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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Robert W. Messler, Jr., Ph.D., is a recipient of numerous awards for teaching materials, welding, joining,
and design at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He practiced engineering for 16 years in industry, and
then for 7 years he served as Technical Director of RPI’s world-renowned Center for Manufacturing
Productivity. Dr. Messler has authored five other technical books and is a fellow of both ASM
International and the American Welding Society.
This page intentionally left blank
 Contents

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi

INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
CHAPTER 1 Engineers as Problem Solvers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
CHAPTER 2 Problem-Solving Skills versus Process versus Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

PART ONE Mathematical Approaches to Problem-Solving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

CHAPTER 3 Using Equations (Plug-and-Chug) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
CHAPTER 4 Approximating and Estimating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
CHAPTER 5 Interpolating and Extrapolating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
CHAPTER 6 Checking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
CHAPTER 7 Dimensional Analysis and Reconciling Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
CHAPTER 8 Using Similarity and Ratios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
CHAPTER 9 Using Indexes or Indices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
CHAPTER 10 Scaling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
CHAPTER 11 Sensitivity Analysis (of Parameters) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
CHAPTER 12 Response Curves and Surfaces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
CHAPTER 13 Numerical Analysis and Methods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
CHAPTER 14 Dimensionless Quantities or Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
CHAPTER 15 Assumptions, Constraints, Conditions, and Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

PART TWO Physical/Mechanical Approaches to Problem-Solving . . . . . . . . . 125

CHAPTER 16 Reverse Engineering. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
CHAPTER 17 Material Property Correlations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
CHAPTER 18 Proof-of-Concept Models. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
CHAPTER 19 Experimental Models and Model Experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
CHAPTER 20 Test Models and Model Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
CHAPTER 21 Mock-ups and Masters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
CHAPTER 22 Prototypes and Rapid Prototyping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
CHAPTER 23 Trial and Error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

PART THREE Visual, Graphic, or Iconic Approaches to Problem-Solving . . . 169

CHAPTER 24 Sketching and Rendering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
CHAPTER 25 Tracings and Transfers, Templates, Lofting and Lines-Taking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
CHAPTER 26 Graphing and Graphical Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
CHAPTER 27 Layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
CHAPTER 28 Flow Diagrams and Flowcharts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

ix
x Contents

CHAPTER 29 Causal Diagrams or Cause-and-Effect Diagrams. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

CHAPTER 30 Decision Trees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

PART FOUR Conceptual or Abstract Approaches to Problem-Solving . . . . . 215

CHAPTER 31 Brainstorming: Process, Methodology, and Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
CHAPTER 32 Using Analogs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
CHAPTER 33 Dissecting Problems: Decoupling and Coupling, Zooming In
and Zooming Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
CHAPTER 34 Working Problems Backward and Inverse Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
CHAPTER 35 Functional Analysis and Black Boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
CHAPTER 36 Morphological Analysis and Morphological Charts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
CHAPTER 37 Storyboarding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
CHAPTER 38 Iteration and the Iterative Design Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

Closing Thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
 Preface

Inhabitants of our planet have been faced with problems that need to be overcome since they first
walked erect . . . and, perhaps, before. Even many of our fellow creatures are faced with problems that
have to be overcome, from building a nest, den, or lair, to finding and securing food, to fording streams,
crossing swampy ground, or surviving storms. But human beings have distinguished themselves as
problem solvers from time immemorial. From the “architects” (actually, engineers) who designed and
built the Great Pyramids at Giza to the myriad of engineers of many disciplines who allowed a man to
plant an American flag on the Moon before returning safely to Earth, mind-boggling problems—that
most of these people would have referred to as “challenges,” as opposed to problems, in their optimistic
outlook—had to be overcome by a combination of ingenuity, creativity, agility, and versatility.
While a formal education in the sciences, mathematics, and basics of engineering (statics, dynamics,
fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, kinetics, heat transfer, electronics, etc.), followed by discipline-
specific required and elective courses, is necessary for a young person to become an engineer, this is
not sufficient. To become a real engineer, one needs to “marinate” in engineering by working with and
among other engineers, technicians, and skilled crafts- and tradespersons, learning the techniques of
problem-solving that were probably not explicitly taught, if they were even mentioned, in engineering
school. It is knowledge of these techniques that allows one to both solve a problem and, in the
longer haul, approach problem-solving with confidence. Knowing what to do to solve a problem is
empowering, while solving the problem is often only momentarily fulfilling.
It is the premise of this book, which the author derived from more than 25 years as an “engineer
who teaches,” that simply being given innumerable problems within courses to solve in a variety of
subject areas may not enlighten the student with recognition of the technique that was employed to allow
success. After all, it is a stark reality that an engineering student’s first objective is to survive engineering
school. His or her second objective—despite what professional educators and parents, alike, desire—is
learning for the long haul. Even more significant may be that faculty in modern engineering schools
or colleges build careers on the success of their research and fulfill an essential need by teaching what
they know best. What they know best is, of course, their area of specialization, on which their research
is based. Fewer and fewer of those who enter an academic career in engineering do so from a former
position as a practicing engineer. Rather, more and more, they do so either directly from graduate school
or through a carefully structured set of experiences as researchers (e.g., graduate research assistants,
postdocs, tenure-track/tenured faculty). Thus, the reality is, fewer and fewer of those charged with
teaching engineering actually practiced engineering; that is, they never “marinated” in engineering.
Not surprisingly, therefore, fewer and fewer are explicitly aware of the variety of techniques by which
real-world problems can be solved—beyond mathematical approaches based largely on “plug-and-chug”
manipulations of equations using given values to arrive at a closed-ended solution.
This book is intended to end this situation—to attempt to shortcut the process of gaining the self-
confidence that comes with having a diverse set of powerful tools and techniques by which problems
can be approached and solved. By putting more than 50 tried-and-true techniques in writing, organized
into mathematical approaches, physical/mechanical approaches, visual/graphic approaches, and abstract/
conceptual approaches, and by illustrative examples of how each technique can be used, the young
engineer-to-be or young engineer new to practice is made patently aware of how to solve problems.
To keep what could easily become tedium from closing off one’s mind, if not making one close the

xi
xii Preface

book, the writing style is kept as comfortable and conversational as possible. But readability doesn’t
sacrifice technical accuracy or sophistication. Throughout the book, the author has interspersed what he
hopes are enlightening and fun historical contexts and anecdotes. Likewise, each chapter contains figures
that attempt to be visually striking as much as enlightening and tables that either summarize or support
key concepts.
Most important, it is the author’s sincere hope that readers will find this a joy-filled journey, as much
as or more than simply another important technical book. Get ready to see the myriad of timeless and
time-tested techniques used by our proud forbearers in engineering, and enjoy the journey.

Robert W. Messler, Jr.

 Engineering
Problem-Solving
101
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Introduction
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This page intentionally left blank
 C HA P T E R 1

Engineers as Problem Solvers

A problem is defined as “a question or situation that presents uncertainty, perplexity, or difficulty.”1

For as long as human beings have existed, we have, as a species, been faced with problems that need to
be overcome— sometimes to survive, sometimes to be safe or secure or more comfortable, sometimes to
extend our mobility and/or our range, and sometimes simply (but profoundly!) to make our presence on
this planet and in this universe apparent and more meaningful over time.
We are not alone as problem solvers. Other animals, from ants to apes, also face problems, over
a wide range of complexity, that need to be dealt with. But our fellow species on Earth deal with
problems in the first three categories only, and in order: (1) to survive, (2) to be secure, or (3) to
extend mobility and/or range. Only we humans have ever taken on problems to make our presence
known across space and time. This is not surprising when one considers the Hierarchy of Needs first
proposed by the Brooklyn-born American psychologist Abraham Maslow (1908–1970) in his Theory of
Human Motivation in 1943. As shown in Figure 1–1, the three lowest levels of Maslow’s hierarchical
pyramid—in order, “Physiological Needs” (sometimes given as “Biological Needs” or “Survival
Needs”), “Safety Needs” (sometimes given as “Security Needs”), and “Belonging Needs” (sometimes
given as “Love and Relationship Needs”)—are collectively referred to as “D [deficiency] needs,”
while the two highest levels—in order, “Esteem Needs” (sometimes “Self-Esteem Needs”) and
“Self-Actualization Needs”—are collectively referred to as “B [being] needs.”2 The former of Maslow’s
two highest needs, involving the need to be accepted, respected, and valued by others, might be seen
as shared by some higher-order mammals, as with alpha males among most herd or pack animals and
among all primates. The latter, highest-of-all need, however, to be all that we are capable of being, is
uniquely human.3
As but a few examples of animals solving problems are the following:
■ Orangutans4 and chimpanzees using sticks as tools to collect insects from holes and, as shown
in Figure 1–2, by wild gorillas as stabilizers while they forage aquatic herbs—to eat and survive
(Level 1).
■ Orangutans using large leaves as umbrellas or rooftops to protect themselves (and their young)
from the rain, as shown in Figure 1–3, or fern branches to protect themselves from the hot sun of
Borneo—to be more secure and comfortable (Level 2).
■ Beavers moving mud and rocks and cutting down small trees and branches to make dams and lodges
(Figure 1–4)—to be more secure and comfortable, as well as to satisfy needs for relationships with
mates and offspring by building communal lodges (Levels 2 and 3).

1
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition, 2006, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, MA.
2
Maslow subsequently extended his ideas to include his observations of humans’ innate curiosity, which, especially apropos to the
subject of this book, brings with it a need to be strong problem solvers.
3
Viktor Emil Frankl, the Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist, added a sixth level to Maslow’s hierarchy, i.e., “Self-
Transcendence,” in which people seek to go beyond their prior form or state.
4
Orang-utans literally means “person” (orang) of the “forest” (hutan) in the native language of Borneo, where these great apes are
found.

3
4 Introduction

Self-actualization
(Achieving individual potential)

Esteem
(self-esteem and esteem from others)

Belonging
(Love, affection, being a part of groups)

Safety
(Shelter, removal from danger)

Physiological
(Health, food, sleep)

Figure 1–1 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

■ Beavers cutting and moving trees to create bridges across boggy areas and streams—to increase their
mobility, extend their range, and attend to their needs for love, affection, and belonging by improving
chances to find a suitable mate (Level 3).
■ Ants building bridges using their own bodies to enable other ants to cross an obstacle (see YouTube.
com, “Ants Engineering—Building Bridge Within No Time”)—to increase their mobility and extend
their range (Levels 1 and 3). Remarkable video, more remarkable problem-solving, as one watches
the first ants to encounter the obstacle assessing the problem and a solution!
Of course, most of us are aware how clever common tree squirrels are at problem-solving when it
comes to getting food from hanging bird feeders, even “squirrel-proof ” ones, by causing them to spill
seeds onto the ground by shaking or even spinning the feeder.5 Recent studies have also proven that
Aesop’s fable “The Crow and the Pitcher,” in which a crow drops pebbles into a pitcher half filled with
water to raise the level to allow him to drink, has a real basis in fact. Rooks (relatives of crows) have
been observed dropping small rocks into water to raise the level to allow a worm floating on the surface
to be caught.6
Clever as our animal friends are, they don’t come close to solving the number, diversity, and
complexity of problems that we humans have solved and continue to solve since our appearance on this
planet. In fact, there are people who are specially trained to solve problems for the benefit of others.
They are known as engineers. According to the dictionary,7 engineers, as a plural noun, are defined
thus: “[Engineers] apply scientific and mathematical principles to practical ends such as the design,
construction, and operation of efficient and economical structures, equipment, and systems.” As a verb,
to engineer means “to plan, manage, or put through by skillful acts or contrivance,” the latter term
meaning to “devise with cleverness or ingenuity.” By this last definition, some of our animal friends are
definitely Nature’s engineers. But we human engineers truly excel at problem-solving.
No one could begin to list, no less describe, the innumerable problems solved by engineers over the
ages, and this book is not intended to see what problems engineers have solved; rather, it is intended
to compile and describe what techniques engineers use in problem-solving. But we can probably agree
that problem-solving for engineers falls into one of two broad categories: Problem-solving of necessity
5
Search YouTube.com under “Squirrels get to bird feeder . . .” to see real animal ingenuity at work!
6
Check out www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090806121754.htm.
7
Ibid., Footnote 1.
 CHAPTER 1 ■ Engineers as Problem Solvers 5

Figure 1–2 A wild gorilla using a dead stick (top image, to her left) as a stabilizer while using her other,
free hand to gather aquatic herbs. (Source: Originally by T. Breuer, M. Ndounoku-Hockemba,
and V. Fishlock, in “First Observations of Tool Use in Wild Gorillas,” PLoS Biol [Journal of
the Public Library of Science] 3(11):e380, 2005; WikiMedia Commons from an image search,
used freely under Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 license.)

and necessary problem-solving. The former involves solving problems that must be solved on their
own account—as ends in themselves—the most obvious examples being problem situations that are
life-threatening (e.g., preventing life-destroying flooding along rivers using dikes or protecting ships
and sailors from life-threatening rock outcroppings using lighthouses). The latter involve solving the
many and varied problems that arise in the course of voluntarily undertaking each and every design or
construction project (e.g., stabilizing the soil for the foundation of a large civil structure or lifting heavy
structural elements into place) or operating equipment, a process, or a system (e.g., achieving desired
control for safety, efficiency, and economy). The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World are an interesting
case in point.
Created in various versions in the first and second centuries BC, most notably by Antipater of Sidon
and an observer identified as Philon of Byzantium, the original list was more a guidebook of “must see”
sites for Hellenic tourists than any attempt to catalog great works of engineering located around the

Figure 1–3 Orangutans use large leaves as

umbrellas or rooftops to improve
their comfort. Here an orangutan Figure 1–4 Beavers move mud and rocks and
in Tanjung Putting National Park cut down branches and trees to build
near Camp Leakey in Kalimantan, dams and lodges for security and
Indonesia, uses leaves as protection comfort. (Source: www.furtrapper
from rain. (Source: Photograph taken .com; O. Ned Eddins, Afton, WY, used
by Paul and Paveena McKenzie and with his kind permission.)
used with their kind permission.)
6 Introduction

TABLE 1–1 The Seven Ancient Wonders of the World

Wonder Construction Builder Notable Destruction Modern
Date Feature Date/Cause Location
Great Pyramid 2584–2561 BC Egyptians Tomb for Still exists Giza, Egypt
Pharaoh Khufu
Hanging ~600 BC Babylonians Multilevel ~1st century Al Hillah, Babil,
Gardens of gardens, with BC/Earthquake Iraq
Babylon irrigation
system. Built
for Amytis
of Media
by husband
Nebuchadnezzar
II
Temple of c. 550 BC Lydians, Dedicated to 356 BC/by Near Selcuk,
Artemis Persians, Greek goddess Herostratus Izmir,
Greeks Artemis; took Turkey by
120 years to Goths
build AD 262
Statue of Zeus 466–456 BC Greeks Occupied 5th–6th Olympia,
at Olympus (Temple) 435 whole width of centuries AD/ Greece
(Statue) BC temple aisle Fire
(12 m/40 ft)
Mausoleum of 351 BC Carians, 45 m (150 ft) by AD 1494/ Bodrum,
Halicarnassus Persians, tall, adorned First a flood, Turkey
Greeks with sculptural then an
reliefs earthquake
Colossus of 292–280 BC Greeks 35 m (110 ft) 226 BC/ Rhodes, Greece
Rhodes statue of Greek Earthquake
god Helios
Lighthouse of c. 280 BC Hellenistic 115–135 m AD 1303–1480/ Alexandria,
Alexandria Egypt, Greeks (380–440 ft) Fires and Egypt
tall; Island of earthquakes
Pharos became
the Latin word
for lighthouse

Mediterranean Sea.8 Table 1–1 lists the Seven Ancient Wonders and some basic information on each,
while Figure 1–5 shows an artist’s concepts of the seven. A strong argument could be made that only the
Lighthouse at Alexandria was probably a solution to a problem (for navigators to the greatest city of the
time), that is, involved problem-solving of necessity. The others—while each a marvel of engineering at
any time, no less during ancient times—were more an appeal to one of Maslow’s two highest-level needs
for self-esteem and self-actualization. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, on the other hand, was surely
created out of the need for King Nebuchadnezzar to express his love for his wife, Amytis of Media,
fulfilling a Level 3 relationship need.

8
For the ancient Greeks, the region surrounding the Mediterranean Sea was their known world (i.e., the Hellenic world). They
probably didn’t venture far beyond this area.
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
 With right goodwill Mr. Kippilaw hastened to obey the Peer's injunctions
in both instances.

He wrote to Shafto curtly, relating all that had transpired, adding that he
(Shafto) could not retain his present position for another day without risking
a public trial, and that if he would confess the vile and cruel imposture of
which he had been guilty he might escape being sent to prison, and
obtaining perhaps 'permanent employment' in the Perth Penitentiary.

This letter—though not unexpected—proved a most bitter pill to Shafto!

He saw that 'the game was up'—his last card played, that life had no more
in it for him, and that there was nothing left for him but to fly the country
and his debts together.

His face was set hard, and into his shifty grey eyes came the savage
gleam one may see in those of a cat before it springs, but with this
expression were mingled rage and fear.

With Mr. Kippilaw's letter were two others, from different parties. In one
he was informed that legal proceedings had been taken against him, and in
default of his putting in an appearance, judgment for execution and costs
had been given against him in an English court, for £847 16s. 8d., in favour
of a Jew, who held another bill, which, though it originally represented
£400, would cost £800 before he parted with it; and Shafto actually laughed
a little bitter and discordant laugh as he rent the lawyers' letters into
fragments and cast them to the wind.

Before departing, however, and before his story transpired, he contrived

to borrow from the butler and housekeeper every spare pound they
possessed, and quietly went forth, portmanteau in hand.

Did he as he thus left the house recall the auspicious day on which he
had first seen, with keen and avaricious exultation, Craigengowan in all its
baronial beauty, its wealth of pasture and meadow-land, of wood, and moor,
and mountain, and deemed that all—all were, or would be, his?

He turned his back on the Howe of the Mearns for ever, and from that
hour all trace of him was lost!
 *****

The reply to Mr. Kippilaw's telegram to South Africa gave him, and even
his noble client, cause for some anxiety.

It was dated from Headquarters, Ulundi, on the last day of August, and
stated that Lieutenant MacIan 'was down with fever, and not expected to
live.'

So—if he died—the title of Fettercairn, being a Scottish one, would go

to Finella, and the heir male of whosoever she married.

CHAPTER XIV.

IN THE NGOME FOREST.

We now approach the last scenes of Florian's foreign service.

By the 13th of August the cordon of European troops and Native lines
drawn round the district in which the fugitive King of the Zulus lurked had
been drawn closer, and it was now distinctly known at headquarters in
Ulundi that he had sought refuge in the Forest of Ngome, a wild, most
savage and untrodden district between two rivers (with long and grotesque
names), tributaries of the Black Umvolosi, and overshadowed by a
mountain chain called the Ngome.

Various parties detailed for the pursuit, search, and capture failed, till, on
the 26th August, the Chief of the Staff received information indicating
where Cetewayo was certain to be found, and Major Marter, of the King's
Dragoon Guards, was ordered to proceed next day in that direction with a
squadron of his own regiment, a company of the Native Contingent,
Lonsdale's Horse, and a few Mounted Infantry, led by Florian and another
officer. The former was already suffering from fever caught by exposure to
the night dews when scouting, and felt so weak and giddy that at times he
could barely keep in his saddle; but, full of youthful ardour and zeal, fired
by the promotion and praises he had won, he was anxious only, if life were
spared him, to see the closing act of the great campaign in South Africa.

The early morning of the 27th saw the Horse depart, the King's Dragoon
Guards leading the way, after the Mounted Infantry scouts; and picturesque
they looked in their bright scarlet tunics and white helmets, with
accoutrements glittering as they rode in Indian file through the scenery of
the tropical forest, and then for a time debouched upon open ground.

Nodding in his saddle, Florian felt spiritless and sick at heart, wishing
intensely that the last act was over.

Far in the distance around extended a range of mountains that were

purple and blue in their hues, even against the greenish-blue of the sky, and
vast tracts of wood, tinted with every hue of green, red, and golden; in the
foreground were brawling streams dashing through channels of rock to join
the Black Umvolosi, under graceful date palms, mimosa trees, and the
undergrowth of baboon ropes and other giant trailers. Scared troops of the
eland, grey and brown herds of fleet antelopes glided past, and more, than
once the roar of a lion made the wilderness re-echo.

And this ground had to be traversed under a fierce and burning sun till
the valley of the Ivuno River was reached, prior to which three Dragoon
Guard horses were carried off and devoured by lions.

So passed the day. The party reached a lonely little kraal on the summit
of the Nenye Mountain, and bivouacked there for the night.

Stretched on the floor of a hut, after drinking thirstily of some weak

brandy and water, Florian watched the blood-red disc of the sun, mightier
than it is ever seen in Europe, amid the luminous haze, begin to disappear
behind the verge of the vast forest—the sea of timber—that spread below,
casting forward in dark outline the quaint and grotesque euphorbia trees that
at times take the shape of Indian idols.
 Then a mist stole over the waste below, and a single star shone out with
wondrous brilliance.

Florian was so weak in the morning that he would fain have abandoned
the duty on which he had come, and remained in the hut at the kraal; but to
linger behind was only to court death by the teeth of wild animals or the
hands of scouting Zulus, so wearily he clambered, rather than sprang as of
old, into his saddle.

'Pull yourself together, if you can, my dear fellow,' said an officer; 'our
task will soon be over. It is something after a close run to be in at the death;
and it is waking men with their swords, not dreamers with their pens, who
make history.'

'I am no dreamer,' said Florian, scarcely seeing the point of the other's
remark.

'I did not mean that you were,' said the other, proffering his cigar-case;
'have a weed?'

But Florian shook his head with an emotion of nausea.

'Forward, in single file from the right,' was the order given, for the sun
would soon be up now. Already the bees were humming loudly among the
tall reeds and giant flowers beside the stream that flowed downward from
the kraal, the forest stems looked black or bronze-like in the grey and then
crimson dawn, while the stars faded out fast.

In advancing to another kraal on the mountain, Major Marter's force had

to traverse the forest bush, where trees of giant height and girth, matted and
inter-woven by baboon ropes and other trailers, shut out even the fierce sun
of Africa, and made a cool green roof or leafy shade, where the grass grew
tall as a Grenadier, where hideous apes barked and chattered, bright-hued
parrots croaked or screamed, and where nature seemed to have run wild in
unbridled luxuriance since the Ark rested on Ararat, and the waters of the
flood subsided.
 The mountains of the Ngome, and overlooking the forest of that name,
are flat-topped, like all others in South Africa; but Major Marter found the
western slope to be dangerously precipitous, and thence he and his guides
looked down into a densely wooded valley, lying more than two thousand
feet below.

About two miles distant, thin smoke could be seen ascending amid the
greenery, from a small kraal by the side of a brawling stream, and therein
Cetewayo was known to be.

As cavalry could not reach the bottom without making a very long
detour, the Major ordered all the mounted men to lay aside their bright steel
scabbards, and all other accoutrements likely to create a rattling noise, and
these, with the pack horses, were left in charge of a small party, the
command of which was offered to the sinking Florian, who foolishly
declined, and rode with the rest to a less precipitous slope of the hills three
miles distant, down which the Dragoon Guards led their chargers by the
bridle, crossed the stream referred to, a small fence, and a marsh, and,
remounting, made a dash for the kraal, sword in hand, from the north, while
the Native Contingent formed up south of it on some open ground.

The capture of Cetewayo is an event too recent to be detailed at length

here.

It is known how his few followers, on seeing the red-coated cavalry

riding up, shouted, in unison with the Native Contingent:

'The white men are here—you are taken!'

Then the fallen royal savage came forth, looking weary, weak, and
footsore; and when a soldier—Tom Tyrrell—attempted to seize him, he
drew himself up with an air of simple dignity, and repelled him.

'Touch me not, white soldier!' he exclaimed; 'I am a King, and surrender

only to your chief.'

With their prisoner strictly guarded, the party passed the night of the
29th August in the forest of Ngome, and Florian, as he flung himself on the
dewy grass, with fevered limbs and aching head, felt an emotion of
thankfulness that all was over, and it was nearly so with himself now!

The moon had not yet risen; the darkness was dense around the hut
where lay Cetewayo, guarded by many a sabre and bayonet; and the jackals
and hyenas were making night hideous with their howling, mingled at times
with the yells of wild dogs.

Ever and anon the barking of baboons, as they swung themselves from
branch to branch, seemed to indicate the approach of some great beast of
prey, and the crackle of dry twigs suggested the slimy crawling of a
poisonous snake.

So passed the night in the Forest of Ngome. With dawn the trumpet
sounded 'To horse,' and again the whole party moved on the homeward way
to Ulundi. The night in the dreary forest, lying out in the open, had done its
worst for Florian. On reaching the camp he fell from his saddle into the
arms of the watchful Tom Tyrrell, and was carried to his tent, prostrate and
delirious.

Hence the tenor of the telegram received from the medical staff by Mr.
Kenneth Kippilaw.

How Florian lived to reach Durban, conveyed there with other sick in the
ambulance waggons, he never knew, so heavily was the hand of fever laid
on him; but many a time he had seen, as in a dream, the horses straggling
through bridgeless torrents, and graves dug amid the pathless wastes for
those who died on the route, and were laid therein, rolled in their blanket,
and covered up before their limbs were cold, till at last the village of
Durban—for it is little else, though the principal seaport of Natal—was
reached, and he was placed in an extemporised hospital.

In his weakness, after the delirium passed away, he felt always as one in
a dream. The windows were open to the breeze from the Indian Ocean, and
the roar of the surf could be heard without ceasing on the sandy beach,
while at night the sharp crescent moon shone like a silver sabre in the clear
blue sky, and, laden with the perfume of many tropical plants, the sweet air
without struggled with the close atmosphere of the crowded hospital wards,
in which our 'boy soldiers died like sick flies,' as a general officer reported.

And there he lay, hour after hour, wasted by the fever born of miasma
and the jungle, rigid and corpse-like in outline, under the light white
coverlet. For how long or how short this was to last no one ventured to
surmise.

He had ceased now to toss to and fro on his pillow and pour forth
incoherent babble, in which Revelstoke, Dulcie Carlyon, his boyish days,
and the recent stirring events of the now-ended campaign were all strangely
woven together, while Tom Tyrrell, now his constant attendant, who nursed
him tenderly as a woman would have done, had listened with alarm and
dismay. And more than once Florian had dreamed that Tom, bearded to the
eyes, bronzed to negro darkness, and clad in an old patched regimental
tunic, was not Tom at all, but Dulcie, the girl he loved so passionately,
watching there, smoothing his pillow and holding the cup with its cooling
draught to his parched lips.

'They say that fever must run its course, sir, whatever that means,' said
Tom to the doctor.

'Ah! a fever like this is a very touch-and-go affair,' responded old

Gallipot, in whom the telegrams from headquarters and from Edinburgh had
given a peculiar interest for his patient.

'Am I dying, doctor—don't fear to tell me?' asked the latter suddenly in a
low, husky voice.

'Why do you ask, my poor fellow?' replied the doctor, bending over him.

'I mean simply, is the end of this illness—death?'

'To tell you the truth, I greatly fear it is,' replied the doctor, shaking his
head.

'God's will be done!' said Florian resignedly. 'Well, well, perhaps it is

better so—I am so far gone—but Dulcie!' he added to himself in a husky
whisper—'poor Dulcie, alone—all alone!'

His senses had quite returned now, but he was so weak that he could
neither move hand nor foot, and his eyelids, unable to uphold their own
weight, closed as soon as raised, and often while his parched tongue clove
to the roof of his mouth as he lay thus he was supposed to be asleep.

'Poor fellow!' he heard Tom Tyrrell whisper to an hospital orderly in a

broken voice; 'he's got his marching orders, and will soon be off—yet he
doesn't seem to suffer much.'

How hard it was to die so young, with what should have been a long life
before him, and now one with honours won to make it valuable.

Well, well, he thought, if it was God's will it would be no worse for him
than for others. It seemed as natural to die as to be born—our place in the
world is vacant before and after; but yet, again, it was hard, he thought, to
die, and die so young in a distant and barbarous land, where the savage, the
wild animal, and the Kaffir vulture would be the only loiterers near his
lonely and unmarked grave.

There came a day when the scene changed to him again. He was in the
cabin of a ship, lying near an open port-hole, through which he could see
the ocean rippling like molten gold in the setting sun, the red light of which
bathed in ruddy tints the shore of Durban and the white lighthouse on the
bluff that guards its entrance.

Anon he heard the tramp overhead of the seamen as they manned the
capstan bars and tripped merrily round to the sound of drum and fife,
heaving short on the anchor, and heaving with a will, till it was apeak.
Then, the canvas was let fall and sheeted home; the revolution of the screw-
propeller was felt to make the great 'trooper' vibrate in all her length, and
the glittering waves began to roll astern as she sped on her homeward way.

Would he live to see the end of the voyage? It seemed very

problematical.
 CHAPTER XV.

THE MAJOR PROPOSES.

Meanwhile Hammersley's suspicion and jealousy grew apace, and it has

been said that when the latter emotion begins to reason, we legally 'always
hold a brief for the prosecution in such cases, and admit no evidence save
that which tends to a conviction.'

In his rage he thought of quitting London and going—but where? He

knew not then precisely.

'Oh, to be well and strong again!' he would mutter; 'out of this place and
back to the regiment and the old life. There is a shindy brewing fast in the
Transvaal, and that will be the place for me.'

At other times he would think—'I wish that recruit of Cardwell's had put
his bullet through my brain. I would rather he had done so than feel it throb
as it does now.'

Some loves may dwindle into indifference or turn to hatred, but seldom
or never to mere friendship. Yet it is not easy 'to hate those we have once
loved because we happen to discover a weak point in their armour, any
more than it is easy to love unlovable people because of their resplendent
virtues.'

No response had ever come to the letters he had written Finella under
cover to Dulce; thus he ceased to send them, all unaware that these letters
addressed to 'Miss Carlyon' had been returned to the Post Office, endorsed,
by order of Lady Fettercairn, 'not known at Craigengowan;' and now the
heavy thoughts of Hammersley affected his manner and gait, and thus he
often walked slowly, as if he were weary; and so he was weary and sick of
heart, for the sense of hope being dead within the breast will give a droop to
the head and a lagging air to the step.
 Lady Drumshoddy rented a grand old-fashioned house in that very
gloomy quadrangle called St. James's Square, the chief mansion in which is
that of his Grace of Norfolk, and round the still somewhat scurvy enclosure
of which Dr. Johnson and Savage, when friendless and penniless, spent
many a summer night with empty stomachs and hearts heated with
antagonism to the then Government. About a hundred years before that,
Macaulay tells us that St. James's Square 'was a receptacle for all the offal
and cinders, and all the dead cats and dogs, of Westminster. At one time a
cudgel-player kept his ring there. At another an impudent squatter settled
himself there, and built a shed for rubbish under the windows of the gilded
salons in which the first magnates of the realm—Norfolk, Ormond, Kent,
and Pembroke—gave banquets and balls. It was not till these nuisances had
lasted through a whole generation, and till much had been written about
them, that the inhabitants applied to Parliament for permission to put up
rails and plant trees.'

Here, then, in this now fashionable locality, had my Lady Drumshoddy

pitched her tent, and hence it was that Vivian Hammersley, being almost
daily at 'The Rag,' close by, saw Finella and her cousin so frequently; yet it
never occurred to him to think of the old Scoto-Indian Judge's widow, of
whom he knew little or nothing.

The circumstance that Finella was undoubtedly still wearing his

engagement ring made Hammersley, amid all his misery and anger, long for
some more certain information than mere Club gossip and banter afforded,
and for that which was due from her—an explicit explanation. He thought,
as a casuist has it, 'that to know her false would not be so bitter as to doubt.
To mistrust the woman we love is torture. To have a knowledge of her guilt
is the first step towards burying our love. Our pride is then thoroughly
aroused, and that contempt for treachery, inherent in our nature, flames out.'

On her part, Finella had some cause for pique—grave cause, she
thought. She had twice, at intervals, seen Vivian Hammersley riding in the
Row, when it was impossible for her to address him or afford him the least
sign; and now, knowing that he was home, and in London, she naturally
thought why did he not make some effort to communicate with her, in spite
of any barrier Lady Fettercairn might raise between them, if he supposed
she still resided at Craigengowan. Thus she too was beginning to look
regretfully back to his love as a dream that had fled.

'A pretty kettle of fish they have made of it at Craigengowan, my dear!'

snorted Lady Drumshoddy, when she heard of the late events that had
transpired there. 'They have been imposed upon fearfully—quite another
"Claimant" affair; but I always had my suspicions, my dear—I always had
my suspicions, I am glad to say,' she coolly added, oblivious of the fact that
she always aided and abetted Shafto in all his plans and hopes to secure
Finella and her fortune.

It was convenient to ignore or forget all that now.

'My Ronald is all right,' snorted the hard-featured old dame to herself;
'he is the right man in the right place; but, as for Finella, she is like most
girls, I suppose—will not fall in love where and when it is most clearly her
duty to do so—provoking minx!'

It was a prominent feature in the character of my Lady Drumshoddy,

contradiction, though she would not for a second tolerate it in anyone else;
and as Major Garallan was temporarily a resident at her house in St. James's
Square, she, like Lady Fettercairn on the other occasion, put great faith in
cousinship and propinquity.

What a different kind and style of cousin Ronald Garallan was from
Shafto, Finella naturally thought; not that as yet she loved him a bit, as he
evidently loved her, but he was such a delightful companion to escort her
everywhere.

She had received plenty of admiration and adulation during her short
season in London before, and to suppose that she was blind to the young
Major's attentions would be to deem her foolish; no woman or girl is ever
blind to that sort of thing. She, like the rest of her charming sex, knew by
instinct when she had won a success; but she also knew that she had one
powerful attraction—money—and knew, too, that her heart was engaged
otherwise; and this knowledge made her tolerably indifferent to the
admiration of her cousin, while the indifference laid her open to the
appearance of receiving his close attentions. Meanwhile the latter was
enjoying his Capua.

'How delicious all this is!' he often thought, as he lounged by Finella's

side in the drawing-room, or rode with her in the Row, 'after sweltering so
long in that hottest and most hateful of up-country stations, Jehanabad, on
the shining rocks of which the Indian sun pours all its rays for months, till
the granite at night gives out the caloric it has absorbed by day, and so the
roasting process never ceases, and sleep even on a charpoy becomes
impossible, all the more so that hyenas, jackals, and wild cats make night
hideous with their yells. This is indeed an exchange,' he once added aloud,
'and all the more delicious that I have it with you, Cousin Finella.'

And Lady Drumshoddy, if she was near, would watch the pair
complacently through her great spectacles, while pretending to be intent on
her only paper (after the Morning Post), the Queen, which she read as
regularly—more so, we fear—than she read her night prayers.

And while Garallan's attentions were gradually warming and leading up

to a declaration, Finella was thinking angrily of Hammersley.

'Perhaps he has forgotten his love for me—nay, he would never forget
that! but absence, time, change of scene, or a regard for some one else may
have come between us. It is the way with men, I have been told.'

So, in the fulness of time, there came one fine forenoon, when Lady
Drumshoddy had judiciously left the cousins quite alone, and when Finella,
in one of her most bewitching costumes, was idling over a book of prints,
with Ronald Garallan by her side, admiring the contour of her head, the
curve of her neck, her pure profile, the lovely little ear that was next him,
and everything else, to the little bouquet in her bosom that rose and fell with
every respiration, let his passion completely overmaster him, and taking
caressingly within his own her left hand, which she did not withdraw, he
said:

'I have something to ask you, Finella—you know what it is?'

'Indeed, I do not.'
 'Then, of course, I must tell you?'

'I think you must,' said she, looking him calmly in the face for a second.

'For weeks you must have known it.'

'Known—what?'

'That I love you!' he said in a low voice, and bending till his moustache
touched her cheek; 'and now I ask you to give me yourself.'

The hand was withdrawn now; she coloured, but not deeply, and her
eyelashes drooped.

'Give me yourself, darling,' he resumed, 'and trust to me for taking care

of you all the days of your life.'

Though she must have expected some such ending as this to their late
hourly intimacy, she was nevertheless astonished, and said, with a little
nervous laugh at the abruptness and matter-of-fact form of the proposal:

'Cousin Ronald, I can surely take care of myself. But—but do you want
to marry me?'

'Of course!' replied Cousin Ronald, with very open eyes, while tugging
the ends of his moustache.

'Well—it can't be.'

'Can't be?'

'No. I thank you very much, and like you very much—there are both my
hands on that; but marriage is impossible. Yet don't let us quarrel, for that
would be absurd, but be the best of good friends as ever.'

'And this is my answer?' said he, with a very crushed air.

'Yes,' she replied, colouring deeply now; 'once and for all.'
 'I won't take it,' said he, with mingled sorrow and anger. 'I will not,
darling!—I shall come to it again, when, perhaps, you may think better of it
and of me. Till then good-bye, and God bless you, dearest Finella!'

Kissing both her hands, he abruptly withdrew, and soon after leaving the
house took his departure for Brighton; and now the luckless Finella had to
explain the reason thereof, and to undergo the ever-recurring admonitions,
reprehensions, parables, and absolute scoldings of 'grandmamma
Drumshoddy,' who was neither quite so well bred nor so calm in spirit and
outward bearing as Lady Fettercairn, then 'eating humble pie' at
Craigengowan.

If Florian, the new heir, was indeed dying, as reported, when he was
embarked with other sick and wounded officers and men at Durban, a
prospective peerage, with all the estates, enhanced the value and position of
Finella in the eyes of Lady Drumshoddy, so far as a marriage with her
nephew, the Major, was concerned, and most wrathful she was indeed to
find that her schemes were going 'agee.'

Lord Fettercairn fully shared her ideas, and knew that whoever married
the only daughter of the House of Melfort, though he might assume the old
name, it and the title too went virtually out of the family.

Finella had remarked to herself that for some time past Lady Fettercairn
in her letters never mentioned the name of Shafto, or hinted of the old wish
about marrying him.

Why was this?

She knew not the reason that his existence was ignored, till Lady
Drumshoddy bluntly referred to 'the pretty kettle of fish' made lately by the
folks at Craigengowan, and then, in the gentleness of her heart, Finella
almost felt pitiful for the now homeless and worthless one.
 CHAPTER XVI.

A CLOUD DISPELLED.

September was creeping on, and in London then the weather is often
steady and pleasant, though in the mornings and evenings the first chills of
the coming winter begin to be felt. The summer-parched and dust-laden
foliage of the trees droops in Park and square, and the great gorse-bushes
are all in golden bloom at Wimbledon, at Barnes Common, and other fern
and heath-covered wastes.

The Row and other favourite promenades were now empty; Parliament
was not sitting; and shooting and cub-hunting were in full force in the
country.

Sooner or later one runs up against every one in this whirligig world of
ours; thus Hammersley, still lingering aimlessly in London, coming one day
from the Horse Guards, in crossing the east end of the Mall, found himself
suddenly face to face with her of whom his thoughts were full—Finella
Melfort!

Finella, in a smart sealskin jacket, with her muff slung by a silken cord
round her slender neck, a most becoming hat, the veil of which was tied
tightly and piquantly across her short upper lip.

'Finella!'

'Oh, Vivian!'

Their exclamations and joyful surprise were mutual, but 'the horns and
hoofs of the green-eyed monster' were still obtruding amid the thoughts of
Hammersley, though she frankly gave him both her plump little tightly
gloved hands, which after a caressing pressure he speedily dropped, rather
to the surprise of the charming proprietor thereof.

'Did you know I was in London?' she asked.

 'Yes—too well.'

'And yet made no effort to see—to write to me!'

'I knew not where to find you.'

'You might have inquired—that is, if you cared to know.'

'Cared—oh, Finella!'

'And your wound—your cruel wound! Have you recovered from it?'

'Nearly so—thus I have just been at the Horse Guards about going on
foreign service again.

'Foreign service—again?'

'Yes; there are wounds deeper and more lasting than any an enemy can
inflict.'

She evidently did not understand his mood.

'Are you not rash, Vivian, to be out in a day so chill as this?' she said.

'A little chill, fog, or rain, more or less, are trifles to one whose thoughts
are all of sad and bitter things.'

'Vivian?—your wound, was it a severe one?'

'Very. I received a shot that was meant for the assassination of another.'

'Who?'

'Florian; your friend Miss Carlyon's lover, who, poor fellow, I hear sailed
from Durban in a bad way.'

'Why do you look and speak so coldly, Vivian—Vivian?' she asked, with
her slender fingers interlaced, while he certainly eyed her wistfully,
curiously, and even angrily.
 'Why?'

'Yes,' said she, impetuously. 'Why are you so cruel—so hard to me?' she
added, with a sob in her voice, as she placed a hand on his arm and looked
earnestly up in his face. 'Surely it is not for me to plead thus?'

'Why are you so touched?'

'Can you ask, while treating me thus?'

'Like a thorough Scotch girl, you answer one question by asking

another.'

'Well, in constancy men certainly do not bear the palm,' said she,
drawing back a pace, and inserting her hands in her muff.

'I think you should be the last to taunt me, at all events, as appearances
go.'

There was a moment's silence, for both were too honest and true to have
acquired what has been termed 'the useful and social art of talking
platitudes' when their hearts were full.

'And this is our long-looked-forward-to meeting?' she said,

reproachfully.

'Yes—alas!'

'Why do you regard me—not with the furious rage that possessed you on
quitting Craigengowan—but with coldness, doubt, indifference?'

'Indifference! Oh, no, Finella.'

'Doubt—suspicion, then?'

'It may be,' he replied with a doggedness that certainly was not natural to
him.

'What have I done?' asked the girl, sorely piqued now.

 'Nothing, perhaps,' he replied shrinking from putting his thoughts into
words.

'Can it be that you are changeable and inconstant? When you saw me,
and knew that I was in London, why did you not come to me at once?'

'Because I knew not where or with whom you were residing.'

'Did you go to Fettercairn House?'

'No.'

'Why?' she asked curtly, for her suspicions were being kindled now.

'I knew the family were not in town.'

'Then you might have asked for Lady Drumshoddy, and, if not, somehow
have heard——'

'By tipping the butler or Mr. James Plush?'

'If I wanted to do anything I would grasp at the first chance of achieving

it,' said Finella, her dark eyes sparkling now.

'Men are seldom creatures of impulse. I reasoned over the matter, and
put two and two together.'

'Reason generally urges men to do what they wish. But what do you
mean by putting two and two together?'

'Well, frankly, I referred to you and Major Garallan.'

'Do you make four of us? Vivian, you are absurd,' said Finella, after a
little pause, during which she coloured and stamped a little foot impatiently
on the ground.

'Perhaps,' said he sadly and wearily; 'but I heard so much at the Clubs
and elsewhere that I knew not what to think.'
 'About us you mean—Cousin Ronald and me?'

'Yes.'

'You heard—what?'

'That you were about to be married—that is the long and the short of it.'

His face crimsoned with annoyance as he spoke; but hers grew pale.

'And you, Vivian—you believed this?' she asked mournfully and

reproachfully.

'Much that I saw seemed to confirm it. You and he were so much
together.'

'How unfortunate I am to have been suspected by you twice! Ronald is

only my cousin.'

'So was that precious Shafto!'

'Why hark back upon that episode?' she asked, piteously. 'Have I
offended you? Misunderstanding between us seems to have become our
normal state.'

'Your cousin may—nay, I doubt not, loves you, Finella; but why do you
permit him to do so?'

'Can I help it? Ronald was a kind of brother to me—nothing more,' she
continued, ignoring—perhaps at that moment forgetting—his recent
proposal; 'but my heart has never for a moment wandered from you. See!'
she added, while quickly and nervously stripping the kid glove from her
right hand, 'your engagement ring has never, for a second even, been off my
finger since first you placed it there.'

'My darling—my darling!' he exclaimed, as all his heart went forth

towards her. 'Oh, Finella! what I suffered when I thought I had again lost
you! Yet I would almost undergo it all again—for this!' he added, as he