THE FUTURE
A few days later a detachment of infantry arrived to relieve Captain
Wendell and his men. The new troop was to stay permanently, as the
troubles at the border were continuing and Mr. Whitney had found it
impracticable to get laborers of any other nationality than Mexicans.
The bunch of Mexicans Jerry had sent off on the wild goose chase the
night of the raid came straggling into camp during the early hours of
the morning, to find that a tight ring of guards had been made around
their section of the lower camp. When they attempted to get through
they were put under arrest and during the day were loaded on a train
and shipped to the border to be sent back into their native country.
The captured bandits were delivered to General Pershing’s headquarters
to await trial.
Bob and Jerry were happy. The companionship which they had formed
during the days of the Labyrinth and which had been interrupted, now
was cemented still further. Ted Hoyt had been allowed by his father to
come back to the dam and the trio had great times together.
On Sundays Bob’s and Jerry’s usual plan was to go up to Thaddeus
Holman’s ranch and spend the day with Link O’Day, who had taken a great
fancy to Bob. Ted, of course, went home. But Bob realized that the
reason O’Day was good to him was that he was Jerry’s friend. There was
something more than comradeship between Jerry and the tall cattleman;
it was more the relation of a younger and elder brother.
This had a good effect on Jerry. It was as if he had found what he
had told Bob in the Labyrinth he most wanted--someone to belong to, a
family. He was becoming less serious, less self-contained.
Link O’Day talked a lot about the Northwest and especially of the
lumbering. He seemed to have a great love of forests. Jerry grew more
and more interested.
“I’d like that,” he said one day as the trio were loafing away the
afternoon in the shade of Holman’s bunkhouse, “and I think I’ll drift
up that way and tackle it.”
“And leave the Service?” put in Bob. “I don’t see how you could. It’s
the finest--”
“We know how _you_ feel!” Link O’Day laughed. “According to you,
Rockefeller hasn’t anything on the youngest cub of an engineer so long
as the cub is one of the Reclamation Service’s outfit. Therefore your
opinion isn’t worth anything in this case.”
“Seriously, Bob,” went on Jerry, “the Service is good stuff, but I
haven’t the same sort of feeling about it that you have. Boss Whitney
is great to work for and--and all that, but I’m not so sure that there
isn’t something else to do that I would like a heap better. This
forestry business, for instance. It listens good to me. Big trees, the
song of the band saws, all the rest of it Link has been telling us
about. And if Link would only go along--”
“Wouldn’t be surprised if I did,” said Link with a smile. “I’m getting
a little tired of cows now. If you really want to go, Jerry, I’ll start
along with you any time.”
“You will?” The boy was overjoyed. “That’s great! You’d better begin
getting your stuff together ’cause I’m going to call for you just as
soon as Boss Whitney will let me go.”
Bob made one last effort.
“But, Jerry, how about the Labyrinth? We found it--don’t you want to
have a hand in what happens next?”
For a moment Jerry seemed to hesitate. Then he answered:
“That’s the only thing I’ll really be sorry for--and leaving you, old
man. But after all, it was you who was responsible for the trip. I just
went because you dared me into it. No, Bob, if Link will go North with
me, I’ll have to pass up the Labyrinth.”
“All right,” said Bob laughing. “I reckon you’re lost. I’m beat, but I
sure hope you will find that you picked the right thing for yourself.”
The next day, when Jerry came to Mr. Whitney to tell him of his
decision, Bob was there. The engineer listened to the boy and when he
had finished told him that he could leave when it was most convenient.
“I’ve known for a long time, Jerry, that you were not a born engineer
like Bob Hazard here, but you’ve been a good rodman and I hate to lose
you. Besides, I won’t soon forget what you did for us in the Mexican
mix-up. But everyone must do what he thinks is best. Good luck to you!”
After Jerry left, the work went on smoothly and the main dam grew
higher and higher each day. Bob became proficient in the things Mr.
Whitney gave him to do and by the time summer came near its close he
felt that he had a good foundation of practical engineering on which to
build the theoretical knowledge he would get at college.
The Mexican situation was unchanged. The United States had not gone
into Mexico and the cattlemen still grumbled but did no more than that.
The presence of the soldiers was enough to keep the laborers in check.
For several weeks before the date Bob had set as the time he must
return to the East, he had received no letters from his father. Just as
he was about to be a little worried, something occurred which settled
all his fears.
Coming back from the job one night, he saw a strange yet familiar
figure sitting on the porch of the Quarter-house. When he got near
enough to see he started on the run towards the building.
“Dad! Dad! But I’m glad to see you!” he cried.
Unashamed, he put his arms around the man when he dashed up on the
veranda and asked a multitude of questions.
Mr. Hazard had grown lonely for his son and had come out to see him
on the job and to have the long ride homeward with him across the
continent.
“You see, son, I’ll lose you again right after we get home.”
“Why?” Bob wanted to know.
“Because Rensselaer Polytech opens a few days after we get back.”
“You’ve--you’ve fixed it for me to go there?” said Bob, realizing
that by letting him go to that particular institution, where only
engineering was taught, his father had given up all hope of his ever
being a lawyer. “That’s bully of you, Dad!”
“You said you wanted to go there,” was the simple answer.
That night Mr. Hazard and Bob had dinner with Mr. Whitney. The Chief
told the boy’s father all the things Bob had accomplished.
“He’s going to make a fine engineer, Mr. Hazard. You’ll be proud of
him.”
“I’m sure of that. I want to tell you now how proud I am of the
Reclamation Service and the things it’s doing. I’ve looked the Service
up and I’ve been to one or two projects that have been finished.”
“You have done that?” Bob said excitedly.
“Yes,” was the smiling answer, “and since I have seen for myself,
I’d rather Bob became an engineer on this Service than anything
else--excluding, of course, a lawyer!”
During the day or two that remained before Bob’s departure, Mr. Hazard
was shown the dam and all the things that made up its building. Bob was
busy saying good-bye to all the friends he had made.
Feather-in-the-Wind, while preserving his customary dignity, was
genuinely sorry to see him go.
“You will come back,” he said. “You have smelt desert. You have helped
build. You come back. I know. Feather-in-the-Wind will wait. Will be
glad when you come. Adios!”
When at last Bob was seated in the automobile ready to start for Engle
and the train that would carry him back to the East and college, a
great feeling of sadness swept over him. He took a last look at the dam
and the myriad activities that clustered around it, and he was sorry
that he had to go.
“Come on back next summer,” cried Ted Hoyt, who had been given a few
minutes from his work to bid his friend good-bye. “And perhaps I’ll go
East with you afterwards. My father says he might let me if I’m still
so loco about it!”
“That’s great! I sure hope he does. I’ll be back all right--that is, if
you’ll have a place for me,” Bob finished, speaking to Mr. Whitney who
had come up to the group.
“Don’t fret yourself about _that_, Bob. I’ll have a job for you all
right and one you’ll like,” said the engineer.
“What is it?” demanded the boy.
“To go as my aide on an official survey of the Labyrinth!”
“Then the folks in Washington have told you to go ahead on what Jerry
and I reported?”
“They have. I just received the letter in the last mail. I won’t be
able to get away from here until about the time your next vacation
comes, so it will work out just right. I can expect you, can’t I?”
Bob Hazard gave a joyous assent. A moment later the machine had started
and the scene of Bob’s first experience as an engineer was fading into
the distance. Ahead were the four years of endeavor that would fit him
to take his place with Mr. Whitney as a full-fledged engineer of the
Service.
As the machine slipped over the hilltop hiding the dam from sight, Bob
turned his eyes to the front. He was riding into the future, happy and
content.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:
Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.
Archaic or alternate spelling has been retained from the original.