“I’d put him through his paces for you young gen’lemen,” he said, “but he got his foot hurt for one thing, and another is, if we went to showing off, we might be ordered to move on.  This is the first time we’ve smelled a fire in twenty-four hours, and we ain’t in no hurry to leave it, I can tell you.”

“Will he bite?” asked Keith, going up to the huge bear, which had stretched itself out comfortably on the floor.

“Not generally.  He’s a good-tempered brute, most times like a lamb.  But he ain’t had nothing to eat all day, so it wouldn’t be surprising if he was a bit snappish.”

“Nothing to eat!” echoed Keith.  “You poor old thing!” Going a step closer, he put out his hand and stroked the bear, as if it had been a great dog.

“Oh, Malcolm, just feel how soft his fur is, like mamma’s beaver jacket.  And he has the kindest old face.  Poor old fellow, is you hungry?  Never mind, Keith’ll get you something to eat pretty soon.”

Putting his short, plump arms around the animal’s neck, he hugged it lovingly up to him.  A cunning gleam came into the man’s eyes.  He saw that he had gained the younger boy’s sympathy, and he wanted Malcolm’s also.

“Is your home near here, my little gen’leman?” he asked, in a friendly tone.

“No, we live in the city,” answered Malcolm, “but my grandmother’s place, where we are staying, is not far from here.”  He was stroking the bear with one hand as he spoke, and hunting in his pocket with the other, hoping to find some stray peanuts to give it.

“Then maybe you know of some place where we could stay to-night.  Even a shed to crawl into would keep us from freezing.  It’s an awful cold night not to have a roof over your head, or a crust to gnaw on, or a spark of fire to keep life in your body.”

“Maybe they’d let you stay in the waiting-room,” suggested Malcolm.  “It is always good and warm in here.  I’ll ask the station-master.  He’s a friend of mine.”

“Oh, no!  No, don’t!” exclaimed the tramp, hastily, pulling his old hat farther over his forehead, as if to hide the scar, and looking uneasily around.  “I wouldn’t have you do that for anything.  I’ve had dealings with such folks before, and I know how they’d treat me.  I thought maybe there was a barn or a hay-shed or something on your grandmother’s place, where we could lay up for repairs a couple of days.  The beast needs a rest.  Its foot’s sore; and Jonesy there is pretty near to lung fever, judging from the way he coughs.”  He nodded toward the boy, who had placed his chair as close to the stove as possible.  The child’s face was drawn into a pucker by the tingling pains in his half-frozen feet, and his efforts to keep from coughing.