Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue in the Sunny South

L >> Laura Lee Hope >> Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue in the Sunny South

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"Yes, Toddle is my kitten," the queer tramp went on. "I picked him up
the other day in the fields. I guess he was lost--a tramp like myself. I
put him in my pocket--it's got some holes in it, but none of them quite
big enough for Toddle to fall through--and I've kept him ever since. He
was with me when I crawled into this car to go to sleep."

"Were you in this car when we got in after the cat?" asked Bunny. "We
didn't see you."

"For a good reason," the tramp answered. "I didn't want any one to see
me. The railroad men don't like us tramps, and when they find us in the
cars they put us out. I crawled away back in the darkest corner I could
find and curled up. I must have looked like a bundle of rags."

"You did," Bunny answered. "That's what I thought you were."

"It's the safest way to look when a railroad man is searching for you,"
Nutty answered, with a laugh. "Well, I'm on my way again," he added.
"The engine must have backed down, coupled on to the freight cars, and
hauled them off while I slept. Where are you children going?"

"We--we don't know," answered Bunny Brown, and then he and Sue felt a
wave of lonesomeness coming over them. They wanted their father and
mother, and the children knew they were being carried farther and
farther away from their parents as the train jolted along. They knew
daddy and mother would be much frightened, too.

"Where is your mother?" asked Nutty, the tramp.

"She was sitting on a bench at the station when we climbed into the car
to get the kitten," explained Sue.

"She didn't see us," added her brother.

"And where is your father?" Nutty wanted to know.

"He's up in the village seeing a man," said Bunny. "We're going to
Florida to get alligators--"

"And oranges!" broke in Sue.

"Yes, and oranges," admitted Bunny. "And we stopped off here to change
trains and get something to eat."

"Hum!" mused Nutty. "Speaking of something to eat, where's Toddle? That
kitten must be hungry."

"Here it is!" exclaimed Sue, stooping down and picking up the little cat
which was purring around her legs.

"Come on, Toddle, I'll give you some milk," said Nutty, holding out his
hands for his pet.

"Oh, have you got milk here?" eagerly asked Bunny.

"Well, I've a little in a bottle that I have been saving for Toddle,"
the tramp answered. "But if you are thirsty I can give you a drink of
water. I've got some nice, clean water in a bottle."

"I'm thirsty," said Sue, in a low voice.

"And I'm hungry!" exclaimed Bunny Brown. "But I don't s'pose you have
anything to eat, have you?" he asked, hopefully.

"Ha! That's just what I have!" exclaimed the tramp. "If you'll come with
me, back to my corner where I left my things, we'll have a little
picnic. I don't want to make a light so near this crack in the door.
Some railroad men at the stations we pass might see us, and then I'd be
arrested."

"What for?" Bunny wanted to know.

"Oh, for being a tramp!" laughed the ragged man. "But come to my corner
and we'll light up."

"How can you make a light?" Sue asked, for she did not exactly like the
looks of the dark corner.

"I have some ends of candles," answered Nutty. "Come, we'll have a
little picnic--I'll invite you kids and Toddle to the feast!"

Bunny and his sister wondered what the tramp could give them to eat, but
they were both hungry and thirsty, though it was not so very long since
lunch. So, with the tramp carrying Toddle, the children followed to the
corner where Bunny had first seen what he thought was a bundle of rags.

"Stand still a minute now, kiddies," said Nutty kindly, as Bunny and Sue
reached the dark corner. "I'll make a light." He put Toddle down on the
floor, and the end of a candle, stuck on top of an old tomato can, soon
made the place fairly light. On the floor in the corner were some tin
boxes and a few bottles, one of which held a little milk, as the
children could see. The other seemed to have water in it, but what was
in the tin boxes the little boy and girl could only guess.

"We'll feed Toddle first," said Nutty. "He's so little, and he doesn't
know how to wait. Here you are, pussy!" he called, and then into a tin
box, that once had held sardines, Nutty poured some milk from the
bottle. Eagerly the little cat lapped it up, while Bunny and Sue watched
in the flickering light of the candle.

"Well, now I guess he feels better," the tramp remarked, as Toddle began
to clean his face with his red tongue, using his paws for a washrag. "Do
you kiddies like nuts?" the ragged man asked.

"Do you mean peanuts?" asked Sue.

"Those and pecans," went on the tramp. "I've got lots of nut meats.
That's why they call me Nutty--because I eat so many nuts. But they are
good and make a fine meal. Besides, they don't cost anything, for the
nut growers don't mind if I take a few nuts. Sometimes I do a little
work for them, but mostly I'm a tramp. Anyhow, that's all I've got for
you to eat now--plenty of nuts. We'll have a picnic on them."

It surely was a strange scene! Bunny Brown and his sister Sue in that
freight car with Nutty, the tramp, and Toddle, the kitten, a flickering
candle giving light as the ragged man set out his store of nuts. That is
what the tin boxes held--a goodly store of nut meats.

"I crack 'em with stones and pick 'em out in my spare time," said Nutty,
as he opened the tin boxes. "I have plenty of spare time," he added,
with a laugh. "Now, children, I haven't any chairs to invite you to sit
on, but I guess it will be safer on the floor. The car rocks so. Sit
down and eat. Nutty provides the nuts!"

"Could I please have a drink?" asked Sue.

"Oh, yes! I forgot about that!" exclaimed Nutty. "Nuts make you thirsty,
too. Well, I filled my bottle of water at the railroad tank just before
I got into this car, so it's fresh. I'll give you a drink."

From a large bottle he poured water into a battered tin cup which was
among his possessions.

"It's clean," said Nutty, as he passed the cup to Sue. "Your mother
would not be afraid to let you drink it. I'm a ragged tramp, but I keep
clean."

And indeed the water in the cup was clean and fresh, and Sue drank
eagerly, as did Bunny. Then, their thirst satisfied for a time, the
children sat down to the strange picnic. They called it at the time and
afterward--the "Freight Car Picnic."

Nutty was kind and good to the children, though he was a ragged tramp,
and after their first feeling of fright was over, Bunny and Sue had
quite a jolly time.

And when you are hungry nuts make a very good meal. In fact, nuts are a
form of food. Squirrels and other animals can live on nothing but nuts
and fruits, and though growing boys and girls need more than this, they
could live for some time on nuts alone.

"I'm a great nut eater," explained Nutty, as he helped Bunny to more
pecans from the tin box. "I tramp around this part of the South, and
gather nuts wherever I can. That's why the other tramps call me Nutty.
When I was young I used to eat a lot of meat and potatoes with bread
and butter. But now I eat nuts."

"Did you ever eat cake?" asked Sue, as she munched some brown peanuts,
for Nutty had roasted peanuts among his store.

"Cake? I haven't heard that word for years!" laughed Nutty. "I don't
believe I'd know a piece of cake if I saw it hopping up the road to meet
me. Nuts are about all I need, now I'm getting old. Have some more!"

He did have a lot of nuts, and Bunny and Sue had good appetites for
them. Toddle, the pussy, nestled in Sue's lap and purred. And the
freight train rumbled on and on.

Where were Bunny and Sue going?

CHAPTER XV

LEFT ALONE

Some thought of where the train might be taking them must have come into
the minds of Bunny and Sue for, after they had eaten as many of the nuts
as they wanted and had had another drink of water from Nutty's bottle,
Bunny asked the tramp:

"Do you know where we are going, Mr. Nutty?"

"Why, no, I can't exactly say I do," answered the old tramp, with a
smile on his face. Bunny and Sue could see him smile, for the candle
gave a good light. "Where do you want to go?" he asked.

"I want to go to my mother and daddy," answered Sue. "I want to go with
them to Florida so I can pick oranges."

"And I want to see alligators," added Bunny. "Do you think daddy and
mother will come along on the next train?" he asked.

Nutty, the tramp, shook his head.

"I don't know what to think about you children," he said. "It's plain to
me that your mother doesn't know where you are, or your father, either.
And by this time your mother must be worried because you haven't come
back to her where she's waiting on the station platform. About how long
ago was it you climbed into the freight car to get my kitten?"

"About an hour," answered Bunny, after a little thought.

"Oh, it was five hours," said Sue, who did not have so good an idea of
time as had her brother. "It was maybe six hours and I want my mother!"

She seemed on the verge of tears, and Nutty, understanding this, quickly
said:

"Let's give Toddle some more milk!"

"Oh, let me feed him!" begged Sue. And as she poured some milk from the
bottle into the sardine tin and watched pussy lap it up, the little girl
forgot her tears.

"When do you think the train will stop?" asked Bunny, after he had
watched Sue feed the little kitten.

"Oh, pretty soon now, I guess," answered the old man. "Are you getting
tired?"

"A little," Bunny answered. "I don't like this car."

"I don't, either!" joined in Sue. "It hasn't any nice seats, and there
isn't any carpet on the floor."

"And you can't look out any windows," added her brother.

"No," agreed Nutty, with a laugh. "Freight cars aren't very good places
from which to see scenery when you travel. But I'm glad there aren't any
windows. If there were the railroad men could look in and see us, and
then they'd put me off."

"What for?" Bunny wanted to know.

"Well, because I'm a tramp, for one thing. And because I haven't any
ticket for another. I'm sort of stealing a ride, you know, and the
railroad men don't like that. If they saw me they'd put me off."

Without saying anything Bunny arose and started across the swaying car
toward the partly opened door--the door which showed a crack of light,
though the crack was not big enough to let Bunny or Sue squeeze through.

"Where are you going, Bunny?" asked Nutty.

"I'm going to stand by this door," answered the little boy, "and maybe a
railroad man will see me and put me off. That's what I want to do--I
want to get off this train!"

"Yes," said Nutty, in a kind voice, "I suppose that is what you want to
do--get off. And you ought to be sent back to your mother. I wish I
could help you. But I'm afraid."

"What you 'fraid of?" asked Sue, petting Toddle.

"Well, I'm afraid of what the railroad men, and maybe a policeman, might
do to me if they found me in here with you two children," went on the
tramp. "They'd think I was trying to kidnap you, and they might send me
to jail."

"We could tell them you were good to us," said Bunny. "And that you gave
us nuts and water to eat."

"And I'd tell the men about how you took care of the pussy," said Sue.

"Yes, I know you would be kind," the old man remarked. "But, for all
that, the railroad men might think I was a bad man and arrest me. You'd
better come away from that door, Bunny. You might fall out. And besides,
I'd rather a railroad man wouldn't see you--just yet."

"But can't we ever go back to our mother and daddy?" asked Bunny, as he
walked over and sat down beside his sister and Nutty.

"Oh, yes, I'm just trying to think of a way to help you," the old tramp
answered. "Let me think a minute."

Bunny and Sue had often heard their mother say this, and they knew she
wanted to be quiet and not have them talk when she was trying to make up
her mind about something they had asked her. Thinking Nutty would want
the same silence, Bunny and Sue talked only in whispers while Nutty was
"thinking."

At last Nutty said:

"I think I have it now. This train ought to stop pretty soon at a water
tank to give the engine a drink. When it does then you children can get
off."

"That'll be nice!" exclaimed Sue.

"Will our mother be there?" Bunny wanted to know.

"Well, yes, maybe," answered Nutty, though, really, he did not think so.
Still it might be that Mrs. Brown had seen the children climb into the
freight car, and she may have had a glimpse of the engine backing down,
coupling to the string of cars and starting off with them.

From the station agent Mrs. Brown could find out where the freight train
would first stop, and, by taking a fast express train, she could arrive
ahead of the freight. So it was possible for her to be waiting to greet
Bunny and Sue when they got off the freight. But, for all that, Nutty
did not believe this. He just said it to make Bunny and Sue feel better.
And while this was not just right and honest, Nutty, who was only a poor
tramp, probably did not know any better.

"I wish the train would stop pretty soon," sighed Sue. "I'm getting
tired and I want my mother. But you have been good," she quickly said.
"And I like Toddle."

"And the nuts were dandy!" exclaimed Bunny.

"I'm glad I had plenty," said the old man. "Now," he went on, "you
children sit here quietly with Toddle, and I'll go to that door and look
out. When I see a place where I think the train's going to stop I'll
call you. But don't come until I do, and keep well back away from the
crack in the door, so no train men will see you."

Bunny and Sue did not want to get their friend in trouble, so moved back
into the corner, taking the kitten with them. The little animal seemed
to like Sue very much, and purred contentedly in her lap.

Nutty arose and walked over to the partly opened door of the freight
car. Bunny and Sue, seated in a distant corner, could not see the tramp
very well, but, if they could have watched him they would have seen
Nutty opening the door wider, inch by inch.

It had slid shut, as I have told you, when the engine suddenly pulled
the freight car along, and though a small crack remained open Bunny was
not strong enough to slide the door all the way back and make the
opening wider. But Nutty, being stronger, had no trouble in making the
door slide.

The old tramp had made up his mind to run away from the children. He was
really afraid of being arrested and having it said that he had tried to
kidnap them, and as he knew he had no such idea he did not care to be
punished for something he had not done.

So he had made up his mind to jump off the train when it slowed up,
leaving Bunny and Sue alone. And that is why he sent the children to the
dark corner, so they could not see him open the door. He thought if they
saw him they would want to follow.

"If I can get away," said Nutty to himself, "I'll tell some of the
railroad men that I saw two kids in one of the empty cars, and the
railroad men will look after them. But I don't want them to find _me_
here."

Slowly and carefully Nutty slid back the door, inch by inch, in order to
make the crack wide enough for him to jump out when the train slowed
up. He glanced toward the dark corner where Bunny and Sue were sitting,
playing with the cat. The candle was still burning, but the children
were some distance from it.

"I'll have to leave all my things behind," thought Nutty, as he got the
door open as wide as he needed. "I'll leave 'em my store of nuts and the
water to drink. I'll have to leave Toddle, too."

The thought of leaving behind his little kitten made the old tramp feel
rather sad. But he knew that if he picked Toddle up and gathered
together his tin boxes and the bottles Bunny and Sue would guess that he
intended to go away from them.

"I'll just leave everything--even the pussy," thought Nutty. "I can
easily get more nuts and bottles of water. I'll jump off as soon as the
train slows up a little more. I don't want to be arrested as a
kidnapper."

Watching his chance, and noticing that the train was moving quite slowly
now, Nutty thrust himself half way out of the crack. He glanced toward
Bunny and Sue. They were trying to make the kitten stand up on his hind
legs, and did not see the tramp.

"This is my chance!" thought the ragged man, with a last, kind look
toward the children. "I'm sorry to leave you all alone," he went on,
"but it's better so. And I'll send help to you if I can."

A moment later he jumped from the moving freight car and landed on the
ground, running along a little way, and then darting into some bushes
beside the track so no railroad men would see him.

"There! I'm safe!" thought Nutty. "Bunny and Sue will be all right, too,
I hope!"

And the little boy and girl, left alone in the freight car, were being
carried farther and farther away, for the train did not stop. As soon as
Nutty had leaped off it started up again.

CHAPTER XVI

THE JOLLY SWITCHMAN

For some time Bunny Brown and his sister Sue did not know that they had
been left alone. They were playing with the kitten and they supposed
their tramp friend Nutty was looking out of the partly opened door,
watching for a chance to get them off the train. It was not until Sue
grew tired of setting Toddle up on his hind legs, only to have the
kitten slump over in a heap, that she looked up and saw the door opened
wider and Nutty gone.

"Oh, Bunny!" cried Sue. "Look!"

Bunny, who was taking some more nuts from one of the tin boxes the tramp
had left in the corner, glanced at his sister.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"Nutty is gone!" exclaimed Sue. "Oh, Bunny! I guess he fell out of the
door! It's open wider! Oh, poor Nutty has falled out!"

Bunny made his way to the crack, and, holding to the edge of the door,
he looked out. He could see that it was late afternoon, and as the sun
was setting Bunny knew it would soon be night. He began to wish, more
than ever, that he and Sue were with their father and mother.

"Do you see him?" asked Sue, after Bunny had had time to look up and
down the railroad.

"No," was the answer. "Nutty isn't here. I guess he fell all the way
out."

Sue scrambled to her feet to walk over and stand beside Bunny. She was
tired of the dark car and of not being able to look from a window. That
was half the fun of traveling--looking from windows.

Sue was half way across the car on her way to join Bunny when the train
went around a curve, and so sudden it was that the freight car swayed
and jolted, and Sue lost her balance. Down she sat on the floor, rather
hard. She was not hurt, but she was surprised and she lost her breath
for the moment. If Bunny had not held tightly to the edge of the door
he might have been tossed out.

"I guess I'd better not stand there," Bunny said, as he thought of what
might have happened if he had been tossed out. He could not have got
back in again when the train was moving, and Sue would have been left
all alone.

"Come and stay with me," begged Sue, giving up the idea of going to the
partly opened door. "We'll have to light another candle pretty soon,
'cause this one is 'most gone."

This was true. The candle-end which Nutty had lighted was burned almost
to the bottom of the tin can to which it was fastened by some of the
melted grease.

"Maybe there are more candles," suggested Bunny. "Let's look."

Nutty, as has been said, had left all his things behind him in a corner
of the freight car. Delving in among the old bags, in which he always
carried his "baggage," the children found some more nuts. There was so
much of this food that they would not be hungry for another day at
least, and there was another bottle of water.

"But there's no more milk for pussy," said Sue.

"Well, he's got a little left in his bottle," Bunny answered. "And he
can have some of our water."

"Water isn't good to eat--it's only good to drink," declared Sue.

"Maybe Toddle will eat nuts," suggested her brother.

But when they put some down in front of the cat it only smelled of them,
played with them by knocking them about with its paw, and rubbed up
against Sue.

"Oh, well, maybe he won't be hungry," Bunny said.

Night was now coming on, and Bunny and Sue were alone in the freight
car--that is, except for Toddle, and while the children loved the kitten
he was not as much company as a big dog would have been.

On and on rumbled the train. Where they were now Bunny and Sue had not
the least idea. Bunny was still looking among Nutty's things for
another candle-end to light when the first one should burn out, which
seemed likely to happen very soon, when the children suddenly became
aware that the train was slowing up.

"Oh, maybe it's going to stop!" exclaimed Sue.

And then, just as the candle burned down and went out in a splutter of
grease, leaving the car in darkness, the train came to a slow stop, with
a creaking and squealing of brakes.

"Oh, Bunny! Bunny!" cried Sue, "now we can get off."

"Yes," said Bunny, "I guess we can."

It was easy to cross the car now, for it was not moving. Bunny hurried
to the door which Nutty had left open, and the little boy looked out. In
the early evening twilight he and Sue could see a patch of woods and
some fields. They did not know what the place was. The freight car in
which they had ridden had stopped along the way at a place where a high
bank was close to the track. From the freight car to the bank was only
a few feet--a distance that Bunny and Sue could easily jump.

"I'll go first!" offered Bunny, and he leaped to the ground.

"I'm coming!" cried Sue, as she followed her brother, landing beside him
with a thud. And then Bunny gave a little cry of surprise.

"Why!" he exclaimed. "You--you brought Toddle with you!"

"Course I did!" answered Sue. "Think I'd leave that little pussy behind
in the car all alone?"

"No," agreed Bunny. "I guess it's good you brought him."

"What made the train stop?" asked Sue, as she snuggled the kitten down
in her arms and stood beside Bunny. "Did Nutty make it stop, and is
mother or daddy here?"

"I don't know," Bunny answered, looking up and down the track. "I don't
b'lieve mother is here--or father either," he went on. "And I don't see
Nutty."

"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.

"I guess he's the switchman, and he tends to the water tower," Bunny
answered. At home they knew a switchman who lived in a little shanty
just like this. He lowered and raised gates as trains came and went. But
there were no gates here in this lonely place.

But Bunny and Sue knew this person was a switchman, and as he saw them
coming down the track he stared in wonder at the children.

"Well, what are you two little ones doing here?" asked the jolly
switchman as he greeted Bunny and Sue. His smile was jolly, his voice
was jolly, and he seemed quite a jolly person all over. "Where did you
come from?" he asked.

"Off that train," answered Bunny.

"What? That freight train?" asked the switchman, who was also the
water-tender. He had charge of the pump that filled the tank alongside
of the track.

"Yes, we were on that freight train," Bunny answered, "and we jumped off
when it stopped."

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