Laura Lee Hope

“ Bobbsey found it hard to imagine that such a thing could happen.
But one look up at the swaying basket dangling from the runaway balloon showed him the faces of Flossie and Freddie looking down at the earth which seemed to be dropping away from them.
"Oh, my children! My children! Flossie! Freddie!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey, tears streaming down her cheeks, as she raised her hands toward the swiftly rising balloon.
"Get them down!"
"We'll catch 'em if they jump!"
"Get a ladder!"
"Have the man in the aeroplane go after them!" ”

“ Bobbsey, and he spoke in such a way that Mr. Blipper at once lost some of his bluster. "She has the same right that any one has to inquire into something he thinks is wrong."
"But this isn't wrong!" cried Mr. Blipper. "I have a right to this boy. I adopted him legally, I did! I gave him a name when he didn't have any before. Bob Guess I call him, 'cause I had to guess at his name. I took him out of an orphan asylum and give him a good home!"
"Home!" cried Bob Guess. "You didn't give me any home! You keep dragging me all over the country with that merry-go-round! ”

“ You'll have plenty of other fun."
"I wanted to go up in the balloon," and Bert sighed in disappointment.
"We'll go look at it, anyhow," suggested Harry.
"I want a ride on a lion!" insisted Freddie.
"So do I!" added Flossie.
"All right, I'll take you children to the merry-go-round," said Mr. Bobbsey. "You come there and meet us after you finish looking at the balloon and the airship," he said to Bert and Harry.
"I'll stay with you, Daddy," said Nan. "I want a ride on the merry-go-round, too," and she laughed.
They could hear the music of the "carrousel," as a merry-go-round is sometimes called. ”

“ The little brother and sister were objects of curiosity wherever they went on the fair grounds, 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. ”

“ Men who raised horses and cattle took their best specimens to the fair to show them for prizes.
Then there were to be automobile races and horse races, and there were many amusements from the big merry-go-round to the little tents and booths where one could throw baseballs at dolls or toss rings over canes. There were also booths and tents where candy, ice-cream, lemonade and cider were sold, as well as places to eat.
"Oh, it's wonderful!" cried Nan, as she and her brothers, her sister, Harry and her father got out of their automobile and walked through the big gates into the fair grounds. ”

“ Pine Grove was several miles outside the town of Lakeport, on the shores of a little lake. It was there the yearly picnics of the Sunday schools were always held, and the Bobbsey twins, as well as the other young people of the town, looked forward with pleasure to the outings.
"What you say we get up a ball game?" asked Dannie of Bert, when they were all settled in their places.
"Sure we will," Bert agreed. "Have we got enough fellows?"
"If you haven't, some of us girls will play," offered Nan.
"Pooh! Girls can't play ball!" sneered Charlie Mason. ”

“ But room had been saved in this one for Bert, Nan, Flossie and Freddie.
"Come on, Nan! Come on!" cried Flossie, still jumping up and down.
"Tell Nan to hurry!" added Freddie to his brother.
"She's coming," Bert said, as he walked down to the gate with the packages of lunch.
"Hello, Bert!" called Charlie Mason, from the truck. "Got enough to eat?"
"I guess so," Bert answered his chum, holding up the boxes and baskets. "Enough for two picnics I should say!"
"You can eat a lot when you're off in the woods," added Dannie Rugg. "It's like camping out." ”

“ Bobbsey slowly. "I suppose it would be a good thing to visit a big county fair, and this is one of the largest."
"But we'd have to go and stay for some time," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Bolton is a long way off. We couldn't go and come the same day."
"One ought to spend more than a day at a big fair if he wants to see everything," went on Mr. Bobbsey. "I never could stay as long as I wanted to when I was a boy. Now, I was thinking perhaps we could all go to Meadow Brook Farm for a little visit. From Meadow Brook it isn't far to the Bolton County Fair."
"Oh, let's go!" cried Bert and Nan. ”

“ The water was more of an attraction for the smaller twins than was the swing, and thus Nan, Bert and Harry had it to themselves. While Flossie and Freddie played with the doll and the boat, the older children took turns seeing how high they could go. Then they would let the "old cat die," that is, stay in the swing, without trying to make it sway, until it came to a dead stop.
"I know what we can do!" cried Bert, when they were tired of swinging.
"What?" asked Harry.
"We can shinny up the rope like sailors. I can go 'way up to the limb." ”

“ Bert and his chums stood looking at the steam engine and listening to the organ, while Nan and the smaller children danced. Then up came Mr. Blipper.
"I guess this is a dollar's worth of music," he announced.
"I believe so," agreed Mr. Bobbsey, with a smile. "The children have enjoyed it. Thank you!"
"Um!" grunted Mr. Blipper. "Here you, Bob!" he roared. "Come and shut off this steam. We're going to travel!" ”

“ 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." ”

“ After drinking the lemonade the children hardly knew at what to look next, there were so many things to see. Presently Mr. Bobbsey said:
"You have been among a lot of wooden animals on the merry-go-round, suppose we go see some real, live animals?"
"Oh, yes!" cried Nan.
"Let's go to see the race horses," suggested Bert.
"And I want to see cows and pigs!" announced Freddie.
"And sheeps! I want to see sheeps!" exclaimed Flossie.
"They're on the way to the racing horse stables," explained Harry. "All the live stock is together." ”

“ Bobbsey, as she struggled to regain her seat.
"What have we struck?" Mr. Bobbsey asked.
"We've struck Hemlock Island," said Captain Craig grimly. "We've fairly bumped into it. I ought to have known I was somewhere near it. We've fairly rammed it, and we're on the rocks!"
"'On the rocks!'" repeated Mrs. Bobbsey. "Are we in danger?"
"That's what I'm going to find out," said the captain. "At least we can't sink, for we're right on shore," and as he spoke the fog blew away for a moment, showing a bleak shore of rocks with hemlock trees a little way up from the beach. ”

“ Bobbsey, when told of the news, "must we stay here all night?"
"Unless I hire another auto, or you and the children go on by train," said her husband. "I shall have to stay here to bring our car on."
"Oh, I don't want that! No, we'll stay at the hotel. But what about him?" she asked in a low voice, pointing to Bob Guess, who was talking to the twins.
"That's so. We can't turn him adrift," Mr. Bobbsey agreed. "Well, I'll get a room for him at the hotel. In the morning I can decide what to do. I don't like to send him back to Blipper. But if the man has adopted him he has a claim on the boy. ”

“ As for Nan, she also was surprised at the suddenness of her tumble when she was almost perched safely astride the limb to which the rope of the swing was tied. As she felt herself slipping she had clung with all her might, one hand and part of her arm over the branch, another hand grasping the rope, one leg partly up over the limb, and the other leg tangled in the rope. ”

“ It isn't cold. I can ride home without a coat."
"There's a lap robe in the auto," Mrs. Bobbsey said. "You can wrap that about you if you get chilly on the way home."
"Yes," agreed Mr. Bobbsey, "I can do that. Trot along, Bobbsey twins. Get into your picnic truck, and we'll see who gets home first."
"Like Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf," laughed Flossie.
While Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey walked over to where Mr. Bobbsey had left the runabout auto in which he and his wife had come to the picnic grounds, Bert, Nan, and the other children took their places in the big truck. ”

“ As for Uncle Daniel and Aunt Sarah, they said they would go to the fair another day.
"Will you ask Mr. Blipper about your coat and the missing robe?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey, on the way to the fair grounds.
"Yes. And I'll ask him about Bob Guess, also," her husband answered. "There is something strange about that boy."
The Bobbsey twins and Harry were talking among themselves, while Nan also looked after Flossie and Freddie.
"They're going to put the big balloon up to-day," said Harry.
"They are if the wind doesn't blow too much," Bert agreed. "And I'm afraid it's blowing too hard. ”

“ When the little boy took a step his foot touched the thin end of the branch, and made the thick end, near Flossie, move. Flossie took this for the swaying of a snake's head, and so she had screamed in fright.
"There's your snake—only a tree branch!" laughed Nan, as she lifted the dead limb and held it up.
"Ho! Ho!" laughed Freddie.
"Was that it—for sure?" asked Flossie.
"Of course!" answered Nan. "Come sit down and finish your sandwich. Then we'll play until it's time to eat our regular lunch." ”

“ I haven't had any real folks in a long time. I was taken out of the asylum by this man, so he says. He adopted me, I reckon, and he said he gave me that name 'cause he had to guess what my real name was. So I'm called Bob Guess."
"A queer name," murmured Bert. "But I'd like to know how to work a steam engine."
"So'd I!" agreed the other boys.
"Pooh! It's easy," said Bob Guess, who seemed to like to show off. For he turned another little faucet, thereby sending out a cloud of steam, and causing Charlie Mason to jump back. ”

“ She's all right, I'm sure," said the other Mrs. Bobbsey. "We'll go back to the cornfield and find her hiding, I feel certain."
"But she wasn't playing hide and go seek," declared Nan. "She wouldn't hide from us."
"You can't tell," said Aunt Sarah, so cheerfully that the others took heart. Back they hurried to the field where the big shocks of dried cornstalks stood. The two Mr. Bobbseys also went along to help in the search.
"Now show us where you and Flossie were playing at shell the corn," said the mother of the twins. ”

“ Your children will come down like feathers. We'll get up a searching party and go after them." He knew there was great danger but he did not want to add to Mrs. Bobbsey's fears.
"Oh, yes! Do something!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey. "We must save them!"
While down below there was all excitement and while a searching party was getting ready to start out to rescue Flossie and Freddie, the two little children themselves were safe enough in the balloon basket. That is they were safe for the time being, for they could not fall unless they climbed over the side of the basket, and they would hardly do this. ”

“ Bobbsey, were strained in looking for a first sight of Hemlock Island.
"Are you warm enough?" asked Mr. Bobbsey of his wife, wrapping the rubber coat more closely about her.
"Oh, yes. I'm not thinking of myself," she answered, with a sigh. "I am worried about my darlings!"
"I think they'll come out of it all right," said her husband. "Flossie and Freddie, as well as Bert and Nan, have been in many a scrape, but the Bobbsey luck seems to hold good. ”

“ He ran down the road, was gone a little while, and came back, his eyes shining with eagerness.
"Oh, it's a big merry-go-round!" he cried.
"A merry-go-round?" repeated his mother, busy at the ice cream.
"Yes, a man has a big merry-go-round in pieces on three or four big wagons," Bert reported. "Something's the matter with the engine—it runs by a steam engine, and something's the matter!"
"Bert, go call your father," said Mrs. Bobbsey, for her husband had gone to the far side of the grove to get another ice cream tub from the truck on which they were brought to the picnic. ”

“ Bobbsey.
"Maybe I can coax Snoop out," put in Nan. "He minds me better than he does any one else. Here, Snoop! Come on out, nice Snoop!" she called in a gentle voice.
But Snoop only growled in answer, and seemed to be shaking, beneath the table, the unknown animal he had caught and dragged there.
"Shall I get the rake and pull him out?" asked Bert.
"No, you might hurt him," replied Mr. Bobbsey. "Go out to the garage and get the big flash lamp from Sam. I can shine that under the table and we can see what it is before we do anything. Evidently Snoop isn't going to come out until he gets ready. ”

“ 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." ”

“ Seeing that Flossie and Freddie were all right, being strapped to their wooden lions, and that Nan could look after herself, Mr. Bobbsey took a seat in one of the gilded cars that were provided for older persons who did not like to sit astride a wooden animal. He watched Bob Guess making his way around the carrousel collecting the tickets. The boy seemed bright and very business like.
"He's a good lad," thought Mr. Bobbsey. "I wish a better man than Mr. Blipper had charge of him. ”

“ It was not so much fun as Freddie had at first thought to take a ride in this way. At the beginning he had an idea that he might some day be a jockey and wear a gayly colored silk blouse. But he never imagined race horses went so fast.
"Whoa! Whoa!" cried Freddie again. But his horse did not stop. Indeed, it only went faster.
"Somebody get after that boy!" yelled the starter, leaning from the judges' stand. "He'll be hurt if you don't get him!"
"I'll get him!" offered one of the jockeys. He called to his horse and was soon speeding around the track after Freddie. ”

“ Again came the voice of a little child, crying either in fear or in delight at some funny happening, it could not be told which.
"There goes Freddie, letting off steam," said Bert. "I guess it isn't anything very much. Freddie always laughs in that squealing way when something tickles him."
Mr. Bobbsey, with the two older twins, entered the kitchen soon after Mrs. Bobbsey. There stood Flossie and Freddie before a low kitchen table, one leaf of which was down, so that whatever was under could not be seen very well, on account of the shadow cast by the electric light. ”