Page:Ralph on the Railroad.djvu/762

194 "What's the row?" inquired one of the workmen.

"Why, I've missed eatables for a week or more at odd times, and I just caught this young robber stealing a ham."

"I didn't steal it," sobbed the detected youngster. "I just took it. You'd take it, too, if you was in our fix. We're nearly starved."

"Who is nearly starved?" asked Ralph, approaching the culprit.

"Me and dad. We were just driven to pick up food anywhere. You've got lots of it. You needn't miss it. Please let me go, mister."

"No, the jail for you," threatened the cook direfully.

"Oh, don't take me away from my father," pleaded the affrighted youngster. "He couldn't get along without me."

"See here, cook, let me take this little fellow in hand," suggested Ralph.

"All right," assented the cook, adding in an undertone, "give him a good scare."

Ralph took the boy to one side. His name was Ned. His father, he said, was Amos Greenleaf, an old railroader, crippled in an accident some years before. He had become very poor, and they had settled in an old house in The Barrens a few