It seemed as if the children had been standing next to the tracks for hours, holding their little flannel flags.
They had to warn the train to stop before it came around the bend and crashed into the rocks and trees!
"Maybe Peter's watch is wrong, and the train has already gone by," said Phyllis impatiently.
But at last came a distant hum and a puff of white steam.
"Wave your flags!" Peter shouted.
"And Bobbie, don't stand on the tracks!"
The train came rattling along, very, very fast.
"They don't see us!
It's no good!" cried Bobbie.
The two flags sitting on the tracks swayed as the train approached.
Then one tipped forward and fell onto the tracks.
Bobbie jumped forward, and caught the flag, and waved it.
The train came as fast as ever.
It was very close now.
"Keep off the tracks, Bobbie!" Peter warned her.
"It's no good," said Bobbie again.
"Stand back, Bobbie!" shouted Phyllis.
But Bobbie cried, "Not yet, not yet!" and stood right on the tracks.
She waved her two flags.
The front of the engine looked black and very big.
"Oh, stop, stop, stop!" cried Bobbie.
But no one heard her.
Peter and Phyllis didn't hear Bobbie because of the noise of the train.
But afterward Bobbie wondered if the engine had heard her because it slowed down quickly and stopped twenty meters in front of Bobbie.
Bobbie saw the great black engine stop, but she could not stop waving the flags.
The engine driver and the fireman jumped off the train.
Peter and Phyllis ran to meet them.
Bobbie couldn't move because her legs were shaking too much.
When the others came back to get Bobbie, she was lying on the ground, still gripping the little red flannel flags.
She had fainted. The engine driver picked her up.
He carried her into a first-class car, where he laid her down on some cushions.
"I think that's what people look like when they're dead," Phyllis whispered.
"Don't say that!" said Peter sharply.
The train started up again and went back to the station.
Soon Bobbie sighed and opened her eyes.
Then she rolled over and began to cry.
This cheered up Peter and Phyllis because they had seen her cry before.
But they had never seen her faint.
When the train reached the station, a small crowd of people greeted Bobbie, Peter, and Phyllis as heroes.
The children were praised for their bravery and quick thinking.
"You're brave and clever children," the driver told them.
Phyllis enjoyed the attention.
She had never been a heroine before.
Peter's ears got very red, but he was happy.
Only Bobbie wished they could all leave at that moment.
"You'll hear from the train company about this, I expect," the stationmaster said.
Bobbie wished she would never hear of it again.
She pulled at Peter's jacket.
"Come on! I want to go home!" Bobbie said.
She kept thinking about the pile of rocks on the track.
What would have happened had the train crashed into it?
And so they went home.
As the children left the station, the stationmaster, guards, and drivers cheered.