Chase."
"Thank goodness I wasn't! I'm sorry now, Dad. Perhaps the fellow
was hurt. But what could I do? Let's forget all about it, and I'll
be careful where I ride in the future....Dad, what does it mean,
this surveying around Forlorn River?"
"I don't know, Nell," replied Belding, thoughtfully. "It worries
me. It looks good for Forlorn River, but bad for Dick's plan to
irrigate the valley. Lord, I'd hate to have some one forestall
Dick on that!"
"No, no, we won't let anybody have Dick's rights," declared Nell.
"Where have I been keeping myself not to know about these
surveyors?" muttered Belding. "They must have just come."
"Go see Mrs. Cater. She told me there were strangers in town,
Americans, who had mining interests in Sonora, and were run
out by Orozco. Find out what they're doing, Dad."
Belding discovered that he was, indeed, the last man of consequence
in Forlorn River to learn of the arrival of Ben Chase and son,
mineowners and operators in Sonora. They, with a force of miners,
had been besieged by rebels and finally driven off their property.
This property was not destroyed, but held for ransom. And the
Chases, pending developments, had packed outfits and struck
for the border. Casita had been their objective point, but, for
some reason which Belding did not learn, they had arrived instead
at Forlorn River. It had taken Ben Chase just one day to see
the possibilities of Altar Valley, and in three days he had men at work.
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