The Benson signal., 1917-06-09
CHAPTER XlV.-Continued.


3
The lantern was standing on the
roadway on top of the dam. A man
was kneeling beyond it, his figure seen
dimIy in the faint light of the lantern.
He was staring intently down the
front Of the dam at the water. The
hantN-' was near the edge and it faint
ly Illuminated the black. rain-lashed
surface below. Vandeventer realized
with a shock of horror how much more
rapid the rise had been. A quick esti-
mate convinced him that the level of
the water was now within eight or nine
feet of the dam-and it was still rain
ing
The face of the kneeling man was
hidden by sOu'wester and he had on
heavy black rubber raincoat. Van
deventer reached over and touched
him on the shoulder.
"What are you doing here?" he
asked.
The kneeling 1nan sprang up with an
exclamation. II was Meade. The re-
lief in Vandeventer's mind was great
at Cu0 T0COSulClou.
"I just came out to look at the wa
ter. / couldn't sleep with all that
pounding on the iron roof of the quar-
tiers, so I dressed and came out"
Vandeventer opened the slide Of his
own lantern and threw the light on the
reservoir.
''It's risen eight or ten feet since we
saw it, and witN this rain"
"It's not co1rAng down so hard as
it was when ! first came out here"
said Meade. 81 think you can see it
slackening urself."
"Yes," said t1e resident engineer,
listening a nome Mt, 81 believe it is. If
1t stops now," he continued thought
fully, "we ought to be safe"
eyes, I think So" answered Meade.
In the night alone, together in that
crisis in their fortunes, the two men
were interchanyng thoughts and ideas
on terms of perfect equality. 1t did
not occur to VNldeventer to question
why, and thar they were doing so
aroused no suJ rise in the mind of
Meade.
.Of, course" z. ntinued Meade, "even
If it does stop raining We'll continue
to get lot of r1noff from the water
shed for some '1,ne."
eyes," said tie resident engineer,
that of course, but if the rain stops
everywhere we can scarcely have a
rise Of more tina q five or six feet, and
that would still be a little below the
Spillway."
''It's stopping here now" pointed out
Meade, and indeed the force of the
downpour was greatly diminished.
The two stood watching the dam and
the black lake bAyond it in silence for
q few moments until the rain practical
ly ceased. The al { was misty and heavy
with moisture, hut the rain was GER
tainly over for the time at any rate.
"Thank goodness" said the resident
engineer in greet relief. "Now if it's
stopped everywhere We'll be all right"
EYES," said Meade, "and I'm inclined
to think it has stopped everywhere.
Whoever thought it would rain in Jan
uary here? There hasn't a drop, to
years, or since there have been any
records. Why in heavens name 1t
had to come now I don't see."
"Look here, Roberts," said Vande-
venter suddenly, 'you know you're a
frst-class engineer"
Meade shook his head.
"You can't fool me-" said the older
man. 'pve watched you. You know
more about the game than anybody
here except myself. You don't choose
to confide in me-, although l like you,
ant am in a position to help you"
II APPRECIATE what you say, Mr.. Van
deventer,'' -cotuine the other; "there
is no one to VIII m I should rather tell
the whole story than to you, but 1
can't-not yet"
"Well, keep your own counsel, but
If you ever want friend, count on me ;
meanwhile, as man Of experience and
ability. what would you do?"
"Get out tho men and build up a
temporary dam on the top of the road
way here, to tn IN the flow over to the
east bank and make the spillway do
more work."
But the -atn has stopped"
And in -. probability will stay
stopped-still you never can tell. A
few more hours of rain like that we've