The Mammoth Book of New Jules Verne Adventures Read Online Free

The Mammoth Book of New Jules Verne Adventures
Book: The Mammoth Book of New Jules Verne Adventures Read Online Free
Author: Mike Ashley, Eric Brown (ed)
Pages:
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called
Parkside, Stephenson again halted the Northumbrian. And it was during this
brief stop, as Lily wrote in her girlish hand, “that calamity struck.”
    “I returned to my
carriage, where I comforted my friend Miss —, who became a little less queasy
now that she could hear the birds sing again. Everybody started to get out of
the carriage to taste the air and stretch his legs.
    “Now, you must remember
that we were travelling from Liverpool to Manchester, that is west to east, and
that the Prime Minister’s train was on the southerly of the two parallel rail
lines. So the safest place to alight from our carriage was to our right, for to
go left would be to step on to the other track which, though it was clear at
the moment, was surely not guaranteed to remain so! Thus M. Venn and his wife
alighted safely to the right, M. Venn carrying little Julie on his shoulder.
Miss — and I followed.
    “But to my surprise M.
Gyger, M. Venn’s sullen and uncommunicative companion, got out to the left.
    “The carriages were
quite open and no obstruction to vision, and I could clearly see M. Gyger walk
up and down the northern track. He was joined by various lords, counts, bishops
and other worthies. I recognized only one of them, a portly man with a damaged
arm and gammy leg. This was William Huskisson, Member of Parliament, who had
been on hand to welcome the Prime Minister into Liverpool that morning.
    “Both parties, on both
sides of the carriage, were drawn as if magnetised to the middle coach of the
three, which was the Prime Minister’s. I could see him clearly, that noble
nose, the upright bearing of a soldier! I fancy the heavy drapery around his
carriage rather baffled his hearing — for if not I imagine what transpired next
might have been quite different.
    “Since I must describe
the death of a Human Being I will take care to relate what happened in
sequence.
    “As I walked with the
Venns, I saw that M. Gyger prompted Mr Huskisson to call to the Prime Minister,
‘Oh, do step down, sir, if only for a minute! The gleam of the rail, the
billowing of the steam — quite the spectacle, sir!’ And so on. I fancy the
Prime Minister would rather have stayed in the comfort of his carriage. But
duty called, and he got up rather stiffly and prepared to descend towards Gyger
and Huskisson — that is, on to the northern rail.
    “As he did so M. Gyger’s
face assumed a most curious expression. I saw it once when my father caught a
rascal who habitually skipped around our toll gate: an expression that said, ‘Got
you at last, my lad!’ And I saw M. Gyger step back, quite deliberately, away
from the rail, leaving Mr Huskisson standing there to assist the Prime
Minister to the ground. As I say I saw all this quite clearly, but I did not
understand it at the time.
    “Suddenly I was
disturbed by a loud but distorted yell: `Get in! Get in!’
    “I looked down the
track, back towards Liverpool, and saw to my horror that a second train was
racing down the northern line towards us. The sky-blue flag it carried told me
that the locomotive was none other than the Rocket, Stephenson’s famous victor
of the Rainhill trials. That cry came from the engineer who hailed us with a
speaking-trumpet, even as he struggled to apply his brakes. Though the Venns
and I were quite safe, those who foolishly wandered over the northern track
were in grave danger.
    “And the Prime Minister
himself, his hearing perhaps baffled by the drapery, was about to step down
into the Rocket’s path! All this I saw in a second, and then a great fear
clamped down on me and I was unable to move.
    “Fortunately M. Venn was
more courageous than I. With a muttered ‘ Parbleu!’ he stepped forward —
but though we were only feet from the carriage, it was too far for him to have
reached the Prime Minister in time. So M. Venn, thinking fast, called out: ‘Wellesley!’
    “The Prime Minister
turned at the sound of his name. And M. Venn threw his small son
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