The Bobbsey Twins Megapack

by Laura Lee Hope

  “Oh, we’ll ask teacher!” cried Nellie. “That will be lovely!”

  “I’m going to sit with Freddie,” declared Flossie. “We’re to be together—mamma said so.”

  “Of course, dear,” agreed Nan. “I’ll speak to your teacher about it.”

  Bert was walking in the rear with Charley Mason, when Danny Rugg came around a corner.

  “I know what I’m going to do to you after school, Bert Bobbsey!” called the bully. “You just wait and see.”

  “All right—I’ll wait,” spoke Bert quietly. “I’m not afraid.”

  By this time they were at the school, and it was nearly time for the last bell to ring. Danny went off to join some of his particular chums, shaking his fist at Bert as he went.

  CHAPTER VIII

  Bert Sees Something

  Lessons were not very well learned that first day in school, but this is generally the case when the Fall term opens after the Summer vacation.

  Just as were the Bobbsey twins, nearly all the other pupils were thinking of what good times they had had in the country, or at the seashore, and in consequence little attention was paid to reading, spelling, arithmetic and geography.

  But Principal Tetlow and his teachers were prepared for this, and they were sure that, in another day or so, the boys and girls would settle down and do good work. Many of the children were in new rooms and different classes, and this did not make them feel so much “at home” as before vacation.

  Nan Bobbsey’s first duty, after reporting to her new teacher, was to go to the kindergarten room, and ask the teacher there if Flossie and Freddie might sit together.

  “You see,” Nan explained, “this is really their first real school work. They attended a few times before, but did not stay long.”

  “I see,” spoke the pretty kindergarten instructor with a laugh, “and we must make it as pleasant for them this time as we can, so they will want to stay. Yes, my dear, Flossie and Freddie may sit together, and I’ll look after them as much as I can. But, oh, there are such a lot of little tots!” and she looked about the room that seemed overflowing with small boys and girls.

  Some were playing and talking, telling of their summer experiences. Others seemed frightened, and stood against the wall bashfully, little girls holding to the hands of their little brothers.

  Nan looked for Freddie and Flossie. She saw her little sister trying to comfort a small girl who was almost ready to cry, while Freddie, like the manly little fellow he was, had taken charge of a small chap in whose eyes were two large tears, just ready to fall. It was his first day at school.

  “Oh, I am sure your little twin brother and sister will get along all right,” said the kindergarten teacher, with a smile to Nan, as she saw what Flossie and Freddie were doing. “They are too cute for anything—the little dears!”

  “And they are very good,” said Nan, “only of course they do—things—sometimes.”

  “They wouldn’t be real children if they didn’t,” answered the teacher.

  This was during a recess that had come after the classes were first formed. On her way back to her room, to see if she could arrange to sit with Grace and Nellie at one of the new big desks, Nan saw her brother Bert. He looked a little worried, and Nan asked at once:

  “What is the matter, Bert? Haven’t you got a nice teacher?”

  “Oh, yes, she’s fine!” exclaimed Bert “There’s nothing the matter at all.”

  “Yes there is,” insisted Nan. “I can tell by your face. It’s that Danny Rugg; I’m sure. Oh, Bert, is he bothering you again?”

  “Well, he said he was going to.”

  “Then why don’t you go straight and tell Mr. Tetlow? He’ll make Danny behave. I’ll go tell him myself!”

  “Don’t you dare, Nan!” cried Bert. “All the fellows would call me ‘sissy,’ if I let you do that. Never mind, I can look out for my self. I’m not afraid of Danny.”

  “Oh, Bert, I hope you don’t get into fight.”

  “I won’t, Nan—if I can help it. At least I won’t hit first, but if he hits me—”

  Bert looked as though he knew what he would do in that case.

  “Oh dear!” cried Nan, “aren’t you boys just awful!”

  However, she made up her mind that if Danny got too bad she would speak to the principal about him, whether her brother wanted her to or not.

  “He won’t know it,” thought Nan.

  She had no trouble in getting permission from her teacher for herself and her two friends to sit together, and soon they had moved their books and other things to one of the long desks that had room for three pupils.

  Meanwhile Flossie and Freddie got along very well in the kindergarten. At first, just as the others did, they gave very little attention to what the teacher wanted them to learn, but she was very patient, and soon all the class was gathered about the sand table, in the little low chairs, making fairy cities, caves, and even makebelieve seashore places.

  “This is like the one where we were this Summer,” said Flossie, as she made a hole in her sand pile to take the place of the ocean. “If I had water and a piece of wood I could show you where there was a shipwreck,” she said to the girl next to her.

  “That isn’t the way it was,” spoke Freddie, from the other side of the room. “There was more sand at the seashore than on this whole table—yes, on ten tables like this.”

  “There was not!” cried Flossie.

  “There was too!” insisted her brother.

  “Children—children!” called the teacher. “You must not argue like that—ever—in school, or out of it. Now we will sing our worksong, and after that we will march with the flags,” and she went to the piano to play. All the little ones liked this, and the dispute of Flossie and Freddie was soon forgotten.

  Bert kept thinking of what might happen between himself and Danny Rugg when school was out, and when his teacher asked him what the Pilgrim Fathers did when they first came to settle in New England Bert looked up in surprise, and said:

  “They fought.”

  “Fought!” exclaimed the teacher. “The book says they gave thanks.”

  “Well, I meant they fought the—er—the Indians,” stammered Bert.

  Poor Bert was thinking of what might take place between himself and the bully.

  “Well, yes, they did fight the Indians,” admitted the teacher, “but that wasn’t what I was thinking of. I will ask you another question in history.”

  But I am not going to tire you with an account of what went on in the classrooms. There were mostly lessons there, such as you have yourselves, and I know you don’t care to read about them.

  Bert did not see Danny Rugg at the noon recess, when the Bobbsey twins and the other children went home for lunch. But when school was let out in the afternoon, and when Bert was talking to Charley Mason about a new way of making a kite, Danny Rugg, accompanied by several of his chums, walked up to Bert. It was in a field some distance from the school, and no houses were near.

  “Now I’ve got you, Bert Bobbsey!” taunted Danny, as he advanced with doubledup fists. “What did you want to squirt the hose on me that time for?”

  “I told you it was an accident,” said Bert quietly.

  “And I say you did it on purpose. I said I’d get even with you, and now I’m going to.”

  “I don’t want to fight, Danny,” said Bert quietly.

  “Huh! he’s afraid!” sneered Jack Westly, one of Danny’s friends.

  “Yes, he’s a coward!” taunted Danny.

  “I’m not!” cried Bert stoutly.

  “Then take that!” exclaimed Danny, and he gave Bert a push that nearly knocked him down. Bert put out a hand to save himself and struck Danny, not really meaning to.

  “There! He hit you back!” cried one boy.

  “Yes, go on in, now, Dan, and beat him!” said another.

  “Oh, I’ll fix him now,” boasted Danny, circling around Bert. Bert was carefully watching. He did not mean to l
et Danny get the best of him if he could help it, much as he did not like to fight.

  Danny struck Bert on the chest, and Bert hit the bully on the cheek. Then Danny jumped forward swiftly and tried to give Bert a blow on the head. But Bert stepped to one side, and Danny slipped down to the ground.

  As he did so a white box fell from his pocket. Bert knew what kind of a box it was, and what was in it, and he knew now, what had stained Danny’s fingers so yellow, and what made his clothes have such a odd smell. For the box had in it cigarettes.

  Danny saw where it had fallen, and picked it up quickly. Then he came running at Bert again, but a boy called:

  “Look out! Here comes Mr. Tetlow, the principal!”

  This was a signal for all the boys, even Bert, to run, for, though school was out, they still did not want to be caught at a fight by one of the teachers, or Mr. Tetlow.

  “Anyhow, you knocked him down, Bert,” said Charley Mason, as he ran on with Bert. “You beat!”

  “He did not—I slipped,” said Danny. “I can fight him, and I will, too, some day.”

  “I’m not afraid of you,” answered Bert.

  Mr. Tetlow did not appear to have seen the fight that amounted to so little. Perhaps he pretended not to.

  CHAPTER IX

  Off To the Woods

  Whether Danny Rugg was afraid the principal had seen him trying to force a fight on Bert, or whether the unexpected fall that came to him, caused it, no one knew, but certainly, for the next few days, Danny let Bert alone. When he passed him he scowled, or shook his fist, or muttered something about “getting even,” but this was all.

  Perhaps it was the thought of what Bert had seen fall from Danny’s pocket that made the bully less anxious to keep up the quarrel. At any rate, Bert was left alone and he was glad of it. He was not afraid, but he liked peace.

  The school days went on, and the classes settled down to their work for the long Winter term. And the thought of the snow and ice that would comparatively soon be with them, made the Bobbsey twins rejoice.

  “Charley Mason and I are going to make a dandy big bob this year,” said Bert one day. “It’s going to carry ten fellows.”

  “And no girls?” asked Nan with a smile. She was walking along behind her brother, with Grace and Nellie.

  “Sure, we’ll let you girls ride once in a while,” said Charley, as he caught up to his chum. “But you can’t steer.”

  “I steered a bob once,” said Grace, who was quite athletic for her age. “It was Danny Rugg’s, too.”

  “Pooh! His is a little one alongside the one Charley and I are going to make!” exclaimed Bert. “Ours will be hard to steer, and it’s going to have a gong on it to tell folks to get out of the way.”

  “That’s right,” agreed Charley. “And we’d better start it right away, Bert. It may soon snow.”

  “It doesn’t feel so now,” spoke Nan. “It is very warm. It feels more like ice cream cones.”

  “And if you’ll come with me I’ll treat you all to some,” exclaimed Nellie Parks, whose father was quite well off. “I have some of my birthday money left.”

  “Oh, but there are five of us!” cried Nan, counting. “That is too much—twenty-five cents, Nellie.”

  “I’ve got fifty, and really it is very hot today.”

  It was warm, being the end of September, with Indian Summer near at hand.

  “Well, let’s go to Johnson’s,” suggested Nellie. “They have the best cream.”

  “Oh, here comes Flossie and Freddie!” exclaimed Nan. “We don’t want to take them, Nellie. That means—”

  “Of course I’ll take them!” exclaimed Nellie, generously. “I’ve got fifty cents, I told you.”

  “I’ll give them each a penny and let them run along home,” offered Bert.

  “No, I’m going to treat them, too,” insisted Nellie. “Come on!” she called to the little twins, “we’re going to get ice cream cones, it’s so warm.”

  “Oh, goodie!” cried Flossie. “I was just wishing for one.”

  “So was I,” added her brother.

  “And I’ll ask you to my party next week,” the little girl went on. “I’m going to have one on my birthday.”

  “Oh, are you really, Flossie?” asked Nan. “I hadn’t heard about it.”

  “Yep—I am. Mamma said I could, but she told me not to tell. I don’t care, I wanted Nellie to know, as she’s going to treat us to cones.”

  “And it’s half my party, ’cause my birthday’s the same day,” explained Freddie. “So you can come to my party at the same time, Nellie.”

  “Thank you, dear, I shall. Now let’s hurry to the store, for it’s getting warmer all the while.”

  The ice cream in the funny little cones was much enjoyed by all. Bert and Charley walked on together eating, and talking of the bob sled they were going to make. They passed Danny Rugg, who looked rather enviously at them.

  “Hey, Charley,” called Danny, “come here, I want to speak to you.”

  “I’m busy now,” answered Charley. “Bert and I have something to do.”

  “So have I. I’ve got a dandy plan.”

  “Well, I’ll see you later,” spoke Charley.

  He had once been quite friendly with Danny, but he grew not to like his ways, and so became more chummy with Bert, who was very glad, for he liked Charley.

  The two boys went on to Bert’s barn, where they were going to build the bob sled. The girls, with Flossie and Freddie, went on the Bobbsey lawn, where there were some easy chairs. They sat in the shade of the trees, and Freddie had Snap do some of his tricks for the visitors.

  “Can he jump through a hoop, covered with paper as they do in the circus?” asked Nellie.

  “Oh, we never thought to try that,” said Freddie. “I’m going to make one,” and, filled with this new idea, he hurried into the house.

  “Dinah,” he said, “I want some paper and paste.”

  “Land sakes, chile! what yo’ gwine t’ do now?” asked the colored cook.

  “Make a kite, an’ take Snoop up in de air laik yo’ brother Bert done once?”

  “No, we’re not going to do that,” answered the little boy. “We’re going to cover a hoop with paper, and make Snap jump through it, like in a circus.”

  “Mah goodness mustard pot!” cried Dinah. “What will yo’ all be up to next?”

  “I don’t know,” answered Freddie. “But will you make me some paste, Dinah? And you know we haven’t got Snoop, anyhow, so we couldn’t send him up on a kite tail,” added Freddie.

  “Deah me! Yo’ chilluns done make me do de mostest wuk!” complained Dinah, but she laughed, which showed that she did not really mean it, and set at mixing some flour and water for the paste.

  Flossie and Freddie insisted on making the paper covered hoop themselves. They started, but they got so much of the sticky stuff on their hands and faces that Nan feared they would soil their clothes, so she insisted on being allowed to do the pasting for them.

  “But we can help, can’t we?” asked Freddie.

  “Yes,” said Nan.

  Even for Nan covering a hoop with paper was not as easy as she thought it would be. Grace and Nellie helped, but sometimes the wind would blow the paper away just as they were ready to fold it around the rim of the hoop. Then the paste would get on the girls’ hands.

  “What are you doing?” asked Bert, as he and Charley came from the barn. They had to stop work on their job, as they could not find a long enough plank. They decided to get one from Mr. Bobbsey’s lumber yard, later.

  “We’re going to have Snap do the circus trick of jumping through a paper hoop,” explained Nan. “Only we can’t seem to get the hoop made.”

  “I’ll do it,” offered Bert, and as he and Charley had often pasted paper on their kite frames they had better luck, and soon the hoop was ready.

  “Come, Snap!” called Freddie, it having been settled that he and Flossie were to hold the hoop for the dog to leap through. Snap
, always ready for fun, jumped up from the grass where he had been sleeping, and frisked about, barking loudly.

  “Now you hold him there, Charley,” directed Bert, pointing to a spot back of where Freddie and Flossie stood. “Then I’ll go over here and call him. He’ll come running, and when he gets near enough, Freddie, you and Flossie hold up the paper hoop. He’ll go right through it.”

  It worked out just as the children had planned. Snap raced away from Charley, when he heard Bert calling. He ran right between Flossie and Freddie, who raised the hoop just in time.

  “Rip! Tear!” burst the paper, and Snap sailed through the hoop just as he probably had often done in the circus, perhaps from the back of a horse.

  “Oh, that was fine!” cried Flossie. “Let’s make another hoop!”

  “Let’s make a lot of ’em, and have a circus with Snap, and charge money to see him, and then we can buy a lot of ice cream for our party!” said Freddie.

  “Oh, yes!” agreed his sister.

  Well, they did make more hoops, and Snap seemed to enjoy jumping through them. But when Mrs. Bobbsey heard about the circus plans she decided it would make too much confusion.

  “Besides, you have to help me get ready for your party,” she said to the two little twins.

  This took their mind off the proposed circus, but for several days after that they had much fun making hoops for Snap to jump through.

  Bert and Charley got a long plank from the lumber yard, and spent much time after school in the Bobbsey barn, working over their bob sled. It was harder than they had thought it would be, and they had to call in some other boys to help them. Mr. Bobbsey, too, gave his son some advice about how to build it.

  Flossie and Freddie liked it very much in school. The kindergarten teacher was very kind, and took an interest in all her pupils. “Oh, mamma!” cried Flossie, coming in one day from school, “I’ve learned how to make a house.”

  “And I can make a lantern, and a chain to hang it on, and I can put it in front of Flossie’s house!” exclaimed Freddie. “And, please, mother, may I have some bread and jam. I’m awful hungry.”

  “Yes, dear, go ask Dinah,” said Mrs. Bobbsey, with a smile. “And then you may show me how you make houses and lanterns and a chain. Are they real?”