gramme which Mr Richards had sketched out, and that was Mr
Butler, the man who was to be Escombe's superior during the execution of
the survey. This man was well known to the occupants of Sir Philip
Swinburne's drawing office as a most tyrannical, overbearing man, with
an arrogance of speech and offensiveness of manner and a faculty for
finding fault that rendered it absolutely impossible to work amicably
with him, and at the same time retain one's self respect. Moreover, it
was asserted that if there were two equally efficient methods of
accomplishing a certain task, he would invariably insist upon the
adoption of that method which involved the greatest amount of
difficulty, discomfort, and danger, and then calmly sit down in safety
and comfort to see it done. Mr Richards had said that Escombe would,
upon his return to England, be retained in the office to work out the
scheme, at a salary the amount of which would "to a great extent depend
upon the way in which he worked on the survey"; and it seemed to Harry
that Sir Philip's estimate of the way in which he worked on the survey
would be almost entirely based upon Mr Butler's report. Now it was
known that, in addition to possessing the unenviable attributes already
mentioned, Butler was a most vindictive man, cherishing an undying
enmity against all who had ever presumed to thwart or offend him, and he
seemed to be one of those unfortunately constituted individuals whom it
was impossible to avoid offending. It is therefore not to be wondered
at if Escombe hesitated a moment before accepting Mr Richards's offer.

"Well, Escombe, what do you say?" enquired the chief draughtsman, after
a somewhat lengthy pause. "You do not seem to be very keen upon
availing yourself of the opportunity that I am offering you. Is it the
climate that you are afraid of? I am told that Peru is a perfectly
healthy country."

"No, Mr Richards," answered Escombe. "I am not thinking of the
climate; it is Mr Butler that is troubling me. You must be fully aware
of the reputation which he holds in the office as a man with whom it is
absolutely impossible to work amicably. There is Munro, who helped him
in that Scottish survey, declares that nothing would induce him to again
put himself in Mr Butler's power; and you will remember what a shocking
report Mr Butler gave of Munro's behaviour during the survey. Yet the
rest of us have found Munro to be invariably most good natured and
obliging