was backing down
along the branch track and coming nearer and nearer to us. We could
hear the engine puffing, and the sound of wheels going _ker-lick_,
_ker-lick_, as the train backed in very slowly. Gee whiz, I was
feeling sore.

"Come on out on the platform," Westy said.

"This railroad makes me sick," Connie grouched.

"Why couldn't they wait until to-morrow night?" Wig wanted to know. "I
thought we were going to have a good day's fun."

Out on the platform all we saw was a man sitting on the railing in the
dark.

"Where's the pesky old train, anyway?" I said.

"Train?" the man said; "what train?"

Then he just reached forward and ruffled up our young hero's hair.

I was all flabbergasted. "Mr. _Pedro_!" I just blurted out.

"I thought I'd pay you back, that's all," he said.

Oh, boy, couldn't that man imitate a train!

CHAPTER XXXV

THE PROFITEERS

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 li