e
doors on either side had been closed during the time that he had been lying
in the corner.

Feeling his way along the side of the empty car he at length reached one of
the doors only to find it locked. He crossed over to the other side to find
a similar condition of affairs. He was a prisoner in the freight car and
riding he knew not where.

"Well, this is too bad!" he murmured to himself, as, too weak to stand
longer, he sank down on the floor. "I wonder how long I have been riding?"

This was a question just then impossible to answer, but he made up his
mind that he had been riding for some little time, possibly half an hour or
more.

There was satisfaction, however, in the thought that he had escaped from
Martin and Toglet. It was not likely that they had been able to board the
train, even if inclined to do so, which was decidedly doubtful.

A half-hour went by, and still the car rattled on, up grade and down,
without once slacking its speed.

"I'd like to know if we're not going to stop pretty soon," Ralph murmured
to himself.

He was getting thirsty, and knew it would not be long before he would need
both food and drink.

Getting up once more he began to kick upon one of the doors with the heel
of his shoe. He kicked as loudly and as long as he could, but no one came
to answer his summons.

At the end of another hour Ralph began to grow alarmed. The train had
stopped once, but kicking on the door and shouting had brought no one to
his aid. It looked as if he must remain in the car until the journey's end.

"We must be miles away from Westville by this time," he thought. "I would
like to know where we are going, east, west, north, or south? Perhaps
they'll land me in some out-of-the-way place that I never even heard of
before."

Another hour passed, and Ralph began to grow sleepy. He laid down, and,
making a pillow of some loose hay in the bottom of the car, began to take
it easy. In ten minutes more he was sound asleep.

His awakening was a rude one. Somebody touched him in the side with the toe
of a boot, and the light of a smoky lantern was flashed into his face.

"Get out of here, you tramp!" cried a rough voice. "Get out of here at
once, before I turn you over to the police!"

"Who--what----" stammered Ralph, rising to his feet.

But before he could say more he was jerked backward and sent flying out-of
the car into the darkness.

"Now get out of the freight yard," said the man who had eje