,
but will fill you with wonder. My men all along line report all
safe and going well. Come at once." (signed) "Dave Fulsbee."

Tom's first instinct was to start and tremble. He felt sure that
Fulsbee had bad news and was trying to conceal the fact until
he could see the young chief engineer in person.

"But that's really not Dave's way," Reade told himself in the
next breath. "Fulsbee talks straight out from the shoulder.
What has he to show me, I wonder! Gracious, how tired I am!
If Fulsbee knew just how I feel at this moment he wouldn't send
for me. But of course he doesn't know."

Stepping outside, Tom looked about, espying his pony standing
where it had been tied to one of the porch pillars of the station.

"I'll get Harry to ride with me," Reade thought, but he found
his chum engaged in testing a stretch of rails near the station,
a dozen of the college students with him.

"Pshaw! I'm strong enough to ride five miles alone," muttered
Tom. "Thank goodness my horse hasn't been used up. Never mind,
Tom Reade. To-morrow you can ride as far as you like on the railroad,
with never a penny of fare to pay, either!"

Unnoticed, the young chief engineer untied his horse in the dark,
mounted and rode away.

How dark and long the way seemed. Truth to tell, Tom Reade was
very close to the collapse that seemed bound to follow the reaction
once his big task was safely over. Only his strength of will
sustained him. He gripped the pony's sides with his knees.

"I wouldn't want anyone to see me riding in this fashion!" muttered
the lad. "I must look worse than a tenderfoot. Why, I'll be
really glad if Dave Fulsbee can ride back with me. I had no idea
he was so near. I believed him to be at least fifty or sixty
miles down the line."

Tom was nearing the place appointed when a sudden whistle rang
out from the brush beside the track.

Then half a dozen men leaped out into view in the darkness, two
of them seizing the bridle of his horse.

"Good evening, Reade!" called the mocking voice of 'Gene Black.
"Down this way to see your first train go through? Stay with
us, and we'll show you how it doesn't get through---not tonight!"

CHAPTER XXII

"CAN YOUR ROAD SAVE ITS CHARTER NOW?"

"Oh, I guess the train will go through, all right," replied Tom
Reade, with much more confidence expressed in his tone than he
really felt.

"Stay with us and see it go through," mocked 'Gene Black.

"If it's j