jerry did not come home that night and consequently bob was not forced to decide whether or not his room-mate was to be trusted. the next morning mr. whitney mentioned that he had sent mr. rutherford and his corps up the river to check up some topographical figures. they were to be gone several days.
this would delay for a time the necessity of taking action in regard to jerry, and bob was grateful for the leeway it gave him. anything and everything might happen in the spare time he was given. perhaps all the trouble would blow over. he certainly hoped so.
ted hoyt evidently had wasted no time in carrying out bob’s plan, for he did not show up at breakfast. his chances of success worried bob all morning and once or twice mr. whitney had to call him down for some inattention to the business at hand. but when the day passed and ted had not returned, bob was reasonably certain that the cattleman had not refused to take in his son. that was a help.
since becoming an aide to the chief, bob had not entirely given up his unofficial inspection trips. the dam and all the operations that were the building of it still fascinated him and his spare time was given to roaming over the job. so good an observer was he, that time after time he surprised mr. whitney with his knowledge of some obscure detail of the work.
“how the dickens do you happen to know that?” he would exclaim.
“happened to be over there the other night and used my eyes,” was the usual reply of the boy.
there was a full moon the night following the day ted had gone home and bob had taken advantage of it to go up to the west cableway tower, from the foot of which he could see the whole work lying bathed in the intense silver light. he wanted to think and he was always able to do that better out of doors.
he did not feel he was doing his share[156] towards clearing up the trouble which threatened to break. cudgel his brains as he would, there seemed nothing for him to do. it had been his idea to send ted off, but since then he might just as well have been in alaska for all the good he’d been. for a long time he lay there, without finding a way out of his difficulty.
at last he was about to get up and go home when he saw a figure dodging from shadow to shadow and making up the hill in the general direction of his position.
glancing about him, bob saw no way to get away from the tower without being seen by the furtive newcomer. the moon was high and the ground at the tower’s foot was clear of any cover. something told him he wanted to know what the approaching figure was up to and he would spoil any chance of that if he disclosed his whereabouts. happening to glance up he saw that one side of the tower was in shadow. he crawled around to it. then he had an idea.
“crazy lummox, why didn’t i think of this before,” he muttered to himself as he began to climb up the tower. it was built of steel and an iron ladder had been provided to make the oiling of the pulley wheel at the top a simple task.
hardly had he reached a height he felt was safe, when the figure glided swiftly across the clearing and sat down almost in the spot he had just quitted.
bob was surprised when he saw the man roll a cigarette and coolly light it. this display of unconcern as to whether or not he was observed, did not fit in with the dodging tactics he had employed when coming up the hill. then the explanation came in a flash. surely the spot had been chosen on account of the clear space around it and the impossibility of anyone’s coming upon it unobserved. the man had dodged on his way up because he did not want to be recognized by a prowling night watchman. once he had arrived, no one could get near enough to be dangerous.
in the flare of the match bob had recognized the newcomer. it was a mexican, miguel philipe, who was an underforeman at the trap rock quarry.
but before bob’s mind had accepted the fact that a greaser was sitting up here in the moonlight, instead of gambling or watching a cock fight down in the townsite, a crackling in the underbrush to the right caught his attention. a moment later a figure stepped out into the clearing. to his dismay, he recognized the approaching man.
jerry king!
jerry king, who was supposed to be up country on a map-making expedition, was back and meeting a mexican in a place that must have been agreed upon before.
all the suspicions of jerry’s attitude that he had fought down, came back in a rush and were not lessened when he saw by the signs of greeting displayed by miguel, that jerry was the person he expected to see.
bob’s perch on the tower was far from comfortable, so he hoped the conference going on below him would last no great length of time. the thin iron rungs of the ladder cut into his legs and his arms had begun to ache from the strain of holding himself in place without making any noise that would give him away. to add to his discomfort, he soon realized that although he could overhear clearly every word that passed between the figures on the ground it would do him no good, as they were talking in spanish, a language in which bob remembered jerry could at least make himself understood. since his arrival at the dam, the eastern boy had made some attempt to pick up a working knowledge of it, but his time had been so short that he had not got very far. therefore, only a word here and there meant anything to him and as these were simple words, they gave no clue to what was being discussed.
about all he could gather was from their actions. jerry seemed to be instructing the mexican and emphasizing that certain things must be done. miguel at times grew excited and waved his hands frantically as a torrent of words came from his lips. finally, just as bob was sure his cramped muscles would force him to move his position, thereby giving away his presence, they seemed to come to an agreement.
a moment later jerry had slipped out of the open space into the underbrush directly behind the side of the tower to which bob was clinging. for a long moment bob held his breath, fearing that jerry might turn and see his dark form making an unaccustomed blot against the iron work. but as the cracklings of the bushes died away, he realized that jerry’s one desire was to get as far away as possible in the shortest space of time.
“he’ll have to hike some,” thought bob, “if he’s going to get back to rutherford to-night.” then he turned his attention to the greaser, who had not moved out of the sprawling position he was in. the ache in bob’s muscles became almost unbearable. when the mexican rolled and lit another cigarette as if he expected to stay where he was all night, he was almost tempted to drop off the ladder and let the worst happen.
but this would not do except as a last resort, when all his will power and determination had fled. with infinite care bob shifted his position a little and so gave his tortured muscles a slight rest. a few moments later he was glad he had not given up to his fatigue, for miguel arose leisurely and sauntered down the hill, evidently not at all bothered about being seen.
when he thought it was safe, bob dropped off the ladder and for a moment or so sat quietly, fully occupied in nursing his cramped limbs back to some degree of usefulness. then, having given the mexican plenty of time to reach the bottom of the hill, bob followed, his mind busy with the new angle of the situation chance had laid before him.
one thing was sure. after what he had seen he could no longer pretend even to himself that jerry was not mixed up somehow in what certainly seemed to be a disgraceful business. he could put no other explanation on it. although it was hard to think that the boy who had shared the adventure of the labyrinth with him could be guilty of anything really wrong, he realized the time had come when he could not let anything but facts sway him. jerry was on the other side without a doubt. most probably he was the connecting link between the cattlemen who wished to stir up trouble for the dam by means of the mexicans, and the leaders of the mexicans themselves.
but it puzzled him to know why jerry could be a traitor to mr. whitney and the service. what was the inducement the cattlemen had offered him, and what had happened on the job that had made him unhappy enough to be unfaithful to it? there was no answer to these questions. he gave it up as a bad job.
the next thing to decide was whether the time had come to tell mr. whitney what he had learned. this was easy. he did not have a complete case yet and would not until ted came back with some sort of report.
the best thing for him to do was to learn as much as possible regarding miguel and to find out if he had been at all active in stirring up discontent among his countrymen. acting on this resolve, he made guarded inquiries the next day of some of the men on the job who came in contact with the gang of which miguel was a sort of deputy foreman.
“he’s a bad egg,” was the comment of tim flannigan, the engineer of the dinky that pulled the rock cars from the quarry to the crusher. “he’s all the time startin’ somethin’ down to the townsite. he’s got a game cock that nobody kin lick, and the marshal has had him up several times for gambling. tried to run him out of camp a bit back but such a gang of greasers threatened to leave with him that boss adams, who was here before boss whitney came, told the marshal to keep a close eye on him and let it go at that.”
this information was valuable to bob, especially the part about the other mexicans leaving if miguel went. from this it was clear to see that the man had influence among his countrymen and probably was just the person to start trouble, if trouble was coming.
that night, in accordance with his plan to try to get as much as he could of the general atmosphere of the situation, bob decided to go down to the lower camp. on the highest ground were the mechanics’ houses, and from them, sloping to the river bank, were the bunk houses and shacks of the mexican laborers. at one side, a little apart, was the camp of the indians who, aside from the mexicans, were practically the only laborers to be had in that section of the country. of course, they were far less in number than the mexicans. the street on which the motion picture theatre and the stores were located, was well lighted by the power plant and had been dubbed “broadway.”
bob mingled with the crowd and finally drifted into the moving picture show. his mind was busy with his problem and he did not pay as much attention as usual to the scenes that were flashed before him on the screen. he became aware, however, even in the dim light, that directly in front of him sat an indian, seemingly alone. a little to the left were a crowd of mexicans, who, from their boisterous behavior, seemed to have been able to smuggle some whiskey into the camp, which, of course, was absolutely forbidden on a government job.
by some chance the next picture was a lurid western romance in which indians and cowboys were all jumbled together with furious riding and rescues of the beautiful heroine. of course, the indians in the picture were the villains. as the film unfolded the mexicans grew more excited over the story and bob noticed that they began to throw slighting remarks towards the indian sitting directly in front of him.
finally something was said which was more than the redman could stand. he got up and in a dignified manner moved to the spot where his tormentors were sitting. he spoke to them in spanish.
a moment later the place was in an uproar. fired by bad whiskey and the knowledge that numbers were with them, the bunch of mexicans had jumped for the solitary figure.
bob was on his feet in an instant and sprang for a mexican who had slipped into the aisle and was coming upon the indian from behind. in the dim light everything was confused, but bob’s fist found its mark and the man fell. the indian was holding his own valiantly but bob’s help had come at the right moment. together they backed towards the door, fighting as they went. then the lights went up and the mexicans, fearing the consequences of their action, slipped into the nearest seats, hoping to escape notice.
when the fight ended in this fashion, the indian drew himself up to his full height and with a scornful look on his face turned and walked out of the theatre. bob followed and on the street found the man he had helped waiting for him.
as he came up the indian held out his hand and said gravely, “feather-in-the-wind thanks you.” without further word he marched off.
as he made his way back to the upper camp, bob realized that in all probability he had done a foolish thing to mix in on a quarrel between the mexicans and the indians. that probably would mark him out among the mexicans as someone unfriendly to them and it might have been better if he had stayed in the background. but the sight of the crowd jumping on the solitary indian had been too much for him.
when he reached his room he found the light on and jerry about to slip into his bunk.
“hello, bob,” was his greeting. “just got back from up river. rutherford had me measuring the elevation of all the anthills from here to canada.”
bob answered him rather curtly, amazed that jerry could seem so carefree when he must be concealing some terrible secret. it was surprising that jerry should be in such a good humor. he was much more communicative than he had been for weeks.
“what’s your grouch?” jerry asked, seemingly puzzled by bob’s manner. “aren’t you going to welcome me home any better than that?”
“oh, i’m tired,” returned bob, “that’s all. i got into a sort of jam in the lower camp to-night.” he decided it would be better not to let jerry know that he was at all suspicious, so in order to appear natural, when the other boy wanted to know the details, he told him of his share in the brawl at the theatre.
“must have been fun,” was jerry’s comment. “and if you’ve made a friend of feather-in-the-wind, you ought to be proud. he’ll be useful, too, as he’s the chief of that bunch of apaches. once an indian is a friend, you know, he’s a friend for good.”
as bob tried to go to sleep his amazement that jerry could be so two-faced, grew more and more pronounced. jerry did not exhibit any of the symptoms of a person who was engaged in a treacherous plot, rather he seemed happy and buoyant over the accomplishment of something well worth while. could he have been mistaken?
