Timothy Thurston's gaze was curious, and his voice a trifle cold.
Yet he did not by any means treat the boys with contempt. He
appeared simply to wonder why these young men had traveled so
far to take up his time.

"We couldn't afford to take a college course in engineering, sir,"
Tom Reade continued, reddening slightly. "We have learned all
that we possibly could in other ways, however."

"Do you expect me, young men, to detail an experienced engineer
to move about with you as instructor until you learn enough to
be of use to us?"

"No, indeed, we don't, sir," Tom replied, and perhaps his voice
was sharper than usual, though it rang with earnestness. "We
believe, sir, that we are very fair engineers. We are willing
to be tried out, sir, and to be rated exactly where you find that
we belong. If necessary we'll start in as helpers to the chainmen,
and we have pride enough to walk back over the trail at any moment
when you decide that we're no good. We have traveled all the
way from the east, and I trust, sir, that you'll give us a fair
chance to show if we know anything."

"It won't take long to find that out," replied Mr. Thurston gravely.
"Of course you both understand that we are doing real engineering
work and haven't any time to instruct amateurs or be patient with
them."

"We don't want instruction, Mr. Thurston," Hazelton broke in.