Page:St. Nicholas (serial) (IA stnicholasserial402dodg).pdf/94

 644 was some time before they realized that he was actually a human being, and not some inhabitant of the lower regions, They pulled the man aboard and brought him to shore. At first Jerry thought he must be badly hurt. He ought to have been hurt in such a sky-rocket trip as that, but after feeling himself all over carefully, he could n’t, for the life of him, find any damage ta his anatomy! So there was nothing for him to do but report back for work!

It was the most sensational incident that had ever happened in tunnel work, and the place fairly buzzed with reporters, Inside of an hour, a breathless newsboy came running up with an armful of extras, which said like hot cakes, and Jerry had the pleasure of reading all about his own curious adventure.

There was no more work done that day. It was the last day of our contract week, and we were more than glad to throw up the job and collect our wages.

was sheer luck that brought us back to the tunnel-shaft. a few days later, at the precise moment when a distinguished-looking man issued from the office with Superintendent Brown at his heels.

“Why, hello! here they are now!” exclaimed the superintendent as he caught sight of us, “Come here, boys, I want to introduce you to Chief Engineer Price.”

“Aha!” said the engineer, “so you are the boys I have been hearing about. I suppose you want to contract for another week’s work, don’t you?”

“Well, not exactly, sir,’ spoke up Will “I don’t think we care for any more tunnel experiences just now. We have had enough to last awhile, but we thought we would stroll down and see how you were going to clear the mud and water out of that tunnel, Jim and I have been trying to figure it out, but we can’t, for the life of us, see how you are going to do it.”

“Well, boys, if I were n’t in such a beastly hurry just now,” said Engineer Price, looking at his watch, “I would like to have a talk with you. You come up to my office to-morrow at one o’clock sharp. I want you to take lunch with me, Here is the address,” and he handed Will his card and was off before we had recovered from our surprise.

Just as the clock struck one the next day, we pushed open the door of the engineer’s rooms, and were promptly shown into his inner office.

“Good morning, boys,” he said cordially, shaking hands with us, “You ’re on time to the minute, I see. There is nothing I commend so highly as promptness. We shall step right out to luncheon and do our talking there.”

The club to which Engineer Price took us was so richly and elaborately furnished that we were quite overwhelmed; but our host soon put us at ease. He wanted to know all about us and what induced us to try our hand at sand-hogging, We told him the whole story from beginning to end.

“And this Uncle Edward, who is he?”

“Why, Edward Jordan, the engineer.”

“What, are you ‘Eddy’ Jordan’s nephew? I used to know him when I was at school.” And he told us a lot of funny yarns about Uncle Edward’s school-days, Finally, when the opportunity offered, Will took occasion to remind Mr. Price that he had not yet told us how he was going to clear out the flooded tunnel.

“Oh, that is not such a very difficult job,” said Mr. Price. “We have located the hole in the bed of the river, and to-morrow, at slack tide, we are going to sink a tarpaulin over it and dump clay on the tarpaulin, That ought to make a pretty effective seal, and then we shall pump the water out of the tunnel and the air into it at the same time. I will give you a pass to see the work if you like.

“Oh, Mr, Ludlow!" called out Engineer Price to a large man with a long, gray mustache who was passing our table. “Sit down here a minute. I want you to meet a pair of very promising young engineers. This is Will, Eddy Jordan’s nephew, and this his chum, Jim. Mr. Ludlow, boys, is the chief engineer of the .” Then he proceeded to sing our praises to the bridge engineer, much to our embarrassment. “Why, they have been actually groveling in the mud as sand-hogs for a whole week, just to learn something about tunnel work at first hand instead of through books. Such striving after knowledge, such devotion to engineering, should be encouraged. Now, why can’t you arrange to have them shown over your bridge?”

“Why, I should he delighted to,” said Mr, Ludlow. “Call at my office, boys, and | will give you a letter of introduction to Mr. Blanchard, my assistant, who is in immediate charge of the work.”

“Will you, sir?” said Will, eagerly. “Thank you so much. That ’s the very work we wanted most to see.”

And before that luncheon was over, we had met a number of engineers, all of whom took a kindly interest in us, and offered to show us through the various lines of work in which they were engaged.