TOPPLETONIANS AND WIMPLETONIANS.
Middleport had a terrible fall in the unfortunate slip of the dummy
engine; and if any Wimpletonians, on the other side of the lake,
witnessed the catastrophe, I am afraid they were ill-natured enough to
“crow” over it; for to have seen the thing hissing up and down on the
opposite shore would have been a sore trial to them. For the present,
at least, it was safe on the bottom of the lake, though, as the water
was only six or eight feet deep, the machine would doubtless be saved
in the end.
Though I belonged to Centreport, and was a graduate of the Wimpleton
Institute, I could not find it in my heart to rejoice at the disaster
which had befallen the Toppletonians. I was too much interested in the
dummy to cherish any ill-will towards the machine or its owners. I
wanted to see it work, and I could not help envying the engineer who
was to enjoy the superlative happiness of running it. Such a position
would have suited me, and I was sorry the railroad idea had not
originated on our side of the lake. I wondered what Colonel Wimpleton
would bring forward to offset this novelty of his rival, not doubting
that he would make a desperate effort to outdo the major.
The accident filled the Toppletonians with dismay. They had been
yelling with excitement and delight while laboring at the skids and
rigging; but now they were aghast and silent. The Ruoara backed away
from the submerged machine, and made her landing at the end of the
pier. The dummy rested upright upon the bottom of the lake, with its
roof well out of the water. I hardly took my eyes off of it while we
were at the wharf, and I only wished the task of putting it on the
track of the Lake Shore Railroad had fallen on me; for I thought I saw
a plan by which it could be easily accomplished.
While the steamer was waiting I stepped upon the wharf, and mingled
with the crowd of dismayed Toppletonians, who were gazing at the
apparent wreck of all their hopes. I was acquainted with a few of them;
but they regarded me with a feeling of jealousy and hatred which I am
happy to state that I did not share with them.
“Our pipe is out,” said Tommy Toppleton, the only son of the major.
“It’s too confounded bad! I meant to have a ride in that car by
to-morrow.”
“It’s not so bad as it might be,” I ventured to remark.
“Who are you?” snapped Tommy, when he recognized me as a Centreporter.
“I belong on the other side, I know; but I was really sorry to see the
thing go overboard,” I added, gently enough to disarm the wrath of the
patron’s son.
“I think the Wimpleton fellows will feel good over this,” continued
Tommy, who, if he had not been crestfallen at the misfortune of his
clan, would have been impudent and overbearing to a plebeian like me.
“I suppose they will feel good; but if I were one of your fellows I
would not let them enjoy it a great while. I would have it out of the
water and get up steam before I slept upon it,” I answered.
“What would you do?” asked Tommy curiously.
“I would get it out of the water in double-quick time, and then put her
through by daylight, even if it took me all night.”
“You are a brick, Wolf; and I am rather sorry you live on the other
side of the lake,” laughed the scion of the Middleport house. “Do you
think you could get her out of the water?”
“I know I could.”
“How would you do it?”
“I haven’t time to explain it now,” I replied, edging towards the
steamer.
“I say, Wolf, people think you know all about an engine, and can run
one as well as a man,” continued Tommy, following me to the boat.
“I ran a locomotive ten miles to-day.”
“Did you, though?”
“I did--all alone.”
“Our fellows don’t want a man for an engineer on the Lake Shore
Railroad; some of them were talking about having you to run the dummy
for us.”
“I am much obliged to them for thinking of me.”
“It’s too bad you live on the other side.”
I thought so too, as the bell of the Ruoara rang, and I stepped on
board of her. To do anything for the enemy on the Middleport side would
be to give mortal offence to Colonel Wimpleton, his hopeful son, and
all the students of the Institute in Centreport; and it was quite out
of the question for me to think of a position on the foot-board of the
dummy. I would have given anything to join the Toppletonians, against
whom I had now no spite, and take part in the operations of the new
railroad; and I regarded it as a very great misfortune that the rivalry
between the two places prevented me from doing so.
The Ruoara left the wharf, and stood across the lake towards
Centreport. As she receded from the shore, I saw Tommy talking to
his father, and pointing to the boat, as though I were the subject
of the conversation. I do not know what either of them said; but the
young gentleman doubtless told the patron of the Toppletonians that
I considered myself able to extricate the dummy from her present
position. I was a very modest young man at the time of which I write;
but years have enabled me, in some measure, to conquer the feeling, and
I may now say that I had a splendid reputation as an engineer, for a
boy. I do not know that I was regarded as exactly a prodigy, but even
men of ability treated me with great kindness and consideration on
account of my proficiency in matters relating to machinery. It seemed
quite possible, therefore, that Major Toppleton did not regard my
suggestion of a plan to extricate the dummy as a mere boyish boast.
Whether he did or did not, I was too much oppressed by my father’s
misfortunes to think of the dummy after it was out of sight. I walked
aft, passing through the gangway, where I could see my unfortunate
parent. He looked stern and forbidding, and, when I paused at the door,
he told me I need not stop there. I did not think he had been drinking
again, and I felt sure that he would not long be angry. It made me
very sad to think that he was offended with me; but, more than this,
I dreaded lest he should fall back into his old habits, and become a
drunkard.
As the steamer approached the Centreport landing, I was startled by
three rousing cheers. On the lawn, which faced the river in front of
the Wimpleton Institute, were assembled all the students. Two or three
of them were looking through field glasses to the opposite shore. They
had just discovered the nature of the disaster to the dummy, and they
expressed their satisfaction in the cheers which I heard. It was mean
and cowardly to rejoice in the misfortunes of others, even if they
were enemies; but as their elders expressed themselves in this manner,
nothing better could be expected of them.
I went ashore when the boat was made fast. I noticed that several
people looked sharply at me, and some of them appeared to make remarks
about me, as I passed through the crowd up the wharf; but so completely
had my thoughts been absorbed by the affairs of my father, that I had
quite forgotten my altercation with Mr. Waddie Wimpleton, and I did
not connect the sharp looks and the suppressed remarks bestowed upon
me with that circumstance. I had the young gentleman’s revolver in
my pocket; but I had ceased to feel its weight or to think of it. I
walked up the wharf, and hastened to the cottage of my father.
“Why, Wolfert! What have you been doing?” exclaimed my mother, as I
entered the kitchen, where she was at work.
“Nothing wrong, I hope, mother,” I replied; and I am sure my long face
and sad demeanor were not without their effect upon her.
“They are telling awful stories about you, Wolfert,” she added.
“Who are?”
“Everybody. What have you been doing?”
“I haven’t done anything, mother.”
“Didn’t you take the powder from the tool-house at the quarry, and
blow up that canal boat?” gasped she, horrified that I should be even
accused of such wickedness.
“No, mother; I did not. Who says I did?”
“Everybody is saying so. We all know that the canal boat was blown up;
and they say you ran away before the people came.”
I told my mother the whole truth in regard to the canal boat, and she
believed me.
“Waddie Wimpleton says you did it, Wolfert,” added she.
“I did not do it, and did not know anything about it till the explosion
took place.”
“They all say you must have done it. Waddie don’t deny that he had a
hand in it; but he says you planned the whole thing, and he gave you
his revolver for doing it.”
“There is not a word of truth in it, mother.”
“The quarrymen saw you and Waddie near the mill wharf, just before
the explosion. It was not till they had told their story that Waddie
acknowledged he had anything to do with it. He says it was done by
pulling a string; and everybody believes that boy hadn’t gumption
enough to blow up the canal boat without blowing himself up with it.
They say the thing was well done, and therefore you must have done it.”
This was flattering to my pride, disagreeable as the consequences
threatened to be. People believed I was guilty because I had the
reputation of being skilful in mechanical contrivances! But I was not
anxious to rob Waddie of any of his honors in this affair.
“I have not done anything wrong, mother; and I am willing to take the
consequences, whatever they are. I wish this was the only thing we had
to fear,” I said, dreading the effect upon her of the intelligence I
had to communicate in regard to my father.
“Why, what else have we to fear?” asked she, with an expression of
alarm. “Where is your father?”
“He has gone up to Hitaca in the steamer.”
“What has he gone up there for?”
“He is in charge of the engine of the Ruoara.”
“Where is Christy Holgate?”
“He has robbed a man of his money, and run away.”
“Christy?”
“Yes, mother; and that isn’t the worst of it, either.”
“Why, what do you mean, Wolfert?”
“Father was the man whom he robbed.”
“Why, Wolfert!” ejaculated my mother, as pale as death.
“It is just as I say, mother; and it isn’t the worst of it, either.”
“Oh, dear! What else has happened?” she demanded, in a hoarse whisper.
“Father has taken to drinking again,” I replied; and, no longer able to
restrain my emotions, I burst into tears.
“Merciful Heaven! That is worse than all the rest!” exclaimed she,
covering her face with her apron, and weeping bitterly with me.