I wonder if he thinks he's fooling me by looking so blamed cheerful and talking so confidently.

Whew! I'd be afraid for poor old Tom's brain if anything should happen to trip us up." Harry himself was anxious, but he was not downright nervous.
He did not feel things as keenly as did his chum; neither was Hazelton directly responsible for the success of the big undertaking.
Mile after mile the construction work stretched.

Trains were running now for work purposes, nearly as far as the line extended.
The telegraph wires ran into the temporary station building at Lineville, and the several operators along the line were busy carrying orders through the length of the wire service.
Back at Stormburg, where the railroad line began, three trains lay on side tracks.

These were passenger trains that were to run the entire length of the road as soon as it was opened.
Back at Stormburg, also, the new general superintendent slept at his office that he might receive messages from President Newnham the more quickly.
At Bakerstown a division superintendent was stationed, he, too, sleeping at his office.
Once more Tom Reade had brought his work within sight of Lineville.
In fact, the track extended all but the last mile of the line.
Ties were down nearly all of the way to the terminal station.
This was the state of affairs at two o'clock in the afternoon.
Before midnight the last rail must be laid, and the first through train from Stormburg must run in.

If, at the stroke of midnight, the first train had failed to go through, then the charter of the S.B.