Part 40 (1/2)

”Tough? It's glorious!” said Pax, seating himself enthusiastically at the table; ”I'm proud of my country--proud of the GPO--proud... I say, is that beef that I see before me? Hand me a dagger--no, a knife will do. You cut it, Phil, and help me first, 'cause I'm little.”

While Phil was cutting the meat Pax rested his head on the table, and was asleep almost instantly.

”Hallo, Pax! rouse yourself!” cried Phil, giving his comrade a hearty slap on the shoulder; ”up, lad, and eat--the battle still rages; no rest allowed till victory is ours.”

His little friend set to work at once, and the food and coffee soon banished drowsiness. A number of men were similarly engaged around him.

But they did not feast long. Like giants refreshed, they returned to the scene of combat, while others took their places.

And what a scene it was! Despite all that had been done, the hall might be described as waist-deep in letters! The fever had not yet abated.

It seemed as if the whole world had concentrated its literary produce into one mighty avalanche on St. Martin's-le-Grand!

The midnight mails worked off some of this, but a large portion of it still remained to be disposed of on Christmas-day, together with what the mails brought in on that morning, but the officers worked so well that between nine and ten on Christmas morning all were allowed to go home, with the exception of twenty-six, who volunteered to remain.

Thus the battle was fought and won; the tables were cleared; the fever was subdued; and the pulse of the Post-Office was reduced to its normal condition.

Think on these things, reader, when next you read the little card that wishes you ”a merry Christmas!”

Some of the facts and results connected with this great battle are worth recording. The number of _extra_ bags and sacks received at the chief office altogether on that occasion was 1401. The number of extra bags despatched was 2269; all of them were crammed full to their mouths, and the aggregate weight of these extra mails was 197 tons.

To convey these from the chief office 176 extra vans were used, and 75 extra carts. As nearly as could be estimated, the number of extra letters and packets was not less than four millions. There was a vast increase, also, in the registered correspondence--to the extent of thirty-one thousand in excess of the ordinary numbers.

During these three days some of the men did nearly thirty hours' extra duty, _besides_ performing their ordinary work. The continuous attendance at the office of some of them varied from forty to forty-eight hours, and the total increase to the revenue on that auspicious but trying occasion was estimated to be about twenty thousand pounds sterling!

Phil Maylands and Peter Pax were among those who had volunteered to remain after the press of work was over; and it was not till the afternoon of Christmas-day that they finally, and simultaneously, plunged into their beds and oblivion.

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.

THE STORMING OF ROCKY COTTAGE AND OTHER MATTERS.

Years flew by. The daily routine at St. Martin's-le-Grand went on; the mails departed and came in with unvarying regularity; in the working of the vast machine good men and boys rose to the surface, and bad ones went down. Among the former were Phil Maylands and Peter Pax.

The latter, in course of time, rose to the rank of Inspector, in which condition he gradually developed a pretty pair of brown whiskers and a wonderful capacity for the performance of duty. He also rose to the alt.i.tude of five feet six inches, at which point he stuck fast, and continued the process of increase laterally. Pax, however, could not become reconciled to city life. He did his work cheerfully and with all his might, because it was his nature so to do, but he buoyed up his spirits--so he was wont to say--by fixing his eye on the Postmaster-Generals.h.i.+p and a suburban villa on the Thames.

His friend Phil, on the contrary, was quite pleased with city life, and devoted himself with such untiring energy to his work, and to his own education, that he came ere long to be noted as the youth who knew everything. Faults he had, undoubtedly, and his firm, severe way of expressing his opinions raised him a few enemies in the Post-Office, but he attained at last to the condition of being so useful and so trustworthy as to make men feel that he was almost indispensable. They felt as if they could not get on without him.

When man or boy comes to this point, success is inevitable. Phil soon became a favourite with the heads of departments. The Chief of the Post-Office himself at last came to hear of him, and, finding that he was more than capable of pa.s.sing the requisite examinations, he raised him from the ranks and made him a clerk in the Savings-Bank Department.

Having attained to this position, with a good salary for a single man, and a prospect of a steady rise, Phil set about the accomplishment of the darling wish of his heart. He obtained leave of absence, went over to the west of Ireland, and took Rocky Cottage by storm.

”Mother dear,” he said, almost before he had sat down, ”I'm promoted.

I'm rich--comparatively. I've taken a house--a small house--at Nottinghill, and your room in it is ready for you; so pack up at once, for we leave this to-morrow afternoon.”

”You jest, Phil.”

”I'm in earnest, mother.”

”But it is impossible,” said the good lady, looking anxiously round; ”I cannot pack up on so short notice. And the furniture--”

”It's all arranged, mother,” said Phil, stroking the curls of a strapping boy who no longer went by the name of Baby, but was familiarly known as Jim. ”Being aware of your desire to get rid of the furniture, I have arranged with a man in Howlin' Cove to take it at a valuation.