THE JOURNEY
For the first quarter of an hour after the train started Jimmy was
contented to gaze out of the window, but presently, growing tired of
doing that, he turned to look at the two ladies at the farther end of
the compartment.
As Jimmy moved in his seat, his boots touched the old gentleman's black
trousers. Laying aside his newspaper the old gentleman leaned forward to
look at them, and then he brushed off the mud. A few moments later
Jimmy's boots touched his trousers again, and the old gentleman began to
cough.
'I should feel greatly obliged,' he said in a loud voice, 'if you would
not make a door-mat of my legs.'
'I beg your pardon,' answered Jimmy, and he tucked his feet as far under
his seat as they would go.
'You should be more careful,' said the old gentleman, and then one of
the ladies suggested that Jimmy should sit by her side.
'I wanted to look out at the window,' he answered.
'Well, you can look out at my window,' she said, and so Jimmy went to
the other end of the compartment, and she gave him her seat; and for an
hour or more the train went on its way, stopping at one or two stations,
until presently it came to a standstill again.
'Where is this?' asked one of the ladies. The other looked out at the
window and said--
'Meresleigh.'
'We ought not to stop here,' answered her friend.
At the other end of the compartment the old gentleman let down his
window: 'Hi, Hi! Guard, Guard!' he cried, and the guard came to the
door.
'Why are we stopping here?' asked the old gentleman.
'Something's gone wrong with the engine, sir.'
'How long shall we stay?' asked the gentleman.
'Maybe a quarter of an hour, sir,' said the guard. 'We've got to wait
for a fresh engine, but it won't be long.'
'We may as well get out,' cried one of the ladies, and as soon as they
had left the carriage the old gentleman also stepped on to the platform,
and Jimmy did not see why he should not do the same. So he got out, and
seeing a small crowd near the engine he walked along the platform
towards it.
The engine-driver stood with an oil-can in one hand talking to the
station-master, but there being nothing interesting to see, Jimmy began
to look about the large station.
It was then that he began to feel hungry. His feet were very cold, and
the wind blew along the platform, so that Jimmy turned up his overcoat
collar as he stamped about to get warm. As he walked up and down he
noticed a good many people going in and out at a door, and looking in he
saw that it led to the refreshment room.
Now, Jimmy had two shillings and a sixpence in his purse, and had no
doubt that lemonade could be bought at the counter where a good many
persons were standing. Feeling a little shy, he went to the counter, and
presently succeeded in making one of the young women behind it see him.
'What do you want?' she asked.
'A bottle of lemonade--have you got any ginger-beer?' asked Jimmy.
'Which do you want?' said the young woman.
Jimmy could not make up his mind for a few moments, but he stood
thinking with his hands in his pockets.
'Is it stone-bottle ginger-beer?' he asked.
'Yes,' was the answer.
'I think I'll have lemonade,' cried Jimmy, and she turned away
impatiently to get the bottle.
It was rather cold, but still Jimmy enjoyed his lemonade very much, and
before he had half finished it, he put his sixpence on the counter. He
thought it was a little dear at fourpence, and he looked sorry when he
received only twopence change. Then he emptied his glass, and went
outside again, thinking he would eat his ham-sandwiches. But the wind
blew colder than ever, and seeing another open door a little farther
along the platform Jimmy cautiously peeped in. The large room was quite
empty, and an enormous fire was burning in the grate.
He thought it would be far pleasanter to sit down to eat his sandwiches
comfortably beside the fire than to eat them whilst he walked about the
cold, windy platform. Before he entered the room he looked towards the
train, which still stood where it had stopped. There was quite a small
crowd near the engine, and whilst some persons had re-entered their
carriages, others walked up and down in front of theirs.
Pushing back the door of the waiting-room, Jimmy went to the farther
end, and sat down on a bench close to the fire. Then he tugged the
sandwiches out of his pocket, untied the string, and began to eat them.
He did not stop until the last was finished, and by that time he began
to feel remarkably comfortable and rather sleepy. He made up his mind
that he would not on any account close his eyes, but they felt so heavy
that they really would not keep open; his chin dropped on to his chest,
and in a few moments he was sound asleep.
Then for some time all the busy life of the great railway station went
on: trains arrived, stopped, and started again; other trains whistled as
they dashed past without stopping; porters hurried hither and thither
with piles of luggage, and still a small dark-haired boy sat on the
bench in the waiting-room, unconscious of all that was happening.
Presently Jimmy awoke. He opened his eyes and began to rub them,
thinking at first that the bell which he heard was rung to call the boys
at Miss Lawson's school. But when he looked around him, he soon
discovered that he was not in the school dormitory, and then as he
became more wide-awake he remembered where he really was and began to
fear that he had slept too long and missed his train. Starting up in a
hurry, Jimmy ran out to the platform, and there to his great joy he saw
a train standing exactly where he had left one. A good many people were
waiting by the doors, but Jimmy looked in vain for the two ladies and
the old gentleman.
'Take your seats!' cried a porter, 'just going on;' so that, afraid of
being left behind, Jimmy jumped into a carriage close at hand. It
happened to be empty, but he did not mind that, and he was only just in
time, for the next minute a whistle blew and the train began to move. It
had not long started, before he noticed that the afternoon had become
much darker; he did not possess a watch, but as far as he could tell it
must be very nearly tea-time. However, he supposed that it could not be
long now before he arrived at Chesterham, and he began to look forward
more eagerly than ever to seeing his father and mother on the platform.
The train went on, stopping at several stations, and at each one Jimmy
looked out at the window and tried to read the name on the lamps. But he
felt no fear about going too far, because he knew that the train stopped
altogether when it reached Chesterham. It seemed a long time reaching
there, however, much longer than he had imagined; but at last it came to
a standstill, and, looking through the window, Jimmy saw that many more
persons got out than usual. He leaned back in his seat, feeling tired
and cold, and waiting for the train to go on again, when presently a
porter stopped at the window.
'All change here!' he said.
'But I don't want to change,' answered Jimmy. 'This isn't Chesterham, is
it?' for he had read the name of Barstead on one of the lamps.
'Chesterham!' cried the porter, 'I should say not. Chesterham is fifty
miles away on another line. This is Barstead. And if you don't want to
stay all night on the siding the best thing you can do is to get out.'