LIGHTNING EXPRESS;

OR,

THE RIVAL ACADEMIES.

BY

OLIVER OPTIC,

AUTHOR OF “YOUNG AMERICA ABROAD,” “THE ARMY AND NAVY STORIES,” “THE WOODVILLE STORIES,” “THE BOAT-CLUB STORIES,” “THE STARRY FLAG SERIES,” ETC.

BOSTON:

LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS.

NEW YORK:

LEE, SHEPARD AND DILLINGHAM.

1871.

[2]

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by

WILLIAM T. ADAMS,

In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

ELECTROTYPED AT THE

BOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY,

No. 19 Spring Lane.

[3]

TO

MY YOUNG FRIEND

JAMES DEWITT CARSON

This Book

IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED.

[4]

THE LAKE SHORE SERIES.

[5]

PREFACE.

Lightning Express is the second volume of the Lake Shore Series, and has been published in Oliver Optic’s Magazine, Our Boys and Girls. The story, like its predecessor, relates to the Lake Shore Railroad, though the war between the rival academies occupies a considerable portion of the book. Waddie Wimpleton and Tommy Toppleton, as they appear in these volumes, are not strangers, in real life, to the writer; and probably all his readers are familiar with similar young gentlemen in their own spheres.

The author has endeavored to keep the moral movement of the story up to the proper standard, and is not afraid that any reasonable young man will like either Tommy or Waddie well enough to imitate their conduct, while he is satisfied that all will be pleased with the moral heroism of Wolf Penniman, and will indorse his views of Christian duty.

Harrison Square, Mass.,

July 21, 1869.

[7]

CONTENTS.

[8]

[9]

[11]

LIGHTNING EXPRESS;

OR,

THE RIVAL ACADEMIES.

CHAPTER I. A STOCKHOLDERS’ MEETING.

“Order, gentlemen, order!” said Mr. Tommy Toppleton, rapping his gavel on the desk before him. “While I am president of the Lake Shore Railroad, I will have order!”

Tommy was the son of his father; on this question there could be no dispute. Not only was his father a great man, but Tommy, in his own estimation, was a great man also; on this question, unfortunately, there was some dispute. Perhaps it was the young gentleman’s misfortune, certainly it was not his fault, that he was the only son of a [12] very rich father, and had been indulged until he was, so far as the circumstances would admit, a spoiled child. He had many excellent qualities; but he had come to think that among the boys he was the central figure, and that without him they were nothing, and could do nothing.

Tommy regarded other boys, even the students of the Toppleton Institute who were his equals in wealth and social position, as in some sense footballs for his capricious toes. Many of his companions did not like him, because he “put on airs,” because he was overbearing and tyrannical to his inferiors, and because he always claimed the highest position and the loftiest dignity among them. When the Lake Shore Railroad Company was organized, he was elected one of the board of directors, and then by them was chosen president. He had filled this office from the beginning, and he expected always to fill it.

The company had been in operation about a year, during which time it had dealt mainly with imaginary certificates of stock, bonds, rolling stock, and other material, the object being to give the [13] students a knowledge of railroad business. The actual building of the road had rendered the company somewhat more real; but, as all the property was in fact owned by Major Toppleton, who held the bonds of the company for its full value, it was still to the students an educational rather than a practical business enterprise. The real owner, therefore, was the real manager of the road. He told the directors what votes to pass, and they were pliant enough to obey. All the forms of electing officers, appointing the superintendent, road-master, engineers, and other officers, were punctiliously adhered to.

The capital stock of the company was two hundred thousand dollars, represented by two thousand shares of one hundred dollars each, which had been apportioned among the students of the Institute, in unequal parts. Some owned one hundred shares, others only two or three. Tommy Toppleton was the happy possessor of a quarter part of the capital stock of the concern, and threw five hundred votes, each representing a share, in a stockholders’ meeting. An account was kept with each owner of [14] stock, and transfers from one to another were frequent. I am sorry to detract from the dignity of the enterprise by confessing that a share, whose par value was one hundred dollars, was frequently bartered away for a pint of pea-nuts, though, as the road, like many others, was mortgaged for its full value, perhaps the compensation was adequate.

Two thousand mortgage bonds of one hundred dollars each had been issued, duly signed by the officers, and bearing interest at seven per cent. As the company had no receipts for the first quarter of the year, the railroad was heavily in debt, and the students were not likely to be burdened with any extra spending money from their dividends. I had run the dummy during the fall and winter, carrying passengers as far as Grass Springs; not for the fun of it, but at regular fares—twenty cents to Spangleport, five miles distant, fifty cents to the Springs, thirteen miles, and between the two latter points, thirty cents. There had been considerable travel, enough to make a breeze with the steamboat company, though not enough to pay the interest and expenses of running.

[15]

As the students were not permitted to neglect their studies for the purpose of serving as conductors and engineers, outsiders had been employed to some extent. Major Toppleton did not regard the Lake Shore Railroad as a mere plaything. During the winter he had procured his charter, and he had expended an immense sum of money on the road since he commenced, for his ideas had enlarged as he progressed, and he intended to have a regular line to Ucayga, at the foot of the lake. In a quiet way he had bought up the stock of the steamboat company, and a report was circulated in the spring that the boats would run only between Middleport and Hitaca, at the head of the lake, when the railroad was completed. The Centreporters were filled with horror and indignation, for this scheme would leave them no means of communication with Ucayga, on the great lines of railroad, except by the way of Middleport, and would compel them to patronize the hated Lake Shore line. But this project was only rumored; it had not yet been developed.

The assembly in which Mr. Tommy Toppleton insisted that order should be preserved while he [16] was the president of the Lake Shore Railroad, was the annual meeting of the stockholders, at which the election of officers was to take place. By permission of Major Toppleton I was allowed to own five shares in the road, though, as I was not a member of the Institute, I was not eligible as a purchaser of stock. But I felt an interest in the enterprise, and an interest in the method of conducting the business, and I had purchased my stock at a fearful depreciation from the par value. One of the fellows, by the name of Limpenfield, had run out of pocket money, and being sorely tempted to enjoy a feast of cream cakes, I had taken advantage of his necessities, and bought five shares for twenty-five cents!

The meeting threatened to be rather stormy, for I happened to know that there were two tickets in the field for a board of directors, on one of which the name of Tommy Toppleton did not appear, though the canvassing had been so carefully conducted that the person principally concerned had no suspicion of his own unpopularity, and least of all that the stockholders would have the audacity [17] to tip him out of his exalted position. But this question had not yet come to an issue. The excitement was over another matter.

“I move you that we proceed to the election of officers at once,” said Barnscott.

“I move you that we adjourn to Grass Springs!” shouted Wetherstane.

“Second the motion!” added Putnam.

“Order, gentlemen! What motion do you second, Putnam?” demanded the president.

“The motion to adjourn to Grass Springs, of course.”

“What do we want to adjourn to Grass Springs for?” demanded Barnscott.

“Question! Question!” called the crowd.

“There is no motion before the stockholders!” roared Tommy, hammering the desk vigorously with his gavel, for he was a model presiding officer, and would no more have served in this capacity without a gavel than he would have gone to meeting without a coat.

“Mr. President, I made a motion,” said Barnscott.

“So did I,” added Wetherstane.

[18]

“Neither of them is before the house. Gentlemen, you interrupt the company’s business by your disorder. I insist that the proceedings be conducted with parliamentary propriety.” Tommy had been to the legislature with his father when the charter was obtained, and indulged in technical phrases which all the students did not fully comprehend.

“I move you—”

“Order!” screamed Tommy, at the top of his lungs, and as savage as a yellow wasp.

“I move you—”

“Order!” repeated the vigorous president, indicating each of the movers by pointing at them with his gavel. “Take your seat, Barnscott! Sit down, Wetherstane! This business shall be done in an orderly manner, or not at all;” and Tommy swelled up till he was as big as the presiding officer of the Senate of the United States.

“I thought this was a free country, and that the stockholders of the Lake Shore Railroad had a right to speak in the meetings,” growled the irrepressible Barnscott.

“Sit down!” thundered Tommy.

[19]

“I have a certificate for ten shares; and that gives me the right to speak and to vote in this meeting,” added the indignant Wetherstane.

“Take your seat, or I will have you put out of the hall!” yelled the president.

“I’ll sell my stock to any fellow that wants it for a stick of molasses candy,” continued the wrathy Barnscott. “What is the use of owning stock if you are to be muzzled like a mad dog?”

“Shall we have order, or not?” cried the president, disgusted with the irregular proceedings of the turbulent stockholders.

“Order! Order!” shouted a respectable majority of the assembly.

Tommy was evidently out of breath, and disposed to resort to disagreeable measures. The meeting was held in the chapel of the Institute, and the principal, if not the major, was within calling distance. Rather than have a lecture from either of them, the violent makers of motions subsided for a time, and permitted the president to do the lecturing. Tommy took a swallow of water from a tumbler on the desk, and then looked majestically [20] around the room, as if to satisfy himself that no further disorder was intended, and that the turbulent ones were disposed to listen to his remarks.

“Gentlemen, order is Heaven’s first law, and it must be the first law of the Lake Shore Railroad Company, especially in a meeting of its stockholders,” Tommy began, and then paused, looking as solemn as an owl at noonday, to note the effect of his impressive words.

As no one objected to this proposition, Tommy took another swallow of cold water, and proceeded with his remarks.

“No business can be done while we are in confusion,” he continued, with due seriousness, as he straightened back his neck. “This is a parliamentary assembly, like the legislature of the state, and we purpose to do all things in a parliamentary manner. Such bodies, met together for purposes of debate, are subject to certain well-established rules, sanctioned by usage, and governed by precedents.”

“Whew!” whistled Briscoe. “I wonder what book he stole that from.”

[21]

“I beg your pardon, Mr. President, but I made a motion, which was properly seconded,” interrupted Wetherstane, quite mildly now. “I don’t think any other business can be brought before the house till that one has been settled.”

“The motion was in order,—a motion to adjourn is always in order,—but it was not properly before the stockholders. The motion does not become a question, and is not before the house, until it has been stated by the presiding officer. A motion cannot be entertained until it has been seconded; and made and seconded, it does not become a question until it has been stated by the president. One question must be disposed of before another can be entertained. Gentlemen, I insist upon order. I am now ready to hear any motion;” and Tommy, having laid down the law, intended that everybody should abide by it.

[22]

CHAPTER II. THE STOCKHOLDERS IN COUNCIL.

Mr. Tommy Toppleton had reduced the riotous assembly before him to a tolerable degree of subjection. The president was obliged to embody in his own person the dignity of the Lake Shore Railroad, since those in front of him refused to be conscious of the glory of being stockholders. He was ready to hear any motion, and it was evident that he intended to keep the peace. But the boys were really excited. They had been discussing the interests of the road, and some of their projects would certainly prove to be treasonable to the house of Toppleton. It must be confessed that a great many of them could not see the difference between their own interests and those of the road; and being excited, they did not set a good example to their elders in Congress and other deliberative [23] bodies, but behaved very much like full-grown men on similar occasions.

“Mr. President,” said Wetherstane, springing to his feet, as soon as it was evident that a motion was in order.

“Mr. President,” called Barnscott, almost at the same instant. “I move—”

“Wetherstane has the floor,” interposed the impartial presiding officer, vigorously pounding the desk with his gavel; and I must say he made noise enough to entitle him to preference as one of the gentlemanly conductors on our road, where noise seemed to be at a premium.

“What sort of way is that?” demanded Barnscott. “I have the floor.”

“Wetherstane attracted my attention first, and he has the floor,” replied Tommy, decidedly.

“I was up first,” persisted Barnscott.

“Take your seat, sir!” roared the president; and the pine boards of which the lid of the desk was composed were in imminent danger of being fractured by his gavel.

“Mr. President, I rise to a point of order,” said Lennox.

[24]

“Order, gentlemen!” roared Tommy. “I have decided that Wetherstane has the floor. If any stockholder is so disposed, he can appeal from the decision of the chair.”

Under ordinary circumstances, Tommy Toppleton did not permit any appeal from the decision of the chair, and always insisted upon having his own way; but it was in the nature of a triumph for him to direct the deliberations of his fellow-students, and to introduce forms and methods of which the majority of them had never heard.

“I appeal from the decision of the chair,” added Lennox.

“Points of order necessarily take precedence of all other questions,” said Tommy, with the utmost dignity and self-possession.

“Ahem!” coughed a fellow in the crowd, which brought down a regular board-splitter from the gavel.

“The chair decided that Wetherstane had the floor. An appeal is taken. The question now before the house is, Shall the decision of the chair stand as the decision of the stockholders? This [25] question is debatable, and the presiding officer may participate in the discussion. You will all see that, occupying a position where I can see all the members of the assembly, I could not very well make a mistake in regard to who spoke first. I am quite confident that Wetherstane had said ‘Mr. President’ before Barnscott opened his mouth.”

Various opinions were expressed by individual stockholders, and they were about equally divided on the merits of the question. Each claimant for the floor had half a dozen advocates, who were confident that their man had spoken first. It was really a matter between Tommy and the stockholders, which they were likely to decide as they loved or hated the president.

“Question! Question!” called the students, when they began to be weary of the fruitless debate.

“Those in favor of sustaining the decision of the chair will manifest it by saying, ‘Ay.’”

“Ay!” shouted many voices.

“Those opposed say, ‘No.’”

“No!” responded the determined opponents of the president.

[26]

“It is a vote!” said Tommy, who was not quite willing to believe that one of his decisions could be reversed by a majority.

“A vote!” exclaimed Lennox. “Why, Mr. President—”

“Silence, sir! A vote cannot be debated,” thundered Tommy, with awful dignity. “Any member has the right to doubt the vote, and call for a count.”

“I doubt the vote, Mr. President, and call for a count,” added Lennox.

“The vote is doubted,” said Tommy, rapping violently to repress the noise and confusion. “Those in favor of sustaining the decision of the chair will rise and stand uncovered till counted.”

“Uncovered?” demanded Briscoe. “Shall we take our things off?”

“Order!”

Tommy’s friends, and those who had not backbone enough to vote against his decision, rose and were counted. I voted with this side because I really believed that Wetherstane had spoken first.

“Twenty-one,” said the president, after he had [27] counted the affirmatives; and I noticed that his lips were compressed, as if to subdue some angry emotions which he felt at the result.

“Those opposed stand till counted.”

A large majority, obtaining pluck from mere numbers, sprang to their feet.

“All up! All up!” shouted the more demonstrative of the rebels, who had doubtless been to town meetings in their day.

“Order!” screamed Tommy, more fiercely than ever; for the vote, to him, looked like factious opposition. “Eighty-six in the negative,” he added, when he had completed the count.

Silence reigned in the hall then, and perhaps many of the students were appalled to think of what they had done. They had actually voted down the high and mighty Tommy Toppleton, whose word was law. The experience of the nations that deliberative bodies are not favorable to the rule of tyrants was in a fair way to be realized by the heir of the house of Toppleton. The boys watched the president, expecting an outburst of indignation and wrath at his defeat; but, happily, [28] the dignity of the presiding officer prevailed over the feelings of the individual, and with a mighty struggle he repressed his emotions. As I have had occasion to say before, Tommy was in the main a good fellow; he would have been a first-rate one if he had not been spoiled by the weak indulgence of his father and mother. He had been taught to have his own way, and his passions were a volcano within him, ready to break out whenever he was thwarted. I am inclined to think this was the first time he had ever conquered himself, and restrained his wrath when defeated.

“The decision is in the negative,” added Tommy, with admirable self-possession for one of his temperament. “Barnscott has the floor.”

“Mr. President,” said the lucky claimant, “I move that we proceed to the election of officers for the ensuing year.”

“Second the motion,” added Faxon.

“It is moved and seconded that the stockholders proceed to the election of officers,” continued Tommy, who could not see why all this storm had been created on so simple a proposition. “The question is now before the house.”

[29]

“Mr. President!” shouted Wetherstane, loud enough to have been heard on the other side of Ucayga Lake.

“Wetherstane,” replied Tommy, indicating that the speaker had the floor.

“I move you that we adjourn to Grass Springs at two o’clock this afternoon,” added the young gentleman, who, beyond the possibility of a doubt, had the floor now.

“Second the motion,” added Putnam.