e him smile, for the candle
gave a good light. "Where do you want to go?" he asked.
"I want to go to my mother and daddy," answered Sue. "I want to go with
them to Florida so I can pick oranges."
"And I want to see alligators," added Bunny. "Do you think daddy and
mother will come along on the next train?" he asked.
Nutty, the tramp, shook his head.
"I don't know what to think about you children," he said. "It's plain to
me that your mother doesn't know where you are, or your father, either.
And by this time your mother must be worried because you haven't come
back to her where she's waiting on the station platform. About how long
ago was it you climbed into the freight car to get my kitten?"
"About an hour," answered Bunny, after a little thought.
"Oh, it was five hours," said Sue, who did not have so good an idea of
time as had her brother. "It was maybe six hours and I want my mother!"
She seemed on the verge of tears, and Nutty, understanding this, quickly
said:
"Let's give Toddle some more milk!"
"Oh, let me feed him!" begged Sue. And as she poured some milk from the
bottle into the sardine tin and watched pussy lap it up, the little girl
forgot her tears.
"When do you think the train will stop?" asked Bunny, after he had
watched Sue feed the little kitten.
"Oh, pretty soon now, I guess," answered the old man. "Are you getting
tired?"
"A little," Bunny answered. "I don't like this car."
"I don't, either!" joined in Sue. "It hasn't any nice seats, and there
isn't any carpet on the floor."
"And you can't look out any windows," added her brother.
"No," agreed Nutty, with a laugh. "Freight cars aren't very good places
from which to see scenery when you travel. But I'm glad there aren't any
windows. If there were the railroad men could look in and see us, and
then they'd put me off."
"What for?" Bunny wanted to know.
"Well, because I'm a tramp, for one thing. And because I haven't any
ticket for another. I'm sort of stealing a ride, you know, and the
railroad men don't like that. If they saw me they'd put me off."
Without saying anything Bunny arose and started across the swaying car
toward the partly opened door--the door which showed a crack of light,
though the crack was not big enough to let Bunny or Sue squeeze through.
"Where are you going, Bunny?" asked Nutty.
"I'm going to stand by this door," answered the little boy, "and maybe a
railroad man will see me and put me o
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