Chapter XXIII: The Former and the Latter Rain

The work on the dam was progressing splendidly. Vandeventer, driving his men hard, shared in all their furious efforts. He was not only their leader, but their inspiration. He could safely work them to the limit because by a process of elimination during the work he had surrounded himself with a body of able assistants, and by the same method his teamsters and workmen, many of whom were foreigners, had been culled from a greater number, until they had become a small army of picked men, of which to be proud. Among all these Meade stood very high. He still occupied his comparatively humble position as gang-foreman, but he had shown such capacity in the four months he had been with Vandeventer, such a grasp of things, such an ability to handle men, in one or two instances when, with intention to try him, the resident engineer had given him charge of some special work, that Vandeventer unconsciously looked to him in any emergency. He actually found himself consulting Meade on occasion!

He had accompanied the younger man on one of those rambles which he had hitherto taken alone. He had not broken down Meade's reserve, but he had won his admiration and regard. Vandeventer was not unknown in engineering circles. In earth work he was by way of being an authority. His experience had been varied and extensive. Meade's reserve and reticence rather hurt the older engineer. He had invited confidence and had even given his affection. He intimated delicately that if the other were under a cloud Vandeventer might be in a position to help him.

It was fortunate for Meade's purpose of concealment, for his incognito, that most of his engineering work had been done abroad and that he had been out of touch with American engineering for practically the whole of his career. Vandeventer was a Harvard man too, and that made it especially hard for Meade to keep from betraying himself. As a matter of fact the younger man actually longed to make a clean breast of it, but he could not quite bring himself to do it, yet. That might come later.

Three months ought to see the completion of the dam and the long canal, which was to carry the stored water to the irrigation ditches below. Vandeventer was already making plans for another big job, and he had decided, in his own mind, that among the subordinates whom he would take with him, the newcomer should have the first chance. Vandeventer felt proud and satisfied when he surveyed the work that had been accomplished in the six months of labor. To be sure the delay in the completion of the spill-way disquieted him a little.

The dam had reached the spill-way level a fortnight before, and had now passed it. Indeed, on the fifth of January, the dam builders were within five feet of the top; that is, the crest of the dam was one hundred and twenty feet above the level of the valley. They had planned to run the spill-way around the eastern end of the dam. That was the end near the spur of the mesa. It was fairly soft rock on that side, except near where the end of the dam joined the hillside it was covered over with earth. Through this rock the channel would be opened to such a depth that when the water rose too high in the reservoir it would flow through this channel around the dam, and discharge into the valley a safe distance below the foot of the dam. This was the spill-way, which had not yet been completely excavated or blasted out on account of the delay in receiving the rock drills and dynamite which had been ordered, as has been explained.

These supplies had finally arrived in December, and by putting as many as possible to work on the spill-way Vandeventer had succeeded in opening it for its entire width to an average depth of about seven feet below the intended top of the dam; that is, it was now about two feet deeper than the actual crest of the dam, but it still lacked five feet of its designed depth.

The rainy season, an inspection of the records had shown, was not due for a month and a half yet. That would give him ample time to complete the dam and the spill-way. Sometimes it did not rain from June until the next March. In that country that was why irrigation was needed. This year, however, there had been some very unusual rains during the fall and the water back of the dam was now ninety-eight feet deep, which made it twenty-two feet below the level to which the dam had risen and twenty feet below the spill-way. This was much more water than anyone had dreamed would be in the reservoir at that time, and was perhaps more than should have been allowed. Still there was a safety margin of twenty-two feet, which Vandeventer was sure would be ample. The financial promoters of the project were very anxious to have the reservoir full when the irrigating season opened, and the engineer's judgment had been influenced by their eagerness to get it working.

The broad sheet of water ran back into the valley for many miles. In fact the dam had transformed the country into a beautiful lake. Sometimes it rained in the mountains when it did not rain down in the valley, and there was a constant, if very small, rise in the level. Vandeventer personally carefully gauged the water every day. Naturally he had noted that it rose gradually, but as the dam rose proportionately more rapidly, he was not uneasy. Yet, as a good engineer, he was watchful and largely because of the unfinished spill-way he urged the men to the very limit.

Those who could understand the situation seconded him heartily and such was the contagion and the enthusiasm of all hands as the job approached completion that, although the men grumbled at being so driven, they worked with a will. The weatherwise from the town, who sometimes rode up to inspect the work, assured Vandeventer that it could not possibly rain before March, and the mere fact that so much water had fallen, rendered it more improbable that any more would come down. Yet nature has a way of doing unexpected things and everybody knows that all calculations which depend upon nature are empiric anyway. To lay down an invariable natural law for the weather is impossible because of the infinite variety of permutations and combinations of which nature is capable, especially when it comes to weather manifestations in what are known as the "arid regions."

Whatever be the case, at three on the afternoon of January sixth it suddenly began to rain hard without warning and with no premonition on the part of anybody. It was not one of those terrible downpours referred to, which are popularly and graphically, if incorrectly, known as cloudbursts, but it was an excessively hard, steady rain. The heavens over the range were black with clouds and so far as anyone at the dam could see, it was raining from the crest of the mountains down. There were some anxious discussions in the dining-room of the resident engineer and his American assistants.

At four o'clock it was decided to open the under-sluice gate about halfway, but when this was done the volume of water it was capable of discharging was too small to help very much, and on opening it to its fullest extent the velocity of the water rushing through was so great that the river bed was rapidly scoured out. For fear of undermining the toe of the dam it was necessary partially to close the sluice once more.

The water was rising, first at the rate of three or four inches in an hour, then half a foot, and finally nearly a foot. By six o'clock that night it had risen two feet. It was still raining hard at that hour, although not quite so furiously as it had been. There were no signs of a break when night drew on, but it was practically inconceivable that it could rain all night, and rough calculations convinced them that even if it did rain until morning at the present rate there would still be a margin of safety of perhaps fourteen or fifteen feet at dawn, that is to say the top of the dam would still be fourteen or fifteen feet above the water level.

Of course if the spill-way had been completed it would not have been of so much importance if it had risen further, because before it grew dangerous it would have been relieved by the outflow through that channel. Well, although the situation required watchfulness and was somewhat alarming it was not desperate. The men were advised to put in all the time in their bunks so as to be good and ready for the hard battle which might come in the morning, and as they were all tired out with their day's work the little group soon broke up and each man went to his quarters.

Vandeventer, however, could not sleep. The rain kept up steadily all night. It thundered on the galvanized roofs of the houses with a roar of sound which he would not have minded if he had been used to it and gradually seemed to increase in intensity. The resident engineer finally got up and dressed himself, and protected by high rubber boots and a cowboy slicker and a sou'wester, he left his quarters and went out to inspect the dam. He carried a lantern of course, for it was pitch dark and, if possible, the rain dropping from the black sky made it more difficult to see.

He was surprised when he got to the dam to see on the other side another lantern. Someone else was abroad. For what purpose? There was no reason for Vandeventer to suspect anyone of evil intent. But by this time the situation had rather got on his nerves, what with the rain, his sleepless night, the unopened spill-way, and the possibilities of the situation. Closing the slide of his own lantern to prevent observation and being on familiar ground he went straight toward the other side. The noise of the rain subdued any sound that he made and he was able to come quite close to the other light without being noticed.

The lantern was standing on the roadway on top of the dam. A man was kneeling beyond it, his figure seen dimly in the faint light of the lantern. He was staring intently down the front of the dam at the water. The lantern was near the edge and it faintly illuminated the black rain-lashed surface below. Vandeventer realized with a shock of horror how much more rapid the rise had been. A quick estimate convinced him that the level of the water was now within eight or nine feet of the dam--and it was still raining!

The face of the kneeling man was hidden by a sou'wester and he had on a heavy black rubber raincoat. Vandeventer reached over and touched him on the shoulder.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

The kneeling man sprang up with an exclamation. It was Meade. The relief in Vandeventer's mind was great at the recognition.

"I just came out to look at the water. I couldn't sleep with all that pounding on the iron roof of the quarters, so I dressed and came out."

Vandeventer opened the slide of his own lantern and threw the light on the reservoir.

"It's risen eight or ten feet since we saw it."

"At least that," said Meade.

"I judge it's about nine feet down to the water."

"Not an inch more than that."

"And with this rain--

"It's not coming down so hard as it was when I first came out here," said Meade. "I think you can see it slackening yourself."

"Yes," said the resident engineer, listening a moment, "I believe it is. If it stops now," he continued thoughtfully, "we ought to be safe."

"Yes, I think so," answered Meade.

In the night alone, together in that crisis in their fortunes, the two men were interchanging thoughts and ideas on terms of perfect equality. It did not occur to Vandeventer to question why, and that they were doing so aroused no surprise in the mind of Meade.

"Of course," continued Meade, "even if it does stop raining we'll continue to get a lot of runoff from the watershed for some time."

"Yes," said the resident engineer, "that of course, but if the rain stops everywhere we can scarcely have a rise of more than five or six feet and that would still be a little below the spill-way."

"It's stopping here now," pointed out Meade and, indeed, the force of the downpour was greatly diminished.

The two stood watching the dam and the black lake beyond it in silence for a few moments until the rain practically ceased. The air was misty and heavy with moisture, but the rain was certainly over for the time at any rate.

"Thank God," said the resident engineer in great relief. "Now if it has stopped everywhere we'll be all right."

"Yes," said Meade, "and I'm inclined to think it has stopped everywhere. Whoever thought it would rain in January here? There hasn't a drop, to speak of, fallen in January for twenty years, or since there have been any records. Why in heaven's name it had to come now I don't see."

"Does the water seem to you to be rising?"

"Yes," answered Meade, after a careful survey, "but much more slowly."

"Look here, Roberts," said Vandeventer suddenly, "you know you're a first-class engineer."

Meade shook his head.

"You can't fool me," said the older man. "I've watched you. You know more about the game than anybody here except myself. You don't choose to confide in me, although I like you, and I am in a position to help you."

"I appreciate what you say, Mr. Vandeventer," returned the other, "there is no one to whom I should rather tell the whole story than to you, but I can't, not yet."

"Well, keep your own counsel, but if you ever want a friend count on me; meanwhile as a man of experience and ability what would you do?"

"Get out the men and build up a temporary dam on the top of the roadway here, to turn the flow over to the east bank and make the spill-way do more work."

"But the rain has stopped."

"And in all probability it will stay stopped, still you never can tell. That it rained at all is contrary to the universal expectation and observation, but once it has done so it may do so again, however unlikely. A few more hours of rain like that we've had and the whole thing would go. If the water were as high as the top there'd only be two feet of head in the uncompleted spill-way and that wouldn't be enough to discharge it at the rate it's been coming in."

"Of course," said Vandeventer thoughtfully. "And if the dam goes," he added, "there are ten miles of back water up there and millions of cubic yards impounded, which would sweep down the valley. There wouldn't be a thing left of the camp, the town, the new railroad bridge, or anything else."

"Coming on top of the International, the loss of this big and expensive viaduct would about finish the Martlet Company," said Meade thoughtlessly.

Vandeventer looked at him sharply. An idea suddenly came to him. Meade had turned away his head as he realized his slip, so he did not observe the light in Vandeventer's eyes. However, the resident engineer was a good sort.

"You are right," he said quickly. "I hate to call out the men, but we've got a little chance now the rain has stopped, and we can work to advantage in spite of all this awful mud"--he lifted his foot up and disclosed it caked and clogged with masses. "I'll take charge in the center here and Stafford on the left, and I'm going to give you charge of the east end of the dam over by the spill-way. If only those drills had been here six weeks ago."

"We might set the men to work on that rock now," said Meade.

"It would be useless. There's too much of it. No, if we're going to save the dam we've got to build it up and try to keep ahead of the waters if they rise any more. The higher we can build it, the greater will be the head on the spill-way, and the more will be discharged. I'll turn the men out at once."

"But what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to palisade the top of the dam. There's plenty of timber already cut down and we will cut a lot of young pines and build a palisaded wall of timber across the top three or four feet back from the edge. Well banked on the down-stream side it may hold."

"It might be worth while to line that palisade with galvanized iron sheets from the houses," said Meade.

"A good idea," said Vandeventer, "and we'll pile what underbrush and small stuff we have in front of the palisade and heap what rocks we can find on top of that, and we'll bank it up on the other side with earth. It's a poor dependence, but it will hold for a while anyway and every moment of time may be precious."

"How about sand bags, sir?"

"We've got a few hundred cement bags, but not enough. I wish we had a few thousand; however, we will fill what we have and if the water rises and begins to trickle over the top and through the palisade we'll jam those down at the danger points. Can you suggest anything more?"

"Nothing."

"Good. We'll turn out the men. They've had six hours' sleep anyway."