THE TRAP AT THE FINISH A number of days passed, days full of worry for the young chief engineer.

Yet, outwardly, Tom Reade was as good-humored and cheery as ever.
He was sure that his eyes had played him no trick, and that he really had seen 'Gene Black in the brush.
The presence of that scoundrel persuaded Tom that someone working in the interests of the W.C.

& A.Railroad Company was still employing Black in an attempt to block the successful completion of the S.B.

& L.
Moreover, the news that Dave Fulsbee received from Denver showed that two of the officials of the W.C.

& A.were in that city, apparently ready to proceed to get possession of the rival road.
Politicians asserted that it was a "cinch" that the new road would fall short of the charter requirement in the matter of time.
"All this confidence on the part of the enemy is pretty fair proof that the scoundrels are up to something," Tom told Mr.Newnham.
"Or else they're trying to break down our nerve so that we'll fail through sheer collapse," replied the president of the S.B.
& L., rubbing his hands nervously.