isting.

Edwin, comprehending the case, dashed down the steps and followed the
cab; but he might as well have followed the proverbial needle in the
haystack. Hundreds of cabs, carts, busses, and waggons were passing the
Clarendon. He assaulted and stopped four wrong cabs, endured a deal of
chaff, and finally returned to the hotel discomfited.

Thus suddenly was Mrs Durby bereft of her treasure and thrown into
abject despair. While in this condition she partially unbosomed herself
to Captain Lee, and, contrary to strict orders, revealed all she knew
about the embarrassments of Mrs Tipps, carefully concealing, however,
the nature of the contents of her lost parcel, and the real object of
her journey to London.

One more paragraph in regard to this eventful trip of the "Flying
Dutchman" ere we have done with the subject.

Having finished his journey, John Marrot took his iron steed to the
stable. Usually his day's work terminated at Clatterby; but, owing to
the horse being in need of extra rest he had to stop in London that
night. And no wonder that the _Lightning_ was sometimes fatigued, for
even an ordinary express engine on the Grand National Trunk Railway was
wont to run over 270 miles of ground in a day, at the rate of about
forty-five miles an hour, and with a dead weight of 120 tons, more or
less, at her tail. This she did regularly, with two "shed-days," or
days of rest, in the week for cleansing and slight repairs. Such an
engine was considered to do good service if it ran 250 days in the year.
But the engine of the "Flying Dutchman" was more highly favoured than
other engines--probably on the ground of the principle taught by the
proverb, "It is the pace that kills." Its regular run was 1,544 miles
in the day, and assuredly it stood in need of repose and refreshment
quite as much as ordinary horses do. Its joints had become relaxed with
severe labour, its bolts had been loosened, its rubbing surfaces,
despite the oil poured so liberally on them by Will Garvie, had become
heated. Some of them, unequally expanded, strained and twisted; its
grate-bars and fire-box had become choked with "clinkers," and its tubes
charged with coke.

John therefore ran it into the huge shed or stable prepared for the
reception of twenty-four iron horses, and handed it over to a set of
cleaners or grooms. These immediately set to work; they cleaned out its
fire-box, scraped its grate-bars, tightened all its bolts and ri