office and the plans."

Whatever Garstin may have thought of these proceedings, he said nothing,
but followed submissively along the wharf. Perhaps, without knowing the
peculiar authority which had at the contractor's desire been vested in
Trevannion, he wondered that any engineer should wield such powers.
However, he had not much time for wondering, or indeed for anything
except the task of keeping pace with his nimble, long-legged comrade. He
kept stumbling over little heaps of granite and sand, over rails, along
which the travelling cranes moved ponderously, over bits of tarpaulin
and old iron instruments, over every object, in fact, that Trevannion
avoided with such apparent ease.

Garstin was rather a distressful youth by the time the shanty was
reached, for the pace had been hot, and he had been impeded by the fatal
greatcoat and muffler. After divesting himself of these he stood still
and breathed hard in front of a cheerful coke fire, while Trevannion
unrolled the plans and pinned them to the long, sloping desk occupying
one side of the room.

When all was ready the engineer began to explain the plans in detail,
elaborating the explanation with simpler explanation, getting through
the sections one by one with slow precision, repeating his elucidation
of black lines, red lines, and green lines, of the length, breadth, and
numbers of the piles, of the soil, subsoil, and sub-subsoil, that
received them; all this in the manner of one who is instructing a child
in the rudiments of engineering science, for he had made up his mind
that Garstin would want a lot of instructing.

Garstin seemed a patient listener, and Trevannion had almost begun to
enjoy himself, when the former suddenly laid his finger on a certain
spot and asked a question connected with water-pressure and the strength
of resisting force. Trevannion was surprised into returning what he
thought was the correct answer. He was still more surprised when the
other proceeded to prove by figures that that answer was incontestably
incorrect.

This was the beginning. Garstin quickly found more questions to put on
other points, more criticisms of Trevannion's replies. The latter at
first made desperate efforts to crush him by assuming the calm
superiority of the older hand. But with Garstin's logic it was useless
to be calm. It was worse than useless to try to be superior. The
intruder stuck to his guns with respectful pertinacity. Perhaps the fire
had warm