"Then, suppose that Mr. Thurston has been misled into making a
certain estimate as to the number of thousand cubic yards of stuff
that must be taken out of the outs that are to be made. After
he gets his laborers here, and at work, he finds that he has at
least three times as much rock and dirt to get out-----"

"I see," cried Hazelton. "Before the chief could get men and
wagons, and make all necessary changes in the work, the time would
have slipped by so far that the finishing of the road would be
blocked."

"And the S.B. & L. would lose its charter," finished Tom grimly.

"It's mighty lucky that we came out here today, then," exclaimed
Hazelton, now fully alive to the danger that menaced their employers.
"Come, we must hustle back to camp and show Mr. Thurston how
he has been imposed on. There can't be a doubt that 'Gene Black
has been deliberately crooked."

"Go slowly," advised Tom. "Don't be in a rush to call any other
man a crook. Mr. Thurston can hear our report. Then he can look
into it himself and form his own opinion. That's as far as we
have any right to go in the matter."

"Thurston is at fault in not having come out here himself," Harry
continued. "The chief engineer in charge of a job should know
every foot of the way."

"Thurston, from the nature of his own work, is obliged to leave
much of the detail to his assistant, Mr. Blaisdell," Tom explained.