The sudden appearance of Mr. Brock at any time and at any point where
he had interests would surprise only those that did not know him. On
the coast the party had broken up, Louise Donner going into Colorado
with friends, and Harrison returning to Pittsburg.
Planning originally to recross the mountains by a southern route, and
to give himself as much of a pleasure trip as he ever took, Mr. Brock
changed all his plans at the last moment--a move at which he was
masterly--and wired Bucks to meet him at Bear Dance for the return
trip. Doctor Lanning, moreover, had advised that Marie spend some
further time in the mountains, where her gain in health had been
decided.
Among the features the general manager particularly wished Mr. Brock to
see before leaving the mountain country was the Crab Valley dam and
irrigation canal, and the second day after the president's special
entered the division it was side-tracked at a way station near Sleepy
Cat for an inspection of the undertaking. The trip to the canal was by
stage with four horses, and the ladies had been asked to go.
The morning was so exhilarating and the ride so fast that when the head
horses dipped over the easy divide flanking the line of the canal on
the south, and the brake closed on the lumbering wheels, the visitors
were surprised to discover almost at their feet a swarming army of men
and horses scraping in the dusty bed of a long cut. There the heavy
work was to be seen, and to give his party an idea of its magnitude,
Bucks had ordered the stage driven directly through the cut itself.
With Mr. Brock he sat up near the driver. Back of them were Doctor
Lanning and Gertrude Brock; within rode Mrs. Whitney and Marie.
As the stage, getting down the high bank, lurched carefully along the
scraper ways of the yellow bed, shovellers, drivers, and water-boys
looked curiously at the unusual sight, and patient mules nosed meekly
the alert, nervous horses that dragged the stage along the uneven way.
At the lower end of the cut a more formidable barrier interposed. A
pocket of gravel on the eastern bank had slipped, engulfing a steam
shovel, and a gang of men were busy about it. On a level overlooking
the scene, in corduroy jackets and broad hats, stood two engineers. At
times one of them gave directions to a foreman whose gang was digging
the shovel out. His companion, perceiving the approach of the stage,
signalled the driver sharply, and the leaders were swung to the right
of the shovellers so that the stage was brought out on a level some
distance away.
Bucks first recognized the taller of the two men. "There's Glover," he
exclaimed. "Hello!" he called across the canal bed. "I didn't look
for you here." Glover lifted his hat and walked over to the stage.