Just then Flossie thought of something: 

“Oh, Freddie!” she cried.  “We haven’t any tickets or any money, unless you have some, and the conductor will put us off!”

“I’ve got five cents,” said Freddie, taking it out of his small pocket.

“That’s only enough for a street-car ride, and this is the elevated railroad,” replied his blue-eyed sister.  “Oh, what shall we do?” And there was just a little tear in each eye as she looked at the guard.

“What’s the matter now?” he asked kindly.  “Do you want a bug?”

“No—­I mean yes, but not now.  We haven’t any tickets and the conductor——­”

“Didn’t you drop your tickets in the chopper’s box at the station where you got on?”

“No.  We ran on ahead,” explained Freddie.

“Ho!  I see!  You were so small that the ticket chopper didn’t see you.  Well, don’t worry—­it will be all right.  The road won’t lose much by carrying you two.”

“You could send the bill to my father,” said Flossie.  “That’s what mother says when she goes to buy things at the store.”

“That will be all right,” the guard said.  “I’ll see that you’re not put off until the proper time comes.  And you save your five cents,” he added to Freddie, who was holding up the nickel.  “You might want to buy some peanuts.”

“Oh, that’s so—­for the monkeys in the park!” cried Freddie.  “I forgot we were going to see them!”

By this time some of the other passengers were interested in the children, asking them many questions and learning the story of their coming to New York on a visit.

“They don’t seem worried,” said one woman.  “And they’re quite lost in this big city.”

“Oh, we’ve been lost before,” said Flossie easily.  “Lots of times!”

“In the woods, too,” added Freddie.  “And we heard funny noises.  But we weren’t scared.  Were we, Flossie?”

“Nope.  We’ll just keep on riding now until Daddy comes for us.  It’s fun, I think.”

“And we don’t have to pay for it, either,” said Freddie, with satisfaction, as he put away his only piece of money.  “I’m going to save this for peanuts for the monkeys.”

“Will you save some for me?” asked Flossie.  “I’m getting hungry.”

“Maybe we’ll eat these peanuts all ourselves,” said Freddie, after thinking about it for a moment.  “We can get some for the monkeys later afterward.  I’m hungry, too.”

“Well, you’ve got quite a long trip ahead of you,” said the guard in whose car they were.  “It’s quite a ride to One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Street.  I’ll ask the gateman at the next stop if your father has telephoned about you.  Just sit still.”

And so Flossie and Freddie, in the elevated express train, were having a long ride all by themselves.  They were not frightened now, for they were sure their father or mother would come for them soon, as he had done the day they were spilled out of the ice-boat and were taken in by Uncle Jack.