ley, whose
inhabitants are usually glad to keep the work in their own hands.

"Boys," said somebody, "this is what comes of trusting Harry."

It was a simple speech, but the second murmur which followed it and the
confidence in the bronzed faces stirred Alice Deringham. She had been
taught a little about these silent men, and knew the value of their
testimony.

The surveyor sat down, and the member stood up. "I can add a little,
gentlemen," he said. "Roads are always useful, and we'll give you a
good one, and, if my word goes far enough, a grant to cut across trails
with and improve your bridges, but you're going to have a better one
than any you can build."

He stopped a moment, and there was not a sound in the room. The men
sat still as statues, the women drew in their breath, and the song of
the river came in through the windows in slow pulsations. Every eye
was on the speaker, and now and then a hard brown hand quivered a
little, but in the midst of their suspense there was no man weak enough
to ask a premature question.

The surveyor smiled a little. "Gentlemen," he said slowly, "you have
all heard conflicting rumours, but I have had a message, and you can
take it as a fact that you will have the steel road very shortly."

This time there was a roar that shook the rafters, and a rattle of
flung-back chairs as the men rose to their feet. They had toiled and
hoped for this, holding on with grim endurance when hope had almost
gone, and now all that they had looked for was to be given them. There
was no man present who did not know that his ranch was worth treble
what it had been a few days ago, or woman who could not see that
henceforward there need be no more ceaseless drudgery. One, indeed,
laughed inanely, clasping her hardened hands, and a dimness crept into
eyes, more than one pair of eyes, from which the care that had long
lurked there had vanished suddenly.

Then a man swung up a brimming glass. "Boys," he said, a trifle
hoarsely, "it's only cider this time, but you can drink what I'm going
to give you in champagne when the railroad's through. Here's the man
who stood right with us through everything, the man who beat off
Hallam, and brought the railroad in."

There was a jingle of glasses, and the surveyor and the member stood up
with the rest, while, for the men had let themselves go at last, a
great shout rang out, "Harry Alton, Alton of Somasco."

Then there was silence, and while the