as the crossing.

But the next instant from the mist shot up a lurid flare. From the
windows rose a cry. Higher leaped the flames. And suddenly across the
quiet morning air came a long series of quick sharp toots. Again they
came--then the short, sharp note for brakes.

[Illustration: WITH THE SHARP WORDS HE AGAIN GRASPED THE KEY.]

And the boys and the flames had won!

The superintendent turned and held out his hand. "Ward, thank you," he
said huskily. "Thank you. You are a genuine railroader."

"And--about the station?" queried Alex, a sudden apprehension in his face
and voice. For the moment the crisis was past he had realized with dismay
that he had issued the unprecedented order for the burning of the station
entirely on his own responsibility.

"The station?" The superintendent laughed. "My boy, that was the best
part of it. That was the generalship of it. There was no time to ask,
only act. The fraction of a second might have lost the train.

"No; that is just why I say you are a genuine railroader--the burning of
the station was a piece of the finest kind of railroading!

"And this reminds me," added the superintendent some minutes later,
leading Alex aside and speaking in a lower voice. "We expect to start
construction on the Yellow Creek branch in six weeks, and will be wanting
an 'advance guard' of three or four heady, resourceful operators with the
construction train, or on ahead. Would you like to go? and your friend
Orr? There'll be plenty of excitement before we are through."

"I'd like nothing better, sir, or Orr either, I know," declared Alex with
immediate interest. "But where will the excitement come in, sir?"

"You have heard the talk of the K. & Z. also running a line to the new
gold field from Red Deer? And that they were held up by right-of-way
trouble? Well, we have just learned that that was all a bluff; that they
have been quietly making preparations, and are about to start
construction almost immediately. And you see what that means?"

"A race for the Yellow pass?"

"A race--and more than that. Did you ever read of the great war between
the Santa Fe and the Rio Grande for the Grand Canyon of Colorado?
Regularly organized bands of fighting men on either side, and pitched
battles? Well, I don't anticipate matters coming to that point between us
and the K. & Z., but I wouldn't be surprised if it came near it before we
are through. The lines traverse wild country, and the K. & Z. peopl