"Come over here,
young fellow," he wrote. "We have got good billets at last with a big
British firm--Brown Bros., of London--a firm that's building railways
in Canada, bridges in India, harbour works in Argentina, and canals and
barrages here in Egypt. We can get you a nice little post as draughtsman
to begin with, and I enclose funds for the passage out. So come along."
But Peer did not go at once. He stayed on another year at the College,
as assistant to the lecturer on mechanics, while himself going through
the road and railway construction course, as his half-brother had done.
Some secret instinct urged him not to be left behind even in this.
As the year went on the letters from his two comrades became more and
more pressing and tempting. "Out here," wrote Klaus, "the engineer is
a missionary, proclaimer, not Jehovah, but the power and culture of
Europe. You're bound to take a hand in that, my boy. There's work worthy
of a great general waiting for you here."
At last, one autumn day, when the woods stood yellow all around the
town, Peer drove away from his home with a big new travelling-trunk
strapped to the driver's seat. He had been up to the churchyard before
starting, with a little bunch of flowers for Louise's grave. Who could
say if he would ever see it again?
At the station he stood for a moment looking back over the old city with
its cathedral, and the ancient fortress, where the sentry was pacing
back and forth against the skyline.
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