Those men ought to have arrived from Denver
three days ago. How am I ever goin' to get anything done, an' no men
to work for me? With Colton Gray gone an' the rest of the P. C. & W.
thieves playin' into that scoundrel Swinnerton's hands, where do we
get off? We send for a hundred men, an' it saves Swinnerton the
trouble an' expense of a wire. By now every man jack of them is makin'
fences an' buildin' houses for him, or I'm the worst-fooled man in the
country." And he swung off into a string of curses which would not
have been unworthy of Ben the Englishman.
One afternoon when they had run the ditch through the Seven Knolls and
were cutting rapidly through a level stretch with a double line of
smaller hills a mile ahead of the foremost team, Truxton came striding
along the ditch to where Conniston was standing.
"Think you can handle all four gangs without me for the rest of the
afternoon?" he asked, as he came to Conniston's side.
"Yes," answered Conniston. "I can handle them."
Truxton laughed softly.
"You're comin' ahead, youngster. Wouldn't have wanted the job a week
ago, would you? I believe you could handle 'em, too. But I'll do it
this trip. I want you to go to the office for me. See Tommy and run
over these figures with him. I told you last night that I was sure of
'em. To-day I'm gettin' balled up. Tell him that I'm puttin' a gang on
that double line of hills first thing in the mornin'.
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