re, Tom!" called Harry from the open side
door of the baggage car, as Reade raced up to greet his successful
chum.

A man, bandaged, injured and groaning, lay on the floor of the
baggage car.

"Why, it's Naughty Peter, himself!" cried Tom. "Peter, I'm sorry
to find you in this shape. I am afraid you have been misbehaving."

"We found him not far from the track, near the blow-out," Hazelton
explained. "Whether he attended to that bit of bad work all alone,
or whether his companions believed him dead and fled for their
own safety, I can't learn. Bad Pete won't say a word. He was
unconscious when we first discovered him. Now he knows what's
going on around him, but he's too badly hurt to do more than hold
his tongue."

It was only when Bad Pete recovered his health---in jail---and
found himself facing a long term in prison, that he was ready
to open his mouth. He could tell nothing, however, beyond confessing
that he and three other men, including an operator, had attended
to the blow-out. Pete had no knowledge of the real parties behind
the plot. He knew only that he had acted under 'Gene Blanks orders.
So Bad Pete was shown no mercy, but sent behind the bars for
a term of twenty-five years. Owing to Black's stubborn silence
the outrages were never traced back to any official of the W.C.
& A.

'Gene Black was sentenced to prison for thirty years. The other
rascals, who had worked under his direction, all received long
terms.

The student engineers, wholly happy and well paid, returned to
their college.

The S.B. & L. is still under the same management, and is one of
the prosperous independent railroads of the United States. Dave
Fulsbee continues as the head of its detective system.

Tom Reade and Harry Hazelton had made good in their first professional
undertaking. They were paid in proportion to their services, and
given the opportunity to retain their positions at the head of the
railway's engineering corps.

For some time they kept their positions, filling them always with
honor. Yet, in the end, the desire to do other great things in
their chosen profession led them into other fields of venture.
Their greatest adventures, their severest trials and deepest
problems, as well as their gravest perils were still ahead of them
in their path of duty.

The Young Engineers were bound to go on and up, yet their way
was sure to be a stormy one.

We shall meet these fine young Americans again in t