Free The Book of Brownies (The Enchanted World) by Enid Blyton Page A

come back so quickly.
    ‘Good gracious!’ he cried. ‘Those brownies are driving! We shall have an accident!’
    Everyone looked over the edge of their carriages in alarm. Yes, sure enough, the brownies were driving the engine. Dear, dear, dear!
    ‘We’re coming to a curve!’ said Skip, who was thoroughly enjoying himself. ‘Twist the “Turn to the left” wheel, Jump!’
    Jump did so, and the train went smoothly round the bend. The brownies felt very pleased with themselves indeed. Fancy being able to drive an engine without any practice!
    ‘We
must
be clever!’ they thought.
    ‘There’s a station coming!’ shouted Jump. ‘Slow down, Hop, and stop, in case anyone wants to get out here.’
    But dear me! There wasn’t any wheel that said ‘Slow down’ or ‘Stop’! Even when they twisted the ‘Start engine’ wheel backwards, the train didn’t
slow down.
    Whiz-z-z! The station rushed by and the train didn’t stop.
    Some of the passengers were very angry, for they wanted to get out, and they began shouting and yelling at Hop for all they were worth. They made him so nervous that instead of twisting the
‘Turn to the right! wheel, when he came to another bend in the line, he twisted the “Go fast” wheel.
    Br-rr-rr-rr! The engine leaped forward and raced along the rails as if it were mad. All the carriages rocked and rattled, and the passengers’ hats flew off in the air.
    ‘Hop! Hop!’ shouted Skip, in a fright. ‘We shall have an accident. Make it go slow!’
    But there wasn’t any wheel that said ‘Go slow’ and Hop didn’t know what in the world to do. He twisted every wheel in turn, but nothing happened at all, except that the
train seemed to go faster. The wind whistled past the brownies’ ears and took their breath away.
    Stations whizzed past. The passengers forgot their anger in fear and clutched at the sides of their rocking carriages. A rabbit had his whiskers blown right off, and was terribly upset.
    Then the train went up a big hill. It went more slowly, and some of the passengers wondered whether they would risk jumping out. There was a station at the top of the hill, and Hop read the
name.
    ‘Fiddlestick Field!’ he cried. ‘Oh dear, this is where we get out. Oh, can’t we stop the train somehow?’
    But he couldn’t and the station went past. The train reached the hill-top, and began going down the other side.
    The engine raced along the rails.
    The three brownies sat down suddenly, as the engine started tearing downhill.
    ‘It’s like a switchback!’ groaned Hop. ‘Oh dear! It’s climbing up another hill now!’
    ‘And here’s another station,’ said Skip, leaning out. ‘Oh my! Switchback Station! I hope to goodness we’re not going to go up and down like this much longer. It
makes me feel quite ill.’
    The train tore downhill again, then up and then down once more. The carriages followed in a rattling row, while all the passengers shrieked and shouted. Stations raced by, but the train
didn’t seem to think of stopping anywhere.
    ‘Horrid little engine!’ said Hop. ‘I believe it’s thoroughly enjoying itself   !’
    ‘Oh my!’ shouted Skip suddenly. ‘The engine’s gone off the rails! Oh my!’
    ‘And there’s a pond in front of us!’ yelled Jump. ‘Oh!’
    Ker-splash! Ker-plunk! Into the pond went the engine, carriages and passengers. Everybody was tumbled, splash! into the pond, and the noise frightened all the ducks away to the bank.
    ‘Splutter-splutter!’ went everyone, floundering about in the shallow, muddy water. No one was hurt, but everybody was very, very angry.
    ‘Catch those brownies!’ they yelled, and made a grab at Hop, Skip and Jump. ‘Take them to prison!’
    The brownies scrambled out of the pond as quickly as they could. They began to feel frightened when they heard the angry voices of all the passengers. There were rabbits, moles, weasels,
Gigglers, two Clever People, a peddler with a sack, and some peculiar people