They went up the bank of the river afoot after luncheon. Ledger walked with Aunt Winnie, explaining as they went the scheme of changing the river’s course. The young folk ran on ahead.
They came to a narrow reef of rock which hemmed in the river on this westerly side. On the left hand they looked down into a deep gorge. Here, by blowing out the rock-wall which was not more than ten yards across, the river would plunge into the gorge which cut through the plateau toward the south.
This was the natural channel that had been spoken of. At the mouth of the gorge, the foreman said, a dam could be built at a comparatively small expense, which would hold an enormous amount of water in reserve.
The tentative agreement between Colonel Hardin and the Desert people included the building of this dam at the expense of the subscribers for the water. The intention was to dig a great ditch from the mouth of the gorge across the plain, with branch ditches and gates for the farmers, the main ditch carrying the water to the outskirts of Desert City.
There a pumping station was to be established and the water piped into the town. The irrigation work and all would occupy at least two years, and cost a good deal of money, but the result, as Tavia had suggested, would be to “make the desert blossom like the rose.”
Mrs. White would travel no farther than this reef at the head of the gorge, but the young folk were bent upon a real exploring expedition. She gave her consent for them to go on, and Ned and Nat found a path which led down the nigh bank of the deep hollow.
The trees that had struck root into this rocky soil were scrubby looking things and there were not many of them, but there was a deal of brush and briers.
“Suppose this was an old Indian path?” proposed Nat to his brother, when they were at the bottom of the steep descent.
“More likely made by wild animals,” was the reply.
“Whew!” exclaimed Nat, his eyes twinkling. “Maybe it leads to a bear’s den.”