ut he saw the cross-ties start and the
rails spring up and down. Then the clanging cars sped past, and when
they had gone he climbed down the side of the bank.

It was now bare of snow and one could see the stones. Two or three
had fallen, and the edges of the others were a little out of line.
The unevenness was marked, and although one or two of the heads of the
timbers had moved, the movement might not have caught Festing's eye had
he not known the treacherous nature of their support. He did not think
anybody else would notice that they were not quite in their proper
place.

"I'm afraid we're up against trouble, Bob," he said.

Charnock looked unusually thoughtful. "The engineer had to start from
a dead stop and turn on full steam. That made the jarring worse, but it
wouldn't happen with the ordinary traffic."

"Perhaps not," Festing agreed. "Still, you see, the frequent repetition
of a smaller shock--"

Charnock stopped him. "It's those confounded posts! If we pull them out,
we'll have to cut down to the rock to find a solid bed, and there's a
mass of stone to move. What would the job cost?"

He said nothing for a minute after Festing told him, and then remarked:
"It's Kerr's business to find fault, and he looked satisfied."

"He doesn't know as much about it as we do."

"Then I wish we knew less. How long do you think the track would stand
if we left it alone?"

"Until we got paid," said Festing. "It might stand for some time
afterwards."

He fixed his eyes on Charnock and waited. Bob had expressed some
praiseworthy sentiments about making a good job, but this was a
different thing from living up to them when it would cost him much.
What they ought to do was plain, but Festing admitted that the sacrifice
required an effort. Then, somewhat to his surprise, Charnock looked up
with a smile.

"You're not sure of me yet, Stephen, and I don't know that you can be
blamed. It's a nasty knock, but we have got to bear it. Stop there a few
minutes."

"Where are you going?"

"To bring Kerr back and show him the damage. He'll have to lay off the
gravel gang while we pull down the bank."

Festing waited. Bob would stand by him, but he felt anxious. It would
be an expensive business to rebuild the track and the frost would make
things worse. In fact, if they had any more trouble of the kind, they
might be ruined. Then he got up as he saw Kerr coming along the line.

In an hour or two the rails were up and they