r, the gauges, and the safety-valve were inside, the main
portion of the boiler was outside the walls. The blow-off cock was two
inches in diameter, and the nozzle of the hose an inch and a half. It
would take some minutes then, even with the steam at a pressure of
twenty-five pounds to the inch, to blow the water out, and a minute
would, he was certain, do all that was needed.

Not even when, upon the first day of his life in the pit, Jack sat hour
after hour alone in the darkness, did the time seem to go so slowly as
it did that evening. Once or twice he thought he heard footsteps, and
crept cautiously up to the window to listen; but each time, convinced of
his error, he returned to his place on a bench near the furnace. He
heard the hours strike, one after another, on the Stokebridge church
clock--eight, nine, ten--and then he took his post by the window and
listened. A quarter of an hour passed, and then there was a faint,
confused sound. Nearer it came, and nearer, until it swelled into the
trampling of a crowd of many hundreds of men. They came along with
laughter and rough jests, for they had no thought of opposition--no
thought that anyone was near them. The crowd moved forward until they
were within a few yards of the engine-house, and then one, who seemed to
be in command, said, "Smash the door in with your sledges, lads."

Jack had, as they approached, gone down to the boiler, and had turned
the blow-off cock, and the boiling water swelled the strong leathern
hose almost to bursting. Then he went back to the window, threw it open,
and stood with the nozzle in his hand.

"Hold!" he shouted out in loud, clear tones. "Let no man move a step
nearer for his life."

The mob stood silent, paralyzed with surprise. Jack had spoken without a
tinge of the local accent, and as none of the boys were there, his voice
was quite unrecognized. "Who be he?" "It's a stranger!" and other
sentences, were muttered through the throng.

"Who be you?" the leader asked, recovering from his surprise.

"Never mind who I am," Jack said, standing well back from the window,
lest the light from the lanterns which some of the men carried might
fall on his face. "I am here in the name of the law. I warn you to
desist from your evil design. Go to your homes; the soldiers are on
their way, and may be here any minute. Moreover, I have means here of
destroying any man who attempts to enter."

There was a movement in the crowd. "The soldier