"I can't believe that boy, Reade, will ever succeed in laying the
railroad tracks across the Man-killer," smiled Jim Duff darkly within
himself.




CHAPTER IV

SOMEBODY STIRS THE MUD


The next morning only a few of the men, some of those who had refused to
open bank accounts, failed to show up at the railroad camp.

"There is really nothing to do this morning," Tom remarked to
Superintendent Hawkins. "However, I think you had better dock the
missing men for time off. If you find that any missing man has been
gone on a proper errand of rest or enjoyment, and has not been making a
beast of himself, you can restore his docked pay on the lists."

"That's a very good idea," nodded Hawkins. "It always angers me to see
these poor, hardworking fellows go away and make fools of themselves
just as soon as they get a bit of pay in their pockets. Still, you
can't change the whole face of human nature, Mr. Reade."

"I don't expect to do so," smiled Tom. "Yet, if we can get a hundred or
two in this outfit to take a sensible view of pay day, and can drill it
into them so that it will stick, there will be just that number of