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 out, 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 wenton 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 whichSnap 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," saidFlossie.
"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 gladBert 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.
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, andFlossie 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, andFlossie accompanied him. It was at the morning recess when, asFreddie went to get a drink at one of the new faucets, Danny sawhim. 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," directedDanny. "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.
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 doesUncle 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.
Quickly, after the first guests had arrived came the others. NellieParks, Grace Lavine friends of Nan, and Willie Porter and his sisterSadie, came first, and Freddie and Flossie let them in, the Porterchildren 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!
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?" askedMrs. Bobbsey, with a smile.
"Yes'm, dat's what I done mean. Or else maybe we kin send mah manSam 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!" criedBert. "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 onCharley. "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 'tillI 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 onBert. "I'm going to look at the coats of all the fellows in schoolnext 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 andFreddie, 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 didNan, 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," saidDanny.
"No, it isn't—it's here!" exclaimed Bert, suddenly holding the button out to him.