The Daughter of a Magnate

The sudden appearance of Mr. Brock at any time and at any point where

he had interests would surprise only those that did not know him. On

the coast the party had broken up, Louise Donner going into Colorado

with friends, and Harrison returning to Pittsburg.

Planning originally to recross the mountains by a southern route, and

to give himself as much of a pleasure trip as he ever took, Mr. Brock

changed all his plans at the last moment--a move at which he was

masterly--and wired Bucks to meet him at Bear Dance for the return

trip. Doctor Lanning, moreover, had advised that Marie spend some

further time in the mountains, where her gain in health had been

decided.

Among the features the general manager particularly wished Mr. Brock to

see before leaving the mountain country was the Crab Valley dam and

irrigation canal, and the second day after the president's special

entered the division it was side-tracked at a way station near Sleepy

Cat for an inspection of the undertaking. The trip to the canal was by

stage with four horses, and the ladies had been asked to go.

The morning was so exhilarating and the ride so fast that when the head

horses dipped over the easy divide flanking the line of the canal on

the south, and the brake closed on the lumbering wheels, the visitors

were surprised to discover almost at their feet a swarming army of men

and horses scraping in the dusty bed of a long cut. There the heavy

work was to be seen, and to give his party an idea of its magnitude,

Bucks had ordered the stage driven directly through the cut itself.

With Mr. Brock he sat up near the driver. Back of them were Doctor

Lanning and Gertrude Brock; within rode Mrs. Whitney and Marie.

As the stage, getting down the high bank, lurched carefully along the

scraper ways of the yellow bed, shovellers, drivers, and water-boys

looked curiously at the unusual sight, and patient mules nosed meekly

the alert, nervous horses that dragged the stage along the uneven way.

At the lower end of the cut a more formidable barrier interposed. A

pocket of gravel on the eastern bank had slipped, engulfing a steam

shovel, and a gang of men were busy about it. On a level overlooking

the scene, in corduroy jackets and broad hats, stood two engineers. At

times one of them gave directions to a foreman whose gang was digging

the shovel out. His companion, perceiving the approach of the stage,

signalled the driver sharply, and the leaders were swung to the right

of the shovellers so that the stage was brought out on a level some

distance away.

Bucks first recognized the taller of the two men. "There's Glover," he

exclaimed. "Hello!" he called across the canal bed. "I didn't look

for you here." Glover lifted his hat and walked over to the stage.