you can carry, Jess.”
“For Benny,” thought Violet to herself. So the odd little party trudged on for nearly three hours, laden with hay, until they found that the road ended in a cart path through the woods.
“Oh, dear!” exclaimed Jess, almost ready to cry with disappointment.
“What’s the matter?” demanded Henry in astonishment. “Isn’t the woods a good place to sleep? We can’t sleep in the road, you know.”
“It does seem nice and far away from people,” admitted Jess, “and it’s almost morning.”
As they stood still at the entrance to the woods, they heard the rumble of a train. It roared down the valley at a great rate and passed them on the other side of the woods, thundering along toward the city.
“Never mind the train, either,” remarked Henry. “It isn’t so awfully near; and even if it were, it couldn’t see us.”
He set his brother down and peered into the woods. It was very warm.
“Lizzen!” said Benny.
“Listen!” echoed Violet.
“More water!” Benny cried, catching his big brother by the hand.
“It is only another brook,” said Henry with a thankful heart. “He wants a drink.” The trickle of water sounded very pleasant to all the children as they lay down once more to drink.
Benny was too sleepy to eat. Jess quickly found a dry spot thick with moss between two stones. Upon this moss the three older children spread the hay in the shape of an oval bed. Benny tumbled into it with a great sigh of satisfaction, while his sisters tucked the hay around him.
“Pine needles up here, Jess,” called Henry from the slope. Each of them quickly scraped together a fragrant pile for a pillow and once more lay down to sleep, with hardly a thought of fear.
“I only hope we won’t have a thunderstorm,” said Jess to herself, as she shut her tired eyes.
And she did not open them for a long time, although the dark gray clouds piled higher and more thickly over the sleeping children.
SHELTER
WHEN Jess opened her eyes it must have been about ten o’clock in the morning. She sat up and looked all around her. She could see dimly the opening where they had come into the woods. She looked around to see that her family was still safely by her. Then she looked up at the sky. At first she thought it must still be night, and then she realized that the darkness was caused by an approaching storm.
“Whatever, whatever shall we do now?” demanded Jess of the air.
She got up and looked in every direction for shelter. She even walked quite a little way into the woods, and down a hill. And there she stood, not knowing what to do next.
“I shall have to wake Henry up,” she said at last. “Only how I hate to!”
As she spoke she glanced into the forest, and her feet felt as if they were nailed to the ground. She could not stir. Faintly outlined among the trees, Jess saw an old freight or box car. Her first thought was one of fear; her second, hope for shelter. As she thought of shelter, her feet moved, and she stumbled toward it.
It really was a freight car. She felt of it. It stood on rusty broken rails which were nearly covered with dead leaves. Then the thunder cracked overhead. Jess came to her usual senses and started back for Henry, flying like the wind. He was awake, looking anxiously overhead. He had not noticed that Jess was missing.
“Come!” panted Jess. “I’ve found a place! Hurry! hurry!”
Henry did not stop to ask questions. He picked up Benny, telling Violet to gather up the hay. And then they ran headlong through the thick underbrush in Jess’ wake, seeing their way only too well by the sharp flashes of lightning.
“It’s beginning to sprinkle!” gasped Henry.
“We’ll get there, all right,” Jess shouted back. “It’s not far. Be all ready to help me open the door when we get there!”
By sheer good fortune a big tree stump stood under the door of the freight car, or the children never could have opened it. As it was, Jess sprang on the stump and Henry, pausing to lay Benny down, did likewise. Together they rolled back the heavy door about a foot.
“That’s enough,” panted Jess. “I’ll get in, and you hand Benny up to me.”
“No,” said Henry quietly. “I must see first if any one is in there.”
“It will rain!” protested Jess. “Nothing will hurt me.”
But she knew it was useless to argue with Henry, so she hastily groped in the bag for the matches and handed them to her brother. It must be confessed that Jess held her breath while Henry struck one and peered about inside the car.
“All’s well!” he reported. “Come in, everybody!”
Violet passed the hay up to her brother, and crawled in herself. Then Jess handed Benny up like a package of groceries and, taking one last look at the angry sky and waving trees, she climbed in after him.
The two children managed to roll the door back so that the crack was completely closed before the storm broke. But at that very instant it broke with a vengeance. It seemed to the children that the sky would split, so sharp were the cracks of thunder. But not a drop of rain reached them in their roomy retreat. They could see nothing at all, for the freight car was tightly made, and all outside was nearly as black as night. Through it all, Benny slept on.
Presently the thunder grew fainter, and rumbled away down the valley, and the rain spent itself. Only the drip from the trees on the top of the car could be heard. Then Henry ventured to open the door.
He knelt on his hands and knees and thrust his head out.
The warm sunlight was filtering through the trees, making golden pools of light here and there. The beautiful trees, pines and white birches and oaks, grew thickly around and the ground was carpeted with flowers and wonderful ferns more than a yard high. But most miraculous of all was a miniature waterfall, small but perfect, where the same little brown brook fell gracefully over some ledges, and danced away down the glen.
In an instant Jess and Violet were looking over Henry’s shoulder at the pretty sight.
“How different everything looks with the sun shining!” exclaimed Jess. “Things will soon be dry at this rate.”
“It must be about noon,” observed Henry, looking at the sun. And as he spoke the faint echo of mill bells in the distance was heard.
“Henry!” said Jess sharply. “Let’s live here!”
“Live here?” repeated Henry dully.
“Yes! Why not?” replied Jess. “Nobody uses this car, and it’s dry and warm. We’re quite far away. And yet we are near enough to a town so we can buy things.”
“And we’re near
