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.
[Illustration: 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, though in 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 or obstructions 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 in pieces
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 we had 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.