That was a mad week. The Indians showed a willingness to work that Roger
had never seen equaled by white men. They were as curious about the Sun
Plant as children and deeply interested in Roger's explanation of it.
Their general intelligence Roger found to be high above that of the
average gang of whites. He never before had had the thrill of working
with a crowd of mechanics who combined skill, intelligence and interest
to this degree. The four machinists proved to be all that Dick had said
and more. In all his life, Roger had never had so deeply satisfying a
seven days. This, in spite of the fact that he worked like his men from
daylight until dark, stopping only to eat the bountiful meals that the
girls, with the Indian women, prepared at the ranch. This, in spite of
ferocious heat and almost insuperable mechanical difficulties owing to
the lack of lifting and trucking facilities.
For the first four days of the week, Dick was quite despondent about the
water problem. But on Friday afternoon, as Roger was superintending the
reerection of the condenser, he heard a wild shout and beheld Dick and
his four helpers laughing and slapping each other's backs, knee deep all
of them in a stream that gushed into the ditch from the new well.
"My luck has turned!" roared Dick. "My luck has turned! Look at it! Look
at it! It will water fifty acres. I'll bet there won't be an inch of
water left in the range. Wow!" and he plunged full length into the
little crystal stream, his helpers following suit with a shout.
It was the signal for a general recess. And the men, including Roger,
took a ducking and returned to work steaming but unspeakably
rejuvenated. The sudden appearance of the water seemed to Roger like a
happy omen for the whole endeavor and it would have been difficult to
tell who was the most enthusiastic for the rest of the day, Roger or
Dick.
Rabbit Tail's week was a full seven days. At five o'clock Sunday
afternoon, the absorber was finished. The old tool shed stood remade,
roughly to be sure, but securely, into an engine house. The condenser
was half finished, the engine was standing in its new home, dismantled
in parts but quite ready for Roger to adjust when the new parts should
arrive.
When the old iron triangle called supper, Rabbit Tail sauntered up to
Roger.
"Good job, Boss, huh?"
"Fine! The best ever! Rabbit Tail, the country is missing some wonderful
mechanics and engineers in not getting you Indians interested in
civilization."
The old chief grinned and shrugged his shoulders. "To-night, we go," he
said.
"Let me keep Jo and the other three machinists," pleaded Roger. "I'm
sure they'll be interested in finishing the condenser for me."
"Ask 'em," grunted Rabbit Tail.
"Come along," said Roger and he strode over to the bench where the four
Indians were fitting together the condenser pipe. They looked up and
grinned affably at Roger.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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