“Down to papa’s office,” she answered. “There’s a fire near his place, and—”
“Oh, a fire! Then I’m going!” cried Freddie. “Fire! Fire! Ding, dong! Turn on the water!” and he raced about quite excitedly.
“Oh, I don’t know,” said Mrs. Bobbsey, in doubt. “Where are Nan and Bert?” she asked.
“They went down to the lake,” said Flossie. “Oh, mamma, do take us to the fire with you. We’ll bring Snap along.”
“Sure,” said Freddie. “Hi, Snap!” he called.
The trick dog came rushing from the stable, barking and wagging his tail.
“Well, I suppose I might as well take you,” said Mrs. Bobbsey. “But you must stay near me. We’ll leave Snap home, though.”
“Oh, no!” cried Freddie.
“He might get lost,” said Mrs. Bobbsey.
That was enough for Freddie. He did not want the new pet to get lost, so he did not make a fuss when Sam came hurrying up to lock Snap in the stable. Poor Snap howled, for he wanted very much to go with the children.
The fire was, as I have said, a small one, in part of the planing mill. But the engines puffed away, and spurted water, and this pleased Freddie. Flossie stayed close to her mother, and Mrs. Bobbsey, once she found out that the main lumber yard was not in danger, was ready to come back home. But Freddie wanted to stay until the fire was wholly out.
Mr. Bobbsey came from his office to give some directions to the firemen, and saw his wife and the two twins. Then he took charge of them, and led them as close to the blaze as was safe.
“It will soon be out,” he said. “It was only some sawdust that got on fire.”
“I wish I could squirt some water!” sighed Freddie.
“What’s that? Do you want to be a fireman?” asked one of the men in a rubber coat and a big helmet. He smiled at Mr. Bobbsey, whom he knew quite well.
“Yes, I do,” said Freddie.
“Then come with me, and I’ll let you help hold the hose,” said the fireman. “I’ll look after him,” he went on, to Mrs. Bobbsey, and she nodded to show that Freddie could go.
What a good time the little fellow had, standing beside a real fireman, and helping throw real water on a real fire! Freddie never forgot that. Of course the fire was almost out, and it was only one of the small hose lines that the fireman let the little fellow help hold, but, for all that, Freddie was very happy.
“Did you write to the circus people today about our silver cup, and that trick dog?” asked Mrs. Bobbsey of her husband, that night.
“I declare, I didn’t!” he exclaimed. “The fire upset me so that it slipped my mind. I’ll do it the first thing tomorrow. There is no special hurry. How is the dog, by the way?”
“Oh, he’s just lovely!” cried Flossie.
“And I do hope we can keep him forever!” exclaimed Freddie. “’Specially since Snoop is gone.”
“Did you hear anything about our cat?” asked Nan, of her father.
“No. I sent a man to the railroad company, but no stray cat had been found. I am afraid Snoop is lost, children.”
“Oh dear!” cried Flossie.
The next day, having learned from the railroad company where the circus had gone after the wreck, Mr. Bobbsey sent a letter to the manager, explaining about the lost silver cup, and the found circus dog. He asked that the fat lady be requested to write to him, to let him know if she had taken the cup by accident, and Mr. Bobbsey also wanted to know if the circus had lost a trick dog.
“There!” he exclaimed as he sent the letter to be mailed, “now we’ll just have to wait for an answer.”
Nan and Bert, and Flossie and Freddie were soon having almost as much fun as they had had at the seashore and in the country. Their town playmates, who had come back from their vacations, called at the Bobbsey home, and made up games and all sorts of sports.
“For,” said Grace Lavine, with whom Nan sometimes played, “school will soon begin, and we want to have all the fun we can until then.”
“Let’s jump rope,” proposed Nan.
“All right,” agreed Grace. “Here comes Nellie Parks, and we’ll see who can jump the most.”
“No, you mustn’t do that,” said Nan. “Don’t you remember how you once tried to jump a hundred, and you fainted?”
“Indeed I do,” said Grace. “I’m not going to be so silly as to try that again. We’ll only jump a little.”
Soon Nan and her chums were having good time in the yard.
Charley Mason, with whom Bert sometimes played, came over, and the two boys went for a row on the lake, in Bert’s boat. Some little friends of Flossie and Freddie came over, and they had fun watching Snap do tricks.
For the circus dog, as he had come to be called, seemed to be able to do some new trick each day. He could “play dead,” and “say his prayers,” besides turning a back somersault. The little twins, who seemed to claim more share in Snap than did Nan and Bert, did not really know how many tricks their pet could do.
“Maybe you’ll have to give him back to the circus,” said Willie Flood, one of Freddie’s chums.
“Well, if we do, papa may buy him, or get another dog like him,” spoke Flossie.
A few days after this, when Bert was out in the front yard, watering the grass with a hose, along came Danny Rugg. Now Danny went to the same school that Bert did, but few of the boys and none of the girls, liked Danny, because he was often rough, and would hit them or want to fight, or would play mean tricks on them. Still, sometimes Danny behaved himself, and then the boys were glad to have him on their baseball nine as he was a good hitter and thrower, and he could run fast.
“Hello, Bert!” exclaimed Danny, leaning on the fence. “I hear you have a trick circus dog here.”
“Who told you?” asked Bert, wondering what Danny would say next.
“Oh, Jack Parker. He says you found him.”
“I didn’t,” spoke Bert, spraying a bed of geranium flowers. “He followed us the night of the circus wreck.”
“Well, you took him all the same. I know who owns him, too; and I’m going to tell that you’ve got him.”
“Oh, are you?” asked Bert. “Well, we think he belongs to the circus, and my father has written about it, so you needn’t trouble yourself.”
“He doesn’t belong to any circus,” went on Danny. “That dog belongs to Mr. Peterson, who lives over in Millville. He lost a trick dog, and he adverstised for it. He’s going to give a reward. I’m going to tell him, and get the money.”
“You can’t take our dog away!” cried Freddie, coming up just then. “Don’t you dare do it, Danny Rugg.”
“Yes, I will!” exclaimed the mean boy, who often teased the smaller Bobbsey twins. “You won’t have that dog after today.”
“Don’t mind him, Freddie,” said Bert in a low voice. “He’s trying to scare you.”
“Oh, I am eh?” cried Danny. “I’ll show you what I’m trying to do. I’ll tell on you for keeping a dog that don’t belong to you, and you’ll be arrested—all of you.”
Freddie looked worried, and tears came into his eyes. Bert saw this, and was angry at Danny for being so mean.
“Don’t be afraid, Freddie,” said Bert, “Look, I’ll let you squirt the hose, and you can pretend to be a fireman.”
“Oh, fine!” cried Freddie, in delight, as he took the nozzle from his older brother.
Just how it happened neither of them could tell, but the stream of water shot right at Danny Rugg, and wet him all over in a second.
“Hi there!” he cried. “Stop that! I’ll pay you back for that, Fred Bobbsey,” and he jumped over the fence and ran toward the little fellow.
CHAPTER VII
At School
Freddie saw Danny coming, and did the most natural thing in the world. He dropped the hose and ran. And you know what a hose, with water bursting from the nozzle will sometimes do if you don’t hold it just right. Well, this hose did that. It seemed to aim itself straight at Danny, and
again the rough boy received a charge of water full in the face.
“Ha! ha! here! You quit that!” he gasped. “I’ll fix you for that!”
The water got in his eyes and mouth, and for a moment he could not see. But with his handkerchief he soon had his eyes cleared, and then he came running toward Bert.
Danny Rugg was larger than Bert, and stronger, and, in addition, was a bullying sort of chap, almost always ready to fight some one smaller than himself.
But what Bert lacked in size and strength he made up in a bold Spirit. He was not at all afraid of Danny, even when the bully came rushing at him. Bert stood his ground manfully. He had taken up the hose where Freddie had dropped it, and the water was spurting out in a solid stream. Freddie, having gotten a safe distance away, now turned and stood looking at Danny.
Danny, too, had halted and was fairly glaring at Bert, who looked at him a bit anxiously. More than once he and the bully had come to blows, and sometimes Bert had gotten the best of it. Still he did not like a fight.
“I’ll get you yet, Freddie Bobbsey!” cried Danny, shaking his fist at the little fellow. Whereupon Freddie turned and ran toward the house. Danny saw that he could not catch him in time, and so he turned to Bert.
“You put him up to do that—to douse me with water!” cried Danny angrily.
“I did not,” said Bert quietly. “It was just an accident. I’m sorry.”
“You are not! I say you did that on purpose or you told Freddie to, and I’m going to pay you back!”
“I tell you it was an accident,” insisted Bert. “But if you want to think Freddie did it on purpose I can’t stop you.”
“Well, I’m going to hit you just the same,” growled Danny, and he stepped toward Bert.
“You’d better look out,” said Bert, with just a little smile. “There’s still a lot of water in this hose,” and he brought the nozzle around in front, ready to squirt on Danny if the bad boy should come too near.
Danny came to a stop.
“Don’t you dare put any more water on me!” cried the bully. “If you do, I’ll—” He doubled up his fists and glared at Bert.
“Then don’t you come any nearer if you don’t want to get wet,” said Bert. “This hose might sprinkle you by accident, the same as it did when Freddie had it,” he added.
“Huh! I know what kind of an accident that was!” spoke Danny, with a sneer.
“You’d better get out of the way,” went on Bert quietly. “I want to sprinkle that flower bed near where you are, and if you’re there you might get wet, and it wouldn’t my fault.”
“I’ll fix you!” growled Danny, springing forward. Bert got ready with the hose, and there might have been more trouble, except that Sam, the colored man, came out on the lawn. He saw that something out of the ordinary was going on, and breaking into a run he called out:
“Am anything de mattah, Massa Bert? Am yo’ habin’ trouble wif anybody?”
“Well, I guess it’s all over now,” said Bert, as he saw Danny turn and walk toward the gate.
“If yo’ need any help, jest remembah dat I’m around,” spoke Sam, with a wide grin that showed his white teeth in his black, but kindly face. “I’ll be right handy by, Massa Bert, yes, I will!”
“All right,” said Bert, as he went on watering the flowers.
“Huh! You needn’t think I’m afraid of you!” boasted Danny, but he kept on out of the gate just the same. Sam went back to his work, of weeding the vegetable garden and Bert watered the flowers. Pretty soon Freddie came back.
“Did—did Danny do anything to you?” the little fellow wanted to know.
“No, Freddie, but the hose did something to him,” said Bert.
“Oh, did it wet him again?”
“That’s what it did.”
“Ha! Ha!” laughed Freddie. “I wish I’d been here to see it, Bert.”
“Well, why did you run?”
“Oh, I—I thought maybe—mamma might want me,” answered Freddie, but Bert understood, and smiled. Then he let Freddie finish watering the flowers, after which Freddie played he was a fireman, saving houses from burning by means of the hose.
Snap, the trick dog came running out, followed by Flossie, who had just been washed and combed, her mother having put a clean dress on her.
“Oh, Freddie,” said the little girl, “let’s make Snap do some tricks. See if he will jump over the stream of water from the hose.”
“All right,” agreed her little brother. “I’ll squirt the water out straight, and you stand on one side of it and call Snap over. Then he’ll jump.”
Flossie tried this, but at first the dog did not seem to want to do this particular trick. He played soldier, said his prayers, stood on his hind legs, and turned a somersault. But he would not jump over the water.
“Come, Snap, Snap!” called Flossie. “Jump!”
Snap raced about and barked, and seemed to be having all sorts of fun, but jump he would not until he got ready. Then, when he did Freddie accidentally lowered the nozzle and Snap was soaked.
But the dog did not mind the water in the least. In fact he seemed to like it, for the day was warm, and he stood still and let Freddie wet him all over. Then Snap rolled about on the lawn, Freddie and Flossie taking turns sprinkling.
And, as might be expected, considerable water got on the two children, and when Snap shook himself, as he often did, to get some of the drops off his shaggy coat, he gave Flossie and her clean dress a regular shower bath.
Nan, coming from the house saw this. She ran up to Flossie, who had the hose just then, crying:
“Flossie Bobbsey! Oh, you’ll get it when mamma sees you! She cleaned you all up and now look at yourself!”
“She can’t see—there’s no looking glass here,” said Freddie, with a laugh.
“And you’re just as bad!” cried Nan. “You’d both better go in the house right away, and stop playing with the hose.”
“We’re through, anyhow,” said Freddie. “You ought to see Snap jump over the water.”
“Oh, you children!” cried Nan, with a shake of her head. She seemed like a little mother to them at times, though she was only four years older.
Mrs. Bobbsey was very sorry to see Flossie so wet and bedraggled, and said:
“You should have known better than to play with water with a clean dress on, Flossie. Now I must punish you. You will have to stay in the house for an hour, and so will Freddie.”
Poor little Bobbsey twins! But then it was not a very severe punishment, and really some was needed. It was hard when two of their little playmates came and called for them to come out. But Mrs. Bobbsey insisted on the two remaining in until the hour was at an end.
Then, when they had on dry garments, and could go out, there was no one with whom to play.
“I’m not going to squirt the hose ever again,” said Freddie.
“Neither am I,” said his sister. “Never, never!”
Snap didn’t say anything. He lay on the porch asleep, being cooled off after his sport with the water.
“I—I wish we had our cat, Snoop, back,” said Flossie. “Then we wouldn’t have played in the water.”
“That’s so,” agreed Freddie. “I wonder where he can be?”
They asked their father that night if any of the railroad men had seen their pet, but he said none had, and added:
“I’m afraid you’ll have to get along without Snoop. He seems to have disappeared. But, anyhow, you have Snap.”
“But some one may come along and claim him,” said Freddie. “That Danny Rugg says he belongs to Mr. Peterson in Millville, father,” said Bert.
“Well, I’ll call Mr. Peterson up on the telephone tomorrow, and find out,” spoke Mr. Bobbsey. “That much will be settled, at any rate.”
“Did you hear anything from the circus people about the fat lady?” asked Mrs. Bobbsey.
“Yes, but no news,” was her husband’s answer. “The circus has gone to Cuba and Porto Rico for the win
ter, and I will have to write there. It will be some time before we can expect an answer, though, as I suppose the show will be traveling from place to place and mail down there is not like it is up here. But we may find the fat lady and the cup some day.”
“And Snoop, too,” put in Nan.
“Yes, Snoop too.”
One fact consoled the Bobbseys in their trouble over their lost pet and cup. This was the answer received by Mr. Bobbsey from Mr. Peterson. That gentleman had lost a valuable dog, but it was a small poodle, and unlike big Snap. So far no one had claimed the trick dog, and it seemed likely that the children could keep him. They were very glad about this.
“Oh dear!” exclaimed Bert, one afternoon a few days following the fun with the hose, “school begins Monday. Only three more days of vacation!”
“I think you have had a long vacation,” returned Mrs. Bobbsey, “and if Freddie and Flossie are going to do such tricks as they did the other day, with the hose, I, for one, shall be glad that you are in school.”
“I like school,” said Nan. “There are lot of new girls coming this term, I hear.”
“Any new fellows?” asked Bert, more interested.
“I don’t know. There is a new teacher in the kindergarten, though, where Flossie and Freddie will go. Nellie Parks has met her, and says she’s awfully nice.”
“That’s good,” spoke Flossie. “I like nice teachers.”
“Well, I hope you and Freddie will get along well,” said Mamma Bobbsey.
“You are getting older you know, and you must soon begin to study hard.”
“We will,” they promised.
The school bell, next Monday morning, called to many rather unwilling children. The long vacation was over and class days had begun once more. The four Bobbseys went off together to the building, which was only a few blocks from their home. Mr. Tetlow was the principal, and there were half a dozen lady teachers.
“Hello, Nan,” greeted Grace Lavine. “May I sit with you this term?”
“Oh, I was going to ask her,” said Nellie Parks.
“Well, I was first,” spoke Grace, with a pout.
“We’ll be in the room where there are three seated desks,” said Nan with a smile. “Maybe we three can be together.”
The Bobbsey Twins Megapack Page 38