initial commit of ebook 21740HEADmain

1 files changed, 9920 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/21740.txt b/21740.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3485539
--- /dev/null
+++ b/21740.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,9920 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Iron Horse, by R.M. Ballantyne
+
+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: The Iron Horse
+
+Author: R.M. Ballantyne
+
+Release Date: June 7, 2007 [EBook #21740]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE IRON HORSE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England
+
+
+
+
+THE IRON HORSE, BY R.M. BALLANTYNE.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ONE.
+
+TREATS OF THE ENGINE-DRIVER'S HOUSE AND HOUSEHOLD.
+
+Talk of earthquakes! not all the earthquakes that have rumbled in
+Ecuador or toppled over the spires and dwellings of Peru could compare,
+in the matter of dogged pertinacity, with that earthquake which
+diurnally and hourly shocked little Gertie's dwelling, quivered the
+white dimity curtains of little Gertie's bed and shook little Gertie's
+frame.  A graceful, rounded little frame it was; yet strong, and firmly
+knit--perhaps in consequence of its having been from infancy so
+constantly and so well shaken together.
+
+Her neat little body was surmounted by a head which no sculptor in
+search of an antique model would have chosen.  Gertie's profile was not
+Grecian; her features were not classic--but they were comely, and rosy,
+and so sweet that most people wanted to kiss them, and many people did.
+Gertie did not object.  Probably, being only six, she imagined that this
+was the ordinary and natural method of salutation.  Yet it was
+observable that the child did not reciprocate kisses except in one or
+two special cases.  She had evidently a mind of her own, a fact which
+was displayed most strikingly, in the passionate manner in which she
+reciprocated the embraces of John Marrot, her father, when that large
+hairy individual came in of an evening, and, catching her in his long
+arms, pressed her little body to his damp pilot-cloth-coated breast and
+her chubby face to his oily, smoke-and-soot begrimed countenance,
+forgetful for the moment of the remonstrance from his wife that was sure
+to follow:--
+
+"Now then, John, there you go again.  You ain't got no more power of
+subjewin' your feelings than one of your own ingines, w'ich is the
+schreechin'ist, fizzin'ist, crashin'ist, bustin' things I ever 'ad the
+misfortune to 'ave to do with.  There's a clean frock just put on this
+mornin' only fit for the wash-tub now?"
+
+But John was an easy-going man.  He was mild, kind, sedate,
+undemonstrative by nature, and looked upon slight matrimonial breezes as
+being good for the health.  It was only Gertie who could draw him into
+demonstrations of feeling such as we have described, and, as we have
+said, she always reciprocated them violently, increasing thereby the
+wash-tub necessity tenfold.
+
+It would have been strange indeed if John Marrot could have been much
+put about by a small matrimonial breeze, seeing that his life was spent
+in riding on an iron monster with white-hot lungs and boiling bowels
+which carried him through space day and night at the rate of fifty miles
+an hour!  This, by the way, brings us back to our text--earthquakes.
+
+Gertie's house--or Gertie's father's house, if you prefer it--stood
+close to the embankment of one of our great arterial railways--which of
+them, for reasons best known to ourself, we don't intend to tell, but,
+for the reader's comfort, we shall call it the Grand National Trunk
+Railway.  So close did the house stand to the embankment that timid
+female passengers were known occasionally to scream as they approached
+it, under the impression that the train had left the rails and was about
+to dash into it--an impression which was enhanced and somewhat justified
+by the circumstance that the house stood with one of its corners;
+instead of its side, front, or back; towards the line; thereby inducing
+a sudden sensation of wrongness in the breasts of the twenty thousand
+passengers who swept past it daily.  The extreme edge of its most
+protruding stone was exactly three yards four inches--by measurement--
+from the left rail of the down line.
+
+Need we say more to account for the perpetual state of earthquakedom, in
+which that house was involved?
+
+But the tremors and shocks to which it was exposed--by night and by
+day--was not all it had to bear.  In certain directions of the wind it
+was intermittently enveloped in clouds of mingled soot and steam, and,
+being situated at a curve on the line where signalling became imminently
+needful, it was exposed to all the varied horrors of the whistle from
+the sharp screech of interrogation to the successive bursts of
+exasperation, or the prolonged and deadly yell of intimidation, with all
+the intermediate modulations--so that, what with the tremors, and
+shocks, and crashes, and shrieks, and thunderous roar of trains,
+Gertie's father's house maintained an upright front in circumstances
+that might have been equalled but could not have been surpassed by those
+of the Eddystone Lighthouse in the wildest of winter storms, while it
+excelled that celebrated building in this, that it faced a storm which
+knew no calm, but raged furiously all the year round.
+
+John Marrot was an engine-driver on the Grand National Trunk Railway.
+This is equivalent to saying that he was a steady, sober, trustworthy
+man.  None but men of the best character are nowadays put in so
+responsible a position.  Nearly all the drivers on the line were of this
+kind--some better than others, no doubt, but all good.  Of course there
+are exceptions to every rule.  As in the best regulated families
+accidents will happen, so, on the best conducted lines, an occasional
+black sheep will get among the drivers, but this is the exception that
+proves the rule.  The rule in the Grand National Trunk Railway was--get
+the best drivers and pay them well.  The same may be said of the
+firemen, whose ambition was ultimately to drive the iron chargers which
+they fed.  Besides being all that we have said, John was a big, burly,
+soft-hearted, hard-headed man, who knew that two and two in ordinary
+circumstances made four, and who didn't require to be told that his left
+foot was not his right one.
+
+It was generally supposed that John Marrot had no nerves, and that his
+muscles had imbibed some of the iron of which his engine was composed.
+This was a mistake, though there was some truth in both suppositions.
+
+John's family consisted of himself when at home, which, although often,
+was never for long; his wife--fat and fair, capable of being roused,
+but, on the whole, a good, sensible, loving woman; his eldest daughter,
+Lucy or Loo--nineteen, dark, pretty, and amiable; his youngest daughter,
+Gertrude, _alias_ Gertie--six, sunny and serious, at least as serious as
+was possible for one so young, so innocent, so healthy, and so happy as
+she; his son Bob, aged twelve, who was a lamp-boy at the great station
+not far off, and of whom it may be briefly said that he was "no better
+than he should be," and, lastly, the baby--not yet at the walking period
+of life, with a round head, round body, round eyes, and a round dozen at
+least--if not more--of hairs standing straight up on the top of his bald
+pate, suggesting the idea that he must at some period of his life have
+been singed by a passing locomotive--an event not by any means beyond
+the bounds of possibility, for it may be written, with more truth of
+this, than of any other infant, that he had been born and nurtured amid
+thunder, smoke, and blazes.
+
+As might have been expected in the circumstances, he was a powerful
+baby.  We cannot afford space for a full description, but it would be
+wrong to omit mention of the strength of his lungs.  The imitative
+tendency of children is proverbial.  Clearly the locomotive was baby
+Marrot's pattern in many things.  No infant that ever drew breath
+equalled this one at a yell.  There was absolutely a touch of sublimity
+in the sound of the duet--frequently heard--when baby chanced to be
+performing a solo and his father's engine went shrieking past with a
+running accompaniment!  It is a disputed point to this day which of the
+two beat the other; and it is an admitted fact that nothing else could
+equal either.
+
+There were two other inmates of John Marrot's house--not members of the
+family.  One was his fireman, William Garvie, who lodged with him, the
+other a small servant or maid-of-all-work who led a rugged existence,
+but appeared to enjoy it, although it kept her thin.  Her name was Ann
+Stocks, familiarly known as Nanny.
+
+We are thus particular in describing the engine-driver's household
+because, apart from other reasons, a group of human beings who could
+live, and thrive, and eat, and sleep, and love, and learn, and so forth,
+in such circumstances is noteworthy.
+
+It was quite a treat--believe it, reader--to see little Gertie and the
+baby slumber while the engines were apparently having "a night of it"
+outside!  Come with us and behold.  It is 10:30 p.m.  Father is crossing
+country on the limited mail at any pace you choose between fifty and
+eighty miles an hour, time having been lost at the last station, owing
+to the unaccountable disappearance of a first-class passenger, and time
+having to be made up by fair means or otherwise.  His mate stands beside
+him.  In the family mansion pretty Loo sleeps like a "good angel," as
+she is, in a small room farthest from the corner next the line, but with
+her we have nothing to do at present.  Nanny, also sound asleep, lies in
+some place of profound obscurity among the coals in the lower regions of
+the house, laying in that store of health and vigour which will enable
+her to face the rugged features of the following day.  We dismiss her,
+also, with the hope that she may survive the coal-dust and the lack of
+oxygen, and turn to the chief room of the house--the kitchen, parlour,
+dining-room, drawing-room, nursery, and family bedroom all in one.
+Engine-drivers are not always so badly off for space in their domiciles,
+but circumstances which are not worth mentioning have led John Marrot to
+put up with little.  In this apartment, which is wonderfully clean and
+neat, there are two box-beds and a sort of crib.  Baby sleeps--as only
+babies can--in perfect bliss in the crib; Gertie slumbers with her
+upturned sweet little face shaded by the white dimity curtains in one
+bed; Mrs Molly Marrot snores like a grampus in the other.  It is a wide
+bed, let deep into the wall, as it were, and Mrs M's red countenance
+looms over the counterpane like the setting sun over a winter fog-bank.
+
+Hark?  A rumble in the far distance--ominous and low at first, but
+rapidly increasing to the tones of distant thunder.  It is the night
+express for the North--going at fifty miles an hour.  At such a rate of
+speed it might go right round the world in twenty-one days!  While yet
+distant the whistle is heard, shrill, threatening, and prolonged.
+Louder and louder; it is nearing the curve now and the earth trembles--
+the house trembles too, but Gertie's parted lips breathe as softly as
+before; baby's eyes are as tight and his entire frame as still as when
+he first fell asleep.  Mrs Marrot, too, maintains the monotony of her
+snore.  Round the curve it comes at last, hammer and tongs, thundering
+like Olympus, and yelling like an iron fiend.  The earthquake is "on!"
+The embankment shudders; the house quivers; the doors, windows, cups,
+saucers, and pans rattle.  Outside, all the sledge-hammers and anvils in
+Vulcan's smithy are banging an _obbligato_ accompaniment to the hissing
+of all the serpents that Saint Patrick drove out of Ireland as the
+express comes up; still Gertie's rest is unbroken.  She does indeed give
+a slight smile and turn her head on the other side, as if she had heard
+a pleasant whisper, but nothing more.  Baby, too, vents a prolonged sigh
+before plunging into a profounder depth of repose.  Mrs Marrot gives a
+deprecatory grunt between snores, but it is merely a complimentary
+"Hallo! 's that you?" sort of question which requires no answer.
+
+As the rushing storm goes by a timid and wakeful passenger happens to
+lower the window and look out.  He sees the house.  "It's all over?" are
+his last words as he falls back in his seat and covers his face with his
+hands.  He soon breathes more freely on finding that it is not all over,
+but fifteen or twenty miles lie between him and the house he expected to
+annihilate, before his nervous system has quite recovered its tone.
+
+This, reader, is a mere sample of the visitations by which that family
+was perpetually affected, though not afflicted.  Sometimes the rushing
+masses were heavy goods trains, which produced less fuss, but more of
+earthquake.  At other times red lights, intimating equally danger and
+delay, brought trains to a stand close to the house, and kept them
+hissing and yelling there as if querulously impatient to get on.  The
+uproar reached its culminating point about 12:45, on the night of which
+we write, when two trains from opposite directions were signalled to
+wait, which they did precisely opposite John Marrot's windows, and there
+kept up such a riot of sound as feeble language is impotent to convey.
+To the accustomed ears the whistle and clank of a checked and angry
+pilot-engine might have been discerned amid the hullabaloo; but to one
+whose experience in such matters was small, it might have seemed as
+though six or seven mad engines were sitting up on end, like monster
+rabbits on a bank, pawing the air and screaming out their hearts in the
+wild delirium of unlimited power and ungovernable fury.  Still, although
+they moved a little, the sleepers did not awake--so potent is the force
+of habit!  However, it did not last long.  The red lights removed their
+ban, the white lights said "Come on," the monster rabbits gave a final
+snort of satisfaction and went away--each with its tail of live-stock,
+or minerals, or goods, or human beings, trailing behind it.
+
+The temporary silence round the house was very intense, as may well be
+believed--so much so that the heavy foot-fall of a man in the bypath
+that led to it sounded quite intrusive.
+
+He was a tall broad-shouldered man in a large pilot coat, cap and boots,
+and appeared to walk somewhat lame as he approached the door.  He tried
+the handle.  It was locked, of course.
+
+"I thought so," he muttered in a low bass voice; "so much for a bad
+memory."
+
+He rapped twice on the door, loudly, with his knuckles and then kicked
+it with his boot.  Vain hope!  If a burglar with a sledge-hammer had
+driven the door in, he would have failed to tickle the drum of any ear
+there.  The man evidently was aware of this, for, changing his plan, he
+went round to a back window on the ground-floor, and opened it at the
+top with some difficulty.  Peeping in he gazed for some time intently,
+and then exclaimed under his breath, "Ha! it's open by good luck."
+Gathering a handful of gravel, he threw it into the house with
+considerable force.
+
+The result proved that he had not aimed at random, for the shower
+entered the open door of Nanny's sleeping-cellar and fell smartly on her
+face.
+
+It is well-known that sailors, although capable of slumbering through
+loud and continuous noises, can be awakened by the slightest touch, so
+likewise Nanny.  On receiving the shower of gravel she incontinently
+buried her head in the blankets, drew an empty coal-scuttle over her
+shoulders and began to shout thieves! and murder! at the top of her
+voice.  Having taken such pains to muffle it, of course no one heard her
+cries.  The man, if a burglar, had evidently a patient philosophical
+turn of mind, for he calmly waited till the damsel was exhausted, and
+when she at length peeped out to observe the effect of her heroic
+efforts at self-preservation he said quietly, "Nanny, lass, don't be a
+fool!  It's me; open the door; I've gone an' forgot my latch-key."
+
+"Oh la! master, it ain't you, is it?  It ain't thieves and robbers, is
+it?"
+
+"No, no.  Open the door like a good girl."
+
+"And it ain't an accident, is it?" continued Nanny partially dressing in
+haste.  "Oh, I knows it's a accident, Missus always prophesied as a
+accident would come to pass some day, which has come true.  You're not
+maimed, master?"
+
+"No, no; be quick, girl!"
+
+"Nor Willum ain't maimed, is he?  He ain't dead?  Oh _don't_ say Willum
+is--"
+
+"Bill Garvie's all right," said the engine-driver, as he brushed past
+the girl and went up-stairs.
+
+Now, although Mrs Marrot's ears were totally deaf to locomotives they
+were alert enough to the sound of her husband's voice.  When, therefore,
+he entered the kitchen, he found her standing on the floor with an ample
+shawl thrown round her.
+
+"Nothing wrong?" she inquired anxiously.
+
+"Nothing, Molly, my dear, only I got a slight bruise on the leg in the
+engine-shed to-day, and I had to go up an' show it to the doctor, d'ye
+see, before comin' home, which has made me later than usual."
+
+"Are you _sure_ it's not a back hurt, father?" asked Loo, coming in at
+the moment--also enveloped in a shawl, and looking anxious.
+
+"Sure? ay, I'm sure enough; it's only a scratch.  See here."
+
+Saying this he removed one of his boots, and pulling up his trousers
+displayed a bandaged leg.
+
+"Well, but we can't see through the bandages, you know," said Mrs
+Marrot.
+
+"Let me take them off, father, and I'll replace--"
+
+"Take 'em off!" exclaimed John, pulling down the leg of his trouser and
+rising with a laugh.  "No, no, Loo; why, it's only just bin done up all
+snug by the doctor, who'd kick up a pretty shindy if he found I had
+undid it.  There's one good will come of it anyhow, I shall have a day
+or two in the house with you all; for the doctor said I must give it a
+short rest.  So, off to bed again, Loo.  This is not an hour for a
+respectable young woman to be wanderin' about in her night-dress.  Away
+with you!"
+
+"Was any one else hurt, father?" said Loo.  She asked the question
+anxiously, but there was a slight flush on her cheek and a peculiar
+smile which betrayed some hidden feeling.
+
+"No one else," returned her father.  "I tell 'ee it wasn't an accident
+at all--it was only a engine that brushed up agin me as I was comin' out
+o' the shed.  That's all; so I just came home and left Will Garvie to
+look after our engine.  There, run away."
+
+Loo smiled, nodded and disappeared, followed by Mrs Marrot, who went,
+like a sensible woman, to see that her alarmed domestic was all right.
+While she was away John went to the crib and kissed the rosy cheek of
+his sleeping boy.  Then he bent over the bed with the white dimity
+curtains to Miss Gertie's forehead, for which purpose he had to remove a
+mass of curly hair with his big brown hand.
+
+"Bless you, my darling," he said in silent speech, "you came near bein'
+fatherless this night--nearer than you ever was before."  He kissed her
+again tenderly, and a fervent "thank the Lord!" rose from his heart to
+heaven.
+
+In less than half-an-hour after this the engine-driver's family sank
+into profound repose, serenaded by the music of a mineral train from the
+black country, which rushed laboriously past their dwelling like an
+over-weighted thunderbolt.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWO.
+
+THE DRIVER VISITS A LITTLE ELDERLY GENTLEWOMAN AND PREPARES THE IRON
+HORSE FOR ACTION.
+
+Next day John Marrot spent the brief period of repose accorded by the
+doctor to his leg in romping about the house with the baby in his arms.
+Being a large man, accustomed to much elbow-room and rapid motion, and
+the house being small, John may be said to have been a dangerous
+character in the family on such occasions.  Apart from baby, no elephant
+was ever more sluggish in his motions; but when coupled--professionally
+speaking--to his own tender infant, John knew no bounds, his wife knew
+no rest and his baby knew no higher earthly bliss.
+
+Sometimes it was on his shoulder, sometimes on his head and often on his
+foot, riding with railway speed to "Banbury Cross."  Again it was on its
+back in the crib or on the bed being tickled into fits of laughter,
+which bid fair at times to merge into fits of convulsion, to the horror
+of little Gertie, who came in for a large share of that delightful
+holiday's enjoyment, but whose spirit was frequently harrowed with alarm
+at the riotous conduct of her invalid father.  In his glee the man might
+have been compared to a locomotive with a bad driver, who was constantly
+shutting off the steam and clapping on the brakes too soon or too late,
+thus either falling short of or overshooting his mark.  What between the
+door and the dresser, the fire, the crib, the window, and the furniture,
+John showed himself a dreadfully bad pilot and was constantly running
+into or backing out of difficulties.  At last towards the afternoon of
+that day, while performing a furious charge round the room with baby on
+his head, he overturned the wash-tub, which filled the baby with
+delirious joy, and Gertie with pleasurable alarm.
+
+As for Mrs Marrot, she was too happy to have her husband at home for a
+whole day to care much about trifles, nevertheless she felt it her duty
+to reprove him, lest the children should learn a bad lesson.
+
+"There now, John, I knew you'd do it at last.  You're much too violent,
+and you shouldn't ought to risk the baby's neck in that way.  Such a
+mess!  How _can_ you expect me to keep things tidy if you go on so?"
+
+John was very penitent.  He did not reply at first, but putting baby
+into the crib--where it instantly drowned with a great yell the shriek
+of a passing train--he went down on his knees and began to "swab" up the
+water with a jack-towel.  Loo ran laughingly from the corner where she
+had been sewing, and insisted on doing it for him.
+
+"You'll hurt your leg, father, if you bend it so, and I'm sure it must
+be swelled and pained enough already with so much romping."
+
+"Not a bit, Loo," objected John.  "It was me as caused the mess, an'
+justice requires that I should swab it up.  There, go sew that sentiment
+into a sampler an' hang it up over yer bed."
+
+But Loo would not give in.  While they were still engaged in the
+controversy the door opened, and young Bob Marrot stood before them with
+his eyes wide open and his hair straight up on end, as if he had
+recently seen a ghost.  This aspect, however, was no sign of alarm,
+being his normal condition.
+
+"Ha! seems to me, somehow, that somebody's bin up to somethin'."
+
+"Right Bob," replied his father, rising from his knees and throwing the
+jack-towel at him.
+
+The lad easily evaded the shot, being well accustomed to elude much more
+deadly missiles, and, picking up the towel, quietly set to work to
+perform the duty in dispute.
+
+"You're wanted," he said, looking up at his father while he wrung the
+towel over a tin basin.
+
+"Eh!  Where?"
+
+"Up at the shed."
+
+"I'm on sick leave," said John.
+
+"Can't help that.  The 6:30 p.m. passenger train must be drove, and
+there's nobody left but you to drive it.  Jones is away with a goods
+train owin' to Maxwell having sprained his ankle, and Long Thompson is
+down with small-pox, so you'll have to do it.  I offered 'em my
+services, but the manager he said that intelligent lads couldn't be
+spared for such menial work, and told me to go and fetch you."
+
+"Maxwell had no business to sprain his ankle," said John Marrot.
+"Hows'ever," he added cheerfully, "I've had a rare good holiday, an' the
+leg's all but right again, so, Molly, let's have an early tea; I'll give
+it a good rest for another half-hour and then be ready for the 6:30
+p.m-ers.  Cut off your steam, will you?"
+
+This last observation was made to the baby, and was accompanied by a
+shake and a toss towards the ceiling which caused him to obey instantly,
+under the impression, no doubt that the fun was to be renewed.  Being,
+however, consigned to the care of Gertie he again let on the steam and
+kept it up during the whole time the family were at tea--which meal they
+enjoyed thoroughly, quite regardless of the storm.
+
+He was asleep when his father rose at last and buttoned his heavy coat
+up to the chin, while Mrs Marrot stood on tiptoe to arrange more
+carefully the woollen shawl round his neck.
+
+"Now, don't stand more than you can help on your hurt leg, John."
+
+"Certainly not, duckie," said John, stooping to kiss the upturned face;
+"I'll sit on the rail as much as I can, like a 'Merican racoon.  By the
+way," he added, turning suddenly to Loo, "you delivered that note from
+young Mr Tipps to his mother?"
+
+"Yes, immediately after I got it from you; and I waited to see if there
+was an answer, but she said there wasn't.  It must have contained bad
+news, I fear, for she turned pale while she read it."
+
+"H'm, well," said John, putting on his cap, "don't know nothin' about
+what was in it, so it's no bizzness o' mine."
+
+With a hearty good-evening to all, and a special embrace to Gertie, the
+engine-driver left his home, accompanied by Bob his hopeful son.
+
+"Mr Sharp," said Bob, as they walked along, "has bin makin' oncommon
+partikler inquiries among us about some o' the porters.  I raither think
+they're a bad lot."
+
+"Not at all," replied his father severely.  "They're no more a bad lot
+than the drivers, or, for the matter of that, than the clerks or the
+directors, or the lamp-boys.  You ought to be gittin' old enough by this
+time, Bob, to know that every lot o' fish in this world, however good,
+has got a few bad uns among 'em.  As a rule railway directors and
+railway clerks, and railway porters and railway officials of all sorts
+are good--more or less--the same may be said of banks an' insurances,
+an' all sorts of things--but, do what ye may, a black sheep or two
+_will_ git in among 'em, and, of course, the bigger the consarn, the
+more numerous the black sheep.  Even the clergy ain't free from that
+uniwersal law of natur.  But what's Mr Sharp bin inquiring arter?"
+
+"Ah--wot indeed!" replied Bob; "'ow should I know?  Mr Sharp ain't the
+man to go about the line with a ticket on his back tellin' wot he's
+arter.  By no means.  P'lice superintendents ain't usually given to
+that; but he's arter _somethin'_ partickler."
+
+"Well, that ain't no bizzness of ours, Bob, so we don't need to trouble
+our heads about it.  There's nothin' like mindin' yer own bizzness.
+Same time," added John after a short pause, "that's no reason why, as a
+sea-farin' friend o' mine used to say, a man shouldn't keep his
+weather-eye open, d'ye see?"
+
+Bob intimated that he did see, by winking with the eye that chanced to
+be next his parent; but further converse between father and son was
+interrupted at a turn in the road, where they were joined by a stout,
+broad-shouldered young man, whose green velveteen jacket vest, and
+trousers bespoke him a railway porter.
+
+"Evenin', Sam," said our driver with a friendly nod; "goin' on night
+dooty, eh?"
+
+"Yes, worse luck," replied Sam, thrusting his powerful hands into his
+pockets.
+
+"Why so, Sam, you ain't used to mind night dooty?"
+
+"No more I do," said Sam testily, "but my missus is took bad, and
+there's no one to look after her properly--for that old 'ooman we got
+ain't to be trusted.  'Tis a hard thing to have to go on night dooty
+when a higher dooty bids me stay at home."
+
+There was a touch of deep feeling in the tone in which the latter part
+of Sam Natly's remark was uttered.  His young wife, to whom he had been
+only a year married, had fallen into bad health, and latterly the
+doctors had given him little encouragement to hope for her recovery.
+
+"Sam," said John Marrot stopping, "I'll go an' send a friend, as I knows
+of, to look after yer wife."
+
+"A friend?" said Sam; "you can't mean any o' your own family, John, for
+you haven't got time to go back that length now, and--"
+
+"Well, never mind, I've got time to go where I'm agoin'.  You run on to
+the shed, Bob, and tell Garvie that I'll be there in fifteen minutes."
+
+The engine-driver turned off abruptly, and, increasing his pace to a
+smart walk, soon stood before the door of one of those uncommonly small
+neat suburban villas which the irrigating influence of the Grand
+National Trunk Railway had caused to spring up like mushrooms around the
+noisy, smoky, bustling town of Clatterby--to the unspeakable advantage
+of that class of gentlefolk who possess extremely limited incomes, but
+who, nevertheless, prefer fresh air to smoke.
+
+"Is your missus at 'ome?" he inquired of the stout elderly woman who
+answered to his modest summons--for although John was wont to clatter
+and bang through the greater part of his daily and nightly career, he
+was tender of touch and act when out of his usual professional beat.
+
+"Yes; do you wish to see her?"
+
+"I does, my dear.  Sorry I 'aven't got a card with me, but if you'll
+just say that it's John Marrot, the engine-driver, I dessay that'll do
+for a free pass."
+
+The elderly woman went off with a smile, but returned quickly with an
+anxious look, and bade the man follow her.  He was ushered into a small
+and poorly furnished but extremely neat and clean parlour, where sat a
+thin little old lady in an easy-chair, looking very pale.
+
+"Ev'nin', ma'am," said John, bowing and looking rougher and bigger than
+usual in such a small apartment.
+
+"You--you--don't bring bad news, I hope!--my son Joseph--"
+
+"Oh no, Mrs Tipps, not by no means," said Marrot, hasting to relieve
+the timid old lady's feelings, "Mr Joseph is all right--nothing wotiver
+wrong with him--nor likely to be, ma'am.  Leastwise he wos all right
+w'en I seed 'im last."
+
+"And when might that be?" asked the timid old lady with a sigh of relief
+as she clasped her hands tightly together.
+
+"W'y, let me see," said John, touching his forehead, "it was yesterday
+evenin' w'en I came up with the northern express."
+
+"But many accidents might have happened since yesterday evening," said
+Mrs Tipps, still in an anxious tone.
+
+"That's true, ma'am.  All the engines on the Grand Trunk from the
+Pentland Firth to the Channel might have bu'sted their bilers since that
+time--but it ain't likely," replied John, with a bland smile.
+
+"And--and what was my son doing when you passed him?  Did you speak to
+him?"
+
+"Speak to him!  Bless your heart, ma'am," said John, with another
+benignant smile, "I went past Langrye station at sixty mile an hour, so
+we hadn't much chance to speak to each other.  It would have been as
+much as we could have managed, if we'd tried it, to exchange winks."
+
+"Dreadful!" exclaimed Mrs Tipps in a low tone.  "Is that the usual rate
+of travelling on your railway?"
+
+"Oh dear no, ma'am.  It's only _my_ express train as goes at that rate.
+Other expresses run between forty and fifty miles, an' or'nary trains
+average about thirty miles an hour--goods, they go at about twenty, more
+or less; but they varies a good deal.  The train I drives is about the
+fastest in the kingdom, w'ich is pretty much the same as sayin' it's the
+fastest in the world, ma'am.  Sometimes I'm obleeged to go as high as
+nigh seventy miles an hour to make up time."
+
+"The fastest mail-coaches in _my_ young days," said Mrs Tipps, "used to
+go at the rate of ten miles an hour, I believe."
+
+"Pretty much so," said John.  "They did manage a mile or two more, I'm
+told, but that was their average of crawlin' with full steam on."
+
+"And _you_ sometimes drive at sixty or seventy miles an hour?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am."
+
+"With people in the carriages?"
+
+"Cer'nly, ma'am."
+
+"How I _wish_ that I had lived a hundred years ago!" sighed poor Mrs
+Tipps.
+
+"You'd have bin a pretty old girl by this time if you had," thought the
+engine-driver, but he was too polite to give utterance to the thought.
+
+"And what was my son doing when you passed him at that frightful speed--
+you could _see_ him, I suppose?"
+
+"Oh yes, ma'am, I could see him well enough.  He was talkin' an'
+laughin', as far as I could make out, with an uncommon pretty girl."
+
+"Indeed!" exclaimed Mrs Tipps, flushing slightly--for she was extremely
+sensitive,--and evidently much relieved by this information.  "Well, my
+good man, what do you wish me to do for you? anything that is in my
+power to--"
+
+"Thankee, ma'am, but I don't want you to do nothin' for _me_."
+
+"Then what have you to say to me?" added the old lady with a little
+smile that was clearly indicative of a kind little heart.
+
+"I've come to take the liberty, ma'am, of askin' you to do one of my
+mates a favour."
+
+"Most willingly," said Mrs Tipps with animation.  "I shall never forget
+that you saved my dear Joseph's life by pulling him off the line when
+one of your dreadful engines was going straight over him.  Anything that
+I am capable of doing for you or your friends will be but a poor return
+for what you have done for me.  I have often asked you to allow me to
+make me some such return, Mr Marrot, and have been grieved at your
+constant refusal.  I am delighted that you come to me now."
+
+"You're very good to say so, ma'am.  The fact is that one o' my friends,
+a porter on the line, named Sam Natly, has a young wife who is, I fear,
+far gone wi' consumption; she's worse to-night an' poor Sam's obliged to
+go on night dooty, so he can't look arter her, an' the old 'ooman
+they've got ain't worth nothin'.  So I thought I'd make bold, ma'am, to
+ask you to send yer servant to git a proper nurse to take charge of her
+to-night, it would be--"
+
+"I'll go myself!" exclaimed Mrs Tipps, interrupting, and starting up
+with a degree of alacrity that astonished the engine-driver.  "Here,
+write down the address on that piece of paper--you can write, I
+suppose?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am," replied John, modestly, as he bent down and wrote the
+address in a bold flowing hand, "I raither think I _can_ write.  I write
+notes, on a paper I've got to fill up daily, on the engine; an' w'en a
+man's trained to do that, ma'am, it's my opinion he's fit to write in
+any circumstances whatsomedever.  Why, you'd hardly believe it, ma'am,
+but I do assure you, that I wrote my fust an' last love-letter to my
+missus on the engine.  I was drivin' the Lightenin' at the time--that's
+the name o' my engine, ma'am, an' they calls me Jack Blazes in
+consikence--well, I'd bin courtin' Molly, off-an'-on, for about three
+months.  She b'longed to Pinchley station, you must know, where we used
+to stop to give her a drink--"
+
+"What! to give Molly a drink?"
+
+"No, ma'am," replied John, with a slight smile, "to give the ingine a
+drink.  Well, she met me nigh every day 'xcept Sundays at that station,
+and as we'd a pretty long time there--about five minutes--we used to
+spend it beside the pump, an' made the most of it.  But somehow I took
+it into my head that Molly was playin' fast an' loose with me, an' I was
+raither cool on her for a time.  Hows'ever, her father bein' a
+pointsman, she wos shifted along with him to Langrye station--that's
+where your son is, ma'am--an' as we don't stop there we was obleeged to
+confine our courtship to a nod an' a wave of a handkerchief.  Leastwise
+she shook out a white handkerchief an' I flourished a lump o'
+cotton-waste.  Well, one day as we was close upon Langrye station--about
+two miles--I suddenly takes it into my head that I'd bring the thing to
+a pint, so I sings out to my mate--that was my fireman, ma'am--says I,
+`look out Jim,' an' I draws out my pencil an' bends my legs--you must
+always bend your legs a little, ma'am, w'en you writes on a locomotive,
+it makes springs of 'em, so to speak--an' I writes on the back of a
+blank time-bill, `Molly, my dear, no more shilly-shallyin' with _me_.
+Time's up.  If you'll be tender, I'll be locomotive.  Only say the word
+and we're coupled for life in three weeks.  A white handkerchief means
+yes, a red 'un, no.  If red, you'll see a noo driver on the 10:15 a.m.
+express day after to-morrow.  John Marrot.'  I was just in time to pitch
+the paper crumpled up right into her bosom," continued the driver,
+wiping his forehead as if the deep anxiety of that eventful period still
+affected him, "an' let me tell you, ma'am, it requires a deal o' nice
+calculation to pitch a piece o' crumpled paper true off a locomotive
+goin' between fifty and sixty miles an hour; but it went all straight--I
+could see that before we was gone."
+
+"And what was the result?" asked the little old lady as earnestly as if
+that result were still pending.
+
+"W'y, the result wos as it should be!  My letter was a short 'un, but it
+turned out to be a powerful brake.  Brought her up sharp--an' we was
+coupled in less than six weeks."
+
+"Amazing phase of human life!" observed Mrs Tipps, gazing in admiration
+at the stalwart giant who stood deferentially before her.
+
+"Well, it _was_ a raither coorious kind o' proposal," said Marrot with a
+smile, "but it worked uncommon well.  I've never wanted to uncouple
+since then."
+
+"Pardon _me_, Mr Marrot," said Mrs Tipps, with little hysterical
+laugh--knowing that she was about to perpetrate a joke--"may I ask if
+there are any--any _little_ tenders?"
+
+"Oh, lots of 'em," replied John, "quite a train of 'em; four livin' an'
+three gone dead.  The last was coupled on only a short time ago.  You'll
+excuse me now, ma'am," he added, pulling out and consulting the
+ponderous chronometer with which the company supplied him, "I must go
+now, havin' to take charge o' the 6:30 p.m. train,--it ain't my usual
+train, but I'm obleeged to take it to-night owin' to one of our drivers
+havin' come by an accident.  Evenin', ma'am."
+
+John bowed, and retired so promptly that poor Mrs Tipps had no time to
+make further inquiry into the accident referred to--at the very mention
+of which her former alarm came back in full force.  However, she wisely
+got the better of her own anxieties by throwing herself into those of
+others.  Putting on her bonnet she sallied forth on her errand of mercy.
+
+Meanwhile John Marrot proceeded to the engine-shed to prepare his iron
+horse for action.  Here he found that his fireman, Will Garvie, and his
+cleaner, had been attending faithfully to their duty.  The huge
+locomotive, which looked all the more gigantic for being under cover,
+was already quivering with that tremendous energy--that artificial
+life--which rendered it at once so useful and so powerful a servant of
+man.  Its brasses shone with golden lustre, its iron rods and bars,
+cranks and pistons glittered with silvery sheen, and its heavier parts
+and body were gay with a new coat of green paint.  Every nut and screw
+and lever and joint had been screwed up, and oiled, examined, tested,
+and otherwise attended to, while the oblong pit over which it stood when
+in the shed--and into which its ashes were periodically emptied--glowed
+with the light of its intense furnace.  Ever and anon a little puff
+issued from its safety-valve, proving to John Marrot that there was life
+within his fiery steed sufficient to have blown the shed to wreck with
+all its brother engines, of which there were at the time two or three
+dozen standing--some disgorging their fire and water after a journey,
+and preparing to rest for the night; some letting off steam with a
+fiendish yell unbearably prolonged; others undergoing trifling repairs
+preparatory to starting next day, and a few, like that of our
+engine-driver, ready for instant action and snorting with impatience
+like war-horses "scenting the battle from afar."  The begrimed warriors,
+whose destiny it was to ride these iron chargers, were also variously
+circumstanced.  Some in their shirt sleeves busy with hammer and file at
+benches hard by; others raking out fire-boxes, or oiling machinery; all
+busy as bees, save the few, who, having completed their preparations,
+were buttoning up their jackets and awaiting the signal to charge.
+
+At last that signal came to John Marrot--not in a loud shout of command
+or a trumpet-blast, but by the silent hand of Time, as indicated on his
+chronometer.
+
+"But how," it may be asked, "does John Marrot know precisely the hour at
+which he has to start, the stations he has to stop at, the various
+little acts of coupling on and dropping off carriages and trucks, and
+returning with trains or with `empties' within fixed periods so
+punctually, that he shall not interfere with, run into, or delay, the
+operations of the hundreds of drivers whose duties are as complex, nice,
+important, and swift as his own."
+
+Reader, we reply that John knows it all in consequence of the perfection
+of _system_ attained in railway management.  Without this, our trains
+and rails all over the kingdom would long ago have been smashed up into
+what Irishmen expressively name smithereens.
+
+The duty of arranging the details of the system devolves on the
+superintendents of departments on the line, namely, the passenger,
+goods, and locomotive superintendents, each of whom reigns independently
+and supreme in his own department, but of course, like the members of a
+well-ordered family, they have to consult together in order that their
+trains may be properly horsed, and the time of running so arranged that
+there shall be no clashing in their distinct though united interests.
+When the number of trains and time of running have been fixed, and
+finally published by the passenger superintendent--who is also sometimes
+the "Out-door superintendent," and who has duties to perform that demand
+very considerable powers of generalship,--it is the duty of the
+locomotive superintendent to supply the requisite engines.  This
+officer, besides caring for all the "plant" or rolling-stock, new and
+old, draws out periodically a schedule, in which is detailed to a nicety
+every minute act that has to be done by drivers--the hour at which each
+engine is to leave the shed on each day of the week, the number of each
+engine, its driver and fireman, and the duties to be performed; and this
+sheet contains complete _daily_ (nay, almost hourly) directions for
+passenger, goods, and pilot-engines.
+
+In order to secure attention to these regulations, each engineman is
+fined one shilling for every minute he is behind time in leaving the
+shed.  The difficulty of making these runnings of trains dovetail into
+each other on lines where the traffic is great and constant, may well be
+understood to be considerable, particularly when it is remembered that
+ordinary regular traffic is interfered with constantly by numerous
+excursion, special, and other irregular trains, in the midst of which,
+also, time must be provided for the repair and renewal of the line
+itself, the turning of old rails, laying down of new ones, raising
+depressed sleepers, renewing broken chairs, etcetera,--all which is
+constantly going on, and that, too, at parts of the line over which
+hundreds of trains pass in the course of the twenty-four hours.
+
+Besides the arrangements for the regular traffic, which are made
+monthly, a printed sheet detailing the special traffic, repairs of
+lines, new and altered signals, working arrangements, etcetera, is
+issued weekly to every member of the staff; particularly to
+engine-drivers and guards.  We chance to possess one of these private
+sheets, issued by one of our principal railways.  Let us peep behind the
+scenes for a moment and observe how such matters are managed.
+
+The vacation has come to an end, and the boys of Rapscallion College
+will, on a certain day, pour down on the railway in shoals with money in
+hand and a confident demand for accommodation.  This invading army must
+be prepared for.  Ordinary trains are not sufficient for it.  Delay is
+dangerous on railways; it must not be permitted; therefore the watchful
+superintendent writes an order which we find recorded as follows:--
+
+  "_Wednesday, 26th April_,--Accommodation must be provided on this day
+  in the 3:10 and 6:25 p.m. Up, and 2:25 and 6:10 p.m. Down Trains, for
+  the Cadets returning to Rapscallion College.  By the Trains named,
+  Rapscallion College tickets will be collected at Whitewater on the
+  Down journey, and at Smokingham on the Up journey.  Oldershot to send
+  a man to Whitewater to assist in the collection of these tickets."
+
+Again--a "Relief Train" has to be utilised.  It won't "pay" to run empty
+trains on the line unnecessarily, therefore the superintendent has his
+eye on it, and writes:--
+
+  "_April_ 23rd.--An Empty Train will leave Whiteheath for Woolhitch at
+  about 8:10 p.m., to work up from Woolhitch at 9:05 p.m., calling at
+  Woolhitch Dockyard and Curlton, and forming the 9:15 p.m. Up Ordinary
+  Train from Whiteheath.  Greatgun Street to provide Engines and Guards
+  for this service."
+
+This is but a slight specimen of the providing, dovetailing, timing, and
+guarding that has to be done on all the lines in the kingdom.  In the
+same sheet from which the above is quoted, we find notes, cautions, and
+intimations as to such various matters as the holding of the levers of
+facing points when trains are passing through junctions; the attention
+required of drivers to new signals; the improper use of telegraph bells;
+the making search for lost "passes;" the more careful loading of goods
+waggons; the changes in regard to particular trains; the necessity of
+watchfulness on the part of station-masters, robberies having been
+committed on the line; the intimation of dates when and places where
+ballast trains are to be working on the line; the times and, places when
+and where repairs to line are to take place during the brief intervals
+between trains of the ordinary traffic; and many other matters, which
+naturally lead one to the belief that superintendents of railways must
+possess the eyes of Argus, the generalship of Wellington, and the
+patience of Job.
+
+Being carefully hedged in, as we have shown, with strict rules and
+regulations, backed by fines in case of the slightest inattention, and
+the certainty of prompt dismissal in case of gross neglect or
+disobedience, with the possibility of criminal prosecution besides
+looming in the far distance, our friend, John Marrot, knowing his duties
+well, and feeling perfect confidence in himself and his superiors,
+consulted his chronometer for the last time, said, "Now, then, Bill!"
+and mounted his noble steed.
+
+Will Garvie, who was putting a finishing drop of oil into some part of
+the machinery, took his station beside his mate and eased off the brake.
+John let off two sharp whistles (an imperative duty on the part of
+every driver before starting an engine) and let on the steam.  The first
+was a very soft pulsation--a mere puff--but it was enough to move the
+ponderous engine as if it had been a cork, though its actual weight with
+tender was fifty-three tons.  Another puff, and slowly the iron horse
+moved out of its stable.  There was a gentle, oily, gliding, effect
+connected with its first movements that might have won the confidence
+even of timid Mrs Captain Tipps.  Another puff of greater strength shot
+the engine forward with a sudden grandeur of action that would certainly
+have sent that lady's heart into her throat.  In a few seconds it
+reached and passed the place where the siding was connected with the
+main line, and where a pointsman stood ready to shift the points.  Here
+the obedient spirit of the powerful steed was finely displayed.  Will
+Garvie reversed the action of the engines by a process which, though
+beautifully simple and easily done, cannot be easily described.  John
+let on a puff of steam, and the engine glided backwards as readily as it
+had run forward.  A few seconds afterwards it moved slowly under the
+magnificent arch of Clatterby station, and its buffers met those of the
+train it was destined to draw as if with a gentle touch of friendly
+greeting.
+
+At the station all was bustle and noise; but here we must venture to do
+what no human being could accomplish in reality, compel the 6:30 p.m.
+train to wait there until it shall be our pleasure to give it the signal
+to start!  Meanwhile we shall put back the clock an hour or so, ask the
+reader to return to Mrs Tipps' residence and observe what transpired
+there while John Marrot was in the shed getting his iron steed ready for
+action.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THREE.
+
+IN WHICH THE WIDOW HOLDS CONVERSE WITH A CAPTAIN, MAKES THE ACQUAINTANCE
+OF A YOUNG MAN, AND RECEIVES A TELEGRAPHIC SHOCK, WHICH ENDS IN A
+RAILWAY JOURNEY.
+
+Mrs Captain Tipps was, as we have said, a thin old lady of an
+excessively timid temperament.  She was also, as we have shown,
+impulsively kind in disposition.  Moreover, she was bird-like in aspect
+and action.  We would not have it supposed, however, that her features
+were sharp.  On the contrary, they were neat and rounded and well
+formed, telling of great beauty in youth, but her little face and mouth
+were of such a form that one was led irresistibly to expect to hear her
+chirp; she fluttered rather than walked and twittered rather than
+talked.  Altogether she was a charming little old lady, with a pair of
+bead-like eyes as black as sloes.  Happy that captain--a sea-captain, by
+the way, long since dead--round whom she had fluttered in days gone bye,
+and happy that son Joseph round whom, when at home, she fluttered now.
+
+But Joseph was not often at home at the time we write of.  He was an
+honest soul--a gentle, affectionate man with a handsome face, neat
+dapper little frame, something like his mother in many ways, yet not
+unmanly.  He was too earnest, simple, unassuming, and unaffected to be
+that.  He was a railway clerk, and had recently been appointed to
+Langrye station, about fifty miles from Clatterby, which necessitated
+his leaving his mother's roof; but Mrs Tipps consoled herself with the
+intention of giving up her little villa and going to live at Langrye.
+
+Poverty, after the captain's death, had seized upon the widow, and held
+her tightly down during the whole of that period when Joseph and his
+only sister Netta were being educated.  But Mrs Tipps did her duty
+bravely by them.  She was a practically religious woman, and tried most
+earnestly to rule her life in accordance with the blessed Word of God.
+She trained up her children "in the way that they should go," in
+thorough reliance on the promise that "they would not depart from it
+when they were old."  She accepted the command, "owe no man anything but
+to love one another," as given to herself as well as to the world at
+large--hence she kept out of debt, and was noted for deeds of kindness
+wherever she went.
+
+But she was pinched during this period--terribly pinched--no one knew
+how severely save her daughter Netta, to whom she had been in the habit
+of confiding all her joys and sorrows from the time that the child could
+form any conception of what joy or sorrow meant.  But Mrs Tipps did not
+weep over her sorrows, neither did she become boisterous over her joys.
+She was an equable, well-balanced woman in everything except the little
+matter of her nervous system.  Netta was a counterpart of her mother.
+As time went on expenses increased, and living on small means became
+more difficult, so that Mrs Tipps was compelled to contemplate leaving
+the villa, poor and small though it was, and taking a cheaper residence.
+At this juncture a certain Captain Lee, an old friend of her late
+husband--also a sea-captain, and an extremely gruff one--called upon the
+widow, found out her straitened circumstances, and instantly offered her
+five hundred pounds, which she politely but firmly refused.
+
+"But madam," said the excitable captain on that memorable occasion, "I
+must insist on your taking it.  Excuse me, I have my own reasons,--and
+they are extremely good ones,--for saying that it is my duty to give you
+this sum and yours to take it.  I owe it to your late husband, who more
+than once laid me under obligations to him."
+
+Mrs Tipps shook her little head and smiled.
+
+"You are very kind, Captain Lee, to put it in that way, and I have no
+doubt that my dear husband did, as you say, lay you under many
+obligations because he was always kind to every one, but I cannot I
+assure you--"
+
+"Very well," interrupted the captain, wiping his bald head with his
+pocket-handkerchief angrily, "then the money shall go to some charity--
+some--some ridiculous asylum or hospital for teaching logarithms to the
+Hottentots of the Cape, or something of that sort.  I tell you, madam,"
+he added with increased vehemence, seeing that Mrs Tipps still shook
+her head, "I tell you that I _robbed_ your husband of five hundred
+pounds!"
+
+"Robbed him!" exclaimed Mrs Tipps, somewhat shocked.  "Oh, Captain Lee,
+impossible!"
+
+"Yes I did," replied the captain, crossing his arms and nodding his head
+firmly, "robbed him.  I laid a bet with him to that extent and won it."
+
+"That is not usually considered robbery, Captain Lee," said Mrs Tipps
+with a smile.
+
+"But that ought to be considered robbery," replied the captain, with a
+frown.  "Betting is a mean, shabby, contemptible way of obtaining money
+for nothing on false pretences.  The man who bets says in his heart, `I
+want my friend's money without the trouble of working for it, therefore
+I'll offer to bet with him.  In so doing I'll risk an equal sum of my
+own money.  That's fair and honourable!'  Is that logic?" demanded the
+captain, vehemently, "It is not!  In the first place it is mean to want,
+not to speak of accepting, another man's money without working for it,
+and it is a false pretence to say that you risk your own money because
+it is _not_ your own, it is your wife's and your children's money, who
+are brought to poverty, mayhap, because of your betting tendencies, and
+it is your baker's and butcher's money, whose bread and meat you devour
+(as long as they'll let you) without paying for it, because of your
+betting tendencies, and a proportion of it belongs to your church, which
+you rob, and to the poor, whom you defraud, because of your betting
+tendencies; and if you say that when you win the case is altered, I
+reply, yes, it is altered for the worse, because, instead of bringing
+all this evil down on your own head you hurl it, not angrily, not
+desperately, but, worse, with fiendish _indifference_ on the head of
+your friend and his innocent family.  Yes, madam, although many men do
+not think it so, betting _is_ a dishonourable thing, and I'm ashamed of
+having done it.  I repent, Mrs Tipps, the money burns my fingers, and I
+_must_ return it."
+
+"Dear me!" exclaimed the old lady, quite unable to reply at once to such
+a gush.  "But Captain Lee, did you not say that it is mean to accept
+money without working for it, and yet you want me to accept five hundred
+pounds without working for it?"
+
+"Oh! monstrous sophistry," cried the perplexed man, grasping desperately
+the few hairs that remained on his polished head, "is there no
+difference then between presenting or accepting a gift and betting?  Are
+there not circumstances also in which poverty is unavoidable and the
+relief of it honourable as well as delightful? not to mention the
+courtesies of life, wherein giving and receiving in the right spirit and
+within reasonable limits, are expressive of good-will and conducive to
+general harmony.  Besides, I do not offer a gift.  I want to repay a
+debt; by rights I ought to add compound interest to it for twenty years,
+which would make it a thousand pounds.  Now, _do_ accept it, Mrs
+Tipps," cried the captain, earnestly.
+
+But Mrs Tipps remained obdurate, and the captain left her, vowing that
+he would forthwith devote it as the nucleus of a fund to build a
+collegiate institute in Cochin-China for the purpose of teaching
+Icelandic to the Japanese.
+
+Captain Lee thought better of it, however, and directed the fund to the
+purchase of frequent and valuable gifts to little Joseph and his sister
+Netta, who had no scruples whatever in accepting them.  Afterwards, when
+Joseph became a stripling, the captain, being a director in the Grand
+National Trunk Railway, procured for his protege a situation on the
+line.
+
+To return to our story after this long digression:--
+
+We left Mrs Tipps in the last chapter putting on her bonnet and shawl,
+on philanthropic missions intent.  She had just opened the door, when a
+handsome, gentlemanly youth, apparently about one or two and twenty,
+with a very slight swagger in his gait stepped up to it and, lifting his
+hat said--
+
+"Mrs Tipps, I presume?  I bring you a letter from Clatterby station.
+Another messenger should have brought it, but I undertook the duty
+partly for the purpose of introducing myself as your son's friend.  I--
+my name is Gurwood."
+
+"What!--Edwin Gurwood, about whom Joseph speaks so frequently, and for
+whom he has been trying to obtain a situation on the railway through our
+friend Captain Lee?" exclaimed Mrs Tipps.
+
+"Yes," replied the youth, somewhat confused by the earnestness of the
+old lady's gaze, "but pray read the letter--the telegram--I fear--"
+
+He stopped, for Mrs Tipps had torn open the envelope, and stood gazing
+at it with terrible anxiety depicted on her face.
+
+"There is no cause for immediate fear, I believe," began Edwin, but Mrs
+Tipps interrupted him by slowly reading the telegram.
+
+"From Joseph Tipps, Langrye station, to Mrs Tipps, Eden Villa,
+Clatterby.  Dear Mother, Netta is not very well--nothing serious, I
+hope--don't be alarmed--but you'd better come and nurse her.  She is
+comfortably put up in my lodgings."
+
+Mrs Tipps grew deadly pale.  Young Gurwood, knowing what the message
+was, having seen it taken down while lounging at the station, had
+judiciously placed himself pretty close to the widow.  Observing her
+shudder, he placed his strong arm behind her, and adroitly sinking down
+on one knee received her on the other, very much after the manner in
+which, while at school, he had been wont to act the part of second to
+pugilistic companions.
+
+Mrs Tipps recovered almost immediately, sprang up, and hurried into the
+house, followed by Gurwood.
+
+"You'll have time to catch the 6.30 train," he said, as Mrs Tipps
+fluttered to a cupboard and brought out a black bottle.
+
+"Thank you.  Yes, I'll go by that.  You shall escort me to it.  Please
+ring the bell."
+
+The stout elderly female--Netta's nurse--answered.
+
+"Come here, Durby," said the widow quickly; "I want you to take this
+bottle of wine to a poor sick woman.  I had intended to have gone
+myself, but am called away suddenly and shan't be back to-night.  You
+shall hear from me to-morrow.  Lock up the house and stay with the woman
+to look after her, if need be--and now, Mr Gurwood."
+
+They were gone beyond recall before Mrs Durby could recover herself.
+
+"I never did see nothink like my poor missus," she muttered, "there
+_must_ be somethink wrong in the 'ead.  But she's a good soul."
+
+With this comforting reflection Mrs Durby proceeded to obey her
+"missus's" commands.
+
+On reaching the station Mrs Tipps found that she had five minutes to
+wait, so she thanked Gurwood for escorting her, bade him good-bye, and
+was about to step into a third-class carriage when she observed Captain
+Lee close beside her, with his daughter Emma, who, we may remark in
+passing, was a tall, dark, beautiful girl, and the bosom friend of Netta
+Tipps.
+
+"Oh, there is Captain Lee.  How fortunate," exclaimed Mrs Tipps, "he
+will take care of me.  Come, Mr Gurwood, I will introduce you to him
+and his daughter."
+
+She turned to Gurwood, but that youth did not hear her remark, having
+been forced from her side by a noiseless luggage truck on India-rubber
+wheels.  Turning, then, towards the captain she found that he and his
+daughter had hastily run to recapture a small valise which was being
+borne off to the luggage van instead of going into the carriage along
+with them.  At the same moment the guard intervened, and the captain and
+his daughter were lost in the crowd.
+
+But Edwin Gurwood, although he did not hear who they were, had obtained
+a glance of the couple before they disappeared, and that glance, brief
+though it was, had taken deadly effect!  He had been shot straight to
+the heart.  Love at first sight and at railway speed, is but a feeble
+way of expressing what had occurred.  Poor Edwin Gurwood, up to this
+momentous day woman-proof, felt, on beholding Emma, as if the combined
+powers of locomotive force and electric telegraphy had smitten him to
+the heart's core, and for one moment he stood rooted to the earth, or--
+to speak more appropriately--nailed to the platform.  Recovering in a
+moment he made a dash into the crowd and spent the three remaining
+minutes in a wild search for the lost one!
+
+It was a market-day, and the platform of Clatterby station was densely
+crowded.  Sam Natly the porter and his colleagues in office were
+besieged by all sorts of persons with all sorts of questions, and it
+said much for the tempers of these harassed men, that, in the midst of
+their laborious duties, they consented to be stopped with heavy weights
+on their shoulders, and, while perspiration streamed down their faces,
+answered with perfect civility questions of the most ridiculous and
+unanswerable description.
+
+"Where's my wife?" frantically cried an elderly gentleman, seizing Sam
+by the jacket.
+
+"I don't know, sir," replied Sam with a benignant smile.
+
+"There she is," shouted the elderly gentleman, rushing past and nearly
+overturning Sam.
+
+"What a bo-ar it must be to the poatas to b' wearied so by stoopid
+people," observed a tall, stout, superlative fop with sleepy eyes and
+long whiskers to another fop in large-check trousers.
+
+"Ya-as," assented the checked trousers.
+
+"Take your seats, gentlemen," said a magnificent guard, over six feet
+high, with a bushy beard.
+
+"O-ah!" said the dandies, getting into their compartment.
+
+Meanwhile, Edwin Gurwood had discovered Emma.  He saw her enter a
+first-class carriage.  He saw her smile ineffably to her father.  He
+heard the guard cry, "Take your seats; take your seats," and knew that
+she was about to be torn from him perhaps for ever.  He felt that it was
+a last look, because, how could he hope in a populous city to meet with
+her again?  Perhaps she did not even belong to that part of the country
+at all, and was only passing through.  He did not even know her name!
+What _was_ he to do?  He resolved to travel with her, but it instantly
+occurred to him that he had no ticket.  He made a stride or two in the
+direction of the ticket office, but paused, remembering that he knew not
+her destination, and that therefore he could not demand a ticket for any
+place in particular.
+
+Doors began to slam, and John Marrot's iron horse let off a little
+impatient steam.  Just then the "late passenger" arrived.  There is
+always a late passenger at every train.  On this occasion the late
+passenger was a short-sighted elderly gentleman in a brown top-coat and
+spectacles.  He was accompanied by a friend, who assisted him to push
+through the crowd of people who had come to see their friends away, or
+were loitering about for pastime.  The late passenger carried a bundle
+of wraps; the boots of his hotel followed with his portmanteau.
+
+"All right sir; plenty of time," observed Sam Natly, coming up and
+receiving the portmanteau from boots.  "Which class, sir?"
+
+"Eh--oh--third; no, stay, second," cried the short-sighted gentleman,
+endeavouring vainly to open his purse to pay boots.  "Here, hold my
+wraps, Fred."
+
+His friend Fred chanced at that moment to have been thrust aside by a
+fat female in frantic haste and Edwin Gurwood, occupying the exact spot
+he had vacated, had the bundle thrust into his hand.  He retained it
+mechanically, in utter abstraction of mind.  The bell rang, and the
+magnificent guard, whose very whiskers curled with an air of calm
+serenity, said, "Now then, take your seats; make haste."  Edwin grew
+desperate.  Emma smiled bewitchingly to a doting female friend who had
+nodded and smiled bewitchingly to Emma for the last five minutes, under
+the impression that the train was just going to start, and who earnestly
+wished that it _would_ start, and save her from the necessity of nodding
+or smiling any longer.
+
+"Am I to lose sight of her for ever?" muttered Gurwood between his
+teeth.
+
+The magnificent guard sounded his whistle and held up his hand.  Edwin
+sprang forward, pulled open the carriage door, leaped in and sat down
+opposite Emma Lee!  The iron horse gave two sharp responsive whistles,
+and sent forth one mighty puff.  The train moved, but not with a jerk;
+it is only clumsy drivers who jerk trains; sometimes pulling them up too
+soon, and having to make a needless plunge forward again, or overrunning
+their stopping points and having to check abruptly, so as to cause in
+timorous minds the impression that an accident has happened.  In fact
+much more of one's comfort than is generally known depends upon one's
+driver being a good one.  John Marrot was known to the regular
+travellers on the line as a first-rate driver, and some of them even
+took an interest in ascertaining that he was on the engine when they
+were about to go on a journey.  It may be truly said of John that he
+never "started" his engine at all.  He merely as it were insinuated the
+idea of motion to his iron steed, and so glided softly away.
+
+Just as the train moved, the late passenger thrust head and shoulders
+out of the window, waved his arms, glared abroad, and shouted, or rather
+spluttered--
+
+"My b-b-bundle!--wraps!--rug!--lost!"
+
+A smart burly man, with acute features, stepped on the footboard of the
+carriage, and, moving with the train, asked what sort of rug it was.
+
+"Eh! a b-b-blue one, wi-wi--"
+
+"With," interrupted the man, "black outside and noo straps?"
+
+"Ye-ye-yes--yes!"
+
+"All right, sir, you shall have it at the next station," said the
+acute-faced man, stepping on the platform and allowing the train to
+pass.  As the guard's van came up he leaped after the magnificent guard
+into his private apartment and shut the door.
+
+"Hallo!  Davy Blunt, somethin' up?" asked the guard.
+
+"Yes, Joe Turner, there _is_ somethin' up," replied the acute man,
+leaning against the brake-wheel.  "You saw that tall good-lookin' feller
+wi' the eyeglass and light whiskers?"
+
+"I did.  Seemed to me as if his wits had gone on wi' the last train, an'
+he didn't know how to overtake 'em."
+
+"I don't know about his wits," said Blunt, "but it seems to me that he's
+gone on in _this_ train with somebody else's luggage."
+
+The guard whistled--not professionally, but orally.
+
+"You don't say so?"
+
+The acute man nodded, and, leaning his elbows on the window-sill, gazed
+at the prospect contemplatively.
+
+In a few minutes the 6:30 p.m. train was flying across country at the
+rate of thirty-five or forty miles an hour.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOUR.
+
+A DOUBLE DILEMMA AND ITS CONSEQUENCES.
+
+Meanwhile, the "tall good-looking fellow with the eyeglass and light
+whiskers" sat quaking opposite Emma Lee.  The extreme absurdity, not to
+say danger, of his position as a traveller to nowhere without a ticket,
+flashed upon him when too late, and he would have cheerfully given fifty
+pounds, had he possessed such a sum, if the boards under his feet would
+have opened and let him drop between the rails.  In fact he felt so
+confused and guilty that--albeit not naturally a shy youth--he did not
+dare to look at Emma for some time after starting, but sat with downcast
+eyes, revolving in his mind how he was to get out of the dilemma; but
+the more he revolved the matter the more hopeless did his case appear.
+At length he ventured to look at Emma, and their eyes encountered.  Of
+course Gurwood looked pointedly out at the window and became fascinated
+by the landscape; and of course Emma, looked out at the _other_ window,
+and became equally interested in the landscape.  Feeling very unhappy;
+Edwin soon after that took out a newspaper and tried to read, but failed
+so completely that he gave it up in despair and laid the paper on the
+seat beside him.
+
+Just then a happy thought flashed into his mind.  He would go on to
+Langrye station, get out there, and make a confidant of his friend
+Joseph Tipps, who, of course, could easily get him out of his
+difficulty.  He now felt as if a mighty load were lifted off his heart,
+and, his natural courage returning, he put up his eyeglass, which had
+been forgotten during the period of his humiliation, and gazed at the
+prospect with increasing interest--now through the right window, and
+then through the left--taking occasion each time to glance with still
+greater interest at Emma Lee's beautiful countenance.
+
+The captain, whose disposition was sociable, and who had chatted a good
+deal with his daughter while their _vis-a-vis_ was in his agony, soon
+took occasion to remark that the scenery was very fine.  Edwin, gazing
+at the black walls of a tunnel into which they plunged, and thinking of
+Emma's face, replied that it was--extremely.  Emerging from the tunnel,
+and observing the least possible approach to a smile on.  Emma's lips,
+Edwin remarked to the captain that railway travelling presented rather
+abrupt changes and contrasts in scenery.  The captain laughingly agreed
+with this, and so, from one thing to another, they went on until the two
+got into a lively conversation--Captain Lee thinking his travelling
+companion an extremely agreeable young fellow, and Edwin esteeming the
+captain one of the jolliest old boys he had ever met!  These are the
+very words he used, long after, in commenting on this meeting to his
+friend Joseph Tipps.
+
+During a pause in the conversation, Emma asked her father to whom a
+certain villa they were passing belonged.
+
+"I don't know," replied the captain; "stay, let me see, I ought to know
+most of the places hereabouts--no, I can't remember."
+
+"I rather think it belongs to a Colonel Jones," said Gurwood, for the
+first time venturing to address Emma directly.  "A friend of mine who is
+connected with this railway knows him, and has often spoken to me about
+him.  The colonel has led an extremely adventurous life, I believe."
+
+"Indeed!"
+
+There was not much apparently in that little word, but there must have
+been something mysterious in it, for it caused Edwin's heart to leap as
+it had never leapt before.  On the strength of it he began to relate
+some of Colonel Jones's adventures, addressing himself now partly to the
+captain and partly to Emma.  He had a happy knack of telling a story,
+and had thoroughly interested his hearers when the train slowed and
+stopped, but as this was not the station at which he meant to get out--
+Langrye being the next--he took no notice of the stoppage.  Neither did
+he pay any regard to a question asked by the acute man, whose face
+appeared at the window as soon as the train stopped.
+
+"Is that your bundle, sir?" repeated Mr Blunt a little louder.
+
+"Eh? yes, yes--all right," replied Edwin, annoyed at the interruption,
+and thinking only of Emma Lee, to whom he turned, and went on--"Well,
+when Colonel Jones had scaled the first wall--"
+
+"Come, sir," said Blunt, entering the carriage, and laying his hand on
+Edwin's shoulder, "it's _not_ all right.  This is another man's
+property."
+
+The youth turned round indignantly, and, with a flushed countenance,
+said, "What do you mean?"
+
+"I mean that you are travelling with another man's property," said
+Blunt, quietly pointing to the strapped rug.
+
+"_That_ is not my property," said Edwin, looking at it with a perplexed
+air, "I never said it was."
+
+"Didn't you though?" exclaimed Blunt, with an appealing look to the
+captain.  "Didn't you say, when I asked you, `Yes, it's all right.'
+Moreover, young man, if it's not yours, why did you bring it into the
+carriage with you?"
+
+"_I_ did not bring it into the carriage," said Edwin, firmly, and with
+increasing indignation.  "I came down to this train with a lady, who is
+now in it, and who can vouch for it that I brought no luggage of any
+kind with me.  I--"
+
+At this moment the elderly gentleman with brown top-coat and spectacles
+bustled up to the carriage, recognised his rug, and claimed it, with a
+good deal of fuss and noise.
+
+"Where are you travelling to?" demanded Blunt, with a touch of sarcasm
+in his tone.
+
+Poor Gurwood's countenance fell.  He became somewhat pale, and said, in
+a much less resolute voice, "You have no right to ask that question; but
+since you suspect me, I may tell you that I am going to Langrye."
+
+"Show your ticket," said the guard, looking in at that moment.
+
+A glance showed the unhappy youth that Captain Lee was regarding him
+with surprise and Emma with intense pity.  Desperation gave him courage.
+He turned abruptly to the captain, and said--
+
+"I regret deeply, sir, that we part with such a foul suspicion hanging
+over me.  Come," he added sternly to Blunt, "I will go with you, and
+shall soon prove myself innocent."
+
+He leaped to the platform, closely accompanied by Blunt.
+
+"Where do you intend to take me?" he asked, turning to his guardian,
+whom he now knew to be a detective.
+
+"Here, step this way," said Blunt, leading his prisoner towards the rear
+of the train.
+
+"Such a nice-looking young man, too, who'd 'ave thought it!" whispered
+one of the many heads that were thrust out at the carriage-windows to
+look at him as he passed.
+
+"Get in here," said Blunt, holding open the door of an empty
+second-class compartment of the same train; "we shan't want a ticket for
+this part of the journey."
+
+"But the lady I mentioned," said poor Edwin, "she can--"
+
+"You can see her at Langrye, young man; come, get in," said Blunt,
+sternly, "the train's just starting."
+
+Edwin's blood boiled.  He turned to smite the acute-visaged man to the
+earth, but encountering the serene gaze of the magnificent guard who
+stood close beside him, he changed his mind and sprang into the
+carriage.  Blunt followed, the door was banged and locked, the signal
+was given and the train moved on.
+
+"Why do you take me to Langrye instead of back to town?" asked Edwin,
+after proceeding some distance in silence.
+
+"Because we have an hour to wait for the up train, and it's pleasanter
+waiting there than here," replied Blunt; "besides, I have business at
+Langrye; I want to see one of my friends there who is looking after
+light-fingered gentry."
+
+As this was said significantly Edwin did not deign a reply, but, leaning
+back in a corner, gazed out at the window and brooded over his unhappy
+fate.  Truly he had something to brood over.  Besides being in the
+unpleasant position which we have described, he had quite recently lost
+his only relative, a "rich uncle," as he was called, who had brought
+Edwin up and had led him to believe that he should be his heir.  It was
+found, however, on the examination of the old gentleman's affairs, that
+his fortune was a myth, and that his house, furniture, and personal
+effects would have to be sold in order to pay his debts.  When all was
+settled, Edwin Gurwood found himself cast upon his own resources with
+good health, a kind but wayward disposition, a strong handsome frame, a
+middling education, and between three and four hundred pounds in his
+pocket.  He soon found that this amount of capital melted with alarming
+rapidity under the influence of a good appetite and expensive tastes, so
+he resolved at once to commence work of some kind.  But what was he to
+turn to?  His uncle had allowed him to do as he pleased.  Naturally it
+pleased the energetic and enthusiastic boy to learn very little of
+anything useful, to read an immense amount of light literature, and to
+indulge in much open-air exercise.
+
+Bitterly did he now feel, poor fellow, that this course, although
+somewhat pleasing at the time, did not fit him to use and enjoy the more
+advanced period of life.  He had disliked and refused to sit still even
+for an hour at a time in boyhood; it now began to dawn upon him that he
+was doomed for life to the greatest of all his horrors, the top of a
+three-legged stool!  He had hated writing and figures, and now visions
+of ledgers, cash-books, invoice-books and similar literature with
+endless arithmetical calculations began to float before his mental
+vision.  With intense regret he reflected that if he had only used
+reasonably well the brief period of life which as yet lay behind him, he
+might by that time have been done with initial drudgery and have been
+entering on a brilliant career in one of the learned professions.  As to
+the army and navy, he was too old to get into either, even if he had
+possessed interest, which he did not.  Sternly did he reproach his
+departed uncle when he brooded over his wrongs, and soliloquised
+thus:--"You ought to have known that I was a fool, that I could not be
+expected to know the fact, or to guide myself aright in opposition to
+and despite of my own folly, and you ought to have forced me to study
+when I declined to be led--bah! it's too late to say all this now.
+Come, if there is any manhood in me worthy of the name, let me set to
+work at once and make the most of what is left to me!"
+
+Edwin reflected with complacency on the fact that one part of what was
+left to him was a tall strong frame and broad shoulders, but his
+judgment told him that though these were blessings not to be despised,
+and for which he had every reason to be thankful, he ought not to plume
+himself too much on them, seeing that he shared them in common with
+numerous prize-fighters and burglars, besides which they could not prove
+of very much value professionally unless he took to mining or
+coal-heaving.  He also reflected sadly on the fact that beyond the three
+R's, a little Latin and French, and a smattering of literary knowledge,
+he was little better than a red Indian.  Being, as we have said, a
+resolute fellow, he determined to commence a course of study without
+delay, but soon found that the necessity of endeavouring to obtain a
+situation and of economising his slender fortune interfered sadly with
+his efforts.  However, he persevered.
+
+In the time of his prosperity, young Gurwood had made many friends, but
+a touch of pride had induced him to turn aside from these--although many
+of them would undoubtedly have been glad to aid him in his aims--to quit
+the house of his childhood and betake himself to the flourishing town of
+Clatterby, where he knew nobody except one soft amiable little
+school-fellow, whom in boyish days he had always deemed a poor,
+miserable little creature, but for whom nevertheless he entertained a
+strong affection.  We need scarcely say that this was Joseph Tipps, the
+clerk at Langrye station.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIVE.
+
+AN ACCIDENT AND ITS CONSEQUENCES.
+
+Locomotives and telegraphy are mere snails compared to thought.  Let us
+therefore use our advantage, reader, stride in advance of the 6:30 p.m.
+train (which by the way has now become a 7:45 p.m. train), and see what
+little Joseph Tipps is doing.
+
+There he stands--five feet four in his highest-heeled boots--as sterling
+and warm-hearted a little man as ever breathed.  He was writing at a
+little desk close to a large window, which, owing to the station being a
+temporary one and its roof low, was flimsy, and came nearer to the
+ground than most windows do.
+
+Mr Tipps wrote somewhat nervously.  He inherited his mother's weakness
+in this respect; and, besides, his nerves had been a little shaken, by
+the sudden illness, with which his sister had been seized that day, at
+his lodgings.
+
+Outside on the platform a few people lounged, waiting the arrival of the
+expected train.  Among them was one whose bulky frame and firm
+strongly-lined countenance spoke of much power to dare and do.  He was
+considerably above the middle height and somewhere about middle age.
+His costume was of that quiet unobtrusive kind which seems to court
+retirement, and the sharp glance of his eyes seemed to possess something
+of the gimblet in their penetrating power.  This was no less a personage
+than Mr Sharp, the inspector of police on the Grand National Trunk
+Railway.  Mr Inspector Sharp had evidently an eye for the beautiful,
+for he stood at the farther extremity of the platform gazing in rapt
+attention at the sun, which just then was setting in a flood of golden
+light.  But Mr Sharp had also a peculiar faculty for observing several
+things at once.  Indeed, some of his friends, referring to this, were
+wont to remark that he was a perfect Argus, with eyes in his elbows and
+calves and back of his head.  It would seem, indeed, that this, or
+something like it, must really have been the case, for he not only
+observed and enjoyed the sunset but also paid particular attention to
+the conversation of two men who stood not far from him, and at the same
+time was cognisant of the fact that behind him, a couple of hundred
+yards or more up the line, a goods engine was engaged in shunting
+trucks.
+
+This process of shunting, we may explain for the benefit of those who
+don't know, consists in detaching trucks from trains of goods and
+shoving them into sidings, so that they may be out of the way, until
+their time comes to be attached to other trains, which will convey them
+to their proper destination, or to have their contents, if need be,
+unloaded and distributed among other trucks.  Shunting is sometimes a
+tedious process, involving much hauling, pushing, puffing, and
+whistling, on the part of the engine, and uncoupling of trucks and
+shifting of points on the part of pointsmen and porters.  There is
+considerable danger, too, in the process,--or rather there _was_ danger
+before the introduction of the "block system," which now, when it is
+adopted, renders accidents almost impossible,--of which system more
+shall be said hereafter.  The danger lies in this, that shunting has
+frequently to be done during intervals between the passing of
+passenger-trains, and, on lines where passenger and goods traffic is
+very great, these intervals are sometimes extremely brief.  But, strange
+to say, this danger is the mother of safety, for the difficulty of
+conducting extensive traffic is so great, that a combination of all but
+perfect systems of signalling, telegraphing, and organisation is
+absolutely needful to prevent constant mishap.  Hence the marvellous
+result that, in the midst of danger, we are in safety, and travelling by
+railway is really less dangerous than travelling by stage-coach used to
+be in days of old.  Yes, timid reader, we assure you that if you travel
+daily by rail your chances of coming to grief are very much fewer than
+if you were to travel daily by mail coach.  Facts and figures prove this
+beyond all doubt, so that we are entitled to take the comfort of it.
+The marvel is, not that loss of life is so great, but that it is so
+small.
+
+Do you doubt it, reader?  Behold the facts and figures--wonder, be
+thankful and doubt no more!  A "Blue Book" (Captain Tyler's General
+Report to the Board of Trade on Railway Accidents during the year 1870)
+tells us that the number of passengers killed on railways last year was
+ninety.  The number of passenger journeys performed was 307 millions,
+which gives, in round numbers, one passenger killed for every three and
+a half millions that travelled.  In the best mail and stage-coaching
+days the yearly number of travellers was about two millions.  The
+present railway death-rate applied to this number amounts to a little
+more than one-half of a unit!  Will any one out of Bedlam have the
+audacity to say that in coaching days only half a passenger was killed
+each year?  We leave facts to speak for themselves, and common-sense to
+judge whether men were safer then than they are now.
+
+But to return.  When Mr Sharp was looking at the distant waggons that
+were being shunted he observed that the engine which conducted the
+operation was moved about with so much unnecessary fuss and jerking that
+he concluded it must be worked by a new, or at all events a bad, driver.
+He shook his head, therefore, pulled out his watch, and muttered to
+himself that it seemed to him far too near the time of the arrival of a
+train to make it safe to do such work.
+
+The calculations, however, had been made correctly, and the train of
+trucks would have been well out of the way, if the driver had been a
+smarter man.  Even as things stood, however, there should have been no
+danger, because the distant signal was turned to danger, which thus said
+to any approaching train, "Stop! for your life."  But here occurred one
+of these mistakes, or pieces of carelessness, or thoughtlessness, to
+which weak and sinful human nature is, and we suppose always will be,
+liable.  Perhaps the signalman thought the goods train had completed its
+operation, or fancied that the express was not so near as it proved to
+be, or he got confused--we cannot tell; there is no accounting for such
+things, but whatever the cause, he turned off the danger-signal half a
+minute too soon, and set the line free.
+
+Suddenly the down train came tearing round the curve.  It was at reduced
+speed certainly, but not sufficiently reduced to avoid a collision with
+the trucks on a part of the line where no trucks should be.
+
+Our friend John Marrot was on the look-out of course, and so was his
+mate.  They saw the trucks at once.  Like lightning John shut off the
+steam and at the same instant touched his whistle several sharp shrieks,
+which was the alarm to the guard to turn on _his_ brakes.  No men could
+have been more prompt or cool.  Joe Turner and Will Garvie had on full
+brake-power in a second or two.  At the same time John Marrot instantly
+reversing the engine, let on full steam--but all in vain.  Fire flew in
+showers from the shrieking wheels--the friction on the rails must have
+been tremendous, nevertheless the engine dashed into the goods train
+like a thunderbolt with a stunning crash and a noise that is quite
+indescribable.
+
+The police superintendent, who was all but run over, stood for a few
+seconds aghast at the sight and at the action of the engine.  Not
+satisfied with sending one of its own carriages into splinters, the iron
+horse made three terrific plunges or efforts to advance, and at each
+plunge a heavy truck full of goods was, as it were, pawed under its
+wheels and driven out behind, under the tender, in the form of a mass of
+matchwood--all the goods, hard and soft, as well as the heavy frame of
+the truck itself being minced up together in a manner that defies
+description.  It seemed as though the monster had been suddenly endued
+with intelligence, and was seeking to vent its horrid rage on the thing
+that had dared to check its pace.  Three loaded trucks it crushed down,
+over-ran, and scattered wide in this way, in three successive plunges,
+and then, rushing on a few yards among chaotic _debris_, turned slowly
+on its side, and hurled the driver and fireman over the embankment.
+
+The shock received by the people at the station was tremendous.  Poor
+Tipps, standing at his desk, was struck--nervously--as if by
+electricity.  He made one wild involuntary bolt right through the
+window, as if it had been made of tissue paper, and did not cease to run
+until he found himself panting in the middle of a turnip-field that lay
+at the back of the station.  Turning round, ashamed of himself, he ran
+back faster than he had run away, and leaping recklessly among the
+_debris_, began to pull broken and jagged timber about, under the
+impression that he was rescuing fellow-creatures from destruction!
+
+Strange to say no one was killed on that occasion--no one was even
+severely hurt, except the driver.  But of course this was not known at
+first and the people who were standing about hurried, with terrible
+forebodings, to lend assistance to the passengers.
+
+Mr Sharp seemed to have been smitten with feelings somewhat similar to
+those of Tipps, for, without knowing very well how or why, he suddenly
+found himself standing up to the armpits in _debris_, heaving might and
+main at masses of timber.
+
+"Hallo! lift away this beam, will you?" shouted a half-smothered voice
+close beside him.
+
+It came from beneath the carriage that we have described as having been
+broken to splinters.
+
+Sharp was a man of action.  He hailed a porter near him and began with
+energy and power to tear up and hurl aside the boards.  Presently on
+raising part of the broken framework of the carriage a man struggled to
+his feet and, wiping away the blood that flowed from a wound in his
+forehead, revealed the countenance of Edwin Gurwood to the astonished
+Tipps.
+
+"What!  Edwin!" he exclaimed.
+
+"Ay--don't stand there, man.  Your mother is in the train."
+
+Poor Tipps could not speak--he could only gasp the word, "Where?"
+
+"In a third-class, behind--there, it is safe, I see."
+
+His friend at once leaped towards the vehicle pointed out, but Edwin did
+not follow, he glanced wildly round in search of another carriage.
+
+"You are hurt--Mr Gurwood, if I mistake not,--lean on me," said Mr
+Sharp.
+
+"It's nothing--only a scratch.  Ha! that's the carriage, follow me,"
+cried Edwin, struggling towards a first-class carriage, which appeared
+considerably damaged, though it had not left the rails.  He wrenched
+open the door, and, springing in, found Captain Lee striving in vain to
+lift his daughter, who had fainted.  Edwin stooped, raised her in his
+arms, and, kicking open the door on the opposite side, leaped down,
+followed by the captain.  They quickly made their way to the station,
+where they found most of the passengers, hurt and unhurt, already
+assembled, with two doctors, who chanced to be in the train, attending
+to them.
+
+Edwin laid his light burden tenderly on a couch and one of the doctors
+immediately attended to her.  While he was applying restoratives Mr
+Blunt touched Edwin on the elbow and requested him to follow him.  With
+a feeling of sudden anger Gurwood turned round, but before he could
+speak his eye fell on Mrs Tipps, who sat on a bench leaning on her
+son's breast, and looking deadly pale but quite composed.
+
+"My dear Mrs Tipps," exclaimed the youth, stepping hastily forward, "I
+hope--I trust--"
+
+"Oh, Edwin--thank you, my dear fellow," cried Joseph, grasping his hand
+and shaking it.  "She is not hurt, thank God--not even a scratch--only a
+little shaken.  Fetch a glass of water, you'll find one in the
+booking-office."
+
+Gurwood ran out to fetch it.  As he was returning he met Captain Lee
+leading his daughter out of the waiting-room.
+
+"I sincerely hope that your daughter is not hurt," he said, in earnest
+tones.  "Perhaps a little water might--"
+
+"No, thank you," said the captain somewhat stiffly.
+
+"The carriage is waiting, sir," said a servant in livery, coming up at
+the moment and touching his hat.
+
+Emma looked at Edwin for a second, and, with a slight but perplexed
+smile of acknowledgment, passed on.
+
+Next moment the carriage drove away, and she was gone.  Edwin at the
+same time became aware of the fact that the pertinacious Blunt was at
+his side.  Walking quickly into the waiting-room he presented the glass
+of water to Mrs Tipps, but to his surprise that eccentric lady rose
+hastily and said,--"Thank you, Mr Gurwood, many thanks, but I am
+better.  Come, Joseph--let us hasten to our darling Netta.  Have you
+sent for a fly?"
+
+"There is one waiting, mother--take my arm.  Many, many thanks for your
+kindness in coming with her, Gurwood," said Tipps.  "I can't ask you to
+come with me just now, I--"
+
+The rest of his speech was lost in consequence of the impatient old lady
+dragging her son away, but what had been heard of it was sufficient to
+fill Mr Blunt with surprise and perplexity.
+
+"Well, Blunt," said Mr Superintendent Sharp, coming up at that moment,
+"what has brought you here?"
+
+The detective related his story privately to his superior, and remarked
+that he began to fear there must be some mistake.
+
+"Yes, there is a mistake of some sort," said Sharp, with a laugh, "for
+I've met him frequently at Clatterby station, and know him to be a
+friend of Mr Tipps; but you have done your duty, Blunt, so you can now
+leave the gentleman to me," saying which he went up to Edwin and entered
+into an under-toned conversation with him, during which it might have
+been observed that Edwin looked a little confused at times, and Mr
+Sharp seemed not a little amused.
+
+"Well, it's all right," he said at last, "we have telegraphed for a
+special train to take on the passengers who wish to proceed, and you can
+go back, if you choose, in the up train, which is about due.  It will be
+able to get past in the course of half-an-hour.  Fortunately the rails
+of the up-line are not damaged and the wreck can soon be cleared."
+
+Just then the dandy with the sleepy eyes and long whiskers sauntered up
+to the porter on duty, with an unconcerned and lazy air.  He had
+received no further injury than a shaking, and therefore felt that he
+could afford to affect a cool and not-easy-to-be-ruffled demeanour.
+
+"Aw--po-taw," said he, twirling his watch-key, "w'en d'you expect anotha
+twain to take us on?"
+
+"Don't know, sir, probably half-an-hour."
+
+"Aw!  Dooced awkwad.  My fwend has got the bwidge of his nose damaged,
+besides some sort of internal injuway, and won't be able to attend to
+business to-night, I fear--dooced awkwad."
+
+"D'you hear that?" whispered Sharp to Gurwood, as the "fwend" in
+question--he with the checked trousers--sauntered past holding a
+handkerchief to his nose.  "I know by the way in which that was said
+that there will be something more heard some day hence of our fop in
+checks.  Just come and stand with me in the doorway of the waiting-room,
+and listen to what some of the other passengers are saying."
+
+"Very hard," observed a middle-aged man with a sour countenance, who did
+not present the appearance of one who had sustained any injury at all,
+"very hard this.  I shall miss meeting with a friend, and perhaps lose
+doin' a good stroke of business to-night."
+
+"Be thankful you haven't lost your life," said Will Garvie, who
+supported the head of his injured mate.
+
+"Mayhap I _have_ lost my life, young man," replied the other sharply.
+"Internal injuries from accidents often prove fatal, and don't always
+show at first.  I've had a severe shake."
+
+Here the sour-faced man shook himself slightly, partly to illustrate and
+partly to prove his point.
+
+"You're quite right, sur," remarked an Irishman, who had a bandage tied
+round his head, but who did not appear to be much, if at all, the worse
+of the accident.  "It's a disgrace intirely that the railways should be
+allowed to trait us in this fashion.  If they'd only go to the trouble
+an' expense of havin' proper signals on lines, there would be nothing o'
+this kind.  And if Government would make a law to have an arm-chair
+fitted up in front of every locomotive and a director made to travel
+with sich train, we'd hear of fewer accidents.  But it's meself 'll come
+down on 'em for heavy damages for this."
+
+He pointed to his bandaged head, and nodded with a significant glance at
+the company.
+
+A gentleman in a blue travelling-cap, who had hitherto said nothing, and
+who turned out to have received severer injuries than any other
+passenger, here looked up impatiently, and said--
+
+"It appears to me that there is a great deal of unjust and foolish talk
+against railway companies, as if they, any more than other companies,
+could avoid accidents.  The system of signalling on a great part of this
+line is the best that has been discovered up to this date, and it is
+being applied to the whole line as fast as circumstances will warrant;
+but you can't expect to attain perfection in a day.  What would you
+have?  How can you expect to travel at the rate you do, and yet be as
+safe as if you were in one of the old mail-coaches?"
+
+"Right, sir; you're right," cried John Marrot energetically, raising
+himself a little from the bench on which he lay, "right in sayin' we
+shouldn't ought to expect parfection, but wrong in supposin' the old
+mail-coaches was safer.  W'y, railways is safer.  They won't stand no
+comparison.  Here 'ave I bin drivin' on this 'ere line for the last
+eight year an' only to come to grief three times, an' killed no more
+than two people.  There ain't a old coach goin', or gone, as could say
+as much.  An' w'en you come to consider that in them eight years I've
+bin goin' more than two-thirds o' the time at an average o' forty mile
+an hour--off an' on--all night a'most as well as all day, an' run
+thousands and thousands o' miles, besides carryin' millions of
+passengers, more or less, it do seem most rediklous to go for to say
+that coaches was safer than railways--the revarse bein' the truth.  Turn
+me round a bit, Bill; so, that'll do.  It's the bad leg I come down on,
+else I shouldn't have bin so hard-up.  Yes, sir, as you truly remark,
+railway companies ain't fairly dealt with, by no means."
+
+At this point the attention of the passengers was attracted by a
+remarkably fat woman, who had hitherto lain quietly on a couch breathing
+in a somewhat stertorous manner.  One of the medical men had been so
+successful in his attention to her as to bring her to a state of
+consciousness.  Indeed she had been more or less in this condition for
+some time past, but feeling rather comfortable than otherwise, and
+dreamy, she had lain still and enjoyed herself.  Being roused, however,
+to a state of activity by means of smelling-salts, and hearing the
+doctor remark that, except a shaking, she appeared to have sustained no
+injury, this stout woman deemed it prudent to go off into hysterics, and
+began by uttering a yell that would have put to shame a Comanchee
+Indian, and did more damage, perhaps, to the nerves of her sensitive
+hearers than the accident itself.  She followed it up by drumming
+heavily on the couch with her heels.
+
+Singularly enough her yell was replied to by the whistle of the up
+train, that had been due for some time past.  She retorted by a renewed
+shriek, and became frantic in her assurances that no power yet
+discovered--whether mechanical, moral, or otherwise--could or would,
+ever persuade her to set foot again in a railway train!  It was of no
+use to assure her that no one meant to exert such a power, even if he
+possessed it; that she was free to go where she pleased, and whenever
+she felt inclined.  The more that stout woman was implored to compose
+herself, the more she discomposed herself, and everybody else; and the
+more she was besought to be calm, the more, a great deal, did she fill
+the waiting-room with hysterical shrieks and fiendish laughter, until at
+last every one was glad to go out of the place and get into the train
+that was waiting to take them back to Clatterby.  Then the stout woman
+became suddenly calm, and declared to a porter--who must have had a
+heart of stone, so indifferent was he to her woes--that she would be,
+"glad to proceed to the nearest 'otel if 'e would be good enough to
+fetch her a fly."
+
+"H'm!" said Mr Sharp, as he and young Gurwood entered a carriage
+together, after having seen John Marrot placed on a pile of rugs on the
+floor of a first-class carriage; "there's been work brewin' up for me
+to-night."
+
+"How?  What do you mean?" asked Edwin.
+
+"I mean that, from various indications which I observed this evening, we
+are likely to have some little correspondence with the passengers of the
+6:30 p.m. train.  However, we're used to it; perhaps we'll get not to
+mind it in course of time.  We do all that we can to accommodate the
+public--fit up our carriages and stations in the best style compatible
+with giving our shareholders a small dividend--carry them to and fro
+over the land at little short of lightning speed, every day and all day
+and night too, for extremely moderate fares, and with excessive safety
+and exceeding comfort; enable them to live in the country and do
+business in the city, as well as afford facilities for visiting the very
+ends of the earth in a few days; not to mention other innumerable
+blessings to which we run them, or which we run _to_ them, and yet no
+sooner does a rare accident occur (as it _will_ occur in every human
+institution, though it occurs less on railways than in most other
+institutions) than down comes this ungrateful public upon us with
+indignant cries of `disgraceful!' and, in many cases, unreasonable
+demands for compensation."
+
+"Such is life," said Gurwood with a smile.
+
+"On the rail," added Mr Superintendent Sharp with a sigh, as the
+whistle sounded and the train moved slowly out of the station.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIX.
+
+HISTORY OF THE IRON HORSE.
+
+Having gone thus far in our tale, permit us, good reader, to turn aside
+for a little to make a somewhat closer inspection of the Iron Horse and
+his belongings.
+
+Railways existed long before the Iron Horse was born.  They sprang into
+being two centuries ago in the form of tramways, which at first were
+nothing more or less than planks or rails of timber laid down between
+the Newcastle-on-Tyne collieries and the river, for the purpose of
+forming a better "way" over which to run the coal-trucks.  From simple
+timber-rails men soon advanced to planks having a strip of iron nailed
+on their surface to prevent too rapid tear and wear, but it was not till
+the year 1767 that cast-iron rails were introduced.  In order to prevent
+the trucks from slipping off the line the rails were cast with an
+upright flange or guide at one side, and were laid on wooden or stone
+sleepers.
+
+This form of rail being found inconvenient, the flange was transferred
+from the rails to the wheels, and this arrangement, under various
+modifications has been ever since retained.
+
+These "innocent" railroads--as they have been sometimes and most
+appropriately named, seeing that they were guiltless alike of blood and
+high speed--were drawn by horses, and confined at first to the
+conveyance of coals.  Modest though their pretensions were, however,
+they were found to be an immense improvement on the ordinary roads,
+insomuch that ten horses were found to be capable of working the traffic
+on railroads, which it required 400 horses to perform on a common road.
+These iron roads, therefore, began to multiply, and about the beginning
+of the present century they were largely employed in the coal-fields and
+mineral districts of the kingdom.  About the same time thoughtful men,
+seeing the immense advantage of such ways, began to suggest the
+formation of railways, or tramways, to run along the side of our
+turnpike-roads--a mode of conveyance, by the way, in regard to towns,
+which thoughtful men are still, ever at the present day of supposed
+enlightenment, endeavouring to urge upon an unbelieving public--a mode
+of conveyance which we feel very confident will entirely supersede our
+cumbrous and antiquated "'bus" in a very short time.  What, we ask, in
+the name of science and art and common-sense, is to prevent a tramway
+being laid from Kensington to the Bank, "or elsewhere," which shall be
+traversed by a succession of roomy carriages following each other every
+five minutes; which tramway might be crossed and recrossed and run upon,
+or, in other words, used by all the other vehicles of London except when
+the rightful carriages were in the way?  Nothing prevents, save that
+same unbelief which has obstructed the development of every good thing
+from the time that Noah built the ark!  But we feel assured that the
+thing shall be, and those who read this book may perhaps live to see it!
+
+But to return.  Among these thoughtful and far-seeing men was one Dr
+James Anderson, who in 1800 proposed the formation of railways by the
+roadsides, and he was so correct in his views that the plans which he
+suggested of keeping the level, by going round the base of hills, or
+forming viaducts, or cutting tunnels, is precisely the method practised
+by engineers of the present day.  Two years later a Mr Edgeworth
+announced that he had long before, "formed the project of laying iron
+railways for baggage waggons on the great roads of England," and, in
+order to prevent tear and wear, he proposed, instead of conveying heavy
+loads in one huge waggon, to have a train of small waggons.  With the
+modesty of true genius, which never over-estimates or forms wildly
+sanguine expectations, he thought that each waggon might perhaps carry
+one ton and a half!  Edgeworth also suggested that _passengers_ might
+travel by such a mode of conveyance.  Bold man!  What a goose many
+people of his day must have thought him.  If they had been alive now,
+what geese they might have thought themselves.  The Society of Arts,
+however, were in advance of their time.  They rewarded Edgeworth with
+their gold medal.
+
+This man seems to have been a transcendent genius, because he not only
+devised and made (on a small scale) iron railways, but proposed to take
+ordinary vehicles, such as mail-coaches and private carriages, on his
+trucks, and convey them along his line at the rate of six or eight miles
+an hour with one horse.  He also propounded the idea of the employment
+of stationary steam-engines (locomotives not having been dreamed of) to
+drag the trains up steep inclines.
+
+Another semi-prophetic man of these days was Thomas Gray, of Leeds, who
+in 1820 published a work on what he styled a "General Iron Railway, or
+Land Steam Conveyance, to supersede the necessity of Horses in all
+public vehicles, showing its vast superiority in every respect over the
+present pitiful Methods of Conveyance by Turnpike-Roads and Canals."
+Gray, whose mind appears to have been unusually comprehensive, proposed
+a system of railway communication between all the important cities and
+towns in the kingdom, and pointed out the immense advantage that would
+be gained to commerce by such a ready and rapid means of conveying fish,
+vegetables, and other perishable articles from place to place.  He also
+showed that two post deliveries in the day would become possible, and
+that fire insurance companies would be able to promote their interests
+by keeping railway fire-engines, ready to be transported to scenes of
+conflagration without delay.
+
+But Gray was not esteemed a prophet.  His suggestions were not adopted
+nor his plans acted on, though unquestionably his wisdom and energy gave
+an impulse to railway development, of which we are reaping the benefit
+to-day.  His labours were not in vain.
+
+Horse railways soon began to multiply over the country.  The first
+authorised by Act of Parliament was the Surrey Railway in 1801.  Twenty
+years later twenty lines of railway were in operation.
+
+About this time, too, another man of note and of great scientific and
+mechanical sagacity lent his powerful aid to advance the interests of
+the railway cause.  This was Charles Maclaren, of Edinburgh, editor of
+the _Scotsman_ newspaper for nearly thirty years.  He had long foreseen,
+and boldly asserted his belief in, the certain success of steam
+locomotion by rail, at a time when opinions such as his were scouted as
+wild delusive dreams.  But he did more, he brought his able pen to bear
+on the subject, and in December 1825 published a series of articles in
+the _Scotsman_ on the subject of railways, which were not only
+extensively quoted and republished in this country and in America, but
+were deemed worthy of being translated into French and German, and so
+disseminated over Europe.  Mr Maclaren was thus among the foremost of
+those who gave a telling impulse to the cause at that critical period
+when the Iron horse was about to be put on the rail--the right horse in
+the right place--for it was not many years afterwards that that
+auspicious event took place.  Mr Maclaren not only advocated generally
+the adoption of railways, but logically demonstrated the wonderful
+powers and capacities of the steam locomotive, arguing, from the
+experiments on friction made more than half a century before by Vince
+and Colomb, that by the use of steam-power on railroads a much more
+rapid and cheaper transit of persons as well as merchandise might be
+confidently anticipated.  He leaped far ahead of many of even the most
+hopeful advocates of the cause, and with almost prophetic foresight
+wrote, "there is scarcely any limit to the rapidity of movement these
+iron pathways will enable us to command."  And again,--"We have spoken
+of vehicles travelling at twenty miles an hour; but we see no reason for
+thinking that, in the progress of improvement, a much higher velocity
+might not be found practicable; and in twenty years hence a shopkeeper
+or mechanic, on the most ordinary occasion, may probably travel with a
+speed that would leave the fleetest courser behind."  Wonderful words
+these!  At a first glance we may not deem them so, being so familiar
+with the ideas which they convey, but our estimate of them will be more
+just if we reflect that when they were penned railways had scarcely
+sprung into being, steam locomotives had only just been born, and not
+only men in general, but even many learned, scientific and practical men
+regarded the statement of all such opinions as being little short of
+insanity.  Nevertheless, many deep-thinking men thought differently, and
+one contemporary, reviewing this subject in after years, said of Mr
+Maclaren's papers, that, "they prepared the way for the success of
+railway projectors."
+
+We have said that the steam locomotive--the material transformer of the
+world--our Iron Horse, had just been born.  It was not however born on
+the rails, but on the common road, and a tremendous baby-giant it was,
+tearing up its cradle in such furious fashion that men were terrified by
+it, and tried their best to condemn it to inactivity, just as a weak and
+foolish father might lock up his unruly boy and restrain him perforce,
+instead of training him wisely in the way in which he should go.
+
+But the progenitors of the Iron Horse were, like their Herculean child,
+men of mettle.  They fought a gallant fight for their darling's freedom,
+and came off victorious!
+
+Of course, many men and many nations were anxious to father this
+magnificent infant, and to this day it is impossible to say precisely
+who originated him.  He is said by some to have sprung from the brains
+of Englishmen, others assert that brains in France and Switzerland begat
+him, and we believe that brother Jonathan exercised his prolific brain
+on him, before the actual time of his birth.  The first name on record
+in connexion with this infant Hercules is that of Dr Robison, who
+communicated his ideas to Watt in 1759.  The latter thereupon made a
+model locomotive, but entertained doubts as to its safety.  Oliver
+Evans, of Philadelphia, patented a "steam waggon" in 1782.  William
+Murdoch, the friend and assistant of Watt, made a model in 1787 which
+drew a small waggon round a room in his house in Cornwall.  In the same
+year Symington exhibited a model locomotive in Edinburgh, and in 1795 he
+worked a steam-engine on a turnpike-road in Lanarkshire.  Richard
+Trevethick, who had seen Murdoch's model, made and patented a locomotive
+in 1802.  It drew on a tramway a load of ten tons at the rate of five
+miles an hour.  Trevethick also made a carriage to run on common roads,
+and altogether did good service in the cause.
+
+Blenkinsop, of Middleton Colliery, near Leeds, made locomotives in 1811
+which hauled coals up steep ascents by means of a toothed rail, with a
+toothed propelling wheel working into it.  This unnatural infant,
+however, turned out to be not the true child.  It was found that such a
+powerful creature did not require teeth at all, that he could "bite"
+quite well enough by means of his weight alone,--so the teeth were
+plucked out and never allowed to grow again.
+
+After this, in 1813, came Brunton of Butterley, with a curious
+contrivance in the form of legs and feet, which were attached to the
+rear of his engine and propelled it by a sort of walking motion.  It did
+not walk well, however, and very soon walked off the field of
+competition altogether.
+
+At last, in the fulness of time there came upon the scene the great
+railway king, George Stephenson, who, if he cannot be said to have
+begotten the infant, at all events brought him up and effectually
+completed his training.
+
+George Stephenson was one of our most celebrated engineers, and the
+"father of the railway system."  He may truly be said to have been one
+of mankind's greatest benefactors.  He was a self-taught man, was born
+near Newcastle in 1781, began life as a pit-engine boy with wages at
+two-pence a day, and ultimately rose to fame and fortune as an engineer.
+
+In 1814 he made a locomotive for the Killingworth Colliery Railway.  It
+drew thirty tons at the rate of four miles an hour, and was regarded as
+a great success.  In 1825 an engine of the same kind was used on the
+Stockton and Darlington Railway, of which Stephenson had been made
+engineer.
+
+But the great crowning effort of Stephenson, and the grand impulse to
+the railway cause, which carried it steadily and swiftly on to its
+present amazing degree of prosperity, did not occur till the year 1829.
+
+Previous to that date the Manchester and Liverpool Railway was being
+constructed, and so little was known as to the capabilities of railways
+and the best mode of working them, that the directors and engineers had
+some difficulty in deciding whether the line should be worked by fixed
+engines or by locomotives.  It was ultimately decided that the latter
+should be used, and a premium of 500 pounds was offered for the best
+locomotive that could be produced, in accordance with certain
+conditions.  These were--That the chimney should emit no smoke--that the
+engine should be on springs--that it should not weigh more than six
+tons, or four-and-a-half tons if it had only four wheels--that it should
+be able to draw a load of twenty tons at the rate of ten miles an hour,
+with a pressure of fifty pounds to the square inch in the boiler, and
+should not cost more than 500 pounds.
+
+The Iron Horse was now at last about to assume its right position.  It
+was no longer an infant, but a powerful stripling--though still far from
+its full growth; as far as six tons is from sixty!
+
+Four iron steeds were entered to compete for the prize.  It was in
+October 1829 that this celebrated trial came off, and great was the
+interest manifested on the occasion, for not only did the public
+entertain doubts as to the capabilities of locomotives, but very few
+even of the engineers of the country would admit the possibility of a
+locomotive engine attaining a speed greater than ten miles an hour!
+First came the "Novelty" of Braithwaite and Ericson; then the "Sans
+pareil" of Hawkworth; the "Perseverance" of Burstall; and, lastly, the
+"Rocket" of Stephenson.  Of the first three we shall merely say that the
+"Novelty," being weak in the wheels, broke down; the "Sans pareil" burst
+one of her cylinders; and the "Perseverance" turned out to be too heavy
+to comply with the conditions of the trial.
+
+The "Rocket" advanced, and was harnessed to a train of waggons weighing
+thirteen tons; the fire was lighted, and the steam got up.  The valves
+lifted at the stipulated fifty pounds pressure, and away it went with
+its load at an average speed of fifteen, and a maximum speed of
+twenty-nine miles an hour!  Thus triumphantly the "Rocket" won the prize
+of 500 pounds, and the Iron Horse was fairly and finally married to the
+Iron Road.  One of the important elements of Stephenson's success lay in
+the introduction of numerous tubes into his boiler, through which the
+fire, and heat passed, and thus presented a vast amount of heating
+surface to the water.  Another point was his allowing the waste steam to
+pass through the chimney, thus increasing the draught and intensifying
+the combustion; for heat is the life of the locomotive, and without much
+of this, high rates of speed could not be attained.
+
+The difference between the first locomotive and those now in use is very
+great--as may be seen any day in London, by any one who chooses to visit
+one of our great railway stations, and go thence to the Kensington
+Museum, where the "Rocket" is now enshrined--a memorial of Stephenson's
+wisdom, and of the beginning of our magnificent railway system.  Yet
+though the difference be great it is wonderful how complete the "Rocket"
+was, all things considered.  The modern improvements made on locomotives
+consist chiefly in clothing the boiler with wood, felt, and other
+non-conductors to increase the life-giving heat; in heating the
+feed-water, coupling the driving-wheels, working the cylinders
+horizontally, economising steam by cutting off the supply at any part of
+the stroke that may be required, and economising fuel by using raw coal
+instead of coke, and consuming the smoke, besides many other minor
+contrivances, but all the great principles affecting the locomotive were
+applied by George Stephenson, and illustrated in the "Rocket."
+
+It is no wonder that the first Iron Horse was clumsy in appearance and
+somewhat grotesque, owing to the complication of rods, cranks, and other
+machinery, which was all exposed to view.  It required years of
+experience to enable our engineers to construct the grand, massive,
+simple chargers which now run off with our monster-trains as if they
+were feathers.  When the iron horse was first made, men were naturally
+in haste to ascertain his power and paces.  He was trotted out, so to
+speak, in his skeleton, with his heart and lungs and muscles exposed to
+view in complex hideosity!  Now-a-days he never appears without his skin
+well-groomed and made gay with paint and polished brass and steel.
+
+We have said that the "Rocket" drew thirteen tons at nearly thirty miles
+an hour.  Our best engines can now draw hundreds of tons, and they can
+run at the rate of above sixty miles an hour at maximum speed.  The more
+ordinary speed, however, for passenger-trains is from thirty to
+forty-five miles an hour.  The weight of the "Rocket" was six tons.
+That of some of our largest engines with tenders is from forty to above
+fifty tons.
+
+From the time of the opening of the old Manchester and Liverpool Railway
+in 1830 to the present day--a period of little more than forty years--
+railway construction has gone forward throughout the land--and we may
+add the world--with truly railway speed, insomuch that England has
+become covered from end to end with an absolute network of iron roads,
+and the benefit to our country has been inconceivably great.  It would
+require a large volume to treat of these and correlative subjects, as
+they deserve.
+
+Two hundred years ago the course of post between London and Edinburgh
+was one month; before an answer could be received two months had to
+elapse!  About a hundred years later there was one stage-coach between
+the two cities, which did the distance in a fortnight, rendering
+communication and reply possible once in each month.  In those days
+roads were uncommonly bad.  One writer tells us that, while travelling
+in Lancashire, a county now traversed by railways in all directions, he
+found one of the principal roads so bad that there were ruts in it,
+which he measured, four feet deep, and that the only mending it received
+was the tumbling of stones into these holes to fill them up.  The
+extremely limited goods traffic of the country was conducted by the slow
+means of carts and waggons.  Enterprising men, however, then as now,
+were pushing the world forward, though they were by no means so numerous
+then as now.  In 1673 it took a week to travel between London and
+Exeter, and cost from forty to forty-five shillings.  About the same
+period a six-horse coach took six days to perform the journey between
+Edinburgh and Glasgow and back.  To accomplish fifty miles or
+thereabouts in two days with a six-horse stage-coach, was considered
+good work and high speed about the beginning of last century.  Near the
+middle of it (1740) travelling by night was for the first time
+introduced, and soon after that a coach was started with a wicker-basket
+slung behind for outside passengers!  Some years afterwards an
+enterprising individual started a "flying coach" drawn by eight horses,
+which travelled between London and Dover in a day--the fare being one
+guinea.  Even at the beginning of the present century four miles an hour
+was deemed a very fair rate of travelling for a stage-coach.
+
+With the improvement of roads by the famous Macadam in 1816, began
+improved travelling and increased speed.  The process was rapid.
+Mail-coaches began to overrun the country in all directions at the then
+remarkable pace of from eight to ten miles an hour,--and, let us remark
+in passing, there was a whirl and dash about these stage-coaches which
+railway trains, with all their velocity can never hope to attain to,
+except when they dash into each other!  Man is but a weak creature in
+some senses.  Facts are scarcely facts to him unless they touch his eye
+or ear.  The smooth run of a train at twenty or even thirty miles an
+hour, with its gradual start and gentle pull up, has but a slight effect
+on him now compared with the splendid swing of the well-appointed mail
+coach of old as it swept round the bend of a road, and, with red-coated
+driver and guard, cracking whip, flying dust and stones, and reeking
+foam-flecked horses, dashed into town and pulled up, while at nearly
+full speed, amid all the glorious crash and turmoil of arrival!  No
+doubt the passing of an express train within a yard of your nose is
+something peculiarly awful, and if you ever get permission to ride on
+the engine of an express, the _real_ truth regarding speed, weight,
+momentum, will make a profound impression on you, but in ordinary
+circumstances the arrival of a train cannot for a moment compare with
+the dash, the animal spirit, the enthusiasm, the romance of the mail
+coach of days gone by.
+
+About the time that the day of slow speed was drawing to a close (1837)
+licenses were granted to 3026 stage-coaches, of which 1507 went to and
+from London, besides 103 mail-coaches.  And it has been estimated that
+the number of passengers carried in the year about that time was two
+millions.  In regard to the merchandise traffic of the kingdom, we
+cannot give statistics, but we ask the reader to bear in mind that it
+was all conducted by means of heavy waggons and slow-going canal barges.
+
+Now, let us contrast this state of things with the condition and
+influence of railways up to the present time.  As we have said, the iron
+horse began his career in 1830 on the Liverpool and Manchester line--
+long since become part of the London and North-Western Railway--at that
+time thirty-one miles long.  Eight years later, Liverpool, Manchester,
+and Birmingham were completely connected with London by railway.  Then,
+as success attended the scheme, new lines were undertaken and opened at
+a still more rapid rate until, in 1843--despite the depression caused
+for a time by over-speculating--there were nearly 2000 miles of railway
+open for traffic.  In 1850 there were above 6000 miles open; in 1860,
+above 10,000.  In 1864 the railways of the kingdom employed upwards of
+7200 locomotives, 23,470 passenger carriages, and 212,900 goods and
+mineral waggons.  In that one year about five million passengers and
+goods trains ran 130 millions of miles--a distance that would encircle
+the earth 5221 times--the earth being 24,896 miles in circumference.  In
+1866 the gross receipts of railways was about forty millions of pounds
+sterling.  At the present date (1871) above 14,000 miles of railway are
+open in the United Kingdom.  This mileage is divided amongst about 430
+companies, but a considerable number of these have been incorporated
+with the larger companies, such as the London and North west, the Great
+Western, etcetera.
+
+All the lines carried in one year (1870) somewhere about 307 millions of
+passengers--in other words, that number of passenger journeys were
+performed on them.  The mail and stage-coaches in their best days only
+conveyed, as we have said, two millions!  See note at end of chapter.
+
+It is almost overwhelming to consider what a vast change in the
+condition and habits of the people of this country is implied in these
+figures.  Forty years ago none travelled but the comparatively rich, and
+that only to an extent equal to about two-thirds of the present
+population of London.  Now-a-days the poorest artisan can, and does,
+afford to travel, and the number of journeys performed each year on all
+our British railways is equal to more than the entire population of
+Europe! which, in Stewart's "Modern Geography," is set down at 285
+millions.  From this of course it follows, that as many thousands of
+men, women, and children never travel at all, many others must have
+undertaken numerous journeys in that year.
+
+The facilities afforded by railways are altogether innumerable.  If so
+disposed you may sup one night in the south of England and the next
+night in the north of Scotland.  Thousands of families dwell in the
+country, while the heads thereof go to their business in town by rail
+every morning and return home every evening.  Huntsmen, booted and
+spurred, are whirled off, horses and all, to distant fields, whence,
+after "crossing country" all day, they return to the railway and are
+whirled back to town in time for dinner.  Navvys and artisans are
+conveyed to their work at a penny a mile, and monster-trains carry
+thousands of excursionists to scenes of rural delight that our fathers
+never dreamed of in their wildest flights of fancy.
+
+One of the most remarkable and interesting facts in connexion with all
+this is, that although mail-coaches have been beaten off the field,
+there are actually more horses employed in this country now than there
+were in 1837, while canals are doing more business than they ever did,
+and are making higher profits too.  In 1865 the carriage of cattle by
+railway amounted to between fourteen or fifteen million head of all
+kinds.  The consumption of coal, in the same year, by our railways
+amounted to four million tons, and the quantity of that and other
+minerals carried by rail continually is enormous.
+
+The benefit derived by the post-office also from our railways is
+incalculable.  We cannot afford space to enter into details, but it may
+be truly said that but for railways the Post-Office Savings Bank system
+could not have existed; and of course, also, our frequent deliveries of
+letters and rapid as well as cheap communication with all parts of the
+kingdom would have been impossible.  The railway service of the
+Post-Office is over 60,000 miles a day, and the gross sum paid by the
+Post-Office to railways in one year was 570,500 pounds.
+
+These are but a few of the amazing statistics connected with our railway
+system, which, if fully enlarged upon, would fill a bulky volume.  If
+our readers desire more there are several most interesting and
+instructive works on the subject, which are well worthy of perusal.  See
+note 2 at the end of the chapter.
+
+Before closing this perhaps too statistical chapter, we shall say a few
+words as to the construction of a railway.  No one who has not looked
+pretty closely into the subject can form any adequate conception of the
+difficulties that beset an engineer-in-chief in the formation of a line
+of railway.  We will suppose that all the Parliamentary battles have
+been fought, opposition overcome, the heavy expenses connected therewith
+paid, and the work begun.
+
+The engineer has walked again and again over the country through which
+the railway is to be carried and selected the best route, his assistants
+having meanwhile taken for him "flying levels" and "cross levels."  Too
+frequently prejudice, ignorance, and selfishness interpose to prevent
+the best route being taken, and immense sums that might have been saved
+are spent in constructing the line on the next best route.  As soon as
+the course of a line is fixed, accurate surveys are made by the
+assistant engineers, copies of which are placed, according to Act of
+Parliament, with the various clerks of the peace of the counties,
+through which the line is to pass, with the Commissioners of Railways
+and others, besides which there has to be prepared for each parish its
+proportion, and for each landholder a section showing the greatest depth
+of cutting or embankment in any of his fields.
+
+As soon as all this has been done, and the Act of Parliament authorising
+the line obtained, an accurate plan and section of the whole line is
+made, from which the engineer ascertains and lays down its gradients, in
+other words its ascents and descents, determines the number and size of
+the bridges and viaducts to be made, calculates the quantity of
+embankments required to fill up hollows, and the number of cuttings to
+level obstructions, in which latter calculations he estimates that the
+cutting down of elevations will be made subservient as far as may be, to
+the elevation of depressions.  All this involves very nice and exact
+calculation as to quantity of material, masonry, etcetera, and the
+sinking of "trial shafts" to ascertain the nature of the various strata
+to be excavated or tunnelled.  Then the cost of all the works has to be
+estimated in detail, apportioned into lengths and advertised for
+execution by contract.  To each section of the line thus apportioned--
+forty or fifty miles--an experienced engineer is appointed, having under
+him "sub-assistants," who superintend from ten to fifteen miles each,
+and these again are assisted by "inspectors" of masonry, mining,
+earth-work and permanent way, to each of whom a district is assigned.
+
+These managing and guiding men having been appointed, the physical
+workers are then called into action, in the form of bands of navvies.
+As the steam and mechanism of the locomotive are useless except in
+regulated combination, so brain and muscle can achieve nothing without
+wise and harmonious union.  If boys and men would reflect more deeply on
+this great truth, pride, boasting, and the false separation of classes
+would be less rife.  We say _false_, because there is a separation of
+classes which is natural and unavoidable.  No one ever complains of
+_that_.  If ill-advised or angry navvies were to refuse to work, what
+could directors and engineers do?  If, on the other hand, ill-advised or
+angry directors and engineers refused to pay, what could navvies do?
+Antagonism is an unhealthy condition of things.  There is far too much
+of it between employers and employed in this world.  "Agree with thine
+adversary quickly" is a command which applies to bodies of men quite as
+much as to individuals, and the word is "agree," not coerce or force.
+If we cannot agree, let us agree to differ; or, if that won't do in our
+peculiar circumstances, then let us agree to separate.  Fighting, save
+in self-defence, is only fit for fools.
+
+But to return.  When bone and muscle have been for the time welded to
+brain, then the work of construction goes on "full swing."  Difficulties
+and obstructions are overcome in a way that appears to the unskilled eye
+nothing less than miraculous.  But the work is often hindered and
+rendered greatly more expensive by the sudden appearance of evils
+against which no amount of human wisdom or foresight could have guarded.
+
+The Kilsby tunnel of the London and North west Railway is a case in
+point.  When that tunnel was proposed, it was arranged that it should be
+about 3000 yards long, and 160 feet below the surface, with two great
+ventilating shafts 60 feet in diameter.  It was a gigantic work.  The
+engineer examined the ground in the usual way, with much care, and then
+advertised for "tenders."  The various competing contractors also
+examined the ground minutely, and the offer of one of them to work it
+for 99,000 pounds was accepted.  Forthwith the contractor went to work,
+and all went well and busily for some time, until it was suddenly
+discovered that a hidden quicksand extended 400 yards into the tunnel,
+which the trial shafts had just passed without touching.  This was a
+more tremendous blow to the contractor than most readers may at first
+thought suppose, for he believed that to solidify a quicksand was
+impossible.  The effect on him was so great that he was mentally
+prostrated, and although the company generously and justly relieved him
+from his engagement, the reprieve came too late, for he died.  It then
+came to be a question whether or not the tunnel should be abandoned.
+Many advised that it should.  At this juncture Mr Robert Stephenson,
+son of the great George, came forward and undertook the work.  He placed
+his chief dependence on the steam-engine to keep the water down while
+the work was in progress.  At first he was successful, but one day,
+while the men were busy laying their bricks in cement one of them drove
+into the roof, and a deluge of water burst in on them, and although they
+tried to continue their work on a raft the water prevailed and at last
+drove them out.  They escaped with difficulty up one of the air-shafts.
+The water having put an effectual stop to the work, the directors felt
+disposed to give it up, but Stephenson begged for a fortnight more.  It
+was granted.  By means of thirteen steam-engines, the amazing quantity
+of 1800 gallons of water per _minute_ was pumped out of the quicksand
+night and day for eight months.  With the aid of 1250 men and 200 horses
+the work was finally completed, having occupied altogether thirty months
+from the laying of the first brick.
+
+Two very singular accidents occurred during the course of the
+construction of this tunnel.  On one occasion a man who had been working
+in it was being hauled up one of the shafts, when his coat caught in an
+angular crevice of the partition, that separated the pumps from the
+passage for the men, and became so firmly jammed that he was compelled
+to let go the rope, and was left there dangling in the air, about a
+hundred feet from the bottom, until his horrified comrades went down and
+rescued him by cutting away the piece of his coat.  This piece of cloth
+was long preserved in the engineer's office as a memorial of the event!
+On another occasion some men were at work on a platform, half-way down
+the shaft, executing some repairs, when a huge navvy, named Jack
+Pierson, fell from the surface, went right through the platform, as if
+it had been made of paper, and fell to the bottom.  Fortunately there
+was water to receive him there, else he had been killed on the spot.
+The men, whom of course he had narrowly missed in his fall, began to
+shout for a rope to those above, and they hallooed their advice down the
+shaft in reply.  In the midst of the confusion Jack Pierson himself
+calmly advised them to make less noise and pull him out, which they very
+soon did, and the poor man was carried home and put to bed.  He lay
+there for many weeks unable to move, but ultimately recovered.
+
+What we have said of the Kilsby tunnel gives a slight glimpse of some of
+the expenses, difficulties, and dangers that occasionally attend the
+construction of a railway.
+
+Of course these difficulties and expenses vary according to the nature
+of the ground.  In some places the gradients are slight, bridges few,
+and cuttings, etcetera, insignificant; but in other places the reverse
+is emphatically the case, and costly laborious works have to be
+undertaken.
+
+One such work, which occurred at the very opening of our railway system
+in 1828, was the bridging of the Chat Moss, on the Liverpool and
+Manchester line.  George Stephenson, the constructer of the "Rocket,"
+was also the hero of the Chat Moss.  This moss was a great swamp or bog,
+four miles in extent, which was so soft that it could not be walked on
+with safety, and in some places an iron rod laid on the surface would
+sink by its own weight.  Like many other difficulties in this world, the
+solidification of the Chat Moss was said to be impossible, but the great
+engineer scarce admitted the propriety of allowing the word "impossible"
+to cumber our dictionaries.  He began the work at once by forming an
+embankment twenty feet high, which he carried some distance across the
+treacherous soil, when the whole affair sank down one day and
+disappeared!  Undismayed, Stephenson began again, and went on steadily
+depositing thousands on thousands of tons of earth, which were greedily
+swallowed up, until at last a solid foundation was obtained over the
+greater part of the bog.  But there was a particularly soft part of it,
+known by the name of the "flow moss," which was insatiable.  Over this
+hurdles interwoven with heath were spread, and on these earth and gravel
+were laid down.  When this road showed a tendency to sink below the
+level, Stephenson loaded the moss beyond the track to balance it; when
+water oozed through, he invented a new kind of drain-pipe formed of old
+tallow casks, headed into each other, and ballasted to keep them down,
+and at last the feat was accomplished--the railway was run over the wet
+quaking moss on firm dry land.
+
+It was in the formation of this, the true beginning of railways, that
+the British "navvy" was called into being.  To perform the laborious
+work, Stephenson employed the men called "inland navigators," in other
+words, the canal excavators.  This body of strong "navigators" or
+"navvies" formed the nucleus, which gathered recruits from all parts of
+the kingdom.  As the work of railway making, which thenceforward grew
+fast and furious, was unusually severe, only men who were unusually
+powerful were suited for the navvy ranks, so that they became a distinct
+class of gigantic men, whose capacity for bread and beef was in
+accordance with their muscular development and power to toil.  Splendid
+fellows they were, and are; somewhat rugged and untamed, no doubt, with
+a tendency to fight occasionally, and a great deal of genuine kindness
+and simplicity.  That they are capable of being imbued with refined
+feeling, noble sentiment, and love to God, has been shown by the
+publications of Miss Marsh, which detail that lady's interesting and
+earnest labours to bring the unbelievers among these men to our Saviour.
+
+Another celebrated piece of railway engineering is the _Britannia
+Bridge_ over the Menai Straits, which separates Caernarvonshire from the
+island of Anglesey.  This was the first bridge ever built on the tubular
+principle.  The importance of crossing the strait was very great, as it
+lay in the direct route to Holyhead and Ireland.  Telford, the engineer,
+daringly resolved to span the strait with a suspension bridge 100 feet
+above the water.  He began it in 1818, and on the last day of January
+1826 the London mail coach passed over the estuary.  The bridge remains
+to this day a vast and beautiful monument of engineering skill.  But
+when railways began to play, something more ponderous and powerful
+became necessary.  A bridge with arches was talked of, but this was
+considered likely to be obstructive to the navigation of the strait,
+therefore another plan was demanded.  At this juncture Robert Stephenson
+came forward with a plan.  Pounding his opinion on the known fact that
+hollow columns are stronger than solid ones; that hollow beams are
+better than solid beams, he leaped to the bold conclusion that a hollow
+iron beam, or tube, could be made large enough to allow a train to pass
+through it!  As usual there sprang up a host of cold-waterers, but
+thanks to British enterprise, which can dare anything, there were found
+enough of men willing to promote the scheme.  It was no sooner resolved
+on than begun.  Massive abutments of stone were raised on each shore to
+the height of 100 feet above high-water.  The width of the strait
+between these abutments is nearly 500 yards.  Midway across is the
+Britannia Rock, just visible at half tide.  The engineer resolved to
+found one of his towers on that rock.  It was done; but the distance
+being too great for a single span of tube, two other towers were added.
+The centre towel rises 35 feet higher than the abutments, thus giving to
+the tube a very slight arch, which, however, is barely perceptible.
+
+The tubes were rectangular, with double top and bottom made of plates of
+wrought-iron, from three-eighths to three-quarters of an inch thick, and
+varying in length according to their position--the whole when put
+together forming a single tube about 500 yards long.  The two centre
+ones were the largest and most difficult to manage, each having to be
+built on shore, floated off on barges, and lifted by hydraulic power a
+height of about 100 feet.  Some idea of what this implied may be
+gathered from the following fact.  Each tube weighed 1800 tons--the
+weight of a goodly-sized ocean steamer!  A perfect army of men worked at
+the building of the tubes; cutting, punching, fitting, riveting,
+etcetera, and as the place became the temporary abode of so many
+artificers and labourers, with their wives and children, a village
+sprang up around them, with shops, a school, and a surgery.  Two
+fire-engines and large tanks of water were kept in constant readiness in
+case of fire, and for many months rivet-making machines, punching
+machines, shearing machines, etcetera, were in full work.  There were
+two million rivets used altogether, and the quantity of
+three-quarter-inch iron rod used in making them measured 126 miles.  The
+total weight of iron used was nearly 12,000 tons.  The bridge was
+strengthened by eighty-three miles of angle iron.  For many months the
+outlay in wages alone was 6000 pounds a week, and the cost for the whole
+of the works more than 600,000 pounds.  A curious fact connected with
+this enormous mass of iron is, that arrangements had to be made to
+permit of shrinkage and expansion.  The tubes were placed on a series of
+rollers and iron balls, and it was afterwards found that in the hottest
+part of summer they were twelve inches longer than in winter--a
+difference which, if not provided for, would have caused the destruction
+of the towers by a constant and irresistible pull and thrust!  The Menai
+Bridge was begun in 1846 and opened for traffic in March 1850.
+
+Space would fail us were we to attempt even a slight sketch of the great
+engineering works that railways have called into being.  We can merely
+point to such achievements as the high-level bridges at
+Newcastle-on-Tyne, Berwick-on-Tweed, and at Saltash, over the Tamar.
+There are viaducts of great height, length, and beauty in all parts of
+the kingdom; there are terminal stations so vast and magnificent as to
+remind one of the structures of Eastern splendour described in the
+_Arabian Nights Entertainments_; and there are hundreds of miles of
+tunnelling at the present time in the United Kingdom.
+
+The Metropolitan Railway is the most important and singular of these
+tunnels--for it is entitled to be regarded as a gigantic tunnel--which
+burrows under the streets of London.
+
+This stupendous work was undertaken in order to relieve the traffic in
+the streets of London.  The frequent blocks that used to occur not many
+years ago in the main thoroughfares of the Metropolis, had rendered
+relief absolutely necessary.  When the increase of railways began to
+pour human beings and goods from all parts of the kingdom into London in
+a continuous and ever-increasing stream, it became obvious that some new
+mode of conveyance must be opened up.  After much deliberation as to the
+best method, it was finally resolved that an underground railway should
+be made, encircling the Metropolis, so that travellers arriving from all
+points of the compass might find a ready and sufficient means of
+conveyance into the central parts of the city.  There was opposition to
+the scheme, of course; but, through the persevering energy of the
+solicitor to the undertaking and others, the work was at length begun,
+and the line opened for traffic in January 1863.  Its extraordinary
+success soon proved the wisdom of its promoters.
+
+At first it was thought that the chief revenues would be derived from
+the conveyance of goods from the west to the eastern districts of
+London, but its enormous passenger traffic eventually became the chief
+cause of its great prosperity.  In the very first year of its opening
+the number of passengers who travelled by it between Farringdon Street
+and Bishop's Road, Paddington, amounted to nearly nine and a half
+millions of individuals, which is more than three times the entire
+population of London--also, let us add, more than three times the entire
+population of Scotland!
+
+The number of trains which are constantly following each other in quick
+succession (at times every two or three minutes) on this magnificent
+railway has rendered a most perfect system of signalling necessary, as
+well as a working staff of superior intelligence and activity.  The
+drivers are all picked men, and indeed it is obvious to every one who
+travels by it that the porters, and guards, and all employed on the line
+are unusually smart men.  The engineering difficulties connected with
+the Metropolitan railway were very great as may easily be believed,
+seeing that it had to be formed under streets whose foundations were
+unavoidably shaken, and amongst an infinite ramification of gas and
+water-pipes and sewers whose separate action had to be maintained intact
+while the process of construction was going on.  Some of the stations
+are most ingeniously lighted from the streets above by bright reflecting
+tile-work, while others, too deep for such a method, or too much
+overtopped with buildings to admit of it, are lit perpetually with gas.
+The whole of the works are a singular instance of engineering skill,
+reflecting great credit on Mr Fowler, the engineer-in-chief.  Despite
+its great length of tunnelling the line is perfectly dry throughout.
+
+At first fears were entertained that human beings could not with safety
+travel through such tunnels as were here formed, but experience has
+proved those fears, like many others, to have been groundless, and a
+very thorough analysis of the atmosphere of the line in all
+circumstances, and by the most competent men of the day, has
+demonstrated that the air of the Metropolitan railway is not injurious
+to health.  The excellent general health of the employes also affords
+additional and conclusive testimony to this fact even although it is
+unquestionably true that there is at times a somewhat sulphurous smell
+there.
+
+This thorough ventilation, of course, could only have been achieved by
+ingenious arrangements and a peculiar construction of the engines,
+whereby the waste steam and fumes of the furnaces should be prevented
+from emitting their foul and sulphurous odours.  The carriages are
+brilliantly lighted with gas, contained in long india-rubber bags on
+their roofs, and the motion of the trains is much gentler than that of
+ordinary railways, although they travel at the rate of from fifteen to
+twenty miles an hour, including stoppages,--a rate, be it observed,
+which could not have been ventured on at all but for the thorough and
+effective system of telegraphic and semaphore signalling employed, to
+indicate from station to station the exact state of the line--as to
+trains--at all times.  On the whole the Metropolitan Railway has proved
+one of the most useful and successful undertakings of modern times.  See
+Note 3 at the end of the chapter.
+
+In reference to foreign railways, we have only space to say that there
+are works as grand, and as worthy of note, as any of which we can boast;
+and it is with much regret that we feel constrained to do no more than
+point to such magnificent undertakings as the _Mont Cenis_ Railway,
+which ascends and tunnels through the Alps; and that stupendous line,
+the Union Pacific Railroad, 3000 miles in length, formed by the daring
+and enterprising Americans, by means of which the prairies and the Rocky
+Mountains are made of no account and New York is brought within seven
+days of San Francisco!  The engineering works on the Sommering Railway,
+between Vienna and Trieste; the mighty Victoria Tubular Bridge at
+Montreal; the railway bridge over Niagara; the difficulties encountered
+and overcome in India; the bold achievements of railway engineers amid
+the dizzy heights and solitudes of the Andes--all these subjects must be
+passed over in silence, else our readers will, we fear, come to the
+conclusion that we have lost command of the Iron Horse altogether,
+allowed him to take the bit in his teeth and fairly run away.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Note 1.  Many readers may find it difficult to form an adequate
+conception of such a vast number as 307 millions.  It may help one to
+some idea of it to know that, if a man were to devote himself to count
+it, one by one,--sitting down after breakfast counting at the rate of
+one every moment, and working without intermission for eight hours every
+day, excepting Sundays,--he would not conclude his task until the
+thirty-fifth year.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Note 2.  We would refer them particularly to Messrs. W. and R. Chambers'
+comprehensive and popularly written work on "Railways, Steamer, and
+Telegraphs;" Money's "Rambles on Railways," which bristles with figures
+and swarms with anecdote; "Stokers and Pokers," by Sir Francis Head, a
+capital and very full work, though somewhat old; W.B. Adams' "Roads and
+Rails," and Bremrer's "Industries of Scotland."
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Note 3.  We had intended to devote much larger space to this most
+interesting line, but the nature of our book forbids it.  We quit the
+subject regretfully; referring the reader, who may desire to know more,
+to an able notice of the Metropolitan Railway in "The Shops and
+Companies of London," edited by Henry Mayhew.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVEN.
+
+LITTLE GERTIE COMES OUT IN A NEW LIGHT, AND BOB RECEIVES GOOD NEWS.
+
+Poor little earnest curly-haired Gertie had been so thoroughly reared in
+the midst of crashing sounds and dire alarms without any mischance
+resulting, that she had come to feel at last as if the idea of danger or
+disaster were a mere fiction.  It was therefore a new and terrible shock
+which she received, when she saw her father carried to his cottage by
+four railway porters and tenderly laid in his bed; and it went to her
+heart with an unaccountable thrill when she heard her father's usually
+loud hearty voice say, in soft, womanly tones, "Thank 'ee, lads; thank
+'ee.  I'll be all right soon, please God.  Good-night and thank 'ee
+kindly."
+
+"Good-night--good-night, Jack," they replied in various tones of
+cheeriness; for these hard-muscled men had soft hearts, and although
+they entertained fears for their friend, they were anxious, by the
+hearty tones of their voices, to keep up his spirits.
+
+"You mustn't take on like that, Missis," whispered one of them as they
+were leaving the cottage door; "the doctor said for sartin that there
+warn't no bones broken, and 'e didn't think there was nothink internal."
+
+"It ain't that I'm afear'd of," whimpered poor Mrs Marrot, "but it does
+go to my 'art so, to 'ear my John speak in that voice.  I never 'ear'd
+him do it except once before, when he was very low with fever, an'
+thought himself a-dyin'."
+
+"But 'e ain't agoin' to die _this_ time," returned the kindly porter;
+"so cheer up, Missis.  Good-night."
+
+Mrs Marrot returned to the room where her husband lay, evidently
+suffering severe pain, for he was very pale and his lips were
+compressed.  He was anxious not to alarm Gertie and Loo who stood at the
+bedside.  The former could not speak, and the blood had so completely
+fled from her face and her small tightly-clasped hands that she
+resembled a creature of wax.
+
+"Can I do nothing to relieve the pain, dear father?" said Loo, as she
+wiped the perspiration from his brow.
+
+"Nothin', nothin', dear lass," said John, with some of his wonted
+heartiness, "except git me a cup o' tea.  Mayhap that'll do me good; but
+the doctor'll be here soon, and he'll put me all to rights in no time."
+
+The idea of a cup of tea was a deep device on the part of John, who
+meant thereby to give Loo some active work to do and thus take her
+attention off himself.
+
+"And don't you be uneasy, Molly," he added, turning to his wife, "it
+ain't a bad hurt, I'm told, an' it ain't hard for a man to suffer a bit
+o' pain now an' agin when it's the Lord's will.  Come, that's the
+doctor's knock.  Don't keep him waitin'.  I knew he'd be here soon,
+'cause Mr Able said he'd send him without delay."
+
+A prolonged and somewhat painful examination of John's injuries ensued,
+during which time little Gertie, with clasped hands, parted lips, and
+eager eyes, watched the doctor's countenance intently.  After it was
+over, the doctor turned to Mrs Marrot, and said--
+
+"I'm happy to tell you, that your husband's injuries, although severe
+and painful, are not serious.  No bones are broken, but he has been
+severely bruised, and will require careful nursing for some time--and,"
+he added, turning with a smile to the patient, "no more rushing about
+the country at sixty miles an hour for several weeks to come."
+
+Little Gertie began to breathe freely again.  Her hands unclasped, and
+the colour came slowly back, as she crept quietly to the bedside, and,
+taking her father's large horny hand, laid her cheek softly upon it.
+
+"Are you easier _now_, daddy?" she asked.
+
+"Ay, much easier, God bless you, Gertie.  The doctor has made things
+much more comfortable.  They've got a wonderful knack o' puttin' things
+right--these doctors have.  W'y, it minds me o' my ingine after a
+longish run; she looks dirty an' all out o' sorts; but w'en I gits her
+into the shed, and gives her an overhaul, you'd scarce know 'er again."
+
+At this moment baby Marrot who had been sleeping when his father was
+brought in, became suddenly conscious of internal vacuity, and forthwith
+set up a lusty howl, whereupon Mrs Marrot pounced upon and throttled
+him--to some extent.
+
+"Don't stop him, Molly, my dear; you--"
+
+The remainder of the sentence was drowned by the night express which
+rushed past, joining baby Marrot in a yell, as the latter freed his
+throat from his mother's grip.
+
+"Don't stop him, Molly," repeated John; "you don't suppose that after
+drivin' a locomotive for eight years I'm agoin' to be disturbed by the
+small pipe of our own youngster.  Let him yell, Molly; it does him good,
+and it don't do me no harm."
+
+It was now arranged that Gertie was to be head nurse on this trying
+occasion--not that the appointment was considered appropriate, but it
+was unavoidable, seeing that Gertie wanted it intensely, and her father
+was pleased to have it so.
+
+Gertie had never before been called upon to do anything in the nursing
+way more serious than to look after baby when he had eaten too much or
+scalded himself--nevertheless, the way in which she went about her
+nursing would have done credit to an hospital training.  She evidently
+possessed a natural aptitude for the work, and went about it with a
+sense of the importance of the trust that was quite charming.  She was
+at that tender age when such work becomes barely possible, and the
+performance of it seems quite miraculous!  Her father gazed at her in
+bewilderment while she went about gravely smoothing his pillow and
+tucking in corners of blankets, and bringing cups, and tumblers, and
+spoons, and handkerchiefs, and sundry other articles, to a chair at his
+bedside, so as to be within reach of his hand.  Molly and Loo, besides
+being highly interested, were intensely amused.  It is a matter of
+dispute even to this day whether baby did not perceive the marvellous
+aptitude of Gertie, for he continued for a prolonged period to gaze at
+her as if in solemn wonder.  Mrs Marrot declared baby's gaze to be one
+of admiration, but John held that it was owing to the state of
+exhaustion that resulted from an unusually long fit of yelling.  While
+he stared thus, Gertie, having completed a number of little operations
+and put the finishing touches or _pats_ to them, became suddenly aware
+that every one was laughing quietly.
+
+"What is it?" she asked, relaxing the severity of her brow and
+brightening up.
+
+They all laughed still more at this, and Gertie, looking round for an
+explanation, encountered baby's glaring eyes, whereupon, supposing that
+she had found out the cause, she laughed too.  But she quickly dismissed
+her levity and recurred to her work with renewed diligence.
+
+It was well for the engine-driver that he had been trained in a rough
+school, for his powers of endurance were severely tested that night, by
+the attentions of his numerous friends who called to inquire for him,
+and in some cases insisted on seeing him.
+
+Among others came one of the directors of the company, who, seeing how
+matters stood, with much consideration said that he would not sit down,
+but had merely looked in for a moment, to tell John Marrot that an
+appointment had been found for his son Robert in the "Works," and that
+if he would send him over in the morning he would be introduced to the
+locomotive superintendent and initiated into the details of his new
+sphere of action.
+
+This was very gratifying to the engine-driver of course, but much more
+so to Bob himself, whose highest earthly ambition was to become, as he
+styled it, an engineer.  When that aspiring youth came home that night
+after cleaning his lamps, he wiped his oily hands on a bundle of waste,
+and sat down beside his sire to inquire considerately into his state of
+body, and to give him, as he expressed it, the noos of the line.
+
+"You see, daddy," he said, "the doctor tells me you're to be kep' quiet,
+an' not allowed to talk, so in course you've got nothin' to do but lie
+still an' listen while I give 'ee the noos.  So 'ere goes.  An' don't
+you sit too near baby, mother, else you'll wake 'im up, an' we'll have a
+yell as'll put talkin' out o' the question.  Well then--"
+
+"Bob," said Loo, interrupting her brother as she sat down opposite, and
+began to mend one of baby's pinafores--which by the way was already so
+mended and patched as to have lost much of its original form and
+appearance--"Bob, Mr Able has been here, and--"
+
+"Who's Mr Able?" demanded Bob.
+
+"One of the directors,--don't you know?"
+
+"How should I know?" retorted Bob; "you don't suppose that the d'rectors
+is all my partikler friends, do you?  There's only two or three of 'em
+as has the honer of my acquaintance."
+
+"Well," resumed Loo with a laugh, "you ought to consider Mr Able one of
+your particular friends at all events, for he has been here this evening
+making kind inquiries after father, and telling him that he has got you
+appointed to the works that you've been so long hankering--"
+
+"What!" interrupted Bob in great excitement; "you don't mean that, Loo?"
+
+"Yes, I do."
+
+"To the great Clatterby Works, where the big hammer is?"
+
+"Well, I suppose it is to these works," said Loo.
+
+"Ay, Bob, to the Clatterby Works, lad; so you're a made man if you only
+behave yourself and do your dooty," said John Marrot in reply to his
+son's look of inquiry.
+
+In the strength of his satisfaction the boy rose, and, taking Loo round
+the neck, kissed her pretty mouth heartily, after which he bestowed the
+same favour on his mother and little Gertie, and looked as if he meant
+to do it to baby too, but he thought better of it.
+
+"Why, mother," he said, resuming his seat at the bedside, "these are the
+works where they've got the big hammers--so big, mother; oh! you've no
+notion how big they are, and heavy.  Why, one of 'em is full five tons
+in weight--think o' that! equal to five carts of coals, mother, all
+rolled into one."
+
+"Nonsense!" said Mrs Marrot.
+
+"But it's _true_," said Bob, earnestly.
+
+"Nonsense!" repeated Mrs Marrot; "w'y, what would be the use of a
+hammer as no one could lift?"
+
+"Steam lifts it, mother," said Bob, "as easy--yes, as easy as you lift
+the rollin' pin."
+
+The unbelieving woman still shook her head, smiled, and said,
+"Nonsense!"
+
+"Moreover," continued Bob, waxing enthusiastic on his favourite topic,
+"I'm told, for I haven't seen 'em yet, that they've got a pair o'
+scissors there as can cut cold iron as easy as you can cut paper--they
+could cut through," said Bob, pausing and looking round, "they could cut
+through the poker and tongs and shovel, all at one go, as easy as if
+they was straws."
+
+"Gammon!" said Mrs Marrot.
+
+"Isn't it a fact, daddy?" cried Bob.
+
+"Quite true, Molly, my dear.  I must take you over to see the works some
+day and convince you," said John with a faint smile.  "But what's the
+news you were goin' to give us, Bob?" he added.
+
+"The noos?--ah; that _good_ noos drove it all out o' my 'ead.  Well, as
+I wos agoin' to say, there's a great to-do down at the shed, 'cause it's
+said that an awful lot o' thefts has bin goin' on of late at Bingly
+station, and it's bin reported that some of the drivers or firemen are
+consarned in it.  An' d'ee know, father," continued Bob, suddenly
+becoming grave and very earnest, "I heard one o' the men say that Will
+Garvie is suspected."
+
+There was a momentary deep silence, as if every one had received a
+shock; then Mrs Marrot exclaimed "What say 'ee, boy?"
+
+At the same time her husband demanded sternly, "Who said that?"
+
+"I don't know, father.  I was passing through the shed at the time and
+didn't see who spoke, I only heerd 'im."
+
+"Father," said Leo, over whose face a deep crimson flush had spread,
+"_surely_ you don't for a moment believe it?"
+
+"Believe it," replied John, "believe that my mate, Will Garvie, is a
+thief?  I'd as soon believe that my Molly was a murderer!"
+
+The energetic driver here struck his fist so violently on the bed as to
+cause his wounded side an acute twinge of pain.  It had scarcely passed
+away when the door opened and Will Garvie himself entered.
+
+"Well, Jack," he said, going up to his friend's couch and taking his
+hand, "how d'you feel now--better?"
+
+The frank open countenance of the young man--albeit begrimed with smoke,
+and his clear laughing blue eyes, were such a flat contradiction to the
+charge which had been made against him that John looked up in his face
+and laughed.
+
+"Well, you _must_ be better, if that's the way you answer me!"
+
+"Oh, I'm all right," said John, quietly; "leastwise I'm on the rails
+agin, an' only shunted on to a sidin' to be overhauled and repaired a
+bit.  You've heard the noos, I fancy?"
+
+"What of Bob's appointment?" said Will, glancing at Loo; for he knew
+that anything that was for Bob's advantage gave her intense delight, and
+he liked to watch her countenance in such circumstances--"of course I've
+heard of that.  Moreover, I've bin to the locomotive superintendent and
+got leave to go over with him to-morrow and show him through the works,
+along with any of his family that might want to go.  I made a special
+request for this, thinkin' that mayhap--"
+
+He looked pointedly at Loo, and Loo looked pointedly at the pinafore
+which suddenly claimed her undivided attention.  Bob, before Will could
+finish his sentence, broke in with--
+
+"Now, _ain't_ that a su'cumstance? w'y, we was just talkin' of havin'
+mother over to see the works, an' lettin' her be convinced by her own
+eyes that there is a hammer there of five ton weight, drove by steam,
+an' a pair o' scissors as can cut cold iron an inch thick.  You'll go
+mother, won't you?"
+
+"Well, I dessay it would be amoosin'; yes, I'll go, Bob, if father's
+better."
+
+Accordingly, much to Will Garvie's disappointment it was arranged that
+Mrs Marrot was to accompany him and Bob to the great railway "Works" on
+the following day.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHT.
+
+MRS. MARROT AND BOB VISIT THE GREAT CLATTERBY "WORKS."
+
+We cannot presume to say what sort of a smiddy Vulcan's was, but we feel
+strongly inclined to think that if that gentleman were to visit the
+works of the Grand National Trunk Railway, which are about the finest of
+the kind in the kingdom, he would deem his own old shop a very
+insignificant affair!
+
+The stupendous nature of the operations performed there; the colossal
+grandeur of the machinery employed; the appalling power of the forces
+called into action; the startling _chiaro scuro_ of the furnaces; the
+Herculean activity of the 3500 "hands;" the dread pyrotechnic displays;
+the constant din and clangour--pshaw! the thing is beyond conception.
+"Why then," you will say, "attempt description?"  Because, reader, of
+two evils we always choose the less.  Description is better than
+nothing.  If you cannot go and see and hear for yourself, there is
+nothing left for you but to fall back on description.
+
+But of all the sights to be seen there, the most interesting, perhaps,
+and the most amusing, was the visage of worthy Mrs Marrot as she
+followed Will Garvie and her son, and gazed in rapt amazement at the
+operations, and listened to the sounds, sometimes looking all round with
+a half-imbecile expression at the rattling machinery, at other times
+fixing her eyes intently down on one piece of mechanism in the vain hope
+of penetrating its secrets to the core.  Bob was not much less amazed
+than his mother, but he had his sharp wits about him, and was keenly
+alive to the delight of witnessing his mother's astonishment.
+
+The works covered several acres of ground, and consisted of a group of
+huge buildings which were divided into different departments, and in
+these the railway company manufactured almost every article used on the
+line--from a locomotive engine to a screw-nail.
+
+Here, as we have said, above 3500 men and boys were at work, and all
+sorts of trades were represented.  There were draughtsmen to make
+designs, and, from these, detailed working drawings.  Smiths to forge
+all the wrought-iron-work, with hammermen as assistants.  Pattern-makers
+to make wooden patterns for castings.  Moulders, including loam,
+dry-sand and green-sand moulders and brass-founders.  Dressers to dress
+the rough edges off the castings when brought from the foundry.  Turners
+in iron and brass.  Planers and nibblers, and slotters and drillers.
+Joiners and sawyers, and coach-builders and painters.  Fitters and
+erecters, to do the rougher and heavier part of fitting the engines
+together.  Boiler-makers, including platers or fitters, caulkers and
+riveters.  Finishers to do the finer part of fitting--details and
+polishing.  In short almost every trade in the kingdom concentrated in
+one grand whole and working harmoniously, like a vast complex machine,
+towards one common end--the supply of railway rolling-stock, or "plant"
+to the line.
+
+All these were busy as bees, for they were engaged on the equitable
+system of "piece-work,"--which means that each man or boy was paid for
+each piece of work done, instead of being paid by time, which of course
+induced each to work as hard as he could in order to make much as
+possible--a system which suited both masters and men.  Of course there
+are some sorts of employment where it would be unjust to pay men by the
+amount of work done--as, for instance, in some parts of tin-mines, where
+a fathom of rock rich in tin is as difficult to excavate as a fathom of
+rock which is poor in tin--but in work such as we are describing the
+piece-work system suits best.
+
+Like a wise general, Will Garvie began with the department in which the
+less astonishing operations were being performed.  This was the timber
+and sawing department.
+
+Here hard wood, in all sizes and forms, was being licked into shape by
+machinery in a way and with an amount of facility that was eminently
+calculated to astonish those whose ideas on such matters had been
+founded on the observation of the laborious work of human carpenters.
+The very first thing that struck Bob Marrot was that the tools were so
+heavy, thick, and strong that the biggest carpenter he had ever seen
+would not have been able to use them.  Bob's idea of a saw had hitherto
+been a long sheet of steel with small teeth, that could be easily bent
+like a hoop--an implement that went slowly through a plank, and that had
+often caused his arm to ache in being made to advance a few inches; but
+here he saw circular steel-discs with fangs more than an inch long,
+which became invisible when in a state of revolution.
+
+"What _is_ that?" said Mrs Marrot concentrating herself on one of these
+implements, after having indulged in a stare of bewildered curiosity
+round the long shed.
+
+"That's a circular saw," replied Will Garvie; "one of the large ones,--
+about four feet in diameter."
+
+"A saw!" exclaimed Mrs Marrot, in surprise.  "W'y, Will, it's round.
+How can a round thing saw?  An' it han't got no 'andle!  How could any
+man lay 'old of it to saw?"
+
+"The carpenter here don't require no handles," replied Will.  "He's a
+queer fellow is the carpenter of this shop, as well as powerful.  He
+works away from morning till night with the power of more than a hundred
+horses, an' does exactly what he's bid without ever making any mistakes
+or axin' any questions.  He's a steam-carpenter, Missis, but indeed he's
+a jack-of-all-trades, and carries 'em on all at the same time.  See,
+they're goin' to set him to work now--watch and you shall see."
+
+As he spoke, two men approached the circular saw bearing a thick log of
+oak.  One of them fitted it in position, on rollers, with its edge
+towards the saw; then he seized a handle, by means of which he connected
+the steam-carpenter with the saw, which instantly revolved so fast that
+the teeth became invisible; at the same time the plank advanced rapidly
+and met the saw.  Instantly there was a loud hissing yet ringing sound,
+accompanied by a shower of sawdust, and, long before Mrs Marrot had
+recovered from her surprise, the log was cut into two thick substantial
+planks.
+
+After two or three more had been cut up in this way in as many minutes,
+Will Garvie said--
+
+"Now, let's see what they do with these planks.  Come here."
+
+He led them to a place close beside the saw, where there was a strong
+iron machine, to one part of which was attached a very large chisel--it
+might have been equal to two or three dozen of the largest ordinary
+chisels rolled into one.  This machine was in motion, but apparently it
+had been made for a very useless purpose, for it was going vigorously up
+and down at the time cutting the atmosphere!
+
+"It's like a lot of people as I knows of," observed Mrs Marrot, "very
+busy about nothin'."
+
+"It'll have somethin' to do soon, mother," said Bob, who was already
+beginning to think himself very knowing.
+
+Bob was right.  One of the oak-planks had been measured and marked for
+mortice-holes in various ways according to pattern, and was now handed
+over to the guardian of the machine, who, having had it placed on
+rollers, pushed it under the chisel and touched a handle.  Down came the
+implement, and cut into the solid wood as if it had been mere putty.  A
+dozen cuts or so in one direction, then round it went--for this chisel
+could be turned with its face in either direction without stopping it
+for the purpose--another dozen cuts were made, and an oblong hole of
+three or four inches long by two broad and three deep was made in the
+plank in a few seconds.
+
+Even Mrs Marrot had sufficient knowledge of the arts to perceive that
+this operation would have cost a human carpenter a very much greater
+amount of time and labour, and that therefore there must have been a
+considerable saving of expense.  Had she been aware of the fact that
+hundreds of such planks were cut, marked, morticed, and turned out of
+hands every week all the year round, and every year continuously, she
+would have had a still more exalted conception of the saving of time,
+labour, and expense thus effected.
+
+The guardian of the chisel having in a few minutes cut the requisite
+half dozen or so of holes, guided the plank on rollers towards a
+pile, where it was laid, to be afterwards carried off to the
+carriage-builders, who would fit it as one side of a carriage-frame to
+its appropriate fellow-planks, which had all been prepared in the same
+way.
+
+Not far from this machine the visitors were shown another, in which
+several circular saws of smaller dimensions than the first were at work
+in concert, and laid at different angles to each other, so that when a
+plank was given into their clutches it received cuts and slices in
+certain parts during its passage through the machine, and came out much
+modified and improved in form--all that the attendants had to do merely
+being to fit the planks in their places and guide them safely through
+the ordeal.  Elsewhere Mrs Marrot and Bob beheld a frame--full of
+gigantic saws cut a large log into half a dozen planks, all in one
+sweep, in a few minutes--work which would have drawn the sweat from the
+brows of two saw-pit men for several hours.  One thing that attracted
+the attention of Bob very strongly was the simple process of
+hole-boring.  Of course, in forming the massive frames of railway
+carriages, it becomes necessary to bore numerous holes for large nails
+or bolts.  Often had Bob, at a neighbouring seaport, watched the heavy
+work and the slow progress of ship-carpenters as they pierced the planks
+of ships with augers; but here he beheld what he called, "augers and
+drills gone mad!"--augers small and great whirling furiously, or, as Bob
+put it, "like all possessed."  Some acting singly, others acting
+together in rows of five or six; and these excited things were
+perpetually whirling, whether at work or not, ready for service at a
+moment's notice.  While Bob was gazing at one huge drill--probably an
+inch and a half broad, if not more--a man came up to it with a plank, on
+the surface of which were several dots at various distances.  He put the
+plank under the drill, brought it down on a dot, whizz went the drill,
+and straightway there was a huge round hole right through almost before
+Bob had time to wink,--and Bob was a practised hand at winking.  Several
+holes were bored in this way, and then the plank was carried to another
+machine, where six lesser holes were drilled at one and the same time by
+six furious little augers; and thus the planks passed on from one
+machine to another until finished, undergoing, in the course of a few
+minutes, treatment that would have cost them hours of torture had they
+been manipulated by human hands, in addition to which the work was most
+beautifully, and perfectly, and regularly done.
+
+Many other operations did the visitors behold in this department--all
+more or less interesting and, to them, surprising--so that Mrs Marrot
+was induced at last to exclaim--
+
+"W'y, Willum, it seems to me that if you go on improvin' things at this
+rate there won't be no use in a short time for 'uman 'ands at all.
+We'll just 'ave to sit still an' let machinery do our work for us, an'
+all the trades-people will be throwd out of employment."
+
+"How can you say that, Missis," said Will Garvie, "you bein' old enough
+to remember the time w'en there wasn't five joiners' shops in Clatterby,
+with p'rhaps fifty men and boys employed, and now there's hundreds of
+joiners, and other shops of all kinds in the town, besides these here
+railway works which, as you know, keeps about 3500 hands goin' all the
+year round?"
+
+"That's so, Willum," assented Mrs Marrot in a meditative tone.
+
+Thus meditating, she was conducted into the smiths' department.
+
+Here about 140 forges and 400 men were at work.  Any one of these forges
+would have been a respectable "smiddy" in a country village.  They stood
+as close to each other as the space would allow,--so close that their
+showers of sparks intermingled, and kept the whole shed more or less in
+the condition of a chronic eruption of fireworks.  To Bob's young mind
+it conveyed the idea of a perpetual keeping of the Queen's birthday.  To
+his mother it was suggestive of singed garments and sudden loss of
+sight.  The poor woman was much distressed in this department at first,
+but when she found, after five minutes or so, that her garments were
+unscathed, and her sight still unimpaired, she became reconciled to it.
+
+In this place of busy vulcans--each of whom was the beau-ideal of "the
+village blacksmith," all the _smaller_ work of the railway was done.  As
+a specimen of this smaller work, Will Garvie drew Mrs Marrot's
+attention to the fact that two vulcans were engaged in twisting red-hot
+iron bolts an inch and a half thick into the form of hooks with as much
+apparent ease as if they had been hair-pins.  These, he said, were hooks
+for couplings, the hooks by which railway carriages were attached
+together, and on the strength and unyielding rigidity of which the lives
+of hundreds of travellers might depend.
+
+The bending of them was accomplished by means of a powerful lever.  It
+would be an endless business to detail all that was done in this
+workshop.  Every piece of comparatively small iron-work used in the
+construction of railway engines, carriages, vans, and trucks, from a
+door-hinge to a coupling-chain, was forged in that smithy.  Passing
+onward, they came to a workshop where iron castings of all kinds were
+being made; cylinders, fire-boxes, etcetera,--and a savage-looking place
+it was, with numerous holes and pits of various shapes and depths in the
+black earthy floor, which were the moulds ready, or in preparation, for
+the reception of the molten metal.  Still farther on they passed through
+a workroom where every species of brass-work was being made.  And here
+Bob Marrot was amazed to find that the workmen turned brass on
+turning-lathes with as much facility as if it had been wood.  Some of
+the pieces of brazen mechanism were very beautiful and delicate--
+especially one piece, a stop-cock for letting water into a boiler, the
+various and complex parts of which, when contrasted with the huge
+workmanship of the other departments, resembled fine watch-work.
+
+As they passed on, Bob observed a particularly small boy, in whom he
+involuntarily took a great and sudden interest--he looked so small, so
+thin, so intelligent, and, withal, so busy.
+
+"Ah, you may well look at him," said Will Garvie, observing Bob's gaze.
+"That boy is one of the best workers of his age in the shop."
+
+"What is 'e doin'?" inquired Bob.
+
+"He's preparin' nuts for screws," replied Will, "and gets one penny for
+every hundred.  Most boys can do from twelve to fourteen hundred a day,
+so, you see, they can earn from six to seven shillin's a week; but that
+little feller--they call him Tomtit Dorkin--earns a good deal more, I
+believe, and he has much need to, for he has got an old granny to
+support.  That's the work that you are soon to be set to, lad."
+
+"Is it?" said Bob, quite pleased at the notion of being engaged in the
+same employment with Tomtit; "I'm glad to 'ear it.  You see, mother,
+when you gits to be old an' 'elpless, you'll not need to mind, 'cause
+_I'll_ support you."
+
+The next place they visited was the great point of attraction to Bob.
+It was the forge where the heavy work was done, and where the celebrated
+hammer and terrific pair of scissors performed their stupendous work.
+
+At the time the visitors entered this department the various hammers
+chanced to be at rest, nevertheless even Mrs Marrot's comparatively
+ignorant mind was impressed by the colossal size and solidity of the
+iron engines that surrounded her.  The roof of the shed in which they
+stood had been made unusually high in order to contain them.
+
+"Well, I s'pose the big 'ammer that Bob says is as 'eavy as five carts
+of coals must be 'ereabouts?" observed Mrs Marrot looking round.
+
+"Yes, there it is," said Will, pointing in front of him.
+
+"W'ere?  I don't see no 'ammer."
+
+"Why there, that big thing just before you," he said, pointing to a
+machine of iron, shaped something like the letter V turned upside down,
+with its two limbs on the earth, its stem lost in the obscurity of the
+root and having a sort of tongue between the two limbs, which tongue was
+a great square block of solid iron, apparently about five feet high and
+about three feet broad and deep.  This tongue, Will Garvie assured his
+companion, was the hammer.
+
+"No, no, Willum," said Mrs Marrot, with a smile, "you mustn't expect me
+for to believe that.  I _may_ believe that the moon is made of green
+cheese, but I won't believe that that's a 'ammer."
+
+"No: but _is_ it, Bill?" asked Bob, whose eyes gleamed with suppressed
+excitement.
+
+"Indeed it is; you shall see presently."
+
+Several stalwart workmen, with bare brawny arms, who were lounging
+before the closed mouth of a furnace, regarded the visitors with some
+amusement.  One of these came forward and said--
+
+"You'd better stand a little way back, ma'am."
+
+Mrs Marrot obediently retreated to a safe distance.  Then the stalwart
+men threw open the furnace door.  Mrs Marrot exclaimed, almost
+shrieked, with surprise at the intense light which gushed forth, casting
+even the modified daylight of the place into the shade.  The proceedings
+of the stalwart men thereafter were in Mrs Marrot's eyes absolutely
+appalling--almost overpowering,--but Mrs M was tough both in mind and
+body.  She stood her ground.  Several of the men seized something inside
+the furnace with huge pincers, tongs, forceps--whatever you choose to
+call them--and drew partly out an immense rudely shaped bar or _log_ of
+glowing irons thicker than a man's thigh.  At the same time a great
+chain was put underneath it, and a crane of huge proportions thereafter
+sustained the weight of the glowing metal.  By means of this crane it
+was drawn out of the furnace and swung round until its glowing head or
+end came close to the tongue before mentioned.  Then some of the
+stalwart men grasped several iron handles, which were affixed to the
+cool end of the bar, and prepared themselves to act.  A signal was given
+to a man who had not hitherto been noticed, he was so small in
+comparison with the machine on which he stood--perhaps it would be
+better to say to which he stuck, because he was perched on a little
+platform about seven or eight feet from the ground, which was reached by
+an iron ladder, and looked down on the men who manipulated the iron bar
+below.
+
+On receiving the signal, this man moved a small lever.  It cost him no
+effort whatever, nevertheless it raised the iron tongue about six feet
+in the air, revealing the fact that it had been resting on another
+square block of iron embedded in the earth.  This latter was the anvil.
+On the anvil the end of the white-hot bar was immediately laid.  Another
+signal was given, and down came the "five-carts-of-coals weight" with a
+thud that shook the very earth, caused the bar partially to flatten as
+if it had been a bit of putty, and sent a brilliant shower of sparks
+over the whole place.  Mrs Marrot clapped both hands on her face, and
+capped the event with a scream.  As for Bob, he fairly shouted with
+delight.
+
+Blow after blow was given by this engine, and as each blow fell the
+stalwart men heaved on the iron handles and turned the bar this way and
+that way, until it was pounded nearly square.  By this time Mrs Marrot
+had recovered so far as to separate her fingers a little, and venture to
+peep from behind that protecting screen.  By degrees the unwieldy mass
+of misshapen metal was pounded into a cylindrical form, and Will Garvie
+informed his friends that this was the beginning of the driving-axle of
+a locomotive.  Pointing to several of those which had been already
+forged, each having two enormous iron projections on it which were
+afterwards to become the cranks, he said--
+
+"You'll see how these are finished, in another department."
+
+But Mrs Marrot and Bob paid no attention to him.  They were fascinated
+by the doings of the big hammer, and especially by the cool quiet way in
+which the man with the lever caused it to obey his will.  When he moved
+the lever up or down a little, up or down went the hammer a little; when
+he moved it a good deal the hammer moved a good deal; when he was
+gentle, the hammer was gentle; when he gave a violent push, the hammer
+came down with a crash that shook the whole place.  He could cause it to
+plunge like lightning to within a hair's-breadth of the anvil and check
+it instantaneously so that it should not touch.  He could make it pat
+the red metal lovingly, or pound it with the violence of a fiend.
+Indeed, so quick and sympathetic were all the movements of that
+steam-hammer that it seemed as though it were gifted with intelligence,
+and were nervously solicitous to act in prompt obedience to its master's
+will.  There were eleven steam-hammers of various sizes in this
+building, with a staff of 175 men to attend to them, half of which staff
+worked during the day, and half during the night--besides seven smaller
+steam-hammers in the smiths' shops and other departments.
+
+With difficulty Will Garvie tore his friends away from the big hammer;
+but he could not again chain their attention to anything else, until he
+came to the pair of scissors that cut iron.  With this instrument Mrs
+Marrot at first expressed herself disappointed.  It was not like a pair
+of scissors at all, she said, and in this she was correct, for the
+square clumsy-looking blunt-like mass of iron, about five feet high and
+broad, which composed a large portion of it, was indeed very unlike a
+pair of scissors.
+
+"Why, mother," exclaimed Bob, "you didn't surely expect to see two large
+holes in it for a giant's thumb and fingers, did you?"
+
+"Well, but," said Mrs Marrot, "it ain't got no blades that I can see."
+
+"I'll let 'ee see 'em, Missis, in a minute," said a workman who came up
+at that moment with a plate of iron more than a quarter of an inch
+thick.  "Turn it on, Johnny."
+
+A small boy turned on the steam, the machine moved, and Will Garvie
+pointed out to Mrs Marrot the fact that two sharp edges of steel in a
+certain part of it crossed each other exactly in the manner of a pair of
+scissors.
+
+"Well," remarked Mrs M, after contemplating it for some time, "it don't
+look very like scissors, but I'm free to confess that them two bits of
+iron _do_ act much in the same way."
+
+"And with the same result, Missus," observed the machine-man, putting
+the plate between the clippers, which, closing quietly, snipped off
+about a foot of iron as if it had been paper.  There was, however, a
+crunching sound which indicated great power, and drew from Mrs Marrot
+an exclamation of surprise not altogether unmingled with alarm.
+
+The man then seized a bit of iron about as thick as his own wrist--full
+an inch and a half in diameter--which the scissors cut up into lengths
+of eighteen inches or so as easily as if it had been a bar of lead or
+wood.
+
+"Didn't I say it could cut through the poker, mother?" cried Bob with a
+look of triumph.
+
+"The poker, boy! it could cut poker, tongs, shovel, and fender, all at
+once!" replied Mrs Marrot--"well, I never! can it do anything else?"
+
+In reply to this the man took up several pieces of hard steel, which it
+snipped through as easily as it had cut the iron.
+
+But if Mrs Marrot's surprise at the scissors was great, not less great
+was it at the punching machine, which punched little buttons the size of
+a sixpence out of cold iron full half-an-inch thick.  This vicious
+implement not only punched holes all round boiler-plates so as to permit
+of their being riveted together, but it cut patterns out of thick iron
+plates by punching rows of such holes so close to each other that they
+formed one long cutting, straight or crooked, as might be required.  In
+short, the punching machine acted the part of a saw, and cut the iron
+plates in any shape that was desired.  Here also they saw the testing of
+engine springs--those springs which to most people appear to have no
+spring in them whatever--so very powerful are they.  One of these was
+laid on an iron table, with its two ends resting against an iron plate.
+A man approached and measured it exactly.  Then a hydraulic ram was
+applied; and there was something quite impressive in the easy quiet way,
+in which the ram shoved a spring, which the weight of a locomotive can
+scarcely affect, _quite_ _flat_ against the iron plate, and held it
+there a moment or two!  Being released, the spring resumed its proper
+form.  It was then re-measured; found not to have expanded a
+hair's-breadth, and, therefore,--as Will Garvie took care to explain,--
+was passed as a sound well-tempered spring; whereat Bob remarked that it
+would need to be a good-tempered spring, to suffer such treatment
+without grumbling.
+
+It seemed to Mrs Marrot now as if her capacity for surprise had reached
+its limit; but she little knew the wealth of capacity for creating
+surprise that lay in these amazing "works" of the Grand National Trunk
+Railway.
+
+The next place she was ushered into was a vast apartment where iron in
+every shape, size, and form was being planed and turned and cut.  The
+ceiling of the building, or rather the place where a ceiling ought in
+ordinary circumstances to have been, was alive with moving bands and
+whirling wheels.  The first thing she was called on to contemplate was
+the turning of the tyre or rim of one of the driving-wheels of a
+locomotive.  Often had Mrs Marrot heard her husband talk of tyres and
+driving-wheels, and many a time had she seen these wheels whirling,
+half-concealed, in their appropriate places, but never till that day had
+she seen the iron hoop, eight feet in diameter, elevated in bare
+simplicity on a turning-lathe, where its size impressed her so much that
+she declared, "she never _could_ 'ave imagined engine-wheels was so
+big," and asked, "'ow did they ever manage to get 'em lifted up to w'ere
+they was?"
+
+To which an overseer kindly replied by pointing out a neat little crane
+fitted on a tail, which, when required, ran along the apartment like a
+strong obedient little domestic servant, lifting wheels, etcetera, that
+a man could scarcely move, and placing them wherever they were wanted.
+Mrs Marrot was then directed to observe the rim of the wheel, where she
+saw a small chisel cutting iron curls off it just as easily, to all
+appearance, as a turner cuts shavings off wood--and these iron curls
+were not delicate; they were thick, solid, unpliant ringlets, that would
+have formed a suitable decoration for the fair brow of a locomotive, or,
+perhaps, a chignon--supposing that any locomotive could have been
+prevailed on to adopt such a wild monstrosity!
+
+This same species of chisel, applied in different ways, reduced masses
+of iron in size, planed down flat surfaces, enlarged holes, made
+cylinders "true" and smooth inside, besides doing a variety of other
+things.
+
+After seeing the large tyre turned, Mrs Marrot could not be induced to
+pay much regard to the various carriage and truck wheels which were
+being treated in a similar manner in that department, but she was
+induced to open her ears, and her eyes too, when the overseer informed
+her that the "works" turned out complete no fewer than one hundred and
+thirty pairs of locomotive, carriage, and waggon wheels a week.
+
+"How many did you say?" she asked.
+
+"A hundred and thirty pair of wheels in the week," repeated the
+overseer.
+
+"Every week?" asked Mrs Marrot.
+
+"Yes; every week.  Sometimes more, sometimes less; but altogether,
+pretty well on for 6000 pairs of wheels every year."
+
+"W'y, what _do_ you make of 'em all?"
+
+"Oh, we make good use of 'em," replied the overseer, laughing.  "We wear
+them out so fast that it keeps us working at that rate to meet our
+necessities.  But that," he continued, "is only a small part of what we
+do.  We turn out of the works 156 first-class carriages besides many
+seconds and thirds, and about 1560 trucks every year; besides three
+engines, new and complete, every fortnight."
+
+"Three noo engines every fortnight!" echoed Mrs Marrot; "how many's
+that in the year, Bob?"
+
+"Seventy-eight," replied Bob, promptly.  Bob was a swift mental
+calculator, and rather proud of it.
+
+"Where ever do they all go to?" murmured Mrs Marrot.
+
+"Why," replied Will Garvie, "they go to all the stations on the line, of
+course; some of 'em go to smash at once in cases of accidents, and all
+of 'em goes to destruction, more or less, in about fifteen or twenty
+years.  We reckon that to be the life of a locomotive.  See, there's a
+drivin' axle, such as you saw forged by the big hammer, being turned
+now, and cut to shape and size by the same sort of machine that you saw
+cuttin' the tyres."
+
+They passed on, after looking at the axle for a few minutes, until they
+came to a part of the building where rails were being forged.  This
+also, although not done by hammer, was a striking process.  The place
+was so hot owing to the quantity of uncooled metal on the floor, that it
+was not possible to remain long; they therefore took a rapid survey.  In
+one place several men were in the act of conveying to the steam-hammer a
+mass of shapeless white-hot iron, which had just been plucked from a
+furnace with a pair of grippers.  They put it below the hammer for a few
+minutes, which soon reduced it to a clumsy bar; then they carried it to
+a pair of iron rollers driven by steam.  The end of the bar being
+presented to these, it was gripped, dragged in between them, and passed
+out at the other side, flat and very much lengthened, as well as
+thinned.  Having been further reduced by this process, it was finally
+passed through a pair of rollers, which gave it shape, and sent it out a
+complete rail, ready to be laid down on the line.
+
+Here Garvie took occasion to explain that steel rails, although very
+expensive, were now being extensively used in preference to iron rails,
+because they lasted much longer.  "For instance," he said, "steel costs
+about 12 pounds a ton and iron only costs about 7 pounds; but then, d'ye
+see, steel rails will last two years and more, whereas iron rails get
+wore out, and have to be renewed every six weeks in places where there's
+much traffic."
+
+"Now, I can't stand no more o' this," said Mrs Marrot, down whose face
+the perspiration was streaming; "I'm a'most roasted alive, an' don't
+understand your explanations one bit, Willum, so come along."
+
+"Oh, mother, _do_ hold on a moment," pleaded Bob, whose mechanical soul
+was in a species of paradise.
+
+"You'd better come, Bob," interposed Garvie, "else we won't have time to
+see the department where the engines are fitted."
+
+This was sufficient for Bob, who willingly followed.
+
+The fitting shed at that time contained several engines in various
+stages of advancement.  In one place men were engaged in fitting
+together the iron framework or foundation of a locomotive, with screws,
+and bolts, and nuts, and rivets.  Others were employed near them, on an
+engine more advanced, in putting on the wheels and placing the boilers
+and fire-boxes, while another gang were busy covering the boiler of a
+third engine with a coating of wood and felt, literally for the purpose
+of keeping it warm, or preventing its heat from escaping.  Farther on,
+three beautiful new engines, that had just been made and stood ready for
+action, were receiving a few finishing touches from the painters.
+Fresh, spotless, and glittering, these were to make their _debut_ on the
+morrow, and commence their comparatively brief career of furious
+activity--gay things, doomed emphatically to a fast life!  Beyond these
+young creatures lay a number of aged and crippled engines, all more or
+less disabled and sent there for repair; one to have a burst steam-pipe
+removed and replaced, another to have a wheel, or a fire-box or a
+cylinder changed; and one, that looked as if it had recently "run
+a-muck" against all the other engines on the line, stood sulkily grim in
+a corner, evidently awaiting its sentence of condemnation,--the usual
+fate of such engines being to be torn, bored, battered, chiselled,
+clipt, and otherwise cut to pieces, and cast into the furnaces.
+
+While gazing round this apartment, Mrs Marrot's eyes suddenly became
+transfixed.
+
+"Wot's the matter _now_?" demanded Bob, in some alarm.
+
+"I _do_ believe--w'y--there's a locomotive _in the air_!" said Mrs
+Marrot in an undertone.
+
+"So it is!" exclaimed Bob.
+
+And, reader, so it was.  In that shed they had a crane which rested on a
+framework overhead, and ran on wheels over the entire shop.  It was
+capable of lifting above fifty tons' weight and as a large locomotive,
+ponderous though it be, is not much over twenty tons, of course this
+giant crane made short work of such.  When the men have occasion to
+remove a wheel from the iron horse, not being able to make it lift up
+its leg, so to speak, to have it taken off, they bring it under the
+crane, swing it up as a little boy might swing a toy-cart, and operate
+on it at their leisure.
+
+Mrs Marrot felt an unpleasant sensation on beholding this.  As the wife
+of an engine-driver, she had long felt the deepest respect, almost
+amounting to reverence, for locomotives, in regard to the weight, speed,
+and irresistible power of which she had always entertained the most
+exalted ideas.  To see one of the race--and that too, of the largest
+size--treated in this humiliating fashion was too much for her, she
+declared that she had seen enough of the "works," and wouldn't on any
+account remain another minute!
+
+"But you won't go without seein' the carriage and truck department,
+surely?" said Bob.
+
+"Well, I'll just take a look to please _you_," said the amiable woman.
+
+Accordingly, to the truck and van department they went, and there Bob,
+whose mind was sharp as a needle, saw a good many pieces of mechanism,
+which formerly he had only seen in a transition state, now applied to
+their ultimate uses.  The chiselled, sawn, and drilled planks seen in
+the first department, were here being fitted and bolted together in the
+form of trucks, while the uses of many strange pieces of iron, which had
+puzzled him in the blacksmiths' department, became obvious when fitted
+to their appropriate woodwork.  Here, also, he saw the internal
+machinery of railway carriages laid bare, especially the position and
+shape of the springs that give elasticity to the buffers, which, he
+observed, were just the same in shape as ordinary carriage springs,
+placed so that the ends of the buffer-rods pressed against them.
+
+But all this afforded no gratification to Mrs Marrot, whose sensitive
+mind dwelt uneasily on the humiliated locomotive, until she suddenly
+came on a row of new first-class carriages, where a number of people
+were employed stuffing cushions.
+
+"Well, I declare," she exclaimed, "if here ain't cushion-stuffing going
+on!  I expect we shall come to coat-and-shift-making for porters and
+guards, next!"
+
+"No, we haven't got quite that length yet," laughed Will Garvie; "but if
+you look along you'll see gilding, and glazing, and painting going on,
+at that first-class carriage.  Still farther along, in the direction
+we're going, is the infirmary."
+
+"The infirmary, Willum!"
+
+"Ay, the place where old and damaged trucks and carriages are sent for
+repair.  They're all in a bad way, you see,--much in need o' the
+doctor's sar'vices."
+
+This was true.  Looking at some of these unfortunates, with crushed-in
+planks, twisted buffers and general dismemberment, it seemed a wonder
+that they had been able to perform their last journey, or crawl to the
+hospital.  Some of the trucks especially might have been almost said to
+look diseased, they were so dirty, while at the corners, where address
+cards were wont to be affixed, they appeared to have broken out in a
+sort of small-pox irruption of iron tackets.
+
+At last Mrs Marrot left the "works," declaring that her brain was
+"whirling worser than was the wheels and machinery they had just left,"
+while Bob asseverated stoutly that his appetite for the stupendous had
+only been whetted.  In this frame of mind the former went home to nurse
+her husband, and the latter was handed over to his future master, the
+locomotive superintendent of the line.
+
+Reader, it is worth your while to visit such works, to learn what can be
+done by the men whom you are accustomed to see, only while trooping home
+at meal hours, with dirty garments and begrimed hands and faces--to see
+the grandeur as well as the delicacy of their operations, while thus
+labouring amongst din and dust and fire, to provide _you_ with safe and
+luxurious locomotion.  We cannot indeed, introduce you to the particular
+"works" we have described; but if you would see something similar, hie
+thee to the works of our great arterial railways,--to those of the
+London and North-Western, at Crewe; the Great Western, at Swindon; the
+South-eastern, at Ashford; the Great Northern, at Doncaster; the North
+British, at Cowlairs; the Caledonian, at Glasgow, or any of the many
+others that exist throughout the kingdom, for in each and all you will
+see, with more or less modification, exactly the same amazing sights
+that were witnessed by worthy Mrs Marrot and her hopeful son Bob, on
+that never-to-be-forgotten day, when they visited the pre-eminently
+great Clatterby "works" of the Grand National Trunk Railway.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Note.  The foregoing description is founded on visits paid to the
+locomotive works of the Great Western, at Swindon, and those of the
+North British, near Glasgow--to the General Managers and Superintendents
+of both which railways we are indebted for much valuable information.--
+R.M. Ballantyne.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINE.
+
+CONCERNING DOMESTIC ECONOMY AND DIFFICULTIES--SURPRISES AND
+EXPLANATIONS.
+
+How to "make the two ends meet," is a question that has engaged the
+attention and taxed the brains of hundreds and thousands of human beings
+from time immemorial, and which will doubtless afford them free scope
+for exercise to the end of time.
+
+This condition of things would appear to arise from a misconception on
+the part of those who are thus exercised as to the necessities of life.
+They seem to imagine, as a rule, that if their income should happen to
+be, say three hundred pounds a year, it is absolutely impossible by any
+effort of ingenuity for them to live on less than two hundred and
+ninety-nine pounds nineteen shillings and eleven-pence three farthing.
+They therefore attempt to regulate their expenditure accordingly, and
+rather plume themselves than otherwise on the fact that they are firmly
+resolved to save and lay bye the farthing.  They fail in this attempt as
+a matter of course, and hence the difficulty of making the two ends
+meet.  If these unfortunates had been bred to the profession of
+engineering or "contracting," they would have known that it is what we
+may style a law of human nature to under-estimate probable expenses.  So
+thoroughly is this understood by the men of the professions above
+referred to, that, after they have formed an estimate,--set down every
+imaginable expense, and racked their brains in order to make sure that
+they have provided for every conceivable and inconceivable item, they
+coolly add to the amount a pretty large sum as a "margin" to cover
+unexpected and unthought-of contingencies.  But anything of this sort
+never seems to enter into the calculations of the people who are so much
+tormented with those obstinate "two ends" that won't meet.  There is one
+sure and easy mode of escape for them, but they invariably hold that
+mode to be ridiculous, until in dire extremity they are forced to adopt
+it.  This is simply to make one's calculations for living _considerably
+within_ one's income!
+
+We make no apology for going into the minutiae of this remarkable phase
+of human existence, because it is necessary, in order to the correct
+appreciation of the circumstances and feelings of good little Mrs
+Tipps, when, several weeks after the accident described in a previous
+chapter, she sat down in her little parlour to reconsider the subject of
+her annual expenditure.
+
+Netta sat beside her looking somewhat pale, for she had not quite
+recovered from the effects of her recent illness.
+
+"My darling," said Mrs Tipps, "how _can_ you charge me with having made
+an error somewhere?  Have I not got it all down here on black and white,
+as your dear father used to say?  This is the identical paper on which I
+made my calculations last year, and I have gone over them all and found
+them perfectly correct.  Look there."
+
+Mrs Tipps held up in triumph, as if it were an incontestable evidence
+of the rectitude of her calculations, a sheet of note-paper so blotted
+and bespattered with figures, that it would have depressed the heart
+even of an accountant, because, besides the strong probability that it
+was intrinsically wrong, it was altogether illegible.
+
+"Dear mamma," remonstrated Netta, with a twinkle of her eye, "I do not
+call in question the correctness of your calculations, but I suggest
+that there may perhaps be an error of some sort somewhere.  At all
+events the result would seem to indicate--to imply--that--that
+everything was not _quite_ right, you know."
+
+"Quite true, darling," replied Mrs Tipps, who was a candid though
+obtuse soul; "the result is unsatisfactory, eminently so; yet I cannot
+charge myself with careless omissions.  See--here it is; on one side are
+my receipts.  Your dear father always impressed it _so_ earnestly on me
+that I should keep the receipts of money on one side of the accounts,
+and the payments on the other.  I never could remember, by the way, on
+which side to put the receipts, and on which the payments, until he hit
+on the idea of making me contradict myself, and then I should be sure to
+keep right.  He used to say (how well I remember it), `Now, darling,
+this is the way: Whenever you receive a sum of money to enter in your
+cash-book, always say to yourself, What side shall I put it on?  If your
+mind suggests on the right, at once say No--because that would be
+wrong--right being _wrong_ in _this_ case,' and he did use to laugh so
+over that little pleasantry."
+
+Mrs Tipps' gravity deepened as she recalled these interesting lessons
+in book-keeping.
+
+"Yes," she continued, with a sigh, "and then he would go on to say, that
+`if it was wrong to go to the right, of course it must be right to go
+the other way.'  At first I used to be a good deal puzzled, and said,
+`But suppose my mind, when I receive a sum of money, should suggest
+putting it on the _left_, am I to contradict myself _then_?'  `Oh no!'
+he would say, with another laugh, `in that case you will remember that
+your mind is to be _left_ alone to carry out its suggestion.'  I got to
+understand it at last, after several years of training, but I never
+_could_ quite approve of it for it causes so much waste of paper.  Just
+look here!" she said, holding up a little account-book, "here are all
+the right pages quite filled up, while all the left pages are blank.  It
+takes only four lines to enter my receipts, because you know I receive
+my money only once a quarter.  Well, that brings me back to the point.
+Here are all the receipts on one side; my whole income, deducting
+income-tax--which, by the way, I cannot help regarding as a very unjust
+tax--amounts to two hundred and fifty pounds seventeen shillings and
+two-pence.  Then here you have my paper of calculations--everything set
+down--rent, taxes, water rates, food, clothing, coals, gas, candles,
+sundries (sundries, my darling, including such small articles as soap,
+starch, etcetera); nothing omitted, even the cat's food provided for,
+the whole mounting to two hundred and forty-five pounds.  You see I was
+so anxious to keep within my income, that I resolved to leave five
+pounds seventeen shillings and two-pence for contingencies.  But how
+does the case actually stand?"  Here poor Mrs Tipps pointed indignantly
+to her account-book, and to a pile of papers that lay before her, as if
+they were the guilty cause of all her troubles.  "How does it stand?
+The whole two hundred and fifty pounds seventeen shillings spent--only
+the two-pence left--and accounts to tradesmen, amounting to fifty
+pounds, remaining unpaid!"
+
+"And have we _nothing_ left to pay them?" asked Netta, in some anxiety.
+
+"Nothing, my love," replied Mrs Tipps, with a perplexed look, "except,"
+she added, after a moment's thought, "the tuppence!"
+
+The poor lady whimpered as she said this, seeing which Netta burst into
+tears; whereupon her mother sprang up, scattered the accounts right and
+left, and blaming herself for having spoken on these disagreeable
+subjects at all, threw her arms round Netta's neck and hugged her.
+
+"Don't think me foolish, mamma," said Netta, drying her eyes in a
+moment; "really it almost makes me laugh to think that _I_ should ever
+come to cry so easily; but you know illness does weaken one so, that
+sometimes, in spite of myself, I feel inclined to cry.  But don't mind
+me; there, it's past now.  Let us resume our business talk."
+
+"Indeed I will not," protested Mrs Tipps.
+
+"Then I will call nurse, and go into the subject with her," said Netta.
+
+"Don't be foolish, dear."
+
+"Well, then, go on with it, mamma.  Tell me, now, is there nothing that
+we could sell?"
+
+"Nothing.  To be sure there is my gold watch, but that would not fetch
+more than a few pounds; and my wedding-ring, which I would sooner die
+than part with."
+
+Netta glanced, as she spoke, at an unusually superb diamond ring, of
+Eastern manufacture, which adorned her own delicate hand.  It was her
+father's last gift to her a few days before he died.
+
+"What are you thinking of, darling?" inquired Mrs Tipps.
+
+"Of many things," replied Netta slowly.  "It is not easy to tell you
+exactly what--"
+
+Here she was saved the necessity of further explanation by the entrance
+of Joseph Tipps, who, after kissing his mother and sister heartily,
+threw his hat and gloves into a corner, and, rubbing his hands together
+as he sat down, inquired if Edwin Gurwood had been there.
+
+"No, we have neither seen nor heard of him," said Netta.
+
+"Then you shall have him to luncheon in half-an-hour, or so," said
+Joseph, consulting his watch.  "I got leave of absence to-day, and
+intend to spend part of my holiday in introducing him to Captain Lee,
+who has promised to get him a situation in the head office.  You've no
+idea what a fine hearty fellow he is," continued Tipps enthusiastically,
+"so full of humour and good sense.  But what have you been discussing?
+Not accounts, surely!  Why, mother, what's the use of boring your brains
+with such things?  Let me have 'em, I'll go over them for you.  What
+d'you want done?  The additions checked, eh?"
+
+On learning that it was not the accounts so much as the discrepancy
+between the estimate and the actual expenditure that puzzled his mother,
+Tipps seized her book, and, turning over the leaves, said, "Here, let me
+see, I'll soon find it out--ah, well, rent yes; taxes, h'm; wine to Mrs
+Natly, you put that, in your estimate, under the head of food, I
+suppose?"
+
+"N-no, I think not."
+
+"Under physic, then?"
+
+"No, not under that.  I have no head for that."
+
+"What! no head for physic?  If you'd said you had no stomach for it I
+could have understood you; but--well--what _did_ you put it under;
+sundries, eh?"
+
+"I'm afraid, Joseph, that I have not taken note of that in my extract--
+your dear father used to call the thing he did with his cash-book at the
+end of the year an extract--I think I've omitted that."
+
+"Just so," said Tipps, jotting down with a pencil on the back of a
+letter.  "I'll soon account to you for the discrepancy.  Here are six
+bottles of wine to Mrs Natly, the railway porter's wife, at
+three-and-six--one pound one--not provided for in your estimate.  Any
+more physic, I wonder?  H'm, subscription for coals to the poor.
+Half-a-guinea--no head for charities in your estimate, I suppose?"
+
+"Of course," pleaded Mrs Tipps, "in making an estimate, I was thinking
+only of my own expenses, you know--not of charities and such-like
+things; but when poor people come, you know, what _is_ one to do?"
+
+"We'll not discuss that just now, mother.  Hallo! `ten guineas doctor's
+fee!'  Of course you have not that in the estimate, seeing that you did
+not know Netta was going to be ill.  What's this?--`five pounds for
+twenty wax dolls--naked--(to be dressed by ---)'"
+
+"Really, Joseph, the book is too private to be read aloud," said Mrs
+Tipps, snatching it out of her son's hand.  "These dolls were for a
+bazaar in aid of the funds of a blind asylum, and I dressed them all
+myself last winter."
+
+"Well, well, mother," said Tipps, laughing, "I don't want to pry into
+such secrets; but here, you see, we have seventeen pounds odd of the
+discrepancy discovered already, and I've no doubt that the remainder
+could soon be fished up."
+
+"Yes," sighed Mrs Tipps, sadly, "I see it now.  As the poet truly
+says,--`Evil is wrought by want of thought as well as want of heart.'  I
+have been assisting the poor at the expense of my trades-people."
+
+"Mother," exclaimed Tipps, indignantly, "you have been doing nothing of
+the sort.  Don't imagine that I could for a moment insinuate such a
+thing.  You have only made a little mistake in your calculations, and
+all that you have got to do is to _put down a larger sum for
+contingencies_ next time.  What nonsense you talk about your
+trades-people!  Every one of them shall be paid to the last farthing--"
+
+Here Tipps was interrupted by the entrance of Edwin Gurwood, who at once
+began with much interest to inquire into the health of Mrs Tipps, and
+hoped that she had not suffered in any way from her recent accident.
+
+Mrs Tipps replied she was thankful to say that she had not suffered in
+any way, beyond being a little shaken and dreadfully alarmed.
+
+"But railways have suffered," said Tipps, laughing, "for mother is so
+strongly set against them now that she would not enter one for a
+thousand pounds."
+
+"They have suffered in worse ways than that," said Gurwood, "if all that
+I hear be true, for that accident has produced a number of serious
+compensation cases."
+
+Hereupon Gurwood and his friend plunged into an animated conversation
+about railway accidents and their consequences, to the intense interest
+and horror of Mrs Tipps.
+
+Meanwhile Netta left the room, and went to her old nurse's apartment.
+
+"Nurse," she said, hurriedly, "when did you say you proposed paying your
+brother in London a visit--about this time, was it not?"
+
+"Yes, dear," said old Mrs Durby, taking off her tortoise-shell
+spectacles and laying down her work, "I thought of going next week, if
+it is quite convenient."
+
+"It _is_ quite convenient, nurse," continued Netta, in a somewhat
+flurried manner; "it would be still more convenient if you could go
+to-morrow or next day."
+
+"Deary me--what's wrong?" inquired Mrs Durby, in some surprise.
+
+"Listen, I have not time to explain much," said Netta, earnestly,
+sitting down beside her faithful nurse and putting her hand on her
+shoulder.  "We have got into difficulties, nurse--temporary
+difficulties, I hope--but they must be got over somehow.  Now, I want
+you to take this diamond ring to London with you--pawn it for as much as
+you can get, and bring me the money."
+
+"Me pawn it, my dear!  I never pawned a thing in my life, and don't know
+how to go about it."
+
+"But your brother knows how to do it," suggested Netta.  "Now, you won't
+refuse me this favour, dear nurse?  I know it is an unpleasant business,
+but what else can be done?  The ring is my own; besides, I hope to be
+able to redeem it soon.  I know no more about pawning than yourself, but
+I do know that a considerable time must elapse before the ring shall be
+lost to me.  And, you know, our bills _must_ be paid."
+
+Good Mrs Durby did not require much persuasion.  She consented to set
+off as soon as possible, if she should obtain permission from Mrs
+Tipps, who was aware that she had intended to visit her brother about
+that time.  She received the precious ring, which, for security, was put
+into a pill-box; this was introduced into an empty match-box, which
+Netta wrapped in a sheet of note-paper and put Mrs Durby's name on it.
+For further security Mrs Durby enlarged the parcel by thrusting the
+match-box into an old slipper, the heel of which she doubled over the
+toe, and then wrapped the whole in several sheets of brown paper until
+the parcel assumed somewhat the shape and size of her own head.  It was
+also fastened with strong cords, but Mrs Durby's powers of making a
+parcel were so poor that she left several uncouth corners and ragged
+ends of paper sticking out here and there.  She wrote on it in pencil
+the simple name--Durby.
+
+Meanwhile Joseph and his friend, having finished luncheon, prepared to
+set out on their visit to Captain Lee.  As they quitted the house, Tipps
+ran back to the door and called his sister out of the parlour.
+
+"I say, Netta, what about this fifty pounds that mother was talking of?"
+he said.  "Do you mean to say that you are really short of that sum, and
+in debt?"
+
+"We are, but I see a way out of the difficulty.  Don't distress
+yourself, Joe; we shall have everything squared up, as you call it in a
+few days."
+
+"Are you _quite_ sure of that?" asked Tipps, with a doubting look.  "You
+know I have got an uncommonly cheap lodging, and a remarkably economical
+landlady, who manages so splendidly that I feed on a mere trifle a week.
+Seventy-five pounds a year, you know, is more than I know what to do
+with.  I can live on thirty-five or so, and the other forty is--"
+
+"We don't require it Joe," said Netta, laughing.  "There, go away, you
+are giving me cold by keeping me in the passage, and your friend is
+getting impatient."
+
+She pushed him out, nodded, and shut the door.  Tipps hastened after his
+friend, apologised for the delay, and, stepping out smartly, they were
+soon ushered into Captain Lee's drawing-room.  The captain was writing.
+Emma was seated near the window sewing.
+
+"Ha!  Tipps, my fine fellow, glad to see you; why, I was just thinking
+of you," said the captain, extending his hand.
+
+"I have called," began Tipps, bowing to Emma and shaking the captain's
+hand, "to introduce my--my--eh!--ah, my--what's the matter?"
+
+There was some reason for these exclamations, for Captain Lee stood
+gazing in mute amazement at young Gurwood, while the latter returned the
+compliment with his eyebrows raised to the roots of his hair.  The
+similarity of their expressions did not, however, last long, for Edwin
+became gradually confused, while the captain grew red and
+choleric-looking.
+
+"So," said the latter at length, in a very stern voice, "_this_ is your
+friend, Mr Tipps?"
+
+"Sir," exclaimed Edwin, flushing crimson, "you ought not to condemn any
+one unheard."
+
+"_I_ do not condemn you, sir," retorted the captain.
+
+"By word, no, but by look and tone and gesture you do."
+
+"Captain Lee," exclaimed Tipps, who had stood perfectly aghast with
+amazement at this scene, "what _do_ you mean?--surely."
+
+"I mean," said the captain, "that this youth was taken up by one of our
+own detectives as a thief, some weeks ago, and was found travelling in a
+first-class carriage without a ticket."
+
+Young Gurwood, who had by this time recovered his self-possession,
+turned to his friend and said,--"Explain this matter, Tipps, you know
+all about it.  The only point that can puzzle you is, that I did not
+know the name of Captain Lee when I travelled with him, and therefore
+did not connect him with the gentleman to whom you said you meant to
+introduce me."
+
+Tipps drew a long breath.
+
+"Oh," said he, "I see it all now.  Why, Captain Lee, my friend is
+_perfectly_ innocent.  It was quite a mistake, I assure you; and the
+best proof of it is that he is a personal friend of our police
+superintendent, who was on the spot at the time the accident occurred,
+but we were all thrown into such confusion at the time, that I don't
+wonder things were not cleared up."
+
+Tipps hereupon went into a detailed account of the matter as far as he
+knew it, at first to the surprise and then to the amusement of Captain
+Lee.  Fortunately for Gurwood, who would have found it difficult to
+explain the circumstance of his travelling without a ticket, the captain
+was as prompt to acknowledge his erroneous impression as he had been to
+condemn.  Instead of listening to Tipps, he stopped him by suddenly
+grasping Gurwood's hand, and thanking him heartily for the prompt and
+able assistance he had rendered in rescuing his daughter from her
+perilous position on the day of the accident.
+
+Of course Edwin would not admit that "rescue" was the proper term to
+apply to his action, and refused to admit that Miss Lee was in the
+slightest degree indebted to him, at the same time assuring her and her
+father that it had afforded him the highest possible pleasure to have
+been of the slightest service to them.  The end of it was that they all
+became extremely good friends, and the captain in particular became
+quite jocular in reference to mistakes in general and stealing in
+particular, until Tipps, pulling out his watch, declared that
+procrastination was the thief of time, and that as he happened to have
+business to transact with the police superintendent in reference to the
+very accident which had caused them all so much trouble, he must
+unwillingly bid them adieu.
+
+"Stay, Tipps," exclaimed the captain, rising, "I shall accompany you to
+the station, and introduce our friend Gurwood to the scene of his future
+labours, where," continued the captain, turning with a hearty air and
+patronising smile to Edwin, "I hope you will lay the foundation of a
+career which will end in a manager's or secretary's situation, or some
+important post of that sort.  Good-bye, Emma I'll not be back till
+dinner-time."
+
+Emma bowed to the young men, and said good-bye to her father with a
+smile so ineffably captivating, that Edwin resolved then and there to
+lay the foundation of a career which would end in a wife with nut-brown
+hair and large lustrous eyes.
+
+Poor Edwin!  He was not the first man whose wayward spirit had been
+chained, his impulses directed to good ends and aims, and his destiny
+fixed, by the smile of an innocent, loving, pretty girl.  Assuredly,
+also, he was not the last!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TEN.
+
+SHARP PRACTICE.
+
+Standing with his back to the fireplace, his legs slightly apart, his
+hands in his pockets, and his eyes fixed on the ceiling, Mr Sharp,
+Police Superintendent of the Grand National Trunk Railway, communed with
+himself and dived into the future.
+
+Mr Sharp's powers of diving were almost miraculous.  He had an
+unusually keen eye for the past and the present, but in regard to the
+future his powers were all but prophetic.  He possessed a rare capacity
+for following up clues; investigating cases; detecting falsehoods, not
+only of the lip, but of the eye and complexion; and, in a word, was able
+to extract golden information out of the most unpromising circumstances.
+He was also all but ubiquitous.  Now tracking a suspicion to its source
+on his own line in one of the Midland counties; anon comparing notes
+with a brother superintendent at the terminus of the Great Western, or
+Great Northern, or South-Eastern in London.  Sometimes called away to
+give evidence in a county court; at other times taking a look in at his
+own home to kiss his wife or dandle his child before dashing off per
+express to follow up a clue to John O'Groats or the Land's End.  Here,
+and there, and everywhere--calm, self-possessed, and self-contained,
+making notes in trains, writing reports in his office, making
+discoveries and convictions, and sometimes making prisoners with his own
+hands by night and day, with no fixed hours for work, or rest, or meals,
+and no certainty in anything concerning him, save in the uncertainty of
+his movements, Mr Sharp with his myrmidons was the terror of evil
+doers, and, we may truly add, the safeguard of the public.
+
+Little did that ungrateful public know all it owed to the untiring
+watchfulness and activity of Mr Sharp and his men.  If he and his
+compeers were to be dismissed from our lines for a single week, the
+descent of a host of thieves and scoundrels to commit wide-spread
+plunder would teach the public somewhat severely how much they owe to
+the efficient management of this department of railway business, and how
+well, constantly and vigilantly--though unobtrusively--their interests
+are cared for.
+
+But to return.  Mr Sharp, as we have said stood communing with himself
+and diving into the future.  Apparently his thoughts afforded him some
+amusement, for his eyes twinkled slightly, and there was a faintly
+humorous twist about the corners of his mouth.
+
+David Blunt sat at a desk near him, writing diligently.  Against the
+wall over his head hung a row of truncheons.  Besides the desk, a bench,
+two or three wooden chairs, and a chest, there was little furniture in
+the room.
+
+Blunt's busy pen at length ceased to move, and Sharp looked at him.
+
+"Well, Blunt," he said, "I see nothing for it but to make a railway
+porter of you."
+
+"By all means, sir," said Blunt, with a smile, laying down his pen.
+
+"Gorton station," continued Sharp, "has become a very nest of thieves.
+It is not creditable that such a state of things should exist for a week
+on our line.  They have managed things very cleverly as yet.  Five or
+six bales of cloth have disappeared in the course of as many days,
+besides several loaves of sugar and half-a-dozen cheeses.  I am pretty
+sure who the culprits are, but can't manage to bring it home to them,
+so, as I have said, we must convert you into a porter.  You have only
+been once engaged on this part of the line--that was at the accident
+when you were so hard on poor Mr Gurwood, so that none of the Gorton
+people will know you.  I have arranged matters with our passenger
+superintendent.  It seems that Macdonell, the station-master at Gorton,
+has been complaining that he is short-handed and wants another porter.
+That just suits us, so we have resolved to give you that responsible
+situation.  You will get a porter's uniform from--"
+
+At this point Mr Sharp was interrupted by the door opening violently,
+and a detective in plain clothes entering with a stout young man in his
+grasp.
+
+"Who have we here?" asked Mr Sharp.
+
+"Man travelling without a ticket sir," replied the detective, whose calm
+demeanour was in marked contrast to the excitement of his prisoner.
+
+"Ha! come here; what have you to say for yourself?" demanded the
+superintendent of the man.
+
+Hereupon the man began a violent exculpation of himself, which entailed
+nearly half-an-hour of vigorous cross-questioning, and resulted in his
+giving a half-satisfactory account of himself, some trustworthy
+references to people in town, and being set free.
+
+This case having been disposed of, Mr Sharp resumed his conversation
+with Blunt.
+
+"Having been changed, then, into a railway porter, Blunt, you will
+proceed to Gorton to discharge your duties there, and while doing so you
+will make uncommonly good use of your eyes, ears, and opportunities."
+
+Mr Sharp smiled and Blunt chuckled, and at the same time Joseph Tipps
+entered the room.
+
+"Good-evening, Mr Sharp," he said.  "Well, anything more about these
+Gorton robberies?"
+
+"Nothing more yet, Mr Tipps, but we expect something more soon, for a
+new porter is about to be sent to the station."
+
+Tipps, who was a very simple matter-of-fact man in some ways, looked
+puzzled.
+
+"Why, how will the sending of a new porter to the station throw light on
+the matter?"
+
+"You shall know in the course of time, Mr Tipps," replied the
+superintendent.  "We have wonderful ways of finding out things here."
+
+"Indeed you have," said Tipps; "and, by the way, that reminds me that
+they have some wonderful ways of finding out things on the Continent as
+well as here.  I have just heard of a clever thing done by a German
+professor.  It seems that on one of the lines--I forget which--a large
+box full of silver-plate was despatched.  It had a long way to go, and
+before reaching its destination the plate was stolen, and the box filled
+up with sand.  On this being discovered, of course every sort of
+investigation was set on foot, but without success.  At last the thing
+came to the ears of a professor of chemistry--or the police went to him,
+I don't know which--and it occurred to him that he might get a clue to
+the thieves by means of the sand in the box.  You see the great
+difficulty the police had, was to ascertain at which of the innumerable
+stations on the long line, it was likely that the theft had taken place.
+The professor ordered samples of the sand at all the stations on the
+line to be sent to him.  These he analysed and examined with the
+microscope, and found that one of the samples was precisely similar in
+all respects to the sand in the box.  The attention of the police was at
+once concentrated on the station from which that sand had been gathered,
+and in a short time the guilty parties were discovered and the theft
+brought home to them.  Now, wasn't that clever?"
+
+"Very good, very good, indeed," said Mr Sharp, approvingly, "and rather
+peculiar.  I had a somewhat peculiar case myself last week.  You know
+some time ago there was a quantity of cloth stolen on this line, for
+which, by the way, we had to pay full compensation.  Well, I could not
+get any clue to the thieves, but at last I thought of a plan.  I got
+some patterns of the cloth from the party that lost it, and sent one of
+these to every station on the line where it was likely to have been
+stolen.  Just the other day I got a telegram from Croon station stating
+that a man had been seen going about in a new suit exactly the same as
+the pattern.  Off I went immediately, pounced on the man, taxed him with
+the theft, and found the remainder of the cloth in his house."
+
+"Capital," exclaimed Tipps, "that was smartly managed.  And, by the way,
+wasn't there something about a case of stealing muffs and boas lately?"
+
+"Yes, and we got hold of that thief too, the day before yesterday,"
+replied Mr Sharp.  "I felt sure, from the way in which the theft was
+committed, that it must be one of our own men, and so it turned out.  He
+had cut open a bale and taken out several muffs and boas of first-rate
+sable.  One set of 'em he gave to his sweetheart, who was seen wearing
+them in church on Sunday.  I just went to her and said I was going to
+put a question to her, and warned her to speak the truth, as it would be
+worse for all parties concerned if she attempted to deceive me.  I then
+asked her if she had got the muff and boa from Jim Croydon, the porter.
+She blushed scarlet, and admitted it at once, but said, poor thing, that
+she had no idea they had been stolen, and I believe her.  This case
+occurred just after I had watched the milk-truck the other night for
+three hours, and found that the thief who had been helping himself to it
+every morning for some weeks past was the watchman at the station."
+
+"I fear there are a great many bad fellows amongst us," said Tipps,
+shaking his head.
+
+"You are quite mistaken," replied the superintendent.  "There _were_ a
+good many bad fellows, but I flatter myself that there are very few
+_now_ in proportion to the number of men on the line.  We are constantly
+winnowing them out, purifying the ore, as it were, so that we are
+gradually getting rid of all the dross, and leaving nothing but sterling
+metal on the line.  Why, Mr Tipps, you surely don't expect that
+railways are to be exempted from black sheep any more than other large
+companies.  Just look at the army and navy, and see what a lot of
+rascals have to be punished and drummed out of the service every now and
+then.  Same everywhere.  Why, when I consider that we employ over twenty
+thousand men and boys, and that these men and boys are tempted, more
+almost than any other class of people, by goods lying about constantly
+in large quantities in the open air, and in all sorts of lonely and
+out-of-the-way places, my surprise is that our bad men are so few.  No
+doubt we shall always have one or two prowling about, and may
+occasionally alight on a nest of 'em, but we shall manage to keep 'em
+down--to winnow them out faster, perhaps, than they come in.  I am just
+going about some little pieces of business of that sort now," added Mr
+Sharp; putting on his hat.  "Did you wish to speak with me about
+anything in particular, Mr Tipps?"
+
+"Yes; I wished to ask you if that fat woman, Mrs ---, what's her name?"
+
+"You mean Mrs Podge, I suppose?" suggested Sharp; "she who kicked her
+heels so vigorously at Langrye after the accident."
+
+"Ah!  Mrs Podge--yes.  Does she persist in her ridiculous claim for
+damages?"
+
+"She does, having been urged to do so by some meddling friend; for I'm
+quite sure that she would never have thought of doing so herself, seeing
+that she received no damage at all beyond a fright.  I'm going to pay
+her a visit to-day in reference to that very thing."
+
+"That's all right; then I won't detain you longer.  Good-bye, Mr
+Sharp," said Tipps, putting on his hat and quitting the office.
+
+Not long afterwards, Mr Sharp knocked at the door of a small house in
+one of the suburbs of Clatterby, and was ushered into the presence of
+Mrs Podge.  That amiable lady was seated by the fire knitting a
+stocking.
+
+"Good afternoon, Mrs Podge," said Mr Sharp, bowing and speaking in his
+blandest tones.  "I hope I see you quite well?"
+
+Mrs Podge, charmed with the stranger's urbanity, wished him good
+afternoon, admitted that she was quite well, and begged him to be
+seated.
+
+"Thank you, Mrs Podge," said Mr Sharp, complying.  "I have taken the
+liberty of calling in regard to a small matter of business--but pardon
+me," he added, rising and shutting the door, "I inadvertently left the
+door open, which is quite inexcusable in me, considering your delicate
+state of health.  I trust that--"
+
+"My delicate state of health!" exclaimed Mrs Podge, who was as fat as a
+prize pig, and rather piqued herself on her good looks and vigour of
+body.
+
+"Yes," continued Mr Sharp, in a commiserating tone; "I have understood,
+that since the accident on the railway your--"
+
+"Oh, as to that," laughed Mrs Podge, "I'm not much the worse of--but,
+sir," she said, becoming suddenly grave, "you said you had called on
+business?"
+
+"I did.  My business is to ask," said Mr Sharp, with a very earnest
+glance of his penetrating eyes, "on what ground you claim compensation
+from the Grand National Trunk Railway?"
+
+Instantly Mrs Podge's colour changed.  She became languid, and sighed.
+
+"Oh, sir--damages--yes--my nerves!  I did not indeed suffer much damage
+in the way of cuts or bruises, though there _was_ a good piece of skin
+torn off my elbow, which I could show you if it were proper to--but my
+nerves received a _terrible_ shock.  They have not yet recovered.
+Indeed, your abrupt way of putting it has quite--thrown a--"
+
+As Mrs Podge exhibited some symptoms of a hysterical nature at this
+point Mr Sharp assumed a very severe expression of countenance, and
+said--
+
+"Now, Mrs Podge, do you really think it fair or just, to claim damages
+from a company, from whom you have absolutely received _no_ damage?"
+
+"But sir," said Mrs Podge, recovering, "my nerves _did_ receive
+damage."
+
+"I do not doubt it Mrs Podge, but we cannot compensate you for that.
+If you had been laid up, money could have repaid you for lost time, or,
+if your goods had been damaged, it might have compensated for that but
+money cannot restore shocked nerves.  Did you require medical
+attendance?"
+
+"N-no!" said Mrs Podge, reddening.  "A friend did indeed insist on my
+seeing a doctor, to whom, at his suggestion, I gave a fee of five
+shillings, but to say truth I did not require him."
+
+"Ha! was it the same friend who advised you to claim compensation?"
+
+"Ye-es!" replied Mrs Podge, a little confused.
+
+"Well, Mrs Podge, from your own admission I rather think that there
+seems something like a fraudulent attempt to obtain money here.  I do
+not for a moment hint that you are guilty of a fraudulent _intention_,
+but you must know, ma'am, that the law takes no notice of intentions--
+only of facts."
+
+"But _have_ I not a right to expect compensation for the shock to my
+nervous system?" pleaded Mrs Podge, still unwilling to give in.
+
+"Certainly not, ma'am, if the shock did not interfere with your ordinary
+course of life or cause you pecuniary loss.  And does it not seem hard
+on railways, if you can view the subject candidly, to be so severely
+punished for accidents which are in many eases absolutely unavoidable?
+Perfection is not to be attained in a moment.  We are rapidly decreasing
+our risks and increasing our safeguards.  We do our best for the safety
+and accommodation of the public, and as directors and officials travel
+by our trains as frequently as do the public, concern for our own lives
+insures that we work the line in good faith.  Why, ma'am, I was myself
+near the train at the time of the accident at Langrye, and _my_ nerves
+were considerably shaken.  Moreover, there was a director with his
+daughter in the train, both of whom were severely shaken, but they do
+not dream of claiming damages on that account.  If you could have shown,
+Mrs Podge, that you had suffered loss of any kind, we should have
+_offered_ you compensation promptly, but as things stand--"
+
+"Well, well," exclaimed Mrs Podge, testily.  "I suppose I must give it
+up, but I don't see why railway companies should be allowed to shock my
+nerves and then refuse to give me any compensation!"
+
+"But we do not absolutely refuse _all_ compensation," said Mr Sharp,
+drawing out his purse; "if a sovereign will pay the five shilling fee of
+your doctor, and any other little expenses that you may have incurred,
+you are welcome to it."
+
+Mrs Podge extended her hand, Mr Sharp dropped the piece of gold into
+it, and then, wishing her good afternoon, quitted the house.
+
+The superintendent of police meditated, as he walked smartly away from
+Mrs Podge, on the wonderful differences that were to be met with in
+mankind, as to the matter of acquisitiveness, and his mind reverted to a
+visit he had paid some time before, to another of the passengers in the
+train to which the accident occurred.  This was the commercial traveller
+who had one of his legs rather severely injured.  He willingly showed
+his injured limb to our superintendent, when asked to do so, but
+positively declined to accept of any compensation whatever, although it
+was offered, and appeared to think himself handsomely treated when a few
+free passes were sent to him by the manager.
+
+Contrasting Mrs Podge unfavourably with this rare variety of the
+injured human race, Mr Sharp continued his walk until he reached a part
+of the line, not far from the station, where a large number of vans and
+waggons were shunted on to sidings,--some empty, others loaded,--waiting
+to be made up into trains and forwarded to their several destinations.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ELEVEN.
+
+SHARP PRACTICE--CONTINUED.
+
+Mr Sharp had several peculiarities, which, at first sight, might have
+puzzled a stranger.  He was peculiar in his choice of routes by which to
+reach a given spot appearing frequently to prefer devious, difficult,
+and unfrequented paths to straight and easy roads.  In the time of his
+visits to various places, too, he was peculiarly irregular, and seemed
+rather to enjoy taking people by surprise.
+
+On the present occasion his chief peculiarity appeared to be a desire to
+approach the station by a round-about road.  In carrying out his plans
+he went round the corner of a house, from which point of view he
+observed a goods train standing near a goods-shed with an engine
+attached.  In order to reach it he had the choice of two routes.  One of
+these was through a little wicket-gate, near to which a night-watchman
+was stationed--for the shades of evening were by that time descending on
+the scene, the other was through a back yard, round by a narrow lane and
+over a paling, which it required more than an average measure of
+strength and agility to leap.  Mr Sharp chose the latter route.  What
+were palings and narrow lanes and insecure footing in deepening gloom to
+him!  Why, he rejoiced in such conditions!  He didn't like easy work.
+He abhorred a bed of roses--not that he had ever tried one, although it
+is probable that he had often enjoyed a couch of grass, straw, or
+nettles.  Rugged circumstances were his glory.  It was as needful for
+him to encounter such--in his winnowing processes--as it is for the
+harrow to encounter stones in preparing the cultivated field.  Moving
+quietly but swiftly round by the route before mentioned Mr Sharp came
+suddenly on the night-watchman.
+
+"Good-evening, Jim."
+
+"Evenin', sir."
+
+"Keep your eyes open to-night, Jim.  We _must_ find out who it is that
+has taken such a fancy to apples of late."
+
+"I will, sir; I'll keep a sharp look-out."
+
+It was Jim's duty to watch that locality of the line, where large
+quantities of goods of all descriptions were unavoidably left to wait
+for a few hours on sidings.  Such watchmen are numerous on all lines;
+and very necessary, as well as valuable, men most of them are--fellows
+who hold the idea of going to rest at regular hours in quiet contempt;
+men who sleep at any time of the night or day that chances to be most
+convenient, and who think no more of a hand-to-hand scuffle with a big
+thief or a burglar than they do of eating supper.  Nevertheless, like
+every other class of men in this wicked world, there are black sheep
+amongst them too.
+
+"Is that train going up to the station just now, Jim?" asked Mr Sharp,
+pointing to the engine, whose gentle simmering told of latent energy
+ready for immediate use.
+
+"I believe so, sir."
+
+"I'll go up with her.  Good-night."
+
+Mr Sharp crossed the line, and going towards the engine found that the
+driver and fireman were not upon it.  He knew, however, that they could
+not be far off--probably looking after something connected with their
+train--and that they would be back immediately; he climbed up to the
+foot-plate and sat down on the rail.  He there became reflective, and
+recalled, with some degree of amusement as well as satisfaction, some of
+the more recent incidents of his vocation.  He smiled as he remembered
+how, not very far from where he sat, he had on a cloudy evening got into
+a horse-box, and boring a hole in it with a gimlet, applied his eye
+thereto,--his satellite David Blunt doing the same in another end of the
+same horse-box, and how, having thus obtained a clear view of a truck in
+which several casks of wine were placed, he beheld one of the servants
+on the line in company with one of his friends who was _not_ a servant
+on the line, coolly bore a hole in one of the wine casks and insert a
+straw, and, by that means, obtain a prolonged and evidently satisfactory
+draught--which accounted at once for the fact that wine had been leaking
+in that locality for some time past, and that the said servant had been
+seen more than once in a condition that was deemed suspicious.
+
+Mr Sharp also reflected complacently--and he had time to reflect, for
+the driver and fireman were rather long of coming--on another case in
+which the thieves were so wary that for a long time he could make
+nothing of them, although their depredations were confined to a train
+that passed along the line at a certain hour, but at last were caught in
+consequence of his hitting on a plan of having a van specially prepared
+for himself.  He smiled again--almost laughed when he thought of this
+van--how it was regularly locked and labelled on a quiet siding; how a
+plank was loosened in the bottom of it, by which means he got into it,
+and was then shunted out, and attached to the train, so that neither
+guard, nor driver, nor fireman, had any idea of what was inside; how he
+thereafter bored several small gimlet holes in the various sides of the
+van and kept a sharp look-out from station to station as they went
+along; how at last he came to the particular place--not a station, but a
+place where a short pause was made--where the wary thieves were; how he
+saw them--two stout fellows--approach in the gloom of evening and begin
+their wicked work of cutting tarpaulings and abstracting goods; how he
+thereupon lifted his plank and dropped out on the line, and how he
+powerfully astonished them by laying his hands on their collars and
+taking them both in the very act!
+
+At last Mr Sharp's entertaining reflections were interrupted by the
+approach of the driver of the engine, who carried a top-coat over his
+left arm.
+
+As he drew near and observed who stood upon his engine, the man gave an
+involuntary and scarcely perceptible start.
+
+There must have been something peculiarly savage and ungenerous in the
+breast of Mr Sharp, one would have thought, to induce him to suspect a
+man whose character was blameless.  But he did suspect that man on the
+faith of that almost imperceptible touch of discomposure, and his
+suspicion did not dissipate although the man came boldly and
+respectfully forward.
+
+"Ho-ho!" thought Mr Sharp, "there is more chaff here to be winnowed
+than I had bargained for."  His only remark, however, was--
+
+"Good-evening; I suppose you start for the station in a few minutes?"
+
+"Yes, sir," said the man, moving towards the rear of the tender.
+
+"You'd better get up at once, then," said Mr Sharp, descending
+quickly--"what have you got there, my good man?"
+
+"My top-coat sir," said the driver, with a confused look.
+
+"Ah, let us see--eh! what's all this?  A salmon! a brace of grouse! and
+a pair of rabbits!  Well, you seem to have provided a good supper for
+to-night.  There don't appear to be very stringent game-laws where you
+come from!"
+
+The man was so taken aback that he could not reply.  As the fireman came
+out of the neighbouring goods-shed at that moment, Mr Sharp ordered the
+driver to mount to his place, and then waiting beside the engine
+received the fireman with an amiable "Good-night."
+
+This man also had a top-coat over his arm, betrayed the same uneasiness
+on observing Mr Sharp, went though precisely the same examination, and
+was found to have made an identically similar provision for his supper.
+
+Almost immediately after him the guard issued from the shed, also
+burdened with a top-coat!  Mr Sharp muttered something about, "birds of
+a feather," and was about to advance to meet the guard when that
+individual's eyes fell on him.  He turned back at once, not in a hurry,
+but quietly as though he had forgotten something.  The superintendent
+sprang through the open door, but was too late.  The guard had managed
+to drop his booty.  Thereupon Mr Sharp returned to the engine, ordered
+the steam to be turned on, and the driver drove himself and his friends
+to the station and to condign punishment.
+
+Having disposed of this little incidental case, Mr Sharp--after hearing
+and commenting upon several matters related to him by the members of his
+corps, and having ordered David Blunt to await him in the office as he
+had a job for him that night,--returned towards the locality which he
+had so recently quitted.  In doing this he took advantage of another
+goods train, from which he dropped at a certain hole-and-corner spot,
+while it was slowly passing the goods-shed before mentioned.  From this
+spot he took an observation and saw the pipe of Jim, the night-watchman,
+glowing in the dark distance like a star of the first magnitude.
+
+"Ha!" thought Mr Sharp, "smoking!  You'll have to clear your eyes of
+smoke if you hope to catch thieves to-night, my fine fellow; but I shall
+try to render you some able assistance."
+
+So thinking, he moved quietly about among the vans and trucks, stooping
+and climbing as occasion required, and doing it all so noiselessly that,
+had the night permitted him to be visible at all, he might have been
+mistaken for a stout shadow or a ghost.  He went about somewhat like a
+retriever snuffing the air for game.  At last he reached a truck, not
+very far from the place where Jim paced slowly to and fro, watching, no
+doubt, for thieves.  Little did he think how near he was to a thief at
+that moment!
+
+The truck beside which Mr Sharp stood sent forth a delicious odour of
+American apples.  The superintendent of police smelt them.  Worse than
+that--he undid a corner of the thick covering of the track, raised it
+and smelt again--he put in a hand.  Evidently his powers of resistance
+to temptation were small, for both hands went in--he stooped his head,
+and then, slowly but surely, his whole body went in under the cover and
+disappeared.  Infatuated superintendent!  While he lay there gorging
+himself, no doubt with the dainty fruit, _honest_ Jim paced slowly to
+and fro until, a very dark and quiet hour of the night having arrived,
+he deemed it time to act, put out his pipe, and moved with stealthy
+tread towards the apple-truck.  There were no thieves about as far as he
+could see.  He was placed there for the express purpose of catching
+thieves.  Ridiculous waste of time and energy--he would _make_ a thief!
+He would become one; he would detect and catch himself; repay himself
+with apples for his trouble, and enjoy himself consumedly!  Noble idea!
+No sooner thought than carried into effect.  He drew out a large
+clasp-knife, which opened and locked with a click, and cut a tremendous
+slash about two feet long in the cover of the truck--passing, in so
+doing, within an inch of the demoralised superintendent's nose.
+Thieves, you see, are not particular, unless, indeed, we may regard them
+as particularly indifferent to the injuries they inflict on their
+fellow-men--but, what did we say? their fellow-men?--a railway is not a
+fellow-man.  Surely Jim's sin in robbing a railway must be regarded as a
+venial one.  _Honest_ men do that every day and appear to think nothing
+of it!  Nobody appears to think anything of it.  A railway would seem to
+be the one great unpardonable outlaw of the land, which does good to
+nobody, and is deemed fair game by everybody who can catch it--napping.
+But it is not easily caught napping.  Neither was Mr Superintendent
+Sharp.
+
+Jim's hand came through the hole in the covering and entered some sort
+of receptacle, which must have been broken open by somebody, for the
+hand was quickly withdrawn with three apples in it.  Again it entered.
+Mr Sharp might have kissed it easily, but he was a man of considerable
+self-restraint--at least when others were concerned.  He thought it
+advisable that there should be some of the stolen goods found in Jim's
+pockets!  He did not touch the hand, therefore, while it was drawn back
+with other three apples in it.  You see it was a large hand, and could
+hold three at a time.  A third time it entered and grasped more of the
+forbidden fruit.
+
+"There's luck in odd numbers," thought Mr Sharp, as he seized the wrist
+with both of his iron hands, and held it fast.
+
+The appalling yell which Jim uttered was due more to superstitious dread
+than physical fear, for, on discovering that the voice which accompanied
+the grip was that of Mr Sharp, he struggled powerfully to get free.
+After the first violent effort was over, Mr Sharp suddenly slid one
+hand along Jim's arm, caught him by the collar, and, launching himself
+through the hole which had been cut so conveniently large, plunged into
+Jim's bosom and crushed him to the earth.
+
+This was quite sufficient for Jim, who got up meekly when permitted, and
+pleaded for mercy.  Mr Sharp told him that mercy was a commodity in
+which he did not deal, that it was the special perquisite of judges,
+from whom he might steal it if they would not give or sell it to him,
+and, bidding him come along quietly, led him to the station, and locked
+him up for the night.
+
+Not satisfied with what he had already accomplished, Mr Sharp then
+returned to his office, where he found the faithful Blunt awaiting him,
+to whom he related briefly what he had done.
+
+"Now," said he, in conclusion, "if we can only manage to clear up that
+case of the beer-cask, we shall have done a good stroke of business
+to-day.  Have you found out anything in regard to it?"
+
+The case to which Mr Sharp referred was that of a cask of beer which
+had been stolen from the line at a station not three miles distant from
+Clatterby.
+
+"Yes, sir," said David Blunt with a satisfied smile, "I have found out
+enough to lead to the detection of the thief."
+
+"Indeed, who d'ye think it is?"
+
+"One of the men at the station, sir.  There have been two about it but
+the other is a stranger.  You see, sir," continued Blunt, with an
+earnest look, and in a business tone of voice, "when you sent me down to
+investigate the case I went d'rect to the station-master there and heard
+all he had to say about it--which wasn't much;--then off I goes to where
+the truck was standin', from which the cask had bin taken and pottered
+about there for some time.  At last I tried on the Red Indian dodge--
+followed up tracks and signs, till at last I came upon a mark as if
+somethin' had bin rolled along the bank, and soon traced it to a gap
+broken through a hedge into a field.  I followed it up in the field, and
+in a short time came on the cask itself.  Of course I made a careful
+examination of the locality, and found very distinct foot-prints,
+particularly one of 'em on a piece of clay as sharp as if it had been
+struck in wax.  While thus engaged I found a shoe--"
+
+"Ha!" exclaimed Mr Sharp.
+
+"And here it is," said Blunt taking the shoe from under his chair and
+laying it on the table.
+
+The superintendent took it up, examined it and then replaced it on the
+table with a nod, saying, "Proceed."
+
+"Well, sir, of course I looked well for the other shoe, but didn't find
+it; so I came away with what I had got, takin' care to place a lump of a
+stone over the foot-print in the clay, so as to guard but not touch
+it,--for it wasn't the print of _this_ shoe, sir, though somewhat like
+it."
+
+"Ha!" exclaimed Mr Sharp again.
+
+After revolving the matter in his mind for some minutes, and consulting
+with his satellite, Mr Sharp resolved to go down at once to the place
+and watch the beer-cask.
+
+"It is not very late yet," he said, "and these thirsty boys will be sure
+to want a drop of beer to their supper to-night.  What makes you so sure
+that Bill Jones is the thief?"
+
+"Because," answered Blunt, "I observed that he was the only man at the
+station that had on a pair of new shoes!"
+
+"Well, come along," said Sharp, smiling grimly, "we shall find out
+before long."
+
+They soon reached the scene of the robbery, and were able to examine the
+place by the light of the moon, which had just managed to pierce the
+thick veil of clouds that had covered it during the earlier part of that
+night.  Then they retired to a shady cavern, or hole, or hollow at the
+foot of the embankment, near to the gap in the hedge, and there they
+prepared to pass the night, with a heap of mingled clods and stones for
+their couch, and an overhanging bank of nettles for their canopy.
+
+It was a long weary watch that began.  There these patient men sat, hour
+after hour, gazing at the moon and stars till they almost fell asleep,
+and then entering into animated, though softly uttered, conversation
+until they roused themselves up.  It was strange converse too, about
+struggles and fights with criminals and the detection of crime.  But it
+was not _all_ on such subjects.  No, they forsook the professional path
+occasionally and strayed, as pleasantly as other men do, into the
+flowery lanes of social life--talking of friends, and wives, and
+children, and home, with as much pathos and tenderness as if their
+errand that night had been to succour some comrade in distress, instead
+of to watch like wolves, and pounce on unawares, and half throttle if
+need be, and bear off to punishment, an erring fellow-mortal.
+
+But no fellow-mortal came that night to be thus pounced on, throttled,
+and borne off.  When it became obvious that there was no use in
+remaining longer, Mr Sharp and his satellite returned to the office,
+and the former bade the latter go home for the night.
+
+The satellite, thus set free, went home and set immediately--in his bed.
+The luminary himself postponed his setting for a time, put the thief's
+shoe in his pocket and went straight to the residence of Bill Jones,
+which he reached shortly after the grey dawn had appeared.  Here he
+found Bill in bed; but being peremptory in his demand for admission,
+Bill arose and let him in.
+
+"You look rather pale this morning, Bill?"
+
+"Bin at work late, sir," said Bill uneasily, observing that the
+superintendent was casting an earnest glance all round his room.
+
+Jones was a bachelor, so there wasn't much of any kind to look at in the
+room.
+
+"You've been treating yourself to a new pair of shoes, I see, Jones,
+what have you done with the old ones?"
+
+"I--they're worn-out, sir--I--"
+
+"Yes, I see--ah! here is _one_ of them," said Mr Sharp, drawing an old
+shoe out of a corner; "you don't require to look for the other, I've got
+it here," he added, drawing its fellow from his pocket.
+
+Jones stood aghast.
+
+"Look here, Jones," said Mr Sharp, gazing sternly into the culprit's
+face, "you needn't trouble yourself to deny the theft.  I haven't yet
+looked at the sole of _this_ shoe, but I'll engage to tell how many
+tackets are in it.  We have discovered a little lump of clay down near
+the station, with a perfect impression of a sole having fifteen tackets
+therein,--three being wanting on the right, side, two on the left, and
+one at the toe--now, let us see," he said, turning it up, "am I not a
+good prophet eh?"
+
+Bill gave in at once!  He not only made "a clean breast of it," but also
+gave information that led to the capture of his accomplice before that
+day's sun went down, and before Mr Sharp allowed himself to go to bed.
+
+Thus did our superintendent winnow the chaff from the wheat continually.
+
+Now, dear reader, do not say, "From all this it would appear that
+railway servants must be a bad lot of men!"  It would be a thousand
+pities to fail into such an error, when we are labouring to prove to you
+the very reverse, namely, that the bad ones being continually and well
+"looked after," none but the good are left.  Our aim necessarily
+involves that we should dilate much on evil, so that the evil
+unavoidably bulks large in your eyes; but if we were capable of laying
+before you all the good that is done, felt and said by the thousands of
+our true-hearted men-of-the-line, the evil that is mingled with them
+would shrink into comparative insignificance.
+
+The truth is, that in writing these details we desire to reassure
+ourself, as well as to comfort you, O timid railway traveller, by
+asserting and illustrating the unquestionable fact, that if our dangers
+on the line are numerous and great, our safeguards at all points are far
+more numerous and much greater.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWELVE.
+
+LOO'S GARDEN.
+
+The plans of nurses, not less than those of mice and men, are apt to get
+into disorder.  Mrs Durby having packed up the diamond ring in the
+careful manner which we have described in a previous chapter, essayed to
+get ready for her important journey to London on pawning purposes
+intent, but she found that there were so many little preparations to
+make, both in regard to her own toilette and to the arrangements of Mrs
+Tipps' establishment, in prospect of its being left without its first
+mate for a time, that a considerable period elapsed before she got her
+anchor tripped and herself ready to set sail with the first fair wind.
+Worthy Mrs Durby, we may observe, was fond of quoting the late
+captain's phraseology.  She was an affectionate creature, and liked to
+recall his memory in this somewhat peculiar fashion.
+
+In anticipation of this journey, Netta went one evening, in company with
+Emma Lee, to pay Mrs John Marrot a friendly visit, ostensibly for the
+purpose of inquiring after the health of baby Marrot, who, having
+recently fallen down-stairs, swallowed a brass button and eaten an
+unknown quantity of shoe-blacking, had been somewhat ailing.  The real
+object of the visit however, was to ask Mrs Marrot to beg of her
+husband to take a special interest in Mrs Durby on her journey, as that
+excellent nurse had made up her mind to go by the train which he drove,
+feeling assured that if safety by rail was attainable at all, it must be
+by having a friend at court--a good and true man at the helm, so to
+speak.
+
+"But la, Miss!" said Mrs Marrot, sitting on the bed and patting the
+baby, whose ruling passion, mischief, could not be disguised even in
+distress, seeing that it gleamed from his glassy eyes and issued in
+intermittent yells from his fevered throat, "if your nurse is of a
+narvish temperment she'd better not go with my John, 'cause _he_ usually
+drives the Flyin' Dutchman."
+
+"Indeed!" said Netta, with a puzzled smile; "and pray, what is the
+Flyin' Dutchman?"
+
+A yell and a glare from baby interrupted the reply.  At the same instant
+the 7:45 p.m. express flew past with a roar, which was intensified by
+the whistle into a shriek as it neared the station.  The house trembled
+as usual.  Netta, not unnaturally, shuddered.
+
+"Don't be alarmed, Miss, it's only the express."
+
+"Do expresses often pass your cottage in that way?" asked Netta, with a
+touch of pity.
+
+"Bless you, yes, Miss; they're always passin' day and night continooly;
+but we don't think nothink of it.  We've got used to it now."
+
+"Does it not disturb you at night?" asked Emma Lee in some surprise.
+
+"No, Miss, it don't--not in the least.  No doubt it sometimes _do_
+influence our dreams, if I may say so.  As my son Bob says--he's a
+humorous boy is my Bob, Miss--he says, says he, the trains can't awaken
+_us_, but they _do_ awaken noo trains of ideas, especially w'en they
+stops right opposite the winder an' blows off steam, or whistles like
+mad for five minutes at a time.  I sometimes think that Bob is right,
+an' that's w'y baby have took to yellin' an' mischief with such a 'igh
+'and.  They do say that a man is knowd by the company he keeps, and I'm
+sure it's no wonder that baby should screech an' smash as he do,
+considerin' the example set 'im day an' night by them ingines."
+
+Here another yell from baby gave, as it were, assent to these opinions.
+
+"But, as I was sayin'," continued Mrs Marrot, "the Flyin' Dutchman is
+the name that my 'usband's train goes by, 'cause it is the fastest train
+in the kingdom--so they say.  It goes at the rate of over sixty miles an
+hour, an' ain't just quite the train for people as is narvish--though my
+'usband do say it ain't more dangerous than other trains--not s'much so,
+indeed, wich I believe myself, for there ain't nothink 'appened to my
+John all the eight years he have drove it."
+
+"Is sixty miles an hour _very_ much faster than the rate of ordinary
+trains?" asked Emma.
+
+"W'y, yes, Miss.  Or'nary trains they run between twenty and forty miles
+an hour, though sometimes in goin' down inclines they git up to fifty;
+but my 'usband _averages_ sixty miles an hour, an' on some parts o' the
+line 'e gits up the speed to sixty-five an' siventy.  For my own part
+I'm quite hignorant of these things.  To my mind all the ingines seem to
+go bangin' an' rushin' an' yellin' about pretty much in the same furious
+way; but I've often 'eard my 'usband explain it all, an' _he_ knows all
+about it Miss, just as if it wor A, B, C."
+
+Having discussed such matters a little longer, and entered with genuine
+sympathy into the physical and mental condition of baby, Netta finally
+arranged that her old nurse should go by the Flying Dutchman, seeing
+that she would be unable to distinguish the difference of speed between
+one train and another, while her mind would be at rest, if she knew
+herself to be under the care of a man, in whom she could trust.
+
+"Well, Miss, I dessay it won't much matter," said Mrs Marrot,
+endeavouring to soothe the baby, in whom the button or the blacking
+appeared to be creating dire havoc; "but of course my 'usband can't
+attend to 'er 'isself, not bein' allowed to attend to nothink but 'is
+ingine.  But he'll put 'er in charge of the guard, who is a very
+'andsome man, and uncommon polite to ladies.  Stay, I'll speak to Willum
+Garvie about it now," said Mrs Marrot, rising; "he's in the garding
+be'ind."
+
+"Pray don't call him in," said Netta, rising quickly; "we will go down
+to him.  I should like much to see your garden."
+
+"You'll find my Loo there, too," said Mrs Marrot with a motherly smile,
+as she opened the door to let her visitors out.  "You'll excuse me not
+goin' hout.  I dursn't leave that baby for a minute.  He'd be over the--
+there he--"
+
+The sentence was cut short by a yell, followed by a heavy bump, and the
+door shut with a bang, which sent Emma and her friend round the corner
+of the house in a highly amused frame of mind.
+
+John Marrot's garden was a small one--so small that the break-van of his
+own "Flyin' Dutchman" could have contained it easily--but it was not too
+small to present a luxuriance, fertility, and brilliance of colour that
+was absolutely magnificent!  Surrounded as that garden was by "ballast"
+from the embankment, broken wheels and rail, bricks and stones, and
+other miscellaneous refuse and _debris_ of the line, it could only be
+compared to an oasis in the desert, or a bright gem on a rugged
+warrior's breast.  This garden owed its origin to Lucy Marrot's love for
+flowers, and it owed much of its magnificence to Will Garvie's love for
+Lucy; for that amiable fireman spent much of his small wage in
+purchasing seed and other things for the improvement of that garden, and
+spent the very few hours of his life, not claimed by the inexorable iron
+horse, in assisting to cultivate the same.
+
+We use the word `assisting' advisedly, because Loo would not hear of his
+taking this sort of work out of her hands.  She was far too fond of it
+to permit that, but she had no objection whatever to his assistance.
+There never was, so Will and Loo thought, anything like the love which
+these two bore to each other.  Extremes meet, undoubtedly.  Their love
+was so intensely matter of fact and earnest that it rose high above the
+region of romance, in which lower region so many of our race do delight
+to coo and sigh.  There was no nonsense about it.  Will Garvie, who was
+naturally bold--no wonder, considering his meteor-like style of life--
+saw all the flowers in the garden as well as any other man, and admired
+them more than most men, but he said gravely that he wouldn't give the
+end of a cracked boiler-tube for the whole garden, if she were not in
+the midst of it.  At which Loo laughed heartily, and blushed with
+pleasure, and made no other reply.
+
+It was quite delightful to observe the earnestness with which these two
+devoted themselves to the training of honeysuckle and jessamine over a
+trellis-work porch in that preposterously small garden, in which there
+was such a wealth of sweet peas, and roses, and marigolds, and
+mignonette, and scarlet geraniums, and delicately-coloured heliotropes,
+that it seemed as though they were making love in the midst of a glowing
+furnace.  Gertie was there too, like a small female Cupid nestling among
+the flowers.
+
+"A miniature paradise," whispered Emma, with twinkling eyes, as they
+approached the unconscious pair.
+
+"Yes, with Adam and Eve training the flowers," responded Netta quite
+earnestly.
+
+Adam making love in the fustian costume of the fireman of the "Flying
+Dutchman" was an idea which must have struck Emma in some fashion, for
+she found it difficult to command her features when introduced to the
+inhabitants of that little Eden by her friend.
+
+"I have called to tell Mrs Marrot," said Netta, "that my old nurse,
+Mrs Durby, is going to London soon, and that I wished your father to
+take a sort of charge of her, more for the sake of making her feel at
+ease than anything else."
+
+"I'm quite sure he will be delighted to do that," said Loo; "won't he,
+Will?"
+
+"Why, yes," replied the fireman, "your father is not the man to see a
+woman in distress and stand by.  He'll give her in charge of the guard,
+for you see, ma'am, he's not allowed to leave his engine."  Will
+addressed the latter part of his remarks to Netta.
+
+"That is just what Mrs Marrot said, and that will do equally well.
+Would _you_ like to travel on the railway, Gertie?" said Netta,
+observing that the child was gazing up in her face with large earnest
+eyes.
+
+"No," answered Gertie, with decision.
+
+"No; why not?"
+
+"Because it takes father too often away, and once it nearly killed him,"
+said Gertie.
+
+"Ah, that was the time that my own dear mother received such a shock, I
+suppose?"
+
+"No, ma'am," said Will Garvie, "Gertie is thinkin' of another time, when
+Jack Marrot was drivin' an excursion train--not three years gone by, and
+he ran into a lot of empty trucks that had broke loose from a train in
+advance.  They turned the engine off the rails, and it ran down an
+embankment into a ploughed field, where it turned right over on the top
+of Jack.  Fortunately he fell between the funnel and the steam-dome,
+which was the means of savin' his life; but he got a bad shake, and was
+off duty some six or eight weeks.  The fireman escaped without a
+scratch, and, as the coupling of the leading carriage broke, the train
+didn't leave the metals, and no serious damage was done to any one else.
+I think our Gertie," continued Will, laying his big strong hand gently
+on the child's head, "seems to have taken an ill-will to railways since
+then."
+
+"I'm not surprised to hear it," observed Emma Lee, as she bent down and
+kissed Gertie's forehead.  "I have once been in a railway accident
+myself, and I share your dislike; but I fear that we couldn't get on
+well without them now, so you and I must be content to tolerate them,
+Gertie."
+
+"I s'pose so," was Gertie's quiet response, delivered, much to the
+amusement of her audience, with the gravity and the air of a grown
+woman.
+
+"Well, good-evening, Gertie, good-evening," said Netta, turning to
+Garvie; "then I may tell my nurse that the engine-driver of the express
+will take care of her."
+
+"Yes, ma'am, you may; for the matter o' that, the fireman of the express
+will keep an eye on her too," said the gallant William, touching his cap
+as the two friends left that bright oasis in the desert and returned to
+Eden Villa.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
+
+TREATS OF RAILWAY LITERATURE, SLEEPY PORTERS, CROWDED PLATFORMS, FOOLISH
+PASSENGERS, DARK PLOTTERS, LIVELY SHAWLS, AND OTHER MATTERS.
+
+John Marrot was remarkably fond of his iron horse.  No dragoon or hussar
+that we ever read of paid half so much attention to his charger.  He not
+only rubbed it down, and fed and watered it at stated intervals, but,
+when not otherwise engaged, or when awaiting the signal to start a
+train, he was sure to be found with a piece of waste rubbing off a speck
+of dust here or a drop of superfluous oil there, or giving an extra
+polish to the bright brasses, or a finishing touch to a handle or lever
+in quite a tender way.  It was evidently a labour of love!
+
+On the day which Mrs Durby had fixed for her journey to London, John
+and his fireman went to the shed as usual one hour before the time of
+starting, being required to do so by the "Rules and Regulations" of the
+company, for the purpose of overhauling the iron horse.
+
+And, by the way, a wonderful and suggestive volume was this book of
+"Rules and Regulations for the guidance of the officers and servants of
+the Grand National Trunk Railway."  It was a printed volume of above two
+hundred pages, containing minute directions in regard to every
+department and every detail of the service.  It was "printed for private
+circulation;" but we venture to say that, if the public saw it, their
+respect for railway servants and railway difficulties and management
+would be greatly increased, the more so that one of the first "rules"
+enjoined was, that _each_ servant should be held responsible for having
+a knowledge of all the rules--those relating to other departments as
+well as to his own.  And it may not be out of place, certainly it will
+not be uninteresting, to mention here that one of the rules, rendered
+prominent by large black capitals, enjoined that "THE PUBLIC SAFETY MUST
+BE THE FIRST AND CHIEF CARE of every officer and servant of the
+company."  We have reason to believe that all the railways in the
+kingdom give this rule equal prominence in spirit--probably also in
+type.  In this little volume it was likewise interesting to note, that
+civility to the public was strictly enjoined; and sure we are that every
+railway traveller will agree with us in the opinion that railway agents,
+guards, and porters, all, in short with whom the public come in contact,
+obey this rule heartily, in the spirit and in the letter.
+
+The particular rules in the book which affected our engine-driver were
+uncommonly stringent, and very properly so, seeing that the lives of so
+many persons depended on the constancy of his coolness, courage, and
+vigilance.  John Marrot, like all the engine-drivers on the line, was a
+picked man.  In virtue of his superior character and abilities he
+received wages to the extent of 2 pounds, 10 shillings per week.  Among
+other things, he was enjoined by his "rules and regulations," very
+strictly, to give a loud whistle before starting, to start his train
+slowly and without a jerk, and to take his orders to start only from the
+guard; also, to approach stations or stopping places cautiously, and
+with the train well under control, and to be guided in the matter of
+shutting off steam, by such considerations as the number of vehicles in
+the train, and the state of the weather and rails, so as to avoid
+violent application of the brakes.  Moreover, he was bound to do his
+best to keep to his exact time, and to account for any loss thereof by
+entering the cause of delay on his report-ticket.  He was also earnestly
+enjoined to use every effort which might conduce to the safety of the
+public, and was authorised to refuse to proceed with any carriage or
+waggon which, from hot axles or otherwise, was in his opinion unfit to
+run.  These are but a few specimens culled from a multitude of rules
+bearing on the minutest details of his duty as to driving, shunting,
+signalling, junction and level crossing, etcetera, with all of which he
+had to become not merely acquainted, but so intimately familiar that his
+mind could grasp them collectively, relatively, or individually at any
+moment, so as to act instantaneously, yet coolly, while going like a
+giant bomb-shell through the air--with human lives in the balance to add
+weight to his responsibilities.
+
+If any man in the world needed a cool clear head and a quick steady
+hand, with ample nightly as well as Sabbath rest, that man was John
+Marrot, the engine-driver.  When we think of the constant pressure of
+responsibility that lay on him, and the numbers in the kingdom of the
+class to which he belonged, it seems to us almost a standing miracle
+that railways are so safe and accidents so very rare.
+
+While our engine-driver was harnessing his iron steed, another of the
+railway servants, having eaten his dinner, felt himself rather sleepy,
+and resolved to have a short nap.  It was our friend Sam Natly, the
+porter, who came to this unwise as well as unfair resolution.  Yet
+although we are bound to condemn Sam, we are entitled to palliate his
+offence and constrained to pity him, for his period of duty during the
+past week had been fifteen hours a day.
+
+"Shameful!" exclaims some philanthropist.
+
+True, but who is to take home the shame?  Not the officers of the
+company, who cannot do more than their best with the materials laid to
+their hands; not the directors, who cannot create profits beyond the
+capacity of their line--although justice requires us to admit that they
+might reduce expenses, by squabbling less with other companies, and
+ceasing unfair, because ruinous as well as ungenerous, competition.
+Clearly the bulk of the shame lies with the shareholders, who encourage
+opposition for the sake of increasing their own dividends at the expense
+of their neighbours, and who insist on economy in directions which
+render the line inefficient--to the endangering of their own lives as
+well as those of the public.  Economy in the matter of railway
+servants--in other words, their reduction in numbers--necessitates
+increase of working hours, which, beyond a certain point, implies
+inefficiency and danger.  But the general public are not free from a
+modicum of this shame, and have to thank themselves if they are maimed
+and killed, because they descend on railways for compensation with a
+ruthless hand; (shame to Government here, for allowing it!) and still
+further, impoverish their already over-taxed coffers.  Compensation for
+injury is just, but compensation as it is, and has been claimed and
+awarded, is ridiculously unfair, as well as outrageously unwise.
+
+Fortunately Sam Natly's wicked resolve to indulge in undutiful slumber
+did not result in evil on this occasion, although it did result in
+something rather surprising.  It might have been far otherwise had Sam
+been a pointsman!
+
+In order to enjoy fully the half-hour which he meant to snatch from
+duty, Sam entered a first-class carriage which stood on a siding, and,
+creeping under a seat, laid himself out at full length, pillowing his
+head on his arm.  Tired men don't require feather-beds.  He was sound
+asleep in two minutes.  It so happened that, three-quarters of an hour
+afterwards, an extra first-class carriage was wanted to add to the train
+which John Marrot was to "horse" on its arrival at Clatterby.  The
+carriage in which Sam lay was selected for the purpose, drawn out, and
+attached to the train.  Tired men are not easily awakened.  Sam knew
+nothing of this change in his sleeping apartment.
+
+Meanwhile Clatterby station became alive with travellers.  The train
+drew up to the platform.  Some passengers got out; others got in.  The
+engine which brought it there, being in need of rest, coal, and water,
+moved off to the shed.  John Marrot with his lieutenant, Garvie, moved
+to the front on his iron horse, looking as calm and sedate in his
+conscious power as his horse looked heavy and unyielding in its
+stolidity.  Never did two creatures more thoroughly belie themselves by
+their looks.  The latent power of the iron horse could have shot it
+forth like an arrow from a bow, or have blown the whole station to
+atoms.  The smouldering fires in John's manly breast could have raised
+him from a begrimed, somewhat sluggish, driver to a brilliant hero.
+
+Some of the characters who have already been introduced at Clatterby
+station were there on this occasion also.  Mr Sharp was there, looking
+meditative as usual, and sauntering as though he had nothing particular
+to do.  Our tall superlative fop with the sleepy eyes and long whiskers
+was also there with his friend of the checked trousers.  Mr Sharp felt
+a strong desire to pommel these fops, because he had found them very
+difficult to deal with in regard to compensation, the fop with the
+checked trousers having claimed, and finally obtained, an unreasonably
+large sum for the trifling injury done to his eye on the occasion of the
+accident at Langrye station.  Mr Sharp could not however, gratify his
+desire.  On the contrary, when the checked trousers remarked in passing
+that it was "vewy disagweeable weather," he felt constrained to admit,
+civilly enough, that it was.
+
+The two fops had a friend with them who was not a fop, but a plain,
+practical-looking man, with a forbidding countenance, and a large, tall,
+powerful frame.  These three retired a little apart from the bustle of
+the station, and whispered together in earnest tones.  Their names were
+the reverse of romantic, for the fop with the checked trousers was
+addressed as Smith, he with the long whiskers as Jenkins, and the large
+man as Thomson.
+
+"Are you sure he is to go by this train?" asked Thomson, somewhat
+gruffly.
+
+"Quite sure.  There can be no mistake about it," replied Jenkins, from
+whose speech, strange to say, the lisp and drawl had suddenly
+disappeared.
+
+"And how are you sure of knowing him, if, as you say, you have never
+seen him?" asked Thomson.
+
+"By the bag, of course," answered Smith, whose drawl had also
+disappeared unaccountably; "we have got a minute description of the
+money-bag which he has had made peculiarly commonplace and shabby on
+purpose.  It is black leather but very strong, with an unusually thick
+flat handle."
+
+"He's very late," observed Thomson, moving uneasily, and glancing at the
+clock as the moment of departure drew near.
+
+Mr Sharp observed the consulting party, and sauntered idly towards
+them, but they were about as sharp as himself, in practice if not in
+name.  The lisps and drawls returned as if by magic, and the turf became
+the subject of interest about which they were consulting.
+
+Just then a shriek was heard to issue from a female throat, and a stout
+elderly woman was observed in the act of dashing wildly across the line
+in the midst of moving engines, trucks and vans.  Even in these unwonted
+circumstances no one who knew her could have mistaken Mrs Durby's
+ponderous person for a moment.  She had come upon the station at the
+wrong side, and, in defiance of all printed regulations to the
+contrary--none of which she could read, being short-sighted--she had
+made a bold venture to gain her desired position by the most direct
+route.  This involved crossing a part of the line where there were
+several sidings and branch lines, on which a good deal of pushing of
+trucks and carriages to and fro--that is "shunting"--was going on.
+
+Like a reckless warrior, who by a bold and sudden push sometimes gains
+single-handed the centre of an enemy's position before he is discovered
+and assailed on every side, straight forward Mrs Durby ran into the
+very midst of a brisk traffic, before any one discovered her.  Suddenly
+a passenger-train came up with the usual caution in such circumstances,
+nevertheless at a smart rattling pace, for "usual caution" does not take
+into account or provide for the apparition of stout elderly females on
+the line.  The driver of the passenger engine saw her, shut off steam,
+shouted, applied the brakes and whistled furiously.
+
+We have already hinted that the weather was not fine.  Mrs Durby's
+umbrella being up, hid the approaching train.  As for screaming
+steam-whistles, the worthy woman had come to regard intermittent
+whistling as a normal condition of railways, which, like the crying of
+cross babies, meant little or nothing, and had only to be endured.  She
+paid no attention to the alarm.  In despair the driver reversed his
+engine; fire flew from the wheels, and the engine was brought to a
+stand, but not until the buffers were within three feet of the nurse's
+shoulder.  At that moment she became aware of her danger, uttered a
+shriek, as we have said, that would have done credit to the whistle of a
+small engine, and, bending her head with her umbrella before her, rushed
+frantically away on another line of rails.  She did not observe, poor
+soul, that a goods train was coming straight down that line towards
+her,--partly because her mental vision was turned in terror to the rear,
+and partly because the umbrella obscured all in advance.  In vain the
+driver of the goods engine repeated the warnings and actions of the
+passenger engine.  His had more speed on and was heavier; besides, Mrs
+Durby charged it at the rate of full five miles an hour, with the
+umbrella steadily in front, and a brown paper parcel swinging wildly on
+her arm, as if her sole desire on earth was to meet that goods engine in
+single combat and beat out its brains at the first blow.  Certain it is
+that Mrs Durby's career would have been cut short then and there, if
+tall Joe Turner, the guard, had not been standing at the tail of his own
+train and observed her danger.  In the twinkling of an eye he dropped
+his slow dignified air, leaped like a panther in front of the goods
+engine, caught Mrs Durby with both hands--any how--and hurled her and
+himself off the line,--not a moment too soon, for the buffer of the
+engine touched his shoulder as they fell together to the ground.
+
+A lusty cheer was given by those on the platform who witnessed this bold
+rescue, and more than one sympathetic hand grasped the massive fist of
+Joe Turner as he assisted Mrs Durby to a carriage.
+
+"Why," exclaimed Will Garvie, hurrying forward at that moment, "it's
+Mrs Durby, the woman we promised to take care of!  You'll look after
+her, Joe?"
+
+"All right," said the guard, as Will hurried back to his engine; "this
+way, ma'am.  Got your ticket?"
+
+"N-no!" gasped the poor nurse, leaning heavily on her protector's arm.
+
+"Here, Dick," cried Joe, hailing a porter, "run to the booking-office
+and get her a ticket for London, first-class; she's got a bad shake,
+poor thing.  No doubt the company will stand the difference; if not,
+we'll make it up amongst us."
+
+Hereupon a benevolent old gentleman drew out his purse, and insisted on
+paying the whole of the fare himself, a point which no one seemed
+inclined to dispute, and Mrs Durby was carefully placed by Joe in a
+carriage by herself.
+
+There were two gentlemen--also known to the reader--who arrived just in
+time to witness this incident: the one was Captain Lee, the other Edwin
+Gurwood.  They both carried bags and rugs, and were evidently going by
+that train.  The captain, who happened to have a bad cold at the time,
+was muffled up to the eyes in a white worsted comforter, and had a fur
+travelling-cap pulled well down on his forehead, so that little of him,
+save the point of his nose, was visible.
+
+The moment that the two fops caught sight of Captain Lee, they whispered
+to Thomson--
+
+"That's our man."
+
+"Sure?" demanded Thomson.
+
+"Quite," replied Smith.  "That's about the size and make of the man as
+described to me.  Of course they could not tell what sort of travelling
+gear he would appear in, but there's no mistaking the bag--old, stout
+leather, with flat handle-strap."
+
+"All right," said Thomson; "but who's the young fellow with him?"
+
+"Don't know," replied Smith; "yet I think I've seen his face before.
+Stay, Jenkins, wasn't he in the accident at Langrye station?"
+
+"Perhaps he was; but it's of no consequence to us."
+
+"It will be of consequence to us if he goes with the old gentleman,"
+retorted Smith, "for he's a stout fellow, and wouldn't be easy to
+manage."
+
+"_I'll_ manage him, no fear," said Thomson, looking at the unconscious
+Edwin with a dark sinister smile.
+
+"What if they get into a carriage that's already nearly full?" suggested
+the dubious Smith.
+
+"They won't do that," replied Jenkins with a laugh.  "It seems to be
+against the laws of human nature to do that.  As long as there are empty
+carriages in a train, so long will men and women pass every carriage
+that has a soul in it, until they find an empty one for themselves.  We
+have nothing to do but follow them, and, when they have pitched on a
+carriage, get in after them, and fill it up, so we shall have it all to
+ourselves."
+
+"Come along, then; it's time to stop talking and to act," said Thomson,
+testily, as he moved towards the carriages.
+
+That even the wisest of men (in his own conceit) may make mistakes now
+and then is a fact which was beautifully illustrated on this occasion.
+We may here let the reader into the secret of Jenkins, Smith, and
+Thomson.  They were men who lived by their wits.  They had ascertained
+that a partner of a certain house that dealt in jewellery meant to
+return to London by that particular train, with a quantity of valuables
+that were worth running some risk for.  On the journey there was one
+stoppage quite close to London.  The run immediately before that was a
+clear one of seventy-five miles without a halt, at full express speed,
+which would afford them ample opportunity for their purpose, while the
+slowing of the train on approaching the stopping place would give them
+opportunity and time to leap out and make off with their booty.  They
+had been told that their intended victim was a stout resolute man, but
+that would avail nothing against numbers.
+
+Having obtained all requisite information they had proceeded thus far
+with their villainous design, apparently with success.  But at this
+point a hitch occurred, though they knew it not.  They had not taken
+sufficiently into account the fact that black leather bags may be both
+stout and peculiar, and in some degree similar without being identical.
+Hence Smith and Jenkins in their self-confidence had settled, as we have
+seen, that Captain Lee was "their man," whereas their man was
+comfortably seated in another carriage, and by his side the coveted bag,
+which was similar in some points to that of the captain, but different
+in size and in several small details.
+
+Following the wrong scent, therefore, with wonted pertinacity, the three
+men sauntered behind Captain Lee and Edwin, who, true to the "laws" with
+which Jenkins had credited human nature, passed one carriage after
+another until they found an empty one.
+
+"Here is one, Gurwood," said the captain.
+
+He was about to step into it, when he observed Mrs Durby sitting in the
+next compartment.
+
+"Hallo! nurse," he exclaimed, getting in and sitting down opposite to
+her; "why, surely it wasn't you, was it, that had such a narrow escape?"
+
+"Indeed it was, Capting Lee," replied Mrs Durby in a half whimper, for
+albeit a woman of strong character, she was not proof against such rough
+treatment as she had experienced that day.
+
+"Not hurt, I trust?" asked the Captain sympathetically.
+
+"Oh dear no, sir; only shook a bit."
+
+"Are you alone?" asked Edwin, seating himself beside his friend.
+
+"Yes, sir; but la, sir, I don't think nothink of travellin' alone.  I'm
+used to it, sir."
+
+As she said this the guard's voice was heard desiring passengers to take
+their seats, and the three men, who had grouped themselves close round
+the door, thus diverging one or two passengers into the next
+compartment, entered, and sat down.
+
+At the same moment Mr Sharp's earnest countenance appeared at the
+window.  He made a few remarks to Captain Lee and Edwin Gurwood, and
+took occasion to regard the three adventurers with much attention.  They
+evidently understood him, for they received his glances with bland
+smiles.
+
+It was quite touching to note Mr Sharp's anxiety to lay hold of these
+men.  He chanced to know nothing about them, save in connexion with the
+Langrye accident, but his long experience in business had given him a
+delicate power of perception in judging of character, which was not
+often at fault.  He, as it were, smelt the presence of fair game,
+although he could not manage to lay immediate hold of it, just as that
+celebrated giant did, who, once upon a time, went about his castle
+giving utterance to well-known words--
+
+"Fee, fo, fa, fum, I smell the smell of an Englishman."
+
+"Joe," he whispered, as the guard came up to lock the door, "just keep
+an eye on these three fellows, will you?  I'd lay my life on it that
+they're up to mischief to-day."
+
+Joe looked knowing, and nodded.
+
+"Show your tickets, please," he said, touching his cap to his director
+and Edwin.
+
+The tickets were produced--all right.  Mrs Durby, in getting out hers,
+although, of course, having got it for her, Joe did not require to see
+it, dropped her precious brown paper parcel.  Picking it up again
+hastily she pressed it to her bosom with such evident anxiety, that men
+much less sharp-witted than our trio, would have been led to suspect
+that it contained something valuable.  But they aimed at higher booty
+just then, and apparently did not notice the incident.
+
+A rapid banging of doors had now set in--a sure precursor of the
+starting whistle.  Before it was quite completed, the inevitable late
+passenger appeared in the distance.  This time it was a lady,
+middle-aged and stout, and short of wind, but with an iron will, as was
+clearly evinced by the energy with which she raced along the platform,
+carrying a large bundle of shawls in one arm, and a travelling-bag in
+the other, which she waved continuously as she shouted, "Stop! stop!
+stop the trai-i-i-in!  I'm coming!"
+
+The guard, with the whistle already half-way to his lips, paused and
+glanced at his watch.  There was a fraction of a moment left.  He
+stepped to a carriage and threw open a door.
+
+"Make haste, ma'am; make haste, please," was said in urgent, though
+respectful tones.
+
+The late passenger plunged in--she might, as far as appearances went, be
+said to have taken a header into the carriage--and the door was shut.
+
+The guard's whistle sounded.  The engine-driver's whistle gave prompt
+reply, and next instant the train moved.  No one could conceive of such
+a thing as a train _starting_ when John Marrot drove!
+
+As the carriages glided by, Mr Sharp cast a passing glance on the late
+passenger.  He observed that her bundle of shawls moved of its own
+accord, and, for one whole minute after the train had left, he stood
+motionless, meditating on that curious phenomenon.  He had often heard
+of table-turning, but never until now had he seen inanimate matter move
+of its own accord.  Can we feel surprised that he was both astonished
+and perplexed?  Proceeding to the booking-office he held a brief
+conversation with the clerks there; then he sauntered into the
+telegraph-office and delivered a message, after which he left the
+station with a quiet smile on his sedate countenance.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
+
+WHICH IS TOO FULL OF VARIED MATTER TO BE BRIEFLY DESCRIBED.
+
+Meanwhile let us fly through space with greater than railway speed and
+overtake the "Flying Dutchman."
+
+It has got up full speed by this time.  About one mile a minute--sixty
+miles an hour!  Sometimes it goes a little faster, sometimes a little
+slower, according to the nature of the ground; for a railway is by no
+means a level-way, the ascents and descents being occasionally very
+steep.  Those who travel in the carriages form but a faint conception of
+the pace.  To realise it to the full you must stand on the engine with
+John Marrot and Will Garvie.  Houses, fields, trees, cattle, human
+beings, go by in wild confusion--they appear only to vanish.  Wind is
+not felt in the carriages.  On the _Lightning_ you are in a gale.  It
+reminds one of a storm at sea.  The noise, too, is terrific.  We once
+had the good fortune to ride on the engine of the "Flying Dutchman," and
+on that occasion had resolved to converse with the driver, and tried it.
+As well might we have tried to converse amid the rattling of ten
+thousand tin kettles!  John Marrot put his mouth to our ear and
+_roared_.  We heard him faintly.  We tried to shout to _him_; he shook
+his head, put his hand to his ear, and his ear to our mouth.
+
+"Does--it--not--injure--your--hearing?"
+
+"No--sir--not--at--all.  It's--worst--on--our--legs."
+
+We subsided into silence and wonderment.
+
+We had also resolved to take notes, and tried it.  Egyptian
+hieroglyphics are not more comprehensible than the notes we took.  We
+made a discovery, however, near the end of the journey--namely, that by
+bending the knees, and keeping so, writing became much more possible--or
+much less impossible!  We learnt this from John, who had to fill up in
+pencil a sort of statement or report-ticket on the engine.  It was
+interesting and curious to note the fact that of the sentences thus
+written, one word was pencilled in the grounds of the Earl of Edderline,
+the next opposite the mansion of Lord Soberly, the third in the midst of
+Langly Moor, the fourth while crashing through the village of Efferby,
+and a full stop was added at the mouth of the great Ghostly Tunnel.
+Think of that, ye teachers of "penmanship in twelve lessons," and hide
+your diminished heads.
+
+John Marrot's engine, of which we have said much, and of which we mean
+to say still more, was not only a stupendous, but a complex creation.
+Its body consisted of above 5,400 pieces, all of which were almost as
+delicately fashioned, and put together with as much care, as watch-work.
+It was a confirmed teetotaller, too.  The morning draught which John
+had given it before starting, to enable it to run its seventy-seven
+miles, was 800 gallons of cold water.  He also gave it a good feed to
+begin with, and laid in for its sustenance on the trip one ton of coals.
+Its power to act vigorously may be gathered from the fact that one
+morning, some years before, John had got the fire up with unwonted
+rapidity, and no sooner had the minimum of steam necessary to move it
+been created, than it quietly advanced and passed out of its shed
+through a brick wall fourteen inches thick with as much ease as it would
+have gone through a sheet of brown paper.  This being its power when
+starting at what we may regard as a quiet walk, some conception may be
+formed of its capacity when flying down an incline at sixty-five miles
+an hour with a heavy train of carriages at its back.  In such
+circumstances it would go through an ordinary house, train and all, as a
+rifle-bullet would go through a cheese.  It was an eight-wheeled engine,
+and the driving-wheels were eight feet in diameter.  The cylinder was
+eighteen inches, with a piston of two feet stroke, and the total weight
+of engine and tender was fifty-three tons.  The cost of this iron horse
+with its tender was about 3000 pounds.
+
+Having fairly started, John took his stand opposite his circular window
+in the protecting screen or weather-board and kept a sharp look-out
+ahead.  Will Garvie kept an eye chiefly on the rear to note that all was
+well in that direction.  And much cause was there for caution!  To rush
+through space at such a rate, even on a straight line and in clear
+weather, was trying enough, but when it is remembered that the day was
+wet, and that their course lay through sundry deep cuttings and tunnels,
+and round several curves where it was not possible to foresee
+obstruction, the necessity for caution will be more apparent.
+
+All went well, however, as usual.  After clearing the first thirty-six
+miles John Marrot consulted his watch, and observed to Will that they
+had done it in thirty-eight and a half minutes.  He then "put on a
+spurt," and went for some time at a higher rate of speed.  Observing
+that something at the head of the engine required looking after, Will
+Garvie went out along the side of it, and while doing this piece of work
+his hair and jacket were blown straight back by the breeze which the
+engine had created for itself.  He resembled, in fact, a sailor going
+out to work on the sails in a stiff breeze.
+
+This artificial breeze, sweeping round the sides of the screen, caused
+an eddy which sent up a cloud of coal-dust, but neither John nor his
+mate appeared to care for this.  Their eyes were evidently coal-proof.
+
+Presently they approached a canal over which they rushed, and, for one
+moment, glanced down on the antipodal mode of locomotion--a boat going
+three miles an hour with its steersman half asleep and smoking at the
+helm!  Next moment they were passing under a bridge; the next over a
+town, and then rushed through a station, and it was interesting to note
+as they did so, that the people on the platform shrank back and looked
+half-terrified, although they were in no danger whatever, while those in
+the train--who might at any moment have been hurled into eternity--
+looked calm and serene, evidently untroubled by thoughts of danger; so
+difficult is it for man to realise his true condition in such
+circumstances.  Just beyond the station a dog was observed to have
+strayed on the line, and ran barking before the engine.  It was
+overtaken and passed in a few seconds, and Will looked over the side but
+saw nothing of it.  As no yell was heard, it is probable that the poor
+thing escaped.  Soon after that, two navvies were observed walking
+coolly and slowly on the line in front of the engine.  John frowned and
+laid his hand on the whistle, but before it could sound, the reckless
+men had heard the train, looked round with horrified faces, sprang like
+jumping-jacks off the line, right and left, and were gone!
+
+Soon after this, on approaching the distant signal of one of the
+stations, they observed that the arms were extended, indicating that the
+line was "blocked"--that is, that another train being in advance they
+must check speed or perhaps stop.  This was a species of insult to the
+"Flying Dutchman," whose way ought to have been kept perfectly clear,
+for even a check of speed would inevitably cause the loss of several
+minutes.  With an indignant grumble John Marrot cut off steam, but
+immediately the signals were lowered and he was allowed to go on.
+Again, in a few minutes, another signal checked him.
+
+"They've let a train on before us," growled John, sternly, "and p'raps
+we may be checked all the way to London--but some one shall hear of
+this, an' have to account for it."
+
+John was wrong to some extent.  While he yet spoke the signal to go on
+was given, and a few minutes later the "Flying Dutchman" flashed past
+the obstructing train, which had been shunted on to a siding, and from
+its windows hundreds of passengers were gazing at the express which
+passed them like a meteor--perhaps they were congratulating themselves,
+as well they might, for, but for the "block system," their danger would
+have been tremendous; almost equal to that of a man endeavouring to run
+away from a cannon-shot.  This may be somewhat better understood when we
+explain that the "Flying Dutchman" could not have been stopped in a
+shorter space than one mile and a half.
+
+At length the iron horse came suddenly on an obstruction which filled
+its driver with deep anxiety and alarm.  Daily had John driven that
+train, but never before had he met with a similar danger.  At a level
+crossing, less than a mile in advance of him, he observed a horse and a
+loaded cart standing right across the line.  Either the horse was a
+run-away, or the driver had left it for a little and it had strayed.
+Whatever the cause of its being there John's alert mind saw at once that
+a collision was inevitable.  He shut off steam, and was about to whistle
+for the guard to apply the brakes, while Will Garvie, who also saw the
+danger, was already turning on the brakes of the tender.
+
+John reflected that it would be impossible to come to a stand within the
+space that lay between him and the cart and that a partial concussion
+would be almost certain to throw his engine off the rails.  Less than a
+minute remained to him.
+
+"Let her go, mate," he shouted quickly.
+
+Will Garvie obeyed at once.  John put on full steam, the "Flying
+Dutchman" leaped forward with increased velocity.  Then followed a
+slight shock, and; next moment, the cart and horse were smashed to
+atoms--all but annihilated!
+
+It was a great risk that had been run; but of two evils John Marrot had
+chosen the less and came off in triumph with only a slight damage to his
+buffers.
+
+Let us now quit the engine for a little, and, retracing our steps in
+regard to time, visit some of the carriages behind it.
+
+When the "late passenger" recovered her breath and equanimity, and found
+herself fairly on her journey, she unfolded her bundle of shawls and
+disclosed a fat glossy lap-dog, which seemed to enjoy its return to
+fresh air and daylight, and acknowledged, with sundry wags of its tail
+and blinks of its eyes the complimentary assurance that it was the
+"dearest, sweetest, p'ittiest 'ittle darling that ever was born," and
+that, "it wouldn't be allowed to pay a nasty fare to a mean railway
+company that let all kinds of ugly parrots and cats and babies travel
+free!"
+
+A timid little lady, the only other occupant of the carriage, ventured
+to suggest that the dog travelling free was against the rules of the
+company.
+
+"I am quite aware of that," said the late passenger somewhat sharply,
+"but if people choose to make unjust and oppressive rules I don't mean
+to submit to them.  Just think of a parrot, a horrid shrieking creature
+that every one acknowledges to be a nuisance, being allowed to travel
+free, or a baby, which is enough to drive one distracted when it
+squalls, as it always does in a railway carriage, while my sweet little
+pet that annoys nobody must be paid for, forsooth!"
+
+"It does indeed seem unreasonable," responded the timid little old lady;
+"but don't you think that the company has a perfect right to make
+whatever rules it pleases, and that we are bound to obey them when we
+make use of their line?"
+
+"No, I don't!" said the late passenger tartly.
+
+The timid little lady thought it advisable to change the subject and did
+so by remarking that the dog was a very pretty creature.  Upon which the
+late passenger thawed at once, admitted that it _was_ a _very_ pretty
+creature, and asserted in addition that it was a "perfect darling."
+
+Their conversation became miscellaneous and general after this point,
+and not worth reporting, therefore we shall get out at the window and
+pass along the foot-boards to the carriage occupied by Mrs Durby and
+her friends.
+
+Immediately after the train had started, as before described, Captain
+Lee entered into an animated conversation with the nurse as to the
+health of the Tipps family.  Edwin, who was much interested in them,
+listened and put in a word now and then, but neither he nor the captain,
+after the first glance, paid any attention to the other occupants of the
+carnage.
+
+Meanwhile Thomson, Jenkins and Company spent a short time in taking a
+quiet observation of the state of affairs.  The former had placed
+himself opposite to Edwin and eyed him over critically as a wrestler
+might eye his opponent; Jenkins had seated himself opposite the captain,
+who had been apportioned to him in the coming conflict, and Smith, who,
+although a stout enough fellow, was the smallest of the three, kept his
+eye on the coveted bag, and held himself in readiness to act as might be
+advisable.  The scoundrels were not long in taking action.
+
+As soon as they were quite clear of the suburbs of Clatterby, Jenkins
+suddenly hit Captain Lee a tremendous blow on the head, which was meant
+to fell him at once; but the captain's head was harder than he had
+expected it to be; he instantly grappled with Jenkins.  Edwin's
+amazement did not prevent his prompt action; but at the moment he sprang
+to the rescue, he received a blow from Thomson, who leaped on him, and
+seized him by the throat with a vice-like gripe.  At the same moment
+Smith also sprang upon him.
+
+Thomson soon found that he had miscalculated young Gurwood's strength.
+Strong though his grasp was, Edwin's was stronger.  Almost as quick as
+thought he threw his left arm round Thomson's waist, grasped his hair
+with his right hand, and almost broke his back.  There is no question
+that he would have overcome him in a few seconds if Smith had not
+hampered him.  As it was, he disengaged his right arm for a moment and,
+hitting a familiar and oft-tried blow straight out from the shoulder
+planted his knuckles just above the bridge of Smith's nose.  He fell as
+if he had been shot but the momentary relief thus afforded to Thomson
+enabled that scoundrel to get into a better position for continuing the
+struggle.  Meanwhile Jenkins, although bravely and stoutly opposed by
+the veteran Lee, quickly rendered his adversary insensible, and at once
+sprang upon Edwin, and turned the scale in favour of his comrade, who at
+the moment was struggling in the youth's grasp with savage though
+unavailing ferocity.  At the same time Smith, who had only been stunned,
+recovered, and seizing Edwin by the legs endeavoured to throw him down,
+so that it went hard with our young hero after that despite his
+activity, strength and courage.
+
+During this scene, which was enacted in a very few minutes, poor Mrs
+Durby sat drawn up into the remotest corner of the carriage, her face
+transfixed with horror, and a terrific yell bursting occasionally from
+her white lips.  But neither the sound of her cries nor the noise of the
+deadly struggle could overtop the clatter of the express train.  Those
+in the next compartment did indeed hear a little of it but they were
+powerless to render assistance, and there was at that time no means of
+communicating with the guard or driver.  Poor Edwin thought of Captain
+Lee, who lay bleeding on the floor, and of Emma, and the power of
+thought was so potential that in his great wrath he almost lifted the
+three men in the air; but they clung to him like leeches, and it is
+certain that they would have finally overcome him, had he not in one of
+his frantic struggles thrust his foot below one of the seats and kicked
+the still slumbering Sam Natly on the nose!
+
+That over-wrought but erring porter immediately awoke to the
+consciousness of being oppressed with a sense of guilt and of being in a
+very strange and awkward position.  Quickly perceiving, however, by the
+wild motion of the feet and an occasional scream from Mrs Durby, that
+something serious was going on, he peeped out, saw at a glance how
+matters stood, got to his feet in a moment, and dealt Jenkins such a
+blow on the back of the head that he dropped like a stone.  To deal
+Smith two similar blows, with like result, was the work of two seconds.
+Thus freed, Edwin rose like a giant, crushed Thomson down into a seat,
+and twisted his neckcloth until his eyes began to glaze and his lips to
+turn blue.
+
+Sam Natly was a man of cool self-possession.
+
+Seeing that Edwin was more than a match for his adversary, he left him,
+and proceeded to attend to the captain, who showed symptoms of revival;
+but happening to glance again at Edwin, and observing the condition of
+Thomson, Sam turned and put his hand on the youth's arm.
+
+"I think, sir," he said quietly, "it would be as well to leave enough of
+him to be hanged.  Besides, it might be raither awkward, sir, to do Jack
+Ketch's dooty without the benefit of judge, jury, witnesses, or clergy."
+
+Edwin released his hold at once, and Thomson raised himself in the seat,
+clenching his teeth and fists as he did so.  He was one of those savage
+creatures who, when roused, appear to go mad, and become utterly
+regardless of consequences.  While Sam was engaged in e
+temporising handcuffs for Jenkins and Smith out of a necktie and a
+pocket-handkerchief, Thomson sat perfectly still, but breathed very
+hard.  He was only resting a little to recover strength, for in a
+moment, without a sound or warning of any kind, he hit Edwin with all
+his force on the temple.  Fortunately the youth saw the coming blow in
+time to partially give way to it, and in another moment the struggle was
+renewed, but terminated almost as quickly, for Edwin gave Thomson a blow
+that stunned him and kept him quiet for the next quarter of an hour.
+
+During this period Edwin examined Captain Lee's hurts, which turned out
+to be less severe than might have been expected.  He also assisted Sam
+to secure Thomson's wrists with a handkerchief, and then devoted some
+time to soothing the agitated spirits of poor Mrs Durby, whose luckless
+shins had not escaped quite scatheless during the _melee_.
+
+"Oh, sir," sobbed Mrs Durby, glancing with horror at the dishevelled
+and blood-stained prisoners, "I always thought railways was bad things,
+but I never, no I never, imagined they was as bad as this."
+
+"But, my good woman," said Edwin, unable to restrain a smile, "railways
+are not all, nor always, as bad as this.  We very seldom hear of such a
+villainous deed as has been attempted to-day; thanks to the energy and
+efficiency of their police establishments."
+
+"Quite true, Gurward, quite true," said Captain Lee, glancing sternly at
+the prisoners, and stanching a cut in his forehead with a handkerchief
+as he spoke; "our police arrangements are improving daily, as scoundrels
+shall find to their cost."
+
+Jenkins and Smith did not raise their eyes, and Thomson continued to
+frown steadily out at the window without moving a muscle.
+
+"I'm sure I don't know nothink about your p'lice, an' what's more, I
+don't care," said Mrs Durby; "all that I know is that railways is
+dreadful things, and if I was the Queen, which I'm not, I'd have 'em all
+put down by Acts of Parlingment, so I would.  But never, never, never,--
+as long as I'm able to manidge my own--ah!"
+
+Mrs Durby terminated here with one of her own appalling shrieks, for it
+was at this precise moment that John Marrot happened, as already
+described, to have occasion to knock a cart and horse to atoms.  The
+shock, as we have said, was very slight, nevertheless it was sufficient
+to overturn the poor nurse's nervous system, which had already been
+wrought up to a high pitch of tension.
+
+"That's _somethin'_ gone, sir," said Sam, touching his cap to Captain
+Lee.
+
+"What is it, Edwin?" inquired the captain as the youth let down the
+window and looked out.
+
+"I can see nothing," said Edwin, "except that the guard and fireman are
+both looking back as if they wanted to see something on the line.  We
+are beginning to slow, however, being not far from the station now."
+
+About a mile and three-quarters from the station, in the suburbs of
+London, where the tickets were to be collected, John Marrot stopped the
+pulse of his iron horse, for so terrific was his speed that he was able
+to run the greater part of that distance by means of the momentum
+already acquired.  By degrees the mighty engine began to "slow."  Trees
+and houses instead of rushing madly past began to run hastily by, and
+then to glide behind at a rate that was more in keeping with the dignity
+of their nature.  From sixty miles an hour the train passed by a rapid
+transition to ordinary express speed, then to ordinary speed, then to
+twenty miles an hour.  Then Thomson felt that his opportunity had come.
+He suddenly wrenched his wrists from their fastening, leaped head
+foremost out of the window, fell on the embankment in a heap, and rolled
+to the bottom, where he lay extended on his back as if dead.
+
+Thus much Mrs Durby saw in one horrified glance and then fainted dead
+away, in which condition she remained, to the great anxiety and distress
+of Captain Lee, until the "Flying Dutchman," after doing seventy-eight
+miles in one hour and a half, glided as softly up to the platform of the
+station in the great Metropolis as if it were a modest young train which
+had yet to win its spurs, instead of being a tried veteran which had
+done its best for many years past to annihilate space and time.  But,
+after all, it resembled all other tried veterans in this respect.
+
+Generally speaking, engine-drivers are little--far too little--thought
+of after a journey is over.  Mankind is not prone to be wise or
+discriminating, in giving credit to whom credit is due.  We "remember"
+waiters after having eaten a good dinner, but who, in any sense of the
+word, "remembers" the cook?  So in like manner we think of railway
+porters and guards at the end of our journeys, and talk of their
+civility mayhap, but who thinks or talks of the driver and fireman as
+they lean on the rails of their iron horse, wet and weary perchance--
+smoke and dust and soot begrimed for certain--and calmly watch the
+departure of the multitudes whom they have, by the exercise of
+consummate coolness, skill, and courage, brought through dangers and
+hairbreadth escapes that they neither knew nor dreamed of?
+
+On this particular occasion, however, the tables were turned for once.
+The gentlemen in the train hurried to the guard to ask what had caused
+the slight shock which they had felt.  Joe Turner had been called aside
+for a moment by a clerk, so they went direct to John Marrot himself, who
+modestly related what had happened in a half apologetic tone, for he did
+not feel quite sure that he had done the best in the circumstances.  His
+admiring audience had no doubt on the point, however.
+
+"You're a brick, John!" exclaimed an enthusiastic commercial traveller.
+
+"That's true," said another.  "If we had more men like him, there would
+be fewer accidents."
+
+"Let's give him something," whispered a third.
+
+The suggestion was eagerly acted on.  A subscription was made on the
+spot, and in three minutes the sum of about ten pounds was thrust into
+John's huge dirty hand by the enthusiastic commercial traveller.  But
+John firmly refused to take it.
+
+"What's to be done with it, then?" demanded the traveller, "_I_ can't
+keep it, you know, and I'm not going to sit down here and spend
+half-an-hour in returning the money.  If you don't take it John, I must
+fling it under the engine or into the furnace."
+
+"Well," said the driver, after a moment's consideration, while he closed
+his hand on the money and thrust it into his breeches pocket, "I'll take
+it.  It will help to replace the cart we smashed, if I can find the
+owner."
+
+While this was going on near the engine, the robbers were being removed
+from their carriage to receive the due reward of their deeds.  Three
+tall and strong-boned men had been on the platform for some time
+awaiting the arrival of the "Flying Dutchman."  Swift though John
+Marrot's iron horse was, a swifter messenger had passed on the line
+before him.  The electric spark--and a fast volatile, free-and-easy, yet
+faithful spark it is--had been commissioned to do a little service that
+day.  Half-an-hour after the train had left Clatterby a detective,
+wholly unconnected with our friend Sharp, had called and sent a message
+to London to have Thomson, Jenkins, and Smith apprehended, in
+consequence of their connexion with a case of fraud which had been
+traced to them.  The three tall strong-boned men were there in virtue of
+this telegram.  But, accustomed though these men were to surprising
+incidents, they had scarcely expected to find that the three culprits
+had added another to their many crimes, and that one of them had leaped
+out of the train and out of their clutches--in all probability out of
+the world altogether!  Two of the strong men went off immediately in
+search of him, or his remains, while the other put proper manacles on
+Jenkins and Smith and carried them off in a cab.
+
+Meanwhile Joe Turner saw that all the other passengers were got
+carefully out of the train.  He was particularly polite in his
+attentions, however, to the "late passenger!"
+
+"You have forgot, ma'am," he said politely, "to give up your
+dog-ticket."
+
+"Dog-ticket!" exclaimed the lady, blushing; "what do you mean?  I have
+no dog-ticket."
+
+"Not for the little poodle dog, ma'am, that you carry under your shawl?"
+
+The lady blushed still deeper as she admitted that she had no ticket for
+the dog, but said that she was quite willing to pay for it.
+
+This having been done, her curiosity got the better of her shame at
+having been "caught," and she asked--
+
+"How did you know I had a dog with me, guard?"
+
+"Ah, ma'am," replied Joe with a smile, "we've got a remarkably
+sharp-sighted police force on our line, besides the telegraph.  We find
+the telegraph very useful, I assure you, at times.  The gentlemen who
+were removed in handcuffs a few minutes ago were _also_ stopped in their
+little game by the telegraph, ma'am."
+
+The guard turned away to attend to some one else, and the late
+passenger, blushing a still deeper scarlet to find that she was classed
+with criminals, hurried away to reflect, it is to be hoped, on the fact
+that dishonesty has no variety in character--only in degree.
+
+When the guard left the late passenger, he found that his assistance was
+required to get Mrs Durby and her belongings out of the railway
+carriage and into a cab.
+
+The poor nurse was in a pitiable state of mind.  A railway journey had
+always been to her a thing of horror.  The reader may therefore form
+some conception of what it was to her to have been thus suddenly called
+away from quiet suburban life to undertake not only a railway journey,
+but to be shut up with a gang of would-be murderers and encounter a sort
+of accident in addition!  By the time she had reached London she had
+become quite incapable of connected thought.  Even the precious parcel,
+which at first had been an object of the deepest solicitude, was
+forgotten; and although she had hugged it to her breast not two minutes
+before, she suffered it to drop under the seat as she was led from the
+train to the cab.
+
+"Drive to the Clarendon," said Captain Lee, as he and Gurwood followed
+the nurse into the cab; "we will take care of her," he added to Edwin,
+"till she is better able to take care of herself."
+
+Mrs Durby gave vent to a hysterical sob of gratitude.
+
+Arrived at the Clarendon they alighted, the captain paid the fare, and
+the cab was dismissed.  Just at that moment Mrs Durby became a
+temporary maniac.  She shrieked, "Oh! my parcel!" and rushed towards the
+door.
+
+The captain and waiter restrained her.
+
+"It's in the cab!" she yelled with a fervour there was no resisting.
+
+Edwin, comprehending the case, dashed down the steps and followed the
+cab; but he might as well have followed the proverbial needle in the
+haystack.  Hundreds of cabs, carts, busses, and waggons were passing the
+Clarendon.  He assaulted and stopped four wrong cabs, endured a deal of
+chaff, and finally returned to the hotel discomfited.
+
+Thus suddenly was Mrs Durby bereft of her treasure and thrown into
+abject despair.  While in this condition she partially unbosomed herself
+to Captain Lee, and, contrary to strict orders, revealed all she knew
+about the embarrassments of Mrs Tipps, carefully concealing, however,
+the nature of the contents of her lost parcel, and the real object of
+her journey to London.
+
+One more paragraph in regard to this eventful trip of the "Flying
+Dutchman" ere we have done with the subject.
+
+Having finished his journey, John Marrot took his iron steed to the
+stable.  Usually his day's work terminated at Clatterby; but, owing to
+the horse being in need of extra rest he had to stop in London that
+night.  And no wonder that the _Lightning_ was sometimes fatigued, for
+even an ordinary express engine on the Grand National Trunk Railway was
+wont to run over 270 miles of ground in a day, at the rate of about
+forty-five miles an hour, and with a dead weight of 120 tons, more or
+less, at her tail.  This she did regularly, with two "shed-days," or
+days of rest, in the week for cleansing and slight repairs.  Such an
+engine was considered to do good service if it ran 250 days in the year.
+But the engine of the "Flying Dutchman" was more highly favoured than
+other engines--probably on the ground of the principle taught by the
+proverb, "It is the pace that kills."  Its regular run was 1,544 miles
+in the day, and assuredly it stood in need of repose and refreshment
+quite as much as ordinary horses do.  Its joints had become relaxed with
+severe labour, its bolts had been loosened, its rubbing surfaces,
+despite the oil poured so liberally on them by Will Garvie, had become
+heated.  Some of them, unequally expanded, strained and twisted; its
+grate-bars and fire-box had become choked with "clinkers," and its tubes
+charged with coke.
+
+John therefore ran it into the huge shed or stable prepared for the
+reception of twenty-four iron horses, and handed it over to a set of
+cleaners or grooms.  These immediately set to work; they cleaned out its
+fire-box, scraped its grate-bars, tightened all its bolts and rivets,
+greased the moving parts, and thoroughly cleansed it, outside and in.
+Thus washed, cooled down, and purified, it was left to repose for five
+or six hours preparatory to a renewal of its giant energies on the
+following day.
+
+Although we have somewhat exalted our pet locomotive of the "Flying
+Dutchman," justice requires us to state that goods engines are more
+gigantic and powerful, though they are not required to run so fast.
+These engines are the heavy dray-horses of the line, express engines
+being the racers.  The latter can carry a _light_ _load_ of some seventy
+or ninety tons on a good roadway at the rate of fifty miles an hour or
+upwards.  Goods engines of the most powerful class, on the other hand,
+run at a much slower pace, but they drag with ease a load of from 300 to
+350 tons, with which they can ascend steep gradients.
+
+But whether light or heavy, strong or weak, all of them are subject to
+the same laws.  Though powerfully, they are delicately framed, and like
+man himself, appear to be incapable of perfect action without obtaining
+at the least one day of rest in the week.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
+
+TREATS OF MRS. DURBY'S LOST PARCEL IN PARTICULAR, AND OF LOST-LUGGAGE IN
+GENERAL.
+
+We need scarcely say that Edwin Gurwood took a good deal of trouble to
+find poor Mrs Durby's lost parcel.  Had he known what its contents were
+he might perhaps have done more.  As she positively asserted that she
+had carried it into the cab with her and had not left it in the train,
+immediate application was not made at the station for it, but Edwin
+drove her in a cab to Scotland Yard, and there introduced her to the
+police officials whose duty it is to take charge of articles left in
+cabs.  Here she was asked to describe the appearance of her parcel,
+which she did, by saying that it was a roundish one in brown paper,
+fastened with a piece of string, and having the name of Durby written on
+it in pencil, without any address.
+
+Not feeling quite sure however of the fidelity of the nurse's memory,
+Edwin then went to the station and made inquiries there, but on
+application to the lost-luggage office no such parcel had been deposited
+there.  The reader may perhaps be surprised at this, as it is well-known
+that every train is searched by the porters on its arrival at a
+terminus, and all forgotten articles are conveyed at once to the
+lost-luggage office.  In the ordinary course of things Mrs Durby's
+parcel would have been found and restored to her on application, but it
+happened that a careless porter searched the "Flying Dutchman" that day,
+and had failed to observe the parcel which lay in a dark corner under
+the seat.  When the carriage therefore was shunted the parcel was left
+to repose in it all night as well as all next day, which happened to be
+Sunday.
+
+The parcel had a longish excursion on its own account after that.  The
+carriage in which it lay happened to be a "through one," and belonged to
+another company, to whose line it was accordingly forwarded on the
+following Monday.  It reached a remote station in the west of England
+that night and there the parcel was discovered.  It lay all night there,
+and next day was forwarded to the lost-luggage office of that line.
+Here it was examined; the various pieces of paper were unrolled one by
+one and the doubled-up slipper was discovered; this was examined, and
+the little parcel found; the name of Durby having been noted and
+commented on, the covering of note-paper was removed, and the match-box
+revealed, from the inside of which was produced the pill-box, which,
+when opened, disclosed to the astonished gaze of the officials an
+antique gold ring set with diamonds!  As the name "Mrs Durby" written
+in pencil did not furnish a clue to the owner, the ring was given into
+the charge of the custodier of the lost-luggage office, and a
+description of it with a note of all particulars regarding it, was
+forwarded to the Clearing-House in London.
+
+The lost-luggage office, we may remark in passing, was a wonderful
+place--a place in which a moralist might find much material for mental
+mastication.  Here, on an extensive series of shelves, were deposited in
+large quantities the evidences of man's defective memory; the sad proofs
+of human fallibility.  There were caps and comforters and
+travelling-bags in great abundance.  There were shawls and rugs, and
+umbrellas and parasols, and sticks and hat-boxes in such numbers as to
+suggest the idea that hundreds of travellers, smitten with irresistible
+feelings of gratitude, had left these articles as a trifling testimony
+of respect to the railway company.  There were carpet-bags here not only
+in large numbers but in great variety of form and size.
+Smelling-bottles, pocket-handkerchiefs, flasks, pocket-books, gun-cases,
+portmanteaux, books, cigar cases, etcetera, enough to have stocked a
+gigantic curiosity shop, and there were several articles which one could
+not account for having been forgotten on any other supposition than that
+the owners were travelling maniacs.  One gentleman had left behind him a
+pair of leathern hunting-breeches, a soldier had forgotten his knapsack,
+a cripple his crutches! a Scotchman his bagpipes; but the most amazing
+case of all was a church door!  We do not jest, reader.  It is a fact
+that such an article was forgotten, or left or lost, on a railway, and,
+more amazing still, it was never claimed, but after having been
+advertised, and having lain in the lost goods office the appointed time,
+it was sold by auction with other things.  Many of the articles were
+powerfully suggestive of definite ideas.  One could not look upon those
+delicate kid gloves without thinking of the young bride, whose agitated
+soul was incapable of extending a thought to such trifles.  That Mrs
+Gamp-like umbrella raised to mental vision, as if by magic, the despair
+of the stout elderly female who, arriving unexpectedly and all
+unprepared at her journey's end, sought to collect her scattered
+thoughts and belongings and launch herself out on the platform, in the
+firm belief that a minute's delay would insure her being carried to
+unknown regions far beyond her destination, and it was impossible to
+look at that fur travelling-cap with ear-pieces cocked knowingly on a
+sable muff, without thinking of the bland bald-headed old gentleman who
+had worn it during a night journey, and had pulled it in all ways about
+his head and over his eyes, and had crushed it into the cushions of his
+carriage in a vain endeavour to sleep, and had let it fall off and
+temporarily lost it and trod upon it and unintentionally sat upon it,
+and had finally, in the great hurry of waking suddenly on arrival, and
+in the intense joy of meeting with his blooming girls, flung it off,
+seized his hat and bag and rug, left the carriage in a whirlwind of
+greeting, forgot it altogether, and so lost it for ever.
+
+"Nay, not lost," we hear some one saying; "he would surely call at the
+lost-luggage office on discovering his loss and regain his property."
+
+Probably he might, but certainly he would only act like many hundreds of
+travellers if he were to leave his property there and never call for it
+at all.
+
+True, much that finds its way to the lost-luggage office is reclaimed
+and restored, but it is a fact that the quantity never reclaimed is so
+large on almost any railway that it forms sufficient to warrant an
+annual sale by auction which realises some hundreds of pounds.  One
+year's sale of lost-luggage on the Grand National Trunk Railway amounted
+to 500 pounds! and this was not more than an average year's sale.  Every
+possible effort is of course made to restore lost-luggage before such a
+sale takes place.  In the first place, everything bearing a name and
+address is returned at once to the owner, but of course there are
+multitudes of small articles which have neither name nor address.  Such
+of these as are locked or tied up are suffered to remain for a short
+time in an office, where they may be readily reclaimed; but if not
+claimed soon they are opened, and if addresses are found inside are sent
+to their owners.  In the event of no addresses being found they are
+retained for a year, then advertised for sale by public auction, and the
+proceeds go to reduce that large sum--perhaps 16,000 poundss or more--
+which the company has to pay annually as compensation for lost and
+damaged goods.  On one railway where the lost-luggage was allowed to lie
+a considerable time before being examined a singular case occurred.  A
+hat-box was opened and found to contain Bank of England notes to the
+amount of 65 pounds, with two letters, which led to its being restored
+to its owner after having lain for more than a year.  The owner had been
+so positive that he had left the hat-box at a hotel that he had made no
+inquiry for it at the railway office.
+
+A sale-catalogue of left and unclaimed property on one of our chief
+railways, which now lies before us, presents some curious "lots."  Here
+are some of them: 70 walking-sticks, 30 silk umbrellas, and there are
+eleven similar lots, besides innumerable parasols--50 muffs and boas--a
+crate containing 140 billycocks and hats--24 looking-glasses--160
+packets of cloth buttons--15 frying-pans and 18 ploughshares--3 butter
+machines--2 gas-meters, 2 shovels, and a pair of spectacles--a box of
+sanitary powder and a 15-horse power horizontal steam-engine!  How some
+of these things, especially the last, could come to be lost at all, is a
+mystery which we have been quite unable to fathom.  Of these lots the
+catalogue contains 404, and the sale was to occupy two days.
+
+After having failed to obtain any information as to the missing brown
+paper parcel, Mrs Durby felt so overwhelmed with distress and shame
+that she took the whole matter into serious consideration, and,
+resolving to forego her visit to her brother, returned straight to
+Clatterby, where, in a burst of tears, she related her misadventures to
+Netta.  It need scarcely be said that Netta did not blame her old and
+faithful nurse.  Her disposition was of that mild sympathetic nature
+which induces one,--when an accident occurs, such as the breaking of a
+valuable piece of china,--to hasten to excuse rather than to abuse the
+unhappy breaker, who, in nine cases out of ten, is far more severely
+punished by his or her own conscience than the sin deserves!  Instead,
+therefore, of blaming the nurse, Netta soothed her; said that it did not
+matter _much_; that the ring was valuable to her only as a gift from her
+father; that no doubt some other means of paying their debts would soon
+be devised; that it would have been an absolute miracle, if nurse had
+retained her self-possession, in the terrible circumstances, in which
+she had been placed, and in fact tried so earnestly and touchingly to
+comfort her, that she unintentionally heaped coals of intensest fire on
+the poor woman's head, and caused Mrs Durby not only to blame herself
+more than ever, but to throw her arms round Netta's neck, and all but
+fall down on her knees and worship her.
+
+Thereafter the subject was dismissed, and in a short time almost
+forgotten.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
+
+DESCRIBES ENGINEERING DIFFICULTIES, A PERPLEXING CASE, AND A HARMONIOUS
+MEETING.
+
+Captain Lee's object in visiting London was twofold.  He went there
+primarily to attend the half-yearly general meeting of the Grand
+National Trunk Railway, and secondarily, to accompany his friend Edwin
+Gurwood to the Railway Clearing-House, in which establishment he had
+been fortunate enough to secure for him a situation.
+
+The various circumstances which contributed to the bringing about of an
+intimacy between Captain Lee and young Gurwood are partly known to the
+reader.  It was natural that the captain should feel some sort of regard
+for one who had twice shown himself so ready to spring to his assistance
+in the hour of danger; but that which weighed still more strongly with
+the old sailor--who had been a strict disciplinarian and loved a zealous
+man--was the energy, with which Edwin threw himself into the work of the
+department of the railway, in which he had first been placed.  Perhaps
+if the captain had known the motives and the hopes which actuated the
+youth he might have regarded him with very different feelings!  We know
+not--and it matters little now.
+
+As a clerk in the Engineers' office, Edwin had, in a few weeks, evinced
+so much talent and aptitude for the work as to fill his patron's heart
+with delight.  He possessed that valuable quality which induces a man--
+in Scripture language--to look not only on his own things but on the
+things of others.  He was not satisfied with doing his own work
+thoroughly, but became so inquisitive as to the work of his companions
+in the office that he acquired in a short time as much knowledge as some
+of these companions had acquired in several years.
+
+The engineer's department of a railway is one which involves some of the
+most important operations connected with the line.  But indeed the same
+may be said of all the departments--passenger, goods, locomotive, and
+police, each of which is independent, yet connected.  They are separate
+wheels, as it were, which work harmoniously together in one grand
+system, and the gentlemen at the head of these departments must be men
+of experience; of acknowledged talent and power, each supreme in his own
+department, but all subject to the general manager.
+
+The engineer-in-chief, who was Edwin Gurwood's superior, had charge of
+the entire railway, which was something over one thousand miles in
+extent.  This vast line was divided into four divisions--namely, the
+northern, southern, western, and eastern; each division being under the
+superintendence of a resident engineer, who was, of course, subject to
+the engineer-in-chief.  Each division was about 250 miles long, and was
+subdivided into districts varying from thirty to seventy miles.  These
+were under the charge of inspectors, whose duty it was to travel
+constantly over their lengths--almost daily--partly on foot and partly
+by train, to see that the line was kept in perfect working order.  The
+travelling inspectors had under them a large body of "surface-men" or
+"plate-layers," men whose duty it was to perform the actual work of
+keeping the line in order.  They worked in squads of four or five--each
+squad having a foreman or gaffer, who was held responsible for the
+particular small portion of the line that he and his squad had to attend
+to.  The average number of surface-men was about two to the mile--so
+that the entire staff of these men on the line numbered over two
+thousand.  Their business was to go over the entire line twice a day,
+drive tight the wooden "keys" which held the rails in their chairs, lift
+and re-lay broken or worn-out rails and chairs, raise or depress
+sleepers wherever these required alteration, so as to make the line
+level, and, generally, to keep in thorough repair the "permanent way."
+Again, each of the four divisions had an inspector of signals and an
+inspector of buildings, the former being responsible for the perfect
+working order of all signals, and the latter, who had a few masons,
+joiners, slaters, blacksmiths, and others under him, having charge of
+all the stations, sheds, and other buildings on the line.  Every month
+each division engineer sent in to the head office a statement of
+material used, and of work done; also a requisition for material
+required for future use.
+
+From all this it can easily be understood that Edwin had a fair
+opportunity of finding scope for his talents; and he had indeed already
+begun to attract notice as an able, energetic fellow, when Captain Lee,
+as we have said, procured for him an appointment in the Clearing-House.
+On the occasion of the change being made, he invited his young friend to
+spend a few days at his residence in Clatterby, and thereafter, as we
+have seen, they travelled together to London.
+
+It need scarcely be said that Edwin did not neglect this golden
+opportunity to try to win the heart of Emma.  Whether he had succeeded
+or not he could not tell, but he unquestionably received a strong
+additional impulse in his good resolves--to achieve for himself a
+position and a wife!
+
+"Gurwood," said Captain Lee, after Mrs Durby had taken her departure,
+"I want you to aid me in a little difficulty I have about our mutual
+friend, Mrs Tipps.  She is ridiculously determined not to accept of
+assistance from me, and I find from that excellent nurse that they are
+actually up to the lips in poverty--in fact, on the point of going down.
+I think from what she said, or, rather from what she didn't say, but
+hinted, that her errand to London had something to do with their
+poverty, but I can't make it out.  Now, I have made up my mind to help
+them whether they will or no, and the question I wish to lay before you
+is,--how is the thing to be done?  Come, you have had some experience of
+engineering, and ought to be able to cope with difficulties."
+
+"True," replied Edwin, with a smile, "but to bend a woman's will
+surpasses any man's powers of engineering!"
+
+"Come, sir," said the captain, "that is a most ungallant speech from one
+so young.  You deserve to die an old bachelor.  However, I ask you not
+to exercise your skill in bending a woman's will, but in bridging over
+this difficulty--this Chat Moss, to speak professionally."
+
+"Could you not procure for my friend, Joseph Tipps, a more lucrative
+appointment?" said Edwin eagerly, as the idea flashed upon him.
+
+The captain shook his head.
+
+"Won't do, sir; I have thought of that; but, in the first place, I have
+not such an appointment to give him at present; in the second place, if
+I had, he could not draw his salary in advance, and money is wanted
+immediately; and, in the third place, he would not if he had it be able
+to spare enough out of any ordinary clerk's salary, because the debts
+due by Mrs Tipps amount to fifty pounds--so Mrs Durby said."
+
+"It is indeed perplexing," said Edwin.  "Would it not be a good plan to
+send them a cheque anonymously?"
+
+Again the captain shook his head.
+
+"Wouldn't do.  The old lady would guess who sent it at once.  Come, I
+will leave it to you to devise a plan.  Never could form a plan all my
+life, and have no time just now, as I'm going off to the meeting in ten
+minutes.  I constitute you my agent in this matter, Gurwood.  You know
+all the circumstances of the case, and also about my bet of five hundred
+pounds with the late Captain Tipps.  Your fee, if you succeed, shall be
+my unending gratitude.  There, I give you _carte-blanche_ to do as you
+please--only see that you don't fail."
+
+Saying this, the captain put on his hat and went out, leaving Edwin much
+amused and not a little perplexed.  He was not the man, however, to let
+difficulties stand in his way unassailed.  He gave the subject
+half-an-hour's consideration, after which he formed a plan and
+immediately went out to put it into execution.
+
+Meanwhile Captain Lee went to the head offices of the Grand National
+Trunk Railway, and entered the large room, where the directors and
+shareholders of the Company were already assembled in considerable
+numbers to hold a half-yearly general meeting.
+
+It was quite a treat to see the cordial way in which the captain was
+received by such of his brother directors as sat near him, and, when he
+had wiped his bald head and put on his spectacles, and calmly looked
+round the hall, his bland visage appeared to act the part of a
+reflector, for, wherever his eyes were turned, there sunshine appeared
+to glow.  In fact several of the highly sympathetic people present--of
+whom there are always a few in every mixed meeting--unconsciously smiled
+and nodded as his eye passed over their locality, even although they
+were personal strangers to him.
+
+Very various are the feelings which actuate the directors and
+shareholders of different railways at these half-yearly gatherings.
+Doubtless some directors go to the place of meeting with the feelings of
+men who go to execution, and the shareholders go with the feelings of
+executioners, if not worse; while other directors and shareholders
+unquestionably go to hold something like a feast of reason and a flow of
+soul.
+
+The half-yearly meeting we write of was imbued with the latter spirit.
+Wisdom and conscientious care had steered the ship and swayed the
+councils of the Grand National Trunk Railway, so that things were in
+what the captain called a highly flourishing condition.  One consequence
+was, that the directors wore no defensive armour, and the shareholders
+came to the ground without offensive weapons.
+
+Sir Cummit Strong having taken the chair, the secretary read the
+advertisement convening the meeting.
+
+The chairman, who was a tall, broad-browed, and large-mouthed man, just
+such an one as might be expected to become a railway king, then rose,
+and, after making a few preliminary observations in reference to the
+report, which was assumed to have been read, moved, "that the said
+report and statement of accounts be received and adopted."
+
+"He-ar, he-ar!" exclaimed a big vulgar man, with an oily fat face and a
+strong voice, who was a confirmed toady.
+
+"I am quite sure," the chairman continued, "that I have the sympathy of
+all in this meeting when I say that the half-year which has just come to
+a close has been one of almost unmixed success--"
+
+"He-ar, he-ar!" from the toady.
+
+"And," continued the chairman, with pointed emphasis, and a glance at
+the toady, which was meant to indicate that he had put in his oar too
+soon, but which the toady construed into a look of gratitude--"_and_ of
+very great satisfaction to those whom you have appointed to the
+conducting of your affairs."
+
+"He-ar, he-ar!"
+
+Captain Lee, who sat immediately behind the toady and felt his fingers
+and toes tingling, lost a good deal of what followed, in consequence of
+falling into a speculative reverie, as to what might be the legal
+consequences, if he were to put his own hat on the toady's head, and
+crush it down over his eyes and mouth.
+
+"Gentlemen," continued the chairman, "there are three points on which we
+have reason to congratulate ourselves to-day, namely, the safety, the
+efficiency, and the economy with which our railway has been worked.  As
+regards the first, I find that ten millions of journeys have been
+performed on our line during the half-year with hardly a detention, with
+very few late trains, at high speeds, and with only one accident, which
+was a comparatively slight one, and was unattended with loss of life or
+serious damage to any one."
+
+"He-ar, he-ar!" from the toady.
+
+At this point a wag in the distance got up and suggested, in a very weak
+voice, that if the toady would say, "he-ar, he-ar!" less frequently,
+perhaps they would "he-ar" much better--a suggestion which was received
+with a burst of laughter and a round of applause.  It effectually
+quelled the toady and rendered him innocuous for a considerable time.
+
+"Now," resumed the chairman, "some people appear to think that it is an
+easy thing to work a railway in safety, but I can assure you that such
+is not the case.  Intelligence, care, foresight, and the strictest
+discipline, are necessary to secure this result; and, remember, we have
+not the advantage of anything so powerful as military discipline to help
+us.  We have nothing to appeal to save the hopes and fears of our staff;
+and we feel it to be our great difficulty, as it is our principal duty,
+to be most careful in the selection of the thousands of men who, in
+their various positions and vocations, have to be employed in the
+conduct of your enterprise.
+
+"I know well," continued Sir Cummit Strong, "how men shudder when
+statistics are mentioned in their ears!  Nevertheless, I shall venture
+to give you a few statistics that will, I am quite sure, prove
+interesting--all the more so that the figures which I quote apply to
+several other railways--and, therefore, will serve to give those of you
+who may chance to be unlearned on railway matters, some idea of the vast
+influence which railways have on our land.
+
+"We run on this railway (I use round numbers) about 700 trains a day.
+In addition to which we have spare engines and empty trains, which
+perhaps ought to be added to the number given.  Now, just consider for a
+moment the operations which have to be performed daily in the ordinary
+working and running of your passenger traffic.  These 700 trains stop
+about 5000 times in the twenty-four hours, and of course they start the
+same number of times.  The empty trains and engines have also to stop
+and start.  We have on the line upwards of 1000 signals, including the
+telegraphic signals and auxiliaries.  Those signals have to be raised
+and lowered 10,000 times in the twenty-four hours.  There are on our
+line 1700 pairs of points, which have to be opened and shut, to be
+cleaned, oiled, and attended to, above 5000 times in the day.  In
+addition to all this there are the operations of shunting,
+carriage-examining, greasing, and other things in connexion with trains
+which involve operations amounting to nearly 6000 in number.  So that--
+apart from repairs to the line and to vehicles--there are above 30,000
+individual operations which have to be performed every twenty-four hours
+in the conduct of this enormous passenger traffic.
+
+"All this information I have obtained from our able and excellent
+passenger-superintendent, than whom there is not a more important
+officer in the Company's service, unless, indeed," (here the chairman
+turned with a smile and a slight bow to the gentlemen who sat on his
+right hand) "I may except the general manager and secretary.
+
+"Well, now, gentlemen, I put it to you, is it surprising that the 6000
+men who have to perform these 30,000 operations in the day--amounting to
+the vast total of ten millions of operations in the year--is it
+surprising, I say, that these 6000 men should now and then fall into
+some error of judgment, or make some mistake, or even be guilty of some
+negligence?  Is it not, on the contrary, most surprising that accidents
+are not far more numerous; and does it not seem almost miraculous that
+where duties are so severe, the demands made by the public so great--
+speed, punctuality, numberless trains by day and night--there should be
+only one accident to report this half-year, while last half-year there
+were no accidents at all?  And does it not seem hard that the public
+should insist that we shall be absolutely infallible, and, when the
+slightest mistake occurs, should haul us into court and punish us with
+demands for compensation for accidents which no human ingenuity or
+foresight could prevent?
+
+"Before leaving this subject allow me to direct your attention to the
+fogs which occurred this half-year.  There were thirty days in which
+during a part, if not the whole, of the twenty-four hours we had out our
+fog-signal men; that is to say, an additional staff of 300 men, each
+with his flag and detonating signals, placed within sight, or within
+sound of one another, to assist the ordinary signalmen in the safe
+conduct of the traffic.  During these fogs the omnibuses had to be
+withdrawn from the roads, the steamers had to be moored on the river,
+and the traffic on the streets was almost at a standstill, nevertheless
+we carried through the fog, in and out of London, above one million six
+hundred thousand passengers _without_ _accident_!"
+
+The "hear, hear," which burst from the audience at this point might have
+satisfied even the toady himself!
+
+"And yet," continued the chairman, with emphasis, "if a single mishap
+had occurred owing to the mistake of any of our half-blinded men, we
+should probably have been let in for compensation to the extent perhaps
+of 20,000 pounds!  Is this fair?  If it be so, then one may be tempted
+to ask why does not the same `sauce' suit shipowners, many of whom are
+notorious for sending to sea unseaworthy craft, and who consign above
+one thousand human beings to an untimely grave _every_ _year_ without
+being punished in any way or being asked for a farthing of compensation?
+
+"I have already said so much on this point gentlemen, that I shall make
+but a few remarks on the other two subjects.  Well, then, as to
+efficiency.  Our carrying ten millions of passengers in safety and
+comfort is one proof of that--and, I may remark in passing, that our
+receipts for the conveyance of these ten millions amounts to nearly half
+a million of money.  Another proof of our efficiency lies in the fact
+that all the compensation we have had to pay for loss or detention of
+luggage has been only 100 pounds.  Then as to goods.  For merchandise
+carried we have received about 150,000 pounds, and the total
+compensation for the half-year amounts to only about 660 pounds.  Surely
+I may say with truth that such facts speak to the regularity and
+efficiency of your service.
+
+"If the public only knew the anxiety and care with which its interests
+are looked after both by night and by day by our excellent passenger and
+goods-managers they would perhaps present each of these gentlemen with a
+testimonial piece of plate, and would for evermore lay aside that wicked
+and ungrateful idea that railway companies are `fair game,' to be
+plundered by every one who receives, or fancies he has received, the
+slightest possible amount of damage to limb or property.  Railway
+companies are not perfect any more than other companies.  There are
+certain faults, it may be, and weak points, which all of us deplore, and
+which are being remedied as fast as experience and the progress of human
+knowledge will admit, but I hold, gentlemen, that the management of
+railway companies is above the average management of many other
+companies.  We have much more work--more dangerous work--to do than
+other companies, and we do it with much less proportional loss to life,
+limb, and property."
+
+"He-ar, he-ar!" burst from the toady in spite of his recent rebuke; but
+as it was drowned in a round of hearty applause no one was the wiser or
+the worse of his note of approval.
+
+"When I think," continued the chairman, "of the condition this country
+was in before the days of railways--which probably most of those present
+remember--the ingratitude of the public seems to me utterly
+unaccountable.  I can only understand it on the supposition that they
+have somehow obtained false notions as to the great value of railways
+and the great blessing they are to the community.
+
+"Why, our goods-manager informs me that there is a certain noble lord,
+whom of course I may not name in public, who has a farm at a
+considerable distance out of town.  He has a fancy that the milk and
+cream produced on his own farm is better than Metropolitan milk and
+cream--(laughter).  He therefore resolves to have fresh milk and cream
+sent in from his farm every morning, and asks us to carry it for him.
+We agree; but he further insists that the milk and cream shall be
+delivered at his residence punctually at nine a.m.  To this we also
+agree, because the thing can be done; yet it is sharp practice, for it
+is only by the train arriving at its time, punctually to a minute, and
+by our horse and van being in readiness to start the instant it is
+loaded, that the thing can be accomplished.  Now, gentlemen, it is owing
+to the extreme care and vigorous superintendence of our goods--I had
+almost said our good-manager that that noble lord has never missed his
+milk or cream one morning during the last six months.  And the same
+punctuality attends the milk-delivery of `Brown, Jones, and Robinson,'
+for railways, as a rule, are no respecters of persons.  Should not this,
+I ask, infuse a little of the milk of human kindness into the public
+heart in reference to railways?
+
+"Then, consider other advantages.  In days not long gone by a few
+coaches carried a few hundreds of the more daring among our population
+over the land at a high cost and at the truly awful rate of ten miles an
+hour.  In some cases the break-neck speed of twelve was attained.  Most
+people preferred to remain at home rather than encounter the fatigues,
+risks, and expense of travelling.  What are the facts now?  Above three
+hundred millions of separate journeys are undertaken by rail in the
+United Kingdom in one year.  Our sportsmen can breakfast in London on
+the 11th of August, sup the same night in Scotland, and be out on the
+moors on the morning of the 12th.  On any afternoon any lady in England
+may be charmed with Sir Walter Scott's `Lady of the Lake,' and, if so
+minded, she may be a lady on the veritable lake itself before next
+evening!  Our navvies now travel for next to nothing in luxurious ease
+at thirty miles an hour, and our very beggars scorn to walk when they
+can travel at one penny a mile.  But all this is nothing compared with
+our enormous increase of goods traffic throughout the kingdom.  I have
+not time, nor is this the place, to enlarge on such a subject, but a
+pretty good commentary on it exists in the simple fact that on your line
+alone, which is not, as you know, the largest of the railways of this
+land, the receipts for goods, minerals, and live-stock carried amounted
+to 500,000 pounds in the last half-year, as you will see from the
+report.
+
+"There is one point to which I would now direct your attention--namely,
+the great facilities which we give to residential and season-ticket
+holders.  I think it a wise and just course to afford the public such
+facilities, because it tends to produce a permanent source of traffic by
+tempting men, who would otherwise be content to live within walking or
+'bus distance of their offices, to go down into the country and build
+villas there, and if you extend that sort of arrangement largely, you
+cause villages at last to grow into towns, and towns to spread out with
+population and with manufactures.  I regard our course of action in
+regard to season-tickets, therefore, as a sowing of the seed of
+permanent and enduring income.  The receipts from this source alone, I
+am happy to say, amounts to 84,000 pounds."
+
+Captain Lee's spirit had, at the bare mention of season-tickets, gone
+careering down the line to Clatterby, in the beautiful suburbs of which
+he had the most charming little villa imaginable, but he was abruptly
+recalled by a "he-ar, he-ar," from the toady, who was gradually becoming
+himself again, and a round of applause from the audience, in which,
+having an amiable tendency to follow suit, he joined.
+
+After this the chairman expatiated at some length on the economical
+working of the line and on various other subjects of great importance to
+the shareholders, but of little interest to the general reader; we will
+therefore pass them all by and terminate our report of this meeting with
+the chairman's concluding remark, which was, that, out of the free
+revenue, after deduction of the dividends payable on guaranteed and
+preference stocks and other fixed charges, the directors recommended the
+payment of a dividend on the ordinary stock of six and a half per cent.
+
+It need scarcely be said that this latter statement was received with
+hearty applause and with an irrepressible "he-ar, he-ar!" from the
+toady, which was not only tolerated by the meeting, but echoed by the
+wag in the distance, who, though his words that day had been few, had
+done the shareholders good service nevertheless, inasmuch as he had
+quelled, to some extent the propensities of a self-sufficient "bore."
+
+Lest the reader should regard us as a statistical bore, we shall bring
+this chapter to a close.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.
+
+GERTIE IS MYSTERIOUSLY CARED FOR--SAM NATLY DINES UNDER DIFFICULTIES IN
+CONNEXION WITH THE BLOCK SYSTEM.
+
+One day, not long after the half-yearly meeting described in the last
+chapter, Mrs Marrot--being at the time engaged with the baby--received
+a visit from an elderly gentleman, who introduced himself as a lawyer,
+and said that he had been sent by a client to make a proposal to her--
+
+"Of course," he said, with a bland smile, "I do not refer to a
+matrimonial proposal."
+
+Mrs Marrot felt and looked surprised, but waited for more in silence.
+
+"To come to the point at once," continued the elderly gentleman, "my
+client, who is rather eccentric, has taken a great fancy, it seems, to
+your little daughter Gertrude--Gertie he calls her--and is desirous of
+giving her a good education, if you have no objection."
+
+Mrs Marrot, being under the impression that this would involve Gertie's
+being taken away from her, and being put to a boarding-school, at once
+looked her objections so plainly, that her visitor hastened to explain
+that his client did not wish Gertie to quit her parents' house, but
+merely to go for a few hours each day to the residence of a teacher in
+the neighbourhood--a governess--whom he should provide.
+
+This altered the case so much that Mrs Marrot expressed herself quite
+ready to allow Gertie to undergo _that_ amount of education, and hoped
+it would do her good, though, for her part she did not believe in
+education herself, seeing that she had got on in life perfectly well
+without it.  She also expressed some curiosity to know who was so good
+as to take such an interest in her child.
+
+"That, my good woman, I cannot tell, for two reasons; first because my
+client has enjoined me to give no information whatever about him; and,
+secondly, because I do not myself know his name, his business with me
+having been transacted through a young friend of mine, who is also a
+friend of his.  All I can say is, that his intentions towards your child
+are purely philanthropic, and the teacher whom he shall select will not
+be appointed, unless you approve.  That teacher, I may tell you, is Miss
+Tipps."
+
+"What!  Miss Netta teach my Gertie?" exclaimed Mrs Marrot in great
+surprise--"never!"
+
+"My good woman," said the lawyer with a perplexed look, "what is your
+objection to Miss Tipps?"
+
+"Objection?  I've no objection to Miss Netta, but she will have some
+objection to me and Gertie."
+
+"I thought," said the lawyer, "that Miss Tipps had already taught your
+child, to some extent, gratuitously."
+
+"So she has, God bless her; but that was in the Sunday-school, where she
+teaches a number of poor people's children for the sake of our dear
+Lord--but that is a very different thing from giving or'nary schoolin'
+to my Gertie."
+
+"That may be," rejoined the lawyer; "but you are aware that Miss Tipps
+already teaches in order to increase her mother's small income, and she
+will probably be glad to get another pupil.  We mean to pay her well for
+the service, and I suppose that if _she_ has no objection _you_ will
+have none."
+
+"Cer'nly not!" replied Mrs Marrot with much emphasis.
+
+Whenever Mrs Marrot said anything with unusual emphasis, baby Marrot
+entertained the unalterable conviction that he was being scolded; no
+sooner, therefore, did he observe the well-known look, and hear the
+familiar tones, than he opened wide his mouth and howled with injured
+feeling.  At the same moment a train rushed past like an average
+earthquake, and in the midst of this the man of law rose, and saying
+that he would communicate with Mrs Marrot soon, took his leave.
+
+Next evening Mrs Tipps was seated at tea with Netta, planning with
+anxious care how to make the two ends meet, but, apparently, without
+much success.
+
+"It is dreadful, Netta," said Mrs Tipps; "I was never before brought to
+this condition."
+
+"It _is_ very dreadful," responded Netta, "but that renders it all the
+more imperative that we should take some decided step towards the
+payment of our debts."
+
+"Yes, the liquidation of our debts," said Mrs Tipps, nodding slowly;
+"that was the term your dear father was wont to use."
+
+"You know, mamma, at the worst we can sell our furniture--or part of
+it--and pay them off, and then, with a system of rigid economy--"
+
+A postman's knock cut short the sentence, and in a few seconds Mrs
+Durby--careworn and subdued--presented a letter to her mistress and
+retired.
+
+"My--my dear!" exclaimed Mrs Tipps, "th-this is positively miraculous.
+Here is a cheque for fifty pounds, and--but read for yourself."
+
+Netta seized the letter and read it aloud.  It ran thus:--
+
+"Clarendon Hotel, London.
+
+"Dear Madam,--There is a little girl living in your neighbourhood, in
+whose father I have a deep interest.  I am particularly anxious to give
+this child, Gertrude Marrot by name, a good plain education.
+Understanding that your daughter has had considerable experience in
+teaching the young, and is, or has been, engaged in tuition, I venture
+to propose that she should undertake the training of this child, who
+will attend at your daughter's residence for that purpose at any hours
+you may deem most suitable.  In the belief that your daughter will have
+no objection to accept of this trust I enclose a cheque for 50 pounds--
+the first year's salary--in advance.  I am, dear madam, your very
+obedient servant,
+
+"Samuel Tough."
+
+Although the above can scarcely be considered a brilliant achievement of
+Edwin Gurwood, it nevertheless accomplished its purpose; for the letter
+was, in all respects, so very unlike Captain Lee, that neither Mrs
+Tipps nor her daughter suspected him for an instant.  On the contrary,
+they took it in good faith.  Netta wrote a reply by return of post
+agreeing to the proposal, and on the day following began her pleasant
+task, to the inexpressible delight of Gertie, who would joyfully, on any
+terms whatever, have been Netta's slave--not to mention pupil.
+
+A considerable time after this happy arrangement had been made, Mrs
+Durby, in a moment of confidential weakness, related to little Gertie
+the circumstances attending the loss of the diamond ring.  Gertie, on
+returning home, communicated the matter to Loo, and gave it as her
+opinion that it was a pity such a valuable ring had been lost.
+
+"Couldn't father find out about it somehow?" she asked with a hopeful
+look--hopeful because she believed her father capable of doing anything
+he chose to set his mind to.
+
+"Perhaps he could, but he won't be home to-night," replied Loo,
+thoughtfully.
+
+"I think Sam Natly could tell us how to find it.  Suppose I go and ask
+him," said Gertie.
+
+Loo laughed, and said she thought Sam couldn't help them much.  The
+child was, however, a resolute little thing, and, having taken up the
+idea, determined to go and see Sam forthwith, as he was on duty not far
+from John Marrot's cottage.
+
+Sam had recently been advanced from the position of a porter, to the
+responsible office of a signalman.  The great sin he had committed in
+going to sleep in a first-class carriage, when unable to keep his eyes
+open, had been forgiven, partly because it was his first offence, partly
+because of the good and opportune service he had rendered on the day of
+the attempted robbery, and partly on account of his being one of the
+steadiest and most intelligent men on the line.  Sam's wife, under the
+care of Mrs Tipps and Mrs Durby, had made a marvellous recovery, and
+Sam's gratitude knew no bounds.  Mrs Tipps happened to refer to him one
+day when conversing with Captain Lee, and the latter was much pleased to
+discover that the man in whom Mrs Tipps felt so much interest, was the
+same man who had come to his help in the hour of his extremity.  He
+therefore made inquiry about him of the station-master at Clatterby.
+That gentleman said that Sam was a first-rate man, a stout,
+hard-working, modest fellow, besides being remarkably intelligent, and
+clear-headed and cool, especially in the midst of danger, as had been
+exemplified more than once in cases of accident at the station, in
+addition to which Sam was a confirmed abstainer from strong drink.  All
+these facts were remembered, and when the block system of signalling was
+introduced on that part of the line Sam was made a signalman.
+
+The scene of his new labours was an elevated box at the side of the
+line, not far from Gertie's home.  As this box was rather curious we
+shall describe it.  It was a huge square sentry-box, with three of its
+sides composed of windows; these commanded a view of the line in all
+directions.  On the fourth side of the box hung a time-piece and a
+framed copy of signal regulations.  There was a diminutive stove in one
+corner, and a chest in another.  In front of the box facing the clock
+were two telegraphic instruments, and a row of eight or ten long iron
+levers, which very much resembled a row of muskets in a rack.  These
+levers were formidable instruments in aspect and in fact, for they not
+only cost Sam a pretty strong effort to move them, but they moved points
+and signals, on the correct and prompt movements of which depended the
+safety of the line, and the lives of human beings.
+
+Just before little Gertie reached the station, Sam happened to be
+engaged in attempting to take his dinner.  We use the word _attempting_
+advisedly, because our signalman had not the ghost of a chance to sit
+down, as ordinary mortals do, and take his dinner with any degree of
+certainty.  He took it as it were, disjointedly in the midst of alarms.
+That the reader may understand why, we must observe that the "block
+system" of signalling, which had recently been introduced on part of the
+line, necessitated constant attention, and a series of acts, which gave
+the signalman no rest, during certain periods of his watch, for more
+than two minutes at a time, if so long.  The block system is the method
+of protecting trains by "blocking" the line; that is, forbidding the
+advance of trains until the line is clear, thus securing an interval of
+_space_ between trains, instead of the older and more common method of
+an interval of _time_.  The chief objection to the latter system is
+this, that one accident is apt to cause another.  Suppose a train
+despatched from a station; an interval of say quarter of an hour allowed
+and then another sent off.  If the first train should break down, there
+is some chance of the second train overtaking and running into it.  With
+the block system this is impossible.  For instance, a train starts from
+any station, say A, and has to run past stations B and C.  The instant
+it starts the signalman at A rings a telegraph bell to attract B's
+attention, at the same time he indicates on another telegraphic
+instrument "Train on line," locks his instruments in that position, and
+puts up the "stop" signal, or, blocks the line.  B replies,
+acknowledging the signal, and telegraphs to C to be ready.  The moment
+the train passes B's station, he telegraphs to C, "Train on line," and
+blocks that part of the line with the semaphore, "Stop", as A had done,
+he also telegraphs back to A, "Line clear," whereupon A lets a second
+train on, if one is ready.  Very soon C sends "Line clear" to B,
+whereupon B is prepared to let on that second train, when it comes up,
+and so on _ad infinitum_.  The signals, right and left are invariably
+repeated, so that there is no chance of mistake though the failure of
+the telegraph instruments, because if any of these should fail, the want
+of a reply would at once induce a telegram through the "speaking"
+instrument with which each station is furnished, and which is similar to
+the telegraph instruments used at most railway stations, and the line
+would remain "blocked" until a satisfactory answer set it free.  The
+working of the semaphore signals, which are familiar to most people as
+tall posts with projecting moveable arms, is accomplished by the
+mechanical action of the "levers" before mentioned.  There are two
+"distant" signals and one "home" signal to be worked by each man.
+Besides these there are levers for working the various "points" around
+the station which lead to sidings, and when these levers are in action,
+i.e. placed for the shunting of a goods train, they self-lock the levers
+that "block" the line, so that while this operation of shunting (which
+just means shoving a train to one side out of the way) is going on, the
+signalman could not make the mistake of letting a train pass the distant
+signal--the thing is rendered impossible.
+
+From this it will be seen that the signalman has entire control of the
+line, and if we consider that shunting of waggons, carriages, and trains
+is a pretty constant and lively operation at some stations, we can
+easily conceive that the office of signalman can only be filled by a
+very able and trustworthy man.
+
+As we have said, just before Gertie's arrival Sam Natly chanced to be
+attempting to dine.  The telegraph needles pointed to "Line clear" on
+both sides of him.  Dinner consisted of a sort of Irish stew cooked in a
+little square iron pan that fitted into the small stove.  Being a
+placid, good-humoured man, not easily thrown off his balance either
+mentally or physically, Sam smiled slightly to himself as he put the
+first bit of meat into his mouth.  He thought of his wife, wished that
+she was there to assist in the eating of it and shut his lips on the
+savoury morsel.  A piece of potato was arrested by the sharp telegraph
+bell--one beat--of warning.  The potato followed the meat as he was in
+the act of rising.  Sam touched his telegraphic bell in reply to his
+signal-friend on the right, and "Train on line" was marked by a
+telegraphic needle pointing to these words.  As the train was yet a
+great way off, at least as to distance, he sat down again and disposed
+of bit number two.  Number three followed, and he had made some approach
+to engulfing number four when a shrill whistle struck his ear.  Up he
+sprang, glanced at the time-piece, wiped his mouth, and went to the
+levers.  He touched his bell--a single note of warning to his
+signal-friend on the left and received a reply, one beat, meaning
+"Ready."  The train appeared, came up like a rocket and went past like a
+thunderbolt.  When Sam saw its red tail-light, and thus knew that all
+the train was there,--that none of the tail carriages or trucks had
+broken loose and been left behind,--he gave a mighty pull to one of the
+levers, which turned up the arms of his distant signal, and thus blocked
+the line to all other trains.  The needle was now "pegged down" or fixed
+at "Train on line," so that there could be no mistake about it, and no
+trusting to memory.  Having accomplished this, he went to a large book
+which lay open on a desk in a corner, glanced at the time-piece,
+recorded the passage of the train--a passenger one, and once more sat
+down to dinner.
+
+The distance between his station and the next to the left was somewhat
+greater than that on the right, so that at least three mouthfuls in
+succession, of the Irish stew, were disposed of before the wicked little
+bell summoned him again.  He rose as before with alacrity, rung his bell
+in reply, and unstopped his needle.  The friend on his left at once
+pointed it to "Line clear," whereupon Sam again went to his levers, and
+lowered the obstructing arms on his right.  Having thus a clear line on
+right and left, he sat down for the third time to dinner, with a clear
+head and a clear conscience.
+
+But he was interrupted sooner than before, indeed he had barely got one
+mouthful deposited when he was rung up by the friend on his right, with
+_two_ beats of the bell, to pass a heavy goods train, which, with
+something like the impatience of stout people in crossing dangerous
+roads, was anxious to get on and out of the way as fast as possible, for
+it knew that a `limited mail' was tearing after it, at a fearfully
+unlimited pace.  Sam knew this too--indeed he knew, and was bound to
+know, every train that had to pass that station, up and down, during his
+period of duty.  He therefore replied, sat down, had a bite or two, and
+sprang up when the whistle of the train was audible.  There was longer
+delay this time, for the goods train had to stop, and be shunted, at
+this station.  Moreover, another goods train that had quietly, but
+impatiently, been biding its time in a siding, thought it would try to
+take advantage of this opportunity, and gave an impatient whistle.  Sam
+opened one of his sliding windows and looked out.
+
+"Couldn't you let me shunt over a truck t'other side _now_, Sam?" asked
+its driver remonstratively.
+
+Sam glanced at his time-piece with an earnest thoughtful look, and
+said--
+
+"Well, yes; but look sharp."
+
+He had already pulled the lever of the home signal, and now, with two
+mighty pulls, blocked both up and down lines with the distant signals.
+At the same time he pulled other levers, and shifted the "points," so as
+to let the plethoric goods train just arrived, and the goods train in
+waiting, perform their respective evolutions.  It required nearly all
+Sam's strength to "pull over" several of those levers, because, besides
+being somewhat heavy to work, even at their best, several of them had
+got slightly out of order--wanted oiling, perhaps.  It was quite evident
+to the meanest capacity that there was room for improvement in this
+department of the Grand National Trunk Railway.  In performing this last
+operation Sam locked all the semaphores, and so rendered his part of the
+line absolutely impregnable.  There was so much vigorous action and
+whistling here, and such puffing and backing and pushing on the part of
+the engines, that a superficial observer might have supposed there was a
+great deal of movement and confusion to no purpose, but we need scarcely
+say that such was not the case.  Several trucks of goods were dropped by
+both trains, to be carried on by other trains, and several trucks that
+had been left by other trains, were taken up, and thus in a few minutes
+a part of the enormous traffic of the line was assorted.
+
+Sam had judged his time well.  He had got a good piece of work advanced,
+and both trains well out of the way, just before the bell again
+intimated the approach of the limited mail.  He replied, set the line
+free, booked the passage of the goods train, and sat down once more to
+dinner, just as the door of his box opened and the pretty face of Gertie
+peeped in.
+
+We are not sure that such a visit would be permitted in these days of
+stringent "rules;" at that time they may not have been very particular
+as to visitors, or perhaps Gertie, being one of themselves, as it were,
+was privileged.  Be this as it may, there she was with a laughing face.
+
+"May I come in, Sam?"
+
+"May a cherub from the skies come in--yes," replied Sam, rising and
+lifting Gertie in his strong arms until he could print a kiss on her
+forehead without stooping.  "All well at home, Gertie?"
+
+"Very well, thank you.  We expect father home to tea."
+
+"I know that," said Sam, sitting down at his small table and attempting
+dinner once again.
+
+"How do you know that?" asked Gertie in surprise.
+
+"'Cause I've got to pass him up wi' the express in half-an-hour,"
+replied Sam, with his mouth full, "and, of course, he don't prefer
+takin' tea on the _Lightenin'_ with his mate Bill Garvie, w'en he's got
+a chance o' takin' it wi' his wife and a little angel, like you."
+
+"I wish you'd not talk nonsense, Sam," remonstrated Gertie with a
+serious look.
+
+"That ain't nonsense," said Sam, stoutly.
+
+"Yes, it is," said Gertie; "you know angels are good."
+
+"Well, and ain't you good?" demanded the signalman, filling his mouth
+with a potato.
+
+"Mother says I am, and I feel as if I was," replied Gertie with much
+simplicity, "but you know angels are _very_ _very_ good, and, of
+_course_, I'm not near so good as them."
+
+"You are," said Sam, with an obstinate snap at a piece of meat; "you're
+better than any of 'em.  You only want wings to be complete."
+
+Gertie laughed, and then remarked that Sam dined late, to which Sam
+replied that he did, that he preferred it, and that he didn't see why
+gentlefolk should have that sort of fun all to themselves.
+
+"What's that?" exclaimed Gertie, as Sam dropped his knife and fork, rang
+his electric bell, and laid hold of a lever.
+
+"The limited mail, my dear," said Sam, as the train rushed by.
+
+"Oh, how it shakes the house!  I wonder it don't fall," exclaimed the
+child.
+
+"It's made to be well shaken, like a bottle o' bad physic," replied Sam,
+as he went through the various processes already described, before
+sitting down to finish his oft-interrupted meal.
+
+"Do you always take your dinner in that uncomfortable way?" asked
+Gertie, sitting down on the chest and looking earnestly into the manly
+countenance of her friend.
+
+"Mostly," said Sam, at last finishing off with a draught of pure water,
+and smacking his lips.
+
+"Sometimes it's all I can do to get it eaten--other times I'm not so
+hard pressed, but it's never got over without interruption, more or
+less."
+
+"Are breakfast and tea as bad?"
+
+"Not quite," replied Sam with a laugh; "about breakfast time the traffic
+ain't quite so fast and furious, and I takes tea at home."
+
+"How long are you here at a time?" asked the inquisitive Gertie.
+
+"Twelve hours, my dear, and no time allowed for meals."
+
+"Surely you must be very tired?"
+
+"Sometimes, but they talk of shortening the hours soon.  There's a want
+of signalmen just now, that's how it is.  But what good fortune has sent
+_you_ here this evenin', Gertie?"
+
+"I want to ask you about a ring, Sam."
+
+"A ring!  What! you ain't goin' to get married already, are you?"
+
+Gertie replied by bursting into a hearty fit of laughter; when she had
+sufficiently recovered her gravity, she revealed her troubles to the
+sympathising signalman.
+
+"Well, it _is_ a perplexin' business.  What was the old woman doin' wi'
+such a ring tied up in such a queer way?"
+
+"I don't know," said Gertie.
+
+"Well, it ain't no business of mine, but we must try to git hold of it
+somehow.  I'll be off dooty at six, and your dad'll be passin' in a few
+minutes.  After I'm free, I'll go up to the shed and have a palaver with
+'im.  There he is."
+
+As he spoke the bell was rung by his signal-friend on the left replied
+to in the usual way, and in a few minutes the chimney of the _Lightning_
+was seen over the top of the embankment that hid a bend of the up-line
+from view.
+
+"Put your head out here at this window, and be ready to wave your hand,
+Gertie," said Sam, placing the child.
+
+The "Flying Dutchman" came on in its wonted wild fashion, and for a few
+seconds Gertie saw her father's bronzed and stern face as he looked
+straight ahead with his hand on the regulator.  John Marrot cast one
+professional glance up, and gave a professional wave of his right hand
+to the signalman.  At that instant his whole visage lighted up as if a
+beam of sunshine had suffused it, and his white teeth, uncovered by a
+smile, gleamed as he flew past and looked back.  Gertie waved
+frantically with her kerchief, which flew from her hand and for some
+distance followed the train.  In another moment the "Flying Dutchman"
+was a speck in the distance--its terrific crash suddenly reduced by
+distance to a low rumble.
+
+"Evenin', Jack," said Sam, as his successor or comrade on the
+"night-shift" entered the box, "Come along now, Gertie.  We'll go and
+see your father.  He'll be up at the station in no time, and won't take
+long to run back to the shed."
+
+So saying, Sam Natly assisted Gertie down the long iron ladder, by which
+his nest was reached, and walked with her to the engine-shed, which they
+soon reached.  They had not waited long before John Marrot's iron horse
+came panting slowly into its accustomed stable.
+
+As there were at least twelve iron horses there in all stages of
+being-put-to-bedism, and some, like naughty boys, were blowing off their
+steam with absolutely appalling noise, it was next to impossible for
+Gertie and Sam to make known their difficulty to John.  They therefore
+waited until he had seen his satellites in proper attendance upon his
+charger, and then left the shed along with him.
+
+When the case was made known to John, he at once said, "Why didn't they
+apply to the Clearin' House, I wonder?"
+
+"Ah, why not?" said Sam.
+
+"Nurse doesn't know about that place, I think," suggested Gertie.
+
+"Very likely not; but if she'd only gone an' seen any one as know'd
+anything about the line, she'd have found it out.  However, the parcel's
+pretty sure to be somewhere, so I'll set some inquiries a-foot w'en I
+goes up to town to-morrow.  Good-night, Sam."
+
+"Good-night, John," answered the signalman, as he turned off in the
+direction of his own dwelling, while the engine-driver and his little
+daughter pursued the footpath that led to their cottage.
+
+Sam Natly's residence was a very small one, for house-rent was high in
+that neighbourhood.  There were only two rooms in it, but these two bore
+evidence of being tended by a thrifty housewife; and, truly, when Sam's
+delicate, but partially recovered, wife met him at the door that night,
+and gave him a hearty kiss of welcome, no one with an atom of good taste
+could have avoided admitting that she was a remarkably pretty, as well
+as thrifty, little woman.
+
+"You're late to-night, Sam," said little Mrs Natly.
+
+"Yes, I've had to go to the shed to see John Marrot about a diamond
+ring."
+
+"A diamond ring!" exclaimed his wife.
+
+"Yes, a diamond ring."
+
+Hereupon Sam related all he knew about the matter, and you may be sure
+the subject was quite sufficient to furnish ground for a very lively and
+speculative conversation, during the preparation and consumption of as
+nice a little hot supper, as any hard-worked signalman could desire.
+
+"You're tired, Sam," said his little wife anxiously.
+
+"Well, I am a bit.  It's no wonder, for it's a pretty hard job to work
+them levers for twelve hours at a stretch without an interval, even for
+meals, but I'm gittin' used to it--like the eels to bein' skinned."
+
+"It's a great shame of the Company," cried Mrs Natly with indignation.
+
+"Come, come," cried Sam, "no treason!  It ain't such a shame as it
+looks.  You see the Company have just bin introducin' a noo system of
+signallin', an' they ha'n't got enough of men who understand the thing
+to work it, d'ye see; so of course we've got to work double tides, as
+the Jack-tars say.  If they _continue_ to keep us at it like that I'll
+say it's a shame too, but we must give 'em time to git things into
+workin' order.  Besides, they're hard-up just now.  There's a deal o'
+money throw'd away by companies fightin' an' opposin' one another--
+cuttin' their own throats, I calls it--and they're awful hard used by
+the public in the way o' compensation too.  It's nothin' short o'
+plunder and robbery.  If the public would claim moderately, and juries
+would judge fairly, an' directors would fight less, shareholders would
+git higher dividends, the public would be better served, and railway
+servants would be less worked and better paid."
+
+"I don't care two straws, Sam," said little Mrs Natly with great
+firmness, "not two straws for their fightin's, an' joories, and
+davydens--all I know is that they've no right whatever to kill my
+'usband, and it's a great shame!"
+
+With this noble sentiment the earnest little woman concluded the
+evening's conversation, and allowed her wearied partner to retire to
+rest.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.
+
+A SOIREE WILDLY INTERRUPTED, AND FOLLOWED UP BY SURPRISING REVELATIONS.
+
+One afternoon Captain Lee and Emma called on Mrs Tipps, and found her
+engaged in earnest conversation with Netta.  The captain, who was always
+in a boiling-over condition, and never felt quite happy except when in
+the act of planning or carrying out some scheme for the increase of
+general happiness, soon discovered that Netta was discussing the details
+of a little treat which she meant to give to the boys and girls of a
+Sunday-school which she and her mother superintended.  With all his
+penetration he did not, however, find out that the matter which called
+most for consideration was the financial part of the scheme--in other
+words, how to accomplish the end desired with extremely limited means.
+He solved the question for them, however, by asserting that he intended
+to give all the scholars of all the Sunday-schools in the neighbourhood
+a treat, and of course meant to include Netta's school among the rest--
+unless, of course, she possessed so much exclusive pride as to refuse to
+join him.
+
+There was no resisting Captain Lee.  As well might a red-skin attempt to
+stop Niagara.  When once he had made up his mind to "go in" for
+something, no mortal power could stop him.  He might indeed be _turned_.
+Another object of interest, worthy of pursuit and judiciously put
+before him, might perhaps induce him to abandon a previous scheme; but
+once his steam was up, as John Marrot used to say, you could not get him
+to blow it off into the air.  He was unlike the iron horse in that
+respect, although somewhat like him in the rigour of his action.
+Accordingly the thing was fixed.  Invitations were sent out to all the
+schools and to all who took an interest in them, and the place fixed on
+was a field at the back of Mrs Tipps's villa.
+
+The day came, and with it the children in their best array.  The weather
+was all that could be wished--a bright sun and a clear sky,--so that the
+huge tent provided in case of rain, was found to be only required to
+shade the provisions from the sun.  Besides the children there were the
+teachers--many of them little more than children as to years, but with a
+happy earnestness of countenance and manner which told of another
+element in their breasts that evidently deepened and intensified their
+joy.  There were several visitors and friends of Captain Lee and Mrs
+Tipps.  Emma was there, of course, the busiest of the busy in making
+arrangements for the feast which consisted chiefly of fruit, buns, and
+milk.  Netta and she managed that department together.  Of course little
+Gertie was there and her sister Loo, from which we may conclude that
+Will Garvie was there in spirit, not only because that would have been
+natural, but because he had expressly told Loo the day before that he
+meant to be present in that attenuated condition.  Bodily, poor fellow,
+he was on the foot-plate of the _Lightning_, which is as much as to say
+that he was everywhere by turns, and nowhere long.  Mrs Marrot was
+there too, and baby, with Nanny Stocks as his guardian.  Miss Stocks's
+chief employment during the evening appeared to be to forget herself in
+the excess of her delight, and run baby's head against all sorts of
+things and persons.  Perhaps it was as well she did so, because it
+tended to repress his energy.  She acted the part of regulator and
+safety-valve to that small human engine, by controlling his actions and
+permitting him good-naturedly to let off much of his superfluous steam
+on herself.  Indeed she was a species of strong buffer in this respect,
+receiving and neutralising many a severe blow from his irrepressible
+feet and fists.  Bob Marrot was also there with his bosom friend Tomtit
+Dorkin, whose sole occupation in life up to that time had been to put
+screws on nuts; this must have been "nuts" to him, as the Yankees have
+it, because, being a diligent little fellow, he managed to screw himself
+through life at the Clatterby Works to the tune of twelve shillings a
+week.  Joseph Tipps, having got leave of absence for an evening, was
+also there,--modest amiable, active and self-abnegating.  So was Mrs
+Natly, who, in consideration of her delicate health, was taken great
+care of, and very much made of, by Mrs Tipps and her family--
+conspicuously by Mrs Durby, who had become very fond of her since the
+night she nursed her.  Indeed there is little doubt that Mrs Durby and
+the bottle of wine were the turning-point of Mrs Natly's illness, and
+that but for them, poor Sam would have been a widower by that time.  Mr
+Able, the director, was also there, bland and beaming, with a brother
+director who was anything but bland or beaming, being possessed of a
+grave, massive, strongly marked and stern countenance; but nevertheless,
+owning a similar spirit and a heart which beat high with philanthropic
+desires and designs--though few who came in contact with him, except his
+intimate friends, would believe it.  There were also present an elderly
+clergyman and a young curate--both good, earnest men, but each very
+different in many respects from the other.  The elder clergyman had a
+genial, hearty countenance and manner, and he dressed very much like
+other gentlemen.  The young curate might have breakfasted on his poker,
+to judge from the stiffness of his back, and appeared to be afraid of
+suffering from cold in the knees and chest, to judge from the length of
+his surtout and the height of his plain buttonless vest.
+
+When all were assembled on the green and the viands spread, the elder
+clergyman gave out a hymn; and the curate, who had a capital voice, led
+off, but he was speedily drowned by the gush of song that rose from the
+children's lips.  It was a lively hymn, and they evidently rejoiced to
+sing it.  Then the elder clergyman made the children a short speech.  It
+was amazingly brief, insomuch that it quite took the little ones by
+surprise--so short was it, indeed and so much to the point, that we will
+venture to set it down here.
+
+"Dear children," he said, in a loud voice that silenced every chattering
+tongue, "we have met here to enjoy ourselves.  There is but one of your
+Sunday lessons which I will remind you of to-day.  It is this,--`Whether
+ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.'
+Before beginning, then, let us ask God's blessing."
+
+Thereupon he asked a blessing, which was also so brief, that, but for
+the all-prevailing name of Jesus, with which he closed it, some of those
+who heard him would scarce have deemed it a prayer at all.  Yet this
+elderly clergyman was not always brief.
+
+He was not brief, for instance, in his private prayers for himself, his
+friends, and his flock.  Brevity did not mark his proceedings when
+engaged in preparing for the Sabbath services.  He was not brief when,
+in his study, he pleaded with some awakened but unbelieving soul to cast
+itself unreservedly on the finished work of our Saviour.  He was a man
+who carried his tact and common-sense into his religious duties; who
+hated formalism, regarding it as one of the great stumbling-blocks in
+the progress of Christianity, and who endeavoured at all times to suit
+his words and actions to the circumstances of the occasion.
+
+The children regarded him with a degree of affection that was all but
+irrepressible, and which induced them, at his earnest request, to sit
+still for a considerable time while his young brother gave them "a
+_short_ address."  He was almost emphatic on the word _short_, but the
+young curate did not appear to take the hint, or to understand the
+meaning of that word either in regard to discourses or surtouts.  He
+asserted himself in his surtouts and vests, without of course having a
+shadow of reason for so doing, save that some other young curates
+asserted themselves in the same way; and he asserted himself then and
+there in a tone of voice called "sermonising," to which foolish young
+men are sometimes addicted, and which, by the way, being a false, and
+therefore irreligious tone, is another great stumbling-block in the way
+of Christianity.  And, curiously enough, this young curate was really an
+earnest, though mistaken and intensely bigoted young man.  We call him
+bigoted, not because he held his own opinions, but because he held by
+his little formalities with as much apparent fervour as he held by the
+grand doctrines of his religion, although for the latter he had the
+authority of the Word, while for the former he had merely the authority
+of man.  His discourse was a good one, and if delivered in a natural
+voice and at a suitable time, might have made a good impression.  As it
+was, it produced pity and regret in his elder brother, exasperation in
+Captain Lee, profound melancholy in Joseph Tipps, great admiration in
+Miss Stocks and the baby, and unutterable _ennui_ in the children.
+Fortunately for the success of the day, in the middle of it, he took
+occasion to make some reference, with allegorical intentions, to the
+lower animals, and pointed to a pig which lay basking in the sunshine at
+no great distance, an unconcerned spectator of the scene.  A rather
+obtuse, fat-faced boy, was suddenly smitten with the belief that this
+was intended as a joke, and dutifully clapped his hands.  The effect was
+electrical--an irresistible cheer and clapping of hands ensued.  It was
+of no use to attempt to check it.  The more this was tried the more did
+the children seem to think they were invited to a continuance of their
+ovation to the young curate, who finally retired amid the hearty though
+unexpressed congratulations of the company.
+
+By good fortune, the arrival of several more friends diverted attention
+from this incident; and, immediately after, Captain Lee set the children
+to engage in various games, among which the favourite was
+blindman's-buff.
+
+One of the new arrivals was Edwin Gurwood, who had come, he said, to
+introduce a gentleman--Dr Noble--to Mrs Tipps.
+
+"Oh, the hypocrite!" thought Mrs Tipps; "he has come to see Emma Lee,
+and he knows it."
+
+Of course he knew it, and he knew that Mrs Tipps knew it, and he knew
+that Mrs Tipps knew that he knew it, yet neither he nor Mrs Tipps
+showed the slightest symptom of all that knowledge.  The latter bowed to
+Dr Noble, and was expressing her happiness in making his acquaintance,
+when a rush of laughing children almost overturned her, and hurled Dr
+Noble aside.  They were immediately separated in the crowd, and, strange
+to say, Edwin at once found himself standing beside Emma Lee, who, by
+some curious coincidence, had just parted from Netta, so that they found
+themselves comparatively alone.  What they said to each other in these
+circumstances it does not become us to divulge.
+
+While all parties were enjoying themselves to the full, including the
+young curate, whose discomfiture was softened by the kind attentions of
+Mrs Tipps and her daughter, an incident occurred which filled them with
+surprise and consternation.  Dr Noble was standing at the time near the
+large tent looking at the games, and Nanny Stocks was not far from him
+choking the baby with alternate sweetmeats and kisses, to the horror of
+Joseph Tipps, who fully expected to witness a case of croup or some such
+infantine disease in a few minutes, when suddenly a tall man with torn
+clothes, dishevelled hair and bloodshot eyes, sprang forward and
+confronted Dr Noble.
+
+"Ha!" he exclaimed with a wild laugh, "have I found you at last, mine
+enemy?"
+
+Dr Noble looked at him with much surprise, but did not reply.  He
+appeared to be paralysed.
+
+"I have sought you," continued the man, trembling with ill-suppressed
+passion, "over land and sea, and now I've found you.  You've got the
+casket--you know you have; you took it from my wife the night she died;
+you shall give it up now, or you die!"
+
+He spluttered rather than spoke the last words between his teeth, as he
+made a spring at the doctor.
+
+Edwin Gurwood had seen the man approach, and at once to his amazement
+recognising the features of Thomson, his old opponent in the train, he
+ran towards him, but was not near enough to prevent his first wild
+attack.  Fortunately for Dr Noble this was thwarted by no less a
+personage than Joseph Tipps, who, seeing what was intended, sprang
+promptly forward, and, seizing the man by the legs adroitly threw him
+down.  With a yell that sent a chill of horror to all the young hearts
+round, the madman, for such he plainly was, leaped up, but before he
+could renew his attack he was in the powerful grasp of his old enemy,
+Edwin Gurwood.  A terrific struggle ensued, for both men, as we have
+said before, were unusually powerful; but on this occasion madness more
+than counterbalanced Edwin's superior strength.  For some time they
+wrestled so fiercely that none of the other gentlemen could interfere
+with effect.  They dashed down the large tent and went crashing through
+the _debris_ of the feast until at length Thomson made a sudden twist
+freed himself from Edwin's grasp, leaving a shred of his coat in his
+hands, and, flying across the field, leaped at a single bound the wall
+that encompassed it.  He was closely followed by Edwin and by a
+constable of the district, who happened to arrive upon the scene, but
+the fugitive left them far behind, and was soon out of sight.
+
+This incident put an end to the evening's enjoyment but as the greater
+part of it had already passed delightfully before Thomson came on the
+ground to mar the sport, the children returned home much pleased with
+themselves and everybody else, despite the concluding scene.
+
+Meanwhile Mrs Tipps invited her friends who had assembled there to take
+tea in Eden Villa, and here Dr Noble was eagerly questioned as to his
+knowledge of his late assailant, but he either could not or would not
+throw light on the subject.  Some of the guests left early and some
+late, but to Mrs Tipps's surprise the doctor remained till the last of
+them had said good-night, after which, to her still greater surprise, he
+drew his chair close to the table, and, looking at her and Netta with
+much earnestness, said--
+
+"Probably you are surprised, ladies, that I, a stranger, have remained
+so long to-night.  The truth is, I had come here to have some
+conversation on private and very important matters, but finding you so
+lively, and, I must add, so pleasantly engaged, I deemed it expedient to
+defer my conversation until you should be more at leisure."
+
+He paused as if to collect his thoughts, and the ladies glanced at each
+other uneasily, and in some surprise, but made no reply.  In truth,
+remembering the scene they had just witnessed, they began to suspect
+that another style of madman had thought fit to pay them a visit.
+
+He resumed, however, with every appearance of sanity--
+
+"How the madman who assaulted me this evening found me out I know not.
+I was not aware until this day that he had been tracking me, but,
+judging from what he said, and from what I know about him, I now see
+that he must have been doing so for some years.  Here is the
+explanation, and, let me add, it intimately concerns yourselves."
+
+Mrs Tipps and Netta became more interested as Dr Noble proceeded.
+
+"You must know," he said, "that when in India some years ago I made
+several coasting voyages with a certain sea-captain as surgeon of his
+ship, at periods when my health required recruiting.  I received from
+that gentleman every attention and kindness that the heart of a good man
+could suggest.  On one of these voyages we had a native prince on board.
+He was voyaging, like myself, for the benefit of his health, but his
+case was a bad one.  He grew rapidly worse, and before the end of the
+voyage he died.  During his illness the captain nursed him as if he had
+been his own child; all the more tenderly that he thought him to be one
+of those unfortunate princes who, owing to political changes, had been
+ruined, and had lost all his wealth along with his station.  It was
+quite touching, I assure you, madam, to listen to the earnest tones of
+that captain's voice as he read passages from the Word of God to the
+dying prince, and sought to convince him that Jesus Christ, who became
+poor for our sakes, could bestow spiritual wealth that neither the
+world, nor life, nor death could take away.  The prince spoke very
+little, but he listened most intently.  Just before he died he sent a
+sailor lad who attended on him, for the captain, and, taking a small box
+from beneath his pillow, gave it to him, saying briefly,--`Here, take
+it, you have been my best friend, I shall need it no more.'
+
+"After he was dead the box was opened, and found to contain a most
+superb set of diamonds--a necklace, brooch, ear-rings, bracelets, and a
+ring, besides a quantity of gold pieces, the whole being worth several
+thousands of pounds.
+
+"As the prince had often said that all his kindred were dead, the
+captain had no conscientious scruples in retaining the gift.  He locked
+it away in his cabin.  When the voyage was finished--at Calcutta--the
+men were paid off.  The captain then be-thought him of placing his
+treasure in some place of security in the city.  He went to his chest
+and took out the box--it was light--he opened it hastily--the contents
+were gone!  Nothing was left to him of that splendid gift save the ring,
+which he had placed on his finger soon after receiving it, and had worn
+ever since.
+
+"From some circumstances that recurred to our memories, we both
+suspected the young man who had been in attendance on the prince, but,
+although we caused the most diligent search to be made, we failed to
+find him.  My friend and I parted soon after.  I was sent up to the
+hills, and never saw or heard of him again.
+
+"Several years after that I happened to be residing in Calcutta, and was
+called one night to see the wife of an Englishman who was thought to be
+dying.  I found her very ill--near her end.  She seemed to be anxious to
+communicate something to me, but appeared to be afraid of her husband.
+I thought, on looking at him attentively, that I had seen him before,
+and said so.  He seemed to be annoyed, and denied ever having met with
+me.  I treated the matter lightly, but took occasion to send him out for
+some physic, and, while he was away, encouraged the woman to unburden
+her mind.  She was not slow to do so.  `Oh, sir,' she said, `I want to
+communicate a secret, but dared not while my husband was by.  Long ago,
+before I knew him, my husband stole a box of diamonds from a Captain
+Tipps--'"
+
+"My husband!" exclaimed the widow.
+
+"You shall hear," said Dr Noble.  "`I often heard him tell the story,
+and boast of it,' continued the sick woman, quietly, `and I resolved to
+obtain possession of the box, and have it returned, if possible, to the
+rightful owner.  So I carried out my purpose--no matter how--and led him
+to suppose that the treasure had been stolen; but I have often fancied
+he did not believe me.  This Captain Tipps was a friend of yours, sir.
+I know it, because my husband has told me.  He remembers you, although
+you don't remember him.  I wish you to return the box to Captain Tipps,
+sir, if he is yet alive.  It lies--' here she drew me close to her, and
+whispered in my ear the exact spot, under a tree, where the jewels were
+hid.
+
+"`You'll be sure to remember the place?' she asked, anxiously.
+
+"`Remember what place?' demanded her husband, sternly, as he returned
+with the medicine.
+
+"No answer was given.  The woman fell back on hearing his voice, but,
+although she lived for nearly an hour, never spoke again.
+
+"The man turned on me, and asked again what place she had been speaking
+of.  I said that it was idle to repeat what might prove to be only the
+ravings of a dying woman.  He seized a bludgeon, and, raising it in a
+threatening manner, said, `I know you, Dr Noble; you shall tell me what
+I want to know, else you shall not quit this room alive.'
+
+"`I know you, too, Thomson,' said I, drawing a small sword from a stick
+which I always carried.  `If you proceed to violence, it remains to be
+seen who shall quit this room alive.'
+
+"I opened the door and walked quietly out, leaving him glaring like a
+tiger after me.
+
+"Going to the place described, I found the diamonds; and from that day
+to this I have not ceased to try to discover my old friend, but have not
+yet succeeded.  Knowing that he might be dead, I have made inquiry of
+every one possessing your name, Mrs Tipps, in the hope of discovering
+his widow or children; and, although your name _is_ an uncommon one,
+madam, you would be surprised if you knew how many I have ferreted out
+in the course of years.  Unfortunately, my friend never mentioned his
+family, or the place of his residence in England, so I have had no clue
+to guide me save one.  I have even found two widows of the name of Tipps
+besides yourself, and one of these said that her husband was a sailor
+captain, but her description of him was not that of my friend.  The
+other said her husband had been a lawyer, so of course _he_ could not be
+the man of whom I was in search."
+
+"But, sir," said Mrs Tipps, in some perplexity, "if you are to depend
+on description, I fear that you will never attain your end, for every
+one knows that descriptions given of the same person by different people
+never quite agree."
+
+"That is true, madam; and the description given to me this evening of
+your late husband is a case in point; for, although it agrees in many
+things--in most things--there is some discrepancy.  Did your husband
+never give you the slightest hint about a set of diamonds that he had
+once lost?"
+
+"Never; but I can account for that by the fact, that he never alluded to
+anything that had at any time given him pain or displeasure, if he could
+avoid it."
+
+"There is but the one clue, then, that I spoke of, namely, the ring that
+belonged to the set of diamonds.  Did your husband ever possess--"
+
+"The ring!" exclaimed Mrs Tipps and Netta in the same breath.  "Yes, he
+had a diamond ring--"
+
+They stopped abruptly, and looked at each other in distress, for they
+remembered that the ring had been lost.
+
+"Pray, what sort of ring is it?  Describe it to me," said Dr Noble.
+
+Netta carefully described it and, as she did so, the visitor's
+countenance brightened.
+
+"That's it; that's it exactly; that _must_ be it for I remember it well,
+and it corresponds in all respects with--my dear ladies, let me see the
+ring without delay."
+
+"Alas! sir," said Mrs Tipps, sadly, "the ring is lost!"
+
+A look of blank dismay clouded poor Dr Noble's visage as he heard these
+words, but he quickly questioned the ladies as to the loss, and became
+more hopeful on bearing the details.
+
+"Come," he said at last, as he rose to take leave, "things don't look
+quite so bad as they did at first.  From all I have heard I am convinced
+that my friend's widow and daughter are before me--a sight of the ring
+would put the question beyond all doubt.  We must therefore set to work
+at once and bend all our energies to the one great point of recovering
+the lost ring."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINETEEN.
+
+A RUN-AWAY LOCOMOTIVE.
+
+Being, as we have had occasion to remark before, a communicative and
+confiding little woman, Netta Tipps told the secret of the ring in
+strict confidence to her old nurse.  Mrs Durby, in a weak moment as on
+a former occasion, related the history of it to Gertie, who of course
+told Loo.  She naturally mentioned it to her lover, Will Garvie, and he
+conveyed the information to John Marrot.  Thus far, but no further, the
+thing went, for John felt that there might be danger in spreading the
+matter, and laid a strict injunction on all who knew of it to keep
+silence for a time.
+
+While at the station the day following, just after having brought in the
+"Flying Dutchman," he was accosted by the superintendent of police, who
+chanced to be lounging there with, apparently, nothing to do.  Never was
+there a man who was more frequently called on to belie his true
+character.  It was a part of Mr Sharp's duty to look lazy at times, and
+even stupid, so as to throw suspicious men off their guard.
+
+"A fine day, John," he said, lounging up to the engine where John was
+leaning on the rail, contemplating the departure of the passengers whose
+lives had been in his hands for the last hour and a half, while Will
+Garvie was oiling some of the joints of the iron horse.
+
+John admitted that it was a fine day, and asked what was the noos.
+
+"Nothing particular doing just now," said Mr Sharp.  "You've heard, I
+suppose, of the mad fellow who caused such a confusion among Miss
+Tipps's Sunday-school children last night?"
+
+"Oh yes, I heard o' that."
+
+"And did you hear that he turns out to be the man who jumped out of your
+train on the day of the attempted robbery?"
+
+"Yes, I've heard o' that too.  They haven't got him yet, I believe?"
+
+"No, not yet; but I think we shall have him soon," said Mr Sharp with a
+knowing glance; "I've heard rumours that lead me to think it would not
+be very surprising if we were to see him hanging about this station
+to-day or to-morrow.  I've got a sort of decoy-duck to attract him,"
+continued Mr Sharp, chuckling, "in the shape of a retired East India
+doctor, who agrees to hang about on the condition that we keep a sharp
+eye on him and guard him well from any sudden attack."
+
+"You don't mean _that_?" said the engine-driver in an earnest undertone.
+
+Instead of replying, the superintendent suddenly left him and sauntered
+leisurely along the platform, with his eyes cast down and softly humming
+a popular air.
+
+The act was so brusque and unlike Mr Sharp's naturally polite character
+that John knew at once, as he said, that "something was up," and looked
+earnestly along the platform, where he saw Thomson himself walking
+smartly about as if in search of some one.  He carried a heavy-headed
+stick in his hand and looked excited; but not much more so than an
+anxious or late passenger might be.
+
+Mr Sharp went straight towards the madman--still sauntering with his
+head down, however; and John Marrot could see that another man, whom he
+knew to be a detective, was walking round by the side of the platform,
+with the evident intention of taking him in rear.  The moment Thomson
+set eyes on the superintendent he recognised him, and apparently divined
+his object in approaching, for he started, clenched his teeth, and
+grasped his stick.  Mr Sharp instantly abandoned all attempt at
+concealment and ran straight at him.  Thomson, probably deeming
+discretion the better part of valour, turned and fled.  He almost ran
+into the arms of the detective, who now made sure of him, but he doubled
+like a hare and sprang off the platform on to the rails.  Here one or
+two of the men who were engaged in washing or otherwise looking after
+empty carriages, seeing what was going on, at once sought to intercept
+the madman, but he evaded two or three, knocked down another, and,
+finding himself alongside of a detached engine which stood there with
+steam up ready to be coupled to its train, he leaped upon it, felled the
+driver who was outside the rail, oiling some of the machinery, seized
+the handle of the regulator and turned on full steam.
+
+The driving-wheels revolved at first with such tremendous rapidity that
+they failed to "bite" and merely slipped on the rails.  Thomson was
+engineer enough to understand why, and at once cut off part of the
+steam.  Next moment he shot out of the station, and, again letting on
+full steam, rushed along the line like an arrow!
+
+It chanced that the passenger-superintendent was on the platform at the
+time.  That gentleman had everything connected with the traffic by
+heart.  He saw that the points had been so set as to turn the run-away
+engine on to the down line, and in his mind's eye saw a monster
+excursion train, which had started just a few minutes before, labouring
+slowly forward, which the light engine would soon overtake.  A collision
+in a few minutes would be certain.  In peculiar circumstances men are
+bound to break through all rules and regulations, and act in a peculiar
+way.  Without a moment's hesitation he ran to John Marrot and said in an
+earnest hurried voice--
+
+"Give chase, John! cross over to the up-line, but don't go too far."
+
+"All right, sir," said John, laying his hand on the regulator.
+
+Even while the superintendent was speaking Will Garvie's swift mind had
+appreciated the idea.  He had leaped down and uncoupled the _Lightning_
+from its train.  John touched the whistle, let on steam and off they
+went crossed to the up-line (which was the wrong line of rails for any
+engine to run in _that_ direction), and away he went at forty, fifty,
+seventy miles an hour!  John knew well that he was flying towards a
+passenger-train, which was running towards him at probably thirty-five
+or forty miles an hour.  He was aware of its whereabouts at that time,
+for he consulted his watch and had the time-table by heart.  A collision
+with it would involve the accumulated momentum of more than a hundred
+miles an hour!  The time was short, but it was sufficient; he therefore
+urged Will to coal the furnace until it glowed with fervent heat and
+opened the steam valve to the uttermost.  Never since John Marrot had
+driven it had the _Lightning_ so nearly resembled its namesake.  The
+pace was increased to seventy-five and eighty miles an hour.  It was
+awful.  Objects flew past with flashing speed.  The clatter of the
+engine was deafening.  A stern chase is proverbially a long one; but in
+this case, at such a speed, it was short.  In less than fifteen minutes
+John came in view of the fugitive--also going at full speed, but, not
+being so powerful an engine and not being properly managed as to the
+fire, it did not go so fast; its pace might have been forty or
+forty-five miles an hour.
+
+"Will," shouted John in the ear of his stalwart fireman, "you'll have to
+be sharp about it.  It won't do, lad, to jump into the arms of a madman
+with a fire-shovel in his hand.  W'en I takes a shot at 'im with a lump
+of coal, then's yer chance--go in an' win, lad--and, whatever--ye do,
+keep cool."
+
+Will did not open his compressed lips, but nodded his head in reply.
+
+"You'll have to do it all alone, Bill; I can't leave the engine,"
+shouted John.
+
+He looked anxiously into his mate's face, and felt relieved to observe a
+little smile curl slightly the corners of his mouth.
+
+Another moment and the _Lightning_ was up with the tender of the
+run-away, and John cut off steam for a brief space to equalise the
+speed.  Thomson at that instant observed for the first time that he was
+pursued.  He looked back with a horrible glare, and then, uttering a
+fierce cheer or yell, tugged at the steam handle to increase the speed,
+but it was open to the utmost.  He attempted to heap coals on the fire,
+but being inexpert, failed to increase the heat.  Another second and
+they were abreast John Marrot opened the whistle and let it blow
+continuously, for he was by that time drawing fearfully near to the
+train that he knew was approaching.
+
+Seeing that escape was impossible, Thomson would have thrown the engine
+off the rails if that had been possible, but, as it was not, he
+brandished the fire-shovel and stood at the opening between the engine
+and tender, with an expression of fiendish rage on his countenance that
+words cannot describe.
+
+"Now, Bill, look out!" said John.
+
+Will stood like a tiger ready to spring.  John beside him, with a huge
+mass of coal in one hand concealed behind his back.  There was a space
+of little more than two feet between the engines.  To leap that in the
+face of a madman seemed impossible.
+
+Suddenly John Marrot hurled the mass of coal with all his might.  His
+aim was to hit Thomson on the head, but it struck low, hitting him on
+the chest, and driving him down on the foot-plate.  At the same instant
+Will Garvie bounded across and shut off the steam in an instant.  He
+turned then to the brake-wheel, but, before he could apply it, Thomson
+had risen and grappled with him.  Still, as the two strong men swayed to
+and fro in a deadly conflict, Will's hand, that chanced at the moment to
+be nearest the brake-wheel, was seen ever and anon to give it a slight
+turn.
+
+Thus much John Marrot observed when he saw a puff of white steam on the
+horizon far ahead of him.  To reverse the engine and turn full steam on
+was the work of two seconds.  Fire flew in showers from the wheels, and
+the engine trembled with the violent friction, nevertheless it still ran
+on for a considerable way, and the approaching train was within a
+comparatively short distance of him before he had got the _Lightning_ to
+run backwards.  It was not until he had got up speed to nigh forty miles
+an hour that he felt safe, looked back with a grim smile and breathed
+freely.  Of course the driver of the passenger-train, seeing an engine
+on the wrong line ahead, had also reversed at full speed and thus
+prevented a collision, which would inevitably have been very disastrous.
+
+John now ran back to the crossing, and, getting once more on the down
+line, again reversed his engine and ran cautiously back in the direction
+of the run-away locomotive.  He soon came in sight of it, reversed
+again, and went at such a pace as allowed it to overtake him gradually.
+He saw that the steam was still cut off, and that it had advanced that
+length in consequence of being on an incline, but was somewhat alarmed
+to receive no signal from his mate.  The moment the buffers of the
+_Lightning_ touched those of the other engine's tender he applied the
+brakes and brought both engines to a stand.  Then, leaping off, he ran
+to see how it had fared with Will Garvie.
+
+The scene that met his eyes was a very ghastly one.  On the floor-plate
+lay the two men, insensible and covered with blood and coal-dust.  Each
+grasped the other by the throat but Will had gained an advantage from
+having no neckcloth on, while his own strong hand was twisted into that
+of his adversary so firmly, that the madman's eyes were almost starting
+out of their sockets.  John Marrot at once cut the 'kerchief with his
+clasp-knife, and then, feeling that there was urgent need for haste,
+left them lying there, ran back to his own engine, coupled it to the
+other, turned on full steam, and, in a short space of time, ran into
+Clatterby station.
+
+Here the men were at once removed to the waiting-room, and a doctor--who
+chanced to be Dr Noble--was called in.  It was found that although much
+bruised and cut as well as exhausted by their conflict, neither Will nor
+Thomson were seriously injured.  After a few restoratives had been
+applied, the former was conveyed home in a cab, while the latter, under
+the charge of Mr Sharp and one of his men, was carried off and safely
+lodged in an asylum.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY.
+
+A NEST "HARRIED."
+
+Having thus seen one criminal disposed of, Mr Sharp returned to his
+office to take measures for the arrest of a few more of the same class.
+
+Since we last met with our superintendent, he had not led an idle life
+by any means.  A brief reference to some of his recent doings will be an
+appropriate introduction to the little entertainment which he had
+provided for himself and his men on that particular evening.
+
+One day he had been informed that wine and spirits had been disappearing
+unaccountably at a particular station.  He visited the place with one of
+his men, spent the night under a tarpaulin in a goods-shed, and found
+that one of the plate-layers was in the habit of drawing off spirits
+with a syphon.  The guilty man was handed over to justice, and honest
+men, who had felt uneasy lest they should be suspected, were relieved.
+
+On another occasion he was sent to investigate a claim made by a man who
+was in the accident at Langrye Station.  This man, who was an
+auctioneer, had not been hurt at all--only a little skin taken off his
+nose,--but our fop with the check trousers advised him to make a job of
+it, and said that he himself and his friend had intended to make a
+claim, only they had another and more important game in hand, which
+rendered it advisable for them to keep quiet.  This was just before the
+attack made on Mr Lee in the train between Clatterby and London.  The
+auctioneer had not thought of such a way of raising money, but jumped
+readily at the idea; went to Glasgow and Dundee, where he consulted
+doctors--showed them his broken nose, coughed harshly in their ears,
+complained of nervous affections, pains in the back, loins, and head,
+and, pricking his gums slightly, spit blood for their edification; spoke
+of internal injuries, and shook his head lugubriously.  Doctors, unlike
+lawyers, are not constantly on the watch for impostors.  The man's
+peeled and swelled nose was an obvious fact; his other ailments might,
+or might not, be serious, so they prescribed, condoled with him, charged
+him nothing, and dismissed him with a hope of speedy cure.  Thereafter
+the auctioneer went down the Clyde to recruit his injured health, and
+did a little in the way of business, just to keep up his spirits, poor
+fellow!  After that he visited Aberdeen for similar purposes, and then
+sent in a claim of 150 pounds damages against the Grand National Trunk
+Railway.
+
+Mr Sharp's first proceeding was to visit the doctors to whom the
+auctioneer had applied, then he visited the various watering-places
+whither the man had gone to recruit and ascertained every particular
+regarding his proceedings.  Finally, he went to the north of Scotland to
+see the interesting invalid himself.  He saw and heard him, first, in an
+auction-room, where he went through a hard day's work even for a healthy
+man; then he visited him in his hotel and found him, the picture of
+ruddy health, drinking whisky punch.  On stating that he was an agent of
+the railway company, and had called to have some conversation regarding
+his claim, some of the auctioneer's ruddy colour fled, but being a bold
+man, he assumed a candid air and willingly answered all questions;
+admitted that he was better, but said that he had lost much time; had
+for a long period been unable to attend to his professional duties, and
+still suffered much from internal injuries.  Mr Sharp expressed
+sympathy with him; said that the case, as he put it, was indeed a hard
+one, and begged of him to put his statement of it down on paper.  The
+auctioneer complied, and thought Mr Sharp a rather benignant railway
+official.  When he had signed his name to the paper, his visitor took it
+up and said, "Now, Mr Blank, this is all lies from beginning to end.  I
+have traced your history step by step, down to the present time, visited
+all the places you have been to, conversed with the waiters of the
+hotels where you put up, have heard you to-day go through as good a
+day's work as any strong man could desire to do, and have seen you
+finish up, with a stiff glass of whisky toddy, which I am very sorry to
+have interrupted.  Now, sir, this is very like an effort to obtain money
+under false pretences, and, if you don't know what that leads to, you
+are in a very fair way to find out.  The Company which I have the honour
+to represent, however, is generous.  We know that you were in the
+Langrye accident, for I saw you there, and in consideration of the
+injury to your nerves and the damage to your proboscis, we are willing
+to give you a five-pound note as a sort of sticking-plaster at once to
+your nose and your feelings.  If you accept that, good; if not you shall
+take the consequences of _this_!"  The superintendent here held up the
+written statement playfully, and placed it in his pocket-book.  The
+auctioneer was a wise, if not an honest, man.  He thankfully accepted
+the five pounds, and invited Mr Sharp to join him in a tumbler, which,
+however, the superintendent politely declined.
+
+But this was a small matter compared with another case which Mr Sharp
+had just been engaged investigating.  It was as follows:--
+
+One afternoon a slight accident occurred on the line by which several
+passengers received trifling injuries.  At the time only two people made
+claim for compensation, one for a few shillings, the other for a few
+pounds.  These cases were at once investigated and settled, and it was
+thought that there the matter ended.  Six months afterwards, however,
+the company received a letter from the solicitors of a gentleman whose
+hat it was said, had been driven down on the bridge of his nose, and had
+abraded the skin; the slight wound had turned into an ulcer, which
+ultimately assumed the form of permanent cancer.  In consequence of this
+the gentleman had consulted one doctor in Paris and another in Rome, and
+had been obliged to undergo an operation--for all of which he claimed
+compensation to the extent of 5000 pounds.  The company being quite
+unable to tell whether this gentleman was in the accident referred to or
+not, an investigation was set on foot, in which Mr Sharp bore his part.
+At great expense official persons were sent to Paris and to Rome to see
+the doctors said to have been consulted, and in the end--nearly two
+years after the accident--the Company was found liable for the 5000
+pounds!
+
+While we are on this subject of compensation, it may not be
+uninteresting to relate a few curious cases, which will give some idea
+of the manner in which railway companies are squeezed for damages--
+sometimes unjustly, and too often fraudulently.  On one occasion, a man
+who said he had been in an accident on one of our large railways,
+claimed 1000 pounds.  In this case the company was fortunately able to
+prove a conspiracy to defraud, and thus escaped; but in many instances
+the companies are defeated in fraudulent claims, and there is no
+redress.  The feelings of the juries who try the cases are worked on;
+patients are brought into Court exhibiting every symptom of hopeless
+malady, but these same patients not unfrequently possess quite
+miraculous powers of swift recovery, from what had been styled
+"incurable damage."  One man received 6000 pounds on the supposition
+that he had been permanently disabled, and within a short period he was
+attending to his business as well as ever.  A youth with a salary of 60
+pounds a year claimed and got 1200 pounds on the ground of incurable
+injury--in other words he was pensioned for life to the extent of 60
+pounds a year--and, a year afterwards, it was ascertained that he was
+"dancing at balls," and had joined his father in business as if there
+was nothing the matter with him.
+
+A barmaid who, it was said, received "injuries to the spine of a
+permanent character," was paid a sum of 1000 pounds as--we were about to
+write--compensation, but _consolation_ would be the more appropriate
+term, seeing that she had little or nothing to be compensated for, as
+she was found capable of "dancing at the Licensed Victuallers' Ball"
+soon after the accident and eventually she married!  To oblige railways
+to compensate for loss of time, or property, or health, _to a limited
+extent_, seems reasonable, but to compel them to pension off people who
+have suffered little or nothing, with snug little annuities of 50 pounds
+or 60 pounds, does really seem to be a little too hard; at least so it
+appears to be in the eyes of one who happens to have no interest
+whatever in railways, save that general interest in their immense value
+to the land, and their inestimable comforts in the matter of locomotion.
+
+The whole subject of compensation stands at present on a false footing.
+For the comfort of those who wish well to railways, and love justice, we
+may add in conclusion, that proposals as to modifications have already
+been mooted and brought before Government, so that in all probability,
+ere long, impostors will receive a snubbing, and shareholders will
+receive increased dividends!
+
+But let us return to Mr Sharp.  Having, as we have said, gone to his
+office, he found his faithful servant Blunt there.
+
+"Why, Blunt," he said, sitting down at the table and tearing open a few
+letters that awaited him, "what a good-looking _porter_ you make!"
+
+"So my wife says, sir," replied Blunt with a perfectly grave face, but
+with a twinkle in his eye.
+
+"She must be a discriminating woman, Blunt.  Well, what news have you
+to-night?  You seemed to think you had found out the thieves at Gorton
+Station the last time we met."
+
+"So I have, sir, and there are more implicated than we had expected.
+The place is a perfect nest of them."
+
+"Not an uncommon state of things," observed Mr Sharp, "for it is
+well-known that one black sheep spoils a flock.  We must weed them all
+out, Blunt, and get our garden into as tidy a condition as possible; it
+is beginning to do us credit already, but that Gorton Station has
+remained too long in a bad state; we must harrow it up a little.  Well,
+let's hear what you have found out.  They never suspected you, I
+suppose?"
+
+"Never had the least suspicion," replied Blunt with a slight approach to
+a smile.  "I've lived with 'em, now, for a considerable time, and the
+general opinion of 'em about me is that I'm a decent enough fellow, but
+too slow and stupid to be trusted, so they have not, up to this time,
+thought me worthy of being made a confidant.  However, that didn't
+matter much, 'cause I managed to get round one o' their wives at last,
+and she let out the whole affair--in strict confidence, of course, and
+as a dead secret!
+
+"In fact I have just come from a long and interesting conversation with
+her.  She told me that all the men at the station, with one or two
+exceptions, were engaged in it, and showed me two of the missing bales
+of cloth--the cloth, you remember, sir, of which there was such a large
+quantity stolen four weeks ago, and for which the company has had to
+pay.  I find that the chief signalman, Davis, is as bad as the rest.  It
+was his wife that gave me the information in a moment of
+over-confidence."
+
+"Indeed!" exclaimed Sharp, in some surprise; "and what of Sam Natly and
+Garvie?"
+
+"They're both of 'em innocent, sir," said Blunt.  "I did suspect 'em at
+one time, but I have seen and heard enough to convince me that they have
+no hand in the business.  Natly has been goin' about the station a good
+deal of late, because the wife of one of the men is a friend of his
+wife, and used to go up to nurse her sometimes when she was ill.  As to
+Garvie, of course he knows as well as everybody else that some of the
+men there must be thieves, else goods would not disappear from that
+station as they do, but _his_ frequent visits there are for the purpose
+of reclaiming Davis, who, it seems, is an old playmate of his."
+
+"Reclaiming Davis!" exclaimed Sharp.
+
+"Yes, an' it's my opinion that it'll take a cleverer fellow than him to
+reclaim Davis, for he's one of the worst of the lot; but Garvie is real
+earnest.  I chanced to get behind a hedge one day when they were
+together, and overheard 'em talkin' about these robberies and other
+matters, and you would have thought, sir, that the fireman was a regular
+divine.  He could quote Scripture quite in a stunnin' way, sir; an'
+_did_ seem badly cut up when his friend told him that it was of no use
+talkin', for it was too late for _him_ to mend."
+
+"Has Garvie, then, been aware all this time that Davis is one of the
+thieves, and kept it secret?" asked Sharp.
+
+"No, sir," replied Blunt.  "Davis denied that he had any hand in the
+robberies when Garvie asked him.  It was about drink that he was
+pleadin' with him so hard.  You know we have suspected him of that too,
+of late; but from what I heard he must be a regular toper.  Garvie was
+tryin' to persuade him to become a total abstainer.  Says he to him,
+`You know, Davis, that whatever may be true as to the general question
+of abstaining from strong drink, _your_ only chance of bein' delivered
+lies in total abstinence, because the thing has become a _disease_.  I
+know and believe that Christianity would save you from the power of
+drink, but, depend upon it, that it would do so in the way of inducin'
+you of your own free will to "touch not, taste not, handle not, that
+which" _you_ "will perish by the using."'  Seems to me as if there was
+something in that, sir?" said Blunt, inquiringly.
+
+Sharp nodded assent.
+
+"Then Garvie does not suspect him of being connected with the
+robberies?" he asked.
+
+"No," replied Blunt; "but he's a deep file is Davis, and could throw a
+sharper man than Garvie off the scent."
+
+After a little further conversation on the subject Mr Sharp dismissed
+the pretended porter to his station, and called upon the superintendent
+of the police force of Clatterby, from whom he received an addition to
+his force of men.
+
+That night he led his men to Gorton station, and when he thought a
+suitable hour had arrived, he caused them to surround the block of
+buildings in which the men of the station resided.  Then, placing Blunt
+and two or three men in front of Davis's house, he went up to the door
+alone and knocked.
+
+Mrs Davis opened it.  She gave the least possible start on observing by
+the light of her lobby lamp who her visitor was--for she knew him well.
+Mr Sharp took note of the start!
+
+"Good-evening, Mrs Davis," he said.
+
+"Good-evening, sir; this is an unexpected pleasure, Mr Sharp."
+
+"Most of my visits are unexpected, Mrs Davis, but it is only my friends
+who count them a pleasure.  Is your husband within?"
+
+"He is, sir; pray, walk this way; I'm sure he will be delighted to see
+you.  Can you stay to supper with us? we are just going to have it."
+
+"No, thank you, Mrs Davis, I'm out on duty to-night," said Sharp,
+entering the parlour, where Davis was engaged in reading the newspaper.
+"Good-evening, Mr Davis."
+
+Davis rose with a start.  Mr Sharp took note of that also.
+
+"Good-evening, Mr Sharp," he said; "sit down, sir; sit down."
+
+"Thank you, I can't sit down.  I'm on duty just now.  The fact is, Mr
+Davis, that I am come to make a search among your men, for we have
+obtained reliable information as to who are the thieves at this station.
+As, no doubt, _some_ of the men are honest, and might feel hurt at
+having their houses searched, I have thought that the best way to
+prevent any unpleasant feeling is to begin at the top of the free and go
+downwards.  They can't say that I have made fish of one and flesh of
+another, if I begin, as a mere matter of form, Mr Davis, with
+yourself."
+
+"Oh, certainly--certainly, Mr Sharp, by all means," replied Davis.
+
+He spoke with an air of candour, but it was quite evident that he was
+ill at ease.
+
+Calling in one of his men, Mr Sharp began a rigorous search of the
+house forthwith.  Mr Davis suggested that he would go out and see that
+the men were in their residences; but Mr Sharp said that there was no
+occasion for that, and that he would be obliged by his remaining and
+assisting in the search of his own house.
+
+Every hole and corner of the ground-floor was examined without any
+discovery being made.  Mrs Davis, observing that her visitors were
+particular in collecting every shred of cloth that came in their way,
+suddenly asked if it was cloth they were in search of.  Mr Sharp
+thought the question and the tone in which it was put told of a guilty
+conscience, but he replied that he was in search of many things--cloth
+included.
+
+Immediately after, and while they were busy with a dark closet, Mrs
+Davis slipped quietly out of the room.  Mr Sharp was stooping at the
+time with his back towards her, but the two back buttons of his coat
+must have been eyes, for he observed the movement and at once followed
+her, having previously ordered Mr Davis to move a heavy chest of
+drawers, in order to keep him employed.  Taking off his shoes he went
+up-stairs rapidly, and seeing an open door, peeped in.
+
+There he saw a sight that would have surprised any man except a
+superintendent of police.  Mrs Davis was engaged in throwing bales of
+cloth over the window with the energy of a coal-heaver and the haste of
+one whose house is on fire!  The poor woman was not robust, yet the easy
+way in which she handled those bales was quite marvellous.
+
+Being a cool and patient man, Sharp allowed her to toss over five bales
+before interrupting her.  When she was moving across the room with the
+sixth and last he entered.  She stopped, turned pale, and dropped the
+bale of cloth.
+
+"You seem to be very busy to-night Mrs Davis" he observed, inquiringly;
+"can I assist you?"
+
+"Oh, Mr Sharp!" exclaimed Mrs Davis, covering her face with her hands.
+
+She could say no more.
+
+Mr Sharp took her gently by the arm and led her down-stairs.  They
+reached the room below just in time to see Blunt enter, holding the
+ejected bales with both arms to his bosom.  Blunt had happened to take
+his stand just underneath the window of Mrs Davis's bedroom, and when
+that energetic woman tossed the bales out she pitched them straight into
+Blunt's willing arms.  The accommodating man waited until he had
+received all that appeared likely to be delivered to him, and then with
+a quiet chuckle bore them, as we have seen, into Davis's parlour.
+
+"This is a bad business, Davis," said Sharp, as he slipped a pair of
+manacles on his prisoner.
+
+Davis made no reply.  He was very pale, but looked defiant.  Mrs Davis
+sat down on a chair and sobbed.
+
+Leaving them in charge of Blunt, Mr Sharp then paid a visit to all the
+men of the place, and ere long succeeded in capturing all who had been
+engaged in the recent robberies, with the various proofs of their
+guilt--in the shape of cloth, loaves of sugar, fruit, boxes of tea,
+etcetera, in their apartments.
+
+It had cost Mr Sharp and his men many weary hours of waiting and
+investigation, but their perseverance was at length well rewarded, for
+the "nest" was thoroughly "harried;" the men were dismissed and
+variously punished, and that portion of the Grand National Trunk Railway
+was, for the time, most effectually purified.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.
+
+THE DIAMOND RING AND THE RAILWAY CLEARING-HOUSE.
+
+Let us turn now, for a brief space, to Edwin Gurwood.  He is seated
+before a desk in one of the rooms of that large building in Seymour
+Street, Euston Square, London, where a perfect army of clerks--about a
+thousand--clear up many of the mysteries, and overcome a number of the
+difficulties, incident to the railway traffic of the kingdom.
+
+At the particular time we write of, Edwin was frowning very hard at a
+business-book and thinking of Emma Lee.  The cause of his frown, no
+doubt, was owing to the conflict between duty and inclination that
+happened to rage in his bosom just then.  His time belonged to the
+railways of the United Kingdom; to Emma belonged his heart.  The latter
+was absent without leave, and the mind, thus basely forsaken, became
+distracted, and refused to make good use of time.
+
+That day Edwin met with a coincidence, he made what he believed to be a
+discovery, and almost at the same moment received an inquiry as to the
+subject of that discovery.  While endeavouring, without much success, to
+fix his attention on a case of lost-luggage which it was his duty to
+investigate, and frowning as we have said, at the business-book, his eye
+was suddenly arrested by the name of "Durby."
+
+"Durby!" he muttered.  "Surely that name is familiar?  Durby! why, yes--
+that's the name of Tipps's old nurse."
+
+Reading on, he found that the name of Durby was connected with a diamond
+ring.
+
+"Well, now, that _is_ strange!" he muttered to himself.  "At the first
+glance I thought that this must be the brown paper parcel that I made
+inquiry about at the station of the Grand National Trunk Railway long
+ago, but the diamond ring puts that out of the question.  No nurse, in
+her senses, would travel with a diamond ring tied up in a brown paper
+parcel the size of her head."
+
+We may remind the reader here that, when the brown paper parcel was
+found and carried to the lost-luggage office of one of our western
+railways, a note of its valuable contents was sent to the Clearing-House
+in London.  This was recorded in a book.  As all inquiries after lost
+property, wheresoever made throughout the kingdom, are also forwarded to
+the Clearing-House, it follows that the notes of losses and notes of
+inquiries meet, and thus the lost and the losers are brought together
+and re-united with a facility that would be impracticable without such a
+central agency.  In the case of our diamond ring, however, no proper
+inquiry had been made, consequently there was only the loss recorded on
+the books of the Clearing-House.
+
+While Edwin was pondering this matter, a note was put into his hands by
+a junior clerk.  It contained an inquiry after a diamond ring which had
+been wrapped up in a large brown paper parcel, with the name Durby
+written on it in pencil, and was lost many months before between
+Clatterby and London.  The note further set forth, that the ring was the
+property of Mrs Tipps of Eden Villa, and enclosed from that lady a
+minute description of the ring.  It was signed James Noble, M.D.
+
+"Wonderful!" exclaimed Edwin.  "The most singular coincidence I ever
+experienced."
+
+Having thus delivered himself, he took the necessary steps to have the
+ring sent to London, and obtained leave (being an intimate friend of the
+Tipps family) to run down by train and deliver it.
+
+While he is away on this errand, we will take the opportunity of
+mounting his stool and jotting down a few particulars about the
+Clearing-House, which are worth knowing, for that establishment is not
+only an invaluable means of effecting such happy re-unions of the lost
+and the losers, as we have referred to, but is, in many other ways, one
+of the most important institutions in the kingdom.
+
+The Railway Clearing-House is so named, we presume, because it clears up
+railway accounts that would, but for its intervention, become
+inextricably confused, and because it enables all the different lines in
+the country to interchange facilities for through-booking traffic, and
+clears up their respective accounts in reference to the same.
+
+Something of the use and value of the Clearing-House may be shown at a
+glance, by explaining that, before the great schemes of amalgamation
+which have now been carried out, each railway company booked passengers
+and goods only as far as its own rails went, and at this point fresh
+tickets had to be taken out and carriages changed, with all the
+disagreeable accompaniments and delays of shifting luggage, etcetera.
+Before through-booking was introduced, a traveller between London and
+Inverness was compelled to renew his ticket and change luggage four
+times; between Darlington and Cardiff six times.  In some journeys no
+fewer than nine or ten changes were necessary!  This, as traffic
+increased, of course became intolerable, and it is quite certain that
+the present extent of passenger and goods traffic could never have been
+attained if the old system had continued.  It was felt to be absolutely
+necessary that not only passengers, but carriages and goods, must be
+passed over as many lines as possible, at straight "through" to their
+destinations, with no needless delays, and without "breaking bulk."  But
+how was this to be accomplished?  There were difficulties in the way of
+through-booking which do not appear at first sight.  When, for instance,
+a traveller goes from London to Edinburgh by the East Coast route, he
+passes over three different railways of unequal length, or mileage.  The
+Great Northern furnishes his ticket, and gives him station accommodation
+besides providing his carriage, while the North-Eastern and North
+British permit him to run over their lines; and the latter also
+furnishes station accommodation, and collects his ticket.  To ascertain
+precisely how much of that traveller's fare is due to each company
+involves a careful and nice calculation.  Besides this, the _whole_ fare
+is paid to the Great Northern, and it would be unjust to expect that
+that company should be saddled with the trouble of making the
+calculation, and the expense of remitting its share to each of the other
+companies.  So, too, with goods--one company furnishing the waggon and
+tarpaulin, besides undertaking the trouble of loading and furnishing
+station-accommodation and the use of its line, while, it may be, several
+other companies give the use of their lines only, and that to a variable
+extent.  In addition to all this, the company providing its carriages or
+waggons is entitled to "demurrage" for every day beyond a certain time
+that these are detained by the companies to which they do not belong.
+
+Now, if all this be unavoidable even in the case of a single fare, or a
+small parcel, it must be self-evident that in lines where the
+interchange of through-traffic is great and constant, it would have been
+all but impossible for the railway companies to manage their business,
+and the system would have given rise to endless disputes.
+
+In order to settle accounts of this description, it was soon seen to be
+absolutely necessary that some sort of arrangement must be come to, and,
+accordingly, the idea of a central office was conceived, and a system
+established without delay, which, for minute detail and comprehensive
+grasp, is unrivalled by any other institution.  At first only a few of
+the railway companies united in establishing the Clearing-House in 1842,
+but by degrees, as its immense value became known, other companies
+joined, and it now embraces all the leading companies in the kingdom.
+It is said to be not inferior to the War Office, Colonial Office, and
+Admiralty in regard to the amount of work it gets through in a year!
+Its accounts amount to some twelve millions sterling, yet they always
+must, and do, balance to a fraction of a farthing.  There must never be
+a surplus, and never a deficiency, in its funds, for it can make no
+profits, being simply a thoroughly honest and disinterested and
+perfectly correct go-between, which adjusts the mutual obligations of
+railways in a quick and economical manner.  Its accounts are balanced
+every month, and every pound, shilling, and penny can be accounted for.
+It annually receives and dispenses a revenue greater than that of many
+European kingdoms.  In 1847 its gross receipts were only 793,701 pounds.
+In 1868 they had risen to above eleven millions.
+
+Each line connected with the Clearing-House has a representative on the
+committee to look after its interests, and bears its proportion of the
+expenses of the establishment.
+
+Before showing the manner in which the work is performed for the railway
+companies, it may be well to premise that one great good which the
+Clearing-House system does to the public, is to enable them to travel
+everywhere with as much facility as if there were only one railway and
+one company in the kingdom.
+
+To avoid going too much into detail, we may say, briefly, that in regard
+to goods, statements of through-traffic _despatched_ are sent daily from
+thousands of stations to the Clearing-House, also separate statements of
+through-traffic _received_.  These are compared.  Of those that are
+found to agree, each company is debited or credited, as the case may be,
+with the proportion due to or by it.  Where discrepancies occur,
+correspondence ensues until the thing is cleared up, and then the
+distribution to the accounts of the several companies takes place.  As
+discrepancies are numerous and constant, correspondence is necessarily
+great.  So minutely correct and particular are they at the
+Clearing-House, that a shilling is sometimes divided between four
+companies.  Even a penny is deemed worthy of being debited to one
+company and credited to another!
+
+As it is with goods, so is it with passengers.  Through-tickets are sent
+from all the stations to the Clearing-House, where they are examined and
+compared with the returns of the tickets issued, and then sent back to
+their respective companies.  As these tickets amount to many thousands a
+day, some idea may be formed of the amount of labour bestowed on the
+examination of them.  The proportions of each ticket due to each company
+are then credited, and statements of the same made out and forwarded to
+the several companies daily.  From the two sets of returns forwarded to
+the Clearing-House, statements of the debit and credit balances are made
+out weekly.
+
+Parcels are treated much in the same way as the goods.
+
+"Mileage" is a branch of the service which requires a separate staff of
+men.  There are hundreds of thousands of waggons, loaded and empty,
+constantly running to and fro, day and night, on various lines, to which
+they do not belong.  Each individual waggon must be traced and accounted
+for to the Clearing-House, from its start to its arrival and back again;
+and not only waggons, but even the individual tarpaulins that cover them
+are watched and noted in this way, in order that the various companies
+over whose lines they pass may get their due, and that the companies
+owning them may get their demurrage if they be improperly detained on
+the way.  For this purpose, at every point where separate railways join,
+there are stationed men in the pay of the Clearing-House, whose duty it
+is to take the numbers of all passenger carriages and goods, waggons and
+tarpaulins, and make a _daily_ statement of the same to the
+Clearing-House.
+
+As daily returns of all "foreign" carriages arriving and departing from
+all Clearing-House stations are forwarded to the same office, they are
+thus in a position to check the traffic, detect discrepancies, and
+finally make the proper entries as to mileage and demurrage in the
+accounts of the respective companies.  Frequently the charge of
+one-tenth of a penny per mile for a tarpaulin is divided among several
+companies in various proportions.  For a waggon or carriage from
+Edinburgh to London, mileage and demurrage accounts are sent out by the
+Clearing-House to four companies.  Formerly, before demurrage was
+introduced, carriages were frequently detained on lines to which they
+did not belong, for weeks, and even months, until sometimes they were
+lost sight of altogether!
+
+Once a month the balances are struck, and the various railways, instead
+of having to pay enormous sums to each other, obtain settlement by means
+of comparatively small balances.
+
+For example, the London and North-Western railway sends its through
+passengers over the Caledonian line.  The mileage charged for its
+"foreign" carriages is three farthings per mile.  Small though that sum
+is, it amounts at the end of a month perhaps to 5000 pounds.  This
+little bill is sent to the Clearing-House by the Caledonian against the
+London and North-Western.  But during the same period the latter company
+has been running up a somewhat similar bill against the former company.
+Both accounts are sent in to the Clearing-House.  They amount together
+to perhaps some fifteen or twenty thousand pounds, yet when one is set
+off against the other a ten or twenty pound note may be all that is
+required to change hands in order to balance the accounts.
+
+The total mileage of lines under the jurisdiction of the Clearing-House,
+and over which it exercises complete surveillance on every train that
+passes up or down night or day, as far as regulating the various
+interests of the companies is concerned, amounts to more than 14,000.
+The _Times_, at the conclusion of a very interesting article on this
+subject, says,--"Our whole railway system would be as nothing without
+the Clearing-House, which affords another illustration of the great
+truth that the British railway public is the best served railway public
+in the world, and, on the whole, the least grateful."  We hope and
+incline to believe that in the latter remark, the great Thunderer is
+wrong, and that it is only a small, narrow-minded, and ignorant section
+of the public which is ungrateful.
+
+Disputed claims between railways are referred to the arbitration of the
+committee of the Clearing-House, from whose decision there is no appeal.
+
+The trouble taken in connexion with the lost-luggage department is very
+great; written communications being sent to almost innumerable stations
+on various lines of rails for every inquiry that is made to the House
+after lost-luggage.
+
+It is a striking commentary at once on the vast extent of traffic in the
+kingdom, and the great value in one important direction of this
+establishment, the fact that, in one year, the number of articles
+accounted for to the Clearing-House by stations as left by passengers,
+either on the platforms or in carriages, amounted to 156,769 trunks,
+bags and parcels, and of these nearly ninety-five in every hundred were
+restored, through the Clearing-House, to their owners.  It is probable
+that the property thus restored would amount to half a million of money.
+
+This reminds us that we left Edwin Gurwood on his way to restore Mrs
+Tipps her lost ring, and that, therefore, it is our duty to resume the
+thread of our story, with, of course, a humble apology to the patient
+reader for having again given way to our irresistible tendency to
+digress!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.
+
+MRS. TIPPS GOES ON A JOURNEY, AND MEETS A GENTLEMAN WHO, WITH MUCH
+ASSURANCE, COMMENTS FREELY ON INSURANCE.
+
+On a particular holiday, it was advertised that a great excursion train
+would start from the Clatterby station at a certain hour.  At the
+appointed time the long line of carriages was pushed up to the platform
+by our friend John Marrot, who was appointed that day to drive the
+train.
+
+"Bill," remarked John to his mate, "it'll be a biggish train.  There's
+an uncommon lot o' people on the platform."
+
+"They're pretty thick," replied Will Garvie, wiping his countenance with
+a piece of waste, which, while it removed the perspiration, left behind
+a good deal of oil, and streaked his nose with coal-dust.  But Will was
+not particular!
+
+The excursionists were indeed unusually numerous.  It chanced to be a
+fine day, and the platform was densely crowded with human beings, many
+of whom moved, when movement was possible, in groups, showing that there
+were various sections that had a common aim and interest, and meant to
+keep together as much as possible.  There were men there who had
+evidently made up their minds to a thoroughly enjoyable day, and women
+whose aspect was careworn but cheerful, to whom a holiday was probably a
+memorable event in the year.  Of young people there was of course a
+considerable sprinkling, and amongst the crowd could be seen a number of
+individuals whose amused expression of countenance and general aspect
+bespoke them ordinary travellers, who meant to avail themselves of a
+"cheap train."  All classes and conditions of men, women, and children
+were hustling each other in a state of great excitement; but the
+preponderating class was that which is familiarly though not very
+respectfully styled "the masses."
+
+Mrs Marrot was there too--much against her will--and little Gertie.  A
+sister of the former, who lived about twenty miles from Clatterby, had,
+a short time before, made her husband a present of a fine fat pugilistic
+boy, and Mrs M felt constrained to pay her a visit.
+
+John was on the look-out for his wife and child, so was Will Garvie.
+The former waved a piece of cotton-waste to her when she arrived; she
+caught sight of him and gave him a cheerful nod in reply; and an
+unexpressed blessing on his weather-beaten face arose in her heart as
+Garvie pushed through the crowd and conducted her and Gertie to a
+carriage.
+
+Timid little Mrs Tipps was also there.  It is probable that no power on
+earth, save that of physical force, could have induced Mrs Tipps to
+enter an excursion train, for which above all other sorts of trains she
+entertained a species of solemn horror.  But the excitement consequent
+on the unexpected recovery of the diamond ring, and the still more
+unexpected accession of wealth consequent thereon, had induced her to
+smother her dislike to railways for a time, and avail herself of their
+services in order to run down to a town about twenty miles off for the
+purpose of telling the good news to Netta, who chanced to be on a short
+visit to a friend there at the time.  When Mrs Tipps reached the
+station, her ignorance of railway matters, and the confused mental state
+which was her normal condition, prevented her from observing that the
+train was an excursion one.  She therefore took out a first-class ticket
+and also an insurance ticket for 500 pounds, for which latter she paid
+sixpence!  Her ignorance and perturbation also prevented her from
+observing that this rate of insurance was considerably higher than she
+was accustomed to pay, owing to the fact of the train being an excursion
+one.  If she had been going by an ordinary train, she could have insured
+1000 pounds, first-class, for 3 pence; half that sum, second-class, for
+2 pence; and 200 pounds, third-class, for the ridiculously small sum of
+one penny!
+
+Good Mrs Tipps held the opinion so firmly that accident was the usual,
+and all but inevitable, accompaniment of railway travelling, that she
+invariably insured her life when compelled to undertake a journey.  It
+was of no avail that her son Joseph pointed out to her that accidents
+were in reality few and far between, and that they bore an excessively
+small proportion to the numbers of journeys undertaken annually; Mrs
+Tipps was not to be moved.  In regard to that subject she had, to use
+one of her late husband's phrases, "nailed her colours to the mast," and
+could not haul them down even though she would.  She therefore, when
+about to undertake a journey, invariably took out an insurance ticket,
+as we have said,--and this, solely with a views to Netta's future
+benefit.
+
+We would not have it supposed that we object, here, to the principle of
+insuring against accident.  On the contrary, we consider that principle
+to be a wise one, and, in some cases, one that becomes almost a duty.
+
+When Mrs Tipps discovered that Mrs Marrot and Gertie were going by the
+same train, she was so much delighted at the unlooked-for companionship
+that she at once entered the third-class, where they sat, and began to
+make herself comfortable beside them, but presently recollecting that
+she had a first-class ticket she started up and insisted on Mrs Marrot
+and Gertie going first-class along with her, saying that she would pay
+the difference.  Mrs Marrot remonstrated, but Mrs Tipps, strong in her
+natural liberality of spirit which had been rather wildly set free by
+her recent good fortune, would not be denied.
+
+"You must come with me, Mrs Marrot," she said.  "I'm so frightened in
+railways, you have no idea what a relief it is to me to have any one
+near me whom I know.  I will change your tickets; let me have them,
+quick; we have no time to lose--there--now, wait till I return.  Oh!  I
+forgot your insurance tickets."
+
+"W'y, bless you, ma'am, we never insures."
+
+"You never insure!" exclaimed Mrs Tipps in amazement; "and it only
+costs you threepence for one thousand pounds."
+
+"Well, I don't know nothink as to that--" said Mrs Marrot.
+
+Before she could finish the sentence Mrs Tipps was gone.
+
+She returned in breathless haste, beckoned Mrs Marrot and Gertie to
+follow her, and was finally hurried with them into a first-class
+carriage just as the train began to move.
+
+Their only other companion in the carriage was a stout little old
+gentleman with a bright complexion, speaking eyes, and a countenance in
+which benevolence appeared to struggle with enthusiasm for the mastery.
+He was obviously one of those men who delight in conversation, and he
+quickly took an opportunity of engaging in it.  Observing that Mrs
+Tipps presented an insurance ticket to each of her companions, he said--
+
+"I am glad to see, madam, that you are so prudent as to insure the lives
+of your friends."
+
+"I always insure my own life," replied Mrs Tipps with a little smile,
+"and feel it incumbent on me at least to advise my friends to do the
+same."
+
+"Quite right, quite right, madam," replied the enthusiastic little man,
+applying his handkerchief to his bald pate with such energy that it
+shone like a billiard ball, "quite right, madam.  I only wish that the
+public at large were equally alive to the great value of insurance
+against accident.  W'y, ma'am, it's a duty, a positive duty," (here he
+addressed himself to Mrs Marrot) "to insure one's life against
+accident."
+
+"Oh la! sir, is it?" said Mrs Marrot, quite earnestly.
+
+"Yes, it is.  Why, look here--this is your child?"
+
+He laid his hand gently on Gertie's head.
+
+"Yes, sir, she is."
+
+"Well, my good woman, suppose that you are a widow and are killed,"
+(Mrs Marrot looked as if she would rather not suppose anything of the
+sort), "what I ask, what becomes of your child?--Left a beggar; an
+absolute beggar!"
+
+He looked quite triumphantly at Mrs Tipps and her companions, and
+waited a few seconds as if to allow the idea to exert its full force on
+them.
+
+"But, sir," observed Mrs Marrot meekly, "supposin' that there do be an
+accident," (she shivered a little), "that ticket won't prevent me bein'
+killed, you know?"
+
+"No, ma'am, no; but it will prevent your sweet daughter from being left
+a beggar--that is, on the supposition that you are a widow."
+
+"W'ich I ain't sir, I'm happy to say," remarked Mrs Marrot; "but, sir,
+supposin' we was both of us killed--"
+
+She paused abruptly as if she had committed a sin in merely giving
+utterance to the idea.
+
+"Why, then, your other children would get the 500 pounds--or your heirs,
+whoever they may be.  It's a splendid system that, of insurance against
+accident.  Just look at _me_, now."  He spread out his hands and
+displayed himself, looking from one to the other as if he were holding
+up to admiration something rare and beautiful.  "Just look at _me_.  I'm
+off on a tour of three months through England, Scotland, and Ireland--
+not for my health, madam, as you may see--but for scientific purposes.
+Well, what do I do?  I go to the Railway Passengers Assurance Company's
+Office, 64 Cornhill, London, (I like to be particular, you see, as
+becomes one who professes to be an amateur student of the exact
+sciences), and I take out what they call a Short Term Policy of
+Insurance against accidents of all kinds for a thousand pounds--1000
+pounds, observe--for which I pay the paltry sum of 30 shillings--1
+pound, 10 shillings.  Well, what then?  Away I go, leaving behind me,
+with perfect indifference, a wife and two little boys.  Remarkable
+little boys, madam, I assure you.  Perfect marvels of health and
+intelligence, both of 'em--two little boys, madam, which have not been
+equalled since Cain and Abel were born.  Every one says so, with the
+exception of a few of the cynical and jaundiced among men and women.
+And, pray, why am I so indifferent?  Just because they are provided for.
+They have a moderately good income secured to them as it is, and the
+1000 pounds which I have insured on my life will render it a competence
+in the event of my being killed.  It will add 50 pounds a year to their
+income, which happens to be the turning-point of comfort.  And what of
+myself?  Why, with a perfectly easy conscience, I may go and do what I
+please.  If I get drowned in Loch Katrine--what matter?  If I break my
+neck in the Gap of Dunloe--what matter?  If I get lost and frozen on the
+steeps of Ben Nevis or Goatfell--what matter?  If I am crushed to death
+in a railway accident, or get entangled in machinery and am torn to
+atoms--still I say, what matter? 1000 pounds must _at_ _once_ be paid
+down to my widow and children, and all because of the pitiful sum of 30
+shillings.
+
+"But suppose," continued the enthusiastic man, deepening his tone as he
+became more earnest, "suppose that I am _not_ killed, but only severely
+injured and mangled so as to be utterly unfit to attend to my worldly
+affairs--what then?"
+
+Mrs Tipps shuddered to think of "what then."
+
+"Why," continued the enthusiastic gentleman, "I shall in that case be
+allowed from the company 6 pounds a week, until recovered, or, in the
+event of my sinking under my injuries within three months after the
+accident, the whole sum of 1000 pounds will be paid to my family."
+
+Mrs Tipps smiled and nodded her head approvingly, but Mrs Marrot still
+looked dubious.
+
+"But, sir," she said, "supposin' you don't get either hurt or killed?"
+
+"Why then," replied the elderly gentleman, "I'm all right of course, and
+only 50 shillings out of pocket, which, you must admit, is but a
+trifling addition to the expenses of a three months' tour.  Besides,
+have I not had three months of an easy mind, and of utter regardlessness
+as to my life and limbs?  Have not my wife and boys had three months of
+easy minds and indifference to my life and limbs also!  Is not all that
+cheaply purchased at 30 shillings? while the sum itself, I have the
+satisfaction of knowing, goes to increase the funds of that excellent
+company which enables you and me and thousands of others to become so
+easy-minded and reckless, and which, at the same time, pays its
+fortunate shareholders a handsome dividend."
+
+"Really, sir," said Mrs Tipps, laughing, "you talk so enthusiastically
+of this Insurance Company that I almost suspect you to be a director of
+it."
+
+"Madam," replied the elderly gentleman with some severity, "if I _were_
+a director of it, which I grieve to say I am not, I should only be doing
+my simple duty to it and to you in thus urging it on your attention.
+But I am altogether uninterested in it, except as a philanthropist.  I
+see and feel that it does good to myself and to my fellow-men,
+_therefore_ I wish my fellow-men to appreciate it more highly than they
+do, for it not only insures against accident by railway, but against all
+kinds of accidents; while its arrangements are made to suit the
+convenience of the public in every possible way."
+
+"Why, madam," he continued, kindling up again and polishing his head
+violently, "only think, for the small sum of 4 pounds paid annually, it
+insures that you shall have paid to your family, if you chance to be
+killed, the sum of 1000 pounds, or, if not killed, 6 pounds a week while
+you are totally laid up, and 1 pound, 10 shillings a week while you are
+only partially disabled.  And yet, would you believe it, many persons
+who see the value of this, and begin the wise course of insurance, go on
+for only a few years and then foolishly give it up--disappointed, I
+presume, that no accident has happened to them!  See, here is one of
+their pamphlets!"
+
+He pulled a paper out of his pocket energetically, and put on a pair of
+gold spectacles, _through_ which he looked when consulting the pamphlet,
+and _over_ which he glanced when observing the effect of what he read on
+Mrs Tipps.
+
+"What do I find--eh? ha--yes--here it is--a Cornish auctioneer pushed
+back a window shutter--these are the very words, madam--what more he did
+to that shutter, or what it did to him, is not told, but he must have
+come by _some_ damage, because he received 55 pounds.  A London clerk
+got his eye injured by a hair-pin in his daughter's hair--how suggestive
+that is, madam! what a picture it calls up of a wearied toil-worn man
+fondling his child of an evening--pressing his cheek to her fair head--
+and what a commentary it is (he became very stern here) on the use of
+such barbarous implements as hair-pins!  I am not punning, madam; I am
+much too serious to pun; I should have used the word savage instead of
+barbarous.
+
+"Now, what was the result?  This company gave that clerk compensation to
+the extent of 26 pounds.  Again, a medical practitioner fell through the
+floor of a room.  It must have been a bad, as it certainly was a
+strange, fall--probably he was heavy and the floor decayed--at all
+events that fall procured him 120 pounds.  A Cardiff agent was bathing
+his feet--why, we are not told, but imagination is not slow to
+comprehend the reason, when the severity of our climate is taken into
+account; he broke the foot-pan--a much less comprehensible thing--and
+the breaking of that foot-pan did him damage, for which he was
+compensated with 52 pounds, 16 shillings.  Again, a merchant of
+Birkenhead was paid 20 pounds for playing with his children!"
+
+"Dear me, sir!" exclaimed Mrs Marrot in surprise, "surely--"
+
+"Of course, my good woman," said the elderly gentleman, "you are to
+understand that he came by some damage while doing so, but I give you
+the exact words of the pamphlet.  It were desirable that a _little_ more
+information had been given just to gratify our curiosity.  Now, these
+that I have read are under the head of `Accidents at Home.'  Under other
+`Heads,' we find a farmer suffocated by the falling in of a sand-pit,
+for which his representatives received 1000 pounds.  Another thousand is
+paid to the heirs of a poor dyer who fell into a vat of boiling liquor;
+while, in regard to smaller matters, a warehouseman, whose finger caught
+in the cog-wheel of a crane, received 30 pounds.  And, again, here is
+1000 pounds to a gentleman killed in a railway accident, and 100 pounds
+to a poor woman.  The latter had insured for a single trip in an
+excursion train at a charge of two-pence, while the former had a policy
+of insurance extending over a considerable period, for which he probably
+paid twenty or thirty shillings.  These are but samples, madam, of the
+good service rendered to sorrowing humanity by this assurance company,
+which, you must observe, makes no pretensions to philanthropic aims, but
+is based simply on business principles.  And I find that the total
+amount of compensation paid in this manner daring one year by this
+Company amounts to about 72,000 pounds."
+
+As Mrs Marrot yawned at this point and Mrs Tipps appeared somewhat
+mystified, the enthusiastic gentleman smiled, put away his pamphlet, and
+wisely changed the subject.  He commented on the extreme beauty of the
+weather, and how fortunate this state of things was for the people who
+went to the country for a day's enjoyment.  Thus pleasantly he whiled
+away the time, and ingratiated himself with Gertie, until they arrived
+at the station where Mrs Tipps and Mrs Marrot had to get out, and
+where many of the excursionists got out along with them.  While the
+former went their several ways, arranging to meet in the evening and
+return together by the same train, the latter scattered themselves over
+the neighbouring common and green fields, and, sitting down under the
+hedgerows among the wild-flowers, pic-nicked in the sunshine, or
+wandered about the lanes, enjoying the song of birds and scent of
+flowers, and wishing, perchance, that their lot had been cast among the
+green pastures of the country, rather than amid the din and smoke and
+turmoil of the town.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.
+
+DETAILS A TERRIBLE ACCIDENT.
+
+In due time that holiday came to a close, and the excursionists returned
+to the station where their train awaited them.  Among the rest came Mrs
+Tipps and Mrs Marrot, but they did not arrive together, and therefore,
+much to their annoyance, failed to get into the same carriage.
+
+The weather, which up to that time had kept fine, began to lower, and,
+just as the train started, a smart thunder-shower fell, but, being under
+cover, the holiday-makers heeded it not.  Upon the whole they were an
+orderly band of excursionists.  Some of the separate groups were
+teetotallers, and only one or two showed symptoms of having sought to
+increase their hilarity by the use of stimulants.
+
+When the shower began, John Marrot and his mate put on their pilot-cloth
+coats, for the screen that formed their only protection from the weather
+was a thin flat one, without roof or sides, forming only a partial
+protection from wind and rain.
+
+Night had begun to descend before the train left the station, and as the
+lowering clouds overspread the sky, the gloom rapidly increased until it
+became quite dark.
+
+"We are going to have a bad night of it," observed John Marrot as his
+mate examined the water-gauge.
+
+"Looks like it," was Garvie's curt reply.
+
+The clatter of the engine and howling of the wind, which had by that
+time risen to a gale, rendered conversation difficult; the two men
+therefore confined themselves to the few occasional words that were
+requisite for the proper discharge of their duties.  It was not a night
+on which the thoughts of an engine-driver were likely to wander much.
+To drive an excursion train in a dark night through a populous country
+over a line which was crowded with traffic, while the rain beat
+violently on the little round windows in the screen, obscuring them and
+rendering it difficult to keep a good look-out was extremely anxious
+work, which claimed the closest and most undivided attention.
+Nevertheless, the thoughts of John Marrot did wander a little that night
+to the carriage behind him in which were his wife and child, but this
+wandering of thought caused him to redouble rather than to relax his
+vigilance and caution.
+
+Will Garvie consulted the water-gauge for a moment and then opened the
+iron door of the furnace in order to throw in more coal.  The effect
+would have stirred the heart of Rembrandt.  The instantaneous blinding
+glare of the intense fire shot through the surrounding darkness,
+lighting up the two men and the tender as if all were made of red-hot
+metal; flooding the smoke and steam-clouds overhead with round masses
+and curling lines of more subdued light, and sending sharp gleams
+through the murky atmosphere into dark space beyond, where the ghostly
+landscape appeared to rush wildly by.
+
+Now it chanced that at the part of the line they had reached, a mineral
+train which preceded them had been thrown off the rails by a bale of
+goods which had fallen from a previous goods train.  Carelessness on the
+part of those who had loaded the truck, from which the bale had fallen,
+led to this accident.  The driver and fireman of the mineral train were
+rather severely hurt, and the guard was much shaken as well as excited,
+so that they neglected to take the proper precaution of sending back one
+of their number to stop the train that followed them.  This would have
+been a matter of little consequence had the line been worked on the
+block system, because, in that case, the danger-signal would have been
+kept up, and would have prevented the excursion train from entering on
+that portion of the line until it was signalled "clear;" but the block
+system had been only partially introduced on the line.  A sufficient
+interval of _time_ had been allowed after the mineral train had passed
+the last station, and then, as we have seen, the excursion train was
+permitted to proceed.  Thus it came to pass that at a part of the line
+where there was a slight curve and a deep cutting, John Marrot looking
+anxiously through his circular window, saw the red tail-light of the
+mineral train.
+
+Instantly he cried, "Clap on the brakes, Bill!"
+
+Almost at the same moment he reversed the engine and opened the whistle
+to alarm the guard, who applied his brakes in violent haste.  But it was
+too late.  The speed could not be checked in time.  The rails were
+slippery, owing to rain.  Almost at full speed they dashed into the
+mineral train with a noise like thunder.  The result was appalling.  The
+engine was smashed and twisted in a manner that is quite indescribable,
+and the tender was turned completely over, while the driver and fireman
+were shot as if from a cannon's mouth, high into the air.  The first two
+carriages of the passenger-train, and the last van of the mineral, were
+completely wrecked; and over these the remaining carriages of the
+passenger-train were piled until they reached an incredible height.  The
+guard's van was raised high in the air, with its ends resting on a
+third-class carriage, which at one end was completely smashed in by the
+van.
+
+At the time of the concussion--just after the terrible crash--there was
+a brief, strange, unearthly silence.  All was still for a few seconds,
+and passengers who were uninjured gazed at each other in mute and
+horrified amazement.  But death in that moment had passed upon many,
+while others were fearfully mangled.  The silence was almost immediately
+broken by the cries and groans of the wounded.  Some had been forcibly
+thrown out of the carriages, others had their legs and arms broken, and
+some were jammed into fixed positions from which death alone relieved
+them.  The scenes that followed were heart-rending.  Those who were
+uninjured, or only slightly hurt, lent willing aid to extricate their
+less fortunate fellow-travellers, but the howling of the wind, the
+deluging rain, and the darkness of the night, retarded their efforts,
+and in many cases rendered them unavailing.
+
+John Marrot, who, as we have said, was shot high into the air, fell by
+good fortune into a large bush.  He was stunned at first, but otherwise
+uninjured.  On regaining consciousness, the first thoughts that flashed
+across him were his wife and child.  Rising in haste he made his way
+towards the engine, which was conspicuous not only by its own fire, but
+by reason of several other fires which had been kindled in various
+places to throw light on the scene.  In the wreck and confusion, it was
+difficult to find out the carriage, in which Mrs Marrot had travelled,
+and the people about were too much excited to give very coherent answers
+to questions.  John, therefore, made his way to a knot of people who
+appeared to be tearing up the _debris_ at a particular spot.  He found
+Joe Turner, the guard, there, with his head bandaged and his face
+covered with blood.
+
+"I've bin lookin' for 'ee everywhere, John," said Joe.  "She's _there_!"
+he added, pointing to a mass of broken timbers which belonged to a
+carriage, on the top of which the guard's van had been thrown, crushing
+it almost flat.
+
+John did not require to ask the meaning of his words.  The guard's look
+was sufficiently significant.  He said not a word, but the deadly pallor
+of his countenance showed how much he felt.  Springing at once on the
+broken carriage, and seizing an axe from the hand of a man who appeared
+exhausted by his efforts, he began to cut through the planking so as to
+get at the interior.  At intervals a half-stifled voice was heard crying
+piteously for "John."
+
+"Keep up heart, lass!" said John, in his deep, strong voice.  "I'll get
+thee out before long--God helping me."
+
+Those who stood by lent their best aid, but anxious though they were
+about the fate of those who lay buried beneath that pile of rubbish,
+they could not help casting an occasional look of wonder, amounting
+almost to awe, on the tall form of the engine-driver, as he cut through
+and tore up the planks and beams with a power that seemed little short
+of miraculous.
+
+Presently he stopped and listened intently for a moment, while the
+perspiration rolled in big drops from his brow.
+
+"Dost hear me, Mary?" he asked in a deeply anxious tone.
+
+If any reply were uttered it was drowned by the howling of the wind and
+the noise of the workmen.
+
+Again he repeated the question in an agonising cry.
+
+His wife did not reply, but Gertie's sweet little voice was heard saying
+faintly--
+
+"I think mother is dead.  Oh, take us out, dear father, take us out,--
+quick!"
+
+Again John Marrot bowed himself to the task, and exerting his colossal
+strength to the utmost, continued to tear up and cast aside the broken
+planks and beams.  The people around him, now thoroughly aroused to the
+importance of haste, worked with all their might, and, ere long, they
+reached the floor of the carriage, where they found mother and child
+jammed into a corner and arched over by a huge mass of broken timber.
+
+It was this mass that saved them, for the rest of the carriage had been
+literally crushed into splinters.
+
+Close beside them was discovered the headless trunk of a young man, and
+the dead body of a girl who had been his companion that day.
+
+Gertie was the first taken out.  Her tender little frame seemed to have
+yielded to the pressure and thus escaped, for, excepting a scratch or
+two, she was uninjured.
+
+John Marrot did not pause to indulge in any expression of feeling.  He
+sternly handed her to the bystanders, and went on powerfully but
+carefully removing the broken timbers and planks, until he succeeded in
+releasing his wife.  Then he raised her in his arms, staggered with her
+to the neighbouring bank and laid her down.
+
+Poor Mrs Marrot was crushed and bruised terribly.  Her clothes were
+torn, and her face was so covered with blood and dust as to be quite
+unrecognisable at first.  John said not a word, but went down on his
+knees and began carefully to wipe away the blood from her features, in
+which act he was assisted by the drenching rain.  Sad though his case
+was, there was no one left to help him.  The cries of the unfortunate
+sufferers still unextricated, drew every one else away the moment the
+poor woman had been released.
+
+Ere long the whole scene of the catastrophe was brilliantly illuminated
+by the numerous fires which were kindled out of the _debris_, to serve
+as torches to those who laboured might and main for the deliverance of
+the injured.  Troops of people from the surrounding district quickly
+made their appearance on the scene, and while some of these lent
+effective aid in the work of rescue, others brought blankets, water, and
+spirits, to cover and comfort those who stood so much in need of help.
+As the wounded were got out, and laid upon the banks of the line,
+several surgeons busied themselves in examining and binding their
+wounds, and the spot bore some resemblance to a battle-field after the
+tide of war had passed over it.  Seventeen dead and one hundred and
+fifty injured already lay upon the wet ground, while many of the living,
+who went about with blanched, solemn faces, yet with earnest helpful
+energy, were bruised and cut badly enough to have warranted their
+retiring from the spot, and having their own cases considered.
+Meanwhile a telegram had been sent to Clatterby, and, in a short time, a
+special train arrived with several of the chief men of the line, and a
+gang of a hundred surface-men to clear away the wreck and remove the
+dead and injured.
+
+Many of those unhurt had made singularly narrow escapes.  One man was
+seated in a third-class carriage when the concussion took place.  The
+side of the carriage fell out, and he slid down on the rails just as the
+other carriages and vans piled up on the place he had left, killing or
+wounding all his fellow-travellers.  Beneath the rubbish next the
+tender, a mother and child were buried and several others.  All were
+dead save the mother and child when the men began to dig them out and
+before they succeeded in their labours the mother had died also, but the
+child survived.  In another carriage, or rather under it, a lad was seen
+lying with a woman's head crushed down on his breast and an infant
+beside her.  They had to saw the carriage asunder before these could be
+extricated.  The woman died almost immediately on being released, but
+the lad and infant were uninjured.  Elsewhere a young girl, who had
+attracted attention by the sweet expression of her face, had been
+strangled, and her face rendered perfectly black.  In another case the
+surface-men attempted to extricate a woman, by sawing the broken
+carriage, under which she lay, but the more they sawed the more did the
+splinters appear to cling round her, and when at last they got her out
+she was dead, while another passenger in the same carnage escaped
+without a scratch.
+
+We would not prolong a painful description which may, perhaps, be
+thought too long already--yet within certain limits it is right that men
+should know what their fellows suffer.  After all the passengers had
+been removed to the special train--the dead into vans and horse-boxes
+and the living into carriages--the surface-men set to work to clear the
+line.
+
+Poor Mrs Tipps was among the rescued, and, along with the others, was
+sent on to the Clatterby station by the special train.
+
+While the people were being placed in this train, John Marrot observed
+Edwin Gurwood in the crowd.  He chanced to be at Clatterby when the
+telegram of the accident arrived, and ran down in the special train to
+render assistance.
+
+"I'm glad to see you, sir," he said in a low, earnest voice.  "My mate,
+Bill Garvie, must be badly hurt, for he's nowhere to be found.  He must
+be under the wreck somewheres.  I wouldn't leave the spot till I found
+him in or'nary circumstances; but my Mary--"
+
+He stopped abruptly.
+
+"I hope Mrs Marrot is not hurt?" said Edwin anxiously.
+
+John could not reply at first.  He shook his head and pointed to a
+carriage near at hand.
+
+"She's there, sir, with Gertie."
+
+"Gertie!" exclaimed Edwin.
+
+"Ay, poor thing, Gertie is all right, thank the good Lord for that;
+but--"
+
+Again he stopped, then with an effort continued--
+
+"I couldn't quit _them_, you know, till I've got 'em safe home.  But my
+mind will be easy, Mr Gurwood, if you'll look after Bill.  We was both
+throw'd a good way from the ingine, but I couldn't rightly say where.
+You'll not refuse--"
+
+"My dear Marrot," said Edwin, interrupting him, and grasping his hand,
+"you may rely on me.  I shall not leave the ground until he is found and
+cared for."
+
+"Thank 'ee, sir, thank 'ee," said John, in something of his wonted
+hearty tone, as he returned Edwin's squeeze of the hand, and hastened to
+the train, which was just ready to start.
+
+Edwin went at once to the spot where the surface-men were toiling at the
+wreck in the fitful light of the fires, which flared wildly in the storm
+and, as they had by that time gathered intense heat, bid defiance to the
+rain.  There were several passengers, who had just been extricated,
+lying on the ground, some motionless, as if dead, others talking
+incoherently.  These he looked at in passing, but Garvie was not among
+them.  Leaving them under the care of the surgeons, who did all that was
+possible in the circumstances for their relief, he ran and joined the
+surface-men in removing the broken timbers of a carriage, from beneath
+which groans were heard.  With some difficulty a woman was extricated
+and laid tenderly on the bank.  Just then Edwin observed a guard, with
+whom he was acquainted, and asked him if the fireman had yet been found.
+
+"Not yet sir, I believe," said the man.  "They say that he and the
+driver were flung to one side of the line."
+
+Edwin went towards the engine, and, judging the probable direction and
+distance to which a man might be thrown in such an accident, went to a
+certain spot and sought carefully around it in all directions.  For some
+time he sought in vain, and was on the point of giving up in despair,
+when he observed a cap lying on the ground.  Going up to it, he saw the
+form of a man half-concealed by a mass of rubbish.  He stooped, and,
+raising the head a little, tried to make out the features, but the light
+of the fires did not penetrate to the spot.  He laid him gently down
+again, and was about to hasten away for assistance when the man groaned
+and said faintly, "Is that you, Jack?"
+
+"No, my poor fellow," said Edwin, stooping down.  "Are you badly hurt?
+I am just going to fetch help to--"
+
+"Mr Gurwood," said the man, interrupting, "you don't seem to know me!
+I'm Garvie, the fireman.  Where am I?  Surely there is something wrong
+with my left arm.  Oh!  I remember now.  Is Jack safe?  And the Missis
+and Gertie?  Are they--"
+
+"Don't exert yourself," interrupted Edwin, as Will attempted to rise.
+"You must keep quiet until I fetch a doctor.  Perhaps you're not much
+hurt, but it is well to be careful.  Will you promise me to be still?"
+
+"All right sir," said Will, promptly.
+
+Edwin hastened for assistance, and in a short time the fireman was
+carried to a place of comparative shelter and his wounds examined.
+
+Almost immediately after the examination Edwin knelt at his side, and
+signed to those around him to retire.
+
+"Garvie," he said, in a low kind voice, "I'm sorry to tell you that the
+doctors say you must lose your left arm."
+
+Will looked intently in Edwin's face.
+
+"Is there _no_ chance of savin' it?" he asked earnestly; "it might never
+be much to speak of, sir, but I'd rather run some risk than lose it."
+
+Edwin shook his head.  "No," he said sadly, "they tell me amputation
+must be immediate, else your life may be sacrificed.  I said I would
+like to break it to you, but it is necessary, my poor fellow, that you
+should make up your mind at once."
+
+"God's will be done," said Will in a low voice; "I'm ready, sir."
+
+The circumstances did not admit of delay.  In a few minutes the
+fireman's left arm was amputated above the elbow, the stump dressed, and
+himself laid in as sheltered a position as possible to await the return
+of the train that was to convey the dead and wounded, more recently
+extricated, to Clatterby.
+
+When that train arrived at the station it was touching to witness the
+pale anxious faces that crowded the platform as the doors were opened
+and the dead and sufferers carried out; and to hear the cries of agony
+when the dead were recognised, and the cries of grief, strangely, almost
+unnaturally, mingled with joy, when some who were supposed to have been
+killed were carried out alive.  Some were seen almost fondling the dead
+with a mixture of tender love and abject despair.  Others bent over them
+with a strange stare of apparent insensibility, or looked round on the
+pitying bystanders inquiringly, as if they would say, "Surely, surely,
+this _cannot_ be true."  The sensibilities of some were stunned, so that
+they moved calmly about and gave directions in a quiet solemn voice, as
+if the great agony of grief were long past, though it was painfully
+evident that it had not yet begun, because the truth had not yet been
+realised.
+
+Among those who were calm and collected, though heart-stricken and
+deadly pale, was Loo Marrot.  She had been sent to the station by her
+father to await the arrival of the train, with orders to bring Will
+Garvie home.  When Will was carried out and laid on the platform alive,
+an irresistible gush of feeling overpowered her.  She did not give way
+to noisy demonstration, as too many did, but knelt hastily down, raised
+his head on her knee, and kissed his face passionately.
+
+"Bless you, my darling," said Will, in a low thrilling voice, in which
+intense feeling struggled with the desire to make light of his
+misfortune; "God has sent a cordial that the doctors haven't got to
+give."
+
+"O William!" exclaimed Loo, removing the hair from his forehead--but Loo
+could say no more.
+
+"Tell me, darling," said Garvie, in an anxious tone, "is father safe,
+and mother, and Gertie?"
+
+"Father is safe, thank God," replied Loo, with a choking voice, "and
+Gertie also, but mother--"
+
+"She is not dead?" exclaimed the fireman.
+
+"No, not dead, but very _very_ much hurt.  The doctors fear she may not
+survive it, Will."
+
+No more was said, for at that moment four porters came up with a
+stretcher and placed Garvie gently upon it.  Loo covered him with her
+shawl, a piece of tarpaulin was thrown over all, and thus he was slowly
+borne away to John Marrot's home.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.
+
+RESULTS OF THE ACCIDENT.
+
+Years passed away--as years inevitably must--and many important changes
+took place in the circumstances and the management of the Grand National
+Trunk Railway, but the results of that terrible accident did not quickly
+pass away.  As we have said, it cost Will Garvie an arm, and nearly cost
+Mrs Marrot her life.  We have much pleasure, however, in recording,
+that it did not make the full charge in this matter.  A small, a very
+small modicum of life was left in that estimable woman, and on the
+strength of that, with her wonted vigour of character and invincibility
+of purpose, she set to work to draw out, as it were, a new lease of
+life.  She succeeded to admiration, so much so, in fact, that but for
+one or two scars on her countenance, no one could have known that she
+had come by an accident at all.  Bob Marrot was wont to say of her, in
+after years, that, "if it had bin his mother who had lost an arm instead
+of Will Garvie, he was convinced that her firmness, amountin' a'most to
+obstinacy, of purpose, would have enabled her to grow on a noo arm as
+good as the old 'un, if not better."  We need scarcely add that Bob was
+an irreverent scamp!
+
+Poor Will Garvie! his was a sad loss, yet, strange to say, he rejoiced
+over it.  "W'y, you see," he used to say to Bob Marrot--Bob and he being
+great and confidential friends--"you see, Bob, if it hadn't bin for that
+accident, I never would have bin laid up and brought so low--so very
+nigh to the grave--and I would never have know'd what it was to be
+nursed by your sister too; and so my eyes might have never bin opened to
+half her goodness an' tenderness, d'ye see?  No, Bob, I don't grudge
+havin' had my eyes opened by the loss of an arm; it was done cheap at
+the price.  Of course I know Loo pretty well by this time, for a few
+years of married life is apt to clear a good deal of dust out of one's
+eyes, but I do assure you, Bob, that I never _could_ have know'd her
+properly but for that accident, which was the luckiest thing that ever
+happened to me; an' then, don't 'ee see, I'm just as able to work these
+there points with one arm as with two."
+
+To which Bob would reply,--"You're a queer fish, Bill; howsever, every
+man's got a right to his own opinions."
+
+Will Garvie was a pointsman now.  On recovering from his prolonged
+illness, during which he had been supported out of the Provident Fund of
+the railway--to which he and all the other men on the line contributed--
+he was put to light work at first at the station of Clatterby.  By
+degrees his strength returned, and he displayed so much intelligence,
+and such calmness of nerve and coolness of courage, that he was made a
+pointsman at the station, and had a sentry-box sort of erection, with
+windows all round it, apportioned to his daily use.  There he was
+continually employed in shifting the points for the shunting of trains,
+none of which dared to move, despite their mighty power and impatience,
+until Will Garvie gave them leave.
+
+To John Marrot, the accident although not severe at first, had proved
+more damaging in the long-run.  No bones had been broken, or limbs lost,
+but John had received a shake so bad that he did not resume his duties
+with the same vigour as heretofore.  He continued to stick to his post,
+however, for several years, and, before giving it up, had the pleasure
+of training his son Bob in the situation which Garvie had been obliged
+to resign.  Bob's heart you see, had been all along set on driving the
+_Lightning_; he therefore gladly left the "Works" when old enough,--and
+when the opportunity offered,--to fill the preliminary post of fireman.
+
+During this period Edwin Gurwood rose to a responsible and sufficiently
+lucrative situation in the Clearing-House.  At the same time he employed
+much of his leisure in cultivating the art of painting, of which he was
+passionately fond.  At first he painted for pleasure, but he soon found,
+on exhibiting one or two of his works, that picture-dealers were willing
+to purchase from him.  He therefore began to paint for profit, and
+succeeded so well that he began to save and lay by money, with a view to
+that wife with the nut-brown hair and the large lustrous eyes, who
+haunted his dreams by night and became his guiding-star by day.
+
+Seeing him thus wholly immersed in the acquisition of money, and not
+knowing his motive, his faithful little friend Joe Tipps one day amazed,
+and half-offended him, by reminding him that he had a soul to be cared
+for as well as a body.  The arrow was tenderly shot, and with a
+trembling hand, but Joe prayed that it might be sent home, and it was.
+From that date Edwin could not rest.  He reviewed his life.  He
+reflected that everything he possessed, or hoped for, came to him, or
+was to come, from God; yet as far as he could make out he saw no
+evidence of the existence of religion in himself save in the one fact
+that he went regularly to church on Sundays.  He resolved to turn over a
+new leaf.  Tried--and failed.  He was perplexed, for he had tried
+honestly.
+
+"Tipps," he said, one day, "you are the only man I ever could make a
+confidant of.  To say truth I'm not given to being very communicative as
+to personal matters at any time, but I _must_ tell you that the remark
+you made about my soul the other day has stuck to me, and I have tried
+to lead a Christian life, but without much success."
+
+"Perhaps," said Tipps, timidly, "it is because you have not yet become a
+Christian."
+
+"My _dear_ fellow!" exclaimed Edwin, "is not leading a Christian life
+becoming a Christian?"
+
+"Don't you think," said Tipps, in an apologetic tone, "that leading a
+Christian life is rather the result of having become a Christian?  It
+seems to me that you have been taking the plan of putting yourself and
+your doings first, and our Saviour last."
+
+We need not prolong a conversation referring to the "old, old story,"
+which ran very much in the usual groove.  Suffice it to say that Edwin
+at last carefully consulted the Bible as to the plan of redemption; and,
+in believing, found that rest of spirit which he had failed to work out.
+Thenceforward he had a higher motive for labouring at his daily toil,
+yet the old motive did not lose but rather gained in power by the
+change--whereby he realised the truth that, "godliness is profitable for
+the life that now is as well as that which is to come."
+
+At last the painting became so successful that Edwin resolved to trust
+to it alone--said good-bye to the Clearing-House with regret--for he
+left many a pleasant companion and several intimate friends behind him--
+and went to Clatterby, in the suburbs of which he took and furnished a
+small villa.
+
+Then it was that he came to the conclusion that the time had arrived to
+make a pointed appeal to the nut-brown hair and lustrous eyes.  He went
+off and called at Captain Lee's house accordingly.  The captain was
+out--Miss Lee was at home.  Edwin entered the house, but he left all his
+native courage and self-possession on the doorstep outside!
+
+Being ushered into the drawing-room he found Emma reading.  From that
+moment--to his own surprise, and according to his own statement--he
+became an ass!  The metamorphosis was complete.  Ovid, had he been
+alive, would have rejoiced in it!  He blushed more than a poor boy
+caught in his first grievous offence.  The very straightforwardness of
+his character helped to make him worse.  He felt, in all its importance,
+the momentous character of the step he was about to take, and he felt in
+all its strength the love with which his heart was full, and the
+inestimable value of the prize at which he aimed.  No wonder that he was
+overwhelmed.
+
+The reader will observe that we have not attempted to dilate in this
+book on the value of that prize.  Emma, like many other good people, is
+only incidental to our subject.  We have been obliged to leave her to
+the reader's imagination.  After all, what better could we have done?
+Imagination is more powerful in this matter than description.  Neither
+one nor other could, we felt, approach the reality, therefore
+imagination was best.
+
+"Emma!" he said, sitting down on the sofa beside her, and seizing her
+hand in both of his.
+
+"Mr Gurwood!" she exclaimed in some alarm.
+
+Beginning, from the mere force of habit, some half-delirious reference
+to the weather, Edwin suddenly stopped, passed his fingers wildly
+through his hair, and again said, with deep earnestness,--"Emma."
+
+Emma looked down, blushed, and said nothing.
+
+"Emma," he said again, "my good angel, my guiding-star--by night and by
+day--for years I have--"
+
+At that moment Captain Lee entered the room.
+
+Edwin leaped up and stood erect.  Emma buried her face in the sofa
+cushions.
+
+"Edwin--Mr Gurwood!" exclaimed Captain Lee.
+
+This was the beginning of a conversation which terminated eventually in
+the transference of the nut-brown hair and lustrous eyes to the artist's
+villa in Clatterby.  As there was a good garden round the villa, and the
+wife with nut-brown hair was uncommonly fond of flowers, Edwin looked
+out for a gardener.  It was at this identical time that John Marrot
+resolved to resign his situation as engine-driver on the Grand National
+Trunk Railway.  Edwin, knowing that he had imbibed a considerable amount
+of knowledge of gardening from Loo, at once offered to employ him as his
+gardener; John gladly closed with the offer, and thus it came about that
+he and his wife removed to the villa and left their old railway-ridden
+cottage in possession of Will and Loo--or, to be more correct, Mr and
+Mrs Garvie, and all the young Garvies.
+
+But what of timid Mrs Tipps?  The great accident did little for her
+beyond shaking her nervous system, and confirming her in the belief that
+railways were unutterably detestable; that she was not quite sure
+whether or not they were sinful; that, come what might, she never would
+enter one again; and that she felt convinced she had been born a hundred
+years too late, in which latter opinion most of her friends agreed with
+her, although they were glad, considering her loveable disposition, that
+the mistake had occurred.  Netta did not take quite such an extreme
+view, and Joseph laughed at and quizzed them both, in an amiable sort of
+fashion, on their views.
+
+Among all the sufferers by that accident few suffered so severely--with
+the exception: of course, of those who lost their lives--as the Grand
+National Trunk Railway itself.  In the course of the trials that
+followed, it was clearly shown that the company had run the train much
+more with the view of gratifying the public than of enriching their
+coffers, from the fact that the utmost possible sum which they could
+hope to draw by it was 17 pounds, for which sum they had carried 600
+passengers upwards of twenty miles.  The accident took place in
+consequence of circumstances over which the company had no control, and
+the results were--that twenty persons were killed and about two hundred
+wounded! that one hundred and sixty claims were made for compensation--
+one hundred and forty of which, being deemed exorbitant or fraudulent,
+were defended in court; and that, eventually, the company had to pay
+from seventy to eighty thousand pounds! out of which the highest sum
+paid to one individual was 6750 pounds!  The risks that are thus run by
+railway companies will be seen to be excessive, especially when it is
+considered that excursion trains afford but slight remuneration, while
+many of them convey enormous numbers of passengers.  On the occasion of
+the first excursion from Oxford to London, in 1851, fifty-two of the
+broad-gauge carriages of the Great Western were employed, and the
+excursionists numbered upwards of three thousand five hundred--a very
+town on wheels!  Truly the risks of railway companies are great, and
+their punishments severe.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.
+
+THE LAST.
+
+A certain Christmas-day approached.  On the morning of the day
+preceding, Will Garvie--looking as broad and sturdy as ever; a perfect
+man, but for the empty sleeve--stood at his post near his sentry-box.
+His duties that day were severe.  At that season of the year there is a
+great increase of traffic on all railways, and you may be sure that the
+Grand National Trunk Railway had its full share.
+
+On ordinary occasions about three hundred trains passed Will Garvie's
+box, out and in, during the twelve hours, but that day there had been
+nearly double the number of passengers, and a considerable increase in
+the number of trains that conveyed them, while goods trains had also
+increased greatly in bulk and in numbers.
+
+Garvie's box abutted on a bridge, and stood in the very midst of a
+labyrinth of intricate crossing lines, over which trains and
+pilot-engines were constantly rushing and hissing, backing and whistling
+viciously, and in the midst of which, Will moved at the continual risk
+of his life, as cool as a cucumber (so Bob Garvie expressed it), and as
+safe as the bank.
+
+Although thus situated in the midst of smoke, noise, dust, iron, and
+steam, Will Garvie managed to indulge his love for flowers.  He had a
+garden on the line--between the very rails!  It was not large, to be
+sure, only about six feet by two--but it was large enough for his
+limited desires.  The garden was in a wooden trough in front of his
+sentry-box.  It contained mignonette, roses, and heart's-ease among
+other things, and every time that Will passed out of or into his box in
+performing the duties connected with the station, he took a look at the
+flowers and thought of Loo and the innumerable boys, girls, and babies
+at home.  We need not say that this garden was beautifully kept.
+Whatever Will did he did well--probably because he tended well the
+garden of his own soul.
+
+While he was standing outside his box during one of the brief intervals
+between trains, an extremely beautiful girl came on the platform and
+called across the rails to him.
+
+"Hallo!  Gertie--what brings _you_ here?" he asked, with a look of glad
+surprise.
+
+"To see _you_," replied Gertie, with a smile that was nothing short of
+bewitching.
+
+"How I wish you were a flower, that I might plant you in my garden,"
+said the gallant William, as he crossed the rails and reached up to
+shake Gertie's hand.
+
+"What a greedy man you are!" said Gertie.  "Isn't Loo enough for you?"
+
+"Quite enough," replied Will, "I might almost say more than enough at
+times; but come, lass, this ain't the place for a palaver.  You came to
+speak with me as well as to see me, no doubt."
+
+"Yes, Will, I came with a message from Mrs Tipps.  You know that the
+railway men are going to present father with a testimonial to-night;
+well, Mrs Tipps thinks that her drawing-room won't be large enough, so
+she sent me to ask you to let the men know that it is to be presented in
+the schoolroom, where the volunteer rifle band is to perform and make a
+sort of concert of it."
+
+"Indeed!" said Will.
+
+"Yes; and Mrs Tipps says that Captain Lee is going to give them what
+she calls a cold collation, and brother Bob calls a blow-out."
+
+"You don't say so!" exclaimed Will.
+
+"Yes, I do; won't it be delightful?" said Gertie.
+
+"Splendid," replied Will, "I'll be sure to be up in good time.  But, I
+say, Gertie, is young Dorkin to be there?"
+
+Gertie blushed, but was spared the necessity of a reply in consequence
+of a deafening whistle which called Will Garvie to his points.  Next
+moment, a passenger-train intervened, and cut her off from further
+communication.
+
+According to promise, Will was at the schoolroom in good time that
+evening, with some thirty or forty of his comrades.  Loo was there too,
+blooming and matronly, with a troop of boys and girls, who seemed to
+constitute themselves a body-guard round John Marrot and his wife, who
+were both ignorant at that time of the honour that was about to be done
+them.  John was as grave, sturdy, and amiable as ever, the only
+alteration in his appearance being the increased number of silver locks
+that mingled with his black hair.  Time had done little to Mrs Marrot,
+beyond increasing her bulk and the rosiness of her countenance.
+
+It would be tedious to comment on all our old friends who assembled in
+the schoolroom on that memorable occasion.  We can only mention the
+names of Captain Lee (_alias_ Samuel Tough), and Mr Abel, and Mrs
+Tipps, and Dr Noble, and Mr Sharp, and David Blunt, and Joe Turner,
+and Mrs Durby, with all of whom time seemed to have dealt as leniently
+as with John Marrot and his wife.  Sam Natly was also there, with his
+invalid wife restored to robust health, and supported on either side by
+a blooming boy and girl.  And Edwin Gurwood was there with his wife and
+son and three daughters; and so was Joseph Tipps, looking as if the
+world prospered with him, as, indeed, was the case.  And, of course,
+Netta Tipps was there, and the young curate, who, by the way, was much
+stouter and not nearly so stiff as when we first met him.  He was
+particularly attentive to Netta, and called her "my dear," in a cool
+free-and-easy way, that would not have been tolerated for a moment, but
+for the fact that they had been married for the last three months.  Bob
+Marrot was there also--as strapping a young blade as one could wish to
+see, with a modest yet fearless look in his eye, that was quite in
+keeping with his occupation as driver of the "Flying Dutchman."
+
+There was there, also, a tall, slim, good-looking youth, who seemed to
+be on very intimate terms with Bob Marrot.  He was well-known as one of
+the most rising men at the Clatterby works, who bade fair to become an
+overseer ere long.  Bob called him Tomtit, but the men of the line
+styled him Mister Dorkin.  He had brought with him an extremely
+wrinkled, dried-up old woman, who appeared to have suffered much, and to
+have been dragged out of the lowest depths of poverty.  To judge from
+appearances she had been placed in a position of great comfort.  Such
+was in truth the case, and the fine young fellow who had dragged her out
+and up was that same Mister Dorkin, who may be said to have been all but
+stone-blind that evening, because, from first to last, he saw but one
+individual there, and that individual was Gertie.  He was almost deaf
+too, because he heard only one voice--and that voice was Gertie's.
+
+And Nanny Stocks was there, with "the baby," but _not_ the baby Marrot!
+_That_ baby--now a stout well-grown lad--was seated beside his mother,
+paying her all sorts of delicate attentions, such as picking up her
+handkerchief when she dropped it, pushing her bonnet on her head when,
+in her agitation, it fell back on her neck, and beating her firmly on
+the back when she choked, as she frequently did that evening from sheer
+delight.  No doubt in this last operation he felt that he was paying off
+old scores, for many a severe beating on the back had Mrs Marrot given
+him in the stormy days of his babyhood.
+
+The baby of whom Nanny Stocks was now the guardian was baby Gurwood, and
+a strong resemblance it bore to the old baby in the matters of health,
+strength, fatness, and self-will.  Miss Stocks was one of those human
+evergreens which years appear to make no impression on at all.  From her
+shoe-latchet to her topmost hair-pin she was unalterably the same as she
+had been in days gone by.  She treated the new baby, too, as she had
+treated the old--choked it with sweetmeats and kisses, and acted the
+part of buffer to its feet and fists.
+
+It would take a volume to give the full details of all that was said and
+done, and played and sung, on that Christmas-eve.  We can only touch on
+these things.  The brass band of the volunteers surpassed itself.  The
+songs--volunteered or called for--were as good as songs usually are on
+festive occasions, a few of them being first-rate, especially one which
+was sung by a huge engine-driver, with shoulders about a yard broad, and
+a beard like the inverted shako of a guardsman.  It ran thus--
+
+SONG OF THE ENGINE-DRIVER.
+
+  Oh--down by the river and close by the lake
+  We skim like the swallow and cut though the brake;
+  Over the mountain and round by the lea,
+  Though the black tunnel and down to the sea.
+  Clatter and bang by the wild riven shore,
+  We mingle our shriek with the ocean's roar.
+  We strain and we struggle, we rush and we fly--
+  We're a terrible pair, my steed and I.
+
+  _Chorus_--Whistle and puff the whole day round,
+  Over the hills and underground.
+  Rattling fast and rattling free--
+  Oh! a life on the line is the life for me.
+
+  With our hearts a-blazing in every chink,
+  With coals for food and water to drink,
+  We plunge up the mountain and traverse the moor,
+  And startle the grouse in our daily tour.
+  We yell at the deer in their lonely glen,
+  Shoot past the village and circle the Ben,
+  We flash through the city on viaducts high,
+  As straight as an arrow, my steed and I.
+
+  _Chorus_--Whistle and puff, etcetera.
+
+  The Norseman of old, when quaffing his mead,
+  Delighted to boast of his "ocean steed;"
+  The British tar, in his foaming beer,
+  Drinks to his ship as his mistress dear.
+  The war-horse good is the trooper's theme--
+  But what are all these to the horse of steam?
+  Such a riotous, rollicking roadster is he--
+  Oh!--the Iron Horse is the steed for me!
+
+  _Chorus_--Whistle and puff, etcetera.
+
+The collation also, or, according to Bob Marrot, the "blow-out," was
+superb.  Joseph Tipps declared it to be eminently satisfactory, and the
+men of the line evidently held the same opinion, if we may judge from
+the fact that they consumed it all, and left not a scrap behind.
+
+The speeches, also, were excellent.  Of course the great one of the
+evening was the best being, delivered by Mr Abel, who not unnaturally
+made a remarkably able oration.
+
+When that gentleman rose with a beautiful silver model of a locomotive
+in his hand, which he had been deputed by the men of the line to present
+as a mark of their regard, admiration, and esteem, to John Marrot, he
+took the worthy ex-engine-driver very much by surprise, and caused Mrs
+Marrot to be seized with such a fit of choking that the baby (not the
+new one, but the old) found it as hard work to beat her out of it, as
+she had formerly found it to beat _him_ out of a fit of wickedness.
+When she had been restored, Mr Abel launched off into a glowing
+oration, in the course of which he referred to John Marrot's long
+services, to his faithful and unwearied attention to his arduous duties,
+and to the numerous instances wherein he had shown personal courage and
+daring, amounting almost to heroism, in saving the lives of comrades in
+danger, and in preventing accidents on the line by coolness and presence
+of mind.
+
+"In conclusion," said Mr Abel, winding up, "let me remark that the gift
+which is now presented might have been of a more useful character, but
+could not have been more appropriate; because the wish of those who
+desire to testify their regard for you this evening, Mr Marrot, is not
+to give you an intrinsically valuable or useful present, but to present
+you with a characteristic ornament which may grace your dwelling while
+you live, and descend, after you are gone, to your children's children
+(here he glanced at Loo and her troop), to bear witness to them that you
+nobly did your duty in driving that great iron horse, whereof this
+little silver pony is a model and a memorial.  To perform one's duty
+well in this life is the highest ambition that any man can have in
+regard to temporal things.  Nelson, our greatest naval hero, aimed at
+it, and, on the glorious day of Trafalgar, signalled that England
+expected every man to do it.  Wellington, our greatest soldier, made
+_duty_ his guiding-star.  The effectual and earnest performance of duty
+stamps with a nobility which is not confined to great men--a nobility
+which kings can neither give nor take away--a nobility which is very,
+_very_ difficult to attain unto, but which is open alike to the prince
+and the peasant, and must be wrought hard for and won--or lost with
+shame,--for, as the poet happily puts it--
+
+  "`Honour and shame from no condition rise;
+  Act well your part,--there all the honour lies.'
+
+"For myself I can only say that John Marrot has won this nobility, and I
+couple his name with a sentiment with which all here, I doubt not, will
+heartily sympathise.--Prosperity to the men of the line, and success to
+the Iron Horse!"
+
+Reader, we can do no better than echo that sentiment, and wish you a
+kind farewell.
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Iron Horse, by R.M. Ballantyne
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE IRON HORSE ***
+
+***** This file should be named 21740.txt or 21740.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/7/4/21740/
+
+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.