290 ON THE TRACK OF THE MAIL-COACH 



root of evil; 'fifty' turned itself into 'eighty,' and 

 * hundred ' into ' thousand,' with great ease. Figures 

 generally comported themselves very much as they 

 pleased. Amongst the older telegraphists, a tradition 

 , , / lingers of a t^gram having been sent to Portugal or 

 / Spain, ordering five thousand boxes of oranges. In 

 the course of transmission an additional cipher 

 slipped in. 



I do not know what is the actual content of a box 

 of oranges, but will assume that it is four or five cubic 

 feet. Now, while a fruit steamer could probably stow 

 away in her hold five thousand boxes, or twenty or 

 twenty-five thousand cubic feet — about six hundred 

 tons' measurement of goods — a quarter of a million of 

 cubic feet, as represented by fifty thousand boxes, 

 would require several steamers. The legend mentions 

 ten vessels in all, which in due course were loaded 

 and despatched from Portugal, to the dismay of the 

 consignees. On the arrival of the fleet in English 

 ports, it may be imagined that the price of oranges 

 ruled low. 



I am not sure that, to begin with, we signalled the 

 n amber of words in a telegram. If we did so, we 

 only counted those of the text, not those in the address. 

 But singular blunders brought about the present rule. 

 The late Mr. Graves was a well-known merchant 

 of Liverpool and an influential Member of Parlia- 

 ment. By persistent ill-luck, the Telegraph Company 

 caused telegrams for Mr. S. K. Graves to be delivered 

 to another merchant, Mr. S. Hargreaves, and vice 



