The Winning of Barbara Worth

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The Winning of Barbara Worth

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Title: The Winning of Barbara Worth
Author: Harold B Wright
Release Date: November, 2004 [EBook #6997] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on February 20, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
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[Illustration: Barbara. Often as Barbara sat looking over that great basin her heart cried out to know the secret it held.]

THE WINNING OF BARBARA WORTH
BY
HAROLD BELL WRIGHT

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
While this story is not in any way a history of this part of the Colorado Desert now known as the Imperial Valley, nor a biography of anyone connected with this splendid achievement, I must in honesty admit that this work which in the past ten years has transformed a vast, desolate waste into a beautiful land of homes, cities, and farms, has been my inspiration.
With much gratitude for their many helpful kindnesses, I acknowledge my indebtedness to H. T. Cory, F. C. Hermann, C. R. Rockwood, C. N. Perry, E. H. Gaines, Roy Kinkaid and the late George Sexsmith, engineers and surveyors identified with this reclamation work; to W. K. Bowker, Sidney McHarg, C. E. Paris, and many other business friends and neighboring ranchers among our pioneers; and to William Mulholland, Chief Engineer of the Los Angeles Aqueduct.
I am particularly indebted to C. K. Clarke, Assistant Manager and Chief Engineer of the California Development Company, and to Allen Kelly, whose knowledge, insight and observations as a journalist and as a student of Reclamation in the Far West have been invaluable to me.
To my friend, Mr. W. F. Holt, in appreciation of his life and of his work in the Imperial Valley, this story is inscribed. H. B. W.
Tecolote Rancho, April 25, 1911.

"Give fools their gold, and knaves their power; Let fortune's bubbles rise and fall, Who sows a field, or trains a flower, Or plants a tree, is more than all."

CONTENTS
I. INTO THE INFINITE LONG AGO
II. JEFFERSON WORTH'S OFFERING
III. MISS BARBARA WORTH
IV. YOU'D BETTER MAKE IT NINETY
V. WHAT THE INDIAN TOLD THE SEER
VI. THE STANDARD OF THE WEST
VII. DON'T YOU LIKE MY DESERT, MR. HOLMES?
VIII. WHY WILLARD HOLMES STAYED
IX. THE MASTER PASSION--"GOOD BUSINESS"
X. BARBARA'S LOVE FOR THE SEER
XI. ABE LEE RESIGNS
XII. SIGNS OF CONFLICT
XIII. BARBARA'S CALL TO HER FRIENDS
XIV. MUCH CONFUSION AND HAPPY EXCITEMENT
XV. BARBARA COMES INTO HER OWN
XVI. JEFFERSON WORTH'S OPERATIONS
XVII. JAMES GREENFIELD SEEKS AN ADVANTAGE
XVIII. THE GAME PROGRESSES
XIX. GATHERED AT BARBARA'S COURT
XX. WHAT THE STAKES REVEALED
XXI. PABLO BRINGS NEWS TO BARBARA
XXII. GATHERING OF OMINOUS FORCES
XXIII. EXACTING ROYAL TRIBUTE
XXIV. JEFFERSON WORTH GOES FOR HELP
XXV. WILLARD HOLMES ON TRIAL
XXVI. HELD IN SUSPENSE
XXVII. ABE LEE'S RIDE TO SAVE JEFFERSON WORTH
XXVIII. WHAT THE COMPANY MAN TOLD THE MEXICANS
XXIX. TELL BARBARA I'M ALL RIGHT
XXX. MANANA! MANANA! TO-MORROW! TO-MORROW!
XXXI. BARBARA'S WAITIN' BREAKFAST FOR YOU
XXXII. BARBARA MINISTERS TO THE WOUNDED
XXXIII. WILLARD HOLMES RECEIVES HIS ANSWER
XXXIV. BATTLING WITH THE RIVER
XXXV. NATURE AND HUMAN NATURE
XXXVI. OUT OF THE HOLLOW OF GOD'S HAND
XXXVII. BACK TO THE OLD SAN FELIPE TRAIL
XXXVIII. THE HERITAGE OF BARBARA WORTH

ILLUSTRATIONS
Drawn by F. GRAHAM COOTES
OFTEN AS BARBARA SAT LOOKING OVER THAT GREAT BASIN HER HEART CRIED OUT TO KNOW THE SECRET IT HELD.
HE HAD LIFTED THE CANTEEN AND WAS HOLDING IT UPSIDE DOWN.
"BUT I DON'T RIDE, YOU KNOW."
MORE TO REGAIN HIS COMPOSURE THAN BECAUSE HE WAS THIRSTY, HELPED HIMSELF FROM THE EARTHEN WATER JAR.
"ADIOS. TELL BARBARA I'M ALL RIGHT."
WITHOUT A WORD--FOR NO WORD WAS NEEDED--THEIR HANDS MET IN A FIRM GRIP.

The Winning of Barbara Worth
CHAPTER I.
INTO THE INFINITE LONG AGO.
Jefferson Worth's outfit of four mules and a big wagon pulled out of San Felipe at daybreak, headed for Rubio City. From the swinging red tassels on the bridles of the leaders to the galvanized iron water bucket dangling from the tail of the reach back of the rear axle the