"What I can't understand, Ames," said Jim slowly, "after all this, is why you roast the Service so." Ames flushed. "Because," he shouted, "you are so damned pig-headed! You aren't building the dam for us farmers. You are building it for the glory of your own reputation as an engineer." There was a moment's silence in the tent house. CHAPTER XIII THE END OF IRON SKULL'S ROAD "The Indians know that the spirit blends with the Greater Spirit, and I myself have seen every atom that was mortal lift again and again to new life, out of the desert's atom drift." MUSINGS OF THE ELEPHANT. Jim shrugged his shoulders. Sara's eyes narrowed as he half smiled to himself. "For instance," Ames went on, "what are you making the third canal so big for? We don't need it that size. You're wasting time and our money. We've got to pay for the project, us farmers. You don't take any interest in that fact though." "You don't need a canal that big, but your children will," said Jim. "I'm building this dam for the future. You farmers never built for anything but the present. That's why your dams went and the water wars were on. But you can't teach a farmer anything." Jim spoke with a cold contempt that startled Penelope. Ames' kindly eyes were blazing. "No, but maybe us farmers can teach an engineer something. And I don't know a better talking point for starting an investigation than the way you let the flood rip everything to pieces." "Which portion of your land is for sale, Mr. Ames?" asked Pen. "My husband has a map of the valley over there." Jim rose and took up his pony's reins. "I'm sorry anything unpleasant came up, Pen. But you'll find out I'm a fool and a crook some time, so it might as well be now. I must get back." He smiled, lifted his hat and rode off. The four in the tent stared after him. "He always seems so kind of alone," said Mrs. Ames. "They say his men will do anything for him and yet he always seems kind of lonely. I don't seem to hate him the way the rest of the valley does. He's so young, he don't know how to be patient yet." "Oh, they don't hate him, do they!" protested Pen. "You bet!" answered Ames succinctly. Then he added: "You'll have to excuse me saying that. I forgot you was his friend. But this here valley is like my child to me. I'm fighting for her." "We want to know the truth about him," said Sara. "Are you really trying to get rid of him?" Ames nodded and picked up the map. "I don't think he's crooked, like some do. I just think he's too young and pig-headed for the job." "How do you know he's not crooked?" asked Sara. Pen drew a startled breath. Ames looked at Sara curiously. "I thought you was his friend." "He's my wife's friend," replied Sara. "You know what the Congressional committee reported about him." "Sara!" cried Pen. "You know Jim couldn't do a crooked thing to save his life!"