perhaps he isn't, and maybe he has not yet looked in the pockets of the
coat. But I'll just telephone to the police, and see if any of them have
seen the tramp that came to my office."

There were not many policemen in Pineville, and most of them knew Mr.
Bunker. He telephoned from his office to the chief, or head policeman, and
asked him to be on the watch for a red-haired tramp lumberman wearing an
old coat.

"Get me back the papers. I don't care about the coat--he may have that,"
said Mr. Bunker.

The chief promised that he and his men would do what they could, and some
of the policemen at once began looking about Pineville for the tramp.

"But I guess maybe he has traveled on from here," said Mr. Bunker, as he
came away from the telephone. "I'm afraid I'll never see my valuable
papers again."

"Will you be so poor we can't go to Grandma Bell's?" asked Russ. That
would be very dreadful, he thought.

"Oh, no, I won't be as poor as that," answered Daddy Bunker with a smile.
"We'll go to see Grandma Bell all right. But I would like to get those
papers."

He told the clerks in his office and some friends of his about his loss,
and they promised to be on the lookout for the tramp. Then Daddy Bunker
took Rose and Russ back home with him, along Main Street, in Pineville.