Dear TIME-Reader:

WHEN TIME'S new Buenos Aires Bureau Chief Philip Payne came to the U.S. recently to straighten out personal affairs and pick up his wife and three children, his lifelong friend. Associate Editor William Forbis, substituted for him in Argentina. Last week the two friends met again briefly in New York, just before Payne flew off to his new assignment. They compared notes on the frustrations of reporting a paradoxical land of blustering dictatorship and seemingly casual living, where bullyboys riot in the streets and solid citizens pretend not to notice. Both Payne and Forbis had their tense moments with the bullyboys, and both were arrested and questioned by Juan Peron's police.

Between themselves. Payne and Forbis brush off such haphazards with few words, for they have been following each other in and out of adventures and jobs since they became grade-school pals in Missoula, Mont. 28 years ago. Sharing an early interest in journalism, they worked together on the Missoula County High School and Montana State University newspapers. Out of college in 1939, they both came down with a critical case of wanderlust and left Missoula in Forbis' Model A Ford to tour the U.S. and Mexico. Neither ever returned to Missoula for long.

At Acapulco, they were happily beachcombing when a rich Los Angeles lawyer gave them jobs on his 56-ft. yacht. Bill signed on as a general handyman, and Phil as the cook. "I was awful." Payne recalls, "but Forbis got fat on my cooking."

When the yacht reached Panama at night and dropped anchor, a speedboat zigzagged out from shore and megaphoned: "Get the hell outa here --you're anchored in the middle of a minefield." Ashore, Forbis almost died of a ruptured appendix. "I had a bad week or so there." said Payne. "I thought I was going to have to send some painful letters home."

After he recovered, Forbis landed a job on the bilingual Panama American. When he was promoted, Payne took his old job. That set the pattern that they have been following since. Forbis became our stringer in Panama, then staff correspondent for Central America. Payne followed him as stringer. and when in 1951 Forbis moved to New York to write HEMISPHERE news. Payne came on the staff as Central America correspondent.

As senior writer in the HEMISPHERE section, bilingual Bill Forbis has written cover stories on Haiti (Feb. 22, 1954), Guatemala (June 28. 1954) and Venezuela (Feb. 28).

Said Payne last week: "I guess this'll be about as far apart as we've ever been. But we'll still be working together, with me down here pitching and Bill up there catching."

Cordially yours,

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