Then in
came their father with some of the other men.
"It isn't a bad collision," said Daddy Martin. "Our engine hit a
freight car that was on a side track, but too close to our rails to
be passed safely. It jarred up our engine and the front cars quite a
bit, and our engine is off the track, but no one is hurt."
"That's good!" exclaimed Mrs. Martin. "I mean that no one is hurt."
"How are they going to get the engine back on the track?" Teddy
wanted to know. "Can't I go out and watch 'em?"
"I want to go, too!" exclaimed Janet.
"Indeed you can't--in the dark!" exclaimed her father. "Besides, the
railroad men don't want you in the way. They asked us all to go to
our coaches and wait. They'll soon have the engine back on the rails
they said."
Everyone was awake now, and several children in the car, like
Trouble, were hungry. The porter who had been hurrying to and fro
said he could get the children some hot milk from the dining-car, and
this he did.
Some of the grown folks wanted coffee and sandwiches, and these
having been brought in, there was quite a merry picnic in the coach,
even if the train had been in a collision.
Then there was much puffing and whistling of the engine. The
Curlytops, looking out of the window again, saw more men hurrying
here and there with flaring torches which flickered and smoked. These
were the trainmen helping to get the engine back on the rails, which
they did by using iron wedges or "jumpers," much as a trolley car in
your city streets is put back on the rails once it slips off.
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