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whenever in the opinion of the chief engineer the contract had been completely performed, he should make and return a final estimate of the work done by contractors, and certify it in writing that the procuring of such certificate and final estimate should constitute a condition precedent to any right of action by contractors against the company. Held,that a contractor had no right, in the absence of any unnecessary or unreasonable delay by the engineer in making estimates, or of any mistake or fraud on his part, without the consent of the other party to the contract, to employ an engineer who was a stranger to the contract to make a final estimate of the work, and then bring an action on the contract based upon the stranger’s estimate.Appeal from Circuit Court, Wise County.BUI by Bonn &Montelro against Johnston & Grommett Bros, to enforce a mechanic’s lien. Decree for complainants and defendants appeal. Reversed and remanded.Flannlgan & Burnett and Irvine &Morrison, for appellants. W. S. Mathews, for appellees.HARRISON, J. The bill in this case was filed by the appellees to enforce payment of a mechanic’s lien, alleged to be due them as subcontractors for work done in constructing a section of the Black Mountain Railroad.It appears that the Keokee Coal & Coke Company, as general contractors, entered into a contract with the Black Mountain Railroad Company to build for the latter a railroad, several miles in length, between Iinboden, In Wise county, and Keokee, in Lee county. The Keokee Coal & Coke Company sublet its entire undertaking, by contract in writing, to the firm of Johnston & Grommett Bros., the appellants, who, in turn, by parol contract, sublet a part of the work to the appellees, Bnnn & Montelro. The evidence shows that under this parol contract the appellees were to be governed by the written contract which had been entered Into by the appellants with the Keokee Coal & Coke Company.The Black Mountain Railroad Company, the Keokee Coal & Coke Company, and Johnston & Grommett Bros, were made parties defendant to the bill, which alleged that complainants had completed their contract andtaken out a mechanic’s lien for the balance due them on that portion of the roadbed which they had constructed, and prayed that the Black Mountain Railroad Company and the Keokee Coal & Coke Company be required to answer as to the amount they were due, or would become due, to Johnston & Grommett Bros., by reason of the latter’s completion of their contract for the construction of the railroad mentioned. The prayer, further, is that complainants, who are the appellees here, be decreed a lien on that part of the Black Mountain roadbed which was constructed by them between stations 834 and 850, described In their mechanic’s lien, which was made a part of the bill, and that they be decreed a sale of the same for the payment of their debt, and be given a personal Judgment against the Black Mountain Railroad Company and the Keokee Coal & Coke Company for such sunis as they may appear to have owed Johnston & Grommett Bros, on the date they, respectively, received notice of the complainants’ mechanic’s lien, and for general relief.Upon the bill, the answers, which deny its allegations, and the evidence In the cause, the decree appealed from was rendered, giving a personal Judgment for $2,203.21, subject to a credit of $522.15 and costs of suit, against the appellants, Johnston & Grommett Bros., with the right to issue execution thereon. The decree then refers the cause to a commissioner to ascertain whether the Black Mountain Railroad Company and the Keokee Coal & Coke Company are liable to the complainants by reason of the filing of their mechanic’s lien, and, If so, In what amountWe are of opinion that the position taken by appellants, that the court was without Jurisdiction to enter the judgment complained of, is not tenable. The appellants contend that the only ground for equitable jurisdiction In this case Is that