"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.
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