noon
As he looked at the face of the woman who had never ceased to hold the first place in his heart , his lips framed words he could not speak aloud . Slowly his form drooped , his head bowed . Then , with the picture held close , he buried his face in his arms among the business papers on his desk . The first train from Republic to Barba over the new King 's Basin Central arrived in the town by the old Dry River Crossing shortly after noon . Later in the day Jefferson Worth with his daughter , his superintendent and the Seer went to the power plant on the bank of Dry River . When the plant was built it was placed as low in the old wash as the depth of the ancient channel would permit , so that the greatest possible fall from the Company canal above might be secured . As Jefferson Worth and his companions stood now on the bank of the river they saw the waste-way from the turbine wheel that ran the generators nearly thirty feet above the bottom of the channel .