attended the construction. But the one absorbing topic
was the Sioux Indians, who were expected to swarm out of the hills that
summer and give the troops hot work.

In due time Neale and Larry arrived at North Platte, which was little
more than a camp. The construction gangs were not expected to reach
there until late in the fall. Baxter was at North Platte, with a lame
surveyor, and no other helpers; consequently he hailed Neale and Larry
with open arms. A summer's work on the hot monotonous plains stared
Neale in the face, but he must resign himself to the inevitable. He
worked, as always, with that ability and energy which had made him
invaluable to his superiors. Here, however, the labor was a dull, hot
grind, without any thrills. Neale filled the long days with duty and
seldom let his mind-wander. In leisure hours, however, he dreamed of
Allie and the future. He found no trouble in passing time that way. Also
he watched eagerly for arrivals from the west, whom he questioned about
Indians in the Wyoming hills; and from troops or travelers coming from
the east he heard all the news of the advancing railroad construction.
It was absorbingly interesting, yet Neale could credit so few of the
tales.

The summer and early fall passed.

Neale was ordered to Omaha. The news stunned him. He had built all
his hopes on another winter out in the Wyoming hills, and this
disappointment was crushing. It made him ill for a day. He almost threw
up his work. It did not seem possible to live that interminable stretch
without seeing Allie Lee. The nature of his commission, however, brought
once again to mind the opportunity that knocked at his door. Neale had
run all the different surveys for bridges in the Wyoming hills and now
he was needed in the office of the staff, where plans and drawings
were being made. Again he bowed to the inevitable. But he determined
to demand in the spring that he be sent ahead to the forefront of the
construction work.

Another disappointment seemed in order. Larry King refused to go any
farther back east. Neale was exceedingly surprised.

"Do you throw up your job?" he asked.

"Shore not. I can work heah," replied Larry.

"There won't be any outside work on these bleak plains in winter."

"Wal, I reckon I'll loaf, then," he drawled.

Neale could not change him. Larry vowed he would take his old place with
Neale next spring, if it should be open to him.

"But why? Red, I can't figure you," pro