CHAPTER VI
OFF ON THE TRIP
Feeling very sorry for Mr. Pott, Bunny and Sue walked down the stairs and toward the front door of the hospital. They had done their best to be kind to him by bringing him fruit and flowers. True, the apples were green and the sick man could not eat them, but Bunny and Sue did not know this. The nurses did not tell them, for they did not want the children to feel disappointed.
But the flowers were all right to go in the sick man’s room, and a little later the buttercups, daisies and dandelions were put in a vase with water at the stems and placed on the table near Mr. Pott’s bed.
“Do you children know your way home alone?” asked Miss Wilson, as she let Bunny and Sue out of the hospital.
“Yes, thank you,” answered Bunny.
“Shall we come to-morrow and bring Mr. Pott some more apples and more flowers?” asked Sue.
“Oh, no, I think not, dear,” the nurse answered. “You brought him enough apples to last a week. Though the day after to-morrow, if you wish, you may bring more flowers. I think he will like them.”
“We’ll bring two baskets full,” offered Bunny, swinging in his hand the wood basket, which had been emptied and given back to him.
“Oh, one basket will be plenty,” said the nurse, laughing. “Good-by!”
“Good-by,” echoed Sue.
“We’ll come back day after to-morrow,” promised Bunny.
But that was not to be, for when that day came Bunny and his sister had started on their trip to the rolling ocean.
“Where in the world have you children been?” asked Mrs. Brown a little later, when Bunny and Sue walked in the front gate.
“We’ve been to the hospital,” answered Bunny.
“Where?” asked his mother, in surprise.
“To the hospital to see Mr. Pott. We took him some nice apples and buttercups,” explained Sue.
“Good land!” cried Bunker Blue, who was working around the yard. “I heard them say they were going to the hospital,” he told Mrs. Brown, “but I thought it was only one of their make-believe games.”
“We truly went to the hospital, and we saw Mr. Pott,” went on Bunny. “But he talks funny, so we came away.”
“Of all things!” cried Mrs. Brown. “What will you two do next? But don’t try to think up any queer things to do,” she was quick to say. “I’ve been looking for you to have you get ready to go with your father and me on the ocean trip.”
“Oh, on the rolling ocean!” cried Bunny Brown.
“Are we going now?” asked Sue eagerly. “If we are I must see which of my dolls I’m going to take.”
“No, we aren’t going now,” answered her mother, with a smile. “But your father telephoned a little while ago that we would start for Philadelphia the day after to-morrow. So I must get ready sooner than I thought I would need to. That’s why I was looking for you children. But I never imagined you had gone to the hospital. How is Mr. Pott?”
“He’s better,” said Sue.
“He’s worse,” said Bunny. “He kind of thought I was his lost son, Harry, until he saw I wasn’t big enough.”
“Poor man,” sighed Mrs. Brown. “I hope he will find his son.”
“And the treasure,” added Bunny.
“Yes, and the treasure, too,” said his mother. “I don’t know what sort of treasure it is, but I hope he’ll find it.”
“Maybe it’s a box of gold, like in the fairy story,” said Sue.
“Or diamonds,” added Bunny. “But, Mother,” he asked, “why are we going to Philadelphia? I thought we were going on the rolling ocean.”
“We are,” answered Mrs. Brown. “But to get on the ocean we have to go on board a ship—the Beacon, with Captain Ward in charge. And as the Beacon sails from Philadelphia, we must go to that city to get on board. So we are going to leave for Philadelphia day after to-morrow and then the next day we shall be on the Beacon.”
“Hurray!” cried Bunny Brown. “What fun we’ll have!”
“Lots of fun!” echoed Sue.
The remainder of the day was a busy one in the Brown home, for Mrs. Brown had to look over and sort the clothes she was to take for the children. Sue saw her fur coat in her closet.
“Oh, I want to take that!” she cried.
“Nonsense!” laughed her mother. “Remember we are going to the West Indies—down south where it is very warm. You’d never want to wear fur there.”
“But if we went to the north pole we’d want fur, shouldn’t we?” asked Bunny.
“I guess you would,” said his mother, with a laugh.
The following day was busier than ever in the Brown home. The family was to start early the next morning on the train for Philadelphia, and everything must be in readiness the night before.
So valises were packed, the trunks were sent on ahead, and in the afternoon Bunny and Sue went about saying good-by to their playmates.
“Do alligators grow down in the West Indies?” asked George Watson of Bunny.
“I guess so,” was the answer. “Why?”
“Because I wish you’d bring me back one, if you can,” said George.
“I will,” promised Bunny, though he had not the least idea in the world how to catch alligators.
“Just a little one,” added George. “I guess maybe my mother wouldn’t let me keep a big one in the house.”
“I’ll bring you a little one,” said Bunny.
When Sue went to say good-by to Helen Newton that little girl said:
“Will you see any orange blossoms down south, Sue?”
“Oh, yes,” Sue answered, for she remembered having seen those wonderful and sweetly perfumed flowers when she and Bunny were in the sunny south the other time.
“Please bring me some orange blossoms,” begged Helen.
“I will,” said Sue.
“You see, one of my dolls is going to be married,” explained Helen, “and I want the orange blossoms for her veil.”
“Just like your cousin Louise when she was married last week!” exclaimed Sue.
That afternoon Mr. Brown paid a visit to the hospital where Mr. Pott had been taken.
“He’s a very sick man,” said Dr. Rudd. “He was more badly hurt in his fall from the horse than I thought at first. But the worst of it is that he has some worry on his mind. It’s about his lost son and a missing treasure, as he calls it. If he could find his son or hear from him and get back this treasure, he would get well much more quickly.”
“I’m afraid he’ll never get either,” said Mr. Brown. “People lost in a shipwreck are seldom found again. And since Mr. Pott doesn’t seem to know where his treasure was lost, there is no way of finding it for him.”
“I suppose not,” said Dr. Rudd. “But he’d get well more quickly if his mind was easier.”
Bunny and Sue hardly slept that last night, so eager were they to start on this trip, and they were up early in the morning. At the last minute Bunny dragged out his Christmas drum and wanted to take that along.
“No, no! You can’t take that!” said his father.
“I want it to scare alligators with,” said Bunny.
“What does the child mean—scare alligators?” asked his mother.
“I’m going to catch a little alligator for George Watson,” explained Bunny. “When I’m catching a little alligator I want to drum and scare the big ones away.”
“I don’t believe you’ll be able to catch any alligators!” laughed Mr. Brown. “Leave the drum at home, Bunny. We only have two small staterooms on the Beacon and there isn’t much space for drums and things like that.”
“Can’t I take my doll?” asked Sue.
“Oh, yes, bring your doll,” said her mother.
“And I’m going to take my flashlight,” said Bunny.
“Yes, anything like that which you can put in your pocket is all right,” admitted his father.
Bunker Blue drove the automobile carrying the Brown family down to the railroad station where they were to take an early morning train to Philadelphia. They had a little time to wait, and Bunny and Sue ran up and down the station platform while their father and mother talked with some friends whom they met. Finally a long, shrill whistle was heard.
“Here comes the train,” called Mrs. Brown.
“Oh, goodie! Goodie!” shouted Sue, jumping up and down.
“Now we’ll soon be on the rolling ocean!” cried Bunny.
Mr. Brown helped Bunny and Sue up the steps and then assisted his wife. He carried the valises into the car which was not so crowded but what there was room for the Browns to get two seats near together.
“Good-by! Good-by!” called Mrs. Brown out of the open window to a number of friends who had come to bid her good-by.
“Good-by!” answered the ladies on the platform.
“Hope you have a good time down there,” called some of Mr. Brown’s friends to him.
“We’ll try,” he replied.
The engineer blew his whistle again and the train began to pull slowly out of the station. Mrs. Brown drew her head in from the window and looked at the seat in front of her where she had put her little girl and boy. Sue was there, but Bunny was not!
“Where is Bunny?” asked his mother as the train began to move faster and faster. “Was he left behind?”