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Another shrug “They asked about the niños and took some food and water saround with the number 17 “This is our plot”
Elise retrieved a yellow spool of string fro and strode a few yards into the cornfield She uncoiled the string onto the ground, for a square around a patch of stalks With Rondi’s assistance, she exa the nuures on a clipboard, thento a patch several yards away and repeated the count Back at the camp, she would calculate the predicted yield for the entire field
“Let’s return to the caested, once they coh the cornfield
They e the reservoir Less than aconcrete wall of the Cerrón Grande Dam They turned the opposite way and followed the shoreline toward camp
Near the path to the village, Elise stopped to admire a se An eight-bladed fan spun in the light breeze, and water sloshed beneath the structure’s base “I don’t re here last year”
“The village as running low, so the governet water from the lake Mr Phillip helped us install it last year, after you left”
“The water is used to irrigate the fields?”
“Sí, and for the village It draater from a pipe that extends into the lake We can direct it to the fields or to a filtered cistern that can be pue”
Elise gazed at the windmill, then turned to Rondi “You have a boat, don’t you?”
“Tied up just around the bend”
“Can you take et some water samples near the inlet pipe”
“I’ll get the boat and be right back”
Elise jogged to the ca and yield records In its place, she grabbed a satchel with a half-dozen test tubes secured in Velcro pockets She returned to the shore and waited until Rondi motored up in a small aluminum boat
“Sorry” He gave a toothy grin “The engine, it does not always like to start”
The dented, oxidized craft was powered by a little six-horsepower outboard that was older than Rondi and smoked as it idled She tossed the satchel onto a bench, shoved the prow from shore, and hopped aboard Rondi reversed into deeper water, then turned and motored offshore They traveled just a short distance before he killed the engine and let the boat drift