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From the contact of these two
personalities, who had not the same vision of the world, there was
generated a power for the world's service--a subtle force that could
set in motion mighty machines, men's muscles, and awaken also in human
breasts an unbounded devotion to the task. Of the young fellows at the
table, to whom the survey of the track was like the tracing of the path
of life, more than one would be called to meet death before the work was
done. But the work would be done: the force would be almost as strong
as a faith. Not quite, however. In the silence of the sleeping camp upon
the moonlit plateau forming the top of the pass like the floor of a
vast arena surrounded by the basalt walls of precipices, two strolling
figures in thick ulsters stood still, and the voice of the engineer
pronounced distinctly the words--

"We can't move mountains!"

Sir John, raising his head to follow the pointing gesture, felt the full
force of the words. The white Higuerota soared out of the shadows of
rock and earth like a frozen bubble under the moon. All was still, till
near by, behind the wall of a corral for the camp animals, built
roughly of loose stones in the form of a circle, a pack mule stamped his
forefoot and blew heavily twice.

The engineer-in-chief had used the phrase in answer to the chairman's
tentative suggestion that the tracing of the line could, perhaps, be
altered in deference to the prejudices of the Sulaco landowners.
The chief engineer believed that the obstinacy of men was the lesser
obstacle. Moreover, to combat that they had the great influence of
Charles Gould, whereas tunnelling under Higuerota would have been a
colossal undertaking.

"Ah, yes! Gould. What sort of a man is he?"

Sir John had heard much of Charles Gould in Sta. Marta, and wanted to
know more. The engineer-in-chief assured him that the administrator of
the San Tome silver mine had an immense influence over all these Spanish
Dons. He had also one of the best houses in Sulaco, and the Gould
hospitality was beyond all praise.

"They received me as if they had known me for years," he said. "The
little lady is kindness personified. I stayed with them for a month. He
helped me to organize the surveying parties. His practical ownership of
the San Tome silver mine gives him a special position. He seems to have
the ear of every provincial authority apparently, and, as I said, he can
wind all the hidalgos of the province round his little finger. If you
follow his advice the difficulties will fall away, because he wants the
railway. Of course, you must be careful in what you say. He's English,
and besides he must be immensely wealthy. The Holroyd house is in with
him in that mine, so you may imagine--"

He interrupted himself as, from before one of the little fires burning
outside the low wall of the corral, arose the figure of a man wrapped in
a poncho up to the neck. The saddle which he had been using for a pillow
made a dark patch on the ground against the red glow of embers.

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