“You can suit yourselves about that, although the sooner you report to Mr. Obray the better I think he’ll be pleased.”
The superintendent walked to a back door of his office and called to some one without.
“I’ll turn you over to one of our clerks and he will give you all the details regarding your positions,” he explained.
The clerk proved to be a young man only a few years older than Dave and Roger, and the youths took to him at once. He explained in detail where they were to go and what the construction camp located near the new Catalco bridge consisted of, and also told them what their work would probably be for the first few months.
“Of course, you’ve got to start at the bottom 219 of the ladder,” he explained. “But you’ll find Mr. Obray a splendid man to be under, and you’ll probably learn more under him than you would under any of our other head engineers.”
“In that case I’m mighty glad Mr. Watson assigned us to Mr. Obray’s gang,” answered Dave.
It was arranged that Dave and his chum should start westward early the following morning. This would give them a part of an afternoon and an evening in San Antonio in which to look around and take in the sights of that quaint town.
During the conversation with Mr. Watson and the clerk, Dave had been rather surprised because William Jarvey had not shown himself, because on the train he had said he was behindhand; and they had naturally supposed he would come to the offices without delay. Just as they were preparing to leave they heard an angry discussion going on in Mr. Watson’s private office, and they heard the voices of the superintendent and the man they had met on the train.
“I gave you strict orders to come right back, Jarvey,” they heard Mr. Watson say. “You knew we were waiting for those blue-prints.”
“I was delayed,” growled William Jarvey in return. “You see, there were some things about the prints––”