not, Wilkinson could talk, for he was pouring out scurrilous epithets.
Charnock laughed as he stamped through the mud. His antagonist had
got the worst of it, and there was a satisfactory explanation of their
quarrel. They had met on a narrow path and neither would give way, but
as Charnock was carrying the load he had put the other in the wrong.
Wilkinson could not revenge himself by circulating the story he had
told before because it would interest nobody at the camp, and Charnock's
friendship with Festing would prove it untrue. In fact, he imagined
Wilkinson would think it prudent to leave him alone.

He delivered the bag, and going back stopped at a spot where Festing and
some others were fitting the end of a heavy beam into a pole. Charnock
watched while the men dragged out the beam and then replaced it after
deepening the hole. They were splashed and dirty, and presently Festing
leaned upon his shovel while he got his breath.

"You seem determined to fix it properly," Charnock remarked.

Festing nodded. "There's no use in piling rock about half-bedded frames.
It would mean trouble if they gave way under a freight train."

"You look ahead. The first difficulty is that if the frames don't hold
up, you won't get paid. The engineers are responsible after the regular
traffic starts, and I've no doubt they test a contractor's work. You
would save something in wages if you built a pile-driver to sink those
posts."

"I haven't the men or time. If I don't get this part of the work done
before the frost comes, it's going to cost me more. It would mean using
powder and making fires to thaw out the ground."

Charnock agreed and went on. He had been long enough over his errand and
the foreman's tongue was sharp, but he mused about Festing as he picked
his way across the pools between the ties. Festing's object was to make
money, and he imagined, perhaps foolishly, that he had urgent ground for
doing so, but he meant to make a good job. He felt his responsibility,
and apart from this took a curious delight in doing things well. In
fact, Festing's thoroughness was rather fine; he was an artist in his
way. The artist's methods, however, were not as a rule profitable
when applied to contract work. Then Charnock's meditations were rudely
disturbed, for he heard a shout and saw the foreman had noted his
cautious advance.

"Watch him coming, boys!" the latter remarked. "Like a blamed cat that's
scared of wetting its pretty fe