The Water-Finders

A rural community endures an extended drought that threatens supplies and provokes illness, prompting neighbours to organize a search for new springs and to sink wells. A dowser's marks, debates about wages and public opinion, and individual scruples complicate the practical work, while nurses and families care for fever sufferers. Tensions rise into a labour strike, then give way to cooperative effort, risky rescues, and personal sacrifices as volunteers persist in well-sinking. Rain eventually arrives and communal action, rather than a single saviour, resolves the crisis and restores water and stability.