"All right; and thank you."
Nan and Bert, that day, had gone over to play with Ned Barton and Ellen Moore, children who lived near them, and they had a good time.
"We want to have all the fun we can while we're at home here," said Nan, "for school will soon open."
"Yes, and I'll be sort of glad," said Bert. "We're going to have a football team this year."
"We'll come to see you play; won't we, Ellen?" said Nan.
"Yes, but I like baseball better than football."
As Nan and Bert reached home, after visiting with their little friends, they heard screams from the side porch where Flossie and Alice had been playing dolls.
"Oh, make him come back with it! Make him come back!" cried Flossie.
"Something has happened!" exclaimed Bert, running around to the side of the house, followed by Nan.
Bert saw his sister and her playmate, Alice Boyd, standing on the porch, looking very much frightened. Alice had her doll held tightly in her arms, but Flossie's doll could not be seen.
"What's the matter?" Bert asked.
"It's a dog! A strange dog!" cried Flossie. "Oh, dear! He——"
"Did he bite you?" Nan asked quickly. "If he did——"
"No, he didn't bite me," answered the little girl. "But he ran up on the porch and took my best doll away in his mouth. Now he's gone around to the back yard, and I'm afraid he'll bite her. I called to him to come back, but he wouldn't."
"Was it some dog Snap was playing with?" asked Bert.
"No, it was a new dog. I'd never seen him before. Oh, dear! He'll bite my doll!"
"It won't hurt her to be bitten a little," said Bert with a laugh. "You can't hurt dolls."
"You can so!" sobbed Flossie, who was crying real tears now. "And I don't want my best doll bitten."
"Don't laugh at her, Bert," said Nan in a low voice. "Try to get her doll back for her."
"I will," promised Bert. "Which way did the dog go, Flossie? Tell me."
"He went around back of the house."
"Maybe he thought your doll was a bone, and he's going to bury it," Bert said. "Was she a thin doll, Flossie; thin like a bone?"
"No, she wasn't! She was a nice fat doll, with red cheeks! And I want her back. Oh dear!"
"I'll get her for you," Bert said again.
"I'm glad the dog didn't take my doll," broke in Alice. "I'll let you play with mine, Flossie."
"Thank you, but I—I want my own dear doll!" and Flossie sobbed harder than before.
"Never mind, Brother Bert will get her from the dog," said Nan. "Don't cry."
"I—I can't help it," Flossie said, though she did try to stop crying. Bert ran around the corner of the house. Then he laughed so loudly that Nan knew it must be all right and she said:
"Come on, Flossie and Alice. We'll go and see what Bert has found."
They found Bert looking at the strange dog, who was standing in front of Snoop. And Snoop had her back arched up round; her tail was as large as a sausage, and her fur stuck out all sorts of ways, while she made a hissing sound like a steam radiator.
"What's the matter, Bert?" asked Nan.
"Why, I guess the strange dog was running through our yard with Flossie's doll in his mouth when Snoop saw him and ran at him," said Bert. "Snoop doesn't like strange dogs, and she must have made quite a fuss at this one, for he dropped the doll. I'll get her for you, Flossie."
The little twin's doll lay on the grass where the dog had dropped it when the cat chased after him. For all I know he may have thought it was a bone and have wanted to bury it.
Bert picked up the doll from the grass.
"There she is, Flossie," he said. "Not hurt a bit, and as good as ever."
"Thank you," Flossie answered, hugging her doll close in her arms. "Now we can go on playing, Alice."
They went back on the porch, and the strange dog gave a bark. This seemed to make Snoop angry, for she hissed louder than ever and made her tail even larger than before. Then she walked toward the dog. But he did not wait even to rub noses with her, as Snap did. With a howl the dog ran back and jumped over the fence.
"Snoop drove him away," laughed Nan. "She is as good at driving strange dogs away as Snap would be. Wasn't it funny the dog should go up on the porch, and take Flossie's doll?"
"It was better to do that than bite her," said Bert.
When Freddie came back from the lumber yard that day he told of Tommy's visit, and Mrs. Bobbsey told of having helped his grandmother. Mrs. Bobbsey also told what Mrs.Todd had said of her missing son, who was shipwrecked.
"Bert, please hand me down my bank," said Freddie to his brother after supper.
"What for?" Bert asked.
"I must count my money and see if I have enough to help buy a ship for Tommy Todd. He and I are going off in a ship to look for his father."
"Now look here, Freddie," said Mr. Bobbsey. "I want you to have all the fun you can, and play with Tommy whenever you can, and I want you to be kind and to help people. I also wish, as much as you, that we could find Tommy's father, if he is still alive. But you must not run off to sea without telling us."
Sometimes Freddie, and Flossie too, used to get queer ideas about what they wanted to do, and once or twice they had run away together. Once it was to go to the circus, away on the other side of the city, and again it was to follow a hand-organ man and a monkey. Freddie's father, hearing him talk so much about getting a ship in which to search for Mr. Todd, thought the little boy might be too much inearnest and would really go off where he ought not.
"So don't start off on any voyage without telling us," said Mr. Bobbsey.
"I won't," promised Freddie. "First I must see how much money I have saved up."
His bank was a kind that could be opened and closed, and for some time Freddie and Flossie were busy counting the pennies.
"Well, how much have you?" asked Bert.
"Flossie says there are only fifty-six cents," Freddie answered, "but I counted seventy. Flossie can't count as high as I can, anyhow."
"I can so!" cried the fat little girl.
"Now children, be nice," begged Mother Bobbsey.
"I'll count the money for you," offered Bert.
"Seventy-nine cents," he told Freddie, after he had finished. "And here's a penny of mine I'll give you. That makes eighty cents."
"Is that 'most enough to buy a ship, Daddy?" asked the little fellow.
"Oh no, my dear boy. You'll need lots more money than that. So keep on saving, and don't go off without letting us know."
"All right," Freddie said with a sigh. "Do you think I'll have enough saved in a week?"
"I can tell you better when the week is up," laughed Mr. Bobbsey.
"School begins in a week," said Nan. "You can't go off on a ship when you have to go to school, Freddie."
"That's so. Well, I'll keep on saving, and when school is out again Tommy and I will go off in the ship to find his father."
The Bobbsey twins had as much fun as they could in the week of vacation that remained. They and their playmates met together and went on little walks in the woods, or rowed on the river. Bert and Nan were allowed to go out in a safe boat, near their father's lumber dock, and Flossie and Freddie were allowed to go also, for they sat very still, and never tried to change seats when the boat was out in the water. This is very dangerous to do, and often boats are upset that way.
Then, one morning, as Freddie awoke in his little bed, he heard his mother calling:
"Come on, little fireman. Time to get up!"
"Is there a fire?" asked Freddie, eagerly.
"No, but school begins to-day and you don't want to be late. Come on then, get up. You too, Flossie."
"Aren't Nan and Bert going?" asked Freddie.
"Yes, but they were up long ago. I let you two little twins sleep longer. But now it is time to get up."
After breakfast Flossie and Freddie started for school together. They were in the same class, and had just left the kindergarten. So Flossie and Freddie set off together, ahead of Nan and Bert. The smaller twins had to do this because their legs were shorter than either Nan's or Bert's and they could not walk as fast.
"Ding-dong!" rang the school bell, calling the Bobbsey twins and other children back to their lessons, after the long, Summer vacation.
"Oh, there's Susie Simmon!" cried Flossie, as she saw a girl she knew. "I'm going to walk with her, Freddie."
"All right. I see Jimmie Brooks. I'll go with him."
The four little ones hurried along together,talking of the fun they had had that Summer.
A little behind came Nan and Bert. With them walked Ellen Moore and Ned Barton, who lived near the Bobbsey house.
There were merry times in the school yard before it was time for the last bell to ring. The boys and girls played tag, and ran about. Some boys had tops and spun them, or played marbles. The girls did not bring their dolls or toys to school, and the reason for this is that girls don't have pockets in their dresses. Or, if they do have a pocket, it is too small to hold more than a handkerchief. I think the girls ought to get together and insist on having pockets made in their dresses. It isn't fair for the boys to have so many.
"Ding-dong!" rang the bell again.
"Come in, children!" called the teacher, and in went the Bobbsey twins and the others.
"Oh look, Freddie! There goes Tommy Todd!" whispered Flossie to her brother, as they marched to their room. The teacher heard Flossie, and said:
"You must not whisper in school."
"I won't any more," promised Flossie. "Ihaven't been in school for so long that I forgot," and all the other children laughed.
Tommy Todd was in a class ahead of Flossie and Freddie. He looked across at them and smiled, for the teacher did not mind any one's smiling in school. But when one whispered it disturbed those who wanted to study their lessons.
It was almost time for the morning recess, and Flossie and Freddie were saying their lessons, when from the next room, where Bert and Nan sat, came a sound of laughter. Then sounded a loud bark—"Bow-wow!"
"Oh, it's a dog!" exclaimed Flossie aloud, before she thought.
"That sounds like our Snap!" said Freddie, almost at the same time.
"Children, you must be quiet!" called the teacher.
Just then the door between the two rooms was pushed open, and in walked Snap, wagging his tail. He looked at the teacher, he looked at the other children, and then, with a joyful bark, he ran up to Flossie and Freddie.
"Snap! Snap!" cried Freddie, as he left his seat and put his arms around the dog's neck. "Good dog, Snap!"
Snap liked to be petted, and he wagged his tail faster than before and barked. Flossie saw a queer look on her teacher's face, and the little girl said:
"Snap, you must be quiet. You musn't bark in school any more than we must whisper. I didn't want to speak out loud," she said to the teacher, "but I had to, or Snap wouldn't hear me."
"Oh, that part's all right, my dear," the teacher said kindly. "But how did your dog get here?"
"I—I don't know," answered Flossie, while Freddie kept on petting Snap.
Just then the door of the other school room,in which Nan and Bert studied, opened, and the teacher from there came in. She was a new one.
"Is that dog here?" she asked. Then she could see that Snap was there. The children in Flossie's room were laughing now. Some of the pupils from the other room were standing in the doorway behind the teacher, looking in.
"Whose dog is that?" the new teacher asked.
"He's ours, if you please," said Bert.
"Did you bring him to school?"
"No, ma'am. He must have got loose," answered Nan. "He was chained up when we left for school this morning, and he must have got lonesome and come to find us."
"Well, he found you all right," said Flossie's teacher with a laugh. "The doors are open, because it is so warm," she said to the new teacher, "so Snap had no trouble in getting in. He never came to school before, though."
"He's like Mary's little lamb, isn't he?" asked Freddie.
"Well, he must be put out," said the new teacher, smiling. "Of course it wasn't the faultof you children that he came in. But you had better take him home I think, Bert. And see that he is well chained. I'll excuse you from class long enough to take your dog home. Now, children, go back to your seats."
"Say, Bert," whispered Ned Barton, "I'll help you take Snap home if you want me to."
"No, indeed!" laughed the new teacher. "One boy is enough to have out of the class at a time. I think Bert can manage the dog alone."
"Yes ma'am, I can," said Bert. "Come on, Snap!"
Snap barked and wagged his tail again. He was happy as long as he was with one of the children.
"Our dog can do tricks," said Freddie. "Make him do a trick, Bert, before you take him home. Snap used to be in a circus," Freddie told the teacher, "and he can turn somersaults. Don't you want to see him do a trick, teacher?"
"Oh, yes, please let him," begged Flossie.
The other children looked eager, and the teacher smiled. The new teacher had goneback to her classroom with her pupils, except Bert, who had stayed to look after Snap.
"Well, as it is almost time for recess, I don't mind if Bert makes Snap do one or two tricks," Flossie's teacher said, smiling. "But only two. School isn't just the place for dogs."
"Ready Snap!" called Bert. "March like a soldier!"
"You may take my blackboard pointer for a gun," the teacher said.
Snap stood up on his hind legs, and in one paw he held the long pointer. Then he marched around the room as nearly like a soldier as a dog can march. The children laughed and clapped their hands.
"Now turn a somersault!" ordered Bert. This Snap did, too. This was one of his best tricks. Over and over he went around the school room, outside the rows of desks. This made the children laugh more than before.
"I think that will be enough, thank you, Bert," the teacher said. "You had better take the dog home now."
Bert did so, and saw to it that Snap was well chained.
"We like to see you," said Bert as he was leaving to go back to his class, "but you must not come to school after us, Snap."
At recess, which was nearly over when Bert got back to school, the children talked and laughed about Snap's visit.
"I wish your dog would come to school every day," said Alice Boyd to Flossie.
"Yes, wouldn't it be fun to have him do tricks," cried Johnnie Wilson.
But Snap did not get loose again, and he soon got used to having the children away most of the day. But how glad he was when they came home, and he could romp and play with them!
One day Flossie's teacher said to the class:
"Now, children, you have been very good this week, and you have known your lessons well, so I think it is time we had a little fun."
"Oh, are you going to let Snap come to school again?" asked Edna Blake.
"No, hardly that," the teacher answered with a smile, "but we shall have a little play. I'll fix some curtains across the platform where my desk stands, and that will be the stage. Youchildren—at least some of you—will be the actors and actresses. It will be a very simple little play, and I think you can do it. If you do it well perhaps we may give our play out on the large platform in the big room before the whole school."
"We had a play in Uncle Dan's barn once in the country," said Flossie.
"I was in it, too," spoke up Freddie, "and I fell down in a hen's nest and got all eggs."
Even the teacher laughed at this.
"Well, we hope you'll not fall in any hen's nest in our little school play," said the teacher.
She picked out Flossie, Freddie, Alice Boyd, Johnnie Wilson and some others to be in the play, and they began to study their parts.
The play was to be called "Mother Goose and her Friends," and the children would take the parts of the different characters so well known to all. The teacher was to be Mother Goose herself, with a tall peaked hat, and a long stick.
"And will you ride on the back of a goosey-gander?" Freddie asked. "It's that way in the book."
"No, I hardly think I shall ride on the back of a gander," answered the teacher. "But we will have it as nearly like Mother Goose as we can. You will be Little Boy Blue, Freddie, for you have blue eyes."
"And what can I be?" asked Flossie.
"I think I'll call you Little Miss Muffet."
"Only I'm not afraid of spiders," Flossie said. "That is I'm not afraid of them if they don't get on me. One can come and sit down beside me and I won't mind."
"I guess for the spider we'll get a make-believe one, from the five-and-ten-cent store," said Miss Earle, the teacher. "Now I'll give out the other parts."
There were about a dozen children who were to take part in the little play. They were to dress up with clothes which they could bring from home. Freddie had a blue suit, so he looked exactly like Boy Blue.
One Friday afternoon the little play was given in the school room. The teacher had strung a wire across in front of her platform, and had hung a red curtain on this. Flossie, Freddie and the other players were behind thecurtain, while the remaining children sat at their desks to watch the play.
"Are you all ready now?" asked Miss Earle of the children behind the curtain. "All ready! I'm going to pull the curtain back in a minute. Remember you are to walk out first, Freddie, and you are to make a bow and then look to the left, then to the right and say: 'Oh, I wonder where she can be?' Then along comes Flossie, as Little Miss Muffet, and she asks you whom you are looking for."
"Yes, and then I say I'm looking for Mary, who had a little lamb, for I lent her my horn, and she went away with it to help Bo-Peep find her sheep; and now I can't blow my horn to get the cows out of the corn," Freddie said.
"That's it!" exclaimed the teacher in a whisper, for they had all talked in low voices behind the curtain, so the other children would not hear them. "You remember very well, Freddie. Now we will begin."
The curtain was pulled back, and Freddie walked out from one side where some boxes had been piled up to look like a house.
"Oh, I wonder where she can be," saidFreddie, looking to the left and to the right. "Where can she be?"
"Whom are you looking for?" asked Flossie, coming out from the other side of the platform.
"For Mary, who had a little lamb," went on Freddie. "I lent her my horn and——"
But just then there was a crash, and down tumbled the pile of boxes that was the make-believe house, and with them tumbled Johnnie Wilson, who was dressed up like Little Jack Horner.
"Oh, I've hurt my thumb! I've hurt my thumb!" he cried. "Now I can't pull the plum out of the pie!"
Some of the children laughed. Some screamed. Others looked as if they wanted to cry. Of course the play came to an end almost before it had started.
"Oh Johnnie, why did you do that?" cried Miss Earle, hurrying out in her Mother Goose dress, and picking up the little fellow. "How did it happen?"
Johnnie had started to cry, but, finding that he was not hurt much except on his thumb, he stopped his tears, and said:
"I climbed up on the pile of boxes so I could see better, and they fell over with me."
"They weren't put there to be climbed on," the teacher said with a smile. "I'm glad it is no worse. You came on the stage before it was your turn, Johnnie. Now we'll try it over again."
By this time the other children had become quieter, having seen that nothing much had happened. The janitor was sent for and he put the boxes up again, this time nailing them together so they would not fall over.
"But you must not climb on top of them again," said Miss Earle.
"No'm, I won't," promised Johnnie.
"Now start over again, Freddie," the teacher told the little blue-eyed chap, and once more he walked out and pretended to look for Mary. Then Flossie walked out, and this time the play went off very well. Mother Goose came on when it was her turn and she helped Boy Blue and Miss Muffet look for Mary and the lost horn. It was finally found in Jack Horner's pie, which was a big one made of a shoe box. And Johnnie, as Jack Horner, pulled out the horn instead of a plum. His sore thumb did not bother him much.
"Well, did you like the play?" the teacher asked the other children, who had only looked on.
"It was fine!" they all said. "We'd like to see it again."
"Well, perhaps you may," returned Miss Earle. "Would you like to act it before the whole school?" she asked of Flossie, Freddie and the other little actors and actresses.
"Yes, teacher!" they said in a chorus.
"Then you shall."
A week later the play was given on the large stage in the big room where there was a real curtain and real scenery. The little Mother Goose play went off very well, too, for the children knew their parts better. And Johnnie Wilson did not fall down off a pile of boxes.
The only thing which happened, that ought not to, was when Flossie sang a little song Miss Earle wrote for her.
When she had finished, Flossie, seeing Nan out in the audience, stepped to the edge of the stage and asked:
"Did I sing that all right, Nan?" for Nan had been helping her little sister learn the piece.
Every one laughed when Flossie asked that, for, of course, she should not have spoken, but only bowed. But it was all right, and really it made fun, which, after all, was what the play was for.
"We'll have to get up a play ourselves, Nan," said Bert to his sister when school was out, and the Mother Goose play had ended. "I like to act."
"So do I," said Nan.
"I'd like a play about soldiers and pirates," went on Bert.
"I know something about pirates," cried Tommy Todd. "My father used to tell me about them."
"Say, you'd do fine for a pirate!" cried Bert "You know a lot about ships and things; don't you?"
"Well, a little," said Tommy. "I remember some of the things my father told me when he was with us. And my grandmother knows a lot. Her husband was a sailor and she has sailed on a ship."
"Then we'll ask her how to be pirates when we get ready for our play," Bert decided.
"How is your grandma?" Nan inquired.
"Well, she's a little better," said Tommy, "but not very well. She has to work too hard, I guess. I wish I were bigger so I wouldn't have to go to school. Then I could work."
"Do you still run errands for Mr. Fitch?" asked Bert.
"I do when he has any. And I did some for your father. He says I have earned the quarter he gave me, and I'm glad, for I don't want to owe any money. I'm hoping your father will have more errands for me to do after school. I'm going to stop in and ask him on Saturday. I like Saturdays for then I can work all day."
"Don't you like to play?" asked Nan.
"Oh, yes, of course. But I like to earn money for my grandmother too, so she won't have to work so hard."
Bert and Nan felt sorry for Tommy, and Bert made up his mind he would ask his father to give the fresh air boy some work to do so he could earn money.
It was now October, and the weather was beautiful. The Bobbsey twins had much fun at home and going to and from school. The leaves on the trees were beginning to turn all sorts of pretty colors, and this showed that colder weather was coming.
"We'll have lots of fun this Winter," saidBert one day, as he and his brother and sisters went home from school together, kicking their way through the fallen leaves. "We'll go coasting, make snow men and snow forts and go skating."
"I'm going to have skates this year. Mother said so," cried Freddie.
"You're too little to skate," declared Bert.
"Oh, I'll show him how, and hold him up," offered Nan. "Skating is fun."
"It isn't any fun to fall in the ice water though," Flossie said.
"Well, we won't go skating until the ice is good and thick," said Bert, "then we won't break through and fall in."
When the children reached the house they found Mrs. Bobbsey and Dinah busy taking the furniture out of the parlor, and piling it in the sitting room and dining room.
"What's the matter?" asked Bert in surprise. "Are we going to move?"
"No. But your father has sent up a man to varnish the parlor floor, and we have to get the chairs and things out of his way," said Mrs. Bobbsey.
"An' yo' chilluns done got t' keep outen dat parlah when de varnish-paint is dryin'," said Dinah, shaking her finger at the twins. "Ef yo' done walks on de varnished floors when dey's not dry, yo' all will stick fast an' yo' can't get loose."
"That's right," laughed the children's mother. "You will have to keep out of the parlor while the floors are drying."
The Bobbsey twins watched the painter put the varnish on the floor. The varnish was like a clear, amber paint and made the floor almost as shiny as glass, so it looked like new.
"There!" exclaimed the painter when he had finished. "Now don't walk on the floor until morning. Then the varnish will be dry and hard, and you won't stick fast. Don't any of you go in."
"We won't," promised the twins. Then they had to study their lessons for school the next day, and, for a time, they forgot about the newly varnished floor.
It was after supper that Flossie asked if Nan could not pop a little corn to eat.
"Yes," answered Mother Bobbsey. "A little popped corn will not be harmful, I think. I'll get the popper."
Nan shelled some of the white kernels of corn into the wire popper, and shook it over the stove. Pretty soon: Pop! Pop! Poppity-pop-pop! was heard, and the small kernels burst into big ones, as white as snow.
Nan was just pouring the popped corn out into a dish when there sounded through the house a loud:
"Meaou!"
"What's that?" asked Flossie.
"It sounded like Snoop," said Bert.
"It is Snoop!" declared Freddie.
"Meaou!" was cried again, and in such a queer way that the children knew their cat was in some kind of trouble.
"Snoop! Where are you?" called Nan.
"Meaou! Meaou!" came the answer.
"She's down cellar and wants to come up," Bert said.
But when the cellar door was opened no cat popped up, as Snoop always did if she happened to be shut down there. Then they heard her crying voice again.
"Oh, I know where she is!" exclaimed Mother Bobbsey.
"Where?" asked the children.
"In the parlor—on the newly varnished floor! That's what makes her voice sound so funny—it's the empty room."
"Well, if Snoop is in the parlor she's stuck fast! That's what's the matter!" cried Bert.
"Oh! oh!" exclaimed Freddie. "Our cat caught fast!"
"Poor Snoop!" wailed Flossie.
"We must help her!" Nan said.
The whole family hurried to the parlor. There, in the light from the hall, they saw the cat. Snoop was indeed in trouble. She stood near the parlor door, all four feet held fast in the sticky varnish, which, when half dry, is stickier than the stickiest kind of fly-paper.
Snoop, in wandering about the house as she pleased, which she always did, had come to the parlor. The door had been left open so the varnish would dry more quickly, and Snoop had gone in, not knowing anything about the sticky floor.
The big black cat had taken a few steps andthen, her paws having become covered with the sticky varnish, she had become stuck fast, just far enough inside the room so she could not be reached from the door.
"Oh, will she have to stay stuck there forever?" asked Freddie.
"Pull her loose, Mother!" begged Flossie.
"If you step on the floor to get her, you'll stick fast too," warned Bert.
"Wait a minute, children," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "I must think what is best to do. I wish your father were home."
Snoop, seeing her friends near, must have known she would now be taken care of, for she stopped meaouing.
"Come on, Snoop! Come on out!" called Flossie to the pet, black cat.
Snoop tried to raise first one paw, and then the other to come to her little mistress, but the sticky varnish held her fast.
"You'll have to pull her loose, Mother," said Bert. "It's the only way."
"I guess she's stuck so fast that if you pulled her up you'd pull her paws off and leave them sticking to the floor," observed Nan.
"Oh, don't do that!" begged Freddie. "We don't want a cat without any paws."
"Don't worry, dear," his mother said. "I'll not pull Snoop's paws off. But I wonder how I'm going to get her loose. I don't want to step in there and make tracks with my shoes all over the newly varnished floor.
"Snoop has made some marks as it is," wenton Mrs. Bobbsey, "but perhaps the painter can go over them with his brush in the morning so they won't show. We ought to have shut Snoop up, I suppose. Let me see now, how can I get her loose?"
"Telephone to papa," suggested Bert. "He'll know of a way."
"I believe I will do that," Mrs. Bobbsey said.
Mr. Bobbsey had gone down to the office that evening to look over some books and papers about his lumber business, and he had not yet come back. In a few minutes Mrs. Bobbsey was talking to him over the telephone.
"What's that?" cried Mr. Bobbsey. "Snoop stuck fast on the varnished floor? I'll be home at once. It won't hurt her, but of course we must get her loose. Don't worry, and tell the twins not to worry. I'll make it all right."
And this is how Mr. Bobbsey did it. When he got home he found a can of turpentine which had been left by the painter. Turpentine will soften varnish or paint and make it thin, just as water will make paste soft. Mr. Bobbsey laid a board on the floor from the door-sill over close to where poor Snoop was held fast.Then he poured a little turpentine around each of the four feet of the cat, where her paws were held fast in the varnish.
In a little while the varnish had softened, and Mr. Bobbsey could lift Snoop up and hand her to his wife. Then he took up the board, and washed from Snoop's paws what remained of the varnish. She was all right now, and purred happily as Flossie and Freddie took turns holding her.
"But the floor is spoiled—or that part is where you poured the turpentine," said Mrs. Bobbsey.
"The painter will varnish that part over when he comes in the morning," said Mr. Bobbsey. "Then we must keep Snoop out of the way until it dries."
And this was done. The floor was gone over again with the varnish brush, and the marks of Snoop's paws did not show. Nor did the cat again go into the parlor until the floor was hard and dry.
"Mother," asked Nan one day, about a week after Snoop had been stuck fast in the varnish, "may I have a little party?"
"A party, Nan?"
"Yes, just a few boys and girls from my class in school. The parlor looks so nice now, with the new floor, that I'd like to give a party. May I?"
"Well, yes, I guess so," answered Mrs. Bobbsey. "How many would you invite?"
"About a dozen. We could have sandwiches, ice cream and cake. I could bake a cake myself."
"Well, you might try. I have showed you how to make a simple cake, that is not too rich for little stomachs. You might bake a sponge cake, and put icing on top. Yes, I think you may have a party, Nan."
"Oh, thank you, Mother. Now I'll write the invitations."
"I'll help you," offered Flossie.
"I'm afraid, dear, you can't write quite well enough," said Nan with a smile. "But you may seal the envelopes for me, and put on the postage stamps."
"Oh, I like to do that!" cried Flossie. "The sticky stuff on the stamps tastes so nice on your tongue."
"It is better to wet theenvelopeflaps and the sticky side of the stamps with a damp cloth or a sponge than with your tongue," said Mother Bobbsey. "I'll show you the way."
So when Nan had written out the invitations on some cards, she and Flossie put them in envelopes. Then Mrs. Bobbsey gave them each a little sponge, which they dampened in water, and with that they moistened the sticky places, both of the stamps and the envelopes. And so the invitations were made ready to mail.
"Have you invited any boys to the party?" asked Bert.
"Yes, some," answered Nan. "But only a few."
"Then I'll come," he said. "I don't like a party with just nothing but girls."
"And I'll help Nan bake her cake," offered Flossie.
"So will I," added Freddie. "I like to clean out the cake dishes, and eat the sweet dough and the icing."
"Oh, I want to do some of that, too!" cried Flossie.
"I can see what kind of a time you're goingto have making your cake!" laughed Bert, "with those two youngsters hanging around."
"Oh, I'll take care of them," said Nan, smiling.
"Goin' t' bake a cake, is yo'?" asked Dinah, when Nan came out in the kitchen the next Saturday, which was the date of the party. "Don't yo' all t'ink yo'd bettah let me make it fo' yo'?"
"No, thank you, Dinah, I want to make it myself," said Nan. "I want to show the girls and boys that I know how to make a cake almost, if not quite, as well as you and mother make them."
"Well, honey, ef yo' makes a cake as good as yo' ma, den yo' will suttinly be a fine cook," returned Dinah. "Fo' yo' ma is suah a prime cake-maker!"
"Oh, I don't suppose the cake will be as good as mother's," said Nan, "but still I'll never learn if I don't try."
So Nan began her cake. Flossie and Freddie were playing out in the yard, but when they saw Nan in the kitchen, in they came, running.
"I'm going to help!" cried Freddie.
"So'm I," added his sister.
"Well, there's not much you can do," said Nan, "except to hand me the things I need. First I'm going to get everything together on the table, and then I won't have to fuss around, and get in Dinah's way."
"Oh, yo' won't be in mah way, honey-lamb!" said the loving old colored woman. "Jest make yo'se'f right t' home."
Nan got from the pantry the eggs, the flour, the sugar, and the other things that were needed to make a sponge cake. Then when she had the brown bowl ready in which the cake batter would be mixed she sat down on a high stool at the table, with Flossie on one side and Freddie on the other.
"Now, Flossie, you hand me an egg," said Nan, and Flossie picked one up from the dish. She was handing it over to her sister, but her chubby fingers slipped and—crack! went the egg down on the floor, breaking, of course.
"Oh dear!" cried Flossie. "Now the cake is spoiled!"
"Oh, no, not because one egg is broken," said Nan. "But still we must be more careful. Perhaps I had better handle the eggs myself."
"You had if you want any cake," called Bert, looking in through the window on his way to play ball with Ned Barton and Charley Mason.
"Oh, I guess we'll make out all right," laughed Nan. She broke the eggs into the dish, and then she let Flossie and Freddie take turns in handing her the flour, sugar, and other things she needed; things that could not be broken if little hands dropped them. But nothing more was dropped, though Nan herself did spill a little flour on the floor.
"Is this batter right now, Dinah?" Nan asked, when she had stirred up the cake mixture with a long spoon. The cook looked in the brown bowl.
"Jest a leetle mo' flour," she said, "den it'll be stiff enough an' ready fo' de oven. An' after it's baked yo' kin mix up de sugar-icin' t' go on de top."
Nan stirred in more flour and then poured the batter into a pan to be baked in the oven of the stove. She carried the pan carefully across the kitchen.
"Don't fall and spill it," called Flossie.
"I'll try not to," Nan said.
Just then into the kitchen with a rush came Snap. He saw Nan with a pan in her hands, and he must have thought she had something for him to eat, for with a joyful bark he made straight for her.
"Oh, hold him back! Don't let him come near me or I'll spill my cake before it's baked!" cried Nan. "Hold Snap, Flossie—Freddie!"
"We will!" cried the smaller twins.
Both of them made a rush for Snap, and caught him by the collar. But the dog thought this was some funny game, and, wagging his tail, he pulled the two children across the slippery oilcloth of the kitchen floor.
"Hold him back! Hold him!" begged Nan. She was almost at the oven now. If she could get the cake safely in it she would be all right, for Snap would not go near the stove.
"We—we can't hold him!" panted Freddie. "He's pulling us too—too hard!"
Snap, indeed, was dragging the little Bobbsey twins right across the room toward Nan, who was moving slowly toward the stove. She could not move fast for fear of spilling the cake batter, or dropping the pan.
"Dinah! Dinah!" called Flossie, to the colored cook who had gone into the dining room for a moment. "Come quick, or Nan won't have any cake. Snap wants it!"
I don't suppose that the dog really wanted the cake batter, though he liked sweet things. But he thought Nan had his dinner in the pan.
However, before he could get near enough to her to "jiggle" her arm, and make her drop the pan, Dinah came in.
"Heah, you Snap!" cried the cook with a laugh. "Yo' done got t' git outen dish yeah kitchen when cake-bakin' am goin' on!"
She reached for Snap's collar, and, as Dinah was very strong, she managed to hold the big dog, who was barking and wagging his tail faster than ever. He thought they were all playing with him.
"Hurry, honey!" called Dinah to Nan. "Snap's pullin' away from me a little."
Nan reached the oven, and put the cake in, closing the door.
"There!" she cried. "Now it's all right, and you can let go of Snap!"
"An' he'd bettah git outdoors where he kinromp around t' suit hisse'f," added Dinah. "Kitchens ain't no place fo' dogs when bakin's goin' on."
So Snap was put outside, with a nice bone to gnaw, and he did not feel unhappy. Flossie and Freddie cleaned out the brown bowl, on the sides and bottom of which were bits of the sweet cake batter. And after Nan had mixed up sugar and water to make icing to go on top of the cake, the two little twins cleaned out that dish also.
Finally Nan's cake was done. It was taken from the oven, being a lovely brown in color, and, after it had cooled, the icing was put on top. Then the cake was put away for the party.
Everyone, whom Nan had invited, came that night. There were more than a dozen, counting the Bobbsey twins, and they all had a good time. They played a number of games, ending with hide-and-go-seek.
Freddie wanted to "blind" and look for the others, so they let him do it. One after another the others stole away on tiptoe, while Freddie stood with his head in a corner that he mightnot see where they hid. Each boy and each girl picked out a place where he thought Freddie would not see him.
"Ready or not I'm coming," called the little boy at last.
Then he opened his eyes and started to look for the hidden children. The piano in the parlor stood out a little way from the wall, and Freddie thought that would be a good place for some one to hide. He thrust his head behind it, to see if any one was back of it, there being just about room enough for him to do his. No one was there, but when Freddie tried to pull his head out again it would not come.
"Oh! oh!" he cried, and his voice sounded queer, coming from behind the piano. "Oh. I'm stuck! I'm caught fast just like Snoop, only worse! Papa! Mamma! Come and get me out of the piano!"
From all sorts of hiding places came running the boys and girls who had been playing hide-and-seek. Freddie's voice told every one that he was in trouble.
"Oh, Freddie!" cried Flossie, who had hidden under the couch in the dining room. "What's the matter? Where's your head?" For she saw only her brother's little fat legs and plump body near the piano. "Where's your head, Freddie?" she cried.
"It's in behind here!" the chubby little fellow replied. "I can't get it out from behind the piano! My ears stick out so far they catch on the edge of the piano."
By this time Nan had come from her hiding place, and she made her way through the crowd of children who were looking in wonder at the sight of Freddie so caught.
"Oh, Freddie, how did it happen?" asked Nan.
"Don't ask him how it happened," said Bert. "Let's get him out, and he'll tell us afterward."
"Yes, do get me out!" begged Freddie.
Bert and Nan took hold of their little brother and tried to pull him out backward. But he seemed stuck quite fast.
"Can't you push yourself out?" asked Bert.
"I'll try," said Freddie bravely. So he pushed backward as hard as he could, while Bert and Nan pulled.
"Let me help, too!" begged Flossie. "I want to get Freddie out!"
But there was no room for Flossie to get hold of her brother. Nan and Bert pulled once more, while Freddie himself pushed, but his head was still held fast between the back of the piano and the wall of the room.
"Oh! Oh! Can't you get me loose?" wailed the little "fireman."
"We'd better call mother!" cried Nan.
But there was no need of this for Mrs. Bobbsey came hurrying into the room just then.She had heard Freddie's cries while she was upstairs, and, guessing that something was wrong, she had come to see what it was.
"Oh Freddie!" she exclaimed as soon as she saw what had happened. "You poor little boy!"
"Oh, please get me out, Mamma!" he begged.
"I will, in just a minute. Now stand still, and don't push or squirm any more, or you'll hurt yourself."
Then Mrs. Bobbsey, instead of trying to pull or push Freddie out, just shoved on the piano, moving it a little way out from the wall, for it had little wheels under it, and, as the floor was smooth, it rolled easily.
"There, now you can pull your head out," said Mrs. Bobbsey, and, surely enough, Freddie could. The trouble had been, just as he had said, his ears. His head went in between the piano and wall all right, but when he went to pull himself loose, after seeing that no one was hiding there, his ears sort of bent forward and caught him.
"I—I'll never do that again!" Freddie said, his face very red, as he straightened up.
"No, I wouldn't if I were you," returned his mother with a smile. "Never put your head or your arm in any place unless you are sure you can get it out again. Sometimes a cat will put her head in a tin can to get whatever there may be in it to eat. And the edges of the tin catch on her ears just as yours were caught, Freddie. So be careful after this."
Freddie promised that he would, and then the hiding game went on. Only Freddie, you may be sure, did not look behind the piano again, and no one hid there.
"Oh, your party was perfectly lovely, Nan!" said the girls and boys when they had finished their games, and had eaten the good things Mrs. Bobbsey set on the table.
"Wasn't the cake good?" asked Freddie, looking as though he wanted a second piece.
"Indeed it was, dear," said Ellen Moore.
"We helped Nan make it," declared Flossie. "Didn't we, Nan?"
"Oh, yes, you helpedsome—by cleaning out the dishes."
"And Snap nearly made Nan spill the cake when she was putting it in the oven," went onFreddie. "Only we helped hold him; didn't we, Nan?"
"Yes, you certainly helped there."
At last the party was over, and Nan's cake, as well as the other good things, was all eaten up. Then the children went home.
About a week after this the postman left some letters at the home of the Bobbsey twins. Mrs. Bobbsey smiled when she read one, and when Bert and Nan, Flossie and Freddie came home from school their mother said to them:
"I have a surprise for you. See if you can guess what it is."
"Freddie and I are going to have a party!" guessed Flossie.
"No, dear. No more parties right away."
"We're going on a visit!" guessed Nan.
"No indeed. We just came back from one."
"Then some one is coming here," guessed Bert.
"That's it," his mother answered. "Uncle William Minturn and Aunt Emily, from Ocean Cliff, are coming to pay us a little visit."
"And is Cousin Dorothy coming, too?" Nan asked.
"Yes, they will all be here in a few days now."
"Oh, I'm so glad!" cried Nan, clapping her hands. "We shall havesuchfun!"
"And can I have fun with you, too?" asked Flossie.
"Yes, dear," Nan promised.
"I wish Dorothy were a boy," put in Bert. "Of course I like her, but I can't have any fun with her. I wish Cousin Harry would come on from Meadow Brook. Then wecouldhave a good time."
"You had a good time with Harry this Summer," suggested Mrs. Bobbsey.
"I like Dorothy," said Freddie, "and I'm glad she's coming 'cause I want to ask her something very much."
"What is it?" inquired Bert
"It's a secret," and Freddie looked very wise and important.
A few days later Mr. and Mrs. Minturn and their daughter Dorothy came from the seashore to pay a visit to the Bobbsey family.
Of course Bert was glad to see Dorothy, and was very nice to her, taking his cousin and Nandown to the store to buy some ice cream. But as Bert was a boy, and liked to play boys' games, Dorothy was better suited to Nan and Flossie than she was to Bert.
Freddie, however, seemed to be especially pleased that his cousin from the seashore had come on a visit. He watched his chance to have a talk with her alone, and the first thing he asked was:
"Dorothy, do you know where I can get a ship to go sailing on the ocean?"
"Go sailing on the ocean!" cried Dorothy. "What for, Freddie?"
"To find Tommy Todd's shipwrecked father. He wants to find him awful bad, and I promised to help. I was going to save up to buy a ship, but Daddy says it takes a long time. And I thought maybe as you lived near the ocean you could get a ship for us.
"It needn't be very large, 'cause only Tommy and Flossie and Dinah, our cook, and I will go in it. But we'd like to go soon, for Tommy's grandmother is poor, and if we could find his father he might bring her some money."
"Oh, you funny little boy!" cried Dorothy."To think of going off in a ship! I never heard of such a thing!"
"Well, we're going!" said Freddie. "So if you hear of a ship we can get you tell me; will you, Dorothy?"
"Yes, my dear, I will. Is that what you've been trying to ask me ever since we got here?"
"Yes. I didn't want Nan and Bert to hear. You won't tell them; will you?"
"No, Freddie. I'll keep your secret."
But of course Dorothy knew there was no ship which so little a boy as Freddie could get in order to go sailing across the sea. But she did not want him to feel disappointed, and she knew better than to laugh at him. Freddie was very much in earnest.
Dorothy Minturn spent two happy weeks with the Bobbsey twins. She and they had many good times, and more than once Freddie asked the seashore cousin if she had yet found a ship for him and Tommy.
At last Dorothy thought it best to tell Freddie that there were no ships which she could get for him.
"Well, that's too bad," said Freddie, afterthinking about it for several seconds. "If I can't buy a ship, and if you can't get one for me, Dorothy, I know what I can do."
"What?" she asked.
"I can make one. My papa has lots of boards in his lumber yard. I'll go down there and make a ship for Tommy and me."
The next day Freddie asked his mother if he might not go down to his father's yard. As the way was safe, and as he had often gone before, Mrs. Bobbsey said he might go this time. Off trudged Freddie, with some nails in one pocket and pieces of string in another.
"I can use a stone for a hammer," he said, "and nail some boards together to make a ship. That's what I'll do."
Freddie first went to his father's office, which he always did, so Mr. Bobbsey would know his son was at the yard. This time it happened that Mr. Bobbsey was very busy. He looked at Freddie for a moment, and then said:
"Now Freddie, do you see where James is sitting by that pile of shingles?" and he pointed across the yard.
"Yes, I see," Freddie answered. He knewJames very well. He was the day watchman in the lumber yard, and he walked around here and there, seeing that everything was all right.
"Well, you go over to James and tell him I said he was to look after you," went on Mr. Bobbsey. "You may play about, but keep near James, and you'll be all right. When you get tired come back here."
"Allright," said Freddie.
He and the other Bobbsey children often came to their father's yard to have good times, and James, or some of the men, was always told to look after the twins, if Mr. Bobbsey happened to be busy.
"Hello, James," called Freddie, as he walked over to the watchman.
"Hello!" answered the man cheerfully. "What are you doing here?"
"I've come to have some fun and play with you."
"All right," answered James. "What shall we play first?"
Freddie Bobbsey thought for a minute. He and James had played numbers of games on other days when Freddie was allowed to come to his father's lumber yard. This time Freddie wanted to think of something new.
"Do you want me to tell you a story?" asked the watchman, for this was one of the "games." James knew many fine stories, for he had used to live in the woods, and had chopped down big trees, which were afterward sawed into boards, such as were now piled about the lumber yard.
Freddie always liked to have the old watchman tell tales of what had happened in the woods, but this time the little chap said:
"Thank you, no, James. I want to do some thing else."
"All right, Freddie. Shall we play steamboat, and shall I be the whistle?"
This was another fine game, in which Freddie got upon a pile of lumber and pretended it was a steamboat, while on the ground, down below, the watchman made a noise like a whistle, and pretended to put wood on the make-believe fire to send the steamboat along.
"No, I don't want to play steamboat," Freddie said. "But this game has a boat in it. Did you ever build a ship to go sailing in?"
"No, Freddie. I never did. Do you want to play that game?"
"Yes but I want to make arealboat. You see Tommy Todd's father is lost at sea, and we are going to look for him. So I want to make a ship. There's lumber enough, I guess."
"I guess there is," said James, looking around at the many piles of boards in Mr. Bobbsey's yards. "There's enough lumber, Freddie, but I don't know about making a ship. How big would it have to be?"
"Well, big enough to hold me and Tommy and my sister Flossie and Dinah, our cook. Dinah's very fat you know, James, and we'll have to make the ship specially big enough for her. Will you help me?"
"Why yes, I guess so, Freddie. That game will be as good as any to play, and I can do it sitting down, which is a comfort."
"Oh, but it's going to be arealship!" declared Freddie. "I've got the nails to put it together with, and string for the sails. I can use a stone for a hammer," and he began to look about on the ground for one.
James scratched hisheadas he saw the bent and crooked nails Freddie had piled up on a bundle of shingles near by. Then the watchman glanced at the tangle of string.
"As soon as I find a stone for a hammer we'll start," Freddie said. "You can get out the boards."
James wanted to be kind and amuse Freddie all he could, for he liked the little boy. But to pull boards out of the neat piles in Mr. Bobbsey's lumber yard was not allowed, unless the boards were to be put on a wagon to be carted off and sold.
"I'll tell you what we'd better do, Freddie," said the watchman at last.
"What?" Freddie asked.
"We'd better make a little ship first. Thatwill be easy and we can make it like a big one. Then we'll have something to go by—a sort of pattern, such as your mother uses when she makes a dress for your little sister."
"Oh yes!" cried Freddie. "That's what we'll do—make a little pattern ship first. It will be easier."
"Much easier," said James. "Now I'll find some small pieces of board for you, and——"
But just then one of the workmen in the yard called to the watchman to come and help him pile some lumber on a wagon.
"Wait just a minute, Freddie," said James. "I'll be back soon and help you."
"All right," answered Freddie. He sat down on a pile of shingles, and thought of the time when he and Tommy Todd should set off on their ship to find the shipwrecked Mr. Todd.
The watchman was gone longer than he expected. Freddie grew tired of waiting for him, and finally said to himself:
"I'm going to look for some wood myself. I guess I can find it." He looked for some on the ground, but, though there were many chips, and broken pieces, there was none of thekind Freddie thought would be good for a toy ship—the pattern after which the real one would be made.
"I guess I'll climb up on one of these piles of lumber," thought Freddie, "and see if there are any small pieces of board on top. It is easy to climb up."
This was true enough, and once or twice before Freddie had made his way to the top of a pile. Each stack of lumber was made in a sort of slanting fashion, so that the back of it was almost like a pair of steps. Lumber is piled this way to let the rain run off better.
Freddie went up the back part of a pile, some distance away from the bundles of shingles where he had been talking to James.
"This is an easy place to climb," Freddie said to himself. "I hope I shall find what I want on top."
Step by step he went up the pile of lumber, until he was at the top. But, to his disappointment, he found there nothing which he could bring James to use in making a small ship. The boards were all too long and wide.
"I might bring one down, and have Jamescut it smaller with his knife," said Freddie, speaking aloud. "That's what I'll do."
He lifted up one of the boards. As he did so the little boy noticed that the pile of lumber was swaying a little from side to side as he moved about.
"I guess I'd better get down off here," Freddie said. "This is too jiggily." He had been told to keep off "jiggily" lumber piles, as they were not safe.
Freddie dragged to the edge the board he had picked out for the watchman to make smaller. The little boy was just going to slide it over the edge of the pile to the ground, when, all at once Freddie felt himself falling.
"Oh dear!" he cried. "Something is going to happen!"
And something did happen. The lumber pile with Freddie on top, was falling over. Freddie did not know what to do; whether or not to jump. He looked down, but neither James nor any other man was in sight; and the office, where Freddie's father was working, was far on the other side of the yard.
"Oh dear!" cried Freddie again.
And then, with a crash, the top of the lumber pile slid over, carrying Freddie with it. A cloud of dust arose and the little Bobbsey chap could see nothing for a few seconds. And when he did open his eyes, after feeling himself come down with a hard bump, he found himself in a queer little house.
It really was a sort of house in which Freddie found himself—a little play-house, almost. The lumber had fallen about him in such a way that Freddie had not been hurt or squeezed by it in the least. The boards had piled up over his head, in a peak, like the peaked roof of a real house. Other boards were on the sides and in front, and there Freddie was, in a queer play-house that had made itself when the lumber slid over.
"Well!" thought Freddie, "this is funny! But I wonder how I can get out."
It was not dark in the queer play-house, for light came in between the cracks among the boards and planks. But though the cracks and openings were large enough to let in the light, they were not large enough to let Freddie get out.
The little boy pushed here and there, but the lumber was too heavy for him to move. Then he happened to think that if he did move one board it might loosen others which would fall down on his head.
"I'm in a little house," thought Freddie, "and I guess I'd better call my father to come and get me out. He'll know how to lift off the boards. I'll call daddy or James."
Freddie began to call. But as several lumber wagons were rattling up and down the yard just then, the little boy's voice was not heard. James, having finished helping the man load his wagon, came back to where he had left Freddie.
"Well, shall we start to make a little ship now?" asked the watchman. But no Freddie was in sight near the shingle pile.
"Humph! He got tired of waiting, I guess," thought James, "and went back to his father's office. Well, if he comes back I'll help him. He's a queer little chap, wanting to build a ship. A queer little chap."