The Tunnel: the midday train

If you could explore one place, which would it be: a thick forest with clear streams, a magic land of fairies, a busy city, or a quiet place to think? Unit 4, 'Travel and Adventure', opens in a forest, with a story by Ruskin Bond: 'The Tunnel'.

"It was almost noon, and the jungle was very still, very silent. Heat waves shimmered along the railway embankment. The railway lines were two straight black serpents disappearing into the tunnel in the hillside." (The rails look like snakes!)

Suraj stood near the cutting, waiting for the midday train. He wasn't catching it; this wasn't a station. He just wanted to watch the steam engine come roaring out of the tunnel! He'd cycled out of town, left his cycle in a village, and walked over a small hill to the tunnel's exit.

First a shrill whistle, then "a sound like distant thunder" inside the tunnel. Then "the steam engine shot out of the tunnel, snorting and puffing like some green, black, and gold dragon, some beautiful monster out of Suraj's dreams. Showering sparks left and right, it roared a challenge to the jungle."

Instinctively (without thinking), Suraj stepped back. Hot steam hit his face. "Even the trees seemed to flinch from the noise and heat." Then the train was gone, leaving only a plume of smoke drifting over the tall shisham trees, and the jungle was still again.

Then Suraj walked into the tunnel. Twenty yards in, it was pitch dark; he turned to look back at the opening "to reassure himself that there was still daylight outside". Ahead, the other end was just a small circle of light. The walls were damp and sticky. A bat flew past; a lizard scuttled between the rails.

Why go in? Not for a short cut: "there was nothing to do in the tunnel and nothing to see. He had simply wanted to walk through, so that he would know what the inside of a tunnel was really like." That's pure curiosity!

Coming out, he was dazzled by the sudden bright light. On the hillside he thought he saw something move: "just a flash of orange and gold, and a long swishing tail." A second later, it was gone.