"We'll prove that the rule has an exception," replied Blake, smiling away the reawakened apprehension of his wife.
Gowan shook his head doubtfully, and strolled down the slope to peer into the cañon. The level was directly in his path, set up firmly on its tripod, about six feet from the brink. The puncher stopped beside it to squint through the telescope.
"You'll have one--peach of a time seeing anything through this contraption down there," he 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.