ike the thong of a whip-lash, yet made good
his hold and clambered on.

This was all the operator saw, but when he had snapped his key and run
out he heard the shrill squeal of the brakes on the car and knew that
the man had not risked his life for nothing.

And on board the Rosemary? Winton, spent to the last breath, was lying
prone on the railed platform, where he had fallen when the last twist
had been given to the shrieking brakes.

"Run, Calvert! Run ahead and--stop--the--up-train!" he gasped; then
the light went out of the gray eyes and Virginia wept unaffectedly and
fell to dabbling his forehead with handfuls of snow.

"Help me get him in to the divan, Cousin Billy," said Virginia, when
all was over and the Rosemary was safely coupled in ahead of the
upcoming train to be slowly pushed back to Argentine.

But Winton opened his eyes and struggled to his feet unaided.

"Not yet," he said. "I've left my automobile on the other side of the
creek; and besides, I have a railroad to build. My respects to Mr.
Darrah, and you may tell him I'm not beaten yet." And he swung over
the railing and dropped off to mount the octopod and to race it back
to the front.

* * * * *

Three days afterward, to a screaming of smelter whistles and other
noisy demonstrations of mining-camp joy, the Utah Short Line laid the
final rail of its new Extension in the Carbonate yards.

The driving of the silver spike accomplished, Winton and Adams slipped
out of the congratulatory throng and made their way across the
C. G. R. tracks to a private car standing along the siding. Its railed
platform, commanding a view of the civic celebration, had its quota of
onlookers--a fierce-eyed old man with huge mustaches, an athletic
young clergyman, two Bisques, and a goddess.

"Climb up, Misteh Winton, and you, Misteh Adams; climb up and join
us," said the fierce-eyed one heartily. "Virginia, heah, thinks we
ought to call one anotheh out, but I tell her--"

What the Rajah had told his niece is of small account to us. But what
Winton whispered in her ear when he had taken his place beside her is
more to the purpose of this history.

"I have built my railroad, as you told me to, and now I have come for
my--"

"Hush!" she said softly. "Can't you wait?"

"No."

"Shameless one!" she murmured.

But when the Rajah proposed an adjournment to the gathering-room of
the car, and to luncheon therein, he surprised them s