Free Whistle-Stop West by Arleta Richardson Page A

a nearby seat and tugged Ethan down beside her. “Remember when Will disappeared from Briarlane, and I told you about the little lost lamb?”
    Ethan nodded.
    â€œWe prayed,” Matron continued, “and trusted the Lord to look after Will. You know that He did. Don’t you think that the Good Shepherd can keep an eye on Simon, too?”
    â€œI know that God can do that for Simon,” Ethan confided in Bert a few minutes later, “but I wanted to keep my eye on him too. I intended to watch, but we got so interested in the train, I forgot. Where would he go by himself?”
    â€œI don’t think he would go anywhere but the train,” Bert said. “He might have climbed on another car.”
    Mr. Glover had already considered that possibility when they approached him. He shook his head. “I’m afraid not, boys. The cars ahead of us are all new ones that we picked up. The three behind us didn’t open on the platform side of the train. There’s no place where he could have gotten on alone.”
    It was a sober, dismal suppertime on the Orphan Train that evening. Even though Mr. Glover assured them that Simon would be safe and back with them tomorrow, the children were concerned about him. No one wanted to think that anyone had taken him away from the station, but Ethan feared that might have happened.

    After the boys and girls were asleep, Charles and Matron discussed what would need to be done.
    â€œI think we’d better arrange to stay on a siding in Ames until I get back,” Charles decided. “There’s no point in your going on to the next town alone, since I’m needed to make the arrangements for any adoptions.”
    â€œI’d go back for him myself,” Matron said, “but I’m not sure that Shala could handle the girls and the cooking.”
    â€œThe children need you more than they do me,” Charles replied. “I’ll telegraph ahead and tell them we’ll be a day late on our route. We’ll be about halfway through Iowa when we get to Ames.”
    So the matter was left, and he dozed restlessly as he waited for morning.

    It was earlier than his usual rising time when Charles folded his blanket and prepared for the stop. The car was dark as he made his way to the washroom and readied himself for the day. On the way back to his place, as was his habit, Charles glanced at each boy as he passed the seats where they lay. Automatically he counted as he looked. “One, two, three ... ten.”
    Ten! There were only nine boys last night! Quickly he went back down the aisle, peering closely at each child in the dim light. Curled up in the corner of one seat, with no blanket around him, was Simon.

Chapter Twelve
Simon’s Big Adventure
    Miss Carmen sat in the last coach on the train and looked back at herself from the reflection on the darkened window. Behind her she observed Madame Mona flipping through a magazine. Across the aisle, with their feet on the seats in front of them, sat Rudy and Jack, the animal trainers. There was nothing to be seen out the window, nor was much of interest going on inside the car. So she reflected on yesterday’s unusual happenings.
    Miss Carmen had been sitting on the station side of the last coach on the train. As she looked idly out at the people hurrying by on the Cedar Rapids, Iowa, platform, she was hardly aware that her head barely rose above the windowsill, or that her feet swung high above the floor. She had never been much more than three feet tall, and she had become used to the fact that ordinary furniture hadn’t been built with her in mind.
    â€œI’ll certainly be glad when we get to Ames,” she had said to the small person next to her. “I don’t know why we had to go so far north of Davenport to be able to switch and go back to Des Moines.”
    â€œI’d say it’s because that’s the way they laid the tracks,” Madame Mona had