"There is really nothing to do this morning," Tom remarked to
Superintendent Hawkins. "However, I think you had better dock the
missing men for time off. If you find that any missing man has been
gone on a proper errand of rest or enjoyment, and has not been making a
beast of himself, you can restore his docked pay on the lists."
"That's a very good idea," nodded Hawkins. "It always angers me to see
these poor, hardworking fellows go away and make fools of themselves
just as soon as they get a bit of pay in their pockets. Still, you
can't change the whole face of human nature, Mr. Reade."
"I don't expect to do so," smiled Tom. "Yet, if we can get a hundred or
two in this outfit to take a sensible view of pay day, and can drill it
into them so that it will stick, there will be just that number of
happier men in the world. How long have you been in this work on the
frontier, Mr. Hawkins?"
"About twenty years, sir."
"Then it must have angered you, many a time, to see the vultures and the
parasites fattening on the men who do the real work in life.
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