THE ENGINEER'S THUMB.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XX, Issue 45, 26 August 1892, Page 27

THE ENGINEER'S THUMB.

(By A, Cohan Dotls.) (Continued.) " A feeling of repulsion and of something akin to fear bad begun to rise within me at the strange antics of this flesbless man. Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me ftom showing my impatience. " ' I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I ; 'my time is of valu?.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the words came to my lips. " ' How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit yon V he asked. "< Most admirably.' " • I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commieaion as that?' " ' The work appears to be light, and the pay munificent.' " ' Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last train.' "'Whereto?' "' To Eyfor i, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Beading. There is a train from Paddington which would bring you in there at about 11.16.' '• ' Very good.' " • I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' " • There is a drive, then V " • Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good seven miles from Eyford station.' "'" ' Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there would be no chance cf a train back. 1 should be compelled to stop the night.' " ' Yes, we could easily give you a shakedown.' " ' That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more con* venient hour V "' We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to recompense yon for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a youDg and unknown man, a fee which wonld buy an opinion from the very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would like to draw ont of the business, there is plenty of time to do so.' " I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they would be to me. ' Not at all,' said I, ' I Bhall be very happy to accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to understand a little more clearly what it ia that you wish me to do.' " ' Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which we have exacted from you aroused your furiosity. I have no wish to commit ycu to anything without your having it all laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from eavesdroppers ?' "• Entirely. 1 " ' Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that Fuller's earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found in one or two places in England ?' " ' I have heard eo.' " ' Some little time ago I bought a small place — a very small place— within ten miles of Beading. I was fortunate enough to discover that there was a deposit of Fuller's earth in one of my fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two very much larger ones upon the right and the left— both of them however, in the ground of my neighbours. These good people were absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was quite

m valuable aa * gold mine. Naturally, it was to my interest to buy their land before they discovered its trne value ; but, unfortunately, I bad no capital by which I could do this. I took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little deposit, and that in this way we should earn the money wbioh would enable us to buy tbe neighbouring fields. This we have now been doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already explained, has got out of order, aod we wish your advice npon the subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our little boose it wonld soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you promise that yon will not tell a human being that you are going to Eyford to-night I hope that I make it all plain V H ' I quite follow you,' said I. ' The only point which I could not quite understand was what nse yon could make of a hydraulic press in excavating Fnller's earth, which, as I understand, is dug out like gravel from a pit.' " ' Ah,' said he, carelessly, *we have our own process. We compress the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken yon fully into my confidence now, Mr Hatherley, and I have shown yoa bow I trust yon.' He rose as be spoke, ' I shall expect you then at Eyeford at 11.15.' " * I shall certainly be there.' 11 ' And not a word to any soul.' He looked at me with a last long, questioning gare, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank grasp, he hurried from the room. " Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission which had been entrusted to me. On the other hand, of course, I was glad, for the fee was at least ten-fold what I should have asked had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon me, and I could not think that his explanation of the Fuller's earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my coming at midnight, and bis extreme anxiety lest I should tell anyone of my errand. However, I tbrew all fears to the winds, ate a hearty sapper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having obeyed to tbe letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. 14 At Beading I had to change not only «ay carriage but my station. However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I reached the little dim-lit station after 11 o'clock. I was the only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the platform save a single sleepy poiter with a lantern. As I passed out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either side, tapped on the woodwork, and away he went as hard as tbe horse could go." " ' One horse ? ' interjected Holmes. •"Yep, only one.' " ' Did you observe the colour ? ' " • Yes, I caw it by the sidelights when I was stepping into the carriage. It was a chestnut.' '• ' Tired-looking or fresh 1 ' '"Ob, fresh and glossy.' 11 « Thank you. lam eorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue your most interesting statement.' 41 Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel Lysauder Stark bad said that it was only seven miles, but I should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the time we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware more thtn once when I glanced in bis direction that he was looking at me with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we were but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make oat nothing save tha occasional blue blur of a passing light. Now and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of tbe journey but tbe Colonel answered in monosyllables and the conversation soon nagged. At last, however, the bumping of the road was exchanged for tbe crisp imootbness of a gravel drive and the carriage came to a Btand. Colonel Stark sprang ont, and*, as I followed him, pulled me swiftly into a porch which gaped in front of os. We Btepped, as it were, right oat of the carriage into the hall, so that I failed to catch tbe most netting glance of the front of the house. The instant that I had crossed tbe threshold the door slammed heavily behind us and I beard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage drove away. 14 It was pitch dark inside the house and the Colonel fumbled abont looking for matches and muttering under his breath. Suddenly a dooi opened at the other end of the passage and a long,

golden bar of light ahot out in our direetlon. It grew broader and a woman appeared with a lamp in her band, which the held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. I could Me that she waa pretty and from the gloss with which the Ijght shone npon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich material. Bhe spoke a few words in a foreign tone as though asking a question and when my companion answered in a gruff monosyllable, she gave such a start that the lamp nearly fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went np to her, whispered something in her ear, and then pushing her back into the room from whence she had oome, be walked toward me again with the lamp in his hand. ' Perhaps yon will have the kindness to wait in this room for a few minutes,' he said, throwing open another door. It was a qnlet, little, plainly-furnished room, with a round table in the centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel Btark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium besidetthe door. 'I shall not keep yon waiting an in. stant,' said he, and vanished into the darkness. "I glanced at the books npon the table, and in spite of my ignorance of German I could ace that t*o of them were treatise* on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked aorots to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of the country side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded; across it. It was a wonderfully silent bonse. There was an old olock.tieking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise everything was deadly BtilL A vague feeling of uneasiness began to steal over me. Who were these German psople, and what were they doiog living in this strange, out-of-the-way place t I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was all I knew, but whether north, south, east or west, I bad no idea. For that matter, Beading, and possibly other large towna were within that radius, so the place might not be secluded after all. Yet it was quite certain from the absolute stillness that we were in the country . I paced up and down the room, humming a tune under my breath to keep my spirits up, and feeling that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. 44 Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. Tbe woman was standing in tbe aperture, the darkness of the hall behind her, tbe yellow light of my lamp beating upon her eager and beautiful faoe. I could see at a glance that she was sick with fear, and the sight sent a chill to my heart. She held up one shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few whispered woids of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. " • I would go,' BaH she trying hard, as it seemed to me, to speak calmly ; ' I would go. I should not stay here. There is no good for you to do.' 44 ' But, madam,' said I, < I have not yet done what I came for, I cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' 11 •It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. « You can pass through the door ; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint, and made a step forward, with her hands wrong together. ' For the love of Heaven 1 ' she whispered, • get away from here before it is too late I ' " But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to tngage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I thought of my fifty-guinea fe,-, of my wearisome journey, aod of the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to go for nothing ? Why should I slink away without having carried out my commission, and without the payment which was my doe f This woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I cared to confess, I still shook my head, and dsolared my intention of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps were heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up her bands with a despairing gesture, and vanished, as suddenly and as noiselessly as she had come, " The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick mt»n with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of bis double chin, who was introduced to me as Mr Ferguson. " ' This is my secretary and manager,' said tbe Colonel. 'By the nay, I was under the impression that I left this door shut jast now. I fear that you have felt the draught. " ' On tbe contrary,' said I, ' I opened the door myself, because I felt the room to be a little close.' "He shot one of his suspicious glances at me. * Perhaps we bad better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr Ferguson acd I will take you np to see tbe machine.' " ' I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' " ' Oh, no, it is in the home.' 44 • What, you dig Fuller's earth in the house V 44 ' No, no. This is only where we compress it. Bnt never mind that ! All we wish you to do is to examine the machine, and to let us know what is wrong with it.' '•We went upstairs together, the Colonel first with tbe lamp, the fat manager, and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house,

with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases and little low doon, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets, and no signß of any fnrnitore above the ground floor, while the plaster was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in green unhealthy blotches. I tried to pat on as unconcerned an air as possible, bnt I had not forgotten the warnings of the lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent man, but I could see from a little that he laid that he was at least a fellow-countryman. 11 Colonel Lyßander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which he unlocked. Withio was a small square room, in which the three of vi could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, and the Colonel uibered me in. "'" ' We arc now," said he, ' actually within the hydraulic press, and it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if any one were to torn it on. Tbe ceiling of this small chamber is really the end of tbe descending piston, and it comes down with the force of many tons upon the metal floor. There are small lateral columns of water outtide which receive the force, and which transmit and multiply it in the manner which is familar to yon. The machine goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in tbe working of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps yoa will have the goodness to look it over, and to show us how we can set it tight.' " I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of exercising enormous pressure. Whenever I passed outside, however, and pressed down the levers which control led it, 1 knew at once that the whishing •ound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was round the head of a driving rod had shrunk so as not quite to fill the socket along which it worked. This was cle*rly the cause of tbe loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who followed my remarks very carefully, and asked several practical questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I had made it clear to them, 1 returned to the main chamber of the machine, and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. It was obvious at a glance that the story of tbe Fuller's earth was the merest fabrication, for it would be absard to suppose that so powerful an engine could be designed for bo inadequate a purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a large iron trough, and when 1 came to examine it I could see a crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had Btooped and was scraping at this to see exactly what it was, when I heard a muttered exclamation in German, and saw the cadaverous face of the Colonel looking down at me. " ' What are yon doing there V he asked. " I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as that which he had told me. ' I was admiring your Fuller's earth,' said I. • I think that I should better able to advise you as to your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it was used.' {To be concluded in our next.)