When we went out in the morning the surprise was mutual. Gee, it was especially mutual. There was a crowd outside the car, staring up at it. It must have looked funny standing there with BREWSTER'S CENTRE sprawled all over it. There were all kinds of people in that crowd. One of them was a woman who was a fortune teller. She had on a dress with all spangles on it. Her name was Princess Mysteria. I wanted to ask her when the train would come for us and if we'd have any more adventures, but Westy wouldn't let me, because it cost twenty-five cents. He said he'd rather spend the twenty-five cents for licorice jaw-breakers and then we'd know what was happening to us. Gee whiz, you don't need any fortune teller after eating licorice jaw-breakers.
All around in that place men were opening booths and putting up tents and getting counters ready, so they could sell peanuts and lemonade and ice-cream cones and canes and fancy glass jars and other things to eat and drink—not canes and glass jars. There was a merry-go-round, too, and it had an organ that played We're on our way.
"Jiminies," Westy said; "I don't know where anyone would expect to get to, riding on a merry-go-round."
Pretty soon a man came up to us and asked us how we got there. I guess he was one of the head men of the Carnival.
I said, "Isn't this Flimdunk Siding? We're supposed to stay here until a train picks us up."
He said, "Yes, but this car has no business inside the fence; this is the old ice-house freight siding. They should have left you standing out near the main line."
I said, "Yes, but this car has something to say about it, too, and it wouldn't stop, so here we are. Don't blame us, blame the car. That's the way it is with railroads, they don't care about anybody's rights."
"That ain't the main entrance you came through," he said; "that gate was open so stuff could be brought in on the freight cars."
"It's all the same to us," I told him; "we're here, because we're here."
He said, "Well, you'll have to pay your admission or be put out."