is physically practicable?" asked Trednoke.

"No phenomenon, in this part of the
world, would surprise me," returned
Meschines. "The Colorado might break its
barriers; or it is conceivable that some
huge stream, taking its rise in the heights
hundreds of miles north and east of us, may
be flowing through subterranean passages
into the sea, emerging from the sea-bottom
hundreds of miles to the westward. Now,
if a rattling good earthquake were to happen
along, you might awake in the morning
to find yourself on an island, or even under
water."

"A moderate Mediterranean would satisfy
me," the general said. "I wouldn't
exchange the certainty of it for the treasures
of Montezuma."

"The thirst for gold and for water are
synonymous in your case?"

"Give this section a moist climate, and I
needn't tell you that the Great American
Desert would literally blossom as the rose.
Even as it is, I expect a great deal of it will
be redeemed by scientific irrigation. The
soil only needs water to become inexhaustibly