"Distant his Do you think I intend to speak to them his After they've ignored us ?"
"But we'll have to say "Good evening," won't we his We can say it coldly and sweep on with dignity."
She said we couldn't do anything with dignity, dressed as we were and laden with furs like hearth rugs She wanted us to jump out of the train as it stopped and dash away before the Cottons saw us.
"But we can't dash away without our trunks," I said. Then I had an idea--"We'll get out on the wrong side of the train and walk along the line to the guard's van. By the time we get there, the Cottons will be out of the station."
She thought it would work. We decided to keep the fur coats on, so
that we should be invisible in the darkness at the end of the platform if the Cottons looked back while we were getting the trunks.
Rose turned up the huge bearskin collar to hide her bright hair.
"Let's hope no train comes on the other line while we're walking along," I said. But I knew it was unlikely at that time of night, and they come very slowly.
"Anyway, we could push these little trains back with one hand," said Rose.
I hoisted the collie dog rug over my shoulder, Rose took the sealskin jacket. The instant the train stopped we jumped down on to the line.
We hadn't realized how difficult walking would be --the coats were so awkward to hold up and we kept tripping over things. The paraffin
lamps on the platform gave a very weak light and there were no lamps at all so far along as the guard's van. We couldn't reach the doors on
our side, so we went round the back of the train and climbed up on to the platform. The doors of the van were open that side, but there
appeared to be no guard to put the trunks off.
The stationmaster usually helps with luggage but he is the ticket
collector, too, and I was sure he would be busy seeing the Cottons
off.
"We must manage by ourselves," I said.
The van was so dimly lit that at first we couldn't see the trunks;
then Rose spotted them at the far end, behind a lot of tall milk
cans.
As we went over, we passed a big crate. The feeble little gas mantle
was just above it and I saw on the label Cotton, Scoatney, Suffolk.
Rose saw it, too, and gave a gasp. The next second we heard voices and steps coming along the platform.
We rushed to the doorway; then realized it was too late to get out.
"Quick--get behind the trunks," said Rose.
If I'd had time to think, I might have reasoned with her--told her we should look such fools if we were discovered. But she bolted to the
trunks and I bolted too.
"They'll never see us," she said as we crouched down.
I didn't think they would, either- the trunks were high and the light was so weak and so far away from us.
"But crouch lower," I whispered, "your trunk's not as high as mine."
"Oh, we'll manage it between us, sir," said a man's voice--it wasn't the stationmaster's so I guessed it was the guard come back.
I'll help," said Neil Cotton, jumping into the van. Then he shouted:
"My God!" and jumped out again. The next instant the doors crashed together with such violence that the gas mantle broke, leaving us in
blackness.
"What is it, what's the matter ?" shouted Simon Cotton.
I couldn't hear what Neil answered, but I heard the guard give a roar of laughter and say: "Well, that's a good "un, that is."
"Oh, Rose, he saw us!" I whispered.
"Rubbish- why would he slam the doors on us ?"
she whispered back.
"No, it's something else. Shut up!
Listen!"
I raised my head cautiously. I could just see the outline of the
window, a little open at the top. I heard Simon Cotton say:
"Neil, you're crazy."
"I tell you I'm certain."
"Oh, come, sir- I've been sitting in that van," said the guard.
"But you left the doors open."
I saw a faint blur moving in the darkness- it was Rose's face coming up from behind her trunk.
"What is it ?" she whispered desperately.
"Ssh,."" I said, straining my ears. I think I shall remember that minute as long as I live- the stars in the square of window, the bead of light above the broken mantle, the smell of stale milk and fish. I heard Simon Cotton say he would get a flashlight from the car.
"And tell Mother to stay inside with the door shut," Neil called after him.
Rose began to crawl towards the window. There was a hollow clang; she had collided with a milk can.
The guard gave a low whistle.
"Sounds like you're right, sir."
"Of course I'm right," said Neil.
"Haven't I fed them in Yellow stone Park ?"
And then it dawned on me.
"Rose," I said, "you've been mistaken for a bear."
I heard her gasp.
"The idiot, the idiot!"
Then she clanged into another milk can.
"Well, seven eighths of you is a bear. And the Circus is at King's Crypt--the tents were close to the railway line, the Cottons couldn't have missed seeing them." I began to laugh, but stopped when I heard her struggling with the doors on the far side of the van. She got them open and I saw her black against the stars.
"Come on, quick," she said as she jumped down on to the line.
I got across to the doorway- and every milk can clanged into the one
next to it. Above the din I could hear Neil Cotton and the guard
running along the platform and shouting to the engine driver.
"Oh, Rose, don't be a fool," I cried, "we'll have to explain."
She grabbed my hands and pulled until I had to jump.
"If you don't come with me, I'll never forgive you," she whispered fiercely.
"I'd die rather than explain."
"Then you quite probably will die- because lots of people in the country have guns handy .. was But it was no use, she had vanished into the darkness at the back of the train. Passengers were shouting and
banging doors--there couldn't have been many of them, but they were
making a devil of a noise; fortunately they were concentrating on the platform side of the train. It suddenly came to me that if I could
make Rose take her coat off, we could join in the pursuit as if we had no connection with the bear; so I struggled out of my own coat, flung it up into the van and started after her. But before I had gone a
couple of yards, the beam of a torch shone out. I saw Rose clearly.
She had got beyond the end of the platform and was scrambling up the
little embankment, and as she was on all fours she really did look
exactly like a bear. There was a wild shout from the people on the
platform. Rose topped the embankment and disappeared over into the
fields.
"Foxearth Farm's over there," shouted a woman.
"They've got three little children."
I heard someone running along the platform. The woman yelled:
"Quick, quick--over to Foxearth."
There was a thump as someone jumped down on to the line, then Stephen crossed the beam of the torch. The light gleamed on metal and I
realized that he was carrying a pitchfork -it must have been in Mr.
Stebbins's cart.
"Stop, Stephen, stop!" I screamed.
He turned and shouted: "I won't hurt it unless I have to, Miss
Cassandra- I'll head it into a barn."
Neil Cotton went past me.
"Here, give me that," he said, grabbing Stephen's pitchfork. Simon came running along, shooting his torch ahead of him.
The guard and some of the passengers came pounding after him and some body crashed into me and knocked me over. The torch began to flicker
on and off; Simon thumped it and then it went out altogether.
"Get the station lanterns," shouted the guard, scrambling back on to the platform. The passengers waited for him, but Simon and Stephen
went on after Neil into the darkness.
Perhaps I ought to have explained at once--but what with the noise and being knocked down I was a bit dazed.
And I knew how ghastly it would be for Rose--not only the Cottons
knowing, but all the local people on the train. And I did think she
had a good chance to get away.
"Anyway, Neil will see she's not a bear if he gets close to her," I told myself. Then they all came thudding past with the lanterns, and
the stationmaster had his great black dog on a chain and a stone in his hand. I knew it wasn't safe to keep quiet any longer.
I started to tell them, but the dog was barking so loudly that nobody heard me. And then, high above everything, I heard the most piercing
shriek.
I lost my head completely.
"It's my sister," I screamed, "he's killing her!" And I dashed off along the line. They all came after me, shouting, and someone fell
over the dog's chain and cursed extensively. We climbed over the
embankment into the field and the men held the lanterns high, but we
couldn't see Rose or the Cottons or Stephen. Everyone was talking at
once, making suggestions. There was a fat woman who wanted the
stationmaster to let his dog off its chain, but he was afraid it might bite the Cottons instead of the bear.
"But it'll hug them to death," moaned the fat woman, "they won't have a chance."
I opened my mouth to make them understand that there wasn't any
bear--and then I saw something white in the distance.
The men with the lanterns saw it too, and ran towards it. And suddenly Neil Cotton walked into the light, carrying Rose, in her suit.
"Rose, Rose!" I cried, running to her.
"She's all right," said Simon Cotton, quickly, "but we want to get her to our car." He grabbed one of the lanterns, lit the way for Neil, and they walked stolidly on.