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Show XIM MRU QNCEpft mm GRANVILLE CHURCH 9mJ I' w.n.u. service 'JZOi TAI -to FAR: Jeff CurUi and SPlllV ",- their way to Tierra Sift, receives a note Irom R. 1 iwrnln them not to eome. Raaed!'l ', Jerry Mclnnls that S w 11111 j m een mutieTei anl R Table) chief enjlneer for a tt Jeff has been caUed 5 Y(Wal ' ttey arrive ta T,err 50 y l's ti,CTt ' Iometh,n ated.th( 0. Jeff and Lee meet 6 Tet i '., employer, and go with Proved uejo where Montaya teUi W scan, rt Mitchell has "committed mt Jeff nor Lee believes Jfcy t ui'ld' Zorl1' to'7 , , the type to commit ITffi mpct MonUy 01 r" I'fS Mit of knowing about : m at er lus,)an,,, fleaHl. UT I jug HITH THE STORT And if you should Interest yourself In the case, you might perhaps In-vite In-vite a similar fate, no?" Mpntaya put an end to the sub-Ject sub-Ject With an apologetic flash of teeth 'I cannot risk that Engineering work is behind schedule. I need you to very badly, Mr. Curtis." The next hour was spent in meet-Ing meet-Ing key workers of the general staff, persons with whom Curt would have frequent contact. It was a whirlwind tour. The bulk of employees, numbering fifty to sixty, six-ty, were Americans, with a sprinkling sprin-kling of Britishers and other Europeans. Euro-peans. Then said Montaya, "This is the best time of day for you to meet Dr. dumpy, bearded man had, he'd sold Montaya on It pretty solidly. At last, as final courtesies were being said, the worthy doctor let down the bars. He asked with what could best be described as a cunning cun-ning look, "You blay gribbage. ja?" Cribbage?" Curt laughed. "Sure. I know the game." "Goot We blay sometime, la?" "Certainly." Montaya explained as they left the laboratory. "Dr- Toenjes' one regret here Is that he has no good opponent at his favorite game." He smiled politely. po-litely. "He is very good at it. I hope, Mr. Curtis, you will be able to stand up to him." Curt chuckled. "If I can't, I'll sic' my wife onto him. She can play the game backwards and forwards." He added, with another chuckle, "If he'll comb out his beard first." Their final stop was the engineering engineer-ing office, a one-story structure, square like the laboratory. It occupied occu-pied the corner between the general offices and the clubhouse, thus completing com-pleting the layout of principal company com-pany buildings about the square and balancing the community center. Here Curt was introduced to his own staff. It was now midmorning. Three draftsmen were at work, two at detail drawings, the third on maps. One room was reserved for the field men when they came to San Alejo to submit their progress reports. There was a dark-room, and a big vault containing records j and master charts. From photostatic photo-static machine down to electric erasers the equipment throughout was ultra-modern. Curt's own office was airy, light, cool, with both desk and big table Toenjes. Later he is likely to be in the field." Using a handy phone he called for the laboratory, and when he got his connection spoke in French. "French?" queried Curt, as the other hung up. "I thought the name was Dutch." Montaya smiled perfunctorily. "Oh, Dr. Toenjes also speaks Spanish Span-ish and English after a fashion. He is more successful with French. You do not, then, speak French?" As Curt shook his head, "I thought not. He will use English with you:" The Agricultural Department occupied oc-cupied an adjacent building, filling a corner left by the administration administra-tion building and the hospital. Montaya Mon-taya pushed on through the outer office, vacant except for a young man typing cards, and on to a door at the rear. In the huge working laboratory there was shelf upon shelf, and row upon row, of carefully labeled boxes and jars. Along one side of the room a number of steel flline cabi. ywK , -I ,was a new day at San Xirf ', ind cool and clean at m abi jtter what the blazing ' else bring later. Even the being srfoot was toned up by hard. Curt swung along for isley. -ointment with Montaya. should have been toned a the tangy air so much lllf mrning a nome bu l is to Lee just now he'd I i cker between her eyes I III ;ois ears. I a be worrying about mmmK' ta," he'd told her. "I it doesn't sound like her, jf ft seen her for six years vf -gth of time will work if! my of us." 'A er little girl I was think- Q i bad answered him so- f jit about her." 0 I t his way to Montaya's , j ,? -ceilinged room pan on which to spread out his papers, a swivel chair between, a handy upright rack for rolls of blueprints. But the one thing which instantly took his attention was the huge aerial aeri-al photographic map of the C. A. T. tract permanently framed against the wall. Here was something! Montaya led the way across the room, to tap proudly with his finger tips. "I'd never have gotten my planting under way without this." This map showed a rough triangle of about 20,000 hectares, or 50,000 acres. The Quebrado Mountains formed the western boundary. Along the south and east flowed the Masica River, joining the turbulent, unruly Rio Negro, the northern boundary, just below the rise of land where stood Tempujo. No buildings and no engineering work showed on the map. It had been made before any preliminary work had been done. But it gave Curt an instant picture of the entire en-tire project; of the drainage necessary neces-sary to clear the huge swamp, dotted dot-ted with stands of jungle; of the levees necessary to hold back the rivers; of the best terrain for spur tracks to feed the farms. "The Negro is a wild stream that requires taming," said Montaya. "We work on that now. Along here," he indicated with a pointer taken from a rack beside the map, "we make a twenty-three-foot levee. Your most important job, Mr. Curtis, Cur-tis, is to see that it is completed within the next five months. On Qtr ' .nished in unvarnished ott'j An Impression of cool- psbui seightened by Venetian nmon ipass rug. Us if t to the point before cyof aya could broach busi- kkjff aid, suggestively, "The i Mitchell's death wa a nf i shock to us to my wife mm $ i looked at him in silence It words needed elabora- we should hardly have yjj :cide of Zora Mitchell, p u she was leaving a ior I expect it." The senor se ii statement as a sort of ites i He fumbled among pa- :akc; iesk, bringing forth two tle. ; (envelopes. ike spread several pho- i lire Curt. They showed, T 3 at angles, Zora Mitchell T v to a bamboo "pea- II I ; her head at a curious 1 I was a bullet-hole in :jle, and blood had run flij ad, coagulated, stained re ej . , bwiti land, hanging over the M chair, held a gun Curt lioi l a Luger. A Luger! 3 instantly. Funny I .use get that? jti how Mitchell had al- ml 4 Colt .45 against all il'm :tso' small arms. raestion forced itself on ffif 1 Why hadn't the physi- mmmmm "SBtMsWMBasslBSIafafjTStaTsTM flMtiM Si "Ah, but it is sad about her. Poor little thing." nets stood in a straight line. On the work tables were odd-shaped vessels alembics, glass funnels, retorts. re-torts. Dr. Toenjes, below medium height, in a dirty linen laboratory smock, proved a colorless individual. Indeed, In-deed, with his full-bearded face and careless dress he looked fair prey for a caricaturist Near-sighted, he wore thick-lense spectacles which gave him a bug-eyed appearance. The first words were conventional greeting. Then: "Your shipment of ah, chemicals at Cabeza aroused Mr. Curtis' curiosity curi-osity yesterday," Montaya said. "I told him such questions were your special province." Geniality left the bearded face. Hostile gray eyes bored through the thick lenses into Curt. "You ver vonce vith der beebles across der riffer?" asked the Dutchman. I -J bora's fingers and f imp the gun? foe case of her hus- l iino chance to obtain J i the ground. The ' Wed to Tempujo. But Z kst we could. I had ,t. f econd envelope Mon- L out these sketches, and J 1 map marked with an "i holographs of the body !CH ;,he "at handcar. iPf was held, of course, ia tase of Mrs. Mitchell. "T :tldents were quite prop- :y our local police. We I -andancia here, another li jes and the map were I 'the photographs . . . 1 ; lip one of them. The j sickening, the body mutilated beyond recog-? recog-? of the cuts were clean, j something about these Cabell in Curt's mind. I didn't at once click that I gamble 8,000 acres of planting! plant-ing! "The Masica will hardly worry us this year. In fact, since the ah, unfortunate happening to Mr. Mitchell, Mitch-ell, I have halted work on the Masica Masi-ca levee and put those machines on the Negro levee. Flooding of the Masica will not endanger present pres-ent planting. "Along this line," he indicated with the pointer, "is our main canal. Already it has drained several thousand thou-sand acres. Here will be secondary ditches. But we have so much to do, yes, so many laterals to dig. The canals in the upper half of the tract must also be completed before be-fore the rains come. "Now, we have four draglines and a three-yard shovel and 6,000 laborers la-borers at work on the engineering projects ..." This wasn't even the beginning. More and more Curt realized he'd stepped into a man-size job. And with people who knew where they were going what they wanted and how to go about getting it. "Who made -this map?" "Mr. Ryden and Mr. Lannestock," was the answer. "In a plane I chartered especial for the purpose, a year before I was ready to start work. It takes long to secure a concession, to plan. It is good work, no? They are competent young men. That is why I am so happy now to have them under contract. "Bueno. Here are progress reports re-ports on the Negro levee, the main drainage system, and the railroad. You will wish to look them over, but you will be brief agout it, no? Directly after lunch we shall start on an inspection tour of the valley. val-ley. For this we shall take the rest of today and tomorrow, so you will bring what personal articles you need for overnight In the meantime, I have much to do myself my-self . " Curt hardly noticed Montaya's de-parture. de-parture. He even forgot the worries wor-ries in the back of his mind. What a jobl The best equipment to work with, a challenge to meet, with the next' season's rainfall the deadline. He swelled to the task, his eyes shone. He could have stood for hours before that map. Noon rolled around all too sooa (TO BE CONTINUED) Curt nodded, smiled. Montaya s deprecation of the doctor's English hadn't been an exaggeration. "Six years ago. I know Panama disease has shown up with them and that they've tried a-lime treatment for it It was a simple question I put. The quantity of lime landed on the docks" "Ah, ja. It iz trrooth I use der lime but alzo der Oder chemicals. Vat I use iz my zegred. Der bana-ana bana-ana pla-ant vill be der more healthy und vigorous from my chemical treatment ufl der soil, und so ve combat der fungi more better as vet Den vill ve haflf der reechest pla-anting in Tierra Libre." If Dr. Toenjes did have a miraculous miracu-lous cheap compound for soil treatment, treat-ment, something to allay the dreaded dread-ed fungus disease, something with which Associated could rejuvenate I their used lands, then there was good reason for guarding the secret "You still haff frriends ofer der Negro vith Associated?" . The amusement in Curt'i eyes was a better answer than his words. The trend of the interview, Curt'a feeling that Montaya was exhibiting exhibit-ing him to the doctor, a certain indefinable in-definable deference in Montaya'a at. titude toward the Dutchman, convinced con-vinced Curt that whatever tot J lcn djdn't bleed had 'titer death, after the Co"rsing in the body. ;it their little girl?" he Tl J' five, isn't she?" 'X sad about her. Poor - ; We have her at the Present, where the - ook after her. I am si Untouch with relatives . ' "Mked the photographs Y placed them in their I drew from his pocket J cigarette case and , t the lid one of the 1 Turkish cigarettes apparently he was con- Problem. Ill 'J said, picking his ould be natural for you 'ethe murderer of Mr. JJ8ht to justice. I also ' ssure you everything ; a could be done. You me, Mr. Curtis, it aste of time for you to 'have failed." I ? before he managed, 1 LiBesides' ,haU i con- motive? If if, I ! Z been "staken nd ' still about, then be man than w fotnir, |