y with his gages and oil-can, gave one look up the road and
went on with his labors. In a few moments the jangling beat of many
bells throbbed on the frosty air. As if answering a challenge, the
locomotive's escape valve shot up its hissing volume of steam.

"We are very nearly ready, gentlemen!" called Parker. He gave an order
to his volunteer fireman, and suggested that intending passengers get
aboard the sleds.

"I'll sound the whistle," said he. "There may be some still waiting up
at the store."

The whistle shrieks were many and prolonged. The horse, speeding down
the lake, was only a few rods away. He stopped, crouched, and dodged
sidewise in terror. An old man stood up and began to belabor the
frightened animal.

He was a queer figure, that old man, in the high-backed, high-fender
sleigh. On his head was a tall peaked fur cap, with a barred coon tail
flopping at its apex. A big fur coat, also covered with coon tails, made
the man's figure almost Brobdingnagian in circumference. It was Colonel
Gideon Ward.

CHAPTER FIVE--HOW COLONEL GIDEON WAS BACKED DOWN FOR THE FIRST TIME IN
HIS LIFE

Above the purple knobs on his cheekbones Colonel Gideon Ward's little
gray eyes snapped malevolently. He roared as he lashed at his trembling
horse. The animal dodged and backed and stubbornly refused to advance
on the strange thing that was pouring white clouds into the air and
uttering fearful cries.

At last the horse reared, stood upright and fell upon its side,
splintering the thills. Several of the men ran forward, but before the
animal could scramble to its feet Ward leaped out, tied its forelegs
together with the reins, and left it floundering in the snow. Then
he came forward with his great whip in his hand. The crowd drew aside
apprehensively, and he tramped straight up to the locomotive.

"What do ye mean," he roared, "by having engines out here to scare
hosses into conniptions? Take that thing off this lake and put it back
on the railroad tracks up there where it belongs!" He shook his fists
over his shoulder in the direction of the distant embankment.

"You will observe," said Parker, blandly, "that there is some twenty
inches difference between the gage of the wheels and the gage--"

"I don't care that"--and Colonel Ward snapped the great whip--"for your
gages and your gouges! Take that engine off this ro'd."

"I don't care to discuss the matter," returned Parker, quietly. "I am
busy about my own a