His wrath at the usurping Chases increased as he slowly realized his powerlessness to cope with such men They were promoters stainless steel key rings, men of big interests and wide influence in the Southwest The more they did for Forlorn River the less reason there seemed to be for his own grievance He had to admit that it was personal; that he and Gale and the rangers would never have been able to develop the resources of the valley as these men were doing it.
All day long he heard the heavy booming blasts and the rumble of avalanches up in the gorge Chase's men were dynamiting the cliffs in the narrow box canyon They were making the dam just as Gale had planned to make it When this work of blasting was over Belding experienced a relief He would not now be continually reminded of his and Gale's loss.
Resignation finally came to him But he could not reconcile himself to misfortune for Gale.
Moreover, Belding had other worry and strain April arrived with no news of the rangers From Casita came vague reports of raiders in the Sonoyta country--reports impossible to verify until his Mexican rangers returned When these men rode in, one of them, Gonzales, an intelligent and reliable halfbreed, said he had met prospectors at the oasis They had just come in on the Camino del Diablo, reported a terrible trip of heat and drought, and not a trace of the Yaqui's party.
"That settles it," declared Belding "Yaqui never went to Sonoyta He's circled round to the Devil's Road, and the rangers, Mercedes, Thorne, the horses--they--I'm afraid they have been lost in the desert It's an old story on Camino del Diablo.
He had to tell Nell that, and it was an ordeal which left him weak.
Mrs Belding listened to him, and was silent for a long time while she held the stricken Nell to her breast Then she opposed his convictions with that quiet strength so characteristic of her arguments.
"Well, then," decided Belding, "Rojas headed the rangers at Papago Well or the Tanks.