Norton, Andre - Novel 32 by Ten Mile Treasure (v1.0) Page A

folks arrive. Did your father buy it from the company?"
    "Pinto did say something about that." Neal
chewed away thoughtfully at a sandwich. "I remember now. But it must be ours now or we wouldn't have moved here."
    "How come you wanted to be here anyway?" Toliver asked.
    "Well, Dad lost his job in Mayfield. His com pany was bought out by another firm. And Dad always wanted to live out here. You see, when he was in the army a couple of fellows in his outfit were Navajos. When the war was over he
visited them out here, and he liked the coun try
a lot. But there wasn't any sort of job he could do here then. He kept talking about it, showing pictures he took and reading a lot of
books.
    "Then he heard about them opening the new park and building the highway. He
was going to buy a
motel, but the down payment was too big.
Some real estate man wrote him about this place.
He sent Dad pictures and a Mr. Colby who was in the army with Dad was willing
to go partners. Dad's to run the
station and Mr. Colby is going to
manage the publicity—"
    "Dad had to borrow a lot of money for it too," Parky suddenly piped up. "He worries about that."
    " Parky !" Christie demanded. "How did you—"
    "I heard him telling Mom—with my own ears I heard him. So did Perks, didn't
you?"
    His twin nodded. "He said it was awfully important to get the place ready fast
and yet not spend too
much. Christie, you said maybe Lady Maude is worth a lot of money. Could we sell her and give the money to Dad, and then maybe he wouldn't.worry so much."
    "She really isn't ours—yet," Christie an swered. "If we could use her
to show people, make
them want to come to the station to see her, that would help. But she belongs to
Maude Woodbridge,
not to us, and we'd have to give her back if we were asked."
    "That Maude Woodbridge must be dead," Libby said. "Why, she'd be
over a hundred! I
don't think she'll be asking for Lady Maude, I really don't."
    Christie
thought about the long time between 1875
and now and felt a little safer. Maybe they could claim Lady Maude. Christie hated to think of selling her. She had so plain in her mind a picture of a big glass case standing at the station house with Lady Maude and all her
lovely little things arranged carefully in it. She just knew people would want to see her.
    "G.T." — Toliver was back to his own thoughts—"is
going to be awfully mad that your father got the station. I don't see how he was able to get it either. G.T.
must have had a real
estate man all ready to grab it as soon as it was up for sale. He's wanted it for years."
    "Maybe he doesn't know anything about it," suggested
Libby. "He went east to get Marlene from school, remember? If they were home they'd both be over here by now. Marlene likes to show off her mare."
    "You don't like her, do you?" Christie asked.
    Libby shrugged. "You don't get to know her enough to either like her or not
like her. We're Indians—that's
all the Toners know."
    Toliver scowled. "Sure. Indians are
like some kind of
zoo animals as far as the Toners are concerned."
    "G.T. called the sheriff once to make us move on when we camped here. Only
for once he was
wrong." Libby smiled. "Father's second cousin married the sheriffs nephew and Sheriff Wylie himself has a half-Navajo grand mother."
    "So Wylie came over in the
jeep." Toliver took up the story. "Had him a real solemn faceon. G.T. came down to watch us being
pushed off. Then
Wylie, he looked at the paper Dad carries—it's from the old treaty and it says that any Navajo has the right to stay
at the station 'as
long as the spring there runs', 'cause they helped
out when the Apaches raided. So Wylie tells
G.T. that the treaty was signed by the Pres ident himself and is law."
    "Then"—Libby's smile grew wider—"Pinto said that G.T. himself was
trespassing and wanted the sheriff to
warn him off. And Sheriff Wylie said that if
the legal caretaker—that's Pinto—registered
a complaint, he had to listen. And Pinto told Mr. Toner he was