fifteen days before the pay day came round, to commence
getting the money from the bank, obtaining perhaps 2,000 or 3,000 pounds
a day. It was brought to the office, recounted, and put into my safe.
In that way I accumulated a ton-and-a-half of money every month during
our busy season. When pay week came, I used to send a carriage or a
large coach, drawn by four or six mules, with a couple of civil guards,
one on each side, together with one of the clerks from the office, a man
to drive, and another--a sort of stableman--who went to help them out of
their difficulty in case the mules gave any trouble up the hilly country.
I was at the office at six o'clock, and I was always in a state of
anxiety until I knew that the money had arrived safely at the end of the
journey. More than once the conveyance broke down in the mountains. On
one occasion the axle of our carriage broke in half from the weight of
the money, and I had to send off two omnibuses to relieve them. I had
the load divided, and sent one to one section of the line and one to the
other.

"'Q.--Was any attempt made to rob the carriage?

"'A.--Never; we always sent a clerk armed with a revolver as the
principal guard. We heard once of a conspiracy to rob us; but, to avoid
that, we went by another road. We were told that some men had been seen
loitering about the mountain the night before.'"

A CARLIST CHIEF AS A SUB-CONTRACTOR.

The natural financial difficulties of constructing a railway in Spain
were added to by the strange kind of people Mr. Brassey's agents were
obliged to employ. One of the sub-contractors was a certain Carlist
chief whom the government dared not arrest on account of his great
influence. Mr. Tapp thus relates the Carlist chief's mode of settling a
financial dispute:--

"When he got into difficulties, Mr. Small, the district agent, offered
him the amount which was due to him according to his measured work. He
had over 100 men to pay, and Mr. Small offered him the money that was
coming to him, according to the measurement, but he would not have it,
nor would he let the agent pay the men. He said he would have the money
he demanded; and he brought all his men into the town of Orduna, and the
men regularly bivouacked round Mr. Small's office. They slept in the
streets and stayed there all night, and would not let Mr. Small come out
of the office till he had paid them the money. He attempted to get on
his horse to go out