A QUEER PICNIC
Bunny and Sue did not know just what to make of this ragged tramp who
was traveling in the freight car with them. It was not, of course, the
first time they had seen a tramp--they were plentiful enough around
Bellemere at times, and often they had come begging for food at the back
door of the Brown house. Bunny and Sue had often seen their mother feed
the poor men, and some of them were quite jolly, and joked about their
bad luck.
This tramp, "Nutty," he had called himself, was one of the jolly kind,
the two children decided. Nutty now came from the corner where he had
been sleeping and stood in the light that came through the door Bunny
had slid back a little way.
"What in the world are you doing here?" asked Nutty, as he again
stretched out his arms, showing the rags and patches of his torn coat.
"We came in to get the kitten," answered Sue.
"What, my kitten? My Toddle?" cried the tramp. "You wouldn't take little
Toddle away from me, would you?"
"Oh, is that your kitten?" asked Bunny Brown. "We didn't know. We
thought it was a stray pussy that had got up in the freight car and
couldn't get out. We climbed up in to take it to our mother so it could
have some milk, and then the train started."
"Oh, ho! So that's how it happened?" asked Nutty. "I wondered how you
two kids got here. I knew you couldn't be tramps. But Toddle is my
kitten all right. I call him Toddle because that's about all he can do
in the way of a walk. He toddles on his four little legs," and Nutty
laughed, which made Bunny and Sue feel better.
"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?