Having reported to their foremen and the checkers, they were quite at liberty to go over into Paloma or elsewhere.

A few of them had gone.

Some others had an uneasy feeling that they wouldn't like to face the contempt in the eyes of the young chief engineer if he happened to see them going away from camp.
"It's none of the business of that chap Reade," growled one of the workmen.
"Of course it isn't," spoke up another.

"He talked to us straight yesterday, however, and showed us that it was our own business to keep out of the tough places in Paloma.

I've worked under these engineers for years, and I never before knew one of them to care whether I had a hundred dollars or an empty stomach.