His dress became more costly. Upon the whole, he gained reputation and money on the road.

Mr. Blodget's next success happened thus: A rail-road had been projected through a rich country, and on a route which could not fail to command success. Large subscriptions had been made to the stock, but there yet lacked a round sum. Gentlemen were at length found who could command money, and who were willing to contract to build the whole road for an amount of cash but little more than the whole amount subscribed. They would take the rest of their pay in the stock and bonds of the company. But before they could do this, it would be necessary to have the opinions of an engineer known to them. Mr. Blodget, they took the liberty to say, was a man in whom capitalists had confidence, and if Mr. Blodget should be appointed engineer, and should report favorably, they would engage to build the road. It was also hinted that it would in any event be worth while to secure Mr. Blodget's influence. Mr. Blodget was accordingly made engineer. It filled common people with awe to behold the number of maps and profiles made for that road. He reported favorably of the route. The upshot was, that those gentlemen-contractors agreed to build the road at the prices fixed by the engineer in his estimates. It was also agreed that the route could be varied at the discretion of the engineer; all extra work to be paid for at the price fixed by the engineer; all work to be done to the satisfaction of the engineer, and when accepted by him, it was to be considered accepted by the company. Any disagreement arising between the contractors and company, on any subject, to be mutually submitted to the engineer, and his decision to be final.

Mr. Blodget was thus placed in a position of great usefulness. Were it possible to imagine an engineer to be influenced by his private interests, and were it possible for his private interests to be those of a partner with the contractors, it would give a chance to make profit, or as business men say, it might be made a nice thing.' Because you will understand it was in the power of the engineer to make the contract just what he pleased. I am merely supposing a possibility. Mr. Blodget was liberal to all except the contractors. It was noticed that he was very watchful over the contractors, and it was frequently said that every cent they made on that contract would be well earned. The contractors, however, rather liked him. They finished their job with profit. Mr. Blodget also became wealthy. On a salary of two thousand dollars a year, for three years, he bore his expenses, and cleared a net profit of over one hundred thousand dollars.

Mr. Blodget was now a capitalist, and had the ear of capitalists. In one instance I believe he was so highly esteemed that he acted openly in three capacities at once, financial agent of the company, chief-engineer, and contractor. It was a hard struggle. He succeeded in making a good thing' of it for himself, but even his genius failed to make it profitable to the company. His connection with rail-road companies has of late been less apparent. It is rather understood than known. The rise of a doubtful stock happens soon after he buys; it falls soon after he sells. He goes up, while the companies go down. The finan

cial difficulties of the country are so great that Mr. Blodget is unwilling to connect his fortunes with a road further than to give it a temporary lift. But with his even good fortune he propitiates providence by liberality. His name can be seen any day on subscription-papers for benevolent objects. He helps to celebrate the Fourth of July: he lives in generous style: he turns no one away empty: he is popular, and his word goes far. Why he made the suggestions I have named about Mr. Heminway, in connection with the Grand Trunk Inter-Oceanic RailRoad, I cannot explain. Mr. Heminway had subscribed as much as Mr. Blodget. When Mr. Blodget made his great speech to the citizens, and proved that the Grand Trunk Inter-Oceanic Rail-Road would draw over it all the travel and commerce between London and Canton, Mr. Heminway was gratified, and said so. There is something between them I do not quite understand. I think I shall find it out.

Mr. Heminway, as usual, fell under suspicion; but Mr. Blodget was looked to as the man for counsel and public service. It happened when the engineer returned with his surveys that the only desirable route he could find cut two of Mr. Heminway's farms. In one it would require a deep cut diagonally from corner to corner: in the other, which was a stock farm, it would require a high embankment so as to cut the principal part of it off from access to water. It happened also that it was likely to damage Mr. Blodget. A tract of ground on the border of the city, which he had cherished, he said, as the apple of his eye, and upon which he had fondly intended to build a family mansion, was required as a depot. True, it might enhance other property owned by him in the vicinity, but what was that to him? It robbed him of his dearest, his holiest; in short, it disturbed him; but if the public good required it, he must give way. He was afraid Mrs. Blodget would cry her eyes out.

Mr. Heminway found out what was going on, and came to my office in a rage. He declared Blodget to be a humbug. The fact was, he said, that it would cost the company an immense sum of money to build the road on the line spoken of, more than it would to build it on another line. It would be waste and ruin. It was all contrived to make the dépôt on Blodget's ground, and by a rise of property, to put a hundred thousand dollars in Blodget's pocket. He would expose the engineer as an impostor; he would blow up Blodget as But all at once his countenance relaxed, his eye glistened with a peculiar intelligence, he slapped his palin against his thigh, and said: I have it! Keep your own counsel. I'll -- keep cool!'

He laid stress upon and often repeated his warning to me to keep cool, who had not been excited. He finally went off, and as to his plans, left me as wise as he found me. I knew, however, that they would soon develop themselves; for a meeting was to be held the next evening to hear the engineer's report. I heard nothing more until late in the afternoon before the meeting, when a boy handed me a note from Mr. Heminway, and a package containing a charter of the Grand Trunk Inter-Oceanic Rail-Road Company, covering thirty pages in close print. The note requested me to examine the charter carefully, and send him by the bearer in a half-an-hour a written opinion whether it

would be entirely safe to invest five millions of dollars in building the road on the line about to be recommended by the engineer, under that charter, which, he suggested, seemed to contemplate a different route. I replied that the question was one which naturally presented itself, and the amount to be involved was so large, it ought to be well thought of. I could not on so short notice take the responsibility of giving an opinion. It did not occur to me at the time but that he was quite in earnest in expecting my opinion; but I can see now that he has studied my habits as well as I have studied his. I am satisfied he did not want my opinion. He knew that I would not give a legal opinion on such a matter without time for examining the subject, and for rolling it over and over in my mind, and he knew that I would write him a reply in substance like the one I did write.

The meeting assembled, the report was read, and Mr. Blodget followed it with statements and estimates of an interesting character. He was satisfied the route recommended was the only one to be found that would answer the purpose. If a different point of entering the city could be chosen so as not to disturb his plans touching his property, he would be entirely satisfied with the report. Individual interests and convenience, however, must yield on occasions like this.

Mr. Heminway rose. He had foreseen Mr. Blodget's objections to the location of the dépôt, but there was always some compensation in submitting to the public good. In this case Mr. Blodget would lose his building spot, but would gain at least one hundred thousand dollars. There was no man whom the public would be more glad to see derive an advantage from the road; for no man had been more active in promoting its organization. He was generally pleased with the report of the engineer: it showed labor and judgment; but many years ago he had travelled much through that part of the country, and perhaps knew the general features of it as well as any man living. There was one other route he wished to have explored. It might not, he feared, relieve Mr. Blodget from the dépôt, but he had reason to believe that some hills could be avoided. He spoke of the necessity for prudence, and read your father's letter, bestowing upon its author a degree of praise which I suspect was not wholly disinterested. Should the survey proposed by him not turn out to be of service, he would himself bear the expenses of it. He would go with the engineer and point out peculiarities of the ground, and the result would prove whether he was right. He would say, in closing, that he yielded to no man in his anxious wish for the early completion of this great work. He would once more put on the harness and take the field. If it should be found that he could remove any hindrance to it; if he could even inspire others with some share of the confidence felt by himself; if, said he, I can aid to place it on solid foundations and secure its prospects, then, in the language of Shakspeare,

'I'LL bid farwell to every fear,
And wipe my weeping eyes.'

I had never seen Mr. Heminway more bland and affable, more smooth, and, so to speak, oleaginous, than at this meeting. He made

the rough places smooth, turned the flank of many prejudices, and as some of the people said, 'broke out in a new spot altogether.' When he closed his speech, with a manner half-serious and half-comic, it was acknowledged by applause. They voted the survey he asked for. For myself, I began to see what he was aiming at. He had hit Mr. Blodget's plans a blow, and in such a manner that if that excellent man had been disposed to take the alarm, his best way was not to show it. There is yet to be a contest between Heminway and Blodget over the location of that road, fought perhaps under disguises, but with weapons not apt on either side to miss their aim. Rail-road men, like the ancient gods, sometimes fight under a cloud; but I flatter myself I shall be able to pierce disguises and see the sport. I may perhaps hereafter describe to you the Battle of the Giants.

I may now state a fact, which, without the previous explanation, you might not understand. Father Green, on the morning after his adventure at Ellasland, entered the leopard's cage. He went to secure for James a situation in Mr. Heminway's exploring company. Mr. Heminway had intended Uncas to fill the situation sought. Father Green said that Uncas, he was sure, was engaged. He had observed for some time that Uncas appeared to have a load upon his mind, and he had fortunately discovered what it was. He was in love, and was also raising a moustache. There could be no mistake about it. Father Green said he had beheld him in a favorable light, and could see hairs growing on his face. Would Mr. Heminway please to call in Uncas, and ask him, Uncas would say that he could not leave town. Uncas was called in, and said he had laid some plans for the next few weeks, which he would prefer not to break up, if his father would please to excuse him.

'And what may those plans be?' inquired his father.

6

'I have undertaken a course of reading,' said Uncas, 'to improve my mind. I am now engaged in reading Locke on the Understanding,' and Rollins' Ancient History.''

6

'Any thing else?' said his father.

'Nothing else, except the 'Newcomes' occasionally for amusement, for mental relaxation.'

'Well, my son,' said Mr. Heminway, 'I suppose I must excuse you.' When Uncas had left the room, Father Green said:

'I told you so.'

It was finally arranged that James was to be a member of the engineering corps. The more he thought of it,' Mr. Heminway said, the more he thought he could make James useful in a variety of matters, in which Uncas would be good for nothing. 'That boy, Sir, perplexes me. I really don't know what to do with him. Are you sure that he is in love?

,

There is nothing more certain. I unintentionally over-heard him make a set speech to the damsel, in which he hinted the importance of marriage to persons of their age. He would have given it an oratorical turn, but his voice cracked and squealed, and broke him up. There is no danger in it. She likes him; but she is eighteen, and as he is only

nineteen, she regards him as a mere boy. She pets him and laughs at him. This is very precisely the Locke on his understanding.'

Mr. Heminway, amused and perplexed, paced the room for some

moments.

'Father Green,' said "he, 'you have always taken an interest in Uncas, and it is right. I am obliged to you for telling me this. What shall we do with him? Is there any way to to manage him, to make a man of him?'

'I think there is,' said Father Green. 'I have an idea on that subject.'

"SMILE upon me, and death will be easier for me.'-LADY HUNTINGDON'S LIFE