"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, p.u.s.s.y!" 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 pa.s.sed 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 b.u.t.ter. 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 appet.i.tes for them. Toddle, the p.u.s.s.y, 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 p.u.s.s.y 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.