Grace, more than I can express. Well keep our eyes open."




CHAPTER XIV


FURTHER OPPOSITION


The dam was built, the flood gate in place, the pipe valve set for
further extension of the line down the little valley; and as the pipe
had all come cut and threaded, Bill and George were working with
wrenches and white lead to get the sections tightly jointed against the
pressure that would result. Gus, the carpenter, was laying out the
framing of heavy timbers reinforced with long bolts and set in cement on
which the Pelton wheel was to be mounted.

Several days were thus spent; the water was pouring over the spillway of
the dam and it was with satisfaction that the boys found, after an
inspection one quitting hour, that the wall, five feet high, was not
leaking a drop.

That night Gus came over to Bill's home and the two went over the plans
until late; then Gus chatted awhile on the steps, Bill standing in the
doorway. Suddenly, from over toward the northeast, in the direction of
the upper tract of the Hooper estate, there was a flash in the sky and a
dull reverberation like a very distant or muffled blast. Bill was
talking and hardly noticed it, but Gus had been looking in that