em to care a hang about me, these men, do they, Hawkins?"
laughed the general manager, as he and the superintendent stood in the
background of the picture.

"That's because they're Arizona men, sir," replied Hawkins. "Their
interest is in the man who has done the thing, not in the boss."

"I can understand why President Newnham, of the S. B. & L., recommended
these young men so extravagantly. They're full of force and absolutely
free from self-conceit."

Finally the party motored back towards the camp. As it was after dark
now, some of the citizens who had visited them escorted the slow moving
car as far as the edge of the town, but none of Jim Duff's followers
appeared on the streets through which they passed.

"Why are we going back to camp, anyway?" demanded Mr. Ellsworth. "Why
not sleep at the hotel to-night?"

"Why, I think it may be better for you to go back to the hotel, sir,"
Tom proposed. "As for Harry and myself, after what has happened in town
to-day, it may be as well if we are on hand at the camp to-night. There
may be some attempt to stampede our men. The crowd in Paloma are capable
of offering our men free drink, just to do us mischief. We've a lot of
strong men in our force, but there are some weak vessels who would be
caught by a free offer, and some of our work gangs would be demoralized
to-morrow."

Mr. Ellsworth thereupon decided to return to the camp also, and,
arriving there, dismissed the car. A tent was pitched for him close to
the office, and a cot rigged up in it.

Then the party sat up, chatting, after most of the workmen had turned in
for the night.

"I'll be thankful when the material gets here," sighed Tom. "I'm tired
of loafing."

"It seems to me that you have been doing anything but loafing," smiled
the general manager.

"I want to get to work on the Man-killer. Besides, idleness is costing
the road a lot of money in wages for these men."

"I wired this afternoon," stated Mr. Ellsworth, "to have the material
trains rushed forward on express schedule as soon as the stuff strikes
our lines."

"Then--" began Hawkins slowly.

His next words were drowned out by a booming explosion to the westward
of the camp.

"The scoundrels!" gasped Tom Reade, leaping up. "This is more of our
friends' work! They have dynamited the most ticklish part of the work on
the Man-killer!"

CHAPTER VII. A DYNAMITE PUZZLE

"The scoundrels!" cried General Manager Ellsworth.

He was a man