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Show ' WATER, 77M BEARER, aJ1 Bj J.ALLAN DUNN A JMk AUTHOR. f "A MAN TO HIS MATE"" f LV "RIMROCK TRAIL v J XJ$' W V copyright ! f DOOD. MEAD and CO N-d X MISS MORGAN Synopsis. Idly fislilns Hermanns Her-manns creek. In California, Caleb w'.irner, civil engineer, ami a Kew I'MKlniuler, Is witness of the er.d of a coyote pulled down by Iwo wolfhounds, m-e.ed on by a sirl rider. Admiring the hounds, lie introduces himself, nnd learns her name is Clinton. With western west-ern hospitality she Invites him to le ranch to meet her father. At the Clinton home Warner learns his new friend's name Is Ketty. He is weleoiued by her father. Southern Civil war veteran veter-an and owner of llerinanos valley. val-ley. Warner lei's Hum some-thinsr some-thinsr of his ambitions and his feelinp that he is destined to be a -Water-Bearer." In the town of Golden Warner shares an apartment with his old Columbia college chum, Ted Paxter, carefree care-free and somewhat dissipated youth, only child of his widowed mother, who controls the family lertune. At a club lum-heon Baxter Bax-ter intrrduees Caleb to Wilbur Cox. leading business man and president of the water company which supplies the needs of Golden. He gives Cox an inkling of his ambitions, and Cox, impressed, im-pressed, invites him to dinner hat night. ' -1' CHAPTER IV Continued 5 The dinner was served in one of Ihe private dinin rooms of the club, known as the Red room. The quests wire those of the luncheon, with the it'Mitinn of young Cox and Caleb. It appeared that they had been in some conference that afternoon and that the dinner marked the end of satisfactory satisfac-tory arrangements. The tall; was all of mutual interests, Bis Business. It appeared that the afternoon's conference con-ference had been called in connection with the threat of other Californian cities to wrest from Golden its supremacy su-premacy as the metropolis of the Pacific Pa-cific coast. The great fire, following the earthquake, had given them opportunity op-portunity to creep up in population and general progress. Los Angeles irrts the most formidable competitor, ririi Oakville, across the bay from Golden, once only thought of as a suburb of the peninsular city but now, as the actual terminal of transcontinental transcon-tinental railroads that ended at deep water, an active rival. With so small a party Caleb was in pa.;y earshot of the conversation. Tlis Interests naturally centered cn Wilbur Cox and they quickened at the mention of water supply. "The hoard of public works will approve ap-prove t lie plans for filling the mains vidi salt water from the bay in case or" any big conflagration," said Cox. "That rill not only obviate any repetition repeti-tion of disaster through the conduits ', ''caking hetwee.i here and the reser- as iney uiu in tne quaKe, out win l'tove a saving." Jack Cox turned back to Caleb. "The governor insists that the vital "linu the matter with Golden's growth is tke question of adequate supply." he f:tid in an undertone. "Naturally lie concentrates on that point." "Is (here a shortage?" asked Caleb. "Likely to be, they tell me. Better iniz the governor if you're interested. ' oil pour out information on that sub-3' sub-3' I like a water-gate once he gets Shifted." Here was food for thought. Water shortage meant water development. It I'ht mean an opportunity. "The government project will take J'curs to put through," the host, was saving. ".Meantime we've got to get b;!sy.M "We're leaving that end of it to you, ft't." said Winton. "Conserving wa-,or wa-,or buying and selling water at a Prop! y,lr l)llsini,.:. "A reasonable profit." And a reasonable dividend," capped "'"'"n with a dry smile. ""ie dinner was not protracted. And " '"'oke up completely. These men Milieu all to have definite things to do l"'x'" nt the close of the day. The C'Wsts shook hands affably with Caleb. "An engineer? Intending to locate ''W You'll find plenty to do." Such uie consensus of their greetings, '"e result was heartening. Out here n H'O West th-y seemed to accept a '"''" ils efficient until he proved him-'lf him-'lf otherwise, he decided. In the -it It was dilTer-uit.. A stranger vnld stay years on approval, almost '"'ifi' suspicion, until he made good. Jack Cn- invited him to visit Im-I Im-I 1:11 valley, as his guest, to see what d boon done there and Caleb re-P';inlGd re-P';inlGd In kind to the cordiality nnd '''"'"t earnestness of the solicitation. .'m "e had an idea Baxter would Jve called it a hunch that he would 0 'ell to stay In Golden for a while, t," ,CUUivate Cox- Iis Yankee mind li,"'81 tbat here was a direct open- n widened it. said " t0wn for a few da-Vs'" 1e for "U "mst cnme UP ,0 "kv office j l'll!lt over things. And perhaps ,V""M like to look over the Crystal Springs properly? Our head engineer males regular tours. He goes Tuesday, Tues-day, by the way. I can arrange with him to show you round. We have some dams there that he is justly proud of. The line of earthquake fault ran right through them ami you can see for yourself how they stood It. How about it?" ; Caleb accepted eagerly. He had heard of the Crystal Springs dam. Its resistance to the temblor had been the world talk of engineering. "I shall be glad to come and see you," he said. "And glad of the chance to see the property. Thank you." "Good! I shall expect you then. 1 hope you have enjoyed yourself." Young Cox paired off with his father as the guests dispersed, and Caleb decided de-cided to wtilk home. An attendant gave him an envelope with his coat and hat. It was a card to the club, good for six weeks, applied for by Baxter and countersigned by Wilbur Cox. Caleb slipped it into his pocket gratefully. It was late before he turned in. Baxter was still out playing play-ing his "game." , On his- mahogany bureau there was ranged a galaxy of youth and beauty, the faces of about a dozen girls the number varied whimsically framed. Baxter styled them the "Gallery of the Three l's." Bast, Present and Possible. Pos-sible. "I frame the past in gunmetal," he said, "symbolic of spent ammunition. ammuni-tion. The present partners in the game smile at you from silver, indicative of fair, untarnished happiness. Those of the future, the possibilities, are lion- Iff tmw V) i yiiy ip L Soon He Wss Deep in the History of Golden. ored by gold." True it is only plated but it is gold on the surfaces harbinger harbin-ger of dawn, of coming pleasure, of the glow of anticipation. It is the hand that may fall to you in the next deal, Cal, that holds the real thrill of the game. That is why, when a 'possible' 'pos-sible' becomes a 'present,' I shift the fai- from gold to a silver grading, not that they are less dear, if more familiar, fa-miliar, but because the bloom always brushes off the peach when you handle han-dle it." When, the morning after the dinner, Caleb entered Baxter's room to find it. as lie had anticipated, untenanted; lie noticed a change in the line-up of the "three Ps." One of the gold frames bad been put away. One of the silver ones held a new face. It had not been one of those among the "possible," Caleb thought, though he had not paid very close attention to Baxter's gallery gal-lery This girl had, it would seem, capitulated too quickly to have ever been classed as a "possible." Caleb surmised it was the blond stenographer whom Baxter had termed the "peach," with whom he was now placing the "game." In the photograph photo-graph there was a suggestion that the bloom of this peach was artificial. The face was petulant, fond of pleasure, disinclined to count the cost. Caleb Idly fancied that the eyes held possibilities possi-bilities of storm that would be more than jtist a rain of tears on occasion, that the mouth could become hard and sullen If Its owner were crossed. He had breakfast alone In the apartment apart-ment house dining room. It was Sunday. Sun-day. He thought of visiting. El Nido but old custom precluded the idea of a Lord's day social call. He wondered if the public library would be open, thinking lliat he would like to read up the water history of Golden, of Oakville Oak-ville and Bos Angeles, and then he remembered re-membered the card in his pocket. The club library should prove adequate. The Altruists was a literary as well as an artistic institution. So he walked down town, to find the place almost deserted. de-serted. Everyone in Golden, It seemed, made the most of holidays out-of-doors. There was no one In the library with its easy chairs and big tallies, Ils desks and deep lounge In front of a mammoth fireplace. The walls were lined high with books, well arranged, so that It was little trouble to find what lie wanted. Soon he was deep in the history of Golden, with a big map of the Bay region close beside him. He went to bed early. Sometime In the night Baxter came home. Caleb found him sleeping the next morning, Ms head tucked on a forearm, handsome hand-some but Jaded, settled until noon. Caleb waited until Cox should have had time to answer his mall and then presented himself at the offices of the Crystal Springs company. Cox's greeting greet-ing was cordial. "Do you mind waiting a few moments?" mo-ments?" he asked. He pressed a desk button and a shrewd-appearing young chap entered whom Caleb rated as Cox's secretary. "Send me a stenographer, Harry, will you?" asked Cox. "I have given you all you can handle and I want to get out some instructions on that cement matter. The stuff is far from standard or contract oualitv." The stenographer entered, a girl, quiet, dressed in a dark business suit, deftly taking the dictation given her by Cox in a low, unhesitating voice. Caleb, looking over an engineering journal, hardly noticed her. "Take this letter," said Co:t, then turned to Caleb, as the girl changed a page in her notebook. "I find that Hinckley, our engineer in chief, is not coming in this morning. lie will be at Crystal Springs tomorrow, so I am going to give you a letter to him. A car will be here for you in the morning morn-ing at eight-thirty, if that suits you. I am sorry I cannot give the time to go with you myself." It was said graciously, with a certain cer-tain air of assurance that Cox would actually have gone with Caleb if he could have spared the day. "Now, Miss Morgan," said Cox. "To E. H. Hinckley, introducing Mr. Caleb Warner." The girl's poised pencil wavered for a second, while her face lifted and her eyes gazed wide at Caleb, then It dipped and automatically Inscribed stenographic characters. They were blue eyes and the fae- . Hie had seen before. Where? The dress was more demure, the blond hair less fancifully arranged, but there was no mistaking the features, the general expression, startled from business calm to personal interest. Miss Morgan was Baxter's "peachr" the girl whose photograph now occupied occu-pied one of the silver frames on Baxter's Bax-ter's bureau. Baxter was home, asleep, the girl was on duty. There were shadows under her eyes but there was a Hush in her cheeks as she stared at Caleb with an interrogation that was almost a challenge, before she bent to her work as Cox went on with the letter. Caleb imagined what she was wondering. won-dering. He had been mentioned to her by name by Baxter. She was trying to guess whether Baxter had done the same by her, whether Caleb had seen her photograph, what chance had lirought him to the private office and her into it on the same occasion? Caleb's face showed nothing and, when the letter was ended, he was again reading the journal. Nor did he look up when the girl left at Cox's "that is all, Miss Morgan." lie did not wish to embarrass the girl. What she did in her own time was. If it did not prove detrimental to her duties, her own affair most certainly not his. She did not return. A few minutes later the secretary came quietly in with the letter of introduction which Cox read, signed, slid into its unsealed envelope and passed to Caleb. I ' Miss Morgan is evidently Baxter's Bax-ter's "peach." A smart girl with a grievance? (TO BS CONTINUED.) . . . .. .--.......... Y.',Y.T.T.!.Y-:.Y |
