“An’ whereabouts is the C. Pay., then? How far have they come, tell me?”
That was the great question. The telegraph ticked the answer into Evanston.
“Track completed by the Central Pacific, in 1868: 363 miles.”
Pat groaned.
“They’re short o’ Humboldt Wells only forty odd miles.” And he braced up. “But they’re short o’ Ogden some 270, ag’in our sivinty-five. An’ the orders be to reach Ogden an’ kape’ goin’. We’ll make a frish start ’arly wid this new year.”
Suddenly the United States awakened to the fact that the Salt Lake was to be reached not in 1870 but in 1869, and that the iron highway across continent was to be ready for business six years ahead of schedule. The Government had required only fifty miles a year; the two companies were building 200, 300, 400. The newspapers of East and West flared with headlines.
“But where’ll we meet?” proposed George.
“I dunno,” Terry confessed. “If the C. P. keeps coming one way, past Humboldt Wells, and we keep going the other way, to Humboldt Wells, we won’t meet anywhere.”
CHAPTER XVI
FAST TIME DOWN ECHO CANYON
“All aboard, now! On wid yez. We’ve no time to lose, on the U. Pay.”