ow 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 cu
|