an two years
ago we undertook to have every mile of track ballasted and laid
on the S.B. & L., and trains running through, by September 30th
of this year. There are three hundred and fifty-four miles of
road in all. Now, in July, less than three months from the time,
this camp is forty-nine miles from the terminus of the road at
Loadstone, while the constructing engineers and the track-layers
are thirty-eight miles behind us. Do you see the problem?"

"You can get an extension of time, can't you?" asked Tom.

"We can---_not_! You see, boys, the S.B. & L. is the popular
road. That is, it's the one that the people of this state backed
in the main. When we got our charter from the legislature there
was a lot of opposition from the W.C. & A. railroad. That organization
wishes to add to their road, using the very locations that our
preliminary engineering force selected for the S.B. & L. The
W.C. & A. folks have such a bewildering number of millions at
their back that they would have won away from us, had they been
an American crowd. The W.C. & A. has only American officers
and a few small stockholders in this country. The W.C. & A.
is a foreign crowd throughout in reality, and back of them they
have about all the money that's loose in London, Paris and Berlin.
The W.C. & A. spent a lot of money at the state capital, I guess,
for it was common report that some of the members of the legislature
had sold out to the foreign crowd. So, though public clamor carried
our charter through the legislature by sheer force, the best concession
we could get was that our road must be built and in operation
over the entire length by September 30th, or the state has the
privilege of taking over our road at an appraised value. Do you
see what that means?"

"Does it mean that the state would then turn around and sell this
road to the W.C. & A. at a good profit?" asked Reade.

"You've hit it," nodded Mr. Blaisdell. "The W.C. & A. would be
delighted to take over our road at a price paid to the state that
would give Colorado quite a few millions in profits. The legislature
would then have a chance to spend those millions on public improvements
in the state. I think you will understand why public clamor now
seems to have swung about in favor of the W.C.& A."

"Yet it seems to me," put in Harry, "that, even if the S.B. & L.
does fail to get the railroad through in time, the stockholders
will get their money back when the state