Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue in the Sunny South Part 9

"I'm glad you didn't pull him out, Walter," Mrs. Brown said. "I'd be anxious if he had bitten you."

"I didn't give him the chance," her husband said. "Well, now that d.i.c.kie is safe we can settle down."

And so the travelers made themselves as comfortable as possible, for they had rather a long trip ahead of them. They would be on the train all night and a large part of the next day.

"I'm glad that woman with the dog isn't in our car," said Mrs. Brown to her husband, when Bunny and Sue were contentedly looking from the windows. "She probably makes a fuss over the animal all the while."

"Yes, it's just as well for us she isn't here," agreed the children's father. "Though if it were the kind of dog they could play with it would make the time pa.s.s more quickly for Bunny and Sue."

"Oh, I think they'll manage to keep themselves amused," said their mother. "They like traveling."

Bunny and Sue certainly did, and it was a pleasure for them to look from the windows at the scenery.

No very remarkable adventures happened on the journey to Georgia. To be sure, Sue did fall out of the berth once, and her mother had to pick her up. But the little girl scarcely awakened, and as the carpet on the floor of the sleeping car was soft and thick she was not hurt in the least.

Bunny had a little accident, too. During the day he went to the end of the car to get Sue a drink, taking a folding silver cup his mother carried in her handbag. But when the little boy was half way down the aisle the train gave a swing around a curve, Bunny almost fell, and the cup closed, spilling the water all over him.

However, it was not a great deal, and as the car was warm no harm resulted. Bunny himself laughed at the happening, and insisted on going back and filling the cup for Sue. This time he brought it to her nearly full of water.

And so, with looking out of the windows, reading some of their best-loved books which they had brought with them, eating and sleeping, the time pa.s.sed most happily for Bunny Brown and his sister Sue.

As mile after mile was reeled off by the train, the children began to notice a difference in the scenery.

The weather was cold, and there was much snow on the ground when they left Bellemere, and the snow continued to cover the ground for some distance. But as the train went farther and farther south the snow seemed to disappear--melting away until, when the children looked from the windows of their car toward the end of their journey, they saw green leaves on the trees.

"Oh, are we down South now, Daddy?" called Sue.

"Yes, we are in the southern part of Georgia," was the answer. "We have left winter behind us. In a little while, especially when we get into Florida, you will be in the sunny South."

"Oh, what fun we'll have!" cried Sue.

"Where are the oranges?" demanded Bunny. "I don't see any," and he looked at the trees.

"Oranges don't grow in Georgia, at least not in the open," said Mr.

Brown. "Some may be raised in hothouses, but to grow them in the open air warmer weather than Georgia has in winter is needed. We shall have to wait until we get to Florida to gather oranges."

"What about peanuts?" asked Bunny.

"Oh, I think I can promise you plenty of peanuts," answered his father.

"And shall we see cotton growing?" asked Mrs. Brown. "I have always wanted to see a cotton field, with the darkies singing and picking the white, fluffy stuff."

"There is plenty of cotton in Georgia," her husband answered, "but there may be none where we are going. However, I hope you will have your wish.

If we can't have oranges we may have peanuts and cotton."

"We'll not eat the cotton though, shall we, Daddy?" asked Sue.

"You won't have to unless you want to," he laughed in answer.

A little later, when Mr. and Mrs. Brown had got together their baggage, for they were near their destination, Bunny, who was looking from the window, suddenly called:

"Oh, look! Here they are, picking cotton!"

Sue rushed to her window and Mrs. Brown turned to gaze out on the scene.

As Bunny had said, the train was then pa.s.sing through a cotton section, and in the fields on either side of the track a number of colored men, women, and children were picking the big white clumps of cotton from the bushes which grew in long, straight rows. It was a late crop.

"Oh, it's a cotton plantation!" cried Mrs. Brown. "I'm glad, for I've always wanted to see one."

As they looked out at the sight, which was a new one to Bunny and Sue, the train began to slow up. In a very few moments they could see painted in very large letters on the end of the station the word "Seedville."

"This is our station," announced Daddy Brown.

"Oh, we're going to get out right near the cotton plantation!"

exclaimed Mrs. Brown. "I'm glad! Why didn't you tell us we were going to be so near where they pick cotton?" she asked her husband.

"I didn't really know it myself," he said. "Mr. Morton, whom I am going to see, said he owned cotton land, but I did not know it was a plantation. However, we'll get out here." And Bunny and Sue were wild with delight at the new adventures which might be in store for them.

CHAPTER VIII

AMONG THE COTTON PICKERS

When the train reached the station of Seedville the cotton fields with the colored pickers were out of sight around a bend in the road. But Bunny and Sue were glad they were going to stop not far away from this new and interesting sight.

As the Brown family alighted from the train at the small station, a gentleman with a broad-brimmed hat, under which his pleasant smiling face could be seen, came forward.

"h.e.l.lo, Jim!" called Mr. Brown. "Well, here we are!"

"So I see, and I'm glad of it!" Mr. Morton answered. Then he was introduced to Mrs. Brown and the children. Mr. Morton was the man Daddy Brown had come to Georgia to see on business. Later Mr. Brown would have to visit Mr. Halliday at Orange Beach, Florida.

"Give me your checks and I'll look after your baggage," went on the Southerner. "I have my auto right behind the station, and it's only a short ride over to my place."

"Have you any peanuts?" asked Sue.

"Yes, I grow a few," answered Mr. Morton.

"Course you don't have any oranges?" Bunny added, feeling pretty sure, from what his father had said, there would be none; but still he could not help hoping.

"No, I'm sorry to say I haven't any orange grove," Mr. Morton replied, smiling.

"Is that your cotton field we pa.s.sed?" asked Mrs. Brown, pointing back toward the scene through which they had come a little while before.

"That's part of my plantation, yes," answered the Southerner. "It's quite interesting if you haven't seen it as often as I have."

A little later the family was riding toward Mr. Morton's home, where the Browns were to stay while Daddy and Mr. Morton finished their business, which would take about a week. Mrs. Morton welcomed the family, and Bunny and Sue were delighted to find that there were two children, a boy and a girl, not much older than they were--Sam and Grace Morton.