| Show OUTLAWS 0 UT L AWS of EDEN D N B ku sf artle PETER be B KYNE by t peter P B kyn kyas SYNOPSIS at the tie eloc close of the th mexican wr war robin kershaw with his bride rode rod in northeastern california here he h found an ideal valley for or cattle they christened it eden valley below eden valley is I 1 a tons lese valuable tract which kershaw fil wife names name forlorn valley joel hensley henley ettle in the lower halt half of the valley there is if bad blood over fences and water for irrigation kershaw kills kill hensley and the blood feud to on by 1911 ranee rance kershaw his bli men ion owen and daughter lorry larry are all that remains of one clan nato nate tichenor chenor Tl to tl the sole ole survivor on the hensley side bide he roe goes to help lorry in her car and finds her father has ha died of heart di disease sease silas babson banker schemes to control the irrigation and hydroelectric hydro electric itte of eden valley nate tells tell lorry he hd and owen kershaw lorry brother met in france jut just before owen was waa killed they became buddies and nate promised that if he survived owen he would look after lorry as an a brother might do babson baboon determined to secure dorrys lake site and nates dam site ite makes legal leeal application for the allocation of flood waters to the forlorn valley irrigation district which he h organizes with money advanced by nate lorry clears up her indebtedness to babson CHAPTER VII continued why do you have to go awny away na nate to got a couple of deals on and I 1 cant handle them from here if youre coming back in the fall fai 1 l she suggested you should have the bar 11 II place put in order its fallen into decay it smells neglected it a nice place for you to live even with capable servants to care for you 1 I had find thought of that indeed its one of the reasons I 1 have to leave eden valley got to engage an architect to draw plans for a new house new barns four car garage kennels nod and such got to engage a smart gardener to put in a nice lawn around the new house and plant flowers got to grade a a new graveled road from the main eden valley highway to the ranch house and plant a border of trees and I 1 wish sort of superintend the job while im away and when the house Is finished id be obliged to you if run down to san francisco and buy the furnishings for it oh ob ill be so glad to nate youre giving me die an interest in life A wom ans interest im kept pretty busy operating the circle K but it my job and she sighed ecstatically so he was coming back after all ile he needed her and lie he scrupled to tell her so that night when he departed for the bar 11 II the file girl walked with win him to the gate A full moon rode the sic sky Y above them and eden valley was filled with the silvery light it was a night for love and nate Tl chenor who had never felt his heart beat high in any womans comans wo mans presence was suddenly thrilled to the core of his being at sight eight of lorry kershaw leaning over the gate ile he had a sudden mad impulse to place his hand under her adorable chin tilt tier her face upward and kiss her on the lips for the strangest of nil all reasons he refrained he had been reared in eden valley he was old fashioned the victim of an iron code of morals and social procedure ifer her father been dead long enough so he compromised and said with an effort paternally ter nally patronizing good night lorry dear ive had a delightful evening but his burning eyes betrayed him the girl smiled up tit at him wistfully thanks to you im happy for the first time since owen went away she said eald at his gate he stood for a little while grazing gazing over the hills toward forlorn valley CoY coyotes otest 1 he growled not one of you except doe doc donaldson would come to her fathers funeral and doe doc could nL and not one of you came to ruy my mothers funeral either she was an angel and rance nance less than a man it if he did pump uncle taylor off air we well 11 one day come risking asking me for a favor and when you do by gad ill remember and charge accordingly coyotes silas babson rose next morning sans bans headache and with a very definite realization that he had many busy days before him ile he drove over to gold run first to interrogate the county recorder from whom he ascertained that a deed to a quarter section in eden valley from nate tichenor Tl chenor to the mountain valley power company and another deed for tour four thousand acres from lorraine K kershaw to the same fame company had just been sent over by the first national bank to be recorded well he had been thwarted by this power just as lie he had feared would be the case well no do matter the mountain valley power company could not thwart him in his plan to secure from the department of the interior to erect a diversion dam in the handle and dig a canal from eden valley creek down beyond the western buttress of forlorn valley they might have influence but not with the con gres pressman and senator whose constituency included forlorn valley hell ell his first step was to create public interest in the proposed irrigation di district not at all a difficult task since the valley center register was the only newspaper in the valley and its it editor joe brainerd had financed his ventu venture re largely on money borrowed from the bank of valley center brainerd would see fee his duty and do it nobly he must most attack the power company P and pay the re to in no uncertain terms to those two eden valley outlaws who had betrayed them or at least sought to betray them suddenly as he drove home across forlorn valley vahey a thought occurred to him with such force that he jammed on his bis brakes and stopped 0 in o the middle middie of the highway so suddenly that a car coming behind him smote his car in the rear find and skidded it off the right of way into a ditch babson emerged from the wreckage unharmed but frightened and exceedingly angry just in III time to come face to face with a young man emerging from a limousine driven by a liveried chauffeur the matter with you he cried furiously cant you stay on your own side of the road ill answer your question with another sir why did you stop so suddenly without giving the legal warning by thrusting your hand band out my chauffeur Is not a mind reader youve wrecked my car d n you and pay for it im not wishful to argue that point the young mans tones were crisp and unafraid 1 I got out solely to see what damage has been done to my car very little I 1 observe bumper thrust back on the frame and twisted a little all then to the chauffeur well stop in at a garage in valley center and have bare it repaired lucky you had most of the speed off the car or wed have knocked this peculiar person over into that alfalfa field this peculiar person wants your name and your license number babson shrilled ill give you my card sir help yourself to the license number you ill remember and charge accordingly coyotes esl will furnish me with your name and address of course my name Is babson and im a responsible and reputable citizen ah sir mr silas babson I 1 recognize you my name la Is nathan tichenor chenor Tl and 1 I too am a responsible but alas disreputable citizen at least in these parts 1 I beg your pardon nate I 1 know who he you were your excuse Is a sound one and your apology Is accepted sorry we avoid hitting you mr babson ifo however wever since weve set you afoot tome some six miles from valley center well not desert you hop in and ill take you home you will have to send a wrecking car back for that mess mesa thanks Thi inks babson stepped in well well be began unctuously youve changed nate I 1 should never have recognized you back in eden valley to stay perhaps how flow are things with you sir mr babson fair fairl forlorn valley like the rest of the country Is recuperating gradually the banks had bud to carry this doggoned valley since the postwar depression struck us well nate soothed soon begin to get your loans in beers beefs coming up the cattlemen have certainly ta lilly taken a bad Ilc licking king but those who have held their breeding stock intact will make a cleanup clean up within three years I 1 was saying as much to lorry kershaw recently old rances ll ances estate Is in a bad way and miss kershaw was feeling a bit downhearted well ashes ll 11 lighthearted light il hearted theart today babson was pleased that his bis host had bad opened this subject of conversation and little dreamed that tichenor had purposely done so ashes sold four thousand acres of worthless land her father gave cave her to the mountain valley power company must have got at least three hundred thousand dollars for it cleaned up the mortgage and paid old rances notes ile he glanced slyly at tichenor chenor Tl unless you close in on her I 1 reckon shell work out of the hole bole ashes in 1 I think so 10 too no sense crowding her in that event shea a capable girl and will make good if given a chance so im going to give her that chance by the way I 1 hear youve sold your dam site ite to the mountain valley power company said babson babon yes they made me an offer a see any profit in rejecting it mighty fine offer to n fact and I 1 news reaches you very promptly he added A new company I 1 believe know anything about this outfit chos back of it and why it Is a delaware corporation capitalized for two million dollars with a license to do business in california the corporation plans to erect a dam impound the lood flood waters of eden valley creek after they have passed over the circle K and the bar U ranches and use the water tor for the production of power babson now remembered the dazzling thought that had operated to wreck his automobile you may have noticed the large number of gasoline driven pumping plants nate 1 I did and guessed the reason the water tables are receding and the lift Is increasing hence more power la Is required to pump I 1 hear bear the power com com banys rates are pretty high so I 1 suppose the farmers are trying out a cheaper method of pumping although since gasoline Is not cheaper than electricity tri city I 1 surmise the gasoline farmers must have had their power cut off because they or pay their bills to the power company youve gone straight to the milk in the coconut nate kate I 1 wonder if it be a good idea for the farmers of forlorn valley to organize nn an irrigation district and make a contract with the mountain valley power company to sell it water for surface irrigation A good idea for the farmers but a bad idea for the company of course in years of unusually heavy freshet it night might be glad to divert its excess water to forlorn valley but in ID subnormal years such as we have been experiencing the past three winters the demands of forlorn valley might lower the water in the reservoir to a point below the power company datch and operate to close down its power plant bant you seem pretty suni sure of your premise nate how flow do you know that tichenor Tl chenor smiled a prescient little smile because ira im the president of the mountain valley power company in fact im the entire company for the remainder of the trip in into t a valley center babson was wa glum in a and n d silent to such a degree t that at nate a I 1 e tichenor chenor Tl noticed his pr preoccupation cu all on saw that babions Bab sons hands were trembling bling for some reason or other tichenor chenor Tl decided that was a direct hit ill have to figure this out on his part babson was thinking confusedly As yet the mountain valley power company exists on paper only it has its charter from the state of Delav delaware iare its permit to do business in california a dummy board of directors and the lands it has recently acquired if this wretch I 1 am riding with should die suddenly the mountain valley power company might die with him do you mean to tell me nate that you are alone in this power enterprise 1 I own all of the issued capital stock of the mountain valley power company and I 1 intend to keep it be valuable guess it will nate and again babions Bab sons wild thoughts took possession of him this fellow Is liable to ruin me lies iles no mean enemy lie ile may have bare more money than we have hell ight fight as the power company and hell fight us privately as a riparian owner but if he be should die who are his heirs ties lies the last of his line so far as I 1 know ills his executors would not be liable to carry through his plans for the mountain valley power company the scheme would die with him and we might be able to buy the company with all its assets hell heil have to do some tall financing lust just the same his executor might not be capable of the financing damnation what am I 1 thinking of oft but he be may ruin me weve got to have bare that water got to have it e the phrase beat like a hammer in his brain CHAPTER VIII nate action in admitting to silas babson that he was the sole owner of the mountain valley power company had not been predicated on a desire to shock the banker tichenor was merely in a position where he be could not afford to promise babson to enter into negotiations to sell forlorn valley water for irrigation before deciding to acquire lorry kershaws Ker shaws lake site and proceed to the vast expense of building his dam and power station he had bad found it necessary to make certain of a market for the power he purposed generating for the mountain valley power company was not in position to enter the field in competition with the P G 1 E the company that already controlled the market in northern california with a dozen large plants scattered through the mountains in order to consolidate his position therefore he had already had bad the mountain valley power company enter into negotiations tiati ons for a contract with the P 0 E M whereby that company was to purchase all the power Tich enors company could deliver while this contract did not restrain his company from selling water for irrigation and tichenor had hoped to sell water for that purpose he dared not consider the proposition until quite certain ho he could do so without threat to his bis production of power instinctively cautious he declined to commit himself even to a halfway half way promise to babson he had discerned that his refusal to enter into negotiations had shocked babson but he had no idea as to the extent of the shock other than the knowledge that gabson had organized a raid to ruin lorry kershaw Kers baw Tic tichenor bad no cause to dislike the man indeed the knowledge that he Tl tichenor chenor had always been in position to frustrate that raid had operated to dull the edge of his rese resentment tit ile he knew the world was quite auke filled with silas babions Bab sons indeed during his busy years in new york li he had met more than one of them had crossed financial swords with them had defeated them and been defeated by them such men were all in the days work tor for him and such irritation as be had bad felt against babson was solely 0 out ut of sympathy for lorry kershaw if the impending disaster appeared to affect babson only he would have dismissed all thought of him certainly he would not have wasted any sympathy on him but without water eventually hundreds of people in forlorn valley would be reduced to poverty and with the collapse of the bank of valley center the absolute ruin of the valley would be hastened and completed nate tichenor ostracized as he had been by the people of forlorn valley in his boyhood ostracized as all of his bis people had been had not unnaturally acquired a fierce resentment against these people who looked to him for succor but his resentment faded now before the realization of the tragedy they faced his heart welled with pity for them ill have to do something about this he decided ill defer signing the contract the P G Rs E s counsel Is preparing ill defer building the hydroelectric plant until after ive |
