Argosy and Railroad Man's Magazine, Vol. 107 No. 3 — page 165: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

i os COLD Ed Sorenson left your daughters alone? I would save your daughters from his evil hands, as I would your cattle from his father’s.” __ A man all at once pushed forth from the crowd, wrathfully elbowing his way among neighbors. He was Naharo, the Mexican who had chatted once with Martinez in the latter’s ‘office. “‘ It is true,” he shouted, facing his coun- trymen. ‘I, Naharo, vow it the truth. For I saw this engineer take a young girl away from Ed Sorenson in the restaurant at Bowenville that the scoundrel intended to seduce. It is so, the truth; the engineer saved her. you ’”—his voice gained a savage, rasping note—“ whose girls have been betrayed by Sorenson’s son?”’ ‘Where is he—where is he now?” some one shouted, angrily. It might have been a father who stood in Naharo’s case. “He lies crippled,’’ Weir stated. “ Last night he tried to steal yet another girl from San Mateo, and fleeing when overtaken was pitched from his car and crushed against a rock. He will steal no more daughters of San Mateo.” Sensation on sensation. The crowd fair- ly hummed with new excitement resulting . from these disclosures. Ed Sorenson’s ways were known to most, and the revela- tions seemed true to his character; and from believing the statements of the son to accepting those concerning the father was but a step. Cattle—girls! It began to look as if this engineer, Weir, was in the right. With half of his attention Weir was harkening for the sound of starting auto- mobiles. He had heard the scuffle of feet when the party slipped away from the jail door into the shadows. He had almost mea- sured their passage to the alley. Ah, and now! There was a quick grind of gears, the pop of exhausts, then a dying of the sounds as the cars made their way out of the grounds. “You wished to kill me when you came . here, but I had not then and have not now any intention of dying,’’ he stated. ‘“ For I have work to do—and work ‘for you if you want it. Instead of stealing your cat- STEEL. And are there not men among 507 tle and daughters as the Sorensons did, I’ll give you jobs. We are about to begin dig- ging canals and ditches on the mesa; I want men and teams—you and yours, at good pay for a good day’s work. Our quarrel of the past need not be remembered. I have never been your enemy, only the enemy of the four men who deceived and oppressed you. And now they are gone, two dead, and two off to be tried for their crimes.” Weir stood for a moment silent, while they as silently stared at him. ‘““ Ha, bueno, we shall work!’ Naharo exclaimed. “We shall work and build your ditches, senor,” cried a score of voices. Then the cry swelled to a noisy chorus. . The crowd began to stir and disintegrate and break into groups, gesticulating, talk- ing, discussing all the astonishing items of news given by the engineer, from the par- ticulars of the Sorensons’ depravity to an- nouncement of renewed hire. “ Senor, we hold you in greatest respect,”’ said a man to Weir, smiling in friendly fashion. “And also your pistol,” said a compan- ion, laughing. “No one will need to wear pistols here in San Mateo from now on,” was his an- swer. And he politely bade them good night. His belief was sincere. San Mateo had gained an end of violence, and henceforth his weapon would gather dust. He had triumphed. Not only had he subdued his enemies, but he had won the good will of the people. One thing more alone remained to be won to bring him utter happiness. CHAPTER XXXIII. UNDER THE MOON. IGHTS still were burning in headquarters when Steele Weir slowly drove his run- about up the hillside slope to the dam camp. The men who had acted as guards about the jail, except those who went with Madden, were somewhere on the road be- hind him, returning home in the wagons. CoMmiclooo S (C(O) mM