g out?" he asked. "Do we know how much we're good for?"

She looked up, smiling.

"I think so. I'm nearly through. It's a little mixed in some places, but
I think everything has been entered."

"Can you drop it long enough to take a letter or so?"

"Oh, yes." She reached for her notebook, saying, with a nod toward the
table: "The mail is here."

Bannon went rapidly through the heap of letters and bills.

"There's nothing much," he said. "You needn't wait for me to open it
after this. You'll want to read everything to keep posted. These bills
for cribbing go to your brother, you know." There was one chair within
the enclosure; he brought it forward and sat down, tipping back against
the railing. "Well, I guess we may as well go ahead and tell the firm
that we're still moving around and drawing our salaries. To MacBride &
Company, Minneapolis, Gentlemen: Cribbing is now going up on elevator
and annex. A little over two feet remains to be done on the elevator
beneath the distributing floor. The timber is ready for framing the
cupola. Two hundred thousand feet of the Ledyard cribbing reached here
by steamer last night, and the balance will be down in a few days. Very
truly yours, MacBride & Company. That will do for them. Now, we'll write
to Mr. Brown--no, you needn't bother, though; I'll do that one myself.
You might run off the other and I'll sign it." He got up and moved his
chair to the table. "I don't generally seem able to say just what I want
to Brown unless I write it out." His letter ran:--

DEAR MR. BROWN: We've finally got things going. Had to stir them up
a little at Ledyard. Can you tell me who it is that's got hold of
our coat tails on this job? There's somebody trying to hold us
back, all right. Had a little fuss with a red-headed walking
delegate last night, but fixed him. That hat hasn't come yet. Shall
I call up the express company and see what's the matter? 7-1/4 is
my size.

Yours,
BANNON.

He had folded the letter and addressed the envelope, when he paused and
looked around. The typewritten letter to MacBride & Company lay at his
elbow. He signed it before he spoke.

"Miss Vogel, have you come across any letters or papers about an
agreement with the C. & S. C.?"

"No," she replied, "there is nothing here about the railroad."

Bannon drummed on the table; then he went to the door and called to a
laborer who was leaving the tool house:--

"Find