"Wish that lady was here to sing one of her sweet songs!" murmured Van. "I just feel collapsed."
"If you will stay here quietly for a few minutes," suggested Ralph, "I will go to that house over yonder and get some water and a bite to eat. That will make you feel better. We had a lunch, but it was left behind on the locomotive."
"All right," said Van sleepily.
He seemed instantly to sink into slumber. Ralph waited a few moments, then he went over to a house on the outskirts of the town, all the time keeping an eye directed towards the spot where he had left his companion.
A woman stood in its open doorway. She had witnessed the jump from the locomotive, and referred to it at once.
"Where's the boy who was with you?" she inquired.
Ralph pointed to the spot where he had left Van.
"Was he hurt much?"
"I think not at all seriously. He's played out, though, and I have advised him to sleep a little."
"That's right," nodded the woman. "Natur's the panoseeds for all sich. That--and hot drops. You just take him a little phial of our vegetable hot drops. They'll fix him up like magic."