successful.

Dodds was particularly gratified with the manner in which the job had
been done, and he made Stephenson a present of ten pounds, which, though
very inadequate when compared with the value of the work performed, was
accepted with gratitude. George was proud of the gift as the first
marked recognition of his skill as a workman; and he used afterwards to
say that it was the biggest sum of money he had up to that time earned in
one lump. Ralph Dodds, however, did more than this. He released the
brakesman from the handles of his engine at West Moot, and appointed him
engineman at the High Pit, at good wages, during the time the pit was
sinking,--the job lasting for about a year; and he also kept him in mind
for further advancement.

Stephenson's skill as an engine-doctor soon became noised abroad, and he
was called upon to prescribe remedies for all the old, wheezy, and
ineffective pumping-machines in the neighbourhood. In this capacity he
soon left the "regular" men far behind, though they in their turn were
very mach disposed to treat the Killingworth brakesman as no better than
a quack. Nevertheless, his practice was really founded upon a close
study of the principles of mechanics, and on an intimate practical
acquaintance with the details of the pumping-engine.

Another of his smaller achievements in the same line is still told by the
people of the district. At the corner of the road leading to Long
Benton, there was a quarry from which a peculiar and scarce kind of ochre
was taken. In the course of working it out, the water had collected in
considerable quantities; and there being no means of draining it off, it
accumulated to such an extent that the further working of the ochre was
almost entirely stopped. Ordinary pumps were tried, and failed; and then
a windmill was tried, and failed too. On this, George was asked what
ought to be done to clear the quarry of the water. He said, "he would
set up for them an engine little bigger than a kail-pot, that would clear
them out in a week." And he did so. A little engine was speedily
erected, by means of which the quarry was pumped dry in the course of a
few days. Thus his skill as a pump-doctor soon became the marvel of the
district.

In elastic muscular vigour, Stephenson was now in his prime, and he still
continued to be zealous in measuring his strength and agility with his
fellow workmen. The competitive element in his nature was always stron