When Dinah called in this fashion, with worry making itself heard in her voice, Mrs. Bobbsey always hurried to see what the matter was. Generally it was something the smaller Bobbsey twins had done. And as she knew Flossie and Freddie were now in the kitchen, Mother Bobbsey feared one of the smaller children had been hurt.
"What is it, Dinah?" asked the mother, as she hurried back toward the house. Bert and Nan, with their father, waiting only a moment, followed Mrs. Bobbsey.
"I should think Freddie and Flossie would have had enough fun at the picnic not to want to do any more cutting up," remarked Nan.
"You never can tell what those tykes will do," observed Bert. "I don't hear either of 'em yelling, and that's a good sign."
But just as he spoke there came a wail from the kitchen, which, by this time, Mrs. Bobbsey had reached, disappearing within.
"That's Flossie," said Nan.
Again came the voice of a little child, crying either in fear or in delight at some funny happening, it could not be told which.
"There goes Freddie, letting off steam," said Bert. "I guess it isn't anything very much. Freddie always laughs in that squealing way when something tickles him."
Mr. Bobbsey, with the two older twins, entered the kitchen soon after Mrs. Bobbsey. There stood Flossie and Freddie before a low kitchen table, one leaf of which was down, so that whatever was under could not be seen very well, on account of the shadow cast by the electric light. And beside Flossie and Freddie stood Dinah.
"What's the matter?" asked Mr. Bobbsey.
"Dinah says Snoop, our cat, has caught some sort of animal and has it under the table," said Mrs. Bobbsey.
"It's a big animal and it's got fur on," declared Flossie, greatly excited.
"An' it's got yellow eyes and four legs an' it's long—it's as long as my arm!" added Freddie, his eyes big with wonder. "Oh, it was awful funny!" he went on, squealing with delight. "I saw Snoop drag it under the table and I called Dinah. Didn't I, Dinah?"
"Dat's whut yo' done, honey lamb! Ah don't know whut it is Snoop has, Mis' Bobbsey," went on the colored cook, "but it's some sort o' animile!"
"And Snoop growled, he did, when he dragged it under the table!" exclaimed Flossie. "I heard Snoop growl, I did! Listen!"
Surely enough the cat growled again, just as a lion or a tiger in the jungle would growl after catching its dinner—only not so loud, of course.
"Oh!" murmured Flossie, making a dive for her mother's skirts.
"There! Look! I saw its tail!" cried Freddie.
As he spoke just a flash of some furry animal was seen under the table where Snoop had gone to hide.
"I hope it isn't a little skunk!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey.
"Don't worry!" advised her husband. "If it was a young skunk that Snoop had, you'd have known it long before this. And Snoop never would try to catch a skunk—Snoop would know better."
"But what is it? He has something!" insisted Mrs. Bobbsey.
"Maybe I can coax Snoop out," put in Nan. "He minds me better than he does any one else. Here, Snoop! Come on out, nice Snoop!" she called in a gentle voice.
But Snoop only growled in answer, and seemed to be shaking, beneath the table, the unknown animal he had caught and dragged there.
"Shall I get the rake and pull him out?" asked Bert.
"No, you might hurt him," replied Mr. Bobbsey. "Go out to the garage and get the big flash lamp from Sam. I can shine that under the table and we can see what it is before we do anything. Evidently Snoop isn't going to come out until he gets ready.And it may be he has a large rat or——"
Dinah gave a scream.
"Oh—a rat!" she cried.
"Maybe it's only a little mouse—I like a funny little mouse," said Flossie.
"Well, I don't," said Dinah. "They eats mah food."
"Maybe it's only a little mole from the garden," went on Mr. Bobbsey.
"It's bigger'n a ground mole!" declared Freddie. "I saw it, an' it's long and brown and has legs an' brown eyes that shine."
"Well, whatever it is it can't be very dangerous," said Mr. Bobbsey. "If it was, Snoop never would have dared to get it. But I don't want to reach under there in the dark and perhaps get bitten and scratched by Snoop, or whatever he has. We'll wait for the flash light."
Bert now came running in with this, Sam following when he heard that the cat had something strange under the table in the kitchen.
"Dey suah am lots ob t'ings happenin' dis day," observed Sam.
Mr. Bobbsey flashed the light under thetable. The four twins had stooped down to get a better view, and Freddie cried:
"I see its eyes shining!"
"I can see its tail! Oh, no, that's Snoop's tail!" added Flossie.
"Snoop, what have you there? Stop growling and give it to me!" demanded Mr. Bobbsey, thrusting his hand under the table.
"Be careful," advised his wife. "It may bite."
Mr. Bobbsey laughed and thrust his hand farther under the table. There was a little scuffle as Snoop tried to hold fast to what he had. He clung so hard to it with teeth and claws that he was dragged over the smooth linoleum on the floor.
"Here's your wild beast!" cried Mr. Bobbsey, as he arose, and held something covered with brown fur dangling from one hand.
"What is it?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey. "That's not a rat."
"No, it's your fur neck piece," her husband said, with a laugh.
"Oh, I wore it to the picnic, for I thought it would be cool coming home," said Mrs.Bobbsey, as she took the piece of fur. "And I laid it on the hall table. I forgot about Snoop. He must have seen it, thought it was a strange animal, and carried it away with him. Oh, Snoop!" and she shook her finger at the cat which, now that it had nothing to play with, came out from beneath the table.
"It does look like an animal," said Nan.
And indeed the fur piece did. For it was fashioned with an imitation of an animal's head, with yellow glass eyes. The fur piece was quite long and four little legs were fastened to it. So that it is no wonder a cat, or even a boy or a girl, at first look, would take it for something real.
"Well, Snoop had a good time with it, while it lasted," said Mr. Bobbsey, with a laugh.
"And my fur wouldn't have lasted much longer with him, if he'd started to claw and bite it," remarked Mrs. Bobbsey. "I'm glad you called me in, Dinah."
"Yessum, Ah thought maybe yo'd better see what the cat had, 'cause Ah couldn't make out what 'twas," the cook answered.
"Well, now that the excitement is over, we'dbetter have supper," said Mr. Bobbsey. "Or did you youngsters have enough at the picnic to last until morning?"
"We want to eat now!" decided Bert. "That wasn't so much we had at the picnic."
"I guess you were extra hungry, from being out of doors all day," his mother said. "Well, supper will soon be ready."
As they ate they talked over the fun they had had at Pine Grove, and Flossie remarked:
"I'm going to ride on a wooden lion, I am—on the merry-go-round. I'm going to ride on the lion."
"So'm I," declared Freddie. "There are two lions, an' I'm going to ride on one an' Flossie on the other one."
"Where's your merry-go-round?" asked Nan.
"At the fair—the Bolton County Fair," said Freddie. "I heard that funny red-faced man say so."
"But the Bolton Fair is a long way off," went on Nan.
"Daddy will take us; won't you?" askedFlossie. "Can't we go to the fair and ride on the merry-go-round?" she teased.
"Well, I don't know," answered Mr. Bobbsey slowly. "I suppose it would be a good thing to visit a big county fair, and this is one of the largest."
"But we'd have to go and stay for some time," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Bolton is a long way off. We couldn't go and come the same day."
"One ought to spend more than a day at a big fair if he wants to see everything," went on Mr. Bobbsey. "I never could stay as long as I wanted to when I was a boy. Now, I was thinking perhaps we could all go to Meadow Brook Farm for a little visit. From Meadow Brook it isn't far to the Bolton County Fair."
"Oh, let's go!" cried Bert and Nan.
"What about school?" asked their mother.
"School doesn't open until later this fall than usual," explained Mr. Bobbsey. "They are repairing the school house and the work will not be finished in time for the regular fallopening. I know, for the school board buys lumber of me.
"So, as long as the children don't have to be back until the middle of October, we could all go to Meadow Brook, and from there visit the fair. Would you like that?" he asked his wife.
"I think it would be lovely!"
"So do I!" echoed the Bobbsey twins.
"Well, then, we'll think about it," promised their father. "You will have some happy days to think about until it is time to go. And now I think it is time for my little Fairy and my brave Fireman to go to bed." Daddy Bobbsey sometimes called the small twins by these pet names. "Come on! Up to bed!" he called. "We'll talk more about the Bolton County Fair another day!"
As he was carrying the smaller children up to bed, a style of travel the little twins loved, there came a ring at the front door bell. Dinah, who answered, came back to say:
"Dere's a p'liceman outside whut wants to see yo', Mr. Bobbsey."
"A policeman?"
"Yas, sah!"
"A policeman for me?"
"Yas, sah!"
"Dear me!" Mr. Bobbsey murmured. "What can be the matter now!"
"Oh, Daddy!" squealed Flossie, at once filled with excitement.
"What do you suppose——" began Bert, and then stopped in the midst of his speech.
"Maybe he has found your lost coat," suggested Nan, as her father put Flossie and Freddie down in an easy chair.
There had been so much excitement over the strange "animal" which Snoop had under the table that, for a time, the Bobbsey twins had forgotten about their father's coat having been taken at the picnic. Nor had they remembered about the missing lap robe. But now, as Nan said this, every one—except perhaps the smaller twins—thought about the things that were gone.
"Oh, that's so!" exclaimed Bert, following what his sister said. "Maybe the policeman has come to bring back your lost coat, Daddy!"
"I hope he has," said Mr. Bobbsey. "Not only do I not want to lose the coat, for a suit of clothes isn't of much use without a coat, but I don't like to lose the money and papers."
"No, sah, Mr. Bobbsey, de p'liceman didn't hab no coat," said Dinah.
"He didn't?" remarked Mr. Bobbsey.
"No, sah. He didn't."
"Well then, I can't imagine what he wants," went on the father of the Bobbsey twins. "Ask him to come in, Dinah."
In came the policeman. He was one the children knew, from having often seen him pass the house.
"Good evening, Mr. Bobbsey," said the officer, the light flashing on his brass buttons. "I came up to see about a lap robe stolen from your auto."
"Did you find it?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey. "I'm so glad! And did you find Mr. Bobbsey's coat, also?"
"Why, no, Mrs. Bobbsey, I didn't," answered Policeman Murphy. "I didn't know about any lost coat. I was just sent up from the police station to inquire about the robbery of a lap robe. Somebody telephoned down that a policeman was wanted because a lap robe had been stolen. That's why I came up—because of the telephone message."
"Telephone!" exclaimed Mr. Bobbsey. "I didn't telephone for you, Mr. Murphy."
"Neither did I," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Perhaps it was one of the children," and she looked at Bert and Nan.
The older Bobbsey twins shook their heads. Flossie and Freddie, though they knew how to telephone, would hardly have thought of calling up the police. But they were asked about it.
"Nope, we didn't do it," Flossie said. "Though we likes p'licemans; don't we, Freddie?"
"Yeppie," he answered sleepily. "When I grows up I'm goin' be a p'licemans or a firesmans—I forget which."
"He's sleepy," laughed the officer. "But what about this, Mr. Bobbsey? Some one must have telephoned."
"Yes, of course. I wonder if it could have been Mr. Blipper or that lad who called himself Bob Guess?"
"Who are they?" the officer asked.
"Mr. Blipper is a man who owns a merry-go-round he takes to fairs and circuses. He passed the picnic grounds where we were to-day. He's on his way to the Bolton CountyFair. He had with him a boy named Bob Guess—called that because the lad is an orphan and they had to 'guess' at his name. Soon after this Blipper and his outfit left, I missed my coat, and, coming home, we found the lap robe gone. I was going to ride after him, but we had a little excitement here, and I haven't had a chance. Then you came along and——"
The sound of steps was heard on the side porch, and in came Sam, quite excited.
"'Scuse me!" he murmured, as he entered. "Oh, de p'liceman done come!" he exclaimed. "He's heah! I'm glad!"
"Did you expect him?" asked Mr. Bobbsey.
"Yes, sah, Mr. Bobbsey, I did! When de lap robe was gone I t'ought maybe you t'ink I might 'a' been careless like, an' let some chicken t'ieves in. So I telephoned fo' a p'liceman to come an' see if he could cotch de burglar!"
"Oh, Sam, you didn't need to do that!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey. "We know it wasn't your fault that the lap robe was taken, any more than it was that Mr. Bobbsey's coat was stolen."
"Of course not!" echoed her husband.
"Well, I t'ought better we have a p'liceman," murmured Sam.
"I don't know what there is for him to do," said Mr. Bobbsey. "As nearly as I can figure it out, my coat was stolen at the picnic grounds and the lap robe was taken about the same time."
"It was," agreed Mrs. Bobbsey. "And I think that Blipper—or perhaps Bob Guess—had something to do with both thefts."
"It might be," replied the officer. "Those traveling show people aren't very careful, sometimes. I'll report back to the chief and see what he says. If we get sight of this merry-go-round crowd, Mr. Bobbsey, we'll stop them and ask them about your coat and the robe."
"Thank you, I wish you would. But I don't imagine you'll see them. They are on their way to Bolton, and we shall be there ourselves next week, so we can make some inquiries."
Officer Murphy left, finding there was nothing he could do. Flossie and Freddie werecarried up to bed, and Nan danced about the room, singing:
"We're going to the fair! We're going to the fair! We're going to the Bolton County Fair!"
And Bert echoed:
"Maybe we'll find daddy's coat when we get there!"
Then, tired but happy over their fun at the picnic and too sleepy to worry much over the lost articles, the Bobbsey twins at last went to bed.
As their parents had said, school would not open as early that fall as in other years, because some rebuilding work was being done in a few of the rooms. So there was time to go to Meadow Brook, and from there to visit Bolton, a few miles away, where the big fair was being held.
"Do you really think we can go, Mother?" asked Nan, the next day.
"I don't see why not. Your father seems to have made up his mind to it."
"Well, I hope he doesn't change it, as he does sometimes," said Bert, with a laugh."They're going to have airships and a balloon at the fair, Charlie Mason says, and maybe I can go up in the balloon. Wouldn't that be great, Nan?"
"I'm not going up in any balloon!"
"I am!" decided Bert, as if that was all there was to it.
"An' I'm going to ride on a lion!" cried Flossie.
"So'm I!" chimed in her brother Freddie.
Uncle Daniel Bobbsey and his wife Sarah, with their son Harry, lived at Meadow Brook Farm. The Bobbsey twins had been there more than once, as those who have read the other books of this series will remember. And now it was proposed to go there again.
"But we'll be at the fair more than we will be at Meadow Brook, sha'n't we?" asked Nan of her father.
"Well, sort of betwixt and between," he answered, with a laugh.
Uncle Daniel having been written to, said he would be delighted to have his brother and his brother's family come out for the remainderof the summer and early fall. And in about a week all preparations were made.
The trip was to be made in the Bobbsey's big auto, and would take about a day. By starting early in the morning Meadow Brook Farm could be reached by night. From there it was only a short distance to Bolton where, each year, a big fair was held.
"And if I see that Bob Guess I'll make him tell where daddy's coat is!" declared Bert.
"And the lap robe, too!" added Nan.
It was a fine, sunny day when the start was made. Into the auto piled the Bobbsey twins, with boxes and baskets of lunch.
"It's like another picnic!" laughed Nan, as she saw Bert piling away the good things to eat.
"Hab a good time, honey lambs!" called fat Dinah, as she and her husband stood on the steps, waving good-by.
"Take good care of Snoop and Snap!" begged Nan.
"We will!" promised Sam.
Snap, the dog, wanted to come along, butas he could not very well be looked after on this trip he had to be left behind, much to his sorrow. He howled dismally as the auto went down the road.
Not very much happened on the way to Meadow Brook. Once a tire was punctured and Mr. Bobbsey had to stop to put on a spare one. But this happened near a garage, so he had a man from there do the work, while he and his wife, with the twins, went into a little grove of trees and ate lunch.
"Be careful of your coat!" warned Mrs. Bobbsey, as her husband took it off and hung it on a tree while he built a fire to heat the water for tea.
"Oh, no one is going to steal this one!" he said. "Anyhow, it's an old one. But there's no one here to take it. No Mr. Blipper or Bob Guess around now."
"Well, don't forget, and go off, leaving it hang on the tree," warned his wife.
"I won't," said Mr. Bobbsey.
A fire was made, and as Mrs. Bobbsey was sitting with her back against a stump, comfortably sipping her tea, she heard the soundof crying. As Bert and Nan, with Flossie and Freddie, were gathering flowers not far away, Mrs. Bobbsey could see that it was none of her twins who was sobbing.
But the crying kept up, and she looked around to see whence it came. Mr. Bobbsey was busy packing up the lunch things, for there was enough food left to serve a little tea around five o'clock, since Meadow Brook Farm would not be reached before seven o'clock that evening, on account of the delay over the tire.
"Who is that crying, Dick?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey.
"Crying? Why, I don't hear—yes, I do, too!" her husband added, as the sound of sobs came to his ears. He looked to make sure his own children were all right and then glanced about.
As he did so there came from a little clump of trees, not far from the grove where the Bobbseys had eaten lunch, a ragged boy, who seemed in pain or distress, for he was crying very hard.
"Oh, the poor lad!" said Mrs. Bobbsey in akind voice. "Go see what the matter is, Dick! He is in trouble of some sort! I wonder who he is?"
"Yes, without doubt, the lad's in trouble. We'll see what we can do," answered the father of the twins.
The crying boy walked slowly toward the Bobbsey family, and now the twins, hearing his sobs, looked up in wonder from their flower-gathering.
"Why, it's Bob Guess!" cried Bert, dropping his bunch of flowers, so excited was he. "It's Bob Guess!"
"So it is!" agreed Nan. "And he's crying."
There was no doubt of that: It was Bob Guess, the lad the Bobbsey twins had seen working at the merry-go-round engine the day of the Sunday school picnic. Bob came slowly along, sobbing hard.
"What's the matter, Bob?" asked Bert, who had taken a liking to the ragged chap. For the time being Mr. Bobbsey's missing coat and the lap robe were forgotten. "Why are you crying?"
"Can we help you?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey.
Bob Guess ceased sobbing and looked up. He seemed surprised to see the children and their parents.
"Oh, I—I didn't know anybody was here," he stammered.
"That's all right," said Mr. Bobbsey. "If there's anything we can do to help you—— Where's Mr. Blipper, by the way? There is something I should like to ask him. Or perhaps you can tell me."
"Not now, Dick, not now," said Mrs. Bobbsey in a whisper, with a shake of her head at her husband. She knew what he wanted to ask—about his coat and the robe. "Not now; he is too miserable," she went on.
"Has anything happened?" asked Mr. Bobbsey, changing his first line of questions.
"Ye—yes," stammered Bob, not sobbing so hard now. "I—I've run away from Mr. Blipper!"
"You've run away!" echoed Nan.
Bob nodded his head vigorously to show that he meant "yes," and he went on:
"He treated me mean! There was a lot of hard work setting up the merry-go-round at the Bolton Fair, and I had more than my share. He wouldn't give me any money—he hardlygave me enough to eat. And I ran away. I'm not done running yet, only I'm so hungry I can't go very fast any more."
"You poor boy!" murmured Mrs. Bobbsey. "Is that why you cried—because you were hungry?"
"Yes—yes'm," murmured Bob Guess.
"Well, we have plenty to eat," said Mr. Bobbsey, with a kindly pat on the shoulder of the ragged boy. "Here, we'll give you a lunch, and then maybe you can tell me what I want to know. Where is Mr. Blipper?"
"He's back there at the merry-go-round. We had some trouble with the engine. But I guess he has it fixed by now. He's back at the fair grounds. It opens to-morrow. That is, he's there unless he has come chasing after me."
"Do you think he'd do that?" asked Bert. It was quite an exciting adventure, Bert thought, to run away and be chased by Mr. Blipper.
"Well, he said if I ever ran away he'd run after me and bring me back," answered Bob."Anyhow, I've run away, but it isn't as much fun as I thought it'd be. Only I can't stand Mr. Blipper! He's too cross!"
"Poor boy!" murmured Mrs. Bobbsey again. "Get him something to eat, Dick. He must be very hungry!"
And Bob was, to judge by the manner in which he ate some of the Bobbsey's lunch. It was a good thing there was plenty. Having eaten all he seemed to care for and drinking two glasses of milk, Bob leaned back against a tree stump and said:
"Now can't I do something to pay you for my meal?"
"Do something to pay for it?" repeated Mrs. Bobbsey, wonderingly.
"Yes, Mr. Blipper says I've always got to work for my board. Sometimes he says I'm not worth my salt."
"Well, this time there is no need of doing anything for us," said Mr. Bobbsey. "You are welcome to what you have had to eat. But now what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to run away farther if I can," Bob Guess answered.
"Hum! I'm not so sure that we ought to let you, now that we know about you," went on the father of the Bobbsey twins. "Has this Mr. Blipper any claim on you?"
"He says he adopted me and can keep me until I'm twenty-one years old."
"He may be right. I don't know about that. It must be looked into. Anyhow, I don't feel like letting you run away, Bob," went on Mr. Bobbsey kindly. "I'd like to have a talk with Blipper on my own account, and I could ask him about you. Did you happen to see——"
But before Mr. Bobbsey could ask what he intended to—about his missing coat and the lap robe—a man from the garage where the automobile had been left to have the tire changed came across the field.
"It's a good thing you stopped when you did, Mr. Bobbsey," said the garage man.
"Why so?"
"Because if you had gone on a little farther one of the wheels of your car would have come off, and if you had been going fast, or down-hill, you might have had a bad accident. I found the break when I was putting on the tire,and I came over to ask if you wanted me to fix it."
"Yes, I suppose so. I'll come and have a look. We don't want to go on if there is any danger."
"There is danger. And it will take half a day to mend the break."
"Half a day!" said Mr. Bobbsey, as he followed the man, forgetting for the time all about Bob and Mr. Blipper. "That means we'll not get to Meadow Brook to-night. Is there a good hotel in town?"
"Yes, a very good one not far from my garage."
"Well then, in case we have to remain, we can stay at the hotel. But wait until I take a look at the broken wheel."
Mr. Bobbsey found that the garage man was right. The automobile was in need of repairs, and had the party gone on, without noticing the break, a bad accident might have happened.
"Oh, dear!" sighed Mrs. Bobbsey, when told of the news, "must we stay here all night?"
"Unless I hire another auto, or you and thechildren go on by train," said her husband. "I shall have to stay here to bring our car on."
"Oh, I don't want that! No, we'll stay at the hotel. But what about him?" she asked in a low voice, pointing to Bob Guess, who was talking to the twins.
"That's so. We can't turn him adrift," Mr. Bobbsey agreed. "Well, I'll get a room for him at the hotel. In the morning I can decide what to do. I don't like to send him back to Blipper. But if the man has adopted him he has a claim on the boy. We'll see what happens by morning."
Mrs. Bobbsey may have disliked to break the journey and stay at a strange hotel, but the Bobbsey twins thought it great fun. The hotel was a small country one, clean and neat, and the Bobbseys and Bob Guess were about the only guests there.
"I'm not fit to stop at a hotel," said the ragged boy.
"Oh, you're all right," said Mr. Bobbsey. "Perhaps I can get you some clothes here. If there isn't a store that sells them I may beable to get you a second-hand suit from the hotel keeper."
As it happened, there was no clothing store in the village of Montville, where the stop was made. But the hotel proprietor had some clothes of one of his sons who had gone to the city to work. Bob was given a partly worn but very good coat and trousers.
"He's a nice looking boy when he's dressed well," said Mrs. Bobbsey, as the lad discarded his old clothes.
"Yes," agreed her husband. "He has a good, honest face. And yet, when I think of my coat and the lap robe—— But I'll wait until I see Blipper."
"Do you think you will see him?"
"Yes, I imagine he'll follow this boy. He's a hard worker, Bob is, and Blipper won't want to lose him. I shouldn't wonder but what he came on after Bob."
"How will he know where to find him?" asked Bert, who heard what his father and mother said.
"Oh, he can make inquiries along the way. But I'll do what I can for Bob."
Bert and Nan, with Flossie and Freddie, had good times at the country hotel. Their rooms were on a long corridor, and the twins raced up and down this, playing tag and other games. No one seemed to mind.
At supper Bob ate a good meal, but did not talk much. And every time the dining room door opened he looked around quickly, as if fearing to see Mr. Blipper come in.
In the evening Mr. Bobbsey went down to the garage to see how the men were progressing with the repairs to his car, for they had promised to work all night. Bert went with his father.
"I guess you'll be able to go on in the morning, Mr. Bobbsey," the garage man said.
"I hope so. My youngsters are anxious to get to Meadow Brook, and from there go to the Bolton County Fair."
"That's quite a fair. Lots of attractions I hear. A merry-go-round, a balloon, airships, and auto races. I'd go myself if I had time."
As Bert and his father reached the hotel a little later they heard loud talking coming from the sitting room where they had left Mrs.Bobbsey and the children. The voice of an angry man was saying:
"Well, I tell you I'm going to have that boy back! He ran away from me! I'm his legally appointed guardian, and I want him back! You come along with me, Bob Guess!"
Then Mrs. Bobbsey said firmly:
"Mr. Blipper, you shall not take this boy away until my husband comes back. Mr. Bobbsey wants to see you. You can't take Bob away like this. I won't let you. If necessary I'll call a policeman. You must wait until my husband comes back!"
"I'm not going to wait! I'm going to take that boy now!" cried the angry man, as Bert and his father hurried in.
Mr. Bobbsey and Bert now looked on a rather sad scene in the hotel sitting room. On one side of the apartment stood Mr. Blipper, having hold of the coat collar of Bob Guess. And Bob was crying again.
On the other side of the room stood Mrs. Bobbsey with Nan, Flossie, and Freddie close to her. At one end of the room, looking in through the door, was the good-natured but easy-going proprietor of the hotel and some of the servants.
"What is going on here?" asked Mr. Bobbsey.
"I'm going away, if that's what you mean!" snapped out Mr. Blipper in angry tones. "I traced this runaway adopted son of mine here, and I'm taking him back with me. This lady says I can't!"
"I told him to wait until you came back," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "I didn't want him to take poor Bob away. I don't believe he has any right to take him."
"I don't know who you are!" spluttered the angry Mr. Blipper. "But you haven't any right to stop me."
"This lady is my wife," said Mr. Bobbsey, and he spoke in such a way that Mr. Blipper at once lost some of his bluster. "She has the same right that any one has to inquire into something he thinks is wrong."
"But this isn't wrong!" cried Mr. Blipper. "I have a right to this boy. I adopted him legally, I did! I gave him a name when he didn't have any before. Bob Guess I call him, 'cause I had to guess at his name. I took him out of an orphan asylum and give him a good home!"
"Home!" cried Bob Guess. "You didn't give me anyhome!You keep dragging me all over the country with that merry-go-round! I haven't any home except sleepin' in a truck."
"You were glad enough to come with me!" sneered Mr. Blipper.
"Anyway, I'm sick of it. That's why I ran away."
"Well, you're going to run back again!" said Mr. Blipper, grimly, as he gave the boy a shake.
"Wait a minute," said Mr. Bobbsey. "Have you a legal right to this boy?"
"That's what I have. I expected some such question would be asked of me, and I brought along my papers. There they are. You can look 'em over for yourself."
He tossed a long envelope containing papers to Mr. Bobbsey, and the latter looked at the documents.
"Don't let him take me back!" pleaded Bob Guess. "I don't like him!"
"I don't like you, when it comes to that!" sneered the angry man. "But I'm going to have you back! I have a right to you, and you've got to work for me."
"These papers seem to be all right," said Mr. Bobbsey, slowly. "He is your legal guardian, Bob. You had better go with him, and do as he says. But if he treats you cruelly let me know. I am going to the Bolton CountyFair, and when I get there I'll keep my eye on you."
"Say, who are you, anyhow?" sneered Mr. Blipper.
"My name is Bobbsey," answered the children's father. "I live in Lakeport. I thought perhaps you might know my name."
"How should I know your name?"
"It was on some papers in my coat that disappeared from the Sunday school picnic grounds the day you had trouble with your engine near the grove."
Mr. Blipper looked first at Bob and then at Mr. Bobbsey.
"Say!" cried the merry-go-round owner, "maybe you think I know something about your coat."
"Maybe you do," answered Mr. Bobbsey, easily.
"And the lap robe!" whispered Bert.
"Hush, Bert!" warned his mother. "Leave this to Daddy!"
"Well, I don't know anything about your coat or a lap robe, either!" declared Mr. Blipper. "All I know is that Bob ran away from me, and now I'm going to run him back!"
There seemed no help for it. Mr. Bobbsey sadly shook his head when the twins and his wife pleaded with him to do something to save Bob.
"Those papers show the boy is adopted," he said. "I can do nothing. But we'll keep our eyes on him. We are going to the fair, and if Bob is not kindly treated I'll complain to the Children's Aid Society."
"You don't need to worry!" gruffly said Mr. Blipper. "I'll treat him as well as he deserves."
"Am I to keep these clothes?" asked Bob, as Mr. Blipper led him away.
"Of course," said Mr. Bobbsey. "I bought them for you."
"What's that? Who's been giving you clothes?" demanded Mr. Blipper.
"Don't you think he needed them?" inquired Mrs. Bobbsey, gently.
"Well—er—I was going to buy him a new suit after we took in some money at the BoltonFair," sheepishly said Mr. Blipper. "I—I'm much obliged to you folks, though. Bob isn't a bad boy when he wants to be good. Come on now. I've a rig outside and we can get back to the fair grounds to-night if we hurry."
With a sad look at the friends who had been so kind to him, Bob followed his adopted father out of the room. He did not cry, but he seemed to want to.
"Good-by!" called the Bobbsey twins. "We'll see you at the fair!"
"Good-by!" echoed Bob Guess.
The Bobbsey twins wondered when they would see him again.
It might be thought that the excitement of the runaway boy who was caught again would keep Bert and Nan awake. Flossie and Freddie were too young to give the matter much attention. But though the older Bobbsey twins felt sorry for the lad, they had the idea that their father would make matters all right concerning him, and so they did not lie awake vainly worrying.
They slept soundly, the night passed quietly, and in the morning after an early breakfastthe family were on their way again in the automobile which had been mended during the night.
"We'll soon be at Meadow Brook Farm, sha'n't we?" asked Freddie over and over again.
"Yes," his mother told him.
"And I'm going to milk a cow, I am!" announced Flossie.
"So'm I!" echoed Freddie. "I'm goin' milk two cows, I am!"
"I guess you mean you're going to see them milked!" laughed Nan. "Milking cows would be hard work even for Bert."
"Maybe I could milk a little teeny weeny cow," suggested Freddie.
"Well, we'll have some fun, anyhow!" said Nan.
And fun they did have! It started almost as soon as they reached the farm of their Uncle Daniel and Aunt Sarah.
"Say, I'm glad you came!" exclaimed Harry, as he greeted his four cousins while the older folks were talking among themselves. "I have something fine to show you."
"What?" asked Bert.
"A big swing! You ought to see it! It's out under the apple tree down by the brook!"
"Oh, I'm going to sail my boat in the brook!" cried Freddie, as soon as he heard the mention of water.
"An' I'll get Rosamond an' give her a ride on your boat!" cried Flossie. Rosamond was a small doll Flossie had brought along.
"All right," agreed Bert, seeing a chance for the smaller twins to play by themselves while he and Nan experimented with the swing. "You get your boat, Freddie, and you get your doll, Flossie, and we'll all go down to the brook and apple tree together."
"Be careful, now!" called Mrs. Bobbsey, as the children ran off.
"We will," they promised. And really they meant to, but you know how it often is—things happen that you can't help.
"There's the swing!" cried Harry, pointing to it dangling from the sturdy limb of the big apple tree. "Daddy put it up for me last week. I'm glad you came. We can have lots of fun in it."
"We want some swings!" cried Freddie.
"After a bit," promised Nan. "Sail your boat now, and give Rosamond a ride, Flossie, and you shall have some swings after that."
The water was more of an attraction for the smaller twins than was the swing, and thus Nan, Bert and Harry had it to themselves. While Flossie and Freddie played with the doll and the boat, the older children took turns seeing how high they could go. Then they would let the "old cat die," that is, stay in the swing, without trying to make it sway, until it came to a dead stop.
"I know what we can do!" cried Bert, when they were tired of swinging.
"What?" asked Harry.
"We can shinny up the rope like sailors. I can go 'way up to the limb."
Bert was a sturdy chap, and soon he was "shinnying," or climbing, up the rope like a human monkey. Then Harry did it, managing to reach the big limb, to which the rope was fastened, more quickly than had Bert.
"Now it's my turn!" exclaimed Nan, when the two boys were on the ground again.
"Pooh! Girls can't climb ropes!" declared Harry.
"Yes, I can, too! You watch!"
Nan was almost as strong as her brother. She caught hold of the rope, and managed to scramble up, though it was hard work.
"You can't do it!" laughed Harry, when, almost at the top, she paused for a moment.
"Yes, I can! I can! You just watch!"
Nan gave a wiggle, another scramble, and then, just as she managed to get one leg over the limb, she slipped.
"Oh! Oh!" she screamed. "I'm going to fall!"
But she did not fall. Instead, one foot caught in a loop of the rope, and there poor Nan hung, half way over the limb, one leg dangling down, and her hands clutching the rope. She could neither get up nor down! She was caught on the limb of the tree!
For a few seconds Bert and Harry were so surprised at what had happened to Nan that they could do nothing but stand and stare up at her.
As for Nan, she also was surprised at the suddenness of her tumble when she was almost perched safely astride the limb to which the rope of the swing was tied. As she felt herself slipping she had clung with all her might, one hand and part of her arm over the branch, another hand grasping the rope, one leg partly up over the limb, and the other leg tangled in the rope.
This was what had caused the trouble—the leg getting caught and tangled in a loop of the rope. But for that, Nan could have swung this leg up over the limb and so have perched there in safety.
"Come on down!" cried Harry.
"Don't fall!" begged Bert. "Oh, Nan, be careful! Mother'll think I oughtn't to have let you climb up there!"
"You didn't—you didn't let—me!" panted Nan. "I did it myself!"
"Well, come on down!" begged Harry again.
"I—I can't!" half sobbed Nan, with a catch in her voice. "I—I'm stuck! Go get a ladder—get something to help me. I can't hold on much longer!"
"Shall we get the tennis net and let you fall into that?" asked Bert, starting toward the swing with half an idea that he could climb up the rope and loosen Nan.
"No, I don't want to fall!" cried his sister. "Get a ladder so I can climb down. Call daddy!"
"I'll call my father!" offered Harry. "He's got a long ladder!"
"Do something! Quick!" begged Nan desperately.
As Bert and Harry started to run toward the house to summon their fathers and mothers, Flossie and Freddie, tired of playing withthe little boat in the brook, came up to the apple tree. Freddie saw Nan hanging there, some distance above the ground.
"Oh, Nan's doing circus tricks! Nan's doing circus tricks!" cried Freddie. "Look at her, Flossie. Nan's doing circus tricks an' I want to do 'em, too!"
"No, no, Freddie!" screamed Nan, as her little brother ran under the limb to which she was desperately clinging. "Go away! Don't stand under me this way! I might fall on you!"
"Oh, I'm going to get mother!" exclaimed Flossie. "She won't want you to fall, Nan!"
"Well, I—I can't hold on much longer!" sobbed Nan.
Though if she had let go her grasp on the tree limb she would probably not have fallen, for one foot was tangled in the swing rope. However, hanging by one leg high in the air would not have been very pleasant. Nan was not enough of a circus performer for that, though she and Bert had often done "stunts" on a trapeze in the back yard at home when they gave "shows."
However, help was on its way to Nan. The excited story told by Harry and Bert to the two Mr. Bobbseys started both men into action. They got a long ladder and, having run with it to the tree, placed it up against the limb. Then Mr. Richard Bobbsey climbed up, while his brother held steady the foot of the ladder on the ground.
"Why, Nan!" exclaimed her father, as he climbed up to set her free, "what in the world made you do this?"
"I—I don't know, Daddy! But Bert and Harry climbed up, and they did it all right. But when I went up something slipped, and I nearly fell, and I grabbed the rope and the branch, and there I was!"
"Well, it's a good thing you stuck here instead of falling down there," and Mr. Bobbsey looked to the ground below. "You're all right now. Don't cry."
But Nan could not help crying a little, though she was glad she could feel her father's arms about her. Mr. Bobbsey soon loosened the little girl's leg from the loop of the rope, and then he carried her down the ladder.
"You're just like a fireman, aren't you, Daddy?" cried Freddie, as his father set Nan on the ground.
"Well, a little, yes," admitted Mr. Bobbsey, with a laugh. "But better not any more of you try those firemen tricks," he warned the children as the ladder was taken down.
"I'll have to put the swing away if you climb the rope any more," threatened Uncle Daniel.
"We won't shinny up it any more," promised Bert and Harry, and their fathers knew that if the boys did not do it Nan would not.
"I guess we've had enough swinging," said Bert. "Let's play something else, Harry. Got any new games?"
"We can go down to the pond and fish."
"Oh, I love to fish!" exclaimed Nan. "What kind of fish can you catch in the pond, Harry?"
"Bullfrogs, mostly."
"They aren't fish," laughed Nan.
"Well, it's just as much fun," went on the country boy.
"I guess I'd better go help mother unpack the trunks," Nan said, for she saw the expressman drive up with two trunks that hadbeen sent on ahead. "Mother will want me to help her get the things out so we can go to the Bolton County Fair to-morrow. You're coming, aren't you, Harry?"
"Sure! It'll be great. But now we'll go fishing for bullfrogs. Come on, Bert!"
"I want to fish!" begged Freddie, hearing this magic word.
"No, you and Flossie come with me," directed Nan, knowing that the two boys would not have much fun if they had to watch the small children and keep them from tumbling into the pond.
"Don't want to come with you!" pouted Flossie. "We wants to go fishing!"
"How would you and Freddie like to go after eggs?" asked Nan, as she saw her brother and Harry making signals to her for her to do her best to keep Flossie and Freddie from following. "Wouldn't you like to gather eggs?"
"Where do you get the eggs?" asked Freddie, who had forgotten.
"In the barn. We'll take the eggs out ofthe nests, and you and Flossie can carry the eggs in a little basket to Aunt Bobbsey."
"Oh, yes!" cried Flossie. "I want to do that!"
"So do I!" added Freddie. Anything Flossie wanted to do he generally did also.
"All right," said Nan, waving to Bert and Harry to hurry away before the small twins changed their minds. "Come with me, and after I help mother unpack the trunk we'll go and get the eggs."
As it happened, however, Mrs. Bobbsey did not need Nan's help. Aunt Sarah said she would aid in getting the things out of the trunks, so Nan was allowed to go with Flossie and Freddie to the barn to gather eggs.
What fun it was to climb over the sweet hay, sliding down little hills of it and landing on the barn floor, where more hay made a place like a cushion! What fun it was to look in at the horses chewing their fodder! And when the children poked their heads in the horses stopped eating, to turn around and look to see who was watching them.
"Oh, I've found some eggs!" suddenly cried Flossie, as she spied some of the white objects in a nest in the hay.
"Pick them up carefully," advised Nan. "Eggs break very easily."
"I want to help pick up the eggs!" cried Freddie, hurrying over to his little sister's side.
"No, you go find a nest of your own!" exclaimed Flossie. "These are my eggs!"
"There are plenty of nests," said Nan. "You ought each to find two or three. Come on, Freddie, we'll look for a nest for you. Be careful of those eggs, Flossie! I guess I'd better help you pick them up and put them in a basket while Freddie looks for another nest."
So while Nan stayed with Flossie, Freddie started off by himself to look for another nest. And as Nan discovered a second nest not far from where Flossie had found the first one, it took the sisters some time to pick up all the eggs.
This gave Freddie more time to himself, and he saw a ladder leading into the upperpart of the barn where most of the hay was stored.
"I guess maybe I'll find eggs up there," he said.
He climbed the ladder, going slowly and carefully, and soon found himself up in the haymow. It was rather dark there, but when he had been in the place a little while Freddie could see better.
"I guess hens come up here to lay 'cause it's nice and quiet. Now I must find some nests and eggs."
He walked about over the slippery hay, peering here and there for a cluster of white eggs. Suddenly Freddie felt himself sliding down. Faster and faster he went, feet first, and before he knew it he had slid down into a big hole together with a lot of hay.
"Nan! Nan!" he cried. "Come an' get me! I'm down in a hole!"
Just as Nan and Flossie finished putting the last of the eggs into their basket they heard Freddie's cries for help. Surprised and a little frightened, they ran out of that part of the barn where Flossie had found the first nest and Nan the second.
"Freddie! Freddie!" cried Nan. "Where are you, Freddie?"
"Down in a hole!" came the muffled answer.
"What hole?" Nan wanted to know. "Tell me where the hole is so I can come and get you out. What hole, Freddie?"
"Maybe it's a dark hole," suggested Flossie. "You 'member the verse: 'Charcoal! Charcoal! Put me in a dark hole.' Maybe Freddie is in a dark hole."
"Yes, it is dark!" again sounded the muffledvoice of the little boy. "I can hear you, Nan, but I can't see you. Get me out of the dark hole!"
Nan was puzzled. She, too, could hear Freddie calling, but she could not see him. There were so many nooks and corners in the old barn that it was not strange Freddie was not easily found. It was a great place for playing hide and go seek, so many dark spots were there in which to crouch, and the seeker might be right alongside of you and not spy you.
"How did you get in the hole, Freddie?" asked Nan, knowing that talking and listening to Freddie's answers was the best way to find out where he was.
"I was looking for a nest," he said, his voice still muffled and far away, "and I slipped on some hay and went down the hole. There's a lot of hay in the hole with me now, and I'm stuck. I'm about half way down in the hole, Nan."
Then Nan began to understand what had taken place. She remembered that once something like this had happened to her.
"Are you sliding down or standing still, Freddie?" she called to her brother.
"I was sliding, but I'm standing still now," he answered. "I'm stuck fast in a lot of hay."
"Well, wiggle as hard as you can," advised Nan. "I know where you are. You're in one of the chutes, or wooden tubes, that Uncle Daniel shoves hay down from the top floor of the barn to the lower floor. You stepped into a hay chute and you're stuck half way down. Wiggle, and you'll slide down the rest of the way and you'll be out."
So Freddie wiggled as hard as he could and, surely enough, he felt himself again sliding down. He was not hurt, for there was soft hay on all sides of him. But it tickled, and it scratched the back of his neck, as well as his hands and face.
Some of the hay dust got up his nose, too, and made him want to sneeze. He gave one little sneeze—making a queer sound cooped up as he was—and then he cried:
"Oh, I'm stuck again, Nan! I started sliding and now I'm stuck again!"
"Wiggle some more," advised his sister.
She had set down the basket of eggs and was looking toward a dark side of the barn where she could see the lower ends of several wooden chutes. Some were for oats and others for hay. She did not know just which wooden chute Freddie would slide down. The chutes did not come all the way to the floor, there being room under each one to set a box or bushel basket.
"Wiggle some more, Freddie!" again advised Nan.
"I will!" came the answer. "I'll wiggle hard and I'll—Oh—kerchoo!"
That was Freddie sneezing, and he sneezed so hard that it did more good than his wiggling, for it sent him sliding down with a mass of hay to the bottom of the chute.
"Here I am!" he cried, and with a thump he landed on the barn floor, so wrapped and tangled in a clump of hay that he was not in the least hurt. "I'm all—kerchoo—right—kerchoo—Nan!" he said, talking and sneezing at the same time.
"Well, I'm glad we found you, anyhow!" laughed his sister. "How did it happen?"
"Oh, it just happened," was all Freddie could say. "I was looking for eggs, and I slipped. I'm glad I didn't slip in a hen's nest, else I'd 'a' broken a lot of eggs."
"I'm glad of that, too," agreed Nan. "Well, Flossie and I are 'way ahead of you. We have found two nests!"
"I'm going to find one myself!" declared Freddie, and a little later he did. This nest had many eggs in it, for it was used by several hens in turn, so that now the basket was half filled.
Then, by searching about, the children found more nests and eggs until the basket was quite full. Now arose a dispute between Flossie and Freddie, for each one wanted to carry the basket. Nan was afraid either of the little twins might stumble and fall, thereby breaking the eggs.
"I know what we'll do," Nan said, making up a little plan, as she often had to do to get Freddie and Flossie into a new way of thinking. "We'll play hide and go seek. I'll go on ahead and hide, and whoever finds me can carry the basket a little way."
"Oh, that'll be fun!" cried Freddie. "Come on, Flossie! Blind your eyes."
"Don't come until I get ready!" said Nan.
The children promised they would not. Carefully they closed their eyes, covering them with their hands. Nan hurried away, walking softly so the twins could not guess which way she was going. And she picked out a hiding place close to the house, right at the foot of the steps, in fact.
"Whichever one finds me won't have very far to carry the eggs, and they won't be so likely to drop them," thought Nan, as she crouched down behind the rain-water barrel.
"Coop!" cried Nan, this being a signal that she was hidden.
"Ready or not we're coming!" shouted Freddie. He and his sister opened their eyes and began running about, eagerly searching. It was some little time before they found Nan behind the barrel, and Flossie spied her first.
"I see you! I see you!" laughed the delighted little girl, and she was so excited over finding Nan that she never realized she had only a few steps to carry the basket of eggs.
Flossie covered those few steps safely, and the eggs were put away in the closet by Aunt Sarah, later to be made into puddings and cakes for the Bobbsey twins.
"When are we going to the Bolton County Fair?" asked Bert that evening after supper, when he and Harry were resting after their sport in catching bullfrogs.
"And I'm going to ride on a lion!" declared Freddie.
"We might go over to the fair to-morrow," said Mr. Bobbsey. "Do you folks want to go?" he asked his brother and Aunt Sarah.
"I don't believe I'll have time," answered Mr. Bobbsey's brother.
"Nor I," said Aunt Sarah. "I have a lot of cooking to do."
"Then I'm going to stay at home and help you," offered the mother of the Bobbsey twins.
"Oh, can't we go to the fair?" wailed Flossie and Freddie, almost ready to cry.
"Of course you may go!" replied Mother Bobbsey. "I was going to say that daddy could take you children—Harry may go, may he not?" she asked his mother.
"Oh, yes."
"Hurray!" cried Harry, and Bert and Nan echoed his cry of joy.
So it was arranged that Mr. Bobbsey would take the children to the Bolton County Fair, there to see the many wonderful things of which they had dreamed for days and nights.
The Bolton County Fair was one of the largest in that part of the state. Every year it was held, and farmers from many miles away brought their largest pumpkins and squashes, and their longest ears of corn, hoping to win prizes with them. The farmers' wives brought samples of their needlework, such as bedquilts, lace or embroidery, and samples of their cooking and preserving. The farm boys and girls made things or raised something to exhibit at the fair.
Besides this there were new kinds of machinery for the farmers to look at, such as windmills and plows and electrical appliances to be used on the farms. Men who raised horses and cattle took their best specimens to the fair to show them for prizes.
Then there were to be automobile races and horse races, and there were many amusements from the big merry-go-round to the little tents and booths where one could throw baseballs at dolls or toss rings over canes. There were also booths and tents where candy, ice-cream, lemonade and cider were sold, as well as places to eat.
"Oh, it's wonderful!" cried Nan, as she and her brothers, her sister, Harry and her father got out of their automobile and walked through the big gates into the fair grounds. "Don't you like it, Bert?"
"Sure! It's fine!"
"Let's go over and look at the airship," proposed Harry.
"And the balloon," added Bert. "Do you s'pose I could go up in the balloon?" he asked his father.
"No, I don't suppose you could—I wouldn't like you to," said Mr. Bobbsey.
"But why, Dad? The balloon is fast to the ground. It can't get away!"
"I'm not so sure about that. I don't wantyou to go up. You'll have plenty of other fun."
"I wanted to go up in the balloon," and Bert sighed in disappointment.
"We'll go look at it, anyhow," suggested Harry.
"I want a ride on a lion!" insisted Freddie.
"So do I!" added Flossie.
"All right, I'll take you children to the merry-go-round," said Mr. Bobbsey. "You come there and meet us after you finish looking at the balloon and the airship," he said to Bert and Harry.
"I'll stay with you, Daddy," said Nan. "I want a ride on the merry-go-round, too," and she laughed.
They could hear the music of the "carrousel," as a merry-go-round is sometimes called.
"Come on!" urged Flossie and Freddie, tugging at their father's hands.
He led them over to the crowd that surrounded the machine on which a whirling ride could be had for five cents.
"This way! This way for the merry-go-round!" cried a boy's voice. "Only five cents a ride! Get your tickets and take a ride! On an elephant or a tiger!"
"I want a lion!" cried Freddie.
"All right! This way for your lions!" cried the voice.
Mr. Bobbsey, pushing his way through the crowd with the children, saw Bob Guess on the merry-go-round. The boy was helping children to their seats on the wooden animals, strapping them safely so they would be ready when the machinery started. The organ kept on playing all the while.
"Hello, Bob!" called Nan, as she climbed up on a wooden horse, while Flossie and Freddie, with their father, looked for lions.
The strange boy glanced up in some surprise. But when he saw Nan a smile came over his rather sad face.
"Oh, hello!" he said. "How did you get here?"
"We came just now in my father's auto. Do you run the merry-go-round?"
"I help when Mr. Blipper isn't here. I takeup the tickets after she starts. Have you got your tickets?"
"Yes, daddy bought them. My little brother and sister want to ride on lions."
"There's a pair right behind you," said Bob Guess.
Nan turned and saw her father just finishing the strapping up of Flossie and Freddie each on a big wooden lion. The small twins were smiling with delight.
"Gid-dap!" called Flossie to her lion.
"You shouldn't say 'gid-dap' to a lion," objected Freddie.
"What should you say?" asked Flossie, turning to look at her brother.
"You ought to say—now—er—'Scat!'"
"That's what you say to a cat!" declared Flossie.
"Well, then say 'Boo!' I guess that's what you say to a lion," went on Freddie. "Say 'Boo!'"
The little girl looked doubtful.
"All right. Boo!" cried Flossie, after a moment.
It was not quite time, however, for themerry-go-round to start. Mr. Bobbsey made his way along the platform to Bob, who stood near Nan.
"Where is Mr. Blipper?" asked Mr. Bobbsey. "I want to see him."
"He's away to-day, Mr. Bobbsey," was the answer.
"Away! Oh, I am sorry," was the reply of the Bobbsey twins' father.
"This is his day off," went on the lad.
"Will he be here to-morrow?"
"Yes, sir. But look out now, she's going to start!"