A moment later her wish was granted, for down flew a beautiful white bird and, cooing away, perched on Sue’s arm. Then, as she trembled with delight and held out her hand with the wheat in it, the pigeon began to eat the grains.
“Well, I think we have been here long enough,” said Mr. Brown to his wife and children. “Come! We must go on to the hotel now.”
“Oh, are we going to stay at a hotel?” cried Bunny, for his pigeon, having eaten all the grains from the little boy’s hand, had now flown away.
“Yes, we shall stay at a hotel to-night and go on board the Beacon in the morning,” explained Mr. Brown. “It is rather late to go on her now. As it is, we shall be on board long enough. I think one more night in a comfortable big bed will be best for all of us.”
“Won’t there be any beds on the ship?” Sue wanted to know. “Do we have to sit up all night?”
“Oh, no, we’ll go to bed, of course,” said her mother with a laugh. “But daddy means on the ship there isn’t as much room as we have at home or in a hotel. We shall have to live in small staterooms, and the beds are more like shelves on the wall than real beds.”
“I know!” cried Bunny. “They’re bunks, like we slept in when we went to the sugar camp.”
“Something like that, yes,” agreed his father.
Having shown the children the city hall, which was the reason he did not at once take a taxicab at the station, Mr. Brown now called one of the swift little autos and soon he and his family were in a fine hotel on one of the main streets of Philadelphia.
If they had not been so eager to get on board the ship, so they might begin voyaging on the rolling ocean, Bunny and Sue would have enjoyed their stay at the hotel much more.