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It was hard to descend from the rank of millionaires to that of graders and buffalo hunters, but we had to do it. The rise and fall of modern Rome had made us, and it broke us! I soon became better acquainted with Dr. Webb, through whose agency our town of Rome had fallen almost overnight.
But at this period all track work on the Kansas Pacific being temporarily suspended by Indian outbreaks, the graders made both night and day alike hideous, and the single dirty street which composed Sheridan, lined with shacks, crowded with saloons, the dull dead prairie stretching away on every side to the horizon, was congested with humanity during every hour of the twenty-four.
Alarms, however, were continual and the graders, many of whom were old soldiers, worked at all times with their muskets stacked on the dump beside them. In the construction camp Bucks saw also many negroes, and at night the camp-fires of their quarters were alive with the singing and dancing of the old plantation life in the South.
Just then rifle-shots and the spattering of bullets made quick work urgent. "Go get inside the log walls," said Neale, as he shoved Allie in. Excitement prevailed among the graders. They began to run under cover of the inclosure and some began to shoot aimlessly. "Anderson, take some men! Go to the back of the cabin!" shouted Baxter. The scout called for men to follow him and ran out.
I told them what I had seen. "Wake up folks in the hotel," said one of the men; then they hurried along. I soon had everybody in the hotel down-stairs with my shouting. In a minute or two they brought in Allenham, and the doctor began to work over him. The whole town was soon on hand, and it was decided to descend on the graders' camp in force. Twenty or thirty men volunteered.
Bribed by extra pay, driven by the bosses, and stimulated by the emergency, the work of the graders became an effort close to fury. Watches were already consulted and wagers were being laid between rival foremen on the moment a train should pass the point. Above the peaks the stars glittered, and high in the sky the moon shot a path of clear light down the river itself.
Bordering the camp, running east as far as eye could see, stretched a high, flat, yellow lane, with the earth hollowed away from it, so that it stood higher than the level plain and this was the work of the graders, the road-bed of the Union Pacific Railroad, the U. P. Trail. This camp appeared to be Durade's destination. His caravan rode through and halted on the outskirts of the far side.
So many of the graders essayed to follow that they blocked the narrow opening between the inclosure and house. Suddenly one of them in the rear sheered round so that he looked at Neale. It was but a momentary glance, but Neale sensed recognition there. Then the man was gone and Neale sustained a strange surprise. That face had been familiar, but he could not recall where he had ever seen it.
He and the gang must have been camped with those graders you brought here. Oh, I'm more afraid of Fresno's gang than of the Indians." "But Allie they don't know you're here. You're safe. The troops will be back soon, and drive these Indians away." Allie clung to Neale, and again he felt something of the terror these ruffians had inspired in her.
David looked at the house, which stood high on its foundation, and he saw that there was a great hole between the ground and the front steps. He supposed that the graders would fill up that hole. He nodded. "I'll get my cart," he said, "and then I'll help you." So he ran all the way home, and his cat saw him running and she ran too, faster than David ran, and she ran right up on to the piazza.
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