“No use, Uncle Peter. I tried to get him. It’s running like a mill race. He landed square in the middle of it.” “He did this.” Peter swept his arm out toward the bared river bed while his eyes sought the Governor’s. “Crazy,--you saw that. My half-brother would have more sense. The old man did it, to get the gold before the government could beat him to it.” He looked from one face to another trying to choose who stood highest in rank. “I want permission,” he said more firmly, as the doctor’s stimulant took hold, “to go ahead now and carry out my plans. I warn you, gentlemen, that if that is not done there may be a great flood. Let me go ahead and shoot in that auxiliary dam _now_. That will relieve the pressure until we can shoot in more rock here. If I hold back the flood for you, at my expense, you can do as you think best with me afterwards, and with the river.” He threw out a hand toward the mutinous inshore stream. “That dam is all rock; tons upon tons of it. Inshore is where a channel could eat through. The cliffs overhang and would prevent a full drop there of broken rock. I counted on this. It was my natural run-off. If it broke through anywhere, it would break here. Nature’s a pretty good engineer, gentlemen. But we’ll make it a safe proposition. We’ll shoot in the auxiliary dam. I want a free hand in this, or--I can’t answer for the consequences. I warn you.” The Governor lifted his eyebrows at the great engineer of the party. The engineer looked at the Chairman of the Commission. He looked at the river. Plainly, he disliked to give his word, which would carry much weight and which might lead them astray. Peter walked steadily along, between the Governor and Rawley, who held him solicitously by the arm. “You will bear in mind that I have studied this problem all my life,” Peter added urgently. “I’ve been spending a good deal of money on it. I have laid my plans very carefully, so as to risk neither lives nor money. The people below us will be safe, if you let me go ahead. In spite of the high water the Cramer Dam will hold--if you let me go ahead and finish the job.” The engineer shut his technical eyes and listened to his common reason. The Governor was still glancing his way between steps, wanting his opinion. “There’s a good deal in that,” the engineer said at last. “I should advise that under the circumstances we permit Mr. Cramer to go ahead and make his dam as safe as possible. It will not render the present danger any greater. The longer the Cramer Dam holds, the better chance we will have of averting disaster. Give me a little time, and I can, I think, promise to get the river under control without any disastrous flood condition arising.” Peter’s eyes darkened at the inference, but he had won at least one point. That, he reflected, was more than might have happened. These were truly great men; they were greater than their training of keeping well within the red-tape fences.