"Better that than for him to have a father who is a quitter! Just wait, Sweetheart. That break looks much less overwhelming than these sheer cliffs. You know I shall not attempt anything foolhardy. If it is not possible to get down without too great risk, I shall give it up and send for a transit." "Oh, will you?" exclaimed Isobel, hardly less apprehensive than his wife. "Why not wait anyway until you can send for your transit?" "Because I cannot triangulate the bottom within half a mile upstream from where the tunnel would have to be located. That roar and the wildness of the water wherever we can see it is proof that it is flowing down a heavy grade. At the point where I triangulated it might be above the level of Dry Mesa, and way below the mesa here at the tunnel site." "You could triangulate at the first place where the bottom can be seen, beyond here," suggested Genevieve. "Suppose it proved to be lower than Dry Mesa, wouldn't that still leave us up in the air?" he asked. "Like this--" He pulled out his notebook and drew a rough sketch. [Transcriber's Note: an illustration showing "Elevation of bench-mark at foot of chute in Dry Fork Gulch" appears in the text here.] "I see, Dear," said his wife. "When do you plan to go down?" "Tomorrow morning." "Can you wait until we come up from the ranch?" "Yes. Mr. Knowles will no doubt be back by then. He can bring you out early." "We shall come early, anyway," said Isobel. "Of course!" added Genevieve. She drew a deep breath. "I shall see the place before you attempt to descend." Her husband nodded reassuringly and looked around to where Gowan and Ashton stood waiting, several yards from one another. "About lunch time, isn't it?" he remarked. "Mr. Gowan will wish to be starting soon to bring up his second load." At the suggestion, the ladies hastened to spread out their own lunch and the one brought by Blake. When called by Isobel, Gowan came forward to join the party, with rather less than his usual reserve in his speech and manner. Ashton was the last to seat himself on the springy cushion of brown pine needles, and he sat throughout the meal in moody silence. Blake and the ladies attributed this to the fatigue of working through the long hot morning while suffering from his unhealed wound. He repulsed the sympathetic attentions of the Blakes. But he could not long continue to resist the kindly concern of the girl. After lunch she made him lie down in the shade while she bathed his wound with a good part of the small supply of water remaining in the canteens. Gowan had been asking questions about the work. Blake explained at some length why he considered it necessary not only to descend into the canyon but to carry the line of levels down along the bed of the subterranean stream to this point opposite Dry Fork Gulch. When Isobel drew apart with Ashton the puncher did not look at them, though his eyes narrowed to slits and his mouth straightened.