It seemed as if it had all been a dream when I awoke and found Uncle Bob
was shaking me.
"Come, young fellow," he cried; "breakfast's ready."
I did not feel ready for my breakfast if it was, especially a breakfast
of bread and meat with no chair, no table, no cloth, no tea, coffee, or
bread and butter.
Such a good example was shown me, though, that I took the thick sandwich
offered to me, and I was soon forgetting my drowsiness and eating
heartily.
We were not interrupted, and when we had ended our meal, went round the
place to see what was to be done.
The first thing was placing the property that could be claimed by the
men close by the gate ready for them, and when this was done Piter and I
walked up and down the yard listening to the steps outside, and waiting
to give a signal if any of the men should come.
No men came, however, and there was not a single call till afternoon,
when a sharp rapping at the gate was answered by two of my uncles, and
the dog, who seemed puzzled as to the best pair of legs to peer between,
deciding at last in favour of Uncle Bob's.
To our surprise, when the gate was opened, there were no men waiting,
but half a dozen women, one of whom announced that they had came for
their masters' "traps," and the said "traps" being handed to them, they
went off without a word, not even condescending to say "Thank you."
"Come," said Uncle Bob, after the various things had been carried off,
and Piter had stood looking on twitching his ears and blinking at them,
as if he did not war with women, "Come, we've won the game."
"Don't be too sure, my boy," said Uncle Dick.
"But they have, given up."
"Given up expecting to use the works. But what are they going to do in
revenge?"
"Revenge!"
"Yes. You may depend upon it we are marked men, and that we shall have
to fight hard to hold our own."
As the day went on--a day busily spent in making plans for the future of
our factory, we had one or two applications from men who were seeking
work, and if we had any doubt before of how our coming was to be
received, we realised it in the yells and hootings that greeted the men
who came in a friendly spirit.
Uncle Dick went off directly after breakfast to see about the machinery
waiting at the railway being delivered, and it was late in the afternoon
before he returned.
"One of us will have to stay always on the premises for the present," he
said, "so I have ordered some furniture and a carpenter to come and
board up and make that corner office comfortable. We must make shift."
The matter was discussed, and finally it was settled that two of our
party were to be always on the premises, and until we were satisfied
that there was no more fear of interference, one was to keep watch half
the night with the dog, and then be relieved by the other.
"We shall have to make a man of you, Cob," said Uncle Jack. "You must
take your turn with us."
"I'm ready," I replied; and very proud I felt of being trusted.
Of course I felt nervous, but at the same time rather disappointed, for
everything went on in the most business like way. Carpenters and
fitters were set to work, and, helped by the indomitable perseverance
and energy of my uncles, a great deal of fresh machinery was soon in
position. New shafts and bands, a new furnace for preparing our own
steel after a fashion invented by Uncle Dick. New grindstones and
polishing-wheels, new forges with tilt-hammers, and anvils.
By degrees I found what was going to be our chief business, and that was
the production of cutlery of a peculiar temper especially for surgical
instruments and swords, Uncle Dick having an idea that he could produce
blades equal to Damascus or the finest Spanish steel.
The days glided by with the works growing more complete, and each night
half our party on guard at Fort Industry, as Uncle Bob christened the
place. And though the couple who had slept at the lodgings went down to
the place every morning feeling nervous, and wondering whether anything
had happened in the night, it was always to find that all was going on
perfectly smoothly, and that there was nothing to mind.
Piter had a kennel just inside the entry, and as each new hand was
engaged he was introduced to the dog, who inspected him, and never
afterwards so much as growled.
Uncle Dick took the lead, and under his orders the change rapidly took
place.
There was one hindrance, though, and that occurred in connection with
the furnaces, for the chimney-shaft needed some repair at the top.
This, however, proved to be an easy task, scaffolding not being
necessary, projecting bars answering the purpose of the rounds of a
ladder having been built in when the shaft was erected, with this end in
view.
At last everything was, as Uncle Dick called it, complete for the
present. There was a good supply of water, and one morning the furnace
was lit, so were the forges, and step by step we progressed till there
was quite a busy scene, the floors and rafters in the forge and furnace
building glowing and seeming turned to gold; while from out of the
chimney there rose every morning a great volume of smoke that rolled out
and bent over, and formed itself into vast feathery plumes.
I could hardly believe it true when it was announced that we had been
down in Arrowfield a month: but so it was.
But little had been done beyond getting the machinery at the works ready
for work to come; now, however, some of the projects were to be put in
action.
"For," said Uncle Dick, "if we should go on forging and grinding as
other manufacturers do, we only enter into competition with them, and I
dare say we should be beaten. We must do something different and
better, and that's why we have come. To-morrow I begin to make my new
tempered steel."
Uncle Dick kept his word, and the next morning men were at work
arranging fire-bricks for a little furnace which was duly made, and then
so much blistered steel was laid in a peculiar way with so much iron,
and a certain heat was got up and increased and lowered several times
till Uncle Dick was satisfied. He told me that the colour assumed by
the metal was the test by which he judged whether it was progressing
satisfactorily, and this knowledge could only come by experience.
Everything was progressing most favourably. The men who had been
engaged worked well; we had seen no more of those who had had to vacate
the works, and all was as it should be. In fact our affairs were so
prosperous that to me it seemed great folly for watch to be kept in the
works night after night.
I thought it the greatest nonsense possible one night when I had been
very busy all day, and it had come to my turn, and I told Uncle Jack so.
"Those fellows were a bit cross at having to turn out," I said. "Of
course they were, and they made a fuss. You don't suppose they will
come again?"
"I don't know, Cob," said Uncle Jack quietly.
"But is it likely?" I said pettishly.
"I can't say, my boy--who can? Strange things have been done down in
Arrowfield by foolish workmen before now."
"Oh, yes!" I said; "but that's in the past. It isn't likely that they
will come and annoy us. Besides, there's Piter. He'd soon startle any
one away."
"You think then that there is no occasion for us to watch, Cob?"
"Yes," I cried eagerly, "that's just what I think. We can go to bed and
leave Piter to keep guard. He would soon give the alarm."
"Then you had better go to bed, Cob," said Uncle Jack quietly.
"And of course you won't get up when it comes to your turn."
"No," he said; "certainly not."
"That's right," I cried triumphantly. "I am glad we have got over this
scare."
"Are you?" he said dryly.
"Am I, Uncle Jack! Why, of course I am. All is locked up. I'll go and
unchain Piter, and then we'll go and get a good night's rest."
"Yes," he said; "you may as well unchain Piter."
I ran and set the dog at liberty, and he started off to make the circuit
of the place, while I went back to Uncle Jack, who was lighting the
bull's-eye lantern that we always used when on guard.
"Why, uncle," I said wonderingly; "we sha'n't want that to-night."
"I shall," he said. "Good-night!"
"No, no," I cried. "We arranged to go to bed."
"You arranged to go to bed, Cob, but I did not. You don't suppose I
could behave so unfairly to my brothers as to neglect the task they
placed in my hands."
He did not say any more. It was quite sufficient. I felt the rebuff,
and was thoroughly awake now and ashamed of what I had proposed.
Without a word I took the lantern and held out my hand.
"Good-night, Uncle Jack!" I said.
He had seemed cold and stern just before. Now he was his quiet old self
again, and he took my hand, nodded, and said:
"Two o'clock, Cob. Good-night!"
I saw him go along the great workshop, enter the office and close the
door, and then I started on my rounds.
It was anything but a cheerful task, that keeping watch over the works
during the night, and I liked the first watch from ten to two less than
the second watch from two to six, for in the latter you had the day
breaking about four o'clock, and then it was light until six.
For, however much one might tell oneself that there was no danger--no
likelihood of anything happening, the darkness in places, the faint glow
from partly extinct fires, and the curious shadows cast on the
whitewashed walls were all disposed to be startling; and, well as I knew
the place, I often found myself shrinking as I came suddenly upon some
piece of machinery that assumed in the darkness the aspect of some
horrible monster about to seize me as I went my rounds.
Upon the other hand, there was a pleasant feeling of importance in going
about that great dark place of a night, with a lantern at my belt, a
stout stick in my hand, and a bull-dog at my heels, and this sensation
helped to make the work more bearable.
On this particular night I had paced silently all about the place
several times, thinking a good deal about my little encounter with Uncle
Jack, and about the last letters I had had from my father. Then, as all
seemed perfectly right, I had seated myself by the big furnace, which
emitted a dull red glow, not sufficient to light the place, but enough
to make it pleasantly warm, and to show that if a blast were directed in
the coals, a fierce fire would soon be kindled.
I did not feel at all sleepy now; in fact, in spite of the warmth this
furnace-house would not have been a pleasant place to sleep in, for the
windows on either side were open, having no glass, only iron bars, and
those on one side looked over the dam, while the others were in the wall
that abutted on the lane leading down to the little river.
Piter had been with me all through my walk round, but, seeing me settle
down, he had leaped on to the hot ashes and proceeded to curl himself up
in a nice warm place, where the probabilities were that he would soon
begin to cook.
Piter had been corrected for this half a dozen times over, but he had to
be bullied again, and leaping off the hot ashes he had lowered his tail
and trotted back to his kennel, where he curled himself up.
All was very still as I sat there, except that the boom and throb of the
busy town where the furnaces and steam-engines were at work kept going
and coming in waves of sound; and as I sat, I found myself thinking
about the beauty of the steel that my uncles had set themselves to
produce; and how, when a piece was snapped across, breaking like a bit
of glass, the fracture looked all of a silvery bluish-grey.
Then I began thinking about our tall chimney, and what an unpleasant
place mine would be to sit in if there were a furious storm, and the
shaft were blown down; and then, with all the intention to be watchful,
I began to grow drowsy, and jumping up, walked up and down the
furnace-house and round the smouldering fire, whose chimney was a great
inverted funnel depending from the open roof.
I grew tired of walking about and sat down again, to begin thinking once
more.
How far is it from thinking to sleeping and dreaming? Who can answer
that question?
To me it seemed that I was sitting thinking, and that as I thought there
in the darkness, where I could see the fire throwing up its feeble glow
on to the dim-looking open windows on either side, some great animal
came softly in through the window on my left, and then disappeared for a
few moments, to appear again on my right where the wall overlooked the
lane.
That window seemed to be darkened for a minute or two, and then became
light again, while once more that on my left grew dark, and I saw the
figure glide out.
I seemed, as I say, to have been thinking, and as I thought it all
appeared to be a dream, for it would have been impossible for any one to
have crept in at one window, passing the furnace and back again without
disturbing me.
Yes; I told myself it was all fancy, and as I thought I told myself that
I started awake, and looked sharply at first one window, and then at the
other, half expecting to see someone there.
"I was asleep and dreaming," I said to myself; and, starting up
impatiently, I walked right out of the furnace-house across the strip of
yard, and in at the door, making Piter give his stumpy tail a sharp
rapping noise upon the floor of his kennel.
I went on all through the grinding workshop, and listened at the end of
the place to the water trickling and dripping down in the great
water-floored cellar.
That place had an attraction for me, and I stood listening for some
minutes before walking back, thoroughly awake now.
I was so used to the place that I had no need to open the lantern, but
threaded my way here and there without touching a thing, and I was able
to pass right through to the upper floor in the same way.
Everything was correct, and Uncle Jack sleeping soundly, as I hoped to
be after another hour or so's watching.
I would not disturb him, but stole out again, and along the workshop to
the head of the stairs, where I descended and stooped to pat Piter again
before looking about the yard, and then walking slowly into the warm
furnace-house.
Then, after a glance at the windows where I had fancied I had seen
someone creep in, I sat down in my old place enjoying the warmth, and
once more the drowsy sensation crept over me.
How long it was before I dropped asleep I can't tell, but, bad watchman
that I was, I did drop asleep, and began dreaming about the great dam
miles away up the valley; and there it seemed to me I was fishing with a
long line for some of the great pike that lurked far down in the depths.
As I fished my line seemed to pass over a window-sill and scraped
against it, and made a noise which set me wondering how large the fish
must be that was running away with it.
And then I was awake, with the perspiration upon my forehead and my
hands damp, listening.
It was no fishing-line. I was not by the great dam up the river, but
there in our own furnace-house, and something was making a strange
rustling noise.
For some few moments I could not tell where the noise was. There was
the rustling, and it seemed straight before me. Then I knew it was
there, for immediately in front on the open fire something was moving
and causing a series of little nickers and sparkles in the glowing
ashes.
What could it be? What did it mean?
I was so startled that I was ready to leap up and run out of the place,
and it was some time before I could summon up courage enough to stretch
out a hand, and try to touch whatever it was that moved the glowing
ashes.
Wire!
Yes; there was no doubt of it--wire. A long thin wire stretched pretty
tightly reached right across me, and evidently passed from the window
overlooking the lane across the furnace and out of the window by the
side of the dam.
What did it mean--what was going to happen?
I asked myself these questions as I bent towards the furnace, touching
the wire which glided on through my hand towards the window by the dam.
It was all a matter of moments, and I could feel that someone must be
drawing the wire out there by the dam, though how I could not tell, for
it seemed to me that there was nothing but deep water there.
"Some one must have floated down the dam in a boat," I thought in a
flash; but no explanation came to the next part of my question, what was
it for?
As I bent forward there wondering what it could mean, I began to
understand that there must be some one out in the lane at the other end
of the wire, and in proof of this surmise I heard a low scraping noise
at the window on my right, and then a hiss as if someone had drawn his
breath in between his lips.
What could it mean?
I was one moment for shouting, "Who's there?" the next for turning on my
bull's-eye; and again the next for running and rousing up Uncle Jack.
Then I thought that I would shout and call to Piter; but I felt that if
I did either of these things I should lose the clue that was gliding
through my hands.
What could it mean?
The wire, invisible to me, kept softly stirring the glowing ashes, and
seemed to be visible there. Elsewhere it was lost in the black darkness
about me, but I felt it plainly enough, and in my intense excitement,
hundreds of yards seemed to have passed through my hand before I felt a
check and in a flash knew what was intended.
For, all at once, as the wire glided on, something struck against my
hand gently, and raising the other it came in contact with a large
canister wrapped round and round with stout soft cord.
What for?
I knew in an instant; I had read of such outrages, and it was to guard
against them that we watched, and kept that dog.
I had hold of a large canister of gunpowder, and the soft cord wrapped
around it was prepared fuse.
I comprehended too the horrible ingenuity of the scheme, which was to
draw, by means of the wire, the canister of gunpowder on to the furnace,
so that the fuse might catch fire, and that would give the miscreants
who were engaged time to escape before the powder was fired and brought
the chimney-shaft toppling down.
For a moment I trembled and felt ready to drop the canister, and run for
my life.
Then I felt strong, for I knew that if I kept the canister in my hands
the fuse could not touch the smouldering ashes and the plan would fail.
But how to do this without being heard by the men who must be on either
side of the furnace-house.
It was easy enough; I had but to hold the canister high up above the
fire, and pass it over till it was beyond the burning ashes and then let
it continue its course to the other window.
It was a great risk, not of explosion, but of being heard; but with a
curious feeling of reckless excitement upon me I held up the canister,
stepping softly over the ash floor, and guiding the terrible machine on
till the danger was passed.
Then stealing after it I climbed gently on to the broad bench beneath
the clean window, and with my head just beneath it touched the wire, and
waited till the canister touched my hand again.
I had made no plans, but, urged on by the spirit of the moment, I seized
the canister with both hands, gave it a tremendous jerk, and with my
face at the window roared out:
"Now, fire! Fire! Shoot 'em down!"