to him that the air around him was
red-hot, while the perspiration dropped from his forehead, and his feet
stood in the mire.

On the stroke of seven, on the 28th of January, he fell forward on his
jumper, which pierced the wall right through. Loud cheering from the
other side roused him, and he understood; he realised that they had met,
that his troubles were over, and that he was the winner of ten thousand
lire.

After a sigh of thanksgiving to the All-Merciful God, he pressed his
lips to the bore-hole and whispered the name, of Gertrude; and then he
called for three times three cheers for the Germans.

At eleven o'clock at night, there were shouts of "attention!" on the
Italian side, and with a thunderous crash, a noise like the booming of
cannon at a siege, the wall fell down. Germans and Italians embraced
one another and wept, and all fell on their knees and sang the "Te Deum
laudamus."

It was a great moment; it was in 1880, the year in which Stanley's work
in Africa was done, and Nordenskoeld had accomplished his task.

When they had sung the "Te Deum" a German workman stepped forward and
handed to the Italians a beautifully got-up parchment. It was a record
and an appreciation of the services of the engineer-in-chief, Louis
Favre.

He was to be the first man to pass through the tunnel, and Andrea was
appointed to carry the memorial and his name by the little workmen's
train to Airolo.

And Andrea accomplished his mission faithfully, sitting before the
locomotive on a barrow.

Yes, it was a great day, and the night was no less great.

They drank wine in Airolo, Italian wine, and let off fireworks. They
made speeches on Louis Favre, Stanley, and Nordenskoeld; they made a
speech on the St. Gotthard, which, for thousands of years had been a
barrier between Germany and Italy, between the North and the South. A
barrier it had been, and at the same time a uniter, honestly dividing
its waters between the German Rhine, the French Rhone, the North Sea and
the Mediterranean....

"And the Adriatic," interrupted a man from Tessin. "Don't forget the
Ticino, which is a tributary to the largest river of Italy, the mighty
Po...."

"Bravo! That's better still! Three cheers for the St. Gotthard, the
great Germany, the free Italy, and the new France!"

It was a great night, following a great day.

***

On the following morning Andrea called at the Engineering Offices. He
wore his Italian shooting-dress; an eagl