The King of Arcadia   By: Francis Lynde (1856-1930)

BY FRANCIS LYNDE

Author of "A Romance in Transit," "The Quickening," etc.

ILLUSTRATED

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS NEW YORK 1909

COPYRIGHT, 1909, BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

Published February, 1909

To my daughter Dorothea, AMANUENSIS OF THE LOVING HEART AND WILLING HANDS IN ITS WRITING, THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED.

[Illustration: "You must help me," she pleaded; "I cannot see the way a single step ahead."]

CONTENTS

I THE CRYPTOGRAM

II THE TRIPPERS

III THE REVERIE OF A BACHELOR

IV ARCADY

V "FIRE IN THE ROCK!"

VI ELBOW CANYON

VII THE POLO PLAYERS

VIII CASTLE 'CADIA

IX THE BRINK OF HAZARD

X HOSKINS'S GHOST

XI GUN PLAY

XII THE RUSTLERS

XIII THE LAW AND THE LADY

XIV THE MAXIM

XV HOSPES ET HOSTIS

XVI THE RETURN OF THE OMEN

XVII THE DERRICK FUMBLES

XVIII THE INDICTMENT

XIX IN THE LABORATORY

XX THE GEOLOGIST

XXI MR. PELHAM'S GAME BAG

XXII A CRY IN THE NIGHT

XXIII DEEP UNTO DEEP

ILLUSTRATIONS

"You must help me," she pleaded; "I cannot see the way a single step ahead."

"Señor Ballar', I have biffo' to day killed a man for that he spik to me like a that!"

The muscles of his face were twitching, and he was breathing hard, like a spent runner.

"There is my notion and a striking example of Mexican fair play."

THE KING OF ARCADIA

I

THE CRYPTOGRAM

The strenuous rush of the day of suddenly changed plans was over, and with Gardiner, the assistant professor of geology, to bid him God speed, Ballard had got as far as the track platform gates of the Boston & Albany Station when Lassley's telegram, like a detaining hand stretched forth out of the invisible, brought him to a stand.

He read it, with a little frown of perplexity sobering his strong, enthusiastic face.

" S.S. Carania , NEW YORK.

" To BRECKENRIDGE BALLARD, Boston .

"You love life and crave success. Arcadia Irrigation has killed its originator and two chiefs of construction. It will kill you. Let it alone.

"LASSLEY."

He signed the book, tipped the boy for his successful chase, and passed the telegram on to Gardiner.

"If you were called in as an expert, what would you make of that?" he asked.

The assistant professor adjusted his eye glasses, read the message, and returned it without suggestive comment.

"My field being altogether prosaic, I should make nothing of it. There are no assassinations in geology. What does it mean?"

Ballard shook his head.

"I haven't the remotest idea. I wired Lassley this morning telling him that I had thrown up the Cuban sugar mills construction to accept the chief engineer's billet on Arcadia Irrigation. I didn't suppose he had ever heard of Arcadia before my naming of it to him."

"I thought the Lassleys were in Europe," said Gardiner.

"They are sailing to day in the Carania , from New York. My wire was to wish them a safe voyage, and to give my prospective address. That explains the date line of this telegram."

"But it does not explain the warning. Is it true that the Colorado irrigation scheme has blotted out three of its field officers?"

"Oh, an imaginative person might put it that way, I suppose," said Ballard, his tone asserting that none but an imaginative person would be so foolish. "Braithwaite, of the Geodetic Survey, was the originator of the plan for constructing a storage reservoir in the upper Boiling Water basin, and for transforming Arcadia Park into an irrigated agricultural district. He interested Mr. Pelham and a few other Denver capitalists, and they sent him out as chief engineer to stand the project on its feet. Shortly after he had laid the foundations for the reservoir dam, he fell into the Boiling Water and was drowned."

Gardiner's humour was as dry as his professional specialty. "One," he said, checking off the unfortunate Braithwaite on his fingers.