Part 1 (1/2)
Harry Esob
by Harry Collingwood
CHAPTER ONE
HOW THE ADVENTURE ORIGINATED
The hour was noon, the month chill October; and the occupants--a round dozen in nu office weredrawings and tracings, taking out quantities, preparing esti the several duties of a civil engineers' draughtsman as well as they could in a teed with smoke fro with the chief draughtsman's room opened and the head of Mr Richards, the occupant of that aparth the aperture At the sound of the opening door the draughtslanced up with one accord froht by Mr Richards, who, raising a beckoning finger, remarked:
”Esob, I want you,” and immediately retired
Thereupon Esob, the individual addressed, carefully wiped his drawing pen upon a duster, methodically laid the instrument in its proper place in the instruh stool,the door behind him He did this with some little trepidation; for these private intervieith his chief were more often than not of a distinctly unpleasant character, having reference to soht in the preparation of a drawing, or so for sharp rebuke; and as the lad-- he was but seventeen--accomplished the short journey from one room to the other he rapidly reviewed his most recent work, and endeavoured to decide in which job he was most likely to have made a mistake But before he could arrive at a decision on this point he was in the presence of Mr Richards, and a single glance at the chief draughtsman's face--now that it could be seen clearly and unveiled by a pall of smoke--sufficed to assure Harry Esob that in this case at least he had nothing in the nature of censure to fear For Mr Richards's face was beae atlas lay open upon the desk at which he stood
”Sit down, Esob,” remarked the dreaded potentate as he pointed to a chair
Esob seated himself; and then ensued a silence of a fullhow to begin At length--
”How long have you been with us, Esob?” he enquired, hoisting himself onto a stool as he put the question
”A little over two years,” answered Esob ”I signed my articles with Sir Philip on the first of September the year before last, and came on duty the next day”
”Two years!” ejaculated Mr Richards ”I did not think it had been so long 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, Esob?”
”Only one year more, Mr Richards,” answered the lad
”Ah!” coain, characteristically
”Look here, Esob,” he resumed; ”you have done very well since you came here; Sir Philip is very pleased with you, and so am I I have hadhard 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?”
Esob 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 th and breadth of it And what there is is made up principally of short bits scattered about here and there But there is soone so far that Sir Philip has been co 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 fro 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 sche of a coth and breadth of Lake titicaca Now, all this means a lot of very important and careful survey hich 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 experience in a branch of your profession that you know very little of, as yet; and if the scheme should be carried out, you, in consequence of the familiarity with the country which you will have acquired, will stand an excellent chance of obtaining a good post on the job Nohat do you say, Esob; are you willing to go? Your pay during the survey will be a guinea a day--seven days a week-- beginning on the day you sail fro on the day of your return; first-class passage out and home; all expenses paid; twenty-five pounds allowed for a special outfit; and everything in the shape of surveying instruments and other necessaries, found After your return you will of course be retained in the office to work out the schereat extent depend upon the way in which you work upon the survey; while, in the event of the scheood post on the engineering staff, at a salary that will certainly not be less than your pay during the survey, andEsob's heart leapt within hi out before him, a prospect which promised to put an abrupt and permanent end to certain sordid e his poor edher beloved head with many premature white hairs For Harry's father had died about fourhis affairs in a condition of such hopeless disorder that the fa them, with the result that thehad found herself left almost penniless, with no apparent resource but to allow her daughter Lucy to go out into a cold, unsy and face the , lovely, innocent, and unprotected girl But here was a way out of all their difficulties; for, as Harry rapidly bethought hied upon the survey, he could arrange for at least three hundred pounds of his yearly salary to be paid to his mother at home, which, with economy and what little she had already, would suffice to enable her and Lucy to live in their present modest home, free from actual want
There was but one fly in his ointramme which Mr Richards had sketched out, and that was Mr Butler, thethe execution of the survey This man ell known to the occupants of Sir Philip Swinburne's drawing office as a ance of speech and offensiveness offault 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 efficienta certain task, he would invariably insist upon the adoption of that reatest aer, and then calmly sit down in safety and comfort to see it done Mr Richards had said that Esob would, upon his return to England, be retained in the office to work out the schereat 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 Noas known that, in addition to possessing the unenviable attributes alreadyan undying enainst all who had ever presumed to thwart or offend him, and he seemed to be one of those unfortunately constituted individuals who It is therefore not to be wondered at if Esob hesitated aMr Richards's offer
”Well, Esob, what do you say?” enquired the chief draughtsthy pause ”You do not see yourself of the opportunity that I a you Is it the climate that you are afraid of? I am told that Peru is a perfectly healthy country”
”No, Mr Richards,” answered Esob ”I a of the cli me You must be fully aware of the reputation which he holds in the office as a man hom it is absolutely impossible to work amicably There is Munro, who helped hi would induce hiain put himself in Mr Butler's power; and you will reave of Munro's behaviour during the survey Yet the rest of us have found Munro to be invariablyin every way Then there was Fielding--and Pierson--and Marshall--”
”Yes, I know,” interrupted Mr Richards rather ihtly understand those affairs, or toIt may be that there were faults on both sides But, be that as it may, Mr Butler is a first-rate surveyor; we have always found his work to be absolutely accurate and reliable; and Sir Philip has given him this survey to do; so it is too late for us to draw back now, even if Sir Philip would, which I do not think in the least likely So, if you do not feel inclined to take on the job--”
”No; please do not mistake my hesitation,” interrupted Esob ”I will take the post, ratefully, and do ive in an unfavourable report of me when all is over, I should like you to reone out under hiranted, without enquiry, that his report is perfectly just and unbiased”
This was a rather bold thing for a youngster of Esob's years to say in relation to a h to be his father; but Mr Richards passed it over--possibly he knew rather more about those past episodes than he cared to ad:
”Very well, then; I dare say that will be all right Now you had better go to Mitford and draw the et from him a list of what you will require; and to-ive your orders before co to the office But you ood time, for you sail for Callao this day three weeks”