"'H. S. Haines,
Vice-President.'
"'That's all right, then,' said I. 'Somebody's found me; I don't know who it is.'
"'All right!' said he; 'I should say it was. You're the luckiest boy in the country if Mrs. Plant is looking after you. There goes the bell. Now is there anything more I can do for you?'
"I told him not a thing more, and he said he would telegraph to my father, and that of course somebody would meet me in New York. Well, sir, it was a different ride after that, though the car got colder all the time. I pulled up all the shades and made things look cheerful, and unlocked the door, for I wasn't afraid any longer of being put out. And somebody did meet me. It was a man in livery, and he had a warm overcoat for me, and took me across the ferry, and put me in a beautiful coach with two horses, and in a few minutes I was in one of the finest houses I ever saw in my life, and a beautiful lady was stroking my head.
"'Why, you poor child,' Mrs. Plant said (for the lady was Mrs. Plant), 'what a fright you must have had! But your troubles are over now, for I shall take you back with me to Florida to-morrow. I was so afraid you would be starving in the car, as it was all cleaned out.'
"I told her about the crackers I found, and that made her laugh. After a while I asked her how she had found me out, and why my folks had not hunted me up.
"'Hunted you up!' she repeated. 'Why, child, we had the whole line turned upside down looking for you. The whole trouble was that the superintendent did not get back to Winter Park till late last night, and no one else knew that you were in my car. But as soon as he returned he telegraphed the New York office what had happened, and they sent word to me. It was after midnight then, and Washington was the first place I could catch the car.'
"Say, did you ever see such a kind lady as Mrs. Plant? She said I was her guest, because it was her car had carried me off; and that night she took me to the opera, and the next day we started back for Florida. We didn't live on crackers on the way down, either, I tell you; nor the car wasn't cold or dark. I didn't find out till after I got back that Mrs. Plant thought my folks would be so worried that she'd telegraphed to a dozen of the agents to find me, and had told them all 'the boy is to be treated as my guest, wherever found.' And you see how kind Mr. Plant was about it after he got home. This is the second time he has had me out to ride with him. Oh, it's jolly, being carried away in a president's private car—after you're found.
"Some of the boys at the hotel say I was a chump not to tell the conductor after I found I was carried past, and have him send me home. But was I? Well, I rather think not. They're jealous, that's all."