Chapter 878

The next morning dawned bright and sunny. As soon as Ryan left his shack, a sharp pain throbbed in his head as if a baseball bat had struck him. He placed his hand on his forehead and gazed up at the cloudless sky. It seemed as though someone had vacuumed the heavens clean! A deep frown creased his brow. Working in such harsh sunlight would be no easy task. He headed to the river and plunged in, then bent to examine the line he'd marked with a stone yesterday. The sun had already bleached it white, and the water level had dropped noticeably. "At this rate, the river will dry up in a few days," he muttered to himself. As he waded through the shallow water, the flow was so faint that he could hear every ripple clearly. The sound would have drowned out if the river had been full. "I need to finish the pond quickly," he thought. "Otherwise, all my efforts will be for nothing once the river runs dry!" Frustrated, he stood with his hands on his hips, looking every bit the weary old m