Show GREEN G R be 1 brn NEEDLE NE at by MAE FOSTER fostier 0 ari JAY service copyright copi by W A wilde co 00 UL SYNOPSIS mary daughter of 0 a millionaire has the idea that her personality is obscured by the tact fact that she Is the child of the rich david brown and determines ter mines to malfe make her way in life unaided she has a million dollars which aho he insists her father invest in the wildest dream imaginable and about which she must know nothing she is ie a graduate engineer As al biown 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 tier job she meets denis cra cragg g who immediately antagonizes her alighting from rom the train mary alary Is left at a way station practically penniless craig coming to her assistance Is also left led behind ile he befriends her despite her coldness toward him enabling her to continue her journey arriving at the project she Is accused by john stark chief engineer of deception in concealing her sex and ag again ain meets craig who is ia the promoter of the project mary Is given a position she cannot make up her mind as to whether craig is an honest visionary or a slicker mary makes good on her job wa win 0 ning the friendship and esteem of her fellow engineers CHAPTER VI continued 11 gray of dawn was breaking through gray of fog and mist by the time mary reached the boundaries of the project but her mood was not in harmony with leaden skies sides how could her spirit be leaden with the caressing caressia softness of fog and mist on her cheeks and the rain washed earth sending its clean dank scent to her nostrils with herself mary brown part and parcel of this great development project with those dancing classes successful as lucretia had prophesied making L it possible for her to enclose fifty dollars in that letter to her father it was to sing indeed 1 there was a comradely 10 lo mary that was very warming as she slid into her place at the breakfast table in camp and fell upon her bacon and eggs with an appetite that would have given the cook at home an in ferio ferlo rity complex just the relationship she had coveted had sprung up between her and these male engineers she wn was 9 their pal their worker coworker co they never ra ragged aged her as they did each other but they never failed in respect they recognized her ability generously they did some day mary alary broke a doughnut with an effort some day john stark would she felt it in her bones that he would this was one of her optimistic days A change in plans today folks dorsey announced mr air cral craig g wants want s a reconnaissance ot the road he contemplates building to the beach and wants it right now so ill let you take the gun and enough of a party to finish that survey we were on good enough and the rest of us will go over the grade on that rush work and you take the transit on our party will you maryl mary will I 1 mary made a dash tor for the tent where the instruments were kept and the atmosphere of her soul cleared it Is not raining rain to me she hummed with abandon its raining lucky br breaks ealis completed wall wait well the ra race ce seems to be neck deck to neck deck so far pro iro to lo the gun simultaneously ue he shouldered a handed one to mary and picked up an instrument ill carry yours out to the wagon for you N no 0 thank you walt a as she reached greedily for the twenty pound gun 1 I 1 ache to carry it I 1 I 1 shall hang hana on to it like grim death while the hanging Is little she rea realized lazed how truly she prophesied the joy of handling a transit once morel of feeling herself a person of importance on tills this survey party bartyl 1 hour after hour tile the work went on to in the drizzle at noon the party lunched in a weathered old cabin a cabin filled for alary with color and romance see H 1 brown hill strode about aboul the room as he finished his lunch its built of three inch planks protection for the cow punchers against cattle thieves in the old days thundering jovel as the drizzle turned against root roof and windows wed better t er get back over the grade while the getting gettin Is good this Is turning into what the natives call a gully gu lly wa washer slier they hurried out to the wagon the rain fell in great drops pelting them like bullets and observed the landscape it came down the steep hills in sheets cutting gullies across the trail through which the wagon aagon passed with torturing jerks the trail became heavy in crossline cross cros lne a rising stream the four mules and trees went on up the bank leaving wagon and passengers atilt in tile the angry torrent the men were out in ID the stream then dorsey lifted mary to shore and brawny arms brought the wagon up to its locomotive power so they came to mistletoe canyon where the converging 0 hillsides hill sides lifted their great bunches of mistletoe gratefully to the rain here the trail began 0 a ragged and perilous descent into the canyon into which water from the enclosing hills was pouring as if from burst reservoirs down down down the trail still plunged into the narrowing canyon where the drainage from hundreds of acres rushed for the creek they came to the creek this morning a clear singing trout stream up to the knees of the mules now a murky river out of its banks the skinner spoke to the mules and they stepped into the lie waters mary alary clutched the seat with one hand her transit with the other now the lead le a 1 I mules were almost the wheelers gallantly following the water was rising rising up tip to the body of the wagon into the body of the wagon but neither dri driver ver nor mules had counted on the unexpected swiftness of the current anad stream nor the P 04 pa 01 W AN 01 71 0 0 but her mood was not in har mony with leaden skies depth of the water now the mules had lost their footing they were swimming struggling valiantly with all their strength but their strength was no match against the current the lead mules were being carried downstream the wheelers struggled to hold them back but were forced to follow the wagon rocked helplessly overturned mary alary thrown into these seething waters with the others of the party had but one thought this was a three hun dred dollar instrument she was carrying she was responsible for it she must save it down down down she went would she never reach bottom therel there 1 now would she ever reach the surface again fighting her way one armed weighed down by this twenty pound instrument heavy boots woolen clothing it seemed to her that she scarcely moved her breath was becoming exhausted she reached the surface at last clear she struck out for the b bank ank and the seething waters seemed to laugh at her puny efforts she seemed to make no headway one armed had she hung onto this precious burden only to have to drop it a few feet from the shore not while that left arm would wiggle I 1 she looked about for her comrades they were on down the stream pulling to shore two mules 1 saints above they could save the mules but a girl but this was a girl supposed to be able to do anything a man could do dot I 1 A and rid the men had saved themselves when dumped into a inconsequential stream they even missed herl her I 1 the men would have saved this instrument but bill she she maryl alary 1 thank godl A strong arm had gripped tier her she h half alf sensed being helped ashore and laid upon the sand after a while she opened her eyes hilts blessed old face all furrowed with worry 1 I 1 saw you come up beside me never dreamed you were struggling with this infernal thin thing in your arm great jumping grasshoppers why you drop the batty bally gun and take care of yourself like a drowned little rat mary sat up shaking herself she thrust back the dripping hair that hung over her face and grinned at him yes why I 1 drop it A man might have got by dropping it but I 1 just hear bear the chief snorting what comes of having a girl garl on the cobl A man would have saved his instrument in a such an accident but who knows preening her wet self maybe now his hi highness liness will pin a medal on me I 1 denis craigs thunderbolt will carry a thrilling story girl eng engineer ineer saves transit at the cost of tier her life I 1 I 1 feel promo lion in my hones bones hilt dorsey I 1 I 1 see myself a pink ear with a desk desh in the department of design ohl oh mary broke off limply she blinked was this an apparition had site she too been kicked in the head or was this really john stark in person coming toward them on horseback very close too close and denis craig beside him very suddenly mary brown ceased feeling promotion in her hones bones her bones she had none her framework was made of cooked spa spaghetti hettle 1 and her spirits as suddenly had be come as as her physical quintessence I lucky little idiot I 1 mary was sure she heard the words or was it just the ringing of water in her ears certainly no one was paying enough attention to her to call her plucky or even an idiot john stark was asking asling crisply of hilton dorsey everybody all right denis craig was snapping off his raincoat something thin of a bulldog builds ft set to his face mary had bad sprung to her feet shivering erin as the raw november wind blew through u ii her wet clothes yet burning with cli chagrin agrin at her words which stark must have overheard TO DD DB CONTINUED |