“No such luck. Here comes the rain now,” answered Dave.
As he spoke, both of the young civil engineers felt the first drops of the on-coming storm. Then the rain became a steady downpour which threatened every minute to turn into a deluge.
Fortunately for the two young men, they were not hampered by any of their civil-engineering outfit. They had been asked that morning by Mr. Ralph Obray, the manager of the construction gang, to ride up the trail and make sure that certain marks had been left there by the surveyors for the railroad. The work done by the railroad had been merely of a preliminary nature, but this preliminary work, crude as it was, was to be used as a basis for the more accurate survey by the engineers of the construction company.
“I don’t think we can make camp in such a downpour as this,” gasped Roger, after another half-mile had been covered.
“Maybe you’re right,” responded Dave. “It certainly is coming down to beat the band! But what are we going to do? I don’t believe in standing still and getting ourselves drenched to the skin.”
“We ought to be able to find some sort of shelter near by. Come on, let us take a look around.”
Both did this, sheltering their eyes from the rain with their hands. In such a downpour the scenery on all sides was practically obliterated.
“Can’t make out a thing,” remarked Roger in disgust. “I suppose we’ve got to go on and take what comes. By the time we reach camp we’ll feel like a couple of drowned rats.”
“Never mind. We’ll have a chance to change our clothing, anyway,” responded Dave lightly. “And we won’t have to take a bath or get under the shower.”
“Take a bath or get under the shower!” repeated Roger. “Wow! If I had a chance to do that I wouldn’t know myself,” he added with a grin. For neither of the chums had seen anything like a bathtub or a shower for several months. When they took a bath it was usually in a small stream that flowed not far from where the construction camp was located.