سواریِ بابی

Chapter four

Bobbie’s ride

About two weeks later, the old gentleman saw another white sheet with black letters when he looked out of the train. It said: SHE IS NEARLY WELL. THANK YOU.

Then it was time for the children to tell Mother what they had done. It was not easy, but they had to do it. And Mother was very angry indeed.

‘Now listen, it’s true that we’re poor,’ she told them, ‘but you must not tell everyone. And you must never, never ask strangers to give you things.’

‘We didn’t mean to be bad, Mother,’ cried Bobbie.

‘We’re sorry,’ said Phyllis and Peter, crying too.

Soon, Mother was crying with them. ‘I’ll write a letter to the old gentleman and thank him,’ she said. ‘You can give it to the Station Master to give him. Now we won’t say anymore about it.’

The day after the children took the letter to the station, it was Bobbie’s birthday. In the afternoon, she was politely told to go out until tea-time.

‘You mustn’t see what we’re doing,’ said Phyllis. ‘It’s a surprise.’

Bobbie went into the garden, and then she walked across the fields. When she came back, Phyllis and Peter met her at the back door. They were very clean and tidy, and Phyllis was wearing her prettiest dress. There was just enough time for Bobbie to make herself tidy before they called her into the front room.

Mother, Peter, and Phyllis were standing near the table, and there were twelve lighted candles on it, one for each of Bobbie’s years. The table was covered with beautiful flowers from the fields and garden, and there were some interesting little boxes, too.

‘Happy birthday, Bobbie,’ they shouted happily. ‘Open your presents!’

They were very nice presents. There was a pretty handkerchief with flowers on it, from Phyllis. A lovely little silver brooch of Mother’s, shaped like a rose, which Bobbie had loved for years. There were two blue glass vases from Mrs Viney. And there were three birthday cards with pretty pictures.

‘This is my present,’ said Peter, putting his toy steam engine on the table. It was full of sweets. Bobbie looked surprised, because just for a moment she thought Peter was giving her the engine. ‘Not the engine,’ he said quickly. ‘Only the sweets.’ But he had seen the look on her face. ‘I mean, not all the engine. You– you can have half, if you like,’ he said bravely.

‘Thank you, Peter,’ said Bobbie. ‘It’s a wonderful present.’ And she thought: ‘It was very kind of Peter to give me half of his engine. Well, I’ll have the broken half, and I’ll get it mended.’

It was a lovely birthday. But later that night, Bobbie came silently down the stairs to get her presents. She saw her mother sitting at the table, with a pen and some writing paper in front of her. ‘She’s writing to Father,’ thought Bobbie.

But at that moment, Mother wasn’t writing. Her head was on her arms and her arms lay on the table.

‘It’s my birthday, and she doesn’t want me to know she’s unhappy,’ thought Bobbie. ‘Well, I won’t know, I won’t know.’

And she went quietly back to her room. But it was a sad end to the birthday.

The next day, Bobbie put Peter’s engine in a box and took it down to the railway. She did not go to the station, but she went along the line to the place where the engines stopped.

When the next train came in, Bobbie went across the line and stood beside the engine. She had never been close to one before, and it was very big. The driver and the fireman did not see her. They were talking to Perks, the Porter, who was on the other side of the line.

‘Excuse me,’ began Bobbie. But the men did not hear her because the engine was making a lot of steam and noise. Bobbie climbed on to the step of the engine - but at that moment, the train began to move!

Bobbie fell inside, on to a heap of coal. ‘Help,’ she cried. But still the men didn’t see or hear her.

‘I shouldn’t be here,’ she thought, as the train went faster. ‘I’ll be in terrible trouble!’

She put out a hand and touched the nearest arm, and the driver turned round quickly. ‘What are you doing here,’ he shouted. And Bobbie began to cry.

This seemed to worry the two men, and they took several minutes to calm Bobbie down and to stop her crying. Then the fireman said, ‘Now tell us why you’re here. It’s not every day a little girl falls into our steam engine!’

Bobbie picked up the box with Peter’s toy engine inside it. ‘I– I wanted to ask if you could mend this,’ she explained, and took the engine out of the box. ‘Everybody on the railway seemed so good and kind. I didn’t think you’d mind.’

The driver took the little engine and the two men looked at it silently, not speaking for several minutes. Bobbie waited.

‘What do you think, Jim,’ said the driver at last. ‘Can we help the little lady?’

The fireman smiled. ‘I should think we can!’

‘Oh, thank you,’ said Bobbie.

‘But now we must make sure that you get home safely,’ said the driver.

Bobbie stayed on the train until it reached Stackpoole Junction. She asked the two men all about driving a steam train, and they showed her the automatic brake, and the little clock faces that told them how much steam the engine was making. It was all very interesting. At Stackpoole Junction the two railwaymen put her on another train and sent her home.

Bobbie was back in time for tea.

‘Where have you been,’ asked the others.

‘To the station, of course,’ said Bobbie. But she would not say another word.

It was some weeks before Bobbie took her brother and sister to meet the friendly engine driver and fireman. The two children were very surprised. And Peter was very excited when he saw his engine, now as good as new again.

And only then, as the three children walked home again, did Bobbie tell the others about her adventures on the engine of the steam train.