od of rhetoric.

"What sickening rot!" he scoffed in open disgust. And then: "It must be
delightfully comforting to Ballard and Bromley to have that wild ass of
the market-place braying over their work! Somebody ought to hit him."

But the orator was preparing to do a little of the hitting, himself. The
appearance of the party at the mine entrance had not gone unremarked,
and the company's secretary recognised the company's enemy at a glance.
He was looking over the heads of the celebrators and down upon the group
on the opposite side of the narrow chasm when he said:

"So, ladies and gentlemen, this great project, in the face of the most
obstinate, and, I may say, lawless, opposition; in spite of violence and
petty obstruction on the part of those who would rejoice, even to-day,
in its failure; this great work has been carried on to its triumphant
conclusion, and we are gathered here on this beautiful morning in the
bright sunshine and under the shadow of these magnificent mountains to
witness the final momentous act which shall add the finishing stone to
this grand structure; a structure which shall endure and subserve its
useful and fructifying purpose so long as these mighty mountains rear
their snowy heads to look down in approving majesty upon a desert made
fair and beautiful by the hand of man."

Hand-clappings, cheers, a stirring of the crowd, and the upstarting of
the brass band climaxed the rhetorical peroration, and Elsa glanced
anxiously over her shoulder. She knew her father's temper and the fierce
quality of it when the provocation was great enough to arouse it; but he
was sitting quietly between Dosia and Madge Cantrell, and the publicly
administered affront seemed to have missed him.

When the blare of brass ceased, the mechanical part of the spectacle
held the stage for a few brief minutes. The completing stone was
carefully toggled in the grappling-hooks of the derrick-fall, and at
Ballard's signal the hoisting engine coughed sharply, besprinkling the
spectators liberally with a shower of cinders, the derrick-boom swung
around, and the stone was lowered cautiously into its place.

With a final rasping of trowels, the workmen finished their task, and
Ballard walked out upon the abutment and laid his hand on the wheel
controlling the drop-gate which would cut off the escape of the river
through the outlet tunnel. There was a moment of impressive silence, and
Elsa held her breath. The day, the hour,