An engine, then, running down that grade at the
immense rapidity practicable there, would take the switch
with its full speed, would fly the ravine at precisely
the proper slopes, and, if the switch had been
rightly aligned, would land on the similar switch at the
lower X. It would come down exactly right on the track,
as you sit precisely on a chair when you know exactly how
high it is.
"If." And why should it not be rightly aligned, if
Bill Todhunter himself aligned it? This he was well
disposed to do. He also would align the lower switch,
that at the lower X, that it might receive into its
willing embrace the engine on its arrival.
When the bold engineer had conceived this plan, it
was he who pushed the others on to it, not they who urged
him. They were at work on their daily duty, sometimes
did not meet each other for a day or two. Bill Todhunter
did not see them more than once in a fortnight. But
whenever they did meet, the thing seemed to be taken more
and more for granted. At last Joslyn observed one day,
as he ran down, that there was a large working-party at
the switch above Drums, and he could see Bill Todhunter,
in his broad sombrero, directing them all. Joslyn was
not surprised, somehow, when he came to the lower switch,
to find another working-party there. The next time they
all three met, Bill Todhunter told them that all was
ready if they were.
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