"But what made the train stop?" Sue asked again.
"The engine is getting a drink of water," Bunny answered, pointing down the track to a water tower, opposite which the engine had stopped. A man was standing on the pile of coal in the tender, or back part of the engine, and from the wayside tank a big iron pipe had been pulled over the opening in the tank tender. Through this pipe a stream of water was flowing.
Bunny and Sue both knew, of course, that the engine did not exactly "drink" water. But they had been told this when quite young and they still said it just in fun. Their father had told them that water was put in an engine just as water was put in the tea kettle—to boil and make steam.
"That's what the train stopped for," Bunny went on; "so the engine could get some water. And I'm glad it stopped, so we could get off. I was tired of riding in that old car."
"So was I," Sue agreed. "It's lots nicer out here. But, Bunny," she said, "it's going to be night—how are we going to get back?" and she hugged Toddle closer to her.
Bunny, too, was beginning to wonder about this. He could see that it was getting dark. He looked down the track, and the engine whistled twice. This meant that it was going to start off again and pull the train. The man on the pile of coal in the tender pushed back the iron water pipe, and then the freight car wheels began to squeak and turn.
As Bunny and Sue stood beside the track the train started to move, and soon it was pulling away, leaving the two children alone. It was a rather desolate place, with fields on one side and a patch of woods on the other. But as the train clacked on down the track, out of sight, Bunny caught a view of a small shanty, or little house, near the water tank. And as he pointed this out to Sue a man came from the little brown house and looked up and down.
"Oh, there's somebody," Sue cried, almost dropping the kitten in her excitement. "Maybe he can tell us how to get back to mother, Bunny Brown!"
"Maybe he can," the little boy agreed. "Let's go and ask him."
"Do you know who he is?" Sue asked.