CHAPTER XVII
ROGER SUSPECTS
So quickly had it all happened that Roger and Adrian hardly realized they had just received what was, to them, quite a sum of money. They entered the house all excitement, after a brisk walk, and Adrian told his father how he and his cousin had been engaged as guides.
"Wa'al, I must say ye airned th' money easy," said Mr. Kimball.
"Yes, and we can get more," Adrian exclaimed. "We're to go with the men day after to-morrow, to show them the way. Say, dad, what do you s'pose they want of a railroad out here?"
"It's hard t' say what them railroad fellers is up t'," answered Mr. Kimball. "Ye can't even tell whether they're goin' t' put a railroad through er not."
"But they said they were," asserted Adrian.
"Humph!" was all his father answered, with a little snort. He was too concerned with his own matters to think about the possibility of a railroad, especially at this time.
But the news soon spread around Cardiff, in spite of the fact that the boys maintained a strict silence, that a railroad or a trolley line was to go through the valley, and the residents were all talking about the possibility of it the next day after Roger and Adrian had met the two engineers. For the secret of the cousins having been hired as guides got out somehow, though the boys did not tell, and they were the envy of their companions. The less fortunate lads of Cardiff determined to take the first opportunities of offering their services to Mr. Dudley and Mr. Ranquist.
The day after the boys' engagement Mr. Kimball announced that a lot of brush in the vineyard needed burning, so that the ground might be cultivated. Adrian and Roger thought the task so much like play they asked to be allowed to build the fires.