“You’re right! We don’t want any jailbirds around this camp!” cried the assistant. “When you go up to the office you had better tell Mr. Obray about this.”
Dave and Roger were glad enough to get under shelter. They lost no time in taking a good rub-down and in changing their apparel. Then they hurried over to the office of the construction camp, where they found the manager and several of his assistants going over various papers and blue-prints.
“Got back, eh?” said Mr. Obray, with a smile. “You certainly didn’t have a very nice day for the trip.”
“Oh, well, it’s all in the day’s work, Mr. Obray,” answered Dave lightly.
“And we had one advantage coming back,” put in Roger. “We didn’t suffer the least bit from dust;” and at this sally a smile lit up the features of all present. They liked Dave and Roger very much, and the fact that Dave’s chum was the son of a United States Senator added something to the importance of both of the young men.
Getting out his notebook, Dave lost no time in turning in his report, which was supplemented by what Roger had to say. Then the two young civil engineers were asked a number of questions, to which they replied as clearly as possible.
“I guess that’s about all,” said Mr. Obray finally. “I think that makes it pretty clear. Don’t you, Mr. Chase?” he continued, turning to one of the other men present.
“I think so,” answered Mr. Chase. “But we’ll still have to make an investigation up there at Number Six. I’m not satisfied about the formation of that rock. I think we’re due for a lot of trouble.”
“Well, we’ll meet it as it comes—there is no use in anticipating it,” answered Ralph Obray briefly.
He was a man who was never daunted, no matter how great the obstacles that confronted him. It was his clear-headedness that had won more than one engineering victory for the Mentor Construction Company when all the other engineers had given up a task as impossible.