The auxiliary dam was in.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
THE EAGLE’S WING
Nevada was lying on the bed in Anita’s shack, trying to convince Rawley that the doctor knew what he was talking about. The doctor had declared that Nevada’s injuries were mostly superficial bruises and the nervous shock of sitting cramped in one position for hours, expecting every moment to be crushed to death. Nevada had seemed rather crestfallen when Rawley told her how simple a matter it had been to free her from the beam.
“The whole thing caught me unawares just when I had stopped a minute to rest,” she explained defensively. “I think I was half asleep when it happened, and of course my lamp was smashed too flat even to think of exploding. It was black dark, and I suppose it was natural to imagine that I was being crushed when I was merely held fast. I did not try to move. I was afraid the whole thing would come down on me. Of course, I should have thought of the cushions,—”
“You’d be a wonder if you had; even more of a wonder than you are.” Rawley took her hand in both of his and patted it, in a sublime disregard of the circumstances of his last visit to the basin. “I believe in omens, Nevada. Fate gave me a splendid one when I found you.” Rawley smiled at her mysteriously, his eyes twinkling.
“In the general wreck, my old pipe had landed from some cranny right on the desk beside you. You can’t make me believe that Fate didn’t mean something by that! The way I interpret it—”
“A freak accident,” interrupted Nevada, her cheeks showing alarming symptoms of a sudden attack of fever. “That old pipe! You didn’t take it, and I must have tucked it up somewhere until you came again. I suppose it rattled down.”
Rawley’s eyes had never been so blue. They were like looking down upon a sunlit sea. He dipped his fingers into the pocket of Nevada’s blouse and produced the pipe, turning it tenderly in his hands.
“God bless the day I learned to smoke!” he murmured, his eyes still dancing. “It may have rattled down—but I know it’s a good omen. It means—”
“Yes?” Nevada’s big eyes were upon his face. A faint tremor was in her lips, as if laughter and tears were fighting for the mastery.