As she spoke Polly unfastened her pin and turned it over in her hand. The car lurched suddenly, as Mr. Williamson sent it almost into the ditch in an effort to avoid a reckless driver who had turned out quickly from the line of cars headed toward them. Polly dropped the pin into the grass.
"My pin!" she cried in alarm.
"Did you drop it, Polly? Where? Here, I'll turn in and some of you children run back and find Polly's pin," Mr. Williamson said, bringing the car to a stop under a tree.
"When did you drop it?" asked Jess, opening the door as she spoke.
"Back there, when we turned out for that green car," Polly replied. "I hit the side of our car and that knocked the pin out of my hand."
"I can find it," declared Artie confidently. "I'll bet you it is right in line with that fence post with the sign for orange marmalade on it."
All the children tumbled from the car and hastened back along the road, walking carefully at one side so as not to be in the way of approaching automobiles.
"Orange marmalade!" Fred exploded. "What in the world are you talking about? What has that to do with Polly's pin?"
Artie merely sniffed and ran ahead. When he saw the fence post with the advertisement he had mentioned nailed to it, he walked to a point directly opposite it. Then, while the others hung back and watched him, he scuffled his feet about in the dusty grass that bordered the roadside. Suddenly he stooped and picked up something.