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 tohimself.
"For instance," Ames went on, "what are you making the third canal sobig 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 anyinterest 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 foranything but the present. That's why your dams went and the water warswere on. But you can't teach a farmer anything."
Jim spoke with a cold contempt that startled Penelope. Ames' kindly eyeswere blazing.
"No, but maybe us farmers can teach an engineer something. And I don'tknow a better talking point for starting an investigation than the wayyou let the flood rip everything to pieces."
"Which portion of your land is for sale, Mr. Ames?" asked Pen. "Myhusband has a map of the valley over there."
Jim rose and took up his pony's reins. "I'm sorry anything unpleasantcame up, Pen. But you'll find out I'm a fool and a crook some time, soit might as well be now. I must get back." He smiled, lifted his hat androde off. The four in the tent stared after him.
"He always seems so kind of alone," said Mrs. Ames. "They say his menwill do anything for him and yet he always seems kind of lonely. I don'tseem to hate him the way the rest of the valley does. He's so young, hedon'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 toexcuse me saying that. I forgot you was his friend. But this here valleyis like my child to me. I'm fighting for her."
"We want to know the truth about him," said Sara. "Are you really tryingto get rid of him?"
Ames nodded and picked up the map. "I don't think he's crooked, likesome 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 thoughtyou was his friend."
"He's my wife's friend," replied Sara. "You know what the Congressionalcommittee reported about him."
"Sara!" cried Pen. "You know Jim couldn't do a crooked thing to save hislife!"
Sara's black eyes blazed dangerously. Mrs. Ames stirred uncomfortablyand Pen rose. "Let's leave the men to their land sales and go out wherewe can get a view of the camp, Mrs. Ames," she said.
The two women walked slowly out to the mountain edge and settledthemselves 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. Eversince the dam was started, Oscar has been like an old maid with anadopted baby."
"I'm so sorry Jim has made himself unpopular here," said Pen. "He and Iwere 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; noone 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'twaste stuff like him. I would be perfectly happy if my boy turned outlike him."
Pen smiled a little uncertainly. "We who know him so well are foolishabout Jim. Tell me about your children."
"I have two left," replied Mrs. Ames. "They're at school in Cabillo. Iwas 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 onefor my Mary. Though I don't know! My hands are so rough I can't handleembroidery silks very good."
She held up two work distorted hands. "I made this blouse myself," saidPen. "I'd love to make one for your Mary. Time will hang on my handsout here, some days."
"That's nice of you," said the little desert woman, taking the gift assimply as it was offered. "You tell me what materials to get. I guess Ican find some way to pay you up."
"Come to see me, or let me come to see you," exclaimed Pen. "That willbe pay enough. I have few friends, for my husband doesn't like them. ButI 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, doyou?"
Pen's dimples showed. "The more I see of men, Mrs. Ames, the better Ilike women."
Jane Ames nodded understandingly. "The women I know all have got it hardone way or another but I guess desert farming ain't the worst thing thatcan happen to a woman. Here comes Oscar. I suppose he's mad because Iain'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 onthe mountainside watching a group of Indians break out the first line ofa road and she strolled over to talk to him. Jim's letters home had beenfull 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 ofworkmen.
Iron Skull nodded. "Jicarilla and Mohave Apaches. I've fought with theolder men. They make good workmen if you understand them. OldSuma-theek over there is one of my best friends."
There might have been fifty of the Indians, stalwart fellows, using pickand shovel with a deliberate grace that fascinated Pen. She watched insilence for a moment, then she said:
"Mr. Williams. I'm worried about Jim. Is it really true that they aretrying 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 badproposition and he just won't admit it. I don't like to nag him. Yousee, him and me are just naturally partners though I am old enough to behis 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 beengood friends."
Williams hesitated, then he spoke with a sudden deep earnestness thatsurprised Pen: "If you don't help him, things will be bad for BossStill. 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 littleawkwardly: "Maybe you'll understand me better if--if I tell you I waswith Boss Still when a--Mr. Dennis wrote about your marriage. I knowabout how he felt and all and I sort of look on your coming at thisparticular time as a kind of a godsend.
"Now I'm going to tell you some things confidential and leave it to yourjudgment how to act. Boss Still, he sort of worshiped Freet. You knowwho he is?"
Pen nodded. Williams went on. "Freet, as I size it up, wanted to break asmart cub in to be a kind of cat's paw for him in selling water power tothe right folks and running the canals right. It's darn seldom you meeta good engineer that's money hungry. But Freet is. He's a miser in away. But up on the Makon, he found out the Boss is as innocent as a babyof graft and more'n that he had his head in the clouds so's there wasmighty little hope of his coming down to earth. So Freet got him sentdown here.
"Well, the time's coming down here when there'll be a nice lot of waterpower. It belongs to the farmers after they pay for the dam, but theidea is for the engineer in charge to show 'em where to sell it to bestadvantage. If the engineer here ain't the right kind, the Water Powertrust can make him trouble. All sorts of ways, you see. Getting thefarmers 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 Freetknows him and if it should just happen that your husband had any oldscores to settle
with the Boss----"
He paused and Pen exclaimed: "I believe we'd better go right back to NewYork, though as far as I know we're out here just for Sara's health andfor him to buy up some land Mr. Freet knew about."
"Now don't get excited," said Williams. "Remember this here is allspeculation 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 youto watch 'em! And that ain't the most important part of your job,either. Mrs. Saradokis, somehow the Boss ain't getting the grip onthings he'd ought to. I don't mean in engineering. He just can't be beatat that. I don't know just what it is, but he's a big enough man to havethis valley in the hollow of his hand. And he ain't. I want you to helpme find out why and then _make_ him get away with it. This little oldUnited States needs men of his blood and kind of mind. I've fell down onmy job. Don't you let him fall down on his. It's the one way you can payup for--for the other thing you took out of his life."
Pen stood with tear-blinded eyes and trembling lips. Iron Skull clearedhis 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 smallfor 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 goesdown. Idleness is bad for them. You see, in spite of electric lights anda water system we're a long way from civilization and it gets on themen's nerves unless we keep 'em busy. I'm going to start a movingpicture show in the lower camp. The official photographer will run itfor us. Just the usual five-cent movies, you know. Anything aboverunning expenses will go toward the farmers' debt."
Iron Skull moved away to speak to Suma-theek. Jim went on slowly: "Youcan see what I'm up against in Ames. Any day I may get a recall. Everyfarmer 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, itwill ruin my life."
Pen's tender eyes studied Jim's face. Long and thin, with its dreamer'sforehead and its steel jaw, it was the same dear face that Penelope hadcarried in her heart since that spring day long ago when a long-leggedfreshman had said to her, "I'm glad you came. I'm going to think a lotof you. I can see that."
"You know, Jim," she said, "that your mother and Uncle Denny alwaysshared 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 Istudied the maps and the government reports and then he actually saw thedams, you know, and would tell me all the details. Honestly, we'dqualify as experts in any court! And if you'll just let me share yourworries while I'm out here, I shall be prouder even than Uncle Dennyafter you've asked his advice. And won't I crow over him after I getback 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. Youhave enough with Sara. Perhaps Sara will shoot Ames for me! Sara lookslike a sure-enough gunman, now. How he has changed, Pen!"
"If only you could have forgiven him enough to have written him once ina while, Jim. After all he's been more than punished, even for theMarathon matter or for that crazy romance about the ducal inheritance. Irealized, Jim, after I had married him, that Sara was quite capable ofthe Marathon incident. Yet I wish you had forgiven him!"
"The Marathon, Pen!" cried Jim. "For heaven's sake, don't suppose thatwas why I didn't write to Sara! It's the dirty trick he did in marryingyou that I'll never get over!"
"Oh, but that's not fair!" returned Pen. "He--well, anyway, he's acripple 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 perfectlysimple 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 writemovie dramas, Jim." Then she sobered. "Don't misunderstand my coming tothe dam, Jimmy. I've learned a good many things since you left me in NewYork. One thing is that we can't cut our lives loose from other livesand be a law to ourselves. Another is that any responsibility we take upvoluntarily ought to be carried to the end."
Jim looked at Pen curiously and his jaw set. She was several yearsyounger than Jim, yet something had come to her in the years just pastthat made him in some ways feel immature. But Jim had not hungered andthirsted for eight years in starry solitudes with one memory and onedream 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 hertalk to old Suma-theek.
For some days Jim had no opportunity to continue Pen's education withhimself as textbook. He was engrossed in watching and tending the flood.Old Jezebel enjoyed herself thoroughly for a week. She fought andscratched at the mountainsides, but save the chafing of purple lava dustfrom their sides she made no impression on their imperturbability. Sheripped down the last pouring, contemptuously leaving tons of rock andconcrete at the foot of the concrete section. She roared and howled andshook the good earth with the noise of a railway train tearing through atunnel. And Jim laughed.
"If it wasn't for you, old girl," he told her one afternoon, "I'd gocrazy with the flea bitings of the Enemy. But you, bless your wickedsoul, are an honest part of the game. I was bred from the beginning tofight floods. You attack in the open, like an honest vixen. Wait till Iget my clutches on you again."
As Jim finished this soliloquy with considerable satisfaction tohimself, 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 thepaper.
"You are inefficient. A friend of Freet's. They don't say you causedhigh water but they insinuate you suggested it to the weather man. You'dought to tell the Secretary of the Interior the whole truth about theMakon, 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 writeto the editor of this paper, Boss."
Jim did not reply at once. The two were on the mountainside, not a greatdistance from Pen's house past which the new road was to run. TheIndians were making ready for the sunset blasts. Above the distant roarof old Jezebel, old Suma-theek's foreman's whistle sounded clear andsweet as he signaled his men.
This was Geronimo's country, the land of the greatest of the Apachefighters. All about were the trails he and his people had made. Yonderto the north, across a harsh peak, was Geronimo's own pass. And now thelast of Geronimo's race was building new trails for a new people.
The naked beauty of the brown and lavender ranges, the wholesome tang ofthe thin air, the far sweep of the afternoon sky, seemed suddenly remoteto Jim.
"It's bigger than any editor," he said. "I don't know what is thematter. 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 Jezebeland not the farmers!"
The little superintendent laid a knotted hand on Jim's knee. "You musttake my advice in this, partner. I'm an old man and I'm likely to go anytime. I'd like to feel that I'd helped you into a big success. It's theonly record I'll leave behind me except a few dead Injuns. We both comeof good old New England stock and we've got to show the old fightingblood 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 blasthad cut a great slice of rock. Up above his head some loosened stone wasslipping down the mountain. As he called and before either Jim or theIn
dian saw the impending danger, Iron Skull dashed across the road andshoved Suma-theek out of the danger line. But he miscalculated his ownagility. The rapidly-sliding rock caught him on the head and he who hadshed Indian bullets like raindrops went down like a pinon, smitten bylightning.
For one breath there was an appalling silence on the mountainside. TheApaches stood like a group of bronzes. The eagle who lived on theElephant's side hung motionless high above the road. A cotton-tail satwith quivering nose and inquiring ears above the rift of the slide.
Then, with a shout, Jim flung himself from his horse and thrust thereins 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 IronSkull's head. The Indians gathered about in wonder as Jim knelt besidehis friend. For Iron Skull was dead.
Penelope ran out of the tent house at Jim's shout and made her way amongthe Indians to Jim's side.
"O Jim!" she cried. "O Jim! O Jim!" Then she dropped down and lifted thequiet face into her lap and wiped the blood from it and fell to sobbingover it. "Oh, what a useless death!" she sobbed. "What a useless death!"
Jim held his dead friend's hand close in his own. Through histear-blinded eyes he saw a golden August field and felt other fingersclinging to his own.
The doctor, driving the mule ambulance, dashed up the half-made road. Helooked Iron Skull over, and shook his head. "Get the stretcher out," hesaid to Jim.
Four Indians lifted the stretcher with Iron Skull on it, but when theywould have put it in the ambulance, old Suma-theek stepped forward. Hewas taller even than Jim. His face was lean and wrinkled. His eyes weredeep-set and tragic. He wore a twist of red cloth filet-wise around hishead.
"He die for Injun. Let Injun carry 'em home," said the old Apache. "Heheap good fighter. He speak truth. He keep word. He a big chief. He diefor 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 thedoctor and he drove off.
Jim and Penelope stood back. The four Indians bearing the stretcherfollowed after Suma-theek and in a long single line the remainingApaches followed, joining Suma-theek in the death chant which is thevery 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 towersand the engine house where the workmen stared, motionless and aghast,into the twilight of the valley where the electric lights flared, thechanting Indians carried the old shedder of bullets and laid him on hisbed.
The camp was very silent that night. The Mexicans had feared andrespected the little Superintendent. They had shared with the Indiansthe belief that the Little Boss could not be killed. The remains of theold Makon Pack were openly grief-stricken and told half-whisperedstories of Iron Skull's prowess in the old days of tunnel building. Thecamp was smitten with awe at this sudden withdrawal. Sudden death wasthe rule on the Projects, yet it always left the camp breathless withsurprise. The little community of twelve hundred souls, so isolated, soclose to the primeval despite its electric lights, suddenly felt utterlyalone and helpless.
Close after eight o'clock Jim dashed out of his house as if a voice hadcalled him. He dropped down the steep trail to the canyon, crossed thecanyon and took the steep trail up the Elephant's side. It was a sharplift but Jim's long legs took it easily. When he reached the Elephant'stop he crossed the broad back to a heap of bowlders and threw himselfdown in their shelter.
It was a moonlit night. Silver lay the desert with the black scratch ofold Jezebel across it and the ragged purple shadows of the ranges to theeast. Jim sat, chin in palm, elbow on knee, eyes wide on the soft wonderof the night. It always seemed to him that the desert night freed him oftime and space and set him close to the Master Dream. He had learned totake his grief and his despairs to the desert mountain tops.
He had sat for an hour going over his life and his friendship with IronSkull when a quick step sounded on the Elephant's back and Penelopeswung past him out to the edge of the crater that formed the Elephant'seast 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 downon the ground, clasped her arms across her knees and bowed her head uponthem. There was so much despair in the gesture that Jim could not bearthe sight of it.
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