Laura Lee Hope

“ Looking in the direction of the woods, they saw coming toward them an old man, wearing a big, ragged overcoat, a fur cap and mittens, while over his shoulder was an axe.
"Oh! oh!" said Flossie in a low voice. "Who—who's that, Freddie?"
"Oh, I know him. That's Uncle Jack, the woodchopper. He'll help us get the boat on the ice again, and I can sail it back home."
"Nope!" cried Flossie, shaking her flaxen curly head. "I'm never going to ride in an ice-boat with you any more. Never! You go too fast, and stop too quick. I'm going to walk home!" ”

“ And so my little fat fireman had a ride in an ice-boat, did he?" cried Mr. Bobbsey that night, when he came home from the office and heard the story. "And how did my little fat fairy like it?" And he lifted up first Freddie and then Flossie to kiss them. "Fat fireman" and "fat fairy" were Mr. Bobbsey's pet names for the smaller twins. Bert and Nan had had pet names when they were small, but they were too large for them now, growing out of them as they grew out of their clothes.
"Oh, it was glorious!" cried Nan. "Sailing in an ice-boat must be like the way it feels to be in an airship." ”

“ Flossie cried, and into the store dashed the little girl. "I've brought back Papa and Mamma and Bert and Nan," Flossie explained to her brother. "They all want to see the bugs."
"Well!" exclaimed the man in the store. "This is going to be a busy day for me, I guess," and he smiled at the Bobbsey family.
"Can I have three of these bugs, Daddy?" asked Freddie, just as if he had caused no trouble at all by going off as he had done. ”

“ He was looking after the ropes of the sail, or doing something to the steering rudder, and that's why he didn't see you and Freddie."
"What makes an ice-boat go?" asked Freddie.
"The wind blows it, just as the wind blows a sailboat," explained Bert, looking down the lake after the ice-boat.
"But it hasn't any cabin to it like a real boat," went on Freddie. "And it doesn't go in the water. Where do the people sit?"
"An ice-boat is like this," said Bert, and with the sharp heel end of his skate he drew a picture on the ice. ”

“ Bert and Nan Bobbsey were so interested when they heard that Freddie and Flossie were going to see some sort of a camping scene at Mr. Whipple's store that they, too, begged to be allowed to join the party.
"Come right along!" exclaimed the merchant. "The more the merrier. I hope you'll like it."
"Is it a real camp, with trees and all?" asked Freddie.
"Well, there are some real bushes, and make-believe trees," said Mr. Whipple. "I couldn't grow real big woodland trees in my store, you know. But the tent is real, so is the fire, and the men who are camping out eat real food." ”

“ The big elephant raised his trunk, making a sort of curling twist in it, and when the keeper threw the apple Ganges caught it as well as a baseball player could have done.
The next moment Flossie's apple was thrust into the elephant's mouth, and, as he chewed it, his little eyes seemed to twinkle in delight.
"He likes an apple just as much as I do," said Freddie. "Elephants is queer!"
"Don't try to go in there to feed this one peanuts!" said Bert, fearing that the little twin boy might try to do as his sister had done. Generally Flossie and Freddie wanted to do the same things. ”

“ Along through the snow jogged the woodcutter's horse, his bells jingling as he hauled the sled over the road that led along the shore of the lake.
"What'll we do about Bert's ice-boat?" asked Flossie.
"I'll look after it until he comes for it," said Uncle Jack. "It isn't damaged any, and it will be all right. Few folks come down to this end of the lake in Winter. I have it all to myself."
"You must be lonesome," remarked Freddie.
"I am, sometimes. Often I wish I had folks, like other men. ”

“ But as the ice-boat was too far away for the older Bobbseys to make their voices heard by Flossie and Freddie, Mr. Bobbsey and the others could only wave their hands.
"We must catch that boat!" cried Bert. "No telling what it will do to them if it upsets. Come on! Run, everybody!"
He set off as fast as he could go, his father with him, while Mrs. Bobbsey and Nan came along more slowly.
"I guess they want us to come back and get them," said Freddie. "They must be tired. Well, I'll steer the boat back and we'll give them a ride. Won't it be fun, Flossie?" ”

“ I'm going to be an actor man and a fireman too," replied Freddie. "I can act in a theatre when there aren't any fires to be put out."
"But what would you do if you were all dressed up as an actor man when you had to go out to put out a fire?" asked his sister.
"Oh, I'd just tell the people that I couldn't act any more, and then I'd run right out and get my engine," answered Freddie simply.
"I guess I'd like to be an actor man too," put in Laddie. "I heard a big boy tell once that they earn bushels and bushels of money." ”

“ In one end of the tank was a big turtle—the largest of all—swimming by himself, and overhead, hung by a wire from the room, was a stuffed one, larger yet. This, so a sign near it said, was a "leather-back turtle," and when alive had weighed eight hundred and fifty pounds.
"Whew!" whistled Bert, looking at the big, stuffed fellow. "He could swim around with two or three boys on his back."
"I'd like to have had a ride on him," cried Freddie. "But this one is pretty big, too!" and he pointed down at the large swimming turtle, which, just then, stuck his head up out of the water. ”

“ He had left his axe sticking in a tree near where the ice-boat had run into the snow bank, and was leading the children along by either hand. Flossie and Freddie looked up into his kindly, wrinkled face, the cheeks glowing red like two rosy apples, and they knew they would be well taken care of. Uncle Jack was a fine, honest man, and he was always kind to children, who, often in the Summer, would gather flowers near his lonely log cabin. ”

“ You might say a monkey had five hands, for those that have tails certainly use them as much as they do their paws.
"Oh, look at that one big monkey, chewing a straw just like some of the men in front of the hotel at home chew toothpicks," said Nan, pointing to a chimpanzee crouched in a corner of his cage. He did, indeed, look like a little old man thoughtfully chewing on a toothpick. And he was so natural, and so much in earnest about it, that the Bobbsey twins, all four of them, burst out laughing. ”

“ He had a number of toys of his own, and when the children were tired of playing with them, and with those the Bobbsey twins had brought, they began to have a make-believe store.
"I've got some real store boxes and things," said Laddie, as he brought them out from his play-room.
"Oh, they are real!" cried Flossie, as she saw them. "Isn't they grand! Where'd you get 'em?"
"My Uncle Dan gave them to me," said Laddie. "He keeps a real store, and he sells hats and dresses and lots of things."
"What's the name of his store?" asked Freddie.
"He's Daniel Whipple," answered Laddie. ”

“ Flossie and Freddie, hand in hand, skated ahead a little way. But Freddie's skate went over a little piece of wood on the ice and he tripped and fell, pulling Flossie down with him. The two plump twins were in a heap on the ice.
"Hurt yourself?" asked Bert, as he started toward them, to help them up.
"No—no—I—I guess not," answered Flossie, who was the first to get up.
"We're all right," replied Freddie. "The ice was soft right there."
"I guess it's because they're so fat, that they're soft, like a feather pillow," laughed Tommy. "They're getting fatter every day." ”

“ Into the automobile they piled, parents, twins, baggage and all, and off they started. On the way to the depot Flossie cried:
"Oh, there's Uncle Jack!" and the sled of the woodchopper was seen moving slowly down the village street, with a load of logs piled high on it.
"Poor old man," murmured Mrs. Bobbsey, "Did you see if you could help him in any way?" she asked her husband.
"Yes, I have arranged it so that Uncle Jack will have plenty of food this Winter. He can keep warm, for he has a stove and can cut all the wood he wants. ”

“ How would you like it?"
"Oh, please take us!" begged Laddie.
"Where is it?" Freddie asked, ready to go at once.
"In my store," said Mr. Whipple.
"A store is a funny place for a camp in the woods," said Freddie. He and Flossie had often pretended to camp out in a tent made from a blanket or quilt, and they knew what it meant.
"Well, you just come and see it," laughed Mr. Whipple. "If your folks say it's all right, I'll take you all to-morrow."
"Oh, we'll come!" cried Freddie. "I love a camp!" ”

“ Freddie said. "There's nobody in the police wagon now, for all the policemans are at the fire, but we can't see them or it. And the driver on the front seat of the wagon won't see us if we crawl in the back."
"Oh, so he won't!" cried Flossie. " 'Member how we crawled in the empty ice-wagon once?" she asked Freddie.
"Yep. I tore my pants that day. But we had a nice ride. We'll have a nice ride now," he went on. "We can get in when they don't see us."
"But when the policemans comes back from the fire they'll see us and maybe arrest us," said Laddie in a whisper. ”

“ For a moment Mr, Bobbsey, as well as his wife, was so surprised at what Flossie had done that neither could say or do anything. They just stood and looked at the little girl who was walking toward the apple, which lay in the straw just in front of the big elephant. Nan and Bert, however, together gave a cry of fear and Bert made a jump as though he intended to go into the elephant's cage, also.
His father, however, stepped in front of him, and said quietly:
"One child in there is enough at a time. I'll get Flossie!" ”

“ Flossie and Freddie, anxious to win the skating race, were bending over with heads down, as all skaters do who wish to go fast and keep the wind from blowing on them too hard. So they did not see the ice-boat coming toward them, for the craft, blown by the wind, made hardly any noise, and what little it did make was taken up by the clicking of the skates of the smaller twins. ”

“ We have lots of fun. Why?"
"But she's a girl!"
"Of course she's a girl," agreed Freddie, "She couldn't be my sister if she wasn't a girl. I've got another sister, too, but she's bigger. She's sitting on the end of the row. She plays with Bert and Flossie plays with me. We're two sets of twins. Don't you like girls?"
"Well, I don't know," said Laddie slowly. "I never played with 'em much. I—I like your sister, though. She can play with us. Do you ever play store?"
"Lots of times," said Freddie. ”

“ We are all going to a great city!"
"To live?"
"No, just on a visit," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Oh, it is good news! I have been wanting to go for a long while. Come in, Bert—and you too, Flossie and Freddie—and hear the good news!" she called to the other twins, "Daddy has glorious news for us!" ”

“ As the train was leaving that station Flossie and Freddie saw the ticket agent run out, waving his hand, and they heard him shout something to their guard. When the latter came into their car again he said to Flossie and Freddie:
"That message was about you two. The agent said two lost children were on this train and that they were to be put off at the next station and left until their father came for them. You're the only lost children I know of."
"And we're not lost so very much," said Flossie slowly. "'Cause we are here. It's Daddy and the rest who are lost." ”

“ Then the two small twins looked back over the icy lake and far behind them saw their father and mother, with Bert and Nan, standing on the ice and waving their hands.
"Oh, they've jumped off and left us to sail the boat alone!" cried Freddie, "Now I can steer! Isn't that good?" ”

“ But you children can have plenty of good times in two weeks, I should think."
"Of course we can!" cried Bert. "And when we get back home——"
"Are we going camping?" interrupted Freddie. "Flossie and I want to go camping in the woods."
"On an island in a lake," added the little girl. "And we can take the bugs that go around and around and around and—and——"
"And the bugs that go around and around will catch all the mosquitoes that fly up and down, up and down, and bite us!" laughed Mrs. Bobbsey. "Yes, we certainly shall have to take the 'go around' bugs to camp with us, children." ”