|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 63
"Goodness knows," rejoined Mr. Ellsworth. "As likely as not he's back
in the office, taking a nap after having given the engineman his
signal."
"Asleep!" repeated the president. "Can he be so indolent or so
indifferent as that?"
"You may always depend upon Tom Reade to do something that wouldn't be
expected of him," laughed Mr. Ellsworth. "It isn't that he slights big
duties, or even pretends to do. If he has vanished, and has gone to
sleep, then it is because he feels so sure of his work that he takes no
further interest in the test that is being made."
"But if an accident should happen?" asked the president of the A. G. &
N. M. R. R.
"Then I can promise you that you'd see Reade, on his pony, shooting
ahead as fast as he could go to the scene of the trouble."
These more important railroad officials had come out to camp in
automobiles. Now they followed on foot as the train rolled on to the
land reclaimed from the Man-killer.
Superintendent Hawkins and his foremen also went along on foot to
observe whether the track sank ever so little at any point.
It was none of Harry Hazelton's particular business to watch whether the
tracks sank slightly. That duty could be better performed by the
foremen who had had charge of the track laying. Yet Hazelton, as he
watched, found himself growing impatient.
"Here!" Harry called to a near-by laborer. "Take my horse, please."
In another instant the young assistant engineer was on foot, following
the slowly moving train as it rolled along over the ground where, months
before, not even a man could have strolled with safety.
"Do you see any sagging of the track, Mr. Rivers?" Harry called.
"No, sir. Not as much as a sixteenth of an inch at any point,"
responded the foreman. "The job has been a big success."
"We can tell that better after the track has held loads of from five to
eight hundred tons," Harry rejoined. "I believe, however, that we have
the tricks of the savage old Man-killer nailed."
Exultation throbbed in Harry's heart. Outwardly, he did not trust
himself to reveal his great delight. He still followed, watching
anxiously, until the train had passed safely over the Man-killer.
Then a great cheer went up from more than a thousand throats, for many
people had come out from Paloma to watch the test.
The train had gone a quarter of a mile past the western edge of the huge
and once treacherous quicksand. Now the engine was on a temporary turn-
table, waiting to be turned and switched back to bring the train back
over the Man-killer at a swift gait.
"Where's Mr. Reade?" called the president of the road, gazing backward.
"Someone go for him. I wish him to be here to see the test made with
the train under fast speed."
"I'll get Reade, sir," answered Harry, motioning to have his pony
brought to him.
Hazelton vanished in a cloud of desert dust.
When he next appeared there was another pony, and Reade astride it.
"You sent for me, sir," said Tom, riding close to the president, then
dismounting.
"Yes," Mr. Reade. "I believed that you should be here to see the test
train return."
"Very good, sir," was Tom's quiet reply. He signaled for a workman to
come and take charge of his pony.
In a few minutes the short but heavy train started, gaining headway
rapidly. By the time it struck the edge of the possibly conquered
quicksand it was moving at the rate of forty miles an hour.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|