The Bobbsey twins—all four of them—stood in a circle about their mother, looking eagerly at her and at the postal card which Nan had handed to her. Freddie and Flossie were smiling expectantly while Nan and Bert looked as though they were not quite sure whether or not it was a joke.
"Is it really a goat, Mother?" asked Bert.
"Well, that's what this postal says," answered Mrs. Bobbsey. "A goat and cart have arrived at the express office, and your father is asked to come to get them and take them away."
"Course he's got to take 'em away," said Freddie. "The goat'll be hungry there, for he can't get anything to eat."
"And he might butt somebody with his horns," added Flossie.
"Daddy wouldn't buy a butting goat," Freddie declared. "Anyhow, let's go and get him. I want to have a ride."
"If there really is a goat outfit at the express office for us," said Bert, "we'd better get it I think. I'll take the postal down to the lumberyard office and ask daddy——"
"I'm going with you!" cried Freddie.
"I'm comin', too!" added Flossie.
"Suppose you all go," suggested Mrs. Bobbsey. "Your father will tell you what to do, for I'm sure I don't know what to say. I never had a goat. Four twins, a dog and a cat are about all I can manage," she said laughingly, as fat Dinah came waddling into the room to ask what to order from the grocery.
"A goat! Good lan' ob massy!" exclaimed the colored cook. "Dere suah will be trouble if de honey lambs takes t' playin' wif goats! Um! Um! Um! A goat! Oh, landy!"
"I know how to drive a goat!" declared Freddie. "Mike, the red-haired boy in New York, showed me. Flossie and I had a ride in his wagon for two cents apiece. It was fun, wasn't it, Flossie?"
"Yep. I liked it. We had lots of fun in New York. Freddie rode on a mud turtle's back and we had bugs that went around and around and around."
"Maybe the goat will go around and around and around," said Nan, half laughing.
"Well, hurry down to your father's office with the postal," advised Mrs. Bobbsey. "He'll know what to do."
And when the four excited Bobbsey twins—for even Bert was excited over the chance of owning a goat—reached their father's office he told them all about it.
"You remember," he said, "that when Freddie and Flossie 'almost' bought the goat in New York I promised that if I could find a good one for sale, with a harness and wagon I'd buy it for you this summer. Well, I heard of one the other day, and I got it, having it sent on here by express. Now we'll go down and see what it looks like."
"It's going to be my goat—Flossie's and mine, isn't it?" asked Freddie, as they started for the express office down near the railroad station.
"No more yours than it will be Nan's and Bert's, my little fat fireman," said Mr. Bobbsey with a laugh. "You must all be kind to the goat and take turns riding in the wagon."
"Can't we all ride at once?" asked Nan.
"Well I don't know how large the wagon is," answered Mr. Bobbsey, as he started from his lumberyard for the express office with the children. "Maybe you can all get in at once if the goat is strong enough to pull you."
"I hope he's a big goat," said Freddie. "Then me and Bert will drive him and ride you and Flossie, Nan."
"Don't let him run away with me, that's all I ask!" begged Nan, laughing.
They found the goat in a crate on the express platform. Near him was a good-sized wagon, like those the children had seen in Central Park when on their visit to New York.
"Oh, we can all get in it!" cried Freddie, as he ran from the wagon over to where the goat was bleating in his crate. The animal was a large white one, and he seemed gentle when Flossie and Freddie put their hands in through the slats of the crate and patted him.
"I think he'd like to get out where he can walk around and have something to eat and drink," said Mr. Bobbsey. "We must take him out of his crate."
This was soon done with the help of the express agent, and, when the last piece of wood was taken off, the goat stepped out of his crate in which he had traveled from a distant city, and gave a loud,
"Baa-a-a-a-a!"
Then he stamped his forefeet on the platform, and shook his head, on which were two horns.
"Oh, look out! He'll run away!" cried Freddie, who was afraid of losing his goat before there was a chance for a ride.
But the goat seemed tame, kind and gentle, and after walking about a little, stood still beside the crate and let the children pat him, while Mr. Bobbsey paid the express agent.
There was a piece of paper pasted on the crate in which the goat had traveled. One end of the paper was flapping loose, and, seeing it, the white animal nibbled at it, and finally ate it, chewing it up as though he liked it; as indeed he did, not so much for the paper as for the dried paste by which it had been stuck on.
"Oh, look!" cried Nan. "The goat's eating the label off his crate so we can't send him back. He likes us, I guess."
"We likehim, anyhow," said Freddie, laughing and patting the billy. "Come on, Bert. Hitch him up and give us a ride."
"Shall I?" asked Bert of his father.
"Why, yes, I guess so. Might as well start now as any time. The man I bought him from said he was kind and gentle and liked children. Harness him up, Bert."
A complete harness had come with the goat and wagon, and when the white animal had been given a drink of water and fed some grass which Flossie and Freddie pulled for him, Bert, helped by his father and the express agent, put the harness on.
"What are we going to call him?" asked Nan. "We'll have to have a name for our goat. We don't want to call him 'it,' or 'Billy.'"
"Name him Whisker," said Bert. "See, he has whiskers just like an old man."
"Oh, that's a nice, funny name!" laughed Flossie, and Freddie thought so too. So the goat was named Whisker, and he seemed to like that as well as any. What he had been called before they got him, the children did not know.
Whisker did not seem to mind being hitched to the wagon, and when Mr. Bobbsey had made sure that all the straps were well fastened, Bert took the front seat, with Nan beside him, while Flossie and Freddie sat in the back. They set off, Mr. Bobbsey walking beside the goat to make sure he did not run away.
But Whisker seemed to be a very good goat indeed, and went along nicely, and so slowly and carefully that Freddie, several times, begged to be allowed to drive.
"I will let you after a while," promised Bert. "Let me get used to him first."
When the Bobbsey twins came riding down their street in the goat wagon you can imagine how surprised all the other children were. They gathered in front of the house and rushed into the yard when Bert turned Whisker up the driveway.
"Oh, give us a ride! Give us a ride!" cried the playmates of the Bobbsey twins.
"Yes, I'll give you all rides," promised Bert good-naturedly.
Then began a jolly time for the Bobbsey twins and their friends. Whisker did not seem to mind how many children he hauled around the smooth level yard at the side of the house, and sometimes the wagon was as full as it could hold. Nor did the goat try to butt any one with his horns, letting the boys and girls pet him as much as they pleased.
"He's almost as nice as my doll the gypsies took," said Helen Porter, after she had had a ride. "I like Whisker."
"Did you find your doll?" asked Flossie.
"No. I can't find Mollie anywhere. I just know she's been turned into a gypsy. Oh, dear!"
"Flossie and I'll help you find her," promised Freddie once again. "Some day I'm going to drive the goat all alone, and I'll give you and Flossie a long ride, Helen. Then we'll go off and find your doll."
"That'll be nice," said Helen.
The Bobbsey twins never knew how many friends they had until they got the goat wagon. For a time Snoop and Snap were forgotten, because there was so much fun to be had with Whisker. Bert gave many rides to his little sister and brother and to their playmates, and in a few days Freddie was allowed to drive the goat, so gentle was the white animal.
One day, soon after Bert had hitched Whisker to the wagon, and was going to give his two sisters and brother a ride, a telephone message came from Mr. Bobbsey, asking Bert to come to the lumber office to get something Mr. Bobbsey had to send home to his wife.
"I'll give you a ride when I come back," promised Bert, hurrying down the street.
"We'll leave Whisker hitched up," said Nan. "I'll go in and finish sewing up that hole in my stocking I was mending."
"And I'll stay out here in the goat wagon," said Freddie, while Flossie nodded her head to say she would do the same thing.
A little later, and before Bert had come back from his father's office, Helen Porter came walking past the Bobbsey house. Looking inthe yard, she saw Flossie and Freddie seated in the goat wagon.
"Come on in," invited Flossie. "We're having a make-believe ride, and you can ride too. Can't she, Freddie?"
"Yep. An' I'm going to drive—make-believe. Come on, Helen. When Bert comes I'll ask him to take us to help find the gypsies and get back your doll."
Helen hurried in and took her place in the wagon, and the three children had lots of fun pretending they were going on a long trip. They did not really go, for the goat was tied to a post.
"I wish Bert would hurry back," said Flossie, after a bit. "I'm tired of staying in one place so long."
"So'm I," said Freddie. Then he got out of the wagon and began loosening the strap by which the goat was fastened to the post.
"What're you doing?" Flossie asked.
"I—I just want to see what Whisker'll do," answered the little boy. "Maybe he's tired of standing still."
Indeed, the goat seemed to be, for no soonerhad Freddie got into the wagon again than off Whisker started, walking slowly toward the back of the yard, where there was a gate to a rear street which led to the woods.
"Whoa!" cried Freddie, but he did not say it very loudly. "Whoa, Whisker! Where you going?"
"Oh, he's runnin' away!" cried Helen. "Let me out! He's runnin' away!"
"No, he's only walking," said Freddie. "It's all right. As long as he walks, you won't get hurt. I guess I'd better drive him, though."
"Can't you stop him?" asked Flossie. "Bert won't like it to have us take him away."
"We aren't taking him away; he's takingusaway," said Freddie. "I can't make him stop. Look!" Again he called: "Whoa!" but the goat did not obey.
On and on went Whisker, slowly at first, then walking a little faster and pulling after him the wagon with the children in it.
"Oh, he's going to the woods!" cried Flossie, as she saw the goat heading for the patch of trees at the end of the back street. "Stop him, Freddie!"
"Maybe he wants to go there," said Freddie. "He won't stop for me."
"But it—it's such a bumpy road," said Helen, the words being fairly jarred out of her. "It's all—all bu-bu-bumps and hu-hu-humps."
"That's 'cause we're in the woods," said Freddie, for by this time the goat had drawn the wagon into the shade of the woods, not far from the Bobbsey home. It was indeed a bumpy place, Whisker pulling the children over tree roots and bits of broken wood. But the wagon was stout, and the goat was strong. Then, suddenly, Freddie had an idea.
"Oh, Helen!" he cried, "I guess Whisker is taking us to find your lost doll!"
Whisker, the big white goat, seemed to know exactly what he was doing, whether or not it was taking the two smallest Bobbsey twins and Helen Porter to the woods to find the lost doll. For the goat stepped briskly along, pulling after him the wagon in which the children rode. They were bumped about quite a bit, for the path through the woods was anything but smooth.
In some places there was no path at all, but this did not seem to worry Whisker. He went along anyhow, now and then stopping to nibble at some green leaves, and again turning to one side to crop some grass.
"Do you really think he's taking us to my doll?" asked Helen eagerly.
"I—I hope so," answered Flossie, somewhat doubtfully.
"Maybe he is," said Freddie. "Anyhow, the gypsies that took your doll Mollie came to the woods, and we're in the woods, and maybe the doll is here and maybe we'll find her."
That was as much as Freddie could think of at one time, especially as he had to hold the reins that were fast to the bit in Whisker's mouth. For the goat was driven just as a horse or pony is driven, and Freddie was doing the driving this time.
At least the little boy thought he was, and that was very near the same thing. But Whisker went along by himself pretty much as he pleased, really not needing much driving by the leather reins. And he never needed to be whipped—in fact, there was not a whip in the wagon, for the Bobbsey children never thought of using it. They were kind to their goat.
"Oh, I'm falling out!" suddenly cried Helen, as the wagon went over a very rough, bumpy place in the path.
"Hold on tight like me," said Flossie. "Anyhow," she went on, as she looked out of the wagon, "if you do fall you won't get hurtedmuch, 'cause there's a lot of soft moss and leaves on the ground."
"But I'll get my dress dirty," said Helen.
"Then we'll go down to the lake and wash it off," said Freddie, for the woods in which they now were led down to the shore of the lake.
"Well, I don't want to fall, anyhow," said Helen. "'Most always when I fall I bump my nose, an' it hurts."
"It's smoother now, and I guess the wagon won't tip over," observed Freddie, a little later.
They had come now to a wider path in the woods, where it was not so bumpy, and the wagon rolled easily over the moss and leaves as Whisker pulled it along.
"It's nice in here," said Flossie, looking about her.
"Yes, I'm glad Whisker took us for a ride," said Freddie.
"He wouldn't have if you hadn't unhitched his strap," remarked Flossie. "What'll Bert say?"
"Well, Whisker was tired of standing still," went on her brother. "And, anyhow, Helenwanted to come for a ride to find her doll; didn't you?" he asked their little playmate.
"Yep, I did," she answered. "I want my doll Mollie awful much."
"Then we'll look for her," Freddie went on. "Whoa, Whisker!"
Whether the goat really stopped because Freddie said this word, which always makes horses stop, or whether Whisker was tired and wanted a rest, I can not say. Anyhow, he stopped in a shady place in the woods, and the children got out.
"I'll tie the goat to a tree so he can't go off and have a ride by himself," said Freddie, as he took the strap from the wagon.
But Whisker did not seem to want to go on any farther. He lay down on some soft moss and seemed to go to sleep.
"We'll leave him here until we come back," said Freddie. "And now we'll look for Helen's doll."
Perhaps the children had an idea that the gypsies may have left the talking doll behind in the woods when they were driven away by the police. For, though they were not near theplace where the dark-skinned men and women had camped, Flossie, Freddie and Helen began looking under trees and bushes for a trace of the missing Mollie.
"Do you s'pose she can talk and call to tell you where she is?" asked Flossie, when they had hunted about a bit, not going too far from the goat and wagon.
"I don't know," Helen answered. "Sometimes, when I wind up the spring in her back she says 'Mamma' and 'Papa' without my pushing the button. My father says that's because something is the matter with her."
"Well, if she would only talk now, and holler out, we'd know where to look for her," added Freddie.
"Let's call to her," suggested Flossie.
"All right," agreed Helen.
"MOLLIE! MOLLIE! WHERE ARE YOU?""MOLLIE! MOLLIE! WHERE ARE YOU?"
The Bobbsey Twins on Blueberry Island.Page 63
So the children called:
"Mollie! Mollie! Where are you?"
Their voices echoed through the trees, but there was no other answer—at least for a while. Then, when they had walked on a little farther, and found a spring of water where they had a cool drink, they called again:
"Mollie! Mollie! Where are you?"
Then, all at once, seemingly from a long way off, came an answering call:
"Wait a minute. I'm coming!"
"Oh, did you hear that?" gasped Flossie.
"It was somebody talking to us," whispered Helen.
"And it wasn't the echo, either," went on Flossie.
"Maybe it was your doll," suggested Freddie. "Did it sound like her voice?"
"A—a little," said Helen slowly.
"We'll call again," suggested Flossie, and once more the children cried aloud:
"Mollie! Mollie! Where are you?"
"Wait a minute. Stand still so I can find you! I'm coming!" was the answer.
The three little ones looked at one another in surprise, and they were, moreover, a little frightened. Was it possible that the missing, talking doll was really in the woods and had answered them? That it could talk, because it had a phonograph inside, they all knew. But would it answer when spoken to?
"It didn't sound like Mollie," whisperedHelen, after a bit. "Her voice wasn't as loud as that."
"Oh-o-o-o-o!" suddenly gasped Flossie. "Maybe it was—the gypsies!"
That was something the children had not thought of before. Suppose it should be the same gypsy man who had taken away the doll?
"It couldn't be the gypsies," said Freddie, looking around him. "They all went away. Daddy said so."
"But maybe there wasoneleft," suggested his sister.
"Pooh! I'm not afraid ofonegypsy," declared Freddie. "If he bothers me I'll sic Whisker on him."
"You can't sic a goat—they can't bite or bark like a dog," retorted Flossie.
"No, but Whisker can butt with his horns!" cried Freddie. "That's what I'll do! If it's a gypsy I'll sic Whisker on him!"
Just then the children heard the voice again, calling:
"Where are you? I want to find you!"
Once more they looked at one another ratherafraid. And then came a loud "Baa-a-a-a-a!" from Whisker.
"Come on!" cried Freddie. "Maybe they're trying to take our goat away!"
He started on a run through the woods toward the place where they had left Whisker and the wagon, now out of sight behind some bushes.
"Wait! Wait for me!" cried Flossie, who was left behind with Helen. "Don't run off without us, Freddie!"
"Oh, excuse me," he said, politely enough. "But we don't want those gypsies to take Whisker."
"Whisker'll butt 'em," said Flossie. "Wait for us."
"Yes, I guess our goat won't let anybody take him," went on Freddie, walking now, instead of running. "Come on, Flossie and Helen! Maybe it's your doll talking and maybe it isn't. But we'll soon see!"
Together the three children hurried on, soon coming within sight of the goat. There was Whisker peacefully lying down, still asleep. And running toward him, along the woodlandpath, was Bert, who, as he caught sight of Freddie and the others, called:
"Oh, there you are! I've been looking everywhere for you. Didn't you hear me calling?"
"Was that you?" asked Freddie. "We thought maybe it was a gypsy man."
"Or Helen's doll," added Flossie. "Her doll, Mollie, can talk, you know, Bert. And Whisker gave us a ride here so we looked for the doll."
"Yes, and then I had to come looking for you," said her brother. "But never mind. I've found you and I've got jolly news."
"Do you mean jolly news because you found us?" asked Freddie.
"No, it's jolly news about something else," Bert said. "But I've got to hurry home with you so mother won't worry. Then I'll tell you."
"How did you youngsters come to run away?" asked Bert, when he was driving the goat wagon back through the woods again, taking a path that was not quite so bumpy as the first one. "My goodness! I came back from daddy's office to find mother and Nan looking everywhere for you. How did you happen to run away?"
"We didn't runned away," said Flossie, who was so excited over what had happened that she forgot to speak the way her teacher in school had told her to. "Whisker runned away with us."
"I guess he didn't go without being told, and without some one's taking off his hitching strap," said Bert, with a smile.
"Anyhow, we didn't run much, Whisker just walked most of the time," said Freddie.
"Well, it's all the same," returned Bert. "I had to chase after you to find you. Didn't you hear me calling?"
"Yes, but we thought it was gypsies or Helen's doll," answered Flossie. "We were looking for Mollie, you know."
"You'll not find her unless you find that band of gypsies," said Bert. "Anyhow, you mustn't come off to the woods alone, you little children."
"We had Whisker with us," Freddie declared. "And if any of the gypsy men had come he'd have butted 'em with his horns."
"He might, and he might not," went on Bert. "Anyhow, I guess you had a nice ride."
"We did," said Flossie. "Only we're sorry we couldn't find Helen's doll. How did you find us, Bert?"
"Oh, I could see by the wheel and hoof marks in the soft dirt which way Whisker had taken the wagon, and I just followed."
"But what is the jolly news?" Freddie demanded. "Are we going back to New York?"
"Better than that!" answered Bert. "We're going camping!"
"Camping?" cried the two little Bobbsey twins in the same breath. "Where?" asked Freddie. "When?" asked Flossie.
"It isn't all settled yet," answered Bert. "You know daddy and mother talked about it when we were in the big city. And to-day, when I was down at the lumberyard I heard daddy speaking to a man in there about some of the islands in Lake Metoka. Daddy wanted to know which one was the best to camp on."
"And did the man say which was a good one?" asked Freddie.
"I didn't hear. But I asked daddy afterward if we were going to camp this summer, and he said he guessed so, if mother wanted to."
"Does mother want to?" asked Flossie eagerly.
"She says she does," answered Bert. "So I guess we'll go to camp this summer all right. Isn't that jolly news?"
"Um," said Freddie, not opening his mouth, for in one pocket of his little jacket he had found a sweet cracker he had forgotten, and he was now chewing on it, after having given his sister and Helen some.
"Oh, I wish we could go now and take Whisker with us!" cried Flossie.
"If we go we'll take the goat cart!" decided Bert.
"And we'll take our dog Snap, and our cat Snoop, too!" announced Freddie. "They'll like to go camping."
Mrs. Bobbsey and Nan were anxiously waiting for Bert to come back with the runaways, and when he came in sight, driving the goat cart, the children's mother hurried down the back road to meet them.
"Oh, my dears! you shouldn't go away like that!" she called.
"Whisker wanted to go," said Freddie. "And we had a nice ride even if it was bumpy. And we thought we heard Mollie's doll calling, but it was Bert."
"Well, don't do it again," said Mrs. Bobbsey. She always said that, whenever either set of twins did things they ought not to do, and each time they promised to mind. But the trouble was they hardly ever did the same thing twice. And as there were so many things to do, Mrs. Bobbsey could not think of them all, soshe could not tell Nan and Bert, Flossie and Freddie not to do them.
"When are we going camping?" asked Freddie, as he got out of the goat cart.
"And what island are we going on?" asked Flossie.
"Oh, my! I see you have it all settled so soon!" laughed Mrs. Bobbsey. "Your father and I have yet to talk it over.
"We'll do that to-night," she went on. "And now you children come in and get washed, and Dinah will give you something to eat. You must be hungry."
"We are," said Flossie. "And Helen's hungry, too. Aren't you, Helen?" she asked.
"Um—yes—I guess so."
"Well, we'll soon find out," laughed Mrs. Bobbsey. "I think your mother won't mind if I give you a little lunch with Flossie and Freddie. Nan can tell her that you are here and are all right. She doesn't know you had a runaway ride in the goat wagon."
"It was a bumpy ride, too," explained Flossie. "And we didn't find Mollie the talking doll."
"Well, maybe you will some day," said Mrs. Bobbsey kindly.
And while Flossie, Freddie and Helen ate the nice little lunch, fat, black Dinah got ready for them, Bert and Nan went for a ride in the goat wagon, stopping at Mrs. Porter's house to tell her that Helen was safe in the Bobbsey home.
"And now let's talk about camping!" cried Bert that night after supper when the family, twins included, were gathered in the dining-room, the table having been cleared. "When can we go?"
"I think as soon as school closes," said his father. "Summer seems to have started in early this year, and I want to get you children and your mother off to some cool place. An island in the middle of the lake is the best place I can think of."
"It will be fine!" cried Bert. "Which island are we going to camp on?"
"There are two or three that would do nicely," answered Mr. Bobbsey. "I talked to some friends who own them, but I think one called Blueberry Island would suit us best."
"It has a nice name," said Nan. "I like—Blueberry Island! It sounds just as if it were out of a book."
"Is it a fairy island?" Freddie wanted to know, for he liked to have fairy stories read to him.
"Well, maybe it will turn out to be a fairy story," said Mr. Bobbsey with a laugh. "It's the largest island in the lake, and several other parties are going there camping, so Mr. Ames, the man who owns it, told me."
"Why do they call it Blueberry Island?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey.
"Because there are many blueberries on it," answered her husband. "And if we go there I shall expect you children to pick plenty of blueberries so Dinah can make pies. I'm very fond of blueberry pie."
"I like it, too," said Freddie. "We'll take Whisker with us, and he can haul a whole wagon load of blueberries."
"I wouldn't ask you to pick as many as that," said his father with a laugh. "Two or three quarts would be enough for a pie, wouldn't they, Mother?"
"I should hope so! But do you really mean we are to go camping on Blueberry Island?"
"Surely," answered Mr. Bobbsey. "It will be a nice way to spend the summer."
"And shall we live in a tent?" asked Freddie, "and cook over a camp fire? and go fishing? and—and—and——"
"Yes, all of that and more, too," said his father, catching up the little fat fireman and bouncing him toward the ceiling.
Then followed a happy hour talking over the plans for going camping on Blueberry Island, until Mother Bobbsey said it was time for Flossie and Freddie, at least, to go to bed.
Off they went to Slumberland, to dream of living in a big white tent with a flag on top of it.
"Just like a circus!" as Freddie said the next morning at breakfast.
"Or a gypsy camp," added Flossie. "Are there any gypsies on Blueberry Island, Daddy?"
"No, not a one."
"'Cause if there was," went on the little girl, "I wouldn't take my doll with me. Iwouldn't want her tooked away like Helen's was."
"We won't let any gypsies come," said Mr. Bobbsey.
One warm summer day came afteranotheruntil it was nearly time to close the school, and all the boys and girls in Lakeport were thinking of vacation. The Bobbseys were getting ready to go to the Blueberry Island camp. Mr. Bobbsey had bought the tents and other things and they were to go to the island in a boat.
"And we'll take Whisker, our goat, and Snap and Snoop," said Flossie, "and my dolls and the bugs that go around and around and around and——"
"You'll have a regular menagerie!" said Nan.
"We'll have some fun, anyhow," cried Freddie. "I wonder if we could hitch Snap and Whisker up together and make a team?"
"Let's try," suggested Bert. "Come on, Freddie, we'll find our dog."
But when they called Snap he did not come running in from the yard or barn as he hadalways done before. Bert and Freddie called, but there was no answering bark.
"Where is Snap, Dinah?" asked Bert, when a search about the house did not show the missing dog.
"I done seed him heah about half an hour ago," said the colored cook, "an' den, all to oncet, I didn't see him ag'in. I wonder if dat ole peddler could hab took him?" she asked, speaking half to herself.
Bert and Freddie looked at one another in surprise. Where was Snap?
"This is queer," said Bert, when a more careful search about the house and barn failed to find Snap. "If he's run away, it will be about the first time he has done that since we've had him."
"Let's ask at some of the houses down the street," said Nan. "Sometimes the children coax him in to play with them, and he forgets to come home because they make such a fuss over him."
"Here's Snoop, anyhow!" cried Freddie, coming out of the barn with the big black cat in his arms. "He can go to camp with us."
"But we want Snap, too!" added Flossie. "We need a dog to keep the gypsies away."
"There won't be any gypsies on Blueberry Island!" Bert reminded them.
"You can't tell," declared Freddie.
"Maybe there'll be one or two, an' I don't want them to take my doll the way they did Helen's," added Flossie.
"Didn't Helen get her doll back?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey, coming out of the house in time to hear what the children were saying.
"No'm, and she feels awful sad," replied Flossie. "And now the gypsies has took Snap."
"The gypsies havetakenSnap—really, Flossie, you must speak more correctly," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "But what do you mean about Snap's being taken?"
"He seems to be gone," reported Bert.
"We've looked everywhere for him, and now we're going to ask down the street," added Nan.
"But we've got Snoop," said Flossie, and so it was. "We"—that is, she and Freddie both—had the big black cat, one twin carrying the head and the other twin the hind legs. But Snoop was often carried that way and he did not mind.
"Snap not here? That is odd," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Have you whistled and called to him?"
"Every way we know," replied Bert. "Listen!" and, putting his fingers in his mouth, he gave such a shrill whistle that his mother and Nan had to cover their ears, while fat Dinah, waddling to her kitchen window, cried:
"Good land ob massy! What am dat—a fire whistle?"
"I can whistle like that!" shouted Freddie, dropping his end of the black cat. As it happened to be the head end he was carrying, this left the hind legs to Flossie and poor Snoop was thus dangling head down.
"Miaou!" he cried sadly, and then he gave a wriggle, and another one, and got loose.
Freddie made a sort of hissing sound on his fingers—not at all a nice, loud whistle as Bert had done—but it was pretty good for a little fellow.
"He ought to hear that," Bert said, when he was done blowing his call, and his mother and sister had uncovered their ears. "But he doesn't come."
"Did you ask Dinah about him?" Mrs. Bobbsey questioned.
"Yes, and she said——Oh, she said something about a peddler!" cried Nan. "We forgot to ask her what she meant."
"Did Snap chase after a peddler?" asked Bert, for the colored cook was still at the window.
"No, I didn't see you all's dog chase after de peddler, honey lamb," replied Dinah. "But jest a little while ago a woman wif a red dress on, all trimmed wif yaller, real fancy like, comed to de back do' sellin' lace work. Snap was heah den, eatin' some scraps I put out fo' him, an' de woman patted him an' talked to him in a queer like way."
"She did!" cried Bert excitedly. "What'd she say?"
"Lan' goodness! You all don't s'pose I knows all de queer languages in de United States, does yo'?" asked Dinah, shaking her kinky head. "But de woman talked queer t' Snap, an' he wagged his tail, which he don't often does t' strangers."
"No," put in Flossie, shaking her head vigorously, "Snap don't often talk to strangers. He's awful dig-dignified with 'em. Isn't he, Freddie?"
"Well, he doesn't like tramps, and they're strangers," replied her brother. "Are peddlers tramps, Bert?"
"No, I guess not. But some of 'em look like tramps—pretty near, maybe."
"What happened to the woman peddler?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey.
"Oh, I soon got rid ob her," said Dinah. "I tole her we was gwine t' lib in de woods an' we didn't want no fancy lace 'cause it would git all ripped on de trees an' bushes. So she went off."
"And what happened to Snap?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey.
"Oh, he was eatin' his scraps de last I seen ob him," answered Dinah. "An' he wagged his tail ag'in at de woman in de gay dress what looked like she was gwine on a picnic."
"A dress of red and yellow," said Nan. "Isn't that the color the gypsies wear?"
"Was the woman a gypsy?" asked Bert quickly.
"She mought o' been," answered the cook. "She had gold rings in her ears, an' she was dark. Not as dark as me or Sam, but likesome of them Eytalian men. I didn't pay much 'tention to her, 'cause I was makin' a cake. But maybe Snap done followed her to see to it she didn't take nuffin. 'Cause ef she was a gypsy she mought take things."
"Yes, and she's taken Snap—that's what she's done!" cried Bert. "That's what's happened to our dog. The gypsies have him! I'm going to tell daddy, and have him get a policeman."
"Now don't be too sure," advised Mrs. Bobbsey. "Perhaps that peddler may have been a gypsy, and she may have made friends with Snap—those people have a strange way with them about dogs and horses—but it isn't fair to say she took your pet. He may have followed her just to be friendly. You had better ask at some of the houses down the street first."
"Come on!" cried Bert to Nan. "We'll go and ask."
"And I'm coming, too!" added Freddie. "I can call Snap and you can whistle for him, Bert."
"And I'll take Snoop, and Snoop can miaou for him," said Flossie.
"No, you two little ones stay here," directed Mrs. Bobbsey. "I want to wash and dress you for dinner. Let Bert and Nan hunt for Snap."
"Then can't we go in the goat cart?" Freddie asked.
"We'll all have a ride when we come back," promised Bert. "We first want to find Snap, if we can, to see if he'll hitch up with Whisker," the boy told his mother.
So while Flossie and Freddie went into the house to get freshened up after their play, Nan and Bert went from house to house asking about Snap. But though the big, trick dog sometimes went to play with the neighbors' children, this time there was no sign of him. One after another of the families on the block said they had not seen Snap.
Several servants had noticed the gypsy woman "peddler," as they called her, for she had made a number of calls on the block, trying to sell her lace, but no one had seen Snap with her.
"Oh, I guess Snap just ran away for a change, as Flossie and Freddie sometimes do,"said Mr. Bobbsey when he came home that evening and had been told what had happened. "He'll come back all right, I'm sure."
But Nan and Bert were not so sure of this. They knew Snap too well. He had never gone away like this before. Flossie and Freddie, being younger, did not worry so much. Besides, they had Snoop, and the cat was more their pet than was the dog, who was Bert's favorite, though, of course, every one in the Bobbsey family loved him.
Several times that evening Bert went outside to whistle and call for his pet, but there was no answering bark, and when bedtime came Bert was so worried that Mr. Bobbsey agreed to call the police and ask the officers who were on night duty to keep a lookout for the missing animal. This would be done, the chief said, since nearly all the officers in Lakeport knew Snap, who often visited at the police station.
Morning came, but no Snap was at the door waiting to be let in, though Bert was up early to look. Snoop, the big black cat, was in his usual place, getting up to stretch and rub against Bert's legs.
"But where's Snap?" asked the boy.
"Miaou," was all Snoop answered. Perhaps he knew, but could not tell.
"Well, I'm afraid your dog is lost," said Mr. Bobbsey, when at the breakfast table Bert reported that Snap was still away. "We'll put an advertisement in the paper and offer a reward if he is brought back."
"Maybe he's gone to camp on Blueberry Island and is waiting over there for us," said Flossie.
"Maybe, my little fat fairy!" agreed her father, catching her up for a good-bye kiss. "Let's hope so. And now you must soon begin to get ready to go camping."
The children heard this news with delight, and, for a time, even lost Snap was forgotten. He had often visited the neighbors before, and had always come back, so Bert hoped the same thing would happen this time.
There was much to do to get ready to go to Blueberry Island. There were clothes to pack and food to be bought, for though it was not many miles from the island back to the mainland where there were stores, still Mrs.Bobbsey did not want to have to send in too often for what was needed.
The goat wagon was very useful for going on errands during the days that it took them to get ready to go off to live in the woods. Bert and Nan, sometimes with Flossie and Freddie, rode here and there about town, and Whisker was as good as a pony, being strong and gentle.
Everywhere they went Nan and her brother looked for Snap and asked about him. But, though many in Lakeport knew the dog, and had seen him on the day he was last noticed, no one could tell where he was. No one could be found who had seen him with the gypsy woman—if he had gone with her—though a number said they had noticed the gaudy, red-and-yellow-dressed peddler strolling about with her lace.
"Our dog's gone and Helen's doll is gone," said Nan the night before they were to go to camp. "I wonder what will be taken next."
"I hope they don't get our Snoop," said Flossie, as she went to look at the big black cat who was sleeping in the box, with a handle, in which he was to be taken to the island.
"And I hope they let Whisker alone," said Freddie.
"Whisker can take care of himself, with his horns," observed Bert. "I'm not afraid of a gypsy trying to get our goat."
The tents had been sent to the island, and a man would set them up. Plenty of good things to eat were packed in boxes and baskets. Dinah and Sam had made ready to go to camp, for they were included in the family. Dinah was to do the cooking and her husband was to look after the boats and firewood.
"And, oh, what fun we'll have!" cried Flossie the next morning, when the sun rose warm and bright and they started for Blueberry Island.
"It would be better if we had Snap," said Bert. "You don't know how I miss that dog!"
"We all do," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Perhaps we'll find him when we come back, Bert. Your father will come back from the island once or twice a week, and he'll come to the house to see if Snap has come back."
"He'll never come back," said Bert, with a sad face. "I'm sure the gypsies took him, andthey'll keep him when they find out he can do circus tricks."
"Well, maybe we'll find the gypsies and, if they have Snap, we can make them give him up," said Nan.
"I hope so," murmured Bert.
There was a small steamer that made trips across the lake, and in this the Bobbseys were to go to Blueberry Island, as they had so many things to take with them that a small boat would never have held them all.
"Well, are you all ready?" asked Daddy Bobbsey, as he came out and locked the front door. On the steps in front of him, or else down the front walk, were his wife, Nan, Bert, Flossie, Freddie, Sam, Dinah, Snoop, in his traveling crate, Whisker, the goat, hitched to his wagon, and a pile of trunks, boxes and other things.
"If we're not ready we never will be," said Mrs. Bobbsey with a sigh and a laugh, as she looked over everything. "We aren't going so far, but what we can send for anything we forget, which is a good thing. But I guess we're all ready, Daddy."
"Good! Here comes the expressman for our trunks, and behind him is the automobile we're going to take down to the steamer dock. Now have you children everything you want?"and he looked at Flossie and Freddie particularly.
"I've got my best doll, and Snoop's in his cage," said Flossie. "And my other dolls are in the trunk and so are the toys I want. Is your fire engine packed, Freddie? 'Cause you might want it if the woods got on fire."
"Yep; my fire engine is all right," answered the little fellow. "An' I've got everything I want, I guess—except—maybe——" he was thinking then. "Oh, I forgot 'em! I forgot 'em!" he quickly cried. "Open the door, Daddy! I forgot 'em!"
"Forgot what?" his father asked with a smile.
"The tin bugs that go around and around and around," answered Freddie. "You know, the ones I buyed in New York. I want 'em."
"Well, it's a good thing you thought of them before we got away, for I wouldn't have wanted to come back just to get the tin bugs."
"But they go around and around and around!" cried Flossie, who liked the queer toys as much as did her brother. "They're lots of fun."
"Well, as long as we're going to camp on Blueberry Island for fun as much as for anything else," said Mr. Bobbsey, "I suppose we'll have to get the bugs. Come on, Freddie."
The little twin had wrapped his tin bugs in a paper and left them on a chair in the front hall, so it was little trouble to get them. Then the trunks, bags and bundles were piled in the wagon and taken to the steamboat dock, while the Bobbsey family, all except Bert, took their places in the automobile. Bert was to drive Whisker to the wharf, as it was found easier to ship the goat and wagon this way than by crating or boxing the animal and his cart.
"I'd rather ride with Bert and Whisker than in the auto," said Freddie wistfully, as he saw his brother about to drive off.
"So would I!" added Flossie, who always chimed in with anything her twin brother did.
"But you can't," said Mrs. Bobbsey decidedly. "If you two small twins went with Bert in the goat wagon something would be sure to happen. You'd stop to give some one a ride or you'd have a race with a dog or a cat, and then we'd miss the boat. You must come withus, Flossie and Freddie, and, Bert, don't lose any time. The boat won't wait for you and Whisker."
"I'll be there before you," promised Bert, and he was, for he took a short cut. He said on the way he had stopped at the police station to ask if there was any news about the missing Snap, but the trick dog had not been seen, and so the Bobbseys went to camp without him.
If there had not been so much to see and to do, they would have been more lonesome for Snap than they were. As it was, they missed him very much, but Bert held out a little hope by saying perhaps they might find their pet on Blueberry Island, though why he said it he hardly knew.
"All aboard!" called the steamboat men as the Bobbseys settled themselves in comfort, their goods having been put in place. The goat wagon was left on the lower deck where stood the horses and wagons that were to be taken across the lake, for the steamer was a sort of ferryboat. "All aboard!" called the deck hands.
There was a tooting of whistles, a clangingand ringing of bells, and the boat slowly moved away from the dock.
"Oh, it's just lovely to go camping!" sighed Nan.
"We haven't really begun yet," said Bert. "Wait until we get to the woods and have to go hunting for what we want to eat, and cook it over an open fire—that's the way to live!"
"I guess there won't be much hunting on Blueberry Island," said Mr. Bobbsey, with a laugh.
"Well, we can make-believe, can't we?" asked Freddie.
"Oh, yes, you can make-believe," said his mother. "And that, sometimes, is more fun than having real things."
I will not tell you all the things that happened on the steamboat, for so much more happened on Blueberry Island that I will have to hurry on to that. Besides, the trip to the middle of the lake did not take more than an hour, and not much can take place in an hour.
I say not much, and yet sometimes lots of things can. But not a great deal did to the Bobbseys this time, though, to be sure, astrange dog tried to get hold of Snoop in his crate, and Freddie nearly fell overboard reaching after his hat, which blew off.
"But I could swim even if I did fall in," he said, for Mr. Bobbsey had taught all four twins how to keep afloat in water.
"Well, we don't want you falling in," his mother answered. "Now you sit by me."
This Freddie did for a short time. Then he got tired of sitting still and jumped down from his chair, at the same time calling to his little sister:
"Say, Flossie, let's go and watch the engine."
"All right," answered the little girl, ready, as always, to do anything her brother suggested.
As Flossie jumped from her chair to join her brother, she accidently kicked an umbrella belonging to a man who was sitting near by, and the umbrella fell to the floor and slipped out under the railing right into the water.
"Oh—oh—oh!" gasped Flossie.
But Freddie turned and ran as fast as he could to the stairs that led to the lower deck.
"Here! where are you going?" cried his father, and started after his son.
"Goin' after that umbrella!"
"I think not!" and Mr. Bobbsey caught up with Freddie and picked him up in his arms.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Bobbsey told the man how sorry she was, and said that they would replace the umbrella. But the man returned that he would not allow that.
"No one needs an umbrella on such a lovely day, anyway," he said.
But a deckhand who was cleaning some mops in the water had already rescued the umbrella.
"Blueberry Island!" called a man on the steamer, after the boat had made one or two other stops. "All off for Blueberry Island!"
"Oh, let us off! Let us off!" cried Flossie, getting up in such a hurry from her deck chair that she dropped her doll. "We're going camping there."
"I guess the passengers know it by this time, without your telling them," laughed her father. "But come on—don't forget anything."
Such a scrambling as there was! Such a gathering together of packages—umbrellas—fishing rods—hats, caps, gloves and the crate with black Snoop in it. Sam and Dinah helped all they could, and between them and Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey and the children the family managed to get ashore at last.
A gangplank had been run from the boat to the dock, and over this Bert drove Whisker and the goat cart. The goat seemed glad to get off the steamboat.
"Oh, wouldn't Snap just love it here!" cried Nan, as they went on shore and looked at the island. "Isn't it too bad he isn't with us?"
"I'm going to find him!" declared Bert. "Those old gypsies sha'n't have our trick dog!"
Blueberry Island was, indeed, a fine place for a camp. In the winter no one lived on it, but in the summer it was often visited by picnic parties and by those who liked to gather the blueberries which grew so plentifully, giving the island its name.
In fact, so many people came to one end of the island in the berry season that a man had set up a little stand near the shore, where he sold sandwiches, coffee, candy, and ice-cream, since many of the berry-pickers, and others whocame, grew hungry after tramping through the woods.
But where Mr. Bobbsey was going to camp with his family, the berry-pickers and picnic parties seldom came, as it was on the far end of the island, so our friends would be rather by themselves, which was what they wanted.
Mr. Dalton, the man who kept the little refreshment stand, had his horse and wagon on the island, and he had agreed to haul the Bobbsey's trunks and other things to where their tents, already put up, awaited them.
"And can't we ride there in the goat wagon?" asked Freddie of his mother, as he saw Bert get up behind Whisker in the little cart.
"Yes, I think you and Flossie may ride now that we are on the island," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Do you want to go, Nan?"
"No, I'll walk with you and daddy. I'll get enough goat rides later."
"Oh, how nice it is!" cried Mother Bobbsey when she and Nan came in sight of the tents of the camp. "I know we shall like it here!"
"I hope you will," said her husband. "And now we must see about something to eat. I suppose the children are hungry."
"Dey's always dat way!" laughed fat Dinah. "I neber seen 'em when dey wasn't hungry. But jest show me whar's de cook-stove an' suffin' t' cook, an' dey won't be hungry long, mah honey lambs!"
Dinah was as good as her word, and she soon had a fine meal on the table in the dining tent, for the men Mr. Bobbsey had hired to set up the canvas houses had everything in readiness to go right to "housekeeping," as Nan said.
There were several tents for the Bobbsey family. One large one was for the family to sleep in, while a smaller one, near the kitchen tent, was for Dinah and her husband. Then there was a tent that served as a dining-room, and another where the trunks and food could be stored. In this tent was an ice box, for a boat stopped at the island every day and left a supply of ice.
The children helped to unpack and settle camp, though, if the truth were told, perhapsthey did more to unsettle it than otherwise. But Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey were used to this, and knew how to manage.
So the meal was eaten, Whisker was put in his little stable, made under a pile of brush-wood, and the children went out rowing in a boat. They had lots of fun that afternoon, and Bert even did a little hunting for Snap, thinking that, by some chance, the trick dog might be on the island. But Snap was not to be found.
"Though, of course, we didn't half look," Bert said. "We'll look again to-morrow."
And now it was evening in "Twin Camp," as the Bobbseys had decided to call their place on Blueberry Island. There had been quite a talk as to what to name the camp, but when Dinah suggested "Twin," every one agreed that it was best. So "Twin Camp" it was called, and Daddy Bobbsey said he would have a wooden sign made with that on it, and a flag to hoist over it on a pole.
Beds were made up in the sleeping tent, and soon even Nan and Bert declared that they were ready to go to Slumberland by the quickesttrain or steamboat which was headed for that place. They had been up early and had been very busy. Flossie and Freddie dropped off to sleep as soon as they put their heads on the pillows.
Freddie did not know what time it was when he awakened. It was in the night, he was sure of that, for it was dark in the tent except where the little oil light was aglow. What had awakened him was something bumping against him. His cot was near one of the walls of the sleeping tent and he awoke with a start.
"Hi!" he called, as he felt something strike against him. "Who's doin' that? Stop it! Stop it, I say!"
"Freddie, are you talking in your sleep?" asked his mother, who had not slept very soundly.
"No, I'm not asleep," Freddie answered. "But something bumped me. It's outside the tent."
"Maybe it's Whisker feeling of you with his horns," said Flossie, who slept near her brother, and who had been awakened when he called out so loudly.
"It—it didn't feel like Whisker. It was softer than his horns," Freddie said. "Momsie, I want to come into your bed."
"No, Freddie, you must stay where you are. I guess it was only the wind blowing on you."
"No, it wasn't!" said Freddie. "It was a bump that hit me. I'm afraid over here!"