r work. Remember the big job!... Dearest! Dearest!
Hurry--and--go!"

Neale could no longer see her face clearly. He did not know what he was
saying.

"You'll always--love me?" he implored.

"Do you need to ask? All my life!... I promise."

"Kiss me, then," he whispered, hoarsely, blindly leaning down. "It's
hell--to leave you!... Wonderful girl--treasure--precious--Allie!...
Kiss me--enough!... I--"

She held him with strong and passionate clasp and kissed him again and
again.

"Good-by!" Her last word was low, choked, poignant, and had in it a
mournful reminder of her old tragic woe.

Then he was alone. Mounting clumsily, with blurred eyes, he rode into
the winding trail.

10

Neale and King traveled light, without pack-animals, and at sunrise they
reached the main trail.

It bore evidence of considerable use and was no longer a trail, but
a highroad. Fresh tracks of horses and oxen, wagon-wheel ruts, dead
camp-fires, and scattered brush that had been used for wind-breaks--all
these things attested to the growing impetus of that movement; soon it
was to become extraordinary.

All this was Indian country. Neale and his companion had no idea whether
or not the Sioux had left their winter quarters for the war-path. But
it was a vast region, and the Indians could not be everywhere. Neale and
King took chances, as had all these travelers, though perhaps the risk
was not so great, because they rode fleet horses. They discovered no
signs of Indians, and it appeared as if they were alone in a wilderness.

They covered sixty miles from early dawn to dark, with a short rest at
noon, and reached Fort Fetterman safely without incident or accident.
Troops were there, but none of the U. P. engineering staff. Neale did
not meet any soldiers with whom he was acquainted. Orders were there for
him, however, to report to North Platte as soon as it was possible to
reach there. Troops were to be moving soon, so Neale learned, and the
long journey could be made in comparative safety.

Here Neale received the tidings that forty miles of railroad had been
built during the last summer, and trains had been run that distance west
from Omaha. His heart swelled. Not for many a week had he heard anything
favorable to the great U. P. project, and here was news of rails laid,
trains run. Already this spring the graders were breaking ground far
ahead of the rail-layers. Report and rumor at the fort had it that
lively times had