"Hum!" exclaimed Bunny, who was also disappointed. "I guess--"

"Oh, there it is!" suddenly cried Sue, pointing, as the little cat--for it was only half grown--thrust his head around the edge of the door.

"Keep still now, p.u.s.s.y, and we'll get you," begged Sue, as if the cat knew what she was saying. The cat certainly heard, and perhaps it did understand something of what the children were trying to do, for they spoke very kindly. And let me tell you that dogs and cats can easily tell the difference between kind and cross speaking.

While the little p.u.s.s.y looked down from the door of the freight car at the two children, Bunny managed to scramble up on top of the wooden box.

From there he could easily get inside the car. He did not think he would have to do this, however, and he did not want to, for the inside of the car looked very dark and "scary." Bunny could not see to either end, for the car was rather long.

But as the little boy climbed up on the box and reached out his hand to grasp the kitten, the little cat, with a sad "mew!" backed farther inside the big car.

"Come on, p.u.s.s.y!" called Bunny gently. "I won't hurt you!"

"We'll give you some nice milk," added Sue, standing on the ground near the box. "Let Bunny get you!"

But this the strange cat did not want to do. Back into the car it ran, just as you have very often, I suppose, seen a strange cat or dog run away from you, until it made sure you were going to be kind.

By this time Bunny had leaned far enough inside the car to be able to notice that it was not quite so black and "scary" as he had at first thought. He could see each end easily now, and in one far corner was the little cat, rubbing up against the sides of the car, as if it wanted to be petted, but was afraid to let the children do it.

"I guess I'll have to go in after it," said Bunny.

"All right," agreed Sue. "I'll come and help you," and she scrambled up on the box just as Bunny drew his legs up over the edge of the car and went inside.

Mrs. Brown, from her place on the station platform, could look down the tracks and see the line of freight cars which extended alongside the street. She had seen Bunny and Sue walking in this direction, but she did not imagine they would get inside a car. If she had seen Bunny scrambling in after the cat she would have run down to make him come out.

But she did not see this, for she had closed her eyes and was dozing a little in the warm air of the sunny South. Nor did Mrs. Brown see Sue climb up on the box after her brother.

As soon as Bunny went inside the car to get the cat Sue followed, and there the two children were, inside the big boxcar, while p.u.s.s.y was mewing sadly at one end, wanting to be petted and fed, but just a little afraid.

"We'll get it now," said Bunny, as he saw Sue in the car with him. "You go one side and I'll go the other. Then we'll catch it and take it to mother."

"Maybe it'll scratch me," suggested Sue, for she had been scratched by pet kittens more than once.

"No, I don't think it will," said Bunny. "Come up easy, so you won't scare it."

Walking a little way apart down the length of the freight car, in which they could now see very well, Bunny Brown and his sister Sue approached the p.u.s.s.y. They held out their hands and hissed through their lips, for they thought cats liked that sound. If it had been a little dog in the freight car the children would have whistled, and the dog, very likely, would have run to them, wagging its tail.

If Bunny and Sue had whistled they might have frightened the little p.u.s.s.y, so they just made soft sounds through their lips, and walked toward the small cat.

But when Bunny and his sister did this the p.u.s.s.y ran and hid as far back as it could in one end of the car, as if afraid.

"Oh, we won't hurt you!" exclaimed Sue.

"We just want to get you and take you out so we can feed you," explained Bunny.

But the p.u.s.s.y did not seem to understand.

"You go one way and I'll go the other," suggested Bunny. "We can catch it between us."

"Like we did chickens at grandpa's farm once," agreed the little girl.

She remembered how she and her brother had once thus closed in on some hens and a rooster that had got out of the chicken yard.

"That'll be a good way," Bunny said.

But when they tried it, he coming in toward the p.u.s.s.y from the right and Sue from the left, the little cat just scampered between the children with a "mew!" and there it was at the other end of the car!

"Oh, it's playing tag!" laughed Sue.

"I guess it is," agreed Bunny. "Come on, little cat!" called the boy.

"We have to go home pretty soon. We can't stay here all the afternoon."

"Oh, Bunny, how funny!" laughed Sue. "We aren't going _home_!"

"Well, we're going on to Florida, and that'll be home for a while," said the little fellow. "Anyhow we've got to be going pretty soon or mother will be looking for us. Come on now, we'll try again."

Once more they walked carefully toward the other end of the freight car, whither the p.u.s.s.y had gone. But again the furry animal dashed between Bunny and his sister, keeping out of reach of their eager hands.

"I don't b'lieve it wants us to catch him," said Sue.

"I don't b'lieve so, either," agreed Bunny.

But they did not give up trying, though the more they raced after the little p.u.s.s.y the livelier that animal seemed to become, until Bunny and Sue were getting quite tired.

Then, suddenly, when they were in one end of the car trying to corner the lively little cat, there came a jar and a jolt to the car.

"What's that?" asked Sue, a bit frightened.

"Something b.u.mped into us," Bunny answered. "I guess maybe it was the engine." Then, as the children felt another b.u.mp, which shook the whole car and them also, and as they heard a banging noise and the tooting of a whistle, Bunny exclaimed: "Oh, an engine is. .h.i.tching on our car! We're going to have a ride!"

Before Sue could say anything the car suddenly became dark, for the sliding door on the side, by which Bunny and his sister had entered, slid shut with another bang.

"Oh, Bunny!" cried Sue, this time in great fright. "We're shut in here!"

"Yes," agreed Bunny, trying hard to be brave and not cry as he felt Sue was going to do. "I guess we are!"

"Oh, Bunny!" exclaimed his sister, "what'll we do?"

Bunny did not know just what to answer.

"Mew!" cried the little kitten, somewhere in the dark car. In fact, it was so dark that neither Bunny nor Sue could see the other, and they could not tell where p.u.s.s.y was.

There came another bang and rattle, a loud noise, and then Bunny Brown and his sister Sue felt the car rolling away. A locomotive was pulling it, giving the children a strange ride.

CHAPTER XIII

NUTTY, THE TRAMP