"Puttin' through this deal won't be any pussy-kitten affair." "So much the better," laughed the engineer; "I'm fed up on soft snaps and longing for action." The engineer was thirty; big, square-shouldered, lithe, and capable.
He had a strong face and a level, steady eye.
"If you mean business, let's get acquainted," he said.

"My front name is Kent." "Well, Kent, let's get busy," smiled Sanderson.

"You go to work on your estimates, order your material, hire your men.

I'll see how bad the people in the basin want the water they've been expectin'." Kent Williams took up his quarters in the bunkhouse and immediately began work, though before he could do much he rode to Okar, telegraphed to Dry Bottom, the town which had been the scene of his previous activity, and awaited the arrival of several capable-looking young men.
In company with the latter he returned to the Double A, and for many days thereafter he and his men ran the transit and drove stakes in the basin and along the gorge.
Sanderson spent much of his time talking with the cattlemen in the basin.

They were all eager to have water brought to their ranches, for it would save them the long trip to the river, which was inaccessible in many places, and they welcomed the new project.
0ne of the men--a newcomer to the basin--voiced the general sentiment.
"We want water, an' we don't give a damn who brings it here.