Neither knew that high above the valley, an old wooden diversion structure had been tampered with during the night.
And that the next surge of water would test every person living below it.
The creek looked wrong before they reached it.
Gideon knew North Fork in every season.
He knew its winter silence, when ice sealed the water beneath a white crust.
He knew its spring murmur, when snow began melting along the lower slopes.
He knew the sound of a healthy current moving over stones.
And he knew the sound that met them that morning was different.
The water was muddy.
Fast.
Loud enough to be heard from the trail.
Branches and broken timber moved through the current.
A dead pine trunk struck a boulder and spun downstream.
Gideon stopped Copper on the hillside.
Lydia brought June beside him.
Ruth remained several yards behind.
For a moment, all three watched the swollen creek.
Then Gideon looked toward the upper gorge.
"Something's wrong at the diversion."
Ruth frowned.
"The old timber dam?"
He nodded.
Lydia studied the water.
"Could the rain have caused it?"
"Some of it."
Gideon looked toward the mountains.
"But the upper channel should carry part of the runoff away from this crossing."
He dismounted.
Then examined the muddy bank.
Lydia followed his gaze.
Fresh wagon tracks crossed a patch of soft ground near the trail.
They led toward the upper timber camp.
Gideon's expression darkened.
"Someone was here recently."
Ruth looked toward him.
"Rusk?"
"I don't know."
Lydia took a slow breath.
"We should warn the families below."
Gideon nodded.
He looked toward Ruth.
"Ride back to your ranch. Get Elsie and the livestock away from the low pasture."
Ruth did not argue.
"And you?"
"I'm going upstream."
Lydia looked toward him.
"Not alone."
Gideon turned.
For a moment, he seemed prepared to object.
Then he saw her expression.
She was frightened.
But determined.
He nodded.
"All right. We'll stay on the high trail."
Ruth mounted her horse.
"Be careful."
Gideon nodded.
"You too."
She rode away.
Lydia looked toward the rising creek.
Then toward Gideon.
"What are we looking for?"
He pointed toward the northern ridge.
"A gate in the old diversion. If somebody opened it too far or damaged the supports, the runoff could be pouring into the lower channel."
"Can we repair it?"
"Depends what we find."
He mounted Copper.
Lydia settled into June's saddle.
They climbed toward the old timber camp.
The upper diversion had been built years earlier by a logging company.
It was a rough timber structure designed to direct part of the spring runoff into a secondary channel.
The system was old.
Some sections had been repaired.
Others had been abandoned.
Elias's journal contained measurements of the area because the water flow affected the proposed freight route.
When Gideon and Lydia reached the ridge, they found the structure partly collapsed.
Water roared through a broken gate.
Several support beams had shifted.
The secondary channel was blocked by fallen timber.
Instead of dividing, much of the runoff was flowing toward the lower creek.