Chapter 8
In The Night
After the engines had gone to the workshops and had been fitted with cowcatchers, they had expressed a wish to see the line before they could start work the next morning. Dumont agreed, but explained that work wouldn't start the next morning but on the day after that. The reason for this was that Dumont wanted to have a formal opening of the quarry and the ceremony for it would take place on the day after tomorrow.
So, they set off, and were shown where the engine sheds and the yard were on the small island. They decided to explore the yard later, and continued on.
Off they went, crossing the now rebuilt bridge towards the extraordinary quarry. They were relieved to find that there was no slope on the line for the trucks to take advantage of. Thomas was also relieved to find that Dumont and his men had taken care that there was no vegetation on the line near enough for him to set fire on, as the probability for that would be increased because of the hot and humid African air.
When they reached the quarry, they were amazed to see it full of the most beautiful stone they had ever laid eyes on. The quarry had it in large quantities, glittering in the sunshine, reflecting its beautiful hue. The engines were fascinated, but still, Thomas' experienced eyes could make out that someone had mined the quarry extensively, and it was soon to run out if Dumont were to exploit it on the usual industrial rate. But even the leftover stone was enough to bring Dumont a good fortune. Thomas was sure that he had never ever seen a thing as wonderful as that in his long, long life.
"What do you think is that?" wondered the diesel. For once, he had forgotten to be rude.
"I don't know." replied Thomas. "I never saw a thing like that in my life. Have you?"
"No." said the diesel. "If I had seen a thing like that, then my controller would have been the richest man in the whole world."
"I wonder who mined this quarry before?" wondered Thomas to himself. "According to what I have been told, This railway was rebuilt from a previous one. In that case, What became of the engine who ran It?"
"I don't care." replied the diesel rudely. "If it was a tin kettle like you, then, it has most probably gone to the scrapyard, or better still, into the sea."
"Did I ask you?" cried Thomas indignantly.
They would have started off a quarrel then and there, if Dumont hadn't arrived on the scene and told them to get back to the other side of the bridge after satisfying themselves with the line.
So, they went back as there was nothing else to see on the line and started shunting the trucks in the yard. The trucks, like the engines, had arrived on the ship and had been placed on the rails, but had not been organised as there was no engine to do so before. And oh, what a bother they were! They simply refused to move when the engines tried to shunt them. So they bumped them hard, making a terrific racket, which brought the foreman out to see what the commotion was for. And oh my! Wasn't he horrified to see that the wagons were alive as well?
At first, he thought that it was some strange trick of the sunlight which was causing him to see faces on the wagons. But he soon abandoned this silly idea as he heard Thomas scolding as he shunted, "Get moving, you! Get moving, you!" and then heard the trucks reply, "Certainly not! Certainly Not!" He went back into his office feeling dizzy. It was enough of a shock to see that the engines were alive.
"If they were alive," he wondered aloud, "why didn't I notice them before?"
What he didn't know that it was the sudrian magic from Thomas and the diesel acting upon them.
As for the engines, they were having a lot of trouble, not only because of the trucks, but because of the weather as well. Thomas had a fire burning inside his firebox, which did not feel as pleasant as it usually did because of the humid air, and the hot weather was causing the diesel to warm his engine faster than his cooling system could cool it. As you will see, This was going to creat problems...
The engines finally managed to shunt the trucks in place as the evening set in. It was a new experience for them to see the sunset in Africa. It wasn't a sunset at all. One moment the sun was there and then, there was a red gllow. and then, suddenly, the sun was replaced by stars which showed big and bright in the African sky.
"Oh my! That was something different, wasn't it?" Exclaimed Thomas as he shunted the last of his trucks in place.
The diesel didn't care to reply. he was having too much trouble with his trucks. The hot and humid weather wasn't helping his temper in any way. Then suddenly, there was a loud BANG! and thick smoke came pouring out of the diesel's engine and he came to a sudden hault.
"That does it." he growled furiously. "I've blown my fuse."
The noise brought The Foreman out of his office again and he wasn't pleased to see what had happened.
"I'm sorry, sir." groaned the diesel. "It wasn't my fault, and the weather is too hot. I'm not used to it."
Thomas, for once, agreed with the diesel.
The foreman had no choice but to tell Thomas to shunt the diesel in the workshops. He knew that a message will have to be sent to Dumont, who had gone back to his trading post that afternoon, telling him of what had happened.
So, Thomas shunted the diesel in the workshops that Dumont had built on the small island, and trundled back gloomily to the engine sheds alone. Somehow, Thomas felt that spending the night with the unpleasant diesel in this jungle would have been a better idea than spending it alone in the lonely sheds. The diesel felt the same in the workshops, though he felt it hard to admit it to himself.
As Thomas reached the sheds, he heard the scream of a leopard from the larger island across the bridge. It sent shivers down his metal frames. Though, he couldn't determine the reason for it, because, you see, even if a leopard found him, it wouldn't want to eat him.
Maybe, it had something to do by having lived with humans all his life. This thought brought back to his mind the friends he had made that morning. One of them hadn't lived with humans until recently. Thomas wondered what view Tarzan would take of the leopards. Their screams mightn't mean anything to him because he had grown up in the jungle, listening to them all the time.
Thomas' thoughts were interupted by Mr. Diamond who had come to put out his fire.
"Good evening, Thomas." said Mr. Diamond pleasantly. "How was your day today?"
"it was nice, sir." replied Thomas. "It would have been even nicer if it hadn't been for the trucks, the weather, and yes, that diesel."
Mr. Diamond laughed. "I wonder why both of you couldn't somehow make friends. After all, you have to stay with that diesel for almost a year."
"No, sir,. Not for that long." replied Thomas. "I saw the quarry today, and I can tell you that it won't last that long."
Mr. Diamond did his work by putting out Thomas' fire, and went his way, towards the workers' lodgings, closing the shed doors behind him, fearing all the time that some animal might leap out of the bushes at him. But Dumont's men had made sure that no wild animal was to be found on this small island, that is, as sure as they could make. It should be remembered that secrets of a place which has been uninhabited for a long time cannot be found out in such a short period.
As Mr. Diamond went to his temporary quarters, he kept Thomas' words about the quarry well in his mind. He felt sure that Dumont might never have meant to built an engine of his own. Then why didn't he tell the Fat Controller so. Well, if Dumont didn't, then he should. He'll do that the very next morning.
Back at the engine sheds, Thomas' thoughts had reverted back to Tarzan. yes, he could still hear the screams of leopards and panthers, but now he had figured out, as has been said before, that even if a leopard or a panther found him, it wouldn't want to eat him. But how had Tarzan grown up among these beasts? There might have been someone to protect him. Someone who would be strong and brave enough to face a leopard, or at least, agile enough to keep out of its way. Thomas had asked Dumont back at the workshhops about Tarzan, and Dumont had told him that According to what he knew, Tarzan was found by a female gorilla when he was a baby, just after His real parents had been killed by a leopard. If that was true, then Thomas wondered who was the gorilla who was kind-hearted enough to raise as her own, not only a child which wasn't her own but who also didn't belong to her race. He wondered how different it would have been for a human child to be raised among the gorillas. Soon, his thoughts llulled him to sleep.
Thomas woke with a start. That was the next thing he knew. He wondered what had woken him up but couldn't figure it out. He could see that it was still dark. In fact, his intuition told him that it was the middle of the night.
"Oh, bother," he said to himself. "Now I won't be able to go to sleep again. I bet it was some little animal in the shed that woke me up."
But as you will see, this wasn't true. Thomas, knowing from long experience that one of the ways of going to sleep was to not to try to go to sleep at all, decided to look out of the shed window and see what new was there to behold in the African night sky. The shed window was directly in front of him, and afforded him a very good view of the whole yard. The stars looked big and bright as they had done in the evening, the moon looked bright too, and the yard looked peaceful. The nearness of that place to nature made Thomas feel a calm which he had never felt even on his rural branch line back at home.
Then Suddenly, his calm vanished as he spotted something on the rails in the yard. He couldn't make out exactly what it was, as his position didn't afford him a good view towards the ground, but he could make out that something was on the rails, close to them as it was. He suddenly felt bewildered. He was sure that whatever it was, it was unlike any engine, coach or wagon that he had seen. For some strange reason, Thomas felt as if that strange thing had an unearthly look about it. Then, as luck would have it, the moon and the stars were obscured by black clouds, predicting rain.
The hot and humid air had turned cold, and the calm atmosphere had turned quiet and tense. Thomas felt alarmed now. The clouds had hidden the moon and the stars, obstructing his vision completely. Then, very faintly, he could hear a rattling noise, as if that strange thing was moving on the rails. To Thomas' horror, the noise seemed to come straight towards him.
Rattle. Rattle. Rattle. It came on. Thomas shivered. What was that thing? Was it some unearthly remnant of the old quarry railway? An ominous crash of thunder made him tremble. he wished he could whistle for help, but there wasn't a single drop of steam in him to whistle with. This thought made him even more scared. If only he had his fire burning, he could have felt braver. And all this time, that thing kept coming on. Slowly, very slowly, but audibly.
It was true, that Mr. Diamond had closed the shed doors before going off, but would they be able to hold that thing back? They weren't very strong doors, and neither was the shed itself. Dumont's men hadn't built the shed very enthusiastically. They had thought that a cheaply built shed could serve the same purpose as a well built one could.
And that thing kept coming on, on, on, all the time. Thomas could now hear it near the shed doors. Then, to thomas' terror, that thing banged itself against the dorr with a force that shook the whole shed. If Thomas were a human, he could have screamed. But as he was a steam engine, he only knew to whistle when frightened. As he could not do that, he stayed quiet, trembling all the while.
Then, to Thomas' great relief, the noise started receeding. Whatever it was, it had satisfied itself, and was now going away. Fainter and Fainter the clatter of wheels on the rails grew, until it faded completely. Thomas thanked his lucky stars, and closed his eyes trying to relax himself.
But something else soon added to his discomfort, as the heavy black clouds did their work. The rain came in a torential downpour, as it usually does in tropical rain forests, and the wind blew in gusts and gales. Soon, to his surprise, Thomas found himself without a shed at all. The handiwork of Dumont's men had borne its fruits. Poor Thomas found himself shivering now with cold instead of horror, as the heavens pored themselves on him, and the winds blew round him in a gale.
After an hour or two, the rains stopped, but the air was chill and moist, making Thomas feel most uncomfortable. He stayed in this condition until morning. He was just wondering how long he would have to rust in this condition, when, to his relief he saw Mr. Diamond coming to light his fire.
Mr. Diamond was none too happy to see what had become of the shed.
"Good gracious!" he exclaimed as he came up to Thomas. "I expected these people to do a better job than that."
"Well sir," said thomas, eager to relate the happenings of the night, "The tumbling of that shed wasn't the only thing that happened during the night."
He told Mr. Diamond about the strange thing in the yard, but Mr. Diamond assured him that it might have been one of the animals. Thomas tried to reason with him, but Mr. Diamond was stuck with his belief, and Thomas finally gave it up.
Thomas had had a strange night, but let's see what would happen this day.
