The Winning of Barbara Worth

ewing, beach-forming waves did not number the ages of their toil; the burning, constant sun and the drying, drifting winds were

and extending a hundred and seventy miles north of the shore that takes their wash to-day. Slowly, through the centuries of that age of all beginnings, the r

delta dam, the mountains of the Coast Range shut out every moisture-laden cloud and turned back every life-bearing stream. Thus trapped and helpless, the bright waters, with all their life, fell under the constant, fierce, beating rays of the semi-tropical sun and shrank from the wearing sweep of the dry, tireless winds. Uncounted still, the centuries of that age

; forgotten by the ocean; deserted by the river, that thirsty land l

t from faraway mountain and hill and plain. That basin of Death was more than a dusty tomb of a life that had been; it was a sepulchre that held the vast treasure of a life that would be--wo

reckoned. The master passions, the governing instincts, the leading desires and the driving fears that hew and carve and form and fashion the race are as rec

ew worlds were discovered, explored, developed and made old; war and famine and pestilence and prosperity hewed and formed, carved and built and fashioned, even as wave and river and sun and wind. The kingdoms of earth, air and water yielded up their

me swift highways of steel. In the East the great cities that received the hordes from every land were growing ever greater. On the far west coast the crowded multitude was building even as it was building in th

one far-flung ripple reached even to the river--when Rubio City was born. But the Desert waited, silent and hot and fierce in its desolation, holding its treasures under the seal of death against the coming of the strong ones; waited until t

des of repose after the long day. Their sun-burned faces, toughened figures and worn, desert-stained clothing testified to their weeks of toil in the open air under the dry sky of an almost rainless land. Some were old-timers--veterans of many a similar ca

bs. Much good-natured chaff was passed with hearty give and take. Jokes that had become time-worn in the many days and nights that the party had been cut off from all other society were

f he was their master--respected, admired and loved. But the old-timers knew that to-morrow, in town with these same men, dressed in conventional garb, on the street or in the hotel, the surveyor would be as bashful and awkward as a country boy. So they joked him about his numerous sweethearts in Rubio City and related many entirely fictitious love adventures and romantic experiences that

out of the circle. Going quietly to the cook-wagon where the Chinaman sat smoking in solitar

He pointed toward the river with his long bamboo pip

n silently for a moment, then: "Yo

where a group of Cocopah Indian laborers made their rude camp. These he

t," said one, pointing to a clump of cottonwo

hes, hombre

" came the chorus of s

the dark level of the land. The jovial voices and merry laughter of his men came to him from the camp, but he did not hear. To-morrow the expedition would be over, the party disbanded. He would make his report to the capitalists who had sent him forth. His r

by his side. For a little neither spoke, while the

t, "we have about reached t

go to New

ary. I can write in fifty

end you out again,"

dering the proposition. That made them think there might be something in it. If I had the capital

he first cloud of smoke came the slow w

uraged heart of the old engineer beat more quickly.

u've often told me about that country. If I sabe the lay of the land we're somewhere at the southern end of it, at the beg

he Seer began qui

n to-morrow with the boys. Give them orders on the bank for their pay and let them go. You and I can scout around the delta end of that country over there for a week or two and

these capitalists to interest them in a project without ever having put an instrument on it

wrong," finis

ong," admitted th

usand acres in that old sea-bed. The Colorado carries water enough for five times that area. There's the railroad already built along one side

aid: "If you accept the position with Hunt up north you should go on at onc

I want, if yo

is trip but beyond that you know how uncer

e all the risk? I'm only a surveyor and you an educated engineer but this thing means as much to me as it does to you. Let me share the expense and I'm with you

hat does me good. I've always known that it was there. But it's a hard road, lad, a migh

"Jose knows it well. I've been pump

p the Seer smiled to himself. "Been pumping him for a month," he repeated. "That m

hout thinking of Barbara he smiled again, musing that there would be little sleep that night for the girl in Rubio City if she knew what he and Abe were considering. From across the river came the s

o consider his proposition seriously. He was also too much of a dreamer not to be influenced by thoughts of Barbara and her association in his mind wit

rn of Abe, who was followed by

nd, stepping aside, he rolled the inevitable cigarette with an ai

try over there, Jos

e wrist: "Here are the mountains that shut out the country by the Big Sea where is San Felipe. I go there once, long time ago. My people live there." He indicated the space between the first and second joints of the thumb. Next he touched the base of the Seer's little finger. "Here is Rubio City." Then tracing the outer rim of the palm toward the wrist: "Here are the hills, and the railroad that the Senor made." His finger

Hollow of God's Hand, Senor--La Palma de la Mano de Dios," he repeated reveren

inger to the inner edge of the palm between the base of the i

ometimes when much water comes the river goes all over here." He indicated the extreme inner edge of the palm. "Most always this water go all this

how us thi

"How long w

Lone Mountain straight--maybe

e is

NO DE DIOS (THE HOLLOW Of GOD'S HAND) D

from the river last

to the old Indian. "All right, Jose; we go i

Buenos noche

night!" returned

Chief gave to each man his pay check and placed an old-timer in charge with instr

ad finished his business with the men. Good-bys were spoken all around a

he group stood watching the little party jog steadily into the distance,

er. All the signs say that they're makin' big medicine. All we have to do with it is to push for Rubio City p

Rio Colorado and Lone Mountain. It was here that the great river, in the ages long past, had built the delta dam, thus cutting off the northern end of the gulf that was now The King's Basin Desert. It was their plan to

ctly toward the river. At that stage of water a long bar put out into the s

s," said the

reached the other shore some distance below the point of launching with no

he channels cut by the overflow and the marks of high water, noting the character of the soil and the vegetation; sometimes tog

-was over, with pipe and cigarettes they reviewed their observations and compared not

monument to the memory of such men as these. But just now Civilization is too greedily quarreling ov

They thought only of the possibility of converting the thousands of acres of The K

ver to a point nearly opposite the clump of cotton woods where they

d follow the old channel of Dry River with our canal about twenty

ut his note-book with a snap. "If those New Yorkers don't listen to what I can

make a guess on the propo

. "I start for New York to-

the odd feeling that Barbara's life is somehow wrapped up in that country out there." As he spoke he turned in his saddle to look back toward the Basin. "She seems to belong to it somehow as, in a way, it belongs to her. There is a look in her eyes sometimes t

he also had fancies--fancies that

ittle outfit jogged slowly along, the great yellow mass rolled up into the air high above their h

n. Then touching her animal with the spur, she set off rapidly in the direction of the approaching horsemen; while the two men watched the dust

an," exclaimed the

iscovered that interesting

irrups. "Abe, I'll bet a mo

e other, smiling at his compani

rd," he said, twisting about to face his companion. "By all traditions I suppose I should say 'eagle,' but

ating the dust from his own shoulders, whil

that there's some kind of a scrap goin' o

ld come on all the faster. I thought you knew Barbara better th

n and swinging his hat in greeting, while the Seer, in waving his own so

ing her horse between the two dust-