natures for Jim.

Uncle Denny came home to the dam, tired but with the first ray of hope
in his heart that he had had for a long time. The petition might not
influence the authorities and yet the sentiment it raised might defeat
Fleckenstein at the last. At any rate, it was something to work for
these last hard days of Jim's regime.

Jim had seen the last farmer and was devoting the final days of his stay
on the dam to urging the work forward that he might leave as full a
record behind him as his broken term permitted. Wrapped in his work and
his grief, Jim did not hear of the existence of the petition. Henderson
had spread word among the workmen of Jim's intended departure. No one
cared to speak of the matter to Jim. Something in his stern, sad young
face forbade it. But there was not a man on the job from associate
engineer to mule driver who did not throw himself into his work with an
abandon of energy that drove the work forward with unbelievable
rapidity. All that his men could do to help Jim's record was to be done.

For three days before the election Henderson scarcely slept. He tried to
be on all three shifts. "I even eat my meals from a nose bag," he told
Uncle Denny sadly.

"And what's a nose bag?" asked Uncle Denny.

"A nose bag is the thing you tie on a horse for him to get his grub
from. Also it's the long yellow bag the cook puts the night shift's
lunch in. But I'd starve if 'twould keep the Boss on the job. I'd even
drink one of Babe's cocktails."

Henderson waited for Uncle Denny's "Go ahead with the story," then he
began sadly:

"Algernon Dove was Babe's real name. He was an English remittance-man
here in the early days. The Smithsonian folks came down here and wanted
to get someone to go out with them to collect desert specimens,
rattlers, Gila monsters, hydrophobia skunks and such trash. Babe and
Alkali Ike, his running mate, went with them. They took a good outfit,
the Smithsonian folks did, and in one wagon they took a barrel of
alcohol and dumped the reptiles into it as fast as they found them. They
got a good bunch, little by little, snakes and horned toads and
hydrophobia skunks. In about two weeks they was ready to come back. Then
they noticed the bad smell."

Henderson paused. "What was the matter?" asked Uncle Denny.

"Babe and Ike had been drinking the alcohol, day by day," he answered in
his musical voice. "The barrel just did 'em two weeks. Just because I
talk foolish talk, Mr. D