Part 19 (2/2)

The old tramp had made up his mind to run away from the children. He was really afraid of being arrested and having it said that he had tried to kidnap them, and as he knew he had no such idea he did not care to be punished for something he had not done.

So he had made up his mind to jump off the train when it slowed up, leaving Bunny and Sue alone. And that is why he sent the children to the dark corner, so they could not see him open the door. He thought if they saw him they would want to follow.

”If I can get away,” said Nutty to himself, ”I'll tell some of the railroad men that I saw two kids in one of the empty cars, and the railroad men will look after them. But I don't want them to find _me_ here.”

Slowly and carefully Nutty slid back the door, inch by inch, in order to make the crack wide enough for him to jump out when the train slowed up. He glanced toward the dark corner where Bunny and Sue were sitting, playing with the cat. The candle was still burning, but the children were some distance from it.

”I'll have to leave all my things behind,” thought Nutty, as he got the door open as wide as he needed. ”I'll leave 'em my store of nuts and the water to drink. I'll have to leave Toddle, too.”

The thought of leaving behind his little kitten made the old tramp feel rather sad. But he knew that if he picked Toddle up and gathered together his tin boxes and the bottles Bunny and Sue would guess that he intended to go away from them.

”I'll just leave everything--even the p.u.s.s.y,” thought Nutty. ”I can easily get more nuts and bottles of water. I'll jump off as soon as the train slows up a little more. I don't want to be arrested as a kidnapper.”

Watching his chance, and noticing that the train was moving quite slowly now, Nutty thrust himself half way out of the crack. He glanced toward Bunny and Sue. They were trying to make the kitten stand up on his hind legs, and did not see the tramp.

”This is my chance!” thought the ragged man, with a last, kind look toward the children. ”I'm sorry to leave you all alone,” he went on, ”but it's better so. And I'll send help to you if I can.”

A moment later he jumped from the moving freight car and landed on the ground, running along a little way, and then darting into some bushes beside the track so no railroad men would see him.

”There! I'm safe!” thought Nutty. ”Bunny and Sue will be all right, too, I hope!”

And the little boy and girl, left alone in the freight car, were being carried farther and farther away, for the train did not stop. As soon as Nutty had leaped off it started up again.

CHAPTER XVI

THE JOLLY SWITCHMAN

For some time Bunny Brown and his sister Sue did not know that they had been left alone. They were playing with the kitten and they supposed their tramp friend Nutty was looking out of the partly opened door, watching for a chance to get them off the train. It was not until Sue grew tired of setting Toddle up on his hind legs, only to have the kitten slump over in a heap, that she looked up and saw the door opened wider and Nutty gone.

”Oh, Bunny!” cried Sue. ”Look!”

Bunny, who was taking some more nuts from one of the tin boxes the tramp had left in the corner, glanced at his sister.

”What's the matter?” he asked.

”Nutty is gone!” exclaimed Sue. ”Oh, Bunny! I guess he fell out of the door! It's open wider! Oh, poor Nutty has falled out!”

Bunny made his way to the crack, and, holding to the edge of the door, he looked out. He could see that it was late afternoon, and as the sun was setting Bunny knew it would soon be night. He began to wish, more than ever, that he and Sue were with their father and mother.

”Do you see him?” asked Sue, after Bunny had had time to look up and down the railroad.

”No,” was the answer. ”Nutty isn't here. I guess he fell all the way out.”

Sue scrambled to her feet to walk over and stand beside Bunny. She was tired of the dark car and of not being able to look from a window. That was half the fun of traveling--looking from windows.

Sue was half way across the car on her way to join Bunny when the train went around a curve, and so sudden it was that the freight car swayed and jolted, and Sue lost her balance. Down she sat on the floor, rather hard. She was not hurt, but she was surprised and she lost her breath for the moment. If Bunny had not held tightly to the edge of the door he might have been tossed out.

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