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Show t I ' V ' THE WEEKLY REFLEX. KAYSVILLE. UTAH , When the Colorado .Burst Its Banks andi Flooded the Imperial Valley of California By Ednah Aikeri Copyright, STORMS HOVER OVER THE CANVAS HOUSEHOLD . OF THE Synopsis. K. C. Rickard, an engineer of the Overland Pacific railroad, is called to the office of President Marshall in Tucson, Ariz. While waiting Rickard reads a report on the ravages of the Colorado river, despite the efforts of Thomas Hardin, head of the Desert Reclamation company. Hardin had been a student under Rickard in an eastern e and had married Gerty Holmes, with whom Rickard had fancied he was in love. Marshall tells Rickard the Overland Pacific must step in to save the Imperial valley and wishes to send Rickard to take charge. Rickard declines because he foresees embarrassment in supplanting Hardin, but Is won over. Rickard goes to Calexico and, on the way learns much about Hardin and his work. Rickard meets Mr, and Mrs! Hardin Aid Innes Hardin, the former's half sister. At the company offices he finds the engineers loyal to Hardin and hostile to him. Rickard attends a meeting of the directors and asserts his authority. Hardin rages. Estrada, a Mexican, son of the Father of the Imperial Valley, tells Rickard the general situation and expresses forebodings that the col-leg- , CHAPTER VII Continued. The windstorm the previous week had made a sickening devastation of alone her labors. The morning-glorie- s were scatheless. A pink oleander drooped many broken branches from which miracles of perfect flowers were unfolding. The. prettiest blossom to Hardin was the gardener herself. She was vivid from eager toll, nardin looked at berapprobatively. He liked her khaki suit, simple as a uniform, with Its flowing black tie' and leather belt. She looked more like herself today. She had bleached out. In Tucson. She had been letting herself get too tanned, running aitaund without hats. Sunburn paled the value of those splendid eyes of hers. He could always tease her by likening them to topazes. His eyes ran .over the pink and purd vines which ple lines of made floral screens for her tent. Free of the strings overhead, they rioted over the.ramada, the second root, of living boughs. He acknowledged their beauty. They gave grace to bare necessity ; they denied the panting, thlrstjr desert Just beyond. He remembered his own ramada. Gerty had hated It, had complained of It se bitterly . when she1 came home from New York that he had had It pulled down and replaced by a V roof of pine boar$, glaring and ugly. Gerty was satisfied, for It was clean ; she no longer felt that she lived In a squaw house. Let the Indians have ramadas ; there was no earthly reason she should. He had urged that the desert dwellers had valuable hints to give them. But what was a remada to him, or anything else! Hardin turned to leave. She did not want him to go so soon. She pointed out a new vine to him. She had brought it from Tucson; Kudzu, they called It; a Japanese vine. And there was another broken rose, quite beyond the help of stripped handkerchiefs and mesqnit splints. ne followed her around the tent, her prattle falling from his grim mood. He was not thinking of her flowers except as a mocking parallel. The desert storm had made a havoc of his garden a sorry botch of his life. He and Innes had been trying to make a garden out of a desert; the desert had flouted them. It was not his fault Somethings had happened ; something quite beyond his power. Luck was turning against him. Innes, why, she was playing as with a toy. It was the natural instinct of a woman to make things pretty around her. But he had sacrificed his youth, his chances. His domestic life, too he should never have carried a dainty little woman like Gerty into the desert. He had never reproached her for leaving him, even last time when he thought It was for good. The word burned his wound. - Whose good? His or Gertys? Somehow, though they -cord-traine- . -- lowing had been the brightest of his life, ne was sure then that Gerty loved him. The wrangles were only their different ways of looking at Of course, they loved each things. other. But Gerty couldnt stand pioneer life. She had loved him, or she would net so easily have" been persuaded to try it over again. She yearned to make him comfortable, she said. So she had gone back, and pulled down his ramuda, and put his clothes In the lowest bureau drawer! It wasnt either of our faults," he ruminated. It was the fault of the institution. Marriage itself Is a failure. Look at the papers, the divorctf courts. A mans Interests are no longer his wifes. Curious that It should be so. But Its a fact. ,It is the modern discontent Women want different careers ' from their husbands. could how he Yet help throwing his life into his work? He had committed himself; It was an obligation. If it were not for that indefinable something, his allegiance to the cause which mocked at reasons and definitions ; oh, he knew I he had tilted with Gerty and been worsted he would have resigned from his company, his company which had dishonored him. Why should he stay to get more stabs,, more wounds? And the last blow, this pet of Marshalls! Hardin gave a scantling In hl3 path a vicious kick. The girls prattle had died. She walked with him silenfly. At the door of her tent, she stopped, looking at him wistfully. She wished he could hide his hurt. If he had only some of Innes pride I "now are things?" She used their fond little formula. Oh, rotten growled Hardin, flinging away. The gate slammed behind him. 1 v 1 CHAPTER VIII. -- wrangledr'heralwaysknewIf Would turn out all right; life would run smoothly when they left the desert. But things were getting worse; his mouth puckered oyer some recollections. Yet he loved Gerty ; he couldnt picture life without her. He decided that it was because there bad never been anyone else. Most fellows bad had sweethearts before they married; he had not, nor a mistress when she left him, though God knows, It would have been easy enough. His mouth d fell Into sardonic lines.' Those women! No one, even when a divorce had hung over him. Oh, he knew what their friends made of each of Gertys lengthened flights ; he knew ! Rut that had been spared him, that vulgar grisly spectacle of modern life "when two people who have been lovers drag the carcass of their love over the Ertmy floor of a curious gaping court. He shuddered. Gerty loved him. Else, why had she come back to him? Why bad she not kept her threat when he refused to abandon his desert project pnd turn .. LU abilities - Into - a - more Profitable dedication? lie could see her face as she stared Cushing up Into ,his that nipping cold day when he had run into her on Broadway. He remembered her coquetry when she suggest-e- d that there was plenty of room in her apartment I His wife I She spoke f seeing his pictures In the papers. "He had grown to be a great man !" That piquant meeting, the week fol half-bree- - The broad v as cut in precise triangles ; the butter had been shaved Into -looking roses. A pitcher of the 'alleys favorite beverage, iced tea, tood by Hardins plate. There was a platter of cold meats. It came home to Innes for the hundredth time, the surprise of suh a meal in that desert. A few years ngn, and what had a meal been? She threw the credit of the little lunch to sulky Tom Hardin lying on the portiere-covere- d couch, his ugly lower lip against an unsmiling vision. It was Tom, Torn and his brave men, the sturdy engineers, the dauntless the Indians who had dug the canals, those were the ones who had spread that pretty table, not the buxom little woman darting about In pink gingham. Is it because I dont like her?" she mused, her eyes on the pictures in the style book which had Just come In that morning. Certainly Gerty did have the patience of a saint with Toms humors If she would only lose that Bet look of martyrdom It was not for an outsider to judge between a husband and wife, even if the man were her own brother. She could not put her finger on the germ of their painful scenes; she shrank from the recollection of Toms temper; his coarse streak, the Ginpg fiber, her own moth r called It. Tom was rough, but she fined him. AVliy was It she was sine that Gerty did not love hi r husband Yet there was the distrust, as fixed and ns unjust perliaps as the suspicion of Gertys little mysteries. She said aloud: This Is your last day. My week begins tomorrow." Mrs. Hardin adjusted a precise napkin before she spoke. I think I will keep the reins for a month this time. Her words were reflective, as though the thought were new. I get my hand In just ns I stop. I will be running out for my visit lr. a few weeks. It will be only fair for me to do it as long as I can. Agnln the girl had a sense of subtlety Whenever Gerty put on that air of childish' confidential deliberation, she hunted for the plot. This was not far to seek. Her sister-in-lawas passing out the hot season to her. Its all ready." Gertys glance was winging, birdlike, over the table. Nothing had been forgotten. She gave a little sigh of elastic satisfaction. Hardin misinterpreted 1L I ought to be able to keep a servant for her." It was like him to have forgotten the Lawrence days; be was never free of the sense of obligation to the dainty little woman who was born, he. felt, for the purple. There was npthlng too good for Gerty. He felt herKytnspoken disappointments ; lief deprivations. Of course, she can have no respect for me. Im a failure." "Doesnt this give you an appetite? And Im demanded Innes heartily. to be a lady for three more weeks, The remark was thoughtless. A bright flush spread over Gerty's face. She caught an allusion to her origin. Innes saw the blush and remembered the boarding house. She could think of nothing to say. The three relatives sat down to that most uncomfortable travesty, a social meal where sociability Is lacking. Innes said It had been a pleasant morning. Gerty thought It had been hot And then there was silence again. . Innes began to tell them of her Tucson visit, when Gerty laid down her foreign- HARDINS AS RICKARD TAKES THE REINS. work will fall. 1 Under the Veneer. An honr later Innes, blinking from the sun, stepped Into the tent, which had been partitioned with rough redwood boards into a bed chamber on the right, a combination dining room and parlor on the left. Her glance Immediately segregated the three stalks of pink geraniums la the center of the Mexican drawn-wor- k cloth that covered the table. Gerty, herself, In a fresh pink gingham frock, was dancing around the table to the tune of forks and spoons. It was Just like Gerty to dress up- to her setting, even though It boud were only a pitiful quet She had often tried to analyze s hold on her brother; her were not happy. Was It certainly they because she made him comfortable? Was It the little air of formality, or mystery, which she drew around her? Her rooms when Innes was allowed to enter them were Always flawless; Gerty took deep pride In her - out-thru- st sur-eyor- s, 1 V w water-starve- sister-in-law- house-keepln- Why was sus- picion of an underlying untidiness? There was always a closed door on Gertys processes. The sun was still May I help? yellowing the room to her. Hello I Hardin looked up from the couch where he was lying. Innes suspected It of being a frequent retreat She had found it tumbled once when she ran over early. It was then that Gerty made It understood that she liked more formality. Innes was rarely In that tent except for meals now, or daring her alternating week of house chores. I was afraid I was late," said the let-tri- ce the-or-de- surprised me so. My boss kept me." Hardin's face looked coarse, roughened by his ugly passion., Rickard, your old friend. He served a subpoena on me at the station. Oh," cried Gerty. Surely, he did . not do that, Tom I" Sure he did." Hardin's face was black with his evil mood. "I'm only an underling, a disgraced underling. Hes my boss. Hes going to make me remember It" You mustnt saj such things," pouted his wife. If It does not hurt you, If you do not care, think how I must feci" Oh, rot P exclaimed Hardin. The veneer was rubbed down to the rough wood. Innes saw the coarseness her mother had complained of, the Glngg fiber. I suppose you think I like to take orders, to Jump at the snap of the whip? He was deliberately beating up his anger Into a froth. .Ob, sure, I do. Thats - a Hardin, through and through." Again the angry blood flooded his wifes cheeks. He, too, was throwing the boarding house at her. You aid It yourself. Gerty with difficulty was withholding the angry tears. I told you how it would be. You would do It." "Ob, hell 1" cried Tom, pushing back his plate. His sister looked drearily out the d door. Her view was a dusty street. Hardin got up, scraping his chair over the board floor. And to keep It from me," persisted the w'ife. "To let me ask him to di- Company il ou? Ilardln addressed the stenog rapher la the transparent shirtwaist. Does he think were going to have The Rivals. From the window of the adobe office .mother Hood this season? Thinks Its bull hug of the company, Hardin saw going to reach the hotel and wet his Rickard Jump from the rear platform lothcs? Take the starch out of his of the train as it slowed into the stat- shirt"?" lie flung out of his chair, ion.- He noticed that the new matinbrowing the papers back Into the ee r carried no bag. drawer. Wonder what he's decided to do lie stamped out of the office, mad about the hendgate. lie didnt waste lear through. To this crisis they had much time out there." Hardin was sent down a dandy, a bookman who fidgeting In Ids seat, his eyes on the wanted to build a levee. Oh, hell I approaching figure. Theyll eome crawling after me to IUcknrd passed through the room, help them after this fellows burled nodding to his office force. The door iltnsolf under river mud, come calling of tho Inner office shut behind him. to mens they Maitland failed, Hardin stared at the blank surface. He llense, Mr. Hardin, wont you come moved restlessly In his swivel chair. back and finish your gate I Ill see Did the fellow think a big thing like them dead first No, Ill be fool enough that could hang on while he unpacked to do It. I cant help myself. Im a Hardin. I have to finish what Pve beCHAPTER IX. dld-nfte- r gun." It was not because this was a pet enterprise, the great work of his life, that he must eagerly eat humble pie, take the buffets, the falls, and come whining buck when they whistled to him. lie told himself It was because of his debt to the valley, to tho ranchers. The colonists were about desperate. Who could blame them? The last years floods had worked lmvoc with their crops; this jear had boon a horror. The. district they culled No. 0 was a screaming Irony of ruin. The last debauch of the river hud made great gasL's through the ranches, had scoured deep gorges which had undermined the ennuis on whfch the water supply for No. 0 depended. The suits were piling up against the D. 11., damage suits, and they hold up his gate, while he gets the curses of the valley. And Mr. Rickard thinks hell build a levee I He flung himself on the couch in the tent. Gerty was laying a careful cloth for supper. A brave, determined smile was arranged on her lips. The noon storm had passed. She hummed a Are You Going On With It?" gay little tune. If there was anything his trunks and settled his bureau draw- Hardin hated it wqs humming. ers? He picked up a pencil, Jabbing at Youll have your dude to dinner all the pope cf his report lie covered right, her husband announced. Hea the sheet with figures three hundred In town. six hundred. Blx hundred feet Yes, I know," rejoined his spouse. Whose fault that the Intake had I had a letter from him yesterday. widened, doubling Its- width, trebling From Imperial." Its problem? Whose but Marshall's, Tom sat up glaring. He wrote te who had sent down one of his office you from Imperial?" clerks to see wbat Hardin was doing? wife nig misplaced the accent She Wouldnt any man In bis senses know misunderstood Toms scowl. It Was that the way Maitland would distin- the old over story again. Whenever guish himself would be by discrediting those two men came together the old Hardin, by throwing bouquets to Marmust be revived of feeling Jealousy - his plan? They all go shall; praisingI It was unpleasant of course, at It the same sickening wayl Office again to have men care like vi ry unpleasant, clerks, bah I Sure, Maitland had adit but made life exciting. Life that vised against the completion of the been getting a little stale lately f had gate! Said It would cost more In time like a book of even plot and money than Hardins estimates. Rickards entrance obvious, Into the story gave Thanks to Maitland It did, growled a new hew twist a She Interest Hardin, scrawling figures over the hummed an air from a new that opera By the time Maitland finished had set the world page. waltzing. monkeying with that toy dam of bis nardlns thoughts did not touch her the river had widened the break from three hundred to six hundred feet Fo; at the, hem. He was at the headgate, his gqj e. What the deuce had Rickard that, they throw mud at me. Oh, It makes me sick." Hardin flung bis gone to Imperial for? If he wasnt the darnedest asst Imperial I And the broken pencil out of the window. the room. The gate bung upl Rickard For Gods sake stop that buzzing I" question leaped from Hardin. The happy little noise was quenched. The hcadgate are you going on Innes, entering at that moment, heard with It? She looked Implor-Rickard looked curiously at the the rough order. sister-in-laflushed antagonistic face of the man ingly at her Supper's on the tablA" cried Gerty, be bad supplanted. The thought the fixed, determined smile still on. her crossed his mind that perhaps Ilardlr lips. Ithad taken to drinking. made his , answer curt I don't know." You dont know P I have no report to make, Mr. Hardin, until I see the gate. And you went to the Crossing with out going down to the head gate?" Hardin did not try to conceal his disgust I did not go to the Crossing. Didnt go I Hardin's mouth was gape. Then he rudely swiveled his chair. The door slammed behind Rickard. Hadnt been to the Crossing? Then where In Hades did he go? lie halted MacLean who was passing him. Are yon going to the Crossing tomorrow T Hardin knew be should be too proud to betray his eagerness, bul; the words ran away with him. Not tomorrow. Mr. Rickard Just told me he might not be able to get of! until next week." Hardin's anger sputtered. Next week. Why does he rush so? Why doesnt he go next year? The Colorado, so gentle, Itd wait for him. Im surei Next weekl Its a put-u-p Job, thats what It Is. Oh. I can see through a fence with a knothole as big as your head. He doesnt want to finish the beadgate.He wants to put off going unjll Its too late to go on with It; know him. Hed risk the' whole thing, and all thelmoneythe O. s chucked Into it. Just to start with clean slate; to get the glory of stopping the river himself. It turns my stomach; its a plot" -- The lower Up shot out. MacLean'a attention was deferential, ne had always liked Hardin; all the fellows did. But he was Jumping off wrong this time. Hed brought It all nner" gr girL Lunch will be ready in a few minutes," announced Gerty Hardin. Wont you sit down? Theres the new Journal. Sam came to clean this morning, and 1 couldnt get to the lunch until an hour ago." Innes, settling herself by the reading table, caught herself observing that it would not have taken her an hour, to get a cold lunch. Still, It would never look so Inviting!' If Getty's domestic machinery was complicated and private, the results always were admirable. The early tomatoes were peeled as well as sliced, and were lying on a bed of cracked Ice. The ripe black olives were resting In a lake of California olive olL A bowl of crisp tad been Iced and .carefully dried. - wire-screene- itrlnnes wondered, that she could never shake off her mantled Tom, waking up. Who'd borrow your what, Gert? Please dont call nu Gort, Tom, A fig besought his wife plaintively. ure. I wanted Innes to try to get one for me In Los Angelos." I drd tty, began innes. Yours Is good enough for anyone. He Why should jou get another? was openly admiring the ample bUM swelling under the pink gingham. Dont, Tom." Innes tried to explain the sincerity of her search. She had visited every store which might be supected of having a figure." She could not bring a smile to her sisters face. There was none your size. They offered to order one from Chicago. They have to he made to order. If they are spaelal sizes. You are not stock size, did you know that?" I should think not, cried Gerty, My waist Is absurdly small bridling. for the size of my hips and shoulders." fniies wondered If it would be safe to agree with her. When will It be here?" Innes Youll be disappointed. found herself stammering. But not for six weeks. I did not know whether to order It or not." And I In Los Angeles with my summer sewing all done! What good will it do me then? The pretty eyes looked toady for childish tears. I know. That Is, I didnt know wlmt to do, apologized Innes Hardin. I decided to order it as Id found the place, and was right there, but I made r Mire that I could countermand I can So tills very by telegram. afternoon. I knew you would bo disappointed. I was sorry." Til need It next winter," admitted Gerty, helping herself to some of the chilled tomatoes. Im sure Im much obliged to you. I hope It did not put you to much trouble." The words raised the wall of formality again, Innes bent over her plate. What made you change your plans? suddenly demanded his wife of Hardin. When Sam came In with your bag, he Bobba-McrrL- Does that dismal farce have to go on?" demanded Hardin, turning back to the tabIe"Y6ulI have tKhave It without me, then. Ill not stay and make a fool of myself. Ask him to dinner. Me t HI see myself." Innes wished she was In the neighboring tent- - Tom was lashing himself Into a coarse fury. To her dismay, Gerty burst Into tears. It was killing her, the disgrace, she cried. She couldn't endure it. She couldnt stand It there; she bad not the courage to go to Los Angeles, where her friends would pity her. It was crushing her. She was not a Hardin; she was sensitive; she could not Justify everything a Hardin did as right, no matter what the consequences. The pretty eyes obscured, she rushed, a streaming Niobe, from (he room. The brother and sister avoided each others eyes. Innes rose and cleared the table of the dishes. She made a loud noise with the running water In the shed, racketing the pans to drown the Insistence of Gerty's sobbing. She kept listening for Toms step. She wanted to go with him when he left; be must not reach the office in the blackness of that mood! She wished he would not betray his feelings ; yet she knew It was not he who was to blame. When she heard the screen door on himself. slam, she flashed out the back way. He said something about a levee for Going she called after him. Wait for me." She dashed Into her tent for The towns. Hes got to Investigate that her hat She had to run to catch up peforo he goes to the front." with him, I) A lTte? Well, wouldnt that Jar , fork. "Ive meant to ask you a hundred times. Did you attend to my commission in Los Angeles? I forgot to tell you. I raked, the town, really I did, Gerty." For there was a cloud on Gertys pretty brow. "I could hare got you the other kind, but you said you did not want It" T should think not." The childish chin was lifted. "Those complicated things are always getting out of order. Besides, if I had an adjustable form, everybody be borrowing It" What are you talking abofitr,do-- P.-ba- r I i . i 5 l V v 1.1 ' iU I IV n, ' J- . t I , n i xl f. t fr .4 L CHAPTER X. i Desert Dinner. Innes nardin was completing her simple toilet, Not even to please Gerty would she dress up" for the dinner. It would have been easy for her sister-in-lato postpone It How could she expect Tom to go through with It! She couldn't understand Gerty! An hour ago, hearlug distinctly the whir and' splash of she had run over to the neighboring tent The clinking of the cake tins had A w t ?' I rr egg-beatin- t sud-den- ly Excuse silenced. me, wont you?" Gertys voice had come from the little kitchen shed. the lean-tTm lying down." Llelng, yesl" grimaced the Hardin mouth to Its reflection In the mirror. How many times that week had she been repulsed by a locked door, a sudden curtain of silence or a Run away for a while. Im trying to catch a nap." Easy now to see why Gerty S o, had wanted to week hold the reins" that ! -- Nothing Had Been Forgotten. V" sit A congenial dinner, party, It may ba imagined, wia this one consisting of Hardin, the de- posed general-manag- Rick- er; ard, the man who hat supplanted him; Hardlna sister, who lovee her brother devotedly and resents bitterly-th- e appointment of Rickard to succeed him, end Hardin's "wife," former tweet. heart of Rickard. Read about this Interesting situation lr the next Installment. , (TO BE CONTINUED.) Bamooo trees do thirty years old, not bloom c: itil, i i I V 'A 4 f - |