Patience Wins: War in the Works

by George Manville Fenn

  CHAPTER TEN.

  "'NIGHT, MATE."

  As it happened, Mr Tomplin came in that evening, and when he asked howmatters were progressing at the works, Uncle Dick looked round andseemed to be asking his brothers whether he should speak.

  "Ah! I see," said Mr Tomplin; "they have been up to some tricks withyou."

  "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 beenfor the coolness and bravery of my nephew there the place would havebeen destroyed."

  "Tut! Tut! Tut!" ejaculated Mr Tomplin; and putting on his spectacleshe stared at me in the most provoking way, making me feel as if I shouldlike to knock his glasses off.

  "Is it customary for your people here to fire canisters of gunpowder inthe 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 oftengreat bodily injury is done."

  "Very often?"

  "Well, no, not very often now, but we have had a great many tradeoutrages in our time."

  "But what have we done beyond taking possession of a building for whichwe have paid a large sum of money?"

  "It is not what you have done, my dear sirs; it is what you are about todo. The work-people have got it into their heads that you are going toinvent some kind of machinery that will throw them out of work."

  "Nothing of the kind, my dear sir. We are trying to perfect aninvention that will bring a vast deal of trade to Arrowfield."

  "But you will not be able to make them believe that till the businesscomes."

  "And before then, I suppose, we are to be killed?"

  Mr Tomplin looked very serious, and stared hard at me, as if it was allmy fault.

  "My dear sirs," he said at last, "I hardly know how to advise you. Itis a most unthankful task to try and invent anything, especially downhere. People are so blindly obstinate and wilful that they will notlisten to reason. Why not go steadily on with manufacturing in theregular way? What do you say, my young friend?" he added, turning tome.

  "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 feltthat I had been speaking very rudely to him, and could only apologise tomyself by thinking that irritation was allowable, for only last night wehad 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 anaction for damages if I could find an enemy who had any money, but it isof no use fighting men of straw."

  Mr Tomplin soon after went away, and I looked at my uncles, wonderingwhat 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'sour 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 downthere."

  "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 warto 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 allright 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, andwe'll do our best with them. If a pistol is used it may mean thedestruction of a life, and I would rather give up our adventure thanhave blood upon our hands."

  "Yes, you are right," said Uncle Jack. "If bodily injury or destructionis done let them have the disgrace on their side."

  We started off directly, and I could not help noticing how people keptstaring 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 thepublic-house doors. These scowled and talked to one another in a waythat I did not like, and more than once I drew Uncle Dick's attention toit, 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 weresaluted with a furious fit of barking from Piter, who did not know oursteps till the key was rattled in the gate. Then he stopped at once andgave himself a shake and whined.

  It was growing dusk as we walked round the yard, to find everythingquite as it should be. A look upstairs and down showed nothingsuspicious; and after a few words regarding keeping a sharp look-out andthe 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 thosetwo poor fellows being left there by themselves."

  "Neither do I, uncle," I said. "Why not give up watching the place andlet it take its chance?"

  "Because we had such an example of the safety of the place and theneedlessness of the task?"

  "Don't be hard on me, uncle," I said quickly. "I meant that it would bebetter to suffer serious loss than to have someone badly injured indefending 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 youwere 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 bethinking that those two poor fellows were being blown up, orknob-sticked, or turned out. We'll have them back and leave Piter totake 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 thetown, talking about the curious vibrations and throbbings we could hear;of the heavy rumbling and the flash and glow that came from thedifferent works. Some were so lit up that it seemed as if the windowswere fiery eyes staring out of the darkness, and more than once westopped to gaze in at some cranny where furnaces were kept going nightand day and the work never seemed to stop.

  As we left the steam-engine part behind, the solitary stillness of ourdistrict 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 findin a case of great emergency.

  Uncle Jack had chatted away freely enough as we went on; but as we drewnearer to the works he became more and more silent, and when we hadreached the lane he had not spoken for fully ten minutes.

  Eleven o'clock was striking and all seemed very still. Not a light wasvisible on that side, and the neighbouring works were apparently quiteempty as we stood and listened.

  "Let's walk along by the side of the dam, Cob," said Uncle Jack. "Idon't suppose we shall see anything, but let's have a look how the placeseems by night."

  I followed close behind him, and we passed under the one gas lamp thatshowed the danger of the path to anyone going along; for in the darknessthere was nothing to prevent a person from walking right into the blackdam, which looked quite beautiful and countrified now, spangled allover, as it was, with the reflections of the stars.

  I was going to speak, but Uncle Jack raised his hand for me to besilent, and I crept closer to him, wondering what reason he had forstopping me; and then he turned and caught my arm, for we had reachedthe 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 andgave me a shake. "Coom on, wilt ta!" he said hoarsely; and I followedhim without a word.

  "I tried it, Cob," he whispered as we listened to the retreating stepsof 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 didnot pass them, for they had gone down to their right; but there was nodoubt existing that the affairs at the works were well known and that wewere surrounded by enemies; and perhaps some of them were busy now, forJupiter kept on his furious challenge, mingling it with an angry growl,that told of something being wrong.