Then came the party, and the Bobbseys were the guests of honor—particularly the twins and their cousins, for it was due to them, in a great measure, that the money had been found.
Mr. Carford stood up before everyone and admitted how wrong he had been in saying his nephew had taken the money.
“But all our troubles are ended now,” he said, “and Henry and I will live in Snow Lodge together. And we will always be glad to see you here—all of you—and most especially—the Bobbseys.”
“Three cheers for the Bobbsey twins!” someone called.
The children were pleased at this praise. They did not know that soon they would be helping some other people. You may read about this in “The Bobbsey Twins on a Houseboat.”
Then followed a fine feast—a happy time for all, while Henry and his uncle received the good wishes of their friends and neighbors.
Snap raced about, barking and wagging his tail. Bert, Nan, Dorothy, Harry and Freddie and Flossie were here, there, everywhere, telling how the tree had blown down, and how they had found the money.
“Dear old Snow Lodge!” said Nan, when the party was over, and the guests gone. “We will have to leave it soon!”
“But perhaps we can come back some time,” said Nan.
“I’d like to,” agreed Bert. “Next winter I am going to build a bigger ice-boat, and sail all over the lake.”
“And we’ll make regular snowshoes, and go hunting in the woods,” said Harry.
“But it will be summer before it is winter again,” said Freddie. “I’m going to have a motor boat and ride in it. And I’ll take my fire engine along, and pump water.”
“Can I come, with my doll?” asked Flossie.
“Yes, you may all come!” exclaimed Mamma Bobbsey, as she hugged the two little twins.
“And don’t forget,” said Mr. Carford, “that Snow Lodge is open in the summer as well as in the winter. I expect you Bobbsey twins to visit me once in a while. I never can thank you enough for finding that missing money.”
“Neither can I,” said Henry.
And now that the story is all told, we will say good-bye to the Bobbsey twins and their friends.
THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON A HOUSEBOAT
CHAPTER I
Good News
“What are you doing, Freddie?” asked Bert Bobbsey, leaning over to oil the front wheel of his bicycle, while he glanced at his little brother, who was tying strings about the neck of a large, handsome dog.
“Making a harness,” answered Freddie, not taking time to look up.
“A harness?” repeated Bert, with a little laugh. “How can you make a harness out of bits of string?”
“I’m going to have straps, too,” went on Freddie, keeping busily on with his work. “Flossie has gone in after them. It’s going to be a fine, strong harness.”
“Do you mean you are going to harness up Snap?” asked Bert, and he stood his bicycle against the side of the house, and came over to where Freddie sat near the big dog.
“Yes. Snap is going to be my horse,” explained Freddie. “I’m going to hitch him to my express wagon, and Flossie and I are going to have a ride.”
“Ha! Ha!” laughed Bert. “You won’t get much of a ride with that harness,” and he looked at the thin cord which the small boy was winding about the dog’s neck.
“Why not?” asked Freddie, a little hurt at Bert’s laughter. Freddie, like all small boys, did not like to be laughed at.
“Why, Snap is so strong that he’ll break that string in no time,” said Bert. “Besides—”
“Flossie’s gone in for our booty straps, I tell you!” said Freddie. “Then our harness will be strong enough. I’m only using string for part of it. I wish she’d hurry up and come out!” and Freddie glanced toward the house. But there was no sign of his little sister Flossie.
“Maybe she can’t find them,” suggested Bert. “You know what you and Flossie do with your books and straps, when you come home from school Friday afternoons—you toss them any old place until Monday morning.”
“I didn’t this time!” said sturdy little Freddie, looking up quickly. “I—I put ’em—I put ’em—oh, well, I guess Flossie can find ’em!” he ended, for trying to remember where he had left his books was more than he could do this bright, beautiful, Saturday morning, when there was no school.
“I thought so!” laughed Bert, as he turned to go back to his bicycle, for he intended to go for a ride, and had just cleaned, and was now oiling, his wheel.
“Well, Flossie can find ’em, so she can,” went on Freddie, as he held his head on one side and looked at a knotted string around the neck of Snap, the big dog.
“I wonder how Snap is going to like it?” asked Bert. “Did you ever hitch him to your express wagon before, Freddie?”
“Yes. But he couldn’t pull us.”
“Why not?”
“’Cause I only had him tied with strings, and they broke. But I’m going to use our book straps now, and they’ll hold.”
“Maybe they will—if you can find ’em—or if Flossie can,” Bert went on with a laugh.
Freddie said nothing. He was too busy tying more strings about Snap’s neck. These strings were to serve as reins for the dog-horse. Since Snap would not keep them in his mouth, as a horse does a bit, they had to go around his neck, as oxen wear their yokes.
Snap stretched out comfortably on the grass, his big red tongue hanging out of his mouth. He was panting, and breathing hard, for he and Freddie had had a romping play in the grass, before quieting down for the horse-game.
“There, Snap!” Freddie exclaimed, after a bit. “Now you’re almost hitched up. I wish Flossie would hurry up with those straps.”
Freddie Bobbsey stood up to look once more toward the house, which his little twin sister had entered a few minutes before, having offered to go in and look for the book straps. She had not come back, and Freddie was getting Impatient.
At last the little girl appeared on the side porch. Her yellow hair blew in the gentle June breeze, making sort of a golden light about her head.
“Freddie! Freddie!” she cried. “I can’t find ’em! I can’t find the book straps anywhere!”
“Why, I put ’em—I put ’em—” said Freddie helplessly, trying to remember where he had put them, when he came in from school the day before.
“You’ve got to come and help me hunt for ’em!” Flossie went on. “Mamma says she can’t find the straps.”
“All right. I’ll come,” spoke Freddie. “Snap, you stay here!” he ordered, but the big dog only blinked, and stuck out his tongue farther than ever. Perhaps he had already made up his mind what he would do when Freddie let him alone.
Off toward the house went the little fat Freddie. He was pretty plump—so much so that his father often called him a little “fat fireman.” Freddie was very fond of playing fireman, ever since the time he had owned a toy fire engine. But today he had other ideas.
“I’ll find those straps,” he said, as he toddled off. “Then we’ll hitch Snap to my express wagon, and Flossie and I’ll have a fine ride. Don’t you run away, Snap.”
Snap did not say whether he would or not. Flossie, standing on the side porch, waited for her little brother. She was just his age, and only a little smaller in height. She was just about as fat and plump as was Freddie, and both had light curly hair. They made a pretty picture together, and if Freddie was a “fat fireman” Flossie was a “fat fairy,” which pet name her father often called her.
“Did you look under the sofa for the straps?” asked Freddie when he had joined his sister.
“Yes. I looked there, and—and—everywhere,” she answered. “I can’t find ’em.”
“Maybe Snap hid ’em,” suggested Freddie.
“Maybe,” agreed Flossie. “He would, if he knew you were going to hitch him up with ’em.”
“Pooh. He couldn’t know that,” said Freddie. “I didn’t know it myself until a little while ago, and I didn’t tell
anybody but you.”
“Well, maybe Snap heard us talking about it,” went on Flossie. “He’s awful smart, you know, Freddie, from having been in a circus.”
“But he isn’t smart enough for that, even if he can do lots of tricks,” Freddie went on. “There’s Snoop!” he exclaimed, as a big, black cat ran across the lawn. “Maybe she took our book straps.”
“She couldn’t,” said Flossie. “Our books were in ’em, and they’d be too heavy for Snoop to drag.”
“That’s so,” admitted Freddie. “Well, come on, we’ll find ’em!”
The twins went into the house and began searching for the straps. High and low they looked, in all the usual, and unusual, places, where they sometimes tossed their books when they came in from school Friday afternoons, with the joyous cry of:
“No more lessons until Monday! Hurray!”
But this time they seemed to have tossed their books and straps into some very much out-of-the-way place, indeed.
“We can’t find ’em,” said Flossie. “Can’t you take some strong string, to tie Snap to the wagon, instead of the straps, Freddie?”
“I don’t think so,” he answered. “I know what to do. Let’s ask Dinah. Maybe she’s seen ’em.”
“Oh, yes, let’s!” agreed Flossie, and together they hurried to the kitchen where Dinah, the big, good-natured, colored cook, was rattling the pots and pans.
“Dinah! Dinah!” cried Flossie and Freddie in a twins’ chorus.
“Yep-um, honey-lambs! What yo’ all want?” asked Dinah, opening the oven door, to let out a little whiff of a most delicious smell, and then quickly closing it again. “Ef yo’ wants a piece ob cake, it ain’t done yit!”
“Oh, Dinah! We don’t want any cake!” said Freddie.
“What’s dat? Yo’ don’t want cake?” and Dinah quickly straightened up, put her fat hands on her fat hips, and looked at the two children in surprise. “Yo—don’t—want—no cake!” gasped Dinah. “What’s de mattah? Yo’ all ain’t sick, is yo’?”
For that was the only reason she could think of why Flossie and Freddie should not want cake—as they generally did Saturday morning.
“No, we’re not sick,” said Flossie, “and we’d like a piece of cake a little later, please Dinah. But just now we want our book straps. Have you seen ’em?”
“Book straps! Book straps!” exclaimed Dinah in great surprise. “Go ’long wif yo’ now! I ain’t got no time to be bodderin’ wif book straps, when dey’s pies an’ puddin’s an’ cakes t’ bake. Trot along now, an’ let ole Dinah be! Book straps! Huh!”
Flossie and Freddie knew there was little use in “bodderin’” Dinah any more, especially when she was in the midst of her baking.
“Come on, Flossie,” spoke Freddie. “We’ll have another look for those straps. Next time I’ll put our books where we can find ’em.”
Once more the children started through the different rooms. They looked everywhere. But no straps could they find.
“You see what a lot of trouble it makes, not only for you, but for others as well, when you don’t take care of your books,” said Mrs. Bobbsey gently. She knew it would be a good lesson for the twins to search for their things. Next time they might remember.
Suddenly, from out in the yard, came a shout.
“Freddie! Freddie! Come out here, quick!”
“That’s Bert!” exclaimed Freddie.
“Oh, maybe he’s found the straps, so we can harness up Snap,” cried Flossie.
But Bert’s next words soon told the younger twins that it was no such good luck as that, for he cried:
“Snap’s running away, Freddie! He’s running away. If you’re going to harness him up you’ll have to catch him!”
“Oh dear!” cried Flossie.
“Come on, help me catch him!” called Freddie.
Together they ran into the yard. As Bert had said, Snap, getting tired of being tied to a post with a thin string, had broken the cord, and now was racing over the fields after another dog with whom he often played.
“Come back, Snap! Come back!” cried Freddie.
Snap paid no heed.
Just then, through the front gate, came a girl. She looked so much like Bert, with his dark hair and eyes, with his slimness and his tallness, that you could tell at once she was his sister. As soon as Flossie saw her, she cried:
“Oh, Nan! We were going to hitch Snap to the express wagon, but Freddie and I can’t find our straps, and Snap ran away, and—and—”
“Never mind, Flossie dear,” said Nan. “Wait until you hear the good news I have for you!”
“Good news?” exclaimed Bert, coming away from his bicycle, toward his twin sister.
“Yes, the very best!” Nan went on. “It’s about a houseboat! Now, Flossie and Freddie, sit down on the grass and I’ll tell you all about the good news!”
CHAPTER II
Snap Saves Freddie
Down on the soft green grass of the lawn, sat the two sets of Bobbsey twins. Yes, there were two “sets” of them, and I shall tell you how that was, in a little while.
“Begin at the beginning,” suggested Bert to his sister. He always liked to hear all of anything, so Nan prepared to skip nothing.
“Well,” said Nan, as she leaned over to re-tie the bow of Flossie’s hair ribbon. It had become loose in the hurried search for the book straps. “Well, you know I went down to papa’s lumber office this morning, to bring him the letter that came here to the house by mistake. It was a letter from—”
“You can skip that part of it,” suggested Bert. “I don’t want to wait so long about hearing the news.”
“Well, I thought I’d tell you everything,” said Nan. “Anyhow, when I was in papa’s office he bought it.”
“What did he buy?” asked Freddie, getting to the point more quickly than Bert would have done. “What’d he buy, Nan?”
“A houseboat,” went on the older girl twin. “Mr. Marvin was there, and he sold papa the Marvin houseboat. Oh! and such fun as we’re—”
“What’s a houseboat?” interrupted Flossie.
“It’s a boat with a house on it, of course,” spoke Bert, eagerly. “I know. I’ve seen lots of them. You can live in them just like in a house, only it’s on water. There’s more room in a houseboat than in a regular boat. Go on, Nan.”
“Are we going to live in it?” asked Freddie.
“I think so—at least part of the time,” said Nan. “Now I’ll tell you all I know about it. I couldn’t stay to ask all I wanted to, as papa was busy. Besides, it was sort of a secret, and I found it out by accident before he meant me to. So you mustn’t tell mamma yet—it’s to be a surprise to her,” and Nan looked at the two smaller twins, and raised a cautioning finger.
“I won’t tell,” promised Flossie.
“Neither will I,” promised Freddie. “Is that all you’re going to tell us, Nan?”
“Well, isn’t that enough?” demanded Nan. “I think it’s just fine, that we’re going to have a houseboat! I’ve always wanted one.”
“So have I,” spoke Bert. “Go on, Nan! Tell me more about it. How big is it? Is there an engine in it? Where is it? Can we go on board? When is papa going to get it? Is there a room for me in it? I wonder if I can run the engine and steer? How much did it cost?”
“Gracious!” cried Nan, pretending to cover her ears with her hands. “It will take me all morning, Bert, to answer those questions. Please start over again.”
“First tell me where I can see the boat,” suggested Bert. “I want to go look at it.”
“It’s down in the lake,” said Nan.
“Come on, Flossie,” spoke Freddie. “There’s Snap coming back now, and maybe we can catch him. Then we’ll harness him up. Dinah ought to be done with her baking now, and maybe she can find those straps for us. Here, Snap!”
Flossie and Freddie, being some years younger than Bert and Nan, did not care to bear much more about the houseboat just then. That they were going
to have one was enough for them. They were much pleased and delighted, but they had the idea of hitching Snap to the express wagon, and they could not get that out of their minds.
“You go in and ask Dinah to help you look for the straps,” directed Freddie to his little sister, “and I’ll catch Snap. Here, Snap! Snap!” he called to the dog who had come back into the yard after a romp and frolic with his animal friend.
Snap was glad enough to stretch out on the grass and rest. He was tired from his run. Freddie put his arms around the dog’s neck, and laid his head down on the shaggy coat.
“Now you can’t run away again,” said Freddie, as he pretended to go to sleep, while Flossie toddled into the house once more, to have another look for the missing book straps.
At a little distance from Freddie sat Nan and Bert, talking about the houseboat, and the good times they would have on board. Freddie roused up, and looked toward the house. Flossie had not yet come out.
“It takes her a long time,” said the little boy. “We won’t have any ride at all, if she doesn’t hurry up.”
Then Freddie saw something else that attracted his attention. This was Bert’s bicycle, leaning now against the side of a shed. Bert was too much interested in the houseboat to want to ride just then.
A new idea came into Freddie’s head.
“I’m going to have a ride on Bert’s wheel, while I’m waiting for Flossie to come out with the straps,” said the little twin chap. “Bert won’t care.”
Freddie did not take any chances on asking Bert. His elder brother was still busy talking to Nan about the new houseboat. Freddie scrambled to his feet.
“Now you stay there, Snap!” he commanded the big dog, for Snap, ready again for some fun, was anxious to follow his little master. “Lie down, Snap!” ordered Freddie, and Snap again stretched out.
Freddie walked slowly over toward the bicycle. Of course he was too small to ride it in the regular way, with his feet on the pedals, for his little legs were not long enough to reach them. But he could sit on the seat, and Bert had taught him how to steer a little, so that though a bicycle has only two wheels, and will tip over if it is not properly guided, Freddie could manage to ride a little way on it without toppling over, especially if some one put him on and gave him a push, or if he was given a start down a little hill.
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