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Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue in the Sunny South, a novel by Laura Lee Hope |
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Chapter 6. Off For Georgia |
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_ CHAPTER VI. OFF FOR GEORGIA Uncle Tad slipped into his coat pocket the paper printed in green and gold that Bunny had picked up from the refuse tossed out by the Pullman car porter. Then the old soldier turned Prince around so the horse could pull the sleigh out of the drift. "How much money did I find, Uncle Tad?" asked Bunny. "Well, I don't know just how much it may amount to," was the answer. "'Tisn't exactly money, you understand. That paper, Bunny, is what is called a certificate, or something like that, and it's for some stock in an oil well made out to bearer, as nearly as I can tell." "Can I have some of the money to spend?" Bunny asked. "I want to get some candy for Sue and me." "You can't exactly _spend_ this money," said the old soldier. "In the first place, it isn't yours, Bunny. You just found it, you know, and finding isn't always keeping. This oil stock certificate must belong to some one on the train. They very likely dropped it in the car, and when the colored porter was cleaning up he swept it into his dustpan and never noticed it when he threw the dirt in our faces. That certificate may be worth a lot of money, but it would have to be sold before you could get cash for it, and, besides, it isn't yours." "Whose is it?" Bunny wanted to know. "I found it, didn't I?" "Yes, but we must try to learn to whom it belongs, and give it back," Uncle Tad went on. "They may give a reward for it, and then you would have real money." Bunny could not understand this, nor could Sue. If you found a thing why couldn't you keep it? the little boy wondered. Also when something looked so much like money, as this gold and green paper looked like nice new bills from the bank, why couldn't some of it be spent for candy? Bunny and Sue wondered about this. But when Prince was driven across the tracks to the freight depot, and when Bunny Brown and his sister Sue were given some pennies by Uncle Tad and allowed to go to a near-by store while the boxes of motor boat parts were being loaded into the sleigh, the two children forgot all about the oil stock paper. They were more interested in getting the kind of candy they wanted. "Wouldn't it be nice, Bunny," said Sue, as she chewed a red gumdrop, "if you'd get a lot of money so we could spend it in Florida?" "Course it would be nice," her brother agreed. "But where shall I get a lot of money?" and he bit the end off a stick of cocoanut candy. "You might get it from that stiff thing you found," went on Sue. "But I don't think it's very stiff. I saw Uncle Tad bend it when he put it in his pocket." "Oh, you mean that stiff cut," laughed Bunny, as he remembered the paper he had picked up in the snow. "Isn't it a funny name, Sue--_stiff cut_? I s'pose somebody cut the paper. But it isn't very stiff if you can bend it." Of course Bunny and Sue did not get the name just right, but then, as they didn't understand about certificates and oil stock, there is no use in worrying over the matter. Uncle Tad and the freight man finished putting into the sleigh the different boxes for Daddy Brown's motor boat in which Bunker Blue often went out after fish in the summer, sometimes taking Bunny and Sue with him. By this time the two children came back from the candy store and got in the sleigh. "Well, did you find any more valuable papers, Bunny?" asked Uncle Tad, with a joking laugh as he started Prince down the road. "Nope, I didn't," answered the little boy. "But maybe I'll find some in Florida." "You're going to the state of Georgia first, I heard your father say," remarked the old soldier. "Are there any oranges in Georgia?" asked Sue. "Or alligators?" Bunny wanted to know, for he had heard that there were plenty of the big, scaly and long-tailed creatures in Florida. "I don't know much about Georgia," answered Uncle Tad, "except I've heard that peaches grow there. But, of course, you won't find any of them now, as it isn't summer." "Isn't Georgia nice and warm in winter, like Florida?" asked Sue. "And can't we get some orange blossoms there?" "I don't believe you'll find any oranges in Georgia," answered Uncle Tad, "and it isn't as warm as the southern part of Florida, though of course Florida and Georgia, being close together, are a good deal alike. They grow lots of cotton in Georgia, and peanuts." "Peanuts!" cried Bunny, in delight. "Oh, I'm glad! Peanuts are most as good as oranges, aren't they, Sue?" "Yes," agreed the little girl. "But it would be nice if we had peanuts _and_ oranges. 'Cause then when we got thirsty from eating peanuts off a tree we could go and pick an orange off another tree and suck the juice, and we wouldn't be thirsty any more, would we, Uncle Tad?" "No, I presume not," answered the old soldier, with a laugh. "But peanuts don't grow on trees, Sue." "They don't?" cried the little girl. "Why not? Hickory nuts do." "I don't know why, but they don't," said Uncle Tad. "Peanuts grow on vines, under the ground. In some places down South peanuts are called 'goobers.'" "What a funny name!" said Bunny. "We'll have some fun in Georgia when we get there." "Yes, you two seem to have fun wherever you go, like the lady with rings on her fingers and bells on her toes, so she had music 'wherever she goes,'" said Uncle Tad. Prince had now quieted down, and he drew the sled along without trying to run away. A little later Bunny and Sue reached home, and Mrs. Brown was quite excited when she heard how near they had been to the rushing train. Bunny and Sue told about the porter and his dustpan, and Uncle Tad took from his pocket the green and gold oil stock certificate. "We'll show it to daddy when he comes home," said Mrs. Brown. "He will know what to do with it." But though Mr. Brown telephoned to the railroad office, telling about the finding of the valuable paper, which was thought to be worth much money, the owner of it could not be found. After several days, during which Bunny and Sue had more fun in the snow, Mr. Brown told his wife that the railroad people had not even yet been able to find the person who owned the oil stock paper. "It must have been dropped by some one who was riding in that Pullman car," said Mr. Brown. "Perhaps he dropped it and didn't know it until he got off the train. Then he may have thought he lost it somewhere else, and so didn't come back to the railroad office." "Can't you find out who owns it by writing to the oil company?" Mrs. Brown asked. "I could if the certificate were made out in somebody's name," her husband answered. "But it is made out to 'bearer'--that is, anybody who holds it can get the permanent certificates. This is a temporary one." "Could Bunny or Sue?" "Yes, and if this isn't claimed and we can't find to whom it belongs, they can sell it and get the money. But the owner may write to the oil company, even though his name isn't on the paper. In that way I may find out to whom it belongs. I'll write to the oil company myself in a few days." But Mr. Brown had so much to do, getting ready to leave for the sunny South with Bunny and Sue that, for a time, he forgot about the oil stock certificate. As for Bunny and Sue, they talked so much about their coming trip to the South, mentioning oranges, peanuts, and alligators--it was Bunny who spoke of the last, you may be sure--that all their little boy and girl friends were interested. "I wish you'd send me back some oranges, Sue," begged Mary Watson. "And some orange blossoms, too. Then I could put them on one of my dolls and pretend to have a wedding." "I'll send you lots of oranges and blossoms," promised Sue. "And will you send me some peanuts from Georgia?" asked Sadie West. "Lots of 'em!" promised Sue. At last the day came when the start was to be made. Bunny Brown and his sister Sue thought it never would arrive, but finally it did, and after trunks and valises had been packed the party started for the station. The weather was cold, more snow had fallen, and it seemed that another storm would soon come. "But in a little while we'll be where they never have any snow," said Daddy Brown. The last good-byes were called back and forth. Bunny and Sue took their places in the parlor car--the same kind of car as that from which the porter had tossed the oil stock certificate--and the train began to move. They were at last off for Georgia and from there would go to Florida--two states of the sunny South. As the train began to roll more rapidly out of the station there came the sound of some excitement from the narrow passageway at one end--the passage where the porter keeps his towels and soap. "Oh, there goes Dickie!" cried a woman's voice. "Oh, Dickie, come back! You'll be hurt, I know you will! Oh, porter! don't let Dickie jump off and be killed!" "No'm, I won't," answered the colored man. "Ah'll get yo' Dickie fo' you!" "Maybe it's a little child!" exclaimed Mrs. Brown to her husband. "You'd better go and help her, Walter! That porter is so slow! Go and save Dickie!" _ |
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