Argosy All-Story Weekly, April 7, 1928 — page 33: what you’re looking at

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

DAMMING HAIRPIN CANON, dam and seeing what the reported raid amounted to. It was a familiar trail to him—a walk of four or five miles which he had often covered when down here be- fore, studying the irrigation problem— and, engrossed in his none too pleasant thoughts, he strode along at a good rate of speed. But he had not accomplished more than half the journey before he began to meet groups of returning citizens, and presently Molly herself came along in her roadster. She drew up at the sight of him, and beckoned him over to the side of her car. “Tt was a trick,” she explained bit- terly, as he asked her in regard to the attack on the dam. “Only a fake demonstration by a handful of hood- lums, whom the men at work there had no difficulty in chasing away. The thing was all over long before we got around. I'o think ’’—she gave a short, disgusted laugh, “that I should have let myself be taken in by such a frame- u }?? Bul Norman, in his thick way, was unable to get her meaning. ‘“Frame-up?” he repeated vaguely. “But I don’t exactly see the idea. What had the Bridger County people to gain by—” “Not the Bridger County people,” she interrupted impatiently. “‘ Don’t you understand? It was that gang at the courthouse. They were fright- ened. “My ranch manager had warned them to look out for fireworks, if they tried to pull anything off-color. So they staged this show with a hired bunch of Bridgerites, in order to create a diversion and break up our protest. And we, like a lot of idiots, swallowed the bait whole. “Why, just to show our brainless- ness, none of us had ever seen before that Paul Revere who came riding up to give the alarm; yet we took his word without a question. 23 “ Never mind, though.” Her lips tightened. “ This contract business is not over by a long shot. Weill beat them yet, Mr. Rich.” But Norman failed to rise to her encouragement. “No.” He shook his head slowly. * Might as well face facts, Miss ‘Todd. We’ve lost. ““T guess the trouble is,’ he went on after a moment’s pause, “ you picked a lemon when you tried to work. with me. Everything I try to do seems to go wrong. I can’t even make the old adage, ‘A fool for luck,’ run true. I am a fool, and at the same time the un- luckiest devil on earth.” He spoke with an effort at lightness, but Molly could see the quivering of his sensitive lips under the smile he forced to them. He was so game in the face of defeat, so ready to assume all the blame of their failure, that she could not help but admire him. “T won’t listen to you!” she cried warmly. “ Surely you’re not throwing up the sponge, Mr. Rich? Why, this is only the first round. As for me, I have just begun to fight. «And don’t tell me that I picked a lemon for an ally,” she sought to com- fort him. “ No one can be blamed for losing against stacked cards. And now that yourknow the kind of vermin you are dealing with, you'll make a lot bet- ter showing. “No; we're in this thing togeth- er, Mr. Rich.” She thrust out her hand impulsively to clasp his. ‘ And* we’re going to fight it out as we've started, shoulder to shoulder. We'll fight it that way, and we'll win.” Norman’s dejected shoulders lifted slightly under the spur of her plucky courage. “You think, then,” he questioned, “that there is a chance of this rotten deal being overturned? Did your law- yer give you any intimation of that sort when you consulted him?” * We-ll, no,” she admitted. ‘‘ In fact, he said that the only way it could be COMMELXNALS (E)