“Oh, Rose!” cried Mrs. Bunker.  “What have you done?”

“I—­I—­didn’t do anything!” Rose answered.  “But my doll turned into a live baby!”

“Oh!” exclaimed Mrs. Bunker.  “You have—­you have——­”

And just then, down at the other end of the car, a woman’s voice cried: 

“Oh, my baby!  My baby!  Where is my baby?  This is only a doll!”

At once the car was a scene of great confusion.  Mr. Bunker ran to where Rose and her mother sat, Rose still holding the live baby.  The other little Bunkers wondered what had happened.

At the other end of the car a woman rushed frantically along, holding out a doll.

“Look!  Look!” she cried.  “Somebody took my dear baby and left this doll!  Oh, conductor, stop the train!”

Daddy Bunker seemed to be the first to understand what had happened.  He hurried to Rose, and tenderly lifted up the little baby, which was now crying hard.  Perhaps it knew that something had happened, or perhaps it was hungry.

“Here is your baby, madam,” said Mr. Bunker to the woman.  “And I guess you have my little girl’s doll.  It’s just a mix-up—­just a great, big mistake.  Here is your baby!”

The woman, whose face showed delight now instead of fear and worry, clasped her baby in her arms, first handing the doll to Mr. Bunker.

“Oh, my baby!  My precious!” she crooned, pressing her face close to the child.  “I thought some one had taken you!”

“I—­I guess I took up your baby for my doll,” put in Rose.  “I laid my doll down in a seat at the end of the car so she would go to sleep nice and quiet.”

“That’s just what I did with my baby,” said the woman.

“And then I went to get my doll, and I thought she’d come to life,” went on Rose.

“The seats where the baby and doll were must have been right next to one another,” said Mrs. Bunker.  “That’s how Rose picked up your little one in mistake for her doll.”

“I suppose so,” the baby’s mother answered with a smile.  “Well, it has all come out right, I’m glad to say.  But at first I was dreadfully frightened.”

“It was a queer mistake,” said Mr. Bunker.  “Rose put her doll down to sleep in the seat right next to where the live baby was sleeping.  And the seats looked so much alike, and Rose’s doll was in a white shawl, just like the real baby, so that’s how it happened.”

“And the baby is such a little one, and Rose’s doll is so big, that no wonder she didn’t know the difference until she saw the real baby open its eyes,” went on Mother Bunker.  “Well, it was a funny happening.”

The other passengers laughed and talked about it, and so did the six little Bunkers.  Then it was time to go into the dining-car for supper, after which the berths would be made up, so those who wished could go to bed.

The children were all sleepy, for they had gotten up early, so they hurried through their supper.  They were interested in seeing the colored porter make the beds when they got back to their own coach.