Free What a Trip! by Tony Abbott Page B

“That was my idea, my idea. Did you see that? It was so cool! Did I say it was my idea?”
    But Frankie turned me around and made me look out the back of the train. The instant we crossed the bridge, it twisted and wobbled and wiggled and quivered.
    Then it crashed in a tangled mess into the river below!
    â€œNice work, Devin,” she said. “Was that your idea?”
    I gulped. “Actually, it was the engineer’s idea. But who cares. We don’t need to go back—”
    â€œWe need to go back!” cried Aouda.
    I blinked. “Um … why?”
    â€œBecause we are under attack!” said Passepartout.
    â€œAttack?” I yelped. “Who’s attacking us?
    Frankie pointed out the window at a band of warriors charging the train.
    â€œThem!” she said.

Chapter 16
    The hillsides swarmed with warriors from the Indian tribe known as the Sioux.
    â€œWhy are they attacking us?” asked Aouda, taking cover behind her seat.
    â€œI’m not sure,” I said, leaning over to get a better look. It was a good thing I did.
    Thwang! An arrow shot right through the car, narrowly missing me.
    â€œWe just crossed into Indian territory!” shouted the conductor. “They’re mad we’re trying to steal the land and they don’t want us here!”
    Thwang! Fwing! Another round of arrows flickered through the car, shattering windows on both sides.
    â€œSomeone had better do something,” said Fix, twisting his mustache in fear. “Someone, not me, of course.”
    â€œWeasel,” I muttered.
    Even though we were walking targets, I had to admit that the army of warriors sweeping toward us, driving their horses like the wind, was actually pretty cool.
    It was like the movies, only more real.
    Everything about these guys looked fast. Their long hair was flying up behind them, and the fringes on their suede pants, and the feathers decorating their bows, made them seem as if they had wings.
    â€œThey’re trying to stop the train,” said Mr. Fogg. “We must help the engineer.”
    What he was suggesting was dangerous, but he didn’t even flinch, just like he didn’t when he risked his life to save Aouda. When he bolted through the cars to the engine, Frankie, Passepartout, Aouda, and I followed. Not Fix, of course. He was hiding.
    â€œYou shouldn’t be here,” the engineer shouted over the sound of the engine when we got up front. “If the Sioux stop the train, we’ll be captured for sure!”
    Urging their horses even faster, some of the warriors were riding parallel to the engine up front. They kept shouting and whooping to one another.
    â€œLet us leave at once,” said Mr. Fogg. Then he calmly led the engineer and the rest of us back into the first car.
    Well, almost all of us. At the moment I was about to make my exit, three warriors leaped up from their horses right into the engine room, whooping and hollering and blocking the door so I couldn’t leave.
    The largest of them turned to me. “Stop the train!” he shouted.
    I knew that if the train stopped now, the passengers would be overrun. There would be no helping us.
    â€œMe? Stop the train?” I said. “What am I, a genius?”
    â€œStop the train!”
    I blinked at the dude. “Look at me. Is this the face of someone who knows how to stop trains?”
    He pushed right up against me. “This is the face of someone who says … STOP—THE—TRAIN!”
    I gulped. “Yes, sir.” I looked around at all the knobs and levers and cranks and buttons. Any one of them might stop the train. Of course, any one of them might blow up the train, too. I decided to be scientific about it.
    â€œEeny, meeny, miney—this one.”
    I pulled back on a long red lever.
    WOOO! A huge puff of steam blasted from the funnel and— ERRRRCH! —the train bolted ahead even faster.
    It was enough to make the warriors