about midnight
Thus the days and weeks of Black Bruin 's second year in the circus passed and they concluded the season at Nashville , Tennessee . Then all the paraphernalia was loaded with even more care than usual , for they were off for the long trip northward , to their winter quarters . That night when they loaded the elephants and the trick-ponies , some of them hung back and refused to board the train , a tendency most unusual on their part ; but they finally obeyed the goad and lash and all were stowed away in their customary places . It was about midnight when the train bearing Black Bruin 's van pulled out . One by one the cars bumped over the switch and the long train got under way . At first the locomotive puffed and panted as though the load were too great for it , but finally the train got up momentum and the car-wheels sang their old song of rat-a-clat-rat-a-clat-rat-a-tat-tat , while the engine assumed its familiar song of `` Rushing , pulling , snatch the train along , Tugging , pulling , locomotive strong . '' This is the song that a locomotive always sings when it is off for a long , hard pull .