iM'ip 'if ••SrJv ''■■'* ,v n 1 CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND GIVEN IN 189I BY HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE Digitized by Microsoft® Cornell University Library PS 3545.R567W7 The winning of Barbara Worth / 3 1924 021 732 205 All books are subject to recall after two weeks Olln/Kroch Library DATE DUE dBP"^ -MflT" I99f ^^^^on GAYLORD Digitized by t licrosoft® PRINTED IN U.S.A, This book was digitized by Microsoft Corporation in cooperation with Corneii University Libraries, 2007. You may use and print this copy in iimited quantity for your personai purposes, but may not distribute or provide access to it (or modified or partiai versions of it) for revenue-generating or other commerciai purposes. Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH Digitized by Microsoft® Books by Harold Bell Wright Philadelphia Sunday Dispatch — "The secret of bia power is the same God-given secret that inspired Shakespeare ^iid upheld Dickens.'* ' Oregon Journal, Portland — "it is this almost clairvoyant power of reading the human aoul that has made Mr Wrlfi:ht*3 books among the .most remarkable works of the present age,** THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH The Ministry of Capital THE CALLING OF DAN MATTHEWS The Ministry of Daily Life THE SHEPHERD OF THE HILLS An Inspiration to the Simple ^fe THAT PRINTER OF UDELL'S A Story of Practical Chiiatianity THE UNCROWNED KING An Aileeory of Life Digitized by Microsoft® Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924021732205 Digitize by Microsoft® More to reg^ain his composure than because he was thirsty, helped himself from the earthen water jar Digitized by Microsoft® The Winning of Barbara Worth By HAROLD BELL WRIGHT Author of ' 'The Calling of Dan Matthews, ' ' The Shepherd of the Hills," "That Printer of Udell's," "Their Yesterdays," etc. With Four Illustrations By F. GRAHAM COOTES A. L. BURT COMPANY Publishers New York Digitized by Microsoft® A-iSovSg COPYKIGHT, 1911, Bv Hakold Bell Wright Copyright, 1911, By Elsbeby W. Reynolds Published, August, 1911 All Rights Reserved Digitized by Microsoft® ACKNOWLEDGMENT While this story Is not In any way a history of this part of the Colorado Desert now known as the Imperial "Valley, nor a biography of anyone connected with this splendid achievement, I must in honesty admit that this work which in the past ten years has transformed a vast, desolate waste into a beautiful land of homes, cities, and farms, has been my inspiration. With much gratitude for their many helpful kind- nesses, I acknowledge my indebtedness to H. T. Cory, P. C. Hermann, C. R. Rockwood, C. N. Perry, E. H. Gaines, Roy Kinkaid and the late George Sexsmith, engineers and surveyors identified with this reclamation work; to W. K. Bowker, Sidney McHarg, C. E. Paris, and many other business friends and neighboring ranchers among our pioneers; and to William Mulholland, Chief Engineer of the Los Angeles Aqueduct. I am particularly indebted to C. K. Clarke, Assistant Manager and Chief Engineer of the California Development Company, and to Allen Kelly, whose knowledge, insight and observations as a journalist and as a student of Reclamation in the Par West have been invaluable to me. To my friend, Mr. W. P. Holt, in appreciation of his life and of his work in the Imperial Valley, this story is inscribed. H. B. W, Tecolote Rancho, April 25. ISIL Digitized by Microsoft® "Gi've fools their gold, and knaves their ponxier\ Let fortune' 5 bubbles rise and fall; Who so'ws a field, or trains u floiuer. Or plants a tree, is more than all. ' ' Digitized by Microsoft® CONTENTS CHAPTEE PAGE I, Into the Infinite Long Ago, . 11 II. Jeffeeson Woeth's Offeeing. 30 III. Miss Baebaea Woeth 53 IV. You'd Bettee Make It Ninety. 62 V. What the Indian Told the Sebe 83 VI. The Standaed of the West. . . 101 VII. Don't Yotr Like My Desebt, Me. Holmes ? 116 VIII. Why WiLLAED Holmes Stayed . 137 IX. The Mastee Passion — ; "Good Business". . , 150 X. Baebaba's Love foe the Seee. 168 XI. Abe Lee Resigns ; 178 XII. Signs of Conflict 194 XIII. Baebaba's Call to Hee Feiends 205 XIV. Much Confusion and Happy Excitement 217 XV. Baebaea Comes Into Hee Own. 233 XVI. Jeffeeson Woeth's Opeeations 248 XVII. James Geeenfield Seeks an Advantage 263 XVIII. The Game Peogeesses 274 XIX. Gathbeed AT Baebaba's Couet . 283 XX. What the Stakes Eevealed. . 292 Digitized by Microsoft® C013"TE]^TS CHAPTEE PAGE XXI. Pablo Beiitgs ;N"ew8 to Baebaea 304 XXII. Gatheeing OB" Omiwotjs Foeces. 318 XXIII. ExACTiifG EoTAL Teibute 334 XXIV. Jeffbesoit Woeth Goes foe Help 345 XXV. WiLLAED Holmes oiif Teial ... . 360 XXVI. Heij5 iw SusPEiirsE 369 XXVII. Abe Lee's Eide to Save Jef- FBEsow Woeth 375 XXVIII. What the CoMPAinr Man Told THE Mexicans 390 XXIX. Tell Baebaea I'm All Eight. . 399 XXX. MaWAWA ! MilTAM-A ! To-MOEEOW ! , To-MOEEOW ! 418 XXXI. Baebaea's Waiting?. Beeakfast FOE Yotr 435 XXXII.' Baebaea Mustistees to the Wounded 438 XXXIII. WiLLAED Holmes Eeceivbs His AlTSWEE 450 XXXIV. Battling with the Eivee. . . . 460 XXXV. IN'attjee AND Human Natuee . . . 480 XXXVI. Out of The Hollow of God's Hand 490 XXXVII. Back to the Old San Felipe Teail 498 XXXVIII. The Heeitage of Baebaea Woeth 504 Digitized by Microsoft® Winning of Barbara Worth CHAPTER I. INTO THE INFINITE LONG AGO. EFFEESOIST WORTH'S outfit of four mules and a big wagon pulled out of San Felipe at daybreak, headed for Rubio City. From the swinging red tassels on the bridles of the leaders to the galvanized iron water bucket dangling from the tail of tJie reach back of the rear axle the outfit wore an unmistakable air of prosperity. The wagon was loaded only with a well-stocked "grub-box," the few necessary camp cookiag utensils, blankets and canvas tarpaulin, with rolled barley and bales of hay for the team, and two water barrels — empty. Hanging by its canvas strap from the spring of the driver's seat was a large, cloth-covered canteen. Behind the drivei there was another seat of the same wide, comfortable type, but the man who held the reins was apparently alone. Jefferson Worth was not with his outfit. By sending the heavy wagon on ahead and follow- ing later with a faster team and a light buckboard, 11 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBAEA WORTH Mr. Worth could join his outfit in camp that night, saving thus at least another half day for business in San Felipe. Jefferson Worth, as he himself would have put it, "figured on the value of time." Indeed Jefferson Worth figured on the value of nearly every- thing. Now San Felipe, you must know, is where the big ships come in and the air tingles with the electricity of commerce as men from all lands, driven by the master , passion of human kind — Good Business — seek each his own. But Eubio Oity, though born of that same master passion of the race, is where the thin edge of civil- ization is thinnest, on the Colorado Eiver, miles beyond the Coast Eange Mountains, on the farther side of that dreadful land where the thirsty atmos- phere .is charged with the awfiil silence of uncounted ages. Between these two scenes of man's activity, so different and yet so like, and crossing thus the land of my story, there was only a rude trail — two hun- dred and more hard and lonely miles of it — ^the only, mark of man in all that desolate waste and itself marked every mile by the graves of men and by the bleached bones of their cattle. AU that forenoon, on every side of the outfit, the beautiful life of the coast country throbbed and exulted. It called from the heaving ocean with its many gleaming sails and dark drifting steamer smoke under the wide sky; it sang from the harbor where the laden ships meet the long trains that come and go on their continental errands ; it cried loudly from tha 12 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAKBAEA WORTH busy streets of village and town and laughed out from field and orchard. But always the road led toward those mountains that lifted their oak-clad shoulders and pine-fringed ridges across the way as though in dark and solemn warning to any who should dare set their faces toward the dreadful land of want and death that lay on their other side. In the afternoon every mile brought scenes more lonely until, in the foothills, that creeping bit of life on the hard old trail was forgotten by the busy world behind, even as it seemed to forget that there was anywhere any life other than its creeping self. As the sweating mules pulled strongly up the heavy grades the man on the high seat of the wagon repaid the indifference of his surroundings with a like indifference. Unmoved by the forbidding grimness of the mountains, unthoughtful of their solemn warn- ing, he took his place as much a part of the lonely scene as the hills themselves. Slouching easily in his seat he gave heed only to his team and to the road ahead. When he spoke to the mules his voice was a soft, good-natured drawl, as though he spoke from out a pleasing reverie, and though his words were often hard words they were carried to the animals on an under-current of fellowship and understanding. The long whip, with coiled lash, was in its socket at the end of the seat. The stops were frequent. Wise in the wisdom of the unfenced country and knowing the land ahead, this driver would conserve every ounce of his team's strength against a possible time of great need. They Were creeping across a flank of the hill when 13 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNmG OF BARBAEA WORTH the off-leader sprang to the left so violently that nothing but the instinctive tracing of his trace-mate held them from going over the grade. The same instant the wheel team repeated the maneuver, but not so quickly, as the slouching figure on the seat sprang into action. A quick strong pull on the reins, a sharp yell: "You, Buck! Molly!" and a rattling volley of strong talk swung the four back into the narrow road before the front wheels were out of the track. With a crash the heavy brake was set. The team stopped. As the driver half rose and turned to look back he slipped the reins to his left hand and his right dropped to his hip. With a motion too quick for the eye to follow the free arm straightened and the mountain echoed wildly to the loud report of a forty-five. By the side of the road in the rear of the wagon a rattlesnake uncoiled its length and writhed slowly in the dust. Before the echoes of the shot had died away a mad, inarticulate roar came from the depths of the wagon box. The roar was followed by a thick stream of oaths in an unmistakably Irish voice. The driver, who was slipping a fresh cartridge into the cylinder, looked up to see a man grasping the back of the rear seat for support while rising unsteadily to his feet. The Irishman, as he stood glaring fiercely at the man who had so rudely awakened him, was without hat or coat, and with bits of hay clinging to a soiled shirt that was unbuttoned at the hairy throat, pre- sented a remarkable figure. His heavy body was fitted with legs like posts; his wide shoulders and 14 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBAEA WOETH deep chest, with arms to match his legs, were so huge as to appear almost grotesque; his round head, with its tumbled thatch of sandy hair, was set on a thick bull-neck; while all over the big bones of him the hard muscles lay in visible knots and bunches. The unsteady poise, the red, unshaven, sweating face, and the angry, blood-shot eyes, revealed the reason for his sleep under such uncomfortable cir- cumstances. The silent driver gazed at his fearsome passenger with calm eyes that seemed to hold in their dark depths the mystery of many a still night under the still stars. In a voice that rumbled up from his hairy chest — - a husky, menacing growl — ^the Irishman demanded: "Fwhat the hell do ye mane, dishturbin' the peace wid yer clamor ''. For less than a sup av wather I'd go over to ye wid me two hands." Calmly the other dropped his gun into its holster. Pointing to the canteen that hung over the side of the wagon fastened by its canvas strap to the seat spring, he drawled softly : "There's the water. Help yourself, stranger." The gladiator, without a word, reached for the canteen and with huge, hairy paws lifted it to his lips. After a draught of prodigious length he ieaved a long sigh and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Then he turned his fierce eyes again on the driver as if to inquire what manner of person he might be who had so unceremoniously challenged his threat. The Irishman saw a man, tall and spare, but of a stringy, tough and supple leanness that gave him the 15 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WIK"NIE"G OF BAEBARA WORTH look of being fashioned by the out-of-doors. He, too, was coatless but wore a vest unbuttoned over a loose, coarse shirt. A red bandana was knotted easily about his throat. With his wide, high-crowned hat, rough trousers tucked in long boots, laced-leather wrist guards and the loosely bujckled cartridge belt with its long forty-five, his very dress expressed the easy freedom of the wild lands, while the dark, thin face, accented by jet black hair and a long, straight mustache, had the look of the wide, sun-burned plains. With a grunt that might have expressed either approval or contempt, the Irishman turned and grop- ing about in the wagon found a sorry wreck of a hat. Again he stooped and this time, from between the bales of hay, lifted a coat, fit companion to the hat. Carefully he felt through pocket after pocket. His search was rewarded by a short-stemmed clay pipe and the half of a match — ^nothing more. With an effort he explored the pockets of his trousers. Then again he searched the coat; muttering to himself broken sentences, not the less expressive because in- complete: "Where the divil ITow don't that bate Well, I'll be " With a temper not improved by his loss he threw down the garment in disgust and looked up angrily. The silent driver was holding toward him a sack of tobacco. The Irishman, with another gnmt, crawled under the empty seat and climbiiig heavily over the back of the seat in front, planted himself stolidly by the driver's side. Filling his pipe with care and delib- eration he returned the sack to its owner and struck 16 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BARBAEA WORTH the half-match along one post-like leg. Shielding the tiny flame with his hands before applying the light he remarked thoughtfully: "Ye are a danged reckless fool to be so dishturbin' me honest slape by explodin' that cannon ye carry. 'Tis on me mind to discipline ye for sich outrageous conduct." The last word was followed by loud, smacking puffs, as he started the fire in the pipe-bowl under his nose. While the Irishman was again uttering his threat, the driver, with a skillful twist, rolled a cigarette and, leaning forward just in the nick of tiiiie, he deliberately shared the half-match with his blustering companion. In that instant the blue eyes above the pipe looked straight into the black eyes above the cigarette, and a faint twinkle of approval met a serious glance of understanding. Gathering up his reins and sorting them carefully, the driver spoke to his team : "You, Buck ! Molly ! Jack ! Pete !" The mules heaved ahead. Again the silence of the world-old hills was shattered by the rattling rumble of the heavy-tired wagon and the ring and clatter of iron-shod hoofs. Stolidly the Irishman pulled at the short-stemmed pipe, the wagon seat sagging heavily with his weight at every jolt of the wheels, while from under his tattered hat rim his fierce eyes looked out upon the wild landscape with occasional side glances at his silent, indifferent companion. Again the team was halted for a rest on the heavy grade. Long and carefully the Irishman looked about him and then, turning suddenly upon the still silent driver, he gazed at him for a full minute 17 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WmNTN'G OF BAEBAEA WORTH before saying, with elaborate mock formality: "It may be, Sorr, that bein' ye are sich a hell av a con- versationalist, ut wouldn't tax yer vocal powers beyand their shtrength av I should be so baould as to ax ye fwhat the divil place is this ?" The soft, slow drawl of the other answered: "Sure. That there is IS'o Man's Mountains ahead." "JSTo Man's, is ut ; an' ut looks that same. Where did ye say ye was thryin' to go?" "We're headed for Eubio City. This here is the old San Felipe trail." "Uh-huh ! So we're goin' to Eubio City, are we ? For all I know that may as well be nowhere at all. Well, well, ut's news av intherest to me. We are goin' to Eubio City. Ut may be that ye would ex- shplain, Sorr, how I come to be here at all." "Sure Mike ! You come in this here wagon from San Felipe." At the drawling answer the hot blood flamed in the face of the short-tempered Irishman and the veins in his thick neck stood out as if they would burst. "Me name's not Mike at all, but Patrick Mooney !" he roared. "I've two good eyes in me head that can see yer danged old wagon for meself, an' fwhat's more I've two good hands that can break ye in bits for the impedent dried herrin' that ye are, a-thinkin' ye can take me anywhere at all be abductin' me widout me consent. For a sup o' wather I'd go to ye " He turned quickly to look behind him for the driver was calmly pointing toward the end of the seat. "Fwhat is ut ? Fwhat's there ?" he demanded. 18 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBAKA WOKTH "The water," drawled the dark-faced man. "I don't reckon you drunk it all the other time." Again the big man lifted the canteen and drank long and deep. When he had wiped his mouth with the back of his hairy hand and had returned the canteen to its place, he faced his companion — his blue eyes twinkling with positive approval. Scratch- ing his head meditatively, he said : "An' all because av me wantin' to enjoy the blessin's an' advantages av civilization agin afther three long months in that danged gradin' camp, as is the right av ivery healthy man wid his pay in his pocket." The teamster laughed softly. "You was sure enjoyin' of it a-plenty." The other looked at him with quickened interest. "Te was there?" he asked. - "Some," was the laconic reply. The Irishman scratched his head again with a puzzled air. "I disremimber entire. Was there some throuble maybe ?" The other grinned. "Things was movin' a few." Patrick Mooney nodded his head. "Uh-huh: mostly they do under thim circumstances. Av course there'd be a policeman, or maybe two ?" "Five," said the man with the lines, gently. "Five ! Howly Mither ! I did mesilf proud. An' did they have the wagon? Sure they wud — five policemen niver walked. Wan av thim might, av ut was handy-like, but five — ^niver ! Tell me, man. who else was at the party? No — howld on a minut!" He interrupted himself, "Thim cops stimulate me 19 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBAEA WORTH numory a bit. Was there not a bunch av sailor-men from wan av thim big ships ?" The driver nodded. The other, pleased with the success of his mental effort, continued: "Uh-huh — an' I was havin' a peaceful dhrink wid thim all whin somewan made impedent remarks touchin' me appearance, or ances- tors, I disremimber which. But where was you?" "Well, you see," explained the driver in his slow way, "hit was like this. That there saloon were plumb full of sailor-men all exceptin' you an' me. I was a heap admirin' of the way you handled that big hombre what opened the meetin' and also his two pardners, who aimed to back his play. Hit was sure pretty work. The rest of the crowd sort o' bunched in one end of the room an' when you began addressin' the congregation, so to speak, on the habits, character, customs and breedin' of sailor-men in general an' the present company in particular, I see right there that you was a-bitin' off more 'n you could chaw. It wasn't no way reasonable that any human could han- dle that whole outfit with only just his bare hands, so I edged over your way, plumb edified by your remarks, and when the rush for the mourners' bench come I unlimbered an' headed the stampede pronto. Then I made my little proposition. I told 'em that, bein' the only individual on the premises not a sailor- man nor an Irishman, I felt it my duty to referee the obsequies, so to speak, and that odds of twenty to one, not to mention knives, was strictly agin my con- victions. Moreover, bein' the sole an' only uninter- ested audience, I had rights. Then I offers to bet 20 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH my pile, even money, that you could handle the whole bunch, takin' 'em two at a throw. I knowed it were some odds, but I noticed that them three what opened the meetin' was still under the influence. Also I undertook to see that specifications was faithfully fulfilled." "Mither av Gawd, fwhat a sociable t" broke in the Irishman. "An' me too dhruuk to remimber rightly ! Did they take yer bet? Te sun-burned limb av the divil — did they take ut ?" "They sure did," drawled the driver. "I had my gun on them all the time." "Hurroo ! An' did I do ut ? Tell me quick-^did I do ut ? Sure I could aisy av nothin' happened." "You laid your first pair on top of the three, then the police called the game and the bets were ©ff." "They pinched the house ?" "They took you an' me." "Sure! av course they would take us two. 'Tis thim San Felipe police knows their duty. But how could they do ut?" "I forget details right here, bein' temporarily in- capacitated by one o' them hittin' me with a club from behind. I woke up in a cell with you." The Irishman rubbed the back of his head. "Come to think av ut, I have a bit av a bump on me own noodle that 'tis like helps to exshplain the cell. But fwhat in the divil's name brung us here in this Gawd- forsaken Nobody's Place? Pass me another pipeful an' tell me that av ye can." The driver passed over the tobacco sack and, stop- 21 Digitized by Microsoft® • ** THE WINNING OF^BAEBAEA WOETH ping his team for another^ rest, rolled a cigarette for himself. "That's easy," he said. "This here is Jefferson Worth's outfit. He wanted me to start home this morning, so he got me off. I don't know how he done it ; mostly nobody knows how Jefferson Worth does things. There was a man with him who knowed you and, as I was some disinclined to leave you under the circumstances, Mr. Worth fixed it up for you, too, then we all jest throwed you in and fetched you along. Mr. Worth with the other man and his kid are comin' on in a buckboard. They'll catch up with us where we camp to-night. I don't mind sayin' that I plumb admired your spirit and action and — sizin' up that police bunch — I could see your talents would sure be wasted in that San Felipe country for some time to come. There'll be plenty of room in Eubio City for you, leastwise 'till you draw your pay again. If you don't like the accommoda- tions you're gettin' I reckon you'd better make good your talk back there and we'll see whether you takes this outfit back to San Felipe or I takes her on to Eubio City." The Irishman spat emphatically over the wheel. "An' 'tis a gintleman wid proper instincts ye are. though, as a rule, I howld ut impolite to carry a ' gun. But afther all, 'tis a matter av opinion an' I'm free to admit that there are occasions. Anyhow ye handle ut vnd grace an' intilligence. An', fists er shticks, er knives, er guns, that's the thing that marks the man. 'Tis not Patrick Mooney that'll fault a gintleman for ways that he can't help owin' to his improper bringin' up. Av ye don't mind, will ye tell 22 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAKBARA WORTH me fwhat they call ye ? I'll not be so indelicate as to ax yer name. Fwhat they call ye will be enough." The other laughed. "My name is Joe Brannin. They call me Texas Joe — Tex, for short." "Good bhoy, Tex ! Ye look the divil av a lot like a red herrin', but that's not sich a bad fish, an' ye have the right flavor. How could ye help ut ? Bran- nin an' Texas is handles to pull a man through hell wid. But tell me this — who is this man that says he knows me ?" Texas Joe shook his head and, picking out his lines, called to his team. When they were under way again he said: "I didn't hear his name but I judge from the talk that he is one o' them there civil engineers, an' that he's headin' for Rubio City to build the railroad that's goin' through to the coast. Mr. Worth told me that there would be another man and a kid to go back with us, but I know that Mr. Worth hadn't never seen them before himself." Pat shifted his heavy bulk to face the driver and, removing his pipe from his mouth, asked with delib- eration: "An' do ye mane to tell me that this place we're goin' to is on the new line av the Southwestern an' Continental?" "Sure. They're buildin' into Rubio City from the East now." The Irishman became excited. "An' this man that knows me — this engineer — is he a fine, big, up- standin' man wid brown eyes an' the look av a king ?" "I ain't never seen no kings," drawled Tex, "but the rest of it sure fits him." "Well, fwhat do ye think av that ? 'Tis the Seer 23 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNIl^G OF BAEBAEA WOETH himsilf, or I'm not tlie son av me own mither. I was hearin' in rriseo, where I went the last time I drawed me pay, that he was like to be on the S. an' C. extension. 'Twas that that took me to San Felipe, bein' wishful to get a job wi natured remark addressed to him by a jovial, well- dressed man standing near. Only the clerk regarded the stranger. "Have you a room with bath ?" The clerk smiled. "Certainly, sir." Then to a young fellow talking over the cigar counter to a man in high-heeled boots and spurs: "Jack, show this gentleman to forty-five." In the well-furnished room the guide threw open long French windows and pointed to a cot on the screened-porch outside. "Better sleep on the porch," he volunteered. "Sleep on the porch ?" "Suit yourself," came the answer as the inde- pendent one turned away. "Look here !" The employe of the house paused. "I want my trunk sent up immediately." "Sure Mike ! Let's have your checks. So-long !" The stranger stood staring at the door, which the breezy young man, as he disappeared with a cheery whistle, had shut behind him with a vigorous bang. In the dining room the man from New York found the same easy freedom in the manner of dress, the 103 Digitized by Microsoft® THE wiisrjsriisrG of baebaka woeth same lack- of conventionalities and the same atmos- phere of general good-fellowship; yet he could not say that there was any lack of real courtesy and certainly there was no rude and boisterous talk. It was, to say the least, unsettling to the exceptionally well-bred and well-kept stranger, accustomed to the hotels and restaurants in the East frequented by his class. Early that evening the Easterner sallied forth, clearly bent on sight-seeing. He had dressed for the occasion. The gray traveling suit had been put aside for a tailor-made outfit of corduroy. The coat — ^worn without a vest over a fine negligee shirt of silk — was Iforfolk; the trousers were riding trousers and above the tan shoes were pig-skin puttees. All this, with the light, soft hat, neat tie and the undeniably fine figure and handsome face, would have made him attractive on any stage. The tourists turned to look after him with expressions of admiring envy; the natives — white, red, black, yellow and brown — accepted him with no more than a passing glance as a part of the strange new life that the railroad was constantly bringing to Eubio City. Calmly conscious of himself and openly interested, in a mildly condescending way, the young man strolled down one side of the main street to the end of the business section, then back on the other. Twice he made the round, then, seeking scenes of further interest, pushed open the swinging doors of Eubio City's most popular place of amusement — ^the Gold Bar saloon. / At a table in one comer two men — one tall, dark- 104 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINI^IITG OF BAKBAEA WOKTH faced, coatless, with unbuttoned vest, leather wrist- guards, and a heavy gun loosely buckled about his slim waist; the other thick-set, heavy, red-faced — were holding animated conversation over their glasses. That is to say : the thick, red-faced man was animated. Glaring at his companion he banged his huge, hairy fist on the table until the glasses jumped. "Ye're a domned owld savage wid yer talk. Fwhat the hell is yer counthry good for as ut is ? A thousan' square miles av ut wouldn't feed a jack-rabbit. 'Tis a blistherin', sizzlin', roastin', wilderness av sand an' cactus, fit for nothin' but thim side-winders, horn'- toads, heely-monsters an' all their poisonous rela- tions, includin' yersilf." The New Yorker, standing at the end of the bar nearest the table occupied by Barbara's "uncles," who had just arrived from the Gold Center mines, heard the words of Pat and turned toward the two friends with amused interest. Texas Joe silently lifted his glass and with a look of undisguised admiration for his belligerent part- ner, waited for more. More came with another thump of the huge fist. ^•f 'Tis civilization that ye need, an' 'tis civilization that we're bringin' to ye, an' 'tis civilization that ye've got to take whether ye like ut or not. Look at the Seer, now ! Wan gintleman wid brains an' educa- tion like him is wort' more to this counthry than all the hell-roarin' savages like yersilf between the Coast an' Oklahoma, which is not so much better than it was. We've brung ye money; we've brung ye schools ; we've brung ye railroads ; an' we'll kape on 105 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WANING OF BAKBARA WORTH bringin' ye the blissin's an' joys av civilization 'til ye mend yer ways an' live like Christians." He paused. Texas was staring with child-like simplicity at the immaculate figure of the stranger in puttees. Pat turned to follow the gaze of his companion just as the plainsman drawled softly: "And you've brought us that." The Irishman's heavy jaw dropped. He gasped and gulped like an uncouth monster. Then — speechless — he drained his glass. The stranger's face flushed but he did not move. "Pardner," drawled Texas, "your remarks is sure edifyin' a heap an' some convincin'. But I'm still constrained to testify that the real cause an' reason for the declinin' glory of this yere great western country is poor shootin'. That same, in turn, bein' caused by the incomin' herds from the effete East bein' so numerous as to hinder gun- practice." "Guns is ut?" interrupted the other with a roar. "A man — mind ye: a man — should be ashamed to go about all the time wid a cannon tied to his middle. 'Tis the mark av a child. Look at ye, now, wid all yer artillery an' me wid fingers that niver pushqd a thrigger." He held out his great paws and studied them admiringly. "Why, ye herrin', wid thim two hands I could break ye, gun an' all, like I've " He was interrupted by a wild-eyed individual who rushed into the room from the street and, springing toward them, burst forth with : "Give me your gun, Texas, quick ! I ain't got mine on and that damned Red Hoyt is a layin' for me at the corner !" lOfi Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBAEA WOETH Texas Joe dropped his slim hand caressingly on the big forty-five at his side, leaned easily back in his chair and eyed the excited citizen in a manner calmly judicial. "Bill, you're comin' is some oppor- tune. You're sure Johnny-on-the-spot." "Le' me have yer gun, Tex. Jes' loan her to me ! I'll be back in a minute." "Oh, I ain't doubtin' that you'd be back all right. Bill. That's jest the p'int. When you blew in so promisc'us an' interrupted the meetin', me an' my friend here was jest resolvin' that there's too much bad shootin' bein' done in this here Eubio town. It's a spoilin' the fair name an' a ruinin' the reputation of this country. For which said reason us two undertakes to regulate an' reform some." He turned with elaborate politeness to Pat. "I voices yer senti- ments correct, pard?" The Irishman's fist struck the table and his eyes flashed. "To the thrim av a gnat's heel," he roared. Texas bowed and continued: "Therefore, Bill, this here's our verdict. You camp right here peace- able while I go out an' fetch this Eed Hoyt person what's been annoyin' you. We'll stand you up at fifteen steps, with nothing between to obstruct cere- monies, an' drop the hat. Me an' my friend referees the job an' undertakes to see that the remains is duly and properly planted with all regular honors. Sabe ?" The blood-thirsty one, growling something about attending to his own funeral and finding a gun some- where else, went quietly and quickly out. Before the pugnacious Pat could voice his disgust and disappointment at the disappearance of the 107 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WIE'NING OF BAKBAEA WOETH trouble-hunting citizen, a low, contemptuous laugh from the well-built stranger at the bar drew the atten- tion of the two friends. The young man was watch- ing them with an amused smile. Texas Joe and the Irishman regarded each other thoughtfully. "Pard," said Tex in a low, earnest tone, "do you reckon that there hilarity was in any ways directed toward this comer of the room ?" The stranger, receiving his change from the bar- tender, was moving leisurely toward the door when his way was barred by the heavy bulk of Pat. There was no misunderstanding the expression on the battle- scarred features of the Irish gladiator. Eyeing the athletic Easterner fiercely, he growled with deliber- ate meaning: "Ye same to be findin' plenty av amusement in the private affairs av me friend an' mesilf. D'ye think that we are a coople av hoochy- koochy girls to be makin' sphort for all the domned dudes that runs to look at us whin their mammas don't know they're 6ut ?" The other regarded him with well-bred surprise. "Stand aside," he said curtly. "Oh, ho ! ye will lave widout properly apologizin' for yer outrageous conduc' will ye? 'Tis an ambu- lance that ye'U nade to take ye home whin I've taught ye manners, ye danged yellow-legged cock-a- doodle!" He lifted his fists and the stranger, without giving back an inch or exhibiting the slightest suggestion of fear, but rather with the calm self-confidence of a trained athlete, squared himself for the encounter. Eagerly the patrons of the place — miners, cowboys, 108 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAKBAEA WORTH ranchers, adventurers, Mexicans, Indians — had gath- ered around the two men, delighted with the prospect of what promised to be no tame exhibition. Already several bets had been placed and critical estimates ana comments on the comparative merits of the two were being made freely when a hand fell on Pat's uplifted arm. Turning with an oath of rage at the interruption, the Irishman faced Abe Lee. "Hello, Pat! Amusing yourself as usual?" To the angry protests from the crowd the tall surveyor gave not the slightest heed. For a moment the Irishman, looking up into that thin, sun-tanned face, was speechless as though he faced some apparition. Then with a yell of delight he caught the lank form of the Seer's assistant in a bear-like hug. "For the love av Gawd is ut ye, ye owld sand-rat ? Where the hell did ye drop from, an' fwhat are ye doin' in this dishreputable company? Look at Uncle Tex, there ! The sentimental owld sav- age is fair slobberin' wid delight an' eagerness to git at ye. Come, come ; we must have a dhrink." As quickly as it had risen the storm had passed. The crowd, as if moved by a single impulse, sepa- rated and the room was filled with loud talk and laughter. Glancing around, Pat's eye met the still defiant look of the stranger who had not moved from his place but stood calmly watching the Irishman and Abe as if waiting the pleasure of the man who had challenged him. The Irishman grinned in appreciation. "Howld on a minut," he said to Abe who was moving away with Texas Joe toward a vacant table. Then to the 109 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WIIflSriNG OF BAEBAEA WOETH stranger : "I axe yer pardon, Sorr, for goin' off me head that way. 'Tis a habit I have, worse luck to me — bein' sensitive, do ye see, about me personal appearance an' some wishful for a bit av honest enjoyment. Av ye'll have a,dhrink wid me an' my friends here I'll take ut kindly until we can find dome betther cause for grievance." The young man's tense figure relaxed. A smile broke over his face. "And I beg your pardon," he said heartily. "The fact is I was not laughing at you at all but at the way you two men called the bluff of that fellow who wanted the gun. I should have said so and apologized but I, too, was a little upset and thrown off my guard." "Faith, ut looked to me that ye were thrown on your guard. 'Tis, the science ye have or I'm a Dutchman." He eyed the athletic limbs, deep chest, broad shoulders and well-set head, with eyes that ■twinkled his approval. "Some day — But niver mind now ! Come." He led the way to the table. As they seated themselves Pat regarded the sur- veyor with pleased interest. "Well, well! 'tis a most unexpected worrld. Av 'twas the owld divil him- silf that clapped his hand on me arm I'd be no more surprised than I was to see the lad here. Tell us, me bhoy, fwhat 'tis that's brung ye here." "Haven't you two been to see Barbara yet?" the surveyor demanded as though charging them with some neglected duty. "We have not ; an' by that ye will know that We've been in this town less than an hour by Tex's watch 110 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WIjSTNIj^G OF. BARBARA WORTH that Barbara give Mm an' that he lost down the shaft at Gold Center." When the surveyor had explained his presence in Rubio City and Texas and Pat had agreed to join the King's Basin party, the stranger said : "I think it is quite time now that I introduce myself. You are Mr. Lee, I believe." Abe assented and with his two companions re- garded him with interest. Taking a letter from his pocket and handing it to the surveyor, the young man continued: "I am a civil engineer, I have instructions from the Chief to report to you. My name is Willard Holmes." The next morning the young engineer from the East presented his card at the Pioneer Bank and asked for Mr. Worth. The man who received the cor- rectly engraved bit of pasteboard merely nodded toward the other end of the long partition of polished wood, plate glass and bronze bars. "You'll find him back there, Mr. Holmes." The New Yorker smiled at the provincialism but sought the banker without further ceremony. Closing the door with one hand Jefferson Worth with the other indicated the chair at the end of his desk. "Sit down.". "Yon have a letter from Mr. Greenfield relative to my coming?" asked Willard Holmes. The banker lifted a typewritten sheet from his desk, glanced at it and turned back to his visitor. *'Yes," he said. The involuntary movement was the instinctive act 111 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WIlS'E'IlSrG OF BAKBAKA WORTH of one who habitually verifies every statement. Then, as those expressionless blue eyes were fixed on the stranger's face, the engineer's sensation was as tho.ugh from behind that gray mask something reached out to grasp his innermost thoughts and emotions. He felt strangely transparent and ex- posed as one, alone in his lighted chamber at night, might feel someone in the dark without, watching through the window. Presently the colorless, exact voice of Jefferson Worth asked : "This is your first visit West ?" "Yes sir. My work has been altogether in l^ew York and the New England states." "Five years with the New York Contracting and Construction Company?" said Jefferson Worth exactly, laying his hand again on the letter on his desk. "Yes. For the past two years I have had charge of their more important operations." The engineer's tone was a shade impressive. But there was not the faintest shadow of a hint in the face or manner of that man in the revolving chair to intimate that he was impressed. The visitor might as well have spoken to the steel door of the big safe in the other room. "You are well acquainted with Mr. Greenfield and his associates ?" "My father and Mr. Greenfield were boyhood friends and college classmates," the engineer ex- plained. "Since the death of my father when I was a little chap, I have lived with Uncle Jim. He was my guardian until I became of age." The young man did not think it necessary to add 112 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINmNG OF BAilUAKA WOETH that the death of his father had left him penniless and that his father's friend, who had never married, had reared and educated the child of his old class- mate as his own son. JSTeither did he explain that his rapid advancement in his profession was due largely to the powerful influence of the capitalist and those closely associated with him, together with the strength of the proud social position to which he was born, rather than to hard work and experience. Probably Willard Holmes himself did not realize how much these things had added to his own native ability and technical training. He had never known anything else but these things and he accepted them as unconsciously as his voice was colored with the accent of the cultured East. "How do you size up this King's Basin proposi- tion?" questioned the banker. Again Willard Holmes smiled at the western man's words. "Sizing up" and "proposition" were pleas- ingly novel forms of expression to him. "Really," he answered, "I haven't gone into it very thoroughly as yet. Mr. Greenfield asked me to come out because he and his associates felt" — ^he paused; perhaps it would be just as well not to say what Mr. Greenfield and his associates felt: — "that with my experience in connection with large corporations I could be of value to them in certain phases of the work," he finished. He wondered if the man, who listened with such an air of carefully considering e ery word and mentally reaching out for whatever lay back of the verbal expression, had grasped what he had been about to say. 113 Digitized by Microsoft® THE wiwisrnsTG or barbaea worth Jefferson Worth waited and Holmes continued: "Mr. Greenfield and his friends are very anxious that you should come in with them on the organiza- tion of this company, Mr. Worth ; that is, of course, providing the scheme proves to be practicable. They instructed me to urge you personally to consider their proposal favorably and to ask you, by all means, to represent them on this expedition if possible. They realize that a man of your recognized ability and standing in the financial world, particularly in th? West, in close touch as you are with Capital and conditions in this part of the country and no doubt familiar with the Reclamation work, would be a valuable addition to their strength. In fact I may say they would depend largely upon your judgment as to whether the scheme was practicable from a business standpoint. On your side I am sure you recognize the advantage of allying yourself with such . a group of capitalists, who are strong enough to finance any undertaking, no matter how great. Their interests are already enormous. As you know, they operate only on the largest scale and, if this survey justifies the report already made, they will make a big thing out of this for everyone interested." The cold, exact voice of Jefferson Worth came as if from a machine incapable of inflection. "I have written Mr. Greenfield that I would look into the proposition for him. I will go out with the outfit. Have you seen Abe Lee?" "I met him last night and we had a little talk over things. I confess I was a little surprised." ^'Why?" -114 Digitized by Microsoft® 'But I don't ride, you know" Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBAEA WOETH "Well — ^that he is in charge. I was instructed to report to him. I find that he has had no schooling whatever ; that, in fact, he is nothing but a kind of a self-educated surveyor. I have no doubt that he is a good, practical fellow, but it seems to me somewhat reckless to put him in such a responsible position." Jefferson Worth did not say that he himself had had no more schooling than the Seer's lieutenant. Perhaps that, also, was not necessary to explain. He did say: '^e have only one standard in the West, Mr. Holmes." "And that ?" "What can you do ?" came the words as if spoken by cold iron. 11» Digitized by Microsoft® OHAPTEE VII. DON'T YOU LIKE MY DESERT, MR. HOLMES? jFTER his noon-day meal, Willard Holmes, following the example of others, sought the shade of the arcade in front of the hotel. Helping himself to a chair and moving a little away from the general company, he sat enjoying his cigar, musing on the novelty of his surroundings and re- viewing his impressions of the last few hours. It was natural that he should make comparisons — - that he should see men and things in the light of the only men and things he had ever knovyn. Abe Lee he measured by the standing of his own school- trained engineering friends, demanding that the desert-born and desert-trained surveyor exhibit all the hall-marks of Boston. He might as consistently have demanded that the flood of sunlight that fell in such blinding glory upon the new world before him should shine as through the smoke-grimed city atmosphere of New York- One was no more impossible than the other. Jefferson Worth he compared with the col- lege and university friends of his father — ^with Mr. Greenfield and the N"ew York-bred business men of his class, -demanding that the western pioneer banker show the same characteristics that distinguished the cultured capitalists whose great-great-grandfathers were pioneers. Eubio City he saw in the light of 116 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH those eastern cities that were founded in the days when men knew not that there was any world west of the AUeghanies. Turning his head now and then to look over the typical groups that sat in the shade of the arcade, dressed — or undressed — with all the easy freedom of a land too young as yet to have conventions, he recalled his favorite hotels in his home cities and smiled to think what would happen if some of these roughly clad individuals were to appear there among the guests. He did not know yet that some of these roughly clad individuals were as much at home in those same favorite hotels as was he himself. Like- wise as he watched the passing citizens in the street he recalled the scene from the windows of his club at home — a famous cluh on a famous avenue. That young woman, for instance, with her khaki divided skirt, wide somhrero, fringed gauntlets and the big western, saddle coming there on a horse whose feet seemed scarcely to touch the ground as he plunged and pranced impatiently along, springing side-wise, with arched neck and pointed ears, at every object that could possibly be made into something frightful by his playful fancy! What a sensation she would create at home! By Jove! but she could ride, though. He watched with admiring eyes the strong, graceful figure that sat the high-strung, uncertain horse as easily and unconsciously as any one of his women friends at home would rest in a comfortable chair. As the horsewoman drew nearer he fell to wonder- ing what she was like. Could she talk, for instance, of 117 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINISTESTG OF BAKBAEA WOKTH anything but the homely details of her own rough life? He shrugged his shoulders as he fancied her erude attempts at conversation, her uncouth lan- guage and raw expressions. The girl turned her horse toward the hotel entrance. As she drew still nearer he saw that she was not pretty. Her mouth was too large, her face too strong, her skin too tanned by the sun and wind.. At the sidewalk the girl swung from tlie saddle lightly, and throwing the bridle reins over the horse's head with a movement that brought out the beautiful lines of her figure, she turned her back upon the pawing, restless animal with as little concern as though she had delivered him to a correctly uni- formed groom. 1^0 she was not pretty; she was — magnificent. The adjective forced itself upon him. All along the arcade people were smiling in greet- ing, the men lifting their hats. Two cowboys in high-heeled boots and "chaps" paused in passing. "That new hawss of yours is sure some hawss, Miss Barbara," said one admiringly, sombrero in hand. The girl smiled and Holmes saw the flash of her perfect teeth. "Oh, he'll do, Bob, when I've worked him down a little." She passed into the hotel, followed by the eyes of every man in sight including the engineer, who had noted with surprise the purity and richness of her voice. The New York man had turned and was watching a company of Indians farther down the street when that voice close beside him said : "I beg your par don. Is this Mr. Holmes ?" 118 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH He turned quickly, rising to his feet. She smiled at his astonished look. "The clerk pointed you out to me. lam Barbara Worth. You met father at the bank this morning. Texas Joe and Pat told me about your being here and I could scarcely wait to see you. I'm afraid you must have thought them a little rough last night but really it's only their fun. They're as good as gold." As she stood now close to him — ^the red blood glow- ing under the soft brown of her cheeks — ^Willard Holmes felt her rich personality as distinctly as one senses the presence of the ocean, the atmosphere of the woods or the air of meadows and fields. But by all his conventional gods, this was the unconven- tional limit ! that this girl, the daughter of a banker, should openly seek out a total stranger to introduce herself to him on the public street before a crowd of hotel loungers! And the way she spoke of those rough men in the saloon, one would think they were her intimate friends. He managed to say: "Really, I am delighted, Miss Worth. May I escort you to the hotel parlor ?" She looked at him curiously. "Oh, no indeed ! It is much nicer out here in the arcade, don't you think ? But you may bring another chair." Dumbly he obeyed, feeling that every eye was on him and flushing with embarrassment for her. "When Texas and Pat told me that you were one of the engineers going out with The King's Basin party I could scarcely wait to see you. It makes it all seem so real, you know — ^your coming all the way out here from New York. I have dreamed so much 119 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WIj^lSriNG OF BAEBAEA WOETH about the reclamation of The King's Basin Desert? and you see I consider all civil engineers my personal friends." "Indeed," he said. It is always safely correct to say "indeed" as he said it, particularly when you have nothing else to say. She regarded him doubtfully with an open, straight-forward look which was somewhat discon- certing. She was so unconscious of the strength of her splendid womanhood and he felt her presence so vividly. "I suppose you must find everything out here very strange," she said slowly. "Father says this is your first visit to the West and of course it can't be like your part of the country." "It is all very interesting," he murmured. This also was sane and safe. "I know that Abe is very busy and father never leaves the bank except on business, so there is no one but me to look after you" — she smiled — "that is^ no one of our King's Basin people." Willard Holmes was of that type of corporation servant who recognizes no interests but the financial interests of the capital employing him. His services as a civil engineer belonged wholly to those who bought them for their own profit. Barbara's inno- cent words aroused him. What the deuce did she mean by "our King's Basin people" ? Greenfield and his friends thought that ihey were The King's Basin people. In the interests of his employers he must look into this. 120 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINifmG OF BARBAEA WORTH "It is very kind of you, I am sure," he said with a little more warmth. "To tell the truth I was feeling a bit strange, you know." "I'm sure you must be nearly dead with lone- someness. Wouldn't you like to go for a ride? I would so like to show you my Desert." "Her Desert!" he mentally observed. Indeed he must look into this. Fully alert now he answered heartily: "I should be delighted, I'm sure. You are more than kind. When could we go ?" "Eight now," she said quickly. "Here comes Pablo Garcia. I'll send him for another horse." She called to the passing Mexican: "Here Pablo." The young fellow came to her quickly and stood, sombrero in hand, his dark eyes shining with pride at the recognition. In Spanish she directed him to fetch a horse for the Senor. "Si, Senorita." With a low bow the Mexican turned to obey. The eastern man, not understanding the words, but awakening suddenly to the meaning of the action, broke forth with — "Here, wait a minute." "Wait," repeated Barbara in Spanish. Pablo paused. "You are sending him for a horse and saddle?" asked Holmes. "Yes ; it will take only a few minutes." "But I don't ride, you know." "You don't ride?" The girl looked at him in blank amazement. "I don't think I ever saw a mau before who didn't ride." 121 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BARBAEA WORTH He laughed indulgently. Something in her voice and manner touched his sense of humor. "I'm very sorry. I knov? I ought to," he said in mock humility. "Oh, vrell ; we can dtive. I'll have Pablo bring a rig." She explained what she wanted to the Mexican in his native tongue, and this time he mounted her horse and rode away. When the man returned a little later with a span of i'')stless, half -wild broncos hitched to a light buggy, the girl stepped into the vehicle and took the reins is a matter of course. With a low chuckle of amuse- ment the engineer took his place at her left. He was beginning really to enjoy the situation. Shying anc plunging the team demanded all of Barbara's attention but she managed to steal a look at her silent companion now and then, as if expecting him to show signs of nervousness. Willard Holmes, on his part, was wrapped in silent admiration of her strength and skill. "They'll cool down in a little while," the girl vol- unteered, as if to reassure her guest, after a particu- larly wild break on the part of the horses. But on the extreme edge of town, where the wagon road runs closest to the railroad track, a passing switch engine proved too much for the excited team. In a moment the frightened animals were running toward the Mesa at full speed. With all her strength Barbara struggled to regain control, but her arms were a woman's arms and the horses, quick to recognize their advantage, put back their ears and ran the faster in mad defiance. The girl was not frightened; she was annoyed. 122 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBAEA WOETH "I — I'm afraid they are running away,'' she gasped at last. To her surprise a hearty laugh was the only answer to her confession. She shot a quick glance over her left shoulder. Her companion was leaning bacK in his seat, his merry face expressing the keenest enjoy- ment. Then the girl felt a big hard shoulder pressing against her ; long powerful arms stretched over hers ; and two masterful hands closed on the reins above her cramped fingers. She relinquished her hol^njigd shrank back out of the way with a sigh of refief anS' ■ — ^yes, a look of admiration as the horses, wim a few wild leaps and ineffectual attempts to run^ again, settled down to a more rational gait. --^ ' "My!" she gasped, at the exhibition of the engi- neer's strength, "I believe you could pull their front feet off the ground." Her companion was still smiling. "Why didn't you tell me you could drive?" she demanded. He chuckled maliciously, for he had understood her reason for taking the reins at the start and he had not been insensible of the meaning of her glances at the beginning of the ride. "You didn't ask me, and besides I enjoyed seeing you handle them." "But you told me you couldn't ride/' she said reproachfully. "I can't," he returned-. "That is I never did ; not as you people in this country ride." Then he laughed again. "Confess now. Didn't you expect me to jump, back there ?" 123 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNIl^G OF BARBAEA WORTH "I shajl'^confess nothing," she retorted, sharply. "And hereafter I shall take nothing for granted." On the high ground near the foot of the hill at the canyon's mouth she asked him to turn around and stop. Willard Hc^tjnes had been too much occupied with the team and the girl to notice the landscape; and now that wonderful view of the Mesa, The King's Basin and the mountains burst upon him without warning. No sane man could be insensible of the grandeur of that scene. The man, whose erm^^d looked only upon' eastern landscapes that h^e in^every square foot of their limited range the evideiice' of man's presence, was silent — awe-stricken before^e mighty expanse of desert that lay as it was fashioned by the creative forces that formed the world. Turning at last from the glorious, ever- changing scenes, wrought in colors of gold and rose and lilac and purple and blue, to the girl whose eyes were fixed questioningly upon him, he said in a low voice : "Is it always like this ?" Barbara nodded. "Always like that, but always changing. It is never the same, but always the same. Like — like life itself. Do you understand ?" He turned again to the scene in silent wonder. "Do you like my Desert ?" she asked, after a little time had passed. His mind caught at the expression. "Do you mean to say that that is The King's Basin — ^that we are going there to work ?" "Why, of course." She laughed uneasily. "Don't you like it «" 124 Digitized by Microsoft® THE. WINNING OF BAEBAEA WOETH "Like it?" he repeated. "But is there anyone living out there ?" She was amazed at his words. "Living there? Of course not. But you are going to make it so that thousands and thousands can live there — ^you and the others. Don't you understand?" Her voice expressed a shade of impatience. "I'm afraid I did not realize," he answered slowly. "That's just it!" she cried, thoroughly aroused now and speaking passionately. "That's just the trouble with you eastern men; you don't realize. For years the dear old Seer and a few others have been trying to make you see what a work there is to do out here, and you won't even look up from your little old truck patches to give them intelligent atten- tion. You think this King's Basin is big ? Why, the Seer says that if every foot of that land was under cultivation it wouldn't be a posy bed beside what there is to do in the West. I suppose you must have done some great things in your profession, Mr. Holmes, or those capitalists wouldn't have sent you out here ; but you can't have done anything that will mean to the world what the reclamation of The King's Basin Desert will mean one hundred years from now, because this work is going to make the people realize, don't you see ?" The young engineer's face flushed under her words, and as he watched her strong face glowing with enthusiasm for the Seer's dream, he felt the sweet power of her personality sweep over him as he felt the breeze from ofF the desert. He was held as 125 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WIlNiraSTG OF BAEBARA WORTH though by some magic spell — not by the lure of her splendid womanhood, but*'>by that and something else ■ — something that was like the country of which she spoke so passionately. And he remembered wonder- ing if this girl could talk ! He relieved the tense strain of the situation by holding out the reins and saying, with a whimsical smile : "Here, you can drive." She caught his meaning and smiled in acknowl- edgment. "Thank you, but I don't want to drive. That's really the man's part, you know. I suppose," she |dded, "that you think me bold and mannish and coarse and everything else that a girl ought not to be, but I" — she turned away her face and her voice trembled — "but you can't understand, Mr. Holmes, what this desert means to me." "Perhaps I don't understand," he said seriously. "But I am sure of this: somewhere back of every really great work that has ever been accomplished in any age there has been a woman like you." Then they drove back to the hotel where she left him and drove to the barn herself. A few minutes later he saw her pass again, riding her own quick- stepping horse. During the two weeks that followed before the Seer's return, while Abe Lee was busy getting ready for the work in Barbara's Desert, Willard Holmes and the girl were often together. The man from Wew York admitted somewhat proudly, Barbara thought — as if the very confession somehow estab- lished the superiority of the East — ^that he was shock- 126 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH ingly ignorant of all things Western. But appar- ently overlooking the subtle assumption in the man- ner of his confession, she laughingly undertook his education. For one thing he must learn to ride. "Really," he demurred, "I don't think I care for that j)articular amusement. I have never taken it up at home, you know, but of course if it is the thing to do, why — " "Amusement!" she laughed. "Riding isn't an amusement ; it's a necessity. The horse is our street car and railroad and steamboat. Where you think city blocks and squares we think miles; and where you think miles we think hundreds of miles. Two legs are not enough in this country, so we double the number and go on four. You'll find yourself wishing for eight before you get back from The King's Basin." So, at her bidding, Texas Joe secured a horse for him and almost every afternoon the two were in their saddles. And every night over his evening cigar at the hotel the engineer found himself reviewing the incidents and conversations of the ride; forced to wonder at some new and unexpected revelation of the mind and character of this western girl who was so interested in the reclamation work and so uncon- scious of her womanly power. He came quickly to look forward to their hours together and to plan and carry out many conversational experiments. Invari- ably he had his reward. One afternoon he tried skillfully to shape the con- versation to the end that he might tell her — quite without ostentation — of the proud history and social 127 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBAEA WORTH position of his family and of his own rank in the upper eastern world. She humored him patiently, helping him out with questions and artless, admiring exclamations and comments, until he was quite sure that she was prop- erly impressed. Then she said, in a tone of honest sympathy : "But you mustn't let all this worry you,, you know." "Worry me ?" he echoed in amazement. She nodded seriously, but with a glint of mischief in her eyes. "Yes, I can understand that it must be hard for a man to do his work handicapped as you are but no onie away out here will count it against you. Every man here has a chance no matter what his past has been. You see, we don't care what a man has been or what his fathers were; we accept him for what he is and value him for what he can do. So all you need to do is to forget and go straight ahead with your work and you'll easily live it down. Only, of course," she added gently, "I wouldn't advise you to tell everybody what you have told me. Some might not understand." He retorted warmly: "Of course you cannot understand our point of view. Everything is so new and raw out here that you have no social standards." "New and raw?" She laughed again. "Why, Mr. Holmes, you are the only new thing in this, country. Do you see that man over there ?" They were riding south on the road that foUowc" the river and she pointed to an Indian who sat idlj in the shade of his pole and mud hut. 128 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WIITNING OF BAKBAEA WORTH "What's the matter with him?" asked the engi- neer. "ITothing. Only he, too, has ancestors. Ages and ages before your forefathers knew that this con- tinent existed, that man's people lived in a city not far from here — a city with laws, customs, religions, social standards — ^yes, and civil engineers, for you can easily trace the lines of their canals, in which they brought water from the river and carried it through a tunnel in the mountains to irrigate their land, just as you modern engineers are planning to do. The Seer and I rode over there once and he told me about it. I'll show you, if you like. New ! Why the West was ages old before the East was discovered ! The Seer says that if Columbus had come first to the western coast !N"ew England to-day would stiU be an uninhabitable, howling wilderness." "But I don't see what all this has to do with social standards," he said, nettled at her reply. "Simply this. If a man's position in life is to be fixed by the age of his family or the number of years that they have occupied a certain section of the coun- try, then that Indian is your superior. His ances- tors lived here long before yours settled in New England." "But we are proud of our ancestors because of what they were and what they accomplished. We have a right to be. Think of what the world owes them !" "Oh, I must have misunderstood you. You seemed to place so much emphasis on their having come over Digitized by Microsoft® THE WIIsrJSriNG OF BARBARA WORTH in the Mayflower, They were grand -those brave old pioneers. I am proud of them too for what they were. And did they have social positions by which they fixed a man's place in life, I wonder ?" "Of course they could not have had a society with the wealth and culture that we have now. The country was all new — something like the West is to-day, I suppose." She laughed aloud. "And you are proud of them ! How fine! Isn't it splendid to think that in two or three hundred years, when the West has been civil- ized and the Desert reclaimed as your pioneer fore- fathers civilized and reclaimed the East, when wealth and culture have come, a man's social standing will be determined by his relation to us and people will be proud of what we are doing? After all, Mr. Holmes, the only difference between the East and the West seems to be that you have ancestors and that we are going to he ancestors. You look back to what has been; we look forward to what will be. You are proud and take rank because of what your fore- fathers did ; we are proud and take rank because of what we are doing. And we are doing exactly what they did ! Honestly now, which would you rather — worship an ancestor or be an ancestor worshipped?" When they had laughed together over this he said : "I am beginning to understand, Miss Worth, that the ideal American, whom we are always hearing about but never meet, must be a Westerner; he couldn't possibly be of the East, could he ?" His words were almost a sneer. "The ideal American is neither Eastern nor 130 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OP BAKBARA WOETH Western in the way you mean, Mr. Holmes. He is both." "Indeed? You admit that we of the East could give him something, then ?" "You could give him all that your forefathers have given you." "And what could the West give him ?" She looked at him steadily a moment before an- swering slowly; "I think you will have to find that out for yourself.'' He was taken a little aback by her answer. It sounded as though she wished to end the conversation. But her talk had stirred him strongly, though he tried to hide this under cover of a cynical tone. He said triumphantly: "But you see, after all, you admit that one is not altogether hopeless because he happens to come of a good family!" "Certainly I admit it!" she cried, "but don't you see what I mean ? Ancestors are to be counted as a valuable asset, but not as working capital." As she spoke she turned toward him again with that steady look, and the man felt the strange, mys- terious power of her personality, the challenging lure of her young womanhood — that and more. What was it back of those steady eyes that called to him, inspired him, that almost frightened him ; that made him feel as Barbara herself felt in the presence of the Desert. There was no trace of cynicism in his voice now, nor any hint of a sneer on his face, as Willard Holmes straightened unconsciously in his saddle. "By George!" he said, "it's good to hear you say 131 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAKBAKA WOETH those things. Noljody talks that way nowadays. I suppose our great-great-grandmothers did, though." She colored with pleasure, but answered lightly: "That puts me a long ways behind the times, doesn't it?" "Or a long way ahead," he offered. In the meantime, while the education of Willard Holmes progressed, the party that was to make the first survey in Barbara's Desert was being formed and equipped under the direction of Abe Lee. Horses, mules, wagons, camp outfits and supplies, with Indian and Mexican laborers, teamsters of sev- eral nationalities and here and there a Chinese cook, were assembled. Toward the last from every part of the great West country came the surveyors and engineers — sunburned, khaki-clad men most of them, toughened by their out-of-doors life, overflowing with health and good spirits. They hailed one another joyously and greeted Abe with extravagant delight, overwhelming him with questions. For the word had gone out that the Seer, beloved by all the tribe, and his lieutenant, almost equally beloved, were making "big medicine" in The King's Basin Desert. Not a man of them would have exchanged his chance to go for a crown and scepter. The eastern engineer met these hardened profes- sional brothers cordially. He listened to their rem- iniscences of life and work in mountain, plain and desert with interest, discovering to his surprise that most of them were eastern born and bred, with technical training in the schools with which he was familiar. But their almost boyish enthusiasm over 132 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINN'IJSTG OF BAEBAKA WORTH the work ahead, their admiration for the Chief and for Abe Lee he viewed with cold indifference. With all his duties Abe found frequent oppor- tunity to report to Barbara, for the girl's interest in every detail of the preparations was never failing. Her friends protested that they never saw her now at their little social affairs, for she was always off somewhere with some engineer, and that when they did chance to catch her alone she would talk of noth- ing but that horrid King's Basin country. Every evening, early after supper, the surveyor Tould slip away from his companions at the hotel to spend an hour on the veranda at the banker's home talking in his straightforward way with Barbara and her father, of the work that was so dear to, the heart of the girl. And because it was his work and in the nature of a report to one who, he felt, had in some subtle way authority to hear, Abe talked with a freedom that would have astonished many of his friends who thought they knew him best. Three times while Abe was there Willard Holmes appeared, and each time, at the engineer's presence, the surveyor's painful diffidence became apparent and he soon — ^with some stammering excuse — left. The last time this happened Barbara walked down to the gate with the painfully embarrassed surveyor. Everything was in readiness for the coming of the Chief, who would arrive the next day, and the follow- ing morning the expedition would start for the field. "Buenos noches, hermano — Good night, brother," called Barbara, as the taU surveyor walked away down the street. 133 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WIjSTNIITG OF BAEBAKA WOETH "Buenos noches," came the answer. Willard Holmes heard and frowned. "You seem to be very fond of Spanish, Miss Worth," he said, when the girl came back to the porch. "I notice you use it so often with our long friend there." Barbara laughed at his evident displeasure. "The language seems to belong so to this country. To me its colors are all soft and warm like the colors of the Desert. I never thought of it before, but I suppose I use it so often with Abe because he, too, seems to belong to this country." The engineer looked at her curiously. "I don't think I quite see the connection. You mean that he has Spanish blood ?" "Not at all," said Barbara quickly. "But he is desert-bom and desert-trained. He has the same patient stillness, the same natural bigness and the same unconquerable hardness." "Oh, but you say the desert is not unconquerable; that it will be subdued. Your analogy is at fault." "]^o, Mr. Holmes, it is you who do not understand. There is something about this country that will always remain as it is now. Abe Lee is like that. Whatever changes may come, he will always be Abe Lee of the Desert." "Your views are really poetical and your character analyses very clever. Miss Worth, but after all men are men wherever you find them. Human nature is the same the world over." "Oh, I'm sure that is so, Mr. Holmes. I know there must be many western men in the east, only they haven't found themselves yet " 134 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBAEA WORTH He laughed heartily as he rose to go. "Will you ever bid me good night in your language of the desert ?" he asked. "Perhaps, when you have learned that language," she said with an answering smile. "By George, I shall try to learn it," he answered. "Oh, I wish you would," came the earnest answer. "I know you could." And again the engineer felt strongly, back of her words, that unvoiced appeal. As he went down the street he knew that she did not refer to the Spanish tongue when she wished him to le^rn the language of her Desert. Alone in her room that night Barbara's mind was too active for sleep and she sat for a long time by the open window, looking out into the vast silent world under the still stars. Until she introduced herself to Willard Holmes, Barbara had never known eastern people. Tourists she had seen and, at rare intervals, met in a casual way. But they had always examined her with such frankly curious eyes that she had felt like some strange animal on exhibition and had repaid their interest with all the indifference she could command. Occasionally also she had been introduced to eastern business men, whom she chanced upon talking with her father in the bank, but they had turned quickly away to the matters of their world after the usual polite nothings demanded by the introduction. The i?ome-land and life of Willard Holmes were as for- eign to her as her land and life were strange to him. So it happened in this instance also that in the 135 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINITING OF BAEBAEA WORTH education of the eastern engineer the teacher learned quite as much as the pupil. The traits that stood out so prominently in the western men whom Barbara knew and so much admired were, in Willard Holmes, buried deeply under the habits and customs of the life and thought of the world to which he belonged — ^buried so deeply that the man himself scarcely realized that they were there and so was led to wonder at himself when his blood tingled with some strong presentation of this western girl's views. But Barbara knew. Beneath the conventionalities of his class the girl felt the man a powerful char- acter, with all the latent strength of his nation- building ancestors. She wanted him — as she put it to herself — to wake up. Would he ? Would he learn the language of her Desert? She believed that he would, even as she believed in the reclamation of The King's Basin lands. And she was glad — ^glad that the Seer and Abe and Tex and Pat and her father — the men who had brought her out of the Desert — ^were going now back into that land of death to save that land itself from itself. And — she whispered it softly under the stars — she was glad — glad that Willard Holmes had come to go with them — to learn the language of her land. 136 Digitized by Microsoft® CHAPTEK VIII. WHY WILLARD HOLMES STAYED. |LOWLY, day by day, the surveying party under the Seer pushed deeper and deeper into the awful desolation of The King's Basin Desert. They were the advance force of a mighty army ordered ahead by Good Business — the master passion of the race. Their duty was to learn the strength of the enemy, to measure its resources, to spy out its weaknesses and to gather data upon which a campaign would be planned. Under the Seer the expedition was divided into several smaller parties, each of which was assigned to certain defined districts. Here and there, at seem- ingly careless intervals in the wide expanse, the white tents of the division camps shone through the many colored veils of the desert. Tall, thin columns of dust lifted into the sky from the water wagons that crawled ceaselessly from water hole to camp and from camp to water hole — hung in long clouds above the supply train laboring heavily across the dun plain to and from Kubio City — or rose in quick puffs and twisting spirals from the feet of some saddle horse bearing a messenger from the Chief to some distant lieutenant. Every morning, from each of the camps, squads of khaki-clad men bearing transit and level, stake and 137 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH pole and flag — the weapons of their warfare — ^put out in different directions into the vast silence that seemed to engulf them. Every evening the squads returned, desert-stained and weary, to their rest under the lonesome stars. Every morning the sun broke fiercely up from the long level of the eastward plain to pour its hot strength down upon these pigmy creatures, who dared to invade the territory over which he had, for so many ages, held undisputed dominion. Every evening the sun plunged fiercely down behind the purple wall of mountains that shut in the Basin on the west, as if to gather strength in some nether world for to-morrow's fight. Always there was the same flood of white light from the deep, dry sky that was uncrossed by shred of cloud ; always the same wide, tavmy. waste, harshly glaring near at hand — filled with awful mysteries under the many colored mists of the distance; until the eyes ached and the soul cried out in wonder at it all. Always there were the same deep nights, with the lonely stars so far away in the velvet purple darkness; the soft breathing of the desert; the pungent smell of greasewood and salt-bush; the weird, quavering call of the ground owl ; or the wild coyote chorus, as if the long lost spirits of long ago savage races cried out a dreadful warning to these invaders. And in all of this the land made itself felt against these men in the silent menace, the still waiting, the subtle call, the promise, the threat and the challenge of La Palma de la Mano de Dios. To Barbara, who rode often in those days to the 138 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OE BARBAKA WOETH very rim of the Basin, there to search the wild, wider land with straining eyes for signg of her friends, the white glare of the camps was lost in the bewildering maze of color. The columns, clouds and spirals of dust — ^save perhaps from a near supply wagon coming in or passing out — could not be distinguished from the whirling dust-devils that danced always over the hot plains. The toiling pigmy dots of the little army were far beyond her vision's range. It was as though the fierce land had swallowed up horses, wagons and men. Only through the frequent letters brought by the freighters did she know that all was going well. Perhaps the gray lizard that climbed to the top of a line stake wondered at the strange new growth fiat had sprung so suddenly from the familiar soil ; or perhaps the horned-toad, scuttling to cover, mar- veled at the strange sounds as the stakes were driven and man called to man figures and directions. Perhaps the scaly side-winder, springing his warning rattle at the approaching step, questioned what new enemy this was; or the lone buzzard, wheeling high over head, watched the tiny moving figures with wondering hopefulness, and the coyote, that hushed for a little his wild music to follow up the wind this strange new scent, laughed at the Seer's dream. These lines of stakes that every day stretched farther and farther into and across the waste seemed, in the wideness of the land, pitifully foolish. Looking back over the lines, the men who set them could scarcely distinguish the way they had come. But they knew that the stakes were there. They knew* that some day that other, mightier company, the main 139 Digitized by Microsoft® .THE WINNING OF BAKBAEA WORTH army, would move along the way they had marked to meet the strength of the barren waste with the strength of the great river and take for the race the wealth of the land. The sound of human voices was flat and ineffectual in that age-old solitude, but the speakers knew that foUowing their feeble voices would come the shouting, ringing, thundering chorus of the life that was to follow them into that silent land of death. With the slow passing of the weeks came the trying out and testing of character inevitable to such a work. The concealing habits of civilization were dropped. Kindly, useful conventionalities were lost. Face to face with the unconquered forces of nature, nothing remained but the real strength or weakness of the individual himself. In some there were developed unguessed powers of endurance that bore the hard days without flinching; cheerful optimism that laughed at the appalling immensity of the task ; strength of spirit that made a jest of galling discom- forts; courage that smiled in the face of dangers, These were the strength of the party. Some there were who grew sullen, quarrelsome, and vicious in a kind of mad rebellion. These must be held in check, controlled and governed by the Seer with the assist- ance of Abe Lee and his helpers. Some became silent and moody, faint hearted and afraid. These were strengthened and guarded and given fresh courage. Some grew peevish and fretful, whining and com- plaining. These were disciplined wisely, forced gently into line. Some staggered and fell by the 140 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAKBARA WORTH way. These were sent back and the ranks closed up. But the work — always the work went on. To Willard Holmes the life was a slow torture, a revelation and an education. He found himself stripped of everything upon which he was accustomed to rely — ^family traditions, social position, influential friends, scholarship, experience in the world to which he was born — all these were nothing in The Hollow of God's Hand. Slowly he learned that the power of such wealth is limited to certain fields. New York was very far away. He felt that he had been hope- lessly banished to a strange world. Many times he would have thrown it all up and turned back with other deserters, but there was red blood in his veins. Stubborn pride and the thought of the girl who had hoped that he would "learn the language of her country" enabled him to hold on. Once he ventured to speak to the Chief in a hope- less voice of the evident impossibility of ever con- verting that terrible land into a habitable country, and the Seer, strong in the strength of his dream, had looked at him from the still depth of his brown eyes without a word — ^looked until the younger man had turned away, his cheeks flushed with shame and his spirit doing homage to the strength of the master spirit of the work. And the eastern engineer remem- bered with new understanding his talks with Barbara Worth. When they puUed the dead coyote from the only water hole within two days' travel and Holmes nearly fainted at the sickening sight, it was Texas Joe who 141 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WI]!^]Sril^G OF BAEBAKA WORTH saved the day for him by remarking, with an air of philosophical musing, after a deep draught of the tepid, tainted water : "Hit ain't so bad as you might think, Mr. Holmes, onct your oilfactory nerves has become somewhat regulated to the aroma and your palate has been eddicated to the point of appreciatin' the deliciously foreign flavor. In the judgment of some connysoors, it has several points the lead of them imported fancy drinks you get in Frisco." When a Mexican died horribly from the bite of a rattlesnake, and Holmes himself was barely saved from a like fate by the prompt action and ready knowledge of Abe Lee, it was the slow smile of the desert-bred surveyor that stiffened him to go on. And when he was nearly beaten by a three days' sand-storm so searching that even the flap-jacks and bacon gritted in his teeth and his blood-shot eyes smarted in his head like coals of fire and his skin felt as though it had been sand-papered, when he would have sold his soul for a bath and actually began to get his things together in readiness for the next wagon out, it was Pat, who, with the devilish ingenuity of an Irish imp, mocked and jeered at him for a quitter, "fit to act only as lady's maid or to serve soft dhrinks in a corner drug-sthore," until his fainting heart took fire and, cursing his tormentor with all the oaths he could muster, he offered to whip, single-handed, the whole grinning camp and stayed. Thus he was advanced to the second degree, when he began to sense the spirit of the untamed land and of the men who went to meet it -with, sheer joy of the conquest; when he began to glory in the very 142 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH greatness of the task; and the long dormant spirit of his ancestors stirred within him as he caught glimpses of the vision that inspired the Seer or, perhaps it should be written, the vision that tempted his employers, James Greenfield and his fellow capitalists. He was still far from ready for the final degree; but even that might come. Through all those hard days Jefferson Worth moved with the same careful, precise, certain manner that distinguished him in his work at home. Even the desert sun that so tanned, blistered and blackened the faces of his companions couid not mark the gray pallor of that mask-like face. No disturbing incident or unforeseen difficulty could wring from him an exclamation or change the measured tones of his colorless voice. He seemed to accept everything as though he had foreseen, carefully considered and dismissed it from his mind before it came to pass. Day after day he rode in every direction over the land within easy reach of the many camps ; familiar- izing himself with every detail of the work, observing soil, studying conditions, poring over maps and figures with the Seer, verifying estimates, listening to and taking part in the many councils of the leaders. But not once did anyone catch a hint of what was going on behind those expressionless blue eyes that seemed to see everything without effort and to be incapable of expressing the emotions of the soul within. To the men he was the visible representative of that invisible power that willed their going forth. 143 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAKBAEA WORTH He was Capital — Money — Business incarnate. They set him apart as one not of their world. In his presence laughter was hushed, jests were unspoken. Silently they waited for him to speak first. When he conversed with them they answered thoughtfully in subdued tones, seeming to feel that their words were received by one who placed upon them un- dreamed-of values. Filled as these men were with the enthusiasm of their work, they were never uncon- scious of the knowledge that but for the power repre- sented by Jefferson Worth their work would be impossible. Small wonder, then, that there was consternatioi; in the headquarters camp that night when Pat appeared, hat in hand, before the company of leaders in the Seer's office tent. "I beg yer pardon, Sorr." "What is it, Pat?" asked the Seer, and all eyes were turned upon the burly Irishman, whose face 'and voice as well as his presence at that hour betrayed some unusual incident. " 'Tis this, Sorr. Has anywan seen Mr. Worth this avenin' ?" Every head was shaken negatively. "Was he not at supper wid you gintlemen ?" "Why no, he was not," returned the Seer. "But it is nothing unusual for him to be late. Have you asked the cook ?" "We have, Sorr. Ye see, whin ut come time to turn in an' he hadn't shown up an' Tex seen that his horse wasn't wid the bunch, we got a bit unaisy like. We axed the eook, an' we've been to his tent, an' we've axed the men." 144 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAKBAKA WORTH "Perhaps he has put up at one of the other camps," suggested a surveyor. "That's not like, Sorr, for he rode northeast thia aiomin'. Me an' Tex watched him go; an' there's divil a camp in that direction as we all know." "He surely intended to return here or he would have told us," said the Seer. "You know how careful he is. What do you think, Abe ?" Before Abe could answer a Mexican ran up, and Pat, turning, hauled him into the tent by the neck. "Fwhat the hell is ut, ye greaser ?" "Senor Texas send me quick," the little brown man panted, bowing low to the company, sombrero in hand. "Senor Worth's horse, he just come. In the saddle is no one. Senor Worth he is not come. I think he is gone." Before the Mexican finished speaking there was a rush of feet and he was alone. With a rhnig of his shoulders and a flash of his white teeth, he turned leisurely to follow, saying half aloud : "It is all in La Palma de la Mano de Dios, Senor Worth. Maybe so you come back, maybe this time not." He stood for a moment looking into the black vault of the nigtt ; then, with another shrug, retired to his blanket , to sleep. Abe Lee was first to reach the corral where Texas Joe, by the Kght of a lantern, was examining Mr. Worth's horse. No word was exchanged between them while the surveyor in turn looked carefully over the animal. The others, coming up, stood silent a little apart, waiting for the word of these two. 14-5 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WIATJ^Iiq-G OF BAEBAEA WOETH "What do you make of it, Abe?" asked the Seer when the long surveyor turned toward him. Deliberately rolling a cigarette, Abe answered from a cloud of smoke : "He is left afoot too far out to walk in, likely. We'll go for him in the morning." A startled exclamation came from Willard Holmes, but no one heeded as the surveyor turned to Texas Joe. "How do you figure it, Tex ?" "The same," came the laconic answer. "This here cayuse wasn't broke to stand. He must have been tied somewheres, 'cause the reins are busted." He , pointed to the pieces of leather hanging from the bit, "The canteen is gone. Jefferson Worth is too old a hand on the desert to leave it on the horse. He likely tied the pony to a bush and went to climb a hill or something. Mr. Hawss breaks loose and pulls for home. It happened a good way out, 'cause the pony's pretty well tired, which he wouldn't a-been, ' travelin' light, if Mr. Worth hadn't ridden some distance before it happened. An' if he was nearer the pony would have been in earlier. He'll likely show us a smoke in the morning and even if he don't it'll be easy to trail him, 'cause there ain't no wind. Will I go, sir ?" He looked at the Chief. "Yes ; you and Abe, don't you think ?" Abe assented and the men turned toward the tents while Texas led the tired horse away. The ISTew York engineer approached the Chief. "Do I understand, sir, that you propose to do nothing until morning?" The Seer faced him. "There is nothing to do, Mr. Holmes," he said simply, 146 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNII^G OF BAEBAKA WORTH Willard Holmes was amazed at tlje man's apparent unconcern. "!N"othing to do ?" he exclaimed. "Why don't you arouse the men and send them in every direction to search ? Why man, don't you realize the situation? Mr. Worth may be hurt. He may even be dying alone out there ! I protest ! It's monstrous ! It's cowardly, inhviman, to do nothing !" The company, attracted by the loud words, paused. Abe Lee, standing beside his Chief, rolled another cigarette while the engineer was speaking. The Seer answered patiently : "But Mr. Holmes, we could accomplish nothing by such a search as you suggest. The territory is too large to cover with a hundred times the number of men we have in camp. At daylight, when they can follow his trail, Abe and Tex will ride to him as fast as their horses can go. Granting that the worst you suggest may be true, our plan is the only sane way." "But I protest, sir. You should make the attempt. I will not submit to idly doing nothing while a life is in danger — particularly that of a man like Mr. Worth. I shall go alone if no one will help me, and" —he straightened himself haughtily — "I shall report this to Mr. Greenfield and the men interested with him in this work." At the last words one of those rare changes swept over the big engineer, and the witnesses saw a side of the Chief's nature that was seldom revealed. His eyes flashed and his face hardened as he burst forth in tones that startled his hearers: "Eeport me? You ! Eeport and be damned, sir. I was old at this work when you were a sucking babe. These men 147 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH were learning the desert when you were attending a fashionable dancing school. Why, you damned lily- fingered tenderfoot, you couldn't find your way five hundred yards in this country without a guide or a compass. Now, sir, I'm running this outfit and if you have any protests against my cowardly inhu- manity I advise you- to smother them in your manly breast, or, by hell! I'll ship you out on the first wagon to-morrow morning and let you report to Greenfield that you were fired because you didn't know your work yourself and hadn't intelligence enough to listen to those who did !" The Chief paused for breath, and Willard Holmes, whose experience with large corporations was ex- pected to make him peculiarly valuable to the capital- ists who sent him out, turned away with what dignity he could command. "Howly Mither!" came a hoarse whisper from Pat to Abe; "I made sure the poor bhoy wud shrivel up. Sieh a witherin', blistherin' tongue lashin' wud scorch the hide av the owld divil himsilf." He looked admiringly after the Seer. "D'ye think, now, that the poor lad will be afther tacklin' the job alone, like he said ? Sure, ut's nerve he has all right but he lacks judgment." "Yes, he has the nerve all right," returned Abe slowly, "and we'd better keep an eye on him. Tell Tex." Willard Holmes knew that he owed his Chief an apology and he promised himself to make it in the morning. But neither the explanation of the Seer nor the bitter humiliation that he had brought upon 148 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBAEA WORTH himself could turn his thoughts from Mr. Worth alone on the desert. To sleep was impossible. The banker might be As he tossed in his blankets the engineer pictured to himself a hundred things that might have happened to Barbara's father. It was some two hours later when Pat touched Abe Lee on the shoulder. "All right, Pat," said the surveyor, fully awake and in possession of all his senses in an instant. "There's a light bobbin' off into nowhere an' the lad's blankets are impty." Fifteen minutes later a quiet voice within three feet of Willard Holmes asked: "Shall I go with you, sir?" The eastern man jumped like a nervous woman. He had not heard the approach of the surveyor, who walked with the step of an Indian. "I couldn't sleep," he explained. "I thought I would follow the tracks a little way out at least. He may not be so far away as you think." After Abe had taken time to make his cigarette he spoke meditatively. "Mr. Worth rode a horse." "I understand that," returned the man with the lantern tartly. "I saw him go this morning and I saw the horse to-night. This is the track." From another cloud of smoke came the quiet, respectful answer : "'But this is a mule's track, Mr. Holmes. It is Manuel Eamirez's mule. See, he has a broten shoe on the off fore-foot. I noticed it yes- terday when I sent Manuel to hunt a water hole. Besides, Mr Worth rode northeast; not in this direction." 149 Digitized by Microsoft® CHAPTEE IX. THE MASTER PASSION— " GOOD BUSINESS." IHEiN" Jefferson Worth left headquarters camp that morning, his purpose was to ride over a part of the territory lying southeast of the old San Felipe trail between the sand hills and the old beach-line. He had covered practically all of the land on the western side of the ancient sea-bed, from the delta dam at the southern end north to the lowest point in the Basin, and southward again on the eastern side as far as the old trail. There remained for him to see only this section in the southeast. It was nearly noon when the banker, from a slight elevation that afforded him a view of the surrounding country, recognized the group of sand hills and, by the general course of Dry Kiver, distinguished the spot where the San Felipe trail crosses the deep arroyo. Occupied with his thoughts, he had ridden farther from camp than he had realized. He should turn back. But the distant scene of the desert tragedy called him. He became possessed of a desire to visit once more the spot that was so closely associated with the child, who had so strangely come into his life and whom he loved as his own daughter. An hour later he dismounted to stand beside the water hole where, with his companions, he had found the dead woman with the empty canteen by her side. 150 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WIK"NING OF BAEBAKA WOKTH The incidents of that hour were as vivid in the banker's memory as if it had all happened only the day before. He remembered hov? Texas Joe had lifted the canteen and, inverting it, had held out to them his finger moistened -with, the last drop of water in the cloth-covered vessel ; and how he and his com- panions, standing by the dead body of the woman, had turned to each other in startled awe at the coyotes' ghostly call in the dusk. He heard again with thrilling clearness the baby's plaintive voice: "Mamma, mamma! Barba wants drink. Please bring drink, mamma. Barba's 'fraid !" Going a short way up the wash, he stood with uncovered head on the very spot where he had knelt with out-stretched hands before the big-eyed, brown- haired baby girl, who, crouching under the high bank, shrank back from him in fear. He saw the frightened look in her eyes and heard the sweet voice cry: "Go 'way! Go 'way! Go 'way!" Then he saw the expression on the little face change as Pat and Tex and the boy tried to reassure her ; saw her hold up her baby hands in full confidence to the big engineer ; and felt again the pain and humiliation in his heart. Why had the baby instinctively feared him ? Why had she turned from him to the Seer? Why, he asked himself bitterly, had she always feared him? Why did she still shrink from him? Por Barbara did shrink from him, unconsciously — unintentionally — ^but, to Jefferson Worth, none the less plainly now than when he knelt before her that night in the desert. And it hurt him now as it had hurt him 151 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINlSril^G OF BAEBAEA WORTH then; hurt the more, perhaps, because Barbara did not know — ^because her attitude was instinctive. Still living over again the incidents and emotions of that hour in the desert night, he walked back to the crossing and, leadiiig his horse, climbed the little hill out of the wash to the spot where, with Texas and Pat, he had rendered the last possible service to the unknown woman, who had given her life for the life of the child — the child that was his but not his. Long ago he had marked the grave with a simple headstone bearing the only name possible- — the one word: "Mother" — and the date of her death. Then mounting again, he rode swiftly along thfe old trail toward the sand hills in the near distance. The great drifts, in the years that had passed, had been moved on by the wind until the wagon and aU that remained of the half-buried outfit were now hidden somewhere deep in its heart. But the general form of the sand hill was still the same. Dismounting, Mr. Worth tied his horse to a scrag- gly, half-buried mesquite and, taking his canteen from the saddle, climbed laboriously up the steep, sandy slope. He would look over the country from that point and then make straight for camp, for it was getting well on in the afternoon. From the top of the hill he could see the wide reaches of The King's Basin Desert sweeping away on every side. At his feet the 'bare sand hills themselves lay like huge, rolling, wind-piled drifts of tawny snow glisten- ing in the sunlight with a blinding glare. Beyond these were the gray and green of salt-bush, mesquite and greasewood, with the dun earth showing here 152 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBAKA WOETH and there in ragged patches. Still farther away the detail of hill and hummock and bush and patch was lost in the immensity of the scene, while the dull tones of gray and green and brown were over-laid with the ever-changing tints of the distance, until, to the eyes, the nearer plain became an island sur- rounded on every side by a mighty, many-colored sea that broke only at the foot of the purple motmtain wall. The work of the expedition was nearly finished. The banker knew now from the results of the survey and from his own careful observations and estimates that the Seer's dream was not only possible from an engineering point of view, but from the careful capitalist's standpoint, would justify a large invest- ment. Lying within the lines of the ancient beach and thus below the level of the great river, were hundreds of thousands of acres equal in richness of the soil to the famous delta lands of the Nile. The bringing of the water from the river and its distribu- tion through a system of canals and ditches, while a work of great magnitude requiring the expenditure of large sums of money, was, as an engineering prob- lem, comparatively simple. As Jefferson Worth gazed at the wonderful scene, a vision of the changes that were to come to that land passed before him. He saw first, following the nearly finished work of the engineers, an army of men beginning at the river and pushing out into the desert with their canals, bringing with them the life-giving water. Soon, with the coming of the water, would begin the coming of the settlers. Hummocks would 153 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WIJSTN'IE'G OE BAEBAKA WORTH be leveled, washes and arroyos filled, ditches would be made to the company canals, and in place of the thin growth of gray-green desert vegetation with the ragged patches of dun earth would come great fields of luxuriant alfalfa, billowing acres of grain, with miles upon miles of orchards, vineyards and groves. The fierce desert life would give way to the herds and flocks and the home life of the farmer. The railroad would stretch its steel strength into this new world ; towns and cities would come to be where now was oxAj solitude and desolation; and out from this world-old treasure house vast wealth would pour to enrich the peoples of the earth. The wealth of an empire lay in that land under the banker's eye, and Capital held the key. But while the work of the engineers was simple, it would be a great work; and it was the magnitude of the enterprise and the consequent requirement of large sums of money that gave Capital its oppor- tunity. Without water the desert was worthless. With water the productive possibilities of that great territory were enormous. Without Capital the water could not be had. Therefore Capital was master of the situation and, by controlling the water, could exact royal tribute from the wealth of the land. Knowing James Greenfield and his business associates as he knew them, familiar with their operations as he was and knowing that they repre- sented the power of almost unlimited capital, Jeffer- son Worth realized that they would plan to share in every dollar of wealth that The King's Basin lands could be made to produce. Already his trained mind 154 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBAKA WORTH saw ho"w easily, with the vast power in their hands, this could be brought about. And these men, recog- nizing his peculiar value in such an enterprise as this, wanted him to join them. It was a triumphant moment in the life and busi- ness career of the western banker, the culmination of long, hard years of unceasing toil, of unfaltering devotion to business, of struggle and disappointments, of small victories and steady advance gained at the cost of sacrifice and hard fighting. This proposed alliance with the great eastern capitalists opened the door and invited him into the company of the real leaders of the financial world. As one of the power- ful corporation that would literally hold the life of the future King's Basin in its hand, the multitudes of toilers who would come to reclaim the desert would be forced to toil not only for themselves but for him, A part of every dollar of the millions that would be taken from that treasury by the labor of the people would go to enrich him. The financier's thoughts were interrupted by a sound. He turned to see his horse tugging at the bridle reins, snorting in fear. The man started quickly down the hill, but before he could cover half the distance that separated him from his mount the frightened animal broke the reins and, wheeling about, disappeared dovrai the trail on a wild run. At the same instant a coyote trotted leisurely out from under the lee of the sand drift and, with a side glance over his shoulder at the banker, slipped around the point of the next low ridge. The man knew that to catch his horse would be 155 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINI^ING OF BAEBAEA WOKTH impossible. The animal would not stop until he reached his companions at the feed-rack in camp. He knew also that to attempt to find his way to headquarters such a distance and on foot, with night so near at hand, would be worse than folly. He would only exhaust his strength and make it harder for his friends to find him before his water, which could not last another day, should give out. Some- one, he knew, would take his trail in the morning. The only thing he could do was to wait — ^to wait alone in the heart of this silent, age-old, waiting land. Somewhere in those forgotten ages that went into the making of The King's Basin Desert, a company of free-bom citizens of the land, moved by that master passion — Good Business, found their way to the banks of the Colorado. In time Good Business led them to build their pueblos and to cultivate their fields by irrigation with water from the river and erect their rude altars to their now long-forgotten gods. Driven by the same passion that drove the Indians, the emigrant wagons moved toward the new gold country, and some financial genius saw Good Business at the river-crossing near the site of the ancient city. At first it was no more than a ferry, but soon others with eyes for profit established a trading point where the overland voyagers could replenish their stock of supplies, sure to be low after the hundreds of miles across the wide plains. Then also, in obedience to Good Business, pleasures heard the call, saloons, gambling houses and dance halls appeared, and for profit the joys of civilization 156 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH arrived in the savage land. Good Business sent the prospectors who found the mines, the capital that developed them and the laborers who dug the ore. Good Business sent the cattle barons and their cow- boys, sent the speculators and the pioneer merchants. Good Business sent also, in the fulness of time, Jefferson Worth. Of old New England Puritan stock, Worth had come through the hard life of a poor farm boy with two dominant elements in his character: an almost super-human instinct for Good Business, inherited no doubt, and an instinct, also inherited, for religion. The instinct for trade, from much cultivation, had waxed strong and stronger with the years. The religion that he had from his forefathers was become little more than a superstition. It was his genius for business that led him, in his young manhood, to leave the farm, and it was inevitable that from making money he should come to making money make more money. It was the other dominant ele- ment in his 'Character that kept him scrupulously honest, scrupulously moral. Besides this, honesty and morality were also "good business." Seeking always larger opportunities for the em- ployment of his small, steadily-increasing financial strength, Mr. Worth established the Pioneer Bank. Later, as he had foreseen, the same master passion brought the great railroad with still larger oppor- tunities for his money to make more money. And now the same master passion that had driven the Indian, the emigrant, the miner, the cowman, the banker and the railroad was driving the eastern 157 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WIN"NIN"a OF BAKBAEA WOKTH capitalists to spend their moneyed strength in the reclamation of The King's Basin Desert. It was Good Business that led Greenfield and his friends to seek the co-operation of the western financier. It was Good Business that called to Jefferson "Worth now as he saw the immense possibilities of the land. As truly as the ages had made the barren desert with its hard, thirsty life, the ages had produced Jefferson Worth, a carefully perfected, money mak- ing machine, as silent, hard and lonely as the desert itself. With apparently no vices, no passions, no mistakes, no failures, his only relation to hi^ fellow- men was a business relation. With his almost supernatural ability to foresee, to measure, to weigh and judge, with his cold, mask-like face and his manner of considering carefully every word and of placing a value u^on every trivial incident, he was respected, feared, trusted, even admired — and that was all. 'No; not all. By those who were forced, through circumstances — ^business circumstances — ^to contribute to his prosperity and financial success, he was hated. Such is the unreasonableness of human kind. Business, to this man as to many of his kind, was not the mean, sordid grasping and hoarding of money. It was his profession, but it was even more than a profession ; it was the expression of his genius. Still more it was, through him, the expression of the age in which he lived, the expression of the master passion that in all ages had wrought in the making of the race. He looked upon a successful deal as a good surgeon looks upon a successful operation, as 158 Digitized by Microsoft® (THE WINNING OF BAEBAEA WORTH an architect upon the completion of a building or an artist upon his finished picture. But to a greater degree than to artist or surgeon, the success of his work was measured by the accumulation of dollars. Apart from his work he valued the money received from his operations no more than the surgeon his fee, the artist his price. The work itself was his passion. Because dollars were the tools of his craft he was careful of them. The more he succeeded, the more power he gained for greater success. But extremely simple in his tastes, lacking, with his lack of education, knowledge of the more costly luxuries of life, with the habits of an ascetic, Jeffer- son Worth could not evidence his success; and suc- cess hidden and unknown loses its power to reward. It is not enough for the engineer to run his locomo- tive; he must have train loads of goods and passen- gers to carry to some objective point. It is not enough for the captain to have command of his ship ; he must have a port. Self to Jefferson Worth meant little; his nature demanded so little. Nor could Mrs. Worth in this fill the need in her husband's life, for her nature was as simple as his own. But a child, whose life could be part of his life, filling out, supplementing and complementing his own nature; a child who, dependent upon him, should have all the training that he lacked, who should share his success and for whom he could plan to succeed — a child, an heir, would fill the blank in his empty career. For a brief time he had looked forward to a child of his own blood. Then the death of the baby and the ill health of his wife had left him hopeless. He con- 159 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBAEA WORTH tinued his work because lie knew no life apart from his work. Then came the little girl so strangely the gift of the desert. The banker's mind, trained to act quickly, had grasped the possibilities of the situation in- stantly as he ran with his companions t® answer the eaU of that childish voice. From the moment when he knelt with outstretched hands and pleading words before little Barbara, he had never ceased trying to win her. Mrs. Worth, Icnowing that she could not be with him many years, had said : "You need her, Jeff," and he did need her. But Jefferson Worth knew that Barbara was not his. She shrank from him as instinctively and unconsciously as she had drawn back that night of her mother's death when he knelt before her in the desert. As she had turned to the Seer then, she turned from the banker now. And now, far more than then, his lonely heart hungered for her; for with the years his need of her had grown. Envied of foolish men as men so foolishly envy his class, the banker knew himself to be destitute, an object of their pity. The poorest Mexican in his adobe hut, with his half-naked, laughing children, was moro wealthy than he. Jefferson Worth, that afternoon on the very scene of the tragedy that had given Barbara to him, realized that in the land before him he faced the greatest opportunity of his business career. He realized also that he was as much alone in his life as- he was alone in the silent, barren waste that sur- rounded him. Would La Palma de la Mano de Dips, 160 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BARBAEA WORTH which had given him the child that was not his child, give him wealth that still never could he his ? At last, from his place on the sand drift that held the secret of Barbara's life, he saw the sun as it appeared to rest for a moment on the western wall before plunging down into the world on the other side. Watching, he saw the purple of the hills deepen and deepen and the wondrous light on the wide sea of colors fade slowly out as the colors them- selves paled and grew dim in the misty dusk of the coming night. Slowly the twilight sky grew dark, and into the velvet plain above came the heavenly flocks until their number was past counting save by Him who leadeth them in their fields. Against the last lingering light in the west that marked where the day had gone, the mountains lifted their vast bulk in solemn grandeur as if to bar forever the coming of another day. Closing about him on every hand, coming dreadfully nearer and nearer, the black walls of darkness shut him in. In the cool, mysterious breath of the desert, in the grotesque, fantastic, nearby shapes and monstrous forms of the sand dunes, in the mysterious phantom voices that whis- pered in the dark, Jefferson Worth felt the close approach of the spirit of the land ; the calling of the age-old, waiting land — ^the silent menace, the voice- less threat, the whispered promise. And there, alone — held close in The Hollow of God's Hand as the long hours of the night passed — the spirit of the man's Puritan fathers stirred within him. In the silent, naked heart of the Desert that, knowing no hand but the hand of its Creator, seemed 161 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINN'mG OF BAKBAKA WOKTH to hold in its hushed mysteriousness the ages of a past eternity, he felt his life to be but a little thing. Beside the awful forces that made themselves felt in the spirit of Barbara's Desert, the might of Capital became small and trivial. Sensing the dread- ful power that had wrought to make that land, he shrank within himself— he was afraid. Pie marveled that he had dared dream of forcing La Palma de la Mano de Dios to contribute to his gains. And so at last it was given him to know why Barbara instinct- ively shrank from him in fear. With the coming of the day the banker went a little way back on the trail where the vegetation was not entirely covered by the drifting sand, and there gathered materials for a fire. Later, when he judged his friends would be in sight, he fired the pile and, watching the tall, thick column of smoke ascend, awaited the answer. In a little while it came, faint and far away, the report of Texas Joe's forty-five. Soon he heard the sound of voices calling loudly and, following his answer, the swift hoof-beats of gallop- ing horses ; and Tex and Abe, leading another horsa, appeared. But the Jefferson Worth who rode back to camp with his friends, there to be greeted and congratu- lated by the party, was not the same Jefferson Worth who had left camp the morning before, though no one congratulated him because of that. It was three weeks later when a portly, well-fed gentleman entered the Pioneer Bank in Rubio City and asked of the teller: "Is Mr. Worth in ?" 162 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNIE"G OF BAKBAEA WORTH The man on the other side of the counter looked through his grated window at the speaker with unusual interest. And in the teller's voice there was a shade of unusual deference as he replied, "Yes, sir." "Tell him that Mr. Greenfield is here." At the magic of that name every man in the bank within sound of the speaker's voice lifted his head and turned toward the face at the window. "Yes, sir. Come this way, sir." A door in the partition opened and the visitor was admitted to the sacred precincts behind the gratings, the bars and the plate glass. As he moved dovsra the room past counters and desks, every eye followed him and there was an electrical hush in the atmos- phere like the hush that marks the massing of the forces in !N"ature before a conflict of the elements. Jefferson Worth looked up as the imposing figure of the great financier appeared on the threshold of his room, and at the name of James Greenfield care- fully pushed back the papers he had beeb. considering and rose. The movement, slight as it was, was as though he cleared his decks for action. The clerk, withdrawing, carefully, closed the door. The two men shook hands with much the air of two wrestlers meeting for a bout. For a moment neither spoke. Each knew that in the silence he was being measured, estimated, searched for his weakness and his strength, and each gave to the other this opportunity as his right. No time was wasted in idle preliminaries. These men knew the value of 163 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAKBAEA WORTH time. No formal words expressing pleasure at the meeting were spokeii. They tacitly accepted the fact that pleasure had not called them together. James Greenfield was a fair representative of his class. His fuU, weU-colored face with carefully clipped gray mustache, bright blue eyes and gray hair, was the calmly alert, well-controlled, thoughtful face of power : not the face of one who does things, but of one who causes things to be done ; not the face of one who is himself powerful, but of one who con- trols and directs power ; such a face as you may see leaning from the cab of a great locomotive that pulls the overland limited, or looking down at you from the bridge of the ocean liner. It was courageous, but with a courage not personal — a courage bom rather of an exact knowledge of the strength and duty of every bolt, rivet and lever of the machine under his hand. It was confident, not in its own strength, but in the strength that it ruled and directed. Jefferson Worth motioned toward a chair at the end of his desk and seated himself. The man from the East found himself forced to make the opening. "Mr. Worth," he said, "we find it very difficult to understand your attitude toward our company. We do not see why you decline our proposition. Your own report gives every reason in the world why you should accept and you suggest no reason at all for declining. Frankly, it looks strange to us and I have come out to have a little talk with you over the matter and to see if we could not persuade you to reconsider your decision, or at least to learn your 164 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH reasons for refusing to go in with us. Your report and your answer to our proposition are so conflicting that we feel we have a right to some definite reason for your unexpected decision." As he spoke, the president of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company tried in vain to see behind the mask-like face of the man in the revolving chair. His failure only excited his admiration and respect. Instinctively he recognized the genius before him, and his desire to add this strength to his forces increased. "My report was satisfactory?" The words were absolutely colorless. "Very. It was exactly what we wanted. With your opinion, confirming our engineer's statements, we felt safe to go ahead with the organization of the Company and have already set the wheels moving toward actual work. It is because you so unhesitat- ingly and so strongly commend the project as war- ranting our investment that we cannot understand your refusal to share the profits of our enterprise." He paused for an answer, but was forced to con- tinue. "Let me explain more fully than I coulH outline in my letter just what we propose doing. The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company, Mr. Worth, will not confine its operations simply to furnishing water for the reclamation and develop- ment of these lands. That is no more than the begin- ning — ^the basis of our operations. With the settle- ment and improvement of the country will come many other openings for profitable investments — townsites, transportation lines, telephones, electric 165 Digitized by Microsoft® THE wnsTirafG or baebaka worth power, banking and all that, you understand. Our connections and resources make it possible for us to finance any industry or operation that promises attractive returns, while our position as the orig- inators of the whole King's Basin movement and the owners of the irrigation system will give us tremen- dous advantage over any outside capital that may attempt to come in later, and will make competition practically impossible." "I figured that was the way you would do it," was the unemotional reply. More than ever James Greenfield wanted this man. He considered carefully a few minutes, with no help from Jefferson Worth, then tried again. "If you feel that our proposition to you is not liberal enough, Mr. Worth, I am prepared to double our offer." If the financier from 'New York thought to startle this little western banker with a proposal that was more than princely he failed. His words seemed to have no effect. It was as though he talked to a marble figure of a man. "I appreciate your proposition, but must decline it." "May I ask your reason, sir ?" "I must decline to give any." The other arose, the light of battle in his eyes, for to James Greenfield's mind there could be only one possible meaning in the answer. "That is, of course, your privilege, Mr. Worth," he said coldly. And then with the weight of conscious power he added: "But I'll tell you this, sir: if you think you can enter The King's Basin in opposition to our Com- 166 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBARA WORTH pany you're making the mistake of your life. We'll smash you, with your limited resources, so flat that you'll he glad for a chance to make the price of a meal. Good day, sir!" "Good day." Before the great capitalist was out of the building, Jefferson Worth was bending over the papers on his desk again as though declining to accept flattering offers from gigantic corporations was an hourly occurrence. 167 Digitized by Microsoft® CHAPTER X. BARBARA'S LOVE FOR THE SEER. jfEFFERSOISr WORTH had not proceeded far with the work before him after James Green- field left when he was again interrupted. This time it was the voice of Barbara in the other room. The banker lifted his head quickly. Again he pushed his papers from him, but now the movement seemed to indicate weariness and uncertainty rather than readiness for action. His head dropped for- ward, his thin fingers nervously tapped the arms of his chair. When the girl's step sounded at the door he looked up the fraction of a second before she appeared. "I don't want to disturb you, father, but they told me that that big, fine-looking man just going out was Mr. Greenfield. Is he — did he come all the way from ^NTew York to see you ?" "He came in here to see me," said Jefferson Worth exactly. "And the work?" "He says they have already started the wheels to moving." "And you, daddy ; you ?" Jefferson Worth arose and carefully closed the door. Then silently indicating the chair at the end of his desk he resumed his seat. 168 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WIN-^ING OF BAEBAKA WOKTH As Barbara looked into that mask-like face, the eager expectant light in her brown eyes died out and a look of questioning doubt came. She seemed to shrink back from him almost as she had turned away that first time in the desert. If JefFerson Worth felt that look his face gave no sign; only those thin, nervous fingers were lifted to caress his chin. "Are you — are you going to help, daddy? Will you join Mr. Greenfield's company ?" Still the man was silent, and the girl, watching, wondered what was going on behind that gray mask, what questions were being weighed and considered. At last he spoke one cold word : "Why ?". Barbara flushed. "Because," she answered, care- fully, "because it is such a great work. You could do so much more than simply make money." "That is as you and the Seer see it." "But, father ; it is a great work, isn't It, to change the desert into a land of farms and homes for thou- sands and thousands of people ?" "Do you think that Greenfield and his crowd are going into this scheme because it is a great thing for the people ?" "But don't even capitalists sometimes undertake a great work just because it is great and because thousands upon thousands of people, through years and years to come, wiU be benefited even though the men themselves do not make so awfully much money ?" If Jefferson Worth felt her unconscious insinuation his face gave no sign. Carefully he listenad with 169 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WIWrnivrG OF BARBAEA WORTH his manner of considering and weighing every word, while to Barbara his mind seemed to be reaching out on every side or running far into the future. When he answered his words were carefully exact "Capitalists, as individuals might and do, spend millions in projects from which they, personally, expect no returns. But Capital doesn't do such things. Anything that Capital, as Capital^ goes into must be purely a business proposition. If anything like sentiment entered into it that would be the end of the whole matter." Barbara moved uneasily. "I don't think I quite understand why," she said. There was a shade of color now in the banker's voice as he explained by asking : "How long do you think this bank could exist if we made loans to Tom, Dick and Harry because they needed help, or put money into this and that scheme simply because it was a beneficial thing ? How long would it be before we went to smash?" "But don't business men ever do anything except to make money? Doesn't Capital, as you say, ever consider the people ?" "This bank is a very substantial benefit to the people. But it can only benefit them by doing busi- ness on strictly business principles. As an individual any oflBcer or stock holder can do what he pleases for whatever reason moves him. He can burn his money if he wants to. But as officers and directors of this corporation we can't burn the capital of the institu- tion." "But Mr. Greenfield and these New York men, 170 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINl^ING OF BAEBAEA WORTH who have organized the company — are they not care- ful financiers ?" "Very." "It seems to me that they must believe in the Seer and his work or they wouldn't furnish him the money, would they?" "They believe in the Seer and his work from their standpoint. Their capital is invested for just one purpose — dividends." Barbara sighed and moved impatiently. "You always make it so hard to believe in men, father. I can't think that all business men — all financiers, I mean, — are so cold and heartless." Again if Jefferson Worth felt the unconscious im- plication in her words he gave no sign. The banker was not ignorant of the public sentiment toward him- self and the men of his class in his profession. He had come to accept it with the indifference of his exact, machine-like habit. Barbara continued: "I feel sure that Mr. Green- field and the men with him are going to furnish the money for the Seer to do this work for more than just what they will make out of it. I know that Mr. Holmes does, and I had hoped that you" — her voice broke — "that you would " If only Jefferson Worth could have broken the habit of a lifetime. If he could have laid aside that gray mask and permitted the girl to look into his hidden life, perhaps : His colorless voice broke the silence, coldly exact: "What do you figure Willard Holmes is in this thing for?" 171 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WIlfNING OF BAEBAEA WOETH Barbara's face lighted up proudly. "He is in the work for the same reason that- the Seer and Abe are — ^because it is such a great work and means so much to the world. I know, because since he returned he has talked to me so much about it. When he first came out — ^just at first — he didn't understand what the work really was. But now he understands it as the Seer sees it." "Did the Seer send him out here ?" "No, I believe Mr, Greenfield sent him." "Why ?" "I suppose they wanted an eastern man, whouj they knew better than they knew the Seer, to repre- sent them ? It would be very natural, wouldn't it ?" "Very natural," agreed Jeflferson Worth. "Have you given the Company your final answer, father ?" "Yes." "And you — ^you won't have anything to do with the reclamation of my Desert ?" "I declined to join the Company," Blindly Barbara made her way out of the building. The place, with its air of business and suggestions of wealth, was unbearably hateful to her. At home she ordered her horse and started for the open country. But she did not ride toward the Desert, 6he felt that she could not bear the sight of The King's Basin that day. In her father's attitude toward the Company Bar- bara saw only his seeming desire for selfish gain. He had told her so often that only on^ thing could justify an investment of capital. Evidently he did not think 172 Digitized by Microsoft® THE wi:n^ning of baebaka worth The King's Basin project would pay. She felt ashamed for him ; he seemed so incapable of consid- ering anything but profit. Nothing but profit, the sure promise of gain, could move him. He believed in the work ; he had reported in favor of it to the Company. He knew that the Company was going ahead. He was willing enough that others should do the work, she thought bitterly. They might take the risk. It was even likely that he had some way planned by which, without risking anything himself, he would reap large returns through their efforts. She thought proudly of the Seer, who had given so many unpaid years to the Keclamation work ; of Abe and his loyalty to the Seer ; and of Willard Holmes, who was going to give himself to the work. Utterly sick at heart the girl did not meet her father at their evening meal. She could not. Jeffer- son Worth ate alone and alone spent the evening on the porch. On the way to his room he paused a moment at her door. He knocked softly so as not to waken her if she was asleep. When there was no answer he stole quietly away. But Barbara was not asleep. For three days Mr. Greenfield remained in Rubio City, "on the business of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company," the papers said in a long article setting forth the gi'eatness of the work that was to be imdertaken in the desert through the mag- nificent enterprise of these mighty eastern capitalists. During that time Barbara had not seen either the Seer, Holmes or Abe Lee. She understood that they were engaged with Mr. Greenfield. She read the 173 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINN'mG OF BAKBAEA WOETH glowing articles in the paper, the afternoon of Mr. Greenfield's departure, with a thrill of pride. At last it had come — ^the day for which the Seer had hoped all these years. The dear old Seer ! She was a little disappointed that the papers did not give his name more prominence. It seemed to be all Green- field and the Company. But after all that did not matter. It was the Seer's work; the Seer had brought it about. The front gate clicked and Barbara looked up from her paper to see her old friend coming up the walk. She saw at a glance that something was wrong. She thought he was ill. The big form of the engineer drooped with weakness, his head dropped forward, his eyes were fijxed on the ground and he walked slowly, dragging his feet as with great weariness. With a startled cry she ran to meet him, and as he caught her hands in both his own she saw his face drawn and haggard and his brown eyes filled with hopeless pain. He did not speak. Leading him to the shade of the porch she brought forward his favorite chair. He sank into it as if overcome -with, exhaustion, but attempted to smile his thanks. "What is it ? Are you ill ? Let me call a doctor ?" "!N"o, no, dear, I'm not sick. It's not that. I'm — I'm upset a bit, that's all. I'll be all right in a little while. Only it was rather unexpected." He turned his face away as though to hide something from her. "What is it? Can't you tell me? What is the matter ?" Barbara had never seen the Seer so hope- less. 174 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING or BAEBARA WOETH "They have let me out." She did not understand. "Let you out ?" He bowed his head slowly. "Yes ; the Company, you know. They have appointed Mr. Holmes chief engineer in my place." She cried out in indignant dismay. "But how could they ? It is your work — all your work ! You have given years to bring it before the world. They never would have known of The King's Basin at all but for you. How dare they ? They have no right !" The engineer smiled. "I was only an employe of Greenfield and the men who organized the Company, you know. In their eyes my relation to the work was the same as that of a Cocopah Indian laborer. Of course it was understood in a general way that I was to have some stock in the Company when it was' organized, with the chief engineer's position at least, but there was nothing settled. Nothing could be set tied until the actual completion of the survey, you know. I never dreamed of this. I can see now that it was planned from the first and that this is what Holmes came out here for. He is a great favorite of Greenfield's, and I suppose they wanted a man of their own kind to look after their interests. But it hurts, Barbara ; it hurts." For an hour he stayed with her and she helped him as such a woman always helps. But when she would have kept him for supper he said: "No, I must find Abe. I want to tell the boy and have it over. You can tell your father." When Jefferson Worth learned from his indignant daughter of the Company's action he only said, in 175 Digitized by Microsoft® THE wiisriraTG or baebaea woeth his precise way : "I figured that would be their first move." There was no feeling in his voice or man- ner. It was the simple verification of conclusions already reached and considered. "Father !" cried Barbara. "Do you mean that you expected the Company to put that man Holmes in the Seer's place?" "What reason was there to expect anything else ?" "But you never said anything all the time the Seer ing to think that while she had been dreaming and planning with the Seer, her father had foreseen that their dreams would come to nought. "If I had you would not have believed me." The words were merely a calm, emotionless statement of fact. "I told you that the Company would act only from a business standpoint." Suddenly a new phase of the situation flashed upon Barbara. Controlling her emotions and search- ing her father's face she asked: "Daddy, tell me please : was it because you saw this that you refused to join the Company?" Jefferson Worth considered; then with marked caution answered : "That was part of the reason." "I think I begin to understand a little. I'm glad — ^glad that you would have nothing to do with those men. It would have killed me if you had had any part in this now." Presently the banker asked : "Have you seen Abe Lee ?" "No, why ? Do you think — have they discharged 176 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAKBAEA WORTH him, too? He wouldn't stay anyway after their treatment of the Seer. I wouldn't want him to." "They won't let him out if they can keep him. Holmes will need him," said Worth. Then he added : "lou'd better tell Abe to stay." Barbara gasped. "What do you mean ?" "Tell him to stay," repeated Worth slowly. 1?? Digitized by Microsoft® CHAPTER XI. ABE LEE RESIGNS. ^^]!^ obedience to its master passion — Good M( Business — the race now began pouring its 2SH life into the barren wastes of The King's Basin Desert. In the city by the sea at the end of the South- western and Continental there was a suite of offices with real gold letters on the ground-glass doors richly spelling "The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company." Behind these doors there was real ma- hogany furniture, solid, substantial and rich ; a high safe ; many attractive maps ; and a gentleman who — never having traveled west of Buffalo before — could answer with authority every conceivable question relating to the reclamation of the arid lands of the great West. When there were no more questions to ask he could still tell you many things of the won- derland of wealth that was being opened to the public by the Company, demonstrating thus beyond the pos- sibility of a doubt how many times a dollar could be multiplied. From this office went forth to the advertising de- partments of the magazines and papers, skillfully prepared copy, which in turn was followed by pam- phlets, circulars and letters innumerable. Tn one room a company of clerks and book-keepers and 178 Digitized by Microsoft® iTHE WINNING OF BAEBARA WORTH * " accountants pored over their tasks at desks and coun- ters. In another a squad of stenographers filled the air with the sound of their type-writers. Through the doors of the different rooms passed an endless procession; men from the front with the marks of the desert sun on their faces — engineers, superin- tendents, bosses, messengers, agents — servants of the Company; laborers of every sort and nationality came in answer to the cry : "Men wanted !" ; special salesmen from foundry, factory and shop drawn by prospective large sales of machinery, implements and supplies; land-hungry men from everywhere seeking information and opportunity for investment. At Deep Well (which is no well at all) on the rim of the Basin, trainloads of supplies, implements, machinery, lumber and construction material, horses, mules and men were daily side-tracked and unloaded on the desert sands. Overland travelers gazed in startled wonder at the scene of stirring activity that burst so suddenly upon them in the midst of the barren land through which they had ridden for hours without sight of a human habitation or sign of man. The great mountain of goods, piled on the dun plain ; the bands of horses and mules; the camp-fires; the blankets spread on the bare ground ; the men moving here and there in seemingly hopeless confusion; all looked so ridiculously out of place and so pitifully helpless. Every hour companies of men with teams and vehicles set out from the camp to be swallowed up in the silent distance. Night and day the huge moun- tain of goods was attacked by the freighters who, 179 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WIKN'IN'G OF BAEBAKA WORTH with their big "wagons drawn by six, eight, twelve, or more, mules, appeared mysteriously out of the weird landscape as if they were spirits materialized by some mighty unknown genii of the desert. Their heavy wagons loaded, their water barrels filled, they turned again to the unseen realm from which they had been summoned. The sound of the loud voices of the driv- ers, the creaking of the wagons, the jingle of harness, the shot-like reports of long whips died quickly away ; while, to the vision, the outfits passed slowly — ^fading, dissolving in their great clouds of dust, into the land of mystery. In Eubio City Jefferson Worth continued on hia machine-like way at the Pioneer Bank, apparently paying no heed to the movement that offered such opportunities for profitable investment. Barbara rarely spoke now of the work that had been so dear to her, nor did she ever ride to the foot of the hill on the Mesa to look over the Desert. The Seer was in the northern railroad work again, but Abe Lee, with Tex and Pat and Pablo Garcia, had gone with the beginning of the stream of life that was pouring into the new country. True to the far-reaching plans of the Company, at the largest and most central of the supply camps, located in the very heart of The King's Basin, the townsite of Kingston was laid out, and even in the days when every drop of water was hauled from three to ten miles town lots were offered for sale and sold to eager speculators. A year from the beginning of the work at the intake at the river, water was turned into the canals. 180 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WISHING OF BAKBAKA WORTH With the coming of the water, Kingston changed, almost between suns, from a rude supply camp to an established town with post-ofSce, stores, hotel, black- smith shop, livery stables, all in buildings more or less substantial. Most substantial of all was the building owned and occupied by the offices of the Company. With the coming of the water also, the stream of human life that flowed into the Basin was swollen by hundreds of settlers driven by the master passion —Good Business — to toil and traffic, to build the city, to subdue and cultivate the land and thus to realize the Seer's dream, while the engineer himself was banished from the work to which he had given his life. Every sunrise saw new tent-houses spring- ing up on the claims of the settlers around the Com- pany town and new buildings beginning in the center of it all — Kingston. Every sunset saw miles of new di1;phes ready to receive the water from the canal and acres of new land cleared and graded for irrigation. Thus it was that afternoon when, from his office window, Mr. Burk, the General Manager of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company, watched a freighter with a twelve-mule load of goods stop his team directly across the street in front of the largest and most important general store in the Basin. Deck Jordan, the merchant, came out and the Manager easily heard the driver's loud voice: "Jim'U be along in 'bout another hour, I reckon. We aim to get the rest in two more trips." "Six twelve-mule loads in that shipment," thought 181 Digitized by Microsoft® THE Wmi^ING OF BAEBARA WOETH the Company's manager; "and that fellow set up business with a two-horse load of stuff !" An empty wagon was driven up to the store and the General Manager recognized in the driver one of the Company's men from a grading camp six miles away ; while another wagon — a Company wagon also — nearly filled with supplies moved away toward the open desert. Deck's business was assuming quite respectable proportions thought Mr. Burk. And Deck's business was mostly with employes of-the Company. Taking a cigar from a box on his desk, Mr. Burk scratched a match on the heel of his shoe and, leaning back in his office chair, continued thinking. The Manager of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company was paid to think. The Company hired Mr. Burk's peculiar talent even as they hired the physical strength of their laborers or the professional skill of their engineers. As he meditated, the Manager still watched from the window the activities of the street. Soon from the open desert, beyond the last new building down the street, he saw a horseman approaching. At an easy swinging lope the rider came straight toward the Company's headquarters and, as he drew near, the Manager recognized the chief engineer. Greeting the man at the open window as he passed, Willard Holmes dismounted at the entrance of the building and, going first to the water t,ank, soon appeared in the doorway of the Manager's room. The engineer's clothes from boots to Stetson were covered with dust 182 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBAKA WORTH and his face was deeply bronzed by the months in the open air. Turning from the window Mr, Burk held out the box of cigars. "No thanks," said the Chief with a smile. "I'm hot as a lime kiln now. Wait until after supper." Throwing his hat and gloves on the floor, he dropped into a chair with a sigh of relief at the grateful coolness of the room after hours of riding in the dazzling light of the desert sun. The other, returning the box to its place, tipped back in his chair and elevated his well-dressed feet to his desk and, with his cigar in one corner of his mouth and his head cocked suggestively to one side, looked his companion over with a critical smile. "I say. Holmes, how would you like to be in little old New York this evening?" At the question and the manner of the speaker the engineer held up his hands with a motion of protest as he commanded, in tragic voice : "Get thee behind me, Satan !" Then, at the Manager's laugh, he added seriously: "New York is all right, Burk, but I guess I can manage to stick it out here a while longer." Burk looked at the engineer with the same thought- ful expression that had marked his face when he watched the wagon-load of supplies before the store across the street. "I have noticed that you show symptoms of slowly developing an interest in your job," he murmured. "You were at the river yester- day." 183 Digitized by Microsoft® THE wiisTisriisra of baebaka woeth "No; I was at Number Five Heading. Abe Lee will be in from the intake this afternoon. I was there day before yesterday." "How is the little old Colorado behaving herself ?" "All right so far. Our work is all a guess though. There is not a scrap of data to go on, you know." There was a hint of anxiety in the chief engineer's answer. "I suppose you find the talkative Abe cheerfully optimistic about the future of our structures as usual ?" Holmes did not smile at the jesting tone of the Manager, "Lee is certainly doing all he can to make things safe. He is a fiend for thoroughness, and between you and me, Burk, the Company ougM to spend more money on that intake at least. A few more thousands would make it what it should be." The man who was paid to think held out a hand protestingly. "My dear boy, how many times have we gone over that? The Company will spend just what they must spend to get this scheme going and not a cent more. Later, when the business justifies, they will improve the system. Don't get yourself sidetracked by the notion that this whole project is for the benefit of the dear people and that the Com- pany is made up of benevolent old gentlemen, who have nothing to do with their wealth but promote philanthropic enterprises. You should know your Uncle Jim better. Dividends, my boy, dividends; that's what we're all here for, and you can't afford to forget it. By the way, did you have any dinner to-day?" 184 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBAKA WORTH "I struck Camp Seven on the Alamitos at noon." "Hum-m. Sour bread, sow-belly, frijoles? Or was it canned com ? I say, old man, do you remem- ber some of the places where we used to dine at home — flowers and music, and table linen, and real dishes, and waiters with real food, and women — God bless 'em ! — ^real women ? What would you give to-night. Holmes, for something to eat that had never been preserved, embalmed, cured, dried or tinned? It's not a dream of fairyland, my boy; there are such places in the world and there are such things to eat. Come, what do you say? Where shall we dine to- night and what will you have ?" "You fiend!" growled Holmes. "You know I'd sell my soul this minute for one good red apple." Lowering his feet to the floor and rising, the Man- ager of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Com- pany crossed the room stealthily and carefully closed the door. Then taking a bunch of keys from his pocket, with an air of great secrecy he unlocked a drawer in his desk, pulled it open and took out — an apple. The Company's chief engineer fell on the Manager with an exclamation of amazement and delight. "Really," said Burk as he watched the fruit disap- pear, "your child-like pleasure almost justifies my crime. I even feel repaid for my self-denial. There were only three in the basket." "How did you do it ?" asked Holmes between bites, gazing at the apple in his hand as though to devour the treat with his eyes also, thereby doubling the pleasure. 185 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBAKA WOKTH "It was one of our dearly beloved prospective set- tlers," the thoughtful Manager explained with an air of conscious merit. "He came in from somewhere yesterday to spy out the land and, being a prudent and thrifty farmer, he possesses, or is possessed by, a prudent and thrifty wife. Said wife fitted out said farmer for his journey into this far country with a market basket of provisions. Home-made provisions, Willard, my son ; home made ! A whole basket full ! He had one feed left and was finishing it out there on the sidewalk when I returned from what we of this benighted land call dinner. How could I help looking. I watched him devour the leg of a chicken. I watched him eat real bread with jelly on it. Then I caught sight of three apples — three! Holmes, such wealth is criminal. I considered — I became an anarchist. He was a big husky and I dared not assault him, so I talked — Lord forgive me! — ^how I talked. I offered confidential advice, I conjured up visions of wealth untold. I laid him under a spell and gently led him and his basket into the office even as he finished the pie. I showed him maps; I gave him a cigar ; I urged him to leave his basket and satchel here in my private ofiice for safe-keeping while he looked around. Gladly he accepted my invitation. His confidence was pathetic. How could the poor, trusting farmer know that I was ready, if necessary, to murder him for his fortune ? When he had gone I locked the door and I — I — I only took two. Holmes ; I dared not take them all, for he was big and rough, as I say. But I could not 186 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNIl^G OF BARBAEA WORTH believe that a man with such wealth could miss a part of it." "But you said you ate two," said the engineer severely, taking another long, lingering bite. "I did," returned the Manager, with awful solem- nity. "When that trusting but husky farmer re- turned later for his possessions he thanked me many times for my kindness while I trembled with the consciousness of my guilt, assuring him that it was no trouble at all — no trouble at all. And then — just as I felt sure that he was going and was beginning to breathe easier — he stopped and fumbled around in his basket. My heart stood still. 'Hannah put some fine apples in my dinner,' he muttered. 'I thought maybe you might like some. Reckon I must a-et 'em after all. I thought there was — no, by jocks!. here she is.' Holmes, as I live he handed me that other apple. It was positively uncanny. I was speechless. ISTot until he was gone did I realize that it was prophetic. In like manner shall the settlers, the farmers, save this land and us from destruction." "It's Good Business," returned Holmes. "It exactly illustrates your methods of dealing with the confiding public." "Humph !" grunted the other, "I observe that you do not hesitate to enjoy the fruits of my financier- hg." A knock at the door prevented the engineer's reply. "Come in !" called Burk. The door opened and Abe Lee stood on the thresh- (Aol. The two men greeted the surveyor cordially 187 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAKBAKA WOETH I but with that subtle touch in their voices that hinted at consciousness of superior position and authority. Abe addressed himself directly to his Chief, say- ing: "We finished at the intake last night, sir, and moved to Dry Kiver Heading this morning as you directed." "You left everything at the river in good shape, of course?" The surveyor did not answ^er. The tobacco and paper that, in his long fingers, were assuming the form of a cigarette seemed to demand his undivided attention. Burk was thoughtfully watching the two men. At the critical moment he handed Abe a match. From the cloud of smoke Abe spoke again. "The outfit will be ready to begin work at the Heading to-morrow morning." Before Holmes could speak the Manager said: "You evidently still think, Lee, that the work at the river is not satisfactory. Are you still predicting that our intake will go out with the next high water ?" "I don't know whether the next high water will do it or not. The Rio Colorado alone won't hurt us, but when the Gila and the Little Colorado go on the war-path and come down on top of a high Colorado flood you'll catch hell. It may be this season ; it may be next. It depends on the snowfall in the upper countries and the weather in the spring, but it has come and it will come again." "How do you know ? There have been no records kept and no surveys. We have no data." "There's data enough. The Colorado leaves her own record. I know the country; I know what the 188 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINITING OF BARBAEA WORTH river has done and I know what the Indians have told me." At the surveyor's words his Chief stirred impa- tiently and the Manager answered: "But we can't spend twenty or thirty thousand dollars on a mere guess at what may happen, Lee. When the country is fairly well settled and business justifies, we will put in a new intake. In the meantime those struc- tures will have to do. The K. B. L. and I. is not in business for glory, you know." Abe spoke softly from a cloud of smoke. "And are you explaining this situation to the people who are coming here by the hundreds to settle ? Do they understand the chances they are taking when they buy water rights and go ahead to develop their ranches ?" "Certainly not. If we talked risks no one would come in. The Company must protect its interests." "Who protects the settlers' interests?" The Manager stiffened. "I don't recognize your right to criticise the Company's policy, Lee. Mr. Holmes is our chief engineer and he assures me that our structures are as good as they can be made with the money at our disposal. We can only carry out the policies of the Company and we are responsible to them for the money we spend. You have no responsibility in the matter whatever." "Oh, hell, Burk," drawled Abe, though his eyes contradicted flatly his soft tone. "There's no occa- sion for you to climb so high up that ladder. You've been a corporation mouthpiece so long you have no more soid than the Company." He turned to his 189 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINmi^G OF BAEBAKA WOKTH Chief. "I left Andy in charge at camp. He under- stands that I will not be back. I dropped my resigna- tion in your box in the office as I came in. Adios." Leaving the office, Abe walked slowly down the street through the heart of the Company's little town. On every hand he saw the work that was being wrought in the Desert. There were business blocks and houses in every stage of building from the new- laid foundation to the moving-in of the tenants. The air rang with sound of hammer and saw. Teams and wagons from the ranches lined the street. The very faces of the people he met glowed with enthusiasm, while determination and purpose were expressed in their very movements as they hurried by. A mile west of town the surveyor stopped on the bridge that spanned the main canal. He paused to look around. He saw the country already dotted with the white tent-houses of the settlers, and even as he looked three new wagons, loaded with supplies and implements, passed, bound for the claims of the owners. Under bis feet the water from the distant river ran strongly. To the west was a grading camp on the line of a Company ditch; to the south was another. Far to the north and east, along the rim of the Basin, he knew the railroad was bringing other pioneers by the hundreds. He drew a deep breath and, taking off his sombrero, drank in the scene. How he loved it all ! It was the Seer's dream, but the Seer could have no part in it. It was Barbara's Desert, but Barbara was shut out — exiled. It was his work, but he was powerless to do it. The Seer 190 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAKBAKA WORTH had told him to stay for his work's sake. He smiled grimly, remembering the Manager's words. Barbara had told him to stay, but the girl loiew nothing of conditions — ^how could she know? Jefferson Worth had told him to stay. Why ? Barbara, in her letters, never spoke of the work. The Seer seldom wrote; Jefferson Worth, never. Every month the situation had grown more unbearable. Burk might insist that he had no responsibility and Holmes might argue that they could only do their best with what funds the Company would supply. Abe was not of their school. Well, he was out of it now for good. He was not the kind of a man the Company wanted. Returning to town he had supper at the little shack restaurant and, going to the tent house owned by himself and two brother-surveyors that they might have a place to sleep when in town, he gathered his few possessions together in readiness for departure in the morning. When the brief task was finished and he had writ- ten a note to his two friends, who were away, he went out again on the main street, because there was noth- ing else to do. It was evening now and the usual crowd was gathered in front of the post-office to watch the arrival of the stage, the one event of never-failing interest to these hardy pioneers. In the throng there were teamsters, laborers, ranchers, mechanics, real- estate agents, speculators, surveyors — gathered from camp and field and town. Some were expecting letters from the home folks in the world outside; a few were looking for friends among the passengers. 191 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINOTNG OF BARBARA WORTH Many were there, as was Abe, because it was the point of interest. All were roughly clad, marked by the semi-tropical desert wind and sun. It was among such men as these that Abe Lee's life had been spent. Such scenes as these were home scenes to him. In a peculiar way, through the Seer and Barbara, the work that these men were doing was dear to him. He felt that he was being cast out of his own place. As he passed through the throng Abe heard always the same topic of conversation : the work — the work — the work. News to these men meant more miles of canal finished, new ditches dug, more land leveled and graded, new settlers located. The surveyor thought of the future of these people, given wholly into the hands of the Company; of the men in the East, who knew nothing of their hardships but who would force them to pay royal tribute out of the fruits of their toil; of how, even then, they were increasing the value of the Company property. "Here she comes!" cried someone, and all eyes were turned to see the stage swinging dovrai the street. Abe drew back a little — ^to the thin edge of the crowd; he was expecting neither letters nor friends. The six broncos were brought to a stand in the midst of the crowd, the mail bag was tossed to the post-master and the passengers began climbing down from their seats. As the last man rose from his place he stood for a moment in a stooped position, gripping with each hand one of the standards that supported the canvas top of the vehicle. Looking out thus over the crowd 192 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBAHA WOKTH lie seemed to be gathering data for an estimate of the population before he felt cautiously with his foot V for the step. Abe Lee started forward with an exclamation. It was Jefferson Worth ! 193 Digitized by Microsoft® CHAPTEE XII. SIGNS OF CONFLICT. |0T a line of Jefferson Worth's countenance changed as the tall surveyor, pushing his way through the crowd about the new arrivals, greeted him. But Abe Lee felt the man from behind his gray mask reaching out to grasp his innermost thoughts and emotions. "Where is the hotel?" Abe explained that the rough board shelter that bore that name was full to the door. People were even sleeping on the floor. "But there is room in our tent, Mr. Worth," he finished and led the way out of the crowd. To the surveyor's eager questions the banker answered that Barbara was visiting friends in the Coast city. When they had reached the tent and Abe had found and lighted a lantern, Mr. Worth said — and his manner was as though he were continuing a con- versation that had been interrupted only for a moment — "well, I see you stayed." At his words the surveyor, who was filling a tin wash-basin with fresh water that his guest might wash away the dust of his journey, felt the hot blood in his cheeks. Before answering he pulled an old cracker-box from under a cot in one comer of the 194 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAKBAKA WOETH canvas room and, rummaging therein, brought to light a clean towel. When he had placed this evi- dence of civilization beside the basin on the box that did duty as a wash-stand, he answered : "I quit the Company this afternoon." . "Why?" "Because I won't do the kind of work the Com- pany wants." The surveyor spoke hotly now. The man busy with the basin of water made no comment, and Abe continued: "Mr. Worth, they are putting in the cheapest possible kind of wooden structures all through the system, even at points where the safety of the whole project depends on the control of the water. The intake itself is nothing but the flimsiest sort of a makeshift. One good flood, such as we have every few years, and there wouldn't be a damned stick of it left in twelve hours. You remem- ber what the grade is from the river at the ppint of the intake this way into the Basin and you know how water cuts this soil. If that gate goes out the whole river will come through; and these settlers, who are tumbling over each other to put into this country every cent they have in the world, will lose everything." "The Company takes its chances with the settlers, doesn't it ?" "The Company takes mighty small chances com- pared to the risk the settlers are carrying. As a matter of fact, Mr. Worth, it is the people who are building this system; not the Company at all. To prove up on these desert claims the government com- pels them to have the water. They can't use the 195 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINl^IW^G OF BAKBAEA WOETH water without paying the Company for the right. After they have bought the water rights then they must pay for every acre-foot they use. All Green- field and his bunch did was to put up enough to start the thing going and the people are doing the rest. The Company knows the risk and stakes a com- paratively small amount of capital. The settlers know nothing of the real conditions and stake every- thing they have in the world. If the Company would tell the people the situation it would be square, but you know what would happen if they did that. E"o one would come in. As it is, the Company, by risk- ing the smallest amount possible, leads the people to risk everything they have and yet the Greenfield crowd stands to win big on the whole stake." Mr. Worth was drying his slim fingers with careful precision. "I figured that, was the way it would be done. That's the way all these big enterprises are launched. The first work is always done on a pro- moter's estimate. Later, when the business justifies, the system will be strengthened and improved." "Which means," retorted the surveyor, "that when the Company has taken enough money from the set- tlers, whom they have induced to stake everything they have on the gamble by letting them think it is a sure thing, they will use a part of it to give the people what they tJiinh they are getting now." The banker laid the towel carefully aside and dis- posed of the water in the wash-basin by the primitive method of throwing it from the tent door. Then he Spoke again: "The people themselves could never start a work like this, and if there wasn't a chance 196 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBAEA WORTH to make a big thing Capital wouldn't. It's the size of the profit compared with the amount invested that draws Capital into this kind of a thing. If the Com- pany had to take all the chance in this project th^;^ would simply stay out and the work would never be done. This feature of unequal risk is the very thing, and the only thing, that could attract the money to start this proposition going; and that's what people like you and the Seer and Barbara can't see. Holmes and Burk can't help themselves. It's Greenfield and the Company, and they are just as honest as other men. They are simply promoting this scheme m the only way possible to start it and the people will share the results." "Holmes and Burk are all right, except that they're owned body and soul by the Company," said Abe quickly. "But Greenfield and the men who engineered this thing look to me like a bunch of green-goods men who live on the confidence of the people." "The people will gain their farms just the same," returned the financier. *They wouldn't have any- thing without the Company." The surveyor shrugged his shoulders. "Well, you may be right, Mr. Worth; but I've had all I can stand of it." Again Jefferson Worth looked full into the younger man's eyes and Abe felt that Something behind the mask reaching out to seize the thoughts and motives that lay back of his words : "What are you going to do?" '"T don't know. Punch steers or get a job in a 197 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBAEA WOETH , mine somewhere, I reckon. I'm going somewhere out of this. I've had enough of promoter's esti- mates." "Suppose you stay and work for me." Abe Lee sprang to his feet. "Work for you ? Here? I thought you had refused to go into this deal?" "I declined to join Greenfield's Company," said the banker exactly. "Do you mean, Mr, Worth, that you are going to operate in the Basin independently, knowing the Company's strength and the whole situation as you do ?" "I have decided to take a chance with the rest," was the unemotional answer. "I sold out of the bank and cleaned up everything in Eubio City last week." "But what are you going into here ?" "I can use you if you want to stay," came the cautious answer. "Stay ? Of course I'll stay !" It was characteristic of these men that nothing was said of salary on either side. Extinguishing the lantern, Abe led the way out into the night. The darkness was intense and unrelieved save by the thin broken line of twinkling lights from the windows of the buildings, which gave them the direction of the main street, and the few dull glowing tent houses, whose tenants were at home. Overhead the desert stars shone with a brilliance that put to shame the feeble efforts of the earth-men, while about the little pioneer town the desert night drew close with its circling wall of mystery, 198 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WIlsrNIK"G OP BAEBAEA WOETH Did Jefferson Worth think, as he stumbled along by the surveyor's side, of that other night in The Hollow of God's Hand, when he had faced, alone, the spirit of the land ? "This town needs an electric lighting system," he said in his colorless voice. When Jefferson Worth had finished supper in the shack restaurant he proposed cautiously that they look around a little. The street was lined with teams and saddle horses, their forms shadowy and indis- tinct in the dark places of vacant lots or where buildings were under construction, but standing forth with startling clearness where the light from a store streamed forth. The sidewalk was filled with men from the ranches and grading camps, who had come to town after sunset for their mail or supplies so that no hour of the day should be lost to the work that had called them into the desert; and these ever- shifting figures passed to and fro through the bands of light and darkness, gathered in groups in front of the stores and dissolved again, to form other groups or to lose themselves in the general throng. Every moment a wagon-load of men, a party of horsemen, or a single rider would appear suddenly and mys- teriously out of the night, while others, leaving the throng to depart in like manner, would be swallowed up as mysteriously by the blackness. In the center of the picture and the very heart of the activity was the general store opposite the office of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company. Deck Jordan had opened his store in the days when Kingston was still a supply camp. STo one 199 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WIN^lSriNG OF BAEBARA WORTH knew much about Deck or how he had guessed that the camp would become the chief town in the new country. He was a pleasing, capable, but close- mouthed man, who knew what to buy, paid his bills promptly and — ^with one exception — conducted his business on a cash basis. The exception to the cash rule was in favor of the Company's employes. It was on Deck's initiative that an arrangement was made with Mr. Burk by which the Company men received credit at the store, the amount of their bills being deducted from their wages each month by the Company paymaster. It was this plan that, by giving Deck practically all of the trade from the hundreds of Company employes, had increased his business so rapidly. To the thoughtful Manager, also, the plan seemed good. He foresaw how, with the Company thus controlling the bulk of the merchant's business, he could, when the proper time came, "persuade" Deck to enter into a still "closer" arrangement — thus carrying out the Good Business policy of the Company. That very afternoon Mr. Burk had decided the time had come and had so written Mr. Greenfield. Leisurely Jefferson Worth and his companion worked their way through the crowd and into the store where Deck and his helpers were toiling to supply the various needs of a small army of cus- tomers. From the open doors and from the big implement shed in the rear of the building, a steady stream of provisions, clothing, dry goods, hardware, blankets, harness and tools flowed forth. In the midst of the confusion Deck himself was 200 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNIISTG OF BAEBARA WORTH holding an animated conversation with a would-be purchaser. "I'd be mighty glad to accommodate you, Sam, if I could, but you know we're running this store on a cash basis and I can't break my rules. If I begin with you I'll have to do it for everybody and I can't." "You don't make these Company men pay cash. Anybody — ^Injuns, greasers or anything else — ^gets what he wants and no questions asked if he works for the Company." "But that's different, you see," explained Deck. "We have an arrangement with the Company by which they hold out from each man's pay the amount of my bills against him." "I understand that, but you'll find out that it's the rancher's trade that'll keep you going. We'll be here long after these ditchers an' mule skinners have left the country and we'll have money to spend. You'll find, too, that when things do begin to come our way we'll stand by the store that'll stand by ua now when we've got everyt,hing goin' out an' nothin' comin' in." Deck, over the shoulder of the rancher, saw Jeffer- son Worth and the surveyor, who with several others had drawn near, attracted by the loud tones of the farmer. Abe thought that he caught a look of recog- nition as Deck's eyes fell on his companion but the banker gave no sign. The merchant, answering his customer, said: "I know you are right about that part of it, Sam, and I'd like to back every rancher in this Basin if I could. But I can't." "Why not ? Ain't you runnin' this store ?" 201 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINlSrilSrG OF BARBAEA WOETH Before Deck could reply, to Abe's astonishment the quiet voice of Jefferson Worth broke in. "You are improving a ranch of your ovm near here ?" The settler turned sharply. "You bet I am, Mister ; leastvrise, I'm tryin' to, and if workin' from sun-up 'til dark an' livin' on nothin' 'til I can make a crop v^ill pull me through I'll make it." "I suppose the heaviest expense is all in getting started?" asked Mr. Worth, as if seeking to verify an observation. "It sure is," replied the pioneer. "There's the outfit you've got to have — ^work-stock an' tools; you've got to build your, ditches and grade your land ; and you've got to buy water rights and pay for your water ; and you've got to make your payments to the government. Then there's feed for your work-stock and yourself, an' there ain't nothin' to bring in a cent 'til you can make a crop. The farmers that are comin' into this country ain't got a great big pile of ready money stacked away. Mister, an' they're mighty apt to run a little short the first year. When our home merchants, who expect to make their money off from us, won't even trust us for a few dollars' worth of provisions 'til we can get a .start, I'm danmed if it ain't tough." "But everyone is a stranger in this new country," said Mr. Worth. "How can a merchant know whether a man will pay or not ? I suppose there are ranchers coming in here who would beat a bill if they could. The merchants have to pay for their goods or close up." 202 Digitized by Microsoft® pTHE WIIfNING OF BAEBAKA WORTH "I reckon that's all so," returned the other. "And of course everybody knows that there never was such a thing as dishonest store-keepers. Merchants don't never beat anybody with short weight and all that ?" This raised a laugh in which Deck joined as heartily as anyone. Even the banker smiled coldly as he asked : "What did you say your name was ?" "Didn't say ; but it's Sam Warren." "Where is your ranch?" "Six miles north on the ITumber One main." "Well, Mr. Warren, I've been considering this proposition and I've got it figured out like this. We all want to make what we can in this new country; that's what we came in for. This store can't get along without the ranchers' support and you ranchers can't get along without the store. We've all got to pull together and help each other. I don't believe that many of the men who come into this Desert to actually settle on and improve the land are the kind of men who beat their bills. I figured to run on a cash basis only until things got started and sort of settled down, you see. I know that you people need credit until you get on your feet. From now on you come here — for whatever you actually need, you understand — and we'll carry you for any reasonable amount until you get something coming in. All we ask in return is that you ranchers do as you say and stand by us when you do get on top." At Jefferson Worth's simple and quietly spoken words a hush fell over the group of men. Abe Lee looked at his companion in amazement. Sani Warren 203 Digitized by Microsoft® THE wnnniiJ^G or Barbara worth turned from the, stranger to the store-keeper and back to the stranger. The man behind the counter was smiling broadly as if enjoying the situation. When no one could find a word with whidi to break the silence, Deck Jordan said: "Gentlemen, this is Mr. Jefferson Worth, the owner of this storew George!" he called to a passing clerk, "give Sam whatever he wants as soon as you can get around to it, and charge it." At this such a yell went up from the bystanders that a crowd from the outside rushed in, and as the word passed and others voiced their approval as loudly, the Manager of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company in his rooms across the street thought that another fight was on. The Manager was not far wrong in his conclusiom. 904 Digitized by Microsoft® CHAPTEE XIII. BARBARA'S CALL TO HER FRIENDS. I HAT night, long after Kingston was still and the Manager of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company was fast asleep, Jeffer- son Worth and Abe Lee talked in the little tent that, from the lantern within, glowed in the darkness, seemingly the one spot of light under the desert stars. The next morning the surveyor left town on the stage, but not as he had planned. Abe knew now where he was going and what he was going to do. He was bound for the city by the sea and he carried in his pocket several letters of introduction, written by his employer and addressed to different ^ms engaged in manufacturing and selling things elec- trical. And more than this, Abe would see Barbara. Jefferson Worth did not breakfast with Abe that morning nor did he see him off on the stage, but a few minutes after the surveyor had left town his employer passed down the street in the direction of the store. As Mr. Worth drew near his place of business he saw, posed just without the door, one whom the most casual of observing strangers would have supposed instantly to be the proprietor of the store, the owner of the building — if not, indeed, the proprietor and owner of all Kingston and many miles of coimtry round about. 205 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBAEA WOETH The portly figure, clad in a business suit of gray, with a vast, full-rounded expanse of white vest, expressed in every curve opulent wealth and lordly generosity. The clean-shaven face, fat and florid, beamed upon the world from above the clerical severity of a black tie with truly paternal benev- olence; while the massive head was not in reality crowned but was covered by a hat such as command- ing generals always wear in pictures. The pose of the figure, the lift of the countenance, the kingly mien of eye and brow made it impossible to mistake his majesty. In comparison with this august per- sonage, the figure and air of Jefferson Worth were pitifully inadequate. The great one welcomed the financier at the latter's own door with an air of royal hospitality. Extend- ing his hand as if he stepped down only one step from his throne and speaking in a tone that was meant to confer marked distinction upon the humble recipient of his favor, he said: "Mr. Worth, I am delighted, more delighted than I can -express, to welcome you to our city. It is a great day for this country — a great day!" He wrung the financier's timid hand with two hundred and fifty pounds of emotional energy. "Mr. Greenfield and I, with our friends and associates in the East, and Mr. Burk and Holmes here in the field, are doing what we can for these people, but there is a great work here yet for men like you — men of some means and financial ability, who will get behind the smaller business interests and build them up on a solid foundation. My heart rejoiced for the country, sir, when I heard 206 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBARA WORTH this morning that you had purchased this establish- ment. Deck is a good honest fellow, you know, but " An expansive smile of confidential under- standing finished this sentence, and the words — "My name is Blanton, Mr. Worth — Horace P. Blanton" — seemed to settle at once any doubt as to the position and authority of the speaker. Jefferson Worth did not explain that he had owned the store from the beginning and that Deck Jordan was no more than his very capable agent. Indeed Mr. Worth said nothing at all. He even appeared to shrink with becoming modesty though there was the faintest hint of a twinkle in the comers of his eyes — a hint so faint that Horace P. Blanton, from his great height, overlooked it. The big man, in a lower tone of confidential familiarity, asked: "Have you heard from Green- field lately ?" "No." "I wrote Jim some time ago that he would have to come out here himself. There are some conditions developing here that should have his personal atten- tion, and I'll be blessed if I'll stand seeing him neglect them! I'm a western man myself, Worth; and you know we do things in this country." "You are interested in The King's Basin Com- pany ?" The answer was given in a tone of tolerant surprise that any one should think he would toy with a thing of such trifling»importance. "Me ? Oh no ! — ^that is, not directly you understand. But I am deeply inter- ested in the development of the country. Let me 207 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BARBAKA WORTH show you a little of what we are doing here. It's amazing how the world outside fails utterly to grasp the magnitude of the enterprise. Even the news- papers are criminally negligent. Quite recently I had occasion to tell my good friend, the editor of the Times, that if he didn't give us something like a fair showing I would see to it personally that the bulk of our business went to San Eelipe. It's a burning shame the way they have persistently ignored us." Mr. Worth made an ineffectual attempt to escape but the white vest blocked his move. Pointing to a half-finished building on the nearest comer, the great one explained in the tone of a personal conductor: "That is our new hotel — one of the finest buildings in the southwest. The young man who will run it for us is personally superintending the construction. Bright boy, too. You must let me introduce you to him." Jefferson Worth, gazing at the modest building under construction, murmured : "You are interested, you say?" "Oh no ; that is — only in a way, you understand. I have a hand in most of these enterprises." "This town needs a good hotel," said Mr. Worth, mildly. "That building farther down — the one where the foundation is just completed — is our Opera House. It is being erected by one of the big Coast syndicates and will be a magnificent hall of amusement and entertainment as well as a place for public gatherings of all kinds. I have been in close personal touch with the men in charge of the enterprise and they 208 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINliTING OF BAEBAKA WOKTH understand that we will tolerate nothing that is not first class." "The people need such a building," was the quiet comment. "In the block opposite our bank will be located. They will be working on the vault in another two weeks. While the building is well under way, as you see, the organization of the institution is not yet made public. Only a few of us on the inside, you understand, know who is back of the enterprise." "I see," said Jefferson Worth. "A bank is a good thing for the country." Pointing up the street, the great one in the white vest continued: "There you see the office of our paper — The King's Basin Messenger. The machinery is being installed now. I'm mighty proud of the young man who is starting that work. He will be a credit to us I promise you. Directly opposite is The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company building with the offices of the Company. You must let me introduce you to the manager, Mr. Burk, and to Holmes, the engineer. Come, we will go over there now." He started forward with perspiring energy, but Jefferson Worth, seizing the opportunity, gained the doorway of the store and vanished. For two wedis Mr. Worth seemed to devote his time wholly to his store. Though Deck Jordan still continued the active management, it was generally understood that Mr. Worth, having but recently purchased the establishmMit, retained Deck until, as it was generally expressed, he got the run of the busiaess. At an old desk in a cubby-hole of an office 209 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WIIfNING OF BAKBAEA WOKTH roughly partitioned off in one corner of the room, thf^ financier spent nearly every hour of the day apparently poring over his accounts. Here the Manager from across the street found him when he called to explain to Mr. Worth the advantage of an alliance between the store and the Company. Mr. Burk did not stay long, but upon his return to his office wrote a long, confidential letter to his superiors. The thoughtful Manager's letters to his superiors were always confidential. Willard Holmes also called to pay his respects; to inquire whether Miss Worth was well; and — as Holmes put it to himself when he was again safely outside the building — to turn himself inside out for the critical inspection of the man who hid behind that gray mask. So far as the Manager of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company observed, Jefferson Worth, beside buying the store, made only one small invest- ment. He purchased from the Company a small tract of land just inside the limits of the townsite. Then almost before Mr. Burk knew that it was before them, the town council passed an ordinance granting permission to the Worth Electric Company to place their poles and to stretch wires on the streets of the town, and the first issue of The King's Basin Messen- ger announced with a great fiourish of trumpets that Kingston was to have lights. The article explained that Mr. Abe Lee, the well known engineer, formerly with the K. B. L. and L Company, would have charge of the construction work and would push it with his usual energy. Eor 210 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAKBAEA WORTH some time Mr. Lee had been in the city arranging for material, which would be shipped immediately. Mr. Worth had stated to the Messenger that Mr. Lee would return to Kingston in a day or two and would break ground for the power plant at once. The Mes- senger also gave an interesting history of Jefferson Worth's successful career from farm-boy to financier with an appreciation of his character and congratu- lated the citizens that a man of such financial strength and genius had come to invest the fruit of his toil in the new country. Mr. Burk read the Messenger's article thought- fully. Then Mr. Burk wrote another confidential letter to his superiors. Over this enterprise of Jefferson Worth, as set forth in the Messenger, the citizens were enthusiastic. Horace P. Blanton was more than enthusiastic. Meeting Mr. Burk as the latter was returning to his ofiice after dinner he blocked the Manager's way with his white vest and, wiping the sweat of honest endeavor from his brow, delivered himself. "Well, sir ; we landed it. Biggest thing that ever happened to Kingston. Double our population in three months. I told my friend Worth that they would have to come through with that franchise whether they wanted to or not, and by George! we landed it. There was nothing else to do." The Manager thoughtfully flicked the ashes from his cigar. "And what is this that you have landed ?" "What ! haven't you heard ? Have you seen the Messenger ?" He drew a paper from his pocket and 211 Digitized by Microsoft® THE wiisrisriisrG of bakbaka worth placed a finger on the headlines: "Electric Lights for Kingston." The Manager shifted his cigar to the corner of his mouth and, casting his head in the opposite direc- tion, surveyed the excited Horace P. as an artist might view an interesting picture. "So you are interested in the Worth Electric Company ?" "Oh no ; that is, not exactly, you knov/. My name will not appear in the company. But Jeff and I are very warm friends, you understand, and for the sake of Kingston I am bound to take an interest in his enterprise." At this the thoughtful Mr. Burk became suddenly confidential. Tapping his companion impressively on the arm and speaking in a low tone of vast import, he said: "Blanton, be careful; be careful. Don't get into Worth's schemes too deeply. A man of your standing and influence, you know, can't afford to play into the hands of a four-flusher." Then the Manager of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company slipped easily away before the other could reply. Three minutes later the man in the big white vest overtook the Company's chief engineer in the door- way of the restaurant. "Good morning. Holmes; good morning." The simple greeting seemed to come from a great heart that was fairly staggering under a burden of othCT people's woes. As the boy placed tiieir dinners before them, Horace P. Blanton, shaking his massive head, mur- mured sadly: "It's a burning shame, Holmes; a burning shame." 212 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH "The coffee, you mean?" queried the engineer, digging up a spoonful of sediment from the bottom of his heavy cup and inspecting it critically. "It looks shameful, aU right ; and it may have been over- heated some time in past ages, but the temperature doesn't appear to be above normal to-day." The big man did not smile; his burden v?as too heavy. "I mean," he explained, "the way these four- flushers come in here and attempt to work their graft right under our eyes. Did you hear about this man Worth getting that franchise out of the council ? I did my level best, but what's the use. It's all as plain as day but you can't hammer an idea into the boneheads that run this town. I had a little talk with Burk over the matter this morning. He agrees with me perfectly. We've got to take hold of this thing, Mr. Holmes, or the town will go to the dogs. I wish Greenfield would come on." The engineer agreed heartily that it might be well to take hold of something. But what? That was the rub — what ? He gently intimated that if Horace P. Blanton could not find a way to avert the awful calamity that threatened the public, the public was in a bad way. Clearly it was up to Horace P. to save Kingston. The dinner over the men separated quickly: the man in the white vest to carry the burden of Kings- ton's future on his fat shoulders, and the engineer to inspect the work at Dry River Heading. The evening of the third day after Abe Lee's return to Kingston the surveyor and his employer were in Mr. Worth's office. The work of excavation 213 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAKBARA WORTH for the foimdation of the power plant would begin in the morning, and Mr. Worth had planned to leave town the following morning for a week's business trip to the city. The two men were interrupted in their conversa- tion by a loud familiar voice on the store side "of the board partition. "Busy, be they ? Well, fwhat the divil should they be but busy? Do ye suppose I thought they was a-playin' dominoes?" Abe grinned at his employer. They both listened. Deck Jordan's voice said: "But you better not go in now, boys. They will be through in a little while." "Go in ? Who the hell's talkin' av goin' in ? Do ye think, ye danged counter-hopper, that we've no manners at all ? For a sap o' wather I'd go over to ye wid me two hands !" And another softer voice drawled: "Run along Deck. Me an' my pardner promises not to turn violent or break into the sanctuary. We'll just camp here peaceful 'til the meetin's over." Abe chuckled. "I knew they would be along as soon as they heard the news." He lifted his voice. "Oome in, boys." Instantly Barbara's "uncles" appeared. "We axes yer pardon, Sorr, for not comin' before to pay our respects, but we only heard yestherday that ye was in the counthry. Ye see, afther we finished at the river we was transferred over on Number Three at the tail end av nowhere an' knew nothin' at all 'til 214 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBARA WORTH someone brung into camp the paper that towld about yer doin's. An' how is our little girl ?" "Very well," said Mr. Worth. "She told me to be sure and remember her to you." "I saw her the other day," said Abe. "She sent you both her love." "Well, now, fwhat do ye think av that ? Tex, ye danged owld sand rat, ut's proud av yersilf ye should be to be the uncle av sich a darlin'. An' tell us now, Sorr, fwhat's this I hear about yer buildin' a power plant for electric lights, or street cars, or some- thin' ? We thought that the lad here left the danged coimthry for good, an' sarves thim danged yellow-legs that boss the Company right for not knowin' a man whin they see wan." "We begin work in the morning. Abe is in charge." "Hurroo!" exclaimed the delighted Irishman. "An' ut's men ye'll be wantin' av course; wan to handle the greasers, which is cake to me, an' wan to boss the mule skinners, which is pie for Tex. I'm thinkin' the Company will be short handed at Num- ber Three in the mornin'." "I have been holding these places open for you," Abe laughed. "If I could get hold of Pablo, now, I would be all right. Barbara said to be sure and get him too. He's still at Dry River Heading, I hear." As the two were leaving Texas Joe said to Abe: "Are you plumb certain Pablo is at the Heading ?" "That's what one of the crew, told me to-day." "Well, then I reckon he'U be along pronto." 215 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING or BARBAEA WOETH The next morning when Abe went to the site of the work the first man he saw was Barbara's friend, Pablo. The Mexican greeted the surveyor with a show of white teeth. "Did you come to work ?" asked Abe. "Si, Senor. Senor Texas he come las' night with two horses. He say Senor Abe want you quick, Pablo. La Senorita say you come. So I am come pronto, like he say." "Texas Joe went for you last night?" repeated Abe. "Si, Senor. If you want me come — if La Senorita want me come — Senor Tex he go tell me come. I come. It is no much ride for vaqueros like Senor Tex and me." "But you have your job with the Company ?" The Mexican shrugged his shoulders and his teeth showed. "Senor Worth and Senores Lee and Tex and Pat good company for Pablo. Beside, is there not La Senorita ? She was good to me when I was sick with no one to help. Do not we all — Senores Lee and Tex and Pat, and Senor Worth and me^ do not we all work for La Senorita in La Palma de la Mano de Dies ? Is it not so ? Beside I think sometime La Senorita come — then I would be neato In the Company there is no Senorita." 216 Digitized by Microsoft® CHAPTER XIV. MUCH CONFUSION AND HAPPY EXCITEMENT. S the trying months of the semi-tropical sum- mer approached, the great Desert, sp awful in its fierce desolation, so pregnant with the life it was still so reluctant to yield, gathered all its dreadful forces to withstand the inflowing streams of human energy. In the fierce winds that rushed through the mountain passes and swept across the hot plains like a torrid furnace blast ; in the blinding, stinging, choking, smothering dust that moved in golden clouds from rim to rim of the Basin; in the blazing, scorching strength of the sun; in the hard, hot sky, without shred or raveling of cloud; in the creeping, silent, poison life of insect and reptile; in the maddening dryness of the thirsty vegetation; in the weird, beautiful falseness of the ever-changing mirage, the spirit of the Desert issued its silent challenge. It was not the majestic challenge of the mountains with their unsealed heights of peak and dome and impassable barriers of rugged crag and sheer cliff. It was not the glad chall^ige of the untamed wilder- ness with its myriad formed life of tree and plant and glen and stream. It was not the noble challenge of the wide-sweeping, pathless plains; nor the wild challenge of the resdess, storm-driven sea. It was 217 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBARA WORTH the silent, sinister, menacing threat of a desolation that had conquered by cruel waiting and that lay in wait still to conquer. With grim determination, nervous energy, endur- ing strength and a dogged tenacity of purpose, the invading flood of humanity, irresistibly driven by that master passion, Good Business, matched its strength against that of the Desert in the season of its greatest power. Steadily mile by mile, acre by acre, and at times almost foot by foot, the pioneers wrested their future farms and homes from the dreadful forces that had held them for ages. Steadily, with the inflowing stream of life from the world beyond the Basin's rim, the area of improved lands about Kingston extended and the work in the Company's town went on. By midsummer many acres of alfalfa, with Egyptian corn and other grains, showed broad fields of living green cut iito the dull, dun plain of the Desert and laced with silver threads^ of water shining in the sun. Save for occasional brief business trips to the city, Jefferson Worth did not leave Kingston. In the most trying of those grilling days of heat and dust, when a man's skin felt like cracking parchment and his eyes burned in their sockets and it seemed as though every particle of moisture in his body was sucked up by the dry, scorching air, Barbara's father gave no sign of discomfort. He accepted the most nerve- racking situation with the even-tempered calmness of one who had foreseen it and to whom it was but a trivial incident, inevitable to his far-reaching plans. 218 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WII^iq^ING OF BAEBARA WOETH When others — their tempers tried to the breaking point — cursed with dry, high-pitched, querulous curses the heat, the land, the sun, the dust, the Com- pany and their fellow-sufferers, Jefferson Worth's cool, even tones and unrulHed spirit helped them to a needed self-control and gave them a new and stronger grip on things. And many a baffled, dis- couraged and well-nigh beaten settler, ready to give up, found in the man whose gray, mask-like face seemed so incapable of expression, fresh inspiration and new courage ; while the store continued its policy of helping the worthy, hard-pressed ranchers with necessary material assistance. And so it was that while James Greenfield and his fellow-capitalists of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company were taking their much needed vacations and seeking relaxation and rest from busi- ness cares at their seaside and mountain retreats, the desert pioneers were coming morff and more to Jeffer- son Worth for advice and counsel, for strength and courage and help to go on with the work. By fall the financier's position in the life of the new country seemed to be securely won. Perhaps only Jefferson Worth himseli, alone behind his gray mask, knew the real value of his apparent victory. The Company's thoughtful Manager went out— as the pioneers had come to say of those who left the Basin — for over a month, and for the rest of the summer spent only a part of his time in Kingston. But the Company's chief engineer refused to leave even for a week. To a pressing invitation from Greenfield to join him on his vacation. Holmes 219 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WIlSTNING or BAKBAKA WORTH answered that he could not get away. All through the June rise of the river, while the settlers, ignorant of the danger that threatened them through the Good Business policy of the Company, were risking every- thing that Capital might gain its greater profits, the engineer lived in his camp at the intake. Day and night, as he watched the swelling yellow torrent that threw its weight against his work, he remembered the words of the desert-bred surveyor: "When the Gila and the Little Colorado go on the warpath and come dovsru on top of a high Colorado flood, you'll catch hell." It had come in the past, Abe had declared, and it would come again. But the flood waters of the Gila and the Little Colorado did not come down on top of the larger river that year and the promoter's estimate work stood. When the danger was past and the engineer was free again to make Kingston his headquarters, his acquaintance with Jefferson Worth grew into something like friendship. It became, indeed, an established custom for Mr. Worth, Abe Lee and the chief engineer of the Company to sit at the same table in the shack restaurant and, during their meals of canned stuff, to talk over the work that held them from the comforts and pleasures of civilization. But little work toward extending the Company system could be undertaken during the hot summer months. It was difficult for Holmes to hold even enough men to maintain that which was already in operation. But Jefferson Worth did not fare so badly. Abe Lee was steadfast, of course, while Texas, Pat and Pablo would, as the Irishman said, 220 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINOTNG OF BAEBAEA WOETH "have fried thimsilves on the coals av hell" before they would quit their job. Were there not letters every week from Barbara with messages to the sur- veyor and his three helpers ? Pablo said truly that "there was no Senorita in the Company." So -through Abe's leadership, Texas Joe's diplomacy, Pat's wisdom and Pablo's influence with his coimtry- men, the Worth enterprises did not suffer for lack of laborers but went steadily ahead. In Kingston the different buildings for the power plant and lighting system were nearly completed and several cottages were under construction on lots ovnied by Jefferson Worth, while men and teams were busy excavating and hauling materials for a large ice plant. In Frontera, a little town that "just happened" to grow from a supply camp in the southern end of the Basin, a hotel and a bank build- ing were being erected, while between the two com- munities poles for a telephone system were being placed. Thus far very few women had come into the desert. When the torrid summer was past, the first crops on the new ranches harvested and more com- fortable homes prepared, they would come with the children to join the men-folks. Until then the new country would continue a man's country — ^the poorest possible kind of a country, the men them- selves declared. Therefore when, late in September, The King's Basin Messenger, with an extraordinary blare of trumpets, annoimced the birth of a child and that the first-bom of the new country was a boy, the news was 221 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAKBAEA WOKTH received with the greatest excitement. In Kingston, in Frontera, at grading camps and ranches, as the word was passed, there were wild and joyous celebrations. Such a crowd of male visitors closed in on the humble tent home to beg for a look at the little pink stranger that the matter-of-fact pioneer parents were heard to express the wish that they themselves had never been born. Had the baby been forced to carry through life all the names that were suggested he would undoubtedly have echoed the parents' wish at an early age. Then came the terrible word to Kingston, brought by Texas Joe, that the baby was ill. Tex, returning to town from a trip to Frontera, had turned a mile aside to bring the latest news of the baby. It was early evening and the light yet lingered in the sky back of No Man's Mountains, when the citizens, relaxing after the heat of the day and the evening meal, looked up to see him coming, riding like a mad man, his horse white with foam. Jefferson Worth, with Abe and Holmes coming from the restaurant, had paused a moment in front of the store before separating when Texas leaped from his staggering mount. One thought flashed into the mind of each: "The intake! The river!" Holmes went white under his tan; Abe's jaws came together with a click ; Jefferson Worth's slim fingers caressed his chin. As the word passed quickly through the town, the crowd that followed Mr. Worth and Texas Joe into the store grew until it over-flowed the building and 222 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH filled the street. Over all there was a solemn husii, save for low-spoken words of inquiry, or explanation, and of advice. What to do was the question. What could they do ? There was no doctor nearer than Rubio City and men who pioneer in a desert land are not men experienced with sickness. On a high shelf in one back corner of the store there was a small dust-covered stock of assorted patent medicines. Desperately they pulled the bottles down and studied the labels and directions, but only to their further confusion and doubt. At last, his pockets laden with everything that seemed to promise a possible relief, Texas Joe set out on a fresh horse, the first one handy, to be followed later by a spring wagon drawn by four fast broncos and carrying four women. The entire female population of Kingston had been mustered by Abe Lee, whom the ladies declared then and there to be the only man of sense in all The King's Basin. For the first evening since his arrival Jefferson Worth left his office in the store to mingle with the restless crowds on the street that, in ever-changing knots and groups, discussed in fearful voice this public calamity. No one dreamed of retiring. No one had thoughts for sleep, nor indeed for anything save the little sufferer in the tent house ten miles out on the Desert. They smoked and talked and swore softly in hushed tones and waited the return of Texas Joe. It was after midnight when he came again. Before he could dismount, the crowd of silent men hemmed 223 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WIE"NING OF BAKBAKA WOETH him in. From the saddle the old plainsman looked down into their eager solemn faces and that slow smile broke over his sun-blackened features. "Boys," he drawled, "I'm sure proud to bring you-all the unanimous verdict of the female relief expedition sent out by our illustrious fellow-citizen, Abe Lee. The kid's better and is headed straight for good health and six or eight square meals a day." When the joyous chorus of yells that would have startled a coyote two miles away subsided, Tex dis- mounted and approached Jefferson Worth. "Mr. Worth, them women commanded me also to return to you with their compliments and gratitude the various and sundry bottles vdth which same my clothes is full. One of them angels of mercy, it seems, went to the scene of action loaded with a flask of castor oil." Just before retiring that night Mr. Worth said to his superintendent: "Abe, I'm going out in the morning. You had better push the work on that largest cottage as fast as possible. I'll ship in an outfit of furniture and things as soon as I get to the city. Let me know when the house is finished and the goods arrive. You can stack the furniture up on the porches or anywhere imtil I get back. The hot weather is about over and the hotel wiU open up next week." "All right, sir," the surveyor answered quietly and made no comment on this unexpected move of his employer, though his nerves tingled at the evi- dent purpose of his instructions. Abe Lee could not know how the events of the evening had awakened 224 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNIITG OF BAEBAKA WORTH in Jefferson Worth memories of another baby in the desert — memories that stirred the child-hungry heart of the lonely man and drove him to his daughter without an hour's delay. Did Abe Lee push the work on the house ? Did he ? Every man in Jefferson Worth's employ, who could find a place to lay his hand on the building, was put on the job. By the time the house was finished the furniture had arrived. It was quitting time and Pablo, who with four Mexican laborers had been at work grading the yard and removing the rubbish that had accumulated inci- dent to building, dismissed his helpers. The sur- veyor was gloomily contemplating the pile of boxes, bales and crates on the front porch. Evidently there was something not to the surveyor's likiag. "Senor Lee." The surveyor turned sharply to face the Mexican, whose dark features were glowing with pleasure. "WeU?" "Pardon, but Senor Lee seems not pleased. Is not the work well done?" "The work is all right, Pablo. You have done well. It is not that. I was wishing I had nerve enough to tackle another job." The Mexican smiled. "Oh, Senor, you make fun. What can not El Senor do ? He can do everything." "There is a job here all right I don't sabe, Pablo." Abe turned again to the pile of household goods. "Si Senor, me sabe. It is that La Senorita come pronto an' Senor Lee would have the house what you call ready." 225 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINJSrilSrG OF BAEBAEA WOETH Abe started at the tone of quiet conviction. "How the devil do you kaow that La Senorita is coining ?" he asked sharply. The answer came with a flash of white teeth : "For what else does El Senor hurry so the house? For what else does he all time cry — 'Pronto! pronto!' and go liot much to the other work but stay all time here ? And is there not all this — " He waved his hand gracefully to indicate the household goods. "For who should it be that Senor Lee is hurry so ? When Texas Joe come say — 'Senor Worth is here,' I think quick some time La Senorita come. I work for Senor Worth, as La Senorita send word, that I may be near. All time I work I say — 'It is for La Senorita.' Pretty quick now she come and with Senor Lee will be happy to live in the house he make." A deeper red than the desert color stained the sur- veyor's thin cheeks as he said: "You're a good hombre, Pablo, but you're away off on part of what you say. I reckon you're right enough that Miss Worth is coming, but she will live here with her father just as they did in Eubio City. And listen, Pablo. You must never say to anyone what you have said to me. You sabe, Pablo ? I am with La Senorita as you are, and Tex and Pat; sabe?" "Si, Senor; forgive me; I am sorry. But some- time it will be if El Senor is patient." The surveyor, annoyed at the Mexican's talk, but unwilling, because of the spirit that prompted the words, to speak sharply, sought to dismiss the matter by changing the subject. He explained to Pablo how 226 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH he was wishing that he could unpack the furniture and have the house all ready when Mr. Worth and Barbara arrived. "Why not ?" asked the Mexican. Abe shook his head. "It's out of my line. I don't sabe the job, Pablo." "Maybe so Tex and Pat, they would sabe." "By George, I believe Pat would. Texas wouldn't be any better than I, but Pat ought to know some- thing about such things. You go tell them I want them at the office to-night. Pat was at the power house to-day and Texas will be coming in from the line early." "Si, Senor. And Senor Lee! La Senorita will want a horse." "Hell, I forgot that!" Pablo smiled. "I know where is good one — a beautiful horse, Senor. Long time I watch him and think some day he be for La Senorita when she come. The man will sell for enough. Shall I go to-morrow ?" "Yes, get him. Tell the man it is for me and that I wiU pay. No" — ^he corrected himself — "tell him it is for Senor Worth and that he will pay. Sabe ? You must not speak of me." "Si, Senor; it shall be as you say. To-morrow night I return." That evening at the office in the rear of the store Abe laid the situation before Pat and Texas Joe. Could the three undertake to have the furniture un- packed and the house properly settled? The hotel had been opened to receive guests, of course, but Texas Joe shook his head solemnly. "I pass, Abe. 227 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WIlTimTG OF BAEBAEA WOETH There ain't no use in my affirmin' that I knows any- thing about such undertakin's. Household fumishin' such as is proper in a case like this is a long way off my range." But the Irishman waxed indignant. "Sich ignor- ance as ye two do be showin' is heathenish," he declared. "I suppose now ye wud be for puttin' the cook stove in the parlor an' settin' up the piany in the young lady's budwar." The strange word caught the attention of Texas instantly. "An' what might that be, pard?" he drawled. "What's a budwar ?" Pat snorted. "Budwar, ye ignorant owld limb, is polite for the girl's bedroom, which in civilization h not discussed by thim as has manners." Such overwhelming evidence of the Irishman's familiarity with the best social customs was not to be rejected. The morning stage carried a telegram to be sent from Deep Well to Jefferson Worth, and all that day the three toiled under command of Pat. When the evening stage brought a message from Mr. Worth saying that he and Barbara would arrive the following evening, they decided that a night shift was necessary and worked until nearly morning, redoubling their efforts the following day. When the dusty old stage with its four half-broken horses pulled into Kingston that night, three tired and anxious, but joyful, desert men occupied the front rank of the waiting crowd before the new hotel. With all the grace of generous curves and pon- derous dignity, Horace P. Blanton was first to alight. When he turned his broad back to the "common 228 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINJSTIN'G OF BAEBAEA WOETH berd" and, with an indescribable air of proprietor- ship, assisted Miss Worth to the ground, three dark- ened faces scowled with disapproval and three smoth- ered oaths expressed deep disgust. The excited citizens behind the three crowded closer. Even Ynez, climbing down from the stage, was received with another cheer by the delighted men. The irrepressible Horace P., quick to recog- nize the spirit of the company and ever ready to do more than his part, burst into an eloquent address of welcome in behalf of the entire population of The King's Basin. But the ceremony was interrupted and the imposing personage in the white vest was thrust roughly aside while Barbara, with glad eyes and hands outstretched, greeted the rude disturbers of the great man's dignity. "Texas! Pat! Mr. Lee! Oh, I'm glad! I have been hoping all day that you would be here to meet me. It seemed to me that I would never get here. It has been the longest day of my life." Which, con- sidering that the impressive attentions of Horace P. Blanton had been continuous since the moment when he had forced an introduction from Mr. Worth on the train that morning, was rather hard on his majesty. But much experience in similar situations had made Horace P. Blanton immune to such thrusts. Even while Barbara was speaking he regained his place at her side. With his voice and manner of a "personal conductor" — ^before either of the three could speak — he followed her words with: "Ah, Miss Worth, I see you already know some of our 229 Digitized by Microsoft® '■A THE WINNING or BARBAEA WORTH men. Texas, Pat and Abe here are three of the best fellows we have. They — " Again he was interrapted. The young woman turned easily aside to Abe, and Horace P. found himself very close to and facing the tall plainsman and the heavy shouldered Irish boss. "Excuse me, Colonel," drawled Texas in tones so soft that no one in the noisy crowd could hear; "but the welfare of the citizens of this here community^ as well as the safety of the country, demands your immediate presence up the street." Without hesitation the lordly one exclaimed : "Ah, thank you, Tex. Miss Worth will excuse me I'm sure. Please explain my absence to her." Then before their startled eyes he faded away — if the vanishing of such a bulk can be so described. A few minutes after the passing of Horace P. Blanton, Tex and Pat also disappeared, for it was part of the carefully arranged plot that Barbara's "uncles" were to see to the disposal of the girl's trunks while she was at supper at the hotel with her father and Abe. At the table Barbara was all eagerness in her desire to know everything about the work; and the surveyor, in answering her questions, found himself drawn out of the dumbness that usually beset him in such situations. "And our house ?" asked the girl. "When can I begin settling? You see I brought Ynez with me. Can we begin in the morning, Abe ? And could you spare Pat and Tex to help us?" Abe glanced at his employer. "If vou wou?"d like 230 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBAKA WOETH to see the house we can look at it this evening after supper." "Can we ? Can we go, daddy ?" Jefferson Worth met Abe's look with a twinkle in the corner of his eye, but he only answere(^ his eager daughter with a calm, "If you like." They found the house with every window bril- liantly lighted, and on the front porch, on opposite sides of the wide-open door, Texas and Pat standing to welcome them. From one room to another Bar- bara ran in laughing delight, followed by the three, who were perspiring in an agony of suspense while Jefferson Worth looked on. The cook stove was not in the parlor, nor was the piano — out of place. In the proper room Barbara even found her trunks. There was a supply, of provisions in the pantry and kindlings even ready by* the' kitchen stove for the morning fire. If there were little irregularities here and there, Barbara, with graceful tact, did not see them but, to the delight of the three men, declared again and again that no woman could have done it better. The climax came when she said that unless her father insisted^she would not even return to the hotel that evening. Could not someone go for the hand luggage and Tnez ? Breathless the three waited, and when Mr. Worth said he saw no reason why they sllould leave thei-r own home for a hotel Tex and Pat could hold themselves no longer but made a wild run for the door. When Barbara's "uncles" had returned with the Indian woman and the grips, Pat stood in the center 231 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAKBARA WORTH of the living room and looked curiously about — an expression of wonder upon his battle-scarred Irish countenance. "Now don't that bate the divil ! Tell me" — he faced the girl with mock severity — "fwhat's this ye've been doin' already?" "Doing?" exclaimed Barbara, "I haven't been doing anything, Uncle Pat." "Aw, go on, don't be tellin' me that. Aven Fncle Tex here can see that ye've changed ivery blissid thing in the place. 'Tis not the same, at all, an' afther us a-workin' our fingers to the bone to fix ut up. 'Tis quare. I know now that Tex hung that curtain there. Ye could have heard him swearin' a mile away, but ut's not that same curtain at all, at all. 'Tis mighty quare.'? For an hour or more Barbara, at the piano, sang for them the simple songs they loved, while many a tired horseman, riding past on his way to his lonely desert shack or to some rough camp on the works, paused to listen to the sweet voice and to dream perhaps of the time that was to come when such sounds would no longer seem strange on the Desert. When the hour came for Texas and Pat and Abe to go, and Barbara with shining eyes tried again to express her gratitude while insisting that they must always come to her home as to their own, the three felt that indeed they had their reward. And when later the girl kissed her father good night Jeffersoli Worth also knew in his lonely heart that he had done well. 232 Digitized by Microsoft® CHAPTEK XV. BARBARA COMES INTO HER OWN. JEFFERSON WOETH and his daughter had just finished their first breakfast in the new home when their Indian servant woman entered the room. "What is it, Ynez?" asked Barbara, seeing that the woman wished to speak. Tnez's black eyes were shining and her voice was eager as she answered: "There is someone without waiting for La Senorita." "Someone waiting outside for me, Ynez?" "Who is it ?" asked Mr. Worth. "It is Pablo Garcia, Senor, and he say please ask La Senorita to come. If La Senorita will go only to the door she can see." With an expression of excited interest Barbara, followed by her father, went out on the porch. In front of the house stood Pablo holding a beautiful saddle horse fully equipped and ready for a rider. The Mexican's dark face shone with the pride and triumph of the moment toward which he had looked forward for months. The horse, too, as if sensing the importance of the occasion, pawed the earth with his dainty hoofs, arched his neck and tossed his head— ^proudly impatient. Uttering low exclamations and little cries of 233 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINE"ING OF BAEBAKA WOETH delight the girl left the porch and ran forward, greeting Pablo and moving about the horse, admir- ing the animal, from every point of view. "What a beauty ! He is perfect, Pablo ; perfect ! Where did you find him? Is he yours? What's his name?" Her questions came tumbling from her lips in such eager bursts that Pablo answered only the last. "He is yours, Senorita. His name El Capitan." "Mine?" Barbara turned to her father, who ex- plained, Abe having told him the night before of the purchase. When her father finished, the delighted girl announced that she "simply couldn't wait" but must go for a ride inmiediately. Eunning into the house she returned a few minutes later in her riding dress and, mounting with — "I'll be back for dinner, daddy," and "Adios, Pablo !" — rode away toward the open country, while the Mexican and the banker watched her out of sight. By the time they had passed the last of the tent houses in the tovm Barbara and El Capitan were friends. There is no doubt whatever that a worthy horse appreciates a worthy rider and the girl, accus- tomed to riding since childhood, certainly appreci- ated her mount. "Oh, you beauty!" she cried, leaning forward in the saddle to pat the shining neck. "Oh, you beauty !" As though to return the compliment and express his pleasure at finding such an agreeable companion, El Capitan turned his delicate pointed ears forward, arched his neck, and, stepping as on a velvet carpet, 234 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBAEA WOETH sprang lightly to the other side of the road in sheer overflow of good spirits and confidence in his rider, while the girl, at his play, laughed aloud. But Barbara had eyes and thoughts for more than her horse that morning. It was her first day in "her Desert" and there was much for her to see. Through her father she had kept in close touch with fevery phase of the work of reclaiming The King's Basin and had often begged him to take her with him into the new country. Now at last her wish was realized. She was where she could see with her own eyes the Seer's dream — the Seer's and her own — coming true. On either hand as she rode, stretching away until all fixed lines and objects were lost in the shifting mirage and many-colored lights of the desert, the dun plain with its thin growth of thirsty vegetation was broken by the green cultivated fields, newly leveled acres, buildings and stacks of the ranches, with canals, ditches and ponds filled with water that reflected the colors of the morning. Everywhere, in what had been a land of death, life was stirring. In ene field beside the road a herd of soft-eyed cattle, knee-deep in rich alfalfa, lifted their heads to greet her. In another a band of horses and colts scam- pered along with her as far as their fence would per- mit, as if good-naturedly seeking her further acquaintance. Everywhere men with their teams were at work in the fields newly won from the desert.. At one house a woman was hanging her weekly wash on the line, while a group of children played in the yard. As the girl passed the woman waved her hand 2.^5 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BARBAEA WOETH and the children shouted a greeting. And a little farther on a meadow-lark, perched on a fence-post, filled the world with liquid music. The wine-like atmosphere, the glorious light, the odor of the fields and the strength and beauty of the life new-born in the desert, with the spirit and free- dom of the animal she rode, all appealed with almost painful intensity to the girl who was herself so richly alive. She felt her close kinship with it all and answered to it all out of the fullness of her own young woman's strength. She wanted to cry aloud with the joy and gladness of the victory over barren- ness and desolation. It was her Desert that was yielding itself to the strong ones; for them it had waited — ^waited through the ages, and at last they had come. Busy with her thoughts, Barbara rode on until she had passed out of the settled district of which Kings- ton was the center and found herself in the desert. Save for the lightly marked trail she was following and the thin line of her father's telephone poles that led southward to Frontera, she saw no sign of a human being. Checking her horse and turning, she looked back. A tiny spot of thin color — the red of brick, the yellow of new lumber and the white of tents — ^marked Kingston. The ranches about the desert town were scattered spots of green scarcely seen at that distance. All the rest, from the distant snow-capped sentinels of the Pass in the north to Lone Mountain in the south and from the purple mountain wall on the west to the sky-line of the Mesa 236 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBARA WOETH on the east, was the same dun plain as she had always known it. Barhara caught her breath. Seen near at hand the work accomplished had seemed so great, so brave; seen from even so short a distance as she had come, it looked so pitifully small, so helpless. The desert was so huge, so masterful, so dominating in its silent gi'andeur, in its awful loneliness. All her life Bar- bara had seen the desert from her home in Eubio City. Many, many times she had ridden into it and back a day's ride. But never had she felt the dreadful spirit of the land as she felt it now, alone in the still, lonely heart of it. She was afraid with an unreasoning fear. El Capitan, too, seemed to share her imeasiness. Tossing his head, tugging at the bridle reins and paw- ing the ground and starting nervously, he turned this way and that, signifying his desire to be away. But just as Barbara, on the point of yielding to his impatience and her ovsm feeling of fear, lifted the reins to turn toward Kingston again, he threw up his head with a loud neigh and with ears pointed looked away toward the south, standing rigid and motionless as a horse of stone. A cloud of dust rising from the trail told her that someone was approach- ing. Instantly the girl's feeling of fear vanished- She laughed aloud. "Company is coming, Capitan," she said. "Shall we wait until we see who it is ? We can easily run away if we don't like his looks." As she finished speaking, the light wind that was just strong enough to carry the dust with the coming 237 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WIN"N"ING OF BAKBAKA WOETH rider shifted for a moment and revealed the horse- man clearly, Barbara, not wishing to appear as though waiting, started ahead toward Kiligston, while the stranger, evidently catching sight of a horse and rider on the road ahead and desiring com- pany, quickened his pace. Barbara glanced over her shoulder. "Shall we run, Capitan? No, we'll not run yet. But be ready." Again she glanced quickly back. "It's no one we know, Capitan. Be ready." Nearer and nearer came the stranger. When she heard the sound of his horse's feet on the sand Barbara turned again, this time openly. Then she laughed. "I don't think we'll run this time, Capitan." A moment later the horseman had overtaken her. "Good morning, Mr. Holmes. How do you do ?" "Miss Worth!" Had the engineer checked his horse so suddenly a few months before he would undoubtedly have gone over the animal's head. El Capitan also stopped, while the man and the girl sat looking at each other, Barbara smiling at the man's surprise. "Is it really you ?" asked Holmes at last, "or is it some new trick of this confounded desert?" He rubbed his eyes. "I never saw a mirage like this before and I don't think the heat has affected my brain." He moved his horse closer. "Could you shake hands ?" Barbara held out her hand. "I assure you that I am very substantial," she laughed, "and I am here to stay, too." 238 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINFIITG OF BAEBAKA WOKTH "That's great ! By George ! it's good to see you," oried Holmes so heartily that the girl turned away her face and caused her horse to move ahead. The engineer's horse, with a word from his rider, kept his place by El Capitan's side. "It's very nice of you to say that but I didn't see you anywhere around last uight when the stage arrived. Abe and Pat and Texas were there and this morning even Pablo came the first thiag after break- Willard Holmes could not altogether hide his pleas- ure at her hinted rebuke. So she had thought of him — ^had looked for him — ^had missed him. "In- deed, you must forgive me. I did not know you were coming," he said and explained how his work took him away from Kingston much of the time. "Of course, under those circumstances, I must forgive you," agreed Barbara, then added seriously: "I think I could forgive anyone who belonged to this desert work, anything, except one." "And that ?" He was watching her face. "What is it that you could not forgive ?" She returned his look steadily. "Don't you know ?" He drew a little back and she wondered at some- thing in his voice and manner as he answered : "Yes, I know. You could never forgive one for being untrue to his work — ^for putting anything before the work itself." "Yes," she returned, "that is it. I could never forgive one who did that." "But how would you know? How could you 239 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNIITG OF BAEBAEA WOETH judge ?" he asked almost rougUy. "Perhaps the very one whom you would call false to the work would, in reality, be doing the best thing for the work. I have noticed that, after all, those who have the loftiest ideals and the highest visions of man's duty ^o man and all that are seldom the ones who accomplish much of the actual work of the world. Lobk here, honestly now : how many of the people who are reclaiming this desert — I mean all of us — ^laborers, business men, ranchers, everybody who has come in here to do this work — how many of them do you think see a single thing beyond the dollars they have hoped to make on the venture? Whether it's the high wage paid by the Company, the big profits of the business man or the heavier crop of the rancher, it amounts to the same. And yet you would insist that they must not be governed by this desire for gain. So far as I can see, it is this same desire for gain that has driven men into doing every really great thing that has ever been done. Look carefully into every great enterprise that is of value to the world and you will find at the beginning of it some- one reaching for a dollar or its equivalent. Tour father, for instance — " Barbara threw out her hand protestingly. "Please don't, Mr. Holmes. I know that what you say is every bit true. Father and I have gone over it so many times. And yet I know, I know that what I feel is true also. Oh, dear! what a muddle it is, isn't it ? It seems so wrong to spend one's life work- ing for nothing but money. And yet all the really good work in the world is done by those who don't 240 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WIIfNING OF BAEBARA WORTH work to do good at all but for what they get out of it. I suppose now that you stayed in the Desert all this past summer and worked so hard without any vaca- tion at all just for your salary." "How did you know that I took no vacation ?" "Father told me. You seem to have made quite an impression on my father. He has told me a great deal about you. But I want to know — did you stay in the desert for money ?" Holmes wondered if she knew the danger that threatened the settlers because of the unsubstantial character of the Company's structures. "Perhaps," he said, "it was to save my professional reputation. That would amount to the same thing, wouldn't it ?" Barbara laughed. "I don't think that your taking a vacation would have lost you your reputation. That won't do, Mr. Chief Engineer." For some reason Barbara seemed highly pleased at the turn the conversation had taken. The man thought of those anxious days and nights at the intake, when the safety of the success of the whole King's Basin project hung on the whim of an uncertain river, but he did not explain to Barbara nor did he tell her that a vacation would have made no difference in his salary. "I'll tell you why you stayed with the work in the Desert this summer, Mr. Holmes," she said, and in her voice was a note of pleased triumph. "Why?" he asked. "Because you are learning the language of the coimtry." For an instant he was puzzled. Then he remem- 241 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNIN'G OF BAKBARA WORTH bered the evening lie had said good-by. "Si, Senorita. I suppose one could not help learning a little jn La Palma de la Mano de Dios, could he ?" "Not if he had ancestors," came the answer. Holmes flushed. "What a snob I mu^t have seemed to you that day," he said in deep disgust at the recollection of his first attempt to impress the western girl with the importance of his place in life. "I don't think snob is just the word,"; she an- swered. "I didn't mind that ancestor business and ■all that one bit. In fact I think I rather etijoyed it. You were such a tenderfoot! But there was some- thing else I did mind. Did you know that there was a time when I hated you with my whole heart ?" "Miss Worth!" "It's so. I even promised myself that I would never speak to you again — never! Then I came after awhile to understand how foolish it was of me to blame you and father told me so much of your work here this summer that I became heartily ashamed of myself. I'm telling you now because, you see, I have come here to stay and to be, m a way, a tiny little part in this great work you are doingj- and I feel that I ought to tell you so that we can start square again." "But, Miss Worth, what in the world are you talking about ?" "I know it was foolish of me for you were riot a'*: all to blame. But I couldn't help it. It is all over though and we are square now — or will be when you have said that you forgive me." 242 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBAEA WOETH "But I don't know what you mean. What on earth did I do ?" She looked straight at him. "Can't you even guess ?" "I haven't the ghost of an idea." "Well, I'm glad you haven't," she declared, "even if it does make me appear so foolish. It was because the Seer was discharged and you were put in his place." "But I—" "Oh, I know all about it," she interrupted. "You didn't do it. You were not to blame. The Company did it because it was Good Business. I told you it was all over now. But please, I don't think we'd better talk about it only just for you to say that you forgive me. I had to tell you for that, you see." Then the once carefully proper Willard Holmes did a thing that would have astonished his most intimate eastern friends beyond expression. Eein- ing his horse close to El Capitan he held out his hand to Barbara. "Shake, pard! You're the squarest girl I ever knew." It was no flimsy, two-fingered ceremony, but a whole-hearted, whole-handed grip that made the man's blood move more quickly. Unconsciously, as he felt the warm strength in the touch of the girl's hand, he leaned toward her with quick eagerness. And Barbara, who was looking straight into his face with the open frankness of one man to another, started and drew back a little, turning her head aside. 243 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAKBAKA WOETH Eor some distance they rode in silence, then she hegan questioning him about his life in the desert and all the rest of the way home made him talk/bf the work so dear to her heart. As he talked and ttie girl watched his strong bronzed face and listened to his words, she found something in his voice and manner that was not there that day when she introdubed him to "her Desert." There was a self-reliance, an en- thusiasm, a purpose that was good to hear. At the door of her new home when he, pleading his work, would not stay for lunch but promised to call in the evening, she bade him "Adios" in the soft tongue of the Southland and when he had wheeled his horse and was riding away, Barbara turned on the porch to look after him. Watching the khaki clad figure that was so easily at home in the saddle and that, with the loping horse, seemed so much a part of the country, the girl wondered at the change that was being wrought by the wild land upon the man from the eastern city. "Indeed," she thought, "he is learning the lan- guage of the desert !" And she, too, was glad. When Holmes arrived at the Company headquar- ters the General Manager shifted his cigar to the comer of his mouth and cocked his head to one side, looking him over critically. "Buenas dias, Senor," cried the engineer gaily, throwing his sombrero, quirt and gloves on the floor and helping himself from the box of cigars on the desk. Holmes was still thinking in the language of Barbara's land. "Humph!" grunted the slender man at the desk, 244 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH "I said 'hello' to you when you passed the office, also I bowed my best New York bow, but you were too engaged to see. Were you practicing your greaser lingo on her ? I suppose she talks it like a native." "She talks a language you would not understand, my friend," said Holmes coolly, lighting a cigar. "Probably not," agreed the other. "Who am I that I shoidd understand the words of a being of such exalted rank? The whole fool town is crazy over her already. I've heard nothing but Miss Worth, Miss Worth, all morning. You would think the hotel was a ladies' sewing circle. Every man on the street is wearing his Sunday clothes and walks with his head twisted over his shoulder for fear he will miss a glimpse of her. Horace P. Blanton is the man of the hour. He came in with her last night and is arranging a public reception, talking like the busi- ness manager of a Greek goddess. And now here you go riding down the street with her, so interested that you can't even see me. Permit me to congratu- late you. You certainly have lost no time." Holmes scowled. "That fellow Blanton is an officious ass," he growled, "and you" — ^he checked himself. "Go on ; go on !" cried the delighted Burk. "Don't spare me. In the name of the goddess, smite!" The engineer laughed in spite of himself, though he spoke sharply. "Cut it out, Burk. I met Miss Worth in Rubio City when I landed fresh from New York. She's a mighty charming girl, whom you'll be as glad as anybody to know. She was riding over in the West District this morning and I overtook 245 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH her on my way in. Of course we came on together. Have you heard from Uncle Jim?" The Manager dropped his bantering tone instantly and taking an open letter from his desk, scanned it thoughtfully as he answered: "He'll be here Satur- day. He's not at all pleased, Holmes, with my report on the Worth operations. Our friend Jeffs getting altogether too strong a grip on things. It beats all the way he hops into a game and draws all the high cards before you know he is on the other side of the table." The thoughtful Manager of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company was evidently wor- ried. Holmes made no reply. With his eyes still on the letter in his hand Burk asked : "How are you getting on with the survey of the South Central District ?" "Black finished yesterday. I brought in the data." "What do you think of it ?" "It's no good, Burk. The land is a rough jumble of small hummocks, covered with a heavy growth «f greasewood and mesquite, and practically all of it lies so high that we could never get the water on it at all." Burk considered. "Do you know whether Abe Lee ever went over that district?" Holmes stiffened. "No, he never worked in that part of the Basin at all, but what the deuce has Lee to do with it? Black is a graduate engineer and as good a man as ever looked over a transit. If you ean't trust the men I send out, why" — "Wow, wow!" cried Burk, "keep your shirt on, 246 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BARBAEA WOETH old man ! I'm not making insinuations against your pet surveyor. I merely asked for information. Now if you please, turn your South Central data over to your oflSce force and tell them to get it in shape by Saturday without fail. It's an order, my son. Selah!" 347 Digitized by Microsoft® CHAPTER XVI. JEFFERSON WORTH'S OPERATIONS. I HE crowd that .waited in front of the new hotel for the arrival of the stage, the evening James Greenfield came to Kingston, was umisually large. The King's Basin Messenger had an- nounced the coming of the promoter and president of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company and the pioneers had assembled to see the famous cap- italist whose power in the money world was making possible the reclamation of the desert. Mr. Greenfield's greeting in the lobby, under the perspiring efforts of Horace P. Blanton, soon assumed the proportions of a public reception. With his Manager to introduce the prominent citizens, and Horace P., who was never farther than a yard from the capitalist's elbow to assist in receiving them, the man from New York entered graciously into the spirit of the occasion. And when the man in the white vest, intoxicated by the atmosphere of great- ness, burst forth in a speech of welcome, setting forth the wonders of The King's Basin, the mar- velous growth and future of Kingston, the greatness of Greenfield and — quite incidentally — ^the greatness of Horace P. Blanton, all in behalf of the people, the Easterner replied with a few modest remarks, in which he hinted at even greater things to come, prom,- 248 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH ising by subtle suggestion unlimited wealth for all who would invest their money and their lives in The King's Basin project. Then Mr. Greenfield slipped away with Willard Holmes to his room. The friendship between the engineer's own parents and his benefactor had been lifelong and very close. It was a story, years ago forgotten by the world, of how Grace Winton had chosen one of the two college chums and why the other had never married. In the repeated business failures of his old schoolmate and the consequent loss of his fortune the successful financier had proven himself many times a friend in need, and through the long illness of the man who had been successful in winning the woman they both loved, Greenfield, with his wealth, had been steadfast in his thoughtful care. When baby Willard's mother died soon after the death of his father, she — ^knowing the heart of the man whose love for her had kept him childless — committed to him her only child, and Greenfield, accepting the trust, had taken the boy into his life and heart as his own son. After the loss of William Greenfield, his only brother, James Greenfield — ^whose poweir in the financial world was steadily increasing — had no one to intimately share his success but young Holmes, and when Willard had finished his school and chosen his profession the older man used the influence of his own position to give the young engineer every advantage. As the two men faced each other now after the longest separation they had ever known, the Oom- 249 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WIiq^NIN^G OF BAEBAEA WOETH pany's president studied his chief engineer with interest. "Well, Willard, my boy," he said at last; "how do you like it ? Say, but you are looking fine. You always were a handsome youngster but you're — you're improving, young man. I'm blessed if you don't look like a work of art done in bronze." He laughed with the pleasure of his own conceit and the other laughed with him. "Wait untU this sun gets a shot at you, Uncle Jim." "Humph! I suppose you think it will make me into some sort of an hideous old idol. I don't pro- pose to stay long enough to give it a chance," he added grimly, and as he finished a shadow fell over his face and the laughter died out of his voice. "What's the matter ; don't you like the West, Uncle Jim?" "I hate it, and with good reason. Don't you get too interested out here, Willard. We'll clean up a nice little pile out of this scheme and get back home where we belong. I miss you like the deuce, boy !" The engineer started to say something about the work, but Greenfield held up his hand. "Not a word about business to-night, Willard. We'll take that up to-morrow. Tell me where I can get a shave and then well have dinner and after that a quiet evening together." Holmes laughed. "We have a barber, all right, Uncle Jim. He landed with his outfit this afternoon. There was no place for him, and the freighter un- loaded him on a vacant lot about a block west of the 250 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH hotel. It's been a long time since most of us have seen a real barber and the boys couldn't wait. Trade came with such a rush that he set up his chair in the street and has been doing a land-office business ever since. They say he's all right, too, but it looks funny." Mr. Greenfield, his curiosity aroused and being really in need of a shave, sought out the shopless barber. He was easily found, for the crowd that had gathered to witness the arrival of the great financier, James Greenfield, had already drifted to the scene of Kingston's other chief attraction. Piled in a vacant lot was the necessary furniture for a well- equipped shop, but only the chair was in use. A goods-box nearby held the instruments of the craft while a bucket of water, a tin basin, and a supply of towels completed the arrangements. The delighted crowd filled the air with good natured chaff and laughter • as the customers compared notes and attempted to express their emotion at finding them- selves properly groomed. Mr. Greenfield, highly amused at the novel sight, pushed his way well into the circle. "Next!" shouted the man with the brush and razors in a voice that was heard a block away. . Some joker shouted : "Your turn, Mr. Greenfield," and "Greenfield! Greenfield!" chimed the crowd. Amid yells of delight the president of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company took his place in the chair. As the barber worked he talked. Never before in all his professional career had he been so prominently 251 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WII^NING OF BARBAEA WORTH in the public eye. "Yes sir, gents, Fm here to tell you that that there man, Jefferson Worth, is a prince — a prince. Let me tell you what he done for me. You see things was gone all to the bad. Looked like every way I turned I went up against it proper, and first thing J knowed my furniture was piled out on the sidewalk and Mr. Sheriff he was a-sellin' it. Well, sir, Mr. Worth he happened to come along just as they begun to ask for bids and I'm darned if he didn't take the whole works just as if he had done nothin' but buy barber shops all his life. I was layin' low in the crowd, watchin', you see ; and there was somethin' about him — ^the way he stopped and bid the stuff in, or somethin', I dunno what — that struck me, so I edged alongside and says, says I: 'Are you a barber ?' Whew ! the minute he looked at me I seen my mistake, but he never batted a eye. 'Not yet,' he says. ^This is a pretty good outfit, ain't it?' 'You bet it is,' says I. 'It was mine a few minutes ago.' An' then I tells him how I was up against it an' asks what he was goin' to do with the stuff. 'I'm goin' to ship it to Kingston in The King's Basm country,' says he. 'We need a good barber down there and I figured that if I got the shop ready I could find the man to run it. How would you like to tackle the job ? I'll send you and your outfit to Kingston and sell you your shop on good time, too, for just what it cost me.' An' here I am Wext !" Mr. Greenfield slipped from the chair and silently tendered the talkative barber a five dollar bill. As the barber was counting out the change the eastern financier heard behind him murmurs of hearty ap- 252 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BARBAEA WOETH proval and admiration of Jefferson Worth. The barber's story had made a deep impression and cer- tainly no one in the crowd was more deeply impressed than was the president of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company. At dinner that evening the boy with the weekly edition of the Messenger came into the dining room. Mr. Burk, taking his copy, glanced once at the first page, folded it carefully and laid the sheet before his employer with the headlines of a leading article uppermost. Mr. Greenfield read: "The Citizens Bank of Kingston — Jefferson Worth owns the building oppo- site the opera house and has organized a bank." Mr. Greenfield did not need to read further. "Who did you say was building the opera house block ?" he asked the Manager. "It is owned by a syndicate. The local man in charge sits at that table in the comer" — he nodded toward a clean, solid-looking young fellow, who was enjoying his dinner and chatting with Abe Lee. In the lobby, a few minutes later, Greenfield whis- pered to Holmes : "Introduce me to that young man, WiUard." His order was easily obeyed and soon, in a comer, the president and his new acquaintance were chatting pleasantly over cigars furnished by the New Yorker. "That building of yours seems to be a very credit- able piece of work," offered Greenfield. "The invest- ment ought to pay big later on. But isn't it rather heavy for the present size of the town ?" The other smiled pleasantly. "True; but you see 253 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINmNG OF BARBAEA WORTH we are not building it for a town of this size, Mr. Greenfield. We expect Kingston to grow rapidly and we realize the importance of being on the ground first." "That's right, too," returned Greenfield. "With the capital to do it that is undoubtedly the right plan. I understand you represent a Coast syndicate." Again the young man smiled. "That is the general understanding, Mr. Greenfield, and until to-night I have not been at liberty to contradict it. I can tell you now, Jiowever, that the syndicate which is put- ting up that building is Mr. Jefferson Worth." Greenfield was too well-schooled to give vent to the slightest expression of surprise. His tone was courtesy itself as he replied : "Indeed ? Mr. Worth seems to be doing a great deal for Kingston." Then the talk shifted easily into other channels until the president found opportunity to leave his companion. Rejoining his Manager and Holmes, Greenfield requested Burk's presence in his room and, once there, threw aside the mask of politeness, making it clearly evident, in words chosen for force- fulness rather than politeness, that he did not approve of the Lituation that had developed under the thoughtful Manager's eye. "And now," he finished, "send the proprietor of this hotel up here." The uncomfortable Burk obeyed. When the land- lord arrived with an anxious face, Greenfield was his courteous, affable self again. "Mr. Wheeler," he said, "there is a little business proposition I wish to lay before you while I am here 254 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNIifG OF BAEBAEA WOETH and I thought it better to mention it this evening so that you can have time to think it over and give me your answer before I leave. I can see, of course, that this hotel, building and all, represents quite an investment and that, for a time, the returns will not be large. I don't know, of course, hbw much capital you have to swing it, but I can see that without good, substantial backing the enterprise might not hold up, which would be very bad for the reputation of the town in which, as you know, our Company is so heavily interested. Now if we could bring about some alliance between you and the Company it would be a good thing all around, do you see ?" "Yes sir, I see. This is a big undertaking for Kingston as conditions are now, but later it is bound to be a good paying investment and we realize the importance of getting in on the ground floor. But I am not at liberty to consider or make any proposition whatever until I have consulted the owner — " "The owner ?" "Yes, sir." "I was told that you were the proprietor. Your name is on the hotel stationery." "I have only a very smalL interest. My associate would not permit his name to be used at all. I may tell you, however, confidentially, that Mr. Worth owns the building and practically all the hotel equip- ment. You can easily place your proposition before him. Whatever he does I am bound to accept." James Greenfield chewed his cigar in savage silence. Clearly it was time that he visited his town. 255 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBAKA WORTH "Do you know where Mr. Worth is this evening ?" he asked as mildly as he could speak. "In his office, I think." "Would you be good enough to send him a message that I would like to see him on a matter of impor- tance ? I will Tf ait in my room." "Certainly, sir." When the landlord was gone the president of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company walked the floor, carefully reviewing his dealings with Jeffer- son Worth from the beginning. So this was what the banker had "up his sleeve" when he declined to join the Co^mpany! He was interrupted by the boy with Mr. Worth's answer. Mr. Worth would be in his office at the store until ten o'clock. The eastern capitalist made his way to the little room in the store where Jefferson Worth sat at his battered old desk. "How do you do ?" "Sit down," came the colorless greeting as the western man with one hand closed the door and with the other motioned toward the chair at the end of the desk. Then seating himself again in his own chair he waited behind his mask. "Well, Mr. Worth, I see you decided to come into the Basin after all." "I concluded to make a few small investments," came the exact reply. Greenfield laughed shortly. "Yes — ^this store, the electric power plant and system, the bank building and bank, the opera house block, the hotel, the tele- phone system " The Company president's tone 256 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAKBAEA WOETH and manner were intended to imply that he under- stood clearly the other's attitude and that he recog- nized a fellow-craftsman. "Come now, Worth; let's get down to good business. It's poor policy for you and me to go against each other. You know what there is in it for all of us if we hang together and you know as well as I that we can't afford, and that we don't want, to fight each other. What sort of a deal will it take to get you into the Company ? I tell you squarely, we are going to make it almighty hot for any independent operator who tries to start in here." "I must decline to consider any proposition at all from the Company, Mr. Greenfield." In the silence that followed Greenfield sought in vain to look back of that gray mask. He felt for the first time in his business career powerless to make the next move in the game and somewhere back in his active brain a warning signal flashed : "Go slow !" "Very well, Mr. Worth," he said at last, rising to go. "When you are ready to consider the matter let me know. In the meantime" — he shrugged his shoulders and smiled — "good night." Outside the store Greenfield paused irresolutely as one hesitates whose mind is too preoccupied to direct his steps. Then his eye caught the gleam of light from the printing office across the street next to the Company building. A moment later he greeted the young man who edited and published the Messenger. "You seem to be pretty well fixed here," offered Greenfield after the usual greetings. "Seems to me your prospects 257 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WIIS'NING OF BAEBAKA WORTH are mighty good for a young man. Tour profits ought to be big if you can hold on and grow with the development of the country," "Yes sir, I feel that our chances are good. Kings- ton is growing rapidly and we are in on the ground floor." Greenfield looked at him sharply as he uttered the now familiar expression. "You have all the capital you need ?" "We are doing very well so far." "I have been looking your paper over with some care," the president went on, "and I believe you have the right idea. A newspaper is a powerful factor in a great enterprise like this and of course I am anxious that everything that makes for the advancement of our project should succeed. I would be sorry to see you crippled in any way for lack of funds. If you are open to consider the matter I should be glad to take a good big interest with you and to undertake to back you handsomely." "I don't think my partner, who really furnished all the capital, would sell, sir." "Ah ! Then you are not alone ?" "No sir. Mr. Jefferson Worth practically owns the plant." The first thing that met Mr. Greenfield's eye as he stepped through the doorway on his return to the hotel was the broad back of Horace P. Blanton, who — carried away as usual by the importance of the occasion — ^was "orating" to a group of strangers. It should be said that, save when the Kingston citizens were in a certain mood, Horace "orated" usually to 258 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH (Strangers. In this case so convincing was his logic, so eloquent his flights of rhetoric, so irresistible his appeals, that Greenfield saw the fat neck of him, where it showed between the fat shoulder and the picture-general hat, grow red with the fierceness of his eloquence. "There is no question in the world, gentlemen, that by long odds the most able financier in the West to-day is my friend, Mr. Jefferson Worth. His start- ling genius as a captain of industry is equaled only by his splendid public spirit and his magnificent generosity to everyone who needs a helping hand. Look what he has accomplished for Kingston, while only a few of us who were on the inside knew what he was doing — our opera house, our bank, our news- paper, our telephone lines, our ice plant, and our power plant — ^which to-morrow night for the first time will illuminate the heavens. Think of it ! elec- tric lights in the midst of a desert that, since God made it, has known only the light of the stars. I maintain, gentlemen, that it is the duty of every soul in The King's Basin to be present at the celebration of the splendid accomplishment and in honor to my friend. Worth. Not only has this wizard given us in Kingston the blessings of modern civilization, but there is scarcely a rancher for miles around whom he has not aided materially by furnishing him with needed supplies from the big department store, or by advancing him necessary capital. I am proud, gentlemen — ^proud, to call such a public benefactor my friend. Kingston is proud of her most distin- guished citizen; the whole King's Basin country is 259 Digitized by Microsoft® THE Wli^NING OF BARBARA WORTH proud of him, I — Oh, excuse me a minute, gentle- men; as I see my friend, Mr. Greenfield, the presi- dent of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Com- pany, has just arrived." Greenfield made an effort to escape. He had heard quite enough. But it was useless. The white-vested bulk of the orator barred the way; the kingly coun- tenance of Horace P. Blanton compelled recognition. "My dear Greenfield, how are you ?" The voice was the anxious voice of unmistakable disinterested affec- tion. "You have arrived at a most auspicious moment. I have promised our people that you would address them at the public meeting to-morrow even- ing in the opera house." "It is impossible, Mr. — Ah! Mr. Blanton; I never make publio speeches." Before Greenfield had finished his curt reply thf perspiring one had him by the arm in friendly familiarity, and with the president's last word the answer came in a low, confidential tone of complete understanding. "Of course you understand that I have arranged this little affair simply to encourage every one to do his part to boom Kingston. It is to our interest, you know, to keep things going." Until a late hour the president of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company, with his Gen- eral Manager and chief engineer, in the Manager's private office, discussed Jefferson Worth's operations and his growing influence in The King's Basin country. James Greenfield had evidently forgotten his determination to spend the evening with Willard Holmes. 260 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBARA WORTH It was notable that the president and his Manager did most of the talking. The engineer was, for the most part, a silent listener. When appealed to directly he answered briefly, giving such information as he had at his command, and several times his answers caused Greenfield to look at him with ques- tioning sharpness. Once the older man remarked: "I believe you wrote me, Burk, that Worth's daughter had arrived and that they are to make their home in Kingston. Is she likely to prove a factor in the matter of her father's popularity and influence? Sometimes a woman, you know " Burk's cigar shifted tp the comer of his mouth and his head was cocked to one side. "Ask Holmes," he muttered with a grin. "I think you'd better leave Miss Worth out of this. Uncle Jim," said Holmes so sharply that Barbara's name was not mentioned again. Which does not mean at all that Greenfield had dismissed the matter from his mind. "You have that South Central District survey ready?" he asked. "I believe the boys have it in shape," answered Burk. The engineer laid a map before them, ex- plained the boundaries of the proposed district, the line of the proposed canal, and on another sheet pointed out the character of the land with the eleva- tions that made irrigation of the larger part of the tract impossible. "You can vouch for the correctness of these figures, Willard ?" asked Greenfield at last. 261 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBAKA WORTH "Certainly, sir. Black is one of the best men we have." "And it is your opinion that it would be a heavy loss to the Company to build this canal and attempt to develop this section?" "I am sure that it would, sir. The district is prac- tically worthless." "All right, boys ; that will be aU for this evening. We will start on that inspection tour day after to-morrow instead of in the morning as I had planned. I have a little business with our friend Worth to-morrow morning." Digitized by Microsoft® CHAPTER XVII. JAMES GREENFIELD SEEKS AN ADVANTAGE. pa I HE next morning Jefferson Worth, in hia office in the store building, again received the president of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company. James Greenfield, with out- stretched hand, was quite cordial in his greeting. "I owe you an apology, sir. I did not know until my return to the hotel last night of the demonstration to be held this evening in your honor and in celebra- tion of the turning on of our new lights, or I should have congratulated you sooner. I am glad the people of Kingston are recognizing you in this public man- ner. Permit me to express my personal appreciation also." "Thank you," said Worth from behind his mask. "I figure that my interests in Kingston will pan out all right some day." Greenfield dropped his complimentary manner and came at once to business. "Look here, Mr. Worth, I have been thinking over the matter I mentioned last night. I can see the strength of your position here and I appreciate the value of your operations in the development of this country, which mean, of course, an added value to the Company's property and interests. We don't want to fight you; such things are bad for all concerned. We would all lose money and it would have a bad effect on the whole project. 263 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH If you won't come in with -as, will you consider a proposition that you can handle independently ?" "What is your proposition ?" "It is this. In forming our plans for extending the Company's system we have laid out a new district — ^the South Central. Before placing the water rights on the open market, it occurred to me that we might make a deal whereby the development of the district would be assured and at the same time we would be free to use our forces in still further extensions. As you know, the settlers are coming in so rapidly now that we need all our equipment to get the water to them as fast as they are located. My proposition is this: We will sell you the entire amount of water rights covering this South Central District — sixty thousand shares — at the lowest figure we can make; you to build your own canals and structures. The entire district will thus be altogether in your hands to handle as you see fit, we, of course, being bound only to deliver into your canals the amount of water called for by the regular contract under which the rights are sold.'' "You have already completed the survey and formed the district ?" "We have. The surveys have just been completed. We are all ready to go ahead with our work and to eell the water." Greenfield did not say that the Com- pany was ready to go to work on this particular district, nor did he say that the stock would be offered for sale save to Mr. Worth. The president of course expected Worth to apply his statement to the par- ticular tract of land under consideration and to 264 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH accept it as establishing beyond question the value of the South Central District. If Jefferson Worth noted the general character of Greenfield's answer he gave no sign. "Where is the land located ?" "If you will step over to our office I can show you the maps." When Jefferson Worth saw the boundaries of the South Central District showing the course of Dry River and the San Felipe trail, for the first time his long^ tapering fingers, tapping softly the arm of his chair, smoothing his gray cheek and caressing his chin betrayed emotion. The spot where the San Felipe trail crossed Dry River and where the banker and his party had found the baby girl was just within the boundary of the district. Apparently studying the map before him, Bar- bara's father sat motionless save for those nervous fingers ; and Greenfield, thinking that the man's mind was intent upon the business under consideration, spoke no word. But Jefferson Worth was not think- ing of business. He was seeing again a brown-eyed, brown-haired baby girl, who shrank back from his outstretched arms as though in fear. But that mask-like face betrayed no hint of emo- tion, and when the banker spoke again it was to ask mechanically : "Where is your engineer ?" Greenfield looked inquiringly at Burk. The Man- ager touched a button on his desk. To the young man who answered the signal the Manager said: "Charlie, if Mr. Holmes is in the building please ask him to step in here a moment." 265 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINING OF BAEBAKA WORTH Presently the chief engineer stood before them. An expression of surprise flashed over his bronzed face as he saw Mr. Worth. From the banker his glance moved swiftly to Burk and Greenfield, then fell on the map before the three men. Instantly he saw Greenfield's purpose. But what did they want of him ? Surely they would not dare ask him to make a false statement regarding the surveys! He could not interfere; it was not his business. It was the creed of his type that in business transactions every man must take care of himself; but the Company must not ask him to lie for them. As these thoughts went through his mind his form straightened and his eyes shot a warning — almost a defiant — ^look at his two superiors. Greenfield saw and signaled caution. Burk saw and smiled. But none of the three Company men could have told whether Jefferson Worth, who was bending over the map, saw or not. Before the others could speak the banker, without looking up, said : "I just wanted to ask, Mr. Holmes, whether you can tell me about the character of the soil in this new district ?" "The soil, Mr. Worth, is, I believe, as good as there is in the Basin." The three men awaited the next question with breathless interest. "Thank you, Mr. Holmes. Mr. Greenfield, I will consider the proposition." The president and manager could scarcely believe their ears. The engineer vanished. Jefferson Worth contiaued: "How long have 266 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAKBAKA WORTH you planned to be in the Basin this trip, Mr. Green field?" "This week only. I start on my inspection with Mr. Burk and Mr. Holmes in the morning/' "I asked because I must go out in the morning for a few days, and I suppose you wish to close the deal before you leave." "You think favorably of the proposition, then ?" "If we can get together on the terms" — ^Wortb spoke exactly, as if he wished his words to be remem- bered — "I will accept it. Suppose you put your proposition in writing and mail it to me in the city to-morrow. Then when I get back we will be in shape to finish the matter one way or the other. If every- thing is satisfactory and I see I can't get home before you leave I will wire you." Thirty minutes after Jefferson Worth had returned to his office, Abe Lee came in. "You se '.t for me, sir?" Abe's employer arose and closed the door. That evening about dusk the surveyor rode out of Kingston on the road toward Frontera. And that night, while the celebration was in full swing and the new electric lights were sputtering and hissing in honor of Jefferson Worth, a loaded wagon, drawn by four mules, quietly left the rear of the Worth store. On the driver's seat sat Pablo. With little noise the outfit, with its lone driver, left the town in the midst of its demonstration and was soon in the open country on the road leading south. An hour later they had passed the ranches and were in the Desert. Just beyond where a party of 267 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WIKN^ING OF BAKBAEA WORTH Jefferson Worth's linemen, who \were stringing the telephone wires, was encamped, the Mexican halted his team and the heavy form of Pat came out of the darkness and climbed "with smothered grunts and curses to his side. Another hour and the} reached the point where the new road crossed the old San Felipe trail. Again Pablo halted his team. Ten — fifteen — twenty minutes they waited in listening silence, save for an occa- sional grunt from the Irishman. Then from the south came the sound of wheels and horses' feet. "Git under way, Pablo," mumbled Pat. "Ut may not be thim, an' Abe will hang yer black hide on the new tiliphone line av anybody goin' to town stops to pass ye the time av night." Pablo swung his team to the left and drove slowly ahead on the old trail. A hundred yards farther on they were overtaken by Abe Lee and Texas Joe, who were driving a light spring wagon. "Everything all right, boys?" asked the surveyor sharply. "Si, Senor," and "Yis, Sorr," came the answers, "Good. We'll hit the grit good and hard now for we must be in the sand hills by morning." Twenty-four hours after Jefferson Worth left Kingston, the east bound overland express came to a full stop in the Desert at a point about twenty miles west of Eubio City. The trainmen and porters ran to the vestibules and, throwing open the doors, looked out. Three or four passengers who had risen early followed the crew, inquiring anxiously the reason for the delay. 268 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAKBARA WORTH The big conductor was standing by the rear steps of the Pullman and a medium sized man swung down to the ground by his side. Back from the track, in the gray of the morning, the watchers saw a tiny fire, over which two roughly dressed figures crouched, svidently preparing breakfast, while a team, with a light spring wagon, stood tied to a nearby mesquite tree. On every hand the great desert stretched .its vast dun plain without a sign of life save for the train and the men and horses by the lonely fire. "Right, sir ?" asked the conductor of the man who alighted by his side. "All right," answered the other in a low tone. "Good-by, sir." "Good-by." The conductor lifted his hand, and, as the train started svsamg aboard. The watchers saw the man walk, without a glance at the departing train, straight toward the little group at the fire. "Well, what do you make of that?" cried an excited tourist as the conductor came up the steps into the vestibule and the porter slammed down the platform and closed the door. And — "Who is he ?" "Where is he going ?" "What is he doing ?" came in chorus from the others. The conductor shook his head with a smile. "Don't ask me. I had orders to stop here to let him off; that's all I know." Jefferson Worth greeted Abe Lee and Texas Joe as coolly as though it was his daily habit to meet them at that hour and place. "How is everything, Abe?" 269 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WIlSTNING OF BAEBARA WOETH "Not a hitch so far," answered the surveyor ; and Tex drawled: "Coffee and frijoles ready, Mr. Worth." "Can we make it to the outfit today?" asked Mr. Worth as they finished their rude meal and prepared to start. "Easy," answered Abe. "We have plenty of water with us and this team will do it without turning a hair." Just before sundown at a point on Dry Eiver they found Pat and Pablo with the outfit in a comfortable camp. While Abe Lee, with his helpers, was running his levels over the proposed line of the canal staked out by the Company surveyors in the South Central District, Willard Holmes was trying to make Mr. Greenfield see the necessity of spending more money on the unsafe structures and at Dry Eiver heading. He explained, argued anjd pleaded in vain. "My dear boy," said the Company's president. "You must imderstand that we are not in this country for sweet charity's sake. Burk, here, can tell you that we have not yet begun to get our investment back. When the returns justify it we will give you the money for your construction work, but we can't do it now. The rights of the men who are putting up the capital for this project must be considered, you know. We can't us& a dollar of the Company's money except when it is necessary. If I were to let you spend all the money you want, we never would pay a divi- dend." "But, Uncle Jim, you are forcing these settlers to 270 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAKBARA WOETH take terrible chances blindly. Have they not rights also ? The interest of the Company is mighty small compared with the interests of the men who are buying the water rights and developing the land." Greenfield flushed angrily. "Look here, Willard, you have nothing to do with the Company's business policy. As the engineer in charge, your work is to protect both the settlers and us to the best of your ability, but don't get any fool notions into your head. You can't afford to go the way of that dreamer who started this work with the exalted idea of making it a benefit to the whole human race. That line of talk is all right for the boosters like Horace P. Blan- ton, but we've got to make good in dollars and cents or the whole thing goes to smash." With the South Central deal still on his mind and the picture of Barbara, as she talked to him of his work the morning he had met her in the desert, in his heart, these business discussions with Greenfield and Burk were almost unbearable to the engineer. After they had inspected the intake, the Dry River heading and the levees of the main canal he pleaded an urgent need of his presence at the ofiice and left the party, to reach Kingston two days in advance of their return. Barbara was on the porch when he stopped at the gate, tired, hot and dusty from his long trip. The girl, dressed in some cool simple white stuff and seated in her easy wicker chair in the deep shade of the wide porch, made a picture wonderfully attractive to the man who had ridden all day in the scorching heat of the desert sun. Of cfturse he must 271 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WIIflfING OF BAEBAEA WOKTH come in. What nonsense to talk of his appearance. He was not making a fashionable social call. The weary engineer dropped into a chair and gratefully accepted the glass of cool lemonade she brought. "I made it myself not five minutes ago, just as if I had known you were coming," she said with a laugh that was as refreshing as the drink itself. "Ynez is up town shopping for supper. Father is in the city. Abe has gone away somewhere. Even Pablo has vanished and I haven't seen Texas Joe nor Pat for a week. I was wishing someone would happen along. I suppose that's really why I made the lemonade." Holmes set his glass carefully on the porch railing near at hand. "Won't you have some more ?" "Thank you, no. You are quite deserted, aren't you ? How long has Lee been gone ?" "Oh, he went the evening before father left and Pablo vanished the same night. It was quite tragic, and the next day I was in the office when a man from the line came in asking for Pat. He seems to have disappeared the same way. I think they might at least have left some word or said good-by." In her innocent talk Barbara had told the whole story. It was easy for the Company engineer to guess where the surveyor and his helpers had gone and what they were doing. "Are you sure that your father is in the city ?" he asked jokingly. Barbara laughed. "Oh, there's no doubt about father. His departure was regular in every way." On his way to the office a little later Holmes 272 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINi^ING OF BARBAEA WORTH chuckled to himself, keenly enjoying the situation. He mentally pictured the chagrin of Greenfield and Burk when he should tell them what he had learned. But would he tell them ? He had not told Mr. Worth what he knew of the Company's survey in the South Central District. Why should he tell the Company what he knew of Worth's surveyors ? Once he would have considered that loyalty to his employers demanded that he tell what he had learned. But now, since he had been assured so very emphatically and very recently that the policy of the Company was none of his business, let the shrewd Manager and the president find out for themselves. Anyway, he told himself, it could make no difference, for he knew what the result of Abe's surveys would be and he was glad indeed that Barbara's father had not walked into tie trap set for him. The engineer had concerned himself not a little about the probable view Barbara would take of his attitude in permitting her father to purchase water rights that he knew to be worthless. But now Mr. Worth himself would dis- cover the trick of the Company men and it would not matter. To his surprise and chagrin Jefferson Worth walked into the Company office a few days later and, in his exact colorless voice, said : "I will accept your proposition Mr. Greenfield. If you wish we can fix up the contract and close the deal to-day." 273 Digitized by Microsoft® CHAPTER XVIII. THE GAME PROGRESSES. HE purchase of the South Central District water rights by Jefferson Worth was imme- diately announced by The King's Basin Mes- senger in a lengthy article which began with the modest statement that this was the largest and most important business transaction that had yet occurred in the new country. The article declared that the name of Jefferson Worth was a guarantee that the new district would be made the richest and most pros- perous section of the Basin and that — splendid as the undertaking was — it was only the beginning of far greater things to be wrought by the wizard of the desert whose genius had made him the greatest factor in the reclamation and development of The King's Basin country. The work would be begun at once — as soon as men and teams could be secured. The thoughtful Manager of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company read the article with a grin, shifted his cigar to the corner of his mouth, cocked his head to one side and sent a marked copy of the paper to the Company's president. James Greenfield read the article with the satis- faction of a good business man who sees his com- petitor heavily over-stocked with a line of goods for which there is no market. The pioneers in the desert, 274 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBARA WORTH who were not already located, and the newly arriving prospectors read and called upon Mr. Worth for further information. The article, reprinted in the Rubio City papers, was read by many who, familiar with Jefferson Worth's business record, took the San Felipe trail for the new district. The main supply camp for the new work was established at Dry River Crossing, the location being ideal, with an abundant supply of running water from the waste gate at the heading coming down the old channel where Barbara's mother had perished of thirst beside a dry water hole. From the camp, the San Felipe trail led in one direction straight to Rubio City and in the other to the main road in the heart of the Basin half way between Kingston and Frontera. At this camp Jefferson Worth made his headquarters. Not a man, whether he presented himself empty-handed or with team and tools, but was forced to talk with Mr. Worth in his tent office before he was set to work under Abe Lee and his three lieutenants — Texas, Pat and Pablo. It was in those days that Willard Holmes reported to the Manager that many of his men were leaving the Company and were going to work for Jefferson Worth. The news did not appear to alarm Mr. Burk. With a grin he advised the engineer, "Don't worry, old man. They'll be damned glad to come back to us before many weeks." "I was looking out a route for the new central main yesterday," said Holmes, "and rode over to Worth's camp at the Crossing. Judging from the size and activity of the camp, he is planning to go 275 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WIirmNG OF BARBAKA WOETH in good and strong. He must have a big force at work now and he is taking on men all the time." "Your Uncle Jim will be delighted to hear of Friend Jefferson's enterprise." The engineer's face did not express appreciation of the Manager's wit. "Have you heard the proposi- tion that Mr. Worth is making to every man on the job?" he asked, "No, what is he doing? Giving away one hun- dred and sixty shares of stock with free telephones and electric lights, passes at the opera house, unlim- ited credit at the store and a deposit at the bank as a bonus to anyone who will locate in his district? He seems to have all kinds of money to throw away." "It's not quite so bad as that," answered the other with a smile. "But he tells every man, when he hires him, to file on any claim in the district that he wants and he can have the water rights for it without any cash payment and without any interest for five years. In a good many cases he is even advancing money to pay the government entry fee and promis- ing to carry them for their equipment and supplies until they make a crop. But he makes them agree to stay on the land and actually farm the claims. He won't let a speculator even look in." Mr. Burk expressed his opinion of Jefferson Worth's ability in the strongest terms. The man was insane, childish! Those fellows would leave him high and dry. "That's what I said at first," agreed Holmes. "I asked Bill Watson, who quit us with his team at N'umber Five to go to work in the South Central, if 2Y6 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNIl^G OF BAEBAEA WOETH he actually thought Worth was going to let his men make all the money." "What did Bill say?" Holmes smiled. "You know how Bill talks ? 'Hell, no,' he said. 'I put it to the old man just that way myself. I says, say I : 'That sounds good all right, Mr. Worth ; but it ain't reasonable that you're leavin' yourself out of this deal. Where do you come in?' says I. 'Who's the joker in this little game ?' " "And Worth explained?" put in Burk eagerly, shaken out of his usual thoughtful calm by Holmes's story. "Bill says that Mr. Worth told him that he owns a big tract of land where the camp is located and that he is going to build a town there and would make his money by the increased value of his prop- erty that would result from the development of the district; by business enterprises that would depend on the prosperity of the ranchers; and by the large increase in the value of water rights that he would sell later to those who came in to invest after the district was developed. I suggested to Bill that he could see how Worth was simply using him to gain his ovm ends." "And did Bill see the point ?" "He said : 'You're danmed right he is, and so am I usin' Jefferson Worth to gain my ends, ain't I? I might work for the Company a hundred years and never get a cent more than the wages that you're payin' now. Jefferson Worth, he pays me the same wages and gives me a chance to get my share of all that comes out of what I do. I don't care a damn if 277 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OE BAKBAKA WORTH he makes ten millions out of the country. I hope he will, because he is giving us poor devils, who ain't got nothiu' now, a chance to get a ranch an' do sdme- thin' for ourselves. Of course he uses us to makg money for himself. So does the Company use us, don't they? The difference is that Jefferson Worth lets us use Mm and the Company just counts us in with the rest of the live stock.' " "How did you get around that?" asked Burk, studying his companion's face. "I didn't get around it," answered the engineer dryly. Burk leaned back in his chair and spoke with unusual earnestness. "Bill is right, Holmes. We consider the men who work for us as we consider horses and mules. We feed the stock ; we pay wages to the men. When an animal is worn out and use- less, we kill him and get another. When a man is down and out, we fire him and hire another, and you and I are no better. The Company looks on us exactly the same way. We have no more real interest in this work than the skinniest old plug on the job and the Company won't permit us to have. They think they couldn't afford it — that it wouldn't be Good Business. 'Get up !' 'Whoa !' 'Back !' 'Move, damn you! and here's your corn and hay.' That's all we have to do with it. If you balk and kick, out you go to rustle your ovra. feed. It's a beautiful system — for the Company. I almost wish that Worth had a chance to try out his scheme. It would at least be an interesting experiment to watch." 278 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAKBARA WORTH "Well, why haSn't he a chance to try it out ?" "You know very well why. Because the deal that your talented uncle fixed up for our friend Jeff was loaded for the express purpose of blowing that philanthropic promoter into financial Kingdom-come. Didn't you report that the development of that South Central District was practically impossible because of the elevations ?" "Yes." "Well, ordinarily the project would have been abandoned then and there. But I suggested to Mr. Greenfield that we go ahead as if everything was all right and then unload it on Worth so that he would smash hipa^elf, as he is doing." '^J^ou should be proud of your scheme." /'I am proud of the scheme, but I'm not proud of myself. I'm being a good mule, that's all. Jefferson Worth took our apparent purpose to go ahead with the work as evidence that the proposition was all right and that's why Jefferson Worth will not finish his intended experiment." "Yes, but the fact is he did not accept the propo- sition without investigation." "What?" The engineer told the Manager what he had learned from Barbara. Burk whistled softly. "Then you think the old fox sent Abe Lee out to check our survey and framed up his trip to the city to gain time? Well, I'll be But look here, Holmes, Worth didn't accept our proposition until after he had investigated?" 279 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WIN^NIN^G OF BAKBAKA WORTH "1^0." "Well; who makes the mistake then, your man Black or Abe Lee ?" "That's exactly what I'd like to know," said the Company's chief engineer grimly. The Manager grinned as he saw the possibilities of the situation, then thoughtfully he selected a cigar. "Pretty game, isn't it, old man," he said and offered the box to Holmes who declined. When the weed was going well the Manager's head tipped toward his left shoulder and his cigar was in the opposite corner of his mouth. "And you knew what Worth was up to before the deal was closed? Why didn't you report it. Holmes ?" The engineer frowned. "I didn't tell Mr. Worth what Black's survey showed, and you must remember that Uncle Jim rubbed it into me good and hard on the question of the construction work that the policy of the Company was none of my business. This deal was not in my department." "Dear me," murmured the Manager with another grin. "What a well-broken Company mule it is. And you were so dead sure of your man Black. Which would you rather, my boy, have Black right and Abe wrong — ^the Company to win ; or have Black wrong and Abe right — and, Jefferson Worth free to go on with his little experiment ?" "Speak for yourself," growled Holmes. "I will," returned Burk. "I have been a good mule, so my conscience is clear. If I knew how and thought it would do any good I would pray that Abe Lee made no mistake." 280 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH "Well, I woij't believe that it's Black's mistake. He comes from too good a school," Holmes replied stubbornly. "And your confidence in your man is no doubt equaled by Worth's confidence in his. Interesting, isn't it?" "You go to thunder !" growled the engineer unable to stand more. The Manager's mocking laugh fol- lowed him out of the room. As the engineer passed the open window of the office a moment later Burk called to him softly : "Oh, Holmes; I have an idea that may be helpful to you in the matter." Against his will the engineer paused and drew dose to the window. "Well ?" "Why don't you call on Miss Worth ? Perhaps — " But Willard Holmes fled. And yet that which Burk suggested in jest was exactly what Willard Holmes had already determined in his own mind to do. The engineer had not seen Barbara since the con- clusion of the South Central deal and he was con- tinually asking himself how the girl would look upon his part in that transaction, or rather his failure to take a part in it. Barbara's frank confession, when she had asked him to forgive her for blaming him because of the Seer's dismissal that they might start square, had put their friendship upon such a ground that the man felt guilty in not confessing at once to her how he had aided Greenfield and Burk in their effort to trap her father. He could not shake off the conviction that she would undoubtedly look upon hia 281 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WIITJS^IN'G OF BAKBAEA WOETH attitude as being what she had called untrue to the work — ^the one thing she had declared she could not forgive. Would she forgive him? She had been so interested in his work, and the engineer was begin- ning to realize how very much this meant to him. At the Worth home the engineer learned from the Indian woman that Barbara had left Kingston that morning to visit her father in his camp in the South Central District. She had gone with Texas Joe in the buckboard and they had taken her saddle horse, El Capitan. When would La Senorita return? Tnez did not know. 282 Digitized by Microsoft® CHAPTEK XIX. GATHERED AT BARBARA'S COURT. AEBAKA'S trip to the South Central Dis- trict was full of interest. Riding with Texas Joe in a light buckboard drawn by a span of lively broncos with El Capitan leading behind, she was as merry as a school-girl out for a long-talked-of holiday. The dark-faced old plains- man, whose iron will and marvelous endurance had brought his companions and the baby safely out of that land of death years before, turned often to look at her now while his keen eyes, dark still under their grizzly brows, were soft with fond regard, and his voice, gentle and drawling as ever, was filled with tender affection. Under his drooping gray mustache, black once, his slow smile came in the ready answer of fidl sympathy with her mood. Eager as ever to know all about the work of reclaiming her Desert, the young woman plied him with questions and Texas exerted himself to recall scenes and incidents . of which he had not told her before. He reviewed the work from that first survey to the present with vivid pictures of life in the camps, in the towns, or on the trail, with construction gangs and grading crews or freighters' outfits, and the glimpses of toil and hardship, discomforts and suffer- ing lost none of their reality in the difj humor of 283 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNIljq^G OF BAEBAEA WOETH his words. Texas Joe was of that sort who habitually laugh at hardships, who, indeed, could not otherwise live in the wild lands they helped to tame. N"or did the shrewd old frontiersman fail to otserve how most of Barbara's questions required in their answers something touching Willard Holmes, or how the inci- dents that pleased her most were those in which the engineer figured. On her part the young woman was secretly delighted to see how loyally her companion spoke in admiring praise of the desert-bred surveyor, Abe Lee. Whenever the name of Holmes was men- tioned, Abe was somehow brought into the story. "Mr. Holmes is really a fine engineer, don't you think?" asked Barbara mischievously at the conclu- sion of a story in which both Holmes and Abe figured. "Sure he is. I don't reckon them eastern schools ever turned out a better. And what counts more, sometimes, he's all man, he is. But you see, honey, he belongs to the Company. Abe now, wal — ^you see, Abe, he sabeys the country like a burro does the cook shack and he's just as good a man as the Easterner, though not so pretty to look at. And you can bet there don't no Company get a hobble on Abe." "Do the men who work for the Company like Mr. Holmes ?" "Sure they do. All the men like Holmes fine. But they just naturally love Abe." But when they had turned into the San Felipe trail and were traveling eastward, Barbara ceased to question Texas about the reclamation work and led him to tell her again the familiar story of his journey 284 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH from San Felipe with Mr. Worth, the Seer, Pat and the boy Abe, in the days when that old road was the only mark of man in all those miles of desolate waste. Reaching a point where the sand hills could be distinguished, he pointed them out to her, and the young woman, at sight of the huge rolling drifts that shone all golden in the desert sun, grasped his arm with a low exclamation. In silence, as they drew nearer, they watched the low yellow hills lift their naked bulk up from the gray and green patches of salt-bush and greasewood that so thinly carpeted the plain. When even the desert vegetation could find no life in the ever shifting sands and the first of the great drifts loomed huge and forbidding against the sky, seeming to bar their way, Barbara spoke again. "Now tell me, Uncle Tex ; tell me as we go just how it was and show me the places." The plainsman did not answer and she urged again: "Please, Uncle Tex, tell me. I want to see it all just as it happened. I feel that I must, don't you understand ?" So the old plainsman told her and pointed out the places as nearly as he could, explaining how the drifts moved always eastward under the winds; how at times, most frequently in the spring months, when the fierce gales swept down through the Pass and across the Basin, the huge billows of sand would roll forward so swiftly that tents or wagons in their path would be buried in a few hours, and how, in the calm seasons, with every light breeze they work their silent way inch by inch. Even as he spoke Barbara, look- ing, saw a fhin film of sand, fine as powdered snow, 285 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBAEA WOETH curl like mist over the edge of a drift as a breath of air swept lightly up the western slope and over the summit of the hill. At the point where Mr. Worth's party had camped to await the passing of the storm, Texas stopped the team and showed her how they had rigged their rude canvas shelter on one side of the wagon to protect themselves from the cutting blast. Farther on he pointed out the spot where they had found the horse with the broken halter strap, and then they came to the great drift where her people had made their last camp and where, later, Jefferson Worth had spent that night alone with the spirit that lives in La Palma de la Mano de Dies. Again Texas halted his team, and Barbara, leav- ing her companion in the buckboard, climbed to the top of the hill that held buried deep in its heart — what? Was the body of her true father buried there ? Were there brothers, sisters, lying under that huge mound ? Could the sands, if they could speak, tell her who she was, her name and people ? Could they, if they would, make known to her relatives and friends of her own blood ? Coming slowly down the shoulder of the drift she went around to the foot of the steep eastern side and there, in the lee of the billow that curled high above her, she tried to dig with her hands a tiny hole. At every movement that displaced a handful of sand, a dry golden flood poured down from above, covering instantly the mark she had made. With sudden energy the young woman exerted all her strength, digging faster and faster. But still, from above her 286 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAKBARA WORTH head, down the steep side of the drift the sand slid without effort, making a faint whispering sound as if to mock her labors. Then Texas called and she went back to him, her brown eyes hard and dry. The old plainsman, quick to feel her mood, would have driven swiftly on past the remaining scenes of the tragedy and tried to talk of other things. But she would not have it so. She must know all. So he showed her. where he had first found the tracks in the sand and then where the baby feet had left their marks when the tired mother had set her down to rest. Thus they came at last, when the day was almost gone, to the grave beside the trail — the trail that had beside its many miles so many graves. And Barbara stood before the simple headstone that bore only the date and one word "Mother." And the silent man, who had in his wild adventurous life witnessed so many scenes of death, turned away his face that he might not see the girl kneeling beside the mound of earth. When Barbara, coming back to the buckboard, saw him so, she understood; and when Texas, hearing her light steps, turned quickly toward her he saw the brown eyes filled now with softening tears while her face expressed the gratitude she could not put into words. Behind them the upper rim of the sun shone blood-red above the top of the purple mountain wall ; over their heads in the soft still depths of the velvet sky an early star appeared. Around them on every side the great desert lay under its seas of soft 287 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WIN^NIN^G OF BARBAKA WORTH color, its veils of misty light and streaming scarfs of lilac and rose. Even as they looked the dusk of twilight fell upon the great plain. The ground-ovs^l's weird call came from a hummock near the trail, the ghostly form of a coyote slipped stealthily past like a shadow moving from shadow to shadow until he was lost in the deeper shade, out of which, as if in mocking challenge of a spirit hand to any mortal who would follow, came the wild, snarling, unearthly cries of his invisible mates. And still to the east- ward the higher levels of the Mesa above the rim of the dark Basin, the slow drifting clouds of dust that lifted from the tired feet of the grading teams coming into the camp from the day's work on the canals, or from freighters drawing near their journey's end, caught the last of the light and showed long level bands and bars and threads of gold against the deep purple of the hills beyond, whose peaks and domes and ridges were flaming crimson, burnished copper and gleaming silver on the deep background of the sky. Before them on the other side of the deep Dry River channel, through which now a generous stream of water flowed, they could see the tents of the camp — some glowing brightly from lights within, others showing mere spots of dull white in the gloom, while here and there lanterns, like great fireflies, flitted aimlessly to and fro. Before two tent houses, some distance apart from the main cainp and built under a wide ramada made of wiUow poles and arrow weed brought from the distant river, Texas stopped his team. From the open door of one of the tents Jefferson Worth came 288 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH quickly, at the sound of their arrival, to receive his daughter, and from her father's arms Barbara turned to greet Abe Lee who, following his chief from the canvas house, had paused a little back from the group in the shadow of the ramada. Later in the evening, when Barbara had had her supper with her father and Abe in the big camp dining tent and the three were sitting in the dark under the wide brush porch, Pat came with Texas, as the big Irishman said, "to see how the new boss liked her quarters." And then Pablo came softly out of the darkness with his guitar to bid La Senorita welcome and to ask if she would care that night to listen a little to the music that he knew she loved. So Barbara held her little court before the rude tent house under the arrow weed ramada, in the heart of her Desert, within a stone's throw of the spot where they had gathered once before around a baby girl whose mother lay dead beside a dry water hole. And not one of them thought of the significance of the group or how each, representing a distinct type, stood for a vital element in the combination of human forces that was working out for the race the reclama- tion of the land. The tall, lean, desert-born surveyor, trained in no school but the school of his work itself, with the dreams of the Seer ruling him in his every professional service; the heavy-fisted, quick-witted, aggressive Irishman, bom and trained to handle that class of men that will recognize in their labor no governing force higher than the physical; the dark- faced frontiersman, whom the forces of nature, through the hard years, had fashioned for his 289 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BARBAKA WOETH peculiar place in this movement of the race as truly as wave and river and wind and sun had made The King's Basin Desert itself; the self -hidden financier who, behind his gray mask, wrought with the mighty force of his age — Capital; and a little to one side, sitting on the ground, reclining against one of the willow posts that upheld the arrow weed shelter, dark Pablo, softly touching his guitar, representing a people still far down on the ladder of the world's upward climb, but still sharing, as all peoples would share, the work of all ; and, in the midst of the group, the center of her court — Barbara, true representative of a true womanhood that holds in itself the future of the race, even as the desert held in its earth womb life for the strong ones whom the slow years had fitted to realize it. "Faith," said Pat, when Pablo's guitar was silent for a little, "av only the Seer was here the family wud be altogether complete." "Dear old Seer," said Barbara softly. "How he would love to be here; and how we would love to have him !" But under cover of the darkness a warm blush colored the young woman's cheeks, for when Pat spoke she had not been thinking of the absence of her old friend, but wishing for the presence of an- other engineer, who also was working for the reclama- tion of her Desert and who was himseK in turn being wrought upon by his work, learning as the girl had hoped he would learn, the language of the land. Jefferson Worth spoke in his exact way. "Even if he is not here this is all the Seer's work." 290 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH And just then from a distance up the old wash came the weird, unnatural cry of a coyote. It was as though the spirit of the desert spoke in answer to the hanker's words. "Yell, ye sneakin', thievin' imp. Yer time in this counthry is about up!" exclaimed the Irishman with a growl of deep satisfaction. And again out of the shadow the soft, plaintively sweet music of Pablo's guitar floated away on the still darkness of the night. 291 Digitized by Microsoft® CHAPTEE XX. WHAT THE STAKES REVEALED. JAMES GEEEJSrriELD, returning to Kings- ton from his tour of inspection, left at once for his own world — a world of offices with mahogany furniture, of men with white collars and pale faces, of banks and trust companies, and Grood Business. The afternoon of the day he left, Willard Holmes rode into the camp at Dry River Crossing. The engineer explained that he was looking over the route of a new main canal that was being surveyed by his men and that, finding himself in the vicinity of Mr. Worth's headquarters, he had taken the oppor- tunity to call. From Barbara as well as from Jefferson Worth and Abe Lee the Company man received a hearty welcome with a cordial invitation to ride with them the next day over the line of their work. Although Holmes watched with peculiar sensitiveness, there was no sign from either of the three that they had yet discovered the real significance of the South Central deal or that they knew the part he had played in it. His desire to end the whole unpleasant situation by going over the work with Mr. Worth and the surveyor, and by confessing to Barbara how he had permitted her father to walk into the trap, led him to accept the invitation. 292 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBAKA WORTH The little party left camp early the next morning and following the line of Black's survey found a mile or more of the canal already completed, while a large force of men and teams was at work clearing the ground and pushing the big ditch still farther in a general southerly direction toward the Company canal fifteen miles away. Abe Lee explained to Barbara that other camps were located at points farther on, thus dividing the whole district to be excavated into several sections. "You see," he said turning to Holmes, "the waste from Dry River Heading coming dovsm the old chan- nel gives us water at several points so that we can handle this work to a little better advantage than we used to do with the first of the Company canals." "I see," said the Company man. "And how many head of stock are you working ?" "About fifteen hundred now, but we are increasing the force right along. We expect to handle about twice that." Instantly Willard Holmes saw that he could still save Jefferson Worth from heavy financial loss. But it was to the interest of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company for Jefferson Worth to lose heavily. What should he do ? They had left the first section of the work now and were following the line of the survey where the brush had been roughly cleared. The engineer, preoccupied in his struggle with the question that confronted him, had dropped behind the others, when suddenly Barbara, looking back, checked El Capitan. "What's the matter, Mr. Holmes ?" she called. 293 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINiq-ING OF BAEBAKA WOETH The others also looked back to see the engineer kneeling on the ground. Jefferson Worth glanced quickly at his superintendent who chuckled outright. "What is it?" cried Barbara at Abe's unusual laugh. "What's the joke ?" Before either of the men could answer, Holmes sprang to his saddle and, with a quick jab of his spurs in the horse's flanks, rejoined them on the run. In his excitement the mental habits of his life as- serted themselves and he was again the typical cor- poration official dealing with a mere private indi- vidual operating on a small scale. "Look here!". he burst forth sharply to Abe ; "these are not our Com- pany stakes. You are not following Black's line." The surveyor grinned. "We followed it for a half mile this side of the cut, then we branched off. You evidently did not notice." "Where do you strike it again ?" "We don't strike it again." "Then how do you get to the intake location ?" "We don't get to the intake you located at all. We strike your canal three miles farther up." The Company's chief engineer retorted hotly: "But you can't do that. Our survey shows" — he stopped. "Your survey shows what ?" came Abe Lee's sharp challenge. "You are undoubtedly familiar with the data turned in by your man Black, for you told Mr. Worth the quality of the soil before he closed the deal. What else does your survey show?" Before the engineer could answer, Jefferson Worth's cool voice broke in. "You understand, Mr. 294 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WIITNING OF BAKBAKA WOETH Holmes, that there is nothing in my contract with your Company that binds me to follow the line of your survey or accept your location of the intake. The Company contracts to deliver the water into my canal, that is all." The engineer regained control of himself. "I beg your pardon, Mr. Worth; and yours, Lee. I forgot myself. I see that my man Black made a mistake." Abe laughed dryly. "In checking over Black's work, Holmes, I found his elevations correct at every point." Holmes himself smiled as he said: "Well, Lee, whether you believe me or not, I am very glad you checked over Black's work, and, Mr. Worth, with all my heart I wish you success in your project." "Thank you," said Worth, "I am already indebted to you for a valuable piece of information." "Indebted to me ?" "You remember what I asked you when I was going over this proposition with Greenfield and Burk in the Company office ?" "I remember that you asked me about the soil in the district." "You answered that the soil was all right." Holmes drew a long breath. "And you let Uncle Jim and Burk thiak " "I let them think what they wanted to think," said Jefferson Worth. Barbara, who had listened with intense interest to the conversation, at Holmes's unfinished remark and her father's reply moved El Capitan slowly away from his pla<3e beside Worth's horse and went close 295 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINN"IN"G OF BAKBAKA WORTH to Abe Lee. All the gladness was gone from the young woman's face now, and while she maintained a show of interest it was plainly forced. The banker, at his daughter's movement, retreated behind his gray mask and for the rest of the trip spoke only when it was necessary, leaving her entirely to the surveyor and Willard Holmes. Barbara had understood from the talk of the men that her father, by using the unsuspecting engineer, had in some way shrewdly gained a business advan- tage over the Company. The incident forced her, as she thought, to see with a cruel clearness that to Jefferson Worth this splendid work of reclaiming the desert was nothing but the opportunity to win larger financial gains ; that he was still practicing the tactics for which he was famous. She shrank from him unconsciously but to the man as plainly as she had drawn back in fear that night years before. As the baby had turned from him to the Seer then, the young woman turned from him to Abe Lee now. During the rest of the day Barbara kept so close to the surveyor's side that Willard Holmes had no opportunity to talk with her alone, and when they arrived again at the headquarters camp the engineer, promising to call upon her soon in Kingston, left for one of his own camps a few miles away. That evening Jefferson Worth and his daughter sat alone under the arrow weed ramada facing the river. Moving her camp chair closer in the dusk — so close that, reaching out she laid her warm young hand on the hand of her father — Barbara said in a 296 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING or BARBAEA WORTH low tone: "Daddy, I wish you would tell me all about this South Central District business." She felt the slim nervous fingers move uneasily. Never before had Barbara asked him to explain any of his transactions. The man's habit of retiring behind that gray mask whenever the subject of his business was mentioned, together with the girl's in- stinctive shrinliing lest his answers to such a question should drive them farther apart, prevented. But to-night, perhaps because Willard Holmes was con- cerned, perhaps because of her peculiar interest in the work involved, Barbara forced herself to ask. "What do you want to know?" At his expressionless tone it was to Barbara as though she felt the chill of his cold mask coming between them, but she persisted and in her voice was passionate earnestness. "I want to know all about it, father; I must." "Why ?" "Because" — she hesitated. "Because I understood from the conversation to-day about the surveys that someone had made a mistake. I — I don't want to make a mistake, daddy. Won't you please explain it all to me ? What was it that you let Mr. Greenfield and Mr. Burk think ?" Perhaps because of the memories of the place, or because it was the first t-ime Barbara had ever sought an explanation, or again perhaps it was because Wil- lard Holmes was interested, Jefferson Worth answered : "I let them think I was a fool." "But why was Mr. Holmes so excited to-day when he found out about those stakes ?" 297 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WIlsTNING OF BARBARA WORTH "He discovered that I was not such a fool as they'^ thought." Then Jefferson Worth explained to the girl the whole situation. He made clear Greenfield's reason for offering him the water rights ; why he would have taken the stock without investigation but for the hint he received from the Company engineer's man- ner and the way Holmes had answered that simple question about the soil ; how he had made the survey secretly, because Greenfield would have refused to close the deal if he had known that Worth wanted it after he had it investigated, and because if Green- field believed the district stock to be valueless he would sell at a very low figure rather than not sell at all ; and how it was that same low figure that enabled tim to give the men who were working on the canal a chance to acquire farms of their own. When he had made it all plain, the young woman exclaimed: "And this man Greenfield and those with him in the Company are the men who are doing the Seer's work; who are making the reclamation of the desert possible ! I don't — I can't understand it." "It is a very simple business deal," said Worth. "There is nothing unusual about it. Greenfield and his men are good men; they are simply defending their interests from a competitor. This Desert never could be reclaimed at all without them or others like them." "Tell me again, daddy; was Mr. Holmes sure that this land was worthless?" "Certainly he was sure of it. He had all of Black's data giving the elevations." 398 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAKBAKA WORTH "And he knew that they were trying to sell it to you?" "Yes." "But did he know why? Did he know it was a trap to ruin your work ?" "Certainly, he must have known." The girl's voice trembled. "Oh, why — why didn't he tell you ? Why didn't he warn you ?" "He did." "Yes, daddy, but he did not intend to do it, for to-day he did not know that he had tuitil you ex- plained. And I thought — ^I thought " Her voice ended in a sob, "But Barbara, Holmes did just what he should have done. He is in the employ of the Company. He had no right to interfere with their business." "Every man has a right to be a man," she answered hotly. "Abe wouldn't have kept still. The Seer would not have helped them in their schemes. I don't wonder that the Company discharged the Seer to give Mr. Holmes his place !" Jefferson Worth was silent for a little, then he said: "If I had thought that you would blame Holmes I never would have told you." "But you did right to tell me. I am glad, for I see now that I was making a mistake — ^that I was making two mistakes. I misjudged you, daddy — forgive me; and I — I have been mistaken about Mr. Holmes." For an hour or more the two sat silent, the mind of each occupied with thoughts that were much the same. Barbara for the first time felt that she could 299 Digitized by Microsoft® THE winni:n'G of bakbaea worth enter fully into her father's life. She had at last seen behind, his gray mask and found herself in full sympathy with him. And the lonely man knew that at last he had gained that for which his heart hun- gered — the fullest companionship of the girl he loved as his only child. At last Barbara said softly: "Daddy, I am not going back to Kingston to-morrow. I am going to stay here with you. You can have another tent house built and Texas can go for Tnez who will bring what things I need. I am going to make a home for you. You need me, daddy. You are so alone in your work ; no one understands you as I do now. Let me come and help you." Awkwardly Jefferson Worth put out his hand and drawing his daughter closer said in a tone that Bar- bara had never heard before: "I was wishing that you would want to stay. You — ^you are not afraid of me now, Barbara ?" "Why, no, of course not ; what a strange thing to ask! I have never been afraid of you; why should I be?" And Barbara thought that she spoke truly — ^that, she had never feared him; though Jefferson Worth knew better. So another tent house was built and Texas went alone to Kingston, to return with Ynez as Barbara had planned, and the young woman set about making a home for her father in the rude desert camp. Every day nearly she rode El Oapitan out to some part of the work, and the men who were toiling foi mere than wages learned to know her and to hail 300 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBARA WORTH her presence as a good omen. Many a rough fellow, dreaming of wife or sweetheart and the home he would make for them in the desert as he drove his team and held the har of his Fresno, worked the harder for a cheery word from the daughter of his employer. And every evening under the ramada Barbara sat with her father, often alone, sometimes with one or more of her little court; and always the talk was of the work, save for the times when Pablo would come softly to make music for his Senorita and then they would sit silently, listening to the sweet harmonies that floated away into the night. Often Barbara would go the short distance from the house to the old wash; there to sit almost on the very spot where her mother had perished beside the dry water hole; and watching the stream that now flowed through the old channel, or looking away across the deep cut to the sand hills that showed clearly in the distance, she would live over the story as she had learned it that day with Texas — asking the old, old question, to which there was still no answer. One afternoon as she was sitting there, two wagons with a small party of men appeared on the high bank of the stream opposite. As the men climbed down from their seats, someone on horseback rode to the edge of the cut and sat for a moment looking across. Even at that distance she knew him ; it was Willard Holmes. Watching she saw him turn and by his motions guessed that he was giving some instructions to the men. Then he rode away toward the Crossing. 301 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BARBAEA WORTH Quickly Barbara returned to the rude porch of the tent house and in a few minutes saw the engineer approach. Dismounting and throwing the reins over his horse's head he came to her smiling, sombrero in hand. "Buenas dias, Senorita. Please may I have a drink ?" "Certainly, Mr. Holmes; help yourself." She pointed to the oUa hanging in the shade of the ramada. The engineer started at her cool reply, given as she would have addressed a stranger, and, more to regain his composure than because he was thirsty, helped himself from the earthen water jar. When he could delay no longer he turned again to her, and forcing himself to speak as if he had not noticed the lack of warmth in her greeting said: "I was sorry to miss you in tovwi. I called several times." "I am keeping house here for father," she an- swered. ^ "Then we will be neighbors," ho said with assumed lightness; "at least half-way neighbors. A party of my surveyors will be camped over there across the river. I will be with them part of the time." When she made no reply to this, the man under- stood. Slowly he drew on his gloves and, laying aside all pretense, said simply : "I have been trying to see you, Miss Worth, because I wanted to tell you myself of the miserable part I took in the shameful trick my uacle attempted to play on your father. I see that you know all about it and I realize that it is quite useless for me to ask you to forgive me." He paused, but still the young woman was silent. 302 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WANING OF BAKBAEA WOKTH The man could not know how she was fighting to keep back the tears. "You told me plainly that you could never forgive one who was untrue to his work," he went on hope- lessly, "and you are right. There was a time, before I knew you, when I would have defended my action, when I would have held that it was right; but I cannot now. Perhaps if I had known you longer But what's the use. I am a sad bungler in this great work, Miss Worth. I am out of place in the big desert. I should have stayed at home. I wish — I wish you had never wakened me to the possibilities of life — real life. You would not need to feel ashamed for me now." When she looked up he was mounting his horse. Almost she cried out to him, but he rode quickly out of her sight. 303 Digitized by Microsoft® CHAPTEK XXL PABLO BRINGS NEWS TO BARBARA. |LL through the long hot months of that second summer Barbara stayed in the desert with her father. Many times Mr. Worth insisted ' that she should go to the coast or the mountains for a few weeks, while Abe, Texas and Pat added their entreaties. But the young woman's answer was always — ^to her father: "If you must stay, daddy,, then I must stay to take care of you ;" to Abe it was : "Why don't you take a vacation? This is just as much my work as it is yours;" to Texas it was a laughing question whether he thought she was a "quitter," and to Pat she always declared that the desert could not in the least hurt her complexion. "And look at the other women," she would argue. There was Jack Hanson's little wife, with their chil- dren, in a twelve by fourteen tent out there on their claim alone all day and many nights, while Jack was on the work. And Mrs. White, who stoutly declared that she was "sure going to stand by her Jim if it burned her to a crisp," and that they did not have the money to spend even if they could leave the crops they had managed to plant. And Mrs. EoUins and Mrs. Baird and Mrs. Cole and the others, who were holding down their husbands' claims while the men were earning money on the works to help them in getting their start. Surely if these women 304 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH could stay with their men-folk Barbara could. So Mr. Worth let her have her way. And the other three strove among themselves, with varied and pic- turesque figures of speech, and — it must be confessed — some father strong language, to express their ad- miration for her courage and endurance, while all four taxed their inventive powers to the limit devis- ing ways to add to her comfort. The work in the South Central District continued steadily with no delay through lack of help, and when the canal was finished and the water ready, the men who had built it turned to making the ditches on their own claims, leveling their land for irrigation, preparing for the first crops and making what other improvements they could. Meanwhile the new townsite was laid out on the ground already occupied by the headquarters camp and the camp itself became the town of "Barba." But, perhaps because — as Pablo said — "there was no Senorita in the Company," Greenfield's chief en- gineer again found it hard to, hold his men through the hot months and was obliged to discontinue work on their Central Main. Holmes himself spent the weeks of the flood season at the river, refusing to leave even for a day. Three times, when conditions at the intake and heading were most critical and the danger that threatened the unconscious settlers seemed imminent, the engineer sent for Abe Lee, while Texas, Pat and Pablo were instructed by Mr. Worth to be ready at an hour's notice to move the entire working force of the district to the scene of the expected disaster. 305 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WIN^NIN^G OF BARBAKA WOETH And still, even through those trying times Jeffer- son Worth continued his operations in all parts of the Basin and started various enterprises in his new town with the conviction of a bom fatalist, though he almost constantly now, except when he was with Barbara, wore that expressionless gray mask. Abe ,/ Lee's thin face, burned dark by constant exposure to / the fierce desert sun, had a look of watchful readiness./ And Barbara, seeing, thought that it was all because of the strain of their own work, for even Barbara , was not told of the terrible risk that the Company " was forcing the pioneers to take. ' ' Meanwhile James Greenfield and the Company officials, from the outside, watched the situation with the calmness of professional gamblers watching the turn of the cards. Though he did not come into the desert during the summer, the Company president spent most of his time in the West now, for the Reclamation project launched by him was assuming such proportions that his personal attention was justi- fied. Only one thing more was needed to bring such a flood of land-seekers, speculators and investors that the Company's immense profits would be assured. The new country must have a railroad. To this end, in the city by the sea, the eastern financier was bringing every influence he could com- mand to bear upon the officials of the Southwestern and Continental that skirted the rim of the Basin. But the great man who shaped the destinies of the S. & C, secure in the knowledge that his xoad con- trolled the only pass through the range of mountains that shut in the new country, for some reason refused 306 Digitized by Microsoft® "Adios. Tell Barbara I'm all right' Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBAKA WOKTH to build a branch line into the territory in which Mr. Greenfield was so deeply interested. James Greenfield, himself a power of the first mag- nitude in the financial world, was always admitted to the presence of the railroad man without delay and was always received by the official with every cour- tesy. His statements as to the extent and value of the lands that were being developed by his Company, with his estimates of the volume of business that a branch line would bring to the Southwestern and Continental, were received without question. The railroad maa even betrayed unusual interest in the reclamation of The King's Basin Desert, with a knowledge of conditions almost as complete as Mr. Greenfield's. Frequently he asked of Jefferson Worth's operations and of the development of the South Central District. But always he shook his head when Greenfield urged immediate action. There were certain reasons ; he was not at liberty to go into details. Some day no doubt the branch line would be built, but he could make no promises. This was the situation ia the fall when, with the danger from the river past and his canals finished, Jefferson Worth sought an interview with the presi- dent of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Com- pany at his office in the Coast city. Mr. Greenfield received the banker cordially, con- gratulated him upon the success of his South Central District work and prophesied great things for every- body interested' in The King's Basin project. Jefferson Worth, behind his gray mask, at once made known the object of his visit. He wished to 307 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBAKA WORTH secure from the Company the right to take water from their Central Main for a small power house to be located in the Dry Eiver wash. Mr. Worth ex- plained frankly the advantage it would give the new town of Barba, in which he was interested, and stated that he had, some time before, laid his propo- sition before the Company's manager in order that Mr. Greenfield might be informed of the matter. Greenfield said that he had heard from Mr. Burk and that he thought it might be arranged. Then, while Jefferson Worth listened with his usual careful attention, the Company man set fokh their great need of a railroad. And by the way ; was Mr. Worth personally acquainted with the man who controlled the S. & 0. ? "I know of him," came the cautious reply. "Well, Mr. Worth," said the president; "I'll tell you what we'll do. We need that railroad and we need it now. So far I have failed to get any definite promise from the S. & 0. that they will give us a branch line. If you can secure a railroad for the Basin this' year, we will give you the right of way for your power canal and a contract for the water." "Is that your only proposition ?" "That is my only proposition." The president of The King's Basin Land and Irri- gation Company would have been astonished if he could have witnessed the meeting of Jefferson Worth and the railroad man an hour later. "Hello, Jeff!" came in hearty tones from the ofiicial as the door of his private office closed behind 308 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBARA WORTH the banker. "How are you ? I hear that Greenfield sold you a gold brick." Mr. Worth smiled while the other laughed heartily. "I tell you, Jeff, we little Westerners have got to watch out for these big eastern operators or they'll take the whole blamed country away from us." "The gold brick is panning out pretty well so far," said the banker. "So I understand. Crawford has been telling me all about it. In fact the whole King's Basin propo- sition looks mighty good to me, except for that New York bunch. I'm afraid of them, Jeff. Greenfield has been camping on my trail for three months, wanting us to build them a branch line. I told Crawford yesterday that it was about time for you to come around." "When are you going to build that road?" asked Mr. Worth. The other shook his head. "Can't do it, Jeff. You know the situation as well as I. If the river comes in the whole country will go to smash ; and with the class of structures they have put in to control it and with an eastern engineer in charge, it's too big a chance. The S. & C. is not spending money to help out wild-cat projects promoted by eastern capital." "But if you give us the branch line it will insure the success of the project, for it will make the Com- pany property so valuable that they will spend more money to protect it." "Or" — added the other — "we would have to spend more money to protect it. I'm sorry Jeff, if that's 309 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAKBARA WORTH what you Lave been figuring on, but we are not an insurance company — ^we are in the transportation business." "Then you won't build into the Basin ?" "Not under existing conditions, Jeff." With as little show of emotion as he would have exhibited had he merely proposed to purchase a morning paper, Jefferson Worth said: "All right, then I'll build it myself." The railroad man knew that the quietly spoken words meant that the banker had determined to stake everything he had in the world upon a chance that even the S. & 0., with its unlimited capital, refused to take. With his already large investments in the new country, the building of the railroad would tax Worth's resources to the very limit and the failure of the Company's project would mean for him finan- cial ruin. During the flood season just past Jefferson Worth had seen the safety of the Reclamation work hanging on a very slender thread. Every hour he had looked for the disaster that would bring to nothing all that had been accomplished by the desert pioneers, whose ruin he would share, yet he calmly proposed now to throw into the venture everything that years of unceasing toil had brought him — ^his capital, his credit, his reputation. "Don't do it, Jeff," said his friend. "You are in deep enough now. Better keep an anchor to wind- ward." "I figured on taking a chance when I went into that country," said Worth simply. It was as if he 310 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBAEA WOETH had foreseen this situation from the very beginning and had planned how he would meet it. The railroad man's face expressed his admiration for this display of nerve. "If I can do anything for you let me know, Jeff." "Thanks. If you would just not mention to any- one that I am connected with this for a little while." "Oh, I see. Greenfield again, I suppose? What are you up to anyway, Jeff; buying another gold brick?" Worth explained his plan for a power plant and Greenfield's proposition. "Hell!" exclaimed the dignified official. "You can't tell me that you are going to build a railroad into Greenfield's town just to get a dinky little power plant in your own district. I'm not from New York, Jeff." To which Jefferson Worth answered from behind his mask : "The Basin needs a railroad." The next day Greenfield sought the railroad office in haste. "I understand that you have decided to build that branch road." The official, who had received his guest with the dignified courtesy befitting one of his position, smiled at the other's manner as a gracious sovereign might smile on granting a subject's petition. Greenfield accepted the smile as an assent. "May I ask when you vsall begin the work ?" "I cannot say exactly, Mr. Greenfield. The survey will probably be made at once and the work begun as soon as it is possible to assemble men and ma- terial." 311 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WIWI^I]!^G OF BARBAKA WOETH When The King's Basin Messenger announced that the survey was being made for a railroad from the main line of the S. & 0. at Deep Well to Kingston, it did not mention the fact that Abe Lee was in charge of the work. And James Greenfield, who signed the promised contract following the announcement, did not learn until the next issue of the Messenger that the road was not being built by the S. & C. but by Jefferson Worth himself. Quickly the news that the railroad was building into The King's Basin was spread by the papers throughout the surrounding country and from every side the swelling flood of life poured in. Every sec- tion of the new lands felt the influence of the rush. For miles around the towns, every vacant tract was seized by the incoming settlers. Townsite companies quickly laid out new tovms, while in the towns already established new business blocks and dwellings sprang up as if some Aladdin had rubbed his lamp, ileal estate values advanced to undreamed figures and the property was sold, re-sold and sold again. And Kingston, the heart and center of it all — Kings- ton, Texas Joe said, "went plumb locoed." The name of Jefferson Worth was on every tongue. Was he not the wizard who commanded prosperity and wealth to wait upon The King's Basin ? Was he not the Aladdin who rubbed the lamp ? Horace P. Blanton, who seemed to increase mag- ically as if, indeed, he fed on the stuff of which booms are made, did not lack for audience now as he talked in rolling phrases of his friend Worth and what "we" had done, with suggestive hints of still greater things 312 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH that "we" again would do. To see the great Horace P. in aU the glory of white vest and picture-hat, as he escorted parties of awe-stricken newcomers about the town and pointed out with majestic gestures •'our" opera house, "our" bank, "our" power house, "our" ice plant, the site of "our" new depot, was an experience never to be forgotten. To watch him give orders, when Pat was not near, to some laborer in the grading gang at work on the roadbed and yards or to see him instructing a merchant in the filler points of his business, was a delight. To hear him speak with authority upon every question relating to The King's Basin project, from the stage of the water in the river two years before the first survey, and the future plans of Jefferson Worth, to the chem- ical properties of the soil, the proper grade for irri- gating alfalfa and the kinds and varieties of fruits and vegetables best adapted to the climate, was as instructive as it was interesting. With the beginning of the work on the railroad, Barbara and her father again made their bome in Kingston, and Horace P. Blanton, whenever he could escape from his arduous duties, endeavored earnestly to make himself agreeable to Jefferson Worth's daughter. There was no mistaking either his pur- pose or his perfect confidence in his ability to achieve success. Many and ingenious were the things that three members of Barbara's court promised each other should happen to Horace P. It was on one of those afternoons, when the man with the white vest was making himself very much at home on the front porch of the Worth cottage, that 313 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBAKA WOETH Pablo riding in from the South Central District sought La Senorita. Dismountiag from his tired horse the Mexican, his spurs clanking on the walk, approached Barbara, and with his sombrero brushing the ground greeted her in his native tongue, turning an inquiring eye meanwhile upon the portly Hor- ace P. Barbara returned his greeting in Spanish, follow- ing her words in English with: "This is Senor Blanton, Pablo. Mr. Blanton, this is my friend Pablo Garcia." The white man acknowledged the introduction with a lordly gesture. The Mexican, with a gleam of his white teeth said: "I have the pleasure to see the Senor some- times before. He is what they call 'the booster.' I have hear him talk many times on street." Then to Barbara : "I am come quick, Senorita, to find Senor Worth or Senor Lee. You know if it is far to where they are? I ride fast. My horse is tired." Before the young woman could answer, the big man, with a voice of authority, said : "You will find them out on the line of the railroad somewhere between here and Deep Well. Just follow the grade. You can't miss it." Pablo should hkve considered himself dismissed but, ignoring Blanton, he waited for Barbara's answer. "I don't know just where they are, Pablo. You had better wait until they come in. Is there anything wrong?" The Mexican shrugged his shoulders with another 314 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BARBAKA WOETH glance toward her companion. "I cannot say, Senor- ita. There is no what you call accident, but I think better I come." "What is it, my man?" said Horace P., again interrupting. "I will see Mr. Worth about it aa soon as he comes in. You have no business troub- ling Miss Worth." Barbara's slippered toe tapped the floor nervously although Barbara was not a nervous young woman. Pablo, with another shrug, said coldly: "It is to tell Senor Worth or Senor Lee that I come. If La Senorita tells me I trouble her that is different." The young woman spoke.' "Put your horse in the bam, Pablo, and then come in. I know you have had nothing to eat since morning and you are all tired out. Ynez is away, but I will find something for you and you can rest here until father comes." Pablo retreated and Barbara rising, said: "You wiU excuse me, Mr. Blanton." "Are you going to let that greaser spoil our after- noon ?" he asked in a tone of offended majesty. The girl laughed outright. "You are so funny when you puff yourself up that way and try to look so kingly. Pray how is this our afternoon ? What is left of it belongs to Pablo. I am going to find him something to eat and then I mean to talk to him every minute until father comes. You may stay if you like, but we shall talk in Spanish." The face of Horace P. Blanton expressed fat anguish. Rising, he went closer and stood over her with a look which he imagined to be a look of melt- 315 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBARA WORTH ing tenderness and, in a voice that fairly dripped with honeyed sweetness, he began: "Miss Worth — Barbara, I — " "Sir!" If Barbara had shot the word at him from Texas Joe's forty-five it could not have been more effective. "I — I beg your pardon. Miss Worth," he stam- mered. "Certainly, certainly; by all means. Miss Worth. Good-by." And that was as near as Horace P. Blanton ever came to achieving the success of which he was so confident. A few minutes later Pablo, without hesitation, told Barbara what had brought him to Kingston. A Mexican friend, who worked for The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company, had overheard a con- versation between the Company Manager and the chief engineer, who were together inspecting the work on the Central Main Canal. Dropping into his quaint «English, Pablo repeated what his friend had told him. "Senor Holmes he say: !The canal will go here where the stakes are set.' Senor Burk say : 'No, you shall go that other way.' 'But that will leave the power house away eight miles and the elevation it is not the same,' say Senor Holmes. Senor Burk say: 'Power house is Mr. Worth's not our. This way is good for us.' 'Senor Holmes no like it. He is very mad,' say my friend. He say: 'I wiU not do it.' Then Senor Burk say: 'AH right, you lose your job. Greenfield say it must go there; it is an order.' Then they go 'way and my friend he tell me 'cause 316 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH he think maybe it is no good for power house. I think maybe so Senor Worth like to know." The next morning Jefferson Worth called upon the Manager of The King's Basin Land and Irriga- tion Company. "Mr. Burk, I understand that you are changing the line of your Central Canal." "We are." "But my contract with your Company must be considered." "We have already considered it, Mr. Worth. It relates only to the delivery of a certain amount of water into your canal. There is nothing in it that binds us to build our canal on the line surveyed." 317 Digitized by Microsoft® OHAPTEE XXII. GATHERING OF OMINOUS FORCES. jINGSTON was a boiling, seething, steaming volcano of hot wrath, burning indignation and fiery protest. Kingston cursed, raved, stormed and resoluted, then stormed, raved and resoluted some more. Kingston was tricked, be- trayed, cheated, defrauded, insulted and mocked. And the tmspeakable villain, the sordid wretch, the miserable gamester who had ruined Kingston was Jefferson Worth. It is unknown to this day who first brought the news that all work on the railroad for a distance of seven miles out from Kingston was stopped and that the camps with their entire outfits had disappeared, leaving the scenes of their stirring activity as still and lifeless as if they had never existed. Next it was known that from Deep Well southward the con- struction train was still pushing its way into the Basin and that the work ahead of the train went on. Then, while Kingston was wondering, questioning, discussing, the word went quickly around that the grading crews were setting up their camps twelve miles east of the Company town and that a line of stakes led one way to the town of Barb a and the other way in the direction to meet the construction train working out from the junction with the S. & C at Deep Well. 318 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBARA WOETH Then the startled people grasped the truth of the appalling situation and awoke from their dream. In the line of the railroad survey that had led to Kings- ton as straight as you could draw a string, there was now a curve seven miles away, the tangent of which would carry it twelve miles east of the Company town and straight into Barba. Practically all business ceased, while the citizens in knots and groups discussed the situation. Jeffer- son Worth was in the Coast city and telegrams to him, all save one, received no answer. To a message from Mr. Burk he replied that the line had been changed by his orders. As for Abe Lee, they might as well have questioned one of the surveyor's grade stakes. Even Barbara, besought by the distracted citizens, could tell them nothing except that her father would return Saturday. There was nothing to do save to wait for Mr. Worth and to prepare for his coming. When the president of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company arrived on the scene in answer to an urgent wire from his Manager, he was at once the center of public interest. But Mr. Green- field escaped quickly from the crowd at the hotel and was Very soon closeted with Burk in the office. Then a boy found Horace P. Blanton. Horace P. was not hard to find. With the word that Mr. Green- field desired to see him immediately, Horace P. Blanton increased visibly — so visibly that the spec- tators watched the white vest with no little anxiety. "TeU Mr. Greenfield that I will see him imme- diately," he said in a voice that was easily heard 319 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNIJSTG OF BARBARA WORTH across the street. Then Horace P. arrived at the door of the Company office a full length ahead of the messenger. An hour later, when Blanton reappeared to the public eye, the white vest could no longer be buttoned over his expanding importance and beads of por- tentous dignity stood on his massive brow. What did Greenfield want? What was the Com- pany going to do ? the crowd demanded eagerly. From his lofty height the great one answered: "Our Company president simply desired my opinion and advice in this little difficulty. As to what we will do, I am not at liberty to make a public state- ment, but — " That "but" was filled with tremen- dous potential power. "Did Mr. Greenfield know that the change in the railroad line was contemplated ?" "Certainly not. He learned of it first from the telegram that called him to Kingston." "Why was the change in the road made ?" Horace P. Blanton smiled. It was very easy to understand if they would look over this man Worth's operations since he had been in the Basin. What had he done ? First he had quietly invested heavily in Kingston real estate. Next he had as quietly, through his various companies and agents, gained control of all the public utilities in the new country. Then he had so manipulated things that he gained absolute control of the whole South Central District, one of the richest sections of the Basin, and had started the town of Barba on land owned by himself. 320 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBAKA WOKTH His next move was to gain control of the railroad, which, as every one knew, was started as an S. & C. line. "Kemember," said the perspiring master of affairs, "that when this man Worth began work on the railroad into Kingston, he still owned a large amount of Kingston real estate with buildings and business establishments. To-day you will find that — save for the newspaper, the telephone line, the power plant, the ice plant, the bank and his home — ^he does not own a foot of land, a building, or a business establishment in Kingston. What has he done ? He used the railroad to start a boom in our beautiful little city, then sold out at an immense profit and now, having no further interest in Kingston, changes the line of his road to Barba — the town that he owns, leaving us to make the most of the situation." The orator's impressive climax called forth from every hearer furious invectives against the absent financier. Following the announcement of the com- ing of the road to Kingston, the name of Jefferson Worth had been on every tongue. The same name was on every tongue now, but the man that had been hailed as the good genius of the reclamation was now cursed for a selfish fiend, who would lay waste the whole country for his own greedy ends. Horace P. Blanton exhausted both himself and the English language in a lurid, picturesque and vigorous delineation of the character of this monstrous enemy of the race. It was such gold-thirsty pirates as Jefferson Worth who, by preying upon legitimate business interests and coining for themselves the 321 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WmWING OF BARBAEA WOETH heart-blood of the people, made it so hard for such public benefactors as James Greenfield to promote the interests of the country. It was beautiful to see how the speaker appreciated the splendid character, matchless genius and noble life of his friend Greenfield, the distinguished presi- dent of The King's Basin Company and the father of Reclamation. Some day, he declared, the citizens of the reclaimed desert, looking over their mag- nificent farms and beautiful homes, would appreciate the work of this man and understand then, as they could not now, how he had toiled in their interests. As for this feUow Jefferson Worth, dark and dreadful were the hints that Horace P. dropped as to his future. It was Horace P. Blanton who arraLj,"3d for a public indignation meeting in the Worth opera house the afternoon of Jefferson Worth's expected return. When the day arrived Kingston entertained the largest crowd that had ever gathered within the boun- daries of the town. For word of the situation had traveled throughout the Basin, and from every corner of the new country men came to the scene of the excitement to attend the mass-meeting and to be present when the man that threatened Kingston with ruin should appear. Teamsters left their teams and Fresnos on the Company works, ranchers left their crops and cattle, newly located settlers forsook their ditching and leveling, zanjeros deserted their water gates and levees. Bold, hardy, venturesome spirits these were, with bodies toughened by hard toil in the open air and faces blackened and bronzed by constant 322 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAKBAEA WOETH exposure to the semi-tropical sun, for the desert did not yield to weaklings who would submit tamely to being skillfully juggled out of their own by a slim- fingered manipulator of business. Under the natural curiosity and love of entertainment that drew these strong, roughly dressed, roughly speaking pioneers to the point of interest, there was an under-current of grim determination to protect their new country from the schemes of unprincipled corporations. It was an old, old story. At the mass-meeting there were many vigorous speeches by hot-headed ones, a masterly address by Horace P. Blanton, and — ^because he could not escape this — a few words by James Greenfield, who was introduced by Blanton as "the father of The King's Basin Eeclamation work" and received by the citizens with generous applause. Acting upon Greenfield's suggestion, a committee was appointed to wait upon Mr. Worth immediately upon his arrival and the meeting adjourned until nine o'clock that evening, when the committee would report. As the eventful day drew near its close, horsemen from the South Central District began to arrive. These were the men who had worked for Jefferson Worth on the canals and who, through him, were now developing ranches of their own. These South Cen- tral men scattered quietly through the crowd and soon in every group there was one or more of the new-comers, listening attentively. And it was a sig- nificant, though in that country an unnoticed fact, that every man from Jefferson Worth's district wore the familiar side-arms of the West. But these 323 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAKBAEA WORTH attentive ones took no part in the discussions, speak- ing neither in defense nor in condemnation of the man who had so stirred the public indignation. As the hour for the arrival of the stage approached, the crowd massed in front of the hotel, filling the lobby, the arcade and the street, and still scattered through the throng were the men from the South Central District. When the stage was seen in the distance a low murmur, like the threatening rumble of a coming storm, arose from the mass of men and, following this, a hush like the hush of Nature before the storm breaks. Into and through the strangely silent crowd the driver of the six broncos forced his frightened team. As the stage stopped and the passengers, look- ing curiously down into the excited faces of the throng, prepared to alight, a murmur arose. The murmur swelled into a roar. Jefferson Worth was not there! When the main line train discharged its Basin passengers at the Junction that afternoon, the engine of the construction train on the new road brought Mr. Worth as far as the rails were laid. Here Texas Joe, with a fast team and light buckboard, was wait- ing. So it happened that while the crowd was massing in front of the hotel awaiting the arrival of the stage, Jefferson Worth was at his home quietly eating his supper and reassuring his frightened daughter. When the assembled pioneers learned from the stage driver that the man they waited for had left the Junction on the engine, they were not long in arriving at the truth. The excitement, inflamed by 324 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBAKA WORTH what seemed the fear of Jefferson Worth and increased by the judicious efforts of Horace P. Blanton, was intense. From an orderly company of indignant citizens waiting to interview a public man, the crowd became a mob pursuing an escaping victim. With shouts and yells they started for the Worth home. And with them went the quiet men from the South Central District. As the sound of the approaching crowd reached the two at the table, Barbara sprang to her feet, her face white with fear. "Daddy, they're coming. They're coming!" she whispered, trembling with anxiety for her father's safety. "Quick! El Capitan is ready. I told Pablo to have him saddled." But Jefferson Worth, quietly sipping the cup of black coffee with which he always finished his meal, returned calmly : "Sit down, Barbara. I won't need El Capitan to-night." As he spoke the crowd arrived at the front of the house and, as if to confirm his words, a sudden peaceful silence followed the uproar of their coming. On the front porch, in the red level light of the sun that across the desert was just touching the top- most ridge of No Man's Mountains, stood the tall, grizzly-haired, dark-faced old-timer, Texas Joe; the heavy-shouldered, bull-necked Irish gladiator, Pat; and the lean, sinewy, iron-nerved man of the desert, Abe Lee; while quietly pushing and elbowing their way to the front were the men from the South Central District. The quiet was broken by the slow, drawling voice of Texas Joe. "Evenin' boys. What for is the stam- 325 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINI^mG OF BAEBAEA WORTH pede? We-all trusts you ain't aimiu' to tromp out the grass none on Mr. Worth's premises." Within the house Barbara and her father heard the drawling challenge and the color returned to the young woman's cheeks as she smiled and whispered : "Good old Uncle Tex." There was in that soft, southern voice an under- current of such cool readiness, such confident mastery of the situation, that her fears vanished. Nor was the crowd in front slow to recognize that which reassured Barbara. For a moment following Texas Joe's greeting there was a restless shifting to and fro in the crowd, then the impressive bulk of Horace P. Blanton detached itself from the "common herd." With hands up- lifted and a gesture of mingled command and appeal, he called: "^o violence, men! No violence! For God's sake don't shoot ! Let me talk a minute." Whether he appealed to the three men on the porch or to the company behind him was not clear, but Texas answered: "You-all has the floor as usual, Senator. I don't reckon anybody here will be so impolite as to interrupt your remarks." "Is Mr. Worth at home ?" "He sure is; altogether and very much to home," "Could we — ah — see him to ask about a matter that concerns vitally every gentleman in this com- pany ?" Horace P. was regaining his breath and his poise at the same time. "Mr. Worth, just at this minute, is engaged with his daughter at the supper table. His superintendent, Mr. Lee, is present and will be glad to hear what you 326 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBAKA WOETH have to say." The exact, formal politeness of the old plainsman was delightful. In spite of the gravity of the situation several in the crowd chuckled audibly. "Mr. Worth will see your committee," said Abe crisply. The citizens had forgotten their committee. Horace P. Blanton had made it difficult to remember. Three men now came out of the crowd at different points and went forward, James Greenfield's orator fol- lowing them to the porch. But as the men came up the steps Abe spoke in a low tone to his companions, and Blanton found his way barred by the solid bulk of Pat. "Were you also appointed to interview Mr. Worth ?" asked Abe, dryly. "I understood it was a committee of three." "I'm not exactly a member of our committee, but I'm always glad to offer my services in the best interests of the people." "Mr. Worth wiU see the committee," said Abe. "But you have no right, sir — This is an outrage, a disgrace! I — " A growl from the Irishman interrupted him. "That's just fwhat I'm thinkin'. The presence av sich a domned hot air merchant as yersilf is a dis- grace to any Gawd-fearin' company av honest work- in'men. Av Abe here will only give me lave — " Horace P. backed away, and from beyond reach of those huge fists said loftily: "My friend Mr. Worth shall hear of this." " 'Tis likely that he will av ye stand widin rache of me two hands," agreed Pat. 327 Digitized by Microsoft® • THE WINNING OF BAEBAEA WOETH Horace P. backed farther away. "I shall let him know that I offered my services," he declared with all the dignity he could command. "Do," called the Irishman. "I think that av ye offered yersilf chape enough he might give ye a job wid a shovel on the grade. 'Tis mesilf wud be proud to have ye in me gang av rough-necks. Dom' me but I think I cud rejuce yer waist line to more reshpectable an' presintable deminsions." At this the crowd laughed outright, for not one of those hardy pioneers but knew the real value of Horace P. Blanton to the reclamation work and therefore the force of the Irish boss's remarks. While Pat and — against his will — the Company's representative were amusing the crowd, Abe led the committee to Jefferson Worth. One of these men was a prominent merchant who, for the first eight months of his business in Kingston, had occupied a store-room in one of Worth's buildings rent free. Another was a real estate man, whom the banker had supplied with funds that enabled him to make several profitable deals that would otherwise have been lost. The other man was a successful rancher, who owaed a half-section of improved land joining the townsite. Deck Jordan had carried him at the store for imple- ments, seed and provisions the first two years. Jefferson Worth greeted them in his habitually colorless voice, and they — striving to see behind that gray mask — ^felt that there might be something in the situation that had not appeared on the surface in spite of the fact that the situation had been made so clear by Horace P. Blanton after his interview 328 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WIlSrJSriNG OF BAEBAEA WORTH with the president of the Company. This quiet- voiced, calm-faced man, who had been so ready to help every worthy settler in the new country, did not appear at all the monster in disguise that the chief speaker at the mass-meeting had pictured. The com- mittee, free from the heat of the crowd and the eloquence of Horace P., felt just a little ashamed. "Mr. Worth," said the spokesman with a smile, "we were appointed to interview you about this rail- road business." "What do you wish to know, Gordon ?" "Well, first, is it true that you have sold out prac- tically all of your property in Kingston ?" "Yes. It was my property." Jefferson Worth did not explain that he had sold because he was forced to turn everything he could into cash in order to build the railroad so badly needed by the new country. The committee looked serious. "Is it true," con- tinued the spokesman, "that you are changing the line of the railroad so as to take it to Barba and leave Kingston out entirely ?" "The line of the road is changed," came the exact, colorless answer. "Wm it be possible to make some arrangement by which you would carry out your former plan and build the road into Kingston ?" "You mean a bonus ?" "Yes." "I'm not in the market." "Is there nothing that we can do to change the situation ?" 329 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WIM"NIIsrG OF BAEBAEA WOETH The answer startled the committee. "Tell Green- field that he had better see me himself." Jefferson Worth's relation to The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company was always a much discussed question among the pioneers. The new country was settled by working people of limited means, and if there is one belief common to this class it is that all capitalists are members of one great robber band, perfectly organized, firmly united and operating in perfect harmony against their helpless victim — the public. However much they might fight among themselves over the division of the spoils, they were a unit in their common operations against the masses. From the first Jefferson Worth was held by many to be the secret agent, the silent co-partner, of Green- field, and the South Central District seemed to justify this opinion, for of course the public knew nothing of the inside of that deal. The people accepted Mr. Worth's personal assistance cheerfully, thankfully, and had come to look upon him as a friend. But this did not in the least alter their belief that he belonged to the band. He was simply a gen- erous, gentlemanly sort of robber, kin to the hold-up man who returns the railroad tickets of the passen- gers and refuses to rob the ladies. This railroad situation had seemed to deny the relationship between the banker and the Company, and now came Worth's advice: "Tell Greenfield that he had better see me himself," It was no wonder that the members of the committee looked at each other startled and bewil- dered. Was it, after all, a fight between the members 330 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAKBAEA WORTH of the band over the division of the spoils ? It was too deep for the committee. They could feel dimly that mighty forces were stirring beneath the surface, but they could not fathom what it was all about. One thing was clear: the one thing that is always clear when capital speaks to business men of their class — - they must obey. "What shall we report to the crowd?" they asked as they arose to go. "I figured that you would tell them what I have told you," came the answer. The crowd, when the committee briefly reported their interview, were as puzzled as the members of the committee, and questioned and discussed, affirmed and denied until Pat said to his companions on the porch that it sounded like "a flock av domned bumble bees." When the president of The King's Basin Land and Irrigation Company, who dared not refuse the request of the committee, stood before Jefferson Worth, the man behind the gray mask forced him to speak first. "I understand you wished to see me about this rail- road matter, Mr. Worth." "I told the committee that you had better see me," came the answer without a trace of emotion in the colorless voice. "Well, I am here ; what do you want ?" "I want a new contract from your Company bind- ing you to build your Central Main Canal on the line of the original survey, bringing it to a point within four hundred yards of the west line of the South 331 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH •Central District where the San Eelipe trail crosses Dry River, and agreeing to deliver into my power -canal without charge a flow of three hundred second feet of water, as in the old contract ; and in addition the exclusive power rights in all of the Company's «anals in the Basin." "If I give you this contract you will build the railroad into Kingston ?" "When you change the line of your canal back to the original route I will change the line of my road." "Suppose I refuse?" "My railroad will not come into Kingston and I will explain to the crowd out there the reason. You have worked up a pretty strong public feeling against me, Mr. Greenfield. Now make good or stand in my place and take the consequences." James Greenfield was not slow to grasp the point. A simple explanation of the situation from Jefferson Worth with the old contract to back it up would turn the wrath of the people against the Company presi- dent. Rising, he said with an oath : "You win, Mr. Worth. I'll have the contract ready for your signa- ture in the morning. Now what will we do with that mob out there ?" "It is your mob, Mr. Greenfield," answered Jeffer- son Worth. A few minutes later from the front porch of the Worth cottage, with Texas Joe on his right hand and Pat on his left, Horace P. Blanton announced : "Our committee will report at the opeia house in half an hour." The committee reported that Kingston was saved 332 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBARA WOETH and the orator of the day made another speech so far eclipsing all his former efforts that the cheering citizens were evenly divided as to whether it was James Greenfield, Jefferson Worth or Horace P. Blanton who saved it. "Well, boys," remarked one of the men from the South Central District as the little party of horsemen set out for the long ride home, "one thing is sure. Those Kingston fellows have got the railroad, but we still have Jefferson Worth, an' I reckon that Jeff can build us a railroad any old time he gets ready." "That's right,'' returned another, "but what in hell do you suppose it was all about ? What's Jeff's game anyhow ?" ^ 333 Digitized by Microsoft® OHAPTEK XXIII. EXACTING ROYAL TRIBUTE. KT spite of the optimistic view of the man who said that Jefferson Worth could build a rail- road for Barba and the South Central Dis- trict whenever he wished, there was no little disap- pointment expressed in Worth's town when it became known that the Company town was to have the road. When the grading camps had returned to their former locations and the construction train drew every day nearer Kingston, with the time approach- ing when regular trains with passengers and freight would ply to and from the Company town, tbo feeling of discontent in Barba grew. It even came to be gen- erally understood throughout the Basin that the whole movement had been cleverly planned by Jeffer- son Worth to force The King's Basin Land and Irri- gation Company to make a large contribution to the railroad builder's personal fortune. The people sensed something in the whole transaction that they could not clearly grasp, an intangible, mysterious some- thing, as great as it was indefinite. They felt blindly that they were being used without their consent in a game played by these master financiers, and they resented being sacrificed as dumb pawns in a move, the purpose of which they could not know. In the meantime, while the people were charging 334 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBARA WORTH him with selling them out to gain his own ends, the man whose purpose was known only to himself was putting into his enterprise the last dollar of his resources, and another flood season with its appalling danger was at hand. Because his laborers on the railroad were not as the men who built the South Central canals, working for more than their day's wage, and because, though no one knew it, Jefferson Worth's finances were so nearly exhausted, work on the road, as on the Com- pany project, was d.iscontinued for the summer months, to be resumed in the fall — ^perhaps. Barbara again refused to leave her father and in the close companionship and full understanding of his daughter, the man, who lived so much alone behind his gray mask, found inspiration and strength. The telephone now connected the heading at the river intake with Kingston, and every hour of those hot days and nights Jefferson Worth listened for a call from Willard Holmes, who also had refused to leave his work, while three of the fastest saddle horses in the Basin were stabled with El Capitaii. Texas, Abe and Pablo were ready to ride at an instant's notice to rally the pioneers, who were developing their ranches, building their homes and planning their future unconscious of the real danger that hung over them. Vague rumors of the dangerous condition of the Company structures floated about and there were not wanting prophecies of disaster. But not one in a hundred of the settlers had even visited the intake 335 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINN-IITG OF BAEBAKA WOKTH at the river, or if they had, what could they judge of conditions there ? The settlers were ranchers, not civil engineers. The Company zanjeros turned the water into their ditches when they asked for it ; their crops, growing marvelously in the rich soil, demanded constant attention ; they had neither time, inclination nor ability to investigate every flying rumor. As for the prophets of evil, only confirmed optimists can reclaim a desert or settle a new country and the croakers received little attention. Besides, the great, all-powerful Company would surely protect its own interests and, in protecting its own, would protect the interests of the settlers. It was the business of the Company engineers to look after the river. The ranchers were looking after the ranches. Thus another summer went by and the great river, save for the small toll taken by those who were reclaiming the desert it had created in the ages of long ago, continued on its way to the sea. Its time was not yet. With the return of the cooler weather and the still further increase in the volume of new life that con- tinued to pour into the Basin from the great world outside, work on the railroad was begun again, but Jefferson Worth knew that the first pay day would mark the end. He was as a man with his back to a wall, fighting bravely to the last blow, and he stood alone. Among the hundreds of pioneers with whom Worth had elected — as he had told Abe Lee the night of his arrival in Kingston — ^to take a chance, there was not one to take a chance with him now. If he lost he 336 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBARA WORTH vwoTild lose alone, for those who had built upon the work that he had done would not suffer through hia aefeat. Had any of them known the situation they could have done nothing to help him. But no one knew, and this was the financier's one desperate chance — that no one did know, not even Barbara. With his capital exhausted and no resources upon which he could realize, he went ahead with the work apparently with the confidence of one with millions behind him. It was, in the language of the West, all a bluff. But it was a magnificent bluff. Two weeks of the month were gone when a tele- gram from the high official of the S. & C. summoned him to the city. The railroad man, in the secrecy of his private office, greeted the promoter with his usual, "Hello, Jeff. I see The King's Basin is still on the map." Jefferson Worth smiled, then, as the official's eyes were fixed upon his face in a way that he understood, he retreated behind his mask. "Things are going very well," he answered. ^ "Working full gangs on that railroad of yours ?" "We have taken on all the men we can handle. We will be ready for that last lot of steel in another two weeks." The other lay back in his chair and laughed with hearty admiration and regard. "Jeff, you are a wonder! How long do you suppose it would take Greenfield to start something with your creditors if he knew what I know ?" Not a line of Jefferson Worth's face changed, only his nervous fingers caressed his chin, and the railroad 337 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINK"ING OE BARBARA WORTH Tnan> noting the familiar signal, smiled again. Then leaning forward in his chair he said : "Jeff, I have been keeping my eye on you ever since those days when our line was building into Rubio City and you handled the right-of-way for us. I have never caught you in a blunder yet. When it comes to sizing up a proposition all around I don't believe you have an equal. Now look here." With a quick movement he took a paper from a pigeon-hole in his desk and laid it before the other. The paper was a carefully tabulated statement of Jefferson Worth's financial condition at that moment. In vain the official tried to see behind that gray mask. "Well." The word was absolutely colorless, "Well !" repeated the other savagely, "what I want to know is this : why in hell you are bucking Green- field and his crowd to such a limit ?" "Because," said Jefferson Worth carefully, "I believe in the future of The King's Basin project, providing — " he paused. "Providing what?" "Providing someone bucks Greenfield to the limit." In one instantaneous flash, the man whose clear brain directed thousands of miles of a great railroad system caught a glimpse of the real Jefferson Worth — the Jefferson Worth who was not, as the railroad man had himself said, "doing it all for a dinky little power plant." "Jeff," he said slowly, "when you asked us to build a branch line into the Basin I told you that we couldn't do it. As I said then, we are not in the insurance business. A railroad's business depends 338 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBARA WOETH upon the actual development of a country, not upon backing promoters who open up a new country simply as a speculative proposition. You say you believe in the future of The King's Basin country providing some one bucks Greenfield and you are sure giving him a run for his money. But you have reached the -end of your pile and I know it. Now, I have teen taking up this matter with our people and we are ready to take a chance on your judgment. Suppose we take over your road as it stands at a fair price — what would be your next move ? Get out and leave us in the insurance business ?" "I would build a line from Kingston to Barba, tapping the South Central District, which is the richest section of the Basin," came the instant reply. "Good ! But perhaps you don't want to sell the line you are building to the S. & C," he suggested with a smile. "I figured that you would be ready to make me a proposition about the time I had it in shape for the last shipment of steel." Worth's bluff had won. The railroad man said again solemnly : "Jeff, you are a wonder !" With the passing of his nearly completed railroad into the hands of the S. & 0. Jefferson Worth began at once to arrange for the building of the other line from Barba to Kingston. This new road, to be known as the King's Basin Central, connecting with what was now the S. & C, would give an outlet to the rich South Central District, while the Southwestern and Continental Company announced that its new branch 339 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WIIflSrmG OF BAEBAKA WORTH would not stop at Kingston but would build on south to Prontera. With a main line branch of . a trans-continental railroad building straight through the heart of the new country, and their town located just half way between the junction and the terminal, The Bang's Basin Land and Irrigation Company saw the value of their property increased many times. The day was not far distant now when every quarter section of the desert land would be filed on by eager settlers, and the once barren waste would rapidly give place to the fertile fields of the ranchers, every foot of which should yield tribute to James Greenfield and his associates. But the reclamation of the desert opened many avenues for profit other than the irriga- tion system. From these also the Company, obeying the law of Good Business, had planned to take toll, but the field for investment most closely allied with the fields of the ranchers, and therefore keeping even pace with the increasing wealth of the new country, had been preempted by Jefferson Worth. The Company desired to add to their holdings those enterprises that had come to be known as the Worth interests. They had failed repeatedly to bring about a union of forces. Their only recourse then was to force the independent operator to sell to them or to eliminate him from The King's Basin project. To this end Greenfield and Burk watched and planned on the well known principle that whatever Jefferson Worth wanted was bad for the Company, until the day when the interests of Worth and those of The King's Basin 340 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BARBAEA WORTH Land and Irrigation Company should be the same or Jefferson Worth should be no longer a factor in the new country. ^^^hile the Worth enterprises were firmly estab- lished in all the centers of activity in the Basin, the Company knew that his largest interests were in Barba and the South Ceatral District. Worth must have railroad connections with the S. & C line before he could even begin to realize on his largest invest- ments. There was every reason why he should desire to make Kingston the junction point of the road he was now forced to build. James Greenfield was not backward in letting Worth understand that he would need to pay well for a right-of-way with terminal facilities in the Company town. For two weeks Jefferson Worth tried to bring the Company president to some reasonable settlement but his efforts only served to make Greenfield more deter- mined to exact royal tribute. "I tell you," said the president triumphantly to his Manager, "he's forced to build that line or go to smash with his town and district. No one will settle away off there from the railroad as long as they can locate in reach of Kings- ton or Frontera, and he has got to connect with the S. & C. branch at Kingston, for we are the only place between the main line and the terminal." When Mr. Worth reminded them that the pro- posed road would benefit Kingston and that in view of its value to their town it would be only just for them to give him the privileges he needed but for which he was quite ready to pay a reasonable price, Greenfield declared that his Company had already 341 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAKBAKA WORTH given Worth quite enougli. Of course, if they could find some basis upon which to unite their interests that would be another matter. Then the evening mail brought to Mr. Worth cer- tain legal looking papers and the next morning he called again upon Mr. Greenfield. In a spring wagon in front of the Company office Texas Joe and Abe Lee waited with a prosperous looking stranger who also had arrived the evening before. "Mr. Greenfield, I have come for your final answer on this railroad deal." On Greenfield's face there was a smile of satisfac- tion and triumph. There were several reasons why he enjoyed seeing Jefferson Worth in a corner. "I am ready to listen to any other proposition you have to make, Mr. Worth." "You have the only proposition I shall make." "Really, I fear that w« can do nothing this morn- ing." The visitor turned on his heel and left the office. Later, in describing the interview to Willard Holmes, Burk commented thoughtfully: "I very much fear your festive Uncle Jim played the game a little too fine. You can take some things and most men for granted ; but a railroad, now, and Jefferson Worth " he shifted his cigar to the corner of his mouth and cocked his head in the opposite direction. "I think, Willard, that something is going to hap- pen." What happened was this : When Jefferson Worth left the Company's office he stepped into the waiting rig beside the stranger. "Go ahead, Abe," he said. 342 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH Then the surveyor giving Texas the direction, the team sped away. Once in the desert they stopped occasionally while the surveyor examined the four by four redwood stakes. At a point on the S. & C. four miles north of Kingston and therefore between the Company town and the main line, Abe directed Texas to stop. The surveyor, taking a note book from his pocket, went to a corner stake and indicated with out- stretched hands the direction of the boundary lines of a tract of land owned by his employer. "Here we are, Mr. Worth." The place was raw desert and except for the rail- road without sign of life save the life of the hard, desolate land; though in the distance could be seen the improved ranches, with Kingston in their midst. Standing on the slight elevation of the railroad grade Jefferson Worth looked around silently. Then, fol- lowed by the stranger and Abe, he walked some dis- tance west of the track. Pausing and striking his boot-heel into the soft earth, he said with much less show of emotion than is exhibited by the average school boy in laying out a ball-ground: "We will build a hotel here; over there a bank. The main street will run toward the railroad. The Basin Central from Barba will come in from the southeast." And this was the beginning of Republic, the town that was built on a barren desert almost in the time it would have taken to prepare the land, plant and grow a crop of com. The stranger was the president of a townsite com- 343 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBAKA WOKTH pany organised by Jefferson Worth while James Greenfield was congratulating himself that he at last had that gentleman in a trap. Worth had given the company the land and had entered into an agreement whereby he was to build a hotel and several business blocks and furnish them, rent free, for one year. With the railroad to deliver material in any desired quantity, work was begun in a few days. The King's Basin Messenger and the papers in Frontera and Barba, all ovpned by Worth, gave full accounts of the birth of the new town and the reason why The King's Basin Central would not be built into Kings- ton, with glowing accounts of Worth's plans for the future of the Company's rival town. The Worth Electric Company moved its plant from Kingston to Eepublic; the ice-plant, the bank, the telephone office and every enterprise controlled by Worth followed; while many merchants, lured by the success of the Wizard of the Desert in every undertaking and by the promise of rent free, went with the Worth industries; and from the world outside many, who had hesitated to enter the new country before the railroad, rushed in to locate in the new town. The first building completed in Republic was a cottage for Barbara and her father. Meanwhile the work on the road to Barba and the South Central District was begun. The "something" prophesied by Mr. Burk had happened. 344 Digitized by Microsoft® CHAPTER XXIV. JEFFERSON WORTH GOES FOR HELP, I HE winter following the birth of Republic witnessed the greatest activities that had been seen in the new country. The freighters' wagons that had once seemed so pitifully inadequate, as they crept feebly away into the mysterious silences, were replaced now by long trains, heavil^ loaded with building material and goods of every kind and drawn by laboring engines that puffed and roared and clanged and screamed their stirring answer to the challenge of the silent, age-old, desolate land. And still the work that had been done was small in comparison with that which was yet to do before the reclamation of Barbara's Desert would be complete. The acres of land untouched by grader's Fresno or rancher's plow were many more than the acres that were producing crops. The miles of canals and ditches that were to be built were many more than the miles already carrying water. The tent houses and shacks of the pioneers were yet to be replaced by more comfortable homes. The frontier towns — ^big in that new country — ^were yet to grow into cities. From the top of any building in any one of the four towns one could look into the barren desert. Tourists on the main line that skirted the rim of 345 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WIN]SriN'G OP BAKBAEA WOETH the Basin, from the cat windows saw only the mighty reaches of the dun plain, with its -thirsty vegetation, stretching away to the distant purple mountain wall. Curiously the overland passengers looked at the crowds of settlers waiting for the Basin train at the Junction, wondering at their hardihood. Curiously they followed with their eyes the thin line of rails and telegraph poles leading southward until it was lost in the mystic depths of color. To the tourists it was a fantastic dream that out there, somewhere in the barren waste, people were building tovms, culti- vating fields, transacting business and engaging in all the Good Business activities of the race. It was as impossible to them as it had been to AVillard Holmes when Barbara first introduced him to her Desert and tried to make him see, as she saw, the greatness of the work of which he was to become a part. The latter part of that winter found Jefferson Worth again with his back to the wall. James Greenfield, in his attempt to hold up his rival in the matter of the King's Basin Central junction, had wrought better than he knew. While Worth's enter- prises were barely as yet paying their way, the rail- road, which he was forced to build in order to protect his ovrai interests in the town of Barba and in the South Central District, would require practically all he had realized on the sale of the other line that had so nearly exhausted his resources. The Company president, in forcing him to build the town of Republic in addition to his heavy outlay on his new railroad, forced him to take another desperate chaace. 346 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBAKA WOETH For the first time he was unable to pay the men, and in thirty days large obligations for material would be due; while certain rumors, carefully started by Oreenfield, made it almost impossible for him to raise the funds he must have. "I'm sorry, Jeff," said his friend the railroad man. *'But with present unsafe conditions we can't load up with any more property in The King's Basin. You know as well as I that if the river comes in we will have to get in there to protect our interests, for if •those ranchers were wiped out our road wouldn't sell for scrap iron. Tou couldn't do it and the Green- field crowd wouldn't. Why, that New York bunch, outside of Greenfield, don't know whether the Colo- rado is a trout stream or a mill pond. Their actual investment doesn't amount to half what you have put into your work, for the sale of water rights to the settlers is paying all the expense of their extensions and they won't put up a cent to rebuild their shaky old structures. And look where we stand ! We have put more money into that country now than the Com- pany and you together, and we won't pay operating expenses until the land is developed. And still the public is roaring about our rates. We don't want another desert line on our hands." Quietly Jefferson Worth sold his interest in the banks in Frontera, Barba and Eepublic; and as quietly Greenfield, who was watching, set about gaining control of these institutions. His South Central District water stock was already sold and most of his property in Barba. Even his little home in liepublic was mortgaged. 347 Digitized by Microsoft® THE ■wiisrjsriisrG oe bakbara worth Thus Worth held on for a while longer. He dared not stop his work, for such a move would not only ruin his chances of negotiating the loans he needed, but by bringing upon him a swarm of creditors, would make it impossible for him ever to recover his standing in the financial world. Another pay day passed without the men receiving, their pay and the third was drawing near. Already there was grumbling and complaining among the men over the delayed pay checks. It would take but little more to start serious trouble. There were many iu the crowd at the depot that day when Jefferson Worth waited for the train to the city, who looked with envy upon the builder of towns and railroads. Horace P. Blanton proudly pointed out to a stranger "his friend, the Wizard of the Desert," with the information that Mr. Worth had cleaned up a cool million in the new country. Several went out of their way for a closer look at him or for a possible greeting. Others cursed him roundly under their breath for a hated member of the class of parasites that live on the industry of the laborer, a financier who robbed the people, a capitalist who produced nothing. The train pulled in, and Mr. Worth, with a good-by to Barbara and Abe, who had come to see him off, stepped aboard. No one save Abe Lee, not even Barbara, knew that her father must raise fifty thou- sand dollars before the first of the month or suffer financial ruin. And no one — not even Jefferson Worth himself — ^knew where he could find the money. Barbara, when her father was gone, though she 348 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNIITG OF BAKBAEA WOKTH knew nothing of the danger that threatened him, was restless and ill at ease, beset by vague and nameless doubts and fears. The little desert town with its bustling activity, its clamorous, rushing disorder, its naked newness and glaring bareness, offended her. Nothing was completed. The streets, the buildings, the very people, seemed so unsettled, so temporary. She could not shake off the feeling that it would all vanish soon, as she had often seen the phantom cities of the desert plain melt and disappear. The morning after her father left, as she rode El Capitan slowly along the little village streets that lay so dusty and flat and that ended so quickly in the open country, she caught herself wondering how long the dream would endure. The farms, too, with their new green fields and their primitive, pioneer shacks, tent houses and shelters and their acres of still unim- proved land, all lying under the white blaze of the semi-tropical sun, were they more than a mirage weirdly painted in the air by the spirit of the dread- ful land to lure foolish men to their ruin ? K"ear the crossing of a canal she saw a zanjero turning the water through a new delivery gate into a new ditch, and checking El Capitan, she watched the brown flood rolling down the channel prepared for it and heard the dry earth hiss and purr as it sucked up the moisture with the thirst of a thousand years. She wanted to cry out a protest. The effort was so pitifully foolish. This awful, awful land would never yield to the men who sought to subdue it with such feeble means. Erom the little stream of water, no deeper than would reach to El Capitan's 349 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBAEA WOETH knees and no wider than his stride, she looked away and around over the seemingly endless miles of bar- ren waste. The man at the delivery gate recorded the number of inches in his book and, with a greeting to the young woman, mounted his horse and rode away along the canal. Barbara, moving on, left the farms behind and rode into the barren waste. This at least was real. This in its very desolation, its dreadful silence, its still menace, was satisfying. But as on that morning when she first rode El Capitan into the desert from Kingston, she grew afraid. The dreadful spirit of the land se pressed upon her that she turned her horse and fled as one might fly from an approach- ing storm. Another restless, unsatisfying day and a lonely evening dragged by. Texas and Pat she had not seen for a week. Even Abe had not been near her since her father left. To-morrow, she told herself, she would find them at their work and demand a reason for their neglect. The next morning she set out on El Capitan to follow the line of her father's railroad until she should find her neglectful men-folk. As she rode along the right-of-yay she watched the hundreds of Mexican and Indian laborers at their work on the grade and thought of the men who had built the South Central Canal. Those men too had labored for her father, but they worked also for themselves. The canal they built was to reclaim their own land and to make for them farms and homes. These poor fellows on the railroad, she reflected, had no share ia 350 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WIN"NI]!^G OF BAKBAEA WOKTH that which they were doing. There was in their toil nothing but the day's wage. She could not feel, aa she had felt in the South Central District, that she had a part with them in their work. Here and there she recognized a Mexican from Rubio City, and these returned her greeting pleasantly, for they remem- bered the young woman's kindness to the poor. But by far the greater number gave her only sullen glances. She was to them only the daughter of the man for whom they toiled and who had not paid. Passing from gang to gang and camp to camp, watching the dark faces of the laborers, listening to their sullen undertone, the young woman felt the rest- less, threatening spirit of the little army as one may feel sometimes the heavily charged atmosphere before an electric storm. But she did not understand. She had never before ridden over the railroad work alone as she had so often done in the South Central Dis- trict. She grew a little frightened at last at the scowling looks and muttered remarks that followed her as she went, and she was wishing that she had not . come when she saw just ahead Abe Lee and Pat. The surveyor was giving some instructions to the Irish boss and both were so intent that they did not see Barbara approaching. As the young woman drew quite near, a low-browed Mexican who, in watching her approach, either forgot the presence of his superiors or, in sheer ruffianly bravado, ignored them, uttered a coarse remark to his companions about hia employer's daughter. The yovmg woman heard and turned pale as death. 351 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WmN"WG OF BAEBAEA WOETH Pat heard and, turning quickly around, caught sight of Barbara and saw the ruffian who had spoken look- ing at her. With a roar the Irishman leaped for- ward, and with a blow of his huge, hairy fist dropped the Mexican a senseless heap in the dirt. With cries of rage the fellow's countrymen ran toward the white man, drawing their knives as they came. Barbara sat leaning forward in her saddle breathless. Abe Lee was quietly rolling a cigarette. Pat stood motionless, his battle-scarred features set and his eyes shining like points of light. Within ten steps of their boss the little mob stopped. Then the Irishman spoke in a voice that rumbled and shook with menacing rage. "Ye, Manuel an' Pedro — drag that carrion off the right- av-way, an' tell him when he wakes up av he values his life to shtay out av raehe av me two hands. The rest av ye hombres git the hell out av here !" The two whom he called by name did his bidding and the rest scattered like sheep. Pat turned to Bar- bara. " 'Tis sorry I am that ye should see ut, me girl, but ut had to be done." "Oh, Pat! Did you— Is he— " She could not speak the word, but followed with frightened eyes the still form of the unconscious man as his com- panions half -dragged, half -carried him to the shade of a mesquite tree. "There, there, don't worry," said her big friend soothingly. "He's not as much hurted as he should be. He'll have a bit av a bump on his noodle that'll maybe make him a bit careful wid his foul tongue for a while, that's all." 352 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH Barbara looked down into the face of the old glad- iator whose eyes, as they looked up at her, were soft as a childs. "Oh, Pat! Are you sure? He — he crumpled up so ! It was awful !" She shuddered. "There, there ; av course I'm sure. Don't I know ? Look at him; he's sittin' up now. He'll be on his fate in a minute." ^ Sure enough, as Barbara looked again she saw the Mexican rising to a sitting posture and with his hand to his head look around in a dazed manner as though awakening out of a deep sleep. The young woman drew a long breath of relief and, with a faint smile, said to the surveyor, who had drawn nearer: "I'm sorry I came, Abe. I'm afraid you'll think that I'm only in the way to make trouble. But I was so lone- some all alone at home." "Why, Barbara, you know how glad we always are to see you. You must not mind this little incident. It's all in the day's work with Pat, you see. That fellow there has had this coming to him for some time." The Irishman grinned and the young woman on the horse, with a little laugh, said : "All the same I don't think I would like you for a boss, Uncle Pat. You're too — ^too emphatic." And the big Irishman with twinkling eyes retorted: "Sure av ye was boss av a gang ye wud break more hearts wid yer swate face than I could heads wid me two hands." Which retort effectually closed the incident. When the three had chatted a while and Barbara had scolded them for not coming to see her, Abe said; 353 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNIE'G OF BAHBARA WORTH "I think you had better go back now, Barbara. But don't follow the line. Strike west over the desert until you come to the road and go in that way. We can't leave now to go with you, and some of these greasers might get gay again. I'll see you this evening." It was after nine o'clock that night when the sur- veyor finally reached the Worth cottage. Somewhat awkwardly he entered and seated himself in the near- est chair, while Barbara, returning to her favorite rocker by the table, said: "It's time you came. I was so lonely I don't believe I could have stood it another hour. Eeally you and Pat and Tex have neglected me shamefully. You haven't been near since the day father left. Even Pablo has forgotten me." "Pablo is at the power house at Dry River," Abe said slowly. "We've all had our hands full for the last three days. I reckon you know we have not stayed away because we wanted to." Something in the man's tone and manner caused Barbara to look at him closely. Was it a fancy in keeping with her gloomy spirit of the last few days, or did the surveyor's tall form droop as if with dis- couragement? He was not looking at her with his usual straightforward manner. He seemed to be studying the pattern of the Wavajo rug that lay between them, and certainly his lean, bronzed face wore a careworn look thai; was new. She noticed too that he wore belt and revolver, which was very unusual for Abe. 354 Digitized by Microsoft® THE WINNING OF BAEBAEA WOETH "Of course; I know!" she exclaimed. "It was childish of me to complain. Forgive me." Abe, without answering, looked at her — a straight, questioning, challenging look that for some reason brought another flush to her cheek. Then the sur- veyor turned his gaze again upon the Navajo rug. "I know you are tired," said the young woman again. "You have so much to think about with all those men to look after and daddy away. Come now ; you sit right over here in this easy chair and shut your eyes and smoke and forget all about the work and everything, while I make a little music for you." Barbara did not realize how she tried this man of the desert with a glimpse of a heaven that Abe knew could never be for him. For a moment he sat motionless without answering, his eyes still fixed upon the floor. Then with a quick, resolute move- ment he threw up his head and straightened himself. "I'm sorry, Barbara, but I can't stay this