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Page 25
Tom opened his eyes, rubbed them, then sat up, next springing to his
feet.
"Not having any real work to do makes me sleepy," laughed Tom good-
naturedly. "I trust you didn't have to call me many times, Mr.
Ellsworth?"
The general manager held out his hand.
"Reade, I've just learned in town what a plucky thing you did, and how
coolly you went through it all. A young man with your courage and
purpose simply can't be fool enough to be very far wrong."
"Then you learned that the real Arizona people over in Paloma don't find
any fault with what I did?" queried Tom.
"Reade, what I discovered is that you have a lot of the finest manhood
in Arizona just wild with respect for you," declared Mr. Ellsworth.
Then the general manager lowered his voice before he resumed:
"At the same time, Reade, I've also learned that you've stirred up such
an evil nest of rattlers that you'll be fortunate if you escape with
your life. Candidly, if you feel that you'd like to leave here--"
"Do you want me to quit, sir?" demanded Tom, looking steadily into his
chief's eyes.
"I don't," declared Mr. Ellsworth promptly. "If you and Hazelton were
to quit me now I don't know where I could get another pair of men who
could put into the work all the skill and energy that you two employ."
"Did you have dinner in town, sir?" Tom asked.
"No, for I came out to take you two young men in. Hawkins will also be
with us at dinner this evening. He has told me about the Mansion House
affair, so the Cactus House shall be the railway house hereafter. That
fellow Ashby is uneasy; I think he will be more than uneasy after a
while."
The dinner party motored back to town. Dinner was more like a reception
that evening, for the news of Tom's plucky fight against the rough
element had spread through the town. Nearly two score of men
representing the better part of the population of Paloma called at the
hotel to shake hands with the young engineers.
"They don't seem to care a hang about me, these men, do they, Hawkins?"
laughed the general manager, as he and the superintendent stood in the
background of the picture.
"That's because they're Arizona men, sir," replied Hawkins. "Their
interest is in the man who has done the thing, not in the boss."
"I can understand why President Newnham, of the S. B. & L., recommended
these young men so extravagantly. They're full of force and absolutely
free from self-conceit."
Finally the party motored back towards the camp. As it was after dark
now, some of the citizens who had visited them escorted the slow moving
car as far as the edge of the town, but none of Jim Duff's followers
appeared on the streets through which they passed.
"Why are we going back to camp, anyway?" demanded Mr. Ellsworth. "Why
not sleep at the hotel to-night?"
"Why, I think it may be better for you to go back to the hotel, sir,"
Tom proposed. "As for Harry and myself, after what has happened in town
to-day, it may be as well if we are on hand at the camp to-night. There
may be some attempt to stampede our men. The crowd in Paloma are
capable of offering our men free drink, just to do us mischief. We've a
lot of strong men in our force, but there are some weak vessels who
would be caught by a free offer, and some of our work gangs would be
demoralized to-morrow."
Mr. Ellsworth thereupon decided to return to the camp also, and,
arriving there, dismissed the car. A tent was pitched for him close to
the office, and a cot rigged up in it.
Then the party sat up, chatting, after most of the workmen had turned in
for the night.
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