Chapter Eleven

Searching for Simon

Matron counted, and as she got to fifteen, the train began to move.

“Fifteen? I must have counted wrong.” She started to count again. Charles Glover moved down the swaying aisle and numbered them aloud. “One, two, three ... fifteen! Who’s missing?”

Riley sighed. “Simon. We thought he was already on.”

Ethan, near tears, pressed against the window as the platform rapidly faded behind them.

“He must be,” Mr. Glover said. “I’d have seen him out there. He’s probably gone into the other car.”

But a thorough search of the coach revealed no little boy. Mr. Glover came back and sat down to decide what to do next. He studied the schedule. “I’ll have to get off at the next stop and find a way back to Cedar Rapids,” he announced. “We’re going west now instead of north, and the next town for coal and water is Ames. We won’t be there until morning.”

“What will happen to Simon?” Ethan was trying not to cry, but tears ran down his cheeks.

Matron put her arm around him. “Don’t worry, Ethan. The station manager won’t let a little boy stand around alone. He’ll look after Simon until Mr. Glover can get back there. We know that Simon didn’t leave the train yard. He must have been behind the station, and you just didn’t see him.”

“But he’ll be scared. He’s never been alone overnight!”

Matron sat on 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.

“We 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?”

“I 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?”

“I 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.

“I 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.”

“I’d go back for him myself,” Matron said, “but I’m not sure that Shala could handle the girls and the cooking.”

“The 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.