116 The Runaway Watch.

without us !” and then how the works flew! They
had never, when in the case, been known to hurry
in the least, but now they fairly jostled each other
in their eagerness. The hands kept themselves
well in hand, the main-spring, broken as he was,
aid spring, and the cog-wheels cogged, and they
finally did get there, just in time to fly breathless
into the case, but not in time to brush off the sand.
Lucy fortunately did not take out her watch. If
she had happened to do so, I am sure she would
have been much astonished at its condition.

The works, meanwhile, had somewhat recov-
ered themselves. The wheels took their places,
the hands theirs, and the head master gave the
order, standing before them :

“ Tick-tick, tick-tick, go/” And they all bent
to their work, only to find that they were unable to
get on atall. “Scratch, squeak-i-ty, scratch,’ was
the only sound they could make. Then the hands
quarrelled, each accusing the other of not doing his
work, and so stopping all the machinery. Then
the wheels took it up, one saying to the other:

“Tt is your fault.”