Tall and inordinately thin, the man’s clothes seemed simply to hang from his shoulders.  His hair, of a curious rusty gray, seemed to stick out from under the faded straw hat, and his whole appearance suggested nothing so much as a scarecrow.

Despite the man’s ungainly appearance, however, his face was one that would attract and hold attention.  So thin was it that it seemed as though the cheek bones would any minute pierce the bronzed skin, and from under bushy eyebrows two restless black eyes glistened.

Like Bob, this man surveyed his fellow passengers, giving them, however, only a momentary glance, until his eyes rested upon Bob, and upon him they lingered, glancing him over from head to foot, and then dropping to the lunch-box which was on the floor.

During this inspection of himself, Bob had also been examining the man more closely, and had discovered that his forehead was marked with a deep scar.

“You don’t happen to have any lunch in that box, do you, that you would be willing to sell me?” asked the stranger.  “I didn’t have time to get any before I started.  In fact, I came mighty near losing the train as it was, and there won’t be any station where I can get anything before noon.”

“Why, yes,” replied Bob; “that is, I have some lunch.  But I won’t sell it to you.  You are welcome to some of it, if you would like it.”

How the man had been able to divine that his package contained food, Bob could not understand.  But had the boy been as keen an observer as the stranger, he would have noticed that the paper on one end of the box was saturated with grease, causing the obvious inference that some sort of food was wrapped up inside.

“I don’t like to take your grub for nothing, son,” returned the other, “but I sure am hungry.  I have always made it a rule never to accept anything from any one without giving something in return.  So I tell you what I’ll do.  If you’re sure you won’t accept any money, and will give me a bite, when the train stops for dinner, I’ll pay for whatever you want to eat.”

“That seems fair,” returned Bob, “but I should be just as willing to give you some, even if you didn’t return it.”

While Bob had been speaking, he had picked up the box, broken the string, unwrapped the paper and opened it, after which he held it out to the stranger, saying: 

“Help yourself.”

To Bob’s surprise, the man accepted the invitation literally—­and took the whole box, which he rested on his knee.  Though it contained cake and pie, hard-boiled eggs, and several sandwiches, the stranger exercised no choice of selection, but began at one end of the box and ate everything just as it came.

Naturally Bob had supposed that the man would eat possibly only a couple of eggs and one or two sandwiches, with perhaps even a piece of cake or a piece of pie.  But as he saw one piece of food disappearing after another, and remembered that the stranger had asked only for a bite, he wondered what he would require to make a full meal.