so
perfectly quiet and peaceful was the end that it was some time before
young Escombe could convince himself that his chief was really dead; but
when at length there could no longer be any question as to the fact, the
body was at once wrapped in the waterproof sheet which had formed a
makeshift tent for the shelter of the sick man, and packed, with as much
reverence as the circumstances would allow, upon the deceased man's
horse, for conveyance back to camp for interment, the pair having with
them no implements wherewith to dig a grave. Moreover, Harry considered
that, taking the somewhat peculiar circumstances of the case into
consideration, it was very desirable that the body should be seen and
identified by the other members of the survey party before burial took
place.

This event occurred on the evening of the third day after death, Escombe
himself reading the burial service; and he afterwards fashioned with his
own hands, and placed at the head of the grave, a wooden cross, upon
which he roughly but deeply cut with his pocket knife the name of the
dead man and the date of his death. He also, as a matter of precaution,
took a very careful set of astronomical observations for the
determination of the exact position of the grave, recording the result
in his diary at the end of the long entry detailing all the
circumstances connected with the sad event.

Escombe now suddenly found his young shoulders burdened with a heavy
load of responsibility, for not only did Butler's death leave the lad in
sole charge of the survey party, with the task of carrying on unaided
the exceedingly important work upon which that party was engaged, until
assistance could be sent out to him from England; but it also became his
immediate duty to report all the circumstances of the death of his
leader to the British Consul at Lima--who would doubtless put in motion
the necessary machinery for the capture and punishment of the men who
were responsible for the events which had brought about Butler's death--
and also to Sir Philip Swinburne, who would, of course, in turn,
communicate the sad intelligence to the deceased man's family. And
there were also all Butler's private effects to be packed up and sent
home forthwith.

Yet, taking everything into consideration, the death of his chief was a
relief rather than otherwise to the lad, unfeeling though the statement
may appear at the first blush. Butler was a man for whom it was quite
im