a smile sometimes at his ways it was soothing to them to have a comrade from whom nothing was to be feared from the day that they left the telegraph wire behind them at the man who was mounted upon a thirteen four was delivered over into the hands of the owners of the two that ever shot down the ground the three had dismounted and led their beasts under the welcome shade in the yellow glare every branch above threw so black and solid a shadow that the men involuntarily raised their feet to step over them the palm makes an excellent hat rack said scott his revolver and his water bottle over the little upward pointing which from the trunk as a shade tree however it isn t an success curious that in the universal of means to ends something a little less could not have been devised for the like the in india or the fine trees in where a whole regiment could under the shade the tree isn t bad in either by jove the has all come loose in the saddle bag that long cut mixture rather hot for this how about the they ll be here in five minutes down the winding path which curved among the rocks the little train of baggage was picking its way they came and along turning their heads slowly from side to side with the air of a self woman in front rode the the � three body servants upon and behind walked the boys they had been travelling for nine long hours ever since the first rising of the moon at the weary drag of two and a half miles an hour but now they brightened both beasts and men at the sight of the grove and the horses in a few minutes the loads were the animals a fire lighted fresh water carried up from the river and each provided with his own little heap of laid in the centre of the table cloth without which no well bred will condescend to feed the dazzling light without the subdued half tones within the green palm against the deep blue sky the flitting silent footed servants the of sticks the of a lighting fire the placid heads of the they all come bade in their dreams to those who have known them scott was breaking eggs into a pan and rolling out a love song in his rich deep voice with his head and arms buried in a deal packing case was working his way through of bully beef chicken and to reach the which lay beneath the conscientious with his upon his knee was down what the railway engineer had told him at the line end the day before suddenly he raised his eyes and saw the man himself on his chestnut pony dipping and rising over the broken ground here s a pretty his pony is in he s had her at that hand gallop for hours by the look of her the engineer a small compact man with a pointed the green flag etc red beard had made as though he would ride past their camp without word or halt now he and his pony down to a he headed her towards them for god s sake a he my tongue is stuck to the roof of my mouth ran with the water bottle scott with the and with the tin the engineer drank until his breath failed him well i must be off said he striking the drops from his red moustache any news a in the railway construction i must see the general it s the devil not having a telegraph anything we can report out came three i ll tell you after i ve seen the general any the usual up good bye with a soft upon the sand and a clatter among the stones the weary pony was off upon her journey once more nothing serious i suppose said staring after him serious cried scott the ham and eggs are burned no � it s all right � saved and done to a turn pull the box up come on that the fork is than the pen just at present what s the matter with you i was wondering whether what we have just seen was worth a well it s for the to say if it s worth it sordid money considerations are not for us we must the three wire about something just to justify our coats and our but what is there to say s long austere face broke into a smile over the s innocence it s not quite usual in our profession to give each other tips said he however as my is written i ve no objection to your reading it you may be sure that i would not show it to you if it were of the slightest importance took up the slip of paper and read � obstacles stop journey confer general stop nature difficulties later stop this is very said with wrinkled brows cried scott why it s if my old man got a wire like that his language would crack the lamp shades i d cut out half this for example i d have out journey and nature and but my old man would make a ten line paragraph of it for all that how well i ll do it myself just to show you lend me that he for a minute in his it works out somewhat on these lines � mr charles h the eminent railway engineer who is at present engaged in the construction of the line from to the front has met with considerable obstacles to the rapid completion of his important task � of course the old man knows who is and what he is about so the word obstacles would suggest all that to him he has today been compelled to make a journey 