"I suspected as much," Mr. Bellmore said, "Is the dam a very big or strong one?"
"Not especially so. But the water is low at this season of the year, and it doesn't take much of a dam to block it off from me. This dam is made of boards, banked up with clay and stones."
"Would it be easy to break away?" asked the engineer.
"Yes, I suppose so. But Molick will take precious good care that it doesn't break away, They're strengthening it all the while."
"Oh, I didn't suppose it would break away of its own accord," the engineer said. "I meant would we have much trouble in making a breach in it?"
"We?" cried Dave. "Do you mean—"
"I mean that we've got to break that dam to save your cattle!" the engineer said. "It's the only way!"
"Break the dam!" murmured Dave. Yet his eyes sparkled at the thought.
"Yes," assented the irrigation engineer.
"But we can't do that," objected Mr. Carson. "It's on Molick's land, and if we go there, and start something, he'll fight us. He is a desperate man."