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THE RF * By EDNA SYNOPSIS. CHAPTER I?K. C\ Rickard, / a engineer of the Overland Pacific, i called to the office of President Mar shall in Tucson, Ariz. "Casey" is an enigma to the office force; he wear "dude" clothes, but he had resigned a chair of engineering in the East t go on the road as a fireman and hi promotion had been spectacular. While waiting for Marshall Richar * reads a report on the ravages of the Colorado, despite the efforts of Tho mjrs Hardin of th e Desert Reclamation company. This Hardin had been a student under Rickard and had married Gerty Holmes, with whom Rickard had fancied he was in love. CHAPTER II?Marshall tells Rickard the Overland Pacific has got to step in to save, the Imperial Valley and sends him to the break. Rickard declines because he does not want to supplant Hardin, but is won over. "Stop the River; damn the expense," says Marshall. CHAPTER III?Rickard journeys to Calexico, sees the irrigated desert and learns much about Hardin and his work. CHAPTER IV?At the hotel he meets Mr. and Mrs. Hardin and innes Hardin, Hardin's half sister. Disappointed in her husband and an incorrigible coquette, Mrs. Hardin sets her cap for her former lover and invites him to dinner. CHAPTER V?Rickard visits the . company's offices and takes control He finds the engineers loyal to Har din and hostile to him. Estrada, a Mexican, son of the "Father of the Imperial Valley," tells him' of the general situation. - CHAPTER VI?Rickard attends a meeting of the directors and asserts his authority. Hardin rages. Estrada _ tells Rickard of his foreboding that his work will fail. "I can't see it finished." CHAPTER VII?Innes is discovered in her garden. She tries to cheer up Hardin, who is furious against Rickard. , CHAPTER VIII?A family luncheon of the Hardins which throws light _ - on them. CHAPTER IX?Hardin discovers that Rickard is planning a levee to protect Calexico and puts him down as incompetent. Gerty thinks her lord jealous. CHAPTER X?The Hardin dinner to Rickard discloses further the family characteristics . Hardin is surly and sulky. Innes is hardly polite. Ger' ty plans a "progressive ride" in . Rickard's honor. CHAPTER X. (Continued From Last Friday N Gerty said carelessly- that she had had it for a long time. For she had had the material a long time! It wasn't necessary to explain-to her husband's sister that it had been made up that week. She hoped that she didn't look "fussed up." Would Mr. Rickard think she was attaching any Importance to the simple little visit? For it was nothing to him, of course. A man of his standing, whom the great Tod Marshall ranked so ?'. high, probably dined out several times each week, with white-capped maids ? ^and i candelabra! If Tom had only 'made the most of his opportunities. ^ ->vnat a gamuie, me to a woman! . - ; She made a trip into her bedroom and took a reassuring survey in her mirror. The lingerie frock would look simple to a man who would, never suspect It of hand-made duplicity. Her glass ^declared the hand-whipped " medallions' casual and elegant. And a long time ago, a lifetime ago, Ilickard had told her that she always should wear blue, because of her eyes, Innes from the next room could hear Gerty teasing Tom to wear his Tuxedo. "Isn't one dude enoHgli for ycu?" growled her surly lord. Innes recognized the mood and shrank from the ordeal ahead. It was the mood of the Hardin in the rough, the son of his frontier mother, the fruit, of old Jasper Gingg, whose smithy had been the rendezvous for the wildest roughs, the fiercest cattlefhen in Missouri. *Td let him see you knew what's what, even if we do live like gipsies." The answer to that was another growl. Innes could hear him dragging VUl Liic piVVC99t UlIIUIUl^ UVtT CilUI ' . detail. That confounded laundry had torn his shirt. He hadn't a decent collar to his name. Where was his Mack string tie? If Gert would keep "his things in the lowest drawer! Hang that button! Gerty emerged from the encounter, her face very red. Innes could see her biting her lips to keep the tears back as she Dut tho last touches to the table. "She's tired out," thought the sister /ER H AIKEN * lardin. "She's probabl fiu .v? __ elf to death over this dii ner." I A few minutes later Richard 01 rived In a sack suit of tweeds. Gerty' 1 greeting was a little abstracted. Ho> could slie make Innes understand t j tell Tom to charge his coat? Tli : duty of a host, she suddenly rcraen: i bered, was to dress down rather tha ' up to the chances of his guest. Sh !' regretted bitterly her insistence. Wa 1 ever anyone so obtuse as Innes? Mi 1 ; Rickard would see that they though it a big event. She was watching tli curtain where Tom would emerge j And his coat was a style of Severn l seasons ago and absurdly tight! Sh '"made an unintelligible excuse am darted behind the portiere. ?. Tom's face was apoplectic. He wa I wrestling with a mussed tie; the col I. lar showed a desperate struggle. I Gerty made wild signals for him t< change his clothcs. She waved j hand indicating Rickard; she pointe< to Tom's sack suit lying on the floo where he had walked out of it. "What is it all about?" "Ssh," whispered his wife. AgaiJ the wild gestures. "Well, aren't you satisfied? Don': | I look like a guy?" He could be heard distinctly in th* | next room. Gerty gave it up in de I spair. She dabbed some more powdei ! on her nose and went out looking like t a martyr?a very pretty martyr! Rickard praised the miracles of thfi i teat Qtt&a zzss&bti Iz I nc?3 Of ttn-ir utd maciun. Srit Innes,'" | she was thinking, when Tom, red and; perspiring, brought another element j of discomfort into the room. | Gerty ushered them immediately to' , the table. She covered the first min-j ' ut<*s which might be awkward with] ' her small chatter. Somewhere she i j had read that it was not well to make v apologies for lack of maid or fare. j Besides Mr. Ri?kard remembered Lawrence! That dreadful dining j room, the ever-set table! How she1 I had hated it| though she had not ' i?~ ?? ^ r..i itnfll <4>aI | Miuun nun ii'tuiui it WHO uuui one . had escaped. "We are simple folk here, Mr. Riek1 ard," she announced, as they took I their places around the pretty table, j I That was her only allusion to deficien-; I eies, but it covered her noiseless move- j j ments around the board between ' courses, filled up the gaps when she ! made necessary dives into kitchen or j primitive ice chest, and set the key for the homeliness of the meal itself. The dinner was a triumph of apparent simplicity. Only Innes could guess the time consumed in the' perfection of detail, details dear to the hostess' heart. The almonds sho had blanched, of course, herself; had dipped and salted them. The cheese straws were her own. She did not make the mistake of stringing out endless courses. A.n improvised buffet near at hand made the serving a triumph. Rickard praised each dish; openly he was admiring her achievement, innes, remembering the story Gerty bad told her in dots and dashes, tiie story of the old rivalry, glanced covertly-at Tom sulking at the head of ais own table. "Ponr Riilfcv Aphm<3c" chr* fVirmrrhf | 'Dear, houest old bear!" j "Innes!" cried Mrs. Hardiifc She turned to find that fttwV j j was staring at her. She had not heard 1 tiis effort to include her in the conI irersation. !. "Mr. liickard asked you if you like | It here?" J "Thank you?why, of course!" Her | answer sounded pert to herself. Her sister-in-law hastened to add i that Miss Hardin was very lonely, was ! really all alone in the world ; that they ! Insisted on her making her home with 1 them. Innes had with difficulty restrained In denial. "After all, what other home had she? Still the truth laid been de- ! j fleeted. She recalled the sacrifice it j j had been to cut her college course in ! order to make a home in the desert! f for the brother who had always so j gently fathered her, who had helped I her invest lior small capital that it i ; might spell a small income. She re-1 | called his resistance when she had | called in a mortgage; who could watch 1 ; that mad scapegoat of a river playing , : pranks with desert homes and not , , yearn to help? Xot a Hardin. She j still gloried in remembering that she had at least driven one pile into that! rebellious stream, even if when she i loft the valley it would be as a bread! winner. She was prepared. She was > a good draftsman; she would go as an apprentice in an architect's office, i She had already settled on the archi tect! i "Are you going to Los Angeles soon?" She heard the new manager address his host "I'm taking orders!" There. was another . awkward, iyo ment whon fl.vrdin pushed back his ^ plate declaring he had reached iiis j limit; it was too big a spread /or him! It was the stupid rudeness of the ,, small bad boy; even Innes flushed for her sister-in-law. With resolution Gerty nssumed con-. s trol of the conversation. Her role 1 sounded casual; no one could have suspected it of frequent rehearsal, j They must not talk of the river; that t was taboo. Railroad matters were t also excluded. Equally difficult t would be reminiscences of Lawrence ^ days. So she began brightly with a $ current book. The theater proved a j safe topic, and by that natural route ? they reached New York. Innes, who t had never been farther east than Chicago, was grateful to play audience. Hardin, who knew his New York per- ? haps, bettor than either, refused to be ? drawn !uto the gentle stream. Things must be kept sprightly. Had Mr. Klckard met many of the valley ^ people? And It was then that sin threw her bomb toward the liatcnln? silent Hardins. She would like'Mr Rickard to meet some of their friends He s:ald that he would be delighted but that he was planning to leuvi shortly for the Heading. "Of course." She did not give he) lffieba-nd time to speak. She mean' afterward! She was planning to giv< something a bit novel in his honor < She refused to see the glare from th( angry man in his outgrown dinnef coat. She did not glance toward.tlit 1 sister. What did Mr. Rickard think 1 about a progressive ride? < "It sounds very entertaining, bui < what do you do?" 1 Til pro wfic n lrmrl rniflfnw from Tom ' With deepened color Gerty told her idea. A drive, changing partners, so he could meet all the guests. "I think it will surprise you to find so many nice peuple in here; it certainly did me. One doesn't expect to find congenial people in a new country like this." Rickard remembered that he had to get back to his hotel. He had letters to write. It had been a splendid dinner! And what a wonderful home she had made out of a sand-baked lot, out of a tent! He spoke of the roses and the morning glories. His eyes felt on the open piano, the rending table with the current magazines. Now he couldn't understand why they #ver went to that hotel! Ckrty'a eyes we.'e shining as deep pools of water, on which the sun plays. sne looked almost infantile as sne stood by the two tall men, her'head perched birdlike. "Good-by! and I hope you'll come again!" ' Of course he'd come again! "And you will let me know when you return, so that I may set the date for my party?" Iunes did not get his answer. She had been observing that he was not taller than her brother. He looked taller. He was lean, and Tom was growing stocky. She wished he would not slouch so, his hands in his pockets ! In Tucson, before she knew that she must dislike Iiickard, she had had an impressing of virile distinction, of grace, a suggestion of mastered raus- 1 cles. He had known that it was her ( brother he was supplanting?did he get any satisfaction from the fact that it was the husband of the woman who c had jilted him? Anyway, she did not . like him. She could never forgive a t hurt that was done to her own. She was a Hardin. "Inues! Mr. RIckard said good aight!" She gave him the tips of her cool, browned fingers. Her eyes did not Her Eyes Did Not Meet His. meet his; she would not meet that 3 laughing scrutiny. "Good night, Mr. Riekard." CHAPTER X!. The Fighting Chance. "Casey's back, spying!" announced !| Wooster at mess one evening. By that >| time the feeling against "Marshall's ? man" was actively hostile. There had ? l>eon a smudge of slumbering fires he- 0 fore Riekard had left the towns. I Fanned by much talk during his ab- p scnec, it had burst into active blaze, a rhey were ready to show their resent- k tnent against the man who had sup- n planted Ilardin, their Napoleon, if it ? cost them their places. By this time fej the cause of the desert was as com- Pj pelling to these hardy soldiers as were g the lily banners of France to the fol- ^ lowers of the Little Corporal. . ||j IUekard was not? expected. He had jB been gone less thim a week. The ef- J? feet of his return was that of a per on a; returns suddenly into a room, ushlng 6C *ctiv<? babel of tongues. Iv knew what he would find, ample c?iisons why! He was not given the utisfnetion of locating any particular ^ ct of disobedience. The men preented a blank wall of politeness, rea? onable and Ineffectual. Silent exilalnod briefly that ho had not been ? ble to collect enough meu. Most of he force wj\* ' * v In Ihe No. 6 disrlct, trying ; *' "<vl Wlsarla throuph ft,-" hat year's crops vo; l gang was at Grnr, '. [oor needed bracing. An. rish's, was In the Volcano rc i ;ion, wh'jre they were excavating for he new headgate. "X? hurry for that." Rickard was ;lad. to pick a flaw In such a perfect mttern. "You might have withdrawn hose men and put them to work-on he lcvec." "I was given no authority to do hat." The chief pretended to accept tiv reason; else it were a case of cliaiig ing horses in midstream. What h had seen at the Heading, his peep a the exposed valley, his gleaning o the river's history had convinced hin i that in haste and concentrate \ lnj I the valley's only chance. He must re! fuse to see the insubordination of thi j engineers, the seasoned desert sol | diers. He needed them, must wii j cneir confidence if he could. If not j they must save the valley anyway ; i The imperturbable front of Silent, hi?; bland, big stare, exasperated him.> easier to control the snapping terriei * % 3f a Wooster. He had told Silent dis- i tinctly to gather his men and rush th< levee. A good soldier had made a better guess than his, and had stopped the casual work at Black Butte, 01 j bad found Indians! Thoughtfully' Rickard, followed that last suggestion icross the ditch into Mexlcall. He gathered all the recruits he seeded th&t morning. The Indians, azy Cocopahs, crept out of their huts :o earn a few of the silver dollars held jut to them by the new white boss. 1 few Mexican laborers were bribed :o toss up earth to the west of the own. Estrada, at his request, put a jquaa or nis road force at the service! )f the manager. He could not spare j nany men. The railroad had already started J he line projected by Hardin to Mar-1 shall the year before, a spur across] he desert, dipping Into Mexico be-, :weon the lean, restless sandhills,) !rora Calexico to Yuma. The Mexican ( government had agreed to pay five j housnnd dollars a mile "were the road lompleted at a certain period. Estrada ! vas keping his men on the jump to ' ill the contract, to make his nation j )ay the price. The completion of the ; oad meant help to the valley; supples, men, could be rushed through to he break. (Tp be Continued Friday.) NEW BOOKS AT LIBRARY. j TU? -f/-n11 v-i r* noTir KnnLrc Vi Q VP X lie lUiiU ?y JU5 lit TT ?m.v, >een received at the Library. Friends >f the institution are urged to keep lp their subsciption and to make use' >f the books: m $825.( EC0N01V The economical aut we are conserving in < curing the utmost serv The valve-in-head 2 its fuel. It is a commc Chevrolet to run twer Economy in operatr u.-j. .1-x _ J? _ uui weigiii ui car, me Weight is an import gardless of its load, a own weight. Chevrol enough so the machine fuel, and heavy enoug road conditions. Economy also is a rr Chevrolet valve-in-hea making the interior ei s. N. Distributor Foi . Abbeville, r* . . In Another Girl's Shoes. ~ A Diversity of Creatures. The Derelict. The Daredevil. The Shadow Line. FARM FOR S/ 87 ACRES?12 milei McCormick Cou: of W. D. Morrah Pi 40 APRES?About s ville, no improve and t Aber. 79 3-4 ACRES?3 mi] one settlement? on place. Plenty running through 227 1-2 ACRES?11 . ville. This is a sp erty. A lot of sav Pi 100 1-2 ACRES?IS ville. Good resid ings. Well atere< and timber. Pi 189 1-4 ACRES?1( ville. . A splendi provements, aboi torn lands. P 541 ACRES?1-2 mi mile from Calhc farm being oper Lies well) is well abundance of wc Pri Can Arran ROBERT _T="L. IBVROLi 1 ?i~ )0 Del IY omobile is the much det every possible way. We rice with the minimum < notor is economical, fo >n occurrence for a m lty-five miles on a gallo on depends not only on bearings used, and cart ;ant factor, it must not 1 ,n automobile must, firs efccars are ,of the pro 3 will be economical in ' to make the automo latter of construction ar ,d motor is fitted with asy to inspect. GILM Abbeville and Ander * The Definite Ouject. The Dark Star. Innocent. On the Branch. The Hundredth Chanca. LANDS kLE..... 3 from Abbeville, in nty, adjoining lands rice, $30.00 per acre. >ix miles from Abbeiments, all in wood Price, $25 per acre. les from Abbeville? two horse farm open wood, and stream place,, Price, $2,000.00. 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