said Mr Sharp, as he and young Gurwood entered a carriage
together, after having seen John Marrot placed on a pile of rugs on the
floor of a first-class carriage; "there's been work brewin' up for me
to-night."

"How? What do you mean?" asked Edwin.

"I mean that, from various indications which I observed this evening, we
are likely to have some little correspondence with the passengers of the
6:30 p.m. train. However, we're used to it; perhaps we'll get not to
mind it in course of time. We do all that we can to accommodate the
public--fit up our carriages and stations in the best style compatible
with giving our shareholders a small dividend--carry them to and fro
over the land at little short of lightning speed, every day and all day
and night too, for extremely moderate fares, and with excessive safety
and exceeding comfort; enable them to live in the country and do
business in the city, as well as afford facilities for visiting the very
ends of the earth in a few days; not to mention other innumerable
blessings to which we run them, or which we run _to_ them, and yet no
sooner does a rare accident occur (as it _will_ occur in every human
institution, though it occurs less on railways than in most other
institutions) than down comes this ungrateful public upon us with
indignant cries of `disgraceful!' and, in many cases, unreasonable
demands for compensation."

"Such is life," said Gurwood with a smile.

"On the rail," added Mr Superintendent Sharp with a sigh, as the
whistle sounded and the train moved slowly out of the station.

CHAPTER SIX.

HISTORY OF THE IRON HORSE.

Having gone thus far in our tale, permit us, good reader, to turn aside
for a little to make a somewhat closer inspection of the Iron Horse and
his belongings.

Railways existed long before the Iron Horse was born. They sprang into
being two centuries ago in the form of tramways, which at first were
nothing more or less than planks or rails of timber laid down between
the Newcastle-on-Tyne collieries and the river, for the purpose of
forming a better "way" over which to run the coal-trucks. From simple
timber-rails men soon advanced to planks having a strip of iron nailed
on their surface to prevent too rapid tear and wear, but it was not till
the year 1767 that cast-iron rails were introduced. In order to prevent
the trucks from slipping off the line the rails were cast with an
upright flange or guide at one side, and were laid