The envelope, though a good one as to quality, was dirty on the outside.
Tom Reade hastily broke the seal and read:

"If you don't get away from Paloma pretty soon your presence will hold
the railroad up for a longtime to come! Get out, if you're wise, or the
railroad will suffer with you!"

"I reckon the fellow who wrote that was sincere enough," said Tom, as he
passed the letter over to his chum. "However, I don't like to feel that
I can be seared by any man who's too cowardly to sign his name to a
letter."




CHAPTER VI

THE GENERAL MANAGER "LOOKS IN"


Neither Tom nor Harry was stupid enough to be wholly unafraid over the
threats of the day. Both realized that Jim Duff and the latter's
associates were ugly and treacherous men who would fight sooner than be
deprived of their chance to fleece the railway workmen. Yet neither
young engineer had any intention of being scared into flight.

"They'll put up a lot of trouble for us," said Tom that afternoon, as
the two chums talked the matter over. "They may even go to extremities,
and--"