ere
you came from? and how you got here? and what's happened to Smiler? and
what's came of the fellow we left sleeping here a few minutes ago? and
what's the meaning of all this business, anyway?"

"Yes, we'd like to know," said the Brakeman, taking a seat on the opposite
locker, and regarding the boy with a curiosity that was not unmixed with
suspicion. Owing to extensive dealings with tramps, Brakeman Joe was very
apt to be suspicious of all persons who were dirty, and ragged, and had
bumps on their foreheads.

"The trouble is," replied Rod, looking first at Conductor Tobin and then
at Brakeman Joe, "that I don't know all about it myself. Nobody does
except the fellow who just left here in such a hurry, and Smiler, who
can't tell."

Here the dog, hearing his name mentioned, dragged himself rather stiffly
to the boy's side; for now that the excitement was over, his hurts
began to be painful again, and licked his face.

[Illustration: SMILER DRIVES OFF THE TRAMP.--(_Page 41._)]

"Well, you must be one of the right sort, at any rate," said Conductor
Tobin, noting this movement, "for Smiler is a dog that doesn't make
friends except with them as are."

"He knows what's what, and who's who," added Brakeman Joe, nodding his
head. "Don't you, Smiler, old dog?"

"My name," continued the boy, "is R. R. Blake."

"Railroad Blake?" interrupted Conductor Tobin inquiringly.

"Or 'Runaway Blake'?" asked Brakeman Joe who, still somewhat suspicious,
was studying the boy's face and the M. I. P. bag attached to his
shoulders.

"Both," answered Rod, with a smile. "The boys where I live, or rather
where I did live, often call me 'Railroad Blake,' and I am a runaway. That
is, I was turned away first, and ran away afterwards."

Then, as briefly as possible, he gave them the whole history of his
adventures, beginning with the bicycle race, and ending with the
disappearance of the young tramp through the rear door of the caboose in
which they sat. Both men listened with the deepest attention, and without
interrupting him save by occasional ejaculations, expressive of wonder and
sympathy.

"Well, I'll be blowed!" exclaimed Conductor Tobin, when he had finished;
while Brakeman Joe, without a word, went to the rear door and examined the
platform, with the hope, as he afterwards explained, of finding there the
fellow who had kicked Smiler off the train, and of having a chance to
serve him in the same way. Coming back with a disappoi