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+Project Gutenberg's The Bobbsey Twins on a Houseboat, by Laura Lee Hope
+#9 in our series by Laura Lee Hope
+
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+**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
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+*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
+
+
+Title: The Bobbsey Twins on a Houseboat
+
+Author: Laura Lee Hope
+
+Release Date: June, 2004 [EBook #5948]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on September 23, 2002]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOBBSEY TWINS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON A HOUSEBOAT
+
+BY
+
+LAURA LEE HOPE
+
+Author Of The "Bobbsey Twins," "The Outdoor Girls Of Deepdale," "The
+Outdoor Girls In Florida," "The Moving Picture Girls," "The Moving
+Picture Girls At Rocky Ranch," Etc.
+
+ILLUSTRATED
+
+
+
+
+BOOKS BY LAURA LEE HOPE
+
+THE BOBBSEY TWINS SERIES
+For Little Men and Women
+
+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 MOVING PICTURE GIRLS SERIES
+
+
+THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS
+THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS AT OAK FARM
+THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS SNOWBOUND
+THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS UNDER THE PALMS
+THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS AT ROCKY RANCH
+THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS AT SEA
+
+THE OUTDOOR GIRLS SERIES
+
+THE OUTDOOR GIRLS OF DEEPDALE
+THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT RAINBOW LAKE
+THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A MOTOR CAR
+THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN A WINTER CAMP
+THE OUTDOOR GIRLS IN FLORIDA
+THE OUTDOOR GIRLS AT OCEAN VIEW
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER
+
+    I. GOOD NEWS
+   II. SNAP SAVES FREDDIE
+  III. DINAH'S UPSET
+   IV. AT THE HOUSEBOAT
+    V. THE STRANGE BOY
+   VI. FREDDIE'S FIRE ENGINE
+  VII. THE TWO COUSINS
+ VIII. OFF IN THE "BLUEBIRD"
+   IX. SNOOP AND SNAP
+    X. DOWN THE CREEK
+   XI. THE MEAN MAN
+  XII. THE WIRE FENCE
+ XIII. THE RUNAWAY BOY
+  XIV. OFF AGAIN
+   XV. OVERBOARD
+  XVI. THE MISSING SANDWICHES
+ XVII. IN THE STORM
+XVIII. STRANGE NOISES
+  XIX. SNAP'S QUEER ACTIONS
+   XX. AT THE WATERFALL
+  XXI. WHAT BERT SAW
+ XXII. THE STOWAWAY
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+GOOD NEWS
+
+
+"What are you doing, Freddie?" asked Bert Bobbsey, leaning over to oil
+the front wheel of his bicycle, while he glanced at his little
+brother, who was tying strings about the neck of a large, handsome
+dog.
+
+"Making a harness," answered Freddie, not taking time to look up.
+
+"A harness?" repeated Bert, with a little laugh. "How can you make a
+harness out of bits of string?"
+
+"I'm going to have straps, too," went on Freddie, keeping busily on
+with his work. "Flossie has gone in after them. It's going to be a
+fine, strong harness."
+
+"Do you mean you are going to harness up Snap?" asked Bert, and he
+stood his bicycle against the side of the house, and came over to
+where Freddie sat near the big dog.
+
+"Yes. Snap is going to be my horse," explained Freddie. "I'm going to
+hitch him to my express wagon, and Flossie and I are going to have a
+ride."
+
+"Ha! Ha!" laughed Bert. "You won't get much of a ride with THAT
+harness," and he looked at the thin cord which the small boy was
+winding about the dog's neck.
+
+"Why not?" asked Freddie, a little hurt at Bert's laughter. Freddie,
+like all small boys, did not like to be laughed at.
+
+"Why, Snap is so strong that he'll break that string in no time," said
+Bert. "Besides--"
+
+"Flossie's gone in for our booty straps, I tell you!" said Freddie.
+"Then our harness will be strong enough. I'm only using string for
+part of it. I wish she'd hurry up and come out!" and Freddie glanced
+toward the house. But there was no sign of his little sister Flossie.
+
+"Maybe she can't find them," suggested Bert. "You know what you and
+Flossie do with your books and straps, when you come home from school
+Friday afternoons--you toss them any old place until Monday morning."
+
+"I didn't this time!" said sturdy little Freddie, looking up quickly.
+"I--I put 'em--I put 'em--oh, well, I guess Flossie can find 'em!" he
+ended, for trying to remember where he had left his books was more
+than he could do this bright, beautiful, Saturday morning, when there
+was no school.
+
+"I thought so!" laughed Bert, as he turned to go back to his bicycle,
+for he intended to go for a ride, and had just cleaned, and was now
+oiling, his wheel.
+
+"Well, Flossie can find 'em, so she can," went on Freddie, as he held
+his head on one side and looked at a knotted string around the neck of
+Snap, the big dog.
+
+"I wonder how Snap is going to like it?" asked Bert. "Did you ever
+hitch him to your express wagon before, Freddie?"
+
+"Yes. But he couldn't pull us."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"'Cause I only had him tied with strings, and they broke. But I'm
+going to use our book straps now, and they'll hold."
+
+"Maybe they will--if you can find 'em--or if Flossie can," Bert went
+on with a laugh.
+
+Freddie said nothing. He was too busy tying more strings about Snap's
+neck. These strings were to serve as reins for the dog-horse. Since
+Snap would not keep them in his mouth, as a horse does a bit, they had
+to go around his neck, as oxen wear their yokes.
+
+Snap stretched out comfortably on the grass, his big red tongue
+hanging out of his mouth. He was panting, and breathing hard, for he
+and Freddie had had a romping play in the grass, before quieting down
+for the horse-game.
+
+"There, Snap!" Freddie exclaimed, after a bit. "Now you're almost
+hitched up. I wish Flossie would hurry up with those straps."
+
+Freddie Bobbsey stood up to look once more toward the house, which his
+little twin sister had entered a few minutes before, having offered to
+go in and look for the book straps. She had not come back, and Freddie
+was getting Impatient.
+
+At last the little girl appeared on the side porch. Her yellow hair
+blew in the gentle June breeze, making sort of a golden light about
+her head.
+
+"Freddie! Freddie!" she cried. "I can't find 'em! I can't find the
+book straps anywhere!"
+
+"Why, I put 'em--I put 'em--" said Freddie helplessly, trying to
+remember where he had put them, when he came in from school the day
+before.
+
+"You've got to come and help me hunt for 'em!" Flossie went on. "Mamma
+says she can't find the straps."
+
+"All right. I'll come," spoke Freddie. "Snap, you stay here!" he
+ordered, but the big dog only blinked, and stuck out his tongue
+farther than ever. Perhaps he had already made up his mind what he
+would do when Freddie let him alone.
+
+Off toward the house went the little fat Freddie. He was pretty plump
+--so much so that his father often called him a little "fat fireman."
+Freddie was very fond of playing fireman, ever since the time he had
+owned a toy fire engine. But to-day he had other ideas.
+
+"I'll find those straps," he said, as he toddled off. "Then we'll
+hitch Snap to my express wagon, and Flossie and I'll have a fine ride.
+Don't you run away, Snap."
+
+Snap did not say whether he would or not. Flossie, standing on the
+side porch, waited for her little brother. She was just his age, and
+only a little smaller in height. She was just about as fat and plump
+as was Freddie, and both had light curly hair. They made a pretty
+picture together, and if Freddie was a "fat fireman" Flossie was a
+"fat fairy," which pet name her father often called her.
+
+"Did you look under the sofa for the straps?" asked Freddie when he
+had joined his sister.
+
+"Yes. I looked there, and--and--everywhere," she answered. "I can't
+find 'em."
+
+"Maybe Snap hid 'em," suggested Freddie.
+
+"Maybe," agreed Flossie. "He would, if he knew you were going to hitch
+him up with 'em."
+
+"Pooh. He couldn't know that," said Freddie. "I didn't know it myself
+until a little while ago, and I didn't tell anybody but you."
+
+"Well, maybe Snap heard us talking about it," went on Flossie. "He's
+awful smart, you know, Freddie, from having been in a circus."
+
+"But he isn't smart enough for that, even if he can do lots of
+tricks," Freddie went on. "There's Snoop!" he exclaimed, as a big,
+black cat ran across the lawn. "Maybe SHE took our book straps."
+
+"She couldn't," said Flossie. "Our books were in 'em, and they'd be
+too heavy for Snoop to drag."
+
+"That's so," admitted Freddie. "Well, come on, we'll find 'em!"
+
+The twins went into the house and began searching for the straps. High
+and low they looked, in all the usual, and unusual, places, where they
+sometimes tossed their books when they came in from school Friday
+afternoons, with the joyous cry of:
+
+"No more lessons until Monday! Hurray!"
+
+But this time they seemed to have tossed their books and straps into
+some very much out-of-the-way place, indeed.
+
+"We can't find 'em," said Flossie. "Can't you take some strong string,
+to tie Snap to the wagon, instead of the straps, Freddie?"
+
+"I don't think so," he answered. "I know what to do. Let's ask Dinah.
+Maybe she's seen 'em."
+
+"Oh, yes, let's!" agreed Flossie, and together they hurried to the
+kitchen where Dinah, the big, good-natured, colored cook, was rattling
+the pots and pans.
+
+"Dinah! Dinah!" cried Flossie and Freddie in a twins' chorus.
+
+"Yep-um, honey-lambs! What yo' all want?" asked Dinah, opening the
+oven door, to let out a little whiff of a most delicious smell, and
+then quickly closing it again. "Ef yo' wants a piece ob cake, it ain't
+done yit!"
+
+"Oh, Dinah! We don't want any cake!" said Freddie.
+
+"What's dat? Yo' don't want cake?" and Dinah quickly straightened up,
+put her fat hands on her fat hips, and looked at the two children in
+surprise. "Yo--don't--want--no cake!" gasped Dinah. "What's de mattah?
+Yo' all ain't sick, is yo'?"
+
+For that was the only reason she could think of why Flossie and
+Freddie should not want cake--as they generally did Saturday morning.
+
+"No, we're not sick," said Flossie, "and we'd like a piece of cake a
+little later, please Dinah. But just now we want our book straps. Have
+you seen 'em?"
+
+"Book straps! Book straps!" exclaimed Dinah in great surprise. "Go
+'long wif yo' now! I ain't got no time to be bodderin' wif book
+straps, when dey's pies an' puddin's an' cakes t' bake. Trot along
+now, an' let ole Dinah be! Book straps! Huh!"
+
+Flossie and Freddie knew there was little use in "bodderin'" Dinah any
+more, especially when she was in the midst of her baking.
+
+"Come on, Flossie," spoke Freddie. "We'll have another look for those
+straps. Next time I'll put our books where we can find 'em."
+
+Once more the children started through the different rooms. They
+looked everywhere. But no straps could they find.
+
+"You see what a lot of trouble it makes, not only for you, but for
+others as well, when you don't take care of your books," said Mrs.
+Bobbsey gently. She knew it would be a good lesson for the twins to
+search for their things. Next time they might remember.
+
+Suddenly, from out in the yard, came a shout.
+
+"Freddie! Freddie! Come out here, quick!"
+
+"That's Bert!" exclaimed Freddie.
+
+"Oh, maybe he's found the straps, so we can harness up Snap," cried
+Flossie.
+
+But Bert's next words soon told the younger twins that it was no such
+good luck as that, for he cried:
+
+"Snap's running away, Freddie! He's running away. If you're going to
+harness him up you'll have to catch him!"
+
+"Oh dear!" cried Flossie.
+
+"Come on, help me catch him!" called Freddie.
+
+Together they ran into the yard. As Bert had said, Snap, getting tired
+of being tied to a post with a thin string, had broken the cord, and
+now was racing over the fields after another dog with whom he often
+played.
+
+"Come back, Snap! Come back!" cried Freddie.
+
+Snap paid no heed.
+
+Just then, through the front gate, came a girl. She looked so much
+like Bert, with his dark hair and eyes, with his slimness and his
+tallness, that you could tell at once she was his sister. As soon as
+Flossie saw her, she cried:
+
+"Oh, Nan! We were going to hitch Snap to the express wagon, but
+Freddie and I can't find our straps, and Snap ran away, and--and--"
+
+"Never mind, Flossie dear," said Nan. "Wait until you hear the good
+news I have for you!"
+
+"Good news?" exclaimed Bert, coming away from his bicycle, toward his
+twin sister.
+
+"Yes, the very best!" Nan went on. "It's about a houseboat! Now,
+Flossie and Freddie, sit down on the grass and I'll tell you all about
+the good news!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+SNAP SAVES FREDDIE
+
+
+Down on the soft green grass of the lawn, sat the two sets of Bobbsey
+twins. Yes, there were two "sets" of them, and I shall tell you how
+that was, in a little while.
+
+"Begin at the beginning," suggested Bert to his sister. He always
+liked to hear all of anything, so Nan prepared to skip nothing.
+
+"Well," said Nan, as she leaned over to re-tie the bow of Flossie's
+hair ribbon. It had become loose in the hurried search for the book
+straps. "Well, you know I went down to papa's lumber office this
+morning, to bring him the letter that came here to the house by
+mistake. It was a letter from--"
+
+"You can skip that part of it," suggested Bert. "I don't want to wait
+so long about hearing the news."
+
+"Well, I thought I'd tell you everything," said Nan. "Anyhow, when I
+was in papa's office he bought it."
+
+"What did he buy?" asked Freddie, getting to the point more quickly
+than Bert would have done. "What'd he buy, Nan?"
+
+"A houseboat," went on the older girl twin. Mr. Marvin was there, and
+he sold papa the Marvin houseboat. Oh! and such fun as we're--"
+
+"What's a houseboat?" interrupted Flossie.
+
+"It's a boat with a house on it, of course," spoke Bert, eagerly. "I
+know. I've seen lots of them. You can live in them just like in a
+house, only it's on water. There's more room in a houseboat than in a
+regular boat. Go on, Nan."
+
+"Are we going to live in it?" asked Freddie.
+
+"I think so--at least part of the time," said Nan. "Now I'll tell you
+all I know about it. I couldn't stay to ask all I wanted to, as papa
+was busy. Besides, it was sort of a secret, and I found it out by
+accident before he meant me to. So you mustn't tell mamma yet--it's to
+be a surprise to her," and Nan looked at the two smaller twins, and
+raised a cautioning finger.
+
+"I won't tell," promised Flossie.
+
+"Neither will I," promised Freddie. "Is that all you're going to tell
+us, Nan?"
+
+"Well, isn't that enough?" demanded Nan. "I think it's just fine, that
+we're going to have a houseboat! I've always wanted one."
+
+"So have I," spoke Bert. "Go on, Nan! Tell me more about it. How big
+is it? Is there an engine in it? Where is it? Can we go on board? When
+is papa going to get it? Is there a room for me in it? I wonder if I
+can run the engine and steer? How much did it cost?"
+
+"Gracious!" cried Nan, pretending to cover her ears with her hands.
+"It will take me all morning, Bert, to answer those questions. Please
+start over again."
+
+"First tell me where I can see the boat," suggested Bert. "I want to
+go look at it."
+
+"It's down in the lake," said Nan.
+
+"Come on, Flossie," spoke Freddie. "There's Snap coming back now, and
+maybe we can catch him. Then we'll harness him up. Dinah ought to be
+done with her baking now, and maybe she can find those straps for us.
+Here, Snap!"
+
+Flossie and Freddie, being some years younger than Bert and Nan, did
+not care to bear much more about the houseboat just then. That they
+were going to have one was enough for them. They were much pleased and
+delighted, but they had the idea of hitching Snap to the express
+wagon, and they could not get that out of their minds.
+
+"You go in and ask Dinah to help you look for the straps," directed
+Freddie to his little sister, "and I'll catch Snap. Here, Snap! Snap!"
+he called to the dog who had come back into the yard after a romp and
+frolic with his animal friend.
+
+Snap was glad enough to stretch out on the grass and rest. He was
+tired from his run. Freddie put his arms around the dog's neck, and
+laid his head down on the shaggy coat.
+
+"Now you can't run away again," said Freddie, as he pretended to go to
+sleep, while Flossie toddled into the house once more, to have another
+look for the missing book straps.
+
+At a little distance from Freddie sat Nan and Bert, talking about the
+houseboat, and the good times they would have on board. Freddie roused
+up, and looked toward the house. Flossie had not yet come out.
+
+"It takes her a long time," said the little boy. "We won't have any
+ride at all, if she doesn't hurry up."
+
+Then Freddie saw something else that attracted his attention. This was
+Bert's bicycle, leaning now against the side of a shed. Bert was too
+much interested in the houseboat to want to ride just then.
+
+A new idea came into Freddie's head.
+
+"I'm going to have a ride on Bert's wheel, while I'm waiting for
+Flossie to come out with the straps," said the little twin chap. "Bert
+won't care."
+
+Freddie did not take any chances on asking Bert. His elder brother was
+still busy talking to Nan about the new houseboat. Freddie scrambled
+to his feet.
+
+"Now you stay there, Snap!" he commanded the big dog, for Snap, ready
+again for some fun, was anxious to follow his little master. "Lie
+down, Snap!" ordered Freddie, and Snap again stretched out.
+
+Freddie walked slowly over toward the bicycle. Of course he was too
+small to ride it in the regular way, with his feet on the pedals, for
+his little legs were not long enough to reach them. But he could sit
+on the seat, and Bert had taught him how to steer a little, so that
+though a bicycle has only two wheels, and will tip over if it is not
+properly guided, Freddie could manage to ride a little way on it
+without toppling over, especially if some one put him on and gave him
+a push, or if he was given a start down a little hill.
+
+"I'm going to have a ride," thought Freddie. "I'll have a little ride,
+while I'm waiting for Flossie."
+
+Freddie had a velocipede of his own, but that had three wheels instead
+of two. Freddie thought two wheels were much more fun than three.
+
+"If I can get up on that bicycle, I'll have a nice ride," murmured
+Freddie. He looked toward the house. Flossie was not in sight. She had
+not yet found the straps.
+
+Then Freddie looked toward Bert and Nan. They were still busy talking
+about the houseboat. They paid no attention to Freddie.
+
+The little twin chap looked around until he had found a small box. By
+stepping on this he could get up on the seat of the bicycle, which was
+leaning against the shed. Then Freddie could give himself a little
+push, and away he would go. There was a little hill leading from where
+the bicycle stood down to the gate, and into the road. The gate was
+open.
+
+"Maybe I can even ride down the road a little way," thought Freddie to
+himself. "That would be great."
+
+It was rather hard work for Freddie to get up on the bicycle from the
+box, but he managed it. Then he sat on the leather saddle, and took
+hold of the handle bars. As I have told you, he knew how to steer,
+even though he could not reach the pedals.
+
+"Here I go!" cried Freddie softly, as he gave himself a little push.
+Down the hill he went, along the path, straight for the yard gate.
+
+"Oh! I'm going out in the road!" exclaimed Freddie, this time out
+loud, for he was far enough away from Nan and Bert now.
+
+And into the road he did go, on Bert's bicycle. The wheel was going
+faster and faster, for Bert had just oiled it and it rode very
+smoothly.
+
+"This is great!" Freddie cried. "Maybe I can ride all the way to the
+bridge."
+
+He looked down the road to where a little white bridge spanned a small
+brook. And then, as Freddie looked, he saw something which made his
+heart beat very fast indeed. For, coming right toward him, was a team
+of horses, hitched to a big lumber wagon--it was one of Freddie's
+papa's own lumber teams, as the little boy could see for himself.
+
+On came the trotting team, pulling the heavily laden lumber wagon,
+and, worst of all, there was no driver on the seat to guide the
+horses. They were trotting away all by themselves, and Freddie was out
+in the road, on the bicycle that was far too big for him,
+
+"Oh dear!" cried Freddie.
+
+Just then he heard Flossie scream. She had come out on the side porch,
+and she saw the team coming toward her little brother.
+
+"Nan! Bert!" screamed Flossie. "Look at Freddie!"
+
+Nan and Bert jumped up and raced down the path.
+
+"Freddie's in trouble again!" thought Bert.
+
+It was not the first time Freddie had gotten into mischief. Though
+usually he was a pretty good boy, he sometimes made trouble without
+intending to.
+
+I have told you there were two sets of Bobbsey twins, and those of you
+who have read the first book of this series know what I mean by that.
+The first book is called "The Bobbsey Twins," and in that I told you
+how the Bobbsey family lived in an eastern city called Lakeport, at
+the head of Lake Metoka. Mr. Bobbsey was a lumber merchant, and owned
+a large sawmill, and a yard, near the lake, in which yard were piled
+many stacks of lumber.
+
+Nan and Bert were the older Bobbsey twins, being past nine, while
+Flossie and Freddie were about "half-past-five." So you see that is
+how there were two sets of twins. Nan was a tall, slender girl, with a
+dark face and red cheeks. Her eyes were brown, and so were her curls.
+Bert, too, was quite dark, like Nan.
+
+Flossie and Freddie were very light, with blue eyes. They were short
+and fat, instead of tall and thin. So you see the two sets of twins
+were very different.
+
+Oh! such good times as the Bobbsey twins had! I could not tell you all
+of them, if I wrote a dozen books. But some of the good times I have
+related in the first book. In the second, called "The Bobbsey Twins in
+the Country," there are more happenings mentioned.
+
+Uncle Daniel Bobbsey, his wife Sarah, and their son Harry lived in the
+country, at a place called Meadow Brook, and there the twins often
+went on their vacation.
+
+Uncle William Minturn, and his wife Emily, with their nine-year-old
+daughter Dorothy, lived at Ocean Cliff. As you might guess, this was
+on the coast, and in the third book, "The Bobbsey Twins at the
+Seashore," I have told you of the good times the children had there,
+how they saw a wreck, and what came of it.
+
+In "The Bobbsey Twins at School" you will find out how they came to
+get the dog Snap, as a pet. They already had a black cat, named Snoop,
+but one day, when the twins, with their father and mother, were on a
+railroad train, something happened, and Snoop was lost.
+
+They found Snap, instead. He was a circus dog, and--but there, if you
+want to read of Snap, you must do so in the book about him. I shall
+tell you this much, though. Snap was a very fine dog, and could do
+many tricks, and in the end the Bobbseys kept him for a pet, as well
+as getting back their lost cat Snoop.
+
+When school was over for the winter holidays one year, the Bobbseys
+went to "Snow Lodge," and in the book of that name I have told you
+about a queer mystery the twins helped solve while out amid the snow
+and ice.
+
+Now the Bobbseys were back in their fine house in Lakeport, where
+Dinah, the fat cook, gave them such good things to eat, and where Sam
+Johnson, her husband, kept the lawns so nice and green for the
+children to play on.
+
+Just now Freddie Bobbsey would have been very glad, indeed, to be
+playing on that same lawn instead of being on his brother's bicycle,
+rolling toward the team of lumber horses, who were coming straight for
+him.
+
+"Oh, look at Freddie! Look at Freddie!" screamed Flossie, dropping the
+two book straps which she had at last found. "Save him, Nan! Bert! Oh,
+Freddie!"
+
+"I 'clar t' goodness!" exclaimed fat Dinah in the kitchen. "Dem
+chillens am up t' some mo' trouble!"
+
+"Freddie, steer to one side! Steer out of the way!" shouted Bert, as
+he ran for the gate. He could not hope to reach his little brother in
+time, though.
+
+Freddie was too frightened and excited to steer. The bicycle was going
+fast--faster than he had ever ridden on it before. All he could do was
+to sit tight, and hold fast to the handle bars.
+
+"Oh, he'll be run over!" cried Nan, as she, too, raced after Bert.
+
+The team, with no driver to guide it, ran faster and faster. Freddie
+began to cry. And then, all at once, the front wheel of the bicycle
+ran over a stone, and turned to one side. The handle bars were jerked
+from Freddie's grasp, and over he went, wheel and all!
+
+Luckily for him, he fell to one side of the road, on the soft grass,
+or he might have been injured, but, as it was, the fall did not hurt
+him at all. One of his little fat legs, though, became tangled up in
+the wire spokes of the front wheel, and Freddie lay there, with the
+wheel on top of him, unable to get up.
+
+"Oh, Bert! Bert!" screamed Nan.
+
+"Grab him--quick!" shouted Dinah, waddling down the walk. But she was
+too fat to go fast enough to do any good.
+
+"Roll out of the way, Freddie!" cried Bert.
+
+Freddie was too much entangled in the wheel to be able to move. And,
+all the while, the lumber team was coming nearer and nearer to him.
+Would the horses, with no driver at the reins, know enough to turn to
+one side, or would the wheels roll over poor Freddie and the bicycle?
+
+Nan covered her face with her hands. She did not want to look at what
+was going to happen.
+
+"I must get there in time to pull him out of the way!" thought Bert,
+as he ran as fast as he could. But the team was almost on Freddie now.
+
+Suddenly the dog Snap, who had jumped up when he heard the shouts, saw
+what the danger was. Snap knew about horses, and he was smart enough
+to know that Freddie was in danger.
+
+Without waiting for anyone to tell him what to do, Snap ran straight
+for the lumber team. Leaping up in front of them, and barking as
+loudly as he could, Snap turned the trotting horses to one side. And
+just in time, too, for, a little more, and one of the front wheels of
+the heavily loaded lumber wagon would have run over the bicycle in
+which Freddie was still entangled.
+
+"Bow wow!" barked Snap. The horses were perhaps afraid of being
+bitten, though Snap was very gentle. At any rate, they turned aside,
+and would have run on faster, only Snap, leaping up, grabbed the
+dangling reins in his teeth and pulled hard on them. "Whoa!" called
+Bert. When the horses heard this, and felt the tug on the lines, they
+knew it meant to stop. And stop they did. Snap had saved Freddie.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+DINAH'S UPSET
+
+
+"What's the matter? What has happened?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey, who had
+run out to the front porch, upon hearing the excited cries, and the
+exclamations of fat Dinah, the cook. "Oh! has anything happened to any
+of the children?"
+
+"Yes'm, I s'pects there has, ma'am," said Dinah. "Pore li'l Freddie am
+done smashed all up flatter'n a pancake, Mrs. Bobbsey!"
+
+"Freddie--Oh!"
+
+"He's all right!" shouted Bert, who had, by this time, reached his
+little brother, and was lifting him out of the bicycle. "Not hurt a
+bit, are you, Freddie?"
+
+"N--no, I--I guess not," said Freddie, a bit doubtfully. "I--I'm
+scared, though."
+
+"Nothing to be frightened at now, Freddie," said Bert, holding up the
+little chap, so his mother could see him.
+
+"Why, Freddie isn't hurt, Dinah," said Mrs. Bobbsey, in great relief.
+"What made you think so?"
+
+"Well, I seed him all tangled up in dat two-wheeled velocipede ob
+Bert's, an' de hoss team was comin' right down on de honey-lamb. I
+thought shuah he was gwine t' be squashed flatter'n a pancake. But he
+ain't! Bless mah soul he ain't! Oh, dere's mah cake burnin'!" and into
+the kitchen ran Dinah, glad, indeed, that nothing had happened worse
+than the scare Freddie received.
+
+"Good Snap! Good old dog!" said Nan, as she patted his head.
+
+"Bow wow!" barked Snap. He still held the horse reins in his strong
+white teeth. He was not going to let the horses go yet.
+
+"Oh, Freddie!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey, when she understood what had
+happened. "What danger you were in! Why did you take Bert's wheel?"
+
+"I--I wanted a ride, Mamma. I didn't think I'd fall off, or that the
+team would come."
+
+"You must never do it again," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Never get on Bert's
+wheel again, unless he is with you to hold you. You are, too small,
+yet, for a bicycle."
+
+"Yes'm," said Freddie in a low voice.
+
+"But where is the driver of the wagon?" went on Mrs. Bobbsey, looking
+at the empty seat.
+
+"Maybe he fell off," suggested Nan, who had taken Freddie from Bert,
+the latter picking up his wheel, and looking to see if it had been
+damaged by the fall. But it was all right.
+
+"Here comes a driver now," said Flossie, who saw one of the men from
+her father's lumber yard hurrying along the road.
+
+"Is anybody hurt?" the man asked, as he came up, running and breathing
+fast, for he had come a long way.
+
+"No one, I think," answered Mrs. Bobbsey. "But my little boy had a
+very narrow escape."
+
+"I am sorry," said the driver. "I left the team standing out in front
+of the lumber yard, while I went in the office to find out where I was
+to deliver the planks. When I came out the horses were trotting away.
+I guess they were scared by something. I ran fast, but I could not
+catch them."
+
+"Snap caught them for you," said the twins' mother, as she looked at
+the former circus dog, who was still holding the horse-reins.
+
+"Yes, he's a good dog," the lumber wagon driver said. "I was afraid,
+when I saw how far the horses had gone, that they might do some
+damage. But I'm glad no one was hurt."
+
+"I think we all are glad," spoke Mrs. Bobbsey. "It was partly my
+little boy's own fault, for he should not have gotten on his brother's
+bicycle. But he won't do it again."
+
+"No, I never will!" promised Freddie, as he rubbed his leg where it
+had been bruised a little from becoming tangled up in the wire spokes.
+
+Snap barked and wagged his tail, as the driver took the lines from
+him, and then, when the man drove off with the horses and the load of
+lumber, Mrs. Bobbsey went with the twins back into the yard.
+
+"Well, I'm glad all the excitement is over," she said. "Where were
+you, Nan? Grace Lavine called for you, but I looked out in the yard
+and did not see you, so she went away again."
+
+"Why, I went down to papa's office, Mamma, with that letter you gave
+me for him."
+
+"Yes, I know, but I supposed you had come back. What kept you so
+long?"
+
+"Well, I--er--I was talking to papa, and---"
+
+Nan did not want to go on. for she did not want to tell that she had
+been talking about the houseboat.
+
+Mr. Bobbsey had been intending to keep that as a little secret
+surprise for his wife, but now, if her mother asked about it, Nan felt
+she would have to tell. She hardly knew what to say, but just then
+something happened that made everything all right.
+
+Mr. Bobbsey himself came hurrying down the street, from the direction
+of his lumber office. He seemed much excited, and his hat was on
+crooked, as though he had not taken time to put it on straight.
+
+"Is everything all right?" he called to his wife. "None of the
+children hurt?"
+
+"No, none of them," she answered with a smile. Mr. Bobbsey could see
+that for himself now, since Freddie and Flossie were going up the walk
+together, Freddie tying one of the book straps around the dog's neck,
+while Nan and Bert followed behind them, with Mrs. Bobbsey.
+
+"Someone telephoned to me," said the lumber merchant, "that they saw
+one of our teams running away down this street, and I was afraid our
+children, or those of some of the neighbors, might be hurt. So I
+hurried down to see. Did you notice anything of a runaway team?"
+
+"Yes," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "But everything is all right now. Only I
+haven't yet heard what it was that kept Nan so long down at your
+office," and she smiled.
+
+Nan looked at her father, and Mr. Bobbsey looked at Nan. Then they
+both smiled and laughed.
+
+"To tell you the truth," said Mr. Bobbsey, with another smile, "Nan
+discovered a secret I was not going to tell at once."
+
+"A secret?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey in surprise.
+
+"Yes, it's about---" began Nan.
+
+Then she stopped.
+
+"Go on. You might as well tell her," said Mr. Bobbsey, laughing.
+
+"I know!" exclaimed Freddie, who was all over his fright now. "It's
+about a boathouse and---"
+
+"A houseboat!" interrupted Bert. "You've got the cart before the
+horse, Freddie."
+
+"That's it!" exclaimed Nan. "Papa has bought the Marvin's houseboat,
+Mamma, and we're going to have lovely times in it this summer."
+
+"And I'm going to run the engine," declared Bert.
+
+"I'm going to be fireman!" cried fat Freddie. "I'm going to put on
+coal and squirt water on the fires!"
+
+"I'm going to sit on deck and play with my dolls," spoke Flossie, who
+was trying to climb up on Snap's back to get a ride.
+
+Mrs. Bobbsey looked at her husband.
+
+"Really?" she asked. "Have you bought the boat?"
+
+"Yes," he replied, "I have. You know we have been thinking of it for
+some time. Lake Metoka would be just fine for a houseboat, and we
+could go on quite a cruise with one. Mr. Marvin wanted to sell his
+boat, and as he and I had some business dealings, and as he owed me
+some money, I took the boat in part payment."
+
+"And is it ours now, Papa?" asked Bert.
+
+"Yes, the houseboat is ours. It is called the Bluebird, and that is a
+good name for it, since it is painted blue--like your eyes, little fat
+fairy!" he cried, catching Flossie up in his arms.
+
+"Is it a big boat, Papa?" asked Bert. Like most boys he liked things
+big and strong.
+
+"Well, I think it will be large enough," said Mr. Bobbsey with a smile
+as he set down Flossie and caught up Freddie in the same way. "Were
+you frightened when you fell down and saw the lumber team coming
+toward you?" he asked.
+
+"A little," Freddie said. "But I wished my legs were long enough so I
+could ride Bert's bicycle. Then I could get out of the way."
+
+"You'd better keep away from the wheel until you are bigger," said his
+father, who had been told about the accident and the excitement. "But
+now I must get back to the office. I have plenty of work to do."
+
+"Oh, but can't you stay just a little longer, to tell us more about
+the boat!" pleaded Nan. "When can we have a ride in it?"
+
+"A boat is called 'her,'" interrupted Bert,
+
+"Well, 'her' then," said Nan. "Tell us about HER, papa. I didn't hear
+much at your office."
+
+"You heard more than I meant you to," said Mr. Bobbsey with a smile.
+"Nan came in with that letter just as Mr. Marvin and I were finishing
+our talk about the houseboat," he went on. "I was going to keep it
+secret a little longer, but it's just as well you should know now.
+
+"I think you will like the Bluebird. It has a little gasoline engine,
+so we can travel from place to place. And there is a large living
+room, a kitchen, several bed rooms and a nice open deck, where we can
+sit, when it is too hot to be inside."
+
+"Oh, that's going to be great!" cried Bert. "I want a room near the
+engine."
+
+"And can I be a fireman?" asked Freddie.
+
+"I want to be near mamma--and you," spoke little Flossie.
+
+"Oh, isn't it going to be lovely!" exclaimed Nan, clapping her hands.
+
+"Scrumptious, I call it!" cried Bert, and he ran into the house,
+through the hall, and into the dining-room, just as big, fat Dinah,
+the cook, was entering the same room, carefully holding a big cake
+which she had just covered with white frosting.
+
+"Oh dear!" cried Bert, as he ran, full tilt, Into the big cook.
+
+"Good land ob massy!" fairly yelled Dinah. "Wha--wha---"
+
+But that was all she could say. She tried to save herself from
+falling, but she could not. Nor could Bert. He went down, on one side
+of the doorsill, and Dinah sat down, very hard, on the other, the cake
+bouncing from her hands, up toward her head, and then falling into her
+lap.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+AT THE HOUSEBOAT
+
+
+"Did--did I hurt you, Dinah?" asked Bert, after he had gotten his
+breath. "I'm--I'm sorry--but did I hurt you?"
+
+"Hurt me? Hurt me, honey lamb? No indeedy, but I done reckon yo' has
+hurt yo'se'f, honey! Look at yo' pore haid!" and she pointed her fat
+finger at Bert.
+
+"Why, what's the matter with my head?" he asked, putting up his hand.
+He felt something sticky, and when he looked at his fingers, he saw
+that they were covered with white stuff.
+
+"Oh, it's the frosting off the cake!" said Nan with a laugh. "You look
+something like one of the clowns in the circus, Bert, only you haven't
+enough of the white stuff on."
+
+"And look at Dinah!" laughed Freddie. "She's turning white!"
+
+"What's dat, honey lamb? Turnin' white?" gasped the big, colored cook.
+"Don't say dat!"
+
+"It's the cake frosting on Dinah, too!" said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Oh, Bert!
+why aren't you a little more careful?"
+
+"I'm sorry, mamma," Bert said, as he watched Dinah wipe the frosting
+off her face with her apron. "I didn't know she was coming through the
+door then."
+
+"And I shore didn't see yo', honey lamb," went on the cook. "Land ob
+massy! Look at mah cake!" she cried, as she gazed at the mass in her
+lap. "All de frostin' am done slid off it!"
+
+"Yes, you're a regular wedding cake yourself, Dinah," said Mr.
+Bobbsey, who had come in to see what all the noise meant. "Well, this
+seems to be a day of excitement. I'm glad it was no worse, though.
+Better go up stairs and wash, Bert."
+
+"The cake itself isn't spoiled," said Mrs. Bobbsey, lifting it from
+Dinah's lap, so the colored cook could get up. It was no easy work for
+her to do this, as she was so fat. But at last, after many groanings
+and gruntings, she rose to her feet, and took the cake from Mrs.
+Bobbsey.
+
+"I'll put some mo' frostin' on it right away, ma'am," she said. "An' I
+hopes nobody else runs inter me," she went on with a laugh. "I shuah
+did feel skeered dat Bert was hurt bad."
+
+They could all laugh at the happening now, and after Mr. Bobbsey had
+told a little more about the new houseboat, he went back to the
+office.
+
+"Come on, Flossie," suggested Freddie. "Now you've found the book
+straps, we can hitch Snap to the express wagon. Where'd you find 'em?"
+
+"The straps were on our books, under the hall rack," said Flossie.
+
+"That's just where I left 'em!" exclaimed Freddie. "I knew I left 'em
+somewhere."
+
+"But next time you must remember," cautioned his mother. "And remember
+another thing--no more bicycle rides--you stay on your velocipede."
+
+"Yes'm," said Freddie. "Come on, Flossie. Where's Snap?"
+
+When the little twins went to look for their big, shaggy pet, who
+could do so many circus tricks, they could not find him.
+
+"Have you seen Snap?" asked Freddie of Dinah's husband, Sam Johnson,
+who was out in the barn.
+
+"Snap?" repeated the colored man. "Why, Freddie, I done jest see Snap
+paradin' down de road wif dat black dog from Mr. Brown's house."
+
+"Then Snap's gone away again," said Flossie with a sigh. "Never mind,
+Freddie. Let's play steamboat, and you can be the fireman."
+
+"All right," he agreed, much pleased with this idea. "We'll make
+believe we're in our new houseboat. Come on."
+
+"Steamboat" was a game the smaller twins often played on the long
+Saturdays, when there was no school. All they needed was an old soap
+box for the boat, and some sticks for oars. Then, with some bits of
+bread or cake, which Dinah gave them to eat, in case they were
+"shipwrecked," they had fine times.
+
+Meanwhile, Bert and Nan had asked permission of their mother to go
+over to where some of their boy and girl friends lived, so they were
+prepared to have a good time, too.
+
+"Oh, but what fun we'll have on the houseboat, won't we, Bert?" said
+Nan.
+
+"That's what we will," he agreed with a laugh.
+
+Monday morning came, after Sunday (as it always does if you wait long
+enough) and the two sets of Bobbsey twins started for school.
+
+"I wish we didn't have to go," said Bert, as he strapped up his books.
+"I want to go down to our new houseboat."
+
+"But you must go to school," said his mother with a smile. "There will
+not be many more days now. June will soon be over, and you know school
+closes a little earlier than usual this year. So run along, like good
+children."
+
+Off they hurried and soon they were mingling with their boy and girl
+friends, who were also on their way to their classes.
+
+"You can't guess what we're going to have," said Freddie to a boy
+named Johnnie Wilson, who was in his room.
+
+"Kittens?" asked Johnnie.
+
+"No."
+
+"Puppies?"
+
+"No."
+
+"I give up--what is it?"
+
+"A houseboat," said Freddie. "It's a house on a boat, and you can live
+in it on water."
+
+"Huh!" said Johnnie. "There isn't any such thing."
+
+"Yes, there is, too, isn't there, Flossie?" and Freddie appealed to
+his small sister.
+
+"'Course there is," she said. "Our papa bought one, and Freddie's
+going to be the fireman, and I'm going to cook the meals, so there!
+Haven't we got a houseboat, Nan?"
+
+"Yes, dear," answered the older sister, who was walking with Bert. At
+this, coming from Nan, Johnnie had nothing to say, except that he
+murmured, as he walked away:
+
+"Huh! A houseboat's nothing. We've got a baby at our house, and it's
+got hair on its head, and two teeth!"
+
+"A houseboat's better'n a baby," was Freddie's opinion.
+
+"It is not!" cried Johnnie.
+
+"It is so!" Freddie exclaimed.
+
+"Hush!" begged Nan. "Please don't dispute. Houseboats and babies are
+both nice. But now it's time to go to school."
+
+The Bobbsey twins could hardly wait for the classes to be out that
+day, for their mother had promised to call for them after lessons,
+and, with their father, they were going to see the Bluebird. The
+houseboat had been brought up the lake by Mr. Marvin, and tied to a
+dock not far from Mr. Bobbsey's lumber office. The boat was now the
+property of Mr. Bobbsey, but that gentleman had not yet fully planned
+what he would do with her.
+
+Just as the children were trooping out of the school yard, along came
+Mrs. Bobbsey. Nan and Flossie saw their mother and hastened toward
+her, while Freddie and Bert came along more slowly.
+
+In a little while all five of them were at Mr. Bobbsey's lumber
+office. He came out of his private room, when one of his clerks told
+him Mrs. Bobbsey and the children were there.
+
+"Ah, what can I do for you to-day?" asked Mr. Bobbsey of his wife,
+just like Mr. Fitch, the grocery-store-keeper. "Would you like a
+barrel of sawdust, ma'am; or a bundle of shingles to fry for the
+children's suppers?" and Mr. Bobbsey pretended he was no relation to
+his family.
+
+"I think we'll have a houseboat," said his wife with a laugh. "Have
+you time to take us down to it? I can't do a thing with these
+children, they are so anxious to see the Bluebird." "Well, I hope
+they'll like her," said Mr. Bobbsey, "and not pull any feathers out of
+her tail."
+
+"Oh, is there a real bird on the boat?" asked Flossie.
+
+"No, papa is only joking," said Nan, with a smile.
+
+Mr. Bobbsey put on his hat, and soon the whole Bobbsey family had
+reached the place where the boat was tied. At the first sight of her,
+with her pretty blue paint and white trimming, Nan cried:
+
+"Oh, how lovely!"
+
+"And how big it is!" exclaimed Freddie his eyes large and round with
+wonder.
+
+"Let's go aboard--where's the gang-plank?" asked Bert, trying to use
+some boat language he had heard from his father's lumbermen.
+
+The Bluebird was indeed a fine, large houseboat, roomy and
+comfortable. The children went inside, and, after looking around the
+main, or living room, and peering into the dining-room, Nan opened the
+door of a smaller compartment. Inside she saw a cunning little bed.
+
+"Oh, may I have this room?" she asked. "Isn't it sweet!"
+
+"Here's another just like it," said Mrs. Bobbsey, opening the next
+door.
+
+"That will be mine," said Flossie.
+
+"My room's going to be back here, by the engine," spoke Bert, as he
+picked out his sleeping place.
+
+"And I'll come with you," said Freddie. "I'm going to be fireman!"
+Gleefully the children were running about, clapping their hands, and
+finding something new and strange every minute.
+
+"Where is your room, mamma?" asked Nan. "We ought to have let you and
+papa have first choice."
+
+"Oh, there are plenty of rooms," said Mr. Bobbsey. "Let's go up on
+deck and---"
+
+He stopped suddenly, and seemed to be listening.
+
+"What is it?" asked his wife.
+
+"There seems to be some one on this boat beside ourselves," answered
+Mr. Bobbsey. "I'll go look."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE STRANGE BOY
+
+
+The Bobbsey twins looked at one another, and then at their mother, as
+Mr. Bobbsey went out of the living room of the houseboat, toward the
+stairway that led up on deck.
+
+Bert tried to look brave, and as though he did not care. Nan moved a
+little closer to her mother. As for Flossie, she, too, was a little
+frightened, but Freddie did not seem at all alarmed.
+
+"Is it somebody come to take the boat away from us?" he asked in his
+high-pitched, childish voice. "If it is--don't let 'em, papa."
+
+They all laughed at this--even Mr. Bobbsey, and he turned to look
+around, half way up the stairs, saying:
+
+"No, Freddie, I won't let them take our boat."
+
+"Pooh! Just as if they could--it's ours!" spoke Bert.
+
+"Who could it be on board here, mamma?" asked Nan.
+
+"I don't know, dear, unless it was some one passing through the lumber
+yard, who stopped to see what the boat looked like," answered Mrs.
+Bobbsey. "Papa will soon find out."
+
+The noise they had heard was the footsteps of some one walking about
+on the deck of the houseboat.
+
+"Perhaps it was one of the men from the office, who came to tell papa
+he was wanted up there, or that some one wanted to speak to him on the
+telephone," went on Mrs. Bobbsey. She saw that the children, even
+Bert, were a little alarmed, for the boat was tied at a lonely place
+in the lumber yard, and tramps frequently had to be driven away from
+the piles of boards under which there were a number of good places to
+sleep.
+
+Mr. Bobbsey did not mean to be unkind to the poor men who had no
+homes, but tramps often smoke, and are not careful about their
+matches. There had been one or two fires in the lumber yard, and Mr.
+Bobbsey did not want any more blazes.
+
+Soon the footsteps of the children's father were heard on the deck
+above them, and, a little later Freddie and the others could hear the
+talk of two persons.
+
+"I guess it was one of the men," said Mrs. Bobbsey.
+
+"I'm going to see," spoke Bert, and he moved toward the stairway,
+followed by Nan, Flossie and Freddie. They went up on deck and saw
+their father talking to a strange boy. None of the Bobbsey children
+knew him.
+
+"Are you looking for some one?" asked Mr. Bobbsey kindly, of the
+strange boy. Often, when he was in distant parts of the lumber yard,
+and he was wanted at the office, or telephone, his men might ask some
+boy to run and tell the owner of the yard he was needed. But Mr.
+Bobbsey had never seen this lad before.
+
+"No, sir, I--I wasn't looking for any one," said the boy, as he looked
+down at his shoes, which were full of holes, and put his hands into
+the pockets of his trousers, which were quite ragged. "I was just
+looking at the boat. It's a fine one!"
+
+"I'm glad you like it," said Mr. Bobbsey with a smile.
+
+"Could you go to sea in this boat?" asked the boy, who was not very
+much older than Bert.
+
+"Go to sea? Oh, no!" answered Mr. Bobbsey. "This boat is all right on
+a lake, or river, but the big waves of the ocean would be too strong
+for it. We don't intend to go to sea. Why? Are you fond of sailing?"
+
+"That's what I am!" cried the boy. "I'm going to sea in a ship some
+day. I'm sick of farm-life!" and his eyes snapped.
+
+"Are you a farmer?" asked the twins' father.
+
+"I work for a farmer, and I don't like it--the work is too hard," the
+boy said, as he hung his head.
+
+"There is plenty of hard work in this world," went on Mr. Bobbsey. "Of
+course too much hard work isn't good for any one, but we must all do
+our share. Where do you work?"
+
+"I work for Mr. Hardee, who lives just outside the town of Lemby,"
+answered the boy.
+
+"Oh, yes, I know Mr. Hardee," spoke Mr. Bobbsey. "I sold him some
+lumber with which he built his house. So you work for him? But what
+are you doing so far away from the farm?"
+
+"Mr. Hardee sent me over here, to Lakeport, on an errand."
+
+"Well, if I were you I wouldn't come so far away from where I left my
+horse and wagon," cautioned Mr. Bobbsey, for the place where the boat
+was tied was a long distance from the main road leading from Lakeport
+to Lemby.
+
+"I didn't come in a wagon," said the boy. "I walked."
+
+"What! You don't mean to say you walked all the way from Lemby to
+Lakeport?" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey, who had now come up on deck.
+
+"Yes'm, I did," answered the boy. "Mr. Hardee said he needed the
+horses to work on the farm. He said I was young, and the walk would do
+me good. So Mrs. Hardee, she gave me some bread and butter for my
+lunch, and I walked. I'm walking back now, and I came this way by the
+lake. It's a short cut.
+
+"Then I happened to see this boat here. I like boats, so I thought it
+wouldn't hurt to come on board."
+
+"Oh, no, that's all right!" said Mr. Bobbsey quickly. "I'll be glad to
+have you look around, though this is only a houseboat, and not built
+for ocean travel. So you work for Mr. Hardee, eh? What's your name?"
+
+"Will Watson," the boy said. Mrs. Bobbsey was trying to motion to her
+husband to come toward her. It seemed as though she wanted to say
+something to him privately.
+
+"Will Watson, eh?" went on Mr. Bobbsey. "I don't seem to know any
+family of that name around here."
+
+"No, I don't belong around here," the boy said. "I come from out west
+--or I used to live there when I was littler. I've got an uncle out
+there now, if I could ever find him. He's a gold miner."
+
+"A gold miner?" said Mr. Bobbsey, and then his wife came up to him,
+and whispered in his ear. Just what she said the twins could not hear,
+but, a moment later Mr. Bobbsey said:
+
+"Bert, suppose you take Will down and show him the boat, since he is
+so interested."
+
+"Oh, I'm going to!" cried Freddie. "I want to show him where I'm going
+to be a fireman."
+
+"And I want to show him my room," said Flossie.
+
+The strange boy looked at the little twins and smiled. He had a nice
+face, and was quite clean, though his clothes were ragged and poor.
+
+"Come along down if you like," said Bert kindly. "There's a lot to see
+below the deck."
+
+With a friendly nod of his head Will Watson followed the three
+children. Nan stayed on deck with her parents.
+
+"It's a shame to make him walk all the way from Lemby here and back,"
+said Mrs. Bobbsey. "It must be all of five miles each way."
+
+"It is," said Mr. Bobbsey. "Quite a tramp for a little fellow."
+
+"Can't you find some way to give him a ride back?" asked his wife.
+"Aren't any of your wagons going that way?"
+
+"Perhaps," replied Mr. Bobbsey. "I'll find out, and I'll send him as
+near to Mr. Hardee's place as I can."
+
+"Poor little fellow," said Mrs. Bobbsey, and she thought how hard it
+would be if her son Bert had to go to work for his living so young.
+
+"He seems like a nice boy," spoke Mr. Bobbsey, "and from what I know
+of Mr. Hardee he isn't an easy man to work for. Well, have you seen
+enough of the boat, Nan? Do you think you'll like it?"
+
+"Oh, I just love it," Nan answered. "I'm so anxious for the time to
+come when we can go sailing, or whatever you do in a boat like this.
+Mamma, may I bring some of my things from home to fix up my room?"
+
+"I think so--yes. We shall have to talk about that later. I think it
+is time we started home now. Dinah will not want to wait supper for
+us."
+
+"Well then, run along," said Mr. Bobbsey. "I'll get the others up
+from down below."
+
+"And you won't forget about trying to give that boy a ride home?"
+asked Mrs. Bobbsey.
+
+"No, indeed," replied her husband. "I'm going right back to the office
+now, and I'll take him with me. I'll let him ride on the wagon that's
+going nearest to Lemby."
+
+Mr. Bobbsey met Bert and the strange boy coming up.
+
+"It sure is a dandy boat!" said Will Watson with a sigh of envy. "If
+ever I go away to sea, I hope I'll have as nice a room as yours," and
+he looked at Bert. "I just couldn't help coming on the boat when I saw
+her tied here," he went on. "I hope you didn't mind."
+
+"Not a bit!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey, wishing she had some of Dinah's
+cake or crullers with her to give to the boy, for the twins' mother
+thought he looked hungry.
+
+The door, leading into the cabin of the houseboat was locked, and they
+all went on shore, over the gangplank, the board that extended from
+the dock to the boat.
+
+"Good-bye, Bluebird!" called Flossie, waving her fat, chubby, little
+hand toward the houseboat. "We'll soon be back."
+
+"And I'm going to bring my fire engine, when I come again," exclaimed
+Freddie. "If the boat gets on fire I can put it out."
+
+"Boats can't get on fire in the water!" declared Flossie.
+
+"They can so--can't they, papa?" appealed the little boy.
+
+"Well, sometimes, perhaps. But we hope ours doesn't," replied Mr.
+Bobbsey with a smile. He led the way off the boat, and as Will was
+about to walk on along the lake shore, on his return to Lemby, Mrs.
+Bobbsey said:
+
+"Wouldn't you like a ride back, little boy?"
+
+"Indeed I would," he said. "My feet hurt, on account of my shoes being
+so full of holes, I guess. I'm pretty tired, but I had a little rest.
+I don't expect to get back much before dark."
+
+"Well, perhaps you can ride nearly all the way," went on Mrs. Bobbsey.
+"My husband has some lumber wagons going in your direction."
+
+"Yes, come along and we'll see what we can do for you," put in the
+twins' father, nodding at the strange boy.
+
+Will went off with Mr. Bobbsey, while Nan, Bert, Flossie and Freddie
+walked with their mother.
+
+"Oh, mamma, when do you think we can go in our boat?" asked Flossie.
+
+"Well, as soon as school closes, my dear."
+
+"And will we sail across the ocean?" Freddie wanted to know.
+
+"Of course not!" cried Bert. "A houseboat isn't a ship."
+
+"That boy knew about ships," said Nan. "I like him, don't you, mamma?"
+
+"Yes, he seemed real nice. He hasn't a very easy life, I'm afraid,
+working on a farm. But we must hurry on to supper. We'll talk about
+the boat after papa comes home."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+FREDDIE'S FIRE ENGINE
+
+
+"Papa, when can we go sailing in the houseboat?"
+
+"May I take my fire engine along?"
+
+"Where did you leave that boy?"
+
+"Did he get a ride to Lemby?"
+
+"Thus Bert, Freddie, Flossie and Nan questioned Mr. Bobbsey when he
+came home to supper after the visit to the Bluebird.
+
+"My! My!" exclaimed the lumber merchant, as he stopped in the hall to
+hang up his hat. "What a lot of talk all at once! Let me see--whose
+question shall I answer first?"
+
+"Did you manage to get that poor boy a ride?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey.
+
+It was the first time she had had a chance to ask her question.
+
+"Answer mamma first," said Bert politely. "The rest of us can wait."
+
+Mr. Bobbsey gave his older son a pleased look, and then replied:
+
+"Yes, I found that one of our lumber wagons was going within half a
+mile of the village of Lemby, so I let the boy ride with the driver.
+It will give him a good lift."
+
+"Indeed it will," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "I felt so sorry for him. I wish
+I could help him!"
+
+"I hope the horses don't run away," spoke Freddie with such a serious
+air that they all laughed.
+
+"I guess they won't run away, little fat fireman!" said Mr. Bobbsey,
+as he caught Freddie up in his arms. "They are good, steady horses,
+and they had a pretty heavy load to drag. So Will won't be in any
+danger. But I hope supper is ready. I'm hungry!"
+
+"But you didn't answer my question," said Nan. "When are we going in
+the houseboat, father?"
+
+"Oh, whenever school ends and your mother is ready," was the answer.
+"I should say in about two weeks."
+
+"Good!" cried Bert. "And are we going to take Snap along?" he asked,
+as he caught sight of the trick dog outside, standing on his hind
+legs, while Sam Johnson held up a bone for him. Snap was "begging" for
+his supper, as he often did.
+
+"Yes, I think we can find room for Snap on board," the lumber man
+said.
+
+"What about our cat, Snoop?" asked Flossie. "I want to take Snoop
+along. Wouldn't you like to go in a boat, Snoop?" and Flossie picked
+the fat cat up in her arms. Snoop was quite an armful now. "Don't you
+want to go, Snoop?"
+
+"Meow!" was all Snoop said, and that might have meant anything at all.
+
+"Supper first," suggested Mr. Bobbsey, "and after that we'll talk
+about the boat."
+
+The meal was a merry one, and there was much talk and laughter. As
+Dinah brought on one good thing to eat after another, Mrs. Bobbsey
+said:
+
+"I hope every one has as nice a supper as we have."
+
+"Were you thinking of any one in particular?" asked her husband.
+
+"Yes, of that poor boy who came on the boat to-day," she answered. "I
+wonder if he has a good supper after his long walk this morning?"
+
+"Well, they say Mr. Hardee doesn't feed his help any too well," spoke
+Mr. Bobbsey. "But now let's talk about our houseboat trip."
+
+"Oh, what fun we'll have!" cried Freddie and Flossie, clapping their
+chubby hands.
+
+"Did you plan a trip?" Mrs. Bobbsey wanted to know.
+
+"Well, partly, yes. I thought we could go down Lake Metoka to Lemby
+Creek. We haven't been down that direction in some time."
+
+"Lemby Creek!" exclaimed Bert. "Isn't that the name of the place where
+that boy came from?" "Well, Lemby is a town on Lemby Creek," spoke his
+father. "Will Watson works on Mr. Hardee's farm, and that is just
+outside the village. Lemby Creek is about ten miles long, and by going
+along that we can get into Lake Romano. That is a large body of water,
+and there is a waterfall at the farther end."
+
+"A waterfall!" cried Freddie. "Oh, goodie! Can we go see it, papa?"
+
+"I guess so," said Mr. Bobbsey. "We'll make this a long trip. It will
+take over a month, but of course we won't travel every day. Some days
+we'll just anchor the boat in a shady place, and---"
+
+"Fish!" interrupted Bert.
+
+"Yes, fish, or go in swimming--anything to have a good time," Mr.
+Bobbsey said.
+
+"Oh, won't we have fun!" cried Freddie again. "We'll take Snoop and
+Snap along, and they'll like it, too."
+
+"I guess Snap will, because he's fond of the water," said Bert, with a
+laugh. "But Snoop doesn't care for it."
+
+"Snoop can sleep on deck in the sun," said Nan. "She'll like that. I
+wish I could ask one of my girl friends to come along with us for the
+houseboat trip. We have so many nice rooms on the Bluebird it seems a
+pity not to use them."
+
+"And I'd like one of my boy chums, too," spoke Bert. Flossie and
+Freddie were busy trying to make Snoop do one of the tricks the circus
+lady had taught her. But Snoop wanted to go out in the kitchen, and
+have Dinah give her some supper.
+
+"Company, eh?" exclaimed Mr. Bobbsey, slowly. "Well, I don't know. We
+have plenty of room on the Bluebird. I wonder how it would do to ask
+Harry and Dorothy to come with us?" he inquired of his wife.
+
+"Oh, Cousin Harry!" cried Bert. "That would be fine!"
+
+"And Cousin Dorothy!" added Nan. "She and I could have lovely times
+together. Do ask her, mother!"
+
+"We might ask the cousins," agreed Mrs. Bobbsey. "They haven't been to
+visit us in some time, and I think both Harry and Dorothy would enjoy
+the trip."
+
+Harry and Dorothy, as I have told you, were cousins of the Bobbseys.
+Harry lived at Meadow Brook, in the country, and Dorothy at Ocean
+Cliff, near the sea.
+
+"I'll write to-morrow," said Mrs. Bobbsey, "and find out if they can
+go with us. Now have we anything else to settle about our trip?"
+
+"What about something to eat?" asked Freddie, in such a funny, anxious
+voice, that all the others laughed.
+
+"My goodness, little fat fireman!" exclaimed his father. "Here you
+have just finished your supper, and you are already hungry again."
+
+"Oh, I'm not hungry now," explained Freddie, "but I will be on the
+boat."
+
+"Don't worry," said his mother. "Dinah is coming with us."
+
+"Oh, then it will be all right," went on the little twin, with a
+contented sigh. "Come on, Flossie," he called to his small sister, "I
+know how we can have some fun. 'Scuse me," he murmured, as he and the
+other little twin slipped from their chairs.
+
+Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey, with Nan and Bert, remained at the table for
+some time longer, talking about the coming trip in the Bluebird. As
+Mr. Bobbsey had said, it would be about two weeks, yet, before they
+could start. There were two weeks more of school, but the classes
+would close earlier than usual that summer, because an addition was to
+be built to the school building, and the men wanted to get to work on
+it, to have it finished in time for school early in September.
+
+"So we'll get an extra week or so of vacation," explained Bert. "And
+we'll spend it all on the houseboat."
+
+"Well, perhaps not all of it," said Mr. Bobbsey. "I may not be able to
+stay with you all that while. But we'll spend a month or two on the
+Bluebird."
+
+"What will we do the rest of vacation?" asked Bert.
+
+"Oh, perhaps we'll go to the mountains, or some place like that," his
+mother said with a smile. "It isn't settled yet."
+
+"Is it a high waterfall at Lake Romano?" asked Nan. "I just love
+them."
+
+"Yes, it's a pretty high one," her father said. "I haven't been to
+Lake Romano in some years, but I remember it as a very beautiful
+place."
+
+"I'm sure we shall enjoy it," Mrs. Bobbsey said.
+
+"Is the fishing good?" Bert wanted to know.
+
+"So I have heard. We'll take some poles and lines along, anyhow, and
+try our luck," his father replied.
+
+Mr. Bobbsey pushed back his chair from the table, and looked around
+for the evening paper. Bert and Nan had some home work to do, to get
+ready their lessons for the next day's school classes, and Mrs.
+Bobbsey got out her sewing basket. There were always stockings to
+mend, if there was nothing else of the children's that needed
+attention.
+
+The house was quiet except for the distant rattling of dishes in the
+kitchen, where fat Dinah was singing away as she worked. Suddenly her
+song ceased, and she was heard to exclaim:
+
+"Now yo' want t' be careful, honey lamb! Doan't yo' go to muxin' up
+Dinah's clean kitchen flo'."
+
+"No, we won't, Dinah!" replied Freddie's voice.
+
+"If any gets spilled, I'll wipe it up," said Flossie.
+
+"I wonder what those children are up to now?" remarked Mrs. Bobbsey,
+as she rolled up two stockings she had just darned.
+
+"Oh, I guess they're all right," said Mr. Bobbsey easily, as he turned
+over a page of the evening paper.
+
+The next moment there came a shout from Dinah in the kitchen.
+
+"Stop it, Freddie. Stop it, I say!" cried the fat, colored cook. "Yo'
+suah am gittin' me all wet! Oh, there it goes ag'in! Stop it!"
+
+"I--I can't!" cried Freddie. "Hold your hand over it, Flossie!"
+
+"Oh, now it's squirting on me!" came in Flossie's tones. "Make it
+stop, Freddie."
+
+"It--it won't stop!" was the frightened answer.
+
+"Oh! Land ob massy!" shouted Dinah. "Sam! Sam! Mr. Bobbsey, come heah
+quick! It's squirtin' all ober!"
+
+"Oh! Something has happened!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey, starting toward
+the kitchen.
+
+"Maybe a water pipe has burst," suggested Mr. Bobbsey, dropping his
+paper and making a jump toward the kitchen. As he did so, he heard
+Dinah cry again:
+
+"Oh, yo' am all wet, honey lamb! Yo' is all soakin' wet! Oh, now it's
+comin' fo' me ag'in! Oh, stop it, Freddie! Stop it!"
+
+"I--I can't!" was all Freddie said.
+
+The next moment Mr. Bobbsey, followed by his wife, had reached the
+kitchen. There they saw a queer sight.
+
+In the middle of the floor stood Flossie and Freddie, water dripping
+from their hands and faces. Dinah, too, was wet, and she was fairly
+flying around, with a plate in one hand and a dish towel in the other.
+
+And, all about the kitchen was spurting a stream of water, while over
+by the stove stood Freddie's toy fire engine. It was this engine that
+was spraying the water all over the room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE TWO COUSINS
+
+
+"Oh, Freddie! What has happened?" cried Mrs. Bobbsey.
+
+"It--it's the---" began Freddie, but that was as far as he got, for
+just then the stream of water from his toy engine spurted right into
+his open mouth.
+
+"Shut it off!" cried Mr. Bobbsey. "Here, I'll do it!"
+
+He started across the kitchen floor.
+
+"Look out, Massa Bobbsey!" yelled Dinah. "It'll cotch yo' shuah. It
+done cotched me!" and then as she saw the little rubber hose of
+Freddie's fire engine swing around, and the nozzle point at her, the
+fat cook ran into the dish-closet and shut the door.
+
+"How did it happen?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey, not so excited, now that she
+found nothing serious was the matter.
+
+"Freddie--Freddie--he wanted to try how his fire engine worked, 'cause
+he hadn't played with it this week," explained Flossie. Freddie was
+busy wiping the water from his face. "So he filled the tank, and wound
+it up, and now--and now--it won't--it won't stop-squirtin'!" went on
+Flossie. "It--it---"
+
+And then she, too, had to stop talking, for the hose was spurting
+water at her now.
+
+"I'll shut it off. Something must be the matter with the spring," said
+Mr. Bobbsey. He walked toward Freddie's fire engine, which was pretty
+large, for a toy. But before he reached it, the water hose had swung
+around, and, instead of sprinkling Flossie, was aimed at Mr. Bobbsey.
+However he did not mind. Holding the newspaper in front of his face,
+Freddie's father reached the fire engine, and turned off the machinery
+that pumped the water.
+
+"There!" he cried. "The fire's out! The only damage is from water,"
+and he laughed, for he was wet, and so were Mrs. Bobbsey, Flossie and
+Freddie; and the kitchen itself was pretty well sprinkled.
+
+"What's it all about?" asked Bert, for he and Nan, who had been
+studying their lessons, had heard the noise of the excitement, and had
+run to the kitchen to see what had caused it.
+
+"Oh, Freddie turned in a false alarm," said Mr. Bobbsey. "How did you
+come to put water in your engine, when mamma has told you not to do so
+in the house?" he asked the little boy.
+
+"Be--be--cause," said Freddie slowly, "I wanted to see if it would--
+work. I'm going to take it on the houseboat with me."
+
+"Well, I guess it WORKED all right," Bert said, as he looked around at
+the wet kitchen. Luckily there was oil cloth on the floor, and the
+walls were painted, so the water really did no harm.
+
+Dinah slowly opened the door of the dish-closet, and peered out.
+
+"Am it all done, honey lamb?" she asked, looking at Freddie.
+
+"Yes, Dinah! It's all done squirtin'," he said. "I guess there isn't
+any more water, anyhow."
+
+"No," said Mr. Bobbsey, with a smile, as he looked in the tank of the
+engine, "it's all pumped out."
+
+Freddie's toy fire engine was a large and expensive one his uncle had
+given him on Christmas. It was made as nearly like a real engine as
+possible, only instead of working by steam, it worked by a spring.
+When a spring was wound up, it operated a small pump in the engine.
+The pump made water spurt out through a little rubber hose, and the
+water for the engine was poured into a tank. The tank held about two
+gallons, so you see when it was all pumped out in the kitchen, and
+spurted on those in the room, it made them pretty wet.
+
+"It's clean water," said Nan, when every one had somewhat cooled down,
+"and it's so warm to-night, I wouldn't mind being sprayed with a hose
+myself."
+
+"Still, Freddie shouldn't have done it," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "I have
+told you not to play with your engine in the house, when it had water
+in it, Freddie. How did you come to disobey me?" she asked, for
+usually the little fellow was very good about minding.
+
+"I--I didn't mean to, mamma," he said "First I just wanted to see if
+the engine tank leaked, so I put in some water. I didn't think it
+would hurt, out here on the kitchen oil cloth, and honestly I wasn't
+going to squirt it."
+
+"No, I suppose not," said Mr. Bobbsey, wiping the water from his face,
+and glancing at his soaked newspaper.
+
+"So I just filled the tank with water from the sink," explained
+Freddie.
+
+"I--I helped him," confessed Flossie, ready to take her share of the
+blame.
+
+"What happened next?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey.
+
+"Why--er--I just wanted to see if the spring was all right, so I wound
+that up," Freddie went on. "Then I sort of forgot about the water in
+the tank, and before I knew it, why it--it went off--sudden like."
+
+"Land ob massy! I should say it done did go off--suddint laik!"
+exclaimed Dinah. "Fust I knowed I was dryin' de dishes an' den I got a
+mouth full ob watah. I shuah did t'ink a watah pipe had done gone an'
+busted. I shuah did!"
+
+"It--it just kept on squirtin'!" said Freddie. "I couldn't stop it
+like it always used to stop."
+
+"No, the pump is out of order," said Mr. Bobbsey, as he looked at the
+now empty fire engine. "It wouldn't stop pumping. Well, I'm glad it
+wasn't a real fire, and glad that no one is hurt. Put your engine away
+now, Freddie, and, after this, don't play with water in the house,
+when mamma has told you not to."
+
+"I won't," promised Freddie. "But it's a good engine, isn't it?"
+
+"Oh, yes, it's a good engine, all right."
+
+"And I can take it on the houseboat, can't I?"
+
+"Yes, but you won't need to put any water in. There'll be enough in
+the creek and lakes," said Mrs. Bobbsey with a smile. "Come now,
+Flossie and Freddie, you are wet, so you might as well get undressed
+and go to bed. It is nearly time, anyhow, and you have had quite a day
+of it. Off to bed!"
+
+Off to bed the twins went.
+
+Dinah wiped up the kitchen, and, as she did so, she murmured over and
+over again: "It shuah did go off suddint laik! It shuah did!"
+
+Flossie and Freddie, little the worse for their wetting, went off to
+school next day, with Nan and Bert. The two sets of twins talked of
+many things on their way to their classes, but, most of all, they
+talked of the coming trip on the houseboat, and of the accident to the
+fire engine the night before.
+
+"I do hope Cousin Dorothy can come with us," said Nan, as she left
+Bert to walk along with Nellie Parks.
+
+"And I hope Harry can go," said Bert. "Better hurry along, Freddie,"
+he called to his little brother. "There goes your bell, and yours,
+too, Flossie."
+
+The two little tots turned into the gate of the school that led to the
+yard where the smallest pupils formed in line.
+
+"Well, even if Harry and Dorothy can't go, I'll take my fire engine,"
+said Freddie.
+
+"And we'll take Snoop and Snap, so we won't be lonesome," suggested
+Flossie. "Oh, won't it be fun, Freddie!"
+
+"Yes, I wish it was time to go now. I'm tired of school," said the
+little fellow.
+
+But school must go on, whether there are houseboat parties or not, so
+the Bobbsey twins had to study their lessons. I think that day,
+however, Bert must have been thinking of other things than his books,
+for when the teacher asked him what an island was, Bert gave a queer
+answer. Instead of saying it was a body of land, surrounded by water,
+Bert said:
+
+"An island is a fire engine in the kitchen."
+
+"Why, Bert Bobbsey! What ARE you thinking of?" asked the teacher.
+
+"Oh, I--I was thinking of something that happened at our house last
+night," Bert went on, while all the children in the room laughed.
+
+"Then you'd better tell us about it," suggested Miss Teeter, the
+instructor, for she was very kind. So Bert told of Freddie's mishap,
+and how it was he happened to be thinking of that instead of the right
+answer to the question about the island.
+
+"I hear you have a houseboat, Bert," said John Blake, a boy in the
+same room, as the children came out of school that afternoon.
+
+"Yes, my father bought the one Mr. Marvin owned," said Bert. "It's a
+fine one, too. We're going to have a trip in her soon."
+
+"You're a lucky boy!" exclaimed John. "Can't you take me down and show
+me over the boat?"
+
+"I'd like to," said Bert, "but father said I wasn't to go aboard, when
+he was not with me."
+
+"Pooh! He'll never know," suggested Danny Rugg, a boy with whom Bert
+had had more or less trouble. "You needn't tell your father you went
+to the boat. Come on, take us down and let's see it."
+
+"No," said Bert, quietly but firmly. "Maybe my father wouldn't know I
+had been on board, but I'd know it."
+
+"Aw, you're a fraid-cat!" sneered Danny. "Come on, take us down, and
+we'll have some fun."
+
+"No," said Bert with a shake of his head. "I'm sorry. Some other time,
+after I've asked my father if I may, I'll show you all over the
+Bluebird."
+
+"I want to go now," Danny said.
+
+"Oh, there's plenty of time," spoke John, pleasantly. "I wouldn't want
+Bert to do what his father told him not to, just to oblige me. I'll
+see the boat some other time, Bert; that will do just as well."
+
+"Huh! He's a fraid-cat!" muttered Danny again, as he shuffled off,
+muttering to himself. Several times he had made trouble for the
+Bobbsey twins, and Bert was not any too friendly with him. Danny was a
+bully in the school.
+
+Bert wished, very much indeed, that he could have taken some of his
+boy friends down to the houseboat, but his father had a good reason
+for not wanting any boys aboard, unless he could be with them. Workmen
+were making certain changes in the craft, and doing some painting
+inside and outside.
+
+A few days after this, when the Bobbsey twins reached home from
+school, Mrs. Bobbsey met them at the door, saying:
+
+"I have good news for you, children!"
+
+"What is it?" cried Bert.
+
+"Don't we have to go to school any more?" Freddie.
+
+"Are we going on the houseboat sooner than we expected?" Nan wanted to
+know.
+
+"It's about your two cousins--Harry and Dorothy," went on Mrs.
+Bobbsey. "They have both accepted our invitations, and they will come
+with us on the trip! Won't that be nice?"
+
+"Lovely!" exclaimed Nan, her eyes shining with delight. "Dorothy and
+I'll have such nice times together!"
+
+"And Harry and I'll catch a lot of fish," declared Bert.
+
+The days went on. The houseboat was nearly ready for her trip. Very
+soon school would close.
+
+"Come on, Bert, can't you show us over the boat now?" asked Danny Rugg
+one afternoon, on his way home from school, with Nan's brother, and
+some other boys.
+
+"I can't to-day, but perhaps I can to-morrow," said Bert. "I'll ask my
+father."
+
+"He'll never know about it," tempted Danny again, but Bert could not
+be influenced that way.
+
+"Never mind, I'll fix you!" threatened Danny, which was what he
+usually said, when he could not have his own way.
+
+Bert thought little of the threat at the time, though later he
+recalled it vividly.
+
+It was that night, just as the smaller twins were getting ready for
+bed, that the telephone in the Bobbsey house rang out a call.
+
+"I'll answer it," said Mr. Bobbsey, as he went to the instrument.
+"Hello!" he called. Then his wife and children heard him cry:
+
+"What! Is that so! That's too bad! Yes, I'll attend to it right away.
+I wonder how it happened?"
+
+"Oh, what has happened?" cried Mrs. Bobbsey, in alarm.
+
+"Is the lumber yard on fire again?" asked Freddie, thinking of his toy
+engine.
+
+"Not as bad as that," said Mr. Bobbsey, as he quickly put on his hat.
+"But the watchman at the dock just telephoned me that our houseboat,
+the Bluebird, has gotten adrift, and is floating out into the lake."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+OFF IN THE "BLUEBIRD"
+
+
+For a few seconds after Mr. Bobbsey told of the news he had heard over
+the telephone, none of the twins seemed to know what to say. They just
+stared at their father, and I really believe, for a moment, that
+Flossie and Freddie thought he was playing a joke on them. Then Mrs.
+Bobbsey seemed to understand it.
+
+"What!" she cried. "Our houseboat adrift?"
+
+"That's what the watchman tells me," said Mr. Bobbsey, as he started
+for the front door.
+
+"But who did it?" asked Bert, managing to get his tongue in working
+order.
+
+"Can't you get her back again?" asked Nan. "Our boat, I mean."
+
+"Let me come with you!" pleaded Freddie.
+
+"And I want to come, too!" added Flossie. She seldom wanted to be left
+behind, when her twin brother went anywhere.
+
+"No, no! You children must stay here," said Mr. Bobbsey. "I will hurry
+down to the lake, and come right back. I'll tell you all about it,
+when I return."
+
+"But what could have happened?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey. "What would make
+our boat go adrift?"
+
+"Oh, some of the ropes might have come loose," replied her husband.
+"Or the ropes might even have been cut through, rubbing against the
+dock. The wind is blowing a little, and that is sending the boat out
+into the lake. I'll get one of our steam tugs, and go after her. It
+will not take long nor be hard work to bring her back."
+
+A number of small steam tugs were owned by Mr. Bobbsey for use in
+hauling lumber boats, and lumber rafts about Lake Metoka. Some of
+these tugs were always at the dock, and one always had steam up, ready
+for instant use.
+
+"Well, I hope you get the Bluebird back all right," said Bert. "We
+don't want to miss our trip, especially after we have asked Harry and
+Dorothy."
+
+"Oh, it would be too bad to disappoint them," put in Nan.
+
+"Oh, I'll get the boat back all right," declared Mr. Bobbsey.
+
+Flossie and Freddie breathed sighs of relief. They were not worried
+now, for they knew their father would do as he said.
+
+Fat Dinah put her head in through the door of the sitting room.
+
+"Am anyt'ing de mattah?" she asked. "I done heah yo' all talkin' in
+heah, an' I t'inks maybe dat honey lamb Freddie done got his steam
+enjine squirtin' watah ag'in."
+
+"Not this time, Dinah," said Mrs. Bobbsey, for the cook was almost
+like one of the family. Then the twins' mother explained what the
+trouble was.
+
+"I 'clar t' goodness!" Dinah exclaimed. "Suffin's always happenin' in
+dish yeah fambily."
+
+It was not a very serious happening this time. Mr. Bobbsey hurried
+down to his lumber yard in the darkness of the June evening.
+
+He was gone about an hour, when the telephone rang. On account of the
+little excitement Flossie and Freddie had been allowed to stay up,
+although it was long past their usual bedtime.
+
+"I'll answer it," said Mrs. Bobbsey, as the telephoned bell stopped
+jingling, for Bert had started from his seat.
+
+"Oh, it's papa," the twins' mother went on, after she had listened for
+a second after saying "Hello!"
+
+"Is the boat all right?" asked Nan, anxiously.
+
+"Yes," answered her mother, and then she turned to listen to the rest
+of Mr. Bobbsey's talk over the telephone.
+
+"Papa went after the Bluebird, and brought her safely back," Mrs.
+Bobbsey explained, when she had hung up the receiver. "He'll be here
+in a few minutes to tell us all about it. He telephoned from the
+lumber office after he had our boat safe."
+
+"Oh, I'm so glad the boat's all right," said Nan.
+
+"Pooh, I knowed it would be--when papa went after it," said Freddie,
+with a sleepy yawn.
+
+"You must say 'knew,' not 'knowed,' dear," spoke Mamma Bobbsey. "And
+now I think it is time for you and Flossie to go to bed."
+
+Neither of the smaller twins offered any objection. They were too
+sleepy to want to stay up and listen to the story of the bringing back
+of the Bluebird.
+
+Nan and Bert were anxious to hear it, and Mr. Bobbsey came in soon
+after Flossie and Freddie were tucked in bed. He told the story of the
+drifting houseboat.
+
+"How did it break loose?" asked Bert.
+
+"It didn't break loose," said his father. "Some one untied the knots
+in the ropes."
+
+"Untied!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey. "How did it happen?"
+
+"Why, some one went aboard the boat," explained Mr. Bobbsey, "and I
+think it must have been some boys, for I found this cap," and he held
+up a gray one.
+
+"Why!" cried Bert when he saw it. "That's Danny Rugg's cap!"
+
+"I thought so," went on Mr. Bobbsey. "Danny, and some of his chums,
+must have gone on the boat early this evening. They played about, as
+boys will, and some of them, either on purpose or accidentally, must
+have loosed the knots in the ropes before coming ashore. Then the boat
+just drifted away after that."
+
+"Those boys had no right to go on our boat!" said Nan.
+
+"No, they had not," agreed her father, "But I'm glad there was no real
+damage done. The watchman saw the Bluebird soon after she had drifted
+away from the dock, and he telephoned me. I went out in one of our
+tugs and soon brought her back. So you think this is Danny Rugg's cap,
+Bert?"
+
+"I'm sure of it, yes, sir. Danny wanted me to take him, and some of
+the other boys, on the boat, but I wouldn't."
+
+"I'm glad you remembered what I told you," spoke Mr. Bobbsey, and Bert
+blushed with pleasure.
+
+"I'll give Danny his cap in the morning," Bert went on. "It may
+surprise him to know where he lost it."
+
+"I don't believe you can surprise that Danny Rugg very much," said
+Mrs. Bobbsey.
+
+The next morning, when Bert took Danny's cap to school with him, and
+handed it to the boy who had caused so much trouble, a queer look came
+over Danny's face.
+
+"Thanks," he said. "I was wondering where I left that. I guess I must
+have dropped it, when I was--playing football over in the fields."
+
+"No, you dropped it on our houseboat, the Bluebird, just before you
+and the other fellows untied the ropes that let her go adrift," said
+Bert. "And you'd better keep off her after this!"
+
+"Huh! I'm not afraid of your father!" was all Danny growled, as he
+stuffed his cap in his pocket, for he had worn another to school.
+
+When Danny's chums learned that it was known who had set the boat
+adrift, they were rather frightened. When they realized the damage
+they might have done, they kept away from Mr. Bobbsey's lumber yard
+for a long time.
+
+One day, about a week after this, the Bobbsey twins hurried home from
+school without stopping to play with any of their friends.
+
+"Why are you in such a hurry?" asked Grace Lavine of Nan.
+
+"We expect our cousins to-day," Nan answered. "Then we are going to
+get ready to go away in our houseboat."
+
+Surely enough, when the twins reached home, there the cousins were to
+greet them--Dorothy and Harry, one from the seashore, and the other
+from the country.
+
+"Oh, but I'm SO glad to see you!" cried Nan, as she hugged and kissed
+Dorothy.
+
+"And I'm SO glad to come," Dorothy answered with a smile. "It was
+lovely of you to invite me to go on your boat."
+
+"We'll have a lot of fun," said Bert to Harry.
+
+"That's what we will," replied the boy from the country.
+
+"We're both awful glad to see you!" chimed in Flossie, speaking both
+for herself and for Freddie. "But we can't play with the fire engine."
+
+"Not if we put water in," added Freddie.
+
+"What in the world do they mean?" asked Dorothy, wonderingly.
+
+"Oh, I'll have to tell you," laughed Nan, as she explained about the
+accident.
+
+The cousins had much to tell the twins, and talk about, and the twins
+had as much more to tell, so, for a time, there was a merry sound of
+talk and laughter.
+
+Dorothy and Harry had come by different trains, one from the seashore
+and the other from the country, but they had reached the Bobbsey house
+at the same time. Their schools had not yet closed, but as they were
+both well advanced in their studies, their parents had allowed them to
+leave their classes ahead of time, since they were both sure to
+"pass."
+
+"Just think!" cried Nan, when there was a moment of quiet. "In three
+days more OUR school will close, and then we'll go on the trip."
+
+"Won't it be lovely!" murmured Dorothy.
+
+I leave you to imagine all that took place in those three days.
+Schooldays came to an end, and the Bobbsey twins were among those at
+the heads of their classes. Then came a packing-up time, and the
+Bobbsey house was a scene of great excitement. Trunks and boxes were
+taken aboard the Bluebird, a man was hired to run the gasoline engine.
+Plenty of good things to eat were stowed away in the kitchen lockers,
+as cupboards are called on a boat. At last all was ready for the
+start.
+
+Snoop and Snap, of course, were on hand, as was Dinah. Mr. Bobbsey saw
+to it that his family, and the two cousins, were safely aboard, and
+then he gave the order to cast off the lines. The Bluebird floated
+away from the dock, and out into the lake that was almost as blue as
+her name.
+
+"All aboard!" cried Bert.
+
+"Toot! Toot!" whistled Freddie, pretending to be an engine.
+
+"Oh, look out! You're stepping on my doll!" screamed Flossie, who had
+put her toy down on the deck a moment.
+
+"Good-bye! Good-bye!" called Nan to Grace Lavine, and some others of
+her girl friends, who had come down to the dock to see them off.
+"Good-bye!"
+
+"Good-bye!" echoed the girls, waving their hands.
+
+"Come on!" called Bert to Harry, as he started for the lower cabin.
+
+"What are you going to do?" asked the boy from the country.
+
+"Let's get out our fishing poles. Maybe we can catch something for
+dinner."
+
+"That's right!" agreed Harry.
+
+Slowly the Bluebird moved out into the lake, for the gasoline engine
+was working. The houseboat trip of the Bobbsey twins had begun, and
+many things were to happen before it was to end.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+SNOOP AND SNAP
+
+
+Nan and Dorothy, after waving good-bye to the girl friends on the
+dock, went down to the living room of the houseboat. There they found
+Mrs. Bobbsey and Dinah putting away some of the things that had been
+brought on board at the last moment.
+
+"I 'clar t' goodness!" exclaimed the colored cook, "dish yeah
+houseboatin' am wuss dan movin'!"
+
+"Oh, not quite as bad as that," said Mrs. Bobbsey, with a laugh. "But
+what are you going to do, Nan, dear? Do you like it, Dorothy?"
+
+"Oh! indeed I do," answered the "seashore cousin," as Nan called her
+to distinguish her from Harry, who lived in the country.
+
+"We are just going to our rooms for a minute, mother," Nan answered.
+"I want to show Dorothy my new sailor suit."
+
+Every body on the houseboat was busy, even down to Flossie and
+Freddie, and the two little twins were busy having fun.
+
+Mrs. Bobbsey and Dinah were engaged in putting to rights the different
+rooms, for there were a number on the Bluebird, which was built for a
+large family. Bert and Harry were up on deck fishing, as the boat
+moved slowly through the blue waters of Metoka Lake. Flossie and
+Freddie, as I have said, were playing, the little girl with her doll,
+and Freddie with a new toy his father had bought him.
+
+As for Mr. Bobbsey, he was down in the engine room with "Captain
+White." Mr. White was one of Mr. Bobbsey's men who had once been in
+charge of a tugboat, but one day there was an accident aboard, and Mr.
+White was made lame for life.
+
+But Mr. Bobbsey liked his faithful employee, and kept him at work, and
+since Mr. White could not do heavy tasks, he was allowed to do easy
+ones.
+
+Mr. White was called "Captain" by every one, though he was not really
+a captain. Still, he knew a great deal about boats, the weather clouds
+and storms, and all things such as sea captains are supposed to know.
+
+When Mr. Bobbsey bought Mr. Marvin's houseboat, he at once began to
+think of some one who could sail it for him, and take care of the
+gasoline engine. Naturally, he thought of Captain White. So the
+Bluebird was put in charge of Captain White, who, you may be sure, was
+very glad to be on the water again, even if it was only in a slow-
+moving houseboat, and not in a swift steam tug.
+
+Mr. Bobbsey and Captain White were down in the motor, or engine room
+together. Mr. Bobbsey was learning how to run the gasoline engine.
+
+I have told you how the Bluebird was driven along through the water by
+a small engine. It was not a steam engine, such as are found in many
+boats, but a gasoline one, such as those in most automobiles.
+
+Mr. Bobbsey did not intend to sail very fast in the houseboat. In
+fact, for many days, he expected to just drift along, or push the boat
+with a long pole through some shallow creek, or in parts of the lake
+where it was not deep. When he wanted to move more quickly from place
+to place, there was the gasoline engine all ready to use. And Captain
+White knew how to use it.
+
+Mr. Bobbsey came up out of the little motor room after a while, and
+watched his wife and Dinah putting things away. The boat was moving
+down the lake.
+
+"Oh, look at your face!" suddenly cried Mrs. Bobbsey.
+
+"What's the matter with it?" asked her husband, putting his hand up to
+his nose, as almost any person will do when you speak of his face.
+
+"It's all black!" went on Mrs. Bobbsey. "So are your hands. Oh,
+Richard! What have you been doing?"
+
+"Learning to run the gasoline engine," he said. "I want to know how it
+works so that if we need to start any time when Captain White is on
+shore, or asleep, I can do it."
+
+"I hope you won't start off any time when Captain White is on shore,"
+said Mrs. Bobbsey. "You don't know enough about a boat to run it
+without him."
+
+"Very well, then. I promise I'll run the gasoline engine only when
+Captain White is asleep," said Mr. Bobbsey, with a laugh. "And then,
+if anything happens, I'll only have to awaken him, and ask him what is
+wrong."
+
+"That's the best plan," said Mrs. Bobbsey, also laughing. "And now you
+had better go wash your face. Some one might see you--looking like
+that."
+
+There was a nice little bathroom aboard the Bluebird, and Mr. Bobbsey
+was soon splashing away with the water and soap. Meanwhile Mrs.
+Bobbsey and Dinah finished their work, and went up on deck.
+
+It was a very pleasant day, and with the sun shining down from a blue
+sky overhead, just warm enough, and not too hot, with a gentle breeze
+that hardly ruffled the surface of the lake, but which made it
+delightfully cool as the boat moved slowly along. In short, it was
+just perfect weather, as the Bobbsey twins started off on their
+houseboat.
+
+Nan and Dorothy, having finished looking at each other's dresses,
+which always seems to delight girls, had come up on deck so that now
+the whole Bobbsey family, and their country, and seashore cousin
+visitors also, were there.
+
+"Have you caught any fish yet?" asked Mr. Bobbsey, walking over to
+where Bert and Harry were dangling their lines in the water.
+
+"Not yet, but we've had two or three bites," said Bert, hopefully.
+
+"I think you'll have better luck when we reach some quiet place, and
+anchor," Mr. Bobbsey went on. "At any rate, you need not worry, if you
+don't catch any fish. Dinah will be able to give us something else for
+dinner, I think."
+
+"I think so, too," said Harry with a laugh. "I can smell something
+cooking now."
+
+This was so. For, though the Bobbseys had started early that morning,
+there was so much to do that it was now nearly noon. To them it seemed
+only an hour or so since they had started. Dinah was a good cook. She
+kept one eye on the clock and the other on the things she was cooking.
+And she made up her mind that the meals would be on time, even if they
+were served on a houseboat. So it was the cooking of dinner that Harry
+smelled.
+
+"Oh, Dorothy!" exclaimed Nan, after a little while, during which the
+two girls looked across the lake to the distant shores they had left.
+"I must show you a new trick Snap has learned."
+
+"What! Another trick?" cried Dorothy. "My! He knows a lot of them now.
+He certainly is a clever dog!"
+
+Snap, as I have told you, used to belong to a circus before the
+Bobbseys bought him, so perhaps learning tricks came easier to him
+than to most dogs.
+
+"Yes, I taught him this trick myself," went on Nan. "He will walk
+around on his hind legs, and carry a doll in his front paws, just like
+a nurse girl. When I dress him up in one of my old skirts and a
+jacket, he is too funny for anything! I'll make him do the trick now,
+only I won't dress him up, for I can't find the clothes he wears. I
+don't believe we brought them. But I'll make him carry the doll for
+you. Here, Snap!" called Nan.
+
+The dog, who had been sleeping in a sunny Spot on deck, near Snoop,
+the black cat, sprang up, when he heard his name called.
+
+"Where are you going to get a doll for him to carry?" asked Dorothy.
+
+"I'll take Flossie's. You'll let sister take your doll to make Snap do
+a trick, won't you, dear?" she asked.
+
+"Yes, Nan," answered flaxen-haired Flossie. "I just love to see Snap
+do that trick! He carries the doll so cute!"
+
+Flossie brought her doll to Nan, and Snap stood near, wagging his
+tail, for he seemed to know what was coming.
+
+"Now, Snap," said Nan, pointing her finger at the dog, "I want you to
+show Dorothy how you play nurse-girl, and carry a doll."
+
+"Bow wow!" barked Snap. That was what he always said when any one
+spoke to him. I suppose HE knew what he meant, but no one else did. At
+any rate, he seemed to understand what was said to him.
+
+"Up, Snap! Up!" called Nan suddenly, and Snap rose on his hind legs,
+holding his fore paws out in front of him, so Nan could place the doll
+on them.
+
+This the little girl did, putting Flossie's "sawdust baby" carefully
+across Snap's paws.
+
+"Now take the doll for a walk!" ordered Nan, and, with another bark,
+off Snap started, parading across the deck.
+
+"Oh, isn't he too cute!" cried Dorothy, laughing and clapping her
+hands. "Oh, what a smart dog he is!"
+
+"Isn't he!" agreed Nan. "Bert said I never could teach him to do a
+trick, but I did."
+
+"Indeed you did!" agreed Dorothy.
+
+"Now come back here, Snap!" ordered Nan. But just then something
+happened.
+
+How it was no one knew exactly, but Bert suddenly caught a fish. He
+was so surprised at getting a hard bite on his line, that he jerked it
+up quickly. Something flashed in the sunlight, and, the next moment, a
+little sunfish landed flapping on the deck, right in front of the
+sleeping black cat Snoop.
+
+"Flop!" went the fish, and Snoop awakened with a jump. Up to her feet
+she leaped like a flash, and then she saw the fish. Snoop was very
+fond of fish, and made a spring for the one Bert had caught. But the
+fish was wet and slippery, and no sooner had Snoop pounced on it with
+her claws than the fish slid across the deck of the houseboat. Snoop
+slid after it, just as she often slid across the kitchen oilcloth,
+when she sprang for a piece of string that Flossie or Freddie would
+pull along to make the cat play.
+
+Right across the deck, after the slippery fish slid Snoop, and, the
+next instant, the poor cat had slid right off the deck, and fallen
+into the lake with a splash!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+DOWN THE CREEK
+
+
+"There goes Snoop!"
+
+"Oh, somebody get her!"
+
+Nan and Dorothy both shouted at the same time. As for Bert, he was so
+surprised at having caught a fish, and at seeing the cat slide off the
+deck with it, that he could say nothing. It was almost the same with
+Harry. He had jumped to his feet, however, and had run toward Snoop,
+but too late.
+
+Then, all of a sudden, Snap, with a loud bark, gave one spring, and
+the next moment he had jumped right over the deck railing, under which
+Snoop had slid. Right over it went Snap, and down into the lake. For
+he knew that Snoop had fallen in, and, being the kind of a dog that
+asks nothing better than to save something, or somebody, from the
+water, Snap was right on hand.
+
+"Oh, my doll! My doll!" cried Flossie. "Snap is taking my doll into
+the lake with him! Come back, Snap! Come back!"
+
+Snap did not stop to listen. He had, indeed, taken Flossie's doll with
+him. He had been holding it on his front paws as Snoop slid overboard,
+and, as he gave a jump, Snap did not come down on all four legs. He
+jumped while he was yet standing on his hind ones, and of course the
+doll went over the rail with him.
+
+"What has happened?" cried Mrs. Bobbsey, as she heard the screaming,
+and the splashes in the water. "Have any of the children fallen in?"
+For she had gone to another part of the deck, with Dinah, out of sight
+of the twins for a moment. Now she came hurrying back, and a single
+look showed her that the children were all safe.
+
+"What has happened?" she asked again.
+
+"As nearly as I can figure out," said Mr. Bobbsey, "Bert caught a
+fish, Snoop tried to get it and fell into the water, and now Snap has
+gone in after Snoop."
+
+"And Snap has my doll! She'll get all wet--she'll be drowned!" cried
+Flossie.
+
+"I'll get her for you," offered Harry. But just now they were all
+anxious to see what Snap and Snoop did. Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey and the
+children looked over the side of the houseboat. They saw the black cat
+swimming about in the lake, and Snap, who was a fine water-dog, was
+paddling toward her.
+
+"Hadn't you better stop the boat?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey, for the
+Bluebird was slowly floating away from the dog and the cat.
+
+"Yes, I guess it would be best," said Mr. Bobbsey. So he called out:
+
+"Captain! Captain White! Stop the boat! Something overboard!"
+
+Down in the little motor room Mr. White heard the shout, and he at
+once shut off the gasoline engine. Then he came up on deck as fast as
+his lame leg would let him, to see what was wrong.
+
+"What's that you say?" he asked. "Somebody fell overboard?"
+
+"The dog and the cat," explained Mr. Bobbsey. "I wonder how we can get
+them out? It's Snoop and Snap who are in the water."
+
+"And my doll!" added Flossie. "I want my doll back!"
+
+"Oh, yes, and Flossie's doll," added Mr. Bobbsey. "I guess you'd
+better get in the rowboat, Captain White. It will be easier to lift
+them out from there."
+
+"I'll do it, Mr. Bobbsey," the captain said, as he limped down stairs
+again. By this time Snap had swum to where poor Snoop was paddling
+about in the water. The dog gently took hold of the cat by the back of
+the neck, where her loose fur would give a good hold. Then Snap,
+holding Snoop's head well up out of the water, started back for the
+houseboat.
+
+"Good old Snap!" called Mr. Bobbsey. Snap wanted to bark and wag his
+tail, as he always did when any one spoke pleasantly to him, but he
+knew if he opened his mouth to bark now, he would have to drop Snoop.
+And Snap had hard enough work swimming, without trying to wag his
+tail. On he came toward the boat.
+
+By this time Captain White had gotten into the small boat, which was
+pulled after the Bluebird, by a rope, and he was rowing toward the
+dog. Seeing that the smaller boat was nearer, Snap swam toward that,
+instead of toward the larger one. He held Snoop carefully up out of
+the water.
+
+"That's a good dog, Snap!" called Captain White, as Snap came nearer.
+"I'll take her now."
+
+The engineer lifted poor, wet, dripping Snoop into his boat. She
+crawled close up to Captain White, for she was much frightened. After
+Snap had delivered the cat he had rescued, he turned back again.
+
+"Where are you going?" asked Captain White. "Don't you want to get in
+my boat, too, Snap?"
+
+"Bow wow!" barked Snap. This time he could open his mouth, as he was
+not carrying a cat.
+
+"Oh, he's going to get my doll!" cried Flossie. "Look, Snap is after
+my doll!"
+
+And so he was. After taking Snoop safely to the boat, Snap had seen
+Flossie's doll floating on the top of the water, and had swum toward
+that, just as he would have gone toward a floating stick, had there
+been one near.
+
+"OK, now he's got her!" cried the happy Flossie. "Now Snap has my
+doll. Goodie!"
+
+"And, as she's a wooden doll, the water won't hurt her," said Nan,
+with a laugh, "Everything is coming out all right."
+
+And so it seemed.
+
+Taking the doll in his mouth, as he had taken the cat, Snap swam back
+toward the small boat, where Captain White waited for him, now and
+then petting poor Snoop. Just as the dog had done with the cat, so he
+did with the doll, giving her to the engineer of the Bluebird. Then,
+seeing that his work was all done, Snap once more swam toward the big
+boat, not trying to get into the small one.
+
+"Good dog, Snap!" cried Mr. Bobbsey, as he leaned over to lift him in,
+for there were no steps by which to climb up the side of the Bluebird.
+
+This time Snap barked and wagged his tail, and then he gave himself a
+big shake to get rid of the water. He sent a regular shower of spray
+all about.
+
+"Come, girls!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey with a laugh, "this is no place for
+us. We haven't our bathing suits on!" and she, with Nan and Dorothy,
+ran back out of the way of the scattering drops from Snap's shaggy
+coat.
+
+A little later Captain White rowed up with Snoop and Flossie's doll,
+and the little girl at once said she was going to put a dry dress on
+the doll, so she wouldn't "take cold."
+
+"Well," said Mr. Bobbsey, when the excitement had died down. "That's
+over, at any rate. All that over one little fish!"
+
+"That's so--my fish started it all!" said Bert. "I wonder what became
+of it?" and he looked at his empty hook, dangling from the line of his
+pole.
+
+"The fish dropped off," said Harry. "I saw it. But it was only a
+little one. It wouldn't have been any good."
+
+"Poor Snoop!" said Mrs. Bobbsey. "All your trouble for nothing! You
+didn't get the fish."
+
+"Oh, I'll soon catch some more for her, won't we, Harry?" Bert asked.
+
+"That's what we will," answered the country cousin.
+
+"Now if yo' folks am all done fallin' ovahbo'd I'se ready t' gib yo'
+all suffin t' eat," said Dinah, coming up from the dining-room.
+
+"And I think we are ready to eat," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "This traveling
+on the water has given me an appetite."
+
+"I guess it has all of us," spoke Mr. Bobbsey with a laugh, as he
+noticed the eager, hungry looks on the faces of the children.
+
+"And give Snoop and Snap something good and hot, so they won't take
+cold," suggested Nan. "Though I don't believe they will this weather,
+it's so warm."
+
+"I'm going to give my dollie hot chocolate," said Flossie, who, by
+this time, had put a dry dress on her pet.
+
+The meal was a merry one, though at first the children, especially
+Flossie and Freddie, were too excited to eat. Then, too, it was so
+strange eating on a boat that was moving through the water, for the
+engine had been started again. Several times, during the meal, the two
+smaller twins jumped up from the table to run to the windows and look
+out over the lake. At last their mother said:
+
+"Now, Flossie and Freddie, you must sit still and finish your dinner.
+Otherwise you may be ill. You'll have plenty of time to see things
+after you leave the table."
+
+Snap was soon dry, from lying in the sun, and, a little later, Snoop
+was as warm and fluffy as before she had fallen into the lake. She
+picked out a warm spot on deck near Snap, for they had been the best
+of friends since the first day they had met, when Snoop came back from
+her long trip to Cuba, as I have told you in another book.
+
+All the rest of that day the houseboat traveled over Lake Metoka. The
+children sat on Heck, and watched other boats pass them. Some of them
+were loaded with lumber for Mr. Bobbsey. Others were pleasure boats,
+and those on board waved their hands to the Bobbsey twins and their
+cousins.
+
+"Are we going to travel all night?" asked Bert of his father, when
+Dinah called that supper was ready.
+
+"No, we are going to anchor soon. We will go a little nearer shore
+first, though."
+
+"And when will we start through Lemby Creek toward Lake Romano?"
+
+"Oh, in a day or so, I fancy."
+
+It was such a pleasant evening, that even the little twins were
+allowed to stay up on deck past their usual bedtime, looking at the
+twinkling stars, and the lights of other boats on the lake.
+
+When Flossie and Freddie did get to bed, they did not go to sleep at
+once. It was very strange to them, sleeping on a boat in the water.
+
+Finally the two little people dozed off, and then the older folks went
+to bed. In the middle of the night Freddie woke up. At first he could
+not remember where he was, and he wondered at the queer rocking motion
+of the boat, for a little wind was ruffling the lake.
+
+Suddenly there came a loud toot.
+
+"Mamma! Papa! I heard something!" cried Freddie, sitting up.
+
+"Yes, dear. It was only the whistle of another boat," said his mother,
+who was in the room next to him. "Go to sleep again."
+
+Freddie did.
+
+"Well, I sure am going to catch some fish to-day," said Bert, when he
+and Harry went up on deck next morning, after breakfast.
+
+"We'll try, anyhow," Harry said. "We're nearer shore now, and the
+fishing ought to be better. I'll get my line.".
+
+Whether it was on account of the bait they used, or because the fish
+were not plentiful, the boys did not know, but they did not get even
+one bite. Anyhow, they had fun.
+
+The Bluebird went slowly across the lake. The Bobbseys were in no
+hurry, and they wanted to enjoy the pleasant weather. For three days
+they sailed over the blue waters, and then Mr. Bobbsey told Captain
+White to steer toward Lemby Creek.
+
+"We'll go through the creek into Lake Romano," said the twins' father.
+"That is a much larger lake. We'll spend most of our houseboat
+vacation there. We will also visit the big waterfall."
+
+"That will be lovely!" exclaimed Dorothy. Though she lived near the
+sea, she also loved inland waters, such as rivers and lakes.
+
+The houseboat moved so slowly, and was such a safe craft, that Bert
+and Harry were allowed to steer at times, when Mr. Bobbsey or Captain
+White stood near them in case of any danger. The two boy cousins had
+taken turns steering, until the Bluebird was close to the place where
+Lemby Creek emptied into Lake Metoka.
+
+"You'd better let me take the steering wheel, now," said Mr. Bobbsey
+to Bert. "There is a little current from the creek into the lake, and
+we don't want to run ashore."
+
+In a little while the houseboat was safely in the creek. This stream
+of water was narrow, though it was deep enough to float the Bluebird
+easily. The shores were so close, at times, that the tree branches
+overhung the deck, and brushed the rails.
+
+"I could almost jump ashore," said Harry.
+
+"But you mustn't try it!" cautioned his aunt. "You might fall in, and
+Snap couldn't rescue you as easily as he did Snoop or the doll."
+
+As the houseboat went slowly around a bend in the creek, Nan, who
+stood in front, near her father, suddenly uttered a cry, and pointed
+toward shore.
+
+"What is it?" asked Mr. Bobbsey.
+
+"There's that boy--Will Watson!" spoke Nan. "You know--the one who
+liked our boat so," and she pointed to the strange lad who worked for
+Mr. Hardee. The boy was walking along the shore of the creek, a fish
+pole over his shoulder.
+
+"Oh, let's ask him how to catch fish!" proposed Bert. "We haven't had
+any luck at all!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE MEAN MAN
+
+
+Certainly it seemed a good place to fish, in Lemby Creek, for there
+were many shady pools near the banks--pools that looked as though fish
+swam in them, just waiting to be caught.
+
+As Harry and Bert looked more closely at the boy Nan had pointed out
+to them, they saw that he carried a string of fish, as well as the
+pole.
+
+"Oh, he's caught some!" cried Bert. "Let's ask how he does it."
+
+"And where he caught them," suggested Harry.
+
+"I will," agreed Bert. "Hey there, Will!" he called. "Where'd you get
+the fish?"
+
+The farm boy, who had seen the houseboat, and who was hurrying toward
+her, waved his hand as Bert called to him. Then, as he came nearer
+across the green meadow through which the creek ran, he shouted:
+
+"Plenty of fish all around you. Just throw in from the boat, and
+you'll get all you want."
+
+"What kind of bait do you use?" asked Mr. Bobbsey, for neither Bert
+nor Harry had thought to inquire about that, and the right kind of
+bait is as much needed in catching fish, as is water itself.
+
+"Grasshoppers are best just now," answered Will.
+
+"And we've been fishing with worms!" said Bert. "No wonder!"
+
+"Oh, worms are all right most times," Will went on. "But the fish are
+hungry for grasshoppers now. I'll give you some. I've got lots left."
+
+He came to the edge of the creek, and Mr. Bobbsey, who was steering
+the boat, sent it in close to shore.
+
+"We might as well tie up here for the night, I think," he said. "That
+will give you boys a chance to talk to Will, and learn how to catch
+fish."
+
+A little later the houseboat was rubbing along the grassy bank, and
+the water was so deep close to shore that there was really no need of
+putting out the board, called the "gangplank," for any one to get off.
+Mr. Bobbsey, knowing that Flossie and Freddie could not make the
+little jump needed to take them ashore, called to Captain White to run
+out a small board instead of the regular large one.
+
+"Come on, Harry!" called Bert. "We'll get some of those grasshoppers."
+
+He started down the stairs leading from the deck, intending to go
+ashore, but his mother touched him on the arm, and said, in a low
+voice:
+
+"Why don't you ask that boy to come on board?"
+
+"Why?" asked Bert.
+
+"Well, I was just going to give you children some of the corn muffins
+Dinah has just baked, and perhaps Will would like---"
+
+"Oh, of course! Now I understand!" cried Bert. "Of course. I say,
+Will!" he went on, calling down from the upper deck, "can't you come
+aboard? We're going to have some of Dinah's corn muffins, and maybe
+you'd like to sample one."
+
+Somewhat to the surprise of Mrs. Bobbsey, as well as to the wonderment
+of Bert and Harry, Will did not seem eager to accept the invitation.
+
+"I'd like to come on board, very much," he said, looking back of him,
+and on all sides, as though he feared some one was after him. "But you
+see I haven't got much time. I ought to be back at the farm now. Mr.
+Hardee set me to hoeing a patch of corn, and I'm supposed to be back
+in time to feed the horses before supper. And it's almost supper time
+now."
+
+"Well, we don't want you to be late," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Here, Bert,"
+she said, as Dinah came out of the kitchen with a big plate of
+muffins, "you take some of these to Will, and you can walk along a
+little way with him, and talk about fishing. Then he won't be late.
+
+"But don't go too far," she added, "for supper will soon be ready."
+
+"We won't!" promised Bert. Taking some of the delicious corn muffins,
+the two boys hurried ashore, Snap, the dog, barking joyously, bounding
+along with them. Flossie and Freddie did not care to go ashore just
+then, as the little girl twin was playing with her doll, and her
+brother was trying to make Snoop do one of the tricks that the circus
+lady had taught the cat in Cuba.
+
+Mrs. Bobbsey went down to the dining-room, to talk to Dinah about the
+evening meal, while Mr. Bobbsey and Captain White got out the ropes
+with which to tie the houseboat fast to some trees on the bank of the
+creek.
+
+Meanwhile Bert and Harry walked along with Will.
+
+"Have some muffins," invited Bert politely, passing his new friend
+some of the corn cakes that Dinah knew so well how to bake.
+
+"Thanks! They're good!" said Will, as he bit into one.
+
+"Say, you have some fine fish!" exclaimed Harry, half enviously.
+"Where'd you catch them?"
+
+"Oh, up the creek aways--near where I was hoeing corn. You can have
+'em, if you want 'em."
+
+"What! Do you mean to GIVE them to us?" asked Bert in surprise. "After
+all the work you had catching them?"
+
+"Oh, it wasn't any work catching 'em," said Will quickly. "It was fun.
+But it won't be any fun taking 'em home, for Mr. Hardee will be mad."
+
+"Why?" asked Harry, as he began eating a second muffin.
+
+"Well, he'll say I was catching fish instead of hoeing corn. But I
+caught all these in the noon hour, when I'm supposed to have a little
+time off. But he wouldn't believe that, so there's no use taking the
+fish home. You can have 'em. There's some pretty big sunnies, and a
+couple o' nice perch."
+
+"Sure you don't want them?" asked Bert.
+
+"No. I'd be glad to give 'em to you. And here's some grasshoppers I
+didn't use. They'll be good to fish with to-morrow."
+
+"Thanks," said Bert, as he took the tin box Will held out. Inside
+could be heard a queer little "ticking" noise, as the grasshoppers
+leaped up against the cover.
+
+"Say, these are sure some fine fish!" exclaimed Will.
+
+"Oh, you'll catch just as nice ones to-morrow," the country boy said.
+"I'll have to run now, or I'll be late at the farm."
+
+"Good-bye!" called Bert and Harry as Will hurried off along the edge
+of the creek. "See you to-morrow, maybe."
+
+Will had no idea that he would see his friends then. He knew he had a
+hard day's work in prospect for the next day--weeding a large patch of
+onions that were so far away from the creek that he would have no
+chance, even at his noon hour, of going down to the water for a cool
+little swim.
+
+Will did not know what queer things were going to happen to him very
+soon, nor did any of the Bobbseys realize what a part they were to
+play in the life of poor, friendless Will Watson.
+
+"He's a nice boy, isn't he?" asked Harry of Bert, as they turned back
+toward the boat, with their fish and bait.
+
+"Yes, I like him a lot. It's too bad he has to work so hard on the
+farm."
+
+"Yes, it sure is."
+
+Talking of the luck they expected to have the next day, fishing, the
+cousins soon reached the Bluebird. There they found their father and
+Captain White waiting for them.
+
+"We've decided to move the boat farther down the creek before we tie
+up for the night," said Mr. Bobbsey, "but we didn't want to go before
+you boys came back."
+
+"Are you going to start up the engine again?" asked Bert. "If you are,
+I wish you'd let me try to do it."
+
+"No, you are too small to go near gasoline motors," said his father.
+"Besides, we are not going to use the engine. We'll just push the boat
+along with poles from the bank. We're not going very far, but your
+mother thought it would be nicer to spend the night in a more open
+place."
+
+"Yes," said Mrs. Bobbsey, "I thought perhaps some animals might jump
+out of the trees on our deck."
+
+The trees on shore were very close to the boat, some of the branches
+overhanging the railing. At the mention of animals, Bert's eyes opened
+wider.
+
+"Say, if I had a gun I could shoot them, if they came aboard," he
+said, his eyes glistening.
+
+"Nonsense!" exclaimed his mother. "I'd rather have an animal on board
+than let you have a gun. You might get shot."
+
+"I--I could squirt water on 'em with my fire engine!" shouted Freddie,
+who had given up trying to make Snoop do any tricks.
+
+"Oh, we had enough of your engine, little fat fireman," said Mr.
+Bobbsey with a laugh. "Now then, if you're all ready, we'll move the
+boat."
+
+It was rather hard work to start the Bluebird, but once it had begun
+to move, it went more easily through the water. Captain White had one
+pushing pole, Mr. Bobbsey another, and Bert and Harry used one between
+them. Soon the houseboat moved out from the narrow part of the creek,
+and from under the trees, to a place where wide meadows were found on
+either side. A little farther, going around a bend in the stream, the
+Bobbseys came in sight of a farmhouse, a barn and several other
+buildings near it.
+
+"Oh, look!" cried Nan. "Somebody lives there."
+
+"Yes, that's Mr. Hardee's farm, I think," said Mr. Bobbsey. "We can
+tie up our boat here, and then, if we want some milk or eggs, we can
+easily get them."
+
+"I needs some aigs," spoke Dinah. "Done used de lastest one in dem
+muffins."
+
+"Then we'll make the boat fast here," decided Mr. Bobbsey. "With your
+corn muffins, Dinah, and the fish Will gave us, we'll have a fine
+supper. As soon as the boat is fast you and Harry can clean the fish,
+Bert."
+
+Beyond the broad expanse which lay between the wide meadows, the creek
+had narrowed again opposite the farmhouse and barn. In fact, it was so
+narrow, that if there had been another houseboat on the stream, there
+would have been trouble for the Bluebird to pass. This narrow part was
+not, however, very long, and beyond it the creek broadened out again.
+
+Mr. Bobbsey and Captain White had just finished fastening the ropes
+from the boat to some stakes driven into the ground, when Mrs.
+Bobbsey, who had come up from the dining-room, called out:
+
+"Oh, look, Richard!"
+
+"What is it?" asked her husband.
+
+"That man! See! I'm afraid he is going to give that boy a whipping.
+And see, it's Will--the boy who gave Bert the fish!"
+
+Mr. Bobbsey looked to where his wife pointed, and saw, coming out of
+the barn, a grizzled farmer, leading by the arm a boy whom Mr. Bobbsey
+at once recognized as Will Watson. Keeping a tight grip on the lad's
+arm with one hand, the farmer raised his other hand, in which was a
+long horsewhip.
+
+Then he cried:
+
+"I'll teach you to waste your time goin' fishin'! I'll teach you! Th'
+idea o' fishin' when I set you to hoein' corn! Wastin' my time! I'll
+learn you!"
+
+"Oh, but, Mr. Hardee!" cried poor Will. "I only fished in the noon
+hour when I'm not supposed to work!"
+
+"Not supposed to work!" cried the mean man, as he brought the whip
+down on Will's shoulders. "You're supposed t' work here all th' while
+I tell you--'cept when you're asleep! I'll teach you!" and again the
+cruel whip swished down.
+
+"Oh, Richard!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey faintly, as she covered her eyes
+with her hands. "Can't you stop that?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE WIRE FENCE
+
+
+Mr. Bobbsey did not waste any time talking. With a run and a jump he
+was on shore, and then he started across the meadow toward the place
+where the mean farmer was whipping Will, who was crying out loud. For
+the cruel whip hurt.
+
+"Hold on a minute, Mr. Hardee!" exclaimed Mr. Bobbsey, when he was
+near enough to make himself heard. Back on the deck of the houseboat
+Mrs. Bobbsey, the twins, their cousins and Dinah watched and waited to
+see what would happen.
+
+"You talkin' to me?" sharply demanded the mean farmer of Mr. Bobbsey.
+
+"Yes, Mr. Hardee. I asked you to wait a minute before you keep on
+whipping that boy. I happened to hear part of what he said, and I
+think he is in the right."
+
+"In th' right? What do you mean?"
+
+"I mean I think he tells the truth, when he says he fished only during
+the noon hour. We saw him as he came along, and he gave the fish he
+had caught to my boy."
+
+"Oh, he did, hey?" exclaimed Mr. Hardee. "I was wonderin' what become
+of 'em. Give 'em away, did he? Wa'al, he knowed better'n to bring 'em
+here. I knowed he'd been wastin' his time. When I set a boy to hoein'
+corn, an' he comes home smellin' of fish, I know what he's been doin'
+jest th' same as when I see a boy's head wet on a hot day I know he's
+been in swimmin'! You can't fool me. He's frittered away his time,
+when he ought t' be hoein' corn, an' now I'm goin' to take it out of
+him!"
+
+Again he raised the whip, and struck the boy.
+
+"Oh, please don't!" begged Will. "Honest I didn't fish except at noon
+hour, an' I ate my lunch in one hand, and fished with the other, so I
+wouldn't waste any time. I only took half an hour, instead of three-
+quarters you said I could have at noon, and I went right to work
+hoein' corn again."
+
+"Humph! That's easy enough to say," spoke Mr. Hardee, "but I don't
+believe you. I told you I'd whip you if you went fishin' ag'in, an'
+I'm goin' to do it!"
+
+Again the lash fell.
+
+"Please don't!" begged Will, trying to break loose. But the angry
+farmer held him in too firm a grip.
+
+"Look here!" exclaimed Mr. Bobbsey with flashing eyes. "I believe that
+boy is telling the truth!"
+
+"Wa'al, I don't," snapped the mean farmer. "An' I'm goin' to give him
+a good lesson."
+
+"Not that way, Mr. Hardee!" cried Mr. Bobbsey, taking a step forward.
+
+"Huh! You seem to know my name," said the farmer, stopping in his
+beating of the boy, "but I don't know you."
+
+"My name is Bobbsey," said the twins' lather, and the farmer started.
+"I'm in the lumber business over at Lakeport. I guess you bought some
+lumber of me, didn't you, for your house."
+
+"Wa'al, s'posin' I did?" asked Mr. Hardee. "I paid you for it, didn't
+I?"
+
+"Yes, I think so."
+
+"Wa'al, then that don't give you no right to interfere with me! This
+is my hired boy, an' I can do as I please with him."
+
+"Oh, no, you can't, Mr. Hardee!" said Mr. Bobbsey quickly.
+
+"What's that? I can't? Wa'al, I'll show you! Stand back now, I'm goin'
+to give him a good threshin'!"
+
+Again he raised the whip, but it did not fall on poor, timid,
+shrinking Will. For Mr. Bobbsey snatched it away from the angry
+farmer's hand and flung it far to one side.
+
+"Here! What'd you mean by that?" demanded Mr. Hardee, his face more
+flushed than ever with anger.
+
+"I mean you're not going to beat that boy!" replied the twins' father.
+"He hasn't done anything to deserve it, and I'm not going to stand by
+and see him abused. Is he your hired boy?"
+
+"I took him out of the poorhouse--nobody would hire him. He's bound
+out to me until he's of age, an' I can do as I please with him."
+
+"Oh, no, you can't," said Mr. Bobbsey. "I happen to know something of
+the law. You have no right to beat this boy, and if you try to do it
+now, or again, and I hear of it, I'll make a complaint against you.
+Don't you strike him again, especially when he hasn't done anything."
+
+Mr. Hardee seemed so surprised that he did not know what to say. His
+grip on Will's arm slipped off, and Will quickly stepped to one side.
+There were tears in his eyes, and on his face.
+
+"I believe this boy was telling the truth," said Mr. Bobbsey. "Even if
+he did fish a little during the time you call yours, that would be no
+excuse for using a horsewhip on him."
+
+"I tell you he's bound out to me, and I can. do as I please with him!"
+cried Mr. Hardee.
+
+"No, you can't," said Mr. Bobbsey. "You have no right to be cruel,
+even if he is a poor boy, and is bound out to you. Haven't you any
+folks, Will?" he asked.
+
+"No--no, sir," was the half-sobbed answer. "No near folks. I come from
+th' poorhouse, just as he says. But I've got an uncle somewhere out
+west. He's a miner. If he knew where I was, he'd look after me."
+
+"Where is your uncle?" asked Mr. Bobbsey.
+
+"I--I got his address, but I can't write very good, or I'd send him a
+letter."
+
+"Let me have his address," went on Mr. Bobbsey. "And I'll see what I
+can do."
+
+"Look here!" cried the farmer. "I won't have you interferin' in my
+business! You ain't got a right to!"
+
+"Every one has a right to stop a poor boy from being unjustly beaten,"
+said the twins' father. "Will, you get me that address. I'll be here a
+day or so, in my houseboat, and you can bring it down to me. Do you
+think you can find it, and let me know where your uncle lives?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Then do it."
+
+"Now you look-a-here!" began Mr. Hardee, "I won't have you, nor
+anybody else, interferin' with my hired help. I---"
+
+"I'm not interfering except to stop you from horsewhipping a boy,"
+said Mr. Bobbsey. "Any one has a right to do that."
+
+"Humph!" was all the farmer said, as he over and picked up the
+horsewhip Mr. Bobbsey had taken from him. The twins' father thought
+perhaps the farmer was going to use it again, but he did not. Mr.
+Hardee turned to Will and said:
+
+"Get along up to the house, and eat your supper! There's lots o' work
+to be done afore dark. An' if I catch you fishin' any more, I'll make
+you---"
+
+"But I wasn't fishin' except at the noon hour," the boy interrupted.
+
+"That's enough of your talk!" the farmer cried as he walked toward the
+barn. "Go on!"
+
+Mr. Bobbsey went back to the houseboat.
+
+"It's all right," he said cheerfully to his wife and children. "I made
+him stop hurting Will."
+
+"Did he--did he hit him very hard?" asked Freddie, for punishment of
+that sort was totally unknown in the Bobbsey home. Of course the
+children did not always do right, but they were punished by having
+some pleasure taken away from them, and never whipped.
+
+"No, Will wasn't much hurt," said Mr. Bobbsey, for he did not want his
+children, or their cousins, to worry too much over what they had seen.
+Yet Mr. Bobbsey could not help but think that the cruel lash must have
+hurt Will more than the boy himself showed.
+
+"He--he won't whip him any more, will he?" asked little Flossie.
+
+"No, not any more," said Mr. Bobbsey, for he had made up his mind he
+would, if necessary, take the boy away from the mean farmer before any
+more whipping could be done.
+
+"Suppah am ready!" called Dinah from the kitchen. "An' I done wants
+yo' all t' come right away fo' it gits cold!"
+
+"We're coming!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey. "And after supper we'll sit on
+deck and sing songs."
+
+She wanted to do something to take out of the minds of the children
+the memory of the unpleasant scene they had just observed.
+
+"I wish it would hurry up and come morning," said Bert.
+
+"Why?" asked his father.
+
+"So Harry and I can go fishing. I'm sure we'll catch some with the
+grasshoppers for bait."
+
+"Well, I hope you have good luck," laughed Mr. Bobbsey.
+
+The supper was much enjoyed. The fish, which Will had given the
+Bobbseys, made a fine meal, with the corn muffins and other things
+Dinah cooked. After supper they all sat out on the deck of the
+houseboat, enjoying the beautiful June evening. From the farm of Mr.
+Hardee came the sounds of mooing cows, and whinnying horses, with an
+occasional grunt of the pigs, or the barking of dogs.
+
+Nothing was seen of the farmer himself, or of poor Will.
+
+"Can you do anything for him?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey of her husband,
+after the children had gone to bed that night.
+
+"I hope so, yes. If, as he says, he has an uncle somewhere in the
+West, and I can get his address, I'll write to him, and ask him to
+look after Will. The boy needs a good home."
+
+"Indeed he does. Oh, I'm so glad you didn't let him get that
+whipping!"
+
+"I'll help him all I can," promised Mr. Bobbsey.
+
+The twins' father rather hoped that the hired boy might slip down to
+the houseboat that evening, with his uncle's address, but nothing was
+seen of him.
+
+In the morning a strange thing happened.
+
+Mr. Bobbsey and Captain White decided that it would be better to take
+the boat a little farther down Lemby Creek, and tie it fast to the
+bank in a more shady spot than the one opposite the farm buildings.
+
+"It will be better fishing in the shade, too," Mr. Bobbsey said to the
+boys.
+
+So the gasoline engine was started, and the boat started off. It had
+not gone very far, though, before Mr. Bobbsey, who was steering,
+called to Captain White to shut off the engine.
+
+"What's the matter?" asked Captain White. "You're going farther than
+this; aren't you?"
+
+"I wanted to, yes. But we can't go any farther."
+
+"Why not?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey. "Nothing has happened to the boat, has
+there, Richard?"
+
+"No, not to the boat. But look there!" and Mr. Bobbsey pointed ahead.
+Stretched across a narrow part of Lemby Creek was a strong wire fence,
+fastened to posts driven into the bottom of the stream. The Bluebird
+could go no farther on her voyage. The fence stopped her.
+
+As Mr. Bobbsey, the twins and the cousins looked at the strong wire
+fence, they saw Mr. Hardee come along the shore. He looked at the
+houseboat, and shook his fist, grinning in no pleasant fashion.
+
+"I guess you won't go no farther!" he cried. "I've put a stop to your
+fancy trip all right! Huh!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE RUNAWAY BOY
+
+
+"Oh, papa, can't we go on to Lake Romano?" asked Nan, as she came up
+on deck with Dorothy, and saw the big wire fence stretched across the
+creek to stop them.
+
+"It doesn't look so--unless we can fly over that," and her brother
+Bert pointed to the metal strands that went from post to post.
+
+"It does seem to hinder us," said Mr. Bobbsey. He was trying to think
+of what would be best to do. He looked at Mr. Hardee, who seemed to
+think it all a fine joke.
+
+"Papa, I know how we can get through," eagerly said little Freddie,
+who was holding Snoop in his arms. The big black cat was almost too
+much of a load for the little boy, but Freddie wanted her to do some
+tricks, and he held her so she would not run away.
+
+"I know how to get past that fence," the little twin went on.
+
+"How?" asked his father, rather absentmindedly. "How?"
+
+"Just cut the wires!" said Freddie, as though no one but himself had
+thought of that. "If I had one of those cutter-things the telephone
+man had, when he climbed the pole in front of our house, I could cut
+the wires and we could go right on up the creek."
+
+"Yes, I suppose so, my little fat fireman," said Mr. Bobbsey. "But I
+don't believe the man who put that fence up there would let us cut the
+wires."
+
+"It's queer," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "That fence wasn't across the creek
+before, was it?"
+
+"I don't know," answered her husband. "It looks as though it had been
+put up lately--even last night, perhaps. But I haven't been along the
+creek in some time, so I can't be sure."
+
+"It wasn't here last week, that's certain," Captain White spoke. "For
+I was up here then fishing, and I didn't see it. I fancy that Mr.
+Hardee knows something about it."
+
+"I shouldn't wonder," agreed Mr. Bobbsey. "Now the question is: What
+are we to do? We can't go on through the fence, and we can't very well
+go around it, for the Bluebird won't float on dry ground. And I don't
+want to go back. This is the only way to get to Lake Romano."
+
+"I know what to do, papa," spoke Flossie. "We can ask that man to take
+down the wires, if Freddie can't cut them with the cutter-thing."
+
+"Yes, I suppose we could do that," Mr. Bobbsey said, slowly.
+
+By this time Mr. Hardee had come closer to the houseboat, which had
+drifted near to the shore.
+
+"Will you take that fence down, and let us go past?" asked Mr.
+Bobbsey, as politely as he could.
+
+"No, I won't!" snapped Mr. Hardee in reply. "No!"
+
+"But we want to go on down the creek," explained the twins' father,
+"and we can't get past the fence."
+
+"I know you can't!" said Mr. Hardee with a chuckle. "That's what I put
+it up there for. I strung it last night--me and my hired men. I didn't
+think you'd hear, and you didn't. Give you a sort of surprise, didn't
+it?"
+
+"It certainly did," and Mr. Bobbsey's voice was stern. "And I want to
+say that you had no right to stretch that fence across the creek to
+stop my boat. You had no right!"
+
+"Oh, yes, I had!" said Mr. Hardee with a sneer.
+
+"This is a public creek," went on Mr. Bobbsey.
+
+"Maybe it is, in certain places," said the mean farmer, "but here the
+creek runs through my land. I own on both sides of it, and I own the
+creek itself. If I don't want to let anybody go through in a boat, I
+don't have to."
+
+"Oh, so you own the creek here, do you?" asked Mr. Bobbsey, rather
+surprised.
+
+"Yes, I do."
+
+"And you aren't going to let us pass?"
+
+"Nope! That's why I strung that fence last night. It's a good, strong
+fence, and if you run into it, and try to bust it I'll have th' law on
+ye!"
+
+"Oh, you needn't worry that I'll do anything like that," spoke Mr.
+Bobbsey. "But why won't you let us pass?"
+
+"Because of what you did last night--interferin' between me and my
+help. You wouldn't let me give Will Watson the threshin' he deserved,
+an' I won't let you pass through my creek. I want you to back up your
+boat, too, and go back where you come from. I own that part of the
+creek where you are now."
+
+"Come now, be reasonable," suggested Mr. Bobbsey. "I stopped you from
+beating that boy only because you were in the wrong. If you'll just
+think it over, you'll say so yourself. And, just for that, you
+shouldn't stop my boat from going up the creek."
+
+"Well, I have stopped you, and I'm going to keep on stoppin' you!"
+cried Mr. Hardee, again shaking his fist. "You can't get past my
+fence. It's a good strong fence."
+
+"I--I could cut it, if I had one of those cutter-things, the telephone
+man had," said Freddie, in his clear, high voice.
+
+"Hush, Freddie dear," said his mother. "Leave it to papa."
+
+Mr. Bobbsey was silent a moment, and then he went on:
+
+"And so you strung that fence in the night, and won't let my houseboat
+pass, just because I stopped you from beating that boy?"
+
+"That's it," the mean farmer said. "And for more than that, too."
+
+"What do you mean?" asked Mr. Bobbsey quickly.
+
+"I mean that you made that boy, Will Watson, run away."
+
+"Run away!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey, in surprise.
+
+"Yes, run away," repeated the farmer. "He didn't come down to
+breakfast this mornin', and when I went to call him to do the chores,
+he was gone. And, what's more, I think you had somethin' to do with
+him runnin' away," went on the angry farmer. "You put a lot o' notions
+in his head. You're to blame!"
+
+"Now look here!" exclaimed Mr. Bobbsey. "We don't know any more about
+that boy running away than you do, Mr. Hardee. If he has gone, I'm
+sorry for him, for he may have a hard time. I'm not sorry I stopped
+you from beating him, though. Perhaps he is around the farm
+somewhere."
+
+"No, he isn't!" insisted the farmer. "He's gone. What clothes he had
+he took with him. He's run away, and it's your fault, too. I put up
+that fence last night to pay you back for interferin', an' now I'm
+glad I did, for you're to blame for Will runnin' off."
+
+"I tell you that you are mistaken," went on Mr. Bobbsey. "But if you
+feel that way about it, there is no use talking to you. Then you won't
+take down that wire fence and let us pass?"
+
+"No, I won't, and I order you, and your boat, out of my part of the
+creek. Go back where you come from. You can't go through to Lake
+Romano this way!"
+
+Mr. Bobbsey turned and looked at the wire fence. It certainly was a
+strong one, and the farmer and his hired men had worked well during
+the night. It was far enough off from where the Bluebird then was so
+that the pounding on the posts, to drive them into the mud of the
+creek bottom, was not heard.
+
+"Well, I guess there's nothing for us to do but to go back," said Mr.
+Bobbsey. He felt very sorry, when he saw the looks of disappointment
+on the faces of the twins and their cousins.
+
+"Papa," said Freddie again, "if I had one of those wire-cutter things,
+I could snip that wire like the telephone men did."
+
+"Yes, but we haven't one, little fat fireman, and we would have no
+right to use it if we had," said Mr. Bobbsey. "No, I must think of
+some other way."
+
+"It's too bad," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "I wonder what has become of that
+poor runaway boy?" she asked.
+
+"I don't know," answered Mr. Bobbsey. But, had he only known it, Will
+Watson was nearer than any one suspected.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+OFF AGAIN
+
+
+"What are we going to do?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey, as she stood at the
+side of her husband on the deck of the houseboat. Mr. Bobbsey was
+looking at the wire fence, as though trying to find a way to get past
+it--either under it, or over it, or to one side or the other of it. Of
+course he did not think it wise to try little Freddie's plan of
+breaking the wire with a "cutter thing" such as the telephone men
+carried.
+
+"Well," said Mr. Bobbsey, after a bit, "I guess the only thing for us
+to do is to go back, until we are anchored in some part of Lemby Creek
+that doesn't belong to Mr. Hardee."
+
+"Does he really own this water?" asked Bert.
+
+"Well, he says so, and I have no doubt but what he does," said Mr.
+Bobbsey. "If he owns land on both sides of the creek, naturally he
+owns the creek, too."
+
+"And we can't go up or down it?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey.
+
+"Not unless he lets us."
+
+"What about the fishes?" asked Bert "He can't stop them from swimming
+up and down."
+
+"No, he can't do that," agreed his father, with a smile.
+
+"Then can he stop Harry and me from catching fish?" Bert wanted next
+to know.
+
+"Not if you fish somewhere else than in his waters," spoke the twins'
+father. "The best thing for us to do is to go back where we were at
+first, near where the creek runs into Lake Metoka. There we can anchor
+for a time."
+
+"But how are we going to get to Lake Romano?" asked Nan. "I want to
+show Dorothy the big waterfall."
+
+"Well, perhaps we can get there a little later," her father said.
+"Just now Mr. Hardee has the best of us, and we'll have to do as he
+says. So, Captain White, I guess we'll have to back up the boat, as we
+can't go past the fence."
+
+"If I had one of those wire-cutter things," began Freddie, "I could
+snip that wire as easy as anything." He seemed to think of nothing
+else.
+
+"Oh, you and Flossie had better go play with Snap, or Snoop,"
+suggested Bert with a laugh. "Or you can come and watch Harry and me
+fish. We're going to as soon as we get back aways."
+
+"I'm going to fish, too," declared Freddie, eagerly.
+
+The creek, near Mr. Hardee's farm, was so narrow that the houseboat
+could not be turned around in it, and it had to go backward. This was
+easy, since the Bluebird was something like a ferry boat, built to go
+backward or forward.
+
+The twins were a little sad as they saw their boat backing up, but it
+could not be helped.
+
+"We'll have a good time fishing, anyhow," said Harry.
+
+"That's right," agreed Bert. "I wonder if that boy Will took his
+fishing rod with him? He'd probably need it, if he has run away, and
+is going out west to find his uncle."
+
+"Why would he need a fish-rod?" asked Nan.
+
+"To catch fish to eat," her brother said. "He'll have to have
+something, and fish are the easiest to get. I almost wish I had gone
+with him. It will be lots of fun."
+
+"Oh, but it will be very hard, too," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Think of the
+lonely nights he'll have to spend, and perhaps with no place to sleep,
+but on the hard ground. And when it rains---"
+
+"I guess I'll stay home!" laughed Bert, as though he had ever had an
+idea of running away from home.
+
+Slowly the Bluebird made her way backward until she had passed some
+posts near the edge of the water. These posts marked the boundary line
+of Mr. Hardee's farm. He did not own beyond them, and Captain White
+said the creek was public property there.
+
+"Then we'll anchor here," decided Mr. Bobbsey, as he steered the
+houseboat toward shore. "Then I think I'll take a little trip back to
+Lakeport."
+
+"And leave us alone?" cried Mrs. Bobbsey.
+
+"Only for a short while. I want to see some friends of mine, and find
+out if Mr. Hardee really has the right to fence off Lemby Creek. I
+don't believe he has."
+
+"Will you be back to-night?"
+
+"Oh, yes. It isn't far to Lakeport. I can walk across the fields and
+go by trolley."
+
+"I do hope you can find some way of getting past the fence," said Mrs.
+Bobbsey. "It would be too bad to have our trip spoiled."
+
+As Mr. Bobbsey was getting ready to go back to town, Dinah came out of
+the dining-room, looking rather puzzled.
+
+"What is the matter?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey. "Are you worried because we
+can't get those eggs from Mr. Hardee?"
+
+"Well, yessum, dat's partly it," said the fat cook. "We's got t' hab
+eggs, an' other things too."
+
+"Bert and Harry can walk to the village," said Mr. Bobbsey. "It isn't
+far from here. I'll go part way with them. So don't worry, Dinah."
+
+"Oh, dat isn't all dat's worryin' me, Massa Bobbsey. But did yo' say
+de chillums could hab dem corn muffins whut was left over?" and she
+looked at Mrs. Bobbsey.
+
+"The corn muffins that were left over?" repeated the twins' mother.
+"No, I said nothing about them. And they know they should not eat
+between meals without asking me. Why, are the muffins gone, Dinah?"
+
+"Yessum; fo' ob 'em. I put 'em on a plate on de dinin' room table, but
+now dey's gone."
+
+"Maybe Snap took them," suggested Mr. Bobbsey. "Snoop wouldn't, for
+she doesn't like such things. But Snap is very fond of them."
+
+Freddie, who heard the talk, hurried over to where the dog was lying
+asleep in a patch of sunlight, and opened his mouth.
+
+"No, Snap didn't take 'em," said Freddie. "There aren't any crumbs in
+his teeth."
+
+"Well, maybe you can tell that way, but I doubt it," laughed Mr.
+Bobbsey. "Perhaps you forgot where you put the muffins, Dinah, or
+maybe there were none left."
+
+"Oh, I'se shuah I done put 'em on de table," said the fat cook, "an'
+I'se shuah dey was some left. I'll go look some mo', though."
+
+As there were a few other things besides eggs that were needed for the
+kitchen of the houseboat, Bert and Harry planned to take a basket, and
+go to the nearest village store for them. They would walk across the
+fields with Mr. Bobbsey.
+
+"We'll fish when we come back," said Bert.
+
+"And get enough for dinner and supper," added Harry.
+
+"Better get enough for one meal first," suggested Nan, with a laugh.
+
+The houseboat was now made fast to the bank of the creek some distance
+away from the wire fence Mr. Hardee had stretched across the stream.
+It was not to be seen, nor were the farm buildings. The last the
+Bobbseys had observed of the farmer was as he stood near his wire
+fence, shaking his fist at the houseboat.
+
+Mr. Bobbsey did not just know how he was going to get past the fence
+with the Bluebird, or how he could get Mr. Hardee to cut the wire. The
+twins' father decided to ask the advice of some friends.
+
+Meanwhile Bert and Harry had reached the store, and had brought the
+eggs, and other groceries, back to Dinah.
+
+"Did you find those corn muffins?" asked Bert. "Because, if you did,
+Harry and I would like some. May we have one, mother?"
+
+"If Dinah has them, yes."
+
+"But I cain't find 'em!" complained the fat cook. "Dem muffins hab
+jest done gone an' hid de'se'ves."
+
+"Oh, I guess we ate them up without knowing it," Bert said, with a
+laugh. "Never mind, Dinah, a piece of cake, or pie will do just as
+well."
+
+"Go 'long wif yo'!" cried the cook with a laugh. "I'se got suffin else
+t' do 'cept make cake an' pies fo' two hungry boys. Yo' jest take a
+piece ob bread an' butter 'till dinnah am ready."
+
+"All right," agreed Bert. "It won't be long until twelve o'clock. Come
+on, Harry, and we'll see what luck we have fishing."
+
+"I'm ready," was Harry's answer.
+
+"I'll get you the bread and butter," offered Nan, and she did, adding
+some jam to the bread, which was a delightful surprise to the two
+boys.
+
+"I want to fish, too," said Freddie.
+
+"All right, I'll fix you a line," offered Bert. "But be careful you
+don't fall in. A fish might pull you overboard."
+
+Soon the three boys were dangling their lines over the rail of the
+Bluebird, while Nan helped her mother with some of the rooms, which,
+even though they were on a boat, needed "putting to rights." Dinah was
+busy in the kitchen.
+
+By this time Mr. Bobbsey had reached Lakeport by the trolley. He was
+going to his lumber office, thinking some of his friends, whom he
+might call on the telephone could suggest a way out of the trouble.
+Before he reached the lumber yard, however, he met an acquaintance on
+the street, a Mr. Murphy.
+
+"Why, hello, Mr. Bobbsey!" exclaimed Mr. Murphy. "I thought you were
+off on a vacation with your family in a houseboat."
+
+"I was," said the lumber merchant, "but I came back."
+
+"Back so soon? Didn't you like it?"
+
+"Oh, yes, first rate. But we can't go any farther."
+
+"Can't go any farther? What's the matter, did your boat sink?"
+
+"No, but we're stuck in Lemby Creek. Mr. Hardee, a farmer who owns
+land on both sides of the creek, has put a wire fence across to stop
+us from going on to Lake Romano."
+
+"Is that so! Well, that's too bad. How did it happen?"
+
+"I'll tell you," said Mr. Bobbsey.
+
+Then he told the story of stopping the angry farmer from beating Will
+Watson, and how the fence had been built in the night.
+
+"Well, that certainly was a mean trick on the part of Mr. Hardee,"
+said Mr. Murphy. "And so the boy ran away?"
+
+"Yes, and Mr. Hardee accused me of knowing something about him, but I
+don't--any more than you do."
+
+"I suppose not. But now the question is, How are you going to get past
+that wire fence?"
+
+"I don't know. The only way I see is to get Mr. Hardee to cut it, or
+take it down, and he says he won't do either."
+
+"Humph! Let me see. There ought to be a way out of it. I believe he
+has the right, as far as the law goes, to put that fence up, but no
+one else would be so mean. I guess we'll just have to force him to cut
+those wires, as your little boy, Freddie, suggested."
+
+"Yes, but how can we do it?" asked Mr. Bobbsey. "Mr. Hardee is very
+headstrong, and set in his ways."
+
+"Let me see," spoke Mr. Murphy slowly, "isn't his name Jake Hardee?"
+
+"Yes, I believe it is."
+
+"And didn't he buy from you the lumber to build his house?"
+
+"Yes, I sold him the lumber, but he paid me for it," said Mr. Bobbsey.
+"I couldn't get any hold on him that way. He paid for the lumber in
+cash."
+
+"Yes," cried Mr. Murphy, "but he got the money from me to pay you, and
+he hasn't paid ME back. He still owes ME the money, and he gave me a
+mortgage on his house as security. I've got a hold on him all right.
+He owes me some interest money, too."
+
+I might say to you little children that when a man wants to build a
+house and has not enough money, he goes to another man and borrows
+cash, just as your mamma sometimes borrows sugar, or tea, from the
+lady next door.
+
+When the man borrows money to build his house, he gives to the man who
+lends him the cash, a piece of paper, called a mortgage. That paper
+says that if the man who borrowed the money does not pay it back, and
+also pay interest for the use of it, the man who lent him the money
+can take the house. The house is "security" for the loaned money.
+
+It is just as if your mamma went next door to borrow a cup of sugar,
+and said:
+
+"Now, Mrs. Jones, if I don't pay you back this sugar, and a little
+more than you gave me, for being so kind as to lend it to me--if I
+don't pay it back in a week, why you can keep my new Sunday hat." And
+your mamma might give Mrs. Jones a Sunday hat as "security" for the
+cup of sugar. Of course ladies do not do those things, but that is
+what a mortgage is like.
+
+"Yes." said Mr. Murphy to Mr. Bobbsey, "Mr. Hardee borrowed from me
+the money to buy from you the lumber for his house. And he hasn't paid
+me back the money, nor any interest on it. I think I'll go up and have
+a talk with him. And, when I get through talking, I guess he'll let
+you go through his wire fence."
+
+"I hope he will," said Mr. Bobbsey, "for it would be too bad to have
+our trip spoiled."
+
+"I'll go right back with you," offered Mr. Murphy.
+
+So it happened that Mr. Bobbsey, with his friend, reached the
+houseboat, in Lemby Creek, shortly after dinner.
+
+"Oh, back so soon?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey. "What are you going to do, Mr.
+Murphy?"
+
+"Have a talk with Mr. Hardee."
+
+Mr. Bobbsey and Mr. Murphy walked down the bank of the creek to the
+farm. They found Mr. Hardee mending a broken harness.
+
+"Mr. Hardee," said Mr. Murphy, "I hear you have put a wire fence
+across Lemby Creek, so my friend, Mr. Bobbsey, can't get past with his
+houseboat."
+
+"Yes, I have," growled the farmer, "and that fence is going to stay
+up, too! I'll show him he can't come around here, interferin' with me
+when I try to punish my help. He made Will run away too."
+
+"No, I did not. I know nothing of him," said Mr. Bobbsey.
+
+"Mr. Hardee," went on Mr. Murphy. "I want you to take down that fence,
+and let the houseboat go on up the creek."
+
+"And I'm not going to!"
+
+"Very well, then," said Mr. Murphy, quietly, "perhaps you are ready to
+pay me the interest on my mortgage which has been due me for some
+time, Mr. Hardee."
+
+The farmer seemed uneasy.
+
+"Well, to tell you the truth," he said, "I haven't got that money just
+now, Mr. Murphy. Times have been hard, and crops are poor, and I'm
+short of cash. Can't you wait a while?"
+
+"I have waited some time."
+
+"Well, I'd like to have you wait a little longer. I'll pay you after a
+while."
+
+"And I suppose you'll take down that wire fence, and let Mr. Bobbsey
+and the twins go past--after a while?"
+
+"Well--maybe," growled the mean farmer.
+
+"Maybe won't do!" exclaimed Mr. Murphy. "I want you to take the wire
+fence down RIGHT AWAY."
+
+"Well, I'm not going to do it. He interfered with me, and made that
+boy run away, and I'm not going to let him go up my part of the
+creek."
+
+"Well, then, Mr. Hardee, if you can't do something for Mr. Bobbsey, as
+a favor, I can't do anything to oblige you. Mr. Bobbsey is a friend of
+mine and unless you cut your wire fence, I'll have to foreclose that
+mortgage, and take your house in payment for the money you owe me.
+That's all there is about it. Either pay me my money--or cut that
+fence. It must be one or the other."
+
+Mr. Hardee squirmed in his seat, and seemed very uneasy.
+
+"I--I just can't pay that money," he said.
+
+"Then I'll have to take your house away."
+
+"I--I don't want you to do that, either."
+
+"Then cut the wire fence!" cried Mr. Murphy.
+
+"Wa'al, I--I guess I'll have to," said Mr. Hardee, but it was clearly
+to be seen that he did not want to. He went into the barn, and came
+out wearing a pair of rubber boots, and carrying a pair of pincers--
+the "wire-cutting things," as Freddie called them.
+
+Wading out into the creek Mr. Hardee snipped the wires of the fence.
+
+"There, now you can go on," he said to Mr. Bobbsey, but his tone was
+not pleasant.
+
+"I thought I knew how to make him give in," whispered Mr. Murphy.
+
+"Thank you," said Mr. Bobbsey to his friend. They hurried back to the
+houseboat.
+
+"We're going on again!" cried the twins' father. "The fence is down."
+
+"Oh, fine!" said Bert.
+
+"Now for the waterfall!" sighed Nan, who loved beautiful scenery.
+
+"Oh, I've caught a fish!" suddenly shouted Freddie and he jumped about
+so that his mother, with a scream, ran toward him, fearing he would go
+overboard.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+OVERBOARD
+
+
+"Look out, Freddie!"
+
+"Be careful there, little fat fireman!"
+
+Thus Mrs. Bobbsey cried to the small twin, and thus Mr. Bobbsey also
+warned his son, who had pulled up his pole with a jerk, when he felt a
+nibble on the fish-line.
+
+"I'll look out for him!" cried Bert, and he got between his little
+brother and the railing of the boat, so there would be no danger of
+Freddie's falling overboard. Freddie had no intention of getting into
+the water, but he was much excited over his fish.
+
+"I caught it all myself!" he cried. "I caught a fish all by myself,
+and nobody helped me. Didn't I, Bert?"
+
+"Yes, Freddie, except that Harry put on the grasshopper bait."
+
+"But where's the fish?" asked Nan, who, as yet, had not seen one.
+
+"Here it is!" cried Freddie, as he ran toward the end of his line
+which lay on deck. "I caught a fish, and it's all mine--every bit,"
+and he held up a little, wiggling sunfish which, somehow or other, had
+been caught on the tiny hook.
+
+"Oh, it's a real, live fish!" squealed Flossie, dropping her doll to
+get a better view of this new plaything. "Are we going to have it for
+supper, Freddie?"
+
+"No!" cried the little fat fellow, as he tried to hold the fish up by
+the swinging line in one hand, and grasp it in the other. The fish was
+so slippery that, every time Freddie had it, his hand slid off of it.
+"We're not going to eat my fish!" cried Freddie. "I'm going to keep it
+forever, in a glass globe, and make it do tricks!"
+
+The others gathered around to see Freddie's catch, for the little
+fellow was very proud of his success, though, once or twice before, on
+trips to the country, he had been allowed to fish with Bert and Nan.
+He was too impatient to sit still long, so he never caught much.
+
+"Here comes Snoop," said Mr. Bobbsey, with a laughing glance at his
+friend Mr. Murphy, who had come back to the houseboat with him, after
+the mean farmer had cut the wire fence.
+
+"Snoop can't have my fish!" cried Freddie, now hugging his dangling
+prize close to his waist.
+
+"Oh, you'll get your clothes all dirty!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey, as the
+black cat came snooping and sniffing around, for she smelled fish,
+which she very much liked.
+
+"Go 'way, Snoop! You can't have my fish!" cried Freddie. "I'm going to
+put it in a glass globe, and keep it forever and teach it to do
+tricks."
+
+"I guess swimming is the only trick a fish can do," said Bert, with a
+laugh, "and you don't have to teach them that. They know it already."
+
+Freddie was so afraid that Snoop might get his fish, that Dinah
+brought him up a glass dish, in which, when it was filled with water,
+the little "sunny" was allowed to swim around. The hook had become
+fastened in only a corner of the mouth, and the fish was not hurt in
+the least.
+
+Freddie was as proud as though he had caught a whale or a shark. He
+did not care to fish any more, but stood on deck near the box on which
+had been placed the dish containing his fish.
+
+Bert and Harry, who had caught some larger fish, went back to their
+rods and lines, while Nan took up Freddie's pole and used it for
+herself. Flossie divided her time between getting her doll to "sleep"
+and watching Freddie's fish.
+
+"Well, are we really going up the creek?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey.
+
+"Yes, Mr. Murphy got the farmer to cut the wire fence, so we can get
+past," said Mr. Bobbsey. "We had better start, too, for Mr. Hardee
+might change his mind, and put back the wire fence."
+
+"I guess there isn't much danger of that," spoke Mr. Murphy. "But you
+have a fine boat. I don't wonder that you didn't want to stay cooped
+up here in this creek."
+
+Flossie, who had come over near the visitor, said:
+
+"There's a stove in our kitchen, and Dinah cooks things on it--good
+things to eat!"
+
+"Does she?" cried Mr. Murphy, catching the little girl up in his arms.
+"That's fine!"
+
+"I think you might take that as an invitation to dinner," said Mrs.
+Bobbsey, with a laugh.
+
+"Thanks, I will stay, and see how it feels to eat on board a
+houseboat," replied the man who had helped Mr. Bobbsey.
+
+Bert and Harry decided that they had caught enough fish now, so they
+pulled in their lines, and soon the Bluebird was moving slowly up the
+creek, toward Lake Romano, though it would be a day or so before the
+Bobbseys reached it.
+
+As the houseboat went past the wire fence, which had been cut, the
+twins and their cousins looked at it in wonder. Only the posts stood
+there now, and there was room enough between them for the houseboat to
+pass. A little way back from the shore stood Mr. Hardee.
+
+"I'm not going to let every boat go past that wants to!" he called to
+Mr. Bobbsey. "I'll let you through, as a favor to Mr. Murphy, but I'm
+not going to have a whole lot of them sailin' up and down my creek!"
+
+"Just as if it would hurt the water," said Bert, in a low voice.
+
+They were all glad when a turn of the stream hid Mr. Hardee from
+sight. The mean farmer evidently thought he had not been unpleasant
+enough, for he ran after the houseboat a little way, crying:
+
+"If you see anything of that good-for-nothing boy of mine, I want you
+to tell him to come back here, or it will be the worse for him."
+
+"We're not likely to see him," said Mr. Bobbsey.
+
+"I don't know about that," went on the farmer. "I believe you folks
+know something about him."
+
+"That's all nonsense!" said Mr. Bobbsey, sharply. "I've told you we
+don't know where he is, and haven't seen him since you tried to
+horsewhip him. That ought to be enough."
+
+"Wa'al, we'll see," was the growling answer, as the mean farmer turned
+away.
+
+The houseboat kept on, until it was well past Mr. Hardee's land, and
+then, in a pleasant part of the creek, it was tied to the bank. Dinah
+served supper.
+
+"See! I told you we had a stove, and that Dinah could cook things,"
+said Flossie, as a plate full of steaming hot corn muffins was set on
+the table.
+
+"So you did, my dear!" exclaimed Mr. Murphy, who sat next to the
+little "fat fairy."
+
+Flossie seemed to think the most wonderful part of the houseboat was
+the kitchen and the stove.
+
+When the pleasant meal was over, they sat on deck in the evening,
+until it was time for Mr. Murphy to go home. He was to walk across the
+meadow, about a mile, to get a trolley car. Mr. Bobbsey went with him,
+part of the way.
+
+For several days after this, the Bobbsey twins had all sorts of
+amusements on the house-boat. The BLUEBIRD was still kept in the
+creek, for it was so pleasant there, along the shady waterway, that
+Mrs. Bobbsey said they might as well enjoy it as long as possible.
+
+"But I want to see the big lake and the waterfall," said Nan.
+
+"We'll soon be there," promised her father.
+
+One day the houseboat was moved along the creek for about a mile, and
+anchored there. Bert and Harry found the fishing so good, that they
+wanted to stay a long time. They really caught some large perch and
+chub.
+
+"But we didn't come on this trip just to fish," said Mr. Bobbsey.
+"There are other things to do. We want to go in swimming, when it gets
+a little warmer, and then, too, we can take some walks in the woods on
+the shores of Lake Romano."
+
+"And can we have picnics, and take our lunch?" asked Freddie.
+
+"Yes, little fat fireman," answered his father, laughing.
+
+Freddie had been kept so busy with other amusements, that he had not
+once played with his fire engine, since coming on board.
+
+"Let me catch some fish," begged Flossie, on the afternoon of the day
+when they were to move from the place that Bert and Harry liked so
+well.
+
+"You may take my line," offered Freddie. "I'm tired of fishing."
+
+I think perhaps Freddie grew weary because he had had no bites. That
+one fish he had caught, and which had caused so much excitement,
+seemed to be all he could get. That one was still alive in the glass
+dish, which Bert had made into sort of an aquarium.
+
+"I'm going to catch a big fish," said Flossie, as she laid her doll
+down beside the sleeping dog Snap, and took Freddie's pole.
+
+"Don't fall in--that's all," cautioned Mrs. Bobbsey.
+
+"I'll watch her," offered Dorothy, for Nan had gone down to help dry
+the dishes, it being her "turn."
+
+Somehow or other, every one forgot Flossie for a moment, and even
+Dorothy, who had promised to watch her, forgot when she saw some small
+boats, filled with young folks on an excursion, pass the houseboat.
+
+Suddenly there came a scream from little Flossie.
+
+"I see him! I see him!" she cried. "He's on our boat!"
+
+The next moment her mother, who turned quickly as she heard Flossie's
+voice, saw the little girl lean far over the rail of the Bluebird.
+Then came a splash. Flossie had fallen overboard!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+THE MISSING SANDWICHES
+
+
+"Flossie is in the water!"
+
+"Get the boat!"
+
+"Snap! Jump in and get her!"
+
+"Oh, Flossie!"
+
+So many were the excited cries that followed the falling over the rail
+of little Flossie, that no one could tell who was speaking, or crying
+out.
+
+Harry, who was near the rail, turned sharply as he heard the splash,
+and then, quickly casting off his coat, he gave a clean dive over the
+side. Harry was a country boy, and had learned to swim when very
+young. He was not at all afraid of the water, and, more than once, he
+had pulled from "the old swimming hole," boys smaller than himself,
+who had gone beyond their depth, and could not get out.
+
+"I'll get her!" cried Harry, as he dived over the side.
+
+"Oh, it's all my fault!" sobbed Dorothy. "I said I'd watch her. But I
+forgot! It's all my fault!"
+
+"No, it isn't, dear!" said Nan, quickly putting her arms around her
+cousin. "Flossie does things so quickly, sometimes, that no one can
+watch her. But we'll get her out, for the water isn't deep."
+
+It was deep enough though, on that side of the boat, to be well over
+Flossie's head, and of course, plunging down from the height she did,
+she at once went under water.
+
+Snap seemed to understand what had happened, and to know that his
+services were needed, for he gave a bark, and made a rush for the
+rail.
+
+"Don't let him jump in!" cried Mr. Bobbsey to Bert. "If Harry can get
+her, Snap might only make trouble. Hold him back, Bert, while I get
+the rowboat."
+
+Mrs. Bobbsey, with one arm around Freddie, had rushed to the rail to
+look down. She saw Flossie come to the surface, choking and gasping
+for breath, and then saw Harry, who had gone under, but who had come
+up again, strike out for the little girl.
+
+"Oh, save her!" gasped Mrs. Bobbsey.
+
+"He will!" said Bert. "Harry's a fine swimmer. Come back, Snap!" he
+called to the big dog, getting his hands on his collar, just in time,
+for Snap was determined to go to the rescue himself. He whined, pulled
+and tugged to get away from Bert.
+
+"Help me hold him!" cried Bert to Nan.
+
+"I will!" she answered, glad to be doing something. Together the two
+older Bobbsey twins managed to keep Snap back. Dorothy, too, helped,
+for Snap was very strong.
+
+"Did Flossie go after a fish?" asked Freddie, and he asked it in such
+a queer way that it would have caused a laugh at any other time. Just
+now every one was too frightened to laugh.
+
+After all, there really was not so much danger. Mr. Bobbsey had taught
+Flossie some of the things one must do when learning to swim, and that
+is to hold your breath when you are under water. For it is the water
+getting into the lungs that causes a person to drown. After her first
+plunge into the creek, the little girl thought of what her father had
+told her, and did hold her breath.
+
+"I--I'll get you!" called Harry to her. "Don't be afraid, Flossie!
+I'll get you!"
+
+Flossie was too much out of breath to answer, so she did not try to
+speak. Harry was soon at her side, and called to her:
+
+"Now put your hands on my shoulders, Flossie, and I'll swim to the
+boat with you. Don't try to grab me around the neck."
+
+Harry knew how dangerous it was for a person trying to rescue another
+in the water to be choked. Flossie was a wise little girl, even if she
+was not very old. She did as her cousin told her, and, with Flossie's
+hands on his shoulders, Harry began to swim toward the Bluebird.
+
+He did not have to go very far, though, for by this time Mr. Bobbsey
+and Captain White were there with the rowboat, and the two children
+were soon lifted in. They were safe, and not harmed a bit, except for
+being wet through.
+
+"Oh, Flossie, whatever did you do it for?" asked her mother, when she
+had hugged the dripping little girl in her arms. "Why did you do it?"
+
+"Do what, mamma?" Flossie asked.
+
+"Lean over so far."
+
+"I wanted to see if I had a fish," went on Flossie. "And I had to lean
+over. And then I saw him."
+
+"Saw whom?" asked her father. "What do you mean?"
+
+"Why, I saw him--that boy," and Flossie seemed surprised that her
+father did not understand.
+
+"What boy?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey. "Did you fall asleep there, Flossie,
+and were you dreaming, when you fell in?"
+
+"No, mamma. I didn't fall asleep. I saw HIM, I tell you."
+
+"I heard her say something about seeing some one, just as she went
+over the rail, head first," Dorothy said.
+
+"But whom do you mean, Flossie?" asked puzzled Mrs. Bobbsey.
+
+"Why, that boy--the one the bad man whipped."
+
+"Oh, Will Watson!" exclaimed Bert. "Where did you see him, Flossie?
+Was he in one of the excursion boats that went past?"
+
+"No, he was on our boat--down there," and Flossie pointed straight
+down. "I saw him!" she declared.
+
+"I guess she must have dozed off a little, and dreamed it," spoke Mr.
+Bobbsey, with a smile. "That was it. The sun was so hot, that she just
+slept a little as she was fishing. She might have had a bite, and that
+awakened her so suddenly that she gave a jump and fell over the rail.
+I must have it built higher. Then there won't be any danger."
+
+"Yes, do," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "We've had scares enough."
+
+"But I did see that boy--the one that gave Bert the fish," insisted
+Flossie. "He was on our boat. I saw him as plain as anything."
+
+"It must have been some one in the excursion boats that looked like
+him," spoke Nan.
+
+"No, I saw Will!" declared the little twin, and, rather than get her
+excited by disputing, they allowed her to think she really had seen a
+strange face, as she leaned over.
+
+"But of course she either dreamed it, or saw some one she thought was
+that runaway boy," Mr. Bobbsey said, afterward. "It's all nonsense to
+think he was on our boat."
+
+Snap, who had not been allowed to go to the rescue, much as he had
+wanted to, leaped about Flossie, barking and wagging his tail in joy.
+
+"Anybody would think he'd done it all," said Bert. "Say, Harry, you're
+all right! That was a dandy dive!" and he clapped his cousin on the
+back.
+
+"Indeed we never can thank you enough. Harry," said Mrs. Bobbsey, and
+tears of thankfulness glistened in her eyes.
+
+"Oh, it wasn't anything at all," the country boy said, modestly
+blushing, for he did not like such a "fuss" made over him. "I knew I
+could get her out."
+
+"Well, it was very fine of you," said Mr. Bobbsey, warmly. "Now then,
+you had better change your clothes, for, though it is summer, you
+might take cold. And Flossie, too, must change."
+
+"Yes, I'll look after her," said her mother "Now remember, little fat
+fairy," Mrs. Bobbsey went on, giving Flossie her father's pet name,
+"you must never lean over the rail again. If you do---"
+
+"But I saw---" began Flossie.
+
+"No matter what you saw--don't lean over the rail!" said her mother.
+"If you do, we shall have to give up this houseboat trip."
+
+This seemed such a dreadful thing, that Flossie quickly promised to be
+very careful indeed.
+
+"But I did see him, all the same!" she murmured, as her mother took
+her to the bedroom to change her clothes. "I saw that boy on our
+boat."
+
+The others only laughed at Flossie for thinking such a queer thing.
+
+"That poor boy is far enough away from here now," said Bert. "I wonder
+if he will really try to make his way out west?"
+
+"I don't know," answered Harry, who had changed to a dry suit, hanging
+his other in the sun to let the water drip out of it. "I've read of
+boys making long journeys that way."
+
+"I wouldn't want to try it," spoke Bert.
+
+"Neither would I," said his cousin. "This houseboat suits me!"
+
+Flossie was little the worse for her accident, and was soon playing
+about again with Snoop and Snap, and with Freddie. The little fellow
+and his sister made the dog and cat do many tricks.
+
+It was the day after this, when the Bluebird had gone a little farther
+up the creek, that Mrs. Bobbsey planned a little picnic on shore. They
+were not far from a nice, green forest.
+
+"We'll have Dinah put us up a little lunch, and we'll go in the woods
+and eat it," said Mrs. Bobbsey.
+
+"Oh, that will be fun!" cried Nan. "Won't it, Dorothy?"
+
+"Indeed it will," said the seashore cousin.
+
+"I'm going to take my doll," Flossie said. "There's no water in the
+woods for her to fall in, is there, mamma?"
+
+"No, not unless you drop her into a spring," laughed Mrs. Bobbsey.
+
+"I'll see if Dinah has finished making the sandwiches," offered Nan.
+"She had them almost finished a little while ago."
+
+But when Nan went to the dining-room, she found the colored cook very
+much excited.
+
+"What is the matter, Dinah?" asked Nan.
+
+"Mattah! What am de mattah?" Dinah repeated, "Dey's lots de mattah,
+Missie Nan."
+
+"Why, what can it be?"
+
+"De sandwiches is gone, dat's what's de mattah!"
+
+"The sandwiches, Dinah?"
+
+"Yes'm, de sandwiches what I done make fo' de excursnick!"
+
+"Oh, you mean for our picnic, Dinah?"
+
+"Yes'm, dat's it. Excursnick I calls it. But de sandwiches I done jest
+made am gone. I s'pects Massa Bert or his cousin done take 'em fo'
+fun."
+
+"Oh, no, Dinah. Bert nor Harry wouldn't do that. Are you sure you made
+the sandwiches?"
+
+"I'se jest as shuah, Missie Nan, as I am dat I'se standin' heah. I'se
+jest as shuah as I is dat time when I made de corn cakes, an' somebody
+tuck dem! Dat's how shuah I is! Dem sandwiches what was fo' de
+excursnick am done gone completely."
+
+"But have you looked everywhere, Dinah?" asked Nan.
+
+"Eberywhere! Under de table an' on top ob de table. I had dem
+sandwiches all made an' on a plate. I left dem in de dinin' room to go
+git a basket, an' when I come back, dey was gone entirely. I want t'
+see yo' ma, Missie Nan. I ain't gwing t' stay on dish yeah boat no mo,
+dat's what I ain't!"
+
+"But why not, Dinah?" asked Nan, in some alarm.
+
+"Because dey's ghostests on dish yeah boat; dat's what dey is! An' I
+ain't gwine stay on no ha'nted boat. Fust it were de corn cakes, an'
+now it's de sandwiches. I'se gwine away--I ain't gwine stay heah no
+mo'!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+IN THE STORM
+
+
+Dinah was certainly very much frightened, but Nan was not. She knew
+better than to believe in such things as "ghosts," and, though the
+sandwiches might have disappeared, the little girl felt sure there
+must be some reasonable explanation about the mystery.
+
+"I'll call mamma, Dinah," offered Nan. "She won't want you to leave us
+now, when we have just started on this trip."
+
+"Go on, honey lamb, call yo' ma," agreed the fat cook. "But I ain't
+gwine t' stay on dish yeah boat no mo'! Dat's settled. Call yo' ma,
+honey lamb, an' I'll tell her about it."
+
+Mrs. Bobbsey had heard the excited voice of Dinah and had come down to
+the dining-room of the houseboat to see what it was all about.
+
+"What is it, Dinah?" she asked.
+
+"It's ghostests, Mrs. Bobbsey--dat's what it is," said the cook.
+"Ghostests what takes de sandwiches as fast as I make 'em--dat's de
+trouble. I can't stay heah no mo'!"
+
+Mrs. Bobbsey looked to Nan for an explanation. The little girl said:
+
+"Dinah made a plate of sandwiches for our picnic---"
+
+"Dat's right, for de excursnick," put in Dinah.
+
+"And she left them on the table," went on Nan. "But when she went to
+get a basket to put them in, and came back---"
+
+"Dey was clean gone!" burst out the colored cook, finishing the story
+for Nan. "An' ghostests took 'em; ob dat I'se shuah. So you'd bettah
+look fo' anoder cook, Mrs. Bobbsey."
+
+"Nonsense, Dinah! We can't let you go that way. It's all foolishness
+to talk about ghosts. Probably the door was left open, and Snap might
+have taken the sandwiches, though I never knew him to take anything
+off the table. But it must have been Snap."
+
+"No'm, it couldn't be," said Dinah. "It wasn't Snap."
+
+"How do you know?"
+
+"Could Snap come through a closed do', Mrs. Bobbsey. Could Snap do
+that?"
+
+"Come through a door? No, I don't believe he could. But he might open
+it. Snoop can open doors."
+
+"Yes, maybe do's that hab a catch on, but not knob-do's, Snoop can't
+open, an' Snap can't neither. Besides, de do' was shut when I left de
+sandwiches on de table an' went fo' de basket."
+
+"Oh, was it?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey, trying to think of how the pieces of
+bread and meat could have been taken.
+
+"It shuah was," went on Dinah. "Nobody took dem sandwiches, but a
+ghostest, an' I can't stay in no boat what has ghostests."
+
+"Nonsense!" laughed Mrs. Bobbsey. "I know how it was done, Dinah. I
+know how the sandwiches were taken."
+
+"How, Mrs. Bobbsey?" asked the colored cook, as she stood looking
+first at the empty plate on the table, and then at Nan and lastly at
+Mrs. Bobbsey.
+
+"Why, through that window," said the twins' mother, pointing to an
+open window on the side of the Bluebird. "Snap must have come in that
+window, and taken the sandwiches. He was probably very hungry, poor
+dog, though he knows better than to do anything like that." "No'm,
+Mrs. Bobbsey," went on Dinah. "Snap couldn't hab come in fru dat
+window, fo' it opens right on to de watah. He'd hab to stand in de
+watah to jump in, an' he can't do that."
+
+"No, perhaps not," admitted Mrs. Bobbsey. "Oh, I dare say you forgot
+where you put the sandwiches, Dinah. Now don't worry a bit more about
+them. Just make some fresh ones, and we'll go on our little picnic."
+
+"But I'se gwine t' leab," said Dinah. "I ain't gwine stay on a boat,
+where ghostests takes sandwiches as fast as I can make 'em."
+
+"You shall come with us on the picnic," said Nan's mother. "When we
+come back, there won't be any ghost. Now don't fuss. Just make some
+fresh sandwiches, and we'll go. I'm sure it was Snap."
+
+"And I'se shuah it were a ghostest," murmured Dinah, as she went out
+to the kitchen.
+
+"Mamma, who do you think it could have been?" asked Nan of her mother.
+
+"Why, Snap, to be sure, little daughter."
+
+"But with the door shut, and the window opening out on the water?"
+went on Nan.
+
+"Oh, dogs are very smart," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Smarter than we think.
+Now suppose you help Dinah make more sandwiches. We are late."
+
+Nan went out to the kitchen, while Mrs. Bobbsey made her way up on
+deck, where she found her husband talking to Captain White about the
+motor engine of the houseboat.
+
+"Richard, I want to speak to you," said Mrs. Bobbsey, and when she and
+the twins' father were in a quiet corner of the deck, Mrs. Bobbsey
+went on:
+
+"Richard, I think there are thieves about here."
+
+"Bless my soul!" he exclaimed. "Thieves! What do you mean?"
+
+"Well, I mean that Dinah says a plate of sandwiches was just taken,
+and you remember the time the corn muffins were missing?"
+
+"Yes, but perhaps Dinah was mistaken both times, or Snap might have
+taken a bite between meals."
+
+"Hardly Snap this time," Mrs. Bobbsey went on, "and Dinah, though she
+does forget once in a while, would not be likely to do so twice in
+such a short time. No, I think some tramps along shore must have come
+along quietly in a boat, reached or climbed in through the window and
+taken the sandwiches."
+
+"Well, perhaps they did," Mr. Bobbsey, said. "I'll tell Captain White,
+and we'll keep a lookout. We don't want thieves coming around."
+
+"No, indeed," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Dinah threatens to leave, if any
+more queer things happen."
+
+"Well, we wouldn't know how to get along without Dinah," said Mr.
+Bobbsey, with a smile. "I'll put some wire netting over the windows. I
+was going to do it anyhow, for the mosquitoes will soon be buzzing
+around. The netting will keep thieves from reaching in and taking our
+nice sandwiches."
+
+"Yes, I think the netting would be a good idea," said his wife. "But
+it certainly is queer."
+
+A little later, the Bobbsey twins--both sets of them--with their
+cousins, mother, father, and Dinah went ashore for the little picnic
+in the woods, taking with them the fresh sandwiches that Nan had
+helped to make.
+
+"You shan't have any of these--at least not until we want you to have
+them," said Nan to Snap, the dog, who, of course, was not left behind.
+Yet, the more she thought of it the more sure Nan was that Snap had
+not taken the others.
+
+"But, if he didn't, who did?" she wondered.
+
+"Oh, isn't it just lovely in these woods!" exclaimed Dorothy, as they
+walked along on the soft moss under the trees. At the seashore, where
+she lived, the woods were too far away to allow her to pay many visits
+to them, and she always liked to walk in the cool forests.
+
+Harry, though he lived in the country, not far from the woods, liked
+them as well as did the Bobbsey twins, and the children were soon
+running about, playing games, while Snap raced about with them,
+barking and wagging his tail.
+
+Dinah sat down near the lunch basket.
+
+"Don't you want to walk around a bit?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey.
+
+"No'm," answered the fat cook. "I ain't gwine t' leab dish yeah basket
+ob victuals until dey's eaten. Dey ain't no ghostests, nor no dogs,
+gwine t' git nothin' when I'se heah! No'm!" and Dinah slipped her fat
+arm in through the handle of the basket.
+
+"Let's look for chestnuts!" cried Freddie. "I love chestnuts!"
+
+"It's too early for them," said his father. "But if you find me a
+willow tree, I can make you some whistles."
+
+The children found one, near a little brook, and Mr. Bobbsey was soon
+busy with his knife. The bark slipped off easily from the willow wood,
+which is why it is so often used for whistles.
+
+Soon all four children were blowing whistles of different tones, and
+making so much noise that, with the barking of Snap, who seemed to
+think he must bark every time a whistle was blown, Mrs. Bobbsey cried
+out for quietness.
+
+"Come on, we'll go farther off in the woods and play Indian,"
+suggested Bert, and soon this game was under way.
+
+It was lunch time almost before the children knew it, and what fun it
+was to sit around the table cloth Dinah spread out on the grass, and
+eat the good things from the basket. Snap was given his share, but
+Snoop, the black cat, had not come along, staying on the houseboat
+with Captain White.
+
+"Isn't this fun?" cried Nan to Dorothy.
+
+"Indeed it is! Oh, I can't tell you how glad I am that you asked me to
+come on this trip!"
+
+"Oh! Look at that big bug!" suddenly cried Freddie, and he made a jump
+toward his mother, to get out of the way of a big cricket that had
+hopped onto the white table cloth.
+
+"Look out, Freddie!" called his father. "You'll upset your glass of
+lemonade!"
+
+Mr. Bobbsey spoke too late. Freddie's heel kicked over the glass, and
+the lemonade spilled right into Mrs. Bobbsey's lap.
+
+"Oh, Freddie!" cried Bert.
+
+"Never mind--it's an old dress," laughed Mrs. Bobbsey, "and there's
+more lemonade. Accidents will happen on picnics. Never mind, Freddie."
+
+The cricket was "shooed" away by Nan, Freddie's glass was filled
+again, and the picnic went on merrily. Soon it was time to go back to
+the boat.
+
+As they walked along through the woods, Mr. Bobbsey glanced up now and
+then through the trees at the sky.
+
+"Do you think it's going to rain?" his wife asked.
+
+"Not right away, but I think we are soon going to have a storm," he
+said.
+
+"Oh, well, the houseboat doesn't leak, does it?"
+
+"No, but I don't want to go out on Lake Romano in a storm, and I
+intended this evening to go on up the creek until we reached the lake.
+But I'll wait and see what the weather does."
+
+"Well, did anything happen while we were gone?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey of
+Captain White, as they got back to the houseboat.
+
+"No, not a thing," he answered. "It was so still and quiet here, that
+Snoop and I had a nice sleep," and he pointed to the black cat, who
+was stretched out in his lap, as he sat on deck.
+
+As it did not look so much like a storm now, Mr. Bobbsey decided to
+move the houseboat farther up the creek, almost to where the stream
+flowed from Lake Romano, so as to be ready to go out on the larger
+body of water in the morning, if everything was all right.
+
+The engine was started, and just before supper, the Bluebird came to a
+stop in Lemby Creek about a mile from the big lake. She was tied to
+the bank, and then supper was served.
+
+Then followed a pleasant hour or two on deck, and when it was dark,
+the children went into the cabin and played games until bedtime--Nan
+and Bert, as well as the smaller twins and the cousins, were asleep
+when Mrs. Bobbsey, who had sat up to write some letters, heard her
+husband walking about on deck.
+
+"What are you doing?" she called to him through a window.
+
+"Oh, just looking at the weather," he answered. "I think we're going
+to have a storm after all, and a hard one, too. I'm glad we're safely
+anchored."
+
+Sure enough. That night, about twelve o'clock, the storm came. There
+was at first distant, muttering thunder, which soon became louder.
+Then lightning followed, flashing in through the windows of the
+houseboat, so that Mrs. Bobbsey was awakened.
+
+"Oh, it's going to be a terrible storm," she said to her husband.
+
+"Oh, perhaps not so very bad," he answered. "Here comes the rain!"
+
+Then it began to pour. But the houseboat was well built, and did not
+leak a bit.
+
+Next the wind began to blow, gently at first, but finally so hard that
+Mr. Bobbsey could hear the creaking of the ropes that tied the boat to
+trees on shore.
+
+"I think I'd better look and see if those ropes are well tied," he
+said, getting up to dress, and putting on a raincoat.
+
+He had hardly gotten out on deck, before the houseboat gave a sudden
+lurch to one side, and then began to move quickly down stream.
+
+"Oh, what has happened?" cried Mrs. Bobbsey.
+
+At the same time Flossie and Freddie awakened, because of the loud
+noise from the storm.
+
+"Mamma! Mamma!" they cried.
+
+"Richard, has anything happened?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey.
+
+"Yes!" he shouted. "The strong wind has broken the ropes, and we are
+adrift. But don't worry. We'll soon be all right!"
+
+Faster and faster went the Bluebird, while all about her the rain
+splashed down, the wind blew, the thunder roared, and the lightning
+flashed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+STRANGE NOISES
+
+
+The frightened cries of Flossie and Freddie soon awakened Nan and
+Bert, and it was not long before Harry and Dorothy, too, had roused
+themselves.
+
+"What's the matter?" asked Bert.
+
+"Oh, we've gone adrift in the storm," his mother said. "But don't
+worry. Papa says it will be all right."
+
+"Come up on deck and see what's going on!" cried Bert to Harry.
+
+He had begun to dress, and now he thrust his head out from his room.
+"Hurry up, Harry," he added. "We want to see this storm."
+
+"No, you must stay here," Mrs. Bobbsey said. "It is too bad a storm
+for you children to be out in, especially this dark night. Your papa
+and Captain White will do all that needs to be done."
+
+"Mamma, it--it isn't dark when the lightning comes," said Freddie. He
+did not seem to be afraid of the brilliant flashes.
+
+"No, it's light when the flashes come," said his mother. "But I want
+you all to stay here with me. It is raining very hard."
+
+"I should say it was!" exclaimed Harry, as he heard the swish of the
+drops against the windows of the houseboat.
+
+"Is Snap all right, mamma?" asked Flossie. "And Snoop? I wouldn't want
+them out in the storm."
+
+"They're all right," Mrs. Bobbsey said.
+
+"Oh, what's that!" suddenly cried Nan, as the houseboat gave a bump,
+and leaned to one side.
+
+"We hit something," Bert said. "Oh, I wish I could go out on the
+deck!"
+
+"No, indeed!" cried his mother. "There! They've started the engine.
+Now we'll be all right."
+
+As soon as Mr. Bobbsey had found out that the houseboat had broken
+loose from the mooring ropes in the storm, he awakened Captain White,
+and told him to start the motor.
+
+This had been done, and now, instead of drifting with the current of
+the creek, the boat could be more easily steered. Soon it had been run
+into a sheltered place, against the bank, where, no matter how hard
+the wind blew, it would be safe.
+
+"Are we all right now?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey, as her husband came down
+to the cabin.
+
+"Yes, all right again," he said. "There really was not much danger,
+once we got the motor started."
+
+"Is it raining yet?" asked Freddie, who was sitting in his mother's
+lap, wrapped in a sweater.
+
+"Indeed it is, little fat fireman," his father answered. "You wouldn't
+need your engine to put out a fire to-night."
+
+The patter of the raindrops on the deck of the houseboat could still
+be heard, and the wind still blew hard. But the thunder and lightning
+were not so bad, and gradually the storm grew less.
+
+"Well, we'd better get to bed now," said Mr. Bobbsey. "To-morrow we
+shall go to the big lake."
+
+"Did the storm take us far back down the creek?" asked Bert.
+
+"Not more than a mile," said his father.
+
+"And the man can't tie us in with wire again, can he?" Freddie wanted
+to know. "If he does, and I had one of those cutter-things, I could
+snip it."
+
+"You won't have to, Freddie," laughed Bert.
+
+"Speaking of that mean farmer reminds me of the poor boy who ran away
+from him," said Mrs. Bobbsey to her husband, when the children had
+gone to bed. "I wonder where he is to-night, in this storm?"
+
+"I hope he has a sheltered place," spoke the father of the Bobbsey
+twins.
+
+Not very much damage had been done by the storm, though it was a very
+hard one. In the morning the children could see where some big tree
+branches had blown off, and there had been so much rain, that the
+water of the creek was higher. But the houseboat was all right, and
+after breakfast, when they went up the creek again, they stopped and
+got the pieces of broken rope, where the Bluebird had been tied
+before.
+
+The houseboat then went on, and at noon, just before Dinah called them
+to dinner, Nan, who was standing near her father at the steering
+wheel, cried:
+
+"Oh, what a lot of water!"
+
+"Yes, that is Lake Romano," said Mr. Bobbsey. "We'll soon be floating
+on that, and we'll spend the rest of our houseboat vacation there."
+
+"And where shall we spend the rest of our vacation?" asked Bert, for
+it had been decided that the houseboat voyage would last only until
+about the middle of August.
+
+"Oh, we haven't settled that yet," his father answered.
+
+On and on went the Bluebird, and, in a little while, she was on the
+sparkling waters of the lake.
+
+"I don't see any waterfall," said Freddie, coming toward his father,
+after having made Snap do some of his circus tricks.
+
+"The waterfall is at the far end of the lake," said Mr. Bobbsey.
+
+"I wonder if there are any fish in this lake?" spoke Bert.
+
+"Let's try to catch some," suggested his cousin Harry, and soon the
+two boys were busy with poles and lines.
+
+The Bobbsey twins, and their cousin-guests, liked Lake Romano very
+much indeed. It was much bigger than the lake at home, and there were
+some very large boats on it.
+
+Bert and Harry caught no fish before dinner, but in the afternoon they
+had better luck, and got enough for supper. The evening meal had been
+served by Dinah, Snap and Snoop had been fed, and the family and their
+guests were up on deck, watching the sunset, when Dinah came waddling
+up the stairs, with a queer look on her face.
+
+"Why, Dinah! What is the matter?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey, seeing that
+something was wrong. "Have you lost some more sandwiches?"
+
+"No'm, it ain't sandwiches dish yeah time," Dinah answered. "But I
+done heard a funny noise jest now down near mah kitchen."
+
+"A funny noise?" repeated Mr. Bobbsey. "What was it like?"
+
+"Jes like some one cryin'," Dinah answered. "I thought mebby one ob de
+chilluns done got locked in de pantry, but I opened de do', an' dey
+wasn't anybody dere. 'Sides, all de chilluns is up heah. But I shuah
+did heah a funny noise ob somebody cryin'!"
+
+Mrs. Bobbsey looked at her husband and said:
+
+"You'd better go see what it is, Richard."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+SNAP'S QUEER ACTIONS
+
+
+The Bobbsey twins looked at one another. Then they glanced at their
+cousins, Harry and Dorothy. Next the eyes of all the children were
+turned on fat Dinah.
+
+"Was--was it a baby crying?" Freddie wanted to know.
+
+"Yes, honey lamb--it done did sound laik a baby--only a big baby,"
+explained the colored cook.
+
+"Maybe it was one of Flossie's dolls," the little "fat fireman" went
+on.
+
+"Flossie's dolls can't cry!" exclaimed Nan. "Not even the one that
+says 'mama,' when you punch it in the back. That can't cry, because
+it's broken."
+
+"Well, Flossie says her dolls cry, sometimes," said Freddie, "and I
+thought maybe It was one of them now."
+
+"It was Snoop, our cat," said Bert, with a laugh. "That's what you
+heard, Dinah, Snoop crying for something to eat. Maybe she's shut up
+in a closet."
+
+"Probably that's what it was, Dinah," said Mrs. Bobbsey.
+
+"I'll go let her out," said Mr. Bobbsey, starting toward the lower
+part of the houseboat.
+
+"'Scuse me, Mr. Bobbsey," said Dinah firmly, "but dey ain't no use yo'
+going t' let out no cat Snoop."
+
+"Why not, Dinah?"
+
+"Because it wasn't any cat dat I done heah. It was a human bein' dat I
+heard cryin', dat's what it was, an' I know who it was, too," the
+colored woman insisted.
+
+"Who, Dinah?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey.
+
+"It was de same ghostest dat done took mah cakes an' sandwiches, dat's
+who it was. I'se mighty sorry t' leab yo', Mrs. Bobbsey, but I guess
+I'll done be goin' now."
+
+"What, Dinah!" cried her mistress. "Going? Where?"
+
+"Offen dish yeah boat, Mrs. Bobbsey. I cain't stay heah any mo' wif a
+lot of ghostests."
+
+"Nonsense, Dinah!" exclaimed Mr. Bobbsey. "There isn't any such thing
+as a ghost, and you know it! It's silly to even talk about such a
+thing. Now you just come with me, and show me where you heard those
+noises."
+
+"No, sah, I cain't do it, Mr. Bobbsey," the colored cook exclaimed,
+moving backward.
+
+"Why not?" Mr. Bobbsey wanted to know.
+
+"'Cause it's bad luck, dat's why. I ain't goin' neah no ghostest---"
+
+"Don't say that again, Dinah!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey sharply, with a
+glance at the children.
+
+"Oh, we're not afraid, mother!" chimed in Bert. "We know there's no
+such thing as a ghost."
+
+"That's right," spoke his father. "But, Dinah, I must get this matter
+settled. It won't do for you to be frightened all the while. You must
+come and show me where you heard the noise."
+
+"Has I got to do it, Mrs. Bobbsey?" asked Dinah.
+
+"Yes, I think you had better."
+
+"Well, den, I heard de noise right down in de passageway dat goes from
+de kitchen to de dinin' room. Dat's where it was. A noise laik
+somebody cryin' an' weepin'."
+
+"And are you sure it wasn't Snoop, Dinah?"
+
+"Shuah, Mr. Bobbsey. 'Cause why? 'Cause heah's Snoop now, right ober
+by Miss Dorothy."
+
+This was very true. The little seashore Cousin had been playing with
+the black cat.
+
+"Snap howls sometimes," said Freddie, who seemed to be trying to find
+some explanation of the queer noise. "Lots of times he used to howl
+under my window, and I'd think it was some boy, but it was only Snap.
+He used to like to howl at the moon."
+
+"Dat's right, so he does, honey lamb," Dinah admitted. "But dere ain't
+no moon now, an' Snap's eatin' a bone. He don't never howl when he's
+eatin' a bone, I'se sartain ob dat."
+
+"Oh, well, if it wasn't the dog or cat, it was some other noise that
+can easily be found," said Mr. Bobbsey. "I'll go have a look."
+
+"I'm coming, too," said Nan.
+
+"And so am I!" exclaimed Bert.
+
+Harry and Dorothy looked at each other a moment, and then Dorothy
+said, rather unhesitatingly:
+
+"I'm not afraid!"
+
+"I should say not!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey. "What is there to be afraid
+of, just in a noise?"
+
+"Let's all go!" suggested Harry.
+
+"Good!" cried Mr. Bobbsey, for he wanted his children not to give way
+to foolish fears. They were not "afraid of the dark," as some children
+are, and from the time when they were little tots, their parents had
+tried to teach them that most things, such as children fear, are
+really nothing but things they think they see, or hear.
+
+"Aren't you coming, Dinah?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey, as they all started
+for the lower part of the houseboat.
+
+"No'm, I'll jest stay up heah an'--an' git a breff ob fresh air," said
+the colored cook.
+
+"Come on, children," called Mr. Bobbsey, with a laugh. "We'll very
+soon find out what it was."
+
+They went down off the deck, to the passageway between the kitchen and
+dining-room. This place was like a long, narrow hall, and on one side
+of it were closets, or "lockers," as they are called on ships. They
+were places where different articles could be stored away. Just now,
+the lockers were filled with odds and ends--bits of canvass that were
+sometimes used as sails, or awnings, old boxes, barrels and the like.
+Mr. Bobbsey opened the lockers and looked in.
+
+"There isn't a thing here that could make a crying noise, unless it
+was a little mouse," he said, "and they are so little, I can't see
+them. I guess Dinah must have imagined it."
+
+"Let's listen and see if we can hear it," suggested Mrs. Bobbsey.
+
+All of them, including the children, kept very quiet. Snap, the trick
+dog, was still gnawing his bone in the kitchen. They could hear him
+banging it on the floor as he tried to get from it the last shreds of
+meat. Snoop, the black cat, was up on deck in the sun.
+
+"I don't hear a thing," said Mrs. Bobbsey.
+
+Indeed it was very quiet.
+
+"Hark!" suddenly called Nan. "Isn't that a noise?"
+
+They all listened sharply, and then they did hear a faint sort of
+crying, or whining, noise.
+
+"Oh!" exclaimed Freddie. "It's a---"
+
+"It's the boat pulling on one of the anchor ropes," said Mr. Bobbsey,
+for the Bluebird was anchored out in the lake by two anchors and
+ropes, one at each end. "The wind blows the boat a little," the
+children's father explained, "and that makes it pull on the ropes,
+which creak on the wooden posts with a crying noise."
+
+"I know!" exclaimed Flossie. "Just like our swing rope creaks, when
+it's going slow."
+
+"Exactly," said her mother. Mrs. Bobbsey was glad that the little girl
+could think out an explanation for herself that way.
+
+"There it goes again!" suddenly exclaimed Bert.
+
+They all heard the funny noise. There was no doubt but that it was the
+creaking of the rope by which the boat was tied.
+
+"Here, Dinah!" called Mr. Bobbsey, with a laugh. "Come down here.
+We've found your ghost."
+
+"I doan't want to see it!" exclaimed the colored cook, "Jest toss it
+overbo'd!"
+
+"It's nothing but a noise made by a creaking rope," said Nan. "And you
+can't throw that overboard."
+
+"All right, honey lamb. Yo' can call it a rope-noise ef yo' all
+laiks," said Dinah, when finally she had been induced to come down.
+"But I knows it wasn't. It was some real pusson cryin', dat's what it
+was."
+
+"But you said it was a ghost, Dinah!" laughed Bert, "and a ghost is
+never a real person, you know. Oh, Dinah!"
+
+"Oh, go long wif yo', honey lamb!" exclaimed the fat cook. "I ain't
+got no time t' bodder wif you'. I'se got t' set mah bread t' bake
+t'morrow. An' dere's some corn cakes, ef yo' ma will let yo' hab 'em."
+
+"I guess she will," said Bert, with a laugh. "Some cakes and then
+bed."
+
+They all thought the "ghost" scare was over, but Mr. Bobbsey noticed
+that when Dinah went through the passage between the kitchen and
+dining-room, she hurried as fast as her feet would take her, and she
+glanced from side to side, as though afraid of seeing something.
+
+Every one slept soundly that sight, except perhaps Dinah, but if
+anything disturbed her, she said nothing about it, when she got up to
+get breakfast. It was a fine, sunny day, and a little later the
+Bluebird was moving across the lake, the motor turning the propeller,
+which churned the blue water into foam.
+
+Mr. Bobbsey steered the boat to various places of interest on the
+lake. There were several little islands that were to be visited, and
+on one of the tiniest, they went ashore to eat their lunch.
+
+"Let's play we're shipwrecked," suggested Freddie, who was always
+anxious to "pretend" something or other.
+
+"All right," agreed Flossie. "You'll be Robinson Crusoe, and I'll be
+your man Thursday."
+
+"Friday--not Thursday," corrected Freddie, for his father had read to
+him part of Robinson's adventures.
+
+The little twins were allowed to take some of their lunch, and go off
+to one side of the island, there to play at being shipwrecked. Mr. and
+Mrs. Bobbsey sat in the shade and talked, while Nan, Dorothy, Bert and
+Harry went off on a little "exploring expedition," as Bert called it.
+Bert was making a collection of stones and minerals that year, and he
+wanted to see what new specimens he could find.
+
+Suddenly the peacefulness of the little island was broken by a cry of:
+
+"Oh, Mamma! Papa! Come quick! Freddie's in the cave, and can't get
+out. Oh, hurry!"
+
+"That's Flossie's voice!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey, in alarm.
+
+Mr. Bobbsey did not say anything. He just ran, and soon he came to the
+place where Flossie and Freddie had gone to play shipwreck. He saw
+Flossie jumping up and down in front of a little hill.
+
+"Where's Freddie?" asked Mr. Bobbsey.
+
+"In there," Flossie answered, pointing to the pile of dirt that looked
+to have been freshly dug. "We made a cave in the side of the and
+Freddie went in to hide, but he dirt slid down on him and he--he's
+there yet!"
+
+"Gracious!" cried Mr. Bobbsey. "It's a good thing we're here!"
+
+With a piece of board he soon scattered the dirt until he came to
+Freddie's head. Fortunately the little fellow was covered with only a
+few inches of the soil, and as a piece of brush had fallen over his
+face, he had had no trouble in breathing. He was rather badly
+frightened, however, when he was dug out, little the worse, otherwise,
+for his adventure.
+
+"What did you do it for?" asked his father, when he and his mother had
+brushed the dirt from the little chap, while the other children
+gathered around to look on.
+
+"I--I was making a cave, same as Robinson Crusoe did," Freddie
+explained. "I dug it with a board in the sand, and I went in--I mean,
+I went in the cave, and it--it came down--all of a sudden."
+
+"Well, don't do it again," cautioned his mother. "You might have been
+badly hurt."
+
+They finished their visit on the island, and went back on board the
+Bluebird again. Snap, who always went with them on these little
+excursions, bounded on deck, and then made a rush for the kitchen, for
+he was hungry, and he knew Dinah generally had a bone, or something
+nice for him.
+
+Mr. Bobbsey, who was following close behind Snap, was surprised to see
+the dog come to a sudden stop in the passageway between the kitchen
+and dining-room. Snap growled, and showed his teeth, as he did when
+some savage dog, or other enemy, was near at hand.
+
+"What's the matter, old fellow?" asked Mr. Bobbsey. "Do you see
+something?"
+
+Snap turned and looked at Mr. Bobbsey. Then the dog looked at one of
+the locker doors, and, with a loud bark, sprang toward it, as though
+he would go through the panels.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+AT THE WATERFALL
+
+
+"What's the matter?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey, who had followed her husband
+into the passageway. "Snap and Snoop aren't quarreling, are they?"
+
+"Indeed, no," answered Mr. Bobbsey. "But Snap is acting very
+strangely. I don't know what to make of him."
+
+By this time Mrs. Bobbsey had come up, where she could see the dog.
+Snap was still standing in front of the door, growling, whining, and,
+now and then, uttering a low bark.
+
+"What's the matter with him?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey. "Is he hungry?"
+
+"Well, I guess he's always more or less hungry," her husband said,
+"but that isn't the matter with him now. I think perhaps he imagines
+he sees Dinah's ghost!" and he laughed.
+
+"Snap, come here!" called Mrs. Bobbsey, and, though the dog usually
+minded her, this time he did not obey. He only stood near the door,
+growling.
+
+"Why don't you open it, and let him see what's in there," said Bert.
+"Maybe it's only some of those mice that made the noise," he went on.
+
+"Perhaps it is," his father answered. "I'll let Snap have a chance at
+them."
+
+As Mr. Bobbsey stepped up to turn the knob of the "locker," or closet
+door, there was a noise inside, as though something had been knocked
+down off a shelf. Snap barked loudly and made a spring, to be ready to
+jump inside the closet as soon as it was opened.
+
+"What's that?" cried Mrs. Bobbsey, while Flossie and Freddie, a little
+alarmed, clung together and moved nearer to their mother.
+
+"There's something inside there, that's sure," declared Mr. Bobbsey.
+"It must be a big rat!"
+
+"Mercy!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey. "A rat!"
+
+"I'll have to set a trap," Mr. Bobbsey went on. "That rat has probably
+been taking the things to eat that Dinah missed--the corn-cakes and
+the sandwiches."
+
+"That's right!" cried Bert. "That ends the mystery. Go for him, Snap!"
+
+"Bow wow!" barked the dog, only too willing to get in the closet and
+shake the rat.
+
+But, when Mr. Bobbsey opened the door, no rat ran out, not even a
+little mouse. Snap was ready for one, had there been any; but though
+he pawed around on the floor, and nosed behind the boxes and barrels,
+he caught nothing.
+
+"Where is it?" asked Flossie.
+
+"I want to see the rat!" cried Freddie. Neither of the smaller twins
+was afraid of animals. Of course, they did not know that rats can
+sometimes bite very fiercely, or they might not have been nearly so
+anxious to see one.
+
+"I guess the rat got away," said Mr. Bobbsey, as he watched Snap
+pawing around in the locker, even pushing aside boxes with his nose.
+
+"Hab yo' cotched de ghost?" asked Dinah, looking out from her kitchen.
+
+"Not yet--but almost," said Mr. Bobbsey. "I must clean out this
+closet, and find the rat-hole. Then I'll set the trap. Come away Snap.
+You missed him that time."
+
+The dog was not so sure of this. He stayed near the closet, while Mr.
+Bobbsey set out the boxes and barrels, but no rat was to be seen, nor
+even a mouse. And, the odd part of it was that, when everything was
+out of the locker, there was no hole to be seen, through which any of
+the gnawing animals might have slipped.
+
+"That's funny," said the twins' father, as he peered about. "I don't
+see how that rat got in here, or got out again."
+
+"Perhaps it wasn't a rat," suggested Mrs. Bobbsey.
+
+"What was it, then, that made the noise?" asked her husband.
+
+"I don't know," she answered. "Something might have bumped against the
+boat outside."
+
+"Yes, that's so," admitted Mr. Bobbsey. "But Snap wouldn't act that
+way just on account of a noise."
+
+The boxes and barrels were put back into the closet, but even that did
+not seem to satisfy Snap. He remained near the locker for some time,
+now and then growling and showing his teeth. Mr. Bobbsey looked in
+some of the other, and smaller, lockers, but all he found was a tiny
+hole, hardly big enough for a mouse.
+
+"Perhaps it was a mouse," he said. "Anyhow, I'll set a trap there.
+Dinah, toast me a bit of cheese."
+
+"Cheese, Massa Bobbsey!" exclaimed the colored cook. "Yo' knows yo'
+cain't eat cheese. Ebery time yo' does, yo' gits de insispepsia suffin
+terrible--specially toasted cheese."
+
+"I don't intend to eat it!" answered the twins' father, with a laugh.
+"I'm going to bait a trap with cheese to catch the mice. I don't care
+whether they get the indigestion or not."
+
+"Oh! Dat's diffunt," said Dinah. "I'll toast yo' some."
+
+The trap was set, but for two or three days, though it was often
+looked at, no mice were caught. Meanwhile, several times, Dinah said
+she missed food from her kitchen. It was only little things, though,
+and the Bobbseys paid small attention to her, for Dinah was often
+forgetful, and might have been mistaken.
+
+"I really think we have some rats aboard," said Mr. Bobbsey. "There
+are some on nearly every boat. I have heard noises in the night that
+could be made only by rats."
+
+"And Snap still acts queerly, whenever he passes that locker," said
+Mrs. Bobbsey. "I'm not so sure it is a rat that made that noise,
+Richard."
+
+"No?" her husband asked. "What was it, then?"
+
+But Mrs. Bobbsey either could not, or would not, say.
+
+"I say, Harry," said Bert to his country cousin one day, when the
+Bluebird had come to anchor some distance down the lake, "let's try to
+get to the bottom of this mystery."
+
+"What mystery?"
+
+"Why, the one about the noise, and the sandwiches and cakes being
+taken, and Snap acting so funny. I'm sure there's a mystery on this
+boat, and we ought to find out what it is."
+
+"I'm with you!" exclaimed Harry. "What shall we do?"
+
+"Let's sit up some night and watch that closet," said Bert. "We can
+easily do it."
+
+"Will your folks let us?"
+
+"We won't ask them. Oh, I wouldn't do anything I knew they didn't want
+me to do without asking," Bert said quickly, as he saw his cousin's
+startled glance.
+
+"But there's no harm in this," Bert went on. "We'll go to bed early
+some night, and, when all the rest of them are asleep, we'll get up
+and stand watch all night. You can watch part of the time, and when
+you get sleepy I'll take my turn. Then we can see whether anything is
+hiding in that closet."
+
+"Do you think there is?" asked Harry.
+
+"I'm sure I don't know what to think," Bert answered. "Only it's a
+mystery, and we ought to find out what it is."
+
+"I'm with you," said Harry again.
+
+"Are you talking secrets?" asked Nan, suddenly coming up just then.
+
+"Sort of," admitted her brother, laughing.
+
+"Oh, tell me--do!" she begged.
+
+"No, Nan. Not now," said Bert. "This is only for us boys."
+
+Nan tried to find out the secret, but they would not tell her.
+
+Two days later, during which the Bluebird cruised about on the lake,
+Bert said to Harry, after supper:
+
+"We'll watch to-night, and find out what's, in that closet. Snap
+barked and growled every time to-day, that he passed it. I'm sure
+something's there."
+
+"It does seem so," admitted Harry.
+
+Mr. Bobbsey was steering the boat toward shore, intending to come to
+anchor for the night, when Flossie, who was standing up in front
+cried:
+
+"Oh, look! Here's the waterfall! Oh, isn't it beautiful!"
+
+Just before them, as they turned around a bend in the bank, was a
+cataract of white water, tumbling down into the lake over a precipice
+of black rocks--a most beautiful sight.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+WHAT BERT SAW
+
+
+The waterfall of Lake Romano was still some little distance off, and,
+as the wind was blowing toward it, only a faint roar of the falling
+water came to the ears of the Bobbsey twins, and the others on the
+houseboat.
+
+"Oh, papa!" exclaimed Nan. "May we go close up and see the cataract?"
+
+"Yes," said Mr. Bobbsey. "I intended to give you a good view of the
+waterfall. We shall spend a day or so here, as it is a great
+curiosity. There is one place where you can walk right behind the
+falls."
+
+"Behind it!" cried Harry. "I don't understand how that can be, uncle."
+
+"You'll see to-morrow, when we visit them," said the twins' father.
+"And there are some oddly-marked stones to be picked up, too, Bert.
+They will do for your collection."
+
+"Fine!" Bert exclaimed. "Say, this has been a dandy trip all right!"
+
+"It isn't ended yet, is it, Dorothy?" asked Nan.
+
+"No, indeed," replied the seashore cousin, with a smile.
+
+"And we haven't solved the mystery," said Bert in a low voice to
+Harry. "But we will to-night, all right."
+
+"We sure will," agreed the boy from the country.
+
+The Bobbsey twins stayed up rather later that night than usual. Mr.
+Bobbsey did not find a good anchorage for the boat for some time, as
+he wanted to get in a safe place. It looked as though there might be a
+storm before morning, and he did not want to drift away again. Then,
+too, he wanted to get nearer to the waterfall, so they could reach it
+early the next morning and look at it more closely.
+
+So the motor was kept in action by Captain White until after supper,
+and finally the Bluebird came to rest not far from the waterfall. Then
+Bert and Nan, with Dorothy and Harry were so interested in listening
+to Mr. Bobbsey tell stories about waterfalls, and what caused them,
+that the older twins and their cousins did not get to bed until nearly
+ten o'clock, whereas nine was the usual hour.
+
+Of course Flossie and Freddie "turned in," as sailors say, about eight
+o'clock, for their little eyes would not stay open any longer.
+
+"We'll wake up as soon as my father and mother are asleep," said Bert
+to Harry, as they went to their rooms, which were adjoining ones.
+"Then we'll take turns watching that closet."
+
+"Sure," agreed Harry. "Whoever wakes up first, will call the other."
+
+To this Bert agreed, but the truth of it was that neither of them
+awakened until morning. Whether it was that they were too tired, or
+slept later than usual, they could not tell. But it was broad
+daylight, when they sat up in their beds, or "bunks," as beds are
+called on ships.
+
+"I thought you were going to call me," said Bert to his cousin.
+
+"And I thought you were going to call ME," laughed the boy from the
+country.
+
+Then they both laughed, for it was a good joke on each of them.
+
+"Never mind," spoke Bert, as he got up and dressed. "We'll try it
+again to-night."
+
+"Try what?" asked Nan from the next room, for she could hear her
+brother speak. "If you boys try to play any tricks on us girls---"
+
+"Don't worry," broke in Harry. "The secret isn't about you."
+
+"I think you're real mean not to tell us!" called Dorothy, from her
+room. "Nan and I are going to have a marshmallow roast, when we go on
+shore near the waterfall, and we won't give you boys a single one,
+will we, Nan?"
+
+"Not a one!" cried Bert's sister.
+
+"Will you give me one--whatever it is?" asked Freddie from the room
+where his mother was dressing him.
+
+"And me, too?" added Flossie, for she always wanted to share in her
+little twin brother's fun.
+
+"Yes, you may have some, but not Bert and Harry," went on Nan, though
+she knew when the time came, that she would share her treat with her
+brother and cousin.
+
+"Well, I didn't hear any noises last night," said Mr. Bobbsey to his
+wife at the breakfast table.
+
+"Nor I," said she. But when Dinah came in with a platter of ham and
+eggs, there was such a funny look on the cook's face that Mrs. Bobbsey
+asked:
+
+"Aren't you well, Dinah?"
+
+"Oh, yes'm, I'se well enough," the fat cook answered. "But dey shuah
+is suffin strange gwine on abo'd dish yeah boat."
+
+"What's the matter now?" asked Mr. Bobbsey.
+
+"A whole loaf of bread was tooken last night," said Dinah. "It was
+tooken right out ob de bread box," she went on, "and I'se shuah it
+wasn't no rat, fo' he couldn't open my box."
+
+"I don't know," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Rats are pretty smart sometimes."
+
+"They are smart enough to keep out of my trap," said Papa Bobbsey. "I
+must set some new ones, I think."
+
+"Well, I don't think it was any rat," said Dinah, as she went on
+serving breakfast.
+
+There was so much to do that day, and so much to see, that the Bobbsey
+twins, at least, and their cousins, paid little attention to the story
+of the missing loaf of bread. Bert did say to Harry:
+
+"It's too bad we didn't watch last night. We might have caught whoever
+it was that took the bread."
+
+"Who do you think it was?" asked Harry.
+
+"Oh, some tramps," said Bert. "It couldn't be anybody else."
+
+They went ashore after breakfast, close to the waterfall.
+
+"Papa, you said you would show us where we could walk under the water
+without getting wet," Nan reminded him.
+
+"Oh, yes," said Mr. Bobbsey. "I have never been to these falls, but I
+have read about them." Then he showed the children a place, near the
+shore of the lake, where they could slip in right behind the thin veil
+of water that fell over the black rocks, high above their heads. Back
+of the falling water there was a space which the waves had worn in the
+stone. It was damp, but not enough to wet their feet. There they
+stood, behind the sheet of water, and looked out through it to the
+lake, into which it fell with a great splashing and foaming.
+
+"Oh, isn't this wonderful!" cried Nan.
+
+"It surely is," said Dorothy, with a sigh. "I never saw anything so
+pretty."
+
+"And what queer stones!" cried Bert, as he picked up some that had
+been worn into odd shapes by the action of the water.
+
+The Bobbseys spent some little time at the waterfall, and then, as
+there was a pretty little island near it, where picnic parties often
+went for the day, they went there in the Bluebird, going ashore for
+their dinner.
+
+"But I'm not going to play Robinson Crusoe again," said Freddie, as he
+remembered the time he had been caught in the cave.
+
+At the end of a pleasant day on the island, the Bobbseys again went on
+board the houseboat for supper.
+
+"We'll watch sure to-night," said Bert to Harry, as they got ready for
+bed. "We won't go to sleep at all."
+
+"All right," agreed the country cousin.
+
+It was hard work, but they managed to stay awake. When the boat was
+quiet, and every one else asleep, Harry and Bert stole softly out of
+their room and went to the passageway between the dining-room and
+kitchen.
+
+"You watch from the kitchen, and I'll watch from the dining-room,"
+Bert told his cousin. "Then, no matter which way that rat goes, we'll
+see him."
+
+"Do you think it was a rat?" asked Harry.
+
+"Well, I'm not sure," his cousin answered. "But maybe we'll find out
+to-night."
+
+"We ought to have something to hit him with, if we see a rat,"
+suggested Harry.
+
+"That's right," Bert agreed. "I'll take the stove poker, and you can
+have the fire shovel. Now keep very still."
+
+The two cousins took their places, Bert in the dining-room, and Harry
+in the kitchen. It was very still and quiet on the Bluebird. Up on
+deck Snap, the dog, could be heard moving about now and then, for he
+slept up there.
+
+Bert, who had sat down in a dining-room chair, began to feel sleepy.
+He tried to keep open his eyes, but it was hard work. Suddenly he
+dozed off, and he was just on the point of falling asleep, when he
+heard a noise. It was a squeaking sound, as though a door had been
+opened.
+
+"Or," thought Bert, "it might be the squeak of a mouse. I wonder if
+Harry heard it?"
+
+He wanted to call out, in a whisper, and ask his cousin in the dining-
+room, just beyond the passage. Bert could not see Harry. But Bert
+thought if he called, even in a whisper, he might scare the rat, or
+whoever, or whatever, it was, that had caused the mystery.
+
+So Bert kept quiet and watched. The squeaking noise of the loose
+boards in the floor went on, and then Bert heard a sound, as though
+soft footsteps were coming toward him. He wanted to jump up and yell,
+but he kept still.
+
+Then, suddenly, Bert saw something.
+
+Standing in the dining-room door, looking at him, was a boy, about his
+own age--a boy dressed in ragged clothes, and in bare feet, and in his
+hand this boy held a piece of bread, and a slice of cake.
+
+"You--you!" began Bert, wondering where he had seen that boy before.
+And then, before Bert could say any more, the boy turned to run away,
+and Bert jumped up to catch him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+THE STOWAWAY
+
+
+"Come back here!" cried Bert, as he rushed on.
+
+There was the sound of a fall in the passageway, and some one groaned.
+
+"What is it?" cried Harry, running from the kitchen. "What's the
+matter, Bert? Did you catch the rat?"
+
+"No, but I caught something else," Bert answered. By this time he had
+run into the passageway, and there, in front of the locker, or closet,
+where the strange noises had been heard, lay the ragged boy. He had
+fallen and hurt his head. The cake and bread had been knocked from his
+hands. The door of the locker or closet was open.
+
+"Why--why---" began Harry, in surprise. "It's a--a boy."
+
+"Yes, and now I know who he is," said Bert, as the stowaway sat up,
+not having been badly hurt by his fall. He had tripped in his bare
+feet.
+
+"Who--who is it?" asked Harry.
+
+"It's that boy who gave us the fish--Will Watson, who worked for the
+man that made the wire fence--Mr. Hardee."
+
+"Yes, I'm that boy," said the other, slowly. "Oh, I hope your folks
+won't be very mad at me. I--I didn't know what to do, so when I ran
+away, I hid on your boat."
+
+"And have you been here ever since?" asked Bert.
+
+"Yes," answered Will. "I've been hiding here ever since."
+
+"And was it you who took the things?" Harry wanted to know.
+
+"Yes, I took them. I was half starved. But I'll pay you back as soon
+as I get out west, where my uncle lives. He's a gold miner, and I
+guess he's got lots of money. Oh, I hope your father and mother will
+forgive me."
+
+"Of course they will," said Bert, seeing tears in the eyes of the
+ragged boy.
+
+"What's the matter there?" called Mr. Bobbsey. "Has anything happened,
+Bert?"
+
+"Yes," answered Bert. "We've solved the mystery--Harry and I."
+
+"Solved the mystery!" cried Mr. Bobbsey. "I'll be right there."
+
+"Oh, what can it be?" his wife asked.
+
+Meanwhile, Captain White, Dinah and the little Bobbsey twins had been
+awakened by the loud voices. Up on deck Snap, the dog, feeling that
+something was wrong, was barking loudly.
+
+"I--I hope the dog doesn't get me!" said Will, looking about.
+
+"I won't let him hurt you," promised Bert. "So it was you, hiding in
+the closet that made Snap act so funny?" he asked. "He knew you were
+there."
+
+"Yes, only I wasn't in the closet all the while. There was a loose
+board at the back. I could slip out of the closet through that hole. I
+hid down in the lower part of the boat. I'll show you."
+
+"You poor boy!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey when, with her husband, she had
+come to see the "mystery," as Bert laughingly called him.
+
+"Indeed we'll forgive you. You must have had a terrible time, hiding
+away as you did. Now tell us all about it. But first I want you to
+drink this warm milk Dinah has made for you," for Mrs. Bobbsey had
+told the cook to heat some. "You look half starved," she said to the
+boy.
+
+"I am," answered Will. "I--I didn't take any more of your food than I
+could help, though."
+
+"Yo' am welcome to all yo' want, honey lamb!" exclaimed Dinah. "Mah
+land, but I shuah am glad yo' ain't no ghostest! I shuah am!" and she
+sighed in relief, as she saw that Will was a real, flesh-and-blood
+boy. He was, however, very thin and starved-looking.
+
+"Now tell us all about it," said Mr. Bobbsey. "How did you come on our
+boat?"
+
+Will told them. After Mr. Bobbsey had stopped the cruel farmer from
+beating him, Will crawled up to his room to sob himself to sleep. Then
+he began to think that after the houseboat had gone, Mr. Hardee would
+probably treat him all the more meanly, on account of having been
+interfered with.
+
+"So I just ran away," said Will. "I packed up what few things I had,
+and when I saw your boat near shore, I crept aboard and hid myself
+away. I easily found a place down--down cellar," he said with a smile.
+
+"I suppose you mean in the hold, or the place below the lower deck,"
+spoke Mr. Bobbsey. "Cellars on a boat are called 'holds.' Well, what
+happened?"
+
+"I--I just stayed there. I found some old bags, and made a bed on
+them," Will said. "Then when my food gave out, I used to crawl out
+during the nights and take some from your kitchen.
+
+"I had some bread when I ran away," Will went on. "I took it from Mrs.
+Hardee's kitchen, but they owed me money for working, and I didn't
+take more bread than I ought."
+
+"I'm sure you didn't," said Mrs. Bobbsey, kindly.
+
+"I didn't want you to know I was on board the boat," Will resumed,
+"for I was afraid you'd send me off, and I didn't want Mr. Hardee to
+find me again. I was afraid he'd whip me."
+
+"But what did you intend to do?" asked Mr. Bobbsey.
+
+"Well, I heard you say you were going to Lake Romano," said the boy,
+"and I thought I would ride as far as you went. Then I wouldn't have
+so far to walk to get to my uncle out west. I'm going to him. He'll
+look after me, I know. I can't stand Mr. Hardee any more."
+
+"You poor boy. We'll help you find your uncle," said Mrs. Bobbsey.
+
+"And you've been on board ever since?" asked Mr. Bobbsey.
+
+"Yes, sir. I hid down in the 'hold,' as you call it. Then when I got
+hungry, I found a loose board, so I could get into the closet. Then at
+night I would come out and get things to eat and a little water or
+milk to drink. I didn't mean any harm."
+
+"No, I'm sure you did not," the twins' father said. "Well, I'm glad
+Bert found you," he went on, as Bert and Harry told how they had kept
+watch. "So it was you who took the things, and who made the noises
+that frightened Dinah?"
+
+"Yes, but I didn't mean, to scare her," Will said. "That day I got my
+hand caught in the loose board, and it hurt so, and I felt so bad that
+I--I cried. That was what she heard, I guess."
+
+"You poor boy!" said Mrs. Bobbsey again.
+
+"And--and did you see any rats in the cellar?" asked Freddie, who was
+moving about in his little night dress.
+
+"No," answered Will, "I didn't see any rats. It was bad enough in the
+dark place, without any rats."
+
+"Well, I guess your troubles are over, for a time," said Mr. Bobbsey.
+"We'll fix you up a bed, and then I'll have a talk with you about this
+miner uncle of yours."
+
+Will finished his warm milk, and ate some bread and cake--the same he
+had taken from Dinah's kitchen. He had gone in there and taken it, but
+Harry had not heard him, for Harry had fallen asleep.
+
+"And so it was a stowaway boy, and not rats or ghosts or anything else
+that was the mystery," said Mrs. Bobbsey, when everything once more
+quiet on the Bluebird.
+
+"That's what it was," her husband said "Bert was real smart to sit up
+and watch."
+
+"And he never told us a thing about it."
+
+"Oh, he wanted to surprise us," laughed Mr. Bobbsey.
+
+"And didn't I see you, the time I fell overboard?" asked Flossie,
+looking at Will.
+
+"I think you did," he laughed. "I happened to put my head out of a
+ventilating hole just as you looked. I pulled it in again, soon
+enough, though. I hope I didn't scare you."
+
+"Not very much," Flossie said. "I was sure I saw you, but nobody else
+would believe me."
+
+Snap soon made friends with the new boy. It was Will, hiding behind
+the closet wall, that had made the dog act as though a rat were there.
+
+I must bring my story to a close, now that the mystery is explained.
+And, really, there is little else to tell. Will had, in the little
+bundle of things he had brought away from Mr. Hardee's with him, the
+address of a man he thought knew where the miner uncle was. Mr.
+Bobbsey wrote several letters, and, in due time, word came back that
+Will's uncle was well off now, and would look after him. His name was
+Mr. Jackson. He had lost track of Will for some years and had just
+begun a search for him, when Mr. Bobbsey's letter came. Enough money
+was sent on to enable Will to make the trip out west, where he would
+be well cared for. He could not thank the Bobbsey family enough for
+what they had done for him.
+
+Mr. Hardee heard where his runaway boy had been found, and tried to
+get him back, but Mr. Bobbsey would not permit this. So Will's life
+began to be a pleasant one. The time he had spent on the houseboat,
+after coming from his hiding place, was the happiest he had ever
+known.
+
+"Well, what shall we do now?" asked Bert one day, after Will had gone.
+"It seems queer not to have to be on the lookout for a mystery or
+something like that."
+
+"Doesn't it," agreed Harry.
+
+"And so that was your secret?" asked Nan.
+
+"Yes, that was it," her brother answered. "But I wish we had something
+to do now."
+
+"Whatever you do, you want to do in the next two weeks," said Mr.
+Bobbsey, coming up on deck.
+
+"Why?" asked Bert.
+
+"Because our houseboat trip will come to an end then."
+
+"Oh!" cried the Bobbsey twins in a chorus. "That's too bad!"
+
+"But I have other pleasures for you," went on Mr. Bobbsey. "The summer
+vacation is not yet over."
+
+And those of you who wish to read of what further pleasures the
+children had, may do so in the following volume, which will be called
+"The Bobbsey Twins at Meadow Brook."
+
+"Let's have one more picnic on an island!" proposed Nan, a few days
+before the trip on Lake Romano was to end.
+
+"And a marshmallow roast!" added Dorothy.
+
+"Fine!" cried Bert. "I'll eat all the candies you toast!"
+
+"And I'll help!" added Harry.
+
+"You boys will have to make the fire," Nan said.
+
+"I'll gather wood!" offered Freddie. "And I'll have my little fire
+engine all ready to put out the blaze, if it gets too big."
+
+"A pail of water will be better," laughed Bert. "Your engine might get
+going so fast, like it did once, we couldn't stop it."
+
+"I'll sharpen the sticks to put the marshmallows on," offered Harry.
+
+"I wish Will Watson was here to help us eat these," said Nan a little
+later that afternoon, when the children were having their marshmallow
+roast on a little island in the lake. "He was a nice boy."
+
+"Yes, and he will be well looked after now," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Your
+father had a letter from the miner uncle to-day, saying he was going
+to make a miner of Will. He gave up the idea of going to sea."
+
+"And will he dig gold?" asked Flossie.
+
+"I suppose so, dear!"
+
+"Oh, I'm going to dig gold when I grow to be a man," said Freddie.
+"May I have another marshmallow, Nan?" "Yes, little fat fireman," she
+laughed.
+
+A few days later, after making a trip around the lower end of the
+lake, the Bobbsey twins started for home, reaching there safely, and
+having no more trouble with Mr. Hardee and his wire fence.
+
+And so, as they are now safe at home, we shall say good-bye to the
+Bobbsey twins and their friends.
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Bobbsey Twins on a Houseboat, by Laura Lee Hope
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOBBSEY TWINS ***
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