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diff --git a/old/tbbbt10.txt b/old/tbbbt10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e8ff584 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/tbbbt10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5632 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Bobbsey Twins at School, by Laura Lee Hope +(#12 in our series by Laura Lee Hope) + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Bobbsey Twins at School + +Author: Laura Lee Hope + +Release Date: July, 2004 [EBook #6063] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on October 31, 2002] +[Date last updated: August 15, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SCHOOL *** + + + + +Charles Aldarondo, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading +Team. + + + +[Illustration: FLOSSIE AND FREDDIE RAISED THE HOOP JUST IN TIME.] + +The Bobbsey Twins at School + +By LAURA LEE HOPE + + + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + + + + +I. A CIRCUS TRAIN +II. SNOOP Is GONE +III. A QUEER DOG +IV. HOME IN AN AUTO +V. SNAP DOES TRICKS +VI. DANNY RUGG IS MEAN +VII. AT SCHOOL +VIII. BERT SEES SOMETHING +IX. OFF TO THE WOODS +X. A SCARE +XI. DANNY'S TRICK +XII. THE CHILDREN'S PARTY +XIII. AN UNPLEASANT SURPRISE +XIV. A COAT BUTTON +XV. THANKSGIVING +XVI. MR TETLOW ASKS QUESTIONS +XVII. THE FIRST SNOW +XVIII. A NIGHT ALARM +XIX. WHO WAS SMOKING? +XX. A CONFESSION +XXI. THE FAT LADY'S LETTER +XXII. SNAP AND SNOOP + + + + + + +THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SCHOOL + + + + + + +CHAPTER I + +A CIRCUS TRAIN + + + + +"Mamma, how much longer have we got to ride?" asked Nan Bobbsey, +turning in her seat in the railroad car, to look at her parents, +who sat behind her. + +"Are you getting tired?" asked Nan's brother Bert. "If you are I'll +sit next to the window, and watch the telegraph poles and trees +go by. Maybe that's what tires you, Nan," he added, and his father +smiled, for he saw that Bert had two thoughts for himself, and one +for his sister. + +"No, I'm not tired of the scenery," answered the brown-haired and +brown-eyed girl, "but you may sit next the window, Bert, if you +like." + +"Thanks!" he exclaimed as he scrambled over to the place his sister +gave up. + +"Are you tired, dearie?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey, leaning forward and +smoothing out her daughter's hair with her hand. "If you would like +to sit with me and put your head in my lap, papa can go to another +seat and--" + +"Oh, no, mamma, I'm not as tired as that," and Nan laughed. "I was +just wondering how soon we'd be home." + +"I'd rather be back at the seashore," said Bert, not turning his +gaze from the window, for the train was passing along some fields +just then, and in one a boy was driving home some cows to be +milked, as evening was coming on Bert was wondering if one of the +cows might not chase the boy. Bert didn't really want to see the +boy hurt by a cow, of course, but he thought that if the cow was +going to take after the boy, anyhow, he might just as well see it. +But the cows were very well-behaved, and went along slowly. + +"Yes, the seashore was nice," murmured Nan, as she leaned her head +back on the cushioned seat, "but I'm glad to be going home again. +I want to see some of the girls, and--" + +"Yes, and I'll be looking for some of the boys, too," put in Bert. +"But school will soon begin, and that's no fun!" + +Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey smiled at each other, and Mr. Bobbsey, taking +out a time-table, looked to see how much longer they would be on +the train. + +"It's about an hour yet," he said to Nan, and she sighed. Really +she was more tired than she cared to let her mother know. + +Just ahead of the two Bobbsey children were another set of them. +I say "set" for the Bobbsey children came "in sets." + +There were two pairs of twins, Bert and Nan, nearly nine years of +age, and Flossie and Freddie, almost five. And, whereas the two +older children were rather tall and slim, with dark brown hair and +eyes, the littler twins were short and fat, and had light hair and +blue eyes. The two pairs of twins were quite a contrast, and many +persons stopped to look at them as they passed along the street +together. + + +"No, sir," went on Bert musingly, "school's no fun, and it starts +about a week after we get home. No chance to have a good time!" + +"We've had fun all summer," replied his sister. "I rather like +school." + +"Mamma, are we going to school this year?" asked Flossie, as she +looked back with a quick turning of her head that set her yellow +curls to dancing. + +"If we are, I'm going to sit with Flossie--can't I?" asked Freddie, +kneeling in the seat so that he could face back to his father and +mother. + +Indeed his request was not strange, since the two younger twins +were always together, even more so than their brother and sister. + +"Yes, I think you and Freddie will start school regularly this +term," said Mrs. Bobbsey, "and, if it can be arranged, you may sit +together. We'll see about that. Be careful Freddie, don't put your +head out of the window," she cautioned quickly, for the little +chap had turned in his seat again, and was leaning forward to see +a horse galloping about a field, kicking up its heels at the sound +of the puffing engine. + +"It's my turn to sit by the window, anyhow," said Flossie. + +"It is not! We haven't passed a station yet," disputed Freddie. + +"Oh, we have so!" cried his little sister. "Freddie Bobbsey!" and +she pointed her finger at him. + +"Children--children," said Mrs. Bobbsey reprovingly. + +"Are you two taking turns?" asked Bert, smiling with an older +brother's superior wisdom. + +"Yes," answered Flossie, "he was to have the seat next to the window +until we came to a station, and then it's to be my turn until we +pass another station, and we have passed one, but he won't change +over." + +"Well, it was only a little station, anyhow," asserted Freddie, +"and it come awful quick after the last one. It isn't fair!" + +"There's a seat up ahead for you, Bert," suggested Mr. Bobbsey, as +a gentleman got up, when the train approached a station. "You can +sit there, and let Flossie or Freddie take your place." + +"All right," answered Bert good-naturedly, as he got up. + +The train rolled on, the two younger twins each having a window +now, and Nan occupying the seat with her little brother. For a +time there was quietness, until Mrs. Bobbsey said to her husband: + +"Hadn't you better get some of the satchels together, Richard, and +tell Dinah what she is to carry?" + +"I think I will," he answered, as he went up the car aisle a +little way to where a very fat colored woman sat. She was Dinah, +the Bobbsey cook, and they took her with them always when going away +for the summer. Now they were on their way to their city house, +and of course Dinah came back, too. + +"Mamma, I'm thirsty," said Flossie, after a bit. "Please may I get +a drink?" + +"I want one, too," said Freddie quickly, "Come on, Flossie, we'll +both go down to the end of the car where the water cooler is." + +"There's no cup," Nan said. "I went a little while ago, but a lady +let me take her glass." + +"And if there was a cup, I would rather they didn't use it," said +Mrs. Bobbsey. "One never knows who has last handled a public cup." + +"But I want a drink," insisted Flossie, a bit fretfully, for she +was tired from the long journey. + +"I know it, dear," said her mamma gently, "and I'm getting out the +silver cup for you. Only you must be very careful of it, and not +drop it, for it is solid silver and will dent, or mar, easily." She +was searching in her bags and presently took out a very valuable +drinking cup, gold lined and with much engraving on it. The cup +had been presented to Flossie and Freddie on their first birthday, +and bore each of their names. They were very proud of it. + +"Now be careful," warned Mrs. Bobbsey, as she held out the cup. +"Hold on to the seats as you walk along." + +"I'll carry the cup," said Freddie. "I'm the biggest." + +"You are not!" declared his sister quickly. "I'm just as big." + +"Well, anyhow, I'm a boy," went on Freddie, and Flossie could not +deny this. "And boys always carries things," her brother went on. +"I'll carry the cup." + +"Very well, but be careful of it," said his mother with a smile, +as she handed it to him. The two children went down the aisle of +the car. They stopped for a moment at the seat where Dinah was. + +"Is Snoop all right?" asked Freddie, peering into a box that was +made of slats, with spaces between them for air. + +"'Deed an' he am, honey," said Dinah with a smile, laughing so that +she shook all over her big, fleshy body. + +"I 'spect he's lonesome; aren't you, Snoop?" asked Flossie, poking +her finger in one of the cracks, to caress, as well as she could, +a fat, black cat. The cat, like Dinah the cook, went with the +Bobbseys on all their summer outings. + +"Well, maybe he am lonesome," admitted Dinah, with another laugh, +"but he's been real good. He hain't yowled once--not once!" + +"He'll soon be out of his cage; won't you, snoop?" said Freddie, +and then he and his sister went on to the water cooler Near by they +saw something else to look at This was the sight of a very, very +fat lady who occupied nearly all of one seat in the end of the car. +She was so large that only a very little baby could have found room +beside her. + +"Look--look at her." whispered Flossie to Freddie, as they paused. +The fat woman's back was toward them, and she seemed to be much +interested in looking out of the window. + +"She is fat," admitted Freddie. "Did you ever see one so big before?" + +"Only in a circus," said Flossie "She'd make--make two of Dinah," +went on her brother. + +"She would not," contradicted Flossie quickly. "Cause Dinah's black, +and this lady is white." + +"That's so," admitted Freddie, with a smile. "I didn't think of +that." + +A sway of the train nearly made Flossie fall, and she caught quickly +at her brother. + +"Look out!" he cried. "You 'most knocked the cup down." + +"I didn't mean to," spoke Flossie. "Oh, there goes my hat! Get it, +Freddie, before someone steps on it!" + +Her brother managed to get the hat just as it was sliding under +the seat where the fat lady sat. + +After some confusion the hat was placed on Flossie's head, and once +more she and her brother moved on toward the water cooler. It was +getting dusk now, and some of the lamps in the car had been lighted. + +Freddie, carrying the cup, filled it with water at the little faucet, +and, very politely, offered it to his sister first. Freddie was no +better than most boys of his age, but he did not forget some of the +little polite ways his mamma was continually teaching him. One of +these was "ladies first," though Freddie did not always carry it +out, especially when he was in a hurry. + +"Do you want any more?" he asked, before he would get himself a +drink. + +"Just a little," said Flossie. "The silver cup doesn't hold much." + +"No, I guess it's 'cause there's so much silver in it," replied +her brother. "It's worth a lot of money, mamma said." + +"Yes, and it's all ours. When I grow up I'm going to have my half +made into a bracelet." + +"You are?" said Freddie slowly. "If you do there won't be enough +left for me to drink out of." + +"Well, you can have your share of it made into a watch, and drink +out of a glass." + +"That's so," agreed Freddie, his face brightening. He gave his sister +more water, and then took some himself. As he drank his eyes were +constantly looking at the very fat lady who filled so much of her +seat. She turned from the window and looked at the two children, +smiling broadly. Freddie was somewhat confused, and looked down +quickly. Just then the train gave another lurch and Freddie suddenly +spilled some of the water on his coat. + +"Oh, look what you did!" cried Flossie "And that's your best coat!" + +"I--I couldn't help it," stammered Freddie. + +"Never mind, little boy," said the fat lady. "It's only clean water. +Come here and I'll wipe it off with my handkerchief. I'd come to +you, only I'm so stout it's hard enough for me to walk anyhow, and +when the train is moving I simply can't do it." + +Freddie and Flossie went to her seat, and with a handkerchief, that +Flossie said afterward was almost as big as a table cloth, the fat +lady wiped the water off Freddie's coat. + +The little boy held the silver cup in his hand, and feeling, somehow, +that he ought to repay the fat lady's kindness in some way after +thanking her, he asked: + +"Would you like a drink of water? I can bring it to you if you +would." + +"Thank you," she answered. "What a kind little boy you are! I saw +you give your sister a drink first, too. Yes, I would like a drink. +I've been wanting one some time, but I didn't dare get up to go +after it." + +"I'll get it!" cried Freddie, eager to show what a little man +he was. He made his way to the cooler without accident, and then, +moving slowly, taking hold of the seat on the way back, so as not +to spill the water, he brought the silver cup brimful to the fat +lady. + +"Oh, what a beautiful cup," she said, as she took it. + +"And it cost a lot of money, too," said Flossie. "It's ours--our +birthday cup, and when I grow up I'm going to have a bracelet made +from my half." + +"That will be nice," said the fat lady, as she prepared to drink. + +But she never got more than a sip of the water Freddie had so kindly +brought her, for, no sooner did her lips touch the cup than there +was a grinding, shrieking sound, a jar to the railway coach, and the +train came to such a sudden stop that many passengers were thrown +from their seats. + +Flossie and Freddie sat down suddenly in the aisle, but they were +so fat that they did not mind it in the least. As surprised as he +was, Freddie noticed that the fat lady was so large that she could +not be thrown out of her seat no matter how suddenly the train +stopped The little Bobbsey boy saw the water from the cup spill +all over the fat lady, and she held the silver vessel in her big, +pudgy hand, looking curiously at it, as though wondering what had +so quickly become of the water. + +"It's a wreck--the train's off the track!" a man exclaimed. + +"We've hit something!" cried another. + +"It's an accident, anyhow," said still a third, and then every one +seemed to be talking at once. + +Mr. Bobbsey came running down the aisle to where Flossie and Freddie +still sat, dazed. + +"Are you hurt?" he cried, picking them both up together, which was +rather hard to do. + +"No--no," said Freddie slowly. + +"Oh, papa, what is it?" asked Flossie, wondering whether she was +going to cry. + +"I don't know, my dear. Nothing serious, I guess. The engineer must +have put the brakes on too quickly. I'll look out and see." + +Knowing that his children were safe, Mr. Bobbsey put them down +and led them back to where his wife was anxiously waiting. + +"They're all right," he called. "No one seems to be hurt." + +Bert Bobbsey looked out of the window. Though darkness had fallen +there seemed to be many lights up ahead of the stopped train. And +in the light Bert could see some camels, an elephant or two, a +number of horses, and cages containing lions and tigers strung out +along the track. + +"Why--why, what's this--a circus?" he asked. "Look, Nan! See those +monkeys!" + +"Why, it is a circus--and the train must have been wrecked!" +exclaimed his sister. "Oh mamma, what can it be?" + +A brakeman came into the car where the Bobbseys were. + +"There's no danger," he said. "Please keep your seats. A circus +train that was running ahead of us got off the track, and some of +the animals are loose. Our train nearly ran into an elephant, and +that's why the engineer had to stop so suddenly. We will go on +soon." + +"A circus; eh?" said Mr. Bobbsey. "Well, well! This is an adventure, +children. We've run into a circus train! Let's watch them catch +the animals." + + + + + +CHAPTER II + +SNOOP IS GONE + + + + +"Papa, do you think a tiger would come in here?" asked Freddie, +remembering all the stories of wild animals he had heard in his +four years. + +"Or a lion?" asked Flossie. + +"Of course not!" exclaimed Nan. "Can't you see that all the wild +animals are still in their cages?" + +"Maybe some of 'em are loose," suggested Freddie, and he almost +hoped so, as long as his father was there to protect him. + +"I guess the circus men can look after them," said Bert. "May I +get off, father, and look around?" + +"I'd rather you wouldn't, son. You can't tell what may happen." + +"Oh, look at that man after the monkey!" cried Nan. + +"Yes. and the monkey's gone up on top of the tiger's cage," added +Bert. "Say, this is as good as a circus, anyhow!" + +Some of the big, flaring lights, used in the tents at night, had +been set going so the circus and railroad men could see to work, +and this glare gave the Bobbseys and other passengers on the train +a chance to see what was going on. + +"There's a big elephant!" cried Freddie. "See him push the lion's +cage around. Elephants are awful strong!" + +"They couldn't push a railroad train," said Flossie. + +"They could too!" cried her little brother, quickly. + +"They could not. Could they, papa?" + +"What?" asked Mr. Bobbsey, absent-mindedly. + +"Could an elephant push a railroad train?" asked Flossie. + +"I know they could," declared Freddie. "Couldn't they, papa?" + +"Now, children, don't argue. Look out of the windows," advised +their mother. + +And while the circus men are trying to catch the escaped animals +I will tell you something more about the Bobbseys, and about the +other books, before this one, relating to their doings. + +Mr. Richard Bobbsey, and his wife Mary, the parents of the Bobbsey +twins, lived in an Eastern city called Lakeport, on Lake Metoka. +Mr. Bobbsey was in the lumber business, and the yard, with its +great piles of logs and boards, was near the lake, on which the +twins often went in boats. There was also a river running into the +lake, not far from the saw mill. + +Their house was about a quarter of a mile away from the lumber yard, +on a fashionable street, and about it was a large lawn, while in +the back Sam Johnson, the colored man of all work, and the husband +of Dinah, had a fine garden. The Bobbseys had many vegetables from +this garden. + +There was also a barn near the house, and in this the children had +many good times. Flossie and Freddie played there more than did +Nan and Bert, who were growing too old for games of that sort. + +As I have said, Bert and Nan were rather tall and thin, while +Flossie and Freddie were short and fat. Mr. Bobbsey used often +to call Flossie his "Fat Fairy," which always made her laugh. And +Freddie had a pet name, too. It was "Fat Fireman," for he often +played that he was a fireman; putting out make-believe fires, and +pretending he was a fire engine. Once or twice his father had +taken him to see a real fire, and this pleased Freddie very much. + +In the first book of this series, called "The Bobbsey Twins," I +told you something of the fun the four children had in their home +town. They had troubles, too, and Danny Rugg, one of the few bad +boys in Lakeport, was the cause of some. Also about a certain broken +window; what happened when the twins went coasting, how they had +a good time, in an ice boat, and how they did many other things. + +Snoop, the fat, black kitten, played a part in the story also. The +Bobbsey twins were very fond of Snoop, and had kept him so many +years that I suppose he ought to be called a cat, instead of a +kitten, now. + +After the first winter's fun, told of in the book that began an +account of the doings of the Bobbseys, the twins and their parents +went to the home of Uncle Daniel Bobbsey, and his wife, Aunt Sarah, +in Meadow Brook. + +In the book called "The Bobbsey Twins in the Country," I wrote down +many of the things that happened during the summer. + +If they had fun going off to the country, taking Snoop with them, +of course, they had many more good times on arriving at the farm. +There was a picnic, jolly times in the woods, a Fourth of July +celebration, and though a midnight scare alarmed them for a time, +still they did not mind that. + +But, though the twins liked the country very much, they soon had +a chance to see something of the ocean, and in the third book of +the series, called "The Bobbsey Twins at the Seashore," my readers +will find out what happened there. + +There was fun on the sand, and more fun in the water, and once +the little ones got lost an an island. A great storm came up, and +a ship was wrecked, and this gave the twins a chance to see the +life savers, those brave men who risk their lives to help others. + +Then came closing days at Ocean Cliff, the home of Uncle William +and Aunt Emily Minturn at Sunset Beach. School was soon to open, +and Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey were anxious to get back to their town +home, for Flossie and Freddie were to start regular lessons now, +even though it was but in the kindergarten class. + +Sa good-byes were said to the ocean, and though Dorothy Minturn cried +a little when her cousins Nan and Flossie, and Bert and Freddie, +had to leave, still she said she hoped they would come again. And +so the Bobbseys were on their way home in the train when the circus +accident happened that brought them to a stop. + +"And so we nearly ran into an elephant; eh?" said Mr. Bobbsey to +the brakeman, who had brought in the news. + +"Yes, sir. Our engineer stopped just in time." + +"If we had hit him we'd gone off the track," said Freddie. + +"No, we wouldn't," declared Flossie, who seemed bound to start a +dispute. Perhaps she was so tired that she was fretful. + +"Say, can't you two stop disputing all the while?" asked Bert, in +a low voice. "You make papa and mamma nervous." + +"Well, an elephant is big, anyhow," said Freddie. + +"So he is, little Fat Fireman," said Nan, "Come and sit with me, +and we can see the men catch the monkeys." + +The work of getting the escaped animals back into their cages was +going on rapidly. Some of the passengers went out to watch, but +the Bobbseys stayed in their seats, Mr. Bobbsey thinking this best. +The catching of the monkeys was the hardest work, but soon even +this was accomplished. + +The wait seemed very tiresome when there was nothing more to watch, +and Mr. Bobbsey looked about for some railroad man of whom he could +inquire how much longer delay there would be. The conductor came +through the car. + +"When will we start?" asked Mr. Bobbsey. + +"Not for some time, I'm afraid," spoke the ticket-taker. "The wreck +is a worse one than I thought at first, and some of the cars of +the circus train are across the track so we can't get by. We may +be here two hours yet." + +"That's too bad. Where are we?" + +"Just outside of Whitewood." + +"Oh, that's near home!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey. "Why can't we get +out, Richard, walk across the fields to the trolley line, and take +that home? It won't be far, and we'll be there ever so much quicker." + +"Well, we could do that, I suppose," said her husband, slowly. + +"That's what a number of passengers did," said the conductor. +"There's no danger in going out now--all the animals are back in +their cages." + +"Then that's what we'll do, children," said their father. "Gather +up your things, and we'll take the trolley home. The moon is coming +up, and it will soon be light." + +"I'm hungry," said Freddie, fretfully. + +"So am I," added his twin sister. + +"Well, I have some crackers and cookie in my bag," replied Mrs. +Bobbsey. "You can eat those on the way. Nan, go tell Dinah that +we're going to take a trolley. We can each carry something." + +"I'll carry Snoop," exclaimed Freddie. He hurried down the aisle to +where the cook was now standing, intending to get the box containing +his pet cat "Where's Snoop, Dinah?" he asked. + +"Heah he am!" she said, lifting up the slat-box. "He ain't made a +sound in all dis confusion, nuther." + +The next moment Freddie gave a cry of dismay: + +"Snoop's gone!" he wailed. "He broke open the box and he's gone! +Oh, where is Snoop?" + +"Ma sakes alive!" cried Dinah. The box was empty! + +A hurried search of the car did not bring forth the black pet. Mr. +and Mrs. Bobbsey, and some of the passengers, joined in the hunt. +But there was no Snoop, and a slat that had pulled loose from one +side of the box showed how he had gotten out. + +"Most likely Snoop got frightened when the train stopped so suddenly, +and broke loose," said Mr. Bobbsey. "We may find him outside." + +"I--I hope an elephant didn't step on him," said Flossie, with a +catch in her breath. + +"Oh--o--o--o! Maybe a tiger or a lion has him!" wailed Freddie. +"Oh, Snoop!" + +"Be quiet, dear, we'll find him for you," said Mrs. Bobbsey, as +she opened her satchel to get out some cookies. Then she remembered +something. + +"Freddie, where is that silver cup?" she asked. "You had it to get +a drink. Did you give it back to me?" + +"No, mamma, I--I--" + +"He gave the fat lady a drink from it," spoke Flossie, "and she +didn't give it back." + +"The train stopped just as she was drinking," went on Freddie. "I +sat down on the floor--hard, and I saw the water spill on her. The +fat lady has our silver cup! Oh, dear!" + +"And she's gone--and Snoop is gone!" cried Flossie. "Oh! oh!" + +"Is that so--did you let her take your cup, Freddie?" asked his +papa. Freddie only nodded. He could not speak. + +"That fat lady was with the circus," said one of the men passengers. +"Maybe you can see her outside." + +"I'll look," said Mr. Bobbsey, quickly "That cup is too valuable +to lose. Come, children, we'll see if we can't find Snoop also, +and then we'll take a trolley car for home." + + + + + +CHAPTER III + +A QUEER DOG + + + + +Papa Bobbsey first looked for some of the circus men of whom he +might inquire about the fat lady. There was much confusion, for +a circus wreck is about as bad a kind as can happen, and for some +time Mr. Bobbsey could find no one who could tell him what he wanted +to know. + +Meanwhile Mrs. Bobbsey kept the four children and Dinah with her, +surrounding their little pile of baggage off to one side of the +tracks. Some of the big torches were still burning, and the full +moon was coming up, so that there was plenty of light, even if it +was night. + +"Oh, but if we could only find Snoop!" cried Freddie. "Here, Snoop! +Snoop!" he called. + +"I had much rather find the fat lady, and get back your lovely +silver cup," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "I hope she hasn't taken it away +with her." + +"She had it in her hand when the train stopped with such a jerk," +explained Flossie. "Oh, but mamma, don't you want us to find +Snoop--dear Snoop?" + +"Of course I do. But I want that silver cup very much, too. I hope +your father finds it." + +"But there never could be another Snoop," cried Flossie. "Could +there, Freddie? And we _could_ get another silver cup." + +"Don't be silly," advised Bert, rather shortly. + +"Oh, don't talk that way to them," said Nan. "They do love that +cat so. Never mind, Flossie and Freddie. I'm sure we'll find him +soon. Here comes papa." + +Mr. Bobbsey came back, looking somewhat worried. + +"Did you find her?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey anxiously. + +"No," he replied, with a shake of his head. "She was the circus +fat lady all right. It seems she missed the show-train, and came +on in ours. And, when we stopped she got out, and went up ahead. +Part of the circus train, carrying the performers, was not damaged +and that has gone on. The fat lady is with that, so one of the men +said." + +"And, very likely, she has carried off our silver cup," exclaimed +Mrs. Bobbsey. "Oh dear! Can you find her later, Richard?" + +"I think so. But it will take some time. The circus is going to +Danville--that's a hundred miles from here. But I will write to +the managers there, and ask them to get our cup from the fat lady." + +"But where is Snoop?" asked Freddie, with much anxiety. + +"I don't know, my dear," answered Mr. Bobbsey. "I asked the circus +men if they had seen him, but they were too busy to remember. He +may be running around some where. But we can't wait any longer. We +must get home. I'll speak to one of the switchmen, who stay around +here, and if they see Snoop I'll have them keep him for us. We'll +come back to-morrow and inquire." + +"But we want Snoop now!" exclaimed Freddie, fretfully. + +"I'm afraid we can't get him," said Mrs. Bobbsey, gently. "Come, +children, let's go home now, and leave it to papa. Oh, to think of +your lovely silver cup being gone!" + +"Snoop is worse," said Flossie, almost crying. + +"I--I'm sorry I let the fat lady take the cup," spoke Freddie. + +"Oh, you meant all right, my dear," said his mamma, "and it was very +kind of you. But we really ought to start. We may miss a trolley. +Come, Dinah, can you carry all you have?" + +"'Deed an' I can, Mrs. Bobbsey. But I suah am sorry 'bout dat ar' +Snoop." + +"Oh, it wasn't your fault, Dinah," said Nan quickly. "He is getting +to be such a big cat that he can easily push the slats off his box, +now. We must make it stronger next time." + +Flossie and Freddie wondered if there would be a "next time," for +they feared Snoop was gone forever. They did not worry so much +about the silver cup, valuable as it was. + +With everyone in the little party carrying something, the Bobbsey +family set off across the fields toward the distant trolley line +that would take them nearly home. The moon was well up now, and +there was a good path across the fields. Nan and Bert were talking +about the wreck, and recalling some of the funny incidents of +catching the circus animals. + +Flossie and Freddie were wondering whether they would ever see +their pet cat again. They had had him so long that he seemed like +one of the family. + +"Maybe he ran off and joined the circus," said Flossie. + +"Maybe," spoke her brother. "But he can't do any tricks, so they +won't want him in a show." + +"He can so do tricks! He can chase his tail and almost grab it." + +"That isn't a trick." + +"It is so--as much as standing on your head." + +"Children--children--I don't know what I'll do with you if you +don't stop that constant bickering," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "You must +not dispute so." + +"Well, mamma, but isn't chasing your tail a trick?" asked Flossie. +"Freddie says it isn't." + +"Well, it isn't a circus trick, anyhow," declared her brother. "I +meant a circus trick." + +"Well, Snoop is a good cat, anyhow," went on Flossie, "and I wish +we had him back." + +"Oh, so do I!" exclaimed Freddie, and thus that little dispute +ended. + +They were walking along through a little patch of woods now, when +Bert, who was the last one in line, suddenly called out: + +"Something is coming after us!" + +"Coming after us? What do you mean?" asked Nan quickly, as she +hurried to her father's side. + +"I mean I've been listening for two or three minutes now, to some +animal following after us along the path. Some big animal, too." + +Flossie and Freddie both ran back and took hold of their mother's +hands. + +"Don't scare the children, Bert," said Mr. Bobbsey, a bit sternly. +"Did you really hear something?" + +"Yes, father. It's some animal walking, behind us. Listen and you +can hear it yourself." + +They all listened. It was very quiet. Then from down the hard dirt +path they all heard the "pit-pat, pit-pat" of the footsteps of some +animal. It was coming on slowly. + +For a moment Mr. Bobbsey thought of the wild animals of the circus. +In spite of what the men had said perhaps one of the beasts might +have escaped from its cage. The others in the little party evidently +thought the same thing. Mrs. Bobbsey drew her children more closely +about her. + +"'Deed an' if it's one ob dem elephants," said Dinah, "an' if he +comes fo' me I'll jab mah hat pin in his long nose--dat's what I +will!" + +"It can't be an elephant," said Mr. Bobbsey. "One of the big beasts +would make more noise than that. It may be one of the monkeys--I +don't see how they could catch them all--they were so lively and +full of mischief." + +"Oh, if it's a monkey, may we keep it?" begged Flossie. "I just +love a monkey." + +"Mercy, child! What would we do with it around the house?" cried +Mrs. Bobbsey. "Richard, can you see what it is?" + +Mr. Bobbsey peered down the road. + +"I can see something," he said. "It's coming nearer." + +"Oh dear!" cried Nan, trembling with fear. + +Just then a bark sounded--a friendly bark. + +"It's a dog!" said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Oh, I'm so glad it wasn't--an +elephant," and she hugged Freddie and Flossie. + +"Pooh! I wasn't afraid!" cried Freddie. "If it had been an elephant +I--I'd give him a cookie, and maybe he'd let me ride home on his +back." + +The animal barked louder now, and a moment later he came into sight +on a moonlit part of the path. The children could see that it was +a big, shaggy white dog, who wagged his tail in greeting as he +walked up to them. + +"Oh, what a lovely dog!" cried Nan, "I wonder where he belongs?" + +The fine animal came on. Bert snapped his fingers, boy-fashion. + +Instantly the dog stood up on his hind legs and began marching +about in a circle on the path. + +"Oh, what a queer dog!" cried Flossie. "Oh I wish he was ours!" + + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +HOME IN AN AUTO + + + + +Down on his four legs dropped the big white dog, and with another +wag of his fluffy tail he came straight for Flossie. + +"Be careful!" warned Mamma Bobbsey. + +"He won't hurt her!" declared Bert. "That's a good dog, anyone +can tell that. Here, doggie; come here!" he called. + +But the dog still advanced toward Flossie, who shrank back a bit +timidly. + +"You never can tell what dogs will do," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "It is +best to be careful." + +"I guess he knew what Flossie said to him," spoke up Freddie. "He +knows we like dogs." + +The dog barked a little, and, coming up to where Flossie was, again +stood on his hind legs. + +"That's a queer trick," said Mr. Bobbsey. "I guess this dog has +been trained. He probably belongs around here." + +"I wish he belonged to us," sighed Nan. Like Flossie and Freddie +she, too, loved animals. + +"Maybe we can keep him if we don't find Snoop," suggested Freddie. +"Oh, papa, will you get Snoop back?" and Freddie's voice sounded +as though he was going to cry. + +"Yes, yes, of course I will," said Mr. Bobbsey quickly. He did not +want the children to fret now, with still quite a distance yet to +go home, and that in a trolley car. There were bundles to carry, +weary children to look after, and Mrs. Bobbsey was rather tired +also. No wonder Papa Bobbsey thought he had many things to do that +night. + +"Come along, children," called Mrs. Bobbsey, "it is getting late, +and we are only about half way to the trolley. Oh dear! if that +circus had to be wrecked I wish it could have waited until our +train passed." + +"Are you very tired?" asked her husband. "I can take that valise." + +"Indeed you'll not. You have enough." + +"Lemme hab it, Massa Bobbsey," pleaded Dinah. "I ain't carryin' +half enough. I's pow'ful strong, I is." + +"Nonsense, Dinah!" said Mr. Bobbsey. "I can manage, and your arms +are full." + +"I--I wish she had Snoop," said Freddie, but he was so interested +in watching the queer dog that he half forgot his sorrow over the +lost cat. + +The dog seemed to have made great friends with Flossie. She was +patting him on the head now, for the animal, after marching about +on his hind legs, was down on all fours again. + +"Oh, mamma, he's awful nice!" exclaimed Flossie. "He's just as +gentle, and he's soft, like the little toy lamb I used to have." + +"Indeed he does seem to be a gentle dog," said Mrs. Bobbsey." +But come along now. Don't pet him any more, or he may follow us, +Flossie, and whoever owns him would not like it. Come on." + +"Forward--march!" called Freddie, strutting along the moonlit path +as much like a soldier as he could imitate, tired as he was. + +The Bobbseys and their faithful Dinah started off again toward the +distant trolley that would take them to their home. The dog sat +down and looked after them. + +"I--I wish he was ours," said Flossie wistfully, waving her hand +to the dog. + +The Bobbseys had not gone on very far before Nan, looking back, +called out: + +"Oh, papa, that dog is following us!" + +"He is?" exclaimed Mr. Bobbsey. "That's queer. He must have taken +a sudden liking to us. But I guess he'll go back where he belongs +pretty soon. Are you getting tired, little Fat Fireman? And you, +my Fat Fairy?" + +"Oh, no, papa," laughed Flossie. "I sat down so much in the train +that I'm glad to stand up now." + +"So am I," said Freddie, who made up his mind that he would not +say he was tired if his little sister did not. And yet, truth to +tell, the little Fat Fireman was very weary. + +On and on went the Bobbsey family, and soon Bert happened to look +back, and gave a whistle of surprise. + +"That dog isn't going home, papa," he said. "He's still after us, +and look! now he's running." + +They all glanced back on hearing this. Surely enough the big white +dog was running after them, wagging his tail joyfully, and barking +from time to time. + +"This will never do!" exclaimed Mr. Bobbsey. "Whoever owns him +may think we are trying to take him away. I'll drive him back. Go +home! Go back, sir!" exclaimed Papa Bobbsey in stern tones. + +The dog stopped wagging his tail. Then he sat down on the path, +and calmly waited. Mr. Bobbsey walked toward him. + +"Oh, don't--don't whip him, papa!" exclaimed Flossie. + +"I don't intend to," said Mr. Bobbsey. "But I must be stern with +him or he will think I'm only playing. Go back!" he cried. + +The dog stretched out on the path, his head down between his fore +paws. + +"He--he looks--sad," said Freddie. "Maybe he hasn't any home, +papa." + +"Oh, of course a valuable dog like that has a home," declared Bert. + +"But maybe they didn't treat him kindly, and he is looking for a +new one," suggested Nan, hopefully. + +"He doesn't seem ill-treated," spoke Mrs. Bobbsey. "Oh, I do wish +he'd go back, so we could go on." + +Mr. Bobbsey pretended to pick up a stone and throw it at the dog, +as masters sometimes do when they do not want their dogs to follow +them. This dog only wagged his tail, as though he thought it the +best joke he had ever known. + +"Go back! Go back, I say!" cried Papa Bobbsey in a loud voice. The +dog did not move. + +"I guess he won't follow us any more," went on Mr. Bobbsey. "Hurry +along now, children. We are almost at the trolley." He turned away +from the dog, who seemed to be asleep now, and the family went on. +For a minute or two, as Nan could tell by looking back, the dog +did not follow, but just as the Bobbseys were about to make a turn +in the path, up jumped the animal and came trotting on after the +children and their parents, wagging his tail so fast that it seemed +as if it would come loose. + +"Is he coming?" asked Flossie. + +"He certainly is," answered Bert, who was in the rear. "I guess he +wants us to take him home with us." + +"Oh, let's do it!" begged Flossie. + +"Please, papa," pleaded Freddie. "We haven't got Snoop now, so let +us have a dog. And I'm sure we could teach him to do tricks--he's +so smart." + +"And so he's coming after us still!" exclaimed Mr. Bobbsey. "Well, +well, I don't know what to do," and he came to a stop on the path. + +"Couldn't we take him home just for tonight?" asked Nan, "and then +in the morning we could find out who owns him and return him." + +"Oh, please do," begged Freddie and Flossie, impulsively. + +"But how can we take him on a trolley car?" asked Mr. Bobbsey. "The +conductor would not let us." + +"Maybe he would--if he was a kind man," suggested Freddie. "We +could tell him how it was, and how we lost our cat--" + +"And our silver cup," added Flossie. + +"Well, certainly the dog doesn't seem to want to go home," said +Mr. Bobbsey, after he had tried two or three times more to drive +the animal back. But it would not go. + +"Go on a little farther," suggested Mrs. Bobbsey. "By the time we +get to the trolley he may get tired, and go back. And if we want +to lose him I think we can, by getting on the car quickly." + +"But we don't want to lose him!" cried Freddie. + +"No, no!" said Flossie. "We want to keep him. He can run along +behind the trolley car. I'll ask the motorman to go slow, papa." + +"My! This has been a mixed-up day!" sighed Mr. Bobbsey. "I really +don't know what to do." + +The dog seemed to think that he was one of the family, now. He +came up to Flossie and Freddie and let them pat him. His tail kept +wagging all the while. + +"Well, we'll see what happens when we get to the trolley," decided +Mr. Bobbsey, thinking that there would be the best and only place +to get rid of the dog. "Come along, children." + +Freddie and Flossie came on, the dog between them, and this seemed +to suit the fine animal. He had found friends, now, he evidently +thought. Mr. Bobbsey wondered why so valuable a dog would leave +its home. And he was very much puzzled as to what he should do if +the children insisted on keeping the animal, and if it came aboard +the trolley car. + +"There's the car!" exclaimed Bert, as they went around another turn +in the path and came to a road. Down it could be seen the headlight +of an approaching trolley, and also the twin lamps of an oncoming +automobile. + +"Look out for the auto, children!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey. + +They stood at the side of the road, and as the auto came up the man +in it slowed down his machine. It was a big car and he was alone +in it. + +"Well, I declare!" exclaimed the autoist, as his engine stopped. +"If it isn't the Bobbsey family--twins and all! What are you doing +here, Mr. Bobbsey?" + +"Why, it's Mr. Blake!" exclaimed Mr. Bobbsey, seeing that the +autoist was a neighbor, and a business friend of his. "Oh, our train +was held back by a circus wreck, so we walked across the lots to +the car. We're homeward bound from the seashore." + +"Well, well! A circus wreck, eh? Where did you get the dog?" + +"Oh, he followed us," said Mrs. Bobbsey. + +"And we're going to keep him, too!" exclaimed Flossie. + +"And take him in the trolley with us," added her little brother. + +"Well, well!" exclaimed Mr. Blake. "Say, now, I have a better plan +than that," he went on. "Why should you folks go home in a trolley, +when I have this big empty auto here? Pile in, all of you, and +I'll get you there in a jiffy. Come, Dinah, I see you, too." + +"Yes, sah, Massa Blake, I'se heah! Can't lose ole Dinah!" + +"But we lost our cat, Snoop!" said Flossie, regretfully. + +"And we nearly ran over an elephant," added Freddie, bound that +his sister should not tell all the news. + +"Well, get in the auto," invited Mr. Blake. + +"Do you really mean it?" asked Mr. Bobbsey. "Perhaps we are keeping +you from going somewhere." + +"Indeed not. Pile in, and you'll soon be home." + +"Can we bring the dog, too?" asked Flossie. + +"Yes, there's plenty of room for the dog," laughed Mr. Blake. "Lift +him in." + +But the strange dog did not need lifting. He sprang into the tonneau +of the auto as soon as the door was opened. Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey +lifted in Flossie and Freddie, and Nan and Bert followed. Then in +got Papa and Mamma Bobbsey and Mr. Blake started off. + +"This is lovely," said Mrs. Bobbsey with a sigh of relief. She was +more tired than she had thought. + +"It certainly is kind of you, Mr. Blake," said Papa Bobbsey. + +"I'm only too glad I happened to meet you. Are you children +comfortable?" + +"Yep!" chorused Freddie and Flossie. + +"And the dog?" + +"We're holding him so he won't fall out," explained Flossie. She +and her little brother had the dog between them. + +On went the auto, and with the telling of the adventures of the day +the journey seemed very short. Soon the Bobbsey home was reached. +There were lights in it, for Sam, the colored man, had been telephoned +to, to have the place opened for the family. Sam came out on the +stoop to greet them and his wife Dinah. + +"Here we are!" cried Papa Bobbsey. "Come, Flossie--Freddie--we're +home." + +Flossie and Freddie did not answer. They were fast asleep, their +heads on the shaggy back of the big dog. + + + + + +CHAPTER V + +SNAP DOES TRICKS + + + + +"We'll have to carry them in," said Mr, Bobbsey, as he looked in +the rear of the auto, and saw his two little twins fast asleep on +the dog's back. + +"I'll take 'em," said Sam kindly. "Many a time I'se carried 'em in +offen de porch when dey falled asleep. I'll carry 'em in." + +And he did, first taking Flossie, and then Freddie. Then he and +Dinah brought in the bundles and valises, while Nan and Bert and Mr, +and Mrs. Bobbsey followed, having bidden good-night to Mr. Blake, +and thanking him for the ride. + +"Where--where are we?" asked Flossie, rubbing her eyes and looking +around the room which she had not seen in some months. + +"An'--an' where's our dog?" demanded Freddie. + +"Oh, bless your hearts--that dog!" cried Mamma Bobbsey. "Sam took +him out in the barn. You may see him in the morning, if he doesn't +run away in the night." + +The twins looked worried over this suggestion, until Sam said: + +"Oh, I locked him up good an' proper in a box stall; 'deed an' I +did, Mrs. Bobbsey. He won't get away to-night." + +"That's--good," murmured Freddie, and then he fell asleep again. + +Soon the little twins were undressed and put to bed. Nan and Bert +soon followed, but Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey stayed up a little later +to talk over certain matters. + +"It's good to be home again," said Mr. Bobbsey, as he looked about +the rooms of the town house. + +"Yes, but we had a delightful summer," spoke his wife, "and the +children are so well. The country was delightful, and so was the +seashore. But I think I, too, am glad to be back. It will be quite +a task, though, to get the children ready for school. Flossie and +Freddie will go regularly now, I suppose, and with Nan and Bert +in a higher class, it means plenty of work." + +"I suppose so," said her husband. + +"But Dinah is a great help," went on Mrs. Bobbsey, for she did not +mean to complain. Flossie and Freddie had tried a few days in the +kindergarten class at school, but Flossie said she did not like it, +and, as Freddie would not go without her, their parents had taken +them both out in the Spring. + +"There will be plenty of time to start them in the Fall," said Mrs. +Bobbsey, and so it had been arranged. And now the four twins were +all to attend the same school, which would open in about a week. + +Flossie and Freddie were both up early the next morning, and, +scarcely half-dressed, they hurried out to the barn. + +"Whar yo' chillens gwine?" demanded Dinah, as she prepared to get +breakfast. + +"Out to see our dog," answered Freddie. "Is Sam around?" + +"Yes, he's out dere somewheres, washin' de carriage. But don't +yo' let 'at dog bite yo'." + +"We won't," said Freddie. + +"He wouldn't bite anyhow," declared Flossie. + +Sam opened the box stall for them, and out bounced the big white +dog, barking in delight, and almost knocking down the twins, so +glad was he to see them. + +"What shall we call him?" asked Freddie. "Maybe we'd better name +him Snoop, like our cat. I guess Snoop is gone forever." + +"No, we mustn't call him Snoop," said Flossie, "for some day our +cat might come back, and he'd want his own name again. We'll call +our dog Snap, 'cause see how bright his eyes snap. Then if our cat +comes back we'll have Snoop and Snap." + +"That's a good name," decided Freddie, after thinking it over. +"Snoop and Snap. I wonder how we can make this dog stand on his +hind legs like he did before?" + +"Bert snapped his fingers and he did it," suggested Flossie. "But +maybe he'll do it now if you just ask him to." + +Freddie tried to snap his fingers, but they were too short and fat. +Then he patted the dog on the head and said: + +"Stand up!" + +At once the dog, with a bark, did so. He sat up on his hind legs +and then walked around. Both the children laughed. + +"I wonder if he can do any other tricks?" asked Flossie. + +"I'm going to try," said her brother. "What trick do you want him +to do?" + +"Make him lie down and roll over." + +"All right," spoke Freddie "Now, Snap, lie down and roll over!" he +called. At once the fine animal did so, and then sprang up with a +bark, and a wag of his tail, as much as to ask: + +"What shall I do next?" + +"Oh, isn't he a fine dog!" cried Flossie. "I wonder who taught +him those tricks?" + +"Let's see if he can do any more," said Freddie. "There's a barrel +hoop over there. Maybe he'll jump through it if we hold it up." + +"Oh, let's do it!" cried Flossie, as she ran to get the hoop. Snap +barked at the sight of it, and capered about as though he knew +just what it was for, and was pleased at the chance to do more of +his tricks. The hoop was a large one, and Freddie alone could not +hold it very steady. So Flossie took hold of one side. As soon as +they were in position. Freddie called: + +"Come on now, Snap. Jump!" + +Snap barked, ran back a little way, turned around and came racing +straight for the twins. At that moment Sam Johnson came up running, +a stick in his hand. + +"Heah! heah!" shouted the colored man. "You let dem chillens alone, +dog! Go 'way, I tells yo'!" + +"That's all right, Sam," said Freddie. "Don't scare him. He's +our new dog Snap, and he's going to do a trick," for the colored +gardener had supposed the dog was running at Flossie and Freddie +to bite them. + +Snap paid no attention to Sam, but raced on. When a short distance +from where Flossie and Freddie held the hoop, Snap jumped up into +the air, and shot straight through the wooden circle, landing quite +a way off. + +"Mah gracious sakes alive!" gasped Sam, "Dat's a reg'lar circus +trick--dat's what it am!" + +He scratched his head in surprise, and the stick he had picked +up, intending to drive away the dog with, stuck straight out. In +a moment Snap raced up, and jumped over the stick. + +"Oh, look!" cried Flossie. + +"Another trick!" exclaimed Freddie. + +"Mah gracious goodness!" cried Sam. "Dat suah am wonderful!" + +Snap ran about barking in delight. He seemed happy to be doing +tricks. + +"Let's go tell papa," said Freddie. "He'll want to know about this." + +"Oh, I do hope he lets us keep him," said Flossie. + +Mr. Bobbsey had not yet gone to his lumber office. He listened to +what the little twins had to tell them about Snap, who lay on the +lawn, seeming to listen to his own praises. + +"A trick dog; eh?" exclaimed Mr. Bobbsey. "I wonder who owns him?" + +"Maybe he escaped from the circus," suggested Bert, who came out +just then to see how his pigeons were getting along. + +"That's it!" cried Mr. Bobbsey. "I wonder I did not think of it +before. The dog must have escaped from the wrecked circus train, +and he followed us, not knowing what else to do. That accounts for +his tricks." + +"But we can keep him; can't we?" begged Flossie. + +"Hum! I'll have to see about that," said Mr. Bobbsey slowly. +"I suppose the circus people will want him back, for he must be +valuable. Perhaps some clown trained him." + +"But if we can't have Snoop, our cat, we ought to have a dog," +asserted Freddie. + +"I'll try to get Snoop back," said Mr. Bobbsey. "I'll have one +of my men go down to the place where the wreck was, to-day, and +inquire of the railroad men. He may be wandering about there." + +"Poor Snoop!" said Nan, coming out to feed some of her pet chickens, +that Sam had looked after all summer. + +"And while you are about it," suggested Mrs. Bobbsey, who was on +the front porch, "I wish, Richard, that you would see if you can +locate that fat lady, and get back the children's silver cup." + +"I will," replied Mr. Bobbsey. "I will have to write to them anyhow, +about the dog, and at the same time I'll ask about the cup. Though +I don't believe the fat lady meant to keep it." + +"Oh, no," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Probably she just held it, in the +excitement over the wreck, and she may have left it in the car. +But please write about it." + +"I will," promised Mr. Bobbsey, as he started for the office, while +the twins gathered about the new dog, who seemed ready to do more +tricks. + + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +DANNY RUGG IS MEAN + + + + +That afternoon a small fire broke out in Mr. Bobbsey's lumber yard. +The alarm bell rang, and Mrs. Bobbsey, hearing it, and knowing +by the number that the blaze must be near her husband's place of +business, came hurrying down stairs. + +"Oh, I must go and see how dangerous it is," she said to Dinah. +"It is too bad to have it happen just after Mr. Bobbsey comes back +from his summer vacation." + +"'Deed it am!" cried the fat, colored cook. "But maybe it am only +a little fire, Mrs. Bobbsey." + +"I'm sure I hope so," was the answer. + +As Mrs. Bobbsey was hurrying down the front walk Flossie and Freddie +saw her. + +"Where are you going, mamma?" they called. + +"Down to papa's office," she answered "There's a fire near his +place, and--" + +"Oh, a fire! Then I'm going!" cried Freddie. "Fire! Fire! Ding, +dong! Turn on the water!" and he raced about quite excitedly. + +"Oh, I don't know," said Mrs. Bobbsey, in doubt. "Where are Nan +and Bert?" she asked. + +"They went down to the lake," said Flossie. "Oh, mamma, do take +us to the fire with you. We'll bring Snap along." + +"Sure," said Freddie. "Hi, Snap!" he called. + +The trick dog came rushing from the stable, barking and wagging +his tail. + +"Well, I suppose I might as well take you," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "But +you must stay near me. We'll leave Snap home, though." + +"Oh, no!" cried Freddie. + +"He might get lost," said Mrs. Bobbsey. + +That was enough for Freddie. He did not want the new pet to get +lost, so he did not make a fuss when Sam came hurrying up to lock +Snap in the stable. Poor Snap howled, for he wanted very much to +go with the children. + +The fire was, as I have said, a small one, in part of the planing +mill. But the engines puffed away, and spurted water, and this +pleased Freddie. Flossie stayed close to her mother, and Mrs. +Bobbsey, once she found out that the main lumber yard was not in +danger, was ready to come back home. But Freddie wanted to stay +until the fire was wholly out. + +Mr. Bobbsey came from his office to give some directions to the +firemen, and saw his wife and the two twins. Then he took charge +of them, and led them as close to the blaze as was safe. + +"It will soon be out," he said. "It was only some sawdust that got +on fire." + +"I wish I could squirt some water!" sighed Freddie. + +"What's that? Do you want to be a fireman?" asked one of the men +in a rubber coat and a big helmet. He smiled at Mr. Bobbsey, whom +he knew quite well. + +"Yes, I do," said Freddie. + +"Then come with me, and I'll let you help hold the hose," said the +fireman. "I'll look after him," he went on, to Mrs. Bobbsey, and +she nodded to show that Freddie could go. + +What a good time the little fellow had, standing beside a real +fireman, and helping throw real water on a real fire! Freddie never +forgot that. Of course the fire was almost out, and it was only +one of the small hose lines that the fireman let the little fellow +help hold, but, for all that, Freddie was very happy. + +"Did you write to the circus people to-day about our silver cup, +and that trick dog?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey of her husband that night. + +"I declare, I didn't!" he exclaimed. "The fire upset me so that it +slipped my mind. I'll do it the first thing to-morrow. There is no +special hurry. How is the dog, by the way?" + +"Oh, he's just lovely!" cried Flossie. + +"And I do hope we can keep him forever!" exclaimed Freddie. +"'Specially since Snoop is gone." + +"Did you hear anything about our cat?" asked Nan, of her father. + +"No. I sent a man to the railroad company, but no stray cat had +been found. I am afraid Snoop is lost, children." + +"Oh dear!" cried Flossie. + +The next day, having learned from the railroad company where the +circus had gone after the wreck, Mr. Bobbsey sent a letter to the +manager, explaining about the lost silver cup, and the found circus +dog. He asked that the fat lady be requested to write to him, to +let him know if she had taken the cup by accident, and Mr. Bobbsey +also wanted to know if the circus had lost a trick dog. + +"There!" he exclaimed as he sent the letter to be mailed, "now +we'll just have to wait for an answer." + +Nan and Bert, and Flossie and Freddie were soon having almost as +much fun as they had had at the seashore and in the country. Their +town playmates, who had come back from their vacations, called at +the Bobbsey home, and made up games and all sorts of sports. + +"For," said Grace Lavine, with whom Nan sometimes played, "school +will soon begin, and we want to have all the fun we can until then." + +"Let's jump rope," proposed Nan. + +"All right," agreed Grace. "Here comes Nellie Parks, and we'll see +who can jump the most." + +"No, you mustn't do that," said Nan, "Don't you remember how you +once tried to jump a hundred, and you fainted?" + +"Indeed I do," said Grace. "I'm not going to be so silly as to try +that again. We'll only jump a little." + +Soon Nan and her chums were having a good time in the yard. + +Charley Mason, with whom Bert sometimes played, came over, and the +two boys went for a row on the lake, in Bert's boat. Some little +friends of Flossie and Freddie came over, and they had fun watching +Snap do tricks. + +For the circus dog, as he had come to be called, seemed to be able +to do some new trick each day. He could "play dead," and "say his +prayers," besides turning a back somersault. The little twins, +who seemed to claim more share in Snap than did Nan and Bert, did +not really know how many tricks their pet could do. + +"Maybe you'll have to give him back to the circus," said Willie +Flood, one of Freddie's chums. + +"Well, if we do, papa may buy him, or get another dog like him," +spoke Flossie. + +A few days after this, when Bert was out in the front yard, +watering the grass with a hose, along came Danny Rugg. Now Danny +went to the same school that Bert did, but few of the boys and none +of the girls, liked Danny, because he was often rough, and would +hit them or want to fight, or would play mean tricks on them. Still, +sometimes Danny behaved himself, and then the boys were glad to +have him on their baseball nine as he was a good hitter and thrower, +and he could run fast. + +"Hello, Bert!" exclaimed Danny, leaning on the fence. "I hear you +have a trick circus dog here." + +"Who told you?" asked Bert, wondering what Danny would say next. + +"Oh, Jack Parker. He says you found him." + +"I didn't," spoke Bert, spraying a bed of geranium flowers. "He +followed us the night of the circus wreck." + +"Well, you took him all the same. I know who owns him, too; and +I'm going to tell that you've got him." + +"Oh, are you?" asked Bert. "Well, we think he belongs to the circus, +and my father has written about it, so you needn't trouble yourself." + +"He doesn't belong to any circus," went on Danny. "That dog belongs +to Mr. Peterson, who lives over in Millville. He lost a trick dog, +and he advertised for it. He's going to give a reward. I'm going +to tell him, and get the money." + +"You can't take our dog away!" cried Freddie, coming up just then. +"Don't you dare do it, Danny Rugg." + +"Yes, I will!" exclaimed the mean boy, who often teased the smaller +Bobbsey twins. "You won't have that dog after to-day." + +"Don't mind him, Freddie," said Bert in a low voice. "He's trying +to scare you." + +"Oh, I am eh?" cried Danny. "I'll show you what I'm trying to do. +I'll tell on you for keeping a dog that don't belong to you, and +you'll be arrested--all of you." + +Freddie looked worried, and tears came into his eyes. Bert saw +this, and was angry at Danny for being so mean. + +"Don't be afraid, Freddie," said Bert. "Look, I'll let you squirt +the hose, and you can pretend to be a fireman." + +"Oh, fine!" cried Freddie, in delight, as he took the nozzle from +his older brother. + +Just how it happened neither of them could tell, but the stream of +water shot right at Danny Rugg, and wet him all over in a second. + +"Hi there!" he cried. "Stop that! I'll pay you back for that, Fred +Bobbsey," and he jumped over the fence and ran toward the little +fellow. + + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +AT SCHOOL + + + + +Freddie saw Danny coming, and did the most natural thing in the +world. He dropped the hose and ran. And you know what a hose, with +water bursting from the nozzle will sometimes do if you don't hold +it just right. Well, this hose did that. It seemed to aim itself +straight at Danny, and again the rough boy received a charge of +water full in the face. + +"Ha--ha--here! You quit that!" he gasped. "I'll fix you for that!" + +The water got in his eyes and mouth, and for a moment he could not +see. But with his handkerchief he soon had his eyes cleared, and +then he came running toward Bert. + +Danny Rugg was larger than Bert, and stronger, and, in addition, +was a bullying sort of chap, almost always ready to fight someone +smaller than himself. + +But what Bert lacked in size and strength he made up in a bold +spirit. He was not at all afraid of Danny, even when the bully came +rushing at him. Bert stood his ground manfully. He had taken up +the hose where Freddie had dropped it, and the water was spurting +out in a solid stream. Freddie, having gotten a safe distance away, +now turned and stood looking at Danny. + +Danny, too, had halted and was fairly glaring at Bert, who looked +at him a bit anxiously. More than once he and the bully had come +to blows, and sometimes Bert had gotten the best of it. Still he +did not like a fight. + +"I'll get you yet, Freddie Bobbsey!" cried Danny, shaking his fist +at the little fellow. Whereupon Freddie turned and ran toward the +house. Danny saw that he could not catch him in time, and so he +turned to Bert. + +"You put him up to do that--to douse me with water!" cried Danny +angrily. + +"I did not," said Bert quietly. "It was just an accident. I'm +sorry---" + +"You are not! I say you did that on purpose--or you told Freddie +to, and I'm going to pay you back!" + +"I tell you it was an accident," insisted Bert. "But if you want +to think Freddie did it on purpose I can't stop you." + +"Well, I'm going to hit you just the same," growled Danny, and he +stepped toward Bert. + +"You'd better look out," said Bert, with just a little smile. +"There's still a lot of water in this hose," and he brought the +nozzle around in front, ready to squirt on Danny if the bad boy +should come too near. + +Danny came to a stop. + +"Don't you dare put any more water on me!" cried the bully. "If +you do, I'll----" He doubled up his fists and glared at Bert. + +"Then don't you come any nearer if you don't want to get wet," +said Bert. "This hose might sprinkle you by accident, the same as +it did when Freddie had it," he added. + +"Huh! I know what kind of an accident that was!" spoke Danny, with +a sneer. + +"You'd better get out of the way," went on Bert quietly. "I want to +sprinkle that flower bed near where you are, and if you'll there +you might get wet, and it wouldn't be my fault." + +"I'll fix you!" growled Danny, springing forward. Bert got ready +with the hose, and there might have been more trouble, except that +Sam, the colored man, came out on the lawn. He saw that something +out of the ordinary was going on, and breaking into a run he called +out: + +"Am anyt'ing de mattah, Massa Bert? Am yo' habin' trouble wif +anybody?" + +"Well, I guess it's all over now," said Bert, as he saw Danny turn +and walk toward the gate. + +"If yo' need any help, jest remembah dat I'm around," spoke Sam, +with a wide grin that showed his white teeth in his black, but +kindly face. "I'll be right handy by, Massa Bert, yes, I will!" + +"All right," said Bert, as he went on watering the flowers. + +"Huh! You needn't think I'm afraid of you!" boasted Danny, but he +kept on out of the gate just the same. Sam went back to his work, +of weeding the vegetable garden and Bert watered the flowers. +Pretty soon Freddie came back. + +"Did--did Danny do anything to you?" the little fellow wanted to +know. + +"No, Freddie, but the hose did something to him," said Bert. + +"Oh, did it wet him again?" + +"That's what it did." + +"Ha! Ha!" laughed Freddie. "I wish I'd been here to see it, Bert." + +"Well, why did you run?" + +"Oh, I--I thought maybe--mamma might want me," answered Freddie, +but Bert understood, and smiled. Then he let Freddie finish watering +the flowers, after which Freddie played he was a fireman, saving +houses from burning by means of the hose. + +Snap, the trick dog came running out, followed by Flossie, who had +just been washed and combed, her mother having put a clean dress +on her. + +"Oh, Freddie," said the little girl, "let's make Snap do some +tricks. See if he will jump over the stream of water from the hose." + +"All right," agreed her little brother. "I'll squirt the water +out straight, and you stand on one side of it and call Snap over. +Then he'll jump." + +Flossie tried this, but at first the dog did not seem to want to +do this particular trick. He played soldier, said his prayers, +stood on his hind legs, and turned a somersault. But he would +not jump over the water. + +"Come, Snap, Snap!" called Flossie. "Jump!" + +Snap raced about and barked, and seemed to be having all sorts of +fun, but jump he would not until he got ready. Then, when he did, +Freddie accidentally lowered the nozzle and Snap was soaked. + +But the dog did not mind the water in the least. In fact he seemed +to like it, for the day was warm, and he stood still and let Freddie +wet him all over. Then Snap rolled about on the lawn, Freddie and +Flossie taking turns sprinkling. + +And, as might be expected, considerable water got on the two children, +and when Snap shook himself, as he often did, to get some of the +drops off his shaggy coat, he gave Flossie and her clean dress +a regular shower bath. + +Nan, coming from the house saw this. She ran up to Flossie, who +had the hose just then, crying: + +"Flossie Bobbsey! Oh, you'll get it when mamma sees you! She cleaned +you all up, and now look at yourself!" + +"She can't see--there's no looking glass here," said Freddie, with +a laugh. + +"And you're just as bad!" cried Nan. "You'd both better go in the +house right away, and stop playing with the hose." + +"We're through, anyhow," said Freddie. "You ought to see Snap jump +over the water." + +"Oh, you children!" cried Nan, with a shake of her head. She seemed +like a little mother to them at times, though she was only four +years older. + +Mrs. Bobbsey was very sorry to see Flossie so wet and bedraggled, +and said: + +"You should have known better than to play with water with a clean +dress on, Flossie. Now I must punish you. You will have to stay +in the house for an hour, and so will Freddie." + +Poor little Bobbsey twins! But then it was not a very severe +punishment, and really some was needed. It was hard when two of +their little playmates came and called for them to come out. But +Mrs. Bobbsey insisted on the two remaining in until the hour was +at an end. + +Then, when they had on dry garments, and could go out, there was +no one with whom to play. + +"I'm not going to squirt the hose ever again," said Freddie. + +"Neither am I," said his sister. "Never, never!" + +Snap didn't say anything. He lay on the porch asleep, being cooled +off after his sport with the water. + +"I--I wish we had our cat, Snoop, back," said Flossie. "Then we +wouldn't have played in the water." + +"That's so," agreed Freddie. "I wonder where he can be?" + +They asked their father that night if any of the railroad men +had seen their pet, but he said none had, and added: + +"I'm afraid you'll have to get along without Snoop. He seems to +have disappeared. But, anyhow, you have Snap." + +"But some one may come along and claim him," said Freddie. "That +Danny Rugg says he belongs to Mr. Peterson in Millville, father," +said Bert. + +"Well, I'll call Mr. Peterson up on the telephone to-morrow, and +find out," spoke Mr. Bobbsey. "That much will be settled, at any +rate." + +"Did you hear anything from the circus people about the fat lady?" +asked Mrs. Bobbsey. + +"Yes, but no news," was her husband's answer. "The circus has gone +to Cuba and Porto Rico for the winter, and I will have to write +there. It will be some time before we can expect an answer, though, +as I suppose the show will be traveling from place to place and +mail down there is not like it is up here. But we may find the +fat lady and the cup some day." + +"And Snoop, too," put in Nan. + +"Yes, Snoop too." + +One fact consoled the Bobbseys in their trouble over their lost +pet and cup. This was the answer received by Mr. Bobbsey from Mr. +Peterson. That gentleman had lost a valuable dog, but it was a +small poodle, and unlike big Snap. So far no one had claimed the +trick dog, and it seemed likely that the children could keep him. +They were very glad about this. + +"Oh dear!" exclaimed Bert, one afternoon a few days following the +fun with the hose, "school begins Monday. Only three more days of +vacation!" + +"I think you have had a long vacation," returned Mrs. Bobbsey, +"and if Freddie and Flossie are going to do such tricks as they +did the other day, with the hose, I, for one, shall be glad that +you are in school." + +"I like school," said Nan, "There are a lot of new girls coming +this term, I hear." + +"Any new fellows?" asked Bert, more interested. + +"I don't know. There is a new teacher in the kindergarten, though, +where Flossie and Freddie will go. Nellie Parks has met her, and +says she's awfully nice." + +"That's good," spoke Flossie. "I like nice teachers." + +"Well, I hope you and Freddie will get along well," said Mamma +Bobbsey. "You are getting older you know, and you must soon begin +to study hard." + +"We will," they promised. + +The school bell, next Monday morning, called to many rather unwilling +children. The long vacation was over and class days had begun once +more. The four Bobbseys went off together to the building, which +was only a few blocks from their home. Mr. Tetlow was the principal, +and there were half a dozen lady teachers. + +"Hello, Nan," greeted Grace Lavine. "May I sit with you this term?" + +"Oh, I was going to ask her," said Nellie Parks. + +"Well, I was first," spoke Grace, with a pout. + +"We'll be in the room where there are three seated desks." said +Nan with a smile. "Maybe we three can be together." + +"Oh, we'll ask teacher!" cried Nellie. "That will be lovely!" + +"I'm going to sit with Freddie," declared Flossie. "We're to be +together--mamma said so." + +"Of course, dear," agreed Nan. "I'll speak to your teacher about +it." + +Bert was walking in the rear with Charley Mason, when Danny Rugg +came around a corner. + +"I know what I'm going to do to you after school, Bert Bobbsey!" +called the bully. "You just wait and see." + +"All right--I'll wait," spoke Bert quietly. "I'm not afraid." + +By this time they were at the school, and it was nearly time for the +last bell to ring. Danny went off to join some of his particular +chums, shaking his fist at Bert as he went. + + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +BERT SEES SOMETHING + + + + +Lessons were not very well learned that first day in school, but +this is generally the case when the Fall term opens after the Summer +vacation. + +Just as were the Bobbsey twins, nearly all the other pupils were +thinking of what good times they had had in the country, or at the +seashore, and in consequence little attention was paid to reading, +spelling, arithmetic and geography. + +But Principal Tetlow and his teachers were prepared for this, +and they were sure that, in another day or so, the boys and girls +would settle down and do good work. Many of the children were in +new rooms and different classes, and this did not make them feel +so much "at home" as before vacation. + +Nan Bobbsey's first duty, after reporting to her new teacher, was +to go to the kindergarten room, and ask the teacher there if Flossie +and Freddie might sit together. + +"You see," Nan explained, "this is really their first real school +work. They attended a few times before, but did not stay long." + +"I see," spoke the pretty kindergarten instructor with a laugh, +"and we must make it as pleasant for them this time as we can, so +they will want to stay. Yes, my dear, Flossie and Freddie may sit +together, and I'll look after them as much as I can. But, oh, there +are such a lot of little tots!" and she looked about the room that +seemed overflowing with small boys and girls. + +Some were playing and talking, telling of their summer experiences. +Others seemed frightened, and stood against the wall bashfully, +little girls holding to the hands of their little brothers. + +Nan looked for Freddie and Flossie. She saw her little sister +trying to comfort a small girl who was almost ready to cry, while +Freddie, like the manly little fellow he was, had charge of a small +chap in whose eyes were two large tears, just ready to fall. It +was his first day at school. + +"Oh, I am sure your little twin brother and sister will get along +all right," said the kindergarten teacher, with a smile to Nan, as +she saw what Flossie and Freddie were doing. "They are too cute +for anything--the little dears!" + +"And they are very good," said Nan, "only of course they +do--things--sometimes." + +"They wouldn't be real children if they didn't," answered the +teacher. + +This was during a recess that had come after the classes were first +formed. On her way back to her room, to see if she could arrange +to sit with Grace and Nellie at one of the new big desks, Nan saw +her brother Bert. He looked a little worried, and Nan asked at +once: + +"What is the matter, Bert? Haven't you got a nice teacher?" + +"Oh, yes, she's fine!" exclaimed Bert. "There's nothing the matter +at all." + +"Yes there is," insisted Nan. "I can tell by your face. It's that +Danny Rugg; I'm sure. Oh, Bert, is he bothering you again?" + +"Well, he said he was going to." + +"Then why don't you go straight and tell Mr. Tetlow? He'll make +Danny behave. I'll go tell him myself!" + +"Don't you dare, Nan!" cried Bert. "All the fellows would call me +'sissy,' if I let you do that. Never mind, I can look out for my +self. I'm not afraid of Danny." + +"Oh, Bert, I hope you don't get into a fight." + +"I won't, Nan--if I can help it. At least I won't hit first, but +if he hits me---" + +Bert looked as though he knew what he would do in that case. + +"Oh dear!" cried Nan, "aren't you boys just awful!" + +However, she made up her mind that if Danny got too bad she would +speak to the principal about him, whether her brother wanted her +to or not. + +"He won't know it," thought Nan. + +She had no trouble in getting permission from her teacher for +herself and her two friends to sit together, and soon they had +moved their books and other things to one of the long desks that +had room for three pupils. + +Meanwhile Flossie and Freddie got along very well in the kindergarten. +At first, just as the others did, they gave very little attention +to what the teacher wanted them to learn, but she was very patient, +and soon all the class was gathered about the sand table, in the +little low chairs, making fairy cities, caves, and even make-believe +seashore places. + +"This is like the one where we were this Summer," said Flossie, as +she made a hole in her sand pile to take the place of the ocean. +"If I had water and a piece of wood I could show you where there +was a shipwreck," she said to the girl next to her. + +"That isn't the way it was," spoke Freddie, from the other side of +the room. "There was more sand at the seashore than on this whole +table--yes, on ten tables like this." + +"There was not!" cried Flossie. + +"There was too!" insisted her brother. + +"Children--children!" called the teacher. "You must not argue +like that--ever--in school, or out of it. Now we will sing our +work-song, and after that we will march with the flags," and she +went to the piano to play. All the little ones liked this, and +the dispute of Flossie and Freddie was soon forgotten. + +Bert kept thinking of what might happen between himself and Danny +Rugg when school was out, and when his teacher asked him what the +Pilgrim Fathers did when they first came to settle in New England +Bert looked up in surprise, and said: + +"They fought." + +"Fought!" exclaimed the teacher. "The book says they gave thanks." + +"Well, I meant they fought the--er--the Indians," stammered Bert. + +Poor Bert was thinking of what might take place between himself +and the bully. + +"Well, yes, they did fight the Indians," admitted the teacher, "but +that wasn't what I was thinking of. I will ask you another question +in history." + +But I am not going to tire you with an account of what went on in +the classrooms. There were mostly lessons there, such as you have +yourselves, and I know you don't care to read about them. + +Bert did not see Danny Rugg at the noon recess, when the Bobbsey +twins and the other children went home for lunch. But when school +was let out in the afternoon, and when Bert was talking to Charley +Mason about a new way of making a kite, Danny Rugg, accompanied +by several of his chums, walked up to Bert. It was in a field some +distance from the school, and no houses were near. + +"Now I've got you, Bert Bobbsey!" taunted Danny, as he advanced +with doubled-up fists. "What did you want to squirt the hose on +me that time for?" + +"I told you it was an accident," said Bert quietly. + +"And I say you did it on purpose. I said I'd get even with you, +and now I'm going to." + +"I don't want to fight, Danny," said Bert quietly. + +"Huh! he's afraid!" sneered Jack Westly, one of Danny's friends. + +"Yes, he's a coward!" taunted Danny. + +"I'm not!" cried Bert stoutly. + +"Then take that!" exclaimed Danny, and he gave Bert a push that +nearly knocked him down. Bert put out a hand to save himself and +struck Danny, not really meaning to. + +"There! He hit you back!" cried one boy. + +"Yes, go on in, now, Dan, and beat him!" said another + +"Oh, I'll fix him now," boasted Danny, circling around Bert. Bert +was carefully watching. He did not mean to let Danny get the best +of him if he could help it, much as he did not like to fight. + +Danny struck Bert on the chest, and Bert hit the bully on the +cheek. Then Danny jumped forward swiftly and tried to give Bert a +blow on the head. But Bert stepped to one side, and Danny slipped +down to the ground. + +As he did so a white box fell from his pocket. Bert knew what kind +of a box it was, and what was in it, and he knew now, what had +stained Danny's fingers so yellow, and what made his clothes have +such a queer smell. For the box had in it cigarettes. + +Danny saw where it had fallen, and picked it up quickly. Then he +came running at Bert again, but a boy called: + +"Look out! Here comes Mr. Tetlow, the principal!" + +This was a signal for all the boys, even Bert, to run, for, though +school was out, they still did not want to be caught at a fight by +one of the teachers, or Mr. Tetlow. + +"Anyhow, you knocked him down, Bert," said Charley Mason, as he +ran on with Bert. "You beat!" + +"He did not--I slipped," said Danny. "I can fight him, and I will, +too, some day." + +"I'm not afraid of you," answered Bert. + +Mr. Tetlow did not appear to have seen the fight that amounted to +so little. Perhaps he pretended not to. + + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +OFF TO THE WOODS + + + + +Whether Danny Rugg was afraid the principal had seen him trying to +force a fight on Bert, or whether the unexpected fall that came to +him, caused it, no one knew, but certainly, for the next few days, +Danny let Bert alone. When he passed him he scowled, or shook his +fist, or muttered something about "getting even," but this was all. + +Perhaps it was the thought of what Bert had seen fall from Danny's +pocket that made the bully less anxious to keep up the quarrel. +At any rate, Bert was left alone and he was glad of it. He was not +afraid, but he liked peace. + +The school days went on, and the classes settled down to their work +for the long Winter term. And the thought of the snow and ice +that would comparatively soon be with them, made the Bobbsey twins +rejoice. + +"Charley Mason and I are going to make a dandy big bob this year," +said Bert one day. "It's going to carry ten fellows." + +"And no girls?" asked Nan with a smile. She was walking along +behind her brother with Grace and Nellie. + +"Sure, we'll let you girls ride once in a while," said Charley, as +he caught up to his chum. "But you can't steer." + +"I steered a bob once," said Grace, who was quite athletic for her +age. "It was Danny Rugg's, too." + +"Pooh! His is a little one alongside the one Charley and I are +going to make!" exclaimed Bert. "Ours will be hard to steer, and +it's going to have a gong on it to tell folks to get out of the +way." + +"That's right," agreed Charley. "And we'd better start it right +away, Bert. It may soon snow." + +"It doesn't feel so now," spoke Nan. "It is very warm. It feels +more like ice cream cones." + +"And if you'll come with me I'll treat you all to some," exclaimed +Nellie Parks, whose father was quite well off. "I have some of my +birthday money left." + +"Oh, but there are five of us!" cried Nan, counting. "That is too +much--twenty-five cents, Nellie." + +"I've got fifty, and really it is very hot to-day." + +It was warm, being the end of September, with Indian Summer near +at hand. + +"Well, let's go to Johnson's," suggested Nellie. "They have the +best cream." + +"Oh, here comes Flossie and Freddie!" exclaimed Nan. "We don't want +to take them, Nellie. That means---" + +"Of course I'll take them!" exclaimed Nellie, generously. "I've +got fifty cents, I told you." + +"I'll give them each a penny and let them run along home," offered +Bert, + +"No, I'm going to treat them, too," insisted Nellie. "Come on!" she +called to the little twins, "we're going to get ice cream cones, +it's so warm." + +"Oh, goodie!" cried Flossie. "I was just wishing for one." + +"So was I," added her brother. + +"And I'll ask you to my party next week," the little girl went on. +"I'm going to have one on my birthday." + +"Oh, are you really, Flossie?" asked Nan. "I hadn't heard about +it." + +"Yep--I am. Mamma said I could, but she told me not to tell. I don't +care, I wanted Nellie to know, as she's going to treat us to cones." + +"And it's half my party, 'cause my birthday's the same day," +explained Freddie. "So you can come to my party at the same time, +Nellie." + +"Thank you, dear, I shall. Now let's hurry to the store, for it's +getting warmer all the while." + +The ice cream in the funny little cones was much enjoyed by all. +Bert and Charley walked on together eating, and talking of the bob +sled they were going to make. They passed Danny Rugg, who looked +rather enviously at them. + +"Hey, Charley," called Danny, "come here, I want to speak to you." + +"I'm busy now," answered Charley. "Bert and I have something to +do." + +"So have I. I've got a dandy plan." + +"Well, I'll see you later," spoke Charley, + +He had once been quite friendly with Danny, but he grew not to like +his ways, and so became more chummy with Bert, who was very glad, +for he liked Charley. + +The two boys went on to Bert's barn, where they were going to +build the bob sled. The girls, with Flossie and Freddie, went on +the Bobbsey lawn, where there were some easy chairs. They sat in +the shade of the trees, and Freddie had Snap do some of his tricks +for the visitors. + +"Can he jump through a hoop, covered with paper as they do in the +circus?" asked Nellie. + +"Oh, we never thought to try that," said Freddie. "I'm going to make +one," and, filled with this new idea, he hurried into the house. + +"Dinah," he said, "I want some paper and paste." + +"Land sakes, chile! what yo' gwine t' do now?" asked the colored +cook. "Make a kite, an' take Snoop up in de air laik yo' brother +Bert done once?" + +"No, we're not going to do that," answered the little boy. "We're +going to cover a hoop with paper, and make Snap jump through it, +like in a circus." + +"Mah goodness mustard pot!" cried Dinah. "What will yo' all be up +to next?" + +"I don't know," answered Freddie. "But will you make me some paste, +Dinah? And you know we haven't got Snoop, anyhow, so we couldn't +send him up on a kite tail," added Freddie. + +"Deah me! Yo' chilluns done make me do de mostest wuk!" complained +Dinah, but she laughed, which showed that she did not really mean +it, and set at mixing some flour and water for the paste. + +Flossie and Freddie insisted on making the paper covered hoop +themselves. They started, but they got so much of the sticky stuff +on their hands and faces that Nan feared they would soil their +clothes, so she insisted on being allowed to do the pasting for +them. + +"But we can help, can't we?" asked Freddie. + +"Yes," said Nan. + +Even for Nan covering a hoop with paper was not as easy as she +thought it would be. Grace and Nellie helped, but sometimes the +wind would blow the paper away just as they were ready to fold it +around the rim of the hoop. Then the paste would get on the girls' +hands. + +"What are you doing?" asked Bert, as he and Charley came from the +barn. They had to stop work on their job, as they could not find a +long enough plank. The decided to get one from Mr. Bobbsey's lumber +yard, later. + +"We're going to have Snap do the circus trick of jumping through +a paper hoop," explained Nan. "Only we can't seem to get the hoop +made." + +"I'll do it," offered Bert, and as he and Charley had often pasted +paper on their kite frames they had better luck, and soon the hoop +was ready. + +"Come, Snap!" called Freddie, it having been settled that he and +Flossie were to hold the hoop for the dog to leap through. Snap, +always ready for fun, jumped up from the grass where he had been +sleeping, and frisked about, barking loudly. + +"Now you hold him there, Charley," directed Bert, pointing to a spot +back of where Freddie and Flossie stood. "Then I'll go over here +and call him. He'll come running, and when he gets near enough, +Freddie, you and Flossie hold up the paper hoop. He'll go right +through it." + +It worked out just as the children had planned. Snap raced away from +Charley, when he heard Bert calling. He ran right between Flossie +and Freddie, who raised the hoop just in time. + +"Rip! Tear!" burst the paper, and Snap sailed through the hoop just +as he probably had often done in the circus, perhaps from the back +of a horse. + +"Oh, that was fine!" cried Flossie. "Let's make another hoop!" + +"Let's make a lot of 'em, and have a circus with Snap, and charge +money to see him, and then we can buy a lot of ice cream for our +party!" said Freddie. + +"Oh, yes!" agreed his sister. + +Well, they did make more hoops, and Snap seemed to enjoy jumping +through them. But when Mrs. Bobbsey heard about the circus plans +she decided it would make too much confusion. + +"Besides, you have to help me get ready for your party," she said +to the two little twins. + +This took their mind off the proposed circus, but for several days +after that they had much fun making hoops for Snap to jump through. + +Bert and Charley got a long plank from the lumber yard, and spent +much time after school in the Bobbsey barn, working over their bob +sled. It was harder than they had thought it would be, and they +had to call in some other boys to help them. Mr. Bobbsey, too, gave +his son some advice about how to build it. + +Flossie and Freddie liked it very much in school. The kindergarten +teacher was very kind, and took an interest in all her pupils. + +"Oh, mamma!" cried Flossie, coming in one day from school, "I've +learned how to make a house." + +"And I can make a lantern, and a chain to hang it on, and I can put +it in front of Flossie's house!" exclaimed Freddie. "And, please, +mother, may I have some bread and jam. I'm awful hungry." + +"Yes, dear, go ask Dinah," said Mrs. Bobbsey, with a smile. "And +then you may show me how you make houses and lanterns and a chain. +Are they real?" + +"No," said Flossie, "they're only paper, but they look nice." + +"I'm sure they must," said their mother. + +After each of the twins had been given a large slice of bread and +butter and jam, they showed the latest thing they had learned at +school. Flossie did manage to cut out a house, that had a chimney +on it, and a door, besides two windows. + +Freddie took several little narrow strips of paper, and pasting the +ends together, made a lot of rings. Each ring before being pasted, +was slipped into another, and soon he had a paper chain. To make +the lantern he used a piece of paper made into a roll, with slits +all around the middle of it where the light would have come out +had there been a candle in it. And the handle was a narrow slip +of paper pasted over the top of the lantern. + +"Very fine indeed," said Mamma Bobbsey. "Run out now to play. If +you stay in the house too much you will soon lose all the lovely +tan you got in the country, and at the seashore." + +"Children," said the principal to the Bobbseys and all the others +in school the next day, "I have a little treat for you. To-morrow +will be a holiday, and, as the weather is very warm, we will close +the school at noon, and go off in the woods for a little picnic." + +"Oh, good!" cried a number of the boys and girls, and, though it +was against the rules to speak aloud during the school hours, none +of the teachers objected. + +"But I expect you all to have perfect marks from now until Friday," +Mr. Tetlow went on. "You may bring your lunches to school with +you Friday morning, if your parents will let you, and we will leave +here at noon, and go to Ward's woods." + +It was rather hard work to study after such good news, but, somehow, +the pupils managed it. Finally Friday came, and nearly every boy +and girl came to school with a basket or bundle holding his or +her lunch. Mrs. Bobbsey put up two baskets for her children, Nan +taking one and Bert the other. + +"Oh, we'll have a lovely time!" cried Freddie, dancing about on +his little fat legs. + +Twelve o'clock came, and with each teacher at the head of her class, +and Mr. Tetlow marching in front of all, the whole school started +off for the woods. + + + + + +CHAPTER X + +A SCARE + + + + +The way to the woods where the little school outing was to be held +ran close to the road on which the Bobbsey house stood. As Freddie +and Flossie, with Nan and Bert, marched along with the others, +Freddie cried out: + +"Oh, I hope we see mamma, and then we can wave to her." + +"Yes, and maybe she'll come with us," suggested Flossie. "Wouldn't +that be nice?" + +"Pooh!" exclaimed Bert "Mamma's too busy to come to a picnic to-day. +She's expecting company." + +"Yes," added Nan, "the minister and his wife are coming, and mamma's +cooking a lot of things." + +"Why, does a minister eat more than other folks?" asked Freddie. +"If they does, I'm going to be a minister when I grow up." + +"I thought you were going to be a fireman," said Bert. + +"Well, I can be a fireman week days and a minister on Sundays," +said the little fellow, thus solving the problem. "But do they eat +so much, Nan?" + +"No, of course not, only mamma wants to be polite to them, so she +has a lot of things cooked up, so that if they don't like one thing +they can have another. Folks always give their best to the minister." + +"Then I'm surely going to be one, too," declared Flossie. "I like +good things to eat. I hope our minister isn't very hungry, 'cause +then there'll be some left for us when we come home from this +picnic." + +"Why, Flossie!" cried Nan. "We have a lovely lunch with us; plenty, +I'm sure." + +"Well, I'm awful hungry, Nan," said the little girl. "Besides, +Sammie Jones, and his sister Julia, haven't any lunch at all. I +saw them, and they looked terrible hungry. Couldn't we give them +some of ours; if we have so much at home?" + +"Of course we could, and it is very kind of you to think of them," +said Nan, as she patted her little sister on her head. "I'll look +after Sammie and Julia when we get to the grove." + +In spite of what Nan and Bert had said about Mrs. Bobbsey being +very busy, Flossie and Freddie looked anxiously in the direction +of their house as they walked along. But no sight of their mother +greeted them. They did see a friend, however, and this was none +other than Snap, their new dog, who, with many barks and wags of +his fluffy tail, ran out to meet his little masters and mistresses. + +"Here, Snap! Snap!" called Freddie. "Come on, old fellow!" and +the dog leaped all about him. + +"Let's take him to the picnic with us," suggested Flossie. "We can +have lots of fun." + +"And he can eat the scraps," said Nan. "Shall we, Bert?" + +"I don't care. But maybe Mr. Tetlow wouldn't like it." + +"You ask him, Bert," pleaded Flossie. "Tell him Snap will do tricks +to amuse us." + +Bert good-naturedly started ahead to speak to the principal, +who was talking with some of the teachers, planning games for the +little folk. Flossie and Freddie were patting their pet, when Danny +Rugg, and one of his friends came along. + +"That dog can't come to our picnic!" said Danny, with a scowl. "He +might bite some of us." + +"Snap never bites!" cried Freddie. + +"Of course not," said Flossie. + +"Well, he can't come to this picnic!" spoke Danny, angrily. "Go on +home!" he cried, sharply, stooping to pick up a stone. Snap growled +and showed his teeth. + +"There!" cried Danny. "I told you he'd bite." + +"He will not, Danny Rugg!" exclaimed Nan, who had gone up front +for a minute to speak to some of the older girls. "He only growled +because you acted mean to him. Now you leave him alone, or I'll +tell Mr. Tetlow on you." + +"Pooh! Think I care? I say no dog can come to our picnic. Go on +home!" and with raised hand Danny approached Snap. Again the dog +growled angrily. He was not used to being treated in this way. + +"Look our, Danny Rugg," said Nan, severely, "or he may jump on you, +and knock you down. He wouldn't bite you, though, mean as you are, +unless I told him to do so." + +"I'm not afraid of you!" cried Danny, more angry than before. "I'll +get a stick and then we'll see what will happen," and he looked +about for one. + +"Don't let Danny beat Snap!" pleaded Flossie, tears coming into +her eyes. + +"I won't," said Nan, looking about anxiously for Bert. She saw +him coming back, and felt better. By this time Danny had found a +club, and was coming back to where Flossie, Freddie and Nan, with +some of their friends, were walking along, Snap in their midst. + +"I'll make that dog go home now!" cried Danny. "I'm not going to +get bitten, and have hyperfobia, or whatever you call it. I'll tell +Mr. Tetlow if you don't make him go home." + +"Oh, don't be so smart!" exclaimed Bert, stepping out from behind +a group of girls. "I've told Mr. Tetlow myself that Snap is +following us, and he said to let him come along. So you needn't +take the trouble, Danny Rugg. And if you try to hit our dog I'll +have something more to say," and Bert stepped boldly forth. + +"Huh! I'm not afraid of you," sneered Danny, but he let the club +drop, and walked off with his own particular chums. + +"Did Mr. Tetlow say Snap could come?" asked Freddie, anxiously. + +"Yes. He said he'd be good to drive away the cows if they bothered +us," answered Bert, with a smile. + +After this little trouble, the Bobbseys and their friends went +on toward the grove in the woods where the picnic was to be held. +There was laughing and shouting, and much fun on the way, in which +Snap shared. + +Boys and girls would run to one side or the other of the path to +gather late flowers. Some would pick up odd stones, or pine cones, +and others would find curious little creeping or crawling things +which they called their friends to see. + +Each teacher had charge of her special class, but she did not look +too closely after them, for it was a day to be happy and free from +care, with no thought of school or lessons. + +"We'll make Snap do some tricks when we get to the grove," said +Flossie. + +"Yes, we'll have a little circus," added her brother. + +"Can he stand on his head?" one girl wanted to know. + +"Well, he can turn a somersault, and he's on his head for a second +while he's doing that," explained Freddie, proudly. + +"Can he roll over and over?" a boy wanted to know. "We had a dog, +once, that could." + +"Snap can, too," said Flossie. "Roll over, Snap!" she ordered, and +the dog, with a bark, did so. The children laughed and some clapped +their hands. They thought Snap was about the best dog they had ever +seen. + +No accidents happened on the way to the grove, except that one +little boy tried to cross a brook on some stones, instead of the +plank which the others used. He slipped in and got his feet wet, +but as the day was warm no one worried much. + +Finally the grove was reached. It was in a wooded valley, with +hills on either side, and a cold, clear spring of water at one end, +where everyone could get a drink. And that always seems to be what +is most wanted at a picnic--a drink of water. + +Mr. Tetlow called all the children together, before letting them go +off to play, and told them at what time the start for home would be +made, so that they would not be late in coming back to the meeting +place. + +"And now," he said, "have the best fun you can. Play anything you +wish--school games if you like--but don't get too warm or excited. +And don't go too far away. You may eat your luncheon when you like." + +"Then let's eat ours now," suggested Flossie. "I'm awful hungry." + +"So am I," said Freddie. So Nan and Bert decided that the little +ones might at least have a sandwich and a piece of cake. Nor did +they forget the two little Jones children, who had no lunch. The +Bobbseys were well provided and soon Sammie and Julia were smiling +and happy as they sat beneath a tree, eating. + +Then came all sorts of games, from tag and jumping rope, to +blind-man's bluff and hide-and-seek. Snap was made to do a number +of tricks, much to the amusement of the teachers and children. +Danny Rugg, and some of the older boys, got up a small baseball +game, and then Danny, with one or two chums, went off in a deeper +part of the woods. Bert heard one of the boys ask another if he +had any matches. + +"I know what they're going to do," whispered Bert to Nan. + +"What?" she asked. + +"Smoke cigarettes. I saw Danny have a pack." + +Nan was much shocked, but she did not say anything. She was glad +Bert did not smoke. + +Bert went off with some boys to see if they could catch any fish +in the deeper part of the brook, about half a mile from the picnic +grove, and Nan, with one or two girls about her own age, took +a little walk with Flossie and Freddie to gather some late wild +flowers that grew on the side of one of the hills. + +They found a number of the blossoms, and were making pretty bouquets +of them, when Freddie, who had gone on a little ahead of the rest, +came running back so fast that he nearly rolled to the bottom of +the hill, so fat and chubby was he. + +"What's the matter? What is it?" asked Nan, catching her brother +just in time. + +"Up there!" he gasped. "It's up there! A great big black one!" + +"A big black what--bug?" asked Nan, ready to laugh. + +"No, a big black snake! I almost stepped on it." + +"A snake! Oh, dear!" screamed the girls. + +"Call Mr. Tetlow!" said Flossie. "He's got a book about snakes, +and he'll know what to do." + +"Come on!" cried Nellie Parks. "I'm going to run!" + +"So am I!" added Grace Lavine. "Oh, it may chase us!" + +In fright the children turned, Freddie looking back at the spot +where he thought he had seen the snake. + + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +DANNY'S TRICK + + + + +Nan Bobbsey stood for a moment, she hardly knew why. Perhaps she +wanted to see the big snake of which Freddie spoke. It certainly +was not because she liked reptiles. + +Then she thought she saw something long and black wiggling toward +her, and, with a little exclamation of fright, she, too, turned +to follow the others. But, as she did so, she saw their dog Snap +come running up the hill, barking and wagging his tail. He seemed +to have lost the children for a moment and to be telling them how +glad he was that he had found them again. + +Straight up the hill, toward where Freddie had said the snake was, +rushed Snap. + +"Here! Come back! Don't go there!" cried Nan. + +"No, don't let him--he may be bitten!" added Flossie. "Come here, +Snap!" + +But Snap evidently did not want to mind. On up the hill he rushed, +pausing now and then to dig in the earth. Nearer and nearer he came +to where the little Bobbsey boy had said the snake was hiding in +the grass and bushes. + +"Oh, Snap! Snap!" cried Freddie. "Don't go there!" But Snap kept on, +and Freddie, afraid lest his pet dog be bitten, caught up a stone +and threw it at the place. His aim was pretty good, but instead +of scaring away the snake, or driving back Snap, the fall of the +stone only made Snap more eager to see what was there that his +friends did not want him to get. + +With a loud bark he rushed on, and the children, turning to look, +saw something long and black, and seemingly wiggling, come toward +them. + +"Oh, the snake! The snake!" cried Nan. + +"Run! Run!" shouted Grace. + +"Come on!" exclaimed Nellie Parks, in loud tones. + +"Freddie! Freddie!" called Flossie, afraid lest her little brother +be bitten. + +Snap rushed at the black thing so fiercely that he turned a somersault +down the hill, and rolled over and over. But he did not mind this, +and in an instant was up again. Once more he rushed at the black +object, but the children did not watch to see what happened, for +they were running away as fast as they could. + +Then Freddie, anxious as to what would become of Snap if he fought +a snake, looked back. He saw a strange sight. The dog had in his +mouth the long, black thing, and was running with it toward the +Bobbseys and their friends. + +"Oh, Nan! Nan! Look! Look!" cried Freddie. "Snap has the snake! +He's bringing it to us!" + +"Oh, he mustn't do that!" shouted Nan. "It may bite him or us." + +"Run! Run faster!" shrieked Grace. + +But even though it was down hill the children could not run as fast +as Snap, and he soon caught up to them. Running on a little way +ahead he dropped the black thing. But instead of wiggling or trying +to bite, if was very still. + +"It--it's dead," said Nan. "Snap has killed it." + +Freddie was braver now. He went closer. + +"Why--why!" he exclaimed. "It isn't a snake at all! It's only an old +black root of a tree, all twisted up like a snake! Look, Nan--Flossie!" + +Taking courage, the girls went up to look. Snap stood over it, +wagging his tail as proudly as though he had captured a real snake. +As Freddie had said, it was only a tree root. + +"But it did look a lot like a snake in the grass," said the little +fellow. + +"It must have," agreed Nan. "It looked like one even when Snap had +it. But I'm glad it wasn't." + +"So am I," spoke Grace, and Nellie made a like remark. + +Snap frisked about, barking as though to ask praise for what he +had done. + +"He is a good dog," observed Freddie, hearing which the animal almost +wagged his tail off. "And if it had been a real snake he'd have +gotten it; wouldn't you?" went on the little boy. + +If barks meant anything, Snap said, with all his heart, that he +certainly would--that not even a dozen snakes could frighten a big +dog like him. + +The children soon got over the little scare, and went back up the +hill again to gather more flowers. Snap went with them this time, +running about here and there. + +"If there are any real snakes," said Freddie, "he'll scare them +away. But I guess there aren't any." + +"I hope not," said Nan, but she and the others kept a sharp lookout. +However, there was no further fright for them, and soon, with their +hands filled with blossoms the Bobbseys and the others went back +to the main party. + +Some of the teachers were arranging games with their pupils, and +Nan, Flossie and Freddie joined in, having a good time. Then, when +it was almost time to start for home, Mr. Tetlow blew loudly on a +whistle he carried to call in the stragglers. + +"Where's Bert?" asked Flossie, looking about for her older brother. + +"I guess he hasn't come back from fishing yet," said Nan. "Come, +Flossie and Freddie, I have a little bit of lunch left, and you +might as well eat it, so you won't be hungry on the way home." + +The littler Bobbsey twins were glad enough to do this. Then they +had to have a drink, and Nan went with them to the spring, carrying +a glass tumbler she had brought. + +"This isn't like our nice silver cup that the fat lady took in the +train," said Freddie, as he passed the glass of water very carefully +to Flossie. + +"No," she said, after she had taken het drink. "I wonder if papa +will ever get that back?" + +"He said, the other day," remarked Nan, as she got some water for +Freddie, "that he hadn't heard from the circus yet. But I think +he will. It isn't like Snoop, our cat. We don't know where he is, +but we're pretty sure the fat lady has the cup." + +"Poor Snoop!" cried Freddie, as he thought of the fine black cat. +"Maybe some of the railroad men have him." + +"Maybe," agreed Flossie. + +When they got back to where the teachers and principal were, Bert +and the boys who had gone fishing had returned. They had one or +two small fish. + +"I'm going to have mamma cook them for my supper," said Bert, +proudly holding up those he had caught. + +"They're too small--there won't be anything left of them after +they're cleaned," said Nan, who was quite a little housekeeper. + +"Oh, yes, there will," declared her brother "I'm going fishing +again to-morrow, and catch more." + +Mr. Tetlow was going about among the teachers, asking if all their +pupils were on hand, ready for the march back. Danny Rugg and some +of his close friends were missing. + +"They ought not to have gone off so far." said Mr. Tetlow, as he +blew several times on the whistle. Soon Danny and the other boys +were seen coming from a distant part of the grove. One of the +boys, Harry White, looked very pale, and not at all well. + +"What is the matter?" asked Mr. Tetlow. and he looked curiously +at Danny and the others, and sniffed the air as though he smelled +something. + +"I--I guess I ate too many--apples," said Harry, in a faint voice. +"We found an orchard, and---" + +"I told you not to go into orchards, and take fruit," said Mr. +Tetlow, severely. + +"The man said we could," remarked Danny. "We asked him." + +"Then you should not have eaten so many," said Mr. Tetlow. "I can't +see how ripe apples which are the only kind there are this time of +year--could make you ill unless you ate too many," and he looked +at Danny and Harry sharply. But they did not answer. + +The march home was not as joyful as the one to the grove had been, +for most of the children were tired. But they all had had a fine +time, and there were many requests of the teachers to have another +picnic the next week. + +"Oh, we can't have them every week, my dears," said Miss Franklin, +who had charge of Flossie, Freddie and some others in the kindergarten +class. "Besides, it will soon be too cool to go out in the woods. +In a little while we will have ice and snow, and Thanksgiving and +Christmas." + +"That will be better than picnics," said Freddie. "I'm going to +have a new sled." + +"I'm going to get a new doll, that can walk," declared Flossie, +and then she and the others talked about the coming holidays. + +At school several days in the following week little was talked +of except the picnic, the snake scare from the old tree root, the +catching of the fish, and the illness of Harry White, for that boy +was quite sick by the time town was reached, and Mr. Tetlow called +a carriage to send him home. + +"And I can guess what made him sick too," said Bert to Nan, privately. + +"What?" she asked. + +"Smoking cigarettes." + +"How do you know?" + +"Because when I and some of the other fellows were fishing we +saw Danny and his crowd smoking in the woods. They offered us some, +but we wouldn't take any. Harry said he was sick then, but Danny +only laughed at him." + +"That Danny Rugg is a bad boy," said Nan, severely. But she was +soon to see how much meaner Danny could be. + +Workmen had recently finished putting some new water pipes, and +a place for the children to drink, in the school yard, and one +morning, speaking to the whole school, Mr. Tetlow made a little +speech, warning the children not to play with the faucets, and +spray the water about, as some had done, in fun. + +"Whoever is caught playing with the faucets in the yard after this +will be severely punished," he said. + +As it happened, Flossie and Freddie were not at school that day, +Freddie having a slight sore throat. His mother kept him home, and +Flossie would not go without him. So they did not hear the warning, +and Bert and Nan did not think to tell the smaller children of it. + +Two days later Freddie was well enough to go back to class, and +Flossie accompanied him. It was at the morning recess when, as +Freddie went to get a drink at one of the new faucets, Danny saw +him. A gleam of mischief came into the eyes of the school bully. + +"Want to see the water squirt, Freddie?" asked Danny. "That's a +new kind of faucet. It squirts awful far." + +"Does it?" asked Freddie, innocently. "How do you make it?" He +had no idea it was forbidden fun. + +"Just put your thumb over the hole, and turn the water on," directed +Danny. "You, too, Flossie. It won't hurt you." + +Danny looked all around, thinking he was unobserved as he gave +this bad advice. Naturally, Freddie and Flossie, being so young, +suspected nothing. They covered the opening of the faucet with +their thumbs, and turned on the water. It spurted in a fine spray, +and they laughed in glee. That they wet each other did not matter. + +Danny, seeing the success of his trick, walked off as he saw Mr. +Tetlow coming. The Bobbsey twins were so intent on spurting the +water that they did not observe the principal until he was close +to them. Then they started as he called out sharply: + +"Freddie! Flossie! Stop that! You know that it is forbidden! Go to +my office at once and I will come and see you later, You will be +punished for this!" + +With tears in their eyes the little twins obeyed. They could not +understand it. + + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE CHILDREN'S PARTY + + + + +When Mr. Tetlow, a little later, entered his office he found +Flossie and Freddie standing by one of the windows, looking out on +the other children marching to their classrooms. They had cried +a little, but had stopped now. + +"I am very sorry to have to punish you two twins," said the +principal, "but I had given strict orders that no one was to play +with that water. Why did you do it?" + +"Because," answered Flossie. + +"Danny Rugg told us to," added Freddle. "He said it was a new kind +of faucet." + +"Now be careful," warned Mr. Tetlow. Often before he had heard +pupils say that someone else told them to break certain rules. +"Are you sure about this?" he asked. + +"Yes, sir," said Freddie, eagerly, "Danny told us to do it." + +"But didn't you know it was forbidden?" + +"No, sir," answered Flossie. + +"Why, I spoke of it in all the rooms." + +"We wasn't here yesterday or the day before," said Flossie. "Freddie +was sick." + +Mr. Tetlow began to understand. + +"I will look this up," he said, "and if I find---" + +He was interrupted by a boy from one of the higher classes coming +in with a note from his teacher. She wanted a new box of chalk. + +"When you go back, George," said the principal to the boy, as he +gave him what the teacher had sent for, "go to Miss Hegan's class, +and have her send Danny Rugg to me. Flossie and Freddie say he +told them to spray water with one of the new faucets." + +"Yes, sir, he did!" exclaimed George. "I heard him, but I didn't +think they would do it. He did tell them." + +At this unexpected information Mr. Tetlow was much surprised. + +"If that is the case, Danny is the one to be punished," he said. +"I am sorry, Flossie and Freddie, that I suspected you. You may go +back to your class, and I will write your teacher a note, saying you +may go out half an hour ahead of the others to make up for coming +to my office. But, after this, no matter whether anyone tells you +or not, don't spray the water." + +"No, sir, we won't!" exclaimed the Bobbsey twins, now happy again. + +Danny Rugg was punished by being kept in after school for several +days, and Mr. Tetlow sent home a note to his father, explaining +what a mean trick the bully had played. + +"I wish I had heard Danny telling you that--just to get you in +trouble," said Bert, when he was told of what had happened. "I'd +have fixed him." + +"Oh, don't get into any more fights," begged Nan. + +Bert did not come to blows with Danny over this latest trouble, +but he did tell the bully, very plainly, what he thought of him, +and said if Danny ever did a thing like that again that he would +not get off so easily. + +"Oh. I'm not afraid of you," sneered Danny. + +Lessons and fun made up many school days for the Bobbsey twins. +And, as the Fall went on, lessons grew a little harder. Even Freddie +and Flossie, young as they were, had little tasks to do that kept +them busy. But they liked their school and the teacher, and many +were the queer stories they brought home of the happenings in the +classroom. + +It was now toward the end of October, and the weather was getting +cooler, though during the day it was still very warm at times. The +twins, as did their friends, looked forward to the coming of Winter +and the Christmas holidays. + +Thanksgiving, too, would be a time of rejoicing and of good things +to eat, and this occasion was to be made more of than usual this +time, for some boys and girls the Bobbseys had met in the country +and at the seashore were to be invited to spend a few days in +Lakeport. + +But before this there was another event down on the program. This +was to be a party for Flossie and Freddie, the occasion being their +joint birthdays. + +"And we're going to have candy!" cried Freddie, when the arrangements +were talked over. + +"And ice cream"--added Flossie--"a whole freezer full; aren't we, +mamma?" + +"Well, I guess a small freezer full won't be any too much," said +Mrs. Bbbbsey, smiling. "But I hope none of you eat enough to make +yourselves ill." + +"We won't," promised Freddie and Flossie. + +There were busy times in the home of the twins the next few days, +for though Nan and Bert's birthdays were not to be observed, still +they were to have their part in the jolly celebration. + +Invitations were sent out, on little sheets of note paper, adorned +with flowers, and in cute little envelopes. Flossie and Freddie +took them to the post-office themselves. + +"My! what a lot of mail!" exclaimed the clerk at the stamp window, +as he saw the children dropping the invitations into the slot. +"Uncle Sam will have to get some extra men to carry that around, +I guess. What's it all about?" + +"We're going to have a party," said Flossie, proudly. + +Just then Danny Rugg came into the post office. + +"A party; eh?" he sneered. "I'm coming to it, I am; and I'm going +to have two plates of ice cream." + +"You are not!" cried Freddie. "Our mamma wouldn't let a boy like +you come to our party." + +"'Specially not after what you did--telling us to play in the +water," added Freddie. "You can't come!" + +"Yes, I can," insisted Danny, just to tease the children. + +For a moment Flossie and Freddie almost believed him, he seemed so +much in earnest about it. + +"You can't come--you haven't any invitation," said Flossie, suddenly. + +"I'll take one of those you put in the box," went on the mean boy. + +"He won't dare--will he?" and Freddie appealed to the mail clerk. + +"I should say not!" said the man at the stamp window. "If he does +Uncle Sam will be after him." + +"Well, I'm coming to that party all the same!" insisted Danny, with +a grin on his freckled face. + +Flossie and Freddie were so worried about him that they told their +mother, but she assured them that Danny would not come to spoil +their fun. + +Finally the afternoon and evening of the party arrived, for the +little folks were to come just before supper, play some games, eat, +and then stay until about nine o'clock. + +Flossie and Freddie had been dressed in their prettiest clothes, +and Nan and Bert also attired for the affair. The ice cream had +come from the store, all packed in ice and salt, and Dinah had set +it out on the back stoop, where it would be cooler. + +Dinah was very busy that day. She hurried about here and there, +helping Mrs. Bobbsey. Sam, her husband, also had plenty to do. + +"I 'clar t' gracious goodness!" Dinah exclaimed, "I suah will get +thin ef dish yeah keeps up! I ain't set down a minute dis' blessed +day. My feet'll drop off soon I 'spect." + +"Will they, really, Dinah?" asked Freddie. "And can we watch 'em +fall?" + +"Bress yo' hearts, honeys!" exclaimed the colored cook, "I didn't +mean it jest dat way. But suffin's suah gwine t' happen--I feels +it in mah bones!" + +And something was to happen, though not exactly what Dinah expected. + +Finally all was in readiness for the guests. The good things to +eat were in the kitchen, all but the ice cream, which, as I have +said, was out on the back porch. Flossie and Freddie had gone to +the front door nearly a dozen times to see if any of the guests +were in sight. Snap, as a special favor, had been allowed to stay +in the house that afternoon, for the twins were going to make him +do tricks for their friends. + +There came a ring at the door bell. + +"Here they come! Here they come!" cried Flossie. + +"Let me answer, too," cried Freddie, and they both hurried through +the front hall to greet the first guest at their party. + + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +AN UNPLEASANT SURPRISE + + + + +Quickly, after the first guests had arrived came the others. Nellie +Parks, Grace Lavine friends of Nan, and Willie Porter and his sister +Sadie, came first, and Freddie and Flossie let them in, the Porter +children being some of their best-liked playmates. + +All the children wore their best clothes, and for a time they were +a bit stiff and unnatural, standing shyly about in corners, against +the walls, or sitting on chairs. + +The boys seemed to all crowd together in one part of the room, and +the girls in another. Flossie and Freddie, Nan and Bert, were so +busy answering the door that they did not notice this at first. + +But Aunt Sarah, their mother's sister, who had come over to help +Mrs. Bobbsey, looking in the parlor and library, saw what the +trouble was. + +"My!" she cried, with a good-natured laugh, as she noticed how +"stiff" the children were. "This will never do. You're not that way +at school, I don't believe. Come, be lively. Mix up--play games. +Pretend this is recess at school, and make as much noise as you +like." + +For a moment the boys and girls did not know what to think of this +invitation. But just then Snap, the circus dog, came in the room, +and, with a bark of welcome, he turned a somersault, and then +marched around on his hind legs, carrying a broomstick like a +gun--pretending he was a soldier. Bert had given it to him. + +Then how the children laughed and clapped their hands! And Snap barked +so loudly--for he liked applause--that there was noise enough for +even jolly Aunt Sarah. After that there was no trouble. The boys +and girls talked together and soon they were playing games, and +having the best kind of fun. + +For some of the games simple prizes had been offered and it was +quite exciting toward the end to see who would win. Flossie and +Freddie thought they had never had such a good time in all their +lives. Nan and Bert were enjoying themselves, too, with their +friends, who were slightly older than those who had been asked for +the younger Bobbsey twins. + +"Going to Jerusalem," was one game that created lots of enjoyment. +A number of chairs were placed in the centre of the room, and the +boys and girls marched around them while Mrs. Bobbsey played the +piano. But there was one less chair than there were players, so +that when the music would suddenly stop, which was a signal for +each one who could, to sit down, someone was sure to be left. Then +this one had to stay out of the game. + +Then a chair would be taken away, so as always to have one less +than the number of players, and the game went on. It was great fun, +scrambling to see who would get a seat, and not be left without +one, and finally there but one chair left, while Grace Lavine and +John Blake marched about. Mrs. Bobbsey kept playing quite some +time, as the two went around and around that one chair. Everyone +was laughing, wondering who would get a seat and so win the game, +when, all at once, Mrs. Bobbsey stopped the music. She had her back +turned so it would be perfectly fair. + +Grace and John made a rush for the one chair, but Grace got to it +first, and so she won. + +"Well, I'm glad you did, anyhow," said John, politely. + +Other games were "peanut races" and "potato scrambles." In the +first each player had a certain number of peanuts and they had to +start at one end of the room, and lay the nuts at equal distances +apart across to the other side, coming back each time to their pile +of peanuts to get one. + +Sometimes a boy would slip, he was in such a hurry, or a girl would +drop her peanuts, and this made fun and confusion. + +Nan won this race easily. + +In the potato scramble several rows of potatoes were made across +the room. Each player was given a large spoon, and whoever first +took up all his or her potatoes in the spoon, one at a time, and +piled them up at the far end of the room, won the game. In this +Charley Mason was successful, and won the prize--a pretty little +pin for his tie. + +The afternoon wore on, and, almost before the children realized it +the hour for supper had arrived. They were not sorry, either, for +they all had good appetites. + +"Come into the dining room, children," invited Mrs. Bobbsey. + +And Oh! such gasps of pleased surprise as were heard when the children +saw what had been prepared for them! For Mr. and Mrs Bobbsey, while +not going to any great expense, and not making the children's party +too fanciful, had made it beautiful and simple. + +The long table was set with dishes and pretty glasses. There were +flowers in the centre, and at each end, and also blooms in vases about +the room. Then, from the centre chandelier to the four corners of +the table, were strings of green smilax in which had been entwined +carnations of various colors. + +The lights were softly glowing on the pretty scene, and there +were prettily shaded candles to add to the effect. But what caught +the eyes of all the children more than anything else were two large +cakes--one at either end of the table. + +On each cake burned five candles, and on one cake was the name +"Flossie," while the other was marked "Freddie." The names were in +pink icing on top of the white frosting that covered the birthday +cakes. + +"Oh! Oh! Oh!" could be heard all about the room. "Isn't that too +sweet for anything!" + + +"I guess they are sweet!" piped up Freddie in his shrill little +voice, "'cause Dinah put lots of sugar in 'em; didn't you, Dinah?" +and he looked at Dinah, who had thrust her laughing, black, +good-natured face into the dining room door. + +"Dat's what I did, honey! Dat's what I did!" she exclaimed. "If +anybody's got a toofache he'd better not eat any ob dem cakes, +'cause dey suah am sweet." + +How the children laughed at that! + +"All ready, now, children, sit down," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Your +names are at your plates." + +There was a little confusion getting them all seated, as those on +one side of the table found that their name cards were on the other +side. But Flossie and Freddie, and Nan and Bert, helped the guests +to find their proper places and soon everyone was in his or her +chair. + +"Can't Snap sit with us, too?" asked Freddie, looking about for +his pet, who had done all his tricks well that evening. + +"No, dear," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Snap is a good dog, but we don't +want him in the dining room when we are eating. It gives him bad +habits." + +"Then can't I send him out some cakes?" asked Flossie, for Snap +had almost as large a "sweet tooth" as the children themselves. + +"Yes, as it is your birthday, I suppose you can give him some of +your good things," said Mamma Bobbsey. + +"Here, Dinah!" called Freddie to the cook, as he piled a plate full +of cakes. "Please give these to Snap." + +"Land sakes goodness me alive!" cried Dinah. "Dat suah am queer. +Feedin' a dog jest laik a human at a party. I can't bring mahself +to it, nohow." + +"I'll take 'em out to him," said her husband. + +Then the feast began, and such a feast at it was! Mrs. Bobbsey, +knowing how easily the delicate stomachs of children can be upset, +had wisely selected the food and sweets, and she saw to it that no +one ate too much, though she was gently suggestive about it instead +of ordering. + +"Don't eat too much," advised Freddie to some of the friends who +sat near him. "We've got a lot of ice cream coming. Save room for +that." + +"That's so--I almost forgot," spoke Jimmie Black. + +A little later Mrs. Bobbsey said to Dinah: + +"I think you may bring in the cream now, and I will help you serve +it." + +"Yes, ma'am." + +"Oh, goodie!" cried Freddie. "Ice cream's coming!" and he waved +his spoon above his head. + +"Freddie--Freddie" said his mother, in gentle reproof. + +Dinah went out on the back stoop, looked around and came running +back to the dining room, where Mrs. Bobbsey was. Dinah's eyes were +big with wonder and surprise. + +"Mrs. Bobbsey! Mrs. Bobbsey!" she cried. "Suffin's done gone an' +happened!" + +"What is it?" asked Mamma Bobbsey, quickly. "Is anyone hurt?" + +"No'm, but dat ice cream freezer hab jest gone and walked right +off de back stoop, an' it ain't dere at all, nohow! De ice cream +is all gone!" + +The children looked at one another with pained surprise showing on +their faces. + +The ice cream was gone! + + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +A COAT BUTTON + + + + +Astonishment, surprise and disappointment were so great for a few +seconds after the discovery that the best part of the party--the +ice cream--was gone, that no one knew what to say. Then Flossie +burst out with: + +"Are you sure, Dinah? Maybe it fell off the porch." + +"Deed an' it didn't, honey gal. I done looked eberywhar fo' dat +freezer, an' it's jest gone complete." + +"Maybe Snap took it," suggested Freddie, as a last hope. "Once he +took my book and hid it. Snap, did you take the ice cream?" + +Snap barked and wagged his tail, looking rather pained at being +asked such a question. + +"No, indeedy, Snap couldn't take off a big freezer like dat," +declared Dinah. "It wasn't Snap." + +"Then who could it have been?" asked Nan. Everyone had stopped eating +while this talk went on. "Who could have taken our ice cream?" + +"Dat's what I don't know, honey," answered the colored cook. "Dat's +why I comed in heah to tell yo' mamma. I 'spects, Mrs, Bobbsey, +dat we'd better phonograph fo' de police." + +"Phonograph--I guess you mean telephone; don't you, Dinah?" asked +Mrs. Bobbsey, with a smile. + +"Yes'm, dat's what I done mean. Or else maybe we kin send mah man +Sam down to de Station house fo' 'em." + +"No, I had better telephone, in case it is necessary. But perhaps +I had better take a look out there. Perhaps the man from the store +may have set the cream off to one side." + +"No'm, he didn't do dat. I took p'ticlar notice where he set it. +Dere's a wet ring-mark on de porch where de freezer was, 'count +of de salty water leakin' out. An' dat wet ring-mark am all dat's +left ob de cream, dar now!" and Dinah, standing with her hands +on her hips, looked at the startled children, whose mouths were +just ready for the ice cream. + +"Well, I'm going to have a look, anyhow," said Bert. "Come on, +Charley. Maybe, after all, that Danny Rugg is up to some of his +tricks." + +"I'm with you, Bert!" cried Charley. "But we ought to have some +sort of a light. It's dark out." + +"I'll get my little pocket electric light," said Bert. He had one, +and it gave a good light. He went to his room for it. + +Flossie and Freddie did not know what to do. That their lovely +party should be spoiled by the missing ice cream seemed too bad to +be true. + +"Mamma, if we can't find this ice cream, can't we buy more?" Flossie +wanted to know "The girls just want some--so bad!" + +"And the boys, too," added Freddie. + +"Oh, I guess we'll manage to get some for you, if we can't find +this," answered Mrs. Bobbsey. "We may have to wait a little while +for it, though." + +"Well, we'll have a look," said Bert, as he came down with his +little electric lamp. Some of his own particular chums, including +Charley Mason, followed him out to the back porch. Dinah was in +her kitchen, looking behind tables, under the sink, in the pantry +and all about, hoping that, somehow or other, the freezer might +have gotten in there. But it was not to be found. + +"Well, here's where it stood," said Bert, as he looked at the +round, wet mark on the porch where the freezer had set. He flashed +his torch on it, and then cried out: + +"And look, boys, here are some spots of water that must have leaked +from the wooden tub that holds the tin freezer. See, the water has +dripped down on each step! This is the way they carried off our +ice cream." + +The others could see a trail of water drops leading from the stoop +down the steps and along the stone walk at the side of the Bobbsey +house. + +"Now we can follow and see just where they took our cream!" cried +Bert. "This is the way Indians used to trail the white settlers." + +"Let me come!" cried Freddie, hearing this. "I want to help hunt +whoever took our ice cream." + +"No, you'd better stay back there," said Bert. + +"Why?" his little brother wanted to know. + +"Because it might be--tramps--who have it, and there'd be trouble," +said Bert. + +"Wait until I get my cap pistol!" cried Freddie. "I can scare a +tramp with that." + +"No, you go back there, and stay in the house," went on Bert. "If +we find tramps have it, we'll get a policeman." + +"It might be that a tramp did steal up on the steps, and lift off +the freezer," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Bert, be careful," she called +to her son, who set off in the darkness with his chums, flashing +his electric light from time to time. + +"I'll look out!" he called back. + +For some distance it was easy to see which way the ice cream freezer +had been carried, for there were the marks of the dripping water. +Then these stopped about the middle of the sidewalk, and seemed to +go over in the grass. + +"We can't see 'em now," spoke Charley. "That's too bad." + +"Well, we'll keep on this way in a straight line," suggested Bert. +"Maybe they took the freezer down back of our berry bushes to eat +the cream." + +"I hope they left some," said John Anderson, in a mournful sort of +voice. + +Hurrying on after Bert, the boys looked eagerly about in the +darkness for a sign of the missing ice cream. There were not many +chances of them finding it, for though Bert's electric torch gave +a brilliant light for a short distance, it was not very large. + +"What's over there?" asked Charley, pausing and pointing to a patch +of blackness. + +"An old barn, that we used to use before we had our new one built," +answered Bert. "Why?" + +"Well, maybe they took the ice cream in there to eat it," went on +Charley. "Is it open?" + +"Yes, it's never locked. Say, we'll take a look in there, anyhow!" +exclaimed Bert "Come on, fellows!" + +He led the way, the others following. As they approached the big, +deserted barn Frank Black exclaimed in a whisper: + +"I see a light!" + +"So do I!" added Will Evans. + +"And it's moving around," spoke Mason. + +"It's them, all right," decided Bert. "The tramps who took our ice +cream are in there, all right!" + +"What makes you think they are tramps?" asked Will. + +"Well, I'm not sure, of course," admitted Bert. "But we can soon +tell. Come on!" + +"Are you--are you going up there?" asked Charley. + +"Sure! Why not? I think we can scare 'em away." + +The other boys hesitated. Some of them were older than Bert, and +when they saw that he was determined to go on, they made up their +minds that they would not let him go alone. + +"All right--go ahead--we're with you," said Charley. + +Bert and the others advanced. As they walked on they could see the +light in the barn more plainly. And, as they stopped for a moment +they could hear voices talking in low tones. + +"More than one," whispered Charley. + +"Yes, three or four," said Bert. + +They walked ahead again, when suddenly Charley stepped on a stick +that broke with a loud snap. In an instant the light in the barn +went out, and then could be heard the footsteps of several persons +running away. + +"There they are!" shouted Bert, dashing forward. "Come on, fellows! +We'll get 'em now!" + +"That's right!" cried Charley. "Come on, surround 'em!" + +Of course this was all said for effect, as the boys had no idea +of trying to capture the tramps, or whoever it was that had taken +the ice cream. But Bert thought that they could scare the thieves +away, for the latter could not tell, in the darkness, how many, +nor who were after them. + +Flashing his light, Bert dashed ahead, followed by the others. Into +the big barn they went, and, just as they entered the main part, +they had a glimpse of someone running out of a side door. + +"There they go!" cried Charley. "We can catch 'em!" + +"No, let 'em go," advised Bert. "Here's our ice cream. Let's see +if there's any left. If there is we'll take it back to the party. +We might get into trouble if we went after those fellows." + +By the gleam of the electric light they could all see the freezer +of cream in the middle of the barn floor, near some upturned boxes. +A hasty look showed that only a little had been taken out. + +"There's plenty left!" said Bert. "We surprised 'em just in time. +Now let's get back to the house." + +It was rather a triumphant procession that went back to the home +of the Bobbsey twins, carrying the recovered ice cream freezer. +And such a shout of delight from Flossie, Freddie and the others +as greeted the boys! + +"Is there any left?" asked Freddie. + +"Plenty," said Bert. + +"And did you catch the bad tramps?" Flossie wanted to know. + +"They got away," her brother said. "But never mind, we scared them +before they had a chance to eat much." + +"I 'clar t' goodness sakes alive!" gasped Dinah, when she saw the +ice cream freezer carried into her kitchen, "yo' am suttinly a +smart boy, Massa Bert--dat's what yo' suah am!" + +"Oh, well, the others helped me find it," said Bert, modestly. + +As Dinah and Mrs. Bobbsey were dishing out the cream, the colored +cook uttered a cry. + +"Look out!" she exclaimed. "Dere's suffin black in dere, Mrs. +Bobbsey. Maybe it's a stone dem careless tramps put in. Wait 'till +I gits it out." + +With a long-handled spoon. Dinah fished for the black thing, and got +it. She put it in a dish, with a small portion of the ice cream, +and when the latter had melted, Bert, who was inspecting the object, +gave a cry of surprise. + +"Why, it's a button--a coat button!" he exclaimed. + +"A button? How in the world could that get in there?" asked his +mother. "Unless you boys dropped it in when you were carrying the +cream." + +Bert and the other boys quickly looked at their coats. There were +no buttons missing. + +"An' it suah wasn't in when de cream come heah," said Dinah. "I +knows, fo I took off de kiver an' looked in t' see how hard it were +froze. Dat button got in since!" + +"Yes, and I think I know how, too!" exclaimed Bert. + +"How?" asked Freddie. + +"It was dropped in by whoever took the freezer. They must have been +eating the cream right out of the can, and maybe they dropped the +button in. I'll save it" + +"What for?" asked Nan, wonderingly. + +"I may be able to find out by it, who took the freezer," went on +Bert. "I'm going to look at the coats of all the fellows in school +next week, and if I find one with the button like this missing, +I'll know what to think." + +"Be careful not to accuse anyone wrongly," cautioned his mother. + +Bert put the button carefully away, and the party guests were soon +eating their ice cream, and discussing the disappearance of the +freezer and the finding of it by the boys. Then with the playing of +more games, and the singing of songs, the affair came to a close, +and good-nights were said. + +"We've had a lovely time!" said the boys and girls to Flossie and +Freddie, as they left. + +"Glad you did--come again," invited the small Bobbsey twins. + +Even Snap seemed to have enjoyed himself. And when the house was +settling down to quietness for the night, and when Dinah and Mrs. +Bobbsey were picking up the dishes, the circus dog marched around +like a soldier, with a stick for a gun, and one of the fancy caps, +that came in the "surprise" packets, on his head. + +When Bert went to bed that night he laid the button found in the +ice cream where he would be sure to see it in the morning. + +"I'm going to find out whose coat that came off of," he said to +himself. + +The little Bobbsey twins slept late the next morning, and so did +Nan, but Bert was up early. + +"I'm going over to the barn, and see if I can tell by looking around +it, how many were at our freezer," he said. + +But there was nothing there to help him in his search. Some old +boxes, placed in a sort of circle, showed where the ones who had +taken the ice cream, had rested to eat it. + +"They must have had spoons with them," said Bert to himself, as he +looked about. "That shows they came all prepared to take our ice +cream. So they must have known it was going to be here. Well, I'll +see whose coat has a button missing." + +It took Bert some days to look carefully at the coats of the various +boys in school, who might have been guilty of taking the cream. +For a time he had no luck, and then, one afternoon, as he noticed +Danny Rugg wearing a coat he seldom had on, Bert walked slowly up +to him, clasping the button, with his hand, in his pocket. + +His heart beast fast as he noticed that from the middle of Danny's +coat a button was gone. And a glance at the others showed Bert +that they were just like the one found in the ice cream freezer. + +"I see you've lost a button, Danny," said Bert, slowly. + +"Hey?" exclaimed the bully, with a start. + +"I see you've lost a button," repeated Bert. + +"Yes, I guess it dropped off. Maybe it's home somewhere," said +Danny. + +"No, it isn't--it's here!" exclaimed Bert, suddenly holding the +button out to him. + + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THANKSGIVING + + + + +For a moment Danny Rugg just stared at Bert. Then the bully swallowed +a sort of lump that came in his throat, and said: + +"That isn't my button." + +"Isn't it?" asked Bert, politely. "Why, it just matches the others +on your coat, and it's got a few threads in the holes, and there +are some threads in your coat, just where the button was pulled +off. I guess it's your button, all right, Danny." + +Danny did not say anything. He looked from the button to Bert, and +then at the space on his coat where a button should have been, but +where one was missing. + +"Well--well," he stammered. "Maybe it is off my coat, but--but how +did you get it, Bert Bobbsey?" + +"I found it," was the answer. "Don't you want it back?" + +He held it out to Danny, who took it slowly. + +"Well," went on Bert, with a queer little smile at his enemy, "why +don't you ask me _where_ I found it, Danny?" + +"Huh! I don't care where you found it. I s'pose you picked it +up around the school yard, where I lost it, playing tag with the +fellows." + +"No, you didn't lose it there," went on Bert, still smiling. "You +have another guess coming, Danny." + +"Pooh! I don't care where you found it," and Danny was about to +turn away. + +"Wait a minute," said Bert. "Suppose I say that this button was +found in our freezer of ice cream, that you and some other boys took +off our stoop the night of Flossie's and Freddie's party, Danny? +What about that?" + +"It isn't--I didn't--you can't prove anything about me, Bert Bobbsey, +and if you go around telling that I took your ice cream, I--I---" + +But Danny did not know what else to say. He was confused and his +face was white and red by turns, for he realized that Bert had good +proof of what he said. + +"Better go slow," advised Bert, calmly. "I don't intend to go around +telling what you did. I just want to let you know that I am sure +you took our ice cream." + +"I--I---" began Danny. "You're only trying to fool me!" he exclaimed. +"That button wasn't in it at all!" + +"Wasn't it?" asked Bert, quietly. "Well, you just ask Charley Mason, +or any of the fellows who were at the party, what we found in the +freezer, and see what they say." + +Danny had nothing to reply to this. Thrusting the button in his +pocket he walked off. Bert was sure he had found the boy who had +taken the ice cream. + +Later, from a boy who had been friends with Danny for some time, +but whose father, afterward, decided that his son was getting into +bad company, and made him cease playing with the school bully, +Bert learned that Danny had planned to take the ice cream freezer +off the porch. + +He and several boys did this, carrying it to the old barn. They +had provided themselves with large spoons, and were having a good +time, eating the cream, when they heard the approach of Bert and +his friends, and fled, leaving the cream behind. + +It was during a dispute as to who should have the right to first +dip into the freezer that Danny and a boy named Jake Harkness had +a struggle, and in this Danny lost a button which fell into the ice +cream without anyone knowing it. The coat Danny wore that night he +did not put on again for some time, but when he did Bert saw the +missing button. + +Danny knew that he had been found out, and for a time he had little +to say. But Bert was boy enough not to be able to keep altogether +quiet over his discovery. From time to time he would ask Danny: + +"Lost any more buttons, lately?" + +"You let me alone!" Danny would reply, surlily. + +Of course this made talk, the boys wanting to know what it meant, +and at last the story came out. This made Danny so angry that he +picked several quarrels with Bert. On his part Bert tried to avoid +them, but at last he could stand it no longer, and he and Danny +came to blows again, Danny striking first. + +Bert had been brought up with the idea that fighting, unless it +could absolutely be avoided, was not gentlemanly, but in this case +he could not get out of it. + +He and Danny went at each other with their fists clenched, a crowd +of other boys looking on, and urging one or the other to do their +best, for both Danny and Bert had friends, though Bert was the best +liked. + +Danny struck Bert several times, and Bert hit back, once hitting +Danny in the eye. Bert's lip was cut, and when the fight was over +both boys did not look very nice. But everyone said Bert had the +best of it. + +"Oh, Bert!" exclaimed his mother, when he came home after the +trouble with Danny. "You've been fighting!" + +"Yes, mother, I have," he admitted. "I'm sorry, but I couldn't help +it. Danny Rugg hit me first. I couldn't run away, could I?" + +It was a hard question for a mother to answer. No mother likes to +think her son a coward, and that was what the boys would have called +Bert had he not stood up to Danny. + +"I--I just had to!" continued Bert. "And I beat him, anyhow, +mother." + +Mrs. Bobbsey cried a little, and then she made the best of it, and +bathed Bert's cut lip and bruised forehead. She told his father +about it, too, and Mr. Bobbsey, after hearing the account, asked: + +"Who won?" + +"Well, Bert says he did?" + +"Um. Well, I've no doubt but what he did. He's getting quite +strong." + +"Oh, Richard!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey, in dismay. + +"Well, boys will--er--have their little troubles" said her husband. +"I'm sorry Bert had to fight, but I'm glad he wasn't a coward. +But he mustn't fight any more." + +Then Mr. Bobbsey sat down to read the evening paper. + +The weather was getting cooler. Several nights there had been heavy +frosts, and for some time the papers had been saying that it was +going to snow, but the white flakes did not sift down from the sky. + +Thanksgiving was approaching. It was the end of the Fall term of +school, and there were to be examinations to see who would pass +into the next higher classes for the Winter season. + +Of course in the case of Freddie and Flossie, who were still in the +kindergarten, the examinations were not very hard, but they were +soon to go into the regular primary class, where they would learn +to read. And both the twins were very anxious for this. Bert and +Nan had somewhat harder lessons to do, and they had to answer more +difficult questions in the examinations. + +But I am glad to say that all of the Bobbsey twins were promoted, +and Freddie and Flossie came home very proud to tell that when +they went back again, after the Thanksgiving holidays, they would +be in the primer reading book. + +And such preparations as went on for Thanksgiving! Dinah was busy +from morning until night, and when the little twins made inquiries +about the turkey they were to have. Mr. Bobbsey said it would be +the biggest he could buy. + +"An' I'se gwine t' stuff him wif chestnuts an' oysters," said Dinah. +"I tells you what, chilluns, yo' all am suttinly gwine to hab one +grand feed." + +"I wish everybody was," said Flossie, a bit wistfully. "I hope our +cat Snoop, wherever he is, has plenty of milk, and some nice turkey +bones." + +"I guess he will have," said Mamma Bobbsey, gently. + +"I hope all the poor children in our school have enough to eat," +said Freddie. "Mr. Tetlow said for us to bring what we could for +them." + +"And you never told me!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey. "Why didn't you? +I would have sent something." + +Neither Bert nor Nan had thought to mention at home that a collection +would be taken it the school for the poor families in the town. +But as soon as Mrs. Bobbsey heard what Freddie said she telephoned +to her husband. Mr. Bobbsey went to see Mr. Tetlow, and from him +learned that there were a number of families who would not have +a very happy Thanksgiving. + +Then the lumber merchant gave certain orders to his grocer and +butcher, and if a number of poor people were not well supplied with +food that gladsome season, it was not the fault of Mr. Bobbsey. + +But I am getting a little ahead of my story. A few days before +Thanksgiving Mrs. Bobbsey, with a letter in her hand, came to +where the four twins were in the sitting room, talking over what +they wanted for Christmas. + +"Guess who are coming to spend Thanksgiving with us!" cried Mamma +Bobbsey, as she waved the letter in the air. + +"Uncle Bobbsey!" guessed Nan. + +"Uncle Minturn," said Bert. + +The little twins guessed other friends and relatives, and finally +Mrs. Bobbsey said: + +"Yes, your Uncle Bobbsey and Uncle Minturn are coming, and so are +your aunts, and Cousin Harry, Cousin Dorothy and also Hal Bingham, +whom you met at the seashore." + +"Oh, what a jolly Thanksgiving it will be!" cried the Bobbsey twins. + + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +MR. TETLOW ASKS QUESTIONS + + + + +Thanksgiving was celebrated in the Bobbsey home as it never had +been before. I am afraid if I told you all that went on, of the +big, brown-roasted turkey, of the piles of crisp celery, of the +pumpkin and mince pies, of the nuts and candies, of the big dishes +of cranberry sauce, and the plum pudding that Dinah carried in +high above her head--I am afraid if I told you of all these things +there would be trouble. + +For I am sure you would all be writing to me to ask where the +Bobbseys lived, so that you might go and see them, and perhaps spend +Christmas with them. Not that they would not be glad to have you, +but they have so many friends that their house is sure to be filled +over the holidays. + +So I will simply say that there was the grandest time ever, and +let it go at that. Uncle and Aunt Bobbsey--Uncle and Aunt Minturn, +from the country and seashore, came, with Cousin Dorothy and Cousin +Harry. Then, also, Hal Bingham arrived, and the Bobbsey twins took +great delight in showing their former playmates about Lakeport. + +"Isn't it lonesome at the seashore now?" asked Nan of Dorothy, as +she walked with her cousin about the busy streets of the town. + +"Not at all," answered Dorothy. "The sea is never lonesome for me. +It always seems to be telling me something, Winter or Summer." + + +"I love it in the Summer," said Nan, "but in the Winter it seems +so cold and cruel." + +"That is because you do not know it as well as I do," said Dorothy. + +Hal, Harry, and Bert had fine times together. There was no skating, +and the little flurry of snow there had been was not enough for +coasting, but they had other fun. + +"Do your ducks miss our duck Downy?" asked Freddie of his cousin +Harry. + +"Well, I guess they do," was the laughing answer, for Freddie and +Flossie had a pet duck which they took about with them almost as +faithfully as they did Snoop. "How is Downy, anyhow?" asked Harry. + +"He's fine," answered the little fellow. "Want to see him?" and he +took his cousin out to the barn where Downy had a pen all to himself. + +"Snoop's gone," said Freddie, "and so is our silver cup, but maybe +we'll get that back. It's in a circus." + +"In a circus!" cried Harry. "I should think your cat might be in +a circus, but not a silver cup." + +"We don't know where Snoop is," went on Freddie, "'cause he got +away at the time of the circus wreck," and he explained about it. +"But we are almost sure the circus fat lady has our cup." + +The Thanksgiving holidays came to an end at last and, much to the +regret of the Bobbseys, their visitors, old and young, had to go +back to their homes. + +"But you'll come again at Christmas; won't you?" asked Flossie as +she said good-bye. + +"We'll try," said her Uncle Bobbsey. "But maybe there won't be +room, with Santa Claus and all his reindeers." + +"Oh, we'll make room for you," spoke Freddie. "Santa Claus won't +stay long." + +With a merry peal of laughter the visitors went off to the station, +waving farewells. Then came rather a quiet time at the Bobbsey +house, as there always is when visitors go. There seems to be a +sort of loneliness, when company leaves, no matter how many there +are in the family, nor what fun there is. But the feeling soon +passes. + +"Well, we'll soon be at school again," said Bert, a day or so before +the opening of the Winter term. "I wish we'd get some snow. Then +it would be more fun." + +"Yes," said Freddie. "We could build snow forts and have snowball +fights. I wish it would snow hard." + +"So do I, so we could ride down hill," said Nan, "Is your big bob +nearly done, Bert?" + +"No, Charley and I have quite a lot of things to do on it yet, but +we're going to work every night after school now, and it will soon +be finished." + +"I'm going to have skates for Christmas," announced Freddie. "I +hope the lake will be frozen over by then." + +"I guess it will be," returned Bert. "It's getting colder every +night." + +The Bobbseys were back at school. For a time Nan and Bert, who were +in a higher grade, did not like it so well, as they had a strange +teacher, and lessons, too, were more difficult. But they were not +children who gave up easily, and soon they were at the head of +their class as usual. Their teacher, too, was much nicer than they +had thought at first. They had considered her stern, but it was +only her way, and soon wore off. + +As for Freddie and Flossie, they had advanced but little except in +reading, and this opened a new world to them. + +"We'll soon be reading books," boasted Freddie, on his way home one +day. "And I'm going to read all about firemen, soldiers and Indians." + +"Oh, I'm not," said Flossie. "I'm going to read how to be a nurse, +so I can take care of you when you're hurt." + +"That will be nice," said Freddie. + +One day, at recess, Bert saw Jim Osborne motioning to him in a +secret sort of fashion. + +"Come on with us," said Jim, who was a new boy in school. "Danny +Rugg and some of the rest of us are going to have some sport." + +"What doing?" asked Bert. + +"Smoking cigarettes back of the coal house. I've got a whole pack." + +"No; I don't smoke," said Bert quietly. + +"Bah! You're afraid!" sneered Jim. "Cigarettes can't hurt you. +It's only cigars and pipes that do." + +"Yes, I admit I am afraid," said Bert "I'm afraid of getting +sick. Besides, I promised my mother I wouldn't smoke until I was +twenty-one, and I'm not going to tell a story. Anyhow, I've got +an uncle who smokes, and he says cigarettes are worse than a pipe +or cigars, and he ought to know." + +"Aw, come on!" urged Jim. + +"No," said Bert firmly, and he would not go. Jim went off with +Danny and some of the other boys, and they were laughing among +themselves. Bert felt that they were laughing at him, but he did +not mind. + +There was to be an examination of the school by some of the members +of the Board of Education late that afternoon, and, directly after +recess, Mr. Tetlow went to each room to tell the pupils and teachers +to get ready for it, and to put certain work on the blackboards, +so it could be seen. + +When the principal got to the room where Danny Rugg and his particular +chums sat, Mr Tetlow, sniffing the air suspiciously, said: + +"I smell smoke!" + +"I have been noticing it, too," said the lady teacher. "Perhaps +the furnace does not work properly." + +"It isn't that kind of smoke," went on Mr. Tetlow. "It is tobacco +smoke. Have any of you boys been smoking during recess?" he asked +sternly, looking across the room. + +No one answered. Danny, Jim, and some of the others seemed to be +studying their geography lessons very hard. + +"I just want to say a word about cigarette smoking," went on +Mr. Tetlow, "for that is usually how a boy begins. Of smoking in +general, when a boy gets to be a man, I have nothing to say. Some +say it is injurious, and others not, in moderation. But there can +be no doubt that for a growing boy to smoke is very harmful. Again +I ask if anyone here has been smoking?" + +No one replied. The guilty boys bent deep over their books and did +not look up. + +"Well, I am sure someone here has," said Mr. Tetlow. "I can smell +it plainly." He walked down the aisles, looking sharply from one +boy to another. If he was sure who were the guilty ones he gave +no sign. "And I want to add," said Mr. Tetlow, "that not only is +cigarette smoking harmful to the smoker, but it is dangerous. Many +fires have been caused in that way. If I find out who of my pupils +have been smoking around the school they will be severely punished." + + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE FIRST SNOW + + + + +There was considerable talk among the boys in Danny's room after +Mr. Tetlow departed. And it was noticed that Danny and some of +his particular friends looked around with rather frightened faces, +over their shoulders, as they talked among themselves. What they +said could not be heard, for they spoke in whispers. + +"I hope you weren't one of those boys, Bert," said Nan, as she +passed her brother on the way home from school that afternoon. "If +you were--" + +"You needn't worry," he said, with a smile. "I'm not ready to +smoke yet." + +"Nor ever, I hope," said Nan, as she turned up her little nose. +"It--it smells so." + +Nothing more was heard of the smoking matter for several days, +and it was about forgotten, when something else came to claim the +attention of the Bobbsey twins and their friends. + +It was toward the close of school one afternoon, when all the +pupils were wishing the hands of the clock would point to letting-out +time, that Nan, looking from the window, and away from her arithmetic +book, saw a few white flakes of snow sifting lazily down. At once +she was all attention, and her lesson was forgotten. + +"Oh!" she thought, "it's snowing! And it looks as if it would be +a big storm! Oh, I'm so glad!" + +Nan did not know all the trouble and misery a big snow storm can +cause, so she may be forgiven for wishing for one. She only saw +the side of it that meant fun for her and her friends. + +The flakes were coming down faster now, and there was about them +something which seemed to tell that this storm would be more than +a mere flurry or squall, and that it would keep up for some time, +making big drifts. + +But now a number of other pupils in the room had noticed the +storm, and eyes were out of doors rather than on books. The teacher +saw that she was not getting the attention of her class, and she +understood the reason. + +"Now, boys and girls," she said gently, "you can have a good time +in the snow after you get out of here. So please give attention +to your lessons for a few minutes more. Then you will be finished. +Nan Bobbsey, you may go to the board and do the third example." + +But Nan was thinking so much of the fun she might have riding down +hill, or snowballing with her friends, that she got the example +wrong, and had to go to her seat. Nor was Bert any more successful. + +Bert was busy thinking about putting a bell and a steering wheel +on the new bob he and Charley had made, and when he was asked how +many times two and a half went into ten he answered: "Three." He +was thinking how many times he would ring the bell on the bob when +he came to a street crossing. + +When the Bobbsey twins, little and big, came out of school the snow +was coming down more thickly. The flakes were not so large, but +there were more of them, and they blew here and there in the wind, +drifting into piles that would make the shoveling off of walks hard +the next day. + +There were just about enough of the white crystals on the ground, +when the school children came out to make a few snowballs, and this +they at once proceeded to do. + +Danny Rugg, who had not forgiven Bert for the many times the Bobbsey +lad had gotten the best of him, threw a ball at Freddie. But Bert +was on the watch, and managed to jump up and catch the white missile +in his hand. Then he threw it at Danny, striking him on the neck. + +"Here! Where you throwin'?" demanded Danny, in angry tones. + +"The same place you are," replied Bert, not a bit afraid. "Good +weather for ice cream, Danny," he added, and Danny went off in an +angry fashion. + +Other boys and girls too, threw the snowballs, but it was +in good-natured fun, and no one was hurt. Some rough boys did use +hard snowballs, but they were soon left to play among themselves, +while the others amused themselves with soft and fluffy missiles, +which, breaking as they hit, scattered the white stuff all over, +harming no one. + +The girls, while they played at this sport, also indulged in washing +the faces of each other. With handsful of snow they rubbed the ears +and cheeks of their chums so that there came a healthy glow to the +skin. + +One or two children, who lived near the school, ran in their yards +as soon as the classes were dismissed, and brought out their sleds. +But the snow was too thin to pack well, and at best the coasting +was not good. + +"But it soon will be," declared Bert, as he and Charley walked +along. "We must finish our bob in a hurry." + +"All right. We'll work on it late to-night." + +And so the sound of hammer, plane and saw was heard in the old +barn, where the sled was being built, until nearly ten o'clock. + +"She ought to go very fast!" exclaimed Charley, as they paused to +look at their sled. + +"I'm sure she will," agreed Bert. "And we'll put some carpet on +the top of the main board, for a cushion for some of the girls." +His chum agreed that this would be a good plan, and so the bob was +made very attractive for the girls. + +Bert and Charley took the big sled out for a private trial on a +little hill behind the barn without telling anyone about it. They +slid down very swiftly, and as they were walking up again Bert +said: + +"I think we have a fast one all right, Charley." + + +"I'm sure we have," was the answer. + +"It will pass anything on the main hill," went on Bert, and his +friend believed him. + +The storm kept up all night, and in the morning there was snow +enough to suit anyone. Bert laughed as he looked out of the window +and saw it. + +"There'll be coasting now all right!" he cried, as he saw the big +stretch of white over the fields and on the hills. "We can have +bob sled races, too." + +"Can't we come?" asked Flossie. + +"We like sled rides," added Freddie. + +"You may come part of the time," answered Bert. "But big sleds +aren't for little folks like you." + +Not far from the Bobbsey home was a long hill that was most excellent +for coasting. It was on this that Charley and Bert had decided to +test their new sled on a long stretch. + +As they hauled it from the barn where it had been made, and started +to pull it to the hill, there were many laughs at the odd homemade +affair. For Bert and Charley had done most of the work themselves, +and it was rather rough. + +"She'll never coast!" cried one boy, with a laugh. He was quite a +friend of Danny's. + +"Here comes the sled that can, though!" cried another, and Danny +himself came into view, pulling a fine, new, big bob after him. + +"That's the fastest one on the hill," boasted another lad who was +helping Danny pull his sled. + +"Well, I think ours is fast, too," said Bert calmly. + +"Do you want to race?" asked Danny with a sharp glance at Bert. + +"I don't mind," was the answer. It after school, following the +first snow, and the hill was just right for coasting. + +"Come on! Come on!" cried a number of boys and girls, as they heard +what went on between Danny and Bert. "There's going to be a race +on the big hill between the big bobs." + +There was much excitement. The sleds were the two largest owned +by anyone in the neighborhood, and both were fine ones. Danny had +bought his, but Bert and Charley had made theirs, and so, though +it was not so fancy, it was stronger. Most eyes were on Danny's +sled, for it was painted in bright colors, and brightly varnished. +It had a red cushion of carpet on the top, and places at the side +to rest one's feet. + +The bob of Bert and Charley was built just the same, but it was +painted in home-made fashion, and the carpet seat was an old and +faded one. But it had a new gong and a fine big steering wheel. + +"All ready for the race," cried Danny, as he got his sled in +position. "Who's going down with me?" + +A number of boys came forward. + +"Who's going with Bert and me?" asked Charley, and several others +stepped forward. + +"Go ahead, if you want to come in last!" sneered Danny, as he got +his sled in place "I'll tell 'em you're coming, Bert." + +"All right," was the cool answer. "Get on, boys!" + +Soon both sleds were filled, and all was ready for the big race--the +first of the season. + + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +A NIGHT ALARM + + + + +"Are you all ready?" called Danny to Bert, looking over at the +home-made bob, and there was something like contempt in his tone. + +"All ready," answered Bert. "I'll start as soon as you give the +word." + +"We ought to have someone to shove us off," suggested Danny. "It +won't be fair if one or the other gets a head-start." + +"Hi! He's afraid already!" cried Charley Mason. "He knows we're +going to beat!" + +"I am not!" retorted Danny. "It will be a walk-over for me once +I start. But I don't want Bert Bobbsey saying I took advantage of +him, after the race is over." + +"You needn't be afraid--I won't say so--I won't have to," replied +Bert. "All the same I think it would be better if we each had a +push. I want to be fair, too." + +"Hey, Bert!" called a shrill voice, as the elder Bobbsey lad was +looking about for some on the hill to whom he might appeal. "Can't +I ride down with you, Bert?" + +It was Freddie who called, and he came running up, anxious to take +part in the exciting race. + +"No, Freddie, not this time," explained Bert kindly. "I want only +large boys with me in the race. I'll give you a ride afterward." + +"After I beat him, he means," sneered Danny. + +"Come on, let's race if we're going to," called some of the boys +on Danny's sled. + +"Yes; don't stay here all day." + +"Get a move on!" + +"We'll beat, anyhow, what's the use of racing?" + +There were only a few of things that those on the big new sled of +Danny's, called to those on Bert's bob. On their part Bert's friends +voiced such remarks as: + +"We're not so strong on looks, but we'll get there first!" + +"We're going to give Danny a tow to the bottom of the hill!" + +"He won't know he's moving, once Bert's sled gets started going!" + +"Well, what are we going to do?" asked Danny at last. "Shall we +shove off ourselves?" + +Just then there came along two large boys, Frank Cobb, and his +particular chum, Irving Knight. + +"What's going on here; a race?" asked Frank. + +"It looks that way," said Irving. + +"Oh, will you push us off?" begged Bert, appealing to Frank, whose +father worked in Mr. Bobbsey's lumber yard. + +"Sure we will," answered Frank good-naturedly. "Take the other +sled, Irving," he said to his chum, "and we'll give 'em an even +start. Then we'll see which beats, and may the best sled win!" + +"That's what I say!" cried Irving. + +The two larger boys took their places behind the bobs. They slowly +shoved them to the edge of the hill, held them there a moment, +and, at a nod to each other, shoved them down evenly. + +"Hurray!" cried the crowd of other coasters. "There they go!" + +"And Danny's ahead!" said some of his friends. + +"No, Bert's sled is!" shouted his admirers. As a matter of fact, +though, both sleds were even at the start. On and on they went very +swiftly, for the hill had been worn smooth. Then Bert saw his bob +getting ahead a little, and he felt that he was going to win easily. + +But he was glad too soon, for, a little later, Danny's sled shot +ahead, and for some distance was in the lead. + +"Can't you beat him, Bert?" whispered Charley Mason, who sat just +behind his chum. + +"I hope so," was the answer. "But I can't really do anything. We +just have to depend on the sled, you know." + +"Steer a little more over to the left," suggested another boy. "It +looks smoother there." + +"I will," said Bert, and he turned the steering wheel of his bob, +while Luke Morton, in the rear, pulled hard on the bell, making +it clang out a loud warning. + +"Look out where you're going, Bert Bobbsey!" warned Danny, looking +back. "You're coming over on my side of the hill!" + +"No I'm not. I'm away from the middle, even," said Bert, "Besides, +I'm behind you." + +"I know you are, and you're going to stay there; but I don't want +you to run into me." + +Bert thought of the time, the winter before, when Danny had run +into him, and broken his sled, but he said nothing. He did not want +that kind of an accident to be repeated if he could help it. + +On, on and on dashed the big bobs, with the crowd on the hill, and +a number of coasters scattered along the way, watching anxiously. +As soon as Bert had steered over to the left his sled began to go +faster, as the snow was packed better there. He was fast catching +up to Danny, when one of the boys on that bob, looking back, saw +it, and warned the steersman. + +"He's coming, Danny," he cried. + +"Oh, he is; eh? Well, he won't pass me," and Danny steered his sled +over directly in front of Bert's, almost causing Bert to collide +with him. + +"Shame!" cried some watchers. "That wasn't fair!" + +"Let him keep on his own side then," warned Danny. + +But this mean trick did Danny little good for, though Bert was +forced to go to the right, to avoid crashing into Danny, he, most +unexpectedly, found good coasting there, and he shot ahead until +his sled was even with that of the bully's. + +"Better look out, Danny," warned the boy sitting directly back of +him. "He's crowding us fast." + +"Oh, it's only a spurt. We'll soon be at the bottom of the hill +and win." + +On and on came Bert's bob, the _Flier_. It was a little ahead +of Danny's now, and the latter, seeing this, steered over, thinking +the going was better there. + +"Look out!" warned Bert "Who's crowding over now?" + +"Well, I've got a right here!" snarled Danny. + +But Bert knew his rights also, and would not give away. He held to +his place, and Danny dared not come too close. Then, as Bert found +himself on smooth, hard-packed snow, he steered as straight as he +could. More and more ahead of Danny he went, until he was fully in +front of him. + +"We're going to win! We're going to win!" cried Bert's friends. +"We're going to win the race!" + +Danny was wild with anger. He steered his sled over sharply, hoping +to get on the same track as was Bert and so pass him. But it was +not to be. Danny took too sudden a turn, and the next instant his +bob overturned, spilling everyone off. + +There was a cry of surprise at the accident, and some of those on +Bert's sled looked back. Bert himself looked straight ahead as a +steersman always should. + +"Danny's upset!" cried Charley. + +"I'm sorry!" said Bert "Now he'll claim the race wasn't fair." + +And that is what Danny did when he picked himself up, and walked +down to meet Bert, whose bob got safely to the foot of the hill, +and so won the race. + +"Aw, I'd have beaten if you hadn't gotten in my way so I had to +steer over," cried Danny. + +"Don't talk that way now," said Irving, who, with Frank Cobb had +come to the end of the hill. "Bert beat you fair and square." + +"Aw, well--" grumbled Danny. + +"I'll race over again, if you like," offered Bert. + +"Yes, and do the same thing," grumbled Danny. "I will not. I know +my sled is the best." + +But few others, save those who hoped for a ride on it, agreed with +the bully, and Bert's home-made bob was held to be champion of the +hill. + +Then came many more coasts, Bert giving Nan and Flossie and Freddie, +and a number of their little girl and boy friends, several rides. + +Until late that evening the coasting kept up, and Bert and Charley +were congratulated on all sides for the fine bob they had made. And +what fun Bert had home after supper, telling of how he had won the +race! + +It was in the middle of the night, when the Bobbsey household was +awakened by the ringing of fire bells. They all heard the alarm, +and as Papa Bobbsey counted the number, he said to his wife: + +"That must be near here. Guess I'll look. It's a windy night and +a fire in my lumber yard would be very bad." + +As he went to the window he saw a glare on the sky in the direction +of the lake. + +"It _is_ near here!" he said. "The engines are going past our +house! I'd better take a look." + +"Can I come?" asked the little "Fat Fireman" from his cot. "Take +me, papa!" + + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +WHO WAS SMOKING? + + + + +Mr. Bobbsey laughed, though he was worried about the fire. It seemed +so odd for Freddie to want to go out in the cold, dark night. + +"Not this time, my Fat Fireman!" said Freddie's papa, "It may be +only a pile of rubbish on fire. I'll tell you about it when I come +back." + +"Where does it seem to be?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey. + +"Down near the lake," answered her husband. "I'm afraid," he added +in a lower voice, "that it may be our boathouse. It seems to be +about there." + +"Oh, I hope not!" she exclaimed. "Still, better that than our own +house." + +"If it's near the lake, papa," said Flossie, who heard part of +what her father said, "it will be easy to put it out, for there +is plenty of water." + +"Pooh! engines have their own water!" exclaimed Freddie, who had +rather hazy notions as to how fire engines work. He was getting over +his disappointment about not being allowed to go with his father, +and had again cuddled down in his warm crib. + +Another engine dashed by the Bobbsey house, and the ringing of the +alarm bell increased. The voices and footsteps of many persons, +as they rushed on to the blaze, could also be heard, and there +resounded the cry of: + +"_Fire! Fire! Fire!_" + +Bert, who had been aroused with the others of the household, was +dressing in his room. He felt that his father would let him go +to the fire. At any rate he intended to be all ready when he made +his request, so as not to cause delay. + +"Are you going, Bert?" asked Nan, as from her room, next to that +of her brother, she heard him moving around. + +"I am, if father will take me," he said, + +"It's too cold for me!" Nan exclaimed with a shiver, as she went +back in bed again. She bad gotten up to peer from the window at +the red glare in the sky. + +From the third floor, where Dinah slept, the colored cook now called +down: + +"Am anybody sick, Mrs. Bobbsey? What am de mattah down dere?" + +"It's a fire, Dinah !" answered her mistress. + +"Oh good land a'massy! Don't tell me dat!" she cried. "Sam! Sam! +Wake up. De house is on fire an' you'se got t' sabe me!" + +"No, no, Dinah!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey, to calm the cook. "It isn't +this house. It's down by the lake. If you look out of your window +you can see it." + +Dinah hurried across to her window, and evidently saw the reflection +of the blaze, for she exclaimed: + +"Thank goodness it ain't yeah! Mah goodness, but I suah was skarit +fo' a minute!" + +By this time Mr. Bobbsey had dressed, and had started downstairs. +Bert came out of his room, also ready for the street. + +"May I come, father?" he asked. + +"Well, I declare!" exclaimed Mr. Bobbsey, in surprise. "So you +got dressed too, did you?" + +"Yes, sir. May I come?" + +Mr. Bobbsey hesitated a moment, and then with a smile, said: + +"Well, I suppose so, since you are all ready. I'm taking Bert," +he called to his wife. "Freddie, you'll have to be the Fat Fireman +while I'm gone, and look after the house." + +"That's what I will," said Freddie, "and if any sparks fly over +here I'll throw the bathroom sponge on 'em!" + +"Good!" cried Mr. Bobbsey, and then, he and Bert hurried out. + +The fire was now larger, as they could see when they got out in +the street. There was no wind and the flames went straight up in +the air. There were not many buildings down by the lake, only some +boat shelters and places like that. The Bobbsey's boathouse was +a fine large one, having recently been made bigger as Mr. Bobbsey +was thinking of buying a new motor boat. + +Mr. Bobbsey and his son hurried on, following the crowd that filled +the street leading to the lake. Several gentlemen knew the lumber +merchant, and called to him. + +"I guess you're glad this isn't your lumber yard," said one. + +"Yes, indeed," was the answer. "I had a little fire there once, and +I don't want another. But I'm afraid this is some of my property +just the same." + +"Is that so?" + +"Yes, it looks to be my boathouse." + +"So it does!" cried another man. + +"Oh, father!" cried Bert. "Our nice boathouse!" + +"Well, the firemen may save it," said Mr. Bobbsey. "We will hope +so, anyhow," he added. + +They had not gone on much farther before Mr. Bobbsey and Bert could +see that it was indeed their boathouse on fire. One side was all +ablaze, and the flames were slowly, but surely, eating their way +over the whole place. But two engines were now pumping streams of +water on the fire, and they might put it out before too much damage +was done. + +Mr. Bobbsey rushed forward, and, as the policemen and firemen knew +him, they let him get close to the boathouse. + +"You stay here, Bert," said Mr. Bobbsey to his son. + +"Where are you going?" Bert wanted to know. + +"I'm going to see if we can save any of the boats." + +There was a sailing craft, a number of rowboats, and a small gasoline +launch in the boat-house. They had been stored away for the winter. + +"Come on, men!" cried Mr. Bobbsey, as he saw some of his workmen +in the crowd. "Help me save the boats!" + +All rushed forward willingly, and, as there was part of the place +where the flames had not yet reached, they could make their way +into the house. They began lowering the boats into the icy water, +while the firemen played the several lines of hose on the flames. + +The third engine was now working, and so much water was pumped that +even a larger fire could not have stood it for very long. + +The blaze began to die down, and when Mr. Bobbsey and his men were +about to lower the gasoline launch into the icy water the chief +ran up, saying: + +"You don't need to do that! We've got the fire under control now. +It will soon be out." + +"Are you sure?" asked the lumber merchant. + +"Yes. You can see for yourself. Leave the boat there. It will be +all right." + +Mr. Bobbsey looked, and was satisfied that the larger part of the +boathouse would be saved. So he and his men stopped their work, +and went outside to cool off. + +A little later the fire was practically out, but one engine continued +to throw water on the smouldering sparks. The crowd began to leave +now, for there was nothing more to see, and it was cold. + +"My!" exclaimed Bert as his father came back to where he had left +his son, "it didn't take long to settle that fire." + +"No, we have a good fire department," replied Mr. Bobbsey. + +The fire chief came up to Mr. Bobbsey, who expressed his thanks +for the quick work of the firemen. + +"Have you any idea what started the fire, Mr. Bobbsey?" asked the +chief. "Was the boathouse in use?" + +"No," was the answer. "It had been closed for the winter some time +ago--in fact as soon as the carpenters finished making the changes. +No one was in it as far as I know." + +"Then how do you account for this?" asked the chief, as he held +out a box partly filled with cigarettes. "I picked these up in the +living room," he went on, for the boathouse had one room carpeted, +and fitted with chairs and tables, and electric lights where the +family often spent evenings during Summer. + +"You found those cigarettes in the living room of the boathouse?" +asked Mr. Bobbsey. + +"I did; and the question is who was smoking?" went on the chief. +"In my opinion the end of a cigarette thrown aside, or perhaps a +lighted match dropped in some corner, started this fire. Who was +smoking?" + + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +A CONFESSION + + + + +The chief handed Mr. Bobbsey the half-emptied cigarette box. Mr. +Bobbsey turned it over and over in his hand, as though trying to +learn to whom it belonged. + +"They are something I never use," he said. "I don't suppose we +could tell, from this, who had it?" + +"No," and the chief shook his head. "It's a common kind, and a good +many of the stores sell 'em. A good many of the boys smoke 'em, +too--that's the worst of it," and he looked at Bert a bit sharply. + +"Oh, you needn't be afraid for my boy!" exclaimed Mr. Bobbsey +hastily. "I have Bert's promise that he won't smoke until he's a +man, and perhaps he won't want to then." + +"Good!" exclaimed the chief heartily. + +"That's what I like to hear. But It's as certain as guns is, and +nothing more certain than them, that some one was smoking in your +boat-house, and set fire to it. And I wish we could find out who +it was." + +"So do I!" exclaimed Mr. Bobbsey. "If only to teach them a lesson +on how dangerous it is to be careless. Well, I suppose we can't +do anything more," and he sighed, for half the beautiful boathouse +was in ruins. + +Mr. Bobbsey and Bert were soon at home, telling the news to the +folks. Freddie's eyes opened wide in surprise as he listened to +the account of how the firemen had put out the fire. + +"Oh, I wish I could have been there!" he cried. "I could have +helped." + +"What caused the fire?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey of her husband, when +the children had gone to bed again. + +"Some boys--or some one else smoking cigarettes, the chief thinks. +We found a half-emptied box." + +In her room Nan heard the word "cigarettes" and she wondered if +her brother could be at fault, for she remembered he had told her +how once some boys had asked him to go off in secret and smoke. + +Mr. Bobbsey was up early, for he wanted to see by daylight what +damage the fire had done, and he also wanted to see the insurance +company about the loss. The beautiful boat-house looked worse in +the daylight than it had at night, and the neat living room, where +some of the Bobbseys had spent many happy hours, while others of +them were out in the boats, was in ruins. + +The fire chief came down while Mr. Bobbsey was there, and they +talked matters over. The chief said he would send one of his men +around to the different stores that sold cigarettes, to try and +learn if boys had purchased any that afternoon, for it was against +the law to sell cigarettes to anyone under sixteen years of age. + +One afternoon Danny's father, Mr. Rugg, came home unexpectedly, and, +wanting something that was out in his barn went to get it. As he +entered the place he heard a scramble of feet, some excited whispers, +and then silence. He was sure that some one was in the place and +had run to hide. + +"Who's there?" called Mr. Rugg sharply. There was no answer, but +he listened and was sure he heard some one in the little room where +the harness was kept. + +He walked over to the door, and tried to open it. Some one on the +inside was holding it, but Mr. Rugg gave a strong pull, and the +door flew open. To the surprise of Mr. Rugg he saw his son Danny, +and a number of boys, hiding there, and the smell of cigarette +smoke was very strong. + +"Danny!" exclaimed his father sternly, "what does this mean?" + +"We--were--playing!" stammered Danny. "Playing hide and seek." + +"And to play that is it necessary to smoke?" Mr. Rugg asked sharply. + +"We--we aren't smoking," answered Danny. + +"Not now, but you have been. I can smell it plainly. Go into the +house, Danny, and these other boys must go home. If I find them +smoking in my barn again I shall punish them. You might have set +it on fire." + +Danny had nothing to say, indeed, there was little he could say. +He had been caught in the act. + +The other boys slunk off, and Danny went into the house, his father +following. + +"Danny, I am very sorry to learn this," said Mr. Rugg. "I did not +know that you smoked--a boy of your age!" + +"Well, I never smoked much. Lots of the fellows smoke more than I +do." + +"That is no excuse. It is a bad habit for a boy. You may go to your +room. I will consider your case later." + +From then on Mr. Rugg did some hard thinking. He began "putting +two and two together" as the old saying has it. He remembered the +Bobbsey boathouse fire. On that occasion Danny had come in late, +and there had been the smell of smoke on his clothes. + +Mr. Rugg went to his son's room. A search showed a number of empty +cigarette boxes, and cigarette pictures, and the boxes were all +of the same kind--the kind that had been found in the half-burned +boathouse. + +Danny was accused by his father of having been smoking in the boathouse +just before the fire, and Danny was so miserable, and so surprised +at being caught in the barn, that he made a full confession. +Tearfully he told the story, how he and some other boys, finding +the boathouse unlocked, for some unknown reason, had gone in, and +smoked to their heart's content. + +They did not mean to cause the fire, and had no idea that they +were to blame. One of the boys was made ill by too much smoking, +and they all hurried away. + +But they must have left a smouldering stump of cigarette in some +corner, or a carelessly-thrown match, that started the blaze. Then, +when the fire bells sounded, and they learned what had happened, +Danny and all the boys promised each other that they would keep +the secret. + +"Well, Danny, I can't tell you how sorry I am," said Mr. Rugg, +when the confession was over. "Sorry not only that Mr. Bobbsey's +boathouse was burned, but because you have deceived me, and your +good mother, and smoked in secret. I feel very badly about it." + +Danny did, too, for though he was not a very good boy, his heart +was in the right place, and with a little more care he might have +been a different character. There was, however, hope for him. + +"You must be punished for this," went on Mr. Rugg, "and this punishment +will be that you are not to have the motor boat I promised you for +next Summer. Perhaps it will be a lesson to you." + +Danny wept bitterly, for he had counted very much on having this +boat. But it was a good lesson to him. Mr. Rugg also told the +fathers of the other boys whom he caught with his son, and these +boys were punished in different ways. + +Mr. Rugg also informed Mr. Bobbsey how the boathouse had been set +afire, and expressed his sorrow. And so the mystery was cleared +up. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE FAT LADY'S LETTER + + + + +"Well," remarked Nan Bobbsey, a few days after it had become known +that Danny Rugg was to blame for the fire in the boathouse, "I wish +we could find out, as easily as we found out about Danny, who has +our cat Snoop." + +"So do I," added Flossie. "Poor Snoop! I do miss him so much." + +"So do I!" exclaimed Freddie. "But Snap is a nice dog, and I guess +I like dogs better than cats, anyhow." + +"Why, Freddie Bobbsey!" cried Nan, "Don't you love Snoop any more?" + +"Oh, yes, 'course I do, but then he isn't here to be loved, and +Snap is." + +"Yes, I guess that does make a difference," admitted Nan. "I +wonder if papa wouldn't let us go down to the railroad office and +inquire once more about him? Maybe, as it's getting cold weather +now, Snoop will come in from the fields where he may have been +staying ever since the railroad wreck." + +"Let's ask," cried Freddie, always ready for action. + +It was Saturday, and there was no school. Bert had gone off coasting +on his new bob, but Nan did not want to go, her mother having asked +her to stay and help with the dusting. But now the little bit of +housework was over, and Nan was free. + +"We'll go down to papa's office," she said to Flossie and Freddie, +"and ask him if we can go to the railroad. I know one of the ticket +agents and he can tell us of whom to ask about our cat." + +Mrs. Bobbsey had no objections, and soon, with Flossie and Freddie +at her side, Nan set off for her father's office in the lumber +yard. The smaller twins were delighted. + +"And maybe we can find our silver cup, too," suggested Freddie, +as he trudged along in the snow, now and then stopping to make a +white ball which he threw at the fence or telegraph pole. + +"The fat lady has our cup--I'm sure of that," said Flossie. + +"Well, we can ask papa if he has heard from the circus people," +suggested Nan. + +Mr. Bobbsey was rather surprised to see his three children come +into the office, but he was glad to meet them, for it made a break +in his day's work. After a little thought he said they might go +to the railroad office to inquire about Snoop. Nan and her brother +and sister went in a trolley car, and were soon at the depot. + +But to their disappointment there was no news of Snoop. The fat, +black cat seemed to have completely disappeared. + +"I've had the switchmen and trackmen keep a lookout for some time +past," the agent told Nan, for Mr. Bobbsey did a large business +in shipping lumber over the railroad, and many of the men were his +friends. "One of the switchmen near where the wreck was, caught +a lot of cats, that must have been living out in the fields all +Summer," went on the agent, "but they were all sorts of colors. None +was pure black, so I knew they could not be yours. I'm sorry." + +"Yes, so are we," replied Nan. "Well, I guess Snoop is lost for +good. He has been away a long time now." + +On the way back to Mr. Bobbsey's office the trolley car got off the +track, on account of so much snow on the rails, and the children +spent some time watching the men get it back, the electricity from +the wire and rails making pretty flashes of blue fire. + +"What luck?" asked Mr. Bobbsey, as the three came in his private +office, their faces shining and red with the glow of winter. + +"None," said Nan sadly. "Snoop is gone." + +"Have you heard from the circus fat lady yet, papa?" asked Flossie. + +"Yes, we want our cup back," added her brother. + +"No word yet," answered Mr. Bobbsey. "That circus is traveling all +over Cuba, and the letters I sent never seem to catch up to them. +However, I am sending one on ahead now, to a city where they will +soon give a show. The fat lady will find it there waiting for her, +and she may answer then." + +And with this the children had to be content. Getting back home, +Flossie and Freddie took out their sleds and went for a coast on +a small hill, not far from their home. This was where the smaller +children had their fun, leaving the larger hill for the bigger +girls and boys. + +"Well, after this I think we all need something to cheer us up," +said Papa Bobbsey, who came home from the office early that day. + +"Oh, have you got something good?" asked Nan, for she saw a queer +little twinkle in her father's eyes, and she knew that this generally +meant a treat of some kind. + +"I have some good news, if you would like to hear it," he said, as +he drew a letter from his pocket. + +"Is it to tell that some of our friends are coming to see us?" +asked Bert. + +"Well, yes, I think you will call it a visit from a friend--at least +part of it," said Papa Bobbsey. "Now listen. This is a letter from +the fat lady in the circus." + +"What!" cried Flossie--"the one who has our cup?" + +"The same," said Mr. Bobbsey with a smile. "And she has more than +your cup. Listen," and he read the letter. + +It was too long to put it all in here, but it went on to say how +the fat lady really had the valuable silver cup belonging to the +twins. + +"They loaned it to me to drink from," she wrote, "and when the +train stopped so suddenly, there was so much confusion that I put +it in my valise by mistake. I have had it ever since and have been +wondering how I could send it back to you. The circus went to Cuba +soon after that, and has been traveling around that island ever +since. I have only just received your last letter asking me about +the cup, or I would have answered before. If you will send me +directions how to ship the cup to you I shall be very glad to return +it." + +"Oh goodie!" cried Freddie. "We'll have our nice cup again!" + +"Is that all in the letter, papa?" asked Flossie. + +"No, not quite," he said. "I'll read a little more," and he read: + +"'When our circus was wrecked we lost a valuable trick dog. He could +play soldier, say his prayers, turn somersaults, and do a number +of tricks. The ringmaster feels very badly about losing him, and +has tried to locate him, but without success. If you should hear +of anyone near you having such a dog we would be much obliged if +you would send him to us, as he belongs to the circus.'" + +There was a moment of silence after Bobbsey read this, and then +Freddie said: + +"Why that must be Snap--our pet dog! Oh, papa you won't give him +back to the circus; will you?" + + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +SNAP AND SNOOP + + + + +All of the Bobbsey twins--Nan, Bert, Flossie and Freddie--looked +so serious over the prospect of losing Snap that Mr. Bobbsey had +to laugh. He just couldn't help it. + +"Well, I don't see anything to make fun over," said Nan, with a +little pout. + +"Why, you all act as though you had lost your best friend--or were +going to." + +"Well, Snap _is_ one of our best friends, aren't you Snap?" +said Freddie. + +"Still, if he belongs to the circus I don't see but what I'll have +to send him back," went on Mr. Bobbsey, slowly. + +At this Flossie burst into tears, and Mrs. Bobbsey, putting her +arms about the little girl, said to her husband: + +"Are you in earnest Richard? Don't tease the child." + +"I'm not, Mary. The fat lady wrote just that. I believe the dog we +have does belong to the circus." + +"Then we'll have to give him up I suppose," and Mrs. Bobbsey sighed, +for she had grown very much attached to the fine animal. + +"Well, we won't have to send him back right away," said Mr. Bobbsey. +"I will have to get more particulars. But I did not finish the fat +lady's letter." + +"What! Is there more news in it?" asked Nan. + +"Listen," said Mr. Bobbsey, as he went on reading: + +"'We are sorry about losing our trick dog,' the fat lady wrote, +'but I picked up a big black cat when I walked out of the train. I +brought him to Cuba with me, and I am teaching him tricks. He may +be as valuable as our dog was.'" + +"A black cat!" cried Nan. + +"It's our Snoop!" shouted Freddie, "yes, that's it! The fat lady +has our cat as well as our cup! Oh, papa, make her give back our +Snoop!" + +Mr. Bobbsey laughed. + +"You see how it is," he said. "She has our cat, and we have their +dog. We'll have to give up our dog to get our cat." + +The Bobbsey twins had not thought of this before. They looked +strangely at one another. + +"Papa!" cried Freddie, jumping up and down in his excitement, "can't +we keep both--the circus dog and our cat? Oh, do please, let us." + +"But maybe Snap would fight Snoop," said Flossie. "We wouldn't want +that." + +Freddie thought for a moment. + +"I don't believe he would," he said at last. + +"Well," said Papa Bobbsey, after a bit, "I'll see what I can do. +I'll write to the fat lady, telling her how to ship your silver +cup, and also how to send Snoop. And I'll ask if we can buy Snap. +How will that do?" + +"Fine!" cried all the Bobbsey twins at once, and they made a rush +for Mr. Bobbsey, hugging and kissing him. + +The letter was sent to the fat lady, and then came a time of anxious +waiting. Never before had the children seemed to care so much for +Snap. + +One day a letter came, saying that the silver cup had been sent, +and also Snoop, the cat. + +"But what about Snap, papa?" asked Nan. + +"Does she say the circus will sell him?" + +"No, the man who owns him is away for a few days. When he comes +back he will let me know. But, anyhow, you will have your cup and +cat back." + +"But we want Snap, too!" said Flossie. + +Several more days passed. They lengthened into a week, and still +no news came from where the circus was: All the Bobbsey twins could +hope was that their cat and cup were on the way, and that the man +who owned Snap would consent to sell him. + +The twins did not feel much like having fun. There was a warm spell, +and all the snow had melted. + +One day an express wagon stopped in front of the Bobbsey house. + +It was a Saturday, and there was no school, and, as it happened, +all four of the twins were in. + +"Two boxes for you, Mrs. Bobbsey," said the driver, as he opened +his receipt book. "I'll bring them in while you sign." + +The man came up the walk with two boxes. One was small, and +the other larger, with slats on one end. And from this box came a +peculiar noise. + +"Listen!" cried Bert. + +"It's a cat!" shouted Freddie. + +"It's Snoop--our Snoop!" cried Flossie. + +Quickly the boxes were carried into the house. Bert got a hammer +and screw driver and soon had opened the one containing the black +cat. Snap, the dog, walked slowly into the room. + +"Oh dear!" cried Flossie as she saw him, "now maybe they'll fight!" + +"I'll hold Snap," volunteered Freddie. + +"Come on, Snoop! Come out!" cried Bert, as he pried off the last +slat. + +"Meouw!" cried Snoop, as he came slowly out of the box in which he +had ridden from Cuba. + +Out walked the black cat. He looked about him strangely for a moment, +and then began to purr, and rubbed up against Flossie's legs. + +They all looked anxiously at Snap. The dog glanced at the cat, +stretched lazily and wagged his tail. Snoop came over to him, and +the two animals sniffed at each other, Mrs. Bobbsey holding Snap +by the collar. Then, to the surprise of all, Snoop rubbed against +the legs of the dog, and, on his part, Snap, wagging his tail +in friendly, welcoming fashion, put out his red tongue and licked +Snoop's fur. + +"He's kissing Snoop! He's kissing Snoop!" cried Freddie. + +"Yes, they love each other!" exclaimed Flossie. "They are not going +to fight! Oh, how glad I am!" and she danced in delight. + +"Oh, if only we can keep Snap now," said Nan, while Mrs. Bobbsey, +satisfied that the two animals would be friends, had opened the other +express box. It contained the twins' silver cup, so long missing. + +Mr. Bobbsey came home soon after that. His face was smiling. + +"Oh, papa!" Flossie greeted him, "Snoop came, and Snap kissed him!" + +"May we keep Snap, papa?" asked Freddie. + +"Yes," was Mr. Bobbsey's answer. "I have a letter from the circus +man, and he will sell Snap to me. I have already sent the money. +And there is another letter from the fat lady, telling about some +of the new tricks she taught Snoop, so you can make him do them." + +"Oh! Oh! Oh!" cried the Bobbsey twins in delight, as they looked +at their two pets. + +"What lots of things have happened since we came back from the +seashore," said Nan, a little later. "I wonder if the rest of the +Winter will be as lively as this first part has been?" + +"Maybe," said Bert with a smile. + +And whether it was or not you may learn by reading the next volume +of this series, to be called: "The Bobbsey Twins at Snow Lodge," +in which we will once more hear of the doings of Flossie, Freddie, +Nan and Bert. + +After reading the fat lady's second letter the twins got Snoop to +do some of the tricks the cat had learned. He was not as smart at +them as Snap was at his, but then cats never do learn to do tricks +as well as do dogs. + +Still everyone agreed that the fat lady had done her training +well. As for Snap, he and Snoop became firmer friends every day, +and often the cat went to sleep on Snap's back, or between his +forepaws as he lay stretched out in front of the fire. + +And the silver cup, which, with Snoop, had gone on such a long +journey, was put back in its place on the mantle, to be admired by +all. + +Now my little story has come to an end, but I hope you children +who have read it will care to hear more of the Bobbsey twins and +the things they did. So I will say good-bye for a while, trusting +to meet you all again. + +THE END + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SCHOOL *** + +This file should be named tbbbt10.txt or tbbbt10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, tbbbt11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, tbbbt10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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