Now it is time for us to inquire what was happening to Freddie and Flossie, the two smaller Bobbsey twins. They had fallen out of the balloon basket when the big gas bag was blown down on Hemlock Island in the storm. But Flossie and Freddie had toppled out on piles of soft, dried leaves, so they were not hurt. But, as Flossie had said, she was soaking wet.
"We ought to have umbrellas," said Freddie, as he felt the drops of rain pelting down. "If we had umbrellas this would be fun, 'cause we aren't hurt from our balloon ride."
"No, we aren't hurt," agreed Flossie, "'ceptin' I'm jiggled up a lot."
"So'm I," Freddie stated. "I'm jiggled, too!"
"And we hasn't got any umbrella, and I'm gettin' wetter'n wetter!" half sobbed Flossie.
Indeed it was raining harder, and as the fog was closing in on the children they could not see very far on any side of them.
It was not the first time the small Bobbsey twins had been lost together, nor the first time they had been in trouble. And, as he had done more than once, Freddie began to think of some way by which he could comfort Flossie.
The little boy was hungry, and he felt that if he could get something to eat it would make him feel better. And surely what made him feel better ought to make Flossie happier if she had some of the same.
"Are you hungry, Flossie?" he asked.
"Yes, I am," answered the little girl.
"Well, let's eat some more of the things that were in the balloon basket," proposed her brother. "They tumbled out when we did. I can see some of 'em mixed up with the blankets and other things."
When the bumping of the balloon basket had spilled out Flossie and Freddie it had also toppled out the supply of food and the toolsand instruments the balloon men had intended using on their sail through the air.
"Let's get 'em before the rain soaks 'em all up," suggested Flossie, for the rain was now pouring down on everything.
"I guess that balloon won't be any good any more," said Freddie, as he looked at the big gas bag, now almost empty and tangled in the trees and bushes.
"No, I guess we won't ever get another ride in it," agreed Flossie.
That part was true enough; but, later, the balloon men took the bag from the island, mended the holes in it, and went up in many a flight from other fair grounds.
Gathering up some of the spilled food gave Flossie and Freddie something to do, and, for a time, they forgot about the rain pouring down. But it was the kind of rain one could not easily forget for very long, and after putting some tin boxes of crackers under an overhanging stump, to keep the food dry, and after eating some, Flossie exclaimed:
"Oh, I don't like it to be so wet!" Then she wept a little.
Freddie did not like it, either, but he made up his mind he must be brave and not cry. Not that Flossie could not be brave, too, but she didn't just then happen to think of it.
"I know what we can do!" Freddie exclaimed. "We can wrap the rubber blanket around us, and that will be like an umbrella—almost!"
"Oh, yes!" cried Flossie! "That will keep us from getting wet!"
And the rubber blanket turned out to be a fairly good umbrella. It was large enough for Flossie and Freddie to put over their shoulders and walk under. And it was while they were thus walking through the woods, wondering what would happen next and if their father and mother would ever find them, that Freddie saw something.
"Oh, Flossie! There's a house!" he shouted.
"Where?" demanded the little girl.
"Right over there! Among the trees! Down near the shore!"
Freddie pointed and Flossie, looking, sawdimly through the fog the outlines of some sort of building.
"Let's go there and they can telephone to daddy that we're here," said Flossie. "I guess we're all right now. And maybe Bert and Nan will wish they'd come on a balloon ride with us."
"Maybe," agreed Freddie, as he tramped along with his sister under the rubber blanket toward the building on the shore of the lake.
But alas for the hopes of the children! When they reached the place they found that what Freddie had thought was a house was only an old empty cabin. It had once been used by campers or by fishermen, and at one time may have been a cosy place. But now the glass in the windows was broken, the door hung sagging by one hinge, and inside there was a rusty stove which showed no signs of a warm, cheerful fire.
"There's nobody here," said Flossie sadly, after they had looked inside and had seen that the shack was deserted.
"Well, but it doesn't rain so hard inside asit does outside," remarked Freddie. "Let's go in. This blanket makes me tired."
The rubber covering was rather heavy for the little children, and they were glad to step inside the cabin. Even though the roof leaked in places, there were spots where it did not. Picking out one of these spaces, Freddie moved some boxes over to it, and he and his sister sat down, tired and wet, but feeling better now that they were within some sort of shelter.
"This isn't a very nice place," Flossie observed, looking around.
"No. But it's better'n being outside," stated Freddie. "And maybe there's a bed in the next room." The cabin consisted of two rooms, the door between them being shut. "I'm going to look," Freddie went on.
"No, don't!" begged Flossie, clutching Freddie by the sleeve.
"Why not?" he asked. "Don't you want me to look in that room and see if there's a bed? 'Cause maybe we'll have to stay all night."
"Don't look!" begged Flossie "Maybe—maybe Mr. Blipper is in there!"
"Mr. Blipper?" echoed Freddie. "What would he be doing here? He's at his merry-go-round."
"No, he isn't at his merry-go-round," insisted Flossie. "'Cause we was there and he wasn't there when daddy wanted to ask him about the coat and the lap robe. Maybe Mr. Blipper's in that room, and I don't like him—he's so cross!"
"Yes, he's cross," agreed Freddie. "And he was mean to Bob Guess. But maybe Mr. Blipper isn't in that room. I'm going to look!"
But Freddie never did. He got down off the old box he was using for a seat, under a part of the roof that didn't leak, when Flossie gave a cry, and pointed out-of-doors.
"Look!" she exclaimed.
"Is somebody coming?" Freddie wanted to know.
"No, but I see a boat," Flossie went on. "We can get in the boat and row back on the fair grounds and we'll be all right."
Freddie looked to where she pointed and saw a rowboat drawn up on the shore.
"If it's got oars in we could row," he said, for both he and his little sister knew something of handling boats, their father having taught them.
"Let's go down and look," proposed Flossie. "It isn't raining so hard now."
The big drops were not, indeed, pelting down quite so fast, but it was still far from dry.
Getting under the rubber blanket again, the children ran out of the cabin and toward the boat. They were delighted to find oars in it, and, seeing that the rowboat was in good shape, Freddie got in.
"Ouch!" he exclaimed as he sat down on a wet seat. "Here, wait a minute before you sit there, Flossie. I'll put the rubber blanket down to sit on."
The inside of the rubber blanket was dry, and Freddie put the wet side down on the wooden seat. This gave the children something more comfortable to sit on than a wet piece of wood.
"We'll each take an oar and row," proposedFreddie, for he and Flossie were sitting on the same seat. This was the only way to use the same rubber blanket.
Loosening the rope by which the boat was made fast to a stump on shore, Freddie pushed out into the lake. The rain had almost stopped now, and the children were feeling happier.
"Now we'll row home," announced Freddie.
"Had we better go back and get some of the crackers we left under the stump?" asked Flossie. "Maybe it's a long way to the fair grounds or to Meadow Brook Farm, and we might get hungry."
"Oh, I guess we'll soon be home," said Freddie, hopefully. "Come on and row, Flossie."
Together they rowed the boat out from shore. But they could not make the heavy craft go very fast. There was water in the bottom, probably from the rain and perhaps because the boat leaked. But Freddie and Flossie did not think about this, even though their feet were getting wet. Or, at least, wetter. Their feet were already wet from having tramped about in the heavy rain.
"We'll soon be home now," said Freddie again.
They were some little distance out from the shore, two brave but tired and miserable little sailors, when, all at once, it began to rain again.
"Oh, dear!" cried Flossie, letting go her oar, "I'm getting all soaked again!"
"Don't you care," advised her brother. "Keep on rowing!"
But Flossie cried, shook her head, and would not pick up the oar. Freddie could not row the boat alone, and he did not know what to do. Down pelted the rain, harder than before.
"I want to go back where we were!" sobbed Flossie. "Back to the cabin. Maybe we can build a fire in the stove and get warm! I'm cold!"
"All right; we'll go back!" agreed Freddie. He was beginning to fear it was not so easy to row home as he had hoped.
Down came the rain, and with it came a fog. Soon the children were enveloped in the whitemist, and they could see only a little distance from the boat in which they sat.
"Come on! Row!" called Freddie to his sister. "We'll row back to the cabin."
"How do you know where it is?" Flossie asked, as she took up the oar again.
"Oh, I guess I can find it," said her brother. "You hold your oar still in the water and I'll pull on mine and turn us around." He knew how to do this quite well, and soon the boat was turned, and the children were again pulling as hard as they could pull.
It was by good luck and not by any skill of theirs that they soon reached land again. They might, for all they knew about it, have rowed out into the middle of the lake.
But soon a bumping sound told them they had reached shore, and Freddie scrambled out and held the boat while Flossie made her way to land.
"Is it the same place?" she asked, as Freddie reached for the rubber blanket.
"Yes, I can see the old cabin. We'll go up there and get warm."
Up the little hill, through the rain, trudgedthe children, getting what shelter they could under the blanket. Even Freddie was beginning to lose heart now, for he could see that darkness was coming on, and they were far from home. The rain, too, was pouring down harder than ever.
"Oh, dear! Oh, dear!" sighed Flossie.
"Don't cry!" begged her brother. "I'll make a fire and we'll eat some more crackers. I'll go get them from under the stump."
"I'll go with you," declared Flossie, firmly, "I'm not going to stay alone."
Together they pulled out some of the lunch they had found in the balloon basket. Back to the shack they went, and Freddie was looking about for some matches in the old cabin when Flossie suddenly called out:
"Hark! I hear something!"
Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey and the friends who had gone with them in Captain Craig's motor-boat to search for the runaway balloon, waited anxiously after they had run on the rocks for what was to happen next.
"Is there any danger?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey.
"No, lady, there doesn't seem to be—that is, if you mean danger of sinking," said Captain Craig. "As I remarked at first, we're plumb fast on the rocks. But maybe if we were to get out and thus lighten the boat, she would float off the rocks and we could keep on."
"That's a good idea!" declared Mr. Bobbsey. "We must keep on, no matter what happens, and find those children!"
"I think we'll find them!" declared Mr. Trench, and he seemed so much in earnest that Mrs. Bobbsey asked:
"When?"
"Very soon now," answered the balloon man. "If my gas bag came down here on Hemlock Island—that's where we are now—it won't take long to search all over it and find your Flossie and Freddie. That's what I think."
"But first let me see how badly the boat is damaged," went on the captain. "I'm afraid it's in bad shape."
"Can't we get away from here?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey. "That is, I mean, after we find the children? I wouldn't go until we have found them!" she exclaimed.
"It all depends on what shape my boat is in," went on the captain. "As soon as you are all out I'll take a look."
The searching party stood about in the rain on the shore of Hemlock Island under the dripping trees, the drops splashing on their rubber coats, while Captain Craig looked over his boat. He took some little time to do this, and at last he shook his head in gloomy fashion.
"Well?" asked Mr. Bobbsey.
"Not well—bad!" answered the captain. "We can't go on until the boat is mended. Sheisn't as badly smashed as I thought, and it doesn't leak much, which is a good thing. But I can't use the engine to drive her along until it's fixed. We'll have to stay on the island until I get help, I guess."
"How are we going to get help in all this rain and fog?" Mr. Bobbsey wanted to know.
"There used to be some campers' huts here," said the captain. "Maybe some of those fellows left a rowboat. I could go over to the mainland in that and get help. Some of you can come with me if you like."
"I'm not going to!" announced Mrs. Bobbsey. "I'm going to stay here and find Flossie and Freddie!"
"So am I, my dear!" added Mr. Bobbsey.
"Well, then, let's look around for a boat. If I find one I'll go for help in it, and you can stay here," said Captain Craig.
He made his own damaged craft fast close to the shore, and then the searching party set off through the woods to look for a cabin, a rowboat, and for the missing children.
"It ought to be easy to see that balloon, it's so big," said Captain Craig.
"I can spot that balloon of mine as soon as any one, I guess," said Mr. Trench. "This isn't the first time I've hunted for it. You never can tell exactly where a balloon will come down."
Through the underbrush, between trees, and in the dripping rain and swirling fog, the searching party tramped on. Suddenly one of the men gave a cry.
"I see something!" he shouted.
"Is it my children?" Mrs. Bobbsey asked, her voice trembling with eagerness.
"No, I think it's the balloon," was the answer.
And the balloon it was. Draped over bushes and trees was the big gas bag, now almost emptied of the vapor that had lifted it and carried it away from the fair grounds with Flossie and Freddie in the basket.
"Oh, but where are my little ones—my Bobbsey twins?" cried the mother.
"They must be somewhere around here," said Captain Craig.
And then, thrilling the hearts of all, came two young voices, calling:
"Daddy! Mother! Here we are! Oh, we're so glad you came! Here we are!"
Out of the woods rushed Flossie and Freddie, to be caught up in the arms of Mother and Daddy Bobbsey.
"We—we were in the hut!" breathlessly explained Flossie. "And I heard a noise, and I said for Freddie to hark, and he harked, and then we heard talking and we ran out and—and here we are!"
"Yes, darlings, here you are!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey, tears running down her cheeks. "But, oh, why did you ever do it? Why did you get into the balloon?"
"Oh, jest 'cause," answered Freddie. And they all laughed at his answer.
While this happy meeting and reunion was taking place on Hemlock Island and while the smaller Bobbsey twins were thus made happy by finding their father and mother again, Bert and Nan were very unhappy back at Meadow Brook Farm. They had safely reached the home of their uncle and aunt, being taken there in Mr. Blackford's automobile.
"Oh, dear me, what dreadful news!" exclaimed Aunt Sarah, when told about Flossie and Freddie having been carried away in the balloon. "Shall we ever see those dear children again?"
"Of course we shall, Mother!" said Uncle Daniel, with a laugh. "Don't worry, Flossie and Freddie will be all right."
And of course Flossie and Freddie were, inthe end, only Bert and Nan and their uncle, aunt, and cousin did not know that then, so of course they worried.
The storm which had been only threatening when Bert and his sister had been sent home from the fair grounds now broke, and it rained hard. At Meadow Brook, as on most farms, little could be done when it rained, and the children saw Uncle Daniel and Aunt Sarah sitting around talking in low tones.
"I just wish I could do something!" gloomily remarked Bert, as he stood with his face pressed against the window, down which the rain drops were chasing each other.
"So do I," echoed Nan. "I think they might have let us help them look for Flossie and Freddie."
"I guess your father and mother knew best," said Harry. "And I think the balloon will come down soon in all this rain. It sure is pouring!"
And it was. The storm kept up all day, and in the afternoon, when Nan was on the verge of tears and Bert had almost made up his mind to go back alone to the fair grounds andsee if he could hear any news, there came a knock at the back door.
"There's some one!" cried Nan, jumping from her chair.
"Maybe it's Flossie and Freddie come back!" added Bert.
"They wouldn't knock at the back door," observed his aunt. "Harry, go and see who it is. Maybe it's good news."
Harry returned in a few moments to say:
"It's that boy from the merry-go-round, Bob Guess. He wants to see your father, Bert."
"Well, dad isn't here, and——"
"I told him, and then he said he wants to see some of us—my father I think he means. He has something to tell."
"Bring him in here," advised Uncle Daniel, who was trying to read the paper, though half the time he had it upside down, for he was thinking too much about poor Flossie and Freddie to pay attention to anything else.
Bob Guess came in, dripping wet, though not as ragged as when Bert and Nan had first seen him.
"What's the matter?" asked Uncle Danielin his jolly voice. "Can't you do any business at the fair on account of the rain?"
"No. And I don't want ever to do any more business at the fair," answered Bob, in such strange tones that they all looked at him.
"Don't you like the merry-go-round any more?" Bert asked.
"Oh, it isn't that," said Bob. "It's that man Blipper. I can't stand him any longer! He blamed me for poor business to-day, and it wasn't my fault at all. In the first place, all the people went over to see the balloon go up. Hardly anybody took rides on our machine. Then the children—I mean your little brother and sister," he said to Nan, "got carried off, and everybody got scared for fear something would happen to their children, and they wouldn't even let 'em ride on the merry-go-round. And then the rain came down, and Blipper seemed to blame me for that."
"He isn't a very fair sort of man, even if he has his machine at a county fair," joked Uncle Daniel.
"He's terribly ugly," blurted out Bob Guess. "And I think he's worse than that!"
"What do you mean?" asked Bert.
"Well, I think he takes things that don't belong to him," went on Bob. "Your father lost a coat some time ago, didn't he?" the strange boy asked the older Bobbsey twins.
"Yes, at our Sunday school picnic," answered Nan.
"And a lap robe was taken from our auto about the same time," added Bert.
"That's what I thought," said Bob. "Well, would you know any of your father's papers if you saw them?" he asked, as he began to fumble in his pocket. "I mean would you know his writing on a letter, or something like that?"
"Of course I know my father's writing!" declared Bert.
"Well, look at this!" said Bob Guess suddenly. He held out an envelope, torn open at one end as if the letter had been taken out.
"That's father's writing!" exclaimed Bert. "This is a letter he wrote to Mr. Clarkson who buys lumber from dad. I know, for I've been in the office when he called. I guess my father must have been in a hurry and he addressed this letter himself with a pen, and didn't wait for his typewriter to do it. That's my father's writing!"
"Well," said Bob slowly, "I found that letter in the tent where Mr. Blipper and I live. We sort of camp out at the different fair grounds where we set up the merry-go-round," he added. "I have to live with Mr. Blipper. He claims I'm his adopted son, but I don't like him for an adopted father. Anyhow, I saw this letter drop out of his coat. He didn't see it, and I picked it up."
"Was it my father's coat?" asked Nan.
"That I don't know," Bob answered. "I never saw your father wearing his coat. But Mr. Blipper used to have an old ragged coat, and right after we had that breakdown at the Sunday school picnic grounds he had a new coat.
"I asked him where he got it, 'cause I thought maybe he'd get me one, I was so ragged, and he said it wasn't any of my affair where he got his coats. Then the next day I noticed he had a new robe as a blanket for his bed. I asked him about that, too, 'cause I hadonly a ragged quilt, and he told me to keep still.
"So when you folks asked me if I had seen your father's coat and the lap robe I didn't know for sure, and, anyhow, I was afraid to say anything. But I'm not afraid any more."
"Why not?" asked Uncle Daniel.
"'Cause," answered Bob, "I heard Mr. Blipper and his partner, a man named Hardy, quarreling to-day. First it started over bad business on account of the rain and nobody riding on the merry-go-round because the balloon was going up. Then I heard my name mentioned and the quarrel grew worse. Mr. Hardy said Mr. Blipper didn't have any right to treat me as mean as he does. Mr. Blipper said he'd do as he pleased, and then Mr. Hardy said if he did he'd tell on Mr. Blipper."
"What did he mean—tell on him?" asked Bert.
"I don't know, exactly," answered Bob Guess. "It was all sort of queer. Maybe Mr. Hardy meant he was going to tell about Mr. Blipper taking your father's coat and the lap robe."
"I'm sure Mr. Blipper must have daddy's coat," declared Nan. "This letter dropped from the pocket, and there was money and there were other papers, too."
"I don't know anything about them," murmured Bob.
"Well, I know something!" cried Bert. "And that is this! What Mr. Hardy said he was going to tell on Blipper about was you, Bob Guess!"
"Me?" cried the strange boy.
"Yes, you! I don't believe you belong to Mr. Blipper at all!"
Bob Guess could, for a moment, only stare at Bert after this strange remark.
"What do you mean?" asked the boy from the merry-go-round. "Don't I have to stay with Mr. Blipper if I don't want to?"
"I don't believe you do," went on Bert. "I heard my father and mother talking about it," he explained to the others. "My father said he was going to find out if Mr. Blipper had really adopted you. And if you stay here until my father comes back he'll have this Mr. Blipper arrested for taking his coat. Just you stay here, Bob!"
"I'd like to," sighed the unhappy lad. "I don't like Blipper. And if I go back now, after having run away again, he'll beat me!"
"We won't let him!" exclaimed Aunt Sarah. "Here, I'll get you some dry clothes. Harryhas a suit you can wear. And then we'll see about this Blipper man!"
As she started to leave the room to get some dry clothing for Bob Guess, who was soaking wet, there was a noise and some excitement out in the yard. Then Nan caught the sound of a voice she well knew.
"Oh, it's Flossie!" she cried. "It's Flossie! They've found them!"
Instantly there was a mad rush for the door, and a little later into the warm, comfortable farmhouse came Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey with the missing twins—poor little wet twins, but happy for all that.
"Oh, hurray!" cried Bert, grabbing hold of Harry and dancing around the room with him. "Now everything's all right!"
"Oh, what happened to you?" asked Nan through her tears, as she kissed first Freddie and then Flossie and then both the twins at the same time.
"Well, we found them!" said Mr. Bobbsey to Uncle Daniel.
"Where?"
"On Hemlock Island, where the ballooncame down. The motor-boat we got to go across the lake was also wrecked on the same island. And Flossie and Freddie started out in a rowboat to come to shore, but they got lost in the fog and had to turn back. And they heard us on the island and came to us."
"How did you get off if your motor-boat was wrecked?" asked Bert.
"Oh, Captain Craig managed to patch it up, and it got us back to the mainland. We went back to where we had started from—Captain Craig's dock—and then we came on here in my auto. Oh, what a day this has been!" exclaimed Mr. Bobbsey, sinking wearily into a chair.
"But it all ends happily," said his wife. "Oh, here's Bob Guess!" she exclaimed, as she noticed the strange boy.
"Yes, and he knows where your missing coat is, and the lap robe, too!" exclaimed Bert. "Blipper has 'em!"
"My, everything is happening at once!" laughed Mother Bobbsey. "But we must get Flossie and Freddie to bed. They have had a hard day!"
"Don't want to go to bed!" declared Freddie. "Want to see Bob. Did you bring the merry-go-round?" he asked.
"As if he hadn't troubles enough!" exclaimed Nan.
Finally the smaller Bobbsey twins were induced to take off their damp clothes and go to bed, where they fell asleep almost as soon as their heads touched the pillows. They were very weary, for they had had an exciting trip, though they did not really think so at the time.
When all the stories had been told of how the children had been found on the island, how the motor-boat had been repaired, and of the trip back to the mainland safely made, Mr. Bobbsey turned to Bob Guess.
"Now we can give you a little attention," he said. "What's your trouble?"
So Bob told the same story he had related to Bert and Nan.
"I always thought there was something wrong about Blipper!" declared the father of the Bobbsey twins. "Now I know it! We'll get after Blipper in the morning. You stay here to-night, Bob. We'll call you Bob Guessfor the present, but I think we can find a better name for you soon. I think we shall all feel better for a little rest."
"And something to eat," added Aunt Sarah. "I'm sure you must be starved!"
"I am!" admitted Mother Bobbsey. "I couldn't eat when I was worrying about Flossie and Freddie, but now that they are safe I could eat two meals at once!"
There was a merry party around the farmhouse supper table, while the little Bobbsey twins slept peacefully upstairs, probably dreaming about their trip in the balloon.
The storm was over the next day, and after talking to several newspaper reporters who came to Meadow Brook Farm to get the story of the wonderful trip of Flossie and Freddie, Daddy Bobbsey started for the fair grounds with Bert and Bob Guess. They stopped in the village to get a policeman and also a lawyer.
"If Blipper wants to put up a fight we'll be ready for him," said Mr. Bobbsey.
But when the fair grounds were reached there was no Blipper to be found. In the night he had packed up his merry-go-round and hadtraveled on, leaving no word as to where he was going.
"I don't care where he's gone!" said the partner, Mr. Hardy. "I'm through with him. We've broken up the partnership. I sold my share to him. I don't care to have anything to do with such a man. He's a thief!"
"Perhaps you can tell us about this boy—Bob Guess," suggested Mr. Bobbsey.
"Yes, I can. I told Blipper I'd tell, after I found out he'd taken a coat and a robe that didn't belong to him. He carted them away with him too, so if they're yours there's no use looking for them," he added to Mr. Bobbsey.
"Oh, well, I gave them up for lost some time ago," said the lumber dealer. "I managed to get copies of the papers that were in my pockets, and I wouldn't wear the coat again, anyhow. But what about Bob?"
Then Mr. Hardy told the story. Mr. Blipper had found Bob, a little chap, wandering about the streets of a big city. The boy, it seemed, lived with an Italian who said he had once known Bob's father and mother who had been dead some time.
"I don't know how Blipper managed it, but he got the boy away from the Italian," said Mr. Hardy, "and gave out that he had adopted Bob Guess as his son. But I knew better, though I didn't see much use in telling about it. In fact, I didn't know who to tell. I didn't know who would look after Bob if Blipper didn't, in his own rough way. So I kept still, though after Blipper and I quarreled, I threatened to tell. And now I have."
"I'll see if we can find Bob's relatives," said Mr. Bobbsey. "If we can't, why, I think he will be provided for."
"Oh, I'm so glad!" exclaimed Bob. "I'd rather belong to anybody but Blipper!"
And, a few days later, inquiries having been made, it was found that Bob's father and mother had died in a distant city and that, there being no one to look after the poor boy, the Italian had taken him in. Then, in some manner, Blipper got him and treated him harshly.
Bob was only a small boy when Mr. Blipper got control of him, and the merry-go-round man told a wrong story about having taken the lad from an orphan asylum. If Bob had beenin an asylum he would have been well treated, and no person would have been allowed to take him away until they had been looked up, to make sure the boy would be well cared for.
Mr. Blipper forged, or made out himself, the papers showing that Bob was his adopted son, and Bob was too small to know any better when Mr. Blipper told him this and also told how he had been taken from an asylum. Bob had only a dim remembrance of the Italian who looked after him for a time, following the death of the boy's father and mother. The Italian was much kinder than Mr. Blipper had been.
"How would you like to come and live on this farm with me?" asked Uncle Daniel, when it became evident that Bob had no folks living.
"Do you mean forever?" asked the boy, delight showing in his eyes.
"Yes, forever. Come here as my son. I'll adopt you properly. Harry always wanted a brother, and now he can have one. Will you come?"
"Will I come?" cried Bob. "I'll come—twice!" he laughed.
"Then it's settled," said Uncle Daniel. "And from now on your name will be Bob Bobbsey!"
And so it was.
"And daddy never found his coat after all!" said Nan, when, several days later, they were talking over the wonderful things that had happened.
"No, but I found a brother!" laughed Harry, who was very happy to have Bob live with him.
The whole adventure had been a lot of fun, but more good times awaited them which will be related in "The Bobbsey Twins Camping Out."
And then came happy days and joyous times for all. Though Blipper's merry-go-round had been taken away from the fair grounds, there were enough other amusements.
Mr. Trench even got his balloon back, had it mended, and the regular man went up in it several times to the great delight of the crowds. But you may be sure Mrs. Bobbsey watched Flossie and Freddie very closely, to see that they did not get near the big basket. The little brother and sister were objects of curiosity wherever they went on the fairgrounds, for the newspapers had published stories of their strange trip, all alone, in a balloon to Hemlock Island.
"When I grow up," declared Freddie, "I'm going to run an airship."
"Well, I'm never going to run a merry-go-round; I've had enough of them!" declared Bob Guess—or, to give him the name he was to have from then on, Bob Bobbsey.
"Well, we certainly had plenty of adventures at the Bolton County Fair," remarked Bert, when the exhibition came to a close.
"Yes, indeed!" cried all of the others.
And here let us say good-by.