"How many?"

"Well," said Bradford, with his quiet smile, "when I was a boy I used to
drive six on the Montpelier stage."

So he took the eight-mule team and amazed the multitude by hauling
heavier loads than any other team, because he knew how to handle his
whip and lines, and because he was careful and determined to succeed.
Whatever he did he did it with both hands, backed up by all the
enthusiasm of youth and the unconscious strength of an absolutely
faultless physique, and directed by a remarkably clear brain. When the
timekeeper got killed, Bradford took his place, for he could "read
writin'," an accomplishment rare among the laborers. When the bookkeeper
got drunk he kept the books, working overtime at night.

In the rush and roar of the fight General Dodge had forgotten the young
man in corduroys until General Casement called his attention to the
young man's work. The engineers wanted Bradford, and Casement had
kicked, and, fearing defeat, had appealed to the chief. They sent for
Bradford. Yes, he was an engineer, he said, and when he said it they
knew it was true. He was quite willing to remain in the store department
until he could be relieved, but, naturally, he would prefer field work.

He got it, and at once. Also, he got some Indian fighting. In less than
a year he was assigned to the task of locating a section of the line
west of the Platte. Coming in on a construction train to make his first
report, the train was held up, robbed, and burned by a band of Sioux.
Bradford and the train crew were rescued by General Dodge himself, who
happened to be following them with his "arsenal" car, and who heard at