Laura Lee Hope

“ Meanwhile Flossie and Freddie and some of their friends were having fun on the small hill. Each of the smaller Bobbsey twins had a sled, and the children had races to see who would get first to the bottom of the slope. With merry shouts and laughter they played amid the swirling flakes of white snow. ”

“ Bert answered in a low voice, so Flossie would not hear. For of course if she had known it hurt her brother to carry her she would not ask him to. But just then Flossie was reaching up to take hold of a branch of a tree as Bert passed beneath it. And, catching hold of it, Flossie, with a merry laugh, showered herself and Bert with snow that clung to the branch.
“Don’t, Flossie, dear!” Bert had to say. “There’s snow enough without pulling down any more. And we’ll get plenty if the clouds spill more flakes.”
“Do you think it will storm some more?” Freddie wanted to know. ”

“ By this time Mrs. Bobbsey and Mrs. Baxter had rushed out of the log cabin, and Tom Case came from his sawmill. Several other lumbermen, hearing Freddie’s excited cries, came running up, but there was nothing for them to do, as Flossie was already rescued.
“What has happened?” cried Mrs. Bobbsey, as she saw her little girl, dripping wet, in the arms of Mr. Peterson.
“She fell in,” explained the lumberman. “She wasn’t in more than a few seconds, though. All she needs is dry clothes!” ”

“ And it was about the time that Flossie and Freddie were having such fun with Old Jim that, back in this same logger’s lonely cabin, Bert and Nan were wondering whether they would have anything to eat for supper.
As Nan had said, she did see two large rabbits when she looked from the window. And she called to her brother to get the gun from its place over the mantel.
“Land sakes!” exclaimed Mrs. Bimby, “there are two right in plain sight. Now Bert, if you’re any kind of a shot, maybe we’ll have rabbit stew for supper. Here, take the gun, but be careful!” ”

“ Bert Bobbsey started off bravely enough from the cabin of Mrs. Bimby to go for help for the old woman, so that food might be taken to her bare cupboard.
“And I’ll have daddy bring a sled or something so Nan can ride home to camp on it,” thought Bert, as he trudged along through the snow. “It’s hard walking. I wish I had a pair of snowshoes.” ”

“ It’s only what they call a squall. I s’pose they call it that because the wind howls, or squalls, like a baby. Anyhow, I’m not afraid! It’s fun, I think!”
By this time he had reached Nan’s side, the two having been separated when the sudden storm burst. And now that Nan saw Bert near her and noticed that he had his bag of lunch, as she had hers, she took heart and said:
“Well, maybe it won’t be so bad if we can find a place to stay, and can eat our dinner.”
“Of course we can!” cried Bert. “There’s lots of places to stay in these woods. We can find a hollow tree! I’ll look for one!” ”

“ Mrs. Bobbsey and the little twins sat on the far end of the carriage, and began to ride forward with it. Of course if they had stayed on too long they would have been carried up against the dangerous saw just as the log was. But before this would happen they could step 95 off, as the carriage moved slowly, like an automobile just before it stops.
“Oh, this is fun!” cried Flossie, as she dragged her feet through little piles of sawdust.
“’Most as much fun as nutting!” agreed Freddie. “I’m going to be a lumber-saw man when I grow up.” ”

“ Flossie and Freddie Bobbsey were two of the kindest children in the world. They were fond of fun and of having a good time, but whenever their mother did work for the church at home, helping poor families, taking food to people who had but little, Freddie and Flossie always wanted to do their share. So did Bert and Nan; but as the older twins had to spend more time in school than did Flossie and Freddie, the two latter had more chances to help their mother. ”

“ Then, as she and Freddie walked on, Flossie turned to her brother and said:
“Freddie, didn’t we ought to do something for the poor?”
“Maybe we ought,” he agreed. “But who is poor?”
“Anybody that has ragged clothes is poor,” observed Flossie. “We could give ’em some of our clothes, ’cause I’ve got so many my closet is full.”
“I’ve two pair of pants,” observed Freddie. “I don’t need but one, I guess. But you can’t eat clothes, Flossie.”
“I know it, but you have to have clothes when it’s cold. And it maybe will snow for Thanksgiving. Oh, Freddie! ”

“ This is what always happens when a person eats snow. Ice is different, if you hold pieces of it in your mouth until it melts.
“My! I wish I had a drink,” exclaimed Bert, speaking aloud, as he had done a number of times since setting out alone to bring help to Nan and Mrs. Bimby. “I wish I had a drink of water!”
Now Bert Bobbsey knew better than to eat dry snow. Once when he was a small boy, smaller even than Freddie, he had been playing out in the snow and had eaten it whenever he felt thirsty. ”

“ It was getting much worse, as Bert and 124 Nan could see. The wind howled around the corners of the log cabin of Jim Bimby, the logger, and the blast whistled down the chimney, even blowing sparks out around the door of the wood-burning stove.
“Yes, it’s a bad storm,” went on the old woman. “I wish Jim was back, and with some victuals to eat. When you twins knocked I thought it was Jim. I wish he’d come back, but he’s an old man, and he may fall down in the snow and not be able to get up. He isn’t as strong as he used to be. I’m certainly worried about Jim!” ”

“ There was a fine Thanksgiving dinner at the Bobbsey home, but the mother of the four twins did not forget the poor. She helped Miss Pompret with that lady’s Thanksgiving feast for those who were not fortunate enough to have one of their own, and Mr. Bobbsey and some other good-hearted men of Lakeport provided money so that the Salvation Army could feed a number of hungry men who were out of work.
Still there was one reason why at least Flossie and Freddie, of the Bobbsey family, were not quite happy that Thanksgiving day. And the reason was because there was no snow. ”

“ They knew Miss Pompret quite well, since Bert and Nan had, on their trip to Washington, discovered some of the elderly lady’s missing valuable china. Miss Pompret was what some people would call “rich,” and she had offered a reward for the finding of 30 her rare sugar-bowl and milk-pitcher. It was these pieces that Nan had, by chance, seen in a secondhand store window, and Miss Pompret paid the older Bobbsey twins the reward, which they turned in to charity.
“Are you going to the store for your mother?” asked Miss Pompret of Flossie and Freddie, as they paused at her door. ”

“ I got one!” excitedly cried Bert, as he saw one of the bunnies lying on the snow. The other had scampered off.
“Yes, you did get one, child!” said Mrs. Bimby, as she ran out into the storm and came back with the game. “Now we shan’t starve. I’ll make a potpie.”
This she did, stewing the rabbit with some dumplings she made from a little flour she had left in the bottom of the barrel. Bert and Nan thought nothing had ever tasted so good as that rabbit potpie.
“You’ll be quite a hunter when you grow up,” said Mrs. Bimby, when the meal was over. “You shot straight and true, Bert!” ”

“ Flossie had covered her mouth and nose with one hand, and thus tried not to make as much noise as she otherwise would.
“Say! everything will be spoiled,” declared Bert. “I never saw such children! We ought to ’a’ made them hide their things this afternoon!”
“Flossie can’t help it,” said Nan kindly. “Maybe she is catching cold. I must tell mother to give her some medicine.”
“’Tisn’t cold,” declared Flossie. “It’s some dust got up my nose. There was dust in the closet where Freddie made me crawl to get him a cigar box.” ”

“ Then the older Bobbsey twins began to understand how it is that snow can bring pleasure to boys and girls, but may often mean trouble for older people in business.
“Well, we’ll hope for the best,” said Mr. Bobbsey, as he started back to the office after dinner, when the white flakes were still falling steadily. “I may have to go up to the North Woods to see about that shipment of trees if they don’t get here soon.”
“Could we go?” asked Bert, having a joyful vision of a mid-winter trip to one of his father’s lumber camps. ”

“ Flossie was now cozy and warm after her dip into the water.
“There’s your father!” exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey, as she heard someone stamping off the snow at the front door. “I hope he has Bert and Nan with him.”
But when Mr. Bobbsey came in alone and heard that the older twins had not come back from their nutting trip, a worried look came over his face.
“Not back yet!” he exclaimed. “Why, it’s getting dark and the storm is growing worse! I must start out after them with some of the lumbermen. They must be lost!” ”

“ One of the slats of the chicken crate on the auto-truck came loose, and in through the broken window fluttered a hen and a rooster. Right into the trolley they flew, the hen cackling and the rooster crowing!
“Oh, look! Look!” cried Flossie. 59
“Catch ’em!” shouted Freddie, pulling away from Bert and grabbing for the rooster.
But the rooster did not intend to be caught. Half running and half flying, he “scooted,” as Freddie called it, down to the end of the car, and, as the conductor had just opened the door to look out and see what was causing the blockade, the rooster made his escape. ”

“ I’ll go to meet them.”
“Oh, take us!” cried Flossie and Freddie. “We want to see Bert and Nan.”
“Oh, no, I couldn’t take you,” said their father. “The snow is piled deep in drifts, and you’d sink away down in—over your heads. I’ll take some of the men and start,” he said to his wife.
And so, a little later, another searching party started away from Cedar Camp to find the missing Bobbsey twins.
“I’ll go along,” said Old Jim, who was now able to travel. “I must take some food to my wife. She’ll be ’most starved.” ”

“ Freddie chimed in. “We didn’t have much coasting at all!”
“You didn’t, eh?” laughed Jim, as he lifted out Flossie and Freddie, Bert and Nan being too big for this attention. “Well, when we do get snow up here we generally get a lot, and it may come any time. But the longer it holds off the better we can get out lumber and Christmas trees.” ”

“ Every now and again Bert would get so near the bunny that he felt sure that the next moment he would be able to get hold of the long ears. But every time the rabbit would give a desperate jump and get beyond the boy’s reach. ”

“ Flossie and Freddie looked at each other in surprise. To be so poor that one had to “smell” candy instead of eating it, was to be poor indeed! Flossie opened her fat chubby hand and looked at the two moist pennies clutched there. Freddie did the same. Then the small Bobbsey twins, with one accord, held out the money to the boy and girl. ”

“ Flossie went on. “Can it?”
“Oh, did you sneeze, dear?” asked Nan, who, since she and Bert were “growing up,” felt that she must take a little more motherly care of Flossie.
“Yes, I did sneeze,” Flossie answered. “An’ maybe I’ll sneeze more again. I feel so, anyhow.”
“Don’t you dare!” exclaimed Bert.
“She didn’t sneeze! Not a reg’lar sneeze!” declared Freddie, who was carrying a cigar box. Did I mention that Freddie and Flossie were the other pair of Bobbsey twins? I meant to, anyhow. ”

“ Flossie and Freddie were too small to think much about the missing Christmas trees, which their father had come to camp to see about. All they were anxious for was to have some fun, and going to the sawmill was part of this.
The sawmill was farther down on Pine Brook, where that stream widened out and was dammed up to make a waterfall. Part of the waterfall went through a flume, or sort of wooden canal, and the water, falling down a shaft, or wooden tunnel standing on end, turned a turbine wheel.
A turbine wheel is quite different from the ordinary mill wheel you may have seen. ”

“ Flossie thought this over for a moment, and then her face lighted up.
“I know what we can do!” she said. “We can look for some poor ragged people, and take them to our house for Thanksgiving. Mother or father could give them some clothes and they could have some of our turkey. Daddy and mother have some dressings, too, like Miss Pompret said.”
“She didn’t say ‘dressings,’” objected Freddie. “It’s ‘blessings,’ like you get in Sunday-school.”
“Oh,” said Flossie. “Well, we could get some for the poor. Let’s do it, Freddie.” ”

“ But he did not seem surprised when Flossie was placed on his back and held there by Freddie on one side and Bert on the other.
“Now I’m having a ride on a make-believe elephant!” laughed Flossie. Rover could not run with the little girl on his back, and I must say he behaved very nicely, carrying her along through the drifts. Her legs hung “dangling down-o,” but that did not matter.
“I guess I’m rested now,” said Flossie, after a bit. “I’m cold, and it will make me warmer to walk. I’ll walk and hold your hand, Bert.” ”

“ He had been some distance ahead of the animal, and when it ran up to the edge of the clearing Bert had several snowballs ready.
“Come on now! See how you like that!” cried the boy. He threw one snowball “bullet,” but he was so excited that it went high over the head of the bobcat. The next one struck in the snow at the feet of the animal. But the third one hit it right on the nose!
“Good shot!” cried Bert.
The wildcat uttered a snarl and a growl, and 212 stopped for a moment. Perhaps it had never before chased anyone who threw snowballs. ”

“ Morning came at last, but it was not such a 143 morning as all in Cedar Camp had hoped for. They had expected the storm to be over, so that a searching party could again set out to find Bert and Nan.
But instead of the storm being over, it was even worse than the night before. A regular blizzard had set in, the snow coming out of the north on the wings of a cold wind. Great drifts were piled high here and there through the camp clearing, and when Freddie and Flossie looked from the window they could hardly see the sawmill.
“Oh, oh!” squealed Freddie. “Look, Flossie! Just look!” ”