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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76892 ***
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Illustrated title page.]
+
+
+
+
+                        _THE LAKE SHORE SERIES._
+
+                           LIGHTNING EXPRESS;
+
+                                   OR,
+
+                          THE RIVAL ACADEMIES.
+
+                                   BY
+
+                              OLIVER OPTIC,
+
+     AUTHOR OF “YOUNG AMERICA ABROAD,” “THE ARMY AND NAVY STORIES,”
+            “THE WOODVILLE STORIES,” “THE BOAT-CLUB STORIES,”
+                     “THE STARRY FLAG SERIES,” ETC.
+
+
+                                 BOSTON:
+                      LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS.
+                                NEW YORK:
+                      LEE, SHEPARD AND DILLINGHAM.
+                                  1871.
+
+
+
+
+      Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by
+                           WILLIAM T. ADAMS,
+             In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of
+                     the District of Massachusetts.
+
+
+                           ELECTROTYPED AT THE
+                       BOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY,
+                           NO. 19 SPRING LANE.
+
+
+
+
+                                   TO
+
+                             MY YOUNG FRIEND
+
+                          _JAMES DEWITT CARSON_
+
+                                This Book
+
+                      IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED.
+
+
+
+
+_THE LAKE SHORE SERIES._
+
+
+  1. _THROUGH BY DAYLIGHT_; or, The Young Engineer of the Lake Shore
+         Railroad.
+
+  2. _LIGHTNING EXPRESS_; or, The Rival Academies.
+
+  3. _ON TIME_; or, The Young Captain of the Ucayga Steamer.
+
+  4. _SWITCH OFF_; or, The War of the Students.
+
+  5. _BRAKE UP_; or, The Young Peacemakers.
+
+  6. _BEAR AND FORBEAR_; or, The Young Skipper of Lake Ucayga.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+LIGHTNING EXPRESS is the second volume of the LAKE SHORE SERIES, and
+has been published in Oliver Optic’s Magazine, Our Boys and Girls. The
+story, like its predecessor, relates to the Lake Shore Railroad, though
+the war between the rival academies occupies a considerable portion of
+the book. Waddie Wimpleton and Tommy Toppleton, as they appear in these
+volumes, are not strangers, in real life, to the writer; and probably
+all his readers are familiar with similar young gentlemen in their own
+spheres.
+
+The author has endeavored to keep the moral movement of the story up to
+the proper standard, and is not afraid that any reasonable young man
+will like either Tommy or Waddie well enough to imitate their conduct,
+while he is satisfied that all will be pleased with the moral heroism
+of Wolf Penniman, and will indorse his views of Christian duty.
+
+  HARRISON SQUARE, MASS.,
+                July 21, 1869.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+ CHAPTER I.                         PAGE
+ A STOCKHOLDERS’ MEETING.             11
+
+ CHAPTER II.
+ THE STOCKHOLDERS IN COUNCIL.         22
+
+ CHAPTER III.
+ THE PRESIDENT OF THE ROAD.           34
+
+ CHAPTER IV.
+ OFF FOR THE CAMP.                    45
+
+ CHAPTER V.
+ A BREEZY PROSPECT AHEAD.             57
+
+ CHAPTER VI.
+ A MISSION OF PEACE.                  69
+
+
+ CHAPTER VII.
+ MAJOR TOMMY GETS MAD.                81
+
+ CHAPTER VIII.
+ CHARGE BAYONETS!                     93
+
+ CHAPTER IX.
+ FEATHERS AND THE ENGINEER.          104
+
+ CHAPTER X.
+ KEEPING THE PEACE.                  116
+
+ CHAPTER XI.
+ AT THE HORSE SHOE.                  128
+
+ CHAPTER XII.
+ UP THE LAKE.                        139
+
+ CHAPTER XIII.
+ IF THINE ENEMY HUNGER.              150
+
+ CHAPTER XIV.
+ COLONEL WIMPLETON BIDS HIGH.        162
+
+ CHAPTER XV.
+ THE IMPENDING BATTLE.               174
+
+ CHAPTER XVI.
+ THE BATTLE OF THE HORSE SHOE.       186
+
+ CHAPTER XVII.
+ THE PRISONER OF WAR.                198
+
+ CHAPTER XVIII.
+ RESCUING A PRISONER.                210
+
+ CHAPTER XIX.
+ A TYRANNICAL SON.                   222
+
+ CHAPTER XX.
+ THE LIGHTNING EXPRESS TRAIN.        233
+
+ CHAPTER XXI.
+ MAKING UP TIME.                     244
+
+ CHAPTER XXII.
+ THE NEW FIREMAN.                    254
+
+ CHAPTER XXIII.
+ THE PRESIDENT AND THE ENGINEER.     266
+
+ CHAPTER XXIV.
+ THE PRESIDENT HAS A FALL.           278
+
+ CHAPTER XXV.
+ THE PRESIDENT IN TROUBLE.           290
+
+ CHAPTER XXVI.
+ THE NEW STEAMER.                    300
+
+
+
+
+LIGHTNING EXPRESS;
+
+OR,
+
+THE RIVAL ACADEMIES.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+A STOCKHOLDERS’ MEETING.
+
+
+“Order, gentlemen, order!” said Mr. Tommy Toppleton, rapping his
+gavel on the desk before him. “While I am president of the Lake Shore
+Railroad, I will have order!”
+
+Tommy was the son of his father; on this question there could be no
+dispute. Not only was his father a great man, but Tommy, in his own
+estimation, was a great man also; on this question, unfortunately,
+there was some dispute. Perhaps it was the young gentleman’s
+misfortune, certainly it was not his fault, that he was the only son
+of a very rich father, and had been indulged until he was, so far as
+the circumstances would admit, a spoiled child. He had many excellent
+qualities; but he had come to think that among the boys he was the
+central figure, and that without him they were nothing, and could do
+nothing.
+
+Tommy regarded other boys, even the students of the Toppleton Institute
+who were his equals in wealth and social position, as in some sense
+footballs for his capricious toes. Many of his companions did not
+like him, because he “put on airs,” because he was overbearing and
+tyrannical to his inferiors, and because he always claimed the highest
+position and the loftiest dignity among them. When the Lake Shore
+Railroad Company was organized, he was elected one of the board of
+directors, and then by them was chosen president. He had filled this
+office from the beginning, and he expected always to fill it.
+
+The company had been in operation about a year, during which time it
+had dealt mainly with imaginary certificates of stock, bonds, rolling
+stock, and other material, the object being to give the students a
+knowledge of railroad business. The actual building of the road had
+rendered the company somewhat more real; but, as all the property was
+in fact owned by Major Toppleton, who held the bonds of the company for
+its full value, it was still to the students an educational rather than
+a practical business enterprise. The real owner, therefore, was the
+real manager of the road. He told the directors what votes to pass, and
+they were pliant enough to obey. All the forms of electing officers,
+appointing the superintendent, road-master, engineers, and other
+officers, were punctiliously adhered to.
+
+The capital stock of the company was two hundred thousand dollars,
+represented by two thousand shares of one hundred dollars each, which
+had been apportioned among the students of the Institute, in unequal
+parts. Some owned one hundred shares, others only two or three. Tommy
+Toppleton was the happy possessor of a quarter part of the capital
+stock of the concern, and threw five hundred votes, each representing a
+share, in a stockholders’ meeting. An account was kept with each owner
+of stock, and transfers from one to another were frequent. I am sorry
+to detract from the dignity of the enterprise by confessing that a
+share, whose par value was one hundred dollars, was frequently bartered
+away for a pint of pea-nuts, though, as the road, like many others, was
+mortgaged for its full value, perhaps the compensation was adequate.
+
+Two thousand mortgage bonds of one hundred dollars each had been
+issued, duly signed by the officers, and bearing interest at seven per
+cent. As the company had no receipts for the first quarter of the year,
+the railroad was heavily in debt, and the students were not likely to
+be burdened with any extra spending money from their dividends. I had
+run the dummy during the fall and winter, carrying passengers as far
+as Grass Springs; not for the fun of it, but at regular fares--twenty
+cents to Spangleport, five miles distant, fifty cents to the Springs,
+thirteen miles, and between the two latter points, thirty cents.
+There had been considerable travel, enough to make a breeze with the
+steamboat company, though not enough to pay the interest and expenses
+of running.
+
+As the students were not permitted to neglect their studies for the
+purpose of serving as conductors and engineers, outsiders had been
+employed to some extent. Major Toppleton did not regard the Lake Shore
+Railroad as a mere plaything. During the winter he had procured his
+charter, and he had expended an immense sum of money on the road since
+he commenced, for his ideas had enlarged as he progressed, and he
+intended to have a regular line to Ucayga, at the foot of the lake.
+In a quiet way he had bought up the stock of the steamboat company,
+and a report was circulated in the spring that the boats would run
+only between Middleport and Hitaca, at the head of the lake, when the
+railroad was completed. The Centreporters were filled with horror and
+indignation, for this scheme would leave them no means of communication
+with Ucayga, on the great lines of railroad, except by the way of
+Middleport, and would compel them to patronize the hated Lake Shore
+line. But this project was only rumored; it had not yet been developed.
+
+The assembly in which Mr. Tommy Toppleton insisted that order should
+be preserved while he was the president of the Lake Shore Railroad,
+was the annual meeting of the stockholders, at which the election of
+officers was to take place. By permission of Major Toppleton I was
+allowed to own five shares in the road, though, as I was not a member
+of the Institute, I was not eligible as a purchaser of stock. But I
+felt an interest in the enterprise, and an interest in the method of
+conducting the business, and I had purchased my stock at a fearful
+depreciation from the par value. One of the fellows, by the name of
+Limpenfield, had run out of pocket money, and being sorely tempted to
+enjoy a feast of cream cakes, I had taken advantage of his necessities,
+and bought five shares for twenty-five cents!
+
+The meeting threatened to be rather stormy, for I happened to know
+that there were two tickets in the field for a board of directors, on
+one of which the name of Tommy Toppleton did not appear, though the
+canvassing had been so carefully conducted that the person principally
+concerned had no suspicion of his own unpopularity, and least of all
+that the stockholders would have the audacity to tip him out of his
+exalted position. But this question had not yet come to an issue. The
+excitement was over another matter.
+
+“I move you that we proceed to the election of officers at once,” said
+Barnscott.
+
+“I move you that we adjourn to Grass Springs!” shouted Wetherstane.
+
+“Second the motion!” added Putnam.
+
+“Order, gentlemen! What motion do you second, Putnam?” demanded the
+president.
+
+“The motion to adjourn to Grass Springs, of course.”
+
+“What do we want to adjourn to Grass Springs for?” demanded Barnscott.
+
+“Question! Question!” called the crowd.
+
+“There is no motion before the stockholders!” roared Tommy, hammering
+the desk vigorously with his gavel, for he was a model presiding
+officer, and would no more have served in this capacity without a gavel
+than he would have gone to meeting without a coat.
+
+“Mr. President, I made a motion,” said Barnscott.
+
+“So did I,” added Wetherstane.
+
+“Neither of them is before the house. Gentlemen, you interrupt the
+company’s business by your disorder. I insist that the proceedings
+be conducted with parliamentary propriety.” Tommy had been to the
+legislature with his father when the charter was obtained, and indulged
+in technical phrases which all the students did not fully comprehend.
+
+“I move you--”
+
+“Order!” screamed Tommy, at the top of his lungs, and as savage as a
+yellow wasp.
+
+“I move you--”
+
+“Order!” repeated the vigorous president, indicating each of the movers
+by pointing at them with his gavel. “Take your seat, Barnscott! Sit
+down, Wetherstane! This business shall be done in an orderly manner, or
+not at all;” and Tommy swelled up till he was as big as the presiding
+officer of the Senate of the United States.
+
+“I thought this was a free country, and that the stockholders of the
+Lake Shore Railroad had a right to speak in the meetings,” growled the
+irrepressible Barnscott.
+
+“Sit down!” thundered Tommy.
+
+“I have a certificate for ten shares; and that gives me the right to
+speak and to vote in this meeting,” added the indignant Wetherstane.
+
+“Take your seat, or I will have you put out of the hall!” yelled the
+president.
+
+“I’ll sell my stock to any fellow that wants it for a stick of molasses
+candy,” continued the wrathy Barnscott. “What is the use of owning
+stock if you are to be muzzled like a mad dog?”
+
+“Shall we have order, or not?” cried the president, disgusted with the
+irregular proceedings of the turbulent stockholders.
+
+“Order! Order!” shouted a respectable majority of the assembly.
+
+Tommy was evidently out of breath, and disposed to resort to
+disagreeable measures. The meeting was held in the chapel of the
+Institute, and the principal, if not the major, was within calling
+distance. Rather than have a lecture from either of them, the violent
+makers of motions subsided for a time, and permitted the president to
+do the lecturing. Tommy took a swallow of water from a tumbler on the
+desk, and then looked majestically around the room, as if to satisfy
+himself that no further disorder was intended, and that the turbulent
+ones were disposed to listen to his remarks.
+
+“Gentlemen, order is Heaven’s first law, and it must be the first law
+of the Lake Shore Railroad Company, especially in a meeting of its
+stockholders,” Tommy began, and then paused, looking as solemn as an
+owl at noonday, to note the effect of his impressive words.
+
+As no one objected to this proposition, Tommy took another swallow of
+cold water, and proceeded with his remarks.
+
+“No business can be done while we are in confusion,” he continued,
+with due seriousness, as he straightened back his neck. “This
+is a parliamentary assembly, like the legislature of the state,
+and we purpose to do all things in a parliamentary manner. Such
+bodies, met together for purposes of debate, are subject to certain
+well-established rules, sanctioned by usage, and governed by
+precedents.”
+
+“Whew!” whistled Briscoe. “I wonder what book he stole that from.”
+
+“I beg your pardon, Mr. President, but I made a motion, which was
+properly seconded,” interrupted Wetherstane, quite mildly now. “I don’t
+think any other business can be brought before the house till that one
+has been settled.”
+
+“The motion was in order,--a motion to adjourn is always in order,--but
+it was not properly before the stockholders. The motion does not become
+a question, and is not before the house, until it has been stated by
+the presiding officer. A motion cannot be entertained until it has been
+seconded; and made and seconded, it does not become a question until
+it has been stated by the president. One question must be disposed of
+before another can be entertained. Gentlemen, I insist upon order. I
+am now ready to hear any motion;” and Tommy, having laid down the law,
+intended that everybody should abide by it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE STOCKHOLDERS IN COUNCIL.
+
+
+Mr. Tommy Toppleton had reduced the riotous assembly before him to a
+tolerable degree of subjection. The president was obliged to embody
+in his own person the dignity of the Lake Shore Railroad, since
+those in front of him refused to be conscious of the glory of being
+stockholders. He was ready to hear any motion, and it was evident
+that he intended to keep the peace. But the boys were really excited.
+They had been discussing the interests of the road, and some of their
+projects would certainly prove to be treasonable to the house of
+Toppleton. It must be confessed that a great many of them could not
+see the difference between their own interests and those of the road;
+and being excited, they did not set a good example to their elders in
+Congress and other deliberative bodies, but behaved very much like
+full-grown men on similar occasions.
+
+“Mr. President,” said Wetherstane, springing to his feet, as soon as it
+was evident that a motion was in order.
+
+“Mr. President,” called Barnscott, almost at the same instant. “I
+move--”
+
+“Wetherstane has the floor,” interposed the impartial presiding
+officer, vigorously pounding the desk with his gavel; and I must
+say he made noise enough to entitle him to preference as one of the
+gentlemanly conductors on our road, where noise seemed to be at a
+premium.
+
+“What sort of way is that?” demanded Barnscott. “I have the floor.”
+
+“Wetherstane attracted my attention first, and he has the floor,”
+replied Tommy, decidedly.
+
+“I was up first,” persisted Barnscott.
+
+“Take your seat, sir!” roared the president; and the pine boards of
+which the lid of the desk was composed were in imminent danger of being
+fractured by his gavel.
+
+“Mr. President, I rise to a point of order,” said Lennox.
+
+[Illustration: A STOCKHOLDERS’ MEETING.--Page 23.]
+
+“Order, gentlemen!” roared Tommy. “I have decided that Wetherstane has
+the floor. If any stockholder is so disposed, he can appeal from the
+decision of the chair.”
+
+Under ordinary circumstances, Tommy Toppleton did not permit any
+appeal from the decision of the chair, and always insisted upon having
+his own way; but it was in the nature of a triumph for him to direct
+the deliberations of his fellow-students, and to introduce forms and
+methods of which the majority of them had never heard.
+
+“I appeal from the decision of the chair,” added Lennox.
+
+“Points of order necessarily take precedence of all other questions,”
+said Tommy, with the utmost dignity and self-possession.
+
+“Ahem!” coughed a fellow in the crowd, which brought down a regular
+board-splitter from the gavel.
+
+“The chair decided that Wetherstane had the floor. An appeal is taken.
+The question now before the house is, Shall the decision of the chair
+stand as the decision of the stockholders? This question is debatable,
+and the presiding officer may participate in the discussion. You will
+all see that, occupying a position where I can see all the members
+of the assembly, I could not very well make a mistake in regard to
+who spoke first. I am quite confident that Wetherstane had said ‘Mr.
+President’ before Barnscott opened his mouth.”
+
+Various opinions were expressed by individual stockholders, and they
+were about equally divided on the merits of the question. Each claimant
+for the floor had half a dozen advocates, who were confident that their
+man had spoken first. It was really a matter between Tommy and the
+stockholders, which they were likely to decide as they loved or hated
+the president.
+
+“Question! Question!” called the students, when they began to be weary
+of the fruitless debate.
+
+“Those in favor of sustaining the decision of the chair will manifest
+it by saying, ‘Ay.’”
+
+“Ay!” shouted many voices.
+
+“Those opposed say, ‘No.’”
+
+“No!” responded the determined opponents of the president.
+
+“It is a vote!” said Tommy, who was not quite willing to believe that
+one of his decisions could be reversed by a majority.
+
+“A vote!” exclaimed Lennox. “Why, Mr. President--”
+
+“Silence, sir! A vote cannot be debated,” thundered Tommy, with awful
+dignity. “Any member has the right to doubt the vote, and call for a
+count.”
+
+“I doubt the vote, Mr. President, and call for a count,” added Lennox.
+
+“The vote is doubted,” said Tommy, rapping violently to repress the
+noise and confusion. “Those in favor of sustaining the decision of the
+chair will rise and stand uncovered till counted.”
+
+“Uncovered?” demanded Briscoe. “Shall we take our things off?”
+
+“Order!”
+
+Tommy’s friends, and those who had not backbone enough to vote against
+his decision, rose and were counted. I voted with this side because I
+really believed that Wetherstane had spoken first.
+
+“Twenty-one,” said the president, after he had counted the
+affirmatives; and I noticed that his lips were compressed, as if to
+subdue some angry emotions which he felt at the result.
+
+“Those opposed stand till counted.”
+
+A large majority, obtaining pluck from mere numbers, sprang to their
+feet.
+
+“All up! All up!” shouted the more demonstrative of the rebels, who had
+doubtless been to town meetings in their day.
+
+“Order!” screamed Tommy, more fiercely than ever; for the vote, to
+him, looked like factious opposition. “Eighty-six in the negative,” he
+added, when he had completed the count.
+
+Silence reigned in the hall then, and perhaps many of the students were
+appalled to think of what they had done. They had actually voted down
+the high and mighty Tommy Toppleton, whose word was law. The experience
+of the nations that deliberative bodies are not favorable to the rule
+of tyrants was in a fair way to be realized by the heir of the house
+of Toppleton. The boys watched the president, expecting an outburst
+of indignation and wrath at his defeat; but, happily, the dignity of
+the presiding officer prevailed over the feelings of the individual,
+and with a mighty struggle he repressed his emotions. As I have had
+occasion to say before, Tommy was in the main a good fellow; he would
+have been a first-rate one if he had not been spoiled by the weak
+indulgence of his father and mother. He had been taught to have his own
+way, and his passions were a volcano within him, ready to break out
+whenever he was thwarted. I am inclined to think this was the first
+time he had ever conquered himself, and restrained his wrath when
+defeated.
+
+“The decision is in the negative,” added Tommy, with admirable
+self-possession for one of his temperament. “Barnscott has the floor.”
+
+“Mr. President,” said the lucky claimant, “I move that we proceed to
+the election of officers for the ensuing year.”
+
+“Second the motion,” added Faxon.
+
+“It is moved and seconded that the stockholders proceed to the election
+of officers,” continued Tommy, who could not see why all this storm had
+been created on so simple a proposition. “The question is now before
+the house.”
+
+“Mr. President!” shouted Wetherstane, loud enough to have been heard on
+the other side of Ucayga Lake.
+
+“Wetherstane,” replied Tommy, indicating that the speaker had the floor.
+
+“I move you that we adjourn to Grass Springs at two o’clock this
+afternoon,” added the young gentleman, who, beyond the possibility of a
+doubt, had the floor now.
+
+“Second the motion,” added Putnam.
+
+“It is moved and seconded that we adjourn to Grass Springs at two
+o’clock this afternoon,” repeated the president, wondering what this
+movement meant.
+
+“What’s to be done with my motion?” demanded Barnscott. “I thought one
+thing had to be settled before another was brought up.”
+
+“A motion to adjourn is always in order,” said the president.
+
+“Mr. President, I rise to a point of order,” interposed Skotchley, a
+quiet kind of fellow, who had studied deeper into parliamentary law
+than even Tommy Toppleton, for he had been the presiding officer of a
+juvenile debating society.
+
+“State your point, Skotchley.”
+
+“I respectfully submit that the motion to adjourn is not in order, for
+the reason that, to entitle it to precedence, it should simply be a
+motion to adjourn without fixing a time.”
+
+Tommy was nonplussed. The question took him out of his depth. He had
+Cushing’s Manual in his pocket, but it would not be dignified to
+consult it in the presence of the stockholders. However, he knew that
+Skotchley was well posted, and he deemed it prudent to follow his lead.
+
+“The chair decides that the point is well taken, and that the motion
+to adjourn is not in order,” said he, though probably he would not
+have been so pliant if he had not been opposed to the substance of the
+motion. “By the ruling out of this motion, Barnscott’s is now in order.”
+
+“That’s a pretty how d’ye do!” exclaimed Putnam.
+
+“Order! The motion to proceed to the choice of officers is now before
+the house.”
+
+“Mr. President, I move to amend the motion by the addition of the
+words, ‘at Grass Springs at two o’clock this afternoon,’” said
+Wetherstane.
+
+“Second the motion,” added Putnam, who was evidently “in the ring,” for
+he seconded only the Grass Springs motions.
+
+Tommy stated the amendment, and there was a silence of a minute or
+two, for a wonder. Then Barnscott did not see why the amendment had
+been brought forward, and wanted to know what Grass Springs had to
+do with election of officers. He evidently was not “in the ring.” He
+should vote against the amendment, and he hoped all the rest of the
+stockholders would do the same.
+
+“Mr. President,” said Briscoe, who had more pluck than most of his
+companions, “who ever heard of the stockholders of a railroad holding
+a meeting for the election of officers right in the place where they
+do their business? It is contrary to custom, and I protest against any
+innovations. They always have a free train, and take the stockholders
+to a place where there is a good hotel. After they have voted, they
+have a first-rate supper at the expense of the corporation. If they
+don’t always do it, they always ought to do it. I am in favor of having
+this meeting at the hotel in Grass Springs, and, after the business is
+done, of eating as good a supper as the landlord can get up for us.”
+
+“Question! Question!” shouted the stockholders, who seemed to be
+unanimously in favor of following the precedent.
+
+Barnscott made a speech in favor of an immediate election. He did not
+believe stockholders usually had a dinner; but, as he continued his
+remarks rather longer than prudence justified, he was interrupted by
+calls for the question.
+
+“Are you ready for the question?” said Tommy, who did not know what to
+make of the remarkable proceedings of the company. “You can vote what
+you please, fellows; but carrying out the vote is quite another thing.
+You can vote that Lake Ucayga dry up if you like, but it won’t dry up.”
+
+“Dry up!” shouted some of the ruder ones. “Question!”
+
+“Those in favor of amending the motion will say ‘Ay,’” added the
+president.
+
+The motion was carried by a majority of three to one. The original
+motion was then passed by a vote of the same ratio. Briscoe then moved
+that the directors be instructed to make the arrangements for the
+meeting and the dinner in the afternoon, which was also carried. The
+meeting then adjourned; but it was clear enough to Tommy Toppleton that
+the stockholders were taking things into their own hands, and that his
+father would have something to say in regard to the astounding vote.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE PRESIDENT OF THE ROAD.
+
+
+“What does all this mean, Wolf?” said Mr. Tommy Toppleton to me, after
+the stockholders’ meeting had adjourned.
+
+“What does it mean?” I repeated, moved by the condescension of the high
+and mighty scion of the house of Toppleton in addressing me, and, in
+some sense, making a confidant and adviser of me.
+
+Probably he came to me because he was rather confused in regard to the
+identity of his friends. As president of the Lake Shore Railroad, he
+had rendered a decision from which the stockholders had appealed, and
+he had been beaten by a vote of four to one. He was vexed and mortified
+at the result, and was disposed to regard it as a personal insult. He
+had always had his own way, and could see no reason why he should not
+always have it. In the excitement of building the road, the students
+had regarded him as the representative of his father, who was doing
+an immensely great thing to add to the popularity of the Toppleton
+Institute; and his offensive manner, his domineering, haughty, and even
+tyrannical conduct, had hardly been noticed. But, after the road had
+lost its novelty, the lordly demeanor of the little magnate was not
+relished, and he was beginning to feel the effects of his conduct.
+
+I did not like to tell Tommy even as much of the real truth as I knew
+myself, and the leaders of the opposition had not taken me into their
+confidence. It was an ungracious task to inform the high-spirited,
+uncurbed, and wilful young gentleman that his fellow-students were
+dissatisfied with him, and that an attempt to run him out of his office
+was to be made. But Tommy put the question squarely to me, and I could
+not well avoid the issue. He evidently regarded me as a dependent of
+the house of Toppleton, whose will could only be the reflection of that
+of his employers.
+
+“What does it mean? That’s what I want to know,” added Tommy, his face
+lighted up with an excitement which threatened a storm.
+
+“The fellows seem to be disposed to do things as other corporations
+do,” I replied, cautiously, for I did not wish to rouse the sleeping
+lion in the little lord.
+
+“Wasn’t I fair and impartial?” demanded he.
+
+“I think you were,” I replied; and I did not lose sight of the fact
+that he had decided against Barnscott, whose motion he favored, when he
+gave the floor to Wetherstane.
+
+“The stockholders voted me down just as though they meant to insult
+me,” continued Tommy, smartly. “Do you know why they want to go to
+Grass Springs to elect officers?”
+
+“For the sake of the dinner, I suppose,” I answered. “But, Tommy, there
+is going to be an opposition to you, at this election.”
+
+“An opposition to me!” exclaimed the president, amazed at the
+intelligence.
+
+“I have only heard it whispered among the fellows.”
+
+“What have I done that the fellows should be down upon me?”
+
+“I don’t know that I ought to say anything about it, Tommy. It is
+really none of my business. I shall vote for you.”
+
+“If you know anything about it, tell me,” continued Tommy, rather
+imperiously.
+
+“I only know that there is another ticket for directors in the field.”
+
+“And my name is not upon it?”
+
+“No, it is not.”
+
+Tommy stamped his foot upon the floor, and looked decidedly ugly. I was
+rather sorry that I had said anything, though it was better for him to
+be prepared for the result before it was announced.
+
+“Wolf, I don’t blame you for this; but I want you to tell me all about
+it,” said he, after he had partially choked down his wrath. “What have
+I done to set the fellows against me? What do they say about it?”
+
+“They say you put on airs--that you order them around as though you
+were their master.”
+
+“Well, I am president of the road,” said he, as if this were a
+sufficient explanation; and I think he really considered it very
+unreasonable in the students to object to his conduct.
+
+“I only tell you what the fellows say.”
+
+“Wolf, do _you_ think I have put on airs?” demanded he.
+
+“So far as I am concerned myself, I haven’t a word of fault to find,” I
+replied, evasively.
+
+“You! Well, you are only a hired hand,” added he, with refreshing
+candor. “Do you think I have treated the fellows badly?”
+
+“Not badly; but you know they are rich men’s sons, and consider
+themselves as good as you are.”
+
+“But my father built this road, and pays for everything. Not a single
+one of these fellows ever gave a cent for anything.”
+
+“I don’t believe the money makes any difference.”
+
+“Why don’t you say I’m to blame, if you think so?” snapped he,
+impatiently.
+
+“I believe if you had not been quite so sharp with the fellows they
+would have liked you better,” I answered, desperately. “You tell them
+to do this and that, and order them just as though they were servants
+in your father’s house. They won’t stand it. They are not paid for
+their work, as I am.”
+
+“Thank you; you are very complimentary. I suppose you will call me a
+tyrant next,” sneered he.
+
+“I am only telling you what I have heard the fellows say,” I meekly
+responded.
+
+“Why didn’t you tell me this before?” snarled he; and I was fully
+convinced then, if I had not been before, that honest counsel to such a
+person is a thankless task.
+
+Tommy walked up and down the hall precisely as his magnificent father
+would have done, if he had been vexed and disconcerted. I had told him
+wholesome truth, for which he was not grateful to me.
+
+“Come with me, Wolf,” said he, imperiously, after he had considered the
+matter a while.
+
+The rest of the students were scattered about the building and
+play-ground of the institute, talking over the meeting, or
+electioneering for the great occasion, in the afternoon, if Major
+Toppleton did not veto the proceedings. I followed Tommy over the lawn,
+where many of the students were assembled in groups. He took no notice
+of them, unless it was to cast angry and scornful glances at them. He
+led the way to his father’s house, where we found the major in his
+library.
+
+“Father, we may as well burst up the Lake Shore Railroad, so far as
+the students are concerned,” said the irate and disgusted president of
+the company.
+
+“What’s the matter now, Tommy?” asked the major, looking up from the
+newspaper he was reading.
+
+“They are going to run me off the ticket for directors,” growled Tommy,
+dropping heavily into an arm-chair, as though the end of the world had
+come, and there was nothing more to live for. “They say I have been
+putting on airs.”
+
+“Perhaps you have, Tommy!” suggested the major, who, for some reason or
+other, was disposed to receive the intelligence very good-naturedly.
+
+“I am the president of the road, and have only done my duty. I’m not
+going down on my knees to those who are under me.”
+
+“But a certain degree of gentlemanly forbearance and consideration is
+prudent in business relations,” added the major. “Now let me hear what
+the matter is, and we will see what can be done.”
+
+Between Tommy and myself we told the great man what had transpired at
+the hall, and announced the vote of the stockholders, relating to the
+adjourned meeting and the dinner. The major actually laughed at the
+impudence of the boys. He was a politic man when policy paid better
+than violence. There was certainly a breeze among the stockholders of
+the Lake Shore Railroad. Tommy was in peril of losing his office, which
+would leave the owner of the road without a suitable representative in
+the board of directors. The movement must be checked, or the connection
+of the Institute with the road must be dissolved.
+
+The major was ready to act. The vote of the stockholders was to be
+carried out in substance. A free train to Grass Spring was to be run at
+one o’clock; and, at the invitation of the president, a supper was to
+be served at the hotel after the meeting. This course would conciliate
+the refractory stockholders, and save the present directors from the
+accident of being turned out of office. Tommy seemed to be of the
+opinion that the stockholders ought to be compelled to vote for him,
+rather than coaxed into it; but he yielded to the superior experience
+of his father, and consented to feast the electors. He was instructed
+to invite all the students to the supper, and to have it specially
+understood that it was his entertainment, not the company’s.
+
+There was yet another question to be settled by the students, but
+not in their capacity as stockholders. The military department of
+the Institute was still maintained, in spite of the novelty of the
+railroad. The boys were organized as a battalion of two companies, and
+it is hardly necessary to say that Tommy was the major. It was the
+custom of the Institute to camp out for a week during what was called
+the home vacation, because the students did _not_ generally go home
+during this period. The stockholders’ meeting was held on the Saturday
+preceding this vacation, and it was necessary to determine where and
+when the camp should be formed, for this question was left to the
+students. It was proposed to hold the meeting after the stockholders
+adjourned, when the major would call the battalion to order.
+
+It was possible, if not probable, that the camping out would be
+dispensed with the present year, for the new locomotive and cars had
+just arrived, and were lodged in the houses erected for them. The major
+had instructed me--or rather the board of directors had done so--to run
+the new engine on Monday. It was thought that the students would not
+be inclined to camp out with this new excitement in store for them.
+
+The road was in order as far as Grass Springs, and in a few weeks it
+would be completed to Ucayga. I ran regular trips to the former place,
+every two hours, on the dummy, which was now so degraded by contrast
+with the locomotive, that it was of small account. But the students did
+not seem to feel that degree of interest in the new order of things
+which had been expected. They were excited when the locomotive and cars
+arrived; shouted, yelled, and screamed till they were hoarse; but the
+fact that the engine was not to be used as a plaything by any one who
+desired to do so, operated as a damper upon the boys. Perhaps Tommy,
+more than any one else, was responsible for this state of things; for
+his domineering spirit had disgusted his fellow-students.
+
+In my next trip on the dummy Major Toppleton went to Grass Springs, and
+ordered the supper for the stockholders. At one o’clock I was in the
+cab of the new locomotive, which, in compliment to the occasion, was
+to make its first trip to the Springs. It was a beautiful machine, of
+about two thirds of the ordinary size. The cars were of a corresponding
+size. Never was an engineer prouder and happier than I was when I ran
+the engine out of the house. I had borrowed some flags and decorated
+it for the great occasion. Faxon was with me in the cab, though Lewis
+Holgate, the son of Christy, who had robbed my father, was employed as
+fireman.
+
+At the appointed time the students appeared, and, after giving sundry
+cheers for the train, took their seats, and I started the locomotive.
+I felt like a real engineer then. The boys screamed as the train moved
+off, and in half an hour we put on the brakes at Grass Springs. The
+students hastened to the hotel where the meeting and the supper were to
+take place. Leaving the engine in charge of Lewis, I hastened to the
+meeting, where I intended to electioneer for Tommy Toppleton.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+OFF FOR THE CAMP.
+
+
+“The time to which this meeting was adjourned has arrived, gentlemen,
+and you are requested to come to order,” said Tommy Toppleton, rapping
+on the table with the gavel, which he had been careful to bring with
+him.
+
+“Mr. President,” said Barnscott, springing to his feet, with half a
+dozen others, all anxious to make the first motion.
+
+“Barnscott,” replied Tommy, giving him the floor.
+
+“I move you we proceed to the choice of officers.”
+
+“Second the motion,” added Putnam.
+
+“It is moved and seconded that we proceed to the election of officers,”
+repeated the president.
+
+“Question! Question!” shouted the stockholders; for there was now no
+difference of opinion on this point.
+
+The motion was carried without opposition. I had intended to make a
+little speech myself before any business was done. Indeed, it had been
+arranged by Tommy and his father that I should do so; but Barnscott was
+too quick for me.
+
+“Mr. President,” I shouted, as soon as the vote was declared, “I have a
+word to say to the stockholders, if you will allow me to speak directly
+to them.”
+
+“Go on! Go on!” yelled the students.
+
+“Gentlemen, though what I have to say does not exactly belong to the
+business on hand, I hope it won’t be taken amiss,” I began. “By the
+vote of the stockholders this morning, the expenses of the supper to be
+provided for the company at this hotel were to be paid for out of the
+treasury of the corporation. It is well known that the company is in
+debt, that the interest on its bonds has not been paid. The president,
+therefore, in consultation with the munificent patron of the road, did
+not think it right to use the funds of the company in paying for a
+supper.”
+
+“Are we to have no supper?” demanded Wetherstane.
+
+“We are,” I replied, earnestly. “The liberality of the president of the
+road is well known to all of you, and I have the pleasure of informing
+you that he has decided to provide the supper at his own expense. It is
+my pleasant privilege, therefore, to invite you, in behalf of President
+Toppleton, to a supper at this hotel, after the adjournment. I wish the
+stockholders especially to understand that this invitation is extended
+by the president in his private capacity.”
+
+Some applause followed my speech; but it was by no means as general and
+hearty as I desired. It was an electioneering movement, and with this
+invitation before them, I did not see how the stockholders could well
+avoid reëlecting Tommy. I saw the leaders of the opposition looking
+significantly at each other, as though they regarded my movement as
+a diversion against their scheme. A committee to collect, count, and
+declare the vote was appointed by the chair, and indorsed by the
+meeting; and I had the honor to be one of the three.
+
+During the voting, intense excitement prevailed in the hall. It was
+a general jabber. As far as my duties would permit, I had been at
+work for Tommy. I had used all my powers of persuasion to induce
+certain large stockholders to vote for him; but, as fast as I made an
+impression, it seemed to be removed by the opposition, and when the
+meeting assembled I was not sure that I had converted a single share,
+for each of which a vote was given. But Tommy was reasonably confident
+of an election. He threw five hundred votes for himself to begin with,
+as the representative of so many shares; and one more than the same
+number, in addition, would elect him. If he could not get so many
+votes, he was more unpopular than any of his friends suspected.
+
+“Have all the stockholders voted?” shouted Tommy. “If so, I declare the
+poll closed!”
+
+The committee retired to sort and count the ballots, taking with us the
+stock book, in order to detect any illegal voting. I do not think any
+similar occasion among full-grown men excited more interest and anxiety
+than this election. Tommy Toppleton was really on trial for insolence
+and tyranny, and the result was to be his acquittal or conviction. We
+counted the votes; and Faxon, who was the chairman, and a friend of the
+president, led the way to the hall, with the result written on a piece
+of paper in his hand.
+
+“Order, gentlemen!” called Tommy; and his unsteady voice indicated the
+anxiety with which he waited the issue. “You will listen to the report
+of the committee.”
+
+“Whole number of votes, two thousand,” read Faxon, while breathless
+silence pervaded the hall. “Necessary to a choice, one thousand and
+one. Thomas Toppleton has eight hundred and eighty-two;” and the
+chairman read the rest of the names on the same ticket, who had nearly
+all the vote. “Edward Skotchley has twelve hundred and eighteen.”
+
+The chairman then declared that Edward Skotchley, and the others on
+both tickets, except Tommy, were elected. Some faint applause followed
+the announcement; but most of the students appeared to be appalled at
+what they had done. The president’s face was as red as a blood beet,
+and I expected his wrath would boil over. Even the supper had not
+saved him, and certainly it was a hard case. I was sorry for him, while
+I could not approve of his haughty and overbearing manner. I went up to
+the desk with the intention of giving him what I considered good advice.
+
+“Don’t get mad, Tommy,” said I, in a low voice, but so that he could
+hear me.
+
+“It’s an insult,” added he, between his closed teeth.
+
+“Never mind if it is. Don’t let them see that they are punishing you,”
+I added.
+
+This last remark of mine had the desired effect; and, to my
+astonishment, he smiled as blandly as though nothing had happened.
+He did not relish the idea of letting his enemies triumph over him,
+and though he now looked like peace itself, I was satisfied that the
+punishment of the rebels was reserved for another occasion.
+
+“Mr. President!”
+
+Both Tommy and myself looked to see who had the audacity to break
+the impressive silence that still reigned in the hall. It was
+Skotchley--Edward the Silent, as he was often called, on account of his
+quiet way.
+
+“Skotchley,” said Tommy, who, though he did not regard his successful
+rival very favorably, was hypocrite enough to smile sweetly upon him.
+
+“Mr. President, I wish to say that my name was used without my
+knowledge or consent. I voted for the old board myself, and am so
+well satisfied with the president, that, even if I considered myself
+qualified for the position,--which I do not,--I could not accept it.”
+
+“Toady!” snuffed some of the students.
+
+Skotchley glanced at the knot of stockholders from whom the offensive
+word had come. The quiet dignity of his manner silenced them.
+
+“Under no circumstances could I, or would I, accept this office,” added
+Skotchley, as he seated himself, amid the applause of Tommy’s friends.
+
+The speaker was not excused; but he adhered to his purpose, and the
+students were obliged to ballot again. Tommy’s singular conduct in not
+getting mad made a sensation. The students could not comprehend it.
+While the second ballot was in progress, he sat at the table, cool
+and smiling. I am satisfied it was this conduct alone which created
+a reaction in his favor; for on the second ballot he was elected by
+a majority of one hundred and eleven. He accepted the position, and
+thanked the stockholders for their continued favor, as coolly as though
+nothing had occurred to disturb the current of his thoughts.
+
+The present incumbents of the other elective offices were chosen
+without opposition, and the flurry was over; but it was clear enough,
+if Tommy did not mend his ways, he would never be elected again. The
+affairs of the railroad were finished, and those of the battalion
+were taken up. Tommy was chosen major by a small majority, and the
+other officers were elected. The location of the encampment caused
+considerable discussion. Those who had been the leaders of the
+opposition in the railroad company were in favor of pitching the tents
+on the Horse Shoe, an island on the lake, opposite Grass Springs, and
+two miles from the west shore.
+
+Tommy’s party advocated the Sandy Bay Grove, because the railroad
+passed near it. They urged that the Wimpletonians usually encamped on
+the Horse Shoe. One of the other side was bold enough to say that
+was the reason why he wished to go there. I do not know how long the
+discussion would have lasted if the landlord of the hotel had not given
+the president a broad hint that the supper was ready. This brought the
+matter to a crisis, and when the vote was taken, there was a large
+majority in favor of the Horse Shoe. A committee was appointed to wait
+upon the owner of the island, who was a resident of Grass Springs.
+
+The landlord of the hotel did justice to himself, and to the great
+occasion with which his house had been honored. Tommy sat at the head
+of the middle table, and presided with dignity and discretion. Some
+very good speeches were made, for boys, and the festival was a decided
+success. I left the table before the party broke up, in order to have
+the locomotive ready for the return. At six o’clock we started. Faxon
+informed me that the Horse Shoe had been engaged for the encampment,
+and that the sum of ten dollars was to be paid for the use of the
+island.
+
+“But I can tell you one thing, Wolf. There will be one of the jolliest
+rows over there that you ever heard of,” added Faxon.
+
+“I hope not.”
+
+“The Wimpleton fellows were going there; and if there isn’t a fight
+before the week is out, I never will guess again.”
+
+“Well, do our fellows know it?” I asked.
+
+“Know it!” exclaimed Faxon. “Of course they do, and that is the
+particular reason why they want to go there.”
+
+“Have the Wimps engaged the island?”
+
+“No; there is where we have the start of them. They have always used it
+without leave or license.”
+
+It did look like an exciting time for the next week. As soon as
+Tommy Toppleton understood the reason why his battalion had selected
+the Horse Shoe, he joined heartily with them; for no one hated the
+Wimpletonians more thoroughly than he did. He entered heart and soul
+into the project, and issued his order for the march at seven o’clock
+on Monday morning, so as to reach the island before the enemy could
+take possession of it. I was directed to have the train ready at that
+hour.
+
+Though it was rather late when we arrived, the boys went to work in
+making the preparations for the camp, and before they retired, the
+tents, baggage, and cooking utensils were loaded upon one of the
+platform cars. Neither the major nor the principal opposed the plan,
+and at the appointed time on Monday morning, I had the train drawn up
+on the road at a convenient point near the Institute, ready to furnish
+the “transportation” for the battalion.
+
+Major Tommy, intent upon being ahead of the enemy on the other side of
+the lake, was on time with his force. The battalion was to be reviewed
+by the principal of the Institute before its departure, and the two
+companies marched by the train, on their way to the green where the
+ceremony was to take place. As they passed me, I saluted them with the
+steam whistle, and in return the warlike heroes cheered the train. I
+witnessed the impressive formalities of the review, and having moved
+the cars forward, I heard the speech of the principal at the close of
+the performance.
+
+The students then entered the cars. I gave a tremendous whistle, and
+off we went, the students, true to their noisy natures, yelling like
+madmen. As we moved on, we discovered a fleet of boats, loaded with
+Wimpletonians, sailing down the lake.
+
+[Illustration: THE TOPPLETON BATTALION.--Page 55.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+BREEZY PROSPECT AHEAD.
+
+
+I am not quite sure that Major Toppleton did not know the Wimpletonians
+had selected the Horse Shoe for their camp ground, and that a collision
+was likely to occur between the students of the rival academies. If he
+did know it, he was certainly to blame, even though the Toppletonians
+had legal possession of the land; for a man is morally responsible
+far beyond the letter of the law. It was plain enough to me that the
+wire-pullers on our side had selected the Horse Shoe simply because it
+was the usual encampment of their rivals.
+
+The Toppletonians were highly excited and intensely belligerent. The
+jealousy between the two sides of the lake and between the two schools
+had thoroughly infected them. There were only a few who were not ready
+to fight for the banner under which they marched. While I confess that
+I was to some extent a partisan for the Toppletonians, I could not
+help feeling that there was something undignified and unmanly in this
+senseless quarrel. I could realize this sentiment, even while I was
+anxious that the Wimpletonians should not “get ahead” of our side. I
+was not in love with Colonel Wimpleton and his son, but I should have
+preferred to treat them with dignified contempt, rather than pick a
+quarrel with them.
+
+The Wimpletonians had a whole fleet of boats, including the dozen or
+more that belonged to the Institute, and several bateaux, loaded with
+tents and baggage. The wind was light early in the day, and as they
+had to sail a dozen miles before they reached their destination, they
+were not likely to arrive at the island before us. Major Toppleton had
+ordered the tug steamer to be at Grass Springs to convey the students
+to the Horse Shoe, and she had towed a number of boats for the use of
+the battalion.
+
+“We must hurry up, Wolf,” said Faxon, who, as usual, was on the engine
+with me, after glancing at the aquatic procession on the lake.
+
+“It will take the Wimps three hours to reach the Horse Shoe with this
+breeze,” I replied. “Our party will arrive in an hour.”
+
+“There may be some delay at the Springs. We don’t know that the steamer
+will be there when we arrive.”
+
+“Didn’t Major Toppleton send her to the Springs?” I asked, not being
+aware that there was any contingency.
+
+“He sent her to Ucayga last night with a freight of flour, and told
+Captain Underwood to be at Grass Springs at eight o’clock, if possible.
+She may be late. She did not leave Middleport till dark, and of course
+she must discharge her cargo this morning. If there should be no
+steamer ready for us, what shall we do?”
+
+“Where are our boats?” I inquired.
+
+“I suppose Captain Underwood left them at the wharf at the Springs, as
+he passed, or possibly at the Horse Shoe. I only know what Tommy told
+me, just before we started.”
+
+“There is a chance for a slip, after all,” I added.
+
+“I think there is a big chance for a slip. If the Wimps get to the
+island first, there will be a big fight, for our fellows don’t wish for
+any better fun than driving them off.”
+
+“And perhaps the Wimps would like no better fun than that of driving
+the Tops off.”
+
+“Possession is nine points, you know, and the side which gets a footing
+on the island first has the best chance,” replied Faxon, cheerfully;
+and though he did not bluster so much as some others, I knew that he
+was “ready to go his length” in opposition to the enemy.
+
+“It looks like a fight, any way you can fix it,” I added. “Why couldn’t
+our fellows have chosen some other place to encamp?”
+
+“Because the Horse Shoe suits them best. There is a good wharf at the
+island, and plenty of dry wood for the fires.”
+
+“I don’t see the use of quarrelling when there are a hundred other
+places just as good as that.”
+
+“What’s the matter, Wolf? Have you no stomach for a fight?” laughed
+Faxon.
+
+“No; I have not.”
+
+“But you are regarded by the fellows as a regular fighting-cock. Your
+affairs with Waddie and with--” Faxon checked himself, as he glanced at
+Lewis Holgate, the fireman--“you know whom, are the foundation of your
+popularity with them.”
+
+“I am willing to fight in a good cause; but I don’t believe in bringing
+on a quarrel.”
+
+“The Wimps are always picking upon us, and doing us mischief whenever
+they can. They have torn up our track once, and we haven’t paid them
+off for that.”
+
+“You sunk all their boats for that; and I think you are about even.”
+
+“Not quite; but if they will let us alone, we won’t meddle with them.
+We have hired the Horse Shoe for the week, and we mean to have it.
+We have the legal right to the island, and we are ready to fight for
+possession.”
+
+“I think it is all nonsense to quarrel for nothing.”
+
+“We shall have the fun of licking them.”
+
+“Or the fun of being licked,” I suggested.
+
+“No danger of that. We have one hundred and fifteen students now, and
+I was told that the Wimps had fallen off to less than a hundred,”
+chuckled Faxon.
+
+“The tables may be turned by and by, when the colonel’s plans are in
+operation.”
+
+“What plans?” asked my companion, anxiously.
+
+“You did not suppose Colonel Wimpleton would permit this railroad
+scheme to go on without doing something to offset it--did you?” I
+replied; and I had received some positive information from my father,
+the night before, on this interesting topic.
+
+“What can he do? He can’t build a railroad on his side of the lake.”
+
+“No; but at this moment Waddie Wimpleton is the president of a
+corporation.”
+
+“What corporation?”
+
+“A steamboat company.”
+
+“Is that so?”
+
+“My father was over at Centreport yesterday, and found out all about
+it.”
+
+“But what have the Wimps to do with it?”
+
+“The colonel is building a magnificent little steamer at Hitaca. She
+is to be very long and narrow, and good for fifteen to eighteen miles
+an hour. The Institute fellows on the other side are to own and manage
+her, just as you do the railroad.”
+
+“That is news, certainly,” said Faxon, musing, and apparently not at
+all pleased with the plan.
+
+“They say Major Toppleton has bought up the steamers which now run on
+the lake, and means to take them off between Ucayga and Middleport as
+soon as the Lake Shore Railroad is completed.”
+
+“Of course; what’s the use of having the boats after the road is
+finished? We are to run a LIGHTNING EXPRESS twice a day then, and I
+think it is very good-natured of the major to buy up the boats, and
+thus save the owners from loss.”
+
+“Perhaps it is; but is it good-natured for him to deprive the
+Centreporters of the means of getting to Ucayga, as he will when the
+boats are taken off?”
+
+“They can go by the railroad, the same as others,” laughed Faxon.
+
+“They can, but they won’t. Do you think Colonel Wimpleton would come
+over here and ride in these cars? He would hang himself first.”
+
+“Then he can hang himself, if he likes. The Middleporters wouldn’t cry
+if he did.”
+
+“But he intends neither to hang himself nor to ride on the Lake Shore
+Railroad. Of course you can’t blame him for kicking against the
+movements of the major.”
+
+“See here, Wolf; are you a Wimp or a Top?” demanded Faxon, coloring a
+little, as we looked into each other’s face.
+
+“Why do you ask that question?” I inquired, quietly.
+
+“Just now you seemed to stick up for the Wimpleton side.”
+
+“I was only stating the case just as it is. My sympathies are on this
+side; but I don’t blame Colonel Wimpleton for not being willing to have
+his facilities for going to and from Ucayga cut off.”
+
+“You don’t blame him!”
+
+“Certainly not.”
+
+“I believe you are only half a Top now, Wolf. Just now you were
+condemning us for standing up for our own rights. Be on one side or the
+other, old fellow.”
+
+“I am willing to fight for the side that gives me bread and butter, as
+long as it stands by the right.”
+
+“I don’t like this making reservations. I go the whole figure. My
+country, right or wrong--that’s what I go for.”
+
+“So do I. My country, right or wrong; if wrong, to set her right.”
+
+“There you spoil all the poetry of the thing. If you had stopped before
+you put the last sentence on, it would have been just the thing. I go
+for Toppleton, right or wrong.”
+
+“I don’t,” I replied, decidedly. “I am for keeping Toppleton right, and
+then I go for Toppleton.”
+
+“What’s the use of talking, Wolf! You can’t make me believe you are
+not right on the goose,” added Faxon, good-naturedly. “When will that
+magnificent steamer be launched?”
+
+“I don’t know; but father said the hull was nearly completed. I suppose
+they can’t get her ready for service before August or September;
+perhaps not till next spring.”
+
+“And then she is to run in opposition to the Lake Shore Railroad?”
+
+“That’s the idea, I believe.”
+
+“There will be jolly times then; but she can’t do anything against our
+lightning express.”
+
+“I’m not so sure of that.”
+
+“Come, Wolf! You are a Wimp at heart, after all. The fellows would mob
+you if they should hear you sticking up for the other side,” added
+Faxon.
+
+“I’m not sticking up for the other side,” I replied, smartly, for I did
+not relish this charge. “I’m only looking the facts fair in the face.
+The Wimps’ steamer will give you a hard run. Look at it for yourself.”
+
+“I don’t believe the Wimps can get ahead of us, any how--I won’t
+believe it!” persisted Faxon.
+
+“How far is it from Middleport to Ucayga?” I asked.
+
+“Twenty miles, to a rod.”
+
+“How long will it take the lightning express to go through?”
+
+“Half an hour,” replied Faxon, sharply.
+
+“Not much! We should have a smash every day at that rate. The track is
+not stiff enough to make that time upon. Call it forty minutes; and
+that is high speed for this light rail.”
+
+“Well, forty minutes. You don’t mean to say any steamer can make twenty
+miles in that time?”
+
+“Hold on a minute! How wide is the river at Ucayga?”
+
+“Half a mile.”
+
+“Good; we have to land our passengers on this side of the river. To
+take the trains east and west, they must cross the river, and do the
+same when they visit the town. How long will that take in the old
+sail-boat ferry?”
+
+“I don’t know,” replied Faxon, nettled by the force of the argument,
+which he could not answer.
+
+“Half an hour, at least, on an average. That will make an hour and ten
+minutes; and the steamer will do it in an hour and a quarter. I think
+the colonel has a pretty good show,” I continued, as the train reached
+Spangleport, and I blew some desperate whistles to warn idlers about
+the track.
+
+“You are a Wimp!”
+
+“No. I’m a Top.”
+
+“Don’t talk so before the other fellows. If you do they will think you
+have sold out to the enemy.”
+
+“Can’t a fellow express an honest opinion?” I asked, warmly.
+
+“Not when it don’t jibe with the public sentiment.”
+
+“I don’t know about that. I’m not afraid to tell Major Toppleton what I
+think.”
+
+“Don’t you do it.”
+
+“If he wants to come out ahead, as of course he does, it would be
+better for him to look the facts and contingencies fairly in the face.”
+
+Faxon was thinking of the matter, and by mutual consent both of us were
+silent.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+A MISSION OF PEACE.
+
+
+I could not exactly see that I was a traitor to the Toppletonian
+interest because I believed that a steamer could successfully compete
+even with a “lightning express.” I intended to serve my employers
+faithfully, and believed that I had done so. Perhaps it was imprudent
+for me to express an opinion; but I knew that Colonel Wimpleton was a
+man of energy and determination, and that he would not be content to
+remain long in the shade.
+
+I observed that Lewis Holgate listened very attentively to all that was
+said, though he made no remarks. Since his father had run away with
+the money he had stolen, the family were hard pressed to get a living.
+Lewis was about my own age, and was regarded as a smart fellow. The
+intimacy between our families had brought us together somewhat, and I
+knew that he aspired to be a “young engineer.” He had worked with his
+father a great deal, and knew an engine very well. It was necessary for
+him to go to work, to assist in supporting his mother and his brothers
+and sisters. He had told me how sorry he was for what his father had
+done, and I pitied him. Through my influence he had obtained the place
+to “fire” on the new locomotive, and now received a salary of three
+dollars a week.
+
+Lewis worked with me a while on the dummy, and was competent to run it.
+The crime of his father had to some extent broken his spirit, and thus
+far he had behaved very well, better than his antecedents led me to
+expect--for he had been rather noted in Ucayga as a bad boy. My mother
+commended me warmly for what I had done to help him, and declared she
+was very glad to see me manifest a Christian spirit towards him. My
+father said I was foolish to try to serve such a fellow; but I was best
+satisfied with the judgment of my mother.
+
+Something had already been said about another locomotive, and an
+additional number of freight and passenger cars, which the business of
+the road would eventually demand. Lewis Holgate gave me to understand
+that the height of his ambition was to be the engineer of the new
+locomotive when it came. I assured him that if he did his duty
+faithfully, I would do all I could to further his purpose. We were,
+therefore, good friends, and I gave him every facility for learning the
+business. If I had had any doubts about the propriety of what I had
+said to Faxon, for which he had accused me of being a Wimp, I should
+not have restrained my speech on account of the presence of Lewis; for,
+after all I had done for him, I did not think him capable of injuring
+me.
+
+“The tug steamer is not here,” said Faxon, as I shut off the steam when
+the train approached Grass Springs.
+
+“It isn’t eight o’clock yet. We have been only half an hour on the
+road,” I replied.
+
+“I don’t believe it will be here,” added Faxon, anxiously, as he looked
+out upon the waters of the lake. “There is a stiff breeze now, and the
+Wimps will be here by nine o’clock.”
+
+I could not see why my partisan friend should manifest any anxiety,
+since he and the rest of the Toppletonians, with a few exceptions,
+were absolutely spoiling for a fight with their rivals on the other
+side of the lake. The train approached the Grass Springs station,
+and I whistled to put on the brakes. As soon as we stopped, Faxon
+left the engine, and the battalion came out of the cars. The two
+companies formed on the wharf, and I heard sharp and imperative orders
+of Major Tommy, which led me to conclude that his experience in the
+stockholders’ meeting had not been very profitable to him, though
+some of the harshness of his tones was doubtless attributable to his
+military enthusiasm.
+
+From my place in the cab I could see the end of the lake, with the
+steeples of Ucayga in the distance; but the steamer was not on the way;
+she had not even started for the Springs. The Horse Shoe was two miles
+from the shore. The wind had freshened a little, and was fair for boats
+coming down the lake. The battalion from Centreport must arrive in an
+hour, or an hour and a half at the farthest, for the boats had had only
+ten miles to make half an hour before. Major Tommy had formed his
+lines; the quartermaster had placed all the baggage and stores on the
+wharf, and everything was in readiness to embark. It was eight o’clock
+by this time, and the steamer had not yet appeared. The Toppleton boats
+had probably been left at the island, for they were not to be found at
+the main shore, and the steamer could have left them with less delay
+than at the Grass Springs Wharf.
+
+“What’s to be done?” asked Major Tommy, impatiently, after he had
+surveyed the ground over and over again.
+
+“We must get to the island some how or other,” replied Faxon.
+
+“That steamer won’t be here for an hour,” growled the commander of the
+battalion. “Father said it might be late; but he didn’t understand
+exactly what was up.”
+
+“The Wimps are coming,” shouted an officer in the line.
+
+“They are five miles off,” replied Faxon, as he looked up the lake. “I
+want to be on the island when they come.”
+
+“So do I,” replied Tommy, casting an anxious glance at the approaching
+enemy.
+
+“Can’t you help us out, Wolf?” asked the major, jumping on the
+foot-board of the engine.
+
+Of course I was well pleased to be called upon in the emergency,
+for it was manifesting a great deal of confidence to ask advice of
+a boy who was not a member of the battalion. The Toppletonians had
+the legal right to use the Horse Shoe; and it seemed to me that, if
+they had possession of the island when the Wimpletonians arrived, the
+anticipated fight, at least as a brutal struggle, might be averted.
+Both bodies were armed with small muskets, having bayonets upon them;
+and though they were not allowed any ammunition, they might make the
+combat more dangerous than they intended. The interests of peace,
+therefore, appeared to require that our battalion should be transported
+to the island without delay.
+
+“I hope you are not going to get up a fight over there,” I ventured to
+say.
+
+“Of course we are not, if the Wimps let us alone,” replied Tommy. “If
+they don’t let us alone, it will be the worse for them. I want to get
+over there before they do, and that steamer, confound it, won’t be here
+this hour.”
+
+“If I were you, Tommy, I would send one company over to the island, and
+take possession of it, leaving the baggage and tents to be carried over
+when the steamer comes.”
+
+“How can I send one company over?” snapped Tommy. “We haven’t a boat,
+or even a mudscow.”
+
+“There comes the ferry-boat,” I replied, pointing to a sloop-rigged
+craft which was now approaching the shore from Ruoara, on the other
+side and above the island.
+
+“That’s the idea!” exclaimed Tommy, as he leaped down from the cab,
+and ran with a speed entirely beneath the dignity of the major of a
+battalion to the ferry pier.
+
+In three minutes more he had made a trade with the ferryman to land as
+many of the force as his boat would accommodate on the Horse Shoe. The
+craft was one peculiar to the lakes in that region. It was an ordinary
+sloop, though rather longer than similar vessels are built; but the
+stern was open just above the water-line, so that teams could be driven
+on board. It depended upon the wind as its propelling agent, though
+it was provided with a pair of steamboat wheels, with a horse-power
+machine to turn them, which could be used when the wind was not
+available.
+
+Major Tommy ordered Captain Briscoe, with Company A, to embark in this
+ferry-boat, and to hold the Horse Shoe, at any peril, until the other
+company could be sent over. I was sorry to leave the exciting scene;
+but I had to run the trip from Middleport at nine o’clock. Satisfied
+that the Toppletonians would secure possession of the island before
+the arrival of the enemy, I turned the locomotive, and ran back to
+the other terminus. The fleet of boats was off the South Shoe, not
+more than a mile from the Horse Shoe, when the train went through
+Spangleport; but the ferry-boat was within half that distance of its
+destination.
+
+We did not yet run the new locomotive and cars on the regular trips,
+because the travel was light, and the dummy could be used at half the
+expense. We housed the engine and cars, and, firing up the dummy, we
+had steam enough to start her at the appointed hour. Just before we
+left, Major Toppleton came into the station, and asked me what had
+become of the students. I told him I had conveyed them to Grass Springs.
+
+“I did not know they were going so early,” added he.
+
+“They were in a hurry,” I replied, with a smile, when I saw that the
+great man did not comprehend the strategy of the battalion, “My orders
+from Major Tommy were to start at seven o’clock; and I set them down on
+the wharf at the Springs at half past seven.”
+
+“You look wiser than you speak, Wolf,” said the major, gazing earnestly
+into my face. “Is there any mischief brewing?”
+
+“I think there is,” I replied, candidly, though I could not help
+smiling at the puzzled look of the magnate of Middleport.
+
+“What is it? Why didn’t you tell me about it? They say the students of
+the Wimpleton Institute went down the lake this morning.”
+
+“Yes, sir; we passed them on the way, and the students of both
+Institutes are bound to the same place.”
+
+“Then there will be a quarrel!” exclaimed the major; but I think he
+would not have cared if he had been sure that his side of the lake
+would be victorious.
+
+“I am afraid there will; but the Toppletonians have the weather-gage,
+both on the rights of the case and in the situation.”
+
+I explained fully what had transpired at the meeting of the battalion
+on Saturday, and the state of the affair when I left Grass Springs, an
+hour before.
+
+“Why didn’t they tell me what they were doing?” demanded the major. “I
+did not know they were in a hurry; if I had, the steamer should have
+been at Grass Springs without fail. If our boys have hired the Horse
+Shoe, and pay for it, they have a right to use it.”
+
+The great man was unequivocally on the side of the boys, and they might
+just as well have taken him into their confidence. I was sorry to see
+him so willing to permit a collision, even while our students had the
+letter of the law in their favor.
+
+“Wolf, don’t you want a vacation?” said the major, suddenly turning to
+me, after musing on the facts I had given him.
+
+“No, sir; I don’t care about any,” I replied.
+
+“But I prefer that you should take one. Your pay shall go on as usual,”
+he continued; and of course it was of no use for me to protest. “Can
+Lewis run the dummy?”
+
+“Yes, sir; he understands it very well.”
+
+“All right, Wolf; I want you to be with those boys. You have an
+influence with them, and they want some help such as you can give them.”
+
+“Am I to fight with them, sir?” I asked, laughing; for I did not
+exactly relish the kind of vacation he intended to give me.
+
+“Certainly I don’t want any fighting if it can be avoided. I want you
+to help keep the peace. If things don’t work well, or any help is
+needed, come to me at once.”
+
+I started the dummy, and then gave it up to Lewis. I did not exactly
+like my mission; for, though I was sent to keep the peace, I knew that
+the major simply expected me to see that the Toppletonians were not
+whipped in the expected encounter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+MAJOR TOMMY GETS MAD.
+
+
+Though I was nominally sent to the Horse Shoe as an ambassador of
+peace, I fully understood the real object of the magnate in giving me
+a vacation. The mission was certainly complimentary to me, for I was
+really expected to do the “engineering” for the Toppletonians. I was
+not to permit them to be whipped by their great enemy: if I could not
+prevent it myself, I was to call in the assistance of Major Toppleton.
+Whatever instructions he may have given me, this was precisely what he
+meant. I was, in some sense, to be his representative.
+
+I desired to keep the peace, and I hoped to have influence enough to
+accomplish something in this direction; but it would not be an easy
+matter to do this, and at the same time escape the wrath of the
+belligerent Toppletonians. The Wimpleton battalion, under command of
+Major Waddie, would be ten times as reckless as the Toppletonians
+under Major Tommy. My late enemy on the other side was not restrained
+either by fear or by principle. No violence or destruction appalled
+him. His father had so often paid for damage done by him, that he never
+hesitated to gratify his malice and revenge by smashing a boat, firing
+a building, or even discharging his pistol at any one who thwarted him.
+He was a dangerous enemy. But Waddie was reckless only when he was
+personally in a safe position. He was prudent enough to keep his own
+body out of the way of harm, except when his wrath completely mastered
+him.
+
+Lewis Holgate was glad enough of an opportunity to run the dummy alone,
+for it would enable him to prove his fitness for the position to which
+he aspired. I cautioned him carefully in regard to keeping up the water
+in the boiler, and the pressure of steam he might carry. He was very
+passive and tractable, and, for the sake of his own reputation, I had
+no doubt he would be faithful and careful in the discharge of his duty.
+
+When I arrived at Grass Springs in the dummy, the steamer was just
+approaching the wharf. The company sent over to the island under
+Captain Briscoe had landed, and thus far had held peaceful possession.
+The Horse Shoe was the most western of four islands, just below Ruoara.
+The two largest of them lay east and west of each other, while the one
+to the north of them was called the North Shoe, and the one to the
+south the South Shoe. They bore some resemblance to shoes; and the
+western island having a bay which made into its southern side, gave it
+the shape of a horse shoe. The eastern island, and the nearest to the
+shore, looked more like a pistol than either of the others did like the
+articles for which they were named. But the person who had christened
+the group, having probably named the others first, calling each a shoe,
+designated the fourth the “Shooter,” instead of the Pistol, which would
+have been more appropriate. “Shoe” and “Shooter” seemed to jingle well
+with him, and, as he was satisfied, I shall not complain.
+
+The squadron of boats from Centreport lay between the Horse Shoe
+and the South Shoe when I came upon the ground. So far as I could
+judge by seeing them at the distance of two miles, the Wimpletonians
+were consulting upon their next movement. If they intended to take
+possession of the island, they had permitted the favorable opportunity
+to pass. Doubtless they were also waiting for the arrival of the
+bateaux, on which their baggage was transported.
+
+“Has anything happened?” I asked of Faxon, as I joined the students on
+the wharf.
+
+“Not a thing!” exclaimed he. “The Wimps smell a mice, and don’t seem to
+be inclined to pitch in. If I had been Waddie Wimpleton, I would have
+landed on that island before this time.”
+
+Faxon appeared to be disappointed because the row had not come off, and
+more, perhaps, because the Wimpletonians did not display a belligerent
+spirit. The steamer came up to the wharf, and the students embarked.
+Major Tommy stormed at Captain Underwood for his delay, and the poor
+captain defended himself very modestly and gently. He had discharged
+his cargo as speedily as possible, and he had not been told to be at
+the Springs at eight, but as soon as he could. His bread and butter
+depended upon keeping the right side of the magnate, and to prejudice
+the son was to influence the father.
+
+“What are you doing here, Wolf?” asked Tommy, as he saw me standing on
+the forward deck, after the steamer started.
+
+“Your father has just given me a vacation,” I replied, very quietly;
+for I did not deem it prudent to put on any airs about my mission. “I
+thought I would come over and see how this thing was coming out.”
+
+“It’s coming out all right, Wolf. What did my father say?” asked the
+little major, with some show of anxiety. “Was he mad because we came
+away so early?”
+
+“O, no! I told him where you were going, and that the Wimps were bound
+to the same place. He was very glad you had obtained permission of the
+owner to use the island.”
+
+“Then it is all right--is it, Wolf?” added Tommy, with an apparent
+feeling of relief. “I didn’t know but my governor sent you here as a
+spy. If he did, you can return as fast as you came.”
+
+Perhaps, according to Tommy’s interpretation of my mission, I might be
+a spy. I had really been sent to act as a check upon the students, who
+were very jealous of any interference when they were on camp duty, or
+any other military service. The steamer sped on its way, and as the
+deep water was between the Horse Shoe and the Shooter, we had to round
+the southern point of the former in order to reach the landing-place.
+The Wimpleton boats still lay off the South Shoe, and Captain Underwood
+said they were in the channel through which he must pass.
+
+“Can’t you get to the landing without going near them?” I asked
+privately of the captain, though I knew the navigation of the lake as
+well as he did.
+
+“I can go to the north of the Horse Shoe, and come down the channel in
+that way,” he replied.
+
+“These fellows are spoiling for a fight, and I am afraid there will be
+some broken heads before the day is finished. If you can prevent a
+row, it will be better to do it.”
+
+“Very well,” said he, ringing the bell to stop her, just as he was
+entering the channel between the Horse Shoe and the South Shoe.
+
+“What’s that for?” demanded Major Tommy from the forward deck.
+
+“Don’t you think we had better go in at the northward of the island?”
+inquired Captain Underwood, with the utmost deference.
+
+“No, sir! I don’t think so!” replied Tommy, warmly. “Are you going the
+other way because those boats are here? Go ahead, sir! Run them down,
+if they don’t get out of the way!”
+
+Captain Underwood felt obliged to obey this imperative order. If he
+had refused to do so, it is quite likely he would have been compelled
+to return to the skippership of a canal boat, from which he had been
+promoted to his present more dignified and lucrative position.
+
+“Don’t run them down, captain,” I ventured to say, in a low tone, as
+the master rang the bell to go ahead again.
+
+“It is hard work to please that boy without getting into trouble,”
+added the captain. “The good book says no man can serve two masters,
+but I have to serve two.”
+
+“Blow the whistle, captain!” I suggested.
+
+He blew the whistle till the shores resounded with the echoing
+screeches; but the Wimpletonians evidently believed the steamer had
+come this way on purpose to annoy them, and they stood upon their
+dignity. Not a boat moved, and the students in them looked as resolute
+as though they meant to be smashed rather than change their position.
+We were almost upon them, and I was afraid the captain intended to
+execute the barbarous threat of Major Tommy. I begged him again not
+to run into the boats; and seeing the enemy did not mean to move, he
+stopped and backed in season to avoid a calamity.
+
+“What did you stop for, captain?” shouted Tommy; but I was charitable
+enough to believe that the words were intended for the benefit of the
+Wimpletonians, rather than the person to whom they were addressed.
+
+Captain Underwood made no reply, but rang to go ahead again, though he
+permitted but two or three turns of the wheels.
+
+“I can shove the boats out of the way without hurting any one, I
+think,” said he, as the steamer moved slowly forward.
+
+“Look out, or you will run into us!” shouted my old enemy, Ben
+Pinkerton, who was in the nearest boat.
+
+“Out of the way, then!” replied Captain Underwood.
+
+“Go ahead, full steam, captain!” called Tommy; but again I wished
+to believe that his order was a threat to the enemy rather than an
+indication of a wicked purpose.
+
+Instead of obeying this rash command, the captain rang the bell to back
+her, fearful that some of the boats might be smashed.
+
+I saw Tommy rush aft, and I supposed he intended to come upon
+the hurricane deck, where he could bully Captain Underwood more
+effectually. I left the wheel-house, where I had been during the
+conversation with the captain, that he might not implicate me in the
+disobedience. But Tommy did not appear, and it was plain that he had
+adopted some other tactics.
+
+“Wolf Penniman!” shouted some one at the gangway. “You are wanted
+below!”
+
+“What is wanted?” I asked of the messenger, who could hardly speak, he
+was so excited.
+
+“Major Toppleton wants you.”
+
+I went below, and found Major Tommy standing at the door of the
+engine-room, foaming with wrath; indeed, he had steam enough on to
+carry a forty-horse engine.
+
+“Will you do as I tell you, or not?” stormed Tommy, addressing his
+energetic words to the engineer.
+
+“You must excuse me, Mr. Tommy; but I must mind the bells. It won’t do
+for me to disobey the captain’s orders,” protested the engineer, gently
+and respectfully.
+
+“Here, Wolf!” shouted Tommy. “Come here!”
+
+I presented myself to the little magnate, and I was conscious that I
+was already in a bad scrape.
+
+“Go in there, and start up that engine! Go ahead, full steam!”
+continued he.
+
+I looked at him, but I did not move to obey. I smiled, and looked as
+good-natured as possible, for I did not wish him to think that I was
+ugly about it.
+
+“Don’t you hear me, Wolf? I tell you to start up that engine!” repeated
+Major Tommy.
+
+“It won’t do for me to step in between the man and his engine,” I
+remonstrated, mildly.
+
+“Yes, it will! I tell you to do it; and if you don’t do it, you shall
+suffer for it.”
+
+“Let us argue the point a little, major,” I replied.
+
+“Will you do what I tell you, or not?” roared he, swelling up as big as
+a major general.
+
+“You must excuse me, major, but I can’t take the engine out of the
+engineer’s hands, without the captain’s orders.”
+
+“I will let you know that this boat is my father’s, and I can do with
+it as I please. If you won’t start it, I will do so myself!” said the
+juvenile magnate, desperately, as he rushed into the engine-room, and
+seized hold of the working-bar.
+
+“You musn’t touch the engine,” said the man in charge, as he took hold
+of Tommy’s arm, and, with as little force as was necessary, thrust him
+out of the room.
+
+Tommy was the maddest major I ever saw.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+CHARGE BAYONETS!
+
+
+Major Tommy, in my judgment, was more inclined to have his own way
+than he was to annihilate the Wimpletonians by crushing them under the
+wheels of the steamer. He had been irritated because the captain did
+not obey his order; but, I think, if the boat had gone ahead at his
+imperial command, he would have been the first to stop her. I could not
+believe that he was so diabolically wicked as to run over the boats,
+and sacrifice the lives of a dozen or more even of his enemies. If it
+had been Waddie, the matter would have been different, and I should
+have been more credulous.
+
+When the captain opposed him, he flew to the engineer; but I am
+confident that, if the man had given the wheel a single turn, Tommy
+would have ordered him to stop her. Neither the captain nor the
+engineer knew that he did not intend to do all he threatened; and I
+am afraid, if the wheels had been started, the mischief would have
+been done, whatever the little magnate meant, or did not mean. I was
+very sorry to be dragged into the difficulty, for Tommy and I had thus
+far been very good friends. However, I had no doubts in regard to the
+correctness of my position.
+
+Forbush, the engineer, had gently, very gently, thrust Tommy out of the
+engine-room. By this time, all of Company B had gathered around the
+little major, intent upon beholding the row. The juvenile magnate was
+boiling over with rage, and threatened Captain Underwood, the engineer,
+and myself with total annihilation. Every one of us should lose his
+situation, and be forever deprived of the power to obtain further
+employment.
+
+“Come, Tommy, keep cool,” said Faxon, trying to smooth down the
+wrinkled fur on the badger’s back.
+
+“I won’t keep cool! I have been insulted, and I will teach the fellows
+who and what I am. If I tell the captain of this boat to run over the
+island, he shall do it,” stormed Tommy, so angry that he could hardly
+keep from crying.
+
+“Be reasonable, Tommy,” added Skotchley, with his usual quiet dignity.
+“We don’t want to kill anybody.”
+
+“Yes, we do! We want to kill the Wimps if they don’t get out of the
+way.”
+
+It was useless to say anything to the irate major while he was so
+inflamed with wrath, and by general consent the students kept still;
+but they were disgusted with the commander of the battalion, and
+doubtless most of them were sorry that they had not tipped him out
+of both of his offices. While Tommy was still raving like an insane
+person, the bell rang again to go ahead, and the engineer promptly
+started the wheels; but only a few turns were made before the signal
+came to stop her. Finding I was not needed on the main deck, and that
+the wrathful major would cool off sooner if left to himself, I went up
+to the wheel-house. All on board, except the captain and one man at the
+wheel, had been attracted to the vicinity of the engine-room by the
+exciting scene. There was no one on the forward deck, for even the two
+men employed there were listening to the howls of Tommy.
+
+Captain Underwood had started the boat ahead again, and when I
+reached the wheel-house, she was gently crowding her way through the
+fleet of boats, a dozen in number, containing the whole force of the
+Wimpletonians, over ninety of them. She struck the boats as gingerly as
+though they had been eggs. She did them no harm, beyond scraping the
+fresh paint upon them, as she slowly forced her way through them. I
+watched the movement with interest, for I was curious to know what the
+Wimpletonians intended to do.
+
+The fleet lay in the deep water, so that there was no room on either
+side for the steamer to pass to her destination without getting
+aground. Captain Underwood was a prudent man, and worked his craft very
+carefully. He had given her headway enough to carry her through the
+squadron of boats; but, as they swarmed along her bow, and under her
+guards, the students in them fastened to her with their boat-books, so
+that they could not be shaken off.
+
+“Back her quick, and you will shake them off without harming any of
+them,” I suggested to the captain, when I saw that he was nettled by
+the failure of his plan.
+
+“Out of the way there! Your boats will be smashed under our wheels!”
+shouted he to the enemy.
+
+At that moment half a dozen of the Wimpletonians leaped over the rail
+of the steamer upon the forward deck, with their muskets in their hands.
+
+“What’s that for?” said the captain, quietly.
+
+“They mean mischief,” I replied, as I saw a dozen more follow the six;
+and among the latter was Waddie Wimpleton, glittering with gold lace,
+for he was in the full uniform of a major of infantry.
+
+“Stand by those two doors!” shouted he, drawing his sword and pointing
+to the entrances near which the Toppletonians were still listening to
+the howlings of Major Tommy. “Hurry up, there!” he added to those in
+the boats.
+
+The Wimpletonians poured in over the rail, until the deck was crowded.
+Company B had stacked their muskets on this deck, and except the
+officers, our boys were unarmed, while every Wimpletonian presented
+a musket with a fixed bayonet upon it. As the enemy were boarding the
+steamer, the captain, amazed at the audacity of the young ruffians,
+rang the bell to back the boat; but before she had headway enough to
+shake off the fleet, which clung to her like swarming bees, all the
+Wimpletonians, except one in each boat, were on our deck.
+
+“Up there, twenty of you!” said Major Waddie, indicating the hurricane
+deck with a flourish of his sword.
+
+“What are the rascals going to do?” added Captain Underwood, who had
+not given the enemy credit for the skill and daring they now displayed.
+
+“Don’t let a single Top go on the hurricane deck!” shouted Waddie; and
+the twenty students he had sent up stationed themselves at the head of
+the stairs, to prevent any of our party from leaving their prison; for
+such it had now become to them.
+
+[Illustration: CHARGE BAYONETS!--Page 98.]
+
+Captain Underwood began to think the frolic, as he had at first
+regarded it, was becoming a serious affair, and I saw that he looked
+somewhat anxious. Our fellows had left their muskets on the forward
+deck, and they were now in possession of the enemy. I am inclined
+to think it was fortunate they were there, rather than in the hands of
+their owners, or some of the students on both sides would doubtless
+have been seriously injured. As the matter now stood, the Wimpletonians
+had entire possession of the Middleport, for that was the name of the
+steamer. Twenty of them stood in the act of charging bayonets in the
+direction of the two doors leading from the forward deck. Our fellows
+could do nothing; and even the captain, with the wheel in his hand, was
+as powerless as they were.
+
+Major Waddie, with his chapeau and white plume, looked as though he
+were the commander-in-chief of a great army, and had just achieved a
+bloody victory. I must do him the justice to say that he had managed
+the affair very well, though I saw that his two captains, Dick Bayard
+and Ben Pinkerton, were always near him with words of counsel. I was
+at a loss to determine whether the capture of the steamer had been
+devised on the instant, or whether the boats had taken the position
+in the channel for that purpose in the beginning. I was inclined to
+believe that the bold step was first suggested when their leaders saw
+the muskets of the Toppletonians stacked on the forward deck, and not a
+single soldier present to guard them. Ben Pinkerton afterwards told me
+that this view was correct.
+
+While the conquerors were disposing their forces so as to hold the
+prize they had captured, Major Tommy and the audience who were
+listening to his angry declamation were completely intrapped. The
+startling event was calculated to turn the spouter’s thoughts into a
+new channel. It seemed to me that the emergency had arisen which would
+justify me in calling the attention of Major Toppleton to the affair;
+but unfortunately I could not leave just then. The steamer had backed
+half a mile from the island, and had now shaken off all the boats which
+clung to her.
+
+“I don’t know what these ruffians intend to do,” said Captain
+Underwood, as he rang the bell to stop her.
+
+“Waddie Wimpleton is reckless enough to do almost anything,” I replied;
+for I regarded the situation as difficult, if not dangerous.
+
+“I will keep the boat moving towards Middleport, at any rate.”
+
+“That’s right, captain; if they have us, we have them at the same time,
+and we can carry them to Middleport as prisoners of war,” I added, with
+a smile which was not wholly natural.
+
+Captain Underwood rang the bell to go ahead, and soon gave her full
+speed, heading the boat up the lake.
+
+“Hallo, there!” shouted Major Waddie from the forward deck, as he
+flourished his sword towards the wheel-house. “Stop her!”
+
+The captain paid no attention to this imperious command.
+
+“Do you hear me? I say, stop her!” yelled Waddie.
+
+“Hold your tongue, you little bantam!” replied Captain Underwood,
+irreverently; for, as he owed no allegiance to the house of Wimpleton,
+he felt that he could afford to speak without measuring his words.
+
+“Will you obey me, or not?” demanded Waddie, furious because his
+imperious will was not regarded.
+
+But the two captains, who were really the brains of the battalion,
+interposed. I do not know what they said, but the major with the
+chapeau desisted from his attempt to bully the captain. They were more
+practical in their operations than the commander, and presently I saw
+them forming their forces before the two doors. Captain Bayard drew up
+his company before one of them, and Captain Pinkerton before the other.
+
+“Charge bayonets!” said Waddie, fiercely.
+
+The order was repeated by the two captains, who placed their most
+reliable men in the front.
+
+“Forward!” screamed Major Waddie, making a desperate lunge into the
+empty air with his flashing sword.
+
+“Forward!” repeated the two captains, as they drove their men through
+the doors, into the narrow space on each side of the boiler and
+engine-room.
+
+The Toppletonians were in these spaces, and I saw that the object
+of the movement was to drive them aft, and get possession of the
+engine-room, so as to control the machinery, and thus prevent the
+captain from taking the boat to Middleport. Our fellows, unarmed,
+could not stand up against the bayonets of the enemy, and we heard them
+fall back. I concluded, by this time, that Major Tommy had come to his
+senses; though, if he was disposed still further to vent his ire, he
+had an excellent opportunity to do so against the sharp-pointed weapons
+of his conquerors.
+
+The Toppletonians were not only driven aft, but were forced below the
+deck into the little cabin, which was hardly large enough to hold them
+all. A little later, we heard a violent altercation in the engine-room,
+and then the boat stopped. The Wimpletonians had certainly won a
+complete victory.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+FEATHERS AND THE ENGINEER.
+
+
+Major Tommy Toppleton and Company B were prisoners in the little cabin,
+while Major Waddie Wimpleton and Companies A and B of his battalion
+were in possession of the steamer. The wheels had stopped, and this was
+evidence to us in the wheel-house that Forbush, the engineer, had been
+driven from his post.
+
+“This will never do,” said Captain Underwood. “The young rascals will
+blow us all up. They have stopped the engine, and have not let off
+steam.”
+
+Though it was really becoming quite a serious matter, I saw that the
+captain could hardly keep from laughing, there was something so absurd
+in the situation. Major Waddie, in his chapeau and gold lace, strutted
+before us on the forward deck, and we had regarded the whole affair as
+a joke; but now we were actually in the toils of the captors. They
+had not yet disturbed the occupants of the wheel-house; but this step
+had only been deferred till the other parts of the boat were made
+secure. The Toppletonians had all been locked up in the cabin, and the
+engine-room, the citadel of the boat, had yielded.
+
+“It is time something was done,” I replied to the captain. “I have been
+opposed to a fight, but I think one is necessary about this time.”
+
+“What shall we do?”
+
+“That’s the question. The Wimpletonians are armed with ugly weapons,” I
+added. “There are three of us besides Forbush. I see the victors have
+neglected to secure the captured arms on the forward deck. We can jump
+down, arm ourselves, and fight it out.”
+
+“But there are nearly a hundred of the rascals,” answered Captain
+Underwood. “Some of them are pretty well grown, and all of them have
+been exercised with the bayonet. I don’t relish having one of those
+things stuck into me, and I shouldn’t dare to punch any boy with such
+an ugly iron. I think I would rather do what fighting I do without any
+bayonet.”
+
+The captain was a very prudent man, certainly; and I was aware how
+dangerous it would be to injure one of the Wimpletonians. They were
+reckless; we were cautious, and fearful of hurting them; so that they
+had every advantage over us, besides that of mere numbers. While we
+were debating the question, Forbush appeared on the forward deck.
+One of his hands was covered with blood, and it was plain he had not
+abandoned his post without an attempt to retain it.
+
+“Captain Underwood, they have driven me out of the engine-room at the
+point of the bayonet,” said the engineer, holding up his bloody hand.
+
+“Come up here,” replied the captain.
+
+“We have a good head of steam on, and the engine needs some one to look
+out for it.”
+
+“Go and fix it as it ought to be!” said the imperious Major Waddie, as
+he stalked up to the engineer with his drawn sword in his hand.
+
+“If there were no one but you on board, I would blow you so high you
+would never come down again,” added Forbush, as he glanced at his
+wounded hand.
+
+“None of your impudence, but do as I tell you,” puffed Waddie.
+
+“Look out for the engine, Forbush,” added the captain; “and speak to
+the fireman.”
+
+Forbush went to the engine, and presently the sound of the steam
+hissing through the escape pipe assured us the peril of an explosion
+was provided for. The engineer, having attended to this duty, appeared
+upon the forward deck again. He was not a very demonstrative man, but I
+could see that he was nursing his wrath under the imperious manner of
+Waddie. Passing through the Wimpletonians, he went to the bow of the
+boat.
+
+“Major, there is Wolf Penniman in the wheel-house,” said Dick Bayard,
+as he discovered me at one of the windows.
+
+“We’ll fix him in due time,” replied Waddie, as he glanced up at me
+with an ugly look, which assured me I had nothing to hope for from his
+magnanimity. “We must get rid of those fellows in the cabin next.”
+
+“Well, what are you going to do with them?” asked Captain Ben Pinkerton.
+
+“Land them in some out-of-the-way place on the east shore, where it
+will take them all day to get home again,” suggested Captain Dick
+Bayard.
+
+“Where?” inquired Major Waddie, apparently pleased with the idea.
+
+“At the point off the North Shoe, for instance,” replied Bayard.
+
+“That’s the plan!” exclaimed the major, as he sheathed his glittering
+blade, apparently satisfied that the battle was finished. “Wolf
+Penniman, come down here!” he added; turning to me again.
+
+“No, I thank you,” I replied, cheerfully.
+
+“If you want to get out of this scrape with a whole skin, you had
+better mind what I tell you,” continued Waddie, involuntarily putting
+his hand on the hilt of his sword.
+
+“I think I can best keep a whole skin up here,” I answered.
+
+“Better go down,” interposed the captain. “Moses and I will go with
+you.”
+
+Moses was one of the deck hands, who had been steering when the
+capture was made. There were two more of them, besides the fireman
+below, making seven men on board.
+
+“Very well; if you think best I will go down,” I replied.
+
+“We had better keep together,” he added.
+
+I led the way down the ladder, and as the captain followed me, he
+beckoned to the deck hands to keep near us.
+
+“You have concluded to mind--have you?” sneered Waddie, as I presented
+myself before his imperial majorship.
+
+“I concluded to come down,” I answered.
+
+“Wolf, you will go to the engine-room, and mind the bells,” he
+continued.
+
+“Mr. Forbush is the engineer of this boat,” I replied.
+
+“No matter if he is; you will do as I tell you, or take the
+consequences.”
+
+“Then I will take the consequences,” I answered, for I had no intention
+of helping the Wimpletonians land their conquered foe on the North
+Point.
+
+“Here! form around him! Charge bayonets! Drive him into the
+engine-room!” said Waddie, smartly.
+
+Instead of waiting for this programme to be carried out, I walked
+forward to the extreme point of the bow, where the engineer had taken
+position. I was not quite sure that I could successfully resist the
+order; but it was not in my nature to obey the haughty commands of
+Major Waddie.
+
+“That’s right!” said Forbush, as I joined him. “I’m glad to see a
+little grit.”
+
+Captain Underwood and the three deck hands followed me; but Waddie drew
+his sword, and, filled with rage, crowded through them towards me.
+
+“Wolf, I command this boat now, and I order you to the engine-room,”
+fumed the major, as he pointed his sword at me, as though he intended
+to run me through; and I am not sure that such was not his purpose.
+
+Forbush’s patience appeared to be exhausted, and before I had time to
+make any reply, he suddenly sprang upon Waddie, wrenched the sword from
+his grasp, and, seizing him by the collar, jammed him against the rail
+with so much force, that the bantam major howled with pain and terror.
+The dignity of his military position was knocked out of him, and the
+glory of the chapeau, feathers, and gold lace departed.
+
+“Look out for the rest of them!” called Forbush.
+
+I picked up one of the guns which the captors had thrown one side, and
+the three deck hands followed my example. Captain Underwood, still true
+to his humane philosophy, took a handspike. But the sudden movement of
+the engineer seemed to paralyze the valiant soldiers for the moment,
+as they paused to see what the grimy Forbush intended to do with their
+leader.
+
+“Rally! rally!” shouted Captain Bayard, who, now that the major was
+_hors de combat_, was the ranking officer. “Charge bayonets!”
+
+“You keep back!” replied Forbush. “If one of you takes a single step
+forward, I will throw this fellow overboard;” and he jammed poor Waddie
+against the rail again, until we could almost hear his bones crack.
+
+“Don’t! don’t!” groaned Waddie. “Keep the fellows back, Dick Bayard, or
+he will kill me!”
+
+“That’s so,” replied the stout engineer, who did not weigh less than
+one hundred and eighty, and was six feet high.
+
+By this time the four men and myself were drawn up in line of battle.
+It was clear enough to the Wimpletonians that, if the action began,
+there would be some broken heads, if not bleeding bodies. However
+lightly they regarded bayonet wounds when the weapons were in their
+own hands only, they seemed to have a great respect for the cold steel
+in the hands of others. They formed their line in the act of charging
+bayonets; but they did not charge any. There they stood, arrested by
+the plaintive cry of their gallant leader.
+
+“Now, come out here, Feathers!” said Forbush, as he took Waddie by the
+collar, besmearing the major’s face with blood from his wounded hand,
+and trotting him up to the line. “Come up here again, and take command!
+Order these cubs upon the hurricane deck, or I will make short work of
+you!”
+
+The engineer emphasized his commands by shaking Waddie most
+unmercifully.
+
+“You let me alone!” howled the discomfited commander of the battalion.
+
+“I’ll let you alone when I have done with you,” added Forbush, as he
+twisted his gripe upon the collar of his victim, so as almost to choke
+him.
+
+“You’ll kill me!” gasped Waddie.
+
+“Will you give the order I told you?”
+
+“Send the fellows upon the hurricane deck!” whined Waddie to Dick
+Bayard, crying and howling at the same time.
+
+“Don’t do it, Dick!” said Pinkerton, who could not endure the thought
+of having the victory wrested from the conquerors in the very moment of
+their triumph.
+
+“Waddie says so. What can we do?” replied Bayard.
+
+“They don’t mind,” added Forbush, shaking the unfortunate major again.
+
+“Do as I tell you, Dick Bayard!” called Waddie, writhing under the
+torture.
+
+Very reluctantly the senior captain gave the order, and the
+Wimpletonians crept up the ladders to the hurricane deck.
+
+“Now let me alone!” growled Waddie, trying to shake off his powerful
+persecutor.
+
+“Hold still, Feathers!” replied Forbush, applying a little gentle
+force, as if to assure his victim that the tragedy was not yet ended.
+
+The engineer was now in excellent humor, and was exceedingly pleased
+with the turn he had given to the affair.
+
+“Ain’t you going to let me go now?” added the major, in a pleading tone.
+
+“Not yet, Feathers. You must give security for the good behavior of
+your crowd.”
+
+“What are you going to do with me?” asked Waddie.
+
+“I’m going to throw you overboard if you don’t behave like a man. Now,
+Captain Underwood, you can let out our boys. These rascals have locked
+them up in the cabin.”
+
+“Better get rid of the Wimps first,” I whispered to the captain.
+
+“What shall we do with these fellows?” he replied, with a significant
+glance at me, as he comprehended my meaning.
+
+“Land them at North Point,” I suggested.
+
+“Good!” laughed Forbush. “It is a poor rule that won’t work both ways.
+What do you say, Captain Underwood?”
+
+“Anything to get rid of them!” replied the captain, impatiently.
+
+“Very well; I will take care of Feathers. I will keep him in the
+engine-room with me,” added Forbush. “Now, Wolf, you and the three
+deck hands stay here. If those fellows up there attempt anything
+mischievous, you call me, and Feathers and I will settle it--won’t we,
+Feathers?”
+
+Forbush laughed till his fat sides shook, and then dragged Major Waddie
+to the engine-room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+KEEPING THE PEACE.
+
+
+“Hadn’t we better let our boys out before we go ahead?” asked Captain
+Underwood, in a low tone, as the engineer disappeared with his prisoner.
+
+“There will be a fight if we do,” I replied. “We can land the Wimps in
+ten or fifteen minutes.”
+
+“What will Tommy say?” added Captain Underwood.
+
+“No matter what he says. It is better to keep the peace than to let
+them out.”
+
+Doubtless he fully agreed with me; but he dreaded the wrath of his
+employer’s son even more than the violence of the Wimpletonians.
+He went up to the wheel-house, and rang the bell to go ahead. The
+discomfited enemy on the hurricane deck were discussing the exciting
+topic very earnestly. It was humiliating for all of them to lay down
+their arms, practically, on account of the capture of their leader. Ben
+Pinkerton was in favor of fighting it out, and rescuing Waddie from the
+gripe of his persecutor by force and arms; but timid counsels finally
+prevailed, and the battalion kept quiet.
+
+I had gone up the ladder when the boat started, so that I could see
+what they were doing, and hear what they were saying; but I kept my
+line of retreat open, so that I could make for the forward deck if a
+storm appeared. It was only a short run to North Point, and we soon
+made the landing at a rude pier, erected for passengers going to an
+interior town. As soon as the steamer was made fast, Forbush appeared
+on the forward deck, dragging Waddie by the collar, and carrying the
+sword in his hand. Taking position in the bow of the boat, where he
+could not be assaulted in the rear, the engineer planted his prisoner
+in front of him, while the deck hands, reënforced by the fireman and
+myself, formed a line between him and the gangway.
+
+“Now, Feathers, if your men are good soldiers they will obey you,”
+Forbush began. “Just give them the order to march down in single file,
+and go ashore!”
+
+Waddie was humiliated by his defeat. He was ashamed to confess,
+practically, that the battalion had been defeated by his regard for his
+own safety. But he was still in the power of the fierce engineer, whose
+bloody hand was upon his throat. He hesitated; but every instant of
+delay caused Forbush to tighten his hold, and it was painfully apparent
+to him that he must give the order, or be choked by his unrelenting
+tyrant.
+
+“Speak, Feathers, speak!” said the engineer. “Give your orders, and
+speak up like a man, so that they can hear you!”
+
+“Don’t! Don’t! You hurt me!” whined the major.
+
+“That’s nothing to what will come if you don’t do as I tell you.”
+
+“March them down, Dick Bayard,” howled Waddie, as Forbush emphasized
+his determination by a fierce twist at the neck of his victim.
+
+“In single file,” added the engineer.
+
+“Single file, Dick!” repeated Waddie.
+
+“Single file--forward, march!” said Captain Dick Bayard, who was
+plainly disgusted with the proceedings.
+
+The column of valiant warriors, grand even in their misfortunes,
+descended the ladder on the port side, and stepped on shore. They
+looked as sheepish as the lambs on the neighboring hills; but they were
+full of bottled-up rage, and as soon as Waddie was out of trouble, it
+was probable that something would be done.
+
+“Now let me go!” snapped Waddie, when the last of the file had left the
+boat.
+
+“Not yet, Feathers,” replied Forbush, as he glanced at the two
+companies on the pier. “Order your troops to march up to the grove on
+the shore.”
+
+“What for?” groaned Waddie.
+
+“Good soldiers never ask questions,” laughed the engineer, as he
+twisted the major’s collar again.
+
+Waddie gave the order as he was required, and Dick Bayard, who appeared
+to be on the watch for a chance to redeem the fortunes of the day,
+doggedly led the battalion away from the steamer.
+
+“Now it is all right, Feathers,” said Forbush. “Next time, when you
+want a steamer, you had better apply at the captain’s office.”
+
+“I didn’t want your old steamer,” snarled the gallant major.
+
+“What did you take her for, then?”
+
+“Because you were going to run down our boats. I heard Tommy Toppleton
+tell the captain to do so.”
+
+“Why didn’t you get out of the way?”
+
+“We never get out of the way for Toppleton humbugs,” sneered Waddie.
+“You haven’t seen the end of this.”
+
+“We shall probably see the end of it together. Here is your cheese
+knife, Feathers; but behave yourself, or you haven’t seen the worst of
+it yet. Mind that, Feathers!”
+
+Waddie took his sword, and looked daggers; but he dared not use any,
+or even the weapon he held in his hand. Sullenly, he walked across the
+deck to the pier. He wanted to do something, but he was prudent when
+his own person was in peril.
+
+“Cast off the fasts, Moses,” said Forbush, as he hastened to the
+engine-room.
+
+“Come down here!” shouted Major Waddie to his forces in the grove.
+“Come! Double quick!”
+
+I do not know what the valiant major intended to do next; but probably,
+if his forces had not been sent to the grove by the forethought of
+the engineer, he would have ordered an assault upon the Middleport,
+and endeavored to recapture her. He would have directed his troops to
+charge upon anything, so long as he could keep behind them, and make
+good his own escape in case of disaster. He was reckless enough to do
+anything; but as soon as the fasts were cast off, Captain Underwood
+rang to back her, and the boat was clear of the pier long before Waddie
+could bring up his forces.
+
+“We are well out of that,” said the captain, as he rang to go ahead.
+“Now you can let our boys out of the cabin.”
+
+I was not exactly satisfied with the situation in which I found myself,
+for though I was very happy in having escaped the wrath of Waddie
+Wimpleton, I had still to encounter the ire of the other “scion of a
+noble house.” I had expected to be broiled on a gridiron, or subjected
+to some fearful punishment, for my sins against the house of Wimpleton;
+and probably I should have been a sufferer, if Forbush had not taken
+the matter in hand, and brought it to an issue. Now Tommy would berate
+me for refusing to obey his order, when the engineer had declined to
+do so; but I was willing to meet this charge, if I could escape the
+responsibility of advising the captain to keep “our boys” prisoners
+after we had subdued the enemy.
+
+I went to the cabin door to discharge my mission. It had been fastened
+with a piece of wood, placed in the staple over the hasp, for the
+padlock with which it was usually secured was lost. I threw the door
+wide open, and announced to the prisoners below that they were free.
+
+“The door is open, Major Toppleton,” called one of the students to his
+chief.
+
+“Where are the Wimps?” demanded Major Tommy, as he led the way out of
+the cabin.
+
+“We put them on shore here, at North Point, where they intended to land
+you,” I replied.
+
+“Why didn’t you obey my order when I told you to take charge of the
+engine?” continued Tommy, his face beginning to kindle up with anger
+again.
+
+“I couldn’t take the engine out of Mr. Forbush’s hands,” I replied with
+becoming meekness.
+
+“Forbush shall be discharged when the boat returns,” said Tommy,
+shaking his head.
+
+“Perhaps you will change your mind when you learn what he has done,”
+I suggested. “He recaptured the boat, after he had been driven at the
+point of the bayonet from the engine-room. He was wounded in the hand,
+too, in the scrape. I don’t know how we should have got out of it if it
+hadn’t been for him. He is a plucky fellow, and stood up against the
+bayonets of the whole crowd of Wimps.”
+
+“What did he do?” asked Tommy, curiously.
+
+“He captured Waddie Wimpleton, took his sword away from him, and made
+him order his command to the hurricane deck.”
+
+“When was that?”
+
+“Well, a short time ago,” I replied, cautiously.
+
+“Why didn’t you let us out then?” he demanded.
+
+“All the Wimps were here on deck. We let you out just as soon as we got
+rid of them.”
+
+“What did you let them go for, if you had Waddie?”
+
+“There were two companies of them, and they were armed with bayonets.
+We were glad enough to get rid of them.”
+
+Tommy thought, if he had been called with his force, he could have
+taken care of the Wimpletonians; but he behaved better than I expected.
+I turned his attention back to Forbush, and minutely described to the
+major and his men the operations of the engineer, and the conduct of
+Waddie under the torture. Tommy laughed, and the soldiers laughed. It
+was a good joke, and they were sorry they had not seen the fun.
+
+“I hope you won’t find fault with Mr. Forbush, after the good service
+he has rendered, and the cut he received in the hand in doing his
+duty,” I ventured to suggest.
+
+“No! No! No!” murmured the boys.
+
+“I am willing to forgive him,” replied Tommy, magnanimously. “But if he
+had obeyed my order, there would have been no trouble.”
+
+“What do you think the consequences would have been if he had obeyed
+your order?” I mildly inquired.
+
+“No matter what they were; both he and you ought to have done as I told
+you to do.”
+
+“The fellows in the boats would have been smashed up under the wheels
+of the steamer.”
+
+“No, they wouldn’t. I only meant to duck them a little. I should have
+stopped the wheels in a minute.”
+
+I was very glad to hear Tommy acknowledge that he did not mean to
+annihilate the Wimpletonians, for I had a very good opinion of him, on
+the whole. Though he did not mean seriously to injure the enemy, I have
+no doubt some of them would have been sacrificed if he could have had
+his own way. It is a blessed thing that boys can’t always have their
+own way.
+
+I walked with Tommy to the engine-room, where Forbush was binding up
+the wound on his hand. The little major kindly inquired about the
+injury, and thanked the engineer for the service he had rendered; but
+he could not help adding that it would have been better if the order
+he gave had been obeyed. He then went up to the wheel-house to see the
+captain; and as it did not appear that he had done anything worthy of
+especial commendation, Tommy wanted to know why he had not let him out
+of the cabin sooner.
+
+“We didn’t think it was best to open the doors till we had landed
+the Wimpletonians,” replied Captain Underwood, with more candor than
+prudence.
+
+“You didn’t, eh?” said Tommy, waxing angry.
+
+“Wolf thought you wouldn’t care to see the other boys.”
+
+“Then he advised you not to let us out--did he?”
+
+“He thought it wasn’t best; and I thought so too,” added the captain,
+willing to share the blame with me.
+
+“What did you mean, Wolf?” demanded the major, turning to me.
+
+“The Wimps had two companies, and you had only one,” I replied; but it
+was in vain that I tried to smooth the matter over.
+
+He was mad with me, because, in my capacity as a messenger of peace,
+I had prevented a fight; but I was satisfied. The boat ran up to the
+landing-place on the Horse Shoe, and the “troops” and their baggage
+were disembarked.
+
+“Wolf, you may go back to Middleport in the steamer; I don’t want you
+here,” said Tommy.
+
+But I was the ambassador of peace!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+AT THE HORSE SHOE.
+
+
+“I should like to stay with you a few days, Major Tommy,” I ventured to
+say, after the young lord had given me the imperative order to depart
+on the steamer.
+
+“I say I don’t want you here,” replied Tommy, flatly. “We can get along
+without you.”
+
+“Perhaps I may be of some service to you,” I modestly suggested.
+
+“I don’t want any fellow about me that won’t obey orders,” protested
+the little major. “You advised the captain to keep us locked up in that
+cabin, when we might have cleaned out the Wimps, and paid them off for
+what they did.”
+
+“Your father sent me down here, Tommy, to do anything I could to assist
+you,” I added.
+
+“I don’t care if he did!” replied Tommy, irritated rather than
+conciliated by this remark.
+
+“He wished me to stay with you; it was not by my own desire that I
+came.”
+
+“Did he send you here to be a spy upon our actions? If he did, so much
+the more reason why we should get rid of you. We don’t want any spies
+and go-betweens here.”
+
+“I am not a spy, Tommy.”
+
+“Go on board the steamer, and tell my father I won’t have you here.”
+
+“Very well,” I replied, as I walked away from the imperious little
+magnate.
+
+“Wolf is a good fellow,” I heard the dignified Skotchley say to Tommy,
+as I departed. “I wouldn’t send him off.”
+
+“You wouldn’t, and you needn’t. I will, and shall,” replied Tommy,
+curtly.
+
+By this time the officers and soldiers of Company A had gathered at the
+shore, and I found I had quite a number of friends who were willing to
+intercede for me; but if all the officers of the battalion had gone
+down upon their knees to him in my behalf, he would not have yielded.
+I was banished from the island; and, though I was very willing to go,
+much preferring to spend my vacation in some contemplated improvements
+upon our garden, I did not wish to be sent away in disgrace. I saw that
+Skotchley did not like the manner in which his interposition had been
+treated, and just as the boat was about to start, I was not a little
+surprised to see him come on board.
+
+“Faxon is as mad as a March hare,” said he, walking up to me.
+
+“What is the matter?”
+
+“He says it is mean to send you off in this way.”
+
+“I am willing to go; I don’t care about staying here, for there will
+be a fight soon,” I added. “But Major Toppleton sent me here, and I
+thought I ought to stay.”
+
+“I would stay, if I were you,” said Skotchley.
+
+“No; I won’t make any trouble. But the steamer is starting; you will be
+carried off if you don’t go on shore.”
+
+“That is just what I want,” replied the dignified student, with a
+smile. “Like yourself, I don’t wish to make any trouble; but I will not
+be snubbed by Major Tommy Toppleton. I prefer to spend my vacation in
+some other place.”
+
+“All ashore,” said Captain Underwood, nodding to my companion.
+
+“I am going with you, captain.”
+
+“Very well;” and the bell was rung to start her.
+
+“Hallo, there! Stop her, Captain Underwood!” called the imperious major.
+
+The captain obeyed, of course.
+
+“Where are you going, Skotchley?” demanded Tommy.
+
+“I am going to Middleport,” replied Skotchley, in his quiet manner.
+
+“I don’t see it!” added the major, his face reddening with anger at
+this breach of discipline. “You are first lieutenant of Company B.”
+
+“I prefer not to remain.”
+
+“But I prefer that you should remain,” stormed Tommy.
+
+“I am sorry to disappoint you, but I have decided to go.”
+
+“Will you come on shore, or will you be brought on shore?”
+
+“Neither.”
+
+“Captain Briscoe, take a file of men, and bring Skotchley on shore. He
+is a deserter,” added Tommy.
+
+Whew! A deserter!
+
+“Go ahead, captain,” I suggested to the timid master of the steamer.
+“There will be a row here in five minutes, if you don’t.”
+
+“It is all my place is worth to disobey that stripling,” replied
+Captain Underwood, disgusted with the situation. “His father rules all
+Middleport, and he rules his father.”
+
+I saw Faxon remonstrating in the most vigorous manner with the
+commander of the battalion, and presently the former came on board with
+the olive of peace in his hand. He begged Skotchley to return to the
+shore, in order to save all further trouble.
+
+“If Tommy will permit Wolf to remain, I will,” replied the dignified
+student.
+
+Faxon returned to the shore with these terms; but Tommy indignantly
+declined them. He would have Skotchley, and he would not have me. The
+order was given again for Captain Briscoe to bring the refractory
+lieutenant on shore with a file of soldiers; but the men would not
+“fall in” to execute such a command. Skotchley was the most influential
+fellow among the students, as his election to the presidency of the
+railroad proved. Though he was dignified, and remarkably correct in his
+deportment, he was very popular. Tommy had just snubbed him, and this
+had excited the indignation of the crowd. Briscoe and a dozen others
+threatened to leave the camp, and actually made a movement towards the
+steamer.
+
+Major Tommy was in a quandary. There was a mutiny among the forces,
+and the prospect at that moment was the breaking up of the camp. The
+students had long been disgusted with Tommy’s tyranny, and it did not
+require much to kindle the flames of insurrection in the battalion.
+Hurried consultations among groups of officers and privates indicated
+a tempest. The little magnate was shrewd enough now to see that he had
+gone too far, but his pride would not permit him to recede.
+
+The disaffected ones who had the courage to strike for their own rights
+were collecting near the pier. Briscoe appeared to be the leading
+rebel, and the force which gathered around him included half the
+battalion. Tommy was informed that they intended to desert in a body.
+
+“Start your boat, Captain Underwood,” said Tommy, in order to prevent
+the departure of the rebels.
+
+The captain pulled the bells, and the wheels of the Middleport turned.
+
+“Now stop her!” shouted the major; and it was evident that he intended
+only to move the steamer far enough from the shore to prevent the
+escape of the disaffected portion of his command.
+
+I heard the last order, but the captain did not, for I had moved to the
+stern, in order to see the result.
+
+“Stop her, I say,” repeated Tommy, savagely.
+
+Still Captain Underwood did not, or would not, hear him, and the
+Middleport went on her way.
+
+“Tell the captain to stop her!” screamed Tommy, at the top of his lungs.
+
+I deemed it to be in the interests of peace not to heed this order, for
+I was afraid, if I communicated it to the captain, he would obey. The
+little major screamed till he was hoarse; but we were clear of the
+island, though it was certain there was an account to be settled in the
+future.
+
+“Our Academy would be a great institution, if Tommy Toppleton went to
+school somewhere else,” said Skotchley.
+
+“It is a great pity he is so overbearing,” I replied.
+
+“He seems to think all the rest of the fellows were created only to be
+his servants, and he treads upon them as though they were worms beneath
+his feet. I have not been accustomed to have a fellow speak to me as he
+did to-day.”
+
+“He is very haughty; but he is a generous fellow, and has many other
+good qualities.”
+
+“But one can’t live with him, he is so overbearing. I am rather sorry
+now that I did not accept the office of president of the Lake Shore
+Railroad, when I was elected. It would have brought affairs to a head.
+But I did not want to spite him, for he never treated me so badly
+before.”
+
+Tommy had made a great mistake in alienating such a fellow as
+Skotchley. It was evident that the tempest among the students could
+not much longer be delayed, if it had not already commenced. From
+the deck of the Middleport, we saw the two companies march to the
+camp ground, and begin to pitch the tents. It was probable that the
+mutiny had been nipped in the bud by the departure of the steamer with
+Skotchley on board. I was afterwards told that the students regarded
+Tommy’s order to start the boat as yielding the point, and that, when
+he failed to stop her, he accepted the situation, and made a virtue
+of necessity, permitting the boys to believe that the Middleport had
+departed in obedience to his command.
+
+The boats of the Wimpletonians were moving towards North Point, for
+those in charge of them had comprehended the final defeat of their
+party. It only remained for them to seek another camp ground, or make
+the attempt to drive the Toppletonians from their position. Skotchley
+and I agreed that they would not long be quiet, and that the week would
+be filled up with quarrels and skirmishes between the students of the
+rival academies.
+
+In an hour the steamer arrived at the wharf in Middleport, and we went
+on shore. I invited Skotchley, as the Institute was closed, to spend
+the week with me at my father’s house. He thanked me very cordially,
+and accepted the invitation; but before I went home, I deemed it proper
+to report to Major Toppleton the events which had transpired during the
+forenoon. I intended to call at his house on my way home; but we met
+him coming down the street towards the pier.
+
+“I thought you went up to the camp, Wolf,” said he, much surprised when
+he saw me.
+
+“I have been, sir, and a sweet time we have had of it. Tommy sent me
+off, and would not permit me to remain on the island.”
+
+“What has happened?” he asked, anxiously.
+
+I told him the story of the morning’s adventures, though it took me
+half an hour to do so.
+
+“And Tommy sent you off--did he?” laughed the major.
+
+“Yes, sir--because I advised the captain not to let our fellows out of
+the cabin until we got rid of the Wimps; but if they had been let out,
+there would have been a fight with bayonets.”
+
+“I am very glad you didn’t let them out then; but Tommy is rather a
+difficult subject to manage,” continued the major, lightly. “I have to
+coax him a great deal, for he is bound to have his own way. If he is
+thwarted, it has a bad effect upon him. I sent you up to the island to
+keep the run of things there; but of course I did not expect you to
+oppose him.”
+
+“I did the best I could, sir.”
+
+“You did very well; but I am sorry Tommy sent you away, for I thought
+you might have some influence with him. Did he send you away too,
+Skotchley?” he added, turning to my companion.
+
+“No, sir; I came of my own accord,” replied the dignified student: but
+he did not think it necessary to add that he and Tommy had fallen out.
+
+“You think there will be a fight between the two sides up there?”
+continued the major.
+
+“Before the week is out there will be.”
+
+“Something must be done,” said the major, anxiously.
+
+I saw now that he was quite as much the victim of Tommy’s waywardness
+as the students of the Institute.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+UP THE LAKE.
+
+
+Major Toppleton was absolutely afraid of his son. There was a rumor in
+Middleport--though I did not hear of it until after the events narrated
+had transpired--that his father had positively refused to permit Tommy
+to have his own way on one occasion, when the young gentleman insisted
+upon discharging a favorite servant of his mother. The major declined
+to yield, and stuck to his text. The result was, that Tommy, in his
+rage, ran away in the dead of winter, and was not found for two whole
+days, during which time he lived on the fat of the land at the Hitaca
+House, whither he had gone in the steamer. He refused to go home till
+his father promised to discharge the obnoxious servant, declaring that
+he would not live in the same house with the woman, and threatening
+to go to New York and ship as a common sailor. Undoubtedly it would
+have been better for the young gentleman if he had shipped as a common
+sailor, for in that capacity he would have ascertained how much of his
+own way he could enjoy. His father yielded, and Tommy, having conquered
+in this instance, had no trouble in maintaining his supremacy. The
+major was afraid he would run away, or do some other terrible thing;
+and the man who was the lord and master of all Middleport was the slave
+of his tyrannical son. This is not the only instance on record of the
+same thing.
+
+I supposed Major Toppleton would take some steps to prevent a quarrel
+between the rival students, but he did not. It was a delicate and
+difficult matter to interfere with Tommy; and the fact that I had been
+sent back proved that he would not submit to any dictation, or even
+suggestion.
+
+“I am rather glad you have come back, Wolf,” said the great man; and
+I saw that he was trying to conceal his anxiety in regard to the
+students. “I have just received a letter from Hitaca, informing me that
+my new yacht is finished, and I was on my way to the wharf to find
+some one to send after her. I have been told that you are a boatman as
+well as an engineer, Wolf.”
+
+“I have handled all sorts of boats on the lake. I used to sail the
+Marian on the other side; and she is the largest boat in this part of
+the lake,” I replied.
+
+“But she is not more than half as large as the Grace.”
+
+“The Grace!” I exclaimed, delighted with the name.
+
+“She is called after my daughter. Do you think you can handle her?”
+
+“I know I can, sir.”
+
+“She is thirty-five feet long, and measures fifteen tons. She has a
+cabin large enough to accommodate half a dozen persons.”
+
+“I should like to bring her down first rate,” I added, glancing at
+Skotchley; and I saw by his looks that he would like to accompany me.
+
+“If you think you can manage her, you may go. You will want two or
+three hands to help you.”
+
+“I will find them, sir.”
+
+“You must take the steamer up the lake as soon as she goes. I will
+write an order on the builder to deliver the boat to you; call at my
+house for it before you start.”
+
+I was delighted with this mission, for I had a taste for boats almost
+as strong as that for a steam-engine. I was fond of the water, and
+should have preferred a situation in a steamer to anything else.
+Skotchley was as much pleased as I was with the cruise in prospect;
+and, after I had told my mother where I was going, we called at the
+major’s for the order. He gave me some money to pay the expenses, and,
+with two of my friends, we embarked in the steamer for Hitaca, where
+we arrived at half past four. Near the steamer’s wharf, up the river,
+I saw a beautiful yacht, which I at once concluded was the Grace; and
+she was worthy of her name, if anything made of wood and iron could be
+equal to such an honor.
+
+I presented my order to the builder, who was in doubt about delivering
+it to me, whom he stigmatized as a boy; but when I informed him that
+I was the engineer of the Lake Shore Railroad, he made no further
+objection. He did me the honor to say that he had heard of me, and that
+he had ridden in the dummy from Middleport to Spangleport. I was not a
+little astonished to find that my fame had travelled so far as Hitaca;
+but it appeared that everybody in the vicinity knew all about the
+quarrel between the two sides of the lake.
+
+The Grace was moored in a basin of the river, and the builder put my
+party on board of her in a skiff. She was a magnificent boat, far
+exceeding anything of the kind I had seen, or even dreamed of. She was
+sloop-rigged, painted black outside, and white on deck. But her cabin
+was the principal attraction to me, and I hastened below to inspect
+it. It was finished and furnished in a style equal to the major’s
+house, with two little state-rooms, and a little cuddy forward, with
+a cook-stove in it. I was astonished and delighted, and would gladly
+have resigned my situation as engineer for a position on this beautiful
+craft.
+
+I sent Tom Walton and Joe Poole up to a store to purchase a list
+of groceries and provisions which I had made out, with Skotchley’s
+assistance, on board of the steamer; for we should need some supper,
+and perhaps breakfast, before we could reach Middleport. While they
+were gone, Skotchley and I devoted ourselves to a new examination of
+the wonders of the Grace. The builder was pleased with my enthusiasm,
+and the warm praise both of us bestowed upon his work. He opened all
+the lockers, and explained everything about the yacht, from the keel to
+the mast-head.
+
+“When will that railroad be done?” asked the builder, after we had
+exhausted the Grace, cabin, deck, and rigging.
+
+“In a month or two,” I replied; and I could not fail to observe the sly
+twinkle in his eye.
+
+“They say Major Toppleton has bought up both the steamers, and intends
+to run them, in connection with the railroad, only from Middleport to
+Hitaca.”
+
+“I have heard so; but I know nothing about it.”
+
+“Do you see that steamer?” he added, pointing to a vessel, which had
+just been launched.
+
+“I see her. Is that the new one Colonel Wimpleton is building?” I
+asked, with no little curiosity.
+
+“That’s the boat, and if I mistake not she will give your road a hard
+run.”
+
+“I should like to see her,” I continued.
+
+The builder kindly conducted me all over her. Everything about her was
+first-class work, and I confess that I rather envied the Wimpletonians
+the possession of such a steamer. They were just building her cabins
+and upper works, and I saw that she was to be far ahead of anything on
+the lake.
+
+“I suppose there will be some lively competition when this boat is
+finished,” said I, as we left the steamer. “But I hope it will be
+good-natured.”
+
+“The boat has rather the advantage of you,” added the builder. “If the
+major will build a bridge over the river at Ucayga, he will win the
+day. As it is, the steamer will have the weather-gage.”
+
+It was hardly prudent for me to think so, for I was to run the
+“Lightning Express” in opposition to the new boat. But our provisions
+had arrived, and just then I was more interested in the cruise of
+the Grace than in the trips of the new steamer. Skotchley and I went
+on board. As the river below Hitaca was narrow, and the navigation
+difficult, the builder, with some of his men, assisted us to work her
+out into the open lake. The wind was tolerably fresh from the westward,
+and as soon as the men had left us, I took the helm, and headed the
+Grace for Middleport. The yacht was a furious sailer, and she tore
+through the water at a rapid rate.
+
+“I rather like this,” said Skotchley, as he seated himself at my side.
+
+“So do I,” I replied. “I wish the major would make me skipper of this
+boat, and let some one else run the locomotive.”
+
+“I don’t want anything better than this for my vacation. I should like
+to spend the week in her, cruising up and down the lake.”
+
+“Perhaps you can. The major is going a fishing in her, I heard him say.
+Very likely he will let you have a berth in her.”
+
+“I’m afraid not. Tommy will spoil all my chances of anything good for
+this term,” added the dignified student, shaking his head.
+
+“I think the fellows on the Horse Shoe are likely to bring Tommy to
+his senses before they get through with him. They have him there alone,
+and I don’t think they will let him have his own way all the time. At
+any rate, they began as though they would not.”
+
+“If I were in Tommy’s boots, I should try to make the fellows love
+instead of hate me. He is smart, and can make himself very agreeable
+when he isn’t ugly. In my opinion, there will be a big row on the Horse
+Shoe, even without any help from the Wimps. Tommy is plucky, and I am
+not sure that it will not be a good thing for him if the Wimps attack
+his camp. His position is a little like that of some king I have read
+of, who got up a foreign war to save himself from being tipped off the
+throne by his own subjects.”
+
+“Supper is ready,” said Tom Walton, who attended to the culinary
+department of the Grace, having had some experience in the art of
+cooking. “Shall I take the helm, while you go down?”
+
+I was very happy to have him do so, for Tom was a good boatman, which
+was the particular reason why I had invited him to be one of the
+party. We went down into the cabin, where the table was set for us.
+It was neatly and tastily arranged. The viands consisted of beefsteak,
+potatoes, milk toast, and coffee; and I must do Tom the justice to say
+that they tasted as good as they looked. Certainly I never felt happier
+than when I sat down to that supper. There was something decidedly
+marine in the surroundings. The fresh breeze created quite a sea for an
+inland lake, and the Grace tossed up and down just enough to make her
+seem like a vessel.
+
+[Illustration: THE MAN ON THE RAFT. Page 148.]
+
+“Wolf! Wolf!” shouted Tom Walton, at the helm, just as I was taking my
+second cup of coffee; for I did not expect to sleep much that night.
+
+“What’s the matter?” I demanded, springing into the standing-room,
+fearful that some calamity impended over the beautiful yacht.
+
+“There’s some one calling to us from over there,” he replied, highly
+excited, as he pointed towards the eastern shore. “There he is! It’s a
+man in a boat, or on a raft.”
+
+“Help! Help!” cried the person, in a voice which sounded strangely
+familiar to me.
+
+“Let out the main sheet, Tom. We will run over and see what the matter
+is,” I replied, taking the helm.
+
+In a few moments the Grace swept round into the wind, under the lee of
+the person who had appealed to us for aid. He was on a kind of raft,
+sitting upon the wet planks, over which the waves flowed freely. I ran
+the bow of the yacht up to his frail craft, to which the sufferer was
+clinging with both hands. Giving the helm to Tom, I rushed forward to
+help the man, whose face presented a most woe-begone aspect.
+
+My astonishment may be surmised when I recognized in this person
+Colonel Wimpleton!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+IF THINE ENEMY HUNGER.
+
+
+As soon as the Grace came within reach of Colonel Wimpleton, on the
+raft, he improved his opportunity. Grasping the bob-stay, he made
+his way on board, with my assistance. He was so clumsy and terrified
+that without my help he would certainly have fallen overboard. He
+plumped upon the deck on all fours, in a most undignified attitude
+for the magnate of Centreport. I helped him to rise. In doing so, I
+discovered that his breath was very odorous of liquor, which seemed to
+do something towards explaining the unfortunate plight in which we had
+found him. He was not intoxicated at the time he was pulled on board
+the Grace; but perhaps he had had time to work off the effects of the
+potions whose incense still lingered about him.
+
+“Wolf Penniman!” exclaimed he, as he grasped one of the fore-stays,
+and, steadying himself with it, gazed into my face; and his expression
+seemed to indicate that he would rather have been rescued by any other
+person than by me.
+
+“Colonel Wimpleton!” I replied, returning his compliment.
+
+“Is it you, Wolf?” he added, as if unwilling to believe the evidence of
+his own eyes.
+
+“Yes, sir; it is I. But if you feel bad about it, you can return to the
+raft.”
+
+He glanced at the little staging of three planks on which he had made
+his involuntary cruise, and shuddered as he did so, partly with cold,
+and partly with dread.
+
+“I will pay you well for whatever you do for me, Wolf,” said he,
+glancing doubtfully at the boat, and then at me.
+
+“Let me tell you in the beginning, Colonel Wimpleton, that you can’t
+pay me the first red cent,” I replied, with proper spirit.
+
+“You won’t turn me adrift again--will you?”
+
+“No, sir; I will do anything I can for you.”
+
+“We have not been very good friends lately.”
+
+“No, sir; but that shall not prevent me from assisting you to any
+extent within my power. What shall I do for you, sir?”
+
+“I am very cold and numb,” said he, curling up with the chills that
+swept through his frame.
+
+“Come into the cabin, sir. I think we can warm and dry you so that you
+will be quite comfortable.”
+
+“Thank you, Wolf;” and I think this was the first time he had ever used
+a gracious word to me.
+
+Tom Walton had put the helm up, and the yacht filled away on her course
+again. I took Colonel Wimpleton’s arm, and conducted him to the cabin.
+The fire was still burning in the little cook-room, and shutting down
+the hatch on the deck, I soon made the place so hot that it almost
+melted me. Seating my distinguished guest before the stove, I gave him
+a mug of hot coffee, though, before he drank it, he asked me if there
+was any brandy on board. I told him we had none, and he contented
+himself with the coffee, which was quite as beneficial.
+
+Under my mild treatment, the patient gradually recovered the use of his
+limbs. I went on deck, and sent Tom down to give him some supper; and
+our zealous cook provided him a fresh beefsteak, coffee, and toast,
+which Tom said he ate just as though he had been a common man. It was
+now quite dark, and we were off Southport, on the east shore. The
+wind had subsided, and we were not likely to reach Middleport before
+morning. I gave Tom the helm again, and went below to inquire into
+the colonel’s condition. He was still wet, and was fearful that his
+exposure would bring on the rheumatic fever, to which he was liable. I
+suggested to him that he should go to bed, and have his clothes dried.
+For such a man as he was, he was very pliable and lamb-like.
+
+I conducted him to one of the little state-rooms, which contained a
+wide berth. I put all the blankets on board upon the bed, and the
+colonel, taking off all his clothes, buried himself in them. I tucked
+him up, and he declared that he felt quite comfortable. Hanging up all
+his garments in the cook-room, I filled the stove with wood, assured
+they would soon dry in the intense heat of the apartment.
+
+“Can I do anything more for you, colonel?” I asked, returning to his
+room.
+
+“No, thank you, Wolf; I am very comfortable now,” he replied from the
+mass of blankets and quilts which covered him.
+
+“Where do you wish to go, sir?”
+
+“Home! Home!” he answered with energy.
+
+“We are bound for Middleport, sir, and we will land you as soon as we
+arrive.”
+
+“Thank you, Wolf. I feel like a new man now. I was sure I should be
+drowned. I had been on that raft over three hours.”
+
+“Indeed, sir! It was a very uncomfortable craft.”
+
+“The lake was very rough, and the waves washed over me every minute.
+I gave myself up for lost. I suffered all that a man could endure in
+those three hours,” said he, shuddering as he thought of his unpleasant
+voyage.
+
+Probably, accustomed as he was to luxury and ease, he had had a hard
+time of it; but a man inured to work and weather would not have
+suffered half so much as he did; though, chilled and terrified as he
+was, I did wonder that he had not been washed from his raft, to perish
+in the deep waters beneath him.
+
+“I am very glad we happened to come along as we did,” I added.
+
+“It was fortunate for me, Wolf. I will give you a thousand dollars for
+the service you have rendered me as soon as I get home.”
+
+“Excuse me, sir; but I cannot take anything,” I replied, warmly.
+
+“Why not, Wolf?”
+
+“Because I should despise myself if I took anything. There are some
+things in this world that cannot be paid for with money.”
+
+“You are a strange boy, Wolf.”
+
+“Perhaps I am; but I think too much of myself to take money for doing a
+kindness to any one in distress.”
+
+“Very likely I can do something else for you.”
+
+“I don’t require anything to be done for me, Colonel Wimpleton,” I
+persisted.
+
+“If you have been up to Hitaca, probably you have seen the steamer I am
+building there.”
+
+“Yes, sir, I saw her; and a very fine boat she will be.”
+
+“I shall want an engineer for her,” he suggested.
+
+“Of course you will, sir. An engineer is a necessity in a steamer,” I
+replied; but I refused to bite at the bait he threw out to me.
+
+“Are you the captain of this boat, Wolf?” he asked, glancing round at
+the pleasant little state-room in which he was lying.
+
+“For the present I am.”
+
+“Whose boat is it?”
+
+“Major Toppleton’s.”
+
+“I saw her at the yard in Hitaca; but I had no idea she was so large
+and fine, as she lay in the river.”
+
+“She is just finished, and the major sent me up to bring her down to
+Middleport. I don’t suppose I shall go in her again, for I belong on
+the railroad.”
+
+“I know you do,” he replied; and his tone seemed to indicate that, at
+that moment, he was sorry I did.
+
+I did not care to discuss the relations of the two sides of the lake
+with him, and I turned his attention from the subject by asking what I
+could do for him.
+
+“I do not need anything more, Wolf. I am warm and comfortable, and I am
+very much obliged to you for what you have done. Did you know who it
+was when you saw me on the raft?”
+
+“Yes, sir; I recognized you when the boat came up to the raft.”
+
+“You did?”
+
+“Yes, sir; certainly I did.”
+
+“Were you not tempted to let me remain where I was?” he asked, raising
+his head on the bed, so as to see my face.
+
+“No, sir, I was not.”
+
+“I should think you would have been.”
+
+“Why, I am not a heathen, Colonel Wimpleton!” I replied.
+
+“No; we have had considerable trouble, and I suppose you have no reason
+to think very kindly of me,” stammered he, as though the words almost
+choked him.
+
+“I don’t think you used me just right, sir; but I’m not an Indian.”
+
+“I think I should have perished in half an hour more. It was getting
+dark, and I was as numb as though I had been frozen. But I shall make
+it all right somehow, Wolf.”
+
+“It is all right now.”
+
+“Did you see anything of Dr. Pomford as you came up the lake?”
+
+“Dr. Pomford? I don’t know him, sir.”
+
+“I suppose not. He is from Philadelphia, and is spending a week with
+me. He is fond of fishing, and we came up here to try our luck.”
+
+“But how came you on that raft, sir?” I inquired. “Did you lose your
+friend overboard?”
+
+“No; we had a boat, which we fastened to the raft on the
+fishing-ground. We found the raft there, moored with stakes in the deep
+water. Dr. Pomford had the misfortune to drop his bottle of brandy
+overboard, after we had been fishing about an hour. Being quite chilly,
+he went back to the hotel after some more, leaving me on the raft, for
+the fish were biting well, and I did not like to leave them; besides,
+he is a younger man than I am, and can move about easier. His boat was
+fastened to one of the stakes, and I think, when he started, he must
+have pulled it up. I don’t know how it happened, but as soon as the
+doctor was out of sight behind the cliff, I found myself adrift.”
+
+It was not polite for me to say anything; but I could not help
+thinking, that if the brandy bottle had dropped overboard sooner, the
+colonel would have understood the matter better. I had never heard that
+the great man was in the habit of drinking too much; but the odor of
+his breath led me to my conclusion. I think he was somewhat fuddled, or
+he would have gone with the doctor in the boat.
+
+“I never suffered so much in three hours before in my life,” continued
+the colonel. “No canal boat, steamer, or other craft came near me, and
+I cried for help till my voice gave out. Wolf, I would have given half
+my fortune, if not the whole of it, to have been taken from that raft
+a moment before you saw me. If I had known you were in charge of the
+boat, I should not have expected you to save me.”
+
+“My mother always taught me to love my enemies,” I answered.
+
+“I hear the ministers talk about such things, but I never believed
+much in them. I am under very great obligations to you, Wolf. You have
+treated me as well as though I had always been your best friend.”
+
+“It is all right, sir. I am satisfied, if you are.”
+
+“I am not satisfied; and I shall never be satisfied until I have made
+you some return for all this.”
+
+“I shall not take anything, sir,” I replied, resolutely.
+
+“I will give you a man’s wages, if you will take the place as engineer
+of the new steamer.”
+
+“Thank you for the offer, Colonel Wimpleton; but I cannot accept it at
+present. I never desert my friends till they kick me.”
+
+“That is as much as to say that I kicked you before you left
+Centreport.”
+
+“I think we had better bury the past.”
+
+“I will make it all right with your father; he shall have better wages
+than he has now.”
+
+“I am much obliged to you, sir; but we are both of us very well
+satisfied where we are.”
+
+The great man seemed to be intensely annoyed at my obstinacy; and it
+certainly was a hard case for him that he was not permitted even to do
+me a favor. My pride would not permit me to accept a gift from one who
+had treated me so badly as he had; but it was a pleasure to serve him,
+to heap the fiery coals of kindness upon his head.
+
+As I had feared, the wind died out entirely, and the Grace lay
+helpless upon the smooth surface of the lake. But below, everything
+was cheerful--even Colonel Wimpleton. The lamps burned brightly in the
+cabin and state-room, and I enjoyed myself hugely, not caring whether
+the wind blew or not. I gave the great man his underclothing when it
+was dry, and he put it on. He wanted to talk, and he did talk in his
+bed till nearly midnight, when a breeze from the southward sprang up,
+which compelled me to take my place at the helm. The wind freshened,
+and the Grace flew before it, so that we came to anchor at two o’clock
+off Major Toppleton’s mansion.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+COLONEL WIMPLETON BIDS HIGH.
+
+
+During the run of twenty miles down the lake, I had sat alone at the
+helm the greater portion of the time, for my companions were disposed
+to sleep. Colonel Wimpleton snored so that I could hear him in the
+standing-room. Skotchley had turned in, occupying the port state-room,
+while Tom Walton lay on a locker, where I could call him in a moment if
+his services were needed. While I sat there I did a great deal of heavy
+thinking, mostly over the relations of Toppleton and Wimpleton. When
+that magnificent steamer was completed, there would be lively times on
+the lake.
+
+The offer which Colonel Wimpleton had made me of the position of
+engineer on board the new steamer was very tempting to me, and I
+wished very much that I could honorably accept it; but it was no use
+to think about it. Whatever might be said of Major Tommy, his father
+had invariably treated me very handsomely. He had come to my father’s
+assistance at a time when he needed help, and had actually put over two
+thousand dollars into his pocket. I felt it to be my duty to endure
+a great deal from the son for the sake of the father, as, it now
+appeared, the former was the chief man of the two.
+
+As we approached Middleport, I called Tom Walton, and, with as little
+noise as possible, anchored the Grace. It was a moonlight night, and
+since the wind had come up from the southward, the weather was warm and
+pleasant. The sleepers below had not been disturbed; but, after Tom and
+I had made everything snug on deck, I waked Colonel Wimpleton, and told
+him where we were. I offered to row him across the lake in the little
+tender of the Grace.
+
+“Thank you, Wolf. I will get up at once,” said he. “What time is it?”
+
+“About half past two, sir.”
+
+“I have slept well. I had no idea of getting home to-night.”
+
+“We are at anchor off Major Toppleton’s house.”
+
+“Then I think I had better leave as soon as possible. I hope the major
+won’t punish you for what you have done for me.”
+
+“I don’t think he will. We get along very well together, sir.”
+
+“Better than you did with me, I suppose,” replied he, with a grim
+smile. “But I never knew you before, Wolf. It would be different if you
+should come over to Centreport again.”
+
+“I will have the boat ready in a few moments,” I replied, wishing to
+change the subject.
+
+I carried the colonel’s clothing to him. It had been nicely dried, and
+in a few moments he appeared on deck. I could hardly believe he was the
+Colonel Wimpleton who had been so unjust, not to say savage, towards
+me. He was a lamb now, and I was very willing to believe that his
+three hours of peril had done him a great deal of good, though I was
+afraid the impression would be removed when he returned to his usual
+associations. I helped the great man into the boat, and pushed off.
+
+“Have you thought of the offer that I made you, Wolf?” said the
+colonel, as I gave way at the oars.
+
+“It is useless for me to think of it, sir. I cannot leave Major
+Toppleton while he wishes me to stay with him.”
+
+“But I offer you double your present wages.”
+
+“The major has been very kind to me, and was a good friend to our
+family when we needed a friend. It would not be right for me to leave
+him, and I cannot think of such a thing.”
+
+The magnate of Centreport seemed to me to be more nettled by my refusal
+than I thought the occasion required. But I enjoyed a certain triumph
+in finding him thus teasing me to return to his side of the lake--a
+triumph which was none the less grateful because I had won it by
+kindness. The colonel was silent for a few moments, hitching about in
+the boat as though the seat was not comfortable.
+
+“How old are you, Wolf?” he asked, with sudden energy.
+
+“Sixteen in July, sir.”
+
+“I have one more offer to make you,” he added.
+
+“It won’t do any good, Colonel Wimpleton; for, as I have said, I never
+desert my friends while they use me well. If you would fill this boat
+up with gold, it wouldn’t make any difference with me,” I replied,
+rather warmly.
+
+“Don’t be obstinate, Wolf.”
+
+“I am very much obliged to you, sir, for your kind offer, and I would
+accept it if I could.”
+
+“You shall be captain of the new steamer, and have two dollars a day
+for your services. You will have a nice state-room in the boat, and
+nothing to do but superintend the management of her. I find you are
+very popular, not with the boys alone, but with the men and women, and
+it is for my interest to have you on the steamer.”
+
+“I thank you very much, sir; but I cannot leave my present place.”
+
+“Think of it, Wolf; and talk the matter over with your father. If you
+like, he shall be the engineer of the steamer.”
+
+“I thought the boat was to be managed by boys.”
+
+“But I can’t trust every boy in the engine-room. If I can’t get you as
+engineer, I must have a man.”
+
+“I should be very glad to take either of the places you offer me, but
+I cannot, sir. Major Toppleton has done the handsome thing for me and
+for my father, and I think you would despise me if I turned against
+him.”
+
+He continued to press the matter with so much earnestness that I came
+to think I was of a great deal more importance in the world than I
+really was. But I was steadfast in my allegiance to the friend who had
+served our family when we were in distress. I pulled the boat up to the
+steps in front of the colonel’s house, and assisted him to get out. He
+invited me to go in with him, but I declined.
+
+“Now, Wolf, I’m not going to let this affair pass off without doing
+something for you. I feel that you have saved my life,” said he, as I
+seated myself at the oars.
+
+“It’s all right as it is, sir.”
+
+“No, it isn’t. You will hear from me again soon.”
+
+I gave way at the oars, and he walked towards his house. I had
+conquered him, and it was certainly very remarkable that I had, at this
+moment, both the mighty men as my friends, though my relations with
+Tommy Toppleton threatened to make a breach with one of them. I felt
+that I had carried out the spirit of my mother’s instructions, and I
+ought not to be blamed for thinking very kindly of myself, because I
+had discharged my Christian duty to one who had taught me to be his
+enemy. In this frame of mind I pulled back to the Grace, and leaped
+upon deck.
+
+“What have you been doing, Wolf?” demanded a stern voice, as a tall
+form emerged from the cabin.
+
+Whew! It was Major Toppleton! I could not imagine what had brought him
+out of his bed at that unseasonable hour; and I was speechless with
+astonishment.
+
+“What have you been doing, Wolf?” repeated he; and I saw that all hands
+had been called.
+
+“I have just landed Colonel Wimpleton at his house, sir,” I replied,
+with due deference.
+
+“And you have been entertaining my greatest enemy in my yacht--have
+you?” added the major, in a tone which seemed to threaten the pleasant
+relations that had thus far subsisted between us.
+
+“I picked him up on the lake, when he was perishing with the cold, and
+in danger of being drowned.”
+
+“I don’t object to your picking him up when he needed help. One must
+do that for a dog. But why didn’t you put him ashore at the nearest
+land--in the woods or on the rocks?”
+
+“Because he was so benumbed with cold that he was nearly helpless.”
+
+“You gave him a supper at my expense; you could not have used me any
+better in my own yacht than you did him.”
+
+“I did everything I could for him, sir,” I replied, humbly.
+
+“You did--did you? Didn’t you know that he is a scoundrel? that he is
+my bitterest enemy?” demanded the major, warmly.
+
+“I did, sir; but I thought it my duty to take care of him when he was
+suffering.”
+
+“Fiddledy-dee! What do you mean by talking such bosh as that to me? I
+believe you have a soft place in your head, Wolf. Joe Poole says you
+treated him like a lord. I don’t keep a yacht for the accommodation of
+Wimpleton. If you mean to sell out to the other side, do so at once.”
+
+“I have no such intention;” and I was on the point of defending myself
+by saying that the colonel had made me several handsome offers, which I
+had declined; but I concluded such a defence would do me no good, and
+only irritate the major.
+
+“Of course I should not expect you to let even Wimpleton drown; but you
+have overdone the thing; you ought to have put him ashore at Southport,
+or Port Gunga.”
+
+“He wanted to come home, sir.”
+
+“No matter if he did; I don’t keep a yacht for his use.”
+
+“I am sorry I have offended you, sir,” I added; but I could not regret
+what I had done.
+
+“Don’t do it again. The less you do for the other side, the better you
+will suit me,” he continued, more gently, evidently because his anger
+had expended itself, rather than because he accepted my apology. “How
+did you get along with the boat?”
+
+“First rate, sir.”
+
+“Wolf, I have been uneasy all night about those boys on the island. I
+have been afraid the Wimpleton scoundrels would tear up the railroad
+track, and I have kept the dummy going every hour since dark. I am
+tired out. I am afraid they will have a fight up at the Horse Shoe, and
+somebody will get killed. I’m going to bed now; but I want you to run
+up there, and have an eye upon the boys. You need not go very near the
+island, but be sure you know what the students are about. The Wimpleton
+boys have camped on the Shooter, and the two sides are not more than
+forty rods apart. If things go wrong there, you will run over to Grass
+Springs, and send me word by Lewis Holgate.”
+
+Having delivered his instructions, Joe Poole landed the major before
+his house. With the assistance of Skotchley and Tom Walton, I hoisted
+the mainsail and got up the anchor. When Joe returned, both of my
+companions “pitched into” him for telling the major that I had treated
+his enemy “like a lord.”
+
+“I only told the truth,” replied Joe. “But I didn’t mean to do Wolf any
+harm.”
+
+“Didn’t you know any better?” added Tom.
+
+“I thought I was doing a good thing for Wolf, when I said that he had
+treated the colonel so well, after he had used him so shabbily.”
+
+“Humph, you are a Sunday school scholar!” sneered Tom.
+
+“So am I, Tom,” I interposed. “I don’t blame Joe for telling only the
+truth, and I should have told the major myself if he had not.”
+
+This remark quieted the sneerer, and I think that Sunday school
+doctrine had the better of the argument. Tom ran up the jib, and,
+passing through the Narrows, I headed the Grace for the Horse Shoe. Tom
+had slept three or four hours, while I had not yet closed my eyes. I
+gave him the helm, and directing him to call me when we came up with
+the islands, I stretched myself on the cushioned locker, and dropped
+asleep.
+
+The day was dawning when the helmsman called me. I had not slept more
+than an hour and a half; but my interest in the mission upon which
+I had been sent thoroughly roused me. I took the helm, and going to
+the eastward of the South Shoe, I headed the Grace through the narrow
+channel between the Horse Shoe and the Shooter, which would enable me
+to obtain a fair view of both camps. Major Toppleton’s fears were not
+groundless, for I found that the Wimpletonians had not devoted the
+night to sleep, as the Toppletonians evidently had, for the former had
+just effected a landing on the northern part of the Horse Shoe. As the
+Grace passed out of the channel, I saw the bateaux, loaded with tents
+and baggage, landing their freight.
+
+A battle impended.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+THE IMPENDING BATTLE.
+
+
+I certainly did not expect to find anything at the Horse Shoe or
+in its vicinity, so early in the morning, to indicate a battle,
+or even a change of position. Men engaged in a holy cause, or in
+realizing the promptings of ambition, may fight all day on the bloody
+field, and then look out for the chances of another day during the
+darkness of the night; but boys do not do so, as a general rule. The
+Wimpletonians had evidently done something besides sleeping during the
+night. Dissatisfied with the proceedings of the first day, they were
+determined to make a better show the second day.
+
+On the other hand, the Toppletonians appeared to be fast asleep,
+without even a guard to protect or warn them of the approach of their
+enemy. Before daylight the Centreport battalion had been transported
+from the Shooter to the Horse Shoe, and were now in position to give
+battle to their haughty foe--if either was more haughty than the
+other. I saw them on the shore, landing the last of their baggage,
+and securing their boats in a little cove. On the highest part of the
+island I could distinguish, in the gloom of the early morning, a line
+of sentinels stretching entirely across the land.
+
+Before the Grace was clear of the island, Skotchley, who had made a
+good night’s rest of it, came on deck, and I pointed out to him the
+change which the Wimpletonians had made.
+
+“What do you think of it, Skotchley?” I asked.
+
+“I think there will be an awful row before noon,” he replied, shaking
+his head. “Of course the Wimps haven’t gone over there for nothing.”
+
+“I don’t know but it would be the best thing in the world to let them
+fight it out. If one side or the other should get thoroughly thrashed,
+perhaps both would be willing to keep the peace.”
+
+“I think not; for of course the vanquished party would never be
+satisfied till it had retrieved its fortunes.”
+
+“When do you think the fight will commence?”
+
+“I should say it is liable to begin at any moment,” added Skotchley;
+“but I shall not expect it for several hours after our fellows find out
+that their territory has been invaded.”
+
+“Can we do anything to prevent the fight?” I asked, earnestly.
+
+“I do not see that we can,” answered Skotchley. “What can we do? You
+know what Tommy is. If we should attempt to reason with him, he would
+flare up.”
+
+“I don’t mean to reason with him; that would be stupid.”
+
+“Of course we can’t do anything with Waddie.”
+
+“All we have to do is to inform Major Toppleton of the state of affairs
+on the island,” I replied, as I put the helm down, and told Tom Walton
+to haul in the sheets till the yacht was close on the wind. “We shall
+get to Middleport with this breeze before the dummy starts.”
+
+It was only four o’clock in the morning, and though we had to beat up
+to our destination, I was confident the Grace would do it in a couple
+of hours. I had not had quite rest enough to make me feel good, and
+giving the helm to Tom, I lay down again. I was soon asleep, and the
+two hours of rest which I obtained set me right.
+
+“Middleport ahoy!” shouted Tom, as we approached our destination.
+
+“What time is it, Tom?”
+
+“Six o’clock. This yacht makes quick time of it.”
+
+“Where is Joe Poole?”
+
+“He has just turned out, and is getting breakfast.”
+
+“That’s sensible,” I replied, going on deck. “Clear away the anchor,
+and stand by the jib-halyards.”
+
+In a few moments more, the Grace was at anchor in the deep water off
+the major’s house. The great man was still asleep; but it would be
+necessary to wake him. The belligerents on the island would soon be
+punching each other with their bayonets if something was not done. But
+I could not help feeling that the presence of Major Toppleton at the
+scene of action would hardly better the situation. He was as violent,
+arbitrary, and exacting as his son. It was possible that he might do
+something to give the victory to the partisans of his own side; but it
+was hardly to be expected that he would prevent the fight.
+
+“Skotchley, will you go ashore and call upon the major? You have only
+to tell him that the Wimps have landed on the Horse Shoe,” said I to
+the dignified student.
+
+“I don’t object; but why don’t you go?” he replied.
+
+“I wish to go somewhere else.”
+
+“Where?” he asked, curiously.
+
+“I will tell you some other time, perhaps.”
+
+“Just as you like, Wolf.”
+
+I pulled up the tender, and both of us got into it. I rowed to the
+steps in front of the major’s house, and landed Skotchley. I had made
+up my mind what to do, and I had but little time to carry out my
+purpose. I felt in duty bound to prevent the fight on the island, if
+I could, even independently of the mighty will and pleasure of Major
+Toppleton. It was wicked to permit those boys, armed with deadly
+weapons, and irritated by a long-standing rivalry, to plunge into a
+strife which might become more serious than either party intended.
+
+“Mr. Wolf!” called the sweet voice of Grace Toppleton, just as I was
+about to push off the boat.
+
+I was sorry to meet even her at such a moment, great as the luxury
+would have been on an ordinary occasion. She tripped lightly down the
+walk to the landing-steps; and certainly she never looked prettier and
+more graceful than on that pleasant summer morning, with the fresh dew,
+as it were, glowing upon her cheeks.
+
+“Good morning, Mr. Wolf,” she continued, as, out of breath with the
+haste she had made, she presented herself before me. “That beautiful
+yacht!” she exclaimed, as she glanced at the elegant craft which bore
+her name. “Isn’t she a sylph!”
+
+“She is all she seems to be,” I replied, with becoming enthusiasm, “and
+I think she is worthy of her name.”
+
+“How very gallant you are, Mr. Wolf!” she pouted.
+
+“I have been sailing her all night, and I ought to speak well of her.”
+
+“Father said he had sent you to Hitaca after her; but we did not expect
+to see you till this afternoon. I want to go on board of her. I was so
+surprised when I first saw her this morning!”
+
+It was very awkward, but I could not help myself. I had a mission
+to perform which must be done at once, or not at all. I could not
+disregard her wishes, and I assisted her into the boat.
+
+“I have been up to the Horse Shoe, where the students are encamped,
+since I returned from Hitaca,” I continued, as I seated myself at the
+oars.
+
+“I suppose they are having a nice time up there,” she replied.
+
+“I’m afraid not;” and as briefly as I could, I told her the situation
+of affairs between the contending forces.
+
+As I hoped and expected of one of her gentle nature, she was shocked
+and alarmed at the prospect of a fight, especially as her brother was
+foremost in the strife.
+
+“Skotchley has gone up to call your father, and I suppose he will
+interfere,” I added.
+
+“I hope he will;” but the manner in which she spoke seemed to indicate
+that she entertained the same doubt which had disturbed my calculation.
+
+“I was thinking of doing something more,” I replied, rather doubtfully.
+
+“What, Mr. Wolf?”
+
+I related to her my adventure with Colonel Wimpleton during the night,
+and assured her that the great man of Centreport was very thankful to
+me for the service I had rendered him.
+
+“I was going over to see him,” I added.
+
+“To see Colonel Wimpleton!” she exclaimed, as though she thought such
+a step would be the sum of all abominations, for even she could not
+wholly escape the pestilent rivalry that existed between the two sides.
+
+“I am not afraid of him. If I can induce him to compel the students
+from his side to leave the Horse Shoe, the fight will be avoided.”
+
+“I am sorry you said anything to me about it, for father will not let
+you speak to Colonel Wimpleton about the matter. But, Mr. Wolf, you do
+as you think best, and I will not say a word.”
+
+I assisted her on board of the yacht, and Tom Walton was as polite to
+her as her beauty and her position required. I was sorry to leave her;
+but I was intent upon the duty of preventing the fight. I pulled over
+to the other side of the lake. Haughty servants told me the magnate
+of Centreport was asleep, and must not be disturbed; but one who had
+seen me there in the night with the colonel, ventured to tell him that
+I wished to see him. I was promptly admitted to his bedroom, where I
+stated my business.
+
+“I don’t think there is any great danger of a quarrel,” said he, after
+he had listened attentively to my story.
+
+“I think there is, sir. The students from this side have landed on the
+Horse Shoe.”
+
+“Well, our boys have always used that island for their camp.”
+
+“But the Toppleton students engaged the Horse Shoe of the owner, and
+you will agree with me that they have the best right to the ground. If
+you will direct the boys from this side to leave the island, there will
+be no further trouble.”
+
+“Do you think I shall tell our boys to run away from those on the other
+side?” demanded he, indignantly. “I am willing to do anything for
+you, Wolf, after what has happened; but I think you need not concern
+yourself about this affair.”
+
+“I don’t want to have a fight, sir.”
+
+“Nor I either.”
+
+“Then I hope you will do the right thing, and send your boys off the
+island.”
+
+“I will not do it.”
+
+“Well, sir, suppose Waddie should get punched with a bayonet?” I
+suggested.
+
+“I think Waddie can take care of himself. But, understand me, Wolf, if
+I can do anything for you, I will do it.”
+
+“I have nothing to ask but this.”
+
+“I will see what can be done,” he replied, rubbing his head, which I
+judged was still suffering from the effects of the brandy from the
+bottle that had been lost overboard. “I don’t want any fighting. I will
+go up to the Horse Shoe by and by, if I feel able.”
+
+I pressed the matter as strongly as I could; but the stupid rivalry
+was too strong in his mind to permit anything which looked like
+yielding. I left him, hoping that the peril of Waddie, if no higher
+consideration, might induce him to take some active steps to avert the
+disgraceful alternative. I pulled with all my might across the lake,
+and I was not a moment too soon, for I had hardly jumped upon deck
+before Major Toppleton appeared on the shore, and hailed the yacht for
+a boat. Taking Grace with me, I pulled to the steps. The great man had
+his overcoat on his arm, and it was evident that he intended to be a
+passenger in the yacht to the scene of action.
+
+“Let me go too, father,” said Grace. “I must sail in that beautiful
+yacht this very day.”
+
+“We cannot wait,” replied the major, rather petulantly.
+
+“I don’t want you to wait. I am all ready,” she added.
+
+“If there is going to be a fight up there, you will be in the way.”
+
+“I will stay in the yacht. Don’t say no; be a good papa.”
+
+And he was a good papa. Miss Grace was permitted to have her own way,
+though, being like her mother, who was a very amiable and gentle lady,
+having her own way did not seem to injure her, as it did her brother. I
+need not say that I was delighted with the arrangement. We got up the
+anchor, hoisted the jib, and in a few moments were standing down the
+lake before the fresh breeze. On the way Joe Poole served up breakfast
+in good style, and even the major declared that the beefsteak and fried
+potatoes were excellent.
+
+“The row has commenced!” shouted Tom Walton, at the helm, while we were
+at the table.
+
+Fortunately our appetites had been satisfied before this startling
+announcement was made, and we all hastened on deck to see the fight.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+THE BATTLE OF THE HORSE SHOE.
+
+
+Miss Grace Toppleton turned pale when Tom announced that the battle
+had commenced; but her father only uttered an exclamation of rage and
+impatience. The yacht was just entering the narrow channel between
+the Horse Shoe and the Shooter, and our position commanded a full
+view of the field. The Wimpletonians had landed on the north side of
+the island, near the middle of which was a ridge. The camp of the
+Toppletonians was at the head of the little bay between the two arms
+of the Horse Shoe. Behind it was a gentle slope of ground, which
+terminated at the ridge, beyond which the descent on the north shore
+was more abrupt.
+
+On this longer declivity, the two hostile battalions were drawn up in
+the order of battle. The statement that the conflict had commenced was
+premature; for, though the two “serried ranks” faced each other, no
+bones had yet been broken. The field presented the traditional aspect
+of boy fights when the contestants meet in force; the parties faced
+each other, and each waited for the other to advance. Though I was not
+an impartial judge, I could not help seeing that the Wimpletonians
+had displayed more generalship than the Toppletonians; for, instead
+of waiting on the steeper descent at the north shore, with the ridge
+above them, for an attack, they had boldly mounted the hill, and taken
+possession of the high ground, which gave them an advantage that more
+than compensated for their inferior numbers.
+
+The Toppletonians had not discovered the movement of the enemy till
+they appeared upon the ridge, which is another convincing proof
+that “eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” If they had kept
+even half a dozen sentinels in the exposed portions of the island
+during the night, they could easily have prevented the landing of the
+Wimpletonians; but probably they had no suspicion of a night movement.
+
+The combatants appeared to be waiting “for something to turn up;” for,
+while the Grace was running down the channel and coming to anchor,
+no movement was made by either of them. The array did not at present
+indicate the bloody encounter I had feared, and had labored to prevent;
+but it was plain enough that something would result from the situation.
+They would not be likely to face each other all day without doing some
+mischief. I could see Waddie Wimpleton, in his chapeau, white plume,
+and gold lace, promenading up and down his lines; and, though I could
+not hear him, I knew very well what big things he was saying.
+
+“Well, what’s to be done?” said Major Toppleton, when the Grace had
+come to anchor.
+
+“If I were you, sir, I would tell our boys to go back into their camp,”
+I replied.
+
+“What! and let the Wimpleton students have it all their own way! Not if
+I know myself,” added the major, indignant even at the suggestion. “Our
+boys have hired the island, and it belongs to them. They shall stay
+there!”
+
+The major was as crazy as the colonel had been, and as neither was
+willing to sacrifice anything, I could not see how the fight was to be
+avoided. Of course none of us had any influence with the invaders, and
+we could not induce them to retire from the island.
+
+“Can’t you think of any way to get the Wimpleton boys off, Wolf?” asked
+the major, impatiently; and I saw that my services were not required as
+a peacemaker, but rather as an active belligerent.
+
+“I don’t see any way now, sir,” I replied; “but I may think of
+something by and by.”
+
+“By and by! They may kill each other before you make up your mind,”
+sneered the great man. “I will go on shore.”
+
+I pulled up the boat for him, and rowed him to the landing-place. I
+walked up the slope with him, in order to obtain a better view of
+the situation. It had already occurred to me that a diversion in the
+rear of the Wimpletonians might compel them to retire; but, as I was
+somewhat fearful that such a step would make them more desperate, and
+hasten the conflict, I did not deem it prudent to suggest the idea.
+We were within a few rods of the Toppleton line, when Major Tommy
+discovered us. Whether he was ashamed of his inaction, or fearful that
+his father would interfere with the pastime he had laid out, I do not
+know; but our coming evidently had some influence upon him, for he
+immediately commenced yelling as though the battle was to be fought
+with loud words.
+
+“Attention--battalion!” said he, flourishing his sword. “Charge
+bayonets!”
+
+“Stop a minute, Tommy!” called Major Toppleton, senior.
+
+“Forward--march!” added Major Tommy, regardless of his father’s
+interference.
+
+“Hold on a minute, Tommy!” repeated his father. “I want to see you.”
+
+“Forward--march!” screamed the little major, desperately. “Now give
+them fits! Don’t mind a scratch! Drive them before you!”
+
+“Charge bayonets!” cried Major Waddie, on the other side; and it was
+clear enough that he did not intend to run away.
+
+In vain did Major Toppleton senior attempt to check this forward
+movement. The Toppletonians dashed gallantly up the hill, rushing
+upon the enemy with an impetuosity which threatened them with total
+annihilation. But then the Wimpletonians began to move forward; and I
+felt my heart rising up into my throat, and my blood growing cold in my
+veins, as the combatants approached each other. I could almost hear the
+groans of the wounded, and see the outstretched forms upon the green
+sod, so real did the scene appear to me.
+
+The two lines met, and I heard the clatter of cold steel as the
+bayonets struck against each other; but I had not time to form an exact
+idea of what was going on before I saw the Toppletonians give way in
+the centre. It was a confused _mêlée_, and I could only see a general
+punching and hammering with the muskets. When I saw a soldier on either
+side make a direct thrust with his bayonet, it was warded off with a
+blow. Indeed, the battle seemed to be fought literally “at the point
+of the bayonet;” for, so far as I could judge, neither party went
+near enough to do any damage. Each side seemed to have the requisite
+discretion to keep out of the reach of the weapons of the other side.
+I think there were not many in either rank that had the ferocity
+actually to wound their adversaries with the weapons in their hands.
+
+This was the beginning of the affray, and the contending forces had
+not yet become desperate; and, though they rushed upon each other with
+appalling savageness, as seen by the observer, the contest was at a
+safe distance, neither party permitting the other to come near enough
+actually to inflict wounds. In fact, it was just such fighting as I
+had often seen between parties of boys, and consisted in rushing up
+and falling back. Dangerous as the weapons were, there was really no
+bloodthirsty spirit on either side.
+
+The Toppletonian centre was broken. Captain Bayard had been pressing
+things, and the force in front of him, to avoid any actual punching
+of the bayonets, fell back. Major Waddie strode furiously up and down
+his line--in the rear of it, of course--yelled, and stormed, and
+gesticulated. When he saw the centre in front of him give way, he
+screamed in his fury, and Bayard, who seemed to have some of the spirit
+of his illustrious namesake, forced his company forward till some of
+them were actually pricked by the steel of the Toppletonians. But this
+spurring seemed only to infuriate them; Waddie yelled louder than ever,
+and Bayard, perceiving his advantage, encouraged his soldiers till the
+line before them yielded, and were swept backward down the hill.
+
+Captain Pinkerton, on the right, inspired by the success of the centre,
+and goaded on by the frantic yells and gestures of Major Waddie,
+crowded his company forward, and the line in front of him, whose
+equanimity was disturbed by the rupture of the centre, fell back also.
+
+“Three cheers, and drive them!” roared Major Waddie, hoarsely, as his
+white plume flaunted in the fresh breeze.
+
+Then the Wimpletonians yelled along the whole length of the line, and
+rushed down the hill, the demoralized Toppletonians fleeing before
+them. Major Toppleton and myself were obliged to retire in order to
+avoid the onslaught of the victorious battalion.
+
+[Illustration: THE GREAT BATTLE.--Page 193.]
+
+“The scoundrels!” ejaculated the great man, who appeared to be quite
+as much disconcerted as his son.
+
+“The Wimps have the best of it,” I replied.
+
+“This is disgraceful!” muttered the major.
+
+I thought so myself; not the defeat, as he understood it, but the
+battle itself, as I understood it.
+
+Near the camp of the Toppletonians was a belt of trees extending
+across the island, into which the discomfited battalion retreated. The
+Wimpletonians followed them closely, and I was afraid the camp and
+baggage of our boys would be captured by the enemy. In the shadow of
+the grove, Major Tommy and his two captains rallied the intimidated
+Toppletonians, and they made a stand under the friendly shelter of the
+trees, the enemy halting at the verge of the grove. The great man and
+myself hastened to headquarters, where we found Tommy breathless with
+rage and excitement at his unexpected defeat. His father taunted him
+upon his misfortune, which did not help his fiery mood.
+
+“What could I do when the fellows gave way?” stormed he. “They are a
+pack of cowards, and would run a mile rather than be pricked with the
+point of a pin.”
+
+“It is easy enough for you to talk, Tommy Toppleton,” snapped private
+Putnam. “If you went in the front instead of the rear, it would make a
+difference with you.”
+
+“I was in the place where a commander ought to be,” retorted Tommy,
+stung by this reproach. “I will give you enough of it before you get
+through.”
+
+“You needn’t call us cowards while you keep yourself in a safe place,”
+added Putnam.
+
+“Attention--battalion!” shouted Major Tommy, suddenly.
+
+“What are you going to do now?” asked his father.
+
+“I’m going to drive the Wimps into the lake this time.”
+
+“What’s the use! If you go out of the grove, you will only be driven
+back,” replied the major, senior.
+
+“Why don’t you make a flank movement?” I suggested.
+
+“What do you mean by that?” asked Tommy, whose attention was arrested
+by the idea.
+
+“Send one company round to the other side of the Wimps,” I replied.
+
+“If I send half my men away, the Wimps will defeat the rest here.”
+
+“No; half your force can hold this wood. If you can get one company on
+the high ground, you will have the advantage over them.”
+
+Major Tommy thought favorably of the idea; and I thought it would be
+safer for both parties to fight the battle by running and manœuvring
+than for them to make a stand-up conflict on the open field, as they
+had done. Briscoe was sent with his company to make the flank movement.
+He double-quicked his command towards the east shore of the island, and
+began to ascend the slope. Major Waddie promptly “smelt a mice,” and
+despatched Captain Bayard’s company to watch and check the movements
+of the flanking force. I went with Briscoe, intent upon using whatever
+influence I had to keep the parties from coming into actual contact
+with each other. We reached the summit of the slope by hard running, in
+advance of Captain Bayard; and here the Toppleton company halted on the
+highest ground on the island.
+
+“Now you are all right, Briscoe,” said I. “Send half a dozen fellows to
+demonstrate against their boats, and you will get them out of the way.”
+
+“You do that, Wolf,” replied he. “Go down, and shove them off, and I
+will do the rest.”
+
+I ran down the slope alone to the landing, where I found Colonel
+Wimpleton.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+THE PRISONER OF WAR.
+
+
+Colonel Wimpleton was just landing from a boat, in which he had been
+ferried over from the main shore, having come from Centreport to this
+point in his chaise. As soon as he landed, he dismissed the man who had
+brought him over. The two great men of the vicinity were both on the
+island.
+
+As soon as I left Captain Briscoe’s company, and moved towards the
+landing-place, Bayard, in command of the Wimpleton company, evidently
+suspected my purpose, though I really had no intention of meddling
+with the boats, but only of making a demonstration. Half a dozen
+soldiers were sent in a hurry to guard the fleet. This was Briscoe’s
+opportunity. The force before him was now reduced so that an attack
+was hopeful. I heard him shouting, and a moment later the company of
+Bayard came helter-skelter over the summit of the hill. Our fellows,
+mortified by their first defeat, had made a desperate charge, and
+driven the enemy before them. It was not safe, therefore, for me to
+meddle with the boats, even if I had intended to do so.
+
+“How goes the battle, Wolf?” asked the colonel, with a smile, as I met
+him on the beach.
+
+“Just now it seems to be going in favor of Toppleton,” I replied;
+“though our boys were just driven half way across the island by yours.”
+
+“Well, that’s good.”
+
+“But I can’t stay here now, sir; I am afraid I shall be captured,”
+I added, glancing at the six soldiers who were coming down the hill
+towards me.
+
+“Don’t be alarmed, Wolf; I will see that you are not hurt,” laughed the
+colonel.
+
+“I don’t wish to be captured.”
+
+“You shall leave when you please. After thinking over the matter, I
+concluded that I should take our boys off the island,” added the great
+man of Centreport; “but I don’t intend to have them driven off.”
+
+“I’m very glad to hear it, sir.”
+
+“Where is Waddie?”
+
+I explained the situation to him, and informed him of what had already
+transpired on the island. He was pleased with the victory which those
+who bore his name had achieved, and with this brilliant record of the
+Wimpleton battalion he was ready to retire. But while we were talking
+about the matter, the din of battle from the high ground saluted us. It
+appeared that Tommy Toppleton, too impatient to wait for the result of
+the flanking movement, had charged upon the company of Wimpletonians in
+front of him. Our fellows had wiped out the disgrace of the early part
+of the action, and had driven the enemy up the hill, over its summit,
+regaining all the ground lost, and taking the summit of the slope,
+which was “the key to the situation.”
+
+“This won’t do,” said Colonel Wimpleton, as he saw with dismay that his
+party was defeated. “I can’t take them away under these circumstances.”
+
+But the battle was lost to the Wimpletonians. Major Tommy had gained
+the crown of the hill, and held it with his whole force. The ground
+was so steep in front of him that double the number of the foe could
+not dislodge him. The enemy had not yet pitched their tents, and their
+baggage was now in danger of capture. Major Waddie consolidated his
+battalion, and formed a line at the foot of the hill, ready to defend
+his camp equipage. He was furious at his defeat, and when he saw me his
+eyes flashed fire.
+
+“Arrest that traitor!” said he, flourishing his sword, and pointing to
+me.
+
+“Not yet, Waddie!” interposed his father. “I have given him a safe
+conduct.”
+
+“You are not in command here,” replied the ungracious son. “What are
+you doing down here, Wolf Penniman?”
+
+“I should have gone before if your father had not detained me.”
+
+“Keep cool, Waddie,” said the colonel. “You have enough to do to whip
+the Toppletonians.”
+
+“That’s what I’m going to do,” added Major Waddie, as he glanced at the
+summit of the hill.
+
+“I will take care of Wolf, and see that he don’t whip the whole of you.”
+
+“I will hang him as a traitor if he don’t start quick. He has no
+business over here.”
+
+“He is a non-combatant,” laughed the colonel.
+
+I do not know what the gallant commander of the Wimpleton battalion
+would have deemed it necessary to do with me, if the exigency of battle
+had not called his attention to other matters. I do not pretend to
+be a brave fellow, but I am willing to say I was not afraid of being
+hanged, even independently of the powerful protection of the colonel.
+Major Tommy, flushed with his recent success, was intent upon following
+up his victory. I heard him call his battalion to the charge, and the
+words induced my feathery persecutor to leave me. Tommy evidently
+intended to drive the enemy into the lake, or to force them to
+surrender on the shore.
+
+“Charge--bayonets! Forward--march!” yelled he; and down came the
+Toppletonians at a furious pace.
+
+“Now stand up to it, fellows!” screamed Waddie. “This is your last
+chance. Don’t run if they punch you through.”
+
+Not only Waddie, but the two captains in his battalion, who had more
+real influence than the commander, urged the Wimpletonians to stand
+firm, and not be driven from their position. But the time for argument
+was short. The victorious Toppletonians swept down the hill, and rushed
+furiously at the foe. This time I am quite sure there were some wounds
+given on both sides. Major Tommy, mortified, no doubt, by the taunts of
+Putnam, and perhaps of others, did not march in the rear of his column,
+but very imprudently placed himself in advance of it. Fortunately for
+him, there were several privates near him who were inspired by his
+gallant example, and the centre of the column broke through the enemy’s
+front. This would have been a success to the Toppletonians if the right
+and left wings had supported the movement with equal zeal. They did
+not, and were forced back by the desperate Wimpletonians, and in a
+moment more were retreating up the hill, closely pursued by the enemy.
+
+When it was too late, Tommy saw where he was. He was standing,
+supported by only half a dozen privates, several rods in advance of his
+battalion. A squad of the enemy, led on by Captain Pinkerton, charged
+upon him. The daring little major defended himself with zeal and
+courage, slashing right and left with his sword. His supporters, seeing
+the situation, fell back and joined their companions. Closely pressed
+by his exultant foe, Tommy struck savage blows against the muskets of
+his assaulters; but suddenly his sword blade snapped off near the hilt.
+
+“Capture him! Capture him!” shouted Pinkerton; and sending part of his
+squad behind Tommy, he cut off his retreat.
+
+The gallant major was now unarmed, and incapable of making any defence.
+His companions in arms had been forced back to the summit of the hill.
+
+“Surrender!” cried Pinkerton.
+
+“Never!” yelled Tommy, with tragic grandeur, as he made a dive at the
+captain, with the intention apparently of wresting his sword from him.
+
+Such bravery deserved a better fate; but two of the enemy came behind
+the impetuous major, and, grasping him by the shoulders, threw him
+down. The whole squad then fell upon him, and poor Tommy was a prisoner
+of war. Two of the stoutest of his captors, each of them half a head
+taller than he was, were detailed to guard the major, and he was
+marched to a tree near the camp baggage.
+
+The Toppletonians were driven to the top of the hill, and resumed
+their position upon its summit. It was useless for the Wimpletonians
+to attempt to drive them beyond the ridge, and they returned to their
+former halting-place on the level ground. I began to be a little uneasy
+about the fate of Tommy when Major Feathers returned, for I was afraid
+the latter, inspired by no lofty ideas of military honor, would subject
+his prisoner to some indignities. I saw Waddie hold a conference with
+his two captains, the result of which was soon apparent. Captain
+Bayard, attended by a single private, who carried a white handkerchief
+suspended on a pole, as a flag of truce, walked up the hill. I was not
+informed until afterwards of the nature of their mission; but, in the
+opinion of the Wimpletonians, the capture of Tommy decided the fate of
+the day, and they regarded the battle as ended, with victory perched
+upon their banners. Major Waddie was graciously pleased to declare
+that he did not wish to pursue his conquest any farther, and if the
+Toppletonians would retire from the island, their commander should be
+returned to them unharmed.
+
+By the misfortune of Major Tommy, Captain Briscoe was the ranking
+officer, and the message of Major Waddie was delivered to him. By the
+advice of Major Toppleton, senior, the terms of peace were promptly
+rejected, and an intimation given that the Toppletonians intended
+to recapture their commander, and drive the invaders into the deep
+waters of the lake. While these negotiations were in progress, Colonel
+Wimpleton left me, and went to the headquarters of the battalion.
+Doubtless he saw his powerful rival on the top of the hill, and wished
+to counteract the influence of his counsels with his own.
+
+When the flag of truce returned, I saw a private run to the tree where
+Major Tommy had been secured with a rope taken from one of the boats.
+Then the two stout fellows in charge of him conducted him to a boat,
+and pushed off. It was intended that the commander of the Toppleton
+battalion should not be recaptured, and the threat of his forces was
+rendered futile. But his command immediately repeated the assault,
+when the nature of Colonel Wimpleton’s advice was evident. The beach
+in the rear of the Centreport battalion was covered with small round
+stones, with which the soldiers had plentifully supplied themselves.
+The onslaught of the Toppletonians was received with a volley of these
+missiles. They reeled under this unexpected reception, and being on the
+grass they could not procure any similar ammunition. Captain Briscoe,
+imitating the example of his illustrious commander, marched in front.
+The stones seemed to be aimed at him, and he actually fell, hit by one
+of them. His forces, appalled at this savage warfare, and by the fall
+of their leader, halted, and then fell back beyond the reach of the
+mischievous missiles. Briscoe was picked up, and borne to the top of
+the hill. The affair was becoming more serious, and, I may consistently
+add, more disgraceful, especially as the contending parties were now
+virtually directed by Major Toppleton and Colonel Wimpleton, who were
+old enough to have known better.
+
+It was plain enough that our boys could not stand up against these
+volleys of stones, and that the Wimpletonians could hold their ground
+for the rest of the week. The battle was now to be a matter of strategy
+and manœuvring. On the hill, as they saw Major Tommy sent off in the
+boat, they concluded that he was safe enough for the present, and
+were not disposed to accept any ignominious terms of peace. The two
+fellows in charge of the prisoner of war had pulled off a quarter of a
+mile from the shore, and were watching the issue of the combat. I was
+curious to know what would be done next, but I concluded to operate
+a little on my own account. Following the shore round the island, I
+reached the pier, and went on board of the yacht. Skotchley and Grace,
+in the standing-room, were watching the action, while Tom Walton and
+Joe Poole had gone up to the mast-head, where they could obtain a
+better view of the field of battle.
+
+“All hands, unmoor!” I called, and my ready crew descended to the deck.
+
+The mainsail had not been lowered, and we had only to get up the anchor
+and hoist the jib. Before the fresh breeze we stood down the channel
+towards the boat in which Tommy was an unwilling passenger.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+RESCUING A PRISONER.
+
+
+On the passage I told Grace and Ned Skotchley what had transpired
+during the time I had been on shore; and both of them agreed with
+me that it was disgraceful to allow boys to fight. Grace even had
+the courage to say that her father ought to have compelled the
+Toppletonians to leave the island, rather than encourage such
+outrageous conduct.
+
+“What are you going to do now?” asked Skotchley.
+
+“I’m going to recapture Tommy.”
+
+“I thought you were a non-combatant,” laughed he.
+
+“So I am; but I’m not going to leave Tommy in the hands of those
+fellows. I’m afraid the Wimps will abuse him when they have time to
+attend to his case.”
+
+“Don’t let them hurt him,” pleaded Grace.
+
+“I will not. Tommy is as brave as a lion; if he had been as prudent as
+Waddie, he would not have been captured,” I replied.
+
+By this time we were within hail of the boat in which the prisoner of
+war was held. His guards did not know the Grace, as she was a new craft
+on the lake, and did not expect any mischief from her. They sat on each
+side of the vanquished little major, whose hands were tied together so
+that he could do no harm. I ran the yacht up into the wind so that her
+bowsprit was over the boat.
+
+“What are you about? You will run into us!” shouted one of the
+sentinels.
+
+“We won’t hurt you,” replied Tom Walton, as he hooked on to the boat.
+
+I ran forward, and Tom and I dropped into the boat, while Joe Poole
+held the painter, which I threw up to him to avoid accidents.
+
+“Wolf Penniman!” exclaimed Baxter, one of the guards, when he
+recognized me. “What do you want?”
+
+“I want Major Tommy,” I replied, cutting that young gentleman’s
+fetters, while Tom Walton stood between me and the astonished sentinels.
+
+“You can’t have him! He is a prisoner,” retorted Baxter, picking up his
+musket.
+
+“He was a prisoner, but he isn’t now,” I added. “You are free, Tommy.
+Jump aboard as quick as you can.”
+
+But Raymond, the sentinel in the bow of the boat, presented his
+bayonet, while Tom Walton, with an oar in his hand, was checking a
+forward movement on the part of Baxter. It is not easy to walk over
+a bayonet in the hands of a stout fellow who has been trained to use
+it skilfully, and the prospect before me was not very encouraging.
+However, Joe Poole turned the fortunes of the day in our favor, by
+fastening to the back of Raymond’s collar with the boat-hook, and
+pulling him over backwards into the bottom of the boat. I seized his
+musket, and wrenched it from his grasp, so that the obstacle to Major
+Tommy’s escape was removed.
+
+The little magnate was not slow to avail himself of his opportunity,
+and springing over the prostrate form of Raymond, still pinned down
+by the boat-hook, he leaped on board of the yacht. The combat, so far
+as I was concerned, was happily ended, and Tom Walton and I made good
+our retreat, which was effectually covered by Joe Poole, who flourished
+his boat-hook with a vigor that set at nought the paltry bayonets of
+the war-worn veterans from whose gripe we had rescued the unfortunate
+commander of the Toppleton forces.
+
+“Don’t let them go!” shouted Tommy, as he beheld the result of the
+brief struggle. “Capture them!”
+
+“Let go the painter!” I whispered to Joe Poole.
+
+“Capture them!” repeated Tommy, furiously, as he saw the boat recede
+from the yacht.
+
+“Hard a-port the helm!” I called to Skotchley, who was in the
+standing-room.
+
+“What are you about?” demanded Tommy, as I went aft to take the helm.
+
+“Don’t meddle with them, Mr. Wolf--don’t, please!” interposed Grace.
+
+“Shut up, Grace! If you say a word, I’ll throw you overboard,” said the
+ungallant major, who was unhappily one of those boys who believe they
+may say anything to a sister.
+
+“I came out here after you, Tommy,” I replied, indignant at the harsh
+words the little major had addressed to Grace. “I don’t think it is
+worth while to meddle with those fellows.”
+
+“What do you suppose I care what you think!” cried Tommy. “Isn’t this
+my father’s yacht?”
+
+“It is your father’s yacht.”
+
+“Then you will capture those fellows, or I will know the reason why,”
+he added, stoutly.
+
+“Don’t touch them, Mr. Wolf--don’t, please,” said Grace.
+
+“Mr. Wolf!” sneered Tommy. “Mr. Wolf will do what I tell him.”
+
+“I don’t think it is quite proper to get into a row with a young lady
+on board!” I added, mildly.
+
+“Wolf Penniman, you are a coward and a traitor!” exclaimed Tommy. “And
+you are another!” he added, fixing his indignant gaze upon Skotchley.
+
+“Thank you, Tommy,” replied the dignified student, coolly.
+
+“You shall be court-martialed as a deserter and a coward!”
+
+“Well, I think I can stand it.”
+
+Major Tommy glanced at the boat from which he had been removed, and in
+which his two guards had taken the oars and were pulling for the shore.
+He seemed to think that they would add two more to the force of the
+Wimpletonians, and that it was a grave military indiscretion to permit
+the enemy thus to be augmented. Besides, he must have his own way, and
+any opposition was quite enough to rouse the evil spirit in his nature.
+He insisted again that the two guards should be captured. I tried to
+excuse myself from meddling in the warfare, and Grace stood by me with
+a zeal which brought down the wrath of her brother upon her.
+
+“I say that boat shall be taken,” persisted he, violently.
+
+“It is impossible,” I replied, weary of his tyranny. “She is dead to
+windward of us.”
+
+“Please don’t, Mr. Wolf,” added Grace.
+
+“Hold your tongue, Grace!” snapped he, as he sprang to the tiller, and
+shoved me one side.
+
+“Don’t, Tommy,” added Grace, placing her hand upon his shoulder to
+deter him.
+
+The little monster actually turned upon her, and struck her a blow in
+the face which sent her reeling over into her seat. I could not stand
+that; my blood boiled up, and boiled over. I sprang upon him, and in a
+small fraction of an instant, Major Tommy Toppleton was lying flat on
+the floor of the standing-room.
+
+“O, don’t touch him, Mr. Wolf!” begged Grace.
+
+“You villain you, how dare you put your hand upon me?” gasped Tommy,
+springing to his feet, as savage as a young tiger.
+
+“I don’t like to see any one strike a young lady, least of all when she
+is his sister.”
+
+“I’ll let you know!” whined he, crying with passion, as he leaped upon
+me.
+
+Walton and Skotchley each grasped one of his arms, and held him so that
+he was powerless. He raved, tore, and swore; and it was evident enough
+to me, when my indignation subsided, that I had sacrificed myself, if
+not my father and the whole family.
+
+“I won’t say anything more, Tommy,” interposed Grace, terrified by the
+violence around her. “You may have your own way.”
+
+“Give me that helm, Wolf!” cried Tommy.
+
+“I will give it to you,” I replied, moving aside, influenced by the
+action of Grace; and I don’t know but Tommy would have beaten his head
+to jelly against the trunk if some concession had not been made to his
+wrath.
+
+He cooled off as rapidly as he had become heated, when all opposition
+was removed. He threw the yacht up into the wind, and Tom Walton and I
+trimmed the sails; but the new helmsman could not manage her, and she
+lay with her sails flapping idly in the wind.
+
+“Ease her off a little, Tommy, and she will go it,” I ventured to
+suggest.
+
+“Mind your own business, Wolf Penniman. Your time is out from this
+moment, and Grace shall never put her foot into this yacht again, if it
+is named after her,” blustered Tommy.
+
+I subsided, and seated myself on the trunk amidships to wait the issue.
+The new skipper, however, adopted my suggestion, though he snubbed me
+for making it. The Grace, accommodating as she was, would not sail into
+the wind’s eye, and before Tommy was ready to tack, in beating up to
+the chase, the boat landed her hands on the beach. I saw that he was
+vexed; but he “chewed up” his wrath. He soon came about, and headed for
+the channel between the Horse Shoe and the Shooter. I concluded that
+he must be anxious to join his battalion; but it would be impossible
+to beat the yacht up the narrow passage. It was no use for me to
+say anything, and I did not, for he would be sure to go in direct
+opposition to any suggestion of mine.
+
+He ran the Grace up to the north point of the Shooter, and came about.
+I thought it my duty to tell him that the water was very shoal ahead
+of him, as he approached the Horse Shoe on this tack. He politely
+insinuated that I was to hold my tongue, which I succeeded in doing for
+a moment longer, until the yacht grated on the gravel bottom, and stuck
+fast.
+
+“That’s just where I wanted her,” said Tommy, unmoved by the event.
+“Joe Poole!”
+
+Joe Poole appeared before the imperious little magnate, and was
+directed to bring up the boat and land our uncomfortable passenger.
+Tommy jumped into the boat, and as he took his seat in the
+stern-sheets, he delivered his parting volley at me, to the effect
+that, like Othello, my occupation was gone, and that I should be driven
+out of Middleport as a coward and a traitor. To this mild speech I
+permitted myself to make no reply.
+
+“Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!” shouted the Toppleton battalion on the shore.
+
+This shout of triumph attracted the attention of the major, and he
+hurried up Joe Poole, who soon landed him on the beach. On the whole, I
+concluded that I had not made much by meddling with the conflict, even
+so far as to rescue Tommy from his captors. During the events which I
+have related, I had closely watched the movements of the contending
+forces. Company B of the Toppleton battalion had been sent round the
+island to flank the enemy, and obtain a position where stones were
+available as ammunition. This operation had been successful, and the
+Wimpletonians had been forced back from their stronghold, for they
+could not stand up against volleys of stones any better than their
+rivals. Company A had dashed down the hill at the right time, and the
+enemy were driven upon their baggage. This success had drawn forth the
+shout of triumph.
+
+Fortunately for us on board of the Grace, Tommy had sailed her shaking
+in the wind, so that she had gone on the shoal very gently, though
+hard enough to give us two hours of severe exertion. As we worked,
+moving ballast from the forward to the after part of the yacht, we
+watched the movements of the contending forces. As I anticipated, Tommy
+ordered another charge as soon as he reached the battalion, though the
+Wimpletonians were actually engaged in loading their baggage into the
+boats. We saw a flag of truce hoisted by the defeated party, and a
+parley took place, the result of which was, that they were permitted to
+retire without further molestation. Long and loud were the cheers of
+Toppleton when the fleet moved away from the island, and pulled towards
+the Shooter. The victors then returned to their camp.
+
+We got the Grace off at last, and, after passing around the Horse Shoe,
+I anchored off the pier in the channel. Major Toppleton soon appeared,
+accompanied by Tommy, and I expected to be discharged at once.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+A TYRANNICAL SON.
+
+
+“I suppose my time is out, Miss Toppleton,” said I to Grace, as I saw
+the big major and the little major approaching the pier.
+
+“Your time out?” she replied, looking anxiously at me.
+
+“I shall be discharged from my situation, and perhaps be driven out of
+Middleport.”
+
+“O, no! I hope not, Mr. Wolf.”
+
+“Tommy is very arbitrary, and after what has happened, he will not
+permit me to remain on the same side of the lake with him.”
+
+“I am sorry you touched him,” said she, musing.
+
+“I should not have touched him if he had struck me. I was indignant and
+angry.”
+
+“Well, I don’t blame you, Mr. Wolf, for it is abominable for a boy to
+strike his sister,” she added, placing her hand upon her pretty face,
+where her brother’s rude hand had left its mark. “But Tommy rules the
+whole house at home; and I suppose he will have his own way now, as he
+always did.”
+
+As Tommy got into the boat which I had sent for him and his father, I
+saw that he was still in a very unamiable frame of mind. He was talking
+loudly and indignantly to his father, who appeared to be trying to
+soothe him and moderate his wrath. For my own part, I could not regret
+what I had done, unpleasant as the consequences promised to be. It was
+not in my nature to stand by and see a little bully, like Tommy, strike
+a young lady,--not pat her gently, but strike her a heavy blow,--not
+even if he were her brother. I had been tempted to give the young
+ruffian the pounding which he richly deserved, and to continue the
+operation until he was willing to promise better things.
+
+Perhaps the handsome offer which Colonel Wimpleton had made me rendered
+me somewhat more independent than I should otherwise have been. I
+was certainly in good condition to be discharged, and did not feel
+much like submitting to any gross indignities from the great man of
+Middleport, or his hopeful son. But Major Toppleton had been very kind
+to me, and to my father, and I could not forget the service he had
+rendered to us.
+
+The boat came alongside, and Tommy leaped upon the deck, followed by
+his father; and I could not help noticing that the senior major looked
+very anxious and uncomfortable. Tommy had doubtless been making strong
+speeches to him, and it was really melancholy to think of a man of his
+abilities, dignity, and influence reduced to a kind of slavery by the
+tyranny of his own son; and all the more melancholy because he could
+not realize that he was spoiling the boy by this weak indulgence.
+
+“Wolf Penniman,” said the little major, majestically, “I always keep my
+promises.”
+
+“Keep cool, Tommy,” interposed his father, stepping into the
+standing-room, where Grace and I were seated alone, for Skotchley and
+Tom Walton had gone forward.
+
+“You know what I said, father. I won’t have Wolf around me any longer.
+He has been a coward and a traitor, and he had the audacity to knock me
+down. Wolf Penniman, you are discharged!” continued Tommy, blustering
+furiously.
+
+“Don’t be too fast, Tommy,” interposed his father. “Wolf went after the
+boat in which you were a prisoner, captured it, and restored you to
+your command. Captain Briscoe told you that he did not dare to make his
+last move till he saw that Wolf had taken you out of the hands of the
+enemy.”
+
+“I don’t blame him for that; but he refused to obey my orders, and then
+knocked me down. I say you may discharge him, or discharge me.”
+
+The alternative was a reminder of the Hitaca incident, and a hint that,
+if his father did not obey orders, Tommy would run away again, and
+there would be no suitable person to inherit the great man’s millions.
+I made no reply, but bowed meekly to my fate. It appeared that, after
+all, I was not to run the Lightning Express train, about which so much
+had been said.
+
+“Don’t let him discharge Mr. Wolf, father,” interposed Grace, her
+pretty cheeks red with indignation; and with such an advocate I could
+afford to be still.
+
+“Discharge Mr. Wolf!” sneered the little magnate. “Will you learn to
+mind your own business, Grace?”
+
+“He struck me in the face, father, and that was the reason why Mr.
+Wolf knocked him down. I am sorry he did so, but I think Tommy was to
+blame,” continued Grace.
+
+“You needn’t stick up for him; if you do, it won’t make any difference.”
+
+“I am astonished that you should strike your sister,” added Major
+Toppleton, whose painful expression fully proved his sincerity.
+
+“Well, you needn’t be!” replied Tommy, rudely and disrespectfully. “If
+she don’t mind her own business, and let my affairs alone, I shall
+teach her better. I have said all I have to say, and I’m going ashore
+to look out for my battalion. Remember, Wolf is discharged!”
+
+Tommy abruptly left the yacht, and, leaping into the boat, ordered Joe
+Poole to pull him ashore. The fiat had gone forth. I was discharged.
+Tommy was the president of the road, and doubtless he had the power to
+dismiss me.
+
+“Here is trouble,” said Major Toppleton, with a sigh.
+
+“I hope you won’t let Mr. Wolf be discharged,” said Grace, when the
+irate little magnate was out of hearing.
+
+“What can I do?” replied the major, impatiently. “Tommy is the
+president of the road, and he has the right to discharge an employee.
+If I interfere, there will be such a tempest as we had a year ago.”
+
+Poor magnate! How I pitied him! Just as I had seen a baby tyrannize
+over its loving mother, so did Tommy tyrannize over his father. The
+great man--how little he seemed to be then!--mused for a while over the
+unpleasant situation.
+
+“I’ll tell you what we can do, Wolf. I want a skipper for this boat. If
+you will withdraw from the railroad for a time, I will give you this
+situation, with the same pay you are now receiving.”
+
+“I am entirely satisfied, sir, and shall be, whatever you or Tommy may
+do,” I answered, meekly. “I certainly like the boat better than the
+train; but I suppose Tommy will not permit me to take charge of her.”
+
+The major bit his lips with vexation. His fetters galled him, and he
+had not the resolution to shake them off. He ordered me to get the
+yacht under way, and start for Middleport. As soon as she was clear of
+the narrow channel, the major asked me down into the cabin, and we had
+a talk, which lasted till the Grace came to anchor before the owner’s
+mansion.
+
+“You know how I’m situated, Wolf,” said he, turning his gaze from me,
+as if ashamed to acknowledge his subservience to the wilful boy. “Tommy
+must have his own way; he is desperate if he does not. He will run
+away, or drown himself in the lake, if he does not.”
+
+I could not help smiling at the infirmity of the father, and he made
+haste to defend himself. Tommy was subject to fits when he was a child,
+and he was fearful that irritation would bring on a return of the
+malady. The young gentleman had actually threatened to commit suicide
+if he could not have his own way.
+
+“I only wish to smooth the thing over for a time, for Tommy is
+a good-hearted boy, and he will come to his senses if he is not
+thwarted,” added he. “You are not a father, Wolf, and you can’t
+understand the matter.”
+
+“I am willing to do whatever you desire, sir,” I replied. “Perhaps I
+ought to say, that I can afford to be discharged just now. You have
+used me very handsomely, Major Toppleton, and I am grateful for your
+kindness. I will never leave your service of my own accord. Last night
+Colonel Wimpleton told me about his new steamer, which is to run in
+opposition to our Lightning Express, and offered me a man’s wages to go
+either as engineer or as captain of her. I told him I could not leave
+my friends while they used me so well, and declined the offer. I did
+not mean to tell you of this, and should not, if things had not turned
+out just as they have.”
+
+The major bit his lip again. He was disposed to be angry; and, in a
+passion, he was as nearly like Tommy as one pea is like another. But he
+did not give way to the inclination.
+
+“I declined the offer,” I repeated, when I saw him struggling with the
+mischief within him.
+
+“When will that steamer be ready to run?” he asked.
+
+“In a couple of months, the builder told me.”
+
+“I’m glad you told me of this,” he continued, after chewing upon it for
+some time. “Perhaps it will have some influence upon Tommy.”
+
+And there the matter ended for the present, Grace said she would do all
+she could for me; and however the rest of the house might regard me,
+I felt sure of an earnest advocate in her. She went on shore with her
+father, and as the skipper of the yacht, I spent the rest of the day in
+working upon her, and in putting down a set of moorings for her.
+
+The next day I took a party up the lake in her, and for the rest of the
+week I was kept busy in my new occupation. I acquitted myself to the
+satisfaction of my employers, not only in pleasant weather, but in a
+heavy squall, which caught us in the middle of the widest part of the
+lake, off Gulfport.
+
+The Wimpletonians encamped on the Shooter after they were driven
+from the Horse Shoe. The combat of Monday was not decisive enough to
+satisfy them, and the war was renewed, and continued during the week,
+with varying success. Each party stole the boats of the other, and
+inflicted whatever mischief it could. On Thursday night, in the midst
+of a violent storm, when the Toppleton Guards sought shelter in their
+tents, the invading hordes of Wimpletonians crossed the channel, and
+actually conquered the territory of their rivals. Having levelled their
+tents, cut the cords, and broken up the tent-poles, they retired,
+satisfied with the mischief they had done. The Toppletonians were
+defeated in a similar attempt to invade the Shooter the next night;
+and when the end of the week arrived, neither could claim any material
+advantage over the other. The Wimpletonians had retrieved the disaster
+of the first day, and would have held the island if they had not been
+afraid of the interference of the owner.
+
+Both parties returned to their studies, their hatred of each other not
+a jot abated, and more than ever before the Toppletonians were on the
+lookout for some opportunity to spite the other side.
+
+When the battalion returned on Saturday night, I was up the lake in
+the Grace, and I did not see Major Tommy for several days. When we did
+meet, he seemed to have forgotten everything that had happened; but
+Grace told me she had listened to the conversation between her father
+and him relating to the affair with me. At first the young gentleman
+was furious at the idea of retaining me in the yacht; but when he heard
+of Colonel Wimpleton’s offer he yielded the point, and permitted me to
+remain.
+
+On the 1st of September the Lake Shore Railroad was completed. Lewis
+Holgate had run the dummy while I was skipper of the yacht; but the
+major would not permit him to go on the locomotive, and I was summoned
+back to my old position without opposition from the little magnate.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+THE LIGHTNING EXPRESS TRAIN.
+
+
+There was something about Tommy’s actions which I did not like. Though
+he spoke to me, as before, the old grudge was not wiped out. I saw that
+he and Lewis Holgate were very thick together, and I soon found that
+my fireman had ceased to be as tractable as at first. I heard he had
+reported among the boys that I was a Wimpletonian at heart, and would
+sell out the Lake Shore Railroad to the other side any time when I
+could get a chance.
+
+The road was completed, and I ran the first train through to Ucayga.
+Major Toppleton had altered the Middleport into a ferry-boat at my
+suggestion, and she plied, in connection with the railroad, from our
+station on one side of the river to the town on the other. When we
+had gone over the ground a few times, the major sprang the trap. The
+two boats which ran the whole length of the lake were advertised to
+start from Middleport, touching at Centreport. Passengers from the
+latter place could cross in one of them, and go by the railroad to
+Ucayga--they could, but they did not like to do so. The steamers plied
+in connection with the road, and the Centreporters were as angry as
+though they had been shut out from the rest of the world; for their
+splendid boat was not yet ready to run in opposition to the new
+arrangement.
+
+On Monday morning the Lightning Express train was to make its first
+trip. Major Toppleton told me to be sure and “make time.” The track had
+been carefully examined, and strengthened where it was weak. I was to
+prove to the Centreporters that a steamboat could not compete with the
+Lake Shore Railroad. Everybody was excited, and the president of the
+road absented himself from school, in order to see that the programme
+was properly carried out. I could have dispensed with his services; but
+he insisted upon riding on the foot-board, probably to see that I did
+not sell out the concern to the other side.
+
+“The cars are full, Wolf;” said Tommy, after I had backed the
+locomotive into the station, and the cars were shackled to it.
+
+“I am glad to hear it,” I replied.
+
+“I saw quite a number of people from the other side among the
+passengers.”
+
+“So much the better. We shall convince them that we can make time on
+this side of the lake.”
+
+Turning suddenly as I made this remark, I saw Lewis Holgate give Tommy
+a significant wink. I did not understand what it meant, and it troubled
+me a little. I should have been very glad to get rid of my fireman; but
+he was on such intimate terms with the president that it was useless
+for me to say anything. He did not attend to his duty, did not keep the
+working parts of the engine well oiled, and even neglected his fires.
+In fact, he had risen above his business since he had run the dummy.
+
+“All aboard!” shouted the gentlemanly conductor, as he gave me the
+signal to start.
+
+As I always did before I let on the steam, I glanced at the machinery
+around me. The reversing lever had been changed since I adjusted it.
+It must have been done by one of my companions in the cab. I restored
+the lever to its proper position for going ahead, and opened the
+throttle valve. The train started, but it went heavy. The engine acted
+weak. Glancing at the steam gauge, I saw that it indicated only three
+quarters of the necessary pressure.
+
+“How’s your fire?” I asked of Lewis.
+
+“Good!”
+
+“Look at it and see. The steam is low.”
+
+He obeyed me; but I saw that he put hardly a spoonful of coal into
+the furnace, and closed the door, while I was looking out ahead. The
+train went well down the grade; but when we approached Spangleport, we
+dragged hard.
+
+“Fill up your furnace, Lewis,” said I, rather sharply, as I observed
+that the gauge had hardly gained anything.
+
+He put another spoonful of coal into the furnace.
+
+“Fill it up!” I added, warmly; and I began to feel that some one was
+trying to sell me out.
+
+“It won’t burn if I put in too much,” growled Lewis.
+
+“Shovel it in,” I continued, glancing into the fire box, which was
+nearly empty.
+
+“More yet,” I added, as he attempted to close the door.
+
+I kept my eye on him till I was satisfied that we should soon have
+all the steam we could use. When I stopped the train at Spangleport
+we had lost five minutes, and, what was worse, I had nearly lost my
+temper. Lewis Holgate appeared to be laboring for the defeat, rather
+than the success, of the Lightning Express train. The presence of Mr.
+President Tommy on the foot-board seemed to be a partial explanation
+of his conduct. But I was determined that the enterprise should not
+be a failure. I was fully resolved to make time if steam could do it.
+Lightning Express was on trial, and if it failed, the Centreporters,
+whom I was now accused of favoring, would take courage.
+
+We stopped but a moment at Spangleport. I opened the furnace, and
+stirred up the fire myself. At the same time I kept one eye on Lewis,
+and the other on Tommy; for I wanted to catch one of them reversing
+a crank, or doing any other mischief. Both of them looked innocent,
+though I saw them exchanging significant glances. By this time I had
+a full head of steam, and was satisfied that I could make up the lost
+time, if no further obstacles were thrown in my way. The eight miles of
+road between Spangleport and Grass Springs was almost as straight as an
+arrow, and I expected to recover the lost ground on this run. Only an
+hour had been allowed for the passengers to reach Ucayga. If the train
+was behind time, those going east and west would lose their passage.
+
+“All aboard!” shouted the conductor, as he gave me the signal to start
+the train.
+
+“You are on time, Wolf, and you needn’t hurry yourself,” said Tommy, as
+he consulted his watch.
+
+“There’s time enough,” I replied, determined not to be deceived by him.
+
+I was nervous and excited, for I was conscious that both of my
+companions on the engine were laboring to make the Lightning Express
+a failure in my charge. I kept my hand on the lever of the throttle
+valve, almost afraid that it would be wrenched from my grasp. I let on
+the steam, and kept letting it on till the Ucayga--for that was the
+name which had been given to the locomotive, in compliment to the
+place which it was necessary to conciliate--seemed to fly through the
+air.
+
+“Shovel in the coal, Lewis,” said I to my unwilling fireman, while we
+were rushing on at this furious rate.
+
+“I think there is enough coal in the furnace,” replied he, opening the
+door.
+
+“I don’t think so. Shovel it in!”
+
+He put in about half a shovel full, and did it so doggedly that I was
+fully convinced he was laboring to defeat the experiment. I spoke to
+him very sharply. I threatened to stop the train, and send for Major
+Toppleton.
+
+“I am the president of this road. If you have any complaints to make,
+you will make them to me,” interposed Tommy, who was holding on to the
+cab with both hands.
+
+“Will you tell the fireman, then, to do his duty?”
+
+“He is doing it.”
+
+“Will you tell him to put in more coal?”
+
+“Fill it up, Lewis,” added Tommy, who seemed to be conscious that there
+was a point beyond which even he could not go.
+
+My rascally assistant then attempted to choke the fires by overloading
+the furnace; but I watched him, and succeeded in preventing him from
+doing the mischief he intended. I continued to increase the speed of
+the Ucayga until, I think, we were going at the rate of forty miles an
+hour. Tommy’s hair stood on end, and so did my own, for that matter;
+but I was desperate. I blew a long whistle as we approached Grass
+Springs. When I shut off the steam I looked at my watch. We had made
+the eight miles in twelve minutes, and the train was on time when we
+went into the Springs. I was satisfied then.
+
+The moment the engine stopped, Tommy jumped off. He did not say
+anything, but I was convinced that he did not like riding on the
+locomotive, going at lightning-express rates. I was glad to get rid
+of him. I need not say that the events of the morning made me very
+uncomfortable. I had seen but little of Tommy since the events on the
+Horse Shoe; but I was conscious that he was nursing his wrath against
+me. Long before this time he would have driven me out of Middleport if
+he had not been so unpopular himself among the boys. My friend Dick
+Skotchley--for as such I was proud to regard him--had fought my battle
+for me among the students. Tommy was so conceited and overbearing that
+all the fellows hated him; and they were ripe for a mutiny against him
+in his capacity as president of the road, as well as in that of major
+of the battalion. More than this, Tommy’s father was still my friend,
+though he feared his son. Without egotism I may say that I was popular
+in Middleport. If I had not been, I should have been kicked out, like a
+dog, by my imperious little master.
+
+“How are you, Wolf?” shouted Tom Walton, as I was about to start the
+train.
+
+“Jump on, Tom,” I replied, as the conductor gave the word to go ahead.
+
+My friend leaped into the cab, and I let on the steam. He told me
+he was spending a few days with his aunt at the Springs, and that
+he was looking for something to do. He was an active, industrious,
+quick-witted fellow, who never needed to be told twice how to do the
+same thing. Though he knew nothing about an engine, he had the ability
+to learn, and it immediately occurred to me that he would make a
+first-rate fireman, for it was evident that Lewis Holgate and myself
+could not much longer stand together on the same foot-board.
+
+“This is bully--isn’t it, Wolf?” said Tom, as the engine attained her
+highest speed, though, as there were now occasional curves, I was
+obliged to ease her a little at times.
+
+“Do you like it?” I inquired.
+
+“First rate. It is almost as good as the Grace--not quite,” replied he,
+with proper enthusiasm. “Is this the Lightning Express folks talk so
+much about?”
+
+“This is the Lightning Express. We have come through in a hurry this
+time. Five minutes’ delay would ruin the Lake Shore Railroad, and cause
+more crowing over at Centreport than ten thousand roosters could do in
+a year. But we are on time.”
+
+“I’m glad you are,” laughed Tom. “I expect the train will always be on
+time while you run it.”
+
+“If nothing happens, I shall put my passengers down in Ucayga at the
+time promised.”
+
+“I hope nothing will happen, then.”
+
+But at that very instant, before he had finished the remark, I saw, as
+we shot round a curve, a little child at play between the two rails.
+A woman was running towards it in frantic haste. My blood froze with
+horror. At first I felt like fainting; but I closed the valve and
+whistled to put on the brakes.
+
+“Jam down that brake, Lewis!” I gasped to the fireman, indicating the
+one on the tender.
+
+Tom Walton did not say anything, but passing through the window in
+the cab, he made his way to the cow-catcher. I grasped the reversing
+levers, and I think all the passengers must have been thrown off their
+seats when I checked the train. But it was still doubtful whether I
+could stop in season to save the child, and my heart was in my mouth.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+MAKING UP TIME.
+
+
+It seemed to me, if the locomotive ran over that child, that I could
+not have the audacity to live another day, though it would not be my
+fault. It was so awful, so horrible, that I prayed to be saved from
+the catastrophe. I did not feel as though I could ever hold up my head
+again if that innocent little child was sacrificed. It would be better
+that the Lake Shore Railroad should be sunk at the bottom of the lake
+than that a single precious life should be lost.
+
+My blood ran cold through my veins as I gazed at the little child, who
+seemed to be paralyzed with astonishment as the iron monster swept
+towards her. It was a little girl, not more than four or five years
+old. The woman who ran shrieking towards the track was doubtless her
+mother. What a moment of agony it was to her! My heart bled for her,
+and the triumph of the Lightning Express sank into insignificance as I
+contemplated the thrilling scene.
+
+As the engine came nearer to the little girl, my hopes rose higher,
+for our speed was effectually checked by the efforts we had made. Tom
+Walton was on the cow-catcher, and I knew that he would do the right
+thing at the right time. The child showed no disposition to move;
+indeed, I think she had no power to do so, even if she comprehended the
+nature of her peril. As we came near enough, I saw her eyes set in a
+kind of fixed stare, which indicated astonishment rather than fear.
+
+“Jam down the brakes, Lewis!” I called to the fireman, as I labored to
+check the speed of the engine; and I must do him the justice to say
+that he was not at all backward in obeying my order, though I doubt
+whether he would have been equally zealous if it had been I, instead of
+the child, who was on the track.
+
+The speed of the train was checked, but it was not stopped; and
+so far as the life of the child was concerned, we might as well
+have been going at the rate of forty as five miles an hour, for the
+slightest blow of the cow-catcher would have killed her. All this
+transpired within a few seconds. Hardly an instant elapsed after the
+steam was shut off, and the brakes put on, before I was trying to
+back the engine. The sparks flew under the drivewheels, but still the
+iron mass swept on towards the child, whose instants appeared to be
+numbered. It seemed to me that I stopped breathing as the little child
+disappeared behind the forward part of the locomotive. I expected to
+hear a shriek--to be conscious that the child was a gory, mangled, and
+shapeless mass beneath.
+
+Almost at the same moment, Tom Walton straightened up, holding the
+child in one arm. The engine had almost stopped, and was still groaning
+and struggling under my ineffectual labors to bring it to a complete
+stand. My heart leaped the instant I saw the child in the arms of my
+friend. My blood, rolled back by the fearful suspense, seemed to be
+bursting through my veins, and I was disposed to shout for joy.
+
+[Illustration: THE RESCUE.--Page 246.]
+
+“She is safe!” cried Tom, at the top of his voice, as he leaped from
+the engine upon the ground, and placed the little girl in the arms of
+her mother.
+
+I saw the horror-stricken parent press the little one to her bosom.
+I heard the sob of convulsive agony which attended the tremendous
+reaction. It was like passing from death to life for her, and I felt
+that I could almost understand even a mother’s emotion.
+
+“Thank God! Thank God!” I cried; and they were not idle words that I
+uttered, for it seemed to me that the Good Father had interposed to
+save me from what I should have remembered with horror all the rest of
+my life.
+
+I could not but regard it as an interposition of Providence in my
+favor, rather than the child’s; but in the mother’s favor rather than
+that of either of us, for she would have been the greatest sufferer.
+I am sure this incident had a powerful influence upon me, not for the
+moment, or the day only, but for all the rest of my life. It has kept
+my eyes open when I was disposed to close them; it has decided the
+question of running a risk when nothing else seemed to restrain me; it
+taught me to regard human life as too sacred to be trifled with.
+
+I saw the fond mother clasp her child, and with the reaction came
+the thought that I was running the Lightning Express train; that the
+reputation of Middleport depended upon the time I should make.
+
+“Jump on, Tom!” I called to my friend, as he paused for a moment to
+gaze at the mother and her rescued child.
+
+“That was a narrow squeak!” said he; and the whole face of the generous
+fellow expanded into one smile of satisfaction.
+
+“It was, indeed, Tom,” I replied, as I let on the steam, and whistled
+to take off the brakes. “It was a merciful providence that you were on
+the engine with me. If you had not been, the child would have been dead
+at this instant.”
+
+“I am glad I was here, then. I think that woman will keep her child in
+the house after this,” replied he.
+
+I crowded on the steam again, and once more the train flew like the
+wind along the lake shore. All the time I was thinking of that little
+child; of the anguish that would have filled that cottage by the lake,
+at this moment, if Tom Walton had not happened to be on the engine with
+me. I could have done no more than I did do, and though the train was
+on the very point of stopping, there was still momentum enough left in
+it to have crushed the little one to death. I was grateful to God as I
+had never been before for sparing me such a calamity.
+
+In the exhilaration of the moment I urged forward the locomotive till
+I saw the steamer which was waiting to convey the passengers across
+the river. I looked at my gold watch, thought of Grace Toppleton, as
+I always did when I glanced at its face, and almost forgot why I had
+taken it from my pocket in thinking of the expression of her beautiful
+face when I should relate to her the thrilling incident which had just
+occurred. I was on time; I was ahead of time, for I had driven the
+engine at a furious speed. But I had worked carefully; I had favored
+it on the curves, and I felt as safe myself as if I had been in my
+father’s house.
+
+The brakes were put on, and the train stopped at the rude pier
+which had been built for the steamer. Major Toppleton had carefully
+instructed Captain Underwood, and the boat was ready to start on the
+instant. Hardly had the cars stopped before the deck hands began to
+load the baggage on the trucks. Everybody worked as if the salvation
+of the nation depended upon his individual exertions, and I am afraid
+that some of the passengers had occasion to weep as they saw the
+rude manner in which their baggage was tossed about. I do not think
+it would have taken a moment longer for the men to handle the trunks
+respectfully--for this seems to me to be the proper word, since the
+feelings of the traveller are so largely centred in his luggage.
+
+Major Toppleton stood on the platform, and drove up the men. He did not
+seem to care whose trunk was smashed if he only succeeded in carrying
+out his own plans. He had allowed just one hour for the transportation
+of the passengers from Middleport to the station in Ucayga, and I
+think he would cheerfully have given ten thousand dollars rather than
+fail in the enterprise.
+
+Tommy stood on the platform near his father; but there was no
+expression of satisfaction on his face. He had labored to defeat the
+enterprise in order to overwhelm me. It was disaster to him, and I
+am inclined to think he was still holding in lively remembrance the
+disobedience of which I had been guilty three months before.
+
+The trucks, piled high with trunks and valises, were wheeled on the
+forward deck of the Middleport, from which they could be rolled to the
+baggage car on the other side when the train arrived. The boat started.
+The long experience of Captain Underwood enabled him to clear or make
+a landing in the shortest possible time. But fifteen minutes had been
+allowed for getting the passengers over, and I had the satisfaction
+of seeing the trucks on the platform upon the other side of the river
+full five minutes before the train was due. My anxiety had come to an
+end. I looked upon the Lightning Express as a glorious triumph, and,
+in contrast with it, I could not help thinking how cheap and mean we
+should have felt if the train had rushed off before the passengers
+arrived. The failure would have been charged upon me, and I am afraid I
+could not have saved myself by exposing the conspiracy which had been
+instigated by Tommy.
+
+The trains from the east and from the west, which passed each other
+at Ucayga, were both on time, as they generally were. I saw the truck
+unloaded, then loaded again with the baggage of the passengers who were
+going up the lake, and in a few moments the Middleport was crossing the
+river. The train was to leave at quarter past ten, but the promptness
+of the steamer’s people allowed me five minutes of grace. Lewis had
+left the engine, when he knew that it was his duty to “oil up,” and I
+was performing this work myself, when Major Toppleton came up, his face
+beaming with smiles. My fireman was talking with Tommy on the platform.
+
+“Well, Wolf, this works to a charm,” said the magnate, rubbing his
+hands with satisfaction.
+
+“Yes, sir; we came through on time, after all,” I replied, as I poured
+the oil on one of the piston rods.
+
+“I heard there was a child on the track this side of the Springs.”
+
+“Yes, sir; Tom Walton, who was on the engine with me, went out on the
+cow-catcher and saved it. I think we should have lost the trip if Tom
+had not been with me,” I continued, fully explaining the exciting
+incident.
+
+“Tom is a good fellow, and he always has his head near the ends of his
+fingers,” answered the major.
+
+I wanted to tell him that Tommy and my fireman had done what they
+could to defeat the great enterprise; but I concluded that it would
+be useless to do so, for the son was the master. I had made a good
+impression in Tom Walton’s favor, and I reserved my next step till a
+more convenient season.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+THE NEW FIREMAN.
+
+
+“All aboard!” shouted our bustling conductor, who was a very
+gentlemanly young man, and had had considerable experience in this
+capacity.
+
+He wore a gold badge on the lapel of his coat, wrought in the shape of
+a train of cars, on which was inscribed the word “Conductor,” in such
+curious old English text that no one who did not know what it was could
+read it. He alleged that the jewel had been presented to him by a host
+of admiring passengers; but those who knew him best declared that he
+had spent a whole month’s salary in its purchase. It was a very pretty
+thing, and, wherever he got it, he was certainly polite enough to have
+merited it.
+
+The gentleman with the gold jewel bowed, and gracefully made the
+signal to me; and, after glancing at the reversing handle, I grasped
+the throttle valve, ready to start. At this moment Lewis sprang upon
+the foot-board. I had attended to the fire myself, and was thoroughly
+disgusted with the conduct of my fireman.
+
+“Stop!” shouted Tommy, imperiously.
+
+It was the president of the road who spoke, and I was obliged to obey.
+
+“It is against the rules of the road for any one to ride on the
+engine,” continued the little magnate.
+
+“I never heard of any such rule before, Mr. President, or I should not
+have disregarded it,” I replied, as gently as I could, though I know my
+face flushed with indignation.
+
+“I make the rule now, then,” added Tommy.
+
+“Tom is only going to Grass Springs with me,” I ventured to suggest.
+
+“He shall not ride on the engine. Conductor, you will collect his
+fare,” replied Tommy, glancing at the gentlemanly person with the gold
+jewel.
+
+“Wolf, I haven’t a red cent in my trousers pocket; but I suppose I can
+walk to the Springs,” said my friend, who knew how vain it would be to
+appeal against the orders of the magnificent little president.
+
+I slipped half a dollar into his hand, and he jumped down.
+
+“Have you the money to pay your fare?” demanded the gentlemanly
+conductor, for he was ready enough to “spoony” to the president.
+
+“I have,” answered Tom, with dignity, as he stepped into the forward
+car.
+
+It was a gratuitous insult to me, and Lewis Holgate chuckled with
+delight. I bit my lips with vexation; but I said nothing--it was of no
+use to say anything. Even Major Toppleton himself would not have dared
+to dispute the fiat of his son.
+
+“All right!” cried the conductor; and I started the train, a minute
+behind time.
+
+I was vexed and unhappy. I felt like a free man reduced to slavery. I
+had lost Tommy’s favor, and I was nobody, though everybody else praised
+me. I felt that I had done my duty to the road, and to Middleport in
+general. I had worked hard at electioneering to keep Tommy in his
+position as president. I had supported him to the best of my ability;
+but he insulted me without remorse. I could not help thinking that it
+was stupid and servile in me to stand it; and I did not think I could
+endure another snubbing without resenting it. I felt weak and ashamed
+of myself, especially as Colonel Wimpleton was still anxious to have me
+go in the new steamer.
+
+I ran into Grass Springs on time, and Tom left the train, though not
+without saying a parting word to me. I wanted him to “fire” with me,
+and I had a plan in my mind to bring it about; but while the president
+of the road was bottling up his spite against me, I could hardly hope
+to gain my point.
+
+The steamer for Hitaca was advertised to leave Middleport at eleven
+o’clock, and at the appointed hour I had the passengers on the wharf.
+Within a few moments of the time, the boat was off, and those who were
+bound to Centreport made the passage in an hour and a quarter from
+Ucayga, which was three quarters of an hour less than they had ever
+accomplished it before. Major Toppleton was more delighted than ever,
+and, though it was against the rules of the road for any one to ride on
+the engine, he jumped upon the foot-board as lively as though he had
+been a boy. I ran up to the engine-house.
+
+“It works splendidly, Wolf!” said the great man, rubbing his hands.
+
+“It has come out right this time; but I think it is making rather close
+calculations,” I replied, as we walked out of the building.
+
+“What do you mean, Wolf?” he asked, anxiously, as though he feared
+there was still room for the great enterprise to fail, as indeed there
+was if Lewis Holgate continued on the engine with me.
+
+“We have hardly five minutes to spare now, and the slightest accident
+might cause us to miss our connections.”
+
+“But with me the battle is to make the time to Ucayga inside of an
+hour. If it is more than an hour, it will sound bad, and we might just
+as well be an hour and a half as an hour and a quarter. I thought it
+was done handsomely this trip.”
+
+“Perhaps it was, sir; but I was five minutes behind time when we
+reached Spangleport, and if I had not run at the rate of a mile in a
+minute and a half we should have missed the trains. Then the child on
+the track threw me back two minutes more, and compelled me to run the
+engine at its highest speed. The iron on the track is not heavy enough
+for such high rates.”
+
+“But why were you five minutes late at Spangleport?” asked the major.
+
+Should I tell him why? It might endanger my place to bring a charge
+against Tommy; but I felt myself independent enough to do so.
+
+“My fireman did not do his duty. I have been obliged to run the engine
+and fire too,” I replied, explaining all that Lewis had done.
+
+“What, Holgate! Discharge him then, at once,” said the great man,
+impatiently.
+
+“I am afraid that will not be so easy a matter,” I added, with a smile.
+
+“I think it will.”
+
+“Lewis does not act altogether on his own account, though he wants my
+place.”
+
+“Turn him off. Don’t let him run another trip.”
+
+“I am sorry to say, sir, that Tommy is at the bottom of the mischief.”
+
+“Tommy?”
+
+“Yes, sir.”
+
+I told him that Tommy had been working against me since the affair
+at the Horse Shoe; that he was trying to undermine me. The major was
+incredulous. Tommy was obstinate, he knew, but the president would
+not do anything to injure the Lake Shore Railroad. He was willing to
+believe that Lewis Holgate wished to get me out of my place, but not
+that his son was a party to the conspiracy.
+
+“Lewis left the engine while we were waiting for the boat at Ucayga,
+and I should not have had steam enough to start the train if I had not
+shovelled in the coal myself. He did not even oil up, as he should have
+done, and as I told him to do,” I continued.
+
+“Discharge him, then.”
+
+“But all this time he was talking with Tommy; and you may be sure that
+your son will not permit him to be discharged.”
+
+Major Toppleton bit his lips. He was beginning to comprehend the
+situation. He was actually afraid to carry his purpose into execution
+now, and, as I expected he would when the pinch came, he changed the
+subject of conversation, and said no more about getting rid of Lewis
+Holgate.
+
+“I think, if we could save the two stops at Spangleport and Grass
+Springs, I could make the time without difficulty, even if we lost a
+few moments on the way,” I suggested, as the entering wedge of the plan
+I had formed.
+
+“But we can’t neglect those two places. The people would tear up the
+rails if we failed to accommodate them.”
+
+“We will not neglect them. I suggest that you run the dummy half an
+hour before the Lightning Express for way passengers.”
+
+I explained fully my plan, and he was willing to adopt it, especially
+when I added that Lewis Holgate could handle the dummy very well
+indeed. He understood me then, and I thought I could see a smile of
+relief on his face.
+
+“But you must have a fireman,” he added.
+
+“Yes, sir; and I would like to have Tom Walton. He is a faithful
+fellow, and learns quick.”
+
+“Engage him then at once. Who is the superintendent now?”
+
+“Wetherstane, sir.”
+
+He knew very well who the superintendent was, and knew also that he
+was one of the president’s most bitter opponents. Wetherstane would
+discharge any one whom Tommy did like, or hire any one whom he did not
+like, without any scruples, and enjoy the operation. When the session
+of the Institute closed, the superintendent was waited upon by the
+major. I do not know what passed between them; but the next day posters
+in all the places on the line announced the new arrangement. Tom Walton
+was engaged.
+
+In the afternoon I ran the Lightning Express through the second time.
+Tommy was not on the engine this time, and by closely watching my
+fireman, I compelled him to do his duty; but without this care on my
+part, we should have failed in our connections. The next day, the last
+that Lewis was to run with me, for the new arrangement was to take
+effect on Wednesday morning, I found that the tender tanks were empty
+just as the engine was to move down to the station for the train.
+They had been filled an hour before, and I was satisfied this was
+another trick to bring me into disgrace. If I had not discovered the
+fact in season to correct the mischief, the trip would have been lost,
+to say nothing of a worse calamity, if anything could be worse in the
+estimation of the major.
+
+The pit under the track where the engine stood was half filled with
+water, and it was evident enough to me that my rascally fireman had
+uncoupled the connecting hose while I was at dinner, and emptied the
+tanks in this manner. I was provoked, and disposed to pitch into the
+rascal. But this was his last chance, I thought, and I concluded to
+hold my peace. The scoundrel had probably drawn off more of the water
+than he intended, or I might not have discovered the condition of the
+tender in season to fill it. But the train started on time, and I was
+fortunate enough to make the connection at Ucayga.
+
+I had Tom Walton’s appointment in my pocket, and when we stopped
+at the Springs I gave it to him, telling him to be at Middleport
+the next morning. This sharp movement had been prudently kept from
+the president, and I hoped, as he would be in school when the train
+started, that he would not ascertain what had been done until my friend
+had made one or two trips.
+
+The next morning, at half past eight, Lewis Holgate started the dummy
+for Ucayga. He was very curious to know what I was going to do for
+a fireman; but I kept Tom in the shade till he was on the way to
+the foot of the lake. There was to be an awful row soon; but I was
+willing to postpone it as long as possible. My friend was faithful and
+intelligent, and before the train reached Ucayga, he comprehended his
+duties. I made my time without hurrying on this occasion.
+
+In the afternoon, just as the Lightning Express was to start on her
+second trip, Tommy rushed up to the engine, looking as furious as a
+lunatic. At Ucayga, where the dummy waited till the express train had
+started, Lewis Holgate discovered who his successor was. That Tom was
+a friend of mine was enough to bring down upon him the wrath of the
+president. With such an assistant, I was not likely to permit the
+Lightning Express to be a failure.
+
+“What are you doing on that engine?” demanded Tommy.
+
+“I fire on this engine now,” replied Tom Walton, good-naturedly.
+
+“No, you don’t! not while I am president of the Lake Shore Railroad.
+Get off, and clear out!”
+
+“If he leaves, I do,” I interposed, quietly; but my blood was up.
+
+Tommy looked at me, and ground his teeth with rage.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+THE PRESIDENT AND THE ENGINEER.
+
+
+In five minutes it would be time for the Lightning Express train to
+start, and that was a very short time in which to fight the impending
+battle. Tommy was as unreasonable as a mule, and it was useless to
+attempt to conciliate him. Besides, I was tired of being buffeted
+by him. I was ashamed of my own servility, and much as I liked my
+occupation, I had deliberately come to the conclusion that it would
+be better for me to “hire out” for my board and clothes, than be
+a football for Tommy’s capricious toes. I had always treated him
+respectfully and kindly; but he had insulted me a dozen times within a
+month.
+
+“Are you the president of the Lake Shore Railroad?” demanded Tommy,
+violently.
+
+“I haven’t that honor,” I replied.
+
+“Then it is not for you to say who shall and who shall not run on the
+engine.”
+
+“That is very true; but it _is_ for me to say whether I will run on it
+myself or not. Tom Walton was regularly appointed by the superintendent
+to fire on this engine. He does his duty to my satisfaction.”
+
+“Who appointed him? I never heard of his appointment till half an hour
+ago.”
+
+Tom coolly took the letter of the superintendent from his pocket, and
+exhibited it to the president.
+
+“If that isn’t all right, it isn’t my fault,” added the new fireman.
+
+“That isn’t worth the paper it is written on,” said Tommy, his face red
+with wrath.
+
+“What’s the reason it isn’t?” inquired Wetherstane. “I wrote it and
+signed it, and I am superintendent of the road.”
+
+“Did you write that?” gasped Tommy.
+
+“I did; and I’m superintendent of the Lake Shore Railroad,” answered
+Wetherstane, whose back was up.
+
+“Without consulting me?”
+
+“I didn’t know that the superintendent had to go to the president every
+time a new fireman was wanted. If Tom Walton isn’t fireman, then I’m
+not superintendent.”
+
+“I won’t have Tom Walton on the road,” fumed Tommy, as he glanced at
+the fireman, who looked as good-natured as the quarter of an apple pie.
+“I’m president of this road.”
+
+“And I’m superintendent,” retorted Wetherstane.
+
+“Then I order you to discharge Tom Walton at once. If you appointed
+him, you did. Now discharge him.”
+
+Wetherstane saw that he could not very well refuse to obey this order,
+since his right to appoint the obnoxious fireman was not now disputed.
+
+“I’ll discharge him to-night, if you insist upon it,” said he, doggedly.
+
+“I insist upon it now. Tom Walton, you are discharged,” added the
+president.
+
+“I don’t want to make a row, and I guess I’ll be off,” whispered the
+new fireman to me.
+
+“You can’t help yourself,” I replied; and he jumped down from the
+foot-board.
+
+“All aboard!” shouted the gentlemanly conductor.
+
+I let off steam, and stepped down from the locomotive. The conductor
+made the signal to start; but I did not heed it; I had lost my interest
+in the Lightning Express.
+
+“All right! Go ahead!” said the conductor, impatiently, when his signal
+was disregarded.
+
+“Jump on your engine, and go ahead,” added Tommy.
+
+“I can’t run the engine without a fireman; and I would not if I could,”
+I replied; and I felt that I was vindicating myself.
+
+“Do you mean to say you won’t run this train?” demanded Tommy.
+
+“That is precisely what I mean. I won’t run it without Tom Walton. You
+discharged him on purpose to insult me.”
+
+“Where’s Faxon?” asked Tommy, who seemed to be conscious, at last, that
+the train must go.
+
+Faxon was in the station, and appeared to answer to his name.
+
+“Faxon, you will run this train through,” continued Tommy.
+
+“I don’t know how. I can run the dummy, but I don’t know anything about
+running a locomotive,” replied Faxon, who was among the number of
+those who were utterly disgusted with the tyranny of the president.
+
+“We are five minutes behind time now,” fretted the conductor, who had
+come forward to learn the cause of the delay.
+
+“Here comes Major Toppleton,” said half a dozen of the interested
+spectators.
+
+The magnate bustled into the centre of the group, and Tommy told him I
+refused to run the train, and had taken that moment to spite him.
+
+“My fireman has been discharged,” I replied.
+
+“Tom Walton!” exclaimed the major.
+
+“Yes, sir; turned out!” laughed Tom.
+
+“This won’t do, Tommy,” said the great man, pulling out his watch.
+
+“Tom Walton can’t run on this train,” replied the little president,
+decidedly.
+
+“Let him go this trip, till we can arrange matters,” pleaded the father.
+
+“No, sir; he shall not put foot on the engine again.”
+
+“But we are losing the trip,” protested the major.
+
+“I can’t help that.”
+
+“Won’t you run this trip through to oblige me?” said the magnate,
+taking me aside.
+
+“I can’t run it without a fireman,” I replied. “I will do anything to
+oblige you, sir; but Tommy means to ruin me if he can.”
+
+“Start the train, and I will see that Tom Walton is with you as soon as
+you will need him,” added the great man, in a whisper.
+
+“I will, sir.”
+
+I jumped upon the engine, and started her, just ten minutes behind the
+time. I saw Major Toppleton take Tom Walton into the forward car with
+him, as I opened the throttle valve. The president also jumped upon the
+rear car, after the train started, as though he suspected the purpose
+of his disobedient father, and intended to defeat him. As the train
+went out of the station, Tom crawled over the tender, and took his
+place on the foot-board.
+
+“Tommy is rather rough on me,” said he, with his usual good-natured
+smile.
+
+“He is rough on almost everybody, and the roughest of all upon his own
+father,” I replied, as I let on more steam. “Fill up the furnace, Tom.
+We are behind time, and must make up ten minutes. We will make time as
+long as we are on the engine.”
+
+In a few moments the train was flying down the gentle slope, and, by
+the time we came to the up grade beyond, Tom had steam enough to do
+anything of which the engine was capable. I knew that Tommy was in one
+of the cars, and I wondered that he did not stop the train, as by this
+time he must be aware that his father had disobeyed and evaded his
+peremptory mandate. I could hardly keep from laughing when I thought of
+the magnate of Middleport, so haughty and unyielding to others, bowing
+so low to his own son. It was simply ridiculous, and very ludicrous.
+But I had little doubt of the ultimate fate of Tom Walton and myself.
+The world was upside down on our side of the lake, and the great man
+had virtually become the little man.
+
+I was not quite sure that Major Toppleton could help himself, after
+he had so often yielded to Tommy, and thus encouraged him to insist
+upon having his own way. After abandoning his fortress even once
+before, I did not see how he could hold it afterwards. But all this
+was a question between Tommy and his father, and they must fight it
+out themselves. My self-respect would not any longer allow me to be
+the victim of his petty tyranny. Yet I have no hesitation in saying
+that Tommy, if his wilfulness could have been subdued, would have been
+one of the best fellows in the world; and the sequel of my story will
+justify my belief.
+
+I had no difficulty in making up the ten minutes we had lost by the
+president’s unseasonable demonstration, and at a quarter to ten I
+stopped the train at the ferry landing. I confess that my heart beat a
+lively tattoo against my ribs, as I saw the passengers hastening into
+the boat, for I dreaded a scene with Tommy and his father. I would have
+avoided it if I could, for I had no taste for disturbances. But neither
+Tommy nor his father appeared at once.
+
+“Wolf, I don’t want you to get into trouble for my sake,” said Tom
+Walton. “I am willing to take myself off, and let you live in peace
+with Tommy.”
+
+“Tommy don’t want peace with me. Ever since our affair at the Horse
+Shoe, he has been down upon me,” I replied. “I don’t know how the
+major prevailed upon him to let me stay as long as I have. But he has
+insulted me and domineered over me in every possible manner, and I have
+stood just as much of it as I can. If you were not a friend of mine,
+Tommy would not object to you.”
+
+“Well, I don’t want to stand in your way, Wolf,” added Tom.
+
+“You don’t stand in my way. If you are discharged, it will be for my
+sake. I think we had better hang together. If I can’t hold this place
+for you, I may be able to get you another quite as good.”
+
+“Thank you, Wolf; you have always been a good friend, and I will do
+just what you say. If you think it would be best for me to go, I want
+you to say so.”
+
+“I don’t think so. My mind is made up. If you can’t stay, I can’t;
+and I shall stick to my text to the end of time,” I replied, with
+sufficient emphasis to be understood.
+
+The gentlemanly conductor, with the gold jewel, walked up to the engine
+at this moment, and interrupted our conversation.
+
+“There’s going to be the jolliest row you ever heard of,” said he,
+chuckling as though he enjoyed the prospect.
+
+“Where is the president?” I asked.
+
+“He and his governor are talking over the matter in the car. The little
+gentleman made an awful tempest on the train, and all the passengers
+laughed, and enjoyed the fun. The president is going to have his own
+way, or drown himself in the lake,” laughed the conductor.
+
+I learned that this remark was “founded on facts,” and it was evident
+that Tommy had not forgotten his old tricks. I stood on the engine,
+expecting the crash every moment; but I was ready for it.
+
+The dummy, in charge of Lewis Holgate, stood on the track ahead of the
+locomotive, prepared to follow our train. Tommy and his father seemed
+to be having a hard time of it, for neither of them had appeared when
+the boat from the other side returned, and I concluded that the scene
+was to be deferred till a more convenient season. As the passengers
+were getting into the cars, I saw the major go on board of the steamer,
+which immediately started for the other side. A moment later Tommy
+approached the engine, attended by Lewis Holgate.
+
+“Our time has come, Tom,” I whispered to my companion.
+
+“Now, Tom Walton, you will get off that engine, or the baggage masters
+shall pitch you off,” began the president.
+
+“I got off before when you told me,” replied Tom, laughing. “I always
+obey orders.”
+
+“Of course you include me in the order,” I added.
+
+“I don’t include you, Wolf Penniman; but you will find that you are not
+the president of the Lake Shore Railroad, and can’t dictate to me. If
+you are mean enough to leave, after all we have done for you, you can
+do so.”
+
+I was mean enough to leave after all they had done for me, and stepped
+down upon the platform.
+
+“Just as you like; but don’t let me see you round this road again,”
+continued Tommy, his face red with anger.
+
+I walked away with Tom Walton.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+THE PRESIDENT HAS A FALL.
+
+
+I do not think, after all Tommy’s blustering, that he believed I
+would really leave the service of the Lake Shore Railroad. It was
+plain enough that Major Toppleton had been crowded down in the debate
+with his son, and had yielded the point. I supposed he had gone over
+to Ucayga, to avoid the unpleasant scene that was likely to ensue.
+In this, however, I was mistaken, for I afterwards learned that he
+had gone to procure the services of an engineer, for he had not much
+confidence in the ability of Lewis Holgate to run the locomotive.
+
+I bought two tickets for Middleport at the office, and with Tom took
+a seat in one of the cars. Tommy was busy instructing Lewis in regard
+to his duties on the engine, of which he knew as little as any person
+connected with the road, and he did not follow my movements.
+
+“Well, we are men of leisure now, Tom,” I remarked, as we seated
+ourselves.
+
+“I have had rather too much of that sort of thing lately, and I would
+rather not be a man of leisure,” answered Tom, dryly.
+
+“You will soon find something to do,” I replied.
+
+“Is Lewis Holgate going to run this train?”
+
+“I suppose so. Tommy and he are on the best of terms; and I know that
+Lewis has been trying to use me up for some time, in order to get my
+place. I hope he is satisfied now.”
+
+“Does he understand the business?” asked Tom, curiously.
+
+“He did very well on the dummy; but he is too careless to be relied on.
+I don’t think he understands a locomotive. He hasn’t his thoughts about
+him always. But I hope he will do well.”
+
+The train started, and dragged at a snail’s pace for a mile. I
+realized from the motion that the engineer did not feel at home on the
+foot-board, for it was attended by frequent jerks, and by as frequent
+slacking of the speed. When the conductor picked up the tickets, he
+told me Lewis had with him on the foot-board a man from the steamer,
+so that he could not have been embarrassed by having too much to do.
+At Grass Springs we were ten minutes behind time; but Lewis did better
+on the next stretch, which was level and straight; but even here he
+was losing time, and it was fortunate that the boat would wait at
+Middleport until the arrival of the train.
+
+After we passed the Springs I saw Tommy stalking through the car, and
+coming towards me. I pitied him much more than I should if he had
+been defeated in his purpose, for success to him was ruin. In spite
+of all he had done to vex and annoy me, I tried to harbor no ill will
+against him. He knew that the train was behind time, and that it was
+still losing. I had no doubt that the fact vexed him. It seemed to me
+that an opportunity presented itself by which I could show him that I
+had no ill feelings towards him. I wished still to carry out the good
+principles which my mother had taught me; and, as the little president
+approached my seat, I promptly decided that I would ride on the engine
+the rest of the way, and give Lewis such instructions as he evidently
+needed. I meant to do this, hoping it would make things a little
+pleasanter between us.
+
+“Tommy, I suppose you see that Lewis is losing time,” said I, as he
+halted in the aisle, and stared at me as savagely as though I had been
+a snake in his path.
+
+“What are you doing here?” demanded he.
+
+“I was going to say, if I could be of any service, I would ride on the
+engine with Lewis, and show him how to run it.”
+
+“I guess not,” said he, shaking his head. “What are you doing here?”
+
+“I’m going home,” I replied, not comprehending what he was driving at.
+
+“Didn’t I tell you never to let me see you about this road again?”
+continued he, with imperial majesty, and, I may add, with lion-like
+ferocity.
+
+“I believe you did; but I am going home, and the railroad is now the
+only conveyance up the lake.”
+
+“How dare you disobey me?” stormed he.
+
+“I was not aware that I had disobeyed you.”
+
+“What are you on this train for, then?”
+
+“But I paid my fare, and Tom Walton’s too,” I replied.
+
+“I don’t care if you did! After what has happened, I won’t have you on
+the road.”
+
+“Even Centreporters are allowed to ride on the road by paying their
+fare.”
+
+“No matter if they are; you can’t.”
+
+“After I get home, I won’t trouble you or the road,” I added, mildly.
+
+“But you won’t get home on this road,” said he, seizing the connecting
+line which ran through all the cars to the engine, and giving it a
+violent twitch.
+
+Lewis Holgate, unfortunately for me, understood this signal, and
+whistled to put on the brakes. The conductor was counting his tickets
+at the end of the car, and came forward to witness the scene. The train
+came to a halt.
+
+“Now, Wolf Penniman, out with you!” said Tommy, fixing a savage gaze
+upon me.
+
+“I don’t wish to make any trouble, Tommy; but I have paid my fare,
+and I intend to ride to Middleport,” I replied, as calmly as I could,
+though my blood was boiling with indignation at the gratuitous insults
+heaped upon me.
+
+“Good, my boy! Don’t budge an inch,” said a respectable-looking
+gentleman in the seat behind me.
+
+“Mind your own business!” snapped Tommy to the speaker.
+
+“What, you young puppy!” said the gentleman, springing to his feet.
+“Don’t you give me a word of impudence! If you do, I’ll thrash you
+within an inch of your life!”
+
+This was not exactly the kind of customer Tommy liked to deal with, for
+there was fight in the stranger’s eye; but he was just the person whom
+Tommy’s case required.
+
+“Are you going to get out, Wolf Penniman, or are you going to be put
+out?” added the president, turning from the stranger to me.
+
+“I’m not going to get out, and it remains to be seen whether I’m going
+to be put out.”
+
+“He has paid his fare,” suggested the gentlemanly conductor, in a low
+tone.
+
+“Give him back his money, then.”
+
+I refused to take it, and the belligerent gentleman urged me not to
+budge an inch.
+
+“Put him out, conductor,” said Tommy.
+
+“If you put him out, you must put me out,” suggested Tom Walton, with
+one of his broad, good-natured laughs.
+
+“Put them both out!” stormed Tommy.
+
+“I shall be prosecuted, if I do, for assault and battery.”
+
+“That’s so,” growled the gentleman behind me.
+
+“I’ll see you through,” interposed Tommy, violently.
+
+“This thing has gone far enough,” said the stranger, rising in his
+seat. “This road was chartered for the accommodation of the public.
+These two young men have paid their fare, and have behaved themselves
+properly in the car. I say, for one, they shall not be put out.”
+
+“So say we all of us!” shouted several of the passengers, who were
+annoyed by the delay; and most of them understood the merits of the
+case.
+
+“Now, conductor, start your train, and don’t keep us waiting here all
+day,” added the gentleman.
+
+“Go ahead!” shouted some of the passengers.
+
+“You can’t go ahead till these fellows are put out,” replied Tommy, who
+seemed to feel that he had the weather-gage in the dispute.
+
+“Go ahead!” “Go ahead!” cried the passengers.
+
+“Why don’t you put them out, as I tell you?” said Tommy to the
+conductor.
+
+“If you say so, I will, whatever happens,” replied the conductor.
+
+“I do say so!”
+
+The proprietor of the gold jewel put his hand upon my collar; but he
+had hardly done so before my belligerent friend did him a similar
+service, and jerked him away from me. Other passengers crowded forward.
+
+“It’s an outrage! Bully for the young engineer,” shouted the noisiest
+of the crowd.
+
+The conductor was intimidated. He had no heart in the job he had
+undertaken, and he gave up with no show of fight.
+
+“Now go ahead!” said the belligerent stranger. “We won’t submit to any
+outrage here.”
+
+“This train won’t start till those persons are put out of the car,”
+added Tommy.
+
+“Won’t it?”
+
+“No, it won’t. I’m the president of this road,” replied Tommy.
+
+“Are you? Well, this train’s going ahead,” added the stranger.
+
+To my astonishment, he seized the distinguished little functionary by
+the collar, and dragged him towards the door. The conductor attempted
+to interfere; but the passengers, among whom there were hardly a dozen
+Middleporters, crowded upon him, and prevented him from doing anything.
+
+“Out with him!” “Out with him!” called the indignant passengers, not a
+few of whom were Centreporters.
+
+[Illustration: THE PRESIDENT IS INSULTED.--Page 286.]
+
+The stout stranger landed Tommy on the ground, and then, by a dexterous
+movement, pitched him down the steep bank to the beach on the shore of
+the lake. If the president of the road was never astonished before, he
+was astonished then. He had discovered that his lordly will, though
+it carried terror into his own family, could not accomplish much among
+the general public.
+
+“Now go ahead!” said the gentleman, as he stepped into the car.
+
+“I can’t go without the president,” replied the conductor.
+
+“Then go with him!” yelled a stout fellow, who, I think, had drank more
+liquor than was good for him, as he seized the gentlemanly official,
+and hustled him after the president.
+
+Some one pulled the string; but the train did not start. I looked out
+the window. I was sorry to see that Tommy appeared to be hurt, for he
+sat on the ground, rubbing one of his legs. The conductor went to his
+assistance. Lewis Holgate now appeared, and I told the stranger he was
+the engineer.
+
+“Will you go ahead now?” demanded my uncompromising friend.
+
+“What’s the row here?” inquired Lewis.
+
+He was informed; but, instead of going ahead, he went down to the
+place where Tommy and the conductor were. Several of the passengers got
+out, and went forward to the engine. Half a dozen of them beset me with
+entreaties to run the train up to Middleport; but I positively refused.
+Indeed, I was thinking of going to the assistance of the disabled
+president, though I was sure my services would not be welcome, when the
+train started. The passengers crowded in, and it was evident that some
+one had taken possession of the engine.
+
+“Here’s a pretty kettle of fish!” said Tom Walton.
+
+“I’m sorry for it; but I can’t help it. I have as much right to ride on
+this road as any one else,” I replied.
+
+“We are going it now,” added Tom, as the train began to leap forward at
+the rate of thirty miles an hour.
+
+“Don’t you submit to any imposition, young man. I’ve heard all about
+your case, and if you want any help, call on me,” said my belligerent
+supporter.
+
+I thanked him, and he gave me his card, which I deposited in my wallet.
+The new engineer understood his business, and in less than half an hour
+we entered the station at Middleport.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+THE PRESIDENT IN TROUBLE.
+
+
+I had not waited to ascertain the condition of Tommy Toppleton. I
+had seen the stout stranger pitch him down the bank. The gentlemanly
+conductor had rushed down after him, to render whatever assistance he
+might require. Lewis Holgate had left the engine to sympathize with his
+powerful young friend. My occupation was gone; but I felt a certain
+pride and satisfaction in having stood up for my rights. I had not
+allowed Tommy to tread upon me this time, and I felt more like a man
+than I had ever felt before.
+
+I wish to add, to some of my unreasoning young friends, that I felt an
+equal pride and satisfaction in the fact that I had so often submitted.
+I had not made haste to get into a row, and it was just as pleasant
+to think of what I had endured, as of the resistance I had made to
+oppression. If Tommy had been even tolerably reasonable, there could
+have been no trouble. It was a very agreeable reflection that I had
+not been forward in making issue with my imperious young master. If he
+had not been laboring to ruin me, I think I could even have borne his
+insults.
+
+I was very curious to know what construction Major Toppleton would put
+upon my conduct. My gratitude to him made me anxious to retain his good
+opinion, and I had submitted to much for his sake. He certainly could
+not blame me for what I had done. I had merely refused to be put out
+of the cars after I had paid my fare. I had simply rebelled against an
+exhibition of petty malice, as contemptible as it was unreasonable.
+But, after all, it was not safe to predict what the magnate of
+Middleport would do when his son was involved in the affair, for the
+father was quite as much a victim of the young gentleman’s tyranny as I
+was.
+
+The stout stranger was on his way to Hitaca, and he went on board
+the steamer to continue his journey. Of course there was a great
+deal of excited talk about the incident of the day, and of the dozen
+Middleporters on board, those who had the courage to say anything
+condemned Tommy and upheld me. I thought I was safe enough; and perhaps
+I should have been, if exciting news had not come down from the scene
+of the affair.
+
+The engineer who had taken possession of the locomotive let off the
+steam; and being on his way up the lake, he abandoned the machine. As
+there was no one to take charge of it, Wetherstane, the superintendent,
+asked me to run it into the engine-house, which I did. I had been duly
+discharged, and it was not proper for me to do anything more. I walked
+home with Tom Walton; and we discussed the matter as thoroughly as the
+occasion required.
+
+“How do you suppose it’s coming out, Wolf?” asked Tom, as
+good-naturedly as ever, but still anxiously.
+
+“I haven’t the least idea,” I replied. “I have yielded as long as I
+could, and I am willing to take the consequence.”
+
+I felt that I was not likely to be a martyr as long as Colonel
+Wimpleton kept his offer of a place on the new steamer open to me, with
+the promise of a man’s wages.
+
+“If I were the major, I should rebel against Tommy a little, just to
+see how it would seem,” laughed Tom Walton. “Don’t it look strange that
+a great man like him--I mean the major--should be such a fool as to let
+his son have his own way?”
+
+“It is strange; but I have learned that Major Toppleton is more afraid
+of Tommy than of all the rest of the world.”
+
+“If my mother should let me have my own way like that, I couldn’t
+respect her. I should think the major would turn over a new leaf, and
+be a free man.”
+
+“He is his own master--”
+
+“Not much!” exclaimed Tom, interrupting me; “Tommy is master here.”
+
+“Well, he has the right to obey his son, if he chooses to do so,” I
+added. “I don’t know, but I can’t help thinking that this matter has
+come to a head now. Major Toppleton wants me to run the engine, and
+Tommy don’t want me to do it. I hope the thing will be settled to-day.”
+
+It was settled that day.
+
+I went home, and pretty soon my father came to his dinner. He had, of
+course, been my confidant in all the matters relating to my quarrel
+with Tommy. I told him all about the stirring events of the morning,
+after we sat down to dinner; and he was so interested that he neglected
+to touch the food before him till he had heard the whole of it.
+
+“Have I done wrong, father?” I asked.
+
+“Certainly not. You couldn’t have done anything else. You live here,
+and the railroad is now the only way for you to come up the lake. You
+paid your fare, and they had no more right to put you off the cars than
+they had to throw you into the lake,” he replied, warmly.
+
+I ought to add here, that my relations with the road had been discussed
+every day, and often two or three times a day. My father, and my mother
+especially, had cautioned me not to be impulsive, and not to resist
+while it was decent to submit. Our obligations to Major Toppleton were
+acknowledged, and all of us were very anxious to keep the peace with
+him.
+
+“I don’t see how Major Toppleton can uphold that boy any longer,” added
+my mother.
+
+“I don’t see how he ever could do it,” said my father. “But that is
+his business, not mine. I don’t think we make much, however, by trying
+to keep on the right side of these rich men by sacrificing our own
+self-respect. I am thankful that the major does not hold the mortgage
+on my house.”
+
+“I suppose he could get it, if he wanted it,” suggested my mother.
+
+“Well, it has two years to run, whoever has it; and as long as I pay
+the interest, we shall be safe enough,” continued my father. “I am
+thankful we are not in such a scrape as we were on the other side of
+the lake.”
+
+We ate our dinner in peace, in spite of the storm which had raged
+without. My father was in deep thought, and it was not difficult to
+conjecture the subject of his meditations. Doubtless he congratulated
+himself most heartily that it was not in the power of either of the
+magnates to harass and annoy him. The major could discharge us both,
+and even make Middleport too warm to contain us; but the colonel was
+ready to receive us both with open arms. It seemed just as though I was
+a shuttlecock, to be batted back and forth from one side of the lake
+to the other at the will and pleasure of the mighty men who ruled the
+neighborhood.
+
+But I had some hope that Major Toppleton would sustain me, or at least
+that he would not persecute our family, even if he yielded to the
+caprices of his son. Whatever mischief had been done, I had not done
+it, though I had been the indirect cause of it. I had not stopped the
+train; I had not put Tommy out of the car; I had not pitched him down
+the bank. If these things had been done on my behalf, I had no agency
+in them. The indignant passengers, who were detained by the whim of the
+little president, had been the responsible actors, and I had no doubt
+the stout stranger was ready to answer for his conduct. Whether he was
+or not, this was not my affair. I had his card in my pocket; but so
+far as I could ascertain, no one knew anything about him. I regarded
+him as a person of some consequence.
+
+We finished our dinner, and my father was on the point of returning to
+the mill, when Tom Walton rushed into the kitchen, out of breath with
+running. His appearance indicated that some unusual event had occurred,
+for my friend was one of the cool sort, and not easily stirred by small
+matters.
+
+“The dummy has just come in,” exclaimed Tom, in the intervals between
+his rapid breathing.
+
+“Well, what of it?” I inquired, not deeming this very startling
+intelligence.
+
+“Tommy Toppleton’s leg is broken,” gasped Tom.
+
+“Broken!” I exclaimed.
+
+“Snapped off, like a pipe-stem, below the knee, they say.”
+
+“I am sorry for that,” I added; and I almost wished it had been my leg,
+instead of the little tyrant’s.
+
+“His father is the maddest man that ever drew the breath of life.”
+
+“I dare say,” said my father, shaking his head.
+
+“How did it happen?” I inquired.
+
+“Why, that stout man did it when he pitched him down the bank,”
+answered Tom. “I’ll bet it will cost that man a penny or two. That’s
+what they say up to the station.”
+
+“I will go up and see about it,” I added, taking my hat.
+
+“You!” ejaculated Tom, with a stare of astonishment.
+
+“Why not?”
+
+“If you know what you are about, you will keep out of the way,”
+suggested Tom, with significant emphasis.
+
+“I haven’t done anything that I am ashamed of,” I replied. “I am not
+afraid to see the major, and tell him the whole story. I’m sorry for
+Tommy’s misfortune, but it is all his own fault.”
+
+“Face the music, Wolf,” said my father. “No one ever makes anything by
+skulking in the dark. You have a tongue, and you can explain your own
+conduct better than any one can do it for you.”
+
+“But they are all down upon you like a hundred of brick, Wolf,”
+continued Tom, who was fearful that I might be lynched in the
+excitement which he said prevailed in the vicinity of the major’s house.
+
+“I can’t help it. When I was insulted, I did not resist nor make any
+row.”
+
+“But you left your train at the time it ought to have started,” said
+Tom.
+
+“I should not have done so if the president had not taken that time to
+insult me. It was not necessary for him to discharge my fireman at such
+a time. But no matter for all this; I am going up to Major Toppleton’s
+house. It he chooses to kick me out, he may do so.”
+
+I could not help feeling that my chances of a fair hearing at such a
+time were very small, but I could not have kept away from the centre of
+the excitement if I had tried. I must know my fate, whatever it might
+be.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+THE NEW STEAMER.
+
+
+However much Tommy Toppleton deserved the fate which had befallen him,
+I really pitied him. I am sure that not a single emotion of triumph
+had a place in my heart. I neither said nor thought that it served him
+right. I was sorry for him, and my regret was entirely unselfish. The
+only personal consideration that disturbed me was the reflection that
+I must in the future be entirely banished from the presence of Grace
+Toppleton. I had not the impudence, boy of sixteen as I was, to believe
+that I was in love with her. If such a thought had entered my head, the
+wide difference between her social position and mine would have driven
+it out.
+
+I was deeply interested in her as a friend. She had been very kind and
+considerate towards me. She had treated me with respect and regard,
+and did not seem to think that I was not her equal in the social scale.
+I never spoke to her, and never even thought of her, except with a
+respect bordering upon reverence. I was content to stand off at a
+proper distance and admire her pretty face, her graceful form, and her
+gentle manners. I thought she was an angel; not merely because she was
+beautiful in person, but because her pure heart and kind manners seemed
+to elevate her far above the low and selfish lives of those around her.
+
+By the time I reached the mansion of Major Toppleton, the excitement
+had in a measure subsided. The bone of Tommy’s leg had been set, but
+he was suffering severe pain. It appeared that the major had procured
+the services of an engineer at Ucayga, who had run the dummy up from
+that point, starting only half an hour behind the Lightning Express.
+Arriving at the place where the imperious little president had stopped
+our train, the magnate found the conductor and Lewis Holgate bearing
+Tommy towards the nearest house. He was placed in the dummy and brought
+home.
+
+Of course Lewis and the conductor told their own story, and I was
+represented as the wickedest fellow in that part of the country. All
+the mischief had been done by me; and as Tommy lay writhing in agony,
+my sins became as mountains in the eyes of his father. Tommy was a
+saint then, and I was a demon.
+
+I went to the side door of the mansion and rang the bell. The servant
+who opened the door bestowed upon me a look of positive horror. I
+inquired for Major Toppleton, and was shown into the library, where I
+had so often before conferred with the great man. As I was entering the
+room, Grace crossed the hall, and discovered me.
+
+“O, Mr. Wolf! Why did you come here?” exclaimed she; “my father is
+terribly incensed against you.”
+
+“I have only done what I thought was right, Miss Grace,” I replied. “I
+did not even know that Tommy was hurt, till a few moments ago.”
+
+“Father says you were the cause of it.”
+
+“I was not--at least, not intentionally.”
+
+“I know you were not. Whatever happens, Mr. Wolf, we shall be friends.”
+
+To my astonishment she extended her pretty, white hand, and I took it.
+It was her good by to me.
+
+“I know you would not do any wrong, Mr. Wolf,” she continued; “and I
+wish Tommy was like you.”
+
+She gently shook my hand, and left the room. Whatever her father
+thought, she understood the situation without any explanation. She had
+hardly left the room before her father came in. He looked ugly and
+remorseless, as he had never before been to me.
+
+“Have you the impudence to come here, after what has happened, Wolf?”
+said he, with a heavy frown.
+
+“I hope you will not consider it impudence, sir. I did not know that
+Tommy was hurt till a little while ago,” I replied, as meekly as the
+occasion required. “I am very sorry indeed that anything has happened.”
+
+“Don’t be a hypocrite, Wolf!”
+
+“I am not, sir; I am truly sorry that Tommy was hurt.”
+
+“You are the cause of all this; and if you had broken his leg yourself,
+you would not have been more to blame.”
+
+“You have always been very kind to me, and you cannot understand the
+matter, or you would not say that.”
+
+“I understand it very well. I think, after all I have done for you,
+I had a right to expect something better from you. You insisted upon
+crossing and vexing Tommy.”
+
+“He was very unreasonable, and I could not submit any longer. I paid my
+fare in the cars, and there was no other way for me to get home.”
+
+“That’s enough. You needn’t attempt to explain it. Perhaps Tommy was
+wrong; I don’t say that he was not. But it was not for you to make
+trouble.”
+
+“I don’t think I made it, sir.”
+
+“I think you did. No more words. You have abused my good nature. I
+don’t want to see you again. You and your father are both discharged,
+and the sooner you leave Middleport, the better you will suit me.”
+
+I afterwards ascertained that Tommy had insisted, even in the midst
+of his agony, that my father and I should be immediately discharged.
+Grace told me this when I met her on the lake a few weeks later in the
+season. She said it to defend her father, who, arbitrary as he was, had
+some well-defined ideas of justice.
+
+I took my cap and left the house, after an attempt to declare that I
+felt no ill-will towards the major, who, however, would not permit
+me to finish the sentence. The catastrophe had come. The hint that
+the sooner our family left Middleport, the better it would suit the
+magnate, seemed to indicate an intention on his part to drive us out
+of the town. When I reached home, I found my father there. The mandate
+dismissing him had already been sent to him. We talked the matter over
+for a time; and while we both regretted Tommy’s misfortune, we agreed
+that it would be better for both of us to work for half the wages we
+had been receiving, rather than be the slaves of the little magnate.
+
+For my own part, I felt that I had borne enough from Tommy. I was
+willing to be tried on the facts of the case, for I think no one will
+say that I ought to have submitted to being put out of the cars, after
+I had paid my fare, just to gratify the petty malice of the little
+tyrant. I had done my duty faithfully, even while the president of the
+Lake Shore Railroad had been willing to sacrifice the interest of the
+concern for the sake of ruining me.
+
+In the afternoon, when it was time for the train to arrive from Ucayga,
+I went to the station. The Lightning Express had not appeared, and it
+did not come till half an hour behind time. In spite of his sufferings,
+Tommy still felt an interest in the outside world, and insisted that
+Lewis Holgate should have the locomotive. His father could not deny his
+request, though he knew that Lewis was incompetent. The engineer, whom
+the major had engaged, refused to serve as fireman under a boy, and the
+steamboat hand was retained in this position. The trains east and west
+had waited that day for the Lightning Express, or the passengers would
+have been compelled to lie over.
+
+The next day, Lewis did a little better; but in the course of the week
+he was behind time twice; and once the conductors on the other lines
+refused to wait. But Tommy obstinately declined to permit his friend
+to be superseded by the experienced engineer who ran the dummy. Lewis
+declared that it was not his fault that the train was behind time; but
+I knew that he was lacking in judgment. He did not understand when to
+ease off the machine and when to crowd on the steam. He had no talent
+or fitness for his occupation.
+
+I had made up my mind not to apply to Colonel Wimpleton for any
+situation. If he wished to employ me, and to redeem some of his large
+promises, he knew that I was out of a situation, and he could send for
+me. I did not mean to begin by cringing to him. I suppose, after the
+first impulses of gratitude subsided, some of the old feeling of malice
+towards me came back to him. It is very likely that Waddie, who had
+never forgiven me for deranging his plans, during the battle on the
+Horse Shoe, by recapturing Tommy, had some influence with his father.
+Whatever the reason was, I was not sent for. Father and I worked in
+the garden, where there was enough for both of us to do. He had money
+enough on hand, our joint earnings, to support the family for some
+months. We were both of the opinion that it was not prudent to apply to
+Colonel Wimpleton for situations. If he wanted us, he must come for us.
+
+While we were thus waiting for “something to turn up,” the Ucayga, the
+new Centreport steamer, arrived. She was certainly a magnificent boat,
+surpassing all the ideas I had ever formed of a floating palace. I
+went over to see her, and I could not but realize that she would be a
+formidable rival of the Lightning Express, even if she did require half
+an hour longer to make the trip. On her passage down the lake, she had
+made sixteen miles an hour without pressing; but as half her freight
+and passengers depended upon Ruoara, she was to be allowed an hour and
+three quarters for the trip, against an hour and a quarter required to
+make the passage by the Lake Shore Railroad.
+
+Flaming posters about the streets of Centreport announced that the
+Ucayga would leave at quarter past eight, and connect with the
+trains east and west at the foot of the lake. It all looked very
+pretty, but the battle was yet to be fought. The competition was for
+through-passengers. When the boats from Hitaca reached Centreport twice
+each day, the question with travellers was to be, whether they would
+go to Ucayga by the new steamer or by the railroad. The boats from up
+the lake usually arrived at quarter past eight and quarter past two,
+allowing fifteen minutes at Centreport, and fifteen more to land their
+passengers at Middleport. If the Ucayga could get off on time, she
+was safe enough on her connections. It was a question of minutes and
+seconds on which the success of the steamboat enterprise depended.
+But of the hard-fought battle which ensued, I shall speak in another
+story--“On Time.”
+
+Everybody in Centreport and Middleport was excited over the impending
+contest, for it was still a battle between the two sides of the lake.
+Major Toppleton professed to be entirely confident of the result,
+and mysteriously hinted at resources for winning the race which had
+not yet been developed. The Ucayga made her first trip crowded with
+passengers, while the Lightning Express train was comparatively
+deserted. Still the major was confident, declaring that “a new broom
+sweeps clean,” but the passengers would soon return to the railroad,
+especially during the approaching winter, when the steamer was liable
+to be troubled with ice in the lower part of the lake.
+
+But a shadow soon came over the dream of Colonel Wimpleton, who boasted
+grandiloquently over his success. The up-lake boats began to be
+regularly ten minutes late; and one day, in spite of all the crowding
+done on board of the Ucayga, she missed her connections. Then she did
+it again, and again, and people would not trust her. Steamer stock went
+down. As Major Toppleton’s hopes rose, Colonel Wimpleton’s fell. It was
+plain enough now that the major required the Hitaca boats to be ten
+minutes late. The colonel swore terribly when he realized the nature of
+the trick.
+
+As my connection with the Lightning Express had ceased, it would not
+be proper for me to remain any longer under that flag; and I must take
+leave of the Lake Shore Railroad for the present, to forage in a new
+field.
+
+About the time the Ucayga arrived at Centreport, Tommy Toppleton was
+able to leave the house on crutches. The only word the major had spoken
+to me since our interview in his mansion, was to tell me that I had
+lamed his son for life. I did not believe this, and it was a great
+satisfaction for me to hear the doctor say that Tommy’s leg would be as
+good as ever in a few weeks. I hoped his sufferings would do him good,
+and do something to modify his arbitrary character.
+
+I need hardly say that the rival Academies were still rivals. Neither
+was satisfied with the result of the battles on the Horse Shoe, and
+each was thirsting for an opportunity to overwhelm the other. I could
+not justify myself for giving the details of this miserable warfare, if
+it were not for contrasting it with the glorious peace and fraternity
+which grew out of it.
+
+Tommy was, perhaps, as unpopular as ever; but his misfortune, if it
+did not excite the sympathy of the Toppletonians, prevented them from
+manifesting their feelings in a mutiny, as they intended, at my
+discharge. I am happy to say that I stood first rate with the students
+on the Middleport side, when Tommy and his father had done their worst;
+but the mutiny came at last, when Tommy’s tyranny could be no longer
+endured. I was satisfied. I shall always remember with pleasure most
+of my experience on the Lake Shore Railroad, and especially on the
+LIGHTNING EXPRESS.
+
+
+
+
+OLIVER OPTIC’S MAGAZINE,
+
+[Illustration: OUR BOYS AND GIRLS]
+
+The only Original American Juvenile Magazine published once a Week.
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+
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+
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+
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+  =REV. ELIJAH KELLOGG=, author of “Good Old Times,” &c.
+
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+
+Canvassers and local agents wanted in every State and town, and liberal
+arrangements will be made with those who apply to the Publishers.
+
+A handsome cloth cover, with a beautiful gilt design, will be furnished
+for binding the numbers for the year for 50 cts. All the numbers for
+1867 will be supplied for $2.25. Bound volumes, $3.50.
+
+Any boy or girl who will write to the Publishers shall receive a
+specimen copy by mail free.
+
+
+  LEE & SHEPARD, Publishers,
+          149 Washington Street, Boston.
+
+
+
+
+LEE & SHEPARD’S JUVENILE PUBLICATIONS.
+
+SOPHIE MAY’S BOOKS.
+
+
+LITTLE PRUDY STORIES.
+
+_Six volumes. Illustrated. In Sets or separate. Per volume, 75 cents._
+
+  LITTLE PRUDY.
+      LITTLE PRUDY’S Sister Susy.
+          LITTLE PRUDY’S Captain Horace.
+              LITTLE PRUDY’S Cousin Grace.
+                  LITTLE PRUDY’S Story Book.
+                      LITTLE PRUDY’S Dotty Dimple.
+
+
+DOTTY DIMPLE STORIES.
+
+By the author of “Little Prudy Stories.”
+
+_Six volumes. Illustrated. In Sets or separate. Per volume, 75 cents._
+
+  DOTTY DIMPLE at her Grandmother’s.
+      DOTTY DIMPLE at Home.
+          DOTTY DIMPLE out West.
+              DOTTY DIMPLE at Play.
+                  DOTTY DIMPLE at School.
+                      DOTTY DIMPLE’S Flyaway.
+
+Read the high commendation of the _North American Review_, which places
+Sophie May’s Books at the
+
+Head of Juvenile Literature.
+
+“Genius comes in with ‘Little Prudy.’ Compared with her, all other
+book-children are cold creations of Literature only; she alone is the
+real thing. All the quaintness of childhood, its originality, its
+tenderness and its teasing,--its infinite, unconscious drollery, the
+serious earnestness of its fun, the fun of its seriousness, the natural
+religion of its plays, and the delicious oddity of its prayers,--all
+these waited for dear Little Prudy to embody them. Sam Weller is not
+more piquant; Hans Anderson’s nutcrackers and knitting-needles are
+not more thoroughly charged with life. There are six little green
+volumes in the series, and of course other _dramatis personæ_ must
+figure; but one eagerly watches for every reappearance of Prudy, as one
+watches at the play for Owens or Warren to re-enter upon the stage.
+Who is our benefactress in the authorship of these books, the world
+knows not. Sophie May must doubtless be a fancy name, by reason of
+the spelling, and we have only to be grateful that the author did not
+inflict on us the customary alliteration in her pseudonyme. The rare
+gift of delineating childhood is hers, and may the line of ‘Little
+Prudy’ go out to the end of the earth.... To those oversaturated with
+transatlantic traditions we recommend a course of ‘Little Prudy.’”
+
+
+Sold by all booksellers and newsdealers, and sent by mail, post-paid,
+on receipt of price.
+
+LEE & SHEPARD, Publishers, Boston.
+
+
+
+
+LEE & SHEPARD’S JUVENILE PUBLICATIONS.
+
+By the Author of “Spartacus to the Gladiators.”
+
+ELM ISLAND STORIES.
+
+_To be completed in six vols. Ill. Per vol., $1.25._
+
+
+  _LION BEN OF ELM ISLAND._ 16mo. Illustrated. $1.25.
+
+“Elm Island lays off the coast of Eastern Maine, a wild and romantic
+region, and the incidents of the story are recorded as happening when
+this country was just emerging from its struggle for independence.
+It is a capital story of the rough-and-tumble life of the early
+settlers.”--_Chicago Journal of Commerce._
+
+
+  _CHARLIE BELL, THE WAIF OF ELM ISLAND._ 16mo. Illustrated. $1.25.
+
+“This volume tells the story of Charlie Bell, who was thrown upon Elm
+Island like a waif from the ocean, and adopted by Lion Ben. With Yankee
+boys he shares the exciting adventures of a new country and a rude
+state of society.”
+
+
+  _THE ARK OF ELM ISLAND._ 16mo. Illustrated. $1.25.
+
+This volume of the series is by no means inferior in interest to its
+predecessors, dealing principally with adventures at sea, which are
+always delightful to boys.
+
+
+  _THE BOY FARMERS OF ELM ISLAND._ 16mo. Illustrated. $1.25.
+
+The fourth volume of the series gives, in graphic and earnest style,
+the efforts of three lads to transform Elm Island from a wilderness to
+a fruitful and productive land. It is full of life, adventure, and fun.
+
+
+  _THE YOUNG SHIPBUILDERS OF ELM ISLAND._ 16mo. Illustrated. $1.25.
+
+“Mr. Kellogg is winning laurels as a writer for and educator of youth.
+Health and vigor are in his writings, and the lad has more of the
+first-class man in him after the perusal.”--_Providence Press._
+
+
+Sold by all Booksellers and Newsdealers, and sent by mail, postpaid, on
+receipt of price.
+
+LEE & SHEPARD, Publishers, Boston.
+
+
+
+
+LEE & SHEPARD’S JUVENILE PUBLICATIONS.
+
+TALES OF ADVENTURE.
+
+THE FRONTIER SERIES.
+
+_Four volumes. 16mo. Ill. Price, per set, $5.00._
+
+
+  _THE CABIN ON THE PRAIRIE._ By REV. CHARLES H. PEARSON. 16mo.
+  Illustrated. $1.25.
+
+“_The Cabin on the Prairie_ is an earnest, healthy book, full of the
+hardships, trials, and triumphs of life in our new settlements.”
+
+
+  _PLANTING THE WILDERNESS_; or, The Pioneer Boys. By JAMES D. MCCABE,
+  JR. 16mo. Illustrated. $1.25.
+
+“_Planting the Wilderness_ tells of the strange adventures of real
+life, which, more than the fancies of the novel writer, are of
+absorbing interest.”
+
+
+  _TWELVE NIGHTS IN THE HUNTERS’ CAMP._ By REV. W. BARROWS. 16mo.
+  Illustrated. $1.25.
+
+“_Twelve Nights in the Hunters’ Camp_ is a pleasant, stirring, sensible
+book, full of life and incident, and all aglow with the breezy
+freshness of woods and prairies, lakes and rivers.”
+
+
+  _A THOUSAND MILES’ WALK_ across the Pampas and Andes of South
+  America. By NATHANIEL H. BISHOP. 16mo. Illustrated. $1.50.
+
+“_A Thousand Miles’ Walk across South America_ is a record of the
+experiences of a Yankee boy, full of enthusiasm to see and learn by
+actual experience the wonders of that almost _terra incognita_.”
+
+
+This series of books are of sterling merit, and while they closely
+follow real experiences, are full of those thrilling incidents which
+charm both youth and age.
+
+
+Sold by all Booksellers and Newsdealers, and sent by mail, postpaid, on
+receipt of price.
+
+LEE & SHEPARD, Publishers, Boston.
+
+
+
+
+LEE & SHEPARD’S JUVENILE PUBLICATIONS.
+
+OLIVER OPTIC’S BOOKS.
+
+ARMY AND NAVY STORIES.
+
+
+  THE SOLDIER BOY; or, Tom Somers in the Army. 16mo. Illustrated. $1.50.
+
+“This is a story of the rebellion, narrating the adventures of a
+patriotic youth, who left the comforts of home to share the dangers
+of the field. He is carried through several battles, and for a while
+shared the hospitalities of the rebels as a prisoner. The story is true
+to history, giving in the form of personal adventure correct accounts
+of many stirring scenes of the war.”--_Hartford Courant._
+
+
+  THE SAILOR BOY; or, Jack Somers in the Navy. 16mo. Illustrated. $1.50.
+
+“Jack is the brother of Tom, the Soldier Boy, whose adventures in the
+army were so much enjoyed. We have only to repeat that there are few
+better stories for boys than these of Mr. Adams’. Always bright and
+even sparkling with animation, the story never drags; there are no
+stupid tasks or tiresome descriptions; the boys whose characters are
+drawn are real boys, impulsive, with superabundant animal life, and the
+heroes are manly, generous, healthy creations.”--_Hartford Press._
+
+
+  THE YOUNG LIEUTENANT; or, The Adventures of an Army Officer. 16mo.
+  Illustrated. $1.50.
+
+“The Young Lieutenant” is a sequel to “The Soldier Boy,” and carries
+the reader through the stormy scenes of the rebellion, creates Thomas
+Somers an officer, and as such he performs much difficult work in the
+rebellion.
+
+
+  YANKEE MIDDY; or, Adventures of a Naval Officer. 16mo. Illustrated.
+  $1.50.
+
+“The incidents of the story are those which have occurred on the
+ocean, and on the bays, inlets, and rivers of the South, common in the
+experience of all our naval officers who have been actively employed
+during the war.”--_Notices of the Press._
+
+
+  FIGHTING JOE; or, The Fortunes of a Staff Officer. 16mo. Illustrated.
+  $1.50.
+
+“The description of battles and sieges, of picket and skirmishing, of
+camp life and marching, are wrought out with thrilling detail, making
+the story truly fascinating; while, in connection with this, useful
+and practical information respecting men and places is conveyed, and a
+proper spirit of morality and patriotism inculcated.”--_Notices of the
+Press._
+
+
+  BRAVE OLD SALT; or, Life on the Quarter-Deck. 16mo. Illustrated.
+  $1.50.
+
+A book of adventure, of personal experience, describing a living
+hero, and exhibiting the great truth that, by fidelity of conscience,
+country, and God, earthly and heavenly blessings are secured.
+
+
+Sold by all booksellers and newsdealers, and sent by mail, post-paid,
+on receipt of price.
+
+LEE & SHEPARD, Publishers, Boston.
+
+
+
+
+LEE & SHEPARD’S JUVENILE PUBLICATIONS.
+
+OLIVER OPTIC’S BOOKS.
+
+WOODVILLE STORIES.
+
+_16mo. Handsomely Illustrated. In sets or separate._
+
+
+  RICH AND HUMBLE; or, the Mission of Bertha Grant. $1.25.
+
+“No author is more welcomed by the young, and no books can be more
+safely placed in their hands. His writings, as in this volume of ‘Rich
+and Humble,’ inspire the reader with a lofty purpose. They show the
+wrong courses of life only to present, by contrast, the true and right
+path, and make it the way which youth will wish to walk in, because of
+its being the most pleasant and inviting.”--_Mass. Teacher._
+
+
+  IN SCHOOL AND OUT; or, The Conquest of Richard Grant. $1.25.
+
+“Oliver Optic is as well known and as highly appreciated among the
+young people of our land as Charles Dickens is among the older folks.
+‘In School and Out’ is equal to anything he has written. It is a
+story that will deeply interest boys particularly, and make them
+better.”--_Notices of the Press._
+
+
+  WATCH AND WAIT; or, The Young Fugitives. $1.25.
+
+The author has used, to the best advantage, the many exciting incidents
+that naturally attend the career of a fugitive slave, and the seeds
+that he may sow in youthful hearts will perhaps bear a hundred-fold.
+
+
+  WORK AND WIN; or, Noddy Newman on a Cruise. $1.25.
+
+“A nautical story of adventure and endurance, written to delineate
+the upward progress of a boy whose moral attributes were of the
+lowest order, in consequence of neglected education, but in whom high
+religious principles were afterwards developed.”--_Notices of the
+Press._
+
+
+  HOPE AND HAVE; or, Fanny Grant among the Indians. $1.25.
+
+“This is a story of Western adventure and of peril among the Indians,
+and contains the experience of Fanny Grant, who, from a very naughty
+girl, became a very good one, by the influence of a pure and beautiful
+example exhibited by an erring child, in the hour of her greatest
+wandering from the path of virtue.”--_Philadelphia Age._
+
+
+  HASTE AND WASTE; or, The Young Pilot of Lake Champlain. $1.25.
+
+“This is a story of boyish daring and integrity upon Lake Champlain,
+and older heads than those of sixteen may read and profit by it.”
+
+
+The stories in the “Woodville” series are hinged together only so far
+as the same characters have been retained in each.
+
+Sold by all booksellers, and sent by mail, post-paid, on receipt of
+price.
+
+LEE & SHEPARD, Publishers, Boston.
+
+
+
+
+LEE & SHEPARD’S JUVENILE PUBLICATIONS.
+
+OLIVER OPTIC’S BOOKS.
+
+THE BOAT CLUB SERIES.
+
+A library for Young People. Each volume illustrated. In sets or
+separate.
+
+
+  THE BOAT CLUB; or, the Bunkers of Rippleton. $1.25.
+
+“One noticeable feature of this author’s books is their purity. Not a
+line is to be found in any work of his but what will tend to elevate
+and purify the mind of the boy or girl who may peruse it.”
+
+
+ALL ABOARD; or, Life on the Lake. $1.25.
+
+“ALL ABOARD” was written to gratify the reasonable curiosity of the
+readers of the “_Boat Club_,” to know what occurred at Woodlake
+during the second season; and though it is a sequel, it has no direct
+connection with its predecessor. The Introduction in the first chapter
+contains a brief synopsis of the principal events of the first season;
+so that those who have not read the “_Boat Club_” will labor under no
+disadvantage on that account.
+
+
+  NOW OR NEVER; or, the Adventures of Bobby Bright. $1.25.
+
+The author has been for many years a successful teacher in one of the
+Boston Public Schools, and the knowledge of youthful character thus
+obtained has been used to good advantage in his works.
+
+
+  TRY AGAIN; or, the Trials and Triumphs of Harry West. $1.25.
+
+The story of Harry West is a record of youthful experience designed
+to illustrate the necessity and the results of perseverance in well
+doing. The true success of life is the attainment of a pure and exalted
+character; and he who at three-score-and-ten has won nothing but wealth
+and a name, has failed to achieve the noblest purpose of his being.
+This is the moral of the story contained in this volume.
+
+
+  LITTLE BY LITTLE; or, the Cruise of the Flyway. $1.25.
+
+Paul Duncan, the hero of this volume, is a nautical young gentleman,
+and most of the events of the story occur upon the water, and possess
+that exciting and captivating character for which this author’s books
+are famous. But the author hopes that something more than exciting
+incidents will be found upon his pages; that though he has seldom, if
+ever, gone out of his way to define the moral quality, or measure the
+moral quantity, of the words and deeds of his characters, the story
+will not be found wanting in a true Christian spirit.
+
+
+  POOR AND PROUD; or, the Fortunes of Katy Redburn. $1.25.
+
+The history of a smart girl, where fortunes are made to depend upon her
+good principles, her politeness, her determined perseverance, and her
+overcoming that foolish pride, which is a snare to the feet. In these
+respects she is a worthy example for the young.
+
+
+Sold by all booksellers and newsdealers, and sent by mail, post-paid,
+on receipt of price.
+
+LEE & SHEPARD, Publishers, Boston.
+
+
+
+
+LEE & SHEPARD’S JUVENILE PUBLICATIONS.
+
+OLIVER OPTIC’S BOOKS.
+
+YOUNG AMERICA ABROAD.
+
+A Library of Travel and Adventure in Foreign Lands. 16mo. Illustrated
+by Nast, Stevens, Perkins, and others.
+
+
+  OUTWARD BOUND; or, Young America Afloat. $1.50.
+
+“In Outward Bound, the Ship Young America, sails for Europe, with a
+school of eighty-seven boys aboard her, who pursue the studies of a
+school, and at the same time work the ship across the Atlantic, being
+amenable to regular naval discipline.”
+
+
+  SHAMROCK AND THISTLE; or, Young America in Ireland and Scotland.
+  $1.50.
+
+“This volume continues the history of the academy ship and her crew
+of boys, with their trips into the interior as well as voyages along
+the coast of Ireland and Scotland. The young scholar will get a truer
+and fuller conception of these countries by reading this unpretentious
+journal of travel, than by weeks of hard study upon the geographies and
+histories.”
+
+
+  RED CROSS; or, Young America in England and Wales. $1.50.
+
+“The third volume of Oliver Optic’s Library of travel and adventure
+chronicles the doings of the Young America and her crew in British
+ports and waters, and is replete with thrilling adventures and
+descriptions of noted places.”
+
+
+  DIKES AND DITCHES; or, Young America in Holland and Belgium. $1.50
+
+“The author takes his readers on voyages up the rivers and canals of
+Holland and Belgium, on tramps through the cities, their schools, their
+art galleries, and their wonderful buildings, giving at every turn
+vivid impressions of what is seen and heard therein and thereabouts.”
+
+
+  PALACE AND COTTAGE; or, Young America in France and Switzerland. $1.50
+
+“This volume relates the history of the American Squadron (_Young
+America_ and _Josephine_) in the waters of France, with the journey
+of the students to Paris and through a portion of Switzerland. As
+an episode, the story of the runaway cruise of the Josephine is
+introduced, inculcating the moral that ‘the way of the transgressor is
+hard.’”
+
+
+  DOWN THE RHINE; or, Young America in Germany. $1.50.
+
+This volume concludes the first series of Young America, and is as
+interesting and instructive as the preceding volumes. So great has
+been the success of this series, that Oliver Optic is now preparing
+a second. “Up the Baltic” will be the first volume, to be followed
+by “Northern Lands,” “Vine and Olive,” “Sunny Shores,” “Cross and
+Crescent” and “Isles of the Sea.”
+
+
+Sold by all book-sellers and news-dealers, and sent by mail on receipt
+of price.
+
+LEE & SHEPARD, Publishers, Boston.
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber’s Notes
+
+
+ • Italic represented with _underscores_.
+
+ • Small Capitals converted to ALL CAPS.
+
+ • Illustrations relocated close to related content.
+
+ • Obvious typographic errors silently corrected.
+
+ • Archaic spellings kept as in the original.
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76892 ***