FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55  
56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   >>   >|  
ct myself too much to take orders from Sorenson and his bunch. I choose this sort of thing in preference." Steele Weir maintained a non-committal silence. Again the thin dark-skinned lawyer swiftly weighed the man before him, considered the dangers in which he might become involved if he went a step farther, recoiled, then grew bolder. Sorenson had marked him for poverty and nonentity; under the favoring shelter of the irrigation company's power he might arise from both. For at moments the acute Mexican sensed the inevitable victory of the new forces at work; this, one of the last strong-holds of old time cattle and sheep interests, would break down and yield to the plow and fence. "Now, there's something more, though I hesitate to mention it," he went on, doubtfully. "While Sorenson and his crowd run things, it's not because the people--and that means us Mexicans chiefly--love them. We're indolent by nature; we idle rather than work; borrow when we can rather than earn--I speak of our race, but we're learning that work proves best in the long run. These men have squeezed my people, and robbed them, and kept them down. Nothing more would I wish than to see these leaders deposed. It's no secret they've built their wealth by questionable methods, but who can prove it? "Do you know what I suspect? You have something on Sorenson's crowd. That's why they're uneasy; that's why the four are sitting over in the cattle company's office this minute with their heads together, meeting the minute Sorenson arrives home. I saw them go in. Leaving aside the question of your own affairs, I'd like to have matters changed here in this county so that every man has a fair chance. Anything that will bring that about enlists my interest. When I heard your statement to Gordon and saw his face, I knew there was something in the past that alarmed him. I recalled a name I had once run across when abstracting a title----" It was not this ingenious twisting of the truth that caused the lawyer to become filled with sudden dismay and stop, but the savage hardening of the engineer's face. "Go on," Weir commanded. "Well, the name was Joseph Weir. I looked it up again to be sure, and found the property had been deeded to Sorenson and the others, who still have it. I wondered----" "What did you wonder?" came with a devouring look. "If--if Joseph Weir received consideration according to law." Martinez' courage flowed back again. "I'll ma
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55  
56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Sorenson
 

Joseph

 

people

 
company
 

minute

 
lawyer
 

cattle

 

matters

 

county

 

changed


meeting

 
uneasy
 

sitting

 

suspect

 

office

 

Leaving

 

question

 

affairs

 

arrives

 
deeded

wondered

 

property

 
looked
 

courage

 

Martinez

 

flowed

 

devouring

 
received
 

consideration

 
commanded

Gordon

 

statement

 

methods

 

recalled

 
alarmed
 

Anything

 

interest

 
enlists
 

dismay

 

sudden


savage

 
engineer
 

hardening

 

filled

 

caused

 

abstracting

 

ingenious

 

twisting

 

chance

 

poverty