The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1902-04-15
The Trouble 8
or, the Toro1ito.
BY FRANCIS LYNDE.
Copyright 1888. By Francis Lynde)
CHAPTER vI.-CoNT1NuED.

CHAPTER VI.-CoNT1NUED.
Here was the battlefield upor
which Macpherson had elected tc
fight for his kingdom. 1t was we'll.
chosen. Unlike the Six-Mile, whose
walls were perpendicular cliffs, the
upper canyon was tortuous gulch
with precipitous slopes rising sharp.
ly from the waters edge. Below the
settlers dam the wedge-like rift
widened and narrowed again, leav.
ing natural basin between noun.
tain and "hog-back" which would
serve admirably as reservoir fol
the great irrigation, ditch. In this
basin the stream had deposited ban
OF silt and glistening mica-schist anG
white quartz pebbles, the age-old
washings of it's swift rush down the
canyon; and this was doubtless the
background upon which Macpher-
His outline of the status quo be-
came clearly ineligible. A dam at
the final narrowing of the gulch
would submerge the bar; and above
the basin it would have to be car
ried to an enormous height in tie
V-shaped chasm to retain d suf-
ficiently large body of water. I re-
membered the stereotyped reply of
the Mexican vaqueros to the "Grin-
CO. pioneers and the Santa Fe trail
ers: 4Carrajo! POGO mesa ro!" and
wondered how much farther up the
river the engineer of the Glenlivat
company would have to go to find
Macpherson's "ready-made' site for
the dam.
tive excursion that the fire of curl
osity was lighted, and Macpherson's
air of mystery added it's armful of
fagots. There was no good reason
why sick man who was at best but
transient onlooler should trouble
himself about the matter, but curl
osity knows not age, sex, or previous
conditions of servitude to maladies
lncurable or otherwise. Wherefore
the onlooker must needs slide tremu.
lousy from the saddle, tether the
clubfooted beast to a stunted tree
growing from cleft in a nearby
bowlder, and make toilful way up the
canyon.
Wykamp's alternative came into
view beyond the second elbow in the
wedge-shaped gorge. It was another
scooped-out basin, similar to the one
below; and a blazed fir-tree with
blue-pencil markings proved that the
engineer had already made his pre-
liminary reconnaissance. But the in
surmountable obstacle to which Mac
pherson's mysterious hint pointed
was altogether unapparent. Asid.
from the added expense of tunneline
spur of the mountain. for an outlet
the upper basin seemedquite as prom
Using as the lower-more promising
in fact, since less masonry would b,
required. Was there anything in tn,
topography of the canyon to forbit
the construction of the dam at thi
point? To be sure, the steep slope
were inclined planes of crumblin.
shale; but the native granite coult
not be far to seek in excavating. Ant
with the everlasting mountains fol
his dam-anchorages, the engineer
might surely possess his soul in Sc
curity.
The sharp-pitched activity wa
slippery with an OVERLAPPING o
broken shale and dry fir-needles.
climbed little higher to shallow
niche where projecting rocl
promised a foothold, and sat down t,
try to puzzle it out and to gathe:
breath for the return. The thin
Tipped breeze, with the kiss of TIN
snow-caps lingering in it's breath
swept softly down from the bal,
summit of Jim's mountain; and tn
minimized thunder of the stream be
came the sub-bass in a great organ
symphony in which the whisperin,
frs played the sibilant treble. From
the wider world below, the voice O
woman rose clear and strong in
prolonged double syllable-som
farmers wife or daughter calling he
cow-and the familiar cry was re
hinder that the day was done. 1
one would not have a soft-hearte,
giant and his following out scourin,
the valley for a stray invalid, on,
must scramble back and mount an,
ride.
The deed, or at least the begin
ming of it, fitted itself to the thought
But in the act Of rising, the crum
bling foothold gave way, and sho