Part 12 (1/2)
”Gee,” exclaimed Jack. ”What a letter I have got to write Mr. Palmer now. Well, it is not our fault.”
They were right. The wheat was all killed and it was too late in the season to replant had they the means of doing so. A few days after the pa.s.sing of the storm Gully and Norton drove to the company's land to view its effect.
Not a sprig of grain could be found, and the soil had been blown from the surface to the depth of the plowing. The whole tract presented a most disheartening appearance. Both men expressed the deepest regret and sympathy for the unfortunate owners who had sustained such a loss and agreed that they should be notified of their misfortune.
The letter was written by Jack, who in a plain, straightforward manner, explained to Mr. Palmer what had befallen the grain, and added that they were not alone in their misfortune, as those of the homesteaders who had no well equipped with machinery for irrigation, were also heavy losers.
The more fortunate, however, among whom was included, their mutual friend Mr. Gully, who could get water on the ground, had suffered but little. He suggested to Mr. Palmer that he take the matter of irrigating their land from a well, equipped with pumping machinery, up with his clients.
Sometime later Jack received a letter from Mr. Palmer, thanking him for the interest he had shown in their behalf, and a.s.sured him that in due time the company would realize the necessity of doing as was suggested in his letter. Sinking wells and drawing their water supply from the abundance that, it had been proven, lay beneath the surface.
CHAPTER XIX.
It was a bright November morning three years later that two heavily loaded automobiles were tearing their way along the Scenic Highway that had been constructed from St. Paul to Seattle. Each car contained three pa.s.sengers besides the drivers, and piled high on the running boards and strapped on the back of each car was the baggage and camp equipment of the party.
At a point in the desert along the eastern boundary of which the Highway ran, it paralleled the railway, and ran thus for several miles, and was intercepted by roads leading from homes that could be seen farther back across the sagebrush covered plain. These homes were not numerous, but each in the bright sunlight that caused the s.h.i.+mmering, dancing mirage to hover over the patches of dark green alfalfa and orchards that surrounded them, showed the tourists plainly that the conquest of the desert, in some instances, had been accomplished.
On this particular morning, a wagon, drawn by four splendid horses and loaded high with bales of alfalfa that still retained the green of the field from which it had been cut, so perfect had been the process of curing, was being driven from one of these homes by a man by whose side sat a chubby faced boy of some eight or nine years.
The wagon had just turned into the highway a short distance ahead of the rapidly moving cars, and as they approached with their horn coughing a dusty warning, the driver drew out to one side to await their pa.s.sing.
The first car rushed by and disappeared in a cloud of dust, and the one in the rear, seeing the trouble the driver was having with his now thoroughly frightened team, came along beside the wagon more slowly and asked if they could be of a.s.sistance in straightening out the tangled horses.
Travis Gully, for it was he and Joe who were on the wagon, said if someone would go to the head of the leaders until he could get down, he thought he could manage them until the car had gone by. One of the men sprang from the car and was advancing to seize the horses bridles, when looking up, he stopped short for an instant and reaching his hand up to Gully, exclaimed, ”Well, well, if it isn't Mr. Gully. How are you?”
Travis Gully, taking his attention from the horses which had now quieted down since the car had stopped, looked at the man on the ground for an instant, and bursting into a laugh as he recognized Thomas Dugan the surveyor, he half climbed and half fell from the wagon, and grasped Dugan by the hand and shook it cordially.
By this time another occupant of the car, who proved to be Mr. Palmer, came forward, and after greeting Gully, inquired as to the health of the rest of the family. Upon being a.s.sured that they were doing nicely, Mr.
Palmer said, ”I am certainly glad to hear it. We will probably be out your way tomorrow. We left Spokane early this morning and are going through to Wenatchee for lunch. The owners of the land you cleared are in the car that just pa.s.sed.”
Dugan had helped Joe from the wagon, and was commenting on his growth, when Mr. Palmer asked Gully if they could a.s.sist him with his horses, if not they would go on as they wished to overtake the other car in the village just ahead.
Gully a.s.sured him that he could manage the team, and with the promise that ”we will see you tomorrow or the next day,” Mr. Palmer and Dugan entered the car, and proceeded on their journey.
Travis Gully watched them as they disappeared down the road in a cloud of dust, and wondered what motive could be bringing them back to the land on which they had already lost so heavily, but, with the hope that they probably had some information relative to the irrigation project that had now almost become a forgotten subject, he placed Joe back on the wagon and climbing back to his own seat, spoke to the horses and drove on to the village, with his load of hay.
Travis Gully had prospered, and his dream of a home just as he wanted it, was fully realized. He had not developed all of his land, because the original forty acres upon which he had pumped water from his well, had proven so productive that it was more than he could handle alone, so he did not see the necessity of developing more.
His home, as it was, seemed an ideal place. The trees which he had planted at the root of which he had buried tin cans, were now affording ample shade and serving the purpose of a wind break for his house--not that the wind had any terror for him now. It did not harm him now as he had mastered the situation and was reaping the reward of his perseverence.
He could now gratify his cherished ambition for nice horses and his alfalfa fields and paddocks were the play grounds for some beautiful colts he was raising. Numerous cattle roamed at large over the open sagebrush range, and fattened on the succulent bunch gra.s.s, coming daily to the Gully home for water. They all bore the Gully brand and were a source of income to him.
His wife and family were happy, and retained their health as all those who lived in this favored country did. Ida was now a finished young lady. She had gone to school in one of the coast cities, a school, the selection of which had been left to Miss Anderson, who had accompanied her during her first term.
Jack Norton had fulfilled his threat made the morning after the storm three years before, to install a pumping plant on his place, and under the guidance of Gully was doing well. Miss Anderson, though never having put down a well, was residing on her claim, and with what she earned teaching the little school, was comfortable and happy. The main source of her happiness, however, was in watching the course of the lives of Jack and Ida, there was no longer any doubt or secret of their devotion to each other. It had come about as naturally as the other changes had come, and was looked upon as a matter of course. There had been no ardent wooing, no rivals with which to contend, just a companions.h.i.+p that had grown dearer as the year pa.s.sed, and the time for its final culmination in a marriage had been set for the coming Holiday season.
Minnie Gully was happy. She had never known that such happiness was possible. She only asked for one other blessing and that was that her parents would come and share their home. She and Travis had written repeatedly, making this request, but always the same answer came from the old people. They felt that they were too old to make the change, and wanted to spend their remaining days among the surroundings they had known so long.
When Travis Gully returned from the village on the evening of the day that he had come so unexpectedly upon Mr. Palmer and Dugan as they were pa.s.sing in the car, he eagerly told of what had happened, and upon his telling his listening family of their intended visit to the company's land within the next few days, they all expressed their satisfaction at the changed conditions that would enable them to extend to the visitors the hospitality that they had been denied on their former visit.
Mrs. Gully and Ida, with true feminine instinct, immediately began to plan, and offer suggestions for the most befitting way in which to entertain. In this they were at a disadvantage, as they did not know whether they intended to make a visit of several days, or would return immediately after looking over the land. In any event, they decided that they would prepare for them one splendid meal, the material used in the preparation of this meal should be from the products of their desert home, and with an unlimited supply of fresh eggs, young and tender fowls, vegetables and milk and b.u.t.ter, the feast promised to be a bounteous one.