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Page 4
"Why, yes; I trust so," replied the stranger, after a quick, keen look
at Duff. Undoubtedly this newcomer was accustomed to judging men
quickly after seeing them.
"These boy engineers!" chucked Duff. "Humph!"
"Humph!" agreed the stranger.
At this moment two bronzed-looking, erect young men came tramping down
the sidewalk together. Each looked the picture of health, of courage,
of decision. Both wore the serviceable khaki now so common in surveying
camps in warm climates. Below the knee the trousers were confined by
leggings. Above the belt blue flannel shirts showed, yet these were of
excellent fabric and looked trim indeed. To protect their heads and to
shade their eyes as much as possible from the glare of Arizona desert
sand, these young men wore sombreros of the type common in the Army.
"This looks like a good place, Harry," said the taller of the two young
men. "Suppose we go inside."
They stepped into the barber shop together, nodding pleasantly to all
inside. Then, hanging up their sombreros, they passed on to unoccupied
chairs.
Just in the act of passing out, Jim Duff had stepped back to admit them.
"They're Reade and Hazelton, the very young engineers that the railroad
has just put in charge of the Man-killer job," whispered one knowing
citizen of Paloma. The news quickly spread about the barber shop.
Jim Duff already knew the boys by sight, since they were stopping at the
Mansion House. He uttered an almost inaudible "humph!" then passed on
outside.
Neither Tom Reade nor Harry Hazelton heard this exclamation, nor would
they have paid any heed to it if they had.
Yes; the two young men were our friends of old, the young engineers.
Our readers are wholly familiar with Tom and Harry as far back as their
grammar school days in the good old town of Gridley. Tom and Harry were
members of that famous sextet of schoolboy athletes known at home as
Dick & Co. The exploits of Tom Reade and Harry Hazelton, as of Dick
Prescott, Dave Darrin, Greg Holmes and Dan Dalzell, have been fully
told, first in the "Grammar School Boys Series," and then in the "High
School Boys Series."
After the close of the "High School Boys Series" the further adventures
of Dick Prescott and Greg Holmes are told in the "West Point Series,"
while all that befell Dave Darrin and Dan Dalzell has already been found
in the pages of the "Annapolis Series."
In the preceding volume of this series, "The Young Engineers in
Colorado," our readers were made familiar with the real start in working
life made by Tom Reade and Harry Hazelton. Back in the old High School
days Reade and Hazelton had been fitting themselves to become civil
engineers. They began their real work in the east, and had made good in
sterner work in the mountains in Colorado.
Our readers all know how Tom and Harry opened their careers in Colorado
by becoming "cub engineers" with one of the field camps of the S. B. &
L. railroad. Taken only on trial, they had rapidly made good, and had
earned the confidence of the chief engineer in charge of the work.
When, owing to the sudden illness of both the chief engineer and his
principal assistant the road's work had been crippled, Tom and Harry had
had the courage as well as the opportunity to take hold, assume the
direction, and complete the building of the S. B. & L. within the time
required by the road's charter.
Had the young engineers failed, the S. B. & L., under the terms granted
by the state, might have been seized and sold at public auction. In
that case, the larger, and rival road, the W. C. & A., stood ready to
buy out the S. B. & L. and reap the profits that the latter road had
planned to earn. Not only had the young engineers succeeded in
overcoming all natural obstacles, but, in a series of wonderful
adventures, they had defeated the plots of agents of the W. C. & A.
From that time on Tom and Harry had been famous in Colorado railroad
circles.
After the S. B. & L. had been finished and put in operation, Tom Reade
had remained with the railroad for several months, still serving as
chief engineer, with Harry Hazelton as his trusted and dependable
assistant.
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