Construction trains, short and lightly laden, had been moving out over the newly filled in soil for many days, but the train now starting at the edge of the terrible Man-killer was heavier than any equipment that had before been run over the ground.
The president of the A., G. & N. M. R. R. was there, flanked by half a dozen of the leading directors of the road. There were other officials there, including General Manager Ellsworth.
“I see Hazelton out yonder,” murmured the president of the road. “But where's that young man Reade, now at the moment when the success of his work is being tested?”
“Goodness knows,” rejoined Mr. Ellsworth. “As likely as not he's back in the office, taking a nap after having given the engineman his signal.”
“Asleep!” repeated the president. “Can he be so indolent or so indifferent as that?”
“You may always depend upon Tom Reade to do something that wouldn't be expected of him,” laughed Mr. Ellsworth. “It isn't that he slights big duties, or even pretends to do. If he has vanished, and has gone to sleep, then it is because he feels so sure of his work that he takes no further interest in the test that is being made.”
“But if an accident should happen?” asked the president of the A. G. & N. M. R. R.
“Then I can promise you that you'd see Reade, on his pony, shooting ahead as fast as he could go to the scene of the trouble.”
These more important railroad officials had come out to camp in automobiles. Now they followed on foot as the train rolled on to the land reclaimed from the Man-killer.
Superintendent Hawkins and his foremen also went along on foot to observe whether the track sank ever so little at any point.