“I will take my chances. As for you, you can’t be afraid of him, for you can handle him. Give him another show. Perhaps he will appreciate it.”
“All right, if you say so, but it seems like a fool trick.”
“You’ll keep mum?”
“If you say so.”
“I do. I have your promise. Do not break it.”
Old Slugs went away grumbling and growling, and Frank turned to the engineer.
“I have saved you from being discharged,” he said. “Of that there can be no doubt. All I ask of you in return is that you let Jack and Nellie entirely alone.”
Hicks nodded.
“If you do not,” cried Frank, his fine eyes flashing, “by the eternal skies, I’ll make you regret the day you ever saw them! That is all.”
Then he turned and walked into the roundhouse to go about his work.