I had made up my mind not to apply to Colonel Wimpleton for any situation. If he wished to employ me, and to redeem some of his large promises, he knew that I was out of a situation, and he could send for me. I did not mean to begin by cringing to him. I suppose, after the first impulses of gratitude subsided, some of the old feeling of malice towards me came back to him. It is very likely that Waddie, who had never forgiven me for deranging his plans, during the battle on the Horse Shoe, by recapturing Tommy, had some influence with his father. Whatever the reason was, I was not sent for. Father and I worked in the garden, where there was enough for both of us to do. He had money enough on hand, our joint earnings, to support the family for some months. We were both of the opinion that it was not prudent to apply to Colonel Wimpleton for situations. If he wanted us, he must come for us. While we were thus waiting for “something to turn up,” the Ucayga, the new Centreport steamer, arrived. She was certainly a magnificent boat, surpassing all the ideas I had ever formed of a floating palace. I went over to see her, and I could not but realize that she would be a formidable rival of the Lightning Express, even if she did require half an hour longer to make the trip. On her passage down the lake, she had made sixteen miles an hour without pressing; but as half her freight and passengers depended upon Ruoara, she was to be allowed an hour and three quarters for the trip, against an hour and a quarter required to make the passage by the Lake Shore Railroad. Flaming posters about the streets of Centreport announced that the Ucayga would leave at quarter past eight, and connect with the trains east and west at the foot of the lake. It all looked very pretty, but the battle was yet to be fought. The competition was for through-passengers. When the boats from Hitaca reached Centreport twice each day, the question with travellers was to be, whether they would go to Ucayga by the new steamer or by the railroad. The boats from up the lake usually arrived at quarter past eight and quarter past two, allowing fifteen minutes at Centreport, and fifteen more to land their passengers at Middleport. If the Ucayga could get off on time, she was safe enough on her connections. It was a question of minutes and seconds on which the success of the steamboat enterprise depended. But of the hard-fought battle which ensued, I shall speak in another story--“On Time.”