did not know our
steps till the key was rattled in the gate. Then he stopped at once and
gave himself a shake and whined.

It was growing dusk as we walked round the yard, to find everything
quite as it should be. A look upstairs and down showed nothing
suspicious; and after a few words regarding keeping a sharp look-out and
the like we left the watchers of the night and walked back.

"Cob," said Uncle Jack as we sat over our supper, "I don't like those
two poor fellows being left there by themselves."

"Neither do I, uncle," I said. "Why not give up watching the place and
let it take its chance?"

"Because we had such an example of the safety of the place and the
needlessness of the task?"

"Don't be hard on me, uncle," I said quickly. "I meant that it would be
better to suffer serious loss than to have someone badly injured in
defending the place."

"You're right, Cob--quite right," cried Uncle Jack, slapping the table.
"Here, you make me feel like a boy. I believe you were born when you
were an old man."

"Nonsense!" I said, laughing.

"But you don't talk nonsense, sir. What are you--a fairy changeling?
Here, let's go down to the works."

"Go down?" I said.

"To be sure. I couldn't go to bed to-night and sleep. I should be
thinking that those two poor fellows were being blown up, or
knob-sticked, or turned out. We'll have them back and leave Piter to
take care of the works, and give him a rise in his wages."

"Of an extra piece of meat every day, uncle?"

"If you had waited a few minutes longer, sir, I should have said that,"
he replied, laughing; and taking his hat and stick we went down the
town, talking about the curious vibrations and throbbings we could hear;
of the heavy rumbling and the flash and glow that came from the
different works. Some were so lit up that it seemed as if the windows
were fiery eyes staring out of the darkness, and more than once we
stopped to gaze in at some cranny where furnaces were kept going night
and day and the work never seemed to stop.

As we left the steam-engine part behind, the solitary stillness of our
district seemed to be more evident; and though we passed one policeman,
I could not help thinking how very little help we should be able to find
in a case of great emergency.

Uncle Jack had chatted away freely enough as we went on; but as we drew
nearer to the works he became more and more silent, and when we had
reached the lane he had not spok