Cab and Caboose | Page 9

and I only
followed you to tell you supper was ready, 'cause I thought maybe you
didn't know it."
"Well, I didn't and it makes no difference whether I did or not," said
Rod. "I have left my uncle's house for good and all, Dan, and there are
no more suppers in it for me."
"I was afeard so! I was afeard so, Mister Rod," exclaimed the boy with
a real distress in his voice, "an' to tell the truth that's why I came after
you. I couldn't a-bear to have you go without saying good-by, and I
thought maybe, perhaps, you'd let me go along with you. Please do,
Mister Rod. I'll work for you and serve you faithfully, an' I'd a heap
rather go on a tramp, or any place along with you, than stay here
without you. Please, Mister Rod."
"No, Dan, it would be impossible to take you with me," said Rodman,
who was deeply touched by this proof of his humble friend's loyalty. "It
will be all I can do to find work for myself; but I'm grateful to you all
the same for showing that you still think well of me. It's a great thing, I
can tell you, for a fellow in my position to know that he leaves even
one friend behind him when he is forced to go away from his only
home."

"You leaves a-plenty of them--a-plenty!" interrupted the stable boy
eagerly. "I heerd Miss Eltje telling her father that it was right down
cruel not to give you the cup, an' that you couldn't do a thing, such as
they said, any more than she could, or he could himself. An' her father
said no more did he believe you could, an' you'd come out of it all right
yet. Miss Eltje was right up an' down mad about it, she was. Oh, I tell
you, Mister Rod, you've got a-plenty of friends; an' if you'll only stay
you'll find 'em jest a-swarmin'."
At this Rodman laughed outright, and said: "Dan, you are a fine fellow,
and you have done me good already. Now what I want you to do is just
to stay here and discover some more friends for me. I will manage to let
you know what I am doing; but you must not tell anybody a word about
me, nor where I am, nor anything. Now good-by, and mind, don't say a
word about having seen me, unless Miss Eltje should happen to ask you.
If she should, you might say that I shall always remember her, and be
grateful to her for believing in me. Good-by."
With this Rod plunged down the steep bank to the railroad track, and
disappeared in the darkness. He went in the direction of the next station
to Euston, about five miles away, as he did not wish to be recognized
when he made the attempt to secure a ride on some train to New York.
It was to be an attempt only; for he had not a cent of money in his
pockets, and had no idea of how he should obtain the coveted ride. In
addition to being penniless, he was hungry, and his hunger was
increased tenfold by the knowledge that he had no means of satisfying
it. Still he was a boy with unlimited confidence in himself. He always
had fallen on his feet; and, though this was the worse fix in which he
had ever found himself, he had faith that he would come out of it all
right somehow. His heart was already so much lighter since he had
learned from Dan that some of his friends, and especially Eltje
Vanderveer, still believed in him, that his situation did not seem half so
desperate as it had an hour before.
Rod was already enough of a railroad man to know that, as he was
going east, he must walk on the west bound track. By so doing he
would be able to see trains bound west, while they were still at some

distance from him, and would be in no danger from those bound east
and overtaking him.
When he was about half a mile from the little station, toward which he
was walking, he heard the long-drawn, far-away whistle of a
locomotive. Was it ahead of him or behind? On account of the
bewildering echoes he could not tell. To settle the question he kneeled
down, and placed his ear against one of rails of the west bound track. It
was cold and silent. Then he tried the east bound track in the same way.
This rail seemed to tingle with life, and a faint, humming sound came
from it. It was a perfect railroad telephone, and it informed the listener
as plainly as