CHAPTER XVI.THE FIRST TRIP OF THE DUMMY.I was in my element—in charge of a steam-engine. Though I had never seen a dummy before this one, I comprehended the machinery at a glance. I hardly heard the tumultuous yells of the Toppletonians as they manifested their joy, so absorbed was I in the study of the machine, and in the anticipation of what wonderful things it would do. Such an excited crowd as that which surrounded me I had never seen, and I was obliged to close the door of the engine-room to keep them out. I opened it with due deference when Mr. Tommy Toppleton, the president of the Lake Shore Railroad, made a demand for admission, but I remorselessly excluded the board of directors and the superintendent, to their great mortification, no doubt; but I did not know them just then.Tommy and his father were busily engaged in a conversation which seemed to relate to me, when I rang the bell to indicate that the engine was ready for a start. This announcement was greeted with the usual volley of cheers, and the young gentlemen began to pile into the passenger apartment to a degree which perilled the powers of the car. There were at least a hundred of them, and it was impossible to accommodate the whole. The major directed his son to divide them into two companies; and, though all of them manifested a childish impatience to have the first ride, they submitted to the arrangement. Fifty of them filled the car, and Major Toppleton and Tommy honored me with their company in the engine-room.“All aboard!” shouted the president.“I think they need no such invitation,” I added, laughing.“We must do things up in shape, you know. We are all ready now, Wolf,” replied Tommy, highly excited.“I don’t know anything about the road on which I am to run, Mr. President,” I suggested, as a preparation for any accident which might happen.“The road is all right, you may depend upon that,” answered Tommy.“Of course, if the rails happen to be spread, or anything of that sort, we shall be thrown off the track.”“I sent a man over it with a gauge, yesterday, and he reported it to be in perfect condition,” interposed the major. “It would be very unfortunate to have any accident happen, and I have taken every precaution to guard against one.”“I think we had better run very slowly the first time,” I replied.“You can’t be too careful, young man.”“Let her drive, Wolf!” said Tommy, impatiently.I let off the brake, and opened the valve. The steam hissed in the most natural and encouraging manner, and the dummy began to move, amid the shouts of those on board and those on the ground. The road was very level and straight, and the car moved as easily as a boat in the water, though the engine made a disagreeable puffing and twanging noise in its action.THE FIRST TRIP OF THE DUMMY.—Page 175.“Here we go!” roared Tommy, at the top of his lungs, swinging his cap to the boys who stood at the sides, looking in at the door. “This is bully!”“Exceedingly bully!” laughed his father.“I should like to run through some of the Wimpleton fellows about this time,” added the president. “They would find out that our side of the lake is wide awake.”I did not care to present myself to the Wimpletonians just at that moment. If I had, I should have been mobbed as a traitor to my own side; though, after the treatment which Centreport, in the persons of its magnate and its magnate’s son, had bestowed upon me, my conscience did not reproach me for infidelity. I had actually been driven out of the place, and the colonel had no right to expect anything different from me.The dummy went along very smoothly, and worked so well that I ventured to “let her out” a little more. The outsiders, in their excitement, had followed us so far; but, as I let on the steam, we ran away from them, the outsiders giving a rousing cheer as we distanced them. The ground on which the road was laid was nearly a dead level, thoughin some places a shelf on the side hill on the border of the lake had been dug out. Between Spangleport and the other terminus, two bridges had been built over a couple of brooks, and the expense of constructing the road was little more than the cost of sleepers and rails.In about half an hour we reached Spangleport, which consisted of a wharf, a store, and about a dozen houses, on the lake shore, though there was quite a large village a mile distant. The occupants of the dozen houses turned out in a body, as the dummy went hissing and sizzling on its way. The students yelled and cheered, and the Spangleporters manifested their enthusiasm in a proper manner. It was a great occasion for Spangleport, and both natives and visitors made the most of it during the few moments we remained.As there was no turn-table, we were obliged to run to Middleport backwards; but one of the conductors was placed on the forward platform to keep a lookout, and as he could ring a bell in the engine-room by pulling the strap, the car could be stopped in an instant. But there were no road crossings orobstructions of any kind to bother us, and we went ahead at a high rate of speed, rushing through the crowd of students we had left where the dummy was raised, and stopping only when we reached Middleport.The whole village turned out to greet the dummy when she appeared; but we left our freight, and immediately returned to take up the waiting party, who were impatiently anticipating their first ride on the machine. I was beginning to grow tired of yelling and cheering; for I was not disposed to be very demonstrative myself, and I hoped the novelty would soon wear off, so that we could move without seeming like a horde of wild Indians. Probably I did not enjoy the stirring events of the day as much as I should if I had no trouble on the other side of the lake; for, in spite of the excitement of running the dummy, I could not help thinking, occasionally, of my poor mother, who was wondering what had become of me. I dreaded to hear from my father, for I was afraid that he had renewed his drinking after I left the boat. It seemed to me just as though our happy family had been broken inpieces by the events of that day; and I could not shake off a certain degree of sadness that hung over me.I stopped the engine when we came to the party of students who were waiting for us, and they piled in like a flock of sheep. Tommy shouted, “All aboard!” after he was positively sure that every fellow was in the car; and we went off again in the midst of a din of cheers and yells that would have beggared Bedlam.“Let her slide now—can’t you, Wolf?” said Tommy. “Make her spin!”“I don’t like to run her too fast, till she gets a little used to it,” I replied.“Are you afraid of her?”“No; but it’s all a new thing, and we must be careful, as your father said.”“Father isn’t here, now,” answered Tommy; for the young gentleman had insisted that the machine should be run by the boys alone on this trip.“I don’t want to smash you up, Mr. President; but I will obey orders.”“All right; let her slide.”I let her go as fast as I thought it was safe for her to go; but I did not regard Tommy as a very safe president. By this time I felt quite at home on the engine; but I should have enjoyed it more if I had been alone, for I did not like the interference of my companion. I foresaw that, under his direction, many risks must be run, and that it would be difficult always to keep on the right side of him. He was good-natured now, but I knew very well that such was not his invariable habit. Like Waddie Wimpleton, he was disposed to be tyrannical and overbearing. He liked his own way and it was not very pleasant to think of being his dependent.We ran up to Spangleport; and, after a vast amount of cheering and yelling by the boys, and a reasonable display of enthusiasm on the part of the inhabitants, we started for the return. Tommy wanted to go faster; and I was very much afraid I should have a quarrel with him before night. Running backwards, I could not see anything ahead of the dummy, and I had not entire confidence in the lookout on the forward platform. Fortunately wehad not a large supply of fuel on board, and this afforded me a sufficient excuse for not getting up too much steam.We ran into Middleport, where the rest of the students, and hundreds of men, women, and children were waiting to see more of the dummy. By this time it was well dried off, and all the varnished parts had been rubbed by the boys till it looked as good as new. A house had already been built for the engine, near the Institute. It was provided with a water cistern, from which the tanks in the engine could be filled, and with other conveniences for taking care of it.When the people had examined the car to their satisfaction, I ran it into the engine-house, put out the fire, and placed the machinery in proper order for use the next day. My work for that occasion was done, and I felt that I had “put her through by daylight.”“Now, Wolf, father wants to see you at the house,” said Tommy, when I had finished my task on the engine.“What does he want of me?” I asked, curiously.“Oh, he wants to see you,” answered the young gentleman; and he deemed this a sufficient reason why I should do as I was asked.I followed Tommy to the great mansion, and was ushered into the library, where the major was reading the newspapers which had just come by the mail.“Well, Wolf, I’m glad to see you,” said the magnate of Middleport, laying aside his paper. “You have done more than a man’s work to-day, and I want to pay you for it. Will a hundred dollars satisfy you for your afternoon’s job?”“Yes, sir, and more too; I don’t ask anything for what I have done,” I replied.“Don’t be too modest, my boy,” added the major, placing a roll of bank bills in my hand.“I am very much obliged to you, sir. I didn’t ask or expect anything. I only came over here because I had to leave Centreport, and I did the work for the fun of it.”“Doubtless it was good fun; but you have done us a good turn, and I have not overpaid you. Now tell me about your difficulty with Wimpleton.”I told him the story about the events of the day. I think it quite likely the major thought he was encouraging a rebel; but he did not express any dissatisfaction with my conduct. On the contrary he praised my spirit, and declared that Middleport would be glad to take me up, if Centreport wished to cast me out. He then offered me a dollar a day to run the dummy; but I told him I could not accept it till I had consulted my father and mother, and it was arranged that I should see him the next day.I then went to the shore, took my skiff, and rowed across the lake, feeling like a rich man.
THE FIRST TRIP OF THE DUMMY.
I was in my element—in charge of a steam-engine. Though I had never seen a dummy before this one, I comprehended the machinery at a glance. I hardly heard the tumultuous yells of the Toppletonians as they manifested their joy, so absorbed was I in the study of the machine, and in the anticipation of what wonderful things it would do. Such an excited crowd as that which surrounded me I had never seen, and I was obliged to close the door of the engine-room to keep them out. I opened it with due deference when Mr. Tommy Toppleton, the president of the Lake Shore Railroad, made a demand for admission, but I remorselessly excluded the board of directors and the superintendent, to their great mortification, no doubt; but I did not know them just then.
Tommy and his father were busily engaged in a conversation which seemed to relate to me, when I rang the bell to indicate that the engine was ready for a start. This announcement was greeted with the usual volley of cheers, and the young gentlemen began to pile into the passenger apartment to a degree which perilled the powers of the car. There were at least a hundred of them, and it was impossible to accommodate the whole. The major directed his son to divide them into two companies; and, though all of them manifested a childish impatience to have the first ride, they submitted to the arrangement. Fifty of them filled the car, and Major Toppleton and Tommy honored me with their company in the engine-room.
“All aboard!” shouted the president.
“I think they need no such invitation,” I added, laughing.
“We must do things up in shape, you know. We are all ready now, Wolf,” replied Tommy, highly excited.
“I don’t know anything about the road on which I am to run, Mr. President,” I suggested, as a preparation for any accident which might happen.
“The road is all right, you may depend upon that,” answered Tommy.
“Of course, if the rails happen to be spread, or anything of that sort, we shall be thrown off the track.”
“I sent a man over it with a gauge, yesterday, and he reported it to be in perfect condition,” interposed the major. “It would be very unfortunate to have any accident happen, and I have taken every precaution to guard against one.”
“I think we had better run very slowly the first time,” I replied.
“You can’t be too careful, young man.”
“Let her drive, Wolf!” said Tommy, impatiently.
I let off the brake, and opened the valve. The steam hissed in the most natural and encouraging manner, and the dummy began to move, amid the shouts of those on board and those on the ground. The road was very level and straight, and the car moved as easily as a boat in the water, though the engine made a disagreeable puffing and twanging noise in its action.
THE FIRST TRIP OF THE DUMMY.—Page 175.
THE FIRST TRIP OF THE DUMMY.—Page 175.
“Here we go!” roared Tommy, at the top of his lungs, swinging his cap to the boys who stood at the sides, looking in at the door. “This is bully!”
“Exceedingly bully!” laughed his father.
“I should like to run through some of the Wimpleton fellows about this time,” added the president. “They would find out that our side of the lake is wide awake.”
I did not care to present myself to the Wimpletonians just at that moment. If I had, I should have been mobbed as a traitor to my own side; though, after the treatment which Centreport, in the persons of its magnate and its magnate’s son, had bestowed upon me, my conscience did not reproach me for infidelity. I had actually been driven out of the place, and the colonel had no right to expect anything different from me.
The dummy went along very smoothly, and worked so well that I ventured to “let her out” a little more. The outsiders, in their excitement, had followed us so far; but, as I let on the steam, we ran away from them, the outsiders giving a rousing cheer as we distanced them. The ground on which the road was laid was nearly a dead level, thoughin some places a shelf on the side hill on the border of the lake had been dug out. Between Spangleport and the other terminus, two bridges had been built over a couple of brooks, and the expense of constructing the road was little more than the cost of sleepers and rails.
In about half an hour we reached Spangleport, which consisted of a wharf, a store, and about a dozen houses, on the lake shore, though there was quite a large village a mile distant. The occupants of the dozen houses turned out in a body, as the dummy went hissing and sizzling on its way. The students yelled and cheered, and the Spangleporters manifested their enthusiasm in a proper manner. It was a great occasion for Spangleport, and both natives and visitors made the most of it during the few moments we remained.
As there was no turn-table, we were obliged to run to Middleport backwards; but one of the conductors was placed on the forward platform to keep a lookout, and as he could ring a bell in the engine-room by pulling the strap, the car could be stopped in an instant. But there were no road crossings orobstructions of any kind to bother us, and we went ahead at a high rate of speed, rushing through the crowd of students we had left where the dummy was raised, and stopping only when we reached Middleport.
The whole village turned out to greet the dummy when she appeared; but we left our freight, and immediately returned to take up the waiting party, who were impatiently anticipating their first ride on the machine. I was beginning to grow tired of yelling and cheering; for I was not disposed to be very demonstrative myself, and I hoped the novelty would soon wear off, so that we could move without seeming like a horde of wild Indians. Probably I did not enjoy the stirring events of the day as much as I should if I had no trouble on the other side of the lake; for, in spite of the excitement of running the dummy, I could not help thinking, occasionally, of my poor mother, who was wondering what had become of me. I dreaded to hear from my father, for I was afraid that he had renewed his drinking after I left the boat. It seemed to me just as though our happy family had been broken inpieces by the events of that day; and I could not shake off a certain degree of sadness that hung over me.
I stopped the engine when we came to the party of students who were waiting for us, and they piled in like a flock of sheep. Tommy shouted, “All aboard!” after he was positively sure that every fellow was in the car; and we went off again in the midst of a din of cheers and yells that would have beggared Bedlam.
“Let her slide now—can’t you, Wolf?” said Tommy. “Make her spin!”
“I don’t like to run her too fast, till she gets a little used to it,” I replied.
“Are you afraid of her?”
“No; but it’s all a new thing, and we must be careful, as your father said.”
“Father isn’t here, now,” answered Tommy; for the young gentleman had insisted that the machine should be run by the boys alone on this trip.
“I don’t want to smash you up, Mr. President; but I will obey orders.”
“All right; let her slide.”
I let her go as fast as I thought it was safe for her to go; but I did not regard Tommy as a very safe president. By this time I felt quite at home on the engine; but I should have enjoyed it more if I had been alone, for I did not like the interference of my companion. I foresaw that, under his direction, many risks must be run, and that it would be difficult always to keep on the right side of him. He was good-natured now, but I knew very well that such was not his invariable habit. Like Waddie Wimpleton, he was disposed to be tyrannical and overbearing. He liked his own way and it was not very pleasant to think of being his dependent.
We ran up to Spangleport; and, after a vast amount of cheering and yelling by the boys, and a reasonable display of enthusiasm on the part of the inhabitants, we started for the return. Tommy wanted to go faster; and I was very much afraid I should have a quarrel with him before night. Running backwards, I could not see anything ahead of the dummy, and I had not entire confidence in the lookout on the forward platform. Fortunately wehad not a large supply of fuel on board, and this afforded me a sufficient excuse for not getting up too much steam.
We ran into Middleport, where the rest of the students, and hundreds of men, women, and children were waiting to see more of the dummy. By this time it was well dried off, and all the varnished parts had been rubbed by the boys till it looked as good as new. A house had already been built for the engine, near the Institute. It was provided with a water cistern, from which the tanks in the engine could be filled, and with other conveniences for taking care of it.
When the people had examined the car to their satisfaction, I ran it into the engine-house, put out the fire, and placed the machinery in proper order for use the next day. My work for that occasion was done, and I felt that I had “put her through by daylight.”
“Now, Wolf, father wants to see you at the house,” said Tommy, when I had finished my task on the engine.
“What does he want of me?” I asked, curiously.
“Oh, he wants to see you,” answered the young gentleman; and he deemed this a sufficient reason why I should do as I was asked.
I followed Tommy to the great mansion, and was ushered into the library, where the major was reading the newspapers which had just come by the mail.
“Well, Wolf, I’m glad to see you,” said the magnate of Middleport, laying aside his paper. “You have done more than a man’s work to-day, and I want to pay you for it. Will a hundred dollars satisfy you for your afternoon’s job?”
“Yes, sir, and more too; I don’t ask anything for what I have done,” I replied.
“Don’t be too modest, my boy,” added the major, placing a roll of bank bills in my hand.
“I am very much obliged to you, sir. I didn’t ask or expect anything. I only came over here because I had to leave Centreport, and I did the work for the fun of it.”
“Doubtless it was good fun; but you have done us a good turn, and I have not overpaid you. Now tell me about your difficulty with Wimpleton.”
I told him the story about the events of the day. I think it quite likely the major thought he was encouraging a rebel; but he did not express any dissatisfaction with my conduct. On the contrary he praised my spirit, and declared that Middleport would be glad to take me up, if Centreport wished to cast me out. He then offered me a dollar a day to run the dummy; but I told him I could not accept it till I had consulted my father and mother, and it was arranged that I should see him the next day.
I then went to the shore, took my skiff, and rowed across the lake, feeling like a rich man.