"Nutty was very good to us," answered the little boy. "He was in the car when we crawled in to get the pussy, but we didn't know it. Then the train started up and we couldn't get off. Nutty jumped off a while ago, 'cause he was afraid he'd be arrested. But we couldn't jump off until just now."
"My! My! That's quite a story!" cried the jolly switchman. "You had better come home with me, and my wife will give you something to eat. You two children must be lost! Come, I'll take you to my wife."
"Does she live there?" asked Sue, pointing to the shanty.
The jolly switchman burst into a loud laugh.
CHAPTER XVII
A WORRIED MOTHER
While Bunny Brown and his sister Sue were traveling in the freight car with the pussy and with Nutty, the tramp, Mrs. Brown was left alone on the station platform, where she had sat down to rest after lunch and to wait for her husband. Mr. Brown had some business to attend to uptown, and he had to see not one man, as he thought at first, but several.
Mrs. Brown watched Bunny and Sue walk down the street alongside of the freight tracks, but she did not see the children cross to look into the open car.
Then Mrs. Brown went to sleep, or, if she did not exactly go to sleep, she closed her eyes, so she saw nothing of what went on.