scombe had by this time grown to
quite regard himself as such--when he foregathers with somebody fresh
from "home". Bannister, having arrived at the camp pretty early in the
afternoon, had already bathed and changed; he therefore had nothing to
do but to sit still and answer Harry's questions, jerking in one or two
himself occasionally, until the younger man's toilet was completed, when
they sat down to dinner together. By the time that the meal was over
each felt perfectly satisfied that he would be able to get on well with
the other, and was looking forward to a quite pleasant time up there
among the stupendous mountains.

Upon first seeing Bannister, and learning that he had come out from Sir
Philip, Harry naturally thought that the new arrival had been dispatched
to fill the position of chief of the survey party, rendered vacant by
the death of the unfortunate Butler; but upon opening the credentials
which Bannister had presented, he found that it was actually as the
bearer had stated, that he and Harry were to act as colleagues, not as
chief and subordinate, in the completion of the survey, thus making the
pair jointly responsible for the work, while they would share equally
the credit upon its completion. They spent an exceedingly pleasant
evening together, chatting mostly over the work that still lay before
them, Harry producing his plans and explaining what had already been
done, while Bannister sat listening gravely to the recital of sundry
hairbreadth escapes from death in the execution of duty, and of the
manner in which a few of the more than ordinarily difficult bits of work
had been accomplished; and when the pair again sat chatting together,
twenty-four hours later, at the end of their first day together, each
felt absolutely satisfied with the comrade with which fortune had
brought him into touch. Under these agreeable circumstances the survey
progressed with greater rapidity than ever, the two Englishmen
conquering obstacle after obstacle, and meeting with plenty of thrilling
adventures in the process, until in the fullness of time they reached
first Ayacucho and then Cuzco, when the worst of their troubles were
over. For there was a road--of sorts--between the ancient capital and
Santa Rosa, and the two Englishmen, after riding over it in company,
agreed that, for a considerable part of the way at least, the best route
for a railway would be found contiguous to the highroad, by following
which the