"Yes! Why not?" replied Jess. "Nobody uses this car, and it's dry and warm. We're quite far away. And yet we are near enough to a town so we can buy things."
"And we're near water," added Violet.
Jess hugged her sister. "So we are, little mouse," she said—"the most important thing of all."
"But—" began Henry.
"Please, Henry," said Jess excitedly. "I could make this old freight car into the dearest little house, with beds, and chairs, and a table—and dishes—"
"I'd like to live here, too," said a determined little voice from the corner, "but I don't want to, unless—"
"Unless what?" asked Henry, panic-stricken.
"Unless I can have my dinner," Benny finished anxiously.
"We'll have something to eat right away, old fellow," said Henry, thankful it was no worse. For he himself was beginning to see what a cozy home the car really would make.
Jess cut the last loaf of bread into four pieces, but alas! it was very dry. The children were so hungry that they tore it with their teeth like little dogs, but Benny was nearly crying. He did not actually cry, however, for just at the crucial moment Violet started a funny story about Cinnamon Bear eating bread crusts out of the ash can.