Bobbie, Peter, and Phyllis were walking slowly inside the tunnel.
They were looking for the boy in the red shirt.
Unlike the other boys, he had not come out of the tunnel.
"If a train comes, stand flat against the wall," said Bobbie.
Her voice sounded odd inside the tunnel walls.
"I want to go back. I don't like it," said Phyllis.
"I don't care what you say, I won't keep walking in the dark."
"Don't be silly, Phyllis," Peter said.
"I've got half of a candle and some matches."
He listened for a second. "What's that?"
There was a low, humming noise on the railway line.
The sound grew louder and louder.
"It's a train," said Bobbie.
"Let me go back,"
cried Phyllis, struggling to get away from Bobbie's hand.
"Don't be scared.
It's quite safe," said Bobbie. "Stand back."
"Come up here!
There's a space!" Peter shouted.
The sound of the train was now a roar.
Bobbie dragged Phyllis farther into the tunnel, toward Peter's voice.
There was a small space dug out of the tunnel wall.
They stood there while the train roared louder and louder.
It seemed as if it would deafen them.
In the distance they could see the lights of the train.
They were like a dragon's eyes.
The train was screaming toward them.
Phyllis and Bobbie clung to each other.
The train roared by, light flashing from its windows.
The children felt a blast of hot air and smelled smoke.
Even Peter grabbed Bobbie's arm.
Later he explained that it was "in case she was scared."
Slowly the noise got softer and the lights got smaller and smaller and smaller.
With one last whee! the train left the tunnel.
"Oh!" said the children together, in a whisper.
Peter lit the candle with a shaking hand.
"Come on," he said, his voice shaking too.
"Oh!" said Phyllis.
"What if the boy with the red shirt was in the way of the train?"
"We must keep looking for him," said Peter.
They went on into the deeper darkness of the tunnel.
Peter went first, holding the candle to light the way.
Suddenly Peter stood still and shouted, "Hello!"
Then he hurried ahead.
When the girls reached him, they saw the boy.
Peter had stopped about a meter from him.
Phyllis saw something red and shut her eyes tight.
The boy in the red shirt was on the ground, beside the tracks.
His eyes were closed, and he did not move.
"Is he . . . dead?" asked Phyllis, still closing her eyes.
"Dead? No!" said Peter. "He's fainted, that's all.
What should we do?"
"Can we move him?" asked Bobbie.
"I don't know, he's a big fellow," replied Peter.
"How about we put some water on his forehead?"
"We don't have any water, but we have some milk from lunch," Bobbie said.
"Let's try that!"
"Yes, and I think people sometimes rub people's hands to help them wake up," said Phyllis.
So Bobbie splashed warm milk onto his forehead while Peter rubbed the boy's hands.
Then together the three children said, "Please wake up! Please speak!"