Jim.

Tuck nodded. "You may have hated New York while you lived there, but it
looks good now, eh?"

"Yes," answered Jim.

"You'll feel better when the Boss begins to give you some
responsibility. Were you ever up in the Makon country, Manning?"

"No," said Jim.

"Don't strain yourself talking," commented Tuck, sarcastically. "You are
rather given to blathering, I see. Well, the Makon country wants a dam.
It wants it bad but the Service doesn't see how to get in there. There
is a big valley that has been partially farmed for years. It is
enormously fertile, but there is only enough water in it to irrigate a
limited number of farms.

"Now, ten miles to the north, is the Makon river that never fails of
water. But as near as anyone can find out the only feasible place for
damming it is somewhere in a beastly canyon that no man has ever gone
through alive. The river is treacherous and the country would make this
look as well manicured as the Swiss Alps."

Jim listened intently. Charlie Tuck pulled at his pipe for a time, then
he said: "My end of this job is about finished. I like the exploring end
of the work best, anyhow. I was with the Geological Survey for ten years
before the Reclamation Service was created. I made the preliminary
surveys for this project and for the Whitson. I tell you, Manning,
that's the greatest work in the world--getting out into the wilderness
and finding the right spot for civilization to come and thrive. There's
where you get a sense of power that makes you feel like a Pilgrim
Father. The Reclamation Service is a great pipe dream. Some of the
finest men in the country are in it today and nobody knows it."

"Like Mr. Freet," said Jim.

Jim thought that Tuck hesitated for a moment before he answered. "Yes,
and a dozen others. I consider it a privilege to work with them. Say,
Manning, if some way they could find the right level in that canyon and
drive a tunnel through its solid granite walls, they could send the
Makon over into the valley."

"Why doesn't the Service send a man to explore the crevice?" asked Jim.

"That's what I say!" cried Tuck. "Just because a lot of cold feet claim
it can't be done, just because no man has come through that crevice
alive, is no reason one won't. Say, Manning, if I can get the Service to
send me up there, will you go with me?"

"Me!" gasped Jim.

Tuck nodded in his gentle way. "Yes, you see I like you. You are more
congenial than most of the fell