1 files changed, 13056 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/21361.txt b/21361.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a1f3011
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21361.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,13056 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Patience Wins, by George Manville Fenn
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Patience Wins
+       War in the Works
+
+Author: George Manville Fenn
+
+Release Date: May 8, 2007 [EBook #21361]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PATIENCE WINS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England
+
+
+
+
+Patience Wins; or, War in the Works, by George Manville Fenn.
+
+________________________________________________________________________
+
+The boy hero of the book, his father and his three uncles live in
+Canonbury, London, and run a factory in Bermondsey, the other side of
+the Thames in London.  But they feel they need to expand, and they buy a
+steel working business in the North of England.  Here they try to
+introduce various profitable practices, such as improved methods for
+working the steel, and various ingenious and new items of factory
+equipment.
+
+But these new ideas are objected-to by the Trades Unions, and the
+despicable behaviour of the work-force is due to this attitude.  All
+sorts of the most dreadful and wicked deeds are perpetrated, and
+unpleasant things are done to the few workmen who seem to be coming
+round to sense.  The Uncles reflect on how much more amenable and
+sensible a London workforce would have been in the same circumstances.
+But eventually various incidents occur in which it can be seen what
+excellent people the hero and his Uncles really are, and the whole town
+starts to welcome them.  Hence the title of the book--"Patience Wins".
+
+It's not a long book, but there is plenty of action.  It is not in the
+general tradition of Manville Fenn books, but it is a very good read.
+
+________________________________________________________________________
+
+PATIENCE WINS; OR, WAR IN THE WORKS, BY GEORGE MANVILLE FENN.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ONE.
+
+A FAMILY COUNCIL.
+
+"I say, Uncle Dick, do tell me what sort of a place it is."
+
+"Oh, you'll see when you get there!"
+
+"Uncle Jack, you tell me then; what's it like?"
+
+"Like!  What, Arrowfield?  Ask Uncle Bob."
+
+"There, Uncle Bob, I'm to ask you.  Do tell me what sort of a place it
+is?"
+
+"Get out, you young nuisance!"
+
+"What a shame!"  I said.  "Here are you three great clever men, who know
+all about it; you've been down half a dozen times, and yet you won't
+answer a civil question when you are asked."
+
+I looked in an ill-used way at my three uncles, as they sat at the table
+covered with papers; and except that one would be a little darker than
+the other, I could not help thinking how very much they were alike, and
+at the same time like my father, only that he had some grey coming at
+the sides of his head.  They were all big fine-looking men between
+thirty and forty, stern enough when they were busy, but wonderfully
+good-tempered and full of fun when business was over; and I'm afraid
+they spoiled me.
+
+When, as I say, business was over, they were ready for anything with me,
+and though I had a great feeling of reverence, almost dread, for my
+father, my three big uncles always seemed to me like companions, and
+they treated me as if I were their equal.
+
+Cricket!  Ah!  Many's the game we've had together.  They'd take me
+fishing, and give me the best pitch, and see that I caught fish if they
+did not.
+
+Tops, marbles, kite-flying, football; insect and egg collecting;
+geology, botany, chemistry; they were at home with all, and I shared in
+the game or pursuit as eagerly as they.
+
+I've known the time when they'd charge into the room at Canonbury, where
+I was busy with the private tutor--for I did not go to school--with "Mr
+Headley, Mr Russell would like to speak to you;" and as soon as he had
+left the room, seize hold of me, and drag me out of my chair with, "Come
+along, Cob: work's closed for the day.  _Country_!"
+
+Then away we'd go for a delicious day's collecting, or something of the
+kind.
+
+They used to call it slackening their bands, and mine.
+
+Time had glided on very happily till I was sixteen, and there was some
+talk of my being sent to a great engineer's establishment for five or
+six years to learn all I could before being taken on at our own place in
+Bermondsey, where Russell and Company carried on business, and knocked
+copper and brass and tin about, and made bronze, and gun-metal, and did
+a great deal for other firms with furnaces, and forges, and
+steam-engines, wheels, and lathes.
+
+My father was "Russell"--Alexander--and Uncle Dick, Uncle Jack, and
+Uncle Bob were "Company."  The business, as I say, was in Bermondsey,
+but we lived together and didn't live together at Canonbury.
+
+That sounds curious, but I'll explain:--We had two houses next door to
+each other.  Captain's quarters, and the barracks.
+
+My father's house was the Captain's quarters, where I lived with my
+mother and sister.  The next door, where my uncles were, they called the
+barracks, where they had their bedrooms and sitting-room; but they took
+all their meals at our table.
+
+As I said before things had gone on very happily till I was sixteen--a
+big sturdy ugly boy.
+
+Uncle Dick said I was the ugliest boy he knew.
+
+Uncle Jack said I was the most stupid.
+
+Uncle Bob said I was the most ignorant.
+
+But we were the best of friends all the same.
+
+And now after a great deal of discussion with my father, and several
+visits, my three uncles were seated at the table, and I had asked them
+about Arrowfield, and you have read their answers.
+
+I attacked them again.
+
+"Oh, I say," I cried, "don't talk to a fellow as if he were a little
+boy!  Come, Uncle Dick, what sort of a place is Arrowfield?"
+
+"Land of fire."
+
+"Oh!"  I cried.  "Is it, Uncle Jack?"
+
+"Land of smoke."
+
+"Land of fire and smoke!"  I cried excitedly.  "Uncle Bob, are they
+making fun of me?"
+
+"Land of noise, and gloom, and fog," said Uncle Bob.  "A horrible place
+in a hole."
+
+"And are we going there?"
+
+"Don't know," said Uncle Bob.  "Wait and see."
+
+They went on with their drawings and calculations, and I sat by the fire
+in the barrack room, that is, in their sitting-room, trying to read, but
+with my head in a whirl of excitement about Arrowfield, when my father
+came in, laid his hand on my head, and turned to my uncles.
+
+"Well, boys," he said, "how do you bring it in?  What's to be done?"
+
+"Sit down, and let's settle it, Alick," said Uncle Dick, leaning back
+and spreading his big beard all over his chest.
+
+"Ah, do!" cried Uncle Jack, rubbing his curly head.
+
+"Once and for all," said Uncle Bob, drawing his chair forward, stooping
+down, taking up his left leg and holding it across his right knee.
+
+My father drew forward an easy-chair, looking very serious, and resting
+his hand on the back before sitting down, he said without looking at me:
+
+"Go to your mother and sister, Jacob."
+
+I rose quickly, but with my forehead wrinkling all over, and I turned a
+pitiful look on my three uncles.
+
+"What are you going to send him away for?" said Uncle Dick.
+
+"Because this is not boys' business."
+
+"Oh, nonsense!" said Uncle Jack.  "He'll be as interested in it as we
+are."
+
+"Yes, let him stop and hear," said Uncle Bob.
+
+"Very good.  I'm agreeable," said my father.  "Sit down, Jacob."
+
+I darted a grateful look at my uncles, spreading it round so that they
+all had a glance, and dropped back into my seat.
+
+"Well," said my father, "am I to speak?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+This was in chorus; and my father sat thinking for a few minutes, during
+which I exchanged looks and nods with my uncles, all of which was very
+satisfactory.
+
+"Well," said my father at last, "to put it in short, plain English, we
+four have each our little capital embarked in our works."
+
+Here there were three nods.
+
+"We've all tried everything we knew to make the place a success, but
+year after year goes by and we find ourselves worse off.  In three more
+bad years we shall be ruined."
+
+"And Jacob will have to set to work and keep us all," said Uncle Dick.
+
+My father looked round at me and nodded, smiling sadly, and I could see
+that he was in great trouble.
+
+"Here is our position, then, boys: Grandison and Company are waiting for
+our answer in Bermondsey.  They'll buy everything as it stands at a fair
+valuation; that's one half.  The other is: the agents at Arrowfield are
+waiting also for our answer about the works to let there."
+
+Here he paused for a few moments and then went on:
+
+"We must look the matter full in the face.  If we stay as we are the
+trade is so depreciating that we shall be ruined.  If we go to
+Arrowfield we shall have to begin entirely afresh; to fight against a
+great many difficulties; the workmen there are ready to strike, to turn
+upon you and destroy."
+
+Uncle Dick made believe to spit in his hands.
+
+"To commit outrages."
+
+Uncle Jack tucked up his sleeves.
+
+"And ratten and blow up."
+
+Uncle Bob half took off his coat.
+
+"In short, boys, we shall have a terribly hard fight; but there is ten
+times the opening there, and we may make a great success.  That is our
+position, in short," said my father.  "What do you say?"
+
+My three uncles looked hard at him and then at one another, seemed to
+read each other's eyes, and turned back to him.
+
+"You're oldest, Alick, and head of the firm," said Uncle Dick; "settle
+it."
+
+"No," said my father, "it shall be settled by you three."
+
+"I know what I think," said Uncle Jack; "but I'd rather you'd say."
+
+"My mind's made up," said Uncle Bob, "but I don't want to be speaker.
+You settle it, Alick."
+
+"No," said my father; "I have laid the case before you three, who have
+equal stakes in the risk, and you shall settle the matter."
+
+There was a dead silence in the room, which was so still that the
+sputtering noise made by the big lamp and the tinkle of a few cinders
+that fell from the fire sounded painfully loud.  They looked at each
+other, but no one spoke, till Uncle Dick had fidgeted about in his chair
+for some time, and then, giving his big beard a twitch, he bent forward.
+
+I heard my other uncles sigh as if they were relieved, and they sat back
+farther in their seats listening for what Uncle Dick, who was the
+eldest, might wish to say.
+
+"Look here," he cried at last.
+
+Everybody did look there, but saw nothing but Uncle Dick, who kept
+tugging at one lock of his beard, as if that was the string that would
+let loose a whole shower-bath of words.
+
+"Well!" he said, and there was another pause.
+
+"Here," he cried, as if seized by a sudden fit of inspiration, "let's
+hear what Cob has to say."
+
+"Bravo!  Hear, hear, hear!" cried my two uncles in chorus, and Uncle
+Dick smiled and nodded and looked as if he felt highly satisfied with
+himself; while I, with a face that seemed to be all on fire, jumped up
+excitedly and cried:
+
+"Let's all go and begin again."
+
+"That's it--that settles it," cried Uncle Bob.
+
+"Yes, yes," said Uncle Dick and Uncle Jack.  "He's quite right.  We'll
+go."
+
+Then all three beat upon the table with book and pencil and compasses,
+and cried, "Hear, hear, hear!" while I shrank back into my chair, and
+felt half ashamed of myself as I glanced at my father and wondered
+whether he was angry on account of what I had proposed.
+
+"That is settled then," he said quietly.  "Jacob has been your
+spokesman; and now let me add my opinion that you have taken the right
+course.  What I propose is this, that one of us stays and carries on the
+business here till the others have got the Arrowfield affair in full
+swing.  Who will stay?"
+
+There was no answer.
+
+"Shall I?" said my father.
+
+"Yes, if you will," they chorused.
+
+"Very good," said my father.  "I am glad to do so, for that will give me
+plenty of time to make arrangements for Jacob here."
+
+"But he must go with us," said Uncle Dick.
+
+"Yes, of course," said Uncle Jack.
+
+"Couldn't go without him."
+
+"But his education as an engineer?"
+
+"Now, look here, Alick," said Uncle Dick, "don't you think he'll learn
+as much with us down at the new works as in any London place?"
+
+My father sat silent and thoughtful, while I watched the play of his
+countenance and trembled as I saw how he was on the balance.  For it
+would have been terrible to me to have gone away now just as a new life
+of excitement and adventure was opening out.
+
+"Do you really feel that you would like Jacob to go with you?" said my
+father at last.
+
+There was a unanimous "Yes!" at this, and my heart gave a jump.
+
+"Well, then," said my father, "he shall go."
+
+That settled the business, except a general shaking of hands, for we
+were all delighted, little thinking, in our innocence, of the troubles,
+the perils, and the dangers through which we should have to go.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWO.
+
+A FIERY PLACE.
+
+No time was lost.  The agreements were signed, and Uncle Dick packed up
+his traps, as he called them, that is to say, his books, clothes, and
+models and contrivances, so as to go down at once, take possession of
+the works, and get apartments for us.
+
+I should have liked to go with him, but I had to stay for another week,
+and then, after a hearty farewell, we others started, my father, mother,
+and sister seeing us off by rail; and until I saw the trees, hedges, and
+houses seeming to fly by me I could hardly believe that we were really
+on our way.
+
+Of course I felt a little low-spirited at leaving home, and I was a
+little angry with myself for seeming to be so glad to get away from
+those who had been so patient and kind, but I soon found myself arguing
+that it would have been just the same if I had left home only to go to
+some business place in London.  Still I was looking very gloomy when
+Uncle Jack clapped me on the shoulder, and asked me if I didn't feel
+like beginning to be a man.
+
+"No," I said sadly, as I looked out of the window at the flying
+landscape, so that he should not see my face.  "I feel more as if I was
+beginning to be a great girl."
+
+"Nonsense!" said Uncle Bob; "you're going to be a man now, and help us."
+
+"Am I?" said I sadly.
+
+"To be sure you are.  There, put that gloomy face in your pocket and
+learn geography."
+
+They both chatted to me, and I felt a little better, but anything but
+cheerful, for it was my first time of leaving home.  I looked at the
+landscape, and the towns and churches we passed, but nothing seemed to
+interest me till, well on in my journey, I saw a sort of wooden tower
+close to the line, with a wheel standing half out of the top.  There was
+an engine-house close by--there was no doubt about it, for I could see
+the puffs of white steam at the top, and a chimney.  There was a great
+mound of black slate and rubbish by the end; but even though the railway
+had a siding close up to it, and a number of trucks were standing
+waiting, I did not realise what the place was till Uncle Jack said:
+
+"First time you've seen a coal-pit, eh?"
+
+"Is that a coal-pit?"  I said, looking at the place more eagerly.
+
+"Those are the works.  Of course you can't see the shaft, because that's
+only like a big square well."
+
+"But I thought it would be a much more interesting place," I said.
+
+"Interesting enough down below; but of course there is nothing to see at
+the top but the engine, cage, and mouth of the shaft."
+
+That brightened me up at once.  There was something to think about in
+connection with a coal-mine--the great deep shaft, the cage going up and
+down, the miners with their safety-lamps and picks.  I saw it all in
+imagination as we dashed by another and another mine.  Then I began to
+think about the accidents of which I had read; when men unfastened their
+wire-gauze lamps, so that they might do that which was forbidden in a
+mine, smoke their pipes.  The match struck or the opened lamp set fire
+to the gas, when there was an awful explosion, and after that the
+terrible dangers of the after-damp, that fearful foul air which no man
+could breathe for long and live.
+
+There were hundreds of thoughts like this to take my attention as we
+raced on by the fast train till, to my surprise, I found that it was
+getting dark, and the day had passed.
+
+"Here we are close to it," said Uncle Jack; "look, my lad."
+
+I gazed out of the window on our right as the train glided on, to see
+the glare as of a city on fire: the glow of a dull red flickered and
+danced upon the dense clouds that overhung the place.  Tall chimneys
+stood up like black stakes or posts set up in the reflection of open
+furnace doors.  Here a keen bright light went straight up through the
+smoke with the edges exactly defined--here it was a sharp glare, there a
+dull red glow, and everywhere there seemed to be fire and reflection,
+and red or golden smoke mingled with a dull throbbing booming sound,
+which, faintly heard at first, grew louder and louder as the train
+slackened speed, and the pant and pulsation of the engine ceased.
+
+"Isn't something dreadful the matter?"  I said, as I gazed excitedly
+from the window.
+
+"Matter!" said Uncle Jack laughing.
+
+"Yes, isn't the place on fire?  Look!  Look!  There there!"
+
+I pointed to a fierce glare that seemed to reach up into the sky,
+cutting the dense cloud like millions of golden arrows shot from some
+mighty engine all at once.
+
+"Yes, I see, old fellow," said Uncle Jack.  "They have just tapped a
+furnace, and the molten metal is running into the moulds, that's all."
+
+"But the whole town looks as if it were in a blaze," I said nervously.
+
+"So did our works sometimes, didn't they?  Well, here we are in a town
+where there are hundreds upon hundreds of works ten times as big as
+ours.  Nearly everybody is either forging, or casting, or grinding.  The
+place is full of steam-engines, while the quantity of coal that is burnt
+here every day must be prodigious.  Aha!  Here's Uncle Dick."
+
+He had caught sight of us before we saw him, and threw open the
+carriage-door ready to half haul us out, as he shook hands as if we had
+not met for months.
+
+"That's right," he cried.  "I _am_ glad you've come.  I've a cab
+waiting.  Here, porter, lay hold of this baggage.  Well, Cob, what do
+you think of Arrowfield?"
+
+"Looks horrible," I said in the disappointed tones of one who is tired
+and hungry.
+
+"Yes, outside," said Uncle Dick; "but wait till you see the inside."
+
+Uncle Dick was soon standing in what he called the inside of
+Arrowfield--that is to say the inside of the comfortable furnished
+lodgings he had taken right up a hill, where, over a cosy tea-table with
+hot country cakes and the juiciest of hot mutton chops, I soon forgot
+the wearisome nature of our journey, and the dismal look of the town.
+
+"Eat away, my boys," cried Uncle Dick.  "Yeat, as they call it here.
+The place is all right; everything ready for work, and we'll set to with
+stout hearts, and make up for lost time."
+
+"When do we begin, uncle--to-morrow?"
+
+"No, no: not till next Monday morning.  To-morrow we'll have a look over
+the works, and then we'll idle a bit--have a few runs into the country
+round, and see what it's like."
+
+"Black dismal place," I said dolefully.
+
+"Says he's tired out and wants to go to bed," said Uncle Jack, giving
+his eye a peculiar cock at his brothers.
+
+"I didn't," I cried.
+
+"Not in words, my fine fellow, but you looked it."
+
+"Then I won't look so again," I cried.  "I say, don't talk to me as if I
+were a little boy to be sent to bed."
+
+"Well, you're not a man yet, Cob.  Is he, boys?"
+
+Uncle Dick was in high spirits, and he took up a candle and held it
+close to my cheek.
+
+"What's the matter?"  I said.  "Is it black?  I shouldn't wonder."
+
+"Not a bit, Cob," he said seriously.  "You can't even see a bit of the
+finest down growing."
+
+"Oh, I say," I cried, "it's too bad!  I don't pretend to be a man at
+sixteen; but now I've come down here to help you in the new works, you
+oughtn't to treat me as if I were a little boy."
+
+"Avast joking!" said Uncle Dick quietly, for the comely landlady came in
+to clear away the tea-things, and she had just finished when there was a
+double knock at the front door.
+
+We heard it opened, and a deep voice speaking, and directly after the
+landlady came in with a card.
+
+"Mr Tomplin, gentlemen," she said.  "He's at the door, and I was to say
+that if it was inconvenient for you to see him to-night, perhaps you
+would call at his office when you were down the town."
+
+"Oh, ask him in, Mrs Stephenson," cried Uncle Dick; and as she left the
+room--"it's the solicitor to whom I brought the letter of introduction
+from the bank."
+
+It was a short dark man in black coat and waistcoat and pepper-and-salt
+trousers who was shown in.  He had little sharp eyes that seemed to
+glitter.  So did his hair, which was of light-grey, and stood up all
+over his head as if it was on white fire.  He had not a particle of hair
+on his face, which looked as if he was a very good customer to the
+barber.
+
+He shook hands very heartily with all of us, nodding pleasantly the
+while; and when he sat down he took out a brown-and-yellow silk
+handkerchief and blew his nose like a horn.
+
+"Welcome to Yorkshire, gentlemen!" he said.  "My old friends at the bank
+send me a very warm letter of recommendation about you, and I'm at your
+service.  Professional consultations at the usual fee, six and eight or
+thirteen and four, according to length.  Friendly consultations--Thank
+you, I'm much obliged.  This is a friendly consultation.  Now what can I
+do for you?"
+
+He looked round at us all, and I felt favourably impressed.  So did my
+uncles, as Uncle Dick answered for all.
+
+"Nothing at present, sir.  By and by we shall be glad to come to you for
+legal and friendly advice too."
+
+"That's right," said Mr Tomplin.  "You've taken the Rivulet Works, I
+hear."
+
+"Yes, down there by the stream."
+
+"What are you going to do?--carry on the old forging and grinding?"
+
+"Oh, dear, no!" said Uncle Dick.  "We are going in for odds and ends,
+sir.  To introduce, I hope, a good many improvements in several branches
+of the trades carried on here, principally in forging."
+
+Mr Tomplin drew in his lips and filled his face with wrinkles.
+
+"Going to introduce new inventions, eh?" he said.
+
+"Yes, sir, but only one at a time," said Uncle Jack.
+
+"And have you brought a regiment of soldiers with you, gentlemen?"
+
+"Brought a what?" said Uncle Bob, laughing.
+
+"Regiment of soldiers, sir, and a company of artillerymen with a couple
+of guns."
+
+"Ha!  Ha!  Ha!" laughed Uncle Dick, showing his white teeth.  "Mr
+Tomplin means to besiege Arrowfield."
+
+"No, I don't, my dear sir.  I mean to turn your works into a fort to
+defend yourselves against your enemies."
+
+"My dear sir," said Uncle Jack, "we haven't an enemy in the world."
+
+"Not at the present moment, sir, I'll be bound," said Mr Tomplin,
+taking snuff, and then blowing his nose so violently that I wondered he
+did not have an accident with it and split the sides.  "Not at the
+present moment, gentlemen; but as soon as it is known that you are going
+to introduce new kinds of machinery, our enlightened townsmen will
+declare you are going to take the bread out of their mouths and destroy
+everything you make."
+
+"Take the bread out of their mouths, my dear Mr Tomplin!" said Uncle
+Jack.  "Why, what we do will put bread in their mouths by making more
+work."
+
+"Of course it will, my dear sirs."
+
+"Then why should they interfere?"
+
+"Because of their ignorance, gentlemen.  They won't see it.  Take my
+advice: there's plenty to be done by clever business men.  Start some
+steady manufacture to employ hands as the work suggests.  Only use
+present-day machinery if you wish to be at peace."
+
+"We do wish to be at peace, Mr Tomplin," said Uncle Bob; "but we do not
+mean to let a set of ignorant workmen frighten us out of our projects."
+
+"Hear, hear!" said Uncle Dick and Uncle Jack; and I put in a small
+"hear" at the end.
+
+"Well, gentlemen, I felt it to be my duty to tell you," said Mr
+Tomplin, taking more snuff and making more noise.  "You will have
+attacks made upon you to such an extent that you had better be in the
+bush in Queensland among the blacks."
+
+"But not serious attacks?" said Uncle Jack.  "Attempts to frighten us?"
+
+"Attempts to frighten you!  Well, you may call them that," said Mr
+Tomplin; "but there have been two men nearly beaten to death with
+sticks, one factory set on fire, and two gunpowder explosions during the
+past year.  Take my advice, gentlemen, and don't put yourself in
+opposition to the workmen if you are going to settle down here."
+
+He rose, shook hands, and went away, leaving us looking at each other
+across the table.
+
+"Cheerful place Arrowfield seems to be," said Uncle Dick.
+
+"Promises to be lively," said Uncle Jack.
+
+"What do you say, Cob?" cried Uncle Bob.  "Shall we give up, be
+frightened, and run away like dogs with our tails between our legs?"
+
+"No!"  I cried, thumping the table with my fist.  "I wouldn't be
+frightened out of anything I felt to be right."
+
+"Bravo!  Bravo!  Bravo!" cried my uncles.
+
+"At least I don't think I would," I said.  "Perhaps I really am a coward
+after all."
+
+"Well," said Uncle Dick, "I don't feel like giving up for such a thing
+as this.  I'd sooner buy pistols and guns and fight.  It can't be so bad
+as the old gentleman says.  He's only scaring us.  There, it's ten
+o'clock; you fellows are tired, and we want to breakfast early and go
+and see the works, so let's get to bed."
+
+We were far enough out of the smoke for our bedrooms to be beautifully
+white and sweet, and I was delighted with mine, as I saw what a snug
+little place it was.  I said "Good-night!" and had shut my door, when,
+going to my window, I drew aside the blind, and found that I was looking
+right down upon the town.
+
+"Oh!"  I ejaculated, and I ran out to the next room, which was Uncle
+Dick's.  "Look!"  I cried.  "Now you'll believe me.  The town is on
+fire."
+
+He drew up the blind, and threw up his window, when we both looked down
+at what seemed to be the dying out of a tremendous conflagration--dying
+out, save in one place, where there was a furious rush of light right up
+into the air, with sparks flying and flickering tongues of flame darting
+up and sinking down again, while the red and tawny-yellow smoke rolled
+away.
+
+"On fire, Cob!" he said quietly.  "Yes, the town's on fire, but in the
+proper way.  Arrowfield is a fiery place--all furnaces.  There's nothing
+the matter, lad."
+
+"But there!  There!"  I cried, "where the sparks are roaring and rushing
+out with all that flame."
+
+"There!  Oh!  That's nothing, my boy.  The town is always like this."
+
+"But you don't see where I mean," I cried, still doubting, and pointing
+down to our right.
+
+"Oh, yes!  I do, my dear boy.  That is where they are making the
+Bessemer steel."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THREE.
+
+A BAD BEGINNING.
+
+I thought when I lay down, after putting out my candle, that I should
+never get a wink of sleep.  There was a dull glow upon my window-blind,
+and I could hear a distant clangour and a curious faint roar; but all at
+once, so it seemed to me, I opened my eyes, and the dull glow had given
+place to bright sunshine on my window-blind, and jumping out of bed I
+found that I had slept heartily till nearly breakfast time, for the
+chinking of cups in saucers fell upon my ear.
+
+I looked out of the window, and there lay the town with the smoke
+hanging over it in a dense cloud, but the banging of a wash-jug against
+a basin warned me that Uncle Dick was on the move, and the next moment
+_tap, tap, tap_, came three blows on my wall, which I knew as well as
+could be were given with the edge of a hair-brush, and I replied in the
+same way.
+
+"Ha, ha!" cried Uncle Bob, "if they are going to give us fried ham like
+that for breakfast--"
+
+"And such eggs!" cried Uncle Jack.
+
+"And such bread!" said Uncle Dick, hewing off a great slice.
+
+"And such coffee and milk!"  I said, taking up the idea that I was sure
+was coming, "we won't go back to London."
+
+"Right!" said Uncle Dick.  "Bah!  Just as if we were going to be
+frightened away by a set of old women's tales.  They've got police here,
+and laws."
+
+The matter was discussed until breakfast was over, and by that time my
+three giants of uncles had decided that they would not stir for an army
+of discontented workmen, but would do their duty to themselves and their
+partner in London.
+
+"But look here, boys," said Uncle Dick; "if we are going to war, we
+don't want women in the way."
+
+"No," said Uncle Jack.
+
+"So you had better write and tell Alick to keep on the old place till
+the company must have it, and by that time we shall know what we are
+about."
+
+This was done directly after breakfast, and as soon as the letter had
+been despatched we went off to see the works.
+
+"I shall never like this place," I said, as we went down towards the
+town.  "London was smoky enough, but this is terrible."
+
+"Oh, wait a bit!" said Uncle Dick, and as we strode on with me trying to
+take long steps to keep up with my companions, I could not help seeing
+how the people kept staring at them.  And though there were plenty of
+big fine men in the town, I soon saw that my uncles stood out amongst
+them as being remarkable for their size and frank handsome looks.  This
+was the more plainly to be seen, since the majority of the work-people
+we passed were pale, thin, and degenerate looking little men, with big
+muscular arms, and a general appearance of everything else having been
+sacrificed to make those limbs strong.
+
+The farther we went the more unsatisfactory the town looked.  We were
+leaving the great works to the right, and our way lay through streets
+and streets of dingy-looking houses all alike, and with the open
+channels in front foul with soapy water and the refuse which the people
+threw out.
+
+I looked up with disgust painted on my face so strongly that Uncle Bob
+laughed.
+
+"Here, let's get this fellow a bower somewhere by a beautiful stream,"
+he cried, laughing.  Then more seriously, "Never mind the dirt, Cob," he
+cried.  "Dirty work brings clean money."
+
+"Oh, I don't mind," I said.  "Which way now?"
+
+"Down here," said Uncle Dick; and he led us down a nasty dirty street,
+worse than any we had yet passed, and so on and on, for about half an
+hour, till we were once more where wheels whirred, and we could hear the
+harsh churring noise of blades being held upon rapidly revolving stones.
+Now and then, too, I caught sight of water on our right, down through
+lanes where houses and works were crowded together.
+
+"Do you notice one thing, Cob?" said Uncle Dick.
+
+"One thing!"  I said; "there's so much to notice that I don't know what
+to look at first."
+
+"I'll tell you what I mean," he said.  "You can hear the rush and rumble
+of machinery, can't you?"
+
+"Yes," I said, "like wheels whizzing and stones rolling, as if giant
+tinkers were grinding enormous scissors."
+
+"Exactly," he said; "but you very seldom hear the hiss of steam out
+here."
+
+"No.  Have they a different kind of engines?"
+
+"Yes, a very different kind.  Your steam-engine goes because the water
+is made hot: these machines go with the water kept cold."
+
+"Oh, I see!  By hydraulic presses."
+
+"No, not by hydraulic presses, Cob; by hydraulic power.  Look here."
+
+We were getting quite in the outskirts now, and on rising ground, and,
+drawing me on one side, he showed me that the works we were by were
+dependent on water-power alone.
+
+"Why, it's like one of those old flour-mills up the country rivers," I
+exclaimed, "with their mill-dam, and water-wheel."
+
+"And without the willows and lilies and silver buttercups, Cob," said
+Uncle Jack.
+
+"And the great jack and chub and tench we used to fish out," said Uncle
+Bob.
+
+"Yes," I said; "I suppose one would catch old saucepans, dead cats, and
+old shoes in a dirty pool like this."
+
+"Yes," said Uncle Dick, "and our wheel-bands when the trades'-union
+people attack us."
+
+"Why should they throw them in here?"  I said, as I looked at the great
+deep-looking piece of water held up by a strong stone-built dam, and fed
+by a stream at the farther end.
+
+"Because it would be the handiest place.  These are our works."
+
+I looked at the stone-built prison-like place in disgust.  It was
+wonderfully strongly-built, and with small windows protected by iron
+bars, but such a desolate unornamental spot.  It stood low down by the
+broad shallow stream that ran on toward the town in what must once have
+been the bed of the river; but the steep banks had been utilised by the
+builders on each side, and everywhere one saw similar-looking places so
+arranged that their foundation walls caught and held up the water that
+came down, and was directed into the dam, and trickled out at the lower
+end after it had turned a great slimy water-wheel.  "This is our place,
+boys; come and have a look at it."  He led us down a narrow passage
+half-way to the stream, and then rang at a gate in a stone wall; and
+while we waited low down there I looked at the high rough stone wall and
+the two-storied factory with its rows of strong iron-barred windows, and
+thought of what Mr Tomplin had said the night before, coming to the
+conclusion that it was a pretty strong fortress in its way.  For here
+was a stout high wall; down along by the stream there was a high blank
+wall right from the stones over which the water trickled to the double
+row of little windows; while from the top corner by the water-wheel,
+which was fixed at the far end of the works, there was the dam of deep
+water, which acted the part of a moat, running off almost to a point
+where the stream came in, so that the place was about the shape of the
+annexed triangle: the works occupying the whole of the base, the rest
+being the deep stone-walled dam.
+
+"I think we could keep out the enemy if he came," I said to Uncle Bob;
+and just then a short-haired, palefaced man, with bent shoulders, bare
+arms, and an ugly squint, opened the gate and scowled at us.
+
+"Is your master in?" said Uncle Dick.
+
+"No-ah," said the man sourly; "and he wean't be here to-day."
+
+"That's a bad job," said Uncle Dick.  "Well, never mind; we want to go
+round the works."
+
+"Nay, yow wean't come in here."
+
+He was in the act of banging the gate, but Uncle Dick placed one of his
+great brown hands against it and thrust it open, driving the man back,
+but only for a moment, for he flew at my uncle, caught him by the arm
+and waist, thrust forward a leg, and tried to throw him out by a clever
+wrestling trick.
+
+But Uncle Dick was too quick for him.  Wrenching himself on one side he
+threw his left arm over the fellow's neck, as he bent down, the right
+arm under his leg, and whirled him up perfectly helpless, but kicking
+with all his might.
+
+"Come inside and shut that gate," said Uncle Dick, panting with his
+exertion.  "Now look here, my fine fellow, it would serve you right if I
+dropped you into that dam to cool you down.  But there, get on your
+legs," he cried contemptuously, "and learn to be civil to strangers when
+they come."
+
+The scuffle and noise brought about a dozen workmen out of the place,
+each in wooden clogs, with a rough wet apron about him, and his sleeves
+rolled up nearly to the shoulder.
+
+They came forward, looking very fierce and as if they were going to
+attack us, headed by the fellow with the squint, who was no sooner at
+liberty than he snatched up a rough piece of iron bar and rolled up his
+right sleeve ready for a fresh attack.
+
+"Give me that stick, Cob," said Uncle Dick quickly; and I handed him the
+light Malacca cane I carried.
+
+He had just seized it when the man raised the iron bar, and I felt sick
+as I saw the blow that was aimed at my uncle's head.
+
+I need not have felt troubled though, for, big as he was, he jumped
+aside, avoided the bar with the greatest ease, and almost at the same
+moment there was a whizz and a cut like lightning delivered by Uncle
+Dick with my light cane.
+
+It struck the assailant on the tendons of the leg beneath the knee, and
+he uttered a yell and went down as if killed.
+
+"Coom on, lads!" cried one of the others; and they rushed towards us,
+headed by a heavy thick-set fellow; but no one flinched, and they
+hesitated as they came close up.
+
+"Take that fellow away," said Uncle Jack sternly; "and look here, while
+you stay, if any gentleman comes to the gate don't send a surly dog like
+that."
+
+"Who are yow?  What d'ye want?  Happen yow'll get some'at if yo' stay."
+
+"I want to go round the place.  I am one of the proprietors who have
+taken it."
+
+"Eh, you be--be you?  Here, lads, this is one o' chaps as is turning us
+out.  We've got the wheels ti' Saturday, and we wean't hev no one here."
+
+"No, no," rose in chorus.  "Open gate, lads, and hev 'em out."
+
+"Keep back!" said Uncle Dick, stepping forward; "keep back, unless you
+want to be hurt.  No one is going to interfere with your rights, which
+end on Saturday night."
+
+"Eh!  But if it hedn't been for yow we could ha kep' on."
+
+"Well, you'll have to get some other place," said Uncle Dick; "we want
+this."
+
+He turned his back on them and spoke to his brothers, who both, knowing
+their great strength, which they cultivated by muscular exercise, had
+stood quite calm and patient, but watchful, and ready to go to their
+brother's aid in an instant should he need assistance.
+
+"Come on and look round," said Uncle Dick coolly; and he did not even
+glance at the squinting man, who had tried to get up, but sank down
+again and sat grinning with pain and holding his injured leg.
+
+The calm indifference with which my three uncles towered above the
+undersized, pallid-looking fellows, and walked by them to the entrance
+to the stone building had more effect than a score of blows, and the men
+stopped clustered round their companion, and talked to him in a low
+voice.  But I was not six feet two like Uncle Bob, nor six feet one like
+Uncle Jack, nor six feet three like Uncle Dick.  I was only an ordinary
+lad of sixteen, and much easier prey for their hate, and this they saw
+and showed.
+
+For as I followed last, and was about to enter the door, a shower of
+stones and pieces of iron came whizzing about me, and falling with a
+rattle and clangour upon the cobble stones with which the place was
+paved.
+
+Unfortunately, one piece, stone or iron, struck me on the shoulder, a
+heavy blow that made me feel sick, and I needed all the fortitude I
+could call up to hide my pain, for I was afraid to say or do anything
+that would cause fresh trouble.
+
+So I followed my uncles into the spacious ground-floor of the works, all
+wet and dripping with the water from the grindstones which had just been
+left by the men, and were still whizzing round waiting to be used.
+
+"Plenty of room here," said Uncle Dick, "and plenty of power, you see,"
+he continued, pointing to the shaft and wheels above our heads.
+"Ugly-looking place this," he went on, pointing to a trap-door at the
+end, which he lifted; and I looked down with a shudder to see a great
+shaft turning slowly round; and there was a slimy set of rotten wooden
+steps going right down into the blackness, where the water was falling
+with a curiously hollow echoing sound.
+
+As I turned from looking down I saw that the men had followed us, and
+the fellow with the squint seemed to have one of his unpleasant eyes
+fixed upon me, and he gave me a peculiar look and grin that I had good
+reason to remember.
+
+"This is the way to the big wheel," said Uncle Dick, throwing open a
+door at the end.  "They go out here to oil and repair it when it's out
+of gear.  Nasty spot too, but there's a wonderful supply of cheap
+power."
+
+With the men growling and muttering behind us we looked through into a
+great half-lit stone chamber that inclosed the great wheel on one side,
+leaving a portion visible as we had seen it from the outside; and here
+again I shuddered and felt uncomfortable, it seemed such a horrible
+place to fall into and from which there would be no escape, unless one
+could swim in the surging water below, and then clamber into the wheel,
+and climb through it like a squirrel.
+
+The walls were dripping and green, and they echoed and seemed to whisper
+back to the great wheel as it turned and splashed and swung down its
+long arms, each doubling itself on the wall by making a moving shadow.
+
+The place had such a fascination for me that I stood with one hand upon
+the door and a foot inside looking down at the faintly seen black water,
+listening to the echoes, and then watching the wheel as it turned, one
+pale spot on the rim catching my eye especially.  As I watched it I saw
+it go down into the darkness with a tremendous sweep, with a great deal
+of splashing and falling of water; then after being out of sight for a
+few moments it came into view again, was whirled round, and dashed down.
+
+I don't know how it was, but I felt myself thinking that suppose anyone
+fell into the horrible pit below me, he would swim round by the slimy
+walls trying to find a place to cling to, and finding none he would be
+swept round to the wheel, to which in his despair he would cling.  Then
+he would be dragged out of the water, swung round, and--
+
+"Do you hear, Cob?" cried Uncle Jack.  "What is there to attract you, my
+lad?  Come along."
+
+I seemed to be roused out of a dream, and starting back, the door was
+closed, and I followed the others as they went to the far end of the
+great ground-floor to a door opening upon a stone staircase.
+
+We had to pass the men, who were standing about close to their
+grindstones, beside which were little piles of the articles they were
+grinding--common knives, sickles, and scythe blades, ugly weapons if the
+men rose against us as they seemed disposed to do.
+
+They muttered and talked to themselves, but they did not seem inclined
+to make any farther attack; while as we reached the stairs I heard the
+harsh shrieking of blades that were being held upon the stones, and I
+knew that some men must have begun work.
+
+The upper floor was of the same size as the lower, but divided into four
+rooms by partitions, and here too were shafts and wheels turning from
+their connection with the great water-wheel.  Over that a small room had
+been built supported by an arch stretching from the works to a stone
+wall, and as we looked out of the narrow iron-barred window down upon
+the deep dam, Uncle Bob said laughingly:
+
+"What a place for you, Cob!  You could drop a line out of the window,
+and catch fish like fun."
+
+I laughed, and we all had a good look round before examining the side
+buildings, where there were forges and furnaces, and a tall
+chimney-shaft ran up quite a hundred feet.
+
+"Plenty of room to do any amount of work," cried Uncle Jack.  "I think
+the place a bargain."
+
+"Yes," said Uncle Bob, "where we can carry out our inventions; and if
+anybody is disagreeable, we can shut ourselves up like knights in a
+castle and laugh at all attacks."
+
+"Yes," said Uncle Dick thoughtfully; "but I wish we had not begun by
+quarrelling with those men."
+
+"Let's try and make friends as we go out," said Uncle Jack.
+
+It was a good proposal; and, under the impression that a gallon or two
+of beer would heal the sore place, we went into the big workshop or
+mill, where all the men had now resumed their tasks, and were grinding
+away as if to make up for lost time.
+
+One man was seated alone on a stone bench, and as we entered he half
+turned, and I saw that it was Uncle Dick's opponent.
+
+He looked at us for a moment and then turned scowling away.
+
+My uncles whispered together, and then Uncle Dick stepped forward and
+said:
+
+"I'm sorry we had this little upset, my lads.  It all arose out of a
+mistake.  We have taken these works, and of course wanted to look round
+them, but we do not wish to put you to any inconvenience.  Will you--"
+
+He stopped short, for as soon as he began to speak the men seemed to
+press down their blades that they were grinding harder and harder,
+making them send forth such a deafening churring screech that he paused
+quite in despair of making himself heard.
+
+"My lads!" he said, trying again.
+
+Not a man turned his head, and it was plain enough that they would not
+hear.
+
+"Let me speak to him," said Uncle Bob, catching his brother by the arm,
+for Uncle Dick was going to address the man on the stone.
+
+Uncle Dick nodded, for he felt that it would be better for someone else
+to speak; but the man got up, scowled at Uncle Bob, and when he held out
+a couple of half-crowns to him to buy beer to drink our healths the
+fellow made a derisive gesture, walked to his stone, and sat down.
+
+"Just as they like," said Uncle Dick.  "We apologised and behaved like
+gentlemen.  If they choose to behave like blackguards, let them.  Come
+along."
+
+We turned to the door, my fate, as usual, being to come last; and as we
+passed through not a head was turned, every man pressing down some steel
+implement upon his whirling stone, and making it shriek, and, in spite
+of the water in which the wheel revolved, send forth a shower of sparks.
+
+The noise was deafening, but as we passed into the yard on the way to
+the lane the grinding suddenly ceased, and when we had the gate well
+open the men had gathered at the door of the works, and gave vent to a
+savage hooting and yelling which continued after we had passed through,
+and as we went along by the side of the dam we were saluted by a shower
+of stones and pieces of iron thrown from the yard.
+
+"Well," said Uncle Bob, "this is learning something with a vengeance.  I
+didn't think we had such savages in Christian England."
+
+By this time we were out of the reach of the men, and going on towards
+the top of the dam, when Uncle Dick, who had been looking very serious
+and thoughtful, said:
+
+"I'm sorry, very sorry this has happened.  It has set these men against
+us."
+
+"No," said Uncle Jack quietly; "the mischief was done before we came.
+This place has been to let for a long time."
+
+"Yes," said Uncle Bob, "that's why we got it so cheaply."
+
+"And," continued Uncle Jack, "these fellows have had the run of the
+works to do their grinding for almost nothing.  They were wild with us
+for taking the place and turning them out."
+
+"Yes," said Uncle Dick, "that's the case, no doubt; but I'm very sorry I
+began by hurting that fellow all the same."
+
+"I'm not, Uncle Dick," I said, as I compressed my lips with pain.  "They
+are great cowards or they would not have thrown a piece of iron at me;"
+and I laid my hand upon my shoulder, to draw it back wet with blood.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOUR.
+
+OUR ENGINE.
+
+"Bravo, Spartan!" cried Uncle Bob, as he stood looking on, when, after
+walking some distance, Uncle Dick insisted upon my taking off my jacket
+in a lane and having the place bathed.
+
+"Oh, it's nothing," I said, "only it was tiresome for it to bleed."
+
+"Nothing like being prepared for emergencies," said Uncle Jack, taking
+out his pocket-book, and from one of the pockets a piece of
+sticking-plaster and a pair of scissors.  "I'm always cutting or
+pinching my fingers.  Wonder whether we could have stuck Cob's head on
+again if it had been cut off?"
+
+I opined not as I submitted to the rough surgery that went on, and then
+refusing absolutely to be treated as a sick person, and go back, I
+tramped on by them, mile after mile, to see something of the fine open
+country out to the west of the town before we settled down to work.
+
+We were astonished, for as we got away from the smoky pit in which
+Arrowfield lay, we found, in following the bank of the rivulet that
+supplied our works, that the country was lovely and romantic too.  Hill,
+dale, and ravine were all about us, rippling stream, hanging wood, grove
+and garden, with a thousand pretty views in every direction, as we
+climbed on to the higher ground, till at last cultivation seemed to have
+been left behind, and we were where the hills towered up with ragged
+stony tops, and their slopes all purple heather, heath, and moss.
+
+"Look, look!"  I cried, as I saw a covey of birds skim by; "partridges!"
+
+"No," said Uncle Bob, watching where they dropped; "not partridges, my
+lad--grouse."
+
+"What, here!"  I said; "and so near the town."
+
+"Near!  Why we are seven or eight miles away."
+
+"But I thought grouse were Scotch birds."
+
+"They are birds of the moors," said Uncle Bob; "and here you have them
+stretching for miles all over the hills.  This is about as wild a bit of
+country as you could see.  Why, the country people here call those hills
+mountains."
+
+"But are they mountains?"  I said; "they don't look very high."
+
+"Higher than you think, my lad, with precipice and ravine.  Why, look--
+you can see the top of that one is among the clouds."
+
+"I should have thought it was a mist resting upon it."
+
+"Well, what is the difference?" said Uncle Bob, smiling.
+
+Just then we reached a spot where a stream crossed the road, and the
+sight of the rippling water, clear as crystal, took our attention from
+the hills and vales that spread around.  My first idea was to run down
+to the edge of the stream, which was so dotted with great stones that I
+was soon quite in the middle, looking after the shadowy shapes that I
+had seen dart away.
+
+My uncles followed me, and we forgot all about the work and troubles
+with the rough grinders, as we searched for the trout and crept up to
+where we could see some good-sized, broad-tailed fellow sunning himself
+till he caught sight of the intruders, and darted away like a flash of
+light.
+
+But Uncle Dick put a stop to our idling there, leading us back to the
+road and insisting upon our continuing along it for another mile.
+
+"I want to show you our engine," he said.
+
+"Our engine out here!"  I cried.  "It's some trick."
+
+"You wait and see," he replied.
+
+We went on through the beautiful breezy country for some distance
+farther, till on one side we were looking down into a valley and on the
+other side into a lake, and I soon found that the lake had been formed
+just as we schoolboys used to make a dam across a ditch or stream when
+we were going to bale it out and get the fish.
+
+"Why," I cried, as we walked out on to the great embankment, "this has
+all been made."
+
+"To be sure," said Uncle Dick.  "Just the same as our little dam is at
+the works.  That was formed by building a strong stone wall across a
+hollow streamlet; this was made by raising this great embankment right
+across the valley here and stopping the stream that ran through it.
+That's the way some of the lakes have been made in Switzerland."
+
+"What, by men?"
+
+"No, by nature.  A great landslip takes place from the mountains, rushes
+down, and fills up a valley, and the water is stopped from running
+away."
+
+We walked right out along what seemed like a vast railway embankment, on
+one side sloping right away down into the valley, where the remains of
+the stream that had been cut off trickled on towards Arrowfield.  On the
+other side the slope went down into the lake of water, which stretched
+away toward the moorlands for quite a mile.
+
+"This needs to be tremendously strong," said Uncle Jack thoughtfully, as
+we walked on till we were right in the middle and first stood looking
+down the valley, winding in and out, with its scattered houses, farms,
+and mills, and then turned to look upward towards the moorland and along
+the dammed-up lake.
+
+"Why, this embankment must be a quarter of a mile long," said Uncle Jack
+thoughtfully.
+
+"What a pond for fishing!"  I cried, as I imagined it to be peopled by
+large jack and shoals of smaller fish.  "How deep is it, I wonder?"
+
+Did you ever know a boy yet who did not want to know how deep a piece of
+water was, when he saw it?
+
+"Deep!" said Uncle Dick; "that's easily seen.  Deep as it is from here
+to the bottom of the valley on the other side: eighty or ninety feet.  I
+should say this embankment is over a hundred in perpendicular height."
+
+"Look here," said Uncle Jack suddenly; "if I know anything about
+engineering, this great dam is not safe."
+
+"Not safe!"  I said nervously.  "Let's get off it at once."
+
+"I daresay it will hold to-day," said Uncle Dick dryly, "but you can run
+off if you like, Cob."
+
+"Are you coming?"
+
+"Not just at present," he said, smiling grimly.
+
+I put my hands in my pockets and stood looking at the great embankment,
+which formed a level road or path of about twelve feet wide where we
+stood, and then sloped down, as I have said, like a railway embankment
+far down into the valley on our left, and to the water on our right.
+
+"I don't care," said Uncle Jack, knitting his brows as he scanned the
+place well, "I say it is not safe.  Here is about a quarter of a mile of
+earthen wall that has no natural strength for holding together like a
+wall of bonded stone or brick."
+
+"But look at its weight," said Uncle Bob.
+
+"Yes, that is its only strength--its weight; but look at the weight of
+the water, about a mile of water seventy or eighty feet deep just here.
+Perhaps only sixty.  The pressure of this water against it must be
+tremendous."
+
+"Of course," said Uncle Dick thoughtfully; "but you forget the shape of
+the wall, Jack.  It is like an elongated pyramid: broad at the base and
+coming up nearly to a point."
+
+"No," said Uncle Jack, "I've not forgotten all that.  Of course it is
+all the stronger for it, the wider the base is made.  But I'm not
+satisfied, and if I had made this dam I should have made this wall twice
+as thick or three times as thick; and I don't know that I should have
+felt satisfied with its stability then."
+
+"Well done, old conscientious!" cried Uncle Bob, laughing.  "Let's get
+on."
+
+"Stop a moment," I cried.  "Uncle Dick said he would show us our
+engine."
+
+"Well, there it is," said Uncle Dick, pointing to the dammed-up lake.
+"Isn't it powerful enough for you.  This reservoir was made by a water
+company to supply all our little dams, and keep all our mills going.  It
+gathers the water off the moorlands, saves it up, and lets us have it in
+a regular supply.  What would be the consequences of a burst, Jack?" he
+said, turning to his brother.
+
+"Don't talk about it man," said Uncle Jack frowning.  "Why, this body of
+water broken loose would sweep down that valley and scour everything
+away with it--houses, mills, rocks, all would go like corks."
+
+"Why, it would carry away our works, then," I cried.  "The place is
+right down by the water side."
+
+"I hope not," said Uncle Jack.  "No I should say the force would be
+exhausted before it got so far as that, eight or nine miles away."
+
+"Well, it does look dangerous," said Uncle Bob.  "The weight must be
+tremendous.  How would it go if it did burst?"
+
+"I say, uncle, I'm only a coward, please.  Hadn't we better go off
+here?"
+
+They all laughed, and we went on across the dam.
+
+"How would it go!" said Uncle Jack thoughtfully.  "It is impossible to
+say.  Probably the water would eat a little hole through the top
+somewhere and that would rapidly grow bigger, the water pouring through
+in a stream, and cutting its way down till the solidity of the wall
+being destroyed by the continuity being broken great masses would
+crumble away all at once, and the pent-up waters would rush through."
+
+"And if they came down and washed away our works just as we were making
+our fortunes, you would say I was to blame for taking such a dangerous
+place."
+
+"There, come along," cried Uncle Bob, "don't let's meet troubles
+half-way.  I want a ramble over those hills.  There, Cob, now we're
+safe," he said, as we left the great dam behind.  "Now, then, who's for
+some lunch, eh?"
+
+This last question was suggested by the sight of a snug little village
+inn, where we had a hearty meal and a rest, and then tramped off to meet
+with an unexpected adventure among the hills.
+
+As soon as one gets into a hilly country the feeling that comes over one
+is that he ought to get up higher, and I had that sensation strongly.
+
+But what a glorious walk it was!  We left the road as soon as we could
+and struck right away as the crow flies for one of several tremendous
+hills that we saw in the distance.  Under our feet was the purple heath
+with great patches of whortleberry, that tiny shrub that bears the
+little purply grey fruit.  Then there was short elastic wiry grass and
+orange-yellow bird's-foot trefoil.  Anon we came to great patches of
+furze of a dwarf kind with small prickles, and of an elegant growth, the
+purple and yellow making the place look like some vast wild garden.
+
+"We always seem to be climbing up," said Uncle Dick.
+
+"When we are not sliding down," said Uncle Jack, laughing.
+
+"I've been looking for a bit of level ground for a race," said Uncle
+Bob.  "My word!  What a wild place it is!"
+
+"But how beautiful!"  I cried, as we sat down on some rough blocks of
+stone, with the pure thyme-scented air blowing on our cheeks, larks
+singing above our heads, and all around the hum of insects or bees
+hurrying from blossom to blossom; while we saw the grasshoppers slowly
+climbing up to the top of some strand of grass, take a look round, and
+then set their spring legs in motion and take a good leap.
+
+"What a difference in the hills!" said Uncle Jack, looking thoughtfully
+from some that were smooth of outline to others that were all rugged and
+looked as if great jagged masses of stone had been piled upon their
+tops.
+
+"Yes," said Uncle Dick.  "Two formations.  Mountain limestone yonder;
+this we are on, with all these rough pieces on the surface and sticking
+out everywhere, is millstone-grit."
+
+"Which is millstone-grit?"  I cried.
+
+"This," he said, taking out a little hammer and chipping one of the
+stones by us to show me that it was a sandstone full of hard fragments
+of silica.  "You might open a quarry anywhere here and cut millstones,
+but of course some of the stone is better for the purpose than others."
+
+"Yes," said Uncle Jack thoughtfully.  "Arrowfield is famously situated
+for its purpose--plenty of coal for forging, plenty of water to work
+mills, plenty of quarries to get millstones for grinding."
+
+"Come along," cried Uncle Bob, starting up; and before we had gone far
+the grouse flew, skimming away before us, and soon after we came to a
+lovely mountain stream that sparkled and danced as it dashed down in
+hundreds of little cataracts and falls.
+
+Leaving this, though the sight of the little trout darting about was
+temptation enough to make me stay, we tramped on over the rugged ground,
+in and out among stones or piled-up rocks, now skirting or leaping boggy
+places dotted with cotton-rush, where the bog-roots were here green and
+soft, there of a delicate pinky white, where the water had been dried
+away.
+
+To a London boy, accustomed to country runs among inclosed fields and
+hedges, or at times into a park or upon a common, this vast stretch of
+hilly, wild uncultivated land was glorious, and I was ready to see any
+wonder without surprise.
+
+It seemed to me, as we tramped on examining the bits of stone, the herbs
+and flowers, that at any moment we might come upon the lair of some wild
+beast; and so we did over and over again, but it was not the den of wolf
+or bear, but of a rabbit burrowed into the sandy side of some great
+bank.  Farther on we started a hare, which went off in its curious
+hopping fashion to be out of sight in a few moments.
+
+Almost directly after, as we were clambering over a steep slope, Uncle
+Bob stopped short, and stood there sniffing.
+
+"What is it?"  I cried.
+
+"Fox," he said, looking round.
+
+"Nonsense!" cried Uncle Dick.
+
+"You wouldn't find, eh?  What a nasty, dank, sour odour!" cried Uncle
+Jack, in his quiet, thoughtful way.
+
+"A fox has gone by here during the last few minutes, I'm sure," cried
+Uncle Bob, looking round searchingly.  "I'll be bound to say he is up
+among those tufts of ling and has just taken refuge there.  Spread out
+and hunt."
+
+The tufts he pointed to were right on a ridge of the hill we were
+climbing, and separating we hurried up there just in time to see a
+little reddish animal, with long, drooping, bushy tail, run in amongst
+the heath fifty yards down the slope away to our left.
+
+"That's the consequence of having a good nose," said Uncle Bob
+triumphantly; and now, as we were on a high eminence, we took a good
+look round so as to make our plans.
+
+"Hadn't we better turn back now?" said Uncle Jack.  "We shall have
+several hours' walk before we get to Arrowfield, and shall have done as
+much as Cob can manage."
+
+"Oh, I'm not a bit tired!"  I cried.
+
+"Well," said Uncle Dick, "I think we had better go forward.  I'm not
+very learned over the topography of the district, but if I'm not much
+mistaken that round hill or mountain before us is Dome Tor."
+
+"Well?" said Uncle Jack.
+
+"Well, I propose that we make straight for it, go over it, and then ask
+our way to the nearest town or village where there is a railway-station,
+and ride back."
+
+"Capital!"  I cried.
+
+"Whom will you ask to direct us?" said Uncle Jack dryly.
+
+"Ah!  To be sure," said Uncle Bob.  "I've seen nothing but a sheep or
+two for hours, and they look so horribly stupid I don't think it is of
+any use to ask them."
+
+"Oh!  We must meet some one if we keep on," said Uncle Dick.  "What do
+you say?  Seems a pity not to climb that hill now we are so near."
+
+"Yes, as we are out for a holiday," said Uncle Bob.  "After to-day we
+must put our necks in the collar and work.  I vote for Dick."
+
+"So do I," said Uncle Jack.
+
+"Come along then, boys," cried Uncle Dick; and now we set ourselves
+steadily to get over the ground, taking as straight a line as we could,
+but having to deviate a good deal on account of streams and bogs and
+rough patches of stone.  But it was a glorious walk, during which there
+was always something to examine; and at last we felt that we were
+steadily going up the great rounded mass known as Dome Tor.
+
+We had not been plodding far before I found that it was entirely
+different to the hills we had climbed that day, for, in place of great
+masses of rugged, weatherworn rock, the stone we found here and there
+was slaty and splintery, the narrow tracks up which we walked being full
+of slippery fragments, making it tiresome travelling.
+
+These tracks were evidently made by the sheep, of which we saw a few
+here and there, but no shepherd, no houses, nothing to break the utter
+solitude of the scene, and as we paused for a rest about half-way up
+Uncle Dick looked round at the glorious prospect, bathed in the warm
+glow of the setting sun.
+
+"Ah!" he said, "this is beautiful nature.  Over yonder, at Arrowfield,
+we shall have nature to deal with that is not beautiful.  But come,
+boys, I want a big meat tea, and we've miles to go yet before we can get
+it."
+
+We all jumped up and tramped on, with a curious sensation coming into my
+legs, as if the joints wanted oiling.  But I said nothing, only trudged
+away, on and on, till at last we reached the rounded top, hot, out of
+breath, and glad to inhale the fresh breeze that was blowing.
+
+The view was splendid, but the sun had set, and there were clouds
+beginning to gather, while, on looking round, though we could see a
+house here and a house there in the distance, it did not seem very clear
+to either of us which way we were to go.
+
+"We are clever ones," said Uncle Dick, "starting out on a trip like this
+without a pocket guide and a map: never mind, our way must be west, and
+sooner or later we shall come to a road, and then to a village."
+
+"But we shall never be able to reach a railway-station to-night," said
+Uncle Bob.
+
+"Not unless we try," said Uncle Jack in his dry way.
+
+"Then let's try," said Uncle Dick, "and--well, that is strange."
+
+As we reached the top the wind had been blowing sharply in our faces,
+but this had ceased while we had been lying about admiring the prospect,
+and in place a few soft moist puffs had come from quite another quarter;
+and as we looked there seemed to be a cloud of white smoke starting up
+out of a valley below us.  As we watched it we suddenly became aware of
+another rolling along the short rough turf and over the shaley paths.
+Then a patch seemed to form here, another there, and these patches
+appeared to be stretching out their hands to each other all round the
+mountain till they formed a grey bank of mist, over the top of which we
+could see the distant country.
+
+"We must be moving," said Uncle Dick, "or we shall be lost in the fog.
+North-west must be our way, but let's push down here where the slope's
+easy, and get beyond the mist, and then we can see what we had better
+do."
+
+He led the way, and before we could realise it the dense white steamy
+fog was all around us, and we could hardly see each other.
+
+"All right!" said Uncle Dick; "keep together."
+
+"Can you see where you are going, Dick?" said Uncle Jack.
+
+"No, I'm as if I was blindfolded with a white crape handkerchief."
+
+"No precipices here, are there?"  I cried nervously, for it seemed so
+strange to be walking through this dense mist.
+
+"No, I hope not," cried Uncle Dick out of the mist ahead.  "You keep
+talking, and follow me, I'll answer you, or else we shall be separated,
+and that won't do now.  All right!"
+
+"All right!" we chorused back.
+
+"All right!" cried Uncle Dick; "nice easy slope here, but slippery."
+
+"All right!" we chorused.
+
+"All ri--Take--"
+
+We stopped short in horror wondering what had happened, for Uncle Dick's
+words seemed cut in two, there was a rustling scrambling sound, and then
+all was white fog and silence, broken only by our panting breath.
+
+"Dick!  Where are you?" cried Uncle Jack taking a step forward.
+
+"Mind!" cried Uncle Bob, catching him by the arm.
+
+It was well he did, for that was the rustling scrambling noise again
+falling on my ears, with a panting struggle, and two voices in the dense
+fog seeming to utter ejaculations of horror and dread.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIVE.
+
+A NIGHT OF ANXIETY.
+
+I looked in the direction from which the sounds came, but there was
+nothing visible, save the thick white fog, and in my excitement and
+horror, thinking I was looking in the wrong direction, I turned sharply
+round.
+
+White fog.
+
+I looked in another direction.
+
+White fog.
+
+Then I seemed to lose my head altogether, and hurried here and there
+with my hands extended, completely astray.
+
+It only took moments, swift moments, for all this to take place, and
+then I heard voices that I knew, but sounding muffled and as if a long
+way off.
+
+"Cob!  Where are you, Cob?"
+
+"Here," I shouted.  "I'll try and come."
+
+"No, no!"--it was Uncle Jack who spoke--"don't stir for your life."
+
+"But," I shouted, with my voice sounding as if I was covered with a
+blanket, "I want to come to you."
+
+"Stop where you are," he cried.  "I command you."
+
+I stayed where I was, and the next moment a fresh voice cried to me, as
+if pitying my condition:
+
+"Cob, lad."
+
+"Yes," I cried.
+
+"There is a horrible precipice.  Don't stir."
+
+It was Uncle Bob who said this to comfort me, and make me safe from
+running risks, but he made me turn all of a cold perspiration, and I
+stood there shivering, listening to the murmur of voices that came to me
+in a stifled way.
+
+At last I could bear it no longer.  It seemed so strange.  Only a minute
+or two ago we were all together on the top of a great hill admiring the
+prospect.  Now we were separated.  Then all seemed open and clear, and
+we were looking away for miles: now I seemed shut-in by this pale white
+gloom that stopped my sight, and almost my hearing, while it numbed and
+confused my faculties in a way that I could not have felt possible.
+
+"Uncle Jack!"  I cried, as a sudden recollection came back of a cry I
+had heard.
+
+"He is not here," cried Uncle Bob.  "He is trying to find a way down."
+
+"Where is Uncle Dick?"
+
+"Hush, boy!  Don't ask."
+
+"But, uncle, I may come to you, may I not?"  I cried, trembling with the
+dread of what had happened, for in spite of my confused state I realised
+now that Uncle Dick must have fallen.
+
+"My boy," he shouted back, "I daren't say yes.  The place ends here in a
+terrible way.  We two nearly went over, and I dare not stir, for I
+cannot see a yard from my feet.  I am on a very steep slope too."
+
+"But where has Uncle Jack gone then?"
+
+"Ahoy!" came from somewhere behind me, and apparently below.
+
+"Ahoy!  Uncle Jack," I yelled.
+
+"Ahoy, boy!  I want to come to you.  Keep shouting
+_here_--_here_--_here_."
+
+I did as he bade me, and he kept answering me, and for a minute or two
+he seemed to be coming nearer.  Then his voice sounded more distant, and
+more distant still; then ceased.
+
+"Cob, I can't hear him," came from near me out of the dense gloom.  "Can
+you?"
+
+"No!"  I said with a shiver.
+
+"Ahoy, Jack!" roared Uncle Bob.
+
+"Ahoy-oy!" came from a distance in a curiously stifled way.
+
+"Give it up till the fog clears off.  Stand still."
+
+There was no reply, and once more the terrible silence seemed to cling
+round me.  The gloom increased, and I sank on my knees, not daring to
+stand now, but listening, if I may say so, with all my might.
+
+What had happened?  What was going to happen?  Were we to stay there all
+night in the darkness, shivering with cold and damp?  Only a little
+while ago I had been tired and hot; now I did not feel the fatigue, but
+was shivering with cold, and my hands and face were wet.
+
+I wanted to call out to Uncle Bob again, but the sensation came over
+me--the strange, wild fancy that something had happened to him, and I
+dared not speak for fear of finding that it was true.
+
+All at once as I knelt there, listening intently for the slightest
+sound, I fancied I heard some one breathing.  Then the sound stopped.
+Then it came nearer, and the dense mist parted, and a figure was upon
+me, crawling close by me without seeing me; and crying "Uncle Bob!"  I
+started forward and caught at him as I thought.  My hands seized moist
+wool for a moment, and then it was jerked out of my hands, as, with a
+frightened _Baa_!  Its wearer bounded away.
+
+"What's that?" came from my left and below me, in the same old
+suffocated tone.
+
+"A sheep," I cried, trembling with the start the creature had given me.
+
+"Did you see which way it went?"
+
+"Yes--beyond me."
+
+"Then it must be safe your way, Cob.  I'll try and crawl to you, lad,
+but I'm so unnerved I can hardly make up my mind to stir."
+
+"Let me come to you," I cried.
+
+"No, no!  I'll try and get to you.  Where are you?"
+
+"Here," I cried.
+
+"All right!" came back in answer; but matters did not seem all right,
+for Uncle Bob's voice suddenly seemed to grow more distant, and when I
+shouted to him my cry came back as if I had put my face against a wall
+and spoken within an inch or two thereof.
+
+"I think we'd better give it up, Cob," he shouted now from somewhere
+quite different.  "It is not safe to stir."
+
+I did not think so, and determined to make an attempt to get to him.
+
+For, now that I had grown a little used to the fog, it did not seem so
+appalling, though it had grown thicker and darker till I seemed quite
+shut-in.
+
+"I'll stop where I am, Cob," came now as if from above me; "and I
+daresay in a short time the wind will rise."
+
+I answered, but I felt as if I could not keep still.  I had been scared
+by the sudden separation from my companions, but the startled feeling
+having passed away I did not realise the extent of our danger.  In fact
+it seemed absurd for three strong men and a lad like me to be upset in
+this way by a mist.
+
+Uncle Dick had had a fall, but I would not believe it had been serious.
+Perhaps he had only slipped down some long slope.
+
+I crouched there in the darkness, straining my eyes to try and pierce
+the mist, and at last, unable to restrain my impatience, I began to
+crawl slowly on hands and knees in the direction whence my uncle's voice
+seemed to come.
+
+I crept a yard at a time very carefully, feeling round with my hands
+before I ventured to move, and satisfying myself that the ground was
+solid all around.
+
+It seemed so easy, and it was so impossible that I could come to any
+harm this way, that I grew more confident, and passing my hand over the
+rough shale chips that were spread around amongst the short grass, I
+began to wonder how my uncles could have been so timid, and not have
+made a brave effort to escape from our difficulty.
+
+I kept on, growing more and more confident each moment in spite of the
+thick darkness that surrounded me, for it seemed so much easier than
+crouching there doing nothing for myself.  But I went very cautiously,
+for I found I was on a steep slope, and that very little would have been
+required to send me sliding down.
+
+Creep, creep, creep, a yard in two or three minutes, but still I was
+progressing somewhere, and even at this rate I thought that I could join
+either of my companions when I chose.
+
+I had made up my mind to go a few yards further and then speak, feeling
+sure that I should be close to Uncle Bob, and that then we could go on
+together and find Uncle Jack.
+
+I had just come to this conclusion, and was thrusting out my right hand
+again, when, as I tried to set it down, there was nothing there.
+
+I drew it in sharply and set it down close to the other as I knelt, and
+then passed it slowly from me over the loose scraps of slaty stone to
+find it touch the edge of a bank that seemed to have been cut off
+perpendicularly, and on passing my hand over, it touched first soft turf
+and earth and then scrappy loose fragments of shale.
+
+This did not startle me, for it appeared to be only a little depression
+in the ground, but thrusting out one foot I found that go over too, so
+that I knew I must be parallel with the edge of the trench or crack in
+the earth.
+
+I picked up a piece of shale and threw it from me, listening for its
+fall, but no sound came, so I sat down with one leg over the depression
+and kicked with my heel to loosen a bit of the soil.
+
+I was a couple of feet back, and as I kicked I felt the ground I sat
+upon quiver; then there was a loud rushing sound, and I threw myself
+down clinging with my hands, for a great piece of the edge right up to
+where I sat had given way and gone down, leaving me with my legs hanging
+over the edge, and but for my sudden effort I should have fallen.
+
+"What was that?" cried a voice some distance above me.
+
+"It is I, Uncle Bob," I panted.  "Come and help me."
+
+I heard a fierce drawing in of the breath, and then a low crawling
+sound, and little bits of stone seemed to be moved close by me.
+
+"Where are you, boy?" came again.
+
+"Here."
+
+"Can you crawl to me?  I'm close by your head."
+
+"No," I gasped.  "If I move I'm afraid I shall fall."
+
+There was the same fierce drawing in of the breath, the crawling sound
+again, and a hand touched my face, passed round it, and took a tight
+hold of my collar.
+
+"Lie quite still, Cob," was whispered; "I'm going to draw you up.  Now!"
+
+I felt myself dragged up suddenly, and at the same moment the earth and
+stones upon which I had been lying dropped from under me with a loud
+hissing rushing sound, and then I was lying quite still, clinging to
+Uncle Bob's hand, which was very wet and cold.
+
+"How did you come there?" he said at length.
+
+"Crawled there, trying to get to you," I said.
+
+"And nearly went down that fearful precipice, you foolish fellow.  But
+there: you are safe."
+
+"I did not know it was so dangerous," I faltered.
+
+"Dangerous!" he cried.  "It is awful in this horrible darkness.  The
+mountain seems to have been cut in half somewhere about here, and this
+fog confuses so that it is impossible to stir.  We must wait till it
+blows off I think we are safe now, but I dare not try to find a better
+place.  Dare you?"
+
+"Not after what I have just escaped from," I said dolefully.
+
+"Are you cold?"
+
+"Ye-es," I said with a shiver.  "It is so damp."
+
+"Creep close to me, then," he said.  "We shall keep each other warm."
+
+We sat like that for hours, and still the fog kept as dense as ever,
+only that overhead there was a faint light, which grew stronger and then
+died out over and over again.  The stillness was awful, but I had a
+companion, and that made my position less painful.  He would not talk,
+though as a rule he was very bright and chatty; now he would only say,
+"Wait and see;" and we waited.
+
+The change came, after those long terrible hours of anxiety, like magic.
+One moment it was thick darkness; the next I felt, as it were, a
+feather brush across my cheek.
+
+"Did you feel that?"  I said quickly.
+
+"Feel what, Cob?"
+
+"Something breathing against us?"
+
+"No--yes!" he cried joyfully.  "It was the wind."
+
+The same touch came again, but stronger.  There was light above our
+heads.  I could dimly see my companion, and then a cloud that looked
+white and strange in the moonlight was gliding slowly away from us over
+what seemed to be a vast black chasm whose edge was only a few yards
+away.
+
+It was wonderful how quickly that mist departed and went skimming away
+into the distance, as if a great curtain were being drawn, leaving the
+sky sparkling with stars and the moon shining bright and clear.
+
+"You see now the danger from which you escaped?" said Uncle Bob with a
+shudder.
+
+"Yes," I said; "but did--do you think--"
+
+He looked at me without answering, and just then there came from behind
+us a loud "Ahoy!"
+
+"Ahoy!" shouted back Uncle Bob; and as we turned in the direction of the
+cry we could see Uncle Jack waving his white handkerchief to us, and we
+were soon after by his side.
+
+They gripped hands without a word as they met, and then after a short
+silence Uncle Jack said:
+
+"We had better get on and descend on the other, side."
+
+"But Uncle Dick!"  I cried impetuously; "are you not going to search for
+Uncle Dick?"
+
+The brothers turned upon me quite fiercely, but neither of them spoke;
+and for the next hour we went stumbling on down the steep slope of the
+great hill, trying to keep to the sheep-tracks, which showed pretty
+plainly in the moonlight, but every now and then we went astray.
+
+My uncles were wonderfully quiet, but they kept steadily on; and I did
+not like to break their communings, and so trudged behind them, noting
+that they kept as near as seemed practicable to the place where the
+mountain ended in a precipice; and now after some walking I could look
+back and see that the moon was shining full upon the face of the hill,
+which looked grey and as if one end had been dug right away.
+
+On we went silently and with a settled determined aim, about which no
+one spoke, but perhaps thought all the more.
+
+I know that I thought so much about the end of our quest that I kept
+shuddering as I trudged on, with sore feet, feeling that in a short time
+we should be turning sharp round to our left so as to get to the foot of
+the great precipice, where the hill had been gnawed away by time, and
+where the loose earth still kept shivering down.
+
+It was as I expected; we turned sharp off to the left and were soon
+walking with our faces towards the grey-looking face, that at first
+looked high, but, as we went on, towered up more and more till the
+height seemed terrific.
+
+It was a weary heart-rending walk before we reached the hill-like slope
+where the loose shaley rock and earth was ever falling to add to the
+_debris_ up which we climbed.
+
+"There's no telling exactly where he must have come over," said Uncle
+Jack, after we had searched about some time, expecting moment by moment
+to come upon the insensible form of our companion.  "We must spread out
+more."
+
+For we neither of us would own to the possibility of Uncle Dick being
+killed.  For my part I imagined that he would have a broken leg,
+perhaps, or a sprained ankle.  If he had fallen head-first he might have
+put out his shoulder or broken his collar-bone.  I would not imagine
+anything worse.
+
+The moon was not so clear now, for fleecy clouds began to sail across it
+and made the search more difficult, as we clambered on over the shale,
+which in the steepest parts gave way under our feet.  But I determinedly
+climbed on, sure that if I got very high up I should be able to look
+down and see where Uncle Dick was lying.
+
+To this end I toiled higher and higher, till I could fairly consider
+that I was touching the face of the mountain where the slope of _debris_
+began; and I now found that the precipice sloped too, being anything but
+perpendicular.
+
+"Can you see him, Cob?" cried Uncle Jack from below.
+
+"No," I said despondently.
+
+"Stay where you are," he cried again, "quite still."
+
+That was impossible, for where I stood the shale was so small and loose
+that I was sliding down slowly; but I made very little noise, and just
+then Uncle Jack uttered a tremendous--
+
+"Dick, ahoy!"
+
+There was a pause and he shouted again:
+
+"Dick, ahoy!"
+
+"Ahoy!" came back faintly from somewhere a long way off.
+
+"There he is!"  I cried.
+
+"No--an echo," said Uncle Jack.  "Ahoy!"
+
+"Ahoy!" came back.
+
+"There, you see--an echo."
+
+"Ahoy!" came again.
+
+"That's no echo," cried Uncle Bob joyfully.  "Dick!"
+
+He shouted as loudly as he could.
+
+"Ahoy!"
+
+"There!  It was no echo.  He's all right; and after falling down here he
+has worked his way out and round the other side, where we went up first,
+while we came down the other way and missed him."
+
+"Dick, ahoy!" he shouted again; "where away?"
+
+"Ahoy!" came back, and we had to consult.
+
+"If we go up one way to meet him he will come down the other," said
+Uncle Bob.  "There's nothing for it but to wait till morning or divide,
+and one of us go up one side while the other two go up the other."
+
+Uncle Jack snapped his watch-case down after examining the face by the
+pale light of the moon.
+
+"Two o'clock," he said, throwing himself on the loose shale.  "Ten
+minutes ago, when we were in doubt, I felt as if I could go on for hours
+with the search.  Now I know that poor old Dick is alive I can't walk
+another yard."
+
+I had slipped and scrambled down to him now, and Uncle Bob turned to me.
+
+"How are you, Cob?" he said.
+
+"The skin is off one of my heels, and I have a blister on my big toe."
+
+"And I'm dead beat," said Uncle Bob, sinking down.  "You're right, Jack,
+we must have a rest.  Let's wait till it's light.  It will be broad day
+by four o'clock, and we can signal to him which way to come."
+
+I nestled down close to him, relieved in mind and body, and I was just
+thinking that though scraps of slaty stone and brashy earth were not
+good things for stuffing a feather-bed, they were, all the same, very
+comfortable for a weary person to lie upon, when I felt a hand laid upon
+my shoulder, and opening my eyes found the sun shining brightly and
+Uncle Dick looking down in my face.
+
+"Have I been asleep?"  I said confusedly.
+
+"Four hours, Cob," said Uncle Jack.  "You lay down at two.  It is now
+six."
+
+"But I dreamed something about you, Uncle Dick," I said confusedly.  "I
+thought you were lost."
+
+"Well, not exactly lost, Cob," he said; "but I slipped over that
+tremendous slope up yonder, and came down with a rush, stunning myself
+and making a lot of bruises that are very sore.  I must have come down a
+terrible distance, and I lay, I suppose, for a couple of hours before I
+could get up and try to make my way back."
+
+"But you are not--not broken," I cried, now thoroughly awake and holding
+his hand.
+
+"No, Cob," he said smiling; "not broken, but starving and very faint."
+
+A three miles' walk took us to where we obtained a very hearty
+breakfast, and here the farmer willingly drove us to the nearest
+station, from whence by a roundabout way we journeyed back to
+Arrowfield, and found the landlady in conference with Mr Tomplin, who
+had come to our place on receiving a message from Mrs Stephenson that
+we had gone down to the works and not returned, her impression being
+that the men had drowned us all in the dam.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIX.
+
+"DO LET ME COME."
+
+The rest of the week soon slipped by, and my uncles took possession of
+the works, but not peaceably.
+
+The agent who had had the letting went down to meet my uncles and give
+them formal possession.
+
+When he got there he was attacked by the work-people, with words first,
+and then with stones and pails of water.
+
+The consequence was that he went home with a cut head and his clothes
+soaked.
+
+"But what's to be done?" said Uncle Dick to him.  "We want the place
+according to the agreement."
+
+The agent looked up, holding one hand to his head, and looking white and
+scared.
+
+"Call themselves men!" he said, "I call them wild beasts."
+
+"Call them what you like," said Uncle Dick; "wild beasts if you will,
+but get them out."
+
+"But I can't," groaned the man dismally.  "See what a state I'm in!
+They've spoiled my second best suit."
+
+"Very tiresome," said Uncle Dick, who was growing impatient; "but are
+you going to get these people out?  We've two truck-loads of machinery
+waiting to be delivered."
+
+"Don't I tell you I can't," said the agent angrily.  "Take possession
+yourself.  There, I give you leave."
+
+"Very well," said Uncle Dick.  "You assure me that these men have no
+legal right to be there."
+
+"Not the slightest.  They were only allowed to be there till the place
+was let."
+
+"That's right; then we take possession at once, sir."
+
+"And good luck to you!" said the agent as we went out.
+
+"What are you going to do?" asked Uncle Bob.
+
+"Take possession."
+
+"When?"
+
+"To-night.  Will you come?"
+
+"Will I come?" said Uncle Bob with a half laugh.  "You might as well ask
+Jack."
+
+"It may mean trouble to-morrow."
+
+"There's nothing done without trouble," said Uncle Bob coolly.  "I like
+ease better, but I'll take my share."
+
+I was wildly excited, and began thinking that we should all be armed
+with swords and guns, so that I was terribly disappointed when that
+evening I found Uncle Dick enter the room with a brown-paper parcel in
+his hand that looked like a book, and followed by Uncle Jack looking as
+peaceable as could be.
+
+"Where's Uncle Bob?"  I said.
+
+"Waiting for us outside."
+
+"Why doesn't he come in?"
+
+"He's busy."
+
+I wondered what Uncle Bob was busy about; but I noticed that my uncles
+were preparing for the expedition, putting some tools and a small
+lantern in a travelling-bag.  After this Uncle Jack took it open
+downstairs ready for starting.
+
+"Look here, Cob," said Uncle Dick; "we are going down to the works."
+
+"What!  To-night?"
+
+"Yes, my lad, to-night."
+
+"But you can't get in.  The men have the key."
+
+"I have the agent's keys.  There are two sets, and I am going down now.
+Look here; take a book and amuse yourself, and go to bed in good time.
+Perhaps we shall be late."
+
+"Why, you are going to stop all night," I cried, "so as to be there
+before the men?"
+
+"I confess," he said, laughing in my excited face.
+
+"And I sha'n't see any of the fun," I cried.
+
+"There will not be any fun, Cob."
+
+"Oh, yes, there will, uncle," I said.  "I say, do let me come."
+
+He shook his head, and as I could make no impression on him I gave up,
+and slipped down to Uncle Jack, who was watching Mrs Stephenson cut
+some huge sandwiches for provender during the night.
+
+"I say, uncle," I whispered, "I know what you are going to do.  Take
+me."
+
+"No, no," he said.  "It will be no work for boys."
+
+He was so quiet and stern that I felt it was of no use to press him, so
+I left the kitchen and went to the front door to try Uncle Bob for my
+last resource.
+
+I opened the door gently, and started back, for there was a savage
+growl, and I just made out the dark form of a big-headed dog tugging at
+a string.
+
+"Down, Piter!" said Uncle Bob.  "Who is it?  You, Cob?  Here, Piter,
+make friends with him.  Come out."
+
+I went out rather slowly, for the dog was growling ominously; but at a
+word from Uncle Bob he ceased, and began to smell me all round the legs,
+stopping longest about my calves, as if he thought that would be the
+best place for a bite.
+
+"Pat him, Cob, and pull his ears."
+
+I stooped down rather unwillingly, and began patting the ugliest head I
+ever saw in my life.  For Piter--otherwise Jupiter--was a brindled
+bull-dog with an enormous head, protruding lower jaw, pinched-in nose,
+and grinning teeth.  The sides of his head seemed swollen, and his chest
+broad, his body lank and lean, ending in a shabby little thin tail.
+
+"Why, he has no ears," I said.
+
+"They are cut pretty short, poor fellow.  But isn't he a beauty, Cob?"
+
+"Beauty!"  I said, laughing.  "But where did you get him?"
+
+"Mr Tomplin has lent him to us."
+
+"But what for?"
+
+"Garrison for the fort," my boy.  "I think we can trust him."
+
+I commenced my attack then.
+
+"I should so like to go!"  I said.  "It isn't as if I was a nuisance.  I
+wasn't so bad when we were out all night by Dome Tor."
+
+"Well, there, I'll talk them over," he said.  "Here, you stop and hold
+the dog, while I go in."
+
+"What, hold him?"
+
+"Yes, to be sure.  I won't be long."
+
+"But, uncle," I said, "he looks such a brute, as if he'd eat a fellow."
+
+"My dear Cob, I sha'n't be above a quarter of an hour.  He couldn't get
+through more than one leg by that time."
+
+"Now you're laughing at me," I said.
+
+"Hold the dog, then, you young coward!"
+
+"I'm not," I said in an injured tone; and I caught at the leather thong,
+for if it had been a lion I should have held on then.
+
+I wanted to say, "Don't be long," but I was ashamed, and I looked rather
+wistfully over my shoulder as he went in, leaving me with the dog.
+
+Piter uttered a low whine as the door closed, and then growled angrily
+and gave a short deep-toned bark.
+
+This done, he growled at me, smelled me all round, making my legs seem
+to curdle as his blunt nose touched them, and then after winding the
+thong round me twice he stood up on his hind-legs, placing his paws
+against my chest and his ugly muzzle between them.
+
+My heart was beating fast, but the act was so friendly that I patted the
+great head; and the end of it was, that I sat down on the door-step, and
+when Uncle Bob came out again Piter and I had fraternised, and he had
+been showing me as hard as he could that he was my born slave, that he
+was ready for a bit of fun at any time, and also to defend me against
+any enemy who should attack.
+
+Piter's ways were simple.  To show the first he licked my hand.  For the
+second, he turned over on his back, patted at me with his paws, and
+mumbled my legs, took a hold of my trousers and dragged at them, and
+butted at me with his bullet head.  For the last, he suddenly sprang to
+his feet as a step was heard, crouched by me ready for a spring, and
+made some thunder inside him somewhere.
+
+This done, he tried to show me what fun it was to tie himself up in a
+knot with the leathern thong, and strangle himself till his eyes stood
+out of his head.
+
+"Why, you have made friends," said Uncle Bob, coming out.  "Good dog,
+then."
+
+"May I go?"  I said eagerly.
+
+"Yes.  They've given in.  I had a hard fight, sir, so you must do me
+credit."
+
+Half an hour after, we four were on our way to our own works, just as if
+we were stealing through the dark to commit a burglary, and I noticed
+that though there were no swords and guns, each of my uncles carried a
+very stout heavy stick, that seemed to me like a yard of bad headache,
+cut very thick.
+
+The streets looked very miserable as we advanced, leaving behind us the
+noise and roar and glow of the panting machinery which every now and
+then whistled and screamed as if rejoicing over the metal it was cutting
+and forming and working into endless shapes.  There behind us was the
+red cloud against which the light from a thousand furnaces was glowing,
+while every now and then came a deafening roar as if some explosion had
+taken place.
+
+I glanced down at Piter expecting to see him startled, but he was
+Arrowfield born, and paid not the slightest heed to noise, passing
+through a bright flash of light that shot from an open door as if it
+were the usual thing, and he did not even twitch his tail as we walked
+on by a wall that seemed to quiver and shake as some great piece of
+machinery worked away, throbbing and thudding inside.
+
+"Here we are at last," said Uncle Dick, as we reached the corner of our
+place, where a lamp shed a ghastly kind of glow upon the dark triangular
+shaped dam.
+
+The big stone building looked silent and ghostly in the gloom, while the
+great chimney stood up like a giant sentry watching over it, and placed
+there by the men whom it was our misfortune to have to dislodge.
+
+We had a perfect right to be there, but one and all spoke in whispers as
+we looked round at the buildings about, to see in one of a row of houses
+that there were lights, and in a big stone building similar to ours the
+faint glow of a fire left to smoulder till the morning.  But look which
+way we would, there was not a soul about, and all was still.
+
+As we drew closer I could hear the dripping of the water as it ran in by
+the wheel where it was not securely stopped; and every now and then
+there was an echoing plash from the great shut-in cave, but no light in
+any of the windows.
+
+"Come and hold the bag, Jack," whispered Uncle Dick; and then laughingly
+as we grouped about the gate with the dog sniffing at the bottom: "If
+you see a policeman coming, give me fair warning.  I hope that dog will
+not bark.  I feel just like a burglar."
+
+Piter uttered a low growl, but remained silent, while Uncle Dick opened
+the gate and we entered.
+
+As soon as we were inside the yard the bag was put under requisition
+again, a great screw-driver taken out, the lantern lit, and with all the
+skill and expedition of one accustomed to the use of tools, Uncle Dick
+unscrewed and took off the lock, laid it aside, and fitted on, very
+ingeniously, so that the old key-hole should do again, one of the new
+patent locks he had brought with him in the brown-paper parcel I had
+seen.
+
+This took some little time, but it was effected at last, and Uncle Dick
+said:
+
+"That is something towards making the place our own.  Their key will not
+be worth much now."
+
+Securing the gate by turning the key of the new lock, we went next to
+the door leading into the works, which was also locked, but the key the
+agent had supplied opened it directly, and this time Uncle Dick held box
+and lantern while Uncle Jack took off the old and fitted on the second
+new lock that we had brought.
+
+It was a curious scene in the darkness of that great stone-floored
+echoing place, where an observer who watched would have seen a round
+glass eye shedding a bright light on a particular part of the big dirty
+door, and in the golden ring the bull's-eye made, a pair of large white
+hands busy at work fixing, turning a gimlet, putting in and fastening
+screws, while only now and then could a face be seen in the ring of
+light.
+
+"There," said Uncle Jack at last, as he turned the well-oiled key and
+made the bolt of the lock play in and out of its socket, "now I think we
+can call the place our own."
+
+"I say, Uncle Bob," I whispered--I don't know why, unless it was the
+darkness that made me speak low--"I should like to see those fellows'
+faces when they come to the gate to-morrow morning."
+
+"Especially Old Squintum's," said Uncle Bob laughing.  "Pleasant
+countenance that man has, Cob.  If ever he is modelled I should like to
+have a copy.  Now, boys, what next?"
+
+"Next!" said Uncle Dick; "we'll just have a look round this place and
+see what there is belonging to the men, and we'll put all together so as
+to be able to give it up when they come."
+
+"The small grindstones are theirs, are they not?" said Uncle Bob.
+
+"No; the agent says that everything belongs to the works and will be
+found in the inventory.  All we have to turn out will be the blades they
+are grinding."
+
+Uncle Dick went forward from grindstone to grindstone, but only in one
+place was anything waiting to be ground, and that was a bundle of
+black-looking, newly-forged scythe blades, neatly tied up with bands of
+wire.
+
+He went on from end to end, making the light play on grindstone, trough,
+and the rusty sand that lay about; but nothing else was to be seen, and
+after reaching the door leading into the great chamber where the
+water-wheel revolved, he turned back the light, looking like some
+dancing will-o'-the-wisp as he directed it here and there, greatly to
+the puzzlement of Piter, to whom it was something new.
+
+He tugged at the stout leathern thong once or twice, but I held on and
+he ceased, contenting himself with a low uneasy whine now and then, and
+looking up to me with his great protruding eyes, as if for an
+explanation.
+
+"Now let's have a look round upwards," said Uncle Dick.  "I'm glad the
+men have left so few of their traps here.  Cob, my lad, you need not
+hold that dog.  Take the swivel off his collar and let him go.  He can't
+get away."
+
+"Besides," said Uncle Bob, "this is to be his home."
+
+I stooped down and unhooked the spring swivel, to Piter's great delight,
+which he displayed by scuffling about our feet, trying to get himself
+trodden upon by all in turn, and ending by making a rush at the
+bull's-eye lantern, and knocking his head against the round glass.
+
+"Pretty little creature!" said Uncle Bob.  "Well, I should have given
+him credit for more sense than a moth."
+
+Piter growled as if he were dissatisfied with the result, and then his
+hideous little crinkled black nose was seen as he smelt the lantern all
+round, and, apparently gratified by the odour of the oil, he licked his
+black lips.
+
+"Now then, upstairs," said Uncle Dick, leading the way with the lantern.
+But as soon as the light fell upon the flight of stone stairs Piter
+went to the front with a rush, his claws pattered on the stones, and he
+was up at the top waiting for us, after giving a scratch at a rough
+door, his ugly countenance looking down curiously out of the darkness.
+
+"Good dog!" said Uncle Dick as he reached the landing and unlatched the
+door.
+
+Piter squeezed himself through almost before the door was six inches
+open, and the next moment he burst into a furious deep-mouthed bay.
+
+"Someone there!" cried Uncle Dick, and he rushed in, lantern in hand, to
+make the light play round, while my uncles changed the hold of their
+stout sticks, holding them cudgel fashion ready for action.
+
+The light rested directly on the face and chest of a man sitting up
+between a couple of rusty lathes, where a quantity of straw had been
+thrown down, and at the first glimpse it was evident that the dog had
+just aroused him from a heavy sleep.
+
+His eyes were half-closed, bits of oat straw were sticking in his short
+dark hair, and glistened like fragments of pale gold in the light cast
+by the bull's-eye, while two blackened and roughened hands were applied
+to his eyes as if he were trying to rub them bright.
+
+Piter's was an ugly face; but the countenance of an ugly animal is
+pleasanter to look upon than that of an ugly degraded human being, and
+as I saw the rough stubbly jaws open, displaying some yellow and
+blackened teeth that glistened in the light as their owner yawned
+widely, I began to think our dog handsome by comparison.
+
+The man growled as if not yet awake, and rubbed away at his eyes with
+his big fists, as if they, too, required a great deal of polishing to
+make them bright enough to see.
+
+At last he dropped his fists and stared straight before him--no, that's
+a mistake, he stared with the range of his eyes crossing, and then
+seemed to have some confused idea that there was a light before him, and
+a dog making a noise, for he growled out:
+
+"Lie down!"
+
+Then, bending forward, he swept an arm round, as if in search of
+something, which he caught hold of at last, and we understood why he was
+so confused.  For it was a large stone bottle he had taken up.  From
+this he removed the cork with a dull _Fop_!  Raised the bottle with both
+hands, took a long draught, and corked the bottle again with a sigh, set
+it down beside him, and after yawning loudly shouted once more at the
+dog, "Get out!  Lie down!"
+
+Then he settled himself as if about to do what he had bidden the dog,
+but a gleam of intelligence appeared to have come now into his brain.
+
+There was no mistaking the man: it was the squinting ruffian who had
+attacked us when we came first, and there was no doubt that he had been
+staying there to keep watch and hold the place against us, for a candle
+was stuck in a ginger-beer bottle on the frame of the lathe beyond him,
+and this candle had guttered down and gone out.
+
+We none of us spoke, but stood in the black shadow invisible to the man,
+who could only see the bright light of the bull's-eye staring him full
+in the face.
+
+"Lie down, will yer!" he growled savagely.  "Makin' shut a row!  Lie
+down or--"
+
+He shouted this last in such a fierce tone of menace that it would have
+scared some dogs.
+
+It had a different effect on Piter, who growled angrily.
+
+"Don't, then," shouted the man; "howl and bark--make a row, but if yer
+touch me I'll take yer down and drownd yer in the wheel-pit.  D'yer
+hear?  In the wheel-pit!"
+
+This was said in a low drowsy tone and as if the fellow were nearly
+asleep, and as the light played upon his half-closed dreamy eyes he
+muttered and stared at it as if completely overcome by sleep.
+
+It was perfectly ridiculous, and yet horrible, to see that rough head
+and hideous face nodding and blinking at the light as the fellow
+supported himself on both his hands in an ape-like attitude that was
+more animal than human.
+
+All this was a matter of a minute or so, and then the ugly cross eyes
+closed, opened sharply, and were brought to bear upon the light one
+after the other by movements of the head, just as a magpie looks at a
+young bird before he kills it with a stroke of his bill.
+
+Then a glimpse of intelligence seemed to shoot from them, and the man
+sat up sharply.
+
+"What's that light?" he said roughly.  "Police!  What do you want?"
+
+"What are you doing here?" said Uncle Jack in his deep voice.
+
+"Doing, p'liceman!  Keeping wetch.  Set o' Lonnoners trying to get howd
+o' wucks, and me and my mates wean't hev 'em.  Just keeping wetch.
+Good-night!"
+
+He sat up, staring harder at the light, and then tried to see behind it.
+
+"Well," he cried, "why don't you go, mate?  Shut door efter you."
+
+"Hold the dog, Cob," said Uncle Jack.  "Bob, you take the lantern and
+open the door and the gate.  Lay hold of one side, Dick, I'll take the
+other, and we'll put him out."
+
+But the man was wide-awake now; and as I darted at Piter and got my
+hands in his collar and held him back, the fellow made a dash at
+something lying on the lathe, and as the lantern was changed from hand
+to hand I caught sight of the barrel of an old horse-pistol.
+
+"Take care!"  I shouted, as I dragged Piter back.  "Pistol."
+
+"Yes, pistol, do yer hear?" roared the fellow starting up.  "Pistol!
+And I'll shute the first as comes anigh me."
+
+There was a click here, and all was in darkness, for Uncle Bob turned
+the shade of the lantern and hid it within his coat.
+
+"Put that pistol down, my man, and no harm shall come to you; but you
+must get out of this place directly."
+
+"What!  Get out!  Yes, out you go, whoever you are," roared the fellow.
+"I can see you, and I'll bring down the first as stirs.  This here's a
+good owd pistol, and she hits hard.  Now then open that light and let's
+see you go down.  This here's my place and my mates', and we don't want
+none else here.  Now then."
+
+I was struggling in the dark with Piter, and only held him back, there
+was such strength in his small body, by lifting him by his collar and
+holding him against me standing on his hind-legs.
+
+But, engaged as I was, I had an excited ear for what was going on, and I
+trembled, as I expected to see the flash of the pistol and feel its
+bullet strike me or the dog.
+
+As the man uttered his threats I heard a sharp whispering and a quick
+movement or two in the dark, and then all at once I saw the light open,
+and after a flash here and there shine full upon the fellow, who
+immediately turned the pistol on the holder of the lantern.
+
+"Now then," he cried, "yer give in, don't yer?  Yes or no 'fore I fires.
+Yah!"
+
+He turned sharply round in my direction as I struggled with Piter, whom
+the sight of the black-looking ruffian had made furious.
+
+But the man had not turned upon me.
+
+He had caught sight of Uncle Jack springing at him, the light showing
+him as he advanced.
+
+There was a flash, a loud report, and almost preceding it, if not quite,
+the sound of a sharp rap given with a stick upon flesh and bone.
+
+The next instant there was a hoarse yell and the noise made by the
+pistol falling upon the floor.
+
+"Hurt, Jack?" cried Uncle Dick, as my heart seemed to stand still.
+
+"Scratched, that's all," was the reply.  "Here, come and tie this wild
+beast's hands.  I think I can hold him now."
+
+It almost sounded like a rash assertion, as the light played upon the
+desperate struggle that was going on.  I could see Uncle Jack and the
+man, now down, now up, and at last, after wrestling here and there, the
+man, in spite of Uncle Jack's great strength, seeming to have the
+mastery.  There was a loud panting and a crushing fall, both going down,
+and Uncle Jack rising up to kneel upon his adversary's chest.
+
+"Like fighting a bull," panted Uncle Jack.  "What arms the fellow has!
+Got the rope?"
+
+"Yes," said Uncle Dick, rattling the things in the bag.  "Can you turn
+him over?"
+
+No sooner said than done.  The man heard the order, and prepared to
+resist being turned on one side.  Uncle Jack noted this and attacked the
+other side so quickly that the man was over upon his face before he
+could change his tactics.
+
+"Keep that dog back, Cob, or he'll eat him," said Uncle Bob, making the
+lantern play on the prostrate man, whose arms were dexterously dragged
+behind him and tightly tied.
+
+"There," said Uncle Jack.  "Now you can get up and go.  Ah, would you,
+coward!"
+
+This was in answer to a furious kick the fellow tried to deliver as soon
+as he had regained his feet.
+
+"If he attempts to kick again, loose the dog at him, Cob," cried Uncle
+Dick sharply.
+
+Then in an undertone to me:
+
+"No: don't!  But let him think you will."
+
+"You'll hev it for this," cried the man furiously.
+
+"Right," said Uncle Jack.  "Now, then, have you anything here belonging
+to you?  No!  Down you come then."
+
+He collared his prisoner, who turned to kick at him; but a savage snarl
+from Piter, as I half let him go, checked the fellow, and he suffered
+himself to be marched to the door, where he stopped.
+
+"Ma beer," he growled, looking back at the stone bottle.
+
+"Beer!  No, you've had enough of that," said Uncle Dick.  "Go on down."
+
+The man walked quietly down the stairs; but when he found that he was to
+be thrust out into the lane he began to struggle again, and shout, but a
+fierce hand at his throat stopped that and he was led down to the gate
+in the wall, where it became my task now to hold the lantern while
+Uncles Dick and Bob grasped our prisoner's arms and left Uncle Jack free
+to untie the cord.
+
+"Be ready to unlock the gate, Cob," whispered Uncle Jack, as he held his
+prisoner by one twist of the rope round his arms like a leash.  "Now,
+then, ready!  Back, dog, back!"
+
+Piter shrank away, and then at a concerted moment the gate was thrown
+open, the three brothers loosed their hold of the prisoner at the same
+moment, and just as he was turning to try and re-enter, a sharp thrust
+of the foot sent him flying forward, the gate was banged to, and locked,
+and we were congratulating ourselves upon having ridded ourselves of an
+ugly customer, when the gate shook from the effect of a tremendous blow
+that sounded as if it had been dealt with a paving-stone.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVEN.
+
+A USEFUL ALLY.
+
+"Take no notice," said Uncle Dick.
+
+We listened, and I laughed as I heard the rattling noise made by a key
+as if our friend was trying to get in, after which he seemed to realise
+what had been done, and went away grumbling fiercely.
+
+"Now for a quiet look round upstairs," said Uncle Dick; and all being
+quiet and we in possession we turned in at the dark door to inspect our
+fort.
+
+There was something creepy and yet thoroughly attractive in the
+business.  The place looked dark and romantic in the gloom; there was a
+spice of danger in the work, and the excitement made my blood seem to
+dance in my veins.
+
+"Hallo!"  I cried, as we were entering the door; "there's something
+wrong," for I heard a rustling noise and a dull thud as if someone had
+jumped down from a little height.
+
+At the same moment we found out how useful Piter was going to be, for he
+started off with a furious rush, barking tremendously, and as we
+followed him to the end of the yard we were in time for a scuffle, a
+savage burst of expressions, and then my heart, which had been throbbing
+furiously, seemed to stand still, for there was a howl, a tremendous
+splash, then silence.
+
+"Quick, boys!" cried Uncle Jack.  "Here, join hands.  I'll go in and
+fetch him out.  Take the light, Cob."
+
+I gladly seized the lantern and made the light play on the surface of
+the water where it was disturbed, and as I did so Piter came up from the
+edge whining softly and twitching his little stump of a tail.
+
+Then a head and shoulders appeared, and the surface of the dam was
+beaten tremendously, but so close to the edge that by standing on the
+stonework and holding by Uncle Bob's hand Uncle Jack was able to stretch
+out his stick to the struggling man, to have it clutched directly, and
+the fellow was drawn ashore.
+
+He gave himself a shake like a dog as soon as he was on dry land, and
+stood for a moment or two growling and using ugly language that seemed
+to agree with his mouth.
+
+Then he turned upon us.
+
+"Aw right!" he said, "I'll pay thee for this.  Set the dawg on me, you
+did, and then pitched me into the watter.  Aw reight!  I'll pay thee for
+this."
+
+"Open the gate, Bob," said Uncle Jack, who now took the fellow by the
+collar and thrust him forward while I held the light as the man went on
+threatening and telling us what he meant to do.
+
+But the cold water had pretty well quenched his fierce anger, and though
+he threatened a great deal he did not attempt to do anything till he was
+by the gate, where a buzz of voices outside seemed to inspirit him.
+
+"Hey, lads!" he cried, "in wi' you when gate's opened."
+
+"Take care," whispered Uncle Dick.  "Be ready to bang the gate.  We must
+have him out.  Here, Piter."
+
+The dog answered with a bark, and then our invader being held ready the
+gate was opened by me, and the three brothers thrust the prisoner they
+were going to set at liberty half-way out.
+
+Only half-way, for he was driven back by a rush of his companions, who
+had been aroused by his shouting.
+
+The stronger outside party would have prevailed no doubt had not our
+four-footed companion made a savage charge among the rough legs, with
+such effect that there was a series of yells from the front men, who
+became at once on our side to the extent of driving their friends back;
+and before they could recover from the surprise consequent upon the
+dog's assault, the gate was banged to and locked.
+
+"Show the light, and see where that fellow came over the wall, Cob,"
+whispered Uncle Dick; and I made the light play along the top, expecting
+to see a head every moment.  But instead of a head a pair of hands
+appeared over the coping-stones--a pair of great black hands, whose
+nails showed thick and stubby in the lantern light.
+
+"There, take that," said Uncle Dick, giving the hands a quick tap with
+his stick.  "I don't want to hurt you, though I could."
+
+By that he meant do serious injury, for he certainly hurt the owner of
+the hands to the extent of giving pain, for there was a savage yell and
+the hands disappeared.
+
+Then there was a loud scuffling noise and a fresh pair of hands
+appeared, but they shared the fate of the others and went out of sight.
+
+"Nice place this," said Uncle Bob suddenly.  "Didn't take return
+tickets, did you?"
+
+"Return tickets!  No," said Uncle Jack in a low angry voice.  "What!
+Are you tired of it already?"
+
+"Tired!  Well, I don't know, but certainly this is more lively than
+Canonbury.  There's something cheerful about the place.  Put up your
+umbrellas, it hails."
+
+I was nervous and excited, but I could not help laughing at this, for
+Uncle Bob's ideas of hailstones were peculiar.  The first that fell was
+a paving-stone as big as a half-quartern loaf, and it was followed by
+quite a shower of the round cobbles or pebbles nearly the size of a fist
+that are used so much in some country places for paths.
+
+Fortunately no one was hit, while this bombardment was succeeded by
+another assault or attempt to carry the place by what soldiers call a
+_coup de main_.
+
+But this failed, for the hands that were to deal the _coup_ received
+such ugly taps from sticks as they appeared on the top of the wall that
+their owners dropped back and began throwing over stones and angry words
+again.
+
+Only one of our assailants seemed to have the courage to persevere, and
+this proved to be our old friend.  For as I directed the light along the
+top of the wall a pair of hands appeared accompanied by the usual
+scuffing.
+
+Uncle Dick only tapped them, but possibly not hard enough, for the arms
+followed the hands, then appeared the head and fierce eyes of the man we
+had found asleep.
+
+"Coom on, lads; we've got un now," he shouted, and in another minute he
+would have been over; but Uncle Dick felt it was time for stronger
+measures than tapping hands, and he let his stick come down with such a
+sharp rap on the great coarse head that it disappeared directly, and a
+yelling chorus was succeeded by another shower of stones.
+
+We went into shelter in the doorway, with Piter playing the part of
+sentry in front, the dog walking up and down looking at the top of the
+wall growling as he went, and now and then opening and shutting his
+teeth with a loud snap like a trap.
+
+On the other side of the wall we could hear the talking of the men,
+quite a little crowd having apparently assembled, and being harangued by
+one of their party.
+
+"So it makes you think of Canonbury, does it, Bob?" said Uncle Jack.
+
+"Well, yes," said my uncle.
+
+"It makes me feel angry," said Uncle Jack, "and as if the more these
+scoundrels are obstinate and interfere with me, the more determined I
+shall grow."
+
+"We must call in the help of the police," said Uncle Dick.
+
+"And they will be watched away," said Uncle Jack.  "No, we must depend
+upon ourselves, and I dare say we can win.  What's that?"
+
+I listened, and said that I did not hear anything.
+
+"I did," said Uncle Jack.  "It was the tap made by a ladder that has
+been reared against a house."
+
+I made the light play against the top of the wall and along it from end
+to end.
+
+Then Uncle Jack took it and examined the top, but nothing was visible
+and saying it was fancy he handed the lantern to me, when all at once
+there was a double thud as of two people leaping down from the wall; and
+as I turned the light in the direction from which the sounds came there
+was our squinting enemy, and directly behind him a great rough fellow,
+both armed with sticks and charging down upon us where we stood.
+
+I heard my uncles draw a long breath as if preparing for the fight.
+Then they let their sticks fall to their sides, and a simultaneous roar
+of laughter burst forth.
+
+It did not take a minute, and the various little changes followed each
+other so quickly that I was confused and puzzled.
+
+One moment I felt a curious shrinking as I saw the faces of two savage
+men rushing at us to drive us out of the place; the next I was looking
+at their backs as they ran along the yard.
+
+For no sooner did Piter see them than he made a dash at their legs,
+growling like some fierce wild beast, and showing his teeth to such good
+effect that the men ran from him blindly yelling one to the other; and
+the next thing I heard was a couple of splashes in the dam.
+
+"Why, they're trying to swim across," cried Uncle Dick; and we at once
+ran to the end of the yard to where it was bounded by the stone-bordered
+dam.
+
+"Show the light, Cob," cried Uncle Jack; and as I made it play upon the
+water there was one man swimming steadily for the other side, with Piter
+standing at the edge baying him furiously, but the other man was not
+visible.
+
+Then the surface of the water was disturbed and a hand appeared, then
+another, to begin beating and splashing.
+
+"Why, the fellow can't swim," cried Uncle Jack; and catching his
+brother's hand he reached out, holding his stick ready for the man to
+grasp.
+
+It was an exciting scene in the darkness, with the ring of light cast by
+the lantern playing upon the dark surface of the water, which seemed to
+be black rippled with gold; and there in the midst was the distorted
+face of the workman, as he yelled for help and seemed in imminent danger
+of drowning.
+
+He made two or three snatches at the stick, but missed it, and his
+struggles took him farther from the edge into the deep water close by,
+where the wall that supported the great wheel was at right angles to
+where we stood.
+
+It was a terribly dangerous and slippery place, but Uncle Jack did not
+hesitate.  Walking along a slippery ledge that was lapped by the water,
+he managed to reach the drowning man, holding to him his stick; and then
+as the fellow clutched it tightly he managed to guide him towards the
+edge, where Uncle Dick knelt down, and at last caught him by the collar
+and drew him out, dripping and half insensible.
+
+"Down, dog!" cried Uncle Dick as Piter made a dash at his enemy, who now
+lay perfectly motionless.
+
+Piter growled a remonstrance and drew back slowly, but as he reached the
+man's feet he made a sudden dart down and gave one of his ankles a pinch
+with his trap-like jaws.
+
+The effect was instantaneous.  The man jumped up and shook his fist in
+our faces.
+
+"Yow'll get it for this here," he roared.  "Yow threw me in dam and then
+set your dawg at me.  Yow'll hev it for this.  Yow'll see.  Yow'll--"
+
+"Look here," said Uncle Bob, mimicking the fellow's broad rough speech,
+"hadn't yow better go home and take off your wet things?"
+
+"Yow pitched me in dam and set dawg at me," cried the fellow again.
+
+"Go home and get off your wet things and go to bed," said Uncle Jack,
+"and don't come worrying us again--do you hear?"
+
+"Yow pitched me in dam and set dawg at me," cried the man again; and
+from the other side of the pool the man who had swum across and been
+joined by some companions yelled out:
+
+"Gi'e it to un, Chawny--gi'e it to un."
+
+"Yow pitched me in dam and set dawg--"
+
+"Look here," roared Uncle Bob, "if you're not out of this place in half
+a minute I will pitch you in the dam, and set the dog at you as well.
+Here, Piter."
+
+"Give's leg over the wall," growled the man.
+
+"No.  Go out of the gate," said Uncle Jack; and standing ready to avoid
+a rush we opened the gate in the wall and let the fellow go free.
+
+We got him out and escaped a rush, for the little crowd were all up by
+the side of the dam, whence they could see into the yard; but as we sent
+Chawny, as he was called, out through the gate, and he turned to stand
+there, dripping, and ready to shake his fist in our faces, they came
+charging down.
+
+Uncle Bob banged the door to, though, as our enemy repeated his angry
+charge:
+
+"Yow pitched me in dam and set dawg at me."
+
+Then the door was closed and we prepared for the next attack from the
+murmuring crowd outside.
+
+But none came, and the voices gradually grew fainter and died away,
+while, taking it in turns, we watched till morning began to break
+without any farther demonstration on the part of the enemy.
+
+"We're safe for this time, boys," said Uncle Dick.
+
+"Now go and have a few hours' rest.  I'll call you when the men come."
+
+We were only too glad, and ten minutes later we were all asleep on some
+shavings and straw in the upper workshop, while Uncle Dick and Piter
+kept guard.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHT.
+
+ON GUARD.
+
+It seemed as if it had all been a dream when I awoke and found Uncle Bob
+was shaking me.
+
+"Come, young fellow," he cried; "breakfast's ready."
+
+I did not feel ready for my breakfast if it was, especially a breakfast
+of bread and meat with no chair, no table, no cloth, no tea, coffee, or
+bread and butter.
+
+Such a good example was shown me, though, that I took the thick sandwich
+offered to me, and I was soon forgetting my drowsiness and eating
+heartily.
+
+We were not interrupted, and when we had ended our meal, went round the
+place to see what was to be done.
+
+The first thing was placing the property that could be claimed by the
+men close by the gate ready for them, and when this was done Piter and I
+walked up and down the yard listening to the steps outside, and waiting
+to give a signal if any of the men should come.
+
+No men came, however, and there was not a single call till afternoon,
+when a sharp rapping at the gate was answered by two of my uncles, and
+the dog, who seemed puzzled as to the best pair of legs to peer between,
+deciding at last in favour of Uncle Bob's.
+
+To our surprise, when the gate was opened, there were no men waiting,
+but half a dozen women, one of whom announced that they had came for
+their masters' "traps," and the said "traps" being handed to them, they
+went off without a word, not even condescending to say "Thank you."
+
+"Come," said Uncle Bob, after the various things had been carried off,
+and Piter had stood looking on twitching his ears and blinking at them,
+as if he did not war with women, "Come, we've won the game."
+
+"Don't be too sure, my boy," said Uncle Dick.
+
+"But they have, given up."
+
+"Given up expecting to use the works.  But what are they going to do in
+revenge?"
+
+"Revenge!"
+
+"Yes.  You may depend upon it we are marked men, and that we shall have
+to fight hard to hold our own."
+
+As the day went on--a day busily spent in making plans for the future of
+our factory, we had one or two applications from men who were seeking
+work, and if we had any doubt before of how our coming was to be
+received, we realised it in the yells and hootings that greeted the men
+who came in a friendly spirit.
+
+Uncle Dick went off directly after breakfast to see about the machinery
+waiting at the railway being delivered, and it was late in the afternoon
+before he returned.
+
+"One of us will have to stay always on the premises for the present," he
+said, "so I have ordered some furniture and a carpenter to come and
+board up and make that corner office comfortable.  We must make shift."
+
+The matter was discussed, and finally it was settled that two of our
+party were to be always on the premises, and until we were satisfied
+that there was no more fear of interference, one was to keep watch half
+the night with the dog, and then be relieved by the other.
+
+"We shall have to make a man of you, Cob," said Uncle Jack.  "You must
+take your turn with us."
+
+"I'm ready," I replied; and very proud I felt of being trusted.
+
+Of course I felt nervous, but at the same time rather disappointed, for
+everything went on in the most business like way.  Carpenters and
+fitters were set to work, and, helped by the indomitable perseverance
+and energy of my uncles, a great deal of fresh machinery was soon in
+position.  New shafts and bands, a new furnace for preparing our own
+steel after a fashion invented by Uncle Dick.  New grindstones and
+polishing-wheels, new forges with tilt-hammers, and anvils.
+
+By degrees I found what was going to be our chief business, and that was
+the production of cutlery of a peculiar temper especially for surgical
+instruments and swords, Uncle Dick having an idea that he could produce
+blades equal to Damascus or the finest Spanish steel.
+
+The days glided by with the works growing more complete, and each night
+half our party on guard at Fort Industry, as Uncle Bob christened the
+place.  And though the couple who had slept at the lodgings went down to
+the place every morning feeling nervous, and wondering whether anything
+had happened in the night, it was always to find that all was going on
+perfectly smoothly, and that there was nothing to mind.
+
+Piter had a kennel just inside the entry, and as each new hand was
+engaged he was introduced to the dog, who inspected him, and never
+afterwards so much as growled.
+
+Uncle Dick took the lead, and under his orders the change rapidly took
+place.
+
+There was one hindrance, though, and that occurred in connection with
+the furnaces, for the chimney-shaft needed some repair at the top.
+This, however, proved to be an easy task, scaffolding not being
+necessary, projecting bars answering the purpose of the rounds of a
+ladder having been built in when the shaft was erected, with this end in
+view.
+
+At last everything was, as Uncle Dick called it, complete for the
+present.  There was a good supply of water, and one morning the furnace
+was lit, so were the forges, and step by step we progressed till there
+was quite a busy scene, the floors and rafters in the forge and furnace
+building glowing and seeming turned to gold; while from out of the
+chimney there rose every morning a great volume of smoke that rolled out
+and bent over, and formed itself into vast feathery plumes.
+
+I could hardly believe it true when it was announced that we had been
+down in Arrowfield a month: but so it was.
+
+But little had been done beyond getting the machinery at the works ready
+for work to come; now, however, some of the projects were to be put in
+action.
+
+"For," said Uncle Dick, "if we should go on forging and grinding as
+other manufacturers do, we only enter into competition with them, and I
+dare say we should be beaten.  We must do something different and
+better, and that's why we have come.  To-morrow I begin to make my new
+tempered steel."
+
+Uncle Dick kept his word, and the next morning men were at work
+arranging fire-bricks for a little furnace which was duly made, and then
+so much blistered steel was laid in a peculiar way with so much iron,
+and a certain heat was got up and increased and lowered several times
+till Uncle Dick was satisfied.  He told me that the colour assumed by
+the metal was the test by which he judged whether it was progressing
+satisfactorily, and this knowledge could only come by experience.
+
+Everything was progressing most favourably.  The men who had been
+engaged worked well; we had seen no more of those who had had to vacate
+the works, and all was as it should be.  In fact our affairs were so
+prosperous that to me it seemed great folly for watch to be kept in the
+works night after night.
+
+I thought it the greatest nonsense possible one night when I had been
+very busy all day, and it had come to my turn, and I told Uncle Jack so.
+
+"Those fellows were a bit cross at having to turn out," I said.  "Of
+course they were, and they made a fuss.  You don't suppose they will
+come again?"
+
+"I don't know, Cob," said Uncle Jack quietly.
+
+"But is it likely?"  I said pettishly.
+
+"I can't say, my boy--who can?  Strange things have been done down in
+Arrowfield by foolish workmen before now."
+
+"Oh, yes!"  I said; "but that's in the past.  It isn't likely that they
+will come and annoy us.  Besides, there's Piter.  He'd soon startle any
+one away."
+
+"You think then that there is no occasion for us to watch, Cob?"
+
+"Yes," I cried eagerly, "that's just what I think.  We can go to bed and
+leave Piter to keep guard.  He would soon give the alarm."
+
+"Then you had better go to bed, Cob," said Uncle Jack quietly.
+
+"And of course you won't get up when it comes to your turn."
+
+"No," he said; "certainly not."
+
+"That's right," I cried triumphantly.  "I am glad we have got over this
+scare."
+
+"Are you?" he said dryly.
+
+"Am I, Uncle Jack!  Why, of course I am.  All is locked up.  I'll go and
+unchain Piter, and then we'll go and get a good night's rest."
+
+"Yes," he said; "you may as well unchain Piter."
+
+I ran and set the dog at liberty, and he started off to make the circuit
+of the place, while I went back to Uncle Jack, who was lighting the
+bull's-eye lantern that we always used when on guard.
+
+"Why, uncle," I said wonderingly; "we sha'n't want that to-night."
+
+"I shall," he said.  "Good-night!"
+
+"No, no," I cried.  "We arranged to go to bed."
+
+"You arranged to go to bed, Cob, but I did not.  You don't suppose I
+could behave so unfairly to my brothers as to neglect the task they
+placed in my hands."
+
+He did not say any more.  It was quite sufficient.  I felt the rebuff,
+and was thoroughly awake now and ashamed of what I had proposed.
+
+Without a word I took the lantern and held out my hand.
+
+"Good-night, Uncle Jack!"  I said.
+
+He had seemed cold and stern just before.  Now he was his quiet old self
+again, and he took my hand, nodded, and said:
+
+"Two o'clock, Cob.  Good-night!"
+
+I saw him go along the great workshop, enter the office and close the
+door, and then I started on my rounds.
+
+It was anything but a cheerful task, that keeping watch over the works
+during the night, and I liked the first watch from ten to two less than
+the second watch from two to six, for in the latter you had the day
+breaking about four o'clock, and then it was light until six.
+
+For, however much one might tell oneself that there was no danger--no
+likelihood of anything happening, the darkness in places, the faint glow
+from partly extinct fires, and the curious shadows cast on the
+whitewashed walls were all disposed to be startling; and, well as I knew
+the place, I often found myself shrinking as I came suddenly upon some
+piece of machinery that assumed in the darkness the aspect of some
+horrible monster about to seize me as I went my rounds.
+
+Upon the other hand, there was a pleasant feeling of importance in going
+about that great dark place of a night, with a lantern at my belt, a
+stout stick in my hand, and a bull-dog at my heels, and this sensation
+helped to make the work more bearable.
+
+On this particular night I had paced silently all about the place
+several times, thinking a good deal about my little encounter with Uncle
+Jack, and about the last letters I had had from my father.  Then, as all
+seemed perfectly right, I had seated myself by the big furnace, which
+emitted a dull red glow, not sufficient to light the place, but enough
+to make it pleasantly warm, and to show that if a blast were directed in
+the coals, a fierce fire would soon be kindled.
+
+I did not feel at all sleepy now; in fact, in spite of the warmth this
+furnace-house would not have been a pleasant place to sleep in, for the
+windows on either side were open, having no glass, only iron bars, and
+those on one side looked over the dam, while the others were in the wall
+that abutted on the lane leading down to the little river.
+
+Piter had been with me all through my walk round, but, seeing me settle
+down, he had leaped on to the hot ashes and proceeded to curl himself up
+in a nice warm place, where the probabilities were that he would soon
+begin to cook.
+
+Piter had been corrected for this half a dozen times over, but he had to
+be bullied again, and leaping off the hot ashes he had lowered his tail
+and trotted back to his kennel, where he curled himself up.
+
+All was very still as I sat there, except that the boom and throb of the
+busy town where the furnaces and steam-engines were at work kept going
+and coming in waves of sound; and as I sat, I found myself thinking
+about the beauty of the steel that my uncles had set themselves to
+produce; and how, when a piece was snapped across, breaking like a bit
+of glass, the fracture looked all of a silvery bluish-grey.
+
+Then I began thinking about our tall chimney, and what an unpleasant
+place mine would be to sit in if there were a furious storm, and the
+shaft were blown down; and then, with all the intention to be watchful,
+I began to grow drowsy, and jumping up, walked up and down the
+furnace-house and round the smouldering fire, whose chimney was a great
+inverted funnel depending from the open roof.
+
+I grew tired of walking about and sat down again, to begin thinking once
+more.
+
+How far is it from thinking to sleeping and dreaming?  Who can answer
+that question?
+
+To me it seemed that I was sitting thinking, and that as I thought there
+in the darkness, where I could see the fire throwing up its feeble glow
+on to the dim-looking open windows on either side, some great animal
+came softly in through the window on my left, and then disappeared for a
+few moments, to appear again on my right where the wall overlooked the
+lane.
+
+That window seemed to be darkened for a minute or two, and then became
+light again, while once more that on my left grew dark, and I saw the
+figure glide out.
+
+I seemed, as I say, to have been thinking, and as I thought it all
+appeared to be a dream, for it would have been impossible for any one to
+have crept in at one window, passing the furnace and back again without
+disturbing me.
+
+Yes; I told myself it was all fancy, and as I thought I told myself that
+I started awake, and looked sharply at first one window, and then at the
+other, half expecting to see someone there.
+
+"I was asleep and dreaming," I said to myself; and, starting up
+impatiently, I walked right out of the furnace-house across the strip of
+yard, and in at the door, making Piter give his stumpy tail a sharp
+rapping noise upon the floor of his kennel.
+
+I went on all through the grinding workshop, and listened at the end of
+the place to the water trickling and dripping down in the great
+water-floored cellar.
+
+That place had an attraction for me, and I stood listening for some
+minutes before walking back, thoroughly awake now.
+
+I was so used to the place that I had no need to open the lantern, but
+threaded my way here and there without touching a thing, and I was able
+to pass right through to the upper floor in the same way.
+
+Everything was correct, and Uncle Jack sleeping soundly, as I hoped to
+be after another hour or so's watching.
+
+I would not disturb him, but stole out again, and along the workshop to
+the head of the stairs, where I descended and stooped to pat Piter again
+before looking about the yard, and then walking slowly into the warm
+furnace-house.
+
+Then, after a glance at the windows where I had fancied I had seen
+someone creep in, I sat down in my old place enjoying the warmth, and
+once more the drowsy sensation crept over me.
+
+How long it was before I dropped asleep I can't tell, but, bad watchman
+that I was, I did drop asleep, and began dreaming about the great dam
+miles away up the valley; and there it seemed to me I was fishing with a
+long line for some of the great pike that lurked far down in the depths.
+
+As I fished my line seemed to pass over a window-sill and scraped
+against it, and made a noise which set me wondering how large the fish
+must be that was running away with it.
+
+And then I was awake, with the perspiration upon my forehead and my
+hands damp, listening.
+
+It was no fishing-line.  I was not by the great dam up the river, but
+there in our own furnace-house, and something was making a strange
+rustling noise.
+
+For some few moments I could not tell where the noise was.  There was
+the rustling, and it seemed straight before me.  Then I knew it was
+there, for immediately in front on the open fire something was moving
+and causing a series of little nickers and sparkles in the glowing
+ashes.
+
+What could it be?  What did it mean?
+
+I was so startled that I was ready to leap up and run out of the place,
+and it was some time before I could summon up courage enough to stretch
+out a hand, and try to touch whatever it was that moved the glowing
+ashes.
+
+Wire!
+
+Yes; there was no doubt of it--wire.  A long thin wire stretched pretty
+tightly reached right across me, and evidently passed from the window
+overlooking the lane across the furnace and out of the window by the
+side of the dam.
+
+What did it mean--what was going to happen?
+
+I asked myself these questions as I bent towards the furnace, touching
+the wire which glided on through my hand towards the window by the dam.
+
+It was all a matter of moments, and I could feel that someone must be
+drawing the wire out there by the dam, though how I could not tell, for
+it seemed to me that there was nothing but deep water there.
+
+"Some one must have floated down the dam in a boat," I thought in a
+flash; but no explanation came to the next part of my question, what was
+it for?
+
+As I bent forward there wondering what it could mean, I began to
+understand that there must be some one out in the lane at the other end
+of the wire, and in proof of this surmise I heard a low scraping noise
+at the window on my right, and then a hiss as if someone had drawn his
+breath in between his lips.
+
+What could it mean?
+
+I was one moment for shouting, "Who's there?" the next for turning on my
+bull's-eye; and again the next for running and rousing up Uncle Jack.
+
+Then I thought that I would shout and call to Piter; but I felt that if
+I did either of these things I should lose the clue that was gliding
+through my hands.
+
+What could it mean?
+
+The wire, invisible to me, kept softly stirring the glowing ashes, and
+seemed to be visible there.  Elsewhere it was lost in the black darkness
+about me, but I felt it plainly enough, and in my intense excitement,
+hundreds of yards seemed to have passed through my hand before I felt a
+check and in a flash knew what was intended.
+
+For, all at once, as the wire glided on, something struck against my
+hand gently, and raising the other it came in contact with a large
+canister wrapped round and round with stout soft cord.
+
+What for?
+
+I knew in an instant; I had read of such outrages, and it was to guard
+against them that we watched, and kept that dog.
+
+I had hold of a large canister of gunpowder, and the soft cord wrapped
+around it was prepared fuse.
+
+I comprehended too the horrible ingenuity of the scheme, which was to
+draw, by means of the wire, the canister of gunpowder on to the furnace,
+so that the fuse might catch fire, and that would give the miscreants
+who were engaged time to escape before the powder was fired and brought
+the chimney-shaft toppling down.
+
+For a moment I trembled and felt ready to drop the canister, and run for
+my life.
+
+Then I felt strong, for I knew that if I kept the canister in my hands
+the fuse could not touch the smouldering ashes and the plan would fail.
+
+But how to do this without being heard by the men who must be on either
+side of the furnace-house.
+
+It was easy enough; I had but to hold the canister high up above the
+fire, and pass it over till it was beyond the burning ashes and then let
+it continue its course to the other window.
+
+It was a great risk, not of explosion, but of being heard; but with a
+curious feeling of reckless excitement upon me I held up the canister,
+stepping softly over the ash floor, and guiding the terrible machine on
+till the danger was passed.
+
+Then stealing after it I climbed gently on to the broad bench beneath
+the clean window, and with my head just beneath it touched the wire, and
+waited till the canister touched my hand again.
+
+I had made no plans, but, urged on by the spirit of the moment, I seized
+the canister with both hands, gave it a tremendous jerk, and with my
+face at the window roared out:
+
+"Now, fire!  Fire!  Shoot 'em down!"
+
+I stood on the work-bench then, astounded at the effect of my cry.
+
+Behind me there was a jerk at the wire, which snapped, and I heard the
+rush of feet in the lane, while before me out from the window there came
+a yell, a tremendous splash, and then the sound of water being beaten,
+and cries for help.
+
+At the same moment Piter came rushing into the furnace house, barking
+furiously, and directly after there was the noise of feet on the stairs,
+and Uncle Jack came in.
+
+"What is it, Cob?  Where's your light?" he cried.
+
+I had forgotten the lantern, but I turned it on now as I tucked the
+canister beneath my arm.
+
+"There's a man or two men drowning out here in the dam," I panted
+hoarsely; and Uncle Jack leaped on to the bench by my side.
+
+"Give me the lantern," he cried; and, taking it from my wet hands, he
+turned it on, held it to the open window, and made it play upon the
+surface of the dam.
+
+"There are two men there, swimming to the side," he cried.  "Stop, you
+scoundrels!" he roared; but the beating noise in the water increased.
+One seemed to get his footing and held out his hand to his companion in
+distress.  The next minute I saw that they had gained the stone wall at
+the side, over which they clambered, and from there we heard them drop
+down on to the gravel stones.
+
+"They're gone, Cob," said my uncle.
+
+"Shall we run after them?"  I said.
+
+"It would be madness," he replied.  "Down, Piter!  Quiet, good dog!"
+
+"Now what's the meaning of it all?" he said after turning the light
+round the place.  "What did you hear?  Were they getting in?"
+
+"No," I said; "they were trying to draw this canister on to the fire
+with the wire; but I heard them and got hold of it."
+
+Uncle Jack turned the light of the bull's-eye on to the canister I held,
+and then turned it off again, as if there were danger of its doing some
+harm with the light alone, even after it had passed through glass.
+
+"Why, Cob," he said huskily, "did you get hold of that?"
+
+"Yes, I stopped it," I said, trembling now that the excitement had
+passed.
+
+"But was the fuse alight?"
+
+"No," I said; "they were going to draw it over the fire there, only I
+found it out in time."
+
+"Why, Cob," he whispered, "there's a dozen pounds of powder here wrapped
+round with all this fuse.  Come with me to put it in a place of safety:
+why, it would have half-wrecked our works."
+
+"Would it?"  I said.
+
+"Would it, boy!  It would have been destruction, perhaps death.  Cob,"
+he whispered huskily, "ought we to go on watching?"
+
+"Oh, Uncle Jack," I said, "I suppose I am foolish because I am so
+young!"
+
+"Cob, my boy," he said softly; "if you had been ten times as old you
+could not have done better than you have done to-night.  Here, let's
+place this dreadful canister in the water chamber: it will be safer
+there."
+
+"But the men; will they come again?"
+
+"Not to-night, my lad.  I think we are safe for a few hours to come.
+But what of the future, if these blind savages will do such things as
+this?"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINE.
+
+DROWNING AN ENEMY.
+
+I did not sleep that morning, but kept watch with Uncle Jack, and as
+soon as the men came to work I hurried off to Mrs Stephenson's to tell
+the others of the night's adventures.
+
+Half an hour later they were with me at the works, where a quiet
+examination was made, everything being done so as not to take the
+attention of the work-people, who were now busy.
+
+We had first of all a good look round outside, and found that beneath
+the window of the furnace-house there were some half dozen great nails
+or spikes carefully driven into the wall, between the stones, so as to
+make quite a flight of steps for an active man, and across the window
+lay a tangled-together length of thin wire.
+
+We did not stop to draw out the nails for fear of exciting attention,
+but strolled back at once into the works.
+
+And now once for all, when I say _we_, please to understand that it is
+not out of conceit, for my share in our adventures was always very
+small, but to avoid uncling you all too much, and making so many
+repetitions of the names of Uncle Dick, Uncle Jack, and Uncle Bob.
+
+I saw several of the men look up from their work as we went through the
+grinding-shop, but they went on again with their task, making the blades
+they ground shriek as they pressed them against the swiftly revolving
+stones.
+
+"They must know all about it, Uncle Bob," I whispered, and he gave me a
+meaning look.
+
+"Yes," he said softly; "that's the worst of it, my lad.  Master and man
+ought to shake hands and determine to fight one for the other; but, as
+you see, they take opposite sides, and it is war."
+
+We went next into the wheel-pit and had a look round, after which Uncle
+Jack spoke aloud to the man who acted as general engineer, and said he
+thought that the great axle wanted seeing to and fresh cleaning.
+
+The man nodded, and said gruffly that he would see to it, and then, as
+he turned away, I saw him wink at one of the men grinding at a stone and
+thrust his tongue into his cheek.
+
+Just then he caught my eye, his countenance changed, and he looked as
+foolish as a boy found out in some peccadillo, but the next instant he
+scowled at me, and his fierce dark eyes said as plainly as if they
+spoke:
+
+"Say a word about that and I'll half kill you."
+
+I read the threat aright, as will be seen; and, turning to follow my
+uncles, I saw that the man was coming on close behind me, with a look in
+his countenance wonderfully like that with which he was being followed
+by Piter, who, unobserved, was close at his heels, sniffing quietly at
+his legs and looking as if he would like to fix his teeth in one or the
+other.
+
+Seeing this I stopped back, half expecting that Piter, if left behind,
+might be kicked by the man's heavy clogs.  The others did not notice my
+absence, but went on out of the grinding-shop, and the engineer came
+close up to me, stooping down as I waited, and putting his face close to
+mine.
+
+"Look here, mester," he began in a low threatening tone, "do you know
+what's meant by keeping thy tongue atween thy teeth?"
+
+"Yes," I cried; and in the same breath, "Mind the dog!  Down, Piter!
+Down!"
+
+The man made a convulsive leap as he caught sight of the dog, and his
+intention was to alight upon the frame-work of one of the large
+grindstones close by his side--one that had just been set in motion, but
+though he jumped high enough he did not allow for the lowness of the
+ceiling, against which he struck his head, came down in a sitting
+position on the grindstone, and was instantly hurled off to the floor.
+
+This was Piter's opportunity, and with a low growl and a bound he was
+upon the man's chest.  Another moment and he would have had him by the
+throat, but I caught him by the collar and dragged him off, amidst the
+murmur of some, and the laughter of others of the men.
+
+I did not want to look as if I was afraid, but this seemed to be a good
+excuse for leaving the grinding-shop, and, holding on by Piter's collar,
+I led him out.
+
+Just before I reached the door, though, I heard one of the men say to
+his neighbour--heard it plainly over the whirr and churring of the
+stones:
+
+"I've know'd dawgs poisoned for less than that."
+
+"What shall I do?"  I asked myself as soon as I was outside; but the
+answer did not come.  I could only think that my uncles had trouble
+enough on their hands, and that though it was very evident that the men
+at work for them were not very well affected, it was not likely that we
+had any one who would wilfully do us an injury.
+
+After all, too, nobody had threatened to poison the dog; it was only a
+remark about what had been known to happen.
+
+All this had taken but a very short time, and by the time I had joined
+my uncles they were just entering the office on the upper floor that
+looked over the dam.
+
+There were several men at work here at lathes and benches, and their
+tools made so much noise that they did not notice my entrance, closely
+followed by the dog; and so it was that I found out that they, too, must
+have known all about the cowardly attempt of the night, for one said to
+another:
+
+"Didn't expect to be at work here this morning; did you, mate?"
+
+"No," growled the man addressed; "but why can't they leave un aloan.
+They pay reg'lar, and they're civil."
+
+"What do you mean?" said the first speaker sharply.  "You going to side
+wi' un!  What do we want wi' a set o' inventing corckneys here!"
+
+Just then he caught sight of me, and swung round and continued his work,
+while I walked straight to the office door and went in, where Uncle Jack
+was just opening a window that looked out upon the dam.
+
+"Yes," he said, "here we are."
+
+He pointed to a sort of raft formed of a couple of planks placed about
+five feet apart and across which a dozen short pieces of wood had been
+nailed, forming a buoyant platform, on which no doubt our enemies had
+floated themselves down from the head of the dam, where there was a
+timber yard.
+
+"All plain enough now," said Uncle Jack, grinding his teeth.  "Oh, if I
+could have had hold of those two fellows by the collar when they fell
+in!"
+
+"Well," said Uncle Bob, "what would you have done--drowned them?"
+
+"Not quite," said Uncle Jack; "but they would have swallowed a great
+deal more water than would have been good for them."
+
+"Never mind about impossible threats," said Uncle Dick.  "Let's examine
+the powder canister now."
+
+This was taken from its resting-place during the time the men were at
+breakfast and carried into the office, where the dangerous weapon of our
+enemies was laid upon the desk and examined.
+
+It was a strong tin canister about ten inches high and six across, and
+bound round and round, first with strong string and afterwards loosely
+with some soft black-looking cord, which Uncle Dick said was fuse; and
+he pointed out where one end was passed through a little hole punched
+through the bottom of the canister, while the loosely-twisted fuse was
+held on by thin wire, which allowed the soft connection with the powder
+to hang out in loops.
+
+"Yes," said Uncle Dick; "if that is good fuse, the very fact of any part
+touching a spark or smouldering patch of ash would be enough to set it
+alight, and there is enough, I should say, to burn for a quarter of an
+hour before it reaches the powder.  Yes, a good ten pounds of it," he
+added, balancing the canister in his hands.
+
+"But it may be a scare," said Uncle Bob: "done to frighten us.  We don't
+know yet that it is powder."
+
+"Oh, we'll soon prove that," cried Uncle Jack, taking out his knife.
+
+"Uncle!  Take care!"  I cried in agony, for I seemed to see sparks
+flying from his knife, and the powder exploding and blowing us to atoms.
+
+"If you are afraid, Cob, you had better go back home," he said rather
+gruffly, as he cut the fuse through and tore it off, to lie in a little
+heap as soon as he had freed it from the wire.
+
+Then the string followed, and the canister stood upright before us on
+the desk.
+
+"Looks as harmless as if it were full of arrow-root or mustard," said
+Uncle Bob coolly.  "Perhaps, after all, it is a scare."
+
+I stood there with my teeth closed tightly, determined not to show fear,
+even if the horrible stuff did blow up.  For though there was no light
+in the room, and the matches were in a cupboard, I could not get out of
+my head the idea that the stuff _might_ explode, and it seemed terrible
+to me for such a dangerous machine to be handled in what appeared to be
+so reckless a way.
+
+"Lid fits pretty tight," said Uncle Jack, trying to screw it off.
+
+"Don't do that, old fellow," said Uncle Dick.  "It would be grinding
+some of the dust round, and the friction might fire it."
+
+"Well, yes, it might," replied Uncle Jack.  "Not likely though, and I
+want to examine the powder."
+
+"That's easily done, my boy.  Pull that bit of fuse out of the hole, and
+let some of the powder trickle out."
+
+"Bravo!  Man of genius," said Uncle Jack; and he drew out the plug of
+fuse that went through the bottom of the canister.
+
+As he did this over a sheet of paper a quantity of black grains like
+very coarse dry sand began to trickle out and run on to the paper,
+forming quite a heap, and as the powder ran Uncle Jack looked round at
+his brother and smiled sadly.
+
+"Not done to frighten us, eh, Bob!" he said.  "If that stuff had been
+fired the furnace-house and chimney would have been levelled."
+
+"Why, Cob," said Uncle Dick, laying his hand affectionately upon my
+shoulder.  "You must be a brave fellow to have hauled that away from the
+furnace."
+
+"I did not feel very brave just now," I said bitterly.  "When Uncle Jack
+began to handle that tin I felt as if I must run away."
+
+"But you didn't," said Uncle Bob, smiling at me.
+
+"Is that gunpowder?"  I said hastily, so as to change the conversation.
+
+"No doubt of it, my lad," said Uncle Jack, scooping it up in his hand,
+so that it might trickle through his fingers.  "Strong blasting powder.
+Shall I fire some and try?"
+
+"If you like," I said sulkily, for it was, I knew, said to tease me.
+
+"Well, what's to be done, boys?" said Uncle Jack.  "Are we going to lay
+this before the police?  It is a desperate business!"
+
+"Desperate enough, but we shall do no good, and only give ourselves a
+great deal of trouble if we go to the law.  The police might trace out
+one of the offenders; but if they did, what then?  It would not stop the
+attempts to harm us.  No: I'm of opinion that our safety lies in our own
+watchfulness.  A more terrible attempt than this could not be made."
+
+"What shall we do with the powder, then?" asked Uncle Bob; "save it to
+hoist some of the scoundrels with their own petard?"
+
+"Oh, of course if you like," said Uncle Jack.  "Fancy Bob trying to blow
+anybody up with gunpowder!"
+
+"When he can't even do it with his breath made into words."
+
+"Ah!  Joke away," said Uncle Bob; "but I want to see you get rid of that
+horrible stuff."
+
+"We don't want to save it then?" said Uncle Jack.
+
+"No, no; get rid of it."
+
+"That's soon done then," said Uncle Jack, tying a piece of the cord
+round the canister; and, going to the open window, he lowered it down
+over the deep water in the dam, where it sank like a stone, and drew the
+cord after it out of sight.
+
+"There," he cried, "that will soon be so soaked with water that it will
+be spoiled."
+
+"Who's that," I said, "on the other side of the dam?  He's watching us."
+
+"Squintum the grinder.  What's his name--Griggs.  Yes, I shouldn't be a
+bit surprised if that scoundrel had a hand--"
+
+"Both hands," put in Uncle Bob.
+
+"Well, both hands in this ugly business."
+
+"But couldn't you prove it against him?"  I said.
+
+"No, my lad," said Uncle Jack; "and I don't know that we want to.
+Wretched misguided lumps of ignorance.  I don't want to help to
+transport the villains."
+
+We had drawn back from the window to where there was still a little heap
+of powder on the desk as well as the fuse.
+
+"Come, Bob," said Uncle Jack; "you may not be quite convinced yet, so
+I'll show you an experiment."
+
+He took about a teaspoonful of the powder, and placed it in a short
+piece of iron pipe which he laid on the window-sill, and then taking the
+rest of the explosive, he gave it a jerk and scattered it over the
+water.
+
+Then taking about a yard of the black soft cord that he said was fuse,
+he tucked one end in the pipe so that it should rest upon the powder,
+laid the rest along the window-sill, and asked me to get the matches.
+
+"Now," he said, "if that's what I think--cleverly made fuse, and good
+strong powder--we shall soon see on a small scale what it would have
+done on a large.  Strike a match, Cob."
+
+I did as I was told, feeling as if I was going to let off a very
+interesting firework, and as soon as the splint was well alight I was
+about to hold the little flame to the end of the fuse, but Uncle Jack
+stopped me.
+
+"No," he said, "I want to see if a spark would have lit it.  I mean I
+want to see if just drawing the canister over the remains of the
+furnace-fire would have started the fuse.  That's it, now just touch the
+end quickly with the match."
+
+There was only a little spark on the wood, and no flame, as I touched
+the side of the fuse.
+
+The effect was instantaneous.  The soft black-looking cord burst into
+scintillations, tiny sparks flew off on all sides, and a dull fire began
+to burn slowly along the fuse.
+
+"Capitally made," said Uncle Jack.  "That would have given the
+scoundrels plenty of warning that the work was well done, and they would
+have been able to get to a distance before the explosion took place."
+
+"And now we shall see whether the powder is good," said Uncle Dick.
+
+"But how slowly it burns!" said Uncle Bob.
+
+"But how surely," I had it on my lips to say.
+
+I did not speak though, for I was intently watching the progress of the
+sparks as they ran along the fuse slowly and steadily; and as I gazed I
+seemed to see what would have gone on in the great dark building if I
+had not been awakened by the scraping sound of the canister being hauled
+over bench and floor.
+
+I shuddered as I watched intently, for the fuse seemed as if it would
+never burn through, and even when, after what in my excitement seemed a
+long space of time, it did reach the iron pipe, though a few sparks came
+from inside, the powder did not explode.
+
+"Uncle Bob's right!"  I cried with an intense feeling of relief; "that
+was not powder, and they only tried to frighten us."
+
+_Puff_!
+
+There was a sharp flash from each end of the iron tube, and one little
+ball of white smoke came into the office, while another darted out into
+the sunny morning air.
+
+"Wrong, Cob," said Uncle Jack.  "Splendidly-made fuse and
+tremendously-strong powder.  We have had a very narrow escape.  Now,
+lads, what's to be done?"
+
+"What do you say, Jack?" said Uncle Dick.
+
+"Do our duty--be always on the watch--fight it out."
+
+"That's settled," said Uncle Dick.  "Now let's get to work again.  Cob,
+you can come and see us cast some steel ingots if you like."
+
+"Cast!"  I said.
+
+"Yes, cast.  You know what that is?"
+
+"Yes, of course."
+
+"But you never saw it liquid so that it could be poured out like water."
+
+"No," I said, as I followed him, wondering whether I had not better tell
+him that I had overheard a strange remark about poisoning a dog, and ask
+if he thought there was any risk about Piter, who seemed to grow much
+uglier every day, and yet I liked him better.
+
+The end of it was that I saw the steel lifted out of the furnace in
+crucibles and poured forth like golden-silver water into charcoal
+moulds, but I did not speak about the dog.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TEN.
+
+"'NIGHT, MATE."
+
+As it happened, Mr Tomplin came in that evening, and when he asked how
+matters were progressing at the works, Uncle Dick looked round and
+seemed to be asking his brothers whether he should speak.
+
+"Ah!  I see," said Mr Tomplin; "they have been up to some tricks with
+you."
+
+"Tricks is a mild term," said Uncle Jack bitterly.
+
+"They have not tried to blow you up?"
+
+"Indeed but they did!" said Uncle Jack fiercely; "and if it had not been
+for the coolness and bravery of my nephew there the place would have
+been destroyed."
+
+"Tut!  Tut!  Tut!" ejaculated Mr Tomplin; and putting on his spectacles
+he stared at me in the most provoking way, making me feel as if I should
+like to knock his glasses off.
+
+"Is it customary for your people here to fire canisters of gunpowder in
+the workshops of those who are newcomers?"
+
+"Sometimes," said Mr Tomplin coolly.
+
+"But such things would destroy life."
+
+"Well, not always life, my dear sir," said Mr Tomplin, "but very often
+great bodily injury is done."
+
+"Very often?"
+
+"Well, no, not very often now, but we have had a great many trade
+outrages in our time."
+
+"But what have we done beyond taking possession of a building for which
+we have paid a large sum of money?"
+
+"It is not what you have done, my dear sirs; it is what you are about to
+do.  The work-people have got it into their heads that you are going to
+invent some kind of machinery that will throw them out of work."
+
+"Nothing of the kind, my dear sir.  We are trying to perfect an
+invention that will bring a vast deal of trade to Arrowfield."
+
+"But you will not be able to make them believe that till the business
+comes."
+
+"And before then, I suppose, we are to be killed?"
+
+Mr Tomplin looked very serious, and stared hard at me, as if it was all
+my fault.
+
+"My dear sirs," he said at last, "I hardly know how to advise you.  It
+is a most unthankful task to try and invent anything, especially down
+here.  People are so blindly obstinate and wilful that they will not
+listen to reason.  Why not go steadily on with manufacturing in the
+regular way?  What do you say, my young friend?" he added, turning to
+me.
+
+"Why not ask the world to stand still, sir?"  I exclaimed impetuously.
+"I say it's a shame!"
+
+He looked very hard at me, and then pursed up his lips, while I felt
+that I had been speaking very rudely to him, and could only apologise to
+myself by thinking that irritation was allowable, for only last night we
+had been nearly blown up.
+
+"Would you put the matter in the hands of the police?" said Uncle Dick.
+
+"Well, you might," said Mr Tomplin.
+
+"But you would not," said Uncle Bob.
+
+"No, I don't think I should, if it were my case.  I should commence an
+action for damages if I could find an enemy who had any money, but it is
+of no use fighting men of straw."
+
+Mr Tomplin soon after went away, and I looked at my uncles, wondering
+what they would say.  But as they did not speak I broke out with:
+
+"Why, he seemed to think nothing of it."
+
+"Custom of the country," said Uncle Bob, laughing.  "Come, Dick, it's
+our turn now."
+
+"Right!" said Uncle Dick; but Uncle Jack laid hold of his shoulder.
+
+"Look here," he said.  "I don't like the idea of you two going down
+there."
+
+"No worse for us than for you," said Uncle Bob.
+
+"Perhaps not, but the risk seems too great."
+
+"Never mind," said Uncle Dick.  "I'm not going to be beaten.  It's war
+to the knife, and I'm not going to give up."
+
+"They are not likely to try anything to-night," said Uncle Bob.  "There,
+you two can walk down with us and look round to see if everything is all
+right and then come back."
+
+"Don't you think you ought to have pistols?" said Uncle Jack.
+
+"No," replied Uncle Dick firmly.  "We have our sticks, and the dog, and
+we'll do our best with them.  If a pistol is used it may mean the
+destruction of a life, and I would rather give up our adventure than
+have blood upon our hands."
+
+"Yes, you are right," said Uncle Jack.  "If bodily injury or destruction
+is done let them have the disgrace on their side."
+
+We started off directly, and I could not help noticing how people kept
+staring at my uncles.
+
+It was not the respectably-dressed people so much as the rough workmen,
+who were hanging about with their pipes, or standing outside the
+public-house doors.  These scowled and talked to one another in a way
+that I did not like, and more than once I drew Uncle Dick's attention to
+it, but he only smiled.
+
+"We're strangers," he said.  "They'll get used to us by and by."
+
+There was not a soul near the works as we walked up to the gate and were
+saluted with a furious fit of barking from Piter, who did not know our
+steps till the key was rattled in the gate.  Then he stopped at once and
+gave himself a shake and whined.
+
+It was growing dusk as we walked round the yard, to find everything
+quite as it should be.  A look upstairs and down showed nothing
+suspicious; and after a few words regarding keeping a sharp look-out and
+the like we left the watchers of the night and walked back.
+
+"Cob," said Uncle Jack as we sat over our supper, "I don't like those
+two poor fellows being left there by themselves."
+
+"Neither do I, uncle," I said.  "Why not give up watching the place and
+let it take its chance?"
+
+"Because we had such an example of the safety of the place and the
+needlessness of the task?"
+
+"Don't be hard on me, uncle," I said quickly.  "I meant that it would be
+better to suffer serious loss than to have someone badly injured in
+defending the place."
+
+"You're right, Cob--quite right," cried Uncle Jack, slapping the table.
+"Here, you make me feel like a boy.  I believe you were born when you
+were an old man."
+
+"Nonsense!"  I said, laughing.
+
+"But you don't talk nonsense, sir.  What are you--a fairy changeling?
+Here, let's go down to the works."
+
+"Go down?"  I said.
+
+"To be sure.  I couldn't go to bed to-night and sleep.  I should be
+thinking that those two poor fellows were being blown up, or
+knob-sticked, or turned out.  We'll have them back and leave Piter to
+take care of the works, and give him a rise in his wages."
+
+"Of an extra piece of meat every day, uncle?"
+
+"If you had waited a few minutes longer, sir, I should have said that,"
+he replied, laughing; and taking his hat and stick we went down the
+town, talking about the curious vibrations and throbbings we could hear;
+of the heavy rumbling and the flash and glow that came from the
+different works.  Some were so lit up that it seemed as if the windows
+were fiery eyes staring out of the darkness, and more than once we
+stopped to gaze in at some cranny where furnaces were kept going night
+and day and the work never seemed to stop.
+
+As we left the steam-engine part behind, the solitary stillness of our
+district seemed to be more evident; and though we passed one policeman,
+I could not help thinking how very little help we should be able to find
+in a case of great emergency.
+
+Uncle Jack had chatted away freely enough as we went on; but as we drew
+nearer to the works he became more and more silent, and when we had
+reached the lane he had not spoken for fully ten minutes.
+
+Eleven o'clock was striking and all seemed very still.  Not a light was
+visible on that side, and the neighbouring works were apparently quite
+empty as we stood and listened.
+
+"Let's walk along by the side of the dam, Cob," said Uncle Jack.  "I
+don't suppose we shall see anything, but let's have a look how the place
+seems by night."
+
+I followed close behind him, and we passed under the one gas lamp that
+showed the danger of the path to anyone going along; for in the darkness
+there was nothing to prevent a person from walking right into the black
+dam, which looked quite beautiful and countrified now, spangled all
+over, as it was, with the reflections of the stars.
+
+I was going to speak, but Uncle Jack raised his hand for me to be
+silent, and I crept closer to him, wondering what reason he had for
+stopping me; and then he turned and caught my arm, for we had reached
+the end of the dam where it communicated with the river.
+
+Just then two men approached, and one said to the other:
+
+"Tell 'ee, they changes every night.  Sometimes it's one and the boy,
+sometimes two on 'em together.  The boy was there last night, and--
+Hullo!  'Night, mate!"
+
+"'Night!" growled Uncle Jack in an assumed voice as he slouched down and
+gave me a shake.  "Coom on, wilt ta!" he said hoarsely; and I followed
+him without a word.
+
+"I tried it, Cob," he whispered as we listened to the retreating steps
+of the men.  "I don't think they knew us in the dark."
+
+"They were talking about us," I said.
+
+"Yes; that made me attempt to disguise my voice.  Here, let's get back.
+Hark!  There's the dog.  Quick!  Something may be wrong."
+
+We set off at a trot in the direction that the men had taken, but we did
+not pass them, for they had gone down to their right; but there was no
+doubt existing that the affairs at the works were well known and that we
+were surrounded by enemies; and perhaps some of them were busy now, for
+Jupiter kept on his furious challenge, mingling it with an angry growl,
+that told of something being wrong.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ELEVEN.
+
+PANNELL'S PET.
+
+"Who's there?"
+
+"All right--open the door!  Cob and I have come down to see how you are
+getting on," said Uncle Jack.
+
+The gate was unlocked and a stout iron bar that had been added to the
+defences taken down.
+
+"Why, what brings you two here?" cried Uncle Dick.  "What's the matter?"
+
+"That's what we want to know.  How long has the dog been uneasy?"
+
+"For the past hour.  I had gone to lie down; Bob was watchman.  All at
+once Piter began barking furiously, and I got up directly."
+
+"Let's have another look round," said Uncle Jack.
+
+"Here, Piter!"  I cried; "what's the matter, old fellow?"
+
+The dog whined and laid his great jowl in my hand, blinking up at me and
+trying to make his savage grin seem to be a pleasant smile; but all at
+once he started away, threw up his head, and barked again angrily.
+
+"What is it, old fellow?"  I said.  "Here, show us them.  What is it?"
+
+Piter looked at me, whined, and then barked again angrily as if there
+was something very wrong indeed; but he could only smell it in the air.
+What it was or where it was he did not seem to know.
+
+We had a good look round, searching everywhere, and not without a great
+deal of trepidation; for after the past night's experience with the
+powder it was impossible to help feeling nervous.
+
+That's what Uncle Jack called it.  I felt in a regular fright.
+
+"Everything seems quite satisfactory," Uncle Jack was fain to say at
+last.  And then, "Look here, boys," he cried, "Cob and I have been
+talking this matter over, and we say that the works must take care of
+themselves.  You two have to come back with us."
+
+"What!  And leave the place to its fate?" said Uncle Dick.
+
+"Yes.  Better do that than any mishap should come to you."
+
+"What do you say, Bob?"
+
+"I've a very great objection to being blown up, knocked on the head, or
+burned," said Uncle Bob quietly.  "It's just so with a soldier; he does
+not want to be shot, bayoneted, or sabred, but he has to take his
+chance.  I'm going to take mine."
+
+"So am I," said Uncle Dick.
+
+"But, my dear boys--"
+
+"There, it's of no use; is it, Bob?" cried Uncle Dick.  "If we give way
+he'll always be bouncing over us about how he kept watch and we
+daren't."
+
+"Nonsense!" cried Uncle Jack.
+
+"Well, if you didn't," said Uncle Bob, "that cocky consequential small
+man of a boy, Cob, will be always going about with his nose in the air
+and sneering.  I shall stay."
+
+"Then we will stay with you."
+
+My uncles opposed this plan, but Uncle Jack declared that he could not
+sleep if he went back; so the others gave in and we stayed, taking two
+hours turns, and the night passed slowly by.
+
+Every now and then Piter had an uneasy fit, bursting out into a
+tremendous series of barks and howls, but there seemed to be no reason
+for the outcry.
+
+He was worst during the watch kept by Uncle Jack and me after we had had
+a good sleep, and there was something very pathetic in the way the poor
+dog looked at us, as much as to say, "I wish I could speak and put you
+on your guard."
+
+But the night passed without any trouble; the men came in to their work,
+and with the darkness the fear seemed to have passed away.  For there in
+the warm sunshine the water of the dam was dancing and sparkling, the
+great wheel went round, and inside the works the grindstones were
+whizzing and the steel being ground was screeching.  Bellows puffed, and
+fires roared, and there was the _clink clank_ of hammers sounding
+musically upon the anvils, as the men forged blades out of the improved
+steel my uncles were trying to perfect.
+
+Business was increasing, and matters went so smoothly during the next
+fortnight that our troubles seemed to be at an end.  In one week six
+fresh men were engaged, and after the sluggish times in London, where
+for a couple of years past business had been gradually dying off,
+everything seemed to be most encouraging.
+
+Some of the men engaged were queer characters.  One was a great swarthy
+giant with hardly any face visible for black hair, and to look at he
+seemed fit for a bandit, but to talk to he was one of the most gentle
+and amiable of men.  He was a smith, and when he was at the anvil he
+used almost to startle me, he handled a heavy hammer so violently.
+
+I often stood at the door watching him seize a piece of steel with the
+tongs, whisk it out of the forge with a flourish that sent the white-hot
+scintillations flying through the place, bang it down on the anvil, and
+then beat it savagely into the required shape.
+
+Then he would thrust it into the fire again, begin blowing the bellows
+with one hand and stroke a kitten that he kept at the works with his
+unoccupied hand, talking to it all the time in a little squeaking voice
+like a boy's.
+
+He was very fond of swinging the sparkling and sputtering steel about my
+head whenever I went in, but he was always civil, and the less I heeded
+his queer ways the more civil he became.
+
+There was a grinder, too, taken on at the same time, a short
+round-looking man, with plump cheeks, and small eyes which were often
+mere slits in his face.  He had a little soft nose, too, that looked
+like a plump thumb, and moved up and down and to right and left when he
+was intent upon his work.  He was the best-tempered man in the works,
+and seemed to me as if he was always laughing and showing his two rows
+of firm white teeth.
+
+I somehow quite struck up an acquaintance with these two men, for while
+the others looked askant at me and treated me as if I were my uncle's
+spy, sent into the works to see how the men kept on, Pannell the smith
+and Gentles the grinder were always ready to be civil.
+
+My friendliness with Pannell began one morning when I had caught a mouse
+up in the office overlooking the dam, where I spent most of my time
+making drawings and models with Uncle Bob.
+
+This mouse I took down as a _bonne bouche_ for Pannell's kitten, and as
+soon as he saw the little creature seize it and begin to spit and swear,
+he rested upon his hammer handle and stopped to watch it.
+
+Next time I went into the smithy he did not flourish the white-hot steel
+round my head, but gave it a flourish in another direction, banged it
+down upon the anvil, and in a very short time had turned it into the
+blade of a small hand-bill.
+
+"You couldn't do that," he said smiling, as he cooled the piece of steel
+and threw it down on the floor before taking out another.
+
+"Not like that," I said.  "I could do it roughly."
+
+"Yah!  Not you," he said.  "Try."
+
+I was only too eager, and seizing the pincers I took out one of the
+glowing pieces of steel lying ready, laid it upon the anvil and beat it
+into shape, forming a rough imitation of the work I had been watching,
+but with twice as many strokes, taking twice as long, and producing work
+not half so good.
+
+When I had done he picked up the implement, turned it over and over,
+looked at me, threw it down, and then went and stroked his kitten,
+staring straight before him.
+
+"Why, I couldn't ha' done a bit o' forging like that when I'd been at it
+fower year," he said in his high-pitched voice.
+
+"But my uncles have often shown me how," I said.
+
+"What!  Can they forge?" he said, staring very hard at me.
+
+"Oh, yes, as well as you can!"
+
+He blew hard at the kitten and then shook his head in a dissatisfied
+way, after which it seemed as if I had offended him, for he seized his
+hammer and pincers and began working away very hard, finishing a couple
+of the steel bill-hooks before he spoke again.
+
+"Which on 'em 'vented this here contrapshion?" he said, pointing to an
+iron bar, by touching which he could direct a blast of air into his fire
+without having the need of a man or boy to blow.
+
+"Uncle John," I said.
+
+"What!  Him wi' the biggest head?"
+
+I nodded.
+
+"Yes; he said that with the water-wheel going it was easy to contrive a
+way to blow the fires."
+
+"Humph!  Can he forge a bill-hook or a scythe blade?"
+
+"Oh, yes!"
+
+"Who's 'venting the noo steel?"
+
+"Oh, they are all helping!  It was Uncle Richard who first started it."
+
+"Oh, Uncle Richard, was it?" he said thoughtfully.  "Well, it won't
+niver do."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Snap a two, and never bear no edge."
+
+"Who says so?"
+
+"Traade," he cried.  "Steel was good enough as it weer."
+
+Just then, as luck had it, Uncle Jack came into the smithy, and stood
+and watched the man as he scowled heavily and flourished out the hot
+steel as if he resented being watched.
+
+"You are not forging those hand-bills according to pattern, my man,"
+said Uncle Jack, as he saw one finished, Pannell beating the steel with
+savage vehemence, and seeming as if he wished it were Uncle Jack's head.
+
+"That's way to forge a hand-bill," said the man sourly.
+
+"Your way," said Uncle Jack quietly.  "Not mine.  I gave you a pattern.
+These are being made of a new steel."
+
+"Good for nought," said the man; but Uncle Jack paid no heed, assuming
+not to have heard the remark.
+
+"And I want them to look different to other people's."
+
+"Do it yoursen then," said the great fellow savagely; and he threw down
+the hammer and pincers.
+
+"Yes, perhaps I had better," said Uncle Jack, rolling up his white
+shirt-sleeves, after taking off his coat and throwing it to me.
+
+I saw Pannell glower at the pure white skin that covered great muscles
+as big and hard as his own, while, after unhooking a leather apron from
+where it hung, the lever was touched, the fire roared, and at last Uncle
+Jack brought out a piece of white-hot steel, banged it on the anvil, and
+rapidly beat it into shape.
+
+Every stroke had its object, and not one unnecessary blow fell, while in
+a short time he held in the water, which hissed angrily, a hand-bill
+that was beautifully made, and possessed a graceful curve and hook that
+the others wanted.
+
+"There," said Uncle Jack.  "That's how I want them made."
+
+The man's face was set in a savage vindictive look, full of jealous
+annoyance, at seeing a well-dressed gentleman strip and use the smith's
+hammer and pincers better than he could have used them himself.
+
+"Make me one now after that pattern," said Uncle Jack.
+
+It seemed to me that the giant was going to tear off his leather apron
+furiously and stride out of the place; but just then Uncle Jack
+stretched out his great strong hand and lifted up Pannell's kitten,
+which had sprung upon the forge and was about to set its little paws on
+the hot cinders.
+
+"Poor pussy!" he said, standing it in one hand and stroking it with the
+other.  "You mustn't burn those little paws and singe that coat.  Is
+this the one that had the mouse, Cob?"
+
+Just as I answered, "Yes," I saw the great smith change his aspect, pick
+up the still hot hand-bill that Uncle Jack had forged, stare hard at it
+on both sides, and then, throwing it down, he seized the pincers in one
+hand, the forge shovel in the other, turned on the blast and made the
+fire glow, and at last whisked out a piece of white-hot steel.
+
+This he in turn banged down on the anvil--_stithy_ he called it--and
+beat into shape.
+
+It was not done so skilfully as Uncle Jack had forged his, but the work
+was good and quick, and when he had done, the man cooled it and held it
+out with all the rough independence of the north-countryman.
+
+"Suppose that may do, mester," he said, and he stared at where Uncle
+Jack still stroked the kitten, which made a platform of his broad palm,
+and purred and rubbed itself against his chest.
+
+"Capitally!" said Uncle Jack, setting down the kitten gently.  "Yes; I
+wouldn't wish to see better work."
+
+"Aw raight!" said Pannell; and he went on with his work, while Uncle
+Jack and I walked across the yard to the office.
+
+"We shall get all right with the men by degrees, Cob," he said.  "That
+fellow was going to be nasty, but he smoothed himself down.  You see now
+the use of a master being able to show his men how to handle their
+tools."
+
+"Yes," I said, laughing; "but that was not all.  Pannell would have gone
+if it had not been for one thing."
+
+"What was that?" he said.
+
+"You began petting his kitten, and that made him friends."
+
+I often used to go into the smithy when Pannell was at work after that,
+and now and then handled his tools, and he showed me how to use them
+more skilfully, so that we were pretty good friends, and he never
+treated me as if I were a spy.
+
+The greater part of the other men did, and no matter how civil I was
+they showed their dislike by having accidents as they called them, and
+these accidents always happened when I was standing by and at no other
+time.
+
+For instance a lot of water would be splashed, so that some fell upon
+me; a jet of sparks from a grindstone would flash out in my face as I
+went past; the band of a stone would be loosened, so that it flapped
+against me and knocked off my cap.  Then pieces of iron fell, or were
+thrown, no one knew which, though they knew where, for the place was
+generally on or close by my unfortunate body.
+
+I was in the habit of frequently going to look down in the wheel chamber
+or pit, and one day, as I stepped on to the threshold, my feet glided
+from under me, and, but for my activity in catching at and hanging by
+the iron bar that crossed the way I should have plunged headlong in.
+
+There seemed to be no reason for such a slip, but the men laughed
+brutally, and when I looked I found that the sill had been well smeared
+with fat.
+
+There was the one man in the grinders' shop, though, whom I have
+mentioned, and who never seemed to side with his fellow workers, but
+looked half pityingly at me whenever I seemed to be in trouble.
+
+I went into the grinding-shop one morning, where all was noise and din,
+the wheels spinning and the steel shrieking as it was being ground, when
+all at once a quantity of water such as might have been thrown from a
+pint pot came all over me.
+
+I turned round sharply, but every one was at work except the stout
+grinder, who, with a look of disgust on his face, stood wiping his neck
+with a blue cotton handkerchief, and then one cheek.
+
+"Any on it come on you, mester?" he said.
+
+"Any come on me!"  I cried indignantly--"look."
+
+"It be a shaam--a reg'lar shaam," he said slowly; "and I'd like to know
+who throwed that watter.  Here, let me."
+
+He came from his bench, or horse as the grinders call their seat, and
+kindly enough brushed the water away from my jacket with his
+handkerchief.
+
+"Don't tak' no notice of it," he said.  "They're nobbut a set o' fullish
+boys as plays they tricks, and if you tell on 'em they'll give it to you
+worse."
+
+I took his advice, and said nothing then, but naturally enough, spoke to
+my uncles about it when we were alone at night.
+
+"Never mind," said Uncle Dick.  "I daresay we shall get the fellows to
+understand in time that we are their friends and not their enemies."
+
+"Yes," said Uncle Jack; "they are better.  I dare say it will all come
+right in time."
+
+It was soon after this that I went into the grinding-shop one day while
+the men were at dinner, and going to the door that opened into the wheel
+chamber, which always had a fascination for me, I stood gazing down into
+its depths and listening to the splashing water.
+
+"Iver try to ketch any o' them long eels, Mester Jacob?" said a familiar
+voice; and, starting and looking back, I saw that Gentles, the fat
+little grinder, was sitting down close to his wet grindstone eating his
+dinner, and cutting it with a newly ground knife blade forged out of our
+new steel.
+
+"Eels, Gentles!"  I said.  "I didn't know there were any there."
+
+"Oh, but there are," he said; "straange big 'uns.  You set a line with a
+big bait on, and you'll soon hev one."
+
+"What, down there by the wheel?"
+
+"Ay, or oop i' the dam.  Plenty o' eels, lad, theer."
+
+"I'll have a try," I said eagerly, for the idea of catching one or two
+of the creatures was attractive.
+
+From that I got talking to the man about his work, and he promised to
+let me have a few turns at grinding.
+
+"On'y, what am I to say if thee coots theesen?" he cried with a chuckle.
+
+"Oh, but you'll show me how to do it without!"  I said laughing.
+
+"Nay, but what's good o' thee wanting to grind?  Want to tak' work out
+o' poor men's hands?"
+
+"Nonsense!"  I cried angrily.  "Why, Gentles, you know better than that.
+All I want is to understand thoroughly how it is done, so that I can
+talk to the men about their work, and show them if it isn't right."
+
+"Oh!" he said in a curious tone of voice.  "Well, you coom any time when
+watter-wheel's going, and I'll show thee all that I know.  'Tain't much.
+Keeps men fro' starving."
+
+"Why, Gentles," I cried; "you drew three pounds five last week, and I
+saw you paid."
+
+"Three pun' five!  Did I?" he said.  "Ah, but that was a partic'lar good
+week.  I've got a missus and a lot o' bairns to keep, and times is very
+bad, mester."
+
+"I'm sorry for it," I said; and I went away and had a look in the books
+as soon as I reached the office, to find that Master Gentles never drew
+less than three pounds a-week; but I did not remind him of it, and
+during the next few days he very civilly showed me how his work was
+done--that is, the knack of holding and turning the blades, so that I
+rapidly acquired the way, and was too busy to notice the peculiar looks
+I received from the other men.
+
+Of course I know how that I was a mere bungler, and clumsy, and slow in
+the extreme; but at the time I felt as if I must be very clever, and
+there was something very satisfactory in seeing a blackened hammered
+blade fresh from the forge turn bright and clean in my hands, while the
+edge grew sharp and even.
+
+It was playing with edged tools with a vengeance, but I did not
+understand it then.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWELVE.
+
+PANNELL'S SECRET.
+
+Every day the works grew more busy, and prosperity seemed to be coming
+upon us like sunshine.  The men worked steadily and well, and the old
+opposition had apparently died out; but all the same the watching was
+kept up as regularly as if it was during war time, though, saving an
+occasional burst of barking from Piter, who used to have these fits
+apparently without cause, there was nothing to alarm the watchers.
+
+It was my turn at home, and I was up early the next morning, wondering
+how Uncle Jack and Uncle Bob had got on during the night, when I came
+down and found Mrs Stephenson and Martha the maid enjoying themselves.
+
+Their way of enjoying themselves was peculiar, but that it afforded them
+pleasure there could be no doubt.  It might have been considered a
+religious ceremony, but though there was a kind of worship or adoration
+about it, there was nothing religious in the matter at all.
+
+What they did was this:--To mix up a certain quantity of black-lead in a
+little pie-dish, and then kneel down before a stove, and work and slave
+at it till there was a tremendous gloss all over the iron.
+
+In effecting this Mrs Stephenson used to get a little smudgy, but
+Martha seemed to have an itching nose which always itched most on these
+occasions, and as you watched her you saw her give six scrubs at the
+grate with the front of the brush, and then one rub with the back on her
+face or nose.
+
+This act must have been pleasant, for as she bent down and scrubbed she
+frowned, as she sat up and rubbed her nose with the back of the brush
+she smiled.
+
+Now if Martha had confined her rubs to her nose it would not have much
+mattered, but in rubbing her nose she also rubbed her cheeks, her chin,
+her forehead, and the consequence was a great waste of black-lead, and
+her personal appearance was not improved.
+
+I was standing watching the black-leading business, an affection from
+which most north-country people suffer very badly, when Uncle Jack came
+hurrying in, looking hot and excited.  "Where's Dick?" he cried.
+
+"In his room drawing plans," I cried.  "What's the matter?  Is Uncle Bob
+hurt?"
+
+"No, not a bit!"
+
+"Then Piter is?"
+
+"No, no, no.  Here, Dick!" he shouted up the stairs.  There was a sound
+on the upper floor as if some one had just woke an elephant, and Uncle
+Dick came lumbering down.
+
+"What's wrong?" he cried.
+
+Uncle Jack glanced round and saw that Mrs Stephenson was looking up
+from where she knelt in the front room, with her eyes and mouth wide
+open as the door, and Martha was slowly rubbing her nose with the
+black-lead brush and waiting for him to speak.
+
+"Put on your hat and come down to the works," he said.
+
+We moved by one impulse into the passage, and as we reached the door
+Mrs Stephenson cried:
+
+"Brackfass won't be long;" and then the sound of black-leading went on.
+
+"Now, then," said Uncle Dick as we reached the street, "what is it?
+Anything very wrong?"
+
+"Terribly," said Uncle Jack.
+
+"Well, what is it?  Why don't you speak?"
+
+"Come and see for yourself," said Uncle Jack bitterly.  "I thought
+matters were smoothing down, but they are getting worse, and I feel
+sometimes that we might as well give up as carry on this unequal war."
+
+"No: don't give up, Uncle Jack," I cried.  "Let's fight the cowards."
+
+"Bring them into the yard then so that we can fight them," he cried
+angrily.  "The cowardly back-stabbers; sneaks in the dark.  I couldn't
+have believed that such things could go on in England."
+
+"Well, but we had heard something about what the Arrowfield men could
+do, and we knew about how in the Lancashire district the work-people
+used to smash new machinery."
+
+"There, wait till you've seen what has happened," cried Uncle Jack
+angrily.  "You've just risen after a night's rest.  I've come to you
+after a night's watching, and you and I feel differently about the same
+thing."
+
+Very little more was said before we reached the works, where the first
+thing I saw was a group of men round the gate, talking together with
+their hands in their pockets.
+
+Gentles was among them, smoking a short black pipe, and he shut his eyes
+at me as we passed, which was his way of bestowing upon me a smile.
+
+When we passed through the gate the men followed as if we were a set of
+doctors about to put something right for them, and as if they had been
+waiting for us to come.
+
+Uncle Bob was standing by the door as we came across the yard, and as
+soon as we reached him he turned in and we followed.
+
+There was no occasion for him to speak; he just walked along the great
+workshop, pointing to right and left, and we saw at once why the men
+were idling about.
+
+Few people who read this will have any difficulty in understanding what
+wheel-bands are.  They used to be very common in the streets, joining
+the wheels of the knife-grinders' barrows, and now in almost every house
+they are seen in the domestic treadle sewing-machine.  Similar to these,
+but varying in size, are the bands in a factory.  They may be broad flat
+leather straps of great weight and size, formed by sewing many lengths
+together, or they may be string-like cords of twisted catgut.  They all
+come under the same name, and there were scores in our works connecting
+the shaft wheels of the main shaft turned by the water-power with the
+grindstones of the lower floor and the lathes and polishers of the
+upper.  By these connections wheel, stone, and chuck were set
+spinning-round.  Without them everything was at a stand-still.
+
+As we walked down between the grindstones it was plain enough to see--
+every wheel-band had been cut.
+
+It was the same upstairs--broad bands and cords all had been divided
+with a sharp knife, and Uncle Bob held a piece of whetstone in his hand
+which had been thrown down by the door, evidently after being used by
+the miscreant who had done this cowardly trick.
+
+As we went upstairs and saw the mischief there the men followed us like
+a flock of sheep, waiting to see what we should do, for they were
+perforce idle.  Only the smiths could work, for by accident or oversight
+the band which connected the shaft with the blowing apparatus had
+escaped, and as we stood there by the office door we could hear the
+_clink clink_ of the hammers upon the anvils and the pleasant roar of
+each forge.
+
+"Hallo!  What's this?" cried Uncle Jack as he caught sight of something
+white on the office door, which proved to be a letter stuck on there by
+a common wooden-handled shoemakers' knife having been driven right
+through it.
+
+"I did not see that before," said Uncle Bob excitedly.
+
+"No, because it was not there," said Uncle Jack.  "I should have seen it
+if it had been there when I came out of the office first."
+
+"And _I_ am sure that I should have seen it," said Uncle Bob.
+
+The letter was opened and read by Uncle Jack, who passed it on to his
+brothers.
+
+They read it in turn, and it was handed to me, when I read as follows:
+
+  "_This hear's the nif as coot them weel-bans.  Stope makhin noo kine
+  steel, or be strang and bad for wurks_."
+
+"Come in the office and let's talk it over," said Uncle Bob.  "This must
+have been placed here by someone in the works."
+
+"Yes," said Uncle Jack bitterly.  "It is plain enough: the wheel-bands
+have been cut by one of the men who get their living by us, and who take
+our pay."
+
+"And you see the scoundrel who wrote that letter threatens worse
+treatment if we do not give up making the new silver steel."
+
+"Yes," said Uncle Jack sternly as he turned to Uncle Dick; "what do you
+mean to do?"
+
+"Begin a fresh batch to-day, and let the men know it is being done.
+Here, let's show them that we can be as obstinate as they."  Then aloud
+as we approached the men where they had grouped together, talking about
+the "cooten bands," as they termed it.  "You go at once to the
+machinist's and get a couple of men sent on to repair such of these
+bands as they can, and put new ones where they are shortened too much by
+the mending."
+
+Uncle Bob smiled at once.
+
+"Look here," said Uncle Dick sharply, "some of you men can make shift by
+tying or binding your bands till they are properly done."
+
+"Ay, mester," came in a growl, and shortly after the sound of steel
+being ground upon the sharply-spinning stones was heard.  An hour later
+a couple of men were fitting bands to some of the wheels, and mending
+others by lacing them together.
+
+I was standing watching them as they fitted a new band to Gentles'
+wheel, while he stood with his bared arms folded, very eager to begin
+work again.
+
+"Ain't it a cruel shaame?" he whispered.  "Here's me, a poor chap paid
+by the piece, and this morning half gone as you may say.  This job's a
+couple o' loaves out o' my house."
+
+He wiped a tear out of the corner of each half-closed eye as he stared
+at me in a miserable helpless kind of way, and somehow he made me feel
+so annoyed with him that I felt as if I should like to slap his fat face
+and then kick him.
+
+I went away very much exasperated and glad to get out of the reach of
+temptation, leaving my uncles busily superintending the fitting of the
+bands, and helping where they could do anything to start a man on again
+with his work.  And all the time they seemed to make very light of the
+trouble, caring for nothing but getting the men started again.
+
+I went down into the smithy, where Pannell was at work, and as I entered
+the place he looked for a moment from the glowing steel he was hammering
+into a shape, to which it yielded as if it had been so much tough wax,
+and then went on again as if I had not been there.
+
+His kitten was a little more friendly, though, for it ran from the
+brickwork of the forge, leaped on to a bench behind me, and bounded from
+that on to my back, and crept to my shoulder, where it could rub its
+head against my ear.
+
+"Well, Pannell," I said, "you've heard about the cowardly trick done in
+the shops?"
+
+"Ay, I heered on't," he cried, as he battered away at the steel on his
+anvil.
+
+"Who did it?"
+
+"Did it!" he cried, nipping the cherry-red steel in a fresh place and
+thrusting it back in the fire.  "Don't they know?  Didn't they hear in
+the night?"
+
+"No," I said; "they heard nothing, not a sound.  The dog did not even
+bark, they say."
+
+"Would he bite a man hard?"
+
+"He'd almost eat a man if he attacked him."
+
+"Ay, he looks it," said Pannell, patting the black coal-dust down over a
+glowing spot.
+
+"Well, who do you think did it?"  I said.
+
+"Someone as come over the wall, I s'pose; but you'd better not talk
+about it."
+
+"But I like to talk about it," I said.  "Oh, I should like to find out
+who it was!  It was someone here."
+
+"Here!" he cried, whisking out the steel.
+
+"Yes, the sneaking, blackguardly, cowardly hound!"  I cried.
+
+"Hush!" he whispered sharply; "some one may hear again."
+
+I stared at the great swarthy fellow, for he looked sallow and seared,
+and it seemed, so strange to me that, while I only felt annoyance, he
+should be alarmed.
+
+"Why, Pannell," I cried, "what's the matter?"
+
+"Best keep a still tongue," he said in a whisper.  "You never know who
+may hear you."
+
+"I don't care who hears me.  It was a coward and a scoundrel who cut our
+bands, and I should like to tell him so to his face."
+
+"Howd thee tongue, I say," he cried, hammering away at his anvil, to
+drown my words in noise.  "What did I tell thee?"
+
+"That some one might hear me.  Well, let him.  Why, Pannell, you look as
+if you had done it yourself.  It wasn't you, was it?"
+
+He turned upon me quite fiercely, hammer in hand, making me think about
+Wat Tyler and the tax-gatherer; but he did not strike me: he brought his
+hammer down upon the anvil with a loud clang.
+
+"Nay," he said; "I nivver touched no bands.  It warn't my wuck."
+
+"Well, I never thought it was," I said.  "You don't look the sort of man
+who would be a coward."
+
+"Oh, that's what you think, is it, lad?"
+
+"Yes," I said, seating myself on the bench and stroking the kitten.  "A
+blacksmith always seems to me to be a bold manly straightforward man,
+who would fight his enemy fairly face to face, and not go in the dark
+and stab him."
+
+"Ah!" he said; "but I arn't a blacksmith, I'm a white-smith, and work in
+steel."
+
+"It's much the same," I said thoughtfully; and then, looking him full in
+the face: "No, Pannell, I don't think you cut the bands, but I feel
+pretty sure you know who did."
+
+The man's jaw dropped, and he looked quite paralysed for a moment or
+two.  Then half recovering himself he plunged his tongs into the fire,
+pulled out a sputtering white piece of glowing steel, gave it his
+regular whirl through the air like a firework, and, instead of banging
+it on to the anvil, plunged it with a fierce toss into the iron
+water-trough, and quenched it.
+
+"Why, Pannell!"  I cried, "what made you do that?"
+
+He scratched his head with the hand that held the hammer, and stared at
+me for a few moments, and then down at the black steel that he had taken
+dripping from the trough.
+
+"Dunno," he said hoarsely, "dunno, lad."
+
+"I do," I said to myself as I set down the kitten and went back to join
+my uncles, who were in consultation in the office.
+
+They stopped short as I entered, and Uncle Bob turned to me.  "Well,
+Philosopher Cob," he said, "what do you say?  Who did this cowardly
+act--was it someone in the neighbourhood, or one of our own men?"
+
+"Yes, who was it?" said Uncle Dick.
+
+"We are all divided in our opinions," said Uncle Jack.
+
+"One of our own men," I said; "and Pannell the smith knows who it was."
+
+"And will he tell?"
+
+"No.  I think the men are like schoolboys in that.  No one would speak
+for fear of being thought a sneak."
+
+"Yes," said Uncle Dick, "and not only that; in these trades-unions the
+men are all bound together, as it were, and the one who betrayed the
+others' secrets would be in peril of his life."
+
+"How are we to find out who is the scoundrel?"  I said.
+
+Uncle Dick shook his head, and did what he always found to be the most
+satisfactory thing in these cases, set to work as hard as he could, and
+Uncles Jack and Bob followed his example.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
+
+ONLY A GLASS OF WATER.
+
+The keeping watch of a night had now grown into a regular business
+habit, and though we discovered nothing, the feeling was always upon us
+that if we relaxed our watchfulness for a few hours something would
+happen.
+
+The paper stuck on the door was not forgotten by my uncles, but the men
+went on just as usual, and the workshops were as busy as ever, and after
+a good deal of drawing and experimenting Uncle Dick or Uncle Jack kept
+producing designs for knives or tools to be worked up out of the new
+steel.
+
+"But," said I one day, "I don't see that this reaping-hook will be any
+better than the old-fashioned one."
+
+"The steel is better and will keep sharp longer, my lad, but people
+would not believe that it was in the slightest degree different, unless
+they had something to see," said Uncle Dick.
+
+So the men were set to forge and grind the different shaped tools and
+implements that were designed, and I often heard them laughing and
+jeering at what they called the "contrapshions."
+
+My turn came round to keep the morning watch about a week after the new
+bands had been fitted.  Uncle Bob had been on guard during the night,
+and just as I was comfortably dreaming of a pleasant country excursion I
+was awakened by a cheery, "Tumble up, Tumble up!"
+
+I sat up confused and drowsy, but that soon passed off as Uncle Bob
+laughingly told me, in sham nautical parlance, that all was well on
+deck; weather hazy, and no rocks ahead as far as he knew.
+
+"Oh," I said yawning, "I do wish all this watching was over!"
+
+"So do I, Cob," he cried; "but never mind, we shall tire the rascals out
+yet."
+
+I thought to myself that they would tire us out first, as I went down
+grumpily and disposed to shiver; and then, to thoroughly waken and warm
+myself, I had a good trot round the big furnace, where the men had tried
+to fire the powder.
+
+It was circus-horse sort of work, that running round on the black ashes
+and iron scales, but it warmed me, and as the miserable shivery feeling
+went off I felt brighter and more ready for my task.
+
+Piter was with me trotting close behind, as I ran round and round; and
+when at last I was pretty well out of breath I sat down on a bench, and
+took the dog's fore-paws on my knees, as I thought about how different
+my life here seemed from what I had expected.  There had been some
+unpleasant adventures, and a good deal of work, but otherwise my daily
+career seemed to be very monotonous, and I wondered when our old country
+trips were to be renewed.
+
+Then I had a good look round the place upstairs and down; and, so sure
+as I passed an open window, I felt about with my hands for wires, the
+memory of that powder-tin being too vivid to be forgotten.
+
+I went and listened by the office door, and could hear my uncle
+breathing heavily.
+
+I went and looked out at the dam, which was always worth looking at for
+its reflections of the heavens, but it was perfectly still.  There was
+no raft gliding down towards the building.
+
+Down in the grinders' shop all was still, and in the darkness the
+different shafts and wheels looked very curious and threatening, so much
+so that it only wanted a little imagination for one to think that this
+was some terrible torture chamber, the door at the end leading into the
+place where the water torment was administered, for the curious musical
+dripping and plashing sounded very thrilling and strange in the
+solemnity of the night.
+
+That place always attracted me, and though there in the darkness I did
+not care to open the door and look down at the black water, I went and
+listened, and as I did so it seemed that there was something going on
+there.  Every now and then, came a splash, and then a hurrying as of
+something being drawn over wet bars of wood.  Then there were a series
+of soft thuds at irregular intervals, and as I listened all this was
+magnified by imagination, and I was ready to go and call for Uncle Bob
+to descend when a faint squeaking noise brought me to my senses and I
+laughed.
+
+"Why, Piter," I said, "what a dog you are!  Don't you hear the rats?"
+
+Piter rubbed his great head against me and whined softly.
+
+"Don't care for rats?"  I said.  "All right, old fellow.  I forgot that
+you were a bull-dog and did not care for anything smaller than a bull,
+unless it were a man."
+
+I stood listening for a few minutes longer, wondering whether some of
+the sounds I could hear down by the stonework were made by eels, and,
+recalling what Gentles had said, I determined that some evening I would
+have a try for the slimy fellows either down below the great water-wheel
+or out of the office-window, where I could drop a line into the deepest
+part of the dam.
+
+Then I went into the smiths' shops and thought about how sulky Pannell
+had been ever since I had talked to him about the wheel-bands.
+
+"This won't do, Piter," I said, trying to rouse myself, for I was
+dreadfully sleepy; and I had another trot with the dog after me in his
+solid, silent way--for he rarely barked unless it was in anger--but
+trotted close behind me wherever I might go.
+
+I cannot tell you what a fight I had that night--for it was more like
+night than morning.  I walked fast; I tried all sorts of gymnastic
+attitudes; I leaped up, caught hold of an iron bar and swung by my arms,
+and whenever I did these things I grew as lively as a cricket; but as
+soon as, from utter weariness, I ceased, the horrible drowsiness came on
+again, and as I walked I actually dreamed that there was a man creeping
+along the ground towards the building.
+
+This seemed to wake me, and it was so real that I went out to see--
+nothing.
+
+Then I had another tour of the place; stood leaning against door-posts,
+and up in corners, ready to drop down with sleep, but fighting it off
+again.
+
+I went out across the yard and had a look at the dam, lay down on the
+stone edge, and bathed my face with the fresh cold water, turned my
+handkerchief into a towel, and walked back in the dim, grey light,
+seeing that morning was breaking, and beginning to rejoice that I had
+got rid of my drowsy fit, which seemed unaccountable.
+
+Piter seemed as drowsy as I, holding his head down in a heavy way as if
+it were more than he could bear.
+
+"Poor old boy!  Why, you seem as sleepy as I am, Piter!"  I said, as I
+seated myself on the stairs leading up to the office; and he whined
+softly and laid his head in my lap.
+
+I thought I heard a noise just then, and looked up, but there was no
+repetition of the sound, and I sat there at a turn of the stairs,
+leaning against the wall, and wondering why the dog had not started up
+instead of letting his heavy head drop lower in my lap.
+
+"Why, you are as drowsy as I am, Piter," I cried again, playing with his
+ears; "anyone would think you had been taking a sleeping draught or
+something of that kind."
+
+He answered with a heavy snore, just like a human being, and I sat
+gazing down and out through the open doorway into the yard, thinking
+that it would not be long now before it was broad daylight instead of
+that half darkness that seemed so strange and misty that I could only
+just see through the doorway and distinguish the stones.
+
+Then I could hardly see them at all, and then they seemed to disappear,
+and I could see all over the yard, and the dam and the works all at
+once.  It was a wonderful power of sight that I seemed to possess, for I
+was looking through the walls of the upper shop, and all through the
+lower shop, and down into the water-pit.  Then I was looking round the
+furnace, and in at the smiths' forges, and at the great chimney-shaft,
+and at the precipice by Dome Tor.
+
+What a place that seemed!  Since my uncle slipped over it the slaty,
+shaley face appeared to have grown twice as big and high, and over it
+and down the steep slope a man was crawling right in from the Dome Tor
+slip to our works.  I saw him come along the stone edge of the dam and
+over the wheel with the water, to bob up and down in the black pit like
+a cork float when an eel is biting at a bait.  There he went--bob--bob--
+bob--and down out of sight.
+
+It seemed such a splendid bite, that, being fond of fishing, I was about
+to strike, the absurdity of the idea of fishing with a man for a float
+never striking me for a moment; but, just as I was going to pull up, the
+man was crawling over the floor of the grinders' shop, and the water was
+not there, though the wheel seemed to be going round and uttering a
+heavy groan at every turn for want of grease.
+
+There he was again, creeping and writhing up the stairs, and higher and
+higher along the floor among the lathes; then he was in the office, and
+over the bed where Uncle Bob lay making a snoring noise like the great
+water-wheel as it turned.  What a curiously-long, thin, writhing man he
+seemed to be as he crawled and wriggled all over the floor and lathes
+and polishing-wheels.  Down, too, into the smiths' shops, and over the
+half-extinct fires without burning himself, and all the time the wheel
+went round with its snoring noise, and the man--who was really a big
+eel--was ringing a loud bell, and--
+
+I jumped up wide-awake, upsetting Piter, and throwing his head out of my
+lap, when, instead of springing up, he rolled heavily half-way down the
+stairs as if he were dead.
+
+"Why, I've been to sleep," I said angrily to myself, "and dreaming all
+sorts of absurd nonsense!  That comes of thinking about fishing for
+eels."
+
+I was cold and stiff, and there was a bell ringing in the distance at
+some works, where the men began an hour sooner than ours.  But I took no
+notice of that, for I was thinking about Piter, and wondering how he
+could lie so still.
+
+"Is he dead?"  I thought; and I went down and felt him.
+
+He did not move; but it was evident that he was not dead, for he snored
+heavily, and felt warm enough; but he was too fast asleep to be roused,
+even when I took hold of his collar and shook him.
+
+I was puzzled, and wondered whether he could have had anything to make
+him so sleepy.
+
+But if he had had anything to make him sleepy I had not, and yet I must
+have been soundly asleep for two or three hours.
+
+I remembered, though, that when I last went round the yard Piter had
+been sniffing about at something, and perhaps he might have eaten what
+had not agreed with him then.
+
+"Poor old boy!  He'll wake up presently," I said to myself as I lifted
+him up; and heavy enough he seemed as I carried him down to his kennel,
+just inside the door, where he lay motionless, snoring heavily still.
+
+"Lucky thing that no one has been," I said to myself, as, feeling
+thoroughly ashamed of my breach of trust, I went down to the dam, taking
+a towel with me this time from out of my office-drawer, and there,
+kneeling on the stones, I had a good bathe at my face and forehead, and
+went back feeling ever so much fresher.
+
+The sounds of toil were rising in the distance, and over the great town
+the throb and hum and whirr of the busy hive was rising in the sunny
+morning air, as, with the events of the night fading away, I went in to
+my office to put away the towel and use the comb and brush I kept there.
+
+That done, I was going to call Uncle Bob and walk back with him to our
+home, for the men would soon be there.
+
+Just then the water-bottle and glass upon my desk caught my eye, and,
+like a flash, I remembered that I had filled the glass and drunk a
+little water, leaving the glass nearly full so as to take some more if I
+wanted it, for a glass of water was, I found, a capital thing to keep
+off drowsiness when one was watching.
+
+I was sure I had left that glass nearly full, and standing on the desk;
+but I had not been and drunk any more, of that I was sure.  I don't know
+why I had not gone back to have some, considering how sleepy I was, but
+I certainly had not.  I was sure of it.
+
+Then the water-bottle!  It was a common plain bottle such as is used on
+a wash-stand, and we had three of them always filled with fresh cold
+water on the desks.  Mine was full when I poured some out in the night,
+and now it was quite empty; and as I stared at it and then about the
+room I saw a great patch of wet on the carpet.
+
+I looked farther and there was another patch--a smaller patch or big
+splash, as if the contents of the glass had been thrown down.
+
+It was very strange, and I could not understand it.  I had not thrown
+the water down.  If I had wanted to get rid of it, I should have gone to
+the sink outside or have opened the window, and thrown it out into the
+dam.
+
+The matter was of small consequence, and I paid no more attention to it,
+but went to Uncle Bob, where he was lying, fighting with myself as to
+whether I should tell him that I had been to sleep.
+
+I did not like to speak, for I felt--well I felt as most boys would
+under the circumstances; but I mastered my moral cowardice, as I
+thought, and determined to tell him--after breakfast.
+
+"Ah, Cob, old chap," he cried, jumping up as I laid my hand on his
+shoulder, "what a delicious sleep!  What a morning too--Hah!  That's
+better."
+
+He was dressed, for though whoever lay down, so to speak, went to bed,
+he never undressed; so that after a plunge of the face and hands in the
+cool fresh water, and a scrub and brush, Uncle Bob was ready.
+
+"I want my breakfast horribly, Cob," he said; "and we've an hour to
+wait.  Let's have a walk round by the hill as we go home.  Have you
+unlocked the gate?"
+
+"Yes," I said; "before I came up to call you."
+
+"That's right.  Ah, here the men come!" for there was the trampling of
+feet, and the noise of voices crossing the yard.  "Fed Piter?"
+
+"No; not yet," I said.  "He's asleep."
+
+"Asleep!"
+
+"Yes; he has been asleep these three hours past--asleep and snoring.
+He's in his kennel now.  I couldn't wake him."
+
+"Nice sort of a watch-dog, Cob!"
+
+"Yes," I said, feeling very guilty and shrinking from my confession.
+
+"Do you say you tried to wake him?"
+
+"Yes," I said, "I took him up in my arms, and carried him down to his
+kennel, and he was snoring all the time."
+
+"Carried him down!  Where from?"
+
+"The stairs.  He went to sleep there."
+
+"Cob!" he cried, making the blood flush to my face, and then run back to
+my heart--"why, what's the matter, boy, aren't you well?"
+
+"My head aches a little, and my mouth feels rather hot and dry."
+
+"And you've got dark marks under your eyes, boy.  You've not been asleep
+too, have you?"
+
+I stared at him wildly, and felt far more unwell now.
+
+"Why don't you speak?" he cried angrily.  "You haven't been to sleep,
+have you?"
+
+"I was going to confess it, uncle, if you had given me time," I said.
+"I never did such a thing before; but I couldn't keep awake, and fell
+asleep for over two hours."
+
+"Oh, Cob!  Cob!"
+
+"I couldn't help it, uncle," I cried passionately.  "I did try so hard.
+I walked and ran about.  I stood up, and danced and jumped, and went in
+the yard, but it was all of no use, and at last I dropped down on the
+stairs with Piter, and before I knew it I was fast."
+
+"Was the dog asleep too?"
+
+"He went to sleep before I did," I said bitterly.
+
+"Humph!"
+
+"Don't be angry with me, Uncle Bob," I cried.  "I did try so hard."
+
+"Did you take anything last night after I left you?"
+
+"No, uncle.  You know I was very sleepy when you called me."
+
+"Nothing at all?"
+
+"Only a drop of water out of the bottle."
+
+"Go and fetch what is left," he said.  "Or no, I'll come.  But Piter;
+what did he have?"
+
+"I don't know, only that he seemed to pick up something just as we were
+walking along the yard.  That's all."
+
+"There's some fresh mischief afoot, Cob," cried Uncle Bob, "and--ah,
+here it is!  Well, my man, what is it?"
+
+This was to Gentles, whose smooth fat face was full of wrinkles, and his
+eyes half-closed.
+
+He took off his cap--a soft fur cap, and wrung it gently as if it were
+full of water.  Then he began shaking it out, and brushing it with his
+cuff, and looked from one to the other, giving me a salute by jerking up
+one elbow.
+
+"Well, why don't you speak, man; what is it?" cried Uncle Bob.  "Is
+anything wrong?"
+
+"No, mester, there aren't nought wrong, as you may say, though happen
+you may think it is.  Wheel-bands hev been touched again."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
+
+UNCLE BOB'S PATIENT.
+
+Uncle Bob gave me a sharp look that seemed to go through me, and then
+strode into the workshop, while I followed him trembling with anger and
+misery, to think that I should have gone to sleep at such a time and let
+the miscreants annoy us again like this.
+
+"Not cut this time," said Uncle Bob to me, as we went from lathe to
+lathe, and from to stone.  Upstairs and downstairs it was all the same;
+every band of leather, gutta-percha, catgut, had been taken away, and,
+of course, the whole of this portion of the works would be brought to a
+stand.
+
+I felt as if stunned, and as guilty as if I had shared in the plot by
+which the bands had been taken away.
+
+The men were standing about stolidly watching us.  They did not complain
+about their work being at a stand-still, nor seem to mind that, as they
+were paid by the amount they did, they would come short at the end of
+the week: all they seemed interested in was the way in which we were
+going to bear the loss, or act.
+
+"Does not look like a walk for us, Cob," said Uncle Bob.  "What a cruel
+shame it is!"
+
+"Uncle," I cried passionately, for we were alone now, "I can't tell you
+how ashamed I am.  It's disgraceful.  I'm not fit to be trusted.  I can
+never forgive myself, but I did try so very very hard."
+
+"Try, my boy!" he said taking my hand; "why, of course, you did.  I
+haven't blamed you."
+
+"No, but I blame myself," I cried.
+
+"Nonsense, my boy!  Let that rest."
+
+"But if I had kept awake I should have detected the scoundrel."
+
+"No, you would not, Cob, because if you had been awake he would not have
+come; your being asleep was his opportunity."
+
+"But I ought not, being on sentry, to have gone to sleep."
+
+"But, my dear Cob, people who are drugged cannot help going to sleep."
+
+"Drugged!"
+
+"To be sure.  Didn't you say that you drank a little water and
+afterwards grew sleepy?"
+
+"But I did not know it was the water."
+
+"Here, let me look at your bottle and glass."
+
+I took him into the office and showed him the empty receptacles and the
+two patches on the floor.
+
+"Clumsily done, Cob," he said after looking at and smelling them.  "This
+was done to keep anyone suspicious from examining the water.  Yes, Cob,
+you were drugged."
+
+"Oh, Uncle Bob," I cried excitedly, "I hope I was!"
+
+"I don't see why you need be so hopeful, but it is very evident that you
+were.  There, don't worry yourself about it, my boy.  You always do your
+duty and we've plenty to think of without that.  We shall spoil two
+breakfasts at home."
+
+"But, uncle," I cried, clinging to his arm, "do you really think I may
+believe that my sleepiness came from being drugged?"
+
+"Yes, yes, yes," he cried half angrily.  "Now are you satisfied?  Come
+and let's have a look at the dog."
+
+I felt quite guilty at having forgotten poor Piter so long, and
+descending with my uncle we were soon kneeling by the kennel.
+
+He had not stirred since I put him in, but lay snoring heavily, and no
+amount of shaking seemed to have the least effect.
+
+"The poor brute has had a strong dose, Cob," said Uncle Bob, "and if we
+don't do something he will never wake again."
+
+"Oh, uncle!"  I cried, for his words sent a pang through me.  I did not
+know how much I had grown to like the faithful piece of ugliness till my
+uncle had spoken as he did.
+
+"Yes, the wretches have almost done for him, and I'm glad of it."
+
+"Glad!"  I cried as I lifted poor Piter's head in my hand and stroked
+it.
+
+"Glad it was that which made the poor brute silent.  I thought he had
+turned useless through his not giving the alarm."
+
+"Can't we do something, uncle?"  I cried.
+
+"I'm thinking, Cob," he replied, "it's not an easy thing to give dogs
+antidotes, and besides we don't know what he has taken.  Must be some
+narcotic though.  I know what we'll do.  Here, carry him down to the
+dam."
+
+A number of the workmen were looking on stolidly and whispering to one
+another as if interested in what we were going to do about the dog.
+Some were in the yard smoking, some on the stairs, and every man's hands
+were deep in his pockets.
+
+"Say," shouted a voice as I carried the dog out into the yard, following
+Uncle Bob while the men made room for us, "they're a goin' to drown
+bull-poop."
+
+I hurried on after my uncle and heard a trampling of feet behind me, but
+I took no notice, only as I reached the dam there was quite a little
+crowd closing in.
+
+"Wayert a minute, mester," said one of the grinders.  "I'll get 'ee bit
+o' iron and a bit o' band to tie round poop's neck."
+
+For answer, Uncle Bob took the dog by his collar and hind-legs, and
+kneeling down on the stone edge of the dam plunged him head-first into
+the water, drew him out, and plunged him in again twice.
+
+"Yow can't drownd him like that," cried one.
+
+"He's dowsing on him to bring him round," said another; and then, as
+Uncle Bob laid the dog down and stood up to watch him, there was a burst
+of laughter in the little crowd, for all our men were collected now.
+
+"Yes, laugh away, you cowardly hounds," said Uncle Bob indignantly, and
+I looked at him wonderingly, for he had always before seemed to be so
+quiet and good-tempered a fellow.  "It's a pity, I suppose, that you did
+not kill the dog right out the same as, but for a lucky accident, you
+might have poisoned this boy here."
+
+"Who poisoned lad?" said a grinder whom I had seen insolent more than
+once.
+
+"I don't know," cried Uncle Bob; "but I know it was done by the man or
+men who stole those bands last night; and I know that it was done by
+someone in these works, and that you nearly all of you know who it was."
+
+There was a low growl here.
+
+"And a nice cowardly contemptible trick it was!" cried Uncle Bob,
+standing up taller than any man there, and with his eyes flashing.  "I
+always thought Englishmen were plucky, straightforward fellows, above
+such blackguards' tricks as these.  Workmen!  Why, the scoundrels who
+did this are unworthy of the name."
+
+There was another menacing growl here.
+
+"Too cowardly to fight men openly, they come in the night and strike at
+boys, and dogs, and steal."
+
+"Yow lookye here," said the big grinder, taking off his jacket and
+baring his strong arms; "yow called me a coward, did you?"
+
+"Yes, and any of you who know who did this coward's trick," cried Uncle
+Bob angrily.
+
+"Then tek that!" cried the man, striking at him full in the face.
+
+I saw Uncle Bob catch the blow on his right arm, dart out his left and
+strike the big grinder in the mouth; and then, before he could recover
+himself, my uncle's right fist flashed through the air like lightning,
+and the man staggered and then fell with a dull thud, the back of his
+head striking the stones.
+
+There was a loud yell at this, and a chorus rose:
+
+"In wi' 'em.  Throost 'em i' th' dam," shouted a voice, and half a dozen
+men advanced menacingly; but Uncle Bob stood firm, and just then Fannell
+the smith strode before them.
+
+"Howd hard theer," he cried in his shrill voice.  "Six to one, and him
+one o' the mesters."
+
+Just then Uncles Jack and Dick strode in through the gates, saw the
+situation at a glance, and ran to strengthen our side.
+
+"What's this?" roared Uncle Dick furiously, as Uncle Jack clenched his
+fists and looked round, as it seemed to me, for some one to knock down.
+"In to your work, every man of you."
+
+"Bands is gone," said a sneering voice.
+
+"Then get off our premises, you dogs!" he roared.  "Out of that gate, I
+say, every man who is against us."
+
+"Oh, we're not agen you, mester," said Gentles smoothly.  "I'm ready for
+wuck, on'y the bands is gone.  Yow mean wuck, eh, mates?"
+
+"Then go and wait till we have seen what is to be done.  Do you hear?--
+go."
+
+He advanced on the men so fiercely that they backed from him, leaving
+Pannell only, and he stooped to help up the big grinder, who rose to his
+feet shaking his head like a dog does to get the water out of his ears,
+for there must have been a loud singing noise there.
+
+"Off with you!" said Uncle Dick turning upon these two.
+
+"Aw reight, mester," said Pannell.  "I were on'y helping the mate.
+Mester Robert there did gie him a blob."
+
+Pannell was laughing good-humouredly, and just then Uncle Bob turned
+upon him.
+
+"Thank you, Pannell," he said quickly.  "I'm glad we have one true man
+in the place."
+
+"Oh, it's aw reight, mester," said the smith.  "Here, coom along,
+thou'st had anew to last thee these two months."
+
+As he spoke he half dragged the big grinder away to the workshop, and
+Uncle Bob rapidly explained the state of affairs.
+
+"It's enough to make us give up," cried Uncle Dick angrily.  "We pay
+well; we're kind to our men; we never overwork them; and yet they serve
+us these blackguard tricks.  Well, if they want to be out of work they
+shall be, for I'll agree to no more bands being bought till the
+scoundrels come to their senses."
+
+"But we will not be beaten," cried Uncle Jack, who looked disappointed
+at there being no more fighting.
+
+"No," said Uncle Bob, wiping his bleeding knuckles.  "I feel as if I had
+tasted blood, as they say, and I'm ready to fight now to the end."
+
+"And all the time we are talking and letting that poor dog perish!  The
+cowards!" cried Uncle Dick fiercely.  "Is he dead?"
+
+"No," I said; "I saw one of his ears quiver a little, but he is not
+breathing so loudly."
+
+"Give him another plunge," said Uncle Jack.
+
+Uncle Bob took the dog as before and plunged him once more in the cold
+clean water; and this time, as soon as he was out, he struggled slightly
+and choked and panted to get his breath.
+
+"We must get him on his legs if we can," said Uncle Bob; and for the
+next half hour he kept trying to make the dog stand, but without avail,
+till he had almost given up in despair.  Then all at once poor Piter
+began to whine, struggled to his feet, fell down, struggled up again,
+and then began rapidly to recover, and at last followed us into the
+office--where, forgetful of breakfast, we began to discuss the present
+state of the war.
+
+The first thing that caught my eye as we went in was a letter stuck in
+the crack of the desk, so that it was impossible for anyone to pass
+without seeing it.
+
+Uncle Jack took the letter, read it, and passed it round, Uncle Bob
+reading last.
+
+I asked what it was as I stooped over poor Piter, who seemed stupid and
+confused and shivered with the wet and cold.
+
+"Shall I tell him?" said Uncle Bob, looking at his brothers.
+
+They looked at one another thoughtfully, nodded, and Uncle Bob handed me
+the note; and a precious composition it was.
+
+  "_You London Cockneys_," it began, "_you've had plenty warnings 'bout
+  your gimcracks and contrapshions, and wouldn't take 'em.  Now look
+  here, we won't hev 'em in Arrowfield, robbing hard-workin' men of toil
+  of their hard earns and takin' bread out o' wife and childers mouths
+  and starvin' families, so look out.  If you three an' that sorcy boy
+  don't pack up your traps and be off, we'll come and pack 'em up for
+  you.  So now you know_."
+
+"What does this mean?"  I said, looking from one to the other.
+
+"It means war, my lad," said Uncle Dick fiercely.
+
+"You will not take any notice of this insolent letter?"  I said.
+
+"Oh yes, but we will!" said Uncle Jack.
+
+"Not give up and go like cowards?"
+
+"I don't think we shall, Cob," said Uncle Jack laughing.  "No; we're in
+the right and they are in the wrong.  We've got a strong tower to fight
+in and defend ourselves; they've got to attack us here, and I think
+they'll be rather badly off if they do try anything more serious."
+
+"This has been bad enough," said Uncle Bob.  "You did not fully
+understand how narrow an escape Cob had."
+
+And he related all.
+
+"The scoundrels!" said Uncle Jack, grinding his teeth.  "And now this
+means threatenings of future attacks."
+
+"Well," said Uncle Dick, "if they do come I'm afraid someone will be
+very much hurt--more so than that man Stevens you knocked down."
+
+"And made a fresh enemy for us," said Uncle Jack, laughing.
+
+"And showed who was a friend," I said, remembering Pannell's action.
+
+"To be sure," said Uncle Jack.  "Well, if anyone is hurt it will be the
+attacking party, for I am beginning to feel vicious."
+
+"Well, what about the wheels?" said Uncle Bob.  "Every band has gone,
+and it will be a heavy expense to restore them."
+
+"Let's go and have breakfast and think it over," said Uncle Dick.  "It's
+bad to decide in haste.  Listen!  What are the men doing?"
+
+"Going out in the yard, evidently," said Uncle Bob.  "Yes, and down to
+the gate."
+
+So it proved, for five minutes later the place was completely empty.
+
+"Why, they've forsaken us," said Uncle Dick bitterly.
+
+"Never mind," said Uncle Bob.  "Let's have our breakfast.  We can lock
+up the place."
+
+And this we did, taking poor old Piter with us, who looked so helpless
+and miserable that several dogs attacked him on our way home,
+anticipating an easy victory.
+
+But they did Piter good, rousing him up to give a bite here and another
+there--one bite being all his enemies cared to receive before rushing
+off, yelping apologies for the mistake they had made in attacking the
+sickly-looking heavy-eyed gentleman of their kind.
+
+Piter had jaws like a steel trap, as others beside dogs found before
+long.
+
+When we went back to the works the gate-keeper left in charge said that
+several of the men had been back, but had gone again, it having been
+settled that no more work was to be done till the wheel-bands were
+restored; so the fires were going out, and the smiths, who could have
+gone on, had to leave their forges.
+
+"Well," said Uncle Dick, laughing bitterly, as he gave his beard a sharp
+tug, "I thought that we were masters here."
+
+"Quite a mistake," said Uncle Jack; "the men are the masters; and if we
+do anything that they in their blind ignorance consider opposed to their
+interests they punish us."
+
+"Well, you see, sir," said the gate-keeper, "it's like this here, sir--
+work's quite scarce enough, and the men are afraid, that new steel or
+new machinery will make it worse."
+
+"Tell them to take the scales off their eyes, then," said Uncle Dick.
+"Oppose machinery, do they?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Then if someone invented a new kind of grindstone to grind tools and
+blades in a quarter of the time, what would they do?"
+
+"Smash it, sir, or burn the place it was in," said the man with a grin.
+
+"Then why don't they smash up the grindstones they use now?  They are
+machinery."
+
+"What!  Grindstones, sir?  Oh, no!"
+
+"But they are, man, I tell you," cried Uncle Dick angrily.  "The first
+men who ground knives or shears rubbed, them on a rough piece of stone;
+then I dare say a cleverer man found it was handier to rub the blade
+with the stone instead of the stone with the blade; and then someone
+invented the round grindstone which turned and ground whatever was held
+against it."
+
+"Come along," said Uncle Jack sharply.  "You are wasting breath.  They
+will not believe till they find all this out for themselves."
+
+We went in and had a good look round the place, but there was not a band
+to be found.  There had been no cutting--every one had been carried
+away, leaving no trace behind; and I wanted a good deal of comforting to
+make me satisfied that it was not my fault.
+
+But my uncles were very kind to me, and told me at once that I was to
+say no more, only to be thankful that I had not drunk more heartily of
+the water, and been made ill as the dog, who, in spite of seeming
+better, kept having what I may call relapses, and lying down anywhere to
+have a fresh sleep.
+
+The look round produced no result, and the day was spent in the silent
+works writing letters, book-keeping, and talking rather despondently
+about the future.
+
+It seemed so strange to me as I went about.  No roaring fires and
+puffing bellows; no clink of hammer or anvil, and no churr and screech
+of steel being held against the revolving stones.  There was no buzz of
+voices or shouting from end to end of the workshop, and instead of great
+volumes of smoke rolling out of the top of the tall chimney-shaft, a
+little faint grey cloud slowly curled away into the air.
+
+Then there was the great wheel.  The dam was full and overflowing, but
+the wheel was still; and when I looked in, the water trickled and
+plashed down into the gloomy chamber with its mossy, slimy stone sides,
+while the light shone in at the opening, and seemed to make bright bands
+across the darkness before it played upon the slightly agitated waters.
+
+Then a long discussion took place, in which it was asked whether it
+would be wise to buy new bands, and to ask the men to come back and
+work; but opinion was against this.
+
+"No," said Uncle Jack.  "I'm for being as obstinate as they are.  We've
+had our bands injured once; now let's show them that if they can afford
+to wait so can we.  We can't, neither can they, but there must be a
+little obstinacy practised, and perhaps it will bring them to their
+senses."
+
+"And make them bring back our bands?"  I ventured to say.
+
+"Ah, I'm not so hopeful about that!" cried Uncle Bob.  "I'm afraid that
+we shall have to buy new ones."
+
+"Yes," said Uncle Dick; "but I would not mind that if by so doing we
+could get the men to behave well to us in the future."
+
+"And we never shall," said Uncle Jack, "till Cob here ceases to be such
+a tyrant.  The men are afraid of him."
+
+"Why, uncle!"  I exclaimed; and they all laughed at my look of injury.
+
+That night Uncle Jack and Uncle Dick kept watch; next night we took our
+turn again, and so matters went on for a week.  Now and then we saw some
+of our men idling about, but they looked at us in a heavy stolid way,
+and then slouched off.
+
+The works seemed to be very melancholy and strange, but we went there
+regularly enough, and when we had a fire going and stayed in there was
+no doubt about the matter; we were watched.
+
+Piter grew quite well again, and in his thick head there seemed to be an
+idea that he had been very badly used, for, as he walked close at my
+heels, I used to see him give the workmen very ugly looks in a side wise
+fashion that I used to call measuring legs.
+
+One morning my uncles said that they should not go to the works that
+day, and as they did not seem to want me I thought I would go back and
+put a project I had in my mind in force.
+
+I had passed the night at the works in company with Uncle Jack, and all
+had been perfectly quiet, so, putting some bones in the basket for
+Piter, I also thrust in some necessaries for the task I had in hand, and
+started.
+
+About half-way there I met Gentles, the fat-faced grinder, and he shut
+his eyes at me and slouched up in his affectionate way.
+
+"Ah!  Mester Jacob," he said, "when's this here unhappy strike going to
+end?"
+
+"When the rascals who stole our bands bring them back," I said, "and
+return to their work."
+
+"Ah!" he sighed, "I'm afraid they wean't do that, my lad.  Hedn't the
+mesters better give in, and not make no more noofangle stoof?"
+
+"Oh, that's what you think, is it, Gentles?"  I said.
+
+"Who?  Me, mester?  Oh, no: I'm only a pore hardworking chap who wants
+to get back to his horse.  It's what the other men say.  For my part I
+wishes as there was no unions, stopping a man's work and upsetting him;
+that I do.  Think the mesters'll give in, Mester Jacob, sir?"
+
+"I'm sure they will not, Gentles," I said, "and you had better tell the
+men so."
+
+"Nay, I durstn't tell 'em.  Oh, dear, no, Mester Jacob, sir.  I'm a
+quiet peaceable man, I am.  I on'y wants to be let alone."
+
+I went on, thinking, and had nearly reached the lane by the works, when
+I met Pannell, who was smoking a short black pipe.
+
+"Hello!" he cried.
+
+"Hello!  Pannell," I said.
+
+"Goin' to open wucks, and let's get on again, lad?"
+
+"Whenever you men like to bring back the bands and apologise, Pannell."
+
+"Nay, I've got nowt to 'pologise for.  I did my wuck, and on'y wanted to
+be let alone."
+
+"But you know who took the bands," I cried.  "You know who tried to
+poison our poor dog and tried to blow up the furnace, now don't you?"
+
+He showed his great teeth as he looked full at me.
+
+"Why, my lad," he said, "yow don't think I'm going to tell, do 'ee?"
+
+"You ought to tell," I cried.  "I'm sure you know; and it's a cowardly
+shame."
+
+"Ay, I s'pose that's what you think," he said quietly.  "But, say, lad,
+isn't it time wuck began again?"
+
+"Time!  Yes," I said.  "Why don't you take our side, Pannell; my uncles
+are your masters?"
+
+"Ay, I know that, lad," said the big smith quietly; "but man can't do as
+he likes here i' Arrowfield.  Eh, look at that!"
+
+"Well, mate," said a rough voice behind me; and I saw the smith start as
+Stevens, the fierce grinder, came up, and without taking any notice of
+me address the smith in a peculiar way, fixing him with his eye and
+clapping him on the shoulder.
+
+"Here, I want to speak wi' thee," he said sharply.  "Coom and drink."
+
+It seemed to me that he regularly took the big smith into custody, and
+marched him off.
+
+This set me thinking about how they must be all leagued together; but I
+forgot all about the matter as I opened the gate, and Piter came
+charging down at me, delighted to have company once more in the great
+lonely works.
+
+The next minute he was showing his intelligence by smelling the basket
+as we walked up to the door together.
+
+I gave him some of the contents to amuse him, and then entering the
+deserted grinding-shop, walked straight to the door at the end opening
+into the great wheel-pit, and throwing it back stood upon the little
+platform built out, and looked down at the black water, which received
+enough from the full dam to keep it in motion and make the surface seem
+to be covered with a kind of thready film that was always opening and
+closing, and spreading all over the place to the very walls.
+
+It looked rather black and unpleasant, and seemed to be a place that
+might contain monsters of eels or other fish, and it was to try and
+catch some of these that I had taken advantage of the holiday-time and
+come.
+
+For I had several times called to mind what Gentles had said about the
+fish in the dam and pit, and meant to have a turn; but now I was here
+everything was so silent and mysterious and strange, that I rather
+shrank from my task, and began to wonder what I should do if I hooked
+some monster too large to draw out.
+
+"What a coward I am!"  I said aloud; and taking the stout eel-line I had
+brought, and baiting the two hooks upon it with big worms, I gathered up
+the cord quite ready and then made a throw, so that my bait went down
+right beneath the wheel, making a strange echoing splash that whispered
+about the slimy walls.
+
+"Looks more horrible than ever," I said to myself, as I shook off my
+dislike, and sat down on the little platform with my legs dangling over
+the water.
+
+But I could not quite shake off my dread, for the feeling came over me:
+suppose some horrible serpentlike water creature were to raise its head
+out of the black depths, seize me by the foot, and drag me down.
+
+It was an absurd idea, but I could not fight against it, and I found
+myself drawing my legs up and sitting down tailor fashion with my feet
+beneath me.
+
+And there I sat with not a sound but the dripping water to be heard, and
+a curious rustling that I soon after made out to be Piter busy with his
+bone.
+
+A quarter of an hour, half an hour, passed away, and I did not get a
+touch, so drawing up my line I restored the baits and threw in again,
+choosing the far-off corner of the pit close by where the water escaped
+to the stream below.
+
+The bait had not been down a minute, and I was just wondering whether
+Gentles was correct about there being any fish there, when I felt the
+line softly drawn through my fingers, then there was a slight quivering
+vibration, and a series of tiny jerks, and the line began to run faster,
+while my heart began to beat with anticipation.
+
+"He was right," I exclaimed, as I tightened the line with a jerk, and
+then a sharp little struggle began, as the fish I had hooked rushed
+hither and thither, and fought back, and finally was dragged out of the
+water, tying itself up in a knot which bobbed and slipped about upon the
+floor as I dragged it into the grinding-room, and cut the line to set it
+free, for it was impossible to get the hook out of the writhing
+creature's jaws.
+
+It was an eel of about a pound weight, and, excited now by the struggle,
+I fastened on a fresh hook, baited it, and threw in the same place
+again.
+
+Quite half an hour elapsed before I had another bite, and knowing how
+nocturnal these creatures are in their habits, I was just thinking that
+if I liked next time I was on the watch I might throw a line in here,
+and keep catching an eel every now and then, when--
+
+Check!  A regular sharp jerk at the line, and I knew that I had hooked a
+good one, but instead of the line tightening it suddenly grew quite
+slack.
+
+For a moment I was afraid that the fish had broken away, but I realised
+directly that it had rushed over to my side of the wheel-pit, and it had
+come so swiftly that I began to think that it could not be an eel.
+
+I had not much line to gather in, though, before I felt the check again,
+and a furious tug given so hard that I let the line run, and several
+yards were drawn through my fingers before I began to wonder where the
+eel or other fish I had hooked had gone.
+
+"Perhaps there is a passage or drain under the works," I thought as I
+dragged at the line, now to feel some answering throbs; but the fish did
+not run any farther, only remained stationary.
+
+"What a monster!"  I cried, as I felt what a tremendous weight there was
+against me.  I drew the line and gained a little, but gave way for fear
+it should break.
+
+This went on for ten minutes or so.  I was in a state of the greatest
+excitement, for I felt that I had got hold of a monster, and began to
+despair of dragging it up to where I was.  Such a thing seemed
+impossible, for the line would give way or the hook break from its hold
+I was sure.
+
+In place of jerking about now, the fish was very still, exercising a
+kind of inert force against its captor; but I was in momentary
+expectation of a renewal of the battle, and so powerful did the creature
+seem, so enormously heavy was it, that I began to regret my success, and
+to wonder what the consequences would be if I were to get the large eel
+up there on the floor.
+
+One moment I saw myself flying for my life from a huge writhing
+open-mouthed creature, and saved by a gallant attack made by Piter, who,
+hearing the noise, had dashed in open-jawed to seize the fierce monster
+by the neck; the next I was calling myself a donkey.
+
+"Why, of course!"  I cried.  "When I hooked it the creature ran in
+towards me, and has darted in and out of some grating and wound the line
+tightly there."
+
+That could not be the case, I felt as I pulled, for though it was
+evident that the fish had entangled the line, it was in something loose
+which I got nearly to the surface several times, as I gazed down there
+in the darkness till all at once, just as I was straining my eyes to
+make out what it was that was entangled with my hook, the cord snapped,
+there was a dull plash below me, the water rippled and babbled against
+the side, and all was still once more.
+
+I stood gazing down for a few minutes, and then a flash of intelligence
+shot through me, and I darted back, rapidly coiling up my wet line and
+taking it and my basket up into the office, from whence I came hurrying
+out, and ready to dash down two steps at a time.
+
+"Why, of course," I kept on saying to myself; "what stupids!"
+
+I ran across the yard, unlocked and relocked the gate, leaving Piter
+disappointed and barking, and hurried back to the house, where my uncles
+were busy over some correspondence.
+
+"Hurrah!"  I cried.  "I've found it all out.  Come along!  Down to the
+works!"
+
+"You've found out!" cried Uncle Dick starting.
+
+"Found it all out!"  I cried excitedly.  "Now, then, all of you!  Come
+on and see."
+
+I slipped down to Mrs Stephenson after telling my uncles to go slowly
+on and that I would overtake them, and that lady smiled in my face as
+soon as she saw me.
+
+"Don't say a word!" she cried.  "I know what you want.  Tattsey, get out
+the pork-pie."
+
+"No, no," I cried; "you mistake.  I'm not hungry."
+
+"Nonsense, my dear!  And if you're not hungry now, you will be before
+long.  I've a beautiful raised pie of my own making.  Have a bit, my
+dear.  Bring it, Tattsey."
+
+It was, I found, one of the peculiarities of these people to imagine
+everybody was hungry, and their hospitality to their friends was without
+stint.
+
+Tattsey had not so much black-lead on her face as usual.  In fact it was
+almost clean, while her hands were beautifully white, consequent upon
+its being peggy day; that is to say, the day in which clothes were
+washed in the peggy tub, and kept in motion by a four-legged peggy, a
+curious kind of machine with a cross handle.
+
+So before I could say another word the pork-pie was brought out on the
+white kitchen-table, and Mrs Stephenson began to cut out a wedge.
+
+"May I take it with me," I said, "and eat it as I go along?"
+
+"Bless the boy; yes, of course," said our homely landlady.  "Boys who
+are growing want plenty to eat.  I hate to see people starve."
+
+"But I want you to do me a favour," I said.
+
+"Of course, my dear.  What is it?"
+
+"I want you to lend me your clothes-line."
+
+"What, that we are just going to put out in the yard for the clean
+clothes?  I should just think not indeed."
+
+"How tiresome!"  I cried.  "Well, never mind; I must buy a bit.  But
+will you lend me a couple of meat-hooks?"
+
+"Now, what in the world are you going to do with a clothes-line and two
+meat-hooks?"
+
+"I'm going fishing," I said impatiently.
+
+"Now don't you talk nonsense, my dear," said our plump landlady, looking
+rather red.  "Do you think I don't know better than that?"
+
+"But I am going fishing," I cried.
+
+"Where?"
+
+"In our wheel-pit."
+
+"Then there's someone drownded, and you are going to fish him out."
+
+"No, no," I cried.  "Will you lend me the hooks?"
+
+"Yes, I'll lend you the hooks," she said, getting them out of a drawer.
+
+"We sha'n't want the old clothes-line," said Tattsey slowly.
+
+"No, we sha'n't want the old clothes-line," said Mrs Stephenson,
+looking at me curiously.  "There, you can have that."
+
+"I'll tell you all about it when I come back," I cried as the knot of
+clean cord was handed to me; and putting an arm through it and the hooks
+in my pocket I started off at a run, to find myself face to face with
+Gentles before I overtook my uncles.
+
+"Going a wallucking, Mester Jacob?" he said.
+
+"No; I'm going a-fishing."
+
+"What, wi' that line, Mester?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Arn't it a bit too thick, Mester?"
+
+"Not in the least, Gentles," I said; and leaving him rubbing his face as
+if to smooth it after being shaved, I ran on and overtook my uncles just
+before we reached the works.
+
+"Thought you weren't coming, Cob," said Uncle Dick.  "What are you going
+to do with the rope?"
+
+"Have patience," I said laughing.
+
+Just then we passed Stevens, who scowled at us as he saw me with the
+rope, while Pannell, who was with him, stared, and his face slowly lit
+up with a broad grin.
+
+They turned round to stare after us as we went to the gate, and then
+walked off quickly.
+
+"What does that mean, oh, boy of mystery?" said Uncle Jack.
+
+"They suspect that I have discovered their plans," I cried joyfully.
+
+"And have you--are you sure?"
+
+"Only wait five minutes, uncle, and you shall see," I cried.
+
+We entered the works, fastened the gate after us, and then, taking the
+end of my fishing-line as soon as we reached the grinding-shop, I began
+to bind the two meat-hooks one across the other.
+
+"What, are you going to try for eels that way?" said Uncle Bob laughing,
+as my uncles seemed to be gradually making out what was to come.
+
+"Well," I said, "they broke my other line."
+
+By this time I had fastened the hooks pretty firmly, and to the cross I
+now secured the end of the clothes-line.
+
+"Fine eel that, Cob," said Uncle Dick, hunting the one I had caught into
+a corner, for it had been travelling all over the place.
+
+"Yes," I said; "and now the tackle's ready, throw in and see if you
+can't get another."
+
+Uncle Dick went straight to the doorway, stepped on to the platform, and
+threw in the hook, which seemed to catch in something and gave way
+again.
+
+"Come, I had a bite," he said laughing.  "What has been thrown in here--
+some bundles of wire or steel rods?"
+
+"Try again," I said laughing, and he had another throw, this time
+getting tight hold of something which hung fast to the hooks, and came
+up dripping and splashing to the little platform, where it was seized,
+and Uncle Bob gave a shout of delight.
+
+"Why, I never expected to catch that," cried Uncle Dick.
+
+"I thought it was some stolen rings of wire," said Uncle Jack, as he
+seized hold, and together they dragged a great tangle of leather and
+catgut bands over the platform into the grinding-shop, fully half
+falling back with a tremendous splash.
+
+"Cob, you're a hero," cried Uncle Dick.
+
+"The malicious scoundrels!" cried Uncle Jack.
+
+"Throw in again," said Uncle Bob.
+
+And then Uncle Dick fished and dragged and hauled up tangle after tangle
+till there was quite a heap of the dripping bands, with rivulets of
+water streaming away over the stone floor, and right in the middle a
+monster of an eel, the gentleman I had hooked, and which had wound
+itself in and out of the catgut bands till it was held tight by the
+mouth.
+
+"He deserves to have his freedom," said Uncle Dick, as he gave the bands
+a shake so that the hook came out of the eel's mouth, and it began to
+writhe and twine about the floor.
+
+"And he shall have it," I cried, taking a walking-stick, and for the
+next five minutes I was employed trying to guide my prisoner to the
+doorway leading into the pit.
+
+I suppose you never tried to drive an eel?  No?  Well, let me assure you
+that pig-driving is a pleasant pastime in comparison.  We have it on
+good authority that if you want to drive a pig in a particular direction
+all you have to do is to point his nose straight and then try to pull
+him back by the tail.  Away he goes directly.
+
+Try and drive a big thick eel, two feet six inches long, with a
+walking-stick, and you'll find it a task that needs an education first.
+Put his head straight, and he curves to right or left.  Pull his tail,
+and he'll turn round and bite you, and hold fast too.  Mine turned round
+and bit, but it was the walking-stick he seized with his strong jaws,
+and it wanted a good shake to get it free.
+
+Every way but the right would that eel squirm and wriggle.  I chased him
+round grindstones, in and out of water-troughs, from behind posts and
+planks, from under benches, but I could not get him to the door; and I
+firmly believe that night would have fallen with me still hunting the
+slimy wriggling creature if Uncle Bob had not seized it with his hands
+after throwing his pocket-handkerchief over its back.
+
+The next instant it was curled up in the silk, writhing itself into a
+knot, no doubt in an agony of fear, if eels can feel fear.  Then it was
+held over the pit, the handkerchief taken by one corner, and I expected
+to hear it drop with a splash into the water; but no, it held on, and
+though the handkerchief was shaken it was some time before it would quit
+its hold of the silk, a good piece of which was tight in its jaws.
+
+At last: an echoing splash, and we turned back to where my Uncles Jack
+and Dick were busy with the bands.
+
+"The best day's fishing I ever saw, Cob," cried Uncle Jack.  "It was
+stupid of us not to drag the pit or the dam before."
+
+"I don't know about stupid," said Uncle Bob.  "You see we thought the
+bands were stolen or destroyed.  We are learning fast, but we don't
+understand yet all the pleasant ways of the Arrowfield men."
+
+The rest of the day was spent over the tiresome job of sorting out the
+different bands and hanging them on their own special wheels to drain or
+dry ready for use, and when this was done there was a feeling of
+satisfaction in every breast, for it meant beginning work again, and
+Uncle Bob said so.
+
+"Yes," said Uncle Jack; "but also means a fresh attempt to stop our work
+as soon as the scoundrels know."
+
+"Never mind," replied Uncle Dick.  "It's a race to see who will tire
+first: the right side or the wrong, and I think I know."
+
+"What's to be done next?" said Uncle Bob.
+
+"Let the men know that we are ready for them to come back to work if
+they like to do so," said Uncle Jack.
+
+"Why not get fresh hands altogether?"
+
+"Because they would be just as great children as those we have now.  No;
+let us be manly and straightforward with them in everything.  We shall
+fight for our place, but we will not be petty."
+
+"But they will serve us some other scurvy trick," said Uncle Bob.
+
+"Let them," said Uncle Dick; "never mind.  There," he cried, "those
+bands will be fit to use to-morrow with this clear dry air blowing
+through.  Let's go home now and have a quiet hour or two before we come
+to watch."
+
+"I wish," said Uncle Jack, "that the works joined our house."
+
+"Go on wishing," said Uncle Bob, "and they won't join.  Now, how about
+telling the men?"
+
+"Let's call and see Dunning and tell him to start the fires," said Uncle
+Dick; and as we went back the gate-keeper was spoken to, and the old
+man's face lit up at the idea of the place being busy again.
+
+"And I hope, gentlemen," he whispered from behind his hand, "that you
+will be let alone now."
+
+"To which," said Uncle Bob as we walked on, "I most devoutly say, Amen."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
+
+I HAVE AN IDEA.
+
+The work was started the next morning, and for a fortnight or so
+everything went on in the smoothest manner possible.  The men were quite
+cheerful and good-tempered, doing their tasks and taking their wages,
+and though we kept our regular watch nothing disturbed us in the
+slightest degree.
+
+"An' so you fun 'em in the wheel-pit, did you, Mester Jacob?" said
+Gentles to me one dinner-hour as he sat by his grindstone eating his
+bread and meat off a clean napkin spread over his knees.
+
+"Yes," I said, looking at him keenly.
+
+"But how came you to find 'em, mester?"
+
+I told him.
+
+"Did you, now?" he cried, shutting his eyes and grinning.  "Think o'
+that!  Why, I put you up to the eels, and so I might say it was me as
+found the bands, only you see it was not you nor yet me--it was the
+eel."
+
+He nearly choked himself with laughing, but my next words sobered him,
+and he sat up looking painfully solemn and troubled of face.
+
+"I'll be bound you know who threw those bands into the water, Gentles,"
+I said.
+
+One of his eyes quivered, and he looked at me as if he were going to
+speak.  He even opened his mouth, and I could see his tongue quivering
+as if ready to begin, but he shut it with a snap and shook his head.
+
+"Don't tell any stories about it," I said; "but you do know."
+
+"Don't ask me, mester," he cried with a groan.  "Don't ask me."
+
+"Then you do know," I cried.
+
+"I don't know nowt," he said in a hoarse whisper.  "Why, man alive, it
+wouldn't be safe for a chap like me to know owt.  They'd put a brick
+round my neck and throw me in the watter."
+
+"But you do know, Gentles," I persisted.
+
+"I don't know nowt, I tell 'ee," he cried angrily.  "Such friends as
+we've been, Mester Jacob, and you to want to get me into a scrarp."
+
+"Why, Gentles!"  I cried.  "If you know, why don't you speak out like a
+man?"
+
+"'Cause I'm a man o' peace, Mester Jacob, and don't want to harm nobody,
+and I don't want nobody to harm me.  Nay, I know nowt at all."
+
+"Well, I think you are a contemptible coward, Gentles," I said warmly.
+"You're taking my uncles' money and working on their premises, and
+though you know who has been base enough to injure them you are not man
+enough to speak."
+
+"Now don't--don't--don't, my lad," he cried in a hoarse whisper.  "Such
+friends as we've been too, and you go on like that.  I tell 'ee I'm a
+man of peace, and I don't know nowt at all.  On'y give me my grinstone
+and something to grind--that's all I want."
+
+"And to see our place blown up and the bands destroyed.  There, I'm
+ashamed of you, Gentles," I cried.
+
+"But you'll be friends?" he said; and there were tears in his eyes.
+
+"Friends!  How can I be friends," I cried, "with a man like you?"
+
+"Oh dear, oh dear!"  I heard him groan as I left the workshop; and going
+to Piter's kennel I took off his collar and led him down to the dam to
+give him a swim.
+
+He was a capital dog for the water, and thoroughly enjoyed a splash, so
+that before the men came back he had had a swim, shaken himself, and was
+stretched out in the sunshine under the wall drying himself, when, as I
+stooped to pat him, I noticed something about the wall that made me look
+higher in a hurried way, and then at the top, and turn off directly.
+
+I had seen enough, and I did not want to be noticed, for some of the men
+were beginning to come back, so stooping down I patted Piter and went
+off to the office.
+
+As soon as the men were well at work I went into one of the sheds, where
+there were two or three holes under the benches where the rats came up
+from the dam, and where it was the custom to set a trap or two, which
+very rarely snared one of the busy little animals, though now and then
+we did have that luck, and Piter had the pleasure of killing the
+mischievous creature if the trap had not thoroughly done its work.
+
+I soon found what I wanted--an old rusty spring trap with its sharp
+teeth, and, shaking off the dust, I tucked it under my jacket and
+strolled off to the smith's shops, where I found Pannell hammering away
+as hard as ever he could.
+
+He was making reaping-hooks of my uncles' patent steel, and as I stood
+at the door and watched him I counted the blows he gave, and it was
+astonishing how regular he was, every implement taking nearly the same
+number of blows before he threw it down.
+
+"Well, Pannell," I said, "arn't you sorry to have to work so hard
+again?"
+
+He whisked a piece of hot steel from his forge and just glanced at me as
+he went on with his work, laying the glowing sparkling steel upon the
+anvil.
+
+"Sorry!"--_bang_--"no"--_bang_--"not a"--_bing, bang_, _bang_--"not
+a"--_bang, bang, bing, bang, bang_--"bit of it."
+
+That was how it sounded to me as he worked away.
+
+"Wife"--_bang_--"bairns"--_bing, bang, bang, bing, chinger, chinger,
+bing, bang_--"eight"--_bang_--"of 'em.  I hate"--_bang_--"to
+do"--_bang_--"nowt"--_bang_--"but"--_bang_--"smoke all"--_bang_--"day."
+
+"I say, Pannell," I said, after glancing round and seeing that we were
+quite alone, "how came you to throw our bands in the wheel-pit?"
+
+"What!" he cried, pincers in one hand, hammer in the other; and he
+looked as if he were going to seize me with one tool and beat me with
+the other.  "Yah!  Get out, you young joker!  You know it warn't me."
+
+"But you know who did it."
+
+Pannell looked about him, through the window, out of the door, up the
+forge chimney, and then he gave me a solemn wink.
+
+"Then why don't you speak?"
+
+The big smith took a blade of steel from the fire as if it were a
+flaming sword, and beat it into the reaping-hook of peace before he said
+in a hoarse whisper:
+
+"Men's o' one side, lad--unions.  Mesters is t'other side.  It's a
+feight."
+
+"But it's so cowardly, Pannell," I said.
+
+"Ay, lad, it is," he cried, banging away.  "But I can't help it.  Union
+says strike, and you hev to strike whether you like it or whether you
+don't like it, and clem till it's over."
+
+"But it's such a cowardly way of making war, to do what you men do."
+
+"What they men do, lad," he whispered.
+
+"What you men do," I repeated.
+
+"Nay, they men," he whispered.
+
+"You are one of them, and on their side, so what they do you do."
+
+"Is that so?" he said, giving a piece of steel such a hard bang that he
+had to repeat it to get it into shape.
+
+"Of course it is."
+
+"Well, I s'pose you're right, lad," he said, thoughtfully.
+
+"Why don't you tell me, then, who threw the bands in the wheel-pit, so
+that he could be discharged?"
+
+"Me!  Me tell!  Nay.  Look at that now."
+
+_That_ was a piece of steel spoiled by the vehemence of his blows, and
+it was thrust back into the fire.
+
+"I will not say who gave me the information," I said.
+
+He shook his head.
+
+"Nobody shall ever know that you told me."
+
+He took a little hook he was forging and made a motion with it as if I
+were a stalk of wheat and he wanted to draw me to him.
+
+"Lad," he said, "man who tells on his mate aren't a man no longer.  I
+_am_ a man."
+
+We stood looking at each other for some time, and then he said in his
+rough way:
+
+"It aren't no doing o' mine, lad, and I don't like it.  It aren't manly.
+One o' the mesters did owt to me as I didn't like I'd go up to him and
+ask him to tek off his coat like a man and feight it out, or else I'd go
+away; but man can't do as he likes i' Arrowfield.  He has to do what
+trade likes."
+
+"And it was the trade who threw our bands away, and tried to blow us up,
+and half-poisoned me and Piter."
+
+"Hah!" he said with a sigh.  "That's it, lad."
+
+"Ah, well, I didn't expect you'd tell me, Pannell," I said, smiling.
+
+"You see I can't, my lad.  Now can I?"
+
+"No; it wouldn't be honourable.  But I say, Pannell, I mean to do all I
+can to find out who plays us these dirty tricks."
+
+The big smith looked about him before speaking again.
+
+"Don't, my lad," he whispered.  "Yow might get hurt, and I shouldn't
+like that i'deed."
+
+"Oh, I won't get hurt!"  I said.  "Look here, Pannell, do you see this?"
+
+"Ay, lad.  Trap for the rats.  I've sin scores on em."
+
+"We set them to catch the rats," I said, hesitating a moment or two
+before making my venture.  "I say, Pannell," I said, "we're very good
+friends you and I."
+
+"Course we are, lad; for a Londoner you're quite a decent chap."
+
+"Thank you," I said, smiling.  "Well, on the quiet, I want you to do me
+a favour."
+
+"Long as it aren't to tell on my mates, lad, I'll do owt for you.
+There!"
+
+That _there_ was as emphatic as a blow from his hammer on the anvil.
+
+"I thought you would, Pannell," I said.  "Well, look here.  My uncles
+are as good and kind-hearted men as ever lived."
+
+"And as nyste to work for as ever was," said Pannell, giving an emphatic
+bang on his work as he hammered away.
+
+"Well, I'm very fond of them," I said.
+
+"Nat'rally, lad, nat'rally."
+
+"And as I know they're trying to do their best for everybody who works
+for them, as well as for themselves, so as to find bread for all--"
+
+I stopped just then, for the big smith's face was very red, and he was
+making a tremendous clangour with his hammer.
+
+"Well," I said, "it worries me very much to see that every now and then
+a big rat gets to their sack of wheat and gnaws a hole in it and lets
+the grain run out."
+
+"Where do they keep their wheat?" said Pannell, leaving off for awhile.
+
+"Here," I said.
+
+"Ah!  There's part rats about these here rezzywors," he said,
+thoughtfully.  "Why don't you set that trap?"
+
+"Because it isn't half big enough--not a quarter big enough," I said;
+"but I wish to catch that rat, and I want you to make me a big trap-like
+this, only four times as large, and with a very strong spring."
+
+"Eh?"
+
+"I want to set that trap, and I want to catch that, great cowardly rat,
+and I want you to make me a trap that will hold him."
+
+"Eh?"
+
+"Don't you understand?"  I said, looking at him meaningly as he stood
+wiping the perspiration from his brow with the back of his hand.
+
+"Yow want to set a trap to catch the big rat as comes and makes a hole
+in the mester's sack."
+
+"Yes," I said.  "I want to catch him."
+
+"What!  Here about the works?"
+
+"Yes," I said.  "Now do you see?"
+
+_Poof_!
+
+Pannell gave vent to a most curious sound that was like nothing so much
+as one that might have been emitted if his forge bellows had suddenly
+burst.  To give vent to that sound he opened his mouth wide, clapped his
+hands on his leather apron, and bent nearly double.
+
+"Why, Pannell!"  I exclaimed.
+
+_Poof_!  He stamped first one leg on the black iron dust and ashes, and
+then the other, going round his anvil and grumbling and rumbling
+internally in the most extraordinary manner.
+
+Then he looked me in the face and exploded once more, till his mirth and
+the absurdity of his antics grew infectious, and I laughed too.
+
+"And you're going to set a big trap to catch that there"--_poof_--"that
+theer very big rat, eh?"
+
+"Yes," I said, "if I can."
+
+"And you want me," he whispered, with his eyes starting with suppressed
+mirth, "to make you that theer big trap."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Then I'll do it," he whispered, becoming preternaturally solemn.
+"Stop!  'Tween man an' man you know."
+
+He held out his great black hard hand, which I grasped.
+
+"On my honour, Pannell, I'll never tell a soul that you made the trap,
+not for ten years, or twenty, if you like."
+
+"That's enough," he said, giving his leg a slap.  "Haw, haw, haw, haw,
+haw!  Here, give us the model.  When dyer want it, lad?"
+
+"As soon as ever you can get it made, Pannell."
+
+He looked at me with his face working, and scraping a hole in the ashes
+he buried the trap, seized hammer and pincers, and worked away again,
+but stopped every now and then to laugh.
+
+"I say," he said suddenly, "it'll sarve 'em right; but if they knowed as
+I did it they'd wait for me coming home and give me the knobsticks.  Ay,
+that they would."
+
+"But they will not know, Pannell," I said.  "It's our secret, mind."
+
+"Hey, but I'd like to see the rat i' the trap!" he whispered, after
+exploding with another fit of mirth.
+
+"Let's have the trap first," I said.  "I don't know that I shall catch
+him then."
+
+"What are you going to bait with?" he said between two fierce attacks
+upon a piece of steel.
+
+"Oh, I have not settled that yet!"
+
+"I'll tell 'ee," he whispered with his face working.  "Bait it with a
+wheel-band."
+
+He roared with laughter again, and if I had had any doubts before of his
+understanding that I wanted a very strong man-trap, I had none now.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
+
+SOMETHING FOR ME.
+
+Rash--cruel--unwise.  Well, I'm afraid it was all those, but I was only
+a boy, and I was stung by the injustice and cowardly cruelty of the
+outrages perpetrated on us by the men who earned their bread in our
+works; and hence it was, that, instead of feeling any compunction in
+doing what I proposed, I was delighted with the idea, and longed for an
+opportunity to put it in force.
+
+I was, then, very eager to begin, for the present calm, I felt sure, was
+only going before the storm, and after what I had found out I was
+anxious to be ready.
+
+Pannell did not keep me waiting long.
+
+Two days after I had made my plans with him I went into his smithy, and
+in answer to my inquiring look he said, in a heavy, unmoved way:
+
+"Theer's summut for you hung up i' the forge chimney.  She goes hard,
+but theer's a steel bar 'long wi' her as you can prise down the spring
+till she's set.  On'y mind thysen, lad--mind thysen."
+
+"And will it hold a man, Pannell?"  I cried.
+
+"Ay; this here's noo pattern.  I haven't got into it yet I've got a rare
+lot of 'em to do."
+
+"But tell me," I whispered, "will it?"
+
+"Think this here noo steel's better than owd fashion stoof?" he said.
+
+"Bother the steel!"  I said, speaking lower still.  "I want you to tell
+me whether--"
+
+"Bull-poop's gettin' too fat, Mester Jacob," said Pannell.  "Don't give
+'im so much meat.  Spoils a dorg.  Give un bones as he can break oop and
+yeat.  That's the stoof for dorgs.  Gives un such a coat as never was."
+
+"Will you tell me?"  I began, angrily.
+
+"Nay, I wean't tell thee nowt," he growled.  "I've telled thee enew as
+it is.  Tek it when I'm not here, and good luck to thee!"
+
+I could get no more from him, for he would not say another word about
+the trap, so I waited impatiently for the night so that I might smuggle
+it from the forge chimney into my desk.
+
+When the time came it was quite absurd how many hindrances there were to
+my little task.  I did not want to set it that night.  I only wanted to
+get it in safety to my desk; but first there were men hanging about the
+smithies as if they were watching me; then there were my uncles; and
+lastly, there was Gentles, who made signs that he wished to speak to me,
+and I didn't care to say anything to the sleek, oily fellow, who only
+wanted to what he called make it up.
+
+At last, though, everyone had gone but Uncle Jack, who was busy writing
+a letter or two, and I was to wait for him, and we were going back
+together.
+
+I slipped off to the smithy, and just as I was half-way there I turned
+quickly round, feeling quite cold, and as if I was found out, for I
+heard a curious yawning noise behind me.
+
+It was only Piter, who looked up in my face and gave his tail a wag, and
+then butted his great head against my leg, holding it tightly there as
+if it was so heavy that he was glad to give it a rest.
+
+I went on at once impatiently, and Piter's head sank down, the dog
+uttering a low, discontented whine on being left.  I glanced up at the
+wall, half expecting to see some one looking over and watching me; then
+up at the windows, fearing that one of the men might still be left.
+
+But all was perfectly quiet, and though I half anticipated such an
+accident there was no one seated on the top of either of the great
+chimney-shafts in the neighbourhood watching me with a telescope.
+
+I had a few more absurdly impossible ideas of this kind as I went along
+the yard, feeling horribly guilty and ready to give up my undertaking.
+The very silence and solitariness of the place startled me, but I went
+on and turned in at the open door of the smithy where Pannell worked,
+and breathed more freely as I looked round and saw that I was alone.
+
+But to make sure I stepped up on to the work-bench and looked out of the
+window, but there was nothing but the dam to be seen there, and I leaped
+down and climbed on to the forge, with the coal-dust crushing under my
+feet, gave a last glance round, and was about to peer up the
+funnel-like, sheet-iron chimney, when there was a loud clang, and I
+bounded down, with my heart beating furiously.
+
+I stamped my foot directly after and bit my lips angrily because I had
+been such a coward, for I had moved a pair of smiths' tongs when I
+stepped up, and they had slid off on to the ground.
+
+"I'm doing what I ought not to do," I said to myself as I jumped on to
+the forge again, "but now I've gone so far I must go on."
+
+I peered up in the dark funnel and could see nothing, but I had come
+prepared, and striking a match I saw just before me, resting on a sooty
+ledge, the object of my quest.
+
+I lifted it down, astounded at its size and weight, and found that it
+was an exact imitation of the rat-trap, but with blunt teeth, and a
+short steel lever with a point like a crowbar was attached to it by
+means of a bit of wire.
+
+It was enormous, and I quite trembled at the idea of carrying it to the
+office; but after a sharp glance out of the doorway I took hold of the
+trap by the iron chain bound round it, and walked quickly to my own
+place, hoping that even if I had been seen, the watcher would not have
+been able to make out what I was carrying.
+
+There was not much room to spare when I had laid the great trap in my
+desk, the lid of which would only just shut down over it; but once
+safely there, and with the key in the lock ready for me to turn if I
+heard steps, I had a good look at my treasure.
+
+I was nervous now, and half repentant, for the instrument looked so
+formidable that I felt that I should not dare to use it.
+
+I had a good look though, and found that it was very complete with chain
+and ring, and that the lever had a head to it like a pin, evidently so
+that after it had been used, it could be placed through the ring at the
+end of the chain, and driven down to act as a peg in the ground.
+
+I had hardly arrived at all this when I heard Uncle Jack's cough, and
+hastily closing the desk and locking it, I went to meet him.
+
+"Sorry to keep you waiting so long, my boy," he said; "but I wanted to
+send word to your father how we are going on."
+
+It was on the second night that I put my plan into practice.
+
+I had thought it all well out, and inspected my ground, which was just
+below the wall, pretty close to the edge of the dam, where I had seen
+some marks which had made me suspicious.
+
+So as soon as Uncle Bob had gone to lie down, and I had begun my half of
+the watch, I fastened up Piter, took out my heavy trap, carried it down
+to the edge of the dam, and carefully felt the wall for the place I had
+marked by driving in a little nail.
+
+I soon found it, placed my trap exactly beneath it, and wrenching down
+the spring by means of the lever, I tried to set it.
+
+I had practised doing this in my own place, and could manage it pretty
+well, but in the darkness and excitement that troubled me now, it proved
+to be an exceedingly difficult job.  Twice I managed to get it set, and
+was moving away when it went off with a startling clang that made me
+jump, and expect to see Uncle Bob come running out, especially as the
+dog set up a furious bark.
+
+I quieted Piter though each time, and went and tried again till I
+managed my task, having to take great care that I did not hoist myself
+with my own petard, for it was a terribly dangerous engine that I was
+setting, though I did not think so then.
+
+It was now set to my satisfaction, and being quite prepared with a big
+hammer, my next task was to drive in the lever like a peg right through
+the ring and up to the head, so that if I did catch my bird, there would
+be no chance of his getting away.
+
+I felt about in the dark for a suitable place, and the most likely
+seemed to be just at the extent of the five feet of chain, which reached
+to the edge of the dam, where, between two of the big stones of the
+embankment, I fancied I could drive in the lever so that it could not be
+drawn out.
+
+So taking the steel bar with the sharp edge I ran it through the ring,
+directed the point between two blocks of stone, and then began to drive.
+
+As I said I was well prepared, having carefully thought out the whole
+affair, and I had bound several thicknesses of cloth over the head of
+the hammer like a pad so as to muffle the blows, and thus it was that I
+was able to drive it home without much noise.
+
+At first it went in so easily that I was about to select a fresh place,
+but it soon became harder and firmer, and when I had done and felt the
+head it was quite immovable, and held the ring close down to the stones.
+
+My idea had been to cover the trap with a handful or two of hay, but it
+was so dark that I thought I would leave it, as it was impossible to see
+it even from where I looked.  I left it, meaning to come the next
+morning and set it free with a file, for I did not want to take up the
+peg, and I could get another for lever and join the chain with a strong
+padlock the next time.
+
+It was about eleven o'clock when I had finished my task, and I did not
+know whether to be pleased or alarmed.  I felt something like a boy
+might who had set a bait at the end of a line to catch a crocodile, and
+was then very much alarmed for fear he should have any luck.
+
+I crept away and waited, thinking a great deal about Piter, and what
+would be the consequences if he walked over the trap, but I argued that
+the chances were a hundred thousand to one against his going to that
+particular spot.  Besides, if I left him chained up Uncle Bob was not
+likely to unloose him, so I determined to run the risk, and leave the
+trap set when I went off guard.
+
+The time went slowly by without any alarm, and though I went now and
+then cautiously in the direction of my trap it had not been disturbed,
+and I came away more and more confident that it was in so out of the way
+a part of the yard that it might be there for weeks unseen.
+
+I felt better after this, and at the appointed time called Uncle Bob,
+who took his watch, and when he called me in the morning the wheel was
+turning, and the men were coming up to their work.
+
+"I thought you were tired, Cob, so I let you lie till the last moment."
+
+I was so stupid and confused with sleep that I got up yawning; and we
+were half-way back home before, like a flash, there came to me the
+recollection of my trap.
+
+I could not make an excuse and go back, though I tried hard to invent
+one; but went on by my uncle's side so quiet and thoughtful that he made
+a remark.
+
+"Bit done up, Cob!  You ought to have another nap after dinner."
+
+"Oh, I'm all right, uncle," I said, and I went on home with him to have
+steel-traps for breakfast and think of nothing else save what they had
+caught.
+
+For I felt perfectly sure that someone had come over the wall in the
+night--Stevens I expected it would prove to be--and had put his foot
+right in the trap, which had sprung, caught him by the leg, and cut it
+right off, and I felt sure that when I got back I should find him lying
+there where he had bled to death.
+
+The next thing that struck me was that I was a murderer, and that I
+should be tried and condemned to death, but respited and sentenced to
+transportation for life on account of my youth.
+
+With such thoughts as these rushing through my brain it was not likely
+that I should enjoy the breakfast with the brown and pink ham so nicely
+fried, and the eggs that were so creamy white, and with such yolks of
+gold.
+
+I did _not_ enjoy that breakfast, and I was feverishly anxious to get
+back to the works, and though first one and then another advised me to
+go and lie down, I insisted upon going.
+
+I was all in a tremble as I reached the gate, and saw old Dunning's
+serious face.  I read in it reproach, and he seemed to be saying to me,
+"Oh, how could you do it?"  Seemed, for what he did say was, "Nice
+pleasant morning, Mester Jacob!"
+
+I told a story, for I said, "Yes, it is," when it was to me the most
+painful and miserable morning I had ever experienced; but I dared not
+say a word, and for some time I could not find an opportunity for going
+down the yard.
+
+Nobody ever did go down there, unless it was to wheel a worn-out
+grindstone to a resting-place or to carry some broken wood-work of the
+machinery to throw in a heap.  There was the heap of coal and the heap
+of slack or coal-dust, both in the yard; but those who fetched the coal
+and slack fetched them from this side, and they never went on the other.
+
+The last time I could recall the men going down there to the dam, was
+when we threw in Piter to give him a bath.
+
+Piter!  Had he been let loose?  The thought that had come of him was
+startling, but easily set right, for there was the bull-dog fast asleep
+in his kennel.
+
+Then there was Stevens!
+
+The thought was horrible.  He ought to be in the grinding-shop, and if
+he were not--I knew!
+
+It would have been easy to go and look, but I felt that I could not, and
+I walked back to the gate and spoke to old Dunning.
+
+"All the men come yet?"  I said.
+
+"No, Mester Jacob, they hevn't all come yet," he said.
+
+I dare not ask any more.  All had not come, and one of those who had not
+come was, of course, Stevens, and he was lying there dead.
+
+I walked back with Dunning's last words ringing in my ears.
+
+"Ain't you well, Mester Jacob?"
+
+No, I was not well.  I felt sick and miserable, and I would have given
+anything to have gone straight down the yard and seen the extent of the
+misery I had caused.
+
+Oh!  If I could have recalled the past, and undone everything; but that
+was impossible, and in a state of feverish anxiety I went upstairs to
+where the men were busy at lathe and dry grindstones, to try and get--a
+glimpse of my trap, as I hoped I could from one of the windows.
+
+To my horror there were two men looking out, and I stopped
+dumb-foundered as I listened for their words, which I knew must be about
+the trapped man lying there.
+
+"Nay, lad," said one, "yow could buy better than they at pit's mouth for
+eight shillings a chaldron."
+
+Oh, what a relief!  It was like life to me, and going to one window I
+found that they could only see the heap of coals.
+
+From the other windows there was no better view.  Even from the room
+over the water-wheel there was no chance of a glimpse of the trap.
+
+I could not stop up there, for I was all of a fret, and at last,
+screwing up my nerves to the sticking point, I went down determined to
+go boldly into the grinder's shop, and see if Stevens was there.
+
+What an effort it was!  I have often wondered since whether other boys
+would have suffered what I did under the circumstances, or whether I was
+a very great coward.
+
+Well, coward or no, I at last went straight into the grinder's shop, and
+there was the plashing rumble of the great water-wheel beyond the door,
+the rattle of the bands and the whirr and whirl and screech of the
+grindstones as they spun round, and steel in some form or other was held
+to their edge.
+
+There were half a dozen faces I knew, and there was Gentles ready to
+smile at me with his great mouth and closed eyes.
+
+But I could only just glance at him and nod, for to my horror Stevens'
+wheel was not going, and there was no one there.
+
+I felt the cold sweat gather all over my face, and a horrible sensation
+of dread assailed me; and then I turned and hurried out of the building,
+so that my ghastly face and its changes should not be seen.
+
+For just then I saw Stevens rise up from behind his grindstone with an
+oil-can in his hand--he had been busy oiling some part or other of the
+bearings.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.
+
+MY TRAVELLING COMPANION.
+
+Somehow or another I could not get to that trap all that day, and night
+came, and still I could not get to it.
+
+I tried, but unless I had wanted to draw people's attention to the fact
+that I had something there of great interest, I could not go.
+
+Even at leaving time it was as bad, and I found myself in the position
+that I must either tell one of my uncles what I had done, or leave the
+trap to take its chance.
+
+I chose the latter plan, and calling myself weak coward, went home,
+arguing to myself that no one would go in the spot where I had placed
+the trap, but some miscreant, and that it would serve him right.
+
+To my utter astonishment, directly after tea Uncle Dick turned to me.
+
+"Cob," he said; "we have a special letter to send to Canonbury to your
+father, and a more particular one to bring back in answer, so we have
+decided that you shall take it up.  You can have three or four days'
+holiday, and it will be a pleasant change.  Your mother and father will
+be delighted to see you, and, of course, you will be glad to see them."
+
+"But when should I have to go?"  I said.
+
+"To-night by the last train.  Quarter to eleven--You'll get to London
+about three in the morning.  They expect one of us, so you will find
+them up."
+
+"But--"
+
+"Don't you want to go?" said Uncle Jack severely.
+
+"Yes," I said; "but--"
+
+"But me no buts, as the man said in the old play.  There, get ready,
+boy, and come back to us as soon as you can.  Don't make the worst of
+our troubles here, Cob."
+
+"No, no," said Uncle Dick, "because we are getting on famously as soon
+as we can manage the men."
+
+"And that we are going to do," said Uncle Bob.  "I say I wish I were
+coming with you."
+
+"Do, then," I cried.
+
+"Get out, you young tempter!  No," said Uncle Bob.  "Go and take your
+pleasure, and have pity upon the three poor fellows who are toiling
+here."
+
+I was obliged to go, of course, but I must tell them about the trap
+first.
+
+Tell _them_!  No, I could not tell Uncle Dick or Uncle Jack.  I was
+afraid that they would be angry with me, so I resolved to speak to Uncle
+Bob before I went--to take him fully into my confidence, and ask him to
+move the trap and put it safely away.
+
+It is so easy to make plans--so hard to carry them out.
+
+All through that evening I could not once get a chance to speak to Uncle
+Bob alone; and time went so fast that we were on our way to the station,
+and still I had not spoken.  There was only the chance left--on the
+platform.
+
+"Don't look so solid about it, Cob," said Uncle Jack.  "They'll be
+delighted to see you, boy, and it will be a pleasant trip.  But we want
+you back."
+
+"I should think we do," said Uncle Dick, laying his great hand on my
+shoulder and giving me an affectionate grip.
+
+"Yes, we couldn't get on without our first lieutenant, Philosopher Cob,"
+said Uncle Bob.
+
+I tried to look bright and cheerful; but that trap had not got me by the
+leg--it seemed to be round my neck and to choke me from speaking.
+
+What was I to do?  I could not get a chance.  I dare not go away and
+leave that trap there without speaking, and already there was the
+distant rumble of the coming train.  In a few minutes I should be on my
+way to London; and at last in despair I got close to Uncle Bob to speak,
+but in vain--I was put off.
+
+In came the train, drawing up to the side of the platform, and Uncle Bob
+ran off to find a comfortable compartment for me, looking after me as
+kindly as if I had been a woman.
+
+"Oh," I thought, "if he would but have stayed!"
+
+"Good-bye, my lad!" said Uncle Dick.  "Take care of yourself, Cob, and
+of the packet," whispered Uncle Jack.
+
+I was about to slap my breast and say, "All right here!" but he caught
+my hand and held it down.
+
+"Don't," he said in a low half-angry voice.  "Discretion, boy.  If you
+have something valuable about you, don't show people where it is."
+
+I saw the wisdom of the rebuke and shook hands.  "I'll try and be
+wiser," I whispered; "trust me."  He nodded, and this made me forget the
+trap for the moment.  But Uncle Bob grasped my hand and brought it back.
+
+"Stand away, please," shouted the guard; but Uncle Bob held on by my
+hand as the train moved.
+
+"Take care of yourself, lad.  Call a cab the moment you reach the
+platform if your father is not there."
+
+"Yes," I said, reaching over a fellow-passenger to speak.  "Uncle Bob,"
+I added quickly, "big trap in the corner of the yard; take it up at
+once--to-night."
+
+"Yes, yes," he said as he ran along the platform.  "I'll see to it.
+Good-bye!"
+
+We were off and he was waving his hand to me, and I saw him for a few
+moments, and then all was indistinct beneath the station lamps, and we
+were gliding on, with the glare and smoke and glow of the busy town
+lighting up the sky.
+
+It had all come to me so suddenly that I could hardly believe I was
+speeding away back to London; but once more comfortable in my mind with
+the promise that Uncle Bob had made to take up the trap, I sat back in
+the comfortable corner seat thinking of seeing my father and mother
+again, and of what a series of adventures I should have to relate.
+
+Then I had a look round at my fellow-passengers, of whom there were
+three--a stout old gentleman and a young lady who seemed to be his
+daughter, and a dark-eyed keen-looking man who was seated opposite to
+me, and who held a newspaper in his hand and had a couple of books with
+him.
+
+"I'd offer to lend you one," he said, touching his books and smiling;
+"but you couldn't read--I can't.  Horrible lights."
+
+Just then a heavy snore from the old gentleman made the young lady lean
+over to him and touch him, waking him up with a start.
+
+The keen-looking man opposite to me raised his eyebrows and smiled
+slightly, shading his face from the other occupants with his newspaper.
+
+Three or four times over the old gentleman dropped asleep and had to be
+roused up, and my fellow-passenger smiled good-humouredly and said:
+
+"Might as well have let him sleep."
+
+This was in a whisper, and he made two or three remarks to me.
+
+He seemed very much disposed to be friendly and pointed out the lights
+of a distant town or two.
+
+"Got in at Arrowfield, didn't you?" he said at last.
+
+I replied that I did; and it was on the tip of my tongue to say, "So did
+you," but I did not.
+
+"I'm going on to London," he said.  "Nasty time to get in--three in the
+morning.  I hate it.  No one about.  Night cabs and milk carts, police
+and market wagons.  People at the hotel always sleepy.  Ah!  Here we are
+at Westernbow."
+
+For the train was stopping, and when it did draw up at the platform the
+old gentleman was roused up by the young lady, and they got out and left
+us alone.
+
+"Ha!  Ha!" said my companion, "that's better.  Give us room to stretch
+our legs.  Do you bet?"
+
+"No," I said, "never."
+
+"Good, lad!  Don't; very bad habit.  I do; I've lots of bad habits.  But
+I was going to say, I'll bet you an even half-crown that we don't have
+another passenger from here to London."
+
+"I hope we shall not," I said as I thought of a nap on the seat.
+
+"So do I, sir--so do I," he said, nodding his head quickly.  "I vote we
+lie down and make the best of it--by and by.  Have a cigar first?"
+
+"Thank you; I don't smoke," I said.
+
+"I do.  Will you excuse me if I have a cigar?  Not a smoking carriage--
+more comfortable."
+
+I assured him that I should not mind; and he took out a cigar, lit it,
+and began to smoke.
+
+"Better have one," he said.  "Mild as mild.  They won't hurt you."
+
+I thanked him again and declined, sitting back and watching him as he
+smoked on seeming to enjoy his cigar, and made a remark or two about the
+beautiful night and the stars as the train dashed on.
+
+After a time he took out a flask, slipped off the plated cup at the
+bottom, and unscrewed the top, pouring out afterward some clear-looking
+liquid.
+
+"Have a drink?" he said, offering me the flask-cup; but I shook my head.
+
+"No, thank you," I said; and somehow I began thinking of the water I had
+drunk at the works, and which had made me so terribly sleepy.
+
+I don't know how it was, but I did think about that, and it was in my
+mind as he said laughingly:
+
+"What!  Not drink a little drop of mild stuff like that?  Well, you are
+a fellow!  Why it's like milk."
+
+He seemed to toss it off.
+
+"Better have a drop," he said.
+
+I declined.
+
+"Nonsense!  Do," he cried.  "Do you good.  Come, have a drink."
+
+He grew more persistent, but the more persistent he was the more I
+shrank from the cup he held in his hand; and at last I felt sorry, for
+he seemed so kind that it was ungracious of me to refuse him so simple a
+request.
+
+"Oh, very well!" he said, "just as you like.  There will be the more for
+me."
+
+He laughed, nodded, and drank the contents of the cup before putting the
+screw-top on the flask, thrusting it in his breast-pocket, and then
+making a cushion of his railway wrapper he lay at full length upon the
+cushion, and seemed to compose himself to sleep.
+
+It was such a good example that, after a few minutes' silence, I did the
+same, and lay with my eyes half-closed, listening to the dull rattle of
+the train, and thinking of the works at Arrowfield, and what a good job
+it was that I spoke to Uncle Bob about the trap.
+
+Then I hoped he would not be incautious and hurt himself in letting off
+the spring.
+
+I looked across at my fellow-traveller, who seemed to be sleeping
+soundly, and the sight of his closed eyes made mine heavy, and no
+wonder, for every other night I had been on guard at the works, and that
+seemed to shorten my allowance of sleep to a terrible degree.
+
+I knew there could be no mistake, for I was going as far as the train
+went, and the guard would be sure to wake me up if I was fast asleep.
+
+And how satisfactory it seemed to be lying there on the soft cushions
+instead of walking about the works and the yard the previous night.  I
+was growing more and more sleepy, the motion of the train serving to
+lull me; and then, all at once, I was wide-awake staring at the bubble
+of glass that formed the lamp in the ceiling, and wondering where I was.
+
+I recollected directly and glanced at my fellow-traveller, to see that
+he was a little uneasy, one of his legs being off the seat; but he was
+breathing heavily, and evidently fast asleep.
+
+I lay watching him for a few minutes, and then the sweet restful feeling
+mastered me again, and I went off fast asleep.  One moment there was the
+compartment with its cushions and lamp with the rush and sway of the
+carriage that made me think it must be something like this on board
+ship; the next I was back at the works keeping watch and wondering
+whether either of the men would come and make any attempt upon the
+place.
+
+I don't know how long I had been asleep, but all at once, without
+moving, I was wide-awake with my eyes closed, fully realising that I had
+a valuable packet of some kind in my breast-pocket, and that my
+fellow-traveller was softly unbuttoning my overcoat so as to get it out.
+
+I lay perfectly still for a moment or two, and then leaped up and
+bounded to the other side of the carriage.
+
+"There, it is of no use," said my fellow-traveller; "pull that letter
+out of your pocket and give it to me quietly or--"
+
+He said no more, but took a pistol out of his breast, while I shrank up
+against the farther door, the window of which was open, and stared at
+him aghast.
+
+"Do you hear?" he said fiercely.  "Come; no nonsense!  I want that
+letter.  There, I don't want to frighten you, boy.  Come and sit down; I
+sha'n't hurt you."
+
+The train was flying along at forty miles an hour at least, and this man
+knew that the packet I had was valuable.  How he knew it I could not
+tell, but he must have found out at Arrowfield.  He was going to take it
+from me, and if he got it what was he going to do?
+
+I thought it all over as if in a flash.
+
+He was going to steal the packet, and he would know that I should
+complain at the first station we reached; and he would prevent this, I
+felt sure.  But how?
+
+There was only one way.  He had threatened me with a pistol, but I did
+not think he would use that.  No; there was only one way, and it was
+this--he would rob me and throw me out of the train.
+
+My legs shook under me as I thought this, and the light in the carriage
+seemed to be dancing up and down, as I put my right arm out of the
+window and hung to the side to keep myself up.
+
+All this was a matter of moments, and it seemed to be directly after my
+fellow-passenger had spoken first that he roared out, "Do you hear, sir?
+Come here!"
+
+I did not move, and he made a dash at me, but, as he did, my right hand
+rested on the fastening of the door outside, turned the handle, and
+clinging to it, I swung out into the rushing wind, turning half round as
+the door banged heavily back, when, by an instinctive motion, my left
+hand caught at anything to save me from falling, grasped the bar that
+ran along between door and door, and the next moment, how I know not, I
+was clinging to this bar with my feet on the foot-board, and my eyes
+strained back at the open door, out of which my fellow-passenger leaned.
+
+"You young idiot, come back!" he roared; but the effect of his words was
+to make me shrink farther away, catching at the handle of the next door,
+and then reaching on to the next bar, so that I was now several feet
+away.
+
+The wind seemed as if it would tear me from the foot-board, and I was
+obliged to keep my face away to breathe; but I clung to the bar tightly,
+and watched the fierce face that was thrust out of the door I had left.
+
+"Am I to come after you?" he roared.  "Come back!"
+
+My answer was to creep past another door, to find to my horror that this
+was the last, and that there was a great gap between me and the next
+carriage.
+
+What was I to do?  Jump, with the train dashing along at such a rate
+that it seemed as if I must be shaken down or torn off by the wind.
+
+I stared back horror-stricken and then uttered a cry of fear, as the
+window I had just passed was thrown open and a man leaned out.
+
+"I'll swear I heard someone shout," he said to a travelling companion,
+and he looked back along the train.  "Yes," he continued, "there's
+someone three compartments back looking out.  Oh, he's gone in now.
+Wonder what it was!"
+
+Just then he turned his head in my direction, and saw my white face.
+
+I saw him start as I clung there just a little way below him to his
+right, and within easy reach, and, for I should think a minute, we
+stared hard at each other.
+
+Then he spoke in a quiet matter-of-fact way.
+
+"Don't be scared, my lad," he said; "it's alright.  I can take hold of
+you tightly.  Hold fast till I get you by the arms.  That's it; now
+loose your right hand and take hold of the door; here pass it in.
+That's the way; edge along.  I've got you tight.  Come along; now the
+other hand in.  That's the way."
+
+I obeyed him, for he seemed to force me to by his firm way, but the
+thought came over me, "Suppose he is that man's companion."  But even if
+he had been, I was too much unnerved to do anything but what he bade me,
+so I passed one hand on to the window-frame of the door, then edged
+along and stood holding on with the other hand, for he had me as if his
+grasp was a vice, and then his hands glided down to my waist.  He
+gripped me by my clothes and flesh, and before I could realise it he had
+dragged me right in through the window and placed me on the seat.
+
+Then dragging up the window he sank back opposite to me and cried to a
+gentleman standing in the compartment:
+
+"Give me a drop of brandy, Jem, or I shall faint!"
+
+I crouched back there, quivering and unable to speak.  I was so
+unnerved; but I saw the other gentleman hand a flask to the
+bluff-looking man who had saved me, and I saw him take a hearty draught
+and draw long breath, after which he turned to me.
+
+"You young scoundrel!" he cried; "how dare you give me such a fright!"
+
+I tried to speak, but the words would not come.  I was choking, and I
+believe for a minute I literally sobbed.
+
+"There, there, my lad," said the other kindly, "You're all right.  Don't
+speak to him like that now, Jordan.  The boy's had a horrible scare."
+
+"Scare!" said the big bluff man; "and so have I.  Why, my heart was in
+my mouth.  I wouldn't go through it again for a hundred pounds.  How did
+you come there, sir?"
+
+"Let him be for a few minutes," said the other gently.  "He'll come
+round directly, and tell us."
+
+I gave him a grateful look and held out my wet hand, which he took and
+held in his.
+
+"The boy has had a terrible shock," he said.  "He'll tell us soon.
+Don't hurry, my lad.  There, be calm."
+
+I clung to his hand, for he seemed to steady me, my hand jerking and
+twitching, and a curious sensation of horror that I had never felt
+before seeming to be upon me; but by degrees this passed off, the more
+quickly that the two gentlemen went on talking as if I were not there.
+
+"I'm so much obliged," I said at last, and the big bluff man laughed.
+
+"Don't name it," he said, nodding good-humouredly.  "Five guineas is my
+fee."
+
+I shivered.
+
+"And my friend here, Doctor Brown, will have a bigger one for his
+advice."
+
+"He's joking you, my lad," said the other gentleman smiling.  "I see you
+are not hurt."
+
+"No, sir," I said; "I--"
+
+The trembling came over me again, and I could not speak for a minute or
+two, but sat gazing helplessly from one to the other.
+
+"Give him a drop of brandy," said the big bluff man.
+
+"No, let him be for a few minutes; he's mastering it," was the reply.
+
+This did me good, and making an effort I said quickly:
+
+"A man in the carriage tried to rob me, and I got on to the foot-board
+and came along here."
+
+"Then you did what I dare not have done," said the one who dragged me
+in.  "But a pretty state of affairs this.  On the railway, and no means
+of communicating."
+
+"But there are means."
+
+"Tchah!  How was the poor lad to make use of them?  Well, we shall have
+the scoundrel, unless he gets out of the train and jumps for it.  We
+must look out when we stop for taking the tickets.  We shall not halt
+before."
+
+By degrees I grew quite composed, and told them all.
+
+"Yes," said my big friend, "it was very brave of you; but I think I
+should have parted with all I had sooner than have run such a risk."
+
+"If it had been your own," said the other gentleman.  "In this case it
+seems to me the boy would have been robbed, and probably thrown out
+afterwards upon the line.  I think you did quite right, my lad, but I
+should not recommend the practice to anyone else."
+
+They chatted to me pleasantly enough till the train began at last to
+slacken speed preparatory to stopping for the tickets to be taken, and
+at the first symptom of this my two new friends jumped up and let down
+the windows, each leaning out so as to command a view of the back of the
+train.
+
+I should have liked to look back as well, but that was impossible, so I
+had to be content to sit and listen; but I was not kept long in
+suspense, for all at once the quieter and more gentlemanly of my
+companions exclaimed:
+
+"I thought as much.  He has just jumped off, and run down the
+embankment.  There he goes!"
+
+I ran to the side, and caught a glimpse of a figure melting away into
+the darkness.  Then it was gone.
+
+"There goes all chance of punishing the scoundrel," said the big bluff
+man, turning to me and smiling good-temperedly.  "I should have liked to
+catch him, but I couldn't afford to risk my neck in your service, young
+man."
+
+I thanked him as well as I could, and made up my mind that if my father
+was waiting on the platform he should make a more satisfactory
+recognition of the services that had been performed.
+
+This did not, however, prove so easy as I had hoped, for in the
+confusion of trying to bring them together when I found my father
+waiting, I reached the spot where I had left my travelling-companions
+just in time to see them drive off in a cab.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.
+
+AGAINST THE LAW.
+
+The next day, after recounting plenty of my adventures to my mother,
+but, I am afraid, dressing some of them up so that they should not alarm
+her, a letter reached me from Uncle Bob.
+
+It was very short.  He hoped I had reached town safely, and found all
+well.  The night had passed quite quietly at the works, and he ended by
+saying:
+
+"I took up the trap.  All right!"
+
+That was a great relief to me, and made my stay in town quite pleasant.
+
+I went down to the old works with my father, and it made me smile to see
+how quiet and orderly everything was, and how different to the new line
+of business we had taken up.  The men here never thought of committing
+outrages or interfering with those who employed them, and I could not
+help thinking what a contrast there was between them and the Arrowfield
+rough independence of mien.
+
+My father questioned me a great deal about matters upon which my uncles
+had dwelt lightly, but I found that he thoroughly appreciated our
+position there and its risks.
+
+"Not for another six months, Cob," he said in answer to an inquiry as to
+when he was coming down.
+
+"You four must pacify the country first," he added laughing, "and have
+the business in good going order."
+
+My visit was very pleasant, and I could not help feeling proud of the
+treatment I received at home; but all the same I was glad to start again
+for Arrowfield and join my uncles in their battle for success.
+
+For there was something very exciting in these struggles with the men,
+and now I was away all this seemed to be plainer, and the attraction
+grew so that there was a disposition on my part to make those at home
+quite at their ease as to the life I was leading down at Arrowfield.
+
+At last the day came for me to start on my return journey, when once
+more I had a packet to bear.
+
+"I need not tell you that it is of great value, Cob," said my father.
+"Button it up in your pocket, and then forget all about it.  That is the
+safest way.  It takes off all the consciousness."
+
+"I don't suppose I shall meet my friend this time," I said.
+
+My father shuddered slightly.
+
+"It is not likely," he said; "but I should strongly advise you to change
+carriages if you find yourself being left alone with a stranger."
+
+Word had been sent down as to the train I should travel by, and in due
+time I found myself on the Arrowfield platform and back at our new home,
+where Mrs Stephenson and Tattsey were ready with the most friendly of
+smiles.
+
+"Everything has been going on splendidly," was the report given to me.
+Piter had been carefully attended to, and the works watched as well as
+if I had been at Arrowfield.
+
+I felt annoyed, and, I suppose, showed it, for it seemed as if my uncles
+were bantering me, but the annoyance passed off directly under the
+influence of the warmth displayed by all three.
+
+"I'm beginning to be hopeful now that work will go on steadily, that
+this watching can be given up, and that we can take to a few country
+excursions, some fishing, and the like."
+
+That was Uncle Dick's expressed opinion; and I was glad enough to hear
+it, for though I did not mind the work I liked some play.
+
+Uncle Jack was just as hopeful; but Uncle Bob evidently was not, for he
+said very little.
+
+This time I had travelled by a day train, and I was quite ready to take
+my turn at the watching that night.  Uncle Jack, whose turn it was,
+opposed my going, as I had been travelling so far; but I insisted,
+saying that I had had my regular night's rest ever since I had left
+them, and was consequently quite fresh.
+
+I wanted to ask Uncle Bob where he had hidden the trap, but I had no
+opportunity, and as neither Uncle Dick nor Uncle Jack made any allusion
+to it I did not start the subject.
+
+Perhaps Uncle Bob had not told them, meaning to have a few words with me
+first.
+
+It almost seemed like coming home to enter the works again, where Piter
+was most demonstrative in his affection, and carried it to such an
+extent that I could hardly get away.
+
+I had a look round the gloomy old place at once, and felt quite a thrill
+of pride in the faintly glowing furnaces and machinery as I thought of
+the endless things the place was destined to produce.
+
+"Look here, Cob," said Uncle Jack, "I shall lie down for three hours,
+mind; and at the end of that time you are to wake me.  It is only nine
+o'clock now, and you can get over that time with a book.  There will be
+no need to walk round the place."
+
+"Would Piter warn us, do you think?"  I said.
+
+"Oh, yes!  It is getting quite a form our being here.  The men are
+toning down."
+
+He threw himself on the bed, and I took up a book and read for an hour,
+after which I had a walk through the gloomy workshops, and in and out of
+the furnace-houses and smithies, where all was quiet as could be.
+
+After this I felt disposed to go and open the big door and look down
+into the wheel-pit.  I don't know why, only that the place attracted me.
+I did not, however, but walked back to the doorway to look at the glow
+which overhung the town, with the heavy canopy of ruddy smoke, while
+away behind me the stars were shining brightly, and all was clear.
+
+I patted Piter, who came to the full length of his chain, and then I had
+a look about with the lantern to see if I could find where Uncle Bob had
+put the trap.
+
+I felt that it must be under lock and key somewhere, but the cupboards
+had nothing to show, and, try how I would, I could think of no likely
+place for it to be hidden in.  So I gave up the task of trying to find
+it, and walked back to the door, where I found Piter lying down hard at
+work trying to push his collar over his head.
+
+The patient, persevering way in which he tried, getting both his
+fore-paws against it, was most amusing, the more so that there was not
+the slightest possibility of success attending his efforts, for his
+neck, which the collar fitted pretty closely, was small, and his bullet
+head enormous by comparison.
+
+"Come," I said, as I bent over him; "shall I undo it for you?"
+
+He looked up at me as I put the dark lantern down, and whined softly.
+Then he began working at the collar again.
+
+"Look here," I said, as I sat on the bottom step.  "Shall I undo it?"
+
+Dogs must have a good deal of reason, for Piter leaped up and laid his
+head in my lap directly, holding it perfectly still while I unbuckled
+the strap collar, when he gave a sniff or two at my hands, licked them,
+and bounded off to have a regular good run all over the place before he
+came back and settled down close to me in the little office where I was
+trying to read.
+
+Twelve o'clock at last, and I awoke Uncle Jack, who rose at once, fresh
+and clear as if he were amply rested, and soon after I was fast asleep,
+dreaming away and fancying I could hear the rattle and the throb of the
+train.  Then I was talking to that man again, and then swinging out on
+the carriage-door with the wind rushing by, and the bluff man leaning
+out over me, and Piter on the carriage with him, barking at my
+aggressor, who was shrieking for mercy.
+
+Then I was awake, to see that it was Uncle Jack who was leaning over me,
+and the window was open, admitting a stream of cold air and a curious
+yelling noise, mingled with the barking of a dog.
+
+"What is the matter?"  I cried.
+
+"That's what I want to know," said Uncle Jack.  "I went with a candle,
+but the wind puffed it out.  Where did you put the lantern?"
+
+"Lantern--lantern!"  I said in a confused way, "did I have it?"
+
+"Yes; you must have had it.  Can't you think?  Gracious, what a noise!
+Piter must have got someone by the throat."
+
+"Oh, I know!"  I cried as I grew more fully awake.  "On the shelf in the
+entry."
+
+We ran down together, and a faint glow showed its whereabouts, still
+alight, but with the dark shade turned over the bull's-eye.
+
+"Where does the noise come from?"  I said, feeling startled at the
+alarming nature of the cries, freshly awakened as I was from sleep.
+
+"I can hardly tell," he said, seizing the lantern and taking a sharp
+hold, of his stick.  "Bring a stick with you, my boy, for there may be
+enemies in the way."
+
+"Why, uncle," I cried, "some poor creature has fallen from the side path
+into the dam."
+
+"Some wretched drunken workman then," he said, as we hurried in the
+direction, and there seemed to be no doubt about it now, for there was
+the splashing of water, and the cry of "Help!" while Piter barked more
+furiously than ever.
+
+We ran down to the edge of the dam, the light of the bull's-eye flashing
+and dancing over the ground, so that we were able to avoid the different
+objects lying about; and directly after the light played on the water,
+and then threw into full view the figure of the bull-dog as he stood on
+the stone edge of the dam barking furiously at a man's head that was
+just above the surface of the water.
+
+"Help!  Help!" he cried as we drew near, and then I uttered a prolonged
+"Oh!" and stood still.
+
+"Quiet, Piter!  Down, dog!  Can't you see it is a friend!"
+
+But the dog seemed to deny it, and barked more furiously than ever.
+
+"Quiet, sir!  Here, Cob, lay hold of the lantern.  Will you be quiet,
+dog!  Lay hold of him, Cob, and hold him."
+
+I obeyed in a half stupid way, holding the lantern with one hand, as I
+went on my knees, putting my arm round Piter's neck to hold him back;
+and in that way I struggled back from the edge, watching my uncle as I
+made the light fall upon the head staring wildly at us, a horrible white
+object just above the black water of the dam.
+
+"Help!  Help!" it cried.  "Save me!  Oh!"
+
+"Catch hold of the stick.  That's right; now your hand.  Well done!
+What's holding you down?  Have you got your foot entangled?  That's
+better: how did you fall in?"
+
+As my uncle rapidly asked these questions he got hold of the man, and
+dragged him on to the stone edge of the dam, when there was a horrible
+clanking noise, the rattle of a chain, the man uttered a hideous yell,
+and as Piter set up a tremendous barking again I turned off the light.
+
+"Here, don't do that," cried my uncle.
+
+I hardly know what induced me to turn off the light, unless it was a
+shamefaced feeling on being, as I thought, found out.  And yet it did
+not seem that I was the guilty party.  Uncle Bob had said he had taken
+up the trap, and it was all right.  He must have altered his mind and
+set it again.
+
+"That's better," said my uncle as I turned on the light once more; and
+then Piter made such a struggle that I could not hold him.  There was a
+bit of a scuffle, and he was free to rush at the man, upon whom he fixed
+himself as he lay there howling and dripping with water.
+
+The man yelled again horribly, sprang up with Piter holding on to him;
+there was the same horrible clanking noise on the stones, and down he
+fell once more groaning.
+
+"Help!  Murder!  Take away the dorg.  Oh, help!" he cried.
+
+"Good gracious!  What is the matter?" cried Uncle Jack, telling me what
+I knew.  "The man's leg's in a trap."
+
+He sprang up again, for by main force Uncle Jack had dragged Piter away
+with his mouth full of trouser leg; but there were only two clanks and a
+sprawl, for the poor wretch fell headlong again on the stones, praying
+for mercy.
+
+"Why, his leg's in a great trap, and it's held by a chain," cried Uncle
+Jack.  "Here, how came you in this condition?"
+
+"Eh mester, aw doan know.  Deed aw doan know," the fellow groaned.
+"Hey, but it's biting my leg off, and I'll be a lame man to the end o'
+my days."
+
+"Why, it's Gentles!" cried Uncle Jack, taking the lantern from me, for I
+had enough to do to hold the dog.
+
+"Tek off the thing; tek off the thing," groaned the man.  "It's
+a-cootin' my leg i' two, I tell'ee."
+
+"Hold your noise, and don't howl like that," cried Uncle Jack angrily,
+for he seemed to understand now that the man must have climbed over into
+the yard and been caught, though he was all the more surprised, for
+quiet smooth-faced Gentles was the last man anyone would have suspected.
+
+"But I tell'ee its tekkin off my leg," groaned the man, and he made
+another trial to escape, but was checked by the peg driven tightly into
+the ground between the stones, and he fell again, hurting himself
+horribly.
+
+"I shall be a dead man--murdered in a minute," he groaned.  "Help!  Oh,
+my poor missus and the bairns!  Tek off that thing, and keep away yon
+dorg."
+
+"Look here," said Uncle Jack, making the light play on the poor wretch's
+miserable face.  "How came you here?"
+
+"Your dorg flew at me, mester, and drove me in t'watter."
+
+"Yes, exactly; but how came you in the yard?"
+
+"I d'know, mester, I d'know."
+
+"I suppose not," said Uncle Jack.
+
+"Tek off that thing, mester; tek off that thing.  It's most cootin off
+my leg."
+
+I was ready to add my supplications, for I knew the poor wretch must be
+in terrible agony; but I felt as if I could not speak.
+
+"I'll take it off by and by, when I know how you came here."
+
+"I tell'ee it's 'gen the law to set they montraps," cried the fellow in
+a sudden burst of anger, "and I'll have the law o' thee."
+
+"I would," said Uncle Jack, still making the light play over the
+dripping figure, and then examining the trap, and tracing the chain to
+the peg.  "Hullo!" he cried, "what's this?"
+
+He was holding the lantern close to a dark object upon the ground quite
+close, and Gentles uttered a fresh yell, bounded up, made a clanking
+noise, and fell again groaning.
+
+"Doan't!  Doan't!  Thou'lt blow us all to bits."
+
+"Oh, it's powder, then, is it?" cried Uncle Jack.
+
+"Hey, I d'know, mester, I d'know."
+
+"Didn't bring it with you, I suppose?" said Uncle Jack.
+
+"Nay, mester, I didn't bring it wi' me."
+
+"Then how do you know it's powder?"
+
+"Hey, I d'know it's powder," groaned the miserable wretch.  "It only
+looks like it.  Tek off this trap thing.  Tek away the light.  Hey, bud
+I'm being killed."
+
+"Let me see," said Uncle Jack with cool deliberation.  "You climbed over
+the wall with that can of powder and the fuse."
+
+"Nay, nay, mester, not me."
+
+"And fell into a trap."
+
+"Yes, mester.  Tek it off."
+
+"Where did you mean to put that can of powder?"
+
+"Nay, mester, I--"
+
+"Tell me directly," cried Uncle Jack, giving the chain a drag and making
+Gentles yell out; "tell me directly, or I'll pitch you into the dam."
+
+Uncle Jack's manner was so fierce that the man moaned out feebly:
+
+"If I tell'ee wilt tek off the trap?"
+
+"Perhaps I will.  Speak out.  Where did you mean to put the powder can?"
+
+"Under big watter-wheel, mester."
+
+"And fire the fuse?"
+
+"Yes, mester."
+
+"How long would it have burned?"
+
+"Twenty minutes, mester."
+
+"Same length as the one that was run in the furnace-house?"
+
+"Yes, mester."
+
+"You cowardly scoundrel!  You were in that too, then," cried Uncle Jack,
+going down on one knee and seizing the man by the throat and shaking him
+till he realised how horribly he was punishing him, when he loosed his
+hold.
+
+"Don't kill me, mester.  Oh, my wife and bairns!"
+
+"A man with a wife and children, and ready to do such a dastardly act as
+that!  Here, you shall tell me this, who set you on?"
+
+The man set his teeth fast.
+
+"Who set you on, I say?"
+
+"Nay, mester, I canna tell," groaned Gentles.
+
+"But you shall tell," roared Uncle Jack.  "You shall stay here till you
+do."
+
+"I can't tell; I weant tell," groaned the man.
+
+"We'll see about that," cried Uncle Jack.  "Pah!  What a brute I am!
+Hold the light, Cob.  Piter!  You touch him if you dare.  Let's see if
+we can't get this trap open."
+
+He took hold of it gently, and tried to place it flat upon the stones,
+but the poor trapped wretch groaned dismally till he was placed in a
+sitting posture with his knee bent, when Piter, having been coerced into
+a neutral state, Uncle Jack pressed with all his might upon the spring
+while I worked the ring upon it half an inch at a time till the jaws
+yawned right open and Gentles' leg was at liberty.
+
+He groaned and was evidently in great pain; but as soon as it was off,
+his face was convulsed with passion, and he shook his fists at Uncle
+Jack.
+
+"I'll hev the law of ye for this here.  I'll hev the law of ye."
+
+"Do," said Uncle Jack, picking up the can of powder; "and I shall bring
+this in against you.  Let me see.  You confessed in the presence of this
+witness that you came over the wall with this can of powder to blow up
+our water-wheel so as to stop our works.  Mr Gentles, I think we shall
+get the better of you this time."
+
+The man raised himself to his feet, and stood with great difficulty,
+moaning with pain.
+
+"Now," said Uncle Jack, "will you go back over the wall or out by the
+gate."
+
+"I'll pay thee for this.  I'll pay thee for this," hissed the man.
+
+Uncle Jack took him again by the throat.
+
+"Look here," he said fiercely.  "Have a care what you are doing, my fine
+fellow.  You have had a narrow escape to-night.  If we had not been
+carefully watching you would by now have been hanging by that chain--
+drowned.  Mind you and your cowardly sneaking scoundrels of companions
+do not meet with some such fate next time they come to molest us.  Now
+go.  You can't walk?  There's a stick for you.  I ought to break your
+thick skull with it, but I'm going to be weak enough to give it to you
+to walk home.  Go home and tell your wife and children that you are one
+of the most treacherous, canting, hypocritical scoundrels in Arrowfield,
+and that you have only got your deserts if you are lamed for life."
+
+He gave Gentles his stick and walked with him to the gate, which he
+unlocked and held open for him to pass out groaning and suffering
+horribly.
+
+"Good-night, honest faithful workman!" he said; "friendly man who only
+wanted to be left alone.  Do you want your can of powder?  No: I'll keep
+it as a memento of your visit, and for fear you might have an accident
+at home."
+
+The man groaned again as he passed out and staggered.
+
+"Poor wretch!" said Uncle Jack, so that I alone heard him.  "Ignorance
+and brutality.  Here," he said aloud, "take my arm.  I'll help you on to
+your house.  One good turn deserves another."
+
+Uncle Jack went to him and took his stick in his hand, when, fancying I
+heard something, I turned on the light just in time to show Uncle Jack
+his danger, for half a dozen men armed with sticks came out of the
+shadow of the wall and rushed at him.
+
+It was fortunate for him that he had taken back the stout oak
+walking-stick that he made his companion on watching nights, or he would
+have been beaten down.
+
+As it was he received several heavy blows, but he parried others, and
+laid about him so earnestly that two men went down, and another fell
+over Gentles.
+
+By that time my uncle had retreated to the gate, darted through, and
+banged and locked it in his enemies' face.
+
+"Rather cowardly to retreat, Cob," he panted; "but six to one are long
+odds.  Where's the powder can?"
+
+"I have it, uncle," I said.
+
+"Ah, well, suppose you give it to me, or else the light!  The two don't
+go well together.  They always quarrel, and it ends in what Mr
+O'Gallagher in _Perceval Keene_ called a blow up."
+
+I gave him the can, and then listened to the muttering of voices
+outside, half expecting that an attempt might be made to scale the wall.
+
+"No," said Uncle Jack; "they will not do that.  They don't make open
+attacks."
+
+"Did you see who the others were?"
+
+"No, it was too dark.  There, let's get inside.  But about that trap.  I
+won't leave it there."
+
+I walked with him in silence, and lighted him while he dragged the iron
+peg out of the ground, and carried all back to the office, where he
+examined the trap, turning it over and over, and then throwing it
+heavily on the floor.
+
+He looked hard at me then, and I suppose my face told tales.
+
+"I thought so," he said; "that was your game, Master Cob."
+
+"Yes," I said; "but I thought it was taken up.  I told Uncle Bob to take
+it up when I went to London."
+
+"He thought you meant the trap of the drain," cried Uncle Jack, roaring
+with laughter.  "He had the bricklayer to it, and said there was a bad
+smell, and it was well cleaned out."
+
+"Oh!"  I exclaimed; "and I made sure that it was all right again."
+
+"How came you to set the trap there?"
+
+"I had seen marks on the wall," I said, "where someone came over, but I
+never thought it could be Gentles."
+
+"No, my lad, one don't know whom to trust here; but how came you to
+think of that?"
+
+"It was the rat-trap set me thinking of it, and when I made up my mind
+to do it I never thought it would be so serious as it was.  Are you very
+angry with me?"
+
+Uncle Jack looked at me with his forehead all in wrinkles, and sat down
+on a high stool and tapped the desk.
+
+I felt a curious flinching as he looked so hard at me, for Uncle Jack
+was always the most stern and uncompromising of my uncles.  Faults that
+Uncle Dick would shake his head at, and Uncle Bob say, "I say, come,
+this won't do, you know," Uncle Jack would think over, and talk about
+perhaps for two or three days.
+
+"I ought to be very angry with you, Cob," he said.  "This was a very
+rash thing to do.  These men are leading us a horrible life, and they
+deserve any punishment; but there is the law of the land to punish
+evildoers, and we are not allowed to take that law in our own hands.
+You might have broken that fellow's leg with the trap."
+
+"Yes, I see now," I said.
+
+"As it is I expect you have done his leg serious injury, and made him a
+worse enemy than he was before.  But that is not the worst part of it.
+What we want here is co-operation--that's a long word, Cob, but you know
+what it means."
+
+"Working together," I said.
+
+"Of course.  You are only a boy, but you are joined with us three to
+mutually protect each other, and our strength lies in mutual dependence,
+each knowing exactly what the other has done."
+
+"Yes, I see that, Uncle," I said humbly.
+
+"How are we to get on then if one of the legs on which we stand--you,
+sir, gives way?  It lets the whole machine down; it's ruin to us, Cob."
+
+"I'm very sorry, uncle."
+
+"We are four.  Well, suppose one of us gets springing a mine unknown to
+the others, what a position the other three are in!"
+
+"Yes," I said again.  "I see it all now."
+
+"You didn't spring a mine upon us, Cob, but you sprang a trap."
+
+I nodded.
+
+"It was a mistake, lad, though it has turned out all right as it
+happened, and we have been saved from a terrible danger; but look here,
+don't do anything of the kind again."
+
+"Shall you go to the police about this?"  I said.
+
+"No, and I'm sure the others will agree with me.  We must be our own
+police, Cob, and take care of ourselves; but I'm afraid we have rough
+times coming."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINETEEN.
+
+PANNELL SAYS NOTHING.
+
+"Better and better!" cried Uncle Dick, waving a letter over his head one
+morning after the post had come in.  "All we have to do is to work away.
+Our steel is winning its way more and more in London, and there is
+already a greater demand than we can supply."
+
+"It seems funny too," I said.  "I went through Norton's works yesterday
+with Mr Tomplin, and saw them making steel, and it seemed almost
+exactly your way."
+
+"Yes, Cob," said Uncle Dick, "_almost_.  It's that trifling little
+difference that does it.  It is so small that it is almost
+imperceptible; but still it is enough to make our steel worth half as
+much again as theirs."
+
+"You didn't show them the difference, did you, Cob?" said Uncle Jack,
+laughing.
+
+"Why, how could I?"
+
+"Ah!  I forgot; you don't know.  But never mind, you'll arrive at years
+of discretion some day, Cob, and then you will be trusted with the
+secret."
+
+"I consider that he could be trusted now," cried Uncle Dick.  "I am
+quite willing to show him whenever he likes.  We make a fresh batch
+to-morrow."
+
+"No," I said; "I don't want to be shown yet.  I can wait."
+
+"Is that meant sulkily, or is it manly frankness?" said Uncle Jack
+sharply.
+
+"Oh, I'll answer that," replied Uncle Dick--"certainly not sulkily."
+
+"I endorse that," said Uncle Bob; and I gave them both a grateful look.
+
+"He shall learn everything we know," said Dick.  "It is his right as his
+father's son.  If we have not shown him sooner it is on account of his
+father's interests, and because we felt that a secret that means
+property or nothing is rather a weighty one for a lad of his years to
+bear.  Well, once more, Cob, you will not mind being left?"
+
+"No," I said, "you will not be away many hours.  The men will hardly
+know that you have gone, and if they were to turn disagreeable I'm sure
+Pannell would help me."
+
+"Oh, there's no fear of any open annoyance," said Uncle Jack; "the men
+have been remarkably quiet since we caught Master Gentles.  By the way,
+anyone know how he is?"
+
+"I know," I said.  "I've seen Mrs Gentles every day, and he leaves the
+infirmary to-morrow."
+
+"Cured?"
+
+"Yes; only he will walk a little lame, that's all, and only for a month
+or two."
+
+"Well, take care of the place, Cob," said Uncle Jack.  "I don't suppose
+the men will interfere with you, but if they do you can retreat."
+
+"If you thought they would interfere with me," I said, "you would not
+go."
+
+They all laughed, and, as we had arranged, they left the works one by
+one, and I went on just as usual, looking in at one place, and then
+another, to see how the men were going on, before returning to the
+office and copying some letters left for me to do.
+
+It was a month since the adventure with the trap, and to see the men no
+one could have imagined that there was the slightest discontent among
+them.
+
+Pannell had said very little, though I had expected he would; in fact he
+seemed to have turned rather surly and distant to me.  As for the other
+men, they did their work in their regular independent style, and I had
+come to the conclusion that my best way was to treat all alike, and not
+make special friends, especially after the melancholy mistake I had made
+in putting most faith in one who was the greatest scoundrel in the
+place.
+
+My uncles had gone to the next town to meet a firm of manufacturers who
+had been making overtures that seemed likely to be profitable, and this
+day had been appointed for the meeting.
+
+After a time I went into Pannell's smithy, to find him hammering away as
+earnestly as ever, with his forehead covered with dew, his throat open,
+and his shirt-sleeves rolled up, so as to give his great muscles full
+play.
+
+"Well," he said all at once, "want another trap?"
+
+"No," I said, smiling.  "I say, Pannell, what did the men think about
+it?"
+
+He opened his lips to speak, but closed them directly.
+
+"No," he said shortly; "won't do.  I'm on t'other side, you see."
+
+"But you might tell me that," I cried.  "I say, I should as soon have
+thought of catching you as old Gentles."
+
+"Hush!  Say rat," he whispered.  "Don't name names.  And say, lad, don't
+talk about it.  You don't want to get me knocked on the head?"
+
+"No, Pannell," I said; "indeed I don't.  You're too good a fellow."
+
+"Nay, I'm not," he said, shaking his head.  "I'm a downright bad un."
+
+"Not you."
+
+"Ay, but I am--reg'lar down bad un."
+
+"What have you been doing?"
+
+"Nowt," he said; and he brought down his hammer with a tremendous bang
+as if he meant to make a full stop at the end of his sentence.
+
+"Then why are you a bad one?"
+
+He looked at me, then out of the window, then front the door, and then
+back at me.
+
+"I'm going to Lunnon to get work," he said.
+
+"No, don't; we like you--you're such a good steady workman.  Why are you
+going?"
+
+"Don't like it," he said.  "Man can't do as he pleases."
+
+"Uncle John says he can't anywhere, and the masters are the men's
+servants here."
+
+"Nay, lad," he whispered as he hammered away.  "Men's worse off than the
+masters.  Wuckman here hev to do what the trade tells him, or he'd soon
+find out what was what.  Man daren't speak."
+
+"For fear of getting into trouble with his mates?"
+
+"Nay, his mates wouldn't speak.  It's the trade; hish!"
+
+He hammered away for some time, and his skill with his hammer fascinated
+me so that I stopped on watching him.  A hammer to me had always seemed
+to be a tool to strike straightforward blows; but Pannell's hammer
+moulded and shaped, and always seemed to fall exactly right, so that a
+piece of steel grew into form.  And I believe he could have turned out
+of the glowing metal anything of which a model had been put before his
+eyes.
+
+"Well," I said, "I must go to my writing."
+
+"Nay, stop a bit.  We two ain't said much lately.  They all gone to
+Kedham?"
+
+"Yes; how did you know?"
+
+"Oh, we knows a deal.  There aren't much goes on as we don't know.  Look
+ye here; I want to say summat, lad, and I can't--yes, I can."
+
+"Well, say it, then," I said, smiling at his eagerness.
+
+"Going to--look here, there was a rat once as got his leg caught in a
+trap."
+
+"Yes, I know there was," I replied with a laugh.
+
+"Nay, it's nowt to laugh at, lad.  Rats has sharp teeth; and that there
+rat--a fat smooth rat he were--he said he'd bite him as set that trap."
+
+"Pannell!"  I cried, as a curious feeling of dread came over me for a
+moment and then passed away.
+
+"Ay, lad."
+
+"You don't mean to say that?"
+
+"Me!--I mean to say!  Nay, lad, not me.  I never said nothing.  'Tain't
+likely!"
+
+I looked at him searchingly, but his face seemed to turn as hard as the
+steel he hammered; and finding that he would not say any more, I left
+him, to go thoughtfully back to my desk and try to write.
+
+But who could write situated as I was--left alone with about thirty
+workmen in the place, any one of whom might be set to do the biting in
+revenge for the trap-setting?  For there was no misunderstanding
+Pannell's words; they were meant as a sort of warning for me.  And now
+what was I to do?
+
+I wished my uncles had not gone or that they had taken me, and I nearly
+made up my mind to go for a walk or run back home.
+
+But it seemed so cowardly.  It was not likely that anyone would touch me
+there, though the knowledge the men evidently had of their masters'
+movements was rather startling; and I grew minute by minute more
+nervous.
+
+"What a coward I am!"  I said to myself as I began writing, but stopped
+to listen directly, for I heard an unusual humming down in the grinders'
+shop; but it ceased directly, and I heard the wheel-pit door close.
+
+"Something loose in the gear of the great wheel, perhaps," I thought;
+and I went on writing.
+
+All at once the idea came upon me.  Suppose they were to try and blow me
+up!
+
+I slipped off my stool and examined all the papers beneath my desk and
+in the waste-paper basket, and then I felt so utterly ashamed that I
+forced myself back into my seat and tried to go on writing.
+
+But it was impossible.  The day was bright and sunny and the water in
+the dam was dancing and glittering, for the wind was off the hills and
+blew the smoke in the other direction--over the town.  There was a great
+patch of dancing light on the ceiling reflected from the dam, and some
+flowers in the window looked bright and sent out a sweet perfume; but I
+could see nothing but men crawling in the dark with powder-cans and
+fuses; and to make myself worse, I must go to Uncle Jack's cupboard and
+look at the can that we had found by Gentles that night, just as it had
+been picked up, with a long fuse hanging out of the neck and twisted
+round and round.
+
+I went back after locking it up and taking out the key, and after
+opening the window I stood looking out to calm myself, wishing the while
+that I was right away among the hills far from the noise of whirring
+stones and shrieking metal.  I knew the sun was shining there, and the
+grass was green, and the view was spread out for miles; while from where
+I stood there were the great black buildings, the tall shafts, and close
+beneath me the dam which, in spite of the sunshine, suggested nothing
+but men coming down from the head on rafts of wood to work some
+mischief.
+
+The situation became intolerable; I could not write; I could not get
+calm by walking up and down; and every time there was a louder noise
+than usual from the upper or lower workshop I started, and the
+perspiration came out upon my face.
+
+What a coward!  You will say.
+
+Perhaps so; but a boy cannot go through such adventures as fell to my
+lot and not have some trace left behind.
+
+I stood at last in the middle of the little office, and thought of what
+would be the best thing to do.
+
+Should I run away?
+
+No; that would be too cowardly.
+
+I came to the right conclusion, I am sure, for I decided to go and face
+the danger, if there was any; for I said to myself, "Better to see it
+coming than to be taken unawares."
+
+Now, please, don't think me conceited.  In place of being conceited, I
+want to set down modestly and truthfully the adventures that befell me
+while my lot was cast among a number of misguided men who, bound
+together in what they considered a war against their masters, were
+forced by their leaders into the performance of deeds quite opposed to
+their ordinary nature.  It was a mad and foolish combination as then
+conducted, and injured instead of benefiting their class.
+
+Urged by my nervous dread of coming danger, I, as I have said,
+determined to see it if I could, and so be prepared; and in this spirit
+I put as bold a face on the matter as possible, and went down the long
+workshop where the men were grinding and working over the
+polishing-wheels, which flew round and put such a wonderful gloss upon a
+piece of metal.
+
+Then I went down and into the furnace-house, where the fires were
+glowing, and through the chinks the blinding glare of the blast-fed
+flame seemed to flash and cut the gloom.
+
+The men there gave me a civil nod, and so did the two smiths who were
+forging knives, while, when I went next into Pannell's smithy, feeling
+all the more confident for having made up my mind to action, the big
+fellow stared at me.
+
+"Yow here agen?" he said.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Well, don't stay, lad; and if I was you I should keep out of wet
+grinders' shop."
+
+"Why?"  I said.
+
+He banged a piece of steel upon his anvil, and the only answers I could
+get from him were raps of the hammer upon the metal; so I soon left him,
+feeling highly indignant with his treatment, and walked straight to his
+window, stepped up on the bench, and looked down, wondering whether it
+would be any good to fish from there.
+
+The water after some hours' working was much lower, so that a ledge
+about nine inches wide was laid bare and offered itself as a convenient
+resting-place; but I thought I would not fish while my uncles were away,
+especially since they had left me in charge.
+
+So I walked right to the very place I had been warned to avoid, and
+found the men as busy as usual, and ready enough to say a few civil
+words.
+
+And so the afternoon wore away, and telling myself that I had been
+scared at shadows, I felt a great deal more confident by tea-time when
+the men were leaving.
+
+I sat in the office then as important as if I were the master, and
+listened to their leaving and crossing the yard.  I could hear them
+talking to the gate-keeper, and then I fancied I heard a rustling noise
+outside the building, but it was not repeated, and I began listening to
+the last men going, and soon after, according to his custom, old Dunning
+the gate-keeper came to bring his key.
+
+I heard the old fellow's halting step on the stairs, and trying to look
+very firm I answered his tap with a loud and important "Come in!"
+
+"All gone, Mester Jacob, sir," he said.  "I s'pose you'll tek a look
+round?"
+
+"Yes; I'll do that, Dunning," I replied.
+
+"Then, good-night, sir!"
+
+"One moment, Dunning," I cried, as he turned to go.  "I know you don't
+mix with the quarrels between masters and men."
+
+"Not I, Mester Jacob.  I just do my bit o' work here, which just suits
+me, being a worn-out sort o' man, and then goes back home to my tea and
+my garden.  You've nivver seen my bit o' garden, Mester Jacob, sir.  You
+must come."
+
+"To be sure I will, Dunning; but tell me, how do the men seem now?"
+
+"Bit tired, sir.  End o' the day's wuck."
+
+"No, no; I mean as to temper.  Do you think they are settling down?"
+
+"O ay; yes, sir.  They'd be quiet enew if the trade would let 'em
+alone."
+
+"No threats or anything of that sort?"
+
+"Well, you see, sir, I've no right to say a word," he replied, sinking
+his voice.  "If they thought I was a talker, mebbe they'd be falling
+upon me wi' sticks; but you've always been a kind and civil young
+gentleman to me, so I will tell you as Gentles says he means to pay you
+when he gets a chance."
+
+"Then I must keep out of Mr Gentles's way," I said, laughing outside,
+for I felt very serious in.
+
+"Ay, but that arn't it, Mester Jacob, sir," said old Dunning, to make me
+more comfortable.  "You see, sir, you nivver know where to hev a man
+like that.  He might hit at you wi' his own fisty, but it's more'n
+likely as he'll do it wi' some one else's, or wi' a clog or a knobstick.
+You can nivver tell.  Good-night, Mester Jacob, sir.  Keep a sharp
+look-out, sir, and so will I, for I shouldn't like to see a nice
+well-spoken young gentleman like you spoiled."
+
+I followed Dunning down to the gate, and turned the key after him,
+feeling horribly alarmed.
+
+Spoiled--not like to see a boy like me spoiled.  What did spoiling mean?
+I shuddered at the thought, and though for a moment I thought of
+rushing out and getting home as quickly as I could, there was a sort of
+fear upon me that a party of men might be waiting at one of the corners
+ready to shoot me.
+
+"I must wait a bit, and get cool," I said; and then looking about me, I
+shivered, for the great works looked strange and deserted, there was a
+horrible stillness in the place, and I had never felt so lonely and
+unpleasantly impressed even when watching in the middle of the night.
+
+Just then there was a whine and a bark, and Piter gave his chain a jerk.
+
+There was society for me at all events, and, going to the kennel, I
+unhooked the spring swivel and set the dog free, when, as usual, he
+showed his pleasure by butting his great head at me and trying to force
+it between my legs.
+
+I was used to it and knew how to act, but with a stranger it would have
+been awkward and meant sitting down heavily upon the dog unless he
+leaped out of the way.
+
+Of course I did not sit down on Piter, but lifted a leg over him, and as
+soon as he had become steady made a sort of inspection of the place to
+see that nothing was wrong, feeling that it was a sort of duty to do, as
+I was left alone.
+
+Piter kept close to me, rubbing my leg with one ear as we went all over
+the place, and as I found no powder-cans and fuses, no bottles full of
+fulminating silver, or any other deadly implement, my spirits rose and I
+began to laugh at myself for my folly.
+
+There was only the lower workshop with its grindstones to look through,
+and lit up as it was by the evening sun there did not seem to be
+anything very terrible there.  The floor was wet, and the stones and
+their frames and bands cast broad shadows across the place and on the
+opposite wall, but nothing seemed to be wrong, only I could hear the
+hollow echoing plash of the water falling from the wheel sluice down
+into the stone-walled pit.
+
+There was nothing new in this, only that it seemed a little plainer than
+usual, and as I looked I saw that the door had been left open.
+
+That was nothing particular, but I went on to close it, not being able
+to see the bottom, the view being cut off by a great solid bench in the
+middle of the floor.  On passing round this, though, I saw that there
+was something wrong; two or three bands had gone from as many
+grindstones, and had evidently been hastily thrown into the wheel-pit,
+whoever had done this having left one on the floor, half in and half
+out, and keeping the door from shutting close.
+
+"That couldn't be Gentles," I said aloud as I threw back the door, and
+my words echoed in the great black place, where the sunlight was cutting
+the shadow in a series of nearly horizontal rays as it came in past the
+wheel.
+
+I could see at a glance the amount of the mischief done: one band was
+evidently down in the water, and hung hitched in some way on to the band
+upon the floor.  It had been intended to be dragged in as well, but it
+had caught against the iron of the rail that surrounded the bracket-like
+platform the width of the door and projecting over the water, which was
+ten feet below.
+
+I recalled standing upon it to catch eels, when I contrived to catch the
+lost bands as well, and thinking that perhaps after all there were
+several of the straps sunken below me, I stooped down, took hold of the
+band, and pulled.
+
+It would not come, being caught somehow at the edge of the platform; so
+gathering it closely in my hands rather unwillingly, for it was a wet
+oily affair, I stepped on to the platform, uttered a shriek, and fell
+with a tremendous splash into the water below.  I felt the platform give
+way, dropping at once from beneath my feet, and though I snatched at it
+my hands glided over the boards in an instant and I was down amidst a
+tangle of bands in the deep black water.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY.
+
+A COMPANION IN TROUBLE.
+
+I can't tell you the horrors of those moments as they appeared to me.
+No description could paint it all exactly; but one moment I was down in
+darkness with the current thundering in my ears, the next I was up at
+the surface beating and splashing, listening to the echoing of the
+water, which sounded hollow and strange, looking up at the sunshine that
+streamed in past the wheel, and then I went under.
+
+It is a strange admission to make, but in those first few moments of
+surprise and horror I forgot that I knew how to swim, and all my
+movements were instinctive and only wearied and sent me down again after
+I had risen.
+
+Then reason came to my help, and I began to strike out slowly and swam
+to the side of the great stone chamber, passing one hand along the slimy
+wall trying to get some hold, but finding none; and then swimming
+straight across to the other side and trying there, for I dared not
+approach the wheel, which looked horrible and dangerous, and I felt that
+if I touched it the great circle would begin to revolve, and perhaps
+take me down under the water, carry me up on the other side, and throw
+me over again.
+
+It looked too horrible, all wet, slimy, and dripping as it was, or
+possibly I might have climbed up it and reached the edge of the dam, so
+I swam right beyond it and felt along the other side, but without avail.
+There was nothing but the slimy stonework, try where I would, and the
+chill of horror began to have a numbing effect on my arms.
+
+I swam on to and fro beneath the doorway, with the little platform
+hanging by one end far above my had, and once as I swam my foot seemed
+to touch something, which might have been a piece of the sunken wood or
+iron work, but which made me shrink as if some horrible monster had made
+a snatch at me.
+
+I shouted, but there was only the hollow echoing of the stone chamber
+and the lapping and whispering of the water; and, knowing that I was
+alone locked in the works, the terrible idea began to dance before me
+that I was going to die, for unless I could save myself I need not
+expect help.
+
+The thought unnerved me more and more and made me swim more rapidly in
+the useless fashion I was pursuing, and once more I stared in a
+shrinking way at the great wheel, which, innocent enough in itself,
+seemed a more terrible engine than ever.  I knew it would move if I swam
+across and clung to it, and I really dared not go near.
+
+There was always something repellent and strange even in a big water
+cistern in a house, and as a mere boy I have often started back in
+terror at the noise made by the pipes when the water was coming driving
+the air before it with a snorting gurgle, and then pouring in, while to
+climb up a ladder or set of steps and look down into the black watery
+place always gave me a shudder and made me glad to get away.
+
+It is easy to imagine, then, what my feelings were, suddenly cast into
+that great stone-walled place, with I did not know what depth of water
+beneath me, and inhabited as I knew by large twining eels.
+
+I daresay the eels were as much afraid of me as I was of them; but that
+made no difference to my feelings as I swam here and there trying in
+vain for something to which to cling; but in the darkest parts as well
+as the lightest it was always the same, my hand glided over the stones
+and splashed down again into the water.
+
+I was too much confused to think much, and moment by moment I was
+growing more helpless.  I can remember making a sort of bound to try and
+get a hold of the broken platform above my head, but the effect of that
+effort was only to send me below the surface.  I can recall, too,
+thinking that if I let my feet down I might find bottom, but this I
+dared not do for fear of what might be below; and so, each moment
+growing more feeble, I stared at the opened doorway through which I had
+come, at the iron-barred grating through which the water escaped, and
+which was the entrance to a tunnel or drain that ran beneath the works.
+Then I turned my eyes up at the sunlit opening through which seemed to
+come hope surrounding the black tooth-like engine that was hung there
+ready to turn and grind me down.
+
+My energy was nearly exhausted, the water was above my lips, and after a
+wild glare round at the slimy walls the whispering lapping echoes were
+changed for the thunderous roar and confusion felt by one plunged
+beneath the surface; and in my blind horror I began beating the water
+frantically in my last struggle for life.
+
+Natural instinct seems to have no hesitation in seizing upon the first
+help that comes.  It was so here.  I might have swum to the wheel at
+first and clung to it, but I was afraid; but now, after going under once
+or twice--I'm sure I don't know which--I came up in close proximity to
+the great mass of slimy wood-work, one of my hands touched it, the other
+joined it directly, and I clung panting there, blind, confused,
+helpless, but able to breathe.
+
+Almost at the same moment, and before I knew what I was holding on by,
+there came a sound which sent hope and joy into my heart.  It was the
+whimpering whine of Piter, who directly after set up a short yapping
+kind of bark, and I had a kind of idea that he must be somewhere on the
+wood-work inside the wheel.
+
+I did not know that he had fallen in at the same time as I; and though
+once or twice I had heard him whining, I did not realise that he was
+also in danger; in fact the horrible overwhelming selfishness of the
+desire for self-preservation had swept away everything but the thought
+of how I was to get out of my trouble.
+
+Every moment now gave me a little confidence, though it was nearly
+driven away when, able to see clearly again, I found myself holding on
+by one of the wooden pocket-like places formed with boards on the outer
+circumference of the engine--the places in fact into which, when the
+sluice was opened, the water rushed, and by its weight bore the wheel
+round.
+
+After a few minutes' clinging there, beginning to feel numbed and
+chilled by the cold, I realised that the sun was setting, that the
+patches of light were higher, and that in a very few minutes the horrors
+of this place would be increased tenfold by my being plunged in profound
+darkness.
+
+I dreaded moving, but I knew that the water could not come down upon me
+unless the sluice was opened, and that was turned off when the men left
+work, so that the water was saved for the next day, and the wheel ceased
+to turn.  I determined then to try and climb up from pocket to pocket of
+the wheel and so reach the stone-race at the opening, along which the
+water poured.
+
+My courage revived at this, and drawing my legs under me I got them upon
+one of the edges of the pocket beneath the water, raised myself up and
+caught hold of one higher than I had hold of before, and was about to
+take a step higher when, to my horror, the huge wheel began to feel the
+effect of my weight, and gradually the part I held descended.
+
+At the same moment there was a loud splash, a beating of the water, a
+whining barking noise, and I knew I had shaken Piter off the bar or
+spoke to which he had been clinging inside.
+
+"Here, Piter; here dog," I shouted; and he swam round to me, whining
+piteously and seeming to ask me for help.
+
+This I was able to give him, for, holding tightly with one hand, I got
+my right arm round him and helped him to scramble up into one of the
+pockets, though the effort had weighed down the wheel and I sank deeper
+in the water.
+
+I made another trial to climb up, but though the resistance of the great
+wheel was sufficient to support me partly it soon began to revolve, and
+I knew that it would go faster if I tried to struggle up.
+
+I heaved a despairing sigh, and for the first time began to think of
+Gentles.
+
+"This must be his doing," I said to myself.  He had set some one to take
+out the support of the little platform, and I was obliged to own that
+after all he had only set a trap for me just as I had set one for him.
+
+Still there was a great difference: he was on his way to do harm when he
+was caught--I was engaged in my lawful pursuits and trying to do good.
+
+I had another trial, and another, but found it would, in my exhausted
+state, be impossible to climb up, and as I clung there, up to my chest
+in the water, and with the dog close to me, he whined piteously and
+licked my face.
+
+The next minute he began to bark, stood up with his hind feet on the
+edge of one bar, his fore-paws on the one above, and made a bound.
+
+To my surprise he reached his aim, and his weight having no effect on
+the wheel, he scrambled up and up till I knew he must have reached the
+top.
+
+There was no doubt about it.
+
+The next minute I heard the rattling shaking noise made by a dog when
+getting rid of the water in its coat.  Then a loud and joyous barking.
+Then only the dripping, plashing sound of the water that escaped through
+the sluice and came running in and falling about the wheel.
+
+What time was it?  About half-past six, and the men would not come to
+work till the next morning.  Could I hang there till then?
+
+I knew it was impossible--that in perhaps less than half an hour I
+should be compelled to loose my hold and fall back into the black water
+without strength to stir a paralysed arm.
+
+I shouted again and again, but the walls echoed back my cry, and I knew
+it was of no use, for it was impossible for any one to hear me outside
+the place.  It was only wasting strength, and that was wanted to sustain
+me as long as possible.
+
+There was one hope for me, though: my uncles would be returning from
+Redham at ten or eleven o'clock, and, not finding me at home, they would
+come in search of me.
+
+When it is too late!
+
+I must have said that aloud, for the word _late_ came echoing back from
+the wall, and for a time I hung there, feeling numbed, as it were, in my
+head, and as slow at thinking or trying to imagine some way of escape as
+I was at movement.
+
+But I made one more effort.
+
+It seemed to be so pitiful that a wretched, brainless dog, when placed
+in a position like this, should be able to scramble out, while I, with
+the power of thinking given to me, with reason and some invention, was
+perfectly helpless.
+
+This thought seemed to send a current like electricity through me,
+nerving me to make another effort, and loosening one hand I caught at
+the bar above me as before, changed the position of my feet, and began
+to climb.
+
+I gave up with a groan, for I was only taking the place of the water and
+turning the wheel just as a turnspit dog would work, or a squirrel in
+its cage, only that I was outside the wheel and they would have been in.
+
+I came down with a splash; and as I clung there I could hear the water
+go softly lapping against the wall and whispering in the corners as if
+it were talking to itself about how soon I should have to loose my hold,
+sink down, and be drowned.
+
+I was weakened by this last effort as well as by the strain upon my
+nerves, and as the water ceased to lap and whisper a horrible silence
+crept down into the place in company with the darkness.  Only a few
+minutes before all was bright where the sun rays flashed in; now there
+was only a soft glow to be seen, and all about me black gloom.
+
+I grew more and more numbed and helpless, and but for the fact that I
+hung there by my hands being crooked over the edge of the board across
+the wheel, I believe I must have fallen back, but my fingers stiffened
+into position and helped me to retain my hold, till at last they began
+to give way.
+
+I had been thinking of home and of my uncles, and wondering how soon
+they would find me, and all in a dull nerveless way, for I suppose I was
+too much exhausted to feel much mental or bodily pain, when all at once
+I began to recall stories I had read about the Saint Bernard dogs and
+the travellers in the snow; and then about the shepherds' collies in the
+north and the intelligence they displayed.
+
+Several such tales came to my memory, and I was just thinking to myself
+that they were all nonsense, for if dogs had so much intelligence, why
+had not Piter, who had a head big enough for a double share of dogs'
+brains, gone and fetched somebody to help me, instead of making his own
+escape, and then going and curling himself up by one of the furnaces to
+get dry--a favourite place of his if he had the chance.
+
+Just then, as I seemed to be half asleep, I heard a sharp bark at a
+distance, then another nearer, and directly after Piter was on the top
+of the wheel, where he had stepped from the sluice trough, barking with
+all his might.
+
+"Wheer is he then, boy?  Wheer is he then?" said a gruff hoarse voice.
+
+Piter barked more furiously than ever, and the glow seemed to give way
+to darkness overhead, as the voice muttered:
+
+"Dear, dear!  Hey!  Think o' that now.  Mester Jacob, are you theer?"
+
+"Help!"  I said, so faintly that I was afraid I should not be heard.
+
+"Wheerabouts?  In the watter?"
+
+"I'm--on--the wheel," I cried weakly, and then, as I heard the sound of
+someone drawing in his breath, I strove to speak once more and called
+out:
+
+"Turn the wheel."
+
+It began to move directly, but taking me down into the water, and I
+uttered a cry, when the wheel turned in the other direction, drawing me
+out and up.  My arms straightened out; I was drawn closer to the
+wood-work.  I felt that I should slip off, when my toes rested upon one
+of the bars, while, as I rose higher, the tension on my arms grew less,
+and then less, and at last, instead of hanging, I was lying upon my
+chest.  Then a pair of great hands laid hold of me, and Piter was
+licking my face.
+
+Pannell told me afterwards that he had to carry me all along the narrow
+stone ledge to the window of his smithy, and thrust me through there
+before climbing in after me, for it was impossible to get into the yard
+the other way without a boat.
+
+I must have fainted, I suppose, for when I opened my eyes again, though
+it was in darkness, the icy water was not round me, but I was lying on
+the warm ashes down in one of the stoke-holes; and the faint glow of the
+half-extinct fire was shining upon the shiny brown forehead of the big
+smith.
+
+"Pannell!"  I exclaimed, "where am I?"
+
+"Get out!" he growled.  "Just as if yow didn' know."
+
+"Did you save me?"
+
+"'Sh, will yo'!" he whispered.  "How do we know who's a-watching an'
+listening?  Yow want to get me knob-sticked, that's what yow want."
+
+"No, no," I said, shivering.
+
+"Yow know where we are, o' course.  Down in the big stokul; but be
+quiet.  Don't shout."
+
+"How did you know I was in there?"
+
+"What, in yonder?"
+
+"Yes, of course; oh how my arms ache and throb!"
+
+"Let me give 'em a roob, my lad," he said; and strongly, but not
+unkindly, he rubbed and seemed to knead my arms, especially the muscles
+above my elbows, talking softly in a gruff murmur all the while.
+
+"I did give you a wink, lad," he said, "for I know'd that some'at was on
+the way.  I didn' know what, nor that it was so bad as that theer.  Lor'
+how can chaps do it!  Yow might hev been drowned."
+
+"Yes," I said with a shiver.  "The cowards!"
+
+"Eh!  Don't speak aloud, lad.  How did you get in?  Some un push thee?"
+
+"Push me!  No; the platform was broken loose, and a trap set for me,
+baited with a wheel-band," I added angrily.
+
+Pannell burst into a laugh, and then checked himself.
+
+"I weer not laughing at yow, lad," he whispered, "but at owd Gentles.
+So yow got in trap too?"
+
+"Trapped!  Yes; the cowardly wretches!"
+
+"Ay, 'twere cowardly.  Lucky I came.  Couldn't feel bottom, eh?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Nay, yow wouldn't; there's seven foot o' watter there, wi'out mood."
+
+"How did you know I was there?"
+
+"What!  Didn' I tell ye?"
+
+"No."
+
+"I were hanging about like, as nigh as I could for chaps, a waitin' to
+see yow go home; but yow didn't coom, and yow didn't coom; and I got
+crooked like wi' waiting, and wondering whether yow'd gone another way,
+when all at once oop comes the bull-poop fierce like, and lays holt o'
+me by the leg, and shakes it hard.  I was going to kick un, but he'd
+on'y got holt of my trowsis, and he kep on' shacking.  Then he lets go
+and barks and looks at me, and takes holt o' my trowsis agin, and hangs
+away, pulling like, till I seemed to see as he wanted me to coom, and I
+followed him."
+
+"Good old Piter!"  I said; and there was a whine.  I did not know it,
+but Piter was curled up on the warm ashes close by me, and as soon as he
+heard his name he put up his head, whined, and rapped the ashes with his
+stumpy tail.
+
+"He went to the wucks fast as he could, and slipped in under the gate;
+but I couldn't do that, you see, Mester, and the gate was locked, so I
+was just thinking what I'd best do, and wondering where you might be,
+when I see Stivens come along, looking as if he'd like to howd my nose
+down again his grindstone, and that made me feel as if I'd like to get
+one of his ears in my tongs, and his head on my stithy.  He looked at
+me, and I looked at him, and then I come away and waited till he'd
+gone."
+
+"It seemed as if help would never come," I said.
+
+"Ay, it weer long time," said Pannell; "but I found no one about at
+last, and I slipped over the wall."
+
+"Yes, and I know where," I said.
+
+"And there was Piter waiting and wanting me to follow him.  But there
+was no getting in--the doors were locked.  I seemed to know, though,
+that the dog wanted to get me to the wheel-pit, and when I tried to
+think how to get to you I found there was no way 'cept through my forge.
+So I got out o' my window, and put the dorg down, and--well, I came.
+Arn't much of a fire here, but if I blow it up Stivens or some on 'em
+will hear it, or see it, or something; and I s'pose I shall have it for
+to-night's work."
+
+I did feel warmer and better able to move, and at last I rose to make
+the best of my way back.
+
+"Nobody will notice my wet things," I said, "now it's dark.  I don't
+know what to say to thank you, Pannell."
+
+"Say I was a big boompkin for meddling ower what didn't consarn me.  If
+I don't come to wuck to-morrow you'll know why."
+
+"No; I shall not," I cried wonderingly.
+
+"Ah, then, you'll have time to find out," he muttered.  "Good-night,
+lad!"
+
+"Stop a moment and I'll open the gate," I cried.
+
+"Nay, I shall go out as I come in.  Mayn't be seen then.  Mebbe the
+lads'll be watching by the gate."
+
+He stalked out, and as I followed him I saw his tall gaunt figure going
+to the corner of the yard where the trap was set, and then there was a
+scuffling noise, and he had gone.
+
+I left the place soon after, and as I fastened the gate I fancied I saw
+Stevens and a man who limped in his walk; but I could not be sure, for
+the gas lamp cast but a very feeble light, and I was too eager to get
+home and change my things to stop and watch.
+
+The run did me good, and by the time I had on a dry suit I was very
+little the worse for my immersion, being able to smile as I told my
+uncles at their return.
+
+They looked serious enough, though, and Uncle Jack said it was all owing
+to the trap.
+
+The question of putting the matter in the hands of the police was again
+well debated, but not carried out--my uncles concluding that it would do
+no good even if the right man were caught, for in punishing him we
+should only have the rest who were banded together more bitter against
+us.
+
+"Better carry on the war alone," said Uncle Dick; "we must win in the
+end."
+
+"If we are not first worn-out," said the others.
+
+"Which we shall not be," cried Uncle Dick, laughing.  "There are three
+of us to wear out, and as one gets tired it will enrage the others;
+while when all three of us are worn-out we can depute Cob to carry on
+the war, and he is as obstinate as all three of us put together."
+
+They looked at me and laughed, but I felt too much stirred to follow
+their example.
+
+"It is too serious," I said, "to treat like that; for I am obstinate now
+much more than I was, and I should like to show these cowards that we
+are not going to be frightened out of the town."
+
+"Cob don't know what fear is," said Uncle Jack with a bit of a sneer.
+
+"Indeed but I do," I replied.  "I was horribly frightened when I fell
+into that place; but the more they frighten me, the more I want for us
+to make them feel that we are not to be beaten by fear."
+
+"Bravo!" cried Uncle Bob, clapping his hands.
+
+"There!  Let's go on with our work," said Uncle Dick; "we must win in
+the end."
+
+To have seen the works during the next few days, anyone would have
+supposed that there had never been the slightest trouble there.  After
+due consideration the little platform had been replaced and the bands
+taken from the grindstone gear duly put in position, the men taking not
+the slightest notice, but working away most industriously.
+
+Pannell, however, did not come back, and his forge was cold, very much
+to my uncles' annoyance.  On inquiry being made we were told that his
+mother was dying, and that he had been summoned to see her.
+
+I felt a little suspicious, but could hardly believe that anything was
+wrong, till one evening Uncle Jack proposed that we two should have a
+walk out in the country for a change.
+
+I was only too glad, for the thought of getting away from the smoke and
+dirt and noise was delightful.
+
+So as to get out sooner we took a short cut and were going down one of
+the long desolate-looking streets of rows of houses all alike, and built
+so as to be as ugly as possible, when we saw on the opposite side a man
+seated upon a door-step in his shirt-sleeves, and with his head a good
+deal strapped and bandaged.
+
+"That's one of the evils of a manufacturing trade where machinery is
+employed," said Uncle Jack.  "I'm afraid that, generally speaking, the
+accidents are occasioned by the men's carelessness or bravado; but even
+then it is a painful thing to know that it is your machinery that has
+mutilated a poor fellow.  That poor fellow has been terribly knocked
+about, seemingly."
+
+"Yes," I said, looking curiously across the road.
+
+"So far we have been wonderfully fortunate, but--here, this way!  Where
+are you going?"
+
+"Over here," I said, already half across the road; for the brawny arms
+and long doubled-up legs of the man seemed familiar.
+
+"Why?" cried Uncle Jack; but he followed me directly.
+
+"Pannell!"  I exclaimed.
+
+"What, Mester Jacob!" he cried, lifting up his head with his face in my
+direction, but a broad bandage was over his eyes.
+
+"Why, what's all this?"  I cried; "have you had some accident?"
+
+"Yes, met wi' acciden' done o' purpose."
+
+"But they said your mother was dying," I cried as I held the great hard
+hand, which was now quite clean.
+
+"Ay, so I heard say," replied the great fellow.
+
+"Is she better?"
+
+"Better!  Well, she ain't been badly."
+
+"Not dying?" said Uncle Jack.
+
+"What's that yow, Mester?" said Pannell.  "Sarvice to you, sir.  My
+mother!--dying!  Well, I suppose she be, slowly, like the rest of us."
+
+"But what have you been doing?"  I cried.  "What a state you are in!"
+
+"State I'm in!  Yow should have seen me a fortnit ago, my lad.  I'm
+splendid now--coming round fast."
+
+"But how was it?" cried Uncle Jack, while I turned white as I seemed to
+see it all.
+
+"How was it, Mester!" said Pannell laughing.  "Well, you see, I weer
+heving bit of a walluck, wi' my pipe in my mooth, and it being bit dusk
+like that night I didn't see which way I were going, and run my head
+again some bits o' wood."
+
+"Sticks!"  I said excitedly.
+
+He turned his head towards me smiling.
+
+"Couldn't see rightly as to that, Mester Jacob," he said; "I dessay they
+weer."
+
+"And a set of cowards had hold of them!"  I cried.
+
+"Nay, I can't say," replied the great fellow.  "Yow see, Mester, when
+owt hits you on the head it wuzzles you like, and you feel maazed."
+
+Uncle Jack stood frowning.
+
+"You know very well, Pannell," I cried angrily, "that you have been set
+upon by some of these treacherous cowards for helping me that evening.
+Oh, Uncle Jack!"  I cried, passionately turning to him, "why don't you
+go to the police?"
+
+"Howd thee tongue, lad!" cried Pannell fiercely.  "Yow don't know nowt
+about it.  Don't yow do nowt o' t' sort, Mester.  Let well alone, I
+say."
+
+"But I cannot stand still and see these outrages committed," said Uncle
+Jack in a low angry voice.
+
+"Hey, but thou'lt hev to, 'less you give up maakin' 'ventions.  Trade
+don't like 'em, and trade will hev its say."
+
+"But that you should have been so brutally used for doing a manly action
+for this boy," began Uncle Jack.
+
+"Theer, theer, theer," said Pannell; "I don't kick agen it.  I s'pected
+they'd do some'at.  I know'd it must coom.  Chap as breaks the laws has
+to tek his bit o' punishment.  Chaps don't bear no malice.  I'm comin'
+back to work next week."
+
+"Look here," said Uncle Jack, who was a good deal moved by the man's
+calm patience, "what are we to do to come to terms with the workmen, and
+have an end to these outrages?"
+
+"Oh, that's soon done," replied Pannell, rubbing one great muscular arm
+with his hand, "yow've just got to give up all contrapshions, and use
+reg'lar old-fashioned steel, and it'll be all right."
+
+"And would you do this, my man?" said Uncle Jack, looking down at the
+great muscular fellow before him.
+
+"Ay, I'd do it for sake o' peace and quiet.  I should nivver go agen
+trade."
+
+"And you would advise me to give up at the command of a set of ignorant
+roughs, and make myself their slave instead of master."
+
+"Mester Jacob," said Pannell, "I can't see a bit wi' this towel round my
+head; look uppards and downards; any o' the chaps coming?"
+
+"No," I said.
+
+"Then look here, Mester, I will speak if I nivver do again.  No, I
+wouldn't give up if I was you, not if they did a hundred worse things
+than they've done yet.  Theer!"
+
+Uncle Jack looked down on the man, and then said quickly:
+
+"And you, what will you do?"
+
+"Get to wuck again, Mester, as soon as I can."
+
+"And the men who beat you like that?"
+
+"Eh, what about 'em?"
+
+"Shall you try and punish them?"
+
+"Punish 'em, Mester!  Why, how can I?  They punished me."
+
+"But you will turn upon them for this, Pannell, will you not?"
+
+"Nay, Mester; I went again 'em, and they knob-sticked me for it, and
+it's all done and over.  I shall soon be back at my stithy, if you'll
+hev me again."
+
+"Have you!  Yes, my man, of course," said Uncle Jack.  "I wish we could
+have more like you."
+
+"Cob," said Uncle Jack as we strode on and got well out into the
+country, "we've got a very strong confederation to fight, and I do not
+feel at all hopeful of succeeding; but, there: we've put our hands to
+the plough, and we can't look back.  Now never mind business, let's
+listen to the birds and enjoy the fresh country air for a time."
+
+We were going up the valley, passing every now and then "a wheel" as it
+was called, that is a water-wheel, turning a number of grindstones, the
+places being remarkably like ours, only that as we got farther out the
+people who ground and forged did their work under the shade of trees,
+while the birds piped their songs, and air and water were wonderfully
+different from what they were about our place on the edge of the great
+town.
+
+"Let's get back, Cob," said Uncle Jack despondently.  "It makes me
+miserable to hear the birds, and see the beauty of the hills and vales,
+and the sparkling water, and know that men toiling together in towns can
+be such ruffians and so full of cruelty to their fellow creatures."
+
+"And so strong and true and brave and ready to help one another."
+
+"As who are, Cob?" said my uncle.
+
+"Well, for want of thinking of anyone else just now," I said, "there's
+poor Pannell; he saved me, and he has just shown us that he is too
+faithful to his fellow-workmen to betray them."
+
+Uncle Jack laid his hand upon my shoulder and gave it a hearty grip.
+
+"You're right, my lad," he said.  "You're the better philosopher after
+all.  There's good and bad, and like so many more I think of the bad and
+overlook the good.  But all the same, Cob, I'm very uneasy.  These men
+have a spiteful feeling against you, and we shall not be doing right if
+we trust you out of our sight again."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.
+
+WHAT I CAUGHT AND HEARD.
+
+"I should say you will very likely have some sport," said Uncle Dick.
+"Try by all means."
+
+"I hardly like to, uncle," I said.
+
+"Nonsense, my lad!  All work and no play makes Jack--I mean Jacob--a
+dull boy."
+
+"But it will seem as if I am neglecting my work."
+
+"By no means.  Besides, we shall not be busy for a day or two.  Have a
+few hours' fishing, and I daresay one of us will come and see how you
+are getting on."
+
+The opportunity was too tempting to be lost, so I got a cheap rod and a
+dear line--a thoroughly good one, asked a gardener just outside to dig
+up some small red worms for me, and, furnishing myself with some paste
+and boiled rice, I one morning took my place up at the head of the dam
+where the stream came in, chose a place where the current whirled round
+in a deep hole and began fitting my tackle together prior to throwing
+in.
+
+I had been longing for this trial, for I felt sure that there must be
+some big fish in the dam.  It was quite amongst the houses and
+factories, but all the same it was deep, there was a constant run of
+fresh water through it, and I had more than once seen pieces of bread
+sucked down in a curiously quiet way, as if taken by a great slow moving
+fish, a carp or tench, an old inhabitant of the place.
+
+Certainly it was not the sort of spot I should have selected for a day's
+fishing had I been offered my choice, but it was the best I could obtain
+then, and I was going to make the most of it.
+
+I laughed to myself as I thought of the eels, and the great haul I had
+made down in the wheel-pit, and then I shuddered as I thought of the
+horrors I had suffered down there, and wondered whether our troubles
+with the men were pretty well over.
+
+I hoped so, for from what I heard the business was succeeding beyond the
+hopes of the most sanguine of my uncles, and if we were left alone
+success on the whole was assured.
+
+Of course it was this brilliant prospect that induced them to stay on
+and dare the perils that lurked around, though, during the past few
+weeks, everything had been so quiet that once more we were indulging in
+the hope that the war was at an end.
+
+In spite of Dr Johnson's harsh saying about a fisherman, I know of no
+more satisfactory amusement than is to be found in company with a rod
+and line.  The sport may be bad, but there is the country, the bright
+sky, the waving trees, the dancing waters, and that delicious feeling of
+expectation of the finest bite and the biggest fish that never comes but
+always may.
+
+I was in this state of expectancy that day.  The sport was not good
+certainly, for the fish I caught were small, but I argued that where
+there were small fish there must be large, and sooner or later some of
+the monsters of the dam would see and take my bait.
+
+I fished till dinner-time, varying my position, and when the bell rang
+some of the men came and sat on the edge and watched me, chatting
+civilly enough as they smoked their pipes.
+
+As luck had it I caught a couple of good-sized silvery roach, and
+Stevens gave his leg a regular slap as he exclaimed:
+
+"Well if they'd towd me there was fish like that i' th' dam I wouldn't
+hev believed it."
+
+The bell rang for work to be resumed, and the men slowly moved along the
+dam edge, Stevens being left, and he stopped to fill and light his
+pipe--so it seemed to me; but as he stooped over it, puffing away large
+clouds of smoke, I heard him say:
+
+"Don't look.  Soon as men's gone in, yow go and stand on ledge close
+under grinding-shop windows, and see what you catch."
+
+"It's such an awkward place to get to," I said.  "I suppose it's deep,
+but--"
+
+"You do what I tell'ee, and don't talk," growled Stevens, and he
+strolled off with his hands in his pockets after his mates.
+
+"I sha'n't go," I said.  "It's a very awkward place to get to; the ledge
+is not above nine inches wide, and if I got hold of a big fish, how am I
+to land him!"
+
+The very idea of getting hold of a fish that would be too hard to land
+was too much for me, and I should have gone to the ledge if it had only
+been four and a half inches wide.  So, waiting to have a few more
+throws, which were without result, I picked up my basket, walked right
+round the end of the dam, and then along the top of a narrow wall till I
+reached the end of the works at the far side, and from there lowered
+myself gently down on the ledge, along which Pannell had brought me when
+he rescued me from the wheel-pit, right at the other end, and towards
+which I was slowly making my way.
+
+It was slow travelling, and my feet were not above a couple of inches
+above the water, while the windows of the grinding-shop were about four
+feet above my head.
+
+I made no special selection, but stopped right in the middle, just where
+I imagined that the dam head would be deepest, and softly dropped in my
+line after setting down my basket and leaning my back against the stone
+building.
+
+As I did so I wished that there had been a place to sit down, but there
+was of course only just room to stand, and there I was with the water
+gliding on and over the great wheel a few yards to my left; to my right
+the windows, out of which poured the black smoke of the forges, and from
+which came the _clink chink_ of hammer upon anvil, while above me came
+throbbing and vibrating, screeching and churring, the many varied sounds
+made by the grinders as they pressed some piece of steel against the
+swiftly revolving stone, while, in spite of dripping drenching water,
+the least contact drew from the stone a shower of sparks.
+
+I fished on, after making a few alterations in the depth of my bait,
+finding the water far deeper than I expected.  I renewed that bait, too,
+but no monstrous fish came to take it, to hook itself, and to make a
+rush and drag me off my ledge.  The sounds buzzed and rattled overhead;
+there was the echoing plash of the water over the wheel, and the
+whispering echoes which did not sound at all terrible now, and above all
+from the windows overhead, in intervals of the grinding, I could hear
+the men talking very earnestly at times.
+
+I paid very little heed, for I was interested in my fishing and the
+water across which the spiders were skating.  I wanted a big bite--that
+big bite--but still it did not come, and I began to wonder whether there
+were any fish of size in the place.
+
+"There's every reason why there should be," I thought.  Deep clear water
+fed by the great dam up in the hills, and of course that dam was fed by
+the mountain streams.  This place was all amongst buildings, and plenty
+of smuts fell on the surface; in fact the wind used to send a regular
+black scum floating along to the sides.
+
+_Plop_!
+
+My heart gave a throb of excitement, for there was a rise evidently made
+by a big fish over to my right close inshore.
+
+"Now if I had been there," I thought, "I should have most likely been
+able to catch that fish and then--"
+
+Bah!  Who wanted to catch a great water-rat that had plumped off the
+bank into the water?  I could see the sleek-coated fellow paddling about
+close inshore.  Then he dived down, and there were a lot of tiny bubbles
+to show his course before he went right in under the bank, which was
+full of holes.
+
+I could almost fancy I was in the country, for there were a few rushes
+and some sedgy growth close to where the rat had been busy.  Farther
+off, too, there was the sound that I had heard down in a marshy part of
+Essex with my uncles, during one of our excursions.  "_Quack, quack,
+quack!  Wuck, wuck, wuck_!"--a duck and a drake just coming down to the
+water to drink and bathe and feed on the water-weed and snails.
+
+Yes; it quite put me in mind of the country to have wild ducks coming
+down to the pool, and--there were the two wild ducks!  One, as the cry
+had told me, was a drake, and he had once been white, but old age and
+Arrowfield soot and the dirty little black yard where he generally lived
+had changed his tint most terribly, and though he plunged in, and bobbed
+and jerked the water all over his back, and rubbed the sides of his head
+and his beak all among his feathers, they were past cleaning.
+
+As to his wife, who expressed herself with a loud quack, instead of
+saying _wuck, wuck_ in more smothered tones, she was possibly quite as
+dirty as her lord, but being brown the dirt did not show.  Her rags did,
+for a more disreputable bird I never saw, though she, too, washed and
+napped her wings, and dived and drenched herself before getting out on
+the bank to preen and beak over her feathers.
+
+Alas!  As people say in books, it was not the country, but dingy,
+smoke-bewithered Arrowfield, and I wondered to myself why a couple of
+birds with wings should consent to stay amongst factories and works.
+
+I knew the top of my float by heart; so must that skating spider which
+had skimmed up to it, running over the top of the water as easily as if
+it were so much ice.  I was growing drowsy and tired.  Certainly I
+leaned my back up against the wall, but it was quite upright, and there
+was no recompense.  Whatever is the use of watching a float that will
+not bob?  It may be one of the best to be got in a tackle-shop, with a
+lovely subdivision of the paint--blue at the bottom and white at the
+top, or green and white, or blue and red, but if it obstinately persists
+in sitting jauntily cocked up on the top of the water immovable, fishing
+no longer becomes a sport.
+
+But I did not fish all that time for nothing.
+
+As I said, I was becoming drowsy with looking so long at the black cap
+at the top of my float.  Perhaps it was the whirr and hum of the
+machinery, and the faint sound of plashing water; even the buzz and
+churr and shriek of the steel upon the fast spinning stones may have had
+something to do with it.  At any rate I was feeling sleepy and stupid,
+when all at once I was wide-awake and listening excitedly, for the
+shrieking of blade held upon grindstone ceased, and I heard a voice that
+was perfectly familiar to me say:
+
+"Tell 'ee what.  Do it at once if you like; but if I had my wayer I'd
+tie lump o' iron fast on to that theer dorg's collar and drop 'im in
+dam."
+
+"What good ud that do?" said another voice.
+
+"Good!  Why we'd be shut on him."
+
+"Ay, but they'd get another."
+
+"Well, they wouldn't get another boy if we got shut o' this one," said
+the first voice.
+
+"But yow wouldn't go so far as to--"
+
+The man stopped short, and seemed to give his stone a slap with the
+blade that he was grinding.
+
+"I d'know.  He's a bad un, and allus at the bottom of it if owt is found
+out."
+
+"Ay, but yow mustn't."
+
+"Well, p'r'aps I wouldn't then, but I'd do something as would mak him
+think it were time to go home to his mother."
+
+My face grew red, then white, I'm sure, for one moment it seemed to
+burn, the next it felt wet and cold.  I did not feel sleepy any longer,
+but in an intense state of excitement, for those words came from the
+window just above my head, so that I could hear them plainly.
+
+"It's all nonsense," I said to myself directly after.  "They know I'm
+here, and it's done to scare me."
+
+Just then the churring and screeching of the grinding steel burst out
+louder than ever, and I determined to go away and treat all I had heard
+with silent contempt.  Pulling up my line just as a fisher will, I threw
+in again for one final try, and hardly had the bait reached the bottom
+before the float bobbed.
+
+I could not believe it at first.  It seemed that I must have jerked the
+line--but no, there it was again, another bob, and another, and then a
+series of little bobs, and the float moved slowly off over the surface,
+carrying with it a dozen or so of blacks.
+
+I was about to strike, but I thought I would give the fish a little more
+time and make sure of him, and, forgetting all about the voices
+overhead, I was watching the float slowly gliding away, bobbing no
+longer, but with the steady motion that follows if a good fish has taken
+the bait.
+
+And what a delight that was!  What a reward to my patience!  That it was
+a big one I had no doubt.  If it had been a little fish it would have
+jigged and bobbed the float about in the most absurd way, just as if the
+little fish were thoughtless, and in a hurry to be off to play on the
+surface, whereas a big fish made it a regular business, and was calm and
+deliberate in every way.
+
+"Now for it," I thought, and raising the point of the rod slowly I was
+just going to strike when the grinding above my head ceased, and one of
+the voices I had before heard said:
+
+"Well, we two have got to go up to the _Pointed Star_ to-night to get
+our orders, and then we shall know what's what."
+
+I forgot all about the fish and listened intently.
+
+"Nay, they can't hear," said the voice again, as if in answer to a
+warning; "wheels makes too much noise.  I don't care if they did.
+They've had warnings enew.  What did they want to coom here for?"
+
+"Ay," said another, "trade's beginning to feel it a'ready.  If we let
+'em go on our wives and bairns 'll be starving next winter."
+
+"That's a true word, lad; that's a true word.  When d'yow think it'll
+be?"
+
+"Ah, that's kept quiet.  We shall know soon enew."
+
+"Ay, when it's done."
+
+"Think this 'll sattle 'em?"
+
+"Sattle!  Ay, that it will, and pretty well time.  They'll go back to
+Lonnon wi' their tails twix' their legs like the curs they are.  Say,
+think they've got pistols?"
+
+"Dunno.  Sure to hev, ah sud say."
+
+"Oh!"
+
+"Well, s'pose they hev?  You aren't the man to be scarred of a pop-gun,
+are yo'?"
+
+"I d'know.  Mebbe I should be if I hev the wuck to do.  I'm scarred o'
+no man."
+
+"But you're scarred of a pistol, eh lad?  Well, I wunner at yo'."
+
+"Well, see what a pistol is."
+
+"Ay, I know what a pistol is, lad.  Man's got a pistol, and yo' hit 'im
+a tap on the knuckles, and he lets it fall.  Then he stoops to pick it
+up, and knobstick comes down on his head.  Nowt like a knobstick, lad,
+whether it be a man or a bit o' wood.  Wants no loading, and is allus
+safe."
+
+"Well, all I've got to say is, if I have the wuck to do I shall--"
+
+_Churr, churry, screech, and grind_.  The noise drowned the words I was
+eager to hear, and I stood bathed with perspiration, and hot and cold in
+turn.
+
+That some abominable plot was in hatching I was sure, and in another
+minute I might have heard something that would have enabled us to be
+upon our guard; but the opportunity had passed, for the men were working
+harder than ever.
+
+I was evidently in very bad odour with them, and I thought bitterly of
+the old proverb about listeners never hearing any good of themselves.
+
+What should I do--stop and try to hear more?
+
+_Jig, jig, tug, tug_ at the top of my rod, and I looked down to see that
+the float was out of sight and the rod nearly touching the water.
+
+My fisherman's instinct made me strike at once, and in spite of the
+agitation produced by the words I had heard I was ready for the exciting
+struggle I expected to follow.  I had certainly hooked a fish which
+struggled and tugged to get away; but it was not the great carp or tench
+I expected to capture, only a miserable little eel which I drew through
+the water as I walked slowly along the ledge towards the end of the
+works farthest from the wheel, where I climbed on the wall, and, still
+dragging my prize, I went right on to the far end, where the water came
+in from the stream.  There I crossed the wooden plank that did duty for
+a bridge, and glanced furtively back at the windows of the works looking
+out upon the dam.
+
+As far as I could make out I had not been seen, and I had obtained some
+very valuable information that might be useful for our protection.
+
+When I had reached the spot where I had begun fishing I drew in my
+capture; but it was not a long eel, but a mass of twined-up, snake-like
+fish which had wreathed itself into a knot with my line.
+
+To get it free seemed to be impossible, so I cut off the piece of line
+just above the knot and let it fall into the water to extricate itself,
+while I went back to the office to have a few words with my uncles about
+what I had heard.
+
+"I think we are in duty bound to send you home, Cob," said Uncle Jack,
+and the others murmured their acquiescence.
+
+"Send me home!"  I cried.  "What!  Just when all the fun is going to
+begin!"
+
+"Fun!" said Uncle Dick, "Fun that the frogs suffered when the boys
+stoned them, eh?"
+
+"Oh, but you know what I mean, uncle.  I don't want to go."
+
+"But we have run you into terrible risks already," cried Uncle Bob, "and
+if you were hurt I should feel as if I could never face your father and
+mother again."
+
+"Oh, but I sha'n't be hurt," I cried.  "There, I'm ready for anything,
+and shall always try to get on the safe side."
+
+"As you always do," said Uncle Jack grimly.  "No, my boy, you must not
+stay.  It is evident from what you overheard that the men have some
+design against us on hand.  Above all, they have taken a great dislike
+to you, and in their blind belief that you are one of the causes of
+their trouble they evidently feel spiteful and will not shrink from
+doing you harm.  And that's rather a long-winded speech," he added,
+smiling.
+
+"Can't we make them see that we are working for them instead of against
+them?" said Uncle Dick.
+
+"No," said Uncle Bob.  "No one can teach prejudiced workmen.  The light
+comes to them some day, but it takes a long time to get through their
+dense brains.  I think Cob must go."
+
+"Oh!  Uncle Bob," I exclaimed.
+
+"I can't help it," my lad.  "There seems to be no help for it.  I shall
+regret it horribly, for your uncles are very poor company."
+
+"Thankye," said Uncle Dick.
+
+"Nice remark from the most stupid of three brothers," grumbled Uncle
+Jack.
+
+"But you ought not to be exposed to these risks," continued Uncle Bob,
+"and now that by your own showing there is something worse on the way."
+
+"Oh, it can't be worse than it has been; and besides, the men said I was
+always the first to find anything out.  You see I have this time--
+again."
+
+"Yes, with a vengeance," said Uncle Jack.
+
+"And I'm sure you can't spare me."
+
+"No, we can ill spare you, Cob," said Uncle Dick, "but we should not be
+doing our duty if we kept you here."
+
+"Now, uncle," I cried, "I believe if I went home--though, of course,
+they would be very glad to see me--my father would say I ought to be
+ashamed of myself for leaving you three in the lurch."
+
+"Look here!  Look here!  Look here!" cried Uncle Bob.  "We can't sit
+here and be dictated to by this boy.  He has run risks enough, and he
+had better go back to them at once."
+
+"Oh, you see if I would have said a word if I had known that you would
+have served me like this!"  I cried angrily.  "Anyone would think I was
+a schoolgirl."
+
+"Instead of a man of sixteen," said Uncle Bob.
+
+"Never mind," I cried, "you were sixteen once, Uncle Bob."
+
+"Quite right, my boy, so I was, and a conceited young rascal I was,
+almost as cocky as you are."
+
+"Thank you, uncle."
+
+"Only I had not been so spoiled by three easy-going, good-natured
+uncles, who have made you think that you are quite a man."
+
+"Thank you, uncle," I said again, meaning to be very sarcastic.
+
+"Instead of a soft stripling full of sap."
+
+"And not fit to stand against the blows of oak cudgels and the injured
+Arrowfield workmen," said Uncle Dick.
+
+"Oh, all right!  Banter away," I said.  "I don't mind.  I shall grow
+older and stronger and more manly, I hope."
+
+"Exactly," said Uncle Jack; "and that's what we are aiming at for you,
+my lad.  We don't want to see you scorched by an explosion, or hurt by
+blows, or made nervous by some horrible shock."
+
+"I don't want to be hurt, of course," I said, "and I'm not at all brave.
+I was terribly frightened when I found the powder canister, and when I
+fell in the wheel-pit.  I believe I was alarmed when I heard the men
+talking about what they were going to do; but I should be ashamed of
+myself, after going through so much, if I ran away, as they said you
+three would do."
+
+"How was that?" cried Uncle Bob.
+
+"With your tails between your legs, regularly frightened away like
+curs."
+
+"They may carry us to the hospital without a leg to stand upon, or take
+us somewhere else without heads to think, but they will not see us
+running away in such a fashion as that," quoth Uncle Dick.
+
+"Boy," said Uncle Jack, in his sternest way, "I would give anything to
+keep you with us, but I feel as if it has been a lapse of duty towards
+you to let you run these risks."
+
+"But suppose I had been made a midshipman, uncle," I argued, "I should
+have always been running the risks of the sea, and the foreign climate
+where I was sent, and of being killed or wounded by the enemy."
+
+"If there was war," suggested Uncle Bob.
+
+"Yes, uncle, if there was war."
+
+"Cob, my lad," said Uncle Dick, "that's a strong argument, but it does
+not convince us.  Your Uncle Jack speaks my feelings exactly.  I would
+give anything to keep you with us, for your young elastic nature seems
+to send off or radiate something brightening on to ours; and, now that
+you are going away, I tell you frankly that your courage has often
+encouraged us."
+
+"Has it, uncle?"  I cried.
+
+"Often, my lad."
+
+"Ay that it has," said Uncle Jack.  "I've often felt down-hearted and
+ready to throw up our adventure; but I've seen you so fresh and eager,
+and so ready to fight it out, that I've said to myself--If a boy like
+that is ready to go on it would be a shame for a man to shrink."
+
+"Yes," said Uncle Bob, "I confess to the same feeling."
+
+"Well, that is shabby," I cried.
+
+"What is, boy?" said Uncle Jack.
+
+"To send me off like this.  Why, you'll all break down without me."
+
+"No, no; that does not follow," said Uncle Bob.
+
+"Ah, won't it!  You'll see," I said.
+
+"Look here, Cob, be reasonable," exclaimed Uncle Jack, walking up and
+down the room in a very excited way.  "You see, ever since you were born
+we've made a sort of playmate of you, and since you grew older, and have
+been down here with us, you know we have not treated you as if you were
+a boy."
+
+"Well, no, uncle, I suppose you have not."
+
+"We have talked with you, consulted with you, and generally behaved
+towards you as if you were a young man."
+
+"And now all at once you turn round and punish me by treating me as if I
+were a little boy."
+
+"No, no, my lad; be reasonable.  We have been consulting together."
+
+"Without me."
+
+"Yes, without you; because we felt that we were not doing you justice--
+that we were not behaving as good brothers to your mother, in letting
+you go on sharing these risks."
+
+"But there may be no more, uncle."
+
+"But there will be a great many more, my boy," said Uncle Jack solemnly;
+"and what would our feelings be if some serious accident were to happen
+to you?"
+
+"Just the same, Uncle Jack," I cried, "as mine would be, and my father's
+and mother's, if some accident were to happen to you."
+
+Uncle Jack wrinkled up his broad forehead, stared hard at me, and then,
+in a half-angry, half amused way, he went to the table, took up an
+imaginary piece of soap and began to rub it in his palms.
+
+"I wash my hands of this fellow, boys," he said.  "Dick, you are the
+oldest; take him in hand, dress him down, give him sixpence to buy
+hardbake and lollipops, and send him about his business."
+
+"Make it half-a-crown, uncle," I cried, with my cheeks burning with
+anger; "and then you might buy me a toy-horse too--one with red wafers
+all over it, and a rabbit-skin tail."
+
+"My dear Cob," said Uncle Jack, "why will you be so wilfully blind to
+what is good for you?"
+
+My cheeks grew hotter, and if I had been alone I should have burst into
+a passion of tears, but I could not do such a thing then, when I wanted
+to prove to these three that I was fit to be trusted and too old to be
+sent home.
+
+"We do not come to this conclusion without having carefully thought it
+out, boy," cried Uncle Bob.
+
+"Very well, then!"  I cried, almost beside myself with passion.
+
+"Confess now," said Uncle Bob; "haven't you often felt very much alarmed
+at having to keep watch of a night in that lonely factory?"
+
+"Of course I have."
+
+"And wished yourself at home?" said Uncle Dick.
+
+"Scores of times, uncle."
+
+"Well, then, now we wish you to go, feeling that it is best for you, and
+you turn restive as that jackass we hired for you to ride down in
+Essex."
+
+"Haven't you three fellows been teaching me ever since I was a little
+tot, to try and be a man?"
+
+"Yes," said Uncle Dick.
+
+"When I've tumbled down and knocked the skin off my knees haven't you
+said `don't cry: be a man!'"
+
+"Oh yes!  Guilty!" said Uncle Dick.
+
+"If I fell out of the swing didn't you hold your cool hand to the great
+lump on my head and tell me that I must try to bear it without howling:
+like a man?"
+
+"Yes, boy, yes."
+
+"And when I broke my arm, after getting up the rock after the gulls'
+eggs, didn't you tell me about the Spartan boys?"
+
+"I did, Cob, I did."
+
+"Yes, of course you did," I cried indignantly.  "You were all three
+alike: always teaching me to bear pain and be courageous, and master my
+natural cowardice and be a man.  Now didn't you?"
+
+"Ay, ay, ay!  Captain Cob," they chorused.
+
+"And here," I cried passionately, "after fighting all these years and
+making myself miserable so as to do exactly what you all taught me, now
+that there is a chance of showing that I know my lesson and have done
+well, you all treat me like a mollycoddle, and say to me by your looks:
+`you're a poor cowardly little cub; go home to your mother and be
+nursed.'"
+
+"Have you done with the soap?" said Uncle Dick, turning to Uncle Jack,
+as I stood there, feeling angry, passionate, excited, and carried out of
+myself.
+
+"Eh?" said Uncle Jack staring.
+
+"I say, have you done with the metaphorical soap?  I want to wash my
+hands of him too."
+
+"It's too bad, uncle," I cried.
+
+"Here, Bob," said Uncle Dick in his grim way, "you take him in hand."
+
+"No, thank you," said Uncle Bob.  "I'll trouble you for the soap when
+you've done."
+
+"And now," I cried, speaking to them as I had never done before, "you
+make worse of it by laughing at me."
+
+"No, no," cried Uncle Dick; "we were not laughing at you, but we do
+now;" and starting with a tremendous "Ha-ha-ha!" the others joined in,
+and I stalked out of the parlour and went up to my room, where I set to
+work, and in about ten minutes had all my belongings carefully packed in
+my little carpet-bag--the new one that had been bought for me--and the
+little brass padlock on and locked.
+
+Just then the parlour door opened as I was looking out of my bed-room
+window at the smoke and glow over the town, and thinking that after all
+I liked the noise and dirt and busy toil always going on, knowing, as I
+did, how much it had to do with the greatness of our land.
+
+"Cob!" came up Uncle Dick's big voice.
+
+"Yes, uncle," I said quietly.
+
+"Tea's ready."
+
+"I don't want any tea," I said.
+
+"Yes, you do, lad.  Fried ham and eggs."
+
+"Come," I said to myself, "I'll let them see that I can behave like a
+man.  Perhaps I shall have to go home by the last train to-night or the
+first in the morning.  Poor old Piter," I thought, "I should like to
+have taken you!"
+
+So I went down quite coolly and walked into the parlour, where my uncles
+were waiting for me before seating themselves at the table.
+
+That touched me; it was so full of consideration and respect for the boy
+they were going to send away.
+
+Plump, comfortable Mrs Stephenson was just ready to take off the bright
+tin dish-cover, and as she did so there was a perfect pile of fried ham
+and eggs, looking brown and white and pink and orange, and emitting a
+most appetising odour.
+
+"Is Mr Jacob a bit sadly, gentlemen?" said Mrs Stephenson, looking at
+me with interest.
+
+"Oh no," I said quickly; and a bit touched too by Mrs Stephenson's
+respectful way and the _Mr_ "Only tired.  I shall be all right when
+I've had my tea."
+
+"That's bonnie," she cried nodding.  "I'd better butter a couple more
+cakes, hadn't I, gentlemen?"
+
+"That you had," said Uncle Bob.  "Let's eat well, or we shall never be
+able to fight it out with your fellow-townsmen."
+
+"Ah, deary me, gentlemen," she cried; "it's sore work, that it is!  I'm
+sure if they only knew what I do they'd behave better to you.  Them
+trades is doing more harm than good."
+
+She bustled out of the room, and as soon as the door was closed Uncle
+Dick turned to me.
+
+"Shake hands, Cob, my boy," he said.
+
+I held mine out frankly, for I had had my say, and I was determined to
+show them that I could act like a man.
+
+"Now with me," said Uncle Jack in his hard stern way.
+
+"And with me," said Uncle Bob.
+
+I shook hands all round; but in spite of every effort my lip would
+quiver, and I had to bite it hard to keep down the emotion I felt.
+
+"Shall I speak?" said Uncle Jack.
+
+Uncle Dick nodded.
+
+"Why not wait till after tea?" said Uncle Bob.
+
+"No, I shall tell him now," said Uncle Jack grimly.  "I'm hungry, and we
+may as well spoil his tea and get his share, for he will not be able to
+eat after what I've said.  Cob, my lad, we've been talking this over
+again very seriously."
+
+"All right, uncle!"  I said quietly.  "I'm quite ready to go.  I've
+packed up, but I'd rather go to-morrow morning.  I want to go and shake
+hands with Pannell and bid Piter `good-bye.'"
+
+"You have packed up?" he said rather sternly.
+
+"Yes, uncle."
+
+"Did you do that in a fit of passion or sulks?"
+
+"No," I said sharply; "but because I wanted to show you to the very last
+that I had not forgotten what you taught me about self-denial and all
+that."
+
+"God bless you, my lad!" he cried, hurting me horribly as he shook hands
+exceedingly hard.  "I'm glad to hear you say that, for we've been saying
+that if we want to win in this fight we can't afford to part with one
+quarter of the Company.  Cob, my lad, we want you to stay."
+
+"Uncle!"  I cried.
+
+"Yes, my lad, you are older in some things than your years, and though
+I'd do anything rather than run risks for you, I do feel that with right
+on our side, please God, we shall win yet, and that it would be cowardly
+for us even to let you turn tail."
+
+I don't know what I should have said and done then, as Uncle Jack
+exclaimed:
+
+"Have I said right, Dick, Bob?"
+
+"Yes, quite," said Uncle Dick warmly; "and for my part--"
+
+"Hush!  Sit down," cried Uncle Bob, hastily setting the example so as to
+end the scene.  "Yes, two eggs, please.  Quick, here's Mrs Stephenson
+coming with the cakes."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.
+
+STEVENS HAS A WORD WITH ME.
+
+Next morning I went down to the works, feeling as if I had grown in one
+night a year older, and after giving Piter the bones I always took him
+down, and receiving the ram-like butt he always favoured me with to show
+his gratitude, I was going round the place, when I heard a familiar
+clinking and saw a glow out of the little smithy that had for some time
+been cold.
+
+I ran in, and there, looking rather pale and with a bit or two of
+sticking-plaster about his temples, was Pannell hammering away as if he
+were trying to make up for lost time.
+
+"Why, Pannell, old man," I cried, running in with outstretched hand,
+"back again at work!  I am glad to see you."
+
+He looked up at me with a scowl, and wiped his brow with the arm that
+was terminated by a fist and hammer--a way, I have observed, much
+affected by smiths.
+
+His was not a pleasant face, and it was made more repulsive by the scars
+and sticking-plaster.  As our eyes met it almost seemed as if he were
+going to strike me with his hammer; but he threw it down, gave his great
+hand a rub back and front upon his apron, probably to make it a little
+blacker, and then gripped mine as badly as Uncle Jack had on the
+previous night.  In fact, you see, I suffered for people liking me.
+
+"Are you glad, mun?" he said at last hoarsely; "are you glad?  Well
+that's cheering anyhow, and thank ye."
+
+He nodded and went on with his work again while I went to mine about the
+books, but with a suspicious feeling of impending trouble on my mind, as
+I passed two of the men who saw me come out of the smithy, and who must
+have seen me shaking hands with Pannell.
+
+I don't know why they should have minded, for I should have done the
+same with either of them had we been on as friendly terms.
+
+As I entered my little office my eyes lit on the common fishing-rod I
+had used, and that set me thinking about the conversation I had heard as
+I stood on the ledge.
+
+I recalled what had been said overnight in a long discussion with my
+uncles, and the advice they had given.
+
+"Don't show suspicion," Uncle Dick had said, "but meet every man with a
+frank fearless look in the eye, as if you asked no favour of him, were
+not afraid of him, and as if you wanted to meet him in a straightforward
+way."
+
+I thought a good deal about it all, and how my uncles said they meant to
+be just and kind and stern at the same time; and it certainly did seem
+as if this was the most likely way to win the men's respect.
+
+"For now that we have concluded to keep you with us, Cob, I must warn
+that we mean business, and that we have made up our minds that we shall
+win."
+
+That morning went off quietly enough, and though we all kept a quiet
+searching look-out, there was nothing to excite suspicion.  Then evening
+came, and the watching, in which again that night I had no share, but it
+was an understood thing that I was to be at the works at the same time
+as the men next day.
+
+It was a lovely autumn morning with the wind from the country side, and
+as I hurried up and off to the works there was a feeling in the air that
+seemed to tempt me away to the hills and vales, and made me long for a
+change.
+
+"I'll see if one of them won't go for a day," I said to myself; and
+hopeful of getting the holiday, and perhaps a run up to the great dam, I
+reached the works before the men.
+
+"Well done, industrious!" cried Uncle Bob, who opened the gate to me.
+"You are first."
+
+"That's right," I said.  "No, it isn't.  Where's Uncle Dick?  Why, you
+look pale."
+
+"Uncle Dick isn't awake," he said quickly.  "Fact is, Cob, I've had a
+scare.  As you say, I found that they'd been at Piter again.  The poor
+dog has been drugged, and that must mean something wrong."
+
+Sure enough, poor Piter lay fast asleep and breathing heavily; but after
+our last experience we did not feel so despondent about bringing him to
+again, so, leaving him in his kennel where he had crept, we roused Uncle
+Dick and told him.
+
+"We can't look round now," he said.  "The men are coming in to their
+work, but we shall soon hear if there is anything wrong.  The bands
+again, I expect."
+
+Just then we heard the noise made by the drawing of the sluice, the
+wheel went plashing round, the shaft rumbled, connections were being
+made, and in a very few minutes the first grindstone was sending forth
+its loud churring noise.
+
+Then there was more and more, and at last the works were in full swing.
+
+"There's nothing wrong, then, with the bands," said Uncle Dick; and then
+we waited, wondering what trick had been played, till about an hour had
+passed, during which the same remedies as were tried before were put
+into force with poor old Piter, and he recovered sufficiently to wag his
+tail.
+
+Just about that time Uncle Jack arrived, and was put in possession of
+our fresh trouble.
+
+"And you can find nothing wrong?" he said.
+
+"Nothing."
+
+"Have you looked under the desks, and in the cupboards?"
+
+"We've quietly searched everywhere," replied Uncle Bob earnestly.
+
+"Then we must go on as usual," said Uncle Jack.  "There, you two go
+home: Cob and I will chance the risks."
+
+"It may have been an attempt to get rid of the dog," I said, "and
+nothing more."
+
+"That's what I've been thinking," said Uncle Jack; and soon after we
+were left alone.
+
+Towards mid-day I went down to have a chat with Pannell, and to ask him
+how he had got on during his long illness.
+
+"Tidy," he said sourly.  "There was the club helped me, but the mesters
+did most."
+
+"What!  My uncles?"
+
+"Ay, didn't you know?" he cried, busying himself about lighting a
+smaller forge at the back of the first.
+
+I shook my head.
+
+"Paid me pound a-week all the time I was badly, my lad."
+
+"And very kind of them too," I said warmly.
+
+"Ay, 'twas.  Felt at times, lad, as if I warn't worth the money, that I
+did."
+
+Just then Stevens made his appearance, crossing from the grinders' shop
+to one of the smithies at the end; and as he went along at some distance
+I saw him look curiously over at where I was standing talking to
+Pannell.
+
+"Theer it is again," said the latter.  "You mean well, lad, and it's
+very kind on you; but I shall hev it 'fore long on account o' talking to
+thee."
+
+"Oh, surely not!"  I cried angrily.  "The men will never be such cowards
+as to attack you for that."
+
+"Men weant, but trade will," said Pannell.  "Mates can't do as they like
+about it.  Look ye yonder; what did I say?"
+
+He nodded in the direction of Stevens, who had returned directly,
+stopped opposite the smithy, but at some distance, and as soon as I
+looked up he began to signal to me to go to him.
+
+I never liked the man, for he always seemed to dislike me, and I gave
+him the credit of being one of the active parties in the outrages that
+had been committed upon us.  But I remembered what our plans were to
+be--frank, straightforward, and fearless--and I walked right up to
+Stevens, whose brow was lowering and full of menace.
+
+"Here, I want a word with you," he said fiercely.
+
+"All right, Stevens!"  I said.  "What is it?"
+
+"Come over here," he replied, "and I'll tell ye."
+
+He led the way along the yard to the other side of the great coal heap,
+which lay there massive and square, through its sides being carefully
+built up with big blocks of coal.
+
+We were quite out of sight there, and, as I thought, how easy it would
+be for him to knock me down with one of the lumps.
+
+I was perfectly cool though, till he suddenly seized me by the jacket.
+
+I struck up at his hand, but he held on tightly, and there was a curious
+smile on his face as he said:
+
+"Nay, you don't, lad; I'm stronger than thou."
+
+"What do you want?"  I cried, making a virtue of necessity and standing
+firm.
+
+"What do I want, eh?" he said slowly.  "Oh, just a word or two wi' thee,
+my lad.  There, you needn't call thee uncle."
+
+"I was not going to call him," I retorted.  "Why should I?"
+
+"Because you're scarred about what I'm going to do to thee."
+
+"No, I'm not," I replied boldly; "because you daren't do anything unless
+it's in the dark, when you can attack a man behind his back."
+
+He winced at this and scowled, but turned it off with a laugh.
+
+"'Tack a what?" he said.
+
+"A boy, then," I cried.  "I know I'm a boy; but I meant people
+generally."
+
+"Nivver you mind that," he said.  "You don't understand trade.  But
+joost you look there.  Yow've been saying I did some'at to the dog."
+
+"That I have not," I cried.
+
+"Ay, but you did say it," he repeated fiercely.
+
+"I did not say so," I cried almost as angrily; "but if I had said it, I
+don't suppose I should have been far wrong."
+
+"Nay, lad, I did nowt to the dog.  I did nowt--I--"
+
+He let his hand fall, and a feeling of relief from some expectation came
+over his face.  He had been talking to me, but it was in a curious way,
+and all the time he talked he seemed to be looking over my shoulder more
+than in my face.
+
+But now he drew a long breath and seemed satisfied with the explanation;
+and just then I uttered a cry of horror, for there was a loud report,
+and the yard seemed to be filled with flying cinders and smoke.
+
+Stevens gave me a grim look and laid his hand on my shoulder.
+
+"Lucky yow weern't theer," he said.  "Might have been hurt.  Come and
+see."
+
+We joined the men who were hurrying in the direction of the smoke that
+obscured one end of the yard.
+
+"What is it, Uncle Jack?"  I cried, as I ran to his side.
+
+"I don't know yet," he said.
+
+"It was somewhere by the smithies."
+
+"Yes; that's plain enough," said my uncle, and we pressed on in front of
+the men, to come upon Pannell, tending down and rubbing his eyes.
+
+"Pannell!"  I cried; "you are not hurt?"
+
+"Nay, not much," he said sourly.  "Got the cinder and stuff in my eyes,
+but they missed me this time."
+
+"What!  Was it not an accident?"
+
+"Oh, ay!" he replied, "reg'lar accident.  Powder got into my little
+forge, and when I started her wi' some hot coal from t'other one she
+blew up."
+
+"But you are not hurt?"
+
+"Nay, lad, I weer stooping down, and were half behind the forge, so I
+didn't ketch it that time."
+
+The smoke was by this time pretty well cleared away, and we walked into
+the smithy to see what mischief had befallen us.
+
+Fortunately no harm had been done to the structure of the building, and
+there being no glass in the windows there was of course none to blow
+out.  The coal ashes and cinders had been scattered far and wide, and
+the iron funnel-shaped chimney knocked out of place, while some of the
+smiths' tools, and the rods of steel upon which Pannell had been
+working, were thrown upon the floor.
+
+The walls, forge, and pieces of iron about told tales for themselves
+without the odour of the explosive, for everything had been covered with
+a film of a greyish-white, such as gunpowder gives to iron or brickwork
+when it is fired.
+
+"Where was the powder?" cried Uncle Jack, after satisfying himself that
+Pannell had not the slightest burn even upon his beard.
+
+"In little forge all ready for me when I fired up," growled Pannell
+sourly, as he scowled round at the little crowd of men; "but they missed
+me that time."
+
+Uncle Jack had a good look round the place, and the workmen stared at us
+as if in full expectation of being taken to task as the cause of the
+explosion.
+
+I watched their faces cautiously in search of a look of regret, but the
+only peculiar expression I could see was on the countenance of Stevens,
+who stood softly rolling up his shirt-sleeves closer and closer to his
+shoulders, and there was such a curious smile in his eyes that he
+inspired me with a thought.
+
+"Oh, if I have been deceived in him!"
+
+That was my thought.  For I seemed to see at a glance that he had known
+the explosion would take place, and that the talk about the dog was an
+excuse to get me away and save me from the consequences.
+
+Just then Uncle Jack turned round to me and laid his hand on my
+shoulder.
+
+"Look here," he said quietly, as if he were showing me a curiosity, but
+loud enough for all the men to hear--"down in the south of England, my
+boy, when a workman is disliked it generally comes to a settlement with
+fists, and there is a fair, honest, stand-up fight.  Down here in
+Arrowfield, Jacob, when another workman does something to offend his
+fellows--"
+
+"Traade," shouted a voice.
+
+"To offend his fellow-workmen," repeated Uncle Jack.
+
+"Traade," shouted the voice again, and there was a murmur of assent.
+
+"Well, have it your own way," said Uncle Jack.  "To offend the trade,
+they try to blind him for life by filling his forge with powder, so that
+it may explode in his face.  Jacob, my lad, next time I go anywhere, and
+hear people talk about what brave strong manly fellows the Englishmen
+are, I shall recommend them to come down and stay in Arrowfield for a
+month and see what is done."
+
+There was a low murmur among the men; but we did not stop to listen, and
+they all returned to their work except Pannell, who went down to the dam
+and bathed his eyes, after which he went as coolly as could be back to
+his smithy, took a shovel and borrowed some glowing fire from the next
+forge, lit up his own, and was soon after hammering his funnel chimney
+back in its place, and working up rods of steel as if nothing whatever
+had been amiss.
+
+About the middle of the afternoon, though, he came up through the
+workshop straight to the office, with his hammer in his hand, and gave a
+loud thump at the door.
+
+I opened it and admitted him; for I was in the big office with my
+uncles, who were talking about this last trouble.
+
+"Well, my man, what is it?" said Uncle Jack.
+
+Pannell began to lift up his hammer-head slowly and let it fall back
+again into his left hand, staring straight before him with his dark
+eyes, which were surrounded with the black marks of the gunpowder which
+clung still to the skin.
+
+"What do you want, Pannell?"  I said, giving him a touch on the arm; but
+the hammer rose and fell still by the contraction of his right hand, and
+went on tap--tap--falling into his left.
+
+"Why don't you speak?"  I said again, quite impatiently.
+
+"I know," he growled.  "I want to speak."
+
+"We are listening," said Uncle Dick.  "What have you to say?"
+
+"Look here," cried Pannell, giving his hammer a flourish round his head
+as if he were about to attack us.  "I'm a man--I am."
+
+"And a good big one, Pannell," said Uncle Bob smiling.
+
+"Wish I were twyste as big, mester!  Theer!" cried Pannell.
+
+"I wish you were if it would be any comfort to you," said Uncle Bob to
+himself.
+
+"I've been a-thinking o' this out while I've been hammering yonder, and
+I want to speak."
+
+"Yes," said Uncle Jack.  "Go on."
+
+"Look ye here, then," cried Pannell, flourishing his hammer round as if
+he were a modern edition or an angry Thor; "does anyone say I telled on
+'em?  Did I tell on 'em, mesters?  Answer me that."
+
+"What!  About the outrages?" said Uncle Dick firmly.
+
+"Outrages, mester!"
+
+"Well, the attempts to blow us up."
+
+"Ay!--the trade business.  Did I ivver come and say word to anny of
+you?"
+
+"Never."
+
+"Or to yow, youngster?"
+
+"Never, Pannell.  You always went against us," I said, "when a word from
+you would--"
+
+"Theer, that'll do.  Tell me this--Did I ivver tell on anny on 'em?"
+
+"No; you have always been true to your party, Pannell--if that is what
+you mean."
+
+"And that is what I mean," said the great fellow, throwing his head
+about and jerking out his words, each with a menacing flourish of the
+hammer or a mock blow, as if they were steel words that he wanted to
+strike into shape.
+
+"Nobody accused you of tale-bearing to us," said Uncle Dick.
+
+"Didn't they, mester?" he roared.  "What's this, then, and this, and
+this?"
+
+He touched the scars upon his head and brow, and the sticking-plaster
+left on.
+
+"Don't you call that saying I telled on 'em, wi'out the poother in my
+forge this morning?"
+
+"A cowardly brutal thing to have done, my man."
+
+"Ay, so 'twas.  I'd done nowt but be civil to young mester here.  Say,"
+he cried fiercely, "yow telled 'em I forged that trap!" and he turned on
+me.
+
+"Oh, Pannell!"  I cried, flushing indignantly.
+
+That was all I said, but it was enough.
+
+"Beg pardon, young gentleman!--yow didn't, I can see that.  Nay, it was
+the altogetherishness o' the whole thing.  They set me down--me, a mate
+in the union--as hevvin' telled on 'em and gone agen 'em, and being
+friends wi' the mesters; and yow see what they've done."
+
+"Indeed we do, Pannell--"
+
+"Howd hard, mester," said the big smith, flourishing about his hammer.
+"I hevn't had my spell yet.  I want to speak."
+
+Uncle Dick nodded, as much as to say, "Go on."
+
+"Look here, then, mesters--I've thowt this out.  It's cowards' business,
+ivvery bit on it, 'cept Matt Stivvins this morning coming and fetching
+young mester out of the way."
+
+"Yes," I said, "he did."
+
+"And they'll knobstick 'im for it if they know--see if they don't!"
+
+"Then they mustn't know," I cried eagerly.  "I don't like Stevens, but
+he did save me this morning."
+
+"Ay, he did, 'cause he said once yow weer a trump, my lad; but he didn't
+give me a word.  I sha'n't tell on him, but I sha'n't hev nought more to
+do wi' anny on 'em.  I've been union man all these years and paid, and
+here's what I've got for it.  I says to mysen, I says: If this here's
+what comes o' sticking to union through all their games I've done wi'
+'em, and I'm a master's man--that's all."
+
+He turned short round to go, but Uncle Dick stopped him.
+
+"I don't quite understand what you mean, Pannell."
+
+"What I mean!  Why, what I said--that's what I mean."
+
+"That you have done with the trades-union, Pannell," I cried, "and mean
+to be on our side?"
+
+"That's so, mester.  Now I mun go or my fire'll be out."
+
+He strode out of the place and banged the door after him; and as he went
+along the shop I could see him in imagination staring defiantly from
+side to side, in answer to the savage murmur that greeted him from the
+men whom he had made up his mind to defy.
+
+"What do you think of that?" said Uncle Dick, as soon as we heard the
+farther door close with a crash.
+
+"It's the beginning of the end," said Uncle Jack with an eager look in
+his eyes.  "Keep firm, boys, and we shall have them all honestly on our
+side, and we can laugh at all trades-unions in Arrowfield that fight
+with cowardly weapons.  The men do not do what their own feelings
+prompt, but obey the law of a secret society which forces them to do
+these cruel wrongs."
+
+It must have been intentional on his part, for as I went down into the
+furnace house about half an hour after, at my usual time, to take down
+an account of work done, I met Stevens coming towards me.
+
+We were in the big empty building, the furnace being cold, and no work
+going on that day, and he slouched towards me as if he were going by,
+but I stopped him and held out my hand.
+
+"Thank you, Stevens," I said.  "I didn't understand it then, but you
+saved me from something terrible to-day."
+
+He gave a quick glance or two about, and then regularly snatched my
+hand, gave it a squeeze, and threw it away.
+
+"All right, my lad!" he said in a hoarse whisper.  "You're on'y one o'
+the mesters, but I couldn't abear to see thee in for it too."
+
+He went on his away and I went mine, feeling that Uncle Jack was right,
+and that though it might be a long journey first, it was the beginning
+of the end.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.
+
+I START FOR A WALK.
+
+"Who's for a walk?" said Uncle Dick one morning.  "I'm going up the
+hills to the millstone-grit quarry."
+
+I started, and my heart gave a throb, but I did not look up.
+
+"I can't go," said Uncle Jack.
+
+"And I'm busy," said Uncle Bob.
+
+"Then I shall have to put up with Cob," said Uncle Dick gloomily.  "Will
+you come, my lad?"
+
+"Will I come!"  I cried, jumping and feeling as if I should like to
+shout for joy, so delightful seemed the idea of getting away into the
+hills, and having one of our old walks.
+
+"Well, it must be at mid-day, and you will have to meet me out at
+Ranflitt."
+
+"Two miles on the road?"  I said.
+
+"Yes; you be there, and if I'm not waiting I sha'n't be long, and we'll
+go on together."
+
+"What time shall I start?"  I asked.
+
+"When the men go to their dinner will do.  I have some business at the
+far end of the town, and it will not be worth while for me to come back.
+I'll take the other road."
+
+So it was settled, and I took my big stick down to the office, and a net
+satchel that was handy for anything when slung from the right shoulder
+and under my left arm.  Before now it had carried fish, partridges,
+fruits, herbs, roots of plants, and oftener than anything else, lunch.
+
+That seemed to be a long morning, although I wrote hard all the time so
+as to get a good day's work over first; but at last the dinner-bell
+rang, and, saying good-bye to the others, I slipped the satchel into my
+pocket, took my stick, and started.
+
+We had not thought of those who would be loitering about during their
+dinner-hour, but I soon found that they were thinking of me, for not
+only were our own men about the streets, but the men of the many other
+works around; and to my dismay I soon found that they all knew me by
+sight, and that they were ready to take notice of me in a very
+unpleasant way.
+
+I was walking steadily on when a stone hit me in the leg, and instead of
+making haste and getting out of range, I stopped short and looked round
+angrily for my assailant.
+
+I could see a dozen grinning faces, but it was of course impossible to
+tell who threw, and before I turned back an oyster-shell struck me in
+the back.
+
+I turned round angrily and found myself the object of a tremendous shout
+of laughter.
+
+Almost at the same moment I was struck by an old cabbage-stump and by a
+potato, while stones in plenty flew by my head.
+
+"The cowards!"  I said to myself as I strode on, looking to right and
+left, and seeing that on both sides of the way a number of rough boys
+were collecting, encouraged by the laughter and cheers of their elders.
+
+We had not a single boy at our works, but I could see several of our men
+were joining in the sport, to them, of having me hunted.
+
+To have a good hunt, though, it is necessary to have a good quarry, that
+is to say, the object hunted must be something that will run.
+
+Now, in imagination I saw myself rushing away pursued by a mob of lads,
+hooting, yelling, and pelting me; but I felt not the slightest
+inclination to be hunted in this fashion, and hence it was that I walked
+steadily and watchfully on, stick in hand, and prepared to use it too,
+if the necessity arose.
+
+Unfortunately I was in a road where missiles were plentiful, and these
+came flying about me, one every now and then giving me such a stinging
+blow that I winced with pain.  The boys danced round me, too, coming
+nearer as they grew bolder from my non-resistance, and before long they
+began to make rushes, hooting and yelling to startle me, no doubt, into
+running away.
+
+But so far they did not succeed; and as I continued my walking they
+changed their tactics, keeping out of reach of my stout stick, and
+taking to stones and anything that came to hand.
+
+I could do nothing.  To have turned round would only have been to
+receive the objects thrown in my face; and when at last, stung into
+action by a harder blow than usual, I did turn and make a rush at the
+boy I believed to have thrown, he gave way and the others opened out to
+let me pass, and then closed up and followed.
+
+It was a foolish movement on my part, and I found I had lost ground, for
+to get on my way again I had to pass through a body of about a dozen
+lads, and the only way to do this as they gathered themselves ready to
+receive me, was by making a bold rush through them.
+
+They were already whispering together, and one of them cried "Now!" when
+I made a rush at them, stick in hand, running as fast as I could.
+
+They made a show of stopping me, but opened out directly, and as soon as
+I had passed yelled to their companions to come on, with the result that
+I found I could not stop unless I stood at bay, and that I was doing the
+very thing I had determined not to do--racing away from my pursuers,
+who, in a pack of about forty, were yelling, crying, and in full chase.
+
+To stop now was impossible: all that was open to me was to run hard and
+get into the more open suburb, leaving them behind, while I had the
+satisfaction of knowing that before long the bells at the different
+works would be ringing, and the young vagabonds obliged to hurry back to
+their places, leaving me free to maintain my course.
+
+So that, now I was involuntarily started, I determined to leave my
+pursuers behind, and I ran.
+
+I don't think I ever ran so fast before, but fast as I ran I soon found
+that several of the lightly clothed old-looking lads were more than my
+equals, and they kept so close that some half a dozen were ready to rush
+in on me at any moment and seize me and drag me back.
+
+I was determined, though, that they should not do that, and, grasping my
+stick, I ran on, more blindly, though, each moment.  'Tis true, I
+thought of making for the outskirts and tiring the boys out; but to my
+dismay I found that fresh lads kept joining in the chase, all eager and
+delighted to have something to run down and buffet, while my breath was
+coming thickly, my heart beat faster and faster, and there was a
+terrible burning sensation in my chest.
+
+I looked to right for some means of escape, but there was none; to left
+was the same; behind me the tolling pack; while before me stretched the
+lanes, and mill after mill with great dams beyond them similar to ours.
+
+I should have stopped at bay, hoping by facing the lads to keep them
+off; but I was streaming with perspiration, and so weak that I knew, in
+spite of my excitement, that I should hardly be able to lift my arm.
+
+On and on, more and more blindly, feeling moment by moment as if my
+aching legs would give way beneath me.  I gazed wildly at my pursuers to
+ask for a little mercy, but unfortunately for me they, excited and hot
+with their chase, were as cruel as boys can be, and men too at such a
+time.
+
+There was nothing for it but to rush on at a pace that was fast
+degenerating into a staggering trot, and in imagination, as the boys
+pushed me and buffeted me with their caps, I saw myself tripped up,
+thrown down, kicked, and rolled in the dust, and so much exhausted that
+I could not help myself.
+
+One chance gave me a little more energy.  It must be nearly time for the
+bells to ring, and then they would be bound to give up the pursuit; but
+as I struggled I caught sight of a clock, and saw that it wanted a
+quarter of an hour yet.
+
+There were some men lounging against a wall, and I cried out to them,
+but they hardly turned their heads, and as I was hurried and driven by I
+saw that they only laughed as if this were excellent sport.
+
+Next we passed a couple of well-dressed ladies, but they fled into a
+gateway to avoid my pursuers, and the next minute I was hustled round a
+corner, the centre of the whooping, laughing crowd, and, to my horror, I
+found that we were in a narrow path with a row of stone cottages on one
+side, the wall of a dam like our own, and only a few inches above the
+water on the other.
+
+I had felt dazed and confused before.  Now I saw my danger clearly
+enough and the object of the lads.
+
+I was streaming with perspiration, and so weak that I could hardly
+stand, but, to avoid being thrust in, and perhaps held under water and
+ducked and buffeted over and over again, I felt that I must make a
+plunge and try and swim to the other side.
+
+But I dared not attempt it, even if I could have got clear; and blindly
+struggling on I had about reached the middle of the dam path when a foot
+was thrust out, and I fell.
+
+Sobbing for my breath, beaten with fists, buffeted and blinded with the
+blows of the young savages' caps, I struggled to my feet once more, but
+only to be tripped and to fall again on the rough stony path.
+
+I could do no more.  I had no strength to move, but I could think
+acutely, and feel, as I longed for the strength of Uncle Jack, and to
+hold in my hand a good stout but limber cane.
+
+Yes, I could feel plainly enough the young ruffians dragging at me, and
+in their eagerness and number fighting one against the other.
+
+"In wi' him!"
+
+"Dook him, lads!"
+
+"Now, then, all together!"
+
+I heard all these cries mingled together, and mixed up with the busy
+hands and faces, I seemed to see the row of houses, the clear sky, the
+waters of the dam, and Gentles the grinder leaning against a door and
+looking on.
+
+I was being lifted amidst shouts and laughter, and I knew that the next
+moment I should be in the dam, when there was a tremendous splash, and
+some drops of water sprinkled my face.
+
+Then there was the rattle of the handle of a bucket, and another splash
+heard above all the yelling and shouting of the boys.  There was the
+hollow sound of a pail banged against something hard, and mingled with
+cries, shouts, laughter, and ejaculations of pain I felt myself fall
+upon the path, to be kicked and trampled on by someone contending, for
+there were slaps, and thuds, and blows, the panting and hissing of
+breath; and then the clanging of bells near and bells far, buzzing in
+ears, the rush and scuffling of feet, with shouts of derision, defiance,
+and laughter, and then, last of all, a curious cloud of mist seemed to
+close me in like the fog on the Dome Tor, and out of this a shrill angry
+voice cried:
+
+"Ah, ye may shout, but some on ye got it.  Go and dry yourselves at the
+furnace, you cowardly young shacks.  Hey, bud I wish I'd hed holt o' yon
+stick!"
+
+"Yon stick!"  I felt must be mine; but my head was aching, and I seemed
+to go to sleep.
+
+"I wish you'd be quiet," I remember saying.  "Let me be."
+
+"Fetch some more watter, mester," said a pleasant voice, and a rough
+hand was laid upon my forehead, but only to be taken away again, and
+that which had vexed and irritated we went on again, and in a dreamy way
+I knew it was a sponge that was being passed over my face.
+
+"I fetched Mester Tom one wi' bottom o' the boocket, and I got one kick
+at Tom, and when the two boys come home to-night they'll get such a
+leathering as they never hed before."
+
+"Nay, let 'em be," said a familiar voice.
+
+"Let 'em be!  D'ye think I'm going to hev my bairns grow up such shacks?
+Nay, that I wean't, so yo' may like it or no.  I'd be shamed o' my sen
+to stand by and let that pack o' boys half kill the young gentleman like
+that."
+
+"I warn't going to stop 'em."
+
+"Not you, mester.  Yow'd sooner set 'em on, like you do your mates, and
+nice things come on it wi' your strikes and powder, and your wife and
+bairns wi' empty cupboard.  Yow on'y let me know o' next meeting, and if
+I don't come and give the men a bit o' my mind, my name arn't Jane
+Gentles."
+
+"Yow'd best keep thy tongue still."
+
+"Mebbe you think so, my man, but I don't."
+
+My senses had come back, and I was staring about at the clean kitchen I
+was in, with carefully blackleaded grate and red-brick floor.  Against
+the open door, looking out upon the dam, and smoking his pipe, stood--
+there was no mistaking him--our late man, Gentles; while over me with a
+sponge in her hand, and a basin of water by her on a chair, was a big
+broad-shouldered woman with great bare arms and a pleasant homely face,
+whose dark hair was neatly kept and streaked with grey.
+
+She saw that I was coming to, and smiled down at me, showing a set of
+very white teeth, and her plump face looked motherly and pleasant as she
+bent down and laid her hand upon my forehead.
+
+"That's bonny," she said, nodding her head at me.  "You lie still a bit
+and I'll mak you a cup o' tea, and yo'll be aw reight again.  I'm glad I
+caught 'em at it.  Some on 'em's going to hev sore bones for that job,
+and so I tell 'em."
+
+I took her hand and held it in mine, feeling very weak and dreamy still,
+and I saw Gentles shift round and give me a hasty glance, and then twist
+himself more round with his back to me.
+
+"Howd up a minute," she said, passing one strong arm under me and
+lifting me as if I had been a baby; and almost before I had realised it
+she slipped off my jacket and placed a cushion beneath my head.
+
+"There, now, lie still," she said, dabbing my wet hair with a towel.
+"Go to sleep if you can."
+
+By this time she was at the other end of the common print-covered couch
+on which I lay and unlacing my boots, which she drew off.
+
+"There, now thou'lt be easy, my lad.  What would thy poor moother say if
+she saw thee this how?"
+
+I wanted to thank her, but I was too dreamy and exhausted to speak; but
+I had a strange feeling of dread, and that was, that if I were left
+alone with Gentles he would, out of revenge, lay hold of me and throw me
+into the dam, and to strengthen my fancy I saw him keep turning his head
+in a furtive way to glance at me.
+
+"Here," exclaimed the woman sharply, "take these here boots out to the
+back, mester, and clean 'em while I brush his coat."
+
+"Eh?" said Gentles.
+
+"Tak them boots out and brush 'em.  Are yo' deaf?"
+
+"Nay, I'm not going to clean his boots," growled Gentles.
+
+"Not going to clean the bairn's boots!" said the woman sharply; "but I
+think thou art."
+
+She left me, went to the door, took Gentles' pipe from his mouth, and
+then thrust the boots under his arm, laying a great hand upon his
+shoulder directly after, and seeming to lead him to a door behind me,
+through which she pushed him, with an order to make haste.
+
+"Yes," she said, tightening her lips, and smiling, as she nodded to me,
+"I'm mester here, and they hev to mind.  Was it thou as set the big trap
+ketched my mester by the leg?"
+
+I never felt more taken aback in my life; but I spoke out boldly, and
+said that it was I.
+
+"And sarve him right.  Be a lesson to him.  Mixing himself up wi' such
+business.  I towd him if he crep into people's places o' neets, when he
+owt to hev been fast asleep i' bed wi' his wife and bairns, he must
+reckon on being ketched like a rat.  I'd like to knock some o' their
+heads together, I would.  They're allus feitin' agen the mesters, and
+generally for nowt, and it's ooz as has to suffer."
+
+Mrs Gentles had told me to try and sleep, and she meant well; but there
+were two things which, had I been so disposed, would thoroughly have
+prevented it, and they were the dread of Gentles doing something to be
+revenged upon me, and his wife's tongue.
+
+For she went on chattering away to me in the most confidential manner,
+busying herself all the time in brushing my dusty jacket on a very white
+three-legged table, after giving the cloth a preliminary beating
+outside.
+
+"There," she said, hanging it on a chair; "by and by you shall get up
+and brush your hair, and I'll give you a brush down, and then with clean
+boots you will not be so very much the worse."
+
+She then sat down to some needlework, stitching away busily, and giving
+me all sorts of information about her family--how she had two boys out
+at work at Bandy's, taking it for granted that I knew who Bandy's were;
+that she had her eldest girl in service, and the next helping her aunt
+Betsey, and the other four were at school.
+
+All of which was, no doubt, very interesting to her; but the only part
+that took my attention was about her two boys, who had, I knew, from
+what I overheard, been in the pack that had so cruelly hunted me down.
+
+And all this while I could hear the slow _brush, brush_ at my boots,
+evidently outside the back-door, and I half expected to have them
+brought back ripped, or with something sharp inside to injure me when I
+put them on.
+
+At last, after Mrs Gentles had made several allusions to how long "the
+mester" was "wi' they boots," he came in, limping slightly, and after
+closing the door dropped them on the brick floor.
+
+"Why, Sam!" exclaimed Mrs Gentles, "I'd be ashamed o' mysen--that I
+would!"
+
+But Gentles did not seem to be in the slightest degree ashamed of
+himself, but took his pipe from the shelf, where his wife had laid it,
+struck a match, relit it, and went off with his hands in his pockets.
+
+Mrs Gentles rose and followed him to the door, and then returned, with
+her lips tightened and an angry look in her face.
+
+"Now he's gone off to booblic," she said angrily, "to hatch up and mess
+about and contrive all sorts o' mischief wi' them as leads him on.  Oh
+the times I've telled him as they might make up all the differ by
+spending the time in work that they do in striking again' a sixpence
+took off or to get one putt on!  Ay, but we missuses have but a sorry
+time!"
+
+The absence of Gentles' furtive look sent back at me from the door
+seemed to change the effect of his wife's voice, which by degrees grew
+soothing and soft, and soon after I dropped off asleep, and dreamed of a
+curious clinking going on, from which dream I awoke, with my head
+cooler, and Mrs Gentles bending over me and fanning my face with what
+looked like an old copy-book.
+
+I looked at her wonderingly.
+
+"That's better," she said.  "Now set up and I'll help thee dress; and
+here's a nice cup of tea ready."
+
+"Oh, thank you!"  I said.  "What time is it?"
+
+"Close upon five, and I thowt you'd be better now after some tea."
+
+She helped me on with my jacket, and I winced with pain, I was so stiff
+and sore.  After this she insisted upon putting on my boots.
+
+"Just as if I heven't done such things hundreds of times," she said
+cheerfully.  "Why, I used to put on the mester's and tak 'em off all the
+time his leg was bad."
+
+"I'm sorry I set that trap," I said, looking up at her rough, pleasant
+face, and wondering how such a sneaking, malignant fellow could have won
+so good a wife.
+
+"I'm not," she said laughing.  "It sarved him right, so say no more
+about it."
+
+That tea was like nectar, and seemed to clear my head, so that I felt
+nearly recovered save when I tried to rise, and then I was in a good
+deal of pain.  But I deemed myself equal to going, and was about to
+start when I missed my cap.
+
+"Hey, but that'll be gone," she said.  "Oh, they boys!  Well, yow must
+hev Dick's."
+
+Before I could protest she went upstairs, and returned with a
+decent-looking cap, which I promised to return, and then, bidding my
+Samaritan-like hostess good-bye, I walked firmly out of her sight, and
+then literally began to hobble, and was glad as soon as I could get into
+the main road to hail one of the town cabs and be driven home, not
+feeling strong enough to go to the works and tell of my mishap.
+
+Mr Tomplin came in that evening after Uncle Dick had heard all my
+narrative and Uncle Bob had walked up and down the room, driving his
+fist into his hand every now and then with a loud _pat_.
+
+We had had a long conversation, in which I had taken part with a
+terribly aching head, and I should have gone to bed only I would not
+show the white feather.
+
+For they all three made this a reason why I should give up to them, and
+after all go back.
+
+"You see the men are dead against us, Cob, and the boys follow suit, and
+are against you."  So said Uncle Dick.
+
+"All the men are not against you," I said.  "Look at Pannell!  He has
+come round, and," I added, with a laugh that hurt me horribly, "I shall
+have some of the boys come round and help me."
+
+"The young scoundrels!" cried Uncle Bob.  _Pat_--that was his fist
+coming down into his hand.  "The young scoundrels!"
+
+"Well, you've said that twenty times at least, Bob," said Uncle Jack.
+
+"Enough to make me!" said Uncle Bob sharply.  "The young scoundrels!"
+_Pat_.
+
+"I only wish I'd been there with a good handy riding-whip," said Uncle
+Jack.  "There would have been some wailing among them."
+
+"Yes; and summonses for assault, and all that bother," said Uncle Dick.
+"We don't want to come to blows, Jack, if we can help it."
+
+"They are beyond bearing," cried Uncle Bob, keeping up his walk; "the
+young scoundrels!"  _Pat_.
+
+"My dear Bob," cried Uncle Dick, who was very much out of temper; "if
+you would be kind enough to leave off that trot up and down."
+
+"Like a hungry lion," said Uncle Jack.
+
+"In the Zoo," cried Uncle Dick, "you would very much oblige me."
+
+"I can't sit down," said Uncle Bob, thumping his hand.  "I feel too much
+excited."
+
+"Then bottle it up for future use," said Uncle Dick.  "You really must."
+
+"To attack and hurt the boy in that way!  It's scandalous.  The young
+ruffians--the young savages!"
+
+Just then Mr Tomplin came in, looked sharply round, and saw there was
+something wrong.
+
+"I beg your pardon," he said quickly; "I'll look in another time."
+
+"No, no," said Uncle Bob.  "Pray sit down.  We want your advice.  A
+cruel assault upon our nephew here"--and he related the whole affair.
+
+"Humph!" ejaculated Mr Tomplin, looking hard at me.
+
+"What should you advise--warrants against the ringleaders?"
+
+"Summonses, Mr Robert, I presume," said Mr Tomplin.  "But you don't
+know who they were?"
+
+"Yes; oh, yes!" cried Uncle Bob eagerly.  "Two young Gentles."
+
+"But you said the mother saved our young friend here from the lads,
+dowsed them and trounced them with a pail, and made her husband clean
+his boots, while she nursed him and made him tea."
+
+"Ye-es," said Uncle Bob.
+
+"Well, my dear sir, when you get summonses out against boys--a practice
+to which I have a very great objection--it is the parents who suffer
+more than their offspring."
+
+"And serve them right, sir, for bringing their boys up so badly."
+
+"Yes, I suppose so; but boys will be boys," said Mr Tomplin.
+
+"I don't mind their being boys," said Uncle Bob angrily; "what I do
+object to is their being young savages.  Why, sir, they half-killed my
+nephew."
+
+"But he has escaped, my dear sir, and, as I understand it, the mother
+has threatened to--er--er--leather the boys well, that was, I think, her
+term--"
+
+"Yes," I said, rather gleefully, "leather them."
+
+"And judging from the description I have heard of this Amazon-like lady,
+who makes her husband obey her like a sheep, the young gentlemen's skins
+will undergo rather a severe tanning process.  Now, don't you think you
+had better let the matter stand as it is?  And, speaking on the _lex
+talionis_ principle, our young friend Jacob here ought to be able to
+handle his fists, and on the first occasion when he met one of his
+enemies he might perhaps give him a thrashing.  I don't advise it, for
+it is illegal, but he might perhaps by accident.  It would have a good
+effect."
+
+"But you are always for letting things drop, Mr Tomplin," said Uncle
+Bob peevishly.
+
+"Yes; I don't like my friends to go to law--or appeal to the law, as one
+may say.  I am a lawyer, and I lose by giving such advice, I know."
+
+"Mr Tomplin's right, Bob," said Uncle Jack.  "You think of that boy as
+if he were sugar.  I'm sure he does not want to take any steps; do you,
+Cob?"
+
+"No," I said; "if I may--"
+
+I stopped short.
+
+"May what?"
+
+"Have a few lessons in boxing.  I hate fighting; but I should like to
+thrash that big boy who kept hitting me most."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.
+
+UNCLE JACK AND I HAVE A RUN.
+
+I did not have any lessons in boxing, in spite of my earnest desire.
+
+"We do not want to be aggressors, Cob," said my Uncle Dick.
+
+"But we want to defend ourselves, uncle."
+
+"To be sure we do, my lad," he said; "and we'll be ready as we can when
+we are attacked; but I don't see the necessity for training ourselves to
+fight."
+
+So I did not meet and thrash my enemy, but went steadily on with my
+duties at the works.
+
+In fact I was very little the worse for my adventure, thanks to Mrs
+Gentles, to whom I returned the cap she had lent me and thanked her
+warmly for her goodness.
+
+She seemed very pleased to see me, and told me that her "mester" was
+quite well, only his leg was a little stiff, and that he was at work now
+with her boys.
+
+The matters seemed now to have taken a sudden turn, as Mr Tomplin said
+they would: the men were evidently getting over their dislike to us and
+the new steel, making it up and grinding it in an ill-used, half
+contemptuous sort of way, and at last the necessity for watching by
+night seemed so slight that we gave it up.
+
+But it was felt that it would not be wise to give up the air of keeping
+the place looked after by night, so old Dunning the gate-keeper was
+consulted, and he knew of the very man--one who had been a night
+watchman all his life and was now out of work through the failure of the
+firm by whom he had been employed.
+
+In due time the man came--a tall, very stout fellow, of about sixty,
+with a fierce look and a presence that was enough to keep away mischief
+by the fact of its being known that he was there.
+
+He came twice, and was engaged to be on duty every night at nine; and in
+the conversation that ensued in the office he took rather a gruff,
+independent tone, which was mingled with contempt as he was told of the
+attempts that had been made.
+
+"Yes," he said coolly; "it's a way the hands have wherever new folk come
+and don't hev a reg'lar watchman.  There wouldn't hev been none of that
+sort o' thing if I had been here."
+
+"Then you don't expect any more troubles of this kind?"
+
+"More!  Not likely, mester.  We've ways of our own down here; and as
+soon as the lads know that Tom Searby's on as watchman there'll be no
+more trouble."
+
+"I hope there will not," said Uncle Dick as soon as the man had gone.
+"It will be worth all his wages to be able to sleep in peace."
+
+About this time there had been some talk of my father and mother coming
+down to Arrowfield, but once more difficulties arose in town which
+necessitated my father's stay, and as my mother was rather delicate, it
+was decided that she should not be brought up into the cold north till
+the springtime came again.
+
+"All work and no play makes--you know the rest," said Uncle Jack one
+morning at breakfast.  "I won't say it, because it sounds egotistic.
+Cob, what do you say?  Let's ask for a holiday."
+
+"Why not all four go?"  I said eagerly; for though the works were very
+interesting and I enjoyed seeing the work go oil, I was ready enough to
+get away, and so sure as the sun shone brightly I felt a great longing
+to be off from the soot and noise to where the great hills were a-bloom
+with heather and gorse, and tramp where I pleased.
+
+Uncle Dick shook his head.
+
+"No," he said; "two of us stay--two go.  You fellows have a run to-day,
+and we'll take our turn another time."
+
+We were too busy to waste time, and in high glee away we went, with no
+special aim in view, only to get out of the town as soon as possible,
+and off to the hills.
+
+Uncle Jack was a stern, hard man in the works, but as soon as he went
+out for a holiday he used to take off twenty years, as he said, and
+leave them at home, so that I seemed to have a big lad of my own age for
+companion.
+
+It was a glorious morning, and our way lay by the works and then on past
+a series of "wheels" up the valley, in fact the same route I had taken
+that day when I was hunted by the boys.
+
+But I had Uncle Jack by my side, and in addition it was past breakfast
+time, and the boys were at work.
+
+We had nearly reached the dam into which I had so narrowly escaped a
+ducking, and I was wondering whether Uncle Jack would mind my just
+running to speak to the big honest woman in the row of houses we were
+about to pass, when he stood still.
+
+"What is it?"  I said.
+
+"Cob, my lad," he cried, "I want a new head or a new set of brains, or
+something.  I've totally forgotten to ask your Uncle Dick to write to
+the engineer about the boiler."
+
+"Let me run back," I said.
+
+"Won't do, my boy; must see him myself.  There, you keep steadily on
+along the road as if we were bound for Leadshire, and I'll overtake you
+in less than half an hour."
+
+"But," I said, "I was going this way to meet Uncle Dick that day when he
+went to buy the stones, and what a holiday that turned out!"
+
+"I don't think history will repeat itself this time, Cob," he replied.
+
+"But will you be able to find me again?"
+
+"I can't help it if you keep to the road.  If you jump over the first
+hedge you come to, and go rambling over the hills, of course I shall not
+find you."
+
+"Then there is no fear," I said; and he walked sharply back, while I
+strode on slowly and stopped by the open window of one factory, where a
+couple of men were spinning teapots.
+
+"Spinning teapots!"  I fancy I hear some one say; "how's that done?"
+
+Well, it has always struck me as being so ingenious and such an example
+of what can be done by working on metal whirled round at a great speed,
+that I may interest some one in telling all I saw.
+
+The works opposite which I stopped found their motive power in a great
+wheel just as ours did, but instead of steel being the metal used, the
+firm worked in what is called Britannia metal, which is an alloy of tin,
+antimony, zinc, and copper, which being mixed in certain proportions
+form a metal having the whiteness of tin, but a solidity and firmness
+given by the three latter metals, that make it very durable, which tin
+is not.
+
+"Oh, but," says somebody, "tin is hard enough!  Look at the tin
+saucepans and kettles in every kitchen."
+
+I beg pardon; those are all made of plates of iron rolled out very thin
+and then dipped in a bath of tin, to come out white and silvery and
+clean and ready to keep off rust from attacking the iron.  What people
+call tin plates are really _tinned_ plates.  Tin itself is a soft metal
+that melts and runs like lead.
+
+As I looked through into these works, one man was busy with sheets of
+rolled-out Britannia metal, thrusting them beneath a stamping press, and
+at every clang with which this came down a piece of metal like a
+perfectly flat spoon was cut out and fell aside, while at a
+corresponding press another man was holding a sheet, and as close as
+possible out of this he was stamping out flat forks, which, like the
+spoons, were borne to other presses with dies, and as the flat spoon or
+fork was thrust in it received a tremendous blow, which shaped the bowl
+and curved the handle, while men at vices and benches finished them off
+with files.
+
+I had seen all this before, and how out of a flat sheet of metal what
+seemed like beautiful silver spoons were made; but I had never yet seen
+a man spin a teapot, so being holiday-time, and having to wait for Uncle
+Jack, I stood looking on.
+
+I presume that most boys know a lathe when they see it, and how, out of
+a block of wood, ivory, or metal, a beautifully round handle, chess-man,
+or even a perfect ball can be turned.
+
+Well, it is just such a lathe as this that the teapot spinner stands
+before at his work, which is to make a handsome tea or coffee-pot
+service.
+
+But he uses no sharp tools, and he does not turn his teapot out of a
+solid block of metal.  His tool is a hard piece of wood, something like
+a child's hoop-stick, and fixed to the spinning-round part of the lathe,
+the "chuck," as a workman would call it, is a solid block of smooth wood
+shaped like a deep slop-basin.
+
+Up against the bottom of this wooden sugar-basin the workman places a
+flat round disc or plate of Britannia metal--plate is a good term, for
+it is about the size or a little larger than an ordinary dinner plate.
+A part of the lathe is screwed up against this so as to hold the plate
+flat up against the bottom of the wooden sugar-basin; the lathe is set
+in motion and the glistening white disc of metal spins round at an
+inconceivable rate, and becomes nearly invisible.
+
+Then the man begins to press his wooden stick up against the centre of
+the plate as near as he can go, and gradually draws the wooden tool from
+the centre towards the edge, pressing it over the wooden block of basin
+shape.
+
+This he does again and again, and in spite of the metal being cold, the
+heat of the friction, the speed at which it goes, and the ductility of
+the metal make it behave as if it were so much clay or putty, and in a
+very short time the wooden tool has moulded it from a flat disc into a
+metal bowl which covers the wooden block.
+
+Then the lathe is stopped, the mechanism unscrewed, and the metal bowl
+taken off the moulding block, which is dispensed with now, for if the
+spinner were to attempt to contract the edges of his bowl, as a potter
+does when making a jug, the wooden mould could not be taken out.
+
+So without the wooden block the metal bowl is again fixed in the lathe,
+sent spinning-round, the stick applied, and in a very short time the
+bowl, instead of being large-mouthed, is made to contract in a beautiful
+curve, growing smaller and smaller, till it is about one-third of its
+original diameter, and the metal has seemed to be plastic, and yielded
+to the moulding tool till a gracefully formed tall vessel is the result,
+with quite a narrow mouth where the lid is to be.
+
+Here the spinner's task is at an end.  He has turned a flat plate of
+metal into a large-bodied narrow-mouthed metal pot as easily as if the
+hard cold metal had been clay, and all with the lathe and a piece of
+wood.  There are no chips, no scrapings.  All the metal is in the pot,
+and that is now passed on to have four legs soldered on, a hole cut for
+the spout to be fitted; a handle placed where the handle should be, and
+finally hinges and a lid and polish to make it perfect and ready for
+someone's tray.
+
+I stopped and saw the workman spin a couple of pots, and then thinking I
+should like to have a try at one of our lathes, I went on past this dam
+and on to the next, where I meant to have a friendly word with Mrs
+Gentles if her lord and master were not smoking by the door.
+
+I did not expect to see him after hearing that he was away at work; but
+as it happened he was there.
+
+For as I reached the path along by the side of the dam I found myself in
+the midst of a crowd of women and crying children, all in a state of
+great excitement concerning something in the dam.
+
+I hurried on to see what was the matter, and to my astonishment there
+was Gentles on the edge of the dam, armed with an ordinary long broom,
+with which he was trying to hook something out of the water--what, I
+could not see, for there was nothing visible.
+
+"Farther in--farther in," a shrill voice cried, making itself heard over
+the gabble of fifty others.  "My Jenny says he went in theer."
+
+I was still some distance off, but I could see Gentles the unmistakable
+splash the broom in again, and then over and over again, while women
+were wringing their hands, and giving bits of advice which seemed to
+have no effect upon Gentles, who kept splashing away with the broom.
+
+Just then a tall figure in bonnet and shawl came hurrying from the other
+end of the path, and joined the group about the same time as I did.
+
+There was no mistaking Mrs Gentles without her voice, which she soon
+made heard.
+
+"Whose bairn is it?" she cried loudly, and throwing off her bonnet and
+shawl as she spoke.
+
+"Thine--it's thy little Esau--playing on the edge--got shoved in," was
+babbled out by a dozen women; while Gentles did not speak, but went on
+pushing in the broom, giving it a mow round like a scythe, and pulling
+it out.
+
+"Wheer?  Oh, my gracious!" panted Mrs Gentles, "wheer did he go in?"
+
+Poor woman!  A dozen hands pointed to different parts of the bank many
+yards apart, and I saw her turn quite white as she rushed at her husband
+and tore the broom from his hands.
+
+"What's the good o' that, thou Maulkin," [scarecrow] she cried, giving
+him a push that sent him staggering away; and without a moment's
+hesitation she stooped, tightened her garments round her, and jumped
+right into the dam, which was deeper than she thought, for she went
+under in the great splash she made, losing her footing, and a dread fell
+upon all till they saw the great stalwart woman rise and shake the water
+from her face, and stand chest deep, and then shoulder deep, as, sobbing
+hysterically, she reached out in all directions with the broom, trying
+to find the child.
+
+"Was it anywheers about here--anywheers about here?" she cried, as she
+waded to and fro in a state of frantic excitement, and a storm of
+affirmations responded, while her husband, who seemed quite out of place
+among so many women, stood rubbing his head in a stolid way.
+
+"Quiet, bairns!" shrieked one of the women, stamping her foot fiercely
+at the group of children who had been playing about after childhood's
+fashion in the most dangerous place they could find.
+
+Her voice was magical, for it quelled a perfect babel of sobs and cries.
+And all the while poor Mrs Gentles was reaching out, so reckless of
+herself that she was where the water reached her chin, and could hardly
+keep her footing.
+
+"Call thysen a man!" shouted the woman who had silenced the children.
+"Go in or thou'llt lose thy wife and bairn too."
+
+But Gentles paid no heed to the admonition.  He stood rubbing his ear
+softly, though he gave a satisfied grunt as he saw the fierce virago of
+a woman who had spoken, leap in after Mrs Gentles, and wade out so as
+to hold her left hand.
+
+Where had the child tumbled in?  No one knew, for the frightened little
+ones who had spread the news, running away home as soon as their
+playmate had toppled in with a splash, were too scared to remember the
+exact spot.
+
+I had not been idle all this time, but as the above scene was in
+progress I had taken off jacket, vest, and cap, handing them to a woman
+to hold, and had just finished kicking off my boots and socks, carefully
+watching the surface of the water the while, under the impression that
+the poor child would rise to the surface.
+
+All at once I caught sight of something far to the right of us, and
+evidently being taken by the current towards the sluice where the big
+wheel was in motion.
+
+It might be the child, or it might only be a piece of paper floating
+there, but I had no time to investigate that, and, running along the
+path till I was opposite the place, I plunged head-first in, rose, shook
+the water from my eyes, and swam as rapidly as my clothes would allow
+towards the spot.
+
+The women set up a cry and the children shrieked, and as I swam steadily
+on I could hear away to my left the two women come splashing and wading
+through the water till they were opposite to where I was swimming.
+
+"Oh, quick!  Quick, my lad!" cried Mrs Gentles; and her agonised voice
+sent a thrill through me far more than did the shrieking chorus of the
+women as they shouted words of encouragement to me to proceed.
+
+I did not need the encouragement, for I was swimming my best, not making
+rapid strokes, but, as Uncle Jack had often shown me in river and sea,
+taking a long, slow, vigorous stroke, well to the end, one that is more
+effective, and which can be long sustained.
+
+But though I tried my best, I was still some feet from the spot where I
+had seen the floating object, when it seemed to fade away, and there was
+nothing visible when I reached the place.
+
+"There!  There!" shrieked Mrs Gentles; "can't you see him--there?"
+
+She could not see any more than I could, as I raised myself as high as
+possible, treading water, and then paddling round like a dog in search
+of something thrown in which has sunk.
+
+The little fellow had gone, and there was nothing for it but to dive,
+and as I had often done before, I turned over and went down into the
+black water to try and find the drowning child.
+
+I stayed down as long as I could, came up, and looked round amidst a
+tremendous chorus of cries, and then dived again like a duck.
+
+Pray, don't think I was doing anything brave or heroic, for it seemed to
+me nothing of the kind.  I had been so drilled by my uncles in leaping
+off banks, and out of a boat, and in diving after eggs thrown down in
+the clear water, that, save the being dressed, it was a very ordinary
+task to me; in fact, I believe I could have swum steadily on for an hour
+if there had been any need, and gone on diving as often as I liked.
+
+So I went under again and again, with the current always taking me on
+toward the sluice, and giving way to it; for, of course, the child
+would, I felt, be carried that way too.
+
+Every time I rose there was the shrieking and crying of the women and
+the prayerful words of the mother bidding me try; and had not her woman
+friend clung to her arm, I believe she would have struggled into deep
+water and been drowned.
+
+I caught glimpses of her, and of Gentles standing on the bank rubbing
+his ear as I dived down again in quite a hopeless way now, and, stopping
+down a much shorter time, I had given a kick or two, and was rising,
+when my hands touched something which glided away.
+
+This encouraged me, and I just took my breath above water, heard the
+cries, and dived again, to have the water thundering in my ears.
+
+For a few moments I could feel nothing; then my left hand touched a
+bundle of clothes, and in another moment I was at the surface with the
+child's head above water, and swimming with all my might for the side.
+
+There was a wild shriek of excitement to greet me, and then there was
+very nearly a terrible catastrophe for finale to the scene, for, as soon
+as she saw that I had hold of her child, the frantic mother shook off
+her companion, and with a mingling of the tragic and ludicrous reached
+out with the broom to drag us both in.
+
+Her excitement was too much for her; she took a step forward to reach
+us, slipped into deep water, went under, and the next minute she had
+risen, snatched at me, and we were struggling together.
+
+I was quite paralysed, while the poor woman had lost her head
+completely, and was blind by trying to save herself--holding on to me
+with all her might.
+
+Under the circumstances it is no wonder that I became helpless and
+confused, and that we sank together in the deep water close now to the
+dam head, and then all was black confusion, for my sensations were very
+different to what they were when I made my voluntary dives.
+
+It was matter of moments, though, and then a strong hand gripped me by
+the arm, we were dragged to the side, and a dozen hands were ready to
+help us out on to the bank.
+
+"Give me the child," said a strange voice.  "Which is the house?  Here--
+the mother and one woman, come.  Keep the crowd away."
+
+In a confused way I saw a tall man in black take the child in his arms,
+and I thought how wet he would make himself; while Mrs Gentles, panting
+and gasping for breath, seized me by the hand; and then they passed on
+in the middle of the crowd, augmented by a number of workmen, and
+disappeared into the cottage I knew so well.
+
+"What!  Was it you, Uncle Jack?"  I said, looking up in his grave big
+eyes.
+
+"Yes, my boy; and I only just came in time.  How are you?"
+
+"Horribly wet," I said grimly and with a shiver.  Then forcing a laugh
+as he held my hands tightly in his.  "Why, you're just as bad."
+
+"Yes, but you--are you all right?"
+
+"Oh, yes, uncle!  There's nothing the matter with me."
+
+"Then come along and let's run home.  Never mind appearances; let's get
+into some dry clothes.  But I should like to hear about the child."
+
+It was an easy thing to say, but not to do.  We wanted to go to Gentles'
+house, but we were surrounded by a dense crowd; and the next minute a
+lot of rough men were shaking both Uncle Jack's hands and fighting one
+with the other to get hold of them, while I--
+
+Just fancy being in the middle of a crowd of women, and all of them
+wanting to throw their arms round me and kiss me at once.
+
+That was my fate then; and regardless of my resistance one motherly body
+after another seized me, kissing my cheeks roundly, straining me to her
+bosom, and calling me her "brave lad!" or her "bonny bairn!" or "my
+mahn!"
+
+I had to be kissed and hand-shaken till I would gladly have escaped for
+very shame; and at last Uncle Jack rescued me, coming to my side smiling
+and looking round.
+
+"If he's thy bairn, mester," cried the virago-like woman who had helped
+Mrs Gentles, "thou ought to be proud of him."
+
+"And so I am," cried Uncle Jack, laying his hand upon my shoulder.
+
+Here there was a loud "hurrah!" set up by the men, and the women joined
+in shrilly, while a couple of men with big mugs elbowed their way
+towards us.
+
+"Here, lay holt, mester," said one to Uncle Jack; "drink that--it'll
+keep out the cold."
+
+At the same moment a mug was forced into my hand, and in response to a
+nod from Uncle Jack I took a hearty draught of some strong mixture which
+I believe was gin and beer.
+
+"How is the child?" said Uncle Jack.
+
+"Doctor says he can't tell yet, but hopes he'll pull bairn through."
+
+"Now, my lads," said Uncle Jack, "you don't want us to catch cold?"
+
+"No.--Hurray!"
+
+"Nor you neither, my good women?"
+
+"Nay, God bless thee, no!" was chorused.
+
+"Then good-bye!  And if one of you will run down to our place and tell
+us how the little child is by and by, I'll be glad."
+
+"Nay, thou'llt shake han's wi' me first," said the big virago-like
+woman, whose drenched clothes clung to her from top to toe.
+
+"That I will," cried Uncle Jack, suiting the action to the word by
+holding out his; but to his surprise the woman laid her hands upon his
+shoulders, the tears streaming down her cheeks, and kissed him in simple
+north-country fashion.
+
+"God bless thee, my mahn!" she said with a sob.  "Thou may'st be a
+Lunnoner, but thou'rt a true un, and thou'st saved to-day as good a wife
+and mother as ever stepped."
+
+Here there was another tremendous cheer; and to avoid fresh
+demonstrations I snatched my clothes from the woman who held them, and
+we hurried off to get back to Mrs Stephenson's as quickly and quietly
+as we could.
+
+Quickly!  Quietly!  We were mad to expect it; for we had to go home in
+the midst of a rapidly-increasing crowd, who kept up volley after volley
+of cheers, and pressed to our sides to shake hands.
+
+That latter display of friendliness we escaped during the finish of our
+journey; for in spite of all Uncle Jack could do to prevent it, big as
+he was, they hoisted him on the shoulders of a couple of great
+furnacemen, a couple more carrying me, and so we were taken home.
+
+I never felt so much ashamed in my life, but there was nothing for it
+but to be patient; and, like most of such scenes, it came to an end by
+our reaching Mrs Stephenson's and nearly frightening her to death.
+
+"Bless my heart!" she cried, "I thought there'd been some accident, and
+you was both brought home half-killed.  Just hark at 'em!  The street's
+full, and the carts can hardly get by."
+
+And so it was; for whenever, as I towelled myself into a glow, I peeped
+round the blind, there was the great crowd shouting and hurrahing with
+all their might.
+
+For the greater part they were workmen and boys, all in their
+shirt-sleeves and without caps; but there was a large sprinkling of big
+motherly women there; and the more I looked the more abashed I felt, for
+first one and then another seemed to be telling the story to a listening
+knot, as I could see by the motion of her hands imitating swimming.
+
+Two hours after we were cheered by the news that my efforts had not been
+in vain, for after a long fight the doctor had brought the child to; and
+that night, when we thought all the fuss was over, there came six great
+booms from a big drum, and a powerful brass band struck up, "See, the
+Conquering Hero comes!"  Then the mob that had gathered cheered and
+shouted till we went to the window and thanked them; and then they
+cheered again, growing quite mad with excitement as a big strapping
+woman, in a black silk bonnet and a scarlet shawl, came up to the door
+and was admitted and brought into the parlour.
+
+I was horrified, for it was big Mrs Gentles, and I had a dread of
+another scene.
+
+I need not have been alarmed, for there was a sweet natural quietness in
+the woman that surprised us all, as she said with the tears running down
+her cheeks:
+
+"I'm only a poor common sort of woman, gentlemen, but I think a deal o'
+my bairns, and I've come to say I'll never forget a prayer for the bonny
+boy who saved my little laddie, nor for the true brave gentleman who
+saved me to keep them still."
+
+Uncle Jack shook hands with her, insisting upon her having a glass of
+wine, but she would not sit down, and after she had drunk her wine she
+turned to me.
+
+I put out my hand, but she threw her arms round my neck, kissed me
+quickly on each cheek, and ran sobbing out of the room, and nearly
+oversetting Mr Tomplin, who was coming up.
+
+"Hallo, my hero!" he cried, shaking hands with me.
+
+"Please, please don't, Mr Tomplin," I cried.  "I feel as if I'd never
+do such a thing again as long as I live."
+
+"Don't say that, my boy," he cried.  "Say it if you like, though.  You
+don't mean it.  I say, though, you folks have done it now."
+
+We had done more than we thought, for the next morning when we walked
+down to the office and Uncle Jack was saying that we must not be done
+out of our holiday, who should be waiting at the gate but Gentles.
+
+"Ugh!" said Uncle Jack; "there's that scoundrel.  I hate that man.  I
+wish it had been someone else's child you had saved, Cob.  Well, my
+man," he cried roughly, "what is it?"
+
+Gentles had taken off his cap, a piece of politeness very rare among his
+set, and he looked down on the ground for a minute or two, and then
+ended a painful silence by saying:
+
+"I've been a reg'lar bad un to you and yours, mester; but it was the
+traade as made me do it."
+
+"Well, that's all over now, Gentles, and you've come to apologise?"
+
+"Yes, mester, that's it.  I'm down sorry, I am, and if you'll tek me on
+again I'll sarve you like a man--ay, and I'll feight for thee like a man
+agen the traade."
+
+"Are you out of work?"
+
+"Nay, mester, I can always get plenty if I like to wuck."
+
+"Do you mean what you say, Gentles?"
+
+"Why, mester, wouldn't I hev been going to club to-day for money to bury
+a bairn and best wife a man ivver hed if it hadn't been for you two.
+Mester, I'd do owt for you now."
+
+"I believe you, Gentles," said Uncle Jack in his firm way.  "Go back to
+your stone."
+
+Gentles smiled all over his face, and ran in before us whistling loudly
+with his fingers, and the men all turned out and cheered us over and
+over again, looking as delighted as so many boys.
+
+"Mr Tomplin's right," said Uncle Dick; "we've done it at last."
+
+"No, not yet," said Uncle Jack; "we've won the men to our side and all
+who know us will take our part, but there is that ugly demon to exorcise
+yet that they call the traade."
+
+That night I was going back alone when my heart gave a sort of leap, for
+just before me, and apparently waylaying me, were two of the boys who
+had been foremost in hunting me that day.  My temper rose and my cheeks
+flushed; but they had come upon no inimical errand, for they both
+laughed in a tone that bespoke them the sons of Gentles, and the bigger
+one spoke in a bashful sort of way.
+
+"Moother said we was to come and ax your pardon, mester.  It were on'y
+meant for a game, and she leathered us both for it."
+
+"And will you hev this?" said the other, holding out something in a
+piece of brown-paper.
+
+"I sha'n't take any more notice of it," I said quietly; "but I don't
+want any present."
+
+"There, moother said he'd be over proud to tak it," said the younger lad
+resentfully to his brother.
+
+"No, I am not too proud," I said; "give it to me.  What is it?"
+
+"Best knife they maks at our wucks," said the boy eagerly.  "It's rare
+stoof.  I say, we're going to learn to swim like thou."
+
+They both nodded and went away, leaving me thinking that I was after
+this to be friends with the Arrowfield boys as well as the men.
+
+They need not have put it in the newspaper, but there it was, a long
+account headed "Gallant rescue by a boy."  It was dressed up in a way
+that made my cheeks tingle, and a few days later the tears came into my
+eyes as I read a letter from my mother telling me she had read in the
+newspaper what I had done, and--
+
+There, I will not set that down.  It was what my mother said, and every
+British boy knows what his mother would say of an accident like that.
+
+It was wonderful how the works progressed after this, and how
+differently the men met us.  It was not only our own, but the men at all
+the works about us.  Instead of a scowl or a stare there was a nod, and
+a gruff "good morning."  In fact, we seemed to have lived down the
+prejudice against the "chaps fro' Lunnon, and their contrapshions;" but
+my uncles knew only too well that they had not mastered the invisible
+enemy called the trade.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.
+
+A TERRIBLE RISK.
+
+"What are you staring at, Cob?"
+
+It was Uncle Jack who spoke, and Uncle Dick had just come up with him,
+to find me in the yard, looking up at the building.
+
+It was dinner-hour, and all the men had gone but Pannell, who was
+sitting on a piece of iron out in the yard calmly cutting his bread and
+meat into squares and then masticating them as if it were so much
+tilt-hammer work that he had to do by the piece.
+
+"I was thinking, Uncle, suppose they were to set fire to us some night,
+what should we do?"
+
+"Hah!  Yes: not a bad thought," said Uncle Dick sharply.  "Pannell!"
+
+"Hillo!" said that gentleman, rising slowly.
+
+"Finish eating your bread and meat as you go, will you, and buy us
+twenty-four buckets."
+
+"Fower-and-twenty boockets," said Pannell, speaking with his mouth full.
+"What do yow want wi fower-and-twenty boockets?"
+
+"I'll show you this evening," replied my uncle; and, handing the man a
+couple of sovereigns, Pannell went off, and both Uncle Jack and I
+laughed at the quick way in which Uncle Dick had determined to be
+provided for an emergency.
+
+The buckets came, and were run by their handles upon a pole which was
+supported upon two great hooks in one of the outhouses against the wall
+of the yard, and some of the men noticed them, but the greater part
+seemed to pay not the slightest heed to this addition to our defences.
+
+But at leaving time, after a few words from Uncle Dick to Uncle Jack,
+the latter stood in the yard as the men came out, and said sharply:
+
+"Four-and-twenty men for a window wash.  Who'll help?"
+
+A few months before, such a demand would have been met with a scowl; but
+quite a little crowd of the men now stopped, and Pannell said with a
+grin:
+
+"Wonder whether there'll be a boocket o' beer efter?"
+
+"Why, of course there will, my lad," cried Uncle Jack, who ranged the
+men in order.
+
+"Why, 'tis like being drilled for milishy, mester," said one man, and
+there was a roar of laughter as the buckets were passed out of the shed,
+and the men were placed in two rows, with Uncle Jack at one end, Uncle
+Dick at the other; the two ends resting, as a soldier would say, on the
+dam, and on the works.
+
+It was wonderful how a little management and discipline made easy such a
+business as this, and I could not help smiling as I saw how my idea had
+been acted upon.
+
+There were a few sharp words of command given, and then Uncle Jack
+dipped his bucket into the dam from the stone edge where we had bathed
+poor Piter, filled it, passed it on to Number 1 of the first row, and
+took a bucket from the last man of the second row, to fill.  Meanwhile
+the first bucket was being passed on from hand to hand through a dozen
+pairs when it reached Uncle Dick, who seized it, hurled it up against
+the grimy windows of the works, and then passed it to the first man of
+the second row.
+
+In a minute or two the men were working like a great machine, the pails
+being dipped and running, or rather being swung, from hand to hand till
+they reached Uncle Dick, who dashed the water over the windows, and here
+and there, while the empty buckets ran back to Uncle Jack.
+
+The men thoroughly enjoyed it, and Pannell shouted that this would be
+the way to put out a fire.  But my uncles did not take up the idea,
+working steadily on, and shifting the line till the whole of the glazed
+windows had been sluiced, and a lot of the grit and rubbish washed away
+from the sills and places, after which the buckets were again slung in a
+row and the men had their beer, said "Good-night!" quite cheerily, and
+went away.
+
+"There," said Uncle Dick, "I call that business.  How well the lads
+worked!"
+
+"Yes," said Uncle Jack with a sigh of content as he wiped his streaming
+brow; "we could not have got on with them like that three months ago."
+
+"No," said Uncle Bob, who had been looking on with me, and keeping dry;
+"the medicine is working faster and faster; they are beginning to find
+us out."
+
+"Yes," said Uncle Dick.  "I think we may say it is peace now."
+
+"Don't be in too great a hurry, my boys," said Uncle Jack.  "There is a
+good deal more to do yet."
+
+It is one of the terrible misfortunes of a town like Arrowfield that
+accidents among the work-people are so common.  There was an excellent
+hospital there, and it was too often called into use by some horror or
+another.
+
+It would be a terrible tale to tell of the mishaps that we heard of from
+week to week: men burned by hot twining rods; by the falling of masses
+of iron or steel that were being forged; by blows of hammers; and above
+all in the casting-shops, when glowing fluid metal was poured into some
+mould which had not been examined to see whether it was free from water.
+
+Do you know what happens then?  Some perhaps do not.  The fluid metal
+runs into the mould, and in an instant the water is turned into steam,
+by whose mighty power the metal is sent flying like a shower, the mould
+rent to pieces, and all who are within range are horribly burned.
+
+That steam is a wonderful slave, but what a master!  It is kept bound in
+strong fetters by those who force its obedience; but woe to those who
+give it the opportunity to escape by some neglect of the proper
+precautions.
+
+One accident occurred at Arrowfield during the winter which seemed to
+give the final touch to my uncles' increasing popularity with the
+work-people, and we should have had peace, if it had not been for the
+act of a few malicious wretches that took place a month or too later.
+
+It was one evening when we had left the works early with the intention
+of having a good long fireside evening, and perhaps a walk out in the
+frosty winter night after supper, that as we were going down one of the
+busy lanes with its works on either side, we were suddenly arrested by a
+deafening report followed by the noise of falling beams and brickwork.
+
+As far as we could judge it was not many hundred yards away, and it
+seemed to be succeeded by a terrible silence.
+
+Then there was the rushing of feet, the shouting of men, and a peculiar
+odour smote upon our nostrils.
+
+"Gunpowder!"  I exclaimed as I thought of our escapes.
+
+"No," said Uncle Dick.  "Steam."
+
+"Yes," said Uncle Jack.  "Some great boiler has burst.  Heaven help the
+poor men!"
+
+Following the stream of people we were not long in reaching the gateway
+of one of the greatest works in Arrowfield.  Everything was in such a
+state of confusion that our entrance was not opposed; and in a few
+minutes we saw by the light of flaring gas-jets, and of a fire that had
+begun to blaze, one of the most terrible scenes of disaster I had ever
+witnessed.
+
+The explosion had taken place in the huge boiler-house of the great
+iron-works, a wall had been hurled down, part of the iron-beamed roof
+was hanging, one great barrel-shaped boiler had been blown yards away as
+if it had been a straw, and its fellow, about twenty feet long, was
+ripped open and torn at the rivets, just as if the huge plates of iron
+of which it was composed were so many postage-stamps torn off and
+roughly crumpled in the hand.
+
+There was a great crowd collecting, and voices shouted warning to beware
+of the falling roof and walls that were in a crumbling condition.  But
+these shouts were very little heeded in the presence of the cries and
+moans that could be heard amongst the piled-up brickwork.  Injured men
+were there, and my uncles were among the first to rush in and begin
+bearing them out--poor creatures horribly scalded and crushed.
+
+Then there was a cry for picks and shovels--some one was buried; and on
+these being brought the men plied them bravely till there was a warning
+shout, and the rescue party had only just time to save themselves from a
+falling wall which toppled over with a tremendous crash, and sent up a
+cloud of dust.
+
+The men rushed in again, though, and in an incredibly short space of
+time they had dug and torn away a heap of broken rubbish, beneath which
+moans could be heard.
+
+I stood close beside my uncles, as, blackened and covered with dust and
+sweat, they toiled away, Uncle Jack being the first to chase away the
+horrible feeling of fear that was upon me lest they should be too late.
+
+"Here he is," he cried; and in a few minutes more, standing right down
+in a hole, he lifted the poor maimed creature who had been crying for
+our help.
+
+There was a tremendous cheer raised here, and the poor fellow was
+carried out, while Uncle Dick, who, somehow, seemed to be taking the
+lead, held up his hand.
+
+"Hark!" he said.
+
+But there was no sound.
+
+"If there is no living creature here," he said, "we must get out.  It is
+not safe to work till the roof has been blown down or fallen.  If there
+is anyone alive, my lads, we must have him out at all risks."
+
+There was a cheer at this, and then, as soon as he could get silence,
+Uncle Jack shouted:
+
+"Is anyone here?"
+
+There was a low wailing cry for help far back beyond the ripped-up
+boiler, and in what, with tottering wall and hanging roof, was a place
+too dangerous to approach.
+
+"Come, lads, we must have him out," cried Uncle Dick; but a gentleman,
+who was evidently one of the managers, exclaimed:
+
+"No, it is too dangerous."
+
+"Volunteers!" cried Uncle Dick.
+
+Uncle Jack, Uncle Bob, Pannell, Stevens, and four more men went to his
+side, and in the midst of a deathly silence we saw them go softly in and
+disappear in the gloom of the great wrecked boiler-house.
+
+Then there was utter silence, out of which Uncle Dick's voice came loud
+and clear, but ominously followed by the rattling down of some fragments
+of brick.
+
+"Where are you?  Try and speak."
+
+A low piteous moan was the reply.
+
+"All right, my lads, down here!" we heard Uncle Jack cry.  "No picks--
+hands, hands."
+
+"And work gently," cried Uncle Dick.
+
+Then, in the midst of the gloom we could hear the rattling of bricks and
+stones, and though we could see nothing we could realise that these
+brave men were digging down with their hands to try and get out the
+buried stoker.
+
+The flames burned up brightly, casting curious shadows, and though we
+could see nothing, lighting the men over their gallant task, while I, as
+I gazed in, trying to penetrate the gloom, felt as if I ought to be
+there by my uncles' side.
+
+This feeling grew so strong that at last I took a few steps forward, but
+only to be seized by a pair of strong arms and brought back.
+
+"Nay, nay, lad," said a voice that I started to hear, for it was
+Gentles'; "there's plenty risking their lives theer.  Yow stay."
+
+Just then there was a hoarse shriek of terror, a wild yell from the
+crowd, for a curious rushing rumble was heard, a dull thud, and another
+cloud of dust came rolling out, looking like smoke as it mingled with
+the fire.
+
+In the midst of this the men who had been digging in the ruins came
+rushing out.
+
+"Part of the roof," cried Uncle Dick, panting, "and the rest's falling.
+Are you all here, lads?"
+
+"Ay, all," was answered as they looked from one to the other in the
+flickering light.
+
+"Nay, not all," shouted Stevens.  "Owd lad Pannell's buried alive.  I
+see 'un fall."
+
+There was a murmur of horror and a burst of wailing, for now a number of
+women had joined the throng.
+
+"Are you hurt?"  I cried anxiously.
+
+"Only a few cuts and bruises, Cob," said Uncle Dick.  "Now, my lads,
+quick.  We must have them out."
+
+The men stopped short, and there was a low angry murmur like the
+muttering of a coming storm.
+
+"Quick, my lads, quick!"
+
+There was a hoarse cry for help from out of the ruins, and I knew it
+must be our poor smith.
+
+"No, sir, stop," cried the gentleman who had before spoken.  "I'd dare
+anything, but we have sacrificed one life in trying to save others.  I
+have just been round, and I say that at the least movement of the ruins
+the left wall must come down."
+
+There was a loud cry of assent to this, and amongst shouts and a
+confused murmur of voices there came out of the gloom that fearful cry
+again:
+
+"Help!"
+
+"The wall must fall, men," cried Uncle Dick loudly.  "I can't stand and
+hear that cry and not go.  Once more volunteers."
+
+Half a dozen men started out of the crowd; but the peril was too great.
+They shrank back, and I saw my three uncles standing together in the
+bright light of the burning building, blackened, bleeding, and in rags.
+
+Then Uncle Dick put out his two hands, and Uncle Jack and Uncle Bob took
+them.  They stood together for a short minute, and then went towards the
+tottering wall.
+
+"Stop!" cried the gentleman.  "You must not risk your lives."
+
+For answer Uncle Jack turned his great manly face towards us and waved
+his hand.
+
+Then they disappeared in the gloom, and a curious murmur ran along the
+great crowd.  It was neither sigh, groan, nor cry, but a low hushed
+murmur of all these; and once more, as a dead silence fell, we heard
+that piteous cry, followed by a hoarse cheer, as if the sufferer had
+seen help come.
+
+Then, as we listened in dead silence, the rattling of brickwork came
+again, mingled with the fluttering of the flames and the crackle and
+roar of burning as the fire leaped up higher and higher from what had
+been one of the furnace-holes, and across which a number of rafters and
+beams had fallen, and were blazing brightly, to light up the horrible
+scene of ruin.
+
+Battle and crash of bricks and beams, and we all knew that my uncles
+must be working like giants.
+
+"I daren't go, Mester Jacob," whispered Gentles.  "I'd do owt for the
+brave lads, but it's death to go.  It's death, and I daren't."
+
+All at once, as everyone was listening for the fall of the tottering
+wall, some one caught sight of the moving figures, and a deafening cheer
+rose up as Uncle Dick appeared carrying the legs and Uncles Jack and Bob
+the arms of a man.
+
+They came towards where I was standing, so that I was by when poor
+Pannell was laid down, and I went on one knee by his side.
+
+"Much hurt?"  I panted.
+
+"Nay, more scared than hurt, lad," he said.  "I was buried up to my
+neck, and feeling's gone out of my legs."
+
+"Stop now, gentlemen, for heaven's sake!" cried the manager.
+
+"What!  And leave a poor fellow we have promised to come back and help!"
+cried Uncle Dick with a laugh.
+
+"But it is certain death to go in, gentlemen," cried the manager
+passionately.  "At the least vibration the roof will fall.  I should
+feel answerable for your lives.  I tell you it is death to go."
+
+"It is moral death to stay away," cried Uncle Dick.  "What would you do,
+Cob?"
+
+"Go!"  I cried proudly, and then I started up panting, almost sobbing,
+to try and stop them.  "No, no," I cried; "the danger is too great."
+
+I saw them wave their hands in answer to the cheer that rose, and I saw
+Pannell wave his with a hoarse "Hooroar!" and then the gloom had
+swallowed them up again.
+
+"I lay close to the poor lad," whispered Pannell.  "Reg'lar buried
+alive.  Asked me to kill him out of his misery, he did, as I lay there;
+but I said, `howd on, my lad.  Them three mesters 'll fetch us out,' and
+so they will."
+
+"If the roof don't fall," said a low voice close by me, and the same
+voice said, "Lift this poor fellow up and take him to the infirmary."
+
+"Nay, I weant go," cried Pannell, "aw want to stay here and see them
+mesters come out."
+
+"Let him rest," said the manager, and upon his asking me I raised
+Pannell's head, and let him rest against my chest.
+
+Then amidst the painful silence, and the fluttering and crackling of the
+fire, we heard again the rattling of bricks and stones; but it was
+mingled with the falling of pieces from the roof.  Then there was a
+crash and a shriek from the women as a cloud of dust rose, and my heart
+seemed to stand still, for I felt that my uncles must have been buried;
+but no, the sound of the bricks and stones being dragged out still went
+on, and the men gave another cheer.
+
+The manager went round again to the back of the place, and came tearing
+back with three or four men shouting loudly:
+
+"Come out!  Come out!  She's going!"
+
+Then there was a horrible cry, for with a noise like thunder the left
+side and part of the roof of the building fell.
+
+The dust was tremendous, and it was some minutes before the crowd could
+rush in armed with shovels and picks to dig out the bodies of the brave
+men buried.
+
+The murmur was like that of the sea, for every man seemed to be talking
+excitedly, and as I knelt there by Pannell I held the poor fellow's
+hand, clinging to him now, and too much shocked and unnerved to speak.
+
+"They're killed--they're killed," I groaned.
+
+But as I spoke the words the people seemed to have gone mad; they burst
+into such a tremendous cheer, backing away from the ruins, and dividing
+as they reached us to make way for my uncles to bear to the side of
+Pannell the insensible figure of the man they had saved.
+
+That brave act performed for an utter stranger made the Arrowfield men
+talk of my uncles afterwards as being of what they called real grit; and
+all through the winter and during the cold spring months everything
+prospered wonderfully at the works.  We could have had any number of
+men, and for some time it was dangerous for my uncles--and let me
+modestly say I seemed to share their glory--to go anywhere near a
+gathering of the workmen, they were so cheered and hero-worshipped.
+
+But in spite of this good feeling there was no concealing the fact that
+a kind of ill-will was fostered against our works on account of the new
+inventions and contrivances we had.  From whence this ill-will
+originated it was impossible to say, but there it was like a smouldering
+fire, ready to break forth when the time should come.
+
+"Another threatening letter," Uncle Jack would say, for he generally
+attended to post matters.
+
+"Give it to me," said Uncle Bob.  "Those letters make the best
+pipe-lights, they are so incendiary."
+
+"Shall we take any notice--appeal to the men--advertise a reward for the
+sender?"
+
+"No," said Uncle Dick.  "With patience we have got the majority of the
+workmen with us.  We'll show them we trust to them for our defence.
+Give me that letter."
+
+Uncle Jack passed the insulting threat, and Uncle Dick gummed it and
+stuck it on a sheet of foolscap, and taking four wafers, moistened them
+and stuck the foolscap on the office door with, written above it to
+order by me in a bold text hand:
+
+"_Cowards' Work_."
+
+and beneath it:
+
+"_To be Treated with the Contempt it Deserves_."
+
+But as time went on the threats received about what would be done if
+such and such processes were not given up grew so serious that when Mr
+Tomplin was told he said that we ought to put ourselves under the care
+of the police.
+
+"No," said Uncle Dick firmly; "we began on the principle of being just
+to our workmen, and of showing them that we studied their interests as
+well as our own, that we are their friends as well as masters, and that
+we want them to be our friends."
+
+"But they will not be," said Mr Tomplin, shaking his head.
+
+"But they are," said Uncle Dick.  "What took place when I stuck that
+last threat on the door?"
+
+"The men hooted and yelled and spat upon it."
+
+"But was that an honest demonstration?"
+
+"I believe it was."
+
+"Well," said Mr Tomplin, "we shall see.  You gentlemen quite upset my
+calculations, but I must congratulate you upon the manner in which you
+have made your way with the men."
+
+"I wish we could get hold of the scoundrels who send these letters."
+
+"Yes," said Mr Tomplin; "the wire-pullers who make use of the men for
+their own ends, and will not let the poor fellows be frank and honest
+when they would.  They're a fine race of fellows if they are led right,
+but too often they are led wrong."
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+The days glided on, and as there were no results from these threats we
+began to laugh at them when they came, especially as Tom Searby the
+watchman also said they were good for pipe-lights, and that was all.
+
+But one night Uncle Dick took it into his head to go down to the works
+and see that all was right.
+
+Nothing of the kind had been done before since the watchman came, for
+everything went on all right; the place was as it should be, no bands
+were touched, and there seemed to be no reason for showing any doubt of
+the man; and so Uncle Jack said when Uncle Dick talked of going.
+
+"No, there is no reason," said Uncle Dick; "but I cannot help feeling
+that we have been lulling ourselves too much into a feeling of security
+about the place.  I shall wait till about one o'clock, and then walk
+down."
+
+"No, no," said Uncle Jack; "I'm tired.  Had a very heavy day, and of
+course you cannot go alone."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because we should not let you.  Even Cob would insist upon going."
+
+"Of course!"  I said.  "I had made up my mind to go."
+
+"It's quite right," said Uncle Bob.  "We've been remiss.  When sentries
+are set the superior officers always make a point of going their rounds
+to see if they are all right.  Go, Dick, and we'll come with you."
+
+Uncle Dick protested, but we had our own way, and about a quarter to one
+on a bitter March night we let ourselves out and walked down to the
+works.
+
+For my part I would far rather have gone to bed, but after a few minutes
+the excitement of the proceeding began to assert itself, and I was
+bright and wakeful enough.
+
+We walked quickly and briskly on till we came to the lane by the factory
+wall; but instead of turning down we all walked on along the edge of the
+dam, which gleamed coldly beneath the frosty stars.  It was very full,
+for there had been a good deal of rain; and though the air was frosty
+there was a suggestion of change and more rain before long.
+
+When we reached the top of the dam we turned and looked back.
+
+Everything was as quiet as could be, and here and there the glow from
+the lowered furnace-fires made a faint halo about the dark building, so
+quiet and still after the hurry and buzz of the day.
+
+As we went back along the dam the wavelets lapped the stone edge, and
+down below on the other side, as well as by the waste sluice, we could
+hear the water rushing along towards the lower part of the town, and
+onward to the big river that would finally carry it to the sea.
+
+We were very silent, for every one was watching the works, till, as
+Uncle Dick and I reached the lane, we stopped short, for I caught his
+arm.
+
+I had certainly heard whispering.
+
+There were half a dozen persons down near the gate, but whoever they
+were they came towards us, said "good-night!" roughly, turned the
+corner, and went away.
+
+It looked suspicious for half a dozen men to be down there in the middle
+of the night, but their manner was inoffensive and civil, and we could
+see nothing wrong.
+
+Uncle Dick slipped his key into the lock, and as he opened the little
+door in the gate there was a low growl and the rush of feet.
+
+"Piter's on the watch," I said quietly, and the growl turned to a whine
+of welcome.
+
+"Be on the look-out," said Uncle Dick; "we must speak or Searby may
+attack us."
+
+"Right," said Uncle Jack; "but he had better not."
+
+The dog did not bark, but trotted on before us, and we could just see
+him as we took a look round the yard before going into the buildings.
+
+Everything was quite right as far as we could tell.  Nothing unusual to
+be seen anywhere, and we went at last to the main entrance.
+
+"Nothing could be better," said Uncle Dick.  "Only there is no watchman.
+I say, was I right in coming?"
+
+"Right enough," replied Uncle Jack; "but look out now for squalls.  Men
+in the dark have a suspicious look."
+
+We entered, peered in at the great grinding-shop, and then began to
+ascend the stairs to the upper works.
+
+"All right!" said Uncle Dick.  "I wish we had a light.  Can you hear
+him?"
+
+He had stopped short on the landing, and we could hear a low, muttering
+noise, like a bass saw cutting hard leather.
+
+_Score!  Score!  Score_!  Slowly and regularly; the heavy breathing of a
+deep sleeper.
+
+"I'm glad we've got a good watcher," said Uncle Jack drily.  "Here,
+Piter, dog, fetch him out.  Wake him then."
+
+The dog understood him, for he burst into a furious fit of barking and
+charged up into the big workshop, and then there was a worrying noise as
+if he were dragging at the watchman's jacket.
+
+"Get out!  Be off!  Do you hear!"
+
+"Hi, Searby!" roared Uncle Jack.
+
+There was a plunge, and a rush to the door, and Searby's big voice
+cried:
+
+"Stand back, lads, or I'll blow out thee brains."
+
+"What with?" said Uncle Bob; "the forge blast?  There, come down."
+
+Searby came down quickly.
+
+"Lucky for yow that one of yo' spoke," he said.  "I heard you coming,
+and was lying wait for you.  Don't do it agen, mesters.  I might hev
+half-killed yo'."
+
+"Next time you lie in wait," said Uncle Dick, "don't breathe so loudly,
+my man, or you will never trap the visitors.  They may think you are
+asleep."
+
+"Give him another chance," said Uncle Jack as we went home.
+
+"Yes," said Uncle Bob; "it is partly our fault.  If we had visited him
+once or twice he would have been always on the watch."
+
+"Well," said Uncle Dick, "I don't want to be unmerciful, and it will be
+a lesson.  He'll work hard to regain our confidence."
+
+Next morning there were two letters in strange hands, which Uncle Jack
+read and then handed round.
+
+One was a threat such as had often been received before; but the other
+was of a very different class.  It was as follows:
+
+  "_Mesters_,--_There's somewhat up.  We don't kno wat, but game o' some
+  kind's going to be played.  Owd Tommy Searby gos sleep ivvery night,
+  and he's no good.  Some on us gives a look now an' then o' nights but
+  yowd beter wetch im place yoursens_.--_Some frends_."
+
+"That's genuine," said Uncle Dick emphatically.  "What's to be done?"
+
+"Go and do as they advise," said Uncle Jack.  "You see we have won the
+fellows over, and they actually act as a sort of police for us."
+
+The consequence of this letter was that sometimes all four, sometimes
+only two of us went and kept watch there of a night, very much to old
+Searby's disgust, but we could not afford to heed him, and night after
+night we lost our rest for nothing.
+
+"Are we being laughed at?" said Uncle Bob wearily one night; "I'm
+getting very tired of this."
+
+"So we all are, my dear fellow," said Uncle Jack: "but I can't help
+thinking that it is serious."
+
+Uncle Jack was right, for serious it proved.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.
+
+FIRE AND WATER.
+
+One dark night at the end of March we went down to the works all four,
+meaning to watch two and two through the dark hours.  The wind blew hard
+and the rain fell, and as we reached the lane we could hear the water
+lapping and beating against the sluice and the stones that formed the
+head of the dam, while the waste rushed away with a hollow roar.
+
+"Pity to lose so much good power," said Uncle Jack.
+
+"Sun and wind will bring it back to the hills," said Uncle Dick gravely.
+"There is no waste in nature."
+
+I half expected to see a group of men, friends or enemies, waiting
+about; but not a soul was in sight, and as we reached the gates I
+shivered involuntarily and thought that people must have very serious
+spite against us if they left their snug firesides to attack us on a
+night like that.
+
+Uncle Dick opened the little door in the gate and we stepped in, but to
+our surprise there was no low growl and then whine of recognition from
+Piter.
+
+"That's strange," said Uncle Jack suspiciously, and he walked on quickly
+to the door of the building and listened.
+
+There was no dog there, and his chain and collar did not hang over the
+kennel as if they had been taken from the dog's neck.  They were gone.
+
+This seemed very strange, and what was more strange still, though we
+went from grinding-shop to smithy after smithy, furnace house and shed,
+there was no sign of the dog, and everything seemed to point to the fact
+that he had been led away by his chain, and was a prisoner somewhere.
+
+"Looks like mischief," whispered Uncle Bob.  "Where's that scoundrel
+lying asleep?"
+
+We went upstairs to see, and expected to find our careful watchman
+carefully curled up somewhere, but there was no snoring this time, and
+Uncle Bob's threat of a bucket of water to wake him did not assume
+substance and action.
+
+For though we searched everywhere it soon became evident that Searby was
+not present, and that we had come to find the works deserted.
+
+"Then there is going to be some attack made," said Uncle Dick.  "I'm
+glad we came."
+
+"Shall you warn the police?"  I whispered.
+
+"No," said Uncle Jack sharply.  "If we warn the police the scoundrels
+will get to know, and no attack will be made."
+
+"So much the better," I said.  "Isn't it?"
+
+"No, my lad.  If they did not come to-night they would be here some
+other time when we had not been warned.  We are prepared now, so let
+them come and we may give them such a lesson as shall induce them to
+leave us in peace for the future."
+
+"Do you mean to fight, then?"  I asked.
+
+"Most decidedly, boy.  For our rights, for our place where we win our
+livelihood.  We should be cowards if we did not.  You must play the
+dog's part for us with your sharp eyes and ears.  Recollect we have
+right on our side and they have wrong."
+
+"Let's put the fort in a state of defence," said Uncle Dick merrily.
+"Perhaps it will turn out to be all nonsense, but we must be prepared.
+What do you say--divide in two watches as we proposed, and take turn and
+turn?"
+
+"No: we'll all watch together to-night in case anything serious should
+be meant."
+
+It did seem so vexatious that a small party of men should be able to
+keep up this system of warfare in the great manufacturing town.  Here
+had my uncles brought a certain amount of prosperity to the place by
+establishing these works; the men had found out their worth and
+respected them, and everything was going on in the most prosperous way,
+and yet we were being assailed with threats, and it was quite possible
+that at any moment some cruel blow might be struck.
+
+I felt very nervous that night, but I drew courage from my uncles, who
+seemed to take everything in the coolest and most matter-of-fact way.
+They went round to the buildings where the fires were banked up and
+glowing or smouldering, ready to be brought under the influence of the
+blast next day and fanned to white heat.  Here every precaution was
+taken to guard against danger by fire, one of the most probable ways of
+attack, either by ordinary combustion or the swift explosion of
+gunpowder.
+
+"There," said Uncle Jack after a careful inspection, "we can do no more.
+If the ruffians come and blow us up it will be pretty well ruin."
+
+"While if they burn us we are handsomely insured," said Uncle Dick.
+
+"By all means then let us be burned," said Uncle Bob laughing.  "There,
+don't let's make mountains of molehills.  We shall not be hurt."
+
+"Well," said Uncle Dick, "I feel as if we ought to take every possible
+precaution; but, that done, I do not feel much fear of anything taking
+place.  If the scoundrels had really meant mischief they would have done
+something before now."
+
+"Don't halloa till you are out of the wood," said Uncle Jack.  "I smell
+danger."
+
+"Where, uncle?"  I cried.
+
+"In the air, boy.  How the wind blows!  Quite a gale.  Brings the smell
+of naphtha from those works half a mile away.  Shows how a scent like
+that will travel."
+
+"I say, boys," said Uncle Bob, "what a trade that would be to carry on--
+that or powder-mills.  The scoundrels would regularly hold one at their
+mercy."
+
+"Wind's rising, and the water seems pretty lively," said Uncle Dick as
+we sat together in the office, listening to the noises of the night.
+
+We were quite in the dark, and from time to time we had a look round
+about the yard and wall and that side of the building, the broad dam on
+the other side being our protection.
+
+"What a curious gurgling the water makes!" said Uncle Bob as we sat
+listening; "anyone might think that half a dozen bottles were being
+poured out at once."
+
+"The water plays in and out of the crevices amongst the stones, driving
+the air forth.  I've often listened to it and thought it was someone
+whispering out there beneath the windows," said Uncle Dick.
+
+Then came a loud gust of wind that shook the windows, and directly after
+there was the strong sour scent of naphtha.
+
+"They must have had an accident--upset a tank or something of the kind,"
+said Uncle Jack.  "How strong it is!"
+
+"Yes; quite stinging.  It comes each time with the puffs of wind.  I
+suppose," continued Uncle Dick, "you would consider that which we smell
+to be a gas."
+
+"Certainly," said Uncle Bob, who was, we considered, a pretty good
+chemist.  "It is the evaporation of the spirit; it is so volatile that
+it turns of itself into vapour or gas and it makes itself evident to our
+nostrils as it is borne upon the air."
+
+"There must be great loss in the manufacture of such a spirit as that."
+
+"Oh, they charge accordingly!" said Uncle Bob; "but a great deal does
+undoubtedly pass off into--"
+
+He stopped short, for Uncle Jack laid his hand upon his knee and we all
+listened.
+
+"Nothing," said the latter; but I felt sure I heard a noise below.
+
+"I heard the gurgling sound very plainly," said Uncle Dick.  "There it
+is again.  One might almost think there was water trickling into the
+building."
+
+"Or naphtha, judging by the smell," said Uncle Bob.  "It's very curious.
+I have it!" he cried.
+
+"What do you mean?" said Uncle Jack sharply.
+
+"There has been an accident, as we supposed, at the naphtha works, and a
+quantity of it has floated down the stream and into our dam."
+
+"It has been very clever then," said Uncle Jack gruffly, "for it has
+floated up stream a hundred yards to get into our dam, and--Good
+heavens!"
+
+He sprang to the window and threw it open, for at that moment a heavy
+dull explosion shook the room where we were, and in place of the
+darkness we could see each other distinctly, for the place seemed to
+have been filled with reflected light, which went out and then blazed up
+again.
+
+"Ah!" ejaculated Uncle Jack, "the cowards!  If I had a gun!"
+
+I ran to his side, and in the middle of the dam, paddling towards the
+outer side, there was a sort of raft with three men upon it, and now
+they were distinctly seen, for the black water of the dam seemed to have
+suddenly become tawny gold, lit by a building burning furiously on our
+right.  That building was our furnace-house and the set of smithies and
+sheds that connected it with the grinding-shops and offices.
+
+Uncle Jack banged to the window and took the command.
+
+"Cob," he cried, "run to the big bell and keep it going.  Our lads will
+come.  Dick, throw open the gate; Bob, follow me.  Fire drill.  We may
+nip the blaze in the bud."
+
+The fire-bell was not rung, the gate was not thrown open; for as we ran
+out of the office and down the stairs it was to step into a pool of
+naphtha, and in a few instants we found that a quantity had been poured
+in at the lower windows--to what extent we could not tell--but it was
+evident that this had been done all along the basement by the scoundrels
+on the raft, and that they had contrived that some should reach one of
+the furnaces, with the result that in an instant the furnace-house had
+leaped into a mass of roaring flame, which the brisk gale was fanning
+and making the fire run along the naphtha-soaked buildings like a wave.
+
+"Stop, stop!" roared Uncle Jack; "we can do nothing to stay this.  Back
+to the offices and secure all books and papers."
+
+So swiftly was the fire borne along by the gale that we had hardly time
+to reach the staircase before it came running along, licking up the
+naphtha, of which a large quantity had been spilled, and as it caught
+there were dozens of little explosions.
+
+I do not think either of us gave a thought to how we were to get away
+again, for the valuable books and plans had to be saved at all hazards;
+so following Uncle Jack we rushed into the big office, the safe was
+opened, and as rapidly as possible a couple of tin boxes were filled
+with account-books, and a number of papers were bound round with string.
+
+"You must look sharp," said Uncle Bob.
+
+"But we must take my books, and odds and ends, and fishing-tackle," I
+cried.
+
+"Better try and save our lives," said Uncle Bob.  "Are you ready?"
+
+"No; there are some plans we must take," said Uncle Dick.
+
+"You must leave them," shouted Uncle Bob.  "There, you are too late!" he
+cried, banging to the door at the end of the workshop; "the flame's
+coming up the stairs."
+
+"We can get out of the windows," said Uncle Jack coolly.
+
+"The place beneath is all on fire," cried Uncle Bob, flinging himself on
+his knees.  "The floor's quite hot."
+
+We should have been suffocated only that there was a perfect rush of
+cold air through the place, but moment by moment this was becoming hot
+and poisonous with the gases of combustion.  The flames were rushing out
+of the grinding-shop windows beneath us, and the yard on one side, the
+dam on the other, were light as day.
+
+In one glance over the fire and smoke I saw our wall covered with
+workmen and boys, some watching, some dropping over into the yard.
+While in a similar rapid glance on the other side I saw through the
+flame and smoke that on one side the dam bank was covered with
+spectators, on the other there were three men just climbing off a rough
+raft and descending towards the stream just below.
+
+"Now," said Uncle Jack, seizing one box, "I can do no more.  Each of you
+take your lot and let's go."
+
+"But where?--how?"  I panted.
+
+"Phew!"
+
+Uncle Jack gave vent to a long whistle that was heard above the
+crackling wood, the roar of flames carried along by the wind, and the
+shouts and cries of the excited crowd in the yard.
+
+"It's worse than I thought," said Uncle Jack.  "We can't get down.  Keep
+cool, boys.  We must save our papers.  Here, there is less fire at that
+window than at either of the others--let's throw the boxes out there.
+They'll take care of them."
+
+We ran to the far corner window, but as we reached it a puff of flame
+and smoke curved in and drove us back.
+
+It was so with every window towards the yard, and escape was entirely
+cut off.
+
+The men were trying to do something to save us, for there was a
+tremendous noise and excitement below; but they could do absolutely
+nothing, so rapidly had the grinding-shop beneath us been turned into a
+fiery furnace.
+
+And now the flames had mastered the end door, which fell inward, and
+flame and black and gold clouds of smoke rolled in.
+
+"Quick, Cob!--into the office!" roared Uncle Dick; and I darted in with
+some of the papers, followed by the rest, Uncle Jack banging to the
+door.
+
+"Keep cool, all of you," he cried.  "I must save these books and
+papers."
+
+"But we must save our lives, Jack," said Uncle Dick.  "The floor's
+smoking.  Our only chance is to jump into the dam."
+
+"Through that blaze of flame!" said Uncle Bob gloomily.
+
+"It is our only chance," said Uncle Jack; "but let's try to save our
+boxes as well.  They will float if we take care."
+
+"Now, then, who's first?"
+
+The window was open, the tin boxes and the packets on the table, the dam
+beneath but invisible; for the flame and smoke that rose from the window
+below came like a fiery curtain between us and the water; and it was
+through this curtain that we should have to plunge.
+
+Certainly it would be a momentary affair, and then we should be in the
+clear cold water; but the idea of taking such a leap made even my stout
+uncles shrink and vainly look round for some other means of escape.
+
+But there were none that we could see.  Above the roar and crackling of
+the flames we could hear the shouting of the mob and voices shrieking
+out more than crying, "Jump!  Jump!"  Everything, though, was one whirl
+of confusion; and I felt half-stifled with the terrible heat and the
+choking fumes that came up between the boards and beneath the door.
+
+It was rapidly blinding as well as confusing us; and in those exciting
+moments leadership seemed to have gone, and if even I had made a bold
+start the others would have followed.
+
+At last after what seemed to have been a long space of time, though it
+was doubtless only moments, Uncle Jack cried fiercely:
+
+"Look: the floor's beginning to burn.  You, Dick, out first, Cob shall
+follow; and we'll drop the two tin boxes to you.  You must save them.
+Now!  Are you ready?"
+
+"Yes," cried Uncle Dick, climbing on a chair, and thrusting his arm out
+of the window.
+
+As he did so, there was a puff like some gigantic firework, and a large
+cloud of fiery smoke rose up full of tiny sparks; and he shrank back
+with an ejaculation of pain.
+
+"Hot, Dick?" cried Uncle Jack almost savagely.  "Go on, lad; it will be
+hotter here.  In five minutes the floor will be burned through."
+
+"Follow quickly, Cob," cried Uncle Dick; and then he paused, for there
+was a curious rushing noise, the people yelled, and there were shrieks
+and cries, and above all, a great trampling of feet.
+
+We could see nothing for the flame and smoke that rose before the
+window; and just then the roar of the flames seemed to increase, and our
+position became unendurable.
+
+But still that was a curious rushing noise in the air, a roar as of
+thunder and pouring, hissing rain, and a railway train rushing by and
+coming nearer and nearer every moment; and then, as Uncle Dick was about
+to step forth into the blaze and leap into the dam, Uncle Jack caught
+him and held him back.
+
+Almost at the same moment the rush and roar increased a hundred-fold,
+confusing and startling us, and then, as if by magic, there was a
+tremendous thud against the walls that shook the foundations; a fierce
+hissing noise, and one moment we were standing in the midst of glowing
+light, the next moment we were to our waists in water dashed against the
+opposite wall, and all was black darkness.
+
+As we struggled to our feet the water was sinking, but the horrible
+crashing, rushing noise was still going on--water, a huge river of water
+was rushing right through our factory threatening to sweep it away, and
+then the flood seemed to sink as quickly as it had come, and we stood
+holding hands, listening to the gurgling rush that was rapidly dying
+away.
+
+"What is it?" panted Uncle Bob.
+
+"Life.  Thank heaven, we are saved!" said Uncle Dick fervently.
+
+"Amen!" exclaimed Uncle Jack.  "Why, Dick," he cried, "that great dam up
+in the hills must have burst and come sweeping down the vale!"
+
+Uncle Jack was right, for almost as he spoke we could hear voices
+shouting "rezzyvoyer;" and for the moment we forgot our own troubles in
+the thought of the horrors that must have taken place up the vale.
+
+But we could not stay where we were, half suffocated by the steam that
+rose, and, opening the door, which broke away half-burned through, we
+stood once more in the long workshop, which seemed little changed, save
+that here and there a black chasm yawned in the floor, among which we
+had to thread our way to where the stout door had been.
+
+That and the staircase were gone, so that our only chance was to descend
+by lowering ourselves and dropping to the ground.
+
+Just then we heard the splashing of feet in the yard, and a voice we
+recognised as Pannell cried:
+
+"Mebbe they've got away.  Ahoy there, mesters!  Mester Jacob!"
+
+"Ahoy!"  I shouted; and a ringing cheer went up from twenty throats.
+
+"We're all right," I cried, only nearly smothered.  "Can you get a short
+ladder?"
+
+"Ay, lad," cried another familiar voice; and another shouted, "Owd Jones
+has got one;" and I was sure it was Gentles who spoke.
+
+"How's the place, Pannell?" cried Uncle Dick, leaning out of one of the
+windows.
+
+"So dark, mester, I can hardly see, but fire's put right out, and these
+here buildings be aw reight, but wheer the smithies and furnace was is
+nobbut ground."
+
+"Swept away?"
+
+"Pretty well burned through first, mester, and then the watter came and
+washed it all clear.  Hey but theer's a sight of mischief done, I fear."
+
+A short ladder was soon brought, and the boxes and papers were placed in
+safety in a neighbouring house, after which in the darkness we tramped
+through the yard, to find that it was inches deep in mud, and that the
+flood had found our mill stout enough to resist its force; but the
+half-burned furnace-house, the smithies, and about sixty feet of tall
+stone wall had been taken so cleanly away that even the stones were
+gone, while the mill next to ours was cut right in two.
+
+There was not a vestige of fire left, so, leaving our further inspection
+to be continued in daylight, we left a couple of men as watchers, and
+were going to join the hurrying crowd, when I caught Uncle Dick's arm.
+
+"Well?" he exclaimed.
+
+"Did you see where those men went as they got off the raft?"
+
+"They seemed to be climbing down into the hollow beside the river," he
+said:
+
+"Yes," I whispered with a curious catching of the breath, "and then the
+flood came."
+
+He gripped my hand, and stood thinking for a few moments.
+
+"It is impossible to say," he cried at last.  "But come along, we may be
+of some service to those in trouble."
+
+In that spirit we went on down to the lower part of the town, following
+the course of the flood, and finding fresh horrors at every turn.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.
+
+EIGHT YEARS LATER.
+
+Fancy the horrors of that night!  The great dam about which one of my
+uncles had expressed his doubts when we visited it the previous year,
+and of which he had spoken as our engine, had given way in the centre of
+the vast earthen wall like a railway embankment.  A little crack had
+grown and grown--the trickling water that came through had run into a
+stream, then into a river, and then a vast breach in the embankment was
+made, and a wall of water had rushed down the valley swiftly as a fast
+train, carrying destruction before it.
+
+The ruin of that night is historical, and when after a few hours we made
+our way up the valley, it was to see at every turn the devastation that
+had been caused.  Mills and houses had been swept away as if they had
+been corks, strongly-built works with massive stone walls had crumbled
+away like cardboard, and their machinery had been carried down by the
+great wave of water, stones, gravel, and mud.
+
+Trees had been lifted up by their roots; rows of cottages cut in half;
+banks of the valley carved out, and for miles and miles, down in the
+bottom by the course of the little river, the face of the country was
+changed.  Here where a beautiful garden had stretched down to the stream
+was a bed of gravel and sand; there where verdant meadows had lain were
+sheets of mud; and in hundreds of places trees, plants, and the very
+earth had been swept clear away down to where there was only solid rock.
+
+When we reached the great embankment the main part of the water was
+gone, and in the middle there was the huge gap through which it had
+escaped.
+
+"Too much water for so frail a dam," said Uncle Jack sententiously.
+"Boys, we must not bemoan our loss in the face of such a catastrophe as
+this."
+
+We had no right, for to us the flood, exhausted and spread by its
+eight-mile race, had been our saving, the greater part of our
+destruction being by fire, for which we should have recompense; while
+for the poor creatures who had been in an instant robbed of home and in
+many cases of relatives, what recompense could there be!
+
+The loss of life was frightful, and the scenes witnessed as first one
+poor creature and then another was discovered buried in sand and mud
+after being borne miles by the flood, are too painful to record.
+
+Suffice it that the flood had swept down those eight miles of valley,
+doing incalculable damage, and leaving traces that remained for years.
+The whole of the loss was never known, and till then people were to a
+great extent in ignorance of the power that water could exercise.  In
+many cases we stood appalled at the changes made high up the valley, and
+the manner in which masses of stonework had been swept along.  Stone was
+plentiful in the neighbourhood and much used in building, and wherever
+the flood had come in contact with a building it was taken away bodily,
+to crumble up as it was borne along, and augment the power of the water,
+which became a wave charged with stones, masses of rock, and beams of
+wood, ready to batter into nothingness every obstacle that stood in its
+way.
+
+"It seems impossible that all this could be done in a few minutes," said
+Uncle Dick.
+
+"No, not when you think of the power of water," said Uncle Jack quietly.
+"Think of how helpless one is when bathing, against an ordinary wave.
+Then think of that wave a million times the size, and tearing along a
+valley charged with _debris_, and racing at you as fast as a horse could
+gallop."
+
+We came back from the scene of desolation ready to make light of our own
+trouble, and the way in which my uncles worked to help the sufferers
+down in the lower part of the town gave the finishing touches to the
+work of many months.
+
+There was so much trouble in the town and away up the valley, so much
+suffering to allay, that the firing of our works by the despicable
+scoundrels who worked in secret over these misdeeds became a very
+secondary matter, and seemed to cause no excitement at all.
+
+"But you must make a stir about this," said Mr Tomplin.  "The villains
+who did that deed must be brought to justice.  The whole affair will
+have to be investigated, and I'm afraid we shall have to begin by
+arresting that man of yours--the watcher Searby."
+
+But all this was not done.  Searby came and gave a good account of
+himself--how he had been deluded away, and then so beaten with sticks
+that he was glad to crawl home; and he needed no words to prove that he
+had suffered severely in our service.
+
+"Let's set the prosecution aside for the present," said Uncle Jack, "and
+repair damages.  We can talk about that when the work is going again."
+
+This advice was followed out, and the insurance company proving very
+liberal, as soon as they were satisfied of the place having been
+destroyed by fire, better and more available buildings soon occupied the
+position of the old, the machinery was repaired, and in two months the
+works were in full swing once more.
+
+It might almost have been thought that the flood swept away the foul
+element that originated the outrages which had disgraced the place.  Be
+that as it may, the burning of our works was almost the last of these
+mad attempts to stop progress and intimidate those who wished to improve
+upon the old style of doing things.
+
+I talked to Pannell and Stevens about the fire afterwards and about
+having caught sight of three men landing from a raft and going down
+towards the river just before the flood came.
+
+But they both tightened their lips and shook their heads.  They would
+say nothing to the point.
+
+Pannell was the more communicative of the two, but his remarks were
+rather enigmatical.
+
+"Men jynes in things sometimes as they don't like, my lad.  Look here,"
+he said, holding a glowing piece of steel upon his anvil and giving it a
+tremendous thump.  "See that?  I give that bit o' steel a crack, and it
+was a bad un, but I can't take that back, can I?"
+
+"No, of course not, but you can hammer the steel into shape again."
+
+"That's what some on us is trying to do, my lad, and best thing towards
+doing it is holding one's tongue."
+
+That spring my father and mother came down, and that autumn I left
+Arrowfield and went to an engineering school for four years, after which
+I went out with a celebrated engineer who was going to build some iron
+railway bridges over one of the great Indian rivers.
+
+I was out there four years more, and it was with no little pleasure that
+I returned to the old country, and went down home, to find things very
+little changed.
+
+Of course my uncles were eight years older, but it was singular how
+slightly they were altered.  The alteration was somewhere else.
+
+"By the way, Cob," said Uncle Dick, "I thought we wouldn't write about
+it at the time, and then it was forgotten; but just now, seeing you
+again, all the old struggles came back.  You remember the night of the
+fire?"
+
+"Is it likely I could forget it?"  I said.
+
+"No, not very.  But you remember going down to the works and finding no
+watchman--no dog."
+
+"What!  Did you find out what became of poor old Jupiter?"
+
+"Yes, poor fellow!  The scoundrels drowned him."
+
+"Oh!"
+
+"Yes.  We had to drain the dam and have the mud cleaned out three--four
+years ago, and we found his chain twisted round a great piece of iron
+and the collar still round some bones."
+
+"The cowardly ruffians!"  I exclaimed.
+
+"Yes," said Uncle Jack; "but that breed of workman seems to be dying out
+now."
+
+"And all those troubles," said Uncle Bob, "are over."
+
+That afternoon I went down to the works, which seemed to have grown
+smaller in my absence; but they were in full activity; and turning off
+to the new range of smithies I entered one where a great bald-headed man
+with a grisly beard was hammering away at a piece of steel.
+
+He did not look up as I entered, but growled out:
+
+"I shall want noo model for them blades, Mester John, and sooner the
+better."
+
+"Why, Pannell, old fellow!"  I said.
+
+He raised his head and stared at me.
+
+"Why, what hev yow been doing to theeself, Mester John?" he said.  "Thou
+looks--thou looks--"
+
+He stopped short, and the thought suddenly came to me that last time he
+saw me I was a big boy, and that in eight years I had grown into a
+broad-shouldered man, six feet one high, and had a face bronzed by the
+Indian sun, and a great thick beard.
+
+"Why, Pannell, don't you know me?"
+
+He threw down the piece of steel he had been hammering, struck the anvil
+a clanging blow with all his might, shouted "I'm blest!" and ran out of
+the smithy shouting:
+
+"Hey!  Hi, lads!  Stivins--Gentles!  The hull lot on yo'!  Turn out
+here!  Hey!  Hi!  Here's Mester Jacob come back."
+
+The men who had known me came running out, and those who had not known
+me came to see what it all meant, and it meant really that the rough
+honest fellows were heartily glad to see me.
+
+But first they grouped about me and stared; then their lips spread, and
+they laughed at me, staring the while as if I had been some great wild
+beast or a curiosity.
+
+"On'y to think o' this being him!" cried Pannell; and he stamped about,
+slapping first one knee and then the other, making his leather apron
+sound again.
+
+"Yow'll let a mon shek hans wi' thee, lad?" cried Pannell.  "Hey, that's
+hearty!  On'y black steel," he cried in apology for the state of his
+hand.
+
+Then I had to shake hands all round, and listen to the remarks made,
+while Gentles evidently looked on, but with his eyes screwed tight.
+
+"Say a--look at his arms, lads," cried Stevens, who was as excited as
+everybody.  "He hev growed a big un.  Why, he bets the three mesters
+'cross the showthers."
+
+Then Pannell started a cheer, and so much fuss was made over me that I
+was glad to take refuge in the office, feeling quite ashamed.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+"Why, Cob, you had quite an ovation," said Uncle Bob.
+
+"Yes, just because I have grown as big as my big uncles," I said in a
+half-vexed way.
+
+"No," said Uncle Dick, "not for that, my lad.  The men remember you as
+being a stout-hearted plucky boy who was always ready to crush down his
+weakness, and fight in the cause of right."
+
+"And who always treated them in a straightforward manly way," said Uncle
+Jack.
+
+"What!  Do you mean to say those men remember what I used to do?"
+
+"Remember!" cried Uncle Bob; "why it is one of their staple talks about
+how you stood against the night birds who used to play us such cowards'
+tricks.  Why, Gentles remains _Trappy_ Gentles to this day."
+
+"And bears no malice?"  I said.
+
+"Malice!  Not a bit.  He's one of our most trusty men."
+
+"Don't say that, Bob," said Uncle Jack.  "We haven't a man who wouldn't
+fight for us to the end."
+
+"Not one," said Uncle Dick.  "You worked wonders with them, Cob, when
+you were here."
+
+"Let's see, uncles," I said; "I've been away eight years."
+
+"Yes," they said.
+
+"Well, I haven't learned yet what it is not to be modest, and I hope I
+never shall."
+
+"What do you mean?" said Uncle Dick.
+
+"What do I mean!"  I said.  "Why, what did I do but what you three dear
+old fellows taught me?  Eh?"
+
+There was a silence in the office for a few minutes.  No; only a pause
+as to words, for wheels were turning, blades shrieking, water splashing,
+huge hammers thudding, and there was the hiss and whirr of steam-sped
+machines, added since I went away, for "Russell's," as the men called
+our works, was fast becoming one of the most prosperous of the small
+businesses in our town.
+
+Then Uncle Dick spoke gravely, and said: "Cob, there are boys who will
+be taught, and boys whom people try to teach and never seem to move.
+Now you--"
+
+No, I cannot set down what he said, for I profess to be modest still.  I
+must leave off sometime, so it shall be here.
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Patience Wins, by George Manville Fenn
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PATIENCE WINS ***
+
+***** This file should be named 21361.txt or 21361.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/3/6/21361/
+
+Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+http://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at http://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit http://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     http://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.