The Bobbsey Twins on a Houseboat

by Laura Lee Hope

  CHAPTER XVII

  IN THE STORM

  Dinah was certainly very much frightened, but Nan was not. She knewbetter than to believe in such things as "ghosts," and, though thesandwiches might have disappeared, the little girl felt sure theremust be some reasonable explanation about the mystery.

  "I'll call mamma, Dinah," offered Nan. "She won't want you to leave usnow, when we have just started on this trip."

  "Go on, honey lamb, call yo' ma," agreed the fat cook. "But I ain'tgwine t' stay on dish yeah boat no mo'! Dat's settled. Call yo' ma,honey lamb, an' I'll tell her about it."

  Mrs. Bobbsey had heard the excited voice of Dinah and had come down tothe dining-room of the houseboat to see what it was all about.

  "What is it, Dinah?" she asked.

  "It's ghostests, Mrs. Bobbsey--dat's what it is," said the cook."Ghostests what takes de sandwiches as fast as I make 'em--dat's detrouble. I can't stay heah no mo'!"

  Mrs. Bobbsey looked to Nan for an explanation. The little girl said:

  "Dinah made a plate of sandwiches for our picnic---"

  "Dat's right, for de excursnick," put in Dinah.

  "And she left them on the table," went on Nan. "But when she went toget a basket to put them in, and came back---"

  "Dey was clean gone!" burst out the colored cook, finishing the storyfor Nan. "An' ghostests took 'em; ob dat I'se shuah. So you'd bettahlook fo' anoder cook, Mrs. Bobbsey."

  "Nonsense, Dinah! We can't let you go that way. It's all foolishnessto talk about ghosts. Probably the door was left open, and Snap mighthave taken the sandwiches, though I never knew him to take anythingoff the table. But it must have been Snap."

  "No'm, it couldn't be," said Dinah. "It wasn't Snap."

  "How do you know?"

  "Could Snap come through a closed do', Mrs. Bobbsey. Could Snap dothat?"

  "Come through a door? No, I don't believe he could. But he might openit. Snoop can open doors."

  "Yes, maybe do's that hab a catch on, but not knob-do's, Snoop can'topen, an' Snap can't neither. Besides, de do' was shut when I left desandwiches on de table an' went fo' de basket."

  "Oh, was it?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey, trying to think of how the pieces ofbread and meat could have been taken.

  "It shuah was," went on Dinah. "Nobody took dem sandwiches, but aghostest, an' I can't stay in no boat what has ghostests."

  "Nonsense!" laughed Mrs. Bobbsey. "I know how it was done, Dinah. Iknow how the sandwiches were taken."

  "How, Mrs. Bobbsey?" asked the colored cook, as she stood lookingfirst at the empty plate on the table, and then at Nan and lastly atMrs. Bobbsey.

  "Why, through that window," said the twins' mother, pointing to anopen window on the side of the Bluebird. "Snap must have come in thatwindow, and taken the sandwiches. He was probably very hungry, poordog, though he knows better than to do anything like that." "No'm,Mrs. Bobbsey," went on Dinah. "Snap couldn't hab come in fru datwindow, fo' it opens right on to de watah. He'd hab to stand in dewatah to jump in, an' he can't do that."

  "No, perhaps not," admitted Mrs. Bobbsey. "Oh, I dare say you forgotwhere you put the sandwiches, Dinah. Now don't worry a bit more aboutthem. Just make some fresh ones, and we'll go on our little picnic."

  "But I'se gwine t' leab," said Dinah. "I ain't gwine stay on a boat,where ghostests takes sandwiches as fast as I can make 'em."

  "You shall come with us on the picnic," said Nan's mother. "When wecome back, there won't be any ghost. Now don't fuss. Just make somefresh sandwiches, and we'll go. I'm sure it was Snap."

  "And I'se shuah it were a ghostest," murmured Dinah, as she went outto the kitchen.

  "Mamma, who do you think it could have been?" asked Nan of her mother.

  "Why, Snap, to be sure, little daughter."

  "But with the door shut, and the window opening out on the water?"went on Nan.

  "Oh, dogs are very smart," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Smarter than we think.Now suppose you help Dinah make more sandwiches. We are late."

  Nan went out to the kitchen, while Mrs. Bobbsey made her way up ondeck, where she found her husband talking to Captain White about themotor engine of the houseboat.

  "Richard, I want to speak to you," said Mrs. Bobbsey, and when she andthe twins' father were in a quiet corner of the deck, Mrs. Bobbseywent on:

  "Richard, I think there are thieves about here."

  "Bless my soul!" he exclaimed. "Thieves! What do you mean?"

  "Well, I mean that Dinah says a plate of sandwiches was just taken,and you remember the time the corn muffins were missing?"

  "Yes, but perhaps Dinah was mistaken both times, or Snap might havetaken a bite between meals."

  "Hardly Snap this time," Mrs. Bobbsey went on, "and Dinah, though shedoes forget once in a while, would not be likely to do so twice insuch a short time. No, I think some tramps along shore must have comealong quietly in a boat, reached or climbed in through the window andtaken the sandwiches."

  "Well, perhaps they did," Mr. Bobbsey, said. "I'll tell Captain White,and we'll keep a lookout. We don't want thieves coming around."

  "No, indeed," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Dinah threatens to leave, if anymore queer things happen."

  "Well, we wouldn't know how to get along without Dinah," said Mr.Bobbsey, with a smile. "I'll put some wire netting over the windows. Iwas going to do it anyhow, for the mosquitoes will soon be buzzingaround. The netting will keep thieves from reaching in and taking ournice sandwiches."

  "Yes, I think the netting would be a good idea," said his wife. "Butit certainly is queer."

  A little later, the Bobbsey twins--both sets of them--with theircousins, mother, father, and Dinah went ashore for the little picnicin the woods, taking with them the fresh sandwiches that Nan hadhelped to make.

  "You shan't have any of these--at least not until we want you to havethem," said Nan to Snap, the dog, who, of course, was not left behind.Yet, the more she thought of it the more sure Nan was that Snap hadnot taken the others.

  "But, if he didn't, who did?" she wondered.

  "Oh, isn't it just lovely in these woods!" exclaimed Dorothy, as theywalked along on the soft moss under the trees. At the seashore, whereshe lived, the woods were too far away to allow her to pay many visitsto them, and she always liked to walk in the cool forests.

  Harry, though he lived in the country, not far from the woods, likedthem as well as did the Bobbsey twins, and the children were soonrunning about, playing games, while Snap raced about with them,barking and wagging his tail.

  Dinah sat down near the lunch basket.

  "Don't you want to walk around a bit?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey.

  "No'm," answered the fat cook. "I ain't gwine t' leab dish yeah basketob victuals until dey's eaten. Dey ain't no ghostests, nor no dogs,gwine t' git nothin' when I'se heah! No'm!" and Dinah slipped her fatarm in through the handle of the basket.

  "Let's look for chestnuts!" cried Freddie. "I love chestnuts!"

  "It's too early for them," said his father. "But if you find me awillow tree, I can make you some whistles."

  The children found one, near a little brook, and Mr. Bobbsey was soonbusy with his knife. The bark slipped off easily from the willow wood,which is why it is so often used for whistles.

  Soon all four children were blowing whistles of different tones, andmaking so much noise that, with the barking of Snap, who seemed tothink he must bark every time a whistle was blown, Mrs. Bobbsey criedout for quietness.

  "Come on, we'll go farther off in the woods and play Indian,"suggested Bert, and soon this game was under way.

  It was lunch time almost before the children knew it, and what fun itwas to sit around the table cloth Dinah spread out on the grass, andeat the good things from the basket. Snap was given his share, butSnoop, the black cat, had not come along, staying on the houseboatwith Captain White.

  "Isn't this fun?" cried Nan to Dorothy.

  "Indeed it is! Oh, I can't tell you how glad I am that you asked me tocome on this trip!"

&
nbsp; "Oh! Look at that big bug!" suddenly cried Freddie, and he made a jumptoward his mother, to get out of the way of a big cricket that hadhopped onto the white table cloth.

  "Look out, Freddie!" called his father. "You'll upset your glass oflemonade!"

  Mr. Bobbsey spoke too late. Freddie's heel kicked over the glass, andthe lemonade spilled right into Mrs. Bobbsey's lap.

  "Oh, Freddie!" cried Bert.

  "Never mind--it's an old dress," laughed Mrs. Bobbsey, "and there'smore lemonade. Accidents will happen on picnics. Never mind, Freddie."

  The cricket was "shooed" away by Nan, Freddie's glass was filledagain, and the picnic went on merrily. Soon it was time to go back tothe boat.

  As they walked along through the woods, Mr. Bobbsey glanced up now andthen through the trees at the sky.

  "Do you think it's going to rain?" his wife asked.

  "Not right away, but I think we are soon going to have a storm," hesaid.

  "Oh, well, the houseboat doesn't leak, does it?"

  "No, but I don't want to go out on Lake Romano in a storm, and Iintended this evening to go on up the creek until we reached the lake.But I'll wait and see what the weather does."

  "Well, did anything happen while we were gone?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey ofCaptain White, as they got back to the houseboat.

  "No, not a thing," he answered. "It was so still and quiet here, thatSnoop and I had a nice sleep," and he pointed to the black cat, whowas stretched out in his lap, as he sat on deck.

  As it did not look so much like a storm now, Mr. Bobbsey decided tomove the houseboat farther up the creek, almost to where the streamflowed from Lake Romano, so as to be ready to go out on the largerbody of water in the morning, if everything was all right.

  The engine was started, and just before supper, the Bluebird came to astop in Lemby Creek about a mile from the big lake. She was tied tothe bank, and then supper was served.

  Then followed a pleasant hour or two on deck, and when it was dark,the children went into the cabin and played games until bedtime--Nanand Bert, as well as the smaller twins and the cousins, were asleepwhen Mrs. Bobbsey, who had sat up to write some letters, heard herhusband walking about on deck.

  "What are you doing?" she called to him through a window.

  "Oh, just looking at the weather," he answered. "I think we're goingto have a storm after all, and a hard one, too. I'm glad we're safelyanchored."

  Sure enough. That night, about twelve o'clock, the storm came. Therewas at first distant, muttering thunder, which soon became louder.Then lightning followed, flashing in through the windows of thehouseboat, so that Mrs. Bobbsey was awakened.

  "Oh, it's going to be a terrible storm," she said to her husband.

  "Oh, perhaps not so very bad," he answered. "Here comes the rain!"

  Then it began to pour. But the houseboat was well built, and did notleak a bit.

  Next the wind began to blow, gently at first, but finally so hard thatMr. Bobbsey could hear the creaking of the ropes that tied the boat totrees on shore.

  "I think I'd better look and see if those ropes are well tied," hesaid, getting up to dress, and putting on a raincoat.

  He had hardly gotten out on deck, before the houseboat gave a suddenlurch to one side, and then began to move quickly down stream.

  "Oh, what has happened?" cried Mrs. Bobbsey.

  At the same time Flossie and Freddie awakened, because of the loudnoise from the storm.

  "Mamma! Mamma!" they cried.

  "Richard, has anything happened?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey.

  "Yes!" he shouted. "The strong wind has broken the ropes, and we areadrift. But don't worry. We'll soon be all right!"

  Faster and faster went the Bluebird, while all about her the rainsplashed down, the wind blew, the thunder roared, and the lightningflashed.