“I’m not,” replied Marjorie, indignantly; “I’m quite ready to go on, if you want to—only I thought——”
“All aboard!” interrupted the Dodo, pulling the lever.
“Stop! Stop!” shouted Dick; “we want to get on.”
“Too late!” cried the Dodo. “You shall go on the next journey.” And with a shriek from the steam-whistle the horses began to go around.
“There you are, you see,” said the Dodo, complacently regarding the result of his efforts. “I said it was an easy matter to set them going.”
Faster and faster grew the pace, till the Doctor, who at first seemed to be enjoying his ride immensely, suddenly threw his arms around his horse’s neck, and gasped out, breathlessly—
“Oh! Oh! Stop them! They’re running away?”
“Pooh! Nonsense!” cried the Dodo; “don’t be a baby.”
“Stop them! Stop them! Help! Help!” screamed the other poor creatures, as the horses whirled around faster and faster.
The Dodo went to the engine and tried to push the lever back again, but, to his great consternation, he found that he could not do so, and the only result of pulling another lever which he discovered was to make the machinery work more rapidly than before.