They had gone but a short distance when they came suddenly upon a fellow of about their own age, dressed in patched overalls and a flannel shirt. He had a sharp nose, a rather foolish chin, and greenish-gray eyes that had a furtive trick of dodging—wouldn’t meet squarely the look of other eyes. When they came upon him he was clearing out the sand from a small irrigation ditch. As they approached he leaned upon his long-handled shovel and hailed them.
“Hello, Corduroys! You travelin’, ’r just a-goin’ somewheres?”
“Both,” Dick returned, matching the ditch-cleaner’s grin. “We belong to the Short Line outfit, and we’re hunting for our location stakes through this valley. Do you know where the lines run?”
At the mention of the Short Line, Larry, who was standing a little behind Dick, thought he saw a sudden change flick into the ditch-cleaner’s eyes—the eyes that wouldn’t stay still. Then he took himself to task for being over-suspicious and concluded he was mistaken.
“Do I know where them lines are at? You’re mighty whistlin’ right I do. Didn’t me an’ Paw cut the stakes f’r ’em when they was first laid out?”
“Then you’re the fellow we’re looking for,” Dick chirped. “I’m Dick Maxwell, and Larry Donovan, here, is my bunkie. We’re on the engineering staff under Mr. Ackerman.”
“My name’s Jones—Billy, for short,” was the counter introduction. “Paw, he owns the hay ranch over on t’other side o’ the park. Want me to show you them stakes?”
“If you can spare the time,” said Dick; “and we’d sure be much obliged. But first maybe you can tell us something about a man we’re looking for; Mr. Blaisdell, one of our instrumentmen, who has been up around here for the last two days.”
For just a fraction of a second the boy with the shifty eyes seemed to hesitate. Then, looking steadily down at his own feet as he spoke:
“Why-e-e, yes; mebbe I could. Er—there was a man got hurt yisterday; fell down an’ twisted his ankle, ’r somethin’. Mebbe that’s the one. I didn’t hear him speak his name. Had a Swede felluh with him that he sent to carry the word somewhere—back down canyon to you folks, mebbe.”