"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.