"About midnight we came to a halt, followed by a lot of backing and filling--shunting here and there. The safety-valve was thrown wide open, or the exhaust, or something else, and suddenly the steam went out of her. Then came a dead silence--not a sound of any kind. Sore as I was--and every bone in my body ached--I wrenched myself loose, lifted the edge of the tarpaulin, and peeped out. The engine and tender were backed up against a building which looked like a round-house; not a soul was in sight. I slid to the ground and began to peer around. After a moment I caught the swing of a lantern and heard the steps of a man. It was a watchman going his rounds. "'Warm night,' he hollered when he came abreast of me. He evidently took me for a fireman, and I didn't blame him, for I was black as soot--clothes, face, hands, and hair. "'Yes,' I said, and stopped. It wouldn't do to undeceive him. Then I remembered the name of the station where I had boarded the tender. 'Been hot all the way from Merton. How far is that from Sydney?' "'Oh, a devil of a way!' He lifted his lantern and held it to my face. 'Say, you ain't no fireman--you're a hobo, ain't ye?' "I nodded. "'And you're p'inted for Sydney? Well, it serves ye right for stealin' a ride; you're eighty-two miles further away than when ye started. That locomotive is a special and got return orders.'" The Engineer threw back his head and roared. "Yes, that's it, Herbert. I remember just how you looked when we ran against each other in Sydney." "Not barefooted, were you, old fellow?" remarked Louis in a sympathetic tone. "That was tough." "Barefooted? Not much!" exclaimed The Engineer. "He was quite a nob. That's why I made up to him; he was so much better dressed than I. And do you know, Herbert, I never heard a word of you from that time on until I struck one of your statues in the Royal Academy the other day. I never thought you'd turn out sculptor with medals and things. Thought you wanted more room to swing around in. This is something new, isn't it?" Herbert took his freshly lighted cigar from his mouth long enough to say, "About as new as your building dams. You were trying to get into the real-estate business when I bid you good-by in Sydney. Did it work?" "No, I got into jail instead." Everybody stared. "What was it all about?" asked Herbert, unperturbed. "Stealing!" "_Stealing!_" exclaimed Le Blanc. "Yes. That was about it," he answered. "Only this time I tried to bag a government and got locked up for my pains. One of your countrymen"--and he nodded toward me--"was mixed up in it. By the way"--and he rose from his chair--"you don't mind my taking this candle, do you?--I've been looking at something in that cabinet over there all the evening and I can't stand it any longer. I may be wrong, but they look awfully like it."