Show 7 when the colorado burst its banks arid and flooded the imperial ednah ahen valley of bf califor california nia copyright merrill compact A when man and nature clashed 4 V it was fiut t A short time ago that the whole nation was wae thrilled by news n elj of a mighty struggle agle in which mants mans ingenuity and strength were spitted against the seemingly irresistible force orce nature the tha great ty yellow illow dragon as ahe the indians indiana termed the tricky colorado river for anany many years had aenied all efforts tp control it t finally it threatened to overwhelm th tha rich cwi imperial valley of southern california in a last des desperate lerate ba tile ma i n tr I 1 humphe d the raging waters were cu curbed abedi the lei was saved ednah Al aiken kena ra daughter of the west realized that it wo wonderful i story could bew 0 ven about this thrilling chapter of western history hsi ory and ghisla 46 stop y thai she has given to cotrie the world ir inthe river it isla isa story of ohp doors a story of strong men who forg altheir el J their own differences tn 16 the battle for fop their kves and prop property i erty a story of women who place iove ind and loyalty above comfort and conven lince lence and oi of other wom women en who inthe smallness of their soul fall to L meet s t the he test icso it is a story that you will wilf enjoy from start to finish editors note CH CHAPTER efera 1 marshall sends Th elarge jarge i lound cloea wag was stalking stil king nine as casey dancing step carried him blin into ff ane ib outer office of tod Mar marshall shtil ahe tt itz ani clerk coat less jess ind and restless vest less ln n p expectation of alii fhe third hot spring day made a crit critical lEal appt appraisement of the engineers getup get up before lie he spoke then hen lie stated that mr marshall d biad not set come ifor 1 a london lie and ana a white silk shirt h ri b belted into white serge erge trousers trouse ri is were berb smart for tucson so h the clerks cleri tg aa in the employ of the overland Ov eiland pacific a and of the sonora an and oads fiad had stared af at ar i d gislie as he entered they followed his through ough the ilie room ho he wasa ans a newcomer in tucson son he had not yet acquired the apathetic habits of its citizens lie ile wore belts instead of suspenders ills white trousers trouse is duck or serge carried a diew newly pressed chease each morning the office had not reached a verdict averdick on the subject of K 0 rickard the ehert sleeved collarless clerks would have been quick quncie to du dub hima finif a dandy wera were it not tor ft a page 1 af pf ills history that thata was A puzzling bliem ilo had held a chair of engineering income eastern alty 7 11 he had resign resigned e d the wind tossed page said to ga go on the road idad as a fireman his rapid promotion had bad been bah spectacular the ilise move a few feni ysais years ago ago to to fill an office position in tucson the cummons had found 61 him in I 1 on we the jv west e si t coast of mexico where the overland Overla fid pacific was pushing t i its tracks you ca can 6 walt wait here suggested the clerk looking covertly at we the shoes of the man who ha a few years before beford had been shoveling coal on a wyoming engine mr marshall sold said to wait ribbons instead of xoe she lac laces eiff at carped the human Arla clil that m must ever write letters which other otila r m men en sign and ad P a blue plu pin to lo match his alel aj I 1 call that going somei it wg would u lf never nevar have occurred to rickard Elc kard had he t thought a about it at all that morning a as he hb knotted his tie of dark bark brilliant blue salk that the selection of ills his lapis pan in ivask w as 6 a choice chelce it iiii was an an ginev inevitable afable result alve discretion of his fingers it if warped iti ped however the suspended judgment of bf marshalls marchalls Mar men who wad had I 1 no never ver seen hini him shoy shoveling pling coal disfigured by a derm denim jumper they did not know that thac they themselves were werd ruined by the climate tl thai ai dulls drills vanity and wilts collars alve lam him a year to change some some oj of aw hla fine habits I 1 wagered smythe flie the stoop shouldered red clerk ag as the door of bf th the bInner inner office closed to change his habits lessl less I 1 amended tle the office offic eilt wit and then the fell to R speculating what Mai marshall masgo was go 1 ing to td do ao with him what palyn was lie he ir in the gima game that everyone eon followed with eager self interested concern conce I 1 tn Mai was the controlling hand in arizona politics thel the maker of governors the arbiter of big corporations s president ent oti of a half dozen railroads noi mot a move of hia on n the board that escaped notice v on the other side of the door rickard ads was echoing the office qu question eastlon this play job where did it ii lead to ile chehad liked hism his work ark 1 under geralton gt ralton there Ther ohad had been some pretty problems ems ic domeet inc et what wat did marshall Mar marshall shail bean to 16 do with him the note had bad set the appointment forna for nine nW reckard gig glanced need at his bis watch and took out his engineering erang review revie W it I 1 W would on 1 q be ten teft before that door opened on tod marshalll Hars halll he knew that on on the road mar work began atila at ila dawn ano A man wont break from oven overwork pr or rust from iche if he follows the example ok 0 the sun rickard had bad often ofte n heard beard him expound his ahli favorite theory ori it is only the the th syba eyba rites who can to pei pervert ert the arrangement nature intended for or us s 11 but to tucson controller by th the e wifely ly gollel solicitude tudo aa his CL Ca caidla udla 12 be w ano nn coerced into intha a regular fir y e isloel on ills Hs office never alave r saw him until the airn morning djs was half ciali 9 gone bhe I 1 A half hour later in teg finished reading a report on the diversion of a great grea desern Te sern river tfx tha ibrah of thomas hardin had sent honit ln 04 of on a 8 tangent of rrie memory morye the thomas bardln alardin abse efforts to bring wa water botho lidid the yom hardia ho li ad L nowa I 1 TL el s ter had told him so the girl with the odd bronze eyes opal they were avero with glints of kold gold or was it preen grean she herself heiselt wasas was as unlike the baw raw boor of his memo memory ryas as a woun moun tain aily k 0 t the I 1 ip coar coarse lock 0 of its background evau a half sister to hardim Hard ln alaf as marshall thear host nadin nor nef the he week before had explained lino li it no even evell th that at did not explain it any of th the bardln blood should be shared by the hie veins of that girl why it wai was incredible I 1 the name naine hardin Hard ln suggested crudity loudmouthed bragging con conceit celt lie ile could understand the failure of the aher river projects project since the abe sister had find ahsu assured red him that it was the same tom hardin who ho had gone to college at lawrence had married gerty IIo Il olmes lines queer business life that he should cross even so remotely their orbits again Tha that was a chapter he liked to skip he walked over to the windows shielded s by bright awnings rind and looked down on tho the city where the next nest few years of his life might be caught comforting b reflect chatan that an engineer Is like a soldier so lafer never can lie be certain about tomorrow time enough to io know that tomorrow meant nt I 1 what wash was that threadbare proverb in the ilie overland pacific that tod marshall arball always alway s keeps his men until they llo lose sa their teeth that de fl fineal netlie the men who made themselves necess necessary aryl 1 ills his eyes eye were resting on the bannar i ties of the modern n alt city that had robbed robbe d old town of its nayor fl were it not I 1 for the be beauty of the distant hills the jrr jar and rumble I 1 e of ithe the trains whose raar called to io nearby near by pleasure cities twinkling lights and crowded theaters stretches of parks and recreation grounds hp he who loved the thrill and confinement of an engine engan e who had found enticement in a desert a chapter of adventure in the barr barrancas ancas 0 of f Plex mexico leo would stifle in tucson american ican progress was as yet too thin a veneer 0 on a mexican indifference to make the place endurable as a city im good for a lifetime here it I 1 want it his thoughts the lights would work back to the starting place 1 I it I 1 knuckle flown down to it let him grow to depend on me its as good as settled that tha I 1 am burled buried in Tue tucson soul 1 he beard marshall himself say ay that he reely keep a kindergarten that his officio a training school for meirl he wanted his men to stay that one of the reasons of tile the great mans power oica detail deball rested crested ort on the shoulders of his employees it kept alq own brain clear receptive Lve to big lachler achievements cements Per perhaps happ as the work unrolls as I 1 sae see more of what he wants of me why he wants mei re 1 I may like it I 1 may get I 1 tie walked to the window to shout forTu for csont it was impossible enough to smile over childs work compared to mexico the distinction of serving marshall W weir certainly had lis its d drawbacks ra wricks ile he wanted to sweep on whether ho be bad a definite terminal a concrete goal had biad he be ev ever er sto stopped p ped to think specialization bad always it fascination for him it was that which had thrown him olif out of his Instructor instructorship slip luto the firebox fire boF of n awe western engine ishad it had governed ills his course at college to 6 kii know 0 0 one ue thing ng well an and d ali then ma 1 to prove that be knew it well I 1 go contented t aft ito mexican barrien art ha 1 air t restive after it a few aeson vor for what was lie liere bere iere adding what scrap of experience nce to the founding rounding do of f hla pra profession fes sion 7 i betro retro engineering g could c U 1 d hardly be said to be the th work of his choice rather bather ha bad d it at appeared to choose him from boyhood engineers had always been to him the soldiers of modern ervi lIza tion to con conquer quor and ana subdue in mountains ounita lus to shackle wild rivers to suspend trestles fes av over dizzy heights to throw the tracks of fin ali nd avancing van cing civilization along a newly neal blazed trail there would agwu always s be a thrill in it for him ai it had clin changed nget athe the best quarte quarterback iback 0 of chis his high school into the trimmest primmest prim of students s nt at college only oily fora short time had lie he lot let hs ht vanity sidetrack de track him when mhd th honor of f teaching what holiad ho had learned S stopped d his own progress A rut lie remembered the idy day lihen it had burst on alint him the realization bu ot the rut he was waa in iio could auld ie sec his ails lawrence law sell ool room could see ce yet ye tt the face under alio llio red haired in anglo ato Jery j Matson queer he berdd the name after all those years f lie could picture the look of consternation conster when hen lietar liet he threw br e w don his fifis book and and announced his desertion he had handed in hi ahls il resignation the ilie next day diff A k month lotair plater and pe he was shoveling coal on the of 0 wyoming ning marshall keepe his in bilm V I 1 ache engineers glance traveled ej ed around the 0 office A stranger to marshall would get a wrong idea of the man who worker worked in it i those files the desk orderly and and polished the he gleaming linoleum and cheit the man who made mad eilie the negro janitor jq janitors h life a proud burden I 1 ills always crumpled spots too unless lits bis clau diahan dla had had lihew a chance althem f 1 black string tie askew all the outward vis ible bl signs ofalie of the southern gentleman of assured ancestry not noi even a Et valet would ever keep tod marshall up to the standard of that ogilbe lie he have servants for he had demand de hinna ed of Ric luckard karil if it were we adt to jump after afeei him picking up the loose ends lie he dropped curious burlous thing magnetism that thai mans step on the stair and every manjack man jack of them would jump tw to attention from ben the colored janitor who would not his post tor for a sinecure bolong so long la as tod marshaus Ma one lung kept him in arizona to smythe the stoop shouldered clerk clervi who had follo followed ivea marchalls marshalls Mar cough from san francisco it was said in arizona 7 he be himself bad apet met the statement nt in tucson that any man who had ever worked for tod marshall would rather be warmed by the reflection to n of his greatness than be given posts of personal distinction dist was it office routine marshall intended to him ford for het he admired without stint tod marshall cut but he preferred to work bythe by the side of the other kind the strong men without physical handicap the men who take risks the men who live the life of that was the life he wanted he would wait waif long enough to get marchalls marshalls Mar intention texi tion and then it it meant this he would break loose he hd would I 1 ga go back to the afie front bioni siire w lacre lle ne bib belonged longed back tr to the firing line As the hands of the fhe round clock lif in the alie outer ohice office were were polli pointing fing to ten thi the door opened and marshall entered I 1 his clothes of indea indefinite nite blackish hue would w have hava disgraced disgrace dan an eastern man his string tie had a starboard list and his hat was ready for for a rummage sale but few would have looked at ills his clothes the latent energy of the dynamic s woud frequently y turn that quiet office ce into a macl maelstrom gleamed in those indian black eyes beneath the shabby cloth one suspected the dally polished skin under the old slouch hat was the mouth of purpose the lips that no woman even his claudia Cla udla had kissed without the thrill of fear marshall glanced back at the clock k and then toward boward his visitor san on time I 1 he observed rickard bickard smiling put his bis book in his bis pocket CHAPTER iri A A bit of oratory orator marshall th threw rehli his aliat liat on a cha chair ir the morning paper on his desk ile he aimed his burned at the nearest cuspidor but it fell foul the relies scattering over sams lately scoured linoleum instantly there was appearance of settled d disorder ls order marshall emptied his pockets of loose papers spreading them out on his flattop flat top desk sit I 1 down I 1 rickard took the chair at the other side of the desk marshall Marslin ll rang a bell instantly the shirt sleeved clerk entered f shall noised not see anyone the chief ai announced pounced 1 I dont want to ha bet itier interrupted yr take these mime to smythe his 1113 eyes the shutt shutting idi Q of the cne door then turned i square upa upon rickard I aeed you lalia h ib oi alcess a knesal I 1 the engineer wanted to kno k I 1 20 F what ejof ednd of a nibs sit t was that river its running a s aay illic ironi from them im going to send bend you donao down to stop it the colorado I 1 heckard it ans no hose hog e to be turned s simply imply off from a garden bed of course ya its one of the big biggest gest things happened in ift this part of if the world too big for the met men wh othave have been tryl trying fig to swing it youve followed it if yes ye il que queer er coincidence reading aliat report jut bowl now I 1 iye not been there but the engineering papers used to got get to me in mexico ive read all the reports ts ills superiors question was uncharacteristically act superfluous who had had not read with thrilled nerves bof that P 1 I 1 am going to send you down to the break had been trying to put under work harness |