Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Aunt Lu's City Home Part 11

"Oh, I see," the conductor went on. "Then you didn't stop my train because you wanted to get off?"

"Oh, no!" cried Bunny quickly. "I don't want to get off now. I want to go to New York. We're going to my Aunt Lu's house."

"Well, New York is quite a way off yet," laughed the conductor, "so I guess you had better stay with us. But please don't pull on the whistle cord again."

"I won't," Bunny promised. "But it is a strong rope, isn't it, Mr.

Conductor? And it does hold the cars together; doesn't it?"

"Well, no, not exactly," the conductor answered, while the pa.s.sengers laughed. "I'll show you what the cord does in a little while. But I'm glad nothing has happened. I thought there was an accident when the train stopped so quickly, so I ran through all the cars to find out. Now we'll go on again."

He reached up and pulled the car-cord twice. Far up ahead, in the cab of the locomotive, a little whistle blew twice, and the engineer knew that meant for him to go ahead. It's just like that on a trolley car. One bell means to stop, and two bells to go ahead.

"Oh Bunny! Why did you do it?" asked his mother, as she took the parasol from him.

"Why--why, I didn't mean to stop the train," he said.

Mrs. Brown thought there was not much need of scolding Bunny, for he had not meant to do wrong. He promised never again to pull on a whistle cord in a train.

Now the cars were rolling on again, and, in a little while the conductor again came back to where Mrs. Brown was sitting.

"Now where's the little boy who stopped my train?" he asked with a smile.

"I'm here," Bunny answered, "and this is my sister Sue."

"Well, I'm glad to meet you both again, I'm sure," and the conductor shook hands with Bunny and kissed Sue. "Now, if you two would like it, I'll show you where you blew the whistle in the engine."

"Oh, will you take us in the engine?" asked Bunny, who had always wanted to go in that funny little house on top of the locomotive's back.

"Yes, I'll take you in when we make the next stop," the conductor said.

"We have to wait a few minutes to give the engine a drink of water, and I'll take you and your sister in the engine. That is if you say it's all right," and he turned around to look at Mrs. Brown.

"Oh, yes," Bunny's mother answered. "They may go with you if they won't be a bother. I'm sorry my little boy made so much trouble about stopping the train."

"Oh, well, he didn't mean to, so we'll forget all about it. I'll come back and get you when we stop," he said.

A little later the train slowed up. It did it so easily that no one fell out of his seat this time, and, pretty soon, back came the conductor to get Bunny and Sue.

The engine had stopped near a big wooden tank filled with water, and some of this water was running through a big pipe into the tender of the engine. The tender is the place where the coal is kept for the locomotive fire.

"h.e.l.lo, Jim!" called the conductor to the engineer who was leaning out of the window of his little house. "Here's the boy who stopped the train so suddenly a while back."

"Oh ho! Is he?" asked the engineer. "Well, he isn't a very big boy, to have stopped such a big train."

"I--I didn't mean to," said Bunny, and he and Sue looked back, and saw that truly it was a long train. And the locomotive pulling it was a very big one.

"Well, you didn't do much damage," laughed the engineer.

"I'm going to bring them up to see you," the conductor said.

"That's right, let 'em come!"

The engineer came out of his cab and took first Bunny, and then Sue, from the conductor, who lifted them up to the iron step near the boiler.

A hot fire was burning under the engine to make steam, and Bunny and Sue looked at it in wonder.

Then the engineer took them up in his cab, and showed Bunny where, on the ceiling, was the little air whistle--the one Bunny had blown when he pulled the cord with the parasol. Then the engineer showed the children the shiny handle that he pulled to make the engine go ahead, and another that made it go backward. Then he showed a little bra.s.s handle.

"This is the one I pulled on in a hurry when I heard you blow the whistle once," he said.

"What handle is that?" asked the little boy.

"That's the handle that puts on the air brakes," said the engineer. "And over here is the rope the fireman pulls when he wants to ring the bell.

I'll let you ring it."

"And me, too?" asked Sue.

"Yes, you too!" laughed the engineer.

First Bunny pulled on the rope that was fast to the big bell on the top of the engine, near the smoke-stack where the puffing noise sounded.

Bunny could hardly make the bell ring, as it was very heavy, but finally he did make it sound:

"Ding-dong!"

"Now it's my turn!" cried Sue.

She could only make the bell ring once:

"Ding!"

But she was just as well pleased.

By this time the engine had taken enough water for its boiler, to last until it got to New York, and the conductor took Bunny and Sue back to their mother. They were quite excited and pleased over their visit to the locomotive, and told Mrs. Brown all about the strange sights they had seen.

"But when will we be at Aunt Lu's?" asked Bunny, as he looked out of the window.

"Oh, soon now," his mother answered.

And, in about an hour, the brakeman put his head in through the door of their car, and called out:

"New York! All change!"

"Change what, Mother?" asked Sue. "Have we got to change our clothes?

Are we going to bed?"

"No, dear. The man means we must change cars. We are at the end of our railroad trip."

"But it's so dark," said Bunny. "I thought it was time to go to bed."

"It's the station that's dark," said Mrs. Brown. "Part of it is underground, like a tunnel."