was no flume. The hanging section of
sidehill above it which Gus' shot had failed to shake, had fetched away
and swept the structure out of existence. The only evidence of it was a
few ends of planks and timbers sticking up at crazy angles. All the work
and a great deal more was to do over again.

Angus stood scowling at the wreck. His crops needed water very, very
badly, and this time, to judge from appearances, it would take a week to
make repairs. If the dry weather continued that would mean practical
ruin to his crop.

But standing there would not help matters and time was precious. As soon
as he had shut off the water he returned to the house, and after
breakfast all hands tackled the job.

It was harder than before. Much earth and loose rock had to be moved.
The morning was hot, breathless. As the sun gained power the sidehill
absorbed its rays and threw off a baking heat. Chetwood, unused to such
work, puffed and gasped, but stuck to it. Angus and Gus labored
steadily, without respite. But Rennie after a while leaned on his shovel
and stared up at the raw earth above.

"Where'd you put in that shot, Gus, when you was tryin' to shake her?"
he asked.

Gus told him, and soon after he abandoned his shovel and climbing around
the track of the slide he got above it. There he poked around for some
time. Coming down he beckoned to Angus.

"How long do you s'pose it'll take to put in this flume?" he queried.

"Maybe a week."

"Uh-huh! And then s'pose she goes out again?"

"What's the use of supposing that?" Angus demanded irritably, for his
hard luck was getting on his nerves. "What the devil are you croaking
for? I've got troubles enough."

"I'm goin' to give you more," Rennie told him. "Look a-here!" He
exhibited four or five small stones with fresh, yellow earth still
clinging to them, and a piece of broken root. "What do you think of this
lay-out?" he asked.

Angus frowned at the junk impatiently. The stones came from the layer of
like stuff which lay beneath most of the land in the district. The root
was fir, old, resinous, so that it had not rotted with the tree it had
once helped to anchor, and apparently it was freshly broken off and
twisted.

"I've been shoveling stuff like that for hours," he said. "What about
it?"

"Quite a bit. You seen me nanitchin' round up there, and I s'pose you
damned me for a lazy cuss. Well, up there's where I find them things."

"You could have found plenty of them w