CHAPTER XV.GETTING UP STEAM.The enthusiastic cheering which followed the passage of the dummy from the water to the land was grateful to me, and I enjoyed it to a degree which I cannot express. I felt just as though the Centreporters had cast me out, and the Middleporters had taken me up. I was quite confident that there were many persons in Middleport who could have raised the dummy; but no one seemed to have thought of my plan. Perhaps few of them knew the bottom of the lake as well as I did, for diving was one of my accomplishments; and I had oftener gone into the water on the Middleport side than on the other, because the beach was better.“By gracious, Wolf! you have done it!” exclaimed Tommy Toppleton, as I directed the captain to stop the steamer; and his mouth and his eyeswere opened as wide as if an earthquake had rent the lake beneath us.“Of course I have done it; I expected to do it,” I replied, as indifferently as I could, for, however big one may feel, he does not always like to show it.“You have done it handsomely, too,” added Captain Underwood; and praise from Sir What’s-his-name was praise indeed.“I hope the Wimpleton fellows saw that,” said Tommy, puffing out his cheeks, and looking as grand as an alderman. “It would take them down a peg if they did.”“I expect to catch it for helping you out,” I added, as I thought of the wrath of Colonel Wimpleton, when he should hear that I had been playing into the hands of the Toppletonians.“Don’t you be afraid of the whole boodle of them,” replied Tommy, shaking his head, as though he thought the other side would make a great mistake if it attempted to punish me for what I had done.“We’ll talk about that some other time,” I answered, turning my attention to business again.“We haven’t quite done the work yet. We must put the dummy on the track.”“Can I help you any more?” asked the captain, with a deference which amazed me.“You may give us one more pull, if you are not in a hurry. I’m going on shore now, and I will make a signal to start and to stop her, with my handkerchief,” said I, jumping into the skiff with Tommy.The dummy stood within a couple of rods of the track, which was in readiness as far as Spangleport, five miles down the lake. We landed, and marched in triumph through the crowd of men and boys on the shore, though I ought to say that Tommy did the triumphal part of the programme, and looked as grand as though he had himself been the engineer of the movement. Scores of the students offered their services, and as I was on the point of sending some of them for a few planks on which to roll the dummy to the track, a platform car, which had constituted the entire rolling stock of the Lake Shore Railroad, rumbled up to the spot, in charge of a portion of the students, attended by Major Toppletonhimself. The car was loaded with planks and rigging, which the Middleport magnate had foreseen we should want.“We’ve got her out, father!” shouted Tommy, when he saw the major.“I see you have,” replied the great man, with a cheerful smile.“But we haven’t quite finished the job yet,” added the young gentleman, bustling about as though the completion of the work rested heavily on his shoulders. “What next, Wolf?” said he, turning to me, and speaking in a lower tone.“We must lay down some planks to roll it on the track with,” I replied.“Bring up the planks, fellows!” cried Tommy; and the students rushed to obey his commands.“This is Wolf—is it?” said Major Toppleton, bestowing a patronizing glance at me.“Yes, father; this is Wolf, and he puts things through by daylight, I can tell you. He and I have managed this thing ourselves,” replied Tommy, swelling with importance.“I’m glad to see you, Wolf. They say you have a taste for machinery.”“Yes, sir; I’m very fond of machinery.”“And you live on the other side?”“Yes, sir; my father is the engineer in Colonel Wimpleton’s steam mill.”“Humph!” ejaculated the major. “But you have done well, for I was just offering a man two hundred dollars to raise the dummy. He said it would take him three days to rig his derrick, and bring down his capstans from Ucayga. I was talking with him when you hooked on and dragged the thing away. You are a smart boy.”“Thank you, sir.”“You shall not lose anything by the job, if you do belong on the other side,” said the major, magnanimously.“O, I don’t ask anything, sir. I only did it for fun.”“Well, it’s good fun, at any rate,” laughed the great man. “The boys will think you are a little god.”“I suppose I shouldn’t have dared to meddle with it if I had not fallen out with Colonel Wimpleton and his son.”“Ah, indeed?” queried the major, opening his eyes, as a gleam of satisfaction passed over his face. “We will talk that matter over when your job is finished.”By this time the students, who would have insulted me if I had come among them at any other time, had brought up the planks from the car, and I proceeded to lay a track for the dummy wheels. I placed two lines of wide ones as far as the iron rails, sweeping them in curves, so as to turn the engine as it neared the track. On them I laid narrower planks for the wheels to run upon, gauging them with a stick measured to the width of the flanges of the wheels. When all was ready for a start, I gave the signal with my handkerchief. The steamer paddled and splashed, the rope strained, and the dummy started again. I directed the students to steady the planks so that they should not slip, and in a couple of minutes, more or less, we had the machine on the temporary track I had rigged. I waved my handkerchief again, and the boat stopped.“That will do, Tommy,” said I. “Tell your fellows to cast off the snatch-block, and let the captainhaul in his tow-line. We shall not want it any more.”“But the dummy is not on the track yet,” replied Tommy, fearful that some delay might occur.“We can move it on the planks easily enough without the steamer; and she pulls so hard I am afraid she will overdo the matter. Send a couple of your fellows off in my skiff with the snatch-block and ropes.”The scion of the Toppleton house liked to be “the biggest toad in the puddle,” and he gave off his orders with great gusto to the students, not always in as gentlemanly terms as I could have wished, but with effect. He was promptly obeyed, without dispute. I suggested to him that the cushions and other movable articles in the passenger compartment of the dummy should be removed, and placed in the sun to dry. Tommy went at the students as though the idea was his own, and made all hands “stand around” for a moment. I was very willing to flatter his vanity by letting him do the ordering.There was a brake in the engine-room, and anotheron the platform in the rear of the car. Tommy, at my request, placed a student at each of them. I then rigged a long rope at the forward end of the dummy, which was manned by a crowd of boys, while the men who were standing by took hold at the sides and end of the car.“Now start her, Tommy,” said I in a low tone, so as to permit him to enjoy the pleasing illusion that he was running the machine.“Now, all together—ahead with her!” shouted Tommy, flourishing his arms like the director of an orchestra.“Steady, Tommy.”“Steady!” yelled my mouthpiece.The dummy moved slowly forward, till the drive-wheels came to the iron track.“Put on the brakes! Stop her!” shouted Tommy, as I gave him the word.The passage of the wheels from the planks down to the iron track involved some difficulty; but, by the aid of rocks and a couple of iron bars, the transit was effected, and the dummy was safely deposited on the rails in just an hour after the work began.“Three cheers for the Lake Shore Railroad!” shouted one of the students, in the violence of his enthusiasm, when the job was completed.They were given with a will.“Three more for Wolf Penniman,” added another student; and I was duly complimented, for which I took off my cap and bowed my acknowledgments.“Don’t forget Tommy,” I whispered to one of the fellows.“Three rousing cheers for Tommy Toppleton,” called the student to whom I had given the hint.Perhaps some of them thought that Mr. Tommy had not done anything to entitle him to the consideration; but the cheers were given, and supplemented with a “tiger.”“Fellow-students, I thank you for this compliment, and for this evidence of your good will,” said Tommy, taking off his hat. “I have done the best I could to help along the Lake Shore Railroad, and as the president of the company, I am much obliged to you for this token of encouragement. When our rolling stock was buried beneath the wave, it was my duty to do something; and I’ve done it. I’m glad you are satisfied with the result.”Then Tommy was the president of the Lake Shore Railroad Company! I did not know this before; his zeal was fully explained, and I was all the more pleased that I had permitted him to exercise the lion’s share of the authority.“Three cheers for Major Toppleton,” squeaked a little fellow, who thought the magnificent patron of the enterprise had been neglected.The great man bowed and smiled, as great men always do when they are cheered; but he did not take up any of our valuable time by making a speech.“Tommy, we want some oil and some packing,” I suggested to the president of the road, after I had examined the machinery of the dummy.“Do you think you can start her up to-night, Wolf?” asked Tommy, anxiously, after he had despatched half a dozen of his satellites for the required articles.“Certainly we can; you shall ride over to Spangleport, and back to Middleport in her,” I replied. “Now let some of your fellows bring up water to fill the boiler and the tank, and we will get up steam in the course of an hour or so.”The boys returned from the steam mill with packing and oil; and, while others were bringing wood and water, I rubbed up and oiled the machinery. Brooms, mops, and cloths were obtained, and, under Tommy’s direction, the passenger portion of the car was cleaned and wiped. The engine had been well oiled before it was sent up from Philadelphia, and I had nothing to do but wipe off the water and lubricate the running parts. I kindled a fire in the furnace, and, when the smoke began to pour out of the smoke-stack, the students yelled for joy.
GETTING UP STEAM.
The enthusiastic cheering which followed the passage of the dummy from the water to the land was grateful to me, and I enjoyed it to a degree which I cannot express. I felt just as though the Centreporters had cast me out, and the Middleporters had taken me up. I was quite confident that there were many persons in Middleport who could have raised the dummy; but no one seemed to have thought of my plan. Perhaps few of them knew the bottom of the lake as well as I did, for diving was one of my accomplishments; and I had oftener gone into the water on the Middleport side than on the other, because the beach was better.
“By gracious, Wolf! you have done it!” exclaimed Tommy Toppleton, as I directed the captain to stop the steamer; and his mouth and his eyeswere opened as wide as if an earthquake had rent the lake beneath us.
“Of course I have done it; I expected to do it,” I replied, as indifferently as I could, for, however big one may feel, he does not always like to show it.
“You have done it handsomely, too,” added Captain Underwood; and praise from Sir What’s-his-name was praise indeed.
“I hope the Wimpleton fellows saw that,” said Tommy, puffing out his cheeks, and looking as grand as an alderman. “It would take them down a peg if they did.”
“I expect to catch it for helping you out,” I added, as I thought of the wrath of Colonel Wimpleton, when he should hear that I had been playing into the hands of the Toppletonians.
“Don’t you be afraid of the whole boodle of them,” replied Tommy, shaking his head, as though he thought the other side would make a great mistake if it attempted to punish me for what I had done.
“We’ll talk about that some other time,” I answered, turning my attention to business again.
“We haven’t quite done the work yet. We must put the dummy on the track.”
“Can I help you any more?” asked the captain, with a deference which amazed me.
“You may give us one more pull, if you are not in a hurry. I’m going on shore now, and I will make a signal to start and to stop her, with my handkerchief,” said I, jumping into the skiff with Tommy.
The dummy stood within a couple of rods of the track, which was in readiness as far as Spangleport, five miles down the lake. We landed, and marched in triumph through the crowd of men and boys on the shore, though I ought to say that Tommy did the triumphal part of the programme, and looked as grand as though he had himself been the engineer of the movement. Scores of the students offered their services, and as I was on the point of sending some of them for a few planks on which to roll the dummy to the track, a platform car, which had constituted the entire rolling stock of the Lake Shore Railroad, rumbled up to the spot, in charge of a portion of the students, attended by Major Toppletonhimself. The car was loaded with planks and rigging, which the Middleport magnate had foreseen we should want.
“We’ve got her out, father!” shouted Tommy, when he saw the major.
“I see you have,” replied the great man, with a cheerful smile.
“But we haven’t quite finished the job yet,” added the young gentleman, bustling about as though the completion of the work rested heavily on his shoulders. “What next, Wolf?” said he, turning to me, and speaking in a lower tone.
“We must lay down some planks to roll it on the track with,” I replied.
“Bring up the planks, fellows!” cried Tommy; and the students rushed to obey his commands.
“This is Wolf—is it?” said Major Toppleton, bestowing a patronizing glance at me.
“Yes, father; this is Wolf, and he puts things through by daylight, I can tell you. He and I have managed this thing ourselves,” replied Tommy, swelling with importance.
“I’m glad to see you, Wolf. They say you have a taste for machinery.”
“Yes, sir; I’m very fond of machinery.”
“And you live on the other side?”
“Yes, sir; my father is the engineer in Colonel Wimpleton’s steam mill.”
“Humph!” ejaculated the major. “But you have done well, for I was just offering a man two hundred dollars to raise the dummy. He said it would take him three days to rig his derrick, and bring down his capstans from Ucayga. I was talking with him when you hooked on and dragged the thing away. You are a smart boy.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“You shall not lose anything by the job, if you do belong on the other side,” said the major, magnanimously.
“O, I don’t ask anything, sir. I only did it for fun.”
“Well, it’s good fun, at any rate,” laughed the great man. “The boys will think you are a little god.”
“I suppose I shouldn’t have dared to meddle with it if I had not fallen out with Colonel Wimpleton and his son.”
“Ah, indeed?” queried the major, opening his eyes, as a gleam of satisfaction passed over his face. “We will talk that matter over when your job is finished.”
By this time the students, who would have insulted me if I had come among them at any other time, had brought up the planks from the car, and I proceeded to lay a track for the dummy wheels. I placed two lines of wide ones as far as the iron rails, sweeping them in curves, so as to turn the engine as it neared the track. On them I laid narrower planks for the wheels to run upon, gauging them with a stick measured to the width of the flanges of the wheels. When all was ready for a start, I gave the signal with my handkerchief. The steamer paddled and splashed, the rope strained, and the dummy started again. I directed the students to steady the planks so that they should not slip, and in a couple of minutes, more or less, we had the machine on the temporary track I had rigged. I waved my handkerchief again, and the boat stopped.
“That will do, Tommy,” said I. “Tell your fellows to cast off the snatch-block, and let the captainhaul in his tow-line. We shall not want it any more.”
“But the dummy is not on the track yet,” replied Tommy, fearful that some delay might occur.
“We can move it on the planks easily enough without the steamer; and she pulls so hard I am afraid she will overdo the matter. Send a couple of your fellows off in my skiff with the snatch-block and ropes.”
The scion of the Toppleton house liked to be “the biggest toad in the puddle,” and he gave off his orders with great gusto to the students, not always in as gentlemanly terms as I could have wished, but with effect. He was promptly obeyed, without dispute. I suggested to him that the cushions and other movable articles in the passenger compartment of the dummy should be removed, and placed in the sun to dry. Tommy went at the students as though the idea was his own, and made all hands “stand around” for a moment. I was very willing to flatter his vanity by letting him do the ordering.
There was a brake in the engine-room, and anotheron the platform in the rear of the car. Tommy, at my request, placed a student at each of them. I then rigged a long rope at the forward end of the dummy, which was manned by a crowd of boys, while the men who were standing by took hold at the sides and end of the car.
“Now start her, Tommy,” said I in a low tone, so as to permit him to enjoy the pleasing illusion that he was running the machine.
“Now, all together—ahead with her!” shouted Tommy, flourishing his arms like the director of an orchestra.
“Steady, Tommy.”
“Steady!” yelled my mouthpiece.
The dummy moved slowly forward, till the drive-wheels came to the iron track.
“Put on the brakes! Stop her!” shouted Tommy, as I gave him the word.
The passage of the wheels from the planks down to the iron track involved some difficulty; but, by the aid of rocks and a couple of iron bars, the transit was effected, and the dummy was safely deposited on the rails in just an hour after the work began.
“Three cheers for the Lake Shore Railroad!” shouted one of the students, in the violence of his enthusiasm, when the job was completed.
They were given with a will.
“Three more for Wolf Penniman,” added another student; and I was duly complimented, for which I took off my cap and bowed my acknowledgments.
“Don’t forget Tommy,” I whispered to one of the fellows.
“Three rousing cheers for Tommy Toppleton,” called the student to whom I had given the hint.
Perhaps some of them thought that Mr. Tommy had not done anything to entitle him to the consideration; but the cheers were given, and supplemented with a “tiger.”
“Fellow-students, I thank you for this compliment, and for this evidence of your good will,” said Tommy, taking off his hat. “I have done the best I could to help along the Lake Shore Railroad, and as the president of the company, I am much obliged to you for this token of encouragement. When our rolling stock was buried beneath the wave, it was my duty to do something; and I’ve done it. I’m glad you are satisfied with the result.”
Then Tommy was the president of the Lake Shore Railroad Company! I did not know this before; his zeal was fully explained, and I was all the more pleased that I had permitted him to exercise the lion’s share of the authority.
“Three cheers for Major Toppleton,” squeaked a little fellow, who thought the magnificent patron of the enterprise had been neglected.
The great man bowed and smiled, as great men always do when they are cheered; but he did not take up any of our valuable time by making a speech.
“Tommy, we want some oil and some packing,” I suggested to the president of the road, after I had examined the machinery of the dummy.
“Do you think you can start her up to-night, Wolf?” asked Tommy, anxiously, after he had despatched half a dozen of his satellites for the required articles.
“Certainly we can; you shall ride over to Spangleport, and back to Middleport in her,” I replied. “Now let some of your fellows bring up water to fill the boiler and the tank, and we will get up steam in the course of an hour or so.”
The boys returned from the steam mill with packing and oil; and, while others were bringing wood and water, I rubbed up and oiled the machinery. Brooms, mops, and cloths were obtained, and, under Tommy’s direction, the passenger portion of the car was cleaned and wiped. The engine had been well oiled before it was sent up from Philadelphia, and I had nothing to do but wipe off the water and lubricate the running parts. I kindled a fire in the furnace, and, when the smoke began to pour out of the smoke-stack, the students yelled for joy.