After reading it, Tom passed over to Hawkins this message from General Manager Ellsworth:
“Unable to judge merits of case at this distance. Will be with you soon.”
“That's all right,” Reade declared.
“It looks all right,” muttered Hawkins, who knew something about the ways of railroads.
Up the track the whistle on a stationary engine blew the noon signal.
“Feel like eating, Harry?” Tom called to his chum, who had been mildly dozing in a chair in one corner of the room.
“Always,” declared Hazelton, sitting up and yawning.
“Are you going to eat in town this noon, or in camp?” Tom inquired of the superintendent of construction.
Hawkins was about to answer that he'd eat in camp, when he suddenly reconsidered.
“I guess I'll ride along with you, Mr. Reade,” he said dryly.