“This shouldn’t have been allowed,” I said to Allen, as we made our way down the ridge. “There will be silt running into the river for years. It will be like a bleeding sore.”

“How could they have stopped it?” Allen asked. “The dam had to be brought in.”

“They could have gotten it in without using a bulldozer. It’s another violation of federal law, and Luckadoo’s announcement this morning didn’t authorize it.”

“An example of Luke’s domino theory?” Allen asked.

“I’d say it’s no longer a theory. The proof is all around us, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is,” Allen said, and his voice was conciliatory. He stopped and lightly gripped my arm so I stopped as well. “Using the bulldozer’s wrong,” he said. “And I’ll say so in my next article.”

Allen lowered his voice as two more reporters stumbled past us.

“I don’t want this to be a problem between us.”

“I don’t either,” I said, “so we won’t let it be.”

“Good,” Allen said. “When this is over I want to canoe this river. Just you and me. I want to know this watershed the way you do.”

Back up the ridge someone cursed. A few moments later a video camera banged down the trail, splitting apart when it hit a river rock.

“One less Channel Seven exclusive,” Allen said.

But there were plenty more camera crews and a couple of dozen reporters and photographers. Plenty of gawkers, too, standing and sitting downstream of Wolf Cliff Falls.

Walter Phillips stood at the edge of the pool, a walkie-talkie pressed to his ear. Sheriff Cantrell and Hubert McClure were there as well. Across the river, Luke and his group perched like hawks on a granite outcrop. They were far enough away to keep Sheriff Cantrell happy, though I suspected he would have been even more pleased if they hadn’t shown up at all.

More people came down the trail, including Kowalsky and his wife, then Brennon and his crew of eight men who carried the portable dam. Ronny and Randy came with them.

“I’m going to talk with the Kowalskys a minute,” Allen said.

I found a place on the bank dried by the sun and sat down. I opened my backpack and made sure the camera equipment and flashlight had not been damaged in the descent.

The sun shone full on Wolf Cliff now, giving the cliff face a silvery sheen. The sky above was blue, though I knew as well as anyone else who lived here how quickly that could change. If that blue sky holds a few hours they’ll probably be able to do it, I thought.