medical attendant
to Tom, after stepping outside the tent.

"How long will it take them to get well?" asked Wade anxiously.

"Weeks! Hard to say," replied the physician vaguely.

"Weeks!" groaned Tom Reade. "And the camp now in charge of Jack
Rutter, who's a fine workman but no leader! Doc Gitney doesn't
know it, but he has sentenced the S.B. & L. railroad to death!"

It was a trying situation. The cub engineer felt it keenly, for
he had set his heart on seeing the S.B. & L. win out over its rival.

Then, too, all in a flash, the memory of 'Gene Black's treachery
to his employers came back to the mind of Tom Reade.

CHAPTER XII

FROM CUB TO ACTING CHIEF

Tom didn't sleep that night. He sat by, silently, in the big
tent, nursing the patient as Dr. Gitney directed.

In the morning, at five, Matt Rice came. Tom gladly surrendered
the post to him and took a scant hour of deep slumber on the bare
ground outside.

"Wake up, Reade," ordered Rutter, at last shaking the cub and
hauling him to his feet. "This is no place to sleep. Go to your
tent and stretch out full length on your cot."

"On my cot?" demanded Tom, rubbing his eyes fiercely. "You can't
spare me from the day's work?"

"I don't believe there will be any day's work," Rutter answered.

"You're in charge, man! You must put us to work," Tom insisted.

"I don't know just what ought to be done," complained Rutter.
"I shall have to wait for orders."

"Orders?" repeated Tom, in almost breathless scorn. "From whom
can you get orders?"

"Howe is Thurston's assistant at the lower camp," Rutter rejoined.
"He'll have to come over here and take real charge. I'm going
to send a messenger to the telegraph station and wire Mr. Howe
to come here at once."

"See here, Rutter," blazed Tom insistently, "Mr Howe is in charge of
the construction forces. He's laying the bed and the tracks. He
can't be spared from the construction work for even a day, or the
road will fail to get through, no matter what we do here. Man,
you've simply got to be up and doing! Make some mistakes, if you
have to, but don't lie down and kill the S.B. & L. with inaction."

"Cub," laughed Rutter good-humoredly, "you speak as if this were
a big personal matter with you."

"Oh, isn't it, thought" retorted Tom Reade with spirit. "My whole
heart is centered on seeing the S.B. & L. win out within the time
granted by its charter. Rutter, if you don't take hold with a