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diff --git a/18420-h/18420-h.htm b/18420-h/18420-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3394b89 --- /dev/null +++ b/18420-h/18420-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,6329 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Bobbsey Twins at Home, by Laura Lee Hope</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p {margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + text-indent: 1.25em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + .unindent {margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + img {border: 0;} + .tnote {border: dashed 1px; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em;} + ins {text-decoration:none; border-bottom: thin dotted gray;} + .right {text-align: right;} + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + hr.full { width: 100%; } + pre {font-size: 75%;} + + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Bobbsey Twins at Home, by Laura Lee Hope</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: The Bobbsey Twins at Home</p> +<p>Author: Laura Lee Hope</p> +<p>Release Date: May 19, 2006 [eBook #18420]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT HOME***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3>E-text prepared by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, J. P. W. Fraser, Emmy,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (http://www.pgdp.net/)</h3> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> + + + + + + + +<h1>The Bobbsey Twins<br />at Home</h1> + +<h3>BY</h3> +<h2>LAURA LEE HOPE</h2> + +<div class="center">AUTHOR OF "THE BOBBSEY TWINS."</div> + + +<div class="center"><br /><br /><br /><br />NEW YORK<br /> +GROSSET & DUNLAP<br /> +PUBLISHERS<br /><br /> +</div> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 250px;"> +<img src="images/p001.png" width="250" height="400" alt=""Oh, will she have to stay there forever?" asked Freddie." title=""Oh, will she have to stay there forever?" asked Freddie." /> +</div> +<div class='center'>"Oh, will she have to stay there forever?" asked Freddie.<br /> +<i>The Bobbsey Twins at Home.</i></div> + + +<div class="center"><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1916, By<br /> +Grosset & Dunlap.</span></div> + +<div class="center"><br /><br /><span class="smcap">The Bobbsey Twins at Home</span> +<br /><br /> +PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> +<tr><td align='center'>CHAPTER</td><td align='center'></td><td align='center'>PAGE</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>I.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Tommy Todd's Story</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_1'>1</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>II.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Sudden Stop</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_13'>13</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>III.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Snap and Snoop</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_24'>24</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>IV.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Home Again</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_36'>36</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>V.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Tommy's Troubles</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_45'>45</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>VI.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">School Days</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_57'>57</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>VII.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The School Play</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_67'>67</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>VIII.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Snoop in Trouble</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_76'>76</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>IX.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Nan Bakes a Cake</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_86'>86</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>X.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">In the Lumber Yard</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_98'>98</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XI.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Queer Play-House</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_108'>108</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XII.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Tommy Is Rewarded</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_117'>117</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XIII.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The First Frost</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_129'>129</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XIV.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">After Chestnuts</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_139'>139</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XV.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Storm</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_151'>151</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XVI.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The First Snow</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_161'>161</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XVII.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">On the Hill</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_171'>171</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XVIII.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Bert's Snowshoes</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_181'>181</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XIX.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Through the Ice</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_191'>191</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XX.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Lost in a Storm</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_202'>202</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXI.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Strange Man</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_214'>214</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'>XXII.</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Happy Days</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_228'>228</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE BOBBSEY TWINS<br />AT HOME</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>TOMMY TODD'S STORY</h3> + + +<p>"Mother, how many more stations before we'll be home?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, quite a number, dear. Sit back and rest yourself. I thought you +liked it on the train."</p> + +<p>"I do; but it's so long to sit still."</p> + +<p>The little fellow who had asked the question turned to his golden-haired +sister, who sat in the seat with him.</p> + +<p>"Aren't you tired, Flossie?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Freddie, I am!" exclaimed Flossie. "And I want a drink of water."</p> + +<p>"Dinah will get it for you," said Mother Bobbsey. "My! But you are a +thirsty little girl."</p> + +<p>"Deed an' dat's whut she am!" exclaimed a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span>fat, good-natured looking +colored woman, smiling at the little girl. Dinah was the Bobbsey family +cook. She had been with them so long that she used to say, and almost +do, just what she pleased. "Dis am de forty-sixteen time I'se done bin +down to de end ob de car gittin' Miss Flossie a drink ob watah. An' de +train rocks so, laik a cradle, dat I done most upsot ebery time. But +I'll git you annuder cup ob watah, Flossie lamb!"</p> + +<p>"And if you're going to upset, and fall down, Dinah, please do it where +we can see you," begged Freddie. "Nothing has happened since we got on +this train. Do upset, Dinah!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I want to see it, too," added Flossie. "Here, Freddie, you can +have my place at the window, and I'll take yours on the outside. Then I +can see Dinah better when the car upsets her."</p> + +<p>"No, I want to sit here myself, Flossie. You wanted the window side, and +now you must stay there."</p> + +<p>"No, I don't want to. I want to see Dinah upset in the aisle. Mamma, +make Freddie let me sit where I can see Dinah fall."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, ob all t'ings!" gasped the fat, colored cook. "If you chilluns +t'ink dat I'se gwine t' upsot mahse'f so yo' kin see suffin t' laugh at, +den all I'se got t' say is I ain't gwine t' do it! No, sah! Not fo' one +minute!" And Dinah sat up very straight in her seat.</p> + +<p>"Children, be nice now," begged Mother Bobbsey. "I know you are tired +with the long ride, but you'll soon hear the brakeman call out +'Lakeport'; and then we'll be home."</p> + +<p>"I wish I were home now," said Freddie. "I want to get my dog Snap out +of the baggage car, and have some fun with him. I guess he's lonesome +for me."</p> + +<p>"And he's lonesome for me, too!" cried Flossie. "He's as much my dog as +he is yours, Freddie Bobbsey. Isn't he, Mother?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, dear, of course. I don't know what's the matter with you two +children. You never used to dispute this way."</p> + +<p>"I guess the long train ride is tiring them," said Papa Bobbsey, looking +up from the paper he was reading.</p> + +<p>"Anyhow, half of Snoop, our black cat, is mine then," said Freddie. +"Isn't she, Mother?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes. And now please don't talk like that any more. Look out of the +window and watch the trees shoot past."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm going to see Snoop!" exclaimed Flossie, suddenly.</p> + +<p>"So'm I," added Freddie. And in a moment the two children were bending +over a basket which was in the seat with Dinah. In the basket was Snoop, +the big black cat. She always traveled that way with the Bobbseys. And +she seemed very comfortable, for she was curled up on the blanket in the +bottom of the basket. Snoop opened her eyes as Freddie and Flossie put +their fingers through cracks and stroked her as well as they could.</p> + +<p>"I wish Snap was in here with us," said Freddie, after a bit. "I hope he +gets a drink of water."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I want a drink of water!" exclaimed Flossie, suddenly. "I forgot I +was thirsty. Mother, can't I have a drink?" she went on.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, dear. I suppose so. I'll get it for you."</p> + +<p>"No, let Dinah get it so she'll upset," begged Flossie.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I'll get it for you, Flossie," offered Freddie. "Dinah might get hurt."</p> + +<p>"Dat's de li'l gen'man," said the fat cook, smiling. "He lubs ole +Dinah."</p> + +<p>"I love you too, Dinah," said Flossie, patting the black hand that had +done many kind acts for the twins. "But I <i>do</i> want a drink, and you +know you <i>would</i> look funny if you upset here in the car."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I spects I would, chile," laughed Dinah.</p> + +<p>"May I get Flossie a drink?" asked Freddie.</p> + +<p>"You may both go down to the end of the car where the water-cooler is," +said Mrs. Bobbsey. "The train is slowing down now, and going to stop, I +think, so you won't fall. But be careful."</p> + +<p>Flossie and Freddie started toward the end of the long car, but their +sister Nan, who with her brother Bert was a few seats away, went with +them, to make sure nothing would happen.</p> + +<p>"I'm not thirsty any more," Flossie said, after having had two cups of +cold water.</p> + +<p>"No, but you will be in half an hour, I'm <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span>sure," laughed Nan. "Every +one seems to get thirsty on a railroad journey. I do myself," and she +took some water after Freddie had had enough.</p> + +<p>The train now came to a stop, and Flossie and Freddie hurried back to +their seat to look out at the station. Hardly were they both crowded +close to the window before there was the sound of shouting and laughing, +and into the car came rushing a number of children. With them were two +ladies who seemed to be in charge. There were boys and girls—about +twenty all together—and most of them made rushes for the best seats, +while some hurried down to the tank to get drinks of ice-water.</p> + +<p>"I had that cup first!" cried one.</p> + +<p>"You did not! I had it myself," said another.</p> + +<p>"That's my seat by the window!" shouted a third.</p> + +<p>"It is not! I had it first, you can see where I left my hat! Oh, my +hat's gone!" a boy exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"I threw it on the floor, I wanted to sit here myself," said a big girl +with red curls.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Children! Children! You must be quiet!" called one of the ladies.</p> + +<p>The train started again, all the other passengers watching the queer +children who were making such a confusion.</p> + +<p>"Oh, see the cow!" cried a tall boy. "It's the last cow you'll see for a +year, fellows, so take a good look at her," he added as the train passed +along a field.</p> + +<p>"No more good times for a long while," sighed a boy who had a seat near +Freddie and Flossie. "I wish I could live in the country always."</p> + +<p>Flossie and Freddie looked at him. His clothes were patched here and +there, but they were clean. And his face and hands were clean, which +could not be said of all the other children, though some of them showed +that they had tried to make themselves neat.</p> + +<p>"The country is the best place," he said, and he looked at the two +smaller Bobbsey twins as though he would like to speak to them. "I'm +going to be a farmer when I grow up," he went on, after a pause.</p> + +<p>"He—he's a nice boy," whispered Flossie <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span>to her brother. "I'm going to +speak to him. We can talk about the country."</p> + +<p>"Wait a minute," advised Freddie. "Maybe mother wouldn't want us to talk +to strangers."</p> + +<p>Flossie looked back to where her father and mother were sitting. Mrs. +Bobbsey was speaking to one of the ladies who had come in the car with +the noisy children.</p> + +<p>"Are you taking part of an orphan asylum on an outing?" Flossie heard +her mother ask.</p> + +<p>"No. These are some 'fresh air' children. They have been out in the +country for two weeks, and now we are taking them home. Poor things! I +wish we could have kept them longer out in the green fields and woods, +but there are others waiting for their chance to go.</p> + +<p>"You see," she went on, and Flossie and Freddie listened carefully, +"some kind people give us money so that the poor children of the city +may have a little time in the country during the hot weather. We board +them out at different farmers' houses. This company of children has been +on two different farms near Branchville, where we just got on the train. +Some of the little ones are from Sanderville."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> This was a large city +not far from Lakeport, a smaller city where the Bobbsey twins lived. +"Others are from Lakeport," went on the lady, speaking to Mrs. Bobbsey.</p> + +<p>"Indeed!" exclaimed Freddie's mother. "I did not know there was a fresh +air society in our city."</p> + +<p>"It has only just been formed," said the lady, who was a Miss Carter. +"We haven't much money left, I'm sorry to say."</p> + +<p>"Then you must let me give you some," said Mr. Bobbsey. "And I will get +some friends of mine to give money also. Our own children enjoy it so +much in the country that I want to see others have a good time, too."</p> + +<p>Then he and Mrs. Bobbsey began to talk about ways of helping poor +children, and Flossie and Freddie did not listen any more. Besides, just +then the train was passing along a field in which were many horses, some +of which raced alongside the cars, and that interested the twins.</p> + +<p>"Oh, look at 'em run!" cried the fresh air boy who sat in front of the +smaller Bobbsey twins. "Don't they go fast?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span></p> + +<p>The other fresh air youngsters crowded to their windows to look out, and +some tried to push their companions away so they might see better. Then +a number all wanted a drink of water at the same time, and the two +ladies who were in charge of the children were kept busy making them +settle down.</p> + +<p>The quiet, neat boy about whom Flossie had whispered to her brother, +turned around in his seat and, looking at Freddie, asked:</p> + +<p>"Were you ever on a farm?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered Freddie, "we just came from our uncle Dan's farm, at +Meadow Brook. We were there 'most all Summer. Now we're going back +home."</p> + +<p>"Where do you live, and what's your name?" asked the strange boy.</p> + +<p>"My name's Freddie Bobbsey, and this is my sister Flossie," was the +answer. "We're twins. Up there, in that other seat, are my brother and +sister, Bert and Nan. They're twins too, but they're older'n we are. We +live in Lakeport."</p> + +<p>"You do?" cried the boy in surprise. "Why, that's where I live! My name +is Tommy Todd."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span></p> + +<p>"That's a nice name," put in Flossie politely. "I don't know any one of +that name in Lakeport though. Where does your father live?"</p> + +<p>Tommy Todd did not answer at once, and Freddie was surprised to see +tears in the eyes of the strange boy.</p> + +<p>"I—I guess you folks don't ever come down to our part of Lakeport," he +said. "We live down near the dumps. It isn't very nice there."</p> + +<p>Freddie had heard of the "dumps." It was on the farther side of the +city, a long distance from his nice home. Once, when he was very little, +he had wandered away and been lost. A policeman who found him had said +Freddie was near the "dumps."</p> + +<p>Freddie remembered that very well. Afterward, he heard that the "dumps" +was a place where the ashes, tin cans, and other things that people +threw away were dumped by the scavengers. So Freddie was sure it could +not be a very nice place.</p> + +<p>"I live out near the dumps, with my grandmother," went on Tommy Todd.</p> + +<p>"We've a grandmother too," said Flossie. "We go to see her at Christmas. +We've two <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>grandmas. One is my mother's mother, and the other is my +father's mother. That's my papa and my mother back there," and Flossie +pointed to where Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey were talking to the fresh air +lady.</p> + +<p>"Doesn't your father live with you and your grandmother?" asked Freddie.</p> + +<p>"I—I haven't any father," said Tommy, and once more the tears came into +his eyes. "He was lost at sea. He was a captain on a ship, and it was +wrecked."</p> + +<p>"Oh, please tell us about it!" begged Freddie. "I just love stories +about the ocean; don't you, Flossie?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I do."</p> + +<p>"I'm going to be a sea captain when I grow up," said Freddie. "Tell us +about your father, Tommy."</p> + +<p>So while the train rushed on Tommy Todd told his sad little story.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>A SUDDEN STOP</h3> + + +<p>"I don't remember my father very well," said Tommy Todd. "I was real +little when he went away. That was just after my mother died. My +grandmother took care of me. I just remember a big man with black hair +and whiskers, taking me up in his arms, and kissing me good-bye. That +was my father, my grandmother told me afterward."</p> + +<p>"What made him go away from you?" asked Flossie. "Didn't he like to stay +at home?"</p> + +<p>"I guess maybe he did," said Tommy. "But he couldn't stay. He was a sea +captain on a ship, you know."</p> + +<p>"Of course!" cried Freddie. "Don't you know, Flossie? A sea captain +never stays at home, only a little while. He has to go off to steer the +ship across the ocean. That's what I'm going to do."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I don't want you to," returned Flossie, as she nestled up closer to her +brother. "I want you to stay with me. If you have to go so far off to be +a sea captain couldn't you be something else and stay at home? Couldn't +you be a trolley-car conductor?"</p> + +<p>"Well, maybe I could," said Freddie slowly. "But I'd rather be a sea +captain. Go on, Tommy. Tell us about your father."</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't know much," went on Tommy Todd. "I don't remember him so +very well, you know. Then my grandmother and I lived alone. It was in a +better house than we have now, and we had more things to eat. I never +get enough now when I'm home, though when I was on the fresh air farm I +had lots," and, sighing, Tommy seemed sad.</p> + +<p>"My father used to write letters to my grandmother—she is his mother," +he explained. "When I got so I could understand, my grandmother read +them to me. My father wrote about his ship, and how he sailed away up +where the whales are. Sometimes he would send us money in the letters, +and then grandma would make a little party for me.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But after a while no more letters came. My grandmother used to ask the +postman every day if he didn't have a letter for her from my father, but +there wasn't any. Then there was a piece in the paper about a ship that +was wrecked. It was my father's ship."</p> + +<p>"What's wrecked?" asked Flossie.</p> + +<p>"It means the ship is all smashed to pieces; doesn't it?" asked Freddie +of Tommy.</p> + +<p>"That's it; yes. My father's ship was in a storm and was smashed on the +rocks. Everybody on it, and my father too, was drowned in the ocean, the +paper said. That's why I like the country better than the ocean."</p> + +<p>"I used to like the ocean," said Flossie slowly. "We go down to Ocean +Cliff sometimes, where Uncle William and Aunt Emily and Cousin Dorothy +live. But I don't like the ocean so much now, if it made your father +drown."</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, there have to be shipwrecks I s'pose," remarked Tommy. "But, +of course, it was awful hard to lose my father." He turned his head away +and seemed to be looking out of the window. Then he went on:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span></p> + +<p>"After grandmother read that in the paper about my father's ship sinking +she cried, and I cried too. Then she wrote some letters to the company +that owned the ship. She thought maybe the papers were wrong, about the +ship sinking, but when the answers came back they said the same thing. +The men who owned the ship which my father was captain of, said the +vessel was lost and no one was saved. No more letters came from my +father, and no more money. Then grandmother and I had to move away from +the house where we were living, and had to go to a little house down by +the dumps. It isn't nice there."</p> + +<p>"Does your grandma have any money now?" asked Flossie.</p> + +<p>"A little. She sews and I run errands for the groceryman after school, +and earn a little. But it isn't much. I was glad when the fresh air +folks took me to the farm. I had lots to eat, and my grandmother had +more too, for she didn't have to feed me. She is going to the fresh air +farm some day, maybe."</p> + +<p>"That will be nice," said Flossie. "We're going to Uncle Dan's farm +again next year, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>maybe, and perhaps your grandma can come there."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe so," returned Tommie. "But anyhow I had fun, and I +weigh two pounds more than 'fore I went away, and I can run errands +faster now for Mr. Fitch."</p> + +<p>"Why, he's our grocery man!" cried Freddie. "Do you work for him, +Tommy?"</p> + +<p>"Sometimes, and sometimes I work for Mr. Schmidt, a butcher. But I don't +earn much. When I get through school I'll work all the while, and earn +lots of money. Then I'm going to hire a ship and go to look for my +father."</p> + +<p>"I thought you said he was drowned in the ocean!" exclaimed Flossie.</p> + +<p>"Well, maybe he is. But sometimes shipwrecked people get picked up by +other vessels and carried a long way off. And sometimes they get on an +island and have to stay a long time before they are taken off. Maybe +that happened to my father."</p> + +<p>"Oh, maybe it did!" cried Freddie. "That would be great! Just like +Robinson Crusoe, Flossie! Don't you remember?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, mother read us that story. I hope <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>your father is on Robinson +Crusoe's island," she whispered to Tommy.</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you what we'll do," said Freddie to the new boy. "When I get +home, I'll take all the money in my bank, and help you buy a ship. Then +we'll both go off together, looking for the desert island where your +father is; will you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Tommy, "I will, and thank you."</p> + +<p>"I'm coming, too," said Flossie.</p> + +<p>"No. Girls can't be on a ship!" said Freddie.</p> + +<p>"Yes they can too! Can't they, Tommy?"</p> + +<p>"Well, my mother was once on the ship with my father, I've heard my +grandma say."</p> + +<p>"There, see!" cried Flossie. "Of course I'm coming! I'll do the cooking +for you boys."</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, if you want to cook of course that's different," said +Freddie, slowly, as he thought about it.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to ask my father how much I got saved up," he went on to +Tommy. "And how much it costs to buy a ship. He'll know for he sells +lumber. You wait here and I'll ask him."</p> + +<p>Freddie slipped from the seat into the aisle <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>of the car. Flossie stayed +to talk to Tommy. Bert and Nan were looking at a magazine which Mrs. +Bobbsey had bought for them, and she and her husband were still talking +to the fresh air lady. Scattered about the car, the fresh air children +were talking and laughing, telling each other of the good times they had +had in the country. All of them were sorry to go back to the city again.</p> + +<p>"Papa," began Freddie, as he reached the seat where Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey +sat, "how much money have I saved up? And how much does a ship cost? +'Cause Tommy Todd and I are going off to look for his father who is lost +on a desert island, and we want to bring him home. Does it take much +money?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Bobbsey looked at his little boy, wondering what he meant, and he +was just going to answer him, and say it took much more money than +Freddie had saved to buy a ship, when, all at once, the train came to +such a sudden stop that Freddie was nearly thrown off his feet. His +father caught him just in time.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey. "I hope there has been no accident!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span></p> + +<p>"If dey is I'se gwine t' git out quick!" cried Dinah. "Come on, +chilluns. I'se got de cat!" and she started to run for the door, +carrying the basket holding Snoop.</p> + +<p>"Be quiet," said Mr. Bobbsey. "Nothing much seems to have happened. We +didn't hit anything, anyhow."</p> + +<p>Some of the fresh air children were excited, and the two ladies in +charge hurried here and there quieting them.</p> + +<p>Bert Bobbsey, who was with his sister Nan, looked out a window.</p> + +<p>"Oh, see!" he cried. "A lot of men with guns are standing along the +track. They stopped the train, I guess. They must be robbers! I'm going +to hide my money!"</p> + +<p>Several women heard Bert speak of robbers, and they screamed.</p> + +<p>"Bert, don't be foolish!" said Mr. Bobbsey. "I dare say it isn't +anything. I'll go out and see what it means."</p> + +<p>"I'll come with you," said a man in the seat behind Mr. Bobbsey. Several +other passengers also left the train. And while they are out seeking the +cause of the sudden stop I'll tell <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>my new readers something about the +Bobbsey twins, so that they may feel better acquainted with them.</p> + +<p>Those of you who have read the other books in this series, beginning +with the first, "The Bobbsey Twins," know enough about the children +already. But others do not.</p> + +<p>There were two sets of Bobbsey twins. Bert and Nan were about ten years +old. Both were tall and slim, with dark hair and eyes. Flossie and +Freddie, who were about five years of age, were short and fat, and had +light hair and blue eyes.</p> + +<p>The Bobbseys lived in an Eastern city called Lakeport, near Lake Metoka, +on the shore of which Mr. Bobbsey had a large lumber yard. Once this had +caught fire, and Freddie had thought he could put the blaze out with his +little toy fire engine. Ever since then Mr. Bobbsey had called the +little chap "fireman."</p> + +<p>Dinah Johnson was the Bobbsey's cook. She had been with them many years. +And Sam, her husband, worked around the house, carrying out ashes, +cutting the grass, and such things as that.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span></p> + +<p>Besides these, the Bobbsey family consisted of Snap, the big dog who +once had been in a circus and could do tricks, and Snoop, the black cat.</p> + +<p>These pets were taken along wherever the Bobbsey twins went on their +Summer vacations. For the Bobbseys used to spend each Summer either in +the mountains or at the seashore. The second book tells about the good +time they had in the country while the third one tells of their +adventures at the shore.</p> + +<p>"The Bobbsey Twins at School," is the name of the fourth book, and in +that I had the pleasure of telling you the many good times they had +there. Later on they went to "Snow Lodge" and helped solve a mystery, +while on the houseboat, <i>Bluebird</i>, where they spent one vacation, they +found a "stowaway," and, if you want to know what that is, I advise you +to read the book.</p> + +<p>"The Bobbsey Twins at Meadow Brook," is the name of the book just before +this present one. On the farm of Uncle Daniel Bobbsey the twins had had +a most glorious time, and they were on their way home in the train when +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>the fresh air children got aboard, and Tommy Todd told the story about +his lost father. Then had come the sudden stop, and Bert had seen the +men with guns outside the train.</p> + +<p>"I tell you they <i>are</i> robbers, Nan," Bert whispered to his sister. +"Look, one of 'em has a mask on his face."</p> + +<p>"That's so," agreed Nan. "Oh, I wonder what it is!"</p> + +<p>"Don't be afraid!" exclaimed Bert. "I guess they won't come in this car. +Father won't let them."</p> + +<p>By this time Flossie and Freddie had also seen the masked men with their +guns standing along the track, and Freddie cried:</p> + +<p>"Oh, look! It's just like Hallowe'en. They've got false faces on!"</p> + +<p>Many in the car laughed at this.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>SNAP AND SNOOP</h3> + + +<p>The train on which the Bobbsey twins were coming back from the country +had now been stopping for several minutes. There was no sign of a +station on either side of the track, as could be told by those who put +their heads out of the opened windows. And Mr. Bobbsey had not come +back.</p> + +<p>"I wonder if anything has happened," remarked Mrs. Bobbsey.</p> + +<p>"I'll go and find out, Mother," offered Bert, getting up from his seat.</p> + +<p>"No, indeed, I can't let you!" his mother answered. "Your father would +not like it. He may be back any moment."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe anything much has happened, ma'am," said a man across +the aisle from Mrs. Bobbsey. "I can see some men up near the engine, but +they are talking and laughing."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Then they aren't robbers," said Freddie to his older brother Bert, +"'cause robbers wouldn't laugh."</p> + +<p>"Well, if they're not train robbers why have they guns and false faces +on?" asked Bert.</p> + +<p>"Maybe they're just making believe—same as when we have pretend-plays," +put in Flossie.</p> + +<p>"Do you pretend, and make believe?" asked Tommy Todd, of the two younger +twins.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, lots of times," Freddie said. "We have heaps of fun that way; +don't you?"</p> + +<p>"Sometimes," answered Tommy in a low voice. "Sometimes I pretend I have +gone off in a ship, and that I've found my father. I make believe that +he and I are sailing together. And oh! how I wish it would come true!"</p> + +<p>"Maybe it will—some day," said Flossie softly, as she patted Tommy's +hand which was on the back of the seat in front of her.</p> + +<p>"I must go out and see what is keeping your father," said Mrs. Bobbsey +at last. "Something must have happened. You children stay here with +Dinah. Nan and Bert, you look after Flossie and Freddie."</p> + +<p>But there was no need for Mrs. Bobbsey <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>to leave the car for, just then, +her husband came in. He was smiling, and that seemed to show that +nothing very serious was the matter.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" asked Bert.</p> + +<p>"Are the men playing a game?" Freddie demanded.</p> + +<p>"Is the train off the track?" asked one of the fresh air boys. "I hopes +it is—that is, if nobody is hurt, 'cause then we won't have to go home, +and maybe we can go back to the country."</p> + +<p>"No, the train isn't off the track," answered Mr. Bobbsey. "It's a +hold-up by masked robbers."</p> + +<p>"There! What'd I tell you?" cried Bert to his brother and sisters. "I +<i>knew</i> they were masked robbers."</p> + +<p>"But only make-believe," went on Mr. Bobbsey, still smiling. "This is a +hold-up, or stopping of the train, and a pretend robbery for moving +pictures."</p> + +<p>"Moving pictures!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey.</p> + +<p>"Yes. There is a man up front, near the engine, with a moving picture +camera. With <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>him are some men and women, actors and actresses, dressed +up—some like passengers, such as we are, and others like robbers, with +false faces on. They wanted the train to stop so they could get a +picture of that, for it would be a funny movie of a train robbery +without a train to be seen."</p> + +<p>"And did they actually stop the train?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey.</p> + +<p>"Yes. They held up a red flag and the engineer stopped. But it was all +right, for he knew it was going to be done. It was all arranged for +ahead of time. Now, if you like, you may come out and see them take +moving pictures."</p> + +<p>"Well, who would have thought that!" cried Bert. "I was sure the men +with masks on were robbers. And they're only taking a moving picture."</p> + +<p>"I'd like to see it in a theatre afterward," said Nan. "Don't you +remember what fun it was when we were in the movies this Summer?"</p> + +<p>"Were you in them, really?" asked Tommy as he followed the twins out of +the car. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, we acted a little," said Bert. "There was a make-believe battle +being taken near our uncle's farm. We went to watch. They fired cannon +and guns, and had horses——"</p> + +<p>"And the men and horses were shot!" interrupted Freddie. "Only pretend, +of course, but I was there and I was in the movies too. I acted and so +did Nan. And I fell in the brook and the man made a moving picture of me +doing that!"</p> + +<p>"Did they really?" asked one of the fresh air ladies of Mrs. Bobbsey.</p> + +<p>"Yes, the children were in the moving pictures a little this Summer," +explained Freddie's mother. "It was all unexpected, but we did not mind, +for it was all outdoors. It was fun for them." Those of you who have +read the book before this one will remember how Freddie and the others +really did act before the camera.</p> + +<p>"Say, I'd like to do that!" cried Tommy with shining eyes as he heard +what the Bobbseys had done. "It must have been great!"</p> + +<p>"It was fun," Freddie said.</p> + +<p>By this time they were out of the train, walk<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>ing up toward the engine. +About it were men and women, and the children saw a man with a black box +on three legs grinding away at a crank.</p> + +<p>"He's taking the moving pictures," said Bert.</p> + +<p>"Why—why!" exclaimed Flossie as she came closer. "It's the same man who +took our pictures at Meadow Brook!"</p> + +<p>"So it is," agreed Nan. "It's Mr. Weston."</p> + +<p>"Yes, he's the same one," said Mr. Bobbsey. "I told him you children +were on the train and he asked me to fetch you up to see him."</p> + +<p>When Mr. Weston had finished taking the pictures of the actors and +actresses who had to pretend they were being robbed by the masked men, +he spoke to the Bobbsey twins.</p> + +<p>"Don't you want to act for the movies again?" he asked, laughing.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes!" cried Flossie and Freddie.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid we haven't time now," said Mrs. Bobbsey with a smile. "We +shall get home late, as it is. When is the train going to start again?"</p> + +<p>"Pretty soon," answered Mr. Weston.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span></p> + +<p>A few more pictures were taken and then the engineer blew the whistle. +The moving picture people got in a big automobile to ride away.</p> + +<p>"All aboard!" called the conductor, waving his hand to the engineer who +was looking from the window of his cab. "All aboard!"</p> + +<p>"Come on!" cried Mr. Bobbsey, and he and the twins, as well as the fresh +air children, were soon in the car again, speeding on toward Lakeport.</p> + +<p>"That's the first time I ever saw moving pictures taken," said Tommy +Todd.</p> + +<p>"We go to moving picture shows lots of times," said Flossie. "I like +'em, 'specially when they have fairy plays."</p> + +<p>"I like 'em too," replied Tommy. "Only I don't get to see 'em very +often. There aren't very many nickels lying loose around our house. +Sometimes I only make five cents in a whole day."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I didn't find out how much money there was in my bank," said +Freddie. "I was just doing it when the train stopped. Wait a minute, +Tommy, and I'll ask my father."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span></p> + +<p>Back once more the chubby little "fireman" went to where his father sat, +and again he asked the question about the money, and about buying a ship +to search for the lost sea captain.</p> + +<p>"What's all this?" asked Mr. Bobbsey in surprise. "Who is this Tommy +Todd?"</p> + +<p>"He's one of the fresh air boys," answered Freddie. "There he is in the +seat ahead of Flossie."</p> + +<p>"He is one of our nicest boys," put in Miss Carter, the fresh air lady. +"I was so glad we could send him out to the farm. He lives with his +grandmother on the outskirts of the city near the dumps, and, though the +home is a very poor one, Mrs. Todd keeps it very neat. She sews for a +living."</p> + +<p>"Tommy's father was lost at sea, and Tommy and I are going to rescue him +from a desert island," cried Freddie eagerly. "How much money have I in +my bank, Daddy?"</p> + +<p>"Was his father really shipwrecked?" asked Mr. Bobbsey of Miss Carter.</p> + +<p>"I believe he was, yes. Before then Tommy and his grandmother lived +well. We help them all we can, but there are so many poor."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Tommy can run errands," put in Freddie. "He works for Mr. Fitch, our +grocer, after school. He's strong, Tommy is. He gained two pounds in the +country. Maybe you could hire him to run errands for you, Daddy, and pay +him money."</p> + +<p>"He really is a very good boy," said Miss Carter. "If you could give him +any work it would be a charity."</p> + +<p>"I'll see about it when we get home," said Mr. Bobbsey.</p> + +<p>"And you say the grandmother does sewing?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey. "I must +look her up, and perhaps I can give her work. We won't forget the +Todds."</p> + +<p>"But can I help Tommy buy a ship and go to look on the desert island for +his father?" Freddie demanded.</p> + +<p>"I'll see about it," promised Mr. Bobbsey, with a smile.</p> + +<p>The train rumbled on. Some passengers got off, and others came on board. +The fresh air children got drinks of water until there was none left in +the tank. Some of them crawled under the seats, and one little fat girl +got stuck, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>and a brakeman had to come in and raise the seat so she +could get out. Others raced up and down the aisles until the two ladies +in charge of them did not know what to do. Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey helped +as much as they could.</p> + +<p>"The children don't mean to be troublesome," said Miss Carter, "but they +don't very often have a chance to have real fun like this, and they make +the most of it. Thank goodness we'll soon be home."</p> + +<p>A little later the brakeman called:</p> + +<p>"Lakeport! Lakeport!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, here we are!" cried the Bobbsey twins.</p> + +<p>"Come!" shouted Flossie.</p> + +<p>"Hurry!" urged Freddie.</p> + +<p>"Don't forget Snoop, Dinah," said Nan.</p> + +<p>"I'll hurry up to the baggage car and get Snap," said Bert, for the dog +had to ride there.</p> + +<p>"Can I help you carry any bundles?" asked Tommy Todd of Mrs. Bobbsey. "I +get out here, too."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, so you do. Well, you might carry that basket if it isn't too +heavy for you. But please be careful of it for it has flowers in it."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes'm, I'll be careful," and Tommy slipped the handle of the basket +over his arm.</p> + +<p>The Bobbseys got out, as did some of the fresh air children, and other +passengers. Fat Dinah carried the basket in which lay Snoop, the black +cat. She had awakened now, and was stretching out her claws.</p> + +<p>"I guess Snoop will be glad to get out," said Flossie, putting her fat +little finger in the basket to rub her pet. Snoop purred her thanks.</p> + +<p>The baggageman loosed Snap's chain, and let him jump out of the baggage +car to Bert, who led him down the platform. There was another dog in the +car, and his master came for him, following Bert. And then something +happened.</p> + +<p>The other dog, who it appeared had been growling at Snap all the while +the two were in the car, now made a rush to get at him. Perhaps he only +wanted to make friends, but it looked as though he wanted to bite. Snap +did not like this so he barked at the other dog. Then the other dog +became frightened and ran away, pulling loose from his master.</p> + +<p>Straight toward Dinah, who was carrying<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> Snoop in the basket, ran the +other dog. His master called him to come back but he would not. Then +Snap, seeing his enemy run, naturally ran after him, pulling the chain +out of Bert's hand.</p> + +<p>"Go 'way! Go 'way!" cried Dinah. But the strange dog ran right into her, +upsetting her. Down she fell. The basket slipped from her arm, and the +cover flew off, letting out Snoop. The black cat, seeing a strange dog, +ran down the platform as fast as she could. So with Snap chasing the +other dog, and with the Bobbsey twins yelling, and with men and boys +shouting, there was so much excitement that Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey did not +know what to do.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3>HOME AGAIN</h3> + + +<p>"Come back, Snap!" cried Bert. "Come back!"</p> + +<p>"Run after him," begged Nan.</p> + +<p>"I'll get Snoop!" shouted Freddie.</p> + +<p>"And I'll help you," offered Flossie, hurrying along as fast as her fat +little legs would take her. Freddie was already half-way down the +platform after the black cat.</p> + +<p>"Come back, children! Come back!" begged Mother Bobbsey. "Oh, Richard!" +she called to her husband, "get the children!"</p> + +<p>"All right," he answered, but he could hardly keep from laughing, it was +all so funny. Dinah still sat where she had fallen, after being knocked +over by the strange dog, and there was a look of wonder on her face, as +if she did not quite understand how it had all happened.</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon. I'm sure I'm very sorry <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>for what has happened," +said the man whose dog had caused all the trouble by rushing at Snap.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you couldn't help it," returned Mrs. Bobbsey. "Richard," she again +called to her husband, "do look after Flossie and Freddie. I'm afraid +they'll be hurt."</p> + +<p>"I'll help get them, and the cat too!" offered Tommy Todd. "I like cats +and dogs," he added, and, carefully setting down the basket of flowers, +he, too, ran down the platform.</p> + +<p>By this time Snap, chasing after the strange dog, was half-way across +the street in front of the railroad station, but Snoop, the black cat, +was not in sight. Flossie and Freddie, having come to the end of the +platform, stopped, for they had been told not to cross a street without +looking both ways for wagons or automobiles. And it was while they had +thus come to a stop that their father came up to them.</p> + +<p>"Don't go any farther," said Mr. Bobbsey.</p> + +<p>"But we want to get Snoop!" cried Freddie.</p> + +<p>"And Snap will be lost, too," said Flossie, ready to cry.</p> + +<p>"That's all right. We'll get them both.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> Snap won't go far. I'll bring +him back. Where's your whistle, Bert?"</p> + +<p>Bert had followed his father, while Nan stayed with her mother to help +get Dinah up. Dinah was so fat that once she sat down flat on the +platform she could hardly get up alone. It was not often, of course, +that she sat down that way. This time it was an accident. So while Mrs. +Bobbsey and Nan were helping up the fat cook, Bert gave his father a tin +whistle he carried for calling Snap when the big dog was far away.</p> + +<p>Mr. Bobbsey blew a loud blast on the whistle. Snap, who was now running +down the street after the strange dog, turned and looked back. But he +did not come toward the station.</p> + +<p>"Come here, Snap!" called Mr. Bobbsey. "Come here at once!" And he said +it in such a way that Snap knew he must come. Again the whistle was +blown and Snap, with a last bark at the dog which had made so much +trouble, turned and came running back.</p> + +<p>"I wish you could call <i>my</i> dog back as easily as you called yours," +said the man who owned the animal Snap had been chasing. "But I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>guess I +had better go after him myself," he added. "Your dog and mine don't seem +to get along well together, and I think it's Rover's fault. But he has +never traveled in a train before, and perhaps he was frightened."</p> + +<p>"Our dog and cat like to ride in a train," said Flossie, patting the +head of Snap, who was wagging his tail.</p> + +<p>"Oh, but we've got to find Snoop!" cried Freddie, who had, for the +moment, forgotten about the black cat. "Come on Flossie."</p> + +<p>The two younger Bobbsey twins were about to set off on a search for +their pet when they saw Tommy Todd coming toward them, with the black +cat in his arms.</p> + +<p>"I've found her for you," he said, smiling. "She's all right, only a +little scared I guess, 'cause her heart's beating awful fast."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, little man," said Mr. Bobbsey.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Snoop! Did the bad dog bite you?" asked Flossie, putting her arms +around the cat as Tommy held her.</p> + +<p>"No, she isn't bitten," said Freddie, as he looked carefully at Snoop. +"Where did you find her, Tommy?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span></p> + +<p>"She was hiding behind some boxes down by the express office. I saw her +go that way when the two dogs ran across the street, so I looked there +for her. She didn't want to come out but I coaxed her. I like cats and +they always come to me."</p> + +<p>"That's 'cause you're kind to them," said Flossie. "Come on now, Snoop, +you must go back into your basket until we get home."</p> + +<p>"And don't run away again, either, Snap!" said Bert to the dog, shaking +a finger at him. Snap seemed to understand and to be a bit sorry for +what he had done. He drooped his tail, and when a dog does that he is +either ashamed or afraid.</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't be cross with him," begged Nan, who had come along now, after +having helped her mother get Dinah to her feet. "Don't make him feel +bad, Bert, after we've had such a nice time in the country."</p> + +<p>"All right, I won't," laughed Bert. "It's all right, old fellow," he +said to Snap. "I guess you didn't mean it."</p> + +<p>This time Snap wagged his tail, which showed that he felt much happier.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Let me take Snoop," begged Flossie of Tommy, and the "fresh air boy," +as the twins called him, handed over the black cat. They all walked back +to where Dinah and Mrs. Bobbsey were waiting. Snoop was put in her +basket, where she curled up as if glad to be away from the noise and +excitement.</p> + +<p>The fresh air children had gone their various ways and Tommy set off +down the street toward his poor home, which, as he had said, was down +near the "dumps."</p> + +<p>"Wait a minute!" called Mr. Bobbsey after him. "Give me your address, +Tommy. Mrs. Bobbsey wants to come and see your grandmother."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" exclaimed Tommy, and he seemed rather surprised. "Well, I live on +Lombard Street."</p> + +<p>"What number?" asked Mr. Bobbsey, taking out a note book and pencil.</p> + +<p>"There isn't any number on our house," said Tommy. "Maybe there was +once, but it's gone now. But it's the last house on the street, the left +hand side as you go toward the dumps."</p> + +<p>"All right," said Mr. Bobbsey. "I guess we <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>can find you. But that's a +long way to walk from here. Aren't you going to take a car?"</p> + +<p>"No—no, sir," answered Tommy. "I don't mind walking."</p> + +<p>"Maybe he hasn't the car fare," whispered Mrs. Bobbsey.</p> + +<p>"Just what I was thinking myself," answered her husband. "Here, Tommy," +he went on. "Here's a quarter. Use it to ride home, and get yourself an +ice cream soda. It's warmer here than out on the fresh air farm," and he +held out the money. "The ice cream will cool you off."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I—I don't want to take it," said Tommy. "I don't mind the walk."</p> + +<p>"Come on, take it!" insisted Mr. Bobbsey. "You can run some errands for +me later on, and earn it, if you like that better."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I'll do that," said Tommy, and this time he took the money. "I'll +run errands for you whenever you want me to," he added, as he started +toward the street car.</p> + +<p>"All right," said Mr. Bobbsey with a laugh. "And tell your grandmother +that we will get her more sewing to do."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span></p> + +<p>"She'll be glad to hear that," Tommy said. He was quite a little man, +though no older than Bert.</p> + +<p>"And I won't forget about taking my saved-up money to buy a ship, so you +and I can go and get your father from the desert island," said Freddie, +as Tommy got on the car.</p> + +<p>"And I'm coming too," added Flossie. "You said I could cook."</p> + +<p>"You ought to take Dinah along to cook," laughed Nan.</p> + +<p>"Maybe we will; sha'n't we, Freddie?" asked his little sister.</p> + +<p>"Well, if we can get a ship big enough for her and us we will," Freddie +decided. "But I haven't got much money, and Dinah needs lots of room."</p> + +<p>With Snap and Snoop now safe, the Bobbseys and Dinah got in a carriage +and left the station to drive to their home. On the way they saw the man +whose dog had barked at Snap. The man had the animal by a chain and was +leading him along. Snap growled as he looked out and saw him.</p> + +<p>"Be quiet, sir!" ordered Bert.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, be nice and quiet like Snoop," said Flossie.</p> + +<p>"There's our house!" cried Freddie, as they turned a corner. "Why, it's +been painted!" he added, in surprise.</p> + +<p>"Oh, so it has!" exclaimed Nan.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I had it painted while you were at Meadow Brook," returned Mr. +Bobbsey. "Do you like it?" he asked his wife.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it's a lovely color. But I'd like it anyhow for it's <i>home</i>. It +was nice in the country, but I'm glad to be home again."</p> + +<p>"So are we!" cried Flossie. "We'll have lots of fun here; sha'n't we, +Freddie?"</p> + +<p>"That's what we will!"</p> + +<p>"Home again! Home again!" gaily sang Nan as her father opened the front +door, and they all went in. "We're all at home again!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3>TOMMY'S TROUBLES</h3> + + +<p>"Oh, there's Johnnie Wilson!" cried Freddie Bobbsey. "I'm going to call +to him to come into our yard."</p> + +<p>"Yes, and there's Alice Boyd," added Flossie. "I'm going to play with +her. She's got a new doll. Come on over, Alice!" she called.</p> + +<p>"And you come over, too, Johnnie!" shouted Freddie.</p> + +<p>A boy and a girl came running <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'acros'">across</ins> the street to the Bobbsey house. +The two smaller twins and their little friends were soon having a good +time in the yard. It was the morning after the family had come home from +Meadow Brook.</p> + +<p>"Did you have a good time in the country?" asked Alice of Flossie.</p> + +<p>"Oh, didn't we just though! It was—<i>scrumptious!</i>"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span></p> + +<p>"And false-face robbers stopped the train coming home," added Freddie. +"Only it was make-believe."</p> + +<p>"I wish I'd been there," said Johnnie, after Freddie had told about it. +"We went up to a lake this Summer. Nothing much happened there except I +fell in and most drowned."</p> + +<p>"I call <i>that</i> something," said Freddie. "I fell in a brook, but it +wasn't deep."</p> + +<p>"The lake's awful deep," went on Johnnie. "It hasn't any bottom."</p> + +<p>"It's got to have a bottom, or all the water would drop out, and then it +wouldn't be a lake," said Freddie.</p> + +<p>"Well, maybe it has," admitted his friend. "Anyhow, the bottom's awful +far down. I didn't get to it and I was in the water a good while. It's a +awful deep lake."</p> + +<p>"It isn't as deep as the ocean," Freddie said, "and I'm going on the +ocean in a ship."</p> + +<p>"Are you? When?" asked Johnnie.</p> + +<p>"When Tommy Todd and I start to look for his father. His father is lost +at sea on a desert island, like Robinson Crusoe, and we're going to find +him."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Take me along!" begged Johnnie. "I'm not afraid of the ocean, even if +it's deeper'n the lake. Take me with you."</p> + +<p>Freddie thought about it carefully.</p> + +<p>"Well, you may come if the ship is big enough," he said. "I promised to +let Flossie come. She's going to cook. Oh, no, Dinah's going to cook. I +forgot about that. We'll have to get a bigger ship, I guess, so's to +make room for Dinah. I guess you may come, Johnnie. I haven't counted +how much money I've saved up, but I will soon."</p> + +<p>"Is Tommy Dodd going to help buy the ship?" asked Johnnie.</p> + +<p>"His name isn't <i>Dodd</i>, it's <i>Todd</i>," explained Freddie. "But he can't +put in much money I guess, 'cause he's poor. He's a fresh air boy, but +he's nice. He runs errands for Mr. Fitch, the grocer. We met Tommy on +the train."</p> + +<p>"Then if you put in the most money to buy the ship more'n half of it +will be yours," said Johnnie, "and you can take as many as you like."</p> + +<p>"No, half of the ship is going to be Tommy's," insisted the little +Bobbsey twin,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> "'Cause it's his father we're going after, you see."</p> + +<p>"That's so," admitted Johnnie. "Well, I'm coming anyhow. I'll put in +some money to buy things to eat."</p> + +<p>"That'll be nice," said Freddie. "I forgot about eating. I'm hungry now. +I think Dinah is making cookies. Let's go 'round to the kitchen to see."</p> + +<p>Flossie and Alice were up on the side porch, playing with their dolls, +when Freddie and Johnnie ran around to the back door. Surely enough, +Dinah was making cookies, and she gave the boys some.</p> + +<p>"Do you think we'd better save any of these for the time when we go on +the ship?" asked Johnnie, as he took a bite out of his second cookie.</p> + +<p>"No, I don't guess so," replied Freddie. "We won't go for a week or two +anyhow, and the cookies wouldn't keep that long. Anyhow, Dinah will make +more. Say, I'll tell you what let's do!"</p> + +<p>"What?"</p> + +<p>"Go down to the lake and sail our boats."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span></p> + +<p>"All right. But I don't want to fall in."</p> + +<p>"We'll go down to my father's lumber yard, and if we fall in, near the +edge, we can yell and some of the men will pull us out. Come on!"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bobbsey said Freddie might go, if he would be sure to be careful. +He was often allowed to visit his father's lumber yard, for it was known +he would be safe there. And Johnnie's mother said he might go also. So +the little fellows trudged away, leaving the girls to play dolls on the +porch.</p> + +<p>Freddie and Johnnie had fun at the edge of the lake. They each had a +small sailboat, and, holding the strings, which were fast to the toy +vessels, the boys let the wind blow the boats out a way and then hauled +them in again.</p> + +<p>After a while, however, they grew tired of this, and Freddie said:</p> + +<p>"Let's go up to the office to see my father. He likes me to come to see +him, and maybe he'll give us five cents for ice cream cones."</p> + +<p>"That'll be nice," said Johnnie.</p> + +<p>Mr. Bobbsey was very busy, for he had a great deal of work to do after +having spent so <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>much time in the country that Summer. But he was glad +to see the boys.</p> + +<p>"Well, how's my little fireman this morning?" he asked, catching Freddie +up in his arms. "Have you put out any fires yet?"</p> + +<p>"Not yet. We've been playing boats."</p> + +<p>"And how are you, Johnnie?" went on Mr. Bobbsey, as he patted Freddie's +playmate on the back.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm all right. I'm going in the ship with Freddie to help find +Tommy Todd's father who's on a desert island."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you are; eh? Well speaking of Tommy, that looks like him out there +now."</p> + +<p>Mr. Bobbsey pointed to the outside office. There stood the boy Freddie +and Flossie had talked to on the train. He was speaking to one of the +clerks, who did not seem to want to let him inside the railing.</p> + +<p>"That's all right," called Mr. Bobbsey. "He may come in. What is it, +Tommy?" he asked kindly, as the clerk stepped aside.</p> + +<p>"I've come to do the errands, to earn the quarter you gave me +yesterday," said the fresh air boy, as he came in.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, there's no hurry about that," returned Mr. Bobbsey. "I don't know +what errands I want done to-day."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'd like to do some," Tommy said. "I'd like to earn that money, +and then, maybe, you'd have some more errands for me to run, afterward, +so I could earn more money. I need it very much, and Mr. Fitch hasn't +any work for me to-day. I want to do all I can before school opens," +Tommy went on, "'cause it gets dark early in the afternoon now, and my +grandmother doesn't like to have me out too late."</p> + +<p>"That's right. How is your grandmother, Tommy?"</p> + +<p>"She—she's sick," was the answer, and Tommy's voice sounded as though +he had been crying, or was just going to do so.</p> + +<p>"Sick? That's too bad!"</p> + +<p>"That's why I want some more errands to do, so I can earn money for her. +She was hungry when I got home yesterday, and I spent that money you +gave me—all but the five cents for car fare—to buy her things to eat. +There wasn't anything in the house."</p> + +<p>"Oh, come now! That's too bad!" said Mr.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> Bobbsey. "We must look into +this. Here, Freddie, you and Johnnie and Tommie go down to the corner +and get some ice cream. It's a hot day," and he held out some money to +Tommy. "I'll let you carry it," he said, "as the other boys might lose +it. Get three ten cent plates of cream."</p> + +<p>Tommy seemed to hang back.</p> + +<p>"Could I have this one ten cent piece all for myself?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Why, of course you may. There is a dime for each of you. Don't you like +ice cream?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes indeed. But I'd rather save this for my grandmother. I'm not +very warm."</p> + +<p>"Now look here!" said Mr. Bobbsey with a laugh. "You spend that money +for yourself and for Freddie and Johnnie. I'll see that your grandmother +is taken care of. I'm going to telephone to my wife, now, to go down to +see her."</p> + +<p>"Oh, all right, thank you!" cried Tommy. And then, when he had hurried +off down to the ice cream store with Freddie and Johnnie, Mr. Bobbsey +called up his wife at home and asked her to see Mrs. Todd.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mrs. Bobbsey went to the little house on Lombard Street at once. She +found Tommy's grandmother to be a nice woman, but quite ill from having +worked too hard during the hot weather. She was very feeble.</p> + +<p>"But I must keep a home for Tommy," she said to Mrs. Bobbsey. "His +father, my son, was lost at sea, and Tommy is all I have now. I don't +mind the hard work when I'm well, but I don't feel good now."</p> + +<p>"Don't worry," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "We'll get you well and strong again, +and then you can keep a home for Tommy."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Todd told very much the same story Tommy had told—that her son, +Tommy's father, had sailed away to sea, and after many days a passing +vessel had sighted the wreck of his. Broken lifeboats were floating +about the surface of the ocean, but no one alive was found in them. As +there was no trace of Captain Todd or any of the sailors, every one +believed they had all been drowned.</p> + +<p>"Tommy seems to think his father may be alive," said Mrs. Bobbsey.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Todd sighed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I sometimes used to think that myself," she said. "But now I have given +up hope. It is over five years, and if my son were alive he would have +sent me some word before now. I wish he would come back, for then he +would look after Tommy and me."</p> + +<p>It was not a nice place where Tommy lived with his grandmother, but Mrs. +Todd did her best to keep the house neat and clean. Mrs. Bobbsey called +in a doctor, and also sent a woman to nurse Mrs. Todd until she grew +better, which she did in a few days.</p> + +<p>Then she could keep on with her sewing, by which she earned enough for +her and Tommy to live on. But it was not a very good living they made, +and they often did not have enough to eat.</p> + +<p>"I'll give you some of my sewing to do," promised Mrs. Bobbsey, "and so +will some ladies I know."</p> + +<p>So, for a time at least, Mrs. Todd was to be taken care of. When she +grew better she had as much work as she could do.</p> + +<p>But this was some time after the day when Tommy called at Mr. Bobbsey's +office. That <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>day, after the three boys had eaten their ice cream, Tommy +went back to the lumber yard, and Mr. Bobbsey told him that Mrs. Bobbsey +had gone to see Mrs. Todd.</p> + +<p>"And haven't you any errands I could do for you to-day?" asked Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Not to-day, Tommy. But I may have later. Don't worry about working out +that twenty-five cents. I won't forget you, and you'll find your +grandmother being taken care of when you get home."</p> + +<p>"I'll not forget about the ship we're going to buy either," promised +Freddie, as he and Johnnie parted company from Tommy.</p> + +<p>"All right; and thank you."</p> + +<p>Nan and Bert, that day, had gone over to play with Ned Barton and Ellen +Moore, children who lived near them, and they had a good time.</p> + +<p>"We want to have all the fun we can while we're at home here," said Nan, +"for school will soon open."</p> + +<p>"Yes, and I'll be sort of glad," said Bert. "We're going to have a +football team this year."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span></p> + +<p>"We'll come to see you play; won't we, Ellen?" said Nan.</p> + +<p>"Yes, but I like baseball better than football."</p> + +<p>As Nan and Bert reached home, after visiting with their little friends, +they heard screams from the side porch where Flossie and Alice had been +playing dolls.</p> + +<p>"Oh, make him come back with it! Make him come back!" cried Flossie.</p> + +<p>"Something has happened!" exclaimed Bert, running around to the side of +the house, followed by Nan.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h3>SCHOOL DAYS</h3> + + +<p>Bert saw his sister and her playmate, Alice Boyd, standing on the porch, +looking very much frightened. Alice had her doll held tightly in her +arms, but Flossie's doll could not be seen.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter?" Bert asked.</p> + +<p>"It's a dog! A strange dog!" cried Flossie. "Oh, dear! He——"</p> + +<p>"Did he bite you?" Nan asked quickly. "If he did——"</p> + +<p>"No, he didn't bite me," answered the little girl. "But he ran up on the +porch and took my best doll away in his mouth. Now he's gone around to +the back yard, and I'm afraid he'll bite her. I called to him to come +back, but he wouldn't."</p> + +<p>"Was it some dog Snap was playing with?" asked Bert.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No, it was a new dog. I'd never seen him before. Oh, dear! He'll bite +my doll!"</p> + +<p>"It won't hurt her to be bitten a little," said Bert with a laugh. "You +can't hurt dolls."</p> + +<p>"You can so!" sobbed Flossie, who was crying real tears now. "And I +don't want my best doll bitten."</p> + +<p>"Don't laugh at her, Bert," said Nan in a low voice. "Try to get her +doll back for her."</p> + +<p>"I will," promised Bert. "Which way did the dog go, Flossie? Tell me."</p> + +<p>"He went around back of the house."</p> + +<p>"Maybe he thought your doll was a bone, and he's going to bury it," Bert +said. "Was she a thin doll, Flossie; thin like a bone?"</p> + +<p>"No, she wasn't! She was a nice fat doll, with red cheeks! And I want +her back. Oh dear!"</p> + +<p>"I'll get her for you," Bert said again.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad the dog didn't take my doll," broke in Alice. "I'll let you +play with mine, Flossie."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, but I—I want my own dear doll!" and Flossie sobbed harder +than before.</p> + +<p>"Never mind, Brother Bert will get her from the dog," said Nan. "Don't +cry."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I—I can't help it," Flossie said, though she did try to stop crying. +Bert ran around the corner of the house. Then he laughed so loudly that +Nan knew it must be all right and she said:</p> + +<p>"Come on, Flossie and Alice. We'll go and see what Bert has found."</p> + +<p>They found Bert looking at the strange dog, who was standing in front of +Snoop. And Snoop had her back arched up round; her tail was as large as +a sausage, and her fur stuck out all sorts of ways, while she made a +hissing sound like a steam radiator.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter, Bert?" asked Nan.</p> + +<p>"Why, I guess the strange dog was running through our yard with +Flossie's doll in his mouth when Snoop saw him and ran at him," said +Bert. "Snoop doesn't like strange dogs, and she must have made quite a +fuss at this one, for he dropped the doll. I'll get her for you, +Flossie."</p> + +<p>The little twin's doll lay on the grass where the dog had dropped it +when the cat chased after him. For all I know he may have thought it was +a bone and have wanted to bury it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span></p> + +<p>Bert picked up the doll from the grass.</p> + +<p>"There she is, Flossie," he said. "Not hurt a bit, and as good as ever."</p> + +<p>"Thank you," Flossie answered, hugging her doll close in her arms. "Now +we can go on playing, Alice."</p> + +<p>They went back on the porch, and the strange dog gave a bark. This +seemed to make Snoop angry, for she hissed louder than ever and made her +tail even larger than before. Then she walked toward the dog. But he did +not wait even to rub noses with her, as Snap did. With a howl the dog +ran back and jumped over the fence.</p> + +<p>"Snoop drove him away," laughed Nan. "She is as good at driving strange +dogs away as Snap would be. Wasn't it funny the dog should go up on the +porch, and take Flossie's doll?"</p> + +<p>"It was better to do that than bite her," said Bert.</p> + +<p>When Freddie came back from the lumber yard that day he told of Tommy's +visit, and Mrs. Bobbsey told of having helped his grandmother. Mrs. +Bobbsey also told what Mrs.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> Todd had said of her missing son, who was +shipwrecked.</p> + +<p>"Bert, please hand me down my bank," said Freddie to his brother after +supper.</p> + +<p>"What for?" Bert asked.</p> + +<p>"I must count my money and see if I have enough to help buy a ship for +Tommy Todd. He and I are going off in a ship to look for his father."</p> + +<p>"Now look here, Freddie," said Mr. Bobbsey. "I want you to have all the +fun you can, and play with Tommy whenever you can, and I want you to be +kind and to help people. I also wish, as much as you, that we could find +Tommy's father, if he is still alive. But you must not run off to sea +without telling us."</p> + +<p>Sometimes Freddie, and Flossie too, used to get queer ideas about what +they wanted to do, and once or twice they had run away together. Once it +was to go to the circus, away on the other side of the city, and again +it was to follow a hand-organ man and a monkey. Freddie's father, +hearing him talk so much about getting a ship in which to search for Mr. +Todd, thought the little boy might be too much in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>earnest and would +really go off where he ought not.</p> + +<p>"So don't start off on any voyage without telling us," said Mr. Bobbsey.</p> + +<p>"I won't," promised Freddie. "First I must see how much money I have +saved up."</p> + +<p>His bank was a kind that could be opened and closed, and for some time +Freddie and Flossie were busy counting the pennies.</p> + +<p>"Well, how much have you?" asked Bert.</p> + +<p>"Flossie says there are only fifty-six cents," Freddie answered, "but I +counted seventy. Flossie can't count as high as I can, anyhow."</p> + +<p>"I can so!" cried the fat little girl.</p> + +<p>"Now children, be nice," begged Mother Bobbsey.</p> + +<p>"I'll count the money for you," offered Bert.</p> + +<p>"Seventy-nine cents," he told Freddie, after he had finished. "And +here's a penny of mine I'll give you. That makes eighty cents."</p> + +<p>"Is that 'most enough to buy a ship, Daddy?" asked the little fellow.</p> + +<p>"Oh no, my dear boy. You'll need lots more money than that. So keep on +saving, and don't go off without letting us know."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span></p> + +<p>"All right," Freddie said with a sigh. "Do you think I'll have enough +saved in a week?"</p> + +<p>"I can tell you better when the week is up," laughed Mr. Bobbsey.</p> + +<p>"School begins in a week," said Nan. "You can't go off on a ship when +you have to go to school, Freddie."</p> + +<p>"That's so. Well, I'll keep on saving, and when school is out again +Tommy and I will go off in the ship to find his father."</p> + +<p>The Bobbsey twins had as much fun as they could in the week of vacation +that remained. They and their playmates met together and went on little +walks in the woods, or rowed on the river. Bert and Nan were allowed to +go out in a safe boat, near their father's lumber dock, and Flossie and +Freddie were allowed to go also, for they sat very still, and never +tried to change seats when the boat was out in the water. This is very +dangerous to do, and often boats are upset that way.</p> + +<p>Then, one morning, as Freddie awoke in his little bed, he heard his +mother calling:</p> + +<p>"Come on, little fireman. Time to get up!"</p> + +<p>"Is there a fire?" asked Freddie, eagerly.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No, but school begins to-day and you don't want to be late. Come on +then, get up. You too, Flossie."</p> + +<p>"Aren't Nan and Bert going?" asked Freddie.</p> + +<p>"Yes, but they were up long ago. I let you two little twins sleep +longer. But now it is time to get up."</p> + +<p>After breakfast Flossie and Freddie started for school together. They +were in the same class, and had just left the kindergarten. So Flossie +and Freddie set off together, ahead of Nan and Bert. The smaller twins +had to do this because their legs were shorter than either Nan's or +Bert's and they could not walk as fast.</p> + +<p>"Ding-dong!" rang the school bell, calling the Bobbsey twins and other +children back to their lessons, after the long, Summer vacation.</p> + +<p>"Oh, there's Susie Simmon!" cried Flossie, as she saw a girl she knew. +"I'm going to walk with her, Freddie."</p> + +<p>"All right. I see Jimmie Brooks. I'll go with him."</p> + +<p>The four little ones hurried along together, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>talking of the fun they +had had that Summer.</p> + +<p>A little behind came Nan and Bert. With them walked Ellen Moore and Ned +Barton, who lived near the Bobbsey house.</p> + +<p>There were merry times in the school yard before it was time for the +last bell to ring. The boys and girls played tag, and ran about. Some +boys had tops and spun them, or played marbles. The girls did not bring +their dolls or toys to school, and the reason for this is that girls +don't have pockets in their dresses. Or, if they do have a pocket, it is +too small to hold more than a handkerchief. I think the girls ought to +get together and insist on having pockets made in their dresses. It +isn't fair for the boys to have so many.</p> + +<p>"Ding-dong!" rang the bell again.</p> + +<p>"Come in, children!" called the teacher, and in went the Bobbsey twins +and the others.</p> + +<p>"Oh look, Freddie! There goes Tommy Todd!" whispered Flossie to her +brother, as they marched to their room. The teacher heard Flossie, and +said:</p> + +<p>"You must not whisper in school."</p> + +<p>"I won't any more," promised Flossie. "I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span>haven't been in school for so +long that I forgot," and all the other children laughed.</p> + +<p>Tommy Todd was in a class ahead of Flossie and Freddie. He looked across +at them and smiled, for the teacher did not mind any one's smiling in +school. But when one whispered it disturbed those who wanted to study +their lessons.</p> + +<p>It was almost time for the morning recess, and Flossie and Freddie were +saying their lessons, when from the next room, where Bert and Nan sat, +came a sound of laughter. Then sounded a loud bark—"Bow-wow!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's a dog!" exclaimed Flossie aloud, before she thought.</p> + +<p>"That sounds like our Snap!" said Freddie, almost at the same time.</p> + +<p>"Children, you must be quiet!" called the teacher.</p> + +<p>Just then the door between the two rooms was pushed open, and in walked +Snap, wagging his tail. He looked at the teacher, he looked at the other +children, and then, with a joyful bark, he ran up to Flossie and +Freddie.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h3>THE SCHOOL PLAY</h3> + + +<p>"Snap! Snap!" cried Freddie, as he left his seat and put his arms around +the dog's neck. "Good dog, Snap!"</p> + +<p>Snap liked to be petted, and he wagged his tail faster than before and +barked. Flossie saw a queer look on her teacher's face, and the little +girl said:</p> + +<p>"Snap, you must be quiet. You musn't bark in school any more than we +must whisper. I didn't want to speak out loud," she said to the teacher, +"but I had to, or Snap wouldn't hear me."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that part's all right, my dear," the teacher said kindly. "But how +did your dog get here?"</p> + +<p>"I—I don't know," answered Flossie, while Freddie kept on petting Snap.</p> + +<p>Just then the door of the other school room, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>in which Nan and Bert +studied, opened, and the teacher from there came in. She was a new one.</p> + +<p>"Is that dog here?" she asked. Then she could see that Snap was there. +The children in Flossie's room were laughing now. Some of the pupils +from the other room were standing in the doorway behind the teacher, +looking in.</p> + +<p>"Whose dog is that?" the new teacher asked.</p> + +<p>"He's ours, if you please," said Bert.</p> + +<p>"Did you bring him to school?"</p> + +<p>"No, ma'am. He must have got loose," answered Nan. "He was chained up +when we left for school this morning, and he must have got lonesome and +come to find us."</p> + +<p>"Well, he found you all right," said Flossie's teacher with a laugh. +"The doors are open, because it is so warm," she said to the new +teacher, "so Snap had no trouble in getting in. He never came to school +before, though."</p> + +<p>"He's like Mary's little lamb, isn't he?" asked Freddie.</p> + +<p>"Well, he must be put out," said the new teacher, smiling. "Of course it +wasn't the fault <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>of you children that he came in. But you had better +take him home I think, Bert. And see that he is well chained. I'll +excuse you from class long enough to take your dog home. Now, children, +go back to your seats."</p> + +<p>"Say, Bert," whispered Ned Barton, "I'll help you take Snap home if you +want me to."</p> + +<p>"No, indeed!" laughed the new teacher. "One boy is enough to have out of +the class at a time. I think Bert can manage the dog alone."</p> + +<p>"Yes ma'am, I can," said Bert. "Come on, Snap!"</p> + +<p>Snap barked and wagged his tail again. He was happy as long as he was +with one of the children.</p> + +<p>"Our dog can do tricks," said Freddie. "Make him do a trick, Bert, +before you take him home. Snap used to be in a circus," Freddie told the +teacher, "and he can turn somersaults. Don't you want to see him do a +trick, teacher?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, please let him," begged Flossie.</p> + +<p>The other children looked eager, and the teacher smiled. The new teacher +had gone <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>back to her classroom with her pupils, except Bert, who had +stayed to look after Snap.</p> + +<p>"Well, as it is almost time for recess, I don't mind if Bert makes Snap +do one or two tricks," Flossie's teacher said, smiling. "But only two. +School isn't just the place for dogs."</p> + +<p>"Ready Snap!" called Bert. "March like a soldier!"</p> + +<p>"You may take my blackboard pointer for a gun," the teacher said.</p> + +<p>Snap stood up on his hind legs, and in one paw he held the long pointer. +Then he marched around the room as nearly like a soldier as a dog can +march. The children laughed and clapped their hands.</p> + +<p>"Now turn a somersault!" ordered Bert. This Snap did, too. This was one +of his best tricks. Over and over he went around the school room, +outside the rows of desks. This made the children laugh more than +before.</p> + +<p>"I think that will be enough, thank you, Bert," the teacher said. "You +had better take the dog home now."</p> + +<p>Bert did so, and saw to it that Snap was well chained.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span></p> + +<p>"We like to see you," said Bert as he was leaving to go back to his +class, "but you must not come to school after us, Snap."</p> + +<p>At recess, which was nearly over when Bert got back to school, the +children talked and laughed about Snap's visit.</p> + +<p>"I wish your dog would come to school every day," said Alice Boyd to +Flossie.</p> + +<p>"Yes, wouldn't it be fun to have him do tricks," cried Johnnie Wilson.</p> + +<p>But Snap did not get loose again, and he soon got used to having the +children away most of the day. But how glad he was when they came home, +and he could romp and play with them!</p> + +<p>One day Flossie's teacher said to the class:</p> + +<p>"Now, children, you have been very good this week, and you have known +your lessons well, so I think it is time we had a little fun."</p> + +<p>"Oh, are you going to let Snap come to school again?" asked Edna Blake.</p> + +<p>"No, hardly that," the teacher answered with a smile, "but we shall have +a little play. I'll fix some curtains across the platform where my desk +stands, and that will be the stage. You <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>children—at least some of +you—will be the actors and actresses. It will be a very simple little +play, and I think you can do it. If you do it well perhaps we may give +our play out on the large platform in the big room before the whole +school."</p> + +<p>"We had a play in Uncle Dan's barn once in the country," said Flossie.</p> + +<p>"I was in it, too," spoke up Freddie, "and I fell down in a hen's nest +and got all eggs."</p> + +<p>Even the teacher laughed at this.</p> + +<p>"Well, we hope you'll not fall in any hen's nest in our little school +play," said the teacher.</p> + +<p>She picked out Flossie, Freddie, Alice Boyd, Johnnie Wilson and some +others to be in the play, and they began to study their parts.</p> + +<p>The play was to be called "Mother Goose and her Friends," and the +children would take the parts of the different characters so well known +to all. The teacher was to be Mother Goose herself, with a tall peaked +hat, and a long stick.</p> + +<p>"And will you ride on the back of a goosey-gander?" Freddie asked. "It's +that way in the book."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No, I hardly think I shall ride on the back of a gander," answered the +teacher. "But we will have it as nearly like Mother Goose as we can. You +will be Little Boy Blue, Freddie, for you have blue eyes."</p> + +<p>"And what can I be?" asked Flossie.</p> + +<p>"I think I'll call you Little Miss Muffet."</p> + +<p>"Only I'm not afraid of spiders," Flossie said. "That is I'm not afraid +of them if they don't get on me. One can come and sit down beside me and +I won't mind."</p> + +<p>"I guess for the spider we'll get a make-believe one, from the +five-and-ten-cent store," said Miss Earle, the teacher. "Now I'll give +out the other parts."</p> + +<p>There were about a dozen children who were to take part in the little +play. They were to dress up with clothes which they could bring from +home. Freddie had a blue suit, so he looked exactly like Boy Blue.</p> + +<p>One Friday afternoon the little play was given in the school room. The +teacher had strung a wire across in front of her platform, and had hung +a red curtain on this. Flossie, Freddie and the other players were +behind the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span>curtain, while the remaining children sat at their desks to +watch the play.</p> + +<p>"Are you all ready now?" asked Miss Earle of the children behind the +curtain. "All ready! I'm going to pull the curtain back in a minute. +Remember you are to walk out first, Freddie, and you are to make a bow +and then look to the left, then to the right and say: 'Oh, I wonder +where she can be?' Then along comes Flossie, as Little Miss Muffet, and +she asks you whom you are looking for."</p> + +<p>"Yes, and then I say I'm looking for Mary, who had a little lamb, for I +lent her my horn, and she went away with it to help Bo-Peep find her +sheep; and now I can't blow my horn to get the cows out of the corn," +Freddie said.</p> + +<p>"That's it!" exclaimed the teacher in a whisper, for they had all talked +in low voices behind the curtain, so the other children would not hear +them. "You remember very well, Freddie. Now we will begin."</p> + +<p>The curtain was pulled back, and Freddie walked out from one side where +some boxes had been piled up to look like a house.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I wonder where she can be," said<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> Freddie, looking to the left and +to the right. "Where can she be?"</p> + +<p>"Whom are you looking for?" asked Flossie, coming out from the other +side of the platform.</p> + +<p>"For Mary, who had a little lamb," went on Freddie. "I lent her my horn +and——"</p> + +<p>But just then there was a crash, and down tumbled the pile of boxes that +was the make-believe house, and with them tumbled Johnnie Wilson, who +was dressed up like Little Jack Horner.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I've hurt my thumb! I've hurt my thumb!" he cried. "Now I can't +pull the plum out of the pie!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h3>SNOOP IN TROUBLE</h3> + + +<p>Some of the children laughed. Some screamed. Others looked as if they +wanted to cry. Of course the play came to an end almost before it had +started.</p> + +<p>"Oh Johnnie, why did you do that?" cried Miss Earle, hurrying out in her +Mother Goose dress, and picking up the little fellow. "How did it +happen?"</p> + +<p>Johnnie had started to cry, but, finding that he was not hurt much +except on his thumb, he stopped his tears, and said:</p> + +<p>"I climbed up on the pile of boxes so I could see better, and they fell +over with me."</p> + +<p>"They weren't put there to be climbed on," the teacher said with a +smile. "I'm glad it is no worse. You came on the stage before it was +your turn, Johnnie. Now we'll try it over again."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span></p> + +<p>By this time the other children had become quieter, having seen that +nothing much had happened. The janitor was sent for and he put the boxes +up again, this time nailing them together so they would not fall over.</p> + +<p>"But you must not climb on top of them again," said Miss Earle.</p> + +<p>"No'm, I won't," promised Johnnie.</p> + +<p>"Now start over again, Freddie," the teacher told the little blue-eyed +chap, and once more he walked out and pretended to look for Mary. Then +Flossie walked out, and this time the play went off very well. Mother +Goose came on when it was her turn and she helped Boy Blue and Miss +Muffet look for Mary and the lost horn. It was finally found in Jack +Horner's pie, which was a big one made of a shoe box. And Johnnie, as +Jack Horner, pulled out the horn instead of a plum. His sore thumb did +not bother him much.</p> + +<p>"Well, did you like the play?" the teacher asked the other children, who +had only looked on.</p> + +<p>"It was fine!" they all said. "We'd like to see it again."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, perhaps you may," returned Miss Earle. "Would you like to act it +before the whole school?" she asked of Flossie, Freddie and the other +little actors and actresses.</p> + +<p>"Yes, teacher!" they said in a chorus.</p> + +<p>"Then you shall."</p> + +<p>A week later the play was given on the large stage in the big room where +there was a real curtain and real scenery. The little Mother Goose play +went off very well, too, for the children knew their parts better. And +Johnnie Wilson did not fall down off a pile of boxes.</p> + +<p>The only thing which happened, that ought not to, was when Flossie sang +a little song Miss Earle wrote for her.</p> + +<p>When she had finished, Flossie, seeing Nan out in the audience, stepped +to the edge of the stage and asked:</p> + +<p>"Did I sing that all right, Nan?" for Nan had been helping her little +sister learn the piece.</p> + +<p>Every one laughed when Flossie asked that, for, of course, she should +not have spoken, but only bowed. But it was all right, and really it +made fun, which, after all, was what the play was for.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span></p> + +<p>"We'll have to get up a play ourselves, Nan," said Bert to his sister +when school was out, and the Mother Goose play had ended. "I like to +act."</p> + +<p>"So do I," said Nan.</p> + +<p>"I'd like a play about soldiers and pirates," went on Bert.</p> + +<p>"I know something about pirates," cried Tommy Todd. "My father used to +tell me about them."</p> + +<p>"Say, you'd do fine for a pirate!" cried Bert "You know a lot about +ships and things; don't you?"</p> + +<p>"Well, a little," said Tommy. "I remember some of the things my father +told me when he was with us. And my grandmother knows a lot. Her husband +was a sailor and she has sailed on a ship."</p> + +<p>"Then we'll ask her how to be pirates when we get ready for our play," +Bert decided.</p> + +<p>"How is your grandma?" Nan inquired.</p> + +<p>"Well, she's a little better," said Tommy, "but not very well. She has +to work too hard, I guess. I wish I were bigger so I wouldn't have to go +to school. Then I could work."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Do you still run errands for Mr. Fitch?" asked Bert.</p> + +<p>"I do when he has any. And I did some for your father. He says I have +earned the quarter he gave me, and I'm glad, for I don't want to owe any +money. I'm hoping your father will have more errands for me to do after +school. I'm going to stop in and ask him on Saturday. I like Saturdays +for then I can work all day."</p> + +<p>"Don't you like to play?" asked Nan.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, of course. But I like to earn money for my grandmother too, so +she won't have to work so hard."</p> + +<p>Bert and Nan felt sorry for Tommy, and Bert made up his mind he would +ask his father to give the fresh air boy some work to do so he could +earn money.</p> + +<p>It was now October, and the weather was beautiful. The Bobbsey twins had +much fun at home and going to and from school. The leaves on the trees +were beginning to turn all sorts of pretty colors, and this showed that +colder weather was coming.</p> + +<p>"We'll have lots of fun this Winter," said<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> Bert one day, as he and his +brother and sisters went home from school together, kicking their way +through the fallen leaves. "We'll go coasting, make snow men and snow +forts and go skating."</p> + +<p>"I'm going to have skates this year. Mother said so," cried Freddie.</p> + +<p>"You're too little to skate," declared Bert.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'll show him how, and hold him up," offered Nan. "Skating is fun."</p> + +<p>"It isn't any fun to fall in the ice water though," Flossie said.</p> + +<p>"Well, we won't go skating until the ice is good and thick," said Bert, +"then we won't break through and fall in."</p> + +<p>When the children reached the house they found Mrs. Bobbsey and Dinah +busy taking the furniture out of the parlor, and piling it in the +sitting room and dining room.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter?" asked Bert in surprise. "Are we going to move?"</p> + +<p>"No. But your father has sent up a man to varnish the parlor floor, and +we have to get the chairs and things out of his way," said Mrs. +Bobbsey.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span></p> + +<p>"An' yo' chilluns done got t' keep outen dat parlah when de +varnish-paint is dryin'," said Dinah, shaking her finger at the twins. +"Ef yo' done walks on de varnished floors when dey's not dry, yo' all +will stick fast an' yo' can't get loose."</p> + +<p>"That's right," laughed the children's mother. "You will have to keep +out of the parlor while the floors are drying."</p> + +<p>The Bobbsey twins watched the painter put the varnish on the floor. The +varnish was like a clear, amber paint and made the floor almost as shiny +as glass, so it looked like new.</p> + +<p>"There!" exclaimed the painter when he had finished. "Now don't walk on +the floor until morning. Then the varnish will be dry and hard, and you +won't stick fast. Don't any of you go in."</p> + +<p>"We won't," promised the twins. Then they had to study their lessons for +school the next day, and, for a time, they forgot about the newly +varnished floor.</p> + +<p>It was after supper that Flossie asked if Nan could not pop a little +corn to eat.</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered Mother Bobbsey. "A lit<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>tle popped corn will not be +harmful, I think. I'll get the popper."</p> + +<p>Nan shelled some of the white kernels of corn into the wire popper, and +shook it over the stove. Pretty soon: Pop! Pop! Poppity-pop-pop! was +heard, and the small kernels burst into big ones, as white as snow.</p> + +<p>Nan was just pouring the popped corn out into a dish when there sounded +through the house a loud:</p> + +<p>"Meaou!"</p> + +<p>"What's that?" asked Flossie.</p> + +<p>"It sounded like Snoop," said Bert.</p> + +<p>"It is Snoop!" declared Freddie.</p> + +<p>"Meaou!" was cried again, and in such a queer way that the children knew +their cat was in some kind of trouble.</p> + +<p>"Snoop! Where are you?" called Nan.</p> + +<p>"Meaou! Meaou!" came the answer.</p> + +<p>"She's down cellar and wants to come up," Bert said.</p> + +<p>But when the cellar door was opened no cat popped up, as Snoop always +did if she happened to be shut down there. Then they heard her crying +voice again.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, I know where she is!" exclaimed Mother Bobbsey.</p> + +<p>"Where?" asked the children.</p> + +<p>"In the parlor—on the newly varnished floor! That's what makes her +voice sound so funny—it's the empty room."</p> + +<p>"Well, if Snoop is in the parlor she's stuck fast! That's what's the +matter!" cried Bert.</p> + +<p>"Oh! oh!" exclaimed Freddie. "Our cat caught fast!"</p> + +<p>"Poor Snoop!" wailed Flossie.</p> + +<p>"We must help her!" Nan said.</p> + +<p>The whole family hurried to the parlor. There, in the light from the +hall, they saw the cat. Snoop was indeed in trouble. She stood near the +parlor door, all four feet held fast in the sticky varnish, which, when +half dry, is stickier than the stickiest kind of fly-paper.</p> + +<p>Snoop, in wandering about the house as she pleased, which she always +did, had come to the parlor. The door had been left open so the varnish +would dry more quickly, and Snoop had gone in, not knowing anything +about the sticky floor.</p> + +<p>The big black cat had taken a few steps and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>then, her paws having +become covered with the sticky varnish, she had become stuck fast, just +far enough inside the room so she could not be reached from the door.</p> + +<p>"Oh, will she have to stay stuck there forever?" asked Freddie.</p> + +<p>"Pull her loose, Mother!" begged Flossie.</p> + +<p>"If you step on the floor to get her, you'll stick fast too," warned +Bert.</p> + +<p>"Wait a minute, children," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "I must think what is best +to do. I wish your father were home."</p> + +<p>Snoop, seeing her friends near, must have known she would now be taken +care of, for she stopped meaouing.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h3>NAN BAKES A CAKE</h3> + + +<p>"Come on, Snoop! Come on out!" called Flossie to the pet, black cat.</p> + +<p>Snoop tried to raise first one paw, and then the other to come to her +little mistress, but the sticky varnish held her fast.</p> + +<p>"You'll have to pull her loose, Mother," said Bert. "It's the only way."</p> + +<p>"I guess she's stuck so fast that if you pulled her up you'd pull her +paws off and leave them sticking to the floor," observed Nan.</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't do that!" begged Freddie. "We don't want a cat without any +paws."</p> + +<p>"Don't worry, dear," his mother said. "I'll not pull Snoop's paws off. +But I wonder how I'm going to get her loose. I don't want to step in +there and make tracks with my shoes all over the newly varnished floor.</p> + +<p>"Snoop has made some marks as it is," went <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span>on Mrs. Bobbsey, "but +perhaps the painter can go over them with his brush in the morning so +they won't show. We ought to have shut Snoop up, I suppose. Let me see +now, how can I get her loose?"</p> + +<p>"Telephone to papa," suggested Bert. "He'll know of a way."</p> + +<p>"I believe I will do that," Mrs. Bobbsey said.</p> + +<p>Mr. Bobbsey had gone down to the office that evening to look over some +books and papers about his lumber business, and he had not yet come +back. In a few minutes Mrs. Bobbsey was talking to him over the +telephone.</p> + +<p>"What's that?" cried Mr. Bobbsey. "Snoop stuck fast on the varnished +floor? I'll be home at once. It won't hurt her, but of course we must +get her loose. Don't worry, and tell the twins not to worry. I'll make +it all right."</p> + +<p>And this is how Mr. Bobbsey did it. When he got home he found a can of +turpentine which had been left by the painter. Turpentine will soften +varnish or paint and make it thin, just as water will make paste soft. +Mr. Bobbsey laid a board on the floor from the door-sill over close to +where poor Snoop was held fast.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> Then he poured a little turpentine +around each of the four feet of the cat, where her paws were held fast +in the varnish.</p> + +<p>In a little while the varnish had softened, and Mr. Bobbsey could lift +Snoop up and hand her to his wife. Then he took up the board, and washed +from Snoop's paws what remained of the varnish. She was all right now, +and purred happily as Flossie and Freddie took turns holding her.</p> + +<p>"But the floor is spoiled—or that part is where you poured the +turpentine," said Mrs. Bobbsey.</p> + +<p>"The painter will varnish that part over when he comes in the morning," +said Mr. Bobbsey. "Then we must keep Snoop out of the way until it +dries."</p> + +<p>And this was done. The floor was gone over again with the varnish brush, +and the marks of Snoop's paws did not show. Nor did the cat again go +into the parlor until the floor was hard and dry.</p> + +<p>"Mother," asked Nan one day, about a week after Snoop had been stuck +fast in the varnish, "may I have a little party?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span></p> + +<p>"A party, Nan?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, just a few boys and girls from my class in school. The parlor +looks so nice now, with the new floor, that I'd like to give a party. +May I?"</p> + +<p>"Well, yes, I guess so," answered Mrs. Bobbsey. "How many would you +invite?"</p> + +<p>"About a dozen. We could have sandwiches, ice cream and cake. I could +bake a cake myself."</p> + +<p>"Well, you might try. I have showed you how to make a simple cake, that +is not too rich for little stomachs. You might bake a sponge cake, and +put icing on top. Yes, I think you may have a party, Nan."</p> + +<p>"Oh, thank you, Mother. Now I'll write the invitations."</p> + +<p>"I'll help you," offered Flossie.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid, dear, you can't write quite well enough," said Nan with a +smile. "But you may seal the envelopes for me, and put on the postage +stamps."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I like to do that!" cried Flossie. "The sticky stuff on the stamps +tastes so nice on your tongue."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It is better to wet the <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'enevelope'">envelope</ins> flaps and the sticky side of the +stamps with a damp cloth or a sponge than with your tongue," said Mother +Bobbsey. "I'll show you the way."</p> + +<p>So when Nan had written out the invitations on some cards, she and +Flossie put them in envelopes. Then Mrs. Bobbsey gave them each a little +sponge, which they dampened in water, and with that they moistened the +sticky places, both of the stamps and the envelopes. And so the +invitations were made ready to mail.</p> + +<p>"Have you invited any boys to the party?" asked Bert.</p> + +<p>"Yes, some," answered Nan. "But only a few."</p> + +<p>"Then I'll come," he said. "I don't like a party with just nothing but +girls."</p> + +<p>"And I'll help Nan bake her cake," offered Flossie.</p> + +<p>"So will I," added Freddie. "I like to clean out the cake dishes, and +eat the sweet dough and the icing."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I want to do some of that, too!" cried Flossie.</p> + +<p>"I can see what kind of a time you're going <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span>to have making your cake!" +laughed Bert, "with those two youngsters hanging around."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'll take care of them," said Nan, smiling.</p> + +<p>"Goin' t' bake a cake, is yo'?" asked Dinah, when Nan came out in the +kitchen the next Saturday, which was the date of the party. "Don't yo' +all t'ink yo'd bettah let me make it fo' yo'?"</p> + +<p>"No, thank you, Dinah, I want to make it myself," said Nan. "I want to +show the girls and boys that I know how to make a cake almost, if not +quite, as well as you and mother make them."</p> + +<p>"Well, honey, ef yo' makes a cake as good as yo' ma, den yo' will +suttinly be a fine cook," returned Dinah. "Fo' yo' ma is suah a prime +cake-maker!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't suppose the cake will be as good as mother's," said Nan, +"but still I'll never learn if I don't try."</p> + +<p>So Nan began her cake. Flossie and Freddie were playing out in the yard, +but when they saw Nan in the kitchen, in they came, running.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to help!" cried Freddie.</p> + +<p>"So'm I," added his sister.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, there's not much you can do," said Nan, "except to hand me the +things I need. First I'm going to get everything together on the table, +and then I won't have to fuss around, and get in Dinah's way."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yo' won't be in mah way, honey-lamb!" said the loving old colored +woman. "Jest make yo'se'f right t' home."</p> + +<p>Nan got from the pantry the eggs, the flour, the sugar, and the other +things that were needed to make a sponge cake. Then when she had the +brown bowl ready in which the cake batter would be mixed she sat down on +a high stool at the table, with Flossie on one side and Freddie on the +other.</p> + +<p>"Now, Flossie, you hand me an egg," said Nan, and Flossie picked one up +from the dish. She was handing it over to her sister, but her chubby +fingers slipped and—crack! went the egg down on the floor, breaking, of +course.</p> + +<p>"Oh dear!" cried Flossie. "Now the cake is spoiled!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, not because one egg is broken," said Nan. "But still we must be +more careful. Perhaps I had better handle the eggs myself."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You had if you want any cake," called Bert, looking in through the +window on his way to play ball with Ned Barton and Charley Mason.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I guess we'll make out all right," laughed Nan. She broke the eggs +into the dish, and then she let Flossie and Freddie take turns in +handing her the flour, sugar, and other things she needed; things that +could not be broken if little hands dropped them. But nothing more was +dropped, though Nan herself did spill a little flour on the floor.</p> + +<p>"Is this batter right now, Dinah?" Nan asked, when she had stirred up +the cake mixture with a long spoon. The cook looked in the brown bowl.</p> + +<p>"Jest a leetle mo' flour," she said, "den it'll be stiff enough an' +ready fo' de oven. An' after it's baked yo' kin mix up de sugar-icin' t' +go on de top."</p> + +<p>Nan stirred in more flour and then poured the batter into a pan to be +baked in the oven of the stove. She carried the pan carefully across the +kitchen.</p> + +<p>"Don't fall and spill it," called Flossie.</p> + +<p>"I'll try not to," Nan said.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span></p> + +<p>Just then into the kitchen with a rush came Snap. He saw Nan with a pan +in her hands, and he must have thought she had something for him to eat, +for with a joyful bark he made straight for her.</p> + +<p>"Oh, hold him back! Don't let him come near me or I'll spill my cake +before it's baked!" cried Nan. "Hold Snap, Flossie—Freddie!"</p> + +<p>"We will!" cried the smaller twins.</p> + +<p>Both of them made a rush for Snap, and caught him by the collar. But the +dog thought this was some funny game, and, wagging his tail, he pulled +the two children across the slippery oilcloth of the kitchen floor.</p> + +<p>"Hold him back! Hold him!" begged Nan. She was almost at the oven now. +If she could get the cake safely in it she would be all right, for Snap +would not go near the stove.</p> + +<p>"We—we can't hold him!" panted Freddie. "He's pulling us too—too +hard!"</p> + +<p>Snap, indeed, was dragging the little Bobbsey twins right across the +room toward Nan, who was moving slowly toward the stove. She could not +move fast for fear of spilling the cake batter, or dropping the pan.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Dinah! Dinah!" called Flossie, to the colored cook who had gone into +the dining room for a moment. "Come quick, or Nan won't have any cake. +Snap wants it!"</p> + +<p>I don't suppose that the dog really wanted the cake batter, though he +liked sweet things. But he thought Nan had his dinner in the pan.</p> + +<p>However, before he could get near enough to her to "jiggle" her arm, and +make her drop the pan, Dinah came in.</p> + +<p>"Heah, you Snap!" cried the cook with a laugh. "Yo' done got t' git +outen dish yeah kitchen when cake-bakin' am goin' on!"</p> + +<p>She reached for Snap's collar, and, as Dinah was very strong, she +managed to hold the big dog, who was barking and wagging his tail faster +than ever. He thought they were all playing with him.</p> + +<p>"Hurry, honey!" called Dinah to Nan. "Snap's pullin' away from me a +little."</p> + +<p>Nan reached the oven, and put the cake in, closing the door.</p> + +<p>"There!" she cried. "Now it's all right, and you can let go of Snap!"</p> + +<p>"An' he'd bettah git outdoors where he kin <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span>romp around t' suit +hisse'f," added Dinah. "Kitchens ain't no place fo' dogs when bakin's +goin' on."</p> + +<p>So Snap was put outside, with a nice bone to gnaw, and he did not feel +unhappy. Flossie and Freddie cleaned out the brown bowl, on the sides +and bottom of which were bits of the sweet cake batter. And after Nan +had mixed up sugar and water to make icing to go on top of the cake, the +two little twins cleaned out that dish also.</p> + +<p>Finally Nan's cake was done. It was taken from the oven, being a lovely +brown in color, and, after it had cooled, the icing was put on top. Then +the cake was put away for the party.</p> + +<p><ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'Everyone one'">Everyone</ins>, whom Nan had invited, came that night. There were more than a +dozen, counting the Bobbsey twins, and they all had a good time. They +played a number of games, ending with hide-and-go-seek.</p> + +<p>Freddie wanted to "blind" and look for the others, so they let him do +it. One after another the others stole away on tiptoe, while Freddie +stood with his head in a corner that he might <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span>not see where they hid. +Each boy and each girl picked out a place where he thought Freddie would +not see him.</p> + +<p>"Ready or not I'm coming," called the little boy at last.</p> + +<p>Then he opened his eyes and started to look for the hidden children. The +piano in the parlor stood out a little way from the wall, and Freddie +thought that would be a good place for some one to hide. He thrust his +head behind it, to see if any one was back of it, there being just about +room enough for him to do his. No one was there, but when Freddie tried +to pull his head out again it would not come.</p> + +<p>"Oh! oh!" he cried, and his voice sounded queer, coming from behind the +piano. "Oh. I'm stuck! I'm caught fast just like Snoop, only worse! +Papa! Mamma! Come and get me out of the piano!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h3>IN THE LUMBER YARD</h3> + + +<p>From all sorts of hiding places came running the boys and girls who had +been playing hide-and-seek. Freddie's voice told every one that he was +in trouble.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Freddie!" cried Flossie, who had hidden under the couch in the +dining room. "What's the matter? Where's your head?" For she saw only +her brother's little fat legs and plump body near the piano. "Where's +your head, Freddie?" she cried.</p> + +<p>"It's in behind here!" the chubby little fellow replied. "I can't get it +out from behind the piano! My ears stick out so far they catch on the +edge of the piano."</p> + +<p>By this time Nan had come from her hiding place, and she made her way +through the crowd of children who were looking in wonder at the sight of +Freddie so caught.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, Freddie, how did it happen?" asked Nan.</p> + +<p>"Don't ask him how it happened," said Bert. "Let's get him out, and +he'll tell us afterward."</p> + +<p>"Yes, do get me out!" begged Freddie.</p> + +<p>Bert and Nan took hold of their little brother and tried to pull him out +backward. But he seemed stuck quite fast.</p> + +<p>"Can't you push yourself out?" asked Bert.</p> + +<p>"I'll try," said Freddie bravely. So he pushed backward as hard as he +could, while Bert and Nan pulled.</p> + +<p>"Let me help, too!" begged Flossie. "I want to get Freddie out!"</p> + +<p>But there was no room for Flossie to get hold of her brother. Nan and +Bert pulled once more, while Freddie himself pushed, but his head was +still held fast between the back of the piano and the wall of the room.</p> + +<p>"Oh! Oh! Can't you get me loose?" wailed the little "fireman."</p> + +<p>"We'd better call mother!" cried Nan.</p> + +<p>But there was no need of this for Mrs. Bobbsey came hurrying into the +room just then.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> She had heard Freddie's cries while she was upstairs, +and, guessing that something was wrong, she had come to see what it was.</p> + +<p>"Oh Freddie!" she exclaimed as soon as she saw what had happened. "You +poor little boy!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, please get me out, Mamma!" he begged.</p> + +<p>"I will, in just a minute. Now stand still, and don't push or squirm any +more, or you'll hurt yourself."</p> + +<p>Then Mrs. Bobbsey, instead of trying to pull or push Freddie out, just +shoved on the piano, moving it a little way out from the wall, for it +had little wheels under it, and, as the floor was smooth, it rolled +easily.</p> + +<p>"There, now you can pull your head out," said Mrs. Bobbsey, and, surely +enough, Freddie could. The trouble had been, just as he had said, his +ears. His head went in between the piano and wall all right, but when he +went to pull himself loose, after seeing that no one was hiding there, +his ears sort of bent forward and caught him.</p> + +<p>"I—I'll never do that again!" Freddie said, his face very red, as he +straightened up.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span></p> + +<p>"No, I wouldn't if I were you," returned his mother with a smile. "Never +put your head or your arm in any place unless you are sure you can get +it out again. Sometimes a cat will put her head in a tin can to get +whatever there may be in it to eat. And the edges of the tin catch on +her ears just as yours were caught, Freddie. So be careful after this."</p> + +<p>Freddie promised that he would, and then the hiding game went on. Only +Freddie, you may be sure, did not look behind the piano again, and no +one hid there.</p> + +<p>"Oh, your party was perfectly lovely, Nan!" said the girls and boys when +they had finished their games, and had eaten the good things Mrs. +Bobbsey set on the table.</p> + +<p>"Wasn't the cake good?" asked Freddie, looking as though he wanted a +second piece.</p> + +<p>"Indeed it was, dear," said Ellen Moore.</p> + +<p>"We helped Nan make it," declared Flossie. "Didn't we, Nan?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, you helped <i>some</i>—by cleaning out the dishes."</p> + +<p>"And Snap nearly made Nan spill the cake when she was putting it in the +oven," went on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> Freddie. "Only we helped hold him; didn't we, Nan?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, you certainly helped there."</p> + +<p>At last the party was over, and Nan's cake, as well as the other good +things, was all eaten up. Then the children went home.</p> + +<p>About a week after this the postman left some letters at the home of the +Bobbsey twins. Mrs. Bobbsey smiled when she read one, and when Bert and +Nan, Flossie and Freddie came home from school their mother said to +them:</p> + +<p>"I have a surprise for you. See if you can guess what it is."</p> + +<p>"Freddie and I are going to have a party!" guessed Flossie.</p> + +<p>"No, dear. No more parties right away."</p> + +<p>"We're going on a visit!" guessed Nan.</p> + +<p>"No indeed. We just came back from one."</p> + +<p>"Then some one is coming here," guessed Bert.</p> + +<p>"That's it," his mother answered. "Uncle William Minturn and Aunt Emily, +from Ocean Cliff, are coming to pay us a little visit."</p> + +<p>"And is Cousin Dorothy coming, too?" Nan asked.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, they will all be here in a few days now."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm so glad!" cried Nan, clapping her hands. "We shall have <i>such</i> +fun!"</p> + +<p>"And can I have fun with you, too?" asked Flossie.</p> + +<p>"Yes, dear," Nan promised.</p> + +<p>"I wish Dorothy were a boy," put in Bert. "Of course I like her, but I +can't have any fun with her. I wish Cousin Harry would come on from +Meadow Brook. Then we <i>could</i> have a good time."</p> + +<p>"You had a good time with Harry this Summer," suggested Mrs. Bobbsey.</p> + +<p>"I like Dorothy," said Freddie, "and I'm glad she's coming 'cause I want +to ask her something very much."</p> + +<p>"What is it?" inquired Bert</p> + +<p>"It's a secret," and Freddie looked very wise and important.</p> + +<p>A few days later Mr. and Mrs. Minturn and their daughter Dorothy came +from the seashore to pay a visit to the Bobbsey family.</p> + +<p>Of course Bert was glad to see Dorothy, and was very nice to her, taking +his cousin and Nan <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span>down to the store to buy some ice cream. But as Bert +was a boy, and liked to play boys' games, Dorothy was better suited to +Nan and Flossie than she was to Bert.</p> + +<p>Freddie, however, seemed to be especially pleased that his cousin from +the seashore had come on a visit. He watched his chance to have a talk +with her alone, and the first thing he asked was:</p> + +<p>"Dorothy, do you know where I can get a ship to go sailing on the +ocean?"</p> + +<p>"Go sailing on the ocean!" cried Dorothy. "What for, Freddie?"</p> + +<p>"To find Tommy Todd's shipwrecked father. He wants to find him awful +bad, and I promised to help. I was going to save up to buy a ship, but +Daddy says it takes a long time. And I thought maybe as you lived near +the ocean you could get a ship for us.</p> + +<p>"It needn't be very large, 'cause only Tommy and Flossie and Dinah, our +cook, and I will go in it. But we'd like to go soon, for Tommy's +grandmother is poor, and if we could find his father he might bring her +some money."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you funny little boy!" cried Dorothy.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> "To think of going off in a +ship! I never heard of such a thing!"</p> + +<p>"Well, we're going!" said Freddie. "So if you hear of a ship we can get +you tell me; will you, Dorothy?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, my dear, I will. Is that what you've been trying to ask me ever +since we got here?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. I didn't want Nan and Bert to hear. You won't tell them; will +you?"</p> + +<p>"No, Freddie. I'll keep your secret."</p> + +<p>But of course Dorothy knew there was no ship which so little a boy as +Freddie could get in order to go sailing across the sea. But she did not +want him to feel disappointed, and she knew better than to laugh at him. +Freddie was very much in earnest.</p> + +<p>Dorothy Minturn spent two happy weeks with the Bobbsey twins. She and +they had many good times, and more than once Freddie asked the seashore +cousin if she had yet found a ship for him and Tommy.</p> + +<p>At last Dorothy thought it best to tell Freddie that there were no ships +which she could get for him.</p> + +<p>"Well, that's too bad," said Freddie, after <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>thinking about it for +several seconds. "If I can't buy a ship, and if you can't get one for +me, Dorothy, I know what I can do."</p> + +<p>"What?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"I can make one. My papa has lots of boards in his lumber yard. I'll go +down there and make a ship for Tommy and me."</p> + +<p>The next day Freddie asked his mother if he might not go down to his +father's yard. As the way was safe, and as he had often gone before, +Mrs. Bobbsey said he might go this time. Off trudged Freddie, with some +nails in one pocket and pieces of string in another.</p> + +<p>"I can use a stone for a hammer," he said, "and nail some boards +together to make a ship. That's what I'll do."</p> + +<p>Freddie first went to his father's office, which he always did, so Mr. +Bobbsey would know his son was at the yard. This time it happened that +Mr. Bobbsey was very busy. He looked at Freddie for a moment, and then +said:</p> + +<p>"Now Freddie, do you see where James is sitting by that pile of +shingles?" and he pointed across the yard.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I see," Freddie answered. He knew<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> James very well. He was the day +watchman in the lumber yard, and he walked around here and there, seeing +that everything was all right.</p> + +<p>"Well, you go over to James and tell him I said he was to look after +you," went on Mr. Bobbsey. "You may play about, but keep near James, and +you'll be all right. When you get tired come back here."</p> + +<p>"<ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'Ah'">All</ins> right," said Freddie.</p> + +<p>He and the other Bobbsey children often came to their father's yard to +have good times, and James, or some of the men, was always told to look +after the twins, if Mr. Bobbsey happened to be busy.</p> + +<p>"Hello, James," called Freddie, as he walked over to the watchman.</p> + +<p>"Hello!" answered the man cheerfully. "What are you doing here?"</p> + +<p>"I've come to have some fun and play with you."</p> + +<p>"All right," answered James. "What shall we play first?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h3>A QUEER PLAY-HOUSE</h3> + + +<p>Freddie Bobbsey thought for a minute. He and James had played numbers of +games on other days when Freddie was allowed to come to his father's +lumber yard. This time Freddie wanted to think of something new.</p> + +<p>"Do you want me to tell you a story?" asked the watchman, for this was +one of the "games." James knew many fine stories, for he had used to +live in the woods, and had chopped down big trees, which were afterward +sawed into boards, such as were now piled about the lumber yard.</p> + +<p>Freddie always liked to have the old watchman tell tales of what had +happened in the woods, but this time the little chap said:</p> + +<p>"Thank you, no, James. I want to do some thing else."</p> + +<p>"All right, Freddie. Shall we play steamboat, and shall I be the +whistle?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span></p> + +<p>This was another fine game, in which Freddie got upon a pile of lumber +and pretended it was a steamboat, while on the ground, down below, the +watchman made a noise like a whistle, and pretended to put wood on the +make-believe fire to send the steamboat along.</p> + +<p>"No, I don't want to play steamboat," Freddie said. "But this game has a +boat in it. Did you ever build a ship to go sailing in?"</p> + +<p>"No, Freddie. I never did. Do you want to play that game?"</p> + +<p>"Yes but I want to make a <i>real</i> boat. You see Tommy Todd's father is +lost at sea, and we are going to look for him. So I want to make a ship. +There's lumber enough, I guess."</p> + +<p>"I guess there is," said James, looking around at the many piles of +boards in Mr. Bobbsey's yards. "There's enough lumber, Freddie, but I +don't know about making a ship. How big would it have to be?"</p> + +<p>"Well, big enough to hold me and Tommy and my sister Flossie and Dinah, +our cook. Dinah's very fat you know, James, and we'll have to make the +ship specially big enough for her. Will you help me?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Why yes, I guess so, Freddie. That game will be as good as any to play, +and I can do it sitting down, which is a comfort."</p> + +<p>"Oh, but it's going to be a <i>real</i> ship!" declared Freddie. "I've got +the nails to put it together with, and string for the sails. I can use a +stone for a hammer," and he began to look about on the ground for one.</p> + +<p>James scratched his <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'bead'">head</ins> as he saw the bent and crooked nails Freddie +had piled up on a bundle of shingles near by. Then the watchman glanced +at the tangle of string.</p> + +<p>"As soon as I find a stone for a hammer we'll start," Freddie said. "You +can get out the boards."</p> + +<p>James wanted to be kind and amuse Freddie all he could, for he liked the +little boy. But to pull boards out of the neat piles in Mr. Bobbsey's +lumber yard was not allowed, unless the boards were to be put on a wagon +to be carted off and sold.</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you what we'd better do, Freddie," said the watchman at last.</p> + +<p>"What?" Freddie asked.</p> + +<p>"We'd better make a little ship first. That <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>will be easy and we can +make it like a big one. Then we'll have something to go by—a sort of +pattern, such as your mother uses when she makes a dress for your little +sister."</p> + +<p>"Oh yes!" cried Freddie. "That's what we'll do—make a little pattern +ship first. It will be easier."</p> + +<p>"Much easier," said James. "Now I'll find some small pieces of board for +you, and——"</p> + +<p>But just then one of the workmen in the yard called to the watchman to +come and help him pile some lumber on a wagon.</p> + +<p>"Wait just a minute, Freddie," said James. "I'll be back soon and help +you."</p> + +<p>"All right," answered Freddie. He sat down on a pile of shingles, and +thought of the time when he and Tommy Todd should set off on their ship +to find the shipwrecked Mr. Todd.</p> + +<p>The watchman was gone longer than he expected. Freddie grew tired of +waiting for him, and finally said to himself:</p> + +<p>"I'm going to look for some wood myself. I guess I can find it." He +looked for some on the ground, but, though there were many chips, and +broken pieces, there was none of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>kind Freddie thought would be good +for a toy ship—the pattern after which the real one would be made.</p> + +<p>"I guess I'll climb up on one of these piles of lumber," thought +Freddie, "and see if there are any small pieces of board on top. It is +easy to climb up."</p> + +<p>This was true enough, and once or twice before Freddie had made his way +to the top of a pile. Each stack of lumber was made in a sort of +slanting fashion, so that the back of it was almost like a pair of +steps. Lumber is piled this way to let the rain run off better.</p> + +<p>Freddie went up the back part of a pile, some distance away from the +bundles of shingles where he had been talking to James.</p> + +<p>"This is an easy place to climb," Freddie said to himself. "I hope I +shall find what I want on top."</p> + +<p>Step by step he went up the pile of lumber, until he was at the top. +But, to his disappointment, he found there nothing which he could bring +James to use in making a small ship. The boards were all too long and +wide.</p> + +<p>"I might bring one down, and have James <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span>cut it smaller with his knife," +said Freddie, speaking aloud. "That's what I'll do."</p> + +<p>He lifted up one of the boards. As he did so the little boy noticed that +the pile of lumber was swaying a little from side to side as he moved +about.</p> + +<p>"I guess I'd better get down off here," Freddie said. "This is too +jiggily." He had been told to keep off "jiggily" lumber piles, as they +were not safe.</p> + +<p>Freddie dragged to the edge the board he had picked out for the watchman +to make smaller. The little boy was just going to slide it over the edge +of the pile to the ground, when, all at once Freddie felt himself +falling.</p> + +<p>"Oh dear!" he cried. "Something is going to happen!"</p> + +<p>And something did happen. The lumber pile with Freddie on top, was +falling over. Freddie did not know what to do; whether or not to jump. +He looked down, but neither James nor any other man was in sight; and +the office, where Freddie's father was working, was far on the other +side of the yard.</p> + +<p>"Oh dear!" cried Freddie again.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span></p> + +<p>And then, with a crash, the top of the lumber pile slid over, carrying +Freddie with it. A cloud of dust arose and the little Bobbsey chap could +see nothing for a few seconds. And when he did open his eyes, after +feeling himself come down with a hard bump, he found himself in a queer +little house.</p> + +<p>It really was a sort of house in which Freddie found himself—a little +play-house, almost. The lumber had fallen about him in such a way that +Freddie had not been hurt or squeezed by it in the least. The boards had +piled up over his head, in a peak, like the peaked roof of a real house. +Other boards were on the sides and in front, and there Freddie was, in a +queer play-house that had made itself when the lumber slid over.</p> + +<p>"Well!" thought Freddie, "this is funny! But I wonder how I can get +out."</p> + +<p>It was not dark in the queer play-house, for light came in between the +cracks among the boards and planks. But though the cracks and openings +were large enough to let in the light, they were not large enough to let +Freddie get out.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span></p> + +<p>The little boy pushed here and there, but the lumber was too heavy for +him to move. Then he happened to think that if he did move one board it +might loosen others which would fall down on his head.</p> + +<p>"I'm in a little house," thought Freddie, "and I guess I'd better call +my father to come and get me out. He'll know how to lift off the boards. +I'll call daddy or James."</p> + +<p>Freddie began to call. But as several lumber wagons were rattling up and +down the yard just then, the little boy's voice was not heard. James, +having finished helping the man load his wagon, came back to where he +had left Freddie.</p> + +<p>"Well, shall we start to make a little ship now?" asked the watchman. +But no Freddie was in sight near the shingle pile.</p> + +<p>"Humph! He got tired of waiting, I guess," thought James, "and went back +to his father's office. Well, if he comes back I'll help him. He's a +queer little chap, wanting to build a ship. A queer little chap."</p> + +<p>And James never thought of going to look for Freddie, for the lumber +pile, which had fallen and made itself into a sort of play-house <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>was +some distance away from the bundle of shingles. So James sat there in +the sun, waiting, and, far off, Freddie was calling for help. For he +wanted to get out, very much.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h3>TOMMY IS REWARDED</h3> + + +<p>Freddie Bobbsey was a wise little chap, even if he was only about five +years old, and when he found that he was shut up in the queer +play-house, and could not get out, he did not cry. He stopped calling +for help, when he found no one answered him, and sat down to think what +was best to do.</p> + +<p>"It would be nice in here, if Flossie could be with me to play," he said +to himself. "But she couldn't get in unless some way was opened, or +unless one of the cracks was made bigger. There ought to be a door and +some windows to this place. Then we could go in and out, and have fun. +And we ought to have something to eat, too," Freddie went on.</p> + +<p>But there was nothing to eat under the pile of lumber, and Freddie had +not thought to put a piece of cake or an apple in his pocket <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span>as he +sometimes did when he went to visit his father.</p> + +<p>That morning he had thought of nothing much but about making a ship to +go sailing with Tommy Todd to look for Tommy's father. And all Freddie +had put in his pockets were the nails and bits of string. He could not +eat them, and, anyhow, they were back by the pile of shingles where he +had been talking to James.</p> + +<p>"Maybe James will come and find me after a bit," Freddie thought. "I'll +just stay here and wait."</p> + +<p>He called as loudly as he could once or twice more, but no one answered +him. Freddie made himself as easy as he could in the queer little lumber +play-house, and, as it was warm with the sun shining down, pretty soon +he felt sleepy. How long he slept Freddie did not know, but, all of a +sudden he was awakened by hearing a scratching sound near his ear. Some +one was scratching away at the lumber.</p> + +<p>"Who is there?" Freddie cried, sitting up.</p> + +<p>No one answered but Freddie again heard the scratching.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh—oh!" he exclaimed, shrinking back in one corner. "I wonder if that +is a big rat? Rats scratch and gnaw."</p> + +<p>Once more came the funny sound, and then Freddie heard:</p> + +<p>Mew! Mew!</p> + +<p>"Oh! Now I know that isn't a rat!" cried the little boy. "Rats can +scratch, but rats can't mew. Only cats can do that! Here, pussy!" he +called. "Come in and see me!"</p> + +<p>Once more there was a scratching and a mewing and up through one of the +larger cracks same a big gray cat, that lived in the lumber yard. +Freddie knew her quite well, for he had often seen her in his father's +office.</p> + +<p>"Oh Sawdust!" he called joyfully. Sawdust was the cat's name; a very +good name for a lumber yard cat, I think. "I'm so glad it's you, +Sawdust!" cried Freddie.</p> + +<p>The big cat came up to Freddie, and rubbed against his legs. The little +boy rubbed her back and the cat's tail stood up stiff and straight, like +the flag pole in front of Mr. Bobbsey's office.</p> + +<p>"I thought you were a rat, Sawdust," went <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span>on Freddie. "But I'm glad you +weren't. I like you!"</p> + +<p>The cat purred again. She seemed to like Freddie, too. Soon she curled +up beside him, and Freddie put his arm around her. And, before he knew +it he was asleep again, and so was Sawdust. She had found her way into +the queer play-house while wandering about the lumber yard as she often +did, taking walks, I suppose, to make sure there were no mice or rats +about.</p> + +<p>It was not long after this that Mr. Bobbsey left the office to go over +to one part of his lumber yard to see about some boards a man wanted to +buy. On the way Freddie's father passed the place where James, the +watchman, was sitting by the shingles.</p> + +<p>"Well, did Freddie bother you much?" asked Mr. Bobbsey. "I'll look after +him now, as I'm not so busy."</p> + +<p>"Why no, he didn't bother me, Mr. Bobbsey," said the watchman. "He +wanted to build a toy boat, and he brought some nails and string. I had +to go over to help Jason load his wagon, and when I came back, having +left<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> Freddie to hunt for some boards, he wasn't here. Didn't he go back +to the office?"</p> + +<p>"Why no, he didn't!" exclaimed Mr. Bobbsey, in some alarm. "I haven't +seen him. I wonder where he can have gone?"</p> + +<p>They looked up and down the rows between the piles of lumber, but no +Freddie could be seen.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps he went home," said James. "You could find out by calling Mrs. +Bobbsey on the telephone."</p> + +<p>"So I could, yes. But if I asked if Freddie were home she would want to +know why I asked, and why he wasn't here with me—that is, if he wasn't +at home. Then she would worry for fear something had happened to him. +No, I'll have to find out in some other way."</p> + +<p>"I could take a walk down past the house," the watchman said. "I could +look in and see if Freddie was there. If he wasn't, we'd know he was +somewhere around the yard yet."</p> + +<p>"Well, you might do that," Mr. Bobbsey said. He himself was a little +worried now. "But don't let Mrs. Bobbsey see you," he went <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span>on to James. +"If she did she'd want to know what you were doing away from the yard. +Just walk past the house. If Freddie is at home he'll be out in the yard +playing. If you don't see him let me know. Meanwhile, I'll be searching +around here for him, and I'll get some of the men to look with me."</p> + +<p>"All right," agreed James, hurrying off. While he was gone Mr. Bobbsey +looked around the many lumber piles near the bundles of shingles where +Freddie had last been seen. But no little boy was in sight, being, as we +know, fast asleep, with the big yard cat, under the pile of boards which +had fallen in the shape of a little play-house.</p> + +<p>"This is queer," thought Mr. Bobbsey. "Freddie never goes home by +himself after he has come to see me without telling me that he is going. +I wonder where he is."</p> + +<p>Mr. Bobbsey looked and called Freddie's name, but the little fellow, +being sound asleep, did not hear.</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Bobbsey told several of his men about the little lost boy, and +they began searching for him. No one thought of looking under <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span>the pile +of boards, for there were many such in the yard. And so Freddie remained +hidden.</p> + +<p>When he was not to be found Mr. Bobbsey grew more and more anxious, and +he hoped that James would come back to say that Freddie was safe at +home.</p> + +<p>But when the watchman came back he said:</p> + +<p>"Your other children are playing in the yard of your house, Mr. Bobbsey. +Bert, Nan and Flossie are there. But Freddie isn't with them."</p> + +<p>"Maybe he is in the house, getting something to eat," said Mr. Bobbsey.</p> + +<p>"No, I hardly think so," answered James, "for when I was going past the +house, on the other side of the street so they wouldn't see me, a little +boy, who plays with Freddie, came running along. He called to Nan, this +other little boy did, to know where Freddie was."</p> + +<p>"And what did Nan say?"</p> + +<p>"She said Freddie was down at the lumber yard."</p> + +<p>"Then he can't have gone home, or Nan would know it. He must be around +here somewhere. I—I hope he didn't go near the lake. And yet he might, +with his idea of boats."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't believe he would do <i>that</i>, Mr. Bobbsey," said James. +"We'll find him."</p> + +<p>Mr. Bobbsey and the men scattered through the lumber yard, looking on +all sides of the many piles. But still no one thought of looking under +the boards that had slid off the stack upon which Freddie had climbed. +For it did not seem as though any one could be beneath them.</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't know what to do," said Mr. Bobbsey, after a bit. "I guess +I'll blow the big fire whistle, and get all the men from the shops and +every place to help us look. This is too bad!"</p> + +<p>Besides the lumber yard Mr. Bobbsey owned a mill, or shop, where boards +were made into doors, windows and other parts of houses. Many men worked +in this shop.</p> + +<p>All this while Freddie was peacefully sleeping under the lumber, with +Sawdust curled up near him, purring happily.</p> + +<p>Finally, Freddie awakened again, and as he sat up and rubbed his eyes he +could not, for a moment, remember where he was: Then he looked down and +saw Sawdust, and he said:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm in my little lumber play-house yet. I must get out. Where did +you get in, Sawdust? Maybe I can get out the way you came in. Show me +where it was."</p> + +<p>Sawdust mewed. Perhaps she knew that Freddie was in trouble, though she +did not quite understand all that he said. At any rate the big cat +walked over toward a large crack, and squeezed her way through it to the +outside.</p> + +<p>"That's too small for me," said Freddie, for he could not get even one +foot through the opening. "I'll have to find a bigger place."</p> + +<p>He looked all over but there was none. Then he called out as loudly as +he could:</p> + +<p>"Papa! Mamma! Help me! I'm under the lumber!"</p> + +<p>Freddie paused to listen. He heard some one walking past the pile of +lumber. The little boy called as hard as he could:</p> + +<p>"Get me out! Get me out!"</p> + +<p>Then, suddenly, a voice asked:</p> + +<p>"Who are you and where are you?"</p> + +<p>"I'm Freddie Bobbsey," was the answer. "I'm down under the lumber and I +can't get out. Please help me. Who are you?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Of course I'll help you, Freddie," was the answer. "I'm Tommy Todd. I +just happened to pass through the lumber yard. I'm going to ask your +father if he has any errands for me to do, as it's Saturday and there is +no school. But I'll get you out first, Freddie."</p> + +<p>"Oh Tommy! I'm so glad you came. Please get me out!"</p> + +<p>But to get Freddie out from under the lumber was too hard for little +Tommy Todd.</p> + +<p>"I'll run and tell your father, Freddie," Tommy said. "Don't be afraid. +He'll soon get you out."</p> + +<p>"I'm not afraid," Freddie said.</p> + +<p>Tommy ran up to Mr. Bobbsey, who was just getting ready to blow the big +mill whistle and call out all the men, more than a hundred of them, to +help search for the missing boy.</p> + +<p>"Oh Mr. Bobbsey!" cried Tommy. "Freddie can't get out and I can't get +him out."</p> + +<p>"Where is he? Tell me quickly!"</p> + +<p>"He's under a pile of lumber. I'll show you!"</p> + +<p>Tommy quickly led the way, Mr. Bobbsey, James and some other men +following. When <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span>they reached the pile of lumber that had slid over +Freddie's head the men carefully but quickly lifted away the boards, and +the little boy could come out.</p> + +<p>"Oh Freddie!" cried his father. "I was so worried about you! What +happened?"</p> + +<p>Then Freddie told of having climbed up on the lumber pile, and of its +having toppled over with him, but not hurting him in the least.</p> + +<p>"It was just like a play-house," he said. "And I heard a scratching and +thought it was a rat. But it was Sawdust."</p> + +<p>"I saw the cat come out from under the lumber," said Tommy. "But I did +not know Freddie was there until I heard him calling. I was coming to +you to ask if you had any work for me this Saturday, as there isn't any +school. I need to work to earn money for my grandmother."</p> + +<p>"Work? Of course I can give you work," said Mr. Bobbsey, who had Freddie +in his arms. "You deserve a good reward for finding Freddie for us, and +you shall have it. I'm glad I didn't have to call out all the men, for +if I had blown the big whistle Mrs. Bobbsey <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span>would have heard it, and +she would have thought there was a fire."</p> + +<p>So Tommy Todd was rewarded for having found where the lost Freddie was. +The fresh air boy was given some easy work to do, for which he was well +paid, and besides this, Mr. Bobbsey gave the grandmother five dollars to +buy the food and the clothing which she needed very much.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad I happened to come past the lumber pile where you were," said +Tommy a little later, when he was taking Freddie home, for Mr. Bobbsey +sent Tommy along to see that the little chap did not get lost again.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad, too," said Freddie. "I'm not going to climb up on lumber +piles any more. But we've got to make that boat, Tommy, and sail off to +find your father."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I wish we could find him, but I'm afraid we can't. Anyhow it will +be Winter soon and it isn't any fun going to sea in the Winter, so my +grandmother says. Maybe we'd better wait until it's Summer again before +we think of the ship."</p> + +<p>"Well, maybe we had, Tommy."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<h3>THE FIRST FROST</h3> + + +<p>Mrs. Bobbsey was quite surprised when Tommy brought Freddie home, and +she was more surprised when she heard what had happened, and how Freddie +had been caught under the lumber.</p> + +<p>"Dear me, I am glad they found you, Freddie!" she cried, kissing him.</p> + +<p>"And so Tommy found you; did he?" asked Nan, smiling at the boy whom +they had met in the train the day the fresh air children came home from +the country.</p> + +<p>"Yes," Tommy answered. "I was going on an errand for my grandmother, and +the shortest way was through the lumber yard. I thought it would be a +good chance to ask your father for work. And I am to have it—every +Saturday and on some other days after school."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You'll earn a lot of money," Freddie said, "and then we can build our +ship."</p> + +<p>"He can't get that idea out of his head," remarked Bert to Nan.</p> + +<p>"Oh, he's anxious to help Tommy find his father," Nan answered. "I wish +it would happen, but I'm afraid he never will be found."</p> + +<p>Having seen that Freddie was safe at home, Tommy hurried back to the +lumber yard office. Then he went on a number of errands for Mr. Bobbsey. +The twins' father said, that night, he had seldom met such a bright and +willing boy.</p> + +<p>"Tommy will grow up to be a fine man, I'm sure," said Mr. Bobbsey.</p> + +<p>One day, a little while after Freddie had been lost under the lumber +pile, he and Flossie were standing in the school yard at recess, Alice +Boyd came up to them.</p> + +<p>"Want some candy?" she asked, holding out some in a paper.</p> + +<p>"Thanks," said Freddie, taking some.</p> + +<p>"Where did you get it?" Flossie inquired, as she took a piece.</p> + +<p>"My sister and I made it," answered Alice.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span></p> + +<p>"How do you make candy?" inquired Freddie.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you just put some sugar and water on the stove in a tin dish," +Alice answered, "and when it boils you pour it out on a buttered +pan—you butter the pan just as you butter a slice of bread."</p> + +<p>"Why do you butter the pan?" demanded Flossie.</p> + +<p>"So the candy won't stick to it. Candy is awful sticky. Our dog got a +lump in his mouth, and it stuck to his teeth so he couldn't open his +jaws."</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't give a dog candy," declared Freddie. "I'd rather eat it +myself."</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, we didn't 'zactly <i>give</i> the candy to our dog," said Alice. +"A lump of it fell on the floor, and he grabbed it up before we could +stop him. Anyhow, we didn't want the candy after it had rolled on the +floor."</p> + +<p>Flossie and Freddie ate the sweet stuff Alice handed them, and thought +it very good. That afternoon when Flossie reached home from school, she +marched out into the kitchen and said:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Dinah, I'm going to make some candy!"</p> + +<p>"Make candy, honey lamb! How yo' all gwine t' make candy?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, you just put some sugar and water on the stove to boil, and when it +boils you butter a pan like a slice of bread, and pour the candy in it +so it won't stick. And if a lump falls on the floor—a lump of candy I +mean—that belongs to Snap. Though I hope it doesn't make his jaws stick +together so they'll never come open, or he can't bark. But I'm going to +make some candy."</p> + +<p>"Now look yeah!" said Dinah. "Does yo' ma know yo' is gwine t' do dish +yeah candy business?"</p> + +<p>"No, Dinah, but I'll tell her when she comes home," for on coming in +from school Flossie had been told that her mother was not in.</p> + +<p>"Yo'll tell her when she comes home?" cried the old colored cook. "Yo' +won't need t' <i>tell</i> her, honey lamb. She'll done know dat yo' all has +been up t' suffin queer. Make candy! Oh mah gracious! I done guess you'd +bettah not!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, please, Dinah! It's easy. You can help me."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span></p> + +<p>Dinah gave in, as she usually did, and got out some sugar, some water +and a saucepan for the little girl. Dinah knew Flossie was too little to +be trusted alone around the stove, so she stood near herself.</p> + +<p>"Let me pour in the water," begged Flossie, and she was allowed to do +this. Then the sugar and water in the saucepan was soon bubbling on top +of the stove. Flossie buttered a pan, getting almost as much butter on +her fingers as she did on the tin, but Dinah gave her a wash rag, so +that was all right.</p> + +<p>Letting the candy boil, Dinah went about her kitchen work, while Flossie +sat in a chair near the stove watching. Pretty soon the door bell rang, +and Dinah went to answer it. Flossie stayed in the kitchen looking at +the steaming pan of candy until she heard a voice calling to her from +the yard.</p> + +<p>"Flossie! Flossie! Come on out and play!"</p> + +<p>It was Stella Janson, a little girl who lived next door.</p> + +<p>"I can't come out right away, Stella," answered Flossie. "I'm making +candy and I have to watch it. You sit down on the porch <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span>and when the +candy is done I'll bring some out to you."</p> + +<p>Flossie went to the door to tell this to the little girl, and then she +saw that Stella had a new doll.</p> + +<p>"Oh, isn't she pretty!" cried Flossie. "I must see her!"</p> + +<p>Forgetting all about the candy boiling on the stove, Flossie went out on +the porch. There she and Stella took turns holding the doll. All this +while Dinah was at the front door. A peddler had rung the bell, and it +took the colored cook some little time to tell him her mistress did not +want to buy a new kind of piano polish.</p> + +<p>All at once Dinah gave a cry and quickly closed the door.</p> + +<p>"Sumfin's burnin'! Sumfin's burnin'!" she shouted as she hurried back to +the kitchen.</p> + +<p>At the same time Stella, who was out on the porch with Flossie, began to +sniff the air.</p> + +<p>"What's that funny smell?" she asked.</p> + +<p>Flossie also sniffed.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's my candy burning!" she cried. "My nice candy! I forgot all +about it!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span></p> + +<p>She and Dinah ran into the kitchen at the same time. Over the stove +black smoke was curling up from the saucepan of candy.</p> + +<p>"Oh, oh!" cried Flossie.</p> + +<p>"Keep away, honey lamb—don't touch it!" cried Dinah. "It's hot! I'll +lift it off!"</p> + +<p>She was just doing that, using an iron holder so she would not burn her +hand, when Freddie came rushing in, dragging after him his toy fire +engine with which he had been playing out in the yard.</p> + +<p>"Fire! Fire!" cried Freddie. "Fire! Fire! I'm a fireman! I put out +fires! Look out!"</p> + +<p>Freddie's fire engine, though a toy, squirted real water, from a real +little rubber hose. The little fireman pointed the hose at Dinah, who +was carrying the smoking and burning pan of candy over to the sink.</p> + +<p>"Fire! Fire! Pour on water! Pour on water!" shouted Freddie.</p> + +<p>"Look out dere, honey lamb! Don't squirt no watah on me!" cried Dinah.</p> + +<p>But Freddie had started the pump of his engine, and a stream of water +squirted all over Dinah.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh mah good landy!" cried the fat cook. "Stop it, Freddie! Stop it! +Dish yeah am awful! It suttinly am turrible!"</p> + +<p>Luckily for Dinah, Freddie had been playing so long out in the yard with +his engine that there was only a little water left in it. When this had +squirted out there was no more until he filled the tank again.</p> + +<p>"Oh my!" cried Dinah, as she went on over to the sink, and set down the +smoking pan of candy. "Oh my!"</p> + +<p>"Is the house on fire?" Freddie demanded.</p> + +<p>"No, it isn't," said Flossie. "It's just my nice candy that burned. Oh +dear! And I did want it <i>so</i> much!"</p> + +<p>"Never mind, I'll make some mo', honey lamb!" promised Dinah, wiping her +face on her apron. "But don't yo' squirt no mo' watah on me, Freddie +pet."</p> + +<p>"No, I won't, Dinah," he promised. "But I saw the smoke coming out of +the kitchen, and I knew there was a fire."</p> + +<p>"It wasn't 'zactly a fire," said Stella. "But I guess the candy burned +up. It's as bad as when we dropped all of ours on the floor."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span></p> + +<p>But good-natured Dinah made another pan of the sweet stuff for Flossie. +This did not burn, and it was soon turned out into the buttered tin to +cool. And when it was cool Flossie, Freddie and Stella ate it.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bobbsey only laughed when Flossie told her what had happened, but +she said she thought the little girl had better not try to make any more +candy until she was a little older.</p> + +<p>The weather was getting colder day by day now. The children had red +cheeks when they went to school, and they ran and romped along to keep +warm.</p> + +<p>"It will soon be cold enough to have a frost," said Mr. Bobbsey.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said his wife, "I wouldn't be surprised if we had one to-night. I +have brought in my geraniums and other plants."</p> + +<p>"A frost!" cried Bert. "Good! That means the chestnuts will crack out of +their burrs. We'll go chestnutting!"</p> + +<p>The next morning Bert hopped out of bed earlier than usual. He looked +from the window. The ground was white, and so was the roof of the +porch.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, it's snow!" cried Freddie, who also got up.</p> + +<p>"No, it's just frost," Bert said. "The first frost of the Winter. Now +we'll get ready to have some fun. I'm glad to-day is Saturday. No +school, and we can go after chestnuts!"</p> + +<p>"Hurrah!" cried Freddie. "May I come, Bert?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, we'll all go!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<h3>AFTER CHESTNUTS</h3> + + +<p>Bert, Nan, Flossie and Freddie all came down to breakfast together.</p> + +<p>"Well, well!" exclaimed Mother Bobbsey, smiling at the children. "What +does this mean? Saturday morning, and you are all up as early as though +it were a school day. You haven't looked at the wrong date on the +calendar; have you?"</p> + +<p>"No, Mother," answered Freddie. "But we're going after chestnuts, and we +must get to the woods early."</p> + +<p>"So the squirrels won't get all the nuts, Bert says," put in Nan.</p> + +<p>"But we'll leave some for them; won't we?" asked Flossie. "I wouldn't +want the squirrels to go hungry."</p> + +<p>"I guess there'll be enough for all of us," said Bert. "But there will +be a lot of fellows <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span>after the nuts this morning, on account of the +frost which has cracked open the prickly burrs, and let the nuts fall +out. So if we want to get our share we'll have to start soon. Nan and I +will look after Flossie and Freddie, Mother."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bobbsey thought for a moment.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I guess it will be all right," she said. "The woods are safe, and +there are no snakes this time of year."</p> + +<p>"I'm not afraid of snakes," exclaimed Freddie. "They only stick out +their tongues at you."</p> + +<p>"Some snakes bite," said Bert. "But, as mother says, there are none in +the woods now. When it gets cold snakes crawl inside hollow logs and go +to sleep. So get ready to go after chestnuts!"</p> + +<p>The Bobbsey twins finished their breakfast, and while Bert found some +old salt bags which he put in his pocket to hold his chestnuts, Flossie +and Freddie went out to the kitchen where Dinah was working.</p> + +<p>"Dinah, where is the biggest basket you have?" asked Freddie.</p> + +<p>"And I want the next biggest!" exclaimed Flossie.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Mah goodness, honey lambs! What am all de meanin' ob big baskets?" +asked the colored cook.</p> + +<p>"We're going after chestnuts," explained Freddie, "and we want something +to put them in. Here's just the basket I want," and he took a big one, +that Dinah used sometimes when she went to market.</p> + +<p>"I'll take this one," said Flossie, as she picked up one in which Sam, +Dinah's husband, used to bring in kindling wood for the fire.</p> + +<p>"Well, if yo' honey lambs brings dem baskets home full ob chestnuts yo' +shore will hab a lot," laughed Dinah.</p> + +<p>Flossie and Freddie, with their big baskets, went out in the side yard +where Nan and Bert were waiting for them.</p> + +<p>"Oh, look at what those children have!" Nan exclaimed. "You two surely +don't expect to fill those baskets with chestnuts; do you?" she asked, +laughing.</p> + +<p>"Of course we do," said Freddie, very seriously.</p> + +<p>"No, no!" cried Bert. "Those baskets are too big. There aren't that many +chestnuts in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span>the woods, and, if there were, and you filled the baskets +you couldn't carry them home. Get smaller baskets, or do as Nan and I +do—take salt bags. They're easier to carry, and you can stuff them in +your pocket while you're going to the woods."</p> + +<p>Flossie and Freddie still thought the big baskets would be best, but +their mother told them to do as Bert said, and finally the four twins +started off down the road, each one carrying a cloth salt bag.</p> + +<p>About a mile from the Bobbsey home was a patch of woodland, in which +were a number of chestnut trees.</p> + +<p>"Oh, look! There goes Charley Mason!" called Nan to Bert as they were +walking along the road. "I believe he's going chestnutting, too."</p> + +<p>"It looks so," returned Bert. "I say, Charley!" he called, "are you +going to the woods?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," came the answer.</p> + +<p>"Come along with us," cried Bert.</p> + +<p>"All right," Charley answered. "I promised to call for Nellie Parks and +her brother George, though."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span></p> + +<p>"We'll stop and get them on our way past their house," said Nan, "and +then we'll all go on together."</p> + +<p>"It will be a regular party; won't it?" cried Freddie.</p> + +<p>"It surely will," laughed Nan.</p> + +<p>"Only we haven't anything to eat," said Flossie.</p> + +<p>"We can eat chestnuts," declared Freddie.</p> + +<p>"Too many of them, raw, before they are boiled or roasted, aren't good +for you," said Nan. "So be careful."</p> + +<p>Charley Mason crossed the street to join the Bobbsey twins, and a little +later they reached the house where Nellie Parks and her brother lived. +These two were on the steps waiting.</p> + +<p>"Oh, hello, Nan!" cried Nellie. "I didn't expect to see you. Charley +said he'd stop for us, but I'm glad you did, too. The Bobbseys are going +with us, Mother," Nellie called back to her mother who was looking out +of a window.</p> + +<p>"It's a regular chestnutting party," said Flossie.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Only we haven't anything to eat," added Freddie, and all the others +laughed.</p> + +<p>"That's so!" exclaimed Nellie's brother George, who was older than any +of the others. "It isn't much of a party, even to go after chestnuts, +unless you have something to eat. Wait a minute."</p> + +<p>He hurried back into the house, and soon came out with a pasteboard box.</p> + +<p>"What's in there?" asked his sister.</p> + +<p>"Lunch for the chestnutting party," George answered. "Now you won't have +to worry, Flossie and Freddie."</p> + +<p>"That's nice!" said the two little twins in a chorus.</p> + +<p>Together the children walked down the street, past Mr. Bobbsey's lumber +yard, and then they were out in a part of the city where there were very +few houses. It was almost like the country. A little later they came to +the woods. The woods were on both sides of a broad road, and before the +children reached the clump of trees they could see other boys and girls +scurrying around, poking in among the leaves on the ground to get the +nuts which had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span>fallen down when the frost cracked open the burrs.</p> + +<p>"I hope they'll leave some for us," said Nellie Parks.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I guess there will be plenty," returned her brother.</p> + +<p>The Bobbsey twins and their friends hurried into the woods. Flossie and +Freddie were the first to begin poking among the leaves with sticks +which they picked up.</p> + +<p>"Have you found any nuts yet?" asked Freddie, after a minute or two.</p> + +<p>"Oh yes, I've got one!" cried Flossie. "I've got two—three—a whole +lot," and she showed some brown things in her fat little hand.</p> + +<p>"Let's see," called Bert, and when Flossie held them out to him he +laughed and said:</p> + +<p>"Those aren't chestnuts. They are acorns. You have been looking under an +oak tree, Flossie. You must look under a chestnut tree."</p> + +<p>"Aren't these all chestnut trees?" asked Freddie.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no," replied Bert, whose father had told him something of the +different kinds of trees, from which lumber is made. "There are <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span>oak, +hickory, maple and elm trees in these woods. Here, I'll show you a +chestnut tree."</p> + +<p>He pointed one out to the little twins, showing them how they could +always tell it afterward by the leaves and bark.</p> + +<p>"Look there for chestnuts and maybe you'll find some," said Bert. +Flossie threw away the acorns, and she and Freddie began poking in among +the leaves again, while the others went to different trees.</p> + +<p>Freddie soon called:</p> + +<p>"I've found some! I've found some!"</p> + +<p>He hurried over to Bert with some shiny brown nuts in his hand. Each nut +had a little "tail" fastened to it.</p> + +<p>"Yes, those are chestnuts," Bert said. "Now see whether you or Flossie +will fill a bag first."</p> + +<p>"I've got a whole lot of nuts!" Flossie cried. "Oh, such a lot. Come on +Freddie and—Ouch! Oh dear!" she suddenly cried.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" asked Nan, quickly running over to her little sister. "Did +you hurt yourself?"</p> + +<p>"Something stuck me in the fingers," Flossie answered, holding up her +chubby hand.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Maybe it's a snake," said Freddie.</p> + +<p>"No, it's only chestnut burr stickers," said Nan. "I'll get them out for +you, Flossie. After this, open the burrs with a stick. Oh, look here!" +she cried, as she glanced down at the ground. "Flossie <i>has</i> found a +whole lot of nuts in a pile!"</p> + +<p>They all came over to look at Flossie's find. Surely enough, there were +a number of the brown nuts in a little hollow in the ground.</p> + +<p>"How did they get there?" asked Nellie.</p> + +<p>"Some squirrel or chipmunk must have gathered them in a heap, ready to +carry to its nest," said George. "Well, we'll just take them, as it will +save us the trouble of hunting for them. Put them in your bag, Flossie."</p> + +<p>"But won't the squirrel be hungry?" asked the little girl.</p> + +<p>"Well, don't take quite all of them. But there are lots of chestnuts +this Fall, and the squirrels can find and gather them more easily than +we can. Take them, Flossie."</p> + +<p>"I'll give Freddie some too," she said, and the two small Bobbsey twins +divided most of the nuts between them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span></p> + +<p>By this time Nan, Bert and Nellie had also found some of the nuts under +different trees, though none were nicely piled up like those Flossie +happened upon. The nuts were down under the dried leaves, which had +fallen from the trees earlier in the season. By brushing the leaves to +one side with a stick the nuts could be seen.</p> + +<p>"This is too slow for me," said George Parks at last. "I want to pick +nuts up faster than this."</p> + +<p>"How can you do it?" asked Charley Mason.</p> + +<p>"By shaking some down from a tree. Let's find a tree that has a lot of +nuts on it, and shake it. Then the nuts will fall down, and they won't +get under the leaves. We can easily pick them up then."</p> + +<p>"Good!" cried Bert Bobbsey. "We'll do it."</p> + +<p>They searched through the woods until they found just the tree they +wanted. Looking up they could see the burrs clinging to the branches. +The frost had opened the burrs and the brown nuts could be seen, just +ready to fall.</p> + +<p>"If there was a good wind," said George,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> "that would blow the nuts +down: but, as there isn't, we must shake the tree."</p> + +<p>"It's too big to shake," remarked Nan. "Why, you never could shake that +tree. I can't even reach around it."</p> + +<p>"You can't shake it by standing on the ground and pushing against it," +said George. "I'll climb up among the branches and shake them. I've +often done it."</p> + +<p>"How are you going to climb such a big tree, when you can't get your +arms around it?" Bert demanded.</p> + +<p>"I'll show you," answered George. "Do you see this little thin tree, +growing close to the big chestnut?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," Bert answered.</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm going to climb up the little tree until I get high enough to +step from it into the branches of the big one," went on George. "Then +we'll have plenty of nuts."</p> + +<p>"And after we pick up all we want, can we eat?" asked Freddie.</p> + +<p>There was a laugh at this.</p> + +<p>"Hungry already; are you?" asked George. "Well, it does give one an +appetite to come out <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span>on a crisp, cold day like this. Yes, after we +gather up the nuts I'm going to shake down we'll see what mother put in +the box."</p> + +<p>George started to climb up the small tree. This was easy for him to do, +for he could put his hands and legs around it. Up and up he went, just +as you boys have often climbed trees. He was about ten feet from the +ground when Bert suddenly saw the little tree beginning to bend over.</p> + +<p>"Look out, George!" Bert called. "That tree is going to break with you!"</p> + +<p>George looked down. And, just as he did so, there was a sharp, cracking +sound and the tree broke and bent suddenly over. George fell toward the +ground. Nan, Flossie and Nellie were screaming.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<h3>THE STORM</h3> + + +<p>"Look out there, George!"</p> + +<p>"Jump over this way—away from the rocks!"</p> + +<p>Bert and Charley called loudly to the boy who had climbed the little +tree which broke with him. But George seemed to know what he was doing. +As soon as he felt the tree going over he sprang out to one side, and +came down, feet first, on a pile of leaves that were almost as soft and +springy as a pile of hay in the meadow.</p> + +<p>"Hurt yourself?" asked Bert.</p> + +<p>"Not a bit—no. I'm all right," George answered.</p> + +<p>"Oh dear!" cried Nan. "I thought sure you'd break your leg or arm or +something."</p> + +<p>"So did I," said Nellie. "Are you sure you're all right, George?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Of course I am. I'll show you by climbing another tree." George who had +not even fallen down walked over toward the chestnut tree again.</p> + +<p>"Well, pick out a good one to climb this time," Bert said, and George +did. He first shook the next little tree that grew near the big +chestnut, and made sure that it was not rotten, which was the trouble +with the first one he had gone up.</p> + +<p>This time everything was all right. George climbed up, and stepped from +the small tree out on the branches of the one where the shiny, brown +nuts hung all ready to be shaken down. And when George shook the +branches of the chestnut tree, down came the nuts in a shower.</p> + +<p>"Oh, what a lot!" cried Freddie, dancing about in glee.</p> + +<p>"And one—one struck me right on the end of my nose!" laughed Flossie. +"A chestnut on my nose! Ho! Ho!"</p> + +<p>"Well, it's a good thing it wasn't a cocoa-nut!" cried George. "Pick 'em +up now!"</p> + +<p>This the children did. It was better than poking around among the leaves +for the nuts, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span>as those George jarred down lay on top, and could easily +be seen.</p> + +<p>The salt bags which the Bobbsey twins had brought with them, and the +bags Nellie and Charley carried, were soon filled with nuts. Nellie +picked up nuts for her brother, who was in the tree shaking them down, +and Bert said:</p> + +<p>"We'll all give George a share of ours, as he can't pick up any while +he's in the tree."</p> + +<p>"He can have half of mine," offered Freddie.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, little man, not as many as that," laughed George.</p> + +<p>"I wish he'd come down pretty soon," murmured Flossie, after a bit.</p> + +<p>"Why, are you tired of picking up nuts?" asked Nan, with a smile.</p> + +<p>"No, not 'zactly," Flossie answered, "but I'm hungry, and——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I see! And you remember that George brought the lunch," said +Nellie. "Well, I guess we can all eat now. Come on down, George, and +we'll eat the picnic lunch."</p> + +<p>"All right," her brother answered, and a little later he slid down the +small tree. The bags <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span>of nuts were laid aside, George being given a +share of the others, and then Nellie and Nan set out the lunch on top of +a flat stump, which was like a little table.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Parks had put sandwiches, cake and apples in the box, and there was +enough for all. The children ate the lunch and had a good time, sitting +around the stump-table. Then Flossie said:</p> + +<p>"I'm thirsty! I want a drink!"</p> + +<p>"Hum. Well, I'm afraid my mother didn't put any drinking water in the +box," said George, looking carefully.</p> + +<p>"Well, I can drink milk," Flossie said.</p> + +<p>"There's no milk, either," answered George, while the others laughed.</p> + +<p>"There's a spring of water over there," said Charley Mason, pointing off +through the trees. "We could get some water if we had a cup."</p> + +<p>"I can make a cup out of paper," Bert said. "We learned how in school +the other day."</p> + +<p>With some of the waxed paper which was in the lunch box Bert made a +pretty good cup. Then when the thin skim of ice on top of the spring was +broken, water could be dipped up, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span>and every one had a nice drink. +Flossie had two cupfuls, she was so thirsty.</p> + +<p>They played tag and some other games under the trees after the lunch, +and then, having gathered a few more nuts, they started back through the +woods toward Lakeport.</p> + +<p>As Flossie came near the little hollow in the ground where she had found +the pile of nuts she cried out:</p> + +<p>"Oh, look at the little squirrel! He's trying to find the nuts I took. +Oh, I'm so sorry I took them."</p> + +<p>"That isn't a squirrel, it's a chipmunk," said Bert. "You can tell it's +a chipmunk by the stripes down its back. It does seem to be looking for +the nuts though; eh, Charley?"</p> + +<p>"Well, maybe he is," said George. "Here, I'll toss him a few. But there +are lots more in the woods he can get, so he won't starve."</p> + +<p>From his bag George threw a few nuts to the chipmunk. But the little +fellow was not as tame as some squirrels to be seen in the city parks, +for they will perch on your shoulder and eat nuts from your hand. The +chipmunk, however, made a loud, chattering noise, with a sort <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span>of +whistle in between and scampered up a tree like a flash of sunshine.</p> + +<p>"Oh, he's gone!" cried Flossie, who liked to watch the lively little +chap.</p> + +<p>"Yes; he doesn't like company," said Bert.</p> + +<p>Shouting and laughing, the Bobbsey twins reached home with their +chestnuts.</p> + +<p>"My, you did get a lot!" said their mother, as she looked into the +opened bags. "I never thought you would get so many."</p> + +<p>"There are many chestnuts this year," Bert said. "Now we will have some +fun roasting and boiling them to-night."</p> + +<p>They gathered about the fire after supper, and laid the chestnuts they +wanted to roast on top of the stove. Nan and Flossie boiled theirs, but +Bert and Freddie said they liked theirs best roasted.</p> + +<p>All at once one of Freddie's chestnuts burst with a loud pop, and the +pieces flew all over the kitchen.</p> + +<p>"Oh my!" cried the little fellow. "What made it do that? Was there a +fire cracker in it?"</p> + +<p>Before any one could answer him another <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span>nut burst, and a piece of it +hit Dinah on the end of her shiny, black nose.</p> + +<p>"What am dat all?" she cried. "Who am frowin' t'ings at me? Was dat yo', +Freddie lamb?"</p> + +<p>"No, Dinah. It was a chestnut—one of mine. But I don't see what makes +'em pop that way, like corn."</p> + +<p>"Did you make any holes in your chestnuts, or cut a little slit in the +shell?" asked Bert of his brother.</p> + +<p>"No. Do you have to do that?"</p> + +<p>"You do unless you want your chestnuts to burst. You see," explained +Bert, "there is water inside a chestnut, especially a new one. And when +you put a nut on top of the hot stove the water is boiled and turned to +steam, just as it is in the tea kettle. Then if the steam can't find any +way to get out, as it swells it just bursts the shell of the nut and +sends the pieces flying. That's what happened to yours, Freddie. I stuck +a fork in each one of mine, and the little holes, made by the fork, let +out the steam. Look here."</p> + +<p>Freddie went over to the stove to look at <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span>the nuts Bert was roasting. +Surely enough, from the tiny holes in each one steam was puffing, almost +as if from a little toy engine.</p> + +<p>"When all the steam gets out and the nut dries, it begins to roast," +said Bert. "You must take yours off the stove and fix them that way, +Freddie. I meant to tell you about it, but I forgot."</p> + +<p>"Bang!" went another nut, bursting, and Dinah held a pan up in front of +her face.</p> + +<p>"I don't want t' git shot no mo'!" she said.</p> + +<p>Bert helped Freddie fix the chestnuts, putting little holes in them, and +then there was no more trouble. They roasted nicely, and when they were +cool the children peeled off the dried shells and ate the nuts. Nan and +Flossie boiled theirs in salt water, for salt seems to give the +chestnuts a better flavor. In fact, salt is good with almost all kinds +of nuts.</p> + +<p>The twins "traded" their chestnuts, Flossie and Nan giving some of their +boiled ones for the roasted ones of Bert and Freddie.</p> + +<p>"I think we are going to have a storm," said Mr. Bobbsey as he came in +toward bedtime, having gone to the store for Mrs. Bobbsey.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span></p> + +<p>"What sort of storm?" asked Bert.</p> + +<p>"A snow storm, I think. It feels that way, and the wind is rising. It's +going to blow hard."</p> + +<p>"I hope it doesn't blow the house over," said Freddie.</p> + +<p>"I think you are safe," answered his father, laughing.</p> + +<p>When the Bobbsey twins went to bed that night they could hear the wind +moaning and howling around the house. It gave them a "shivery" sort of +feeling, and they were glad to cuddle down in their warm beds. Soon they +were asleep.</p> + +<p>But about the middle of the night Bert and Freddie, who slept in the +same room, were awakened by a loud noise.</p> + +<p>"What was it?" asked Freddie in a whisper.</p> + +<p>"The wind banging a shutter, I guess," Bert answered. "It woke me up. +But go to sleep again, Freddie boy."</p> + +<p>Just then the banging noise sounded again.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it was a shutter," said Bert. "It has blown loose. I can hear +daddy getting up to fasten it."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It certainly is going to be a hard storm," Bert and Freddie heard their +father say to their mother. "It's beginning to snow."</p> + +<p>"Oh goodie!" whispered Freddie. "Did you hear that, Bert?"</p> + +<p>"I certainly did."</p> + +<p>"We'll have some fun to-morrow," Freddie went on. "I can go coasting."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but go to sleep now," Bert advised.</p> + +<p>"I can't, the wind makes so much noise," Freddie answered.</p> + +<p>The wind was certainly howling and moaning loudly around the corner of +the house. Suddenly there was a big crash on the roof of the kitchen +extension near the windows of the room where Freddie and Bert slept. +Then, after the first crash, came another.</p> + +<p>Something smashed through the glass in the window nearest Freddie's bed +and there was a thumping sound on the floor.</p> + +<p>"Oh! oh!" cried Freddie throwing off the covers and jumping out. "The +house is blowing down! The house is blowing down!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + +<h3>THE FIRST SNOW</h3> + + +<p>There was noise enough from the howling wind to make almost any one +believe the house really was tumbling down after the crash which seemed +to have broken in the window of the boys' room.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter in there, Bert?" called Mr. Bobbsey.</p> + +<p>"The house is falling down!" cried Freddie. "I'm afraid, Daddy! I want +to come in with you."</p> + +<p>"Well, come along, sonny," called Mrs. Bobbsey.</p> + +<p>Freddie ran out into the hall, where there was a dim light burning. Bert +felt the cold wind blowing in on him through the broken window. He could +also feel flakes of snow on his face.</p> + +<p>"Something really is the matter in here,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> Dad!" he called. "I guess the +house is all right, but our window is broken."</p> + +<p>"Did you hear that, Flossie?" asked Nan of her little sister, who was +sleeping with her. But they were both awake now. "The wind was so strong +that it blew in Bert's window."</p> + +<p>"Oh, what a terrible storm," whispered Flossie, covering her head with +the clothes. "I don't like it."</p> + +<p>By this time Bert had slipped on his bath robe and had gone out into the +hall. His father was coming along and, having turned on the electric +light in the room where the two boys slept, he saw what had happened.</p> + +<p>Both large panes of glass in one window were broken. The shattered glass +lay on the carpet and the snow was blowing in, for the white flakes were +coming down fast now. And there were also a number of bricks on the +floor.</p> + +<p>"Oh! oh!" cried Freddie, who had come back with his father. "Some one +threw bricks through our window. Was that Jack Frost?"</p> + +<p>"I guess it was North Wind," answered Mr. Bobbsey.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span></p> + +<p>"What happened?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey.</p> + +<p>"The wind blew the top of the chimney off," replied her husband, "and +some of the bricks crashed through Bert's window. Not much damage done, +but the wind and snow are coming in."</p> + +<p>"We can't sleep in our room!" cried Freddie. "What are we going to do?"</p> + +<p>"I'll close the shutters and fasten a blanket over the window," said Mr. +Bobbsey. "That will keep out nearly all the snow. What little wind blows +in will not hurt—fresh air in the bedroom is a good thing."</p> + +<p>Mr. Bobbsey closed the shutters, and tacked a blanket over the place +where the glass was broken out of the window. Then, after he had taken +away the bricks and swept up the broken glass so Bert and Freddie would +not cut their feet on it, the boys went back to bed again.</p> + +<p>It was some little time, though, before they could get to sleep, as the +wind seemed to howl ever so much louder now that there was no glass in +part of the window to keep out the sound.</p> + +<p>"Is it snowing yet?" asked Freddie in a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span>whisper of his brother, after +they had been in bed for some time.</p> + +<p>"I'll look," offered the older twin.</p> + +<p>He slipped out of bed and to the window that had not been broken.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it's snowing hard," he said.</p> + +<p>"Good!" said Freddie. "We'll have some fine sleighrides."</p> + +<p>It was quite cold in the boys' room, with the glass out of the window, +for the wind blew through the blanket and shutters. But no more snow +came in and the north wind did not knock any more bricks off the +chimney. It was only a few loose ones that had come down, anyhow. Most +of the chimney was all right.</p> + +<p>It was the first snow-storm of the season, and when the Bobbsey twins +awakened in the morning the ground was white and the flakes were still +falling.</p> + +<p>"Oh, what good times we'll have!" cried Nan.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad I have my rubber boots!" said Flossie. "I can go wading in the +deep drifts."</p> + +<p>"Not until the storm stops some," said Mother Bobbsey.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span></p> + +<p>It was Sunday, and the storm kept up all day so hard that the smaller +Bobbsey twins could not go to Sunday school, though Nan and Bert managed +to get there. And, as it was Sunday, the glass-man could not come to fix +the broken window. But the shutters were kept closed, and with a blanket +over the holes it was not so bad. Bert and Freddie liked to sleep in a +cool room, and never had any heat turned on in their sleeping apartment. +Their window was always open a little way, except on the very coldest +nights.</p> + +<p>The next day a man came to put the fallen bricks back on the chimney, +and another man put new glass in the boys' window, so the damage from +the storm was soon mended. The storm was over now, though it was cold, +and the snow still covered the ground.</p> + +<p>Then the Bobbsey twins had great sport. They got out their sleds and +went coasting on the hill not far from their house, and when they were +tired of this they played in the snow in their yard.</p> + +<p>Flossie and Freddie rolled two big snow balls, so large that they were +almost as big as <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span>the twins themselves, and finally the balls had in +them so much snow that neither Freddie nor Flossie could push them +around the yard.</p> + +<p>"I'll take them and make them into a snow man for you," offered Bert. He +put one snow ball on top of the other, Charley Mason helping him lift +it, and then they made a third, smaller ball for the man's head.</p> + +<p>Pieces of coal made eyes and nose for the snow man, and Nan gave Bert a +bit of her red hair ribbon which, when fastened on the snow face, made +it look exactly as if the snow man was sticking out his tongue at you.</p> + +<p>His arms were made of long rolls of snow, and one was crossed on his +chest, holding a broom. An old hat of Mr. Bobbsey's on top of the snow +man's head made him look quite natural.</p> + +<p>"Now you can finish the rest of him," said Bert to Flossie and Freddie. +"Get some more pieces of coal, and put them down the front."</p> + +<p>"What for?" Flossie asked.</p> + +<p>"They will look like buttons on his overcoat," answered Bert.</p> + +<p>"Oh, let's do it!" cried Freddie.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span></p> + +<p>They did, and when they had finished putting a row of pieces of coal +down the front of the snow man, they looked just as Bert had said they +would—like buttons on a coat.</p> + +<p>"Now let's make a little snow image, and he will be the snow man's +little boy," said Freddie, after a bit.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that will be nice!" cried Flossie.</p> + +<p>The little twins rolled some smaller balls of snow, and, putting them +together, as they had seen Bert do, they soon had a little snow boy, +which stood beside the big snow man.</p> + +<p>While the smaller Bobbsey twins were doing this Bert and Charley were +making a snow fort in the back yard. And when it was finished some other +boys came along and there was a snow battle. Bert and Charley, inside +the fort, threw snowballs at the other boys outside. And every time they +threw, Bert and Charley would dodge down behind the walls of the fort, +so they were not hit very often.</p> + +<p>But finally so many boys crowded around the snow fort, throwing balls +from all sides at Bert and Charley, that they could not throw back fast +enough, and they had to give up.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Whoop! Come on, capture the fort!" cried Ned Barton.</p> + +<p>Over the walls swarmed the boys, and Bert and Charley were taken +"prisoners." Of course it was only in fun, and only soft snowballs, +which hurt no one, were used, and all had a good time.</p> + +<p>Then other boys took a turn inside the fort, while their chums threw +snowballs at them from outside the walls, and the game went on this way, +by turns.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad it snowed," said Jimmie Heath.</p> + +<p>"So am I," added Bert. "We can have such fun. I say, why not build a +snow house?" he asked, after they had become tired of playing fort. "The +snow is just right for packing."</p> + +<p>"All right—a snow house!" cried the other boys. "We'll make one!"</p> + +<p>They made a big pile of snow, using some of that which was in the walls +of the fort. When the pile was large enough they began to dig out a +place inside. This was to be the hollow part of the house, or the main +room where they would stay.</p> + +<p>Some boys worked at the outside walls, mak<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span>ing them straight and smooth, +while others took away the snow that Bert and Charlie dug from the +inside.</p> + +<p>The roof of the snow house was rounding, just like those of the snow +houses made by the Eskimos in the arctic region. And finally, when Bert +and Charley had the inside scooped out enough for more boys to get in, +they all entered and sat about on some boxes which Bert found in the +cellar.</p> + +<p>The snow house was enjoyed by the boys and the Bobbsey twins for some +days. But the sun was melting the snow a little every day, and one +afternoon, when Flossie and Freddie came home from school early, and +went out to play in the snow house, something happened.</p> + +<p>Before long Flossie went to the kitchen to ask Dinah for some cookies to +have a make-believe party in the snow house, and when the cook had given +them to her, and the little girl was about to come out, she looked from +the window and saw a strange sight.</p> + +<p>Snap was playing about the yard with another dog. All of a sudden Snap +gave a jump, right on top of the snow house, and he was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span>so heavy, and +the roof was so thin, that it caved in. Snap, with a bark, jumped away +and ran off with the other dog, but Freddie was held fast by the pile of +snow which fell on him, as he was inside.</p> + +<p>"Oh! oh!" cried the little fellow, his voice muffled by the pile of +snow. "Help me out! Help me out! I'm buried under the snow house! Help +me out! Oh, Flossie!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XVII</h2> + +<h3>ON THE HILL</h3> + + +<p>"Dinah! Dinah!" called Flossie, dropping to the floor the cookies she +had gotten to take out to the snow house. "Oh, Dinah! Look at Freddie!"</p> + +<p>Dinah hurried to the window.</p> + +<p>"Freddie?" she asked. "Freddie? Where am Freddie? I can't see him, so +how kin I look at him, Flossie lamb?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, you can't see him!" wailed Flossie, "But you can hear him, can't +you?"</p> + +<p>Dinah listened.</p> + +<p>"Help me out! Help me out!" Freddie was crying. His voice was rather +faint, for he was under the snow, and it sounded as though he were down +in the cellar. But though the snow roof had fallen in when Snap jumped +on it, there was a sort of little cave, or hollow around his head so +Freddie could call out.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Don't you hear him?" asked Flossie, who was so excited she did not know +what to do. "Don't you hear him, Dinah?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I <i>heahs</i> him all right," replied the colored cook, "but I can't +<i>see</i> him, honey lamb."</p> + +<p>"He's under the snow! In the snow house!" Flossie went on. "The roof +fell on him because Snap jumped on it when I came in here to get the +cookies. Oh, Dinah, will you help get him out?"</p> + +<p>"Git Freddie lamb out? Course I will! In de snow house wid de roof fell +in on him! Oh mah land ob massy!" cried Dinah. "It's jest laik it done +happened once befo' when Bert made a bigger house."</p> + +<p>She caught up a big spoon, which she used to stir the pancakes, and +rushed out to the yard, Flossie running after her. Up to the big pile of +snow, which did not look much like a house now, ran the cook. Then, just +as she might have stirred a cake with the big spoon, she began digging +in the snow. It was almost as good as a shovel.</p> + +<p>In a little while Freddie's head was uncovered, and then it was easy to +get him out. He <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span>wasn't hurt a bit, only a little scared, and he laughed +when Dinah and Flossie brushed the snow off him.</p> + +<p>"But you can't brush out what's down my neck, inside my coat," he said, +squirming about. "It's cold, and it tickles."</p> + +<p>"Snow down inside your clo'hes!" exclaimed Dinah. "Den yo' got t' come +right in de house an' hab it tucken out. You'll ketch cold ef yo' +don't."</p> + +<p>"Maybe you could get it out if you stood me on my head and wiggled me," +Freddie said, after thinking about it. "Could you try that, Dinah?"</p> + +<p>"Try what, honey lamb?"</p> + +<p>"Take hold of my feet, you and Flossie, and stand me on my head. Then +the snow will run down from under my coat and I won't have to go in and +undress. I don't want to do that. I want to build the snow house up +again."</p> + +<p>Dinah laughed.</p> + +<p>"Ho! ho!" she said. "I'm not gwine t' do such t'ing as dat! No, sah! Yo' +come, in de house an' git dry t'ings on," and with that she caught +Freddie up under one arm and marched <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span>him into the house, where he soon +changed into dry clothes.</p> + +<p>"Now you can go out to play again," his mother said, "but don't go in +any snow houses unless you are sure the roof is thick enough to keep +from falling in on you. The sun is so warm now, I don't believe it will +be safe to make snow houses. Play at something else."</p> + +<p>"All right, Mother, we will," promised Flossie and Freddie.</p> + +<p>They took the cookies which Flossie had forgotten about in the +excitement and, after eating them, the two children made another snow +man; for the first one, and his "little boy" as they called him, had +melted into mere lumps.</p> + +<p>For about a week the weather was warm, and most of the first snow +melted. Then came another storm, which covered the ground deep with +white flakes, and once more the coasting hill was lively with the +shouting, laughing and merry boys and girls.</p> + +<p>Flossie and Freddie, as well as Nan and Bert, spent as much time on the +coasting hill as their mother would let them. After school every day +they were out with their sleds, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span>on Saturday they were only home for +their meals.</p> + +<p>Bert and Charley Mason had made a bob-sled, by fastening two sleds +together with a long plank. This they covered with a piece of carpet. On +this eight or nine boys or girls could sit, while Bert or Charley +steered the bob down the hill by a wheel fastened to the front sled.</p> + +<p>On the back sled was a bell to warn other coasters out of the way, and +sometimes, when there were not many on the hill, Freddie was allowed to +sit on the rear sled and ring the bell. He liked that.</p> + +<p>Flossie and Freddie each had sleds of their own, and they rode down on +them alone, on one side of the hill where the smaller boys and girls +kept by themselves.</p> + +<p>"For," said Alice Boyd, "we don't want to get run over by the big bob."</p> + +<p>"I guess not!" cried Johnnie Wilson. "Some day we'll make a bob +ourselves, Freddie."</p> + +<p>"That's what we will."</p> + +<p>The Bobbsey twins were coasting one day after school, when Freddie saw, +walking up <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span>the hill, Tommy Todd, the fresh air boy. Tommy looked tired, +for he had just been doing some errands for Mr. Bobbsey.</p> + +<p>"Hello, Tommy!" called Freddie. "Why don't you get your sled and have a +coast? It's lots of fun."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I guess it is," said Tommy, with a smile.</p> + +<p>"Then go and get your sled," said Freddie again.</p> + +<p>"No, I don't believe I will," Tommy said. And he said it in such a queer +way that Nan Bobbsey whispered to Bert:</p> + +<p>"I don't believe he has a sled, and he doesn't want to say so."</p> + +<p>"I guess that's right," Bert replied. "I'll offer him a ride on our +bob."</p> + +<p>"That will be nice," Nan said. "He can have my place," for she had been +coasting with her brother.</p> + +<p>"Wouldn't you like to ride down with us?" asked Bert, of Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Wouldn't I though?" cried Tommy, his eyes shining. "Well, I guess I +would!"</p> + +<p>"Come on, then," cried Bert.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span></p> + +<p>"He can ride on my sled, too," said Freddie.</p> + +<p>"And on mine!" added Flossie.</p> + +<p>"I guess your sleds are too small," Bert said, with a smile, for Tommy +was even bigger than Bert, and Bert could not fit on the sleds of his +younger brother and sister any more.</p> + +<p>"Thank you, just the same," said Tommy to the little Bobbsey twins. +"I'll go down on the big bob. But I'll pull your sleds up the hill for +you."</p> + +<p>"That will be nice," declared Flossie. "I like riding down hill, but I +don't like walking up, and pulling my sled."</p> + +<p>Room was made for Tommy on the big bob-sled and he was soon gliding down +the long hill, Bert steering. Once or twice the smaller boys or girls, +on their little sleds, would edge over toward that part of the hill +where the big boys and girls, with their sleds or bob-sleds, were +coasting.</p> + +<p>"Keep out of the way, little folks!" warned Bert. "There's room enough +for you on your own side, and you might be hurt."</p> + +<p>"And you two be careful," said Nan to Flossie and Freddie. "Stay on your +own side."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span></p> + +<p>The two small twins said they would do so.</p> + +<p>"Now for a last coast!" cried Bert, when Tommy had been given a number +of rides on the bob-sled. "It's time to go home to supper."</p> + +<p>"Maybe we can come out after supper," said Nan. "There's going to be a +lovely moon, and coasting by moonlight is fine."</p> + +<p>"Maybe we can," Bert said. "Come on, Tommy," he called. "This is our +last coast before supper."</p> + +<p>"All right," Tommy answered. He had walked up the hill, pulling after +him the sleds of Flossie and Freddie, who liked to have him help them in +this way.</p> + +<p>"Last coast, little ones!" Bert called to the small twins. "Then it's +time to go home."</p> + +<p>"Whose turn is it to steer?" asked Charley Mason.</p> + +<p>"Yours, I guess," Bert answered. "Tommy, you can sit right behind +Charley and watch how he does it. Then next time you come out on this +hill we'll let you steer."</p> + +<p>"Thanks!" exclaimed Tommy. He had been anxious to take hold of the wheel +himself, but he did not like to ask.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span></p> + +<p>On the bob-sled the boys and girls took their seats. Bert was on the +back sled, to push off and ring the bell.</p> + +<p>"All ready?" he called.</p> + +<p>"All ready," answered Charley.</p> + +<p>Bert gave a push and the bob-sled started down hill. On either side were +other bob-sleds and single sleds, while farther off, to the right, were +streams of smaller boys and girls.</p> + +<p>Clang! Clang! went the bell, as Bert rang it.</p> + +<p>The bob-sled was about half-way down the hill when Nan, sitting next to +Tommy, who was behind Charley, gave a cry.</p> + +<p>"Oh, look!" Nan exclaimed. "Flossie and Freddie! They're going to get +right in our way! Steer out, Charley!"</p> + +<p>The little Bobbseys, in taking their last coast, had come too near the +part of the hill where the big sleds were.</p> + +<p>"Flossie! Freddie!" cried Nan. "Look out! Steer away!"</p> + +<p>But they did not seem able to do it.</p> + +<p>"I guess we won't run into them," Charley said. He was trying as hard as +he could to keep to one side.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span></p> + +<p>All at once the bob-sled struck a lump of ice, and the front sled jumped +into the air. Charley Mason was jarred so hard that he rolled off. The +bob-sled swayed from side to side when no one was steering it.</p> + +<p>Then Flossie and Freddie, on their sleds, steered right over in the way +of the bob-sled. They could not help it, they said afterward, and that +was probably true, for they did not know much about steering sleds.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" cried Nan. "We'll run right over them."</p> + +<p>But Tommy Todd, who was sitting behind Charley, slid forward as the +other boy rolled off, and now Tommy grasped the steering wheel with all +his might.</p> + +<p>He twisted it around, to send the bob-sled away from Flossie and +Freddie, who were almost under the runners now. Bert, who saw what was +about to happen, was ringing the bell as hard as he could. The other +boys were yelling and the girls were screaming.</p> + +<p>"Flossie! Freddie! Fall off your sleds! Roll out of the way!" yelled +Nan.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> + +<h3>BERT'S SNOWSHOES</h3> + + +<p>For a moment it seemed as though there would be an accident, in which +not only Flossie and Freddie, but some of those on the big bob-sled as +well, would be hurt. But Tommy Todd seemed to know just what to do.</p> + +<p>"It's all right!" he cried. "Stay on your sleds, Freddie and Flossie. I +can steer out of your way."</p> + +<p>And Tommy did. But the only way he could avoid hitting the two little +twins was to steer the big bob-sled into a bank of soft snow on one side +of the hill. This he did, and though he, Nan and some of those sitting +in front were covered with a shower of the white flakes, no one was +hurt. Flossie and Freddie kept on down the hill on their sleds, scared +but not in the least harmed.</p> + +<p>"Say, it's a good thing you grabbed that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span>steering wheel when you did," +said Bert to Tommy, as they all got off the bob-sled.</p> + +<p>"I should say so!" cried Ned Barton. "I didn't know you could steer, +Tommy."</p> + +<p>"I didn't know it myself until I tried," Tommy said, with a smile, as he +dug some snow out of his ear. "I knew I just <i>had</i> to steer, though, +when I saw Charley fall off. We didn't want to run over Flossie and +Freddie."</p> + +<p>"It's a good thing you sat so close to the steering wheel," put in Nan. +"You grabbed it just in time."</p> + +<p>Flossie and Freddie came walking up the hill, and Charley, who had +picked himself up, came walking down. He had not been hurt by his fall.</p> + +<p>"Flossie—Freddie, what made you steer over to our side?" asked Bert.</p> + +<p>"We couldn't help it," said Freddie.</p> + +<p>"Our sleds just did it themselves," went on Flossie. "Did you think we +were going to run into you?"</p> + +<p>"No, but we almost ran into <i>you!</i>" exclaimed Nan. "You must be more +careful or mother won't let you come out on the hill again."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, we're tired of coasting now, anyhow," Freddie said. "We're going +home."</p> + +<p>Most of the others made ready to go home also, for it was nearly supper +time.</p> + +<p>"That was a fine thing you did—saving my little brother and sister from +getting hurt, Tommy," said Bert, as he walked along, pulling the +bob-sled after him. "I'll tell my father and mother what you did."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that wasn't anything," Tommy said, "Anybody would have done the +same if he had been in my place."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but not everybody would have steered as quickly as you did. You +surely can steer a bob! The next time you come out on the hill I'll let +you steer a lot."</p> + +<p>"Thanks," answered Tommy.</p> + +<p>Mr. Bobbsey was very much pleased that night when he learned how good +Tommy had been.</p> + +<p>"I must keep an eye on that boy," he said. "I think he will make a good +man. I'll help him all I can. He is so anxious to run errands and do +work about the lumber yard to earn money. How is his grandmother?" Mr. +Bobb<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span>sey asked his wife. "Have you been to see her lately?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, but she isn't very well. She can't sew as much as she used to, but +some ladies and myself are looking after her. Oh, I don't like to think +of the danger Flossie and Freddie were in on that hill!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, maybe they wouldn't have been hurt much," said Bert.</p> + +<p>"Just the same, I think they would be safer on a little hill of their +own," said Mr. Bobbsey. "Can't you find one for them, Bert?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I guess I could make a hill in the back yard for them."</p> + +<p>"Make a hill? Why, Bert Bobbsey, nobody can <i>make</i> a hill!" cried +Freddie. "It just has to <i>grow</i>."</p> + +<p>"Well, I think I can make one. Just wait," was what Bert said.</p> + +<p>The next Saturday he was busy in the back yard with some boards, a +hammer and some nails.</p> + +<p>"What are you doing?" asked Freddie, who had gotten up later than usual +that morning.</p> + +<p>"Making a little hill for you and Flossie."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You can't do it," said Freddie. "Nobody can <i>make</i> a hill!"</p> + +<p>But he watched what his brother was doing. Bert set some posts in the +ground, though it was hard to dig, for the earth was frozen. But the +posts did not have to go in very deep. From the top of the posts to the +ground Bert next slanted two long boards, bracing them on the under side +with shorter posts. Then he made a little platform by nailing boards +from the tops of the first two posts to two others which he placed a +little back of them.</p> + +<p>"Why say, that does begin to look like a hill!" exclaimed Freddie, for +the slanting boards were just like a slanting hill of earth. "Only you +can't slide down on that 'cause it hasn't any snow on," he said.</p> + +<p>"Well, it's easy enough to shovel some snow on, and pack it down hard," +answered Bert. "You get your shovel and begin."</p> + +<p>Freddie was delighted to do this, and was soon tossing up on the +slanting boards shovelful after shovelful of snow. When Bert had +finished nailing the platform on top of the posts, which were about +seven feet high, he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span>helped Freddie pile on the snow. When Flossie came +out, after her brothers had been working for some time, the little girl +cried:</p> + +<p>"Oh, how did that hill get in our yard?" for by this time all the wood +had been covered with the snow Freddie and Bert had piled on.</p> + +<p>"Bert <i>made</i> the hill," said Freddie, proudly. "I didn't think he could +do it, but he did. I thought hills had to grow."</p> + +<p>"It's nice," said Flossie. "But how are we going to walk up to the top +to slide down?"</p> + +<p>The hill Bert had built was steep. He had made it that way as it had to +be short, and he wanted the little coasters to get a "good start."</p> + +<p>"I'll fix it so you can get to the top," Bert said. He got some boxes +and piled them up, like steps. On these Flossie and Freddie could get on +the little square platform which was at the top of the wooden hill, now +covered with snow. They could pull their sleds up after them.</p> + +<p>At the foot of the hill Bert, with Flossie and Freddie to help him, +smoothed out the snow all the way across the yard, packing it hard so +the sleds would glide over it easily.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span></p> + +<p>"To-night we'll put some water on and let it freeze," Bert said. "Then +you'll have a dandy hill, all your own, and you'll be in no danger from +our big bob."</p> + +<p>"That's fine!" cried Freddie.</p> + +<p>"May we slide down it now?" asked Flossie.</p> + +<p>"Yes," Bert told her. She had the first coast. There was only room for +one at a time on the hill Bert made, so they had to take turns. Flossie +sat on her sled on top of the little platform, and pushed herself off. +Down she went with a whizz, half way across the yard.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's fine!" she cried. "I want to coast again!"</p> + +<p>"It's Freddie's turn now," said Bert, and down went Freddie.</p> + +<p>Then the Bobbsey twins had lots of fun on the "made" hill. They invited +Johnnie Wilson and Alice Boyd over to coast with them, and the four +little ones had a grand time.</p> + +<p>"And they are in no danger, that is the nicest part of it," Mrs. Bobbsey +said. "I don't have to worry about them now. I'm so glad you built the +hill, Bert."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I'm going to build something else," said Bert.</p> + +<p>"What?" asked Nan.</p> + +<p>"Snowshoes," was his answer.</p> + +<p>"What are snowshoes?" Freddie demanded</p> + +<p>"Shoes made so you can walk on top of the soft snow instead of sinking +down in it," Bert replied. "Of course I can't make the kind the Indians +and hunters make, which look something like lawn tennis rackets, but I +know how to make another kind. I saw a picture of them in a book."</p> + +<p>But before Bert started to make his snowshoes he made the little hill +better for coasting. That night he poured water on the snow that covered +it, and, as the weather was cold, the water and snow froze into a +glaring stretch of ice.</p> + +<p>And my! how Flossie and Freddie did whizz down the hill on their sleds +then. It was perfectly safe, though, for Bert had put little strips of +wood on the edges of the wooden hill, so the sleds would not slide off +to one side.</p> + +<p>When Charley Mason came over to see Bert one day he found his friend +busy in the barn <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span>with some barrel staves, old skate straps, a hammer, +nails and other things.</p> + +<p>"What are you doing?" asked Charley.</p> + +<p>"Making snowshoes," Bert answered. "I'm using barrel staves. They are +long and broad, and if I can fasten them to my feet with straps I can +walk along on top of the snow, and not sink in."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe barrel staves will make very good snowshoes," Charley +said.</p> + +<p>"Just you wait," answered Bert.</p> + +<p>He fastened the straps to the middle of the pieces of barrel, and then +strapped the strips of wood to his shoes.</p> + +<p>"Now watch me!" Bert cried.</p> + +<p>Back of the barn was a field covered deep with snow. It had not been +trampled down.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to walk out there," Bert said.</p> + +<p>He shuffled across the floor of the barn. He could only lift his feet up +a little way, for if he raised them too far the barrel staves would have +become criss-crossed and have tripped him. So Bert had to shuffle along +just like a Chinese laundryman who wears those funny straw slippers +without any heels.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span></p> + +<p>Charley opened the back door of the barn for Bert, who stepped out into +the snow. He shuffled along a little way, and did very well, for the +broad, smooth pieces of wood under his feet did not sink down in the +snow, which had a hard crust on top.</p> + +<p>"See! What did I tell you?" cried Bert to Charley. "I'm walking on the +snow all right!"</p> + +<p>But just as he said that a queer thing happened. He came to a place +where the shining sun had made the snow very soft. In spite of the +barrel staves, first one of Bert's feet sank down and then the other. A +funny look came over his face.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter?" asked Charley, who was watching him.</p> + +<p>"I—I'm stuck!" cried Bert. "I can't get my feet up! The staves are +caught under the snow, and I can't move! Come and pull me out!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XIX</h2> + +<h3>THROUGH THE ICE</h3> + + +<p>Charley was laughing so hard at the queer look on Bert's face, and at +the funny way in which Bert stood in the snow, that, at first, he did +not make a move to go to his chum's help. Then Bert cried again:</p> + +<p>"I am stuck I tell you, Charley! Come on and help me. I can't lift my +feet."</p> + +<p>"Can't you, really?" Charley asked.</p> + +<p>"No. The front edges of the barrel staves have slipped under the snow +and it's packed on them so I can't raise them."</p> + +<p>"All right, I'll help you," said Charley, still laughing. He waded out +to where Bert was stuck. Charley's feet sank down deep in the soft snow. +"I ought to have a pair of those shoes myself," he said, floundering +along.</p> + +<p>"Well, don't stop to make them now," said Bert. "Help me first."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span></p> + +<p>But even with Charley's help it was impossible to pull up Bert's feet +with the queer wooden shoes on. They had got stuck sideways in the deep +snow. Finally Charley said.</p> + +<p>"Oh, take 'em off, Bert! Loosen the straps and then you can pull your +feet free, and lift up the barrel staves afterward."</p> + +<p>"I guess that is the only way," Bert agreed, and he did it. Once his +feet were clear of the staves, it was easy enough to raise them up and +then he could wade back to the barn, carrying the staves.</p> + +<p>"I won't try to go on the soft snow again," he said as he sat down on a +box and once more fastened the snowshoes to his feet.</p> + +<p>"Do you mean to say you're going to try it again?" asked Charley.</p> + +<p>"I surely am," answered Bert. "I'm not going to give up, just because I +got stuck once. Why don't you make you a pair of these shoes? There are +some more barrel staves, and I'll get you the straps."</p> + +<p>"I believe I will," Charley said, and set to work at once. Then he and +Bert walked together over the hard frozen snow. As long <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span>as they stayed +on this, where there was a crust, they were all right. They did not go +where the snow was soft, and so they got along very well.</p> + +<p>Freddie saw what his brother and Charley were doing, and he cried out:</p> + +<p>"I want a pair of snowshoes, too!"</p> + +<p>"You're too little," Bert said. But later on he and Charley made Freddie +a pair, cutting the long barrel staves in two pieces. But Freddie did +not find it as easy as his brother had found it, and he tripped and fell +down in the snow, so the older boys had to pick him up. Then the small +twin gave up the use of snowshoes.</p> + +<p>"I like riding down hill better," he said.</p> + +<p>Winter had now set in, with all its cold and snow, around Lakeport, and +there were many days of fine coasting. Flossie and Freddie stayed on the +hill Bert had made for them in the yard, but Nan and Bert, with their +friends, went to the big hill, and used the bob-sled.</p> + +<p>Then came a thaw and the coasting was spoiled. There were puddles of +water all about, and one day coming home from school<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> Freddie slipped +and fell right into a puddle which was rather muddy.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Freddie!" cried Flossie, who was walking with him. "Your clothes +are all spoiled!"</p> + +<p>"Well, I—I couldn't help it," Freddie said, looking down at the +dripping mud and water. "I didn't see the slippery place."</p> + +<p>"You must hurry home as soon as you can, and change into dry things, +Freddie," said Nan, who was on the other side of the street with Ellen +Moore and Nellie Parks. Nan had seen her little brother fall. "Run," Nan +went on, "I'll hold your hand so you won't fall again."</p> + +<p>Freddie gave his books to Flossie to carry, and he hurried on with Nan, +running so he would be warmer and not take cold, for though the snow was +melting it was still Winter.</p> + +<p>As Nan and Freddie reached the house, they heard several persons talking +in the parlor.</p> + +<p>"Oh, there's company!" cried Nan. "They mustn't see you, Freddie, +looking like this. I'll take you up the back stairs and change your +clothes myself, or get Dinah to. Come on."</p> + +<p>But just as Nan and Freddie were about to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span>slip past the parlor door +Mrs. Bobbsey came out to see who had come in, and with her came a boy +about Bert's age. At the sight of him Freddie cried:</p> + +<p>"Why, it isn't company. It's cousin Harry!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Freddie! What happened to you?" his mother asked.</p> + +<p>"I—I fell down in a puddle," said the little boy. "But I couldn't help +it, Mother. Oh, Harry, I'm glad you've come!" Freddie went on. "We can +slide down hill—— Oh, no, we can't either," he said quickly. "All the +snow is melted. But Bert made a hill in our back yard and when it snows +again we'll have lots of fun on it. Did Uncle Daniel and Aunt Sarah +come?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, we're here," said Aunt Sarah herself, coming to the door. "Oh, but +mercy, child! What happened?"</p> + +<p>"Fell in a mud puddle," answered Freddie. "Where's Uncle Dan?"</p> + +<p>"In there, talking to daddy," replied Mrs. Bobbsey. "But don't stand +here talking, Freddie. Cousin Harry will excuse you until you change +your clothes."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Of course," answered Harry. "Where's Bert?" he asked of Nan.</p> + +<p>"Coming along with Charley Mason. They're just down the street. I +hurried on with Freddie."</p> + +<p>"I guess I'll go to meet him," said Harry. "I'll see you when I come +back, Freddie, and be sure you're good and dry."</p> + +<p>"I will," promised the little chap, as his mother led him upstairs. "How +long can Cousin Harry stay, Mother?" Freddie asked.</p> + +<p>"Oh, about a week I guess."</p> + +<p>"I hope he can stay until there's more snow."</p> + +<p>Uncle Daniel, with Aunt Sarah and Harry, had come from Meadow Brook to +pay a visit in Lakeport, just as Cousin Dorothy had come from the +seashore some time before.</p> + +<p>A little later, when Freddie had on dry clothes, he and Bert, with Harry +and Charley, went out in the barn to play. Nan had to go to the store +for her mother.</p> + +<p>Freddie's hope that snow would come soon was not to be gratified—at +least right away. The weather remained warm for nearly a week, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span>and what +little snow was left melted. Bert and Charley had no chance to show +Harry how they could walk on the barrel-stave shoes. But Harry noticed +how they were made, and said when he went back to Meadow Brook he was +going to make a pair for himself.</p> + +<p>Then one night the weather suddenly turned cold. It was a cold "snap," +as Mr. Bobbsey said, and certainly there was "snap" to it, for the cold +made the boards of the house crack and snap like a toy pistol.</p> + +<p>"My, but it's cold!" exclaimed Nan, as she came down to breakfast.</p> + +<p>"Just what we want!" cried Bert. "Eh, Harry?"</p> + +<p>"Sure. This will make skating all right. Do you think the lake will be +frozen over?"</p> + +<p>"We can soon find out," Bert said. "I'll telephone down to dad's office +and ask. One of the men can look out of the window and tell. If it is +frozen we'll take our skates down and have some fun."</p> + +<p>"I didn't bring any skates," Harry said.</p> + +<p>"I've some extra pairs," said Bert "I guess one of 'em will fit you."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span></p> + +<p>He called up his father's bookkeeper on the telephone, and word came +back over the wire that Lake Metoka was frozen solidly, and that already +some boys were out on it, gliding along.</p> + +<p>"Hurrah!" cried Bert, when he heard this. "Talk about good luck! And +to-day's Saturday, too!"</p> + +<p>A pair of skates was found to fit Harry and the two larger boys, with +Freddie trailing along behind, soon went down to the lake. They were +well wrapped up to keep out the cold. Nan said she would come down later +with Flossie.</p> + +<p>"I have to practise my music first," said Nan.</p> + +<p>Bert and Harry were good skaters, and Freddie did very well too, for his +age. But he could cut none of the "fancy figures" as did his brother and +cousin. Freddie was satisfied to glide around with some of the smaller +boys he knew.</p> + +<p>"Will you be all right, if Harry and I have a race down at the lower end +of the lake?" asked Bert, after a bit.</p> + +<p>"Course I will," said Freddie.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, then we'll leave you for a little while. But don't go over near +the point," warned Bert. "It isn't frozen so solidly there. The ice is +thin and you may go through. Keep away from the point."</p> + +<p>"I will," promised Freddie. The point was where some land curved out +into the lake, making a sort of little cove, and as this was a sheltered +place the ice had not frozen so thick there.</p> + +<p>Bert and Harry raced away, to see who would first get to a certain +point, while Freddie stayed with his little chums. Pretty soon, however, +Freddie felt cold.</p> + +<p>"I'm going in my father's office to get warm," he said to Johnnie Wilson +who was with him. "Come on."</p> + +<p>The two little chaps were soon in the warm office of the lumber yard. +Freddie saw Tommy Todd come in, having been on an errand to the +post-office for Mr. Bobbsey.</p> + +<p>"Hello, Tommy!" called Freddie, who was warming his hands at the stove. +"Why don't you go skating?"</p> + +<p>"Haven't any skates," was the answer, and Tommy smiled. He was poor, and +did not <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span>have any of the playthings other boys had, but for all that he +was not cross or gloomy. "Besides, if I did have a pair I couldn't go. I +have to work to-day," Tommy went on.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I could let you have some time off to go skating, if you wanted +to," said Mr. Bobbsey.</p> + +<p>"Well, I would like it, if I had the skates," Tommy said. "But, as I +haven't, I'll stay and run errands for you."</p> + +<p>"You could take my skates, while I'm getting warm," Freddie said. "I +guess I'll be quite a while getting warm, too, for it's awful cold out."</p> + +<p>"Your skates are too small, I'm afraid," said Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Bert has an extra pair. I heard him say so when he gave those to +Harry," put in Freddie. "Couldn't Tommy take them, Daddy?"</p> + +<p>"Why, yes, I think so. If you want to go up to the house after them I'll +telephone Mrs. Bobbsey to have them ready for you," the lumber merchant +said to his errand boy.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, sir, I should like it! I haven't skated for a long time."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mr. Bobbsey telephoned, and a little later Tommy was gliding about the +frozen lake on a pair of Bert's skates, which, however, were quite good. +Bert had laid them aside when he had been given a pair of shoe hockeys.</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm warm enough now," said Freddie to Johnnie, after a bit. +"Shall we go out and skate some more?"</p> + +<p>Johnnie was willing and out they went. It seemed a little warmer now, +for the sun was up higher. Many skaters were on the lake. All at once +Freddie saw Tommy skating over toward the place which Bert had spoken of +as not being safe.</p> + +<p>"Tommy! Tommy!" cried Freddie. "Don't go there. The ice is too thin!"</p> + +<p>But he was too late. Straight toward the point Tommy glided and the next +minute there was a cracking of the ice and Tommy went down out of +sight.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XX</h2> + +<h3>LOST IN A STORM</h3> + + +<p>"Oh, Tommy's in! Tommy's in!" cried Freddie, as he saw what had +happened. "Oh, he'll be drowned!"</p> + +<p>"Let's see if we can get him out!" shouted Johnnie.</p> + +<p>"No, we mustn't go near that place. It's dangerous—Bert said so!" said +Freddie. "I'll run and tell my father. He'll know what to do."</p> + +<p>And this, really, was the wise thing to do, for such little boys as +Freddie and Johnnie could not do much toward getting Tommy out of the +cold water. Some other skaters, seeing what had happened, were gliding +toward the big hole which had opened in the ice, and more boys or girls +might have fallen in had not a man, who was skating near them, warned +them away.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Keep back!" shouted the man. "If you go too near, the ice will give way +with you. I'll see if I can get him out."</p> + +<p>By this time Tommy's head was to be seen above the water. He knew how to +swim, but one cannot do much swimming in ice-cold water, and with skates +on one's feet, besides wearing heavy clothing. Poor Tommy was in a sad +plight.</p> + +<p>"Help! Help!" he called.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I'll help you as soon as I can," answered the man. "I must get a +plank to put down on the ice, though, so it will bear my weight."</p> + +<p>A plank on thin ice acts just as Bert's snowshoes did on the snow, it +holds a person up, keeping him from breaking through.</p> + +<p>While the man was running toward the piles of lumber in Mr. Bobbsey's +yard, which was on the edge of the lake, Freddie and Johnnie, not +stopping to take off their skates, ran toward the office where Freddie's +father was.</p> + +<p>By this time the men in the lumber office, looking out on the lake, had +seen that something was wrong. And they guessed what <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span>sort of accident +it was. Some of them ran out, and Mr. Bobbsey followed them.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Daddy!" cried Freddie, when he saw his father. "He's in!"</p> + +<p>"Who? Not Bert or Harry, I hope!"</p> + +<p>"No, it's Tommy Todd—you know the boy——"</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes! I know him. He went through the ice, did he? Here, men, get a +rope to throw to him. The ice is too thin to go close enough to reach +his hand. We must pull him out with a rope."</p> + +<p>There were ropes in the office, to be used in tying loads of lumber on +the delivery wagons, and Mr. Bobbsey caught up a coil and ran toward the +place where Tommy was struggling in the water.</p> + +<p>By this time the man who had warned the other skaters away had found two +planks. He carried them as near to the edge of the hole through which +Tommy had fallen as was safe. Then Mr. Bobbsey came with the rope. He +walked out on the planks and called to Tommy.</p> + +<p>"Catch hold of the rope, Tommy, and we'll pull you out!" shouted Mr. +Bobbsey.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span></p> + +<p>He tossed one end of the rope to the boy in the water, but it fell +short. Pulling it back to him Mr. Bobbsey tossed it again. This time a +coil fell near Tommy's hand. He grasped it and then Mr. Bobbsey and the +other man, who was Mr. Randall, pulled Tommy out on the solid ice. Poor +Tommy could hardly breathe.</p> + +<p>"We must get him to a warm place at once!" cried Mr. Bobbsey. "I'll +carry him to my office. There's a roaring hot fire there, and if we wrap +him well in blankets we may keep him from getting cold."</p> + +<p>In his arms Mr. Bobbsey carried the dripping lad. Luckily Tommy had kept +his lips closed when he fell into the water, and he knew enough not to +breathe when his head was under, so he had not swallowed too much water. +But he was wet through, and ice-cold.</p> + +<p>Mr. Randall first warned the other boys and girls about going too near +the hole, then he stuck one of the planks up near it, with a piece of +rag on it as a danger signal.</p> + +<p>Beside the warm fire in the lumber office Tommy was undressed and +wrapped in warm blankets. One of the men made some hot <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span>cocoa, and when +Tommy drank this he felt much better.</p> + +<p>"But you can't put on your clothes for a long time—not until they are +well dried," said Mr. Bobbsey. "I guess Bert has an extra suit that will +fit you. I'll telephone to my wife and have her send it here."</p> + +<p>Sam, who was Dinah's husband, came a little later with an old suit of +Bert's, and Mrs. Bobbsey sent word that Tommy was to keep it, as Bert +did not need it any longer.</p> + +<p>"But it's a fine suit for me," said Tommy, when he was dressed in it. "I +guess it was lucky I fell in the water—I got some nice clothes by it."</p> + +<p>"But don't fall in again even for that," said Mr. Bobbsey with a laugh. +"You may take cold yet."</p> + +<p>But Tommy did not. One of Mr. Bobbsey's friends happened to stop at the +office on business, and, having a closed automobile, he offered to take +Tommy home, so the boy would not have to go out in the cold air after +his unexpected bath in the lake.</p> + +<p>Bert and Harry, on coming back after their <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span>race to the lower end of the +lake, were surprised to learn what had happened to Tommy. And when he +had had enough of skating Bert said he would go and see if Tommy had +reached home safely, and if Mrs. Todd needed anything.</p> + +<p>Bert and Harry, who went with him, found Tommy sitting near the fire in +the humble home near the city dumps.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad I don't live here," said Harry, as he looked around before +entering the house.</p> + +<p>"I am too," added Bert. "It isn't very nice. I suppose when Tommy's +father was alive they had things much nicer."</p> + +<p>Tommy smiled at his two boy callers.</p> + +<p>"This isn't working," he said. "And I ought to be at work, for it's +Saturday and I do most of my errands then. But grandmother thought I +ought to get warmed through before going out again."</p> + +<p>"I guess that's right," said Bert. "How is your grandmother? Father told +me to ask."</p> + +<p>"She isn't very well," Tommy answered. "In fact, she had to go to bed +after I came home. She says she feels sick."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Maybe she ought to have a doctor," said Bert.</p> + +<p>"Don't let her hear you say that," whispered Tommy. "She's in the next +room, and she doesn't like to think of calling in a doctor. She says she +hasn't any money to pay him."</p> + +<p>"But that's not right," Bert began. "She ought to——"</p> + +<p>Just then Harry nudged his cousin, and winked his eye in a way Bert +understood. So Bert did not finish what he had started to say. Instead +he remarked:</p> + +<p>"Is there anything we can do for you, Tommy?"</p> + +<p>"No, thank you, I guess not," answered the other. "I'm all right now, +and I don't believe I'll take cold."</p> + +<p>When Bert and Harry were outside and on their way home, Bert asked:</p> + +<p>"What did you punch me for in there?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't want you to talk so much about a doctor. I guess they haven't +any money to pay one."</p> + +<p>"No, I guess they haven't."</p> + +<p>"But what's the matter with my paying for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span>one to make a visit?" asked +Harry. "Dad gave me some money to spend when I came on this visit, and I +have most of it left. You've been doing all the treating. And you gave +Tommy that suit; so I want to pay for a doctor's visit."</p> + +<p>"We'll ask mother about it," said Bert. "I guess it would be better to +have a doctor see Mrs. Todd."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bobbsey said it was very kind of Harry to think of using his pocket +money to pay for a doctor for the sick.</p> + +<p>"But you will not need to," she said. "There are physicians paid by the +city to visit the poor. But I think we will have our own Dr. Young call +and see her. The city physicians have enough to do in the Winter when +there is so much illness. I'll send Dr. Young, and pay him myself."</p> + +<p>Afterward Dr. Young told Mrs. Bobbsey that Mrs. Todd was not dangerously +ill. She needed a tonic, perhaps, and this he gave her.</p> + +<p>"But what she needs, most of all," he said, "is to get into a better +house. It is not healthful down there. And she needs more and better +food."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Then I'll look after her," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "I belong to a club, the +ladies of which are glad to help the poor. We will make Mrs. Todd our +special case. I'll see what we can do about getting her into a better +house, too. She is a very good woman and Mr. Bobbsey says he never had a +better errand boy than Tommy."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Bobbsey and the members of her club did many things for Mrs. Todd +and Tommy. They planned to have them move into another house, but as the +weather was very cold they decided that it was better for Mrs. Todd that +she should wait a bit before making the change. Mrs. Bobbsey often sent +good food to Tommy's grandmother. Sometimes Bert or Nan took the basket, +and, when the weather was nice, Flossie and Freddie were allowed to go.</p> + +<p>One Saturday afternoon about a week after the country visitors had gone +home, when Dinah had finished baking bread, cake and pies, Mrs. Bobbsey +said:</p> + +<p>"I wish Mrs. Todd had some of these good things. But I haven't time to +go down there to-day, and Bert and Nan are away."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Let us go, Mother," begged Flossie. "Freddie and I can carry the basket +easily."</p> + +<p>"Well, I suppose you could," said Mrs. Bobbsey slowly. "It isn't very +cold out to-day, though it looks as if it would snow. But perhaps it +won't until you get back. You know the way to Mrs. Todd's now, and it +isn't too far for you. But hurry back."</p> + +<p>The little twins promised, and were soon on their way. They had often +gone on long walks by themselves, for they knew their way fairly well +about the city, and down toward Tommy's house there were few wagons or +automobiles, so it was safe for them.</p> + +<p>Carrying the basket of good things Flossie and Freddie were soon at the +place where Mrs. Todd lived.</p> + +<p>"You are good little ones to come so far to bring an old woman something +to eat," said Mrs. Todd, with a smile, when she opened the door. "Come +in and sit by the fire to get warm."</p> + +<p>"We can't stay very long," said Flossie.</p> + +<p>But she and Freddie stayed longer than they meant to, for Mrs. Todd knew +many stories <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span>and she told the little twins two or three as they sat by +the fire.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's snowing—snowing hard!" said Freddie suddenly, as he looked +out of the window when Mrs. Todd had finished a story about a little red +hen.</p> + +<p>"Then we must hurry home," said Flossie.</p> + +<p>They put on their wraps and overshoes and, bidding Mrs. Todd good-bye, +off they went. But they had no sooner got outdoors than they found +themselves in a bad storm. The wind was blowing hard, and the white +flakes were swirling all around them.</p> + +<p>"Why—why, I can hardly see!" cried Flossie. "It's just like a fog."</p> + +<p>"And—and it's hard to breathe," said Freddie. "The wind blows right +down my mouth."</p> + +<p>"We could walk backwards and then it wouldn't," said Flossie, and they +tried that for a while.</p> + +<p>The children had been out in storms before, but they could not remember +ever having been in one where the snow was so thick. As Flossie had +said, she could hardly see because there were so many flakes coming +down.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Take hold of my hand, Freddie, and don't let go," said Flossie to her +brother. "We don't want to get lost."</p> + +<p>Along the street they walked as best they could, sometimes going +backward so the wind would not blow in their faces so hard, and when +they walked with their faces to the wind they held down their heads.</p> + +<p>"Are we 'most home?" asked Flossie after a while.</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't see our house," replied Freddie. "We've come far enough +to be there, too."</p> + +<p>They walked on a little farther and then Freddie stopped.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter?" asked Flossie.</p> + +<p>"I can't see any houses, or anything," answered her brother. "I—I guess +we've come the wrong way, Flossie. I don't know where we are."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean we—we're lost, Freddie?"</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid so."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XXI</h2> + +<h3>THE STRANGE MAN</h3> + + +<p>The two Bobbsey twins stood in the snowstorm, looking at each other. +Though they were both brave they were rather worried now, for they did +not know which way to go to get home. If there had been no snow it would +have been easy, but the white flakes were so thick that they could +hardly see ten feet ahead of them.</p> + +<p>"What are we going to do, Freddie?" Flossie asked.</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't know," he answered. "I guess we'll just have to keep on +walking until we come to a house, and then we can ask which way our home +is. Maybe somebody in the house will take us home."</p> + +<p>"But we can't see any houses. How can we ask?" said Flossie, and her +voice was trembling.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span></p> + +<p>Indeed, the storm was so thick that no houses were in sight. There might +have been some near by, but the children could not see any.</p> + +<p>Nor were any persons to be seen passing along the street. If there had +been, one of them might easily have set the twins right. But the truth +of it was that Flossie and Freddie had taken the wrong turn in coming +out of Mrs. Todd's house, and instead of walking toward their home they +had, in the confusion of the storm, walked right away from it. Every +step they took put them farther and farther away from their own house.</p> + +<p>And now, as they learned later, they were on the far edge of the city of +Lakeport, beyond the dumps, on what was called the "meadows." In Summer +this was a swamp, but with the ground frozen as it was it was safe to +walk on it. But no houses were built on it, and there were only a few +lonely paths across this meadow stretch.</p> + +<p>In the Summer a few men cut a coarse kind of hay that grew on the +meadows, but as hay-cutting is not done in Winter no one now had any +reason for going to the meadows.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, we mustn't stand still," said Flossie, after a bit.</p> + +<p>"Why not?" asked Freddie. "Can't you stand still when you're tired?"</p> + +<p>"Not in a snowstorm," Flossie went on with a shake of her head. "If you +stand still or lie down you may go to sleep, and when you sleep in the +snow you freeze to death. Don't you remember the story mother read to +us?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered Freddie. "But I don't feel sleepy now, so it's all right +to stand still a minute while I think."</p> + +<p>"What are you thinking about?" asked his sister.</p> + +<p>"I'm trying to think which way to go. Do you know?"</p> + +<p>Flossie looked all about her. It was snowing harder than ever. However, +it was not very cold. Indeed, only that they were lost, the Bobbsey +twins would have thought it great fun to be out in the storm.</p> + +<p>They were well wrapped up, and they had on high rubbers, so they were +not badly off except for being lost. That was not any fun, of course.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Do you know where we are?" asked Freddie of his sister.</p> + +<p>"No," she answered, "I don't. It doesn't look as if we were on any +street at all. Look at the tall grass all around us."</p> + +<p>Standing up through the snow was the tall meadow grass that had not been +cut. Freddie looked at it.</p> + +<p>"Oh, now I know where we are!" he cried. "We're down on the meadows. +Bert brought me here once when he was looking for muskrats. He didn't +get any, but I remember how tall the grass grew. Now I know where we +are."</p> + +<p>"All right, then you can take me home," Flossie said. "We're not lost if +you know where we are."</p> + +<p>"But I don't know which way our house is," Freddie went on, "and I can't +see to tell with all these flakes coming down. I'll have to wait until +it stops."</p> + +<p>"S'posin' it doesn't stop all night?" asked Flossie.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I guess it will," said Freddie. "Anyhow, we know where we are. +Let's walk on <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span>and maybe we'll get off the meadows and on to a street +that leads to our house."</p> + +<p>Flossie was glad to walk, as it was warmer than when standing still; and +so she and Freddie went on. They did not know where they were going, +and, as they found out afterward, they went farther and farther from +their home and the city with every step.</p> + +<p>"Oh, look!" suddenly cried Flossie.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" asked her brother, stumbling over a little pile of snow as +he hurried up beside his sister, who had gone on ahead of him. "Did you +find the right path, Flossie? But then I don't believe you did. I don't +believe anybody, not even Santa Claus himself, could find a path in this +snow storm."</p> + +<p>"Yes he could," insisted Flossie. "Santa Claus can do anything. He could +come right down out of the sky now, in his reindeer sleigh, and take us +home, if he wanted to."</p> + +<p>"Well, then," said Freddie, shaking his head as a snowflake blew into +his ear and melted there with a ticklish feeling, "I just wish he +<i>would</i> come and take us home. I'm—I'm getting tired, Flossie."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span></p> + +<p>"So'm I. But I did see something, Freddie," and the little girl pointed +ahead through the drifting flakes. "It wasn't the path, though."</p> + +<p>"What'd you see?" demanded Freddie, rubbing his eyes so he could see +more clearly.</p> + +<p>"That!" and Flossie pointed to a rounded mound of snow about half as +high as her head. It was right in front of her and Freddie.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's a little snow house!" cried Freddie.</p> + +<p>"That's what I thought it was," Flossie went on. "Some one must have +been playing out here on the meadows, and made this little house. It's +awful small, but maybe if we curl up and stick our legs under us, we can +get inside out of the storm."</p> + +<p>"Maybe we can!" cried Freddie. "Let's try."</p> + +<p>The children walked around the pile of snow, looking for the hole, such +as they always left when they built snow houses.</p> + +<p>"The front door is closed," said Freddie. "I guess they shut it after +them when they went away."</p> + +<p>"Maybe they're inside now," remarked Flos<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span>sie. "If we knocked maybe they +would let us in. Only it will be awful crowded," and she sighed. She was +very cold and tired, and was worried about being lost. It was no fun, +and she would have been glad to go inside the little snow house, even +though some one else were in it also.</p> + +<p>"There's no place to knock," Freddie said, as he looked about on every +side of the round pile of snow. "And there's no door-bell. The next time +I make a snow house, Flossie, I'm going to put a front door-bell on it."</p> + +<p>"That'll be nice," his sister said. "But, Freddie, never mind about the +door-bell now. Let's get inside. I'm awful cold!"</p> + +<p>"So'm I. And another snowflake just went into my ear. It makes me wiggle +when it melts and runs down inside."</p> + +<p>"I like to wiggle," Flossie said. "I'm going to open my ears real wide +and maybe a snowflake will get in mine. Does it feel funny?"</p> + +<p>"Terribly funny. But you can't open your ears any wider than they are +now, Flossie. They're wide open all the while—not like your eyes that +you can open and shut part way."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Maybe I can open my ears wider," Flossie said. "I'm going to try, +anyhow."</p> + +<p>She stood still in the snow, wrinkling her forehead and making funny +"snoots" as Freddie called them, trying to widen her ears. But she gave +it up finally.</p> + +<p>"I guess I can't get a snowflake to tickle me," she said with a sigh.</p> + +<p>"You can have the next one that goes into my ear," offered Freddie. "But +they melt so soon and run down so fast that I don't see how I am going +to get them out."</p> + +<p>"Never mind," said Flossie. "I can get a snowflake in my ear when I get +home. Just now let's see if we can't get inside this little house. If +the door is frozen shut, maybe you can find a stick and poke it open. +Look for a stick, Freddie."</p> + +<p>"All right, I will," and Freddie began kicking away at the snow around +his feet, hoping to turn up a stick. This he soon did.</p> + +<p>"I've found one!" he cried. "Now we can get in and away from the storm. +I'll make a hole in the snow house!"</p> + +<p>With the stick, which was a piece of flat <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span>board, Freddie began to toss +and shovel aside the snow. The top part came off easily enough, for the +flakes were light and fluffy. But underneath them there was a hard, +frozen crust and this was not so easily broken and tossed aside. But +finally Freddie had made quite a hole, and then he and Flossie saw +something queer. For, instead of coming to the hollow inside of the snow +house, the little boy and girl saw a mass of sticks, dried grass and +dirt. Over this was the snow, and it was piled up round, like the queer +houses the Eskimos make in the Arctic regions.</p> + +<p>"Oh, look!" cried Flossie. "It isn't a snow house at all. It's just a +pile of sticks."</p> + +<p>"Maybe it's a stick house, with snow on the outside," Freddie said. "I'm +going to dig a little deeper."</p> + +<p>He did so, tossing aside the grass, sticks and dirt. Flossie was +watching him, and suddenly the two children saw something moving down in +the hole that Freddie had dug. Presently a furry nose was thrust out, +and two bright, snapping eyes looked at them.</p> + +<p>"Oh, see! What is it?" cried Flossie.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span></p> + +<p>Freddie dropped his stick shovel, and stumbled back. Flossie went with +him. The sharp, furry nose was thrust farther out, and then they could +see that it was the head of some animal, looking at them from inside the +snow-covered stick house.</p> + +<p>"Some one lives there after all," whispered Flossie. "Is it a—a bear, +Freddie? If it is, we'd better run."</p> + +<p>"Bears don't live in houses like this," said her brother. "They sleep +all winter in hollow logs."</p> + +<p>"Well, what is it then?" Flossie questioned, "Will it come after us?"</p> + +<p>But the little animal seemed satisfied to look out of the hole in its +house to see who had done the mischief. Then it began pulling the sticks +and grass back into place with its paws and jaws.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I know what it is!" Freddie cried. "It's a muskrat. They live in +these mounds on the meadows. Bert told me so. This one's house looked +extra big because it was all covered with snow. There wouldn't be room +for us inside there, Flossie."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I'm glad of it," answered the little girl. "I wouldn't want to crawl in +with a lot of rats."</p> + +<p>"Muskrats are nice," Freddie said. "Bert told me so."</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't like 'em!" declared Flossie. "Come on, Freddie. Let's get +away from here. That muskrat might chase us for breaking in his house, +though we didn't mean to do any harm. Come on, Freddie," and the two +little ones went on once more.</p> + +<p>The storm was growing worse, and it was getting dark now with the heavy +clouds up above.</p> + +<p>"Say, Freddie," said Flossie, after a bit, "I'm tired. Why don't we +holler?"</p> + +<p>"Holler?" asked Freddie, trying to turn his overcoat collar closer +around his neck. "What do we want to holler for?"</p> + +<p>"For help," answered Flossie. "Don't you know, in books and stories, +every time people get lost they holler for help?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's right," Freddie said. "I forgot about that. Well, we can +holler."</p> + +<p>The twins shouted as loudly as they could, but their voices were not +very strong, and the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span>wind was now blowing so hard that even if any one +had been near at hand he could hardly have heard the little ones +calling.</p> + +<p>"Help! Help!" shouted Flossie and Freddie together several times.</p> + +<p>They listened, but all they could hear was the howling of the wind and +the swishing of the snowflakes.</p> + +<p>"Well, let's walk on some more," said Freddie, after a bit. "No use +standing here."</p> + +<p>"And it isn't much use walking on," returned Flossie; and her voice +trembled. "We don't know where we're going."</p> + +<p>Still she followed as Freddie trudged on.</p> + +<p>"You walk behind me, Flossie," he said, "and that will keep some of the +wind off you."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Freddie," was Flossie's answer. "But I'd rather walk by the +side of you. You—you can hold my hand better then."</p> + +<p>Hand in hand the twins went on. The wind seemed to blow all ways at +once, and always in the faces of the tots. All at once, as Freddie made +a stop to get his breath, he gave a shout.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter?" asked Flossie. "Do you see something?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, I guess it's a house," Freddie answered. "Look!"</p> + +<p>He pointed to something that loomed up black in the midst of the cloud +of snowflakes.</p> + +<p>"I guess we'll be all right now," Flossie said. "We'll go in there and +ask our way home."</p> + +<p>But when they reached the black object they found that it was only an +old shed which had been used to store some meadow hay. The door of the +shed was shut, but Freddie tried to open it.</p> + +<p>"We can go in there to get warm," he said, "if I can open it."</p> + +<p>"I'll help you," said Flossie.</p> + +<p>The two were struggling with the latch of the door when they saw some +black object coming toward them out of the storm.</p> + +<p>"Oh, maybe it's a cow," said Flossie.</p> + +<p>"It's a man," cried Freddie, and so it proved. A tall, nice-looking man, +his black beard white with snow, walked toward the children.</p> + +<p>"Well, well!" he cried. "What does this mean? Such little tots out in +this storm!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span></p> + +<p>"We're lost!" said Flossie.</p> + +<p>The strange man laughed.</p> + +<p>"Lost? So am I!" he cried. "It isn't the first time, either. I've been +lost a whole lot worse than this. Now, as we're lost together, we'll see +if we can't get found together. Here, we'll go in out of the storm a +minute and you can tell me about yourselves."</p> + +<p>With one pull of his strong arms he opened the shed door and went inside +with Flossie and Freddie.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER XXII</h2> + +<h3>HAPPY DAYS</h3> + + +<p>"This is better," said the man, as he closed the door to keep out the +wind and snow. "This isn't exactly a warm house, but it will do until we +get our breath. Now tell me how you came to be lost."</p> + +<p>"We were out taking some things to a poor lady," said Freddie, "and she +told us some nice stories."</p> + +<p>"One was about a little red hen," put in Flossie.</p> + +<p>"Yes," went on Freddie. "And when we saw it was snowing we came out in a +hurry and took the wrong turn, I guess. We couldn't see any houses, and +we hollered and nobody heard us, and then I saw this meadow grass and I +knew where we were."</p> + +<p>"So this is the meadows?" asked the strange man.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, this is the meadows," said Freddy.</p> + +<p>"We know we're on the meadows but we don't know where our house is," +said Flossie. "We live in Lakeport, and we're the Bobbsey twins."</p> + +<p>"The Bobbsey twins; eh?" returned the man. "Well, that's a nice name, +I'm sure."</p> + +<p>"And there are two more twins at home," went on Freddie. "They are Nan +and Bert, and they're older than we are."</p> + +<p>"They aren't lost," explained Flossie, carefully.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad of that," the man said. "And I don't believe you'll be lost +much longer."</p> + +<p>"Do you know where our house is?" asked Freddie.</p> + +<p>"No, not exactly," the man answered.</p> + +<p>"Didn't you say you were lost, too?" asked Flossie.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I did, little girl. I was lost. But now that you have told me +where I am, I think I am found. And I think, too, that I can help you +find your home. So you live in Lakeport. That's where I'm going."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span></p> + +<p>"How did you come to get out on these meadows?" asked Freddie.</p> + +<p>"Well, this is how it happened," the man said. "I was on my way to +Lakeport, but, by mistake, I got off the train at Belleville. That's the +station just below here. I did not want to wait for the next train so I +hired a man with an automobile to take me on to Lakeport. But about a +mile from here one of the tires of the automobile burst so the man could +not take me any farther. Then I said I'd walk, as I thought I knew the +road. I used to live in Lakeport about five years ago. I started off, +but the storm came up, and I lost my way. The first I knew I found +myself out in this big field which you say is the meadows."</p> + +<p>"That's what they call it," Freddie said.</p> + +<p>"Well then, now I know where I am and I know what to do. Do you think +you can walk along with me?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, we're not tired now," said Freddie. "We've had a nice rest in here. +But do you know the way to our house?"</p> + +<p>"I know the way to Lakeport. I had forgotten about these meadows. You +see it was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span>a good many years ago and I did not live in Lakeport long +before I went away. But now I know where I am. When I lived in your city +I used to come out here to hunt muskrats. If I am not mistaken this shed +is near a path that leads to a road by which we can get to a trolley +car. I don't know whether or not the trolleys are running, but maybe we +can find an automobile."</p> + +<p>"If you could find a telephone and telephone to my father's lumber yard +office he would come in his automobile to get us," said Flossie.</p> + +<p>"Well, perhaps I can do that," the man said. "Come along now, we'll +start."</p> + +<p>Out into the storm again went the Bobbsey twins. It was snowing as hard +as ever, but they were not afraid now, for they each had hold of the +man's hands, and they felt sure he Would get them safely home.</p> + +<p>"Are you all right now?" asked the man, as he walked along in the snow, +kicking away the flakes in a cloud such as a plow might throw on either +side.</p> + +<p>"Yes, we're all right now," Freddie said. "But we'll be righter when we +get home."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span></p> + +<p>"So mamma won't worry," added Flossie. "Mothers worry when their +children are lost."</p> + +<p>"That's too bad," said the man. "It isn't good for mothers to worry. But +I'll get you home as soon as I can. You two youngsters have had quite a +time of it, but I am glad to see you are brave and did not cry."</p> + +<p>"Flossie's got some tears on her face," reported Freddie, looking over +at his sister.</p> + +<p>"I have not!" cried Flossie. "Those are melted snowflakes. I wanted to +get some in my ear, so they'd make a funny, tickly feeling," she went +on, "but there wouldn't any fall in. Some sat on my cheeks, though, and +melted, and it's those what you see, Freddie Bobbsey, and not tears at +all! I hardly ever cry, so there!"</p> + +<p>"You cried when I busted your doll," Freddie said.</p> + +<p>"Well, that was a good while ago," Flossie insisted, "and I was only a +little girl. I hardly ever cry since I've growed up."</p> + +<p>"No, I guess that's right," Freddie said. "She's 'bout as brave as me," +he went on to the man.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I'm sure she is, and I'm glad to hear that. You are both brave little +tots, and I'm glad I found you. Whew!" he exclaimed, as the wind blew a +cloud of snowflakes into his face, "this storm is getting worse. I'll +have some melted-snow tears on my own cheeks, I think."</p> + +<p>The strays kept on through the drifting snow, and, all the while, it was +getting harder and harder for Flossie and Freddie to walk. The piles of +snow were up to their knees in some places, and though the man easily +forced his way through them, because he was big and strong, it was not +so easy for the little Bobbsey twins to do so.</p> + +<p>Pretty soon they came again to the rounded pile of snow that the two +tots had mistaken for a little house. The white flakes had covered the +hole Freddie had made with his stick.</p> + +<p>"Let's stop and see if the muskrat is home yet," proposed the little +boy.</p> + +<p>"What muskrat?" asked the man.</p> + +<p>"The one that lives in here. I started to dig in so Flossie and I could +get out of the storm, and the muskrat put his head out and looked at us. +I guess he was surprised."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span></p> + +<p>"We were surprised, too," said Flossie. "At first I thought it was a +little bear."</p> + +<p>"Ha! Ha!" laughed the man. "And so you dug into a muskrat's meadow-house +to get out of the storm? Well, that was a good idea, but I guess if you +had gone in the muskrats would have run out. But it was a good thing you +found the shed, and I'm glad I also found it. We will soon be home, I +hope."</p> + +<p>They lingered a moment, as Freddie wished to see if the muskrat would +come out; but the creature was, very likely, away down deep in his house +of sticks and mud, eating the sweet, tender roots of the plants he had +stored away before Winter set in.</p> + +<p>Once more the man led the Bobbsey twins onward.</p> + +<p>Pretty soon Flossie began to lag behind. Her little feet went more and +more slowly through the piles of snow, and once she choked back a sob. +She wanted to cry, but she had said she was brave and scarcely ever shed +tears, and she was not going to do it now. Still, she was so tired and +cold and altogether miserable that she did not know what to do. Freddie, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span>too, was hardly able to keep on, but he would not give up.</p> + +<p>At last, however, the man looked down at the two little ones, and he +noticed that they were really too tired to go farther. He stopped and +said:</p> + +<p>"Come! this will never do. I must carry you a bit to rest your legs. +Wouldn't you like that?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I would," answered Flossie. "But you can't carry both of us; can +you?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I can try," said the man. "Let me think a minute, though. I think +I will strap one of you on my back with my belt, and take the other in +my arms in front. That will be the best way."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I want to ride on your back!" cried Flossie.</p> + +<p>"No, little girl, I think it will be best for your brother to do that. I +will carry you in my arms in front. That will rest you both."</p> + +<p>The man had a wide, big belt around his waist, and, taking this off, he +put it over his shoulders, buckling it so that there was a loop hanging +down his back. He put Freddie in this <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span>loop, astride, so the little boy +could clasp his arms around the man's neck. Then, telling him to hold on +tightly, and picking Flossie up in his arms, the man started off once +more through the snow.</p> + +<p>"This is fun!" cried Freddie, as he nestled his head down on the man's +neck, keeping the snowflakes out of his eyes.</p> + +<p>"I like it, too," Flossie said, cuddling up in the man's strong arms.</p> + +<p>"Are we too heavy for you?" asked Freddie. "'Cause if we are you only +need to carry us a little way, until we're rested, and then we can +walk."</p> + +<p>"But I'm not rested yet," Flossie said quickly. She liked to be carried +this way. It made her think of the time when her father used to carry +her when she was a little tot.</p> + +<p>"Don't be afraid. I can carry you for some time yet," the man said with +a laugh, as he walked on through the drifts.</p> + +<p>"You can put me down now, if you like," Freddie said, after a bit. "I'm +kinder cold, and if I walk I'll be warmer."</p> + +<p>"Well, perhaps you will," the man replied.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span></p> + +<p>"And I can walk, too," added Flossie. "My legs are all right now."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe you will have to walk much farther," went on the man. +"I think the path is near here, and then it will be easier for you."</p> + +<p>The man soon found the path, though it was not easy to see, and, walking +along that, they came to a road. A little later the Bobbsey twins and +the man heard a bell ringing.</p> + +<p>"That's a trolley-car!" cried the man. "Now we're all right."</p> + +<p>And so they were. The trolley was one that ran between Belleville and +Lakeport, and a little later the two children and the kind man were +sitting in the warm electric car, speeding toward their home.</p> + +<p>"I think I'd better get out at the nearest telephone, to let your folks +know you are all right," the man said. "They will be worrying, and if we +can't get another car we may find an automobile."</p> + +<p>The car conductor knew where there was a telephone in a drug store that +they passed a little later, and the man called up Mr. Bobbsey at the +lumber office.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mr. Bobbsey and the strange man talked a while over the telephone, and +then the man, coming back to where the twins were just finishing their +glasses of hot chocolate which he had bought for them, said:</p> + +<p>"Your father is going to send the automobile for you, so we will stay +here until it comes. I told him where we were."</p> + +<p>"Was he worried?" asked Flossie.</p> + +<p>"Yes, very much," the man answered. "Bert, your brother, went out to +look for you but could not find you, and your father was just about to +start out."</p> + +<p>"Well, we're all right now," said Freddie, "and we thank you very much."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's all right," said the man, with a laugh. "In finding you I +found myself, for I was lost, too."</p> + +<p>In about half an hour Mr. Bobbsey's automobile came along, he himself +being in it. He jumped out and hurried into the drug store.</p> + +<p>"Flossie! Freddie!" he cried. "We were <i>so</i> worried about you! What +happened?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, we just got lost," said Freddie, calmly, "and this nice man found +us."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span></p> + +<p>"We found each other," said the stranger, with a smile, "and now that I +have done all I can, I think I will go on my way. I came to Lakeport to +find my mother and my son. They'll be surprised to see me for they think +that I am dead."</p> + +<p>"You don't say so!" cried Mr. Bobbsey. "Where does your mother live?"</p> + +<p>"Somewhere in Lakeport. At least she and my son did the last I heard, +though they may have moved. Perhaps you can direct me. My name is Henry +Todd, and I am looking for a Mrs. James Todd and her grandson, Tommy +Todd. I am a sea captain, and I was wrecked a number of years ago. It +was on a lonely island and——"</p> + +<p>"Say!" cried Freddie, so excited that he slipped right off the +soda-water counter seat. "Say! Are you—are you Tommy Todd's father?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's who I am," the man said. "But what do you know of Tommy?"</p> + +<p>"Why, we'd been leaving a basket of things at his house—with Tommy's +grandmother. Then we went out in the storm and got lost,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span> Freddie cried +in much excitement. "Oh, if you are Tommy's father we won't have to buy +a ship and go off to the desert island looking for you, like Robinson +Crusoe. Oh, how glad he'll be that you have come back!"</p> + +<p>"And how glad I'll be when I see him and my mother!" cried Mr. Todd. +"But you spoke of taking her some food. Is my mother poor, and in want?" +he asked Mr. Bobbsey.</p> + +<p>"She is poor, but not exactly in want. My wife and I and some friends +have been looking after her. Your boy, Tommy, runs errands for me."</p> + +<p>"Well, well! Tommy must be getting to be quite a boy now. And to think +it was your children whom I found and who told me where I was, so none +of us were lost. It is very strange! And can you tell me where my mother +lives?"</p> + +<p>"I can, and I'll take you there. It is not a very nice house, but we +have a better one for her. Only she did not want to move in this cold +weather."</p> + +<p>"I can not thank you enough for being kind to my mother and my son," +said Mr. Todd.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span> "But now I shall be able to look after them. I have +plenty of money and they need want for nothing now."</p> + +<p>In the automobile, going back to Lakeport through the storm, Mr. Todd +told Mr. Bobbsey and Flossie and Freddie his story.</p> + +<p>He had sailed away, just as Tommy Todd had said, some years before. The +vessel of which he was captain was wrecked, and he and some other +sailors got to an island where the natives were kind to them.</p> + +<p>But for many years no other ship came that way. So Mr. Todd could not +get home nor could he send any word, though he very much wanted to do +so. In that time he found some pearls which were very valuable. So, when +finally a ship did pass the island and take off the wrecked sailors, Mr. +Todd had more money than he had when he started out. For the pearls were +very valuable.</p> + +<p>As soon as Mr. Todd reached a place where he could send word to his aged +mother that he was alive and safe he did so. But in some manner the +message was never received.</p> + +<p>As soon as he had sent the message Mr. Todd <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span>started out himself to get +home. Finally, he reached the United States and took a train for +Lakeport. But, as he had told Flossie and Freddie, he got off at the +wrong station, and had come on in an automobile. Then came the accident +to the tire and the storm, and the rest you know—how Mr. Todd and the +Bobbsey twins met at the old shed on the meadows.</p> + +<p>"Well, that is quite a wonderful story," said Mr. Bobbsey. "I'm sure +your mother and son will be wild with joy to see you again. They have +long thought you dead."</p> + +<p>"I suppose so," said Mr. Todd. "The papers said my vessel was lost with +all on board, and it did seem so when I could send no word."</p> + +<p>"Only Tommy and I thought maybe you <i>might</i> be like Robinson Crusoe," +said Freddie, "and we were going in a ship to look for you on the +island, only I haven't money enough saved up in my bank."</p> + +<p>"Bless your heart!" said Mr. Todd.</p> + +<p>"I think this is what we will do," said Mr. Bobbsey. "We will stop at +your mother's house, get her and Tommy, and bring you all to my house."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, that is too much trouble!" said Mr. Todd.</p> + +<p>"No, not at all. I want you to have a happy time, and we shall be happy +with you."</p> + +<p>The automobile was stopped at the house by the dumps.</p> + +<p>"I will go in first," said Mr. Bobbsey, "and tell your mother and boy +that I have good news for them. If she were to see you too suddenly, +your mother, who has not been well, might be taken ill again. I will +prepare her for the good news."</p> + +<p>You can imagine how happy Tommy and his grandmother were when they +learned that Mr. Todd was alive. And when the shipwrecked sailor entered +the house Tommy fairly threw himself into his father's arms, while Mr. +Todd kissed him and kissed his mother in turn. Oh! they were very happy.</p> + +<p>"We found him!" cried Freddie. "And he found us! And now everybody found +everybody else and nobody's lost!" Freddie was very much excited.</p> + +<p>"Only I'm hungry," said Flossie.</p> + +<p>The Todds and Mr. Bobbsey and the twins <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span>were soon at the Bobbsey home, +talking over what had happened. Mrs. Bobbsey became worried when Flossie +and Freddie did not come home after the storm started, and she sent Bert +to Mrs. Todd's house after them. But they had already left, and had +become lost.</p> + +<p>"Well, now Freddie and I won't have to get a ship and go looking for +you," said Tommy, as he sat close to his father.</p> + +<p>"No, indeed. All our troubles are over now."</p> + +<p>And so they were. Mr. Todd had plenty of money to look after his mother +and son and a few days later he rented a nice house into which they +moved. He said he was never going to sea again. Then began happy days +for those who had spent so many unhappy ones.</p> + +<p>Tommy no longer had to run errands for Mr. Bobbsey, to get money to help +support his grandmother. He often came to play with Bert, Nan, Flossie +and Freddie, and the Bobbsey twins never grew tired of hearing Mr. Todd +tell of how he was shipwrecked.</p> + +<p>The Winter wore on. Christmas came. And what a happy one it was for the +Todd family, as well as for the Bobbsey twins!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span></p> + +<p>"We had as much fun at home this Winter as we did in the Summer at +Meadow Brook," said Nan.</p> + +<p>Winter or summer, these lively children manage to have a good time. +Their next adventure will be called "The Bobbsey Twins in a Great City."</p> + +<p>Now as they gathered in the living room Freddie said, "I'm glad we found +Mr. Todd."</p> + +<p>"And he found us," added Flossie.</p> + +<p>Snap, the big dog, thumped his tail on the floor in front of the fire. +Snoop, the black cat, purred in her sleep. Outside the snow was falling +and Freddie cried:</p> + +<p>"Now we can have more coasting!"</p> + +<p>"And there'll be more skating, too," said Bert.</p> + +<p>"But I'm not going to fall in again," said Tommy Todd.</p> + +<p>And now, as every one is happy, we will say good-bye to the Bobbsey +twins.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p> </p> + +<div class='tnote'><h3>Transcriber's Notes</h3> +<p>Obvious punctuation errors repaired.</p> + +<p>Varied hyphenation and spacing in snowstorm and snowball/snow ball retained.</p> + +<p>The remaining corrections made are indicated by dotted lines under the corrections. +Scroll the mouse over the word and the original text will <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'apprear'">appear</ins>.</p> +</div> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT HOME***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 18420-h.txt or 18420-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/4/2/18420">http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/4/2/18420</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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