“I was interested in the mines down there, and then I got mixed up in one of their revolutions and got shot in the leg,” he added. “That was 215 enough for me; so I crossed the Rio Grande into Texas, and by luck got the position I am now holding with the Mentor Company.”
“Are the Mexican revolutionists interfering at all with the work of the construction company near the border?” questioned Dave.
“Not very much. One gang, that was working on one of the railroad bridges not many miles from the Rio Grande, had a little run-in with some raiders who came across the river to steal cattle. They helped the ranchmen drive the raiders away, and in the fight one fellow was shot through the shoulder.”
“Well, that was trouble enough!” cried Roger. “It’s more than I’d like to see.”
“That’s right,” returned Dave. “We didn’t come down to fight the Mexicans. We came down to become civil engineers.”
“Oh, I don’t think you’ll run into any fighting,” answered William Jarvey. “But, of course, a good many of those greasers are very treacherous and there is no telling what they will do. They shoot down and rob anybody they meet in their own country, and then, when there is nothing in sight on that side of the river, they watch their chance and come over on this side. Of course, United States soldiers are on the lookout for them; so they don’t dare to make their raids very public.”
It developed that William Jarvey had been sent up to Denison on business for the construction company. He carried with him a heavy valise, and also a large roll of blue-prints.
“I should have been back to San Antonio yesterday,” he exclaimed. “But I was delayed in Denison. I suppose Perry Watson will be as mad as a hornet when I get back because I didn’t make it as quick as he expected. He expects an awful lot from those working under him.”
To this neither of the youths replied. They had noticed that William Jarvey smoked a great deal and that his breath smelled strongly of liquor, and they concluded that he was not a man who would be likely to kill himself with overwork.