Then Dill, one of the foremen, admitted the callers.
"Are all the others up ?" Reade asked, sharply.
"Yes, sir." "Good! Tell your associates to finish dressing as quickly as possible and to meet me in the office." "The office" was a little room just inside the entrance to the building.
It was a room where the foremen sat and chatted in the evenings.
"Put a double-hustle on, everyone," Tom called after Dill.
"Yes, sir." Barely three minutes had passed when all of the six remaining foremen had assembled.

Tom plunged instantly into a brief account of what had happened.
"It seems to me, sir---" Dill began.
"Keep it to yourself, then, if you please," Tom interrupted him gently.
"We haven't any time for opinions to-night.

What we want is swift, intelligent work, and a lot of it." Tom thereupon gave each man his directions.
"Now, each of you go to your own gangs in the camp," he added.

"Wake what men you need and put 'em to work.

If any of the men object to being taken from their cots in the night, just lift them out.