Bob Strong´s Holidays

an excerpt from CHAPTER I: Down the Line. âBob!â The noise of the train, however, drowned Nellieâs voice; besides which Master Bob was further prevented from hearing this appeal to him by reason of his head and shoulders being at that precise instant projected out of the window of the railway-carriage, in utter defiance of the Companyâs bye-laws to the contrary and of his sisterâs solicitous entreaties to the same effectâpoor Nellie, fearing, in her feminine anxiety, that the door would fly open unexpectedly, from the pressure of Bobâs person, and precipitate her brother as suddenly out on the line. âBob!â she therefore repeated on finding her first summons disregarded, speaking in a louder key and giving a tug to his jacket the better to attract his attentionââI say, Bob!â âHullo! Whatâs the row?â shouted back the delinquent, hearing her at last, and wriggling himself in from the window like a snail withdrawing itself into its shell, turning round the while his face, slightly flushed with the exertion, to hersââAnything wrong, eh?â Little Miss Nellie had not expected her timid and tentative conversational advances to be taken up in this downright fashion. Really she was only anxious for some one to sympathise with her and talk about the various objects of interest which came across her notice as they went along; so, Bobâs abrupt address, coupled with his gruff tone of voice, fell on her enthusiasm like a wet blanket! âNothingâs the matter,â she replied timidly. âI only wanted to say how nice it is travelling like this.â âYou donât mean to say you only called me in to tell me that?â said Bob, almost angrily. âI do think girls are the greatest geese in the world!â With this dogmatic assertion, Master Bob shoved himself head and shoulders out of the window again, utterly ignoring poor Nellieâs existence, much to her chagrin and dismay. He was very rude, it must be confessed; but, some allowance should be made for him, all things considered. In the first place, he was a boy just fresh from the rougher associations of school life; and, secondly, his inquiring mind was intently occupied in endeavouring to solve a series of mathematical problems that set all Euclidâs laws at defiance, as the train whizzed on its way with a âpiff-paff! pant-pant!â of the great Juggernaut engine, the carriages rattling and jolting as they were dragged along at the tail of the mighty steam demon, swaying to and fro with a rhythmical movement of the wheels, in measured cadence of spondees and dactyls, as if singing to themselves the song of âthe Iron Road.â Strange to say, this was a song of which, Bob noticed, the involuntary musicians never completed the second bar. They re-commenced all over again from the beginning, when they reached some particularly crucial point, where the âclickâ or the âclackâ of the ever-echoing âclick-clackingâ chorus proved too much for their overworked axles! Bob, though, was not thinking of this music of the rail, or paying any attention to it, albeit it was distinct and plain to him; as, indeed, it is to all with ears attuned in harmony with this mystery of motion, and who choose to listen to it, just as there are âsermons in stones,â for those who care to read them!

Author / Editor: Hutcheson, John Conroy

Category: Novels

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