One day, the children were walking by the fence along the top of the hill beside the railway line. The line here ran through a deep little valley and the hillside on both sides of the line was very rocky. But among the rocks, grass and flowers GREw, and many small trees.
Phyllis stood by the fence and looked down to the lines at the bottom.‘It’s like looking down the side of a mountain,’she said.
Suddenly, they heard a noise. It was soft, but very clear, and slowly began to get louder.
‘Look at the tree over there!’cried peter.
The girls looked and saw a tree moving slowly downwards on the opposite side of the railway line!
‘It’s magic!’said Phyllis.‘I knew the railway was magic. Look, some other trees are moving, too.’
They watched as the trees moved on and on, grass and stones moving with them. Then a big rock began to move as well, and suddenly half the hillside was moving. A second or two later, everything came crashing down in a big heap on the railway line below.
‘It’s right across the line!’said Phyllis, feeling a little frightened now.
‘Yes,’said Peter, slowly.‘And the 11.29 hasn’t gone by yet. We must let them know at the station, or there will be an awful accident.’
‘There isn’t time,’said Bobbie.‘It’s past eleven now.’
They thought for a moment.
‘We need something red. Then we could go down on the line and wave it ,’said Peter.‘Everyone knows that red means danger, and the train would stop.’
‘Our petticoats!’said Phyllis.‘They’re red. Let’s take them off.’
The girls did this, then the three of them ran along the line to a corner. When they were round the corner, it was impossible to see the heap of trees and rocks.
‘We’ll need some sticks as well,’said Peter, taking one of the petticoats.‘Now…’He took a knife from his pocket.
‘You’re not going to cut them, are you?’said Phyllis.
‘Yes, cut them!’said Bobbie. ‘If we can’t stop the train, there will be a real accident and people will be killed.’
They cut the petticoats into six pieces and put them on to sticks. Now they had six red flags. Next, they pushed two of the flags into heaps of stones between the lines, then Bobbie and Phyllis each took one, and Peter took the other two. They stood ready to wave them immediately the train appeared.
It seemed a long time before the railway lines began to shake, and they heard the train coming.
‘Wave your flags!’ordered Peter.‘But don’t stand on the line, Bobbie!’
the train came very, very fast. The lines began to shake and the two flags that were pushed into the heaps of stones soon fell over, but Bobbie ran across and picked up one of them.
‘The train’s not going to stop!’she shouted.‘They won’t see us, it’s no good! ’
She ran on to the line, waving her two flags.
‘Get back, Bobbie!’shouted Peter.
But Bobbie did not move from the line. She waved and waved her flags, shouting‘Stop, stop!’as the big black engine came towards her.
It did stop…but only twenty metres from Bobbie.
Peter and Phyllis ran along the line to tell the driver about the trees and rocks around the corner. But Bobbie couldn’t move because her legs were shaking too much. She had to sit down on the ground.
But they had saved the train.
‘You’re brave and clever children,’the driver told them.
Some weeks later, a letter arrived at the little white house on the hill. it was for Peter, Bobbie, and Phyllis, and it said:
Dear Sir and ladies—We would like to say thank you for saving the train and stopping a very bad accident. Please comet to the station at three o’clock on the 30th of the month, if this is a suitable day.
J. Inglewood
Secretary, the Northern and Southern Railway Company
It was to be a very special day indeed.
The three children went down to the station at the right time, dressed in their best clothes, and the Station Master came to meet them.
‘Come into the waiting room,’he said.
He took them into the room where people usually waited for the trains—but now there was a carpet on the floor, and flowers above the pictures on the walls.
Perks the Porter was there, and several men in high hats and long coats. There were ladies in expensive dresses, and people who had been on the train on ‘red-petticoat day’. Best of all, their own old gentleman was there, and he came across to shake their hands.
Then everybody sat down on chairs and an important looking man got up to speak. He said nice things about the children—how brave and clever they were—and then he sat down. Next, the old gentleman got up and said more nice things about them. Then he called them across and gave each of them a beautiful gold watch.
‘These are from the Northern and Southern Railway Company,’he said, ‘to say thank you for the brave and sensible thing that you did to save the train.’
It was a wonderful day. A day that seemed more like a dream than real life.
Afterwards, the old gentleman walked with them to the little white house.‘I want to meet the mother of these clever children,’he said.
Mother was surprised to see their visitor, but she thanked him again for the things he had sent when she was ill. Then they talked about‘red-petticoat day’, and the children showed Mother their watches and told her about the people at the station.
‘I’ve been very pleased to meet you,’Mother said to the old gentleman, when it was time for him to leave.‘I’m sorry we can’t ask you to come and see us again, but we live very quietly.’
The children thought this was very strange. They had made a friend—a very good friend—and they dearly wanted him to come and see them again.
What did the old gentleman think? They didn’t know. He looked closely at Mother and said,‘I thank you, Madam, for welcoming me to your house today.’
But Bobbie was watching her mother’s face as the old gentleman walked away. It was a sad, tired face.
‘She’s thinking about Father,’thought Bobbie.
