Sharp work it is, sir, while it lasts, and tirin' to
the arms until yer used, as I may say, but we
never had nothin' wrong until that affair the
other day, which you'll perhaps remember. It
was that there rod just in front of us that looks
new like, that did the mischief. No, sir, I
worn't on duty myself at the time, and the
man that was ain't been here since—has been
discharged, I believe. Yes, sir, it seems a little
strict, but it ain't for me to judge, of course,
bein' only a servant; but, as you say, it does
seem rather harsh. For he was a careful man,
he was—a very careful man. I don't believe
he'd ever made a mistake afore—and he's fit
for signal-work anywheres, but, you see, they
thought he ought to ha' felt by this handle that
the point didn't act, and ought to have prevented
the train a-comin' in, which one certainly
would ha' thought he might, though it ain't
for me to judge. No, sir, I shouldn't like to
have another man at work with me, and I'm
sure it wouldn't answer. You see, a man
at signal-work is constantly occipied, and
there's allers somethin' for him to do. But if
there was two of 'em a-working the same signals,
why one would perhaps think the other had hold
o' the handles or was a-watching for the diss,
and, before he found out his mistake, why we
should have a couple o' trains cuttin' each
other in two. No, sir, there weren't any
passengers killed nor injured, as I've heerd,
but I believe one of the porters was bruised
and shaken rather bad, and was taken off to the
'orspital. The man turned the handle right
enough, just as I turn this; but, instead o' the
rod moving as you see that do now, why, bein'
broke, it didn't act, and brought on the accident.
No, sir, you can't very well sit down,
not in the daytime, at least, and you haven't
time not scarcely to eat a bit o' food"—and
Waller glanced here at a basin wrapped in a
pink cotton pocket-handkerchief, and suspended
from a nail behind me—"except standing, and
while you're at your work. Well, sir, I couldn't
say exactly how many trains come in and out of
a day, but there's a tidy lot of 'em, and engines
and empties as well. First train out, sir, is
what we call the workman's train, and leaves
at four in the morning. It's a Chatham
and Dover, and takes the labourers, and such
like, to the works about. Well, you see, it
ain't only the men as starts from here, but,
bein' a stoppin' train, it picks 'em up at all
the stations it passes near. Then, the last
train in to Victoria, is a London and Brighton,
which is due at fifty-five arter twelve at night,
so, you see, there ain't more than three hours,
as you may say, when passenger trains ain't
runnin', in the twenty-four. Yes, it's pretty
much as you see it now through the day, but
slacks a little at night. The busiest railway
signal-place? Well, it used to be reckoned so,
but, what with improvements and alterations,
and new lines, there's several now where there's
more doin' than this one. Yes, sir, more than
every minute or two, as you see, and the train-
tables they don't give you but a very poor
dear of the number of signals. The traffic
of this station is a good double what you'd find
in any train-table, because they don't take in
what you may call the station traffic, such as
engines, or carriages shunting, or empty trains
which is wanted to begin again with when
there's a run of specials."

These facts were not given consecutively,
but by fits and starts, in the intervals of
handles being jerked, or whistles answered,
or the flaps of the red "disses" obeyed.
Waller had neither peace nor rest, and as
the engine-drivers and guards passed by, I
discovered that a sharp twist of the head and
a peculiar grimace, like that of an unsophisticated
dram-drinker when the "nip" is unusually
strong, is the settled mode of flying
salutation. Only the guards' heads were seen.
The glass side of the raised roof of their
compartment just allows those in the Hole
to see to their shoulders, and as head after
head flew by they resembled rotatory toys or
a fast phase of the rapidly changing magic-
lantern slides. Do what we would, we could
not realise the importance of the arrangement,
or that the noisy monsters we controlled were
charged with precious human lives. Waller was
simply a trustworthy, steady skilled labourer,
who performed his allotted task without wavering,
who followed the mystic instructions it was
his life's business to master, and who, in the
monotonous discharge of mechanical labours,
exercised discretion, watchfulness, and care.
But the longer we remained, and the more he
endeavoured to explain the signals, the more
maddening was the confusion. "There, sir,
you see that there arm? Well, that tells me"
(Aside: "Ah, there's the Brighton down")—
"tells me, you know"—(Renewed aside:
"Crystal Palace a-waitin' now, then")—puff—
snort—bang—"tells me that all's clear" (Aside
continued: " Battersea-bridge a-speaking now")
"and then by turnin' this here handle, now
you see the diss has altered, which means"—
puff, snort, and bang—"as I was a sayin'."
And so it went on, until, with repeated thanks,
we said we should like to regain the platform,
and think over what we had seen and heard.

This was no easy matter, though the distance
is not great. We could have made ourselves
heard by shouting to the porter, picking his teeth
on the wine-hamper at its side, but the monsters
were constantly darting out, and it was only
after missing several opportunities that the
final "Now, sir, you've nice time, if you start
directly this next train goes by," was acted upon.
A breathless rush, and what seemed a shockingly
narrow escape of being run down and mangled,
and we are by the toothpicking porter's side,
who views us angrily, and asks "wot we're a-
doin' of there?" The Hole looks less wonderful
now. The trains and engines fly by it
as before, but results only are seen, and the
mechanism seems perfect. Still the questions
arose, and have repeated themselves without a
satisfactory answer ever since, What if the Waller
of the time being should suddenly succumb?
What if eight hours at a stretch of work, the
first eight minutes' contemplation of which had