The Bobbsey Twins Megapack

by Laura Lee Hope

  “It’s frozen fast all right enough,” said the janitor, grimly. “Whoever put it there poured water over it, and it’s frozen so fast that I’ll have to chop it away piece by piece. All day it will take me, too, and me with all the paths to clean!”

  When the classes were assembled for the morning exercises Mr. Tetlow, the school principal, stepped to the edge of the platform, and said:

  “I presume you have all seen the big snow ball on the front steps. Whoever put it there did a very wrong thing. I know several boys must have had a hand in it, for one could not do it alone. I will now give those who did it a chance to confess. If they will admit it, and apologize, I will let the matter drop. If not I will punish them severely. Now are you ready to tell, boys? I may say that I have a clue to at least one boy who had a hand in the trick.”

  Mr. Tetlow paused. There was silence in the room, and the boys looked one at the other. Who was guilty?

  CHAPTER IV

  The Accusation

  For what seemed a long time Mr. Tetlow stood looking over the room full of pupils. One could have heard a pin drop, so quiet was it. The hard breathing of the boys and girls could be heard. From over in a corner where Danny Rugg sat, came a sound of whispering.

  “Quiet!” commanded the principal sharply. “There must be no talking. I will wait one minute more for the guilty ones to acknowledge that they rolled the big snowball on the steps. Then, if they do not speak, I shall have something else to say.”

  The minute ticked slowly off on the big clock. No one spoke. Bert glanced from side to side as he sat in his seat, wondering what would come next. Many others had the same thought.

  “I see no one wishes to take advantage of my offer,” said Mr. Tetlow slowly. “Very well. You may all go to your class-rooms, with the exception of Bert Bobbsey. I wish to see him in my office at once. Do you hear, Bert?”

  There was a gasp of astonishment, and all eyes were turned on Bert. He grew red in the face, and then pale. He could see Nan looking at him curiously, as did other girls. Bert was glad Flossie and Freddie were not in the room, for the kindergarten children did not assemble for morning exercises with the larger boys and girls. Flossie and Freddie might have been frightened at the solemn talk.

  For a moment Bert could hardly believe what he had heard. He was wanted in Mr. Tetlow’s office! It did not seem possible. And there was but one explanation of it. It must be in connection with the big snowball. And Bert knew he had had no hand in putting it on the school steps.

  There was a buzz of talk, many whisperings, and some one spoke aloud. It sounded like Danny Rugg, but poor Bert was so confused at his own plight that he could not be sure.

  “Silence!” commanded Mr. Tetlow, as the boys and girls marched to their various rooms. “Bert, you will wait for me in my office,” he added. Poor Bert looked all around. He met many glances that were kind, and others, from Danny Rugg’s friends, that were not. Nan waved her hand at her brother as she passed him, and Bert smiled at her. He made up his mind to be brave. Bert went to the principal’s office, and sat in a chair. There was another boy there, who looked at Bert in a questioning manner.

  “Are you here to get some writing paper, Bert?” asked the other boy. “Miss Kennedy sent me for some.”

  “No,” answered Bert. “I only wish I was. I guess Mr. Tetlow thinks I had something to do with the big snowball.”

  “Did you?”

  “I did not!” exclaimed Bert quickly.

  The principal entered a little later, gave to the other boy the package of writing paper Miss Kennedy had sent for, and then sat down beside Bert.

  “I am sorry to have to do this, Bert,” he said, “but this is a serious matter and I must treat it seriously. Now again, I ask if you have anything to say to me? Perhaps you were too worried to stand up before the whole school.”

  “No, sir,” answered Bert, “I don’t know that I have anything to say, if you mean about the big snowball.”

  “Then you deny that you had anything to do with it?”

  “Yes, sir. I never helped roll it on the steps.”

  “Do you know who did?”

  “No, sir. I haven’t the least idea.”

  “And you were not anywhere near it?”

  “No, sir.”

  “Ahem! Let me ask you, have you a knife, Bert?”

  Without thinking Bert’s hand went to his pocket, and then, as he recalled something, his face turned red, and he said:

  “I have one, but I haven’t got it now.”

  “Is this it?” asked Mr. Tetlow, suddenly holding out one.

  Bert did not need to give more than a single glance at it to know that it was his knife. It had his name on the handle and had been given him by his father at Christmas.

  “Yes, that’s mine,” he said slowly.

  “So I thought. And do you know where it was found, Bert?”

  “No, Mr. Tetlow, I haven’t any idea.”

  “Suppose I told you the janitor picked it up on the steps almost under the big snowball? If I tell you that what have you to say?”

  “Well, Mr. Tetlow, I’ll have to say that I don’t know anything about it. I didn’t drop my knife there, I’m sure.”

  “Then someone else must have done it. Be careful now, Bert. I don’t want to be hasty, but it looks to me very much as though you were one of the boys who had played this trick—a trick that has made considerable trouble. I am sure there must have been others concerned with you, and I am almost positive that you had a hand in it.

  “Now I am not going to ask you to tell tales against your companions. I don’t believe in that sort of thing. But I am very sorry that you did not admit at first that you had a share in rolling the big ball. Very sorry, Bert.”

  “But, Mr. Tetlow, I didn’t do it!” cried poor Bert, the tears coming into his eyes. “I don’t know how my knife got there, but I do know I didn’t help roll that ball. Please believe me; won’t you?”

  For a moment the principal was silent. Then he said slowly:

  “Bert, I would very much like to believe you, for I have always found you a good, manly and upright boy. But the evidence is strong against you I am sorry to say. And this trick was one I can not easily overlook. Rolling the snowball on the steps was bad enough, but when water was poured over it, to freeze, and become ice, making it so much harder to clean off, it made matters so much worse.

  “Besides making a lot of work for the janitor, there was danger that some of the teachers might slip on the icy path and be injured. If your knife had only been found lying on top of the ice I might think you had come up merely to look at the big ball, and had dropped your property there. But the knife was found frozen fast, showing that it must have been dropped during the time the water was poured on the steps. So you see whoever left it there must have been on hand when the trick was played.”

  “That may be true, Mr. Tetlow!” cried Bert, “but I did not leave my knife there. I remember now—I can explain it! I couldn’t think, at first, but I see it now.”

  “Very well,” said Mr. Tetlow quietly, “I’ll hear what you have to say, Bert.”

  CHAPTER V

  Holidays at Hand

  Bert Bobbsey was thinking rapidly. Something that he had nearly forgotten came suddenly to his mind, and he hoped it would clear him of the accusation.

  And what he had seen, that brought back to his mind something that he had nearly forgotten, was the sight of an elderly gentleman driving past the school in a sled. It was aged Mr. Carford, whose runaway team Bert had helped stop that day on the hill.

  “Will you let me call in Mr. Carford?” asked Bert of the principal.

  “Call in Mr. Carford?” repeated Mr. Tetlow in some surprise. “What for?”

  “Because, sir,” said Bert eagerly, “he saw me lend my knife to Jimmie Belton last night, and he can tell you that I went on home, leaving my knife with Jimmie.”

  “Ha! Do you mean to say that Jimmie dropped it in the ice on the school ste
ps?”

  “No, Mr. Tetlow, I don’t mean to say that. But I can prove by Mr. Carford that I went home last night without my knife. Please call him in.”

  Bert thought of the strange old man, who had made such an odd remark concerning the Bobbsey family. And Bert was determined to find out what it meant, but, as yet, he had had no chance, as his father was still away on a business trip.

  “Very well, we shall see what Mr. Carford has to say,” spoke the principal. “And I will have Jimmie Belton in also.”

  Mr. Tetlow pressed a bell button that called the janitor, and the latter, who was still chopping away at the frozen steps, came to see what was wanted.

  “Just call to that old gentleman going past in the bob sled to come in here,” said Mr. Tetlow. “He is Mr. Carford.”

  “Tell him Bert Bobbsey wants to see him,” added the boy, amazed at his own boldness.

  “Yes, you may do that,” said Mr. Tetlow, as the janitor looked toward him. Somehow the principal was beginning to doubt Bert’s guilt now.

  From the office window Bert watched the janitor hail the aged man, who paused for a minute, and then, tying his team, came on toward the school. Bert’s heart was lighter now. He was sure the old gentleman would bear out what he had said, and Bert felt he would be glad to do him a good turn in part payment for what Bert and his chums had done in catching the runaways.

  “Mr. Carford,” began Mr. Tetlow, who knew the aged man slightly, “there has been trouble here, and Bert Bobbsey thinks perhaps you can help clear it up. So I have asked you to step in for a moment.” Then he told about the big snowball, and mentioned how he had come to suspect Bert.

  “But Bert tells me,” went on Mr. Tetlow, “that you saw him lending his knife to Jimmie Belton last night. May I ask you, is that so?”

  “Why, yes, it is,” said the aged man slowly. “I’ll tell you how it was.” He nodded at Bert in a friendly way, and there was a twinkle in his deep-set eyes.

  “It was just toward dusk last evening,” went on Mr. Carford, “and I was on my way home to Newton. I’d been in town buying some supplies, and near the cross roads I met Bert and another boy.”

  “That was Jimmie,” said Bert eagerly.

  “Well, I heard you call him Jimmie—that’s all I know,” said Mr. Carford. “Bert was cutting a branch from a tree, and when I came up to them I offered them a ride as far as I was going. They got in, and Bert here was whittling away with his knife as he sat beside me. Yes, that’s the knife,” said Mr. Carford, as the principal showed it to him.

  “I was making a ramrod for a toy spring gun I have,” explained Bert. “It shoots long sticks, like arrows, and I had lost one of my best ones, so on the way home I cut another. Then just before Mr. Carford gave us the ride, Jimmie came along and asked me to lend him my knife. I said I would as soon as I had finished making my arrow. I did finish it in the sled and I gave him my knife just before we got out.”

  Mr. Tetlow looked inquiringly at Mr. Carford, who nodded in answer.

  “Yes,” said the aged man, “that was the way of it. Bert did lend that other boy—Jimmie he called him—his knife. I saw the two boys separate and Jimmie carried off Bert’s knife. But that’s all I do know. The snowball business I have nothing to do with.”

  “No, I suppose not,” said the principal slowly. “I am sorry now that I said what I did, Bert. But there still remains the question of how your knife got on the steps. Do you think Jimmie had a hand in putting the snowball there?”

  “I don’t know, Mr. Tetlow. I wouldn’t like to say.”

  “No, of course not. I’ll have Jimmie here.” The principal called a messenger and sent him for Jimmie, who came to the office wondering what it was all about.

  Without telling him what was wanted Mr. Tetlow asked Jimmie this question quickly: “What did you do with Bert’s knife he lent it to you last night?”

  For a moment Jimmie was confused. A strange look came over his face. He clapped his hand to his pocket and exclaimed:

  “I—I lent it to Danny Rugg.”

  “Danny Rugg!” cried Bert.

  “No, I didn’t exactly lend it to Danny,” explained Jimmie, “for I knew, Bert, that you and he weren’t very friendly. But after you let me take it last night, to start making that sailboat I was telling you about, I forgot all about promising you that I’d bring it back after supper. Then Danny came over, and he helped me with the boat. When he saw I had your knife, and when he heard me say I must take it back, he offered to leave it for you when he came past your house the next time.”

  “And did you give it to him?” asked the principal.

  “Yes, I did,” answered Jimmie. “I thought he would do as he said. He took the knife when he went home from my house.”

  “But he never gave it to me!” said Bert quickly.

  “I am beginning to believe he did not,” said the principal. “I think we will have Danny in here.”

  The bully came in rather defiant, and stared boldly around at those in the office. Mr. Tetlow resolved on a surprising plan.

  “Danny,” he said suddenly, “why did you put Bert’s knife on the step, and let it freeze there to make it look as though Bert had helped place the snowball in front of the door? Why did you?”

  “I—I—” stammered Danny, “I didn’t—”

  “Be careful now,” warned the principal. “We have heard the whole story. Jimmie has told how you promised to leave the knife with Bert, but you did not.”

  Danny swallowed a lump in his throat. He was much confused, and finally he broke down and admitted that he had been present and had helped roll the snowball on the steps.

  “But I wasn’t the only one!” he exclaimed. “There was—”

  “Tut Tut!” exclaimed the principal. “I want no tale-bearing. I think those who did the trick will confess now, after I tell them what has happened. Danny, it was very wrong of you to play such a joke, but it was much worse to try to throw the blame on Bert by leaving his knife there.”

  “I—I didn’t do it on purpose,” said Danny. “The knife must have slipped out of my pocket.” But no one believed that, for Danny was known to have a grudge against Bert, and that was reason enough for trying to throw the blame on our little hero.

  But Bert was soon cleared, for, a little later, when Mr. Tetlow called the school together, saying that he had been mistaken in regard to Bert, and relating what had come out about the knife, several of the boys who, with Danny had placed the big ball on the steps, admitted their part in it.

  They were all punished, but Danny most of all, for his mean act in trying to make it look as though Bert had done it.

  “Well,” said Mr. Carford, as he took his leave, having helped to prove Bert’s innocence “this time I have had a chance to do a Bobbsey a favor, in return for one you did me, Bert.”

  “Yes, sir,” answered Bert, not knowing what else to say. He was puzzling over what strange connection there might be between his family and Mr. Carford.

  “Come up and see me sometime,” said the aged man. “And bring your brother and sisters, Bert. I’ll be glad to see them at my place. I’m going to stay home all this winter. I’m getting too old to go to Snow Lodge anymore.”

  Bert wondered what Snow Lodge was, but he did not like to ask.

  Thus was cleared up the mystery of the big snowball, and Bert’s many friends were as glad as he was himself that he had been found innocent.

  There came more snow storms, followed by freezing weather after a thaw, and the boys and girls had much fun on the ice, a number of skating races having been arranged among the school pupils.

  The end of the mid-winter term was approaching, and the Christmas holidays would soon be at hand. Then would come a three week’s vacation, and the Bobbsey twins were talking about how they could spend it.

  “It’s too cold to go to the seashore,” said Nan with a shiver, as she looked out of the window over the snowy yard.

  “And the country would be about the same,�
�� added Bert.

  “Oh, it’s lovely in the country during the winter, I think,” said Nan.

  “We could get up a circus in the barn, with Snoop and Snap,” said Flossie, who was busy over a picture book.

  “Then I’m going to be the ring-master and crack a big whip and wear big boots!” cried Freddie.

  “I do hope papa will be home for Christmas,” sighed Nan, for Mr. Bobbsey’s business trip, in relation to lumber matters, had kept him away from home longer than expected.

  “I have good news for you, children,” said Mrs. Bobbsey, coming into the room just then with a letter. “Your father is coming home to-morrow.”

  “Oh, how nice!” cried Nan.

  “I hope he brings us something,” said Freddie.

  “I’ll have a chance to ask him about Mr. Carford,” thought Bert. “I wonder what that old man meant by his strange words?”

  CHAPTER VI

  A Visit To Mr. Carford

  “Freddie, what in the world are you doing?”

  “Flossie! Oh dear! You children! You have the place all upset!”

  Mrs. Bobbsey, who had come into the big living room, to see the two younger twins engaged in some strange proceedings, paused at the doorway to look on. Indeed the place was upset, for the chairs had been dragged out from against the walls and from corners to be placed in a row before a large sofa. From one corner of this to a side wall was stretched a sheet, and in another corner, in a pen made of chairs, could be seen the wagging tail of Snap, the trick dog.

  “What in the world are you doing?” asked Mrs. Bobbsey. “Oh, dear, how I do dread a rainy day!” for it was pouring outside, and the older, as well as the younger twins had to stay in doors.

  “We’re playing circus,” explained Freddie gravely, as he peered between the “bars” of the cage made of chairs. “Snap is a lion,” went on the little fellow. “Growl, Snap!”

  And Snap, always ready to have fun, growled and barked to satisfy the most exacting circus lover.

  “Oh dear!” cried Mrs. Bobbsey. “I’ll never get this room straightened out again.”

  “Oh, we’ll fix it, mamma, after the circus,” said Flossie sweetly. “Sit down and see the show. I’ll make Snoop do some of the tricks the fat circus lady taught her,” and Flossie lifting up one corner of the sheet, showed the black cat curled up on a cushion, while back of her, tied by one leg, was Downy the pet duck.