Jane, standing within the hall, heard this, and at once perceived the great dawning hope which chance had suddenly thrust before her. It was a hope for the railroad, for her people. Passing into the library she looked over Dale's shoulder, took the book from his hand, and smiled at it. "You can't make anything out of this, yet," she said. "If you want to build railroads yourself some time, what you need now is actual experience; and you can get it if you persist." "How?" he asked eagerly. "Make Brent go out every day till the work is done--then I've a plan for you." "What?" he was growing very much excited. "Sh," she laughed. "I'll tell you some other time. Now go up and dress; dinner will be ready in half an hour." As he sprang to obey, a glance at his determined jaw, the enthusiasm of his stride, told her that Brent might not henceforth have such an idle time of it. His voice came in to her now. "----and he threw all the lunch away," he was telling the Colonel, "because he said we didn't have time to eat it. I wanted to kill him; and would, if it hadn't struck me as being so darned funny! But I will say that we did more than I've ever seen done in a day--even with a trained party! What's more, we can save three miles. Dale did that, too!" "This is encouraging, sir!" the old gentleman cried. "It's more than that, Colonel--it's a find! Entirely disregarding the fact that I'd made a reconnaissance, he dragged me about like a toy, and finally, blest if he didn't scoot into a natural tunnel. I knew it was there, too, but never thought of following it up! We can go through it without turning a shovel of earth or shooting a stone. It not only saves the three miles I spoke of, but a terrible amount of cutting, and doesn't add a fraction to our ruling grade; bringing us out--I'll tell you where it brings us out! You know a place, about three hundred feet under a bold spur sticking to the north face of Snarly?--where a stream boils down into a sort of cave and disappears?" "Oh, yes. That is our natural freak around this country--that and your tunnel! I know them well!" "Well, we come out there, about two miles above this disappearing stream. It's a cinch! By the way, what becomes of that stream?" "No one knows. Years ago we painted several pieces of wood, and hacked some logs in a certain way for identification, then let them all float down and be sucked into that hole. None ever bobbed up at our end, and, so far as we ever heard, they were never found floating on other streams. I fancy the water rushes into some vast subterranean sea." Zack came out with the beverage, Brent bowed to the Colonel, drank it and sighed. It was an atrociously strong toddy, purposely made so by the old servant to compensate for the long day's absence; and almost at once, especially as he had eaten nothing since breakfast, its strength began to tell. "Zack, when Doctor Meal comes tonight, I wish you'd send him up to graft a dozen mule legs on me."