nch of that granite wall. He lived on the road
with the men. No detail of the job was too trivial for his attention. A
more experienced man would have left more to his foremen. But Jim was
new to responsibility and his nervousness drove him into an intimate
contact with his workmen that was to stand him in good stead all his
life. It was in building this road on the Makon that Jim learned the
hearts of those who work with their hands.

When a fearful slide cost him the lives of two men and half a dozen
mules, it was Jim who, in his boyish contrition and fear lest the
catastrophe might have been due to his lack of foresight, insisted on
first testing the wall for further danger and risked his life in doing
so. When a cloudburst sent to the bottom in a half hour a concrete
viaduct that had taken a month to build, it was Jim who led the way and
held the place at the head of the line of men, piling up sacks of sand
lest the water take out a full half mile of the road. He dreamed of the
road at night, waking again and again at the thought of some weak spot
he had left unprotected.

The rough-necks felt Jim's anxiety and it proved contagious. It may have
been due to many things, to Jim's youth and his simple sincerity, to his
example of indefatigable energy and his willingness to work with his
hands; it may have been that the men felt always the note of domination
in his character and that that forced some of the cohesion. But whatever
the causes, by the time the road lay a coiling thread from the top of
the crevice to the spot where poor Charlie Tuck went down, Jim had built
up a working machine of which many an older engineer would have been
proud.

The day before the Director and Mr. Freet were expected, Jim and Iron
Skull left for the railway station, twenty-five miles away, to meet
their two superiors. As he mounted his horse, Jim said to Iron Skull:

"I'm a little worried about the wall at the High Point curve."

"So am I," answered Iron Skull. "Shall I blast back? I don't need to go
in with you."

"No," replied Jim. "We couldn't clear out in a week. Wait till the Big
Bosses go."

"Better tend to it now," warned Iron Skull.

"I'll risk it," said Jim. And he rode away, Iron Skull following.

The two were held at the little desert station for a day, waiting for
the two visitors who were delayed at Green Mountain. They returned in
the stage with the Director and Freet, the two saddle horses leading
behind. Just