ing the words old and new in an ordinary sense, you
understand, but in a geological sense."

The boss said, "I understand," and that geology must be a very
interesting study.

Steelman ran his eye meditatively over the cutting again, and turning to
Smith said:

"Go up there, James, and fetch me a specimen of that slaty outcrop you
see there--just above the coeval strata."

It was a stiff climb and slippery, but Smith had to do it, and he did
it.

"This," said Steelman, breaking the rotten piece between his fingers,
"belongs probably to an older geological period than its position would
indicate--a primitive sandstone level perhaps. Its position on that
layer is no doubt due to volcanic upheavals--such disturbances, or
rather the results of such disturbances, have been and are the cause of
the greatest trouble to geologists--endless errors and controversy. You
see we must study the country, not as it appears now, but as it
would appear had the natural geological growth been left to mature
undisturbed; we must restore and reconstruct such disorganized portions
of the mineral kingdom, if you understand me."

The boss said he understood.

Steelman found an opportunity to wink sharply and severely at Smith, who
had been careless enough to allow his features to relapse into a vacant
grin.

"It is generally known even amongst the ignorant that rock grows--grows
from the outside--but the rock here, a specimen of which I hold in
my hand, is now in the process of decomposition; to be plain it is
rotting--in an advanced stage of decomposition--so much so that you are
not able to identify it with any geological period or formation, even as
you may not be able to identify any other extremely decomposed body."

The boss blinked and knitted his brow, but had the presence of mind to
say: "Just so."

"Had the rock on that cutting been healthy--been alive, as it were--you
would have had your work cut out; but it is dead and has been dead
for ages perhaps. You find less trouble in working it than you would
ordinary clay or sand, or even gravel, which formations together are
really rock in embryo--before birth as it were."

The boss's brow cleared.

"The country round here is simply rotting down--simply rotting down."

He removed his spectacles, wiped them, and wiped his face; then his
attention seemed to be attracted by some stones at his feet. He picked
one up and examined it.

"I shouldn't wonder," he mused, absently,