The Benson signal., 1917-06-30
CHAPTER XIx-continued.

-JZ-
'T don't see him. He's not there"
she said at last, handing the glass back
to it's owner.
eff he were there, you'd see him all
right" said Winters enthusiastically,
'because he'd be in the thick of the
fight"
81 doubt if you can recognize any
one, even through the glass, at such a
distance" said Rodney, after he had
focused it and taken a look himself.
"Yet If he were there, he certainly
would be in the thick of it. He's that
kind. You look, Dick"
81 can't see him." said Winters in
turn. "But what fight they are MAX
ing to save that DAM"
"Will 1t hold?" asked the woman
Impossible" said Rodney.
IT give it one hour" said Winters,
handing over the glass.
"Not more than that" assented the
other, after another look. "See for
yourself, Miss nlingworth."
From where they stood, high up on
the roof of the world, they were spec
tators of great battle. witnesses Of
q terrible contest, in which herculean
effort, desperate courage, human will,
all exerted to the limit, finally de-
generated into blind, mechanical habit
Of continuous and frenzied endeavor.
The spirit Of reckless continuance had
got into them and moved them to the
impossible. AS men ir battle charge
go on even with wounds enough to kill
them in ordinary circumstances, as SOL
diers at Winchester. though shot in the
heart, actually struggled after Sheri-
dan until they fell, or even as a COM
mon horse may so be imbued with
blind intensity of determination that
he gallops on until he drops dead,
so these men gave their all in unmatch-
able persistence.
They'd better get off that dam," said
Rodney. "When it once fails it'll go
with rush and then it'll be too late"
'Look at them. They're not going
20 get off," said Winters. "They're
going down with it. Fools, God bless
'em!" he shouted, throwing up his
arms in exultation over manhood and
courage and determination.
Perhaps you had better go back,
Miss nlingworth," said Rodney, think
Ing of the horror she might witness at
any moment.
Il wouldn't be elsewhere for the
world" said the brave girl. white but
with firm lips-she was made of the
same stuff as the fighting men, it
seemed-"even If he were there, fight
ing that great battle, should wait to
see the end"
''We're not the only people In this
wilderness. Look yonder!" cried Win
terS.
He pointed down through the cease
less rain toward the lower edge Of the
mesa. There. far below him, were
three sOdden figures. The water in the
lake had flooded the slope of the hill,
and on that side it was tapping the
base Of the cliff. The trail had, of
course, been covered, and there was no
way Of progress except by taking ad-
vantage Of the broken rock at the foot
Of the cliff, which here and there still
stood above the water. 1t was a place
where men could only pass by carefully
choosing their way and calculating the
distance of the next point toward
which to leap. These three were NOV
Ing like madmen, splashing through
the water, hurting themselves from
rock to rock, falling against the wall,
clutching tree or shrub, slipping into
the Lake, saving themselves from
drowning apparently only by the ca
price of complacent fortune, which
they were trying to the utmost limit.
One man carried a miners pick, a
spade and surveyors range pole, the
other another spade and two long
stakes which looked like the separate
legs of tripod. The bareheaded man.
who had thrown his rubber coat down
In the 'reddish-yellow water, carried a
good. sized oilskin bag. He was the
most hurried of the three. He ran
some distance in front of the Others.
They noticed how carefully he sought
to protect the bag. When he slipped
or seemed about to fall, he always
thrust it frantically away from the
rock with cutstretched arm.
What the three men would be at Of
course no one knew. 1t was obvious
that they were in a desperate hurry
and that the thing in the bag must be
carefully carried. Naturally the watch
ers connected the men with the dam
builders. They were dressed as the
men engaged in such labor would be
dressed. The pick, the spades and the
pole and stakes bore out that conclu-
sion.
"What's in the bag?" asked the
woman.
''He carries it as though it might
be gold or diamonds" said Winters.
Rodney snook his head. Suddenly
he :llvined the reason for the extreme
care with which the bag was carried.
The men were Immediately below the
three watchers now. He could make
l, n