6.  “You want an engineer, I understand,” he said in a low, cautious tone, at the same time gazing quietly about him, as though he wanted no one to hear what he said.  “I do,” I replied.  “My train is all ready, and we have no engineer within twenty miles of this place.”  “Well, sir, I am going to Bromberg; I must go, and I will run the engine for you.”  “Ha!” I uttered, “are you an engineer?” “I am, sir—­one of the oldest in the country—­and am now on my way to make arrangements for a great improvement I have invented for the application of steam to a locomotive.  My name is Martin Kroller.  If you wish, I will run as far as Bromberg; and I will show you running that is running.”

7.  Was I not fortunate?  I determined to accept the man’s offer at once, and so I told him.  He received my answer with a nod and a smile.  I went with him to the house, where we found the engine in charge of the fireman, and all ready for a start.  Kroller got upon the platform, and I followed him.  I had never seen a man betray such a peculiar aptness amid machinery as he did.  He let on the steam in an instant, but yet with care and judgment, and he backed up to the baggage carriage with the most exact nicety.

8.  I had seen enough to assure me that he was thoroughly acquainted with the business, and I felt composed once more.  I gave my engine up to the new man, and then hastened away to the office.  Word was passed for all the passengers to take their seats, and soon afterward I waved my hand to the engineer.  There was a puff, a groaning of the heavy axletrees, a trembling of the building, and the train was in motion.  I leaped upon the platform of the guard carriage, and in a few minutes more the station house was far behind us.

9.  In less than an hour we reached Dirschau, where we took up the passengers, that had come on the Konigsberg railway.  Here I went forward and asked Kroller how he liked the engine.  He replied that he liked it very much.  “But,” he added, with a strange sparkling of the eye, “wait until I get my improvement, and then you will see traveling.  Why, I could run an engine of my construction to the moon in four and twenty hours?”

10.  I smiled at what I thought his enthusiasm, and then went back to my station.  As soon as the Konigsberg passengers were all on board, and their baggage carriage attached, we started on again.  Soon after, I went into the guard carriage and sat down.  An early train from Konigsberg had been through two hours before, and was awaiting us at Little Oscue, where we took on board the Western mail.

11.  “How we go,” uttered one of the guards, some fifteen minutes after we had left Dirschau.  “The new engineer is trying the speed,” I replied, not yet having any fear.  But ere long I began to apprehend he was running a little too fast.  The carriages began to sway to and fro, and I could hear exclamations of fright from the passengers.  “Good heavens!” cried one of the guards, coming in at that moment, “what is that fellow doing?  Look, sir, and see how we are going.”