Show aft 1 I 1 40 bul OUTLAWS L A W S of EDEN D r 0 0 by petey peter B kyne evne 40 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 service by bleter peter B D kyna kyn 0 CHAPTER XII 15 1 the board of supervisors granted the petition unanimously and amidst cheers and rejoicings rejo icings babions Bab sons speech in ID rebuttal to bagaus Ga gaus gaits proved to be the masterpiece of his bis career he read to the meeting the law under which the district proposed to operate read it right out of ft the code ot of civil procedure too and pooh poked the idea of a slick metropolitan politan lawyer trying to frighten honest and intelligent men with crazy bugaboos buga boos of unconstitutional law that was and for some years had been embodied in the code it if this law was unconstitutional he yelled its unconstitutionality tiona lity would have hare been discovered before the bill was even submitted to the legislature and it if it been discovered then the legislature a majority of whom are practicing attorneys would have discovered it and even if the legislature had un unbelievably belley failed ailed to discover it the supreme court whose duty it Is to pass upon the constitutionality of our state laws would long since have discovered it pooh pooh and a couple of what nota for the mighty mr gagano we are not to be bi frightened by men of straw the project moved forward without delay sixty days from the date of the approval of the petition by the board of supervisors the forlorn valley irrigation district had bad come into legal existence by a very substantial majority of the residents in the area to be irrigated silas babson tired fired but happy and triumphant was as its it president henry who owned ten acres in the district was the secretary and the bank of valley center was the depositary of the funds of the district within two weeks after t the be district had come into official being the state water commission obligingly allocated to it the good flood waters of eden valley creek A bond issue was got out alth in a week within two weeks the state board certification committee had certified the bonds as legal investment for trust companies and savings banks and by unanimous vote silas allis babson I 1 was given the job of disposing of them to the hl highest hest bidder A new kew york house wired in a bid of ninety one and after dev devolin otin a month to the task babson decided this offer was one point higher than lie he could secure locally so the district closed on the offer and with the receipt of the proceeded at once to spend it although babson took measures to apprize himself of the return of nate tichenor to eden valley his scouts brought him no news of the batters lat arrival although as a matter of fact tichenor had returned some four months after his departure tie ile came in over the mountains to the south in a four passenger cabin plane and landed to in the meadow just below the kershaw ranch house bouse lorry was in his arms before he be was half way up to the house well im all cleaned up in the east he told her now far have you progressed in the settlement of your fathers estate all ready to close as soon as I 1 can find the money to pay the state awl federal estate taxes they arent nearly so much as I 1 had feared thy thoy would be the cattle of course were appraised at the low price existing on dear little outlaw I 1 love you so he murmured and kissed per her a dozen times the day of fathers death and bek beef Is up to nine and a halt half in the ranch now and should be twelve cents within a year im told by my cattle brokers and the federal tax appraiser deel dul the land liaa has been greatly depressed in value by reason of the diversion of the water to forlorn valley a favor ll 13 abson ibson realize he was going to do you Is everything on the ranch running smoothly nothing coining up tip that rube tenney cant attend to I 1 S she he nodded As soon as beef goes to tn ten cents ill sell five alve thousand fat pay the taxes and close the th estan tir it il nt hald thein over till spring and cl alo eta vents maybe ill loan doai you the money to pay the taxes allow soon can you marry me in about three minutes if we had a license and a preacher handy he glanced up at the sun justlee justice long delayed madeth the heart sick he orated likewise marriage after youve made up your mind you skip right into the house climb into your sunday dress throw a few things in your old straw suitcase and meet me here in ten minutes weve just about got time to get over the mountains and into reno before dark in california we have to announce our intention to married and then wait for three days la in case we decide to change our mind my mind Is made up so well take our trade to nevada and avoid annoying delays youre a man after my own heart lorry cried joyously and came into his arms ile he held her close his bis finger under her chin tip tilting her sweet face toward him the while he appraised her hungrily comparing her with the girls of her age in the world he had known before the homing instinct had brought him back to eden valley lie ile thanked god she soft that she had cad high courage initiative and the power of instantaneous decision in an emergency that hers was the old fierce unquestioning loyalty loyally that was his own heritage A man could rely on her always lie he told himself know always exactly where she stood she was incapable of fibs bibs evasions or the tears that camouflage little feminine deceits dece its her code was a masculine one but of a quality rare enough in this decadent generation the code of a gallant gentleman plus that of the very finest of her own sex yes res she had character courage humor self reliance capabilities of ex w self sacrifice tenderness helplessness an angel with a touch of the devil in her well better a touch of the alie devil than a trace of the cat dear little outlaw I 1 love you so he murmured and kissed her a dozen times make it snappy time and visibility wait for no pilot half an hour later as they roared upward in great spirals to gain albl altitude before crossing the mountains mountain they looked down on eden valley to that tragic creek winding its silvery way dav through the green meadows to the little black dots that were loorya cattle and the little white dots that were the homemade home made headstones chiseled from native granite and marking the graves of all the lIen an kershaws Ker shaws that had gone before 1 I wonder what thinking ot of up yonder the girl shouted in fill hl ear ue he pretended he did riot not understand her iye ive been so busy I 1 get started ou on that new house I 1 planned he shouted back but well tackle it the minute wo we get back so she knew he had at last left his dead and his old bitter memories behind him and there above eden valley as her little hard calloused capable hand closed over his she dropped hers also she shed happy tears in the knowledge that never again would hard work penury and lonell loneliness Dess be tier her portion the sun was setting getting on eden now but when for them it should rise again on eden the serpent would be gone in june of 1027 the news spread through forlorn valley of the return of mr air and mrs nathan tichenor to eden valley shortly thereafter huge trucks laden with lumber and building materials came through valley center from gold run bound lor for the old circle K ranch immediately cherr brei shaw the manager of the valley center lumber yard motored up to the circle K to see nate tichenor Tl chenor and ask for a share of this new business lie ile had been received courteously and told that no orders for lumber lumb eror or building material could be given him because silas babson was one of his bis heaviest stockholders when crenshaw returned to valley center he informed the local chamber of commerce of the projected outlay of a great deal of money in eden valley nate Tic tichenor and his wife had merged their ranches the old bar 11 headquarters were to be razed and the old circle K log ranch house was to be given over to rube tenney and his family after the Dors hail had erected on the circle it a country home that was to cost not less leas than a hundred thousand dollars there were stables and kennels to be erected also grounds to be laid out and flowers dowers planted the lunatic tichenor was even going to build a nine hole golf course and a huge swimming pool crenshaw thought that the payroll for labor necessitated in these operations should go to valley center so the vice president of the chamber of commerce called upon TIc tichenor to suggest it forlorn valley in general and valley center in particular wishes to forget the past and be friendly with you sir mr Tl tichenor chenor lie stated As proof of that feeling I 1 call your attention to the fact that we gave you the use of the freshet waters of eden vall valley ey creek this spring when we found we use them ourselves owing to the necessity for concrete concreting g our diversion canal we have to do that but we desired to make a friendly gesture my dear man I 1 ordered those flood gates opened myself and I 1 had men guarding them with rifles so that nobody would close them until our lands had had their annual soaking the sort of 0 friendly gesture I 1 made to forlorn valley I 1 was on my honeymoon at the time and want to bother with the law so I 1 just went back to the old eden valley custom it worked and ill engage no labor from valley center or forlorn valley I 1 do not dot like anybody in that section of the county and heres another message you can take back with you within two years ill own every acre of 0 forlorn valley that Is included in the irrigation district ill fence it and run cattle over it at least the wells wella will supply drinking water for my cattle and when the farmers in the district have been dispossessed there will be no further necessity tor for the thriving town of valley center so it and its chamber of commerce will disappear valley center win will then the thenice nibe be a ghost town town inhabited by ghosts the vice president of the chamber of commerce was irritated but he was also amused Is there no way in which we can escape this horrible fate faie that awaits us lie he pleaded in mock distress I 1 1 yes I es there Is tichenor replied seriously get rid of that buzzard babson and start doing your own thinking show an inclination to be fair and ill meet you two thirds of the way toward an amicable adjustment of this water war continue to permit babson and his paid newspaper to print lies about us and ridicule us and ill smash you and after ive smashed you y III buy up the pieces and own the district I 1 tell you when I 1 get through with the state of california that state will be out of the business of giving away water it does not own and that document babson got from the state water commission will be perfectly worthless ills visitor gazed upon tichenor Tl chenor h humorously u ly what a long tall our cat cata got he murmured oh im only a common little bobcat now tichenor chenor Tl replied easily wait until I 1 develop into a tiger and then watch my tall swish I 1 CHAPTER XIII the forlorn valley irrigation district proceeded at once to the task of concreting its huge diversion canal the job was completed by november first almost fro from the beginning the diversion canal ran halt half full and lake babson commenced to take form the snowfall was unusually heavy that year also but spring came early and the runoff run off due alue to the melting snow commenced about the middle of january this was the season of overflow in ID eden valley creek the season of gods gift of tree irrigation to the circle K line brad the bar el and nate tichenor Tl chenor watching the waters rise knew that in another twenty four hours the freshet would be on so he and rube tenney and half a dozen armed men opened the floodgates flood gates in defiance of the ditch tenders protest and the flood roared on down eden valley the ditch tender immediately mounted I 1 lis Is horge hors e and rode down to valley center to report flat this act of vandalism to tn silas babson who nan into gold run and as president of the forlorn valley irrigation district petitioned the judge of the county superior court for an order restraining nathan tichenor chenor Tl et al from interfering with the orderly diversion of the flood waters of eden valley creek to the canal of the forlorn valley irrigation district to parsons Bab sons vast amazement the judge declined to issue the restraining order 1 I hold babson he informed the latter that the law u under rider which the state water commission has been empowered to allocate to rl owners the flood or waste waters of riparian owners Is if you do go to the pen babson warned lional and that hence forlorn valley has no legal right to the flood waters of eden valley creek why our supreme court declared the law unconstitutional because nobody has carried a water fight up to the supreme court A week had gone by since nate tichenor chenor Tl and his men had opened the flood gates up in the handle and as aa yet babson had not been able to secure legal relief upon his return to gold run therefore lie he called upon the sheriff of the county and requested reque steil that official to take halt half a dozen of his deputies and guard the employees of the forlorn valley irrigation district against attack by nathan tichenor Tl chenor et al al when the former closed the flood gates in defiance of Tich enors dictum in the interest of pence peace the sheriff consented and the following day the gates were closed without interference ter from nate tichenor chenor Tl and his men indeed not one of them appeared to protest the closing of the gates the next morning nate tichenor chenor Tl dropped in at the bank of valley center and said to babson 1 I merely dropped in to tell you babson that while you were scurrying scurry ln around a whole week seeking an injunction against my wife and me you get our lands had a grand soaking from that weeks overflow we would have liked another week of it but when you brought the sheriff and his deputies around I 1 concluded it was the part of wisdom to be sails fled with the water we had already received but as summer advances I 1 warn you well have to have our legal share of that water and if we do not get it im going to put a couple of 0 hundred pounds of dynamite under that concrete diversion dam of yours and ad blow it out ul it if you do go to the pen babson warned only conly my kind forbearance has kept you out of it do not forget pitt river charley you do not know where he Is but I 1 do I 1 may bring him back to testify against you you convict me Ter perhaps haps not but I 1 can shake public confidence in you you smug hypocrite you realize of course that when the forlorn valley irrigation district was wa formed and a deed of trust on all of the lands embraced in the district wr wit given with a san francisco trust company as trustee to secure the bond last issue ie the district floated Toa ted all of tin the first firs t mortgages and deeds of trust on lands within the district given to your bank to secure prior loans have now become second liens against those lands you realize do you that if th forlorn valley irrigation all district strick should go bust the foreclosure of ta alit wil deed of trust given by the district wll 1 automatically wipe out the liens held by your bankc TO um BB continued |