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1 UJuiOl/A 11 niiuu v) THE Rl\ By EDNA CHAPTER XIV. (Continued From Last Friday "From the water-tower." Mac-Lean's voice split the wind. "The wires are all down between the Crossing aud the towns. Coronel was on the tower?lie got the signal from the Heading?fce's been there each night for a week!" This was a great night?for his chief, Gerty Hnrdin caught the thrill of his hero-worship. How splendid, how triumphant! Innes found herself in her brother's buggy. His horse, under the whip, dashed forward. Suddenly he pulled It back on its haunches, narrowly averting a jam. "Where's MacLean?" The boy rode back. "Who's call Ing me?" "Give me your horse." demanded Hardin. "You take my sister home." Gerty Hardin's party was lorn like a bow of useless finery. Facing the wind now, no one could talk; no one wanted to talk. Each- was threshing out Ms jwn thoughts; personal ruin - stared them in the face. Every man Was remembering that reckless e* j posed cut of Hardin's; pinning tliefi j hope to that ridiculed levee. The horses broke into a reckless gallop, the buggies lurching wildly as they | dodged one another. The axles creaked and strained. The wind tore iway the hats of the women, rent their pretty chiffon veils. The dusty road was peopled with dark formless shapes*. The signals shad spread the alarm; the desert* . world was flocking to the gorge of the New river, tc the levee. The women were dumped without ceremony on the sidewalk, under the screened bird cage of the- Desert hotel. Shivering, her pre .y teeth chattering, Qerty Hardin ushered them Into tbe deserted hall. The Chinese cook snored away his vigil in' an armchair hy the open fire. The men had rushed away to the levee. "Women must wait," Gerty's laugh was hysterlcah "We can do no good down there." She threw herself, conscious of heroineship, into the ordeal of her spoilt entertainment. It was always an Incoherent dream to Innes Hardin, that wild ride homeward, the lurching scraping buggies, . the apprehensive silence, this huddling of women like^ scared rabbits around a taDie mat naa eise Deen gay. j.ji? women's teeth shivered over the Ices. Their faces looked ghastly by the light shed* by Gerty's green shades, " She wished she were at the levee. She simply must go to the levee. "I'm going to get a wrap," she threw to Gerty as she passed. "I left it in the hall." She stole through the deserted office, past the white and silver soda fountain, and out into the speeding blur of the night.. Formless shapes, soft-footed, passed her. As she sped past the French windows of the dining room she could get a view of the shattered party. Innes made a dive into the darkness. There was a dim outline of hastening Innes Made a Dive Into the Darkness. figures in fropt of .her. She could hear some one breathing heavily bjf her side. They kept apace, stumbling, occasionally, the moving gloom betraying their feet. A man came running back toward the town. "It's cutting back!" He cried. "Nothing but the levee will save the towns!** The levee! The harsh breathing followed her. As they passed the wretched hut of a Mexican gambler, a sputtering light shone out. Innes looked back. She saw the wrinkled face of CoroneU who /ER..... H AIKEN >; M?r. um-jn-apw *THLx*r&-lmd left lus water tower. His black coarse hair was streaming in the wind, his mouth, ajar, was expressionless, though the fulfilment of the Great Prophecy was at hand. Beneath the cheek-splotches of green and red paint rested a curious dignity. The Indian was to come again into his own. What was his own, she questioned, as her feet stumbled over loosened boarding, a ditch crossing she had not seen. More corn, perhaps more fiery' stuff to wash down the corn! More white man's money in the brown man's pocket?that, his happiness. Why should he not thank the.gods? His gods were speaking! For when the waters of the great river ran back to the desert, the long ago outraged goda were no longer angry. The towns might go, but the great Indian gods were showing their good will! She joined a group at the levee, windine her veil over mouth and fore head. Dark shapes swayed near her. The wind was making havoc of the mad waters rushing down from the channel. The noise of wind and waters was appalling. Strange loud voices came through the din, of Indians, Mexicans; guttural sounds. Men ran past her, carrying shovels, pulling sacks of sand; lanterns, blown dim, flashed their pale light on her chilled cheeks. Not even the levee, she knew then, would save the towns. This was the end. CHAPTER XVOn the Levee. Hardin did not^go home that night He was feeling to the quick the irony of his position; his duty now to protect the levee he'd ridiculed; now the only hope of the towns! The integrity of the man never faltered, though his. thoughts ran wild. Like the relentless hounds of Actaeon, they pursued him, barking at his vanity. He started the anxious ranchers at j sacking sand. _ Bodefeldt ran up to tell him that there was a hill of filled sacks over In Mexicali. "Rickard had a bunch of Indians working for n week," The confusion of the shy fellow did not escape Hardin. Oh, he knew what Bodefeldt was thinking, what every l une was saying! They were all laughing at him. The coincidence of this extraordinary flood had upheld Rickard's wild guess, haloed his judgment. It was all a piecfe of his infernal luck. Sickening, that's what it was! His orders scattered. He ran up and down the levee, giving orders; recoiling them when he found he was repeating Rickard's. This new humiliation, coming on the heels of the dredge fiasto, put him in execrable temper. He shouted his orders over the nobes of the night. He rated the men, bullied them. No one did anything right! Lord, what he had to put up with! <The other men, the ranchers and engineers, saw In his excitement certainty of the valley's doom. The wind and the darkness contributed to the confusion. Eager shovels were tossjng up earth before anyone could tell where the danger point would be. The water was not yet high enough to determine the place of battle. Sacked sand was Demg brought over froii^Mexicalt. Fifty pair of hands made short work of Rickard's "hill." Lanterns were flashing through the darkness like restless fireflies. The wind and rushing water deadened the sound of the voices. Itj was a battle of giants against pyg-j mies. In the darkness, the giants threatened to conquer. At three in the morning, a horseman | rode in from *assett's, one 01 tne Dig ranches to the north, cut by the New river. % ^ "The river is cutting back," he called through the din, "cutting back toward the towns." # # I A turn in the gorge, a careless dump-pit had pulled the river like a mad horse back on its haunches. It was kicking back. . v "They are short-handed up there. : They need help.""Dynamite," cried Silent arid Har| din antiphonally. They happened to be standing near. "We must have dynn'mite," bawled tJnrdin. "Are the wires down between h? re and Brawley? We must get a j wire somehow to Los Angeles, to rush it uown nere tnis morning. "It's here. There is a carload on ! the siding," yelled Silent. ' Hardin did not need to ask by i whose orders ^t was there. An angry j scowl spoiled, his face. "Put some on the machine." He I was turning away. Silent called after him. Did Mr. Hardin think it was safe? There was no road between the towns and Fasi sett's. The night, the explosive?should 1 the.v not wait till morning? The <jues tlon threw his late chief fnto a rage. "Did I ask you to take it?" It was the opening for his fury. "Safe! Will the towns be safe if the river cuts back here? The channel has got to be widened, and you talk of your own precious skin! Wait till I ask you to take it. Get out the machine. I'll take it to Fassett's myself." Silent left the levee, smarting. He backed the machine out of the shed and sped through the darkness toward MexicalL, where the car of explosives was isolated. Hardin, buttoned up to the ears, hia soft hat pulled tight over his forehead, was 'waiting impatiently. Here was something to be done; he coveted th activity. "I thought you were never coming," he grumbled. "Let me take it!" pleaded the engineer. "Nonsense, there is no danger." Hardin saw personal affection in the plea. He iftt his hand affectionately on the man's shoulder. "You go home and catch a nap; this is my job." He was standing on the step. "Crank her." There was nothing for Siler.t to do but to get out, Hardin pointed the long nose of the car into the darkness. She was off like the greyhound she suggested, missing a telegraph.pole by half an inch. "Who Is In charge here?" a woman's *v<5ice was piercing the racke? of wind and wave. The dawn was breaking. Down the New river he could see the wind whipping the water.into whitecapped fury. "Vicious," he muttered. "Those heavy waves play the Old Harry with the! levee." "Where is my brother?" "Miss Hardin!" cried Silent. "Where is he?" demanded Innea Her hair streamed away from her face. Her cheeks were blanched. Her yellow eyes, peering into the dusk, looked owlish. Her wind-spanked skirts clung to her limbs. To Silent she looked boyfsh, as though clipped and trousered. "Where is my brother?" she repeated. Silent told her without reservations where he had gone and why. There was no feminlDe foolishness about that sister of Hardin's. A chip of the old block. . Funny, the men all thought of her as Hardin's daughter on account of the difference of age. As to a comrade, proudly, he bragged of the taking of the dynamite over that roadless waste. < "Whom did ne leave in ms piacer ' Silent knew, only, that he himself was not In charge! Hardin had or dered him to bed.' "Maybe Mr. Estrada?" she hazarded. "He Is not here, he went down the road to look after the track. Hardin went off in snch * hurry, I guess he told nobody," chuckled the engineer still glowing. , "Then I'm it!" cried Innes Hardin **VU1 you take my orders, Silent?" 'Sure," he chuckled again. . Through the rush of the wind and water r.?rae the whistle of a locomotive. "A special!" cried Silent. Hardin's sister and his friend looked at each other, the same thought in minds Rickard, in from the Heading! ' On her face Silent saw the same spectacular impulse which had flashed over Hardin's features a-short time before. She put her hand on his arm. "Silent, you're his friend. Straighten this XX7 a nn n'f Ka?*a .V?lm rtATYin ho plz?. vuii ?? c vau i ua*c miu wiut jpylng?and find this." She waved her land toward the disorganized groups. "I'd take more orders," suggested the engineer. "Then send a third of them home, tell them to come back tonight at six. Send away the other third, tell them to come back at noon. Keep the other shift. Say you'll have coffee senl from the hotel, tell them Hardin says to stop wasting stuff. Tell them, oh, tell them anything you can think of, Silent, before he comes." Her breakdown was girlish. She could'hear the signal of the locomotive; coming closer. Then she could hear the pant of the engine as it worked up the grade. It was a sieuuy genue ciimu an ine wuy nuiu the junction, two hundred feet below eealevel, to the towns resting at the level of the sea. It quickened hei thought of the power of the river, Nothing between it and the tracks a< Salton. Nothing to stop its flow into that spectacular new sea whose basin did not need a drop of the precious misguided flow. She could hear the bells; now the train was coming intc the station; she would not wait foi Silent. She did not want to meet Rickard. * No one saw ?er as she left the levea She passed Silent, who was Issuing oi> ders. She heard him say, "The boss su.vs so/ She took the road by the railroad sheds, to avoid the dismissed shifts, moving townward. . At full speed, she collided with a man, rounding the sheds' corner. It was Jlickard. Her veil had slipped to her. shoulders and he saw her face. * "Miss Hardin!" he cxclaimed, "Whatever are you doing here?" "I was looking for ray brother." "You ought not to be out at night alone here." "It's morning!'*"With every Indian in the country coming in. I'll send Parrish with you." Ciu- ? r?o MMt r,u Ktm out; ruu>.>u uciuuu unu. She tried to tell him that she knew every Indian In Mexicall, every Mexican in the twin towns,' but he would not listen to her. "I'm not going to let you go home alone." 1 She . blinked rebellion. at the supi * _ * ~~ ^ ii She Collided With a Man. tl j planter of her brotlierr But she found b herself following Parrish. She took a a j deep pride in her independence, , her ^ ! fearlessness. Tom let her go where j ehe liked. She had an impulse to dismiss Parrish; every man' was needed, e j but he would obey Rickard's orders. 0 MncLean had told her that! "They ; ! don't like him. but they mind him 1" Rickard made hia way down to the = levee. "Where is Hardin?" he asked of every one he met. Silent came up to explain that Hardin had gone up to Fassett's just a few minutes ago to carry dynamite. The river was cutting back there. "Good," cried Rickard, "that's bully!" "He left me in charge," glibly lied the friend of Hardin. "Any orders, sir?" . "Things are going all right?" began the manager. He stopped. From above came a dull |par. n. "Dynamite!" cried Rlckard. The friend of Hardin had nothing to say. "I thought you said he went only a few minutes ago-?" demanded hls^chlef. There was another detonation. Down the river came fhe booming of the second charge. "That's dynamite for sure," evaded Silent ' "Not a minute too soon!" declared Rlckard, going back to his inspection. . CHAPTER XVI. Rlckard In Trvn.. The town woke to a matter-offact day. The sensfetiBnal aspect of the runaway river hod passed with the night. The word spread that the flood waters were under control; the | men had gone home to sleep, so the women got breakfast as usual, and tidjed their homes. The Colorado was always breaking out, like a naughty child from school. Never would the cry of "The River"! fail to drag the vi ? -j * ~i 1,? r>.,+ uiuuu Hum tiicix tuccns. uut icu^i always came; the threatened danger | was always averted and these pioneer " women had acquired the habit in swii _ reacticn. Thai afternoon, Mrs. Youngborg wa | to entertain at the ABC r:mch th | ladles of the Improvement club. I i was a self-glorification meeting, t< \ celebrate the planting of trees in th' j streets of Calexico. and to plan th< ? campaign of their planting. Mrs Blinn drove into town to get Gertj Hardin. Neither woman had seen he husband since the interrupted drivi the night before. "I don't know whether I should go,1 Mrs. Hardin hesitated, her face turne< toward the ABC ranch. "Perhaps there is something we could do." "I have just come from tne levee.Mrs. Blinn's Jolly face had lost it apprehension. "The water has no risen an inch since breakfast. Most 0' the men have been sent home. Wher Howard didn't come home to lun<?h, ) grew anxious. But Mr. Rickard say.' he sent him to Fassett's with mon dynamite." j "There he is," thrilled Gerty. Mrs. Blinn's eye swept the street "Where? Your husband?" "No, Mr. Rickard. Passing the bank There, he's stopped. I wonder if he h going in? You call him, Mrs. Blinn." Obediently her friend hailed Rick ard. He turned back to the "windj street. He felt boyish; the crisis was giving him mercurial feet. He lovec | the modern battle. Elements to pil j one's brains against, wits againsl | force! Gerty Hardin's face was flushin: I and paling. "The river," she faltered i "Should we be alarmed, Mr. Rickard?' Smiling, he assured her she should) not be alarmed; the levees would pro tect the towns. "Mr. Hardin Is up at Fassett'i ranch, he will be coming back today, j I told your husband, Mrs. Blinn, t< catch a nap and then relieve Mr. Har din." Gerty found a significance in hi.? words. He had said "Mr. Hardin," and ' "your husband, Mrs. Blinn." It was \ enough to weave dreams around. : "We can't do anything, Mr/ Rickard j to help?" urged Gerty Hardin, hei , voice tremulous. ^ "I hope we won't have to call on you \ nt all." There was no excuse to linger f \ Gerty threw a wistful little smile nl < parting. . i (To be Continued Friday.) \ JEW ENGLAND MILLS * WILL PAY FAIR PRICE Shreveport, La., March 28.?Aserting that Eastern mills will as eadily pay a'high price for Southern otton as a lower price, G. H. H. ioule, of the Cotton Exchange deartment of the Shawnut Bank of toston, told members of the Louisina Bankers' Association in session ere tonight, that there is no reason 5 believe the proposed reduction in creage in the South will decrease lie output of the Eastern mills for tie year. "" "We must consider the fact that an nmense portion of the 1918 crop is et being hald," he said. "This left ver crop is sufficient to make up or the decrease in production from tie farm; and yet so much of it belg in the hands of the farmer with lie cooperation of the Southern ankers and merchants, he should be ble to obtain a fafr price for. both is 1918 and this year's crops. New England cotton manufacturrs. Mr. Soule said, are showme no bjections to the proposed reduction i Southern cotton acreage. Pure Ice Manufactured Undei SOFT DRINKS Sol CIGARETTES - TOBACCOS P_, CANDIES v v>0. FRUITS We CIGARS " theme licit jt Abbeville Ca >' >/ ' j . .. ?** . C. T ! 1 ?"5 r FERTU / I represent the Works, of Charlestc hand a good stock, hard to g<et a little la in supplying your ne ROBT. i [grow big S The demand the coming yeai will far exceed that of any rec The half-starved peoples of Europe ar I ing. And the world is depending upo: H V/xii Mnnnt raise a 1009& croD unless 1 a matter of balanced conditions of the Potash must be present in the prop be raised. PLANTERS DOUBLES' because it contains available'Phospho right proportions. Every bag is stamped with our Giant for your protection, and better place j avoid delayed delivery. Ask our agent in your town for infor us direct. , Planters Fertilize; v manuf; A.W. CHARLESTON, 9 * I " * . 4 ' , . J+f - V NOTICE - ^ ' ? - 'i Deputy Collectors Albert S. Fant and A. H. Wells will be at Abbeville, S. C., on Friday and Saturday, April . 4th and 5th, 1919, for the purpose * of giving information to corporations '? ^ -M officials in regard-io income tax returns of corporations, which, returns must be in the office of fhe Collector not later than May 1st. It is regret- , w. ,.j ted tjiat these deputies will not ^be a?4 21U1C IU llidXVC l/Ub tiiC IVIUIIIO ???v vvj corporations, foT the-reason that their tim eis limited to undertake thia * -I work. But they will cheerfully an- ?\i swer to the best of their ability, all questions relating to the application V j of the law t<^ these forms. . > ' j. They will also be glad to receive . income returns of afty individual tax- - -Hs payer who -for any reason was un- .' able to make his return before March ; 15th, when the time for filing returns expired. . Taxpayers are advised to seek out these deputies and have them assist \ them in preparing the returnr Where the delinquency was unavoidable, a & statement in the form of an affidavit v-\ > must be made ,and the total amount . of the tax must.be paid. "" > / ,-i|S Cream? " Sanitary Conditions ^ t Drinks ahd nfections..... are prepared to serve yop is' >st courteous manner and so- ' >ur patronage. ~ ' Zj indyj (Kitchen ' ~ JZER3 Ashepoe Fertilizer >n,S. C., and have on < Fertilizers may be -.i ter on, so don't delay eds. ' - 7|| S. LINK. | r for Cotton, Corn, Grain, etc.,5 I .-ent years. H e even nowcrying out for food *nd cloth q the Fanner* of America to Supply it. fou have a 100 % soil. Fertility is largely soil. Phosphoric Acid, Ammonia, and H icr proportions if bumper crops are to (B f FERTILIZER I ITOUR YIELD I ric Acid, Ammonia and Potash in the B Lizard Trade-Mark. Look for it?it's Eg 'our order for Planter's right now and K. mation, free advice, or prices, or write g r & Phosphate Co. I1 VCTURERS J I ,y* Sf<-^? * t * + 1 ' *" * J{ ,:M . ''S-SfSSS