“No better fellows anywhere, Roger. I’ll tell you, when we went to Oak Hall we made some friends that are worth while.”
“Right you are!” The senator’s son drew a deep breath. “Well, now that they have gone, I suppose we have got to pitch into work again.”
“Sure thing, Roger! It doesn’t do to be idle too long.”
“Oh, I’m not complaining, Dave. I love my work too much.”
“That’s exactly the way I feel about it. The more I see of civil engineering, the deeper it grips me. I’m hoping some day we’ll be able to get together and put over some piece of work that is really worth while,” answered Dave earnestly.
Two weeks slipped by without anything unusual happening. Their brief vacation at an end, Dave and Roger plunged into their work with vigor, just to show Mr. Obray and Frank Andrews that they appreciated all that had been done for them. During that time the weather was far from fair, and the young civil engineers were more than once drenched to the skin while at work on the mountainside. Then the numerous storms brought on a small landslide, and some of the results of what had been accomplished were swept away.
“That’s too bad!” cried Dave.
“Oh, it’s all in the day’s work, Porter,” answered Frank Andrews philosophically. “Mr. Obray is mighty thankful that none of our men was caught in that landslide.”
Two days after this the storms cleared away, and the sky became as bright as ever. As soon as things had dried out a little, the engineering gangs went forth once more, and Dave and Roger became as busy as ever. They worked their full number of hours, as did the others, and in addition spent one or two hours every evening over their textbooks. Frank Andrews continued to aid them, and often explained matters which puzzled them.
The two youths had received letters from home on the day after their former Oak Hall chums had left. But since that time no other communications had arrived.