CHAPTERXXII
Bert Bobbsey, who had gone out to clear some of the snow from the side porch, hurried back into the house just as Nan called to him. He, also, saw and smelled the smoke. And he heard the cries of fire, not only shouted by Flossie and Freddie, but also by Mrs. Pry.
The old lady in her excitement, and in spite of the pain in her back, had gotten out of bed and was hurrying around the room, gathering up such of her things as she could find.
“Bert! Bert!” cried Nan again. “What is it? Is the house on fire?”
Much as he feared to admit this, Bert began to think it was what had, most unfortunately, happened.
“Guess I made too much of a blaze in the furnace!” gasped the boy.
Nan saw Bert rushing for the door leading to the cellar.
“Don’t go down there!” she cried.
“I’ve got to! That’s where the fire has started!” he called back. “I’ll see if I can’t put it out before it gets any worse.”
“No! No!” shouted Nan. “You’ll get burned. If the house is on fire we must telephone in an alarm. Mother always said to call the engines first thing! Telephone in the alarm, Bert!”
“I can’t telephone the alarm in, Nan,” he said.
“Why not?”
“The telephone’s broken! I’ll have to run down the street and pull the box!”
“Can’t you go next door and telephone?” Nan wanted to know. “Oh, of course you can’t! Oh, it’s getting worse, Bert!”
It surely was—at least the smoke was.
“Get Flossie and Freddie out!” gasped the boy. “And Aunt Sallie! Never mind the house—let it burn!”
“Oh, Bert Bobbsey! Let our lovely house burn!”
“Well, we can’t put it out, can we? Get Flossie and Freddie out and Mrs. Pry! I’ll go pull the fire box!”
It seemed the best thing to do. Upstairs ran Nan to the playroom where Flossie and Freddie were crying, for they were much frightened.
“Come!” called Nan. “We must get out! The house is burning!”
“I’m going to take my dolls!” exclaimed Flossie, catching two or three of her most cherished ones in her arms.
“And I’m going to take my fire engine!” shouted Freddie. “If it was a bigger one, maybe it could put out the fire.”
“Don’t stop to pick up any of your toys!” ordered Nan. “But come with me!”
She caught the children, each by an arm, and fairly pulled them out into the hall. At the same time she cried:
“Can you get down, Aunt Sallie? The house is on fire!”
“No need to tell me that!” cried the oldlady, who seemed suddenly to forget about her aches and pains. “I can smell smoke, even if I am a little deaf!”
She hobbled out into the hall, having slipped a warm bathrobe on. In one hand she carried her shoes, and in the other her half-filled valise, while under her arms she had bundles of her clothing.
“Land sakes, this is terrible! Driven out in the middle of winter!” she cried.
As Bert opened the front door to rush down the street to the nearest fire box he almost fell off the porch in his excitement, for, rushing up the front walk was—his father!
And behind him came Mrs. Bobbsey!
“Bert! Bert!” cried his father, seeing the smoke. “What has happened?”
“House on fire!” shouted Bert. “I’m going to turn in the alarm! Telephone’s broke!”
As he swung out of the gate Bert was given a further surprise by colliding with Sam Johnson, who dropped the valise he was carrying.
“Fo’ de lan’ sakes!” gasped Sam.
The breath was almost knocked out of Bert, but he had a vision of fat Dinah waddling up the street. At first Bert thought it was all a dream—his father and mother and Sam and Dinah all coming home at once and so unexpectedly! But he was soon sure it was no dream, and certainly the smoke pouring out of the front door was real enough.
“Oh, Sam! The house is on fire!” cried Mrs. Bobbsey. “Where are the children? Nan! Flossie! Freddie! And where’s Mrs. Pry?”
“They’re coming out!” cried Bert. “You look after them. I’ll get the engines!”
“Don’t get de engines!” shouted Sam. “Don’t!”
“But the house is on fire!” exclaimed Mr. Bobbsey.
“No it ain’t!” insisted Sam. “I know whut it is. I kin tell by de smell ob de smoke. It’s de furnace in de cellar. Did you put on wood, Bert?”
“Yes, I just made a new fire!”
“It’s de furnace all right,” said Sam. “You done got de damper turned de wrong way.It happened to me once. It’s gwine to be aw right in a minute. De house ain’t on fire. It’s jest de furnace. I’ll fix her!”
He dashed into the house and down the cellar steps. By this time Nan, with the smaller twins and Aunt Sallie, reached the front steps.
In spite of the cold, a crowd was gathering in the street, attracted by the smoke, and several men offered to turn in an alarm, but Mr. Bobbsey told them to wait. In a minute or two Sam came out again, his eyes running with tears on account of the smoke.
“Dat’s just whut I t’ought it was,” he gasped. “Damper turned de wrong way. De furnace has stopped smokin’ now, an’ I opened a lot of windows. We kin go back in de house soon.”
In a little while, they could do so. With the damper properly turned, the smoke from the new fire in the furnace went up the chimney, as it should, and through the open windows the smoke in the house soon blew out.
“Well, my poor dears, what a fright you must have had!” said Mrs. Bobbsey, holding Flossie and Freddie on her lap while Bert andNan stood near. “And all alone, too! We didn’t know until a little while ago that Sam and Dinah were away. But I suppose Mrs. Pry looked after you.”
“No, I’m sorry to say, I couldn’t,” said Mrs. Pry, who had by this time put on a few clothes. “I was taken with the lumbago soon after Dinah went away, and these children have been keeping house by themselves. And very well they did it, too!”
“You ought to get back in bed, Aunt Sallie, with your lumbago!” said Nan. “The doctor said we must keep you warm.”
“Yes, he did, my dear,” said Aunt Sallie, with a smile. “But I never thought, and I don’t believe he did, either, that you’d make me think the house was on fire to keep me warm. But I don’t seem to have any lumbago left. I feel much better. I guess the fright cured me.”
And so it seemed, for Aunt Sallie moved about as well as before she had had to go to bed.
The Bobbsey twins got over their fright, and the crowd, which had feared the Bobbseyhouse was burning, moved away. Sam made the fire good and hot, without letting it smoke. The house was soon put to rights again. And once more there were happy, smiling faces.
“But we didn’t know you were coming home,” said Nan to her mother. “Is Uncle Rossiter better?”
“Yes, he’s all right. We sent you word that we were coming, but I guess you didn’t get any mail. We had none from you.”
“The storm was too bad,” stated Bert. “And didn’t you know Sam had to go away and then Dinah had to go after Sam?”
“No, we didn’t know a thing about it,” said Mr. Bobbsey. “Coming home on the train we saw Sam and Dinah get on at the junction early this morning, and that was the first we knew they had had to leave.”
Dinah explained that she had found Sam not as sick as at first reported, and she soon had him “on his feet again,” as she called it. His brother, too, got better, so there was no need of Sam’s remaining in the South, andthe two faithful servants hurried back as soon as they could.
“Oh, I’m so glad you’re all back!” exclaimed Nan. “It’s been hard work, keeping house alone.”
“It must have been, my dear,” said her mother. “You were brave children. So many things must have happened.”
“There did,” sighed Nan.
“I sat in the biksits!” laughed Flossie.
“And Bert fell off the roof!” said Freddie.
“And the window’s broke!” added Flossie.
Then all the happenings were told, including how Bert found Danny’s ring in the church.
A few days after that the weather cleared and it grew warmer. School resumed, and one of the first things done was to make Danny Rugg get up in front of all the classes and tell that he had broken the window. Thus was Bert’s name cleared and Sam Todd was made to apologize to him.
“Well, I’m glad this is over,” said the principal. “I congratulate you, Bert Bobbsey!”
And Bert felt very happy.
“Well, I guess you don’t need me any more,” said Mrs. Pry a few days later.
“But we hope you’ll come and see us some other time,” said Mrs. Bobbsey.
“What’s that?” exclaimed Aunt Sallie. “Is the kitten hanging on the line?”
When it was explained to her what Mrs. Bobbsey had said, Aunt Sallie joined in laughing at her mistake.
And now that we can leave them happy and contented, we shall say good-bye to the children until we meet them again. An interesting vacation was to come to them soon, to be called, “The Bobbsey Twins at Clover Bank.”
As Daddy Bobbsey was leaving for work one morning he smiled to himself, for he had just heard this conversation:
“Let’s play house!” Freddie had suggested.
“I’ll be Aunt Sallie,” shouted Flossie.
“We’ll not sit in biscuits!” laughed Nan.
“Nor have a fire!” added Bert.
THE END