ON THE TRAIN
Mr. Brown helped his wife and the two children on to the train. Then he
had to hurry down the steps, for the engine was whistling, which meant
that it was about to start off again.
"And I don't want to be carried away with it, much as I would like to
go," said Daddy Brown. "But I'll come to Aunt Lu's and see you before
the winter is over, though now I must stay here, and look after my boat
business, with Bunker Blue."
"Bring Bunker with you when you come to New York," called Bunny to his
father, as the train slowly rolled out of the station.
"All right, perhaps I will," answered Mr. Brown.
Bunny Brown and his sister Sue crowded up to the open car window to wave
a last good-bye to their father, who stood on the depot platform. At
last they could see him no longer, for the train was soon going fast,
and was quickly far away. Then the children settled down to enjoy their
ride.
"Mother, can't I sit next to the window?" begged Sue.
"No, I want to!" cried Bunny.
The children did not often ride in the steam cars, and of course it was
quite a treat for each of them to sit next to the window, where one
could watch the trees, houses, fences and telegraph poles as they seemed
to fly past. In fact Bunny and Sue both wanted the window so much that
they quite forgot to be polite, as they nearly always were.
"I'm going to be at the window," said Sue.
"No, I am!" cried Bunny.
"Children, children!" said Mrs. Brown softly. "Be nice now. I will let
you each have a seat by yourself, then you may each sit by a window. You
must not be so impatient about it."
The car was not crowded, and there was plenty of room for Bunny and Sue
to have each a seat by a window. Mrs. Brown also sat in a seat by
herself behind the two little ones. She had seen that the windows were
not raised high enough for Bunny or Sue to put out their heads.
"And you must not put out your arms, or hands, either," she said. "You
might be hit by a post or something, and be hurt. Keep your hands and
arms in."
Bunny and Sue were quite happy now, for they loved to travel, as most
children do. Then, too, they were going to Aunt Lu's in the big city of
New York, and would have lots of good times there. They had said
good-bye to all their little friends, and to old Miss Hollyhock. The
poor old lady had found the groceries on her doorstep, and she was very
thankful for them.
"I hope when you get old, and poor and hungry, you'll have some one to
be kind to you," she had said to Bunny and Sue, when she found out it
was to them she owed the good things.
"Oh, we're never going to be poor!" Sue had said. "Our papa will buy us
things to eat. He buys us ice cream cones; don't he Bunny?"
"Yes, dear, and I hope he will always be with you, to look after you,"
said old Miss Hollyhock.
Bunny and Sue had also said good-bye to Uncle Tad, to Mrs. Redden who
kept the candy store, and to Mr. and Miss Winkler. Nor did they forget
to say good-bye to Wango, the monkey.
"We won't see any monkeys in the city," said Sue.
"Yes we will," cried Bunny. "We'll see 'em in the Zoo. And they have
hand-organ monkeys in cities, Sue."
"Maybe they do," she said.
And now, as the two children were riding in the train, they talked of
what they saw from the windows, and also of the friends they had left
behind in Bellemere, not forgetting Wango, the monkey.
"Mother, I want a drink of water," said Sue, after a while. "I'm
thirsty."
"All right, I'll get you a drink," said Mrs. Brown. In her bag she had a
little drinking cup, that closed up, "like an accordion," as Bunny
said. And, taking this out, Mrs. Brown walked to the end of the car
where the water was kept in a tank, to get Sue a drink.
As the little girl was taking some from the cup the train gave a sudden
swing to one side, and, the first thing Sue knew, the water had splashed
up in her face, and down over her dress.
"Oh--oh, Mother!" gasped Sue. "I--I didn't mean to do that."
"No, you couldn't help it," said Mrs. Brown. "It was the train that made
you do it. Water won't hurt your dress."
Mrs. Brown sat down, after wiping the drops off Sue's skirt and face.
She was beginning to read a book when Bunny, who had been looking out of
his window, called:
"Mother, I'm thirsty. I want a drink!"
"Oh, Bunny dear! Why didn't you tell me that when I was getting one for
Sue?"
"'Cause, Mother, I wasn't thirsty then."
Mrs. Brown smiled. Then she once more went down to the end of the car
and got Bunny a drink. By this time the train had stopped at a station,
so the car was not "jiggling" as Sue called it. And Bunny did not spill
his cup of water.
For some time after this the two children sat quietly in their seats.
"I just saw a cow!" Sue called back to her brother.
"Pooh!" he answered. "That's nothing. I just saw two horses in a field,
and one was running."
"Well, a cow's better than a horse," insisted Sue.
"No it isn't!" Bunny cried. "You can ride a horse, but you can't ride a
cow."
"Well, a cow gives milk."
Bunny could not think of any answer for a minute, and then he said:
"Well, anyhow, two horses is better than one cow."
Even Sue thought this might be so. She sat looking out of the window,
watching the trees, houses, fences and telegraph poles, as they seemed
to fly past.
By and by a boy came through the car selling candy.
"Mother, I'm hungry!" said Bunny.
"So am I!" added Sue. "I want some candy!"
Mrs. Brown bought them some chocolates, for the ride was a long one, and
they had eaten an early breakfast. The candy kept Bunny and Sue quiet
for a while, and Mrs. Brown was shutting her eyes for a little sleep,
when she heard some one behind her saying:
"Oh, children, I wouldn't do that!"
Quickly opening her eyes she saw Bunny and Sue crossing to the other
side of the car, to take some empty seats there. A passenger behind Mrs.
Brown, seeing that she was asleep, had spoken to the children.
"Oh, you musn't do that," said Mrs. Brown. "Stay in the seats you had
first."
"We want to see what's on this side," said Bunny. He had already climbed
up into a vacant seat, and was near the window, when, all at once, a
train rushed past on the other track, with a loud whistle, a clanging of
the bell and puffing of the engine, that sent smoke and cinders into
Bunny's face. The little fellow jumped back quickly.
"There!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown. "You see it is much nicer on the side
where you were first. No trains pass on this side."
So Bunny and Sue were glad enough to go back to the places they had at
first. For some time they were quiet, looking out at the different
stations as they stopped. At noon their mother gave them some chicken
sandwiches from a basket of lunch she had put up.
"Why don't we go into the dining car, like we did once?" Bunny wanted to
know.
"Because there isn't any on this train," said Mrs. Brown. "But we will
soon be at Aunt Lu's. Now sit back in your seats, and rest yourselves."
Bunny and Sue did for a while. Then they looked for something else to
do. The train boy came through with some picture books, and Mrs. Brown
bought one each for Bunny and Sue.
These kept them quiet for a little while, but the books were soon
finished, even when Bunny took Sue's and gave her his, to change about.
"You come back and sit in my seat, Bunny," Sue invited her brother
after a while.
"No, you come with me," said Bunny. So Sue got in with him, but she
wanted to sit next to the window, and as Bunny wanted that place
himself, they were not satisfied, until Sue went back in her own seat.
About this time Bunny looked up and saw a long cord stretched overhead
in the car, like a clothes line. It hung down from the car ceiling, and
ran over little brass wheels, or pulleys, like those on Mr. Brown's
boats, only much smaller.
"Do you see that cord, Sue?" asked Bunny.
"Yes," answered the little girl. "What's it for?"
"That's what holds the cars together," Bunny said. "The cars are tied to
the engine with that cord."
Of course this was not so, for it takes strong iron chains and bars to
hold the railroad cars one to another, and to the engine. But Bunny
thought the cord, that blew a whistle in the engine, kept the train from
coming apart.
"Is that what it's for?" asked Sue. "It isn't a very big string for to
hold a train."
"Oh, it's very strong," Bunny said. "Nobody could break it."
"I--I guess daddy could break it," Sue suggested.
"No he couldn't!"
"Yes he could! Daddy's awful strong!"
"He couldn't break that cord!" declared Bunny. "Nobody could break it.
If I could pull it down here, you could pull on it and see how strong it
is. No one can break it."
He reached up toward the whistle cord, but he was too short to get hold
of it.
"I know how you can get it," said Sue.
"How can I get it?" Bunny asked.
"Hook it down with mother's parasol," answered Sue.
"Oh, so I can!" cried Bunny.
He went back to the seat where his mother sat. Mrs. Brown had fallen
asleep, and Bunny got her parasol without awakening her.
The little fellow raised the umbrella, and hooked the crook in the end
of it over the whistle cord. He pulled down hard, and then--well, I
guess I'll tell you in the next chapter what happened.