t back from Baltimore to New York with a few misgivings
as to whether he had not promised too much.

The real fact was he had gotten a patent on his engine before he had put
it to an actual test. He had made the engine, but now he must make a
boiler in which to generate the steam to make the wheels go round. This
boiler he made and riveted with his own hands. It stood upright and was
as high as his shoulder. It had a furnace beneath. It contained no
tubes, and the proposition was to fill it half-full of water and then
boil this water.

It took three weeks to make the boiler. It was about as big as the tank
in an average kitchen-range. There were no water-gauges or steam-gauges.
The engineer had to guess as to the pressure he was carrying.

When the boiler was complete, the great difficulty was how to carry the
steam from the boiler to the engine. There were no wrought-iron pipes
then made or sold in America. Cooper took a couple of muskets and used
the barrels for pipes to connect his boiler and engine. These were duly
soldered into place. The engine and boiler were then placed on a small,
flat-top wagon and bolted down. The engine had a wheel which projected
over the side, and an endless chain was run over the projecting hub of
the wagon.

Peter experimented and found that the water in the boiler would last one
hour; then the fire would have to be drawn, and the boiler cooled and
refilled. He tried the engine and it worked, but there was no railroad
upon which to try the wagon until the machine was taken down to
Baltimore. A team was hitched to the wagon, and the drive was made to
Baltimore in three days.

Peter placed his wagon with its flange-wheels on the track and pushed it
up and down along the rail. It fitted the track all right. He then went
back to his hotel with the two boys who were helping him. After the boys
were abed, he sneaked off in the darkness, filled up his boiler, screwed
down the top, and fired up. It was a moment of intense excitement. He
turned on the steam--the wheels revolved--then the thing stuck. He had a
pike-pole and using this pushed himself along for a few rods. The
endless chain was working, and the machine was going--flying--almost as
fast as a man could run. And Peter ran the machine back into the barn,
went home and went to bed. He had succeeded. The next day he invited the
President of the road and the Mayor of the City to ride with him.

The machine had to be poled or pushed t