CHAPTER VIII
OFF TO CAMP
"This is queer," said Bert, when a more careful search about the houseand barn failed to find Snap. "If he's run away, it will be about thefirst time he has done that since we've had him."
"Let's ask at some of the houses down the street," said Nan. "Sometimesthe children coax him in to play with them, and he forgets to come homebecause they make such a fuss over him."
"Here's Snoop, anyhow!" cried Freddie, coming out of the barn with thebig black cat in his arms. "He can go to camp with us."
"But we want Snap, too!" added Flossie. "We need a dog to keep thegypsies away."
"There won't be any gypsies on Blueberry Island!" Bert reminded them.
"You can't tell," declared Freddie.
"Maybe there'll be one or two, an' I don't want them to take my doll theway they did Helen's," added Flossie.
"Didn't Helen get her doll back?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey, coming out of thehouse in time to hear what the children were saying.
"No'm, and she feels awful sad," replied Flossie. "And now the gypsieshas took Snap."
"The gypsies have _taken_ Snap--really, Flossie, you must speak morecorrectly," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "But what do you mean about Snap's beingtaken?"
"He seems to be gone," reported Bert.
"We've looked everywhere for him, and now we're going to ask down thestreet," added Nan.
"But we've got Snoop," said Flossie, and so it was. "We"--that is, sheand Freddie both--had the big black cat, one twin carrying the head andthe other twin the hind legs. But Snoop was often carried that way andhe did not mind.
"Snap not here? That is odd," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Have you whistled andcalled to him?"
"Every way we know," replied Bert. "Listen!" and, putting his fingers inhis mouth, he gave such a shrill whistle that his mother and Nan had tocover their ears, while fat Dinah, waddling to her kitchen window,cried:
"Good land ob massy! What am dat--a fire whistle?"
"I can whistle like that!" shouted Freddie, dropping his end of theblack cat. As it happened to be the head end he was carrying, this leftthe hind legs to Flossie and poor Snoop was thus dangling head down.
"Miaou!" he cried sadly, and then he gave a wriggle, and another one,and got loose.
Freddie made a sort of hissing sound on his fingers--not at all a nice,loud whistle as Bert had done--but it was pretty good for a littlefellow.
"He ought to hear that," Bert said, when he was done blowing his call,and his mother and sister had uncovered their ears. "But he doesn'tcome."
"Did you ask Dinah about him?" Mrs. Bobbsey questioned.
"Yes, and she said----Oh, she said something about a peddler!" criedNan. "We forgot to ask her what she meant."
"Did Snap chase after a peddler?" asked Bert, for the colored cook wasstill at the window.
"No, I didn't see you all's dog chase after de peddler, honey lamb,"replied Dinah. "But jest a little while ago a woman wif a red dress on,all trimmed wif yaller, real fancy like, comed to de back do' sellin'lace work. Snap was heah den, eatin' some scraps I put out fo' him, an'de woman patted him an' talked to him in a queer like way."
"She did!" cried Bert excitedly. "What'd she say?"
"Lan' goodness! You all don't s'pose I knows all de queer languages inde United States, does yo'?" asked Dinah, shaking her kinky head. "Butde woman talked queer t' Snap, an' he wagged his tail, which he don'toften does t' strangers."
"No," put in Flossie, shaking her head vigorously, "Snap don't oftentalk to strangers. He's awful dig-dignified with 'em. Isn't he,Freddie?"
"Well, he doesn't like tramps, and they're strangers," replied herbrother. "Are peddlers tramps, Bert?"
"No, I guess not. But some of 'em look like tramps--pretty near, maybe."
"What happened to the woman peddler?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey.
"Oh, I soon got rid ob her," said Dinah. "I tole her we was gwine t' libin de woods an' we didn't want no fancy lace 'cause it would git allripped on de trees an' bushes. So she went off."
"And what happened to Snap?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey.
"Oh, he was eatin' his scraps de last I seen ob him," answered Dinah."An' he wagged his tail ag'in at de woman in de gay dress what lookedlike she was gwine on a picnic."
"A dress of red and yellow," said Nan. "Isn't that the color the gypsieswear?"
"Was the woman a gypsy?" asked Bert quickly.
"She mought o' been," answered the cook. "She had gold rings in herears, an' she was dark. Not as dark as me or Sam, but like some of themEytalian men. I didn't pay much 'tention to her, 'cause I was makin' acake. But maybe Snap done followed her to see to it she didn't takenuffin. 'Cause ef she was a gypsy she mought take things."
"Yes, and she's taken Snap--that's what she's done!" cried Bert. "That'swhat's happened to our dog. The gypsies have him! I'm going to telldaddy, and have him get a policeman."
"Now don't be too sure," advised Mrs. Bobbsey. "Perhaps that peddler mayhave been a gypsy, and she may have made friends with Snap--those peoplehave a strange way with them about dogs and horses--but it isn't fair tosay she took your pet. He may have followed her just to be friendly. Youhad better ask at some of the houses down the street first."
"Come on!" cried Bert to Nan. "We'll go and ask."
"And I'm coming, too!" added Freddie. "I can call Snap and you canwhistle for him, Bert."
"And I'll take Snoop, and Snoop can miaou for him," said Flossie.
"No, you two little ones stay here," directed Mrs. Bobbsey. "I want towash and dress you for dinner. Let Bert and Nan hunt for Snap."
"Then can't we go in the goat cart?" Freddie asked.
"We'll all have a ride when we come back," promised Bert. "We first wantto find Snap, if we can, to see if he'll hitch up with Whisker," the boytold his mother.
So while Flossie and Freddie went into the house to get freshened upafter their play, Nan and Bert went from house to house asking aboutSnap. But though the big, trick dog sometimes went to play with theneighbors' children, this time there was no sign of him. One afteranother of the families on the block said they had not seen Snap.
Several servants had noticed the gypsy woman "peddler," as they calledher, for she had made a number of calls on the block, trying to sell herlace, but no one had seen Snap with her.
"Oh, I guess Snap just ran away for a change, as Flossie and Freddiesometimes do," said Mr. Bobbsey when he came home that evening and hadbeen told what had happened. "He'll come back all right, I'm sure."
But Nan and Bert were not so sure of this. They knew Snap too well. Hehad never gone away like this before. Flossie and Freddie, beingyounger, did not worry so much. Besides, they had Snoop, and the cat wasmore their pet than was the dog, who was Bert's favorite, though, ofcourse, every one in the Bobbsey family loved him.
Several times that evening Bert went outside to whistle and call for hispet, but there was no answering bark, and when bedtime came Bert was soworried that Mr. Bobbsey agreed to call the police and ask the officerswho were on night duty to keep a lookout for the missing animal. Thiswould be done, the chief said, since nearly all the officers in Lakeportknew Snap, who often visited at the police station.
Morning came, but no Snap was at the door waiting to be let in, thoughBert was up early to look. Snoop, the big black cat, was in his usualplace, getting up to stretch and rub against Bert's legs.
"But where's Snap?" asked the boy.
"Miaou," was all Snoop answered. Perhaps he knew, but could not tell.
"Well, I'm afraid your dog is lost," said Mr. Bobbsey, when at thebreakfast table Bert reported that Snap was still away. "We'll put anadvertisement in the paper and offer a reward if he is brought back."
"Maybe he's gone to camp on Blueberry Island and is waiting over therefor us," said Flossie.
"Maybe, my little fat fairy!" agreed her father, catching her up for agood-bye kiss. "Let's hope so. And now you must soon begin to get readyto go camping."
The children
heard this news with delight, and, for a time, even lostSnap was forgotten. He had often visited the neighbors before, and hadalways come back, so Bert hoped the same thing would happen this time.
There was much to do to get ready to go to Blueberry Island. There wereclothes to pack and food to be bought, for though it was not many milesfrom the island back to the mainland where there were stores, stillMrs. Bobbsey did not want to have to send in too often for what wasneeded.
The goat wagon was very useful for going on errands during the days thatit took them to get ready to go off to live in the woods. Bert and Nan,sometimes with Flossie and Freddie, rode here and there about town, andWhisker was as good as a pony, being strong and gentle.
Everywhere they went Nan and her brother looked for Snap and askedabout him. But, though many in Lakeport knew the dog, and had seenhim on the day he was last noticed, no one could tell where he was.No one could be found who had seen him with the gypsy woman--if he hadgone with her--though a number said they had noticed the gaudy,red-and-yellow-dressed peddler strolling about with her lace.
"Our dog's gone and Helen's doll is gone," said Nan the night beforethey were to go to camp. "I wonder what will be taken next."
"I hope they don't get our Snoop," said Flossie, as she went to look atthe big black cat who was sleeping in the box, with a handle, in whichhe was to be taken to the island.
"And I hope they let Whisker alone," said Freddie.
"Whisker can take care of himself, with his horns," observed Bert. "I'mnot afraid of a gypsy trying to get our goat."
The tents had been sent to the island, and a man would set them up.Plenty of good things to eat were packed in boxes and baskets. Dinah andSam had made ready to go to camp, for they were included in the family.Dinah was to do the cooking and her husband was to look after the boatsand firewood.
"And, oh, what fun we'll have!" cried Flossie the next morning, when thesun rose warm and bright and they started for Blueberry Island.
"It would be better if we had Snap," said Bert. "You don't know how Imiss that dog!"
"We all do," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Perhaps we'll find him when we comeback, Bert. Your father will come back from the island once or twice aweek, and he'll come to the house to see if Snap has come back."
"He'll never come back," said Bert, with a sad face. "I'm sure thegypsies took him, and they'll keep him when they find out he can docircus tricks."
"Well, maybe we'll find the gypsies and, if they have Snap, we can makethem give him up," said Nan.
"I hope so," murmured Bert.
There was a small steamer that made trips across the lake, and in thisthe Bobbseys were to go to Blueberry Island, as they had so many thingsto take with them that a small boat would never have held them all.
The Bobbsey Twins on Blueberry Island Page 8