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 eyes
were 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 Toppleton himself. 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 captain haul 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 another on 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.