The Dreamland Express Read online

  After that the boys kept their mouths open, and looked first at one another and then at the brass thing ever so many times; then, with great suddenness, they told the time by it! And not only the time, but the day of the month of the year of the century—of all the centuries that have been, and all that ever will be.

  TEE PIRATES’ TREASURE CAVE

  * Strange!

  * She meant funnel, I think.

  CHAPTER THE THIRD

  NUNCHEL—

  ALL this time the train had been streaming downward like a comet. Nearing midnight by the brass thing, a faint blur of light showed ahead. A strange voice—a startling voice—spoke from a brass horn they had not noticed before, and said, “Reduce speed!”

  John did so because it was a voice that was not to be disobeyed. It spoke again, and said, “Whistle!” This time Peter obeyed the command.

  The faint glow ahead of them grew suddenly large, and a town with strange high houses, a river and a bridge flickered past them.

  John found his voice then.

  “Did you see the old fellow with the beard?” he asked gleefully. “We gave him a surprise, I think!”

  But they were soon to find that the old fellow was a wizard of great magical powers, who had a strong dislike of fast trains. And he vented his displeasure in a way that the boys didn’t like at all—and for the one surprise the magician got from them he gave a dozen in return before they got out of range of his power. He caused all sorts of horrible-looking obstructions to appear suddenly in front of the racing engine, not solid at all, but thin as air really. The boys didn’t know that, of course: the things looked so terribly real. And the artful old wizard saved the worst till the last, when a whole mountain seemed to topple over right ahead of them, and it looked as if nothing could save them from disaster.

  John jammed the brakes on hard, and the train skidded amidst a river of sparks into—nothing.

  But every hair on the boys’ heads stood up. Again the speed rose and the air screamed past. I don’t know what the speed was, but all the fittings on the outside of the engine showed up with a dull red glow.

  After a while the train began to slow up, which told the boys they were on level ground again, and when the dawn came swiftly a city lay ahead—an enchanting-looking place. John eased the train down to a crawl through the wide avenue of the town, which must have been very large. It was afternoon before they pulled up in a station which was nothing more or less than a long palace. It was long enough to hold the train easily. Then the boys and girls read the name of the city, “NUNCHEL—,” * written on the walls.

  The red-headed guard sprang out of his car and thumbed his time-table for a moment. “A fortnight here,” he bawled; “trot along!”

  And what a happy fortnight that was in Nunchel—.* It was just a big fair, and when I tell you that there was nothing to pay for anything, you will wish you had been there!

  But there was one rather strange thing about it, and this was that if you “bought” something that wasn’t really of use to you it shrank away to nothing and disappeared entirely! For example, one misguided lad bought a fine, large, mild elephant and led it back to the train; but long before he got there the docile creature began to shrink, and it was no bigger than a terrier when the two of them walked into the station. Half-way across the platform the boy was carrying the elephant on the palm of his hand, and as he opened the door of the “Pets” car, the animal just went “flick” and was gone!

  Ah! but you soon learn what is good for you when things like that happen. You can guess, too, what happened to the little girl who chose the gorgeous dress of a queen; and a boy who wanted a large oriental gun, and thinks to this day that the tiny gun he took to the train slipped through a hole in his pocket.

  But there, in the end everybody got something real to keep because they had a whole fortnight to choose and get wise in.

  They slept in bearooms that made them think they were dreaming— indeed, one boy was given a bed of such wonderful beauty that he didn’t like to get into it, so he slept on the floor beside it for a whole fortnight.

  Happy Nunchel—! *

  THE LITTLE GIRL WHO CHOSE THE GORGEOUS DRESS OF A QUEEN

  The train left exactly to time on the 14th day. The red-headed guard saw to that — after a tremendous hubbub, of course. When the very last child was found and safely packed in, the big engine heaved them out of the station into a tunnel, which fell steadily until the rails were a long way below the ground. It was quite light enough down there for anybody to see, and very soon the sides of the tunnel grew rocky, and still rockier with water trickling down; and so the children were not the least surprised when they rolled through a cavern containing a forest of stalactites, which hung from a roof too high and too dark to be seen. The floor of the cave was made of yellow sand, and all over it lay heaps and heaps of treasure. Crowns with jewels sparkled joyfully, mingled with old iron treasure-chests—with swords and garments of priceless value. It was a pirates’ treasure-cave, but the robbers were nowhere to be seen, although the children kept a sharp look-out. Perhaps the thieves had repented and become good—I don’t know—but it is difficult to believe that the owner of all the glittering heaps would leave them unguarded.

  HE DIDN’T LIKE TO GET INTO IT

  And so on went the train, clattering up another steep rocky tunnel into the open air, and ran slowly into a forest in which the trees and bushes were so strangely shaped that everybody thought the train had lost its way. There was so much argument about the trees that, in the end, Nats had to be consulted. The learned boy was found in the library car, and I cannot say that he welcomed the noisy squad with great enthusiasm. He did not, and was very grumpy about it. But he looked casually out of the window and said, “Golly! Coal measures then seized his net and jumped out of the moving car.

  THE BURNING CITY OF EBONABAD

  Coal measures? I wonder what Nats meant? How does it measure? and what? You must ask a wise grown-up.

  The train stopped for lunch at midday in this remarkable forest, and the whole party sat about among the great tree-ferns. And all went well until Nats returned with a fine specimen (as he called it) which he led by a string.

  I have no doubt that it was “fine” to the eyes of scientific folk, but its appearance was greeted with yells and shrieks of dismay. Look at it (if you can), and you will not wonder that the alarmed cries brought the red-headed guard on the scene.

  Of course there was an argument when Nats refused to give up his beautiful specimen.

  “YOU CAN’T TAKE THAT ON THE TRAIN!”

  “You can’t take that on the train!” said the guard in his firmest manner.

  “Oh, yes—I can!” said Nats, eagerly. “It will go through the door easily!”

  “I don’t mean that,” yelled the guard; “I mean you shan’t take it on the train. I won’t have my people * upset like this —you are turning this adventure into a nightmare—” And other things like that. He commanded Nats to take the thing back to the place where he found it and lose it again.

  THE ATTACK ON THE ENGINE

  But that was easier said than done, because the horrid reptile, or whatever it was, had taken such a fancy to Nats that it refused to leave him. Everyone took refuge in the cars with all doors and windows shut, and the train was started in a hurry. The reptile, after scorching its toes on the engine, ran up and down the roofs of the cars. You could tell where it was by the yells which greeted it when it looked, upside down, through the car windows. Finally it was swept off by an overhanging branch and was not seen again. Everybody breathed freely until something else happened. Nats did not cause it this time—it just happened, as adventures should.

  HE SEIZED A GUN FROM A RACK, AND THEN—BANG!!!

  It began when John discovered a lithe, yellow lion, badly in need of a hair-cut, standing on the foot-plate and looking at him with fell intent. John maintained his presence of mind and blew the alarm signal on the whistle, and, as if in answer to it,
a yellow swarm of lions appeared and swiftly laid siege to the train. Very different they were from Nats’ specimen, which did not want to nip every boy and girl it could see.

  The lions were everywhere: a huge beast stuffed its untidy head through the door of the van where the red-headed guard was studying maps, and roared at him in a most offensive manner, so that the whole place quivered.

  The guard, as you have already guessed, allowed no trespassers in his sacred car, and he was very much annoyed by this apparition.

  He acted promptly.

  Stepping back, he seized a gun from a rack, and then—BANG!!! there was no more lion: only the beautiful green and mauve trees showed in the doorway.

  The other beasts, failing in their attempts to get into the train, laid siege to the boys on the engine.

  But the yellow mob got the worst of it and bolted with deep, angry snarls, and a marked loathing for scalding water delivered through a hose-pipe. A few that remained on the car roofs were tumbled off by the draught when John put the big engine through its best pace.

  AT HEROU

  * I’ ve lost this last letter, somehow.

  * I wonder if any body knows what that last letter is?

  * I know I shall remember that letter when it is too late!

  * “My people,” you observe!

  CHAPTER THE FOURTH

  EBONABAD

  THE express thrust its way out of the fern forest into a land which was covered as far as the eye could see with metal gongs—just like mushrooms. Unseen hands were playing deep booming music on them. The little adventurers were so occupied in listening that they did not see a fortified city until they were close up to it. John, who, like all good drivers, kept a sharp look-out, says that it rose out of the ground in front of him as if it had been pushed up by some unknown force. The city was a fine place, with walls and embattled towers armed with slings and other weapons of war.

  The boys drove in gently through the gate into a great square and then pulled up. It was strangely murky inside the city, and the sky seemed to be much darker than it was outside. There was a great multitude of people gathered there, who surged about restlessly with drawn and anxious faces. They were strangely silent too. There was none of that hubbub one expects from a crowd. But anyone could see they were waiting for something. The children watched them in wonder for a space, but they were soon to know. As they watched, a piece of flame dropped from the sky into the midst of the agonised crowd. Then, as if this were a signal, a storm of red-hot ashes fell swiftly and bounded about like hail.

  A LAND COVERED WITH METAL GONGS

  Then the distracted people broke and fled out of the city gates, still without a sound. The children saw a horseman tear himself from the mass and ride straight at the train. A hundred voices cried, “Look out!” but the horseman did not hear, and galloped right up to the train, and clean through it! John, Peter, and George saw him go, and as he raced past he hugged a golden idol tightly to him. Then a flaming baulk of wood dropped right through Peter, and smashed into white-hot fragments on the ground under the engine. With that the boys called loudly to the guard.

  “What shall we do?” asked John.

  “Go on!” commanded the red-headed martinet.

  “But they’re all among the wheels! Can’t we take some of them with us?” pleaded John.

  “No!” said the guard. “Right away! You can’t hurt them!”

  The boys obeyed him, and started very gingerly, because you cannot stop a 5000-ton train suddenly, even in your imagination, if anybody gets in the way.

  And so they crept out of the doomed city, now flaming to the sky, and although John drove fast and far through the long night, the children could still see a smoky haze on the horizon behind in the morning.

  Then the guard had a surprise for them. He told them the name of the burning city.* Ebonabad.

  “But how did it catch fire?” asked one bright boy.

  “It never caught fire!” answered the guard, cryptically. “It has always been like that!”

  * Without being asked!

  CHAPTER THE FIFTH

  HEROU

  AND after that came Herou—the glorious—the magnificent. I cannot possibly describe it in words, but I have drawn it for you, after a fashion. I don’t expect it is much like it—how can it be with such a lot of things in an enormous place to crowd into a page or two of this book?

  The children caught sight of the city days before they reached it. It grew slowly out of the horizon as the train travelled swiftly towards it, until, at last, its high walls looked as if they would blot out the whole sky.

  There was a great gateway into the city, and the wall was so thick that the entrance made a long tunnel.

  From the roof of the tunnel hung large sentinels’ cages, and through the bars came the glint of armour and weapons.

  Out of the tunnel into a city that was nothing but a vast fair. Herou, as you may have heard, is (or was?) hundreds of miles round. To the children it seemed limitless. Here were stalls where you could buy anything., and multitudes of busy, gaily-clad people.

  The train drew up between two rows of soldiers, who looked so fierce with their hawk noses and black eyes that none of the children liked to venture out of the train. They told the red-headed guard so.

  “Don’t you?” said the guard, in remarkably pleasant tones, for him.

  He got down from his car and walked up to the soldiers.

  “Stand back ten paces!” he commanded. “I can’t have my people * inconvenienced like this!”

  LEAVING HEROU

  And he pressed the tips of his fingers against the bronze belt of the biggest soldier; the man grabbed at his sword and looked at the guard with dreadful eyes.

  The children held their breath with fear, expecting to see the guard’s head, at least, tumbling about the wheels of the train. Nothing of the sort happened, however. The soldiers growled—but went back the whole ten paces.

  HE PRESSED THE TIPS OF HTS FINGERS AGAINST THE BRONZE BELT OF THE BIGGEST SOLDIER

  He was a real guard, this person with the red hair, as I have told you. Then, to the general amazement, he rapped out: “All change!”

  John, Peter, and George leaned out of the engine cab and couldn’t believe their ears.

  “What into?” demanded John.

  “The next train!” answered the guard.

  So everybody got down.

  And, sure enough, another train shortly drew up beside them. They felt it before they saw it, because its engine, being made of solid beaten gold, shook the earth as it came through the wall.

  John, Peter, and George laughed at it till they cried. But all the same, when they had wiped the tears from their eyes, they clambered on to the glittering new-comer.

  In its way it was quite as fascinating as the one they had been driving. The jewels that were set about it took one’s breath away. Any one of them would have bought a kingdom, and the engine was solid gold, because George tried it with a knife.

  No driver was to be seen, but the stoker was a negro who was chained to the engine. The boys puzzled their heads as to whether the man was a slave, or perhaps, as Peter suggested, wore the chain to prevent him falling off the engine.

  They couldn’t decide and never found out.

  And when they came to get back to their own train again it wasn’t there!

  Well, it was nowhere in sight, because it had done what all respectable trains should do. It had departed.

  “We must be dreaming!” said John.

  So after getting over the shock, all the boys could do was to take over the new engine and make the best of it. Of course, after the fine up-to-date engine they had left, this new thing was a sore trial. True to his task, John asked for the oil-gun. The black stoker gravely handed him a jar of oil* and a feather. And when Peter inquired where the pressure gauge was, and the safety valves, and other necessary things like that, he only got a wide smile and a shake of the head from the stoker.

&n
bsp; As for the starting lever—there was no sign of it. There never had been one apparently.

  “It’s positively dangerous!” said the three boys in chorus, and called the guard.

  “Do you expect us to work a train with this contraption?” Peter asked him, heatedly.

  “Dear me, yes!” said the guard. “It’ll go!”

  “Then perhaps you’ll tell us how to start it?” John asked.

  “Quite simple,” answered the guard. “All you have to do is—tell it to go. Don’t bother me again, please, unless you are in difficulties!”

  This was cold comfort for three such experts as John, Peter, and George, but the stay in Herou helped them to get reconciled to this strange, outlandish machine, and before long they came to the conclusion that it wasn’t so bad after all. Very few engines they knew boasted of a chained stoker, and a real, live, armed guard on the front rail as this one had.

  They counted the row of caravans (for that was all they were) behind them, and wondered how all their passengers were going to find room. But, alas! there were plenty of seats for those who were left because the numerous band of true believers was sadly diminished.

  I think a great many of the boys and girls had lost faith and gone back in the big train. I don’t know. But when John saw how few passengers there were left he said he thought the golden engine could pull them.

  * “My people again!

  * Olive oil, too!

  CHAPTER THE SIXTH