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Patience Wins; or, War in the Works, a novel by George Manville Fenn |
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Chapter 10. "'Night, Mate" |
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_ CHAPTER TEN. "'NIGHT, MATE" As it happened, Mr Tomplin came in that evening, and when he asked how matters were progressing at the works, Uncle Dick looked round and seemed to be asking his brothers whether he should speak. "Ah! I see," said Mr Tomplin; "they have been up to some tricks with you." "Tricks is a mild term," said Uncle Jack bitterly. "They have not tried to blow you up?" "Indeed but they did!" said Uncle Jack fiercely; "and if it had not been for the coolness and bravery of my nephew there the place would have been destroyed." "Tut! Tut! Tut!" ejaculated Mr Tomplin; and putting on his spectacles he stared at me in the most provoking way, making me feel as if I should like to knock his glasses off. "Is it customary for your people here to fire canisters of gunpowder in the workshops of those who are newcomers?" "Sometimes," said Mr Tomplin coolly. "But such things would destroy life." "Well, not always life, my dear sir," said Mr Tomplin, "but very often great bodily injury is done." "Very often?" "Well, no, not very often now, but we have had a great many trade outrages in our time." "But what have we done beyond taking possession of a building for which we have paid a large sum of money?" "It is not what you have done, my dear sirs; it is what you are about to do. The work-people have got it into their heads that you are going to invent some kind of machinery that will throw them out of work." "Nothing of the kind, my dear sir. We are trying to perfect an invention that will bring a vast deal of trade to Arrowfield." "But you will not be able to make them believe that till the business comes." "And before then, I suppose, we are to be killed?" Mr Tomplin looked very serious, and stared hard at me, as if it was all my fault. "My dear sirs," he said at last, "I hardly know how to advise you. It is a most unthankful task to try and invent anything, especially down here. People are so blindly obstinate and wilful that they will not listen to reason. Why not go steadily on with manufacturing in the regular way? What do you say, my young friend?" he added, turning to me. "Why not ask the world to stand still, sir?" I exclaimed impetuously. "I say it's a shame!" He looked very hard at me, and then pursed up his lips, while I felt that I had been speaking very rudely to him, and could only apologise to myself by thinking that irritation was allowable, for only last night we had been nearly blown up. "Would you put the matter in the hands of the police?" said Uncle Dick. "Well, you might," said Mr Tomplin. "But you would not," said Uncle Bob. "No, I don't think I should, if it were my case. I should commence an action for damages if I could find an enemy who had any money, but it is of no use fighting men of straw." Mr Tomplin soon after went away, and I looked at my uncles, wondering what they would say. But as they did not speak I broke out with: "Why, he seemed to think nothing of it." "Custom of the country," said Uncle Bob, laughing. "Come, Dick, it's our turn now." "Right!" said Uncle Dick; but Uncle Jack laid hold of his shoulder. "Look here," he said. "I don't like the idea of you two going down there." "No worse for us than for you," said Uncle Bob. "Perhaps not, but the risk seems too great." "Never mind," said Uncle Dick. "I'm not going to be beaten. It's war to the knife, and I'm not going to give up." "They are not likely to try anything to-night," said Uncle Bob. "There, you two can walk down with us and look round to see if everything is all right and then come back." "Don't you think you ought to have pistols?" said Uncle Jack. "No," replied Uncle Dick firmly. "We have our sticks, and the dog, and we'll do our best with them. If a pistol is used it may mean the destruction of a life, and I would rather give up our adventure than have blood upon our hands." "Yes, you are right," said Uncle Jack. "If bodily injury or destruction is done let them have the disgrace on their side." We started off directly, and I could not help noticing how people kept staring at my uncles. It was not the respectably-dressed people so much as the rough workmen, who were hanging about with their pipes, or standing outside the public-house doors. These scowled and talked to one another in a way that I did not like, and more than once I drew Uncle Dick's attention to it, but he only smiled. "We're strangers," he said. "They'll get used to us by and by." There was not a soul near the works as we walked up to the gate and were saluted with a furious fit of barking from Piter, who did not know our steps till the key was rattled in the gate. Then he stopped at once and gave himself a shake and whined. It was growing dusk as we walked round the yard, to find everything quite as it should be. A look upstairs and down showed nothing suspicious; and after a few words regarding keeping a sharp look-out and the like we left the watchers of the night and walked back. "Cob," said Uncle Jack as we sat over our supper, "I don't like those two poor fellows being left there by themselves." "Neither do I, uncle," I said. "Why not give up watching the place and let it take its chance?" "Because we had such an example of the safety of the place and the needlessness of the task?" "Don't be hard on me, uncle," I said quickly. "I meant that it would be better to suffer serious loss than to have someone badly injured in defending the place." "You're right, Cob--quite right," cried Uncle Jack, slapping the table. "Here, you make me feel like a boy. I believe you were born when you were an old man." "Nonsense!" I said, laughing. "But you don't talk nonsense, sir. What are you--a fairy changeling? Here, let's go down to the works." "Go down?" I said. "To be sure. I couldn't go to bed to-night and sleep. I should be thinking that those two poor fellows were being blown up, or knob-sticked, or turned out. We'll have them back and leave Piter to take care of the works, and give him a rise in his wages." "Of an extra piece of meat every day, uncle?" "If you had waited a few minutes longer, sir, I should have said that," he replied, laughing; and taking his hat and stick we went down the town, talking about the curious vibrations and throbbings we could hear; of the heavy rumbling and the flash and glow that came from the different works. Some were so lit up that it seemed as if the windows were fiery eyes staring out of the darkness, and more than once we stopped to gaze in at some cranny where furnaces were kept going night and day and the work never seemed to stop. As we left the steam-engine part behind, the solitary stillness of our district seemed to be more evident; and though we passed one policeman, I could not help thinking how very little help we should be able to find in a case of great emergency. Uncle Jack had chatted away freely enough as we went on; but as we drew nearer to the works he became more and more silent, and when we had reached the lane he had not spoken for fully ten minutes. Eleven o'clock was striking and all seemed very still. Not a light was visible on that side, and the neighbouring works were apparently quite empty as we stood and listened. "Let's walk along by the side of the dam, Cob," said Uncle Jack. "I don't suppose we shall see anything, but let's have a look how the place seems by night." I followed close behind him, and we passed under the one gas lamp that showed the danger of the path to anyone going along; for in the darkness there was nothing to prevent a person from walking right into the black dam, which looked quite beautiful and countrified now, spangled all over, as it was, with the reflections of the stars. I was going to speak, but Uncle Jack raised his hand for me to be silent, and I crept closer to him, wondering what reason he had for stopping me; and then he turned and caught my arm, for we had reached the end of the dam where it communicated with the river. Just then two men approached, and one said to the other: "Tell 'ee, they changes every night. Sometimes it's one and the boy, sometimes two on 'em together. The boy was there last night, and-- Hullo! 'Night, mate!" "'Night!" growled Uncle Jack in an assumed voice as he slouched down and gave me a shake. "Coom on, wilt ta!" he said hoarsely; and I followed him without a word. "I tried it, Cob," he whispered as we listened to the retreating steps of the men. "I don't think they knew us in the dark." "They were talking about us," I said. "Yes; that made me attempt to disguise my voice. Here, let's get back. Hark! There's the dog. Quick! Something may be wrong." We set off at a trot in the direction that the men had taken, but we did not pass them, for they had gone down to their right; but there was no doubt existing that the affairs at the works were well known and that we were surrounded by enemies; and perhaps some of them were busy now, for Jupiter kept on his furious challenge, mingling it with an angry growl, that told of something being wrong. _ |
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