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!"