we saw a good deal of them. They were a very jolly lot, and they
gave me a most interesting account of their work and its
difficulties.''

Clay was looking at the other closely, as though he was
trying to find something back of what he was saying, but as his
glance seemed only to embarrass King he smiled freely again in
assent, and gave him his full attention.

``There are no men to-day, Miss Langham,'' King exclaimed,
suddenly, turning toward her, ``to my mind, who lead as
picturesque lives as do civil engineers. And there are no men
whose work is as little appreciated.''

``Really?'' said Miss Langham, encouragingly.

``Now those men I met,'' continued King, settling himself with
his side to the table, ``were all young fellows of thirty or
thereabouts, but they were leading the lives of pioneers and
martyrs--at least that's what I'd call it. They were marching
through an almost unknown part of Mexico, fighting Nature at
every step and carrying civilization with them. They were doing
better work than soldiers, because soldiers destroy things, and
these chaps were creating, and making the way straight. They had
no banners either, nor brass bands. They fought mountains and
rivers, and they were attacked on every side by fever and the
lack of food and severe exposure. They had to sit down around a
camp-fire at night and calculate whether they were to tunnel a
mountain, or turn the bed of a river or bridge it. And they knew
all the time that whatever they decided to do out there in the