Through by Daylight by Oliver Optic

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.

"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.