小田原熱海間に、軽便鉄道敷設の工事が始まったのは、良平の八つの年だった。良平は毎日村外れへ、その工事を見物に行った。工事を――といったところが、唯トロッコで土を運搬する――それが面白さに見に行ったのである。

　トロッコの上には土工が二人、土を積んだ後に佇んでいる。トロッコは山を下るのだから、人手を借りずに走って来る。煽るように車台が動いたり、土工の袢天の裾がひらついたり、細い線路がしなったり――良平はそんなけしきを眺めながら、土工になりたいと思う事がある。せめては一度でも土工と一しょに、トロッコへ乗りたいと思う事もある。トロッコは村外れの平地へ来ると、自然と其処に止まってしまう。と同時に土工たちは、身軽にトロッコを飛び降りるが早いか、その線路の終点へ車の土をぶちまける。それから今度はトロッコを押し押し、もと来た山の方へ登り始める。良平はその時乗れないまでも、押す事さえ出来たらと思うのである。

　或夕方、――それは二月の初旬だった。良平は二つ下の弟や、弟と同じ年の隣の子供と、トロッコの置いてある村外れへ行った。トロッコは泥だらけになったまま、薄明るい中に並んでいる。が、その外は何処を見ても、土工たちの姿は見えなかった。三人の子供は恐る恐る、一番端にあるトロッコを押した。トロッコは三人の力が揃うと、突然ごろりと車輪をまわした。良平はこの音にひやりとした。しかし二度目の車輪の音は、もう彼を驚かさなかった。ごろり、ごろり、――トロッコはそう云う音と共に、三人の手に押されながら、そろそろ線路を登って行った。

　その内にかれこれ十間程来ると、線路の勾配が急になり出した。

Ryohei was eight years old when construction began on the light railway between Odawara and Atami. Every day, he went to the edge of the village to watch the work. When he said "watching the work," it was really just the carts carrying dirt—that was the fun of it, and that was why he went. Two laborers stood on the cart, behind the load of dirt. Since the cart was coming down the mountain, it rolled along on its own, without anyone having to push it. The chassis bounced and swayed, the hems of the laborers' short coats fluttered, and the slender tracks flexed—watching such sights, Ryohei sometimes thought he would like to become a laborer himself. At the very least, he wished he could ride the cart with them, even just once. When the cart reached the flat ground at the edge of the village, it naturally came to a stop. At that exact moment, the laborers lightly leaped down and quickly dumped the cart's dirt at the end of the line. Then, pushing the cart, they would begin their climb back toward the mountain from where they had come. Even if he couldn't ride in it then, Ryohei wished he could at least help push it. One evening—it was early February. Ryohei went out to the edge of the village where the carts were kept, accompanied by his brother, who was two years younger, and a neighborhood child of the same age as his brother. Smeared with mud, the carts stood lined up in the dim light. But look where they might, there was no sign of the laborers anywhere. Timidly, the three children pushed the cart at the very end of the line. When their combined strength aligned, the cart's wheels suddenly gave a heavy rumble. The sound sent a chill through Ryohei. But the sound of the wheels turning a second time no longer startled him. Rumble, rumble—with that sound, pushed by the hands of the three boys, the cart began slowly creeping up the tracks. Before long, after they had gone about twenty yards, the slope of the tracks began to grow steep.