The Book of Brownies (The Enchanted World) (9 page)

Br-rr-rr-rr! The engine leaped forward and raced along the rails as if it were mad. All the carriages rocked and rattled, and the passengers’ hats flew off in the air.

‘Hop! Hop!’ shouted Skip, in a fright. ‘We shall have an accident. Make it go slow!’

But there wasn’t any wheel that said ‘Go slow’ and Hop didn’t know what in the world to do. He twisted every wheel in turn, but nothing happened at all, except that the
train seemed to go faster. The wind whistled past the brownies’ ears and took their breath away.

Stations whizzed past. The passengers forgot their anger in fear and clutched at the sides of their rocking carriages. A rabbit had his whiskers blown right off, and was terribly upset.

Then the train went up a big hill. It went more slowly, and some of the passengers wondered whether they would risk jumping out. There was a station at the top of the hill, and Hop read the
name.

‘Fiddlestick Field!’ he cried. ‘Oh dear, this is where we get out. Oh, can’t we stop the train somehow?’

But he couldn’t and the station went past. The train reached the hill-top, and began going down the other side.

The engine raced along the rails.

The three brownies sat down suddenly, as the engine started tearing downhill.

‘It’s like a switchback!’ groaned Hop. ‘Oh dear! It’s climbing up another hill now!’

‘And here’s another station,’ said Skip, leaning out. ‘Oh my! Switchback Station! I hope to goodness we’re not going to go up and down like this much longer. It
makes me feel quite ill.’

The train tore downhill again, then up and then down once more. The carriages followed in a rattling row, while all the passengers shrieked and shouted. Stations raced by, but the train
didn’t seem to think of stopping anywhere.

‘Horrid little engine!’ said Hop. ‘I believe it’s thoroughly enjoying itself
 
!’

‘Oh my!’ shouted Skip suddenly. ‘The engine’s gone off the rails! Oh my!’

‘And there’s a pond in front of us!’ yelled Jump. ‘Oh!’

Ker-splash! Ker-plunk! Into the pond went the engine, carriages and passengers. Everybody was tumbled, splash! into the pond, and the noise frightened all the ducks away to the bank.

‘Splutter-splutter!’ went everyone, floundering about in the shallow, muddy water. No one was hurt, but everybody was very, very angry.

‘Catch those brownies!’ they yelled, and made a grab at Hop, Skip and Jump. ‘Take them to prison!’

The brownies scrambled out of the pond as quickly as they could. They began to feel frightened when they heard the angry voices of all the passengers. There were rabbits, moles, weasels,
Gigglers, two Clever People, a peddler with a sack, and some peculiar people who didn’t look as if they belonged to anywhere.

They all scrambled out of the pond after the brownies and chased them. Down the lane went the three, followed by all the passengers.

‘Stop them! Stop them!’ they cried.

The brownies raced on. Soon they came to a strange little village, built entirely of large mushrooms and toadstools. They had doors in the stalks, and windows and chimneys in the top part.

Little people came to the doors and looked out when they heard all the noise. They stared in astonishment at the sight of the three running brownies, followed by all the other people.

At the end of the village ran a stream. It was too wide and too deep for the brownies to cross, and they didn’t know
what
to do.

‘Quick, quick! Think of something!’ cried Skip.

Hop looked round despairingly. The passengers were almost on them. Then a clever thought came to him.

He ran to a toadstool, snapped it off, put it upside down on the stream, and jumped into it. Skip and Jump sprang in just in time, pushed off from the bank, and left the passengers staring at
them in dismay.

‘Ha, ha!’ called Hop, feeling very relieved. ‘You didn’t get us
that
time!’

‘No, but someone else will get you! Look behind you!’ yelled the rabbit whose whiskers had been blown off.

The brownies looked on to the other bank, and who do you think stood there? Why, three wooden-looking soldiers, all waiting for the toadstool boat to land!

Bump! The toadstool reached the shore. The soldiers sprang forward, caught hold of each of the brownies and marched them off.

‘Now, quick march!’ said the soldiers sternly. ‘You’ll go to prison till tomorrow morning, and then be brought before the judge for frightening our ducks, and for using
one of our houses for a boat.’

The brownies wriggled and struggled, but it was no good. They were marched into a toad-stool marked PRISON, and there they were locked in for the night.

‘Oh dear, dear, dear!’ wept Jump. ‘I’m wet and cold and hungry. Hop, you’ve got us into trouble
again
 
!’

‘Be quiet!’ said Hop, who was feeling very much ashamed of himself and of his doings in the train.

‘Goodnight,’ said Skip sadly. ‘I’m going to sleep to see if I can’t find something to eat in my dreams.’

And in two minutes the bad brownies were fast asleep.

Their Adventure in Toadstool Town

In the morning the brownies were awakened by someone opening their door. It was one of the soldiers. He gave them each a cup of water and some dry bread.

‘In ten minutes you will be taken before the judge,’ he said.

The brownies shivered and shook. Whatever would happen to them?

‘If only we’d waited for the engine-driver to finish his tea!’ sighed Jump. ‘We’d be at Fiddlestick Field now, and the Saucepan Man would tell us the way to
Witchland.’

They all ate their bread and drank their water. Just as they had finished, in came three soldiers.

They marched the brownies out of the toad-stool, took them across the stream by a bridge, and into Toadstool Town. Everybody was staring at them and saying they were the bad brownies.

In the middle of the town a round space was cleared. At one end sat the Judge, in an enormous wig. Just in front of him sat a lot of other people in wigs, all writing very fast indeed. All round
sat the people of Toadstool Town, and the passengers who had come on the train with Hop, Skip and Jump the day before.

The brownies trembled when they saw them. They all looked so very cross.

‘Prisoners,’ said the judge in a very loud voice, ‘stand up straight and answer my questions. Did you, or did you not, frighten our ducks yesterday?’

‘I don’t know,’ said Hop. ‘I frightened myself more than I frightened the ducks, I think!’

‘That is no answer,’ said the judge, though Hop thought it was really rather a good answer. ‘Did you, or did you not, frighten our ducks?’ he said again, turning to
Skip.

‘I didn’t see any ducks, so I don’t know,’ said Skip, who really hadn’t noticed any ducks at all.

‘That is no answer,’ said the judge again, and turned to Jump. ‘Did you, or did you not, frighten our ducks?’

‘The ducks frightened
me
 
!’ said Jump, who had fallen almost on top of a squawking duck when the train went into the pond.

‘That is no answer,’ said the judge, who seemed to think nothing was an answer at all. He turned to the people gathered around.

‘Did they, or did they not, frighten our ducks?’ he asked.

‘They
did
 
!’ shouted everybody.

‘That
is
an answer,’ said the judge in a satisfied voice. ‘What punishment shall they have?’

‘Scold them!’ cried the people.

‘Very good,’ said the judge, writing something with a big pen in a big book. ‘A big scolding for each of them.’

The brownies said nothing. They thought sadly that they seemed to get out of one scolding into another.

The judge stopped writing and looked at the brownies.

‘Stand up straight and answer my questions,’ he said. ‘Did you, or did you not, use one of our toadstool houses for a boat?’

‘Yes,’ they answered, all together, ‘but we didn’t know it was a house.’

‘Don’t answer back,’ said the judge.

‘We’re
not
,’ said Hop, indignantly.

‘Are they, or are they not, answering back?’ the judge asked all the people around.

‘They are!’ shouted the people, who seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves.

‘What punishment shall they have for using one of our houses as a boat, and for answering back?’ asked the judge.

‘Scold them!’ cried the people.

‘Very good,’ said the judge, writing something with a big pen in a big book. ‘Another big scolding for each of them. Take them away.’

Just as the soldiers were going to march them off, the rabbit whose whiskers had been blown off stood up and waved his paw at the judge to attract his attention.

‘Sit down,’ said the judge.

‘I have something else to say against the prisoners,’ said the rabbit.

‘Then don’t sit down,’ said the judge, beaming at the rabbit. ‘What have you to say?’

‘Please, your worship,’ said the rabbit, ‘those bad brownies have done something
much
more serious than frightening ducks or answering back.’

‘What?’ cried everyone.

‘They took one of the Green Railway trains, and drove it!’ said the rabbit. ‘And they aren’t drivers, and they couldn’t drive!’

‘And they drove it into the pond!’ shouted all the passengers. ‘And we got wet through!’

‘Dear, dear,’ said the judge, looking very pleased to think he could punish the brownies for something else. ‘This matter must be looked into.’

He turned to Hop.

‘Can you drive an engine?’ he asked him.

‘If I couldn’t drive an engine, how could I drive it into the pond?’ asked Hop. ‘If you drive into a pond it shows you can drive, doesn’t it, even if you drive in
the wrong direction?’

Skip and Jump thought it was very clever of Hop to say that. Everyone looked very puzzled. The judge scribbled in his book and frowned. Then he turned to the rabbit.

‘Do you say these brownies can’t drive?’ he asked.

‘Yes, I do,’ answered the rabbit, pulling at his whiskers that weren’t there.

‘And yet you say they
drove
the engine into the pond. Now this is an interesting point of law,’ said the judge, looking very learned. ‘The question is – can you
say a person drives when he can’t drive – no, that’s not right – can you say a person can’t drive and say at the same time that he did drive, but into a
pond?’

Everyone looked at everyone else, and seemed to think hard.

‘Well, anyway,’ said the rabbit crossly, ‘I say they aren’t engine-drivers and they shouldn’t have driven our train yesterday.’

‘How do you know we aren’t engine-drivers?’ demanded Hop suddenly.

‘Yes, how do you know?’ asked Skip and Jump.

‘Ah yes, how do you know?’ asked the judge, looking over his spectacles at the rabbit.

‘Well, they aren’t,’ said the rabbit sulkily. ‘Anyone who drives like they do isn’t an engine-driver.’

‘Prove it!’ cried Hop, suddenly getting an idea. ‘Let us show everyone here, the judge and all, whether we can drive or not.’

Everyone got very excited, and began talking loudly.

‘Silence,’ said the judge. ‘I have decided what to do. We will stop the next engine that comes to Toadstool Station. If these brownies show us they can drive it, we will give
them only a light punishment. If they can’t, we will put them in prison. When is the next train due?’

‘At three o’clock in the afternoon,’ called someone.

‘Very well,’ said the judge. ‘We will all be there. Take the prisoners away, guards, and give them a big scolding each as a punishment for their other misdeeds.’

The soldiers marched the brownies back to Toadstool Prison, gave them a very big scolding, and left them.

‘I really do believe we shall be able to get away to Fiddlestick Field this afternoon,’ said Hop, sitting down. ‘If that silly judge will only let us get in that engine,
we’ll be off like a shot.’

‘Yes, but look here,’ said Skip nervously, ‘you can’t really drive, you know, and I’m getting tired of these adventures that land us into places we keep having to
get away from. If you can’t stop the engine again, goodness knows where we’ll end up at!’

‘Well, do you want to stop in Toadstool Prison all your life?’ asked Hop.

‘No,’ sighed Skip. ‘I want to go back to Brownie Town, that’s what
I
want!’

‘Well, we can’t do
that
,’ answered Jump, ‘so we’ve just got to put up with adventures like this.’

All the morning the brownies sat in the Toadstool Prison and waited for the afternoon. They peeped out through the little barred window now and then, and saw the people of Toadstool Town going
about their work, doing their shopping, and gossiping with one another about the three bad brownies.

For dinner they were given a cup of water each and a big crust of bread. They ate the bread hungrily and drank the water, and then peeped out of the window again to see if anything was
happening.

People were beginning to gather round to see the brownies brought out to the railway station. They were talking and nudging each other.