What this system was, I never clearly understood; but,
of course, none of us had any objections. This circumstance gave an
additional impetus to the shares, and they once more went up. I was,
however, too cautious to plunge a second time in to Charybdis, but
M'Corkindale did, and again emerged with plunder.
When the time came for the parliamentary contest, we all emigrated to
London. I still recollect, with lively satisfaction, the many pleasant
days we spent in the metropolis at the company's expense. There were
just a neat fifty of us, and we occupied the whole of a hotel. The
discussion before the committee was long and formidable. We were opposed
by four other companies who patronised lines, of which the nearest was
at least a hundred miles distant from Glenmutchkin; but as they founded
their opposition upon dissent from "the Glenmutchkin system" generally,
the committee allowed them to be heard. We fought for three weeks a most
desperate battle, and might in the end have been victorious, had not our
last antagonist, at the very close of his case, pointed out no less than
seventy-three fatal errors in the parliamentary plan deposited by the
unfortunate Solder.
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