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i. VY VJ THE RIV m By EDNAF ;i. ??????????-?????? CHAPTER XXIV. j si A half hour later, MacLean saw his ^ chief leave his tent. He was in fresh , : \? linens. fi "I wouldn't swap places with him this minute! She'll be as mad as a ? ----- i * wet nenr Mrs. Hardin, from her bed by her ,<( screen window, saw him coming. She slipped Into a seminegligee of alternate rows of lace and swiss constructed for such possible emergencies. She did not make the mistake of smooth- h ing her hair; her instinct told her j h that the fluffy disorder bore out the ^ use of the negligee. She was sewing in her ramada when Rickard's knock sounded on the screen door. Despite his protests she started water boiling in her chafing dish. He ^ had not time for tea, he declared, but she insisted on making this call of a ^ social nature. She opened a box of sugar wafers, her zeal that of a child with a toy kitchen; she was playing E doll's house. Rickard made several openings for ^ his errand, but her wits sped like a gopher from his labored digging. g She met his mood with womanly dig- d nity; she tutored her coquetries, with- j d held her archness. ^ He found he would have to discard ^ diplomacy, blurt out his message; use bludgeons for this scampering agility. "Un mlootnn la a little ftwbward. .. tfi/ UitOOlVU ?w * ?*vv?? ? ? r Y Mrs. Hardin. I hope you will take It all right, that you will not be of- c fended." "Offended?" Her face showed alarm. "It's about Ling. He's a queer fellow; they all are, you know." He was blundering like a schoolboy un. der the growing shadow In Gerty's E blue eyes. "They resent authority? .. that is, from women. He Is a tyrant, I Ling is." I " "Yes?" Ah, she would not help him. j f Let him flounder! ,1 "He wants to be let alone; hej r doesn't appreciate your kind help,! Mrs. Hardin." M0h r ' Her eyes were hot with ! v tears?angry tears. She could not j ? speak or would not She sat In her t spoiled doll's house, all her pleasure ^ In her toy dlahes, her pretty finery, ruined. He could not care if he could j j humiliate her so. It was the most < t mnmnnf A# hoF lifo Nftt PVPTI j ?n lu UlVUI^Uli VA UV* ?MVI *?V? *? * ?? ' ^ when Rickard had left her, with his f kisses still warm on her lips, had she j e felt eo outraged. He was treating her j ^ as thongh she were a servant?dis- \ j charging her?because she was the t wife of Hardin. Her eyes grew black i with anger; she hated them both; be- . tween them, their jealousy, their rlvalry, what had they made of her life? i ^ She remembered the woman she had ; seen in his ramada; she had heard ; that the Mexican was in camp, em- 1 ployed by Rickard. Her thoughts were c like swarming hornets. lie's an ungrateful beast, Mrs. j. Hardin. I told him I would not let j j you waste your kindness one instant j longer?" - j Oh, she understood! A bitter pleas- ! ure to see him so confused. Rickard, i before whose superior appraisement j she had so often wilted! She would ! * not help him ori, never! She rose ; when he paused. He thanked her for [ j; meeting him half way, and her smile ; f was inscrutable. I . "So I'm discharged?" "You can't be discharged if you've [ never been employed, can you? Thank | * you once again, and for youfr tea. It I was delicious. I wish Ling would give ! ? us tea like that." v j J Boorish, all of it, and blundering! ' * Why wouldn't he go? When he had 1 hurt her so! had hurt her so! ! Her hand met his, but not her eyes. ' ? If he did not go quickly something j would happen; he would see her cry-1 ? ing. The angels that guard blunderers [ got Rickard out of the tent without j 1 a suspicion of threatening tears. She ; threw off her negligee and the pale j blue slip; the tears must wait for i ? that Then she flung herself on her j bed and shook it with the grief of I 1 T wounded vanity. That evening the chief had a visitor. The wife of Maldonado, some of the fear pressed out of her eyes, brought in his laundered khakis, socks, darned and matched; all the missing buttons replaced. "I haven't worn a matched sock," he told her, "for months. That's great, senora." He wanted to get to bed, but she lingered. She wanted to talk to him about her troubles; he had cautioned ' her against talking about them in 1 camp, so she overflowed to him ? whenever she found a chance?about Maldonado, the children, Lupe. It A waa getting wearying, but he could ^ not shove the poor thing out Senora Mnldonado gave a sharp in- 1 toJkg oi breath,, an aborted, scream. I 'ER i -I AIKEN I iickard, too, saw a man's figure outid e the screen door. The Mexican oman pressed a frightened hand to er heart. Of course it was the verge-' ill Maldonado?he would kill her? "If I nr.i intruding," It was the oice of Hardin. "Come right in," welcomed Ricbiird. Get alons, secora." The Maldonado lipped out into the night, her hand till against her heart. Hardin, a roll of maps under his rm, entered with a rough sneer on is face. A dramatic sceue, that, he ad interrupted! And RIckard, who id not like to have women in camp. Phite women! Rickard, still sleepy, asked him to / [t down. "I wanted to speak to you about tiose concrete aprons. They tell me ou're given an order not to have hem." Rlckard resigned himself to a long rgumenL It was three o'clock when Inrd!n let him turn in. . When he was getting ready for bed e remembered the melodramatic cene Hardin had entered upon. He tared coraprehendingly at the screen loor?seeing with understanding Harin's coarse sneer?the Maldonado, reathing fast, her hand over her ieart. "Of course he'll think?good 3rd, these people will make me Into n old woman! I don't care what the I'hole caboodle of tliem think!" Five minutes after '"lowing out hla anrt!e he was deeply sleeping. CHAPTER XXV. Smudge. From her tent, where she was writ g a letter that lagged somehow, Ini<?s Hnrdin h?d spun Rickard 20 to ler sister's tent. She did not need to malyze the sickness of sight that vQtched the dancing step acKnowldge Its intention. It meant wretchdness, for Torn. At a time when he Qost needed gentleness and sympathy a.sped as he was by his humiliation? md disappointments-rhow could any voman be so cruel? As for Richard. ie was beneath contempt?if it were rue, Getty's story, told in shrugs unci laches. She had jilted him fo.r Tom; md this his revenge? She had nol :nown that she had such feeling a? he thought roused in her. It proved i'hat the blood tie is, this tigerish lassion sweeping through her, as her yes watched that closed t&t?it. was or love for Tom, pity for Tom. Ses lonor?why, Gerty did not know the neaning of the words! How. long would it be before Tom could see what every one else was eeing? What would he do when he :new? Hating Richard already, bitter s he was? She was not so biased as he. She ould see why Marshall had had to re>rganize. Estrada hud shown her; ind MacLean. Her sense of justice lad done the rest. Rickard had proved lis efficiency; the levee, the camp, the uilitary discipline all showed the general. Whether he were anything of in engineer, time would tell that. It ras a long call he was making! Supiose Tom were to come back? She nust watch for him?make some ex:use to pull him in if he should come iack before that other went? Hateul, such eavesdropping! A prisoner o that man's gallivanting! For an instant she did not recognize lie figure outside Gerty's tent. Her ears saw Tom. She reached the creen door in time to see Rickard lift lis hat to a disappearing flurry of rufles. Angry eyes watched Rickard's tep swing him away. From the levee that day, she had a glimpse of the Mexican woman on hex :nees by the river, rubbing clothes igainst a smooth stone. A pile ol ight-wrung socks lay on the bank. Inles stood and watched her. "I must remember to speak of her o Gerty," she determined. "She probLbly does not know that there is a vasherwoman in camp." It was a week later before she re- , nembered to speak of the Mexican voman "who couid wash." The two vomen were on their way to their ents from the mess breakfast. Senora Haldonado was leaving MacLean's :ent with a large bundle of used :lothes under her arm. "She washes for the men. I'm gong to ; >k her to do my khakis for me, Perhaps this woman would be willing ;o do all our laundry?" Gerty had .been wondering what she vould say to Innes. The speech which leeded only an introduction was itirred into the open. "You must not," ber voice trembled rith anger, "you must not ask thai roman. She Is not to be spoken to." The girl asked her bluntly what she oeant. "You must not give- bee your vftsb* * Angry Eyes Watched Rickard. ing?must not speak to her. "I've no mentioned it before. I?I hoped ii would not be necessary. Tom told m< not to speak of it." "Tom told you not to speak of it' Not to speak of what?" "You must have observed?Mr. Rick ard?" The girl's ear did not catch th< short pause. "Observed Mr. Rickard?1 "The coolness between us. I scarce ly speak to him. I don't wish to speal to him." When had all this happened, Innei demanded of herself? Had she beei asleep, throwing pity from outdatet dreams? "I won't countenance a common af fair HVo that" Her eyes, sparkling with anger, suggested jealous wratl to Inn?s, who had her first hint of th< story. She had learned never to takf the face value of her sister's verba) coin; it was only a symbol of value; It stood for something else. The yellow eyes were on the dredge bucket as It swung across the channel but they did not register. She waf angry, outraged; she did not know with whom. With Gerty for telling her with Rickard, with life that lets such things be. She jumped up. "Oh, gtoi it!" She rushed out of the tent, fol lowed by a strange bitter smile thai brought age to the face of Gerty Har din. In her own tent, Innes found excus< for her lack of self-control. She die not like the color of scandal; sh< hated smudge. Gerty had said th< whole camp knew It; knew why the Mexican woman was in camp! She did not trust Gerty In anything else why. should she trust her in that? Sh< would forget Gerty's gossip. But she remembered it. vividly thai week as she washed her own khakis as she bent ov?r the Ironing board h Gerty's sweltering "kitchenette." Sh< thought of it as she returned Rick ard's bow in the mess tent the nexi morning; each time they met sh< thought of it. And it was in her mine when she met Senora Maldonado bj the river one day, and made a suddei wide curve to avoid having to speal to her. CHAPTER XXVI. Time the Umpire. The river was low; Its yellow wa ters bore the look of oriental duplicity Each day was now showing Its prog ress. The two ends of the trestle wer< creeping across the stream from tiieii brush aprons. A few weeks of work at the present rate, and the gap woulc be closed, Hardin's big gate in it; th< by-pass ready; the trap set for th< Colorado. The tensity of a last spur was in the air. It was Inspiring activity, this plttinj of man's cumulative skill against ar elemental force. No Caucasian mint which did not tingle, feel the privi leged thrill of it ' To the stolid nativ< this day of well-paid toil was his mil lennium, the fulfillment of th< prophecy. His gods had so ppoken Food for his stomach, liquor for hi: th<? whltA man's mOTlfM laid In a brown hand each Sundaj morning was what the great gods fore spoke. The completion of the work the white man's victory, would be ar end of the fat time. Hasten? Whj should they, and shorten their day 01 opportunity? Between the two camps oscillatec Coronel, silently squatting near th< whites, Jabbering his primitive Es peranto to the tribes. His friendshii with the white chiefs, his age and nat ural leadership gave him a unique po sitlon In both camps. Assiduously RIckard cultivated the old Indian whe crouched days through by the bank oJ the river. The engineers felt the whip of ex citement. Never a man left the cami In the morning who did not look to ward that span crawling across th( treacherous stream, measure thai widened by-pass. Would the gat( stand? The Hardin men halloed foi the gate, but looked each morning tf see If It were still there. The Reclaraa tlon Service men'and the engineers ol the railroad were openly skeptical; Sisyphus outdone at his own game Estrada and Rkrkard looked furtlvelj at the gate, with doubt at each other. Hardin, himself, was repressed, at eager live wire. His days he spent 01 the river; his nights, long hours oi them, open-eyed, on his back, watching the alow-wheeling, star-pricked dom< * teert to. EkwOt gwrrmnr of the" man on trial; this was his j trial; Gerty, Rlckard, the valley, his Judge and Jury. .The gate grew to be . a symbol with him of restored honor, 1 an obsession of desire. It must be all righ" . < , R 'd was all over the place. "Watcnlng every piece of rock that's ' dumped In the river," complained ' wnnctar "RpHpvp hp marks thpm nt night!" ^ They were preparing for the final rush. In a week or two, the work would be continuous, night shifts to begin when the: rock-pouring commenced. Large lamps were being suspended across the channel, acetylene whose candelpower was that of an n re' light. Soon there would be no nlguM* at the break. When the time for tl;quick coup would come, the darn muse be closed without break or slip. One? mat was down, dropped on the floor that had already swallowed two such j gigantic mouthfuls; covered withi rock; pinned down to the slippery bot- j torn with piles. Another mat was j ready to drop; rock was waiting to be j poured over it; the deepest place In, the chixnner was reduced from fifteen I to seven feet Each day the overpour,, anxiously measured, increased. A third ' tv? oKaITaI ho/1 Koon nil/1 nH fVlft ?1_ I ?lc<UU ??? road sent in several work trains fully i ' c( .lipped for service; attracted by the j 1 e.cc'tement, the hoboes were commenc-i ' to come in. (To be Continued Friday.) i "LES MISERABLES." = Algernon Swinbum, poet laucreate of England, wrote the life of . Victor Hugo for the Encyclopaedia Britannica and said that Hugo wasj i undoubtedly the "greatest writer; J born since William Shakespeare." ^ He regarded "Les Miserables" the | ] * Prfimi 2SI^^SI5SIZISIiSISI5SSSSiSSiIiiiiIiI?"?IISSS OPER 1 ABBEVILLE TWICE DAIL FRIDAY and , 7.7 ' / M . \ I Afternoon at 3 P. IV Prices, 75c. - - $1.1 lit,- Children t I yum Eighteen months cal material that ma Lloyd George, Prime French officials co-op many important seen* able to show, in com* recent struggle in Frs story of great tender] C.nm-hnnu'ft O I J7 - ~ ,j JBtSB&ZSSaSBm SBBHH? i i > . ' Vv / . \ . nost melodramatic of all Victor Hugo's melodramas and said regarding it: ,.A "LES MISERABLE S, the greatest epic and dramatic work ot fiction iver crontud nr i>nnnaivai) +I10 anir jf a soul transfigured and redeemed; AUTOMOBII 1 Abbeville has been mad HAV( OILS and I for the following counties: wood ane We have just of oil and rgease interest to see ui We sell at wholes and consumers v gallons or more the best oil on tl prices. Why pay you money. C. D. BP Wholesale Dea "It Makes a Difference" / *_ ' BHHHBDBSHHn 1INENT SP i ? to '.'O',- 00.8 7".iss" 7 A HOB \ plus ^ war DO. tax Pr Jnder 12 years, 50c. PI EBj in the making in Franc kes up the latter part < Minister of England, j 1 a-c ?3 ? nr> eratea witn ivir. Lrrimi es, with the result that t )lete detail, all the inte mce. Aside from this f ness and charm, and a wn Symphony Twenty Pieces: i purified by heroism and , glorified ; through suffering; the tragedy and comedy of life at its darkest and its . brightest, of humanity at its best t and at its worst." / Engraved cards and wedding invitations at Press and Banner Go. LE OWNERS | ? ^ > 1 1 ?' e a distributing point for DLINE GREASES Abbeville, Anderson, GreenMcCormick. received a car load It will be to your t before purchasing. S ale prices to dealers t rho purchase five at a time. This is le market. Get our ' i i more? We will save ' ; b 10WN, Jr. f lor Havoline Oil Phon e 62 A i .. ' . , . > ECTACLE I or jwp \U DAXS II jjii ONLY II Mp' jilt, 1T9-10 lights at 8:30 P. M. IH ices, 50c $1.00, $1.50 II us,War Tax. > M -r - ' 8 n II BB 1 D^h e securing the histori- H 3f the play. David and other British and :h in securing the he producer has been H Testing events of the H eature there is a love |B wealth of comedy. H Orchestra of I ? 1 J