't we take Toddle?" begged Sue again, as she held Nutty's little cat
in her arms.

"No, my dear," answered her mother. "We could not take him to Florida
with us."

"I'll keep him here with my dog and cat," offered Mrs. Black.

"And when I see Nutty, as I often do," added the switchman, "I'll tell
him where he can get his cat again."

"Well, I s'pose he will want Toddle," sighed Sue. So the pussy was left
behind.

Once more Bunny Brown and his sister Sue were on the train traveling.
This time they were in a sleeping car, in which, at night, beds were
made from the seats.

"This is better than riding in a freight car, isn't it?" asked Sue's
mother.

"Yes," answered the little girl, turning away from the window, out of
which she was looking at the scenery. "But we had a pretty good time
with Nutty; didn't we, Bunny?"

"Yes, we did," answered the little boy. "And the nuts were good."

There was still for the party an all night ride before the Brown family
would arrive at Orange Beach, which was in the southwestern part of
Florida.

"Do the orange trees grow right near the ocean, Mother?" asked Bunny,
when they had been talking for some time about the place to which they
were going.

"Not exactly," his father answered. "I believe oranges do not grow so
well too close to salt water. At any rate Mr. Halliday's orange grove is
inland a few miles. It is on the banks of a river, but the river flows
into the ocean, or rather, into the Gulf of Mexico, which is part of the
ocean."

"Can we go swimming?" Sue wanted to know.

"You can't if there's any alligators there," Bunny said. "Anyhow, you
can't go in the water till I catch all the alligators."

"If there's alligators I'm not going in," declared Sue.

"Oh, I don't believe there will be any," Mrs. Brown said, with a laugh.

And so with talk and laughter over what they might find at Orange Beach,
the time passed until it was time to go to bed.

The colored porter made up the clean, white beds, and Bunny and Sue were
glad enough to get in theirs when the time came. They had slept pretty
well at Mrs. Black's home, but they were still tired from their bumping,
jolting journey in the rough freight car.

So soundly did Bunny and Sue sleep that even when there was a little
accident they did not awaken. During the night the train on which they
rode had a little collision with an empty freight car which was standing
on a side track. The freight car was smashed, but