Boxcar Children (4) C

The dog had supper. too, Jessie gave him bread as he lay on the ground beside her, and he drank milk out of her hand. When supper was over, there was some milk left in each bottle. "We'll have the rest of the milk for breakfast," said Jessie, "Tonight we are going to sleep on beds. Let's get some pine needles now." Soon the children had a big pile. Henry jumped into the boxcar, and Jessie gave him the pine needles. He made four beds in one end of the car. "This side is the bedroom," said Jessie. "What will the other side be?" asked Benny. "The other side?" asked Jessie. "Let me think. I guess that will be the sitting-room, and maybe some of the time it will be the kitchen." Then she said, "Come, now. Come and get washed." She took the cake of soap and went down to the brook. "That will be fun, Benny," said Violet. "We'll splash our 'paws' in the brook just as Little Brown Bear does." She knew that Benny did not like to be washed. The children were all very hot, and so they were glad to splash in the cold water. Benny put cold water and soap on his face with the others and dried his hands on a towel. "We'll have to have a line to dry the towels on," said Jessie. So she took the string out of the laundry bag and tied one end of it to a tree. The other end of the string she tied to the boxcar. This made a good clothesline. When she had washed one towel and Violet had washed the other one, they hung both towels on the clothesline. "It looks like home," said Henry. "See the washing!" He laughed. Jessie was thinking. "We ought to get some water to drink before we go to bed," she said. "But what shall we put it in?" "Let's put all the milk into two bottles," said Henry. "Then we can fill the other two with water." "Good," said Jessie. "You go alone to the fountain, Henry. You can hide if anyone comes along." Henry went out very quietly, and soon came back with two bottles full of cold water. Benny drank a little, but he was almost asleep. The other children helped him into the boxcar. Then they all climbed in, Jessie carrying the dog. He lay down at once beside her. "It is so hot that we'll leave the door open," said Henry. Soon they were fast asleep, dog and all. The moon came up, but they did not see it. This was the first time in four days that they could go to sleep at night, as children should.