Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue in the Big Woods Part 8

Then he began setting up the track for his toy train of cars, while Sue made a comfortable place for her Teddy bear to sleep, first showing the animal with the electric eyes all about the woods, in which were the big trees and the low bushes.

Bunny set his track around in a circle, and after connecting the strong batteries to the track he put the electric locomotive on and coupled together the cars. Then, when he turned the switch, the engine and train ran along the rails very swiftly.

But Bunny soon grew tired of making the train go around in a circle. He wanted it to run along on a straight track, as the real trains do, and, having plenty of straight lengths of track in his box, he soon set up more rails that stretched off in a straight line.

"Oh, you're gettin' awful near the edge of the hill that goes down to the lake," warned Sue, as she made believe to feed her Teddy bear some huckleberries.

"But I'm putting a curve at the end of the track so the engine and cars will turn back toward me," said Bunny. "Than I'll shut off the power before they can run off on the ground."

Bunny started his train the new way. At first the engine and the cars rolled slowly over the rails, for the ground was a little uphill. Then they came to a part that was downhill.

"Now see 'em go!" cried Bunny in delight.

"They're going awful fast!" cried Sue. "You'd better look out!"

"This is an express train," explained Bunny. "Express trains are very fast."

Indeed the toy locomotive did seem to be going very fast. It rocked and swayed on the tin rails, and it was soon near the end of the line where there was a curve.

And there is where the accident happened. The curve was so sharp, and the electric engine was going so fast, that, instead of turning around, it kept on straight, jumped over the rails and began to run down hill on the dirt and stone path that led to the lake.

"Oh!" gasped Sue.

"Oh, my!" cried Bunny, and then, before Sue could stop him, her brother ran to the edge of the hill. He saw his toy engine and cars rolling over and over toward the lake at the bottom of the hill, and, without stopping a second, over the hill went Bunny Brown himself--slipping, sliding and falling down!

"Oh, Bunny! Come back! Come back!" cried Sue, very much excited.

But Bunny was rolling over and over down the hill after his train, and he could not answer.

CHAPTER VI

AFTER THE LOST COW

Bunny Brown was thinking of two things when he started to roll downhill.

One was that his train might roll into the water and be spoiled, for his father had told him that there were bits of electrical machinery on the engine that would be spoiled if water touched them.

Then Bunny thought of himself rolling into the water, for the hill was steep on this sh.o.r.e of the lake, and any one rolling down, if he were not stopped before he reached the bottom, would be almost sure to go into the lake.

"But I don't mind so much about myself," thought Bunny. "My clothes will get wet, but I've got on an old suit and water won't hurt that. It won't hurt me, either, for I get wet when I go in swimming, and I can swim now if I have to. But my train can't swim, 'cause that's iron, and iron will sink, daddy told me. So I've got to catch the train before it goes into the lake."

The thought of this made Bunny try to roll over and over faster, so he could win in the race down the hill between himself and the train. If he could get hold of the train before it touched the water all would be well, he hoped. He could toss the train to one side, out of harm's way, even if he fell into the water himself.

"But can I get it?" thought Bunny, as he rolled over and over.

He could hear Sue calling to him at the top of the hill, on the very edge of which he had made the curve of his track. He realized now that it was too near the edge. What Sue was saying Bunny could not hear, but he imagined she was begging him to stop rolling downhill and come back to her.

"As if I could!" thought Bunny to himself. "This rolling downhill isn't any fun. I didn't really mean to do it, but I couldn't help it. I wanted to run or slide down. There are too many stones for rolling."

Indeed there were, for the slope of the hill down to the lake was not of soft gra.s.s. Instead it was of gravel and stone and these were very rough for a small boy to roll on. Still Bunny did not mind if he could get his locomotive and train of cars.

He could see them just ahead of him, rolling over and over just as he was doing. Of course there was no electricity in the toy locomotive now.

The current, as the electricity is called, was all in the rails, going into them from the batteries, and from there it went into the motor or the wheels, gears and other things inside the engine that made it roll along.

"I guess it's rolling faster than I am," thought Bunny. "It will get to the bottom first, and go in the water."

This seemed to be what would happen. For the engine and cars had started ahead of Bunny, and, too, they were not so big as he. It took him some time to turn over, for there was more of him.

It was not the first time Bunny had rolled downhill. Often he and Sue, finding a nice smooth, gra.s.sy slope in the country, had started at the top and rolled all the way to the bottom, over and over, getting up slightly dizzy.

But Bunny had never rolled down such a long, steep and rough hill as this, and he really did not mean to do it. He had started out to run to the bottom, or slide along, his feet buried in the soft sand and gravel.

But he had slipped, and the only thing now to do was to roll, just as the train was doing.

Bunny looked down the slope again. He saw that the train was almost in the water, and he was wondering how much spoiled it would be, and whether it could be fixed again, so it could be run, when he suddenly saw a man step from the fringe of bushes at the edge of the lake and pick up the engine and cars just as they went into the water, getting only a little wet in the edge of the lake.

The man was roughly dressed, and for a moment Bunny thought he was the old hermit who lived in the lonely log cabin, and who had sold Bunny and Sue some milk the day before, when the dog had taken their pailful.

But another look, as Bunny tried to slow-up his rolling, told him it was another man. He was just as ragged as the hermit who kept a cow, but he did not have long hair, nor a long white beard, and his face was very dark.

"Oh, that's one of the Indians!" quickly thought Bunny. "Well, he saved my train all right. I'm glad of that."

With a slide and a roll Bunny reached the foot of the hill, and by catching hold of a small tree he saved himself from slipping into the water.

The Indian looked up from the toy train at which he was gazing in puzzled fas.h.i.+on.

"That's mine," said Bunny, speaking slowly. He knew some of the Indians who lived on a reservation in the big woods, not far from Camp Rest-a-While. Some of them could speak fairly good English and understand it. Others knew only a few words and Bunny wanted to make sure this Indian understood him.

"Huh! This you?" asked the red man, as the Indians are sometimes called.

"Yes, that's mine," said Bunny. "It's a train of cars."

"Oh, puff-puff train. Eagle Feather ride in puff-puff train once. How him go?" and he set Bunny's train down on a smooth rock, while the little boy shook the dust from his clothes and tried to comb it out of his hair with his fingers.

"It can't go now--no track--no electric current," explained Bunny.

"Track up there on top of hill," he went on, motioning and speaking as slowly as he could, and with few words, so the Indian would understand.

"Oh, go electricity--same as like lights in big city," said Eagle Feather, which seemed to be the Indian's name. "Me know--Buzz--whizz--flash--go quick--no come back."

"That's it," laughed Bunny Brown. He was not afraid of the Indian. The men and the squaws, or women, used often to come to Camp Rest-a-While to sell their baskets, their bead work or bows and arrows.

"That your train puff-puff cars. You take," said the Indian, handing the toy to the little boy. "Indian see him ready to swim in water, no t'ink good--catch um."

"I'm glad you did," said Bunny. "Thank you. I nearly went into the water myself."

"Water good for boy--good for muskrat too, maybe," said Eagle Feather.

"Maybe not so good for meke-believe puff-puff train."