FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   192   193   194   195   196   197   198   199   200   201   202   203   204   205   206   207   208   >>  
." "I think," Mr. Crawford said, quietly, as he sent his horses racing into the night, "that Oliver Swinnerton won't be looking for any more trouble from now on." Where the road forked, one branch running straight on to Crawfordsville, the other turning off toward Deep Creek, Mr. Crawford took Conniston's horse, and Conniston got into the buckboard. Mr. Crawford was to ride alone to Crawfordsville, see Colton Gray, of the P. C. & W., tell him that the Crawford Reclamation Company had made good its part of the contract, invite him out to Dam Number One to see what was done, and to insist that the P. C. & W. keep to its part of the contract, beginning work immediately upon the railroad into the Valley. Conniston and Argyl were to drive on to the dam, and to open the gates controlling the current to be poured into the big flume. The darkness had not yet gone, but was lifting, turning a dull gray, when Argyl and Conniston came to the dam. And now the engineer told her of two things which until now he had mentioned to no one save the men whom he had been obliged to call in to do the work for him. From Dam Number One for thirty miles, reaching to Valley City, there were small groups of his men stationed a mile apart. Each group had piled high the dry limbs of trees, scrub brush, and green foliage brought from the mountains. Each group was instructed to watch for the water which was to be turned at last into the ditch and to set fire to its pile of brushwood when the precious stuff came abreast of them. And so, by day or night, there was to be thirty miles of signal fires to proclaim with flame and smoke that the Great Work was no longer a man's dream, but an accomplished, vital thing. The second thing he explained as Argyl walked with him to the dam across Deep Creek. He showed her the accomplished work, showed her the deep, wide flume, and as they stood upon the dam itself pointed out an intricate set of levers controlling the great gates. "Argyl," he told her, speaking quietly, but knowing that there was a tremor in his voice which he could not drive from it--"Argyl, do you know how much to-day means to me? Do you know that it is the most gloriously wonderful day I have ever known? Do you know that I have fought hard for this day, and that the hardest fighting I had before me was the fight against Greek Conniston the snob? Do you know that at least I have tried to make a man of myself, even as I have tried to bui
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   192   193   194   195   196   197   198   199   200   201   202   203   204   205   206   207   208   >>  



Top keywords:

Conniston

 

Crawford

 
controlling
 

Valley

 

contract

 

accomplished

 

thirty

 

showed

 

Number

 

turning


quietly

 
Crawfordsville
 
signal
 

speaking

 
proclaim
 
turned
 

brushwood

 

tremor

 

abreast

 

precious


fighting

 

levers

 

intricate

 

pointed

 

walked

 

explained

 

fought

 

knowing

 

hardest

 
gloriously

wonderful

 

longer

 
Colton
 

buckboard

 

Reclamation

 
insist
 

invite

 
Company
 

Oliver

 
Swinnerton

racing

 

horses

 

branch

 
running
 

straight

 

forked

 
trouble
 

beginning

 

immediately

 
stationed