slumberous dat, 'fore I knows it, I'm sort of noddin'."

"I guess you were more than nodding," said Olivia. "But why were you
waiting for us, Ponto?"

"'Deed an' I didn't no mo' dan nod, Miss Olivia, dat's what I didn't.
But I'se been waitin' heah a pow'ful long time, an' I jest natcherly
done gone an' fell t' noddin'."

"But what were you waiting for?" persisted Olivia.

"Dis letter," replied the colored man. "Massa Seabury done tole me t'
give it t' one ob de young gentlemen what had de motor boat. He say it
come from Cresville, an' it might be important, so I done set heah
waitin', but I done forgot which young gentlemen he tole me t' gib it
to."

"Let me see it," said Rose, and she looked at the envelope.

"It's for you, Jerry," she declared, "and it's from some railroad
company. It's been sent on here from Cresville."

"Maybe it's about damages to our boat," said Bob.

And so it proved. The letter announced that an investigation had been
made of the wreck in which the Dartaway was smashed, that the claim
department of the Florida Coast Railway Company admitted their
liability, and were prepared to pay damages. They enclosed in the
letter a check for the value of the boat, as declared by Jerry at the
time of the shipment.