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03 - The Box Car Children - Gertrude Warner · Classic Adventure Books - Daily

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  Speaker 1: Chapter three, Shelter. When Jess opened her eyes, it must
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  Speaker 1: have been about ten o'clock in the morning. She sat
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  Speaker 1: up and looked all around her. She could dimly see
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  Speaker 1: the opening where they had come into the woods. She
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  Speaker 1: looked around to see that her family was still safely
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  Speaker 1: by her. Then she looked up at the sky. At
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  Speaker 1: first she thought it must still be night, and then
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  Speaker 1: she realized that the darkness was caused by an approaching storm. Whatever,
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  Speaker 1: whatever shall we do now, demanded Jess of the air.
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  Speaker 1: She got up and looked in every direction for shelter.
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  Speaker 1: She even walked quite a little way into the woods
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  Speaker 1: and down a hill, and there she stood, not knowing
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  Speaker 1: what to do next. I shall have to wake Henry up,
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  Speaker 1: she said at last, Only how I hate too. As
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  Speaker 1: she spoke, she glanced into the forest, and her feet
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  Speaker 1: felt as if they were nailed to the ground. She
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  Speaker 1: could not stir. Faintly, outlined among the trees, Jess saw
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  Speaker 1: an old freight or box car. Her first thought was
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  Speaker 1: one of fear, her second hope for shelter. As she
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  Speaker 1: thought of shelter, her feet moved and she stumbled toward it.
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  Speaker 1: It really was a freight car. She felt of it.
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  Speaker 1: It stood on rusty, broken rails, which were nearly covered
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  Speaker 1: with dead leaves. Then the thunder cracked overhead. Jess came
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  Speaker 1: to her usual senses and started back for Henry, flying
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  Speaker 1: like the wind. He was awake, looking anxiously overhead. He
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  Speaker 1: had not noticed that Jess was missing. Come, panted Jess,
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  Speaker 1: I've found a place. Hurry, hurry. Henry did not stop
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  Speaker 1: to ask questions. He picked up Benny, telling Violet to
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  Speaker 1: gather up the hay, and then they ran headlong through
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  Speaker 1: the thick underbrush in Jess's wake, seeing their way only
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  Speaker 1: too well by the sharp flashes of lightning. It's beginning
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  Speaker 1: to sprinkle, gasped Henry. We'll get there all right, Jess
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  Speaker 1: shouted back, it's not far. Be all ready to help
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  Speaker 1: me open the door when we get there. By sheer
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  Speaker 1: good fortune, a big tree stump stood under the door
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  Speaker 1: of the freight car, or the children never could have
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  Speaker 1: opened it as it was. Jess sprang up on the stump,
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  Speaker 1: and Henry, pausing to lay Henry down, did likewise. Together
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  Speaker 1: they rolled back the heavy door about a foot. That's enough,
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  Speaker 1: panted Jess. I'll get in, and you hand Benny up
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  Speaker 1: to me, No, said Henry quietly, I must see first.
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  Speaker 1: If anyone is in there, it will rain, protested Jess,
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  Speaker 1: nothing will hurt me. But she knew it was useless
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  Speaker 1: to argue with Henry, so she hastily groped in the
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  Speaker 1: bag for the matches and handed them to her brother.
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  Speaker 1: It must be confessed that Jess held her breath while
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  Speaker 1: Henry struck one and peered about inside the car. All's well,
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  Speaker 1: he reported, Come in, everybody. Violet passed the hay up
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  Speaker 1: to her brother and crawled in herself. Then Jess handed
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  Speaker 1: Benny up like a package of groceries, and taking one
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  Speaker 1: last look at the angry sky and waving trees, she
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  Speaker 1: climbed in after him. The two children managed to roll
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  Speaker 1: the door back so that the crack was completely closed
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  Speaker 1: before the storm broke, But at that very instant it
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  Speaker 1: broke with a vengeance. It seemed to the children that
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  Speaker 1: the sky would split, so sharp were the cracks of thunder,
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  Speaker 1: But not a drop of rain reached them. In their
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  Speaker 1: roomy retreat, they could see nothing at all, for the
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  Speaker 1: freight car was tightly made, and all outside was nearly
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  Speaker 1: as black as night. Through it all, Benny slept on Presently,
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  Speaker 1: the thunder grew fainter and rumbled away down the valley,
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  Speaker 1: and the rain spent itself. Only the drip from the
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  Speaker 1: trees on the top of the could be heard. Then
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  Speaker 1: Henry ventured to open the door. He knelt on his
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  Speaker 1: hands and knees and thrust his head out. The warm
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  Speaker 1: sunlight was filtering through the trees, making golden pools of
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  Speaker 1: light here and there. The beautiful trees, pines and white
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  Speaker 1: birches and oaks grew thickly around, and the ground was
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  Speaker 1: carpeted with flowers and wonderful ferns more than a yard high.
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  Speaker 1: But most miraculous of all was a miniature waterfall, small
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  Speaker 1: but perfect, where the same little brown brook fell gracefully
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  Speaker 1: over some ledges and danced away down the glen. In
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  Speaker 1: an instant, Jess and Violet were looking over Henry's shoulder
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  Speaker 1: at the pretty sight. How different everything looks with the
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  Speaker 1: sun shining, exclaimed Jess. Things will soon be dry at
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  Speaker 1: this rate. It must be about noon, observed Henry, looking
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  Speaker 1: at the sun, and as he spoke, the faint echo
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  Speaker 1: of mill bells in the distance was heard. Henry said
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  Speaker 1: Jess sharply, let's live here, live here, repeated Henry. Dully. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: why not, replied Jess. Nobody uses this car, and it's
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  Speaker 1: dry and warm. We're quite far away, and yet we
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  Speaker 1: are near enough to a town so we can buy things,
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  Speaker 1: and we're near water, added Violet. Jess hugged her sister.
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  Speaker 1: So we are, little mouse, she said, the most important
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  Speaker 1: thing of all, but began Henry. Please, Henry, said Jess excitedly.
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  Speaker 1: I could make this old freight car into the dearest
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  Speaker 1: little house with beds and chairs and a table and dishes.
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  Speaker 1: I'd like to live here too, said a determined little
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  Speaker 1: voice from the corner. But I don't want to unless
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  Speaker 1: unless what asked Henry, panic stricken, unless I can have
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  Speaker 1: my dinner, Benny finished anxiously. We'll have something to eat
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  Speaker 1: right away, old fellow, said Henry, thankful it was no worse,
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  Speaker 1: for he himself was beginning to see what a cozy
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  Speaker 1: home the car really would make. Jess cut the last
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  Speaker 1: loaf of bread into four pieces, but alas it was
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  Speaker 1: very dry, the children were so hungry that they tore
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  Speaker 1: it with their teeth like little dogs. But Benny was
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  Speaker 1: nearly crying. He did not actually cry, however, for just
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  Speaker 1: At the crucial moment, Violet started a funny story about
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  Speaker 1: cinnamon bear eating bread crusts out of the ash can.
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  Speaker 1: He ought to have milk, said Jess quietly to Henry.
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  Speaker 1: He shall have milk, replied Henry, I'll go down the
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  Speaker 1: railroad track to the town and get some. Jess counted
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  Speaker 1: out a dollar in ten times and handed it to Henry.
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  Speaker 1: By the time our four dollars are gone, you will
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  Speaker 1: have some work to do, she said. All the same,
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  Speaker 1: Henry did not like to begin his trip. How I
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  Speaker 1: hate to leave you alone, Jess, he said miserably. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: don't you worry, began lightly. We'll have a surprise for
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  Speaker 1: you when you come back. You just wait and see,
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  Speaker 1: and she nodded her head wisely. As Henry walked off
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  Speaker 1: through the woods. The moment he was out of sight,
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  Speaker 1: she turned to Benny and Violet, now children, she said,
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  Speaker 1: what do you think we're going to do? Do you
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  Speaker 1: know what I saw over in the sunny part of
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  Speaker 1: the woods. I saw some blueberries? Oh oh, cried Benny,
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  Speaker 1: who knew what blueberries were. Can't we have some blueberries
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  Speaker 1: and milk? We certainly, began Jess, but the sentence was
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  Speaker 1: never finished for a sharp crackle of dry leaves was heard.
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  Speaker 1: Something was moving in the woods. End of chapter three