"Right!" O'Neil smiled cheerfully. "The life of the S. R. & N. depends upon it. I'd give ten thousand dollars for your right ankle."
"You can have it for nothing, Chief. I'd amputate the whole leg and present it to you," Dan declared earnestly.
Murray took his hand in a hearty grip. "Perhaps I'll be able to serve you some time," he said, simply. "Anyhow, I'll look out for the chance. Now spend the evening with the girls, and leave in the morning. I'll be down as soon as I can travel, to watch the fight from the side-lines." O'Neil's voice was level, but his teeth were shut and his fingers were clenched with rage at his disability.
Dan hurried away highly elated, but when he told Eliza of the part he had undertaken she stormed indignantly.
"Why, the brute! He has no right to send you into danger. This isn't war."
"Sis, dear, it's my chance. He can't stand, and he daren't risk his right-hand men."
"So he sacrifices you! I won't permit it. Your life and safety are worth more than all his dollars. Let his old railroad go to smash!"
"Wait! More than my safety depends on this. He said he'd wait for a chance to pay me back. If I do this he'll owe me more than any man on the job, and when he learns that I love Natalie—"
"Dan!" exclaimed his sister.
"Oh, he'll make good!"