Well, the fireman then looked at Charlie, and he said, “And is this your boy?”
Then Charlie’s Daddy said, “Yes, this is Charlie, and you are the very man he wants to meet. Charlie wants to know ex-act-ly what the fireman and the engineer do to make the train go—and he can’t find anybody who knows. So go ahead and tell him all about it.”
But the fireman said, “I can do better than that. Suppose you and Charlie take a ride on the engine with me; then he can see everything with his own eyes, and learn all there is to know in case he wants to be a fireman himself.”
Yes, the fireman ac-tu-al-ly said those words! And Charlie’s Daddy said, “That will be fine. I’ll just go and tell Charlie’s Mother and his Auntie what has become of us, so that they won’t worry.”
And he did so. Then the fireman, and Charlie and his Daddy all got into the cab, which is back of the engine, where the engineer and the fireman sit.
The engineer was already sitting in his place, which is on the right of the cab. He was very pleased to meet Charlie and his Daddy, but he said that after the train had started he would not be able to speak a word to anybody, and nobody must speak to him. Yes, nobody must ever speak to the engineer when he is driving the engine, because if anybody spoke to the engineer it might distract his attention and then the train might be wrecked!
All the time that the train is going the engineer has to sit on his seat with his hand on the throttle, which is the thing that makes the train stop in a hurry, and all the time he has to look out of the window to see what the signals say, and to see that there is nothing on the track ahead of him.
If he sees a green signal on the signal post that means that the engine can go straight ahead, but if the signal is red, then it means “Stop”—and the engineer presses on the throttle, and the train stops.
The engineer told all this to Charlie while they were waiting for the train to start. Then the engineer got the signal from the man on the platform; he blew the whistle, and the train started, and he could not say another word.
Well, the fireman’s place is on the left side of the cab, and Charlie’s Daddy sat between him and the window, and Charlie sat on his Daddy’s knee.