THE ROAD-BUILDERS [Illustration: The M M Co] [Illustration: “‘there,’ he cried, ... ‘there, boys! that means red hills or bust.’” _Frontispiece_] The Road-Builders BY SAMUEL MERWIN AUTHOR OF “THE MERRY ANNE,” JOINT AUTHOR OF “CALUMET ‘K,’” “THE SHORT LINE WAR,” ETC. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY F. B. MASTERS TORONTO THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. 1910 COPYRIGHT, 1905, BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped. Published October, 1905. Reprinted April, 1906. Norwood Press J. S. Cushing & Co.--Berwick & Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. _TO MY LITTLE SON_ NOTE A part of this story was printed serially in _The Saturday Evening Post_ under the title, “A Link in the Girdle.” CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. YOUNG VAN ENGAGES A COOK 1 II. WHERE THE MONEY CAME FROM 22 III. AT MR. CARHART’S CAMP 37 IV. JACK FLAGG SEES STARS 66 V. WHAT THEY FOUND AT THE WATER-HOLE 97 VI. THE ROAD TO TOTAL WRECK 138 VII. THE SPIRIT OF THE JOB 185 VIII. SHOTS--AND A SCOUTING PARTY 219 IX. A SHOW-DOWN 246 X. WHAT TOOK PLACE AT RED HILLS 293 ILLUSTRATIONS “‘There,’ he cried, ... ‘there, boys! That means Red Hills or bust’” _Frontispiece_ FACING PAGE “‘It’s all I have a right to give anybody’” 74 “‘Eighty cents,’ he muttered, ‘and for how much work?’” 80 “‘Well,’ began the boss, looking him over, ‘what kind of a cook are you?’” 98 “Wonderfully they held the pace” 114 “They went on in this way for nearly an hour” 120 “‘Look here, Tiffany,’ Carhart began, ‘something’s going to happen to this man Peet’” 142 “‘You go back to your quarters’” 208 “... this trestle structure which was slowly crawling, like some monster centipede, across the sands of the La Paz” 240 “The cigarette dropped from Antonio’s unnerved fingers” 244 “Charlie had not raised his revolver,--the muzzle still rested easily on the sill,--but it was pointing straight at Jack Flagg’s heart” 310 THE ROAD-BUILDERS CHAPTER I YOUNG VAN ENGAGES A COOK