"But rules ought to be broken at times," urged Nan. "For instance, can't
they be relaxed when folks are cast away on desert islands?"

"Oh, ho!" chuckled the conductor. "I see the point, Miss. But the captain
of the ship must maintain discipline, just the same, on the desert island
as aboard ship."

"I s'pose you've got to enforce the rule against passengers riding on the
platform, too, even if we are stuck in a snowdrift?" Bess said a little
crossly. They had come out into the vestibule, and she was cold.

The conductor broke into open laughter at this; but Nan was serious.

"Suppose anything happens to the poor little fellow?" she fumed. "He may
get cold. And he certainly will starve."

"Have you anything more in the line of food to give away?" demanded the
conductor.

"Not a crumb," sighed Bess. "By the time the cannibals arrive at this
desert island we'll all be too thin to tempt them to a banquet."

"But there may be something on the train with which to feed that poor
doggie," insisted Nan.

"If you mean in the crew's kettles," said the conductor, "I can assure
you, young lady, there is nothing. This crew usually eats at the end of
the division. It's not like a freight train crew. We'd be a whole lot
better off right now," added the conductor, reflectively, "if we had a