“That means put on brakes,” reasoned Jack, who knew a little about railroads. “I believe we’re going to stop. Oh, I see,” he added, a moment later. “That’s a water tank just ahead there, instead of a station. They’ve got to stop for water. I’m glad of that; I’d rather not get out near a station. Some one might want to arrest me, though I must be pretty well disguised with all the dirt I’ve gathered up from the floor of this car.”
A little later the train came to a stop, and Jack leaped from the car and started back over the route he had come. He saw a little brook running along the railroad embankment.
“Water!” he exclaimed. “Just what I need most in the world, next to my suit case. Whew! But I’m thirsty!”
He found the water cool and good, and drank heartily. Then he washed his hands and face, and felt better. He brushed as much dirt as possible from his clothes, and then took to the track, intending to walk along it until he came to the river in which his valise had tumbled.
“I might as well make my breakfast as I go along,” he reasoned, as he took from his pocket the last of his scanty supply of food. “Not very appetizing,” he added, as he saw how dry and stale the bread and meat was. Of the cake, none remained, but there was part of a very much crushed piece of pie. Still, Jack was hungry, and he wished he had more of the same kind of food.
The railroad ran for some distance along a high embankment, across a low stretch of meadow, and then it turned, bordering a country highway. Jack decided it would be easier walking on the road than along the ties, so he crossed over.
“It can’t be more than a couple of miles back,” he said to himself. “My things will be pretty well soaked, but I guess I can dry them out.”
As he went around a bend in the road, he came to a place where another highway joined the one on which he was traveling. At the same time he saw, coming along the other road, a country lad, driving a wagon, in which were a number of milk cans. The youthful driver spied Jack.
“Want a lift?” he asked good-naturedly.
“Thanks, but it depends on which way you are going,” replied our hero.