g as that. But time flies when one is busy, and we have done a lot
of work during the last two years. Then you have only another year of
pupilage to serve, eh, Escombe?"

"Only one year more, Mr Richards," answered the lad.

"Ah!" commented Mr Richards, and paused again, characteristically.
"Look here, Escombe," he resumed; "you have done very well since you
came here; Sir Philip is very pleased with you, and so am I. I have had
my eye on you, and have seen that you have been studying hard and doing
your best to perfect yourself in all the details of your profession. So
far as theory goes you are pretty well advanced. What you need now is
practical, out-of-door work, and," laying his hand upon the open atlas,
"I have got a job here that I think will just suit you. It is in Peru.
Do you happen to know anything of Peru?"

Escombe confessed that his knowledge of Peru was strictly confined to
what he had learned about that interesting country at school.

"It is the same with me," admitted Mr Richards. "All I know about Peru
is that it is a very mountainous country, which is the reason, I
suppose, why there is considerably less than a thousand miles of railway
throughout the length and breadth of it. And what there is is made up
principally of short bits scattered about here and there. But there is
some talk of altering all that now, and matters have gone so far that
Sir Philip has been commissioned to prepare a scheme for constructing a
railway from a place called Palpa--which is already connected with Lima
and Callao--to Salinas, which is connected with Huacho, and from Huacho
to Cochamarca and thence to a place called Cerro de Pasco, which in its
turn is connected with Nanucaca; and from Nanucaca along the shore of
Lake Chinchaycocha to Ayacucho, Cuzco, and Santa Rosa, which last is
connected by rail with Mollendo, on the coast. There is also another
scheme afoot which will involve the taking of a complete set of
soundings over the length and breadth of Lake Titicaca. Now, all this
means a lot of very important and careful survey work which I reckon
will take the best part of two years to accomplish. Sir Philip has
decided to entrust the work to Mr Butler, who has already done a great
deal of survey work for him, as of course you know; but Mr Butler will
need an assistant, and Sir Philip, after consultation with me, has
decided to offer that post to you. It will be a splendid opportunity
for you to acquire