Then the general manager lowered his voice before he resumed:

"At the same time, Reade, I've also learned that you've stirred up such
an evil nest of rattlers that you'll be fortunate if you escape with
your life. Candidly, if you feel that you'd like to leave here--"

"Do you want me to quit, sir?" demanded Tom, looking steadily into his
chief's eyes.

"I don't," declared Mr. Ellsworth promptly. "If you and Hazelton were
to quit me now I don't know where I could get another pair of men who
could put into the work all the skill and energy that you two employ."

"Did you have dinner in town, sir?" Tom asked.

"No, for I came out to take you two young men in. Hawkins will also be
with us at dinner this evening. He has told me about the Mansion House
affair, so the Cactus House shall be the railway house hereafter. That
fellow Ashby is uneasy; I think he will be more than uneasy after a
while."

The dinner party motored back to town. Dinner was more like a reception
that evening, for the news of Tom's plucky fight against the rough
element had spread through the town. Nearly two score of men
representing the better part of the population of Paloma called at the
hotel to shake hands with the young engineers.

"They don't seem to care a hang about me, these men, do they, Hawkins?"
laughed the general manager, as he and the superintendent stood in the
background of the picture.