g among the reeds. A whole
aeon of resinous sunbeams breathed their essence through the dark from
the spicy evergreens. One need not attempt to guess of what Wayland
was thinking. He had forgotten his companion's presence till the old
man spoke.

"A suppose, Wayland, you are only one of an army of kiddie boys on the
job out here?"

Wayland absently roused himself.

"Land Service and Reclamation men have tougher jobs and less glory.
All we have to do is sit tight and it's a pretty good place to sit
tight in--this out-door world. Different with the other fellows!
They're hamstrung by the red tape of office, or blackguarded by some
peanut politician who is scoring an opponent! There was Walker down at
Durango, shot examining a coal fraud. He was a Land Office man; and
his murderers have not even been punished. Then, there were the two
chaps, who ran the rapids before the Gunnison Tunnel could be built;
though that's been exaggerated with a lot of magazine hog-wash to make
a fellow sick! Biggest job there was the engineer's work. Do you know
he drove that six mile tunnel from both ends and, when the two ends
met, they were not two inches off? Hog-wash and dish-water hacks
spread themselves in the magazines all over those chaps running the
rapids! You've run ten times worse rapids, yourself, on Saskatchewan
and MacKenzie hundreds of times. Yet those chaps--not one of
them--noted the wonder of a tunnel driven from both ends coming out
exactly even. Why, the poor ignorant foreign workmen cried when they
met from both ends, got hold of one fellow's wrist through the mud wall
and pulled him through bodily, cried like kids at the victory of it!
Your town hack didn't know what it meant to be a sand hog under ground
for years and come through to daylight like that. The ignorant
foreigner knew. I guess a good dozen of 'em had sacrificed their lives
to the work. They knew the quiet engineer fellow had conquered the
earth; and that fellow doesn't get the salary of a Wall Street
stenographer--a way Uncle Sam has. They'd give such a man a title and
a fifty thousand a year pension in England or Germany.

"Then, there was Fessenden, unearthed a lot of fraud in Oregon and got
himself crucified--got the bounce; had broken his health in that sort
of thing; got fired because he proved up that some smug politicians had
caused the death of an old couple by jumping their homestead claim and
driving them to penury. Then, th