BooksBarbecue
Back The Silver Arrow
Chapters (28)
  1. Dedication
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. 7
  9. 8
  10. 9
  11. 10
  12. 11
  13. 12
  14. 13
  15. 14
  16. 15
  17. 16
  18. 17
  19. 18
  20. 19
  21. 20
  22. 21
  23. 22
  24. 23
  25. 24
  26. 25
  27. 26
  28. About the Author

Then one morning, very early, in the still, frozen hour right before dawn, the train slowed down again. She looked out the window, but they weren’t at a station.

Click-bing.

LOOK UP AHEAD

Kate yawned, stretched, and stuck her head out the window. She saw what it meant.

“What the heck is that?”

I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO KNOW WHAT THE HECK THAT IS

It was hard to be sure, but up ahead in the darkness it looked like the land dropped away in a sheer cliff. But the tracks didn’t stop at the cliff. They kept on going, right out over the cliff, into thin air.

image

Kate got out of the train and walked ahead, in the glow of the Silver Arrow’s headlight. At first the tracks kept going straight, but as her eyes got more used to the darkness Kate saw that farther on they curved upward like roller-coaster tracks, steeper and steeper, until they ran straight up into the dark, cloudy sky.

Kate chewed her lip, thinking. She walked back to the train.

“How are we going to get up that?” she said. “You can’t go up that, can you?”

NO

Kate thought for a while.

“Is there another way round?” Kate said.

I DON’T THINK SO

“Can you go backward?”

YES

The train followed up this admirably brief answer with a not-at-all-brief lecture about the wonders of the reverser and something called the Walschaerts valve gear, which was invented by the heroic but unsung Belgian engineer Egide Walschaerts (1820–1901) and which made it easier for steam locomotives to go in reverse. But I’m going to leave that part out. You’re welcome.

“Then maybe we should go back,” Kate said.

MAYBE WE SHOULD

Kate didn’t say anything. She pressed her icy hands against her face. She was so tired and so cold. All she could think about was running into her house and diving into her warm, old bed and sleeping for a week. But that would mean abandoning her job, which was to get these animals to where they were going. And they weren’t just animals, they were her friends.

But what else could she do? It was impossible. It was out of her hands. The idea of quitting made her sad, but it also—she hated to admit it—filled her with infinite relief. Maybe this job was just too big for her. She was only eleven, after all.

“I don’t want to give up,” she said. But her voice sounded hollow. She really, really wanted to give up.

NO ONE WOULD BLAME YOU

“Could I still keep the glasses?” Her voice was very small. “Grace Hopper’s glasses? Even if we don’t really finish the job?”

YOU COULD EVEN KEEP THE GLASSES