138 History of Gutta-Percha Willie,

 

rushing, turned round to look, and saw him with
one hand in a small wooden trough that ran along
the wall, and with the other holding the tumbler
in a stream of water that fell from the side of the
trough into his bath. When the tumbler was full,
he removed his hand from the trough, and the
water ceased to overflow. He carried the tumbler
to Hector, who drank, and said the water was
delicious.

Hector could not imagine how the running water
had got there, and Willie had to tell him what I
am now going to tell my reader. His grand-
mother’s sovereign and his own hydraulics had
brought it there.

He had been thinking for some time what a
pleasure it would be to have a stream running
through his room, and how much labour it would
save poor old Tibbie; for it was no light matter
for her old limbs to carry all the water for his bath
up that steep narrow winding stair to his room,
He reasoned that as the well rose and overflowed
when its outlet was stopped, it might rise yet
farther if it were still confined; for its source was
probably in the heart of one of the surrounding
hills, and water when confined will always rise as
high as its source. Therefore, after much medita-
tion as to how it could be accomplished in the
simplest and least expensive manner, he set about
it as follows.