“If it did I’m afraid the presents wouldn’t reach,” said Mrs. Bobbsey, and then took him and Flossie off to bed.
CHAPTER XV
The Children’s Party
The little black kitten that Freddie had brought home from the department store was a great friend to everybody in the Bobbsey house and all loved the little creature very much.
At first Freddie started to call the kitten Blackie, but Flossie said that wasn’t a very “’ristocratic” name at all.
“I’ll tell you what,” said Bert jokingly, “Let’s call him Snoop,” and in spite of all efforts to make the name something else Snoop the cat remained from that time to the day of his death.
He grew very fat and just a trifle lazy, nevertheless he learned to do several tricks. He could sit up in a corner on his hind legs, and shake hands, and when told to do so would jump through one’s arms, even if the arms were quite high up from the floor.
Snoop had one comical trick that always made both Flossie and Freddie laugh. There was running water in the kitchen, and Snoop loved to sit on the edge of the sink and play with the drops as they fell from the bottom of the faucet. He would watch until a drop was just falling, then reach out with his paw and give it a claw just as if he was reaching for a mouse.
Another trick he had, but this Mrs. Bobbsey did not think so nice, was to curl himself on the pillow of one of the beds and go sound asleep. Whenever he heard Mrs. Bobbsey coming up one pair of stairs, he would fly off the bed and sneak down the other pair, so that she caught him but rarely.
Snoop was a very clean cat and was continually washing his face and his ears. Around his neck Flossie placed a blue ribbon, and it was amusing to see Snoop try to wash it off. But after a while, having spoilt several ribbons, he found they would not wash off, and so he let them alone, and in the end appeared very proud of them.
One day, when Snoop had been in the house but a few months, he could not be found anywhere.
“Snoop! Snoop!” called Freddie, upstairs and down, but the kitten did not answer, nor did he show himself. Then Flossie called him and made a search, but was equally unsuccessful.
“Perhaps somebody has stolen him,” said Freddie soberly.
“Nobody been heah to steal dat kitten,” answered Dinah. “He’s jess sneaked off, dat’s all.”
All of the children had been invited to a party that afternoon and Nan was going to wear her new set of furs. After having her hair brushed, and putting on a white dress, Nan went to the closet in which her furs were kept in the big box.
“Well, I never!” she ejaculated. “Oh, Snoop! however could you do it!”
For there, curled up on the set of furs, was the kitten, purring as contentedly as could be. Never before had he found a bed so soft or so to his liking. But Nan made him rouse up in a hurry, and after that when she closed the closet she made quite sure that Snoop was not inside.
The party to be held that afternoon was at the home of Grace Lavine, the little girl who had fainted from so much rope jumping. Grace was over that attack, and was now quite certain that when her mamma told her to do a thing or to leave it alone, it was always for her own good.
“Mamma knows best,” she said to Nan. “I didn’t think so then, but I do now.”
The party was a grand affair and over thirty young people were present, all dressed in their best. They played all sorts of games such as many of my readers must already know, and then some new games which the big boys and girls introduced.
One game was called Hunt the Beans. A handful of dried beans was hidden all over the rooms, in out-of-the-way corners, behind the piano, in vases, and like that, and at the signal to start every girl and boy started to pick up as many as could be found. The search lasted just five minutes, and at the end of that time the one having the most beans won the game.
“Now let us play Three-word Letters,” said Nan. And then she explained the game. “I will call out a letter and you must try to think of a sentence of three words, each word starting with that letter. Now then, are you ready?”
“Yes! yes!” the girls and boys cried.
“B,” said Nan.
There was a second of silence.
“Boston Baked Beans!” shouted Charley Mason.
“That is right, Charley. Now it is your turn to give a letter.”
“F,” said Charley.
“Five Fat Fairies!” cried Nellie Parks.
“Four Fresh Fish,” put in another of the girls.
“Nellie has it,” said Charley. “But I never heard of fat fairies, did you?” and this question made everybody laugh.
“My letter is M,” said Nellie, after a pause.
“More Minced Mushrooms,” said Bert.
“More Mean Men,” said another boy.
“Mind My Mule,” said one of the girls.
“Oh, Helen, I didn’t know you had a mule,” cried Flossie, and this caused a wild shriek of laughter.
“Bert must love mushrooms,” said Nellie.
“I do,” said Bert, “if they are in a sauce.” And then the game went on, until somebody suggested something else.
At seven o’clock a supper was served. The tables were two in number, with the little girls and boys at one and the big girls and boys at the other. Each was decked out with flowers and with colored streamers, which ran down from the chandelier to each corner of both tables.
There was a host of good things to eat and drink—chicken sandwiches and cake, with cups of sweet chocolate, or lemonade, and then more cake and ice-cream, and fruit, nuts, and candy. The ice-cream was done up into various fancy forms, and Freddie got a fireman, with a trumpet under his arm, and Nan a Japanese lady with a real paper parasol over her head. Bert was served with an automobile, and Flossie cried with delight when she received a brown-and-white cow that looked as natural as life. All of the forms were so pleasing that the children did not care to eat them until the heat in the lighted dining room made them begin to melt away.
“I’m going to tell Dinah about the ice-cream cow,” said Flossie. “Perhaps she can make them.” But when appealed to, the cook said they were beyond her, and must be purchased from the professional ice-cream maker, who had the necessary forms.
There were dishes full of bonbons on the tables, and soon the bonbons were snapping at a lively rate among the big girls and boys, although the younger folks were rather afraid of them. Each bonbon had a motto paper in it and some sort of fancy article made of paper. Bert got an apron, which he promptly pinned on, much to the amusement of the girls. Nan drew a workman’s cap and put it on, and this caused another laugh. There were all sorts of caps, hats, and aprons, and one big bonbon, which went to Flossie, had a complete dress in it, of pink and white paper. Another had some artificial flowers, and still another a tiny bottle of cologne.
While the supper was going on, Mr. Lavine had darkened the parlor and stretched a sheet over the folding doors, and as soon as the young people were through eating they were treated to a magic-lantern exhibition by the gentleman of the house and one of the big boys, who assisted him. There were all sorts of scenes, including some which were very funny and made the boys and girls shriek with laughter. One was a boy on a donkey, and another two fat men trying to climb over a fence. Then came a number of pictures made from photograph negatives, showing scenes in and around Lakeport. There were the lake steamer, and the main street, and one picture of the girls and boys rushing out of school at dinner time. The last was voted the best of all, and many present tried to pick themselves out of this picture and did so.
After the exhibition was over one of the largest of the girls sat down to the piano and played. By this time some of the older folks drifted in, and they called for some singing, and all joined in half a dozen songs that were familiar to them. Then the young folks ran off for their coats and caps and wraps, and bid their host and hostess and each other good-night.
“Wasn’t it splendid?” said Nan, on the way home. “I never had such a good t
ime before.”
“Didn’t last half long enough,” said Freddie. “Want it to last longer next time.”
“I wanted my cow to last longer,” said Flossie. “Oh, if only I could have kept it from melting!”
CHAPTER XVI
A Grand Sleigh Ride
For a long while all of the Bobbsey children had been begging their parents for a sleigh ride into the country.
“The winter will be gone soon, papa,” said Nan. “Won’t you take us before the snow is all gone?”
“You may as well take them, Richard,” said Mrs. Bobbsey.
“Well, if I do, Mary, you must go along,” answered Mr. Bobbsey, and so it was arranged that they should take the ride on the following Saturday, weather permitting.
You may well suppose that all of the twins were very anxious about the weather after that, for Mr. Bobbsey said he would not go if it rained or if it snowed very hard.
“What does it say in the newspapers?” asked Freddie. “They always know what the weather is going to be.”
“Not so far ahead as that,” answered his brother.
But Friday evening the paper said cold and clear, and sure enough, on Saturday morning it was as nice as one would wish. From behind masses of thin clouds the sun peeped shyly, lighting up the snow until it shone like huge beds of diamonds.
They were to drive to Dalton, twelve miles away. Mr. Bobbsey had learned that the road to Dalton was in good condition, and the family had friends there who would be pleased to see them and have them remain to dinner.
By half-past nine the big family sleigh was at the door, with Sam on the front seat, driving. Into the sleigh piled the four children, and Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey followed.
“Want to sit by Sam and help drive,” said Freddie, and he was lifted over to the desired position. Then off they went, with a crack of the whip and jingling of sleigh-bells that could be heard a long distance.
“Oh, but isn’t this just too splendid for anything!” exclaimed Nan, who sat at one side of the seat, with her mamma on the other and Flossie between them. “I do love sleigh riding so much!”
“See me drive!” cried Freddie, who held the very end of the reins, the part dangling from Sam’s hands.
“Well, Freddie, don’t let the team run away,” said Mr. Bobbsey, with a laugh.
“I shan’t,” answered the little fellow soberly. “If they try to run away, I’ll whip them good.”
“You’ll never stop them that way,” said Bert. “You want to talk gently to them.”
On and on they went, over the smooth snow. The horses were fresh and full of spirit, and mile after mile was passed with a speed that pleased all of the twins very much. They passed several other sleighing parties, and every time this was done the children set up a merry shout which was sure to call forth an equally merry answer.
A large part of the ride was through the country, and often the country folks would come to the doors to see them pass. Once they met a boy on the road and he asked for a ride to his home, half a mile away.
“Yes, jump in,” said Mr. Bobbsey, and the boy got in and was taken to his house almost before he knew it.
“Much obliged,” he said on leaving them. “You’re fine people, you are,” and he took off his hat at parting.
“It was nice to give him a ride,” said Nan. “It didn’t cost us anything and he liked it a great deal, I am sure.”
“We must never forget to do a kindness when we can, Nan,” said her mamma.
Before noon Dalton was reached and they drove up to the home of Mr. Ramdell, as their friend was named. Immediately Bob Ramdell, a youth of sixteen, rushed eagerly out to greet Bert.
“I’m glad you’ve come,” he cried. “I’ve been watching for you for an hour.”
“It isn’t noon yet,” answered Bert.
All were soon into the house and Sam drove the sleigh around to the barn. Bob Ramdell had a sister Susie, who was almost Nan’s age, and a baby brother called Tootsie, although his real name was Alexander. Susie was glad to see Nan and Flossie, and all were soon playing with the baby, who was just old enough to be amusing.
“I’ve got a plan on hand,” whispered Bob to Bert, just before dinner was served. “I’ve been wondering if your father will let us carry it out.”
“What is it?” questioned Bert.
“You are not to drive home until late this afternoon. I wonder if your father won’t let you go down to Long Lake with me after dinner, to see the hockey match.”
“Is it far from here?”
“About two miles. We can drive down in our cutter. Father will let me have the cutter and old Rusher, I’m sure.”
“I’ll see about it,” said Bert. “I’d like to see the hockey match very much.”
As soon as he got the chance Bert questioned his parent about going.
“I don’t know about this,” said Mr. Bobbsey slowly. “Do you think you two boys can be trusted alone with the horse?”
“Oh, yes, papa. Bob has driven old Rusher many times.”
“You must remember, Rusher used to be a race horse. He may run away with Bob and you.”
“Oh, but that was years ago, papa. He is too old to run away now. Please say yes.”
Bert continued to plead, and in the end Mr. Bobbsey gave him permission to go to the hockey match.
“But you must be back before five o’clock,” said he. “We are going to start for home at that time.”
The dinner was a fine one and tasted especially good to the children after their long ride. But Bert and Bob were impatient to be off, and left the moment they had disposed of their pieces of pie.
Old Rusher was a black steed which, in years gone by, had won many a race on the track. He had belonged to a brother to Mr. Ramdell, who had died rather suddenly two years before. He was, as Bert had said, rather old, but there was still a good deal of fire left in him, as the boys were soon to discover to their cost.
The road to Long Lake was a winding one, up one hill and down another, and around a sharp turn where in years gone by there had been a sand pit.
In the best of spirits the two boys started off, Bob handling the reins like a veteran driver. Bob loved horses, and his one ambition in life was to handle a “spanking team,” as he called it.
“Old Rusher can go yet,” said Bert, who enjoyed the manner in which the black steed stepped out. “He must have been a famous race horse in his day.”
“He was,” answered Bob. “He won ever so many prizes.”
The distance to Long Lake was covered almost before Bert knew it. As the hockey game was not yet begun they spent half an hour in driving over the road that led around the lake.
Quite a crowd had gathered, some in sleighs and some on foot, and the surface of the lake was covered with skaters. When the hockey game started the crowd watched every move with interest.
It was a “hot” game, according to Bert, and when a clever play was made he applauded as loudly as the rest. When the game was at an end he was sorry to discover that it was after four o’clock.
“We must get home,” said he to Bob. “I promised to be back by five.”
“Oh, we’ll get back in no time,” said Bob. “Remember, Rusher has had a good rest.”
They were soon on the road again, Rusher kicking up his heels livelier than before, for the run down to the lake had merely enabled him to get the stiffness out of his limbs.
Sleighs were on all sides and, as the two boys drove along, two different sleighing parties passed them.
“Hullo, Ramdell!” shouted a young man in a cutter. “Got out old Rusher, I see. Want a race?”
“I think I can beat you!” shouted back Bob, and in a moment more the two cutters were side by side, and each horse and driver doing his best to win.
“Oh, Bob, can you hold him?” cried Bert.
“To be sure I can!” answered Bob. “Just you let me alone and see.”
“Come on!” yelled the stranger. “Come on, or I’ll leave y
ou behind in no time!”
“You’ll not leave me behind so quickly,” answered Bob. “Go it, Rusher, go it!” he added to his horse, and the steed flew over the smooth road at a rate of speed that filled Bert with astonishment.
CHAPTER XVII
The Race and the Runaway
Bert loved to ride and drive, but it must be confessed that he did not enjoy racing.
The road was rather uneven, and he could not help but think what the consequences might be if the cutter should strike a deep hollow or a big stone.
“Don’t let Rusher run away,” he said to his friend. “Be careful.”
Bob was by this time having his hands so full that he could not answer.
“Steady, Rusher, steady!” he called out to the steed. “Steady, old boy!”
But the old race horse was now warmed up to his work and paid no attention to what was said. On and on he sped, until the young man in the other cutter was gradually outdistanced.
“Told you I could beat you!” flung back Bob.
“The race is yours,” answered the young man, in much disappointment, and then he dropped further back than ever.
“Better slacken up, Bob,” said Bert. “There is no use in driving so hard now.”
“I—I can’t slacken up,” answered Bob. “Steady, Rusher,” he called out. “Whoa, old fellow, whoa!”
But the old race horse did not intend to whoa, and on he flew as fast as his legs would carry him, up the first hill and then onward toward the turn before mentioned.
“Be careful at the turn, Bob!” screamed Bert. “Be careful, or we’ll go over!”
“Whoa, Rusher!” repeated Bob, and pulled in on the reins with all of his might.
The turn where the sand pit had been was now close at hand. Here the road was rather narrow, so they had to drive close to the opening, now more than half filled with drifted snow. Bert clung to the cutter while Bob continued to haul in on the reins. Then came a crash, as the cutter hit a hidden stone and drove straight for the sand pit.
“Hold on!” cried Bob, and the next instant Bert found himself flying out of the cutter and over the edge of the road. He tried to save himself by clutching at the ice and snow, but it was useless, and in a twinkling he disappeared into the sand pit! Bob followed, while Rusher went on more gayly than ever, hauling the overturned cutter after him.
The Bobbsey Twins Megapack Page 8