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diff --git a/37554.txt b/37554.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b1742f5 --- /dev/null +++ b/37554.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6244 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Bobbsey Twins at Cedar Camp, by Laura Lee Hope + +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 www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Bobbsey Twins at Cedar Camp + +Author: Laura Lee Hope + +Release Date: September 28, 2011 [EBook #37554] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT CEDAR CAMP *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +[Illustration: FLOSSIE AND FREDDIE WATCH THE MEN AT THE SAWMILL. +_Frontispiece_ (_Page 92_)] + + The Bobbsey Twins + at Cedar Camp + + BY + + LAURA LEE HOPE + + AUTHOR OF "THE BOBBSEY TWINS SERIES," "THE + BUNNY BROWN SERIES," "THE OUTDOOR GIRLS + SERIES," "THE SIX LITTLE BUNKER + SERIES," ETC. + + _ILLUSTRATED_ + + NEW YORK + GROSSET & DUNLAP + PUBLISHERS + + Made in the United States of America + + + + + BOOKS BY LAURA LEE HOPE + 12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. + + THE BOBBSEY TWINS SERIES + + THE BOBBSEY TWINS + THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE COUNTRY + THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT THE SEASHORE + THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SCHOOL + THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SNOW LODGE + THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON A HOUSEBOAT + THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT MEADOW BROOK + THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT HOME + THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN A GREAT CITY + THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON BLUEBERRY ISLAND + THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON THE DEEP BLUE SEA + THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN WASHINGTON + THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE GREAT WEST + THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT CEDAR CAMP + + THE BUNNY BROWN SERIES + + BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE + BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE ON GRANDPA'S FARM + BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE PLAYING CIRCUS + BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT AUNT LU'S CITY HOME + BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT CAMP REST-A-WHILE + BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE IN THE BIG WOODS + BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE ON AN AUTO TOUR + BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AND THEIR SHETLAND PONY + BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE GIVING A SHOW + BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE AT CHRISTMAS TREE COVE + BUNNY BROWN AND HIS SISTER SUE IN THE SUNNY SOUTH + + THE SIX LITTLE BUNKERS SERIES + + SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT GRANDMA BELL'S + SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT AUNT JO'S + SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT COUSIN TOM'S + SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT GRANDPA FORD'S + SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT UNCLE FRED'S + SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT CAPTAIN BEN'S + SIX LITTLE BUNKERS AT COWBOY JACK'S + + THE OUTDOOR GIRLS SERIES + (Ten titles) + + Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York + + + + + Copyright, 1921, by + Grosset & Dunlap + + _The Bobbsey Twins at Cedar Camp_ + + + + + CONTENTS + + CHAPTER PAGE + I. Freddie's Surprise 1 + II. Locked Up 12 + III. Thanksgiving 24 + IV. Bert in Danger 34 + V. Christmas Trees 42 + VI. Off To Cedar Camp 54 + VII. In the North Woods 65 + VIII. A Nutting Party 72 + IX. Sawmill Fun 87 + X. A Sudden Storm 100 + XI. Old Mrs. Bimby 109 + XII. Mr. Bobbsey Is Worried 120 + XIII. Old Jim 128 + XIV. Snowed In 137 + XV. A Bare Cupboard 145 + XVI. Bert Starts Out 156 + XVII. Trying Again 165 + XVIII. A Little Searching Party 175 + XIX. The Wildcat 183 + XX. Snowball Bullets 198 + XXI. On the Rock 213 + XXII. Found at Last 231 + + + + +THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT CEDAR CAMP + + + + +CHAPTER I--FREDDIE'S SURPRISE + + +Very still and quiet it was in the home of the Bobbsey twins. There was +hardly a sound--that is, of course, except that made by four figures +tiptoeing around through the halls and different rooms. + +"Hush!" suddenly exclaimed Bert Bobbsey. + +"Hush!" echoed his sister Nan. + +They were two of the twins. + +Again came the shuffling noise made by tiptoeing feet on the front +stairs. + +"Quiet now, Flossie and Freddie!" whispered Bert. "Go easy, and don't +make a racket!" + +He turned toward Nan, who was carrying something in a paper that rattled +because of its stiffness. + +"Can't you be quieter?" asked Bert. + +"It isn't me--it's this paper," Nan answered. "I should have taken some +of the tissue kind." + +"I wish you had," Bert went on. "But it's too late now. We're almost +there. As soon as we get everything hidden it will be all right." + +Suddenly there was a sound behind Bert and Nan as though someone were +choking. It was followed by a smothered laugh. + +"What's that?" asked Bert in a sharp whisper. "Do you want to have +everybody in the house down here seeing what we're doing? Who did that?" + +He spoke a bit sharply, in a tense whisper, but his voice was not really +cross. It was as though Bert were the leader of some secret band of +soldiers or of Indians, and wanted the men to do just as he had told +them. + +"Who did that?" he asked again. + +"I--I guess I did," answered the voice of his little sister Flossie. + +"What did you do?" asked Nan. "You must try to be quiet, dear, else our +fun will be spoiled. Better take sister's hand." + +"Holdin' your hand won't do any good," answered Flossie, and though she +tried to talk in a whisper it was rather a loud one. "Your hand can't +stop makin' me sneeze," Flossie went on. "Can it?" + +"Oh, did you sneeze, dear?" asked Nan, who, since she and Bert were +"growing up," felt that she must take a little more motherly care of +Flossie. + +"Yes, I did sneeze," Flossie answered. "An' maybe I'll sneeze more +again. I feel so, anyhow." + +"Don't you dare!" exclaimed Bert. + +"She didn't sneeze! Not a reg'lar sneeze!" declared Freddie, who was +carrying a cigar box. Did I mention that Freddie and Flossie were the +other pair of Bobbsey twins? I meant to, anyhow. + +"If she didn't sneeze, what did she do?" asked Nan. + +"I did sneeze!" insisted Flossie. + +"You did not!" asserted Freddie. "You----" + +"Hush! Hush!" cautioned Bert. "You'll spoil everything!" + +But Freddie was not to be shut off in that way. He came to a stop in the +hall, along which the two pairs of twins were tiptoeing their way +through the house, and in the half-darkness, for the light was turned +low, he pointed his fat, chubby forefinger at Flossie, holding, the +while, his cigar box under his other arm. + +"She did not sneeze--not a reg'lar, full, fair sneeze!" he declared. +"She put her hand over her mouth an' she choked, an' she made more noise +'n if she had sneezed. Guess I know what she done!" + +"_Did_, dear! _Did!_" corrected Nan. "You must use right words now that +you are in regular classes at school and are out of the kindergarten. +_Did_--not _done_." + +"Well, Flossie _did_ snort and she _did not_ done sneeze," went on the +fat little "fireman," as his father sometimes called him. + +"I--I could 'a' sneezed if I'd wanted to," said Flossie. "Only I've an +awful loud sneeze, I have. It's louder'n yours, Freddie Bobbsey." + +"'Tis not!" declared Freddie. "You wait till I tickle my nose, an' I'll +sneeze an' I'll show you! I'll show you who can sneeze loudest!" + +"No, you will not!" said big brother Bert kindly, but firmly. "You two +youngsters must keep quieter, or we can't do what we're going to do. Nan +and I will take you back upstairs and mother will make you go to bed! +There!" + +This was such a dreadful threat, especially as Flossie and Freddie had +been allowed to stay up past their regular bedtime hour on their promise +to be good, that they at once quieted down. + +With Bert and Nan in the lead, the smaller Bobbsey twins followed their +older brother and sister. Bert reached a door opening into a large +closet near the kitchen. It was in this closet that the children were to +hide the things they were carrying, and why they were going to do this +you will soon learn. + +But just as Bert was about to open the closet door, Flossie gave a +little wriggle, and, pulling her hand away from Nan--the hand that did +not hold a package--the little Bobbsey girl whispered: + +"It--it's goin' to be some more, Nan!" + +"What is, dear?" + +"My--my ker--snee----!" + +The rest was a sort of gurgle, choke, and cough mingled with a sneeze. +Flossie had covered her mouth and nose with one hand, and thus tried not +to make as much noise as she otherwise would. + +"Say! everything will be spoiled," declared Bert. "I never saw such +children! We ought to 'a' made them hide their things this afternoon!" + +"Flossie can't help it," said Nan kindly. "Maybe she is catching cold. I +must tell mother to give her some medicine." + +"'Tisn't cold," declared Flossie. "It's some dust got up my nose. There +was dust in the closet where Freddie made me crawl to get him a cigar +box." + +"What did he want of a cigar box?" asked Nan. + +"Don't tell!" cautioned Freddie. "You promised you wouldn't tell, +Flossie Bobbsey!" + +"All right, I won't," she promised. "Anyhow, I don't know, 'cause you +didn't tell me. But I got him a box, an' it was dusty an' it makes me +sneeze an'----" + +"That's enough of this sneezing!" declared Bert. "Let's hide what we +have and get out. Dinah's in the kitchen now, and if she hears us +scuffling around she'll open the door and see us and she'll think +something is going to happen." + +"Well, something _is_ going to happen," whispered Nan, with a smile. But +you could not see the smile because it was rather dark in the hall. +"To-morrow is Dinah's birthday, and, oh! won't she be surprised?" + +"She'll be more surprised," said Freddie, though neither Bert nor Nan +knew just what he meant just then. Later they did. + +True enough, it was the birthday of Dinah Johnson, the fat, jolly, +good-natured colored cook of the Bobbsey family, which included the four +twins. Dinah's birthday was always celebrated, especially by the twins, +who always brought out their presents as a sort of surprise. + +This time they were bringing them down from their rooms the night before +the birthday, to hide the things in a big closet near the kitchen. + +Thus the gifts would be ready the first thing in the morning, to give to +Dinah at the breakfast table, when daddy would call her in from the +kitchen to be surprised. + +It was Bert's plan thus to hide the things ahead of time, and Flossie +and Freddie, of course, had begged to be allowed to take part. + +"I guess she didn't hear anything," said Bert, after listening a moment, +for Dinah was still in the kitchen, finishing her day's work. "The +door's shut," Bert added. "Now then," he went on, after a pause, "let's +hide our things and go back upstairs. Pass yours to me, Nan." + +The older Bobbsey girl did so, and just as Bert had put away his present +and hers, there was a loud sound behind him. + +"What's that?" sharply whispered Bert. + +"It was Freddie," answered Flossie. "An' he didn't sneeze--not at all." + +"I stumbled," answered Freddie. "I'm sorry!" + +"Well, it's too late for that. But I guess Dinah didn't hear," Bert +said, listening a moment. "Pass me your present, Freddie, and I'll hide +it with mine." + +"I'll hide it myself," said the little fellow, and he made his way to +the closet, squirming between Nan and Flossie. + +"Oh, well, do as you please," Bert agreed. And thus it was that none of +the others saw Freddie put two packages in the closet instead of one. +One package was his regular present for Dinah. The other was---- + +But just a moment, if you please. I want to tell this story as it should +be told. + +Anyhow, Freddie slipped two packages into the closet without letting +Bert see him. One package was a cigar box, tied with a string, and a +queer scratching noise seemed to come from within it. + +"There! Now everything is hid," said Bert, when Flossie's package had +been put on the shelf. "Now I'll lock the door, for mother gave me the +key, and Dinah can't open it. In the morning we'll give out the birthday +presents." + +The Bobbsey twins thought that morning would never come, but it did at +last, and Dinah knew nothing of their secrets, they felt sure. With +eagerness the four children assembled at the breakfast table. + +"Call Dinah in, Daddy, and let us give her the things," begged Nan. + +"I want to give mine first!" insisted Freddie. + +"And me next," said Flossie. + +Fat Dinah came waddling in, her face all smiles. + +"I 'clar to goodness! Whut's gwine on now?" she asked. "Did I forgots to +make de coffee, or am de toast burned?" + +Dinah pretended to be very much alarmed, but I think she knew why she +had been called in. At least she knew something of what was going to +happen, but not all. She must have known it was her birthday, and the +children always gave her something on such occasions. + +"Dinah, please sit down a moment," said Mr. Bobbsey, trying not to +smile. "I think Freddie has something to say to you." + +"I--I got something to give you, Dinah!" cried the little fellow, +hurrying out to the closet, which Bert had unlocked. + +"Bress yo' heart, honey lamb! Has yo' got suffin' fo' ole Dinah?" she +asked with a kind smile. + +"You--you'll be s'prised," said Freddie, as he handed the fat black cook +a cigar box, tied with string. + +"Why, Freddie!" exclaimed Nan. "That isn't your present! Yours is +wrapped in blue paper. Don't you remember? I wrapped it up for you." + +"I'll give Dinah _that_ present in a minute!" said Freddie, his eyes +shining. "I have _two_ for her!" + +"Bress his heart!" murmured the cook, as she fumbled with the string. + +A moment later it came off, and as the cover of the box flew open out +jumped a fat little gray mouse! + +"Oh, my! Oh, mah good lan'!" screamed Dinah. "Oh, a mouse! A mouse!" and +she jumped up in such a hurry that she knocked over the chair on which +she had been sitting. + + + + +CHAPTER II--LOCKED UP + + +"Get him! Get him!" cried Bert Bobbsey, making a dive for the little +mouse. + +"Oh, don't let him come near me!" screamed Nan, as she left her seat and +hurried over toward her mother. + +"Nonsense!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey. "To be frightened at a poor little +mouse!" + +The mouse ran under one chair after another, and circled around beneath +the dining room table. + +"Where's Snoop?" cried Bert, stooping down to watch which way the mouse +ran. "Get Snoop in to catch the mouse!" + +"Don't let him get me!" begged Flossie, and she ran over to Nan. + +"Children, be quiet!" commanded Mr. Bobbsey. "All this excitement over a +little mouse! Freddie, you did very wrong to put a mouse in a box and +give it to Dinah for a birthday present!" and he spoke rather sternly to +the little fellow. + +"Am dat mouse mah birfday present?" asked the fat cook, who was huddled +against the wall. "If it is I don't want it nohow!" + +Isn't it queer how frightened some women and girls are of a mouse? I +wonder why that it is? Anyhow, Nan, Flossie and Dinah seemed much +frightened, while Bert was more interested in seeing which way the +little gray creature ran. + +"Get Snoop! Where is Snoop?" asked Bert, calling for the family cat. +"Snoop will love to chase this mouse!" + +"I help you catch my mouse for Snoop!" offered Freddie. + +He had stood, eagerly waiting, to see what would happen when Dinah +opened his extra present box. And enough had happened to satisfy even +fun-loving Freddie. + +"Here, I'll fix that mouse!" cried Mr. Bobbsey. "Let it alone, Bert. +I'll drive it out!" + +Mr. Bobbsey picked up a small open glass salt dish from the table, and +was about to throw it at the mouse under the table. + +"Don't do that," said his wife. + +"Why not?" asked Mr. Bobbsey, holding the salt dish in readiness. + +"Because you'll spill the salt and it will have to be cleaned up." + +"I'll get the mouse!" cried Freddie. "I'll get him!" + +He ran over to the goldfish tank in one corner of the room. On the table +on which the tank rested was a tiny net of cloth on a handle and wire +frame. Bert used the net to lift out the fish when he wanted to clean +the tank, which he intended doing that day. + +"I'll catch the mouse under this!" cried Freddie, grabbing up the little +net and trying to dive under the table. But the little fellow slipped, +and knocked over a chair. It happened to fall on Flossie's foot. +Instantly the small Bobbsey girl set up a cry. + +"Oh! Oh, Freddie Bobbsey! Now look what you did! My toenails is all +broken! Oh! Oh!" + +"Hush! Hush!" begged Mother Bobbsey, hugging Flossie. + +"Oh, mah good lan'!" exclaimed Dinah, "I neber did see such a birfday as +dish yeah! Nebber in all mah born days!" + +Bert caught up his aluminum napkin ring and threw it across the room as +the mouse made a dart toward the door leading into the kitchen. + +"There he goes!" cried Bert. "No use getting Snoop now!" + +"Well, I'm glad the creature is out of the way!" said Mrs. Bobbsey, with +a sigh of relief. "Now, Freddie, what possessed you to do a thing like +that--to give Dinah a mouse for her birthday?" + +"And where did you get it?" asked Bert. "I should think you'd be afraid +of it, Freddie." + +"He was in the box, and I shut the cover down quick--like that"--Freddie +clapped his hands together--"and I ketched him." + +"You should say 'caught,'" murmured Nan. "Your teacher wouldn't like to +have you say 'ketched,' Freddie." + +"Well, I--I got him, anyhow," Freddie went on. "An' I tied some string +around the box and I kept the mouse and I thought maybe Dinah would +laugh an'--an'----" + +Freddie looked around the room. All too much had happened from his +little surprise. The whole place was in confusion. + +"If dey is any mo' birfday presents like _dat_," said Dinah, "I reckon I +better go!" + +"Oh, no!" exclaimed Nan. "Mine is a nice one, Dinah!" + +"So's mine!" echoed Flossie. + +"An' I've another!" added Freddie. "I'm sorry I scared you, Dinah." + +"Well, we'll forgive you this time," said his father. "Bring out the +other presents now." + +And while this is being done I will take just a moment to tell my new +readers something about the children who are to be the main characters +in this story. + +If you have read the first book of this series, called "The Bobbsey +Twins," you have learned that Mr. Bobbsey had a lumber business in the +eastern city of Lakeport, on Lake Metoka. Bert and Nan were the two +older twins. They had dark brown hair and brown eyes and were rather +tall and slim. The younger Bobbsey twins were Flossie and Freddie. They +were somewhat short and stout, and had light hair and blue eyes. The +children had many good times together and with their playmates, Grace +Lavine, Charlie Mason, Dannie Rugg, Nellie Parks and Ruth Nelson. They +also had fun with Snoop, their pet cat, and with Snap, their dog. + +There are a number of books coming between the first volume and the one +just before this. The Bobbsey twins went to the country to visit Uncle +Daniel, and at the seashore they stayed with Uncle William. Besides +these trips the four children made a voyage on a houseboat, visited a +great city, camped on Blueberry Island, went to Washington, and made a +trip at sea. They had, a week or so before celebrating Dinah's birthday, +returned home after some exciting times out West. + +You may read about these last adventures in the book just before this +present volume. It is called "The Bobbsey Twins in the Great West," and +it tells how Bert, Nan, Flossie and Freddie helped solve a strange +mystery about an old man. + +It was now fall, and on their return from the West the Bobbsey twins had +started to school again. Bert and Nan had gone into a higher grade, and +Flossie and Freddie, though they were still the babies of the family, +were now somewhat advanced at school, and were in regular classes, +attending morning and afternoon, instead of going just in the morning, +as they had done while they were still in the kindergarten. + +One of the first affairs the Bobbsey twins had taken part in since their +return from the West had been Dinah's birthday celebration. Each of the +children had bought the cook, of whom they were very fond, a present, +but Freddie had provided an extra one, as we have seen. + +"Don't ever do it again, Freddie!" cautioned his father, when quiet had +once more settled over the household. + +"I won't, Daddy," he promised. + +"Then you may give Dinah her regular present," said Mother Bobbsey. + +Freddie handed the cook a package wrapped in blue paper. + +"Is yo' suah dey isn't no mouse in dis?" asked Dinah, pretending to be +frightened. + +"No mouse!" Freddie assured her. "You open it!" + +And when Dinah had done so she found a bottle of perfume, which, she +declared, was "jest de sweetest kind what ebber was!" It was exactly +what she had wished for, she said. + +Then the other presents were given to her. Nan's was a pocketbook, and +Bert's a pair of comfortable slippers. Flossie handed Dinah a gay, red +silk handkerchief. + +"An' when I puts pufume on _dat_, an' walks out, everybody'll be wishin' +dey was me!" declared the fat, black cook. "Dish suah am a lovely +birfday!" + +There were presents, also, from Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey, and when she had +admired everything, and thanked them all, Dinah finished bringing in the +breakfast. They all laughed at Freddie's mouse, and he told how he had +caught it. + +He had had some nuts in a cigar box, and the day before, coming softly +up to it, he had seen a little mouse nibbling away among the nuts and +shells. As quick as a wink Freddie clapped the cover down, and had +caught the mouse fast. Then, without saying anything to anyone about it, +he had given it to Dinah. + +"Come on, Bert, or we'll be late for school!" called Nan, as she +finished her breakfast. + +"I'll be right with you," her brother answered. "If Charlie Mason calls +tell him to wait. He and I are going fishing this afternoon." + +"Can I come?" asked Freddie. "I'll help dig worms." + +"Not now," Bert answered. "Maybe to-morrow." + +"You wait for me, Freddie!" called Flossie. + +"Yes, I'll wait," he promised. + +Soon the Bobbsey twins were on their way to school. Bert walked with +Charlie Mason and Dannie Rugg, while Grace Lavine and Nellie Parks +strolled along with Nan. + +"Did you bring your skipping rope?" asked Grace of Nan. Grace was very +fond of this fun, though once she had jumped too much and had been taken +ill. + +"No, I didn't bring it," Nan answered. "I brought a new bean bag, +though, and we can play that at recess." + +"Oh, that'll be fun!" cried Nellie. + +Bert and Charlie were talking about the best place to go fishing. And +the younger Bobbsey twins were talking about something else. + +"If he does it again to-day, you tell me an' I'll fix him," said Freddie +to Flossie. + +"I will," his golden-haired sister answered. "Will you make him stop, +Freddie?" + +"Sure I will! You come and tell me!" + +"What is it you are going to do?" asked Nan of her smaller brother and +sister. But just then the warning bell rang and they all had to run so +they would not be late, and Nan forgot about what she had overheard. + +At recess there were jolly times in the school playground. Some of the +boys got up a baseball game, and others played marbles, leapfrog or +mumble-the-peg. The girls skipped rope or tossed bean bags, while some +played different kinds of tag. It was cool, so that running about and +jumping made one feel fine. + +Suddenly from the lower end of the playground, near the shed where the +janitor kept his brooms, a lawnmower, and other things, came a cry of +alarm. + +"That's Flossie!" exclaimed Nan, pausing in the midst of a bean bag +game. "Something's the matter!" + +She caught sight of Flossie and Freddie in some sort of a battle with +Nick Malone, one of the "bad" boys of the school. Flossie and Freddie +seemed to be having a fight with Nick. + +However, the battle was soon over. Before Nan reached the scene or could +call to Bert to come to her help, Nick disappeared, and Flossie and +Freddie, each laughing, ran over to the other side of the yard. + +"Oh, I guess they are all right," said Nan, as she stopped running and +turned back. + +Then the bell rang to call the children in from their play, and they +took their places in long lines. A little later Bert and Nan were in +their room, saying their lessons, and Flossie and Freddie were with +their classmates, getting ready to recite in geography. + +Miss Snell, their teacher, looked over the room. She noticed one vacant +seat. + +"Where is Nick?" asked Miss Snell. "He was here before recess. Did +anyone see him go home?" + +No one answered for a moment, and then Flossie raised her little, fat, +chubby hand. + +"Yes, Flossie, what is it?" asked Miss Snell, with a smile. + +"Nick didn't go home," said the little girl. "He--he's out in the yard." + +"Out in the yard?" exclaimed the teacher. "He should come in!" + +"If you please, he can't," said Freddie suddenly. "He's locked up! I +locked him up!" + + + + +CHAPTER III--THANKSGIVING + + +Miss Snell was not quite sure that she understood Freddie Bobbsey. She +looked at the little twin, smiled to make him understand that she was +not cross, and said: + +"What did you do to Nick, Freddie?" + +"I locked him up," Freddie answered. "In the tool shed. I have the key, +too," and, marching up to Miss Snell's desk he laid on it a large key. + +"You locked Nick in the tool shed!" repeated the surprised teacher. +"Why, Freddie Bobbsey! what a strange thing to do. Why did you do it?" + +"He pulled my hair," Flossie explained. "I mean Nick did. He pulled it +yesterday, too, and I told Freddie and Freddie said he would make Nick +stop." + +"Yes, go on, please," urged Miss Snell, as Flossie grew silent. + +"Well, when he pulled it again to-day," resumed the little girl, "I +hollered for Freddie and we hit Nick and he hit us and we pushed him +into the shed and--and----" + +"I locked the door!" finished Freddie. "You can hear him hollerin' to +get out," he added. "Listen!" + +The windows had been opened to freshen the air in the classroom, and as +silence followed Freddie's last remark Miss Snell and the children could +plainly hear, coming from the shed, the voice of someone calling: + +"Let me out! Let me out!" + +"That's Nick," calmly explained Freddie. "But I'm not going to let him +out 'cause he pulled Flossie's hair." + +"Well, of course, he shouldn't do that," said Miss Snell. "But you +should not have locked him in, Freddie. I shall have to tell the +principal and get him to let Nick out." + +The eyes of Flossie and Freddie grew big as the teacher said this. The +eyes of the other children opened wide also. To have to tell "the +principal" anything meant that it was very serious. + +"But I am sure you did not mean to do wrong," Miss Snell added, as she +saw that Freddie and Flossie looked rather frightened. "It will be all +right, I'll have the principal let Nick out. You may look over your +geography lesson while I am gone. I want you to tell me, when I come +back, what is a river, a lake, and an island." + +"We know about a island," said Flossie in a loud whisper. "Once we +camped on Blueberry Island, didn't we, Freddie?" + +"Yep!" he answered. "An' I fell in!" + +"Well, you may tell us about that later," and Miss Snell tried not to +laugh. "But don't talk any more in school; and study your lesson while I +go to Mr. Nixon's office." + +While Miss Snell was out of the room I do not believe much studying was +done by Flossie, Freddie or any of their classmates. They all listened +as, through the open window, came the cries of Nick Malone calling: + +"Let me out! Let me out!" + +"I locked him in--'cause he pulled Flossie's hair!" declared Freddie, +and Freddie was looked upon as quite a hero by the boys and girls in his +room. + +By standing up, Flossie, Freddie and the others in their class could see +the tool shed. And the children stood up and looked out as Miss Snell +and the principal went to release the locked-up boy. He came out crying, +and seemed frightened. But he soon quieted down, and promised never +again to pull Flossie's hair, while Freddie was made to promise never +again to lock anyone in the tool shed. + +"Tell your teacher, or tell me, when anyone plagues your sister, +Freddie," the principal said. + +"Yes'm--I mean yes, sir," Freddie answered. + +Neither he nor Flossie had any more trouble with the "bad" boy, about +whose teasing they had talked on their way to school that morning. I +think, after being locked up, that Nick was afraid of Freddie. At any +rate, Flossie's hair was not again pulled. + +"Our smaller twins are growing up," said Mr. Bobbsey to his wife at home +that night, when the story of what had happened in school had been told +at the supper table. + +"Yes," agreed Mrs. Bobbsey. "Our little 'fireman' and our 'fat fairy' +will soon be almost as big as Bert and Nan." Fireman and fairy were the +pet names for the smaller Bobbsey twins. But they were getting almost +too old for pet names now. + +The weeks passed, and the weather grew colder, though, as yet, no snow +had appeared. Freddie and Flossie, who had gotten out their sleds soon +after coming home from the West, looked at the sky anxiously each day. + +"Do you think it will ever snow?" asked Flossie of her mother. "I want +to go coasting." + +"So do I, and skating, too," Freddie added. + +"Oh, there is still plenty of time for it to snow this winter," said +their mother. "Why, it isn't Thanksgiving yet." + +"Oh, that's so!" exclaimed Freddie. "Thanksgiving is coming, an' we'll +have cranberry sauce an' turkey!" + +"An' pie an' cake!" cried Flossie. + +"Thanksgiving is not meant only for feasting," said their mother. "It is +a time for being thankful for all your blessings. It is a time, also, to +think of the poor, and to try to help them." + +"I wish we could help some poor," said Flossie. "Is it fun, Mother?" + +"Well, I don't know that you would call it fun," her mother replied, +with a smile, "though it gives more pleasure than many things that you +do call 'fun'. Just try it and see." + +Rather thoughtful, Flossie and Freddie went out together. It was the +Saturday before Thanksgiving and they did not have to go to school. They +each had two cents to spend, and it was while going down the street to +the nearest candy store that they passed the home of Miss Alicia +Pompret. + +"Hello, Bobbsey twins!" called Miss Pompret to Flossie and Freddie. + +"Hello!" answered the blue-eyed little boy and girl. They knew Miss +Pompret quite well, since Bert and Nan had, on their trip to Washington, +discovered some of the elderly lady's missing valuable china. Miss +Pompret was what some people would call "rich," and she had offered a +reward for the finding of her rare sugar-bowl and milk-pitcher. It was +these pieces that Nan had, by chance, seen in a secondhand store window, +and Miss Pompret paid the older Bobbsey twins the reward, which they +turned in to charity. + +"Are you going to the store for your mother?" asked Miss Pompret of +Flossie and Freddie, as they paused at her door. + +"We're going to the store for ourselves," Freddie answered. + +"We have two cents apiece," added his sister. + +"Oh, I see!" laughed the elderly, maiden lady. "Well, on your way would +you mind stopping at the grocer's and telling him he hasn't yet sent the +barrel of flour, the barrel of potatoes, and the ten hams I ordered. +Tell him I expect them to-day." + +"My! you're gettin' a lot of stuff, Miss Pompret," said Flossie. + +"Well, you see, I am going to give a large dinner to a number of poor +people for Thanksgiving," said Miss Pompret, "and I want some things for +them to take home with them. That's why I'm ordering so much." + +"For the poor!" murmured Freddie. + +"Yes, dear," went on the lady. "You know Thanksgiving is not meant to +see how much we can eat, but to think of our blessings and help other +persons to have blessings that they may be thankful for." + +"That's what mother said," remarked Flossie. "Yes'm, we'll stop at the +grocery for you." + +"Thank you," called Miss Pompret. + +Then, as she and Freddie walked on, Flossie turned to her brother and +said: + +"Freddie, didn't we ought to do something for the poor?" + +"Maybe we ought," he agreed. "But who is poor?" + +"Anybody that has ragged clothes is poor," observed Flossie. "We could +give 'em some of our clothes, 'cause I've got so many my closet is +full." + +"I've two pair of pants," observed Freddie. "I don't need but one, I +guess. But you can't eat clothes, Flossie." + +"I know it, but you have to have clothes when it's cold. And it maybe +will snow for Thanksgiving. Oh, Freddie! we could give our two cents to +somebody poor for Thanksgiving!" Flossie's eyes were shining with +delight. + +"Yes, we could do that," said Freddie, slowly. "But you can't get much +clothes for two cents and not much to eat, I don't guess." + +Flossie thought this over for a moment, and then her face lighted up. + +"I know what we can do!" she said. "We can look for some poor ragged +people, and take them to our house for Thanksgiving. Mother or father +could give them some clothes and they could have some of our turkey. +Daddy and mother have some dressings, too, like Miss Pompret said." + +"She didn't say '_dressings_,'" objected Freddie. "It's '_blessings_,' +like you get in Sunday-school." + +"Oh," said Flossie. "Well, we could get some for the poor. Let's do it, +Freddie." + +"All right," agreed the little fellow. + +They were just going into the candy store, having stopped at the +grocer's with the message from Miss Pompret, when Flossie and Freddie +caught sight of a ragged boy and girl, about their own age, standing +with their faces close against the glass of the show window of the toy +and candy shop. + +"Freddie, look!" whispered Flossie. + +"They're poor!" whispered Freddie. "Let's take them!" + +Flossie nodded in agreement, and then they went up to the ragged +children who were eagerly gazing in the window, which was partly filled +with Christmas toys. + +"Come on with us," said Freddie, tapping the other boy on the shoulder. + +Quickly the boy turned, doubled up his fist, and, thrusting the ragged +girl behind him, he exclaimed: + +"Now you let us alone! We wasn't doin' nothin'! We was just lookin' in +the winder, an' that's what it's for! You let us alone!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV--BERT IN DANGER + + +Flossie and Freddie were so surprised at the strange action on the part +of the ragged boy that they hardly knew what to do. Flossie looked at +Freddie and Freddie looked at his sister, and then they looked at the +strange boy and girl. + +"You let her alone, an' you let me alone!" ordered the ragged boy. "I +ain't done nothin', an' she ain't done nothin'!" + +"You shouldn't say 'ain't,' 'cause it ain't--I mean it _isn't_ a good +word. Our teacher says so," Flossie quickly admonished the strange boy. + +"Well, I don't care what I say, you oughtn't to drive us away from +lookin' in this winder," objected the boy. "Nice smells comes out; and +when you ain't--I mean when you _isn't_ got any money to buy candy, you +can smell it!" + +Flossie and Freddie looked at each other in surprise. To be so poor that +one had to "smell" candy instead of eating it, was to be poor indeed! +Flossie opened her fat chubby hand and looked at the two moist pennies +clutched there. Freddie did the same. Then the small Bobbsey twins, with +one accord, held out the money to the boy and girl. + +"Here," said Freddie. "Take it!" + +"Mine too!" added Flossie. "You can buy candy with it!" + +For a moment the ragged boy and girl did not know what to say. Then a +smile came over the boy's face. His fist unclenched, and his sister +smiled too. + +"You mean this--for us?" he asked. + +"Sure!" answered Freddie. "We don't need candy, and we'll feel good for +Thanksgivin'!" + +"Oh, I'm going to buy two lollypops!" cried the ragged girl. + +"I want gum!" said the boy, and into the store they disappeared. + +Freddie drew a long breath. + +"I--I feel happy, don't you?" he asked Flossie. + +"Yes," she answered. "I--I guess I do! Anyhow, we can ask mother for +more pennies when we go home." + +"Let's take them home for Thanksgiving," suggested Freddie. + +"You mean that ragged boy and girl?" asked Flossie. + +"Yes. Miss Pompret is going to feed some poor, and we can feed some at +our house. Let's take 'em home," went on Freddie. + +"Oh, that will be fine!" Flossie agreed. "Let's!" + +When they came out of the candy store the ragged boy and his sister, who +at first thought Flossie and Freddie had wanted to drive them away from +the window, were smiling. + +"You're coming home with us!" announced Freddie, taking the boy's hand. + +"For Thanksgiving," added Flossie. "Course it isn't Thanksgiving yet, +but we want to feel good when it does come, so we're going to feed you +now." + +"Well, I'm hungry all right," sighed the ragged boy. + +"So'm I," said his sister. + +And so, hardly knowing what was going to happen, the ragged boy, who +said his name was Dick, and his sister, who was Mary Thompson, went with +the little Bobbsey twins. + +Mrs. Bobbsey was very much surprised when her little son and daughter +came up the steps, leading a strange ragged boy and girl. + +"We brought them home for Thanksgiving, like Miss Pompret's going to +do," said Freddie. + +"So's to make us be more happier," added Flossie. "And we gave them our +two cents, so please can we have more? And they're hungry, Mother!" + +Mrs. Bobbsey understood that it was the kind hearts of Flossie and +Freddie that had brought all this about. So she welcomed the two strange +children, and took them out to Dinah, who, you may be sure, fed them +enough, and almost too much. + +After that meal, which Dick said was the "best feed" he ever had eaten, +and after Flossie and Freddie had finished watching their strange, +ragged guests eat, Mrs. Bobbsey asked Dick and his sister some +questions. + +She found out that they lived on the other side of town, that their +father was dead, and that their mother did what she could for her +children. + +"Do you go to our school?" asked Freddie, during a pause in his mother's +questions. "We've a nice school, and our teacher's name is Miss Snell, +and----" + +"And Freddie locked a boy up in the tool shed 'cause he pulled my +hair--I mean the bad boy pulled my hair," broke in Flossie. + +"We don't go to school--our clothes is too ragged," said Mary, in a low +voice. + +"Never mind, my dear. Perhaps I can find some clothes for you that +aren't quite so full of holes," offered Mrs. Bobbsey kindly. "Clothes +with holes in are fine for summer," she said, with a laugh, "but not so +good for winter. I'll see what I can find." + +She found some good, half-worn garments belonging to the twins, and Dick +and Mary took the clothes home. The result was that they appeared at +school the following Monday. But neither Flossie nor Freddie spoke of +their mother having given the two fatherless children clothes to wear. + +"Now we'll be happy for Thanksgiving; won't we, Freddie?" asked Flossie, +when it was settled that Dick and Mary were to be taken care of. + +"Yes," Freddie agreed. "And I hope we have a big turkey!" + +"An' cranberry sauce!" added his sister. + +There was a fine Thanksgiving dinner at the Bobbsey home, but the mother +of the four twins did not forget the poor. She helped Miss Pompret with +that lady's Thanksgiving feast for those who were not fortunate enough +to have one of their own, and Mr. Bobbsey and some other good-hearted +men of Lakeport provided money so that the Salvation Army could feed a +number of hungry men who were out of work. + +Still there was one reason why at least Flossie and Freddie, of the +Bobbsey family, were not quite happy that Thanksgiving day. And the +reason was because there was no snow. The children had polished their +sleds, had wiped the rust off the runners, and were all ready for a +coast. But without snow there can be no sleigh riding, and though the +weather was cold, the sun shone from a cloudless sky, and Flossie and +Freddie were much disappointed. + +"Do you think it will ever snow, Mother?" asked Flossie for about the +twentieth time. + +"And will there be ice so I can skate?" Freddie wanted to know. + +"Well, my dears, there will be snow and ice, surely, in a little while," +answered Mrs. Bobbsey. "But when I can not say. You must be patient. +Think of your blessings, as Uncle William would say." + +"I want to have some fun," complained Freddie. "Oh, look!" he suddenly +cried, coming back to the window away from which he had started to go. + +"What is it?" asked Flossie. + +"It's our cat--Snoop! A big dog just came along and Snoop ran up the +tree. Now he can't get down!" + +"Oh, of course Snoop can get down out of a tree," said Nan. "He's often +climbed up and down before." + +But this time Snoop did not come down. Whether he had been too much +frightened by the dog, or whether he was afraid of falling if he started +to come down backward out of the tree, I don't know. But Snoop stayed up +on a limb, where he cried pitifully. + +"I'll get him down," offered Bert. "I can climb out on that limb from +our front porch roof. I've done it before." + +Bert went upstairs, climbed out on the porch roof, and a little later +was over in the tree where Snoop was perched. + +"Mew! Mew!" dismally cried the cat. + +"I'm coming to get you," said Bert, kindly. "Wait a minute, Snoop!" + +From the ground Flossie, Freddie and Nan watched Bert make his way out +on a limb toward Snoop. And then, all of a sudden, there was a cracking, +breaking sound and Bert cried: + +"Oh, I'm falling! I'm going to fall!" + + + + +CHAPTER V--CHRISTMAS TREES + + +Several things happened all in a moment. The cracking limb, Bert's +cries, and the swaying of the bough as it bent toward the ground with +the weight of the Bobbsey boy frightened Snoop, the cat. All this did +just what was needed, for it so frightened Snoop that down he scrambled +out of the tree, not caring whether or not he fell. + +Bert, as soon as he felt the tree branch giving way with him, reached +out his arms and grasped whatever came first to his hands. This happened +to be another branch over his head, so that there he was, his feet on +one limb that was slowly bending beneath his weight, and his hands +grasping a branch above him. + +And, to add to the excitement, Flossie and Freddie, who saw what danger +Bert was in, set up a dismal crying. + +"Oh, Bert's going to fall! Bert's going to fall!" yelled Freddie. + +"Daddy! Mother! Dinah! Somebody! Come quick!" exclaimed Flossie. "Catch +Bert before he falls!" + +Nan ran out under the tree and stood with her dress held up, as she used +to do when her father picked apples and dropped them down to her. Nan +may have thought Bert could drop down and she would catch him, as a man +jumps into a circus net from the top of the tent. But, again, perhaps +Nan was so excited that she really did not know what she was doing. + +However, daddy and mother came hurrying to the window, attracted by the +cries of the children, and Mr. Bobbsey, seeing just what was needed, +said to his wife: + +"Run and tell Sam to come here with the ladder. It stands back of the +chicken house." + +"I will," said Mrs. Bobbsey. So, instead of running out after Mr. +Bobbsey to see poor Bert dangling in the tree, she hurried to the rear +door and called to Sam, who was working over Mr. Bobbsey's automobile. + +"Sam! Sam! Bring the ladder out in front, quick!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey. + +"Ladder! De ladder?" repeated the colored husband of fat Dinah. "Am dey +a fire some place?" + +"No fire!" answered Mrs. Bobbsey. "But Bert is up a tree and he is +falling! Mr. Bobbsey wants the ladder to get him down! Hurry!" + +"Oh!" answered Sam. Then he hurried to the chicken house, got the +ladder, and hurried around to the front of the house with it. + +"Can you hold on a little longer, Bert?" asked his father anxiously, as +Sam began to raise the ladder up into the tree. + +"I--I guess so," was the answer. "Is Snoop all right?" + +"Yes, Snoop's all right. He jumped. But don't you jump!" called Nan. + +"I--I won't," Bert answered. + +Then his father and Sam raised the ladder up into the tree, and a few +minutes later they had rescued Bert, helping him so that he could put +his feet on the ladder and climb down. + +"What made you go up?" asked his mother, when the excitement was all +over. + +"I went up after Snoop," said Bert. "A strange dog chased him up the +tree." + +"Well, of course, you meant to be kind," said his father. "But you must +be careful when in a tree. Very often a branch may look sound and +strong, as though it would hold you up. But when you step on it or pull +on it, it breaks. It is always a good plan, if you climb a tree in the +woods--or anywhere else--to pull on a limb to test it before you bear +your full weight on it. If you hear a cracking sound it means that the +branch will break." + +"I heard a cracking sound," Bert said. "But that was after I got out on +the limb with my feet." + +"Then it was almost too late," his father said. "But remember always to +test a branch before you trust yourself to it." + +The Bobbsey twins and the others went back into the house, and the rest +of the Thanksgiving day passed pleasantly. Snoop and Snap had been given +especially good dinners in honor of the occasion. + +In the morning, when Flossie and Freddie awakened, which generally +happened at the same time, the little fellow ran to the window and +looked out. + +"Oh, look, Flossie! Look!" he cried. "Come and see!" + +"Is Snoop up the tree again?" asked the little girl. + +"No, but it's snowing! Snowing hard! Now we can have some fun with our +sleds! Come on, we'll go coasting!" + +Later the two smaller Bobbsey twins, having had their breakfasts, ran +out to play in the snow. Quite a little had fallen during the night, and +more was coming down. It was just about right for starting to make a +coasting hill. + +Not far from the Bobbsey home, on a side street, was a hill where the +smaller children had their fun. Bert and Nan, with some of the older +boys and girls, generally went to a longer and steeper hill some +distance away. But this time Bert and Nan had not gotten out their +sleds. + +"I'm going to wait for Charlie Mason," said Bert. "He said he'd come +over as soon as it snowed. We're going to make a bob." + +"May I have a ride on it?" asked Nan. "I'll help you get some pieces of +carpet to tack on if you'll let me ride." + +"Sure we'll let you," agreed Bert. And then he went to telephone over to +ask if Charlie were coming. + +Meanwhile Flossie and Freddie and some of their friends were having fun +on the small hill. Each of the smaller Bobbsey twins had a sled, and the +children had races to see who would get first to the bottom of the +slope. With merry shouts and laughter they played amid the swirling +flakes of white snow. + +The fun was at its liveliest, and Flossie and Freddie were among the +merriest, when along came Nick Malone, the boy whom Freddie had locked +in the tool shed at school. + +"Oh, Freddie! Look!" whispered Flossie, dropping the rope of her sled +and moving closer to her brother. + +"What is it?" asked Freddie, for he was watching Sammie Henderson go +down hill backward on a "dare." + +"It's that--that bad boy!" whispered Flossie. "He might pull my hair!" + +"If he does, I'll--I'll----" began Freddie, and then up swaggered Nick. + +"Hu! you can't do nothin' to me now," he sneered. "There ain't no +teacher or principal here! There!" and he reached over as if to pull +Flossie's hair. + +"You let my sister alone!" cried Freddie. + +"Yah! Yah! Why don't you wear girls' dresses!" taunted Nick. "You're a +girl-boy! Girl-boy!" + +"I am not!" declared Freddie, while the other coasters gathered around. +"You go on away!" + +"I'm going to have a coast! Here, I guess I'll take this sled!" cried +Nick, and before Freddie could stop him the bad boy caught Flossie's +sled from the ground and ran with it toward the top of the hill. + +"Here! You come back! You let my sister's sled alone!" shouted Freddie, +racing after Nick. + +Now Freddie was a good runner, but Nick had the start of him, and +reached the top of the hill first. However, Freddie was not far behind, +and no sooner did Nick throw himself flat on the little Bobbsey girl's +sled, face down, than Freddie made a jump, and right on top of Nick's +back he landed! + +"Hi! Get off!" cried Nick, his breath rather knocked out of him, for +Freddie was a fat, chubby little fellow. + +"You get off my sister's sled!" demanded Flossie's brother. + +But it was too late for this. It was impossible for Nick to stop now, +and down the hill he coasted on Flossie's sled, with Freddie on his +back, both boys coasting together! + +It was a trick the children often did on the hill, and there was nothing +hard about it. Only this time it happened to be an accident, and the two +boys were enemies and not friends. + +Freddie was so surprised at the sudden and unexpected coast that he just +had to hold fast to Nick and he could say nothing more. But when the +bottom of the hill was reached, Freddie, being on top, began to pound +Nick's back with his two sturdy fists. + +"Hey! Quit! Let me up!" begged the bad boy. + +"Not till you give me my sister's sled!" insisted Freddie. + +"Well, how can I give it to her when you're sittin' on me?" yelled Nick. + +With that Freddie got off the other lad's back, allowing him to get up. +The other boys gathered around, thinking there might be a fight. But +Nick had had enough. He found Freddie braver than he had thought, and +turned away, muttering: + +"Aw, I only wanted a ride an' I got it!" + +"Yes, and Freddie had one too!" laughed Sam Miller. + +Nick walked away, and then the younger Bobbsey twins again started +coasting, Freddie taking Flossie's sled back to her. + +It was still snowing when noon came, and Flossie and Freddie had to go +home to lunch. They found Bert and Charlie busy making a bobsled in the +back yard. The older boys were fastening together their sleds by a long +plank, and Nan was helping by tacking some strips of carpet on the +plank. + +"Oh, can we ride on that?" asked Freddie. + +"Maybe," said his brother. "How's the little hill?" + +"Nice," Freddie answered. + +"An' you ought to've seen Nick Malone take my sled and Freddie jump on +his back!" cried Flossie. + +"Is that fellow bothering you two again?" demanded Bert, looking up with +a hammer in his hand. "I'll get after him, that's what I will!" + +"Freddie got after him," explained Flossie. "Oh, I'm so glad it snows! +We're going coasting some more after dinner." + +"Sure!" added Freddie. + +At the dinner table Bert and Nan noticed that their father seemed +worried over something. He went to the window several times to look out +at the storm. + +"If this keeps up the shipment will never arrive," he said to his wife. + +"You mean the Christmas trees?" she asked. + +"Yes," answered Mr. Bobbsey. "They are late now, and something seems to +be wrong up there in the woods." + +"Shan't we have any Christmas tree?" asked Freddie, who did not know +just what was being talked about. + +"Oh, I guess so," his father said, and again he went to look at the +snow. + +"Are you going to sell Christmas trees?" Bert asked. He had caught the +word "shipment," and knew it had to do with some part of his father's +lumber business. + +"Yes, I am going into the Christmas tree business this year," said Mr. +Bobbsey. "That is, I have bought a large shipment of them to be sent +here to me from the North Woods. If they get here in time I can sell +them and make some money. But if this snow keeps up, the carloads of +trees, or the shipment, will be delayed, and if they don't get here at +least a week before Christmas they will be of little use to me. But +perhaps the snow will not be as heavy as I fear." + +"I didn't know you sold Christmas trees," remarked Nan. + +[Illustration: THE CHILDREN HAD GREAT FUN COASTING.] + +"I never did before," her father said. "It's a new business for me, and +I may make a failure of it." + +Then the older Bobbsey twins began to understand how it is that snow can +bring pleasure to boys and girls, but may often mean trouble for older +people in business. + +"Well, we'll hope for the best," said Mr. Bobbsey, as he started back to +the office after dinner, when the white flakes were still falling +steadily. "I may have to go up to the North Woods to see about that +shipment of trees if they don't get here soon." + +"Could we go?" asked Bert, having a joyful vision of a mid-winter trip +to one of his father's lumber camps. + +"Well, I'll see," answered Mr. Bobbsey, and Nan and Bert looked at each +other in delight. + +Some strange adventures were ahead of them, though they did not know it. + + + + +CHAPTER VI--OFF TO CEDAR CAMP + + +Bert and Charlie, with Nan's help, finished the bobsled in time to use +on the coasting hill that afternoon and early in the evening. And it is +a good thing they had hurried with it, for the next day there came a +thaw and the snow began to melt. It melted so fast that by noon there +was scarcely enough for Flossie and Freddie to have any fun on even the +small hill, and what snow there was had mostly turned to slush. + +"Oh, dear," sighed Nan, when she found that she and her brothers and +sister had to give up their pleasure, "this isn't any fun!" + +"That's right," agreed Bert. "But the winter isn't over. We always have +a lot of snow after Christmas." + +"And I suppose we ought to be glad there isn't a big storm," went on +Nan, when it had been decided to give up coasting and the older Bobbsey +twins were dragging home the new bobsled. + +"Why ought we be glad?" Bert wanted to know. + +"Because if it doesn't storm so much daddy can get his shipment of +Christmas trees here and make some money." + +"Oh, that's so--I forgot!" exclaimed Bert. "But if the trees do come we +can't make that trip with him to the North Woods to see what the matter +is. And I wanted to go on a trip like that, for we don't have much +school now, on account of the holidays." + +"It would be nice to go off somewhere in the winter," agreed Nan. +"Remember what fun we had at Snow Lodge?" + +"I should say so!" cried Bert. "But there isn't much use talking about +snow when it thaws like this," and he stepped into a puddle of slush. + +"Oh, be careful!" cried Nan. "You'll get your feet wet!" + +"I have rubbers on," said Bert. + +There was nothing to do but to leave the bobsled and the other sleds in +the shed attached to the garage. There they would stay until more snow +came. When Bert went into the house, after putting away the bobsled and +helping Flossie and Freddie store away their smaller sleds, he found his +mother waiting for him. + +"Bert," said Mrs. Bobbsey, "here is a special delivery letter that just +came for your father. It should have been delivered at the office, but +they sent it here by mistake, and Dinah took it in before I could call +to the boy to take it back with him. I called your father up about it on +the telephone and he said, if you came in, to have you bring it down." + +"I'll go," replied Bert cheerfully. + +"Oh, may we go along?" begged Flossie. + +"We'll be good!" promised Freddie. + +"Shall I take them?" asked Bert of his mother. + +"If you want to," she answered. "Does Nan want to go?" + +But Nan, as it happened, had some sewing she wanted to do on a Christmas +gift for one of her girl friends, so she said she would stay in the +house and busy herself with needle and thread. Thus it came about that +Bert took the smaller Bobbsey twins down to his father's office. + +They went in a trolley car, and, as they always did, Freddie and Flossie +became very much interested in everything that happened, from the fat +lady who could hardly get on to the scenes in the streets. + +There were many trucks and wagons in one street, as the car came nearer +that part of Lakeport in which Mr. Bobbsey's lumberyard and office were +situated. Finally the street became so crowded with wagons and +automobiles that the car had to proceed slowly. + +"Oh, Freddie, look!" suddenly called Flossie, pointing out of the +window. A big auto-truck, piled high with crates, in which were chickens +and ducks, had come to a stop alongside of the trolley car, and so close +that, had the window been open, the Bobbsey twins could have reached out +their hands and touched some of the fowls. + +"I guess they're getting in big shipments of ducks, turkeys and chickens +ready for Christmas," said Bert. "Look out there, Freddie!" he suddenly +called, and, leaping from his place beside Flossie, Bert made a grab and +pulled Freddie off the seat. + +Only just in time, too, for at that moment the auto-truck, which had +started off after being stalled, lurched to one side, and a corner of +one of the chicken crates crashed through a car window, breaking the +glass. + +Bert had seen the crate of chickens shifting around as the truck +started, and had guessed that it was going to slide over and crash +against the trolley car, just as it did. So he pulled Freddie away in +time. + +Some of the passengers in the car screamed, and there was a shout by the +conductor and motorman as the glass crashed in the electric vehicle. + +And then a funny thing happened. One of the slats of the chicken crate +on the auto-truck came loose, and in through the broken window fluttered +a hen and a rooster. Right into the trolley they flew, the hen cackling +and the rooster crowing! + +"Oh, look! Look!" cried Flossie. + +"Catch 'em!" shouted Freddie, pulling away from Bert and grabbing for +the rooster. + +But the rooster did not intend to be caught. Half running and half +flying, he "scooted," as Freddie called it, down to the end of the car, +and, as the conductor had just opened the door to look out and see what +was causing the blockade, the rooster made his escape. + +The hen, however, did not seem to know how to get out. She fluttered +around, cackling and making a great fuss. The men in the car laughed, +and the women held their hands over their hats so the chicken would not +light on them. + +"Maybe she came in here to lay an egg!" suggested Flossie, laughing. + +"I'm goin' to catch her!" shouted Freddie. + +"Get her and have a chicken dinner," said the motorman. + +By this time the car was in an uproar, most of the passengers enjoying +the queer excitement. As for the hen, I do not think she liked it at +all, though she had more room than in the crate. + +The driver of the auto-truck was talking to a policeman about whose +fault it was that the trolley window had become broken, and the motorman +and conductor now joined in. + +"I've got to get that chicken and rooster back," said the truck driver. +"I'll be blamed for letting them get away." + +"And we'll be blamed for having a window in our car broken," said the +conductor. "It was your fault." + +"It was not!" insisted the driver. + +Cackling and fluttering, the hen raced about inside the trolley car, and +Freddie tried to catch her, but could not. Several of the men made grabs +for the lively fowl, but finally she saw the same open door by which the +rooster had gotten out, and away she flew. + +"She didn't like it in here," observed Flossie. + +"I don't blame her," said a woman passenger, laughing. "Poor thing! Her +nerves must be all on an edge." + +"Let's go and see if they catch 'em," suggested Freddie. But Bert said +they had no time for that. + +The slipping crate, which had broken the window, was finally pulled back +on the truck. The slat was nailed fast so no other fowls could get out, +and then the trolley car moved along. The conductor picked up the larger +pieces of broken glass and pulled the curtain down over the window to +keep out the cold air. + +"My, you must have had some excitement," said Mr. Bobbsey, when the +children finally reached his office and told him of the accident. "I'm +glad Freddie wasn't cut by the broken glass." + +"I'm glad, too," said the little Bobbsey boy. + +Mr. Bobbsey read the letter Bert had brought him, and then the same +worried look Bert had seen before came over his father's face. + +"Do you want me to tell mother anything?" asked Bert. + +"No, except to thank her for sending me down this letter. Still, you +might say to her that I think I shall have to go to Cedar Camp in a day +or two." + +"Where's Cedar Camp?" asked Bert. + +"Where the Christmas trees grow," his father answered, with a smile. +"It's where the Christmas trees grow that I hope to have to sell. I +haven't got them yet, and I'm going there to see what the trouble is. +This letter is about the trees." + +"Oh, can't we go and see where the Christmas trees grow?" begged +Flossie. + +"We like it in the woods," said Freddie. + +"I suppose you do," his father answered, smiling. "But the woods in +winter are very different from in summer. However, we shall not have any +bad storms or severe weather for another month, I think. Perhaps I might +be able to take my Bobbsey twins to Cedar Camp," and he playfully +pinched Flossie's fat cheek. + +"It would be nifty to go!" said Bert. "Do you really think you'll take +us?" + +"We'll talk it over to-night at home," said his father. "Here, take +Flossie and Freddie to the store and get them some hot chocolate," he +added, giving Bert some money. + +The little Bobbsey twins liked the chocolate very much, but they were so +excited, thinking about a possible trip to the North Woods, that they +talked of nothing else. + +"Do you really think you will have to go?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey of her +husband that evening. + +"Yes," he answered. "Those Christmas trees have been lost somewhere +between Cedar Camp and here, and I must find them, or I shall lose a lot +on them. I will go to Cedar Camp in a few days." + +"And take us?" asked Bert. + +"All of us!" cried Freddie. + +Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey looked at one another. + +"Would you like to go?" asked Mr. Bobbsey of his wife. + +"Where could we stay?" she inquired. + +"There is a large log cabin that one of my foremen used to live in," Mr. +Bobbsey answered. "The cabin is empty, and we could stay there as long +as the weather did not get too cold, and as long as there were no bad +storms. I really ought to go right to the woods, so that if I cannot get +on the track of the lost shipment of Christmas trees I can start the men +to cutting others. So we might as well all go." + +"Oh, what fun!" cried the Bobbsey twins. + +Since that first fall of snow, which did not last very long, there had +been no storms in the region of Lakeport, and Mr. Bobbsey thought he +could get to Cedar Camp and return with his family before the really +severe winter weather set in. He did not believe it would take long to +look up the matter of the delayed shipment of the Christmas trees and +straighten it out. + +So it was settled, and a few days later, when plans had been completed, +the Bobbsey family started for Cedar Camp. + + + + +CHAPTER VII--IN THE NORTH WOODS + + +"It's just lovely to take a trip like this," said Nan, as she leaned +back in the automobile. + +"Swell, I call it," declared Bert. + +Flossie and Freddie said nothing just then. They were too busy looking +from the windows. + +Mr. Bobbsey owned a large, closed automobile, which even had an +arrangement for heating, and it was just the proper vehicle for a trip +like this. It easily held all the Bobbseys and their baggage, which had +been piled in to go with them. + +It had not taken long to make preparations for the trip. Dinah and Sam +would be left in charge of the Lakeport house, and would care for Snoop +and Snap. + +"I wish we could take our cat along," sighed Flossie. + +"And Snap would be just right for the woods," said Freddie. "Everybody +has a dog in the woods." + +"We haven't time to bother with Snoop and Snap now," said Mrs. Bobbsey, +so the dog and cat had been left at home, as much to their sorrow as to +that of the Bobbsey twins. + +Cedar Camp was in what was called the "North Woods," about forty or +fifty miles from Lakeport. It was a wild, desolate region, especially in +the winter. In summer many camping parties made the place more lively. + +Mr. Bobbsey owned some timberland there, from which was cut some of the +lumber he used in his business. And it was only this year that he had +decided to go into the Christmas tree trade. He had ordered many +hundreds of the small cedars, spruce, and hemlocks cut and shipped to +him, some to Lakeport and others to a more distant and larger city. + +But something had gone wrong with the carloads of trees. They had +started from Cedar Camp all right, but that was the last heard of them. + +"I can trace them from the North Woods end better than from down here," +Mr. Bobbsey had said, as a reason for making the trip. + +The men who went into the woods to cut timber and Christmas trees had to +stay in winter camps. They lived in log or slab cabins, and there were +many of them scattered through the North Woods. It was in one of these +cabins, which had formerly been used by a foreman and his family, that +Mr. Bobbsey planned to have his wife and children stay for about a week. +It would take him that long, he thought, to locate the missing Christmas +trees. + +And so now the Bobbsey twins were on the first part of their journey in +the large, closed automobile. It was almost as comfortable as traveling +in a Pullman railroad car, and it was much more fun, the children +thought. + +They had brought with them plenty of lunch, some extra wraps, and some +blankets and bed-clothes. + +"What shall we eat when we get to the North Woods?" asked Freddie, as he +munched some cookies his mother passed to him and Flossie. "Shall we +have any--chicken?" + +"If we could 'a' brought the one in the trolley car we could," suggested +Flossie. "Wasn't she funny, an' the rooster, too?" + +"I wish we could 'a' caught them," Freddie murmured. + +"Oh, I think we'll have enough to eat without those fowls," said their +mother. + +"They will if they like baked beans," said Mr. Bobbsey. "The lumbermen +have plenty of those. They bake big pans of them." + +"I'll help mother cook," offered Nan. + +"There will be a woman at the camp to cook," Mr. Bobbsey explained. "I +wrote up and engaged the wife of one of the lumbermen," he said. "I +thought you'd like a little rest from looking after housework even in +camp," he said to his wife. + +"Thank you, I will," she said. "It will be quite nice to be in the woods +in winter; especially the Christmas tree woods, where there is so much +greenery." + +On went the automobile, driven by Mr. Bobbsey. Lakeport was left behind +and they were on a country road. The weather was fine, with hardly a +cloud in the sky, and Mr. Bobbsey was glad that he had taken his family +on this little trip. + +It looked as though they were going to have good luck all the way. Noon +came and saw them more than half over their journey, and as yet no +mishaps had befallen them. There was no tire trouble and the engine of +the big automobile seemed glad to work as hard as it could going up hill +and on the level with the Bobbsey twins. + +Mr. Bobbsey planned to get to Cedar Camp before dark, and he would have +done so but for a little accident. They had left the town of Bunkport, +which was the last village before the North Woods was reached, when the +motor began to chug in a queer manner. + +"What's that?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey. "One of the cylinders seems to be +missing." + +The Bobbsey twins knew what this meant. That one of the parts of the +automobile engine was not working properly. + +"Oh, Daddy!" exclaimed Freddie. + +"I guess the spark plug needs cleaning," said Mr. Bobbsey. "But we won't +stop for that now. I think we can reach Cedar Camp, and then I'll have +plenty of time to take it out and look at it." + +But the automobile continued to go more and more slowly, and once, on a +hill, it almost stopped. + +"If we can get over the top we can coast down and soon be in Cedar +Camp," said Mr. Bobbsey, in answer to an anxious look from his wife. + +The car did manage to climb the hill, and then it was easy to go down +the other side. But there was still a farther distance to go than Mr. +Bobbsey had thought. The night settled down, it became dark, and then, +suddenly, when the car was on a rough road in a sort of lane cut through +the evergreen trees, the engine, with a sort of cough and chug, stopped +altogether. + +"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey. "We're stalled!" + +"Looks like it," said Mr. Bobbsey, preparing to get out and see what the +trouble was. + +"Where are we?" asked Bert, getting ready to follow his father and help +if he could. + +"We're in the North Woods," answered Mr. Bobbsey. "Several miles from +Cedar Camp, I'm afraid." + +"It--it's awful dark!" whispered Flossie. "Aren't they going to turn on +the lights?" + +"There aren't ever any lights in the woods 'ceptin' fireflies, are +there, Daddy?" asked Freddie. + +"Only our auto lights," answered his father. "Well, we may be able to +travel soon." + +As he was getting out of the car into the dark road, a mournful, shrill +cry that echoed all about sounded through the forest. + +"What's that?" gasped Nan, shrinking close to her mother. "Oh, what is +it?" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII--A NUTTING PARTY + + +Mrs. Bobbsey was rather alarmed at what had happened to the automobile +to cause it to stop. She was also worried, thinking perhaps they all +might have to stay out in the woods all night, if they could not go on +to camp. So when Nan asked the cause of the strange noise her mother did +not at first answer. + +The sound came again, just as Bert was getting down out of the car to go +to his father, who had lifted the hood over the motor to see what was +wrong, and the strange sound so startled this Bobbsey twin lad that he +let go his hold of the side of the car and slid with a bump to the +ground. + +"Ugh!" grunted Bert, as he fell. + +He grunted in such a funny way, and he looked so odd sitting there in +the dusk, as if he did not know what had happened, that Flossie and +Freddie laughed. And this laughter seemed to make them less afraid of +the queer call of the woods. + +"Hurt yourself, Bert?" asked his father, looking up from his task of +throwing the gleams of a flashlight in among the parts of the automobile +motor. + +"No, sir," Bert answered. "I just sat down sudden, that's all. But what +was that noise, Daddy? Is it----" + +As if finding fault because the Bobbsey twins had come to Cedar Camp, +once more the warning call came. + +"There it goes again!" exclaimed Nan. + +Flossie and Freddie shrank closer to their mother, and even Nan seemed a +little afraid, but Mr. Bobbsey only laughed. + +"That's a hoot owl--or a screech owl, I don't know which," he said. +"Anyhow, it's only a bird with feathers and big, staring eyes. And, very +likely, it's looking down at us now and wondering what we're doing in +his woods." + +"Is the owl looking at us now?" asked Freddie, climbing away from his +mother and venturing to the door of the car. + +"Very likely," his father said. "But the chances are you can't see it. +Owls keep pretty well hidden when there's any daylight left." + +"Well, the light is fast fading," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "It's getting dark +very fast, Dick. And unless we get to camp soon--well, you know what may +happen," she said to her husband. "Do you think you can get the motor to +going?" + +"I think so," he answered. "Bert, please come here and hold the light +for me." + +Glad to be of help to his father, Bert arose from the ground, to which +he had slipped when the sudden noise of the owl startled him, and went +to hold the flash lamp. As he sent the beam moving about, in order to +direct it just where his father wished it, there was a whirr and a +flutter in the almost leafless branches of the trees overhead, and +Flossie cried: + +"There it is!" + +"Yes, that's Mr. Owl," laughed her father. "He came up to look at us, +but he doesn't like our bright light, because it hurts his eyes. So he +flew away. Now come on, Bert, and we'll get the motor to running again. +They'll be anxious at Cedar Camp if we don't get there soon." + +"Do they expect us?" asked Nan. + +"Oh, surely," said her father. "Hold the light steady, Bert." + +The Bobbsey twin lad did as requested, and after a little examination, +his father exclaimed: + +"I see what the trouble is--a loose wire on a spark plug! That's easily +fixed. We'll be traveling on again in a few minutes." + +And so they were. Once the wire was fastened in place, the automobile +could go again. Bert and his father got back in, there was a chugging +and throb of the motor, and off they went through the woods, the two +headlights gleaming along the dark road in the midst of the trees. + +"I wish we could have arrived by daylight," said Mr. Bobbsey, as he +carefully steered the car. "Cedar Camp looks ever so much better then." + +"I'm glad to get here at all--so we don't have to stay out in the woods +all night," said Mrs. Bobbsey. + +"It would be fun to be out in the woods all night--if owls didn't bite +you--wouldn't it, Flossie?" asked Freddie. + +"Yes, I guess maybe," answered the little girl. "But I'd rather be in +our camp an' have something to eat." + +"I guess I would, too," agreed Freddie. + +"Well, here we are, then. Cedar Camp!" suddenly cried Mr. Bobbsey, and, +almost before the twins knew it, the car had turned from the dense woods +and was in a clearing, or place where many trees were chopped down. + +Around the clearing were many log cabins, and inside some of them, and +outside others, lanterns were glowing, so the place was quite light, +compared to the darkness of the forest. + +"Cedar Camp!" cried Bert. "Is this it?" + +"Yes," his father answered. "Here we are--a little late, but better late +than never! Now to find our cabin." + +He guided the car into the midst of the clearing, and the children could +see the various cabin doors opening and men and women looking out. + +"That you, Mr. Bobbsey?" a voice called. + +"Yes, Jim Denton," was the answer. "We're here!" + +"Thought maybe you'd given up and wouldn't get here until to-morrow," +the voice went on. + +As the car stopped the Bobbsey twins saw a tall, lanky man, wearing +rough clothes, but whose face had a kind smile and whose blue eyes +looked laughingly at them. He stood at the side of the car, peering in. + +"We did have a little trouble," said Mr. Bobbsey. "And one of your owls +seemed to think we hadn't any right in the woods. But here we are!" + +"One of the owls, eh?" laughed Jim Denton, the foreman of the Christmas +tree and lumber camp. "Well, they sure are queer birds! Make an +outlandish racket, sometimes. But come on in. Your place is all ready +for you, and Mrs. Baxter has had supper ready for some time." + +"That's good!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey. "The children are half starved, I +fancy." + +"Run your car over to the shed," said the foreman to Mr. Bobbsey. "It'll +be safe there if it snows." + +"Had any snow up here yet?" asked the father of the twins. + +"Not yet, but it may come any day. I heard you had a little down your +way." + +"But it didn't last very long," Freddie chimed in. "We didn't have much +coasting at all!" + +"You didn't, eh?" laughed Jim, as he lifted out Flossie and Freddie, +Bert and Nan being too big for this attention. "Well, when we do get +snow up here we generally get a lot, and it may come any time. But the +longer it holds off the better we can get out lumber and Christmas +trees." + +"What about my Christmas trees?" asked Mr. Bobbsey. "That's what I came +up about." + +"It is queer about those trees," said the foreman, as he helped Mrs. +Bobbsey out. "We sent a lot off from here, but they must be stuck +somewhere on the railroad down below. However, if they're lost we can +cut more. There's plenty in the woods." + +Mrs. Bobbsey and the children waited until Mr. Bobbsey had put the car +under a shed, and then, when he joined them, the family, led by the +foreman, walked toward the largest cabin in the clearing. This was to be +the home of the Bobbseys while they were at Cedar Camp. + +"Well, I am glad to see you folks!" exclaimed Mrs. Baxter, who was to do +the cooking and help Mrs. Bobbsey during the stay in camp. "I began to +be afraid that something had happened." + +"A wire came loose," said Freddie. "But daddy soon fixed it. And we +heard an owl hoot. Do you like owls?" + +"Well, not specially," answered Mrs. Baxter, with a laugh. + +"I don't, either," said Flossie. + +The Bobbsey twins looked about the cabin that was to be their home for a +time. It was a large one, and had been used by a former foreman with a +large family. There were several bedrooms and it had many of the +comforts of life, even though it stood in the North Woods. + +Mrs. Baxter was the wife of one of the men employed in cutting down +trees, and she had agreed to cook for the Bobbseys during their stay. +She and her husband lived in one of the smaller cabins, and her grown +daughter would cook for Mr. Baxter while his wife was with the Bobbseys. + +"Now get your things off and sit right up to the table," cried Mrs. +Baxter. "The supper's sort of spoiled, keeping so long." + +"I fancy the twins are hungry enough to eat almost anything," said their +mother. "I know I am!" + +In spite of what Mrs. Baxter said, the supper proved to be very good +indeed, and Flossie and Freddie passed their plates back so often to be +filled again that their father said: + +"My goodness! there won't be anything left for breakfast." + +"Won't there, Mother?" asked Freddie anxiously, pausing with his fork +half way to his mouth. + +"Oh, yes! Of course! Your father's only joking!" she said, with a laugh. +"But don't eat too much." + +"I want just a little more," begged Flossie. + +"Can we go out and look at the camp after supper?" Bert wanted to know. + +"You can't see much by lantern light," his father told him. "You'll have +plenty of chances to-morrow and the next few days." + +Bert found it too dark out of doors when he took a look after leaving +the table, and decided to wait until morning. + +The cabin was warm and cosy, and the Bobbsey twins thought they had +never come to a more delightful place than Cedar Camp. They sat and +talked a little while after the meal, and then, when Flossie and Freddie +began to show signs of being sleepy, their mother said it was time for +them to go to bed. Bert and Nan soon followed. + +It seemed to be the middle of the night when Flossie, awakened from a +sound sleep, heard a great noise and loud shouting outside the log +cabin. + +"Mother! Mother! What's that?" she whispered. + +"Only the lumbermen going to work," Mrs. Bobbsey answered. + +"Do they go to work in the night?" Flossie wanted to know. + +"It's almost morning--the sun will soon be up," her mother told the +little girl. "Keep quiet and don't awaken Freddie." + +Flossie turned over and closed her eyes, thinking it strange that men +should have to get up and go to work in the night. It was dark, and the +stars were shining, as she could see by a glimpse through her window. + +"I guess maybe they're like Santa Claus," thought Flossie. "They have to +go out to cut Christmas trees in the dark, same as St. Nicholas comes to +our house in the dark on Christmas Eve." + +Content with this thought, the little girl fell asleep, not to awaken +again until it was broad daylight. She found that all were up save +Freddie and herself, but the youngest Bobbsey twins soon joined the +others at the breakfast table. + +"Oh, goodie!" cried Freddie, when he understood that Mrs. Baxter was +baking buckwheat cakes and had maple syrup to pour over them. "That's +what I like!" + +"He can't like 'em all, can he, Mother?" cried Flossie. "I can have some +pancakes, can't I?" + +"Hush! There'll be plenty for all of you!" said Mrs. Bobbsey. "What will +Mrs. Baxter think?" + +"I'll think they're good and hungry; and that is what I like to see when +I'm baking cakes," laughed the good-natured cook. She was almost as nice +as Dinah, Freddie whispered to Flossie. + +"An' if she has a birthday we--we'll give her something," whispered +Flossie. + +"Yes," agreed Freddie, holding out his plate for another cake. + +After breakfast Mrs. Bobbsey took the children for a walk in the woods +around the camp, while Mr. Bobbsey went to talk with some of his +lumbermen about the missing Christmas trees. + +"Don't go too far away," he called to his wife. + +"Why not?" she asked. + +"Because the woods here are rather wild, and you and the children might +get lost. There aren't many trails, paths, or roads. Keep close to +camp." + +"I will," she promised. + +It was wonderful and beautiful in the North Woods, even though winter +was at hand. Most of the birds had gone, and about the only trees that +had any leaves on were the oaks. An oak tree holds many of its leaves +all winter, the old ones being pushed off in the spring as the new ones +come on. But there were so many spruce, pine, hemlock, and cedar trees +growing all about--trees which remain green from one year to the +other--that the woods were not as bare and dreary as are most forests. +Cedar Camp was indeed a green Christmas camp, and a most lovely place. + +"We'll have lots of fun here!" cried Freddie, running to the edge of a +little hill. + +"Lots of fun!" agreed Flossie. "We'll----" and then she stopped +suddenly, for Freddie did a queer thing--or at least a queer thing +happened to the little fellow. His feet seemed to slide out from under +him, and down the hill he went, almost as though sliding on the ice! + +"Oh, look! Look!" cried Flossie. "What made him do that?" + +"I slid! I slid! Oh, I had a slide! I'm going to slide it again!" cried +Freddie, jumping up and scrambling to the top of the hill again. "Come +on, Flossie!" + +"What makes him slide, Mother?" asked Flossie, as she saw her little +brother go down the hill standing up, just as he and his small sister +had often done on a snowy, icy slope. + +"It's the pine needles," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "The ground is covered with +the long, brown, smooth pine needles, and they make a slippery carpet. +You may slide on them. If you fall you won't be hurt." + +Soon the two smaller Bobbsey twins were having great fun sliding down +the slippery pine-needle-covered hill, and Bert and Nan also took their +turns. + +But after two or three slides Bert found something on the ground that +made him exclaim in delight and run to his mother to show her. + +"Look!" he cried. "A chestnut! Are there chestnuts in these woods?" + +"Yes, I did hear your father say something about them," Mrs. Bobbsey +replied. + +"Oh, let's hunt for some!" cried Nan. + +"We'll help!" added Flossie and Freddie, deserting the pine-needle slide +for the joys of nutting. + +But though the twins looked in all directions they found only a few +scattered chestnuts. + +"The squirrels have picked up most of them," said Jim Denton, coming +along a little later. "But there's a chestnut grove not far away, up +Pine Brook, and there ought to be plenty left if you don't wait too +long." + +"Oh, Mother! may Nan and I go chestnutting?" asked Bert. "I want to get +a lot!" + +"Will it be safe for them?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey of the foreman. + +"Oh, yes," answered Jim. "It isn't more than a mile and the trail is +plain. I'll tell 'em how to go and show 'em the way." + +And so, the next morning, Bert and Nan started off on a chestnut party, +little dreaming of the strange things that were to happen to them and +the other Bobbsey twins. + + + + +CHAPTER IX--SAWMILL FUN + + +Flossie and Freddie had teased to be allowed to go nutting with Bert and +Nan, especially when the smaller Bobbsey twins learned that their +brother and sister were to take a lunch and perhaps stay all the rest of +the day in the woods. + +"Oh, I want to go nutting!" cried Flossie. + +"So do I!" wailed Freddie. "An' I want to eat my dinner under the +Christmas trees!" + +"We can't have any fun if they come with us," objected Bert, in a +whisper to his mother. + +"We'll take them some other time," added Nan. "They'd get tired and want +to come back before we found any nuts, Mother." + +"Yes," said Mrs. Bobbsey, "perhaps they would. You can take them some +other time, I suppose." Then, as she knew Flossie and Freddie would be +disappointed, Mrs. Bobbsey called to them: + +"Come, little twins, we'll go down to the sawmill and see the big logs +sawed up into boards. Maybe you can ride on the log carriers." + +Flossie and Freddie knew what this was, and to them there was no better +fun. Also they liked to see the big, jagged-tooth saw whizzing about and +cutting its way through the logs with such a queer, ripping, buzzing +sound. + +"Oh, if we can go to the sawmill that will be 'most as much fun as +nutting," agreed Freddie. + +"Will you bring us some nuts?" asked Flossie. + +"Yes," promised Nan. "And next time we go we'll take you." + +So the nutting party was arranged. Taking lunch was a sort of +afterthought on the part of Bert. + +"What'll we do if we get hungry?" he had asked his mother. + +"We'll take something to eat in our pockets," Nan had said. + +"I'm going to eat mine outside--sitting on a log!" laughed Bert. + +"Smarty!" laughed Nan. "I'll catch you next time!" + +Mrs. Baxter put up for the children a good lunch, more than enough for +two meals, Mrs. Bobbsey said. + +"But we'll get awful hungry in the woods," Bert remarked. "And we don't +want to have to eat the nuts we get." + +True to his promise, Jim Denton, the foreman, showed the older Bobbsey +twins where to take the path that led up along Pine Brook and deeper +into the forest about Cedar Camp, where the chestnut trees were growing. + +"Good-bye!" called Flossie and Freddie, as they stood on the porch of +the log cabin, waving to Bert and Nan, who started off with their lunch +to be gone the rest of the day on the nutting party. + +"Good-bye," echoed the older Bobbsey twins, and then they were soon lost +to sight in the turn of the path along Pine Brook, which led deeper into +the North Woods. + +"Now for some sawmill fun!" called Mrs. Bobbsey. "We'll go down and see +the little saw chew up the big logs." + +In addition to sending to market logs for telegraph poles and the masts +of ships, Mr. Bobbsey's men in the North Woods also sawed up trees into +planks and boards which were sold in the neighborhood. Besides this +there was the Christmas tree trade, but that only took place at this +time of year, around the holidays. + +Flossie and Freddie were too small to think much about the missing +Christmas trees, which their father had come to camp to see about. All +they were anxious for was to have some fun, and going to the sawmill was +part of this. + +The sawmill was farther down on Pine Brook, where that stream widened +out and was dammed up to make a waterfall. Part of the waterfall went +through a flume, or sort of wooden canal, and the water, falling down a +shaft, or wooden tunnel standing on end, turned a turbine wheel. + +A turbine wheel is quite different from the ordinary mill wheel you may +have seen. In fact you can not see the turbine wheel at all, for it is +closed in at the bottom of the water shaft. It is small, but very +powerful, and it was this kind of wheel which turned the saw machinery +in Mr. Bobbsey's Cedar Camp mill. + +Before the smaller Bobbsey twins reached the mill they could hear the +ripping, tearing sound of the saw as it cut its way through the logs, +slicing them into boards as your mother slices the loaf of bread with +the carving knife. + +"Good morning, Mrs. Bobbsey--also little twins!" called Foreman Tom +Case, who had charge of the sawmill. "Did you come to buy some lumber +this morning?" + +Flossie and Freddie knew Tom Case, for he had, at one time, worked in +the lumberyard of their father in Lakeport, so it was meeting an old +friend to see him here. + +"Do you want one or two million feet this morning, Flossie?" asked the +jolly sawman. "And will you take it with you or have it sent?" + +"I guess we'll just take some sawdust for Flossie's doll," laughed +Freddie. This was a standing joke between the sawmill man and the little +twins. Tom Case was always trying to sell a big lot of lumber to Flossie +and Freddie, and they always said all they wanted was a little sawdust. + +"Oh, shucks! you aren't any kind of customers to have around a lumber +camp," laughed Mr. Case. "Where's the rest of the family?" he asked Mrs. +Bobbsey. + +"Bert and Nan have gone nutting," their mother answered. "So we came +down here to see what was going on." + +"Well, we're sawing up a lot of logs to-day," said the head man of the +mill. "Here, you twins sit right down on this soft place, and you can +watch everything." Mr. Case spread a horse blanket on top of a pile of +soft, fragrant sawdust, and on this Mrs. Bobbsey and the smaller twins +sat down. + +They saw the lumber men float logs down into the pond at one side of the +dam and near the flume through which the water dropped to turn the +turbine wheel. Into these logs a big iron hook was driven. The hook was +fast to a chain, and the chain was wound around a drum, or big roller. + +When a man threw over a lever that started the machinery, the drum +turned, the chain was wound up and the log was pulled from the water up +on land and ready to be put on the moving carriage which fed it into the +teeth of the saw. + +"Could we ride on the logs?" cried Flossie, as she saw them pulled, or +"snaked," as it is called, out of the pond and up on shore. + +"Yes! Yes!" chimed in Freddie. + +"Oh, no," his mother answered. "You might roll off, and if the log +turned over, and got on your legs, it would break them. It wouldn't be +safe--see there!" + +One of the lumbermen had jumped on top of a log that was being pulled +along by the chain. For a time he kept his balance, and was given a +ride. But as Mrs. Bobbsey cried out, the log struck a stone and turned +over, and if the lumberman had not jumped he would have been thrown. + +He leaped to one side with a laugh, and ran into the mill. + +"That's what might have happened to you, only you might not have gotten +off so easily," said Mrs. Bobbsey. + +"I'd like to ride," sighed Flossie. + +"So would I!" added Freddie. + +"Let 'em ride on the log carriage. That's safe if they don't get too +near the saw, and you can ride with them and watch," said Tom Case. + +"All right," agreed Mrs. Bobbsey. + +The log carriage was a movable platform of framework, on which the logs +rested as they were sawed into boards. The logs were rolled up on the +carriage by men, when the machinery had been stopped and the big buzz +saw was no longer whirring around. Once a log was fastened in place, Tom +Case pulled a lever, and the turbine wheel began to turn the saw, and +also move forward the carriage. The carriage, or framework carrying the +log, moved slowly forward by means of cogwheels underneath, so that it +fed the log into the teeth of the saw which ripped off wide planks and +boards. + +Mrs. Bobbsey and the little twins sat on the far end of the carriage, +and began to ride forward with it. Of course if they had stayed on too +long they would have been carried up against the dangerous saw just as +the log was. But before this would happen they could step off, as the +carriage moved slowly, like an automobile just before it stops. + +"Oh, this is fun!" cried Flossie, as she dragged her feet through little +piles of sawdust. + +"'Most as much fun as nutting!" agreed Freddie. "I'm going to be a +lumber-saw man when I grow up." + +"Then you aren't going to be a fireman?" asked his mother, for that had +been Freddie's great ambition. + +"Nope; I'm going to have a sawmill," he decided. But as he changed his +mind about every other day concerning what he intended to do when he +grew up, his mother did not take him seriously this time. + +She and the twins rode on the log carriage until the big tree length was +almost sawed through, and then she helped Flossie and Freddie off. With +a final zip and clatter the board was sawed off the side of the log. +Then the carriage would move back its full length, the log would be +shifted over to enable the saw to cut a new place, and the work would +start over again. + +The log carriage moved backward, when no sawing was being done, much +faster than it moved forward. And the little Bobbsey twins liked this +backward ride very much, as they went fairly whizzing along. + +"All aboard!" called Tom Case, as he prepared to send the carriage on +its return trip. Mrs. Bobbsey and Flossie and Freddie took their places. + +There was a rattle and a rumble, and back they shot, the twins shouting +in glee and kicking aside the piles of sawdust. Thus they had great fun +at the sawmill, and they did not want to come away when the noon whistle +blew and it was time for lunch. For there was a steam engine in Cedar +Camp, as well as the turbine wheel, and this steam engine had a whistle +which the engineer blew to tell the men to stop for dinner. + +After dinner Mrs. Bobbsey went to lie down, and after cautioning Flossie +and Freddie not to go near the sawmill without her, she left the smaller +twins to amuse themselves near the cabin. Their father was out with some +of his men looking after Christmas trees, and as Bert and Nan had gone +nutting, Flossie and Freddie looked about to find some amusement of +their own. + +"Let's play sawmill!" proposed Freddie, as he and Flossie wandered down +near Pine Brook, where it ran over the dam, making a waterfall. + +"All right," agreed the little girl. "But what'll we have for a saw?" + +Freddie looked around and noticed a wheelbarrow not far off. + +"That'll do," he said. "We'll turn it downside up, and I'll turn the +wheel for a saw and you can hold sticks against it and make believe +they're being sawed up." + +"All right," agreed Flossie. "That'll make a fine saw." + +They went over to the wheelbarrow, and then a new idea came to Freddie. + +"Oh, Flossie!" he cried, "you sit in it and I'll wheel you down to the +edge of the brook. We'll have our sawmill there, and make believe to +snake logs out of the water like Mr. Case did." + +This suited Flossie exactly, and soon she had taken her place in the +wheelbarrow. Freddie grasped the handles, but his sister was almost more +of a load than he had bargained for. Still he was a sturdy little chap, +and he managed to stagger on, wheeling Flossie toward the brook. + +There was a smooth place on a little knoll near the brook where Freddie +intended to set up his wheelbarrow sawmill. Toward this place he wheeled +Flossie, and all might have gone well had it not been for the fact that +the ground was covered with those slippery pine needles. + +Freddie managed to wheel his sister up the slope, and he was just going +to set the barrow down and tell Flossie to get out so he could turn it +over and make a saw of it, when his feet slipped. He lurched forward, +gave the wheelbarrow a push, and, an instant later, it turned over, and +Flossie, sliding on the slippery, brown pine needles, began to go down +the slope and straight toward the brook, just back of the dam. + +Freddie, too, sat down hard and suddenly, but though the breath was +knocked out of him for a moment, he managed to pick himself up and to +cry: + +"Mother! Mother! Come quick! Flossie's fallen into the brook and she'll +be carried over the dam!" + +And, as he called, into the water at the foot of the pine needle hill +splashed poor Flossie Bobbsey! + + + + +CHAPTER X--A SUDDEN STORM + + +While Flossie and Freddie were having such fun at the real sawmill, and +before Freddie had, by accident, upset Flossie down the pine needle bank +into the brook above the mill dam, Bert and Nan were trudging along +through the woods on their way to the chestnut grove, about which Jim +Denton had told them. + +"Aren't you glad we came to Cedar Camp, Bert?" asked Nan. + +"I sure am!" answered her brother. "It's like having two vacations in +the same year. We had fun out West, and we'll have fun here." + +"We can have a party when we get back, and roast the chestnuts," +suggested Nan. + +"I hope we get a lot," went on Bert, kicking aside the pine cones and +dried leaves. "We'll want some for Flossie and Freddie." + +"Yes, and for daddy and mother," added Nan. "They like chestnuts, too." + +The day had started as a bright and sunny one, though it was colder up +here in the North Woods than down in Lakeport. But Bert and Nan were +warmly dressed, and they were so accustomed to being out of doors that a +little cold did not bother them. + +But though the sun had shone brightly when they had started on their +nutting trip, they had not gone far before the sky began to be overcast +with clouds. Not that Bert and Nan minded this. They were too busy +looking for chestnut trees and thinking what a good time they were +having to mind the weather. + +For it was fun just to walk through the woods and breathe the sweet, +spicy odors of the pine and cedar trees. The ground underfoot was +thickly carpeted with dried leaves and pine needles, so that the +footfalls of the older Bobbsey twins made scarcely any sound as they +walked along. + +It was so quiet that the children heard many sounds in the forest which +was all about them. They were following a path that led along Pine +Brook, and Jim Denton had said that if they kept to this path they would +come after about a mile's walk to a grove of chestnut trees. + +"And if you don't find any nuts there, keep on a little farther," the +lumberman had said. "The squirrels and chipmunks can't have taken all of +them." + +So interested were Bert and Nan that they paid little attention to the +weather. In fact, they could scarcely see the sky at times. This was +because the cedar and other trees were so thick overhead. + +As they were going along the path where the pine needles made a thicker +carpet than usual, Bert, who was in the lead, came to a sudden stop. + +"What's the matter?" asked Nan, shifting from one hand to the other the +bundle of lunch she carried. + +"I thought I heard something," said Bert in a low voice. + +A moment later there was no doubt of this, for both he and his sister +heard a grunting noise in the bushes, and then they heard the rustle of +dried leaves and the snapping of twigs. + +"Oh, Bert! Maybe it's a bear!" cried Nan, clinging to her brother. + +"A--a bear!" gasped Bert. He hardly knew what else to say. + +"Oh, look!" gasped Nan. She pointed toward a bush, and, coming out from +under it, was a little animal, somewhat larger than a rabbit, but with +different kind of fur, small ears, and with a tail that seemed to have +rings of fur around it. + +"It's a little bear!" gasped Nan. "Oh, Bert! we'd better run back to +camp before the big bear comes." + +Bert looked at the furry animal, whose bright eyes peered at the Bobbsey +twins, and then Nan's brother laughed. + +"I know what it is!" he said. "It's a raccoon. I can tell by the rings +on its tail." + +"A raccoon!" gasped Nan. "Will it--will it hurt us?" + +"No," answered Bert, and this was borne out a moment later, for with a +snorting grunt the raccoon turned and scurried away into the bushes. + +"There!" said Bert. "He's gone!" + +"I'm glad of it," returned Nan, with a sigh of relief. "I don't like +raccoons when I'm chestnutting." + +"They're nice!" declared Bert. "I wish I could see him again." + +But the raccoon did not show itself, probably being just as much +frightened at having seen the Bobbsey twins as Nan was at getting a +glimpse of the ring-tailed creature. + +Over this little fright, the Bobbsey twins walked on again, and soon +they had reached the grove that the foreman had told them about. + +"This must be the place--there are chestnut trees here," said Bert. His +father had taught him how to tell the more common sorts of trees by +means of their leaves and bark. + +"Well, let's look for chestnuts," proposed Nan. + +With sticks the children began poking among the leaves, turning them +over, for the little brown nuts, when the frost has popped them out of +their prickly shells, have a great trick of hiding under the leaves. + +"Oh, I've found one!" cried Nan. "Two--three! Oh, Bert, I've found +three!" + +She held out her hand with three shining brown nuts in it. + +"Ought to be a lot more than that here," said Bert, still poking away +among the leaves. "There's lots of trees and fresh burrs here. I guess +the squirrels and chipmunks have been here too." + +"Oh, I've found two more! I'm beating you!" laughed Nan, as she picked +up more nuts. + +"I've found one, anyhow, and it's a big one," cried Bert, as he picked +up his first. "But there aren't as many as I thought there would be." + +The children continued to pick up a few nuts at a time, but there were +not so many scattered over the ground as the lumberman had led them to +expect. + +"There's the chap who's been taking the nuts!" suddenly cried Bert. + +"Who?" asked Nan, looking up after stooping to pick two of the brown +prizes from a bursted burr. + +"That squirrel!" cried Bert, pointing to one of the big-tailed gray +fellows, sitting on a tree and looking down at the Bobbsey twins. "He +and the chipmunks can soon clean up a chestnut grove." + +Just then a red squirrel, one of the most noisy chatterers of the woods, +caught sight of the children and began to "scold" them. Oh, what a +racket he made, his thin tail jerking from side to side as he gave his +shrill cries! Bert and Nan laughed at him. + +"He's had his share of nuts," said Bert, "and he's mad 'cause we're +taking some, I guess. But we aren't getting as many as we'd like." + +"No," agreed Nan. "Maybe if we go on a little farther we'll find more." + +"We'll try," agreed Bert and, almost before they knew it, the two +children had wandered some distance from the place where Mr. Denton had +told them to stop. + +"Oh, look! There's a pile of nuts here!" cried Nan, reaching another +grove of chestnut trees. "The squirrels haven't been here yet! Goodie!" + +This was evident, for it did not take long, poking among the dried +leaves, to show that the chestnuts were quite thick on the ground. In a +short time Bert and Nan had half filled the salt bags they had brought +with them to hold their spoils of the woods. + +"Oh, this is great!" cried Nan, straightening up after four or five +minutes of picking nuts from the ground. + +"A little more of this and we'll have enough," said her brother. + +But just then Nan looked up at the sky, which she could see through the +overhead trees, and what she saw in the heavens made her exclaim: + +"Bert, I believe it's going to storm! Look at the clouds! And it's +getting ever so much colder, too!" + +Indeed there was a chill in the air that had not been present when the +Bobbsey twins started out that morning. + +"Well, we'll go back in a few minutes," Bert suggested. But a little +while after he had said this, there was a quick darkening of the air, +the wind began to blow, and, so suddenly as to startle the children, +they found themselves enveloped in such a blinding, driving squall of +snow that they could not see ten feet on either side! + +"Oh, Bert!" cried Nan. "It's a blizzard! Oh, shall we ever get back to +Cedar Camp and to mother?" + + + + +CHAPTER XI--OLD MRS. BIMBY + + +"Pooh!" exclaimed Bert Bobbsey, as he ran through the half-blinding +snowstorm toward Nan. "This isn't anything! It's only what they call a +squall. I s'pose they call it that because the wind howls, or squalls, +like a baby. Anyhow, I'm not afraid! It's fun, I think!" + +By this time he had reached Nan's side, the two having been separated +when the sudden storm burst. And now that Nan saw Bert near her and +noticed that he had his bag of lunch, as she had hers, she took heart +and said: + +"Well, maybe it won't be so bad if we can find a place to stay, and can +eat our dinner." + +"Of course we can!" cried Bert. "There's lots of places to stay in these +woods. We can find a hollow tree! I'll look for one!" + +"Oh, don't!" cried Nan, as Bert moved away from her. "I don't want to go +into a hollow tree. There might be owls in 'em!" + +"Well, that's so," admitted Bert. "I'm not afraid of owls," he said +quickly, "but of course their claws could get tangled in your hair. I'll +look for another place--or I can make a lean-to. That's what the +lumbermen and hunters do." + +"I think it would be just as easy to get under one of the big, green +Christmas trees," suggested Nan. "Look, hardly any snow falls under +them." + +She pointed to a large cedar tree near them, and, as you may have +noticed if you were ever in the woods where these trees grow, scarcely +any snow drifts under their low-hanging branches. + +"That would be a regular tent for us," said Nan. + +"Yes," agreed Bert, peering through the storm at the tree toward which +his sister pointed. "We could get under one of those. But I think maybe +we'd better not stand still. Let's walk on." + +"But toward home!" suggested Nan. "We oughtn't to go any farther +gathering nuts, Bert." + +"No, I guess not," he agreed. "Anyhow, we have quite a lot. We'll start +back for Cedar Camp. And when we get hungry we'll stop under a Christmas +tree and eat. I'm beginning to feel hungry now," and Bert felt in his +overcoat pocket to make sure that the lunch, which he had put there, was +still safe. It was, he was glad to find, and Nan had hers. + +"Yes, we'll eat in a little while," she said. "But we'd better start +back to camp." + +So the two older Bobbsey twins started off in the blinding snowstorm, +little realizing that they were going directly away from camp instead of +toward it. The wind whipped the snow into their faces, so that they +could see only a little way in advance. And as they were in a strange +woods, with only a small path leading back to camp, it is no wonder they +became lost. + +But we must not forget that we have left Flossie and Freddie, the +smaller Bobbsey twins, in trouble. In playing sawmill Freddie had tipped +Flossie out of the wheelbarrow, and the little girl had rolled down the +slippery pine-needle hill into the stream just above the dam. + +"Come quick! Come quick!" Freddie had cried. "Flossie'll go over the +waterfall! Oh, hurry, somebody!" + +He knew enough about waterfalls to understand that they were dangerous; +that once a boat or a person got into the current above the falls they +would be pulled along, and cast over, to drop on the rocks below. + +Poor Flossie was too frightened to cry. Besides, as she fell in her head +went under the water, and you can't call out when that happens. Flossie +could only gurgle. + +Luckily, however, there were several lumbermen on the bank of the +stream, floating the logs down to be snaked out by the hook and chain, +and sawed into boards. One of these men, Jake Peterson, was nearest to +Flossie when the little girl tumbled into the stream. + +"I'll get you out!" cried Mr. Peterson. + +He dropped the big iron-pointed pole with which he was pushing logs and +ran toward the little girl, while Freddie, trying to do all he could, +slid down the slippery hill, as it was a quicker way down than by +running. + +Into the water with his big rubber boots waded Mr. Peterson, and it was +not a quarter of a minute after Flossie had fallen in before she was +lifted out. + +"Oh! Oh!" she managed to gasp and gurgle, as she caught her breath, +after swallowing some of the ice-cold water. "Oh, am I dr-dr-drowned?" + +"I should say not!" answered Mr. Peterson. "You'll be all right. I'll +take you to mother." + +By this time Mrs. Bobbsey and Mrs. Baxter had rushed out of the log +cabin, and Tom Case came from his sawmill. Several other lumbermen, +hearing Freddie's excited cries, came running up, but there was nothing +for them to do, as Flossie was already rescued. + +"What has happened?" cried Mrs. Bobbsey, as she saw her little girl, +dripping wet, in the arms of Mr. Peterson. + +"She fell in," explained the lumberman. "She wasn't in more than a few +seconds, though. All she needs is dry clothes!" + +"I--I dumped her in!" sobbed Freddie. "But I didn't mean to. We were +playin' sawmill with the wheelbarrow, and I gave Flossie a ride, an' I +slipped on the pine needles, and she rolled down the hill." + +"Never mind, dear! You didn't mean to," answered his mother, soothingly. +"We must get Flossie to bed and keep her warm so she won't take cold." + +With Mrs. Baxter's help, this was soon done, and in a short time after +the accident Flossie was sitting up in a warm bed, sipping hot lemonade +and eating crackers, while Freddie sat near her, doing the same. + +Unless Flossie caught cold there would be no serious results from the +accident. But Mrs. Bobbsey used it as a lesson for Freddie, telling him +always to be careful when on a pine-needle-covered hill, near the water +especially. + +Flossie was enjoying her importance now, and she was begging her mother +to tell her a story, in which request Freddie joined, when Mrs. Bobbsey, +looking out of the window, was surprised to see how dark the clouds had +become all of a sudden. + +"I believe we are going to have a snowstorm," she said. And a few +minutes later the snow came down so thick and fast that the lumbermen +had to stop work, because they could not see where to drive the horses, +nor to guide the logs down the stream to the mill. + +"My, what a storm!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey, as she went to the window to +look out. "A regular blizzard!" + +"We can have fun coasting down hill!" laughed Freddie. "And Flossie can +be out to-morrow, can't she, Mother?" + +"Yes, I think so," answered Mrs. Bobbsey, hardly thinking of what she +was saying. "I hope Bert and Nan started back from the chestnut grove +before this storm broke," she said. "If they are out in this it will be +dreadful! I must see if daddy has come back," she added, for her husband +had gone to see about the missing Christmas trees. "If Bert and Nan are +out in this storm they will lose their way, I'm sure." + +And this is just what Bert and Nan did. Clutching their bundles of +lunch, and with their bags of chestnuts in their hands, the two older +Bobbsey twins were struggling onward through the storm. They were warmly +dressed, and it was not as cold as weather they had often been out in +before. But they had seldom been out in a worse storm. + +"Hadn't we--maybe we'd better stop and rest and eat something, Bert," +suggested Nan, after a while. + +"Maybe we had," he agreed, half out of breath because it was hard work +walking uphill and against the wind. And almost before they knew it the +children were going up a hill, though they did not remember having come +down one on their trip to the chestnut grove. + +They found a sheltered place under a big cedar tree, and, crawling +beneath its protecting branches, they sat on the bare ground, where +there was, as yet, no snow. The white flakes swirled and drifted all +about them, but the thick branches of the tree, growing low down, made a +place like a green tent. + +"It's nice in here," said Bert, as he opened his bundle of lunch. + +"Yes, but we ought to be at home," said Nan. + +"We'll go home as soon as we eat a little," said her brother. + +But after they had each eaten a sandwich and some cookies, and Bert had +cracked a few chestnuts between his teeth and had found them rather too +cold and raw to be good, the twins decided to go on. + +Out into the storm they went, away from the shelter of the friendly +tree. The storm was worse, if anything, and, without knowing it, Bert +and Nan had become completely turned around. Every step they took +carried them farther and farther away from their home camp. And they had +journeyed quite a distance from the cabin before finding any chestnuts. + +"Oh, Bert!" Nan exclaimed after a while, half sobbing, "I can't go a +step farther. The snow is so thick, and it's so hard to walk in. And the +wind blows it in my face, and I'm cold! I can't go another step!" + +"That's too bad!" Bert exclaimed. "Maybe we're almost back to camp, +Nan." + +"It doesn't look so," his sister answered, trying to peer about through +the swirling flakes. + +"Wait a minute!" suddenly cried Bert, as there came a lull in the blast +of wind. "I think I see something--a cabin or a house." + +"Maybe it's our cabin," suggested Nan, "though I don't remember any of +the trees around here. There aren't any cut down here as there are in +camp." + +"Well, I see something, anyhow," and Bert pointed to the left, off +through the driving flakes. "Let's go there, Nan." + +Through the storm the children struggled, hand in hand. They reached a +log cabin--a lonely log cabin it was, standing all by itself in the +midst of a little clearing in the woods. + +"This isn't our camp, Bert!" said Nan. + +"No," the boy admitted. "But somebody lives here. I see smoke coming +from the chimney. I'm going to knock." + +With chilled fingers Bert pounded on the cabin door. + +"Who's there?" asked a woman's voice above the racket of the storm. + +"Two of the Bobbsey twins!" answered Nan, not stopping to think that +everyone might not know her and her brother by this name. + +"Please let us in!" begged Bert. "We're from Cedar Camp! Who are you?" + +"I'm Mrs. Bimby," was the answer, but neither Bert nor Nan recognized +the name. A moment later the cabin door was opened, and an old woman +confronted them. She looked at the two children for a moment; then, "Did +you bring any news of Jim?" she asked. + + + + +CHAPTER XII--MR. BOBBSEY IS WORRIED + + +Bert and Nan Bobbsey stood on the step of the log cabin, while Mrs. +Bimby, the old woman, held open the door. The snow blew swirling in +around her, and a wave of grateful warmth seemed to rush out as if to +wrap itself around the cold twins. For a moment they stood there, and +Bert was just beginning to wonder if the old woman was going to shut the +door in the faces of his sister and himself. + +"Did you bring any news of Jim?" asked old Mrs. Bimby. + +"Jim?" repeated Bert. + +"Do you mean Jim Denton, the foreman at Cedar Camp?" asked Nan. + +"No, child! I mean my Jim--Jim Bimby. He went off to town just before +this awful storm. But land sakes! here I am talking and keeping you out +in the cold. Come in!" + +It was cold. Bert and Nan were beginning to feel that now, for the storm +was growing worse, and it was now late afternoon. The sun was beginning +to go down, though of course it could not be seen on account of the snow +and clouds. The Bobbsey twins had wandered farther and longer than they +had thought. But at last they had found a place of shelter. + +"It's just like me to keep you standing there while I talk," said Mrs. +Bimby. "I'm sorry. But I'm so worried about Jim that I reckon I don't +know what I'm doing. Come in and get warm, and I'll give you something +to eat." + +"We've got something to eat, thank you," said Nan. "But we would like to +get warm," and she followed Bert inside the log cabin, as Mrs. Bimby +stepped aside to make room for them to enter. + +"Got something to eat, have you?" questioned the old woman. "Well, +you're lucky, that's all I've got to say. I've only a little, but I +expect Jim back any minute with more, though a dollar don't buy an awful +lot these days." + +"Does Jim live here?" asked Bert, as he walked over to a stove, in which +a fire of wood was burning, sending out a grateful heat. + +"Of course he lives here," said Mrs. Bimby. "He's my husband. He's a +logger--a lumberman." + +"Oh, maybe he works for my father!" exclaimed Nan. "Mr. Bobbsey, you +know. He owns part of Cedar Camp." + +"No, I don't know him," said Mrs. Bimby, "though I've heard of Cedar +Camp. They got a lot of Christmas trees out of there." + +"That's what we came up about," explained Bert. "Some Christmas trees my +father bought to sell didn't come to Lakeport, and he came up here to +see about them. We came with him--and my mother and the other twins." + +"Good land! are there more of you?" asked Mrs. Bimby in surprise. "You +two are twins, for a fact. But----" + +"There's Flossie and Freddie," interrupted Nan. "We left them back in +camp while we went after chestnuts." + +"We got some, too," added Bert. "But we sort of got lost in the storm. +Do you s'pose your husband could take us back to Cedar Camp?" he asked +Mrs. Bimby. "My father will pay him," he said, quickly, as he saw Mrs. +Bimby shaking her head. + +"Maybe Mr. Bimby works at the sawmill," suggested Nan. + +"No," said the old woman, "Jim is a logger and wood cutter, but he +doesn't work at Cedar Camp. That's too far off for him to go to and get +back from." + +"Too far off!" echoed Nan, and she began to have a funny feeling, as she +told Bert afterward. + +"Yes," resumed Mrs. Bimby. "Cedar Camp is away over on the other side of +the hills. You're a long way from home. You must have taken the wrong +road in the storm." + +"I--I guess we did," admitted Bert. "But couldn't your husband take us +back?" + +Again Mrs. Bimby shook her head. + +"Jim, my husband, isn't home," she said. "He went over to town just +before the storm to get us something to eat. But now I don't see how +he's going to get back," and she went to a window to look out at the +storm. + +It was getting much worse, as Bert and Nan could see. The wind howled +around the corners of the log cabin of Jim Bimby, the logger, and the +blast whistled down the chimney, even blowing sparks out around the door +of the wood-burning stove. + +"Yes, it's a bad storm," went on the old woman. "I wish Jim was back, +and with some victuals to eat. When you twins knocked I thought it was +Jim. I wish he'd come back, but he's an old man, and he may fall down in +the snow and not be able to get up. He isn't as strong as he used to be. +I'm certainly worried about Jim!" + +"Oh, maybe he'll come along all right," said Nan, trying to be helpful +and comforting. + +"If he doesn't pretty soon it'll be night, and in all this storm he +never can find his way after dark. But you children take your things off +and sit up and have a cup of tea with me. I've got some tea and +condensed milk left, anyhow." + +"We can't take tea unless it's very weak," said Nan, remembering her +mother's rule in this respect. + +"All right, dearie, I'll make it weak for you twins, though I like it +strong myself," said Mrs. Bimby. "My, what a storm! _What_ a storm!" and +she drew her shawl more closely around her shoulders as the wind howled +down the chimney. + +Bert and Nan took off their warm things, laying their packages of lunch +and the bags of chestnuts on the table. Nan saw the old woman go to a +closet, and the glimpse the Bobbsey girl had of the shelves showed her +that they contained only a little food. + +"Bert and I have some of our lunch left," said Nan. + +"And you can have some, if you want to," went on Bert. "We put up a +pretty good lunch, and there's more'n half of it left." + +"Bless your hearts, my dears," said Mrs. Bimby. "I wouldn't take your +lunch. You'll need it yourselves. I've a little victuals left in the +house, though if my Jim doesn't get back soon there won't be much for +to-morrow. My, what a storm! What a storm!" + +The small log cabin seemed to shake and tremble in the wind, as though +it would blow away. And the snow was now coming down so thickly that +Bert and Nan could see only a short distance out of the window. There +was little to see, anyhow, save trees and bushes, and these were fast +becoming covered with snow. + +Mrs. Bimby busied herself about the stove, putting the kettle on so she +could make tea, and Bert and Nan watched her. The Bobbsey twins were +wondering what would happen, how they could get home, and whether or not +their father and mother would worry. Nan looked about the cabin. She did +not see any beds, but a steep flight of stairs, leading up to what +seemed to be a second story, might provide bedrooms, Nan thought. The +cabin was clean and neat, and she was glad of that. + +"I do hope Jim comes," murmured Mrs. Bimby, as she poured the boiling +water on the dry tea leaves in the pot. "I do hope he isn't +storm-bound!" + +Bert and Nan hoped the same thing, for, somehow, Bert thought if Mr. +Bimby came along he would take the twins back to Cedar Camp. + +"Now sit up, dearies, and have some weak tea, and I'll take mine strong. +I need it for my nerves," said the old woman. + +And while Bert and Nan had thus found shelter from what turned out to be +one of the worst storms ever remembered in the country around Cedar +Camp, the other Bobbsey twins, Flossie and Freddie, were safe at home +with their mother. Flossie was now cozy and warm after her dip into the +water. + +"There's your father!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey, as she heard someone +stamping off the snow at the front door. "I hope he has Bert and Nan +with him." + +But when Mr. Bobbsey came in alone and heard that the older twins had +not come back from their nutting trip, a worried look came over his +face. + +"Not back yet!" he exclaimed. "Why, it's getting dark and the storm is +growing worse! I must start out after them with some of the lumbermen. +They must be lost!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII--OLD JIM + + +"Don't you think Bert and Nan will be along in a little while?" asked +Mrs. Bobbsey of her husband, as she crossed the big front room in the +log cabin to meet him. + +"Be in _soon_!" he exclaimed. "Why, they've been gone too long now, +and----" + +Mrs. Bobbsey, not letting Flossie and Freddie see her, made a motion +with her hands toward her husband. Then he understood that his wife did +not want him to frighten the smaller twins by letting it become known +how worried he was about Bert and Nan. + +"Oh--yes," said Mr. Bobbsey, as he understood his wife's idea. "Oh, yes, +Bert and Nan will be along soon now." + +"I'll be glad!" exclaimed Freddie. + +"So will I," added Flossie, from her place on one of the bunks in a +bedroom opening out of the living room. "I want some chestnuts." + +"Hello, little Fat Fairy! what's the matter with you?" asked her father, +noticing for the first time that Flossie was in bed. "Sick?" he asked. + +"I just fell in the water," Flossie explained. + +"I dumped her in, but I didn't mean to," Freddie said. + +"Oh! Up to some of your fireman tricks, were you?" laughed Mr. Bobbsey, +for he saw, by a glance at his wife, that the small twins were now in no +danger. + +"No, Daddy, I wasn't playing fireman," Freddie answered, though that was +one of his favorite pastimes. "We were going to make a sawmill." + +"Oh!" exclaimed Mr. Bobbsey. "Well, whatever you do, keep away from the +big buzz saw," he warned. "And now," he went on in a low voice to his +wife, so Freddie and Flossie would not hear, "we must do something about +Bert and Nan." + +"Yes," she agreed. "I'm worried about them, but I didn't want Flossie +and Freddie to know. Oh, to think of their being out in this storm!" + +"It is pretty bad," her husband admitted. "I was caught in it, and +hurried back. I didn't think the children would go far away." + +"Nor I," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "I suppose they didn't find chestnuts where +they expected to, and wandered on. Are there any wild animals in the +woods?" + +"Well, no, none to speak of," her husband said slowly. "You don't need +to worry about that. But I'll get Jim Denton, and some of the men, and +we'll start right out after Bert and Nan." + +"I wish I could come with you!" exclaimed his wife, as anxious and +worried as was Mr. Bobbsey. + +"You'll have to stay here with Flossie and Freddie," he said. "I'll soon +find Bert and Nan and bring them back." + +"I hope so," murmured his wife, but as she glanced out of the window and +saw how dark it was getting and how fast the snow still came down and +heard how the wind howled, it is no wonder the mother of the older +Bobbsey twins was worried. So was Mr. Bobbsey. + +"I'll go right away and get Jim and some of the men, and we'll start out +on the search," said Mr. Bobbsey, having warmed himself at the stove. +"We must not wait!" + +"No," agreed Mrs. Bobbsey. "I'll stay and amuse Flossie and Freddie." + +The smaller Bobbsey twins, of course, did not worry because Bert and Nan +had not yet come home. Flossie and Freddie were having too much fun +playing a little game on the foot of Flossie's bed. Mrs. Baxter, the +housekeeper, had started the game for the children by bringing in some +funny wooden blocks her husband had cut out on one of the long winter +evenings that were sometimes so dreary in Cedar Camp. + +The blocks could be fitted together to make a house, a bridge, a boat +and many other play objects, and Flossie and Freddie enjoyed playing +with them, for which their mother was glad. She really was so worried +that she could not very well talk to them or tell them stories. + +Telling his wife to keep up her courage and not to worry too much, Mr. +Bobbsey went out into the storm again. + +"Where is daddy going?" asked Flossie, hearing the door shut. + +"He's going to bring back Bert and Nan--and the chestnuts," said Mrs. +Bobbsey, quickly. She knew the smaller twins would think more of the +chestnuts than anything else, just at present. + +"Oh, I like chestnuts!" cried Freddie. "I'm going to boast 'em an' roil +'em!" he exclaimed. + +"Listen to him, Mother!" laughed Flossie. "He said 'boast an' roil,' an' +he meant roast an' boil 'em, didn't he?" + +"I think he did," said Mrs. Bobbsey, trying not to let the small twins +see how worried she was. + +"Oh, Freddie Bobbsey, look what you did!" suddenly cried Flossie. "You +knocked over my steamboat!" For Freddie had toppled over the pile of +blocks that Flossie had erected on the foot of her bed. + +"Never mind. He didn't mean to," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "You can make +another boat, Flossie." + +"An' I'll help," offered Freddie. + +Thus the two smaller Bobbsey twins amused themselves, with little +thought of Bert and Nan except, perhaps, to wonder when they would come +home with the chestnuts. + +Meanwhile Mr. Bobbsey hurried through the fast-gathering darkness and +the storm to the cabin of Jim Denton. Like the other men in the +Christmas tree and lumber camp, the foreman had stopped work when the +storm came with such blinding snow and a wind that turned bitter cold +toward night. + +"What's that?" cried Jim Denton, when Mr. Bobbsey called at his cabin. +"Bert and Nan not back from chestnutting yet? Why, I s'posed they were +back hours ago!" + +"So did I, and I wish they were," said Mr. Bobbsey. + +"Oh, shucks now! don't worry," said the jolly foreman. "We'll find 'em +all right. We'll start right out." + +He put on his big boots and warm coat and went with Mr. Bobbsey to the +cabins of some of the lumbermen. Soon a searching party was organized, +and away they started through the storm along the path that earlier in +the day Bert and Nan had taken to go to the chestnut grove. + +"They took their lunch with them," said Mr. Bobbsey, "so they wouldn't +be hungry until now. But they may be lost or have fallen into some hole +and be half snowed over." + +"Or they may have found some logger's or hunter's cabin, and have gone +in," said Jim Denton. "There are plenty of cabins scattered through +these woods." + +"I hope they have found shelter," said Mr. Bobbsey anxiously. + +On through the storm went the father of the Bobbsey twins and his +lumbermen searchers. They stopped now and then and shouted, but no +answers came back. + +They had been out about an hour, and had gone more than a mile along the +path that it was supposed Bert and Nan had taken, when one of the men +called: + +"Wait a minute! I think I heard someone call." + +They all stopped and listened. Above the blowing of the wind and the +swishing of the fast-falling snowflakes, a faint and far-off voice could +be heard. + +"Help! Help!" it called. + +"There they are!" shouted one of the lumbermen. + +"That doesn't sound like either Bert or Nan," said Mr. Bobbsey. "But it +may be someone who started to bring them back to camp and he, too, +became lost." + +They all listened again, and once more came the call, but still faint +and far away. + +"Help! Help!" + +"It's over here!" cried Jim Denton. "Over to the right!" + +Through the storm and darkness the rescue party hurried, sending out +calls to tell that they were on the way. Now and again they heard the +cry in answer, and it sounded nearer now. + +At last Mr. Bobbsey saw a dark figure huddled in a heap near a pile of +snow, which had drifted around a large rock. + +"Here's someone!" cried Mr. Bobbsey. + +A moment later he and the lumbermen were standing over the figure of a +man, partly buried in the snow. + +"Why, it's Jim! Old Jim Bimby!" exclaimed Jim Denton. "I know him. He +lives several miles from here. He must have been lost in the storm, too. +Jim! Jim!" he cried. "What you doing here?" + +"I--I started to town for victuals," said old Jim Bimby, in faint tones. +"The storm was too much for me. I was about giving up." + +"We heard you call," said Tom Case. + +"Did you see anything of two small children?" eagerly asked Mr. Bobbsey. +"Twins, a boy and a girl! Did you see them?" + +Anxiously he bent over to catch the old logger's answer. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV--SNOWED IN + + +Having been out in the cold and storm so long, Jim Bimby seemed to have +become half frozen. He did not appear to understand what Mr. Bobbsey +asked him. The old logger staggered to his feet, helped by some of the +men from Cedar Camp, and looked about him. + +"What's the matter?" asked Old Jim in a faint voice. "Did something +happen? I remember startin' off to get--to get something to eat for my +wife and me. Then I fell down, tired out, I guess." + +"I guess you did!" exclaimed Tom Case. "And if we hadn't found you, +you'd have been done for. We must get you to shelter." + +"Take him around behind this big pine tree a minute," suggested Jim +Denton. "He'll be out of the wind there, and we can give him a drink of +the hot tea we brought along." + +Some hot tea, mixed with milk, had been put in a thermos bottle and +taken with the party to have ready for Nan and Bert, should the Bobbsey +twins be found. Now this hot drink would do for poor old Jim Bimby. + +Some of the men managed to light lanterns they carried, though it was +hard work on account of the wind and snow, and the whole party, +including the rescued man, went to the side of the big pine tree, which +kept off some of the storm. + +"There! I feel better," said Old Jim, as he swallowed the warm drink. + +"And now can you tell us whether or not you saw my two children, Nan and +Bert--the Bobbsey twins?" again asked their father anxiously. + +Old Jim shook his head. + +"No," he answered. "I didn't see any children. I came straight from my +cabin, over the hill trail, to go to the village to get some food. The +cupboard is almost bare at my house. I didn't think it was goin' to +storm, and I was all taken aback when it did. I kept on, but I must have +lost my way." + +"Guess you did," said Mr. Peterson. "And you're not likely to get back +on it in this storm, either." + +"What!" cried Old Jim. "You mean to say I can't keep on to the store and +take some food back to my wife?" + +"Not in this storm!" said Tom Case. "You're miles from the store now, +and more miles from your cabin. You'd best come to Cedar Camp with us, +and in the morning, when the storm is over, you can go on again. Your +wife has enough food to last until morning, hasn't she?" + +"Yes, I guess so," answered Mr. Bimby. + +"But what has become of Bert and Nan?" asked Mr. Bobbsey. + +"Now look here, Mr. Bobbsey," said Tom Case, "don't go to worrying about +those children. They're all right. Bert and Nan are smart, and when they +saw this storm coming on they went to some shelter, you can depend on +that. They'd know better than to try to make their way back to camp." + +"Well, perhaps they would," admitted the father of the missing twins. +"And perhaps, when we get back to camp, we'll find them there. Some +logger or hunter may have found them and taken them to our cabin." + +"Of course," agreed Mr. Peterson. + +By this time "Old Jim," as he was called, to distinguish him from Jim +Denton, the lumber foreman, was feeling much better. He was still weak, +and he leaned on the arm of one of the lumbermen as they turned back. +The storm was still fierce, and it was now night, but lanterns gave +light enough to see the way through the forest. + +Had it not been that the lumber and Christmas tree men knew their way +through the woods, the party might never have reached Cedar Camp. As it +was they lost the trail once, and had hard work to find it again. But +finally they plunged through several drifts of snow that had formed, and +broke out into the clearing around the sawmill. + +"Did you find them?" cried Mrs. Bobbsey, when her husband came to the +cabin, knocking the snow off his feet. + +"No," he answered, and he tried to make his voice as cheerful as +possible. "We didn't find them, but they're all right. They were +probably taken in by some hunter or logger." + +Even as he said this Mr. Bobbsey was disappointed that Bert and Nan had +not been brought back to camp during his absence, for he had half hoped +that he would find them there on his own return. + +"Oh, I do hope they're all right!" said Mrs. Bobbsey. + +"Of course they are!" her husband told her. "They'll be here in the +morning." + +"With chestnuts?" asked Flossie, who, with Freddie, had been awakened +from an early evening sleep by the return of their father. + +"Yes, they'll bring chestnuts," replied Mr. Bobbsey, trying to smile, +though it was hard work, for he was really very much worried, as was his +wife. + +However, they did not let Flossie and Freddie know this. And as Mr. +Bobbsey ate the warm supper which Mrs. Baxter set out for him, he told +about the finding of Mr. Bimby, who had been taken to the cabin of Tom +Case, there to spend the night. + +"Can we see him?" cried Flossie, who did not seem any the worse for +having fallen into the water. + +"Maybe he can tell us a story about a real bear," added Freddie, for he +had been rather disappointed, since coming to Cedar Camp, because no one +could tell him where to find a bear. + +"Maybe he can," said his father. "You shall see Old Jim, as the boys +call him, in the morning." + +Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey did not pass a very happy night. They were much +worried about the missing Nan and Bert, and though he tried to sleep, +after Flossie and Freddie had gone to Slumberland, Mr. Bobbsey found it +hard work. So did his wife. + +More than once during the night, as they awakened after fitful naps and +heard the wind howling around the cabin and the snow rattling against +the windows, one or the other would say: + +"Oh, I hope Bert and Nan are all right!" + +And the other would say: + +"I hope so!" + +Morning came at last, but it was not such a morning as all in Cedar Camp +had hoped for. They had expected the storm to be over, so that a +searching party could again set out to find Bert and Nan. + +But instead of the storm being over, it was even worse than the night +before. A regular blizzard had set in, the snow coming out of the north +on the wings of a cold wind. Great drifts were piled high here and there +through the camp clearing, and when Freddie and Flossie looked from the +window they could hardly see the sawmill. + +"Oh, oh!" squealed Freddie. "Look, Flossie! Just look!" + +"We're snowed in!" cried Flossie. "Oh, what fun we'll have!" + +"It's just like Snow Lodge!" added Freddie, remembering a time spent +there, when several adventurous happenings had taken place. + +"Yes, I'm afraid we are snowed in," said Mr. Bobbsey, with an anxious +look out of the window. "But I hope it will not last long. Well, here +come Tom Case and Old Jim. I must see what they want," and he went to +the door to let them in. + +Meanwhile the snow came down steadily, and as Flossie had said, that +part of the Bobbsey family at Cedar Camp was fairly snowed in. As for +the other members of the family, Bert and Nan, we must now try to find +out what had happened to them. + + + + +CHAPTER XV--A BARE CUPBOARD + + +Having finished drinking the weak tea which Mrs. Bimby brewed for them, +eating with it some of the lunch they had brought along, Bert and Nan +sat in the lonely cabin in the woods wondering what would happen next. +There was no other cabin or house near them, and as they heard the wind +howl down the chimney and moan around the corners, and heard the rattle +of hard snow against the window, the older Bobbsey twins were glad they +had found this shelter. + +"Do you think we'll be able to start back soon, Mrs. Bimby?" asked Nan, +as she helped the old woman clear the tea things off the table. + +"Back where, dearie?" + +"Back to our camp." + +"Oh, not to-night, surely," said Mrs. Bimby. "You won't dare venture out +in this storm. It's getting worse, and black night is coming on. You +just stay here with me. I can make up beds for you, and I'll be glad to +have you, since my Jim isn't coming back, I reckon." + +"What do you think has become of him?" asked Bert, who was interested in +looking at a gun that hung over the mantel. + +"Well, I reckon he got to the village, but found the storm so bad he +didn't dare to start back," answered Mrs. Bimby. + +Of course she did not know what had happened to Old Jim any more than +Jim knew that the older Bobbsey twins were in his own cabin. + +"But Jim'll be here in the morning," said his wife. "And I do hope he'll +bring in something to eat. If he doesn't----" + +She did not finish what she started to say, and Nan asked: + +"Will you starve, Mrs. Bimby?" + +"Well, not exactly _starve_, for I s'pose a body could keep alive on tea +and condensed milk for a while. But we'll be pretty hungry. There'll be +three to feed instead of just one," the old woman went on. + +"We've some food left," said Bert. "And we can cook our chestnuts. We +got quite a few before the storm came." + +"Bless your hearts, dearies!" exclaimed Mrs. Bimby. "You may be able to +eat chestnuts, but _my_ old teeth are too poor for that. But I dare say +we'll get along somehow, even if the cupboard is almost bare. Don't you +want to go to bed?" + +"Oh, it's too early," objected Bert. + +"Have you any games we could play?" asked Nan. + +She and her brother were in the habit of playing simple games at home +before going to bed, and it seemed natural to do it now. After the first +shock of feeling that they were lost in the snow storm had passed, the +Bobbsey twins were quite content. They felt that their father and mother +must realize that they were safe. + +"Games, dearie?" asked Mrs. Bimby. "Well, seems to me there's some +dominoes around somewhere, and I did see a checker board the other day. +Jim used to play 'em when the loggers came in. I'll see if I can dig 'em +out." + +She rummaged through an old chest and brought to light a box of battered +dominoes. But as several were missing it was hard to play a good game +with them. As for the checkers, the board was there but the pieces, or +men, were not to be found. + +"But you can take kernels of corn," said Mrs. Bimby. "I've often seen my +Jim do that." + +"Checker men have to be of different color," said Nan, "and corn is all +one color, isn't it?" + +"There are red ears," suggested Bert. "Don't you remember we saw some +when we were in the country?" + +"Oh, yes!" exclaimed Nan. + +"That's what I was going to say," remarked Mrs. Bimby. "I can give you +some yellow kernels and some red ones, and you can play checkers if you +like." + +This suited Nan and Bert, and though it was hard to make "kings" by +placing one grain of corn on top of another, they managed to go on with +the game, using pins to fasten two red or two yellow kernels one on top +of the other when the king row was reached. + +Grains of corn or some other cereal, or perhaps colored stones, were, +very likely, the first sort of "men" used in the ancient game of +checkers, and Bert and Nan got along very well in this way. Mrs. Bimby +kept stoking the fire, putting on stick after stick of wood as it burned +away, and the cabin was kept warm and cozy. + +Outside the storm raged, the wind blew, and the snow came pelting down. +But at times the older Bobbsey twins were so interested in their checker +game that they hardly heard the sounds outside the log cabin. + +At last Mrs. Bimby, with a look at the clock, said: + +"It's after nine, dearies; hadn't you better go to bed? My Jim won't +come to-night, that's sure, and I don't believe any of your folks will +come for you." + +"They don't know where we are," said Nan. + +"No more they do, dearie. Well, I'll show you where you're to sleep. I'm +glad I've got covers enough for two extra beds." + +There were three rooms in the second story of the log cabin. Two of the +rooms were small, each one containing a little single cot. The other +room was larger, and had a bed in it. Mrs. Bimby slept there, and she +gave Bert and Nan each one of the smaller rooms. There was a window in +each of the bedrooms, and being above the warm downstairs room, where a +hot fire had been blazing all evening, the sleeping chambers were more +comfortable than one would have supposed. + +Bert and Nan were so sleepy that they did not lie awake long after +getting to bed. As there were no pajamas for Bert and no night-gown for +Nan, the children slept in their underclothes, taking off only their +shoes and outer garments. + +In spite of the fact that he fell asleep soon after going to bed, +because he was tired from the day's tramp after chestnuts, Bert was +awakened in the middle of the night by hearing Nan call: + +"Mother, please give me a drink!" + +It was a request Bert had often heard his sister make before, and now he +realized that she was either half awake, and did not remember where she +was, or else she was talking in her sleep. He raised up on his elbow and +listened. Again Nan said: + +"I want a drink!" + +Bert knew how hard it was to try to go to sleep when thirsty, so he got +up and, having noticed on coming to bed the evening before a pail of +water on a chair in the upper hall, he brought Nan a dipper full. Mrs. +Bimby had left a lantern burning, so it was not dark in the cabin. + +"Oh, Bert! I dreamed I was back home," said Nan, as she took the drink +her brother handed her. "Thank you!" + +"Welcome," he said, struggling to keep his sleepy eyes open. + +"Is it still snowing?" asked Nan. + +"Hard," answered Bert, looking out of the window, though, truth to tell, +he could see nothing, it was so pitch dark outside. But he could hear +the rattle of snow against the glass. + +"I hope it stops by morning," sighed Nan. + +"So do I--long enough for us to get back to camp, anyhow," added Bert. + +He got himself a drink and went back to bed, there to sleep soundly +until morning, when Mrs. Bimby called him and Nan to get up. + +"Come, dearies," said the kind old woman. "We'll have breakfast, such as +it is." + +For a few moments after awakening Bert and Nan could not quite remember +where they were. Bert afterward said that he hoped there would be hot +buckwheat cakes for breakfast, with maple syrup, such as they had had in +the cabin where Mrs. Baxter acted as cook. But there was no such +appetizing smell as that of pancakes coming up from Mrs. Bimby's +kitchen. + +"I'm sorry I haven't any more to offer you," she said to the children, +as she set before them some more weak tea and a few pieces of bread and +butter. "If my Jim had come back we'd have had enough to eat. But as it +is, I'm afraid you'll go hungry soon." + +"We'll eat what's left of our lunch," said Bert. + +"And cook some chestnuts," added Nan. "We'll pretend we've been +shipwrecked. Were you ever shipwrecked, Mrs. Bimby?" Nan asked, as +cheerfully as she could. + +"No, dearie, but I've had the rheumatiz, and I reckon that's 'most as +bad. But let's eat what we've got and we'll hope for more before the day +is over." + +"It's still snowing, isn't it?" remarked Nan, as she hungrily ate some +of the dry food and swallowed some of the weak, but warm, tea. + +"Yes, and it's likely to keep up all day," said Mrs. Bimby. "It'll be +hip-deep by night, and we'll be completely snowed in. I declare, I don't +know what we'll do!" + +"Maybe it'll stop," suggested Bert, trying to look on the bright side. + +"Or maybe it won't be so bad but what we can go out," added Nan. "And if +we get back to camp we can send you something to eat by one of the men +in a sleigh, Mrs. Bimby." + +"I wouldn't let you go out in this storm--not for anything!" declared +the kind old woman. "The only safe place is this cabin when it snows +this way. You can't starve to death as quickly as you can freeze to +death, that's a comfort. And we've got enough for one more meal, +anyhow." + +But when noon came, after a long morning, during which the Bobbsey twins +played more checker games with grains of corn, and when almost all there +was in the cupboard had been eaten, Mrs. Bimby opened the doors, looked +at the bare shelves and said: + +"I declare, I don't know what we're going to do! Almost everything is +gone!" + +The cupboard, indeed, was nearly bare. + +For some reason or other, Bert's eyes rested on the gun on the wall over +the mantel. + +"Is that gun loaded, Mrs. Bimby?" he asked. + +"Yes, I reckon 'tis," she answered. "Jim always keeps it loaded, for he +goes hunting sometimes." + +"What after?" asked Bert. + +"Oh, squirrels and rabbits." + +"That's what I'm going to do, then!" cried Bert. "If I could shoot some +squirrels or rabbits we'd have a potpie and we wouldn't be hungry. Will +you please get that gun down for me, Mrs. Bimby?" + +She looked at Bert and smiled. + +"You're pretty small to handle a gun," she said. "But maybe you could +fire it if I showed you how. I've shot it more 'n once, and I brought +down a cawing crow last winter. Sometimes the rabbits come close up to +our cabin here. Wait till I take a look." + +She went to the window to peer out into the storm, and Nan did likewise, +while Bert continued to gaze at the gun on the wall. It was a shotgun, +not very heavy, and he felt certain he could aim it at a rabbit and pull +the trigger. + +Mrs. Bimby shook her head as she turned away from her window. + +"There's no game here," she said. "Guess we'll have to go without a +potpie." + +But Nan suddenly uttered an exclamation. + +"Oh, I see one!" she cried. "I see a big rabbit! Two of 'em! Oh, Bert, +it's a shame to shoot the bunnies, but we can't starve! Get the gun!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVI--BERT STARTS OUT + + +Just about the time that Bert was getting ready to try for a rabbit +potpie by firing the gun from the door of Mrs. Bimby's cabin, in the +other and larger cabin at Cedar Camp the smaller Bobbsey twins were +having a good time. There was no danger there of starving, for the +cupboard was far from being bare. + +But of course Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey were worried because, after their +long night of worry, neither Bert nor Nan had come back, and there was +no news of them. + +"But we'll surely hear from them to-day," said Tom Case, as he came over +through the storm after breakfast to learn if Mr. Bobbsey had any +special plans. + +"How's Old Jim?" asked Mr. Bobbsey, as the head of the sawmill workers +came in out of the storm, for it was still snowing. + +"Oh, Jim's all right," was the answer. "But he's worrying about his wife +not having any food. I came over to say that if the storm lets up a +little maybe we'd better try to take something to eat to the old lady. +She's all alone in her cabin." + +Of course neither he nor Old Jim knew that the two older Bobbsey twins +were at that very moment with Mrs. Bimby. + +"All right, it would be a good idea," said Mr. Bobbsey. "And we must +make another search for Bert and Nan." + +"I have a sort of feeling that they're safe," said Mr. Case. "And, +really, it wouldn't be wise for you to start out in this storm to look +for them. I think it may moderate a little by to-morrow." + +"Let us hope so!" sighed Mrs. Bobbsey. + +"Can't Old Jim come over and play with us?" asked Flossie. + +"We want to have some fun," added Freddie. + +The two smaller twins had been as good as possible, but they were not +used to being cooped up in the house, and there really was not much to +do in the cabin. No toys had been brought along, for Mr. Bobbsey had not +expected to stay very long in looking after his Christmas trees. And he +certainly never counted on being snowed in. + +"Yes, I'll bring Old Jim over," said Mr. Case. "He's pretty good at +making things with his pocket knife. Shouldn't wonder but what he could +cut you out a doll, Flossie." + +"Can he make boats?" asked Freddie. + +"Sure he can!" said the sawmill foreman. + +"Where you going to sail a boat in the snow, Freddie Bobbsey?" asked +Flossie. + +"I--I'll have him make me a snow-boat!" the little fellow said. + +"Pooh!" laughed Flossie. "There are ice-boats, 'cause we rode in one +once, but there aren't any snow-boats, are there, Daddy?" + +"Well, perhaps Old Jim can make one," her father said. "Bring him over, +Tom. I want to talk to him and find out where would be the most likely +place for Nan and Bert to have found shelter." + +The old logger, who seemed to have gotten over his exposure to the +storm, came to the Bobbsey cabin, and he somewhat relieved the worries +of Bert's father and mother by saying there were a number of cabins of +loggers and trappers scattered through the woods, and he had an idea +that Bert and his sister might have reached one of these. + +"Well, we'll start out and look for them as soon as the storm lets up a +little," said Mr. Bobbsey. + +Freddie and Flossie made great friends with Old Jim. They took to him at +once, and when he cut out of a piece of wood a queer doll for Flossie, +and made for Freddie a thin wooden wheel, which would turn around in the +waves of heat arising from the hot stove, the children were delighted. + +They climbed all over Old Jim, and laughed and shouted as though they +had no cares in the world. And, as a matter of fact, they were not old +enough to worry about Bert and Nan. They thought their older brother and +sister would come along sooner or later. + +Slowly the day of storm passed, but with no let-up in the falling snow. +The wind, while it did not blow as violently as at first, was high and +cold, so that the little Bobbsey twins could not go out. + +And it was about the time that Flossie and Freddie were having such fun +with Old Jim that, back in this same logger's lonely cabin, Bert and Nan +were wondering whether they would have anything to eat for supper. + +As Nan had said, she did see two large rabbits when she looked from the +window. And she called to her brother to get the gun from its place over +the mantel. + +"Land sakes!" exclaimed Mrs. Bimby, "there _are_ two right in plain +sight. Now Bert, if you're any kind of a shot, maybe we'll have rabbit +stew for supper. Here, take the gun, but be careful!" + +Bert knew a little about firearms, and he was not at all afraid as Mrs. +Bimby put the shotgun into his hands. Then she opened the door for him, +very carefully, so as not to frighten the rabbits. + +"They're still there, right on top of the snow!" called Nan, as she +peered from the window on her side of the cabin. "I'm not going to watch +you shoot them, Bert, though I am terribly hungry. And I'm going to hold +my hands over my ears so I won't hear the gun." + +Bert was quite excited, and did not pay much attention to what his +sister was saying, but he was not so excited that he could not hold the +gun fairly steady. + +"Hold it close against your shoulder, then it won't kick so hard," Mrs. +Bimby whispered in his ear, as she helped him get the shotgun in place, +and pointed it for him out of the open door. + +The rabbits were in plain sight now, two wild, gray bunnies, fat and +plump. Bert took sight over the little point on the end of the gun. He +held this sight as steadily as he could in line with one of the rabbits. + +"Better shoot quick!" whispered Mrs. Bimby. "I think they see us and +they'll scoot away in a minute!" + +Bert gave a steady pull on the trigger, not a sudden pull, which is not +the right way to shoot. A sudden pull spoils your aim. + +"Bang!" went the shotgun. + +"Oh!" screamed Nan, who, in spite of having held her hands over her +ears, heard the report. + +"I got one! I got one!" excitedly cried Bert, as he saw one of the +bunnies lying on the snow. The other had scampered off. + +"Yes, you did get one, child!" said Mrs. Bimby, as she ran out into the +storm and came back with the game. "Now we shan't starve. I'll make a +potpie." + +This she did, stewing the rabbit with some dumplings she made from a +little flour she had left in the bottom of the barrel. Bert and Nan +thought nothing had ever tasted so good as that rabbit potpie. + +"You'll be quite a hunter when you grow up," said Mrs. Bimby, when the +meal was over. "You shot straight and true, Bert!" + +"But you helped me," said the Bobbsey boy. "I couldn't have aimed the +gun straight if you hadn't helped me." + +"But I saw the rabbits, didn't I?" asked Nan. + +"Yes, dearie, you surely did," said the kind old woman. "Now we shan't +starve for a couple of days, anyhow." + +"And then I can shoot more rabbits, or maybe some squirrels," Bert +declared. + +"I hope by that time the storm'll be over," remarked Mrs. Bimby, "and +that my Jim will come back." + +"Will he take us home, or bring our father here?" Nan questioned. + +"I guess so," Mrs. Bimby answered. + +But as the snow kept up all the remainder of that day, and as it was +still storming hard when night came, there did not seem much chance of +the two older Bobbsey twins being rescued. + +Again Bert and Nan spent the night in the little rooms of the cabin, but +they slept better this time, Nan not even awakening for a drink of +water. And in the morning Bert looked from a window and cried: + +"Hurray! The snow's stopping! I'm going to start out and go back to +camp!" + +"You are?" asked Nan. "Are you going to take me?" + +"No," said Bert. "You'd better stay here. I'll go to camp and send daddy +back in a sled for you. He can hitch a horse to one of the lumber sleds +now that the snow is stopping, and he can ride you home. And if I find +your husband I'll send him back with a lot of things to eat," he told +Mrs. Bimby. + +"I wish you would, dearie," said the old woman. "But are you really +going to start out, Bert?" + +"Yes'm! My father and mother will be worried about us. I can get to camp +now, I'm sure, as the storm is almost over." + +Mrs. Bimby, who, though not very wise, was kind, made him take a little +lunch with him, packing up some cold boiled chestnuts and part of the +cold rabbit meat. It was all there was. + +"But maybe I'll get to camp before I have to eat," said Bert. "And I'll +send back help to you." + +So Bert started out, Mrs. Bimby showing him the direction he was to +take. It was still snowing a little, but he hoped it would soon stop. + +[Illustration: OLD JIM DELIGHTED THE TWINS.] + + + + +CHAPTER XVII--TRYING AGAIN + + +Though Flossie and Freddie had what they called "good times" in the log +cabin at Cedar Camp, and though Old Jim played with them, making boats +and dolls of wood, still the small Bobbsey twins wished for the time to +come when they might go out of doors. They also began to wish for the +return of Bert and Nan. + +"When _will_ they come, Mother?" Flossie asked over and over again. + +"And bring us chestnuts!" teased Freddie. + +"Oh, they'll come soon now," Mrs. Bobbsey said, as she looked out of the +window at the flakes of snow, still falling, and listened to the whistle +of the cold wind around the cabin. + +And in her heart how very much Mrs. Bobbsey wished that Bert and Nan +would come back soon! Mr. Bobbsey wished the same thing, and the only +comfort the father and mother had in those worrisome days was the +thought that their older twins _must_ have found shelter somewhere in +the woods. + +Old Jim declared that this was so, as, likewise, did Tom Case and Jim +Denton. But it was still storming too much for another searching party +to set out and look for Nan and Bert. Those who searched might +themselves become lost in the blizzard. For that is what the storm now +was--a regular blizzard. + +Mr. Bobbsey could do nothing toward searching for the lost shipment of +Christmas trees. The lumbermen could not work at cutting down trees, +floating or sledding them to the mill or carting them to the railroad. +Even the sawmill was shut down, and all there was to do was to wait. + +Flossie and Freddie were not used to staying in the house so long at a +time. They wanted to go out and play even if there was snow, but their +mother would not let them in such an unusual storm. + +"It's like when we were at Snow Lodge," sighed Flossie, as she stood +with her little nose pressed flat against the window, thereby making her +face cold. + +"We could go out a little there," sighed Freddie. + +"I think you children are very lucky," said their mother. "You have a +warm place to stay. Think of poor Nan and Bert. They may----" + +She stopped suddenly. She dared not think of what her older son and +daughter might be suffering. She glanced quickly at Flossie and Freddie. +She was afraid lest she should make them worry, too. + +But, fortunately, Flossie and Freddie were not that sort. They did not +believe in worrying, unless it was over not having fun enough. However, +the log cabin was of good size, and with Old Jim to come over now and +then to amuse them with cutting out wooden toys, the two Bobbsey twins +did not have such a sad time as might be imagined. + +To-day, however, when the storm had kept up so long, and when they had +not had a chance to go out, they felt rather lonesome and as if they +wanted to "do something." So, presently, when Flossie had grown tired of +pressing her nose against the glass, making it cold, and then holding it +on Freddie's cheek to hear him exclaim in surprise, the little girl +wandered about looking for something to do. Freddie joined her, and +while their mother was in another room, talking to Mr. Bobbsey, and +saying he ought, soon, to make another trip and search for Bert and Nan, +Flossie and Freddie went up in the top story of the log cabin. + +The log cabin was the largest in that part of the woods, and was higher +than most, so that in addition to the bedrooms on the second floor, +there was, above them, an open attic, reached by a short flight of +steps, and in it were stored all sorts of odds and ends. + +"Maybe we can find something here to play with," suggested Flossie. + +"Maybe," agreed Freddie. + +They rummaged around in the half-dark place, back in corners where the +roof came down slanting and making little "cubby-holes," and it was +after a glance into one of these places that Flossie drew back and +whispered to Freddie: + +"There's a bear in here!" + +"A bear! Where?" and Freddie moved over closer to Flossie and looked +where she pointed. + +"There," said the little girl, and, glancing along the line of her +outstretched finger, Freddie saw a big, furry heap in a dark corner. "I +touched it first with my foot," said Flossie, "and it was soft, just +like the bear I touched that the Italian had once, leading around by a +string in his nose. And then I put out my hand and I felt his fur!" + +"Oh!" exclaimed Freddie. "Did he--did he bite you?" He had been looking +for something to play with on the other side of the attic, and, +therefore, had not seen all that Flossie had. + +"Course he didn't bite me!" the little girl answered. "You didn't hear +me holler, did you?" + +"No," said Freddie, "I didn't. I'm going to touch him!" + +"Come over here," advised Flossie, moving to one side so Freddie could +thrust his hand forward and touch that mysterious heap of fur. "I--I +guess maybe he's asleep, that's why he didn't growl or nothin'!" + +"I guess maybe," agreed Freddie. Neither of the Bobbsey twins felt +surprised because they had an idea a bear might be in the attic with +them. Nor were they afraid. A sleeping bear is not dangerous, of course. +Any little boy or girl knows that! + +Freddie crawled a little way farther under the sloping roof and, by +stretching out his hand, managed to touch the fur. It felt warm and soft +to his fingers. + +"Oh, it _is_ a bear!" he whispered, and he was delighted. "Let's go and +tell mother, and we can bring it downstairs and play with it. I guess +it's a little bear!" + +"Yes, we'd better tell mother," agreed Flossie. Somehow, the more she +thought of a bear being up in the attic the more she thought it better +to have some of the older folks know about it. + +Down the stairs went the two Bobbsey twins, walking softly so as not to +awaken the bear. They didn't want him suddenly aroused from his sleep +and made cross. Who would? + +"Where have you children been?" cried Mrs. Bobbsey, as she saw the two +twins. They were covered with dust and cobwebs from having crawled so +far under the sloping roof in the attic. The floor was dirty, too, not +having been swept in many months, and they had sat right down in the +worst of the dust. + +"Oh, Mother!" gasped Flossie, "we've been up in the attic, and what do +you think's up there? It's a----" + +"_Bear!_" burst out Freddie, not wanting his sister to tell all the +wonderful news. "He's asleep, an' I touched him!" + +"Nonsense!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey. "A bear? It can't be!" + +And yet she knew there were bears in the North Woods, and it might be +possible that one had crawled into the cabin before they had come, and +had gone to the attic to have his long winter sleep. + +"Yes, it is a bear!" insisted Flossie, and both children were so certain +about the heap of fur that Mrs. Bobbsey called her husband, who was out +in the woodshed with Tom Case and Jim Bimby. + +"A bear!" cried the mill foreman. "Well, there are some around these +woods, but I never knew of one coming into a cabin. I'll take a look." + +"Hadn't you better take a gun?" asked Mr. Bobbsey, as he and Old Jim +followed the foreman upstairs. "There's one here." + +"Well, you might hand it to me," said Mr. Case. "But I reckon if it is a +bear that's crawled in to go to sleep, he'll be so lazy I can take him +by the back of the neck and throw him out." + +Freddie and Flossie waited with their mother while their father and the +two men went to the attic. They could hear the three moving around up +overhead, and soon there was a shout of laughter. + +"Maybe it's a circus bear, and he's doing tricks!" exclaimed Flossie. + +"Oh, I hope it is!" added Freddie, feeling quite excited. + +Their father and the two men came downstairs. Tom Case carried +something--something brown and shaggy, just like the fur of some animal. + +"There's your 'bear!'" he said, laughing, as he tossed the furry object +over a chair. "A bear skin! Ha! Ha!" + +And that is what it was. The skin of a big bear, made into a lap robe +for use in cold weather. The fur was warm, thick and soft, and when the +skin was huddled up in a heap in a corner no wonder the Bobbsey twins +mistook it for a real bear, especially in the dark. + +"That's a good warm fur robe," said Old Jim. "If it was made into a fur +coat it would keep out the cold." + +"Maybe that's what the man who used to live here was going to use it +for," said Mr. Bobbsey. "He moved away and forgot it. Well, you children +can play with it," he said to Flossie and Freddie. "It was a bear once." + +And the Bobbsey twins had fun taking turns wrapping the bear skin about +them and pretending to be different kinds of wild animals. + +It was when the storm began to grow less severe, the wind not blowing so +hard and the snow not coming down so thickly, that Mr. Bobbsey, looking +from the window when Flossie and Freddie were playing "bear," said: + +"I think I'll start out again." + +"Where?" asked his wife. + +"To find Bert and Nan," he answered. "I think the blizzard is about +over, and they will probably be starting for home. I'll go to meet +them." + +"Oh, take us!" cried Flossie and Freddie. "We want to see Bert and Nan." + +"Oh, no, I couldn't take you," said their father. "The snow is piled +deep in drifts, and you'd sink away down in--over your heads. I'll take +some of the men and start," he said to his wife. + +And so, a little later, another searching party started away from Cedar +Camp to find the missing Bobbsey twins. + +"I'll go along," said Old Jim, who was now able to travel. "I must take +some food to my wife. She'll be 'most starved." + +"Yes, come with us," said Mr. Bobbsey. "We'll take some food to Mrs. +Bimby." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII--A LITTLE SEARCHING PARTY + + +Flossie and Freddie Bobbsey were two of the kindest children in the +world. They were fond of fun and of having a good time, but whenever +their mother did work for the church at home, helping poor families, +taking food to people who had but little, Freddie and Flossie always +wanted to do their share. So did Bert and Nan; but as the older twins +had to spend more time in school than did Flossie and Freddie, the two +latter had more chances to help their mother. + +More than once they had gone with her when she carried a basket of food +or a bundle of clothing to some poor family in Lakeport. And now, in +Cedar Camp, having heard their father say he was going to take food to +Mrs. Bimby, Flossie and Freddie at once had an idea. + +While Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey were out of the room, talking over the coming +trip through the woods to look for Bert and Nan, as well as to take food +to Mrs. Bimby, Freddie said to Flossie: + +"Let's go, too!" + +"Daddy won't let us," Flossie answered. + +"We--we'll tag after him," said Freddie in a whisper. "We can put on our +rubber boots and our coats and mittens, and we can go behind him. He +can't hear us, 'cause there's so much snow our boots won't make any +noise." + +"That's so," agreed Flossie. "And, oh, Freddie! I know what we can do." + +"What?" + +"We can take Mrs. Bimby that bear robe. It'll keep her warm, 'cause it's +so nice and soft!" + +"So 'tis!" agreed Freddie. "We'll take it, and something to eat, too." + +"We'll not have to do that, Daddy and the other men are going to take +her something to eat." + +"I meant something to eat for us," Freddie said. "We ought to take a +lunch with us, 'cause maybe we'll get hungry in the woods." + +The younger Bobbsey twins had a feeling that if they were seen packing +up a lunch for themselves, putting on their boots and outdoor garments, +and taking the bear skin, they would be stopped. They felt sure they +would not be allowed to go in search of Nan and Bert. And they were +probably right. + +So, as they had done more than once before, they said nothing of their +plans, but went about them secretly and quietly. While their mother and +Mrs. Baxter were packing two large baskets with food for Old Jim's wife, +and while Daddy Bobbsey was talking to the men about the coming trip +through the snow-filled woods, Flossie and Freddie took their boots, +coats, caps and mittens to the back door of the log cabin. + +"We can slip out and put 'em on there when nobody is looking," said +Freddie. + +"We've got to take the bear skin out, too," Flossie remarked. + +But when they tried to bundle the skin of the bear up so they could +carry it, they found it so heavy and slippery to lift that they had to +give it up. + +"What'll we do?" asked Flossie, as, after several trials she had to +admit that the skin could not be carried. "Mrs. Bimby'll be so +disappointed!" + +"We can tell her it's here, and Mr. Jim can come and get it," suggested +Freddie. + +"Oh, that'll be nice!" his sister agreed. "We'll leave the skin." + +How to pack up a lunch for themselves was also a hard matter. But, as it +happened, Mrs. Bobbsey was so busy getting things ready for her husband +and the other men that she did not pay much attention to what Flossie +and Freddie did. She saw them moving about, now in the pantry and now in +the kitchen and again stepping to the back door, but she did not dream +they were getting ready to set off on a search by themselves. + +However, this is just what Flossie and Freddie were going to do, and, +after a while, they managed to pack into a pasteboard box what they +thought would be lunch enough for them until they came back with Bert +and Nan. + +"Put in lots of cake," whispered Freddie to Flossie, on one of the +little girl's trips to the pantry. "Cake tastes awful good in the +woods." + +"I will," Flossie whispered back. "And I got some pie, too!" + +"Oh, that's fine!" Freddie exclaimed. "Now we must slip out when they +don't see us." + +This the small Bobbsey twins managed to do. While Mr. Bobbsey, with Old +Jim and Tom Case, was making ready to start on his searching expedition, +to find and bring back Bert and Nan, as well as to take food to lonely +Mrs. Bimby, Flossie and Freddie slipped quietly to the back door with +their queer package of lunch. + +They soon donned their boots, coats and caps, and with their little +hands covered with warm, red mittens, they started off, keeping behind +the cabin so they would not be seen by those in front who were getting +ready to start on the main searching trip. It was snowing a little, but +not nearly so hard as at first, and the wind was not so strong or cold. + +"It'll be fun!" said Flossie to Freddie. + +"Lots of fun!" agreed her twin. "We'll wait until daddy and Mr. Jim and +Mr. Case get in the woods, and then we'll follow 'em. They won't send us +back!" + +"No," agreed Flossie, "I don't guess they will." + +The plan of the little Bobbsey twins was to follow their father on the +search. They did not want to go through the woods alone, even though it +was now daylight, though the sun did not shine because of the snow +clouds. + +And so, a little while after Mr. Bobbsey and the two men started away +from the log cabin, Flossie and Freddie set out on their own little +searching party. Mrs. Bobbsey and Mrs. Baxter were so busy "cleaning up" +after the men left that they gave no thought to the children for a time. + +"There they go!" whispered Flossie to Freddie, as, hiding behind a +woodpile, they saw their father, Mr. Bimby and Tom Case start off. + +"Wait a little, and then we'll go after 'em," advised Freddie. + +As soon as the main party had marched off along the trail that led +through the woods toward the chestnut grove that Bert and Nan had set +out to visit two days before, the small Bobbsey twins set forth. They +went around behind a clump of trees so they would not be seen from the +cabin. + +Flossie and Freddie expected soon to catch up to their father, but the +snow was so deep and the men traveled so fast that, after trudging along +for half an hour, Freddie and his sister had not yet come within sight +of the others. + +"Do you s'pose they ran away from us?" asked Flossie, as she stopped a +moment to rest. + +"Course not," answered Freddie. "They don't even know we're comin' after +'em." + +"That's so," Flossie said. "Well, anyhow, I hope we don't get lost." + +"I do, too," agreed Freddie. "But we have something to eat, anyhow," and +he patted the box of lunch he carried. + +The children looked around them. They were in a lonely part of the +woods, a place they had never been before, but they felt sure they would +soon catch up to their father. They had been following the tracks in the +snow left by the men who had gone to find Bert and Nan and take food to +Mrs. Bimby. + +Suddenly, however, there came a harder flurry of snow, and for a time +Flossie and Freddie could not see very well. And when the little squall, +as sudden storms are called, had passed, the two Bobbsey twins found +they had wandered off to one side of the trail. + +No longer could they see the footprints of their father and the others +in the snow. They had nothing to guide them! + +"Freddie! Look!" cried Flossie, "Where's the path?" She called her +father's snow-track a "path." + +"Why, it--it's gone!" Freddie had to admit. + +And then, as the two little children stood in the lonely snow-filled +woods, they heard, near a bush, a noise that made them suddenly afraid. + +It was a growl that they heard! + + + + +CHAPTER XIX--THE WILDCAT + + +Bert Bobbsey started off bravely enough from the cabin of Mrs. Bimby to +go for help for the old woman, so that food might be taken to her bare +cupboard. + +"And I'll have daddy bring a sled or something so Nan can ride home to +camp on it," thought Bert, as he trudged along through the snow. "It's +hard walking. I wish I had a pair of snowshoes." + +He had started away from the lonely cabin, as I told you two chapters +back. With him he took a little package of lunch, not very much, for he +felt sure he would soon reach Cedar Camp by following the line of the +brook, nor was there much to be got from Mrs. Bimby's bare cupboard. +Even though much snow had fallen, Bert hoped the bed of the brook could +be made out once he came to it. It lay some distance from the cabin, he +thought. + +The Bobbsey twin boy turned, after trudging a little way from the cabin, +and waved his hand at Mrs. Bimby and Nan, who stood near a window +watching him. + +"Your brother is a brave little chap," said Mrs. Bimby. "I do hope he +finds help and brings it back to us." + +"I hope so, too; 'specially something for you to eat," said Nan. + +"Oh, well, we've a little of the rabbit left yet," said the old woman. +"But my tea is 'most gone, and I need it strong on account of my nerves. +If it wasn't for my rheumatiz I'd put on my things and go with Bert. I'd +take you along, though I fear it's going to snow more." + +"I hope it doesn't before Bert gets back to camp," Nan said. "I +shouldn't want him lost all alone." + +"Nor I, dearie," crooned Mrs. Bimby. "But he's a brave lad, and I trust +he gets along all right. Though it has been a bad storm--a bad storm!" +she muttered. + +She put more wood on the fire, for, though the wind had gone down a +little and the snow was not falling so rapidly, it was still cold. But +the blazing wood threw out a grateful heat, and Nan and Mrs. Bimby sat +about the stove, waiting for the help Bert was to send. + +Bert felt a little lonely as he plunged into the woods and lost sight of +the cabin. Though it was daylight, and the woods were not dark because +of the white snow, still Bert felt a little lonesome. He wished Nan had +come with him. + +"But I guess a girl couldn't get along," he said to himself, as he +plunged through drift after drift. Indeed it was hard work for Bert, +sturdy as he was, to wade along, especially as he had on no boots, not +having expected a storm when he and Nan started after chestnuts. + +"Now let me see," said Bert Bobbsey, talking to himself half aloud, to +make his trip seem less lonesome. "The first thing I want to do is to +find the brook. I can follow that back to camp, I'm pretty sure. But +it's a good way from here, I guess." + +He remembered having seen the brook just before he and Nan reached the +first chestnut grove, where they found the squirrels and chipmunks had +taken most of the supply, making the children go farther on. And then +the Bobbsey twins had rather lost sight of the stream of water. + +Bert knew it might be almost hidden from sight under overhanging banks +of snow, but he knew if he could come upon the water course it would be +the surest thing to follow to get back to camp. So as he trudged along, +into and out of drifts, he looked eagerly about for a sign of the brook, +which, as it went on, widened and ran into the mill pond near Cedar +Camp. + +Bert was all by himself in the snowy woods. The cabin, where his sister +and Mrs. Bimby waited for him to bring help, was lost to sight amid the +trees. For the first time since leaving Cedar Camp Bert began to feel +lonesome and afraid. + +It was so still and quiet in the woods! Not a sound! No birds fluttered +through the trees or called aloud. The birds that had not flown south +were, doubtless, keeping under shelter until they dared venture out to +look for food, which some of them would never find. + +"There isn't even a crow!" said Bert aloud, and his voice, in that white +stillness, almost startled him by its loudness. + +He reached the top of a little hill, where there was not quite so much +snow, the wind having blown it off, and there Bert stopped for a moment, +looking about. It was a lonesome and dreary scene that lay before him. +Not a house in sight, only a stretch of snow and trees, and the wind +howled mournfully through the bare, leafless branches. + +"Well, there's no use standing here," murmured Bert to himself. "I've +got to travel on and bring help to Nan and the old lady. I'm glad Nan +has some shelter, anyhow. And I s'pose mother will be worrying about us. +But we couldn't help it. Nobody would guess a storm would come up so +quickly." + +Throwing back his shoulders as he had seen men do when they had some +hard task before them, Bert started off again. Through the snow he +trudged, tossing the white flakes aside with his small but sturdy legs. + +All at once, on the white expanse in front of him, Bert saw a movement. +At first he thought it was just some loose snow, blown about by the +wind, which came in fitful gusts. But as he looked a second time he saw +that it was not the wind. + +"It's some animal!" exclaimed the boy, speaking aloud, for he wanted +company, and, like the men of the desert or wilderness, he fell +naturally into the habit of talking to himself. "It's some animal." + +Having said this Bert came to a stop, for he knew there might be many +sorts of animals in the woods. + +"I wonder what it is," he whispered. Somehow or other a whisper seemed +more the sort of voice to use in that lonesome place. + +A moment later he saw a patch of brown, and then two big ears appeared +to be thrust out of a hole in the snow. + +"It's a rabbit--a bunny!" cried Bert, and he did not whisper this time. + +As he shouted Bert sprang forward through the snow and toward the brown +rabbit that had so unexpectedly appeared. Whether it was the boy's shout +or his quick movement, or both, was not certain, but the rabbit was +frightened and dashed away over the snow, sometimes sinking down almost +out of sight, and again, by some means, keeping on the surface of the +snow, which was packed harder in some places than in others. + +"If I can only get you!" gasped Bert, for his speed through the snow was +making him pant and his breath come short. "I'll get you and take you +back to Nan and Mrs. Bimby! They won't have enough to eat unless I do, +maybe, for it may take me a long while to get back to camp." + +Bert had no weapon--he could not even pick up a stone, for they were all +covered from sight by the mass of white. But the boy had an idea that he +could catch the rabbit alive. + +Bert was not a cruel boy, and under other circumstances he never would +have dreamed of trying to hurt or catch a bunny. But now he felt that +the lives of his sister and Mrs. Bimby might depend on this game. + +"I'll get you! I'll run you down!" muttered Bert. + +Now a rabbit is a very fast-moving animal. Out West there is a kind +called jackrabbits, and they can go faster than the average dog. Only a +greyhound or other long-legged dog can beat a jackrabbit running. But +though this bunny was not a jackrabbit, being the common wild rabbit of +the woods and fields, still it could go faster than could Bert--and in +the snow at that. + +Every now and again Bert would get so near the bunny that he felt sure +that the next moment he would be able to get hold of the long ears. But +every time the rabbit would give a desperate jump and get beyond the +boy's reach. + +"Whew!" exclaimed Bert, as he was forced to stop, because his legs were +so tired and because his breath was so short. "I don't wonder hunters +have to use guns! They never could get much game just by chasing after +it. It wouldn't be any use to set a trap, for I haven't time and I +haven't anything to bait it with. Besides, I guess you're so smart you'd +never be caught in it." + +As Bert came to a stop on top of another little hill where the snow was +partly blown away, the rabbit also halted. It looked back at the boy. +Probably the bunny was as tired as was Bert. + +"If I only had something to throw at you!" murmured the boy. "I can't +find any stones, but I can take a stick." + +There were trees near at hand, and from the low branches of one of these +Bert broke off a number of pieces of dead wood. They cracked like pistol +shots, and, turning around to look at the rabbit, Bert saw it scooting +away over the snow. Probably the little furry creature thought some +hunter was shooting at it. + +"Well, I guess I'll have to give up," said the boy, half aloud. "I'll +only get lost chasing after you. As it is, I guess I've come 'most a +mile out of my way." + +He threw the sticks he had broken off, but he did not come anywhere near +hitting the brown bunny. + +"Oh, well, you're safe! I won't chase you any farther," said Bert. "And +I wouldn't have chased you now, and scared you 'most to death, if the +folks back in the shack weren't so low on food. Maybe I can find +something else." + +Bert floundered about in the snow, following his tracks back before they +should be filled and so hidden from sight. He was about half way to the +place where he had surprised the rabbit when he heard a chattering in a +tree over his head. + +"A squirrel!" exclaimed the boy. "And a grey one, too, or I miss my +guess." + +He kept very still, listening. Again, above the noise of the storm was +heard the sharp, squealing chatter of a squirrel, and, looking up over +his head, Bert saw the animal. It was a large, grey squirrel, with a +tail almost as big as its whole body. + +The squirrel sat up on a limb and looked down at the boy. It may have +been angry or frightened, and it seemed to be scolding Bert as it +chattered at him. Grey squirrels are not such excited scolders as the +little red chaps are, but this one did very well. + +"If you know what's good for you, you'll go back into your nest and stay +there," Bert said. "I can't get you, and you ought to know it, for I +haven't a gun and I never could throw up a stick and knock you down. +You'd be good eating if I could," Bert went on, for he had often heard +his father tell of broiled squirrels. + +Bert could see a hole in the tree half way up the trunk, and he guessed +that here the squirrel had his winter nest. It would be well lined with +dried leaves, soft grass, and perhaps some cotton from the milkweed +pods. Thus the squirrels keep warm, wrapping their big bushy tails about +them. + +"Well, I guess I'll say good-bye to you," went on Bert, as he turned +aside from the squirrel in the tree and resumed his trudging through the +snow. The weather was cold, and Bert was cold likewise. Also he was +tired. His legs ached and his shoulders pained him, for walking through +the snow is not easy work, as you who have tried it know. + +However, he knew that he must keep bravely on, and so, after turning +once or twice, making sure he could not see the cabin, he went along +faster. + +It was because of his speed that an accident happened to Bert which +might have been a very serious one. He was traveling with his head held +down, to keep the falling snow out of his face, when he suddenly felt +himself falling. + +Down, down he went, as though he had stepped into some big hole, or off +some high cliff. He gave a cry of alarm, and threw out both hands to +grasp something to save himself, but there was nothing to grasp. Down, +down went poor Bert! + +It was a good thing there was so much snow on the ground. The piles and +drifts of white flakes were like so many heaps of feathers, and Bert was +thankful when at last, after sliding, slipping, falling and tumbling, he +came to a stop, half buried in a deep drift. He was somewhat shaken up, +and he had dropped his package of lunch, but at first he did not think +he was much hurt until he tried to move his left leg. + +Then such a pain shot through the boy that he had to cry aloud. He shut +his eyes and leaned back against the pile of snow into which he had +fallen. The first flash of pain passed, and he began to feel a little +better. But a terrible thought came to him. + +"What if my leg is broken?" said Bert, half aloud. "I can't walk, I +can't go for help, and I'll have to stay here. Daddy or nobody will know +where to find me--not even Nan or Mrs. Bimby! Oh, this is terrible!" + +But he knew he must be brave, for he had to help not only himself but +his sister and the old woman in the cabin. Clenching his teeth to keep +back the cry of pain which he felt would come when he moved his leg +again, Bert shifted it a little to one side. The spasm of pain came, but +not so bad as at first. + +"Maybe it's only broken a little," thought the boy. "And I can crawl, if +I can't walk." He had read of hunters and trappers who, with a broken or +badly cut leg, had crawled miles over the snow to get help. Bert wanted +to be as brave as these heroes. + +But when he moved his leg for the third time and found the pain not +quite so bad, he began to take heart. He brushed away the snow from both +legs and looked at them. They appeared to be all right, but the left one +felt a little queer. And it was not until he had managed to pull himself +up, by means of a stunted bush showing through the snow, that Bert knew +his leg was not broken. + +It was strained a little, and it hurt some when he bore his weight on +it, but he found that he could at least walk, if he could not run, and +he was thankful for this. He looked up toward the place from where he +had fallen, and saw that, without knowing it, he had stepped over the +edge of a steep hill. The snow had hidden the edge from Bert, and he had +plunged right over it. + +"Where's my lunch?" he asked aloud, and then he saw the package, which +had fallen to one side of the place where he had plunged into the drift. +Bert picked it up, and then, thankful that his accident was no worse, he +went on again. + +"I guess maybe the brook is here," he said, for he noticed that he was +down in a valley, and he knew that water always sought low levels. "I'll +walk along here," said Bert. + +He was so frightened, thinking of what might have happened if he had +been crippled and unable to walk, that he did not feel hungry, though it +was some time since breakfast. On he trudged through the snow, looking +for signs of the brook, which he hoped would lead him to Cedar Camp. + +It was while he was passing through a clump of woods that Bert received +another fright--one that caused him to run on as fast as he could, in +spite of his aching leg. + +He had gone half way through the clump of trees, and he was wondering if +he would ever come to the brook, when suddenly he heard a noise in a +clump of bushes. The noise sounded louder than usual, because it was all +so still and quiet near him. + +Before Bert could guess what caused the sound, he saw, pushing its way +through the underbrush, a tawny animal, with black spots underneath and +with little tufts of hair on its ears. At once Bert knew what this +was--a wildcat, or lynx! + +For a moment Bert was so frightened that he just stood still, looking at +the wildcat. And then, as the animal gave a sort of snarl and growl, the +boy turned with a yell of fright and ran off through the snow as fast as +he could go! + + + + +CHAPTER XX--SNOWBALL BULLETS + + +About the time that Bert Bobbsey was running through the snow, to get +away from the wildcat, Flossie and Freddie were having a scare of their +own, some miles distant from him, though in the same woods around Cedar +Camp. + +The two smaller Bobbsey twins had gone off without letting their father +or mother know, taking with them a lunch. They tramped through the +forest until they came to a lonely place and had not yet caught sight of +their father, who had started off ahead with Old Jim Bimby and Tom Case. +Right here the small twins heard a growl and saw a movement in the +bushes. + +"What's that?" asked Flossie, shrinking closer to Freddie. + +"I--I don't know," Freddie answered, trying to think of something to +make him brave. "Maybe it's a bear!" + +"A bear?" questioned his sister. + +"Yep!" Freddie went on, his eyes never moving from the bush that seemed +to hide some animal. "Maybe it's a bear like the one we found the skin +of in the attic." + +"It--it can't be the _same one_ coming back for his skin, can it?" asked +Flossie. + +"Course not!" declared Freddie. "How could a bear go 'round without his +skin on?" + +"Well, a bear's skin is just the same to him as our clothes are to us," +Flossie went on. "An' sometimes, when we go swimming, we don't have very +many clothes on." + +"Well, a bear is different," said Freddie. + +"Oh, look!" suddenly cried the little girl, and, pointing to the bush +with one hand, she clung to Freddie's arm with the other. "He's coming +out! He's coming out!" she exclaimed. + +A shaggy head could be seen thrusting itself from the bushes, and the +children were wondering what sort of animal it could be, for it did not +look like a bear, when, with a joyful bark, there burst out in front of +them--the shaggy dog belonging to Tom Case! + +Rover--Rover was the name of the dog--rushed toward Flossie and Freddie, +leaping joyfully and wagging his tail. He had made friends with the +children as soon as they came to Cedar Camp, and they loved Rover. + +"Oh, hello!" cried Flossie, as if greeting an old friend. + +"He's glad to see us and we're glad to see him," said Freddie. + +This seemed to be true, though I think Flossie and Freddie were more +pleased to see Rover than he was to see them, for the dog knew how to +find his way home, and even trace and find his master if need be, while, +to tell you the truth, Flossie and Freddie were lost, though they did +not yet know it. But they were soon to find this out. + +"Did you come looking for us?" asked Flossie, as she patted the shaggy +animal. + +"I guess he did," Freddie said. "I guess he'd rather come with us than +with daddy and the others. Though we'll take Rover to 'em, won't we?" + +"Yes," agreed Flossie. "But we must hurry up and catch 'em, Freddie. We +want to see Mrs. Bimby and tell her about the nice warm bear robe." + +"Sush! Don't speak so loud," cautioned Freddie, looking over his +shoulder. + +"Why not?" Flossie wanted to know. + +"I mean about the bear robe," her brother went on. "There might be some +bears in the woods, and if they heard there was the skin of one of 'em +at the cabin, maybe they wouldn't like it." + +"Maybe that's so," agreed Flossie, also looking around. "But, anyhow, +Rover'd drive the bears away; wouldn't you, Rover?" + +The dog barked and wagged his tail, which was the only answer he could +give. It satisfied the children, and soon they started off again, making +their way through the snow, hoping they would soon catch up with their +father, Mr. Case and Mr. Bimby. Rover accompanied Flossie and Freddie, +sometimes ahead of them and sometimes behind. + +The dog had started out, as he often did, to follow his master, but had +lagged behind, perhaps to run after a rabbit or squirrel. Then he had +come across the tracks of the children and had gone to them, knowing +they were friends of his. + +"I'm hungry," said Flossie, after a while. "Let's sit under a Christmas +tree and eat, Freddie." + +"All right," agreed her brother, always willing to do this. + +They were, just then, in a clump of evergreen trees, and under some the +snow was not as deep as it was in the open. In fact the children found +one tree with no snow under it at all, so thick were the branches, and +so close to the ground did they come. Crawling into this little nest, +where the ground was covered with the dry needles from the pines and +other trees, Flossie and Freddie opened the packages of lunch they had +brought with them. + +Rover, smelling the food, crawled into the shelter after them, and +Flossie and Freddie shared their lunch with the dog, who even ate the +crumbs off the ground. + +"But we mustn't eat everything," said Freddie, when part of the lunch +had been disposed of, Rover getting his share. + +"Why not?" asked Flossie. "Can't you eat all you want to when you're +hungry?" + +"It's best to save some," Freddie answered. "Maybe we'll get stuck in +the snow and can't get anything more to eat for a while, and then we'll +be glad to have this." + +"That's so," agreed Flossie, after thinking it over. "I guess I'm not so +very hungry. But Rover is. He's terrible hungry, Freddie. See him look +at the lunch." + +Indeed the dog seemed to be following, with hungry eyes, every motion of +the little boy who was wrapping up again that part of the lunch not +eaten by him and his sister. They saved about half of it. + +Rover sniffed and snuffed as only a dog can, but he made no effort to +take the lunch that Freddie placed in a crotch of the evergreen tree +which made such a nice shelter for him and his sister. + +"Don't you take it, Rover!" cautioned Flossie, shaking her finger at +him. + +Rover thumped his tail on the ground, perhaps to show that he would be +good and mind. + +"It's nice and warm in here," Freddie remarked, after a while. "I wish +we could stay here longer, Flossie." + +"Can't we?" + +"Not if we want to go to Mrs. Bimby's," Freddie answered. "We have to +get out and walk some more. And it's snowing again, too." + +Whether it was or not, the children could not be quite certain, for the +wind was blowing, and if the flakes were not falling from the sky they +were blowing up off the ground. + +It was almost the same, anyhow, for there was a fine shower of the cold, +white flakes in the air, and it was much more cosy and warm under the +tree than out in the open. + +"Let's stay here a little longer," begged Flossie. "Rover likes it here, +don't you?" she asked, as she reached out her hand and patted the shaggy +back of the dog. + +And from the manner in which Rover thumped his tail on the ground you +could tell that he did, indeed, like to be with the little Bobbsey twins +under the shelter of the tree. + +"I know what we can do," said Freddie, after thinking a moment. "I know +what we can do to have some fun!" + +"What?" asked Flossie, always ready for anything of this sort. + +"We'll throw a lot of these pine cones outside, and Rover will chase +after 'em and bring 'em back," went on Freddie. "He likes to run out in +the snow. And after we play that awhile maybe it will be nicer outside." + +"All right," agreed Flossie. "We'll throw pine cones." + +There were many of these on the pine-needle covered ground beneath the +sheltering tree. The cones were really the clusters of seeds from the +tree, and they had become hard and dry so they made excellent things to +throw for a dog to bring back. + +Rover liked to race after sticks when thrown by the children, and the +pine cones were ever so much better than sticks. There were so many of +them, too. + +"I'll throw first, and then it will be your turn, Flossie," Freddie +said. "Here, Rover!" he called to the dog, as he picked up several of +the cones. + +Always ready for a lark of this sort, Rover leaped to his feet and stood +at "attention." Freddie bent aside some of the branches and tossed a +pine cone out of the opening. + +It fell in a bank of snow some distance away, for Freddie was a good +thrower for a little boy. And the pine cone, being light, did not sink +down in the snow as a stone would have done. + +"Bow-wow!" barked Rover, as he dashed out after the pine cone. + +That was his way of saying he would bring it back as quickly as he +could. And as Rover rushed from under the little green tent of the pine +tree Flossie gave a cry of surprise. + +"What's the matter?" asked Freddie, turning around to look at his +sister. + +"Rover knocked me down!" she answered with a laugh, and, surely enough, +there she was sprawling on the brown pine needles which covered the +ground under the tree. "He just bunked into me and knocked me over!" + +Rover was not used to playing with children, you see, and he was a bit +rough. But he didn't mean to be. + +Flossie sat up, still laughing, for she was not in the least hurt, and +by this time Rover had brought back the pine cone that Freddie had +tossed out. + +"Good dog, Rover!" cried Freddie, patting the animal as he laid down the +cone and wagged his tail. "Now it's your turn to throw one, Flossie," +Freddie said. + +"All right," Flossie answered. "But look out he doesn't knock you down, +Freddie." + +"I'm looking out!" Freddie said, and he quickly moved over to one side +of the space under the tree, while Flossie threw out her cone. + +Flossie was not quite so good a thrower of sticks, stones, or pine cones +as was her brother. But she did pretty well. Though her cone did not go +as far as Freddie's had, it sank farther down into the snow. Maybe the +cone was a heavier one, or it may have fallen in a softer place in the +snow. Anyhow it went quite deep into a drift and Rover had to dig with +his forepaws to get it so he could take it in his mouth. + +"Oh, look at him!" cried Flossie, as the dog, digging away, made the +snow fly in a shower back of him. "He's like a snowplow on the +railroad!" + +Once, in a big storm, Flossie and Freddie had seen the railroad +snowplow, pushed by two locomotives, cut through a high drift. And the +way Rover scattered the snow made the little girl think of the plow. + +"Bring it here, Rover!" cried Freddie, for it would be his turn next to +throw a cone. + +"Bow-wow!" barked the dog, and then, with a final dive into the drift, +he got the brown cone in his mouth and came racing back with it. Covered +with snow as he was, he crawled under the shelter to be petted and +talked kindly to by Freddie and Flossie. + +Then, just as he probably did when he came out of the water in the +summer time, Rover gave himself a shake, to get rid of the snowflakes. + +"Oh! Oh!" laughed Flossie, holding her hands over her face. "Stop it, +Rover! You're getting me all snow!" + +But Rover kept it up until he had got off all the snow, and then he +raced out again after more cones as the children threw them. + +If Bert Bobbsey could have known where his little sister and brother +were, with brave old Rover beside them, I am sure he would have wished +to join them. For Bert, about this time, was running away from the +wildcat that had suddenly burst through the bushes. + +"You're not going to get me!" said Bert to himself, as he clutched his +package of lunch and raced on as well as he could. + +The pain in his leg bothered him, but he was not going to stop for a +thing like that and let a wildcat maul him. On he ran through the snow, +taking the easiest path he could find. He looked back over his shoulder +once or twice, to find the wildcat bounding lightly along after him. + +And after he had looked back and had seen the size of the animal and +noticed that there was only one, somehow or other Bert became braver, +and he had an idea that perhaps he might drive this beast away. + +Wildcats, or bobcats as they are sometimes called, being also known as +the bay lynx, are not as large as a good-sized dog. They weigh about +thirty pounds, and though they have sharp teeth and claws they very +seldom attack persons. Only when they are disturbed, or fear that +someone is going to harm their little ones or take away their food, do +bobcats run after persons. + +And this one must have thought Bert was going to do it some harm, for +the animal certainly chased the lad. + +"Ho!" said Bert to himself, as he looked back, "you're not so big! Maybe +you have got sharp teeth and claws, but if you don't get near me you +can't hurt me! I'm going to make you go back!" + +Bert had a sudden idea of how he might do this--with snowball bullets. +All about him was snow--piles of it--and Bert had often taken part in +snowball fights at home. He was a good thrower, and once he had +snowballed a savage dog that had run at Flossie and Freddie and had +caused the animal to run yelping away. + +"I'm going to snowball this wildcat!" decided Bert. + +He ran on a little farther until he came to a small clearing where the +trees stood in an irregular ring around an open place. There Bert +decided to make a stand and see if he could not drive the chasing +wildcat away. + +"And if he won't go, and comes after me," thought Bert, "I can climb a +tree." + +He did not know, or else had forgotten, that wildcats themselves are +very good tree-climbers. + +Reaching the other side of the clearing, Bert laid his package of lunch +down on a firm place in the snow, and then rapidly began to make some +hard, round balls. He packed them with all his might between his +mittened hands, for he knew a soft snowball would not be of much use +against a wildcat. + +He had been some distance ahead of the animal, and when it ran up to the +edge of the clearing Bert had several snowballs ready. + +"Come on now! See how you like that!" cried the boy. He threw one +snowball "bullet," but he was so excited that it went high over the head +of the bobcat. The next one struck in the snow at the feet of the +animal. But the third one hit it right on the nose! + +"Good shot!" cried Bert. + +The wildcat uttered a snarl and a growl, and stopped for a moment. +Perhaps it had never before chased anyone who threw snowballs. + +"Have another!" cried Bert, and the next white bullet struck it on the +side. The bobcat leaped up in the air, and then Bert threw another ball +which hit it on the head. + +This was too much for the creature. With a loud howl it turned and ran +back into the woods, and Bert breathed easier. + +"Well, I guess as long as I can throw snowballs you won't get me," he +said to himself, as he picked up the package of lunch and hurried on. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI--ON THE ROCK + + +Bert Bobbsey felt very proud of himself after he had driven away the +wildcat with snowballs. And I think he had a right to be proud. Not many +boys of his age would have dared to stand and await the oncoming of a +beast that is quite dangerous once it starts to claw and bite. But Bert +had spent so much time in the woods and out in the open that he was very +self-reliant. + +And so, after looking back once or twice as he left the clearing, and +finding that the bobcat did not follow, Bert began to feel much better. + +"I'll soon be at Cedar Camp," he said to himself, "and then I'll be all +right. I'll send 'em back to get Nan and take something to eat to Mrs. +Bimby. I'll be glad to see Flossie and Freddie again." + +Had Bert only known it, Flossie and Freddie were nearer to him than if +they had been in Cedar Camp, though the small Bobbsey twins were still +some distance from their brother. + +And while Mr. Bobbsey was forging ahead through the snow with Old Jim +Bimby and Tom Case, knowing nothing, of course, about his little boy and +girl having followed him, Mrs. Bobbsey was having worries of her own +about the absence of the small children from the cabin. + +She and Mrs. Baxter had missed Flossie and Freddie soon after the men +had started on the searching trip, but, for a time, the mother of the +two small twins was not at all worried. She thought Flossie and Freddie +had merely run out to play a little, as it was the first chance they had +had since the big storm began. + +But when, after a while, they had not come back to the cabin, and she +could see nothing of them, Mrs. Bobbsey said: + +"Mrs. Baxter, have you seen Flossie and Freddie?" + +"No, Mrs. Bobbsey, I haven't," answered the cook. "But it looks as if +they had been in the pantry, for things there are all upset." + +Mrs. Bobbsey looked around the kitchen and pantry, and she at once +guessed part of what had happened. + +"They've packed up lunch for themselves," she said to the housekeeper, +"and they've gone out to play. Well, they'll be all right as long as +they stay around here and it doesn't storm again. I'll go and look for +them in a few minutes." + +But when she did look and call Flossie and Freddie, they were not to be +found. Indeed, they were more than a mile away by this time, and they +had just met Rover, as I have told you. + +"I'm glad Rover's with us, aren't you, Freddie?" asked Flossie, as they +made ready to set off again, after having eaten their lunch. + +"Lots glad," answered the little boy. "Mrs. Bimby will be glad to see +him, I guess." + +Indeed Mrs. Bimby, left alone with Nan after Bert had gone out, would +have been glad to see almost anyone. For she was worried because her +husband was away and because there was so little left in the house to +eat, only she did not want to tell Nan so. And she did not think she +could shoot another rabbit, as Bert had done. + +"I do hope that boy will find my Jim or someone and bring help," thought +Mrs. Bimby. + +And of course Mr. Bobbsey with Old Jim and Tom Case were on their way to +the cabin, but they had to go slowly on account of so much snow. + +The snow was worse for Flossie and Freddie than for any of the others in +the woods, because the legs of the small twins were so short. It was +hard work for them to wade through the drifts. But they felt a little +better after their rest under the "Christmas tree," as Flossie called +it, and after they had eaten some of their lunch. So on they trudged +again. + +"Maybe we can find daddy's lost Christmas trees," suggested Freddie, +after a while. + +"Wouldn't he be glad if we did?" cried Flossie. "Here, Rover! Come +back!" she called, for the dog was running too far ahead to please her +and Freddie. + +The dog came racing back, scattering the snow about as he plunged +through it, and Flossie patted his shaggy head. + +"Don't you think we'll find daddy pretty soon?" asked Flossie, after she +and Freddie had trudged on for perhaps half an hour longer. "I'm getting +tired in my legs." + +"So'm I," her brother admitted. "I wish we could find 'em. But if we +don't, pretty soon, we'll go back, 'cause I think it's going to snow +some more." + +Indeed, the sky seemed to be getting darker behind the veil of snow +clouds that hung over it, and some swirling flakes of white began +sifting down. + +Freddie came to a stop and looked about him. He was tired, and so was +Flossie. The only one of the party who seemed to enjoy racing about in +the drifts was Rover. He never appeared to get tired. + +"I guess maybe we'd better go back," said Freddie, after thinking it +over. "We haven't much left to eat, and I guess daddy can tell Mrs. +Bimby about the bear skin to keep her warm." + +"I guess so," agreed Flossie. "It's going to be night pretty soon." + +It would be some hours until night, however, and the darkness was caused +by gathering storm clouds, but Flossie and Freddie did not know that. +They turned about, and began to go back along the way they had come. At +least they thought they were doing that, but they had not gone far +before Flossie said: + +"Freddie, we've come the wrong way." + +"How do you know?" he asked. + +"'Cause we aren't stepping in our own tracks like we would be if we went +back straight." + +Freddie looked at the snow. It was true. There was no sign of the tracks +they must have made in walking along. Before this they had known which +way they were going. Now they didn't. + +"We--we're lost!" faltered Flossie. + +"Oh, maybe not," said Freddie as cheerfully as he could. But still, when +he realized that they had not walked along their back track, he knew +they must be going farther into the woods, or at least away from Cedar +Camp. + +"Oh, I don't like to be lost!" wailed Flossie. "I want to go home!" + +Freddie did too, but he hoped he wouldn't cry about it. Boys must be +brave and not cry, he thought. + +But as the little Bobbsey twins stood there, not knowing what to do, it +suddenly became colder, the wind sprang up, and down came a blinding +storm of snow, so thick that they could not see Rover, who, a moment +before, had been tumbling about in the drifts near them. + +"Oh! Oh!" cried Flossie. "Let's go home, Freddie!" + +But where was "home" or camp? How were they to get there? + +And so, soon after Bert had driven off the wildcat and had run on, this +Bobbsey lad, too, was caught in the same snow storm that had frightened +Flossie and Freddie. But of course Bert did not know that. + +"Say, we've had enough snow for a winter and a half already," thought +Bert, as he saw more white flakes coming down. "And it isn't Christmas +yet! I hope I'm not going to be snowed in out here all alone! I'd better +hurry!" + +As Bert trudged along through the storm he found himself becoming +thirsty. If you have ever walked a long distance, even in a snowstorm, +you may have felt the same way yourself. And perhaps you have tried to +quench your thirst and cool your mouth by eating snow. If you have, you +doubtless remember that instead of getting less thirsty you were only +made more so. This is what always happens when a person eats snow. Ice +is different, if you hold pieces of it in your mouth until it melts. + +"My! I wish I had a drink," exclaimed Bert, speaking aloud, as he had +done a number of times since setting out alone to bring help to Nan and +Mrs. Bimby. "I wish I had a drink of water!" + +Now Bert Bobbsey knew better than to eat dry snow. Once when he was a +small boy, smaller even than Freddie, he had been playing out in the +snow and had eaten it whenever he felt thirsty. As a result he had been +made ill. + +"Never eat snow again, Bert," his father had told him at the time. And +to make Bert remember Mr. Bobbsey had read the boy a story of travelers +in the Arctic regions searching for the North Pole. The story told how, +no matter how tired or cold these travelers were, they always stopped to +melt the snow and make water or tea of it when they were thirsty. They +never ate dry snow. + +"I've either got to find a spring to get a drink, or melt some of this +snow," said Bert to himself, as he walked on, limping a little, though +his leg was feeling better than at first. "But I guess if I did find a +spring it would be frozen over. Now how can I melt some snow?" + +Bert had been on camping trips with his father, and he had often seen +Mr. Bobbsey make use of things he found beside the road or in the woods +to help out in a time of some little trouble. With this in mind, the boy +began to look around for something that would help him get a drink of +water, or to melt some snow into water which he could drink after it had +cooled. + +But to melt snow needed a fire, he knew, and also something that would +hold the snow before and after it was melted. + +"I need a pan or a can and a fire," decided Bert. "I wonder if I have +any matches?" + +He felt in his pockets and found some, though he did not usually carry +them, for they are rather dangerous for children. But Bert felt that he +was now getting to be quite a boy. + +"Well, here's a start," he said to himself as he felt the matches in his +pocket. But he did not take them out, for the snow was blowing about, +and Bert knew that a wet match was as bad as none at all. He must keep +his matches dry as the old settlers were advised to "keep their powder +dry." + +"If I could only make a fire," thought Bert, coming to a stop and +looking about him at a spot that looked as if it might once have been a +camp. All he could see was a waste of snow and some trees. But wood for +fires, he knew, grew on trees, though any wood which could be made to +burn must be dry. + +"Maybe I could scrape away some snow and make a fire," thought Bert. +"The thing I need most, though, is a tin can to hold snow and water. +Ouch! My leg hurts!" he exclaimed. + +His leg, just then, seemed to get a "kink" in it, as he said afterward. +He kicked out, as football players do sometimes when their legs get +twisted. + +As it happened, Bert kicked his foot into a little pile of snow, and +next he was surprised to find that he had kicked something out. At first +it seemed to be a lump of ice, but as it rolled a few feet and the snow +fell away, the boy found that he had kicked into view an empty tin +tomato can! + +"Here's luck!" cried Bert, as he sprang after the can before it could be +covered from sight in the snow again. "This sure is luck! I can melt +some snow in this now!" + +Taking the can in his hand he knocked it against his shoe, thus getting +rid of the snow that filled it. The can was opened half way, and the tin +top was bent back, making a sort of handle to it, which Bert was glad to +see. It would enable him without burning his fingers to lift the can off +the fire he intended to build. + +"All I need now is some dry wood, and I can make a fire and melt snow to +make water," he said aloud. "If I had some tea I could make a regular +hot drink, like they have up at the North Pole. But I guess water will +be all right. Now for some wood!" + +He made his way over to a clump of trees and, by kicking away the snow, +he managed to find some dead sticks. As the snow was dry they were not +very wet, but Bert feared they were not dry enough to kindle quickly. +And he had only a few matches. + +"I've got some paper, though," he told himself, as lie felt in his +pockets. "A little soft, dry wood, and that, will start a fire and the +other wood will burn, even if it is a little damp." + +One of the lessons Bert's father had taught him was to make a campfire, +and Bert put some of this instruction to use now. He hunted about until +he found a fallen log, and by clearing away the snow at one end he +revealed a rotten end. This soft wood made very good tinder, to start a +fire. + +The outer end of the rotten log was rather damp. But by kicking away +this latter, Bert got at some wood that was quite dry--just what he +wanted. + +He swung his foot that was not lame from side to side, clearing a place +on the ground at one side of the log, and there he laid his paper and +the wood to start his fire. + +You may be sure Bert was very anxious as he struck one of his few +matches and held it to the paper. He hardly breathed as he watched the +tiny flame. And then, all at once, the blaze flickered out after it had +caught one edge of the paper! + +"This is bad luck!" murmured Bert. "I've got a few more chances, +though." + +He crumpled up the paper in a different shape, arranged it carefully +under the pile of splinters and rotten wood, and struck another match. +This time he made sure to hold in his breath completely, for it was his +breath before, he feared, that had blown out the match. + +This time the paper caught and blazed up merrily. Bert wanted to shout +and cry "hurrah!" but he did not. The fire was not really going yet, and +he was getting more and more thirsty all the while. It was all he could +do not to scoop up some of the dry snow and cram it into his mouth. But +he held back. + +"I'll have some water melted in a little while," he told himself. "My +fire is going now." + +And, indeed, the tiny flame had caught the soft wood and was beginning +to ignite the twigs. From them the larger and heavier pieces of wood +would catch, and then he could set the can of snow on to melt into +water. + +Still hardly daring to breathe, Bert fed his fire in the shelter of the +half snow-covered log. It was beginning to melt the snow all around it +now, but of course this melted snow ran away and was lost. Bert could +not drink that. + +When the fire was going well, Bert kicked around on the ground under the +log until he found some stones. With these he made a little fireplace, +enclosing the blaze, and when he had some embers there, with more wood +at hand to pile on, he brought the can to the fire and scooped the tin +full of snow. + +"This is going to be my teakettle," said Bert, with a little smile. +"Mother and Nan would laugh if they could see me now." + +If you have ever melted a pan of snow on even so good a fire as is in +your mother's kitchen range, you know that snow melts very slowly. It +was this way with Bert. He thought the snow in the can would never melt +down into water, and when it did, and was fairly boiling, he took hold +of the top and threw all the water out! + +Why did he do that? you ask. Well, because he wanted to be sure the can +was clean, and his mother had told him that boiling water would destroy +almost any kind of germ. The can might have had germs in it, having lain +outdoors a long time. + +"But now I guess it's clean," Bert said, as he again filled it with snow +after he had rinsed it out. Then he waited for the second quantity of +snow to melt, and when this had cooled, which did not take very long, +Bert took a drink. The snow water did not taste very good--boiled water +very seldom does--but it was safer than eating dry snow. + +"Well, now I must travel on," said Bert, as he scattered snow over the +fire to put it out. "I'll carry a little water with me in the can, for I +may get thirsty again. It won't freeze for a while." + +He walked along as fast as he could, with the pain in his leg, but the +snow came down harder and faster and the wind blew colder. Bert looked +about for some place of shelter and saw where one tree had blown over +against another, making a sort of little den, or cave, near the side of +a high rock, which was so steep that the snow had not clung to it, +leaving the big stone bare. + +"I'll go in there and stay awhile," thought Bert, as he caught sight of +this shelter. "Maybe the storm won't last long." + +But as he started to enter the place he heard a growl! There was a +scurrying in the dried leaves that formed a carpet for the den, and +then, in the half-darkness, Bert saw two green eyes staring at him! He +smelled a wild odor, too, that told him some beast of the forest dwelt +in this den. + +"Oh! A wildcat!" cried Bert, as, a moment later, there sprang out at him +the same animal, or one very like it, that he had snowballed a little +while before. Probably it was another lynx, but Bert did not stop to +think of this. + +[Illustration: "OH, BERT!" CRIED FREDDIE, "WE'RE LOST!"] + +Forgetting his plan of using snowball bullets, Bert dropped his little +bundle of lunch, part of which he had eaten, and began to climb the +nearest tree. + +He learned then, if he did not know it before, that a wildcat, which was +the animal he had surprised in its den, is a good tree-climber; as good +as your house cat, or even better. + +When half way up the tree, Bert looked down and saw the yellow wildcat +coming after him. Probably the animal thought that Bert had no right +near its den. + +"This is bad!" thought Bert, as he climbed higher and higher. Then, as +he saw the beast still coming, he realized that he must, somehow, get +away. He saw the big rock not far from the tree. The rock had a small +flat top, covered with snow, but the sides were smooth and almost +straight up and down, and had no snow on them. + +"If I could get there the wildcat couldn't get me," thought Bert. "And +if it tries to jump after me I can snowball it. I'm going to get on the +rock!" + +It was the best plan he could think of, and a moment later, having got +in good position, he gave a jump, left the tree, and landed in the soft +snow on top of the big rock. + +With a snarl and a growl the wildcat stopped climbing up as it saw what +the boy had done. Then it began climbing down the tree while Bert, from +his place of safety, watched. He wondered what the bobcat would do. + +The animal walked over to where Bert had dropped his package of lunch +and began tearing at the paper. + +"Maybe if he eats that he won't want to get me," thought Bert. "But how +long shall I have to stay here?" + +The wildcat, having eaten Bert's lunch, which did not take long, looked +up at the boy on the rock. It sniffed at the base of the big stone, and +reared up with its forepaws against it. + +"You can't climb here!" called Bert aloud. "If you do I'll hit you on +the nose with snowballs!" + +And then, as though to add to the boy's troubles, it began to snow hard, +a wall of white flakes falling around the lone laddie on the big rock. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII--FOUND AT LAST + + +Bert Bobbsey was really frightened and alarmed, caught as he was in the +storm on the big rock, with a wildcat sniffing around at the bottom. He +could not even see well enough to throw snowballs at the creature, and, +even if he could have driven it away, he felt that it would not be safe +for him to come down off the big stone. + +"He can't get me while I'm up here, I don't believe," said Bert to +himself. "But I can't stay here very long, or I'll be snowed under. What +shall I do?" + +Indeed he was in what he said afterward was a "regular pickle." And then +Bert thought of calling for help. He wondered why he had not done that +before. + +Standing up on the high rock Bert sent his voice shouting out into the +storm. + +"Help! Help! Help!" he shouted. + +Bert did not know just whom he expected to help him. He did not know how +far he was from Mrs. Bimby's cabin, nor how far he was away from Cedar +Camp. All he knew was that he was in trouble and needed help. The only +way was to shout as loudly as he could. + +At his first call the wildcat at the foot of the rock snarled, growled, +and tried to leap up. But the sides were too steep and smooth. Bert +could catch glimpses of the animal when the snow came down a little less +heavily now and again, making a sort of opening in the white curtain. + +"Help! Help! Help!" cried Bert again and again. + +Curiously enough it was Flossie and Freddie, who in the blizzard had +wandered near to the rock, who heard Bert's cry. Through the storm the +voice came to them, though of course they did not know it was their +brother calling. + +"Hark!" exclaimed Freddie, who, with his sister, had been floundering +about in the drifts, the small Bobbsey twins trying to find their former +tracks in the snow so they could work their way back. But the flakes had +fallen into their footprints, and had been blown over them so deeply +that the prints were blotted out. + +"Do you hear that?" asked Freddie of Flossie. + +"Yes," she answered, as the voice came to her ears. "It's somebody +saying he'll help us." + +That is what she thought it was--someone wanting to help her and +Freddie, not someone in need of help. + +Again came the call, and it sounded so close that the two small Bobbsey +twins knew which way to go to reach it. + +"We're coming! We're coming!" shouted Freddie. "Come on, Rover! I guess +that's daddy coming to help us! We're coming!" + +With a bark the dog bounded through the storm after the two children, +and you can imagine how surprised Bert Bobbsey on the rock was when he +heard shouts in answer to his own. He did not know, of course, that +Freddie and Flossie were anywhere near him. He thought it was his father +and some of the men from Cedar Camp. + +A little later the small Bobbsey twins came within sight of the big +rock. They could not see Bert on it on account of the blinding snow. But +Rover caught the smell of the wildcat, and with a savage bark he sprang +to drive the creature away. + +"Good old Rover! Good dog!" cried Bert, as the snow stopped for a moment +and he caught sight of the dog that he knew. "Sic him, Rover!" + +And Rover rushed at the wildcat with such fierceness that the beast +scuttled back to its den under the half-fallen tree. And then Bert +looked and saw Flossie and Freddie. + +At the same time the small Bobbsey twins looked up and caught a glimpse +of their brother on the rock. + +"Oh, Bert!" cried Freddie, "did you come out to look for us? We're +lost!" + +"So am I, I guess," Bert answered, as he jumped down, landing in a bank +of soft snow and beginning to pet Rover. "Where in the world did you +children come from?" + +"We came out after daddy and Mr. Jim and Mr. Case," Freddie went on. +"They're going to take some things to Mrs. Bimby." + +"Mrs. Bimby!" cried Bert "Why, I left her and Nan this morning. They +haven't got hardly anything left to eat. But where is the camp?" + +"Don't you know?" asked Freddie. "We don't know. We're lost." + +"That's bad," said Bert, looking at the swirling snow all about. "And +the wildcat ate my lunch." + +"We've a little left," Flossie said. "Did you save any chestnuts, Bert?" + +"I brought some, but I ate 'em. But Nan's got some, back at Mrs. Bimby's +cabin, if we can find it. You say daddy started out after us?" + +"Yes, to find you and Nan and take something to Mrs. Bimby," explained +Freddie. "Her husband was at our camp. He got lost in the snow, and he +said his wife didn't have anything in the cupboard." + +"She didn't--not very much," Bert said. "I shot a rabbit, but I guess +that's all eaten now. But say, you two oughtn't to be out here alone!" + +"We're not alone now," Flossie said. "We got you with us!" + +"Well, I'm glad you met me," Bert said. "And I'm glad Rover drove that +wildcat away. I scared one with snowballs, but I couldn't hit this one +very well. Now we'd better try to get back to camp. I guess there's +going to be another storm." + +"Will it snow a whole lot and cover us all up?" asked Flossie, +anxiously. + +The poor little girl had had quite enough of snow, cold wind, blizzards, +and bad weather of all sorts. + +"Oh, I guess maybe it won't snow so very hard," answered Bert. He did +not want to confess to Flossie and Freddie that he was a bit frightened. + +"Maybe Rover could show us which way to go to find Cedar Camp," +suggested Freddie. "Dogs are smart, and Rover is a good dog." + +"He was nice to us when we sat under the pine tree," went on Flossie. +"And he ran out and brought in pine cones and he shook himself and made +snow fly all over me." + +"You didn't try to eat pine cones, did you?" asked Bert. + +"Oh, no," Flossie answered. "We just threw them for Rover to play with. +But I'm too tired to play now. I want to go to bed." + +"Oh, Flossie, you don't want to go to bed now, do you?" asked Bert. +"Why, if you were to lie down in the snow you'd freeze." + +"I don't want to go to sleep in the snow," Flossie said, and she was +beginning to whine a little. No wonder, for it had been a hard day for +her and Freddie. + +"No, I don't want to sleep in the snow," the little girl said. "I want +my own little bunk at the camp." + +"Well, we'll be there pretty soon," Bert said, as kindly as he could. + +"Carry me!" begged Flossie, when she had stumbled on a little farther, +walking between her two brothers. + +"All right. I guess I can carry you," said Bert, but he was worrying +about his leg a little. It was not so bad when he bore his own weight on +it. But could he carry Flossie? + +However, he was not going to give up without trying, and so, when they +came to a little sheltered place, where the snow was not quite so deep, +Bert stooped down. + +"I'll take you pickaback, Flossie," he said. + +"Oh, I like that!" laughed his sister, as she climbed up on her +brother's back. + +Bert was not sure whether or not he was going to like it, but he said +nothing. He had to shut his teeth tight to keep from crying out with +pain as he straightened up with Flossie on his back, for her weight, +small as she was, put too much weight on his injured leg. Flossie was +quite "chunky" for her size, as Dinah was wont to say. + +"Hold steady now, Flossie," directed Bert, as he straightened up. "Put +your arms around my neck." + +"I guess I know how to ride piggy-back!" laughed Flossie. She was not so +tired now, when something like this happened to change her thoughts. + +Bert staggered along through the snow with his sister on his back. +Though he did not want to say so, his leg hurt him very much. But he +tried not to limp, though Freddie at last noticed it, and asked: + +"Have you got a stone in your shoe, Bert?" + +"Oh, no, I--I just sprained it a little," Bert answered in a low voice, +so Flossie would not hear. For of course if she had known it hurt her +brother to carry her she would not ask him to. But just then Flossie was +reaching up to take hold of a branch of a tree as Bert passed beneath +it. And, catching hold of it, Flossie, with a merry laugh, showered +herself and Bert with snow that clung to the branch. + +"Don't, Flossie, dear!" Bert had to say. "There's snow enough without +pulling down any more. And we'll get plenty if the clouds spill more +flakes." + +"Do you think it will storm some more?" Freddie wanted to know. + +Bert did not answer right away. He was thinking what he could do about +Flossie. If she could not walk then she must be carried, but he felt +that he could not hold her on his back much longer, his leg was paining +too much. + +Just then the sight of Rover, the big, strong dog, floundering about in +the snow, gave Bert an idea. Rover did not seem to care how much breath +or strength he wasted, for he ran everywhere, barking and trying to dig +things out from under the drifts. + +"Oh, Flossie! wouldn't you like to ride on Rover's back?" asked poor, +tired Bert. + +"Oh, that will be lovely!" cried the little girl. + +"Here, Rover!" cried Freddie. + +The dog came leaping through the snow, very likely hoping to have some +sticks thrown that he might race after them. But he did not seem +surprised when Flossie was placed on his back and held there by Freddie +on one side and Bert on the other. + +"Now I'm having a ride on a make-believe elephant!" laughed Flossie. +Rover could not run with the little girl on his back, and I must say he +behaved very nicely, carrying her along through the drifts. Her legs +hung "dangling down-o," but that did not matter. + +"I guess I'm rested now," said Flossie, after a bit. "I'm cold, and it +will make me warmer to walk. I'll walk and hold your hand, Bert." + +If Rover was glad to have the load taken from his back he did not say +so, but by the way he raced on ahead when Flossie got off I think he +was. + +"I guess there's more snow coming," suddenly cried Bert. + +There was, the flakes coming down almost as thick and fast as when the +blizzard first swirled about Cedar Camp. Bert took the hands of Flossie +and Freddie and led them on through the storm. It was hard work, and the +smaller children were crying with the cold and from fear at the coming +darkness when Rover suddenly barked. + +"Hark!" cried Bert. "I guess someone is coming!" + +"Maybe it's daddy!" half sobbed Flossie. + +Shouts were coming through the storm--the shouts of men. Rover barked +louder and rushed forward. Bert held to the hands of his brother and +sister and peered anxiously through the falling flakes and the +fast-gathering darkness. + +Suddenly a man rushed forward, and, a moment later, had Flossie and +Freddie in his arms, hugging and kissing them. Then he clasped Bert +around the shoulders. + +"Daddy! Daddy!" cried Flossie and Freddie together. "You found us, +didn't you?" + +"Yes. But I didn't know you were away from camp," said Mr. Bobbsey, for +it was he. "Where's Nan?" he asked Bert quickly, while Rover leaped +about his master, Mr. Case, and Old Jim. + +"She's at Mrs. Bimby's cabin," Bert answered. + +"My wife!" exclaimed Old Jim. "Is she--is she all right?" + +"She was when I came away this morning to get help," said Bert. "I shot +a rabbit for her and Nan. It was good, too. But I guess she'll need food +now." + +"We have a lot for her," said Tom Case. "Rover, you rascal!" he went on, +patting his dog, "I wondered where you ran away to, but it's a good +thing you found the children." + +"And he drove away the wildcat," Bert announced. + +It was a happy, joyful party in spite of the storm, which was getting +worse. Mr. Bobbsey and the two men with him had gotten off the road that +led to Old Jim's cabin, and it was because of that fact that they had +found the lost children. + +"What had we better do?" asked Mr. Bobbsey, when it was learned that +Bert, Freddie and Flossie had really suffered no harm from being lost. +"Should we go back to Cedar Camp or to your cabin, Mr. Bimby?" + +"The cabin is nearer," said Tom Case. "If you folks go there, with Jim +to guide you, I'll back track to Cedar Camp and fetch a sled. You can +ride the Bobbsey twins home in that." + +"Yes, we'd better go to my cabin," said Old Jim. "We can make room for +you, and we'll take the food with us." + +So this plan was decided on, Tom Case and Rover going to Cedar Camp for +the sled, while Mr. Bobbsey, Mr. Bimby and the three children trudged +back to Mrs. Bimby's cabin. + +You can imagine how glad Nan and the old woman were to see not only Bert +but the others. + +"Oh, I was afraid when it began to storm again," said Nan, as she hugged +Flossie and Freddie. "But I never dreamed you two would be out in it." + +"Nor I," said their father. + +"You ought to see the bear skin we found!" exclaimed Freddie, to change +the subject. "It's going to be for Mrs. Bimby, to keep her warm." + +"Bless their hearts!" murmured Old Jim's wife. "I can keep warm all +right, but it's hard to get food in a storm." + +However, there was plenty of that now, and they all soon gathered about +the table and had a hot meal. The second storm was not as bad as the +first had been, and later that evening up came a big sled, filled with +straw and drawn by powerful horses, and in it was Mrs. Bobbsey and some +of the men from Cedar Camp. + +After a joyful reunion, in piled the Bobbsey twins with their father and +mother, and good-byes were called to the Bimby family, who now had food +enough to last through many storms. + +There was not much trouble getting to Cedar Camp, though the road was so +blocked with snow that once the sled almost upset. But before midnight +the Bobbsey twins were back in the cabin, all safe together once again. + +"We've had a lot of adventures since we came here," said Bert, as they +sat about the cozy fire. + +"Too many," remarked his mother. "I don't know when I've been so +worried, and it was worse after Flossie and Freddie went away." + +"We won't run away again," promised the small twins. + +"Did you find your Christmas trees, Daddy?" asked Nan. + +"No, not yet," he replied. "I guess they're lost, and we'll have to cut +more." + +But the next day, when the storm ceased and the sun shone, a man came to +camp with word about the missing trees. The railroad cars on which they +were loaded had been switched off on a wrong track and had been held at +a distant station awaiting someone to claim them. This Mr. Bobbsey did, +and soon the shipment of Christmas trees was on its way to Lakeport. + +"And as long as they are found there is no excuse for staying in Cedar +Camp any longer," said Mr. Bobbsey. + +But the children like it so that they prevailed on their father and +mother to remain a few days longer. And then the Bobbsey twins had many +good times, playing in the woods and about the sawmill. For there came a +thaw after the big storms, and most of the snow melted. Bert and Nan got +more chestnuts, too. + +"But I hope we'll have some snow for Christmas," said Nan. + +"So we can make a snow fort!" added Freddie. + +"And a snowman and knock his hat off!" laughed Flossie. + +"I should think you'd had enough snow," remarked their mother. + +But the Bobbsey twins seldom had enough of anything when there was fun +and excitement going, and you may be sure this was not the last of their +adventures. But now let us say good-bye. + + THE END + + + + +This Isn't All! + +Would you like to know what became of the good friends you have made in +this book? + +Would you like to read other stories continuing their adventures and +experiences, or other books quite as entertaining by the same author? + +On the _reverse side_ of the wrapper which comes with this book, you +will find a wonderful list of stories which you can buy at the same +store where you got this book. + +Don't Throw Away the Wrapper + +Use it as a handy catalog of the books you want some day to have. But in +case you do mislay it, write to the Publishers for a complete catalog. + + + + +The Bobbsey Twins Books + +For Little Men and Women + +By LAURA LEE HOPE + +Author of "The Bunny Brown Series," Etc. + +Illustrated. Every Volume Complete in Itself. + +These books for boys and girls between the ages of three and ten stand +among children and their parents of this generation where the books of +Louisa May Alcott stood in former days. The haps and mishaps of this +inimitable pair of twins, their many adventures and experiences are a +source of keen delight to imaginative children. + + THE BOBBSEY TWINS + THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE COUNTRY + THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT THE SEASHORE + THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SCHOOL + THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SNOW LODGE + THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON A HOUSEBOAT + THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT MEADOWBROOK + THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT HOME + THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN A GREAT CITY + THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON BLUEBERRY ISLAND + THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON THE DEEP BLUE SEA + THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE GREAT WEST + THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT CEDAR CAMP + THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT THE COUNTY FAIR + THE BOBBSEY TWINS CAMPING OUT + THE BOBBSEY TWINS AND BABY MAY + THE BOBBSEY TWINS KEEPING HOUSE + THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT CLOVERBANK + THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT CHERRY CORNERS + THE BOBBSEY TWINS AND THEIR SCHOOLMATES + THE BOBBSEY TWINS TREASURE HUNTING + THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SPRUCE LAKE + THE BOBBSEY TWINS' WONDERFUL SECRET + THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT THE CIRCUS + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, Publishers, NEW YORK + + + + +The Bunny Brown Series + +By LAURA LEE HOPE + +Author of the Popular "Bobbsey Twins" Books, Etc. + +Illustrated. Each Volume Complete in Itself + +These stories are eagerly welcomed by the little folks from about five +to ten years of age. Their eyes fairly dance with delight at the lively +doings of inquisitive little Bunny Brown and his cunning, trustful +Sister Sue. + + Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue + Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue on Grandpa's Farm + Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue Playing Circus + Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Camp Rest-A-While + Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Aunt Lu's City Home + Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue in the Big Woods + Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue on an Auto Tour + Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue and their Shetland Pony + Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue Giving a Show + Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Christmas Tree Cove + Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue in the Sunny South + Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue Keeping Store + Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue and Their Trick Dog + Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at a Sugar Camp + Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue on the Rolling Ocean + Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue on Jack Frost Island + Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Shore Acres + Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Berry Hill + Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at Skytop + Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue at the Summer Carnival + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, Publishers, NEW YORK + + + + +The Honey Bunch Books + +By HELEN LOUISE THORNDYKE + +Individual Colored Wrappers and Text Illustrations + +Honey Bunch is a dainty, thoughtful little girl, and to know her is to +take her to your heart at once. + +Little girls everywhere will want to discover what interesting +experiences she is having wherever she goes. + + HONEY BUNCH: JUST A LITTLE GIRL + HONEY BUNCH: HER FIRST VISIT TO THE CITY + HONEY BUNCH: HER FIRST DAYS ON THE FARM + HONEY BUNCH: HER FIRST VISIT TO THE SEASHORE + HONEY BUNCH: HER FIRST LITTLE GARDEN + HONEY BUNCH: HER FIRST DAYS IN CAMP + HONEY BUNCH: HER FIRST AUTO TOUR + HONEY BUNCH: HER FIRST TRIP ON THE OCEAN + HONEY BUNCH: HER FIRST TRIP WEST + HONEY BUNCH: HER FIRST SUMMER ON AN ISLAND + HONEY BUNCH: HER FIRST TRIP TO THE GREAT LAKES + HONEY BUNCH: HER FIRST TRIP IN AN AIRPLANE + HONEY BUNCH: HER FIRST VISIT TO THE ZOO + HONEY BUNCH: HER FIRST BIG ADVENTURE + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, Publishers, NEW YORK + + + + +The Sunny Boy Series + +By RAMY ALLISON WHITE + +Children! Meet Sunny Boy, a little fellow with big eyes and an inquiring +disposition who finds the world at large a wonderful place to live in. +There is always something doing when Sonny Boy is around. + +In the first book of the series he visits his grandfather in the country +and learns of many marvelous things on a farm, and in the other books +listed below he has many exciting adventures which every child will +enjoy reading about. + + SUNNY BOY IN THE COUNTRY + SUNNY BOY AT THE SEASHORE + SUNNY BOY IN THE BIG CITY + SUNNY BOY IN SCHOOL AND OUT + SUNNY BOY AND HIS SCHOOLMATES + SONNY BOY AND HIS GAMES + SUNNY BOY IN THE FAR WEST + SUNNY BOY ON THE OCEAN + SUNNY BOY WITH THE CIRCUS + SUNNY BOY AND HIS BIG DOG + SUNNY BOY IN THE SNOW + SUNNY BOY AT WILLOW FARM + SUNNY BOY AND HIS CAVE + SUNNY BOY AT RAINBOW LAKE + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, Publishers, NEW YORK + + + + +Children of All Lands + +By MADELINE BRANDEIS + +Illustrated. Every Volume Complete in Itself. + +Fact and fancy are so blended in these charming stories and the manners +and customs of other lands are so interwoven with the plots that reading +and learning becomes a joy. + + Mitz and Fritz of Germany + + A little German boy and his sister travel in a gypsy wagon through the + beautiful Rhine country and have the most glorious adventure of their + lives. + + Little Anne of Canada + + A fascinating story of a little girl who had many adventures in the + lumber camps of the great Canadian Northwoods. + + The Little Mexican Donkey Boy + + A charming story of a Mexican boy hero named Dodo, or Sleepy-head, and + his funny little Mexican burro, Amigo. + + Little Philippe of Belgium + + How little Philippe wandered all over Belgium looking for the + mysterious pair, Tom and Zelie, makes a thrilling story. + + Shaun O'day of Ireland + + A very beautiful story of Irish children and through which run many + legends of Old Ireland. + + Little Jeanne of France + + Every child will love this story of French children, laid in the most + marvelous city in the world, Paris. + + The Little Dutch Tulip Girl + + Tom, a little American boy, dreamed about going to Holland. In his + dreams he met Katrina, the little Dutch Tulip Girl, who turned out to + be a real honest-to-goodness girl. + + The Little Swiss Wood Carver + + This is the absorbing tale of how Seppi, the ambitious Swiss lad, made + his dream of becoming a skillful wood carver come true. + + The Wee Scotch Piper + + The story of how the music-loving Ian, the young son of a Scotch + shepherd, earned his longed-for bag pipes and his musical education. + + The Little Indian Weaver + + This is an appealing story of a little Navajo girl, Bah, and a little + freckle-faced white boy, Billie. + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, Publishers, NEW YORK + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Bobbsey Twins at Cedar Camp, by Laura Lee Hope + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT CEDAR CAMP *** + +***** This file should be named 37554.txt or 37554.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/5/5/37554/ + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +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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