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diff --git a/24458.txt b/24458.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e31a25b --- /dev/null +++ b/24458.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12542 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Still Jim, by Honore Willsie Morrow + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Still Jim + +Author: Honore Willsie Morrow + +Release Date: January 30, 2008 [EBook #24458] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STILL JIM *** + + + + +Produced by Audrey Longhurst and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +STILL JIM + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: "AND THE FLAG FLUTTERED LIGHTLY BEHIND THEM AND THE +DESERT WHISPERED ABOVE THEIR HEADS."--_Page 369_] + + * * * * * + +STILL JIM + +By HONORE WILLSIE + +AUTHOR OF +"The Heart of the Desert," Etc. + + +A. L. BURT COMPANY +PUBLISHERS . NEW YORK + + +PUBLISHED BY ARRANGEMENT WITH FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY + +Copyright, 1915, by +FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY + +Copyright, 1914, 1915, by +THE RIDGWAY COMPANY + +All rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign languages + +Printed in the United States of America + + + * * * * * + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER PAGE + +I. QUARRY 1 + +II. THE OLD SWIMMING HOLE 14 + +III. THE BROWNSTONE FRONT 27 + +IV. JIM FINDS SARA AND PEN 38 + +V. THE SIGN AND SEAL 52 + +VI. THE MARATHON 65 + +VII. THE CUB ENGINEER 75 + +VIII. THE BROKEN SEAL 93 + +IX. THE MAKON ROAD 103 + +X. THE STRENGTH OF THE PACK 118 + +XI. OLD JEZEBEL ON THE RAMPAGE 133 + +XII. THE TENT HOUSE 147 + +XIII. THE END OF IRON SKULL'S ROAD 158 + +XIV. THE ELEPHANT'S BACK 173 + +XV. THE HEART OF A DESERT WIFE 181 + +XVI. THE ELEPHANT'S LOVE STORY 196 + +XVII. TOO LATE FOR LOVE 210 + +XVIII. JIM MAKES A SPEECH 224 + +XIX. THE MASK BALL 235 + +XX. THE DAY'S WORK 249 + +XXI. JIM GETS A BLOW 267 + +XXII. JIM PLANS A LAST FIGHT 277 + +XXIII. THE SILENT CAMPAIGN 294 + +XXIV. UNCLE DENNY GETS BUSY 308 + +XXV. SARA GOES ON A JOURNEY 326 + +XXVI. THE END OF A SILENT CAMPAIGN 338 + +XXVII. THE THUMB PRINT 353 + + + * * * * * + + +STILL JIM + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE QUARRY + + "An Elephant of Rock, I have lain here in the desert for + countless ages, watching, waiting. I wonder for what!" + + MUSINGS OF THE ELEPHANT. + + +Little Jim sat at the quarry edge and dangled his legs over the derrick +pit. The derrick was out of commission because once more the lift cable +had parted. Big Jim Manning, Little Jim's father, was down in the pit +with Tomasso, his Italian helper, disentangling the cables, working +silently, efficiently, as was his custom. + +Little Jim bit his fingers and watched and scowled in a worried way. He +and his mother hated to have Big Jim work in the quarry. It seemed to +them that Big Jim was too good for such work. Little Jim wanted to leave +school and be a water boy and his father's helper. Big Jim never seemed +to hear the boy's request and Little Jim kept on at school. + +The noon whistle blew just as the cable was once more in running order. +Little Jim slid down into the pit with his father's dinner bucket and +sat by while his father ate. + +Big Jim Manning was big only in height. He was six feet tall, but lean. +He was sallow and given to long silences that he broke with a slow, +sarcastic drawl that Little Jim had inherited. Big Jim was forty-five +years old. Little Jim was fourteen; tall and lean, like his father, his +face a composite of father and mother. His eyes were large and a clear +gray. Even at fourteen he had the half sweet, half gay, wholly wistful +smile that people watched for, when he grew up. His hair was a warm leaf +brown, peculiarly soft and thick. Little Jim's forehead was the forehead +of a dreamer. His mouth and chin were dogged, persistent, energetic. + +When he was not in school, Jim never missed the noon hour at the quarry. +He had his father's love for mechanics. He had his father's love for law +and order making, the gift to both of their unmixed Anglo-Saxon +ancestry. When Big Jim did talk at the noon hour, it was usually to try +to educate his Italian and Polish fellow workmen to his New England +viewpoint. Little Jim never missed a word. He adored his father. He was +profoundly influenced by the dimly felt, not understood tragedy of his +father's life and of the old New England town in which he lived. + +Big Jim spread a white napkin over his knee and poured a cup of steaming +soup from the thermos bottle. Tomasso broke off a chunk of bread and +took an onion from one pocket and a piece of cheese from another. Big +Jim and 'Masso, as he was called, working shoulder to shoulder, day by +day, had developed a sort of liking for each other in spite of the fact +that Big Jim held foreigners in utter contempt. + +"Why did you come to America, anyhow, 'Masso?" drawled Big Jim, waiting +for his soup to cool. + +'Masso gnawed his onion and bread thoughtfully. "Maka da mon' quick, +here; go backa da old countra rich." + +"What else?" urged Big Jim. + +'Masso looked blank. "I mean," said Big Jim, "did you like our laws +better'n yours? Did you like our ways better?" + +'Masso shrugged his shoulders. "Don' care 'bout countra if maka da mon'. +Why you come desa countra?" + +Big Jim's drawl seemed to bite like the slow gouge of a stone chisel. + +"I was born here, you Wop! This very dirt made the food that made me, +understand? I'm a part of this country, same as the trees are. My +forefathers left comfort and friends behind them and came to this +country when it was full of Indians to be free. Free! Can you get that? +And what good did it do them? They larded the soil with their good sweat +to make a place for fellows like you. And what do you care?" + +'Masso, who was quick and eager, shook his head. "I work all da time. I +maka da mon. I go home to old countra. That 'nough. Work alla da time." + +Big Jim ate his beef sandwich slowly. Little Jim, chin in palm, sat +listening, turning the matter over in his mind. His father tried another +angle. + +"What started you over here, 'Masso? How'd you happen to think of +coming?" + +'Masso understood this. "Homa, mucha talk 'bout desa landa. How +ever'boda getta da mon over here. I heara da talk but it like a dream, +see? I lika da talk but I lika my own Italia, see? But in olda countra +many men work for steamship compana. Steamship compana, they needa da +mon', too, see? They talk to us mucha, fixa her easy, come here easy, +getta da job easy, see? Steamship men, they keepa right after me, so I +come, see?" + +Big Jim lighted his pipe. "Tell Mama that was a good dinner, Jimmy," he +said. "I haven't got anything personal against you, 'Masso," he went on. +"You're a human being like me, trying to take care of your family. I +suppose you can't help it that Italians as a class are a lawless lot of +cut-throats. You certainly are willing workers. But I'd like to bet that +if we'd shut the doors after the Civil War and let those that was in +this country have their chance, this country would have a wholesomer +growth than it has now. I'll bet if they had fifty men in this quarry +like me instead of a hundred like you, it would turn out twice the work +it does now." + +"But Dad, they say you can't get real Americans to do this kind of +work," said Little Jim. + +"Deal with facts, Jimmy; deal with facts," drawled his father. "I'm +working here. Will Endicott, John Allen, Phil Chadwick are all day +laborers. Our forefathers founded this government and this town. What's +happened to it and to us? It's too late for us older men to do much. But +you kids have got to think about it. What's happened to us? What's +happened to this old town? I want you to think about it." + +Little Jim took the dinner bucket and started for home. His father had +not been talking on a topic new to the Mannings or to the Mannings' +friends. Little Jim had been brought up to wonder what was the matter +with his breed, what had happened to Exham. Little Jim's forefathers had +once held in grant from an English king the land on which the quarry +lay. His grandfather had given it up. Farm labor was hard to get. The +mortgage had grown heavier and heavier. The land all about was being +bought up by Polish and Italian hucksters who lived on what they could +not sell and whose wives and children were their farm hands. Grandfather +Manning could not compete with this condition. + +Big Jim had gone to New York City in his early twenties. He had had a +good high school education and was a first-class mechanic. But somehow, +he could not compete. He was slow and thoroughgoing and honest. He could +not compete with the new type of workman, the man bred to do part work. +When Little Jim was five, the Mannings had come back to Exham, with the +hope of somehow, sometime, buying back the old farm. + +Little Jim passed the old farmhouse slowly. It was used for a storehouse +for quarry supplies now. Yet it still was beautiful. Two great elms +still shaded the wide portico. The great eaves still sheltered many +paned windows. The delicate balustrade still guarded the curving +staircase. The dream of Little Jim's life was to live in that great, +hospitable mansion. + +He passed with a boy's deliberation down the long street that led toward +the cottage where the Mannings now lived. The street was heavily shaded +by gigantic elms. It was lined on either side by fine Colonial houses, +set in gardens, some of which still held dials and bricked walks; wide, +deep gardens some of which still were ghostly sweet. But the majority of +the mansions had been turned into Italian tenement houses. The gardens +were garbage heaps. The houses were filthy and disheveled. The look of +them clutched one's heart with horror and despair, as if one looked on a +once lovely mother turned to a street drabble. + +Little Jim looked and thought with a sense of helpless melancholy that +should not have belonged to fourteen. When he reached the cottage, his +mother, taking the bucket from him, caught the look in the clear gray +eyes that were like her own. She had no words for the look. Nevertheless +she understood it immediately. Mrs. Manning was nervous and energetic, +with the half-worried, half-wistful face of so many New England women. + +"Jimmy," she said, "Phil Chadwick just whistled for you. He went to the +swimming hole." + +The words were magic. They swept that intangible look from Jim's face +and left it flushed and boyish. + +"Gee!" he exclaimed, "he's early today. Can I have my dinner right off?" + +"Yes," replied his mother, "but remember not to go in until three +o'clock. I'm sure I don't see what keeps all you boys from dying! And +how you can stand the blood suckers and turtles up there in that mud +hole! Goodness! Come, dear, I've cooled off your soup so you can hurry. +I knew you'd want to." + +Will Endicott dropped in at the Mannings' that evening. Will was a +short, florid man, younger than Big Jim. Little Jim, his hair still damp +and his fingers wrinkled from water soak, laid down his _Youth's +Companion_. Usually when Will Endicott came there were some lively +discussions on the immigration question and the tariff. Even had Little +Jim wanted to talk, he would not have been allowed to do so. Among the +New Englanders in Exham the old maxim still obtained, "Children are to +be seen and not heard." But Little Jim always listened eagerly. + +Endicott looked excited tonight. But he had no news about the tariff. + +"There's a boy at my house!" he exclaimed. "He just came. Nine pounds! +Annie is doing fine." + +"Oh!" cried Mrs. Manning, while Big Jim shook Will's hand solemnly. "Oh, +goodness! I didn't know--Why I thought tomorrow--Well, I guess I'll go +right over now. Goodness----" and still exclaiming, she hurried out into +the summer dusk. + +"That's great, Will!" said Big Jim. "I wish I could afford to have a +dozen. But they cost money, these kids. I suppose you'll be like me, +never be able to afford but the one." + +"He's awful strong," said Will, abstractedly. "To hear him yell, you'd +think he was twins. Looks like me, too. Red as a beet and fat." + +"Must be a beauty," said Big Jim. "That Wop that works with me has seven +children about a year apart. Doesn't worry him at all. He just moves +into a cheaper place, cuts down on food and clothes and takes another +one out of school and sets him to work. They're growing up like Indians, +lawless little devils. A fine addition to the country! I was reading the +other day that by the law of averages a man has got to have four +children to be pretty sure of his line surviving. And it said that we +New Englanders have the smallest birth rate in the civilized world +except France, which is the same as ours. And we've got the biggest +proportion of foreigners of any part of America now, up here." + +Will came out of the clouds for a moment. "I've been telling you that +for years. What's the matter with us, anyhow?" + +Big Jim shrugged his shoulders. "All like you and me, I suppose. If we +can't give a child a decent chance, we won't have 'em. And these +foreigners have cut down wages so's we can hardly support one, let alone +two." + +Endicott rose. "I just happened to think. I'm going to borrow Chadwick's +scales and weigh him again. They're better than mine." + +Big Jim chuckled and filled his pipe. Then he sighed. "We've got to go, +Jimmy. The old New Englander is as dead as the Indian. We are +has-beens." + +"But why?" urged Little Jim. "I don't feel like a has-been. What's made +us this way? Why don't you and the rest do something?" + +"You'd have to change our skins," replied his father, "to make us fight +these foreigners on their own level. I'm going to bed. No use waiting +for Mama. There's a hard day ahead in the quarry tomorrow. That break +set us back on a rush order. The boss was crazy. I told him as I told +him forty times before that he'd have to get a new derrick, but he +won't. Not so long as he's got me to piece and contrive and make things +do. + +"I tried to talk 'Masso and the rest into striking for it today, but +they don't care anything about the equipment. It's something bigger than +I can get at. It isn't only this quarry. It's everywhere I work. Always +these foreigners are willing to work in such conditions as we Americans +can't stand. Everywhere twenty of 'em waiting to undercut our pay. And +the big men bank on this very thing to make themselves rich. You'd +better go after your mother, Jimmy. This village ain't safe for a woman +after dark the way it was before the Italians came. I'm going to bed." + +The next night at supper Big Jim was very silent. When he had eaten his +slice of cake he said in his slow way, "No more cake for a while, I +guess, Mama." + +Mrs. Manning looked up in her nervous, startled manner. + +"What's the matter, Jim?" + +"Well, I went with my usual kick to the boss about the derrick and he +told me to take it or leave it. That work was slacking up so he'd +decided on a ten per cent. cut in wages. I don't know but what I'd +better quit and look for something else." + +"Oh, no, no!" exclaimed Mrs. Manning. She had been through many, many +periods of job hunting since her marriage. "Keep your job, Jim. Next +week is September and winter will be here before we know it. We'll +manage somehow." + +"I'll not go to school," cried Little Jim. "I'll get a job. Please, Dad, +let me!" + +"You'll stay in school," replied Big Jim in his best stone chisel drawl, +"as long as I have strength to work. And if I can send you through +college, you'll go. Don't you ever think of anything, Jimmy, but that +you are to have a thorough education? If anything happens to me you are +to get an education if you have to sweep the streets to do it. That's +the New England idea. Educate the children at whatever cost. I had a +high school education and you'll have a college course if I live. And if +I don't live, get it for yourself. I'll have another cup of tea, please, +Mama." + +"Well, it makes me sick!" exclaimed Little Jim with one of his rare +outbursts of feeling, "to have you and mama working so hard and me do +nothing but feed the chickens and chop wood. I'll give up the _Youth's +Companion_, anyhow." + +Mrs. Manning looked horrified. The _Companion_ was as much a family +institution as the dictionary. "How do you think you are going to be +really educated, Jimmy, unless you read good things? Your father and I +were brought up on the _Companion_ and you'll keep right on with it. +I'll get cheaper coffee, Papa, and we can give up cream. Ten per cent. +That will make a difference of twenty cents a day. I'll turn my winter +suit." + +"I'll give up tobacco for a while," said Big Jim. "I was thinking about +it, anyhow. It's got so it bites my tongue. I don't need any new winter +things, but Jimmy's got to look decent. My father would turn over in his +grave if he thought I couldn't keep the last Manning dressed decent. +Maybe we ought to give up this cottage, Mama. The Higgins cottage is +pretty good but it hasn't got any bathroom." + +"If you think I'm going to let Jimmy grow up without a bathroom, you're +mistaken," replied Mrs. Manning. "I've got a chance to send jelly and +preserves to Boston and I'm going to do it. Don't worry, Papa. We'll +make it." + +When Little Jim took his father's dinner to him the next day, 'Masso's +boy Tony was sharing 'Masso's lunch. His face was dust smeared. + +"I gotta job," announced Tony. + +'Masso nodded. "He bigga kid now. Not go da school any more. Boss, he +giva da cut. I bringa da Tony, getta da job as tool boy. Boss, he fire +da Yankee boy. Tony, he work cheaper." + +"He's too small to work," said Big Jim. "You'd ought to keep him in +school and give him a chance." + +"Chance for what?" asked 'Masso. + +"Chance to grow into a decent American citizen," snarled Big Jim with +the feeling he had had so often of late, the sense of having his back to +the wall while the pack worried him in front. + +Tony looked up quickly. He was a brilliant faced little chap. "I am an +American!" he cried. "I'll be rich some day." + +Big Jim looked from 'Masso's child to his own. Then he looked off over +the browning summer fields, beyond the quarry. There lay the land that +his fathers had held in grant from an English king. But the fields that +had built Big Jim's flesh and blood were dotted with Italian huts. The +lane in which Big Jim's mother had met his father, returning crippled +from Antietam, was blocked by a Polish road house. + +Little Jim didn't like the look on his father's face. He spoke his first +thought to break the silence. + +"Can't I stay for a while, Dad, and watch you load the big stones?" + +"If your mother won't worry and you'll keep out of the way," answered +Big Jim, rising as the whistle blew. + +To industry, the cheapest portion of its equipment is its inexhaustible +human labor supply. It was Big Jim who was sufficiently intelligent to +keep demanding a new derrick. It was Big Jim who was adept in managing +the decrepit machinery and so it was he who was sent to the danger +spots, he having the keenest wits and the best knowledge of the danger +spots. + +Little Jim, sitting with his long legs dangling over the derrick pit, +watched his father and 'Masso tease the derrick into swinging the great +blocks to the flat car for the rush order. + +The thing happened very quickly, so quickly that Little Jim could not +jump to his feet and start madly down into the pit before it was all +over. The great derrick broke clean from its moorings and dropped across +the flat car, throwing Big Jim and 'Masso and the swinging block +together in a ghastly heap. + +It took some time to rig the other derrick to bear on the situation. +Little Jim dropped to the ground and managed to grip his father's hand, +protruding from under the debris. But the boy could not speak. He only +sobbed dryly and clung desperately to the inert hand. + +At last Big Jim and 'Masso were laid side by side upon the brown grass +at the quarry edge. 'Masso's chest was broken. The priest got to him +before the doctor. Had 'Masso known enough, before he choked, he might +have said: + +"It doesn't matter. I have done a real man's part. I have worked to the +limit of my strength and I shall survive for America through my +fertility. What I have done to America, no one knows." + +But 'Masso was no thinker. Before he slipped away, he only said some +futile word to the priest who knelt beside him. 'Masso never had gotten +very far from the thought of his Maker. + +Big Jim, lying on the border of the fields where his fathers had dreamed +and hoped and worked, looked hazily at Little Jim, and tried to say +something, but couldn't. Once more the sense of having his back to the +wall, the pack suffocating him, closed in on him, blinded him, and +merged with him into the darkness into which none of us has seen. + +Had Big Jim been able to clarify the chaos of thoughts in his mind and +had he had a longer time for dying, he might have done the thing far +more dramatically. He merely rasped out his life, a bloody, voiceless, +broken thing on the golden August fields, with his chaos of thoughts +unspoken. + +He might, had things been otherwise, have seen the long, sad glory of +humanity's migrations; might have caught for an unspeakable second a +vision of that never ceasing, never long deflected on-moving of human +life that must continue, regardless of race tragedy, as long as humans +crave food either for the body or the soul. He might have seen himself +as symbolizing one of those races that slip over the horizon into +oblivion, unprotesting, only vaguely knowing. And seeing this thing, Big +Jim might have paused and looking into the face of the horde that was +pressing him over the brim, he might have said: + +"We who are about to die, salute thee!" + +But Big Jim was not dramatic. Little Jim never knew what his father +might have said. Instinct told the boy when the end had come. His dry +sobs changed to the abandoned tears of childhood as he ran down the +street of elms and besotted mansions to tell his mother. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE OLD SWIMMING HOLE + + "The same sand that gave birth to the coyote and the eagle + gave birth to the Indian and to me. I wonder why!" + + MUSINGS OF THE ELEPHANT. + + +Little Jim and his mother were left very much alone by Big Jim's death. +Little Jim was literally the last of the Mannings. Mrs. Manning's only +relative, her sister, had died when Jim was a baby. There was no one to +whom Mrs. Manning felt that she could turn for help. + +Jim pleaded to be allowed to quit school and go to work. + +"I'm fourteen, Mama, and as big as lots of men. I can take care of you." + +Mrs. Manning had not cried much. Her heartbreak would not give into +tears easily. But at Jim's words she broke into hysterical sobs. + +"Jimmy! Jimmy! I don't see how you can ever think of such a thing after +all Papa said to you. Almost his last advice to you was about getting an +education. He was so proud of your school work. Why, all I've got to +live for now is to carry out Papa's plans for you." + +Jimmy stood beside his mother. He was taller than she. Suddenly, with +boyish awkwardness, he pulled the sobbing little woman to him and leaned +his young cheek on her graying hair. + +"Mama, I'll make myself into a darned college professor, if you just +won't cry!" he whispered. + +For several days after the funeral, Jim wandered about the house and +yard fighting to control his tears when he came upon some sudden +reminder of his father; the broken rake his father had mended the week +before; a pair of old shoes in the wood shed; one of his father's pipes +on the kitchen window ledge. The nights were the worst, when the picture +of his father's last moments would not let the boy sleep. It seemed to +Jim that if he could learn to forget this picture a part of his grief +would be lifted. It was the uselessness of Big Jim's death that made the +boy unboyishly bitter. He could not believe that any other death ever +had been so needless. It was only in the years to come that Jim was to +learn how needlessly, how unremittingly, industry takes its toll of +lives. + +Somehow, Jim had a boyish feeling that his father had had many things to +say to him that never had been said; that these things were very wise +and would have guided him. Jim felt rudderless. He felt that it was +incumbent on him to do the things that his father had not been able to +do. Vaguely and childishly he determined that he must make good for the +Mannings and for Exham. Poor old Exham, with its lost ideals! + +It was in thinking this over that Jim conceived an idea that became a +great comfort to him. He decided to write down all the advice that he +could recall his father's giving him, and when his mother became less +broken up, to ask her to tell him all the plans his father might have +had for him. + +So it was that a week or so after her husband's death, Mrs. Manning +found one of Jim's scratch pads on the table in his room, with a +carefully printed title on the cover: + + MY FATHER'S ADVICES TO ME. + +After she had wiped the quick tears from her eyes, she read the few +pages Jim had completed in his sprawling hand: + +"My father said to me, 'Jimmy, never make excuses. It's always too late +for excuses.' + +"He said, 'A liar is a first cousin to a skunk. There isn't a worse +coward than a liar.' + +"He said to me, 'Don't belly-ache. Stand up to your troubles like a +man.' + +"My father said, 'Hang to what you undertake like a hound to a warm +scent.' + +"He said to me, 'Life is made up of obeying. What you don't learn from +me about that, the world will kick into you. The stars themselves obey a +law. God must hate a law breaker.' + +"My father said, 'Somehow us Americans are quitters.' + +"My mother said my father said, 'I want Jimmy to go through college. I +want him to marry young and have a big family.' + +"The thing my father said to me oftenest lately was, 'Jimmy, be clean +about women. Some day you will know what I mean when I say that sex is +energy. Keep yourself clean for your life work and your wife and +children.'" + +Mrs. Manning read the pages over several times, then she laid the book +down and stood staring out of the window. + +"Oh, he was a good man!" she whispered. "He was a good man! If Jimmy +could have had him just two years more! I don't know how to teach him +the things a man ought to know. A boy needs his father.----Oh, my love! +My love----" + +Down below, Jim was leaning on the front gate. His chum, Phil Chadwick, +was coming slowly up the street. The boys had not been near Jim since +the funeral. Jim had become a person set apart from their boy world. No +one appreciates the dignity of grief better than a boy, or underneath +his awkwardness has a finer way of showing it. Phil's mother, to his +unspeakable discomfort, had insisted now that he go call on Jim. + +Phil, his round face red with embarrassment, approached the gate a +little sidewise. + +"Hello, Still!" he said casually. + +"Hello, Pilly!" replied Jim, blushing in sympathy. + +There was a pause, then said Phil, leaning on the gate, "Diana's got her +pups. One's going to be a bulldog and two of 'em are setters. +U-u-u--want to come over and see 'em and choose yours?" + +Jim's face was quivering. It was his father who had persuaded his mother +that Jim ought to have one of Diana's pups. Mrs. Manning felt toward +dogs much as she might have toward hyenas. + +"I--I--guess not today, Pilly!" + +Another long pause during which the lads swung the gate to and fro and +looked in opposite directions. A locust shrilled from the elm tree. +Finally Phil said: + +"Still, you gotta come up to the swimming hole. It'll do you good. +He--he'd a wanted you to--to--to do what you could to cheer up. Come on, +old skinny. Tell your mother. We'll keep away from the other kids. Come +on. You gotta do something or you'll go nutty in your head." + +Jim turned and went into the house. His mother forestalled his request. + +"If Phil wants you to go swimming, dear, go on. It will do you good. +Don't stay in too long." + +Jim and Phil walked up the road to the old Allen place. They climbed the +stile into a field where the aftermath of the clover crop was richly +green and vibrating with the song of cricket and katydid. The path that +the boys followed had been used in turn by Indian and Puritan. The field +still yielded an occasional hide scraper or stone axe. + +There was a pine grove at the far edge of the field. In the center of +the grove was the pond that had for centuries been the swimming pool for +boys, Indian and white. Ground pine and "checkerberry" grew abundantly +in the grove. Both boys breathed deep of the piney fragrance and filled +their mouths with pungent "checkerberry" leaves. The path, deep worn by +many bare feet, circled round the great pines to the clearing where the +pond lay. It was black with the shadows of the grove where it was not +blue and white in mirroring the September sky. Lily pads fringed the +brim. Moss and a tender, long grass grew clear to the water's edge. + +Several boys were undressing near the ancient springboard. They looked +embarrassed and stopped their laughter when they saw Jim. He and Phil +got into their swimming trunks quickly and followed each other in a +clean dive into the pool. They swam about in silence for a time and then +landed on the far side and lay in the sun on moss and pine needles. + +The beauty and sweetness of the place were subtle balm to Jim. And +surely if countless generations of boy joy could leave association, the +old swimming hole should have spoken very sweetly to Jim. The swimming +hole was a boy sanctuary. The water was too shallow for men. Little +girls were not allowed to invade the grove except in early spring for +trailing arbutus. The oldest men in Exham told that their grandfathers, +as boys, had sought the swimming hole as the adult seeks his club. + +Jim looked with interest at his legs. "I've got six. How many have you, +Pilly?" + +Phil counted the brown bloodsuckers that clung to his fat calves. +"Seven. Mean cusses, ain't they." + +Jim worked with a sharp edged stone, scraping his thin shanks. "You've +got fat to spare. They've had enough off of me today." + +"I remember how crazy I was first time they got on me. Felt as if I had +snakes." Phil rooted six of the suckers off his legs and paused at the +seventh. "He's as skinny as you are, Still. I'll give him two minutes +more to finish a square meal." + +The two boys lay staring out at the pond. + +"Have you gotta go to work, Still?" asked Phil. + +"Yes," replied Jim. "Mother says I can't, though." + +Phil waited more or less patiently. His mates had long since learned +that Jim's silences were hard to break. + +"But I'm going to get a job in the quarry as soon as I can keep from +getting sick at my stomach every time I see a derrick." + +"My dad says your--he--he always planned to send you through college," +said Phil. + +Jim nodded. "I'll get through college. See if I don't. But I won't let +my mother support me. I've got a lot of things to finish up for him." + +"What things?" asked Phil. + +"Well," Jim hesitated for words, "he worried a lot because all the real +Americans are dying off or going, somehow, and he always said it was us +kids' business to find out why. That's the chief job." + +"I don't see what you can do about it," said Phil. "That's a foolish +thing to worry about. Why----" + +A boy screamed on the opposite side of the pond. It was so different +from the shouts and laughter of the moment before that Jim and Phil +jumped to their feet. Across the swimming hole a naked boy was dancing +up and down, screaming hysterically, + +"Take 'em off! Take 'em off! Take 'em off!" + +"It's the new minister's kid, Charlie," laughed Phil. "The fellows have +got the bloodsuckers on him. Ain't he the booby? Told me he was fifteen +and he's bigger'n you are. Screams like a girl." + +Jim stood staring, his hand shielding his gray eyes from the sun. Across +the pond, the boys were doubled up with laughter, watching the +minister's son writhe and tear at his naked body. Suddenly, Jim shot +round the edge of the pond, followed by Phil. A dozen naked boys hopped +joyfully around the twisting Charlie. They were of all ages, from eight +to sixteen. + +When Jim ran up to the new boy, his mates shouted: "Don't butt in, now, +Jim. Don't butt in. He's a darned sissy." + +Jim did not reply. Charlie was considerably larger than he. He had a +finely muscled pink and white body, liberally dotted now with wriggling +brown suckers. This was a familiar form of hazing with the Exham boys. +There was a horror in a first experience with the little brown pests +that usually resulted in a mild form of hysteria very pleasing to the +young spectators. But Charlie was in an agony of loathing, far ahead of +anything the boys had seen. + +As Jim ran up, Charlie struck at him madly and the boys yelled in +delight. Jim turned on them. + +"Shut up!" he shouted. "Shut up _now_!" + +Thin and tall, his boyish ribs showing, his damp hair tossed back from +his beautiful gray eyes that were now black with anger, Jim dominated +the crowd. There was immediate silence, broken only by Charlie's wild +sobs. + +"Take 'em off! Take 'em off!" + +"He's going to have a fit!" exclaimed Phil. + +Charlie's lips were blue and foam flecked. Again as Jim approached him, +the minister's boy planted a blow on his ribs that made Jim spin. + +"Charlie!" cried Jim. "_Shut up!_" + +The same peculiarly commanding note that had silenced his mates pierced +through Charlie's hysteria. He paused for a moment, and in that moment +Jim said, "Hold your breath and they can't draw blood. I'll have 'em +off you in a second." + +"C-c-can't they?" sobbed Charlie. + +"Hold your breath and I'll show you," said Jim. "Here, Phil, take hold." + +As they stripped the squirming suckers, Jim kept a hand on Charlie's +arm. "Can you fight, kid?" he asked. "You've got muscle. You'd better +lick the fellow that started this on you or you'll never hear the end of +it." + +The blue receded from the older boy's lips. He had a fine, sensitive +face. "I can fight," he replied. "But I fight fellows and not snakes or +worms." + +Jim nodded as he pulled off the last sucker. Then he turned to the boys, +his hand still on Charlie's arm. He spoke in his usual drawl: + +"They's a difference between hazing a fellow and torturing him. Some +mighty gritty people can't stand snakes or suckers. You kids ought to +use sense. Who started this?" + +The biggest boy in the crowd, Fatty Allen, answered: "I did. And if your +father hadn't just died I'd lick the stuffing out of you, Still, for +butting in." + +A shout of derision went up from the boys. Jim's lips tightened. "You +lick the new kid first," he answered, "then tackle me. Get after him, +Charlie!" + +Charlie, quite himself again, leaped toward Fatty and the battle was on. + +There had been, unknown to the boys, an interested spectator to this +entire scene. Just as Charlie's screams had begun, a heavy set man, +ruddy and well dressed, with iron gray hair and black lashed, blue eyes, +had paused beside a pine tree. It was a vividly beautiful picture that +he saw; the pine set pool, rush and pad fringed, and the naked boys, now +gathered about the struggling two near the ancient springboard. One of +the smaller boys, moving about to get a better view of the battle, came +within arm reach of the stranger, who clutched him. + +"Who's this boy they call Still?" he asked. "Stand up here on this +stump. I'll brace you." + +The small boy heaved a sigh of ecstasy at his unobstructed view. "It's +Still Jim Manning. His father just got killed. He's boss of our gang." + +"But he's not the biggest," said the stranger. + +"Naw, he ain't the biggest, but he can make the fellows mind. He don't +talk much but what he says goes." + +"Can he lick the big fellow?" + +"Who? Fatty Allen? Bet your life! Still's built like steel wire." + +"What did he start this fight for?" asked the man. + +"Aw, can't you see they'd never let up on this new kid after he bellered +so, unless he licked Fatty? Gee! What a wallop! That Charlie kid is +going to lick whey out of Fatty." + +"So Still is boss?" mused the stranger. "Could he stop that fight, now?" + +"Sure," answered the child, "but he wouldn't." + +"We'll see," said the stranger. He crossed over to the ring of boys and +touched Jim on the shoulder. "I want to speak to you, Manning." + +Jim looked at the stranger in astonishment, then answered awkwardly, +"Can you wait? I've got to referee this fight." + +"You will have to come now," said the man. "Your mother said to come +back at once, with me." + +Jim walked into the ring, between the two combatants. "Drop it, fellows. +I've got to go home. We'll finish this fight tomorrow. Fatty can tackle +me then, too." + +There were several protests but Fatty had had enough. He was glad of the +opportunity to dive into the pond. One after the other the boys ran up +the springboard until only Jim and the stranger were left. The man +walked back into the grove and in a moment Jim, in his knickerbockers +and blouse, joined him. + +"I'm glad to see you can obey, as well as boss, me boy," said the man. +"Your mother says you don't know that a few days ago she advertised in +the N. Y. _Sun_ for a position as housekeeper. I liked the ad and came +up to see her. I'm a lawyer in New York, a widower. I like your mother. +She's a lady to the center of her. But when she told me she had a boy +your age, I felt dubious. She wanted to send for you but I insisted on +coming meself. I wanted to see you among boys. Me name is Michael +Dennis." + +Jim flushed painfully. "I don't want my mother to work like that. I can +support her." + +"I'm glad that you feel that way, me boy. But on the other hand, you're +not old enough to support her the way she can support herself and you, +too." + +"I'll never let my mother support me!" cried Jim. + +"What can you do to prevent it?" asked Mr. Dennis. "Wouldn't you like to +live in New York?" + +Jim hesitated. Dennis put his hand on Jim's shoulder. "I like you, me +boy. I never thought to want another child about me house. Come, we'll +talk it over with your mother." + +Jim followed into the cottage sitting room, where his mother eyed the +two anxiously. + +"I thought something must have happened," she said. "Did you have +trouble finding the pond?" + +Mr. Dennis smiled genially. "Not a bit! I was just getting acquainted +with your boy. He's quite a lad, Mrs. Manning, and I'm going to tell you +I'll be glad to have him in me house. Now I'll just tell you what me +house is like and what we'll have to expect of each other." + +After an hour's talk Dennis said: "I will give you fifty dollars a month +and board and lodging for the lad." + +Mrs. Manning flushed with relief. Jim, who had not said a word since +coming into the house, spoke suddenly in his father's own drawl: + +"I don't want anyone to give me my keep. I'll take care of the furnace +and do the work round the house you pay a man to do, and if that isn't +enough to pay for keeping me, I'll work for you in your office +Saturdays." + +Mr. Dennis looked at the tall boy keenly, then said whimsically, "Well, +I thought you'd been smitten dumb." + +"He's very still, Jim is, except when he's fearfully worked up. All the +Mannings are that way," said his mother. + +Mr. Dennis nodded. "The house takes lots of care. Your mother will get a +maid to help her and I'll let the man go who has been doing janitor +service for me. With this arrangement, I'll make your mother's salary +$65 a month." + +And so the decision was made. + +It was the last week in September when Jim and his mother left Exham. +The day before they left the old town, Jim tramped doggedly up the +street toward the old Manning mansion. He had not been there since his +father's death. + +When he reached the dooryard he stopped, pulled off his cap and stood +looking at the doorway that had welcomed so many Mannings and sped so +many more. The boy stood, erect and slender, the wind ruffling his thick +dark hair across his dreamer's forehead, his energetic jaw set firmly. +Now and again tears blinded his gray eyes, but he blinked them back +resolutely. + +Jim must have stood before the door of his old home for half an hour, a +silent, lonely young figure at whom the quarry men glanced curiously. +When the whistle blew five Jim made an heroic effort and turned and +looked at the derrick, again spliced into place. He shuddered but forced +himself to look. + +It was after sunset when Jim finally turned away. It was many years +before he came to this place again. Yet Exham had made its indelible +imprint on the boy. The convictions that had molded his first fourteen +years were to mold his whole life. Somehow he felt that his father had +been a futile sacrifice to the thing that was destroying New England and +that old New England spirit which he had been taught to revere. What the +thing was he did not know. And yet, with his boyish lips trembling, he +promised the old mansion to make good for his father and for Exham--poor +old Exham, with its lost ideals! + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE BROWNSTONE FRONT + + "Coyote, eagle, Indian, I have seen countless generations of + them fulfill their destinies and disappear. I wonder when my + turn will come." + + MUSINGS OF THE ELEPHANT. + + +Jim and his mother did not feel like strangers when they reached New +York. Mrs. Manning knew the city well and Jim, boy-like, was overjoyed +at the idea of being in the great town. + +Mr. Dennis' brownstone front was one of the fine old houses on West 23rd +street that are fast making way for stores. It was full of red Brussels +carpets and walnut furniture of crinkly design. It had crayon +enlargements of Mrs. Dennis and the two small Dennises in the parlor and +in the guest room and in Mr. Dennis' room. Jim wondered how Mr. Dennis +could be so genial when he had lost so much. + +The third floor had two large rooms opening off a big central room, and +this floor, comfortably furnished, was for the use of Mrs. Manning and +Jim and the maid. Mrs. Manning solved the maid question by sending back +to Exham for Annie Peyton. Annie was about forty. Her mother had been +housekeeper for Mrs. Manning's mother and Annie was the domestic day +worker for the village. Up in Exham English customs still obtained among +the old families. Annie was "Peyton" to Mrs. Manning. + +Jim guessed from his own feelings how her position as a servant hurt his +mother. She herself never said anything, but Jim noticed that she made +no friends. Mr. Dennis treated her with a very real courtesy and basked +in her perfect housekeeping. + +Jim entered school at once. In his own way, he was a brilliant student. +He had the sort of mind that instinctively grasps fundamental +principles, and this faculty, combined with a certain mental obstinacy +and independence, made him at once the pride and terror of his teachers. +He was a very firm rock on which to depend for exhibition purposes, but +whenever he asked questions they were of a searching variety that made +his teachers long to box his ears. + +It was rather a pity that all Jim's spare moments when not in school had +to be spent in janitor service. He missed the companionship of the boys +in the public school which, in America, is an almost indispensable part +of a boy's education. In his adult life he must meet and understand men +and methods of every nationality. New York public schools are veritable +congresses of nations and a boy who plans to go into business gets far +more than mere book learning from them. Jim's poverty cut him out of +athletics and clubs so that all his inherent New England tendency to +mental aloofness would have been vastly increased if it had not been for +his summer vacations. + +The first day of his summer vacation, Jim applied for a job. A steel +skyscraper was being erected in 42nd street and Jim asked the +superintendent of construction for work. The superintendent looked at +the lank lad, who now, fifteen, would have appeared eighteen were it not +for his smooth, almost childish face. + +"What kind of work, young fella?" asked the Boss. + +"Anything to start with," replied Jim, "until we see what I can do." + +"You're as thin as a lath. Ye can get down there with Derrick No. 2 and +get some muscle laid on you. A dollar fifty a day is the best I can do +for you. Get along now." + +Jim's brain reeled with joy at the size of his prospective income. He +nodded, pulled off his coat, leaving it in the superintendent's office +and found his way to Derrick No. 2. + +The structure was a big one, so big that the exigencies of New York +traffic were forcing the company to build in sections. A steel frame +nearly eighteen stories high was nearly finished at one edge, while +blasting for another portion of the foundation, five stories deep, was +going on at the other edge. + +Derrick No. 2 was in the new foundation. Jim's foreman was a Greek. His +companion, with whom he guided the rock that the derrick lifted was a +Sicilian. The steam drillman whom Jim had to help was a negro. There +were ten nationalities on the pay roll of the company. Jim had grown +accustomed to feeling in school that New York was not in America, but in +a foreign country. Down in the five-story hole in the ground, with the +ear-shattering batter of the steam riveters above him, the groaning of +the donkey engines, the tear and screech of the steam drills beside him, +with the never ending clatter and chatter of tongues that he could not +understand about him, Jim often got the sense of suffocation of which +his father had complained. He detested foreigners, anyhow. There was in +Jim the race vanity of the Anglo-Saxon which is as profound as it is +unconscious. + +Now, with his boyish sweat mingling with that of these alien workers on +the great new structure, Jim wondered how he was going to stand this, +summer after summer, until he had his education. They seemed to him so +dirty, so stupid, like so many chattering monkeys. To get to know them, +to try to understand them, never occurred to him. + +Jim liked the darky, Hank, better than he did the others. To Hank the +others were foreigners as they were to Jim. + +"Don't talk so much. I can't hear ma drill!" yelled Hank in Jim's ear +one afternoon when the din was at its height. + +Jim flashed his charming smile. "I talk English, anyhow," he shouted +back, "when I do talk." + +"You'se the stillest white man I ever see. I'se callin' you Still Jim in +my mind. Pretty quick whites and colored folks can't get no jobs no more +in this country. Just Bohunks and Wops and Ginnies. Can you watch the +drill one minute while I gits a drink?" + +Jim nodded and glanced up at the red spider web that was dotted clear to +the eighteenth floor with black dots of workmen. He looked up at the +street edge of the gray pit. Black heads peered over the rail, staring +idly at the workmen below. Jim felt half a thrill of pride that he was a +part of the great work at which they gazed, half a hot sense of +resentment that they stared so stupidly at his discomfort. + +Far above gray stone and red ironwork was the deep blue of the summer +sky. Jim wondered if the kids in the old swimming hole missed him. He +wished he could lie on his back and talk to Phil Chadwick again. As he +stared wistfully upward, a girder on the 18th floor twisted suddenly and +swept across a temporary floor, brushing men off like crumbs. Jim saw +three men go hurtling and bounding down, down to the street. He could +not hear them scream above the din. He felt sick at his stomach and +lifted his hand from the drill, expecting the steam to be shut off. But +it was not. + +Hank came back, the whites of his eyes showing a little. "Killed three. +All Wops," he said. "Morgue gets a man a day outa this place. They just +sticks 'em outside the board fence and a policeman sends fer a +ambulance. The blood on these here New York buildings sure oughta +hoo-doo 'em. There, you Still Jim, you get a drink o' water. You look +white. The iron workers quit fer the day. They always does when a man +gits killed." + +That evening Jim did an errand to the tobacco shop for Mr. Dennis. On +his return to the library with the cigars, Dennis looked at the boy +affectionately. Jim interested him. His faithfulness to his mother, his +quiet ways, his unboyish life, touched the Irishman. + +"You look a little peaked round the gills, Still Jim. Better cut this +work you're doing and come to me office. I can't pay you so much but +I'll make a lawyer of you." + +Jim shook his head. "The work is good for me. The gym teacher said I was +growing too fast and to stay outdoors all summer." + +"What's the matter with you, then?" insisted Dennis. + +"I saw three men killed just before quitting time," said the boy. Then +suddenly his face flushed. "Sometimes I hate it here in New York. Seems +as if I can't stand it. They don't care anything about human beings. I +can't think of New York as anything but a can full of angle worms, all +of them crawling over each other to get to the top." + +"Sit down, me boy," said Dennis. "If little Mike had lived, he'd have +been just your age, Still Jim. I don't like to think of you as having so +little of a boy's life. Jim, take the summer off and I'll take you to +the seashore." + +Jim smiled a little uncertainly. "I can't leave mama, and the money I'll +get this summer will buy my clothes for a year and something for me to +put in the bank. I'm all right. It's just that since--since you know I +saw Dad----" and to his utter shame Jim began to sob. He dropped his +head on his arm and Dennis' florid face became more deeply red as he +looked at the long thin body and the beautiful brown head shaken by +sobs. + +"Good God, Jimmy, don't!" he exclaimed. "Why, you're all shot to pieces, +lad. Hold on now, I'll tell you a funny story. No, I won't either. I'll +tell you something to take up your mind. Still, do you think your mother +would marry me?" + +This had the desired effect. Jim jumped to his feet, forgetting even to +wipe the tears from his cheeks. + +"She certainly would not!" he cried. "I wouldn't let her. Has she said +she would?" + +"I haven't asked her," replied Mr. Dennis meekly. "I wanted to talk to +you about it first. Much as I think of her, Jim, I wouldn't marry her if +you objected. You've been through too much for a kid." + +Jim eyed Mr. Dennis intently. The Irishman was a pleasant, +intelligent-looking man. + +"I like you now," said the boy, his voice catching from his heavy +sobbing, "but I'd hate you if you tried to take my father's place. +Anyway, I don't think mama would even listen to you. What makes you want +to get married again, Mr. Dennis, after--after that?" + +Jim looked toward the crayon enlargement above the mantel. + +Dennis answered quickly. "Don't think for a minute I'd try to put anyone +in her place." He nodded toward the sweet-faced woman who was looking +down at them. "And I wouldn't expect to take your father's place. I +guess your mother and I both know we gave and got the best in life, +once, and it only comes once. Only it's this way, Still Jim, me boy. +When people pass middle age and look forward to old age, they see it +lonely, desperately lonely, and they want company to help them go +through it. I admire and respect your mother and I think as much of you +as if you were me own. But you'll be going off soon to make your own +way. Then your mother and I could look out for each other. I leave the +decision to you, me boy." + +"I can't stand thinking of anybody in my father's place," repeated Jim +huskily. "I'm--I'm going out for a walk." And he rushed out of the house +and started north toward 42nd street, his mind a blur of protest. + +The same instinct that sends the workman back to look at the shop on +his Sunday afternoon stroll, urged Jim up to the new skyscraper. The +night watchman was for driving the lank boy away until Jim explained +that he worked in the foundation, and was just back to see how it looked +at night. + +"If you want to see a grand sight," said the old man, "get you up to the +top floor and look out at the city. Take the tile elevator at the back. +Tell the man Morrissy sent ye." + +The work in the foundation was going on but not on the steel structure. +No one heeded Jim. He reached the 18th floor, where there was a narrow +temporary flooring. Jim sat down on a coil of rope. The boy was badly +shaken. + +No one, unless for the first time tonight, Mr. Dennis, realized how hard +a nerve shock Jim had had in seeing his father killed. He had kept from +his mother the horror of the nights that followed the tragedy. She did +not know that periodically, even now, he dreamed the August fields and +the dying men and the bloody derrick over again. She did not know what +utter courage it had taken to join the derrick gang, not for fear for +his own safety, but because of the dread association in his own mind. + +At first, the sense of height made Jim quiver. To master this he fixed +his mind on the details of structure underneath. Line on line the +delicate tracery of steel waiting for its concrete sheathing was +silhouetted below him. The night wind rushed past and he braced himself +automatically, noting at the same time how the vibration of the steel +cobweb was like a marvelous faint tune. The wonder of conception and +workmanship caught the boy's imagination. + +"That's what I'll do," he said aloud. "I'll build steel buildings like +this. In college, that's what I'll study, reinforced concrete building. +I've got to find a profession that'll give me a bigger chance than poor +Dad had, so I can marry young and have lots and gob-lots of kids." + +The wind increased and Jim slid off the coil of rope and lay flat on his +back, looking up at the sky. It was full of stars and scudding clouds. +Jim missed the sky in New York. He lay staring, sailing with the clouds +while his boyish heart glowed with the stars. + +"I'm not in New York," he thought. "I'm--I'm out in the desert country. +There isn't any noise. There aren't any people. I'm an engineer and I'm +building a bridge across a canyon where no one but the birds have ever +crossed before. I'm making a place for people to come after me. I'm +discovering new land for them and fixing it so they can come." + +For half an hour Jim lay and dreamed. He often had wondered what he was +going to be as a man. He had planned to be many things, from a milkman +to an Indian fighter. But since his father's death and indeed for some +time before, his mind had taken a bent suggested by Mr. Manning's +melancholy. What was the matter with Exham and the Mannings? Why had his +father failed? What could he do to make up for the failure? These +thoughts had colored the boy's dreams. No one can measure the importance +to a child of taking his air castles away from him. Tragedy scars a +child permanently. Grown people often forget a heavy loss. + +But tonight, inspired by the wonder of the building and the heavens, +Jim's mind slipped its leashings and took its racial bent. Suddenly he +was a maker of trails, a builder in the wilderness. He completed the +bridge and then sat up with an articulate, "Gee whiz! I know what I'm +going to be!" + +It seemed a matter of tremendous importance to the boy. He sat with +clenched fists and burning cheeks, sensing for the first time one of the +highest types of joy that comes to human beings, that of finding one's +predilection in the work by which one earns one's daily bread. The sense +of clean-cut aim to his life was like balm and tonic to the boy's +nerves. Something deeper than a New York or a New England influence was +speaking in Jim now. For the first time, his Anglo-Saxon race, his race +of empire builders, was finding its voice in him. + +Jim rode gaily down the tile elevator, his flashing smile getting a +vivid response from the Armenian elevator boy. He ran a good part of the +way home and burst into the house with a slam, utterly unlike his usual +quiet, unboyish steadiness. He was dashing past the library door on his +way upstairs to his mother, when he caught a glimpse of her sitting near +the library table with Mr. Dennis. He forgot to be astonished at her +unwonted presence there. He ran into the room. + +"Mama!" he cried. "Mama! I'm going to be an engineer and go out west and +build railroads and bridges out where its wild! Aren't you glad?" + +Mr. Dennis and Mrs. Manning stared in astonishment at Jim's loquacity +and at the glow of his face. His gray eyes were brilliant. His thick +hair was wind-tossed across his forehead. Mr. Dennis, being Irish, +understood. He rose, shook hands with Jim, his left hand patting the +boy's shoulder. + +"You're made for it, Still Jim, me boy," he said, soberly. "You've the +engineer's mind. How'd you come to think of it?" + +"Up on top of the skyscraper," replied Jim lucidly. "Don't you see, +Mama? Isn't it great?" + +Mrs. Manning was trying to smile, but her lips trembled. She was wishing +Jim's father could see him now. "I don't understand, Jimmy. But if you +like it, I must. But what shall I do with you out west?" + +Jim gasped, whitened, then looked at Mr. Dennis and began to turn red. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +JIM FINDS SARA AND PEN + + "Since time began Indians have climbed my back and have + cried their joys and sorrows to the sky. I wonder who has + heard!" + + MUSINGS OF THE ELEPHANT. + + +Mr. Dennis laughed. He still was holding Jim's hand "May I ask her?" he +said to Jim. + +Jim nodded, though his eyes were startled. Suddenly Mr. Dennis dropped +Jim's hand and threw his arm across the boy's shoulders. The two stood +facing Mrs. Manning. + +"Mrs. Manning," began the Irishman, "I think you feel that I admire and +respect you. I am a lonely man. I asked Jim if I could ask you to marry +me, earlier in the evening. He said, No! No one should take his father's +place. I told him you and I had lived through too much to dream of +falling in love again, but that old age was a lonely thing. I need you +and when Jim finishes school and goes, you'll need me, Mrs. Manning. I +can send Jim through college and give him a right start. Will you marry +me, say in a day or two, without any fuss, Mrs. Manning?" + +The little widow's face was flushed. "What made you change, Jim?" she +exclaimed. "I couldn't love anyone but your father." + +Jim nodded. "I didn't realize then that my work would take me away from +you. You know a man's job is very important, Mama. I want to get someone +to take care of you while I build bridges, for I've _got to build them_. +I can send you money but I want a man to be looking out for you." + +Mr. Dennis' eyes twinkled but he waited. + +"It's only a year since your father died. I never could care for anyone +else," said Mrs. Manning. + +"It's ten years since Mrs. Dennis and the babies died," said Dennis. "I +never could love anyone as I did the three of them. But you and I suit +each other comfortably, Mrs. Manning. We'd be a great comfort to each +other and we can do some good things for Still Jim. You must try to give +him his chance. It's a sad boyhood he's having, Mrs. Manning. Let's give +him the chance he can't have unless you marry me." + +Mrs. Manning looked at Jim. His face still was eager but there were dark +rings around his eyes that came from nerve strain. He was too thin and +she saw for the first time that his shoulders were rounding. Mr. Dennis +followed up his advantage. + +"Look at his hands, Mrs. Manning. Hard work has knocked them up too much +for his age. He should have his chance to play if he's to do good body +and brain work later. Let's give his father's son a chance! Don't you +think his father would approve?" + +"Oh, but I'm going to keep on working and supporting myself!" cried Jim. +"I just wanted you to look out for Mama." + +"Well, I guess not!" cried Mrs. Manning, vehemently. "You'll come +straight out of that foundation tomorrow. You are going to have your +chance. Oh, Jim dear! I hadn't realized how little happiness you've been +having!" + +Jim shook his head. "I can support myself." + +Mrs. Manning sniffed. "How can you be a good engineer out in that awful +rough country unless you have the best kind of a physical foundation? +Use sense, Jimmy." + +This was a master stroke. Jim wavered, then caught his left ankle in his +hand and hopped about like a happy frog. + +"Gee whiz!" he cried. "I'll enter the try-out squad the first thing. I +bet I can make school quarter back." + +Mr. Dennis cut in neatly. "It might just as well take place tomorrow and +the three of us can take a month at the seashore. I'll bet Jim has +sighed for the old swimming hole lately." + +The little widow looked at Mr. Dennis long and keenly, then she rose and +held out her hand while she said very deliberately: + +"You are a good man, Michael Dennis. I thank you for me and mine and +I'll be a comfort to you as you are being to me. I'm not going to +pretend I'd do this if it wasn't for Jim. I can't love you, but you love +Jim and that's enough for me." + +And so Jim was given his chance. + +He spent the rest of the summer at the shore and entered school in the +fall with a new interest. With the unexpected lift of the money burden +from his shoulders, Jim began to make up for his lost play. Football and +track work, debating societies and glee-clubs straightened his round +shoulders and found him friends. Most important of all, he ceased to +brood for a time over his Exham problems. + +Jim's stepfather, whom the boy called Uncle Denny, took a pride and +interest in the boy that sometimes brought the tears to his mother's +eyes. It seemed to her that the warm-hearted Irishman gave to Jim all +the love that the death of his family had left unsatisfied. And Jim, in +his undemonstrative way, returned Mr. Dennis' affection. He shared with +his Uncle Denny his growing ideals on engineering. He rehearsed his +debating society speeches on his Uncle Denny, who endured them with +enthusiasm. He and his Uncle Denny worked out some marvelous football +tactics when Jim as a senior in the high school became captain of the +school team. Often of an evening Jim's mother would come upon the two in +the library, flat on their backs before the grate in a companionship +that needed and found no words. + +At such times she would say, "Michael, you didn't marry me. You married +Jim." + +And Dennis would look up at her with a smile of understanding that she +returned. + +When Jim was a freshman in Columbia, he acquired a chum. It was not a +chum who took the place of Phil Chadwick. Nothing in after life ever +fills the hollow left by the first friendship of childhood and Phil was +hallowed in Jim's memory along with all the beauties of the swimming +hole and the quiet elms around the old Exham mansions. + +But Jim's new chum gave him his first opportunity at hero-worship, which +is an essential step in a boy's growth. The young man's name was George +Saradokis. His mates called him Sara. His mother was a Franco-American, +his father was a Greek, a real estate man in the Greek section of New +York. Sara confided to Jim, early in their acquaintance, that his father +was the disinherited son of a nobleman and that he, the grandson, would +be his grandfather's heir. The glamour of this possible inheritance did +not detract at all from the romance of the new friendship in Jim's +credulous young eyes. + +Sara was halfback on the freshman football team, while Jim played +quarterback. The two were of a height, six feet, but Jim still was +slender. Sara was broad and heavy. He was very Greek--that is, modern +Greek, which has little racially or temperamentally in common with the +ancient Greek. He was a brilliant student, yet of a commerciality of +mind that equalled that of any Jewish student in the class. + +Both the boys were good trackmen. Both were good students. Both were +planning to be engineers. But, temperamentally, they were as far apart +as the two countries whence came their father's stock. + +Uncle Denny did not approve fully of Saradokis, but finally he decided +that it was good for Jim to overcome some of his New England prejudice +against the immigrant class and he encouraged the young Greek to come to +the house. + +It was when Jim was a freshman, too, that Penelope came from Colorado to +live with her Uncle Denny. Her father, Uncle Denny's brother, had +married a little Scotch girl and they had made a bare living from a +small mine, up in the mountains, until a fatal attack of pneumonia +claimed them both in a single month. Penelope stayed on at a girl's +school in Denver for a year. Then, Jim's mother urging it, Mr. Dennis +sent for her. Jim, absorbed in the intricate business of being a +freshman, did not give much heed to the preparations for her coming. + +One spring evening he sauntered into the library to wait for the dinner +bell. As he strolled over to the fireplace, he saw a slender young girl +sitting in the Morris chair. + +"Oh, hello!" said Jim. + +"Hello!" said the young girl, rising. + +The two calmly eyed each other. Jim saw a graceful girl, three or four +years younger than himself, with a great braid of chestnut hair hanging +over one shoulder. She had a round face that ended in a pointed chin, a +generous mouth, a straight little nose and a rich glow of color in her +cheeks. These details Jim noted only casually, for his attention was +focused almost immediately on her eyes. For years after, whenever Jim +thought of Penelope, he thought of a halo of chestnut hair about eyes of +a deep hazel; eyes that were large, almost too large, for the little +round face; eyes that were steady and clear and black sometimes with +feeling or with a fleeting shadow of melancholy that did not belong to +her happy youth. + +Penelope saw a tall lad in a carefully dressed Norfolk suit. He had a +long, thin, tanned face, with a thick mop of soft hair falling across +his forehead, a clear gaze and a flashing, wistful, fascinatingly sweet +smile as he repeated: + +"Hello, Penelope!" + +"Hello, Still Jim!" replied the girl, while her round cheeks showed +dimples that for a moment made Jim forget her eyes. + +"Uncle Denny's been busy, I see," said Jim. + +Then he was speechless. He had not reached the "girl stage" as yet. +Penelope was not disturbed. She continued to look Jim over, almost +unblinkingly. Then Jim, to his own astonishment, suddenly found his +tongue. + +"I'm glad you've come," he said abruptly. "I'm going to think a lot of +you, I can see that." + +He held out his hand and Penelope slipped her slender fingers into his +hard young fists. Jim did not let the little hand go for a minute. The +two looked at each other clearly. + +"I'm glad I'm here," said Penelope. Then she dimpled. "And I'm glad +you're nice, because Uncle Denny told me that if I didn't like you I'd +show myself no judge of boys. When I giggled, I know he wanted to slap +me." + +Jim's smile flashed and Penelope wondered what she liked best about it, +his white teeth, his merriness or his wistfulness. + +"There's the dinner bell!" exclaimed Jim. "As Uncle Denny says, I'm so +hungry me soul is hanging by a string. Come on, Penelope." + +Penelope entered Jim's life as simply and as easily as Saradokis did. + +Sara charmed both Jim and Penelope. His physical beauty alone was a +thing to fascinate far harsher critics than these two who grew to be his +special friends. His hair was tawny and thick and wavy. His eyes were +black and bright. His mouth was small and perfectly cut. His cleft chin +was square and so was his powerful jaw. He carried himself like an +Indian and his strength was like that of the lover in Solomon's song. + +Added to this was the romance of his grandfather. This story enthralled +little Pen, who at fourteen was almost bowled over by the thought that +some day Sara might be a duke. + +Sara's keen mind, his commercial cleverness had a strong hold on Jim, +who lacked the money-making instinct. Jim quoted Sara a good deal at +first to Uncle Denny, whose usual comment was a grunt. + +"Sara says it's a commercial age. If you don't get out and rustle money +you might as well get off the earth." + +A grunt from Uncle Denny. + +"Well, but Uncle Denny, you can't deny he's right." + +The Irishman's reply was indirect. "Remember, me boy, that the chief +value of a college education is to set your standards, to make your +ideals. These four years are the high-water mark of your life's +idealism. You never'll get higher. Anything else you are taught in +college you'll have to learn over another way after you get out to buck +real life." + +Jim thought this over for a time, then he said: "Do you ever talk to Pen +like you do to me? It would do her good." + +Uncle Denny sniffed. "Don't you worry about Pen's ideas. She's got the +best mind I ever found in a girl. When she gets past the giggling age, +you'll learn a few things from her, me boy." + +Penelope chummed with the two boys impartially as far as Dennis or Jim's +mother could perceive. The girl with her common sense and her +foolishness and her youthfulness was an inexpressible joy to Jim's +mother, who always had longed for a daughter. She had dreams about Jim +and Pen that she confided to no one and she looked on Penelope's +impartiality with a jealous eye. + +Until Pen was sixteen the boys were content to share her equally. They +were finishing their junior year when Pen's sixteenth birthday arrived. +It fell on a Saturday, and Jim and Sara cut Saturday morning classes and +invited Penelope to a day at Coney Island. Uncle Denny and Jim's mother +were to meet the trio for supper and return with them. + +It was a June morning fit to commemorate, Sara said, even Pen's +birthday. The three, carrying their bathing suits, caught the 8 o'clock +boat at 129th street, prepared to do the weather and the occasion full +justice. The crowd was not great on this early boat until the Battery +was reached. Then all the world rushed up the gang plank; Jew and +Gentile crowded for the best places. Italian women, with babies, dragged +after husbands with lunch baskets. Stout Irish matrons looked with scorn +on the "foreigners" and did great devastation in claiming camp stools. +Very young Jewish girls and boys were the most conspicuous element in +the crowd, but there were groups of gentle Armenians, of Syrians, of +Chinese and parties of tourists with field glasses and cameras. + +"And every one of them claims to be an American," said Jim. + +Penelope nudged Sara. "Look at Jim's New England nose," she chuckled. "I +don't see how he can see anything but the sky." + +Jim did not heed Pen's remarks. Pen and Sara laughed. They were thrilled +by the very cosmopolitan aspect of the crowd. They responded to a sense +of world citizenship to which Jim was an utter alien. + +"Make 'em a speech, Jim!" cried Sara, as the boat got under way again. +"Make the eagle scream. It's a bully place for a speech. The poor devils +can't get away from you." + +Jim grinned. Pen, her eyes twinkling, joined in with Sara. "He's too +lazy. He's a typical American. He'll roast the immigrants but he won't +do anything. It's a dare, Jim." + +Sara shouted, "It's a dare, Still! Go to it! Pen and I dare you to make +the boat a speech." + +Jim was still smiling but his eyes narrowed. The old boyhood code still +held in college. The "taker" of a dare was no sportsman. And there was +something deeper than this that suddenly spoke; the desire of his race +to force his ideas on others, the same desire that had made his father +talk to the men in the quarry at Exham. With a sudden swing of his long +legs he mounted a pile of camp chairs and balanced himself with a hand +on Sara's shoulder. + +"Shut up!" he shouted. "Everybody shut up and listen to me!" + +It was the old dominating note. Those of the crowd that heard his voice +turned to look. It was a vivid group they saw; the tall boy, with thin, +eager face, fine gray eyes and a flashing wistful smile that caught the +heart, and with a steadying arm thrown round Jim's thighs, the Greek +lad, with his uncovered hair liquid gold in the June sun, his beautiful +brown face flushed and laughing, while crowded close to Sara was the +pink-cheeked girl, her face upturned to look at Jim. + +"Hey! Everybody! Keep still and listen to me!" repeated Jim. + +In the hush that came, the chatter in the cabin below and the rear deck +sounded remote. + +"I've been appointed a committee of one to welcome you to America!" +cried Jim. "Welcome to our land. And when you get tired of New York, +remember that it's not in America. America lies beyond the Hudson. Enjoy +yourselves. Take everything that isn't nailed down." + +"Who gave the country to you, kid?" asked a voice in the crowd. + +"My ancestors who, three hundred years ago, stole it from the Indians," +answered Jim with a smile. + +A roar of laughter greeted this. "How'd you manage to keep it so long?" +asked someone else. + +"Because you folks hadn't heard of it," replied the boy. + +Another roar of laughter and someone else called, "Good speech. Take up +a collection for the young fellow to get his hair cut with." + +Jim tossed the hair out of his eyes and gravely pointed back to the +marvelous outline of the statue of Liberty, black against the sky. "Take +a collection and drink hope to that, my friends. It is the most +magnificent experiment in the world's history, and you have taken it out +of our hands." + +There was a sudden hush, followed by hand clapping, during which Jim +slipped down. Sara gave him a bear hug. "Oh, Still Jim, you're the light +of my weary eyes! Did he call our bluff, Pen, huh?" + +There was something more than laughter in Pen's eyes as she replied: + +"I'm never sure whether Still was cut out to be an auctioneer or a +politician." + +"Gosh!" exclaimed Jim, "let's get some ginger ale." + +The day rushed on as if in a wild endeavor to keep up with the June wind +which beat up and down the ocean and across Coney Island, urging the +trio on to its maddest. They shot the chutes until, maudlin with +laughter, they took to a merry-go-round. When they were ill from +whirling, Sara led the way to the bucking staircase. This was a style of +several steps arranged to buck at unexpected intervals. The movement so +befuddled the climber that he consistently took a step backward for +every step forward until at last, goaded by the huge laughter of the +watching crowd, he fairly fell to the opposite side of the staircase. + +It was before this seductive phenomenon that the three paused. The crowd +was breathlessly watching the struggles of a very fat, very red-headed +woman who chewed gum in exact rhythm with the bucking of the staircase, +while she firmly marked time on the top of the stairs. + +Sara gave a chuckle and, closely followed by Jim and Pen, he mounted the +stile. He was balked by the red-headed woman who towered high above him. +Sara reached up and touched her broad back. + +"Walk right ahead, madam," he urged. "You're holding us back." + +The fat woman obediently took a wild step forward, the stair bucked and +she stepped firmly backward and sat down violently on Sara's head. Pen +and Jim roared with the crowd. The red-headed woman scrambled to the +topmost stair again, then turned and shook her fist in Sara's face. + +"Don't you touch me again, you brute!" she screamed. Then she summoned +all her energies and took another dignified step upward. Again the +stairs bucked. Again the fat woman sat down on Sara's hat. Again the +onlookers were overwhelmed with laughter. Pen and Jim feebly supported +each other as they rode up and down on the lower step. Sara pushed the +woman off his head and again she turned on him. + +"There! You made me swallow my gum! And I'll bet you call yourself a +gentleman!" + +Sara, red-faced but grinning, took a mighty step upward, gripped the +woman firmly around the waist and lifted her down the opposite side of +the stile. Pen and Jim followed with a mad scramble. For a moment it +looked as if the red-headed woman would murder Sara. But as she looked +at his young beauty her middle-aged face was etched by a gold-toothed +smile. + +"Gee, that's more fun than I've had for a year!" she exclaimed and she +melted into helpless laughter. + +Coney Island is of no value to the fastidious or the lazy. Coney Island +belongs to those who have the invaluable gift of knowing how to be +foolish, who have felt the soul-purging quality of huge laughter, the +revivifying power of play. Lawyers and pickpockets, speculators and +laborers, poets and butchers, chorus girls and housewives at Coney +Island find one common level in laughter. Every wholesome human being +loves the clown. + +Spent with laughing, Pen finally suggested lunch, and Jim led the way to +an open-air restaurant. + +"Let's," he said with an air of inspiration, "eat lunch backward. Begin +with coffee and cheese and ice cream and pie and end with clam chowder +and pickles." + +"Nothing could be more perfect!" exclaimed Pen enthusiastically, and as +nothing surprises a Coney Islander waiter, they reversed the menu. + +When they could hold no more, they strolled down to the beach and sat in +the sand. The crowd was very thick here. Nearly everyone was in a +bathing suit. Women lolled, half-naked in the sand, while their escorts, +still more scantily clad, sifted sand over them. Unabashed couples +embraced each other, rubbing elbows with other embracing pairs. The wind +blew the smell of hot, wet humans across Jim's face. He looked at Pen's +sweet face, now a little round-eyed and abashed in watching the +unashamed crowd. It was the first time that Mrs. Manning had allowed Pen +to go to Coney Island without her careful eye. + +Jim said, with a slow red coming into his cheeks, "Let's get out of +here, Sara." + +"Why, we just got here," replied Sara. "Let's get into our suits and +have some fun." + +"Pen'll not get into a bathing suit with these muckers," answered Jim, +slowly. + +Pen, who had been thinking the same thing, immediately resented Jim's +tone. "Of course I shall," she replied airily. "You can't boss me, Jim." + +"That's right, Pen," agreed Sara. "Let old Prunes sit here and swelter. +You and I will have a dip." + +Pen rose and she and Sara started toward the bath house. Jim took a long +stride round in front of the two. + +"Sara, do as you please," he drawled. "Penelope will stay here with +me." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE SIGN AND SEAL + + "The river forever flows yet she sees no farther than I who + am forever silent, forever still." + + MUSINGS OF THE ELEPHANT. + + +"Jim Manning, you've no right to speak to me that way," said Penelope. + +Jim returned her look clearly. "You are to stay here, Pen," he repeated +slowly. + +"You've got your nerve, Still!" exclaimed Sara. "Pen's as much my +company as she is yours. Quit trying to start something. Pen, come +along." + +Jim did not stir for a moment, then he jerked his head toward the bath +house. "Go ahead and get into your suit, Sara. Penelope and I will wait +here for you." + +Sara had seen Jim in this guise before, on the football field. For a +moment he scowled, then he shrugged his shoulders. "You old mule!" he +grunted. "All right, Pen. You pacify the brute and I'll be back in a few +minutes." + +Pen did not yield so gracefully. She sat down in the sand with her back +half turned to Jim and he, with his boyish jaw set, eyed her +uncomfortably. She did not speak to him until Sara appeared and, with +an airy wave of the hand, waded into the water. + +"I think Sara looks like a Greek god in a bathing suit," she said. +"You'd know he was going to be a duke, just to look at him." + +Jim gave a good imitation of one of Uncle Denny's grunts and said: "He +isn't a duke--yet--and he's gone in too soon after eating." + +"And he's got beautiful manners," Pen continued. "You treat me as if I +were a child. He never forgets that I am a lady." + +"Oh, slush!" drawled Jim. + +Pen turned her back, squarely. Sara did not remain long in the water but +came up dripping and shivering to burrow in the hot sand. Pen +deliberately sifted sand over him, patting it down as she saw the others +do, while she told Sara how wonderfully he swam. + +Sara eyed Jim mischievously, while he answered: "Never mind, Pen. When +I'm the duke, you shall be the duchess and have a marble swimming pool +all of your own. And old Prunes will be over here coaching Anthony +Comstock while you and I are doing Europe--in our bathing suits." + +Penelope flushed quickly and Sara's halo of romance shone brighter than +ever. + +"The Duchess Pen," he went on largely. "Not half bad. For my part, I +can't see any objection to a girl as pretty as you are wearing a bathing +suit anywhere, any time." + +Pen looked at Sara adoringly. At sixteen one loves the gods easily. Jim, +with averted face, watched the waves dumbly. It had been easy that +morning to toss speech back and forth with the boat crowd. But now, as +always, when he felt that his need for words was dire, speech deserted +him. Suddenly he was realizing that Pen was no longer a little girl and +that she admired Saradokis ardently. When the young Greek strolled away +to dress, Jim looked at Pen intently. She was so lovely, so rosy, so +mischievous, so light and sweet as only sixteen can be. + +"Cross patch. Draw the latch! Sit by the sea and grouch," she sang. + +Jim flushed. "I'm not grouchy," he protested. + +"Oh, yes you are!" cried Pen. "And when Sara comes back, he and I are +going up for some ice cream while you stay here and get over it. You can +meet us for supper with Aunt Mary and Uncle Denny." + +Jim, after the two had left, sat for a long time in the sand. He wished +that he could have a look at the old swimming hole up at Exham. He +wished that he and Uncle Denny and his mother and Pen were living at +Exham. For the first time he felt a vague distrust of Sara. After a time +he got into his bathing suit and spent the rest of the afternoon in and +out of the water, dressing only in time to meet the rest for supper. + +After supper the whole party went to one of the great dancing pavilions. +Uncle Denny and Jim's mother danced old-fashioned waltzes, while Sara +and Jim took turn about whirling Penelope through two steps and +galloping through modern waltz steps. The music and something in Jim's +face touched Pen. As he piloted her silently over the great floor in +their first waltz, she looked up into his face and said: + +"I was horrid, Still Jim. You were so bossy. But you were right; it was +no place for me." + +Jim's arm tightened round her soft waist. "Pen," he said, "promise me +you'll shake Sara and the rest and walk home from the boat with me +tonight." + +Pen hesitated. She would rather have walked home with Sara, but she was +very contrite over Jim's lonely afternoon, so she promised. Sara left +the boat at the Battery to get a subway train home. When the others +reached 23rd street, it was not difficult for Jim and Pen to drop well +behind Uncle Denny and Jim's mother. Jim drew Pen's arm firmly within +his own. This seemed very funny to Penelope and yet she enjoyed it. +There had come a subtle but decided change in the boy's attitude toward +her that day, that she felt was a clear tribute to her newly acquired +young ladyhood. So, while she giggled under her breath, she enjoyed +Jim's sedulous assistance at the street crossings immensely. + +But try as he would, Jim could say nothing until they reached the old +brownstone front. He mounted the steps with her slowly. In the dimly +lighted vestibule he took both her hands. + +"Look up at me, Pen," he said. + +The girl looked up into the tall boy's face. Jim looked down into her +sweet eyes. His own grew wistful. + +"I wish I were ten years older," he said. Then very firmly: "Penelope, +you belong to _me_. Remember that, always. We belong to each other. When +I have made a name for myself I'm coming back to marry you." + +"But," protested Pen, "I'd much rather be a duchess." + +Jim held her hands firmly. "You belong to me. You shall never marry +Saradokis." + +Pen's soft gaze deepened as she looked into Jim's eyes. She saw a light +there that stirred something within her that never before had been +touched. And Jim, his face white, drew Penelope to him and laid his soft +young lips to hers, holding her close with boyish arms that trembled at +his own audacity, even while they were strong with a man's desire to +hold. + +Penelope gave a little sobbing breath as Jim released her. + +"That's my sign and seal," he said slowly, "that kiss. That's to hold +you until I'm a man." + +The little look of tragedy that often lurked in Pen's eyes was very +plain as she said: "It will be a long time before you have made a name +for yourself, Still Jim. Lots of things will happen before then." + +"I won't change," said Jim. "The Mannings don't." Then with a great sigh +as of having definitely settled his life, he added: "Gee, I'm hungry! Me +stomach is touching me backbone. Let's see if there isn't something in +the pantry. Come on, Pen." + +And Pen, with a sudden flash of dimples, followed him. + +It was not long after Pen's birthday that the college year ended and Jim +and Sara went to work. Jim had spent his previous vacations with the +family at the shore. Saradokis was planning to become a construction +engineer, with New York as his field. He wanted Jim to go into +partnership with him when they were through college. So he persuaded Jim +that it would be a good experience for them to put in their junior +vacation at work on one of the mighty skyscrapers always in process of +construction. + +They got jobs as steam drillmen. Jim liked the work. He liked the mere +sense of physical accomplishment in working the drill. He liked to be a +part of the creative force that was producing the building. But to his +surprise, his old sense of suffocation in being crowded in with the +immigrant workman returned to him. There came back, too, some of the old +melancholy questioning that he had known as a boy. + +He said to Sara one day: "My father used to say that when he was a boy +the phrase, 'American workman' stood for the highest efficiency in the +world, but that even in his day the phrase had become a joke. How could +you expect this rabble to know that there might be such a thing as an +American standard of efficiency?" + +Sara laughed. "Junior Economics stick out all over you, Still. This +bunch does as good work as the American owners will pay for." + +Jim was silent for a time, then he said: "I wonder what's the matter +with us Americans? How did we come to give our country away to this +horde?" + +"'Us Americans!'" mimicked Saradokis. "What is an American, anyhow?" + +"I'm an American," returned Jim, briefly. + +"Sure," answered the Greek, "but so am I and so are most of these +fellows. And none of us knows what an American is. I'll admit it was +your type founded the government. But you are goners. There is no +American type any more. And by and by we'll modify your old Anglo-Saxon +institutions so that G. Washington will simply revolve in his grave. +We'll add Greek ideas and Yiddish and Wop and Bohunk and Armenian and +Nigger and Chinese and Magyar. Gee! The world will forget there ever was +one of you big-headed New Englanders in this country. Huh! What is an +American? The American type will have a boarding house hash beaten for +infinite variety in a generation or so." + +The two young men were marching along 23rd street on their way to Jim's +house for dinner. At Sara's words Jim stopped and stared at the young +Greek. His gray eyes were black. + +"So that's the way you feel about us, you foreigners!" exclaimed Jim. +"We blazed the trail for you fellows in this country and called you over +here to use it. And you've suffocated us and you are glad of it. Good +God! Dad and the Indians!" + +"What did you call us over here for but to make us do your dirty work +for you?" chuckled the Greek. "Serves you right. Piffle! What's an +American want to talk about my race and thine for? There's room for all +of us!" + +Jim did not answer. All that evening he scarcely spoke. That night he +dreamed again of his father's broken body and dying face against the +golden August fields. All the next day as he sweated on the drill, the +futile questionings of his childhood were with him. + +At noon, Sara eyed him across the shining surface of a Child's +restaurant table. Each noon they devoured a quarter of their day's wages +in roast beef and baked apples. + +"Are you sore at me, Still?" asked Sara. "I wasn't roasting you, +personally, last night." + +Jim shook his head. Sara waited for words but Jim ate on in silence. + +"Oh, for the love of heaven, come out of it!" groaned Sara. "Tell me +what ails you, then you can go back in and shut the door. What has got +your goat? You can think we foreigners are all rotters if you want to." + +"You don't get the point," replied Jim. "I don't think for a minute that +you newcomers haven't a perfect right to come over here. But I have race +pride. You haven't. I can't see America turned from North European to +South in type without feeling suffocated." + +The young Greek stared at Jim fixedly. Then he shook his head. "You are +in a bad way, my child. I prescribe a course at vaudeville tonight. I +see you can still eat, though." + +Jim stuck by his drill until fall. During these three months he pondered +more over his father's and Exham's failure than he had for years. Yet he +reached no conclusion save the blind one that he was going to fight +against his own extinction, that he was going to found a family, that he +was going to make the old Manning name once more known and respected. + +It was after this summer that the presence of race barrier was felt by +Jim and Sara. And somehow, too, after Pen's birthday there was a new +restraint between the two boys. Both of them realized then that Pen was +more to them than the little playmate they had hitherto considered her. +Jim believed that the kiss in the vestibule bound Pen to him +irretrievably. But this did not prevent him from feeling uneasy and +resentful over Sara's devotion to her. + +Nothing could have been more charming to a girl of Pen's age than Sara's +way of showing his devotion. Flowers and candy, new books and music he +showered on her endlessly, to Mrs. Manning's great disapproval. But +Uncle Denny shrugged his shoulders. + +"Let it have its course, me dear. 'Tis the surest cure. And Jim must +learn to speak for himself, poor boy." + +So the pretty game went on. Something in Sara's heritage made him a +finished man of the world, while Jim was still an awkward boy. While +Jim's affection manifested itself in silent watchfulness, in +unobtrusive, secret little acts of thoughtfulness and care, Saradokis +was announcing Pen as the Duchess to all their friends and openly +singing his joy in her beauty and cleverness. + +For even at sixteen Pen showed at times the clear minded thoughtfulness +that later in life was to be her chief characteristic. This in spite of +the fact that Uncle Denny insisted on her going to a fashionable private +school. She read enormously, anything and everything that came to hand. +Uncle Denny's books on social and political economy were devoured quite +as readily as Jim's novels of adventure or her own Christina Rossetti. +And Sara was to her all the heroes of all the tales she read, although +after the episode of the Sign and Seal some of the heroes showed a +surprising and uncontrollable likeness to Jim. Penelope never forgot the +kiss in the vestibule. She never recalled it without a sense of loss +that she was too young to understand and with a look in her eyes that +did not belong to her youth but to her Celtic temperament. + +She looked Jim over keenly when the family came up from the shore and +Jim was ready for his senior year. "You never were cut out for city +work, Jimmy," she said. + +"I'm as fit as I ever was in my life," protested Jim. + +"Physically, of course," answered Pen. "But you hate New York and so +it's bad for you. Get out into the big country, Still Jim. I was brought +up in Colorado, remember. I know the kind of men that belong there. I +love that color of necktie on you." + +"Have you heard about the Reclamation Service?" asked Jim eagerly. Then +he went on: "The government is building big dams to reclaim the arid +west. It puts up the money and does the work and then the farmers on the +Project--that's what they call the system and the land it waters--have +ten years or so to pay back what it cost and then the water system +belongs to them. They are going to put up some of the biggest dams in +the world. I'd like to try to get into that work. Somehow I like the +idea of working for Uncle Sam. James Manning, U.S.R.S.--how does that +sound?" + +"Too lovely for anything. I'm crazy about it. Sounds like Kipling and +the pyramids and Sahara, somehow." + +"Will you come out there after I get a start, Pen?" asked Jim. + +"Gee! I should say not! About the time you're beginning your second dam, +I'll be overwhelming the courts of Europe," Pen giggled. Then she added, +serenely: "You don't realize, Still, that I'm going to be a duchess." + +"Aw, Pen, cut out that silly talk. You belong to me and don't you ever +think your flirtation with Sara is serious for a minute. If I thought +you really did, I'd give up the Reclamation idea and go into partnership +with Sara so as to watch him and keep him from getting you." + +"You and Sara would never get along in business together," said Pen, +with one of her far-seeing looks. "Sara would tie you in a bowknot in +business, and the older you two grow the more you are going to develop +each other's worst sides." + +"Nevertheless, Sara shall never get you," said Jim grimly. + +Penelope gave Jim an odd glance. "Sara is my fate, Still Jim," she said +soberly. + +"Oh, pickles!" exclaimed Jim. + +Pen tossed her head and left him. + +It was in the spring of their senior year that Jim and Sara ran the +Marathon. It was a great event in the world of college athletics. Men +from every important college in the country competed in the tryout. For +the final Marathon there were left twenty men, Sara and Jim among them. + +The course was laid along Broadway from a point near Van Cortlandt Park +to Columbus Circle, ten long, clean miles of asphalt. Early on the +bright May morning of the race crowds began to gather along the course. +At first, a thin line of enthusiasts, planting themselves on camp stools +along the curb. Then at the beginning and end of the course the line, +thickened to two or three deep until at last the police began to +establish lines. Mounted police appeared at intervals to turn traffic. +The crowd as it thickened grew more noisy. Strange college yells were +emitted intermittently. Street fakirs traveled diligently up and down +the lines selling college banners. At last, Broadway lay a shining black +ribbon, bordered with every hue of the rainbow, awaiting the runners. + +Uncle Denny had an elaborate plan for seeing the race. He and Jim's +mother and Penelope established themselves at 159th street, with a +waiting automobile around the corner. After the runners had passed this +point, the machine was to rush them to the grand stand at Columbus +Circle for the finish. + +The three stood on the curb at 159th street, waiting. It was +mid-afternoon when to the north, above the noise of the city, an +increasing roar told of the coming of the runners. Pen, standing between +Uncle Denny and Jim's mother, seized a hand of each. Far up the shining +black asphalt ribbon appeared a group of white dots. The roar grew with +their approach. + +Suddenly Penelope leaned forward. "Sara! Sara! Jim! Jim!" she screamed. + +Four men were leading the Marathon. A Californian, a Wisconsin man, Jim +and Sara. Sara led, then Jim and the Californian, then the Wisconsin man +with not a foot between any two of them. + +Jim was running easier than Sara. He had the advantage of less weight +with the same height. Sara's running pants and jersey were drenched with +sweat. He was running with his mouth dropped open, head back, every +superb line of his body showing under his wet clothes. His tawny hair +gleamed in the sun. No sculptured marble of a Greek runner was ever more +beautiful than Sara as he ran the Marathon. + +Jim was running "with his nerves," head forward, teeth clenched, fists +tight to his side, long, lean and lithe. His magnificent head outlined +itself for an instant against the sky line of the Hudson, fine, tense, +like the painting of a Saxon warrior. Pen carried this picture of him in +her heart for years. + +The moment the boys had passed, Uncle Denny made a run for the machine. +The three entered the grand stand just as the white dots appeared under +the elevated tracks at 66th street. There was a roar, a fluttering of +banners, a crash of music from a band and a single runner broke from the +group and staggered against the line. Saradokis had won the race. + +Jim was not to be seen. Uncle Denny was frantic. + +"Where's me boy?" he shouted. "He was fit to finish at the Battery when +he passed us. Give me deck room here. I'm going to find him!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE MARATHON + + "I have seen a thing that humans call friendship. It is + clearer, higher, less frequent than the thing they call + love." + + MUSINGS OF THE ELEPHANT. + + +At 66th street, Jim had passed the Californian and caught up with Sara. +He held Sara's pace for the next block. Try as he would, the young Greek +could not throw Jim off and instinct told him that Jim had enough +reserve in him to forge ahead in the final spurt at Columbus Circle, six +blocks away. + +But at 63rd street something happened. A fire alarm was turned in from a +store in the middle of the block. The police tried to move the crowd +away without interfering with the race, but just as the runners reached +the point of the fire, the crowd broke into the street. A boy darted in +front of Sara and Jim, and Sara struck at the lad. It was a back-handed +blow and Sara brought his elbow back into Jim's stomach with a force +that doubled Jim up like a closing book. Sara did not look round. A +policeman jerked Jim to his feet. + +"After 'em, boy. Ye still can beat the next bunch!" cried the policeman. +But Jim was all in. The blow had been a vicious one and he swayed limply +against the burly bluecoat. + +"Dirty luck!" grunted the Irishman, and with his arm under Jim's +shoulders he walked slowly with him to the rooms at Columbus Circle, +where the runners were to dress. There Uncle Denny found Jim, still +white and shaken, dressing slowly. + +"What happened to you, me boy?" asked Uncle Denny, looking at him +keenly. + +Jim sat limply on the edge of a cot and told Dennis what had happened. + +"The low scoundrel!" roared Uncle Denny. "Leave me get at him!" + +Jim caught the purple-faced Irishman by the arm. "You are to say nothing +to anyone, Uncle Denny. How could I prove that he meant to do it? And do +you want me to be a loser that bellyaches?" + +Uncle Denny looked Jim over and breathed hard for a moment before he +replied: "Very well, me boy. But I always suspected he had a yellow +streak in him and this proves it. Have you seen him do dirty tricks +before?" + +"I never had any proof," answered Jim carefully. "And it was always some +money matter and I'm no financier, so I laid it to my own ignorance." + +"A man who will do dirt in money matters can't be a clean sport," said +Uncle Denny. "This ends any chance of your going into business with him, +Jim, I hope." + +"I gave that idea up long ago, Uncle Denny. Pen is not to hear a word of +all this, remember, won't you?" + +At this moment, Saradokis burst in the door. He was dressed and his face +was vivid despite his exhaustion. + +"Hey, Still! What happened to you? Everybody's looking for you. +Congratulate me, old scout!" + +Jim looked from Sara's outstretched hand to his beaming face. Then he +put his own hand in his pocket. + +"That was a rotten deal you handed me, Sara," he said in the drawl that +bit. + +"What!" cried Sara. + +"What's done's done," replied Jim. "I'm no snitcher, so you know you're +safe. But I'm through with you." + +Sara turned to Uncle Denny, injured innocence in his face. "What is the +matter with him, Mr. Dennis?" he exclaimed. + +"Still Jim, me boy, go down to the machine while I talk with Sara," said +Dennis. + +"No, there is no use talking," insisted Jim. + +"Jim," said Dennis sternly, "I ask you to obey me but seldom." + +Without a word Jim picked up the suit case containing his running togs +and went down to the automobile where his mother and Penelope were +waiting. To their anxious questions he merely replied that he had +fallen. This was enough for the two women folk, who tucked him in +between them comfortably and his mother held his hand while Pen gave him +a glowing account of the finish of the race. + +Jim listened with a grim smile, his gray eyes steadily fixed on Pen's +lovely face. Not for worlds would he have had Penelope know that Sara +had won the race on a foul. Whatever she learned about the Greek he was +determined she should not learn through him. He was going to win on his +own points, he told himself, and not by tattling on his rival. + +It was fifteen minutes before Dennis and Sara appeared. Sara's face was +red with excitement and drawn with weariness. He walked directly to the +machine and, looking up into Pen's face, exclaimed: + +"If Jim has told you that I gave him a knockout to win the race, it's a +lie, Pen!" + +Penelope looked from Jim to Uncle Denny, then back to Sara in utter +bewilderment. + +"Why, Sara! He never said anything of the kind! He said he had a bad +fall when the crowd closed in and that it put him out of the race." + +"I told you to keep quiet, Sara, that Jim would never say anything!" +cried Uncle Denny. + +"Get in, both of you," said Jim's mother quietly. "Don't make a scene on +the street." + +"If Saradokis gets in, I'll take the Elevated home," said Jim slowly. + +"Don't worry!" snapped Sara. "I'm meeting my father in a moment. Pen, +you believe in me, don't you?" + +Pen seized his outstretched hand and gave the others an indignant look. +"Of course I do, though I don't know what it's all about." + +Sara lifted his hat and turned away and the machine started homeward. + +"Now, what on earth happened?" Pen cried. + +Uncle Denny looked at Jim and Jim shook his head. "I'm not going to talk +about it," he said. "I've a right to keep silence." + +Pen bounced up and down on the seat impatiently. "You haven't any such +right, Jim Manning. You've got to tell me what you said about Sara." + +"Aw, let's forget it!" answered Jim wearily. "I'm sorry I ever even told +Uncle Denny." + +He leaned back and closed his eyes and his tired face touched Pen's +heart. "You poor dear!" she exclaimed. "It was awfully hard on you to +lose the race." + +Jim's mother patted her boy's hand. "You are a very blind girl, +Penelope," she said. "And I'm afraid it will take long years of trouble +to open your eyes. We all must just stand back and wait." + +The little look of pre-knowledge that occasionally made Pen's eyes old +came to them now as she looked at Jim's mother. "Did you learn easily, +Aunt Mary?" + +The older woman shook her head. "Heaven knows," she answered, "I paid a +price for what little I know, the price of experience. I guess we women +are all alike." + +When they reached the brownstone front, Jim went to bed at once and the +matter of the race was not mentioned among the other three at supper. +Pen was offended at what she considered the lack of confidence in her +and withdrew haughtily to her room. Uncle Denny went out and did not +return until late. Jim's mother was waiting for him in their big, +comfortable bedroom. + +Dennis peeled off his coat and vest and wiped his forehead. "Mary," he +said, "I've been talking to the policeman who helped Jim. He says it was +a deliberate knockout Sara gave Jim. He was standing right beside them +at the time." + +Jim's mother threw up her hands. "That Greek shall never come inside +this house again, Michael!" + +Dennis nodded as he walked the floor. "I don't know what to do about the +matter. As a lawyer, I'd say, drop it. As Jim's best friend, I feel like +making trouble for Saradokis, though I know Jim will refuse to have +anything to do with it." + +Jim's mother looked thoughtfully at the sock she was darning. "Jim has +the right to say what shall be done. It means a lot to him in regard to +its effect on Pen. But I think Pen must be told the whole story." + +Uncle Denny continued to pace the floor for some time, then he sighed: +"You're right, as usual, Mary. I'll tell Pen meself, and forbid Sara the +house, then we'll drop it. I'm glad for one thing. This gives the last +blow to any hope Sara may have had of getting Jim into business with +him. Jim will take that job with the United States Reclamation Service, +I hope. Though how I'm to live without me boy, Mary, its hard for me to +say." + +Uncle Denny's Irish voice broke and Jim's mother suddenly rose and +kissed his pink cheek. + +"Michael," she said, "even if I hadn't grown so fond of you for your own +sake, I would have to love you for your love for Jim." + +A sudden smile lighted the Irishman's face and he gave the slender +little woman a boyish hug. + +"We are the most comfortable couple in the world, Mary!" he cried. + +Uncle Denny told the story of the boys' trouble to Penelope the next +morning. Pen flatly refused to believe it. + +"I don't doubt that Jim thinks Sara meant it," she said. "But I am +surprised at Jim. And I shall have to tell you, Uncle Denny, that if you +forbid Sara the house I shall meet him clandestinely. I, for one, won't +turn down an old friend." + +Pen was so firm and so unreasonable that she alarmed Dennis. In spite of +his firm resolution to the contrary, he felt obliged to tell Jim of +Penelope's obstinacy. + +"I wish I'd kept my silly mouth shut," said Jim, gloomily. "Of course +that's just the effect the story would have on Pen. She is nothing if +not loyal. Here she comes now. Uncle Denny, I might as well have it out +with her." + +The two men were standing on the library hearth rug in the old way. Pen +came in with her nose in the air and fire in her eyes. Uncle Denny fled +precipitately. + +Jim looked at Penelope admiringly. She was growing into a very lovely +young womanhood. She was not above medium height and she was slender, +yet full of long, sweet curves. + +"Jim!" she exclaimed, "I don't believe a word of that horrid story about +Sara." + +Jim nodded. "I'm sorry it was told you. I'm not going to discuss it with +you, Pen. You were told the facts without my consent. You have a right +to your own opinion. Say, Pen, I can get my appointment to the +Reclamation Service and I'm going out west in a couple of weeks. I--I +want to say something to you." + +Jim moistened his lips and prayed for the right words to come. Pen +looked a little bewildered. She had come in to champion Sara and was not +inclined to discuss Jim's job instead. But Jim found words and spoke +eagerly: + +"I'm going away, Pen, to make some kind of a name to bring back to you +and then, when I've made it, I'm coming for you, Penelope." He put his +strong young hands on Pen's shoulders and looked clearly into her eyes. +"You belong to me, Penelope. You never can belong to Sara. You know +that." + +Pen looked up into Jim's face a little pitifully. "Still Jim, way back +in my heart is a feeling for you that belongs to no one else. You--you +are fine, Jim, and yet--Oh, Jim, if you want me, you'd better take me +now because," this with a sudden gust of girlish confidence, "because, +honestly, I'm just crazy about Sara, and I know you are better for me +than he is!" + +Jim gave a joyful laugh. "I'd be a mucker to try to make you marry me +now, Penny. You are just a kid. And just a dear. There is an awful lot +to you that Sara can never touch. You show it only to me. And it's +mine." + +"You'd better stay on the job, Still," said Pen, warningly. + +Again Jim laughed. "Why, you sent me out west yourself." + +Pen nodded. "And it will make a man of you. It will wake you up. And +when you wake up, you'll be a big man, Jimmy." + +Pen's old look was on her face. "What do you mean, Pen?" asked Jim. + +The girl shook her head. "I don't quite know. Some day, when I've +learned some of the lessons Aunt Mary says are coming to me, I'll tell +you." Then a look almost of fright came to Pen's face. "I'm afraid to +learn the lessons, Still Jim. Take me with you now, Jimmy." + +The tall boy looked at her longingly, then he said: + +"Dear, I mustn't. It wouldn't be treating you right." And there was a +sudden depth of passion in his young voice as he added, "I'm going to +give you my sign and seal again, beloved." + +And Jim lifted Penelope in his strong arms and laid his lips to hers in +a hot young kiss that seemed to leave its impress on her very heart. As +he set her to her feet, Penelope gave a little sob and ran from the +room. + +Nothing that life brings us is so sure of itself as first love; nothing +ever again seems so surely to belong to life's eternal verities. Jim +went about his preparations for graduating and for leaving home with +complete sense of security. He had arranged his future. There was +nothing more to be said on the matter. Fate had no terror for Jim. He +had the bravery of untried youth. + +The next two weeks were busy and hurried. Pen, a little wistful eyed +whenever she looked at Jim, avoided being alone with him. Saradokis did +not come to the house again. He took two weeks in the mountains after +graduation before beginning the contracting business which his father +had built up for him. + +As the time drew near for leaving home, Jim planned to say a number of +things to his Uncle Denny. He wanted to tell him about his feeling for +Pen and he wanted to tell how much he was going to miss the fine old +Irishman's companionship. He wanted to tell him that he was not merely +Jim Manning, going to work, but that he was a New Englander going forth +to retrieve old Exham. But the words would not come out and Jim went +away without realizing that Uncle Denny knew every word he would have +said and vastly more, that only the tender Irish heart can know. + +Jim's mother, Uncle Denny and Pen went to the station with him. He +kissed his mother, wrung Pen's and Dennis' hands, then climbed aboard +the train and reappeared on the observation platform. His face was +rigid. His hat was clenched in his fist. None of the watching group was +to forget the picture of him as the train pulled out. The tall, boyish +figure in the blue Norfolk suit, the thick brown hair tossed across his +dreamer's forehead, and the half sweet, half wistful smile set on his +young lips. + +There were tears on Jim's mother's cheeks and in Pen's eyes, but Uncle +Denny broke down and cried. + +"He's me own heart, Still Jim is!" he sobbed. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE CUB ENGINEER + + "Humans constantly shift sand and rock from place to place. + They call this work. I have seen time return their every + work to the form in which it was created." + + MUSINGS OF THE ELEPHANT. + + +It was hard to go. But Jim was young and adventure called him. As the +train began its long transcontinental journey, Jim would not have +exchanged places with any man on earth. He was a full-fledged engineer. +He was that creature of unmatched vanity, a young man with his first +job. And Jim's first job was with his government. The Reclamation +Service was, to Jim's mind, a collection of great souls, scientifically +inclined, giving their lives to their country, harvesting their rewards +in adventure and in the abandoned gratitude of a watching nation. + +Jim was headed for the Green Mountain project which was located in the +Indian country of the far Northwest. There were not many months of work +left on the dam or the canals. But Jim was to report to the engineer in +charge of this project to receive from him his first training. + +This was Jim's first trip away from the Atlantic coast. He was a typical +Easterner, accustomed to landscapes on a small scale and to the human +touch on everything. Until he left St. Paul, nothing except the extreme +width of the map really surprised him. But after the train had crossed +the Mississippi valley, it began to traverse vast rolling plains, +covered from horizon to horizon with wheat. At endless intervals were +set tiny dwellings like lone sentinels guarding the nation's bread. +After the plains, came an arid country where a constantly beaten +vegetation fought with the alkali until at last it gave way to a world +of yellow sand and purple sky. + +After a day of this, far to the west appeared a delicate line of +snowcapped peaks toward which the flying train snailed for hours, until +Jim, watching eagerly, saw the sand give way to low grassy hills, the +hills merge into ridges and the ridges into pine-clad mountain slopes. + +For the last two days of the trip the train swung through dizzy spaces, +slid through dim, dripping canyons, crossed trestles even greater than +the trestles of Jim's boyhood dreams; twisted about peaks that gave +unexpected, fleeting views of other peaks of other ranges until Jim +crawled into his berth at night sight-weary and with a sense of +loneliness that appalled him. + +At noon of a bright day, Jim landed at a little way station from which a +single-gauge track ran off into apparent nothingness. Puffing on the +single-gauge track was a "dinky" engine, coupled to a flat car. Wooden +benches were fastened along one end of the car. The engineer and fireman +were loading sheet iron on the other end. They looked Jim over as he +approached them. + +"Do you go up to the dam?" he asked. + +"If we ever get this stuff loaded," replied the engineer. + +"I'd like to go up with you," said Jim. "I've got a job up there." + +The engineer grunted. "Another cub engineer. All right, sonny. Load your +trousseau onto the Pullman." + +Jim grinned sheepishly and heaved his trunk and suit case up on the flat +car. Then he lent a hand with the sheet iron and climbed aboard. + +"Let her rip, Bill," said the fireman. And she proceeded to rip. Jim +held his hat between his knees and clung to the bench with both hands. +The dinky whipped around curves and across viaducts, the grade rising +steadily until just as Jim had made up his mind that his moments were +numbered, they reached the first steep grade into the mountain. From +this point the ride was a slow and steady climb up a pine-covered +mountain. Just before sunset the engine stopped at a freight shed. + +"Go on up the trail," said the fireman. "We'll send your stuff up to the +officers' camp." + +Jim saw a wide macadam road leading up through the pines. The +unmistakable sounds of great construction work dropped faintly down to +him. His pulse quickened and he started up the road which wound for a +quarter of a mile through trees the trunks of which were silhouetted +against the setting sun. Then the road swept into the open. Jim stopped. + +First he saw ranges, stretching away and away to the evening glory of +the sky. Then, nearer, he saw solitary peaks, etched black against the +heavens, and groups of peaks whose mighty flanks merged as if in a final +struggle for supremacy. + +The boy saw a country of mighty distances, of indescribable cruelty and +hostility, a country of unthinkable heights and impassable depths. And, +standing so, struggling to resist the sense of the region's terrifying +bigness, he saw that all the valleys and canyons and mountain slopes +seemed to focus toward one point. It was as if they had concentrated at +one spot against a common enemy. + +This point, he saw, was a huge black canyon that carried the waters from +all the hundred hills around. It was the point where the war of waters +must be keenest, where the stand of the wilderness was most savage and +where lay the one touch of man in all that area of contending mountains. + +A vast wall of masonry had been built to block the outlet of the ranges. +A curving wall of gray stone, so huge, so naked of conscious adornment +that the hills might well have disbelieved it to be an enemy and have +accepted it as part and parcel of their own silent grandeur. + +Jim lifted his hat slowly and moistened his lips. This, then, was the +labor to which he had so patronizingly offered his puny hands. + +After a while, details obtruded themselves. Jim saw black dots of men +moving about the top of the dam. He heard the clatter of concrete +mixers, the raucous grind of the crusher, the scream of donkey engines +and the shouts of foremen. Back to the right, among the trees, was a +long military line of tents. Above the noise of construction the boy +caught the silent brooding of the forest and, poured round all, the +liquid glory of the sunset. Suddenly he saw the whole great picture as +his own work, and it was a picture as elusive, as tantalizing, as a +boy's first dreams of pirate adventure. Jim had come to his first great +dam. + +When he had shaken himself together and had swallowed the lump in his +throat, he asked a passing workman for Mr. Freet, the Project Engineer. +He was directed to a tent with a sheet iron roof. Jim stopped bashfully +in the door. A tall man was standing before a map. Jim had a good look +at him before he turned around. + +Mr. Freet wore corduroy riding breeches and leather puttees, a blue +flannel shirt and soft tie. He was thin and tall and had a shock of +bright red hair. When he turned, Jim saw that his face was bronzed and +deeply lined. His eyes were black and small and piercing. + +"Mr. Freet," said Jim, "my name is Manning." + +The project engineer came forward with a pleasant smile. "Why, Mr. +Manning, we didn't look for you until tomorrow, though your tent is +ready for you. Come in and sit down." + +Jim took the proffered camp chair and after a few inquiries about his +trip, Mr. Freet said: "It's supper time and I'll take you over to the +mess and introduce you. Only a few of the engineers have their wives +here and all the others, with the so-called 'office' force, eat at +'Officers' Mess'. I'm not going to load you up with advice, Mr. Manning. +You are a tenderfoot and fresh from college. You occupy the position of +cub engineer here, so you will be fair bait for hazing. Don't take it +too seriously. About your work? I shall put you into the hands of the +chief draughtsman for a time. I want you to thoroughly familiarize +yourself with that end of the work. Then, although most of that part is +done, you will go into the concrete works, then out on the dam with the +superintendent. Remember that you have no record except some good +college work. Forget that you ever were a senior. Look at yourself as a +freshman in a difficult course, where too many cons means a life +failure." + +Jim listened respectfully. At that moment Arthur Freet was the biggest +man on earth to him. + +"Yes, sir," he said. "Thank you." + +Freet pulled on a corduroy coat. "Come over to supper, Manning. Too much +advice on an empty stomach is bad for the digestion." + +Jim followed meekly after the Big Boss. + +Jim reported to Charlie Tuck, the head draughtsman the next morning. +Tuck was a plump, middle-aged man, bald headed and clean shaven, with +mild blue eyes. Jim put him down in his own mind as a sissy and chafed a +little at being put into Tuck's care. But his discontent was shortlived. + +Tuck proved to be a hard taskmaster. Before the end of the week Jim +realized that he would not get out of Tuck's hands until he knew every +inch of the design of the great dam from the sluice gates and the +drainage holes to the complete vertical section. He had no patience with +mistakes and Jim took his grilling in silence, for the fat little man +showed a deep knowledge of the technical side of dam building that +reduced the cub engineer to a humble pulp. + +Also, Jim discovered that Tuck was an old Yale man and that his +avocation in life seemed to be tennis. The engineers had a good court in +the woods and after Tuck found that Jim liked the game, he took the boy +over to the court every afternoon before supper and beat him with +monotonous regularity. And Jim was a good player. + +The dam was far from civilization and the engineers welcomed Jim, +although they treated him with the jocularity that his youth and +inexperience demanded. The novelty of his environment, the romance of +the great gray dam, built with such frightful risk and difficulty, +absorbed Jim for the first week or so. He had no thought of homesickness +until the excitement of his new work began to recede. And then, quite +unexpectedly, it descended on him like a leaden cloud. + +The longing for home! The helpless, hopeless sickness of the heart for +dear familiar faces! The seeing of alien places through tear-dimmed +eyes, the answering to strange voices with an aching throat, and the +poignancy of memory! Jim's mind dwelt monotonously on the worn spot in +the library hearth rug where he and Uncle Denny had spent so many, many +hours. There was the crack in the brown teapot that his mother would not +discard because she had poured Big Jim's tea from it. There was Uncle +Denny's rich Irish voice, "Ah, Still Jim, me boy!" And there was +Pen--dear, dear Penelope, with her woman's eyes in her child's +face--with her halo of hair. Pen's "Take me with you, Still," was the +very peak of sorrow now to the boy. Jim was homesick. And he who has not +known homesickness does not know one of life's most exquisite griefs. + +It seemed to Jim now that he hated the Big Country. At night in his tent +he was conscious of the giant dam lying so silent in the darkness and it +made him feel helpless and alone. By day he hid his unhappiness, he +thought. He worked doggedly and did not guess that Charlie Tuck +understood that many times he saw the designs for the wonderful bronze +gates of the sluicing tunnel over which Charlie heckled him for days, +through tear-dimmed eyes. + +The camp was lighted by electricity. Jim would sit watching the lights +flare up after supper, watching the night shift on the broad top of the +dam which was as wide as a street and try to pretend that the noise and +the light and the figures belonged to 23rd street. Jim was sitting so in +the door of his tent one night after nearly a month in camp. He held his +pipe but could not smoke because of the ache in his throat. He had not +been there long when Charlie Tuck came up the trail and with a nod sat +down beside Jim. + +"Let me have a light," he said. "The fellows are having a rough house +over in the office tonight. Why don't you go over?" + +"I don't feel like it, somehow," replied Jim. + +Tuck nodded. "You may have hated New York while you lived there, but it +looks good now, eh?" + +"Yes," answered Jim. + +"You'll feel better when the Boss begins to give you some +responsibility. Were you ever up in the Makon country, Manning?" + +"No," said Jim. + +"Don't strain yourself talking," commented Tuck, sarcastically. "You are +rather given to blathering, I see. Well, the Makon country wants a dam. +It wants it bad but the Service doesn't see how to get in there. There +is a big valley that has been partially farmed for years. It is +enormously fertile, but there is only enough water in it to irrigate a +limited number of farms. + +"Now, ten miles to the north, is the Makon river that never fails of +water. But as near as anyone can find out the only feasible place for +damming it is somewhere in a beastly canyon that no man has ever gone +through alive. The river is treacherous and the country would make this +look as well manicured as the Swiss Alps." + +Jim listened intently. Charlie Tuck pulled at his pipe for a time, then +he said: "My end of this job is about finished. I like the exploring end +of the work best, anyhow. I was with the Geological Survey for ten years +before the Reclamation Service was created. I made the preliminary +surveys for this project and for the Whitson. I tell you, Manning, +that's the greatest work in the world--getting out into the wilderness +and finding the right spot for civilization to come and thrive. There's +where you get a sense of power that makes you feel like a Pilgrim +Father. The Reclamation Service is a great pipe dream. Some of the +finest men in the country are in it today and nobody knows it." + +"Like Mr. Freet," said Jim. + +Jim thought that Tuck hesitated for a moment before he answered. "Yes, +and a dozen others. I consider it a privilege to work with them. Say, +Manning, if some way they could find the right level in that canyon and +drive a tunnel through its solid granite walls, they could send the +Makon over into the valley." + +"Why doesn't the Service send a man to explore the crevice?" asked Jim. + +"That's what I say!" cried Tuck. "Just because a lot of cold feet claim +it can't be done, just because no man has come through that crevice +alive, is no reason one won't. Say, Manning, if I can get the Service to +send me up there, will you go with me?" + +"Me!" gasped Jim. + +Tuck nodded in his gentle way. "Yes, you see I like you. You are more +congenial than most of the fellows here to me. On a trip like that you +want to be mighty sure you like the fellow you are going to be with. +Then I think you would learn more on a trip like that than in a year of +the sort of work Freet plans for you. And last, because I think you've +got the same kind of feeling for the Service that I have though you've +been here so short a time. It's something that's born in you. What do +you say, Manning?" + +Jim never had felt so flattered in his life. And Adventure called to him +like a ship to a land-locked mariner. + +"Gee!" he cried, "but you're good to ask me, Mr. Tuck! Bet your life +I'll go!" + +Tuck emptied his pipe and rose. "I'll go see Freet now and persuade him +to get busy with the Chief in Washington. One thing, Manning. It will be +a dangerous undertaking. We may not come through alive. You must get +used to the idea, though, that every Project demands its toll of deaths. +People don't realize that. Are you willing to go, knowing the risk?" + +With all the valor of youth and ignorance, Jim answered, "I'm ready to +start now." + +Mr. Freet was not adverse to the undertaking and the Washington office +shrugged its shoulders. The Project engineer talked seriously to Jim, +though, about the danger of the mission and insisted that he write home +about it before finally committing himself. Jim's letter home, however, +would have moved a far more stolid spirit than Uncle Denny, for he +sketched the danger hazily and dwelt at length on the honor and glory of +the undertaking. The reply from the brownstone front was as enthusiastic +as Jim could desire. + +Tuck undertook the preparations for the expedition with the utmost care. +Only the two of them were to go. The outfit must be such as they could +handle themselves, yet as complete as possible. Two folding canvas +boats, two air mattresses, life preservers, waterproof bags, first aid +appliances, brandy, sweet oil, surveying implements, food in as compact +form as possible, guns and fishing tackle made a formidable pile for two +men to manage. But at Jim's protest Charlie answered grimly that they +would not be heavily laden when they came out of the canyon. + +It was mid-August when the two men reached the Makon country. They +arranged with a rancher to take them and their outfit up to the river. +There was no road, scarcely even a trail up to the canyon. The green of +the ranches was encircled by a greasewood-covered plain that, toward the +river, became rock covered and rough so that a wagon was out of the +question and the sturdy pack horses themselves could move but slowly. + +Jim's first view of the Makon Canyon was of a black rift in a rough +brown sea of sand, with a blue gray sky above. As the little pack train +drew nearer he saw that the walls of the rift were weathered and broken +into fissures and points of seeming impassable roughness. So deep and +so craggy were these walls that the river a half mile below could be +seen only at infrequent intervals. The labor of getting into the crevice +would be quite as difficult, Jim thought, as going through it. + +They made camp that night close beside the canyon edge. Early the next +morning the rancher left them and Charlie and Jim prepared to get +themselves and their outfit down over the mighty, bristling walls. +Lowering each other and the packs by ropes, sliding, rolling, jumping, +crawling, it was night before they reached the river's edge, where they +made camp. There was a narrow sandy beach with a cottonwood tree growing +close to the granite wall. Under this they put their air mattresses and +built their fire. + +Jim did not like the feeling of nervousness he had in realizing how deep +they were below the desert and how narrow and oppressive were the canyon +walls. He was glad that the strenuous day sent them off to bed and to +sleep as soon as they had finished supper. They were up at dawn. + +Charlie's purpose was to work down the river, surveying as he went until +he found a level where the river would flow through a tunnel out onto +the valley. And this level, too, must be at a point where construction +work was possible. The river was incredibly rough and treacherous. From +the first they packed everything in waterproof bags. The canvas canoes +were impractical. The river was full of hidden rock and by the third day +the second canoe was torn to pieces and they were depending on rafts +made from the air mattresses. + +After the canoes were gone, they spent practically all the daylight in +the water, swimming or wading and towing or pushing the mattresses. The +water was very cold but they were obliged to work so hard that they +scarcely felt the chill until they made camp at night. Jim discovered +that a transit could be used in a cauldron of water or on a peak of rock +where a slip meant instant death or clinging to steep walls that +threatened rock slide at the misplacing of a pebble. + +One arduous task was the locating of a camp at night. The second night +in the camp they were lucky. They found a broad ledge in a spot that at +first seemed hopeless, for the blank walls appeared here almost to meet +above the deep well of water. There was a little driftwood on the ledge +and they had a fire. The following two nights they were less fortunate. +The best they could find were chaotic heaps of fallen rock on which to +lay their mattresses, and they slept with extreme discomfort. + +The fifth day was a black day. They were swimming slowly behind their +laden mattresses through deep, smooth black water when, without warning, +the river curved and swept over a small fall into heavy rapids. +Instantly the mattresses were whirling like chips. The two men fought +like mad to tow them to a rock ledge, the only visible landing place the +crevice had to offer. But long before this haven was reached the +mattresses were torn to shreds and Jim and Charlie were glad to reach +the ledge with their surveying instruments and two bags of "grub." Here +they sat dripping and exhausted. It was nearly dark. Night set in early +in the canyon. They dared not try to look for a better camping ground +that night. The ledge was just large enough for the two of them, with +what remained of their dunnage. + +Charlie grinned. "Welcome to our city. Well, it's as good as a Pullman +berth at that." + +"And no harder to dress on," said Jim, standing up carefully and +beginning to peel off his wet clothes. "I guess if we wring these duds +out and rub with alcohol, they won't feel so cold." + +Charlie rose and began to undress gingerly. "You can stand up to make +your toilet," he said, "which is more than the Pullman offers you." + +They ate a cold canned supper and afterward, as they sat shivering, Jim +said, "If we fail to locate the dam site, no one will have any sympathy +with our troubles." + +"We will find it," said Charlie with the calm certainty he never had +lost. "Jupiter looks as big as a dinner plate down here. Sometimes when +I look at the stars I wonder what is the use of this kind of work." + +Jim looked up at the stars which seemed almost within hand touch. Their +nearness was an unspeakable comfort to the two in the crevice. He spoke +slowly but with unusual ease. Charlie Tuck had grown very near to him in +the past few days. + +"I've had a feeling," he said, "ever since we actually got down here and +on the job, that I'm doing the thing I've always been intended to do. I +don't know how I got that feeling because I've always lived in towns." + +"I feel that way every time I go out exploring," answered Tuck. "I can +stand the draughting board just so long and then I break loose. I +suppose someone has got to do these jobs and there is always someone +willing to take the responsibility. Kipling calls it being a Son of +Martha. Do you know those verses?" + +"No," said Jim. "I'd like to hear them." + +Charlie chuckled. "Me reciting Kipling is like hearing a 'co-ed +yell'--it's the only poem I know, though, and here goes. The Sons of +Martha + + '--say to the Mountains, Be ye removed! They say to the lesser floods, + run dry! + Under their rods are the rocks reproved. They are not afraid of that + which is high. + Then do the hilltops shake to their summits, then is the bed of the deep + laid bare, + That the Sons of Mary may overcome it, pleasantly sleeping and unaware. + + They do not preach that their God will rouse them a little before the + nuts break loose, + They do not teach that His pity allows them to leave their work whenever + they choose. + As in the thronged and the lighted ways, so in the dark and the desert + they stand, + Wary and watchful all their days that their brethren's days may be long + in the land. + + Lift ye the stone or cleave the wood to make a path more fair or flat, + Lo, it is black already with blood some Son of Martha spilled for that. + Not as a ladder from Earth to Heaven, not as an altar to any creed, + But simple Service, simply given, to their own kind, in their + common need.'" + +The two men sat in silence after Charlie had finished until he said: "If +I were you I'd read Kipling a good deal. He's good food for a man of +your type. People don't realize what their comforts cost. I hope that +when I die it will be on a Son of Martha job. I'm built that way. My +people were New Englanders, then middle west pioneers, and now here I +am, still breaking the wilderness." + +Jim sat with his heart swelling with he knew not what great dream. It +was the divine fire of young sacrifice, the subtle sense of devotion +that has made men since the world began lay down their lives for the +thing not seen with the eye. + +"I wish you'd teach me those verses," said Jim. "We've got to keep awake +or roll off the ledge." + +And so the night passed. + +The next day the way was unspeakably difficult. They made progress +slowly and heavily, clambering from rock to rock, clinging to the walls, +fighting through rapids. It was past mid afternoon when they ran a level +in a spot of surpassing grandeur. A rock slide had sent a great heap of +stone into the river. Close beside this they set the transit. Forward +the river swept smoothly round a curve. Back, the two looked on a +magnificent series of flying buttresses of serrated granite, their bases +guarding the river, their tops remotely supporting the heavens. The +buttresses nearest the rock heap and on opposite sides of the river were +not two rods apart. + +They ran the levels carefully and then looked at each other in silence. +Then they made another reading and again looked at each other. Then they +packed the transit into its rubber bag, sat down on the rock heap and +gazed at the marching, impregnable line of buttresses. + +"It will be even higher than the Green Mountain and a hundred times +more difficult to build," said Charlie, softly. + +"She'll be a wonder, won't she!" exclaimed Jim. "The Makon dam. It will +be the highest in the world." + +"Granite and concrete! Some beauty that! Eternal as the hills!" said +Charlie. "We will make camp and finish the map here." + +They lay long, looking at the stars that night. "Some day," said Jim, +"there will be a two hundred feet width of concrete wall right where we +are lying. Doesn't it make you feel a little hollow in your stomach to +think that you and I have decreed where it shall be?" + +"Yes," said Charlie. "It's a good spot, Manning. I hope I get a chance +to lay out the road down here. They will have to blast it out of the +solid granite. It will eat money up to make it." + +"Let me in on it, won't you," pleaded Jim. + +"Well, slightly!" exclaimed Charlie. "Now for a good night's sleep. We +ought to be out in three days. That will make ten days in all, just what +I planned." + +Jim hardly knew Charlie the next day. No college freshman on his first +holiday ever acted more outrageously. He sang ancient college songs that +reverberated in the canyon like yells on a football field. He stood +solemnly on his head on the top of rock pinnacles. He crowned himself +and Jim with wreaths made of water cress that he found on a tiny sandy +beach. When they were obliged to take to the water he pretended that he +was an alligator and made uncouth sounds and lashed the water with the +grub bag in lieu of a tail. + +Late in the afternoon, while they were swimming through a whirlpool, he +insisted on giving Jim a lecture on the gentle art of bee-hunting as he +had seen it practiced in Maine. + +"Now we will pretend that I am the bee!" he shouted at Jim. "You will +admit that I look like one! I am drunk with honey and I hang to the comb +thus!" + +He caught a point of rock with one hand and lazily waved the other. + +"This is my proboscis," he explained. + +"For heaven's sake, be careful!" yelled Jim. "This is no blooming +ten-cent show! Keep both hands on the rock and climb up for a rest." + +Charlie suddenly went white. "God! I've got cramp!" he screamed. "Both +legs. Help me, Manning!" + +He struggled to get his free hand on the rock, but the water tore at him +like a ravening beast and he lost his hold. Jim swam furiously after +him. The white head showed for a moment, then disappeared around a turn +of the wall. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE BROKEN SEAL + + "When I was young I thought the world was made for love. Now + I know that love made the world." + + MUSINGS OF THE ELEPHANT. + + +How he passed the night that followed Jim never was sure. He knew that +he fought his way down stream until long after darkness set in. Then, +utterly exhausted, bleeding and bruised, he crawled up onto a rock under +the wall and lay dripping and shivering until dawn. + +He watched the light touch the far top of the crevice, saw the azure +strip of the sky appear and then with a deep groan he forced himself to +eat from his grub bag and started hurriedly on down the river. The +stream was much deeper below the point of the accident, with several +large falls. Jim worked his way along carefully, swimming or floating +for the most part, for the walls for many miles offered not even a +hand-hold nor did they once give back in beach or eddy. + +The loneliness was appalling. The hardship of the work was astonishingly +increased, robbed of Tuck's unfailing cheerfulness and faith. There was +one moment when, toward sunset, Jim's strength almost failed him. The +walls were rougher now. He had found a hand-hold but no place for the +night. He clung here until his exhausted arms were able to endure no +more. + +"I can't do any more!" panted Jim. "I'll have to go down." And then he +gave a little childish sob. "'Hang on to what you undertake like a hound +to a warm scent, Jimmy!'" he said, brokenly. And new strength flowed +into his arms and he swam on for a few moments, finding then a bit of +shore on which to spend the night. He and Charlie had each carried a map +and a set of instruments. Jim felt that he bore now not only his own but +Charlie's responsibility to deliver the maps to Freet. As he lay looking +up at the stars, that second night alone in the crevice, Jim realized +ever since he and Charlie had started on the expedition, he had ceased +to be homesick. He realized this when, on this second night, he tried to +keep his nerves in order by thinking very hard of home and he found that +he dwelt most on Exham and his father and the Sign and Seal he had given +Penelope. And that while he longed vaguely for the old brownstone front, +he felt with a sudden invigorating thrill that he belonged where he was +and that he was nearer to Exham than he had been since he had left +there. + +It was nearing evening of the fourth day after Charlie's disappearance +that Jim suddenly saw the canyon walls widen. He struggled at last up +onto a sandy beach and looked about him. The canyon walls here, though +very rough, gave promise of access to the top. Jim examined the beach +carefully for trace of Charlie and, finding none, he prepared to spend +the night in resting before the stiff climb of the next day. He built a +fire and ate his last bit of grub, a small can of beans, and fell asleep +immediately. + +At dawn the next morning he began his climb up the bristling walls of +the canyon. Eleven days before he would have said that to scale these +sickening heights was impossible. But Jim would never be a tenderfoot +again. He had been on short rations for three days and was weak from +overwork. But he had a canteen of water and rested frequently and he +went about the climb with the care and skill of an old mountaineer. He +had learned in a cruel school. + +Late in the afternoon he crawled wearily over one last knife-edged ledge +and hoisted himself up onto the canyon's top. He was greeted by a faint +shout. + +Three men on horseback were picking their way carefully toward him. Jim +waved his hand and dropped, panting, to await their arrival. When they +were within speaking distance, he rose weakly and called: + +"Where's Charlie Tuck?" + +The three men did not answer until they had dropped from their horses +beside Jim; then the rancher who had packed the expedition to the +crevice said: + +"They picked his body up near Chaseville this morning. We come up as +quick as we could for trace of you. You look all in. Here, Dick, get +busy! We brought some underclothes; didn't know what shape you'd be in. +Here is the suit you left at my place. God! I thought you'd never need +it. Billy, start a fire and cook the coffee and bacon. You've had an +awful experience, Mr. Manning, I guess. You don't look the tenderfoot +kid that went into the canyon!" + +"We found the dam site," said Jim hoarsely. + +"Don't try to talk till you get some grub," said the man called Billy. + +Clothed and fed, Jim told his story, a little brokenly. The group of men +who listened were used to hardy deeds. They had seen Nature demand her +toll of death again and again in the wilderness. And yet as they sat +looking at the young fellow with his gray eyes shocked and +grief-stricken and perceived his boyish idolatry of Charlie Tuck, +something like moisture shone in their eyes. They shook hands with Jim +when he had finished, silently for the most part, though the rancher +said: + +"You're the only man ever came through there alive. They had to bury +Tuck right off. They'd ought to build a monument for him. Where is his +folks?" + +"He had none," said Jim. "I want to put up his headstone for him, and I +know just what lines are going to be put on the stone." + +"They ought to be blamed good," said Dick. + +"What are they?" asked the ranchman. + +Jim sat for a moment looking down into the fearful depths where Charlie +and he had lived a lifetime. Then he said: + + "'Lift ye the stone or cleave the wood, to make a path more fair or flat, + Lo, it is black already, with blood some Son of Martha spilled for that! + Not as a ladder from Earth to Heaven, not as an altar to any creed, + But simple Service, simply given, to his own kind, in their + common need.'" + +And so Charlie Tuck crossed the Great Divide. + +Jim stopped two days with the rancher and then went back to the Green +Mountain dam. The story of the trip through the crevice had preceded +him. The men of the Service were inured to the idea of the sacrifice of +blood for the dams. There was little said, some silent handshakes given, +and they ceased to haze Jim. He had become one of them. + +The plans for the preliminary surveys of the Makon Project were begun at +once. Jim remained at Green Mountain during the winter, serving his +apprenticeship to the concrete works and the superintendent as Mr. Freet +had planned. But in the spring he had his wish and was sent to lay out +the road on the Makon project. + +All this time letters came regularly from the brownstone front, but they +were from Jim's mother and his Uncle Denny for the most part, and they +were very silent about Penelope. Jim wrote Pen from time to time, but he +was not an easy writer and Pen wrote him only gay little notes that were +very unsatisfactory. But Jim was absorbed in his work and did not worry +over this. + +Mr. Freet explained to Jim that he needed an "Old Timer" in laying out +the Makon road whose practical experience would supplement Jim's +theories. When Jim reached the survey camp in the Makon valley he found +waiting for him a small man of about fifty, with a Roman nose, bright +blue eyes and a shock of gray hair. This was Iron Skull Williams, whom +Freet had described in detail to Jim and who was to be Jim's right hand. +He was an old Indian fighter. The Apaches, Freet said, had given him his +nickname because they claimed he would not be killed. Bullets glanced +off his head like rain. Williams was an expert road maker and had +worked much for Freet in various parts of the west. + +Jim and Williams looked each other over carefully and liked each other +at once. They found immediately in each other's society something very +choice. The friendship had not been a week old before Iron Skull had +heard of Exham and the brownstone front and of Penelope. While Jim had +learned what no other man knew, that Williams' life-long, futile passion +had been for a college education and that he was a bachelor because a +blue-eyed, yellow-haired girl had been buried in the Arizona ranges, +twenty-five years before. + +Jim's quiet ways and silent tongue did not make him an easy mixer. The +opening up of a project is a rough and lonesome job. Running surveys +through unknown country where supplies are hard to get and distances are +huge, makes men very dependent on one other for companionship. Jim liked +the young fellows who ran the road surveys with him. He enjoyed the +"rough necks," the men who did the actual building of the road. They all +in turn liked Jim. But Jim had not the easy coin of word exchange that +makes for quick and promiscuous acquaintanceship. So he grew very +dependent on Iron Skull, who, in a way, filled both Sara's and Uncle +Denny's place. + +The old Indian fighter had that strange sense of proportion, that +eagle-eyed view of life that the desert sometimes breeds. All the love +of a love-starved life he gave to Jim. + +One evening in April Jim came in from a hard day on horseback. The +spring rains were on and he was mud-splashed and tired but full of a +great content. He had found a short cut on the crevice end of the road +that would save thousands of dollars in time and material. + +He lighted the lamp in his tent and saw a letter from Uncle Denny on the +table. There was nothing unusual about a letter from Uncle Denny and +ordinarily Jim waited for his bath and clean clothes before reading it. +But this time, with an inexplicable sense of fear, he picked it up and +read it at once. + + "STILL JIM, MY BOY: + + We've had a blow. All the year Penelope has been seeing + Saradokis. She has made no bones of it, and he would not let + her alone. I could do nothing, though I talked till I was no + better than a common scold. But it never occurred to your + mother and me that Pen could do what she did. + + Day before yesterday, just at noon, she called me up at the + office and told me she and Sara had just been married at the + Little Church Round the Corner and were leaving for Montauk + Point in Sara's new high power car. She rang off before I + could answer. + + I sat at my desk, paralyzed. I couldn't even call your + mother up. I sat there for half an hour, seeing and hearing + nothing when your mother called me up. There had been an + accident. Sara had disobeyed a traffic policeman, they had + run into a truck at full speed. His car was wrecked. Pen + escaped with a broken arm. Sarah had been apparently + paralyzed. Pen had him brought to our house. + + Well, I got home. It has been a fearful two days. Sara is + hopelessly paralyzed from the waist down. He may live + forever or die any time. He is like a raving devil. + + Pen--Still Jim, my boy--Little Pen is paying a fearful price + for her foolishness. She is like a person wakened from a + dream. She says she cannot see what made her give in to + Sara. + + I've made a bad job of telling you this, Jimmy. Your mother + says to tell you she understands. She will write later. + + Love, dear boy, from + UNCLE DENNY." + +Jim crumpled the letter into his pocket and dashed out into the night. +For hours he walked, heedless of rock or cactus, of rain or direction. +He took a fiendish satisfaction in the thought of Sara's tragedy. Other +than this he did not think at all. He felt as he had at his father's +death, rudderless, derelict. + +It was dawn when Iron Skull found Jim sitting on a pile of rock five +miles from camp. He put his hand on Jim's shoulder. + +"Boss Still," he said, "what's broke loose? I've trailed you all over +the state." + +Jim looked up into the kindly face and his throat worked. "Iron Skull," +he got out at last, "my--my girl has thrown me down!" + +Williams sat down beside him. "Not Penelope?" + +Jim nodded and suddenly thrust the crumpled letter into his friend's +hands. In the dawn light Williams read it, cleared his throat, and said: + +"God! Poor kids! I take it your folks don't like this Sara, though you +never said so." + +Jim put his hand on Iron Skull's knee. "Iron Skull," he said, hoarsely, +"I'd rather see Pen laid away there in the Arizona ranges beside your +Mary than married to him. He's got a yellow streak." + +The two sat silent for a time, then Williams said: "This love business +is a queer thing. Some men can care for a dozen different women. But +you're like me. Once and never again. I ain't going to try to comfort +you, partner. I know you've got a sore inside you that'll never heal. +It's hell or heaven when a woman gets a hold on your vitals like +that.--My Mary--she had blue eyes and a little brown freckle on her +nose--I was just your age when she died. And I never was a kid again. +You gotta face forward, partner. Work eighteen hours a day. Marry your +job. You still owe a big debt for your big brain. Go ahead and pay it." + +Jim did not answer, but he did not remove his hand from Williams' knee, +and finally Williams laid a hard palm on it. They watched the sun rise. +The rain had ceased. Far to the east where the little camp lay, crimson +spokes shot to the zenith. Suddenly the sun rolled above the desert's +brim and leading straight and level to its scarlet center lay the road +that Jim was building. + +"It's a good road," said Jim unevenly. "It's my first one. I'd planned +to show it to her, this summer. And now, she'll never see it--nor any of +my work. Iron Skull, she had a bully mind. Just the little notes she's +sent me, show she got the idea of the Projects. I guess I'm a quitter. +If I can't keep my girl, what's the use of living?" + +The old Indian fighter nodded. "Life is that away, partner. You mostly +do what you can and not what you dream. Some day you'll have to marry. +That's where I fell down. These days all us old stock Americans ought to +marry. First you marry your job, Boss Still, then you marry a mother for +your children." + +Jim shook his head. "Pen's thrown me down," he said drearily. + +Iron Skull waited patiently. At last Jim rose and held out his hand. + +"Thank you, Williams," he said. + +"Don't mention it," said Iron Skull Williams. "Glad to do it any +time--that is, I ain't but--Hell, you know how I feel. Come home for +some breakfast." + +Before he went to work that day, Jim wrote a note to Pen. + + "DEAR PENELOPE: If there is anything I can do, send for me. + I can't bear to think of that occasional look of tragedy in + your eyes standing for fact. I shall not get over this. + Good-by, little Pen! + + JIM." + +Pen's answer to this reached Jim the following week. + + "DEAR STILL: There is nothing you or anyone else can do. + Sara and I must pay the price for our foolishness. I have + learned more in the past two weeks than in all my life + before. And I shall keep on learning. I can't believe that + I'm only eighteen. Write to me once in a while. + + PENELOPE." + +This was Jim's answer: + + "DEAR PEN: Uncle Denny wrote that you are to stay with him + and mother and that Sara's father has arranged matters so + that money pinch will not add to your burdens. We three are + still mere kids in years so I suppose we shall get over our + griefs to some extent. Let me keep at least a part of my old + faith in you, Pen. In spite of the Hades you are destined to + live through, keep that fine, sweet spirit of yours and keep + that unwarped clarity of vision that belonged to the side of + you, you showed me. It will help you to bear your trouble + and I need this thought of you as much as Sara needs your + nursing. I can't write you, Pen, but wire me if you need me. + + JIM." + +And then, as Iron Skull had bade him, Jim married his job. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE MAKON ROAD + + "Always the strongest coyote makes the new trail. The pack + is content to continue in the old." + + MUSINGS OF THE ELEPHANT. + + +The building of the road from the valley to the crevice edge was not a +difficult task, although the country was rough. The material for making +the road was at hand, for the most part, and by the end of the summer +there was a broad oiled macadam road, grade carefully proportioned to +grade, leading to the canyon's brim. It was a road built to withstand +the wear of thousands of tons of freight that must be hauled over it. + +But the throwing of the road three thousand feet down into the canyon +was a more difficult matter. Here must be built through solid granite a +road down which mule teams could haul all the machinery for the making +of the dam and the tunnel and all the necessities for building the +workingmen's camp in the canyon bottom. + +It must be wide enough to safeguard life. It must be as steep as the +mules could manage in order to save distance and cost. It must be strong +enough to carry enormous weights. Its curves must accommodate teams of +twenty mules, hauling the great length of beam and pipe needed in the +work below. And it must be a road that would endure with little expense +of up-keep as long as the dam below would endure. + +It was not a complicated engineering feat. But it was Jim's first +responsible job. It was his first experience in handling men and a camp. +Moses, showing the children of Israel the way across the desert, could +have felt no more pride or responsibility than did Jim breaking the +trail to the Makon. + +The crevice road was blasted from the granite. It was widened to hang +like a shelf over sickening depths or built up with concrete to +withstand the wash from some menacing gorge, or tilted to cling +desperately to a blank wall that offered not even claw hold for the +eagles. And always it must drop with a grade that took no account of +return freightage. + +"We'll wear the machinery out and leave it at the bottom," Freet had +said. "Even a 25 per cent. grade will do when necessary. Hustle it +along, Manning. I'll be ready to leave the Green Mountain by the time +you are ready for me at the Makon." + +And Jim hustled. But labor was hard to get. The country was inaccessible +and extraordinarily lonely. There was no place for women or children +until the camp in the canyon should be built, so it was a crowd of +wandering "rough-necks" who built the road. A few were friends of Iron +Skull, who followed him from job to job. The rest were tramp workmen, +men who had toiled all over the world. They were not hoboes. They were +journeyman laborers. They were world workers who had lent willing and +calloused hands to a thousand great labors in a thousand places. + +They came and went like shifting sands. Jim never knew whether he would +wake to find ten or a hundred men in the camp. He tried for a long time +to solve the problem. Iron Skull considered it unsolvable. He had a low +opinion of the rough-neck. At last he disappeared for a couple of weeks +and returned with twenty-five Indians. They were Apaches and Mohaves +under the leadership of a fine austere old Indian whom Iron Skull +introduced to Jim as "Suma-theek." + +"His name means 'I don't know,'" explained Williams. "It's the extent of +his conversation with the average white who considers an Injun sort of a +cross between a cigar sign and a nigger. Him and I did scout service +together for ten years in Geronimo's time. He's my 'blood' brother, +which means we've saved each other's lives. He knows more than any two +whites. Color don't make no difference in wisdom, Boss Still, and I +guess the Big Boss up above must have some quiet laughs at the airs the +whites give themselves." + +This was Jim's introduction to another friendship, though it was slow in +growth. But before the Makon was finished Jim, in the long evening pipes +he smoked under the stars with Suma-theek, learned the truth of Iron +Skull's statements as to the Indian's wisdom. + +The evening of the day the Indians arrived, a short, heavy man came to +Jim's tent. He was a foreman and a good one. Jim liked his voice, which +had a peculiar, tender quality, astonishing in so rough a man. + +"Hello, Henderson," said Jim. "What can I do for you?" + +"Us boys is going out tomorrow. We ain't going to live like Injuns!" + +Jim's heart sank. He already was behind on the work. "What's the matter +with the way we live?" he asked. + +"Young fella," said the man pityingly, "I've worked all over the world, +including New York. And I'm telling you that when you try to mix colors +in camp, you've got to grade their ways of living. Now I went to Mr. +Williams, but he's one of these queer nuts who thinks what's good enough +for an Injun is good enough for anyone." + +Jim knew that this was in truth Iron Skull's attitude. He had had no +idea, however, that it might breed trouble. He thought rapidly, then +spoke slowly. + +"Look here, Henderson, what would you do in my place? The Director of +the Service sends out word he'll be here to look the dam site over next +month. I want to get the road ready for him to get down there. For six +months I've tried to keep a hundred white men on the job and I can't do +it. I'll give the Indians a camp of their own. But will that keep you +men here?" + +Henderson looked at Jim keenly to see whether or not Jim was sincerely +asking his advice. Jim suddenly smiled at his evident perplexity and +that flashing wistful look got under the red-faced man's skin. + +"Well," he said, "if I was trying to keep men on a job I'd make things +pleasant for 'em." + +"You have everything I have," said Jim. "I eat with you." + +"No, we ain't got all you have. We ain't got your job and your chance. +You get homesick yourself even on your pay and your chance. What do you +think of us boys, with nothing but wages and a kickout? Let me tell +you, boss, it's the man that takes care of his men's idle hours that +gets the work out of 'em." + +Jim looked at the camp. It was merely a straggling line of tents set +along the crevice edge. The day's work was ended and the men lounged +listlessly about the tents or hung over the corral fence where the mules +munched and brayed. At that moment Jim made an important stride in his +education in handling men. He saw the job for the first time through the +workmen's eyes. Why should they care for the job? + +"Look here," said Jim, "if I send to Seattle and get a good phonograph +and a couple of billiard tables and some reading matter and set them up +in a good big club tent, will you agree to keep a hundred men on the job +until I finish the road?" + +"Government won't pay for them," said Henderson. + +"I'll pay for them myself," returned Jim. "I tell you, Henderson, this +road means a lot to me. It's my--my first important job and the rest of +my work on the Makon depends on it. And--and a friend of mine lost his +life finding the dam site and he wanted to build this road. I feel as if +I'm kind of doing his work for him. If doing something to give you boys +amusement will keep you here, I'll do it gladly. I haven't anything to +save my money for." + +Henderson cleared his throat and looked down into the awful depths of +the Makon Canyon. "I heard about that trip," he said. "If--if you feel +that way about it, Mr. Manning, I guess us boys'll stand by you. And +much obliged to you." + +"I'm grateful to you," exclaimed Jim. "Tell the boys the stuff will be +here in less than a month." + +There was a noticeable change in the atmosphere of the camp after this +episode. The Indians, in their own camp, were perfectly contented with +their quarters and their hoop game and "kin-kan" for recreation. The +phonograph and billiard tables arrived on time and were set up in the +club tent and Jim and his camp began to do team work. The trouble with +shifting labor disappeared except for the liquor trafficking that always +hounds every camp. From dawn until dark, the canyon rang periodically +with the thunder of blasts. Scoops shrieked. Mules brayed. Drivers +yelled. Pick and shovel rang on granite. + +Jim grew to know every inch of that granite wall. He lived on the road +with the men. No detail of the job was too trivial for his attention. A +more experienced man would have left more to his foremen. But Jim was +new to responsibility and his nervousness drove him into an intimate +contact with his workmen that was to stand him in good stead all his +life. It was in building this road on the Makon that Jim learned the +hearts of those who work with their hands. + +When a fearful slide cost him the lives of two men and half a dozen +mules, it was Jim who, in his boyish contrition and fear lest the +catastrophe might have been due to his lack of foresight, insisted on +first testing the wall for further danger and risked his life in doing +so. When a cloudburst sent to the bottom in a half hour a concrete +viaduct that had taken a month to build, it was Jim who led the way and +held the place at the head of the line of men, piling up sacks of sand +lest the water take out a full half mile of the road. He dreamed of the +road at night, waking again and again at the thought of some weak spot +he had left unprotected. + +The rough-necks felt Jim's anxiety and it proved contagious. It may have +been due to many things, to Jim's youth and his simple sincerity, to his +example of indefatigable energy and his willingness to work with his +hands; it may have been that the men felt always the note of domination +in his character and that that forced some of the cohesion. But whatever +the causes, by the time the road lay a coiling thread from the top of +the crevice to the spot where poor Charlie Tuck went down, Jim had built +up a working machine of which many an older engineer would have been +proud. + +The day before the Director and Mr. Freet were expected, Jim and Iron +Skull left for the railway station, twenty-five miles away, to meet +their two superiors. As he mounted his horse, Jim said to Iron Skull: + +"I'm a little worried about the wall at the High Point curve." + +"So am I," answered Iron Skull. "Shall I blast back? I don't need to go +in with you." + +"No," replied Jim. "We couldn't clear out in a week. Wait till the Big +Bosses go." + +"Better tend to it now," warned Iron Skull. + +"I'll risk it," said Jim. And he rode away, Iron Skull following. + +The two were held at the little desert station for a day, waiting for +the two visitors who were delayed at Green Mountain. They returned in +the stage with the Director and Freet, the two saddle horses leading +behind. Just about a mile outside the camp they were met by Henderson, +mounted on one of the huge mules, that shone with much grooming. + +The stage pulled up and Henderson dismounted and bowed. + +"I come out to meet you gents," he said, in his tender voice, +"representing the Charles Tuck Club of Makon, to tell you we hope you'd +not try to go down the Canyon this afternoon, as us citizens of Makon +had got up a few speeches and such for you." + +Jim and Iron Skull were even more amazed than the two visitors, and sat +staring stupidly, but the Director rose nobly to the occasion. + +"Thank you," he said. "What is the Charles Tuck Club?" + +Henderson mounted his mule and rode on the Director's side of the stage. + +"It's the club we formed for using the phonograph and billiard tables +the Boss give us. If you gents don't care, I'll ride ahead and tell 'em +you're coming." + +"Gee!" exclaimed Jim, as the mule disappeared up the broad ribbon of +road. "What do you suppose they are up to?" + +"This is going some for a small camp!" said the Director. "The men +usually don't care whether I come or go." + +Jim shook his head. They reached the camp shortly after Henderson and +were led by that gentleman to the club tent, where fully half the camp +was gathered. The phonograph was set to going as they came in and +following this, Baxter, the orator of the camp, got up and made a speech +of welcome that consumed fifteen minutes of time and his entire +vocabulary. It was concerned mostly with praises of Jim and his work +with the men. When he had finished, the phonograph gave them "America" +by a very determined male quartet. The perspiring Henderson then led +them to the mess tent, where a late dinner or an early supper was set +forth that had taxed the resources of the desert camp to its utmost. + +It was dusk when the meal was finished, and then and then only did +Henderson allow Iron Skull to lead the visitors to their tents while he +took Jim by the arm and drew him to the crevice edge. + +"Boss," he said, "not half an hour after you left, the whole dod dinged +wall on the High Point curve slid out. Well, sir, we all know'd there'd +be hell to pay for you if the two Big Bosses come and see that. We +couldn't stand for it after all you'd worried over it. We fixed up three +shifts. It's moonlight and, say, if we didn't push the face off that +slide! Old Suma-theek, why he never let his Injuns sleep! They worked +three shifts. Even at that you'd a beat us to it if we hadn't thought of +this here committee of welcome deal. If I do say it, I've mixed with +good people in my time. We kept the big mitts in there and one of the +Injuns just brought me word the road was clear." + +Jim stared at his rough-neck friend for a minute, too moved to speak. +Then he held out his hand. + +"Henderson, you've saved me a big mortification. I knew that wall should +have been blasted back. Gee! Henderson! I'll remember this!" + +"You're welcome," replied Henderson gently. "Don't let on to anyone but +Williams and us fellows is mum." + +And so the Director made his trip down and up the Makon Road and praised +much the forethought and care that Jim had expended on it. And Jim, +because the secret meant so much to his men, did not tell of their +devotion until the Director had gone and Arthur Freet was established on +the job. And after he had heard the story Freet said, looking at Jim +keenly: + +"You know what that kind of carelessness deserves, Manning?" + +Jim nodded and Freet laughed at his serious face. "Pshaw, boy! Your +having gotten together an organization with that sort of motive power +would offset worse carelessness than that. Get ready to shove them into +the tunnel." + +So Jim's rough-necks began to open the tunnel. + +The Makon Project was a six years' job. Freet gave Jim a chance at every +angle of the work. Jim admired his chief ardently and yet the two never +grew confidential. Freet, in fact, had no confidants among the +government employees, but he seemed to know a great many of the +politicians of the valley and of the state. And when he was not too +deeply immersed in the work at hand Jim felt vaguely troubled by this. + +And the problems of actual construction were so many that the dam and +tunnel were completed and Jim had begun work on the ditches before he +realized that there was a whole group of questions he must face that had +nothing to do with technical engineering. + +For the first mile the tunnel had to be driven through solid granite. +Then the way led through adobe hills, so soft that the sagging walls +were a constant menace. Not until six workmen had died at the job was +the adobe finally sealed with concrete. After the adobe came sand, +spring riddled. More rough-necks gave up their lives fighting the +gushing floods and falling walls, until at last the tunnel emerged into +the open foothills of the valley. + +During all this time, the men for whom Jim had spent his first savings +stayed solidly by him, save those whom death called out. After the camp +in the canyon was built, many of them, including Henderson, developed +unsuspected families and Jim became godfather to several namesakes. +After the road was finished, however, old Suma-theek had to take his +braves back to the Apache country. They did not like the work in the +tunnel, and it was several years before Jim saw his old friend again. + +Uncle Denny and Jim's mother came out to visit him, his second summer on +the dam, and they enjoyed their visit so much that it became a yearly +custom. + +Jim's mother, with a mother's wisdom, never spoke of Pen to Jim except +casually, of her health or of Sara's effort to carry on real estate +business through Pen and his father. On the first visit Uncle Denny +undertook to tell Jim of how the accident had developed all the latent +ugliness of Sara's character and of his heavy demands on Penelope's +strength and time. And he told Jim how Pen's girlishness had +disappeared, leaving behind a woman so sweet, so patient, so sadly wise, +that Uncle Denny could not speak of her without his voice breaking. + +But Uncle Denny never repeated this recital, for before he had finished, +Jim, white-lipped, had said hoarsely, "Uncle Denny, I can't stand it! I +can't!" and had rushed off into the desert night. + +Even Uncle Denny could not know, as Iron Skull who had lived with him +for the past years knew, of Jim's silent anguish in the loss of +Penelope. There was a little picture of Pen in tennis clothes at sixteen +that always was pinned to Jim's tent wall. Once in a while when Iron +Skull found him looking at it, Jim would tell him of Pen's beauty. But +other than this he never mentioned her name to anyone. + +Under the excitement of what Uncle Denny told him, Jim wrote a note to +Pen: + + "DEAR LITTLE PEN: This desert country claims one's soul as + well as one's body. It is as big as the hand of God. If life + gets too much for you in New York, come to me here, and I + will show you and the desert to each other. + + JIM." + +And though Pen did not answer the note she carried it next her heart for +many a day. + +After the tunnel was delivering water to the valley, Jim moved into the +valley with his henchmen and took charge of the canal building. Not +until he undertook this work did he realize that there were economic +features connected with the work on the Projects that were baffling and +irritating. + +The conditions in the valley were complex. A small portion of it had +been farmed for many years. These farmers felt that the canals ought to +come to them first. As soon as it had become known that the Reclamation +Service was to undertake the Makon project, real estate sharks had +gotten control of much land and by misinforming advertisements had +induced eastern people to buy farms in the valley. + +Other people, sometimes farmers, oftener folk who had failed in every +other line of business, took up land long before even the road to the +dam was finished. These people waited in a pitiful state of hardship +five years for water. They blamed the Service and they fought for first +water. + +There were Land Hogs in the valley; men who by illegal means had +acquired thousands of acres of land, although the law allowed them but +one hundred and sixty acres. After the Project was nearing completion +these Land Hogs sold parcels of their land at inflated prices. The Land +Hogs were wealthy and had influence in the community. They threatened +trouble if canals were not built first to them. + +Jim turned a deaf ear to all the contending forces. His reply was the +same to each: + +"There is just one way to build a canal and that is where, influenced +only by the lie of the land, it will do the greatest good to the +greatest number. I'm an engineer, not a politician. Get out and let me +work." + +Yet for all his deaf ear, there percolated to Jim's inner mind facts and +insinuations that disturbed him. Day after day there poured into his +office not only complaints about the actual work, but accusations of +graft. "The Service was working for the rich men of the valley." "The +Service had its hand behind its back." "The Service was extravagant and +wasteful of the people's money." "Every cent that the Project cost must +be paid back by the farmers. What right had the Service to make +mistakes?" + +In all the cloud of complaints, Jim maintained a persistent silence and +placed his canals without fear or favor. One morning in March, it was +Jim's fifth year on the Makon, Mr. Freet sent for him. + +"Manning," he said, as Jim dropped off his horse and stood in the +doorway, "how about the canal through Mellin's place?" + +Jim tossed his hair back from his face and lighted a cigarette. "Mellin, +the Land Hog?" he asked. "Well, his canal's like the apple core. There +ain't going to be one!" + +Freet's small black eyes met Jim's clear gaze levelly. "Why?" he asked. + +Jim looked surprised. "Why, you know, Mr. Freet, that to run it through +Mellin's place will cost $5,000 more and will force half a dozen farmers +to double the length of their ditches. The lie of the canal in relation +to grade, too, is a half mile east of Mellin's place." + +Arthur Freet raised his eyebrows. "I think that the canal had better go +through Mellin's place." + +Jim drew a quick breath. There was silence in the little sheet iron +office for a moment and then Jim said, "I can't do it, Mr. Freet." + +"This is not a matter for you to decide, Manning," replied Freet. "A man +in my position has more to consider in building a dam than the mere +engineering 'best.' I must think of the tactful thing, the thing that +will save the Service trouble. Mellin has pull with Congress, enough to +start an investigation." + +"Let them investigate!" cried Jim. "I'd like them to see what I call +some darn good engineering! I do think you got soaked on some of the +contract work, though. Those permanent caretakers' houses could have +been built for half the price." + +Freet raised his eyebrows. "Put the canal through Mellin's place, +Manning." + +Jim flushed. "I can't do it! The west canal had to go through that Land +Hog Howard's place, I'm sorry to say. It was the cheapest and best site. +Every farmer in the valley dressed me down about it, in person and by +mail. But I haven't cared! It was the right thing. But nothing doing on +Mellin's place." + +Freet smiled a little. "Do you want me to go over your head?" + +Jim gave him a clear look. "You can have my resignation whenever you +want it, Mr. Freet." + +And Jim mounted and rode heavily back to his office. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE STRENGTH OF THE PACK + + "The lone hunter finds the best hunting but he must fight + and die alone." + + MUSINGS OF THE ELEPHANT. + + +That night, when Iron Skull Williams stopped at Jim's tent to speak of +some detail of the work, Jim told him about the conversation with Freet. + +"Iron Skull," he said in closing, "if I've got to mix up in politics, +I'll quit, that's all. It's not my idea of engineering. My heavens! If +the engineers of the country are not going to be left unsmirched to do +their work, what's going to become of civilization? You know how I've +always admired Arthur Freet. You know how I appreciate the chances he's +given me to get ahead. And now----" + +Iron Skull grunted. "I guess he hasn't hurt his own reputation any by +letting you do a lot of his work for him while he played another end of +the game. You are a great pipe dreamer, Boss Still. You want to remember +that the Service is made up of human beings." + +"Do you mean there _is_ graft in the Service?" asked Jim sharply. + +The older man answered gently, for he knew he was hurting Jim. "The +Service is the cleanest bureau in the government. I'll bet you can count +on one hand the men in it who don't toe quite straight." + +Jim drew a quick breath. "I don't believe there is a crook in the +Service." + +"How about the sale of the water power up at Green Mountain?" asked +Williams. "Do you think that was an open deal? Did the farmers have +their chance?" + +Jim flushed. "I never let myself think about it," he muttered. + +Iron Skull nodded. "You've lived in a fool's paradise, Boss Still, and I +for one don't see that you help the Service by shutting your eyes. You +know as well as I do that the United States Reclamation Service is +developing some mighty important water power propositions. Do you think +it's like poor old human nature to argue that the Water Power Trust +ain't going to get hold of that power if it can or try to destroy the +Service if it can't?" + +Jim rubbed his forehead drearily. "Iron Skull, isn't there anything a +fellow can keep his faith in?" + +"Pshaw!" answered Williams, "you can keep your faith in the Service! +This here is just like finding out that, though your wife is a mighty +fine woman, she has her weak points!" + +Jim stared at the lamp for a long time. + +"What you looking at, partner?" asked Iron Skull. + +"Oh, I was seeing the Green Mountain dam the way I first saw it and I +was seeing Charlie Tuck and those days of ours in the canyon and +thinking of what he said about the Service. He believed in it the way I +have. And then I was thinking about the bunch of men who've stuck +together and by me for five years, like a pack of wolves, by jove! And I +was thinking of those lines, you know, 'The strength of the pack is the +wolf and the strength of the wolf is the pack.' That is what the Service +ought to be like, the Pack, and if one man goes bad the strength of the +pack is hurt." + +The older man nodded. Then he said, "What are you going to do about it +all, Boss Still?" + +Jim brought his fist down on the table. "I'm an engineer. I deal with +hard facts, not intrigues. Freet must take me so or not at all." + +"Well, you are half right and half wrong," commented Iron Skull, rising. + +"What do you mean?" asked Jim. + +"I mean that you have got an awful lot to learn yet before you will be +of big value to the Service, but you've got to learn it with your elbows +and sweating blood. You're that kind. Nothing I can say will help you. +Good night, partner!" + +The next morning Jim reported at Freet's office. "Mr. Freet," he said +carefully, "I have a lot of pride in the reputation of the Reclamation +Service. If we put a canal through Mellin's place it'll give people a +real cause for complaint. I shall have to resign if you insist on my +doing it." + +Freet laughed sardonically. "The Service can't afford to lose you, even +if you do live in the clouds! Why, I broke you in myself, Manning, and +you are one of the best men in the Service today, bar none. We will let +the Mellin matter rest for a while." + +Jim blushed furiously under his chief's praise and with a brief "Thank +you," he turned away. + +It was a little over two months later that Jim received an order from +Washington to proceed to the Cabillo Project in the Southwest. The +engineer in charge there was in poor health and Jim was to act as his +assistant. Jim was torn between pleasure at his promotion and +displeasure over Freet's obvious purpose of getting him away from the +Makon. + +But the utter relief in not having to fight the Mellin matter to a +finish triumphed over the displeasure and Jim left the Makon for the +Southwest with Iron Skull, while trailing after him came the Pack who, +to a man, suddenly felt an overwhelming desire to winter in the desert. + +Jim missed the Makon very much at first. He had all the love of a father +for his first born for the Project, for which Charlie Tuck had died. At +first, he felt very much a stranger on this new Project. Watts, the +engineer in charge, was a sick man. He was a gentle, lovable fellow of +fifty, and he was taking very much to heart the heckling that the +Service was receiving on his Project. His illness had caused the work on +the dam to fall behind. Jim closed his ears and his mouth, placed Iron +Skull and his Pack judiciously on the works and started full steam ahead +to build the Cabillo dam. + +Six months after Jim's arrival Watts died and Jim succeeded to his job, +which day by day grew more complicated. The old simple life of the Makon +when, heading his faithful rough-necks, Jim ate up the work, with no +thought save for the work, was gone. Jim's job on the Cabillo was not +that of engineer alone. He had not only to build the dam but to rule an +organization of two thousand souls. He was sole ruler of an isolated +desert community and he was the buffer between the office at Washington +and all the contending and jealous forces that were rapidly developing +in the valley. + +The United States Reclamation Service is in the Department of the +Interior. Jim had been at Cabillo two years when the new Secretary of +the Interior summoned him to Washington. + +The new Secretary had found his office flooded with complaints about the +Reclamation Service. He had found, too, a report from the Congressional +Committee which had the year before investigated several of the +Projects. Being of a patient and inquiring turn of mind, the Secretary +had decided to go to the heart of the matter. Therefore he invited the +complainants to come to Washington to see him. He summoned the Director +and Jim with several other of the Project engineers, Arthur Freet among +them, to appear before him, with the complainants. + +May in Washington is apt to be very warm, although very lovely to look +upon. Jim, so long accustomed to the naked height and sweep of the +desert country, felt half suffocated by the low hot streets of the +capitol. He went directly from the train to the Hearing, which was held +in one of the Secretary's offices. The room was large and square, with a +desk at one end, where the Secretary was sitting. When Jim entered, the +place already was filled to overflowing with irrigation farmers or their +lawyers, with land speculators, with Congressmen and reporters. + +The Secretary was a large man with a smooth shaven, inscrutable face and +blue eyes that were set far apart under overhanging brows. He looked at +Jim keenly as the young engineer made his way to his seat in the front +of the room. He saw the same Jim that had said good-bye to the little +group in the station eight years before; the same Jim, with some +important modifications. + +He was tanned to bronze, of course. He had sun wrinkles at the corners +of his eyes. His mouth was thinner and the corners not so deep. The old +scowl between his eyes had traced two permanent lines there. The mass of +brown hair still swept his dreamer's forehead. His jaws had become the +jaws of a man of action. + +Jim sat down, folded his arms and crossed his knees, fixing his gaze on +the patch of blue sky above the building opposite the open window. For +five days he sat so, without answering a charge that was brought against +him. + +For five days the Secretary sat with entire patience urging every man to +speak his mind fully and freely. And if bitterness toward the Service +betokened free speaking, the complainants held back nothing. + +A heavy set man, tanned and cheaply dressed, said: "Mr. Secretary, I was +born in Hungary. I am a tinner by trade. I lived in Sioux City. I have a +wife and six children. I got consumption and a real estate man fixed it +up with a friend of his on the Makon Project that I go out there, see? +It took all I saved but they told me crops the first year will pay all +my living expenses. I buy forty acres. + +"Mr. Secretary, I get no crops for five years. I hauled every drop of +water we use seven miles from a spring for five years. Some days we got +nothing to eat. Me and my oldest boy, we work for Mellin when we can +and we stayed alive till the water come. I get cured of my consumption. +But my money is gone. I can buy no tools, no nothing. And, Mr. +Secretary, when the canal do come they run it through Mellin's place. My +money is gone and I can't afford to dig the long ditch to Mellin's. +Mellin's place is green and mine is still desert." + +"Are there no small farmers or settlers who are succeeding on the Makon +Project?" asked the Secretary. + +"Yes, sir," replied the man, "many, but also, many like me." + +"Then is your complaint against the real estate sharks or the +government?" persisted the Secretary. + +"Against both!" cried the man. "Why did that Freet give Mellin and the +other big fellow first choice in everything? Why must I pay for what I +can't get?" + +There were several farmers from different projects who had stories that +matched the ex-tinner's. When they had finished, the Secretary called on +a real estate man who had come with a protest about the running of the +canals on the Makon. + +"What was the net value of the crops on the Makon Project last year," +asked the Secretary. + +"About $500,000, I think." + +"What was it, say the year before the Reclamation Service went in +there?" + +"Perhaps $100,000." + +"We are to believe, then, that some people have found the Service +useful?" + +"Oh, yes, Mr. Secretary, there are a whole lot of contented farmers up +there who are too busy with their bumper crops to come to Washington, +even if they wanted to." + +The real estate man sat down and the Secretary called on the Chairman of +the Congressional investigating committee to make a brief summary of his +charges. + +The Chairman said, succinctly: "I charge the Service with graft, gross +extravagance and inefficiency. I call on you to remove the Director and +four of his engineers, including Arthur Freet and James Manning, who are +present." + +"Of what specific things do you accuse Mr. Manning?" asked the +Secretary, with a glance at Jim's impassive face. + +"His Project is full of mistakes, some of them small, that, +nevertheless, aggregate big and show the trend of the Service. Up on the +Makon he made a road at a cost of a hundred thousand dollars that only +the Service used. He's put a thousand dollars into telephone booths +where two hundred would have been ample. Some of the canal concrete work +has had to be dynamited out and done over and over again. The farmer +pays for all this. Manning refuses to take any advice from the farmers +on the Project, men who were irrigating before he was born. His every +idea seems hostile to the farmer, whose land the farmer himself is +paying him to irrigate. Manning was trained by Freet, Mr. Secretary." + +The Secretary tapped his desk softly for several moments, as if turning +over in his mind the opposing evidence brought out during the several +days of the Hearing. Jim had not been called on but Arthur Freet and two +other Project engineers had spent an entire day on the stand, quizzed +unmercifully by everyone in the room. They had disclaimed every +accusation. The Director of the Service, a quiet man of marvelous +executive ability, had made a bitter return attack on the Congressional +Committee, the farmers, the real estate men and the lawyers, accusing +them of being the conscious or unconscious tools of the Water Power +Trust, whose object was to destroy the Service. + +An elderly Senator had risen and had addressed the Hearing. "I was one +of the fathers of the Reclamation Act. One of the fundamental ideas of +the Act was that it was not governmental charity but that every farmer +whose arid acres were watered would be willing to pay for it. I see but +one thing in all these protests against the Service and that is the +attempt to repudiate the debt incurred by the farmers to the Service. +And the attempt to repudiate is most bitter with the very men who +pleaded most loudly with the Government to irrigate their land and who +voluntarily pledged themselves to pay back during an easy period of +years the cost of the Projects. If it is a fact that this tainted idea +of Repudiation is creeping among the land owners on the Projects, I warn +you all that I shall use all my influence to have the Reclamation Act +repealed." + +As the old Senator had finished half the men in the room had risen to +their feet, angrily denying any thought of repudiation. + +Now, after tapping his desk thoughtfully, the Secretary looked at Jim. + +"Mr. Manning, please take the stand." + +Jim unfolded his long legs and strode up beside the Secretary's desk. He +stood there struggling for words that would not come. For five days he +had sat thinking of the three Projects that he knew. He recalled Charlie +Tuck and the two other engineers who had laid down their lives for the +dams. He pictured again the drowned and mangled workmen at the cost of +whose lives the Makon tunnel had been driven. A slow, bitter anger had +risen in him against Freet. It seemed to Jim a fearful thing that one +crooked man could taint such faithfulness and sacrifice as he had known, +could blind intelligent men to the marvel of engineering work that +marked the progress of the Reclamation Service through the arid country. +But when Jim's words came, they were futile. + +"I don't know," he said in his father's casual drawl, "that I have +anything to say to the specific charges against me. The Director has +covered the ground better than I can. I have the feeling that if the +actual work we have done out west, the actual acreage we have brought to +profitable bearing won't speak to you people who have seen it, nothing +else will. The flood season is coming on, Mr. Secretary. I would suggest +that you send either me or my successor out to my dam." + +The Secretary's face was quite as inscrutable as Jim's. "Mr. Manning, +why do you put so much money into roads?" + +Jim's eyes fired a little. "I believe that one of the functions of +government is to build good roads. Actually, the heavy freightage that +must pass over these roads makes it essential that they be first class. +A cheap road would be expensive in time and breakage." + +"How about the accusations of mismanagement?" + +"I have made mistakes," replied Jim, "and some of them have been +expensive ones in lives and money. Many of our engineering problems are +entirely new and we have to solve them without precedent. The punishment +for a bad guess in engineering is always sure and hard. One can make a +bad political guess and escape." + +"How about the accusation of graft?" continued the Secretary. + +Jim whitened a little. He looked over the Secretary's head out at the +patch of blue sky and then back at the room full of hostile faces. + +"If any man in the Service," he said slowly, "can be shown to be +dishonest, no punishment can be too severe for him." Jim paused and then +went on, half under his breath as if he had forgotten his audience. "The +strength of the pack is the wolf. It's disloyalty in the pack that's +helping the old American spirit down hill." + +The Secretary's eyes deepened but he repeated, quietly, "And as to +_your_ graft, Mr. Manning?" + +Jim hesitated and whitened again under his bronze. If ever a man looked +guilty, Jim did. + +There was at this point a sudden scraping of a chair, the clatter of an +overturned cuspidor and a stout, elderly man at the rear of the room +jumped to his feet. + +"Mr. Secretary," he cried, "may I say a word?" + +"Who are you?" asked the Secretary. + +"I'm a New York lawyer, but I know the Projects like the back of me +hand. And I know Jim Manning as I know me own soul. You've let everyone +have free speech here. Manning didn't know till this minute that I was +in town. My name is Michael Dennis, your honor." + +The Secretary smiled ever so slightly as he glanced from Jim's face to +that of the speaker. Jim's jaw was dropped. He was shaking his head +furiously at Uncle Denny while the latter nodded as furiously at Jim. + +"Mr. Manning seems unwilling to speak for himself. Since you know him so +well, Mr. Dennis, we'll hear what you have to say. You may be seated, +Mr. Manning." + +Jim moved back to his place reluctantly and Uncle Denny made his way to +the front, talking as he went. + +"Of course, he won't speak for himself, Mr. Secretary. He never could. +Still Jim we call him. Still Jim they name him on all the Projects and +Still Jim he is here before this crowd of mixed jackals and jackasses. +He never could waste his energy in speech, as I'm doing now. I've often +thought he had some fine inner sense that taught him even as a child +that if it's hard to speak truth, its next to impossible to hear it. So +he just keeps still. + +"You've heard him accused of graft, Mr. Secretary, and of inefficiency +and of any other black phrase that came handy to these people. Your +honor, it's impossible! It's not in his breed of mind! If you could have +seen him as I have! A child of fifteen working in the pit of a +skyscraper and crying himself to sleep nights for memory of his father +he'd seen killed at like work, yet refusing money from me till I married +his mother and made him take it. If you had seen him out on your +Projects, cutting himself off from civilization in the flower of his +youth and giving his young life blood to his dams! I know he's received +offers of five times his salary from a corporation and stayed by his +dam. I've seen him hang by a frayed cable with the flood round his arm +pits, arguing, heartening the rough-necks for twenty-four hours at a +stretch, the last man to give in, for his dam! I've seen him take +chances that meant life or death for him and a hundred workmen and ten +thousand dollars worth of material and win for his dam, for a pile of +stones that was to bring money to the very men here who are howling him +down. For his dam, that's wife and child to him, and they accuse him of +prostituting it! Bah! You fools! Don't you know no money-getter works +that way? He's a trail builder, Mr. Secretary. He's the breed that opens +the way for idiots like these and they follow in and trample him +underfoot on the very trail he has made for them!" + +Uncle Denny stopped. There was a moment's hush in the room. Jim watched +the patch of blue with unseeing eyes. As Uncle Denny started back to his +seat there rose an angry buzz, but the Secretary raised his hand. + +"Gentlemen! Gentlemen! Turn about is fair play. Remember that you have +called the Reclamation Engineers some very foul names. Mr. Manning, I +cannot see why you should not return to the flood at your dam and you +other engineers to your respective posts, there to await word from your +Director as to the results of this Hearing. You yourselves must realize +after hearing all sides that I can take action only after careful +deliberation. I thank you all for your frankness and patience with me." + +As the room cleared, Uncle Denny puffed down on Jim. "Still Jim, me boy, +don't be sore at me. I should have spoken if I'd been a deaf mute!" + +Jim took Uncle Denny's hands. "Uncle Denny! Uncle Denny! You shouldn't +have done it, yet how can I be sore at you!" + +"That's right," said Uncle Denny. "You can't be! Oh, I tell you, I feel +about you as I do about Ireland! I'm aching for some blundering fool to +say something that I may knock his block off! When are you going back?" + +"Tonight," replied Jim. "Come up to the hotel and talk while I pack. I +can't wait an hour on the flood. How are mother and Pen?" + +"Fine! Your mother and I are the most comfortable couple on earth. We +took it for granted you'd come up to New York. You got me letter about +Sara and Pen before you left the dam, didn't you?" + +"No. What letter?" asked Jim. + +The two were walking up to the hotel now. Uncle Denny threw up both his +hands. "Soul of me soul! They are out there by now. It all happened very +unexpectedly and I did me best to head him off. I must admit Pen was no +help to me there." + +"But what----" exclaimed Jim. + +Uncle Denny interrupted. "I don't know, meself. You gave Sara's name to +Freet some time ago, two years ago, when he wanted to do some real +estate business in New York. Well, ever since Sara has had the western +land speculation bug, and lately nothing would do but he must get out to +your Project. They are waiting there now for you if Sara killed no one +en route. There is so much peace in the old brownstone front now, Still +Jim, that your mother and I fear we will have to keep a coyote in the +parlor to howl us to sleep!" + +Jim turned a curiously shaken face on Dennis. "Do you mean that Pen, +_Pen_ is out at the Dam? That she will be there when I get back?" + +Uncle Denny nodded. "Pen and _Sara_! Don't forget Sara. Me heart +misgives me as to his purpose in going." + +"Penelope at my dam?" repeated Jim. + +Uncle Denny looked at Jim's tanned face. Then he looked away and his +Irish eyes were tear-dimmed. He said no more until they were in Jim's +room at the hotel. Jim began to pack rapidly and Uncle Denny remarked, +casually: + +"Penelope is Saradokis' wife, you know." + +Jim's drawl was razor-edged. "Uncle Denny, she never was and never will +be Saradokis' wife." + +"Oh, I know! Only in name! But--I may as well tell you that I think she +was unwise in going to you." + +Jim walked over to the window, then slowly back again. His clear gray +eyes searched the kindly blue ones. "Uncle Denny, why do you suppose +this thing happened to Pen?" + +The Irishman's voice was a little husky as he answered: "To make a grand +woman of her. She's developed qualities that nothing else on earth could +have developed in her. It's because of her having grown to be what she +is that I didn't want her to go to you. I--Oh, Still Jim, me boy! Me +boy!" + +For just a moment Jim's lips quivered, then he said, "We shall see what +the desert does for us," and he closed his suitcase with a snap. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +OLD JEZEBEL ON THE RAMPAGE + + "Old Jezebel is a woman. For years she keeps her appointed + trail until the accumulation of her strength breaks all + bounds and she sweeps sand and men before her." + + MUSINGS OF THE ELEPHANT. + + +There is a butte in the Cabillo country that they call the Elephant. + +Picture a country of lavenders and yellows and blues; an open, barren +land, with now a wide sweep of desert, now a chaos of mesa and mountain, +dead volcano and eroded plain. The desert, a buff yellow where blue +distance and black shadow and the purple of volcano spill have not +stained it. The mountains, bronze and lavender, lifting scarred peaks to +a quiet sky; a sky of turquoise blue. The Rio del Norte, a brown streak, +forcing a difficult and roundabout course through ranges and desert. + +In a rough desert plain, which is surrounded by ranges, stands a broad +backed butte that was once a volcano. The Rio del Norte sweeps in a +curve about its base. Time and volcanic crumblings and desert wind have +carved the great beast into the semblance of an elephant at rest. The +giant head is slightly bowed. The curved trunk droops, but the eyes are +wide open and the ears are slightly lifted. By day it is a rich, red +bronze. By night, a purple that deepens to black. Watching, brooding, +listening, day or night, the butte dominates here the desert and the +river and the ranges. + +This is the butte that they call the Elephant. + +Below this butte the Service was building a dam. It was a huge +undertaking. When finished the dam would be as high as a twenty-story +building and as long as two city blocks. It would block the river, +turning it into a lake forty miles long, that would be a perpetual water +supply to over a hundred thousand acres of land in the Rio del Norte +valley. + +The borders of the Rio del Norte have been cultivated for centuries. +Long before the Puritans landed in New England, the Spanish who followed +Coronado planted grape vines on the brown river's banks. The Spanish +found Pueblo Indians irrigating little hard-won fields here. The +irrigation ditches these Indians used were of dateless antiquity and yet +there were traces left of still older ditches used by a people who had +gone, leaving behind them only these pitiful dumb traces of heroic human +effort. After the Spanish came the Americans, patrolling their ditches +with guns lest the Apaches devastate their fields. + +Spanish, Indians, Americans all fought to bring the treacherous Rio del +Norte under control, but failure came so often that at last they united +in begging the Reclamation Service for aid. It was to help these people +and to open up the untouched lands of the valley as well, that the dam +was being built. And the building of it was Jim's job. + +Jim jumped off the bobtailed train that obligingly stopped for him at a +lone shed in the wide desert. In the shed was the adobe splashed +automobile which Jim had left there on his trip out. He threw his suit +case into the tonneau, cranked the engine and was off over the rough +trail that led to the Project Road. + +A few miles out he met four hoboes. They turned out for the machine and +Jim stopped. + +"Looking for work at the dam?" he asked. + +"What are the chances?" asked one of the group. + +"Fine! Get in! I'm engineer up there. You're hired." + +With broad grins the three clambered aboard. The man who sat beside Jim +said: "We heard flood season was coming on and thought you'd like extra +help. Us boys rode the bumpers up from Cabillo." + +Jim grunted. Labor-getting continued to be a constant problem for all +the valuable nucleus formed by the Park. Experts and the offscourings of +the earth drifted to the great government camp and Jim and all his +assistants exercised a constant and rigid sifting process. He did not +talk much to his new help. His eyes were keen to catch the first glimpse +of the river. The men caught his strain and none of them spoke again. +Cottontails quivered out of sight as the automobile rushed on. An +occasional coyote, silhouetted against the sky, disappeared as if by +magic. Swooping buzzards hung motionless to see, then swept on into the +heavens. + +Jim was taking right-angled curves at twenty-five miles an hour. The +hoboes clung to the machine wild-eyed and speechless. Up and up, round a +twisted peak and then, far below, the river. + +"She's up! The old Jezebel!" said Jim. + +The machine slid down the mountainside to the government bridge. The +brown water was just beginning to wash over the floor. Across the +bridge, Jim stopped the machine before a long gray adobe building. It +topped a wide street of tents. Jim scrawled a line on an old envelope +and gave it to one of the hoboes. + +"Take that to the steward. Eat all you can hold and report wherever the +steward sends you." + +Then he went on. Regardless of turn or precipice the road rose in a +steady grade from the lower camp where the workmen lived, a half mile to +the dam site. Jim whirled to the foot of the cable way towers and jumped +out of the machine. + +The dam site lay in a valley, a quarter of a mile wide, between two +mountains. Above the dam lay the Elephant. A great cofferdam built near +the Elephant's base diverted the river into a concrete flume that ran +along the foot of one of the mountains. The river bed, bared by the +diverting of the stream, was filled with machinery. An excavation sixty +feet below the river bottom and two hundred feet wide was almost +completed. Indeed, on the side next the flume there already rose above +the river bed a mighty square of concrete, a third the width of the +river. Jim had begun the actual erection of the dam. + +The two mountains were topped by huge towers, supporting cables that +swung above the dam site. The cables carried anything from a man to a +locomotive, from the "grab buckets" that bit two tons of sand at a +mouthful from the excavation, to a skid bearing a motion picture outfit. + +Work was going on as usual when Jim arrived. The cable ways sang and +shrieked. The concrete mixer roared. Donkey engines puffed and dinkees +squealed. Jim dashed into a telephone booth and called up the office. + +"This is Mr. Manning. Where is Williams?" + +The telephone girl answered quickly: "Oh, how are you, Mr. Manning? +We're glad you are back. Why, Mr. Williams was called down to Cabillo to +make a deposition for the Washington hearing, several days ago. And they +made Mr. Barton and Mr. Arles go, too. I'm trying to get them on long +distance now. You came by the way of Albuquerque, didn't you? We tried +to reach you in Washington, but couldn't." + +Jim groaned. His three best men were gone. + +"We didn't expect high water for a week," the girl went on, "or +else----" + +"Miss Agnes," Jim interrupted, "call up every engineer on the job and +tell them to report at once to me at Booth A. Whom did Iron Skull leave +on his job?" + +"Benson, the head draughtsman." + +Jim hung up the receiver and stood a moment in thought. Iron Skull was +now Jim's superintendent and right hand. His mechanical and electrical +engineers were gone, too, leaving only cubs who had never seen a flood. +Benson came running down the trail from the office. + +"For the Lord's sake, Benson, have you been asleep?" said Jim. + +Benson looked at the roaring flume. "She'll carry it all right, don't +you think? I haven't been able to get in touch with the hydrographer for +twenty-four hours. The water only began to rise an hour ago." + +"The poor kid may be drowned!" exclaimed Jim. He turned to the group of +men forming about him. "We're in for a fight, fellows. This flood has +just begun and it's higher now than I've ever seen the water in the +flume. I'm going to fill the excavation with water from the flume and so +avoid the wash from the main flow. Save what you can from the river bed. +Leave the excavation to me." + +Five minutes later the river bed swarmed with workmen. The cable ways +groaned with load after load of machinery. Jim ran down the trail, +around the excavation and up onto the great block of concrete. The top +of this was just below the flume edge. The foreman of the concrete gang +was aghast at Jim's orders. + +"We may have a couple of hours," Jim finished, "or she may come down on +us as if the bottom had dropped out of the ocean. See that everyone gets +out of the excavation." + +The foreman looked a little pitifully at the concrete section. + +"That last pouring'll go out like a snow bank, Mr. Manning." + +Jim nodded. "Dam builders luck, Fritz. Get busy." He hurried into a +telephone booth, even in the stress of the moment smiling ruefully as he +remembered the complaint at the hearing. The booths _had_ been too well +built. Jim's predecessor had been a government man of the old school in +just one particular. Honest to his heart's core, he still could not +understand the need of economy when working for Uncle Sam. + +"Have you heard from Iron Skull?" Jim asked the operator. + +"He ought to be here now, Mr. Manning," she replied. "I sent the car +over to the kitchen." + +"You are all right, Miss Agnes," said Jim. "Tell Dr. Emmet to be near +the telephone. I don't like the looks of this." + +Jim hung up the receiver, pulled off his coat and hurried out to the +edge of the concrete section. A derrick was being spun along the +cableway, just above the excavation. A man was standing on the great +hook from which the derrick was suspended. Men were clambering through +the heavy sand up out of the excavation. The man on the edge of the pit +who was holding the guide rope attached to the swinging derrick was +caught in the rush of workmen. He tripped and dropped the rope, then ran +after it with a shout of warning. For a moment the derrick spun +awkwardly. + +The man in the tower rang a hasty signal and the operator of the +cableway reversed with a sudden jerk that threw the derrick from the +hook. The man on the hook clung like a fly on a thread. The derrick +crashed heavily down on the excavation edge, and slid to the bottom, +carrying with it a great sand slide that caught two men as it went. + +Jim gasped, "My God! I hate a derrick!" and ran down into the +excavation, the foreman at his heels. Men turned in their tracks and +wallowed back after Jim. + +The derrick had fallen in such a way that its broken boom held back a +portion of the slide. From under the boom protruded a brown hand with +almond-shaped nails; unmistakably the hand of an Indian. The least +movement of the boom would send the sand down over the wreckage of the +derrick. + +Uncontrollably moved for a moment, Jim dropped to his knees and crawled +close to touch the inert hand. "Don't move!" he shouted. "We will get +you out!" For just a moment, an elm shaded street and a dismantled +mansion flashed across his vision. Then he got a grip on himself and +crawled out. + +"Get a bunch of men with shovels!" he cried. "Dig as if you were digging +in dynamite." + +"They are dead under there, Boss!" pleaded the foreman. "And they ain't +nothing but an Injun and a Mexican, an ornery _hombre_! And if you don't +let the flume in this whole place'll wash out like flour. It'll take an +hour to get them out." + +Jim's lips tightened. "You weren't up on the Makon, Fritz. My rule is, +fight to save a life at any cost. Keep those fellows digging like the +devil." + +He hurried back up onto the section, thence up to the flume edge. Then +he gave an exclamation. The brown water had risen an inch while he was +in the excavation. He ran for the telephone again. + +In a moment a new form of activity began in the river bed. Every man who +was not digging gingerly at the sand slide was turned to throwing bags +of sand on cofferdam and flume edge to hold back the river as long as +might be. Jim stood on the concrete section and issued his orders. His +voice was steel cool. His orders came rapidly but without confusion. He +concentrated every force of his mind on driving his army of workmen to +the limit of their strength, yet on keeping them cool headed that every +moment might count. + +It was an uneven fight at that. Old Jezebel gathered strength minute by +minute. The brown water was dripping over onto the concrete when +someone caught Jim's arm. + +"Where shall I go, Boss Still?" + +"Thank God, Iron Skull!" exclaimed Jim. "Go down and get that _hombre_ +and Apache out." + +Iron Skull ran down into the excavation. The brown water began to seep +over the edge of the pit. The men who were digging above the slide swore +and threw down their shovels. Jim tossed his megaphone to the cement +engineer and ran to meet the men. + +"Get back there," he said quietly. The men looked at his face, then +turned sheepishly back. + +Jim picked up a shovel. Iron Skull already was digging like a madman. + +One of the workmen, who never had ceased digging, snarled to another: +"What does he want to let the whole dam go to hell for two nigger +rough-necks for?" + +"Bosses' rule," panted the other. "Up on the Makon we'd risk our lives +to the limit and fight for the other fellows just as quick. How'd you +like to be under there? Never know who's turn's next!" + +The brown water rose steadily, running faster and faster over into the +excavation. The water was touching the brown hand which now twitched and +writhed, when Jim said: + +"Now, boys, catch the cable hook to the boom and give the signal." + +The derrick swung up into the air. Jim and a Makon man seized the +Indian, Iron Skull and another man the _hombre_. Both of them were alive +but helpless. The cement engineer shouted an order through the megaphone +and just as a lifting brown wave showed its fearful head beyond the +Elephant, the river bed was cleared of human beings. + +Up around the cable tower foot was gathered a great crowd of workmen, +women and children. Jim, greeted right and left as he relinquished his +burden, looked about eagerly. Penelope must have heard of the flood and +have come to see it. But surrounded by his friends, Jim missed the +girlish figure that had hovered on the outskirts of the crowd and that, +after he had reached the tower foot in safety, disappeared up the trail. + +Jim, with his arm across Iron Skull's shoulder, turned to watch the +river. The moving brown wall had filled the excavation. It rushed like a +Niagara over the flume edge. In half an hour it ran from bank to bank, +with a roar of satisfaction at having once more regained its bed. + +Jim sighed and said to Iron Skull: "She's taken a hundred thousand +dollars at a mouthful. I'll put that in my expense account for my trip +to Washington." + +Iron Skull grunted: "We'll be lucky if we get off that cheap. This will +make talk for every farmer on the Project. They'll all be up to tell you +how you should have done it." + +Jim shrugged his shoulders. "This isn't the first flood we've weathered, +Iron Skull. Come up to the house while I change my clothes." + +The two started along the road that wound up to the low mountain top +where the group of adobe cottages known as "officers' quarters" was +located. The cottages were occupied by Jim's associate engineers and +their families. + +"I suppose you learned that your friends came," said Iron Skull. "They +wanted a tent for his health, so I put them in the tent house back on +the level behind the quarters. + +"I didn't know of their coming until I was leaving Washington," said +Jim. "How are they?" + +"She stood the trip fine. He was pretty well used up, poor cus! She is +awful patient with him. She's all you've said about her and then some. +The ladies have all called on her but he don't encourage them. I stood a +good deal from him, then I just told him to go to hell. Not when she was +round, of course." + +Jim listened intently. He knew the whole camp must be alive with gossip +and curiosity over his two guests. An event of this order was a godsend +in news value to the desert camp. + +"Much obliged to you," was Jim's comment. + +"How'd the Hearing go?" asked Iron Skull. + +Jim shook his head and sighed. "They are convinced down there, I guess, +that the Service is rotten. I kept my mouth shut and sawed wood. The +Secretary is good medicine. You should have heard Uncle Denny jump in +and make a speech. Bless him. I felt like a fool. What the Secretary +thinks about the whole thing nobody knows." + +Iron Skull grunted. After a moment he said: "Folks down at Cabillo are +peeved at the way you are making the main canal. Old Suma-theek is back +with fifty Apaches. That's one of them we pulled out of the sand. I've +fixed a separate mess for them. I think we can reorganize one of the +shifts so as to reduce the number of foremen." + +Jim paused before the door of his little gray adobe. "Will you come in, +Iron Skull?" + +"I'll wait for you in the office," replied Williams. He turned down the +mountainside toward a long adobe with a red roof. + +Jim walked in at the open door of his house. The living room was long +and low, with an adobe fireplace at one end. The walls were left in the +delicate creamy tint of the natural adobe. On the floor were a black +bearskin from Makon and a brilliant Navajo that Suma-theek had given +him. The walls were hung with Indian baskets and pottery, with +photographs of the Green Mountain and the Makon, with guns and canteens +and a great rack of pipes. This was the first home that Jim had had +since he had left the brownstone front and he was very proud of it. He +had inherited his predecessor's housekeeper, who ruled him firmly. + +Jim dropped his suit case and called, "Hello, Mrs. Flynn!" + +A door at the end of the room opened and a very stout woman came in, her +ruddy face a vast smile, her gray hair flying. She was wiping her hands +on her apron. + +"Oh, Boss Still, but I'm glad to see you! You look pindlin'. Ain't it +awful about the dam! I bet you're hungry this minute. God knows, if I'd +thought you'd be here for another hour I'd have had something against +your coming. And if God lets me live to spare my life, it won't happen +again." + +She talked very rapidly and as she talked she was patting Jim's arm, +turning him round and round to look him over like a mother. + +Jim flashed his charming smile on her. "Bless you, Mother Flynn! I know +it's a hundred years since you've told me what God knows! I'll have a +bath and go down to the office. I've had nothing to eat since morning." +This last very sadly. + +It had the expected effect on Mrs. Flynn, whose idea of purgatory was of +a place where one had to miss an occasional meal. + +She groaned: "Leave me into the kitchen! At six o'clock exactly there +will be fried chicken on this table!" + +Mrs. Flynn made breathlessly for the kitchen pausing at the door to call +back: "And how's your mother and your Uncle Denny? I've been doing the +best I can for your company. They ate stuff I took 'em only the first +day, then she went to housekeeping." + +"Thank you," said Jim, absently. He went into his bedroom. This, too, +was uncolored. It was a simple little room with only a cot, a bureau and +a chair in it. The walls were bare except for the little old photograph +of Pen in her tennis clothes. + +In half an hour Jim had splashed in and out of his bath, was shaved and +clad in camp regalia; a flannel shirt, Norfolk coat and riding breeches +of tan khaki, leather puttees and a broad-brimmed Stetson. At his office +awaiting him were his engineer associates and Iron Skull, and he put in +a long two hours with them, his mind far less on the flood and the +Hearing than on the fact that Penelope was waiting for him, up in the +little tent house. + +It was not quite eight o'clock when Jim stood before the tent house, +waiting for courage to rap. + +Suddenly he heard Sara's voice. "I won't have women coming up here to +snoop! Understand that, Pen, right now. Hand me the paper and be quick +about it." + +Jim felt himself stiffened as he listened for Pen's voice in answer. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE TENT HOUSE + + "Leave Old Jezebel to herself and she soon returns to old + ways. She likes them best for she is a woman." + + MUSINGS OF THE ELEPHANT. + + +Pen's voice, when it came, was lower and fuller than he had remembered +it but there was the old soft chuckle in it. + +"Cross patch! Draw the latch! Say please, like a nice child and then +I'll play a game of cards with you." + +Jim rapped on the door and stepped in. "Hello, Pen!" he said, holding +out his hand. + +She was changed and yet unchanged. A little thinner, older, yet more +beautiful in her young womanhood than in her charming girlhood. Her +chestnut hair was wrapped in soft braids around her head instead of +being bundled up in her neck. Her eyes looked larger and deeper set but +they were the same steady, clear eyes of old; ageless eyes; the eyes of +the woman who thinks. She had the same full soft lips, and as Jim held +out his hand the same flash of dimples. + +"Hello, Still! The mountains have come to Mahomet!" + +"And a poor welcome I gave you," replied Jim. "Hello, Sara." + +Jim turned to the great invalid chair. There, propped up in cushions, +lay a fat travesty of the old Saradokis. This was a Sara whose tawny +hair was turning gray with suffering; whose mouth, once so full and +boyish, was now heavy and sinister, whose buoyancy had changed to the +bitter irritability of the hopeless invalid. + +Sara looked Jim over deliberately, then dropped his hand. "How do you +think I am? Enjoying the dirty deal I've had from life?" + +Jim had not realized before just what a dirty deal Sara had been given. +"I'm sorry about it, Sara," he said. + +Saradokis gave an ugly laugh. "Sounds well! I've never heard a word from +you since the day we ran the Marathon. You hold a grudge as well as a +Greek, Jim." + +"Gee, I'd forgotten all about the race!" exclaimed Jim. + +"I haven't," returned Sara. "Neither the race nor several other things." + +Jim shrugged his shoulders and turned to Pen, who was watching the two +men anxiously. + +"Tell me about your plans. I'm mighty happy to have you here." + +"Sara's had the feeling for a long time that this climate would help +him, and we've talked in a general way about coming. It was Mr. Freet +that told Sara he thought there were some good real estate chances here +and that decided Sara. Sara has done him a number of good turns in +investments round New York." + +Jim looked at Sara sharply but made no comment on Pen's remarks. "Are +you comfortable here?" he asked, looking about the tent house. + +It was a roomy place. There was a good floor and a wooden wainscoting +that rose three feet above it. The tent was set on this wainscoting, +which gave plenty of head space. A gasolene stove in one corner with a +table and chairs and a cupboard formed the kitchen. A cot for Pen and a +book shelf or two with a corner clothes closet and some hammock swung +chairs completed the furniture. Pen had achieved the homelike with some +chintz hangings and a rug. + +"I am getting our meals right here," said Pen. "The steward said we +could have them sent up from the mess, but it's less expensive and more +fun to get them camp fashion here. The government store is a very good +one and all the neighbors have called and have brought me everything +from fresh baked bread to cans of jelly. They are so wonderfully kind to +me!" + +Sara was staring at Jim with an insolent sort of interest. He had full +use of his arms, as was evident when he gave the great wheel chair a +quick flip about so as to shade his eyes from the lamp. As Jim watched +him all the resentment of the past eight years welled up within him with +an added repugnance for Sara's fat helplessness and ugly temper that +made it difficult for him to sit by the invalid's chair. + +When Pen had finished her account Sara said, "You made rather a mess, +didn't you, in handling the flood today?" + +"You were splendid, Jimmy!" cried Pen. "I saw the whole thing!" + +Jim shook his head. "It was expensive splendor!" + +"You will find it difficult to explain your lack of preparation to an +investigating committee, won't you?" asked Sara. + +"If you can give a recipe for flood preparation," said Jim good +naturedly, "you will have every dam builder in the world at your feet." + +Sara grunted and changed the subject and his manner abruptly. + +"Got any decent smoking tobacco, Still?" + +"That is hard to find here," replied Jim. "It dries out fast and loses +flavor. I've got some over at the house I brought back from the East. +I'll go over and get it now. Will you let Pen walk over with me? I'd +like to have her see my house." + +"Makes no difference to me what she does. Hand me that book, Pen, before +you start." + +Out under the stars Jim pulled Pen's hand within his arm and asked, +"Pen, is he always like that?" + +"Always," answered Pen. "Do you remember the 'Wood-carver of Olympus'? +How he was hurt like Sara and how he blasphemed God and was embittered +for years? He was reconciled to his lot after a time and people loved +him. I have so hoped for that change in poor Sara, but none has come." + +"Pen!" cried Jim suddenly. "I gave you my sign and seal! Why did you +marry Saradokis?" + +Pen answered slowly, "Jim, why wouldn't you understand and take me West +with you when I begged you to?" + +"Understand what?" asked Jim, tensely. + +"That Sara's hold on me was almost hypnotic, that it was you I really +cared for, as I realized as soon as Sara was hurt. If only you had had +the courage of your convictions, Still!" + +Jim winced but found no reply and Pen went on, her voice meditative and +soft as if she were talking not of herself but of some half-forgotten +acquaintance. + +"I used to feel resentful that Sara thought I was worth such constant +attention, while you, in spite of the Sign and Seal, were quite as +contented with Uncle Denny as with me. And yet, after it all was over +and I had settled down to nursing Sara for the rest of my life, I could +see that I had had nothing to give you then and Uncle Denny had. Life is +so mercilessly logical--to look back on, Jimmy." + +Jim put his hand over the cold little fingers on his arm. Pen went on. +"I did not try to write to you. I----" + +But Jim could bear no more. "Pen! Pen! What a miserable fool I am!" + +"You are nothing of the kind!" exclaimed Pen, indignantly "What do you +think of the mess I've made of my life, if you think you are foolish?" + +"What am I to do? How can I make it up to you?" cried Jim. + +"By letting me stay in your desert for a time," answered Pen. "I know +I'm going to love it." + +They were at Jim's doorstep and he made no reply. As usual, words seemed +futile to him. He showed Pen his house and found the tobacco, letting +Mrs. Flynn do all the talking. Then, still in silence, he led Pen back +to her tent. At the door he gave her the tobacco and left her. + +Jim had a bad night. He stayed in bed until midnight; then to get away +from his own thoughts he dressed and went out to the dam. The water had +reached its height. There was nothing to be done save wait until Old +Jezebel grew weary of mischief. But Jim tramped up and down the great +road between the dam and the lower town all night. + +His mind swung from Pen to the Hearing and from the Hearing to the +flood, then back to Pen again. From Pen his thoughts went to his father +and with his father he paused for a long time. + +Was the evil destiny that had made his father fail to follow him, too? +Jim had always believed himself stronger than his father, somehow better +fitted to cope with destiny. Yet ever since his trouble with Freet on +the Makon there had been growing in Jim a vague distrust of his own +powers. He could build the dams, yes, if "they" would leave him free to +do so. If "they" would not fret and hound him until his efficiency was +gone. It was the very subtlety and intangibility of "they" that made him +uneasy, made him less sure of himself and his own ability. + +He had planned, after he had finished his work, to turn his attention to +solving the problems of old Exham. How was he to do this if he was not +big enough to cope with his own circumstance? And was he going to miss +the continuation of the Manning line because he had failed to grasp +opportunity in love as in everything else? + +Dawn found Jim watching the Elephant grow bronze against the sky. The +Elephant had a very real personality to Jim as it had to everyone else +in the valley. + +"What is to be, is to be, eh, old friend?" said Jim. "But why? Tell me +why?" + +The sun rolled up and the Elephant changed from bronze to gold. Jim +sighed and went up to his house. + +All that day crowds of workmen on the banks watched Old Jezebel romp +over their working place and they swore large and vivid oaths regarding +what they would do to her once they got to balking her again. It was +about noon that a buckboard drawn by two good horses stopped at the foot +of the cable tower. The driver called to Iron Skull Williams, who was +chewing a toothpick and chatting to Pen. Williams led Pen up to the +buckboard. + +"Like to introduce Oscar Ames, one of our old-time irrigation farmers," +said Iron Skull. "And this is Mrs. Ames, his boss. And this lady is a +friend of the Big Boss--Mrs. Saradokis." + +Pen held out her hand and the two women looked at each other in the +quick appraising way of women. Mrs. Ames was perhaps fifty years old. +She was small and thin and brown, with thin gray hair under her dusty +hat and a thin throat showing under her linen duster. Her face was +heavily lined. Her eyes were wonderful; a clear blue with the far-seeing +gaze of eyes that have looked long on the endless distances of the +desert. Yet, perhaps, the look was not due altogether to the desert, for +young as she was, Pen's eyes had the same expression. + +"I am glad to know you," said Penelope. + +"Thank you," said Mrs. Ames, bashfully. + +Oscar Ames shook hands heartily. He was a big man of fifty, with hair +and skin one shade of ruddy tan. + +"Glad to meet you, ma'am. Say, Iron Skull, how'd you come to let the +water beat you to it? This adds another big cost to us farmers' bill." + +Williams grunted. "Wish you folk had been up on the Makon. That's where +we had real floods. Ames, we are doing our limit. Ain't you old enough +yet to know that a lift under the arm carries a fellow twice as far as a +kick in the pants? Here's the Boss now. Light on _him_! Poor old scout!" + +Jim was on horseback. He rode slowly up and dismounted. "How are you, +Ames? And Mrs. Ames? Have you met Mrs. Saradokis? Ames, before you begin +to chant my funeral march let me ask you if you don't want to sell that +south forty you say I'm not irrigating right. Mr. Saradokis represents +some Eastern interests. Perhaps you'd like to meet him." + +Oscar grinned a little sheepishly. "Business before pleasure! I'll go +right up to see him now." + +"Then you must come up with me," said Penelope to Mrs. Ames, and the two +women followed after Jim and Oscar. + +The climb was short but stiff. Pen had not yet become accustomed to the +five thousand feet of elevation at which the officers' camp was set, so +she had no breath for conversation until they reached the tent house. +Sara lay in his invalid chair before the open door, maps, tobacco and +magazines scattered over the swing table that covered his lap. Pen, as +if to ward off any rudeness, began to explain as she mounted the steps: + +"Here is a gentleman who has land for sale, Sara." Sara's scowl +disappeared. He gave the Ames family such a pleasant welcome that Jim +was puzzled. Ames and Jim dropped down on the doorstep while Mrs. Ames +and Pen took the hammock chairs. + +"Have you people been long in this country?" asked Pen. + +"Thirty years this coming fall," replied Ames, taking the cigar Sara +offered him and smelling it critically. "I was a kid of 21 when I took +up my section down on the old canal. I couldn't have sold that land for +two bits an acre a year after I took it up. I refused two hundred +dollars an acre for the alfalfa land the other day." + +"You must have done some work in the interval," commented Sara. + +Jim, leaning against the door post, watched Sara through half closed +eyes and glanced now and again at Pen's eager face. Ames puffed at his +cigar and gazed out over the desert. + +"Work!" he said with a half laugh, "why when I took up that land sand +and silence, whisky and poker were the staples round here. I built a +one-room adobe, bought a team, imported a plow and a harrow and a +scraper and went at it. I've got a ten-acre orange grove now and two +hundred acres of alfalfa and a foreman who lets me gad! But no one who +ain't been a desert farmer can imagine how I worked." + +Pen spoke softly. "Were you with him then, Mrs. Ames?" + +The little woman looked at Pen with her far-seeing eyes. "Oh, yes, I +don't know that Oscar remembers, but we were married in York State. I +was a school teacher." + +After the little laugh Pen asked, "Do you like the desert farming?" + +"I never did get through being homesick," answered Mrs. Ames. "My first +two babies died there in that first little adobe. I was all alone with +them and the heat and the work." + +"Jane, you let me talk," interrupted Oscar briskly. "We both worked. The +worst of everything was the uncertainty about water. Us farmers built +the dam that laid sixty miles below here. Just where government +diversion dam is now. But we never knew when the spring floods came +whether we'd have water that year or not. More and more people took up +land and tapped the river and the main canal. Gosh! It got fierce. Old +friends would accuse each other of stealing each other's water. Then we +had a series of dry years. No rain or snow in the mountains. And green +things died and shriveled, aborning: The desert was dotted with dead +cattle. Three years we watched our crops die and----" + +Mrs. Ames suddenly interrupted. There was a dull red in her brown +cheeks. "I wanted to go home the third year of the drought. All I had to +show for fifteen years in the desert was two dead babies. I wanted to go +home." + +"And I says to her," said Ames, "I said 'For God's sake, Jane, where is +home if it isn't here? I can't expect you to feel like I do about this +ranch for you've stuck to the house. I know every inch of this ranch. +Ain't I fought for every acre of it, cactus and sand storm and water +famine? Ain't I sweat blood over every acre? Ain't I given the best +years of my life to it? And you say, 'Let's give it up! It ain't home!' +I certainly was surprised at Jane." + +"I have worked too," said Jane Ames, gently, to Penelope. "I'd had no +help and had cooked for half a dozen men and--and--then the babies! +Having four babies is not play, you know!" + +"Oh, I know!" exclaimed Amos impatiently. "You worked. That was why I +was so surprised at you wanting to let everything go. But you hadn't +made things grow like I had. I suppose that's why you felt different. +That winter the snows was heavy in the mountains and we were tickled at +the thought of high water in the spring. We all got out in May to +strengthen the dam, hauling brush and stone. But the water rose like the +very devil. We divided into night and day shifts, then we worked all the +time. But it was no use. The whole darned thing went out like Niagara. +Forty-three hours at a stretch I worked and the dam went out! And the +next year the same. Then it was that we began to ask for the Reclamation +Service." + +Pen drew a long breath and looked from Ames' strong tanned face out at +the breathless wonder of the landscape. Far beyond the brooding bronze +Elephant lay the chaos of the desert, yellow melting into purple and +purple into the faint peaks of the mountains. + +"What I can't understand, Ames," said Jim slowly, "after all this, is +why you roast the Service so." + +Ames flushed. "Because," he shouted, "you are so damned pig-headed! You +aren't building the dam for us farmers. You are building it for the +glory of your own reputation as an engineer." + +There was a moment's silence in the tent house. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE END OF IRON SKULL'S ROAD + + "The Indians know that the spirit blends with the Greater + Spirit, and I myself have seen every atom that was mortal + lift again and again to new life, out of the desert's atom + drift." + + MUSINGS OF THE ELEPHANT. + + +Jim shrugged his shoulders. Sara's eyes narrowed as he half smiled to +himself. + +"For instance," Ames went on, "what are you making the third canal so +big for? We don't need it that size. You're wasting time and our money. +We've got to pay for the project, us farmers. You don't take any +interest in that fact though." + +"You don't need a canal that big, but your children will," said Jim. +"I'm building this dam for the future. You farmers never built for +anything but the present. That's why your dams went and the water wars +were on. But you can't teach a farmer anything." + +Jim spoke with a cold contempt that startled Penelope. Ames' kindly eyes +were blazing. + +"No, but maybe us farmers can teach an engineer something. And I don't +know a better talking point for starting an investigation than the way +you let the flood rip everything to pieces." + +"Which portion of your land is for sale, Mr. Ames?" asked Pen. "My +husband has a map of the valley over there." + +Jim rose and took up his pony's reins. "I'm sorry anything unpleasant +came up, Pen. But you'll find out I'm a fool and a crook some time, so +it might as well be now. I must get back." He smiled, lifted his hat and +rode off. The four in the tent stared after him. + +"He always seems so kind of alone," said Mrs. Ames. "They say his men +will do anything for him and yet he always seems kind of lonely. I don't +seem to hate him the way the rest of the valley does. He's so young, he +don't know how to be patient yet." + +"Oh, they don't hate him, do they!" protested Pen. + +"You bet!" answered Ames succinctly. Then he added: "You'll have to +excuse me saying that. I forgot you was his friend. But this here valley +is like my child to me. I'm fighting for her." + +"We want to know the truth about him," said Sara. "Are you really trying +to get rid of him?" + +Ames nodded and picked up the map. "I don't think he's crooked, like +some do. I just think he's too young and pig-headed for the job." + +"How do you know he's not crooked?" asked Sara. + +Pen drew a startled breath. Ames looked at Sara curiously. "I thought +you was his friend." + +"He's my wife's friend," replied Sara. "You know what the Congressional +committee reported about him." + +"Sara!" cried Pen. "You know Jim couldn't do a crooked thing to save his +life!" + +Sara's black eyes blazed dangerously. Mrs. Ames stirred uncomfortably +and Pen rose. "Let's leave the men to their land sales and go out where +we can get a view of the camp, Mrs. Ames," she said. + +The two women walked slowly out to the mountain edge and settled +themselves on a rock. + +"I'm sorry anything unpleasant occurred," said Pen. + +"Don't you let it worry you," replied Mrs. Ames. "I'm used to it. Ever +since the dam was started, Oscar has been like an old maid with an +adopted baby." + +"I'm so sorry Jim has made himself unpopular here," said Pen. "He and I +were brought up by my uncle who married Jim's mother. And Jim is fine. +The Lord made Jim and then broke the mold. There's no one like him; no +one cleaner and truer----" + +Mrs. Ames looked at Pen thoughtfully. Then she patted the girl's hand. + +"Don't you worry about him. He's got lots to learn but the Lord don't +waste stuff like him. I would be perfectly happy if my boy turned out +like him." + +Pen smiled a little uncertainly. "We who know him so well are foolish +about Jim. Tell me about your children." + +"I have two left," replied Mrs. Ames. "They're at school in Cabillo. I +was bound they should have their chance. I'd like to ask you something. +Have you got a pattern for the waist you've got on? I'd like to make one +for my Mary. Though I don't know! My hands are so rough I can't handle +embroidery silks very good." + +She held up two work distorted hands. "I made this blouse myself," said +Pen. "I'd love to make one for your Mary. Time will hang on my hands +out here, some days." + +"That's nice of you," said the little desert woman, taking the gift as +simply as it was offered. "You tell me what materials to get. I guess I +can find some way to pay you up." + +"Come to see me, or let me come to see you," exclaimed Pen. "That will +be pay enough. I have few friends, for my husband doesn't like them. But +I can see that he has taken a liking to you two." + +"The minute I saw you, I knew something pleasant had happened to me," +said Jane Ames. "You don't mind having an old woman for an admirer, do +you?" + +Pen's dimples showed. "The more I see of men, Mrs. Ames, the better I +like women." + +Jane Ames nodded understandingly. "The women I know all have got it hard +one way or another but I guess desert farming ain't the worst thing that +can happen to a woman. Here comes Oscar. I suppose he's mad because I +ain't down at the buckboard counting the minutes till he gets to me. +Good-by, my dear! I'll see you soon." + +Pen did not return to the tent house at once. She saw Iron Skull up on +the mountainside watching a group of Indians break out the first line of +a road and she strolled over to talk to him. Jim's letters home had been +full of Iron Skull and Pen felt as if she knew him well. + +"How do, Mrs. Saradokis?" said Williams. + +"Are they all Indians?" asked Pen staring round-eyed at the group of +workmen. + +Iron Skull nodded. "Jicarilla and Mohave Apaches. I've fought with the +older men. They make good workmen if you understand them. Old +Suma-theek over there is one of my best friends." + +There might have been fifty of the Indians, stalwart fellows, using pick +and shovel with a deliberate grace that fascinated Pen. She watched in +silence for a moment, then she said: + +"Mr. Williams. I'm worried about Jim. Is it really true that they are +trying to oust him?" + +Iron Skull looked at Pen's anxious hazel eyes, then out at the ranges. +Then he scratched his head. + +"I'm a little worried myself, Mrs. Saradokis. He's up against a bad +proposition and he just won't admit it. I don't like to nag him. You +see, him and me are just naturally partners though I am old enough to be +his father. And there's some ways a man can't nag another man." + +"Do you think I could help him?" asked Pen. "He and I've always been +good friends." + +Williams hesitated, then he spoke with a sudden deep earnestness that +surprised Pen: "If you don't help him, things will be bad for Boss +Still. And you're the only person I know of that could influence him." + +He paused as he saw Pen flush painfully, then he went on a little +awkwardly: "Maybe you'll understand me better if--if I tell you I was +with Boss Still when a--Mr. Dennis wrote about your marriage. I know +about how he felt and all and I sort of look on your coming at this +particular time as a kind of a godsend. + +"Now I'm going to tell you some things confidential and leave it to your +judgment how to act. Boss Still, he sort of worshiped Freet. You know +who he is?" + +Pen nodded. Williams went on. "Freet, as I size it up, wanted to break a +smart cub in to be a kind of cat's paw for him in selling water power to +the right folks and running the canals right. It's darn seldom you meet +a good engineer that's money hungry. But Freet is. He's a miser in a +way. But up on the Makon, he found out the Boss is as innocent as a baby +of graft and more'n that he had his head in the clouds so's there was +mighty little hope of his coming down to earth. So Freet got him sent +down here. + +"Well, the time's coming down here when there'll be a nice lot of water +power. It belongs to the farmers after they pay for the dam, but the +idea is for the engineer in charge to show 'em where to sell it to best +advantage. If the engineer here ain't the right kind, the Water Power +trust can make him trouble. All sorts of ways, you see. Getting the +farmers sore at him is one. See?" + +Pen nodded again, her eyes wide and startled. "Now," said Iron Skull, +"don't be offended, but I'm wondering about your husband. I know Freet +knows him and if it should just happen that your husband had any old +scores to settle with the Boss----" + +He paused and Pen exclaimed: "I believe we'd better go right back to New +York, though as far as I know we're out here just for Sara's health and +for him to buy up some land Mr. Freet knew about." + +"Now don't get excited," said Williams. "Remember this here is all +speculation on my part. You stay right here. If it wasn't your husband, +it would be someone else and I'd rather it would be someone that has you +to watch 'em! And that ain't the most important part of your job, +either. Mrs. Saradokis, somehow the Boss ain't getting the grip on +things he'd ought to. I don't mean in engineering. He just can't be beat +at that. I don't know just what it is, but he's a big enough man to have +this valley in the hollow of his hand. And he ain't. I want you to help +me find out why and then _make_ him get away with it. This little old +United States needs men of his blood and kind of mind. I've fell down on +my job. Don't you let him fall down on his. It's the one way you can pay +up for--for the other thing you took out of his life." + +Pen stood with tear-blinded eyes and trembling lips. Iron Skull cleared +his throat: "I hope you don't mind my butting in this-a-way!" + +Pen shook her head. "I'll do my best," she said. "Only I'm pretty small +for the job." + +"Here he comes now," said Williams. + +Jim rode up and dismounted. "Hello, Pen! What do you think of my roads? +I'm crowding as many men onto the roads as I can until the water goes +down. Idleness is bad for them. You see, in spite of electric lights and +a water system we're a long way from civilization and it gets on the +men's nerves unless we keep 'em busy. I'm going to start a moving +picture show in the lower camp. The official photographer will run it +for us. Just the usual five-cent movies, you know. Anything above +running expenses will go toward the farmers' debt." + +Iron Skull moved away to speak to Suma-theek. Jim went on slowly: "You +can see what I'm up against in Ames. Any day I may get a recall. Every +farmer on the project hates me for some reason or other. I tell you, +Pen, if they don't let me finish my dam and the roads to and from it, it +will ruin my life." + +Pen's tender eyes studied Jim's face. Long and thin, with its dreamer's +forehead and its steel jaw, it was the same dear face that Penelope had +carried in her heart since that spring day long ago when a long-legged +freshman had said to her, "I'm glad you came. I'm going to think a lot +of you. I can see that." + +"You know, Jim," she said, "that your mother and Uncle Denny always +shared your letters with me?" + +Jim nodded. "I wrote them for that." + +"And so I really know a good deal about your work. Uncle Denny and I +studied the maps and the government reports and then he actually saw the +dams, you know, and would tell me all the details. Honestly, we'd +qualify as experts in any court! And if you'll just let me share your +worries while I'm out here, I shall be prouder even than Uncle Denny +after you've asked his advice. And won't I crow over him after I get +back to New York!" + +A glow came to Jim's eyes that had not been there for years. "Gee, Pen! +You tempt me! But I'm not going to load you up with my troubles. You +have enough with Sara. Perhaps Sara will shoot Ames for me! Sara looks +like a sure-enough gunman, now. How he has changed, Pen!" + +"If only you could have forgiven him enough to have written him once in +a while, Jim. After all he's been more than punished, even for the +Marathon matter or for that crazy romance about the ducal inheritance. I +realized, Jim, after I had married him, that Sara was quite capable of +the Marathon incident. Yet I wish you had forgiven him!" + +"The Marathon, Pen!" cried Jim. "For heaven's sake, don't suppose that +was why I didn't write to Sara! It's the dirty trick he did in marrying +you that I'll never get over!" + +"Oh, but that's not fair!" returned Pen. "He--well, anyway, he's a +cripple now and needs your help." + +"I--help Sara!" exclaimed Jim. "Why I simply don't know he's living! +It's my turn now. Sara has had his innings. Desert methods are perfectly +simple and direct and I'm a desert man. You are here with me, Penelope, +and you are going to stay with me." + +Iron Skull was coming back. Pen laughed. "You and Sara ought to write +movie dramas, Jim." Then she sobered. "Don't misunderstand my coming to +the dam, Jimmy. I've learned a good many things since you left me in New +York. One thing is that we can't cut our lives loose from other lives +and be a law to ourselves. Another is that any responsibility we take up +voluntarily ought to be carried to the end." + +Jim looked at Pen curiously and his jaw set. She was several years +younger than Jim, yet something had come to her in the years just past +that made him in some ways feel immature. But Jim had not hungered and +thirsted for eight years in starry solitudes with one memory and one +dream to keep his heart alive, to relinquish the dream without a fight. + +"Penelope," he said, "you don't know me." + +Pen smiled. "I know you to the last hair in that brown thatch of yours, +Still Jim." Then she turned to Iron Skull, who was eager to have her +talk to old Suma-theek. + +For some days Jim had no opportunity to continue Pen's education with +himself as textbook. He was engrossed in watching and tending the flood. +Old Jezebel enjoyed herself thoroughly for a week. She fought and +scratched at the mountainsides, but save the chafing of purple lava dust +from their sides she made no impression on their imperturbability. She +ripped down the last pouring, contemptuously leaving tons of rock and +concrete at the foot of the concrete section. She roared and howled and +shook the good earth with the noise of a railway train tearing through a +tunnel. And Jim laughed. + +"If it wasn't for you, old girl," he told her one afternoon, "I'd go +crazy with the flea bitings of the Enemy. But you, bless your wicked +soul, are an honest part of the game. I was bred from the beginning to +fight floods. You attack in the open, like an honest vixen. Wait till I +get my clutches on you again." + +As Jim finished this soliloquy with considerable satisfaction to +himself, Iron Skull came up and laid a newspaper on his saddle horn. + +"The newspapers are roasting you, Boss Still." + +"What do they say this time, Iron Skull?" Jim did not offer to lift the +paper. + +"You are inefficient. A friend of Freet's. They don't say you caused +high water but they insinuate you suggested it to the weather man. You'd +ought to tell the Secretary of the Interior the whole truth about the +Makon, Boss Still." + +"I can't do that, Iron Skull. I'm no squealer." + +"I know. And I've always advised you to keep your mouth shut. But write +to the editor of this paper, Boss." + +Jim did not reply at once. The two were on the mountainside, not a great +distance from Pen's house past which the new road was to run. The +Indians were making ready for the sunset blasts. Above the distant roar +of old Jezebel, old Suma-theek's foreman's whistle sounded clear and +sweet as he signaled his men. + +This was Geronimo's country, the land of the greatest of the Apache +fighters. All about were the trails he and his people had made. Yonder +to the north, across a harsh peak, was Geronimo's own pass. And now the +last of Geronimo's race was building new trails for a new people. + +The naked beauty of the brown and lavender ranges, the wholesome tang of +the thin air, the far sweep of the afternoon sky, seemed suddenly remote +to Jim. + +"It's bigger than any editor," he said. "I don't know what is the +matter. My only hope is that I can finish my dam before they get me." + +"You've got to fight back, now," persisted Iron Skull. + +"It's not my business to fight for permission to build this project!" +cried Jim. "I was hired to build it! I was hired to fight old Jezebel +and not the farmers!" + +The little superintendent laid a knotted hand on Jim's knee. "You must +take my advice in this, partner. I'm an old man and I'm likely to go any +time. I'd like to feel that I'd helped you into a big success. It's the +only record I'll leave behind me except a few dead Injuns. We both come +of good old New England stock and we've got to show the old fighting +blood ain't dead yet. I want to tell you--Hi! Suma-theek! Jump! Jump!" + +Suma-theek was standing close to the mountain side out of which a blast +had cut a great slice of rock. Up above his head some loosened stone was +slipping down the mountain. As he called and before either Jim or the +Indian saw the impending danger, Iron Skull dashed across the road and +shoved Suma-theek out of the danger line. But he miscalculated his own +agility. The rapidly-sliding rock caught him on the head and he who had +shed Indian bullets like raindrops went down like a pinon, smitten by +lightning. + +For one breath there was an appalling silence on the mountainside. The +Apaches stood like a group of bronzes. The eagle who lived on the +Elephant's side hung motionless high above the road. A cotton-tail sat +with quivering nose and inquiring ears above the rift of the slide. + +Then, with a shout, Jim flung himself from his horse and thrust the +reins into an Indian's hands. + +"Ride for the doctor!" and the Indian was off like a racing shadow. + +At Jim's call, old Suma-theek gave a great groan and ran to lift Iron +Skull's head. The Indians gathered about in wonder as Jim knelt beside +his friend. For Iron Skull was dead. + +Penelope ran out of the tent house at Jim's shout and made her way among +the Indians to Jim's side. + +"O Jim!" she cried. "O Jim! O Jim!" Then she dropped down and lifted the +quiet face into her lap and wiped the blood from it and fell to sobbing +over it. "Oh, what a useless death!" she sobbed. "What a useless death!" + +Jim held his dead friend's hand close in his own. Through his +tear-blinded eyes he saw a golden August field and felt other fingers +clinging to his own. + +The doctor, driving the mule ambulance, dashed up the half-made road. He +looked Iron Skull over, and shook his head. "Get the stretcher out," he +said to Jim. + +Four Indians lifted the stretcher with Iron Skull on it, but when they +would have put it in the ambulance, old Suma-theek stepped forward. He +was taller even than Jim. His face was lean and wrinkled. His eyes were +deep-set and tragic. He wore a twist of red cloth filet-wise around his +head. + +"He die for Injun. Let Injun carry 'em home," said the old Apache. "He +heap good fighter. He speak truth. He keep word. He a big chief. He die +for Apache. Let Apache carry 'em home." + +The doctor looked inquiringly at Jim who nodded. + +"I'll go on down to his house and get things ready for him," said the +doctor and he drove off. + +Jim and Penelope stood back. The four Indians bearing the stretcher +followed after Suma-theek and in a long single line the remaining +Apaches followed, joining Suma-theek in the death chant which is the +very soul cry of the desolate: + + "Ai! Ai! Ai! Beloved! + "Ai! Ai! Ai! Beloved!" + +Down the winding road in a world all liquid gold from the setting sun, +past the great shadow of the brooding elephant, past the cable towers +and the engine house where the workmen stared, motionless and aghast, +into the twilight of the valley where the electric lights flared, the +chanting Indians carried the old shedder of bullets and laid him on his +bed. + +The camp was very silent that night. The Mexicans had feared and +respected the little Superintendent. They had shared with the Indians +the belief that the Little Boss could not be killed. The remains of the +old Makon Pack were openly grief-stricken and told half-whispered +stories of Iron Skull's prowess in the old days of tunnel building. The +camp was smitten with awe at this sudden withdrawal. Sudden death was +the rule on the Projects, yet it always left the camp breathless with +surprise. The little community of twelve hundred souls, so isolated, so +close to the primeval despite its electric lights, suddenly felt utterly +alone and helpless. + +Close after eight o'clock Jim dashed out of his house as if a voice had +called him. He dropped down the steep trail to the canyon, crossed the +canyon and took the steep trail up the Elephant's side. It was a sharp +lift but Jim's long legs took it easily. When he reached the Elephant's +top he crossed the broad back to a heap of bowlders and threw himself +down in their shelter. + +It was a moonlit night. Silver lay the desert with the black scratch of +old Jezebel across it and the ragged purple shadows of the ranges to the +east. Jim sat, chin in palm, elbow on knee, eyes wide on the soft wonder +of the night. It always seemed to him that the desert night freed him of +time and space and set him close to the Master Dream. He had learned to +take his grief and his despairs to the desert mountain tops. + +He had sat for an hour going over his life and his friendship with Iron +Skull when a quick step sounded on the Elephant's back and Penelope +swung past him out to the edge of the crater that formed the Elephant's +east side. She stood there, her gray suit fluttering in the night wind, +looking far and wide as if the view were new to her. Then she sat down +on the ground, clasped her arms across her knees and bowed her head upon +them. There was so much despair in the gesture that Jim could not bear +the sight of it. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE ELEPHANT'S BACK + + "All living things have a universal hunger--to live again. + The hunger for descendants is the same hunger." + + MUSINGS OF THE ELEPHANT. + + +"Penelope!" Jim called softly. + +Pen raised her head as if she were dreaming. + +"Pen!" repeated Jim, rising and walking slowly toward her. "Don't sit so +near the edge." + +"You can see the eagle's nest from here," said Pen, pointing down the +crater wall. "What brought you up here, Still?" + +"The Elephant is an old friend of mine, particularly when I'm broken up +as I am tonight," replied Jim, taking Pen's hand and leading her back to +his own place which was sheltered from the wind. "What brought you here? +And how about Sara?" + +"Sara took some morphine tonight. He will be motionless until morning. +Ever since the new moon came, I've been promising myself a trip up +here." + +"So Sara adds dope to his other accomplishments!" commented Jim. + +"He suffers so from insomnia, I don't blame him," answered Pen. "He has +pain practically all of the time. I think he gradually grows worse. +Poor Sara! He said tonight he hated the sight of even a dog that can use +its own legs. Don't be too hard on him, Jim." + +"I can't help being hard on him when I see how he treats you, the cad!" +said Jim. + +"He can't hurt me," said Pen. "I'm too sorry for him. Though I'll admit +that I never knew what it was to lose control of my temper until after I +was married. Still, where will they bury Iron Skull?" + +"We have a little graveyard high on the mesa-top, yonder. He had not a +relative in the world. He was of good old New England stock. He was +trying to tell me something about his feeling for the Dam because of +that when he was killed." + +Jim was speaking a little brokenly and Pen laid her hand on his arm. + +"The big dangers on the dam, we try to guard against. We can't even +foresee a thing like Iron Skull's sacrifice. But I know he would have +liked to have gone giving his life for someone he loved the way he did +old Suma-theek. Sometimes I think there ought to be listed on a bronze +tablet on the wall of each great structure the names of those who died +in giving it birth. The big structures all are consecrated in blood. +Skyscrapers, bridges, and dams all demand their human sacrifices. Thirty +men went on the Makon. We've lost eight here so far." + +"Sara was frightfully upset," said Pen. "That's why he took the +morphine. Any thought of death makes him hysterical. The chant set him +to swearing frightfully. Jim, I'd give anything to be able to set Sara +right with himself." + +"Pen, why did Sara come down here?" asked Jim abruptly. + +Penelope hesitated. She did not want to voice Iron Skull's suspicions +until she had verified them. "I don't know, Jim," she said finally. "I +thought it was for his health and land, but I feel uneasy since I see +his attitude toward you." + +"If he has an idea of speculating in real estate, I'll have to head him +off," said Jim. "Land speculation hurts the projects very seriously." + +"What harm does it do?" asked Pen. + +"Inflates land values so that farming doesn't pay with the already heavy +building charges for the dam." + +"Oh, I see!" mused Pen. "I'll talk to Sara about it." + +"Don't say a word to him. I can fight my own battles with Sara. +Penelope, what were you thinking about when you sat over there at the +crater edge with your head on your arms?" + +In the moonlight a slow red stained Pen's face. Jim watched her with +puzzled eyes. + +"I--I can't tell you all I was thinking," she said. "But some of it was +because of Iron Skull. I was thinking how awful it will be for us to +die, you and Sara and me, leaving not a human being behind us, just as +Iron Skull did." + +"Most of us New Englanders are going that way," said Jim. "We Americans +have so steadily decreased our birth rate in the past hundred years that +we are nearly seven million babies below normal. South European children +will take their places." + +"Well, I don't know that it will hurt America in the long run," said +Pen. + +"I think it will," insisted Jim. "This country is governed by +institutions that are inherently Teutonic. The people who will inherit +these institutions are fundamentally different in their conceptions of +government and education. I'm a New Englander, descendant of the +Anglo-Saxon founders of the country. I can't see my race and its ideal +passing without its breaking my heart." + +"Why do you pass?" asked Pen sharply. "Why don't you brace up?" + +"We don't know how," said Jim. + +"I wonder if that's true," murmured Pen, "and if it is true, why!" + +Silence fell between the two. The night wind sighed softly over the +Elephant's broad back. The eagle, disturbed by the voices above his +nest, soared suddenly from the crater, dipped across the canyon, and +circled the flag that was seldom lowered before the office. The flag +fluttered remotely in the moonlight. + +"Look, Jim," whispered Pen, "the eagle and the flag so young and the +Elephant so old and poor Iron Skull lying there dead! I wish I could +make a legend from it. The material is there.... Oh, Sara said such +horrible things tonight!" + +Penelope shivered. Jim jumped up and held out his hand. "Come, little +Pen! I'm going to take you home. How cold your fingers are!" + +Jim kept Pen's cold little hand warm within his own whenever the trail +permitted on the way back. But he scarcely spoke again. + +The next day Iron Skull's funeral was held in the little adobe chapel +which was filled to overflowing. A great crowd of workmen, Americans, +Mexicans and Indians, gathered outside. At Suma-theek's earnest +petition, Jim allowed the Indians to carry the coffin on their shoulders +up the trail behind the lower town to the mesa crest where the little +graveyard lay. And Jim also gave Suma-theek permission to make a +farewell speech when the grave had been filled. The missionary had +protested but Jim was obdurate. + +"Suma-theek owes his life to Iron Skull. I shall let him do his +uttermost to show his gratitude. He is a fine old man, as fine in the +eyes of God, no doubt, as you or I, Mr. Smiley." + +So as the last of the sand and gravel was being shoveled into the grave, +the old Apache stepped forward and raised his lean brown hand. + +"My blood brother," he said, "he lies in this grave. If he have squaw or +childs, old Suma-theek, he go give life for them. Iron Skull he no have +anyone left on this earth who carry his blood. He gone! He leave no mark +but in my heart. Injun and white they come like pile of sand desert wind +drifts up. They go like pile of sand desert wind blows down. Great +Spirit, He say, 'Only one strength for mens; that the strength of many +childs, Injuns, they no have many childs. They die. Mexicans they have +many childs, they live. Niggers, they have many. They live. Whites they +no have many childs. Come some day like Injuns, like Iron Skull, they +see on all of earth, no blood like theirs. They lay them down to die +alone. Old Iron Skull, he a real man. He fight much. He work hard. He +keep word. He die for friend. Maybe when Great Spirit look down at Iron +Skull, it make Him love Iron Skull to know old Injun carry Iron Skull's +mark in his lonely heart. O friends, I know him many, many years! We +smoke many pipes together. We hunt together. We sabez each other's +hearts. Ai! Ai! Ai! Beloved!" + +And old Suma-theek broke down and cried like a child. + +The crowd dispersed silently. The rising night wind began its task of +sifting sand across Iron Skull's grave. Coyotes howled far on the +mountain tops. And the night shift began to repair the cofferdam for old +Jezebel had dropped suddenly back into her old trail. + +A day or so after the funeral Sara said to Penelope, "When are you going +down to see Mrs. Ames?" + +"What makes you so friendly to the Ames family?" Pen asked in surprise. + +"Ames may be useful to me," replied Sara. "I want you to cultivate him." + +"I'll not do it for any such reason," said Pen quickly. "I like Mrs. +Ames and I plan to see a great deal of her. But I'll not play cat's paw +for you. What are you up to, Sara?" + +"None of your business," said Sara. + +Pen flushed, but fell back on the whimsical manner that was her defense +against Sara's ill-nature. + +"It's your subtlety that fascinates me, Sara. Did you ever try a steam +roller?" + +Sara scowled: "Of course, I suppose it's too much to ask you to take an +interest in my business affairs. If I were a well man, I might hope to +make an impression on you." + +"By the way, Sara," said Pen, "land speculation hurts these Projects. I +don't think you ought to try to make money that way. Of course, if Mr. +Ames wants to sell you some land, I suppose I can't keep you from +buying, but Jim says that, coupled with the heavy building charges, +inflated land values are doing the Service a lot of harm." + +Pen watched Sara closely. Sara when calm was close-mouthed. Sara when +angry was apt to talk! His face flushed quickly. + +"Jim! Jim!" he sneered. "I heard it all the time in New York and now I'm +getting it here. Oh, wait and see, the two of you!" + +For the first time since the first years of bitter adjustment, Pen +showed fire. She crossed the room and stood over Sara's couch, her +cheeks scarlet, her hazel eyes deep with some suppressed fire. + +"Do you think I fear you, with your vile tongue and your yellow heart, +George Saradokis? There is neither fear nor love nor hope nor regret +left in my heart! It long ago learned that marriage is a travesty and +our marriage a nightmare. Do you think your impudence or your threats +_hurt_ me any more? You waste your breath if you do. You and I have made +a hopeless mess of our lives. Jim is doing a big work. If I find you are +laying a straw in his way, I'll--I'll shove you, couch and all, over the +canyon edge." + +Sara suddenly laughed. Even as she uttered her threat Pen was +mechanically straightening his pillow! + +"Look here, Pen," he said, "I know I'm a devil! The pain and the awful +failure of my life make me that. But I'll try to be more decent. For the +Lord's sake, Pen, don't you go back on me or I'll take an overdose of +morphine. I do want to make some money and any land deal that Ames and I +put through, I'll let Jim pass on. Does that satisfy you?" + +It was not often that Sara tried to wheedle Pen. She looked at him +suspiciously but nodded carelessly. + +"All right! If Jim sees it I'll consent. If you get any honest enjoyment +out of Mr. Ames, I'll get him up here often. Mrs. Ames is a dear." + +"You are a good old sort, Pen," returned Sara. "Why can't you go down +tomorrow? Mrs. Flynn would look out for me, I guess. They say that +fellow Bill Evans will ride people anywhere in his machine." + +"I'll go over and see Mrs. Flynn now," said Pen. She was really eager +for a visit with Jane Ames. She wondered if Iron Skull might not have +been over-suspicious regarding Sara's purposes. Sara had an unquenchable +itch for money-making. During all his long illness he had never ceased, +with his father's help, to trade in real estate. Pen suspected that the +savings of many Greek immigrants were absorbed in Sara's and his +father's schemes, none too honestly. + +"Perhaps," said Pen, as she pinned on her hat, "Jim would take me down. +Doesn't it seem natural though to have Jim doing things for me again!" + +Some note in Pen's voice brought Sara to his elbow. + +"Pen!" he shouted. "I've long suspected it. Are you in love with Jim +Manning?" + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE HEART OF A DESERT WIFE + + "The squaws who come at times to crouch upon my back have + the slow listening patience of the rabbits." + + MUSINGS OF THE ELEPHANT. + + +Pen paused, eyes angry, mouth disgusted: "You are the last person I'd +ever tell, Sara, if I were. Don't add idiocy to your other +accomplishments." + +Sara's black eyes continued to glare for a moment. Then for the second +time he astonished Penelope by laughing. He dropped back on his pillow. + +"Pen! Pen! a lawyer could have given no better answer than that! I'm not +worrying, Pen. You've stuck by me all these years. I know I'm safe to +the end." + +Penelope's scorn changed to pity. "I've been horrid today. You will have +to forgive me, Sara. You must remember that you are no mild June day to +live with!" + +Sara gave a short nod. "Give me my pipe, Pen, and then jolly Mrs. Flynn +up." + +Mrs. Flynn, whose curiosity was only equaled by her kindness of heart, +was only too willing to take care of Sara. Had a caged South African +lion been placed in her care she would have had the same thrill at the +thought of caring for it as at watching Sara. Great stories of Sara's +marvelous temper had gone about the camp. Any extra steps he caused Mrs. +Flynn she felt would be more than compensated for in the delectable +gossip she would pick. + +Pen did not ask Jim to take her down to the Ames place. She arranged to +go down with Bill Evans, who kept a hog ranch near the dam. Bill fed his +hogs on the camp table scrapings and filled in odd moments "renting out" +his automobile. This was a sad-looking vehicle of an early vintage, held +together by binding wire and bits of sheet iron. But Bill got twenty +miles an hour out of the machine and took better care of it than he did +of his wife. + +The Ames ranch lay in the desert valley below the dam. Two hours after +they left the dam, Bill drew up before the Ames door with a rattle and a +series of staccato explosions that would have done credit to an +approaching army. + +The trip down had been a noisy rush through multicolored ranges out onto +a desert floor of brilliant yellow dotted with giant cactus, that +austere sentinel of the desolate plains. Long before they left the +mountain road Bill pointed out to Penelope the green spot in the desert +that was the Ames ranch. The road, leaving the desert, ran along an +irrigating ditch fringed with cotton woods. Beyond the road lay acre +after acre of alfalfa, its peculiar living green melting far beyond in +the shimmering of olive orchard and orange grove. + +The ranch house was of yellow gray adobe, long and low, with a red roof. +Oscar had made no attempt at beauty when he had added, year after year, +room on room to the original box he had built for Jane. But he +unknowingly had kept close to real art. He had built of the material of +the country in the manner best suited to the exigencies of the country. +The result, consequently, was satisfying to eye and taste. + +The walls of a desert house must be thick, for coolness. The lines of +the house must be broad and low and strong, to withstand the fearful +winds of late winter and early spring. The Ames house lay comfortably on +the desert as if it had grown up out of the sand and proposed to live +forever. It was as natural a part of the landscape as the sentinel +cactus. + +Jane Ames, in a blue gingham dress, was standing in the door. She waved +both hands as she recognized Pen. When the machine stopped she took +Pen's bag. + +"Of course I knew it was Bill's machine half an hour ago, but I didn't +know my luck had changed enough to bring you." + +"I can stay over night," said Pen, like a child out of school. + +"Come straight into the parlor bedroom," said Jane. "Bill, you'll find +Oscar in the lower corral." + +Pen followed into the house. Jane led her through a vista of rooms into +the parlor, which was furnished with a complete "near" mahogany set in +green velvet. The parlor bedroom was furnished to match. Jane always +showed the people whose opinion she valued her parlor first that the +edge might be taken off the living room. After Pen had taken off her +hat, she followed her hostess kitchenward. + +The living room was big and square, the original house. It contained a +wide adobe fireplace and its windows opened toward the orange grove. It +was furnished with tables and chairs that Mrs. Ames had bought from an +old mission in the neighborhood. They were hand-hewn and black with age. +The Navajo floor rugs were soft and well worn. Jane apologized for the +room, saying she left it old and ugly for the hired men and the +children, then she established Pen in a rocking chair in the kitchen. + +The kitchen was a model of convenience, boasting running water as well +as a kitchen cabinet and a gasoline range. + +"It took me just five years to raise enough chickens and eggs to buy the +cabinet and the range," said Jane, taking a peep at the bread in the +oven. "I begged and begged Oscar to get me things to work with every +time he sent to the mail-order house to get farm machinery. But he'd +just grunt. Finally I got mad. He had running water put in the barn and +wouldn't send it on up to the house. He went to San Francisco that fall +and I had men out here and put water in the kitchen. When he got back +the bill was waiting for him and he was ashamed to complain. It isn't +that men are so bad. It's just because they haven't any idea what real +work housework is. How is your husband?" + +"About as usual," replied Pen. + +Jane Ames looked out the door, then back at Pen. "Are you ever sorry you +got married?" + +Pen looked a little startled, but after a moment she answered, "I used +to be." + +"You mean you aren't now?" asked Jane. + +"I mean I'm glad I've got the things marriage has brought me." + +Jane's eyes lighted. She sat down opposite Pen. "I'm just starved for a +talk with some woman who isn't afraid to say what she really thinks +about this marriage business. What have you got out of being married to +a cripple?" + +Pen chuckled. "Well, I'm really a first-class nurse, and like Bismarck, +I can keep my mouth shut in seven different languages." + +"Isn't that so!" exclaimed Jane. "Oscar insists on doing all the talking +for us and I let him. Some day if I ever find anything worth saying, +though, I'll surprise him. I'm in the 'What's the use?' stage right now. +Men are awful hard to live with." + +"Almost as hard as women!" said Pen. "We're all so silly about it. We +expect marriage to bring us happiness with no effort on our own parts, +just as if the only aim of getting married were to be happy." + +"Mercy sakes!" exclaimed Jane. She sat forward on the edge of the chair. +"Go on! Don't stop. I knew the minute I saw you that talking to you +would beat writing to the advice column of a woman's magazine. What is +it we marry for, anyhow?" + +Pen laughed. "Well, when we don't marry to be happy, we marry out of +curiosity. It's funny when you think of it. Two people with nothing in +common have a period of insanity during which they tie themselves +together in a hard knot which they can't undo and then they must feed on +each other for the rest of their lives." + +Jane gasped a little. "You--you aren't bitter, are you, Mrs. Penelope? I +can't say your other name easy. You believe there are _some_ happy +marriages, don't you?" + +Pen shrugged her shoulders. "No, I'm not bitter. I've just lost my +illusions. I don't happen to know of any marriages so happy that they +would tempt me to marry again." + +"I feel kind of wicked talking this way," said Jane. "But," recklessly, +"you've seen the world and I haven't. And it's my chance to learn real +life. You don't mean people ought not to marry, do you?" This in a +half-whisper of utter demoralization. + +"Oh, no! Marriage is the best means we've found for perpetuating and +improving the race. It's a duty we owe society, to marry. I don't +believe much in divorce either. Except for unfaithfulness. Unless the +average lot of us are true to the marriage ideal the whole institution +will be tainted. I guess the safety of society lies in each of us +looking at ourselves as average and not exceptional persons. Then we +stick to the conventions. And the conventions weren't foisted on society +from above. They were sweated out from beneath to satisfy; make it +possible for us to endure each other." + +Jane Ames threw up both her hands. "O my! You have been hurt or you'd +never be so cold-blooded! I can't look at it as calmly as you do as if +it all belonged to someone else. You never bore children to a man. You +can't realize what selfishness and unkindness from the father of your +children can mean. Do you know that I've borne two babies in this +room--alone--not even a squaw to help me? And I've watched the desert +through the door and I've cursed it for what it's made of my marriage!" +Jane gave a short laugh and held up her knotted, rough hands. "I had +dimples on my knuckles when I came to this country." + +Pen looked out the door and tried to picture to herself this other +woman's life. + +"I--I guess my safety has lain in my getting an impersonal view of +things," she said apologetically. + +"There, the bread is burning!" exclaimed Jane. + +Pen laughed reminiscently. "There's a verse that says: + + "'Ice cream is very strange; so's a codfish ball, + But the people people marry is the strangest thing of all!'" + +"I guess you need me," said Jane, "as much as I need you. There comes +Oscar and I haven't set the table." + +Oscar was coming up the dooryard. He stepped a little high, in the gait +of one accustomed to walking in shifting sands. He was big and +upstanding, with a look of honesty that Pen liked. + +No one who has not known a desert farmer can realize what his acres +meant to Oscar Ames. The farmer of northern lands loves his acres. But +he did not create them--he did not fight nature for them, until he had +made himself over along with his land. + +Nature fights inch by inch every effort of man to harness the desert to +his uses. She scorches the soil with heat. She poisons it with alkali. +She infests it with deadly vermin and--last and supreme touch of +cruelty--she forbids the soil water unless she surrounds the getting of +it with infinite travail and danger. + +Heat and sandstorm, failure and famine, toil unutterable, these had +been Oscar Ames' portion. When at last he had won his acres, had brought +the barren sand to bearing, had made three hundred acres of desert a +thing of breathing beauty from January to January, the ranch meant +something to him that a northern farmer could not understand. And these +three hundred acres were Oscar's world. He could not see beyond them. +The dam was a mere adjunct to the Ames ranch. He would leave no stone +unturned to see that it served his own ranch's needs as he saw them. If +Sara saw this quality in Oscar and had any motive for playing on it, he +could do infinite harm to Jim. + +It was something of all this that Pen was thinking as Oscar crossed the +yard. He came into the kitchen in a leisurely way and greeted Pen with +the cordiality that belongs to the desert country. Penelope helped Jane +to put the dinner on the table and the three sat down to eat. + +The two were eager to hear details of Iron Skull's death, and after Pen +had described it to them, Oscar began to talk about Sara. + +"How long's your husband been bedridden?" he asked. + +"Oscar!" exclaimed Jane. + +"Jane, you keep quiet. What's the use of being secret about it? I guess +both him and her know he's bedridden." + +Pen told them the story of the accident. + +"Isn't that fierce!" exclaimed Oscar. "He's the smartest young fellow +I've met in years. I wish even now he was running the dam instead of +Manning." + +"Why?" asked Penelope. + +"He'd build it for the farmer and have some business sense about it." + +"You don't understand Mr. Manning," said Pen. "I wish you'd try to get +to know him better." + +Oscar grunted. "Does the doctors think your husband will get well?" he +asked, finishing off his pie. + +"Oscar!" cried Jane. + +"Jane, you keep quiet. These are business questions. If Sardox and I are +going to run this dam, we got to understand each other's limitations. I +can't ask _him_ if he's going to die." + +"We just don't know anything about it," said Pen, gently. "Mr. Ames, I'm +curious to know just how you and Sara are going to run the dam." + +Oscar closed his mouth importantly to open it again and say, "I never +talk business with ladies." + +Jane laughed suddenly. "Gracious, Oscar! I'm not worrying but what I'll +get all the details. He's the original human sieve, Mrs. Penelope." + +Oscar joined in Pen's laugh and started for the door, shaking his head +and picking his teeth. Pen looked after him uneasily. + +That afternoon Pen and Jane went with Bill and Oscar for an automobile +ride over the desert. The two women sat in the tonneau, Oscar in front +with Bill. The desert road was rough, full of bowlders and ruts. But +neither Oscar nor Bill was hampered by roads. Whenever some distant spot +roused their curiosity, the machine left the road and plunged madly +across the desert, through cactus thickets and yucca clumps, through +draws and over sand drifts. + +Oscar and Bill kept up a shouted conversation with each other. But Pen +and Jane each clutched a side of the machine, braced their feet and +gave their entire attention to keeping from being flung bodily from the +car. Forewarned for miles, no living creature crossed their path. The +din and the dust, the hairbreadth escapes made the discomfort of the +ride for the two women indescribable. + +When Bill finally drew up before the ranch house door with his usual +flourish of staccato explosions, Oscar alighted and watched Pen and his +wife crawl feebly from the tonneau. + +"_Caramba!_" he said. "That was a fine ride! I've been wanting to get a +look at that country and a talk with you, Bill, for a month. I feel well +rested." + +Pen and Jane looked at each other and at the two men's grins of +complaisance. Then, without a word, the two women sank against each +other on the doorstep and laughed until the men, bewildered and +exasperated, took themselves off to the barn. Finally Jane rose and +wiped her eyes. + +"There's not an inch on my body that isn't black and blue," she said +weakly. + +Pen pulled herself up by clinging to the door knob. "That was a real +'pleasure exertion,'" she whispered feebly. "But I'd do it twice over +for a laugh like this. I haven't laughed so for eight years." + +Jane gave Pen a kitchen apron and tied one on herself while she nodded. +"Thank heaven! I always could laugh. It's saved my reason many a time. I +don't want you to do a thing about getting supper, but you'll be sitting +round in the kitchen and that'll keep your skirt clean." + +Pen picked up a pan of cold boiled potatoes and began to peel them with +more good will than skill. "I do like you, Jane Ames," she said. "Two +people couldn't laugh together like that and not have been meant to +understand each other." + +Jane set the tea kettle firmly on the stove. "We'll see each other a lot +if we have to walk. Peel them thin, dear child. I'm a little low on +potatoes." + +"I'm not very expert," apologized Pen. "Sara is putting up with a good +deal just now, for I'm learning how to cook." + +"I guess he don't suffer in silence!" sniffed Jane. + +The next morning, when Penelope climbed regretfully onto the front seat +of the automobile, Oscar came hurriedly from the corral with a +dark-mustached young man in a business suit. + +"This is Mr. Fleckenstein, Mrs. Sardox," he said. "He's a lawyer and him +and I are going up to the dam with you. He just stopped here on his way. +I'm leaving his horse in the corral, Jane." + +Jane and Penelope exchanged puzzled looks. "Your hair needs fixing, Mrs. +Penelope," said Jane. "Come in the house for a minute." + +Pen clambered down obediently and Jane led her far into the parlor +bedroom. "Your hair was all right," she whispered, "but I want to warn +you. Oscar is just a great big innocent. He is crazy over anyone he +thinks is smart. That Fleckenstein is a shyster lawyer. I wouldn't trust +a hot stove in his hands. You see that your husband don't get thick with +him. Do you trust your husband in business?" + +Pen winced but she looked into Jane's blue eyes and answered, "No." + +"Do you like Mr. Manning and want him to succeed?" + +"Yes," replied Pen. + +"Well then, it's time I took notice of things on this project and you +can help me by watching things up there. I won't take time to say any +more right now. Oscar will be storming in here in a minute." + +When they reached the dam that afternoon, Oscar and Fleckenstein called +on Sara. Pen found that they would talk nothing but land values while +she was in the tent, so she wandered out in search of Jim. + +She found him at the dam site. He was talking to a heavy-set, red-faced +man in khaki. He was considerably older than Jim, who introduced the +stranger as Mr. Jack Henderson. + +"Henderson will take Iron Skull's place," explained Jim. "You must +remember how I wrote home of him and how he helped me save my reputation +as a road-builder on the Makon. He's been down on the diversion dam." + +Penelope held out her hand. "I shall never cease regretting that I +didn't get to see the Makon," she said. + +Henderson's gray eyes lost their keenness for a moment. "It was hard for +me to come up knowing I was to take Iron Skull's job." Pen listened in +surprise to his low, gentle voice. "You know, Boss Still Jim, if he'd +had a better chance for a education he'd have made his mark. He was just +naturally big. He could see all over and around a thing and what it had +to do with things a hundred years back and a hundred years on. That's +what I call being big. A good many fellows that lives a long time in the +desert gets a little of that, but Iron Skull had it more than anyone I +know. I wish he'd had a better chance. I can fill his job, Boss, as far +as the day's work goes, but I can't give you the big look of things he +could." + +Henderson was standing with his hat off, and now he rumpled his gray +hair and shook his head. Pen liked him at once. + +Jim nodded. "I miss him. I always shall miss him. I often thought that +if my father had come out to this country, he'd have grown to be like +Iron Skull. And they are both gone." + +"That's the way life acts," said Henderson. "It's always the man that +ought to stay that goes. And there's never any explanation of how you're +going to fill the gap. He's jerked out of your life and you will go lame +the rest of your life for all you know. These here story books that try +to show death has got a lot of logic about it are liars. There ain't any +reason or sense about death. It just goes around, hit or miss, like a +lizard snapping flies." + +There was a moment's silence during which the three stared at the +Elephant. Then Jack cleared his throat and said casually, in his gentle +voice: + +"You're going to have a devil of a job enforcing your liquor ruling, +Boss. It'll make trouble with the whites and more with the _hombres_." + +Jim's steel jaw set. "There's not to be a drop of liquor on this dam +except in the hospital. I expect you to back me in this, Jack. You know +what trouble I had on the Makon because I never came down hard." + +"Sure, I'll back you," said Henderson gently. "But I just wanted you to +realize that it's going to be hell round a half mile track to enforce +it. You never saw me backward about getting into a fight, did you?" + +Jim smiled reminiscently and then said, "I'm going to start an ice +cream and soft drink joint next to the moving picture show." + +Here Pen laughed. "I asked one of the oilers in the cable tower the +other day if he liked to work for the government. He grunted. I asked +him if Uncle Sam didn't take good care of him and he said: 'Yes, and so +does a penitentiary! What does men like the Big Boss know about what we +want? Why don't he ask me?'" + +Jim nodded. "That's typical. One of the hoboes I brought in half-starved +the other day came to my office this morning and told me how to feed the +camp. He doesn't like our menu. As near as I can make out this was his +first experience at three meals a day and he never saw a bathtub before. +There isn't a rough-neck in the camp that isn't convinced he could build +that dam better than I. Eh, Jack?" + +"Sure, all except the old Makon bunch." + +"Well, we're up against the same old problem here, Henderson. We've got +to have better co-operation and yet enough rivalry to keep every man on +the job working his limit. The foremen don't pull together." + +"In that case," said Henderson tenderly, "I'll begin by going over and +kick the head off the team boss." + +He smiled at Pen and started up the trail. Pen watched the workmen who +were cleaning up the top of the concrete section. + +"Did you have a good time with Mrs. Ames?" asked Jim. + +"Still, she's a dear! And Oscar isn't so bad when you know him. Do you +know, Jim, he actually believes that you are not building the dam for +the farmers! Can't you do something to make him understand you?" + +"Look here, Pen," replied Jim, "I'm building this dam for this valley, +for all time, not for Oscar Ames or Bill Evans, nor for any one man. I'm +doing my share in building. I'm not hired to educate these idiots." + +Pen eyed Jim intently, trying to get his viewpoint and turning old Iron +Skull's words over in her mind. Jim was standing with his hat under his +arm and his brown hair blowing across his forehead. + +"Pen," he said suddenly, "you are the most beautiful woman in the +world." + +Pen blushed clean to her eyebrows. Jim went on eagerly: "Penelope, I +want to tell you how I feel about you. Will you let me?" + +Pen looked at the Elephant helplessly. But the great beast lay mute and +inscrutable in the sun. There was a look in Jim's eyes that Pen would +have found hard to control had not Jim's secretary chosen that moment to +interrupt them. + +"Mr. Manning," he said, "a letter has just come in for you from the +Secretary of the Interior. You told me to notify you when it came." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE ELEPHANT'S LOVE STORY + + "Coyotes hunt weaker things. Humans hunt all things, even + each other, which the coyote will not do." + + MUSINGS OF THE ELEPHANT. + + +"Don't let me keep you here, Jim," exclaimed Pen so hastily that Jim +could not help smiling. She scuttled hastily up the trail ahead of him, +her heavy little hunting boots doing wonders on the rough path. + +The Secretary's letter disturbed Jim very much. It was not the result he +had expected from the Hearing at all. Nor was the letter itself easy for +Jim to understand. + + "MY DEAR MR. MANNING: + + "There are several facts connected with your work that I + would like to call to your attention. The Reclamation + Service is an experiment, a magnificent one. It is not a + test of engineering efficiency, except indirectly. Engineers + as a class are efficient. It is an experiment to discover + whether or not the American people is capable of + understanding and handling such an idea as the Service idea. + It is a problem of human adjustment. Is an engineer capable + of handling so gigantic a human as well as technical + problem? I shall be interested in getting your ideas along + this line. + + "---- Secretary of the Interior." + +Jim laid the letter down. He recalled the Secretary's fine, inscrutable +face and that something back of its mask that he had liked and +understood. He felt sure that the letter had been impelled by that +far-seeing quality that he knew belonged to the Secretary but for which +he had no lucid word. And yet the letter roused in Jim the old sense of +resentment. What did the Secretary want him to do; turn peanut +politician and fight the water power trust? Did no one realize that the +erecting of the dam was heavy enough responsibility for any one man? + +His first impulse was to take the letter over to Pen. Then he smiled +wryly. He must not take all his troubles to her or she would get no +relief from the burdening that Sara put upon her. So he brooded over the +letter until supper time when he went with Henderson down to the lower +mess. Jim ate with the lower mess frequently. It was almost the only way +he had now of keeping in touch personally with his workmen. + +After supper and a pipe in the steward's room Jim climbed the long road +to the dam. The road hung high above the dam site. The mountains and the +bulk of the Elephant were black in the shadowy regions beyond the arc +lights. Black and purple and silver below lay the mighty section of +concrete, with black specks of workmen moving back and forth on it, +pygmies aiding in the birth of a Colossus. The night sky was dim and +remote here. Despite the roar of the cableways, the whistles of foremen, +the rushing to and fro of workmen, the flicker of electric lights, one +could not lose the sense of the project's isolation. One knew that the +desert was pressing in on every side. One knew that old Jezebel, having +crossed endless wastes, having fed on loneliness, whispered threats of +trouble to the narrow flume that for a moment throttled her. One knew +that the Elephant never for a moment lost his sardonic sense of the +impermanence of human effort. + +When Jim reached his house, he found old Suma-theek camped on the +doorstep. + +"What is it, Suma-theek?" asked Jim. + +"Old Suma-theek, he want make talk with you," replied the Indian. + +Jim nodded. "I'd like to talk with you, Suma-theek. Wait till I get +enough tobacco for us both and we'll go up on the Elephant's back, eh?" + +Suma-theek grunted. The two reached the Elephant's top without +conversation and sat for perhaps half an hour, smoking and mute. This +was quite an ordinary procedure with them. + +Finally Suma-theek said, "Why you make 'em this dam?" + +"So that corn and cattle and horses will increase in the valley," +replied Jim. + +The Indian grunted. "Much talk! Why _you_ make 'em?" + +"It's my job; the kind of work I like." + +"What use?" insisted Suma-theek. "People down in valley they much swear +at you. Big Sheriff at Washington, he much swear at you. You much +lonely. Much sad. Why you stay? What use? Much old Suma-theek wonder at +that. Why old Iron Skull work on this dam? Why you, so young, so strong, +no have wife, no have child, marry dam instead? You tell old Suma-theek +why." + +Jim had learned on the Makon that while war and hunting might have been +an Indian's business in life, his avocation was philosophizing. He had +learned that many a pauperized and decrepit old Indian, warming his back +in the sun, despised of the whites, held locked in his marvelous mind +treasures of philosophy, of comment on life and living, Indian and +white, that the world can ill afford to lose, yet never will know. + +Jim struggled for words. "Back east, five sleeps, where I was born, +there are many people of many tribes. They fight for enough food to eat, +for enough clothes to wear. When I was a boy I said to myself I would +come out here, make place for those people to come." + +"But," said Suma-theek, "the dam it will no keep whites from fighting. +They fight now in valley to see who can get most land. What use?" + +"What use," returned Jim, "that you bring your young men up here and +make them work? I know the answer. You are their chief. It is your +business to do what you can to keep their stomachs full and their backs +warm. You don't ask why or the end." + +The Indian rolled another cigarette. He was like a fine dim cameo in the +starlight. "I sabez!" he said at last. "Blood of man, it no belong to +self but to tribe. So with Injuns. So with some whites. Not so with +_hombres_." + +Again the eagle, disturbed by voices, dipped across the canyon. "See, +Suma-theek, make the story for me," said Jim. "There are the eagle and +the flag so young and the Elephant so old. Make the story for me." + +There was a long silence once more. The desert wind sighed over the two +men. The noise of building came up faintly from below but the radiance +of the stars was here undimmed. + +Finally Suma-theek spoke: + +"Long, long, many, many years ago, before whites were born, Injuns lived +far away to the west, maybe across the great water. All Injuns then had +one chief. He very great, very wise, very strong. But he no have son. He +heap wise. He know, man no stronger than number of his sons. He get old. +No have son. Then he call all young men of tribe to him, and say: 'That +young man shall be my son who shows me in one year the strongest thing +in world, stronger than sun, stronger than wind, stronger than desert, +than mountains, than rivers at flood.' + +"All young men, they start out to hunt. All time they bring back to old +chief strong medicine, like rattlesnake poison, like ropes of yucca +fiber, like fifty coyotes fastened together. But that old chief he laugh +and shake his head. + +"One day young buck named Theeka, he start off with bow and arrow. He +say he won't come back until he sure. Theeka, he walk through desert +many days. Injuns no have horses then. Walk till he get where no man go +before. And far, far away on burning sand, he see heap big animal move. +It was bigger than a hundred coyotes made into one. Theeka he run, get +pretty close, see this animal is elephant. + +"And he say to self, 'There is strongest thing in world.' And he start +follow this elephant. Many days he follow, never get closer. The more he +follow, the more he want that elephant. One morning he see other dot +move in desert. Dot come closer. It woman, young woman, much beautiful. +She never say word. She just run long by Theeka. + +"All time he look from elephant to her. All time he feel he love her. +All time he think he no speak to her for fear he lose sight of elephant. +By'mby, beautiful girl, she fall, no get up again. Theeka, he run on but +his heart, it ache. By'mby he no can stand it. He give one look at +elephant, say, 'Good-by, you strongest thing! I go back to her I love.' +Then his spirit, it die within him, while his heart, it sing. + +"He go back to girl. She no hurt at all. She put her arms round Theeka's +neck and kiss him. Then Theeka say, 'Let strongest thing go. I love you, +O sweet as arrow weed in spring!' + +"And beautiful girl, she say: 'I show you strongest thing in world. +Come!' And she take him by hand and lead him on toward elephant. And +that elephant, all of a sudden, it stand still. They come up to it. They +see it stand still because little To-hee bird, she circle round his +head, sing him love songs. + + "'O yahee! O yahai! + Sweet as arrow weed in spring!' + +sing that little bird to Elephant. And he stop, stop so long here by +river while that little bird build her nest in his side, he turn to +stone and live forever. + +"Then Theeka, he sabez. He lead his beautiful girl back to chief and he +say to chief: 'I have found strongest thing in world. It is love.' + +"And chief, he say: 'You and your children's children shall be chiefs. I +have not known love and so I die.'" + +Suma-theek's mellow voice merged into the desert silence. "But the eagle +and the flag?" asked Jim. + +"Injuns no understand about them," replied the old chief. "You sabez the +story old Suma-theek tell you?" + +"I understand," replied Jim. + +"Then I go home to sleep," said Suma-theek, and he left Jim alone on the +Elephant's back. + +Jim sat long alone on the night stars. The sense of failure was heavy +upon him. Wherein, he asked himself, had he failed? How could he find +himself? Was his life to be like his father's after all? Had he put off +until too late the mission he had set himself so long ago, that of +seeking the secret of his father's inadequacy? For a few wild moments, +Jim planned to answer the Secretary's letter with his resignation, to +give up the thankless fight and return--to what? + +Jim could not picture for himself any work or life but that which he was +doing; could not by the utmost effort of imagination separate himself +from his job. His mind went back to Charlie Tuck. He wondered what +Charlie would have said to the Secretary's letter. It seemed to Jim that +Charlie had had more imagination than he. Perhaps Charlie would have +been able to have helped him now. Then he thought of Iron Skull and of +that last interrupted talk with him. What had Iron Skull planned to say? +What had he foreseen that Jim had been unable to see? It seemed to Jim +that he would have given a year of his life to know what advice had been +in his old friend's mind. + +A useless death! A life too soon withdrawn! Suddenly Jim's whole heart +rose in longing for his friend and in loyalty to him. His death must not +be useless! The simple sweetness of the sacrifice must not go +unrewarded. His life would not be ended! + +Jim looked far over the glistening, glowing night and registered a vow. +So help him God, he would not die childless and forlorn as Iron Skull +had done. Some day, some way, he would marry Penelope. And somehow he +would make the dam a success, that in it Iron Skull's last record of +achievement might live forever. + +Strangely comforted, Jim went home. + +The Secretary's letter remained unanswered for several days. The next +morning Henderson reported that a section of the abutments showed signs +of decomposition. At the first suggestion of a technical problem with +which to wrestle, Jim thrust the Secretary's elusive one aside. He +started for the dam site eagerly, and refused to think again that day of +the shadow that haunted his work. + +In excavating for the abutments a thick stratum of shale had been +exposed that air-slaked as fast as it was uncovered. Jim gave orders +that drifts be driven through the stratum until a safe distance from +possible exposure was reached. These were to be filled with concrete +immediately. It was careful and important work. The concrete of the dam +must have a solid wall to which to tie and drift after drift must be +driven and filled to supply this wall. Jim would trust no one's judgment +but his own in this work. He stayed on the dam all the morning, watching +the shale and rock and directing the foremen. + +At noon he went to the lower mess where he could talk with the masonry +workers. Five hundred workmen were polishing off their plates in the +great room. Jim chuckled as he sat down with Henderson at one of the +long tables. + +"If I could get the _hombres_ to work as fast as they eat," he said, "I +could take a year off the allotted time for the dam." + +The masonry workers and teamsters at whose table Jim was sitting +grinned. + +"There's only one form of persuasion to use with an _hombre_," commented +Henderson, gently. "There's just one kind of efficiency he gets, outside +of whisky." + +"What kind is that?" asked a teamster. + +"The kind you get with a good hickory pick-handle across his skull," +said Henderson in a tender, meditative way as he took down half a cup of +coffee at a gulp. "I've worked hombres in Mexico and in South America +and in America. You must never trust 'em. Just when you get where their +politeness has smoothed you down, look out for a knife in your back. I +never managed to make friends for but one bunch of hombres." + +Henderson reached for the coffee pot and a fresh instalment of beef and +waited patiently while Jim talked with the master mason. Finally Jim +said: "Go ahead with the story, Jack. I know you'll have heartburn if +you don't!" + +"It was in Arizona," began Henderson. The singing quality in his voice +was as tender as a girl's. "I had fifty hombres building a bridge over a +draw, getting ready for a mining outfit. No whites for a million miles +except my two cart drivers, Ryan and Connors. The hombres and the Irish +don't get on well together and I was always expecting trouble. + +"One day I was in the tent door when Ryan ran up the trail and beckoned +me with his arm. I started on the run. When I got to the draw I saw the +fifty hombres altogether pounding something with their shovels. I +grabbed up a spade and dug my way through to the middle." + +Henderson's voice was lovingly reminiscent. "There I found Ryan and +Connors in bad shape. Connors had backed his cart over an _hombre_ and +the whole bunch had started in to kill him. Ryan had run for me and then +gone in to help his friend. I used the spade freely and then dragged the +two Irishmen down to the river and stuck their heads in. When they came +to, they were both for starting in to kill all the hombres. I argued +with 'em but 'twas no use, so I had to hit 'em over the head with a +pick-handle and put 'em to sleep. Then I went back and subdued the +hombres to tears with the same weapon." + +"Did you ever have any more trouble?" asked a man. + +"Trouble?" said Henderson, gently. "They didn't know but a word or two +of English, but from that time on they always called me 'Papa'!" + +Jim roared with the rest and said as he rose, "If you think you've +absorbed enough pie to ward off famine, let's get back to the dam." + +Henderson followed the Big Boss meekly. They started up the road in +silence, Jim leading his horse. Suddenly Jack pulled off his hat and ran +his fingers through his bush of hair. + +"Boss," he said, "I chin a lot to keep me cheered up while I finish Iron +Skull's job. I wish he could have stayed to finish it. Of course he +helped on the Makon but he never had as good a job as he's got here. +Ain't it hell when a man goes without a trace of anything living behind +him! A man ought to have kids even if he don't have ideas. I often told +Iron Skull that. But he said he couldn't ask a woman to live the way he +had to. I always told him a woman would stand anything if you loved her +enough." + +Jim nodded. Iron Skull's life in many ways seemed a personal reproach to +Jim for his own way of living. + +The work at the abutments absorbed Jim until late afternoon; absorbed +him and cheered him. About five o'clock he started off to call on Pen, +and tell her about the Secretary's letter. He found her plodding up the +road toward the tent house with a pile of groceries in her arms. + +"I missed the regular delivery," she replied to his protests as he took +the packages from her, "and I love to go down to the store, shopping. +It's like a glorified cross-roads emporium. All the hombres and their +wives and the 'rough-necks' and their wives and the Indians. Why it's +better than a bazaar!" + +Jim laughed. "Pen, you are a good mixer. You ought to have my job. You'd +make more of it than I do." + +"That reminds me," said Pen. "Jim, that man Fleckenstein is going to run +for United States Senator. He's going to promise the ranchers that he'll +get the government to remit the building charges on the dam. Will that +hurt you?" + +"Where did you hear this?" asked Jim. + +"Fleckenstein and Oscar came up this morning and they talked it over +with Oscar. Sara was guarded in what he said before me, but I believe +he's going to get campaign money back East. Why should he, Jim?" + +She eyed Jim anxiously. There was hardly a moment of the day that the +thought of the responsibility that Iron Skull had placed on her +shoulders was not with her. But she was resolved to say nothing to Jim +until she had a vital suggestion to make to him. + +Jim looked at the shimmering lavenders and grays of the desert. It had +come. A frank step toward repudiation. A blow at the fundamental idea of +the Service. That was to be the next move of the Big Enemy. And what had +Sara to do with it? All thought of the Secretary's letter left Jim. He +must see Sara. But Penelope must not be unduly worried. He turned to her +with his flashing smile. + +"Some sort of peanut politics, Pen. Is Sara alone now? I'll go talk to +him." + +As if in answer Sara's voice came from the tent which they were almost +upon. "Pen, come here!" + +Pen did not quicken her pace. "I don't like to change speeds going up a +steep grade," she called. + +"You hustle when I call you!" roared Sara. + +Jim pulled the reins off his arm and dropped them to the ground over the +horse's head, the simple process which hitches a desert horse. He left +Pen with long strides and entered the tent. + +"Sara, if I hear you talk to Pen that way again, I don't care if you are +forty times a cripple, I'll punch your face in! What's the matter with +you, anyhow? Did your tongue get a twist with your back?" + +"Get out of here!" shouted Sara. + +Jim recovered his poise at the sight of Pen's anxious eyes. "Now +Sweetness," he said to Sara, "don't hurry me! You make me so nervous +when you speak that way to me! I think I'll get a burro up here for you +to talk to. He'd understand the richness of your vocabulary. Look here +now, Sara, we all know you're having a darned hard time and there isn't +anything we wouldn't do for you. Don't you realize that Pen is +sacrificing her whole life to being your nurse girl? Don't you think you +ought to make it as easy for her as you can?" + +"Easy!" mocked Sara. "Easy for anyone that can walk and run and come and +go? What consideration do they need?" + +Pen and Jim winced a little. There was a whole world of tragedy in +Sara's mockery. He looked fat and middle-aged. His hair was graying +fast. His fingers trembled a good deal although the strength in his arms +still was prodigious. Yet Pen and Jim both had a sense of resentment +that Sara should take his life tragedy so ill, a feeling that he was +indecorous in flaunting his bitterness in their faces. As if he sensed +their resentment, Sara went on sneeringly: + +"Easy for you two, with your youth and good looks and health to +patronize me and fancy how much more decently you could die than I. I +wish the two of you were chained to my inert body. How sweet and patient +you would be! Bah! You weary me. Pen, will you go over to Mrs. Flynn's +for the root beer she promised me?" + +Pen made her escape gladly. When she was out of hearing Jim said, "Sara, +why do you want the building charges repudiated?" + +"Who said I wanted them repudiated?" asked Sara. + +"A tent is a poor place to hold secrets," replied Jim. "Did you come +here to do me dirt, Sara? Did I ever do you any harm?" + +Sara turned purple. He raised himself on his elbow. "Why," he shouted, +"did you destroy my chances with Pen by getting her love? You wanted it +only to discard it!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +TOO LATE FOR LOVE + + "Honor is the thing that makes humans different from + dogs--some dogs! When women have it, it is mingled always + with tenderness." + + MUSINGS OF THE ELEPHANT. + + +Jim jumped to his feet and took a stride toward Sara's couch, then +checked himself. + +"Oh, I'm not accusing you of planning the thing!" sneered Sara. "I'd +have more respect for you if you had. Pen doesn't know that I know. If I +hadn't got hurt I'd probably never dreamed of it. Pen and I would have +raised a family and I'd have had no time to think of you. But it didn't +take more than a year of lying on my back and watching her to see that +it was more than my crippled condition that was changing Pen. Damn you! +Why should you have it all, health and success and Pen's love? I'll get +you yet, Jim Manning!" + +Jim stood with his arms folded fighting desperately to keep his hands +off Sara. Deep in his heart Jim realized, there was none of the pity for +Sara's physical condition that civilized man is supposed to feel for the +cripple. Far within him was the loathing of the savage for something +abnormal; the loathing that once left the physically unfit to die. Yet +superimposed on this loathing was the veneer of civilization, that +forces kindness and gentleness and self-denial toward the fit that the +unfit may be kept alive. + +So Jim gripped his biceps and ground his teeth and the crippled man in +the chair stared with bitter black eyes into Jim's angry gray ones. Jim +fought with himself until the sweat came out on his lips, then without a +word he left the tent, mounted his horse and rode back to the dam site. + +He wanted time to think. It was very evident that Sara meant mischief, +but just how great was his capacity for doing him harm Jim could only +guess. The idea of his extremely friendly relations with Arthur Freet +bothered Jim now. If Freet were really trying to influence the sale of +the water power through Sara, the wise thing to do would be to send Sara +back to New York. And yet, if Sara went, Pen would go, too! Jim's heart +sank. He could not bear to think of the dam now without Pen. He squared +his shoulders suddenly. He would not send Sara away until he had some +real proof that his threats were more than idle. At any rate, it was not +his business to worry over the sale of the water power. If he produced +the power he was doing his share. And when he had fallen back on his old +excuse Jim gave a sigh of relief and went home to supper. + +Henderson was in the office the next morning when Jim opened a letter +from the Director of the Service. He was sorry, said the director, that +there had been so much loss of time and property in the flood. He +realized, of course, that Jim had done his best, but people who did not +know him so well would not have the same confidence. The Congressional +Committee on Investigation of the Projects, on receipt of numerous +complaints regarding the flood, had decided to proceed at once to Jim's +project and there begin its work. + +Jim tossed the Director's letter to Henderson and laid aside the +Secretary's letter, which he had planned to answer that morning. + +"More time wasted!" grumbled Jim. "There will be a hearing and +talky-talk and I must listen respectfully while the abutments crumble. +Why in thunder don't they send a good engineer or two along with the +Congressmen? A report from such a committee would have value. How would +Congress enjoy having a committee of engineers passing on the legality +of the work it does?" + +Henderson laid the letter down, rumpling his hair. "Hell's fire!" he +said gently. "My past won't stand investigating. You ask the Missis if +it will! I'm safe if they stick to Government projects and stay away +from the mining camps and the ladies." + +Jim's eyes twinkled. "Perhaps your past is black enough to whiten mine +in contrast. I'll ask Mrs. Henderson." + +Henderson suddenly brightened. "I've got a dying favor to ask of you. +Let me take the fattest of 'em to ride in Bill Evans' auto?" + +Jim looked serious. "Your past must have been black, all right, Jack! +You show a naturally vicious disposition. Really, I haven't anything +personal against these men. It's just that they take so much time and +insist on treating us fellows as if we were pickpockets." + +"I ain't as ladylike as you," said Henderson, in his tender way. "I just +naturally hate to be investigated. My Missis does all that I can stand. +I won't do anything vicious, though. I'll just show a friendly interest +in them. I might lasso 'em and hitch 'em behind the machine, but that +might hurt it and, anyhow, that wouldn't be subtle enough. These here +Easterners like delicate methods. I do myself. At least, I appreciate +them. The delicatest attention I ever had that might come under the head +of an investigation was by an Eastern lady. It was years ago on an old +irrigation ditch. Her husband was starting a ranch and I caught him +stealing water. I was pounding him up when she landed on me with a +steel-pronged garden rake. She raked me till I had to borrow clothes +from her to go home with. That sure was some delicate investigation." + +"The world lost a great lyric soloist in you, Jack," commented Jim. +"Jokes aside, it's fair enough for them to investigate us. If the +members of the committee are straight, it ought to do a lot toward +stopping this everlasting kicking of the farmers. We've nothing to fear +but the delay they cause." + +Jack sighed regretfully. "Well, I'll be good, if you insist. Let's give +'em a masquerade ball while they're here." + +"Good," said Jim. "Will you take charge?" + +"Bet your life!" replied Henderson, whose enthusiasm for social affairs +had never flagged since the day of the reception to the Director, up on +the Makon. + +Jim spent a heavy morning on the dam, climbing about, testing and +calculating. Already the forms were back in place ready to restore the +concrete swept away by the flood. Excavation for the next section of +the foundation was proceeding rapidly. At mid-afternoon, Jim was +squatting on a rock overlooking the excavation when Oscar Ames appeared. + +"Mr. Manning," he said angrily, "that main ditch isn't being run as near +my house as I want it. You'd better move it now, before I make you move +it." + +"Go to my irrigation engineer, Mr. Ames," replied Jim shortly. "He has +my full confidence." + +"Well, he hasn't mine nor nobody's else's in the valley, with his darned +dude pants! I am one of the oldest farmers in this community. I had as +much influence as anybody at getting the Service in here and I propose +to have my place irrigated the way I want it." + +"By the way," said Jim, "you folks use too much water for your own good, +since the diversion dam was finished. Why do you use three times what +you ought to just because you can get it from the government free? Don't +you know you'll ruin your land with alkali?" + +Ames looked at Jim in utter disgust. "Did you ever run an irrigated +farm? Did you ever see a ditch till eight years ago? Didn't you get your +education at a darned East college where they wouldn't know a ditch from +the Atlantic Ocean?" + +"Look here, Ames," said Jim, "do you know that you are the twelfth +farmer who has been up here and told me he'd get me dismissed if we +didn't put the ditch closer to his ranch? I tell you as I've told them +that we've placed the canal where we had to for the lie of the land and +where it would do the greatest good to the greatest number when the +project was all under cultivation. Some of you will have to dig longer +and some shorter ditches. I can't help that. Isn't that reasonable?" + +"It would be," sniffed Ames, "if you knew enough to know where the best +place was. That's where you fall down. You won't take advice. Just +because I don't wear short pants and leather shin guards is no reason +I'm a fool." + +Jim's drawl was very pronounced. "The shin guards would help you when +you clear cactus. And if you'd adopt a leather headguard, it would +protect you in your favorite job of butting in." + +"I'll get you yet!" exclaimed Ames, starting off rapidly toward the +trail. "I've got pull that'll surprise you." + +Jim swore a little under his breath and began again on his interrupted +calculations. When the four o'clock whistle blew and the shifts changed, +some one sat down silently near Jim. Jim worked on for a few moments, +finishing his problem. Then he looked up. Suma-theek was sitting on a +rock, smoking and watching Jim. + +"Boss," he began, "you sabez that story old Suma-theek tell you?" + +Jim nodded. "Why don't you do it, then?" the old Indian went on. + +Jim looked puzzled. Suma-theek jerked his thumb toward the distant tent +house. "She much beautiful, much lonely, much young, much good. Why you +no marry her?" + +"She is married, Suma-theek," replied Jim gently. + +"Married? No! That no man up there. She no his wife. Let him go. He bad +in heart like in body. You marry her." + +Jim continued to shake his head. "She belongs to him. The law says so." + +Suma-theek snorted. "Law! You whites make no law except to break it. +Love it have no law except to make tribe live. Great Spirit, he must +think she bad when she might have good babies for her tribe, she stay +with that bad cripple. Huh?" + +"You don't understand, Suma-theek. There is always the matter of honor +for a white man." + +Suma-theek smoked his cigarette thoughtfully for a moment and then he +said, wonderingly: "A white man's honor! He will steal a nigger woman or +an Injun woman. He will steal Injun money or Injun lands. He will steal +white man's money. He will lie. He will cheat. Where he not afraid, +white man no have honor. But when talk about steal white man's wife, he +afraid. Then he find he have honor! Honor! Boss, white honor is like +rain on hot sand, like rotten arrow string, like leaking olla. I am old, +old Injun. I heap know white honor!" + +Old Suma-theek flipped his cigarette into the excavation and strode +away. Jim rose slowly and looked over at the Elephant with his gray eyes +narrowed, his broad shoulders set. + +"On your head be it!" he murmured. "I am going to try!" + +He climbed the trail to his house, washed and brushed himself and went +over to the tent house. Pen was sitting on the doorstep. Oscar Ames was +talking to Sara. + +"Hello, Sara!" said Jim coolly. "Pen, I've got a free hour. Will you +come up back of the camp with me and let me show you the view from Wind +Ridge? It's finer than what you get from the Elephant." + +Sara's face was inscrutable. Oscar said nothing. Pen laid aside her book +and picked up her hat. + +"I knew there was something the matter with me," she said gaily. "It was +Wind Ridge I was missing though I never heard of it before! I won't be +long, Sara." + +"Don't hurry on my account," said Sara, with a sardonic glance at Jim. + +The trail led up the mountain slope with a steady twist toward a ridge +at the top that showed a sawtooth edge. Almost to the top the mountain +was dotted with little green cedars, dwarfed and wind-tortured. Up at +the saw edge they stopped. Here the wind caught them, wind flooding +across desert and mountain, clean, sweet, with a marvelous tang to it, +despite the desert heat. + +"Why, it's a world of lavenders!" cried Pen. + +Jim nodded and steadied her against the great warm rush of the wind. Far +to the east beyond the purple Elephant the San Juan mountains lay on the +horizon. They were the faintest, clearest blue lavender, with iridescent +peaks merging into the iridescent sky. The desert that swept toward the +Elephant was a yellow lavender. The mountain that bore the ridge was a +gray lavender. To the west, three great ranges vied with each other in +melting tints of purple, that now were blue, now were lavender. The two +might have been sitting at the top of the world, the sweep of the view +and the sense of exaltation in it were so great. + +Mighty white clouds rushed across the sky, sweeping their blue shadows +over the desert, like ripples in the wake of huge sailing ships. + +When Pen had looked her fill, Jim led her to a clump of cedars that +broke the wind and made a seat for her from branches. Then he tossed his +hat down and stood before her. Pen looked up into his face. + +"Why so serious, Still Jim?" she asked. + +"Penelope," asked Jim, "do you remember that twice I held you in my arms +and kissed you on the lips and told you that you belonged to me?" + +Pen whitened. If he could only dream how the pain and sweetness of those +embraces never had left her! + +"I remember! But let's not talk of that. We settled it all on the day +you got back from Washington. We must forget it all, Jim." + +"We can never forget it, Pen. We're not that kind." Jim stood struggling +for words with which to express his emotion. It always had been this +way, he told himself. The great moments of his life always found him +dumb. Even old Suma-theek could tell his thoughts more clearly than he. +Jim summoned all his resources. + +"Pen, it never occurred to me you wouldn't wait. There has never been +any other woman in my life and I suppose I just couldn't picture any +other man having a hold on you. But it all goes in with my general +incompetence to grasp opportunity. I felt that I had no right to go any +farther until I had more than hopes to offer you. I planned to make a +reputation as an engineer. I knew money didn't interest you. I wanted to +offer myself to you as a man of real achievement. You see how I failed. +I have made a reputation as a grafting, inefficient engineer with the +public. You are another man's wife. But, Penelope, I am not going to +give you up! + +"One gets a new view of life out here. You are wrong in staying with +Saradokis. Why should three lives be ruined by his tragedy? Pen! Pen! If +I could make you understand the torture of knowing you are married to +Sara! You are mine! From the first day I came upon you in the old +library, we belonged to each other. Pen, I've tramped the desert night +after night on the Makon and here, sweating it out with the stars and I +have determined that you shall belong to me." + +Pen, white and trembling, did not move her gaze from Jim's face. All her +tired, yearning youth stood in her eyes. + +Jim spoke very slowly and clearly. "Penelope, I love you. Will you leave +Saradokis and marry me?" + +Pen did not answer for a long moment. A to-hee trilled from the cedar: + + "O yahee! O yahai! + Sweet as arrow weed in spring!" + +The Elephant lay motionless. The flag rippled and fluttered, a faint red +spot far below on the mountainside. Pen's youth was fighting with her +bitterly won philosophy. Then she summoned all her fortitude. + +"Jim, dear, it would be a cowardly thing for me to leave Sara." + +"It would be greater cowardice to stay. Pen, shall you and I die as Iron +Skull did? I can marry no other woman feeling as I do about you. Sara's +life is useless. Let the world say what it will. Marry me, Penelope." + +"Jim, I can't." + +"Why not, Penelope?" + +"I love you very dearly, but I've had enough of marriage. I've done my +duty. I don't see how I could keep on loving a man after I married him, +even if he weren't a cripple. The process of adjustment is simply +frightful. Marriage is just a contract binding one to do the +impossible!" + +Jim scowled. More and more he was realizing how Sara had hurt Pen. + +"You don't care a rap about me, Pen. Why don't you admit it?" + +Pen gave a sudden tearful smile. "You know better, Jim. But just to +prove to you what a silly goose I am, I'll show you something. Girls in +real life do this even more than they do it in novels!" + +Pen opened a flat locket she always wore. A folded bit of paper and a +tiny photograph fluttered into her lap. She gave both to Jim. The +picture was a snapshot of Jim in his football togs. The bit of paper, +unfolded, showed in Pen's handwriting a verse from Christina Rossetti: + + "Too late for love, too late for joy; + Too late! Too late! + You loitered on the road too long, + You trifled at the gate: + The enchanted dove upon her branch + Died without a mate: + The enchanted princess in her tower + Slept, died, behind the grate: + Her heart was starving all this time + You made it wait." + +Jim put the bit of paper into his pocket and gave Pen the picture. His +eyes were full of tears. + +"Pen! Pen!" he cried. "Let me make it up to you! We care so much! +Suppose we aren't always happy. Oh, my love, a month of life with you +would make me willing to bear all the spiritual drudgery of marriage!" + +White to the lips, Pen answered once more: "Jim, I will never leave +Sara. There is such a thing as honor. It's the last foundation that the +whole social fabric rests on. I promised to stay with Sara, in the +marriage service. He's kept his word. It's my business to keep mine, +until he breaks his." + +Jim stood with set face. "Is this final, Penelope?" + +"It's final, Still." + +"Do you mind if I go on alone, Pen?" + +Pen shook her head and Jim turned down the mountainside. And Pen, being +a woman, put her head down on her knees and cried her heart out. Then +she went back to Sara. + +That night Jim answered the Secretary's letter: + +"My work has always been technical. I know that the Projects are not the +success their sponsors in Congress hoped they would be, but I feel that +you ask too much of your engineers when you ask them not only to make +the dam but to administer it. I have about concluded that an engineer is +a futile beast of triangles and _n_-th powers, unfitted by his very +talents for associating with other human beings. I suppose that this +letter must be interpreted as my admission of inefficiency." + +It was late when Jim had finished this letter. He was, he thought, alone +in the house. He laid down his pen. A sudden overpowering desire came +upon him for Exham, for the old haunts of his childhood. There it +seemed to him that some of his old confidence in life might return to +him. He dropped his arm along the back of his chair and with his +forehead on his wrist he gave a groan of utter desolation. + +Mrs. Flynn, coming in at the open door, heard the groan and saw the +beautiful brown head bowed as if in despair. She stopped aghast. + +"Oh, my Lord!" she gasped under her breath. "Him, too! Mrs. Penelope +ain't the only one that's broken up, then! Ain't it fierce! I wonder +what's happened to the poor young ones! I'd like to go to Mr. Sara's +wake. I would that! Oh, my Lord! Let's see. He's had two baths today. I +can't get him into another. I'll make him some tea. You have to cheer up +either to eat or take a bath." + +She slipped into the kitchen and there began to bang the range and +rattle teacups. When she came in, Jim was sitting erect and stern-faced, +sorting papers. Mrs. Flynn set the tray down on the desk with a thud. +She was going to take no refusal. + +"Drink that tea, Boss Still Jim, and eat them toasted crackers. You +didn't eat any supper to speak of and you're as pindlin' as a knitting +needle. Don't slop on your clean suit. That khaki is hard to iron." + +She stood close beside him and made an imaginary thread an excuse for +laying her hand caressingly on Jim's shoulder. "You're a fine lad," she +said, uncertainly. "I wish I'd been your mother." + +The touch was too much for Jim. He dropped the teacup and, turning, laid +his face against Mrs. Flynn's shoulder. + +"I could pretend you were tonight, very easily," he said brokenly, "if +you'd smooth my hair for me." + +Mrs. Flynn hugged the broad shoulders to her and smoothed back Jim's +hair. + +"I've been wanting to get my hands on it ever since I first saw it, lad. +God knows it's as soft as silk and just the color of oak leaves in +winter. There, now, hold tight a bit, my boy. We can weather any storm +if we have a friend to lean on, and I'm that, God knows. It's a fearful +cold I've caught, God knows. You'll have to excuse my snuffing. There +now! There! God knows that in my waist I've got a letter for you from +Mrs. Penelope. She seemed used up tonight. Her jewel of a husband took +dope tonight, so she and I sat in peace while she wrote this. I'll leave +it on your tray. Good-night to you, Boss. Don't slop on your suit." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +JIM MAKES A SPEECH + + "I am permanent so I cannot fully understand the tragedy + that haunts humans from their birth, the tragedy of their + own transitoriness." + + MUSINGS OF THE ELEPHANT. + + +Jim drank his tea, staring the while at the envelope that lay on the +tray. Then he opened the envelope and read: + + "DEAR STILL: Don't say that I must go away. I want to stay + and help you. I promised Iron Skull that I would. I don't + want to add one breath to your pain--nor to my own!--and yet + I feel as if we ought to forget ourselves and think only of + the dam. No one knows you as I do, dear Jim. Iron Skull + felt, and so do I, that somehow, sometime I can help you to + be the big man you were meant to be. I have grown to feel + that it was for that purpose I have lived through the last + eight years. If it will not hurt you too much, please, Jim, + let me stay. + + PENELOPE." + +Jim answered the note immediately. + + "DEAREST PEN: Give me a day or so to get braced and we will + go on as before. Stand by me, Pen. I need you, dear. + + JIM." + +But it was nearly two weeks before Jim talked with Pen again. For a +number of days he devoted himself day and night to the preparations for +starting the second section of the dam in the completed excavation. Then +formal notice came that the Congressional committee would arrive at the +dam nearly a week before it had been expected and Jim was overwhelmed in +preparations for its reception. The first three days of the +investigation were to be devoted to inspecting the dam. Jim brought the +committee to the dam from the station himself. + +There were five men on the committee, two New Englanders and three far +westerners. They were the same five men who a year before had +investigated Arthur Freet's projects and they were baffled and +suspicious. And Jim's silence irritated them far more than Arthur +Freet's loquacity. The members from the West and from Massachusetts +were, in spite of this, open-minded, eager for information and +interested in the actual work of the dam building. The member from +Vermont pursued Jim with the bitterness of a fanatic. + +"A Puritan hang-over is what ails him," Jim remarked to Henderson. "He +would burn a woman for a witch for having three moles on her back, as +easy as--as he'd fire me!" + +Henderson snorted: "I wish he was fat. I'd take him to ride in Bill +Evans' machine. But, gee! he's so thin he'd stick in the seat like a +sliver!" + +Henderson had devoted himself to the entertainment of the visitors. He +had organized a picnic to a far canyon where the "officers" and their +wives offered the committee a wonderful camp supper, by a camp fire +that lighted the desert for miles. He had induced the Mexicans in the +lower camp to give one of their religious plays for the second night's +entertainment. The moving picture hall was turned into a theater and the +play, in queer Spanish, a strange mixture of miracle-play and +buffoonery, delighted the hombres and astounded the whites. But the +consummation of Henderson's art as an entertainment provider was to be +the Mask Ball. This was to take place after the hearing at Cabillo was +finished. + +Jim gave all his time to the committee. He turned the office and its +force over to them; gave them the freedom of the account books and the +safe. Let them rummage the warehouse and its system. Explained his +engineering mistakes to them. Went over and over the details of the +flood, of the weathering abutments, of the concrete that did not come up +to specifications, of the new system of concrete mixture that he and his +cement engineer were evolving and which Jim believed in so ardently that +he was using it on the dam. But in regard to Freet or to any graft in +the Service he was persistently silent. + +The Hearing was like and yet unlike the May hearing. It lacked the +dignity of the first occasion and the Vermont member who presided was +not the calm, inscrutable judge that the Secretary had been. The hall in +Cabillo was packed with farmers and their wives and sweethearts and with +Del Norte citizens. + +The main effort of the speakers at the Hearing was to prove the +inordinate extravagance and incompetence of Jim and his associates. For +three days Jim answered questions quietly and as briefly as possible. +But he was not able to compass the cool indifference that had kept him +staring out the window of the Interior Department. There was growing +within him an overwhelming desire to protest. He saw that, however fair +the other members of the committee were inclined to be, their certainty +of Freet's dishonesty, coupled with the fact that he was a pupil of +Freet's, would be used by the restless vindictiveness of the Vermont +member without doubt, to bring about his dismissal. + +He felt an increasing desire to make a last stand against the wall of +the nation's indifference, to make the people of the Project and the +people of the world understand his viewpoint. But words failed him until +the last day of the Hearing. + +On this last day, Sara and Pen attended the hearing, as guests of +Fleckenstein, who had sent his great touring car for them. Jim nodded to +them across the room but made no attempt to speak to them. It was +nearing five o'clock when Fleckenstein closed his testimony. + +"The Reclamation Service," he said, "is like every other department of +the government. It is a refuge for the incompetent whose one skill is in +grafting. The cost of this dam has jumped over the estimates by hundreds +of thousands. Forty dollars an acre is what the farmers of this project +must pay the government instead of the estimated thirty. I do not lay +the whole blame on Mr. Manning, even though he is Freet's pupil. Part of +it is due to the criminal ignorance and weakness of Mr. Manning's +predecessor. We farmers----" + +"Stop!" thundered Jim. He jumped to his feet. Fleckenstein gasped. Jim +threw back his hair. His gray eyes were black. His thin brown face was +flushed. Under his khaki riding suit his long steel muscles were tense. + +"My predecessor was Frederick Watts. I grew to know him well. He was a +master mind in his profession, but he was gentle and sensitive and, like +many men who have lived long in the open, silent. About the time that he +started to build this dam the money interests in this country decided +that the nation was getting too much water power control. They decided +that the best way to stop the nation's growth in this direction was to +discredit the Service. Frederick Watts was one of their first targets. +By means too subtle for me to understand, they set machinery going in +this vicinity by which every step that Watts took was made a kick +against him. + +"They never let up on him. They hounded him. They put him to shame with +the nation and in the privacy of his own family. Watts was over fifty +years old. He was no fighter. All he wanted was a chance to build his +dam. He was gentle and silent. He went into nervous prostration and +died, still silent, a broken-hearted man. + +"Up in the big silent places you will find his monuments; dams high in +mountain fastnesses, an imperishable part of the mountains; trestles +that bridge canyons which birds feared to cross. He spent his life in +utter hardships making ways easy for others to follow. These monuments +will stand forever. But the name of their builder has become a blackened +thing for rats like Fleckenstein to handle with dirty claws. + +"And now they are after me. And you, many of you, in this audience, are +the sometimes innocent and sometimes paid instruments of my downfall. +You accuse me of grafting, of lying and stealing. You don't understand." + +Jim paused and moistened his lips. The room was breathless. Pen could +hear her heart beat. She dug her fingernails into her palm. Could he, +_could_ he find the words? Even if these people did not understand, +could he not say something that would teach her how to help him? Jim did +not see the crowded room. Before him was his father's dying face and +Iron Skull's. His hands felt their dying fingers. + +"I am a New Englander. My people came to New England 250 years ago and +fought the wilderness for a home. We were Anglo-Saxons. We were trail +makers, lawmakers, empire builders. We founded this nation. We threw +open the doors to the world and then we were unable to withstand the +flood that answered our invitation. The New Englander in America is as +dead as the Indian or the buffalo. My people have failed and died with +the rest. I am the last of my line. + +"But I have the craving of my ancestry with something more. I can see +the tragedy of my race. I know that the day will come when the +civilization of America will be South European; that our every +institution will be altered to suit the needs of the South European and +Asiatic mind. + +"I want to leave an imperishable Anglo-Saxon thumb print on the map; a +thumb print that no future changes can obliterate, a thumb print that +shall be less transitory than the pyramids because it will be a part of +the fundamental needs of a people as long as they hunger or thirst. + +"Look at the roster of the Reclamation Service. You will find it a +roster of men whom the old vision has sent into dam building and road +making. Here in the Service you will find the last stand of the +Anglo-Saxon trail makers. + +"I want to build this dam. I want to build it so that, by God, it shall +be standing and delivering water when the law that makes it possible +shall have passed from the memory of man! And you won't let me build it. +You, some of you Anglo-Saxons yourselves, destined to be obliterated as +I shall be, are fighting me. You say that I am _stealing_. I, fighting +to leave a thumb print!" + +Jim dropped into his seat and for a moment there was such silence in the +room that the palm leaves outside the window could be heard rattling +softly in the breeze. Then there broke forth a great round of +handclapping, and during this Jim slipped out. He was not much deceived +by the applause. He knew that it would take more than a burst of +eloquence to overcome the influences at work against the Service. + +He returned to the dam that night, Pen and Sara came up the next day and +that evening Jim went over to call. It was his first word with Pen since +the walk to Wind Ridge. He found Sara sleeping heavily. Pen greeted him +casually. + +"Hello, Still! Sara was suffering so frightfully after his trip that he +took his morphine. It was insane of him to go to the Hearing, but he +would do it. Sit down. We won't disturb him a bit." + +She pulled the blanket over the unconscious man in her usual tender way. + +"You are mighty good to him, Pen," said Jim. + +"I try to be. I guess I'm as good to him as he'll let me be, poor +fellow. Jim, he was fine in his college days, wasn't he?" + +"I never saw a more magnificent physique," answered Jim. "He was a great +athlete and I used to believe he was a greater financier than Morgan." + +Pen looked at Jim gratefully. "And if it hadn't been for the accident he +would have been just as easy to get along with as the average man." + +Jim chuckled. "I don't know whether that's a compliment to Sara or an +insult to the average man. What have you done with yourself during the +investigation?" + +"Taken care of Sara, communed with my soul and the laundry problem and +had several nice talks with Jane Ames. She is a dear." + +Jim nodded. Then he pulled the Secretary's letter from his pocket with a +copy of his own answer and handed them to Pen. "I've come for advice and +comment," he said. + +Pen read both and her cheeks flushed. "Have you sent your answer?" + +Jim nodded. + +Pen stared at him a moment with her mouth open, then she said, with +heartfelt sincerity, "Jim, I'm perfectly disgusted with you!" + +Jim gasped. + +"Like the average descendant of the Puritan," Pen sniffed, "you are +lying down on your job. Thank God, I'm Irish!" + +"Gee, Pen, you're actually cross!" + +"I am! If I were not a perfect lady I'd slap you and put my tongue out +at you, anything that would adequately express my disdain! For +pig-headed bigotry, bounded on the north by high principles and on the +south by big dreams, give me a New Englander! You make me tired!" + +"For the Lord's sake, Pen!" + +Pen laid down her bit of sewing and looked at Jim long and earnestly, +then she said, quietly, "Jim, why don't you go to work?" + +Jim looked flushed and bewildered. "I work eighteen hours a day." + +Pen groaned. "I'm talking about your capacity, not your output. You are +only using half of what is in you, Still. You build the dam and you +refuse to do anything else. Why, with your kind of creative, engineering +mind, you are perfectly capable of administering the dam, too. Of +handling all the problems connected with it in a cool, scientific way +that would come very near being ideal justice. You know that the +projects are an experiment in government activity. You know that the +people who will control them have no experience or training that will +fit them for handling the projects. Yet you refuse to help them. You are +just as stupid and just as selfish as if you had built a complicated +machine and had turned it over to children to run, refusing them all +explanation or guidance." + +Pen paused, breathless, her cheeks scarlet, her eyes glowing. Jim +watched her, his face pitifully eager. Perhaps, he thought, Pen was +actually going to lay her finger on the cause of his inadequacy. + +"Instead of antagonizing every farmer on the Project, you ought to be +making them feel that you are their partner and friend in a mighty +difficult business. You told us yesterday that your ancestors not only +made the trail but also the law of the trail. What are you doing? It's +your own fault if you lose your job, Still!" + +Pen got up and turned Sara's pillow and shaded the light from his face, +mechanically. + +"You are just like all the rest of what you call the Anglo-Americans. +You go about feeling superior and abused and calling the immigrants hard +names. You are just a lot of quitters. You have refused national +service. If you _are_ a dying race and you _are_ convinced that the +world can't afford to lose your institutions, how low down you are not +to feel that your last duty to society is to show by personal example +the value of your institutions." + +"I don't see what I can do," protested Jim. + +"That's just what I'm trying to show you," retorted Pen. "I have to plow +through your ignorance first--clear the ground, you know! After you +Anglo-Americans founded the government most of you went to money making +and left it to be administered by people who were racially and +traditionally different from you. You left your immigration problems to +sentimentalists and money-makers. You left the law-making to +money-makers. You refused to serve the nation in a disinterested, +future-seeing way which was your duty if you wanted your institutions to +live. You descendants of New England are quitters. And you are going to +lose your dam because of that simple fact." + +Jim began to pace the floor. "Did you ever talk this over with Uncle +Denny, Penelope?" + +"No!" she gave a scornful sniff. "If ever I had dared to criticize you, +he'd have turned me out of the house. No one can live in New York and +not think a great deal about immigration problems. And--I have been with +you much in the past eight years, Jimmy. I can't tell you how much I +have thought about you and your work. And then, just before old Iron +Skull was killed, he turned you over to me." + +Jim paused before her. "He was worried about you, too," she went on. "He +said you were not getting the big grasp on things that you ought and +that I must help you." + +"I wonder if that was what he was trying to tell me when he was killed," +said Jim. "The dear old man! Go on, Pen." + +"I've just this much more to say, Jim, and that is that if the +Reclamation Service idea fails, it's more the fault of you engineers +than of anyone else. The sort of thing you engineers do on the dam is +typical of the Anglo-American in the whole country. You are quitters!" + +"Pen, don't you say that again!" exclaimed Jim, sharply. "I'm doing all +I can!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE MASK BALL + + "I have seen in the coyote pack that coyotes who will not + hunt and fight for the pack must starve and die." + + MUSINGS OF THE ELEPHANT. + + +"You are not!" returned Pen flatly. "You don't see the human side of +your problem at all. You have made Oscar Ames hate you. Yet no man could +live the life and do the things that Oscar has and not have developed a +fine big side to his nature. You never see that. And the dam is more +Oscar's than it is yours. It is _for_ him. Still, somehow you have got +to make every farmer on the Project your partner. Make them feel that +you and the dam are theirs. Show them how to take care of the things the +dam will produce. Jim, dear, make your thumb print in the hearts of men +as well as in concrete, if you would have your work endure." + +Jim paced the floor steadily. Old visions were passing before his eyes. +Once more he saw the degraded mansions on the elm-shaded streets. Old +Exham, with its lost ideals. Ideals of what? Was Pen right? Was it the +ideal of national responsibility that Exham had lost--the ideal that had +built the town meeting house and the public school, that had produced +the giants of those early days, giants who had ruled the nation with an +integrity long lost to these later times. + +"My father said to me, 'Somehow we Americans have fallen down on our +jobs!'" said Jim, pausing before Pen, finally. "Pen, I wonder if he +would have thought your reason the right one?" + +Then he lifted Pen's chin to look long into her eyes. Slowly his wistful +smile illumined his face. "Thank you, dear," he said and, turning, he +went out into the night. + +The next night was given the Mask Ball in honor of the committee. Nobody +knew what conclusion the eminent gentleman had reached in regard to Jim +and his associates. But everyone did his best to contribute to the +hilarity of the occasion. + +The gray adobe building where the unmarried office men and engineers +lived was gay with colored lights and cedar festoons. The hall in the +rear of the building had an excellent dancing floor. The orchestra was +composed of three Mexicans--hombres--with mandolins and a guitar, and an +Irish rough-neck who brought from the piano a beauty of melody that was +like a memory of the Sod. The four men produced dance music that New +York might have envied. + +Several Cabillo couples attended the dance. Oscar Ames and Jane and one +or two other ranchers and their wives were there. All the wives of the +officers' camp came and the bachelors searched both the upper and lower +camps for partners, with some very charming results. Mrs. Flynn sat with +Sara, and Jim insisted that instead of going with Jane and Oscar, as she +had planned, that he be allowed to take Pen to the first ball she had +attended since her marriage. + +Henderson had ordered that the costumes be kept a great secret. Through +a Los Angeles firm he provided dominoes for the five committeemen. But +there were half a dozen other dominoes at the ball, so the committee +quickly lost its identity. Oscar Ames came as a hobo. Henderson had a +policeman's uniform, while the two cub engineers wore, one, a cowboy +outfit; the other, an Indian chief's. Mrs. Henderson was dressed as a +squaw. + +Penelope wore a flower girl's costume, improvised from the remains of +the chintz she had brought from New York. Jim viewed her with great +complaisance. No one could look like Pen, he thought, and he would dance +with her all the evening. Jim went as a monk. To his chagrin, when they +reached the hall he found that Pen had made Mrs. Ames a costume exactly +like her own, and with the complete face masks they wore, they might +have been twins. They were just of a height and Mrs. Ames danced well. +The children and the phonograph had long ago attended to that. + +There was nothing stupid about the ball from the very start. The +policeman ended the grand march by arresting the hobo, who put up a +fight that included two of the dominoes. The orchestra swung into "La +Paloma" and in a moment the hall was full of swaying colors, drifting +through the golden desert dust that filled the room. There were twice as +many men at the ball as women. The latter were popular to the point of +utter exhaustion. + +Henderson looked over the tallest domino, seized him by the throat and +with wild flourishes of his club, backed him into a corner. + +"Say, Boss Still Jim," he whispered, "that old nut of a chairman +doesn't look as if he had anything but skim milk in his veins. But do +you sabez he's danced three times with that little fat ballet girl and +he's hugging the daylights out of her. He'd ought to be investigated." + +The tall domino looked at the couple indicated. "I'll start +investigating, myself," he whispered. + +"Wish I could get a dance with her, but I can't," said Henderson. "My +Missis knows who I am. I ain't got her spotted yet, though. Yes, I have. +That flower girl's her. I'd know the way she jerks her shoulders +anywhere." + +He cut neatly in and separated the flower girl from the monk. "Look +here, Minnie," he said gently. "You ain't called on to dance like a +broncho, you know. Remember, you're the mother of a family! Cut out +having too many dances with that monk. He holds you too tight. I think +he's one of the committee men. You floss up to the tallest domino and +give him a good time. That's the Boss." + +The flower girl sniggered and Henderson pushed her from him with marital +impatience and took an Indian squaw away from the hobo. + +"Come on, little girl," he said. "You can dance all right. If my wife +wasn't here I'd show you a time." + +The squaw stiffened and the monk swung her away from Jack, who +immediately arrested old Dad Robins, the night watchman, who was taking +a sly peak off his beat at the festivities. Henderson forced the +delighted old man through a waltz, with himself as a very languishing +partner. + +The hobo, dancing with one of the flower girls, said: "Jane, I've been +trying to get a chance to warn you not to say anything to Mrs. Penelope +about that deal with Freet. I was a fool to let you see that letter +tonight. Now I'm getting into national politics, you've got to learn to +keep your mouth shut." + +"How'd you know me?" whispered the flower girl. + +"You don't dance as good as Mrs. Pen," he replied. + +Here the monk stole the flower girl and danced off with her, firmly. + +"Remember the dance at Coney Island and how mean you were to me?" he +whispered. + +"And how bossy and high-handed you were about the bathing? How did you +know me?" + +The monk hugged the flower girl to him. "You haven't lived in my heart +for all these years without my getting to _know_ you!" + +And the flower girl sighed ecstatically. + +The tall domino, dancing with the other flower girl, felt the strains of +Espanita creeping up his backbone, and he said, + +"There is something in the air out here that is almost intoxicating!" + +The flower girl answered: "It'll do more than that for you, if you'll +give it a chance. It will make you see things." + +"I don't understand you," replied the domino in a dignified way. + +"I mean you'd see if you stayed here long enough that what Jim Manning +needs is help, not investigating." + +"How do you know I'm not Manning?" + +The flower girl sniffed. "I'm an old woman so I can tell you that no +woman would ever mistake him for anyone else after she'd once danced +with him." + +"He is making a most regrettable record here," very stiffly from the +domino. + +"Shucks! Why don't you fire Arthur Freet? I warn you right now that he's +trying to get his hooks into this dam." + +"The Service might well dispense with both of them, I believe," said the +domino. + +The flower girl sniffed again. "You politicians--" she began, when she +was interrupted by a call at the door. + +The music stopped. A white-faced boy had mounted a chair and was +shouting hysterically: "Where's the Boss? The hombres have shot my +father!" + +"It's Dad Robins' boy! Why, the old man was here a bit ago!" cried +someone. + +The monk pulled off his mask and flung his robe in the corner. "Oscar," +he said to the hobo, who had unmasked, "see to Mrs. Penelope." + +Then he grasped young Robins by the arm and rushed with him from the +hall. + +Oscar hurried Pen and Jane up to the tent house with scant ceremony, +then ran for the lower town. Mrs. Flynn and Sara were greatly surprised +by the early return of the merrymakers. The four waited eagerly for +news. Sara would not let any of the women stir from the tent, saying +that it was unsafe until they knew what had happened. At midnight Oscar +returned. + +"They got poor old Dad. After he left the hall, he was going past a +lighted tent in the lower town when he heard sounds of a fight. He went +in and found two drunken Mexicans fighting over a flask of whiskey. He +took the whiskey and told them to go to bed. He started out into the +street and the two jumped him and started to stab him to death. He +yelled and the sheriff and his boy was the only folks in all that town +dared to go help him. The two hombres shot the sheriff in the arm before +he located them and got away. They had finished poor old Dad, though. +Mr. Manning's got posses out and will start more at daylight. If you'll +put Jane up for the night, Mrs. Flynn, I'll go back to the lower town. +You'd ought to see those committeemen. Three of them would have gone out +with a posse, I'll bet, if they hadn't remembered their dignity in +time!" + +Jim had his hands full. By daylight the next morning there was every +prospect of a wholesale battle between the Americans and the Mexicans. +The camp was at fever pitch with excitement. The two shifts not at work +swarmed the streets of the lower camp, the Mexicans at the far end, the +Americans at the upper end near Dad Robins' house, whence came the sound +of an old woman's hard sobs. After a hurried breakfast at the lower +mess, Jim joined this crowd. The men circled round him, all talking at +once. Jim listened for a time, then he raised his arm for silence. "It +was booze did it! Booze and nothing else! Am I right?" + +Reluctant nods went around the crowd. "And yet," Jim went on, "there's +hardly a white man in the camp who hasn't fought me on my ruling that +liquor must not come within the government lines. You all know what +booze means in a place like this. Those of you who were with me at Makon +know what we suffered from it up there. I know you fellows, decent, +kindly men now, in spite of your threats to lynch the hombres. But if +you could get booze, you'd make this camp a hell on earth right now. No +better than a drunken Mexican is a drunken white. Am I right?" + +Again reluctant nods and half-sheepish grins. + +"Now, you fellows forget your lynching bee. Commons, Ralston, Schwartz, +you make a committee to raise enough money to send Mrs. Robins and the +boy back to New Hampshire with the body. Here is ten to start with. They +must leave this noon. Tom Weeks, you make the funeral arrangements. I'll +see that transportation is ready at noon. Bill Underwood, you get a +posse of fifty men and quarantine this camp for booze." + +A little laugh went through the crowd. Billy Underwood had been the +chief malcontent under Jim's liquor ruling. Bill did not laugh. He began +to pick his men with the manner of a general. + +"One word more," said Jim. "You all know that the United States +Reclamation Service is under the suspicion of the nation. They call you +and me a bunch of grafters. It's up to you as much as it is to me to +show today that we are men and not lawless hoboes." + +A little murmur of applause swept through the crowd as Jim turned on his +heel. He made his way into the Mexican end of the camp. There was noise +here of talking and quarreling. Jim walked up to a tall Mexican who was +in a way a padrone among the hombres. + +"Garces," said Jim, "send the night shift to bed." + +Garces eyed Jim through half-shut eyes. Jim did not move a muscle. +"Why?" asked the Mexican. + +"Because I shall put them to bed unless they are gone in five minutes." + +Jim pulled out his watch. In just four minutes, after a shouted order +from Garces, the street was cleared of more than half the hombres. + +"Now," said Jim, "except when the shifts change, you are to keep your +people this side of the ditch," pointing to the line that separated the +Mexican and American camps. "I have fifty men scouring the camp for +whiskey. Anybody found with liquor will be arrested. If there is a +particle of trouble over it in your camp, I'll let the Gringos loose. +Sabez?" + +Garces shivered a little. "Yes, senor," he said. + +Jim took a turn up and down the street on his horse, then started for +the dam site. As he cantered up the road, Billy Underwood, mounted on a +moth-eaten pony, saluted with dignity. + +"Boss, that saloon keeper up the canyon has got a billion bottles of +booze. Worst whiskey you ever smelled. He says he's laying for you and +if you cross his doorstep, he'll shoot you up." + +Jim looked at Bill meditatively. "Bill, I'm going to call his bluff!" + +"Us fellows in my posse'll shoot his place up if you say the word," +cried Bill eagerly. + +"No, that won't do," replied Jim. "But I have an idea that he's a +four-flusher. Keep your eye on 'Mexico City,' Bill. I am afraid of +trouble, though I've got Garces buffaloed so far." + +Jim turned his horse and cantered back through Mexico City along the +narrow river trail to Cactus Canyon. Just off the government reserve was +a tent with a sheet iron roof. The trail to the tent was well worn. Jim +dropped the reins over the pony's head and walked into the tent. There +was a rough bar across one end, behind which stood a quiet-faced man +with a black mustache. Drinking at the bar were two white men whom Jim +recognized as foremen. + +"You two fellows are fired," drawled Jim. "Turn in your time and leave +camp this afternoon." + +The Big Boss is king on a project. The two men meekly set down their +glasses and filed out of the tent. It was something to have been fired +by the big boss himself. + +"And who are you?" asked the saloonkeeper. + +"Don't you recognize me, Murphy?" asked Jim, pleasantly. "I have the +advantage of you there. My name is Manning." + +The saloonkeeper made a long-armed reach for a gun that stood in the +corner. + +"One moment, please," said Jim. As he spoke he jumped over the bar, +bearing the saloonkeeper down with him before the long-armed reach +encompassed the gun. Jim removed Murphy's knife, then picked up the gun +himself. + +Murphy started for the door with a jump. "Break nothing!" he yelled. +"I'll have the law of New Mexico on you for this." + +Murphy leaped directly into Bill Underwood's arms. "Hello, sweetie," +said Bill, holding Murphy close. "Thought I'd come up and see how you +was making it, Boss." + +"Nicely, thanks," said Jim. "I'll be finished as soon as he breaks up +his stock." + +"It'll be some punishment for me to watch a job like that," said Bill, +"but I'm with you, Boss." + +He shifted his gun conspicuously as he released Murphy. Bill owed the +saloonkeeper something over six weeks' pay. The occasion had an unholy +joy for him. Murphy looked Jim over, scratched his head and started to +whistle nonchalantly. In ten minutes he had destroyed his stock in +trade. When he had finished, he handed Jim the key of the tent with a +profound bow. + +"Now," said Jim, "drop a match on the floor." + +When the flames were well caught Jim said, "See that he leaves camp, +Bill." Then he mounted and rode away. + +Murphy looked after him curiously. "Some man, ain't he?" he said to +Bill. + +"I'll eat out of his hand any time," replied Bill. "Get your pony, +Murphy." + +"I'll join your posse," suggested Murphy. "I bet I can ferret out more +booze than any three of you." + +"Nothing doing!" growled Bill. "Should think you would have better taste +than to wanta do that." + +Murphy shrugged his shoulders. "I want you to let me go up to that Greek +fellow's place before I go," he said. + +Bill stared but made no comment. + +As Jim rode back through the lower town he stopped young Hartman, the +government photographer. + +"Hartman," he asked, "have the films for the movies come in yet?" + +"Came in yesterday, Mr. Manning." + +"Good work! Hartman, will you give us a show this evening?" + +"The hall's in pretty rough shape but if you want it----" + +"I want it to keep things quiet, Hartman, till we find those hombres and +get them in jail at Cabillo." + +The young fellow nodded. "I'll have things ready at seven. After the +funeral, I'll get the word out." + +Jim rode on to his neglected work at the office. There he found the +members of the committee awaiting him. Even the chairman was eager to +know details of occurrences since they had gone reluctantly to bed after +midnight. + +When Jim had finished his story, the Vermont man said pompously: "You +seem to manage men rather well, Mr. Manning. In behalf of my colleagues +I wish to thank you for your hospitality to us. As you know, we must +leave this afternoon." + +Jim nodded. "I shall have my superintendent take you over to the train. +You will understand that I do not want to leave the camp myself." + +"I wish we could stay and see the end of this," said one of the members. +"It's like life in a dime novel." + +"My chief regret is that we only had half of the Mask Ball. After this, +when my constituents are tempted to give me a dinner, I shall urge a +Mask Ball instead. Never had one given for me before and no debutante +ever had anything on my feelings last night," said another. + +"Henderson should have been a country squire," said Jim. "He's a perfect +host." + +The camp was quiet during the afternoon. Jim saw the committee off at +five o'clock, then went up to the tent house. Sara and he glanced at +each other coolly and nodded. Pen started the conversation hurriedly. + +"What word from the two hombres?" + +Jim shook his head. "One posse got away last night before I warned them. +I'm afraid that if the murderers are brought into camp I can't avert a +lynching bee." + +Pen shivered. Sara grunted. "You'd think Pen had lived in a convent all +of her life instead of a death pen like New York." + +"It's so lonesome out here, human life means more to you," said Jim. + +"Some philosopher you are," sneered Sara. "Fine lot of drool you got off +at the hearing. Why didn't you keep to the main issue? The yokels are +still saying with the rest of us, He must be dishonest or he'd give an +honest 'No' to our accusations." + +Jim answered slowly: "When a man says that sort of thing to me I usually +knock him down, or completely ignore him." + +"You can't knock us all down and the time is rapidly coming when we will +be ignoring you, minus a job." + +"Still," pleaded Pen, "he couldn't understand your speech. Once and for +all, Jim, give him and all the rest the lie." + +Jim ground his teeth and did not speak. Sara was obviously enjoying +himself. + +"You are mistaken, Pen. Jim and I have often discussed the divine origin +of the New Englander. They are a pathetic lot of pifflers. They have no +one to blame but themselves that they are going. Everywhere else the +Anglo-Saxon has gone he has insisted that he had the divine right to +rule and has kept it. Outsiders have had to conform or get out. But over +here he promulgated the Equality idea. Isaac Gezinsky and Hans Hoffman +and Pedro Patello are as fit to rule according to the Equality idea as +anyone else. It didn't take much over two hundred years of this to +crowd the New Englander out of the running. And who cares?" + +"I do," said Jim, "because I believe in the things my race has stood +for. Emerson says it's not chance but race that put and keeps the +millions of India under the rule of a remote island in the north of +Europe. Race is a thing to be reckoned with. Nations progress as their +race dictates." + +"Emerson!" jibed Sara. "Another inefficient highbrow!" + +"I can't help believing," replied Jim doggedly, "that the world will +lose in the submerging of the New England element in America." + +"And yet right here, in your America," said Sara, "the leaders of the +money trust are descendants of Puritans." + +Jim winced. "'The strength of the pack is the wolf,' When we produced +men of that type we should have recognized them and have controlled +them. They are helping the pack down hill, all right. Be satisfied, +Sara! Only you will not get me off this Project until it is finished." + +"No?" sneered Sara. + +Pen interrupted nervously: "A couple of men are coming up the trail." + +Bill Underwood appeared at the tent door. Murphy was with him. "Boss," +said Bill, "Murphy has got to see your Greek friend. I got him started +south this noon, but he circled on me and I just picked him up on the +mesa, headed this way. He wanted to come here on the quiet, but I +brought him up in the open." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE DAY'S WORK + + "Women know a loyalty that men scorn while they use it. This + is the sex stamp of women." + + MUSINGS OF THE ELEPHANT. + + +With a quick glance at Sara, Jim rose. "Give Mr. Saradokis and his +friend a chance to talk, of course, Bill. But shut Murphy up tonight and +bring him round to me in the morning." + +Bill essayed a salute that was so curiously like bringing his thumb to +his nose that Pen had to turn a laugh into a cough and Jim smiled as he +hurried out of the tent. As soon as the murder trouble was settled, Jim +thought, he would have some sort of a settlement with Sara. His calm +effrontery was becoming unbearable. + +After a hurried supper Jim went back to the lower town to keep his eye +on the moving picture show. As he mounted the steps of the little sheet +iron building, a girlish figure hurried to meet him from the shadow of +the ticket office. + +"Pen!" cried Jim. "This is no place for you!" + +"Oh, lots of women have gone in," protested Pen. "Please, Jim! Sara was +so ugly this evening I just walked out and left him alone and I'm crazy +to see what goes on down here." + +Jim glanced in at the open door. The hall was nearly full. "If anything +goes wrong, Penny, I would have my hands full and you might be hurt." + +Pen gave a little shiver of anticipation. "Oh, please let me stay, +Still! Just think how shut in I've been all these years." + +Even though his common sense protested, Jim was an easy victim to Pen's +pleading eyes and voice. He led the way into the hall. It was an +enthusiastic crowd, that crunched peanuts and pinons and commented +audibly on the pictures. Pictures of city life were the most popular. + +"God! That's Fulton street, Brooklyn!" cried a man's voice as a street +scene glided across the screen. "Wish I'd never left it." + +"Gee! Look at the street car!" called another man. "I'd give a year of +my life for a trolley ride." + +"Look at them trees!" said someone as a view of a middle west farm +followed. "Them are trees, boys, not cable way towers! How'd you like to +shake the sand out of your eyes and see something green?" + +"What are you peeved about?" exclaimed another voice. "Ain't you working +for our great and glorious government that'll kick you out like a dead +dog whenever it wants to? Look what it's doing to the Big Boss!" + +"Hi! Man-o'-War at San Diego!" screamed a boy. "See all that wet water! +Me for the navy! See how pretty that sailor looks in his cute white +panties!" + +Hartman held the crowd for a good two hours, then he called, "That's +all, boys! Come again!" + +"All? Nothing stirring," answered several voices. "Begin over again, +Hartman. You can collect another nickel from us as we go out." + +There was laughter and applause and not a soul offered to leave. In the +darkness Hartman was heard to laugh in return and shortly the first film +appeared again. Fields of corn shimmered in the wind. Cows grazed in +quiet meadows. The audience stared again, breathlessly. Suddenly from +without was heard a long-drawn cry. It was like the lingering shriek of +a coyote. Few in the hall had heard the call before, yet no one mistook +it for anything but human. + +"An Apache yell!" exclaimed an excited voice. + +There was a sudden overturning of benches and Pen and Jim were forced +out into the street with the crowd. + +An arc light glowed in front of the hall. Under this the crowd swayed +for a moment, uncertain whither to move. Jim held Pen's arm and looked +about quickly. + +"I don't know where you will be safest, Pen. I wish I'd heeded the +itching of my thumb and taken you home an hour ago." + +"Jim," said Pen, "I certainly like your parties. They are full of +surprises." + +"You are a good little sport," said Jim, "but that doesn't make me less +worried about you. Hang onto my arm now like a little burr." + +He began to work his way through the crowd. "I don't want to attract +their attention," he said. "They will follow me like sheep." + +"Was it an Apache cry, Jim?" asked Pen. + +"Yes! Old Suma-theek, with a bunch of his Indians has been riding the +upper mesa for me tonight. Just to watch Mexico City. I told him to +keep things quiet, so there must have been some imperative reason for +the cry. I'll take you to the upper camp and get my horse." + +Jim breathed a sigh of relief as they cleared the crowd and could +quicken their pace. But they were scarcely out of the range of the arc +light when a dark group ran hurriedly down from the mesa back of the +town. It was old Suma-theek with four of his Indians. They held, tightly +bound with belts and bandanas, two disheveled little hombres. + +"Take 'em to jail, Boss?" panted Suma-theek. "I find 'em trying get back +to lower town!" + +"No! No! Back up into the mountains. I'll get horses to you and you must +take them to Cabillo. Lord, I forgot to warn you!" + +Suma-theek turned quickly but not quickly enough. A man ran up to the +little group then plunged back toward the hall. + +"A rope!" he yelled. "Bring a rope. They've got the two hombres." + +Men seemed to spring up out of the ground. + +"Run, Pen, toward the upper camp!" cried Jim. + +"I won't!" exclaimed Pen. "They won't shoot while a woman is standing +here." + +She plunged away from Jim and caught Suma-theek's arm. The old Indian +smiled and shoved her behind him. Jim turned and stood shoulder to +shoulder with the Apache chief. "Now work back until we're against the +power house with the hombres back of us," he said. + +By the time the crowd was massed, yelling and gesticulating on three +sides of it, the little group was backed up against the concrete wall +of the little substation. + +Jim waved his arm. "Go home, boys; go home! You can't do any lynching +while the Apaches are here!" + +"Give us the hombres, Boss!" shouted a threatening voice, "or we'll have +to be rough on you." + +"Send the lady home," called someone else. "This is no job for a lady to +see." + +"Boss," said Suma-theek in Jim's ear, "you send your squaw out. She go +up mountain back of town, find Apache there, tell all Apaches bring +guns, come here, help take hombres to jail." + +Jim looked at Pen and his face whitened. But Pen's nostrils dilated and +her eyes sparkled. Pen was Irish. + +"I'll go," said Pen. "Where is Henderson?" + +"He ought to be back," said Jim. "Try to find him after you get the +Apaches. Send anybody down you can reach." Then he shouted to the crowd, +"Let the lady out!" + +Jim and Suma-theek stood well above most of the mob. Jim was unarmed and +the crowd knew it. But even had any man there been inclined to prevent +Pen's exit he would rather have done so under a cocked gun than under +the look in Jim's white face as he watched Pen's progress through the +crowd. The men gave back respectfully. As soon as she was free of the +crowd, Pen broke into a run. She darted back behind the line of tents up +onto the mountainside. + +There for an instant she paused and looked back. The five Indians were +as motionless as the crouching black heaps they guarded. They held their +guns in the hollow of their arms, while Jim, with raised arm, was +speaking. Pen sobbed in her excitement. If Uncle Denny could see his +boy! + +She turned and ran up the trail like a little rabbit. It seemed to her +that she never would reach the top. The camp sounds were faint and far +before she reached the upper mesa and saw dimly a figure on a horse. It +was an Indian who covered her with a gun as she panted up to him. + +"Suma-theek and the Big Boss say for you to call in all the other +Indians and come help them at the little power house. The whites are +trying to lynch the hombres." + +The Indian peered down into her face and grunted as he recognized her. +Then he suddenly stood in his stirrups and raised the fearful cry that +had emptied the moving picture hall. + +"Ke-theek! Ke-theek! Ke-theek! (To me! To me! To me!)" + +Pen stood by the pony's head, trembling yet exultant. This, then, she +thought was the life men knew. No wonder Jim loved his job! + +Up on the mesa top, the night wind rushed against the encircling stars. +The Indian chuckled. + +"Mexicans, they no bother whites tonight. They know Apache call, it heap +devil." + +The sound of hoofs began to beat in about the waiting two. "You go," +said the Indian. "Back along upper trail, it safe." + +Pen started on a run toward the upper camp. + +The surging crowd round Jim and the Indians heard the wild cry from the +mesa top and the shouts and threats were stilled as if by magic. There +was a moment of restless silence. That cry was a primordial thing, as +well understood by every man in the mob as if he had heard it always. It +was the cry of the hunted and the hunter. It was the night cry of +forests. It was war with naked hands, death under lonely skies. + +Jim called: "Some one is bound to get killed if you boys don't clear +out. I'm not armed but a number of you are and the Indians are. If there +are any of my Makon boys here, I want them to come over here and help +me." + +"Coming, Boss!" called a voice. "Only a few of the best of us here." + +"You'll stay where you are," roared a big Irishman. + +"Rush 'em, boys! Rush 'em! They don't dare to shoot!" + +Old Suma-theek absent-mindedly sighted his gun in the direction of the +last remark. + +"Get a ladder! Get on top of the station. Altogether, boys!" + +Fighting through the mob, half a dozen men suddenly ranged themselves +with the Indians. + +"Come into us!" one of them shrieked. "I ain't had a fight since I +killed six Irishmen on the Makon and ate 'em for breakfast." + +There was a swaying, a sudden closing of the crowd, when down from the +mesa rushed old Suma-theek's bucks. They swept the mob aside like flying +sand and closed about the little group against the wall. They were a +very splendid picture in the arc light, these forty young bucks with +their flying hair and plunging ponies. The moment must have been one of +unmixed joy to them as the whites gave back, leaving them the street +width. + +Jack Henderson rushed up in Jim's automobile just as the street cleared. +Jim hurried to the machine. "Jack, did you see Mrs. Saradokis?" + +"Took her home in the machine. Had to argue with her to make her go. +That's why I'm late. Just got back from delivering the committee." + +The color came back under Jim's tan. "Get up to the wall there, Jack, +with the machine and put the two hombres into the tonneau with two +Indians and Suma-theek in front. The mounted Indians will act as your +guard for a few miles out. Hit the high places to Cabillo. I guess you'd +better keep the guard all the way. I wouldn't like you to meet a posse +without one." + +Jack nodded and began to work his way among the ponies. In a moment's +time the touring car, with the cowering human bundles in the tonneau, +had crossed the river. The crowd disappeared rather precipitately into +the tents, no one courting conversation with Jim. He walked quietly up +the road home. + +Early the next morning, Billy Underwood brought Murphy up to Jim's +house. + +"Sorry my posse didn't get there in time to help you out, Boss," said +Bill regretfully. "We didn't hear of it till it was all over." + +Jim nodded. "Keep up your quarantine for a while, Bill. We won't risk +booze for several days. Now, Murphy, who backed you in the saloon +business?" + +"Fleckenstein's crowd." + +"How long have you known Mr. Saradokis?" + +"Met him for the first time last night," replied the ex-saloonkeeper. + +Jim eyed the man skeptically and Murphy spoke with sudden heat. "That's +on the level. I heard he was backing Fleckenstein and so I thought he'd +help me get back at you. But he cursed me as I'll stand from no man +because Underwood made a monkey of me by lugging me up there before you. +No wonder his wife left the tent before he began, if that's his usual +style. I'll get even with that dirty Greek." + +Bill nodded. "Boss, that friend of yours has a vocabulary that'd turn a +mule into a race horse." + +"Murphy," said Jim, "you are Irish. My stepfather is an Irishman. He is +the whitest gentleman that ever lived. It's hard for me to realize after +knowing him that an Irishman can be doing the dirty work you are. But I +suppose Ireland must breed men like you or Tammany would die." + +Murphy hitched from one foot to the other. Jim went on in his quiet, +slow way. + +"I suppose you know pretty well what I'm up against on this Project. +What would you do with Murphy if you were Manning?" + +"I'd beat three pounds of dog meat off his face," replied Murphy, +succinctly. + +Jim shrugged his shoulders. "That would do neither of us any good. If I +let you go, Murphy, will you give me your word of honor to let the +Project absolutely alone?" + +The Irishman gave Jim a quick look. "And would you take my word?" + +"Not as a saloonkeeper, but as Irish, I would." + +Murphy drew a long breath. "Thank you, Mr. Manning. I'll get off the +Project if you say so. But I think you'd be wiser to give me a job below +on the diversion dam where I can keep track of Fleckenstein and his +crowd for you. I'll show you what it means to trust an Irishman, sir." + +Jim suddenly flashed his wistful smile. "I knew you had the makings of a +friend in you as soon as I saw how you took the cleaning up I gave you +yesterday. I'll give you a note to my irrigation engineer. He needs a +good man." + +Bill and Murphy went out the door together. "I'll bet you the drinks, +Bill," said Murphy, "that he never made you his friend." + +"I ain't drinking. I'm his trusted officer," said Bill. "Get me? If you +try any tricks on him----" + +Bill stopped abruptly, for Murphy's fist was under his nose. "Did you +hear him take my word like a gentleman?" he shouted. "I'd rather be dead +than double cross him!" + +"Aw, go on down to the diversion dam," said Bill, irritably. "I've got +no time to listen to your talk. You heard him tell me to guard the +place!" + +A part of Jim's day's work, after his letters were answered and written +in the morning, was to tramp over every portion of the job. The quarry, +in the mountain to the north of the dam whence were being taken the +giant rock for embedding in the concrete was his first care. The stone +must be of the right quality and of proper weight and contour to bind +well with the cement. The quarrying itself must be going forward rapidly +and without waste. Then came the giant sand dump, where the dinkies had +filled a canyon with the sand from the river bed. This was the supply +that fed the always hungry mixer. After this the warehouse and the power +house, the laboratories and the concrete mixer, the cableway towers and +the superintendent's office, with all the thousand and one details, +expected and unexpected, that made or marred the success of the dam, +must be looked over. The last visit was always at the dam itself, where +Jim spent most of the day. + +On the afternoon after Jim had hired Murphy he stood on the section of +the dam which now showed no signs of old Jezebel's strenuous visit. Jim +was watching the job with his outer mind, while with his inner mind he +turned over and over the things that Pen had said to him the night +before the mask ball. Even in the excitement that followed the ball, +Pen's scolding, as he called it, had never been entirely out of his +thoughts. In spite of their sting, Jim realized that Pen's words had +cleared his vision, had given him a sense of content that was comparable +only to the feeling he had had on the night so many years ago that he +had discovered his profession. + +To find that the cause of his failure lay in himself and not in +intangible forces without that he could not combat was strangely enough +a very real relief. For Jim was taking Pen's review of his weaknesses as +essential truth! + +Suddenly, with his eyes fastened critically on a great stone block that +was being carefully bedded on the section, he laughed aloud and +whispered to himself: + +"I feel just the way I used to when I got mad because I couldn't get +compound interest and Dad straightened me out, giving me a good calling +down as he did so. Pen! Pen! My dearest!" + +Oscar Ames, picking his way carefully among the derricks and stone +blocks, grunted when he saw the smile on Jim's face. Jim did not cease +to smile when he saw Oscar. + +"Come up here, Ames! I want your advice!" + +Oscar grunted again, but this time as if someone had knocked his breath +out of him. He paused, then came on up to where Jim was standing. Men +were busy preparing the surface on which they stood for the next +pouring. In the excavation below, the channeling machine was gouging out +a trench for the heel of the dam. Pumps were working steadily, drawing +seepage water from the excavation. Men swarmed everywhere, on derricks, +on engines, with guide ropes for cableway loads, scouring and chipping +rock and concrete surfaces, ramming and bolting forms into place, +shifting motors, always hurrying yet always giving a sense of direction +and purpose. + +"She's coming along, Oscar," said Jim. + +Oscar nodded. Something in Jim's tone made his own less pugnacious than +usual as he said: + +"What you using sand-cement for instead of the real stuff?" + +"It's stronger," said Jim. "A very remarkable thing! We've been testing +that out five or six years." + +Jim's tone was very amiable. Oscar looked at him suspiciously and Jim +laughed. "Thought we were working some kind of a cement graft?" Jim +asked. + +"Well, that's the common report!" + +"Oh, for heaven's sake, Oscar!" exclaimed Jim disgustedly. + +"Well, now," said Ames doggedly, "just why should sand-cement be +stronger than the pure Portland?" + +Jim scowled, started to speak with his old impatience, then changed his +mind. + +"You come up to the laboratory with me, Oscar. I'll give you a lesson on +cement that will put a stop to this gossip at once. A man of your +experience ought to know better." + +Conflicting emotions showed in Oscar's face, boyish despite his fifty +years. This was the first time Jim had used the man to man tone with +Ames. He cleared his throat and followed the Big Boss up the trail to +the little adobe laboratory. The young cement engineer looked curiously +at Jim's companion. + +"Mr. Field," said Jim, "this is Mr. Ames. He is one of the most +influential men in the valley. He is giving practically all of his time +to watching our work up here. He tells me the farmers feel that +sand-cement isn't good. We will put in an hour showing Mr. Ames our +tests and their results for the last five years, both here and on the +Makon." + +Field did not show his surprise at Jim's about-face. But he did say to +himself as he went into the back room for his old reports, "Evidently +the farmer is no longer to be told to go to Hades when he kicks. I +wonder what's happened." + +An hour later Jim and Oscar walked slowly up the trail toward Jim's +house. Jim had invited Ames up for a further talk. Oscar had shown a +remarkable aptitude for the details that Jim and Field had explained. +And his pleasure at finally understanding the whole idea upon which Jim +was basing his concrete work was such that Jim felt a very real remorse. +He recalled almost daily questions from Oscar and other farmers that he +had answered with a shortness that was often contemptuous. + +"Now you see," Oscar said as they entered the cottage, "we'll actually +save money on that. Wonderful thing, Mr. Manning, how mixing the sand +and cement intimately enough, as you say, turns the trick. I'll tell the +bunch down at Cabillo about that tomorrow." + +Jim shoved a box of cigars at Oscar and surveyed him with his wistful +smile. There were dark circles round Jim's eyes that in his childhood +had told of nerve strain. Jim at that moment wondered what Iron Skull +would have made of the present situation. He was silent so long that +Oscar spoke a little impatiently: + +"If you ain't going to talk, Mr. Manning, Jane is waiting for me and I +got to see Mr. Sardox yet." + +Jim pulled himself together, and, a little diffidently, handed Ames the +Secretary's letter with the copy of his own. + +"Tell me what you think of these," said Jim. + +Oscar read the two letters carefully, then said: "I'd think more of 'em +if I had any idea what either of you was driving at." + +"It means just this," said Jim, "that unless the engineers and the +farmers work together, the Reclamation Service will get what the water +power trust is trying to give it, and that is, oblivion." + +"Aha," said Oscar, "that's why you've been so decent to me today?" + +"Yes," replied Jim simply. + +Oscar's look of suspicion returned. Jim went on slowly and carefully. +"It will be bad business if the Service fails. It will retard the +government control of water power greatly, and there is enough possible +water power in this country, Oscar, to turn every wheel in it and to +heat and light every home in the land. If the Service fails it will +show just one thing; that the farmers and engineers on the Projects are +too selfish to get together for the country's good, that the farmer is a +stupid cat's paw for the money interests and the engineer a spineless +fool who won't fight." + +"Look here, Manning," cried Oscar, "don't you think I'm justified in +thinking about nothing but my own ranch, considering what it's cost me?" + +"Don't you think," Jim returned, "that I'm justified in thinking about +nothing but my dam and in letting the water power trust eat it and you +up, considering how hard I work on the building itself?" + +Oscar stared and chewed his cigar and Jim smoked in silence for a +moment. + +"Ames," he said finally, "I wonder if you will get this idea as quickly +as you did the sand-cement one. America isn't like England or Germany or +France. Over there the citizens of each country are practically of one +race. Fundamentally, they think about the same way and want the same +things. If one man or many neglect public duties it makes no permanent +difference. Someone else will take up the duty some time, and in just +about the same way that the negligent man would have done. But in +America we have become a hodge-podge of every race. We have no national +ideals. You can't tell me now of a single national ideal you and I are +working for or even thinking about. You can't tell me what an American +is, or I you. Get me?" + +Oscar nodded, his tanned face keen with interest. + +"Now the time has come when if you or I want any particular one of the +old New England ideals to live in this country we have got to fight for +it, start an educational campaign for it. If we don't, the Russian Jews +or the Italians or the Syrians will change things to suit their own +ideals. Now they may be all right. Their ideals may be as good as mine. +They have every right to be here and to rule if they can. But I don't +like the kind of government they stood for in their native countries. + +"I'm a pig-headed Anglo-Saxon, full of an egotism that dies hard. I +believe that the Reclamation Service idea is an outgrowth of the fine +democracy that our fathers brought to New England. I believe that the +folks that are going to inherit America can't afford to lose the idea of +the Service and I'm going to fight for it now till they get me. Am I +clear?" + +"Sure," said Oscar. "Ain't I of Puritan stock myself?" + +"That's why I'm talking to you," said Jim. "Now I take the central idea +of the United States Reclamation Service to be this. It is a return to +the old principle of the people governing themselves directly, of their +assuming individual responsibility for the details and cost of +governing. It is the fine outgrowth of the industrial lessons we have +learned in the past years, combined with the town meeting idea, brought +up to date. + +"One central organization can do work better and cheaper, if it will, +than a dozen competing interests. If the central organization is +privately owned it demands a heavy profit. But if it is owned by the +government it takes no profit. On a Project, free individuals +voluntarily combine to do business and to directly administer the +products of that business to themselves. The Service is merely the tool +of the people on the Projects. + +"Oscar, it's up to you and me. In antagonizing you farmers, I've opened +the way for the enemies of the Service to reach you. And you, in being +reached, are endangering the Service. Is it true that you are going to +help Saradokis and Fleckenstein get your honest debts repudiated?" + +The two men sat and stared at each other, Oscar with his years of +unutterable labor behind him, his traditions that dealt with a constant +hand-to-hand struggle with nature for his own existence; Jim with his +long years of dreaming behind him and his awakening vision of social +responsibility before him. Engineer and desert farmer, they were of +widely differing characteristics, yet they had one fundamental quality +in common. They both were producers. They were not little men. There was +nothing parasitic in their outlook. They had always dealt with +fundamental, primitive forces. + +Suddenly Oscar leaned forward. "Are you trying to string me into saying +the increased cost of the dam is all right?" + +Jim tapped on the table. "Not five per cent of the increased cost but +comes from the improvements you farmers have asked for. And not one cent +of the cost of the entire Project but will be paid for by the water +power produced and sold. You know that, Ames. Now pay attention." + +Jim shook his finger in Oscar's face and said slowly and incisively: + +"You farmers will never repudiate your honorable debts while I can +fight. You are going to fight with me, Ames, to help me save the +Service. You are going to put your shoulder to mine and fight as you did +when the old dam was going out under your feet! Do you get that?" + +Oscar opened his mouth but no words came. Then both men jumped to their +feet as Mrs. Ames' gentle voice said from the kitchen door: + +"Oscar will fight, or I'll leave him." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +JIM GETS A BLOW + + "The eagle has lived long in my side. He is cruel with + talons built for seizing. Is this why so many nations choose + him as their emblem?" + + MUSINGS OF THE ELEPHANT. + + +Jane never had looked meeker or smaller or more desert worn than she did +as she stood eying the two men; that is, meek except as to her eyes. +These burned like sapphires in the sun. In them was concentrated the +deathless energy that Penelope had found was Jane's chief +characteristic. + +"I've been sitting in the kitchen waiting for Mrs. Flynn and listening +to you two talk. It was very interesting." + +"Jane, you keep quiet," said Oscar. + +"Come in and sit down, Mrs. Ames," said Jim, pulling forward a chair. + +"Don't be too polite to me, Mr. Manning," said Jane. "I ain't used to it +and it makes me nervous. I made up my mind while I heard you talk I'd +get a few things off my chest. It may help both of you. I've often said, +when Oscar was always telling me to keep quiet, that when I had +something to say I'd say it." + +Oscar looked very much mortified. "Jane," he said, "what's got into +you?" + +"Well, it isn't your politeness, that's sure. Funny now, that Mrs. +Penelope and I both have nice manners while her husband and mine are +both pigs as far as their ways to us go. There isn't a more popular man +in the country than Oscar, but he keeps his popular ways all outside his +own home." + +Oscar and Jim looked at each other and waited. They both realized that +the eruption was inevitable. + +"Women are awful fools. Until I had running water put in against Oscar's +wishes I lugged as many as thirty buckets of water a day for thirty +years. I've carried water and I've chopped wood and I've had babies and +I've come at your bidding, Oscar, but now, I'm going to complain. And +it's not about my life either. + +"I used to feel sorry for myself until I got to know Mrs. Pen. She has +_real_ trouble, but instead of getting peevish as I have over just +Oscar's selfishness, she's let it make her see the world instead of +herself. She has a sort of calm outlook on life. She has told me a dozen +times that she looks at life as a great game and trouble as one of the +hazards. That's golf talk. She says the only real sport to be got out of +the game is to play it according to rule. And she says marriage seems to +be one of the rules. Think of having the courage to talk that way about +marriage! She's better than a book." + +Mrs. Ames chuckled reminiscently. Then stared out at the desert and her +lips moved in silence as if she found it hard to frame her next +sentence. + +"We've talked a lot about the Project, she and I. At first I was like +Oscar, all for being afraid our ranch wasn't going to get as much and a +little more than anyone else's. Then after she kept talking about it, +all of a sudden I saw that I wasn't Jane Ames at all, drudging out my +life in the sand. I'm a human being, struggling along with other human +beings to make a living and _be happy_. And then I got the feeling that +I wanted to help to make this whole Project the finest place on earth +not only for myself but for everyone else. + +"And then, just as I get started on something that's giving me my first +chance since I was married to mix with people and do some real big work +in the world, I find out that Oscar is getting all mixed up in deals +that'll ruin Mr. Manning and the whole Project as far as our owning it +goes." + +"Jane!" shouted Oscar. + +"Yes, Jane!" replied Mrs. Ames. "If you think I'm going to stand that +kind of disgrace, if you think I'm going to keep quiet while my babies' +father is a cat's paw for fellows like that Greek and Freet, you are +mistaken. And I'm not going to shilly-shally about it. Oscar, you are +going to begin right now fighting with Mr. Manning for the Project or +I'll leave you." + +Oscar jumped to his feet. "For the Lord's sake, Jane, don't talk that +way! How did I know how you felt? You never talk to me.". Ames forgot +Jim. He laid a knotted hand on Jane's shoulder. "Why, Jane, I've often +thought if anything happened to you, I'd kill myself. I didn't have time +to run in and tell you that every fifteen minutes. But I'll do it, now, +by heck, if you want me to! You don't understand about me and Mr. +Sardox, though." + +Jane's burning eyes did not leave Oscar's face. "Oscar, you choose right +now between the Freet crowd, and Mr. Manning and me." + +There was that in Jane's eyes which caused Oscar to pale under his tan. +"All right, Jane! All right! When you put it that way there is just one +thing for me to do. I'll quit them." + +Jane suddenly turned, and bowing her head against Oscar's arm she began +to sob. "It would have torn my heart strings out to have left you, +Oscar." + +Jim watched the two with eyes that saw none too clearly. + +Oscar smoothed Jane's hair and shook his head. "No use to tell a woman a +secret. Jane, you went and told Mrs. Penelope about Freet, didn't you?" + +Mrs. Ames wiped her eyes. "You told her yourself. You talked to the +wrong flower girl at the ball. She came to me about it the first thing +when she saw me today." + +"Shucks!" said Oscar. + +"How did you get in touch with Freet, Oscar?" asked Jim. + +"Aw, I'll help you, Mr. Manning, but I won't tell you other people's +business." + +"All right, Oscar. It may interest you to know that I had received a +note this morning from Freet saying he was coming down here to see me on +business." + +Oscar flushed. "Come on, Jane, let's be going. I'm much obliged to you +for the cement talk. Why didn't you help me that way before, Mr. +Manning?" + +Jim laughed. "I didn't know enough to, Oscar. To tell the truth, a lady +has been after me, too!" + +"Mrs. Pen!" exclaimed Jane. + +Jim nodded comically and Oscar with a sudden roar of laughter shook +hands with Jim. "And women think they need the vote!" he said, leading +Jane out the door. + +That evening just as Jim was finishing his supper Pen walked into the +living room. "Jim," she said, "did you know that Mr. Freet was coming?" + +Jim pulled out a chair for Pen but she shook her head. "Yes, I had a +letter from him. He wants to see my sand-cement work and one or two +other new stunts I'm trying out." + +Pen moistened her lips. "Jim, he's up at our tent now, talking with +Sara. They say nothing before me, but--Still, I'm going to take Sara +back to New York at once." + +"We'll see what I can do first," said Jim. "I'll go up there now." He +picked up his hat, then paused. "Pen, I haven't told you how much your +talk the other night has done for me, or how--how I thank you for +staying on here to help me after--after Wind Ridge. It is--I----" + +"Jane told me about your talk with Oscar this afternoon. O Still, I'm so +proud and so glad!" + +Jim looked at Pen's glowing cheeks and at her parted scarlet lips. +"Pen," he said suddenly, "I'm going to have Henderson give more mask +balls. You are years younger since having a good dance, and it looks as +if a dance will be the only chance I'll ever have to hug you for all the +dear things you do for me!" + +Then he fled out the door before Pen could answer. He walked in at the +open door of the tent. + +"Good evening, Mr. Freet," he said. + +Arthur Freet rose nonchalantly. "Hello, Manning! Pleasure before duty. I +had to get Saradokis' report on my New York deals before I came to see +you." + +"Oh, come across, Mr. Freet!" said Jim quietly. "I know about what you +want and you'll have to approach me sooner or later, so let's get done +with it." + +Freet smiled broadly. "I always knew you'd come to your senses, Manning, +if we gave you time. Well, our friend Saradokis is in touch with the New +York office of the Transcontinental Water Power Company. They have a +very tempting proposition to make to the farmers. They stand ready to +outbid any competitor for the power you will develop on the Project." + +"We'll let 'em bid, sure," replied Jim calmly. "I shall advertise for +bids as soon as I am ready." + +"That won't do," said Freet. "The only way to get away with this is to +do it quietly. Hold the public off till the contract is signed." + +Jim grunted. Sara eyed him without comment. Oscar spoke suddenly. "Now +look here, Mr. Manning, I ain't as sore at you as I was. I guess, after +our talk this afternoon, you think you're doing what's best for the +valley. But you want to be fair about this. It may not look quite right, +but it's the best thing for the farmers. We want to get all the money we +can out of the power. You say yourself that's what will pay for the dam. +And if these folks will give us twice what anyone else will, I say close +the deal with them, any way you can." + +"What's _your_ price, Ames?" asked Jim clearly. + +Oscar jumped to his feet. "In the old days," he roared, "no man would +have lived to ask me that twice!" + +Jim looked for a long moment into Oscar's eyes, then he drawled: "All +right, Oscar, I apologize. Only you'd better leave national politics to +your inferiors after this. What's _your_ price, Mr. Freet?" + +Arthur Freet laughed. "You can't get a rise out of me, Jim! My price is +to see these Projects a financial success. Methods don't bother me, nor +hard names." + +Jim sat silent for a moment, then he turned suddenly on Sara. "Of +course, you get a chunk of money, Sara. But there is something more in +it than that for you. What are you trying to ruin me for, Sara?" + +Again Sara seemed to see scarlet. "Didn't you spoil Pen's----" + +"Keep that name out of this!" shouted Jim. + +"Then don't ask me again why I hate you," returned Sara. "I told you +once. But you are too superior, too one-sided, too egotistical, to see +anyone but yourself!" He rose on one elbow. + +"You were the closest friend I ever had and you turned me down without a +chance to make myself right. You never sent me word in my living death. +Do you suppose I enjoy this mental hell I live in? Did you ever dream +you were nailed fast in your coffin? That's my life waking and sleeping. +Why shouldn't I curse a God who could serve me such a trick? I would +make every living thing a cripple, if I could, and I'd begin on you, +you! I'll get you yet!" + +Jim glanced at Oscar. The big desert farmer was staring at Sara, horror +in every line of his face. + +"Oh, come!" said Freet, "I didn't know you had anything personal in +this, Mr. Saradokis. Manning and I are engineers, out for the good of +the Projects." + +"Whatever your motives are, Mr. Freet," said Jim, "I don't like your +methods and haven't since the Makon days. The water power will be opened +to public bids and if you try to force me I'll tell what I guess." + +Freet laughed. "Don't be too sure of yourself, Jim! You are branded as +my pupil. If I go, you will probably go." + +"O hell!" said Jim, starting for the door. "I'd rather go if I've got to +spend my life fighting fellows like you. In this instance, though, I'm +boss. I have the sale of the water power in my control." + +"Don't be too sure, Jim," said Freet, still smiling. + +Oscar followed Jim from the tent. Neither of them spoke while on the way +to Jim's house where Pen and Jane were sitting with Mrs. Flynn. But in +the kitchen Oscar made Jim wait while he told the three women what had +occurred in the tent house. + +"Now all of you witness," he said, "that I'm through with that bunch. +They played me for a sucker to influence the farmers against Mr. Manning +and for the trust. When I think of the many different kinds of a fool I +am I wish some good trained mule would come along and kick me." + +"That's all right, Oscar," said Jim, "you've been no bigger fool than I +have. We'll get busy now, won't we?" + +Oscar flushed as Jim smiled at him. "Darn it, Mr. Manning," he said, +"why haven't you looked at me that way before?" Then he laughed with the +others. + +Then Pen spoke very uncertainly: "This settles it, of course. I shall go +back to New York at once with Sara." + +The little group in the kitchen looked at Jim. His face was white and +set. + +"Wait a day or so, Pen. I must get some sort of a plan formulated." + +"What am I to do with that man Freet hanging round?" asked Pen. + +"Come down for a day or so with me, Mrs. Pen," said Mrs. Ames. + +"That's a good idea," said Jim. "Freet won't stay after tomorrow, +anyway. I can promise you that." + +"And I'll look out for the caged hyena," said Mrs. Flynn. "If God lets +me live to spare my life, he'll get a tongue lashing from me that'll +give him new respect for the Irish." + +Once more the group in the kitchen laughed, though tensely, and parted +for the night. + +The next day Freet put in on the dam with Jim. Jim treated him with +courtesy, showing him everything that he asked to see. Freet was very +complimentary and told Jim he was a credit to his teacher. After a visit +to the quarry Jim said suggestively: + +"You will want to take the six o'clock train, tonight, of course." + +Freet hesitated. Jim went on dryly. "Under the circumstances, it is +hardly in good taste for you to remain. It might look as if you and I +were having a gentleman's agreement on the price of dams." + +Freet laughed. "I had planned to take the six o'clock train. I quite +finished my business with Saradokis last night. He's a brilliant +business man. Too bad he has that silly whim about you." + +Jim did not answer. He called to Henderson and asked him to have the +automobile sent to the quarter house. He himself took Freet to the +train. They talked construction work all the way and parted amiably. +Then Jim returned to his belated office work. + +The last letter that he opened was from the Director of the Service. It +explained to Jim that while the Director had complete faith in Jim's +engineering ability and integrity, Jim's unpopularity not only with the +public but with the investigating committee made his resignation seem +expedient for the good of the Service. It was with extreme regret and +with full appreciation of what Jim had done for the Service that the +Director asked for Jim's resignation, three months from date. + +Jim folded the letter and put it in his pocket. Then he stared out of +the door at the Elephant. The great beast was silent in the after-glow. +A to-hee cheeped sleepily in a nearby cholla: + + "O yahee! O yahai! + Sweet as arrow weed in spring!" + +Then Jim went slowly up the trail to his house, and, refusing his +supper, went into his room and closed the door. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +JIM PLANS A LAST FIGHT + + "The coyotes are going leaving behind them bleaching bones. + The Indians are going leaving a few arrow heads and water + vessels. What will the whites leave?" + + MUSINGS OF THE ELEPHANT. + + +Jim was angry. All night he lay staring into the dark with his wrath +accumulating until it finally focused itself, not on the Director or on +Sara or on the farmers, but on himself! He reviewed the years +mercilessly. He saw how he had refused again and again to shoulder the +responsibilities that belonged to him--belonged, because of his fitness +to carry them. Charlie Tuck and Iron Skull both had done what they could +to make him see, but wrapped in his futile dreams he had refused to +look, and, he told himself, long before he had left Exham, his father +had tried to set him on the right path but he always had put off the +quest on which his father had sent him, always thrust it over into +tomorrow when today was waiting for his start. + +The very peak of his anger was reached when it suddenly came home to Jim +that he had failed his father, had proved renegade to old Exham. + +Three months! A cool dismissal after over eight years of his heart's +blood had been given to the Service! Jim groaned, then sat erect. + +"Serves you right, you dreaming fool! Nobody to blame but yourself! +Three months! And in that time the farmers will elect Fleckenstein to +Congress and the open fight for repudiation will be on!" + +Jim groaned again. Then abruptly he jumped out of bed, turned on the +light, and looked at the little picture of Pen on the wall. + +"Pen," he said, "Fleckenstein shan't be elected! I'm going out of this +Project, fighting like a hound. I've been a quitter all my life, I'll +admit, but I'm going to put up my fists at the end. I'll rush the work +here and I'll keep Fleckenstein out of Congress. I'll spend no time +belly-aching but I'll stand up to this like a man. Honestly, I will, +Penelope." + +Dawn was coming in at the window. Jim filled the bathtub and took a cold +plunge. The sun was just rimming the mountains when he began to tune up +his automobile. He filled the tank with gasoline and cranked the engine +and was starting out the door when old Suma-theek appeared. Jim stopped. + +"Where you go, Boss?" asked the Indian. + +A sudden desire to talk to Iron Skull's old friend made Jim say, "Get in +and ride to the bridge with me, Suma-theek." + +The chief clambered into the seat by Jim. "Suma-theek, the Big Boss at +Washington has given me three months before I must leave the dam." + +"Why?" asked Suma-theek. + +"Because I darn well deserve it. I've got everybody here sore at me. +Everybody on this Project hates me, so he's afraid it will hurt all the +dams the Big Sheriff at Washington wants to build for all the whites." + +"He's a heap fool, that Big Boss at Washington. All the people that know +you love you in their hearts. It hurt your heart because you have leave +dam?" + +Jim nodded. The old Indian eyed him keenly. Then his lean, bronze face +turned sad. "Why you suppose Great Spirit no care how much heart aches? +Why you suppose he let that little To-hee bird all time sing love to +you, then no let you have your love? Maybe, Boss Still, all those things +you believe, all those things you work for, Great Spirit think no use. +Huh?" + +"The Great Spirit didn't explain anything to us, Suma-theek, but he gave +us our dreams. I want to fix my tribe's dream so firmly it can never be +forgotten. As for my own little dream of love, what does it matter?" + +Suma-theek responded to Jim's wistful smile with an old man's smile of +lost illusions. "Dreams are always before or behind. They are never +here. You are young. Yours are before. Suma-theek is old. His are +behind. Boss Still, you no sabez one thing. All great dreams of any +tribe they built by man for love of woman." + +Jim stared for a moment at the purple shadow of the Elephant. Then he +stopped the machine at the bridge to let Suma-theek out. In a moment the +machine was climbing the mesa on the road to Cabillo. + +Jim always thrilled to his first view of Cabillo as he swung down into +the valley. It is a little town lying on a desert plain three thousand +feet above the sea. Flood or drought or utter loneliness had not +prevailed to keep men from settling there. It is set in the vivid green +of alfalfa field, of vineyards, and of orchards. Around about the town, +the desert lies, rich, yellow, and to the east rise mountains that stand +like deep purple organ pipes against the blue desert sky. It seemed to +Jim this morning that the pipes had forever murmured with the wordless +brooding music of the desert winds. That age after age they had been +uttering vast harmonies too deep for human ears to hear, uttering them +to countless generations of men who had come and gone like the desert +sand. + +In Cabillo Jim went, after a hasty breakfast, to see John Haskins. +Haskins was a banker and a Harvard man who had come to Cabillo thirty +years before with bad lungs. He was, Jim thought, an impartial, though +keen, observer of events in the valley. He was in the banker's office +but a few minutes. + +"Mr. Haskins," he said, "do you consider fifty dollars an acre too heavy +a debt for the farmers to carry on their farms?" + +"Not for the experienced irrigation farmer," replied Haskins. + +Jim paused thoughtfully. "Experienced! And not twenty per cent. of them +will be experienced." He made an entry in his notebook, then asked, "Is +ten years too short a time to give the farmers to pay for the dam?" + +"Not with wise cropping." + +"Is it possible to find sufficient water power market to practically pay +for the dam, without reference to the crops?" Jim went on. + +"Yes," answered Haskins. + +"If a group of farmers and business men will assume a debt, +voluntarily, then repudiate it, are they sufficiently responsible +persons to assume for all time the handling of the irrigation system and +water power the government is developing for them?" Jim's voice was slow +and biting. + +Haskins answered clearly, "No!" + +Jim's last question made Haskins smile. "Is this an intelligent group of +men, these farmers and business men?" + +"Unusually so, especially the men who have been long in the desert and +have struggled with its vicissitudes. Some of the Mexican farmers are +difficult to handle, though, because they don't understand what the +government is trying to do. For heaven's sake, Manning, why this +catechism?" + +Jim laughed. "Oh, I want your opinion to quote. I'm about to put up a +fight against Fleckenstein." + +"But that will be hardly proper, will it, considering your job? Not but +what I think Fleckenstein ought to be fought!" + +"Oh, I'm not going on the stump. I'm merely going to fight him by +attending to certain portions of my job that I've always neglected." + +Jim rose and Haskins shook his head ruefully. "More power to your elbow, +old man. But nothing can beat Fleckenstein now, I'm afraid." + +"I'm going to mighty well try it," said Jim as he hurried out the door. + +His next visit was along the irrigation canal to a point where his +irrigation engineer was watching the work on a small power station. + +"Hello, Marlow, how is Murphy doing?" + +Marlow laughed. "I made him timekeeper. He's assumed the duties of +policeman, ward boss and of advertising agent for you." + +"Where is he?" asked Jim. + +"Coming right along the road there now." + +Jim started the machine on to meet the stocky figure that Marlow pointed +out. + +Murphy grinned broadly as Jim invited him into the machine. "I want to +talk to you, Murphy? How does the job go?" + +"Aw, it's no job! It's a joy ride. I thought I knew every farmer in the +county but I didn't. A new one turns up every day to tell the Little +Boss how to irrigate." + +"Murphy," said Jim, "how do you size up Fleckenstein?" + +Murphy looked at Jim curiously. "Just like everyone else does, as a +crook." + +"How much pull has he with the farmers?" + +Murphy shrugged his shoulders. "How much pull would the devil himself +have if he promised repudiation? Tell me that, Boss!" + +"Is the chap who is running against him any good?" + +"Who, Ives? Is a bag of jelly an implement of war? What have you got on +your mind, Boss?" + +"Well, to tell the truth, Murphy, I've just come to! The election is +just three months off, isn't it? I am going to try to lick Fleckenstein +in that time." + +"Can't be done, Boss, unless you'll take the stump yourself." + +"Of course, that's out of the question," replied Jim. "But this is what +I'm going to do. I'm going to see every farmer in the valley and have a +good talk with him. I'm going to make him see this Project as I do. And +I'm going to send for half a dozen of the best men in the Department of +Agriculture to come out here and get the newcomers interested in +scientific farming. I'm not going to mention Fleckenstein's name." + +Murphy looked at Jim, then out at the irrigating ditch along which the +machine was moving slowly. "Boss," he said, "go ahead if it'll ease you +up any, but you might as well try to fight a hydrophobia skunk with a +perfume atomizer as to try them high-brow methods on Fleckenstein." + +Jim laughed. "Well, do you know of a better method, Murphy?" + +"Yes, the good, old-fashioned way of putting up more whisky, more money +and more free rides than the other fellow does." + +Jim turned the machine back toward the power station. "Of course, you +know that that is out of the question, Murphy." + +"Well, what do you want me to do, Boss?" asked Murphy. + +"Tomorrow is Sunday," said Jim. "I want you to come up to my house and +discuss with me the characteristics of every man in the valley. I don't +know anyone better qualified to know them." + +"I'll be there," said Murphy, climbing from the machine. He watched Jim +drive away. "There's something about him that gets under my skin," said +the ex-saloonkeeper. "I'll be holding his hand, next. Poor snoozer! +Think of him trying to fight mud like Fleckenstein. But I'll back him if +it'll relieve his mind any." + +Jim was back at the dam by mid-afternoon. He found Pen with Mrs. Flynn +in the shining little kitchen of his adobe. + +"Penelope," he said, "is there any way we can rob Sara of his poison +fangs? Certainly sending him away will do little good. I have been +thinking of giving him his choice of being under espionage or of being +turned over to the government. I've played with him, Pen, a little too +long. Now that it's too late, I'm going to lock the door." + +Mrs. Flynn looked frightened. She never had seen this expression on +Jim's face before. The scowl between his eyes was deep, his jaw was +tense and his eyes were too large and too bright. But Pen's face flushed +eagerly. + +"You are angry at last, Jimmy! Thank heaven for that! We can watch Sara, +easily, if you will use your authority. And oh, I do so want to stay and +help! Your temper is touched at last, Jim. I am thankful to Freet for +that." + +Jim nodded grimly. "Will you go over to the tent with me? Or had I +better have it out with Sara alone?" + +"Neither," said Pen. "I'll settle him myself. I feel like having a scrap +with someone. What else are you going to do, Still? Shall you report +Freet?" + +"That's out of the question. Freet is the least of my troubles, anyhow. +I'll tell you all my plans." He looked from Mrs. Flynn, whose anxious +eyes did not leave his face, to Pen, with her cheeks showing the scarlet +of excitement. Something in their tense interest in him was suddenly +very comforting to Jim and he smiled at them. And though it was a +little strained it was the old flashing, sweet smile that those who +knew him loved. + +"I don't know how I'm to get through the next few weeks," he said, +"unless you two are very kind and polite to me." + +Mrs. Flynn suddenly threw her apron over her head. "God knows," she +sobbed, "I've waited for you to smile this weary time! I've washed and +mended all your clothes and cleaned your room and cooked everything I +ever heard of and not a smile could I get. I thought you had something +incurable!" + +Jim made a long stride across the room and hugged Mrs. Flynn, boyishly. +"Didn't you tell me you felt like my mother? Don't you know mothers have +to see through their boy's stupidity and selfishness down to the real +trouble that lies underneath? No one will do it but a mother!" + +Mrs. Flynn wiped her eyes on her apron. "God knows I'm an old fool," she +said. "Change that dirty khaki suit so's I can wash it." + +Jim chuckled and turned to Pen. She was watching the little tableau with +all her hungry heart in her eyes. + +"Pen! Oh, my dearest!" breathed Jim. Then he paused with a glance at his +near-mother, who immediately began to rattle the stove lids. + +"Get out and take a walk, the two of you. God knows I'm a good Catholic, +but there's some things--get out, the two of you! Let your nerves ease +up a bit. Sure we all pound and twang like a wet tent in the wind." + +Out on the trail Jim spoke a little breathlessly: "Pen! If you would +just let me put my head down on your shoulder, if you'd put your dear +cheek on mine and smooth my hair, the heaven of it would carry me +through the next few weeks. Just that much, Pen, is all I'd ask for!" + +Tears were in Pen's eyes as she looked up into the fine, pleading face. +"Jim, I can't!" + +"You wouldn't be taking it from Sara." + +"Sara! Poor Sara! He wants no embraces from anyone! I'm no more married +to Sara than a nurse to her patient. But I mean that as long as things +are as they are, the honest thing, the safe thing, is for me not +to--to--Oh, Jim, it's not square to any of us. We must keep on the +straight, clear basis of friendship!" + +But Jim had seen Pen's heart in her eyes and the call of it was almost +more than his lonely heart could bear. + +"Great heavens, Pen!" he cried. "Life is so short! We need each other +so! What does it profit us or the world that all your wealth of +tenderness should go untouched and all my hunger for it unsatisfied? If +your touch on my hair will brace me for the fight of my life, why should +you deny it to me?" + +Pen tried to laugh. "Still, what's happened to your morals?" + +Jim replied indignantly: "You can't apply a system of ethics to your +cheek against mine except to say it's all wrong that I can't have you +now, in my great need. And I warn you, Pen, I shall come to you thirsty +until at last you give me what is mine. Only your cheek to mine is all I +ask for, Penny." + +Pen looked up at the pleading beauty of Jim's eyes. "Don't plead with +me, Jim," she half whispered, "or I think my heart will break." + +The two looked away from each other to the Elephant. The great beast +seemed to sleep in the afternoon sun. + +"Tell me about your plans, Still," said Pen, her voice not altogether +steady. + +"Murphy thinks I'm a fool," said Jim. "Perhaps I am. But Oscar Ames has +been a good deal of a surprise to me: Just as soon as I took the trouble +to explain the concrete matter to him, he got it instantly. And in a way +he got my talk about the new social obligations you showed me." + +Pen interrupted eagerly: "You don't know how much you did in that talk, +Jim. Oscar has discovered you and he's as proud as Columbus. He has made +me tell him everything I know about you. You see you have that rare +capacity for making anyone you will take the trouble to talk to feel as +if he was your only friend and confidant. Oscar has discovered that you +are misunderstood, that he is the only person that really understands +you and he's out now explaining to his neighbors how little they really +know about concrete." + +Jim looked surprised. "I don't know what I did, except to follow your +instructions, but if it worked on Ames, it ought to work on the rest. I +believe that after a few more talks with Ames, he will work against +Fleckenstein, Pen, and that I will accomplish it by just talking the dam +to him until he understands the technical side of it and the ideal I +have about it. And if it will influence him, why not the others?" + +Pen looked at him thoughtfully. "I believe you can do it, Jim. A sort of +silent campaign, eh? And then what?" + +"Well, if I can keep Fleckenstein out of Congress by those means, I +believe that this project will never repudiate its debt! I am going to +get the Department of Agriculture to send a group of experts out here at +once. They will help not only the old farmers who over-irrigate but the +new farmers who can't farm. And I'm going to get the farmers who have +been successful to co-operate with the farmers who have failed. If I +only had more time! + +"You have three months before election," said Pen. "A lot can be done in +three months." + +Jim shrugged his shoulders. "I can only do my limit. Among other things +I'm going to try to get the bankers and business men in Cabillo to fight +the inflation of land values here on the Project. Incidentally, I'm +going to keep on building my dam." + +"How can I help?" asked Pen. + +"I've told you how," said Jim, quietly. + +"Oh, Still, that's not fair!" exclaimed Pen. + +"Why not?" asked Jim, coolly. Pen flushed and looked away. They were +nearing the tent house and she spoke hastily: + +"I'll go in and talk with Sara." + +"Better let me," said Jim. + +"No," said Pen, "every woman has an inalienable right to bully and +intimidate her own husband." + +Jim laughed and left her, reluctantly. Pen went into the tent. Sara was +looking flushed and tired. The look had been growing on him of late. He +had been unusually tractable for a day or so and Pen's heart smote her +as she greeted him. No matter how he tried her, Sara never ceased to be +a pitiful and a tragic figure to her in his wrecked and aborted youth. + +"Sara," she said, her voice very gentle and her touch very tender as +she held a glass of water for him, "Jim wanted to come in and talk to +you but I wouldn't let him." + +Sara pushed the glass away. "Why not?" + +"Because you and he quarrel so. Sara, it's a fair fight. You warned Jim +that you would ruin him. He says you may have your choice of being +watched or turned over to the authorities." + +"He is a mutton head!" said Sara. "I suppose he thinks the crux of the +matter is that seance with Freet. As if I'd do as coarse work as that! +That's what I'd like, to be turned over to the authorities. Couldn't I +tell a pretty story about the meeting with Freet up here? Freet actually +thought Jim would come across with the contract! But that wasn't what I +was after." + +"Sara, when you talk like that, I despise you," said Pen. + +"You despise me because I'm a cripple," returned Sara. "Why can't you be +honest about it?" + +"Don't you know me yet, Sara?" asked Pen, sitting down on the foot of +his couch and looking at him entreatingly. "Don't you know that if you +had taken your injury like a man, you'd have gotten a hold on my +tenderness and respect that nothing could have destroyed? Sara, I've +watched you degenerate for eight years, but I never realized to what a +depth you had sunk until you came to the Project." + +"What do you see in the Project," said Sara. "What does it really matter +whether private or public interests control it? Who really cares?" + +"Lots of people care. Jim cares." + +"Pshaw!" sneered Sara. "All Jim Manning really cares about is his own +pigheaded sense of race and nationality." + +"Jim needs that sense for his propelling power," said Pen. "I believe +that just as soon as a man loses his sense of nationality, he loses a +lot of his social force. Love of country--a man that hasn't it lacks +something very fine, like family pride and honor. Jim's sense of race is +the keynote to his character. And just as much as the New Englanders +have lost that sense, have they lost their grip on the trend of the +nation. They are the type that can't do without it." + +Sara eyed Pen curiously. She had turned to look out over the desert +distances so that Sara saw her profile clean cut against the sky. She +was only a girl and yet she had lived through much. Sara looked at her +noble head, high arched above her ears; at her short nose and full soft +mouth, at her straight brow, all blending in an outline that was that of +the thinker, infinitely sad in its intelligence. + +"That was a very highbrow statement of yours, Pen," he said, less +harshly than usual. "How did you come to think about these things?" + +Pen turned to look at him. "Marrying you made me," she said. "I had to +use my mind. I had no family. I had no talents. I had to teach myself a +sense of proportion that would keep you from wrecking me. I wanted to +get to look at myself as one human living with millions of other humans +and not as Pen, the center of her own universe." Pen laughed a little +wistfully. "Since I couldn't mother children of my own, naturally, I had +to mother the world." + +Sara grunted. "Huh! Who can say my life has been altogether a failure?" + +Sudden tears sprang to Pen's eyes. "Why, Sara, what a dear thing to say! +And I thought you would remove my hair because of Jim's message." + +The sneer returned to Sara's voice. "You ask Jim if he ever heard of +locking the barn too late? Tell him to bring on his 'armed guards.'" + +Pen was startled. "Sara, what have you done?" + +Sara laughed. "If you and Jim don't know, I'm not the proper one to tell +you! One of your gentleman friends is outside, evidently waiting for +you." + +Pen looked out. Old Suma-theek was standing on the trail, arms folded, +watching the tent patiently. He had had one interview with Sara soon +after the crippled man had appeared at the dam. The talk had been +desultory and in Pen's presence, but never after could the old Indian be +induced to come into the tent. + +"He like a broken backed snake, your buck," he had said calmly to Pen, +whom he had obviously adored from the first. + +Pen came down the trail to see what Suma-theek wanted. She knew there +was no hurrying him, so she sat down on a stone and waited. Suma-theek +seated himself beside her and rolled a cigarette. After he had smoked +half of it, he said: + +"Boss Still Jim, he heap sad in his heart." + +Pen nodded. + +"You love him, Pen Squaw?" asked Suma-theek, earnestly. + +"We all do," replied Pen. "He and I have known each other many, many +years." + +"Don't talky-talk!" cried Suma-theek impatiently. "I mean you love him +with a big love?" + +Pen looked into Suma-theek's face. She had grown very close to the old +Indian. And then, as if the flood in her heart was beyond her control, +she said: + +"You will never tell, Suma-theek?" and as the Apache shook his head she +went on eagerly, "I love him so much that after a while I must go away, +old friend, or my heart will break!" + +The old Indian shook his head wonderingly. "Whites are crazy fools," he +groaned. "You sabez he be here only three months more?" + +Pen started. "What do you mean, Suma-theek?" + +"You no tell 'em!" warned the old chief. "He tell Suma-theek this +morning. Big Boss in Washington tell 'em he only stay three months, then +be on any Projects no more." + +Pen sat appalled. "Oh, Suma-theek, that can't be true! You couldn't have +heard right. I'll go and ask him now." + +Suma-theek laid a hand on her arm. "You no talk to him about it! You +last one he want to know. I tell you so you go love him, then he no care +what happen." + +"Oh, Suma-theek, you don't understand! He loves the dam. It will break +his heart to leave it. Even I couldn't comfort him for that. Are you +sure you are right?" + +Yet even as she repeated the question, Pen's own sick heart answered. +This was what had put the new strain into Jim's face, the new pleading +into his voice. + +"How shall I help him," she moaned. + +"You no tell him, you sabez," repeated Suma-theek. "He want you think he +Boss here long as he can. All men's like that with their squaw." + +"I won't tell him," promised Pen. "But what shall I do?" She clasped +and unclasped her fingers, then she sprang to her feet. "I know! I know! +It will be like a strong arm under his poor overburdened shoulders!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE SILENT CAMPAIGN + + "I have seen that those humans who seek strength from Nature + never fail to find it." + + MUSINGS OF THE ELEPHANT. + + +Suma-theek waited eagerly. "I'll send for Uncle Benny," said Pen. "He'll +leave anything to help Jim." + +Suma-theek nodded. "Good medicine. He that fat uncle that love the Big +Boss. I sabez him. You get 'em here quick," and Suma-theek sighed with +the air of one who had accomplished something. + +"I'll telephone a night telegram to Cabillo," said Pen. "He ought to be +here in a week. But we mustn't tell the Big Boss or he wouldn't let us +do it." + +Suma-theek nodded and strolled off. When Pen returned to the tent Sara +was full of curiosity, but Pen began to get supper with the remark, "I'm +not the proper one to tell you, if you don't know!" + +When Pen sent the night telegram, she telephoned to Jane Ames, getting +her promise to come up to the dam the next day. As she took the long +trail back from the store, where she had gone for privacy in sending her +messages, it seemed to Pen that she could not bear to refuse Jim the +comfort for which he had begged. + +"My one safeguard," she thought, "is to avoid him except where we are +chaperoned by half the camp. My poor boy, keeping his real troubles to +himself!" + +After Sara was asleep that night, Pen slipped over to talk with Mrs. +Flynn. The two women were good friends. Sara's ugliness deprived Pen +here as it had in New York of the friendship of most women. In the camp +were many charming women who had lived lives with their engineering +husbands that made them big of soul and sound of body. But Sara would +have none of them. So Pen fell back on Mrs. Ames and Mrs. Flynn and the +strangely matched trio had many happy hours together. + +But Mrs. Flynn was not in her kitchen, nor was she in her little +bedroom. Pen wandered into the living room. Mrs. Flynn was not there, +but Jim was lying on the couch asleep, his hat on the floor beside him. +For many moments Pen stood looking at him. Sleep robbed Jim of his guard +of self-control. The man lying on the couch, with face relaxed, lips +parted, hair tumbled, looked like the boy whom Pen many a time had +wakened on the hearth rug of the old library. + +Suddenly, with a little sob, Pen dropped on her knees beside the couch +and laid her cheek against Jim's. She felt him wake with a start, then +she felt a hand that trembled gently laid on her head. + +"Heart's dearest, this is mighty good of you!" said Jim huskily. + +Pen did not answer, but she put her hand up and smoothed his hair back +from his forehead. Jim seized her fingers and carried them to his lips. + +"Sweetheart," he said brokenly, "how am I going to bear it without you +or--or anything. Oh, Pen, let's go back to Exham and begin all over +again!" + +Penelope lifted her head and slipped back until she was sitting on the +floor beside the couch, with Jim holding both her hands against his hot +cheek. + +"You will do this often, won't you, dear?" asked Jim. + +Pen shook her head. "Jimmy, about twice more like this and I'd be +actually thinking seriously of leaving Sara and marrying you. God help +me to keep from ever doing as yellow a thing as that, Still. But, +somehow tonight, I thought that just this once would help us both +through all the hard months to come. And the memory will be mighty +sweet. We--we need a memory to take some of the bitterness out of it +all, Still. If I'm wrong in doing this, why the blame is mine alone." + +Jim lay silently, holding her hands closer and closer, looking into her +face with eyes that did not waver. + +Pen smiled and disengaged one hand to smooth his hair again. "I'm a poor +preacher. My life is just an endless struggle not to let my mistakes +wreck other people as well as myself. Jim, the thing that will be bigger +than all we've missed is to make you give the world all the fine force +that is in you. We've _got_ to save the dam for you and for the country. +I shall be with you every moment, Jim, no matter where either of us is, +bracing you with all the will I've got. Never forget that!" + +Little by little the steel lines crept over Jim's face again. "I shall +not forget, little Pen. How sweet you are! How good! How less than a +lump of dough I'd be if I didn't put up a good fight after +this!--dearest!" + +In the silence that followed, they did not take their gaze from each +other. Then Pen started, as Mrs. Flynn came in at the front door and +stopped with her mouth open. But Jim would not free Pen's hand. + +"Mother Flynn must have guessed," he said slowly, "and--she knows us +both!" + +Mrs. Flynn came over to the couch eagerly. "I do that!" she exclaimed, +"and my heart is wore to a string, God knows, sorrowing for the two of +you." + +"I came in to see you and found Jim asleep and--he's got so much trouble +ahead of him, I couldn't help trying to comfort him just this once. I'll +never do it again," said Pen, like a child. + +Mrs. Flynn threw her apron over her head, then pulled it down again to +say, "God knows I'm a good Catholic, but I'm glad you did it. Don't I +know what a touch of the hand means to remember? Is there a day of my +life I don't live over every caress Timothy Flynn ever gave me? Would I +sit in judgment on two as fine as I know the both of you are? I'm going +to make us a cup of tea for our nerves." + +Jim swung his long legs off the couch and lifted Pen to her feet. "The +two of you have tea," he said. "I've had a better tonic. I'm going out +for a look at the night shift." + +By the time that Mrs. Flynn had bustled about and produced the tea, Pen +had regained her composure and was ready to tell Mrs. Flynn of the +errand that had brought her to the house, which was that when Jane Ames +came up on the morrow the three were to have a council of war on how to +help Jim. Wild horse could not have dragged from her what Suma-theek had +told her, since Jim so evidently wanted it kept a secret. Nevertheless, +all that a woman could do, possessing that knowledge, Pen was going to +do. + +The next afternoon, while Oscar joined Murphy and Jim, who were having a +long talk in Jim's living room, Pen and Mrs. Ames and Mrs. Flynn went up +onto the Elephant's back. + +Pen's plan was simple. It was merely that she and Jane go among the +farmers' wives and campaign against Fleckenstein. "Women's opinions do +count, you know," she said. + +"Mine didn't use to," said Jane, "but they do now. I ain't felt so young +in years as I have since Oscar and I had that clearing up. It's a +splendid idea." + +"Where do I come in?" asked Mrs. Flynn, jealously. + +"I wanted you to keep an eye on Sara, the days I am away," said Pen. +"You are the only one he will let come near him except me." + +"Sure I'll do it," said Mrs. Flynn. "I'd take care of a Gila monster if +I thought it would do the Boss any good. And Mr. Sara don't sass me so +much since I told him what I thought of the Greek church. No! No! I +won't tell the Boss. God knows I'm worried thin as a knitting needle now +over his worrying." + +"Then I'll come down tomorrow, Jane," said Pen. "Bill Evans will take us +round. He charges----" Pen blushed and stopped. "I--I--to tell the +truth, I have to ask Sara for what I want and I don't know just how to +get round it, this time." + +Jane in her turn went red. "I'll ask Oscar. I hadn't begun to break him +in on that yet. But he's been so nice lately." + +Mrs. Flynn stood eying the two women. "Of all the fools, women are the +worst," she snorted. "You bet Tim never kept the purse and there never +was a happier pair than him and me. Just you wait." + +As she spoke, Jim's near mother was exploring the region within her +gingham waist and finally she tugged out a chamois skin bag that bulged +with bills. "I ain't been down to the bank at Cabillo for months, and +that angel boy pays me regular as a clock. How much do you want?" + +"Oh, but we can't let you pay out anything, Mrs. Flynn," protested +Penelope. + +Neither Pen nor Mrs. Ames had seen Mrs. Flynn angry before. "I mustn't, +mustn't I?" she shrieked. "Who's got a better right? Who feeds him and +launders him and mends him? Don't he call me Mother Flynn? God knows I +never thought to see the day to be told I could not do for him! I expect +to be doing for him till I die and if God lets me live to spare my life, +that'll be a long time yet!" + +Pen threw her arms round Mrs. Flynn and kissed her plump cheek. "Bless +your dear heart, you shall spend all you want to on Jim." + +Mother Flynn sobbed a little. "God knows I'm an old fool, girls! Take +what you want and come back for more." + +And thus the campaign for Jim among the farmers' wives was launched. + +Neither Oscar nor Murphy had any faith in Jim's "silent campaign." But +his own quiet fervor was such that after that Sunday afternoon's talk, +both men pledged themselves to help him. Murphy was to play the part of +watchdog. Oscar was to work among the farmers. + +Oscar Ames never did anything by halves. With Jane urging him from +without and his new found faith in Jim urging him from within, he turned +his ranch over to the foreman and devoted himself utterly to Jim. The +days now were busy ones in the valley as well as on the dam. Jim's +eighteen hours a day often stretched into twenty, though he sometimes +dozed in his office chair or in the automobile with Oscar, reveling in +his new-learned accomplishment, driving at a snail's pace. + +During this period Pen saw him only infrequently, for she was much +occupied with Sara, who was not so well, when she was not in the valley +with Jane Ames. Even when Pen did see Jim, he talked very little. It +seemed to her that in his fear lest the secret of his dismissal escape +him, he had gone into himself and shut the door even against her. + +They did not speak again of watching Sara, but Pen knew that no mail +left their tent, no visitor came and went without surveillance. If Sara +knew of this, he made no comment. In fact, he did very little now save +smoke and stare idly out the door. + +Reports of Jim's campaign reached Pen quite regularly, however. Oscar +was a very steady source of information. + +"He don't say much, you know, and that's what makes a hit," Oscar told +Pen and Jane. "For instance, he went over to old Miguel's ranch. +Miguel's one of the fellow's been accusing the Boss of raising the cost +of the dam so's he could steal the money. Boss, he found old Miguel +looking over his ditch that's over a hundred years old. And the Boss, he +says as common as an old shoe: + +"'Wish I owned the place my fathers built a hundred years ago, Senor +Miguel.' + +"Miguel, he had had his mind made up for a fight, but started off +telling the Boss about old Spanish days in the valley and the Boss, he +sits nodding and smoking Miguel's rotten cigarettes and smiling at him +sort of sad and friendly like until old Miguel he thinks the Boss is the +only man he ever met that understood him. After two straight hours of +this, the Boss he says he'll have to go, but he wishes old Miguel would +come up and spend the day and dine with him. Says he's got some serious +problems he'd like old Miguel's opinion on. And old Miguel, he follows +us clear out to the main road, where we left the machine, and he tells +the Boss his house is his and his wife and his daughters and sons are +his and his horses and cattle are his and that he will be glad to come +up and show him how to build the dam." + +"Mrs. Flynn says he's having some farmer up to supper nearly every +night," said Jane. "Oscar, how comes it you always speak of Mr. Manning +as the Boss, now? You never would call any other man that?" + +Oscar squared his big shoulders. "He's the only man I ever met I thought +knew more than I do. You ought to hear the things he can tell you about +dam building. And he's full of other ideas, too. A lot of what you folks +put down as stuckupedness is just quietness on his part while he thinks. +I'm trying to pound that into these bullheaded ranchers round here. I +tell 'em how to make sand-cement, for instance, and then ask 'em if a +fellow didn't have to keep his mouth shut and saw wood while he thought +a thing like that out. I'm willing to call him Boss, all right. He's +got more in his head than sand cement, too. Last night, we was coming +home just before supper. He's been on the job since four in the morning +and I knew he had to get back and work half the night on office work. +And I says: + +"'Boss, what will you get out of it to pay you for half killing yourself +this way?' + +"He didn't answer me for a long time, then he begun to tell me a story +about how he and another fellow went through the Makon canyon and how +that other fellow felt about it and how he was drowned and how he had +some verses that that fellow taught him printed on his gravestone. +Thought I'd remember those lines. They made me feel more religious than +anything I've heard at church. Something about Sons of Martha." + +Pen had been listening, her heart in her eyes, trying not to envy Oscar +his long days with Jim. Now she leaned forward eagerly. + +"Oh, I know what he quoted to you: + + "'Lift ye the stone or cleave the wood to make a path more or flat, + Lo, it is black already with blood, some Son of Martha spilled for that. + Not as a ladder from Earth to Heaven, not as an altar to any creed, + But simple Service, simply given, to their own kind, in their + common need.'" + +The three sat silent for a moment, then Oscar nodded. "That's them. He +said he never got their full meaning till just lately and now he's +trying to live up to 'em. I'm perfectly willing to call him Boss." + +Pen and Jane were not finding the farmers' wives easy to influence. +Their task was a double one. First they had to rouse interest in the +coming election and then they had to persuade the women that their +husbands were wrong. Moreover, after the first week or so, they found +that Penelope's presence was a hindrance rather than a help. It was +after their call on Mrs. Hunt that they reluctantly reached this +conclusion. + +Bill rattled them up to a bungalow on one of the new ranches. The Hunts +were newcomers, having bad luck with their first attempts at irrigation. +Mrs. Hunt was a hearty looking woman of forty. Pen stated the object of +the call. + +"I never had any interest in politics," said Mrs. Hunt. "I was always +too busy with my family to gallivant around." + +Jane and Pen plunged earnestly into explanations. When they had +finished, Mrs. Hunt said: + +"I can see why Mrs. Ames is so interested. But why should you be, Mrs. +Sardox? I heard your husband was backing Fleckenstein." + +"I don't agree with my husband's ideas," said Pen. "I am doing this +because I think Fleckenstein's election will do the valley a deadly +wrong." + +"Oh, you are one of those eastern women that thinks they know more than +their husbands! I am not! I prefer to let my husband do my thinking in +politics for me. Does Mr. Manning know you're doing this?" + +"Oh, no!" cried Jane. "You don't understand this, Mrs. Hunt." + +"I'm no fool," returned Mrs. Hunt. "And I tell you it don't look well +for a good-looking young married woman to go round fighting against her +husband for a handsome young bachelor like Manning. So there!" + +Pen and Jane withdrew with as much dignity as they could muster. It was +the sixth rebuff they had received that day. Pen was almost in tears. + +"Jane, what are we to do?" + +Jane fastened up her linen duster firmly. "One thing is sure, you can't +go round with me. One way, you can't blame 'em for looking at it so, +drat 'em! I'll just have to carry on this campaign by myself. I wish Mr. +Manning could go with me. I don't think he has any idea that he has a +way with women. He just sits around looking as if he had a deep-hidden +sorrow and all us women fall for it. You and I aren't a bit more +sensible than Mrs. Flynn. Here I got a Chinese cook in the house Oscar +lugged home. I'd as soon have a rat in the house as one of the nasty +yellow things, but Oscar says I got to have him or a dish washing +machine, so, after all, I've said I'm up against it. And here I am +dashing round the country for Mr. Manning, when I know that Chink is +making opium pills in my kitchen." + +But Pen was not to be distracted. "What can I do, Jane? Must I just sit +with folded hands while the rest of you work?" + +"You do your share in supplying ideas, Penelope," said Jane. + +Pen answered with a little sob, "I get tired of that job! I want to be +on the firing line, just once!" + +That night they consulted with Oscar. At first he was very hostile to +the thought of either of them undertaking such work. Then in the midst +of his tirade on woman's sphere, he stopped with a roar of laughter. + +"And I'm a fine example of what a woman can do with a man when she gets +busy! All right, Jane, go ahead. Hanged if I ain't proud of you! But +Mrs. Pen is hurting the cause. The women folks won't stand for you, Mrs. +Pen; you are too pretty." + +So Pen withdrew from the campaign and Jane and Bill Evans went on alone. + +When Oscar was not with Jim, he brought visitors to the dam. These +visitors were farmers and business men from the entire Project. Ames was +careful to time the visits, so that about the time he strolled up to the +dam site with the callers, Jim would be on his tour of inspection. Oscar +would then follow unostentatiously in Jim's wake, but close enough to +get a good idea of the ground that Jim covered. Often he would make Jim +stop and give an explanation of some point the visitors could not +understand. Penelope, consumed with curiosity, joined the touring party +one day. + +"I wish you could see him in full action," Oscar was saying. "Like the +day of the flood or the night Dad Robins was killed. He can handle +fifteen hundred men better'n I handle my three. Now you watch him. Those +there fellows he's joshing have been with him seven years. You ought to +hear their stories about driving the tunnel up on the Makon. Say, he'd +go right in with 'em. Never asked 'em to go somewhere he wouldn't go +himself. They all laugh at us farmers, those rough-necks. Say, we don't +know a real man when we see one." + +The bronzed elderly man who was with Oscar listened intently. Oscar went +on: + +"The details on a place like this are enough to drive a man crazy. He +dassent let 'em pour concrete without him or his cement expert is +round. If the rocks aren't just right or the surface of the section +isn't just right or they slip up a little on the mixture, the whole +thing will go to thunder some day. He's got to spend ten million dollars +with eighty million people watching him and all us farmers kicking every +minute. How'd you like his job?" + +"He was over at my place the other day," said the farmer. "I see how he +got his nickname. But he's awful easy to talk to. I got to telling him +what a hard time I had the first year or two I was irrigating alfalfa +and how I get five good cuttings a year now, regular. He wants me to +show that new fellow Hunt how I did it. Guess I will. I always thought +Manning hated the farmers. But I guess he was just busy with his own +troubles." + +Pen fell back and climbed the trail to a point where she could look down +on Jim. He was listening to his master mechanic, interjecting a word now +and then at which his subordinate nodded eagerly. Pen wondered sadly, +what Jim would do with his life when he could no longer work for the +Projects. The thought of this sudden thwarting of all his plans haunted +her and she longed almost unbearably to talk to him about it, but his +silence on the subject she felt that she must respect. As she sauntered +on along the trail to meet Bill Evans exploding into camp with the mail, +she was thinking back over Jim's life and of how much of it had been +spent in listening rather than in speaking. His silence, she thought, +was a part of his great personal charm. From it his companions got a +sense of a keen, sympathetic intelligence focused entirely on their own +problems that was very attractive. Somehow, Pen had faith that his +campaign of silence would defeat Fleckenstein. + +Bill had a lone passenger in his tonneau. Pen's pulse quickened. As the +machine reached her side, Bill stopped with his usual flourish, and +Uncle Denny, without waiting to open the door which was fastened with +binding wire, climbed out over the front seat. + +"Pen! Pen! The door of me heart has hung sagging and open ever since you +left!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +UNCLE DENNY GETS BUSY + + "Coyotes breed only with coyotes. Men talk much of pride of + race, yet they will breed with any color." + + MUSINGS OF THE ELEPHANT. + + +Pen clung to Uncle Denny with a breathless sob. She had not realized how +heavy her burden was until Uncle Denny had come to share it. + +"Uncle Denny! You didn't answer my telegram and I didn't dare hope you +would get here." + +"Where is Jim, Penny, and how is me boy?" + +"I'll take you to him now. He has no idea of your coming. Bill, we will +walk. Take the trunk on up to Mr. Manning's house, will you?" + +"I was afraid 'twould get out and I knew he'd never stand for me coming +out to help. That's why I sent you no word," said Uncle Denny, beginning +to puff up the trail beside Pen. + +"He's just the same old Jim," said Pen, "but under a terrific strain +just now, of course. You can understand from my letters just how great +that is." + +"And Sara?" asked Uncle Denny. + +"Not so well," replied Pen. "He is very quiet, these days. There is the +first glimpse of the dam, Uncle Denny." + +Uncle Denny stopped and wiped the sweat out of his eyes with his silk +handkerchief. He gazed in silence for a moment at the mammoth +foundations, over which the workmen ran like ants. + +"'Twas but a hole in the ground when I last saw it," he said. "Pen, it's +so big you can't compass it in your mind. And they are pecking at me boy +while he builds mountains!" + +"There he is!" exclaimed Pen, pointing to the tower foot. + +"It is! It's Still Jim! Is me collar entirely wilted?" + +Pen laughed. "Uncle Denny, you're as fussed as a girl at meeting her +sweetheart! You look beautiful and you know it. There! He sees us!" + +Uncle Denny lost a little of his color and stood still. Jim came +striding down the road. His eyes were black with feeling. Without a word +he threw his arms around Uncle Dennis and hugged that rotund person off +his feet. + +"Still Jim, me boy!" cried Uncle Denny. "I've come out to lick the world +for ye!" + +Jim loosened his bear hug and stepped back. His smile was brilliant. + +"Uncle Denny, you look like a tailor's ad! Doesn't he, little Penelope?" + +There was something in Jim's voice as he spoke Pen's name that Michael +Dennis understood as clearly as if Jim had shouted his feeling for Pen +in his ear. + +"I'm starving to death," he said hastily. "Take me home, Still. Come +along, Pen." + +Mrs. Flynn was surveying the trunk as it stood on end in the living +room. She was talking rapidly to herself and as the three came up on the +porch she cried: + +"I said 'twas you, Mr. Dennis! I told myself fifty times 'twas your +trunk and still myself kept contradicting me. You are as handsome as a +Donegal dude. Leave me out to the kitchen till I get an early supper!" + +After supper Jim and Dennis sat for a short time over their pipes before +Jim left for some office work. + +"Tell me what to do first, Still," said Uncle Denny, "and I'll start a +campaign against Fleckenstein that'll turn the valley upside down. +That's what I came out for. I'll fix them, the jackals!" + +"Uncle Denny, it won't do," answered Jim slowly. "The uncle of a Project +engineer can't carry on a political campaign in his behalf. You'd just +get me in deeper with the public." + +Uncle Denny stared. "But I came out for that very thing." + +"I thought you had just come out for one of your usual visits. It won't +do, dear Uncle Denny. I can't say anything against Fleckenstein nor must +you." + +"Me boy," said Michael Dennis, "all the public sentiment on earth can't +keep me from fighting Fleckenstein. Pen sent for me and I'm here." + +"Pen sent for you?" repeated Jim. "Why, Pen should not have done that." + +"This is a poor welcome, Jim," said Uncle Denny, immeasurable reproach +in his voice. + +Jim sprang to his feet and put a long brown hand on Uncle Denny's +shoulder. "You can't mean that, Uncle Denny. It's meat and drink to me +to have you here. You can't doubt it." + +"I can't, indeed," agreed Dennis heartily. "And somehow, I'm going to +help. Go get your work done and then call for me at Pen's house." + +Jim had been in the office but a few minutes when he came out again and +stood on the edge of the canyon, staring at the silhouette of the +Elephant against the night stars. After a moment he turned up the trail +toward the tent house. He entered without ceremony and stood a tall, +slender, commanding figure against the white of the tent wall. His eyes +were big and bright. His lips were stiff as he looked at Sara and said: + +"You are fully even now, Saradokis. I've a notion to kill you as I would +a rattler." + +The tent was bright with lamplight. The red and black Navajo across +Sara's cot was as motionless over the outline of his great legs as +though it covered a dead man. Uncle Denny stared at Jim without +stirring. His florid face paled a little and his bright Irish eyes did +not blink. + +Pen could see a tiny patch that Mrs. Flynn had put on the knee of Jim's +riding breeches. There swept over her a sudden appreciation of Jim's +utter simplicity and sincerity under all the stupendous responsibilities +he had assumed not only in the building of the dam, but in his less +tangible building for the nation. As he stood before them she saw him +not as a man but as the boy Uncle Denny often had described to her, +announcing the vast discovery of his life work. Would he, had he known +the bitter years ahead of him, have chosen the same, she wondered. + +"I found two interesting communications in my mail tonight," said Jim, +slowly. "One is a letter from the Washington Office containing clippings +from eastern papers. Some reporter announces that he has discovered a +fully developed scheme of mine and Freet's to sell out to the +Transatlantic people. He gives a twisted version of the conversation +here, the other night, that sounds like conclusive evidence. The matter +is so well handled that even the Washington office is convinced that I'm +a crook. The local papers will, of course, copy this." + +Sara did not stir. Jim moistened his lips. "While I knew that I lived +under a cloud of suspicion," he said, "I thought to be able to leave the +Service with nothing worse than suspicion on my name. I shall never be +able to live this down. Yet this is not the worst. I received tonight an +anonymous letter. It states that unless I drop my silent campaign, the +name of the wife of my crippled friend will be coupled with mine in an +unpleasant manner." + +Pen's eyes were for a moment horror-stricken. Then they blazed with +anger. And so suddenly that Jim and Dennis hardly saw her leave her +chair. She sprang over to Sara's couch and struck him across the mouth +with her open hand. The stillness in the room for a second was complete, +except that Sara breathed heavily as he rose to his elbow. + +"I may or may not have produced the newspaper copy, but so help me the +God I have blasphemed, I have never used Pen's name," said Sara. + +"But you have," said Jim. "You used it before Freet. You probably have +cursed me out before Fleckenstein as you did before him and Ames!" + +"And there was my trying to help Jane Ames in the valley!" cried Pen +suddenly. "She's talking with the farmers' wives for Jim and I went with +her until the women were cattish. Oh, Jim, what have we done to you, +Sara and I?" + +"I shall have to give up the fight a little earlier, that is all," +answered Jim. "Don't feel badly, Pen. If I only had some way of +punishing Sara and stopping his mischief! Though it's too late now." + +"Just be patient, Jim," said Sara. "My mischief will soon end." + +Pen had heard only Jim, the first sentence of Jim's remarks. She stood +beside the table, white to the lips. "Jim, if you want to wreck my life, +stop the fight! Do you suppose, except for the moment's shame, I care +what they say about me? If you will only go on with your fight, Jim, let +them say what they will. I can stand it. My strength--my strength----" +Pen paused with a little sob, as if Uncle Denny reminded her of her +girlhood dreams, "my strength is in the eternal hills!" + +"I have lived with George Saradokis all these years," Pen went on, "and +he's almost broken my faith in life. When I found I could help you, Jim, +I thought that I was making up for some of the wrong of my marriage. I +even thought that I'd be willing to go through my marriage again because +it had taught me how to help you fight. Jim, it will ruin my life if you +stop now!" + +And Pen suddenly dropped her face in her hands and broke down entirely. +Jim never had seen Pen cry. He took a step toward her, then looked +pitifully at Uncle Denny. + +Uncle Denny sprang from his chair. + +"Go on out, Jim," he said. Then he folded Pen in his arms. "Rest here, +sweet, tired bird," he said in his rich voice. "Rest here, for I love +you with all me soul." + +Jim's lips quivered. He went out into the night and once more climbed +the Elephant's back. For a long time he sat, too exhausted by his +emotions to think. With head resting on his arms, he let the night wind +sweep across him until little by little his brain cleared and he looked +about him. Far and wide, the same wonder of the desert night; the stars, +so low, so tender, so inscrutable, the sky so deep, so utterly +compassionate; the far black scratch of the river on the silver desert, +the distant black lift of the mountains--Pen's eternal hills! + +Over the flagpole on the office the flag rippled and floated, sank and +rose, dancing like a child in the joy of living. Jim looked at it +wistfully. Flag that his forefathers had fashioned from the fabric of +their vision, must the vision be forgotten? It was a great vision, fit +to cover the yearnings of the world. His grandfather had fought for it +at Antietam. His father had lost it and had died, bewildered and hungry +of soul. Was he himself to lose it, son of vision seekers? + +The Elephant beneath him seemed to listen for Jim's reply. "God knows," +he said at last, "I would not deny the vision to all the immigrant +world. All I wish is that we who made the vision had kept it and had +taught it to these others to whom our heritage must go. You can scoff, +old Elephant, but the struggle _is_ worth while. You can say that +nothing matters but Time. I tell you that eternity is made up of soul +fights like mine and Pen's!" + +Suddenly there came to him the fragment that Pen had quoted to him days +before: + + "What though the field be lost? + All is not lost--the unconquerable will, + And courage never to submit nor yield; + And what is else, not to be overcome!" + +Jim suddenly rose with his blood quickened. "Not to be overcome! And +God, what stakes to fight for! To build my father's dream in stone and +to make a valley empire out of the tragedy of a woman's soul!" + +With renewed strength Jim went down the trail, crossed the canyon and +went up to his house. + +Uncle Denny was waiting for him. It was nearly midnight. He had kindled +a fire in the grate and was brewing some tea. "Mrs. Flynn would have it +you'd fallen off a peak but I got her to bed. Have some tea, me boy." + +Uncle Denny's voice was cheerful, though his eyes were red. He watched +Jim anxiously. + +"You should have gone to bed yourself, Uncle Denny. I have a letter to +write, then I'm going to turn in." + +Uncle Denny's hand shook as he poured the tea. "I had to see you, Still, +because I promised Pen I'd go back over there tonight and tell her what +your decision was." + +Jim caught up his hat. "I'll go!" + +But Uncle Denny laid his hand on Jim's arm. "No, me boy. Pen's had all +she can stand tonight. I'll take her your word. What shall it be, +Still?" + +Jim brought his fist down on the table. "Tell her, with her help, I'll +keep up the fight!" + +Uncle Denny's blue eyes blazed. "I'm prouder of the two of you than I am +of me Irish name," he said, and, seizing his hat, he hurried out. + +While he was gone Jim wrote this note: + +"My dear Mr. Secretary:--Some time ago I wrote you that I did not think +an engineer should be asked to build the dam and at the same time handle +the human problems connected with the Project. Subsequent events lead me +to believe that as your letter suggests it is the duty of the government +to look on these Projects not as engineering problems so much as the +building of small democracies that may become the living nuclei for the +rebirth of all that America once stood for. I do not believe that I am +big enough for such a job, but I am putting up a fight. I have been +asked to resign within a few weeks from now. I think, looking at the +matter from the point of view I have just expressed, that I am dismissed +with justice. This letter is to ask you to see that my successor is +chosen with the care that you would give to the founder of a colony." + +Uncle Denny returned and waited until Jim had finished his letter. Then +he said: + +"Sara spoke just once after you left. He denied any knowledge of the +anonymous letter." + +"I'm going to put it up to Fleckenstein," said Jim. "The newspaper dope, +of course, was Sara's. I can only ignore that except to answer any +questions the farmers may put to me about it. How is Pen?" + +"She cried it out on me shoulder after you left and felt better for the +tears. Your message will send her to sleep. Still Jim, if I had a jury +of atheists and could put Pen on the stand and make her give her +philosophy as she has sweated it out of her young soul, I could make +them all believe in the eternal God and His mighty plans. To be bigger +than circumstance, that's the acid test for human character." + +Jim nodded and looked into the fire. This suggestion that he might be +the instrument of a mighty plan, he and Pen and Uncle Denny, awed him. +Uncle Denny eyed the fine drooping brown head for a moment. + +"Ah, me boy! Me boy!" he said tenderly. "The old house at Exham is not a +futile ruin. 'Tis the cocoon that gave birth to the butterfly wings of a +great hope. Look up, Still! You've friends with you till the end of the +fight." + +Jim reached for Michael Dennis' hand and held it with both his own, +while he said: "Stay with me for a month or two, Uncle Denny. Don't go +away. I need you. I've neither wife nor father and I haven't the gift of +speech that makes a man friends." + +Jim was off the next morning before daylight. Uncle Denny slept late and +while he was eating his breakfast, the ex-saloonkeeper, Murphy, came in. + +"The Big Boss sent me up to spend the day with you, Mr. Dennis. He can't +get back till late in the afternoon. He told me to talk Project politics +to you. My name is Murphy. I'm timekeeper down below, but I've left the +job for a while for reasons of my own." + +Uncle Denny pulled a chair out for Murphy and looked at him +thoughtfully. + +"Do you know this jackal, Fleckenstein?" + +"I do. The Boss showed me that letter. I suppose you know how a man like +Mr. Manning would take to a fellow like Fleckenstein?" + +"Know!" snorted Uncle Denny. "Why, young fellow, I'd know Jim's +disembodied soul if I met it in an uninhabited desert." + +Murphy raised his eyebrows. "You're Irish, I take it." + +"You take it right." + +"I was born in Dublin myself." + +The two men shook hands and Murphy went on. "I told the Boss to forget +that letter. I know Fleckenstein. I know all his secrets just as I do +about every other man's in the valley. I know their shames and their +business grafts. In fact I know everything but the best side of 'em. +I've been in the saloon business in this valley for twenty years, Mr. +Dennis." + +"Ah!" said Uncle Denny. "I understand now!" + +"All I've got to do," said Murphy, "is to drop in on Fleckenstein and +mention this letter and suggest that my own information is what you +might call detailed. 'Twill be enough." + +"Of course, it might not be Fleckenstein," said Dennis. + +"Never mind! My warning will reach the proper party, if I go to +Fleckenstein," said Murphy. He smacked his lips over the cup of coffee +Mrs. Flynn set before him. + +"And how came you to be helping the Boss instead of distributing booze?" +asked Uncle Denny. + +"I was about ready to quit, anyhow," said Murphy. "A man gets sick of +crooked deals if you give him time. And time was when a man could keep a +saloon in this section and still be the leading citizen and his wife +could hold up her head with the banker's wife. That time's gone. I've +been thinking for a long time of marrying and settling down. Then the +Boss cleaned me out." Murphy chuckled. + +"How was that?" asked Dennis. Mrs. Flynn began to clear the table very +slowly. + +"Well, this is the way of it," and Murphy told the story of his first +meeting with Jim. "I've seen him in action, you see," he concluded, "and +I'd be sorry for Fleckenstein if he crosses the Boss's path." + +"Jim'll never trouble himself to kick the jackal!" said Uncle Denny. + +"Huh! You don't know that boy. There was a look in his eye this +morning--God help Fleckenstein if he meets the Big Boss--but he'll avoid +the Boss like poison." + +Uncle Denny shook his head. "What kind is Fleckenstein?" + +"What kind of a man would be countenancing a letter like that?" Then +Murphy laughed. "The first time I ever saw Fleckenstein he was riding in +the stage that ran west from Cabillo. Bill Evans was driving and +Fleckenstein got to knocking this country and telling about the real +folks back East. Bill stood it for an hour, then he turned round and +said: 'Why, damn your soul, we make better men than you in this country +out of binding wire! What do you say to that?' And Fleckenstein shut +up." + +Uncle Denny chuckled. "Have a cigar? Is Jim making any headway in this +'silent campaign' I'm hearing about?" + +"Thanks," said Murphy. "Well, he is and he ain't. He's got a great +personality and everybody who gets his number will eat sand for him. He +made a great speech at Cabillo, time of the Hearing. He said the dam +was his thumb-print--kind of like the mounds the Injuns left, I guess. +People are kind of coupling that speech up now with him when they meet +him and they are beginning to have their doubts about his dishonesty. +But I don't believe he can get his other idea across on the farmers and +rough-necks in time to lick Fleckenstein." + +"And what is his other idea?" asked Dennis. + +Murphy smoked and stared into space for a time before he answered. "I +can best tell you that by giving you an incident. I went with Ames and +the Boss while he called on a farmer named Marshall. Marshall is a +bright man and no drinker. He has been loud in his howls about the Boss +being incompetent and kicking about the farmer having to pay the +building charges. Marshall was cleaning his buckboard and the Boss, sort +of easy like, picks up a brush and starts to brush the cushion. + +"'My father used to make me sweep the chicken coop,' says the Boss. 'We +were too poor to keep a horse. If I couldn't build a dam better than I +used to sweep that coop, I'd deserve all you folks say about me.' + +"He says this so sort of sad like that Marshall can't help laughing, and +he starts in telling how he used to sojer when he was a kid. And once +started, with the Boss looking like his heart would melt out of his +eyes, Marshall kept it up till the whole of his life lay before the Boss +like an illustrated Sunday Supplement. + +"'You've had great experiences,' says the Boss. 'I've not had much +experience in dealing with men as you have. I'm wondering if you would +help me get this idea across with the folks round here. I want them to +see this; that America has never made a more magnificent experiment to +see if us folks can handle our own big business and pay a debt +contracted by ourselves. I'd like to see this done, Marshall,' he says +sad like, 'as a sort of last legacy of the New England spirit, for we +old New Englanders are going, Marshall, same as the buffalo and the +Indian.' + +"Something about the way he said it sort of made your eyes sting and +Marshall says, rough-like, 'I'll think it over and I'd just as soon tell +what you said to the neighbors,' Then, while the Boss went up to the +house to get a drink of water, Marshall says to us, 'He's got a good +shaped head. I wouldn't a made so many fool cracks about him if I'd +known he could be so sort of friendly and decent.'" + +During this recital, Mrs. Flynn had drawn near and now with eyes on +Murphy she was absently polishing the teaspoons with the dustcloth. + +"Why don't you send some of those folks to me?" she cried. "I'd tell 'em +a thing or two about the Big Boss. There's a letter over there now on +the desk from the German government, asking him questions and offering +him a job. Incompetent!" + +"How do you know what's in the letter, Mrs. Flynn?" asked Uncle Denny, +with a wink at Murphy. + +"Because I read it," returned Mrs. Flynn, with shameless candor. +"Somebody's got to keep track of the respects that's paid that poor boy +or nobody'd ever know it. God knows I hate the Dutch, but they know a +good man when they hear of one better than the Americans. And I wish you +two'd get out of here while I set the table for dinner." + +The two men laughed and got their hats. "I'll meet you at the office +shortly," said Uncle Denny. "I've a call to make." + +Pen was sitting on the doorstep when Uncle Denny came up. She was +looking very tired and her cheeks were flushed. She rose and led him +away from the tent. + +"Sara is very sick, Uncle Denny. I've given him some morphine, but he'll +be coming out of it soon. Will you telephone from the office for the +doctor?" + +"Is it the same old pain?" asked Dennis. + +"Yes, only worse. I--I am to blame, in a way. He has been growing worse +lately and any excitement is dreadful for him. And then, I struck him, +Uncle Denny! I shall never forgive myself for that. And yet, this +morning he laughed at it. He said he never had thought so much of me as +he had for that slap." + +Uncle Denny nodded. "He's deserved it a hundred times, Penny! That never +made him worse. But this is no place for him. When I go back to New +York, you and he must go with me." + +"Yes, I have felt the same way, about the excitement here. We'll go when +you say, Uncle Denny." + +"Is the doctor here a good one?" + +"Splendid! A Johns Hopkins man here for his health." + +"What else can I do?" asked Uncle Denny. "Shall I come in and sit with +him?" + +"No; ask Mrs. Flynn to come over after dinner. You go out and see the +dam and be proud of your boy." + +"And of me girl," said Uncle Denny. He had been standing with his hat in +his hand and now he bent and kissed Pen's cheek. + +"Erin go bragh!" said Pen. "Uncle Denny, I'm tired! I feel as if I were +running on one cylinder and three punctured tires. I have to talk that +way after my close association with Bill Evans!" + +Uncle Denny had a delightful trip over the Project with Murphy. He dined +with the upper mess so that Mrs. Flynn could devote herself to Pen. +After eating, he started down the great road to the tower foot to meet +Murphy. + +Before he came to the tower, however, he came on a group of men hovering +over the canyon edge. Uncle Denny gave an exclamation of pity. A mule +with a pack on its back had slipped off the road and hung far below by +the rope halter that had caught around a projecting rock. The hombre who +had been driving the mule had gone for ropes. + +"See how still he keeps, the old cuss," said Jack Henderson gently. "A +horse would have kicked himself to death long ago. That mule knows just +what's holding him. A mule forgets more in a minute than a horse knows +in a year." + +Uncle Denny almost wept. The mule pressed his helpless forelegs against +the wall and except that he panted with fright and that his ears moved +back and forth as he listened for his hombre's voice, he was motionless. +His liquid eyes were fastened on the group above with an appeal that +touched every man there. + +"What can you do for the poor brute!" cried Uncle Denny. + +"Wait till the hombre gets back," said Henderson. "If he can hang on +that long, we can save him. Nothing like this happens to a mule very +often. You can't get a mule to try a trail that isn't wide enough for +his pack. They can reason, the old fools! Bill Evans' auto shoved this +fellow over. The steering gear broke." + +At this moment a panting hombre arrived with two coils of rope. The men +hastily fastened one rope under the Mexican's arms. He seized the other +and they lowered him into the canyon. He talked to the mule in soft +Spanish all the way down and the great beast began to answer him with +deep groans. With infinite care, the hombre cut the packs loose and they +went crashing into the river bed. Still the mule did not move. His +driver carefully made the rope fast round the mule. The waiting men then +drew the little Mexican up, and when he was safe all hands, including +Uncle Denny, drew the mule up. When the big gray reached the road, he +tried each leg with a gentle shake, walked over to the inside edge of +the road and lifted his voice in a bray that shook the heavens. + +The men laughed and patted him. "When I was in the Verde river country +one spring, years ago," said Henderson, in his tender, singing voice, "I +had a mule train up in the hills. They was none of them broke and they +wouldn't cross the river till I took off my clothes and swam with 'em, +one at a time. It was fearful cold. The water was just melted snow and I +was some mad. But I finally got all but one across. He was a big gray +like this. I was so cold and so hungry and so mad, I tied his head up a +tree and swam off and left him to die. + +"I made camp across the river and two or three times in the night I woke +up and thought of that old gray mule. I was still sore at him, but I +made up my mind I wouldn't go off and leave him to starve to death, +that I'd shoot him in the morning. But in the morning I got to looking +at him and I was afraid a shot from across the river would just wound +him. I wouldn't risk my gun again in the water, so I takes off my +clothes, takes my knife in my teeth and," Henderson's voice was very +sweet as he scratched the mule's ear, "and swims back to cut his throat. +When I got up to him I cussed him out good. And I says, 'I'll give you +one more chance. Either you swim or I cut your throat.' I untied him and +that old gray walked down to the water's edge and you'd ought to see him +hustle in and swim! He'd reasoned out I was a man of my word!" + +Jim had come up in time to hear the story and when Henderson had +finished he said: "I've always claimed it was the mules that built the +government dams. What would we have done with our fearful trails and +distance and heavy freight without the mule? Some day when I get time, +I'll write a rhapsody on the mule." + +The men laughed and made way for the doctor on his horse. But the doctor +stopped and spoke very gravely to Uncle Denny. + +"Mrs. Saradokis wants you. Her husband is very low." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +SARA GOES ON A JOURNEY + + "Love is the speaking voice of the Great Hunger. Happy the + human who has found one great love. All nature speaks in him + profoundly." + + MUSINGS OF THE ELEPHANT. + + +Jim started up the road but Mr. Dennis stopped long enough to say, +"Oughtn't you to be there, doctor?" + +The doctor nodded. "I'll be back as soon as I can. They've just brought +an hombre with a crushed leg into the hospital. Mrs. Flynn knows what to +do and so does his wife. He may go any time." + +Uncle Denny panted after Jim, but before they reached the tent house, +Mrs. Flynn stopped them on the trail. + +"It's all over," she said. "I've taken Mrs. Penelope over to our house. +I'll take charge up here." + +"You don't mean Saradokis is dead?" cried Uncle Denny. + +"He is, God rest his poor wicked soul!" + +Jim stood white and rigid. "Did I hasten this with my scene last night, +I wonder!" he asked huskily. + +Mrs. Flynn shook her head. "The doctor told me a month ago not to go out +of reach of the tent house. That this was liable to come any time. He +came out of the morphine near noon, held Mrs. Pen's hand and said she +had slapped a lot of the bitterness out of his heart last night. Then he +went to sleep and never woke up. Mr. Dennis, you go to Mrs. Penelope. +Boss, you go and do the telegraphing that's necessary." + +It was supper time before Jim could leave the business of the dam and +get up to his house. He and Uncle Denny had finished supper when Pen +came out of Mrs. Flynn's room. She was white and spent, but she had not +been crying. + +"Still," she said, "I want you to persuade Uncle Denny not to go back +East with me and poor Sara. I am perfectly well and quite able to make +the trip alone. Uncle Denny is needed here." + +"It's not to be thought of!" cried Dennis. "When the first shock is over +I'm looking for you to go to pieces and I propose to be on the job." + +"Uncle Denny," said Pen quietly, "I shall not go to pieces. I feel the +tragedy of Sara's life very deeply and I am very sad over it all. But +I'm not a widow. I'm a nurse and friend whose job is over. It will be a +pitiful journey to take Sara back to his father. But I shall be with +dear Aunt Mary in New York. I shall get no rest unless I know that you +are with Jim in this critical moment of his career." + +The two men looked at each other uncertainly. Suddenly Pen's voice +shook: "Oh, don't make me argue!" + +Jim spoke slowly: "We never have regretted doing what Pen told us to, +Uncle Denny. It looks heartless, but I guess we'll have to obey." + +"Me soul in me is like a whirling Dervish," said Uncle Denny, "with +both of you needing me so. You'll have to decide betwixt you." + +"Then Uncle Denny will stay here and we will take you over for the five +o'clock morning train, Pen. Mrs. Flynn has packed your trunk and poor +Sara is ready for his last trip. When shall we look for your return, +little Penelope?" + +Pen looked a little bewildered. "Why, there is no excuse for my coming +back. I shall stay with your mother until I get rested and then I must +find something to do." + +Uncle Denny jumped up and stood with his back to the fireplace while Jim +leaned on the back of Pen's chair. + +"Listen to me, children," said Dennis. "Of what use is it to beat about +the bush and refuse to speak what's in the heart of each of us? How can +we pretend that poor Sara's death is not God's own relief to him and us? +We can weep, as Pen says, over the tragedy of his life, but not that he +is gone. Your talk of going to work is nonsense, me sweet Pen. After a +few months you will marry Jim and have the happiness you have earned so +dearly." + +Jim did not move. Pen's pale face turned scarlet. "Oh, Uncle Denny," she +cried, "don't talk to me of marriage! I love Jim dearly, but now this is +all over I have left only a deadly fear of marriage!" + +"Pen! Pen!" exclaimed Uncle Denny. "What do you know of marriage? For +every unhappy marriage we hear of there are three of such sweet +companionship that its sharers hide it from the world as if 'twere too +sacred for the common gaze. The perfect friendship is between man and +woman and when you add to that the sacrament of body and soul, you have +the only heaven humans may know on earth. And 'tis enough. 'Tis full +compensation for all the ills of life." + +"Jane Ames has been talking to me that way lately," said Pen, her eyes +full of tears. "But you nor she never really had your dreams destroyed +as I have." She paused and went on as if half to herself: "And yet +nothing has come into my life so revivifying and wholesome as Oscar and +Jane's finding each other after all these years. Perhaps there is +something in marriage I don't know. Jane says there is. But--Oh, I am so +tired!" + +Jim moved round to Uncle Denny's side. "It's good of Uncle Denny to +plead for me, isn't it, Penny? But you are in no state now to listen to +him or me, either. Go back to mother, and don't work, but play. You've +forgotten how to play. I remember that long ago when Uncle Denny wanted +mother to marry him he told her that marrying him would give me my +chance to play, that I couldn't come to my full strength without play. +Grown-ups need play, too, little Pen. Go back for a while and rest and +take up your tennis again and go to Coney Island with mother. Go and +play, Penny. And some day I'll come back and play with you." + +Pen gave a little sigh. Suddenly her tense nerves relaxed and she +settled back in her chair with a little color in her cheeks. + +Uncle Denny cleared his throat. "Tell Mrs. Flynn to fetch her some tea +and toast, me boy. Then she must go to bed for a few hours." + +The automobile, with Henderson at the wheel, was at the door before +dawn. Jim had sent poor Sara on before midnight. Uncle Denny put Pen +and Jim into the tonneau, then climbed up beside Henderson and the +machine shot swiftly out on the great road. + +Pen did not speak for some time and Jim did not disturb her. She looked +back at the Elephant as long as she could discern the great meditative +form in the starlight. Then, after they had gotten into the hills and +were winging like night birds up the mountain road, Jim felt a cold +little hand slip into his lean, warm paw. + +Jim's heart gave a thud. He leaned forward to look into Pen's face. It +was dim in the starlight, but he saw that she smiled slightly. Jim +leaned back, feeling as if he could overturn worlds with this thrill in +his veins. + +The great road curled like a hair among the dim black mountain tops. The +machine flew lightly. Uncle Denny and Henderson talked quietly, and at +last, under cover of their speech and the whirr of the engine, Pen began +to talk softly to Jim. + +"I am hoping that in the years to come I can remember Sara as a college +boy, so full of life and ambition! He was a beautiful boy, Still, wasn't +he?" + +"Yes, little Pen, I loved him very much, then." + +"Life was unfair to him to give him a greater burden than he was +designed to bear," said Pen. "I shall miss the care of him. I am going +to miss the demands he made on my best spiritual effort. I'm going to +sag like a fiddle string released. If only he has gone on now to a +better chance! Poor, poor tortured Sara!" + +Jim rubbed the little twitching fingers and Pen leaned against his +shoulder softly as though she needed his nearness to steady her. She +went on a little brokenly: + + "'Envy and calumny and hate and pain + And that unrest which men miscall delight + Can touch him not and torture not again----' + +"I guess I won't get over the scarring, Still. I'm so tired." + +"You've the priceless gift of youth, dear Penny," said Jim softly. "Go +and play, sweetheart." + +There was a long silence. Dawn was marching on the mountain tops. +Penelope watched the silver glory of the star-studded sky and she said +in a steadier tone: + + "'Life like a dome of many colored glass + Stains the white radiance of Eternity + Until death tramples it to fragments----'" + +A sudden scarlet revealed itself on a far peak. It was like a marvelous +translucent ruby, set in a silver mist. + +Uncle Denny turned. "Henderson says we are right on the railroad." + +"We are," replied Jim, "and yonder is the train." + +The automobile drew into the station with the train and Uncle Denny, +with Henderson, helped embark poor Sara on his last ride, while Jim put +Pen aboard the train. Pen followed Jim back onto the train platform. Jim +shook hands with her and stood on the lower step waiting for the train +to start. His face in the dawn light was very wistful. Suddenly Pen's +lips quivered. Just as the train began to move, "Jim!" she whispered. +And she leaned over and caught his face between her hands and kissed him +quickly on the lips. Then she slipped into the coach. Jim dropped off +the train and stood staring unseeingly at Uncle Denny and Henderson. A +to-hee sang its morning song from a nearby cactus: + + "O yahee! O yahai! + Sweet as arrow weed in spring!" + +"Put your hat on, me boy," said Uncle Denny, who had not seen the little +episode, "and come on." He led the way to the machine and climbed in +beside Jim. "Well, Still, she's gone!" + +Jim turned and looked at his Uncle Denny. "She's not gone for long. When +I have finished the Project fight I shall go after her." + +"Did she agree?" asked Uncle Denny eagerly. + +"No," said Jim serenely. "She's in the frame of mind that's to be +expected after the life she's lived with Sara. She is afraid of +everything. After the election, I shall go to her. She and I have missed +enough of each other." + +Dennis brought his fist down on his knee. "Then that's settled right, +thank God!" he said to the dawn at large. + +The next day Mrs. Ames came up to the dam. She was inconsolable that she +had not been sent for, to help Pen and Mrs. Flynn's air of superiority +was not soothing. Uncle Denny took to Mrs. Ames at once. + +"I've done nothing but gad for Mr. Manning, lately," she said. + +"How are things going?" asked Mrs. Flynn. "Has Bill Evans got all the +money yet?" + +"Eh? What's this?" exclaimed Uncle Denny. + +"Mrs. Pen thought it would do a lot of good if we could get the +farmers' wives to working against Fleckenstein," said Jane. "I've been +calling on a lot of them. Bill Evans takes me in his auto." + +"Who pays Bill?" asked Uncle Denny. "Ames?" + +"He does not, though he honestly offered to," said Jane. "This is a +woman's job. Mrs. Flynn is paying for it. And don't you tell Mr. +Manning. So far he hasn't asked any questions. Oscar says he's too +worried over other things." + +"Bless us!" cried Uncle Denny. "That won't do! You must let me +straighten it up." + +Mrs. Flynn rapped on the table with the dripping mixing spoon with which +she had followed Jane in from the kitchen. "Michael Dennis! You will +not! What's me money for if it ain't for him? Ain't he all I've got in +the wide world and you grutch me that? God knows I never thought I'd +come to this to be told I couldn't do for him! If God lets me live to +spare my life I hope to spend every cent I've got back on the Boss." + +Uncle Denny nodded. "All right! You're a good woman, Mrs. Flynn. How is +your campaign going, Mrs. Ames?" + +Jane shook her head. "You never know which way a woman will jump. If +only Fleckenstein can be beaten, it will be Mr. Manning's personality +that beats him, and after that he can do whatever he wants to with the +valley. But the election is only a little way off and I'm scared to +death. I've talked and visited until I'm ashamed of myself. And there's +only one woman in the valley I'm sure of." + +"Who is she?" asked Uncle Denny. + +"That's Mrs. Cady, a rich widow who lives near Cabillo. She's the +terror of the valley. She's a scold and she holds half the mortgages in +the county. She stopped Mr. Manning a while ago and asked what he meant +by running one of the canals the way it was. Then, just because he's +always nice to a woman, Mr. Manning stands and lets her explain his +business to him for half an hour. When she got through he thanked her +and said it was always wise to trust a woman's intuition. She thought +she'd taught him a real valuable lesson and she said he was the only man +she ever saw that knew good advice when he got it. Well, when I went +round to her the other day and told her what Mr. Manning was up against, +she flew round like a wet hen. I've heard she threatened to foreclose on +anyone that voted for Fleckenstein." + +Uncle Denny chuckled. "And the boy thinks he has no friends!" + +The fight into which Jim had thrown himself was an intangible one. He +knew that he could not save his job for himself, but he believed that if +he could defeat Fleckenstein, he would have made the farmers assume a +responsibility for the Project that would never be lost. + +Uncle Denny did not tell Jim that he knew that every day lessened Jim's +term of office on the dam. He asked no embarrassing questions. One day, +as they stood looking at the dam slowly emerging from the river bed to +lie in the utter beauty of strength at the Elephant's feet, Jim said: + +"I wonder if another man will love the dam as I have. There is not a +stone in it that I don't know and care for." + +But Uncle Denny only nodded and said in reply, "A man must love the +thing he creates whether it's a dam or a child." But his heart ached +within him. + +The Department of Agriculture had responded immediately and half a dozen +experts already were at work on the Project. The older farmers resented +any suggestions that were made regarding their methods, but little by +little the newcomers were turning to the experts, and Jim believed that +even in a year scientific farming would be a settled fact on the +Project. + +Every moment that Jim could spare from hastening the work on the dam he +spent in the valley with the farmers. He did not harangue. He had come +to realize that deep within us all dwells a hunger of the soul on which, +when roused, the world wings forward. So he induced these men to talk to +him and listened, wondering at the deeps he touched. He did not realize +that often they were ashamed to show him narrowness or selfishness when +through his wistful silence they glimpsed his unsatisfied visioning. +Nothing in life is so contagious as a great dream. + +As far as the Project was concerned, the story of Jim's alleged +interview with Freet made little impression, after all. Insinuations and +accusations had appeared so often about the engineers of the dam in the +local papers that they had ceased to be a sensation. In the East, +though, Jim knew the story would leave its permanent imprint. Murphy +interviewed Fleckenstein and never would tell what he and the politician +said to each other. But the threat of the letter never was carried out. +Fleckenstein continued a vigorous campaign, however. Money and whiskey +flowed freely and Fleckenstein saw every man that Jim saw. + +Uncle Denny was only temporarily dismayed by Jim's refusal to allow him +to work openly against Fleckenstein. Mrs. Ames, having come to the end +of her talking capacity, he hired Bill Evans and his machine for the +remaining six weeks of the campaign. Bill was quite willing to let the +hogs go hungry while he and his machine were in demand. + +Uncle Denny said: "A twenty-mile ride in Bill's tonneau is better as a +flesh reducer than ten hours in a Turkish bath. It is the truth when I +tell folks I'm riding for me health." + +Uncle Denny made himself newsgetter-in-chief for Jim. He scoured the +valley for reports on the state of mind of every water user and business +man on the Project. Oscar and Murphy, when not with Jim, devoted +themselves to Uncle Denny. Both the men were frankly giving all their +time to the Project these days. + +The weeks sped by all too rapidly. One evening Uncle Denny called a +conference at Jim's house. Jim, coming home from the office at ten +o'clock that night, found Murphy and Henderson and Oscar awaiting him +with Uncle Denny as master of ceremonies. + +"Me boy," said Uncle Denny, "there's going to be a landslide for +Fleckenstein." + +Jim nodded. "I think so. Well, anyhow, I've made one or two friends +below who'll remember after I'm gone some of the things I've wanted for +the Project." + +Uncle Denny, standing before the grate, looked at Jim in a troubled way. +The Big Boss, as he loved to call Jim, was looking very tired. + +"Well," said Murphy, "Fleckenstein can't make much trouble for a year. +Even after he takes his seat it will take time to start things even with +the money from the Trust. And in the meantime the Big Boss will be able +to put up a great counter-irritant out here if what he's done the last +few weeks is any sample." + +Jim lighted his pipe and leaned back in his chair. "I won't be here, +boys," he said. "This is confidential. I have been asked for my +resignation and it takes effect the day after election." + +There was utter silence in the room for a moment, then Henderson leaned +forward and spat past Uncle Denny into the grate. + +"Hell's fire!" he said gently. + +"How long have you known this, Boss?" asked Murphy. + +"Nearly three months," answered Jim. + +"Pen told me," said Dennis. "Suma-theek told her." + +Jim looked up in astonishment, then he shook his head. "I'm sorry Pen +has that to bother her, too." + +Murphy jumped to his feet. "And you have known this three months and +never told us! Is that any way to treat your friends? Do you suppose we +want to lie by and see you licked off this dam like a yellow cur? It's +no use for you to ask this to be kept quiet, Boss. I won't do it." + +Jim rose and pointed his pipe at Murphy. "Murphy, if you try to use this +confidential talk to raise sentiment for me, I'll fire you!" + +"You can't fire my friendship!" shouted Murphy. "You can have my job any +time you want it!" + +Here Oscar Ames spoke for the first time. "When's Mrs. Penelope coming +back?" + +"Don't you get her out here," said Jim. "She can do no good and she +needs peace and quiet." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE END OF THE SILENT CAMPAIGN + + "The dream in them of a greater good lifts humans from the + level of brutes. Take this dream from them and they are like + quenched comets." + + MUSINGS OF THE ELEPHANT. + + +It was Oscar's turn to get to his feet. "Manning," he said, "ain't you +learned your lesson yet? Who was it kicked me out of the dirty political +scrape I was getting into and made me see straight? Huh? Who was it? +Well, it was my wife. And who woke my wife up? It was Mrs. Pen, wasn't +it? And who, by your own admission, showed you things you'd been seeing +crooked all your life? Huh? 'Twas Mrs. Pen, wasn't it? You're as +moss-bound in lots of ways as a farmer. Now I've learned my lesson. I'm +willing to admit that women folks has got intuitions that beat our fine +ideas all hollow. She may not do us any good. But I want to know what +she thinks about things. I'll be yelling votes for women next. Gimme her +address. I'm going to send her a night message they'll have to use an +adding machine to count the words in." + +"What can be done in a week?" asked Jim, with his first show of +irritation. "I won't have her bothered, I tell you." + +"Still Jim," said Uncle Denny, "do you suppose she's thought of anything +else but the situation out here, excepting, of course, poor Sara? And +Pen's Irish! Even long distance fighting has charms for her." + +Henderson looked at Jim's dark circled eyes and his compressed lips. "Go +to bed, Boss," he said in his tender voice. "See if you can't get some +sleep. You have done your best. Is there anyone in the valley you ain't +seen yet?" + +"Two or three," said Jim. + +"See them," said Henderson. "We are going to put up a fight to keep you +here, Mr. Manning." + +Jim started for his bedroom door, then he came back and said slowly: "I +don't want you fellows to misunderstand me. I'm the least important item +in this matter. I admit that it's crucifying me to leave the dam, but +there is no doubt they can find a better man than I am for the job. I +woke up too late. You folks must keep on in one last fight against +Fleckenstein. For Fleckenstein stands for repudiation. Repudiation means +the undermining of the basic principle of the Reclamation Service. And +the loss of that principle means the loss of the Projects as a great +working ideal for America. It was that principle that was the real +kernel of the New England dream in this country. We've got to work not +so much for equality in freedom as for equality in responsibility to the +nation. Don't waste a moment on keeping me here. Make one last effort to +defeat Fleckenstein." + +Then Jim went into his room and closed the door. + +When he had gone, Murphy said in a low voice: "It's too late to lick +Fleckenstein. Are we going to lie down on the Boss losing his job, +boys?" + +"Not till I've beaten the face off Fleckenstein," said Henderson, +softly. + +"I want to get in touch with Mrs. Pen," said Oscar Ames. + +"Aw, forget it, Ames!" said Murphy. "I don't doubt she's a smart girl, +but this is no suffragette meeting." + +"Don't try to start anything," said Oscar. "Wait till you're married for +thirty years like me and maybe you'll have learned a thing or two." + +"Don't quarrel, boys," said Uncle Denny. "Me heart is like lead within +me. How can I think of Jim as anywhere but with the Service?" + +"If he goes, I go," said Henderson. "The only reason I stayed up on the +Makon was because of him. What's the matter with the wooden heads in +this country? I'd like to be fool killer for a year." + +Murphy was chewing his cigar. "You'd have to commit suicide if you was," +he said. "I've tried everything against Fleckenstein except the one way +to swing votes in America and that's with whiskey or dollars. Under the +circumstance we can't use either. I'm going to turn in. I'm at the end +of my rope." + +Henderson followed Murphy to the door. Oscar Ames forgot to lower his +voice. He squared his big shoulders and shouted: "You blame quitters! I +ain't ashamed to ask women for ideas if you are. The women got me into +this fight and I'll bet they get me out." + +He nodded belligerently at Uncle Denny and strode out into the night. +Uncle Denny, left alone in the living room, stood long on the hearthrug, +talking to himself and now and again shaking his head despondently. + +"I mind how after he found himself, he was always making trails in front +of the old fireplace in the brownstone front. I mind how he first heard +of the Reclamation Service. 'How'd you like that, Uncle Denny,' he said, +'James Manning, U.S.R.S.' What'll he do now, poor lad? + +"Thank God his father's dead, for if he felt worse than I do he'd kill +himself. No! No! I'll not say that! He'd have felt like meself that +'twas worth all the sorrow to hear Still put his idea ahead of himself +as he did tonight. That's the test of a man's sincerity. And in her +heart, his mother'll be glad. She's always worried lest he get killed on +one of his dams, bless her heart." + +Uncle Denny moved about the room, closing the door and putting away the +cigars. He picked Jim's hat off the floor and patted it softly as he +hung it up. + +"What'll he do now, poor boy?" he murmured. Then he turned out the light +and went to bed. + +Jim received a message the next morning, saying that a certain Herr +Gluck would reach the dam that afternoon. + +"And who is he?" asked Uncle Denny. + +"He's an engineer the German government is sending over to see some of +the stunts I've been doing on the dam," said Jim. "I'll show him round, +then I'll turn him over to you for the hour before supper. I want to see +old Miguel, who is coming up to the dam." + +"I'm itching to lay hands on him. Does he speak English?" + +Jim laughed. "Better than I do. He's written me a couple of times." + +Jim brought Herr Gluck in over the great road. The German was full of +enthusiasm. "Blasted from solid rock! How not like America! This was +built for the future! How did you come to do it?" + +Jim smiled and shrugged his shoulders. + +"You belong not to this country," Herr Gluck went on, "you belong to the +old world where they build for their descendants." + +Jim thoroughly enjoyed the long afternoon on the dam with the German. +Herr Gluck's questions were searching and invigorating. They took Jim +out of himself and he showed Herr Gluck a scientific knowledge and +enthusiasm that few people were fitted to appreciate. + +At five o'clock Jim took Herr Gluck up to his house and turned him over +to Uncle Denny. The rotund, flaxen-haired German and the rotund, +gray-haired Irishman took stock of each other. Uncle Denny moved two +chairs before the open door. + +Herr Gluck sat down. "Himmel! What beauty!" he exclaimed, as the faint +lavender distances with the far mountains flashing sunset gold met his +gaze. "Not strange that Mr. Manning has enthusiasm." + +Uncle Denny sighed in a relieved way as if he had catalogued the +newcomer. + +"They say," said Dennis, "that a man must close his soul to the Big +Country or else he will become great or go mad. And do you think me boy +has done good work here, Herr Gluck?" + +The German made some extraordinary rings of smoke and nodded his head +slowly. "He has done some daring things well that may not be great in +themselves, but they show imagination. That is the point. He has +imagination. Many are the engineers who are accurate, who are +trustworthy, but imagination, creative ability, no! You observe the +shape of his head, his jaw, his hands--the dreamer, urged into action. +And the impudence of his sand-cement idea! In my country we dare make +our concrete only very rich. He shows me this afternoon that diluted +rightly with sand, cement can be made stronger." Herr Gluck chuckled +delightedly. + +Uncle Denny almost purred. "He was so as a lad. He was captain of his +school football teams because he could think of more wild tactics than +all the rest of them put together. And always got away with them, +looking sad and never an unnecessary word." + +Herr Gluck nodded. "He is so valuable here that I think it not possible +I get him to come to Germany yet?" + +Michael Dennis got red in the face and took a long breath. "But they +don't appreciate him here. He's been asked to resign in a few days now." + +The German's round eyes grew rounder. "Nein! And why? Has he got into +foolishness? He is young, they must remember." + +"It's a long tale," said Uncle Denny, "but I'll tell it to you," and he +plunged into the story of the Project. + +Herr Gluck listened breathlessly. + +"And so you see," Dennis ended, "that for all he has done he feels he's +failed, for everything the dam has stood for in his mind has come to +naught. And that's a bad feeling for a man as young as Jim. He'll never +readjust himself, Jim won't. He can get another job but his life's big +dream will have gone to smash. His inspiration will be gone. And what +will he do then, poor boy?" + +"But it's impossible," persisted Herr Gluck. "He's a valuable man. It is +not possible they would dismiss him. Some day when he is older he will +do great things your country can't afford to lose. What is the matter +with your Head of the Service?" + +"Impossible!" snorted Uncle Denny. "Impossible! The word is not in the +vocabulary of the American politician. The Director is all right, a fine +clean fellow. But he can't help himself. It's either Jim or the Project +to be smirched. They won't be satisfied, the politicians, till they get +the Service attached to the Spoils system. What do they care for +scientific achievement? Soul of me soul! I'd like to be Secretary of the +Interior for fifteen minutes. I'd discharge everyone in the Department, +ending with meself." + +Herr Gluck was visibly excited. "I tell you it is not possible! He's a +great engineer in the making? They cannot know it or they would not so +do." + +Uncle Denny lost patience. "I'm telling you it is so! Don't you know +that nothing is impossible to ignorant men?" he shouted. "Didn't +ignorance crucify Christ? Didn't the ignorant make Galileo deny his +world was round? Didn't ignorance burn Joan of Arc at the stake? Every +advance the world has made has been with bloody footsteps. Don't we +always kill the man in the vanguard and use his body as a bridge to +cross the gulf of our own fear and ignorance? I tell you, I fear +ignorance!" + +Herr Gluck rose and shook his plump fist in Uncle Denny's face. "Those +are days gone by in my country," he roared. "They may be true in this +raw land or in besotted Ireland, but in the Fatherland we worship brain. +Do not include the Fatherland in your recriminations! Once in a while +you accomplish great things in your foolish country here with its +hysteria and frothing and bubbling. But come to my country if you would +see the quiet patient advance of noble science with scientists revered +like kings." + +"There were colleges in Ireland," shouted Uncle Denny, "when your +ancestors were wearing fur breech clouts and using cairns for books!" + +Jim came slowly up the trail and Uncle Denny and Herr Gluck sat down a +little sheepishly. Herr Gluck did not waste any time in preliminaries as +Jim came in the door. + +"Your Uncle tells me of the trouble here on the dam," he said. "My +government is undertaking some great work which I will describe to you. +We will make you a formal offer if you will it consider." + +Jim sat down in the doorway, pulled off his hat and looked up into the +German's face. Herr Gluck concisely and clearly outlined the work. Jim +listened intently, then as Herr Gluck finished and waited for Jim's +answer, the young engineer looked away. + +He saw the Elephant dominating the river and desert, guarding and +waiting--for what? Jim wondered. He saw the far road that he had built, +winding into the dim mountains. For a long time he sat battling with +himself in the flood of emotion that rose within him. It really had +come, he realized, with Herr Gluck's offer. He actually was to turn his +work over to another man to finish. The two older men watched him +intently. + +Finally Jim said: "The New England stock in this country is +disappearing, Herr Gluck. Perhaps we are no longer needed. At any rate +we haven't been strong enough to stay. This dam has been more than a dam +to me. It has meant something like, 'Anglo-Saxons; their mark; by Jim +Manning.' Some other man will finish the dam quite as well as I, but I +don't think he will have my dream about it." + +Herr Gluck leaned forward and said: "We all are Teutons, one family. +That is why we always have quarreled. But we understand each other. Come +to Germany and build for other Teutons, since they will not have you +here." + +"An expatriate! Poor dad!" muttered Jim. Then he said, in his quiet +drawl, "I'll come, but you'll be getting only half a man." + +The German looked away. He was a scientist, yet he was of a nation that +had produced Goethe as well as Weismann and his heart was quick to +respond to truth, shot with the rainbow tints of vision. + +"I know!" he said. "I know! Man needs the impulse of national pride and +honor behind his mind. There are those that claim that they achieve for +human kind and not for their own race alone. But I doubt it. After all, +Goethe spoke for Deutschland, Darwin spoke for England. Therefrom came +their greatness. And yet if they will not have you here, dear +friend--Ach Himmel, I cannot urge thee! Come if thou wilt!" + +Herr Gluck broke off abruptly to turn to Uncle Denny. "Who is the +highest authority in this Service?" + +"The Secretary of the Interior," said Uncle Denny. "Come, we must eat +supper or Mrs. Flynn will be using force on us." + +Jim took Herr Gluck over to the midnight train. The German was very +quiet, but Jim was even more so. As Jim left him Herr Gluck said: "Keep +a good heart, dear friend. I shall say a few truths myself before I have +finished." + +Jim shook hands heartily. "There is nothing to be done, Herr Gluck, but +I'm grateful for your sympathy. You will hear from me about the new +work," and he drove off in the darkness, leaving Herr Gluck in the hands +of the ranchers Marshall and Miguel, who had spent the afternoon and +evening at the dam, and were going to Cabillo by train. + +Jim had received no answer from the Secretary of the Interior to his +last letter. He was a little puzzled and hurt. There had been one +flashing look pass between himself and the Secretary at the May hearing +that had stayed with Jim as though it had declared a friendship that +needed neither words nor personal association to give it permanence. Jim +had counted on that friendship, not to save him his job, but to save his +idea. No answer had come to his letter. Jim believed that the story of +the interview with Freet had finally destroyed the Secretary's faith in +his integrity. + +Pen had written a long letter jointly to Jim and Uncle Denny some two +weeks after leaving the dam. It was the first word they had had except +through telegrams. Sara's will had been read. He had left Pen all his +property, which was enough to yield a living income for her. Pen +enclosed a copy of the note Sara had left her with his papers. + +"You have always felt bitter at my stinginess. But I knew that I could +not live long and I wanted to repay you for your care of me. I did not +spend an unnecessary cent nor did I let you. I have been ugly but it +didn't matter to you. I knew you didn't care for me and so I didn't try +to be decent." + +Uncle Denny shook his head over this note. "No human soul but has its +white side, and there you are! I hope I'll never sit in judgment on +another human being." + +"Has she any comment on Sara's note?" asked Jim, who was resting on the +couch while Uncle Denny read the letter to him. + +Uncle Denny looked on the reverse side of the sheet. Pen had written: +"This touches me very much. But when I consider the sources of poor +Sara's money I can't bear to touch it. I am arranging to give it to the +home for paralytic children. I hope that both of you will approve of my +doing so." + +The two men stared at each other and Jim said nothing. He was consumed +by such a longing for Pen that he scarcely dared speak her name. But +Uncle Denny nodded complacently and said: + +"You can always bet on Pen!" + +The day after Herr Gluck's visit there was to be a political rally of +the Fleckenstein forces at Cabillo. To the great relief of Dennis and +his two henchmen, Jim made no move to attend the meeting. The first +concrete pouring on the last section of the foundation was to be made +that day and Jim was engrossed with it. Fleckenstein was late in getting +to the meeting. This, too, was better luck than the three conspirators +had hoped for. The meeting was made up almost entirely of farmers who +wanted to hear Fleckenstein's last statement of his pledges. + +Before the chairman called the meeting to order, Oscar Ames mounted the +platform and asked permission to say a few words while the audience +waited for Fleckenstein. Oscar then put forth the great effort of his +life. + +He squared his great shoulders and threw back his tawny head. + +"Fellow citizens, there is a great disgrace coming onto this community. +You all know the Project engineer, James Manning. Well, there ain't been +anyone who's fought him harder or made him more trouble till lately than +I have. But lately, fellow citizens, I've got to know him. I tell you +right now that he's the smartest fellow that ever come into these parts. +He's got some ideas that I'm not smart enough myself to understand, but +I do know enough to realize that if he gets a chance to carry them out +he'll make this Project the center of America!" + +Oscar paused and someone called, "Go it, Oscar! Throw her in to low and +you'll make it!" + +"Well, fellow citizens, Fleckenstein and his crowd and all the rest of +us, helping with kicks, have worked it so that Jim Manning has been +asked to resign. They tell him that he's so unpopular here that the +Service can't afford to keep him. Understand that? In other words, we +farmers are such fools that we can't appreciate a good man just because +his ideas differ from ours. But we can go crazy over a man like +Fleckenstein because he'll take the trouble to jolly us. Fellow +citizens, I ask you, are you going to sit by while the man that would +make this Project into a valley empire is kicked out?" + +Oscar stood for a moment glaring at his grinning hearers. Murphy climbed +up beside him and shoved him aside. + +"Down with the Irish!" yelled someone. + +"You never paid me the fifty dollars you ran up for whiskey in my +saloon, Henry," replied Murphy. + +There was a roar of laughter and Murphy followed it quickly. "You all +know me. I was in the saloon business in this valley for twenty years. +But not one of you can say I wasn't on the straight all that time. The +nearest I ever come to doing a man dirt was up in the dam. I was running +a saloon just off the Reserve and Big Boss Manning jumped me and made me +clean out my own joint. I was mad and I went up to the Greek there, who +since is dead, for I heard the Greek was backed by Big Money with which +he backed Fleckenstein to do the Service. Says I to myself, I'll help +the Greek to do Manning. + +"But the Greek cursed me out as I'll stand from no man. Then they took +me to Manning and he treated me like a gentleman and asked me for my +word of honor to keep off the Project. I know men. And I saw that the +fellow I'd set out to do was a real man, carrying a load that was too +big for the likes of me to sabez and that it made him sad and lonely. I +was sick of the saloon business, anyhow, and when I got his number, I +was proud to have been licked by him. Do you get me? Proud! And I says, +I'm his friend for life and I'll just keep an eye on the pikers who are +trying to do him. + +"And I have. You know me, boys. You know that after the priest and the +doctor it's the saloonkeeper that knows a man's number. Let me tell you +that Fleckenstein is a crook. He'll steal anything from a woman's honor +to a water power site. He's playing you folks for suckers. He's having +everything his own way. Charlie Ives is the only fellow who's had the +nerve to run against Fleckenstein and he's a dead one. + +"And now Fleckenstein has done the Big Boss. He's made monkeys of you +farmers. He's got you to roasting Manning till you've ruined him. And +they ain't one of us fit to black his boots. This Project is his life's +blood to him. There isn't anything he would[n't] sacrifice to its +welfare. And you're throwing him out. Ain't a man's sacrifice worth +anything to you? Will you take his best and give him the Judas kiss in +return? Are ye hogs or men?" + +There was an angry buzz in the room. Just as Uncle Denny started upon +the platform, a tall lank farmer whom the man next him had been nudging +violently, rose. + +"My name's Marshall," he said, "and my friend Miguel here says I gotta +get up and say the few things he and I agreed on last night. I'm mighty +sick of hearing us farmers called fools. And now even the women folks +have begun it. When our wives won't give us any peace maybe it's time we +reformed our judgments. I'm willing to say that I think I've been +mistaken about Manning. He came over to my place for the first time a +few weeks back. I never talked with him before or got a good look at +him. Boys, a man don't get the look that that young fella has on his +face unless he's full of ideas that folks will kick him for. I felt kind +of worked up about him then, but I didn't do anything. + +"Last night I rode down to Cabillo with a Dutchman, some big bug who'd +been up at the dam. I'd just been up there with Miguel. He told us that +Jim Manning is attracting notice in the old country by the work he's +doing on this dam. And he roasted us as samples of fat cattle who'd let +a man like Manning go. At least that's what I made out, for he was so +mad he talked Dutch a lot. Miguel and I made up our minds then that we'd +got in wrong. What has this fellow Fleckenstein ever done for us? Is he +going to get us branded over the country as a bunch that'll jump an +honest debt? It looks to me as if Manning had done more for us than we +knew. I'm willing to give Manning a new chance. I move we turn this +meeting into a Manning meeting and I move we send a petition to the +Secretary of the Interior to keep Manning on the job." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE THUMB PRINT + + "I have been buffeted by the ages until I dominate the + desert. So do the ages buffet one another until they produce + a dominating man." + + MUSINGS OF THE ELEPHANT. + + +Uncle Denny was on the platform before Marshall had ceased speaking. + +"Friends, Mr. Marshall has said the thing we had in mind to present to +this meeting. It was to be me share to ask you for a petition. 'Twill be +the pride of Still Jim's life that the request came from a farmer and +not from me. If all here will sign and if every man here will make +himself responsible for the signatures of his neighbors, the thing can +be done in a few days and we will wire the matter to the Secretary of +the Interior. Friends, I'd rather see the tide turn for Jim than to see +Home Rule in Ireland!" + +The tide had turned. One of those marvelous changes of sentiment that +sometimes sweep a community began in the wild applause that greeted the +tender little closing of Uncle Denny's speech. When Fleckenstein arrived +an hour late, he found an empty hall. His audience had dispersed to +scour the valleys for signatures for Jim. + +Uncle Denny came home to the dam, tired but with the first ray of hope +in his heart that he had had for a long time. The petition might not +influence the authorities and yet the sentiment it raised might defeat +Fleckenstein at the last. At any rate, it was something to work for +these last hard days of Jim's regime. + +Jim had seen the last farmer and was devoting the final days of his stay +on the dam to urging the work forward that he might leave as full a +record behind him as his broken term permitted. Wrapped in his work and +his grief, Jim did not hear of the existence of the petition. Henderson +had spread word among the workmen of Jim's intended departure. No one +cared to speak of the matter to Jim. Something in his stern, sad young +face forbade it. But there was not a man on the job from associate +engineer to mule driver who did not throw himself into his work with an +abandon of energy that drove the work forward with unbelievable +rapidity. All that his men could do to help Jim's record was to be done. + +For three days before the election Henderson scarcely slept. He tried to +be on all three shifts. "I even eat my meals from a nose bag," he told +Uncle Denny sadly. + +"And what's a nose bag?" asked Uncle Denny. + +"A nose bag is the thing you tie on a horse for him to get his grub +from. Also it's the long yellow bag the cook puts the night shift's +lunch in. But I'd starve if 'twould keep the Boss on the job. I'd even +drink one of Babe's cocktails." + +Henderson waited for Uncle Denny's "Go ahead with the story," then he +began sadly: + +"Algernon Dove was Babe's real name. He was an English remittance-man +here in the early days. The Smithsonian folks came down here and wanted +to get someone to go out with them to collect desert specimens, +rattlers, Gila monsters, hydrophobia skunks and such trash. Babe and +Alkali Ike, his running mate, went with them. They took a good outfit, +the Smithsonian folks did, and in one wagon they took a barrel of +alcohol and dumped the reptiles into it as fast as they found them. They +got a good bunch, little by little, snakes and horned toads and +hydrophobia skunks. In about two weeks they was ready to come back. Then +they noticed the bad smell." + +Henderson paused. "What was the matter?" asked Uncle Denny. + +"Babe and Ike had been drinking the alcohol, day by day," he answered in +his musical voice. "The barrel just did 'em two weeks. Just because I +talk foolish talk, Mr. Dennis, ain't a sign that I don't feel bad. I +don't want the Boss to speak to me or I'll cry." + +The day of the election was a long one for Jim. He packed his trunk and +his personal papers and Mrs. Flynn began to wrap the legs of the chairs +in newspapers. Her tears threatened to reduce each wrapping to pulp +before she completed it. In the afternoon, Jim started for a last tour +of the dam. He covered the work slowly, looking his last at the details +over which he had toiled and dreamed so long. He walked slowly up from +the lower town. The men who passed him glanced away as if they would not +intrude on his trouble. + +The work on the dam was going forward as though life and death depended +on the amount accomplished by this particular shift. Jim was +inexpressibly touched by this display of the men's good will, but he +could think of no way to show his feeling. + +Just at sunset he climbed the Elephant's back. But he was not to have +this last call alone. Old Suma-theek was sitting on the edge of the +crater, his fine face turned hawklike toward the distance. Jim nodded to +his friend, then sat down in his favorite spot where, far across the +canyon, he could see the flag, rippling before the office. + +After a time, the old Indian came over to sit beside him. He followed +Jim's gaze and said softly: + +"That flag it heap pretty but wherever Injun see it he see sorrow and +death for Injun." + +Jim answered slowly: "Perhaps we're being paid for what we've done to +you, Suma-theek. The white tribe that made the flag is going, just as we +have made you go. The flag will always look the same, but the dream it +was made to tell will go." + +"Who sabez the way of the Great Spirit? He make you go. He make Injun +go. He make nigger and Chinamans stay. Perhaps they right, you and Injun +wrong. Who sabez?" + +"I'd like to have finished my dam," Jim muttered. "Somehow we are +inadequate. I woke up too late." And suddenly a deeper significance came +to him of Pen's verse-- + + "Too late for love, too late for joy; + Too late! Too late! + You loitered on the road too long, + You trifled at the gate----" + +"When you old like Suma-theek," said the Indian, "you sabez then nothing +matter except man make his tribe live. Have children or die! That the +Great Spirit's law for tribes." + +Jim said no more. The daily miracle of the sunset was taking place. An +early snow had capped the far mountain peaks and these now flashed an +unearthly silver radiance against the crimson heavens. Old Jezebel +wandered remotely, a black scratch across a desert of blood red. +Distance indefinable, beauty indescribable, once more these quickened +Jim's pulse. Almost, almost he seemed to catch the key to the Master +Dream and then--the scarlet glow changed to purple, and night began its +march across the sands. + +Jim made his way down the trail and up to his house. Waiting at his door +were three of his workmen. They were young fellows, fresh shaved and +wearing white collars. Jim invited them in and they followed awkwardly. +They took the cigars he offered and then shifted uneasily while Jim +stood on the hearth rug regarding them with his wistful smile. He was +not so very many years older than they. + +"Boss," finally began one of the men, "us fellows heard a few days ago +that you were going to leave. We wanted to do something to show we liked +you and what a--d--doggone shame it is you're going and--and we didn't +have time to buy anything, but we made up a purse. Every rough-neck on +the job contributes, Boss; they wanted to. Here's about two hundred +dollars. We'd like to have you buy something you can remember us by." + +The spokesman stopped, perspiring and breathless. His two companions +came forward and one of them laid on the table a cigar box which, when +opened, showed a pile of bills and coins. Jim's face worked. + +"Boys," said Jim huskily, "boys--I'm no speaker! What can I say to you +except that this kindness takes away some of the sting of going. I'll +buy something I can take with me wherever I go." + +"Don't try to say nothing, Boss," said the spokesman. "I know what it +is. I laid awake all night fixing up what I just said." + +"It was a darned good speech," replied Jim. "Don't forget me, boys. When +you finish the dam remember it was my pipe dream to have finished it +with you." + +The three shook hands with Jim and made for the door. Jim stood staring +at the money, smiling but with wet eyes, when Bill Evans' automobile +exploded up to the house. Uncle Denny was sitting in the tonneau with +two other men. Jim walked slowly out to the road. One of the men was the +Secretary of the Interior; the other, a slender, keen-faced young man, +was his private secretary. Jim's face was white in the dusk. + +"Well, young man," said the Secretary, "you have been having some +strenuous times since the Hearing. And for a man reputed to be +unpopular, you have some good friends." + +Bill Evans, almost bursting with importance, undid the binding wire that +fastened the door of the tonneau and the Secretary arose. + +"If you had telegraphed me, Mr. Secretary," Jim began with a reproachful +glance at Uncle Denny. + +"On me soul, Jimmy," said Uncle Denny, "I didn't know. I went over with +Bill to meet someone else and----" + +The Secretary laughed as he followed Jim. As Jim held open the door he +said: "I didn't want to wire you, Mr. Manning. I wanted to find you on +the ground, steeped in your iniquities. You have nice quarters," he +added, sitting down comfortably before the grate fire. Then his eye fell +on the cigar box full of money. "Ah, is that a part of the loot I hear +you've been getting?" + +Jim looked at the Secretary uncertainly. He was a large man with the +keen blue eyes and the firm mouth in a smooth-shaven face that Jim +remembered was like a fine set mask. Jim got nothing from staring into +his distinguished guest's quiet eyes. + +"This is a gift from the workmen on the dam," said Jim. "I am to buy +something to remember them by. There are about two hundred dollars +there, they tell me." + +The Secretary nodded. "I am glad to hear that the men like you, Mr. +Manning. What have you--Come in, madam!" The Secretary nodded to Mrs. +Flynn, who had paused in the door with a tray load of dishes. She paused +and looked uncertainly at Jim. + +"Supper for four tonight, Mrs. Flynn," said Jim. "We have the Secretary +of the Interior with us." + +"My heavens!" gasped Mrs. Flynn. "God knows I never meant to intrude." + +The Secretary laughed so richly and so heartily that all but Mrs. Flynn +joined him. She gave the group of men a look of utter scorn, and said: + +"I suppose if the Lord and the twelve disciples had dropped in +unexpected, you men would think it funny and me with me legs all wrapped +up in newspapers!" Then she bolted for the kitchen. + +The Secretary wiped his eyes. "I hope I haven't seriously upset your +household," he said to Jim. + +Jim shook his head. "Your coming will be one of the great events of her +life. Supper will be late but it will be well worth eating." + +"Then," said the Secretary, "let us continue our private hearing. What +have you been trying to do here on the dam, Mr. Manning?" + +Jim stood on the hearth rug and glanced at each of the three men seated +before him, his gaze finally resting on the Secretary's face. + +"At first," he said, "I merely wanted to build the dam. I called it the +Thumb-print that I would leave on the map, that should be emblematic of +the old trail-making Puritan. But by a persistent indifference to their +prejudices and to their personal wishes and welfare, I antagonized all +the farmers on the Project." + +Jim paused, hesitated and then went on. "The woman whom I shall one day +marry pointed out to me that my attitude here was typical of the general +attitude of the so-called Old Stock here in America. She said that I was +willing to build the dam but unwilling to sacrifice time or effort to +administering it, to showing the farmer how to handle the fine, +essentially democratic, idea that was in the Reclamation idea. She said +that we had formed the government in America and left it to others to +administer and that of this we were dying." + +Jim stopped and the Secretary said, "She seems intelligent, this young +woman." + +Jim's smile was flashing and tender as he said, "She is!" Then he went +on, "You wrote me that the human element was the important matter here +on the dam. This--friend--of----" Jim hesitated for a name for Pen. + +"--of your heart," suggested the Secretary. + +"Thank you," replied Jim gravely, "--of my heart said that I was doing +only half a man's part and that that was what was losing me my job. So I +have been trying to enlarge my Thumb-print. I want to leave it not only +in concrete but in the idea that the Project shall embody the rebirth of +the old New England ideal of equality not in freedom alone, but in +responsibility. I hoped I might make every individual here feel +responsible for the building of the dam, for the payment of the debt, +and for the development of the Project for the best good of every human +being on it." + +Jim stopped, and the Secretary said, "Well?" + +Again Jim's wistful smile. "I woke too late to get my idea across. My +successor comes tomorrow." + +The Secretary shook his head. "I had no idea you were to leave so soon, +though I will admit that after I read of your interview with Freet I +rather lost interest in your doings. You know, I suppose, that Freet was +asked for his resignation at the same time you were? Last week, however, +just before we started on a tour of the Projects, a young lady called on +me. She was very good looking and my secretary is not ah--impervious--to +externals, so he allowed her quite a long interview with me." + +The Secretary's eyes twinkled and young Allen laughed. "You see, that +the Secretary took note of her personal appearance himself!" + +Jim's face was flushed and amazed. The Secretary went on: "This young +lady told me the details of the Freet visit and a good many other +details that I'll not take time to mention. She was so clear and cool, +yet so in earnest that I decided that I would leave my party at Cabillo +and come on up for a talk with you, incognito, as it were, before they +got here. To cap the climax, at Chicago I had a most remarkable telegram +from a man named Gluck. I knew that a German engineer was looking over +our Projects." + +The Secretary smiled at the helpless expression on Jim's face. "Gluck, +in about a thousand words, for which I hope his government will pay, +told me that I was an enfeebled idiot or what amounted to that to let an +engineering treasure like you leave the dam. I liked you, Mr. Manning, +when I saw you at Washington. I thought, then, though, that you were on +the wrong track and I hoped you could be lured onto the right one. I +admit that I was much disappointed with your answer to my first letter +and delighted with your second. I might have known that a woman had had +her hand in so radical a change!" The Secretary's smile was very human +as he said this. + +"I don't know that I agree with you in your feeling of sadness about the +going of the Old Stock. I am an enthusiast over the Melting Pot idea +myself. But whatever the motive power within you, I heartily endorse +your ideals for the Projects. But I am still not convinced that you are +the man for your job, in spite of your engineering ability. Engineering +ability is not rare. A great many engineers could build a dam. But a man +to do the work you have outlined must have several rare qualities and +not the least among these is the capacity for making many friends +easily, of getting his ideas to the other man." + +Jim's jaw set a little, but he answered frankly, "I know it, Mr. +Secretary, and that is just what I lack." + +This was too much for Uncle Denny. "Mr. Secretary, those that know Jim +are bound to him by ribs of steel. They----" + +"Uncle Denny! Uncle Denny!" interrupted Jim, sadly, "even your faithful +love cannot make a popular man of me! You must not try to influence the +Secretary by your personal prejudice!" + +Uncle Denny, with obvious effort, closed his lips, then opened them to +say, "Still! Still! You break me old heart!" + +The Secretary looked from the handsome old Irishman to the tall young +engineer, whose face was too sad for his years and something a little +misty softened the Secretary's keen blue eyes. + +"You agree with me, Mr. Manning," he said gently, "that the capacity you +seem to lack is essential for so heavy a task as you have outlined. It +is a great pity to lose you to the Service, yet I cannot see how you can +bring the Project to its best. I am considering how it will be possible +to find men who have your engineering ability, your idealism, and this +last rare, marvelous capacity for popularity." + +Jim flushed under his tan. For the first time he spoke tensely. "Mr. +Secretary, it's crucifying me to think I've fallen down on this." + +"Don't let it break you," said the Secretary, looking at Jim with eyes +that had looked long and understandingly on human nature. "Make up your +mind to turn your forces into other channels. I want you to understand +my position, Mr. Manning. Personally, I would do anything for you, for I +like you. I hope always to count you as a friend. But as Secretary of +the Interior, I must be a man of iron, always looking ahead to the +future of our country. I dare not let myself show partiality here, lest +our children's children suffer from my weakness." + +Jim answered steadily, "Do you suppose I would hold my job as a favor, +Mr. Secretary?" + +"I know you wouldn't," replied the Secretary. "That is why I took the +trouble to come to you personally. I told you that I was proud to feel +myself your friend. And if you have lost, you have lost as a man must +prefer to lose, Mr. Manning, in full flight, with the heat of battle +thick upon you and not dragging out your days in a slow paralysis of +futile endeavor." + +"I thank you, Mr. Secretary," said Jim huskily. + +"Can I put supper on now, Mr. Dennis?" asked Mrs. Flynn, in a stage +whisper. + +"You may," said the Secretary emphatically. "I don't like to seem +impatient, Mrs. Flynn, but I'm famished." + +Mrs. Flynn beamed, though eyes and nose were red from weeping. "I'll +have it on in three minutes, your honor. Just hold your hand on your +stomach, that always helps me, your honor. Boss," in another stage +whisper, "I laid a clean shirt on your bed for you and you had better +ask his honor if he don't want to wash up." + +The Secretary was charmed. He rose with alacrity. "Mrs. Flynn, if you +ever leave Mr. Manning, come straight to me. You are a woman after my +own heart." + +Mrs. Flynn curtseyed with the sugar bowl in her hand. "I thank you, your +honor, but if God lets me live to spare my life, I'll never leave the +Big Boss. He's my family! I'd rather rub my hand over that silky brown +head of his than over a king's. God knows when I'll see him next, +though----" and Mrs. Flynn's face worked and she dashed from the room. + +After the wonderful supper which Mrs. Flynn at last produced, Jim +exerted himself, with Uncle Denny's help, to entertain the Secretary. +Young Mr. Allen went to call on the cement engineer, who was an old +friend. It was not difficult to amuse the Secretary. He was as +interested in details of the life on the Project as a boy of fifteen. +Uncle Denny sent him into peals of laughter with an Irish version of +Henderson's stories, and Jim's story of Iron Skull moved him deeply. + +It was drawing toward nine o'clock when once more Bill Evans' rattle of +gasolene artillery sounded before the door. A familiar voice called, + +"Good-night, Bill!" and Penelope came into the room. + +The men jumped to their feet and Uncle Denny hurried to take her bag. +Jim did not seem able to speak. Pen shook hands with the Secretary. + +"You are here, Mr. Secretary," she said. "I'm so glad!" + +"So am I," said the Secretary, smiling appreciatively at Pen. In her +traveling suit of brown, with her shining hair and her great eyes +brilliant while her color came and went, Pen was very beautiful. She +turned from the Secretary to Jim and shook hands with him, with +deepening flush. + +"Hello, Still!" she said. + +"Hello, Penelope!" replied Jim. + +"Pen!" cried Uncle Denny breathlessly. "What's the news? As I promised, +I've not been near the telephone, nor have I said a word here, though +it's most suffocated me." + +"Fleckenstein is defeated," said Pen. + +"Oh, thank God for that!" cried Jim. + +"How did it happen?" asked the Secretary. + +Uncle Denny began to walk the floor. Pen answered. "A week ago, Mr. +Secretary, a farmer named Marshall at a Fleckenstein meeting suggested +that a petition be sent you to keep Mr. Manning here." + +Uncle Denny interrupted. "Mrs. Saradokis here already had telegraphed us +to do that same thing, Mr. Secretary, but we were glad to have the +farmers get the same idea." + +"That isn't important, Uncle Denny," said Pen. "Marshall himself wrote +the petition. The farmers' wives caught the idea as eagerly as their +husbands and you will find in many cases the signatures of whole +families. Of course no man was going to petition for Mr. Manning, and +then vote for Fleckenstein. So he was defeated. Here is the petition, +Mr. Secretary." + +Pen drew from her suitcase a fold of legal cap papers which she opened +and passed to the Secretary. Her voice vibrated as she said: "It is +signed by nearly every farmer on the Project, Mr. Secretary. Even the +Mexicans wanted Jim to stay." + +The Secretary put on his glasses and unfolded the numerous sheets. He +looked them through very deliberately, then without a word, passed them +to Jim. + +The petition was a short one: "We the undersigned residents of the +Cabillo Project petition that James Manning be retained as engineer in +charge of the Project. We ask this because we like him and trust him +and believe he will do more than any other man could do for the farmers' +good. Signed----" + +There was no sound in the room save the crackling of the papers as Jim's +trembling fingers turned them. He was white to the lips. The Secretary +looked from Jim to Pen, who was standing with close-clasped fingers, her +deep eyes shining as she watched Jim. From Pen he looked at Uncle Denny, +who was walking round and round the dining room table as though on a +wager. Then the Secretary looked back at Jim. + +"This petition pleases me greatly, Mr. Manning, and it will please the +Director. He has grieved very much over the seeming necessity of letting +you go. Of course this petition disproves all our statements about your +capacity for making friends and for making your friends get your ideas." +The Secretary chuckled. "Mrs. Flynn can remove the newspapers from all +her legs tomorrow!" + +Jim could not speak. He looked from face to face and his lips moved, but +only his wistful smile came forth. + +"Mr. Dennis," said the Secretary, "supposing you and I have a quiet +smoke here while the Project engineer allows this young lady to take him +out and explain to him how she came here." + +"Mr. Secretary, you must have a drop of Irish blood in you!" cried Uncle +Denny. + +He pushed Pen and Jim toward the door. And Jim took Pen's hand and went +out into the night. + +They walked silently under the stars to the edge of the canyon and stood +there looking across at the black outline of the Elephant. + +"I went down to see the Secretary in Washington," said Pen, "and he was +very kind, but I couldn't move him from his decision about your +dismissal. Then when I wired Oscar about the petition, I decided that I +was going to be in at the finish and present it to the Secretary myself. +We came up from Cabillo on the same train. I made Bill drop me at the +Hendersons' because I wanted to surprise you. Good old Bill! He went +down to Cabillo and brought the petition up to me." + +Jim held Pen's hand close in his own. "I can't seem to understand it +all," he said. "I don't deserve it. Think of the farmers doing this! +Aren't they a fine lot of fellows, though! Gee, Penny, there is going to +be some great team work on this Project from now on! The water power +trust won't be able to get in here with a hydraulic ram! What can they +do with a prosperous and responsible group of farmers like these!" + +"Jim," cried Penelope, "there is no limit to what I want you to do! This +is just the beginning. After you have finished here, you must go to +other Projects and after that, you must go to Congress and it will be +war to the knife all the time. It's a wonderful future you are going to +have, Still Jim." + +Jim laughed happily. "And where will you be all this time, Penny? I +understand that you are quite, quite through with marriage, and it will +be very improper for you to keep on taking such an active interest in a +bachelor's affairs. And yet this bachelor just can't go on without you!" + +Pen answered evasively. "That's open to discussion. Jimmy, some day, you +will buy back the old house at Exham." + +"It would never be the same, with dad gone," said Jim. + +"Even if your father were alive, Jimmy, it couldn't be the same," +answered Pen. "It's just that the thought of the old house will always +renew your old instincts, Still. You can't return Exham's old sweet days +to it. But Exham has done its work, I believe, out here on this +Project." + +Pen's smile was very sweet in the starlight. Jim put both his hands on +her shoulders. + +"Do you love me, dear?" he asked. + +Pen looked up into his eyes long and earnestly. + +"I always have, Still Jim," she said. + +"Do you want to know how I love you? Oh, sweetheart, I have so little to +offer you!" he went on, brokenly, without waiting for Pen's answer, +"except abiding love and passionate love and adoring love! And you are +so very beautiful, Penelope. I've hungered for you for a long, long +time, dear. Bitter, bitter nights and days up on the Makon and hopeless +nights and days here on the Cabillo." His hands tightened on her +shoulders. "Did you come back to me, sweetheart?" + +"Still," whispered Pen, "I missed you so! I had to come back." + +Then Jim drew Pen to him and folded her close in his strong arms and +laid his lips to hers in a long kiss. + +And the flag fluttered lightly behind them and the desert wind whispered +above their heads: + + "O yahee! O yahai! + Sweet as arrow weed in spring!" + + * * * * * + +POPULAR COPYRIGHT NOVELS + +AT MODERATE PRICES + +Ask Your Dealer for a Complete List of +A. L. Burt Company's Popular Copyright Fiction + + +~Adventures of Jimmie Dale, The.~ By Frank L. Packard. + +~Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.~ By A. Conan Doyle. + +~Affinities, and Other Stories.~ By Mary Roberts Rinehart. + +~After House, The.~ By Mary Roberts Rinehart. + +~Against the Winds.~ By Kate Jordan. + +~Ailsa Paige.~ By Robert W. 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Richmond. + +~Cricket, The.~ By Marjorie Benton Cooke. + +~Crimson Gardenia, The, and Other Tales of Adventure.~ By Rex Beach. + +~Crimson Tide, The.~ By Robert W. Chambers. + +~Cross Currents.~ By Author of "Pollyanna." + +~Cross Pull, The.~ By Hal. G. Evarts. + +~Cry in the Wilderness, A.~ By Mary E. Waller. + +~Cry of Youth, A.~ By Cynthia Lombardi. + +~Cup of Fury, The.~ By Rupert Hughes. + +~Curious Quest, The.~ By E. Phillips Oppenheim. + + +~Danger and Other Stories.~ By A. Conan Doyle. + +~Dark Hollow, The.~ By Anna Katharine Green. + +~Dark Star, The.~ By Robert W. Chambers. + +~Daughter Pays, The.~ By Mrs. Baillie Reynolds. + +~Day of Days, The.~ By Louis Joseph Vance. + +~Depot Master, The.~ By Joseph C. Lincoln. + +~Destroying Angel, The.~ By Louis Joseph Vance. + +~Devil's Own, The.~ By Randall Parrish. + +~Devil's Paw, The.~ By E. Phillips Oppenheim. + +~Disturbing Charm, The.~ By Berta Ruck. + +~Door of Dread, The.~ By Arthur Stringer. + +~Dope.~ By Sax Rohmer. + +~Double Traitor, The.~ By E. Phillips Oppenheim. + +~Duds.~ By Henry C. Rowland. + +~Empty Pockets.~ By Rupert Hughes. + +~Erskine Dale Pioneer.~ By John Fox, Jr. + +~Everyman's Land.~ By C. N. & A. M. Williamson. + +~Extricating Obadiah.~ By Joseph C. Lincoln. + +~Eyes of the Blind, The.~ By Arthur Somers Roche. + +~Eyes of the World, The.~ By Harold Bell Wright. + + +~Fairfax and His Pride.~ By Marie Van Vorst. + +~Felix O'Day.~ By F. Hopkinson Smith. + +~54-40 or Fight.~ By Emerson Hough. + +~Fighting Chance, The.~ By Robert W. Chambers. + +~Fighting Fool, The.~ By Dane Coolidge. + +~Fighting Shepherdess, The.~ By Caroline Lockhart. + +~Financier, The.~ By Theodore Dreiser. + +~Find the Woman.~ By Arthur Somers Roche. + +~First Sir Percy, The.~ By The Baroness Orczy. + +~Flame, The.~ By Olive Wadsley. + +~For Better, for Worse.~ By W. B. Maxwell. + +~Forbidden Trail, The.~ By Honore Willsie. + +~Forfeit, The.~ By Ridgwell Cullum. + +~Fortieth Door, The.~ By Mary Hastings Bradley. + +~Four Million, The.~ By O. Henry. + +~From Now On.~ By Frank L. Packard. + +~Fur Bringers, The.~ By Hulbert Footner. + +~Further Adventures of Jimmie Dale.~ By Frank L. Packard + + +~Get Your Man.~ By Ethel and James Dorrance. + +~Girl in the Mirror, The.~ By Elizabeth Jordan. + +~Girl of O. K. Valley, The.~ By Robert Watson. + +~Girl of the Blue Ridge, A.~ By Payne Erskine. + +~Girl from Keller's, The.~ By Harold Bindloss. + +~Girl Philippa, The.~ By Robert W. Chambers. + +~Girls at His Billet, The.~ By Berta Ruck. + +~Glory Rides the Range.~ By Ethel and James Dorrance. + +~Gloved Hand, The.~ By Burton E. Stevenson. + +~God's Country and the Woman.~ By James Oliver Curwood. + +~God's Good Man.~ By Marie Corelli. + +~Going Some.~ By Rex Beach. + +~Gold Girl, The.~ By James B. Hendryx. + +~Golden Scorpion, The.~ By Sax Rohmer. + +~Golden Slipper, The.~ By Anna Katharine Green. + +~Golden Woman, The.~ By Ridgwell Cullum. + +~Good References.~ By E. J. Rath. + +~Gorgeous Girl, The.~ By Nalbro Bartley. + +~Gray Angels, The.~ By Nalbro Bartley. + +~Great Impersonation, The.~ By E. Phillips Oppenheim. + +~Greater Love Hath No Man.~ By Frank L. Packard. + +~Green Eyes of Bast, The.~ By Sax Rohmer. + +~Greyfriars Bobby.~ By Eleanor Atkinson. + +~Gun Brand, The.~ By James B. Hendryx. + + +~Hand of Fu-Manchu, The.~ By Sax Rohmer. + +~Happy House.~ By Baroness Von Hutten. + +~Harbor Road, The.~ By Sara Ware Bassett. + +~Havoc.~ By E. Phillips Oppenheim. + +~Heart of the Desert, The.~ By Honore Willsie. + +~Heart of the Hills, The.~ By John Fox, Jr. + +~Heart of the Sunset.~ By Rex Beach. + +~Heart of Thunder Mountain, The.~ By Edfrid A. Bingham. + +~Heart of Unaga, The.~ By Ridgwell Cullum. + +~Hidden Children, The.~ By Robert W. Chambers. + +~Hidden Trails.~ By William Patterson White. + +~Highflyers, The.~ By Clarence B. Kelland. + +~Hillman, The.~ By E. Phillips Oppenheim. + +~Hills of Refuge, The.~ By Will N. Harben. + +~His Last Bow.~ By A. Conan Doyle. + +~His Official Fiancee.~ By Berta Ruck. + +~Honor of the Big Snows.~ By James Oliver Curwood. + +~Hopalong Cassidy.~ By Clarence E. Mulford. + +~Hound from the North, The.~ By Ridgwell Cullum. + +~House of the Whispering Pines, The.~ By Anna Katharine Green. + +~Hugh Wynne, Free Quaker.~ By S. Weir Mitchell, M.D. + +~Humoresque.~ By Fannie Hurst. + + +~I Conquered.~ By Harold Titus. + +~Illustrious Prince, The.~ By E. Phillips Oppenheim. + +~In Another Girl's Shoes.~ By Berta Ruck. + +~Indifference of Juliet, The.~ By Grace S. Richmond. + +~Inez.~ (Ill. Ed.) By Augusta J. Evans. + +~Infelice.~ By Augusta Evans Wilson. + +~Initials Only.~ By Anna Katharine Green. + +~Inner Law, The.~ By Will N. Harben. + +~Innocent.~ By Marie Corelli. + +~In Red and Gold.~ By Samuel Merwin. + +~Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu, The.~ By Sax Rohmer. + +~In the Brooding Wild.~ By Ridgwell Cullum. + +~Intriguers, The.~ By William Le Queux. + +~Iron Furrow, The.~ By George C. Shedd. + +~Iron Trail, The.~ By Rex Beach. + +~Iron Woman, The.~ By Margaret Deland. + +~Ishmael.~ (Ill.) By Mrs. Southworth. + +~Island of Surprise.~ By Cyrus Townsend Brady. + +~I Spy.~ By Natalie Sumner Lincoln. + +~It Pays to Smile.~ By Nina Wilcox Putnam. + +~I've Married Marjorie.~ By Margaret Widdemer. + + +~Jean of the Lazy A.~ By B. M. Bower. + +~Jeanne of the Marshes.~ By E. Phillips Oppenheim. + +~Jennie Gerhardt.~ By Theodore Dreiser. + +~Johnny Nelson.~ By Clarence E. Mulford. + +~Judgment House, The.~ By Gilbert Parker. + + +~Keeper of the Door, The.~ By Ethel M. Dell. + +~Keith of the Border.~ By Randall Parrish. + +~Kent Knowles: Quahaug.~ By Joseph C. Lincoln. + +~Kingdom of the Blind, The.~ By E. Phillips Oppenheim. + +~King Spruce.~ By Holman Day. + +~Knave of Diamonds, The.~ By Ethel M. Dell. + + +~La Chance Mine Mystery, The.~ By S. Carleton. + +~Lady Doc, The.~ By Caroline Lockhart. + +~Land-Girl's Love Story, A.~ By Berta Ruck. + +~Land of Strong Men, The.~ By A. M. Chisholm. + +~Last Straw, The.~ By Harold Titus. + +~Last Trail, The.~ By Zane Grey. + +~Laughing Bill Hyde.~ By Rex Beach. + +~Laughing Girl, The.~ By Robert W. Chambers. + +~Law Breakers, The.~ By Ridgwell Cullum. + +~Law of the Gun, The.~ By Ridgwell Cullum. + + * * * * * + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: + +Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as +possible, including obsolete and variant spellings and other +inconsistencies. Corrections in the text are noted below, with +corrections inside the brackets: + +page 189: space added within word: + + curiosity, the machine left the road and plunged madly + across the desert, through cactus thickets and yucca + clumps, through draws and oversand[over sand] drifts. + +page 190: typo corrected + + "_Caramba!_" he said. "That was a fine ride! I've + been wanting to get a look at that country and a talk + with you, Bill, for a month. I fell[feel] well rested." + +page 324: typo corrected + + pack. They can reason, the old fools! Bill Evans' + auto shoved this fellow over. The stearing[steering] gear + broke." + +page 351: probable typo fixed for sense: + + ain't one of us fit to black his boots. This Project is + his life's blood to him. There isn't anything he would[n't] + sacrifice to its welfare. And you're throwing him out. + +In the advertisement: accents and typo fixed: + + ~Forbidden Trail, The.~ By Honore[e] Willsie. + + ~Heart of the Desert, The.~ By Honore[e] Willsie. + + ~I Spy.~ By Natalie Sumner Linclon.[Lincoln] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Still Jim, by Honore Willsie Morrow + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STILL JIM *** + +***** This file should be named 24458.txt or 24458.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/4/5/24458/ + +Produced by Audrey Longhurst and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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