remarked. "I can't see even right here in
the sun."

"The telescope is out of focus," explained Blake. "Turn that screw on
the side." Gowan twisted a protruding thumbscrew. "Not that--the one
above it," directed Blake.

"Can't stop to fool now," replied the puncher. "I've got to hustle
along."

He started hastily around between the level and the precipice. The toe
of his boot struck hard against the iron toe of the outer tripod-leg.
He stumbled and sprawled forward on his hands and knees. Behind him
the instrument toppled over towards the brink.

Genevieve cried out in alarm at Gowan's fall. Her husband sprang to
the rescue--not of the puncher, but of the level. It had crashed down
with its head to the chasm, and was sliding out over the brink. Blake
barely caught it by the tip of one of the legs as it swung up for the
plunge. He drew it back and set it up to see what damage had been done
to the head. Gowan watched him, tight-lipped.

"This is luck!" exclaimed the engineer, after a swift examination.
"Nothing broken--only knocked out of adjustment. I can fix that in
half an hour. She struck with the telescope turned sideways. You must
have set the clamp screw."

The puncher's face darkened. "Wish the--infernal machine had gone
plumb down to hell!" he growled. "It came near tripping me over the
edge."

"My apology," said Blake. "I spraddled the tripod purposely to keep it
from being upset."

"Oh, Kid, you've hurt yourself," called Isobel, as the puncher began
to wrap a kerchief about his hand. "Come here and let me bandage it."

"No," he replied. "Two babies are enough for you to coddle at one
time. I've got to hit out."

He turned his back on Blake and hurried up to his horse. The engineer
followed as far as the nearest tree, where he set up the instrument in
the shade and began to adjust it.

"Good thing she has platinum crosshairs," he said to Ashton. "A fall
like that would have been certain to break the old-style spiderweb
hairs."

Ashton did not reply. He was absorbed in a murmured conversation with
Isobel. Blake completed the adjustments of the level and stretched out
beside his wife to play with his gurgling son. A half hour of this
completed the two hours that he had set apart for the noon rest. He
placed the baby back in his wife's lap and stood up to stretch his
powerful frame.

"How about it, Ashton?" he inquired. "Think you feel fit to rod this
afternoon? Don't hesitate to say no, if that