"I thought I'd find Mr.Timothy Thurston, the chief engineer, here." "Nope," replied a stout, red-faced man of forty, in flannel shirt and khaki trousers.

"Mr.Thurston never eats between meals, and when he does eat he's served in his own mess tent.

Whatcher want here, pardner ?" "We're under orders to report to him," Tom answered politely.
"New men in the chain gang ?" asked the cook, swinging around to look at the newcomers.
"Maybe," Reade assented.

"That will depend on the opinion that Mr.Thurston forms of us after he knows us a little while.

I believe the man in New York said we were to be assistant engineers." "There's only one assistant engineer here," announced the cook.
"The other engineers are Just plain surveyors or levelers." "Well, we won't quarrel about titles," Tom smilingly assured the cook.