"Work from opposite sides of the river," answered Steve. "Jarvis on one side and myself on the other. While the men are building the abutment in the middle of the river we can be running the line to the furnaces and to the gas engine house on the other side. In the meantime your experts can be making the connections at each end, so that there shall be no loss of time at any given point."
"Fine, fine!" nodded Mr. Phillips. "That is a most excellent plan. It's good generalship, and that is what counts in the battles of the industrial world, as well as the battles between the armed powers of the world."
"When do you wish the operations to begin?"
"Will Mr. Keating permit us to drop our work at the furnaces?"
"That has been arranged. You are free to start in to-morrow."
"Is there any increase in pay for the new work? Of course it is worth more than what we have been doing."
"Certainly. You are perfectly right in raising this question. I took it up with the superintendent this afternoon. We decided that twenty dollars a week would be a fair figure for the work while you are at it. Will that be satisfactory."
"Yes, sir," answered the Iron Boys together. "I presume you will have the men assigned from the different departments. You see, we do not know them and should not be able to gather a force suited to our requirements."
"One other thing Mr. Phillips; you will leave us free to get rid of any men who do not measure up to the work, will you not?"
"Yes, sir. Any man that you do not want on the job, get rid of him. I think I see two gangs working as perhaps they never worked before," added the engineer with a smile.
"They will have to earn their wages, just as we intend to do," announced Steve.
Mr. Phillips nodded approvingly. He considered himself especially fortunate in getting two such live young men to fill the particular places to which he had assigned them. For the rest of the evening the three discussed the plans for pushing the work to completion in the shortest possible time. When at last the boys rose to take their leave they had outlined thoroughly in their own minds what they intended to do.
The next morning the Iron Boys were out bright and early. Their first work was to see to it that the material was gotten out and put at the proper places so as to be ready when the work of running the line was actually begun. The material, of course, was picked out by the engineers, as this required technical knowledge that Steve and Bob could not be expected to possess.