ack in New York I'm one of three or four people who
can tell Mr. North what he can do, and what he can't. You wouldn't want
to see Mr. Ford getting it in the neck, would you?"

"By Jacks! There ain't a man in the service that wouldn't fight for him.
I tell you, he's _white_."

"Well, Mr. Ford is in trouble: I don't know but he is likely to lose his
job, if I don't see the president before the big ax comes down. That is
between us two."

The conductor sprang out of his chair.

"By gravy! Why didn't you say that at first? Say, Mr. Adair, you stand
between us and Mr. North--tell him you gave the orders yourself--and
you'll have the ride of your life from here to Saint's Rest!"

"Go it," said Adair; and two minutes after Barclay had let himself out
of the forward door of the "01," the train took a sudden start and
darted ahead at full speed.

This bit of diplomacy on the part of Adair saved two full hours in the
run to Saint's Rest. Nevertheless, it was after dark when the "01"
pulled into the crowded material yard in the high mountain basin and
Leckhard came aboard to find out what had brought this second
private-car visitation. He was relieved not to meet North--to be
confronted only by a pleasant-faced young man who seemed to have the car
all to himself.

"My name is Leckhard," announced the man-of-all-work, "and I represent
the engineering department. I saw it was Mr. North's car, and--"

"And you came to see what you could do for the vice-president and
general manager," Adair finished for him. "Mighty sorry to disappoint
you, Mr. Leckhard, but my name isn't North; it's Adair, and I'm only a
director. How much authority is a director allowed--at this altitude and
distance from New York?"

Leckhard laughed.

"I reckon you might call yourself the ranking officer in the field, Mr.
Adair. What you say, goes."

"Then I say 'go'; which means that I'd like to go--on to the end of the
extension."

But now the engineer was shaking his head.

"Ask me anything but that, Mr. Adair. None of our enginemen is at this
end of the line, and your man Williams, who brought you up from Denver,
doesn't know the way. More than that, if we had a man and an engine, I'd
be afraid to send you out for a night run. Mr. Ford made it last night
with Mr. Colbrith's car, and they used up ten hours in covering less
than a hundred and twenty miles, and came within six feet of killing
everybody."

Adair had lighted a cigarette, and he d