steel and rested on wooden supporters, half buried in the earth.

"Dinged if this ain't queer!" he thought. "Let me see. I wonder if
this ain't one of them railroads I've heard folks tell about. They say
it'll carry you as far in one hour as a man'll walk all day."

Pondering over this, to him, puzzling celerity of motion, he groped his
way along the track to where it broadened out into a switch.

"Reckon this one must run somewhere else," thought Ralph, when he
suddenly detected a large dark object ahead. "What's that, I wonder.
Guess I'll look into that. Seeing I'm getting into a strange country
it won't do to be too careless."

Going slowly forward, he walked completely round the unknown affair,
which he ascertained was on wheels that rested on the iron tracks.

"This must be one of their wagons they ride so fast in," said the boy
to himself. "Hello! The door is open."

It was an ordinary box car on a siding, the sliding door of which was
partially open. As Ralph strove to peer within, he detected the sound
of measured breathing.

"Some one is in there," he decided, and drew back cautiously.

The darkness had increased greatly and there seemed to be signs of
another rain coming up. No other place of shelter was in the immediate
neighborhood that he could discern.