Devine nodded, and flashed a keen glance at him as he said, "What are you looking at that pool for?" Brooke stood silent a moment or two. "Well," he said, diffidently, "it occurred to me that when there was frost on the high peaks you might have some difficulty in getting enough water to feed the flume. You can see how the pool has run down already. Now, with a hundred tons or so of rock and debris and a log framing, one could contrive a very workable dam. It would ensure you a full supply and equalize the pressure." "You feel equal to putting the thing through?" "I would at least very much like to try." Devine regarded him thoughtfully. "Then you can let me have your notions." Brooke unfolded his crude scheme, and the other man watched him keenly until he said, "If that meets with your approbation I could start two of my men getting out the logs almost immediately." Devine smiled. "Has it struck you that there is a point you have forgotten?" "It is quite possible there are a good many." "You can't think of one that's important in particular?" "No," said Brooke, reflectively, "not just now." A little sardonic twinkle crept into Devine's eyes. "Well," he said, "before I took hold of any contract of that kind I would like to know just how much I was going to make on it, and what it would cost me." Brooke looked at him and laughed. "Of course!" he said. "Still, I never thought of it until this moment." "It's quite clear you weren't raised in Canada," said Devine. "You can worry out the thing during the afternoon and bring along any rough plan you'd like to show me to the ranch this evening. That's fixed? Then there's another thing. Has anybody tried to stop you getting out lumber?" "No," said Brooke. "I met two men who appeared to be timber-right prospectors more than once, but they made no difficulty." Devine, who seemed a trifle astonished, looked at him curiously before he turned away. "Then," he said drily, "you are more fortunate than I am." Brooke went back to his work, and supper had been cleared away in his double tent when he completed his simple toilet, which had commenced with a plunge into a whirling pool of the snow-fed river, preparatory to his visit to the ranch. Jimmy, who had assisted in it, stood surveying him complacently. "Now," he said, with a nod of approbation, "I guess you'll do when I've run a few stitches up the back of you. Stand quite still while I get the tent needle." Brooke glanced at the implement he produced somewhat dubiously, for it was of considerable thickness and several inches long. "I suppose," he said, resignedly, "you haven't got a smaller one?" Jimmy shook his head. "I guess I wouldn't trust it if I had," he said. "I want to fix that darn up good and strong so it will do you credit. There are two women at the ranch, and it's quite likely they'll come in and talk to you."