“All the way down to the bottom of Deep Cañon!” put in Ashton.
“And then some!” added Gowan. “I’ve hit on another ‘if,’ Miss Chuckie.”
“You have? Oh, Kid, tell us!”
“It’s this: How’s he going to get electricity to dig his tunnel?”
Blake was coming up from the pool, with his baby in one arm and his wife clinging fondly to the other. He met the coldly exultant glance of Gowan, and smiled.
“The only question regarding the power is one of cost, Mr. Gowan,” he said. “There is no coal near enough to be hauled. But gasolene is not bulky. If there was water power to generate electricity, a tunnel could be bored at half the cost I have figured. The point is that there is no water power available, nor will there be until the tunnel is finished.”
“What! You talk about finishing the tunnel? Didn’t you say it is still uncertain about the water?” demanded Knowles.
“I was merely explaining to Mr. Gowan,” replied Blake. “The question he raised is one of the factors in our problem as to whether an irrigation project is 200 practicable. We now know that we have the land for it, the tunnel site, the reservoir site––” he pointed to the valley above the dike––“and I have figured that the cost of construction would not be excessive. All that remains is to determine if we have the water. I have already explained that this will require a descent into the cañon.”
“You say that that will decide it, one way or the other?” queried Knowles, his forehead creased with deep lines of foreboding.
“Yes,” replied Blake. “I regret that you feel as you do about it. Consider what it would mean to hundreds, yes, thousands of people, if this mesa were watered. I assure you that you, too, would benefit by the project.”