way +to the table. + +As they seated themselves Pat regarded the surveyor with pleased +interest. "Well, well! 'tis a most unexpected worrld. Av 'twas the +owld divil himsilf that clapped his hand on me arm I'd be no more +surprised than I was to see the lad here. Tell us, me bhoy, fwhat +'tis that's brung ye here." + +"Haven't you two been to see Barbara yet?" the surveyor demanded as +though charging them with some neglected duty. + +"We have not; an' by that ye will know that we've been in this town +less than an hour by Tex's watch that Barbara give him an' that he +lost down the shaft at Gold Center." + +When the surveyor had explained his presence in Rubio City and Texas +and Pat had agreed to join the King's Basin party, the stranger +said: "I think it is quite time now that I introduce myself. You are +Mr. Lee, I believe." + +Abe assented and with his two companions regarded him with interest. + +Taking a letter from his pocket and handing it to the surveyor, the +young man continued: "I am a civil engineer. I have instructions +from the Chief to report to you. My name is Willard Holmes." + +The next morning the young engineer from the East presented his card +at the Pioneer Bank and asked for Mr. Worth. The man who received +the correctly engraved bit of pasteboard merely nodded toward the +other end of the long partition of polished wood, plate glass and +bronze bars. "You'll find him back there, Mr. Holmes." + +The New Yorker smiled at the provincialism but sought the banker +without further ceremony. + +Closing the door with one hand Jefferson Worth with the other +indicated the chair at the end of his desk. "Sit down." + +"You have a letter from Mr. Greenfield relative to my coming?" asked +Willard Holmes. + +The banker lifted a typewritten sheet from his desk, glanced at it +and turned back to his visitor. "Yes," he said. + +The involuntary movement was the instinctive act of one who +habitually verifies every statement. Then, as those expressionless +blue eyes were fixed on the stranger's face, the engineer's +sensation was as though from behind that gray mask something reached +out to grasp his innermost thoughts and emotions. He felt strangely +transparent and exposed as one, alone in his lighted chamber at +night, might feel someone in the dark without, watching through the +window. Presently the colorless, exact voice of Jefferson Worth +asked: "This is your first visit West?" + +"Yes sir. My work has been altogether in New York and the New +England states." + +"Five years with the New York Contracting and Construction Company?" +said Jefferson Worth exactly, laying his hand again on the letter on +his desk. + +"Yes. For the past two years I have had charge of their more +important operations." The engineer's tone was a shade impressive. + +But there was not the faintest shadow of a hint in the face or +manner of that man in the revolving chair to intimate that he was +impressed. The visitor might as well have spoken to the steel door +of the big safe in the other room. "You are well acquainted with Mr. +Greenfield and his associates?" + +"My father and Mr. Greenfield were boyhood friends and college +classmates," the engineer explained. "Since the death of my father +when I was a little chap, I have lived with Uncle Jim. He was my +guardian until I became of age." + +The young man did not think it necessary to add that the death of +his father had left him penniless and that his father's friend, who +had never married, had reared and educated the child of his old +classmate as his own son. Neither did he explain that his rapid +advancement in his profession was due largely to the powerful +influence of the capitalist and those closely associated with him, +together with the strength of the proud social position to which he +was born, rather than to hard work and experience. Probably Willard +Holmes himself did not realize how much these things had added to +his own native ability and technical training. He had never known +anything else but these things and he accepted them as unconsciously +as his voice was colored with the accent of the cultured East. + +"How do you size up this King's Basin proposition?" questioned the +banker. + +Again Willard Holmes smiled at the western man's words. "Sizing up" +and "proposition" were pleasingly novel forms of expression to him. +"Really," he answered, "I haven't gone into it very thoroughly as +yet. Mr. Greenfield asked me to come out because he and his +associates felt"--he paused; perhaps it would be just as well not to +say what Mr. Greenfield and his associates felt--"that with my +experience in connection with large corporations I could be of value +to them in certain phases of the work," he finished. He wondered if +the man, who listened with such an air of carefully considering +every word and mentally reaching out for whatever lay back of the +verbal expression, had grasped what he had been about to say. + +Jefferson Worth waited and Holmes continued: "Mr. Greenfield and his +friends are very anxious that you should come in with them on the +organization of this company, Mr. Worth; that is, of course, +providing the scheme proves to be practicable. They instructed me to +urge you personally to consider their proposal favorably and to ask +you, by all means, to represent them on this expedition if possible. +They realize that a man of your recognized ability and standing in +the financial world, particularly in the West, in close touch as you +are with Capital and conditions in this part of the country and no +doubt familiar with the Reclamation work, would be a valuable +addition to their strength. In fact I may say they would depend +largely upon your judgment as to whether the scheme was practicable +from a business standpoint. On your side I am sure you recognize the +advantage of allying yourself with such a group of capitalists, who +are strong enough to finance any undertaking, no matter how great. +Their interests are already enormous. As you know, they operate only +on the largest scale and, if this survey justifies the report +already made, they will make a big thing out of this for everyone +interested." + +The cold, exact voice of Jefferson Worth came as if from a machine +incapable of inflection. "I have written Mr. Greenfield that I would +look into the proposition for him. I will go out with the outfit. +Have you seen Abe Lee?" + +"I met him last night and we had a little talk over things. I +confess I was a little surprised." + +"Why?" + +"Well--that he is in charge. I was instructed to report to him. I +find that he has had no schooling whatever; that, in fact, he is +nothing but a kind of a self-educated surveyor. I have no doubt that +he is a good, practical fellow, but it seems to me somewhat reckless +to put him in such a responsible position." + +Jefferson Worth did not say that he himself had had no more +schooling than the Seer's lieutenant. Perhaps that, also, was not +necessary to explain. He did say: "We have only one standard in the +West, Mr. Holmes." + +"And that?" + +"What can you do?" came the words as if spoken by cold iron. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +DON'T YOU LIKE MY DESERT, MR. HOLMES? + + +After his noon-day meal, Willard Holmes, following the example of +others, sought the shade of the arcade in front of the hotel. +Helping himself to a chair and moving a little away from the general +company, he sat enjoying his cigar, musing on the novelty of his +surroundings and reviewing his impressions of the last few hours. + +It was natural that he should make comparisons--that he should see +men and things in the light of the only men and things he had ever +known. Abe Lee he measured by the standing of his own school-trained +engineering friends, demanding that the desert-born and desert- +trained surveyor exhibit all the hall-marks of Boston. He might as +consistently have demanded that the flood of sunlight that fell in +such blinding glory upon the new world before him should shine as +through the smoke-grimed city atmosphere of New York. One was no +more impossible than the other. Jefferson Worth he compared with the +college and university friends of his father--with Mr. Greenfield +and the New York-bred business men of his class, demanding that the +western pioneer banker show the same characteristics that +distinguished the cultured capitalists whose great-great- +grandfathers were pioneers. Rubio City he saw in the light of those +eastern cities that were founded in the days when men knew not that +there was any world west of the Alleghanies. + +Turning his head now and then to look over the typical groups that +sat in the shade of the arcade, dressed--or undressed--with all the +easy freedom of a land too young as yet to have conventions, he +recalled his favorite hotels in his home cities and smiled to think +what would happen if some of these roughly clad individuals were to +appear there among the guests. He did not know yet that some of +these roughly clad individuals were as much at home in those same +favorite hotels as was he himself. Likewise as he watched the +passing citizens in the street he recalled the scene from the +windows of his club at home--a famous club on a famous avenue. + +That young woman, for instance, with her khaki divided skirt, wide +sombrero, fringed gauntlets and the big western saddle coming there +on a horse whose feet seemed scarcely to touch the ground as he +plunged and pranced impatiently along, springing side-wise, with +arched neck and pointed ears, at every object that could possibly be +made into something frightful by his playful fancy! What a sensation +she would create at home! By Jove! but she could ride, though. He +watched with admiring eyes the strong, graceful figure that sat the +high-strung, uncertain horse as easily and unconsciously as any one +of his women friends at home would rest in a comfortable chair. + +As the horsewoman drew nearer he fell to wondering what she was +like. Could she talk, for instance, of anything but the homely +details of her own rough life? He shrugged his shoulders as he +fancied her crude attempts at conversation, her uncouth language and +raw expressions. The girl turned her horse toward the hotel +entrance. As she drew still nearer he saw that she was not pretty. +Her mouth was too large, her face too strong, her skin too tanned by +the sun and wind. + +At the sidewalk the girl swung from the saddle lightly, and throwing +the bridle reins over the horse's head with a movement that brought +out the beautiful lines of her figure, she turned her back upon the +pawing, restless animal with as little concern as though she had +delivered him to a correctly uniformed groom. No she was not pretty; +she was--magnificent. The adjective forced itself upon him. + +All along the arcade people were smiling in greeting, the men +lifting their hats. Two cowboys in high-heeled boots and "chaps" +paused in passing. "That new hawss of yours is sure some hawss, Miss +Barbara," said one admiringly, sombrero in hand. + +The girl smiled and Holmes saw the flash of her perfect teeth. "Oh, +he'll do, Bob, when I've worked him down a little." + +She passed into the hotel, followed by the eyes of every man in +sight including the engineer, who had noted with surprise the purity +and richness of her voice. + +The New York man had turned and was watching a company of Indians +farther down the street when that voice close beside him said: "I +beg your pardon. Is this Mr. Holmes?" + +He turned quickly, rising to his feet. + +She smiled at his astonished look. "The clerk pointed you out to me. +I am Barbara Worth. You met father at the bank this morning. Texas +Joe and Pat told me about your being here and I could scarcely wait +to see you. I'm afraid you must have thought them a little rough +last night but really it's only their fun. They're as good as gold." + +As she stood now close to him--the red blood glowing under the soft +brown of her cheeks--Willard Holmes felt her rich personality as +distinctly as one senses the presence of the ocean, the atmosphere +of the woods or the air of meadows and fields. But by all his +conventional gods, this was the unconventional limit! that this +girl, the daughter of a banker, should openly seek out a total +stranger to introduce herself to him on the public street before a +crowd of hotel loungers! And the way she spoke of those rough men in +the saloon, one would think they were her intimate friends. + +He managed to say: "Really, I am delighted, Miss Worth. May I escort +you to the hotel parlor?" + +She looked at him curiously. "Oh, no indeed! It is much nicer out +here in the arcade, don't you think? But you may bring another +chair." Dumbly he obeyed, feeling that every eye was on him and +flushing with embarrassment for her. + +"When Texas and Pat told me that you were one of the engineers going +out with The King's Basin party I could scarcely wait to see you. It +makes it all seem so real, you know--your coming all the way out +here from New York. I have dreamed so much about the reclamation of +The King's Basin Desert; and you see I consider all civil engineers +my personal friends." + +"Indeed," he said. It is always safely correct to say "indeed" as he +said it, particularly when you have nothing else to say. + +She regarded him doubtfully with an open, straight-forward look +which was somewhat disconcerting. She was so unconscious of the +strength of her splendid womanhood and he felt her presence so +vividly. + +"I suppose you must find everything out here very strange," she said +slowly. "Father says this is your first visit to the West and of +course it _can't_ be like your part of the country." + +"It is all very interesting," he murmured. This also was sane and +safe. + +"I know that Abe is very busy and father never leaves the bank +except on business, so there is no one but me to look after you"-- +she smiled--"that is--no one of our King's Basin people." + +Willard Holmes was of that type of corporation servant who +recognizes no interests but the financial interests of the capital +employing him. His services as a civil engineer belonged wholly to +those who bought them for their own profit. Barbara's innocent words +aroused him. What the deuce did she mean by "our King's Basin +people"? Greenfield and his friends thought that _they_ were The +King's Basin people. In the interests of his employers he must look +into this. + +[Illustration: "But I don't ride, you know."] + +"It is very kind of you, I am sure," he said with a little more +warmth. "To tell the truth I _was_ feeling a bit strange, you know." + +"I'm sure you must be nearly dead with lonesomeness. Wouldn't you +like to go for a ride? I would so like to show you my Desert." + +"_Her_ Desert!" he mentally observed. Indeed he must look into this. +Fully alert now he answered heartily: "I should be delighted, I'm +sure. You are more than kind. When could we go?" + +"Right now," she said quickly. "Here comes Pablo Garcia. I'll send +him for another horse." She called to the passing Mexican: "Here +Pablo." + +The young fellow came to her quickly and stood, sombrero in hand, +his dark eyes shining with pride at the recognition. In Spanish she +directed him to fetch a horse for the Senor. + +"Si, Senorita." With a low bow the Mexican turned to obey. + +The eastern man, not understanding the words, but awakening suddenly +to the meaning of the action, broke forth with--"Here, wait a +minute." + +"Wait," repeated Barbara in Spanish. Pablo paused. + +"You are sending him for a horse and saddle?" asked Holmes. + +"Yes; it will take only a few minutes." + +"But I don't ride, you know." + +"You don't ride?" The girl looked at him in blank amazement. "I +don't think I ever saw a man before who didn't ride." + +He laughed indulgently. Something in her voice and manner touched +his sense of humor. "I'm very sorry. I know I ought to," he said in +mock humility. + +"Oh, well; we can drive. I'll have Pablo bring a rig." She explained +what she wanted to the Mexican in his native tongue, and this time +he mounted her horse and rode away. + +When the man returned a little later with a span of restless, half- +wild broncos hitched to a light buggy, the girl stepped into the +vehicle and took the reins as a matter of course. With a low chuckle +of amusement the engineer took his place at her left. He was +beginning really to enjoy the situation. Shying and plunging the +team demanded all of Barbara's attention but she managed to steal a +look at her silent companion now and then, as if expecting him to +show signs of nervousness. Willard Holmes, on his part, was wrapped +in silent admiration of her strength and skill. + +"They'll cool down in a little while," the girl volunteered, as if +to reassure her guest, after a particularly wild break on the part +of the horses. But on the extreme edge of town, where the wagon road +runs closest to the railroad track, a passing switch engine proved +too much for the excited team. In a moment the frightened animals +were running toward the Mesa at full speed. With all her strength +Barbara struggled to regain control, but her arms were a woman's +arms and the horses, quick to recognize their advantage, put back +their ears and ran the faster in mad defiance. + +The girl was not frightened; she was annoyed. "I--I'm afraid they +are running away," she gasped at last. + +To her surprise a hearty laugh was the only answer to her +confession. She shot a quick glance over her left shoulder. Her +companion was leaning back in his seat, his merry face expressing +the keenest enjoyment. + +Then the girl felt a big hard shoulder pressing against her; long +powerful arms stretched over hers; and two masterful hands closed on +the reins above her cramped fingers. She relinquished her hold and +shrank back out of the way with a sigh of relief and--yes, a look of +admiration as the horses, with a few wild leaps and ineffectual +attempts to run again, settled down to a more rational gait. + +"My!" she gasped, at the exhibition of the engineer's strength, "I +believe you could pull their front feet off the ground." + +Her companion was still smiling. + +"Why didn't you tell me you could drive?" she demanded. + +He chuckled maliciously, for he had understood her reason for taking +the reins at the start and he had not been insensible of the meaning +of her glances at the beginning of the ride. "You didn't ask me, and +besides I enjoyed seeing you handle them." + +"But you told me you couldn't _ride_," she said reproachfully. + +"I can't," he returned. "That is I never did; not as you people in +this country ride." Then he laughed again. "Confess now. Didn't you +expect me to jump, back there?" + +"I shall confess nothing," she retorted, sharply. "And hereafter I +shall take nothing for granted." + +On the high ground near the foot of the hill at the canyon's mouth +she asked him to turn around and stop. Willard Holmes had been too +much occupied with the team and the girl to notice the landscape; +and now that wonderful view of the Mesa, The King's Basin and the +mountains burst upon him without warning. No sane man could be +insensible of the grandeur of that scene. The man, whose eyes had +looked only upon eastern landscapes that bore in every square foot +of their limited range the evidence of man's presence, was silent-- +awe-stricken before the mighty expanse of desert that lay as it was +fashioned by the creative forces that formed the world. Turning at +last from the glorious, ever-changing scenes, wrought in colors of +gold and rose and lilac and purple and blue, to the girl whose eyes +were fixed questioningly upon him, he said in a low voice: "Is it +always like this?" + +Barbara nodded. "Always like that, but always changing. It is never +the same, but always the same. Like--like life itself. Do you +understand?" + +He turned again to the scene in silent wonder. + +"Do you like my Desert?" she asked, after a little time had passed. + +His mind caught at the expression. "Do you mean to say that that is +The King's Basin--that we are going _there_ to work?" + +"Why, of course." She laughed uneasily. "Don't you like it?" + +"Like it?" he repeated. "But is there anyone living out there?" + +She was amazed at his words. "Living there? Of course not. But you +are going to make it so that thousands and thousands can live there +--you and the others. Don't you understand?" Her voice expressed a +shade of impatience. + +"I'm afraid I did not realize," he answered slowly. + +"That's just it!" she cried, thoroughly aroused now and speaking +passionately. "That's just the trouble with you eastern men; you +don't realize. For years the dear old Seer and a few others have +been trying to make you see what a work there is to do out here, and +you won't even look up from your little old truck patches to give +them intelligent attention. You think this King's Basin is big? Why, +the Seer says that if every foot of that land was under cultivation +it wouldn't be a posy bed beside what there is to do in the West. I +suppose you must have done some great things in your profession, Mr. +Holmes, or those capitalists wouldn't have sent you out here; but +you can't have done anything that will mean to the world what the +reclamation of The King's Basin Desert will mean one hundred years +from now, because this work is going to make the people realize, +don't you see?" + +The young engineer's face flushed under her words, and as he watched +her strong face glowing with enthusiasm for the Seer's dream, he +felt the sweet power of her personality sweep over him as he felt +the breeze from off the desert. He was held as though by some magic +spell--not by the lure of her splendid womanhood, but by that and +something else--something that was like the country of which she +spoke so passionately. And he remembered wondering if this girl +could talk! + +He relieved the tense strain of the situation by holding out the +reins and saying, with a whimsical smile: + +"Here, you can drive." + +She caught his meaning and smiled in acknowledgment. "Thank you, but +I don't want to drive. That's really the man's part, you know. I +suppose," she added, "that you think me bold and mannish and coarse +and everything else that a girl ought not to be, but I"--she turned +away her face and her voice trembled--"but you can't understand, Mr. +Holmes, what this desert means to me." + +"Perhaps I don't understand," he said seriously. "But I am sure of +this: somewhere back of every really great work that has ever been +accomplished in any age there has been a woman like you." + +Then they drove back to the hotel where she left him and drove to +the barn herself. A few minutes later he saw her pass again, riding +her own quick-stepping horse. + +During the two weeks that followed before the Seer's return, while +Abe Lee was busy getting ready for the work in Barbara's Desert, +Willard Holmes and the girl were often together. The man from New +York admitted somewhat proudly, Barbara thought--as if the very +confession somehow established the superiority of the East--that he +was shockingly ignorant of all things Western. But apparently +overlooking the subtle assumption in the manner of his confession, +she laughingly undertook his education. For one thing he must learn +to ride. + +"Really," he demurred, "I don't think I care for that particular +amusement. I have never taken it up at home, you know, but of course +if it is the thing to do, why--" + +"Amusement!" she laughed. "Riding isn't an amusement; it's a +necessity. The horse is our street car and railroad and steamboat. +Where you think city blocks and squares we think miles; and where +you think miles we think hundreds of miles. Two legs are not enough +in this country, so we double the number and go on four. You'll find +yourself wishing for eight before you get back from The King's +Basin." + +So, at her bidding, Texas Joe secured a horse for him and almost +every afternoon the two were in their saddles. And every night over +his evening cigar at the hotel the engineer found himself reviewing +the incidents and conversations of the ride; forced to wonder at +some new and unexpected revelation of the mind and character of this +western girl who was so interested in the reclamation work and so +unconscious of her womanly power. He came quickly to look forward to +their hours together and to plan and carry out many conversational +experiments. Invariably he had his reward. + +One afternoon he tried skillfully to shape the conversation to the +end that he might tell her--quite without ostentation--of the proud +history and social position of his family and of his own rank in the +upper eastern world. + +She humored him patiently, helping him out with questions and +artless, admiring exclamations and comments, until he was quite sure +that she was properly impressed. Then she said, in a tone of honest +sympathy: "But you mustn't let all this worry you, you know." + +"Worry me?" he echoed in amazement. + +She nodded seriously, but with a glint of mischief in her eyes. +"Yes, I can understand that it must be hard for a man to do his work +handicapped as you are but no one away out here will count it +against you. Every man here has a chance no matter what his past has +been. You see, we don't care what a man has been or what his fathers +were; we accept him for what he is and value him for what he can do. +So all you need to do is to forget and go straight ahead with your +work and you'll easily live it down. Only, of course," she added +gently, "I wouldn't advise you to tell _everybody_ what you have +told me. Some might not understand." + +He retorted warmly: "Of course you cannot understand our point of +view. Everything is so new and raw out here that you have no social +standards." + +"New and raw?" She laughed again. "Why, Mr. Holmes, you are the only +new thing in this country. Do you see that man over there?" + +They were riding south on the road that follows the river and she +pointed to an Indian who sat idly in the shade of his pole and mud +hut. + +"What's the matter with him?" asked the engineer. + +"Nothing. Only he, too, has ancestors. Ages and ages before your +forefathers knew that this continent existed, that man's people +lived in a city not far from here--a city with laws, customs, +religions, social standards--yes, and civil engineers, for you can +easily trace the lines of their canals, in which they brought water +from the river and carried it through a tunnel in the mountains to +irrigate their land, just as you modern engineers are planning to +do. The Seer and I rode over there once and he told me about it. +I'll show you, if you like. _New_! Why the West was ages old before +the East was discovered! The Seer says that if Columbus had come +first to the western coast New England to-day would still be an +uninhabitable, howling wilderness." + +"But I don't see what all this has to do with social standards," he +said, nettled at her reply. + +"Simply this. If a man's position in life is to be fixed by the age +of his family or the number of years that they have occupied a +certain section of the country, then that Indian is your superior. +His ancestors lived here long before yours settled in New England." + +"But we are proud of our ancestors because of what they were and +what they accomplished. We have a right to be. Think of what the +world owes them!" + +"Oh, I must have misunderstood you. You seemed to place so much +emphasis on their having come over in the Mayflower. They _were_ +grand--those brave old pioneers. I am proud of them too for what +they were. And did they have social positions by which they fixed a +man's place in life, I wonder?" + +"Of course they could not have had a society with the wealth and +culture that we have now. The country was all new--something like +the West is to-day, I suppose." + +She laughed aloud. "And you are proud of them! How fine! Isn't it +splendid to think that in two or three hundred years, when the West +has been civilized and the Desert reclaimed as your pioneer +forefathers civilized and reclaimed the East, when wealth and +culture have come, a man's social standing will be determined by his +relation to _us_ and people will be proud of what _we_ are doing? +After all, Mr. Holmes, the only difference between the East and the +West seems to be that you _have_ ancestors and that we are _going to +be_ ancestors. You look back to what has been; we look forward to +what will be. You are proud and take rank because of what your +forefathers did; we are proud and take rank because of what we are +doing. And we are doing exactly what they did! Honestly now, which +would you rather--worship an ancestor or be an ancestor worshipped?" + +When they had laughed together over this he said: "I am beginning to +understand, Miss Worth, that the ideal American, whom we are always +hearing about but never meet, must be a Westerner; he couldn't +possibly be of the East, could he?" His words were almost a sneer. + +"The ideal American is neither Eastern nor Western in the way you +mean, Mr. Holmes. He is both." + +"Indeed? You admit that we of the East could give him something, +then?" + +"You could give him all that your forefathers have given you." + +"And what could the West give him?" + +She looked at him steadily a moment before answering slowly: "I +think you will have to find that out for yourself." + +He was taken a little aback by her answer. It sounded as though she +wished to end the conversation. But her talk had stirred him +strongly, though he tried to hide this under cover of a cynical +tone. He said triumphantly: "But you see, after all, you admit that +one is not altogether hopeless because he happens to come of a good +family!" + +"Certainly I admit it!" she cried, "but don't you see what I mean? +Ancestors are to be counted as a valuable asset, but not as working +capital." + +As she spoke she turned toward him again with that steady look, and +the man felt the strange, mysterious power of her personality, the +challenging lure of her young womanhood--that and more. What was it +back of those steady eyes that called to him, inspired him, that +almost frightened him; that made him feel as Barbara herself felt in +the presence of the Desert. + +There was no trace of cynicism in his voice now, nor any hint of a +sneer on his face, as Willard Holmes straightened unconsciously in +his saddle. + +"By George!" he said, "it's good to hear you say those things. +Nobody talks that way nowadays. I suppose our great-great- +grandmothers did, though." + +She colored with pleasure, but answered lightly: "That puts me a +long ways behind the times, doesn't it?" + +"Or a long way ahead," he offered. + +In the meantime, while the education of Willard Holmes progressed, +the party that was to make the first survey in Barbara's Desert was +being formed and equipped under the direction of Abe Lee. Horses, +mules, wagons, camp outfits and supplies, with Indian and Mexican +laborers, teamsters of several nationalities and here and there a +Chinese cook, were assembled. Toward the last from every part of the +great West country came the surveyors and engineers--sunburned, +khaki-clad men most of them, toughened by their out-of-doors life, +overflowing with health and good spirits. They hailed one another +joyously and greeted Abe with extravagant delight, overwhelming him +with questions. For the word had gone out that the Seer, beloved by +all the tribe, and his lieutenant, almost equally beloved, were +making "big medicine" in The King's Basin Desert. Not a man of them +would have exchanged his chance to go for a crown and scepter. + +The eastern engineer met these hardened professional brothers +cordially. He listened to their reminiscences of life and work in +mountain, plain and desert with interest, discovering to his +surprise that most of them were eastern born and bred, with +technical training in the schools with which he was familiar. But +their almost boyish enthusiasm over the work ahead, their admiration +for the Chief and for Abe Lee he viewed with cold indifference. + +With all his duties Abe found frequent opportunity to report to +Barbara, for the girl's interest in every detail of the preparations +was never failing. Her friends protested that they never saw her now +at their little social affairs, for she was always off somewhere +with some engineer, and that when they did chance to catch her alone +she would talk of nothing but that horrid King's Basin country. + +Every evening, early after supper, the surveyor would slip away from +his companions at the hotel to spend an hour on the veranda at the +banker's home talking in his straightforward way with Barbara and +her father, of the work that was so dear to the heart of the girl. +And because it was his work and in the nature of a report to one +who, he felt, had in some subtle way authority to hear, Abe talked +with a freedom that would have astonished many of his friends who +thought they knew him best. + +Three times while Abe was there Willard Holmes appeared, and each +time, at the engineer's presence, the surveyor's painful diffidence +became apparent and he soon--with some stammering excuse--left. + +The last time this happened Barbara walked down to the gate with the +painfully embarrassed surveyor. Everything was in readiness for the +coming of the Chief, who would arrive the next day, and the +following morning the expedition would start for the field. + +"Buenos noches, hermano--Good night, brother," called Barbara, as +the tall surveyor walked away down the street. + +"Buenos noches," came the answer. + +Willard Holmes heard and frowned. "You seem to be very fond of +Spanish, Miss Worth," he said, when the girl came back to the porch. +"I notice you use it so often with our long friend there." + +Barbara laughed at his evident displeasure. "The language seems to +belong so to this country. To me its colors are all soft and warm +like the colors of the Desert. I never thought of it before, but I +suppose I use it so often with Abe because he, too, seems to belong +to this country." + +The engineer looked at her curiously. "I don't think I quite see the +connection. You mean that he has Spanish blood?" + +"Not at all," said Barbara quickly. "But he is desert-born and +desert-trained. He has the same patient stillness, the same natural +bigness and the same unconquerable hardness." + +"Oh, but you say the desert is not unconquerable; that it will be +subdued. Your analogy is at fault." + +"No, Mr. Holmes, it is you who do not understand. There is something +about this country that will always remain as it is now. Abe Lee is +like that. Whatever changes may come, he will always be Abe Lee of +the Desert." + +"Your views are really poetical and your character analyses very +clever, Miss Worth, but after all men are men wherever you find +them. Human nature is the same the world over." + +"Oh, I'm sure that is so, Mr. Holmes. I know there must be many +western men in the east, only they haven't found themselves yet." + +He laughed heartily as he rose to go. "Will you ever bid me good +night in your language of the desert?" he asked. + +"Perhaps, when you have learned that language," she said with an +answering smile. + +"By George, I shall try to learn it," he answered. + +"Oh, I wish you would," came the earnest answer. "I know you could." + +And again the engineer felt strongly, back of her words, that +unvoiced appeal. As he went down the street he knew that she did not +refer to the Spanish tongue when she wished him to learn the +language of her Desert. + +Alone in her room that night Barbara's mind was too active for sleep +and she sat for a long time by the open window, looking out into the +vast silent world under the still stars. + +Until she introduced herself to Willard Holmes, Barbara had never +known eastern people. Tourists she had seen and, at rare intervals, +met in a casual way. But they had always examined her with such +frankly curious eyes that she had felt like some strange animal on +exhibition and had repaid their interest with all the indifference +she could command. Occasionally also she had been introduced to +eastern business men, whom she chanced upon talking with her father +in the bank, but they had turned quickly away to the matters of +their world after the usual polite nothings demanded by the +introduction. The home-land and life of Willard Holmes were as +foreign to her as her land and life were strange to him. + +So it happened in this instance also that in the education of the +eastern engineer the teacher learned quite as much as the pupil. + +The traits that stood out so prominently in the western men whom +Barbara knew and so much admired were, in Willard Holmes, buried +deeply under the habits and customs of the life and thought of the +world to which he belonged--buried so deeply that the man himself +scarcely realized that they were there and so was led to wonder at +himself when his blood tingled with some strong presentation of this +western girl's views. + +But Barbara knew. Beneath the conventionalities of his class the +girl felt the man a powerful character, with all the latent strength +of his nation-building ancestors. She wanted him--as she put it to +herself--to wake up. Would he? Would he learn the language of her +Desert? She believed that he would, even as she believed in the +reclamation of The King's Basin lands. + +And she was glad--glad that the Seer and Abe and Tex and Pat and her +father--the men who had brought her out of the Desert--were going +now back into that land of death to save that land itself from +itself. And--she whispered it softly under the stars--she was glad-- +glad that Willard Holmes had come to go with them--to learn the +language of her land. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +WHY WILLARD HOLMES STAYED. + + +Slowly, day by day, the surveying party under the Seer pushed deeper +and deeper into the awful desolation of The King's Basin Desert. +They were the advance force of a mighty army ordered ahead by Good +Business--the master passion of the race. Their duty was to learn +the strength of the enemy, to measure its resources, to spy out its +weaknesses and to gather data upon which a campaign would be +planned. + +Under the Seer the expedition was divided into several smaller +parties, each of which was assigned to certain defined districts. +Here and there, at seemingly careless intervals in the wide expanse, +the white tents of the division camps shone through the many colored +veils of the desert. Tall, thin columns of dust lifted into the sky +from the water wagons that crawled ceaselessly from water hole to +camp and from camp to water hole--hung in long clouds above the +supply train laboring heavily across the dun plain to and from Rubio +City--or rose in quick puffs and twisting spirals from the feet of +some saddle horse bearing a messenger from the Chief to some distant +lieutenant. + +Every morning, from each of the camps, squads of khaki-clad men +bearing transit and level, stake and pole and flag--the weapons of +their warfare--put out in different directions into the vast silence +that seemed to engulf them. Every evening the squads returned, +desert-stained and weary, to their rest under the lonesome stars. +Every morning the sun broke fiercely up from the long level of the +eastward plain to pour its hot strength down upon these pigmy +creatures, who dared to invade the territory over which he had, for +so many ages, held undisputed dominion. Every evening the sun +plunged fiercely down behind the purple wall of mountains that shut +in the Basin on the west, as if to gather strength in some nether +world for to-morrow's fight. + +Always there was the same flood of white light from the deep, dry +sky that was uncrossed by shred of cloud; always the same wide, +tawny waste, harshly glaring near at hand--filled with awful +mysteries under the many colored mists of the distance; until the +eyes ached and the soul cried out in wonder at it all. Always there +were the same deep nights, with the lonely stars so far away in the +velvet purple darkness; the soft breathing of the desert; the +pungent smell of greasewood and salt-bush; the weird, quavering call +of the ground owl; or the wild coyote chorus, as if the long lost +spirits of long ago savage races cried out a dreadful warning to +these invaders. + +And in all of this the land made itself felt against these men in +the silent menace, the still waiting, the subtle call, the promise, +the threat and the challenge of La Palma de la Mano de Dios. + +To Barbara, who rode often in those days to the very rim of the +Basin, there to search the wild, wide land with straining eyes for +signs of her friends, the white glare of the camps was lost in the +bewildering maze of color. The columns, clouds and spirals of dust-- +save perhaps from a near supply wagon coming in or passing out-- +could not be distinguished from the whirling dust-devils that danced +always over the hot plains. The toiling pigmy dots of the little +army were far beyond her vision's range. It was as though the fierce +land had swallowed up horses, wagons and men. Only through the +frequent letters brought by the freighters did she know that all was +going well. + +Perhaps the gray lizard that climbed to the top of a line stake +wondered at the strange new growth that had sprung so suddenly from +the familiar soil; or perhaps the horned-toad, scuttling to cover, +marveled at the strange sounds as the stakes were driven and man +called to man figures and directions. Perhaps the scaly side-winder, +springing his warning rattle at the approaching step, questioned +what new enemy this was; or the lone buzzard, wheeling high over +head, watched the tiny moving figures with wondering hopefulness, +and the coyote, that hushed for a little his wild music to follow up +the wind this strange new scent, laughed at the Seer's dream. + +These lines of stakes that every day stretched farther and farther +into and across the waste seemed, in the wideness of the land, +pitifully foolish. Looking back over the lines, the men who set them +could scarcely distinguish the way they had come. But they knew that +the stakes were there. They knew that some day that other, mightier +company, the main army, would move along the way they had marked to +meet the strength of the barren waste with the strength of the great +river and take for the race the wealth of the land. The sound of +human voices was flat and ineffectual in that age-old solitude, but +the speakers knew that following their feeble voices would come the +shouting, ringing, thundering chorus of the life that was to follow +them into that silent land of death. + +With the slow passing of the weeks came the trying out and testing +of character inevitable to such a work. The concealing habits of +civilization were dropped. Kindly, useful conventionalities were +lost. Face to face with the unconquered forces of nature, nothing +remained but the real strength or weakness of the individual +himself. In some there were developed unguessed powers of endurance +that bore the hard days without flinching; cheerful optimism that +laughed at the appalling immensity of the task; strength of spirit +that made a jest of galling discomforts; courage that smiled in the +face of dangers. These were the strength of the party. Some there +were who grew sullen, quarrelsome, and vicious in a kind of mad +rebellion. These must be held in check, controlled and governed by +the Seer with the assistance of Abe Lee and his helpers. Some became +silent and moody, faint hearted and afraid. These were strengthened +and guarded and given fresh courage. Some grew peevish and fretful, +whining and complaining. These were disciplined wisely, forced +gently into line. Some staggered and fell by the way. These were +sent back and the ranks closed up. But the work--always the work +went on. + +To Willard Holmes the life was a slow torture, a revelation and an +education. He found himself stripped of everything upon which he was +accustomed to rely--family traditions, social position, influential +friends, scholarship, experience in the world to which he was born-- +all these were nothing in The Hollow of God's Hand. Slowly he +learned that the power of such wealth is limited to certain fields. +New York was very far away. He felt that he had been hopelessly +banished to a strange world. Many times he would have thrown it all +up and turned back with other deserters, but there was red blood in +his veins. Stubborn pride and the thought of the girl who had hoped +that he would "learn the language of her country" enabled him to +hold on. + +Once he ventured to speak to the Chief in a hopeless voice of the +evident impossibility of ever converting that terrible land into a +habitable country, and the Seer, strong in the strength of his +dream, had looked at him from the still depth of his brown eyes +without a word--looked until the younger man had turned away, his +cheeks flushed with shame and his spirit doing homage to the +strength of the master spirit of the work. And the eastern engineer +remembered with new understanding his talks with Barbara Worth. + +When they pulled the dead coyote from the only water hole within two +days' travel and Holmes nearly fainted at the sickening sight, it +was Texas Joe who saved the day for him by remarking, with an air of +philosophical musing, after a deep draught of the tepid, tainted +water: "Hit ain't so bad as you might think, Mr. Holmes, onct your +oilfactory nerves has become somewhat regulated to the aroma and +your palate has been eddicated to the point of appreciatin' the +deliciously foreign flavor. In the judgment of some connysoors, it +has several points the lead of them imported fancy drinks you get in +Frisco." + +When a Mexican died horribly from the bite of a rattlesnake, and +Holmes himself was barely saved from a like fate by the prompt +action and ready knowledge of Abe Lee, it was the slow smile of the +desert-bred surveyor that stiffened him to go on. + +And when he was nearly beaten by a three days' sand-storm so +searching that even the flap-jacks and bacon gritted in his teeth +and his blood-shot eyes smarted in his head like coals of fire and +his skin felt as though it had been sand-papered, when he would have +sold his soul for a bath and actually began to get his things +together in readiness for the next wagon out, it was Pat, who, with +the devilish ingenuity of an Irish imp, mocked and jeered at him for +a quitter, "fit to act only as lady's maid or to serve soft dhrinks +in a corner drug-sthore," until his fainting heart took fire and, +cursing his tormentor with all the oaths he could muster, he offered +to whip, single-handed, the whole grinning camp and stayed. + +Thus he was advanced to the second degree, when he began to sense +the spirit of the untamed land and of the men who went to meet it +with sheer joy of the conquest; when he began to glory in the very +greatness of the task; and the long dormant spirit of his ancestors +stirred within him as he caught glimpses of the vision that inspired +the Seer or, perhaps it should be written, the vision that tempted +his employers, James Greenfield and his fellow capitalists. + +He was still far from ready for the final degree; but even that +might come. + +Through all those hard days Jefferson Worth moved with the same +careful, precise, certain manner that distinguished him in his work +at home. Even the desert sun that so tanned, blistered and blackened +the faces of his companions could not mark the gray pallor of that +mask-like face. No disturbing incident or unforeseen difficulty +could wring from him an exclamation or change the measured tones of +his colorless voice. He seemed to accept everything as though he had +foreseen, carefully considered and dismissed it from his mind before +it came to pass. Day after day he rode in every direction over the +land within easy reach of the many camps; familiarizing himself with +every detail of the work, observing soil, studying conditions, +poring over maps and figures with the Seer, verifying estimates, +listening to and taking part in the many councils of the leaders. +But not once did anyone catch a hint of what was going on behind +those expressionless blue eyes that seemed to see everything without +effort and to be incapable of expressing the emotions of the soul +within. + +To the men he was the visible representative of that invisible power +that willed their going forth. He was Capital--Money--Business +incarnate. They set him apart as one not of their world. In his +presence laughter was hushed, jests were unspoken. Silently they +waited for him to speak first. When he conversed with them they +answered thoughtfully in subdued tones, seeming to feel that their +words were received by one who placed upon them undreamed-of values. +Filled as these men were with the enthusiasm of their work, they +were never unconscious of the knowledge that but for the power +represented by Jefferson Worth their work would be impossible. + +Small wonder, then, that there was consternation in the headquarters +camp that night when Pat appeared, hat in hand, before the company +of leaders in the Seer's office tent. "I beg yer pardon, Sorr." + +"What is it, Pat?" asked the Seer, and all eyes were turned upon the +burly Irishman, whose face and voice as well as his presence at that +hour betrayed some unusual incident. "'Tis this, Sorr. Has anywan +seen Mr. Worth this avenin'?" + +Every head was shaken negatively. + +"Was he not at supper wid you gintlemen?" + +"Why no, he was not," returned the Seer. "But it is nothing unusual +for him to be late. Have you asked the cook?" + +"We have, Sorr. Ye see, whin ut come time to turn in an' he hadn't +shown up an' Tex seen that his horse wasn't wid the bunch, we got a +bit unaisy like. We axed the cook, an' we've been to his tent, an' +we've axed the men." + +"Perhaps he has put up at one of the other camps," suggested a +surveyor. + +"That's not like, Sorr, for he rode northeast this mornin'. Me an' +Tex watched him go; an' there's divil a camp in that direction as we +all know." + +"He surely intended to return here or he would have told us," said +the Seer. "You know how careful he is. What do you think, Abe?" + +Before Abe could answer a Mexican ran up, and Pat, turning, hauled +him into the tent by the neck. "Fwhat the hell is ut, ye greaser?" + +"Senor Texas send me quick," the little brown man panted, bowing low +to the company, sombrero in hand. "Senor Worth's horse, he just +come. In the saddle is no one. Senor Worth he is not come. I think +he is gone." + +Before the Mexican finished speaking there was a rush of feet and he +was alone. With a shrug of his shoulders and a flash of his white +teeth, he turned leisurely to follow, saying half aloud: "It is all +in La Palma de la Mano de Dios, Senor Worth. Maybe so you come back, +maybe this time not." He stood for a moment looking into the black +vault of the night; then, with another shrug, retired to his blanket +to sleep. + +Abe Lee was first to reach the corral where Texas Joe, by the light +of a lantern, was examining Mr. Worth's horse. No word was exchanged +between them while the surveyor in turn looked carefully over the +animal. The others, coming up, stood silent a little apart, waiting +for the word of these two. + +"What do you make of it, Abe?" asked the Seer when the long surveyor +turned toward him. + +Deliberately rolling a cigarette, Abe answered from a cloud of +smoke: "He is left afoot too far out to walk in, likely. We'll go +for him in the morning." + +A startled exclamation came from Willard Holmes, but no one heeded +as the surveyor turned to Texas Joe. "How do you figure it, Tex?" + +"The same," came the laconic answer. "This here cayuse wasn't broke +to stand. He must have been tied somewheres, 'cause the reins are +busted." He pointed to the pieces of leather hanging from the bit. +"The canteen is gone. Jefferson Worth is too old a hand on the +desert to leave it on the horse. He likely tied the pony to a bush +and went to climb a hill or something. Mr. Hawss breaks loose and +pulls for home. It happened a good way out, 'cause the pony's pretty +well tired, which he wouldn't a-been, travelin' light, if Mr. Worth +hadn't ridden some distance before it happened. An' if he was nearer +the pony would have been in earlier. He'll likely show us a smoke in +the morning and even if he don't it'll be easy to trail him, 'cause +there ain't no wind. Will I go, sir?" He looked at the Chief. + +"Yes; you and Abe, don't you think?" + +Abe assented and the men turned toward the tents while Texas led the +tired horse away. + +The New York engineer approached the Chief. "Do I understand, sir, +that you propose to do nothing until morning?" + +The Seer faced him. "There is nothing to do, Mr. Holmes," he said +simply. + +Willard Holmes was amazed at the man's apparent unconcern. "Nothing +to do?" he exclaimed. "Why don't you arouse the men and send them in +every direction to search? Why man, don't you realize the situation? +Mr. Worth may be hurt. He may even be dying alone out there! I +protest! It's monstrous! It's cowardly, inhuman, to do nothing!" + +The company, attracted by the loud words, paused. Abe Lee, standing +beside his Chief, rolled another cigarette while the engineer was +speaking. + +The Seer answered patiently: "But Mr. Holmes, we could accomplish +nothing by such a search as you suggest. The territory is too large +to cover with a hundred times the number of men we have in camp. At +daylight, when they can follow his trail, Abe and Tex will ride to +him as fast as their horses can go. Granting that the worst you +suggest may be true, our plan is the only sane way." "But I protest, +sir. You should make the attempt. I will not submit to idly doing +nothing while a life is in danger--particularly that of a man like +Mr. Worth. I shall go alone if no one will help me, and"--he +straightened himself haughtily--"I shall report this to Mr. +Greenfield and the men interested with him in this work." + +At the last words one of those rare changes swept over the big +engineer, and the witnesses saw a side of the Chief's nature that +was seldom revealed. His eyes flashed and his face hardened as he +burst forth in tones that startled his hearers: "Report me? You! +Report and be damned, sir. I was old at this work when you were a +sucking babe. These men were learning the desert when you were +attending a fashionable dancing school. Why, you damned lily- +fingered tenderfoot, you couldn't find your way five hundred yards +in this country without a guide or a compass. Now, sir, I'm running +this outfit and if you have any protests against my cowardly +inhumanity I advise you to smother them in your manly breast, or, by +hell! I'll ship you out on the first wagon to-morrow morning and let +you report to Greenfield that you were fired because you didn't know +your work yourself and hadn't intelligence enough to listen to those +who did!" + +The Chief paused for breath, and Willard Holmes, whose experience +with large corporations was expected to make him peculiarly valuable +to the capitalists who sent him out, turned away with what dignity +he could command. + +"Howly Mither!" came a hoarse whisper from Pat to Abe; "I made sure +the poor bhoy wud shrivel up. Sich a witherin', blistherin' tongue +lashin' wud scorch the hide av the owld divil himsilf." He looked +admiringly after the Seer. "D'ye think, now, that the poor lad will +be afther tacklin' the job alone, like he said? Sure, ut's nerve he +has all right but he lacks judgment." + +"Yes, he has the nerve all right," returned Abe slowly, "and we'd +better keep an eye on him. Tell Tex." + +Willard Holmes knew that he owed his Chief an apology and he +promised himself to make it in the morning. But neither the +explanation of the Seer nor the bitter humiliation that he had +brought upon himself could turn his thoughts from Mr. Worth alone on +the desert. To sleep was impossible. The banker might be----As he +tossed in his blankets the engineer pictured to himself a hundred +things that might have happened to Barbara's father. + +It was some two hours later when Pat touched Abe Lee on the +shoulder. + +"All right, Pat," said the surveyor, fully awake and in possession +of all his senses in an instant. + +"There's a light bobbin' off into nowhere an' the lad's blankets are +impty." + +Fifteen minutes later a quiet voice within three feet of Willard +Holmes asked: "Shall I go with you, sir?" + +The eastern man jumped like a nervous woman. He had not heard the +approach of the surveyor, who walked with the step of an Indian. "I +couldn't sleep," he explained. "I thought I would follow the tracks +a little way out at least. He may not be so far away as you think." + +After Abe had taken time to make his cigarette he spoke +meditatively. "Mr. Worth rode a horse." + +"I understand that," returned the man with the lantern tartly. "I +saw him go this morning and I saw the horse to-night. This is the +track." + +From another cloud of smoke came the quiet, respectful answer: "But +this is a mule's track, Mr. Holmes. It is Manuel Ramirez's mule. +See, he has a broken shoe on the off fore-foot. I noticed it +yesterday when I sent Manuel to hunt a water hole. Besides, Mr. +Worth rode northeast; not in this direction." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE MASTER PASSION--"GOOD BUSINESS." + + +When Jefferson Worth left headquarters camp that morning, his +purpose was to ride over a part of the territory lying southeast of +the old San Felipe trail between the sand hills and the old beach- +line. He had covered practically all of the land on the western side +of the ancient sea-bed, from the delta dam at the southern end north +to the lowest point in the Basin, and southward again on the eastern +side as far as the old trail. There remained for him to see only +this section in the southeast. + +It was nearly noon when the banker, from a slight elevation that +afforded him a view of the surrounding country, recognized the group +of sand hills and, by the general course of Dry River, distinguished +the spot where the San Felipe trail crosses the deep arroyo. +Occupied with his thoughts, he had ridden farther from camp than he +had realized. He should turn back. But the distant scene of the +desert tragedy called him. He became possessed of a desire to visit +once more the spot that was so closely associated with the child, +who had so strangely come into his life and whom he loved as his own +daughter. + +An hour later he dismounted to stand beside the water hole where, +with his companions, he had found the dead woman with the empty +canteen by her side. The incidents of that hour were as vivid in the +banker's memory as if it had all happened only the day before. He +remembered how Texas Joe had lifted the canteen and, inverting it, +had held out to them his finger moistened with the last drop of +water in the cloth-covered vessel; and how he and his companions, +standing by the dead body of the woman, had turned to each other in +startled awe at the coyotes' ghostly call in the dusk. He heard +again with thrilling clearness the baby's plaintive voice: "Mamma, +mamma! Barba wants drink. Please bring drink, mamma. Barba's +'fraid!" + +Going a short way up the wash, he stood with uncovered head on the +very spot where he had knelt with out-stretched hands before the +big-eyed, brown-haired baby girl, who, crouching under the high +bank, shrank back from him in fear. He saw the frightened look in +her eyes and heard the sweet voice cry: "Go 'way! Go 'way! Go 'way!" +Then he saw the expression on the little face change as Pat and Tex +and the boy tried to reassure her; saw her hold up her baby hands in +full confidence to the big engineer; and felt again the pain and +humiliation in his heart. + +Why had the baby instinctively feared him? Why had she turned from +him to the Seer? Why, he asked himself bitterly, had she always +feared him? Why did she still shrink from him? For Barbara did +shrink from him, unconsciously--unintentionally--but, to Jefferson +Worth, none the less plainly now than when he knelt before her that +night in the desert. And it hurt him now as it had hurt him then; +hurt the more, perhaps, because Barbara did not know--because her +attitude was instinctive. + +Still living over again the incidents and emotions of that hour in +the desert night, he walked back to the crossing and, leading his +horse, climbed the little hill out of the wash to the spot where, +with Texas and Pat, he had rendered the last possible service to the +unknown woman, who had given her life for the life of the child--the +child that was his but not his. Long ago he had marked the grave +with a simple headstone bearing the only name possible--the one +word: "Mother"--and the date of her death. + +Then mounting again, he rode swiftly along the old trail toward the +sand hills in the near distance. The great drifts, in the years that +had passed, had been moved on by the wind until the wagon and all +that remained of the half-buried outfit were now hidden somewhere +deep in its heart. But the general form of the sand hill was still +the same. + +Dismounting, Mr. Worth tied his horse to a scraggly, half-buried +mesquite and, taking his canteen from the saddle, climbed +laboriously up the steep, sandy slope. He would look over the +country from that point and then make straight for camp, for it was +getting well on in the afternoon. From the top of the hill he could +see the wide reaches of The King's Basin Desert sweeping away on +every side. At his feet the bare sand hills themselves lay like +huge, rolling, wind-piled drifts of tawny snow glistening in the +sunlight with a blinding glare. Beyond these were the gray and green +of salt-bush, mesquite and greasewood, with the dun earth showing +here and there in ragged patches. Still farther away the detail of +hill and hummock and bush and patch was lost in the immensity of the +scene, while the dull tones of gray and green and brown were over- +laid with the ever-changing tints of the distance, until, to the +eyes, the nearer plain became an island surrounded on every side by +a mighty, many-colored sea that broke only at the foot of the purple +mountain wall. + +The work of the expedition was nearly finished. The banker knew now +from the results of the survey and from his own careful observations +and estimates that the Seer's dream was not only possible from an +engineering point of view, but from the careful capitalist's +standpoint, would justify a large investment. Lying within the lines +of the ancient beach and thus below the level of the great river, +were hundreds of thousands of acres equal in richness of the soil to +the famous delta lands of the Nile. The bringing of the water from +the river and its distribution through a system of canals and +ditches, while a work of great magnitude requiring the expenditure +of large sums of money, was, as an engineering problem, +comparatively simple. + +As Jefferson Worth gazed at the wonderful scene, a vision of the +changes that were to come to that land passed before him. He saw +first, following the nearly finished work of the engineers, an army +of men beginning at the river and pushing out into the desert with +their canals, bringing with them the life-giving water. Soon, with +the coming of the water, would begin the coming of the settlers. +Hummocks would be leveled, washes and arroyos filled, ditches would +be made to the company canals, and in place of the thin growth of +gray-green desert vegetation with the ragged patches of dun earth +would come great fields of luxuriant alfalfa, billowing acres of +grain, with miles upon miles of orchards, vineyards and groves. The +fierce desert life would give way to the herds and flocks and the +home life of the farmer. The railroad would stretch its steel +strength into this new world; towns and cities would come to be +where now was only solitude and desolation; and out from this world- +old treasure house vast wealth would pour to enrich the peoples of +the earth. The wealth of an empire lay in that land under the +banker's eye, and Capital held the key. + +But while the work of the engineers was simple, it would be a great +work; and it was the magnitude of the enterprise and the consequent +requirement of large sums of money that gave Capital its +opportunity. Without water the desert was worthless. With water the +productive possibilities of that great territory were enormous. +Without Capital the water could not be had. Therefore Capital was +master of the situation and, by controlling the water, could exact +royal tribute from the wealth of the land. + +Knowing James Greenfield and his business associates as he knew +them, familiar with their operations as he was and knowing that they +represented the power of almost unlimited capital, Jefferson Worth +realized that they would plan to share in every dollar of wealth +that The King's Basin lands could be made to produce. Already, his +trained mind saw how easily, with the vast power in their hands, +this could be brought about. And these men, recognizing his peculiar +value in such an enterprise as this, wanted him to join them. + +It was a triumphant moment in the life and business career of the +western banker, the culmination of long, hard years of unceasing +toil, of unfaltering devotion to business, of struggle and +disappointments, of small victories and steady advance gained at the +cost of sacrifice and hard fighting. This proposed alliance with the +great eastern capitalists opened the door and invited him into the +company of the real leaders of the financial world. As one of the +powerful corporation that would literally hold the life of the +future King's Basin in its hand, the multitudes of toilers who would +come to reclaim the desert would be forced to toil not only for +themselves but for him. A part of every dollar of the millions that +would be taken from that treasury by the labor of the people would +go to enrich him. + +The financier's thoughts were interrupted by a sound. He turned to +see his horse tugging at the bridle reins, snorting in fear. The man +started quickly down the hill, but before he could cover half the +distance that separated him from his mount the frightened animal +broke the reins and, wheeling about, disappeared down the trail on a +wild run. At the same instant a coyote trotted leisurely out from +under the lee of the sand drift and, with a side glance over his +shoulder at the banker, slipped around the point of the next low +ridge. + +The man knew that to catch his horse would be impossible. The animal +would not stop until he reached his companions at the feed-rack in +camp. He knew also that to attempt to find his way to headquarters +such a distance and on foot, with night so near at hand, would be +worse than folly. He would only exhaust his strength and make it +harder for his friends to find him before his water, which could not +last another day, should give out. Someone, he knew, would take his +trail in the morning. The only thing he could do was to wait--to +wait alone in the heart of this silent, age-old, waiting land. + +Somewhere in those forgotten ages that went into the making of The +King's Basin Desert, a company of free-born citizens of the land, +moved by that master passion--Good Business, found their way to the +banks of the Colorado. In time Good Business led them to build their +pueblos and to cultivate their fields by irrigation with water from +the river and erect their rude altars to their now long-forgotten +gods. Driven by the same passion that drove the Indians, the +emigrant wagons moved toward the new gold country, and some +financial genius saw Good Business at the river-crossing near the +site of the ancient city. At first it was no more than a ferry, but +soon others with eyes for profit established a trading point where +the overland voyagers could replenish their stock of supplies, sure +to be low after the hundreds of miles across the wide plains. Then +also, in obedience to Good Business, pleasures heard the call, +saloons, gambling houses and dance halls appeared, and for profit +the joys of civilization arrived in the savage land. Good Business +sent the prospectors who found the mines, the capital that developed +them and the laborers who dug the ore. Good Business sent the cattle +barons and their cowboys, sent the speculators and the pioneer +merchants. Good Business sent also, in the fulness of time, +Jefferson Worth. + +Of old New England Puritan stock, Worth had come through the hard +life of a poor farm boy with two dominant elements in his character: +an almost super-human instinct for Good Business, inherited no +doubt, and an instinct, also inherited, for religion. The instinct +for trade, from much cultivation, had waxed strong and stronger with +the years. The religion that he had from his forefathers was become +little more than a superstition. It was his genius for business that +led him, in his young manhood, to leave the farm, and it was +inevitable that from making money he should come to making money +make more money. It was the other dominant element in his character +that kept him scrupulously honest, scrupulously moral. Besides this, +honesty and morality were also "good business." + +Seeking always larger opportunities for the employment of his small, +steadily-increasing financial strength, Mr. Worth established the +Pioneer Bank. Later, as he had foreseen, the same master passion +brought the great railroad with still larger opportunities for his +money to make more money. And now the same master passion that had +driven the Indian, the emigrant, the miner, the cowman, the banker +and the railroad was driving the eastern capitalists to spend their +moneyed strength in the reclamation of The King's Basin Desert. It +was Good Business that led Greenfield and his friends to seek the +co-operation of the western financier. It was Good Business that +called to Jefferson Worth now as he saw the immense possibilities of +the land. + +As truly as the ages had made the barren desert with its hard, +thirsty life, the ages had produced Jefferson Worth, a carefully +perfected, money making machine, as silent, hard and lonely as the +desert itself. With apparently no vices, no passions, no mistakes, +no failures, his only relation to his fellow-men was a business +relation. With his almost supernatural ability to foresee, to +measure, to weigh and judge, with his cold, mask-like face and his +manner of considering carefully every word and of placing a value +upon every trivial incident, he was respected, feared, trusted, even +admired--and that was all. No; not all. By those who were forced, +through circumstances--business circumstances--to contribute to his +prosperity and financial success, he was hated. Such is the +unreasonableness of human kind. + +Business, to this man as to many of his kind, was not the mean, +sordid grasping and hoarding of money. It was his profession, but it +was even more than a profession; it was the expression of his +genius. Still more it was, through him, the expression of the age in +which he lived, the expression of the master passion that in all +ages had wrought in the making of the race. He looked upon a +successful deal as a good surgeon looks upon a successful operation, +as an architect upon the completion of a building or an artist upon +his finished picture. But to a greater degree than to artist or +surgeon, the success of his work was measured by the accumulation of +dollars. Apart from his work he valued the money received from his +operations no more than the surgeon his fee, the artist his price. +The work itself was his passion. Because dollars were the tools of +his craft he was careful of them. The more he succeeded, the more +power he gained for greater success. + +But extremely simple in his tastes, lacking, with his lack of +education, knowledge of the more costly luxuries of life, with the +habits of an ascetic, Jefferson Worth could not evidence his +success; and success hidden and unknown loses its power to reward. +It is not enough for the engineer to run his locomotive; he must +have train loads of goods and passengers to carry to some objective +point. It is not enough for the captain to have command of his ship; +he must have a port. Self to Jefferson Worth meant little; his +nature demanded so little. Nor could Mrs. Worth in this fill the +need in her husband's life, for her nature was as simple as his own. +But a child, whose life could be part of his life, filling out, +supplementing and complementing his own nature; a child who, +dependent upon him, should have all the training that he lacked, who +should share his success and for whom he could plan to succeed--a +child, an heir, would fill the blank in his empty career. For a +brief time he had looked forward to a child of his own blood. Then +the death of the baby and the ill health of his wife had left him +hopeless. He continued his work because he knew no life apart from +his work. + +Then came the little girl so strangely the gift of the desert. The +banker's mind, trained to act quickly, had grasped the possibilities +of the situation instantly as he ran with his companions to answer +the call of that childish voice. From the moment when he knelt with +outstretched hands and pleading words before little Barbara, he had +never ceased trying to win her. Mrs. Worth, knowing that she could +not be with him many years, had said: "You need her, Jeff," and he +did need her. + +But Jefferson Worth knew that Barbara was not his. She shrank from +him as instinctively and unconsciously as she had drawn back that +night of her mother's death when he knelt before her in the desert. +As she had turned to the Seer then, she turned from the banker now. +And now, far more than then, his lonely heart hungered for her; for +with the years his need of her had grown. Envied of foolish men as +men so foolishly envy his class, the banker knew himself to be +destitute, an object of their pity. The poorest Mexican in his adobe +hut, with his half-naked, laughing children, was more wealthy than +he. + +Jefferson Worth, that afternoon on the very scene of the tragedy +that had given Barbara to him, realized that in the land before him +he faced the greatest opportunity of his business career. He +realized also that he was as much alone in his life as he was alone +in the silent, barren waste that surrounded him. Would La Palma de +la Mano de Dios, which had given him the child that was not his +child, give him wealth that still never could be his? + +At last, from his place on the sand drift that held the secret of +Barbara's life, he saw the sun as it appeared to rest for a moment +on the western wall before plunging down into the world on the other +side. Watching, he saw the purple of the hills deepen and deepen and +the wondrous light on the wide sea of colors fade slowly out as the +colors themselves paled and grew dim in the misty dusk of the coming +night. Slowly the twilight sky grew dark, and into the velvet plain +above came the heavenly flocks until their number was past counting +save by Him who leadeth them in their fields. Against the last +lingering light in the west that marked where the day had gone, the +mountains lifted their vast bulk in solemn grandeur as if to bar +forever the coming of another day. Closing about him on every hand, +coming dreadfully nearer and nearer, the black walls of darkness +shut him in. In the cool, mysterious breath of the desert, in the +grotesque, fantastic, nearby shapes and monstrous forms of the sand +dunes, in the mysterious phantom voices that whispered in the dark, +Jefferson Worth felt the close approach of the spirit of the land; +the calling of the age-old, waiting land--the silent menace, the +voiceless threat, the whispered promise. + +And there, alone--held close in The Hollow of God's Hand as the long +hours of the night passed--the spirit of the man's Puritan fathers +stirred within him. In the silent, naked heart of the Desert that, +knowing no hand but the hand of its Creator, seemed to hold in its +hushed mysteriousness the ages of a past eternity, he felt his life +to be but a little thing. Beside the awful forces that made +themselves felt in the spirit of Barbara's Desert, the might of +Capital became small and trivial. Sensing the dreadful power that +had wrought to make that land, he shrank within himself--he was +afraid. He marveled that he had dared dream of forcing La Palma de +la Mano de Dios to contribute to his gains. And so at last it was +given him to know why Barbara instinctively shrank from him in fear. + +With the coming of the day the banker went a little way back on the +trail where the vegetation was not entirely covered by the drifting +sand, and there gathered materials for a fire. Later, when he judged +his friends would be in sight, he fired the pile and, watching the +tall, thick column of smoke ascend, awaited the answer. In a little +while it came, faint and far away, the report of Texas Joe's forty- +five. Soon he heard the sound of voices calling loudly and, +following his answer, the swift hoof-beats of galloping horses; and +Tex and Abe, leading another horse appeared. + +But the Jefferson Worth who rode back to camp with his friends, +there to be greeted and congratulated by the party, was not the same +Jefferson Worth who had left camp the morning before, though no one +congratulated him because of that. + +It was three weeks later when a portly, well-fed gentleman entered +the Pioneer Bank in Rubio City and asked of the teller: "Is Mr. +Worth in?" + +The man on the other side of the counter looked through his grated +window at the speaker with unusual interest. And in the teller's +voice there was a shade of unusual deference as he replied, "Yes, +sir." + +"Tell him that Mr. Greenfield is here." + +At the magic of that name every man in the bank within sound of the +speaker's voice lifted his head and turned toward the face at the +window. + +"Yes, sir. Come this way, sir." + +A door in the partition opened and the visitor was admitted to the +sacred precincts behind the gratings, the bars and the plate glass. +As he moved down the room past counters and desks, every eye +followed him and there was an electrical hush in the atmosphere like +the hush that marks the massing of the forces in Nature before a +conflict of the elements. + +Jefferson Worth looked up as the imposing figure of the great +financier appeared on the threshold of his room, and at the name of +James Greenfield carefully pushed back the papers he had been +considering and rose. The movement, slight as it was, was as though +he cleared his decks for action. The clerk, withdrawing, carefully, +closed the door. + +The two men shook hands with much the air of two wrestlers meeting +for a bout. For a moment neither spoke. Each knew that in the +silence he was being measured, estimated, searched for his weakness +and his strength, and each gave to the other this opportunity as his +right. No time was wasted in idle preliminaries. These men knew the +value of time. No formal words expressing pleasure at the meeting +were spoken. They tacitly accepted the fact that pleasure had not +called them together. + +James Greenfield was a fair representative of his class. His full, +well-colored face with carefully clipped gray mustache, bright blue +eyes and gray hair, was the calmly alert, well-controlled, +thoughtful face of power: not the face of one who does things, but +of one who causes things to be done; not the face of one who is +himself powerful, but of one who controls and directs power; such a +face as you may see leaning from the cab of a great locomotive that +pulls the overland limited, or looking down at you from the bridge +of the ocean liner. It was courageous, but with a courage not +personal--a courage born rather of an exact knowledge of the +strength and duty of every bolt, rivet and lever of the machine +under his hand. It was confident, not in its own strength, but in +the strength that it ruled and directed. + +Jefferson Worth motioned toward a chair at the end of his desk and +seated himself. The man from the East found himself forced to make +the opening. + +"Mr. Worth," he said, "we find it very difficult to understand your +attitude toward our company. We do not see why you decline our +proposition. Your own report gives every reason in the world why you +should accept and you suggest no reason at all for declining. +Frankly, it looks strange to us and I have come out to have a little +talk with you over the matter and to see if we could not persuade +you to reconsider your decision, or at least to learn your reasons +for refusing to go in with us. Your report and your answer to our +proposition are so conflicting that we feel we have a right to some +definite reason for your unexpected decision." + +As he spoke, the president of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation +Company tried in vain to see behind the mask-like face of the man in +the revolving chair. His failure only excited his admiration and +respect. Instinctively he recognized the genius before him, and his +desire to add this strength to his forces increased. + +"My report was satisfactory?" The words were absolutely colorless. + +"Very. It was exactly what we wanted. With your opinion, confirming +our engineer's statements, we felt safe to go ahead with the +organization of the Company and have already set the wheels moving +toward actual work. It is because you so unhesitatingly and so +strongly commend the project as warranting our investment that we +cannot understand your refusal to share the profits of our +enterprise." + +He paused for an answer, but was forced to continue. "Let me explain +more fully than I could outline in my letter just what we propose +doing. The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company, Mr. Worth, will +not confine its operations simply to furnishing water for the +reclamation and development of these lands. That is no more than the +beginning--the basis of our operations. With the settlement and +improvement of the country will come many other openings for +profitable investments--townsites, transportation lines, telephones, +electric power, banking and all that, you understand. Our +connections and resources make it possible for us to finance any +industry or operation that promises attractive returns, while our +position as the originators of the whole King's Basin movement and +the owners of the irrigation system will give us tremendous +advantage over any outside capital that may attempt to come in +later, and will make competition practically impossible." + +"I figured that was the way you would do it," was the unemotional +reply. + +More than ever James Greenfield wanted this man. He considered +carefully a few minutes, with no help from Jefferson Worth, then +tried again. "If you feel that our proposition to you is not liberal +enough, Mr. Worth, I am prepared to double our offer." + +If the financier from New York thought to startle this little +western banker with a proposal that was more than princely he +failed. His words seemed to have no effect. It was as though he +talked to a marble figure of a man. + +"I appreciate your proposition, but must decline it." + +"May I ask your reason, sir?" + +"I must decline to give any." + +The other arose, the light of battle in his eyes, for to James +Greenfield's mind there could be only one possible meaning in the +answer. "That is, of course, your privilege, Mr. Worth," he said +coldly. And then with the weight of conscious power he added: "But +I'll tell you this, sir: if you think you can enter The King's Basin +in opposition to our Company you're making the mistake of your life. +We'll smash you, with your limited resources, so flat that you'll be +glad for a chance to make the price of a meal. Good day, sir!" + +"Good day." + +Before the great capitalist was out of the building, Jefferson Worth +was bending over the papers on his desk again as though declining to +accept flattering offers from gigantic corporations was an hourly +occurrence. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +BARBARA'S LOVE FOR THE SEER. + + +Jefferson Worth had not proceeded far with the work before him after +James Greenfield left when he was again interrupted. This time it +was the voice of Barbara in the other room. + +The banker lifted his head quickly. Again he pushed his papers from +him, but now the movement seemed to indicate weariness and +uncertainty rather than readiness for action. His head dropped +forward, his thin fingers nervously tapped the arms of his chair. +When the girl's step sounded at the door he looked up the fraction +of a second before she appeared. + +"I don't want to disturb you, father, but they told me that that +big, fine-looking man just going out was Mr. Greenfield. Is he--did +he come all the way from New York to see you?" + +"He came in here to see me," said Jefferson Worth exactly. + +"And the work?" + +"He says they have already started the wheels to moving." + +"And you, daddy; you?" + +Jefferson Worth arose and carefully closed the door. Then silently +indicating the chair at the end of his desk he resumed his seat. + +As Barbara looked into that mask-like face, the eager expectant +light in her brown eyes died out and a look of questioning doubt +came. She seemed to shrink back from him almost as she had turned +away that first time in the desert. + +If Jefferson Worth felt that look his face gave no sign; only those +thin, nervous fingers were lifted to caress his chin. + +"Are you--are you going to help, daddy? Will you join Mr. +Greenfield's company?" + +Still the man was silent, and the girl, watching, wondered what was +going on behind that gray mask, what questions were being weighed +and considered, + +At last he spoke one cold word: "Why?" + +Barbara flushed. "Because," she answered, carefully, "because it is +such a great work. You could do so much more than simply make +money." + +"That is as you and the Seer see it." + +"But, father; it _is_ a great work, isn't it, to change the desert +into a land of farms and homes for thousands and thousands of +people?" + +"Do you think that Greenfield and his crowd are going into this +scheme because it is a great thing for the people?" + +"But don't even capitalists sometimes undertake a great work just +because it is great and because thousands upon thousands of people, +through years and years to come, will be benefited even though the +men themselves do not make so awfully much money?" + +If Jefferson Worth felt her unconscious insinuation his face gave no +sign. Carefully he listened with his manner of considering and +weighing every word, while to Barbara his mind seemed to be reaching +out on every side or running far into the future. When he answered +his words were carefully exact. "Capitalists, as individuals might +and do, spend millions in projects from which they, personally, +expect no returns. But _Capital_ doesn't do such things. Anything +that Capital, as _Capital_, goes into must be purely a business +proposition. If anything like sentiment entered into it that would +be the end of the whole matter." + +Barbara moved uneasily. "I don't think I quite understand why," she +said. + +There was a shade of color now in the banker's voice as he explained +by asking: "How long do you think this bank could exist if we made +loans to Tom, Dick and Harry because they needed help, or put money +into this and that scheme simply because it was a beneficial thing? +How long would it be before we went to smash?" + +"But don't business men ever do anything except to make money? +Doesn't Capital, as you say, ever consider the people?" + +"This bank is a very substantial benefit to the people. But it can +only benefit them by doing business on strictly business principles. +As an individual any officer or stock holder can do what he pleases +for whatever reason moves him. He can burn his money if he wants to. +But as officers and directors of this corporation we can't burn the +capital of the institution." + +"But Mr. Greenfield and these New York men, who have organized the +company--are they not careful financiers?" + +"Very." + +"It seems to me that they must believe in the Seer and his work or +they wouldn't furnish him the money, would they?" + +"They believe in the Seer and his work from their standpoint. Their +capital is invested for just one purpose--dividends." + +Barbara sighed and moved impatiently. "You always make it so hard to +believe in men, father. I can't think that all business men--all +financiers, I mean,--are so cold and heartless." + +Again if Jefferson Worth felt the unconscious implication in her +words he gave no sign. The banker was not ignorant of the public +sentiment toward himself and the men of his class in his profession. +He had come to accept it with the indifference of his exact, +machine-like habit. + +Barbara continued: "I feel sure that Mr. Greenfield and the men with +him are going to furnish the money for the Seer to do this work for +more than just what they will make out of it. I know that Mr. Holmes +does, and I had hoped that you"--her voice broke--"that you would--" + +If only Jefferson Worth could have broken the habit of a lifetime. +If he could have laid aside that gray mask and permitted the girl to +look into his hidden life, perhaps-- + +His colorless voice broke the silence, coldly exact: "What do you +figure Willard Holmes is in this thing for?" + +Barbara's face lighted up proudly. "He is in the work for the same +reason that the Seer and Abe are--because it is such a great work +and means so much to the world. I know, because since he returned he +has talked to me so much about it. When he first came out--just at +first--he didn't understand what the work really was. But now he +understands it as the Seer sees it." + +"Did the Seer send him out here?" + +"No, I believe Mr. Greenfield sent him." + +"Why?" + +"I suppose they wanted an eastern man, whom they knew better than +they knew the Seer, to represent them? It would be very natural, +wouldn't it?" + +"Very natural," agreed Jefferson Worth. + +"Have you given the Company your final answer, father?" + +"Yes." + +"And you--you won't have anything to do with the reclamation of my +Desert?" + +"I declined to join the Company." + +Blindly Barbara made her way out of the building. The place, with +its air of business and suggestions of wealth, was unbearably +hateful to her. At home she ordered her horse and started for the +open country. But she did not ride toward the Desert. She felt that +she could not bear the sight of The King's Basin that day. + +In her father's attitude toward the Company Barbara saw only his +seeming desire for selfish gain. He had told her so often that only +one thing could justify an investment of capital. Evidently he did +not think The King's Basin project would pay. She felt ashamed for +him; he seemed so incapable of considering anything but profit. +Nothing but profit, the sure promise of gain, could move him. He +believed in the work; he had reported in favor of it to the Company. +He knew that the Company was going ahead. He was willing enough that +others should do the work, she thought bitterly. They might take the +risk. It was even likely that he had some way planned by which, +without risking anything himself, he would reap large returns +through their efforts. She thought proudly of the Seer, who had +given so many unpaid years to the Reclamation work; of Abe and his +loyalty to the Seer; and of Willard Holmes, who was going to give +himself to the work. + +Utterly sick at heart the girl did not meet her father at their +evening meal. She could not. Jefferson Worth ate alone and alone +spent the evening on the porch. On the way to his room he paused a +moment at her door. He knocked softly so as not to waken her if she +was asleep. When there was no answer he stole quietly away. But +Barbara was not asleep. + +For three days Mr. Greenfield remained in Rubio City, "on the +business of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company," the +papers said in a long article setting forth the greatness of the +work that was to be undertaken in the desert through the magnificent +enterprise of these mighty eastern capitalists. + +During that time Barbara had not seen either the Seer, Holmes or Abe +Lee. She understood that they were engaged with Mr. Greenfield. She +read the glowing articles in the paper, the afternoon of Mr. +Greenfield's departure, with a thrill of pride. At last it had come +--the day for which the Seer had hoped all these years. The dear old +Seer! She was a little disappointed that the papers did not give his +name more prominence. It seemed to be all Greenfield and the +Company. But after all that did not matter. It was the Seer's work; +the Seer had brought it about. + +The front gate clicked and Barbara looked up from her paper to see +her old friend coming up the walk. She saw at a glance that +something was wrong. She thought he was ill. The big form of the +engineer drooped with weakness, his head dropped forward, his eyes +were fixed on the ground and he walked slowly, dragging his feet as +with great weariness. With a startled cry she ran to meet him, and +as he caught her hands in both his own she saw his face drawn and +haggard and his brown eyes filled with hopeless pain. He did not +speak. + +Leading him to the shade of the porch she brought forward his +favorite chair. He sank into it as if overcome with exhaustion, but +attempted to smile his thanks. + +"What is it? Are you ill? Let me call a doctor?" + +"No, no, dear, I'm not sick. It's not that. I'm--I'm upset a bit, +that's all. I'll be all right in a little while. Only it was rather +unexpected." He turned his face away as though to hide something +from her, + +"What is it? Can't you tell me? What is the matter?" Barbara had +never seen the Seer so hopeless. + +"They have let me out." + +She did not understand. "Let you out?" + +He bowed his head slowly. "Yes; the Company, you know. They have +appointed Mr. Holmes chief engineer in my place." + +She cried out in indignant dismay. "But how could they? It is your +work--all your work! You have given years to bring it before the +world. They never would have known of The King's Basin at all but +for you. How dare they? They have no right!" + +The engineer smiled. "I was only an employe of Greenfield and the +men who organized the Company, you know. In their eyes my relation +to the work was the same as that of a Cocopah Indian laborer. Of +course it was understood in a general way that I was to have some +stock in the Company when it was organized, with the chief +engineer's position at least, but there was nothing settled. Nothing +could be settled until the actual completion of the survey, you +know. I never dreamed of this. I can see now that it was planned +from the first and that this is what Holmes came out here for. He is +a great favorite of Greenfield's, and I suppose they wanted a man of +their own kind to look after their interests. But it hurts, Barbara; +it hurts." + +For an hour he stayed with her and she helped him as such a woman +always helps. But when she would have kept him for supper he said: +"No, I must find Abe. I want to tell the boy and have it over. You +can tell your father." + +When Jefferson Worth learned from his indignant daughter of the +Company's action he only said, in his precise way: "I figured that +would be their first move." There was no feeling in his voice or +manner. It was the simple verification of conclusions already +reached and considered. + +"Father!" cried Barbara. "Do you mean that you expected the Company +to put that man Holmes in the Seer's place?" + +"What reason was there to expect anything else?" + +"But you never said anything all the time the Seer was--" She could +not continue. It was maddening to think that while she had been +dreaming and planning with the Seer, her father had foreseen that +their dreams would come to nought. + +"If I had you would not have believed me." The words were merely a +calm, emotionless statement of fact. "I told you that the Company +would act only from a business standpoint." + +Suddenly a new phase of the situation flashed upon Barbara. +Controlling her emotions and searching her father's face she asked: +"Daddy, tell me please: was it because you saw this that you refused +to join the Company?" + +Jefferson Worth considered; then with marked caution answered: "That +was part of the reason." + +"I think I begin to understand a little. I'm glad--glad that you +would have nothing to do with those men. It would have killed me if +you had had any part in this now." + +Presently the banker asked: "Have you seen Abe Lee?" + +"No, why? Do you think--have they discharged him, too? He wouldn't +stay anyway after their treatment of the Seer. I wouldn't want him +to." + +"They won't let him out if they can keep him. Holmes will need him," +said Worth. They he added: "You'd better tell Abe to stay." + +Barbara gasped. "What do you mean?" + +"Tell him to stay," repeated Worth slowly. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +ABE LEE RESIGNS. + + +In obedience to its master passion--Good Business--the race now +began pouring its life into the barren wastes of The King's Basin +Desert. + +In the city by the sea at the end of the Southwestern and +Continental there was a suite of offices with real gold letters on +the ground-glass doors richly spelling "The King's Basin Land and +Irrigation Company." Behind these doors there was real mahogany +furniture, solid, substantial and rich; a high safe; many attractive +maps; and a gentleman who--never having traveled west of Buffalo +before--could answer with authority every conceivable question +relating to the reclamation of the arid lands of the great West. +When there were no more questions to ask he could still tell you +many things of the wonderland of wealth that was being opened to the +public by the Company, demonstrating thus beyond the possibility of +a doubt how many times a dollar could be multiplied. + +From this office went forth to the advertising departments of the +magazines and papers, skillfully prepared copy, which in turn was +followed by pamphlets, circulars and letters innumerable. In one +room a company of clerks and book-keepers and accountants pored over +their tasks at desks and counters. In another a squad of +stenographers filled the air with the sound of their type-writers. +Through the doors of the different rooms passed an endless +procession; men from the front with the marks of the desert sun on +their faces--engineers, superintendents, bosses, messengers, agents +--servants of the Company; laborers of every sort and nationality +came in answer to the cry: "Men wanted!"; special salesmen from +foundry, factory and shop drawn by prospective large sales of +machinery, implements and supplies; land-hungry men from everywhere +seeking information and opportunity for investment. + +At Deep Well (which is no well at all) on the rim of the Basin, +trainloads of supplies, implements, machinery, lumber and +construction material, horses, mules and men were daily side-tracked +and unloaded on the desert sands. Overland travelers gazed in +startled wonder at the scene of stirring activity that burst so +suddenly upon them in the midst of the barren land through which +they had ridden for hours without sight of a human habitation or +sign of man. The great mountain of goods, piled on the dun plain; +the bands of horses and mules; the camp-fires; the blankets spread +on the bare ground; the men moving here and there in seemingly +hopeless confusion; all looked so ridiculously out of place and so +pitifully helpless. + +Every hour companies of men with teams and vehicles set out from the +camp to be swallowed up in the silent distance. Night and day the +huge mountain of goods was attacked by the freighters who, with +their big wagons drawn by six, eight, twelve, or more, mules, +appeared mysteriously out of the weird landscape as if they were +spirits materialized by some mighty unknown genii of the desert. +Their heavy wagons loaded, their water barrels filled, they turned +again to the unseen realm from which they had been summoned. The +sound of the loud voices of the drivers, the creaking of the wagons, +the jingle of harness, the shot-like reports of long whips died +quickly away; while, to the vision, the outfits passed slowly-- +fading, dissolving in their great clouds of dust, into the land of +mystery. + +In Rubio City Jefferson Worth continued on his machine-like way at +the Pioneer Bank, apparently paying no heed to the movement that +offered such opportunities for profitable investment. Barbara rarely +spoke now of the work that had been so dear to her, nor did she ever +ride to the foot of the hill on the Mesa to look over the Desert. +The Seer was in the northern railroad work again, but Abe Lee, with +Tex and Pat and Pablo Garcia, had gone with the beginning of the +stream of life that was pouring into the new country. + +True to the far-reaching plans of the Company, at the largest and +most central of the supply camps, located in the very heart of The +King's Basin, the townsite of Kingston was laid out, and even in the +days when every drop of water was hauled from three to ten miles +town lots were offered for sale and sold to eager speculators. + +A year from the beginning of the work at the intake at the river, +water was turned into the canals. With the coming of the water, +Kingston changed, almost between suns, from a rude supply camp to an +established town with post-office, stores, hotel, blacksmith shop, +livery stables, all in buildings more or less substantial. Most +substantial of all was the building owned and occupied by the +offices of the Company. + +With the coming of the water also, the stream of human life that +flowed into the Basin was swollen by hundreds of settlers driven by +the master passion--Good Business--to toil and traffic, to build the +city, to subdue and cultivate the land and thus to realize the +Seer's dream, while the engineer himself was banished from the work +to which he had given his life. Every sunrise saw new tent-houses +springing up on the claims of the settlers around the Company town +and new buildings beginning in the center of it all--Kingston. Every +sunset saw miles of new ditches ready to receive the water from the +canal and acres of new land cleared and graded for irrigation. + +Thus it was that afternoon when, from his office window, Mr. Burk, +the General Manager of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company, +watched a freighter with a twelve-mule load of goods stop his team +directly across the street in front of the largest and most +important general store in the Basin. + +Deck Jordan, the merchant, came out and the Manager easily heard the +driver's loud voice: "Jim'll be along in 'bout another hour, I +reckon. We aim to get the rest in two more trips." + +"Six twelve-mule loads in that shipment," thought the Company's +manager; "and that fellow set up business with a two-horse load of +stuff!" + +An empty wagon was driven up to the store and the General Manager +recognized in the driver one of the Company's men from a grading +camp six miles away; while another wagon--a Company wagon also-- +nearly filled with supplies moved away toward the open desert. + +Deck's business was assuming quite respectable proportions thought +Mr. Burk. And Deck's business was mostly with employes of the +Company. Taking a cigar from a box on his desk, Mr. Burk scratched a +match on the heel of his shoe and, leaning back in his office chair, +continued thinking. The Manager of The King's Basin Land and +Irrigation Company was paid to think. The Company hired Mr. Burk's +peculiar talent even as they hired the physical strength of their +laborers or the professional skill of their engineers. + +As he meditated, the Manager still watched from the window the +activities of the street. Soon from the open desert, beyond the last +new building down the street, he saw a horseman approaching. At an +easy swinging lope the rider came straight toward the Company's +headquarters and, as he drew near, the Manager recognized the chief +engineer. Greeting the man at the open window as he passed, Willard +Holmes dismounted at the entrance of the building and, going first +to the water tank, soon appeared in the doorway of the Manager's +room. The engineer's clothes from boots to Stetson were covered with +dust and his face was deeply bronzed by the months in the open air. + +Turning from the window Mr. Burk held out the box of cigars. + +"No thanks," said the Chief with a smile. "I'm hot as a lime kiln +now. Wait until after supper." + +Throwing his hat and gloves on the floor, he dropped into a chair +with a sigh of relief at the grateful coolness of the room after +hours of riding in the dazzling light of the desert sun. + +The other, returning the box to its place, tipped back in his chair +and elevated his well-dressed feet to his desk and, with his cigar +in one corner of his mouth and his head cocked suggestively to one +side, looked his companion over with a critical smile. "I say, +Holmes, how would you like to be in little old New York this +evening?" + +At the question and the manner of the speaker the engineer held up +his hands with a motion of protest as he commanded, in tragic voice: +"Get thee behind me, Satan!" Then, at the Manager's laugh, he added +seriously: "New York is all right, Burk, but I guess I can manage to +stick it out here a while longer." + +Burk looked at the engineer with the same thoughtful expression that +had marked his face when he watched the wagon-load of supplies +before the store across the street. "I have noticed that you show +symptoms of slowly developing an interest in your job," he murmured. +"You were at the river yesterday." + +"No; I was at Number Five Heading. Abe Lee will be in from the +intake this afternoon. I was there day before yesterday." + +"How is the little old Colorado behaving herself?" + +"All right so far. Our work is all a guess though. There is not a +scrap of data to go on, you know." There was a hint of anxiety in +the chief engineer's answer. + +"I suppose you find the talkative Abe cheerfully optimistic about +the future of our structures as usual?" + +Holmes did not smile at the jesting tone of the Manager. "Lee is +certainly doing all he can to make things safe. He is a fiend for +thoroughness, and between you and me, Burk, the Company _ought_ to +spend more money on that intake at least. A few more thousands would +make it what it should be." + +The man who was paid to think held out a hand protestingly. "My dear +boy, how many times have we gone over that? The Company will spend +just what they must spend to get this scheme going and not a cent +more. Later, when the business justifies, they will improve the +system. Don't get yourself sidetracked by the notion that this whole +project is for the benefit of the dear people and that the Company +is made up of benevolent old gentlemen, who have nothing to do with +their wealth but promote philanthropic enterprises. You should know +your Uncle Jim better. Dividends, my boy, dividends; that's what +we're all here for, and you can't afford to forget it. By the way, +did you have any dinner to-day?" + +"I struck Camp Seven on the Alamitos at noon." + +"Hum-m. Sour bread, sow-belly, frijoles? Or was it canned corn? I +say, old man, do you remember some of the places where we used to +dine at home--flowers and music, and table linen, and real dishes, +and waiters with real food, and women--God bless 'em!--real women? +What would you give to-night, Holmes, for something to eat that had +never been preserved, embalmed, cured, dried or tinned? It's not a +dream of fairyland, my boy; there are such places in the world and +there are such things to eat. Come, what do you say? Where shall we +dine tonight and what will you have?" + +"You fiend!" growled Holmes. "You know I'd sell my soul this minute +for one good red apple." + +Lowering his feet to the floor and rising, the Manager of The King's +Basin Land and Irrigation Company crossed the room stealthily and +carefully closed the door. Then taking a bunch of keys from his +pocket, with an air of great secrecy he unlocked a drawer in his +desk, pulled it open and took out--_an apple_. + +The Company's chief engineer fell on the Manager with an exclamation +of amazement and delight. + +"Really," said Burk as he watched the fruit disappear, "your child- +like pleasure almost justifies my crime. I even feel repaid for my +self-denial. There were only three in the basket." + +"How did you do it?" asked Holmes between bites, gazing at the apple +in his hand as though to devour the treat with his eyes also, +thereby doubling the pleasure. + +"It was one of our dearly beloved prospective settlers," the +thoughtful Manager explained with an air of conscious merit. "He +came in from somewhere yesterday to spy out the land and, being a +prudent and thrifty farmer, he possesses, or is possessed by, a +prudent and thrifty wife. Said wife fitted out said farmer for his +journey into this far country with a market basket of provisions. +Home-made provisions, Willard, my son; _home made!_ A whole basket +full! He had one feed left and was finishing it out there on the +sidewalk when I returned from what we of this benighted land call +dinner. How could I help looking. I watched him devour the leg of a +chicken. I watched him eat real bread with jelly on it. Then I +caught sight of three apples--_three!_ Holmes, such wealth is +criminal. I considered--I became an anarchist. He was a big husky +and I dared not assault him, so I talked--Lord forgive me!--how I +talked. I offered confidential advice, I conjured up visions of +wealth untold. I laid him under a spell and gently led him and his +basket into the office even as he finished the pie. I showed him +maps; I gave him a cigar; I urged him to leave his basket and +satchel here in my private office for safe-keeping while he looked +around. Gladly he accepted my invitation. His confidence was +pathetic. How could the poor, trusting farmer know that I was ready, +if necessary, to murder him for his fortune? When he had gone I +locked the door and I--I--I only took two, Holmes; I dared not take +them all, for he was big and rough, as I say. But I could not +believe that a man with such wealth could miss a part of it." + +"But you said you ate two," said the engineer severely, taking +another long, lingering bite. + +"I did," returned the Manager, with awful solemnity. "When that +trusting but husky farmer returned later for his possessions he +thanked me many times for my kindness while I trembled with the +consciousness of my guilt, assuring him that it was no trouble at +all--no trouble at all. And then--just as I felt sure that he was +going and was beginning to breathe easier--he stopped and fumbled +around in his basket. My heart stood still. 'Hannah put some fine +apples in my dinner,' he muttered. 'I thought maybe you might like +some. Reckon I must a-et 'em after all. I thought there was--no, by +jocks! here she is.' Holmes, as I live he handed me that other +apple. It was positively uncanny. I was speechless. Not until he was +gone did I realize that it was prophetic. In like manner shall the +settlers, the farmers, save this land and us from destruction." + +"It's Good Business," returned Holmes. "It exactly illustrates your +methods of dealing with the confiding public." + +"Humph!" grunted the other. "I observe that you do not hesitate to +enjoy the fruits of my financiering." + +A knock at the door prevented the engineer's reply. + +"Come in!" called Burk. + +The door opened and Abe Lee stood on the threshold. The two men +greeted the surveyor cordially but with that subtle touch in their +voices that hinted at consciousness of superior position and +authority. + +Abe addressed himself directly to his Chief, saying: "We finished at +the intake last night, sir, and moved to Dry River Heading this +morning as you directed." + +"You left everything at the river in good shape, of course?" + +The surveyor did not answer. The tobacco and paper that, in his long +fingers, were assuming the form of a cigarette seemed to demand his +undivided attention. Burk was thoughtfully watching the two men. At +the critical moment he handed Abe a match. From the cloud of smoke +Abe spoke again. "The outfit will be ready to begin work at the +Heading to-morrow morning." + +Before Holmes could speak the Manager said: "You evidently still +think, Lee, that the work at the river is not satisfactory. Are you +still predicting that our intake will go out with the next high +water?" + +"I don't know whether the next high water will do it or not. The Rio +Colorado alone won't hurt us, but when the Gila and the Little +Colorado go on the war-path and come down on top of a high Colorado +flood you'll catch hell. It may be this season; it may be next. It +depends on the snowfall in the upper countries and the weather in +the spring, but it _has_ come and it will come again." + +"How do you know? There have been no records kept and no surveys. We +have no data." + +"There's data enough. The Colorado leaves her own record. I know the +country; I know what the river has done and I know what the Indians +have told me." + +At the surveyor's words his Chief stirred impatiently and the +Manager answered: "But we can't spend twenty or thirty thousand +dollars on a mere guess at what _may_ happen, Lee. When the country +is fairly well settled and business justifies, we will put in a new +intake. In the meantime those structures will have to do. The K. B. +L. and I. is not in business for glory, you know." Abe spoke softly +from a cloud of smoke. "And are you explaining this situation to the +people who are coming here by the hundreds to settle? Do they +understand the chances they are taking when they buy water rights +and go ahead to develop their ranches?" + +"Certainly not. If we talked risks no one would come in. The Company +must protect its interests." + +"Who protects the settlers' interests?" + +The Manager stiffened. "I don't recognize your right to criticise +the Company's policy, Lee. Mr. Holmes is our chief engineer and he +assures me that our structures are as good as they can be made with +the money at our disposal. We can only carry out the policies of the +Company and we are responsible to them for the money we spend. You +have no responsibility in the matter whatever." + +"Oh, hell, Burk," drawled Abe, though his eyes contradicted flatly +his soft tone. "There's no occasion for you to climb so high up that +ladder. You've been a corporation mouthpiece so long you have no +more soul than the Company." He turned to his Chief. "I left Andy in +charge at camp. He understands that I will not be back. I dropped my +resignation in your box in the office as I came in. Adios." + +Leaving the office, Abe walked slowly down the street through the +heart of the Company's little town. On every hand he saw the work +that was being wrought in the Desert. There were business blocks and +houses in every stage of building from the new-laid foundation to +the moving-in of the tenants. The air rang with sound of hammer and +saw. Teams and wagons from the ranches lined the street. The very +faces of the people he met glowed with enthusiasm, while +determination and purpose were expressed in their very movements as +they hurried by. + +A mile west of town the surveyor stopped on the bridge that spanned +the main canal. He paused to look around. He saw the country already +dotted with the white tent-houses of the settlers, and even as he +looked three new wagons, loaded with supplies and implements, +passed, bound for the claims of the owners. Under his feet the water +from the distant river ran strongly. To the west was a grading camp +on the line of a Company ditch; to the south was another. Far to the +north and east, along the rim of the Basin, he knew the railroad was +bringing other pioneers by the hundreds. He drew a deep breath and, +taking off his sombrero, drank in the scene. How he loved it all! It +was the Seer's dream, but the Seer could have no part in it. It was +Barbara's Desert, but Barbara was shut out--exiled. It was his work, +but he was powerless to do it. The Seer had told him to stay for his +work's sake. He smiled grimly, remembering the Manager's words. +Barbara had told him to stay, but the girl knew nothing of +conditions--how could she know? Jefferson Worth had told him to +stay. Why? Barbara, in her letters, never spoke of the work. The +Seer seldom wrote; Jefferson Worth, never. Every month the situation +had grown more unbearable. Burk might insist that he had no +responsibility and Holmes might argue that they could only do their +best with what funds the Company would supply. Abe was not of their +school. Well, he was out of it now for good. He was not the kind of +a man the Company wanted. + +Returning to town he had supper at the little shack restaurant and, +going to the tent house owned by himself and two brother-surveyors +that they might have a place to sleep when in town, he gathered his +few possessions together in readiness for departure in the morning. + +When the brief task was finished and he had written a note to his +two friends, who were away, he went out again on the main street, +because there was nothing else to do. It was evening now and the +usual crowd was gathered in front of the post-office to watch the +arrival of the stage, the one event of never-failing interest to +these hardy pioneers. In the throng there were teamsters, laborers, +ranchers, mechanics, real-estate agents, speculators, surveyors-- +gathered from camp and field and town. Some were expecting letters +from the home folks in the world outside; a few were looking for +friends among the passengers. Many were there, as was Abe, because +it was the point of interest. All were roughly clad, marked by the +semi-tropical desert wind and sun. + +It was among such men as these that Abe Lee's life had been spent. +Such scenes as these were home scenes to him. In a peculiar way, +through the Seer and Barbara, the work that these men were doing was +dear to him. He felt that he was being cast out of his own place. As +he passed through the throng Abe heard always the same topic of +conversation: the work--the work--the work. News to these men meant +more miles of canal finished, new ditches dug, more land leveled and +graded, new settlers located. The surveyor thought of the future of +these people, given wholly into the hands of the Company; of the men +in the East, who knew nothing of their hardships but who would force +them to pay royal tribute out of the fruits of their toil; of how, +even then, they were increasing the value of the Company property. + +"Here she comes!" cried someone, and all eyes were turned to see the +stage swinging down the street. Abe drew back a little--to the thin +edge of the crowd; he was expecting neither letters nor friends. The +six broncos were brought to a stand in the midst of the crowd, the +mail bag was tossed to the post-master and the passengers began +climbing down from their seats. + +As the last man rose from his place he stood for a moment in a +stooped position, gripping with each hand one of the standards that +supported the canvas top of the vehicle. Looking out thus over the +crowd he seemed to be gathering data for an estimate of the +population before he felt cautiously with his foot for the step. + +Abe Lee started forward with an exclamation. + +It was Jefferson Worth! + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +SIGNS OF CONFLICT. + + +Not a line of Jefferson Worth's countenance changed as the tall +surveyor, pushing his way through the crowd about the new arrivals, +greeted him. But Abe Lee felt the man from behind his gray mask +reaching out to grasp his innermost thoughts and emotions. + +"Where is the hotel?" + +Abe explained that the rough board shelter that bore that name was +full to the door. People were even sleeping on the floor. "But there +is room in our tent, Mr. Worth," he finished and led the way out of +the crowd. + +To the surveyor's eager questions the banker answered that Barbara +was visiting friends in the Coast city. + +When they had reached the tent and Abe had found and lighted a +lantern, Mr. Worth said--and his manner was as though he were +continuing a conversation that had been interrupted only for a +moment--"well, I see you stayed." + +At his words the surveyor, who was filling a tin wash-basin with +fresh water that his guest might wash away the dust of his journey, +felt the hot blood in his cheeks. Before answering he pulled an old +cracker-box from under a cot in one corner of the canvas room and, +rummaging therein, brought to light a clean towel. When he had +placed this evidence of civilization beside the basin on the box +that did duty as a wash-stand, he answered: "I quit the Company this +afternoon." + +"Why?" + +"Because I won't do the kind of work the Company wants." The +surveyor spoke hotly now. The man busy with the basin of water made +no comment, and Abe continued: "Mr. Worth, they are putting in the +cheapest possible kind of wooden structures all through the system, +even at points where the safety of the whole project depends on the +control of the water. The intake itself is nothing but the flimsiest +sort of a makeshift. One good flood, such as we have every few +years, and there wouldn't be a damned stick of it left in twelve +hours. You remember what the grade is from the river at the point of +the intake this way into the Basin and you know how water cuts this +soil. If that gate goes out the whole river will come through; and +these settlers, who are tumbling over each other to put into this +country every cent they have in the world, will lose everything." + +"The Company takes its chances with the settlers, doesn't it?" + +"The Company takes mighty small chances compared to the risk the +settlers are carrying. As a matter of fact, Mr. Worth, it is the +people who are building this system; not the Company at all. To +prove up on these desert claims the government compels them to have +the water. They can't use the water without paying the Company for +the right. After they have bought the water rights then they must +pay for every acre-foot they use. All Greenfield and his bunch did +was to put up enough to start the thing going and the people are +doing the rest. The Company knows the risk and stakes a +comparatively small amount of capital. The settlers know nothing of +the real conditions and stake everything they have in the world. If +the Company would tell the people the situation it would be square, +but you know what would happen if they did that. No one would come +in. As it is, the Company, by risking the smallest amount possible, +leads the people to risk everything they have and yet the Greenfield +crowd stands to win big on the whole stake." + +Mr. Worth was drying his slim fingers with careful precision. "I +figured that was the way it would be done. That's the way all these +big enterprises are launched. The first work is always done on a +promoter's estimate. Later, when the business justifies, the system +will be strengthened and improved." + +"Which means," retorted the surveyor, "that when the Company has +taken enough money from the settlers, whom they have induced to +stake everything they have on the gamble by letting them think it is +a sure thing, they will use _a part of it_ to give the people what +they _think_ they are getting now." + +The banker laid the towel carefully aside and disposed of the water +in the wash-basin by the primitive method of throwing it from the +tent door. Then he spoke again: "The people themselves could never +start a work like this, and if there wasn't a chance to make a big +thing Capital wouldn't. It's the size of the profit compared with +the amount invested that draws Capital into this kind of a thing. If +the Company had to take all the chance in this project they would +simply stay out and the work would never be done. This feature of +unequal risk is the very thing, and the only thing, that could +attract the money to start this proposition going; and that's what +people like you and the Seer and Barbara can't see. Holmes and Burk +can't help themselves. It's Greenfield and the Company, and they are +just as honest as other men. They are simply promoting this scheme +in the only way possible to start it and the people will share the +results." + +"Holmes and Burk are all right, except that they're owned body and +soul by the Company," said Abe quickly. "But Greenfield and the men +who engineered this thing look to me like a bunch of green-goods men +who live on the confidence of the people." + +"The people will gain their farms just the same," returned the +financier. "They wouldn't have anything without the Company." + +The surveyor shrugged his shoulders. "Well, you may be right, Mr. +Worth; but I've had all I can stand of it." + +Again Jefferson Worth looked full into the younger man's eyes and +Abe felt that Something behind the mask reaching out to seize the +thoughts and motives that lay back of his words: "What are you going +to do?" + +"I don't know. Punch steers or get a job in a mine somewhere, I +reckon. I'm going somewhere out of this. I've had enough of +promoter's estimates." + +"Suppose you stay and work for me." + +Abe Lee sprang to his feet. "Work for you? Here? I thought you had +refused to go into this deal?" + +"I declined to join Greenfield's Company," said the banker exactly. + +"Do you mean, Mr. Worth, that you are going to operate in the Basin +independently, knowing the Company's strength and the whole +situation as you do?" + +"I have decided to take a chance with the rest," was the unemotional +answer. "I sold out of the bank and cleaned up everything in Rubio +City last week." + +"But what are you going into here?" + +"I can use you if you want to stay," came the cautious answer. + +"Stay? Of course I'll stay!" + +It was characteristic of these men that nothing was said of salary +on either side. Extinguishing the lantern, Abe led the way out into +the night. The darkness was intense and unrelieved save by the thin +broken line of twinkling lights from the windows of the buildings, +which gave them the direction of the main street, and the few dull +glowing tent houses, whose tenants were at home. Overhead the desert +stars shone with a brilliance that put to shame the feeble efforts +of the earth-men, while about the little pioneer town the desert +night drew close with its circling wall of mystery. + +Did Jefferson Worth think, as he stumbled along by the surveyor's +side, of that other night in The Hollow of God's Hand, when he had +faced, alone, the spirit of the land? + +"This town needs an electric lighting system," he said in his +colorless voice. + +When Jefferson Worth had finished supper in the shack restaurant he +proposed cautiously that they look around a little. The street was +lined with teams and saddle horses, their forms shadowy and +indistinct in the dark places of vacant lots or where buildings were +under construction, but standing forth with startling clearness +where the light from a store streamed forth. The sidewalk was filled +with men from the ranches and grading camps, who had come to town +after sunset for their mail or supplies so that no hour of the day +should be lost to the work that had called them into the desert; and +these ever-shifting figures passed to and fro through the bands of +light and darkness, gathered in groups in front of the stores and +dissolved again, to form other groups or to lose themselves in the +general throng. Every moment a wagon-load of men, a party of +horsemen, or a single rider would appear suddenly and mysteriously +out of the night, while others, leaving the throng to depart in like +manner, would be swallowed up as mysteriously by the blackness. In +the center of the picture and the very heart of the activity was the +general store opposite the office of The King's Basin Land and +Irrigation Company. + +Deck Jordan had opened his store in the days when Kingston was still +a supply camp. No one knew much about Deck or how he had guessed +that the camp would become the chief town in the new country. He was +a pleasing, capable, but close-mouthed man, who knew what to buy, +paid his bills promptly and--with one exception--conducted his +business on a cash basis. + +The exception to the cash rule was in favor of the Company's +employes. It was on Deck's initiative that an arrangement was made +with Mr. Burk by which the Company men received credit at the store, +the amount of their bills being deducted from their wages each month +by the Company paymaster. It was this plan that, by giving Deck +practically all of the trade from the hundreds of Company employes, +had increased his business so rapidly. To the thoughtful Manager, +also, the plan seemed good. He foresaw how, with the Company thus +controlling the bulk of the merchant's business, he could, when the +proper time came, "persuade" Deck to enter into a still "closer" +arrangement--thus carrying out the Good Business policy of the +Company. That very afternoon Mr. Burk had decided the time had come +and had so written Mr. Greenfield. + +Leisurely Jefferson Worth and his companion worked their way through +the crowd and into the store where Deck and his helpers were toiling +to supply the various needs of a small army of customers. From the +open doors and from the big implement shed in the rear of the +building, a steady stream of provisions, clothing, dry goods, +hardware, blankets, harness and tools flowed forth. + +In the midst of the confusion Deck himself was holding an animated +conversation with a would-be purchaser. "I'd be mighty glad to +accommodate you, Sam, if I could, but you know we're running this +store on a cash basis and I can't break my rules. If I begin with +you I'll have to do it for everybody and I can't." + +"You don't make these Company men pay cash. Anybody--Injuns, +greasers or anything else--gets what he wants and no questions asked +if he works for the Company." + +"But that's different, you see," explained Deck. "We have an +arrangement with the Company by which they hold out from each man's +pay the amount of my bills against him." + +"I understand that, but you'll find out that it's the rancher's +trade that'll keep you going. We'll be here long after these +ditchers an' mule skinners have left the country and we'll have +money to spend. You'll find, too, that when things _do_ begin to +come our way we'll stand by the store that'll stand by us now when +we've got everything goin' out an' nothin' comin' in." + +Deck, over the shoulder of the rancher, saw Jefferson Worth and the +surveyor, who with several others had drawn near, attracted by the +loud tones of the farmer. Abe thought that he caught a look of +recognition as Deck's eyes fell on his companion but the banker gave +no sign. + +The merchant, answering his customer, said: "I know you are right +about that part of it, Sam, and I'd like to back every rancher in +this Basin if I could. But I can't." + +"Why not? Ain't you runnin' this store?" + +Before Deck could reply, to Abe's astonishment the quiet voice of +Jefferson Worth broke in. "You are improving a ranch of your own +near here?" + +The settler turned sharply. "You bet I am, Mister; leastwise, I'm +tryin' to, and if workin' from sun-up 'til dark an' livin' on +nothin' til I can make a crop will pull me through I'll make it." + +"I suppose the heaviest expense is all in getting started?" asked +Mr. Worth, as if seeking to verify an observation. + +"It sure is," replied the pioneer. "There's the outfit you've got to +have--work-stock an' tools; you've got to build your ditches and +grade your land; and you've got to buy water rights and pay for your +water; and you've got to make your payments to the government. Then +there's feed for your work-stock and yourself, an' there ain't +nothin' to bring in a cent 'til you can make a crop. The farmers +that are comin' into this country ain't got a great big pile of +ready money stacked away, Mister, an' they're mighty apt to run a +little short the first year. When our home merchants, who expect to +make their money off from us, won't even trust us for a few dollars' +worth of provisions 'til we can get a start, I'm damned if it ain't +tough." + +"But everyone is a stranger in this new country," said Mr. Worth. +"How can a merchant know whether a man will pay or not? I suppose +there are ranchers coming in here who would beat a bill if they +could. The merchants have to pay for their goods or close up." + +"I reckon that's all so," returned the other. "And of course +everybody knows that there never was such a thing as dishonest +store-keepers. Merchants don't never beat anybody with short weight +and all that?" + +This raised a laugh in which Deck joined as heartily as anyone. Even +the banker smiled coldly as he asked: "What did you say your name +was?" + +"Didn't say; but it's Sam Warren." + +"Where is your ranch?" + +"Six miles north on the Number One main." + +"Well, Mr. Warren, I've been considering this proposition and I've +got it figured out like this. We all want to make what we can in +this new country; that's what we came in for. This store can't get +along without the ranchers' support and you ranchers can't get along +without the store. We've all got to pull together and help each +other. I don't believe that many of the men who come into this +Desert to actually settle on and improve the land are the kind of +men who beat their bills. I figured to run on a cash basis only +until things got started and sort of settled down, you see. I know +that you people need credit until you get on your feet. From now on +you come here--for whatever you actually need, you understand--and +we'll carry you for any reasonable amount until you get something +coming in. All we ask in return is that you ranchers do as you say +and stand by us when you do get on top." + +At Jefferson Worth's simple and quietly spoken words a hush fell +over the group of men. Abe Lee looked at his companion in amazement. +Sam Warren turned from the stranger to the store-keeper and back to +the stranger. The man behind the counter was smiling broadly as if +enjoying the situation. + +When no one could find a word with which to break the silence, Deck +Jordan said: "Gentlemen, this is Mr. Jefferson Worth, the owner of +this store. George!" he called to a passing clerk, "give Sam +whatever he wants as soon as you can get around to it, and charge +it." + +At this such a yell went up from the bystanders that a crowd from +the outside rushed in, and as the word passed and others voiced +their approval as loudly, the Manager of The King's Basin Land and +Irrigation Company in his rooms across the street thought that +another fight was on. + +The Manager was not far wrong in his conclusion. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +BARBARA'S CALL TO HER FRIENDS. + + +That night, long after Kingston was still and the Manager of The +King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company was fast asleep, Jefferson +Worth and Abe Lee talked in the little tent that, from the lantern +within, glowed in the darkness, seemingly the one spot of light +under the desert stars. + +The next morning the surveyor left town on the stage, but not as he +had planned. Abe knew now where he was going and what he was going +to do. He was bound for the city by the sea and he carried in his +pocket several letters of introduction, written by his employer and +addressed to different firms engaged in manufacturing and selling +things electrical. And more than this, Abe would see Barbara. + +Jefferson Worth did not breakfast with Abe that morning nor did he +see him off on the stage, but a few minutes after the surveyor had +left town his employer passed down the street in the direction of +the store. + +As Mr. Worth drew near his place of business he saw, posed just +without the door, one whom the most casual of observing strangers +would have supposed instantly to be the proprietor of the store, the +owner of the building--if not, indeed, the proprietor and owner of +all Kingston and many miles of country round about. + +The portly figure, clad in a business suit of gray, with a vast, +full-rounded expanse of white vest, expressed in every curve opulent +wealth and lordly generosity. The clean-shaven face, fat and florid, +beamed upon the world from above the clerical severity of a black +tie with truly paternal benevolence; while the massive head was not +in reality crowned but was covered by a hat such as commanding +generals always wear in pictures. The pose of the figure, the lift +of the countenance, the kingly mien of eye and brow made it +impossible to mistake his majesty. In comparison with this august +personage, the figure and air of Jefferson Worth were pitifully +inadequate. + +The great one welcomed the financier at the latter's own door with +an air of royal hospitality. Extending his hand as if he stepped +down only one step from his throne and speaking in a tone that was +meant to confer marked distinction upon the humble recipient of his +favor, he said: "Mr. Worth, I am delighted, more delighted than I +can express, to welcome you to our city. It is a great day for this +country--a great day!" He wrung the financier's timid hand with two +hundred and fifty pounds of emotional energy. "Mr. Greenfield and I, +with our friends and associates in the East, and Mr. Burk and Holmes +here in the field, are doing what we can for these people, but there +is a great work here yet for men like you--men of some means and +financial ability, who will get behind the smaller business +interests and build them up on a solid foundation. My heart rejoiced +for the country, sir, when I heard this morning that you had +purchased this establishment. Deck is a good honest fellow, you +know, but--" An expansive smile of confidential understanding +finished this sentence, and the words--"My name is Blanton, Mr. +Worth--Horace P. Blanton"--seemed to settle at once any doubt as to +the position and authority of the speaker. + +Jefferson Worth did not explain that he had owned the store from the +beginning and that Deck Jordan was no more than his very capable +agent. Indeed Mr. Worth said nothing at all. He even appeared to +shrink with becoming modesty though there was the faintest hint of a +twinkle in the corners of his eyes--a hint so faint that Horace P. +Blanton, from his great height, overlooked it. + +The big man, in a lower tone of confidential familiarity, asked: +"Have you heard from Greenfield lately?" + +"No." + +"I wrote Jim some time ago that he would have to come out here +himself. There are some conditions developing here that should have +his personal attention, and I'll be blessed if I'll stand seeing him +neglect them! I'm a western man myself, Worth; and you know we do +things in this country." + +"You are interested in The King's Basin Company?" + +The answer was given in a tone of tolerant surprise that any one +should think he would toy with a thing of such trifling importance. +"Me? Oh no!--that is, not directly you understand. But I am deeply +interested in the development of the country. Let me show you a +little of what we are doing here. It's amazing how the world outside +fails utterly to grasp the magnitude of the enterprise. Even the +newspapers are criminally negligent. Quite recently I had occasion +to tell my good friend, the editor of the Times, that if he didn't +give us something like a fair showing I would see to it personally +that the bulk of our business went to San Felipe. It's a burning +shame the way they have persistently ignored us." + +Mr. Worth made an ineffectual attempt to escape but the white vest +blocked his move. Pointing to a half-finished building on the +nearest corner, the great one explained in the tone of a personal +conductor: "That is our new hotel--one of the finest buildings in +the southwest. The young man who will run it for us is personally +superintending the construction. Bright boy, too. You must let me +introduce you to him." + +Jefferson Worth, gazing at the modest building under construction, +murmured: "You are interested, you say?" + +"Oh no; that is--only in a way, you understand. I have a hand in +most of these enterprises." + +"This town needs a good hotel," said Mr. Worth, mildly. + +"That building farther down--the one where the foundation is just +completed--is our Opera House. It is being erected by one of the big +Coast syndicates and will be a magnificent hall of amusement and +entertainment as well as a place for public gatherings of all kinds. +I have been in close personal touch with the men in charge of the +enterprise and they understand that we will tolerate nothing that is +not first class." + +"The people need such a building," was the quiet comment. + +"In the block opposite our bank will be located. They will be +working on the vault in another two weeks. While the building is +well under way, as you see, the organization of the institution is +not yet made public. Only a few of us on the inside, you understand, +know who is back of the enterprise." + +"I see," said Jefferson Worth. "A bank is a good thing for the +country." + +Pointing up the street, the great one in the white vest continued: +"There you see the office of our paper--The King's Basin Messenger. +The machinery is being installed now. I'm mighty proud of the young +man who is starting that work. He will be a credit to us I promise +you. Directly opposite is The King's Basin Land and Irrigation +Company building with the offices of the Company. You must let me +introduce you to the manager, Mr. Burk, and to Holmes, the engineer. +Come, we will go over there now." He started forward with perspiring +energy, but Jefferson Worth, seizing the opportunity, gained the +doorway of the store and vanished. + +For two weeks Mr. Worth seemed to devote his time wholly to his +store. Though Deck Jordan still continued the active management, it +was generally understood that Mr. Worth, having but recently +purchased the establishment, retained Deck until, as it was +generally expressed, he got the run of the business. At an old desk +in a cubby-hole of an office roughly partitioned off in one corner +of the room, the financier spent nearly every hour of the day +apparently poring over his accounts. + +Here the Manager from across the street found him when he called to +explain to Mr. Worth the advantage of an alliance between the store +and the Company. Mr. Burk did not stay long, but upon his return to +his office wrote a long, confidential letter to his superiors. The +thoughtful Manager's letters to his superiors were always +confidential. + +Willard Holmes also called to pay his respects; to inquire whether +Miss Worth was well; and--as Holmes put it to himself when he was +again safely outside the building--to turn himself inside out for +the critical inspection of the man who hid behind that gray mask. + +So far as the Manager of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation +Company observed, Jefferson Worth, beside buying the store, made +only one small investment. He purchased from the Company a small +tract of land just inside the limits of the townsite. Then almost +before Mr. Burk knew that it was before them, the town council +passed an ordinance granting permission to the Worth Electric +Company to place their poles and to stretch wires on the streets of +the town, and the first issue of The King's Basin Messenger +announced with a great flourish of trumpets that Kingston was to +have lights. + +The article explained that Mr. Abe Lee, the well known engineer, +formerly with the K. B. L. and I. Company, would have charge of the +construction work and would push it with his usual energy. For some +time Mr. Lee had been in the city arranging for material, which +would be shipped immediately. Mr. Worth had stated to the Messenger +that Mr. Lee would return to Kingston in a day or two and would +break ground for the power plant at once. The Messenger also gave an +interesting history of Jefferson Worth's successful career from +farm-boy to financier with an appreciation of his character and +congratulated the citizens that a man of such financial strength and +genius had come to invest the fruit of his toil in the new country. + +Mr. Burk read the Messenger's article thoughtfully. Then Mr. Burk +wrote another confidential letter to his superiors. + +Over this enterprise of Jefferson Worth, as set forth in the +Messenger, the citizens were enthusiastic. Horace P. Blanton was +more than enthusiastic. Meeting Mr. Burk as the latter was returning +to his office after dinner he blocked the Manager's way with his +white vest and, wiping the sweat of honest endeavor from his brow, +delivered himself. "Well, sir; we landed it. Biggest thing that ever +happened to Kingston. Double our population in three months. I told +my friend Worth that they would have to come through with that +franchise whether they wanted to or not, and by George! we landed +it. There was nothing else to do." + +The Manager thoughtfully flicked the ashes from his cigar. "And what +is this that you have landed?" + +"What! haven't you heard? Have you seen the Messenger?" He drew a +paper from his pocket and placed a finger on the headlines: +"Electric Lights for Kingston." + +The Manager shifted his cigar to the corner of his mouth and, +casting his head in the opposite direction, surveyed the excited +Horace P. as an artist might view an interesting picture. "So you +are interested in the Worth Electric Company?" + +"Oh no; that is, not exactly, you know. My name will not appear in +the company. But Jeff and I are very warm friends, you understand, +and for the sake of Kingston I am bound to take an interest in his +enterprise." + +At this the thoughtful Mr. Burk became suddenly confidential. +Tapping his companion impressively on the arm and speaking in a low +tone of vast import, he said: "Blanton, be careful; be careful. +Don't get into Worth's schemes too deeply. A man of your standing +and influence, you know, can't afford to play into the hands of a +four-flusher." + +Then the Manager of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company +slipped easily away before the other could reply. + +Three minutes later the man in the big white vest overtook the +Company's chief engineer in the doorway of the restaurant. "Good +morning, Holmes; good morning." The simple greeting seemed to come +from a great heart that was fairly staggering under a burden of +other people's woes. + +As the boy placed their dinners before them, Horace P. Blanton, +shaking his massive head, murmured sadly: "It's a burning shame, +Holmes; a burning shame." + +"The coffee, you mean?" queried the engineer, digging up a spoonful +of sediment from the bottom of his heavy cup and inspecting it +critically. "It looks shameful, all right; and it may have been +overheated some time in past ages, but the temperature doesn't +appear to be above normal to-day." + +The big man did not smile; his burden was too heavy. "I mean," he +explained, "the way these four-flushers come in here and attempt to +work their graft right under our eyes. Did you hear about this man +Worth getting that franchise out of the council? I did my level +best, but what's the use. It's all as plain as day but you can't +hammer an idea into the boneheads that run this town. I had a little +talk with Burk over the matter this morning. He agrees with me +perfectly. We've got to take hold of this thing, Mr. Holmes, or the +town will go to the dogs. I wish Greenfield would come on." + +The engineer agreed heartily that it might be well to take hold of +something. But what? That was the rub--what? He gently intimated +that if Horace P. Blanton could not find a way to avert the awful +calamity that threatened the public, the public was in a bad way. +Clearly it was up to Horace P. to save Kingston. + +The dinner over the men separated quickly: the man in the white vest +to carry the burden of Kingston's future on his fat shoulders, and +the engineer to inspect the work at Dry River Heading. + +The evening of the third day after Abe Lee's return to Kingston the +surveyor and his employer were in Mr. Worth's office. The work of +excavation for the foundation of the power plant would begin in the +morning, and Mr. Worth had planned to leave town the following +morning for a week's business trip to the city. + +The two men were interrupted in their conversation by a loud +familiar voice on the store side of the board partition. + +"Busy, be they? Well, fwhat the divil should they be but busy? Do ye +suppose I thought they was a-playin' dominoes?" + +Abe grinned at his employer. They both listened. + +Deck Jordan's voice said: "But you better not go in now, boys. They +will be through in a little while." + +"Go in? Who the hell's talkin' av goin' in? Do ye think, ye danged +counter-hopper, that we've no manners at all? For a sup o' wather +I'd go over to ye wid me two hands!" + +And another softer voice drawled: "Run along Deck. Me an' my pardner +promises not to turn violent or break into the sanctuary. We'll just +camp here peaceful 'til the meetin's over." + +Abe chuckled. "I knew they would be along as soon as they heard the +news." He lifted his voice. "Come in, boys." + +Instantly Barbara's "uncles" appeared. "We axes yer pardon, Sorr, +for not comin' before to pay our respects, but we only heard +yestherday that ye was in the counthry. Ye see, afther we finished +at the river we was transferred over on Number Three at the tail end +av nowhere an' knew nothin' at all 'til someone brung into camp the +paper that towld about yer doin's. An' how is our little girl?" + +"Very well," said Mr. Worth. "She told me to be sure and remember +her to you." + +"I saw her the other day," said Abe. "She sent you both her love." + +"Well, now, fwhat do ye think av that? Tex, ye danged owld sand rat, +ut's proud av yersilf ye should be to be the uncle av sich a +darlin'. An' tell us now, Sorr, fwhat's this I hear about yer +buildin' a power plant for electric lights, or street cars, or +somethin'? We thought that the lad here left the danged counthry for +good, an' sarves thim danged yellow-legs that boss the Company right +for not knowin' a man whin they see wan." + +"We begin work in the morning. Abe is in charge." + +"Hurroo!" exclaimed the delighted Irishman. "An' ut's men ye'll be +wantin' av course; wan to handle the greasers, which is cake to me, +an' wan to boss the mule skinners, which is pie for Tex. I'm +thinkin' the Company will be short handed at Number Three in the +mornin'." + +"I have been holding these places open for you," Abe laughed. "If I +could get hold of Pablo, now, I would be all right. Barbara said to +be sure and get him too. He's still at Dry River Heading, I hear." + +As the two were leaving Texas Joe said to Abe: "Are you plumb +certain Pablo is at the Heading?" + +"That's what one of the crew told me to-day." + +"Well, then I reckon he'll be along pronto." + +The next morning when Abe went to the site of the work the first man +he saw was Barbara's friend, Pablo. The Mexican greeted the surveyor +with a show of white teeth. + +"Did you come to work?" asked Abe. + +"Si, Senor. Senor Texas he come las' night with two horses. He say +Senor Abe want you quick, Pablo. La Senorita say you come. So I am +come pronto, like he say." + +"Texas Joe went for you last night?" repeated Abe. + +"Si, Senor. If you want me come--if La Senorita want me come--Senor +Tex he go tell me come. I come. It is no much ride for vaqueros like +Senor Tex and me." + +"But you have your job with the Company?" + +The Mexican shrugged his shoulders and his teeth showed. "Senor +Worth and Senores Lee and Tex and Pat good company for Pablo. +Beside, is there not La Senorita? She was good to me when I was sick +with no one to help. Do not we all--Senores Lee and Tex and Pat, and +Senor Worth and me--do not we all work for La Senorita in La Palma +de la Mano de Dios? Is it not so? Beside I think sometime La +Senorita come--then I would be near. In the Company there is no +Senorita." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +MUCH CONFUSION AND HAPPY EXCITEMENT. + + +As the trying months of the semi-tropical summer approached, the +great Desert, so awful in its fierce desolation, so pregnant with +the life it was still so reluctant to yield, gathered all its +dreadful forces to withstand the inflowing streams of human energy. +In the fierce winds that rushed through the mountain passes and +swept across the hot plains like a torrid furnace blast; in the +blinding, stinging, choking, smothering dust that moved in golden +clouds from rim to rim of the Basin; in the blazing, scorching +strength of the sun; in the hard, hot sky, without shred or raveling +of cloud; in the creeping, silent, poison life of insect and +reptile; in the maddening dryness of the thirsty vegetation; in the +weird, beautiful falseness of the ever-changing mirage, the spirit +of the Desert issued its silent challenge. + +It was not the majestic challenge of the mountains with their +unsealed heights of peak and dome and impassable barriers of rugged +crag and sheer cliff. It was not the glad challenge of the untamed +wilderness with its myriad formed life of tree and plant and glen +and stream. It was not the noble challenge of the wide-sweeping, +pathless plains; nor the wild challenge of the restless, storm- +driven sea. It was the silent, sinister, menacing threat of a +desolation that had conquered by cruel waiting and that lay in wait +still to conquer. + +With grim determination, nervous energy, enduring strength and a +dogged tenacity of purpose, the invading flood of humanity, +irresistibly driven by that master passion, Good Business, matched +its strength against that of the Desert in the season of its +greatest power. + +Steadily mile by mile, acre by acre, and at times almost foot by +foot, the pioneers wrested their future farms and homes from the +dreadful forces that had held them for ages. Steadily, with the +inflowing stream of life from the world beyond the Basin's rim, the +area of improved lands about Kingston extended and the work in the +Company's town went on. By midsummer many acres of alfalfa, with +Egyptian corn and other grains, showed broad fields of living green +cut into the dull, dun plain of the Desert and laced with silver +threads of water shining in the sun. + +Save for occasional brief business trips to the city, Jefferson +Worth did not leave Kingston. In the most trying of those grilling +days of heat and dust, when a man's skin felt like cracking +parchment and his eyes burned in their sockets and it seemed as +though every particle of moisture in his body was sucked up by the +dry, scorching air, Barbara's father gave no sign of discomfort. He +accepted the most nerve-racking situation with the even-tempered +calmness of one who had foreseen it and to whom it was but a trivial +incident, inevitable to his far-reaching plans. When others--their +tempers tried to the breaking point--cursed with dry, high-pitched, +querulous curses the heat, the land, the sun, the dust, the Company +and their fellow-sufferers, Jefferson Worth's cool, even tones and +unruffled spirit helped them to a needed self-control and gave them +a new and stronger grip on things. And many a baffled, discouraged +and well-nigh beaten settler, ready to give up, found in the man +whose gray, mask-like face seemed so incapable of expression, fresh +inspiration and new courage; while the store continued its policy of +helping the worthy, hard-pressed ranchers with necessary material +assistance. + +And so it was that while James Greenfield and his fellow-capitalists +of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company were taking their +much needed vacations and seeking relaxation and rest from business +cares at their seaside and mountain retreats, the desert pioneers +were coming more and more to Jefferson Worth for advice and counsel, +for strength and courage and help to go on with the work. By fall +the financier's position in the life of the new country seemed to be +securely won. Perhaps only Jefferson Worth himself, alone behind his +gray mask, knew the real value of his apparent victory. + +The Company's thoughtful Manager went out--as the pioneers had come +to say of those who left the Basin--for over a month, and for the +rest of the summer spent only a part of his time in Kingston. But +the Company's chief engineer refused to leave even for a week. To a +pressing invitation from Greenfield to join him on his vacation, +Holmes answered that he could not get away. All through the June +rise of the river, while the settlers, ignorant of the danger that +threatened them through the Good Business policy of the Company, +were risking everything that Capital might gain its greater profits, +the engineer lived in his camp at the intake. Day and night, as he +watched the swelling yellow torrent that threw its weight against +his work, he remembered the words of the desert-bred surveyor: "When +the Gila and the Little Colorado go on the warpath and come down on +top of a high Colorado flood, you'll catch hell." It had come in the +past, Abe had declared, and it would come again. + +But the flood waters of the Gila and the Little Colorado did not +come down on top of the larger river that year and the promoter's +estimate work stood. When the danger was past and the engineer was +free again to make Kingston his headquarters, his acquaintance with +Jefferson Worth grew into something like friendship. It became, +indeed, an established custom for Mr. Worth, Abe Lee and the chief +engineer of the Company to sit at the same table in the shack +restaurant and, during their meals of canned stuff, to talk over the +work that held them from the comforts and pleasures of civilization. + +But little work toward extending the Company system could be +undertaken during the hot summer months. It was difficult for Holmes +to hold even enough men to maintain that which was already in +operation. But Jefferson Worth did not fare so badly. Abe Lee was +steadfast, of course, while Texas, Pat and Pablo would, as the +Irishman said, "have fried thimsilves on the coals av hell" before +they would quit their job. Were there not letters every week from +Barbara with messages to the surveyor and his three helpers? Pablo +said truly that "there was no Senorita in the Company." So through +Abe's leadership, Texas Joe's diplomacy, Pat's wisdom and Pablo's +influence with his countrymen, the Worth enterprises did not suffer +for lack of laborers but went steadily ahead. + +In Kingston the different buildings for the power plant and lighting +system were nearly completed and several cottages were under +construction on lots owned by Jefferson Worth, while men and teams +were busy excavating and hauling materials for a large ice plant. In +Frontera, a little town that "just happened" to grow from a supply +camp in the southern end of the Basin, a hotel and a bank building +were being erected, while between the two communities poles for a +telephone system were being placed. + +Thus far very few women had come into the desert. When the torrid +summer was past, the first crops on the new ranches harvested and +more comfortable homes prepared, they would come with the children +to join the men-folks. Until then the new country would continue a +man's country--the poorest possible kind of a country, the men +themselves declared. + +Therefore when, late in September, The King's Basin Messenger, with +an extraordinary blare of trumpets, announced the birth of a child +and that the first-born of the new country was a boy, the news was +received with the greatest excitement. In Kingston, in Frontera, at +grading camps and ranches, as the word was passed, there were wild +and joyous celebrations. Such a crowd of male visitors closed in on +the humble tent home to beg for a look at the little pink stranger +that the matter-of-fact pioneer parents were heard to express the +wish that they themselves had never been born. Had the baby been +forced to carry through life all the names that were suggested he +would undoubtedly have echoed the parents' wish at an early age. + +Then came the terrible word to Kingston, brought by Texas Joe, that +the baby was ill. Tex, returning to town from a trip to Frontera, +had turned a mile aside to bring the latest news of the baby. It was +early evening and the light yet lingered in the sky back of No Man's +Mountains, when the citizens, relaxing after the heat of the day and +the evening meal, looked up to see him coming, riding like a mad +man, his horse white with foam. + +Jefferson Worth, with Abe and Holmes coming from the restaurant, had +paused a moment in front of the store before separating when Texas +leaped from his staggering mount. One thought flashed into the mind +of each: "The intake! The river!" Holmes went white under his tan; +Abe's jaws came together with a click; Jefferson Worth's slim +fingers caressed his chin. + +As the word passed quickly through the town, the crowd that followed +Mr. Worth and Texas Joe into the store grew until it over-flowed the +building and filled the street. Over all there was a solemn hush, +save for low-spoken words of inquiry, or explanation, and of advice. +What to do was the question. What could they do? There was no doctor +nearer than Rubio City and men who pioneer in a desert land are not +men experienced with sickness. + +On a high shelf in one back corner of the store there was a small +dust-covered stock of assorted patent medicines. Desperately they +pulled the bottles down and studied the labels and directions, but +only to their further confusion and doubt. At last, his pockets +laden with everything that seemed to promise a possible relief, +Texas Joe set out on a fresh horse, the first one handy, to be +followed later by a spring wagon drawn by four fast broncos and +carrying four women. The entire female population of Kingston had +been mustered by Abe Lee, whom the ladies declared then and there to +be the only man of sense in all The King's Basin. + +For the first evening since his arrival Jefferson Worth left his +office in the store to mingle with the restless crowds on the street +that, in ever-changing knots and groups, discussed in fearful voice +this public calamity. No one dreamed of retiring. No one had +thoughts for sleep, nor indeed for anything save the little sufferer +in the tent house ten miles out on the Desert. They smoked and +talked and swore softly in hushed tones and waited the return of +Texas Joe. + +It was after midnight when he came again. Before he could dismount, +the crowd of silent men hemmed him in. From the saddle the old +plainsman looked down into their eager solemn faces and that slow +smile broke over his sun-blackened features. + +"Boys" he drawled, "I'm sure proud to bring you-all the unanimous +verdict of the female relief expedition sent out by our illustrious +fellow-citizen, Abe Lee. The kid's better and is headed straight for +good health and six or eight square meals a day." + +When the joyous chorus of yells that would have startled a coyote +two miles away subsided, Tex dismounted and approached Jefferson +Worth. "Mr. Worth, them women commanded me also to return to you +with their compliments and gratitude the various and sundry bottles +with which same my clothes is full. One of them angels of mercy, it +seems, went to the scene of action loaded with a flask of castor +oil." + +Just before retiring that night Mr. Worth said to his +superintendent: "Abe, I'm going out in the morning. You had better +push the work on that largest cottage as fast as possible. I'll ship +in an outfit of furniture and things as soon as I get to the city. +Let me know when the house is finished and the goods arrive. You can +stack the furniture up on the porches or anywhere until I get back. +The hot weather is about over and the hotel will open up next week." + +"All right, sir," the surveyor answered quietly and made no comment +on this unexpected move of his employer, though his nerves tingled +at the evident purpose of his instructions. Abe Lee could not know +how the events of the evening had awakened in Jefferson Worth +memories of another baby in the desert-memories that stirred the +child-hungry heart of the lonely man and drove him to his daughter +without an hour's delay. + +Did Abe Lee push the work on the house? Did he? Every man in +Jefferson Worth's employ, who could find a place to lay his hand on +the building, was put on the job. By the time the house was finished +the furniture had arrived. + +It was quitting time and Pablo, who with four Mexican laborers had +been at work grading the yard and removing the rubbish that had +accumulated incident to building, dismissed his helpers. The +surveyor was gloomily contemplating the pile of boxes, bales and +crates on the front porch. Evidently there was something not to the +surveyor's liking. + +"Senor Lee." + +The surveyor turned sharply to face the Mexican, whose dark features +were glowing with pleasure. "Well?" + +"Pardon, but Senor Lee seems not pleased. Is not the work well +done?" + +"The work is all right, Pablo. You have done well. It is not that. I +was wishing I had nerve enough to tackle another job." + +The Mexican smiled. "Oh, Senor, you make fun. What can not El Senor +do? He can do everything." + +"There is a job here all right I don't sabe, Pablo." Abe turned +again to the pile of household goods. + +"Si Senor, me sabe. It is that La Senorita come pronto an' Senor Lee +would have the house what you call ready." + +Abe started at the tone of quiet conviction. "How the devil do you +know that La Senorita is coming?" he asked sharply. + +The answer came with a flash of white teeth: "For what else does El +Senor hurry so the house? For what else does he all time cry-- +'Pronto! pronto!' and go not much to the other work but stay all +time here? And is there not all this--" He waved his hand gracefully +to indicate the household goods. "For who should it be that Senor +Lee is hurry so? When Texas Joe come say--'Senor Worth is here,' I +think quick some time La Senorita come. I work for Senor Worth, as +La Senorita send word, that I may be near. All time I work I say-- +'It is for La Senorita.' Pretty quick now she come and with Senor +Lee will be happy to live in the house he make." + +A deeper red than the desert color stained the surveyor's thin +cheeks as he said: "You're a good hombre, Pablo, but you're away off +on part of what you say. I reckon you're right enough that Miss +Worth is coming, but she will live here with her father just as they +did in Rubio City. And listen, Pablo. You must never say to anyone +what you have said to me. You sabe, Pablo? I am with La Senorita as +you are, and Tex and Pat; sabe?" + +"Si, Senor; forgive me; I am sorry. But sometime it will be if El +Senor is patient." + +The surveyor, annoyed at the Mexican's talk, but unwilling, because +of the spirit that prompted the words, to speak sharply, sought to +dismiss the matter by changing the subject. He explained to Pablo +how he was wishing that he could unpack the furniture and have the +house all ready when Mr. Worth and Barbara arrived. + +"Why not?" asked the Mexican. + +Abe shook his head. "It's out of my line. I don't sabe the job, +Pablo." + +"Maybe so Tex and Pat, they would sabe." + +"By George, I believe Pat would. Texas wouldn't be any better than +I, but Pat ought to know something about such things. You go tell +them I want them at the office to-night. Pat was at the power house +to-day and Texas will be coming in from the line early." + +"Si, Senor. And Senor Lee! La Senorita will want a horse." + +"Hell, I forgot that!" + +Pablo smiled. "I know where is good one--a beautiful horse, Senor. +Long time I watch him and think some day he be for La Senorita when +she come. The man will sell for enough. Shall I go to-morrow?" + +"Yes, get him. Tell the man it is for me and that I will pay. No"-- +he corrected himself--"tell him it is for Senor Worth and that he +will pay. Sabe? You must not speak of me." + +"Si, Senor; it shall be as you say. To-morrow night I return." + +That evening at the office in the rear of the store Abe laid the +situation before Pat and Texas Joe. Could the three undertake to +have the furniture unpacked and the house properly settled? The +hotel had been opened to receive guests, of course, but-- + +Texas Joe shook his head solemnly. "I pass, Abe. There ain't no use +in my affirmin' that I knows anything about such undertakings. +Household furnishin' such as is proper in a case like this is a long +way off my range." + +But the Irishman waxed indignant. "Sich ignorance as ye two do be +showin' is heathenish," he declared. "I suppose now ye wud be for +puttin' the cook stove in the parlor an' settin' up the piany in the +young lady's budwar." + +The strange word caught the attention of Texas instantly. "An' what +might that be, pard?" he drawled. "What's a budwar?" + +Pat snorted. "Budwar, ye ignorant owld limb, is polite for the +girl's bedroom, which in civilization is not discussed by thim as +has manners." + +Such overwhelming evidence of the Irishman's familiarity with the +best social customs was not to be rejected. The morning stage +carried a telegram to be sent from Deep Well to Jefferson Worth, and +all that day the three toiled under command of Pat. When the evening +stage brought a message from Mr. Worth saying that he and Barbara +would arrive the following evening, they decided that a night shift +was necessary and worked until nearly morning, redoubling their +efforts the following day. + +When the dusty old stage with its four half-broken horses pulled +into Kingston that night, three tired and anxious, but joyful, +desert men occupied the front rank of the waiting crowd before the +new hotel. + +With all the grace of generous curves and ponderous dignity, Horace +P. Blanton was first to alight. When he turned his broad back to the +"common herd" and, with an indescribable air of proprietorship, +assisted Miss Worth to the ground, three darkened faces scowled with +disapproval and three smothered oaths expressed deep disgust. + +The excited citizens behind the three crowded closer. Even Ynez, +climbing down from the stage, was received with another cheer by the +delighted men. The irrepressible Horace P., quick to recognize the +spirit of the company and ever ready to do more than his part, burst +into an eloquent address of welcome in behalf of the entire +population of The King's Basin. But the ceremony was interrupted and +the imposing personage in the white vest was thrust roughly aside +while Barbara, with glad eyes and hands outstretched, greeted the +rude disturbers of the great man's dignity. + +"Texas! Pat! Mr. Lee! Oh, I'm glad! I have been hoping all day that +you would be here to meet me. It seemed to me that I would never get +here. It has been the longest day of my life." Which, considering +that the impressive attentions of Horace P. Blanton had been +continuous since the moment when he had forced an introduction from +Mr. Worth on the train that morning, was rather hard on his majesty. + +But much experience in similar situations had made Horace P. Blanton +immune to such thrusts. Even while Barbara was speaking he regained +his place at her side. With his voice and manner of a "personal +conductor"--before either of the three could speak--he followed her +words with: "Ah, Miss Worth, I see you already know some of our men. +Texas, Pat and Abe here are three of the best fellows we have. They--" + +Again he was interrupted. The young woman turned easily aside to +Abe, and Horace P. found himself very close to and facing the tall +plainsman and the heavy shouldered Irish boss. + +"Excuse me, Colonel," drawled Texas in tones so soft that no one in +the noisy crowd could hear; "but the welfare of the citizens of this +here community, as well as the safety of the country, demands your +immediate presence up the street." + +Without hesitation the lordly one exclaimed: "Ah, thank you, Tex. +Miss Worth will excuse me I'm sure. Please explain my absence to +her." Then before their startled eyes he faded away--if the +vanishing of such a bulk can be so described. + +A few minutes after the passing of Horace P. Blanton, Tex and Pat +also disappeared, for it was part of the carefully arranged plot +that Barbara's "uncles" were to see to the disposal of the girl's +trunks while she was at supper at the hotel with her father and Abe. + +At the table Barbara was all eagerness in her desire to know +everything about the work; and the surveyor, in answering her +questions, found himself drawn out of the dumbness that usually +beset him in such situations. + +"And our house?" asked the girl. "When can I begin settling? You see +I brought Ynez with me. Can we begin in the morning, Abe? And could +you spare Pat and Tex to help us?" + +Abe glanced at his employer. "If you would like to see the house we +can look at it this evening after supper." + +"Can we? Can we go, daddy?" + +Jefferson Worth met Abe's look with a twinkle in the corner of his +eye, but he only answered his eager daughter with a calm, "If you +like." + +They found the house with every window brilliantly lighted, and on +the front porch, on opposite sides of the wide-open door, Texas and +Pat standing to welcome them. From one room to another Barbara ran +in laughing delight, followed by the three, who were perspiring in +an agony of suspense while Jefferson Worth looked on. The cook stove +was not in the parlor, nor was the piano--out of place. In the +proper room Barbara even found her trunks. There was a supply of +provisions in the pantry and kindlings even ready by the kitchen +stove for the morning fire. If there were little irregularities here +and there, Barbara, with graceful tact, did not see them but, to the +delight of the three men, declared again and again that no woman +could have done it better. + +The climax came when she said that unless her father insisted she +would not even return to the hotel that evening. Could not someone +go for the hand luggage and Ynez? Breathless the three waited, and +when Mr. Worth said he saw no reason why they should leave their own +home for a hotel Tex and Pat could hold themselves no longer but +made a wild run for the door. + +When Barbara's "uncles" had returned with the Indian woman and the +grips, Pat stood in the center of the living room and looked +curiously about, an expression of wonder upon his battle-scarred +Irish countenance. "Now don't that bate the divil! Tell me"--he +faced the girl with mock severity--"fwhat's this ye've been doin' +already?" + +"Doing?" exclaimed Barbara, "I haven't been doing anything, Uncle +Pat." + +"Aw, go on, don't be tellin' me that. Aven Uncle Tex here can see +that ye've changed ivery blissid thing in the place. 'Tis not the +same, at all, an' afther us a-workin' our fingers to the bone to fix +ut up. 'Tis quare. I know now that Tex hung that curtain there. Ye +could have heard him swearin' a mile away, but ut's not that same +curtain at all, at all. 'Tis mighty quare." + +For an hour or more Barbara, at the piano, sang for them the simple +songs they loved, while many a tired horseman, riding past on his +way to his lonely desert shack or to some rough camp on the works, +paused to listen to the sweet voice and to dream perhaps of the time +that was to come when such sounds would no longer seem strange on +the Desert. + +When the hour came for Texas and Pat and Abe to go, and Barbara with +shining eyes tried again to express her gratitude while insisting +that they must always come to her home as to their own, the three +felt that indeed they had their reward. And when later the girl +kissed her father good night Jefferson Worth also knew in his lonely +heart that he had done well. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +BARBARA COMES INTO HER OWN. + + +Jefferson Worth and his daughter had just finished their first +breakfast in the new home when their Indian servant woman entered +the room. + +"What is it, Ynez?" asked Barbara, seeing that the woman wished to +speak. + +Ynez's black eyes were shining and her voice was eager as she +answered: "There is someone without waiting for La Senorita." + +"Someone waiting outside for me, Ynez?" + +"Who is it?" asked Mr. Worth. + +"It is Pablo Garcia, Senor, and he say please ask La Senorita to +come. If La Senorita will go only to the door she can see." + +With an expression of excited interest Barbara, followed by her +father, went out on the porch. In front of the house stood Pablo +holding a beautiful saddle horse fully equipped and ready for a +rider. The Mexican's dark face shone with the pride and triumph of +the moment toward which he had looked forward for months. The horse, +too, as if sensing the importance of the occasion, pawed the earth +with his dainty hoofs, arched his neck and tossed his head--proudly +impatient. + +Uttering low exclamations and little cries of delight the girl left +the porch and ran forward, greeting Pablo and moving about the +horse, admiring the animal from every point of view. "What a beauty! +He is perfect, Pablo; perfect! Where did you find him? Is he yours? +What's his name?" Her questions came tumbling from her lips in such +eager bursts that Pablo answered only the last. + +"He is yours, Senorita. His name El Capitan." + +"Mine?" Barbara turned to her father, who explained, Abe having told +him the night before of the purchase. + +When her father finished, the delighted girl announced that she +"simply couldn't wait" but must go for a ride immediately. Running +into the house she returned a few minutes later in her riding dress +and, mounting with--"I'll be back for dinner, daddy," and "Adios, +Pablo!"--rode away toward the open country, while the Mexican and +the banker watched her out of sight. + +By the time they had passed the last of the tent houses in the town +Barbara and El Capitan were friends. There is no doubt whatever that +a worthy horse appreciates a worthy rider and the girl, accustomed +to riding since childhood, certainly appreciated her mount. + +"Oh, you beauty!" she cried, leaning forward in the saddle to pat +the shining neck. "Oh, you beauty!" + +As though to return the compliment and express his pleasure at +finding such an agreeable companion, El Capitan turned his delicate +pointed ears forward, arched his neck, and, stepping as on a velvet +carpet, sprang lightly to the other side of the road in sheer +overflow of good spirits and confidence in his rider, while the +girl, at his play, laughed aloud. + +But Barbara had eyes and thoughts for more than her horse that +morning. It was her first day in "her Desert" and there was much for +her to see. Through her father she had kept in close touch with +every phase of the work of reclaiming The King's Basin and had often +begged him to take her with him into the new country. Now at last +her wish was realized. She was where she could see with her own eyes +the Seer's dream--the Seer's and her own--coming true. + +On either hand as she rode, stretching away until all fixed lines +and objects were lost in the shifting mirage and many-colored lights +of the desert, the dun plain with its thin growth of thirsty +vegetation was broken by the green cultivated fields, newly leveled +acres, buildings and stacks of the ranches, with canals, ditches and +ponds filled with water that reflected the colors of the morning. +Everywhere, in what had been a land of death, life was stirring. In +one field beside the road a herd of soft-eyed cattle, knee-deep in +rich alfalfa, lifted their heads to greet her. In another a band of +horses and colts scampered along with her as far as their fence +would permit, as if good-naturedly seeking her further acquaintance. +Everywhere men with their teams were at work in the fields newly won +from the desert. At one house a woman was hanging her weekly wash on +the line, while a group of children played in the yard. As the girl +passed the woman waved her hand and the children shouted a greeting. +And a little farther on a meadow-lark, perched on a fence-post, +filled the world with liquid music. + +The wine-like atmosphere, the glorious light, the odor of the fields +and the strength and beauty of the life new-born in the desert, with +the spirit and freedom of the animal she rode, all appealed with +almost painful intensity to the girl who was herself so richly +alive. She felt her close kinship with it all and answered to it all +out of the fullness of her own young woman's strength. She wanted to +cry aloud with the joy and gladness of the victory over barrenness +and desolation. It was her Desert that was yielding itself to the +strong ones; for them it had waited--waited through the ages, and at +last they had come. + +Busy with her thoughts, Barbara rode on until she had passed out of +the settled district of which Kingston was the center and found +herself in the desert. Save for the lightly marked trail she was +following and the thin line of her father's telephone poles that led +southward to Frontera, she saw no sign of a human being. Checking +her horse and turning, she looked back. A tiny spot of thin color-- +the red of brick, the yellow of new lumber and the white of tents-- +marked Kingston. The ranches about the desert town were scattered +spots of green scarcely seen at that distance. All the rest, from +the distant snow-capped sentinels of the Pass in the north to Lone +Mountain in the south and from the purple mountain wall on the west +to the sky-line of the Mesa on the east, was the same dun plain as +she had always known it. + +Barbara caught her breath. Seen near at hand the work accomplished +had seemed so great, so brave; seen from even so short a distance as +she had come, it looked so pitifully small, so helpless. The desert +was so huge, so masterful, so dominating in its silent grandeur, in +its awful loneliness. All her life Barbara had seen the desert from +her home in Rubio City. Many, many times she had ridden into it and +back a day's ride. But never had she felt the dreadful spirit of the +land as she felt it now, alone in the still, lonely heart of it. She +was afraid with an unreasoning fear. + +El Capitan, too, seemed to share her uneasiness. Tossing his head, +tugging at the bridle reins and pawing the ground and starting +nervously, he turned this way and that, signifying his desire to be +away. But just as Barbara, on the point of yielding to his +impatience and her own feeling of fear, lifted the reins to turn +toward Kingston again, he threw up his head with a loud neigh and +with ears pointed looked away toward the south, standing rigid and +motionless as a horse of stone. A cloud of dust rising from the +trail told her that someone was approaching. Instantly the girl's +feeling of fear vanished. She laughed aloud. + +"Company is coming, Capitan," she said. "Shall we wait until we see +who it is? We can easily run away if we don't like his looks." + +As she finished speaking, the light wind that was just strong enough +to carry the dust with the coming rider shifted for a moment and +revealed the horseman clearly. Barbara, not wishing to appear as +though waiting, started ahead toward Kingston, while the stranger, +evidently catching sight of a horse and rider on the road ahead and +desiring company, quickened his pace. + +Barbara glanced over her shoulder. "Shall we run, Capitan? No, we'll +not run yet. But be ready." Again she glanced quickly back. "It's no +one we know, Capitan. Be ready." + +Nearer and nearer came the stranger. + +When she heard the sound of his horse's feet on the sand Barbara +turned again, this time openly. Then she laughed. "I don't think +we'll run this time, Capitan." + +A moment later the horseman had overtaken her. + +"Good morning, Mr. Holmes. How do you do?" + +"Miss Worth!" + +Had the engineer checked his horse so suddenly a few months before +he would undoubtedly have gone over the animal's head. El Capitan +also stopped, while the man and the girl sat looking at each other, +Barbara smiling at the man's surprise. + +"Is it really you?" asked Holmes at last, "or is it some new trick +of this confounded desert?" He rubbed his eyes. "I never saw a +mirage like this before and I don't think the heat has affected my +brain." He moved his horse closer. "Could you shake hands?" + +Barbara held out her hand. "I assure you that I am very +substantial," she laughed, "and I am here to stay, too." + +"That's great! By George! it's good to see you," cried Holmes so +heartily that the girl turned away her face and caused her horse to +move ahead. + +The engineer's horse, with a word from his rider, kept his place by +El Capitan's side. + +"It's very nice of you to say that but I didn't see you anywhere +around last night when the stage arrived. Abe and Pat and Texas were +there and this morning even Pablo came the first thing after +breakfast." + +Willard Holmes could not altogether hide his pleasure at her hinted +rebuke. So she had thought of him--had looked for him--had missed +him. "Indeed, you must forgive me. I did not know you were coming," +he said and explained how his work took him away from Kingston much +of the time. + +"Of course, under those circumstances, I must forgive you," agreed +Barbara, then added seriously: "I think I could forgive anyone who +belonged to this desert work, anything, except one." + +"And that?" He was watching her face. "What is it that you could not +forgive?" + +She returned his look steadily. "Don't you know?" + +He drew a little back and she wondered at something in his voice and +manner as he answered: "Yes, I know. You could never forgive one for +being untrue to his work--for putting anything before the work +itself." + +"Yes," she returned, "that is it. I could never forgive one who did +that." + +"But how would you know? How could you judge?" he asked almost +roughly. "Perhaps the very one whom you would call false to the work +would, in reality, be doing the best thing for the work. I have +noticed that, after all, those who have the loftiest ideals and the +highest visions of man's duty to man and all that are seldom the +ones who accomplish much of the actual work of the world. Look here, +honestly now: how many of the people who are reclaiming this desert +--I mean all of us--laborers, business men, ranchers, everybody who +has come in here to do this work--how many of them do you think see +a single thing beyond the dollars they have hoped to make on the +venture? Whether it's the high wage paid by the Company, the big +profits of the business man or the heavier crop of the rancher, it +amounts to the same. And yet you would insist that they must not be +governed by this desire for gain. So far as I can see, it is this +same desire for gain that has driven men into doing every really +great thing that has ever been done. Look carefully into every great +enterprise that is of value to the world and you will find at the +beginning of it someone reaching for a dollar or its equivalent. +Your father, for instance--" + +Barbara threw out her hand protestingly. "Please don't, Mr. Holmes. +I know that what you say is every bit true. Father and I have gone +over it so many times. And yet I know, I know that what I feel is +true also. Oh, dear! what a muddle it is, isn't it? It seems so +wrong to spend one's life working for nothing but money. And yet all +the really good work in the world is done by those who don't work to +do good at all but for what they get out of it. I suppose now that +you stayed in the Desert all this past summer and worked so hard +without any vacation at all just for your salary." + +"How did you know that I took no vacation?" + +"Father told me. You seem to have made quite an impression on my +father. He has told me a great deal about you. But I want to know-- +did you stay in the desert for money?" + +Holmes wondered if she knew the danger that threatened the settlers +because of the unsubstantial character of the Company's structures. +"Perhaps," he said, "it was to save my professional reputation. That +would amount to the same thing, wouldn't it?" + +Barbara laughed. "I don't think that your taking a vacation would +have lost you your reputation. That won't do, Mr. Chief Engineer." +For some reason Barbara seemed highly pleased at the turn the +conversation had taken. + +The man thought of those anxious days and nights at the intake, when +the safety of the success of the whole King's Basin project hung on +the whim of an uncertain river, but he did not explain to Barbara +nor did he tell her that a vacation would have made no difference in +his salary. + +"I'll tell you why you stayed with the work in the Desert this +summer, Mr. Holmes," she said, and in her voice was a note of +pleased triumph. + +"Why?" he asked. + +"Because you are learning the language of the country." + +For an instant he was puzzled. Then he remembered the evening he had +said good-by. "Si, Senorita. I suppose one could not help learning a +little in La Palma de la Mano de Dios, could he?" + +"Not if he had ancestors," came the answer. + +Holmes flushed. "What a snob I must have seemed to you that day," he +said in deep disgust at the recollection of his first attempt to +impress the western girl with the importance of his place in life. + +"I don't think snob is just the word," she answered. "I didn't mind +that ancestor business and all that one bit. In fact I think I +rather enjoyed it. You were such a tenderfoot! But there was +something else I did mind. Did you know that there was a time when I +hated you with my whole heart?" + +"Miss Worth!" + +"It's so. I even promised myself that I would never speak to you +again--never! Then I came after awhile to understand how foolish it +was of me to blame you and father told me so much of your work here +this summer that I became heartily ashamed of myself. I'm telling +you now because, you see, I have come here to stay and to be, in a +way, a tiny little part in this great work you are doing, and I feel +that I ought to tell you so that we can start square again." + +"But, Miss Worth, what in the world are you talking about?" + +"I know it was foolish of me for you were not at all to blame. But I +couldn't help it. It is all over though and we are square now--or +will be when you have said that you forgive me." + +"But I don't know what you mean. What on earth did I do?" + +She looked straight at him. "Can't you even guess?" + +"I haven't the ghost of an idea." + +"Well, I'm glad you haven't," she declared, "even if it does make me +appear so foolish. It was because the Seer was discharged and you +were put in his place." + +"But I--" + +"Oh, I know all about it," she interrupted. "You didn't do it. You +were not to blame. The Company did it because it was Good Business. +I told you it was all over now. But please, I don't think we'd +better talk about it only just for you to say that you forgive me. I +had to tell you for that, you see." + +Then the once carefully proper Willard Holmes did a thing that would +have astonished his most intimate eastern friends beyond expression. +Reining his horse close to El Capitan he held out his hand to +Barbara. + +"Shake, pard! You're the squarest girl I ever knew." + +It was no flimsy, two-fingered ceremony, but a whole-hearted, whole- +handed grip that made the man's blood move more quickly. +Unconsciously, as he felt the warm strength in the touch of the +girl's hand, he leaned toward her with quick eagerness. And Barbara, +who was looking straight into his face with the open frankness of +one man to another, started and drew back a little, turning her head +aside. + +For some distance they rode in silence, then she began questioning +him about his life in the desert and all the rest of the way home +made him talk of the work so dear to her heart. As he talked and the +girl watched his strong bronzed face and listened to his words, she +found something in his voice and manner that was not there that day +when she introduced him to "her Desert." There was a self-reliance, +an enthusiasm, a purpose that was good to hear. + +At the door of her new home when he, pleading his work, would not +stay for lunch but promised to call in the evening, she bade him +"Adios" in the soft tongue of the Southland and when he had wheeled +his horse and was riding away, Barbara turned on the porch to look +after him. Watching the khaki clad figure that was so easily at home +in the saddle and that, with the loping horse, seemed so much a part +of the country, the girl wondered at the change that was being +wrought by the wild land upon the man from the eastern city. + +"Indeed," she thought, "he is learning the language of the desert!" +And she, too, was glad. + +When Holmes arrived at the Company headquarters the General Manager +shifted his cigar to the corner of his mouth and cocked his head to +one side, looking him over critically. + +"Buenas dias, Senor," cried the engineer gaily, throwing his +sombrero, quirt and gloves on the floor and helping himself from the +box of cigars on the desk. Holmes was still thinking in the language +of Barbara's land. + +"Humph!" grunted the slender man at the desk, "I said 'hello' to you +when you passed the office, also I bowed my best New York bow, but +you were too engaged to see. Were you practicing your greaser lingo +on her? I suppose she talks it like a native." + +"She talks a language you would not understand, my friend," said +Holmes coolly, lighting a cigar. + +"Probably not," agreed the other. "Who am I that I should understand +the words of a being of such exalted rank? The whole fool town is +crazy over her already. I've heard nothing but Miss Worth, Miss +Worth, all morning. You would think the hotel was a ladies' sewing +circle. Every man on the street is wearing his Sunday clothes and +walks with his head twisted over his shoulder for fear he will miss +a glimpse of her. Horace P. Blanton is the man of the hour. He came +in with her last night and is arranging a public reception, talking +like the business manager of a Greek goddess. And now here you go +riding down the street with her, so interested that you can't even +see me. Permit me to congratulate you. You certainly have lost no +time." + +Holmes scowled. "That fellow Blanton is an officious ass," he +growled, "and you"--he checked himself. + +"Go on; go on!" cried the delighted Burk. "Don't spare me. In the +name of the goddess, smite!" + +The engineer laughed in spite of himself, though he spoke sharply. +"Cut it out, Burk. I met Miss Worth in Rubio City when I landed +fresh from New York. She's a mighty charming girl, whom you'll be as +glad as anybody to know. She was riding over in the West District +this morning and I overtook her on my way in. Of course we came on +together. Have you heard from Uncle Jim?" + +The Manager dropped his bantering tone instantly and taking an open +letter from his desk, scanned it thoughtfully as he answered: "He'll +be here Saturday. He's not at all pleased, Holmes, with my report on +the Worth operations. Our friend Jeff's getting altogether too +strong a grip on things. It beats all the way he hops into a game +and draws all the high cards before you know he is on the other side +of the table." + +The thoughtful Manager of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation +Company was evidently worried. Holmes made no reply. + +With his eyes still on the letter in his hand Burk asked: "How are +you getting on with the survey of the South Central District?" + +"Black finished yesterday. I brought in the data." + +"What do you think of it?" + +"It's no good, Burk. The land is a rough jumble of small hummocks, +covered with a heavy growth of greasewood and mesquite, and +practically all of it lies so high that we could never get the water +on it at all." + +Burk considered. "Do you know whether Abe Lee ever went over that +district?" + +Holmes stiffened. "No, he never worked in that part of the Basin at +all, but what the deuce has Lee to do with it? Black is a graduate +engineer and as good a man as ever looked over a transit. If you +can't trust the men I send out, why"-- + +"Wow, wow!" cried Burk, "keep your shirt on, old man! I'm not making +insinuations against your pet surveyor. I merely asked for +information. Now if you please, turn your South Central data over to +your office force and tell them to get it in shape by Saturday +without fail. It's an order, my son. Selah!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +JEFFERSON WORTH'S OPERATIONS, + + +The crowd that waited in front of the new hotel for the arrival of +the stage, the evening James Greenfield came to Kingston, was +unusually large. The King's Basin Messenger had announced the coming +of the promoter and president of The King's Basin Land and +Irrigation Company and the pioneers had assembled to see the famous +capitalist whose power in the money world was making possible the +reclamation of the desert. + +Mr. Greenfield's greeting in the lobby, under the perspiring efforts +of Horace P. Blanton, soon assumed the proportions of a public +reception. With his Manager to introduce the prominent citizens, and +Horace P., who was never farther than a yard from the capitalist's +elbow to assist in receiving them, the man from New York entered +graciously into the spirit of the occasion. And when the man in the +white vest, intoxicated by the atmosphere of greatness, burst forth +in a speech of welcome, setting forth the wonders of The King's +Basin, the marvelous growth and future of Kingston, the greatness of +Greenfield and--quite incidentally--the greatness of Horace P, +Blanton, all in behalf of the people, the Easterner replied with a +few modest remarks, in which he hinted at even greater things to +come, promising by subtle suggestion unlimited wealth for all who +would invest their money and their lives in The King's Basin +project. + +Then Mr. Greenfield slipped away with Willard Holmes to his room. +The friendship between the engineer's own parents and his benefactor +had been lifelong and very close. It was a story, years ago +forgotten by the world, of how Grace Winton had chosen one of the +two college chums and why the other had never married. In the +repeated business failures of his old schoolmate and the consequent +loss of his fortune the successful financier had proven himself many +times a friend in need, and through the long illness of the man who +had been successful in winning the woman they both loved, +Greenfield, with his wealth, had been steadfast in his thoughtful +care. When baby Willard's mother died soon after the death of his +father, she--knowing the heart of the man whose love for her had +kept him childless--committed to him her only child, and Greenfield, +accepting the trust, had taken the boy into his life and heart as +his own son. + +After the loss of William Greenfield, his only brother, James +Greenfield--whose power in the financial world was steadily +increasing--had no one to intimately share his success but young +Holmes, and when Willard had finished his school and chosen his +profession the older man used the influence of his own position to +give the young engineer every advantage. + +As the two men faced each other now after the longest separation +they had ever known, the Company's president studied his chief +engineer with interest. + +"Well, Willard, my boy," he said at last; "how do you like it? Say, +but you are looking fine. You always were a handsome youngster but +you're--you're improving, young man. I'm blessed if you don't look +like a work of art done in bronze." He laughed with the pleasure of +his own conceit and the other laughed with him. + +"Wait until this sun gets a shot at you, Uncle Jim." + +"Humph! I suppose you think it will make me into some sort of an +hideous old idol. I don't propose to stay long enough to give it a +chance," he added grimly, and as he finished a shadow fell over his +face and the laughter died out of his voice. + +"What's the matter; don't you like the West, Uncle Jim?" + +"I hate it, and with good reason. Don't you get too interested out +here, Willard. We'll clean up a nice little pile out of this scheme +and get back home where we belong. I miss you like the deuce, boy!" + +The engineer started to say something about the work, but Greenfield +held up his hand. "Not a word about business to-night, Willard. +We'll take that up to-morrow. Tell me where I can get a shave and +then we'll have dinner and after that a quiet evening together." + +Holmes laughed. "We have a barber, all right, Uncle Jim. He landed +with his outfit this afternoon. There was no place for him, and the +freighter unloaded him on a vacant lot about a block west of the +hotel. It's been a long time since most of us have seen a real +barber and the boys couldn't wait. Trade came with such a rush that +he set up his chair in the street and has been doing a land-office +business ever since. They say he's all right, too, but it looks +funny." + +Mr. Greenfield, his curiosity aroused and being really in need of a +shave, sought out the shopless barber. He was easily found, for the +crowd that had gathered to witness the arrival of the great +financier, James Greenfield, had already drifted to the scene of +Kingston's other chief attraction. Piled in a vacant lot was the +necessary furniture for a well-equipped shop, but only the chair was +in use. A goods-box nearby held the instruments of the craft while a +bucket of water, a tin basin, and a supply of towels completed the +arrangements. The delighted crowd filled the air with good natured +chaff and laughter as the customers compared notes and attempted to +express their emotion at finding themselves properly groomed. + +Mr. Greenfield, highly amused at the novel sight, pushed his way +well into the circle. + +"Next!" shouted the man with the brush and razors in a voice that +was heard a block away. + +Some joker shouted: "Your turn, Mr. Greenfield," and "Greenfield! +Greenfield!" chimed the crowd. + +Amid yells of delight the president of The King's Basin Land and +Irrigation Company took his place in the chair. + +As the barber worked he talked. Never before in all his professional +career had he been so prominently in the public eye. "Yes sir, +gents, I'm here to tell you that that there man, Jefferson Worth, is +a prince--a prince. Let me tell you what he done for me. You see +things was gone all to the bad. Looked like every way I turned I +went up against it proper, and first thing I knowed my furniture was +piled out on the sidewalk and Mr. Sheriff he was a-sellin' it. Well, +sir, Mr. Worth he happened to come along just as they begun to ask +for bids and I'm darned if he didn't take the whole works just as if +he had done nothin' but buy barber shops all his life. I was layin' +low in the crowd, watchin', you see; and there was somethin' about +him--the way he stopped and bid the stuff in, or somethin', I dunno +what--that struck me, so I edged alongside and says, says I: 'Are +you a barber?' Whew! the minute he looked at me I seen my mistake, +but he never batted a eye. 'Not yet,' he says. 'This is a pretty +good outfit, ain't it?' 'You bet it is,' says I. 'It was mine a few +minutes ago.' An' then I tells him how I was up against it an' asks +what he was goin' to do with the stuff. 'I'm goin' to ship it to +Kingston in The King's Basin country,' says he. 'We need a good +barber down there and I figured that if I got the shop ready I could +find the man to run it. How would you like to tackle the job? I'll +send you and your outfit to Kingston and sell you your shop on good +time, too, for just what it cost me.' An' here I am--Next!" + +Mr. Greenfield slipped from the chair and silently tendered the +talkative barber a five dollar bill. As the barber was counting out +the change the eastern financier heard behind him murmurs of hearty +approval and admiration of Jefferson Worth. The barber's story had +made a deep impression and certainly no one in the crowd was more +deeply impressed than was the president of The King's Basin Land and +Irrigation Company. + +At dinner that evening the boy with the weekly edition of the +Messenger came into the dining room. Mr. Burk, taking his copy, +glanced once at the first page, folded it carefully and laid the +sheet before his employer with the headlines of a leading article +uppermost. + +Mr. Greenfield read: "The Citizens Bank of Kingston--Jefferson Worth +owns the building opposite the opera house and has organized a +bank." + +Mr. Greenfield did not need to read further. + +"Who did you say was building the opera house block?" he asked the +Manager. + +"It is owned by a syndicate. The local man in charge sits at that +table in the corner"--he nodded toward a clean, solid-looking young +fellow, who was enjoying his dinner and chatting with Abe Lee. + +In the lobby, a few minutes later, Greenfield whispered to Holmes: +"Introduce me to that young man, Willard." + +His order was easily obeyed and soon, in a corner, the president and +his new acquaintance were chatting pleasantly over cigars furnished +by the New Yorker. + +"That building of yours seems to be a very creditable piece of +work," offered Greenfield. "The investment ought to pay big later +on. But isn't it rather heavy for the present size of the town?" + +The other smiled pleasantly. "True; but you see we are not building +it for a town of this size, Mr. Greenfield. We expect Kingston to +grow rapidly and we realize the importance of being on the ground +first." + +"That's right, too," returned Greenfield. "With the capital to do it +that is undoubtedly the right plan. I understand you represent a +Coast syndicate." + +Again the young man smiled. "That is the general understanding, Mr. +Greenfield, and until to-night I have not been at liberty to +contradict it. I can tell you now, however, that the syndicate which +is putting up that building is Mr. Jefferson Worth." + +Greenfield was too well-schooled to give vent to the slightest +expression of surprise. His tone was courtesy itself as he replied: +"Indeed? Mr. Worth seems to be doing a great deal for Kingston." + +Then the talk shifted easily into other channels until the president +found opportunity to leave his companion. Rejoining his Manager and +Holmes, Greenfield requested Burk's presence in his room and, once +there, threw aside the mask of politeness, making it clearly +evident, in words chosen for forcefulness rather than politeness, +that he did not approve of the situation that had developed under +the thoughtful Manager's eye. + +"And now," he finished, "send the proprietor of this hotel up here." + +The uncomfortable Burk obeyed. When the landlord arrived with an +anxious face, Greenfield was his courteous, affable self again. + +"Mr. Wheeler," he said, "there is a little business proposition I +wish to lay before you while I am here and I thought it better to +mention it this evening so that you can have time to think it over +and give me your answer before I leave. I can see, of course, that +this hotel, building and all, represents quite an investment and +that, for a time, the returns will not be large. I don't know, of +course, how much capital you have to swing it, but I can see that +without good, substantial backing the enterprise might not hold up, +which would be very bad for the reputation of the town in which, as +you know, our Company is so heavily interested. Now if we could +bring about some alliance between you and the Company it would be a +good thing all around, do you see?" + +"Yes sir, I see. This is a big undertaking for Kingston as +conditions are now, but later it is bound to be a good paying +investment and we realize the importance of getting in on the ground +floor. But I am not at liberty to consider or make any proposition +whatever until I have consulted the owner--" + +"The owner?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"I was told that you were the proprietor. Your name is on the hotel +stationery." + +"I have only a very small interest. My associate would not permit +his name to be used at all. I may tell you, however, confidentially, +that Mr. Worth owns the building and practically all the hotel +equipment. You can easily place your proposition before him. +Whatever he does I am bound to accept." + +James Greenfield chewed his cigar in savage silence. Clearly it was +time that he visited his town. + +"Do you know where Mr. Worth is this evening??' he asked as mildly +as he could speak. + +"In his office, I think." + +"Would you be good enough to send him a message that I would like to +see him on a matter of importance? I will wait in my room." + +"Certainly, sir." + +When the landlord was gone the president of The King's Basin Land +and Irrigation Company walked the floor, carefully reviewing his +dealings with Jefferson Worth from the beginning. So this was what +the banker had "up his sleeve" when he declined to join the Company! + +He was interrupted by the boy with Mr. Worth's answer. Mr. Worth +would be in his office at the store until ten o'clock. + +The eastern capitalist made his way to the little room in the store +where Jefferson Worth sat at his battered old desk. "How do you do?" + +"Sit down," came the colorless greeting as the western man with one +hand closed the door and with the other motioned toward the chair at +the end of the desk. Then seating himself again in his own chair he +waited behind his mask. + +"Well, Mr. Worth, I see you decided to come into the Basin after +all." + +"I concluded to make a few small investments," came the exact reply. + +Greenfield laughed shortly. "Yes--this store, the electric power +plant and system, the bank building and bank, the opera house block, +the hotel, the telephone system--" The Company president's tone and +manner were intended to imply that he understood clearly the other's +attitude and that he recognized a fellow-craftsman. "Come now, +Worth; let's get down to good business. It's poor policy for you and +me to go against each other. You know what there is in it for all of +us if we hang together and you know as well as I that we can't +afford, and that we don't want, to fight each other. What sort of a +deal will it take to get you into the Company? I tell you squarely, +we are going to make it almighty hot for any independent operator +who tries to start in here." + +"I must decline to consider any proposition at all from the Company, +Mr. Greenfield." + +In the silence that followed Greenfield sought in vain to look back +of that gray mask. He felt for the first time in his business career +powerless to make the next move in the game and somewhere back in +his active brain a warning signal flashed: "Go slow!" + +"Very well, Mr. Worth," he said at last, rising to go. "When you are +ready to consider the matter let me know. In the meantime"--he +shrugged his shoulders and smiled--"good night." + +Outside the store Greenfield paused irresolutely as one hesitates +whose mind is too preoccupied to direct his steps. Then his eye +caught the gleam of light from the printing office across the street +next to the Company building. + +A moment later he greeted the young man who edited and published the +Messenger. "You seem to be pretty well fixed here," offered +Greenfield after the usual greetings. "Seems to me your prospects +are mighty good for a young man. Your profits ought to be big if you +can hold on and grow with the development of the country." + +"Yes sir, I feel that our chances are good. Kingston is growing +rapidly and we are in on the ground floor." + +Greenfield looked at him sharply as he uttered the now familiar +expression. "You have all the capital you need?" + +"We are doing very well so far." + +"I have been looking your paper over with some care," the president +went on, "and I believe you have the right idea. A newspaper is a +powerful factor in a great enterprise like this and of course I am +anxious that everything that makes for the advancement of our +project should succeed. I would be sorry to see you crippled in any +way for lack of funds. If you are open to consider the matter I +should be glad to take a good big interest with you and to undertake +to back you handsomely." + +"I don't think my partner, who really furnished all the capital, +would sell, sir." + +"Ah! Then you are not alone?" + +"No sir. Mr. Jefferson Worth practically owns the plant." + +The first thing that met Mr. Greenfield's eye as he stepped through +the doorway on his return to the hotel was the broad back of Horace +P. Blanton, who--carried away as usual by the importance of the +occasion--was "orating" to a group of strangers. It should be said +that, save when the Kingston citizens were in a certain mood, Horace +"orated" usually to strangers. In this case so convincing was his +logic, so eloquent his flights of rhetoric, so irresistible his +appeals, that Greenfield saw the fat neck of him, where it showed +between the fat shoulder and the picture-general hat, grow red with +the fierceness of his eloquence. + +"There is no question in the world, gentlemen, that by long odds the +most able financier in the West to-day is my friend, Mr. Jefferson +Worth. His startling genius as a captain of industry is equaled only +by his splendid public spirit and his magnificent generosity to +everyone who needs a helping hand. Look what he has accomplished for +Kingston, while only a few of us who were on the inside knew what he +was doing--our opera house, our bank, our newspaper, our telephone +lines, our ice plant, and our power plant--which to-morrow night for +the first time will illuminate the heavens. Think of it! electric +lights in the midst of a desert that, since God made it, has known +only the light of the stars. I maintain, gentlemen, that it is the +duty of every soul in The King's Basin to be present at the +celebration of the splendid accomplishment and in honor to my +friend, Worth. Not only has this wizard given us in Kingston the +blessings of modern civilization, but there is scarcely a rancher +for miles around whom he has not aided materially by furnishing him +with needed supplies from the big department store, or by advancing +him necessary capital. I am proud, gentlemen--proud, to call such a +public benefactor my friend. Kingston is proud of her most +distinguished citizen; the whole King's Basin country is proud of +him. I--Oh, excuse me a minute, gentlemen; as I see my friend, Mr. +Greenfield, the president of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation +Company, has just arrived." + +Greenfield made an effort to escape. He had heard quite enough. But +it was useless. The white-vested bulk of the orator barred the way; +the kingly countenance of Horace P. Blanton compelled recognition. +"My dear Greenfield, how are you?" The voice was the anxious voice +of unmistakable disinterested affection. "You have arrived at a most +auspicious moment. I have promised our people that you would address +them at the public meeting to-morrow evening in the opera house." + +"It is impossible, Mr.--Ah! Mr. Blanton; I never make public +speeches." + +Before Greenfield had finished his curt reply the perspiring one had +him by the arm in friendly familiarity, and with the president's +last word the answer came in a low, confidential tone of complete +understanding. "Of course you understand that I have arranged this +little affair simply to encourage every one to do his part to boom +Kingston. It is to our interest, you know, to keep things going." + +Until a late hour the president of The King's Basin Land and +Irrigation Company, with his General Manager and chief engineer, in +the Manager's private office, discussed Jefferson Worth's operations +and his growing influence in The King's Basin country. James +Greenfield had evidently forgotten his determination to spend the +evening with Willard Holmes. + +It was notable that the president and his Manager did most of the +talking. The engineer was, for the most part, a silent listener. +When appealed to directly he answered briefly, giving such +information as he had at his command, and several times his answers +caused Greenfield to look at him with questioning sharpness. + +Once the older man remarked: "I believe you wrote me, Burk, that +Worth's daughter had arrived and that they are to make their home in +Kingston. Is she likely to prove a factor in the matter of her +father's popularity and influence? Sometimes a woman, you know--" + +Burk's cigar shifted to the corner of his mouth and his head was +cocked to one side. "Ask Holmes," he muttered with a grin. + +"I think you'd better leave Miss Worth out of this, Uncle Jim," said +Holmes so sharply that Barbara's name was not mentioned again. Which +does not mean at all that Greenfield had dismissed the matter from +his mind. + +"You have that South Central District survey ready?" he asked. + +"I believe the boys have it in shape," answered Burk. The engineer +laid a map before them, explained the boundaries of the proposed +district, the line of the proposed canal, and on another sheet +pointed out the character of the land with the elevations that made +irrigation of the larger part of the tract impossible. + +"You can vouch for the correctness of these figures, Willard?" asked +Greenfield at last. + +"Certainly, sir. Black is one of the best men we have." + +"And it is your opinion that it would be a heavy loss to the Company +to build this canal and attempt to develop this section?" + +"I am sure that it would, sir. The district is practically +worthless." + +"All right, boys; that will be all for this evening. We will start +on that inspection tour day after to-morrow instead of in the +morning as I had planned. I have a little business with our friend +Worth to-morrow morning." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +JAMES GREENFIELD SEEKS AN ADVANTAGE. + + +The next morning Jefferson Worth, in his office in the store +building, again received the president of The King's Basin Land and +Irrigation Company. James Greenfield, with outstretched hand, was +quite cordial in his greeting. + +"I owe you an apology, sir. I did not know until my return to the +hotel last night of the demonstration to be held this evening in +your honor and in celebration of the turning on of our new lights, +or I should have congratulated you sooner. I am glad the people of +Kingston are recognizing you in this public manner. Permit me to +express my personal appreciation also." + +"Thank you," said Worth from behind his mask. "I figure that my +interests in Kingston will pan out all right some day." + +Greenfield dropped his complimentary manner and came at once to +business. "Look here, Mr. Worth, I have been thinking over the +matter I mentioned last night. I can see the strength of your +position here and I appreciate the value of your operations in the +development of this country, which mean, of course, an added value +to the Company's property and interests. We don't want to fight you; +such things are bad for all concerned. We would all lose money and +it would have a bad effect on the whole project. If you won't come +in with us, will you consider a proposition that you can handle +independently?" + +"What is your proposition?" + +"It is this. In forming our plans for extending the Company's system +we have laid out a new district--the South Central. Before placing +the water rights on the open market, it occurred to me that we might +make a deal whereby the development of the district would be assured +and at the same time we would be free to use our forces in still +further extensions. As you know, the settlers are coming in so +rapidly now that we need all our equipment to get the water to them +as fast as they are located. My proposition is this: We will sell +you the entire amount of water rights covering this South Central +District--sixty thousand shares--at the lowest figure we can make; +you to build your own canals and structures. The entire district +will thus be altogether in your hands to handle as you see fit, we, +of course, being bound only to deliver into your canals the amount +of water called for by the regular contract under which the rights +are sold." + +"You have already completed the survey and formed the district?" + +"We have. The surveys have just been completed. We are all ready to +go ahead with our work and to sell the water." Greenfield did not +say that the Company was ready to go to work on this particular +district, nor did he say that the stock would be offered for sale +save to Mr. Worth. The president of course expected Worth to apply +his statement to the particular tract of land under consideration +and to accept it as establishing beyond question the value of the +South Central District. If Jefferson Worth noted the general +character of Greenfield's answer he gave no sign. + +"Where is the land located?" + +"If you will step over to our office I can show you the maps." + +When Jefferson Worth saw the boundaries of the South Central +District showing the course of Dry River and the San Felipe trail, +for the first time his long, tapering fingers, tapping softly the +arm of his chair, smoothing his gray cheek and caressing his chin +betrayed emotion. The spot where the San Felipe trail crossed Dry +River and where the banker and his party had found the baby girl was +just within the boundary of the district. + +Apparently studying the map before him, Barbara's father sat +motionless save for those nervous fingers; and Greenfield, thinking +that the man's mind was intent upon the business under +consideration, spoke no word. But Jefferson Worth was not thinking +of business. He was seeing again a brown-eyed, brown-haired baby +girl, who shrank back from his outstretched arms as though in fear. + +But that mask-like face betrayed no hint of emotion, and when the +banker spoke again it was to ask mechanically: "Where is your +engineer?" + +Greenfield looked inquiringly at Burk. The Manager touched a button +on his desk. To the young man who answered the signal the Manager +said: "Charlie, if Mr. Holmes is in the building please ask him to +step in here a moment." + +Presently the chief engineer stood before them. An expression of +surprise flashed over his bronzed face as he saw Mr. Worth. From the +banker his glance moved swiftly to Burk and Greenfield, then fell on +the map before the three men. + +Instantly he saw Greenfield's purpose. But what did they want of +him? Surely they would not dare ask him to make a false statement +regarding the surveys! He could not interfere; it was not his +business. It was the creed of his type that in business transactions +every man must take care of himself; but the Company must not ask +him to lie for them. As these thoughts went through his mind his +form straightened and his eyes shot a warning--almost a defiant-- +look at his two superiors. + +Greenfield saw and signaled caution. Burk saw and smiled. But none +of the three Company men could have told whether Jefferson Worth, +who was bending over the map, saw or not. Before the others could +speak the banker, without looking up, said: "I just wanted to ask, +Mr. Holmes, whether you can tell me about the character of the soil +in this new district?" + +"The soil, Mr. Worth, is, I believe, as good as there is in the +Basin." + +The three men awaited the next question with breathless interest. + +"Thank you, Mr. Holmes. Mr. Greenfield, I will consider the +proposition." + +The president and manager could scarcely believe their ears. The +engineer vanished. + +Jefferson Worth continued: "How long have you planned to be in the +Basin this trip, Mr. Greenfield?" + +"This week only. I start on my inspection with Mr. Burk and Mr. +Holmes in the morning." + +"I asked because I must go out in the morning for a few days, and I +suppose you wish to close the deal before you leave." + +"You think favorably of the proposition, then?" + +"If we can get together on the terms"--Worth spoke exactly, as if he +wished hie words to be remembered--"I will accept it. Suppose you +put your proposition in writing and mail it to me in the city to- +morrow. Then when I get back we will be in shape to finish the +matter one way or the other. If everything is satisfactory and I see +I can't get home before you leave I will wire you." + +Thirty minutes after Jefferson Worth had returned to his office, Abe +Lee came in. "You sent for me, sir?" + +Abe's employer arose and closed the door. + +That evening about dusk the surveyor rode out of Kingston on the +road toward Frontera. And that night, while the celebration was in +full swing and the new electric lights were sputtering and hissing +in honor of Jefferson Worth, a loaded wagon, drawn by four mules, +quietly left the rear of the Worth store. On the driver's seat sat +Pablo. With little noise the outfit, with its lone driver, left the +town in the midst of its demonstration and was soon in the open +country on the road leading south. + +An hour later they had passed the ranches and were in the Desert. +Just beyond where a party of Jefferson Worth's linemen, who were +stringing the telephone wires, was encamped, the Mexican halted his +team and the heavy form of Pat came out of the darkness and climbed +with smothered grunts and curses to his side. + +Another hour and they reached the point where the new road crossed +the old San Felipe trail. Again Pablo halted his team. Ten--fifteen +--twenty minutes they waited in listening silence, save for an +occasional grunt from the Irishman. Then from the south came the +sound of wheels and horses' feet. + +"Git under way, Pablo," mumbled Pat. "Ut may not be thim, an' Abe +will hang yer black hide on the new tiliphone line av anybody goin' +to town stops to pass ye the time av night." + +Pablo swung his team to the left and drove slowly ahead on the old +trail. A hundred yards farther on they were overtaken by Abe Lee and +Texas Joe, who were driving a light spring wagon. + +"Everything all right, boys?" asked the surveyor sharply. + +"Si, Senor," and "Yis, Sorr," came the answers. + +"Good. We'll hit the grit good and hard now for we must be in the +sand hills by morning." + +Twenty-four hours after Jefferson Worth left Kingston, the east +bound overland express came to a full stop in the Desert at a point +about twenty miles west of Rubio City. + +The trainmen and porters ran to the vestibules and, throwing open +the doors, looked out. Three or four passengers who had risen early +followed the crew, inquiring anxiously the reason for the delay. The +big conductor was standing by the rear steps of the Pullman and a +medium sized man swung down to the ground by his side. Back from the +track, in the gray of the morning, the watchers saw a tiny fire, +over which two roughly dressed figures crouched, evidently preparing +breakfast, while a team, with a light spring wagon, stood tied to a +nearby mesquite tree. On every hand the great desert stretched its +vast dun plain without a sign of life save for the train and the men +and horses by the lonely fire. + +"Right, sir?" asked the conductor of the man who alighted by his +side. + +"All right," answered the other in a low tone. + +"Good-by, sir." + +"Good-by." + +The conductor lifted his hand, and, as the train started swung +aboard. The watchers saw the man walk, without a glance at the +departing train, straight toward the little group at the fire. + +"Well, what do you make of that?" cried an excited tourist as the +conductor came up the steps into the vestibule and the porter +slammed down the platform and closed the door. And--"Who is he?" +"Where is he going?" "What is he doing?" came in chorus from the +others. + +The conductor shook his head with a smile. "Don't ask me. I had +orders to stop here to let him off; that's all I know." + +Jefferson Worth greeted Abe Lee and Texas Joe as coolly as though it +was his daily habit to meet them at that hour and place. "How is +everything, Abe?" + +"Not a hitch so far," answered the surveyor; and Tex drawled: +"Coffee and frijoles ready, Mr. Worth." + +"Can we make it to the outfit today?" asked Mr. Worth as they +finished their rude meal and prepared to start. + +"Easy," answered Abe. "We have plenty of water with us and this team +will do it without turning a hair." + +Just before sundown at a point on Dry River they found Pat and Pablo +with the outfit in a comfortable camp. + +While Abe Lee, with his helpers, was running his levels over the +proposed line of the canal staked out by the Company surveyors in +the South Central District, Willard Holmes was trying to make Mr. +Greenfield see the necessity of spending more money on the unsafe +structures and at Dry River heading. He explained, argued and +pleaded in vain. + +"My dear boy," said the Company's president. "You must understand +that we are not in this country for sweet charity's sake. Burk, +here, can tell you that we have not yet begun to get our investment +back. When the returns justify it we will give you the money for +your construction work, but we can't do it now. The rights of the +men who are putting up the capital for this project must be +considered, you know. We can't use a dollar of the Company's money +except when it is necessary. If I were to let you spend all the +money you want, we never would pay a dividend." + +"But, Uncle Jim, you are forcing these settlers to take terrible +chances blindly. Have they not rights also? The interest of the +Company is mighty small compared with the interests of the men who +are buying the water rights and developing the land." + +Greenfield flushed angrily. "Look here, Willard, you have nothing to +do with the Company's business policy. As the engineer in charge, +your work is to protect both the settlers and us to the best of your +ability, but don't get any fool notions into your head. You can't +afford to go the way of that dreamer who started this work with the +exalted idea of making it a benefit to the whole human race. That +line of talk is all right for the boosters like Horace P. Blanton, +but we've got to make good in dollars and cents or the whole thing +goes to smash." + +With the South Central deal still on his mind and the picture of +Barbara, as she talked to him of his work the morning he had met her +in the desert, in his heart, these business discussions with +Greenfield and Burk were almost unbearable to the engineer. After +they had inspected the intake, the Dry River heading and the levees +of the main canal he pleaded an urgent need of his presence at the +office and left the party, to reach Kingston two days in advance of +their return. + +Barbara was on the porch when he stopped at the gate, tired, hot and +dusty from his long trip. The girl, dressed in some cool simple +white stuff and seated in her easy wicker chair in the deep shade of +the wide porch, made a picture wonderfully attractive to the man who +had ridden all day in the scorching heat of the desert sun. Of +course he must come in. What nonsense to talk of his appearance. He +was not making a fashionable social call. The weary engineer dropped +into a chair and gratefully accepted the glass of cool lemonade she +brought. + +"I made it myself not five minutes ago, just as if I had known you +were coming," she said with a laugh that was as refreshing as the +drink itself. "Ynez is up town shopping for supper. Father is in the +city. Abe has gone away somewhere. Even Pablo has vanished and I +haven't seen Texas Joe nor Pat for a week. I was wishing someone +would happen along. I suppose that's really why I made the +lemonade." + +Holmes set his glass carefully on the porch railing near at hand. + +"Won't you have some more?" + +"Thank you, no. You are quite deserted, aren't you? How long has Lee +been gone?" + +"Oh, he went the evening before father left and Pablo vanished the +same night. It was quite tragic, and the next day I was in the +office when a man from the line came in asking for Pat. He seems to +have disappeared the same way. I think they might at least have left +some word or said good-by." + +In her innocent talk Barbara had told the whole story. It was easy +for the Company engineer to guess where the surveyor and his helpers +had gone and what they were doing. "Are you sure that your father is +in the city?" he asked jokingly. + +Barbara laughed. "Oh, there's no doubt about father. His departure +was regular in every way." + +On his way to the office a little later Holmes chuckled to himself, +keenly enjoying the situation. He mentally pictured the chagrin of +Greenfield and Burk when he should tell them what he had learned. +But would he tell them? He had not told Mr. Worth what he knew of +the Company's survey in the South Central District. Why should he +tell the Company what he knew of Worth's surveyors? Once he would +have considered that loyalty to his employers demanded that he tell +what he had learned. But now, since he had been assured so very +emphatically and very recently that the policy of the Company was +none of his business, let the shrewd Manager and the president find +out for themselves. Anyway, he told himself, it could make no +difference, for he knew what the result of Abe's surveys would be +and he was glad indeed that Barbara's father had not walked into the +trap set for him. The engineer had concerned himself not a little +about the probable view Barbara would take of his attitude in +permitting her father to purchase water rights that he knew to be +worthless. But now Mr. Worth himself would discover the trick of the +Company men and it would not matter. + +To his surprise and chagrin Jefferson Worth walked into the Company +office a few days later and, in his exact colorless voice, said: "I +will accept your proposition Mr. Greenfield. If you wish we can fix +up the contract and close the deal to-day." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +THE GAME PROGRESSES. + + +The purchase of the South Central District water rights by Jefferson +Worth was immediately announced by The King's Basin Messenger in a +lengthy article which began with the modest statement that this was +the largest and most important business transaction that had yet +occurred in the new country. The article declared that the name of +Jefferson Worth was a guarantee that the new district would be made +the richest and most prosperous section of the Basin and that-- +splendid as the undertaking was--it was only the beginning of far +greater things to be wrought by the wizard of the desert whose +genius had made him the greatest factor in the reclamation and +development of The King's Basin country. The work would be begun at +once--as soon as men and teams could be secured. + +The thoughtful Manager of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation +Company read the article with a grin, shifted his cigar to the +corner of his mouth, cocked his head to one side and sent a marked +copy of the paper to the Company's president. + +James Greenfield read the article with the satisfaction of a good +business man who sees his competitor heavily over-stocked with a +line of goods for which there is no market. The pioneers in the +desert who were not already located, and the newly arriving +prospectors read and called upon Mr. Worth for further information. +The article, reprinted in the Rubio City papers, was read by many +who, familiar with Jefferson Worth's business record, took the San +Felipe trail for the new district. + +The main supply camp for the new work was established at Dry River +Crossing, the location being ideal, with an abundant supply of +running water from the waste gate at the heading coming down the old +channel where Barbara's mother had perished of thirst beside a dry +water hole. From the camp, the San Felipe trail led in one direction +straight to Rubio City and in the other to the main road in the +heart of the Basin half way between Kingston and Frontera. At this +camp Jefferson Worth made his headquarters. Not a man, whether he +presented himself empty-handed or with team and tools, but was +forced to talk with Mr. Worth in his tent office before he was set +to work under Abe Lee and his three lieutenants--Texas, Pat and +Pablo. + +It was in those days that Willard Holmes reported to the Manager +that many of his men were leaving the Company and were going to work +for Jefferson Worth. The news did not appear to alarm Mr. Burk. With +a grin he advised the engineer, "Don't worry, old man. They'll be +damned glad to come back to us before many weeks." "I was looking +out a route for the new central main yesterday," said Holmes, "and +rode over to Worth's camp at the Crossing. Judging from the size and +activity of the camp, he is planning to go in good and strong. He +must have a big force at work now and he is taking on men all the +time." + +"Your Uncle Jim will be delighted to hear of Friend Jefferson's +enterprise." + +The engineer's face did not express appreciation of the Manager's +wit. "Have you heard the proposition that Mr. Worth is making to +every man on the job?" he asked. + +"No, what is he doing? Giving away one hundred and sixty shares of +stock with free telephones and electric lights, passes at the opera +house, unlimited credit at the store and a deposit at the bank as a +bonus to anyone who will locate in his district? He seems to have +all kinds of money to throw away." + +"It's not quite so bad as that," answered the other with a smile. +"But he tells every man, when he hires him, to file on any claim in +the district that he wants and he can have the water rights for it +without any cash payment and without any interest for five years. In +a good many cases he is even advancing money to pay the government +entry fee and promising to carry them for their equipment and +supplies until they make a crop. But he makes them agree to stay on +the land and actually farm the claims. He won't let a speculator +even look in." + +Mr. Burk expressed his opinion of Jefferson Worth's ability in the +strongest terms. The man was insane, childish! Those fellows would +leave him high and dry. + +"That's what I said at first," agreed Holmes. "I asked Bill Watson, +who quit us with his team at Number Five to go to work in the South +Central, if he actually thought Worth was going to let his men make +all the money." + +"What did Bill say?" + +Holmes smiled. "You know how Bill talks? 'Hell, no,' he said. 'I put +it to the old man just that way myself. I says, say I: 'That sounds +good all right, Mr. Worth; but it ain't reasonable that you're +leavin' yourself out of this deal. Where do you come in?' says I. +'Who's the joker in this little game?'" + +"And Worth explained?" put in Burk eagerly, shaken out of his usual +thoughtful calm by Holmes's story. + +"Bill says that Mr. Worth told him that he owns a big tract of land +where the camp is located and that he is going to build a town there +and would make his money by the increased value of his property that +would result from the development of the district; by business +enterprises that would depend on the prosperity of the ranchers; and +by the large increase in the value of water rights that he would +sell later to those who came in to invest after the district was +developed. I suggested to Bill that he could see how Worth was +simply using him to gain his own ends." + +"And did Bill see the point?" + +"He said: 'You're damned right he is, and so am I usin' Jefferson +Worth to gain my ends, ain't I? I might work for the Company a +hundred years and never get a cent more than the wages that you're +payin' now. Jefferson Worth, he pays me the same wages and gives me +a chance to get my share of all that comes out of what I do. I don't +care a damn if he makes ten millions out of the country. I hope he +will, because he is giving us poor devils, who ain't got nothin' +now, a chance to get a ranch an' do somethin' for ourselves. Of +course he uses us to make money for himself. So does the Company use +us, don't they? The difference is that Jefferson Worth lets us use +_him_ and the Company just counts us in with the rest of the live +stock.'" + +"How did you get around that?" asked Burk, studying his companion's +face. + +"I didn't get around it," answered the engineer dryly. + +Burk leaned back in his chair and spoke with unusual earnestness. +"Bill is right, Holmes. We consider the men who work for us as we +consider horses and mules. We feed the stock; we pay wages to the +men. When an animal is worn out and useless, we kill him and get +another. When a man is down and out, we fire him and hire another, +and you and I are no better. The Company looks on us exactly the +same way. We have no more real interest in this work than the +skinniest old plug on the job and the Company won't permit us to +have. They think they couldn't afford it--that it wouldn't be Good +Business. 'Get up!' 'Whoa!' 'Back!' 'Move, damn you! and here's your +corn and hay.' That's all we have to do with it. If you balk and +kick, out you go to rustle your own feed. It's a beautiful system-- +for the Company. I almost wish that Worth had a chance to try out +his scheme. It would at least be an interesting experiment to +watch." + +"Well, why hasn't he a chance to try it out?" + +"You know very well why. Because the deal that your talented uncle +fixed up for our friend Jeff was loaded for the express purpose of +blowing that philanthropic promoter into financial Kingdom-come. +Didn't you report that the development of that South Central +District was practically impossible because of the elevations?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, ordinarily the project would have been abandoned then and +there. But I suggested to Mr. Greenfield that we go ahead as if +everything was all right and then unload it on Worth so that he +would smash himself, as he is doing." + +"You should be proud of your scheme." + +"I am proud of the scheme, but I'm not proud of myself. I'm being a +good mule, that's all. Jefferson Worth took our apparent purpose to +go ahead with the work as evidence that the proposition was all +right and that's why Jefferson Worth will not finish his intended +experiment." + +"Yes, but the fact is he did not accept the proposition without +investigation." + +"What?" + +The engineer told the Manager what he had learned from Barbara. Burk +whistled softly. "Then you think the old fox sent Abe Lee out to +check our survey and framed up his trip to the city to gain time? +Well, I'll be--But look here, Holmes, Worth didn't accept our +proposition until after he had investigated?" + +"No." + +"Well; who makes the mistake then, your man Black or Abe Lee?" + +"That's exactly what I'd like to know," said the Company's chief +engineer grimly. + +The Manager grinned as he saw the possibilities of the situation, +then thoughtfully he selected a cigar. "Pretty game, isn't it, old +man," he said and offered the box to Holmes who declined. + +When the weed was going well the Manager's head tipped toward his +left shoulder and his cigar was in the opposite corner of his mouth. +"And you knew what Worth was up to before the deal was closed? Why +didn't you report it, Holmes?" + +The engineer frowned. "I didn't tell Mr. Worth what Black's survey +showed, and you must remember that Uncle Jim rubbed it into me good +and hard on the question of the construction work that the policy of +the Company was none of my business. This deal was not in my +department." + +"Dear me," murmured the Manager with another grin. "What a well- +broken Company mule it is. And you were so dead sure of your man +Black. Which would you rather, my boy, have Black right and Abe +wrong--the Company to win; or have Black wrong and Abe right--and +Jefferson Worth free to go on with his little experiment?" + +"Speak for yourself," growled Holmes. + +"I will," returned Burk. "I have been a good mule, so my conscience +is clear. If I knew how and thought it would do any good I would +pray that Abe Lee made no mistake." + +"Well, I won't believe that it's Black's mistake. He comes from too +good a school," Holmes replied stubbornly. + +"And your confidence in your man is no doubt equaled by Worth's +confidence in his. Interesting, isn't it?" + +"You go to thunder!" growled the engineer unable to stand more. The +Manager's mocking laugh followed him out of the room. + +As the engineer passed the open window of the office a moment later +Burk called to him softly: "Oh, Holmes; I have an idea that may be +helpful to you in the matter." + +Against his will the engineer paused and drew close to the window. +"Well?" + +"Why don't you call on Miss Worth? Perhaps--" + +But Willard Holmes fled. And yet that which Burk suggested in jest +was exactly what Willard Holmes had already determined in his own +mind to do. + +The engineer had not seen Barbara since the conclusion of the South +Central deal and he was continually asking himself how the girl +would look upon his part in that transaction, or rather his failure +to take a part in it. Barbara's frank confession, when she had asked +him to forgive her for blaming him because of the Seer's dismissal +that they might start square, had put their friendship upon such a +ground that the man felt guilty in not confessing at once to her how +he had aided Greenfield and Burk in their effort to trap her father. +He could not shake off the conviction that she would undoubtedly +look upon his attitude as being what she had called untrue to the +work--the one thing she had declared she could not forgive. Would +she forgive him? She had been so interested in his work, and the +engineer was beginning to realize how very much this meant to him. +At the Worth home the engineer learned from the Indian woman that +Barbara had left Kingston that morning to visit her father in his +camp in the South Central District. She had gone with Texas Joe in +the buckboard and they had taken her saddle horse, El Capitan. + +When would La Senorita return? Ynez did not know. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +GATHERED AT BARBARA'S COURT. + + +Barbara's trip to the South Central District was full of interest. +Riding with Texas Joe in a light buckboard drawn by a span of lively +broncos with El Capitan leading behind, she was as merry as a +school-girl out for a long-talked-of holiday. The dark-faced old +plainsman, whose iron will and marvelous endurance had brought his +companions and the baby safely out of that land of death years +before, turned often to look at her now while his keen eyes, dark +still under their grizzly brows, were soft with fond regard, and his +voice, gentle and drawling as ever, was filled with tender +affection. Under his drooping gray mustache, black once, his slow +smile came in the ready answer of full sympathy with her mood. + +Eager as ever to know all about the work of reclaiming her Desert, +the young woman plied him with questions and Texas exerted himself +to recall scenes and incidents of which he had not told her before. +He reviewed the work from that first survey to the present with +vivid pictures of life in the camps, in the towns, or on the trail, +with construction gangs and grading crews or freighters' outfits, +and the glimpses of toil and hardship, discomforts and suffering +lost none of their reality in the dry humor of his words. Texas Joe +was of that sort who habitually laugh at hardships, who, indeed, +could not otherwise live in the wild lands they helped to tame. Nor +did the shrewd old frontiersman fail to observe how most of +Barbara's questions required in their answers something touching +Willard Holmes, or how the incidents that pleased her most were +those in which the engineer figured. On her part the young woman was +secretly delighted to see how loyally her companion spoke in +admiring praise of the desert-bred surveyor, Abe Lee. Whenever the +name of Holmes was mentioned, Abe was somehow brought into the +story. + +"Mr. Holmes is really a fine engineer, don't you think?" asked +Barbara mischievously at the conclusion of a story in which both +Holmes and Abe figured. + +"Sure he is. I don't reckon them eastern schools ever turned out a +better. And what counts more, sometimes, he's all man, he is. But +you see, honey, he belongs to the Company. Abe now, wal--you see, +Abe, he sabeys the country like a burro does the cook shack and he's +just as good a man as the Easterner, though not so pretty to look +at. And you can bet there don't no Company get a hobble on Abe." + +"Do the men who work for the Company like Mr. Holmes?" + +"Sure they do. All the men like Holmes fine. But they just naturally +love Abe." + +But when they had turned into the San Felipe trail and were +traveling eastward, Barbara ceased to question Texas about the +reclamation work and led him to tell her again the familiar story of +his journey from San Felipe with Mr. Worth, the Seer, Pat and the +boy Abe, in the days when that old road was the only mark of man in +all those miles of desolate waste. + +Reaching a point where the sand hills could be distinguished, he +pointed them out to her, and the young woman, at sight of the huge +rolling drifts that shone all golden in the desert sun, grasped his +arm with a low exclamation. In silence, as they drew nearer, they +watched the low yellow hills lift their naked bulk up from the gray +and green patches of salt-bush and greasewood that so thinly +carpeted the plain. When even the desert vegetation could find no +life in the ever shifting sands and the first of the great drifts +loomed huge and forbidding against the sky, seeming to bar their +way, Barbara spoke again. "Now tell me, Uncle Tex; tell me as we go +just how it was and show me the places." + +The plainsman did not answer and she urged again: "Please, Uncle +Tex, tell me. I want to see it all just as it happened. I feel that +I must, don't you understand?" + +So the old plainsman told her and pointed out the places as nearly +as he could, explaining how the drifts moved always eastward under +the winds; how at times, most frequently in the spring months, when +the fierce gales swept down through the Pass and across the Basin, +the huge billows of sand would roll forward so swiftly that tents or +wagons in their path would be buried in a few hours, and how, in the +calm seasons, with every light breeze they work their silent way +inch by inch. Even as he spoke Barbara, looking, saw a thin film of +sand, fine as powdered snow, curl like mist over the edge of a drift +as a breath of air swept lightly up the western slope and over the +summit of the hill. + +At the point where Mr. Worth's party had camped to await the passing +of the storm, Texas stopped the team and showed her how they had +rigged their rude canvas shelter on one side of the wagon to protect +themselves from the cutting blast. Farther on he pointed out the +spot where they had found the horse with the broken halter strap, +and then they came to the great drift where her people had made +their last camp and where, later, Jefferson Worth had spent that +night alone with the spirit that lives in La Palma de la Mano de +Dios. + +Again Texas halted his team, and Barbara, leaving her companion in +the buckboard, climbed to the top of the hill that held buried deep +in its heart--what? Was the body of her true father buried there? +Were there brothers, sisters, lying under that huge mound? Could the +sands, if they could speak, tell her who she was, her name and +people? Could they, if they would, make known to her relatives and +friends of her own blood? + +Coming slowly down the shoulder of the drift she went around to the +foot of the steep eastern side and there, in the lee of the billow +that curled high above her, she tried to dig with her hands a tiny +hole. At every movement that displaced a handful of sand, a dry +golden flood poured down from above, covering instantly the mark she +had made. With sudden, energy the young woman exerted all her +strength, digging faster and faster. But still, from above her head, +down the steep side of the drift the sand slid without effort, +making a faint whispering sound as if to mock her labors. Then Texas +called and she went back to him, her brown eyes hard and dry. + +The old plainsman, quick to feel her mood, would have driven swiftly +on past the remaining scenes of the tragedy and tried to talk of +other things. But she would not have it so. She must know all. So he +showed her where he had first found the tracks in the sand and then +where the baby feet had left their marks when the tired mother had +set her down to rest. + +Thus they came at last, when the day was almost gone, to the grave +beside the trail--the trail that had beside its many miles so many +graves. And Barbara stood before the simple headstone that bore only +the date and one word "Mother." And the silent man, who had in his +wild adventurous life witnessed so many scenes of death, turned away +his face that he might not see the girl kneeling beside the mound of +earth. + +When Barbara, coming back to the buckboard, saw him so, she +understood; and when Texas, hearing her light steps, turned quickly +toward her he saw the brown eyes filled now with softening tears +while her face expressed the gratitude she could not put into words. + +Behind them the upper rim of the sun shone blood-red above the top +of the purple mountain wall; over their heads in the soft still +depths of the velvet sky an early star appeared. Around them on +every side the great desert lay under its seas of soft color, its +veils of misty light and streaming scarfs of lilac and rose. Even as +they looked the dusk of twilight fell upon the great plain. The +ground-owl's weird call came from a hummock near the trail, the +ghostly form of a coyote slipped stealthily past like a shadow +moving from shadow to shadow until he was lost in the deeper shade, +out of which, as if in mocking challenge of a spirit band to any +mortal who would follow, came the wild, snarling, unearthly cries of +his invisible mates. And still to the eastward the higher levels of +the Mesa above the rim of the dark Basin, the slow drifting clouds +of dust that lifted from the tired feet of the grading teams coming +into the camp from the day's work on the canals, or from freighters +drawing near their journey's end, caught the last of the light and +showed long level bands and bars and threads of gold against the +deep purple of the hills beyond, whose peaks and domes and ridges +were flaming crimson, burnished copper and gleaming silver on the +deep background of the sky. Before them on the other side of the +deep Dry River channel, through which now a generous stream of water +flowed, they could see the tents of the camp--some glowing brightly +from lights within, others showing mere spots of dull white in the +gloom, while here and there lanterns, like great fireflies, flitted +aimlessly to and fro. + +Before two tent houses, some distance apart from the main camp and +built under a wide ramada made of willow poles and arrow weed +brought from the distant river, Texas stopped his team. From the +open door of one of the tents Jefferson Worth came quickly, at the +sound of their arrival, to receive his daughter, and from her +father's arms Barbara turned to greet Abe Lee who, following his +chief from the canvas house, had paused a little back from the group +in the shadow of the ramada. Later in the evening, when Barbara had +had her supper with her father and Abe in the big camp dining tent +and the three were sitting in the dark under the wide brush porch, +Pat came with Texas, as the big Irishman said, "to see how the new +boss liked her quarters." And then Pablo came softly out of the +darkness with his guitar to bid La Senorita welcome and to ask if +she would care that night to listen a little to the music that he +knew she loved. + +So Barbara held her little court before the rude tent house under +the arrow weed ramada, in the heart of her Desert, within a stone's +throw of the spot where they had gathered once before around a baby +girl whose mother lay dead beside a dry water hole. And not one of +them thought of the significance of the group or how each, +representing a distinct type, stood for a vital element in the +combination of human forces that was working out for the race the +reclamation of the land. The tall, lean, desert-born surveyor, +trained in no school but the school of his work itself, with the +dreams of the Seer ruling him in his every professional service; the +heavy-fisted, quick-witted, aggressive Irishman, born and trained to +handle that class of men that will recognize in their labor no +governing force higher than the physical; the dark-faced +frontiersman, whom the forces of nature, through the hard years, had +fashioned for his peculiar place in this movement of the race as +truly as wave and river and wind and sun had made The King's Basin +Desert itself; the self-hidden financier who, behind his gray mask, +wrought with the mighty force of his age--Capital; and a little to +one side, sitting on the ground, reclining against one of the willow +posts that upheld the arrow weed shelter, dark Pablo, softly +touching his guitar, representing a people still far down on the +ladder of the world's upward climb, but still sharing, as all +peoples would share, the work of all; and, in the midst of the +group, the center of her court--Barbara, true representative of a +true womanhood that holds in itself the future of the race, even as +the desert held in its earth womb life for the strong ones whom the +slow years had fitted to realize it. + +"Faith," said Pat, when Pablo's guitar was silent for a little, "av +only the Seer was here the family wud be altogether complete." + +"Dear old Seer," said Barbara softly. "How he would love to be here; +and how we would love to have him!" + +But under cover of the darkness a warm blush colored the young +woman's cheeks, for when Pat spoke she had not been thinking of the +absence of her old friend, but wishing for the presence of another +engineer, who also was working for the reclamation of her Desert and +who was himself in turn being wrought upon by his work, learning as +the girl had hoped he would learn, the language of the land. + +Jefferson Worth spoke in his exact way. "Even if he is not here this +is all the Seer's work." + +And just then from a distance up the old wash came the weird, +unnatural cry of a coyote. It was as though the spirit of the desert +spoke in answer to the banker's words. + +"Yell, ye sneaking thievin' imp. Yer time in this counthry is about +up!" exclaimed the Irishman with a growl of deep satisfaction. And +again out of the shadow the soft, plaintively sweet music of Pablo's +guitar floated away on the still darkness of the night. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +WHAT THE STAKES REVEALED. + + +James Greenfield, returning to Kingston from his tour of inspection, +left at once for his own world--a world of offices with mahogany +furniture, of men with white collars and pale faces, of banks and +trust companies, and Good Business. + +The afternoon of the day he left, Willard Holmes rode into the camp +at Dry River Crossing. The engineer explained that he was looking +over the route of a new main canal that was being surveyed by his +men and that, finding himself in the vicinity of Mr. Worth's +headquarters, he had taken the opportunity to call. + +From Barbara as well as from Jefferson Worth and Abe Lee the Company +man received a hearty welcome with a cordial invitation to ride with +them the next day over the line of their work. Although Holmes +watched with peculiar sensitiveness, there was no sign from either +of the three that they had yet discovered the real significance of +the South Central deal or that they knew the part he had played in +it. His desire to end the whole unpleasant situation by going over +the work with Mr. Worth and the surveyor, and by confessing to +Barbara how he had permitted her father to walk into the trap, led +him to accept the invitation. + +The little party left camp early the next morning and following the +line of Black's survey found a mile or more of the canal already +completed, while a large force of men and teams was at work clearing +the ground and pushing the big ditch still farther in a general +southerly direction toward the Company canal fifteen miles away. + +Abe Lee explained to Barbara that other camps were located at points +farther on, thus dividing the whole district to be excavated into +several sections. "You see," he said turning to Holmes, "the waste +from Dry River Heading coming down the old channel gives us water at +several points so that we can handle this work to a little better +advantage than we used to do with the first of the Company canals." + +"I see," said the Company man. "And how many head of stock are you +working?" + +"About fifteen hundred now, but we are increasing the force right +along. We expect to handle about twice that." + +Instantly Willard Holmes saw that he could still save Jefferson +Worth from heavy financial loss. But it was to the interest of The +King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company for Jefferson Worth to lose +heavily. What should he do? + +They had left the first section of the work now and were following +the line of the survey where the brush had been roughly cleared. The +engineer, preoccupied in his struggle with the question that +confronted him, had dropped behind the others, when suddenly +Barbara, looking back, checked El Capitan. "What's the matter, Mr. +Holmes?" she called. + +The others also looked back to see the engineer kneeling on the +ground. Jefferson Worth glanced quickly at his superintendent who +chuckled outright. + +"What is it?" cried Barbara at Abe's unusual laugh. "What's the +joke?" + +Before either of the men could answer, Holmes sprang to his saddle +and, with a quick jab of his spurs in the horse's flanks, rejoined +them on the run. In his excitement the mental habits of his life +asserted themselves and he was again the typical corporation +official dealing with a mere private individual operating on a small +scale. "Look here!" he burst forth sharply to Abe; "these are not +our Company stakes. You are not following Black's line." + +The surveyor grinned. "We followed it for a half mile this side of +the cut, then we branched off. You evidently did not notice." + +"Where do you strike it again?" + +"We don't strike it again." + +"Then how do you get to the intake location?" + +"We don't get to the intake _you_ located at all. We strike your +canal three miles farther up." + +The Company's chief engineer retorted hotly: "But you can't do that. +Our survey shows"--he stopped. + +"Your survey shows what?" came Abe Lee's sharp challenge. "You are +undoubtedly familiar with the data turned in by your man Black, for +you told Mr. Worth the quality of the soil before he closed the +deal. What else does your survey show?" + +Before the engineer could answer, Jefferson Worth's cool voice broke +in. "You understand, Mr. Holmes, that there is nothing in my +contract with your Company that binds me to follow the line of your +survey or accept your location of the intake. The Company contracts +to deliver the water into my canal, that is all." + +The engineer regained control of himself. "I beg your pardon, Mr. +Worth; and yours, Lee. I forgot myself. I see that my man Black made +a mistake." + +Abe laughed dryly. "In checking over Black's work, Holmes, I found +his elevations correct at every point." + +Holmes himself smiled as he said: "Well, Lee, whether you believe me +or not, I am very glad you checked over Black's work, and, Mr. +Worth, with all my heart I wish you success in your project." + +"Thank you," said Worth, "I am already indebted to you for a +valuable piece of information." + +"Indebted to me?" + +"You remember what I asked you when I was going over this +proposition with Greenfield and Burk in the Company office?" + +"I remember that you asked me about the soil in the district." + +"You answered that the _soil_ was all right." + +Holmes drew a long breath. "And you let Uncle Jim and Burk think--" + +"I let them think what they wanted to think," said Jefferson Worth. + +Barbara, who had listened with intense interest to the conversation, +at Holmes's unfinished remark and her father's reply moved El +Capitan slowly away from his place beside Worth's horse and went +close to Abe Lee. All the gladness was gone from the young woman's +face now, and while she maintained a show of interest it was plainly +forced. + +The banker, at his daughter's movement, retreated behind his gray +mask and for the rest of the trip spoke only when it was necessary, +leaving her entirely to the surveyor and Willard Holmes. + +Barbara had understood from the talk of the men that her father, by +using the unsuspecting engineer, had in some way shrewdly gained a +business advantage over the Company. The incident forced her, as she +thought, to see with a cruel clearness that to Jefferson Worth this +splendid work of reclaiming the desert was nothing but the +opportunity to win larger financial gains; that he was still +practicing the tactics for which he was famous. She shrank from him +unconsciously but to the man as plainly as she had drawn back in +fear that night years before. As the baby had turned from him to the +Seer then, the young woman turned from him to Abe Lee now. + +During the rest of the day Barbara kept so close to the surveyor's +side that Willard Holmes had no opportunity to talk with her alone, +and when they arrived again at the headquarters camp the engineer, +promising to call upon her soon in Kingston, left for one of his own +camps a few miles away. + +That evening Jefferson Worth and his daughter sat alone under the +arrow weed ramada facing the river. Moving her camp chair closer in +the dusk--so close that, reaching out she laid her warm young hand +on the hand of her father--Barbara said in a low tone: "Daddy, I +wish you would tell me all about this South Central District +business." + +She felt the slim nervous fingers move uneasily. Never before had +Barbara asked him to explain any of his transactions. The man's +habit of retiring behind that gray mask whenever the subject of his +business was mentioned, together with the girl's instinctive +shrinking lest his answers to such a question should drive them +farther apart, prevented. But to-night, perhaps because Willard +Holmes was concerned, perhaps because of her peculiar interest in +the work involved, Barbara forced herself to ask. + +"What do you want to know?" + +At his expressionless tone it was to Barbara as though she felt the +chill of his cold mask coming between them, but she persisted and in +her voice was passionate earnestness. "I want to know all about it, +father; I must." + +"Why?" + +"Because"--she hesitated. "Because I understood from the +conversation to-day about the surveys that someone had made a +mistake. I--I don't want to make a mistake, daddy. Won't you please +explain it all to me? What was it that you let Mr. Greenfield and +Mr. Burk think?" + +Perhaps because of the memories of the place, or because it was the +first time Barbara had ever sought an explanation, or again perhaps +it was because Willard Holmes was interested, Jefferson Worth +answered: "I let them think I was a fool." + +"But why was Mr. Holmes so excited to-day when he found out about +those stakes?" + +"He discovered that I was not such a fool as they thought." + +Then Jefferson Worth explained to the girl the whole situation. He +made clear Greenfield's reason for offering him the water rights; +why he would have taken the stock without investigation but for the +hint he received from the Company engineer's manner and the way +Holmes had answered that simple question about the soil; how he had +made the survey secretly, because Greenfield would have refused to +close the deal if he had known that Worth wanted it after he had it +investigated, and because if Greenfield believed the district stock +to be valueless he would sell at a very low figure rather than not +sell at all; and how it was that same low figure that enabled him to +give the men who were working on the canal a chance to acquire farms +of their own. + +When he had made it all plain, the young woman exclaimed: "And this +man Greenfield and those with him in the Company are the men who are +doing the Seer's work; who are making the reclamation of the desert +possible! I don't--I can't understand it." + +"It is a very simple business deal," said Worth. "There is nothing +unusual about it. Greenfield and his men are good men; they are +simply defending their interests from a competitor. This Desert +never could be reclaimed at all without them or others like them." + +"Tell me again, daddy; was Mr. Holmes _sure_ that this land was +worthless?" + +"Certainly he was sure of it. He had all of Black's data giving the +elevations." + +"And he knew that they were trying to sell it to you?" + +"Yes." + +"But did he know _why?_ Did he know it was a trap to ruin your +work?" + +"Certainly, he must have known." + +The girl's voice trembled. "Oh, why--why didn't he tell you? Why +didn't he warn you?" + +"He did." + +"Yes, daddy, but he did not _intend_ to do it, for to-day he did not +know that he had until you explained. And I thought-I thought--" Her +voice ended in a sob. + +"But Barbara, Holmes did just what he should have done. He is in the +employ of the Company. He had no right to interfere with their +business." + +"Every man has a right to be a man," she answered hotly. "Abe +wouldn't have kept still. The Seer would not have helped them in +their schemes. I don't wonder that the Company discharged the Seer +to give Mr. Holmes his place!" + +Jefferson Worth was silent for a little, then he said: "If I had +thought that you would blame Holmes I never would have told you." + +"But you did right to tell me. I am glad, for I see now that I _was_ +making a mistake--that I was making two mistakes. I misjudged you, +daddy--forgive me; and I--I have been mistaken about Mr. Holmes." + +For an hour or more the two sat silent, the mind of each occupied +with thoughts that were much the same. Barbara for the first time +felt that she could enter fully into her father's life. She had at +last seen behind his gray mask and found herself in full sympathy +with him. And the lonely man knew that at last he had gained that +for which his heart hungered--the fullest companionship of the girl +he loved as his only child. + +At last Barbara said softly: "Daddy, I am not going back to Kingston +to-morrow. I am going to stay here with you. You can have another +tent house built and Texas can go for Ynez who will bring what +things I need. I am going to make a home for you. You need me, +daddy. You are so alone in your work; no one understands you as I do +now. Let me come and help you." + +Awkwardly Jefferson Worth put out his hand and drawing his daughter +closer said in a tone that Barbara had never heard before: "I was +wishing that you would want to stay. You--you are not afraid of me +now, Barbara?" + +"Why, no, of course not; what a strange thing to ask! I have never +been afraid of you; why should I be?" + +And Barbara thought that she spoke truly--that she had never feared +him; though Jefferson Worth knew better. + +So another tent house was built and Texas went alone to Kingston, to +return with Ynez as Barbara had planned, and the young woman set +about making a home for her father in the rude desert camp. + +Every day nearly she rode El Capitan out to some part of the work, +and the men who were toiling for more than wages learned to know her +and to hail her presence as a good omen. Many a rough fellow, +dreaming of wife or sweetheart and the home he would make for them +in the desert as he drove his team and held the bar of his Fresno, +worked the harder for a cheery word from the daughter of his +employer. + +And every evening under the ramada Barbara sat with her father, +often alone, sometimes with one or more of her little court; and +always the talk was of the work, save for the times when Pablo would +come softly to make music for his Senorita and then they would sit +silently, listening to the sweet harmonies that floated away into +the night. + +Often Barbara would go the short distance from the house to the old +wash; there to sit almost on the very spot where her mother had +perished beside the dry water hole; and watching the stream that now +flowed through the old channel, or looking away across the deep cut +to the sand hills that showed clearly in the distance, she would +live over the story as she had learned it that day with Texas-- +asking the old, old question, to which there was still no answer. + +One afternoon as she was sitting there, two wagons with a small +party of men appeared on the high bank of the stream opposite. As +the men climbed down from their seats, someone on horseback rode to +the edge of the cut and sat for a moment looking across. Even at +that distance she knew him; it was Willard Holmes. Watching she saw +him turn and by his motions guessed that he was giving some +instructions to the men. Then he rode away toward the Crossing. + +Quickly Barbara returned to the rude porch of the tent house and in +a few minutes saw the engineer approach. Dismounting and throwing +the reins over his horse's head he came to her smiling, sombrero in +hand. "Buenas dias, Senorita. Please may I have a drink?" + +"Certainly, Mr. Holmes; help yourself." She pointed to the olla +hanging in the shade of the ramada. + +The engineer started at her cool reply, given as she would have +addressed a stranger, and, more to regain his composure than because +he was thirsty, helped himself from the earthen water jar. When he +could delay no longer he turned again to her, and forcing himself to +speak as if he had not noticed the lack of warmth in her greeting +said: "I was sorry to miss you in town. I called several times." + +"I am keeping house here for father," she answered. + +"Then we will be neighbors," he said with assumed lightness; "at +least half-way neighbors. A party of my surveyors will be camped +over there across the river. I will be with them part of the time." + +When she made no reply to this, the man understood. Slowly he drew +on his gloves and, laying aside all pretense, said simply: "I have +been trying to see you, Miss Worth, because I wanted to tell you +myself of the miserable part I took in the shameful trick my uncle +attempted to play on your father. I see that you know all about it +and I realize that it is quite useless for me to ask you to forgive +me." + +He paused, but still the young woman was silent. + +[Illustration: More to regain his composure than because he was +thirsty helped himself from the earthen water jar] + +The man could not know how she was fighting to keep back the tears. + +"You told me plainly that you could never forgive one who was untrue +to his work," he went on hopelessly, "and you are right. There was a +time, before I knew you, when I would have defended my action, when +I would have held that it was right; but I cannot now. Perhaps if I +had known you longer--But what's the use. I am a sad bungler in this +great work, Miss Worth. I am out of place in the big desert. I +should have stayed at home. I wish--I wish you had never wakened me +to the possibilities of life--real life. You would not need to feel +ashamed for me now." + +When she looked up he was mounting his horse. Almost she cried out +to him, but he rode quickly out of her sight. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +PABLO BRINGS NEWS TO BARBARA. + + +All through the long hot months of that second summer Barbara stayed +in the desert with her father. Many times Mr. Worth insisted that +she should go to the coast or the mountains for a few weeks, while +Abe, Texas and Pat added their entreaties. But the young woman's +answer was always--to her father: "If you must stay, daddy, then I +must stay to take care of you;" to Abe it was: "Why don't you take a +vacation? This is just as much my work as it is yours;" to Texas it +was a laughing question whether he thought she was a "quitter," and +to Pat she always declared that the desert could not in the least +hurt her complexion. + +"And look at the other women," she would argue. There was Jack +Hanson's little wife, with their children, in a twelve by fourteen +tent out there on their claim alone all day and many nights, while +Jack was on the work. And Mrs. White, who stoutly declared that she +was "sure going to stand by her Jim if it burned her to a crisp," +and that they did not have the money to spend even if they could +leave the crops they had managed to plant. And Mrs. Rollins and Mrs. +Baird and Mrs. Cole and the others, who were holding down their +husbands' claims while the men were earning money on the works to +help them in getting their start. Surely if these women could stay +with their men-folk Barbara could. So Mr. Worth let her have her +way. And the other three strove among themselves, with varied and +picturesque figures of speech, and--it must be confessed--some +rather strong language, to express their admiration for her courage +and endurance, while all four taxed their inventive powers to the +limit devising ways to add to her comfort. + +The work in the South Central District continued steadily with no +delay through lack of help, and when the canal was finished and the +water ready, the men who had built it turned to making the ditches +on their own claims, leveling their land for irrigation, preparing +for the first crops and making what other improvements they could. +Meanwhile the new townsite was laid out on the ground already +occupied by the headquarters camp and the camp itself became the +town of "Barba." + +But, perhaps because--as Pablo said--"there was no Senorita in the +Company," Greenfield's chief engineer again found it hard to hold +his men through the hot months and was obliged to discontinue work +on their Central Main. Holmes himself spent the weeks of the flood +season at the river, refusing to leave even for a day. Three times, +when conditions at the intake and heading were most critical and the +danger that threatened the unconscious settlers seemed imminent, the +engineer sent for Abe Lee, while Texas, Pat and Pablo were +instructed by Mr. Worth to be ready at an hour's notice to move the +entire working force of the district to the scene of the expected +disaster. + +And still, even through those trying times Jefferson Worth continued +his operations in all parts of the Basin and started various +enterprises in his new town with the conviction of a born fatalist, +though he almost constantly now, except when he was with Barbara, +wore that expressionless gray mask. Abe Lee's thin face, burned dark +by constant exposure to the fierce desert sun, had a look of +watchful readiness. And Barbara, seeing, thought that it was all +because of the strain of their own work, for even Barbara was not +told of the terrible risk that the Company was forcing the pioneers +to take. + +Meanwhile James Greenfield and the Company officials, from the +outside, watched the situation with the calmness of professional +gamblers watching the turn of the cards. Though he did not come into +the desert during the summer, the Company president spent most of +his time in the West now, for the Reclamation project launched by +him was assuming such proportions that his personal attention was +justified. Only one thing more was needed to bring such a flood of +land-seekers, speculators and investors that the Company's immense +profits would be assured. The new country must have a railroad. + +To this end, in the city by the sea, the eastern financier was +bringing every influence he could command to bear upon the officials +of the Southwestern and Continental that skirted the rim of the +Basin. But the great man who shaped the destinies of the S. & C., +secure in the knowledge that his road controlled the only pass +through the range of mountains that shut in the new country, for +some reason refused to build a branch line into the territory in +which Mr. Greenfield was so deeply interested. + +James Greenfield, himself a power of the first magnitude in the +financial world, was always admitted to the presence of the railroad +man without delay and was always received by the official with every +courtesy. His statements as to the extent and value of the lands +that were being developed by his Company, with his estimates of the +volume of business that a branch line would bring to the +Southwestern and Continental, were received without question. The +railroad man even betrayed unusual interest in the reclamation of +The King's Basin Desert, with a knowledge of conditions almost as +complete as Mr. Greenfield's. Frequently he asked of Jefferson +Worth's operations and of the development of the South Central +District. But always he shook his head when Greenfield urged +immediate action. There were certain reasons; he was not at liberty +to go into details. Some day no doubt the branch line would be +built, but he could make no promises. + +This was the situation in the fall when, with the danger from the +river past and his canals finished, Jefferson Worth sought an +interview with the president of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation +Company at his office in the Coast city. + +Mr. Greenfield received the banker cordially, congratulated him upon +the success of his South Central District work and prophesied great +things for everybody interested in The King's Basin project. + +Jefferson Worth, behind his gray mask, at once made known the object +of his visit. He wished to secure from the Company the right to take +water from their Central Main for a small power house to be located +in the Dry River wash. Mr. Worth explained frankly the advantage it +would give the new town of Barba, in which he was interested, and +stated that he had, some time before, laid his proposition before +the Company's manager in order that Mr. Greenfield might be informed +of the matter. + +Greenfield said that he had heard from Mr. Burk and that he thought +it might be arranged. Then, while Jefferson Worth listened with his +usual careful attention, the Company man set forth their great need +of a railroad. And by the way; was Mr. Worth personally acquainted +with the man who controlled the S. & C.? + +"I know of him," came the cautious reply. + +"Well, Mr. Worth," said the president; "I'll tell you what we'll do. +We need that railroad and we need it now. So far I have failed to +get any definite promise from the S. & C. that they will give us a +branch line. If you can secure a railroad for the Basin this year, +we will give you the right of way for your power canal and a +contract for the water." + +"Is that your only proposition?" + +"That is my only proposition." + +The president of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company would +have been astonished if he could have witnessed the meeting of +Jefferson Worth and the railroad man an hour later. + +"Hello, Jeff!" came in hearty tones from the official as the door of +his private office closed behind the banker. "How are you? I hear +that Greenfield sold you a gold brick." + +Mr. Worth smiled while the other laughed heartily. "I tell you, +Jeff, we little Westerners have got to watch out for these big +eastern operators or they'll take the whole blamed country away from +us." + +"The gold brick is panning out pretty well so far," said the banker. + +"So I understand. Crawford has been telling me all about it. In fact +the whole King's Basin proposition looks mighty good to me, except +for that New York bunch. I'm afraid of them, Jeff. Greenfield has +been camping on my trail for three months, wanting us to build them +a branch line. I told Crawford yesterday that it was about time for +you to come around." + +"When are you going to build that road?" asked Mr. Worth. + +The other shook his head. "Can't do it, Jeff. You know the situation +as well as I. If the river comes in the whole country will go to +smash; and with the class of structures they have put in to control +it and with an eastern engineer in charge, it's too big a chance. +The S. & C. is not spending money to help out wild-cat projects +promoted by eastern capital." + +"But if you give us the branch line it will insure the success of +the project, for it will make the Company property so valuable that +they will spend more money to protect it." + +"Or"--added the other--"_we_ would have to spend more money to +protect it. I'm sorry Jeff, if that's what you have been figuring +on, but we are not an insurance company--we are in the +transportation business." + +"Then you won't build into the Basin?" + +"Not under existing conditions, Jeff." + +With as little show of emotion as he would have exhibited had he +merely proposed to purchase a morning paper, Jefferson Worth said: +"All right, then I'll build it myself." + +The railroad man knew that the quietly spoken words meant that the +banker had determined to stake everything he had in the world upon a +chance that even the S. & C., with its unlimited capital, refused to +take. With his already large investments in the new country, the +building of the railroad would tax Worth's resources to the very +limit and the failure of the Company's project would mean for him +financial ruin. + +During the flood season just past Jefferson Worth had seen the +safety of the Reclamation work hanging on a very slender thread. +Every hour he had looked for the disaster that would bring to +nothing all that had been accomplished by the desert pioneers, whose +ruin he would share, yet he calmly proposed now to throw into the +venture everything that years of unceasing toil had brought him--his +capital, his credit, his reputation. + +"Don't do it, Jeff," said his friend. "You are in deep enough now. +Better keep an anchor to windward." + +"I figured on taking a chance when I went into that country," said +Worth simply. It was as if he had foreseen this situation from the +very beginning and had planned how he would meet it. The railroad +man's face expressed his admiration for this display of nerve. + +"If I can do anything for you let me know, Jeff." + +"Thanks. If you would just not mention to anyone that I am connected +with this for a little while." + +"Oh, I see. Greenfield again, I suppose? What are you up to anyway, +Jeff; buying another gold brick?" + +Worth explained his plan for a power plant and Greenfield's +proposition. + +"Hell!" exclaimed the dignified official. "You can't tell me that +you are going to build a railroad into Greenfield's town just to get +a dinky little power plant in your own district. I'm not from New +York, Jeff." + +To which Jefferson Worth answered from behind his mask: "The Basin +needs a railroad." + +The next day Greenfield sought the railroad office in haste. "I +understand that you have decided to build that branch road." + +The official, who had received his guest with the dignified courtesy +befitting one of his position, smiled at the other's manner as a +gracious sovereign might smile on granting a subject's petition. + +Greenfield accepted the smile as an assent. "May I ask when you will +begin the work?" + +"I cannot say exactly, Mr. Greenfield. The survey will probably be +made at once and the work begun as soon as it is possible to +assemble men and material." + +When The King's Basin Messenger announced that the survey was being +made for a railroad from the main line of the S. & C. at Deep Well +to Kingston, it did not mention the fact that Abe Lee was in charge +of the work. And James Greenfield, who signed the promised contract +following the announcement, did not learn until the next issue of +the Messenger that the road was not being built by the S. & C. but +by Jefferson Worth himself. + +Quickly the news that the railroad was building into The King's +Basin was spread by the papers throughout the surrounding country +and from every side the swelling flood of life poured in. Every +section of the new lands felt the influence of the rush. For miles +around the towns, every vacant tract was seized by the incoming +settlers. Townsite companies quickly laid out new towns, while in +the towns already established new business blocks and dwellings +sprang up as if some Aladdin had rubbed his lamp. Real estate values +advanced to undreamed figures and the property was sold, re-sold and +sold again. And Kingston, the heart and center of it all--Kingston, +Texas Joe said, "went plumb locoed." + +The name of Jefferson Worth was on every tongue. Was he not the +wizard who commanded prosperity and wealth to wait upon The King's +Basin? Was he not the Aladdin who rubbed the lamp? + +Horace P. Blanton, who seemed to increase magically as if, indeed, +he fed on the stuff of which booms are made, did not lack for +audience now as he talked in rolling phrases of his friend Worth and +what "we" had done, with suggestive hints of still greater things +that "we" again would do. To see the great Horace P. in all the +glory of white vest and picture-hat, as he escorted parties of awe- +stricken newcomers about the town and pointed out with majestic +gestures "our" opera house, "our" bank, "our" power house, "our" ice +plant, the site of "our" new depot, was an experience never to be +forgotten. To watch him give orders, when Pat was not near, to some +laborer in the grading gang at work on the roadbed and yards or to +see him instructing a merchant in the finer points of his business, +was a delight. To hear him speak with authority upon every question +relating to The King's Basin project, from the stage of the water in +the river two years before the first survey, and the future plans of +Jefferson Worth, to the chemical properties of the soil, the proper +grade for irrigating alfalfa and the kinds and varieties of fruits +and vegetables best adapted to the climate, was as instructive as it +was interesting. + +With the beginning of the work on the railroad, Barbara and her +father again made their home in Kingston, and Horace P. Blanton, +whenever he could escape from his arduous duties, endeavored +earnestly to make himself agreeable to Jefferson Worth's daughter. +There was no mistaking either his purpose or his perfect confidence +in his ability to achieve success. Many and ingenious were the +things that three members of Barbara's court promised each other +should happen to Horace P. + +It was on one of those afternoons, when the man with the white vest +was making himself very much at home on the front porch of the Worth +cottage, that Pablo riding in from the South Central District sought +La Senorita. Dismounting from his tired horse the Mexican, his spurs +clanking on the walk, approached Barbara, and with his sombrero +brushing the ground greeted her in his native tongue, turning an +inquiring eye meanwhile upon the portly Horace P. + +Barbara returned his greeting in Spanish, following her words in +English with: "This is Senor Blanton, Pablo. Mr. Blanton, this is my +friend Pablo Garcia." + +The white man acknowledged the introduction with a lordly gesture. + +The Mexican, with a gleam of his white teeth said: "I have the +pleasure to see the Senor sometimes before. He is what they call +'the booster.' I have hear him talk many times on street." Then to +Barbara: "I am come quick, Senorita, to find Senor Worth or Senor +Lee. You know if it is far to where they are? I ride fast. My horse +is tired." + +Before the young woman could answer, the big man, with a voice of +authority, said: "You will find them out on the line of the railroad +somewhere between here and Deep Well. Just follow the grade. You +can't miss it." + +Pablo should have considered himself dismissed but, ignoring +Blanton, he waited for Barbara's answer. "I don't know just where +they are, Pablo. You had better wait until they come in. Is there +anything wrong?" + +The Mexican shrugged his shoulders with another glance toward her +companion. "I cannot say, Senorita. There is no what you call +accident, but I think better I come." + +"What is it, my man?" said Horace P., again interrupting. "I will +see Mr. Worth about it as soon as he comes in. You have no business +troubling Miss Worth." + +Barbara's slippered toe tapped the floor nervously although Barbara +was not a nervous young woman. + +Pablo, with another shrug, said coldly: "It is to tell Senor Worth +or Senor Lee that I come. If La Senorita tells me I trouble her that +is different." + +The young woman spoke. "Put your horse in the barn, Pablo, and then +come in. I know you have had nothing to eat since morning and you +are all tired out. Ynez is away, but I will find something for you +and you can rest here until father comes." + +Pablo retreated and Barbara rising, said: "You will excuse me, Mr. +Blanton." + +"Are you going to let that greaser spoil our afternoon?" he asked in +a tone of offended majesty. + +The girl laughed outright. "You are so funny when you puff yourself +up that way and try to look so kingly. Pray how is this _our_ +afternoon? What is left of it belongs to Pablo. I am going to find +him something to eat and then I mean to talk to him every minute +until father comes. You may stay if you like, but we shall talk in +Spanish." + +The face of Horace P. Blanton expressed fat anguish. Rising, he went +closer and stood over her with a look which he imagined to be a look +of melting tenderness and, in a voice that fairly dripped with +honeyed sweetness, he began: "Miss Worth--Barbara, I--" + +_"Sir!"_ If Barbara had shot the word at him from Texas Joe's forty- +five it could not have been more effective. + +"I--I beg your pardon, Miss Worth," he stammered. "Certainly, +certainly; by all means, Miss Worth. Good-by." + +And that was as near as Horace P. Blanton ever came to achieving the +success of which he was so confident. + +A few minutes later Pablo, without hesitation, told Barbara what had +brought him to Kingston. A Mexican friend, who worked for The King's +Basin Land and Irrigation Company, had overheard a conversation +between the Company Manager and the chief engineer, who were +together inspecting the work on the Central Main Canal. Dropping +into his quaint English, Pablo repeated what his friend had told +him. + +"Senor Holmes he say: 'The canal will go here where the stakes are +set.' Senor Burk say: 'No, you shall go that other way.' 'But that +will leave the power house away eight miles and the elevation it is +not the same,' say Senor Holmes. Senor Burk say: 'Power house is Mr. +Worth's not our. This way is good for us.' 'Senor Holmes no like it. +He is very mad,' say my friend. He say: 'I will not do it.' Then +Senor Burk say: 'All right, you lose your job. Greenfield say it +must go there; it is an order.' Then they go 'way and my friend he +tell me 'cause he think maybe it is no good for power house. I think +maybe so Senor Worth like to know." + +The next morning Jefferson Worth called upon the Manager of The +King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company. + +"Mr. Burk, I understand that you are changing the line of your +Central Canal." + +"We are." + +"But my contract with your Company must be considered." + +"We have already considered it, Mr. Worth. It relates only to the +delivery of a certain amount of water into your canal. There is +nothing in it that binds us to build _our_ canal on the line +surveyed." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +GATHERING OF OMINOUS FORCES. + + +Kingston was a boiling, seething, steaming volcano of hot wrath, +burning indignation and fiery protest. Kingston cursed, raved, +stormed and resoluted, then stormed, raved and resoluted some more. +Kingston was tricked, betrayed, cheated, defrauded, insulted and +mocked. And the unspeakable villain, the sordid wretch, the +miserable gamester who had ruined Kingston was Jefferson Worth. + +It is unknown to this day who first brought the news that all work +on the railroad for a distance of seven miles out from Kingston was +stopped and that the camps with their entire outfits had +disappeared, leaving the scenes of their stirring activity as still +and lifeless as if they had never existed. Next it was known that +from Deep Well southward the construction train was still pushing +its way into the Basin and that the work ahead of the train went on. + +Then, while Kingston was wondering, questioning, discussing, the +word went quickly around that the grading crews were setting up +their camps twelve miles east of the Company town and that a line of +stakes led one way to the town of Barba and the other way in the +direction to meet the construction train working out from the +junction with the S. & C. at Deep Well. + +Then the startled people grasped the truth of the appalling +situation and awoke from their dream. In the line of the railroad +survey that had led to Kingston as straight as you could draw a +string, there was now a curve seven miles away, the tangent of which +would carry it twelve miles east of the Company town and straight +into Barba. + +Practically all business ceased, while the citizens in knots and +groups discussed the situation. Jefferson Worth was in the Coast +city and telegrams to him, all save one, received no answer. To a +message from Mr. Burk he replied that the line had been changed by +his orders. As for Abe Lee, they might as well have questioned one +of the surveyor's grade stakes. Even Barbara, besought by the +distracted citizens, could tell them nothing except that her father +would return Saturday. There was nothing to do save to wait for Mr. +Worth and to prepare for his coming. + +When the president of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company +arrived on the scene in answer to an urgent wire from his Manager, +he was at once the center of public interest. But Mr. Greenfield +escaped quickly from the crowd at the hotel and was very soon +closeted with Burk in the office. + +Then a boy found Horace P. Blanton. Horace P. was not hard to find. +With the word that Mr. Greenfield desired to see him immediately, +Horace P. Blanton increased visibly--so visibly that the spectators +watched the white vest with no little anxiety. + +"Tell Mr. Greenfield that I will see him immediately," he said in a +voice that was easily heard across the street. Then Horace P. +arrived at the door of the Company office a full length ahead of the +messenger. + +An hour later, when Blanton reappeared to the public eye, the white +vest could no longer be buttoned over his expanding importance and +beads of portentous dignity stood on his massive brow. + +What did Greenfield want? What was the Company going to do? the +crowd demanded eagerly. + +From his lofty height the great one answered: "Our Company president +simply desired my opinion and advice in this little difficulty. As +to what we will do, I am not at liberty to make a public statement, +but--" That "but" was filled with tremendous potential power. + +"Did Mr. Greenfield know that the change in the railroad line was +contemplated?" + +"Certainly not. He learned of it first from the telegram that called +him to Kingston." + +"Why was the change in the road made?" + +Horace P. Blanton smiled. It was very easy to understand if they +would look over this man Worth's operations since he had been in the +Basin. What had he done? First he had quietly invested heavily in +Kingston real estate. Next he had as quietly, through his various +companies and agents, gained control of all the public utilities in +the new country. Then he had so manipulated things that he gained +absolute control of the whole South Central District, one of the +richest sections of the Basin, and had started the town of Barba on +land owned by himself. His next move was to gain control of the +railroad, which, as every one knew, was started as an S. & C. line. +"Remember," said the perspiring master of affairs, "that when this +man Worth began work on the railroad into Kingston, he still owned a +large amount of Kingston real estate with buildings and business +establishments. To-day you will find that--save for the newspaper, +the telephone line, the power plant, the ice plant, the bank and his +home--he does not own a foot of land, a building, or a business +establishment in Kingston. What has he done? He used the railroad to +start a boom in our beautiful little city, then sold out at an +immense profit and now, having no further interest in Kingston, +changes the line of his road to Barba--the town that he owns, +leaving us to make the most of the situation." + +The orator's impressive climax called forth from every hearer +furious invectives against the absent financier. Following the +announcement of the coming of the road to Kingston, the name of +Jefferson Worth had been on every tongue. The same name was on every +tongue now, but the man that had been hailed as the good genius of +the reclamation was now cursed for a selfish fiend, who would lay +waste the whole country for his own greedy ends. + +Horace P. Blanton exhausted both himself and the English language in +a lurid, picturesque and vigorous delineation of the character of +this monstrous enemy of the race. It was such gold-thirsty pirates +as Jefferson Worth who, by preying upon legitimate business +interests and coining for themselves the heart-blood of the people, +made it so hard for such public benefactors as James Greenfield to +promote the interests of the country. + +It was beautiful to see how the speaker appreciated the splendid +character, matchless genius and noble life of his friend Greenfield, +the distinguished president of The King's Basin Company and the +father of Reclamation. Some day, he declared, the citizens of the +reclaimed desert, looking over their magnificent farms and beautiful +homes, would appreciate the work of this man and understand then, as +they could not now, how he had toiled in their interests. As for +this fellow Jefferson Worth, dark and dreadful were the hints that +Horace P. dropped as to his future. + +It was Horace P. Blanton who arranged for a public indignation +meeting in the Worth opera house the afternoon of Jefferson Worth's +expected return. When the day arrived Kingston entertained the +largest crowd that had ever gathered within the boundaries of the +town. For word of the situation had traveled throughout the Basin, +and from every corner of the new country men came to the scene of +the excitement to attend the mass-meeting and to be present when the +man that threatened Kingston with ruin should appear. Teamsters left +their teams and Fresnos on the Company works, ranchers left their +crops and cattle, newly located settlers forsook their ditching and +leveling, zanjeros deserted their water gates and levees. Bold, +hardy, venturesome spirits these were, with bodies toughened by hard +toil in the open air and faces blackened and bronzed by constant +exposure to the semi-tropical sun, for the desert did not yield to +weaklings who would submit tamely to being skillfully juggled out of +their own by a slim-fingered manipulator of business. Under the +natural curiosity and love of entertainment that drew these strong, +roughly dressed, roughly speaking pioneers to the point of interest, +there was an under-current of grim determination to protect their +new country from the schemes of unprincipled corporations. It was an +old, old story. + +At the mass-meeting there were many vigorous speeches by hot-headed +ones, a masterly address by Horace P. Blanton, and--because he could +not escape this--a few words by James Greenfield, who was introduced +by Blanton as "the father of The King's Basin Reclamation work" and +received by the citizens with generous applause. Acting upon +Greenfield's suggestion, a committee was appointed to wait upon Mr. +Worth immediately upon his arrival and the meeting adjourned until +nine o'clock that evening, when the committee would report. + +As the eventful day drew near its close, horsemen from the South +Central District began to arrive. These were the men who had worked +for Jefferson Worth on the canals and who, through him, were now +developing ranches of their own. These South Central men scattered +quietly through the crowd and soon in every group there was one or +more of the new-comers, listening attentively. And it was a +significant, though in that country an unnoticed fact, that every +man from Jefferson Worth's district wore the familiar side-arms of +the West. But these attentive ones took no part in the discussions, +speaking neither in defense nor in condemnation of the man who had +so stirred the public indignation. + +As the hour for the arrival of the stage approached, the crowd +massed in front of the hotel, filling the lobby, the arcade and the +street, and still scattered through the throng were the men from the +South Central District. + +When the stage was seen in the distance a low murmur, like the +threatening rumble of a coming storm, arose from the mass of men +and, following this, a hush like the hush of Nature before the storm +breaks. Into and through the strangely silent crowd the driver of +the six broncos forced his frightened team. As the stage stopped and +the passengers, looking curiously down into the excited faces of the +throng, prepared to alight, a murmur arose. The murmur swelled into +a roar. Jefferson Worth was not there! + +When the main line train discharged its Basin passengers at the +Junction that afternoon, the engine of the construction train on the +new road brought Mr. Worth as far as the rails were laid. Here Texas +Joe, with a fast team and light buckboard, was waiting. So it +happened that while the crowd was massing in front of the hotel +awaiting the arrival of the stage, Jefferson Worth was at his home +quietly eating his supper and reassuring his frightened daughter. + +When the assembled pioneers learned from the stage driver that the +man they waited for had left the Junction on the engine, they were +not long in arriving at the truth. The excitement, inflamed by what +seemed the fear of Jefferson Worth and increased by the judicious +efforts of Horace P. Blanton, was intense. From an orderly company +of indignant citizens waiting to interview a public man, the crowd +became a mob pursuing an escaping victim. With shouts and yells they +started for the Worth home. And with them went the quiet men from +the South Central District. + +As the sound of the approaching crowd reached the two at the table, +Barbara sprang to her feet, her face white with fear. "Daddy, +they're coming. They're coming!" she whispered, trembling with +anxiety for her father's safety. "Quick! El Capitan is ready. I told +Pablo to have him saddled." + +But Jefferson Worth, quietly sipping the cup of black coffee with +which he always finished his meal, returned calmly: "Sit down, +Barbara. I won't need El Capitan to-night." + +As he spoke the crowd arrived at the front of the house and, as if +to confirm his words, a sudden peaceful silence followed the uproar +of their coming. + +On the front porch, in the red level light of the sun that across +the desert was just touching the topmost ridge of No Man's +Mountains, stood the tall, grizzly-haired, dark-faced old-timer, +Texas Joe; the heavy-shouldered, bull-necked Irish gladiator, Pat; +and the lean, sinewy, iron-nerved man of the desert, Abe Lee; while +quietly pushing and elbowing their way to the front were the men +from the South Central District. + +The quiet was broken by the slow, drawling voice of Texas Joe. +"Evenin' boys. What for is the stampede? We-all trusts you ain't +aimin' to tromp out the grass none on Mr. Worth's premises." + +Within the house Barbara and her father heard the drawling challenge +and the color returned to the young woman's cheeks as she smiled and +whispered: "Good old Uncle Tex." + +There was in that soft, southern voice an undercurrent of such cool +readiness, such confident mastery of the situation, that her fears +vanished. Nor was the crowd in front slow to recognize that which +reassured Barbara. + +For a moment following Texas Joe's greeting there was a restless +shifting to and fro in the crowd, then the impressive bulk of Horace +P. Blanton detached itself from the "common herd." With hands +uplifted and a gesture of mingled command and appeal, he called: "No +violence, men! No violence! For God's sake don't shoot! Let me talk +a minute." + +Whether he appealed to the three men on the porch or to the company +behind him was not clear, but Texas answered: "You-all has the floor +as usual, Senator. I don't reckon anybody here will be so impolite +as to interrupt your remarks." + +"Is Mr. Worth at home?" + +"He sure is; altogether and very much to home." + +"Could we--ah--see him to ask about a matter that concerns vitally +every gentleman in this company?" Horace P. was regaining his breath +and his poise at the same time. + +"Mr. Worth, just at this minute, is engaged with his daughter at the +supper table. His superintendent, Mr. Lee, is present and will be +glad to hear what you have to say." The exact, formal politeness of +the old plainsman was delightful. In spite of the gravity of the +situation several in the crowd chuckled audibly. + +"Mr. Worth will see your committee," said Abe crisply. + +The citizens had forgotten their committee. Horace P. Blanton had +made it difficult to remember. Three men now came out of the crowd +at different points and went forward, James Greenfield's orator +following them to the porch. But as the men came up the steps Abe +spoke in a low tone to his companions, and Blanton found his way +barred by the solid bulk of Pat. + +"Were you also appointed to interview Mr. Worth?" asked Abe, dryly. +"I understood it was a committee of three." + +"I'm not exactly a member of our committee, but I'm always glad to +offer my services in the best interests of the people." + +"Mr. Worth will see the committee," said Abe. + +"But you have no right, sir--This is an outrage, a disgrace! I--" + +A growl from the Irishman interrupted him. "That's just fwhat I'm +thinkin'. The presence av sich a domned hot air merchant as yersilf +is a disgrace to any Gawd-fearin' company av honest workin' men. Av +Abe here will only give me lave-" + +Horace P. backed away, and from beyond reach of those huge fists +said loftily: "My friend Mr. Worth shall hear of this." + +"'Tis likely that he will av ye stand widin rache of me two hands," +agreed Pat. + +Horace P. backed farther away. "I shall let him know that I offered +my services," he declared with all the dignity he could command. + +"Do," called the Irishman. "I think that av ye offered yersilf chape +enough he might give ye a job wid a shovel on the grade. 'Tis mesilf +wud be proud to have ye in me gang av rough-necks. Dom' me but I +think I cud rejuce yer waist line to more reshpectable an' +presintable deminsions." + +At this the crowd laughed outright, for not one of those hardy +pioneers but knew the real value of Horace P. Blanton to the +reclamation work and therefore the force of the Irish boss's +remarks. + +While Pat and--against his will--the Company's representative were +amusing the crowd, Abe led the committee to Jefferson Worth. One of +these men was a prominent merchant who, for the first eight months +of his business in Kingston, had occupied a store-room in one of +Worth's buildings rent free. Another was a real estate man, whom the +banker had supplied with funds that enabled him to make several +profitable deals that would otherwise have been lost. The other man +was a successful rancher, who owned a half-section of improved land +joining the townsite. Deck Jordan had carried him at the store for +implements, seed and provisions the first two years. + +Jefferson Worth greeted them in his habitually colorless voice, and +they--striving to see behind that gray mask--felt that there might +be something in the situation that had not appeared on the surface +in spite of the fact that the situation had been made so clear by +Horace P. Blanton after his interview with the president of the +Company. This quiet voiced, calm-faced man, who had been so ready to +help every worthy settler in the new country, did not appear at all +the monster in disguise that the chief speaker at the mass-meeting +had pictured. The committee, free from the heat of the crowd and the +eloquence of Horace P., felt just a little ashamed. + +"Mr. Worth," said the spokesman with a smile, "we were appointed to +interview you about this railroad business." + +"What do you wish to know, Gordon?" + +"Well, first, is it true that you have sold out practically all of +your property in Kingston?" + +"Yes. It was my property." Jefferson Worth did not explain that he +had sold because he was forced to turn everything he could into cash +in order to build the railroad so badly needed by the new country. + +The committee looked serious. "Is it true," continued the spokesman, +"that you are changing the line of the railroad so as to take it to +Barba and leave Kingston out entirely?" + +"The line of the road is changed," came the exact, colorless answer. + +"Will it be possible to make some arrangement by which you would +carry out your former plan and build the road into Kingston?" + +"You mean a bonus?" + +"Yes." + +"I'm not in the market." + +"Is there nothing that we can do to change the situation?" + +The answer startled the committee. "Tell Greenfield that he had +better see me himself." + +Jefferson Worth's relation to The King's Basin Land and Irrigation +Company was always a much discussed question among the pioneers. The +new country was settled by working people of limited means, and if +there is one belief common to this class it is that all capitalists +are members of one great robber band, perfectly organized, firmly +united and operating in perfect harmony against their helpless +victim--the public. However much they might fight among themselves +over the division of the spoils, they were a unit in their common +operations against the masses. + +From the first Jefferson Worth was held by many to be the secret +agent, the silent co-partner, of Greenfield, and the South Central +District seemed to justify this opinion, for of course the public +knew nothing of the inside of that deal. The people accepted Mr. +Worth's personal assistance cheerfully, thankfully, and had come to +look upon him as a friend. But this did not in the least alter their +belief that he belonged to the band. He was simply a generous, +gentlemanly sort of robber, kin to the hold-up man who returns the +railroad tickets of the passengers and refuses to rob the ladies. +This railroad situation had seemed to deny the relationship between +the banker and the Company, and now came Worth's advice: "Tell +Greenfield that he had better see me himself." It was no wonder that +the members of the committee looked at each other startled and +bewildered. Was it, after all, a fight between the members of the +band over the division of the spoils? It was too deep for the +committee. They could feel dimly that mighty forces were stirring +beneath the surface, but they could not fathom what it was all +about. One thing was clear: the one thing that is always clear when +capital speaks to business men of their class--they must obey. + +"What shall we report to the crowd?" they asked as they arose to go. + +"I figured that you would tell them what I have told you," came the +answer. + +The crowd, when the committee briefly reported their interview, were +as puzzled as the members of the committee, and questioned and +discussed, affirmed and denied until Pat said to his companions on +the porch that it sounded like "a flock av domned bumble bees." + +When the president of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company, +who dared not refuse the request of the committee, stood before +Jefferson Worth, the man behind the gray mask forced him to speak +first. + +"I understand you wished to see me about this railroad matter, Mr. +Worth." + +"I told the committee that you had better see me," came the answer +without a trace of emotion in the colorless voice. + +"Well, I am here; what do you want?" + +"I want a new contract from your Company binding you to build your +Central Main Canal on the line of the original survey, bringing it +to a point within four hundred yards of the west line of the South +Central District where the San Felipe trail crosses Dry River, and +agreeing to deliver into my power canal without charge a flow of +three hundred second feet of water, as in the old contract; and in +addition the exclusive power rights in all of the Company's canals +in the Basin." + +"If I give you this contract you will build the railroad into +Kingston?" + +"When you change the line of your canal back to the original route I +will change the line of my road." + +"Suppose I refuse?" + +"My railroad will not come into Kingston and I will explain to the +crowd out there the reason. You have worked up a pretty strong +public feeling against me, Mr. Greenfield. Now make good or stand in +my place and take the consequences." + +James Greenfield was not slow to grasp the point. A simple +explanation of the situation from Jefferson Worth with the old +contract to back it up would turn the wrath of the people against +the Company president. Rising, he said with an oath: "You win, Mr. +Worth. I'll have the contract ready for your signature in the +morning. Now what will we do with that mob out there?" + +"It is your mob, Mr. Greenfield," answered Jefferson Worth. + +A few minutes later from the front porch of the Worth cottage, with +Texas Joe on his right hand and Pat on his left, Horace P. Blanton +announced: "Our committee will report at the opera house in half an +hour." + +The committee reported that Kingston was saved and the orator of the +day made another speech so far eclipsing all his former efforts that +the cheering citizens were evenly divided as to whether it was James +Greenfield, Jefferson Worth or Horace P. Blanton who saved it. + +"Well, boys," remarked one of the men from the South Central +District as the little party of horsemen set out for the long ride +home, "one thing is sure. Those Kingston fellows have got the +railroad, but we still have Jefferson Worth, an' I reckon that Jeff +can build us a railroad any old time he gets ready." + +"That's right," returned another, "but what in hell do you suppose +it was all about? What's Jeff's game anyhow?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +EXACTING ROYAL TRIBUTE. + + +In spite of the optimistic view of the man who said that Jefferson +Worth could build a railroad for Barba and the South Central +District whenever he wished, there was no little disappointment +expressed in Worth's town when it became known that the Company town +was to have the road. + +When the grading camps had returned to their former locations and +the construction train drew every day nearer Kingston, with the time +approaching when regular trains with passengers and freight would +ply to and from the Company town, the feeling of discontent in Barba +grew. It even came to be generally understood throughout the Basin +that the whole movement had been cleverly planned by Jefferson Worth +to force The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company to make a +large contribution to the railroad builder's personal fortune. The +people sensed something in the whole transaction that they could not +clearly grasp, an intangible, mysterious something, as great as it +was indefinite. They felt blindly that they were being used without +their consent in a game played by these master financiers, and they +resented being sacrificed as dumb pawns in a move, the purpose of +which they could not know. + +In the meantime, while the people were charging him with selling +them out to gain his own ends, the man whose purpose was known only +to himself was putting into his enterprise the last dollar of his +resources, and another flood season with its appalling danger was at +hand. + +Because his laborers on the railroad were not as the men who built +the South Central canals, working for more than their day's wage, +and because, though no one knew it, Jefferson Worth's finances were +so nearly exhausted, work on the road, as on the Company project, +was discontinued for the summer months, to be resumed in the fall-- +perhaps. + +Barbara again refused to leave her father and in the close +companionship and full understanding of his daughter, the man, who +lived so much alone behind his gray mask, found inspiration and +strength. + +The telephone now connected the heading at the river intake with +Kingston, and every hour of those hot days and nights Jefferson +Worth listened for a call from Willard Holmes, who also had refused +to leave his work, while three of the fastest saddle horses in the +Basin were stabled with El Capitan. Texas, Abe and Pablo were ready +to ride at an instant's notice to rally the pioneers, who were +developing their ranches, building their homes and planning their +future unconscious of the real danger that hung over them. + +Vague rumors of the dangerous condition of the Company structures +floated about and there were not wanting prophecies of disaster. But +not one in a hundred of the settlers had even visited the intake at +the river, or if they had, what could they judge of conditions +there? The settlers were ranchers, not civil engineers. The Company +zanjeros turned the water into their ditches when they asked for it; +their crops, growing marvelously in the rich soil, demanded constant +attention; they had neither time, inclination nor ability to +investigate every flying rumor. As for the prophets of evil, only +confirmed optimists can reclaim a desert or settle a new country and +the croakers received little attention. Besides, the great, all- +powerful Company would surely protect its own interests and, in +protecting its own, would protect the interests of the settlers. It +was the business of the Company engineers to look after the river. +The ranchers were looking after the ranches. + +Thus another summer went by and the great river, save for the small +toll taken by those who were reclaiming the desert it had created in +the ages of long ago, continued on its way to the sea. Its time was +not yet. + +With the return of the cooler weather and the still further increase +in the volume of new life that continued to pour into the Basin from +the great world outside, work on the railroad was begun again, but +Jefferson Worth knew that the first pay day would mark the end. He +was as a man with his back to a wall, fighting bravely to the last +blow, and he stood alone. + +Among the hundreds of pioneers with whom Worth had elected--as he +had told Abe Lee the night of his arrival in Kingston--to take a +chance, there was not one to take a chance with him now. If he lost +he would lose alone, for those who had built upon the work that he +had done would not suffer through his defeat. Had any of them known +the situation they could have done nothing to help him. But no one +knew, and this was the financier's one desperate chance--that no one +did know, not even Barbara. + +With his capital exhausted and no resources upon which he could +realize, he went ahead with the work apparently with the confidence +of one with millions behind him. It was, in the language of the +West, all a bluff. But it was a magnificent bluff. + +Two weeks of the month were gone when a telegram from the high +official of the S. & C. summoned him to the city. + +The railroad man, in the secrecy of his private office, greeted the +promoter with his usual, "Hello, Jeff. I see The King's Basin is +still on the map." + +Jefferson Worth smiled, then, as the official's eyes were fixed upon +his face in a way that he understood, he retreated behind his mask. +"Things are going very well," he answered. + +"Working full gangs on that railroad of yours?" + +"We have taken on all the men we can handle. We will be ready for +that last lot of steel in another two weeks." + +The other lay back in his chair and laughed with hearty admiration +and regard. "Jeff, you are a wonder! How long do you suppose it +would take Greenfield to start something with your creditors if he +knew what I know?" + +Not a line of Jefferson Worth's face changed, only his nervous +fingers caressed his chin and the railroad man, noting the familiar +signal, smiled again. Then leaning forward in his chair he said: +"Jeff, I have been keeping my eye on you ever since those days when +our line was building into Rubio City and you handled the right-of- +way for us. I have never caught you in a blunder yet. When it comes +to sizing up a proposition all around I don't believe you have an +equal. Now look here." With a quick movement he took a paper from a +pigeon-hole in his desk and laid it before the other. The paper was +a carefully tabulated statement of Jefferson Worth's financial +condition at that moment. In vain the official tried to see behind +that gray mask. + +"Well." The word was absolutely colorless. + +"Well!" repeated the other savagely, "what I want to know is this: +why in hell you are bucking Greenfield and his crowd to such a +limit?" + +"Because," said Jefferson Worth carefully, "I believe in the future +of The King's Basin project, providing--" he paused. + +"Providing what?" + +"Providing someone bucks Greenfield to the limit." + +In one instantaneous flash, the man whose clear brain directed +thousands of miles of a great railroad system caught a glimpse of +the real Jefferson Worth--the Jefferson Worth who was not, as the +railroad man had himself said, "doing it all for a dinky little +power plant." + +"Jeff," he said slowly, "when you asked us to build a branch line +into the Basin I told you that we couldn't do it. As I said then, we +are not in the insurance business. A railroad's business depends +upon the actual development of a country, not upon backing promoters +who open up a new country simply as a speculative proposition. You +say you believe in the future of The King's Basin country providing +some one bucks Greenfield and you are sure giving him a run for his +money. But you have reached the end of your pile and I know it. Now, +I have been taking up this matter with our people and we are ready +to take a chance on your judgment. Suppose we take over your road as +it stands at a fair price--what would be your next move? Get out and +leave us in the insurance business?" + +"I would build a line from Kingston to Barba, tapping the South +Central District, which is the richest section of the Basin," came +the instant reply. + +"Good! But perhaps you don't want to sell the line you are building +to the S. & C.," he suggested with a smile. + +"I figured that you would be ready to make me a proposition about +the time I had it in shape for the last shipment of steel." + +Worth's bluff had won. + +The railroad man said again solemnly: "Jeff, you are a wonder!" + +With the passing of his nearly completed railroad into the hands of +the S. & C. Jefferson Worth began at once to arrange for the +building of the other line from Barba to Kingston. This new road, to +be known as the King's Basin Central, connecting with what was now +the S. & C., would give an outlet to the rich South Central +District, while the Southwestern and Continental Company announced +that its new branch would not stop at Kingston but would build on +south to Frontera. + +With a main line branch of a trans-continental railroad building +straight through the heart of the new country, and their town +located just half way between the junction and the terminal, The +King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company saw the value of their +property increased many times. The day was not far distant now when +every quarter section of the desert land would be filed on by eager +settlers, and the once barren waste would rapidly give place to the +fertile fields of the ranchers, every foot of which should yield +tribute to James Greenfield and his associates. But the reclamation +of the desert opened many avenues for profit other than the +irrigation system. + +From these also the Company, obeying the law of Good Business, had +planned to take toll, but the field for investment most closely +allied with the fields of the ranchers, and therefore keeping even +pace with the increasing wealth of the new country, had been +preempted by Jefferson Worth. The Company desired to add to their +holdings those enterprises that had come to be known as the Worth +interests. They had failed repeatedly to bring about a union of +forces. Their only recourse then was to force the independent +operator to sell to them or to eliminate him from The King's Basin +project. To this end Greenfield and Burk watched and planned on the +well known principle that whatever Jefferson Worth wanted was bad +for the Company, until the day when the interests of Worth and those +of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company should be the same +or Jefferson Worth should be no longer a factor in the new country. + +While the Worth enterprises were firmly established in all the +centers of activity in the Basin, the Company knew that his largest +interests were in Barba and the South Central District. Worth must +have railroad connections with the S. & C. line before he could even +begin to realize on his largest investments. There was every reason +why he should desire to make Kingston the junction point of the road +he was now forced to build. James Greenfield was not backward in +letting Worth understand that he would need to pay well for a right- +of-way with terminal facilities in the Company town. + +For two weeks Jefferson Worth tried to bring the Company president +to some reasonable settlement but his efforts only served to make +Greenfield more determined to exact royal tribute. "I tell you," +said the president triumphantly to his Manager, "he's forced to +build that line or go to smash with his town and district. No one +will settle away off there from the railroad as long as they can +locate in reach of Kingston or Frontera, and he has got to connect +with the S. & C. branch at Kingston, for we are the only place +between the main line and the terminal." + +When Mr. Worth reminded them that the proposed road would benefit +Kingston and that in view of its value to their town it would be +only just for them to give him the privileges he needed but for +which he was quite ready to pay a reasonable price, Greenfield +declared that his Company had already given Worth quite enough. Of +course, if they could find some basis upon which to unite their +interests that would be another matter. + +Then the evening mail brought to Mr. Worth certain legal looking +papers and the next morning he called again upon Mr. Greenfield. In +a spring wagon in front of the Company office Texas Joe and Abe Lee +waited with a prosperous looking stranger who also had arrived the +evening before. + +"Mr. Greenfield, I have come for your final answer on this railroad +deal." + +On Greenfield's face there was a smile of satisfaction and triumph. +There were several reasons why he enjoyed seeing Jefferson Worth in +a corner. "I am ready to listen to any other proposition you have to +make, Mr. Worth." + +"You have the only proposition I shall make." + +"Really, I fear that we can do nothing this morning." + +The visitor turned on his heel and left the office. + +Later, in describing the interview to Willard Holmes, Burk commented +thoughtfully: "I very much fear your festive Uncle Jim played the +game a little too fine. You can take some things and most men for +granted; but a railroad, now, and Jefferson Worth----" he shifted +his cigar to the corner of his mouth and cocked his head in the +opposite direction. "I think, Willard, that something is going to +happen." + +What happened was this: When Jefferson Worth left the Company's +office he stepped into the waiting rig beside the stranger. "Go +ahead, Abe," he said. Then the surveyor giving Texas the direction, +the team sped away. Once in the desert they stopped occasionally +while the surveyor examined the four by four redwood stakes. At a +point on the S. & C. four miles north of Kingston and therefore +between the Company town and the main line, Abe directed Texas to +stop. + +The surveyor, taking a note book from his pocket, went to a corner +stake and indicated with outstretched hands the direction of the +boundary lines of a tract of land owned by his employer. "Here we +are, Mr. Worth." + +The place was raw desert and except for the railroad without sign of +life save the life of the hard, desolate land; though in the +distance could be seen the improved ranches, with Kingston in their +midst. Standing on the slight elevation of the railroad grade +Jefferson Worth looked around silently. Then, followed by the +stranger and Abe, he walked some distance west of the track. + +Pausing and striking his boot-heel into the soft earth, he said with +much less show of emotion than is exhibited by the average school +boy in laying out a ball-ground: "We will build a hotel here; over +there a bank. The main street will run toward the railroad. The +Basin Central from Barba will come in from the southeast." + +And this was the beginning of Republic, the town that was built on a +barren desert almost in the time it would have taken to prepare the +land, plant and grow a crop of corn. + +The stranger was the president of a townsite company organized by +Jefferson Worth while James Greenfield was congratulating himself +that he at last had that gentleman in a trap. Worth had given the +company the land and had entered into an agreement whereby he was to +build a hotel and several business blocks and furnish them, rent +free, for one year. + +With the railroad to deliver material in any desired quantity, work +was begun in a few days. The King's Basin Messenger and the papers +in Frontera and Barba, all owned by Worth, gave full accounts of the +birth of the new town and the reason why The King's Basin Central +would not be built into Kingston, with glowing accounts of Worth's +plans for the future of the Company's rival town. The Worth Electric +Company moved its plant from Kingston to Republic; the ice-plant, +the bank, the telephone office and every enterprise controlled by +Worth followed; while many merchants, lured by the success of the +Wizard of the Desert in every undertaking and by the promise of rent +free, went with the Worth industries; and from the world outside +many, who had hesitated to enter the new country before the +railroad, rushed in to locate in the new town. The first building +completed in Republic was a cottage for Barbara and her father. + +Meanwhile the work on the road to Barba and the South Central +District was begun. The "something" prophesied by Mr. Burk had +happened. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +JEFFERSON WORTH GOES FOR HELP. + + +The winter following the birth of Republic witnessed the greatest +activities that had been seen in the new country. The freighters' +wagons that had once seemed so pitifully inadequate, as they crept +feebly away into the mysterious silences, were replaced now by long +trains, heavily loaded with building material and goods of every +kind and drawn by laboring engines that puffed and roared and +clanged and screamed their stirring answer to the challenge of the +silent, age-old, desolate land. And still the work that had been +done was small in comparison with that which was yet to do before +the reclamation of Barbara's Desert would be complete. The acres of +land untouched by grader's Fresno or rancher's plow were many more +than the acres that were producing crops. The miles of canals and +ditches that were to be built were many more than the miles already +carrying water. The tent houses and shacks of the pioneers were yet +to be replaced by more comfortable homes. The frontier towns--big in +that new country--were yet to grow into cities. From the top of any +building in any one of the four towns one could look into the barren +desert. + +Tourists on the main line that skirted the rim of the Basin, from +the car windows saw only the mighty reaches of the dun plain, with +its thirsty vegetation, stretching away to the distant purple +mountain wall. Curiously the overland passengers looked at the +crowds of settlers waiting for the Basin train at the Junction, +wondering at their hardihood. Curiously they followed with their +eyes the thin line of rails and telegraph poles leading southward +until it was lost in the mystic depths of color. To the tourists it +was a fantastic dream that out there, somewhere in the barren waste, +people were building towns, cultivating fields, transacting business +and engaging in all the Good Business activities of the race. It was +as impossible to them as it had been to Willard Holmes when Barbara +first introduced him to her Desert and tried to make him see, as she +saw, the greatness of the work of which he was to become a part. + +The latter part of that winter found Jefferson Worth again with his +back to the wall. James Greenfield, in his attempt to hold up his +rival in the matter of the King's Basin Central junction, had +wrought better than he knew. While Worth's enterprises were barely +as yet paying their way, the railroad, which he was forced to build +in order to protect his own interests in the town of Barba and in +the South Central District, would require practically all he had +realized on the sale of the other line that had so nearly exhausted +his resources. The Company president, in forcing him to build the +town of Republic in addition to his heavy outlay on his new +railroad, forced him to take another desperate chance. For the first +time he was unable to pay the men, and in thirty days large +obligations for material would be due; while certain rumors, +carefully started by Greenfield, made it almost impossible for him +to raise the funds he must have. + +"I'm sorry, Jeff," said his friend the railroad man. "But with +present unsafe conditions we can't load up with any more property in +The King's Basin. You know as well as I that if the river comes in +we will have to get in there to protect our interests, for if those +ranchers were wiped out our road wouldn't sell for scrap iron. You +couldn't do it and the Greenfield crowd wouldn't. Why, that New York +bunch, outside of Greenfield, don't know whether the Colorado is a +trout stream or a mill pond. Their actual investment doesn't amount +to half what you have put into your work, for the sale of water +rights to the settlers is paying all the expense of their extensions +and they won't put up a cent to rebuild their shaky old structures. +And look where we stand! We have put more money into that country +now than the Company and you together, and we won't pay operating +expenses until the land is developed. And still the public is +roaring about our rates. We don't want another desert line on our +hands." + +Quietly Jefferson Worth sold his interest in the banks in Frontera, +Barba and Republic; and as quietly Greenfield, who was watching, set +about gaining control of these institutions. His South Central +District water stock was already sold and most of his property in +Barba. Even his little home in Republic was mortgaged. + +Thus Worth held on for a while longer. He dared not stop his work, +for such a move would not only ruin his chances of negotiating the +loans he needed, but by bringing upon him a swarm of creditors, +would make it impossible for him ever to recover his standing in the +financial world. + +Another pay day passed without the men receiving their pay and the +third was drawing near. Already there was grumbling and complaining +among the men over the delayed pay checks. It would take but little +more to start serious trouble. + +There were many in the crowd at the depot that day when Jefferson +Worth waited for the train to the city, who looked with envy upon +the builder of towns and railroads. Horace P. Blanton proudly +pointed out to a stranger "his friend, the Wizard of the Desert," +with the information that Mr. Worth had cleaned up a cool million in +the new country. Several went out of their way for a closer look at +him or for a possible greeting. Others cursed him roundly under +their breath for a hated member of the class of parasites that live +on the industry of the laborer, a financier who robbed the people, a +capitalist who produced nothing. + +The train pulled in, and Mr. Worth, with a good-by to Barbara and +Abe, who had come to see him off, stepped aboard. No one save Abe +Lee, not even Barbara, knew that her father must raise fifty +thousand dollars before the first of the month or suffer financial +ruin. And no one--not even Jefferson Worth himself--knew where he +could find the money. + +Barbara, when her father was gone, though she knew nothing of the +danger that threatened him, was restless and ill at ease, beset by +vague and nameless doubts and fears. The little desert town with its +bustling activity, its clamorous, rushing disorder, its naked +newness and glaring bareness, offended her. Nothing was completed. +The streets, the buildings, the very people, seemed so unsettled, so +temporary. She could not shake off the feeling that it would all +vanish soon, as she had often seen the phantom cities of the desert +plain melt and disappear. + +The morning after her father left, as she rode El Capitan slowly +along the little village streets that lay so dusty and flat and that +ended so quickly in the open country, she caught herself wondering +how long the dream would endure. The farms, too, with their new +green fields and their primitive, pioneer shacks, tent houses and +shelters and their acres of still unimproved land, all lying under +the white blaze of the semi-tropical sun, were they more than a +mirage weirdly painted in the air by the spirit of the dreadful land +to lure foolish men to their ruin? + +Near the crossing of a canal she saw a zanjero turning the water +through a new delivery gate into a new ditch, and checking El +Capitan, she watched the brown flood rolling down the channel +prepared for it and heard the dry earth hiss and purr as it sucked +up the moisture with the thirst of a thousand years. She wanted to +cry out a protest. The effort was so pitifully foolish. This awful, +awful land would never yield to the men who sought to subdue it with +such feeble means. From the little stream of water, no deeper than +would reach to El Capitan's knees and no wider than his stride, she +looked away and around over the seemingly endless miles of barren +waste. + +The man at the delivery gate recorded the number of inches in his +book and, with a greeting to the young woman, mounted his horse and +rode away along the canal. Barbara, moving on, left the farms behind +and rode into the barren waste. This at least was real. This in its +very desolation, its dreadful silence, its still menace, was +satisfying. But as on that morning when she first rode El Capitan +into the desert from Kingston, she grew afraid. The dreadful spirit +of the land so pressed upon her that she turned her horse and fled +as one might fly from an approaching storm. + +Another restless, unsatisfying day and a lonely evening dragged by. +Texas and Pat she had not seen for a week. Even Abe had not been +near her since her father left. To-morrow, she told herself, she +would find them at their work and demand a reason for their neglect. + +The next morning she set out on El Capitan to follow the line of her +father's railroad until she should find her neglectful men-folk. As +she rode along the right-of-way she watched the hundreds of Mexican +and Indian laborers at their work on the grade and thought of the +men who had built the South Central Canal. Those men too had labored +for her father, but they worked also for themselves. The canal they +built was to reclaim their own land and to make for them farms and +homes. These poor fellows on the railroad, she reflected, had no +share in that which they were doing. There was in their toil nothing +but the day's wage. She could not feel, as she had felt in the South +Central District, that she had a part with them in their work. Here +and there she recognized a Mexican from Rubio City, and these +returned her greeting pleasantly, for they remembered the young +woman's kindness to the poor. But by far the greater number gave her +only sullen glances. She was to them only the daughter of the man +for whom they toiled and who had not paid. + +Passing from gang to gang and camp to camp, watching the dark faces +of the laborers, listening to their sullen undertone, the young +woman felt the restless, threatening spirit of the little army as +one may feel sometimes the heavily charged atmosphere before an +electric storm. But she did not understand. She had never before +ridden over the railroad work alone as she had so often done in the +South Central District. + +She grew a little frightened at last at the scowling looks and +muttered remarks that followed her as she went, and she was wishing +that she had not come when she saw just ahead Abe Lee and Pat. The +surveyor was giving some instructions to the Irish boss and both +were so intent that they did not see Barbara approaching. As the +young woman drew quite near, a low-browed Mexican who, in watching +her approach, either forgot the presence of his superiors or, in +sheer ruffianly bravado, ignored them, uttered a coarse remark to +his companions about his employer's daughter. + +The young woman heard and turned pale as death. Pat heard and, +turning quickly around, caught sight of Barbara and saw the ruffian +who had spoken looking at her. With a roar the Irishman leaped +forward, and with a blow of his huge, hairy fist dropped the Mexican +a senseless heap in the dirt. + +With cries of rage the fellow's countrymen ran toward the white man, +drawing their knives as they came. Barbara sat leaning forward in +her saddle breathless. Abe Lee was quietly rolling a cigarette. Pat +stood motionless, his battle-scarred features set and his eyes +shining like points of light. + +Within ten steps of their boss the little mob stopped. Then the +Irishman spoke in a voice that rumbled and shook with menacing rage. +"Ye, Manuel an' Pedro--drag that carrion off the right-av-way, an' +tell him when he wakes up av he values his life to shtay out av +rache av me two hands. The rest av ye hombres git the hell out av +here!" + +The two whom he called by name did his bidding and the rest +scattered like sheep. Pat turned to Barbara. "'Tis sorry I am that +ye should see ut, me girl, but ut had to be done." + +"Oh, Pat! Did you--Is he--" She could not speak the word, but +followed with frightened eyes the still form of the unconscious man +as his companions half-dragged, half-carried him to the shade of a +mesquite tree. + +"There, there, don't worry," said her big friend soothingly. "He's +not as much hurted as he should be. He'll have a bit av a bump on +his noodle that'll maybe make him a bit careful wid his foul tongue +for a while, that's all." + +Barbara looked down into the face of the old gladiator whose eyes, +as they looked up at her, were soft as a childs. "Oh, Pat! Are you +sure? He--he crumpled up so! It was awful!" She shuddered. + +"There, there; av course I'm sure. Don't I know? Look at him; he's +sittin' up now. He'll be on his fate in a minute." + +Sure enough, as Barbara looked again she saw the Mexican rising to a +sitting posture and with his hand to his head look around in a dazed +manner as though awakening out of a deep sleep. The young woman drew +a long breath of relief and, with a faint smile, said to the +surveyor, who had drawn nearer: "I'm sorry I came, Abe. I'm afraid +you'll think that I'm only in the way to make trouble. But I was so +lonesome all alone at home." + +"Why, Barbara, you know how glad we always are to see you. You must +not mind this little incident. It's all in the day's work with Pat, +you see. That fellow there has had this coming to him for some +time." + +The Irishman grinned and the young woman on the horse, with a little +laugh, said: "All the same I don't think I would like you for a +boss, Uncle Pat. You're too--too emphatic." + +And the big Irishman with twinkling eyes retorted: "Sure av ye was +boss av a gang ye wud break more hearts wid yer swate face than I +could heads wid me two hands." Which retort effectually closed the +incident. + +When the three had chatted a while and Barbara had scolded them for +not coming to see her, Abe said: "I think you had better go back +now, Barbara. But don't follow the line. Strike west over the desert +until you come to the road and go in that way. We can't leave now to +go with you, and some of these greasers might get gay again. I'll +see you this evening." + +It was after nine o'clock that night when the surveyor finally +reached the Worth cottage. Somewhat awkwardly he entered and seated +himself in the nearest chair, while Barbara, returning to her +favorite rocker by the table, said: "It's time you came. I was so +lonely I don't believe I could have stood it another hour. Really +you and Pat and Tex have neglected me shamefully. You haven't been +near since the day father left. Even Pablo has forgotten me." + +"Pablo is at the power house at Dry River," Abe said slowly. "We've +all had our hands full for the last three days. I reckon you know we +have not stayed away because we wanted to." + +Something in the man's tone and manner caused Barbara to look at him +closely. Was it a fancy in keeping with her gloomy spirit of the +last few days, or did the surveyor's tall form droop as if with +discouragement? He was not looking at her with his usual +straightforward manner. He seemed to be studying the pattern of the +Navajo rug that lay between them, and certainly his lean, bronzed +face wore a careworn look that was new. She noticed too that he wore +belt and revolver, which was very unusual for Abe. + +"Of course; I know!" she exclaimed. "It was childish of me to +complain. Forgive me." + +Abe, without answering, looked at her--a straight, questioning, +challenging look that for some reason brought another flush to her +cheek. Then the surveyor turned his gaze again upon the Navajo rug. + +"I know you are tired," said the young woman again. "You have so +much to think about with all those men to look after and daddy away. +Come now; you sit right over here in this easy chair and shut your +eyes and smoke and forget all about the work and everything, while I +make a little music for you." + +Barbara did not realize how she tried this man of the desert with a +glimpse of a heaven that Abe knew could never be for him. For a +moment he sat motionless without answering, his eyes still fixed +upon the floor. Then with a quick, resolute movement he threw up his +head and straightened himself. "I'm sorry, Barbara, but I can't stay +this evening." + +"Can't stay?" she cried. "Why, Abe, you just came!" + +"Yes, I know. I--I just ran in to ask you--to see if you"--he +hesitated and stammered, then finished desperately--"to ask you to +let me send Texas to stay here to-night." + +She looked at him in bewildered amazement. "Why, what in the world +do you mean? Why should Texas stay here to-night?" + +Then as a sudden possible explanation came to her mind--"Abe, has +Uncle Tex--Is he in trouble?" + +The surveyor smiled at her words. "It's nothing like that, Barbara. +Tex is all right. But I don't think that you should be left alone +here with only Ynez just now. Pat is at the power house and I must +be at the ice plant, and Tex--" He checked himself in alarm. + +Barbara's face was white and her eyes, fixed upon his, were big with +sudden fear as, rising slowly to her feet, she went towards him. +With an exclamation he sprang from his seat but she regained control +of herself and, quietly taking another chair nearer him, said: "I +think you had better tell me, Abe, just exactly what the trouble is. +I know something is wrong or you would not want to send Texas here +to me. You know that I have always stayed with Ynez. Why are you +afraid for me? Why is Pat at the power house, and why are you going +to stay at the ice plant? And why do you wear that?" She pointed to +the heavy Colt's revolver. + +Little by little she forced from the reluctant superintendent an +explanation of the whole situation: how her father had been driven +by the Company to build the new town of Republic in addition to the +construction of his railroad to Barba and how conditions in the +Basin had made it impossible to sell this line to the S. & C. as he +had sold before. He told her as gently as he could that the men had +not been paid for nearly two months, and that if her father did not +succeed in raising the necessary funds quickly he would lose +everything. The men had been put off from day to day with +explanations that their employer was away and that they would +receive their pay when he returned. But ugly rumors were afloat +among them and their angry uneasiness and discontent were +increasing. Threats against their employer and his property were +being made by the hot-headed leaders, who always appear under such +conditions, and the surveyor feared that serious trouble might start +at any hour. + +To Barbara the situation was almost incredible. Again and again she +exclaimed with pity for her father, and demanded to know why they +had all kept her in ignorance of the truth; and as she realized how +lovingly she had been shielded from every worry that she might feel +nothing of the burden that weighed so heavily upon them, her woman +heart cried out that she had not been permitted to bear her share. + +"But I know now," she said at last, brushing aside the tears that, +against her will, filled the brown eyes. "I know now and you men +shall see that I can do something to help." She stood before him-- +her strong beautiful figure bravely erect, her face glowing with the +light of a determined purpose. + +The surveyor smiled his appreciation as he said: "It's almost as +good as money in the bank to hear you talk like that, Barbara. But +you'll let me send Tex over to-night, won't you?" + +"You must do whatever you think best, Abe. But you must promise me +this. From now on you will tell me everything, just as you have +always told me about the work." + +Abe drew a long breath. "I don't know what your father will say but +I'll do it. I've felt all along that it was hardly square to keep +you in the dark." + +"Of course it wasn't," she agreed. "And now listen! You and Pat come +here for breakfast with Texas Joe and me. Come as early as you +like." + +He began to protest, saying that they would need to eat at daybreak +in order to get back to the work by seven o'clock, but she silenced +him with--"And do you think that I cannot even get up at sun-rise? +You shall not lose a minute's time and it will do you good to start +out with one of Ynez's good breakfasts." + +So the surveyor was forced to promise this also. Then with a soft +"Buenos noches, Senorita," he left her. + +Later Texas Joe came to sleep in Mr. Worth's room. The night passed +without incident, and when the first trace of silver gray light +shone above the eastern mesa beyond the rim of the Basin Abe Lee +returned with Pat to find the meal ready and Barbara waiting to pour +the fragrant coffee. While the sky was still aflame with the colors +of the morning and the desert lay under a curtain of fantastic +figures and grotesque patterns woven by the light, the three men +mounted their horses and set out for the field of the day's labors. +And Barbara at the gate watched them go until, in the distance, +their forms too were caught in the magic of the desert's loom and +woven into the airy design. + +Before noon Abe came back. The men had struck. The surveyor had +already sent a telegram to Mr. Worth and in the afternoon they had +his answer that he was going to San Felipe. But there was no word of +hope in the message. + +All that day the men from the railroad were gathering in the little +town, and in the early evening the laborers from the power canal at +Barba joined the throng on the streets. This dark-faced, scowling +crowd of Mexicans and Indians was very different from the company of +pioneers that met in Kingston to receive Jefferson Worth a few +months before. On every hand they were heard cursing the man who +owed them their wages and threatening to take revenge if they were +not soon paid. + +That night Texas Joe again slept at the Worth cottage, for Barbara +stoutly refused to leave her home, and Abe and Pat, with the little +handful of white men from the office force, stood guard at the power +house, the ice plant and the other buildings that were grouped near +the railroad on the edge of town. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +WILLARD HOLMES ON TRIAL. + + +Scarcely had the train with Jefferson Worth aboard passed beyond the +yard limits of Republic when the Manager of The King's Basin Land +and Irrigation Company in Kingston was called to the telephone by +the cashier of the bank in the Company's rival town. Ten minutes +later a Western Union message in cipher went from Mr. Burk to James +Greenfield in the city. + +The afternoon of the following day Willard Holmes, at the Dry River +Heading, was called to the telephone. Mr. Burk was at the other end +of the line. "There is a telegram here from your Uncle Jim ordering +you to go to the city on the first train. If you can make it, catch +the four-twenty at Frontera. I'll pack your grip and give it to you +when you go through." + +Mr. Greenfield met the engineer at the depot in the city the next +morning and escorted him to his rooms in a hotel. "I was almighty +glad to get Burk's wire that you were on the road," said the older +man. "I was afraid that he would not be able to find you in time; +you go gadding about the country so. Where did he catch you?" + +"Dry River Heading. My gadding takes me mostly there or to the +intake heading these days. Just now I am trying to patch up the +spillway which threatens to go out at any time altogether, and the +heading itself is so shaky I'm almost afraid to touch it for fear it +will fall down on top of me. No one ever dreamed that these +structures would ever be called upon to stand the strain they are +under now. I wish--" + +"All right; all right, my boy; I think I've heard you say something +like that before. I called you in to help me on a little deal that +will put us in shape to build all the new structures you want." + +"You mean that the Company is at last going to make the +appropriation I have been begging for?" + +"Not exactly. They will if we can handle one individual." + +"Who?" + +"Jefferson Worth." + +"Jefferson Worth? What under heaven has he to do with the Company's +appropriations?" + +"He has a lot to do with the Company's profits, which amounts to the +same thing." + +At this Holmes was silent and his uncle was forced to continue: "You +know what Worth has been doing to the Company, don't you?" + +"Yes; and I know what the Company has been trying to do to him." + +"Exactly. And do you know his present situation?" + +"Only in a general way." + +"Well, in a definite way then: he is here in the city trying to +raise fifty thousand dollars. He must have it before the first of +the month or go to smash. If he goes to smash the Company will be +able to get hold of his interests, which will give us control of the +whole King's Basin project as we planned in the beginning. Then we +would be able to put what you want into the system. If Worth gets +the fifty thousand he is safe to make a million or two that would +otherwise go to the Company and we wouldn't feel justified in +spending any more money on new structures." + +"But Uncle Jim, what on earth have I to do with all this?" + +"It happens that you have a whole lot to do with it my boy, or I +wouldn't have called you away from your beloved headings. You +remember old George Cartwright, don't you?" + +Willard Holmes had grown to manhood with Cartwright's sons and his +earliest memories were of boyish good times at the old gentleman's +home. With James Greenfield, Mr. Cartwright had been one of his +father's oldest and warmest friends. The engineer listened with +amazed interest as Greenfield told him that his old friend was +spending the winter on the coast, and that some one, the general +manager of the S. & C., probably, had introduced Jefferson Worth to +him. + +"And," Greenfield finished, "they have him all lined up to furnish +Worth with the capital he needs to go ahead. If he gets that money +we will never be able to block him." + +"But why don't you get Cartwright into your crowd, if he is so ready +to invest in reclamation projects?" asked the engineer. + +"I can't on account of White and some of the others. You know how +cranky the old man is. Besides, we don't want him in the Company. +What we want is to block Jefferson Worth from getting hold of that +money. I sent for you because you can do more with Cartwright on +this proposition than any man living." + +"You mean that you have sent for me to influence Mr. Cartwright +against Jefferson Worth's interests?" + +"I mean that I expect you to use your influence in the interests of +the Company--in my interests. Surely, Willard, that is not asking +anything unreasonable." + +"But Uncle Jim, you just said that if Worth gets this help he will +clean up a million or two. That looks like it would be safe enough +for Mr. Cartwright." + +"Yes, and I said also that if Worth did _not_ get that money the +Company would acquire his interests in The King's Basin." + +While the Company president was speaking a messenger boy knocked at +the door. Greenfield read the note and handed it to Holmes, who in +turn read: "Mr. Cartwright left this afternoon for San Felipe. Will +probably return in a week. Worth is still in town." + +"That means you must take a little vacation, Willard." + +"But I can't, Uncle Jim," protested the engineer. "My work is in +such shape that I--" + +The older man interrupted. "Your work! You seem to think that there +is nothing of importance to The King's Basin Land and Irrigation +Company but drops and headings and intakes and canals, and the Lord +knows what else, you mess around with! If you handle old Cartwright +in the interests of the Company it will be the best week's work you +ever did. He is likely to return any day, and you've got to stay +right here and see this matter through." + +All that day the engineer roamed about the city, striving to find +distraction in the amusements offered but feeling strangely alone +and out of place. Under other circumstances he would have keenly +enjoyed the brief vacation and the change from the desert life and +work, but now he could think of nothing but the situation in which +he so unexpectedly found himself. + +Once he would not have hesitated an instant to do Greenfield's +bidding. Why should he hesitate now? + +Why, indeed; save for this--Willard Holmes knew that it would be +better for the people in the new country if Jefferson Worth +continued his operations. + +Willard Holmes's conception and understanding of his work as an +engineer had changed materially in the years since those first days +with Barbara in Rubio City, even as, under his hand, the desert +itself had changed. It may have been that in his long, lonely rides +across the great plain in the white light of the wide, cloudless +sky, something of the spirit of the slow, silent ages that had +wrought in the making of the desert had touched his spirit as it +could not have been influenced by the smoke-clouded atmosphere and +crowded highways of the East; or that in the lonely nights under the +stars the weird, mysterious voices of the desert had taught him +truths he had never heard in the noisy cries of the great cities. +Perhaps, as he had looked day after day across the wide far-reaching +miles with their seas and scarfs and veils of color to the purple +mountains, the very greatness of the unpeopled lands forced him to a +larger thinking and planning and dreaming than would have been +possible in the limited views of his eastern homeland; or that the +spirit of the hardy settlers awoke the blood of his own pioneer +ancestors to a feeling of fellowship; or his constant struggle with +the river aroused the old conquering spirit of his race. Or again it +might be that some powerful chord, deep-hidden and silent in his +nature, had been touched by the spirit of the girl who had bidden +him learn the language of her country and who had said that she +could never forgive one who was untrue to the work itself. + +On the other hand there was the training of his whole professional +career. Up to the beginning of The King's Basin work the engineer +had known no other creed than the creed of those corporation +servants who have no higher interest than that of the machine they +serve. There was also his intimate relation with Mr. Greenfield and +the debt of gratitude he owed the man who had, in every way, been a +father to him. And there was the prejudice of class, the instinct +that holds a man to his own peculiar people, and the argument +cleverly advanced by Greenfield that the protection of The King's +Basin project would be secured. + +As the engineer was wandering, in the aimless and preoccupied manner +of one whose mind is not on his task, through one of the city parks, +he saw just ahead a man whose figure seemed familiar. With aroused +interest he quickened his pace. There was no mistaking that form, so +strongly upright, so instinct with vigorous power; nor those broad +shoulders and the finely poised head. It was the Seer. + +Overtaking the older engineer, Holmes greeted him eagerly and the +brown eyes of the old Chief shone with pleasure while he returned +the young man's greeting heartily. + +Had the Seer any engagement that afternoon? + +None at all. He had just arrived from the North Country and was +loafing a day or two. And Holmes? + +The younger man laughed. He was a stranger in a strange land, forced +by circumstances to do nothing. + +Good. They would find a quiet corner somewhere and Holmes could tell +his old Chief about The King's Basin work. Also The King's Basin man +could tell the Seer about Barbara. + +So they found a seat and Willard Holmes told how splendidly the +Seer's dream was coming true, and in answer to many questions talked +of Barbara and her life in the new country, of Jefferson Worth and +his operations, and of some of his own professional difficulties and +problems. And the Seer, as he led the younger man on and studied the +strong bronzed face that was all aglow with enthusiasm over the +work, smiled quietly as he remembered the tenderfoot who had once +threatened to report his Chief to the Company. + +Brave, great-hearted, generous Seer! There was in all his +questioning not a hint of any feeling against the younger man who +had been given the place that should have been his. He fell to +wondering if after all the Company had now in Holmes the man they +thought they had, or the man they did have, indeed, when they made +him their chief engineer. If the test were to come now--The Seer did +not know that Willard Holmes was even then undergoing that test. + +The two men dined together that evening and afterwards over the +cigars in the Seer's room the old engineer talked of the progress +and future of the great Reclamation work, of its value not only to +our own nation but to the over-crowded nations beyond the seas, and +of its place in the great forward march of the race. Then gravely he +spoke to the younger man of his own efforts to bring the work to the +attention of the people, of disappointments and failures, year after +year, until at last the work in Barbara's Desert had been launched, +and following that several other projects until now at last +reclamation had become a great national enterprise. And Willard +Holmes knew that out of the millions that would be realized from +these reclaimed lands this man, who had seen the vision, would +receive nothing. The Seer had not even a position with an irrigation +company or with a reclamation project. + +As he listened to the man who had literally given the best of his +life to a great work, the Company engineer felt as he sometimes felt +when alone in the heart of the desert itself he heard its call, the +call that was at once a challenge, a threat and a promise; or as +when he had felt the sweet power of Barbara's presence. + +At his hotel Holmes found the president of The King's Basin Land and +Irrigation Company anxiously awaiting him: "Look here!" was +Greenfield's greeting. "This thing is approaching a climax." + +He handed the engineer a telegram from Burk. Willard Holmes glanced +at the yellow slip of paper. + +"Strike on the K. B. C. Looks serious." + +"Jefferson Worth left for San Felipe this afternoon," Greenfield +said quickly. "There's another train in thirty minutes. We mustn't +miss it!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +HELD IN SUSPENSE. + + +George Cartwright, the retired New York capitalist, belonged to that +older school of American financiers who, having built up large +fortunes by taking advantage of the speculative opportunities of +their day, look somewhat doubtfully from the pinnacle of a +successful old age upon the same adventurous spirit when shown by +the active younger generation. George Cartwright was ready to take a +chance, certainly. He had taken chances all his life. But George +Cartwright distrusted mightily what he called the "slap-dash, smash- +bang" system of the modern manipulators of capital. Some day, he +predicted, the manipulators themselves would go "smash-bang" along +with their methods. + +Though retired from the rush and drive of active business, the +veteran still enjoyed taking an occasional hand in the game, though +more than ever he played that hand with a dignified leisure +befitting the stake. "A business transaction," said he, "was not +something to be put through with a nod and wink or at most a half +dozen monosyllables between as many bites of a sandwich." + +Jefferson Worth was in desperate need of quick action. He was not +playing a game of business for the mere pleasure of playing. He was +fighting for his financial life and every hour's delay increased his +peril. But Jefferson Worth did not need his railroad friend's +warning that an attempt to rush George Cartwright would be +disastrous. The old financier was not at all backward in making +known to Jefferson Worth his opinions of Jim Greenfield and the men +associated with him in the Company. He had had some experience with +them not altogether satisfactory to himself. But an investment in +actual improvement and development enterprises, such as he +understood Mr. Worth to be promoting, was rather an attractive +venture. He was going for a week's trip to San Felipe and when he +returned he would take the matter up. + +Barbara's father could not urge his need of immediate relief, for to +do so would have been to destroy his only hope. So he was forced to +await the New York man's pleasure. Nor was Mr. Worth ignorant of +Greenfield's efforts as indicated by the presence of Willard Holmes +in the city. He knew also the high regard that Cartwright held for +the engineer and that he would place great value upon the Company +man's opinion. What would Willard Holmes do? + +Abe Lee's telegram announcing the strike and the critical situation +in the Basin changed conditions instantly. Now Jefferson Worth's +only hope was to get to Cartwright without delay and to present the +urgent need of immediate action. For while the chances that the old +capitalist would come to the rescue were greatly lessened, Jefferson +Worth's financial ruin was certain if the critical situation at home +was not relieved instantly. Sending the telegram to Abe Lee he took +the first train for San Felipe. It was indeed a forlorn hope. + +Mr. Worth's train arrived in San Felipe about eleven o'clock in the +morning. Scanning the register at the principal hotel he found the +eastern man's name, but the clerk informed him that Mr. Cartwright +was out for the day sight-seeing with a party of friends from New +York and would not likely return until late in the evening. + +No one observing the quiet, gray-faced man who waited in the hotel +lobby that evening could have said that there was more on his mind +than a mild interest in the evening paper. Yet Jefferson Worth was +reading an account of The King's Basin strike. Finishing the +article, he dropped the paper on his knee while the slim fingers of +his right hand sought his chin with a nervous, caressing motion and +his expressionless eyes moved continually over the crowd in the big +room. Outside, the depot 'bus had just stopped in front of the hotel +and a company of newly arrived guests were entering the corridor, +while the bell-boys were running forward to relieve them of their +luggage and lead them to the spick-and-span clerk behind the +register. + +First of the group Jefferson Worth saw the portly, well-groomed +president of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company and with +him his athletic, bronzed-faced chief engineer. + +Even as the two were talking with the clerk and, as Worth rightly +guessed, asking for Mr. Cartwright, the old gentleman with his party +of friends entered. At a word from the man behind the desk +Greenfield and Holmes turned to greet the entering capitalist and +his party. They were all New Yorkers--acquaintances and friends. +Coming together with the width of the continent between them and +their homes, their greetings were cordial--joyful--even boisterous. +And as they parted to follow the waiting bell-boys to their rooms, +the western pioneer banker heard them agreeing to meet and dine +together a few minutes later. + +Jefferson Worth realized that a business interview with Mr. +Cartwright that evening was impossible. Without visible interest in +anything else he raised his paper again and continued reading. + +The next morning when the New York capitalist stepped from the +elevator on his way to breakfast he found himself face to face with +the man who so desperately needed financial assistance. "Why, how do +you do, Mr. Worth. When did you land in San Felipe?" Cartwright's +tone seemed to subtly change his commonplace question into--"Why are +you in San Felipe?" + +Jefferson Worth's answer was straightforward. "I arrived yesterday. +Conditions have arisen that make it necessary for me to see you at +once." + +The old veteran looked straight into Jefferson Worth's face with the +understanding of one who had himself passed through many a financial +crisis when the issue depended upon time gained or lost. Sometimes +the wheel of Fortune turns with dizzy speed. + +"Certainly, Mr. Worth. Come to my room in half an hour," he answered +quickly and as quickly moved away. + +When The King's Basin man had placed the situation fairly before him +and the old financier had asked a number of pertinent questions, he +said: "Mr. Worth, I understand that neither the value nor the safety +of my investment is necessarily impaired because you have a +situation on your hands demanding immediate relief. I can see that +the capital you ask me to put into your enterprise will relieve the +situation at once and enable you to place the whole business upon a +solid foundation. If you fail to raise this money, or if you get it +too late, you go to the wall and I lose a chance for what seems a +profitable investment. As I told you, legitimate promotion of actual +development projects has always been attractive to me, but I want to +examine into matters a little further before I give you my final +answer. Frankly I want to ask the opinion of Willard Holmes. I would +not place too much confidence in Mr. Greenfield's judgment, or +rather, I should say, in any advice that he would give me in this +particular matter. But I have known Willard from babyhood. I knew +his father and the whole family, and I would be guided by his +opinion as an engineer of conditions in the new country in which you +are all interested. Fortunately Holmes is here in the hotel. Let me +have a little talk with him and I'll give you my answer without +delay." + +Writing a brief note asking the engineer to come to his room, he +summoned a boy and directed him to deliver the message immediately. +A few minutes later Jefferson Worth, in the lobby, saw the boy +approach Holmes, who was with Greenfield. The engineer took the note +from the boy, glanced at it and handed it to his companion. For a +moment they stood in earnest conversation; then the engineer turned +and moved away. + +Jefferson Worth saw him enter the elevator, saw the ornamented iron +door close and the cage glide smoothly upward. + +James Greenfield, confident, self-possessed, with the air of one +whose position and future are secure, jovially greeted one of the +New York party, who came up on Holmes's departure, and the two stood +laughing and chatting over their cigars. + +Jefferson Worth sat alone in a secluded corner of the lobby. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +ABE LEE'S RIDE TO SAVE JEFFERSON WORTH. + + +The evening that Jefferson Worth spent in the San Felipe hotel +lobby, apparently absorbed in his paper while Greenfield, Holmes and +Cartwright with their New York friends were enjoying their dinner, +Barbara and her court had their anxious supper together in the Worth +home. + +The night that followed was one of wakeful readiness on the part of +the men who guarded the Worth property. But the strikers seemed +content to curse and threaten. Breakfast the next morning, in spite +of Barbara's efforts at cheerfulness, was a gloomy meal. Worn with +their anxious vigil the men ate in silence, save when they forced +themselves to respond to their young hostess's attempts at +conversation. They knew that another day of idleness would fit the +striking laborers for reckless action. + +When the meal was over Barbara insisted that they must get some +sleep. They protested, but she argued rightly that there was nothing +else that they could do and that they must keep themselves fit for a +possible need of their strength later. So she brought comforts and +blankets for a bed on the floor in the little sitting room and, +drawing the shades, announced that she would take her sewing to the +front porch while they slept. + +Three hours passed and a boy arrived from the telegraph office with +a message addressed to Abe Lee. Speaking in low tones that the tired +men within might not be disturbed, Barbara said that she would hand +the message to Mr. Lee, who was in the house, and signed her name in +the book. Then as the boy went down the walk the young woman, with +trembling fingers, tore open the yellow envelope. + +The message read: "Money to-day by wire from Tenth National Bank, +New York. Pay men and go on with work. I leave for home to-night +ten-thirty. + +Jefferson Worth." + +Barbara and her Desert had won against the Company through Willard +Holmes, but Barbara did not know that. + +Behind her, as she stood with the yellow slip in her hand, the +sitting room door opened softly and turning she saw Abe standing on +the threshold. The alert surveyor had been aroused by the coming of +the messenger. Even before she spoke her face told him the good +news. + +Abe went at once to notify the strikers that they would receive +their pay on the morrow without fail. To several of the leaders he +exhibited the telegram with Mr. Worth's instructions: "Pay men and +go on with work," and they in turn verified to their countrymen the +good news. As the word went around, the dark scowling faces were +lighted with satisfaction and pleased anticipation, curses and +threats were silenced in laughter and merry talk. In a short hour or +two the little army of striking laborers that had for days been in a +mood for any violence became a good natured crowd bent on enjoying +to the full their short holiday. + +Barbara insisted on serving dinner for her three friends, and with +the strike practically settled and the weary strain of the situation +removed the four made the meal a jolly one. When they could eat no +more they still sat idling at the table, reluctant to break the +spell of their companionship. + +Texas Joe, leaning back in his chair, with his slow smile drawled in +an inconsequential way: "I reckon, now that the financial obsequies +of Mr. Jefferson Worth has been indefinitely postponed owin' to the +corpse refusin' to perform, that Company bunch will wear mournin' +because said funeral didn't come off as per schedule. Them roosters +are sure a humorous lot." + +"Of course they will be sorry, Uncle Tex," said Barbara. "It's Good +Business, you know, to want your competitor to fail." + +The old plainsman shook his head. "I sure don't sabe this +financierin' game, honey, but I'm stakin' my pile on your dad just +the same." + +"Well," said Pat, "we're all glad on Mr. Worth's account, av course, +that ut's over as aisy as ut is. But for mesilf, av ut was all the +same to him an' to ye Barbara, I'd be wishin' the danged greasers 'd +kape on a shtrikin' so long as ye wud lave me put my fate under yer +table." + +They all laughed at Pat's sentiments, which the other two men +endorsed most heartily. Then the surveyor with his two helpers went +up town. + +Stopping at the bank and showing the cashier his message from Mr. +Worth, Abe asked if he had heard from New York. + +Before answering, the man picked up a telegram from his desk and +scanned it thoughtfully. "No," said Greenfield's cashier, as if +against his will; "we have heard nothing to-day." + +Just before the close of banking hours the surveyor again called at +the bank. "Any news from New York yet?" + +"Yes. We had their wire just after you left." + +"Well?" asked Abe impatiently. "Isn't it all right?" + +"It's all right, Mr. Lee, except that we were forced to answer that +we could not handle the business." + +The surveyor searched his pockets for tobacco and cigarette papers. +"I think you'd better explain, Mr. Williams." + +Again the cashier hesitated, turning thoughtfully to the telegram on +his desk. Then he said reluctantly: "It is Mr. Greenfield's orders, +Lee." + +With a cloud of smoke from Abe's lips came the question: "And the +other banks in the Basin?" + +"You would only waste your time." + +"Thanks, Williams. Adios." + +Abe Lee walked slowly out of the building. Moving aimlessly down the +street, unseeing and unheeding, he ran fairly into Pat and Texas, +who were talking with a rancher from the South Central District. + +The voice of the Irishman aroused him. "Fwhat the hell! Is ut dhrunk +ye are?" Then, as he caught a good look at the surveyor's face--"For +the love av Gawd, fwhat's wrong wid ye, lad?" + +The rancher also was looking at him curiously. Abe gained control of +himself instantly with an apologetic laugh. "Excuse me, Pat. I was +thinking about the work and didn't see you. There's a little matter +that I want to take up with you this afternoon. I'll be too busy for +it to-morrow." + +The rancher, with another word or two, turned away. Then Abe, in a +low tone, exclaimed: "Let's get away from the crowd quick, where we +can talk." + +They started down the street and instinctively their feet turned +toward Jefferson Worth's home instead of toward the office. As they +went Abe explained the situation. Pat cursed the bank and James +Greenfield and the Company with no light weight curses. + +"Hell will sure be a-poppin' when them greasers don't get their pay +checks, as we've been promisin' them," drawled Texas Joe, shaking +his head mournfully. "For regular unexpectedness this here +financierin' business gets me plumb locoed. What will you do, Abe? +Greenfield sure takes this trick, don't he?" + +They had reached the gate of the Worth home and had paused as people +sometimes will when engaged in conversation of absorbing interest. +Before Abe could answer Texas, Barbara, who sat on the porch, called +laughingly: "What's the matter with you men? Are you hungry again? +Why don't you come in?" + +In consternation the three looked blankly at each other. Pat growled +another curse under his breath. Texas shook his head doubtfully. Abe +groaned: "She'll have to know, boys." + +Slowly they went up the walk and Barbara, as they drew near, did not +need words to tell her that something seriously wrong had happened. + +When Abe had explained it in as few words as possible she said: "But +it will only be for a few days." + +"A few days will be too late," said Abe bluntly. "We have promised +these greasers and Indians that we will pay to-morrow without fail. +When we don't pay, on top of all the trouble we have had, no +explanation will stand. They'll go on the warpath sure. If they were +white men it would be different." + +"Well, why don't you telegraph father and let him bring the money or +send it by express from San Felipe?" + +"But he couldn't get the cash started before to-morrow afternoon. +Then it would have to go around by the city and wouldn't get here +until three days later. Williams didn't tell me, you see, until he +knew that the San Felipe bank would be closed before I could, get a +message through." + +They sat in troubled silence--Pat in sullen rage, Texas squatting on +his heels cow-boy fashion, Abe pulling at a cigarette, Barbara +leaning forward in her chair. Three hours before they had been so +merry because the trouble was over; now they faced a situation many +times more perilous than before. + +With a quick gesture of decision Abe tossed aside his cigarette. +"Tex, where is that buckskin horse of yours?" + +"In Clark's stable. Want him?" + +"Yes. Give him a good feed and bring him here as soon as he is +ready. Bring one feed and a canteen, and while the horse is eating +go around to my room and get my gun." + +Without a question the old plainsman left the group and walked +swiftly away. + +Barbara puzzled for a moment then asked: "Are you sending Tex to San +Felipe for the money, Abe?" + +"I am going myself. Tex will be needed here. He's worth three of me +at this end of the game. To-day is Wednesday. That buckskin will +make it to San Felipe in twenty-six hours. That will be to-morrow +evening. If your father can have the money ready I should be back +here by Friday night." + +While speaking he was tearing a leaf from his note book. Quickly he +wrote a message to Jefferson Worth. "Pat, take this to the telegraph +office and make them rush it. It must catch Mr. Worth before he +leaves at ten-thirty to-night." + +Barbara sprang to her feet. "Oh, please let me go. Let me do +something." + +Abe handed her the slip of paper with a smile. "If you don't mind I +will take a nap in your father's room. And will you ask Ynez to have +a bite to eat ready for me with a sandwich or two that I can slip +into my pocket. Pat, you stay here and don't let anyone disturb me +until five-thirty. Then call me sure. Tex will be here with the +horse by that time." With the last word he disappeared into the +house. + +When Pat called him he was sleeping soundly. Barbara had sent the +telegram and with her own hands prepared his supper and a lunch. +While he ate, the surveyor gave brief instructions to his two +helpers. + +Then Barbara went with him to the gate where the buckskin horse, one +of that tough, wiry, half-wild breed native to the western plains, +waited, head down with bridle reins hanging to the ground. As Abe +tightened the cinch and took his spurs from the saddle horn, the +girl went closer to his side. "I wish you did not have to go," she +said as he stooped to put on a spur. + +He straightened up and looked at her. The brown eyes regarded him +seriously. "Why, Barbara! you are not afraid? Texas and Pat will be +here." + +"It's not myself, Abe; it's you," she answered. "You have had such a +hard time since this trouble began and now this long, lonely ride. I +wish there was some other way." + +Stooping quickly so that she might not see his face he adjusted the +other spur with trembling fingers. + +"I shall think of you every minute, Abe," said the young woman +softly. + +The strap of the spur required several ineffectual efforts before +the man could fasten it on the steel button. At length it was on +and, rising again, he threw the bridle reins over the horse's head, +holding them in his left hand on the animal's neck. Barbara came +still closer and with her finger traced the design carved on the +heavy Mexican saddle. "You will be careful, won't you, Abe?" + +The hand on the horse's neck tightened on the reins as the surveyor +looked straight into the young woman's eyes a moment as if searching +for something that he knew was not there. Then he held out his free +hand, saying in Spanish with a smile: "Adios, sister." + +Giving him her hand she answered in the same soft musical tongue: +"Adios, my brother." + +Turning he put his foot in the stirrup and, with the easy graceful +swing of the western horseman, he mounted and the buckskin, as his +rider lifted the bridle reins, struck at once into the long lazy +lope of his kind. + +Leisurely Abe Lee rode along the main street of the little town. The +strikers, idling in front of the stores, leaning against the +buildings or awning posts, squatting on their heels on the +sidewalks, or sitting in rows on the curbing, saw him pass without +interest. If they thought anything it was that the superintendent +was going to Kingston on some business or other for their employer, +Senor Worth, or that to-morrow the man on the buckskin horse would +give them the slips of paper that they would take to the senor at +the bank, who would give them their money. + +Still riding leisurely, Abe left behind the town that Jefferson +Worth had built in the barren desert and passed the newly improved +ranches on the outskirts. Without hurry, even checking his horse to +a shuffling fox-trot at times, he reached Kingston. + +From the window of his office in the Company building Mr. Burk saw +the horseman as he passed, and the Company manager, who was paid for +thinking, shifted his cigar to one corner of his mouth and, tilting +his head, grew thoughtful while the buckskin horse carried his rider +out of Kingston toward the south. + +Reaching the old San Felipe trail the surveyor swung his horse to +the west and, leaving behind all that man had so far wrought in La +Palma de la Mano de Dios, rode straight toward the mountain wall +that in grim barrenness and forbidding solitude had stood sentinel +through the unnumbered ages, shutting out from the land of death the +world of life that lay on the other side. As that mighty wall had +from the beginning turned back every moisture-laden cloud from the +thirsty, starving land, so it seemed now to impose itself as an +impassable barrier against the man who rode to save the work of +Jefferson Worth. + +The buckskin horse, as if realizing that this was no jaunt of ten or +twenty miles, held to his steady, machine-like lope that measured +the distance of each swing with the accurate regularity of a +pendulum; while the lean, loose body of his rider, resting easily in +the saddle, yielded without resistance to the horse's every movement +so that those laboring muscles, working so smoothly under the yellow +hide, might not be called upon to adjust themselves to the sudden +strain of unexpected changes in balance. Mile after mile of the dun +plain slipped away under those apparently slow-measuring hoofs at +surprising speed. Now and then, at the slightest signal from Abe, +the gait was changed from a lope to that easy shuffling fox-trot +that lifted the dust in a great yellow cloud. + +Straight ahead the rider saw the sun go slowly down behind the +mountain wall. He watched the purple shadows that he knew were +canyons deepen, and the blue that he knew to be shoulders and spurs +and points change and darken until every detail was lost in the +slate gray mass, while against the light that lingered in the west +every tooth, knob and peak of the sky-line showed a sharp, clean-cut +silhouette. He saw the colors of the desert fade and melt as the +dark mantle of the night was drawn quietly over the plain. He heard +the night voices of the desert awakening and sensed the soft +breathing of the lonely land. And in his nostrils was the +indescribable odor of the ancient sea-bed that, for uncounted +thousands of years, had lain under a blazing sun and scorching wind +and mistless nights, knowing no touch of human life save the passing +presence of those who dared to follow that one thin trail. + +And always with that dogged regularity the sandy miles were being +measured by those steady hoofs. At Wolf Wells, as the last faint +tinge of light went out of the sky beyond the black mass of No Man's +Mountains, Abe drew rein for the first time. Dismounting, he slipped +the bit from the horse's mouth and the animal plunged his nose deep +into the refreshing water. The buckskin, with the blood of his wild +ancestors strong in his veins, was no dainty, tenderly-nourished +aristocrat that needed to be rested, cooled and blanketed before he +could slake his thirst. Without pausing he drank his fill and then, +lifting his head, drew one long, deep breath of satisfaction and +stood ready. + +In the dark Abe felt his saddle girths, then ran his hand over the +moist warm neck and slapped the strong hips approvingly. "Good boy, +Buck! Good old boy!" Without thought of further rest they went on-- +on--and on, without pause or cheek save the occasional change in +gait from the swinging lope to the shuffling fox-trot, until they +reached the line of the ancient beach, and the buckskin, with head +down, labored heavily up the steep grade to the Mesa. + +It was at this point, years before, that the four men and the boy +had stopped to look away over the awe-inspiring scenes of wide sky, +measureless plain, rolling sand hills, dream lakes and ever-changing +seas of color, all hidden now in the blackness of the night. + +In the dark, hall-like Devil's Canyon the sound of the horse's feet +echoed and re-echoed sharply from the rock walls, while the darkness +was so thick that Abe could not see the animal's head. + +At Mountain Spring, where travelers into the desert always filled +their water barrels, Abe stopped again. It was a little past +midnight. Loosing the saddle girth and removing the bridle, the +surveyor let his horse drink and, taking a sack with his one feed of +rolled barley, he deftly converted it into a rude nose-bag by +cutting a strip in each side two-thirds the length of the sack and +tying it over the horse's head. After eating his own lunch the +surveyor stretched himself out flat on his back on the ground with +every muscle relaxed. The sound of the horse munching his feed +ceased; the animal's head dropped lower, and he too--wise in the +wisdom of the open country--relaxed his muscles and rested. + +For an hour they remained there, then again the bridle was adjusted, +the saddle girths tightened, and they went on. But the gait was not +so measured now nor the pace so steady, for they were well into the +mountains, climbing toward the summit. But still there was no pause +for breath, no relief for the straining muscles of the horse or for +the weary aching body of the rider. + +Crossing over the summit at last they were on the long western slope +of the range with much better going, and the buckskin again carried +his rider swiftly on while the thud and ring of the iron-shod hoofs +on the rock-strewn road aroused the echoes in the dark and lonely +hills. + +Hour after hour of the long night passed with no sound to break the +silence save the sound of the horse's feet, the rattle of bridle +chains, the clink of spur or the creak of saddle leather. And when +the gray of the morning came they were in the foot hills. Behind +them the mountains--a bare and forbidding wall on the desert side-- +lifted ridge upon ridge with the green of pine on the heights, oak +on the slopes and benches, and sycamore in the lower canyons. +Streams of bright water tumbled merrily down their clean rocky +courses or rested in quiet pools in the cold shadows. Before them +spread the beautiful Coast country, sloping with many a dip and +hollow and rolling ridge and rounding hill westward to the sea. + +At the first ranch house they stopped. A short hour's rest with +breakfast for man and horse, and they were away again. For dinner +Abe drew rein in a beautiful little village in the heart of the rich +farming country and at four o'clock, from the summit of a low hill, +he saw the ocean, with the smoke of San Felipe dark against the blue +of sky and water. There were yet three hours of riding. The tired +man straightened himself in the saddle, the horse felt the motion +and responded with a slight quickening of the movements of those +wonderful muscles that still worked so steadily and smoothly under +the buckskin coat. The animal seemed to realize with the man that +the end of the journey was in sight. Yet it would take another hour +and another of that steady, measured lope and the easy shuffling +fox-trot. + +The sun was dipping downward now toward the ocean's rim, and sea and +sky were a blaze of glorious light; while on that dazzling +background sail and mast and roof and steeple were painted black +with edges of yellow flame. The horse, with the dogged, determined +spirit of his breed, was drawing upon the last of his strength--the +strength that had brought them so many miles without faltering. But +still he answered gamely to the lifting of the reins with that +measured, swinging lope. + +But as he watched the sun go down, Abe Lee forgot his weariness, +forgot his aching muscles and stiffened limbs. He remembered only +that miles away in the little desert town there was a mob of +striking Mexicans and Indian laborers who, disappointed and enraged +at not receiving their promised pay, would be ready now for any deed +that promised to satisfy their blind desire for vengeance. He knew +that no explanations would be accepted. No plea for patience would +be heard. They could not understand. In their eyes they had been +tricked, fooled, cheated, defrauded of their just dues. They knew no +better way to redress their wrongs than the primitive way--to +destroy, to injure, perhaps to kill. And Barbara--Barbara was there. +If only they would let that one night pass! If only Tex and Pat and +the little handful of white men could hold them off a few more hours +until he could get back. + +Until he could get back! But what if Jefferson Worth had not +received the telegram before he left San Felipe? What if there +should be a still further delay in getting the money? + +Through the lighted streets of the harbor city the buckskin and his +rider finally made their way. A policeman, looking suspiciously at +the dust-begrimed, sweat-caked, trembling horse that stood with legs +braced wide and drooping head, and at the haggard-faced rider, +directed the surveyor to the hotel a block away, and then stood +watching them as they moved slowly toward the end of the ride. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +WHAT THE COMPANY MAN TOLD THE MEXICANS. + + +While Barbara and her three friends at home were rejoicing over the +message from Jefferson Worth telling them that he had secured the +money needed to go on with the work, Willard Holmes was alone in his +room in the San Felipe hotel. + +Following the engineer's interview with Mr. Cartwright, he had +passed through a stormy scene with James Greenfield and the words of +the president of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company were +ringing in his ears with painful monotony: "Discharged--discharged-- +discharged!" + +For the first time in his life the engineer had heard those words +addressed to himself. He could not rid himself of the feeling that +he had come suddenly to the end of his career. + +All his life Willard Holmes had had back of him the powerful +influence of his foster uncle. Positions and opportunities had come +to him from the first without effort on his part. Notwithstanding +the fact that his ability as an engineer was naturally of a high +order and that his training was of the best, he had never been +dependent wholly upon these things. Other and stronger +considerations had always given him his place. For the first time in +his life he faced the world of his profession with nothing but his +naked ability as an engineer to speak for him, while his abrupt +dismissal from the Company compelled him to realize with sudden +force how over-shadowed his work had always been by outside +influences and how dependent he had been upon them. He felt lost and +bewildered, knowing not which way to turn. His future seemed a +blank. He had been anxious and eager to get back to his work in the +Basin. But he had not realized how much that work meant to him--how +his plans, his dreams, his whole life work had become centered in +the reclamation of The King's Basin Desert. + +If his dismissal had come from anything connected with his work, he +told himself, it would be different. He thought bitterly how he had +struggled with insufficient equipment and inadequate makeshifts of +every kind to hold the Company system together that the pioneers +might have the water, without which the work of reclamation could +not be done. He knew every stake and pile and plank and crack and +patch in the whole system. He had learned the tricks of the river +and was familiar with the conditions peculiar to the desert country. +He knew the terrible danger of the flood season that was only two +months away. He had planned and prepared to meet emergencies that +would be sure to arise. + +And now, because he had refused to deliver the settlers wholly into +the hands of these New York capitalists, who cared nothing at all +for the real work save as it could be made to increase their money +bags, he was turned out. There was now no reason even for his return +to The King's Basin. Why, he asked himself, should he go back? To +see some other man doing his work? To watch as an outsider the +development of the land? or perhaps--as was more likely--to stand +idly by and watch its destruction? + +But even as he told himself that he could not do that, he knew that +he would go back; that, indeed, he must go. The desert called him-- +summoned him imperatively;--the desert, and something else: +something that was as mysteriously impelling as the spirit of the +land; something that had grown into his life even as his work had +grown; something that seemed to him now a part of his work from the +beginning. + +All that day the engineer avoided Greenfield and his eastern +friends. In the evening he dined alone and after the meal sat alone +in the hotel lobby with his back to the crowd, watching through the +big window the life of the street outside--watching without seeing. +Moodily he pulled at his cigar, his thoughts far away in Barbara's +Desert where, unknown to him, Abe Lee on the buckskin horse was +riding--riding--riding to save the work of Jefferson Worth. + +His thoughts were interrupted by the voice of Jefferson Worth +himself, who, seeing the engineer alone, had gone to him. Holmes, +drawing another chair close to his, greeted Barbara's father with +eager questions. "Have you heard from home? Is everything all +right?" + +The older man accepted the chair by the engineer's side and answered +his questions by saying: "Mr. Cartwright instructed his New York +bankers to wire this money to my account in Republic. I notified Abe +to pay the men to-morrow and go on with the work." + +It was characteristic of Jefferson Worth that he did not attempt to +thank Holmes for his part in the transaction with Cartwright, but in +some subtle way the engineer was made to feel his gratitude and +appreciation. After a pause Worth continued: "I am going to start +back to-night on the ten-thirty. When are you figuring on going +back?" + +The engineer smiled grimly. "I can't figure on anything definite +just now, Mr. Worth. I might as well tell you, I suppose, that I am +no longer connected with the Company." + +The announcement did not appear to be unexpected to Jefferson Worth, +but his slim fingers caressed his chin as he said: "I was afraid of +that. Have you anything in view?" + +Holmes felt that not only had Worth foreseen the situation, but that +he had already set in motion some movement to relieve it. "No, sir. +It came so suddenly that I have scarcely had time to think." + +"I figured some time ago that the Company would not be able to hold +you much longer," was the surprising comment. "The S. & C. has been +looking for a good man to put down in our country for some time. +Your experience on the river would make you particularly valuable to +them under existing conditions. I told them about you. They have +been holding off waiting developments. If I were you I would get in +touch with them at once. You can go up to the city with me to-night. +We will stop over and look into the proposition and then if it is +all right and agreeable to you we can go on home together." +Jefferson Worth seemed to understand perfectly the engineer's desire +to return to The King's Basin. + +Before Holmes could express his delight and gratitude at the +unexpected relief, a call-boy, passing among the guests, shouted: +"Mr. Jefferson Worth! Mr. Jefferson Worth!" + +The banker opened the message, read it, then--without a word-handed +the yellow slip to his companion. The engineer read: "Banks in Basin +won't accept New York business. Can't handle pay checks. Abe Lee +starting for San Felipe overland to-night. Have money and fresh +horse ready. Barbara." + +Holmes looked in consternation from the paper in his hand to +Barbara's father. The face of Jefferson Worth expressed nothing. It +was perfectly calm and emotionless, only the slim fingers were +lifted to the chin as if behind that gray mask the mind of the man +was groping, seizing, searching, examining every phase of the +situation so suddenly confronting him. In answer to the engineer's +questioning look he spoke in colorless words, with machine-like +exactness, as if the matter under consideration were a mere +mathematical problem presented for his solution. "The Company owns +the banks. Greenfield went into the telegraph office this morning as +Cartwright and I came out. Abe would get my message by nine o'clock. +The banks would get Greenfield's instructions the same time. Abe +would at once promise the men their money to-morrow. That cashier +didn't tell him they wouldn't handle the business until too late for +him to get me before the banks closed here. Greenfield is playing +for time so that the strikers will make trouble. Abe has it figured +out right. He can get here and back before I could get the money to +him by train. He should reach here to-morrow night. There is nothing +to do except to see Cartwright this evening so that he can wire New +York to-night and I can get the cash through the bank here before +Abe gets in to-morrow." + +As he grasped the situation and the methods Greenfield had employed +to injure Worth's interests, the engineer's eyes flashed. "Mr. +Worth," he cried, "that is the dirtiest trick I ever saw turned." + +"It's business, Mr. Holmes. Mr. Greenfield is merely using his +advantage, that's all." + +The methods of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company in La +Palma de la Mano de Dios were the methods of capital, impersonal, +inhuman--the methods of a force governed by laws as fixed as the +laws of nature, neither cruel nor kind; inconsiderate of man's +misery or happiness, his life or death; using man for its own ends-- +profit, as men use water and soil and sun and air. The methods of +Jefferson Worth were the methods of a man laboring with his brother +men, sharing their hardships, sharing their returns; a man using +money as a workman uses his tools to fashion and build and develop, +adding thus to the welfare of human kind. It was inevitable that the +Company and Jefferson Worth should war. + +James Greenfield served Capital; Jefferson Worth sought to make +Capital serve the race. But in the career of each of these men, who +had been driven by the master passion--Good Business, into The +Hollow of God's Hand, the dominant influence was a life. In the +career of Jefferson Worth it was Barbara. In the career of James +Greenfield it was Willard Holmes. + +In The King's Basin reclamation work, the New York financier, whose +relation to Willard Holmes was a tribute to his love for the +engineer's mother, felt that in some way--for some cause which he +could not understand--the younger man was growing away from him. +Their relation of employer and employe seemed to mar the close +intimacy of the old ties, and the older man looked forward eagerly +to the time when his business plans should be carried to a +successful climax and they would both leave the West for their +eastern home. That morning in the hotel, when he saw Holmes go with +Cartwright to Jefferson Worth and by that knew that the engineer had +used his influence against the interests of the Company, he was +astonished and hurt. He felt that the boy whom he had reared as his +own had turned against him. As the president of the Company he +abruptly discharged the engineer, for he could do nothing else. As +the foster-father of Willard Holmes, he was still proud of the +younger man's strength of character, for under all his anger at +being thwarted in his plan against Worth he knew in his heart that +the engineer had done right. + +As the day passed and the engineer did not seek his company, while +Greenfield's own stubborn pride forbade him to go to Holmes, the +older man's heart grew more and more lonely. That evening, when he +saw Jefferson Worth and Holmes together in earnest conversation and +through all of the following day saw them apparently associated +intimately in some plan or enterprise, for the first time personal +feeling entered into his consideration of the whole situation. He +felt that his business rival had become his rival for the affections +of the boy he loved. The business victories of Jefferson Worth he +could accept without feeling; but that this man--a stranger--should +come between him and his foster-son, the child of the woman he had +loved with lifelong fidelity, stirred him to a vicious, personal +hatred. + +At dusk that evening he saw Holmes and Worth dining together. When +the meal was over he sat in the lobby, ostensibly chatting with +friends, but covertly watching the two who seemed to be awaiting +someone. Suddenly he saw them rise quickly and start toward the main +entrance. A dusty, khaki-clad man of the desert was entering the +hotel. Tall, lean, bronzed, his face haggard and strained with +anxiety, his eyes blood-shot through loss of sleep, his figure +expressing in every line and movement deadly weariness and aching +muscles, he strode forward into the hotel lobby, his spurs clinking +on the white tile floor. + +Greenfield recognized Abe Lee and grasped the situation instantly. +The president of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company knew +why the surveyor had come to San Felipe and he knew what he would +carry back. If the money to pay the strikers reached its +destination, Jefferson Worth would win; if not-- + +At half past nine o'clock that evening the thoughtful Manager of The +King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company received a cipher message +from his superior that drew a long, low whistle from his lips. For +almost an hour he considered with an occasional quiet curse. Then, +because he was a good Company man, he put on his hat and strolled +leisurely down the street of Kingston, apparently enjoying his +evening cigar. Once he stopped to greet a belated rancher. Again he +paused to chat a moment with a citizen. Once more he halted to +exchange a word with a group of Company men, and later stopped to +greet three Mexicans who were in from the Company's camps. + +The Manager asked of the work--if all was well. + +"Si, Senor." + +Then naturally Mr. Burk inquired for news of their countrymen, the +strikers of Republic. + +The Mexicans, coming from the distant camp, could tell him nothing. +They had heard little. Could Senor Burk tell them of the situation? + +The Manager was quite sure that everything would be all right with +the men on Jefferson Worth's railroad day after to-morrow. + +That was "bueno." + +Yes, Mr. Worth's superintendent was starting from San Felipe that +very evening with money--thousands of dollars, American gold--to pay +the men. He was coming alone through the mountains on horseback. +Without doubt the men would receive their pay. The Manager was glad! + +"Si, Senor." + +"Gracias, Senor!" + +"Buenos noches!" + +"Good night." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +TELL BARBARA I'M ALL RIGHT. + + +When Abe Lee, after twenty-six hard hours in the saddle, dismounted +in front of the San Felipe hotel and entered the lobby his usually +perfect nerves were strained almost to the breaking point. For weeks +the surveyor had carried the burden of Jefferson Worth's financial +condition as if it were his own. With the prospect of seeing the +work he loved better than his life wrecked and taken over by the +Company, he had for days faced the critical situation of the strike. +Then, in the very hour of relief, the situation had become seemingly +hopeless. Abe Lee, better than anyone, knew the temper of the +Mexican and Indian strikers. He realized fully how great the chances +were that at the very moment when he finished his ride for relief +the town of Republic was the scene of tragic violence. + +If Jefferson Worth had left San Felipe ignorant of the failure of +his effort to relieve the dangerous situation at home, or if by some +chance the money so desperately needed was not ready, Abe knew that +the cause was lost. The Company would triumph. + +As he entered the hotel his eyes, searching eagerly for his +employer, fell first on James Greenfield. With a movement wholly +involuntary the hand of the overwrought desert man came to rest on +his hip close to the heavy Colt's forty-five. Then he saw Jefferson +Worth and Willard Holmes moving towards him. + +When a man feels himself hard-pressed in a fight and is struggling +desperately to hold his ground, he has small thought for the +trifling courtesies demanded by custom. Without returning the +greetings of the two men and instinctively drawing apart from +Holmes, the surveyor shot a single question at his employer. "Have +you got it?" + +"Everything is all right," answered Jefferson Worth, and with his +words something of his calm confidence went to Abe Lee. + +When the two men reached Worth's apartment the surveyor, without +hesitation, began stripping off his clothes. "I want a good bath +first," he said. "And while I am at it will you please have a good +thick beefsteak cooked rare and sent up here? Then I'll sleep for a +couple of hours. That buckskin of Texas Joe's is standing in from of +the hotel. He's about all in. I wish that you would see that he is +cared for." + +As he finished speaking the tall lean figure of the surveyor +disappeared through the bath room door. Mr. Worth sent the order for +his superintendent's supper to the cook with a sum of money that +insured immediate and careful attention. Then with his own hands he +led the buckskin horse to a barn where the animal would have the +care he had so well earned. + +When Mr. Worth returned to the hotel he opened the door of his room +softly. There was a tray of empty dishes on the table, an odor of +cigarette smoke in the atmosphere, and in his employer's bed the +surveyor, sound asleep. Abe Lee understood the value of every moment +even in taking rest. + +Two hours later Mr. Worth, going again to his room, found that the +surveyor had just finished dressing. With a smile the financier +handed Abe a slip of yellow paper. It was a message from Barbara +saying that so far all was well at home, and concluded with the +words: "Love to Abe." + +Without a word Abe turned away to buckle about his hips the broad +cartridge belt with its worn holster and his big black gun. But +Barbara's father did not see him slip the bit of yellow paper into +the pocket of his blue flannel shirt. + +Then Mr. Worth gave the surveyor a black leather bill-book stuffed +to its utmost capacity and secured with rubber bands. "Here it is," +he said. + +Abe stored the package in an inner pocket of his khaki coat and was +ready. + +At the barn they found Willard Holmes waiting with two horses. The +engineer wore a new belt, holster and revolver. When he had greeted +them he said: "Well, are we all ready? I have a lunch here. Is there +anything else?" + +Abe looked at him questioningly and turned to Mr. Worth. + +"Mr. Holmes is going back with you," said the banker. + +For an instant the surveyor hesitated. But something in his +employer's tone caused him to withhold any objection, and with no +comment he turned to inspect the horses. The animals were of the +same tough breed as the buckskin. "They're all right, are they?" Abe +asked of the liveryman. + +"You can see for yourself," came the answer. "You know the kind. +The' ain't nothin' can outlast 'em, an' Mr. Worth said that was what +he wanted." + +"We will need one feed apiece," said Abe. "Put it in two sacks, you +know." + +"Sure," returned the man. "I'd a-had it ready but this here +gentleman didn't tell me." + +While the liveryman was preparing the grain Abe examined saddles and +cinches. "Are your stirrups right?" he asked Holmes. + +"I think so." + +"You'd better know. We don't want to stop to monkey around in the +dark." + +The barn man grinned, with a wink at the surveyor, as the engineer +decided, after trying, that he had better shorten the straps a hole. +Abe silently assisted him in adjusting them. Then--swinging into his +saddle--the surveyor said to his employer as the horses moved ahead: +"Good-by, sir. Wire little sister that I'm coming." + +Along the lighted city streets they rode at a pace that seemed to +Willard Holmes more fitting for ladies' gentle exercise than for two +men bound on an errand against time. The eastern man urged his horse +ahead, but his companion held back and Holmes was forced to check +his speed and wait for the other to come up with him. To the +engineer's attempts at conversation the other answered only in +monosyllables or not at all. + +There had been no opportunity for Mr. Worth to explain to Abe the +engineer's part in helping him to secure the money from Cartwright +and the consequent discharge of Holmes by Greenfield. To the +surveyor's mind his companion belonged to the enemy. He could not +understand why--with the victory or defeat of Jefferson Worth in his +fight with the Company hanging upon his superintendent's mission-- +the Company's chief engineer should volunteer to accompany him. The +presence of Greenfield and Holmes in San Felipe, the action of the +banks controlled by the Company, made it clear to Abe that they +understood the dangerous situation of Mr. Worth and his urgent need +of immediate relief. The Company had everything to gain if the +arrival of the money at the scene of the strike could be delayed +even for a few hours. But Abe had seen that it was Jefferson Worth's +wish that Holmes go with him and the surveyor could not, in the +presence of Holmes, discuss the question. + +On his part Holmes felt the antagonism of his silent companion but +could not guess the reason, while Abe's attitude of aloofness +prevented the engineer from making any explanation. He told himself +that the surveyor was naturally over-wrought with the mental and +physical strain of his long ride, and that later, at some more +opportune time, when they halted for lunch and rest perhaps, they +would come to a more agreeable spirit of companionship. + +But he could not content himself with the slow pace when there was +such evident need of haste. It was all a mistake, he thought, for +the man already wearied to undertake the return trip. A fresh rider +was as necessary as a fresh horse. The surveyor was evidently too +exhausted to push on at the necessary speed and Holmes felt that it +fell upon him to set the pace and thus force his companion to the +exertion required. So he continued urging his horse ahead while +Abe's mount, held back by his rider, tugged at the reins and grew +restless, and the horse of Holmes, now started sharply forward, now +pulled down almost to a standstill, became equally uneasy. So they +rode out of the city beyond the lights and movement of the streets +into the stillness and the darkness of the night. + +At last as Holmes again touched his horse with the spur, making him +bound several lengths ahead, and again pulled him down waiting for +Abe to overtake him, the western man broke the long silence. "You'll +have to quit that, Mr. Holmes," he said somewhat sharply. + +The engineer did not understand. "Quit what?" + +"Breaking ahead like that. I'll set the pace for this trip." + +"You don't seem to be in any hurry," retorted Holmes, nettled by the +surveyor's tone. + +"I ain't. Not in that kind of a hurry." + +"But look here, Abe. Don't you know that Mr. Worth expects us to +make the trip in the shortest possible time? We've got to get that +money into Republic to-morrow evening, and before if we can. There +is too much at stake to poke along like this." + +Abe reflected. The Company man certainly understood the situation. +Aloud he said: "I think I know what Jefferson Worth wants, Mr. +Holmes, and I reckon you'll have to trust me to carry out his +wishes. I know the distance; I know this road; and I know horse +flesh a little. At the rate you're trying to go you'll be afoot +before noon to-morrow. You can ride your own horse down if you want +to, but you can't hinder me by fretting mine into unnecessary +exertion. He'll need every ounce of his strength and I'm going to +see that he doesn't waste any of it. Either push ahead out of sight +and hearing as fast as you please, or turn back; but if you ride +with me you'll quit this monkey business and ride quietly at the +gait I set." + +Willard Holmes instantly saw the force of the western man's words. +"I beg your pardon, Lee," he said. "Of course you know best. I'm so +anxious over this business that I'm acting like a fool." + +After that companionship was a little easier, but under the +circumstances the one topic most on the mind of each was carefully +avoided. At midnight they stopped at the crossing of a stream to +water and feed, and Abe showed his companion how to make a nosebag +out of the sack in which his grain was carried. + +Daybreak found them in the foothills. At the ranch where Abe had +been accommodated the morning before they again halted for +breakfast. With another feed for the horses tied behind their +saddles, they began the long climb of the western slope of the +mountains and about four o'clock in the afternoon had crossed over +the summit and reached the spring at the head of Devil's Canyon--the +last water they would find until they reached Wolf Wells in the +desert. + +When they dismounted at the watering place some two hundred yards +off the trail, the surveyor, after slipping the bit from his horse's +mouth and loosening the saddle girth, moved slowly about the little +glen, his eyes on the ground. Holmes, standing by the horses which +had their muzzles deep in the cool water, watched his companion +wearily. "Lost something?" he asked, as Abe continued moving +cautiously about. + +"Not yet," came the laconic reply. + +"Well, what the deuce are you looking for then?" + +Abe, coming back to arrange the feed for his horse, looked closely +at his companion but made no answer. + +When the two men had thrown themselves on the grass to eat their +lunch the surveyor, between bites of his sandwich, carefully scanned +the mountain side and the mouth of the canyon below. Suddenly +reaching out his hand he picked up a burnt cigarette butt and +regarded it intently, while the engineer watched him with curious, +amused interest. + +"What the deuce is the matter, Abe? You act like one of Cooper's +Leather-Stocking heroes. What's the matter with that cigarette +stub?" + +The man of the desert, knowing nothing of Cooper, did not smile but +answered shortly, eyeing the engineer as he spoke: "It ain't dry. +There was a party at this watering place not more than three hours +ago." + +"Well, what of it? This is government property. Probably somebody +ahead of us going into the new country to locate." + +"There's been nobody ahead of us all day." + +"How do you know that?" + +Abe shrugged his shoulders. "How do I know that a party of five or +six watered here since noon?" + +"Perhaps it's someone going out." + +"Did we meet anyone? This is the only trail." + +"Well, maybe it was a party of prospectors or hunters. They would +not follow the road." + +"They would have pack burros or mules. Nothing but horses in this +bunch. They----" The surveyor turned his head quickly to look up the +hill. His ear had caught the sound of a horse's feet on the mountain +road above. + +Holmes, looking also, saw a horseman ride leisurely around the turn +and down the grade toward the canyon. Silently they watched and as +the newcomer came nearer they saw that he was a Mexican. When the +traveler reached the point where he should have turned aside to the +water he did not pause but jogged steadily past. "By George!" +exclaimed Holmes, "I believe that's one of our greasers from the +outfit in Number Eight." + +"I know it is," said Abe. "Perhaps you can make a guess as to what +he's doing here and why he didn't stop for water." As the surveyor +spoke he was rolling a cigarette, and from the cloud of smoke he +watched the Mexican ride down the mountain side and disappear +between the narrow walls of Devil's Canyon. + +"I'm sure I don't know what he's doing. He seems to be going toward +the desert. There might be a hundred different reasons why he should +have been out somewhere." + +"There's only one reason why he didn't stop for water at this +place." + +"What's that?" + +"He had already watered." + +"But there has been no chance for miles back!" + +"He watered here." + +Holmes spoke sharply. Abe's manner irritated him. "I don't see how +you know." + +"Because this is the only water for twenty miles going either way." + +"But you said you thought there was a party of five or six." + +"I know there are five or six." + +"Where are the others, then, if this man was one of the party?" + +"I don't know exactly where they are, but I can guess." + +By this time Willard Holmes had come to see that to his companion +there was a great deal more in the common-place incident than the +surveyor chose to put into words. Abe, throwing away his cigarette +and rolling another with his long-practiced fingers, seemed to be +striving to arrive at some conclusion about something that to the +engineer was all very much in the dark. + +Aggravated by the reticence of his companion, Holmes burst forth +with: "For heaven's sake! Abe, open up. What's on your mind? What's +the matter anyway? What's all this about?" + +Abe faced the engineer with a straight, hard look. "Don't you know +what it's all about?" + +"So far as I can see it's all about nothing at all. Tell me." + +"Well, Mr. Holmes, I will. But I'm not sure yet that it will be news +to you. The rest of the gang that watered here is down in Devil's +Canyon waiting for us. They were here something like three hours +ago. After watering, one of them went on over the ridge to watch for +us and the others went back down the canyon. They knew that we would +stop here to feed and water and that the lookout could jog along +past, apparently minding his own business, and tell 'em that we were +coming." + +"You mean it's a hold-up?" cried Holmes, in some excitement. + +"That's what I would call it. Your Company would probably call it +intercepting Mr. Worth's messenger." + +"The Company? What has the Company to do with it?" + +"Greenfield and you were in San Felipe. You knew what I went after. +You know that the chances are big that Jefferson Worth will go to +smash if I don't make it to Republic to-night, and that greaser is a +Company man." + +In a flash Holmes saw the whole situation from his companion's point +of view and understood the surveyor's suspicions. At the same time +the engineer realized that it was now too late for him to explain +his presence or that he was no longer connected with the Company. In +his perplexity and chagrin and in the suddenness of it all he said +the worst thing possible. "Well, what are you going to do about it?" + +Abe's voice was hard. "I'm not going to take any fool chances. This +may be a plain ordinary case of hold-up or it may be a job framed up +by the Company simply to delay me. It's all the same to me, but this +money goes to Republic to-night. Sabe that?" + +The other would have spoken but Abe interrupted. + +"We've palavered long enough, Mr. Holmes. The horses have finished +their feed and it's time to start." + +When they were mounted the surveyor said shortly: "Now, sir, you +just ride ahead and you ride slow until I give the word--then you go +like hell. If you lift a hand to signal or make any mistakes like +stopping to fix your saddle girth or checking up to speak to that +bunch or turning 'round, I get you first and you can't afford to +have any hazy notions about my not wanting to kill you because +you're from New York. If you're square you can make good on those +Company greasers down there and I'll apologize afterwards. If you're +in this deal with your damned Company, you'll stop drawing your +salary right here and there won't be any funeral expenses for them +to pay either! Go ahead." + +"Just a word first," and Abe saw that the engineer was as cool as a +veteran. "Granting that you are right about that crowd being down +there to stop us, if anything should happen to you tell me how to +get into Republic with the money. You will be taking no chances with +that at least." + +"Follow the trail to the telephone line. You know it from there. +There's water at Wolf Wells. Give your horse a drink but don't wait +to rest. You can push him from now on as hard as you like. You +should make it to Republic in six hours from here. Give the money to +Miss Worth. Anything else?" + +Holmes replied by turning in his saddle and moving ahead. Abe +followed, his horse's nose even with the flank of the animal in the +lead. + +Easily they jogged ahead down the grade toward the narrow throat of +the canyon. A hundred yards from where two points of jutting rock in +the walls of the mountain hallway leave an opening not more than +fifty feet wide, Holmes, with the slightest turn of his head, spoke, +over his shoulder. "I see a man's face looking around that point of +rock on the right." + +"Be ready when I give the word." + +"Won't they pot us?" + +"Not if they can get the drop. They'll turn us loose on the desert." + +"Shall I shoot?" + +Behind the engineer's back Abe smiled grimly. "When they halt us and +I give the word, cut loose if you want to. I'll take all on the +left." + +The distance lessened to a hundred feet. + +Suddenly from the left three mounted Mexicans pushed into the road +and from the right two more. + +Even as they threw up their guns and called: "Alto--Halt!" Abe gave +the word: + +"Now!" + +The two white men drove their spurs deep into their horses' flanks, +throwing themselves forward in their saddles with the same motion. +With mad plunges the animals leaped toward the highwaymen. Even as +he spoke Abe's gun had cracked thrice in quick succession--the +Mexicans firing at about the same instant. Two of the horsemen on +the left went down and the surveyor reeled almost out of his saddle. +But Holmes did not see. His own revolver barked a prompt second to +Abe's, and on his side a Mexican went over clutching at his saddle +horn. The horses of the Mexicans were rearing and plunging. The +quick reports of the revolvers echoed viciously from the rocky +walls. + +But the white men went through. Down the rocky hallway they raced, +side by side now, as hard as their maddened horses could run. A +moment to slip fresh cartridges into his cylinder and Holmes cried +to his companion: "Good stuff, old man! Go on; I'll hold 'em." And +before Abe could grasp his purpose he had jerked his horse to his +haunches and, wheeling, faced back up the canyon and disappeared +around a turn. + +Even as the surveyor was trying to check his own horse--a tough- +mouthed brute--another rattling volley of revolver shots echoed down +the canyon. By the time Abe had succeeded in turning his stubborn +mount Holmes re-appeared. + +"All over!" the engineer sang out, as his companion wheeled again +and rode beside him. "Two of 'em were coming after us. I got one and +the other turned tail." He winced with pain as he spoke. "They +presented me with a little souvenir, though." + +Abe saw that his left arm was swinging loosely. "You are hurt," he +said sharply, reining up his horse. "Where is it?" + +"Here, in my shoulder. It don't amount to anything. Let's get on to +water and I'll fix it up." With the word the engineer, whose mount +had also stopped, started ahead. The horse went a few steps and +stumbled--struggled to regain his feet--staggered weakly a few steps +farther--stumbled again--and went down. As he fell Holmes sprang +clear. The animal raised his head, made another attempt to rise and +dropped back. Another bullet from the last encounter had found a +mark. + +The dismounted engineer, who stood as if dazed, staring at his dead +horse, was aroused by the voice of Abe Lee. "It looks like we'd got +all that was coming to us this trip." + +At his companion's tone Holmes looked up quickly. The surveyor's +lips were white and his face was drawn with pain. + +The man on the ground sprang toward him with a startled exclamation. +"You too; Abe! Where is it?" + +"My leg, on the other side." + +Quickly the engineer went around Lee's horse to find the leg of the +surveyor's khaki trousers darkly stained with blood. "Get down," he +commanded and, reaching with his uninjured arm, almost lifted his +companion from the saddle. An examination revealed an ugly hole in +the surveyor's thigh. With handkerchiefs and some strips cut from +the engineer's coat they dressed their wounds as best they could. +When they had finished, Holmes straightened up and looked around. +Behind them was the bold mountain wall, grim and forbidding; on +either hand the dry, barren Mesa; and ahead the miles and miles of +desert. + +As if in answer to his thoughts the man on the ground said grimly: +"This is hell now, ain't it? Mr. Holmes, I'll make that apology. If +you please, would you mind shaking hands with me?" + +Willard Holmes grasped the out-stretched hand cordially. "You did +just right, old man. It was the only thing you could do. But I want +to tell you quick, before anything else happens, that I'm not a +Company man any more." + +"Not a Company man?' + +"Greenfield fired me because I helped Jefferson Worth to interest +the capitalist who is furnishing him the money he needs." + +For a moment Abe Lee looked at the engineer in silence; then his +pale lips twisted into a smile. "Mr. Holmes, would you mind shaking +hands again?" + +With a laugh the engineer once more held out his hand. Then he asked +seriously: "How are we going to get out of this, Abe?" + +The smile was already gone from the surveyor's face. He answered +slowly, with dogged determination in his voice. "We've got to get +this money to Republic to-night. It's the only thing that will stop +those cholos and Cocopahs. We'll make it to water together, then you +can go on. Help me up!" + +With the engineer's assistance Abe managed to gain his seat in the +saddle, Holmes mounting behind, and thus they made their way down +into the Basin and to Wolf Wells. + +[Illustration: "Adios. Tell Barbara I'm all right"] + +There Holmes helped his companion from the horse and to the shade of +a mesquite tree near the water hole, where he stood over him as he +lay on the ground, protesting vigorously against leaving him alone +in the desert. But the surveyor argued him down. "I couldn't +possibly make it if we had another horse," he said. "I'm down and +out. There'll be hell to pay in Republic to-night, even if the boys +have held them off this long. The money's got to get there this +evening. You can reach there by ten o'clock and send a wagon back +for me. Don't you see there's no other way?" He held out the black +leather bill-book with the rubber bands. "Here, take this and go on. +Go on, man! What's a night in the desert to me?" + +"But those greasers may come this way." + +"They won't. But if they should I have my gun, haven't I, and I'll +see them before they see me. Go on, I tell you. We've lost too much +time already. Think of that mob and Barbara. You've got to go, +Holmes." + +The engineer turned towards his horse. "Good-by, old man." + +"Adios. Tell Barbara I'm all right." + +Abe Lee watched the loping horse grow smaller and smaller in the +distance, then watched the cloud of dust that lifted from the trail +to hang all golden in the last of the light. Turning he saw the +summit of the mountain wall sharply defined against the sky. With a +groan his form relaxed. He closed his eyes. He was indeed down and +out. + +The desert night fell softly over the wide, thirsty plain. The +snarling coyote chorus came out of the gloom. Out there Willard +Holmes was riding--riding--riding--along the old San Felipe trail. +Away over there, somewhere under those stars, Barbara was waiting +his return. He remembered her parting words and how he had failed to +find in her eyes that which he had longed to see. He felt for the +paper in the pocket of his shirt: "Love to Abe." She would never +have sent that message had her love been other than it was. Abe Lee, +born and reared in the desert, was not the kind of man to deceive +himself. For his work and for the woman whose life was so strangely +and closely bound up with it he had given the utmost limit of his +strength. And now another man would finish the ride and go to her +with the prize. Not that it would make any difference to Barbara, +but somehow it mattered a great deal to Abe. + +Willard Holmes, who in spite of his splendid strength had not the +desert man's powers of endurance, clung grimly to one thought--the +money must go to Republic. The steady rhythm of his horse's feet +seemed to beat out the word: "Barbara! Barbara! Barbara!" + +The trying scene with Greenfield, the long hard hours in the saddle, +the excitement of the fight in the canyon, with his anxiety for his +wounded companion left alone in the desert, were almost too much. +Could he hold out? Could he make it? He _must_. + +The engineer held his seat with the strength of desperation. He +_must!_ The money must go to Republic that night--to Barbara! +Barbara! Barbara! The horse's feet seemed to have beaten out the +word for ages. For ages he had been riding--riding--riding towards +some point out there ahead in the desert night. + +The engineer knew now what it was that called him back. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +MANANA! MANANA! TO-MORROW! TO-MORROW! + + +The night when Abe Lee started on his ride from Republic to San +Felipe passed quietly in the little desert town. Texas and Pat with +a few faithful white men guarded the Worth property lest, in some +way, the news that Worth would be unable to pay as his +superintendent had promised should get out and precipitate a crisis. +But the strikers continued to enjoy peacefully their holiday, +looking forward to the morrow when they would be enriched with +nearly two months' pay. When the morrow came the laborers, their +dark faces beaming with childish happiness, gathered early in front +of Jefferson Worth's office. Texas and Pat, with the men of the +office force who had been up all night, were sleeping, for another +night of guard duty was before them. + +When it was ten o'clock and no one had arrived at the office, the +crowd of laborers began to show signs of growing impatience. Then +someone recalled seeing Abe riding on the buckskin horse toward the +south and suspicion grew. At last a few of the more intelligent went +in a body to the bank. + +"We come to see you about money. You sabe about money?" + +"What money is that?" asked the man behind the window shortly. + +"Our money for work on railroad. Senor Worth was to pay. El +Superintendente say pay to-day sure. He no come. You sabe?" + +"I sabe that Worth won't pay." + +"No?" + +"No. He has no money here." + +The Mexicans exchanged glances. "No money? You are quite sure, +Senor?" + +"Sure." + +"Gracias, Senor. Adios!" + +It was a dangerous crowd that filled the streets of Republic that +afternoon and evening, and all through the night that followed the +friends of Jefferson Worth expected every hour the fulfillment of +the strikers' threats. Soon after breakfast, which Pat and Tex +shared with Barbara, the message came from Mr. Worth telling them +that Abe was on his way home with the money. + +Again the men were told that they would receive their pay on the +morrow, but this time the announcement was received with black +scowls and muttered curses of disbelief. "They make us damn fools, +one time. How we know this time not the same?" asked one of the +leaders, speaking for the crowd. "Mebbe, Senor Tex, you not know. +Mebbe they fool you like us. We get money this day, we glad--go +work. We no get money by this night--" an expressive shrug of the +shoulders finished the sentence. + +The attitude of the citizens of Republic was one of angry +indifference. They were angry both with Jefferson Worth and the +strikers because the trouble was unsettling and harmful to the best +interests of all the business in the town and to some degree turned +the inflowing stream of settlers and investors towards other points +of the new country. They were indifferent because of that underlying +conviction, brought about by mysteriously authoritative rumors and +whispered statements from supposed inside sources, that the cause of +the trouble was a fight between Jefferson Worth and the Company. +Whether capitalists rise or capitalists fall is always a matter of +indifference to all who are not themselves of the capitalist class. +For capital continues its mastery of them just the same. No one +doubted that the railroad would be finished whether Jefferson Worth +failed or not. Horace P. Blanton was not backward in expressing the +popular feeling, and the popular feeling often expressed grows ever +more popular. + +Toward the end of the afternoon Pablo, who had been mingling with +his countrymen all day, came to "headquarters" to report. The +strikers were planning to attack their employer's property that +night. Pablo was certain that the mob would go first to the power +plant and the adjoining buildings. + +No help was to be had from the citizens and, save for the few white +men in Mr. Worth's employ who had been made to understand the +situation and the reason for the delay, Tex and Pat were alone. They +knew that there was small chance of Abe's arrival until well toward +midnight. For a little they considered the situation. + +Then the old frontiersman spoke. "Hit stands to reason that Pablo +here is right an' that the stampede will head toward the works +first, an' they'll all go together. They ain't a-comin' here 'til +later, after they've made their biggest play. Now Pablo, you listen. +Get two horses--sabe, two--one for Ynez and one for yourself, and +have them with El Capitan for La Senorita ready by the back door. +You watch. If Senor Lee comes, tell him quick to go to the power +house. If the men come, take the women on the horses and get out of +the way. You understand?" + +"Si, Senor. I will care for La Senorita." + +Texas Joe turned to Barbara. "I don't reckon they'll get here at +all, for I bank on Pat an' me fixin' somethin' to interest 'em until +Abe gets here. But it's best to be fixed for what you ain't +expectin'. You'll be a heap better off with Pablo anywhere away from +here if they should come this way." + +When the night fell, Texas and Pat went to the scene of the expected +trouble and Barbara was left with Pablo. The Mexican prepared the +horses as Texas had instructed and then took up his position by the +front gate, proud and happy that they had so honored him--that they +had trusted him to guard his employer's daughter. The darkness +deepened. Watchful, alert--Pablo strove to see into the gloom and +listened to catch the first sound of approaching friend or enemy. +The white men should learn that he could protect La Senorita--La +Senorita who, in Rubio City, had been to him an angel of mercy when +he was lying injured--La Senorita, whom they all loved. + +Behind him the door of the house opened, letting out a flood of +light; then closed. In the darkness a voice called softly: "Pablo, +are you there?" + +"Si, Senorita. You want me?" + +Barbara came quickly down the walk to his side. "It's so lonely and +still in the house, Pablo; may I stay out here a little with you? We +can both watch." + +Surely La Senorita could stay. Why not? Pablo was to protect her, +not to keep her a prisoner. + +She laughed quietly. "I believe you would do anything for me, +Pablo." + +"I would protect La Senorita with my life," he answered simply. + +"I believe you would, Pablo; and so would Tex and Pat and Abe. You +are all so good to me and I--I feel so good for nothing--so +useless." + +In the darkness the musical voice of Pablo answered: "Our love for +La Senorita is so great. It is like the desert in the gentle +moonlight, so big and wide. It is like the soft night under the +stars, so deep. Everybody so loves La Senorita, and anyone loved +that way cannot be what you say--good for nothing. Sometime men love +like the sun on the desert in day time--fierce and hot, and that is +different; that makes sometimes trouble--sometime make men kill. It +is not good, La Senorita, but it is so." + +They heard a galloping horse coming nearer and nearer. Barbara +touched her companion's arm and Pablo laid a hand on his revolver. +Was it Abe? Was it someone to say that the mob was coming? + +The horse and rider passed and the sound of their going died away in +the stillness of the night. + +"Pablo, what time will they go to the power house?" + +"Any time now, Senorita." + +Barbara spoke quickly--eagerly now. "Are there not a good many of +your countrymen from Rubio City among them, Pablo?" + +"Si, Senorita." + +"And do they--do they remember me?" + +"Surely no one who lived in Rubio City could forget La Senorita, who +was so kind to the poor." + +"Then, Pablo, I have a plan to help. I did not tell Texas and Pat, +but Ynez is not in the house. I sent her away this evening to stay +with a friend on the other side of town." + +"Si, Senorita." The soft voice was perplexed and troubled. + +"Pablo, I am going to the power house to help." + +"No, no, Senorita; it cannot be." + +"Yes, Pablo, I must." + +"But, Senorita, that is not right." + +"You will go with me, Pablo--and no one will harm me." + +"But if Senor Lee comes?" + +"When he finds no one here he will understand and go to us." + +"No, no, Senorita; you must not! The father--Senor Texas, and Pat-- +they will kill me. La Senorita does not want Pablo to be hurt." + +"Why Pablo, no one can blame you, and don't you see that I must do +what I can? Come; we are losing time. We must not be too late. You +get the horses." + +She went quickly into the house and when she came out again the +Mexican, still protesting, held the horses ready. + +At the power house Texas and Pat sat just inside the main entrance. +In the big room beyond them the great dynamos that furnished +electricity to all the towns for lights and supplied the ice plant, +the shops and every enterprise needing it throughout the Basin with +power, hummed and sang their monotonous song of industry. In front +of the building a large arc light made the immediate vicinity as +bright as day. On every side of all the buildings in the group where +the little handful of white men stood guard, similar lights had been +placed by Abe at the beginning of the trouble. + +"Howly Mither, wud ye look at that?" came from Pat as Barbara, +followed by Pablo, rode into the circle of light. With an oath from +Texas Joe the two men ran forward, and as they came up to the riders +the Irishman cried: "Fwhat the hell are ye doin' here? Fwhat's the +matter? Did thim divils go to the house first, or are ye crazy?" + +With a laugh Barbara dismounted and, telling Pablo to tie the horses +to the hitch rack a short distance away, faced the astonished men. +"There's nothing wrong at the house, but I knew you must be lonesome +here so I came to see you. You don't seem a bit glad to see me!" + +"Mither av Gawd!" groaned the Irishman. + +Texas called to Pablo. "Bring those horses back here." + +"Pablo," called Barbara, "do as I told you." + +The Mexican leading the horses moved on toward the hitching place. +Texas scratched his head in a puzzled way, while Pat grinned. "Will +ye roll that in yer cigarette an' shmoke it, Uncle Tex?" + +"I'll have to take a shot at that fool greaser for this," returned +Texas. + +"You'll do no such thing," declared the young woman. "You know he +couldn't help himself." + +"Be the Powers, ut's us that should know that same!" + +"But honey, you can't stay here. There's goin' to be trouble--real +trouble." + +"I know it, Uncle Tex, that's why I came to help." + +"To help!" The two men looked at her in amazement. + +Before they could find words for a question Pablo came running back +to them: "They're coming, Senorita! Senor Tex! They're coming!" + +He was right. Texas Joe caught Barbara by the arm and with the three +men she ran into the building just as the crowd of Mexican and +Indian laborers reached the outer edge of the lighted space. + +While still in the shadow of the night the crowd halted and the +watchers in the buildings could see them across the broad belt of +light--a stirring, restless mass of men, shadowy and indistinct. Now +and then a single figure in the white canvas jumper, trousers and +wide sombrero of the Mexicans, or wearing the blue overalls and +black shirt decorated with many brightly colored ribbons and the +green, yellow or orange head cloth of the Indians, would detach +itself from the main company and--coming nearer--would stand out +with sudden startling clearness, disappearing again as suddenly in +the dark mass as it again moved farther away. + +Here and there in the confusion of dusky moving forms a face would +appear as someone, looking up at the electric light caught its rays +full upon his swarthy features; or the watchers would catch the +gleam and flash from a weapon, a belt buckle or an ornament as the +mob of men moved uneasily about. Still farther away the restless, +stirring mass was dissolved in the darkness of the night. + +"They're palaverin' about the lights," said Texas to his companions. +"Can't jest figure the deal under Abe's illumination. They're all +plumb anxious, but they's nobody wishful to make himself +conspicuous." + +"Oh, why doesn't Abe come; why doesn't he come?" exclaimed Barbara. + +"Av the saints will only kape thim cholos considerin', the lad may +git here yet." + +Even as the Irishman spoke the crowd, seemingly agreeing upon a +plan, moved forward slowly in a body. When they were well within the +lighted space Texas drawled: "Right here's where I feel moved to +address the meetin'," and throwing open the door he stepped out upon +the platform, which was built to the height of a wagon-bed above the +level of the ground with steps at each end. + +Standing thus in the bright light of the arc that sputtered over his +head, he was seen instantly by every eye in the crowd. As if by +command they halted, standing motionless, their dark faces turned +toward the old plainsman. + +Texas spoke in their own tongue. "Good evening, men. Why do you come +here at this time of the night? What do you want?" + +There was an angry shifting to and fro in the mass of men, and a +Mexican standing well to the front answered: "What should we want, +Senor Texas, but our pay? We have worked four--five--seven weeks +without money. We must have money to buy food--clothes--tobacco." + +"Do not the commissaries in the camps supply you with all that you +need? Surely you can wait a few hours longer. To-morrow you will be +paid every cent." + +"Manana, manana; always to-morrow! The superintendent promised other +time--'to-morrow.' The superintendent lied. Now we will not wait for +to-morrow." + +Cries of approval greeted the bold speech. + +"But we cannot pay you to-night. We have not the money here." + +"That is too bad for Senor Worth, then. If he cannot pay he should +have told us so that we could work for the Company. The Company can +pay!" + +"But Mr. Worth will pay to-morrow morning." + +A chorus of angry, jeering yells greeted this repeated promise, with +cries of "Pronto!", "Esta dia!", and "No manana!"--"Now!", "To- +day!", and "Not to-morrow!" The movement toward the building began +again. + +Instantly the arms of the man on the platform were extended and the +mob saw in each hand the familiar Colt's forty-five of the old time +West. + +The forward movement was checked. + +"Men!" cried Texas, in his deliberate way, "you cannot come any +nearer these buildings. There are Americans here--friends of Mr. +Worth, who are ready to shoot when I give the word. I can kill +twelve of you myself before you can get to this platform. Go away +quietly and in the morning you will get your money. Come one step +nearer this building and many of you will die." + +The moment was intense. A shot, a yell, a sudden movement would have +precipitated a tragedy. + +In the full glare of the light against the blackness of the night, +the crowd of dusky-faced, picturesque laborers hesitated. Standing +on the platform under the arc that sputtered and sizzled--his back +to the building--the single figure of Texas Joe was ready with +menacing weapons. Behind the brick walls the handful of armed white +men were waiting--watching. Miles away in the desert, Abe Lee was +lying wounded and alone under the still stars, and somewhere in the +night Willard Holmes, desperately holding his seat in the saddle, +was forcing his already exhausted horse toward the end of his +mission. + +As the muscles of a tiger work and twitch when the beast makes ready +for its spring, a movement agitated the mob, and a low growling +murmur came from the mass of men. Texas spoke sharply. "Ready, you +fellows in there! If they start let them have it." + +The murmur swelled in volume into an angry, inarticulate roar. The +movement increased. An instant more and it would launch the mob in a +mad rush. + +Suddenly, as a beast checked in its spring, they were still and +motionless. + +By the side of the old frontiersman on the platform under the light +stood Barbara. + +"Let me speak to them, Tex." + +Without pausing for the astonished man to reply she spoke to the mob +in Spanish, her voice rising clearly and sweetly. + +"Do you know me, friends?" + +From different points in the crowd came the answers. + +"Si, Senorita." "It is the daughter of Senor Worth." "Among the poor +in Rubio City La Senorita was an angel of mercy." + +"I remember many of you," Barbara continued. "Over there I see Jose +Gallegos, whose wife and baby were ill. How is the little family +now, Jose? Manuel Cortes, do you remember when you were hurt by a +wicked horse and I would come to see the wife and children? And +Pablo Sanchez, do you know how long you were without work until with +father's help I found a place for you? Francisco Gonzales, I helped +you bury your mother and gave money to the priest that masses might +be said for her soul. And you, Juan Arguello, and Francisco Montez-- +I remember you all, and I am glad to see you. But I am sorry that +you come to destroy my father's buildings. Why do you wish to do +that?" + +The Mexicans whom she called by name stirred uneasily but did not +answer. Those who had known Barbara in Rubio City were few among the +whole number of laborers, and to these others she was only the +daughter of the man who was robbing them of their pay. + +The one who had so far acted as spokesman answered angrily. "Must we +say again what we want? If you are, as they say, an angel of mercy, +give us our money and we will go away." + +Cries of "Si, si!", "Bueno!", "Muy pronto!", "El Dinero," and "Give +us our money!" arose on all sides. + +"You shall have your money to-morrow--every penny. Cannot you wait +until to-morrow morning?" + +The impatient cries were louder now. "La Senorita also say 'manana.' +All the rich say all time to the poor 'manana,' and manana never +come. Give us our money now." The cries were increasing in volume as +man after man joined in the chorus of threatening protest. + +White and trembling, Barbara realized that she could do nothing +more. Texas said, in a low voice: "For God's sake, honey; get inside +before they break loose! Go now! NOW!" His voice rose into a sharp +command, and his steady hands again brought the deadly revolvers +into position. + +The young woman reluctantly drew a step backward in obedience, then +suddenly, with wide eyes staring over the crowd into the darkness +beyond and extended hand pointing, she sprang forward to the very +edge of the platform. + +"Texas! Texas! Look, he is coming! Abe is here!" + +Overcome with emotion she swayed and would have fallen, but Texas +caught and steadied her. Every man in the crowd turned quickly +toward the rear. A horseman, shadowy and indistinct beyond the +circle of light, was riding toward them. As the newcomer pushed his +horse nearer and they saw that it was Willard Holmes, Barbara +uttered a cry and turned away, but the quick eye of Texas Joe had +seen that the engineer's horse was staggering with exhaustion and +that the man could scarcely keep his seat in the saddle. + +"Wait, honey," he said, delaying the young woman. "This may pan out +yet." + +Barbara paused but did not turn toward the approaching engineer. +Slowly Holmes forced his horse, reeking with sweat and dust, into +the crowd that opened for him to pass and closed in behind him with +excited exclamations as the men saw that the rider reeled in his +saddle--his face haggard and drawn with pain and his useless left +arm tied to his side. + +But Barbara still turned away her face. + +Coming so close that his leg almost touched the edge of the +platform, the engineer--as though he saw no one but her--held out +the black leather bill-book. + +"Miss Worth! Barbara!" + +With a cry she turned as the rider sank and would have fallen had +not Texas, reaching out, lifted him bodily from the saddle to the +platform where Holmes sank unconscious. + +Barbara, with wonder and horror in her face, stood as if turned to +stone, while Pat and Pablo quickly carried the still form of the +engineer into the building. Unable to move, the girl followed them +with her eyes until Texas, who had caught up the leather bill-book, +exclaimed with an oath: "Look, it's the money!" + +She looked at him as though she did not comprehend and he held the +bundle of bills toward her. "It's the money, the money! You tell +them!" + +Mechanically Barbara took the money and turned to the crowd that +stood silently wondering what it all meant--waiting to learn whether +the incident had anything to do with their pay. + +Under the powerful light she held up her two hands filled with +bills. "Look!" she cried. "Look! Here is the money for your pay. My +father sent it. Now will you believe?" + +Shouts and cheers of understanding burst from the crowd. + +"It is for you that it is here," continued the young woman. "Will +you go away now and come back in the morning--each man for what is +his?" + +"Si, si, Senorita! Gracias, Senorita!" Laughing, talking and +gesticulating the crowd dissolved and moved away. + +Before the dispersing laborers had passed beyond the circle of light +Barbara was kneeling beside Willard Holmes. + +And when they would have taken the engineer to the hotel Barbara +said "No"; he must be taken to her home. + +Texas had just finished dressing with rude surgery the wound in the +engineer's shoulder, and Barbara--standing by the bedside--was +looking down into the still face when Holmes slowly came back to +consciousness. His opening eyes looked up full into the brown eyes +that regarded him so kindly. For a moment neither spoke, but a slow +flush of color crept into the girl's face. + +By some strange freak of his half awakened intellectual faculties, +Holmes was living over again the incident of his meeting Barbara on +the desert the morning after her first arrival in Kingston. "Is it +really you, or is it some new trick of this confounded desert?" he +muttered. "I never saw a mirage like this before. I don't think the +heat has affected my brain!" + +To Barbara the words had the effect of suddenly blotting out all +that had come between them and of putting them both back again to +the day when they had "started square." So she answered as she had +answered then: "I assure you that I am very substantial"--and added +softly, "and I am here to stay, too." + +"And you would never forgive one who was false to the work," +muttered the engineer, and with the words his mind caught at the +suggestion of the power that had enabled him to keep his seat in the +saddle through the seemingly endless hours of torture, and he +remembered everything up to the moment when he had handed the money +to Barbara. + +With an exclamation he tried to raise himself. + +"Don't do that. You must lie still, Mr. Holmes," said the young +woman. + +Texas and Pat in an adjoining room heard and came quickly to +Barbara's side. + +"I must get up, men!" cried Holmes appealingly, making another +effort to raise himself. "We must go for Abe Lee. He's hurt--alone-- +out there in the desert. Why don't you move? Miss Worth, please--" + +Texas Joe quietly forced him back on his pillow. "You've got to take +it easy for a little while, Mr. Holmes. Get a grip on yourself and +tell us plain what happened. We'll move fast enough when we know +which way to go." + +When Holmes had told them briefly the story of the fight in Devil's +Canyon and how he had left Abe at Wolf Wells, Texas said: "Now Mr. +Holmes, you just keep quiet right here. Barbara'll take care of you +and we'll have Abe home before noon to-morrow. Also, we'll arrange +for a little seance with them greasers what put you and Abe in this +fix." + +An hour later a light spring wagon with four horses, accompanied by +a party of five mounted men, moved swiftly out of Republic toward +the south. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +BARBARA'S WAITIN' BREAKFAST FOR YOU. + + +Alone on the desert, Abe Lee waited through the long, long hours of +the night for the morning and relief. + +At times the wounded surveyor sank into half unconsciousness when he +would again be riding--riding--riding, toward San Felipe that seemed +almost so far away that he could never hope to reach the end of his +journey. Again he would be at the hotel surrounded by a crowd of +people, who stared at him curiously as the clerk explained that +Jefferson Worth had never been there--that there was no money--no +money--no money. At other times he would be fighting desperately +with James Greenfield for the possession of a black leather bill- +book secured with rubber bands, or--with the Company engineer--would +face a crowd of Mexicans in Devil's Canyon in such numbers that he +could not count them, but could only fight, and fight, and fight. +Often Barbara came to plead with him to save her from some terrible +danger, and when he would struggle to go a great weight held him +down and he could not--and the brown eyes looked at him full of +pleading reproach. Then he would curse and cry aloud as Willard +Holmes came to take her away and he would watch the two riding into +the distance through the green fields and orchards of a beautiful +land, in their happiness forgetting him alone in the desert. + +At other times, fully conscious, he lay with aching body and that +sharp pain in his leg, looking up at the stars, calculating the time +and the distance Holmes had ridden since he left him--how long it +would be until the engineer would reach Republic--wondering if Tex +and Pat could hold the strikers or if already it was too late. + +Then again, when his mind would be losing its grip and slipping away +into the land of half-dreams, the sounds made by some animal at the +water hole or the fancied approach of the Mexicans would cause him +to start into keen readiness, to listen and watch with straining +sense and ready weapon. At last all knowledge of time left him. His +exhausted nerves and muscles no longer responded to suggestions of +danger, his brain refused to act. A soft, thick cloud of darkness +that was not the darkness of the night settled down upon him, +enveloped him, wrapped him as in a sable blanket of many folds-- +thicker and thicker, blacker and blacker. Feebly he struggled +against it for a little, then with a sigh yielded and lay still. + +He did not see the stars pale and the thin streak of light above the +eastern rim of the Basin widen into the morning. He did not see the +hills, all rose and purple, develop magically against the sky. He +did not see the sun burst into view from the world below the line of +the dun plain and roll its flood of light over the wide desert. He +knew nothing more until someone was forcing something between his +lips and a grateful, stimulating warmth crept through his veins. A +familiar voice drawled: "He ain't a-goin' out this time, boys. Hit +takes more than one greaser bullet and a little ride to San Felipe +an' back to send his kind over the line." + +And a rich Irish brogue responded: "Ut's thim black hathen that'll +be goin' over the line in a bunch av I can git widin rache av thim +wid me two hands." + +Abe opened his eyes with a smile. "Mornin' boys! Did Holmes make it +in time?" + +An articulate yell of delight from Pat greeted his speech. The +grizzled plainsman, with a smile of understanding, answered his +question. + +"Sure he made it. Everything's as peaceful as the parson's blessin' +after his discourse on the eternal fires of torment. Barbara's +waitin' breakfast for you, son. Wake up, an' come along." + +The surveyor did not need to ask why Texas Joe had brought so large +a party of mounted and armed friends. He gave Texas and his +companions all the information he could that would help them in +their search for the Mexicans. + +When they had made him as comfortable as possible on a cot in the +spring wagon, with Pat beside him and Pablo on the driver's seat, +the horsemen mounted and Texas riding alongside the wagon drawled: +"There ain't no tellin' when we'll get back, Abe; but I don't reckon +we'll be long an' there ain't no use me tellin' you to take things +easy. So adios!" + +"Adios," came the answer, "and good luck!" + +Pablo spoke to his team and they moved ahead. For a moment the +horsemen watched, then Tex spoke. + +"All set, boys?" + +"All set," came the answer. + +Wheeling about, the five men rode rapidly in the opposite direction +towards Devil's Canyon. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +BARBARA MINISTERS TO THE WOUNDED. + + +Willard Holmes, after a few hours of refreshing sleep and a good +breakfast prepared and served by his hostess with her own hands, +announced himself as well as ever. + +"But you need some fixing just the same," declared Barbara as the +Indian woman entered the room carrying warm water, towels and +bandages. While the young woman bent over the engineer and with +firm, deft fingers removed the wrappings from his shoulder, +carefully cleansed the wound and applied fresh dressing and clean +bandages, he watched her face, so near his own, and wondered that he +had ever thought her plain. Her skin, warmly browned by desert sun +and air, was fresh and glowing with the abundance of the rich red +life in her veins; her brown hair, soft and wavy, tempted him to +reach up his free hand and put back a rebellious lock. He moved +slightly and the brown eyes, full of womanly pity, met his. + +"Does it hurt?" + +He smiled and shook his head. "Not at all. In fact I think I rather +enjoy it." + +Her cheeks turned a deeper red and he felt her fingers tremble as +she went on with her task. + +"If you laugh at me I shall turn you over to Ynez," she threatened, +at which he promised so pitifully to be good that she smiled and he +stirred again impatiently. + +"I _am_ hurting you!" she cried. "I'm so sorry, but I'm almost +through--There now." She finished with a last touch and, +straightening, put back herself that rebellious lock of hair. + +As she stood before him beautifully strong and pure and fresh and +clean in mind and heart and body, her sweet personality, the spirit +of her complete womanhood swept to him--appealing, calling, +exhilarating, invigorating, strengthening, as he had often felt the +early air of the sun-filled morning sweeping over mountain and mesa +and desert plain. + +The man drew a long deep breath. + +"Tired?" she asked softly, looking down upon him with almost a +mother's look in her eyes. + +"Heavens, no!" he exclaimed, his voice ringing out strongly. "I feel +as though I had been made over, re-created." + +She laughed gladly. + +"Do you know," he asked earnestly, "how wonderful you are?" + +"Nonsense!" she retorted. "You are growing delirious. You must be +quiet. I'm going to leave you alone for a little while now and you +must sleep." + +She followed the Indian woman from the room and he heard her voice +speaking in soft musical Spanish as they went. + +An hour later Barbara, moving quietly toward his room to see if he +was asleep or wanted anything, found him fully dressed in a big easy +chair in the living room. + +"Oh!" she exclaimed, in joyful surprise. "What are you doing out +here? I thought I told you to sleep." + +"Your orders were inconsistent," he returned lazily. "You can't cure +a patient and still continue treating him as if he were an invalid. +I don't need sleep. I need--Bring your chair and sit over here and +let me tell you what I need," he finished. + +She did not answer, but going to his room returned with a pillow, +which she arranged deftly behind his head; then, kneeling, adjusted +the foot rest of the reclining chair. "There; isn't that better?" + +"Bring your chair," he insisted. + +Again she left the room, returning this time with a bit of old soft +muslin. Drawing her easy chair to a position facing him she seated +herself and began converting the material in her hands into +bandages. "The men will be here with Abe any time now," she +explained. "I have everything ready except these." + +For a little while he watched her in silence as she tore the white +cloth into long strips and rolled them neatly. + +"Don't you care to know what it is that I need?" he asked at last. + +She bent her head over her work and answered softly: "Whenever you +are ready to tell me." + +"Before I can tell you I must know something." + +Carefully she rolled another white strip, her eyes on her task. +"What must you know?" + +"That you have forgiven me." + +The color rushed into her cheeks as she answered: "Don't you know +that?" + +"But I must hear you say it so that we can start square again; don't +you see?" + +"I suppose that we will be always starting over again, won't we?" +Then as she saw his face she added quickly: "I mean--I--I was +thinking of the Company--and--father's work." + +"But you forgive me this time?" he insisted. + +"Yes; I forgive you, and I am glad--so glad that I can." + +"And we are square again?" + +"Yes; we are square again--until next time." She added the words +sadly. + +"But there will be no next time." + +She shook her head with a doubtful smile. "The Company will make a +'next time.'" + +He laughed aloud with a sudden sense of freedom that was new to him. +"But you do not know," he said, "and I would not tell you until we +were square again. I am not with the Company now." + +She dropped her roll of bandages and looked at him. "Not with the +Company? When did you resign?" + +"I didn't resign. They discharged me." + +"Discharged you?" + +"Yes; disgraceful, isn't it? I felt pretty bad at first; then I came +to take it as a compliment; and now--now I am glad!" + +Then he told her why Greenfield had sent for him; how he had met the +Seer; and how he had advised Cartwright to supply the money her +father needed. + +"And you--you did--that, knowing it would cost you your position?" +she exclaimed. "Oh, I _am_ glad! That was fine; that was big--worthy +your ancestors!" In her interest she was leaning towards him with +flushed cheeks and bright eyes, and her voice was triumphant as if +in some subtle way she was vindicated through his victory. The +engineer felt her attitude and knew that she was right. It _was_ her +victory. + +"Barbara," he said, holding out his hand; "Barbara, may I tell you +now what it is that I need?" + +Before she could answer they heard a team and wagon coming into the +yard beside the house. Barbara sprang to her feet. "It is the men +with Abe!" she exclaimed, and ran out of the room on to the porch. + +From where he lay in his chair, the engineer saw through the open +door Pablo and Pat coming up the steps of the porch carrying the +surveyor on the canvas cot, and Barbara with mute, frightened face +watching. The two men with their burden entered the room, followed +by the young woman, and carefully lowered the cot to the floor. The +long form of the surveyor lay motionless, his eyes closed. + +With a low cry Barbara threw herself on her knees beside the cot. +With one arm across the still form of the only brother she knew, and +the other pushing back the rough hair from his forehead, she bent +over, looking appealingly into the thin rugged face--her own face +alight with loving anxiety. + +"Abe! Abe! Abe!" she called softly; then again: "Abe! See dear; it's +Barbara." + +As if only that voice had power to call him back, the man's eyes +opened, a slow smile spread over his unshaven, dust-stained +features, and his voice expressed glad surprise. "Why, hello, +Barbara!" + +Willard Holmes, who had half risen from his chair and was leaning +forward watching them with burning interest, sank back with a groan +and covered his face with his hands. But they did not see. + +Still kneeling Barbara took a glass from Ynez and turned again to +the injured surveyor. "Here, Abe; drink this." + +The Irishman lifted him in his huge arms and he obeyed. Then as he +lay looking up into Barbara's face, again that slow smile came and +he said: "Well, little girl; Holmes made it, didn't he? That +buckskin horse of Tex's is all right, and Holmes--Holmes is a man! +He sure made good! How is he?" + +Holmes rose dizzily and came forward. "I'm all right, old man, and +so will you be when Miss Worth has had a chance at you." + +Quickly the surveyor glanced from the engineer's face to that of the +young woman, whose brown eyes still regarded him with loving +solicitude. "I reckon you're right," he said slowly. + +Then Barbara directed them to carry him into the room she had +prepared, while Willard Holmes returned to his chair to lie with +closed eyes, suffering a deeper pain than the pain in his shoulder. + +When his wound had been dressed and he had eaten the tempting meal +Barbara brought, Abe fell asleep. But the young woman would not +leave him for long, so that Holmes saw very little of her all the +rest of the day. Occasionally she would run into the room where the +engineer lay to ask if he needed anything, but only for a moment. +Sometimes, seeing him so still, she thought that he was asleep and +withdrew softly without speaking; but he always knew. + +The next morning Holmes was just established in the big reclining +chair in the living room when a peremptory knock called Barbara to +the front door. It was James Greenfield. + +The president of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company was +greatly agitated and he scarcely noticed the young woman as he +greeted the engineer with affectionate regard that was genuine; +explaining how he had returned to Kingston the night before and, +learning of Holmes's injury that morning, had hurried to him at +once. "But I can't understand," he exclaimed half angrily, "how +_you_ ever came to be mixed up in this affair. When I missed you +from the hotel I supposed of course that you had taken the train +back to Kingston and came on expecting to find you there. What on +earth possessed you to go off on this wild ride over the mountains +with that man Lee? You might have been killed, and I--I--" He could +not put into words the horrid thought that was in his mind--how, had +the Mexican's bullet gone true, he himself would have been +responsible for the death of the man he loved as his own son. + +Holmes--understanding the man's thought--was touched by the +capitalist's unusual agitation, and for the moment did not attempt +to reply. Then with an attempt at lightness he said: "Oh, well; it's +all coming out right, Uncle Jim, Thanks to Miss Worth's care I am +nearly well now. The wound really didn't amount to much." + +As he spoke he looked at Barbara, and the older man also turned +quickly toward the young woman who, at the engineer's words, was +blushing rosy red. + +"Father and I owe Mr. Holmes a debt we can never pay," she said +quietly. Then, excusing herself on the plea that her other patient +needed her, she left the room. + +When the two men had watched her go, Greenfield said gently: "This +is a bad business, Willard; a damned bad business; I'll admit that I +was angry when you turned against us in that Cartwright deal, but +confound it, boy! I admire you for it just the same. Your father +would have done just as you did. It was that finer kind of honesty +that made him a failure in the business where the rest of us made +fortunes, but we all loved him for it, and your mother--" he looked +away through the window toward the distant mountains. "You +understand, don't you Willard, that I was forced to let you go when +you turned the Company down? My directors would never stand for +anything else, you know. You don't feel hard toward me, lad, because +I had to let you out?" + +"Certainly not, Uncle Jim. I was hurt just at first, but when I had +taken time to think it over I did not blame you." + +"You are sure, Willard?" + +"Sure, Uncle Jim." + +The older man was studying the engineer's face intently. "I don't +know what it is, Willard, but something has changed you since you +came into this country. You know, my boy, that I have no one in the +world but you. All that I have will be yours. I have dreamed and +planned for you as for my own flesh and blood. I am telling you this +now because I have felt that something was taking you away from me. +Something that I cannot understand has come between us. I felt it +the moment I met you in Kingston and it has been growing ever since. +It was that that made me so angry over the Cartwright business. You +know how I hate the West; you know what it cost me years ago. I feel +now that in some way I am losing you too. What is it, Willard, that +has come between us? Let's clean it up and get back in our relations +to where we were before we left home." + +As James Greenfield made his appeal the engineer's eyes turned +involuntarily toward the door through which Barbara had left the +room. And when he did not answer immediately the older man was sure +that he understood what it was that had come between himself and the +son of the woman he loved, and why Holmes had used his influence in +behalf of Jefferson Worth. + +"Is it that girl, Willard?" + +The younger man faced him squarely and his answer meant much more to +the engineer himself than he could have explained to Greenfield. +"Yes sir, it is this girl." + +"You love her?" + +"As my father must have loved my mother." + +At the simple words Greenfield controlled himself, but his hatred +for Jefferson Worth was very bitter. That he should fail to win in +the business warfare with the western man was nothing, but that +Worth--through his daughter--should rob him of the son that was more +than a son to him was more than he could bear. + +"But, my dear boy," he said; "think what this means! Think of your +family--of your father and mother--of your friends and your future +back home. Who are these people? They are nobodies. This man Worth +is an ignorant, illiterate, common boor with no breeding, no +education--nothing but a certain native cunning that has enabled him +to make a little money. We have nothing in common with his class." + +"Mr. Worth is an honest, honorable man who is doing a great work," +answered Holmes stoutly; "and his daughter is--Uncle Jim, she is the +most wonderful woman I ever knew!" + +As Willard Holmes spoke, Barbara, coming from the kitchen into the +dining room, could not help hearing the words that came through the +partly opened door of the living room where the men were talking. +Involuntarily at the sound of the engineer's voice the red blood +crept into the young woman's face and her eyes shone with pleasure. +The next moment Greenfield's voice held her motionless. + +"But don't you know that she is not Worth's daughter?" + +"Not his daughter?" exclaimed Holmes. + +"No, not his daughter. She is a nameless waif whom he picked up and +adopted. No one knows her parentage--not even her name. She may even +have Mexican or Indian blood in her veins for all that anyone +knows." + +It was not strange that Willard Holmes had never heard the story of +how Barbara was found in the desert. In the new country, where most +of the engineer's life in the West had been spent, comparatively few +beyond Worth's most intimate associates knew that she was the +banker's daughter only by adoption. Greenfield, who had learned the +story while inquiring for business reasons into the history of his +competitor, told the young man briefly of the finding of the unknown +child. + +"Don't you see, my boy," finished the financier, "how impossible it +is that you should give your name--one of the oldest and best in the +history of the country--to a nameless woman of unknown breeding, +whose connection with this man Worth even is merely accidental? It +would ruin you, Willard. Think of your friends back home! How would +they receive her? Think of me--of my plans for you! I--I should feel +that I had been false to your mother, Willard, who gave you to me on +her death-bed, if I permitted such a thing as this. It's--it's +monstrous!" + +Slowly the engineer raised his head and with a smile on his white +face that hurt the older man, he said: "I can at least relieve your +mind on that score, Uncle Jim. You need not fear that I will marry +Miss Worth." + +At his words from beyond that partly closed door, Barbara made her +way blindly to her own room and, throwing herself face downward on +her couch, strove with clenched hands and throbbing veins to keep +her self control. She must not--she must not let them know, she +whispered to herself--moaning in pain. She must go to them again in +a moment--and they must not know. + +While the woman whom Willard Holmes loved fought for strength to +hide her pain, James Greenfield, in the other room, was leaning +eagerly toward the engineer. "She has refused you?" + +"I have not asked her. But don't misunderstand me. What you have +told me--what my friends at home might think or do--could make no +difference. Barbara Worth is worthy any man's love; and I love her +and would make her my wife. I would give up even you for her, Uncle +Jim. It's not that. It's because I know that she loves someone else +too well to listen to me." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +WILLARD HOLMES RECEIVES HIS ANSWER. + + +When Barbara returned to the living room with some trivial excuse to +explain her rather long absence, she found Holmes determined to go +with Mr. Greenfield to his rooms in the hotel in Kingston. + +When she protested he answered: "Really, Miss Worth, my shoulder +troubles me so little that I am ashamed to offer myself as an +invalid; and now that Uncle Jim is with me I haven't the shadow of +an excuse for burdening you any longer." + +"I am sorry if I have made you feel that you were a burden," she +returned with a brave smile. + +He answered warmly: "You know I did not mean to imply that. I shall +never forget your kindness--never." + +Greenfield too expressed his appreciation of her kindness but she +answered the engineer as if she had not heard the older man. "And I +can never thank you for what you have done for us." + +As they stood on the porch while Greenfield went on ahead to the +buggy, Holmes held out his hand. "And we are square again?" + +"Yes, we are square." + +"Then adios, Senorita." + +"Adios, amigo." + +Bravely she stood watching until the carriage disappeared down the +street. Then she went slowly into the house to Abe's room. + +The surveyor lay propped up in bed with pillows, looking quite +cheerful. "Well, sister," was his greeting; "you have lost one +patient and you are going to lose the other one before long. I feel +like a new man already." + +For a little she made no answer and, as she stood before him silent, +those eyes that were trained to let nothing escape their notice +studied her face and noted her hands clasped in nervous pain. "Why, +Barbara! What is it, sister? What has gone wrong?" + +At his words the brown eyes filled. + +"Barbara!" + +She dropped into the chair by the bedside and, throwing herself +toward him, buried her face in her arms in the pillow by his side, +her form shaking with sobs. + +The surveyor's face was white now under its bronze--white and set. +Lightly he placed his hand upon the soft brown hair so near his +shoulder and his eyes seemed now to be looking far away. When her +grief had spent itself a little he said quietly: "Don't you think, +sister, that you had better tell me about this?" + +When she did not answer he said again gently: "Do you care for him +so much, Barbara?" + +The brown head nodded her confession and for a moment the man closed +his eyes and turned away his face. Then: "Won't you let me help +you?" + +Slowly, with many pauses, she told him what she had overheard. When +she had finished Abe said simply: "But he has not told you of his +love, Barbara. Perhaps you are mistaken." + +"No, Abe; I'm not mistaken. He has not told me--not in words, but I +know; I know!" + +"Then," said the surveyor, "he will tell you. Listen, Barbara. The +man who went through those Mexicans in Devil's Canyon with me is not +the kind of a man who gives up the woman he loves for what others +think. Wait a little, dear, and you will see that I am right. You +have been too quick. Be patient a little and you shall see." + +"But Abe, Mr. Greenfield is right. I am a nameless nobody; and he-- +he is--" + +"He is a man and you are a woman, and this is La Palma de la Mano de +Dios where nothing else matters," said Abe Lee almost sternly. + +A few minutes later, when Barbara was gone, the surveyor slipped +lower on the pillows and wearily turned his face to the wall. +Several times that day Barbara looked in on him and at last, when he +had not moved for so long, called him softly. He answered with a +smile, but when she had arranged his pillows for him he closed his +eyes again with a word of thanks. + +Jefferson Worth arrived that evening and with him came the Seer, who +had joined him in the city by the sea. But Barbara's joy at their +coming was overshadowed by her anxiety for Abe, who seemed to have +fallen into a half-unconscious condition that was alarming. When +they entered his room the surveyor, who still lay with his face to +the wall, did not look up. + +"Daddy is here, Abe," said Barbara; "Daddy and the Seer." + +Slowly the man turned toward them and held out his hand with a word +of greeting for each. "I'm mighty glad you have come," he added; +"Barbara has had rather more than her hands full." + +But the old engineer noticed that he did not look at Barbara as he +spoke. + +While the three were at supper Barbara told the men the whole story, +and when they had finished the meal the Seer said: "Now Jeff, I know +you have important business needing your immediate attention and our +girl here must have a good night's rest--she has been through enough +to kill an average woman. I'm going to take care of Abe to-night +myself." + +When his old chief was alone with the surveyor he drew a chair to +the bedside and sat for some time looking at the man on the bed. +Then he said: "I think, son, that you and I had better get to the +bottom of this. First, I'll have a look at that leg." + +When the examination was over the big man eyed the surveyor. "Humph! +This is not a scratch beside what that greaser did to you with his +knife in Arizona. You didn't even stop work for that. Your ride to +San Felipe and back ordinarily would call for about twelve hours +sleep and that's all. Come, lad, what's the matter? Out with it." +Abe smiled. "I'm down and out, I reckon." + +"Down and out, hell!" returned the big man. "That won't do, Abe. You +forget that you are talking to me." Then he leaned forward and spoke +in a low tone. "I know what it is, my boy. It's Barbara." By the +pain in the surveyor's eyes the Seer knew that he was right. + +Then the Seer in his own way did for Abe what Abe had done for +Barbara. + +When the young woman brought in his breakfast the next morning Abe +greeted her with his old cheery "Hello!", and declared facetiously +that the Seer had talked him into a sleep from which he had awakened +as hungry as a bear and ready to go to work. + +Two days later Texas Joe, who had ridden in from somewhere late the +night before, came to report. + +"We were beginning to think that you were not coming back at all, +Uncle Tex," said Barbara, who with the others was curious to hear of +the old-timer's adventure. + +"I 'lowed once mebbe I wouldn't come back no more neither," he +drawled. "You see, Mr. Worth, after we-all got Abe at Wolf Wells I +figured that--bein' so far on the way--I might as well go on over to +Felipe an' get that ol' buckskin hawss o' mine what Abe had left." +He paused, and, turning his head to one side, looked meditatively +down at the spur on his high-heeled boot. "That there buckskin is +sure some hawss, Barbara; he sure is." + +"Did you get him?" asked Barbara. + +Texas looked up, mildly surprised. "Sure we got him. That's what I'm +a-tellin' you." + +Then he laughed softly as though mildly amused at some incident +suddenly remembered. "Abe, you know that greaser that tumbled into +the Dry River Spillway when we-all was puttin' in Number Five Gate?" + +"Yes." + +"I 'lowed you'd know him. I heard somethin' funny about him when I +was in San Felipe after that buckskin." + +"What was it, Texas?" + +"He's daid." + +The recovery of the two wounded men was rapid. For a while Holmes +came over from Kingston every day to see Lee, and the two, with the +Seer and Barbara, spent many delightful hours on the big front +porch. + +Jefferson Worth's enterprises pushed steadily toward completion. The +power plant in Barba was finished and The King's Basin Central had +stretched its steel length from the junction at Republic to within +three miles of the terminal. + +When Abe was able to go back to his work, Holmes did not go so often +to the Worth home; but the presence of the Seer still enabled him to +excuse to himself his quite frequent visits. But while the young +engineer continually sought the Seer, not only because of their +growing friendship but because he was always sure of meeting +Barbara, he avoided seeing the girl alone for he felt that he could +not trust himself; and the young woman, feeling his attitude toward +her, was convinced against her will and Abe's protest that the man +who loved her guarded himself against her for the reasons that she +had overheard Greenfield urge upon him. + +Then Holmes received a letter from the Southwestern and Continental +Railroad Company offering him a position that would place him at the +head of the engineering department of the district that included The +King's Basin. The letter stated that the position was tendered on +recommendation of Jefferson Worth and, in view of the fact that the +flood season was at hand and that conditions seriously threatening +to the Company's property might be expected at any hour, urged him +to accept by wire and take charge immediately. + +With the letter in his hand a sudden desire to go with it to Barbara +mastered him. He knew that the Seer had planned to go that morning +with Abe Lee to Barba and that the young woman was alone. + +An hour later he dismounted in front of the Worth home. Barbara +herself met him at the door. "The Seer is not at home to-day" she +said, as they entered the living room. "I thought you knew." + +"I did not come to see the Seer to-day. I came to see you," he +answered bluntly. + +"To see me?" + +"Yes; to ask you how I shall answer this." He handed her the letter. + +She read it slowly, gaining time for self-control. "But I do not +understand why you should come to me." + +He studied her face a moment before he answered. How could he +explain to her the impulse that had prompted him, as every man is +prompted to take the big things of his life to the one woman who--if +she be really the one woman for him--is more than all? "I thought--I +hoped that you would be interested," he said. + +"And I am!" she cried eagerly, feeling that which he could not put +into words. "Of course I'm interested. I was only surprised that you +should hesitate a moment to accept. Don't you want to continue your +work? Don't you want to stay with us?" She added the last words +wistfully and the heart of the man longed to tell her that which she +longed to hear. + +"Yes," he said slowly, "I want to stay, but I--I am afraid." The +words slipped out unbidden. + +Barbara interpreted his answer in the light of his conversation with +Greenfield, which she had overheard, and her woman's pride was +aroused. He should be made to understand that he was in no danger +from her. Her next words were a challenge. "Afraid of what?" + +"Afraid of you," he burst forth savagely. "Afraid of myself. Because +I love you. From the first day when you showed me the desert you +have been so closely associated in my mind with this work that I +cannot think of it without thinking of you. Everything I have done I +have felt was done for you. I would have given it all up a hundred +times but my thoughts of you would not let me. When I have been +untrue to the work I have felt that I have been untrue to you. If I +have accomplished any good here it has been through you. Everywhere +I have gone in this country you have seemed to me to be there. +Everything I see speaks to me of you. The desert--the mountains--the +farms and homes and towns; it is all you--and you--and you. I did +not realize it at first, but I felt it, and then as I came to love +my work I came to love you. I did not intend to tell you this. I +hate myself for telling you--but I love you. I love you! Do you +understand now why I came to you with this letter? Do you understand +why I am afraid to stay?" + +At the man's passionate outburst that came as if dragged from him +against his will, Barbara shrank back as if he threatened her. He +had not asked if she loved him; he had only spoken brutally-- +savagely, of his passion for her. She repeated insistently, blindly, +to herself: "He must not know! He must not know!" + +The man spoke again. "Forgive me, Miss Worth; I did not mean to let +go of myself. I know how you love this work--how hard you have tried +to hold me true to it. I could not bear that you should think of me +as leaving it without reason. But you see--you see how impossible it +is now for me to stay." + +As he spoke, a running horse stopped suddenly in front of the house +and through the open door they saw Pablo leap from the saddle and +run swiftly up the walk toward the house. + +"Senorita!" the Mexican cried, as Barbara sprang towards him; "the +river! the river! It has come. The Company works--it is all gone! +Senor Worth send me quick to tell Senor Holmes. I go to Kingston; he +not there. They say he ride this way. I come to you, Senorita; I +think maybe you know where I find him." He turned to the engineer. +"Senor Holmes, the river has come again into La Palma de la Mano de +Dios like the Indians say it was long time ago. Senor Worth say you +come please pronto!" + +Barbara wheeled on the engineer with flushed cheeks and blazing +eyes. + +"This is your answer!" she cried. "Not for me; not for yourself; but +for the work--_your_ work--_our_ work!" + +For an instant he looked into her eyes, then turned and ran towards +his horse with Pablo at his heels. + +Barbara saw them spring into their saddles and disappear in a cloud +of dust, and the engineer, as he rode, remembered what Abe Lee had +once told him of Pablo's saying: "In the Company there is no +Senorita!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +BATTLING WITH THE RIVER. + + +Some day, perhaps, the history of that River war will be written. It +can only be suggested in my story. + +It was a war of terrific forces waged for a great cause by men as +brave as any who ever fought with weapons that kill. + +The attacking force was the Rio Colorado that with power +immeasurable had, through the ages past, carved mile-deep canyons on +its course and with its mountains of silt had built the great delta +dam across the ancient gulf, thus turning back the waters of the sea +that sun and wind might lay bare the floor of the Basin and work the +desolation of the desert. + +Using the Seer's open hand for his map of La Palma de la Mano de +Dios, Jose, the Indian, had traced the course of the river along the +base of the fingers flowing toward the gulf which lies between the +edge of the palm and the thumb--this same inner edge of the hand +representing roughly the high ground that shuts out the waters of +the sea. The thousands of acres of The King's Basin lands lie from +sea level to nearly three hundred feet below. The river at the point +where the intake for the system of canals was located is, of course, +higher than sea level, for the waters that pass the intake flow on +southward to the gulf. + +It was the river flowing thus on higher ground that made irrigation +and reclamation of the desert possible. It was this also that made +possible the disaster that was now upon the hardy pioneers, who had +staked everything in their effort to realize the vast potential +wealth of the ancient sea-bed. The grade from the river at the +intake to the lowest point in the bottom of the Basin is much +steeper than the established fall of the river from the intake to +the gulf. The water in the canals on this steeper grade was +controlled by headings, spillways, gates and drops, while the +structure at the intake, with gates to regulate the flow into the +main canal, prevented the river from leaving its old channel +altogether, pouring its entire volume into the Basin and in time +converting it again into an inland sea. + +The dangerously cheap and inadequate character of the vital parts, +built by the Company upon the usual promoter's estimates, had led +Abe Lee to protest against the risk forced upon the settlers and had +finally caused him to resign. Later, as the Company system of canals +was extended and more and more water was needed to supply the +rapidly increasing acreage of cultivated lands, Willard Holmes came +to appreciate the desert-bred surveyor's view of the danger and +insistently urged his employers to supply him with funds to replace +the temporary wooden structures with safe and lasting works of +concrete and steel. + +But the hunger of Capital for profits forbade. Some day the work +would be done, the directors promised. In the meantime, without +increasing the original investment by so much as a dollar but with +the revenues derived from the sale of water rights, they were +extending the system to supply the ever increasing fields of the +settlers, thus shrewdly forcing the people, who were ignorant of the +terrible risk they were carrying, to supply the funds to build the +canals and ditches that belonged to the Company; while for the water +carried to the ranches the farmers continued to pay the Company +large rentals. The original investment of the Company was very small +compared with the thousands invested by the pioneers who had been +induced to settle in the new country. And yet from every dollar of +the wealth taken from the land the Company would receive a share. + +But the Rio Colorado gave no heed to the decree of the New York +financiers. The forces that had made La Palma de la Mano de Dios are +not ruled by Wall street. + +Willard Holmes, who had come to understand that his work was not +alone to safeguard the property of his employers but to protect the +interests of the pioneers as well, had been discharged because he +would not deliver the people wholly into the hands of the Company. A +new engineer out of the East, as faithful to the interests of +Capital as he was unfamiliar with conditions in the new country, was +placed in charge. + +It was as if the river, in the absence of the man whose constant +readiness had held it in check, saw its opportunity. Swiftly it +mustered its forces from mountain and plain. Hundreds of miles away +it gathered its strength and hurried to the assault. The sources of +information established by Holmes on the tributaries and headwaters +wired their reports: a foot rise on the Gila; three feet coming down +the Little Colorado; two feet rise in the Salt; five feet on the +Grand. The New York office-engineer received the messages with mild +interest. The daily reports from the weather bureau covering the +countries drained by the Rio Colorado lay on his desk unnoticed. + +Mr. Burk warned him, but the thoughtful Manager of the Company was +not an engineer. Willard Holmes tried to help him, but Holmes had +been discharged by the Company and the words of discharged men have +little weight with those who succeed to their positions. + +The daily reports from the gauge at Rubio City showed an increase in +the river's volume of twenty thousand second feet; then thirty +thousand more; and on top of that came another twenty thousand. The +assistants of the new chief engineer tried to tell him what it +meant, but the assistants were subordinates and friends of Willard +Holmes. The man from New York, who was privileged to write several +letters after his name, was supposed to know his business. + +Then the assembled forces of the river reached the intake, and the +trembling wooden structures that stood between the pioneers and +ruin, besieged by the rising flood, battered by the swirling +currents, bombarded by drift, gave way under the strain and the +charging waters plunged through the breach. + +Too late the Company's forces were rushed to the scene. Before their +very eyes the roaring waters, as if mad with destructive power, +wrenched and tore at the Company's property, twisting, ripping, +smashing, until not a trestle, plank or stick was left in place and +the terrific current, rushing with ever increasing volume and power +through the opening, plowed into the soft, alluvial soil of the +embankment, undermining and carrying it away until nearly the entire +river was admitted. + +As quickly as men and material could be assembled, the Company's +chief engineer began the battle to regain control of the mighty +stream. The warfare thus begun meant life or death to the greatest +reclamation project in the world. + +Millions already invested by the settlers in farms and towns and +homes and business enterprises were at stake. Many more millions +that were yet to be realized from the reclaimed lands depended upon +the issue of the fight. + +Against the efforts of the engineers and the army of laborers the +river massed from its tributaries in the regions of heavy rains and +melting snows the greatest strength it had assembled in many years. + +Five times, with piling and trestles and jetties and embankments, +the men who defended The King's Basin were in sight of victory. Five +times the river summoned fresh strength--twisted out the piling, +wrecked the trestles, undermined the jetties and embankments and +swept the nearly completed structures, smashing, grinding, crashing, +away--a twisted, tangled ruin. + +While the engineers and men of the Company were waging this war with +the river, the situation of the pioneers in the Basin grew daily +more perilous. Without a well-defined channel large enough to carry +the incoming stream, the flood spread over a wide territory in the +southern and western portions of the Basin, filling first the old +channels and washes left by the waters ages ago, forming next in the +areas of nearly level or slightly depressed sections shallow pools, +lakes and seas, out of which the higher ground and hummocks rose +like new-born islands, growing smaller and smaller as the rising +tide submerged more and more of their sandy bases. Meanwhile the +whole flood, eddying slowly with winding sluggish currents in the +shallow places, moving more swiftly in the deeper washes and +channels, swept always onward toward the north where, miles away, +lay the deepest bottom of the great Basin. + +Many of the settlers in the flooded districts were forced to abandon +farms they had won with courage and toil, for the sweeping waters +covered alike fields of alfalfa and grain and barren desert waste. +The towns of Frontera and Kingston were protected from the +inundation by earthen levees, in the building of which men and women +toiled in desperate haste, and night and day these embankments were +patrolled by watchful guards, who frequently summoned the weary, +besieged citizens from their rest to protect or strengthen some +threatened point in their fortifications. + +The eastern side of the Basin being higher ground, the settlers in +the South Central District and east of Republic, with the two towns +built by Jefferson Worth, were in no immediate danger, but the old +Dry River channel became a roaring torrent, bank-full; and it was +only a question of time, if the river were not controlled, when +every foot of the new country with its wealth of improvements and +its vast possibilities would be buried deep beneath the surface of +an inland sea. + +The situation was appalling. The remarkable development of the new +country, the marvelous richness of the reclaimed lands, with the +immense possibilities of the reclamation work as demonstrated by The +King's Basin project had attracted the attention of the nation. The +pioneers in Barbara's Desert were, in fact, leaders in a far greater +work that would add immeasurably to the nation's life--that would, +indeed, be world-wide in its influence. Because of this the +attention of the nation was fixed with peculiar interest upon the +disaster that had fallen upon The King's Basin. Throughout the land +civil engineers watched intently the efforts of the Company men to +regain control of the river and to force it back into its old +channel. Many declared that, because of the alluvial character of +the soil, the absence of anything like a rock floor to build upon +and the great volume and terrific velocity of the current, the feat +was an engineering impossibility. In the eyes of the engineering +world The King's Basin project was doomed. The settlers were advised +to abandon the work they had accomplished and to move out. But those +strong ones who had forced the desert to yield its wealth to their +hands did not move. Those whose farms were in the flooded district +were forced to go. There was the inevitable sifting of the timid- +hearted and the weak, but the great majority stood fast. + +Jefferson Worth, in the face of almost certain ruin, went steadily +on with his work on the railroad and continued pushing his other +enterprises toward completion--making improvements, erecting new +buildings, planning further investments and developments with a +confidence and conviction that was startling. Not once throughout +that trying period was he heard to express the slightest doubt as to +the ultimate triumph of the settlers. His business friends and +associates outside urged him to stop--to wait at least until the +issue was certain. He answered calmly that the issue was already +certain and went on with his work. + +His confidence and courage were the inspiration that fired the +hearts of that threatened people. Had he given ground, had he +weakened and drawn back it would have started a panic that nothing +could have checked and that would have resulted inevitably in the +abandonment of the cause forever. The King's Basin lands with the +wealth of effort that had already been expended would have been +given over to the river, lost irretrievably to the race. + +Hundreds went to him when they felt their courage failing and their +spirits weakening under the strain. And always they returned to +their farms or to their business with renewed strength to go on. As +one, who passed through that ordeal, long afterwards expressed it: +"In those times we all just lived on his nerve." + +Through all the Company's war with the river and its repeated +defeats Willard Holmes was forced to stand a mere observer, an idle +looker-on. Foreseeing the catastrophe that was now upon them, he had +prepared himself by careful study of every factor in the problem and +by thorough knowledge of the situation to meet the crisis when it +came. With every means at his command he had planned and worked that +he might be ready and so far as possible equipped for the struggle +and now, when war was declared and the battle being waged, he could +only watch the ruin of the work he loved while a stranger, who +ignored his preparatory efforts, took the place that should have +been his. + +But the great man of the S. & C., with whom the engineer had many a +counsel in those days, warned him always to be ready for the time +when--as the western man put it--"The Company should throw up its +hands." + +The waters moving northward reached the lowest point in the Basin +and there formed an inland sea that, without an outlet and receiving +the full volume of the river, grew ever larger and larger. Flowing +towards the sea the flood developed swift currents in the +depressions and washes that led in the general direction of its +course, seeking thus to make for itself a well-defined channel. The +largest of these ancient washes, scarcely noticeable in the desert, +led from the south to Kingston, passing through the edge of the +town, curved slightly to the west and extended on northward, +becoming deeper and more clearly defined with higher ground on +either side as it neared the lowest point of the Basin. The general +lay of the land drew the flood toward this channel and developed a +current that moved with increasing velocity as the waters, nearing +the sea, were concentrated more and more by the greater depth of the +old channel and the steeper grade of the land on both sides. + +Then a new and alarming phase of the river's destructive work +developed and everyone saw that the war at the intake must be forced +to a speedy finish or the cause would be lost. The immense volume of +water, flowing with increased strength and velocity as it defined +for itself a more distinct channel down the steeper grade of the +Basin, began cutting in the soft soil a vertical fall that from the +foot of the grade moved swiftly up-stream; a mighty cataract from +fifty to sixty feet in height and a full quarter of a mile wide, +moving at the rate of from one to three miles a day and leaving as +it went a great gorge through which a new-made river flowed quietly +to a new-born and ever-growing sea. The roar of the plunging waters, +the crashing and booming of the falling masses of earth that were +undermined by the roaring torrent were heard miles away. Acres upon +acres of the soft fertile land fell, melted and were swept away down +the gorge as banks of snow fall and melt in the spring freshets. Day +and night, night and day, the immeasurable power of the canyon- +cutting river drove the cataract southward toward the break at the +intake through which, by this time, the entire Colorado at its +highest flood stage was turned. + +The imminent danger that threatened the Basin was not the danger +from the ever-rising sea. Long before the waters could fill the old +sea-bed, that mighty cataract, moving ever upstream, would pass the +intake; and with the floor of the river lowered thus some fifty feet +it would be impossible to take the water out for irrigation. The +lands reclaimed by the pioneers would go back to desert years before +they would be buried once more under the surface of the sea. + +The complete destruction of all that the settlers had gained and the +utter desolation of the land was now a question of weeks. + +The Company town of Kingston was directly in the path of that moving +Niagara. While the Company's men were making a last desperate effort +to close the break, the great falls were eating their way nearer and +nearer the little city. When the roar of the water and the crashing +and booming of the falling banks could be heard on the streets and +in the offices of the Company, the people left their homes, their +stores and their shops; the town realizing that no human power now +could avert the disaster. + +Heroic efforts were made to direct the course of the new river away +from the little city, but the waters with savage, resistless power +chose their own way. The pioneers, who built the first town in the +heart of The King's Basin Desert, saw that mighty, thundering +cataract move upon the work of their hands and felt the earth +trembling under their feet as they watched homes, business blocks, +the hotel, the opera house, the bank and finally the Company +building undermined and tumbled, crashing into the deep canyon. + +In a few short hours it was over. The falls moved on and where +Kingston had once stood was that great gorge, with a few scattered +houses only remaining on each side. + +That same day the last attempt of the Company men to close the break +failed. + +With every hour the awful ruin drew nearer the point which, if +reached, would place The King's Basin forever beyond the reclaiming +power of men. Frantic appeals for help were made to the government, +but before the ponderous machinery of state, with its intricate and +complicated wheels within wheels, could unwind a sufficient quantity +of red tape the work of the pioneer citizens would be past saving. + +It was at this time that a telegram from Jefferson Worth to the +great man of the Southwestern and Continental brought a special +train of private cars into the Basin. At Deep Well Junction +Jefferson Worth, Abe Lee, the Seer and Willard Holmes boarded the +train and entered the car of the general manager, where the +officials representing the highest authority in the great +transcontinental system had gathered to meet them in consultation. + +At Republic the president of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation +Company with his manager and chief engineer joined them, and the +train moved on until, at a word from Holmes, the conductor gave the +signal to stop. From the windows and platform of the car the party +could see the water extending to the south and west mile after mile, +and nearer the huge plunging cataracts with leaping columns of +spray, while the roar of the falls, the crashing and booming of the +caving banks shook the air with heavy vibrations and the earth +trembled with the shock of the plunging waters and the falling +masses of earth. Just ahead, where Kingston had stood, the track +ended on the bank of the deep gorge. From here the party was driven +in comfortable spring wagons to the scene of the Company's defeat. + +Save for the camps of the laborers, the boats, pile-drivers, +implements and materials of their warfare and the debris of their +wrecked structures, not a sign of their work remained, while through +the breach--widened now to nearly a quarter of a mile--the great +river poured its hundred and fifty thousand second feet of muddy +water with terrific velocity and solemn, awful power. + +When the party had viewed the situation, the railroad men with Mr. +Greenfield retired to the tent of the Company's chief engineer. + +A little apart from Jefferson Worth and his two companions, Willard +Holmes stood alone on the brink of the broken embankment looking +down into the swirling muddy waters. He knew that his time had come. +He knew that at that moment the railroad officials were concluding a +deal with The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company through its +president, by which the S. & C. would assume control of the +situation and attempt to save the reclamation work. His chief had +told him to be ready. He was ready. + +In the railroad yards at Rubio City and on every available side- +track for several miles east and west were standing train-loads of +ties and rails. In the yards at the Coast city were cars loaded with +machinery, implements and supplies. In the yards at the harbor were +other train-loads of timber and piling. With the readiness of a +perfectly equipped and organized army the forces of the S. & C., +backed by the resources of that powerful system, waited the word, +while every moment the disaster that threatened the pioneers drew +nearer. From the roaring river at his feet Willard Holmes turned to +look toward the tent. Why were they so slow? + +Then his face lighted up and he took an eager step forward as the +private secretary of the general manager came out of the tent and +hurried toward him. + +"They want you, Mr. Holmes," said the young man. The engineer went +quickly to answer the call. + +When he entered the tent every man in the party turned toward the +engineer. "Holmes," said his chief, "we will attempt to close the +break. You will take charge at once." + +Within an hour the forces of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation +Company already on the ground were set to work under the Seer +preparing the grade for a spur-track that would leave the main line +near the river fifteen miles north of the break, and Holmes, with +Abe Lee, set out on horseback for Rubio. + +With the return of the general manager and his party to their train, +the movement already planned began. Without hurry but with ready +promptness the orders, voiced by the hundreds of clicking telegraph +instruments covering the district affected by the operations, were +obeyed. Special trains carried Jefferson Worth's force of railroad +builders with teams and equipment to the point at which the spur- +track would connect with the main line where, under Abe Lee, they +began pushing the grade southward to meet the forces that, under the +Seer, were working northward from the front. + +Throughout the Basin the call for men and teams was issued by +Jefferson Worth, and the pioneers, answering as the Minute Men of +old, were hurried to the scene where they found trainloads of +equipment waiting ready for their use, while every hour brought +reinforcements--laborers of many nationalities gathered in the +cities of the coast by the agents of the railroad company. + +The waiting trains loaded with ties and steel began to move and the +construction gangs followed close on the heels of the graders. And +when the last spike in the track to the scene of the decisive battle +was driven, the track-men with their sledges stepped aside to clear +the way for the panting engines that drew the first train loaded +with piling and timbers for the trestle. + +Hour by hour now, without pause or halt, the men under Willard +Holmes working in shifts met the Rio Colorado in a hand-to-hand +fight for The King's Basin lands. By day under the white, semi- +tropical sun, by night in the light of locomotive headlights that +gleamed strangely over the dark swirling floods, the trestles were +forced further and further out into the plunging current that +wrenched and twisted and tugged with terrific strength in a mad +wrestle with those who dared attempt to check its sullen destructive +will, while steadily, irresistibly, the canyon-cutting falls drew +nearer and nearer. It was not alone the magnitude of the task +directed by Willard Holmes that made the work heroic. It was that +this seemingly impossible work must be accomplished against time. In +his fight with the river the engineer raced against a destructive +force which, if it reached the scene of the struggle before the +battle was won, would make final defeat certain and place the +Colorado, so far as The King's Basin reclamation was concerned, +beyond control of men. + +As the engineer stood on the trestle above the mad, whirling +currents, directing his men in their efforts to drive the piling in +thirty feet of water that--as one veteran expressed it--"ran like +the mill tails of hell," he fancied he could hear above the roar of +the river against the structure, the blows of the heavy driver, the +rattle of cable and chain and windlass, the grinding and squeaking +of the straining timbers and the shouts of the men--the menacing +thunder of that moving cataract a few miles away. While he paced the +embankments, studying the set of the currents, observing the form +and action of the eddies or receiving the hourly reports from the +river gauge at Rubio City, and held consultation with his +assistants, he often turned his head involuntarily to look anxiously +away in the direction of the racing falls. + +Only when his exhausted body and wearied brain refused to respond +longer to his will would he throw himself fully dressed upon a cot +in his tent for an hour's sleep. His face grew haggard and deeply +lined with anxious care, his hollow eyes--dark-rimmed--were +bloodshot and burning as if with fever, his jaws were set as if by +sheer power of his will he would beat the river into submission. And +he barked his orders shortly in a hoarse strained voice that told of +nerves stretched almost to the breaking point. In critical moments, +when it looked as though the river in the next instant would reduce +their work to a hopeless wreck, the engineer, standing on the +trembling timbers or clinging to the swaying pile-driver itself, +seemed to those who did his bidding to become the very incarnation +of human courage and power. + +The Seer and Abe Lee, remembering the man who had come out from the +East to go with them on that preliminary survey, wondered at the +transformation. Then Willard Holmes was the servant of Capital that +used people for its own gain. He saw his work then only as a means +to the end that his Company might make money. Now, though employed +still by a corporation, he was a master who used the power at his +command in behalf of the people. He had come to look upon his work +as a service to the world and through that service only he served +his employers. It was as if in this man, born of the best blood of a +nation-building people, trained by the best of the cultured East-- +trained as truly by his life and work in the desert--it was as +though, in him, the best spirit of the age and race found +expression. + +At last the trestles were pushed across the break, the track was +laid and the gigantic work of filling the channel was begun. In +every rock quarry reached by the S. & C. within two hundred and +fifty miles of the battle, men were drilling and blasting and with +steam shovels and derricks were loading cars with material for the +fill. At the word from Willard Holmes these rock trains steamed +swiftly to the front, everything giving them the right of way. +Merchants and manufacturers east and west cursed the railroad +because their shipments were delayed. Passengers, held for hours on +the sidings, complained, scolded, protested and threatened. It was +an outrage! declared the tourists in their luxurious Pullmans that +they should be forced to give up an hour of their pleasure in order +that a train load of rock might make better time. But, unheeding, +the great battleships, each with its fifty cubic yards of stone, and +the flats and gondolas, each with its tons of material, thundered +away to the scene of the struggle. Every five minutes, night and +day, from the moment of the completion of the trestles until the +fill was above the danger point a car of rock was dumped into the +break. + +So the task was accomplished; the fight was won. The Rio Colorado +was checked in its work of destruction and beaten back into its old +channel. The thousands of acres of The King's Basin lands that would +have been forever lost to the race through one corporation were +saved by another; and the man, who--without protest--had built for +his employers' gain the inadequate structures that endangered the +work of the pioneers, led the forces that won the victory. + +The afternoon of the day on which the break was finally closed three +private cars came in with the rock trains. The passengers were the +general manager and the general superintendent with their wives, +Jefferson Worth and a small party of friends. + +Leaving their cars the party walked toward a point below the rock +embankment where they could look down into the now empty gorge. With +this visible evidence of the river's power before them, the visitors +exclaimed with wonder. + +When the superintendent had explained the magnitude of the work, the +difficulties encountered and how the task had been accomplished, the +general manager, who--here and there--had added a word, said: "After +all, friends, taking into consideration money, equipment and +everything, the whole question of a work like this, or of any great +enterprise, resolves itself into a question of men. It's up to the +_man on the job_. We have the system, the machinery without which +this work could not have been done. We have the capital to supply +material and labor--but that man up there closed the break." + +As he spoke he pointed to a figure standing on the upper trestle +above the fill--outlined against the sky. + +Then the party climbed the grade to the tracks again and walked to +the end of the upper trestle. Turning, the engineer saw and came +towards them. Silently they stood to receive him. From boots to +Stetson his khaki trousers and rough shirt were stained with mud and +grime, his eyes were sunken in dark hollows, his worn face was +unshaven and his hair, when he removed his hat, was unkempt. He did +not look like a hero; he looked more like some ruffian just from a +prolonged debauch. But the little party burst into applause. + +The engineer smiled as his chief went forward from the group to +grasp him by the hand. For a moment they talked of the work. Then +the official, placing his hand on the engineer's arm, said: "Come, +Holmes, we have some women here who want to meet the man who +mastered the Colorado." + +The engineer protested. He was "not presentable." + +"Presentable! You're the most presentable man I know of this minute. +Come along, there's my wife making signs to me to hurry right now." + +There was nothing for Holmes to do but to go. A moment later he was +face to face with the rest of the party and--with Barbara Worth. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +NATURE AND HUMAN NATURE + + +Two weeks after the victory of Willard Holmes in the River war the +engineer arrived in Republic on the evening train from the city by +the sea. + +At the hotel he was quickly surrounded by the pioneer citizens, who +were eager to greet him with expressions of appreciation for his +work. But it was Horace P. Blanton who did the talking. + +Horace P., in his brave picture-general hat, his impressively +swelling front of white vest and his black clerical tie, was the +personification of economic, financial and scholastic--not to say +ecclesiastic, dignity. His greeting of the engineer was majestic. +But, as a royal sovereign might welcome the returning general of his +conquering armies with sadness at the thought of the lives his +victories had cost, the countenance of Horace P. expressed a noble +grief. + +"Willard," he said, his voice charged with emotion, "I congratulate +you. You are the savior of this imperial King's Basin. When we saw +that Greenfield's Company was not able to handle the awful +situation, I told my friend the general manager and our other +officials of the S. & C. that they must _come_ to the rescue without +an instant's delay and that you must be put in charge of the work. I +knew that if any man on earth could stop that river, you could. So +we decided to let you go ahead. You have justified my confidence +nobly, Willard; you certainly have. I'm proud of you, old man; I am +indeed." + +The engineer tried manfully to appreciate the spirit of the +speaker's words. With that white vest and black tie before him, to +say nothing of the picture hat that crowned the massive head, it was +impossible for Holmes not to wish that he could appreciate Horace P. +Blanton's spirit--it hungered so for appreciation. + +"I am very grateful to you, Mr. Blanton," said the engineer. "But +really I feel that you over-estimate my part in the work. I--" + +"Not at all; not at all, my dear boy. I knew my man and I was not +disappointed. But the cost--" he shook his kingly head sorrowfully +and heaved a majestic sigh. "Confidentially, Willard, I estimate +that the financial losses of Greenfield and myself alone are close +on to a million. I haven't a thing left. Wiped me out clean." + +Holmes looked really sympathetic. He knew that every dollar that +Horace P. Blanton ever spent was a dollar belonging to someone else, +but even mythical losses of mythical property, when suffered by +Horace P., demanded sympathy. The man in the white vest felt them so +keenly and strove with such noble courage to bear them bravely. + +Encouraged by the engineer's interest and the presence of the little +crowd of pioneers, the speaker continued: "When I saw our beautiful +town--the town that we had built with our own hands--falling in +ruins into that terrible chasm, I cried like a baby, sir." Even as +he spoke his eyes filled with manly tears which he made no attempt +to hide. Then he lifted his majestic bulk grandly and looked about +with kingly countenance. "But I shall stay with it, Willard. I shall +stay and help these people to regain their losses. We _can't_ desert +them now. If my creditors will give me a little time, and I am sure +they will, not a man shall lose a penny, no matter what it costs +me." + +The sentence was a bit ambiguous but it was a noble resolution, +worthy of such a lofty soul. + +At this moment a boy with the evening papers approached the group. +"Here son, my paper," called Horace P. + +The boy gripped his wares with a firm hand. "I got to have my money +first. You ain't done nothin' but promise for a month." + +"Boy! Give me my paper. You shall have your money to-morrow," he +thundered from the depths beneath the white vest. + +The boy backed away, "I dassn't do it. I can't live on hot air." + +With an imperial air, as if tremendous stakes hung upon the trivial +incident, the great man said to Holmes: "Excuse me, Willard; I must +see about this," and with a firm and determined step he left the +hotel. + +A hush fell upon the company of pioneers. Not one of them but would +have gladly--had he dared--offered the outraged monarch the price of +a paper. The King's Basin settlers were proud of Horace P. + +But that night Horace P. Blanton boarded the north-bound train and +was never seen in The King's Basin again. His creditors--and they +are many, from the newsboy to the hotel manager, the barber, the +laundry agent, the liveryman and boot-black--are still "giving him +time," as he was confident that they would. The pioneers miss him +sorely, but they manage to struggle along without him, living +perhaps in the hope that he will some day come back. + +In the silence that followed the passing of Horace P., Willard +Holmes slipped away from the group of men and approached the Manager +of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company, who was sitting +alone with his cigar in a far corner of the room. + +"Hello, old man," was Burk's greeting as the engineer approached. +The thoughtful Manager of the Company had been an interested +observer of his friend's reception and of the newspaper incident. As +the two men shook hands the Manager's cigar shifted to one corner of +his mouth and his head tipped toward the opposite shoulder. "How +much did Horace P. touch you for, Willard?" + +"I gave him my admiration and sympathy." + +The other shook his head wonderingly. "A special providence watches +over you, my son. After that, nothing could have saved your pocket- +book if that kid had not been sent by your guardian angel to your +rescue. When did you leave the river?" + +"Last week. The S. & C. called me into the city. I'm on my way back +to the work now. What's the news?" + +Burk grinned. "The first train over the King's Basin Central went +out this morning with a special party of distinguished citizens-- +Jefferson Worth, the Seer, Abe Lee and Miss Worth. The lady will +spend a week or two in the town of Barba and with friends in the +South Central District. Texas Joe and Pat left this morning in a +rig, leading Miss Worth's saddle horse, El Capitan. It's all in The +King's Basin Messenger." He handed the paper to Holmes who +mechanically stuffed it into his pocket. + +"How's Uncle Jim?" + +"He is at the office, I think. You know he is winding up the affairs +of the poor old K. B. L. and I." + +"So I understand." + +The two men were silent for a moment, then Burk said thoughtfully: +"It's hard lines for the Company, Willard, but the mules, including +your humble servant, don't seem to care much. That's one advantage +in being a mule. I will be glad to get back to civilization and so +will your Uncle Jim I fancy. Take it altogether I don't think he has +enjoyed watching the success of Jefferson Worth's little experiments +as much as we have. The same beneficent power that has knocked out +the Company seems to have taken good care of friend Jeff." + +"You are not going to stay in the West?" asked the engineer. + +"I go Monday. I understand there is still a demand for good mules +back home." + +The president of the wrecked Company received his former chief +engineer warmly, and heartily congratulated him on the success of +his battle with the river. + +"I suppose you know, Willard," he said, "that The King's Basin Land +and Irrigation Company has virtually passed into the hands of the S. +& C.? We owe them a good half million for closing the break, which +means that they will have to take over the property. We knew when we +went into the deal how it would end, of course. If you had remained +with the Company the river never would have had a chance to get in +at all." + +The younger man did not remind Mr. Greenfield of the many times the +Company had been urged to make the improvements that would have +prevented the disaster, nor did he suggest that he would have +remained with the Company had not the president himself discharged +him. "Your engineer did all that any man could do after the break +was made," he said warmly. "It was the equipment and organization of +the S. & C. that put the river back in its channel, and no other +power on earth, under the circumstances, could have done it in time +to head off that back-cut." + +The older man smiled. "We all know who closed the break, my boy. I +suppose you are planning to stay with the railroad?" + +"They have offered me the management of the irrigation work here in +the Basin. They are going to put in permanent structures and +reconstruct the whole system in first-class shape." + +"And you accepted?" There was a note of anxiety in the older man's +voice. + +"Not yet. I asked for a few days to consider." + +James Greenfield did not speak for several minutes, then he said-- +hesitating as if searching for words: "Don't do it, Willard. Don't +do it, for my sake. Let's go back home. You know how I hate this +cursed country. I ought never to have gone into this deal after what +I had already suffered in the West. But it looked as if I could +clean up a good thing and get out. Personally, my money losses don't +amount to anything. I have enough left for both of us, and you know, +Willard my boy, that it's all yours when I go. Come back home with +me and leave this damned hole! We don't fit in here; let's go back +where we belong. I'm coming along now to the time when I must begin +to think of getting out of the game; and I need you, my boy, I need +you." + +Willard Holmes was strongly moved by the appeal of this man for whom +he had a son's affection. "I wish I could say yes, Uncle Jim," he +answered. "I owe you more than I can ever repay, and if it was only +the work here I would go. But--there's something else--something +that I cannot give up if I would--that I have no right to give up." + +"You mean that girl? I thought that was all settled." + +"So did I," returned the other grimly. "When I talked with you about +it I thought there was no possible chance for me, and perhaps I was +right. But I can't let it go now without absolute certainty." + +"You don't mean, Willard, that you are going to offer yourself to a +woman whose love you have every reason to think belongs to another +man?" + +The engineer rose to his feet and walked up and down the room. When +he spoke there was in his voice a suggestion of that which marked +his speech in the days of the river fight. "I mean this: that no man +on earth shall take this woman from me if I can prevent it. I would +deserve to lose her if I gave her up on the mere guess that she +cared for another man. I am going to know from her own words. If +there is still a chance for me I am going to stay and fight for it. +If I have no chance"--he dropped into a chair--"then I'll go back +with you, Uncle Jim." + +James Greenfield's face flushed hotly at the younger man's words and +then, in the silence that followed, grew pale and stern while his +fingers gripped his pencil nervously. "Very well, Willard," he said +at last. "You are a man and your own master. If your love for me +cannot influence you--" + +"Uncle Jim!" The engineer's cry was a protest and an appeal, but the +other continued as though he had not heard: "I can urge no other +consideration. But you must understand this. I will never receive +this nameless woman of unknown parentage as your wife. If you prefer +her with that illiterate, low, cunning trickster whom she calls +father, you need never expect to come back to me. I have been true +to your mother in my care for you. I have done all in my power to +give you the place in life that you are entitled to fill by your +birth and family. You have been my son in everything but blood. But, +by God, sir! if you, with your breeding and raising--if you can turn +your back upon the memory of your mother and father and upon me and +all that we stand for--if you can turn your back upon us, desert us +for these--these damned cattle, you can herd with them the rest of +your life." + +He was on his feet now, pacing the floor angrily. The engineer had +also risen and stood waiting for this storm of wrath to spend +itself. + +"Understand me," the older man continued. "If she refuses you, you +can come back. If she accepts you, you need never show your face to +me again, and I shall take good care that your friends at home +understand the reason. Probably if you let these people know what +the result will be if you are accepted it will make a great +difference in the woman's answer." + +Willard Holmes dared not speak. Nothing but his life-long love for +the man whose devotion to the engineer's mother had stood the test +of years enabled the younger man to control himself. When he could +speak calmly he said: "I am sorry, sir, that you said that; for you +must see how you have made it impossible for me now ever to go back +with you. If Miss Worth does not care for me, I would have been glad +to go home with you, for next to her, Uncle Jim, you are more to me +than anyone in the world. When you say that my relation to you shall +depend upon her answer you make it impossible for her answer to make +any difference so far as you and I are concerned. Won't you--won't +you reconsider, Uncle Jim? Won't you take back your words?" + +"No, sir; I have said exactly what I mean." + +"Good-by, sir." + +"Good-by." + +When the office door had closed behind the engineer, James +Greenfield stood motionless in the center of the room. Once he took +a step toward the door but checked himself. Then turning slowly, +wearily, he sank into the chair before his desk. For a few moments +he fumbled aimlessly over the papers and documents, then from his +pocket took a flat leather case and, opening it, held in his hand a +portrait of the engineer's mother. As he looked at the face of the +woman who had never ceased to hold the first place in his heart, his +lips framed words he could not speak aloud. + +Slowly his form drooped, his head bowed. Then, with the picture held +close, he buried his face in his arms among the business papers on +his desk. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +OUT OF THE HOLLOW OF GOD'S HAND. + + +The first train from Republic to Barba over the new King's Basin +Central arrived in the town by the old Dry River Crossing shortly +after noon. Later in the day Jefferson Worth with his daughter, his +superintendent and the Seer went to the power plant on the bank of +Dry River. + +When the plant was built it was placed as low in the old wash as the +depth of the ancient channel would permit, so that the greatest +possible fall from the Company canal above might be secured. As +Jefferson Worth and his companions stood now on the bank of the +river they saw the waste-way from the turbine wheel that ran the +generators nearly thirty feet above the bottom of the channel. The +flood that had cut the deep canyons through the heart of the Basin, +destroying Kingston on its course, had worked on a smaller scale in +the old Dry River wash, cutting a narrow gorge nearly fifty feet +deep from its outlet at the new sea past the power plant at Barba +and nearly to the spillway of the main canal. + +Standing almost on the very spot where they had found the baby girl +years before, the Seer asked Barbara's father: "Jeff, does your +contract with The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company call for +a certain amount of water, or for water to develop a certain amount +of power?" + +Jefferson Worth answered in his careful, exact voice: "The first +contract called for water to develop a certain amount of power. This +new one is a contract for three hundred inches of water. There's +nothing in it about the amount of power, but it gives me the sole +rights to all the power privileges on the Company property. You see, +when Greenfield tried to change the line of their canal so as to cut +me out, Abe and I had begun to figure that some day the water from +the spillway might cut down the channel and give us a little more +drop. But we never counted on this, of course. I simply figured that +I might just as well make the new contract safe." + +The Seer smiled. "You made it safe all right, Jeff. Do you know what +this cut means to you?" + +"In a way, yes. That's why I wanted you to look at it." + +"It means," said the Seer, "that you have rights here worth a +million dollars at least. By lowering your turbine to the bottom of +this cut you can, with the same amount of water that you are now +using, develop power enough to run every electric light system and +turn every wheel in all The King's Basin for years to come." + +"You mean that the river breaking in and doing this has made daddy's +property worth a million dollars?" asked Barbara breathlessly. + +The Seer turned toward her. "Yes, Barbara. The same force that +destroyed Kingston and wrecked the Company has increased the value +of your father's holding to fully that amount. A million is very +conservative." + +The young woman looked down into the gorge at their feet. Slowly she +said: "The Indians must be right. This must be indeed La Palma de la +Mano de Dios. Such things could happen nowhere else." + +She had just finished speaking when the sound of wheels behind +caused them to turn toward the desert and the old San Felipe trail. +It was Texas and Pat in the buckboard with El Capitan leading +behind. + +Catching sight of the group on the river bank, the men turned aside +from the road and went to them. "Howdy folks," drawled Tex. "We +'lowed we'd jest about meet up with you-all somewhere about here." + +"Sure, 'tis a family reunion we do be havin', wid no empthy chairs +at all," declared the Irishman, looking from face to face with +twinkling eyes. "Well, well, who'd a thought now that the little kid +we found under the bank here, shcared av the coyotes an' more +shcared av us rough-necks, wud av growed up like this? An' wid me a +shwearin' by all the saints I knew that I wud niver set fut on the +disert again. Here we are once more altogether, wid Barbara an' Abe +bigger than life. 'Tis the danged owld disert itsilf that's a-lavin' +niver to come back at all." He drew the back of his huge hairy hand +across his eyes. + +Barbara's eyes too were wet, and the others turned away their faces. +Pat's words had recalled so vividly the scene at the dry water hole +with the changes that the years had brought both to them and to the +desert. + +It was Texas Joe who broke the silence. "Mr. Worth, Pat and I would +like to see you some time this evenin' if you ain't engaged." + +"What is it, Tex?" As he spoke Jefferson Worth looked straight into +the eyes of the old plainsman. Texas Joe, gazing steadily into the +face of his employer, drawled easily: "Jest a little matter we +'lowed maybe you'd like to know about, sir. What time shall we +come?" + +Something--the memories of the place, perhaps, aroused by the words +of Pat a moment before--caused Jefferson Worth to lift those nervous +fingers and softly caress his chin. "I guess I can go now. We're all +through here." He turned to the others. "I'll go on to the hotel +with Tex and Pat and you folks can come along later when you are +ready." + +He stepped into the buckboard and with the two drove away. At a +livery barn where they stopped to leave the horses, Texas took from +under the seat of the buckboard something that was wrapped in a sack +that had held a feed of grain for the team and El Capitan. + +When they had reached the privacy of Mr. Worth's room, the old +plainsman and the Irishman stood as if each waited for the other to +begin. + +"Well, men," said Jefferson Worth. "What is it?" + +"Go on, ye owld oysther," growled Pat to Tex. "Why the hell don't ye +tell the boss what we've come to tell him. Shpake up." + +Texas Joe cleared his throat and began formally: "I don't reckon, +Mr. Worth, that you-all has forgot that outfit we left in them sand +hills back yonder on the old San Felipe trail the time we found the +kid." + +At the words Jefferson Worth's face became a gray mask from behind +which his mind reached out as though to grasp what Texas would say +before the man put it into words. "Well?" The single word came with +the colorless sound of dull metal. + +"Also I reckon you know how them big drifts are allus on the move, +so that when they covers up anything, say an outfit like that one, +it stands to reason that some day they'll drift on an' leave it +clear again." + +Jefferson Worth's hands were gripping the arms of his chair. His +gray lips could frame no sound. + +"I've allus kind a-kept an eye on that there particular ridge," +continued Texas, "an' so to-day me and Pat stopped for a little look +around an'"--slowly he unwrapped the grain sack from a long tin box +--"an' we found this." He laid the box carefully on the table before +Barbara's father. "Hit was a-layin' with what was left of a bigger +wooden box or trunk, which same had gone to pieces, and there was a +part of that old wagon with that same piece of a halter-strap you +remember fastened to a wheel. There ain't no sort of doubt, Mr. +Worth, that hit's the same outfit an' hits mighty likely that +there's papers in here that'll tell us what we tried so hard to find +out at first, but what"--he paused and looked around, then finished +in a low tone--"I don't reckon any of us wants to know now." + +Jefferson Worth sat motionless in his chair, his eyes fixed upon the +tin box. + +The heavy voice of the Irishman broke the quiet. + +"Av Tex wud a listened to raison, Sorr, I'd a-dumped the danged +thing into the river, sayin' nothin' to nobody. Fwhat good can we do +rakin' up the past that's dead an' gone? The girl is as much yers as +if she was yer own flesh an' blood, an' who can say fwhat divil's +own mess may come out av this thing? Lave it alone, I say; an' fwhat +nobody don't know can't hurt thim. 'Twas wrong intirely to bring ut +to ye afther all ye've been sich a father to the little one. Lave it +to me, Sorr. Give me the word an' I'll"--he reached eagerly for the +box, but Jefferson Worth held up his slim, nervous hand. + +"Wait a moment, Pat. I--I don't think that would be right." + +Never before had these men seen Jefferson Worth hesitate. The will +of the man, whose cold decision had carried him through so many +critical situations and upon which the pioneers had relied in the +recent time of peril, seemed to fail him at last. The spectacle told +the men more clearly than words could have done what he suffered. +"I--I don't know what to do," he finished weakly. "Give me time. Let +me think." He bowed his face in his hands. + +Pat growled an oath under his breath and Texas turned his eyes from +his companions to the box and from the box back to his friends in +bewildered uncertainty. At last he said in his soft southern drawl: +"Mr. Worth, hit's dead sure that me an' Pat ain't helpin' you none +in this. I reckon I was all wrong to bring hit to you at all. But +hit seemed like I was plumb balled up an' couldn't rightly say what +was best. There ain't really no call to crowd this thing as I can +see. Suppose you takes your time to think it over. Me an' Pat'll let +you alone, an' if you decides to fergit all about hit, you can bet +your last red we'll be damn glad to help. Nobody but us three will +ever know. 'T ain't as if it was a-doin' anybody any harm." + +Jefferson Worth raised his head. "Thank you boys," he said. "I'll +have to figure on this thing a little." + +Left alone, Jefferson Worth faced the temptation of his life. Dearer +to this lonely-hearted man than all the wealth and power that he +would realize from his King's Basin work was the child who had come +to him out of the desert. The man knew that it was the influence of +Barbara upon his life that had prepared him for that night in the +sand hills and enabled him rightly to weigh and measure and value +the efforts of his kind. That afternoon at the power house it had +all been brought before him with startling vividness. He felt that +in all that he had accomplished in Barbara's Desert he had been led +by the child, who had come to him out of The Hollow of God's Hand. +The desert had given her to him; he had given himself in return to +the work she loved. He could not think of his work apart from her. +She was his--his--his. His gray lips whispered the words as he stood +looking down at the box. No one had the right to take her from him; +to come into her life. And yet--and yet. He reached out and laid his +hand upon the box, then, turning again, paced the room. + +Suddenly he whirled about and approached the table. With cold fury +he seized the box and placing it upon the floor, broke the light tin +fastening with his boot-heel. Again he paused and looked dully at +the thing in his hands. Then with a quick motion lie threw up the +cover. The box was filled with documents and letters, with four or +five old photographs. + +The address on a large unsealed envelope met his eye and he started +back with a low cry as though he had looked upon some startling +apparition. + +When Barbara with the Seer and Abe returned to the hotel that +evening the clerk gave her a note from her father who, the note +explained, had been called to Republic on business of importance. He +would be back to-morrow. + +The clerk said that Mr. Worth had left only a few minutes before +with the engine and car that had brought them to Barba that morning. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +BACK TO THE OLD SAN FELIPE TRAIL. + + +In the office of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company, James +Greenfield was aroused by a knock at the door. He lifted his head +from his arms and looked around as if awakened out of a deep sleep. + +Another knock, and he slipped the picture he held in his hand into +his pocket and called, "Come in." + +The door opened and Jefferson Worth stepped into the room. + +For a moment the president of the wrecked Company sat staring at his +business rival, then he leaped to his feet, his fists clenched and +his face working with passion. "You can't come in here, sir. Get +out!" he said with the voice and manner he would have assumed in +speaking to a trespassing dog. + +Jefferson Worth stood still. "I have business of importance with +you, Mr. Greenfield," he said, and his air of quiet dignity +contrasted strangely with the rage of the larger man. + +"You can have no business with me of any sort whatever. I have +nothing to do with your kind. This is my private office. I tell you +to get out." + +Jefferson Worth turned calmly as though to obey, but instead of +leaving the room closed the door and locked it. Then, placing the +small grip he carried upon the table, he deliberately went close to +the threatening president and said coldly: "This is rank nonsense, +Greenfield. I won't leave this office until I'm through with what I +came to do. I have business with you that concerns you as much as it +does me." + +"You're a damned thief, a low sharper! I tell you I have nothing to +do with you. Now get out or I'll throw you out!" + +Jefferson Worth answered in his exact, precise manner, as though +carefully choosing and considering his words: "No, you won't throw +me out. You'll listen to what I have come to tell you. The rest of +your statement, Greenfield, is false and you know it. It will be +just as well for you not to repeat it." The last low-spoken words +did not appear to be uttered as a threat but as a calm statement of +a carefully considered fact. James Greenfield felt as a man who +permits himself to rage against an immovable obstacle--as one who +spends his strength cursing a stone wall that bars his way or a rock +that lies in his path. With an effort he regained a measure of his +self-control. + +"Well, out with it. What do you want?" + +"Sit down," said Worth, pointing to a chair. Mechanically the other +obeyed. "You have no reason for taking this attitude toward me, Mr. +Greenfield," began Worth with his air of simply stating a fact. + +At his words the wrath of the other again mastered him. "No reason! +You--you dare to tell me that? When you and the young woman that you +call your daughter have come between me and the boy who is more than +a son to me! When you have broken our close relationship of years' +standing and robbed me of his companionship! When you have wrecked +and ruined all my plans for his future! When you have defeated the +object of my life! No reason? But what can you understand of us? +You're a nobody, sir, without a place or a name in the world; a +common, low-bred, ignorant sharper with no family but a nameless +daughter of unknown parentage whom you found on the desert. How can +you understand what Willard Holmes is to me?" + +"I figured that you would feel this way about it," came the +colorless words. "That's what I came here for to-night--to fix it +up." + +The angry amazement of Greenfield at what he considered the man's +presumption could find no expression. + +Worth continued: "I know a great deal more about you and your folks +than you think. When I saw that my"--he hesitated over the word, +then spoke it plainly--"my daughter was becoming interested in +Willard Holmes, I took some pains to look up his history. In doing +that I naturally found out a good deal about you. Later I learned a +good deal more." + +"It is immaterial to me what you know," muttered the other in a tone +of deep disgust. "What do you want?" + +Worth spoke with quiet dignity. "I want you to understand first, Mr. +Greenfield, that my girl is just as much to me as young Holmes is to +you. You are right; I am a nobody, ignorant and all that, but you +must not think Mr. Greenfield that because you belong in New York +and I belong in the West that this thing is harder for you than it +is for me. You are not going to lose your boy but I"--for the first +time he hesitated and his voice expressed emotion--"I am going to +lose my girl." + +The pathos of this lonely man's words touched even Greenfield. His +manner was more gentle as he said gruffly: "It's a bad business, Mr. +Worth; a damned bad business for both of us. I wish I had never +heard of this country." + +"You'll feel different about that. Anyway I figure that this country +and this work will be here long after you and I are gone, and so +will these young people." Again he hesitated and his slim fingers +caressed his chin. Then from behind that gray mask he asked: "How +much do you know about our finding Barbara in the desert?" + +"I know the story in a general way, that's all. It does not interest +me." + +"Let me tell you the facts." + +In his brief, colorless sentences Jefferson Worth related the +incidents of that trip across the desert, and as he did so +Greenfield began to realize that some powerful motive had brought +this man to him and was forcing him to relate his story with such +exact care for the details. + +"And you never found the slightest clue even to the child's name?" +he asked, when Worth had finished. + +Jefferson Worth hesitated, then: "Mr. Greenfield, you had a younger +brother who came West?" + +The man gazed at the speaker in amazement as he answered +mechanically. "Yes. He died out here somewhere--in California, I +believe. I was never able to learn the details. He was an +adventurous lad and a good deal of a rover. But why--how--" As the +full import of the question dawned upon him Greenfield started from +his seat. "My God, man! You don't mean--you cannot mean that it was +my brother Will who was lost in that sandstorm on the desert? That +the woman you found by the water hole was his wife, Gertrude, and +that--that--" His voice sank to a whisper. "Will wrote me that there +was a child--that she had Gertrude's hair and eyes. I had never seen +her." He turned fiercely upon his companion. "And you have kept this +from me all these years? You have kept my only brother's child from +me? By God, sir! I--But perhaps this is all one of your damnable +tricks. What proof have you that this is so, and if it is, why have +you kept it a secret?" + +Jefferson Worth opened his satchel and laid the tin box on the desk +before the president of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation +Company. "This box was found this afternoon by Texas Joe and Pat, +who brought it to me. I opened it. It is all here." + +When Greenfield had examined the contents of the box--letters, some +of them written by himself to his brother, papers relating to +William Greenfield's business affairs and property, and photographs +of the little family and of the two brothers and their parents, he +looked up to see Jefferson Worth sitting motionless, his form +relaxed, his head dropped forward. + +[Illustration: Without a word--for no word was needed--their hands +met in a firm grip ] + +Suddenly the words of the man who had been a father to his brother's +child came back to Greenfield. "My girl is just as much to me as young +Holmes is to you. You are not going to lose your boy, but I am going +to lose my girl." In a flash the financier saw it all--saw how +Jefferson Worth loved Barbara as his own child, as Greenfield cared +for Willard Holmes; saw how Worth might have destroyed the papers so +strangely brought to light and kept the secret; saw and realized a +little what strength of character it had taken to overcome the +temptation, and felt what the man was suffering. + +As Greenfield's hand fell on his shoulder, Jefferson Worth slowly +lifted his head. Slowly he rose to his feet. In silence the two men +faced each other. Without a word--for no word was needed-their hands +met in a firm grip. + +After a little while Greenfield asked eagerly: "Where is she now, +Mr. Worth? Where is the girl? Does she know? I must see her at once. +Come! And Willard--I wonder if he is still in town. Come, we must go +to them." + +But Jefferson Worth answered: "I've been figuring on that, Mr. +Greenfield. You had better let me tell Barbara myself. And if I was +you, after what you have probably said to Holmes on this subject, I +wouldn't be in a hurry to tell him. For the sake of their future +we'd better let Barbara handle that matter herself. You can easily +figure it out that it will be best for them that way." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +THE HERITAGE OF BARBARA WORTH. + + +Barbara, walking quickly, left the little village and, crossing Dry +River on the bridge that now spanned the deep gorge where the old +San Felipe trail once led down into the ancient wash, climbed the +slight grade to the grave that was marked by the simple headstone +with its one word--"Mother." + +That morning Jefferson Worth had told her of the tin box found by +Texas Joe and Pat. With reverent care she had read the papers and +letters and had looked long at the portraits of her parents and +people. She could not at first realize that the desert had at last +given up the secret that she had so longed to know. It was not real +to her, the revelation was so sudden, so startling. She could not +think of herself save as the daughter of Jefferson Worth, whom she +loved as a father. + +As soon as the noon day meal was over she had left her room in the +hotel, and once out of doors her steps had instinctively turned +toward her mother's grave beside the old trail. + +Standing before the headstone she looked at the one word. "Mother," +she said softly. "Mother!" Then, still in a whisper, she repeated +the unfamiliar names: "Gertrude Greenfield; William Greenfield--my +mother; my father! I am Barbara Greenfield--Barbara Greenfield!" + +Seating herself on the ground beside the grave, she looked about: at +the sand hills in the distance; at the Dry River gorge and the power +plant; at the canals shining like silver bands among the green +fields of the ranchers to the southeast; and at the little town. An +hour passed; then another; and another. + +Across the river she saw Pablo riding out of the town and away along +the road that follows the canal. Then from the power house came Abe +Lee with the Seer. She watched them as they walked along the bank of +the old channel. Once she thought she would call to them, but +hesitated. If they crossed the bridge and came up the hill they +would be sure to see her. So she waited, keeping still. They passed +the bridge and continued on down the bank of the stream. + +Barbara knew instinctively that they were talking of her and the +secret that the desert had at last revealed, for she had asked her +father to tell them. She thought of her father who had gone to +Republic. He would return that evening and Mr. Greenfield, her +uncle, would be with him. "Her uncle"--how strange! + +Then Barbara saw on the other side of the river a horseman riding +from the south toward the town. She could not mistake the khaki-clad +figure that, while fully at home in the saddle, still lacked the +indescribable, easy looseness and swinging grace of the western +rider. It was Willard Holmes, and the young woman's heart told her +why the engineer had come. Since that meeting at the river in the +hour of his victory she had known that he would come and she had +known what her answer would be. + +He had evidently ridden from the river, from his work. Did he know? +No, she decided, he could not know yet. Then the quick thought came: +he _must not know until_--until she herself should tell him. Quickly +the young woman walked down the hill across the bridge toward the +town. + +Willard Holmes arrived at the hotel and, learning that Miss Worth +was out, carried a chair to the arcade on the street to await her +return. He had not waited long when a voice at his shoulder said +with mock formality: "I believe this is Mr. Willard Holmes." + +The engineer sprang to his feet. "Miss Worth! They told me that you +were out. I was sitting here waiting for you." + +"I was out when you arrived," she confessed; "but I saw you coming +and hurried back pronto. I knew you had just left the river, you +see. And of course," she added, as though that explained her +eagerness to see him, "I wanted to hear the latest news from the +work." + +"There is no news," he answered, as though dismissing the matter +finally. + +"And may I ask what brings you to Barba?" + +He looked at her steadily. "You brought me to Barba." + +"I?" + +"Yes--you. I stopped in Republic on my way back from the city the +evening of the day you left. I was forced to go on to the river, but +took the first opportunity to ride out here, for I understood you +expected to be in Barba several days. Surely you know why I have +come. The work I stayed in the Basin to do is finished. I have +another offer from the S. & C. which, if I accept, will keep me here +for several years. I have come to you with it as I came with the +other. What shall I do? Please don't pretend that you don't +understand me." + +The direct forcefulness of the man almost made Barbara forget the +little plan she had arranged on her way to the hotel to meet him. "I +won't pretend, Mr. Holmes," she answered seriously. "But--will you +go with me for a little ride into the desert?" + +Her words recalled to his mind instantly their first meeting in +Rubio City, but Holmes was not astonished now. The invitation coming +from Barbara under the circumstances seemed the most natural thing +in the world. + +The young woman went to her room to make ready while the engineer +brought the horses, and in a very few minutes they had crossed the +river and were following the old San Felipe trail toward the sand +hills. + +Very few words passed between them until they reached the great +drift that had held so long its secret. Leaving the horses at +Barbara's request, they climbed the steep sides of the great sand +mound. From the top they could see on every hand the many miles of +The King's Basin country--from Lone Mountain at the end of the delta +dam to the snow-capped sentinels of San Antonio Pass; and from the +sky line of the Mesa and the low hills on the east to No Man's +Mountains and the bold wall of the Coast Range that shuts out the +beautiful country on the west. + +The soft, many-colored veils and scarfs of the desert, with the gold +of the sand hills, the purple of the mountains, the gray and green +of the desert vegetation, with the ragged patches of dun plain, were +all there still as when Willard Holmes had first looked upon it, for +the work of Reclamation was still far from finished. + +But there was more in Barbara's Desert now than pictures woven +magically in the air. There were beautiful scenes of farms with +houses and barns and fences and stacks, with cattle and horses in +the pastures, and fields of growing grain, the dark green of +alfalfa, with threads and lines and spots of water that, under the +flood of white light from the wide sky, shone in the distance like +gleaming silver. Barbara and the engineer could even distinguish the +little towns of Republic and Frontera, with Barba nearby; and even +as they looked they marked the tall column of smoke from a +locomotive on the S. & C. moving toward the crossing of the old San +Felipe trail, and on the King's Basin Central another, coming toward +the town on Dry River where once beside a dry water hole a woman lay +dead with an empty canteen by her side. + +Willard Holmes drew a long breath. + +"You like my Desert?" asked the young woman softly, coming closer to +his side--so close that he felt her presence as clearly as he felt +the presence of the spirit that lives in the desert itself. + +"Like it!" he repeated, turning toward her. "It is my desert now; +mine as well as yours. Oh, Barbara! Barbara! I have learned the +language of your land. Must I leave it now? Won't you tell me to +stay?" + +He held out his hands to her, but she drew back a little from his +eagerness. "Wait. I must know something first before I can answer." + +He looked at her questioningly. "What must you know, Barbara?" + +"Did you ever hear the story of what happened here in these very +sand hills? Do you know that I am not the daughter of Jefferson +Worth?" + +"Yes," he answered gravely. "I know that Mr. Worth is not your own +father, but I did not know that this was the scene of the tragedy." + +"And you understand that I am nameless; that no one knows my +parentage? That there may even be Mexican or Indian blood in my +veins? You understand--you realize all that?" + +He started toward her almost roughly. "Yes, I understand all that, +but I care only that you are Barbara. I know only that I want you-- +you, Barbara!" + +"But your family--Mr. Greenfield--your friends back home--think what +it means to them. Can you afford-" + +"Barbara," he cried. "Stop! Why are you saying these things? Listen +to me. Don't you _know_ that I love you? Don't you know that nothing +else matters? Your Desert has taught me many things, dear, but +nothing so great as this--that I want you and that nothing else +matters. I want you for my wife." + +"But you said once that you would never _marry me_," persisted the +young woman. "What has changed you?" + +"_I_ said that I would never marry you? I said that? That cannot be, +Barbara; you are mistaken." + +She shook her head. "That is what you said. I heard you myself. You +told Mr. Greenfield at my house that morning he came to see you when +you were hurt. I--I--the door into the dining room was open and I +heard." + +The light of quick understanding broke over the engineer's face. +"And you heard what Uncle Jim said to me? But Barbara, didn't you +hear the reason I gave him for saying that I would not marry you?" + +"I--I couldn't hear anything after that," she said simply. + +At her confession the man's strong face shone with triumph. "Listen, +dear, I told Uncle Jim I would never marry you because you loved +someone else and that there was no chance for me." + +Barbara's brown eyes opened wide. "You thought that?" + +"Yes. I thought you loved Abe Lee." + +"Why--why I _do_ love Abe." + +The man laughed. "Of course you do; but I thought you loved him as I +wanted you to love me; don't you understand?" + +"Oh-h!" The exclamation was a confession, an explanation and an +expression of complete understanding. "But that"--she added as she +went to him--"that _could not be_." + +And then-- + +But Barbara's words, rightly understood, mark the end of my story. + +Rarely is it given in the story of life, to those who work greatly +or love greatly, to gather the fruit of their toil or passion. But +it is given those others, perhaps--those for whom it could not be-- +to know a happiness greater, it may be, than the joy of possession. + +THE END. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Winning of Barbara Worth, by Harold B Wright + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH *** + +This file should be named wbwor10.txt or wbwor10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, wbwor11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, wbwor10a.txt + +This eBook was produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we usually do not +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections, +even years after the official publication date. + +Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. + +Most people start at our Web sites at: +http://gutenberg.net or +http://promo.net/pg + +These Web sites include award-winning information about Project +Gutenberg, including how to donate, how to help produce our new +eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter (free!). + + +Those of you who want to download any eBook before announcement +can get to them as follows, and just download by date. This is +also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the +indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an +announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter. + +http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03 or +ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03 + +Or /etext02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90 + +Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want, +as it appears in our Newsletters. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any eBook selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. Our +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If the value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour in 2002 as we release over 100 new text +files per month: 1240 more eBooks in 2001 for a total of 4000+ +We are already on our way to trying for 2000 more eBooks in 2002 +If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total +will reach over half a trillion eBooks given away by year's end. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away 1 Trillion eBooks! +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users. + +Here is the briefest record of our progress (* means estimated): + +eBooks Year Month + + 1 1971 July + 10 1991 January + 100 1994 January + 1000 1997 August + 1500 1998 October + 2000 1999 December + 2500 2000 December + 3000 2001 November + 4000 2001 October/November + 6000 2002 December* + 9000 2003 November* +10000 2004 January* + + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created +to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +As of February, 2002, contributions are being solicited from people +and organizations in: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, +Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, +Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, +Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New +Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, +Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South +Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West +Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. + +We have filed in all 50 states now, but these are the only ones +that have responded. + +As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list +will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states. +Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state. + +In answer to various questions we have received on this: + +We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally +request donations in all 50 states. If your state is not listed and +you would like to know if we have added it since the list you have, +just ask. + +While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we are +not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting +donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer to +donate. + +International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING about +how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made +deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there are +ways. + +Donations by check or money order may be sent to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Ave. +Oxford, MS 38655-4109 + +Contact us if you want to arrange for a wire transfer or payment +method other than by check or money order. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been approved by +the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN +[Employee Identification Number] 64-622154. Donations are +tax-deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law. As fund-raising +requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be +made and fund-raising will begin in the additional states. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +You can get up to date donation information online at: + +http://www.gutenberg.net/donation.html + + +*** + +If you can't reach Project Gutenberg, +you can always email directly to: + +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message. + +We would prefer to send you information by email. + + +**The Legal Small Print** + + +(Three Pages) + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this eBook, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you may distribute copies of this eBook if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS EBOOK +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +eBook, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this eBook by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this eBook on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM EBOOKS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBooks, +is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart +through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project"). +Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this eBook +under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market +any commercial products without permission. + +To create these eBooks, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's eBooks and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other eBook medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may +receive this eBook from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook) disclaims +all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this eBook within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS EBOOK IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE EBOOK OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation, +and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated +with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including +legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the +following that you do or cause: [1] distribution of this eBook, +[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the eBook, +or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this eBook electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + eBook or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this eBook in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word + processing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The eBook, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The eBook may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the eBook (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + eBook in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the eBook refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the + gross profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation" + the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were + legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent + periodic) tax return. Please contact us beforehand to + let us know your plans and to work out the details. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of +public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed +in machine readable form. + +The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, +public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses. +Money should be paid to the: +"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or +software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at: +hart@pobox.com + +[Portions of this eBook's header and trailer may be reprinted only +when distributed free of all fees. Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 by +Michael S. Hart. Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be +used in any sales of Project Gutenberg eBooks or other materials be +they hardware or software or any other related product without +express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END* + diff --git a/old/wbwor10.zip b/old/wbwor10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1bace69 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/wbwor10.zip |