George Manville Fenn

“ As people say in books, it was not the country, but dingy, smoke-bewithered Arrowfield, and I wondered to myself why a couple of birds with wings should consent to stay amongst factories and works.
I knew the top of my float by heart; so must that skating spider which had skimmed up to it, running over the top of the water as easily as if it were so much ice. I was growing drowsy and tired. ”

“ There was a great patch of dancing light on the ceiling reflected from the dam, and some flowers in the window looked bright and sent out a sweet perfume; but I could see nothing but men crawling in the dark with powder-cans and fuses; and to make myself worse, I must go to Uncle Jack’s cupboard and look at the can that we had found by Gentles that night, just as it had been picked up, with a long fuse hanging out of the neck and twisted round and round. ”

“ I saw Uncle Bob catch the blow on his right arm, dart out his left and strike the big grinder in the mouth; and then, before he could recover himself, my uncle’s right fist flashed through the air like lightning, and the man staggered and then fell with a dull thud, the back of his head striking the stones.
There was a loud yell at this, and a chorus rose:
“In wi’ ’em. Throost ’em i’ th’ dam,” shouted a voice, and half a dozen men advanced menacingly; but Uncle Bob stood firm, and just then Fannell the smith strode before them. ”

“ Then Pannell started a cheer, and so much fuss was made over me that I was glad to take refuge in the office, feeling quite ashamed.
“Why, Cob, you had quite an ovation,” said Uncle Bob.
“Yes, just because I have grown as big as my big uncles,” I said in a half-vexed way.
“No,” said Uncle Dick, “not for that, my lad. The men remember you as being a stout-hearted plucky boy who was always ready to crush down his weakness, and fight in the cause of right.”
“And who always treated them in a straightforward manly way,” said Uncle Jack. ”

“ As we struggled to our feet the water was sinking, but the horrible crashing, rushing noise was still going on—water, a huge river of water was rushing right through our factory threatening to sweep it away, and then the flood seemed to sink as quickly as it had come, and we stood holding hands, listening to the gurgling rush that was rapidly dying away.
“What is it?” panted Uncle Bob.
“Life. Thank heaven, we are saved!” said Uncle Dick fervently.
“Amen!” exclaimed Uncle Jack. “Why, Dick,” he cried, “that great dam up in the hills must have burst and come sweeping down the vale!” ”

“ I cried.
“That’s what I want to know,” said Uncle Jack. “I went with a candle, but the wind puffed it out. Where did you put the lantern?”
“Lantern—lantern!” I said in a confused way, “did I have it?”
“Yes; you must have had it. Can’t you think? Gracious, what a noise! Piter must have got someone by the throat.”
“Oh, I know!” I cried as I grew more fully awake. “On the shelf in the entry.”
We ran down together, and a faint glow showed its whereabouts, still alight, but with the dark shade turned over the bull’s-eye. ”

“ Pannell looked about him, through the window, out of the door, up the forge chimney, and then he gave me a solemn wink.
“Then why don’t you speak?”
The big smith took a blade of steel from the fire as if it were a flaming sword, and beat it into the reaping-hook of peace before he said in a hoarse whisper:
“Men’s o’ one side, lad—unions. Mesters is t’other side. It’s a feight.” ”

“ He drew up the blind, and threw up his window, when we both looked down at what seemed to be the dying out of a tremendous conflagration—dying out, save in one place, where there was a furious rush of light right up into the air, with sparks flying and flickering tongues of flame darting up and sinking down again, while the red and tawny-yellow smoke rolled away.
“On fire, Cob!” he said quietly. “Yes, the town’s on fire, but in the proper way. Arrowfield is a fiery place—all furnaces. There’s nothing the matter, lad.” ”

“ 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? ”

“ Then I was looking round the furnace, and in at the smiths’ forges, and at the great chimney-shaft, and at the precipice by Dome Tor.
What a place that seemed! Since my uncle slipped over it the slaty, shaley face appeared to have grown twice as big and high, and over it and down the steep slope a man was crawling right in from the Dome Tor slip to our works. I saw him come along the stone edge of the dam and over the wheel with the water, to bob up and down in the black pit like a cork float when an eel is biting at a bait. ”

“ What a curiously-long, thin, writhing man he seemed to be as he crawled and wriggled all over the floor and lathes and polishing-wheels. Down, too, into the smiths’ shops, and over the half-extinct fires without burning himself, and all the time the wheel went round with its snoring noise, and the man—who was really a big eel—was ringing a loud bell, and—
I jumped up wide-awake, upsetting Piter, and throwing his head out of my lap, when, instead of springing up, he rolled heavily half-way down the stairs as if he were dead. ”

“ The wind blew hard and the rain fell, and as we reached the lane we could hear the water lapping and beating against the sluice and the stones that formed the head of the dam, while the waste rushed away with a hollow roar.
“Pity to lose so much good power,” said Uncle Jack.
“Sun and wind will bring it back to the hills,” said Uncle Dick gravely. “There is no waste in nature.” ”

“ The explosion had taken place in the huge boiler-house of the great iron-works, a wall had been hurled down, part of the iron-beamed roof was hanging, one great barrel-shaped boiler had been blown yards away as if it had been a straw, and its fellow, about twenty feet long, was ripped open and torn at the rivets, just as if the huge plates of iron of which it was composed were so many postage-stamps torn off and roughly crumpled in the hand. ”

“ Dogs must have a good deal of reason, for Piter leaped up and laid his head in my lap directly, holding it perfectly still while I unbuckled the strap collar, when he gave a sniff or two at my hands, licked them, and bounded off to have a regular good run all over the place before he came back and settled down close to me in the little office where I was trying to read.
Twelve o’clock at last, and I awoke Uncle Jack, who rose at once, fresh and clear as if he were amply rested, and soon after I was fast asleep, dreaming away and fancying I could hear the rattle and the throb of the train. ”

“ I pointed to a fierce glare that seemed to reach up into the sky, cutting the dense cloud like millions of golden arrows shot from some mighty engine all at once.
“Yes, I see, old fellow,” said Uncle Jack. “They have just tapped a furnace, and the molten metal is running into the moulds, that’s all.”
“But the whole town looks as if it were in a blaze,” I said nervously.
“So did our works sometimes, didn’t they? Well, here we are in a town where there are hundreds upon hundreds of works ten times as big as ours. Nearly everybody is either forging, or casting, or grinding. ”

“ I said again, quite impatiently.
“I know,” he growled. “I want to speak.”
“We are listening,” said Uncle Dick. “What have you to say?”
“Look here,” cried Pannell, giving his hammer a flourish round his head as if he were about to attack us. “I’m a man—I am.”
“And a good big one, Pannell,” said Uncle Bob smiling.
“Wish I were twyste as big, mester! Theer!” cried Pannell.
“I wish you were if it would be any comfort to you,” said Uncle Bob to himself.
“I’ve been a-thinking o’ this out while I’ve been hammering yonder, and I want to speak.”
“Yes,” said Uncle Jack. “Go on.” ”

“ Tall chimneys stood up like black stakes or posts set up in the reflection of open furnace doors. Here a keen bright light went straight up through the smoke with the edges exactly defined—here it was a sharp glare, there a dull red glow, and everywhere there seemed to be fire and reflection, and red or golden smoke mingled with a dull throbbing booming sound, which, faintly heard at first, grew louder and louder as the train slackened speed, and the pant and pulsation of the engine ceased. ”

“ One was a great swarthy giant with hardly any face visible for black hair, and to look at he seemed fit for a bandit, but to talk to he was one of the most gentle and amiable of men. He was a smith, and when he was at the anvil he used almost to startle me, he handled a heavy hammer so violently.
I often stood at the door watching him seize a piece of steel with the tongs, whisk it out of the forge with a flourish that sent the white-hot scintillations flying through the place, bang it down on the anvil, and then beat it savagely into the required shape. ”

“ I had a look round the gloomy old place at once, and felt quite a thrill of pride in the faintly glowing furnaces and machinery as I thought of the endless things the place was destined to produce.
“Look here, Cob,” said Uncle Jack, “I shall lie down for three hours, mind; and at the end of that time you are to wake me. It is only nine o’clock now, and you can get over that time with a book. There will be no need to walk round the place.”
“Would Piter warn us, do you think?” I said.
“Oh, yes! It is getting quite a form our being here. The men are toning down.” ”

“ I went back after locking it up and taking out the key, and after opening the window I stood looking out to calm myself, wishing the while that I was right away among the hills far from the noise of whirring stones and shrieking metal. I knew the sun was shining there, and the grass was green, and the view was spread out for miles; while from where I stood there were the great black buildings, the tall shafts, and close beneath me the dam which, in spite of the sunshine, suggested nothing but men coming down from the head on rafts of wood to work some mischief. ”

“ I whispered.
“No,” said Uncle Jack sharply. “If we warn the police the scoundrels will get to know, and no attack will be made.”
“So much the better,” I said. “Isn’t it?”
“No, my lad. If they did not come to-night they would be here some other time when we had not been warned. We are prepared now, so let them come and we may give them such a lesson as shall induce them to leave us in peace for the future.”
“Do you mean to fight, then?” I asked.
“Most decidedly, boy. For our rights, for our place where we win our livelihood. We should be cowards if we did not. ”

“ Who did this cowardly act—was it someone in the neighbourhood, or one of our own men?”
“Yes, who was it?” said Uncle Dick.
“We are all divided in our opinions,” said Uncle Jack.
“One of our own men,” I said; “and Pannell the smith knows who it was.”
“And will he tell?”
“No. I think the men are like schoolboys in that. No one would speak for fear of being thought a sneak.”
“Yes,” said Uncle Dick, “and not only that; in these trades-unions the men are all bound together, as it were, and the one who betrayed the others’ secrets would be in peril of his life.” ”

“ Just then Uncle Jack turned round to me and laid his hand on my shoulder.
“Look here,” he said quietly, as if he were showing me a curiosity, but loud enough for all the men to hear—“down in the south of England, my boy, when a workman is disliked it generally comes to a settlement with fists, and there is a fair, honest, stand-up fight. Down here in Arrowfield, Jacob, when another workman does something to offend his fellows—”
“Traäde,” shouted a voice.
“To offend his fellow-workmen,” repeated Uncle Jack. ”

“ I said.
“Oh yes, but we will!” said Uncle Jack.
“Not give up and go like cowards?”
“I don’t think we shall, Cob,” said Uncle Jack laughing. “No; we’re in the right and they are in the wrong. We’ve got a strong tower to fight in and defend ourselves; they’ve got to attack us here, and I think they’ll be rather badly off if they do try anything more serious.”
“This has been bad enough,” said Uncle Bob. “You did not fully understand how narrow an escape Cob had.”
And he related all.
“The scoundrels!” said Uncle Jack, grinding his teeth. ”

“ Piter rubbed his great head against me and whined softly.
“Don’t care for rats?” I said. “All right, old fellow. I forgot that you were a bull-dog and did not care for anything smaller than a bull, unless it were a man.”
I stood listening for a few minutes longer, wondering whether some of the sounds I could hear down by the stonework were made by eels, and, recalling what Gentles had said, I determined that some evening I would have a try for the slimy fellows either down below the great water-wheel or out of the office-window, where I could drop a line into the deepest part of the dam. ”

“ I mean to turn your works into a fort to defend yourselves against your enemies.”
“My dear sir,” said Uncle Jack, “we haven’t an enemy in the world.”
“Not at the present moment, sir, I’ll be bound,” said Mr Tomplin, taking snuff, and then blowing his nose so violently that I wondered he did not have an accident with it and split the sides. “Not at the present moment, gentlemen; but as soon as it is known that you are going to introduce new kinds of machinery, our enlightened townsmen will declare you are going to take the bread out of their mouths and destroy everything you make.” ”

“ Uncle Jack said I was the most stupid.
Uncle Bob said I was the most ignorant.
But we were the best of friends all the same.
And now after a great deal of discussion with my father, and several visits, my three uncles were seated at the table, and I had asked them about Arrowfield, and you have read their answers.
I attacked them again.
“Oh, I say,” I cried, “don’t talk to a fellow as if he were a little boy! Come, Uncle Dick, what sort of a place is Arrowfield?”
“Land of fire.”
“Oh!” I cried. “Is it, Uncle Jack?”
“Land of smoke.”
“Land of fire and smoke!” I cried excitedly. ”

“ I cried as I lifted poor Piter’s head in my hand and stroked it.
“Glad it was that which made the poor brute silent. I thought he had turned useless through his not giving the alarm.”
“Can’t we do something, uncle?” I cried.
“I’m thinking, Cob,” he replied, “it’s not an easy thing to give dogs antidotes, and besides we don’t know what he has taken. Must be some narcotic though. I know what we’ll do. Here, carry him down to the dam.”
A number of the workmen were looking on stolidly and whispering to one another as if interested in what we were going to do about the dog. ”

“ I said, “there’s poor Pannell; he saved me, and he has just shown us that he is too faithful to his fellow-workmen to betray them.”
Uncle Jack laid his hand upon my shoulder and gave it a hearty grip.
“You’re right, my lad,” he said. “You’re the better philosopher after all. There’s good and bad, and like so many more I think of the bad and overlook the good. But all the same, Cob, I’m very uneasy. These men have a spiteful feeling against you, and we shall not be doing right if we trust you out of our sight again.” ”

“ I went down into the smithy, where Pannell was at work, and as I entered the place he looked for a moment from the glowing steel he was hammering into a shape, to which it yielded as if it had been so much tough wax, and then went on again as if I had not been there.
His kitten was a little more friendly, though, for it ran from the brickwork of the forge, leaped on to a bench behind me, and bounded from that on to my back, and crept to my shoulder, where it could rub its head against my ear.
“Well, Pannell,” I said, “you’ve heard about the cowardly trick done in the shops?” ”

“ So said Uncle Dick.
“All the men are not against you,” I said. “Look at Pannell! He has come round, and,” I added, with a laugh that hurt me horribly, “I shall have some of the boys come round and help me.”
“The young scoundrels!” cried Uncle Bob. Pat—that was his fist coming down into his hand. “The young scoundrels!”
“Well, you’ve said that twenty times at least, Bob,” said Uncle Jack.
“Enough to make me!” said Uncle Bob sharply. “The young scoundrels!” Pat.
“I only wish I’d been there with a good handy riding-whip,” said Uncle Jack. ”

“ He strode out of the place and banged the door after him; and as he went along the shop I could see him in imagination staring defiantly from side to side, in answer to the savage murmur that greeted him from the men whom he had made up his mind to defy.
“What do you think of that?” said Uncle Dick, as soon as we heard the farther door close with a crash.
“It’s the beginning of the end,” said Uncle Jack with an eager look in his eyes. “Keep firm, boys, and we shall have them all honestly on our side, and we can laugh at all trades-unions in Arrowfield that fight with cowardly weapons. ”

“ Uncle Bob smiled at once.
“Look here,” said Uncle Dick sharply, “some of you men can make shift by tying or binding your bands till they are properly done.”
“Ay, mester,” came in a growl, and shortly after the sound of steel being ground upon the sharply-spinning stones was heard. An hour later a couple of men were fitting bands to some of the wheels, and mending others by lacing them together.
I was standing watching them as they fitted a new band to Gentles’ wheel, while he stood with his bared arms folded, very eager to begin work again. ”

“ Of course I know how that I was a mere bungler, and clumsy, and slow in the extreme; but at the time I felt as if I must be very clever, and there was something very satisfactory in seeing a blackened hammered blade fresh from the forge turn bright and clean in my hands, while the edge grew sharp and even.
It was playing with edged tools with a vengeance, but I did not understand it then.
Chapter Twelve. Pannell’s Secret.
Every day the works grew more busy, and prosperity seemed to be coming upon us like sunshine. ”

“ I cried, as we were entering the door; “there’s something wrong,” for I heard a rustling noise and a dull thud as if someone had jumped down from a little height.
At the same moment we found out how useful Piter was going to be, for he started off with a furious rush, barking tremendously, and as we followed him to the end of the yard we were in time for a scuffle, a savage burst of expressions, and then my heart, which had been throbbing furiously, seemed to stand still, for there was a howl, a tremendous splash, then silence.
“Quick, boys!” cried Uncle Jack. “Here, join hands. ”