o idea you were hurt. You never said a word. And you
carried me and my instrument all day--with a broken hand!"

"Wal, I ain't so shore it's broke."

Neale swore at his friend and then he fell asleep. King watched beside
him, ever and anon rewetting the hot brow.

The camp-fire died out, and at length the quietness of late night set
in. The wind mourned and lulled by intervals; a horse thudded his hoofs
now and then; there were the soft, steady footsteps of the sentry on
guard, and the wild cry of a night bird.

5

Neale had not been wrong when he told the engineers that once they had
a line surveyed across the gorge and faced the steep slopes of the other
side their troubles would be magnified.

They found themselves deeper in the Wyoming hills, a range of mountains
that had given General Lodge great difficulty upon former exploring
trips, and over which a pass had not yet been discovered.

The old St. Vrain and Laramie Trail wound along the base of these slopes
and through the valleys. But that trail was not possible for a railroad.
A pass must be found--a pass that would give a grade of ninety feet to
the mile. These mountains had short slopes, and they were high.

It turned out that the line as already surveyed through ravines and
across the gorge had to be abandoned. The line would have to go over the
hills. To that end the camp was moved east again to the first slopes of
the Wyoming hills; from there the engineers began to climb. They reached
the base of the mountains, where they appeared to be halted for good and
all.

The second line, so far as it went, overlooked the Laramie Trail, which
fact was proof that the old trail-finders had as keen eyes as engineers.

With a large band of hostile Sioux watching their movements the engineer
corps found it necessary to have the troops close at hand all the time.
The surveyors climbed the ridges while the soldiers kept them in sight
from below. Day after day this futile search for a pass went on. Many of
the ridges promised well, only to end in impassable cliffs or breaks or
ascents too steep. There were many slopes and they all looked alike.
It took hard riding and hard climbing. The chief and his staff were in
despair. Must their great project fail because of a few miles of steep
ascent? They would not give up.

The vicinity of Cheyenne Pass seemed to offer encouragement. Camp was
made in the valley on a creek. From here observations were taken. One
m