"No, if you wind the spring up real tight it will run right over the ground without any track," said Susie, for Sammie couldn't talk on account of the nose bleed. "Hurry off, Jacko. You can ride in the cab and be the engineer and Dr. Possum can ride in the passenger coach."
Quickly Mrs. Littletail wheeled out the toy engine and one car. It was quite large, plenty big enough for Jacko to get in. He and Jumpo wound up the spring real tight and then Jacko got in the engine cab.
"Toot! Toot!" he blew the whistle and with a whizz and a rattle, away the engine went right along a smooth path in the woods toward Dr. Possum's house. Faster and faster rode Jacko, ringing the bell every once in a while. Faster and faster he went until he came to Dr. Possum's house.
"Oh, doctor, come quick!" he cried, stopping the engine by pulling on a handle. "Sammie Littletail has the nose bleed very bad!"
"I'll be with you at once," said Dr. Possum. So he took a big bottle of nose bleed medicine and into the coach he sprang. Jacko rolled the engine around and turned on the spring. Away it went back through the woods, pulling him and Dr. Possum as nicely as a stick of molasses candy.
All of a sudden out from the bushes sprang the burglar fox.
"Hi! Stop that train!" he cried. "I want to get on!"
"No! No! Never! Never!" shouted Jacko.
"Then I'll stop it!" said the bad fox. So he took a stone and put it in front of the engine but do you s'pose the engine minded that?
Not a bit of it! Why, with the cow-catcher the engine just pushed the stone out of the way so that it fell over and pinched the fox on the tail, and then the engine went on faster than ever.