an ordinary railroad coach, and a great
deal more than a Pullman car.
But if it was difficult for him to walk in a regular passenger car, it
was much harder in the swaying freight car. And when he tried to make
his way to the door he was nearly thrown off his feet.
"Oh, Bunny, look out! You'll be hurt! What are you going to do?" asked
Sue, for she could see her brother fairly well now.
"I'm going to open that door!" grunted Bunny. The reason he grunted was
because he sat down suddenly. He had been swayed right off his feet.
"You can't do it!" Sue said. "Don't get hurt, Bunny!"
"I won't," he answered. "But we've got to get out of this car, and I've
got to get that door open! I know what I can do," he went on. "If I
can't walk over I can crawl. I did that when I was a baby."
Bunny Brown was a smart and brave little fellow, and, as he said, when
he found he could not walk upright, because the car swayed so, he made
up his mind to crawl. And crawl he did, across the rough, splintery
floor of the old car. Once he stuck a sliver into the palm of his hand.
He cried "Ouch!" but the rumble of the wheels was so loud that Sue did
not hear him, and Bunny was glad of it.
He stopped, pulled the splinter from his hand, and then bravely went on
again, crawling over the swaying car. At last he reached the door, and
as there were projections on the side, by which he could hold himself,
Bunny managed to stand up.
"Now I'm going to open the door, Sue!" he called to his sister. "And
when the train stops we can get off and go back to mother and daddy."
"Yes, I guess we'd better do that," Sue answered. "They'll get worried
about us."
Holding to a wooden brace on the side of the car with one hand, Bunny
tried to push back the heavy, sliding door with the other. It went a few
inches, letting more light inside the car, but there the door stuck. And
it was, perhaps, a good thing that it did. For if the door had opened
suddenly the little boy might have been pitched out, for the train of
empty freight cars was now moving swiftly.
Bunny pulled and tugged so hard that he fairly grunted.
"What's the matter?" asked Sue, hearing him.
"I--I can't get this door--open!" gasped her brother.
"Oh, well, never mind," she said. "Maybe some of the trainmen will come
along and let us out."
"How can they come along when the train is moving?" Bunny wanted to
know.
"Didn't you ever see 'em run along on top of the freight cars?" a
|