e
saw the engineer who had charge of the work standing, with a roll of
plans under his arm, talking with one of the foremen.

Glen had visited the bridge so often that the engineer knew him by
sight, and had even learned his name, though he had never spoken to him.
He was, however, especially fond of boys, and had been much pleased with
Glen's appearance. Several times he had been on the point of speaking to
him, but had been restrained by the diffidence a man is so apt to feel
in the presence of a stranger so much younger than himself. It is a fear
that he may do or say something to excite the undisguised mirth or
contempt that so often wait upon the ignorance of youth.

Without suspecting these feelings in him, Glen had been strangely
attracted towards the engineer, whose profession and position seemed to
him alike fascinating and desirable. He wished he could become
acquainted with him, but did not know how to set about it. He, too, was
diffident and fearful of appearing in an unfavorable light before the
other, who was evidently so much older and wiser than he. But he did
long to ask this engineer a great many questions.

Now he stood at a respectful distance and watched the young man, whose
name he knew to be Hobart, and, wondering whether his position had been
reached by study or work, wished he could think of some good excuse for
speaking to him.

The floor of the bridge on which they were standing was about
twenty-five feet above Brim River, the deep, swift stream that it
spanned. Glen had swum and fished in it, and boated on it, until he knew
its every current and slack-water pool. He knew it as well as he did the
road to the village, and was almost as much at home in the one as on the
other.

In order to consult a note-book that he drew from his pocket, Mr. Hobart
laid his roll of plans on a floor-beam, at his feet, for a moment. Just
then a little whirling gust of wind came along, and in an instant the
valuable plans were sailing through the air towards the sparkling
waters, that seemed to laugh at the prospect of bearing them away far
beyond human reach.

The engineer tried in vain to clutch them as they rolled off the
floor-beam, and uttered an exclamation of vexation as they eluded his
grasp.

As he looked around to see what could be done towards their recovery, a
boyish figure, without hat, jacket, or shoes, sprang past him, poised
for an instant on the end of the floor-beam, and then leaped into