Still, it was a minute or two before he was sensible of more than a vague awe and a physical shrinking from that tremendous display of Nature's forces, and then, by degrees, his brain commenced to record the details of the scene. He saw the snow-fed river diminished by distance to a narrow green riband swirling round the pools, and frothing with a curious livid whiteness over reef and boulder far down in the dimness. The roar it made came up in long pulsations of sound, which were flung back by the climbing pines that seemed to tremble in unison with it. The rocks were hollowed a trifle at their bases, and arched above the river. It was, as a picture, awe-inspiring and sublime, but from a practical point of view an apparently insurmountable barrier between the owner of the Canopus mine and the timber he desired. Devine, however, knew better, for he was a man who had grappled with a good many apparently insuperable difficulties, and Brooke became sensible that he expected an expression of opinion from him. "The timber is certainly there, but I quite fail to see how it could be of the least use to anybody situated where we are," he said. "That canyon is, I should fancy, one of the deepest in the province." Devine nodded, but the little smile was still in his eyes, and he pointed to the one where, by crawling down the gully a torrent had fretted out, an agile man might reach a jutting crag a couple of hundred feet below. "The point is that it isn't very wide," he said. "It wouldn't take a great many fathoms of steel rope to reach across it." Brooke realized that, because the crag projected a little, this was correct; but as yet the suggestion conveyed no particular meaning to him. "No," he said. "Still, it isn't very evident what use that would be." Devine laughed. "Now, if you had told me you knew anything about engineering, you would have given yourself away. Have you never heard of an aerial tramway? It's quite simple--a steel rope set up tight, a winch for hauling, and a trolley. With that working, and a skid-slide up the gully, one could send over the props we want without much difficulty. It would be cheaper than buying off the timber-righters." Brooke gasped as the daring simplicity of the scheme dawned on him. If one had nerve enough to undertake it the thing was perfectly feasible, and he turned to Devine with a glow in his eyes. "It could be done," he said. "Still, do you know anybody who would be willing to stretch that rope across?" Devine looked at him steadily, noticing the slight dilation of his nostrils and the intentness of his face. "Well," he said, drily, "I was going to ask you."