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Show e "Water Bearer CRYSTAL SPRINGS Synopsis Idly fishtnK Hor-maims Hor-maims imv.1, iii Cnllfornia, C'nlub WnriuT. civil ciiyhu-iT. mid a New KiiKinmlor, 3 witness of tlie end or roy.m milled dawn by two wolfhounds, urged on by r girl rider. Admiring the, hounds, he introduces himself, mid learns her name Is Clinton. Willi western west-ern hospitality she Invites him to the ranch to meet her father. At the Clinton home Warner learns his new friend's name is Betty. He is welcomed by her father, Southern Civil war veteran veter-an and owner of llermanos valley. val-ley. Warner tells them something some-thing of his nmbltlons and his feeling: 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 Baxter, care-I care-I free and somewhat dissipated ' youth, only child of his widowed mother, who controls the family ! fortune. At a club luncheon Bax-j Bax-j ter Introduces Caleb to Wilbur ; Cox, leading business man and I president of the water company which supplies the needs of Golden. He gives Cox an Inkling of his ambitions, and Cox, im-; im-; pressed, Invites him to dinner j that nlsht. During dinner Cox I asks Caleb to call at his oftlce J next day. He does no and Cox J arranges a meeting between Caleb Ca-leb and Hinckley, the water company's com-pany's chief engineer. CHAPTER IV Continued 6 "Present that at the gate to the - watchman," he said. "lie will get you in touch with 'Hinckley. The car is yours for the day." ne waved aside all thanks but he left Caleb pondering why he, witli no other medium than Baxter's introduction introduc-tion and the fact that he had been in the same war with Jack Ccx, and was a civil engineer witli a professed loaning loan-ing toward water development, should be tendered so many courtesies by this man of affairs. 'Western hospitality could not suflice for this. He surmised sur-mised that Cox might be in special need of engineers but such a premise was only barely probable. He found Cox surveying him with shrewd eyes in which a glint of something, that might be either kindliness or humor, shnne. "Anything you'd like to ask me?" he queried. "I shan't sign anything until I come back after lunch, Harry," he said, in dismissal of the secretary. Caleb took the question as a clever method of examination. Ills inquiries would be apt to show his caliber in short order. "I gathered, from what your son told me," he said, "and from what I heard of the talk at the table last night, that Golden faced, or was about to face, a water shortage that you considered prejudicial to the progress of the city. Is that so?" Cox nodded, took a box of cigars from his desk drawer, handed it to t'aleb, chose one himself, passed the matches and smoked for a few puffs before lie answered. "There is no mystery about it. It is on unpleasant fact. You are going to see the works tomorrow. I need not tell you that water is the life-blood of n city. It runs in its mains, in its flushing system, as it does through the arteries and veins of a body. Overbuild, Over-build, without water, and you have atrophy, as you cannot expect the blood that is sufficient for a child to sustain the body of a full-grown man. We know today exactly how many gallons gal-lons per capita we must figure on for a modern city with domestic, civic and manufacturing supply. The number of gallons in our reservoirs, divided by that ratio, marks the present limits of Golden's population, of its progress. And that limit is almost reached. "We cannot get more watershed. To dig more wells there are many artesian arte-sian wells- in the city would only diminish di-minish present flows. Distillation is not practical. Already the lower peninsula is badly off for water. We need a Moses to strike the rocks for us. Perhaps he may come out of the East," he ended, the glint in his eyes plainly a twinkle now. "Anyway, Sir. Warner, there is the situation. There is a fortune for the man who can find a solution for the present shortage. We have some schemes in view hut the cost prohibits them. The water supply must be pure as well as plentiful- Filtration alone Is a serious prohlem. "As to yourself? I should be only 'o glad to say we could use you In such development of Golden's water but none is forward. Would you care to connect yourself with a power company? com-pany? One is now on paper blue Prints and stock, with the latter almost al-most subscribed. It will take you up ln the mountains. The berth will be Pen within a few weeks. I can ar-""anire ar-""anire It for you." "You know nothing of my nualifica-uns," nualifica-uns," said Caleb. Cox smiled. "I'll take a chance on my own judg-mpnt," judg-mpnt," he said dryly. "You won't last long If you are incompetent. And you n't appear that. The place Is at eaver Lake, in Stanislaus county. iou'U be roughing it for accommoda-"on accommoda-"on of course. Rut it'll be good Practice in western methods. I fancy 5ou'll find them different from east-p,l'n' east-p,l'n' Different tvpe of labor, for one thing." Caeb did not immediately fill the Panse. He M,ado up his mind to s(My the Oolden proposition. It did not'U, possible that lie should dis-covcr dis-covcr something that Cox and his ex-''ts ex-''ts had overlooked on their own Rr""n( but that nebulous Miought was By J. ALLAN DUNN Author o "A MAN TO HIS MATE" "IUMROCK TRAIL" By Dodd, Mnad 4k Co. WKU Service "Thank you, I shall be glad to consider con-sider It," he said finally. "Do vou wish immediate acceptance?" "Make up your mind before the first of the month." There were sixteen davs between then and the first of the next month, lime enough, Caleb thought, to do something with his theory, prove or discard It. They walked up together to the Altruists. Al-truists. Caleb thought that Baxter might be there. Instead, there was a message to call up the apartment bouse. "Want to see you, Cal," said Baxter. Bax-ter. "If you haven't anything on that's important come for a spin with me. I know a little roadhouse over the San Mateo line where we can get some good chow." As they motored Baxter commented on Cox's attitude. "You don't owe me nnything." he said. "Get that out of your head, for It Is exactly what Cox meant to put Into it. About the Beaver Lake job, Cox Is one of those divided interests that have ramp rrvathf. tt-i, owned rights they wouldn't sell. I got to know about It over a real estate deal of my own that didn't come off. Can't you see that it will be to Cox's advantage to have a man up there of bis own choosing, on whose reports he can absolutely rely? That's why he's been nice to you nothing much out of the way, at that. It's what you'd call using the personal element, I suppose." sup-pose." Caleb was convinced that Baxter had something on his mind concerning his own affairs but he did not refer to them until the excellent lunch was finished. "I'm in a mess, Cal," he said when the waiter was tipped and dismissed. "Anything I can do, Ted?" "I don't know. I want to talk it over. It's a girl." The statement was almost unnecessary unnec-essary to Caleb but he said nothing. "The 'peach' Is turning out to be a citron. She's nice enough and a good sport and I believe she's fond of me. She says she is," he went on moodily. "And I've got to take her word for It. She wants me to marry her. And I can't. I won't. Whether It's the square thing to do or not. It wouldn't be the square thing. We'd be fighting fight-ing In a month. We're miles apart ln most things. You know, Cal." "She thinks you have to marry her?" "So she says. I can't disprove it. I'm not saying she lies. I might buy her off. I haven't got the money. She won't listen to reason about the 'kid.' " "It seems to me that's up to her. How long have you known her, Ted?" "Little over two months. Her picture's pic-ture's on my bureau. In one of the silver frames. Just put It there. Oh, h I !" He threw away his unsmoked cigar. "What do you want me to do? See her? I" "No, that wouldn't do any good. But, we had a bit of a row. I suppose I didn't take the news gracefully. She swears I don't love her. Perhaps she doesn't altogether believe that but she might. It's the truth, when you come right down to brass tacks. I suppose I'm a mucker but I honestly believe I'd be a worse one if I married mar-ried her." "Well?" "She talked about going away till it was over with. She's a crackerjack of a stenographer. She can earn her own living anywhere when she's not handicapped. I think I could fix things so she would go, if I could raise the money to look out for her while she goes through with the thing. She's set to do that," he added gloomily. "Tried to reason with her but it was no go. "It would take a couple of thousand thou-sand dollars," he went on, talking more rapidly. "I've got a deal on. I've got some parties who want to buy land for a little colony. A bona-fide proposition and I'm handling it direct. di-rect. I should make at least twenty thousand out of the deal. It's ripe. Got to come off pretty soon. But, I'm stumped as usual. You know that. What the mater sends just sees me through. I may have to raise some for an option. Could you let me have & the two thousand, Cnl? I don't know where else to go and I don't want to go shouting this thing about all over the shop." "I've got just eleven hundred dollars in the bank here," said Caleb slowly. "If I take up Cox's proposition I'll not need more than two hundred of that to carry me over till the first pay cheek. I have a house back East I can sell. The deal might take a week or so. They take their time there to pass deeds. But. ..." Baxter groaned, his head In his hands. "It's got to be two thousand, I'm afraid. You see if she goes away she'd be sore at me. I'd have to make her sore and she'd want the whole thing. And I won't have you selling your house. It wouldn't do any good. She'll change her mind Inside of two weeks. It isn't so d d imminent. She won't have to quit her job for a hit. At a pinch I'll make the mater come through. For the honor of the family 1" He laughed sarcastically. "If she can chip off a hunk of the principal for herself once in a while, she can do It for me once. The money was meant for me eventually. And, If It's put right up to her, she'll handle the girl, too, rather than hinder her own matrimonial prospects, as a scandal would. Now let's take a run down to the duck club. I'm secretary and I've got to give the shack the overlook before the season opens." Within the hour, tramping through the marshes to the shooting shack, he seemed to have forgotten his dilemma completely hut one sentence, an epitome epit-ome of Baxter's character, clung to Caleb. "Oh, I can stall along." He remembered, too, the hint of sullen stubbornness that had shadowed the girl's pouting lips. CHAPTER V Crystal Springs Hinckley, head engineer of thi Crystal Springs company, met the car at the outer gate of the property. He was a short, stout, but active man, with gold-rimmed spectacles over shrewd blue eyes about which spread a network of fine lines that spoke for humor and long habit of puckering under un-der sun-glare. He reminded Caleb somehow of an apple, firm and glowing glow-ing and sound. They rolled swiftly on through a strange region and a beautiful one. Sometimes they skirted a hillside where chapparal, manzanita and kindred kin-dred shrubs grew In a shoulder-high tangle that seemed too thick for anything any-thing less agile than a squirrel to explore. ex-plore. Beneath them flourished great ferns. Through them Caleb caught glimpses of lakes lying far below, bits of blue far deeper than the sky they mirrored and intensified. They turned abruptly to their right where the road ran beside a purling stream and boughs knitted overhead. The de?-"-nt was gradual and the car slid along noiselessly. "Here's the brick dam, a hit primitive primi-tive but a godsend to Golden ln the old days," said Hinckley. It was a beautiful sheet of water above the dam, set in the silence of a wooded canyon but they did not spend much time with it. Hinckley pointed directly across the water to a V-shaped gap in the opposing slopes. "There's the big dam," he said. "I want you to notice the laterals, the earth dams that divide the lake into three. See anything funny about 'em?'' Caleb gazed earnestly. On each side of these dams was set a gatehouse. Their tops were roads with the sides fenced. And these roads were serpentine. ser-pentine. "Any reason for not building -them straight from shoe to shore?" he asked. Hinckley emitted a satisfied sigh. "All ! They were built straight. The quake shifted 'em, twisted 'em, wrenched 'em, bent 'em but it didn't break 'em. They're sound as ever." Caleb looked his appreciation and bewilderment. Hinckley wrinkled his eyes. "Clay cores, my boy. Clay cores. Elastic. Like so much rubber. They bend but never break." "Did you anticipate an earthquake?" asked Caleb. With Baxter in a "mess" and Cox and Hinkley apparently friendly, the plot thickens. What next? (TO BE CONTINUED.) |