Page:While the Billy Boils, 1913.djvu/340

 Steelman studied his man and concluded that he would do.

'Having a look at the country, I suppose?' asked the Boss presently.

'Yes,' said Steelman; then after a moment's reflection: 'I am travelling for my own amusement and improvement, and also in the interest of science, which amounts to the same thing. I am a member of the Royal Geological Society―vice-president in fact of a leading Australian branch;' and then, as if conscious that he had appeared guilty of egotism, he shifted the subject a bit. 'Yes. Very interesting country this―very interesting indeed. I should like to make a stay here for a day or so. Your work opens right into my hands. I cannot remember seeing a geological formation which interested me so much. Look at the face of that cutting, for instance. Why! you can almost read the history of the geological world from yesterday―this morning as it were―beginning with the super-surface on top and going right down through the different layers and stratas―through the vanished ages―right down and back to the prehistorical―to the very primeval or fundamental geological formations!' And Steelman studied the face of the cutting as if he could read it like a book, with every layer or stratum a chapter, and every streak a note of explanation. The Boss seemed to be getting interested, and Steelman gained confidence and proceeded to identify and classify the different 'stratas and layers,' and fix their ages, and describe the conditions and politics of Man in their different times, for the Boss's benefit.