y pretended
to ignore it, or to regard the sharp words aimed at him as jokes. He
treated Skeets with as much contempt as her jovial manner permitted, but
now and then it could be seen that his pale eyes glared at Grace's back
in a way that seemed almost murderous.

One day Gus and George, the colored man, were working at the far end of
the curved dam breast, the stone work having risen to four feet in
height. Bill was stooping to inspect the cement on the near end and the
view of the hill was cut off. Presently voices came to him, mostly a
sort of good-natured protest in monosyllables; then Thad's tones, low
enough to keep Gus from hearing.

"I tell you, Uncle, they're putting it over on you. It ain't any of my
business, but I hate to see you having your leg pulled."

"'Taint!" was the brief answer.

"Well, if you don't want to think so; but I know it. Look at this dam:
not over two feet thick and expected to hold tons of water. Wait till a
flood hits it. Will it go out like a stack of cards, or won't it? And
they're not using enough cement; one-fourth only with the sand."

"Grouting, broken stones," growled Mr. Hooper.

"Not sufficient, as you'll see. And does anybody want to say that a
two-inch pipe is going to run a water wheel with force enough to turn a
generator that will drive thirty or forty lights? Bosh!"

"They ought to know."

"You think they do, but have you any proof of it? What they don't know
would fill a libra--"

"How 'bout that there triang--what you call it? They knew that."

"Oh, just a draughtsman's smart trick; used to catch people. I'm talking
about things that are practical. You'll see. I'll bet you these blamed
fools are going to strike a snag one of these days, or they'll leave
things so that there'll be a fall-down. But what need they care after
they get their money?"

Bill heard footsteps retreating and dying away; Mr. Hooper went over to
Gus and, with evident hesitation, asked:

"Do you reckon you're makin' the stone work thick enough? It does look
most terrible weak."

"Sure, Mr. Hooper. Bill'll explain that to you. Professor Gray and he
worked out the exact resistance and the pressure."

And then Bill limped over; he had left his crutch on the hillside, and
he said, half laughing:

"This wall, Mr. Hooper, can't give way, even if it had the ocean behind
it, unless the stone and cement were mashed and crumbled by pressure.
The only thing that could break it would be about