Oliver Optic

“ 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. ”

“ I knew what the bottom of the lake was at the Middleport wharf, for I had been down there more than once. It was composed of hard gravel, and almost as smooth as the surface of the lake in a calm day. I knew that the flanges of the car wheels would cut into the ground and make it go hard and they would run as well there as on a hard road.
“Go ahead!” said Captain Underwood to the engineer.
“Steady, captain! Work her up gradually,” I added.
The wheels turned slowly at first, so as not to part the tow-line, or needlessly wrench the sunken car; but in a few moments she had full steam on. ”

“ As no one came to comfort him, Mr. Waddie roared till he was tired of roaring—till the breath came back to his body, and the full measure of ugliness came back to his mind. He got up. He walked down to the side of the canal boat, where the honest captain was sitting composedly on his stool. Mr. Waddie stormed furiously; Mr. Waddie even swore violently. Mr. Waddie inquired, in heated terms, if the honest skipper knew who he was.
The honest skipper did not care who he was. He was an “unlicked cub.” No man or boy should insult his “darter” without as heavy a thrashing as he felt able to give him ”

“ I only know they feel very bad about the Lake Shore Railroad over there.”
“They will feel worse before we get through with it,” replied the magnate, shaking his head. “What can they do? They can’t build a railroad, the country is so rough. We can keep ahead of them now. But I want that dummy in motion. You must run it every half hour for the rest of the day between Middleport and Spangleport. Carry everybody who wishes to ride. I want the Centreport people to see it, and to know that we are alive on this side.” ”

“ I was disgusted with the description, and I shuddered the more when I saw that my father was interested in it, and that he cast longing glances at the queer-shaped bottle. I had heard that my father lost his situation at the town on the Hudson by drinking to excess, and I trembled lest the old appetite should be revived in him. If he had been a man like Christy Holgate I should not have trembled, as I viewed the case, for he had drunk liquor all his lifetime to moderation, and no one had ever known him to be intoxicated. ”

“ When a man insults me, he has to pay for it,” said Waddie, shaking his head to emphasize his strong declarations.
“Yes; and I shall have to pay for it too,” muttered the colonel, who felt very much as the man did who had to pay his wife’s fine after he had prosecuted her for an assault upon himself.
“No matter for that; I am revenged,” added Waddie, coolly. “I only said that Wolf showed me how to do it, and pulled the string when all was ready.”
“That’s enough,” replied the father.
I understood the magnate of Centreport well enough to comprehend his position. ”

“ CHAPTER VII. THE VIAL OF WRATH.
I was both amazed and confounded when it was ascertained that the pocket-book did not contain the money. From the depth of despair my father and myself had gone up to the pinnacle of hope, when the treasure was supposed to be found; and now we fell back into a deeper gulf than that into which we had first fallen. Those with whom money is plenty cannot understand the greatness of my father’s loss. ”

“ Besides, he struck the planks, whereof the pier was composed, so heavily, that the shock jounced from his body almost all the breath which had not been expended [18] in the gust of passion preceding the final catastrophe.
The scion lay on the pier like a branch detached from the parent tree; for if he realized anything in that moment of defeat and disaster, it was that not even his father’s influence had, on this occasion, saved him from deserved retribution. He must have felt for the instant like one alone in the world. Mr. Waddie was ugly, as I have before suggested. ”

“ I do try to have a Christian spirit, mother. I haven’t anything against Waddie or his father. If I could do a kindness to either one of them this minute, I would do it. But I don’t think a fellow must be a milksop in order to be a Christian. I [122] don’t think the gospel requires me to be a toady, or even to submit to injustice when I can help myself. I don’t ask to be revenged, or anything of that sort; I only desire to keep my head out of the dirt. ”

“ The sons of poor men had to stand back, and take off their hats to the scion of either family. Fathers’ situations and mothers’ social positions depended much upon the deference paid by their children to the representatives of the nabobs.
“Where shall I land you, Wolf?” asked Tommy, as the sail-boat approached the wharf, near which the dummy reposed, ignominiously, on the bottom of the lake.
“Put me on board of the tow-boat, if you please. And you must get the captain to do what I tell him,” I replied.
“I’ll do that. He shall obey your orders just as though you were the owner of the steamer.” ”

“ Even as a boy I prided myself on my promptness in action. The present seemed to be a moment when it was my duty to cast out an evil spirit. I took the bottle to the gangway, where there was a large scupper-hole to let the water run off when the decks were washed down. Into this I emptied the contents of the “vial of wrath.” The fiery liquid ran through and mingled with the clear waters of the lake. Having no spite against the bottle, I returned it to the locker in the engine-room, rather to save my father the trouble of looking for it than because I had any regard for its preservation. ”

“ It would be an hour before the train arrived, whose passengers the steamer was to convey up the lake, and I trembled for the safety of my father and of the large sum of money he had in his pocket.
It seems very strange to me, and I dare say it has seemed so to others, that some men, when they have the greatest work of their lifetime in hand, or are pressed down by the heaviest responsibility that ever weighed upon them, choose this very time to get intoxicated. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Finally, the colonel, after passing us a dozen times, halted before my father.
“I suppose you have come over to bid on the place, Ralph,” said he.
“No, sir; I have nothing to back my bid with,” replied my father, meekly.
“You had better bid; I don’t think it will bring more than fifteen or twenty dollars over the mortgage,” chuckled the magnate.
“It ought to bring fifteen hundred,” added my father. “I was offered that for it once.”
“You should have taken it. Real estate is very much depressed in the market.” ”

“ We ran into the engine-house, and some of the boys forced their way into my quarters, in spite of my protest. I saw a couple of them studying the machinery with deep interest. They asked me some questions; and supposing they were only gratifying a reasonable curiosity, I gave them all the information they needed, telling them just how to manage the engine.
“Pooh! I can do that as well as anybody,” said Briscoe, as he jumped down.
“Of course you can,” replied one of his companions.
“Don’t you think I could run her, Wolf?” asked Briscoe. ”

“ He was conscious that he had drunk too much, and that this had been the occasion of his misfortune.
I do not know what Christy’s plan was, or how he expected to escape the consequences of his crime. He had easily shaken my father off, and made his escape. However hardly the world had used him, he was certainly more severe upon himself than his tyrant had ever been; for when a man commits a crime, he treats himself worse than any other man can treat him. I could not fathom the villain’s plan in running away with the locomotive. ”

“ The car was still so great a novelty that many people gathered around to examine it. The cushions were now well dried, and though the cloth had suffered somewhat from the effects of the bath, it looked very nice inside of her.
“Have you a watch, Higgins?” I asked of the gentlemanly conductor.
“Yes,” replied he, producing a small gold one.
“We will leave Middleport on the hour, and Spangleport on the half hour,” I added. “I wish I had a watch.”
“Why don’t you have one?”
“I’m not a rich man’s son, and I can’t afford to have such playthings. But I suppose I must get one, if I run on this dummy.” ”

“ I added, gravely. “I think I had better mention the matter to Major Toppleton when I see him.”
“Oh, no; don’t do that,” pleaded Higgins, plaintively. “Between you and me and the smoke-stack of the dummy, I am as well as you are.”
“Precisely so; and I think the major understands your malady, if the principal does not.”
“Don’t say a word this time, and I won’t ‘soger’ any more.”
“It’s none of my business, Higgins, but you are sawing off your own nose, and playing the trick upon yourself. I would be a man and face the music like one, if I were you.” ”

“ The feud waxed fierce and bitter; and henceforth Middleport and Centreport, which had always been twin sisters, were savage foes. The major built a lofty edifice and called it the Toppleton Institute. The colonel, not to be thwarted or outdone, built another on a grander scale, and called it the Wimpleton Institute. Everything that could add to the [90] efficiency and the popularity of the two institutions was liberally supplied; and, as competition is the life of trade, as well in literary as in commercial affairs, both thrived splendidly. ”

“ 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.” ”

“ The dummy was a miracle to me, and I regarded it with the most intense delight. All the Toppletonians, assisted by a few men, were on the shore, busy as bees in transferring the machine to the wharf. Planks had been laid down on which to roll it from the boat, and rigging manned by the students was attached to it, by which it was to be hauled on shore. ”

“ When I came in on the twelve o’clock trip, my father presented himself at the door of the engine-room, his face wreathed in smiles. My mother and sisters were present, for we were now regarded as Middleporters.
“I will take care of this thing for a short time, Wolf, and you may go and see the fun,” said my father.
“I don’t care about going now.”
“Oh, you must go; the people want to see you.”
Thus urged I entered the grove, and found myself [273] before a speaker’s stand, on which Major Toppleton was holding forth to the people.
“Come here, Wolf!” called he. “I want to see you.” ”

“ If a bank, an insurance company, or a sawmill was established in Middleport, another immediately appeared in Centreport; and the converse of the proposition was equally true.
In the midst of this rivalry the Toppleton Institute was vivified by a new idea. The mania for building railroads which pervaded the Northern States invaded the quiet haunts of learning. Many of the students were the sons of prominent railroad men, and Major Toppleton hit upon the magnificent scheme of giving the young gentlemen a railroad education. ”

“ 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 ”

“ I asked.
“The dummy.”
“What’s a dummy?” I inquired; for, with all my study of steam-engines, I had never heard of one.
“It’s a railroad car with an engine in one end of it,” replied the gentleman; and by this time I could make out the form of the thing. “It is for the Lake Shore Railroad. I suppose you have heard that the students of the Toppleton Institute are building a railroad on the shore of the lake.” ”

“ I am very much obliged to the students of the Toppleton Institute for this beautiful gift. A gold watch is something I never expected to have. I didn’t think of anything of this kind when I came in here, and for that reason I was very much surprised. I shall always keep this watch, and, whenever I look at its face, it will remind me of the generous fellows who gave it to me. ”

“ In his depression and despair, the bottle seemed to be his only resource. I have since learned enough of human nature to understand how it was with him. Men in the sunlight of prosperity play with the fiend of the cup. Full of life, full of animal spirits, it is comparatively easy to control the appetite. But when the hour of despondency comes; when depression invades the mind; when earthly possessions elude the grasp—then they flee to the consolations of the cup. ”

“ Good!” shouted the crowd, when I came to the point where I aimed the revolver at Christy in the cab. “Why didn’t you shoot him?”
“When I drew a bead upon him he stopped the engine, and gave up the pocket-book,” I continued, with boyish exhilaration.
“Wolf, you have saved me,” gasped my delighted father; “but I am rather sorry you did not shoot the villain.”
“We are wasting the whole day here,” said the captain of the boat, nervously. “We have no engineer now. Ralph, will you run us up the lake?” ”

“ Christy had proved that he was a villain, [53] and a very mean villain too; but I found it quite impossible to carry my threat into execution. I could reason it out that he deserved to be shot, and as he was running away with my father’s money, and did not stop the engine when I told him to do so, that it would be perfectly right for me to shoot him.
If I had been a bloodthirsty, brutal monster, instead of an ordinary boy of sixteen, with human feelings, I suppose I could have fired the pistol while the muzzle covered the head of the rascal in the cab. ”

“ It was plain to them, after this trial, that a direct assault was not practicable, and they retired to the ground below. Another consultation followed in the ranks of the enemy; and by this time Waddie’s friends were quite as much interested in the affair as he was himself.
“I wish I had my revolver,” said the scion. “Hold on! I will go to the house and get it; you stay here, and don’t let him come down.”
“Oh, no! We don’t want any pistol,” protested Ben Pinkerton. “You mustn’t shoot him!” ”

“ The colonel, more liberal than the negro, went up to thirty-five cents; whereupon the latter advanced another cent, amid the laughter and jeers of the assembly. Thus it continued for some time, the colored man, who had doubtless been engaged to play his part, going up one cent and the great man four. Others occasionally bid a cent or a half-cent more; and half an hour was consumed in windy eloquence by the auctioneer, and in cent and half-cent bids, before the offer reached a dollar.
“One dollar and five cents,” said Colonel Wimpleton, at this point. ”

“ A president, directors, treasurer, and clerk were elected; superintendents, track-masters, baggage-masters, conductors, brakemen, engineers, firemen, switch-tenders, and other officials were duly appointed. At first the railroad was to be an imaginary concern; but the wealthy patron was not content to have the business done on paper only. He purchased sleepers and rails, and the students had [92] actually built five miles of road on the level border of the lake. The dummy engine had been bought, and had been sent by railroad to the head of the lake, and thence to Middleport by a canal boat. ”