A little flush crept into the bronzed faces, and Mrs. Forel noticed the brightness in Alice Deringham’s eyes, for the man who had spoken was a famous engineer.

“Well,” he said gravely, “we are going to take over that road—­as from the beginning—­and finish it for you.  That is, you will be paid by the province for every day you spent upon it, and I leave it to the man who commenced it to see the work through.  His pay orders will be honoured, and I should very much like to see and compliment him.”

A murmur ran along the table, for the Government pay is good and a road-making grant a coveted boon in each lonely valley, whose inhabitants are usually glad to keep the work in their own hands.

“Boys,” said somebody, “this is what comes of trusting Harry.”

It was a simple speech, but the second murmur which followed it and the confidence in the bronzed faces stirred Alice Deringham.  She had been taught a little about these silent men, and knew the value of their testimony.

The surveyor sat down, and the member stood up.  “I can add a little, gentlemen,” he said.  “Roads are always useful, and we’ll give you a good one, and, if my word goes far enough, a grant to cut across trails with and improve your bridges, but you’re going to have a better one than any you can build.”

He stopped a moment, and there was not a sound in the room.  The men sat still as statues, the women drew in their breath, and the song of the river came in through the windows in slow pulsations.  Every eye was on the speaker, and now and then a hard brown hand quivered a little, but in the midst of their suspense there was no man weak enough to ask a premature question.

The surveyor smiled a little.  “Gentlemen,” he said slowly, “you have all heard conflicting rumours, but I have had a message, and you can take it as a fact that you will have the steel road very shortly.”

This time there was a roar that shook the rafters, and a rattle of flung-back chairs as the men rose to their feet.  They had toiled and hoped for this, holding on with grim endurance when hope had almost gone, and now all that they had looked for was to be given them.  There was no man present who did not know that his ranch was worth treble what it had been a few days ago, or woman who could not see that henceforward there need be no more ceaseless drudgery.  One, indeed, laughed inanely, clasping her hardened hands, and a dimness crept into eyes, more than one pair of eyes, from which the care that had long lurked there had vanished suddenly.

Then a man swung up a brimming glass.  “Boys,” he said, a trifle hoarsely, “it’s only cider this time, but you can drink what I’m going to give you in champagne when the railroad’s through.  Here’s the man who stood right with us through everything, the man who beat off Hallam, and brought the railroad in.”

There was a jingle of glasses, and the surveyor and the member stood up with the rest, while, for the men had let themselves go at last, a great shout rang out, “Harry Alton, Alton of Somasco.”