Show T up M M la AV V V I 1 M A E A L G A ed N N by MA MAE E F FOSTER 0 S JAY S A copyright by W A wilds wild oo co SYNOPSIS mary daughter ot of a millionaire has 1 the h e idea that her personality Is ob efured cu r ed by the tact fact that she to Is the child ot of the rich david brown and determines ter mines mines to make her way in life unaided she has a million dollars which she he insists her father invest in the w wildest 1 idest dream imaginable and about wh which ich she must know nothing she to lj a graduate engineer As IM M brown mary secures a position as engineer with the paradise valley project a development concern she Is engaged by letter on the train on her way to her job she meets denis craig who immediately antagonizes her alighting from the train mary Is left at a way station practically penniless craig coming to her assistance Is also lett left behind he befriends her despite her coldness toward him enabling her to continue her journey CHAPTER III HI continued 5 beautiful PI mary cried beauty demanded her com companion panon no money in it I 1 another person whose god was money 1 you must a been the kingpins king pins blarney I 1 here as they turned off the road into a private drive is the old james ranch house bouse the offices contemptuously of the paradise valley project where facing her belligerently 0 are you calca latin on livin livan you young 11 lady ile he sounded like a crabbed old bachelor mary asked curiously have you a family mr johnson my cifes dead shortly you ton told me where you figure you can live where do the engineers live asi single anif ones live in camps camp on the ranch you cant live there the only girl irl married ones lives in foggy gulch since the ling kingpin p in wont have no woman in ills his paradise then I 1 shall live in foggy 1 gulch how would you get back and f orth forth 2 how do the others get back and forth T have cars mary thought of this she intend to think of it now that was a mere detail to be taken up later now just before her lay a crucial moment slie she flung up op her head straightened tier her shoulders to bolster up her courage and stepped from the car wait please mr air johnson debbe I 1 will debbe not if I 1 do ill charge you plenty with aith tills this comforting assurance mary left her bristling taxi man parked under a live oak and went across the veranda of the veteran ranch house she paused in the hallway ballway and looked about her over their drawings or blueprints blue prints or estimates leaned kha kl ki clad engineers one of them came quickly forward something I 1 can do for you may alay I 1 see mr stark this way 1 mary ran the gamut of curious eyes through h two rooms toward a smaller one at the rear she mind the curiosity these boys would get used to a girl in the profession just as her classmates had done but she walked among them threatened to be overcome with inner disturbance it had seemed such a trivial thing at home the bit of information about this job she had withheld from tier her father trivial across the continent and as something to he be faced in the autu future re it did not seem trivial now nov it loomed even though her father had assured her john stark was tile the right sort her fler guide tapped at the door which bore the sign in important letters john stark chief engineer cornel comel came the command so sharp and brusque as to make mary jump she entered A large rugged min man with gray hair ominous gray brows and a bristling stub of mustache sprang to his feet I 1 in n a soldierly fashion and re regarded carded he her with his piercing eyes mary produced his letter and handed it to him silently the chief glanced it through and looked at her with inquiry what his unspoken question have you to do with this letter I 1 wrote to one al drown brown 1 I said mary unfalteringly am at brown I 1 have reported for work according to orders work forkl I 1 A girl I 1 A girlen girl en engineer inbert A girl on tills this mans job he laughed at the sheer monstrosity it was in the days before m girls generally had discovered that the they y can do other things than tench teach school and pound ayi As I 1 told you in my application I 1 am a graduate of a technical school and you thought get yourself a mans job by signing merely your initial an engineering job 91 mary corrected deliberately you deceived me what good did you think it could possibly do you just what it did it got me a job id tried in vain for one divulging that I 1 was a girt girl I 1 was just an interesting anomaly so I 1 tried this scheme it worked you hired me you know mr stark all ri right alit lie be answered crisply have it so if you will but remember this I 1 can hire and I 1 can fire and youre dismissed M brown mary paled she shifted she oh she expected this I 1 thought he really would do iler ber eyes roamed the room desperately pera tely she used to cutting inconsideration I 1 she was used A little smile came to her lips why she could make tills this towering man right about face in a second I 1 all she needed to do was to tell him that she was the daughter of his old friend david brown that annihilated all defenses always she opened her lips and closed them suddenly fearfully just in time she remembered that she no longer was using that sesame the fire came back to her eyes you do that mr stark I 1 you be so unfair as to dismiss me without notice I 1 have to have a job I 1 I 1 need the money you can give ave me a trial why condemn me without a hearing maybe I 1 really do know my stuff you must know too that this sternly is no place for a girl ive worked with male engineers all through school school I 1 mere childs play this Is a job ile he lau glied hed 1 I 1 suppose you figure on some soft berth in the office well my pink ears have to be ready to go into the field whenever sent my specialty said mary quietly is besl design 7 but I 1 dont mind going into the field I 1 can do anything any anything thin 0 a 0 nian man can do im big strong my health is perfect lie ile motioned her to desist that Is beside the point miss brown you dont understand its against my precedent to have a girl on the job my word the complications a girl could introduce we have plenty of grief without the upsetting lD influence fluence of the fair sex the promoter of this estate he now thought to argue wont so much as let an engineers wife live on the job until tile the travail chaos Is over what do you think hed say to you tell him F placidly that im here not to in the capacity of an en engineers inders I wife but of an engineer suppose with a triumphant narrowing of his eyes at tier her you tell him that lies coming coment down the pat path now an outside door opened mary alary turned toward it gasped denis craig had halted in surprise upon the threshold CHAPTER IV 1 I 1 can do anything a man can dolls do craig came forward as he credited what his eyes told him hand outstretched his face flooded with his charming smile mary browns head was in a whirl denis craig the promoter of this project denis craig who hank johnsons expression rang in her ears who was raking in the dough from suckers how interesting she managed to discover that this Is your real estate game I 1 craig threw back his head bead and lau laughed hed ignoring the little edge of sarcasm on her voice id have told you all about it if you would have let me you know but what eagerly do you think ot of the project it all its name claims for it ive seen only a little corner of ftp it but you will see more of it 1 I 1 hope so mr air stark and I 1 were just discussing that possibility silently john stark handed young craig the letter craig glanced it through quickly noticed the noncom non com mitta 1 initial in the heading and looked up at mary at brown ile he whistled grinned so youre an engineer A girl engineer 0 who I 1 take it concealed her sex ses in order to land her job A stowaway route of sorts to her destination mr stark mary said calmly had just sti suggested g bested that I 1 ask you what you yon thought of a girl on the job I 1 understand that women are not allowed in n your paradise ill welcome them with open arms he assured her in due course for the present ive had to rule them out understand we cant be bothered with settlers while the project Is nothing but virgin wilderness we take care of them decently ive even asked the engineers not to bring their wives yet we men can get along along roughing it in camps but so far as hiring a girl as one of the engineers theres no reason why sir mr star stark k should consult me lies aes ruler of ills his own domain marys eyes went from one to the other of them passing the buck she told herself uncomfortably the soldierly john stark walked to the end of the room then whirled suddenly to demand young lady you told me you needed the money I 1 allow true is that bow much mone money y have bare you 1 I have minus minns three hundred do dollars she answered defiantly denis craig came to her rescue 1 I happened to be present at the unfortunate fortunate te moment when miss aliss brown lost her purse on the way out mr stark it contained all I 1 had mary explained 1 I had to wire for a loan why im in debt john stark threw out his hands bands in desperation 1 I cant turn you out of course in such straitened circumstances jobs are scarce weve plenty of work here still if you were a man TO BID BB CONTINUED |