[62] When the Liverpool directors went to inspect the works in progress on the Moss, they were run along the temporary rails in the little three-feet gauge wagons used for forming the road. They were being thus impelled one day at considerable speed when the wagon suddenly ran off the road, and Mr. Moss, one of the directors, was thrown out in a soft place, from which, however, he was speedily extricated, not without leaving a deep mark. George used afterward laughingly to refer to the circumstance as "the meeting of the Mosses." [63] Mr. Gooch's letter to the author, December 13th, 1861. Referring to the preparation of the plans and drawings, Mr. Gooch adds, "When we consider the extensive sets of drawings which most engineers have since found it right to adopt in carrying out similar works, it is not the least surprising feature in George Stephenson's early professional career that he should have been able to confine himself to so limited a number as that which could be supplied by the hands of one person in carrying out the construction of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway; and this may still be said, after full allowance is made for the alteration of system involved by the adoption of the large contract system." [64] While at Liverpool Stephenson had very little time for "company;" but on one particular occasion he invited his friend Mr. Sandars to dinner, and, as that gentleman was a connoisseur in port wine, his host determined to give him a special treat of that drink. Stephenson accordingly went to the small merchant with whom he usually dealt, and ordered "half a dozen of his very best port wine," which was promised of first-rate quality. After dinner the wine was produced; and when Mr. Sandars had sipped a glass, George, after waiting a little for the expected eulogium, at length asked, "Well, Sandars, how d'ye like the port?" "Poor stuff!" said the guest, "poor stuff!" George was very much shocked, and with difficulty recovered his good humor. But he lived to be able to treat Mr. Sandars to a better article at Tapton House, when he used to laugh over his first futile attempt at Liverpool to gain a reputation for his port. CHAPTER XII. ROBERT STEPHENSON'S RESIDENCE IN COLOMBIA, AND RETURN--THE BATTLE OF THE LOCOMOTIVE--"THE ROCKET." We return to the career of Robert Stephenson, who was absent from England during the construction of the Liverpool Railway, but was now about to rejoin his father and take part in "the battle of the locomotive" which was impending.