But the morrow passed, and so did several more days, including Sunday, and still no letters were received from Crumville. Roger got a letter from his folks in Washington, and Dave received a brief communication from Phil, stating that he and the others had arrived safely at Star Ranch. But all of these did not satisfy the young civil engineers.
“Something must be wrong somewhere,” announced Dave at last. “I guess after all, Roger, we had better send a telegram to Crumville and find out what it means.”
CHAPTER XVII
BAD NEWS
On the following day the two young civil engineers were sent with the rest of the gang under Frank Andrews to do some work located along the line about half way to the railroad station.
“That will give us a chance to send off a telegram,” said Dave to the senator’s son. “We can ask Andrews to let us off an hour earlier than usual and ride over to the station and get back to camp in time for supper.”
So it was arranged; and as soon as they quit work, the two young men hurried off on a gallop so that they might reach the station before the agent, who was also the telegraph operator, went away.
“We want to send a telegram to the East,” announced Dave, as they dismounted at the platform where the agent stood looking over some express packages.
“All right, I’ll be with you in a moment,” was the reply. “By the way, you are from the construction camp, aren’t you? I just got a telegram for one of the fellows over there.”
“Who is it?” questioned Roger.
“I forget the name. I’ll show it to you when we go inside. Maybe you wouldn’t mind taking it over for the fellow.”