“We’ll watch sure tonight,” said Bert to Harry, as they got ready for bed. “We won’t go to sleep at all.”
“All right,” agreed the country cousin.
It was hard work, but they managed to stay awake. When the boat was quiet, and every one else asleep, Harry and Bert stole softly out of their room and went to the passageway between the dining-room and kitchen.
“You watch from the kitchen, and I’ll watch from the dining-room,” Bert told his cousin. “Then, no matter which way that rat goes, we’ll see him.”
“Do you think it was a rat?” asked Harry.
“Well, I’m not sure,” his cousin answered. “But maybe we’ll find out tonight.”
“We ought to have something to hit him with, if we see a rat,” suggested Harry.
“That’s right,” Bert agreed. “I’ll take the stove poker, and you can have the fire shovel. Now keep very still.”
The two cousins took their places, Bert in the dining-room, and Harry in the kitchen. It was very still and quiet on the Bluebird. Up on deck Snap, the dog, could be heard moving about now and then, for he slept up there.
Bert, who had sat down in a dining-room chair, began to feel sleepy. He tried to keep open his eyes, but it was hard work. Suddenly he dozed off, and he was just on the point of falling asleep, when he heard a noise. It was a squeaking sound, as though a door had been opened.
“Or,” thought Bert, “it might be the squeak of a mouse. I wonder if Harry heard it?”
He wanted to call out, in a whisper, and ask his cousin in the dining-room, just beyond the passage. Bert could not see Harry. But Bert thought if he called, even in a whisper, he might scare the rat, or whoever, or whatever, it was, that had caused the mystery.
So Bert kept quiet and watched. The squeaking noise of the loose boards in the floor went on, and then Bert heard a sound, as though soft footsteps were coming toward him. He wanted to jump up and yell, but he kept still.
Then, suddenly, Bert saw something.
Standing in the dining-room door, looking at him, was a boy, about his own age—a boy dressed in ragged clothes, and in bare feet, and in his hand this boy held a piece of bread, and a slice of cake.
“You—you!” began Bert, wondering where he had seen that boy before. And then, before Bert could say any more, the boy turned to run away, and Bert jumped up to catch him.
CHAPTER XXII
The Stowaway
“Come back here!” cried Bert, as he rushed on.
There was the sound of a fall in the passageway, and some one groaned.
“What is it?” cried Harry, running from the kitchen. “What’s the matter, Bert? Did you catch the rat?”
“No, but I caught something else,” Bert answered. By this time he had run into the passageway, and there, in front of the locker, or closet, where the strange noises had been heard, lay the ragged boy. He had fallen and hurt his head. The cake and bread had been knocked from his hands. The door of the locker or closet was open.
“Why—why—” began Harry, in surprise. “It’s a—a boy.”
“Yes, and now I know who he is,” said Bert, as the stowaway sat up, not having been badly hurt by his fall. He had tripped in his bare feet.
“Who—who is it?” asked Harry.
“It’s that boy who gave us the fish—Will Watson, who worked for the man that made the wire fence—Mr. Hardee.”
“Yes, I’m that boy,” said the other, slowly. “Oh, I hope your folks won’t be very mad at me. I—I didn’t know what to do, so when I ran away, I hid on your boat.”
“And have you been here ever since?” asked Bert.
“Yes,” answered Will. “I’ve been hiding here ever since.”
“And was it you who took the things?” Harry wanted to know.
“Yes, I took them. I was half starved. But I’ll pay you back as soon as I get out west, where my uncle lives. He’s a gold miner, and I guess he’s got lots of money. Oh, I hope your father and mother will forgive me.”
“Of course they will,” said Bert, seeing tears in the eyes of the ragged boy.
“What’s the matter there?” called Mr. Bobbsey. “Has anything happened, Bert?”
“Yes,” answered Bert. “We’ve solved the mystery—Harry and I.”
“Solved the mystery!” cried Mr. Bobbsey. “I’ll be right there.”
“Oh, what can it be?” his wife asked.
Meanwhile, Captain White, Dinah and the little Bobbsey twins had been awakened by the loud voices. Up on deck Snap, the dog, feeling that something was wrong, was barking loudly.
“I—I hope the dog doesn’t get me!” said Will, looking about.
“I won’t let him hurt you,” promised Bert. “So it was you, hiding in the closet that made Snap act so funny?” he asked. “He knew you were there.”
“Yes, only I wasn’t in the closet all the while. There was a loose board at the back. I could slip out of the closet through that hole. I hid down in the lower part of the boat. I’ll show you.”
“You poor boy!” exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey when, with her husband, she had come to see the “mystery,” as Bert laughingly called him.
“Indeed we’ll forgive you. You must have had a terrible time, hiding away as you did. Now tell us all about it. But first I want you to drink this warm milk Dinah has made for you,” for Mrs. Bobbsey had told the cook to heat some. “You look half starved,” she said to the boy.
“I am,” answered Will. “I—I didn’t take any more of your food than I could help, though.”
“Yo’ am welcome to all yo’ want, honey lamb!” exclaimed Dinah. “Mah land, but I shuah am glad yo’ ain’t no ghostest! I shuah am!” and she sighed in relief, as she saw that Will was a real, flesh-and-blood boy. He was, however, very thin and starved-looking.
“Now tell us all about it,” said Mr. Bobbsey. “How did you come on our boat?”
Will told them. After Mr. Bobbsey had stopped the cruel farmer from beating him, Will crawled up to his room to sob himself to sleep. Then he began to think that after the houseboat had gone, Mr. Hardee would probably treat him all the more meanly, on account of having been interfered with.
“So I just ran away,” said Will. “I packed up what few things I had, and when I saw your boat near shore, I crept aboard and hid myself away. I easily found a place down—down cellar,” he said with a smile.
“I suppose you mean in the hold, or the place below the lower deck,” spoke Mr. Bobbsey. “Cellars on a boat are called ‘holds.’ Well, what happened?”
“I—I just stayed there. I found some old bags, and made a bed on them,” Will said. “Then when my food gave out, I used to crawl out during the nights and take some from your kitchen.
“I had some bread when I ran away,” Will went on. “I took it from Mrs. Hardee’s kitchen, but they owed me money for working, and I didn’t take more bread than I ought.”
“I’m sure you didn’t,” said Mrs. Bobbsey, kindly.
“I didn’t want you to know I was on board the boat,” Will resumed, “for I was afraid you’d send me off, and I didn’t want Mr. Hardee to find me again. I was afraid he’d whip me.”
“But what did you intend to do?” asked Mr. Bobbsey.
“Well, I heard you say you were going to Lake Romano,” said the boy, “and I thought I would ride as far as you went. Then I wouldn’t have so far to walk to get to my uncle out west. I’m going to him. He’ll look after me, I know. I can’t stand Mr. Hardee any more.”
“You poor boy. We’ll help you find your uncle,” said Mrs. Bobbsey.
“And you’ve been on board ever since?” asked Mr. Bobbsey.
“Yes, sir. I hid down in the ‘hold,’ as you call it. Then when I got hungry, I found a loose board, so I could get into the closet. Then at night I would come out and get things to eat and a little water or milk to drink. I didn’t mean any harm.”
“No, I’m sure you did not,” the twins’ father said. “Well, I’m glad Bert found
you,” he went on, as Bert and Harry told how they had kept watch. “So it was you who took the things, and who made the noises that frightened Dinah?”
“Yes, but I didn’t mean, to scare her,” Will said. “That day I got my hand caught in the loose board, and it hurt so, and I felt so bad that I—I cried. That was what she heard, I guess.”
“You poor boy!” said Mrs. Bobbsey again.
“And—and did you see any rats in the cellar?” asked Freddie, who was moving about in his little night dress.
“No,” answered Will, “I didn’t see any rats. It was bad enough in the dark place, without any rats.”
“Well, I guess your troubles are over, for a time,” said Mr. Bobbsey. “We’ll fix you up a bed, and then I’ll have a talk with you about this miner uncle of yours.”
Will finished his warm milk, and ate some bread and cake—the same he had taken from Dinah’s kitchen. He had gone in there and taken it, but Harry had not heard him, for Harry had fallen asleep.
“And so it was a stowaway boy, and not rats or ghosts or anything else that was the mystery,” said Mrs. Bobbsey, when everything once more quiet on the Bluebird.
“That’s what it was,” her husband said “Bert was real smart to sit up and watch.”
“And he never told us a thing about it.”
“Oh, he wanted to surprise us,” laughed Mr. Bobbsey.
“And didn’t I see you, the time I fell overboard?” asked Flossie, looking at Will.
“I think you did,” he laughed. “I happened to put my head out of a ventilating hole just as you looked. I pulled it in again, soon enough, though. I hope I didn’t scare you.”
“Not very much,” Flossie said. “I was sure I saw you, but nobody else would believe me.”
Snap soon made friends with the new boy. It was Will, hiding behind the closet wall, that had made the dog act as though a rat were there.
I must bring my story to a close, now that the mystery is explained. And, really, there is little else to tell. Will had, in the little bundle of things he had brought away from Mr. Hardee’s with him, the address of a man he thought knew where the miner uncle was. Mr. Bobbsey wrote several letters, and, in due time, word came back that Will’s uncle was well off now, and would look after him. His name was Mr. Jackson. He had lost track of Will for some years and had just begun a search for him, when Mr. Bobbsey’s letter came. Enough money was sent on to enable Will to make the trip out west, where he would be well cared for. He could not thank the Bobbsey family enough for what they had done for him.
Mr. Hardee heard where his runaway boy had been found, and tried to get him back, but Mr. Bobbsey would not permit this. So Will’s life began to be a pleasant one. The time he had spent on the houseboat, after coming from his hiding place, was the happiest he had ever known.
“Well, what shall we do now?” asked Bert one day, after Will had gone. “It seems strange not to have to be on the lookout for a mystery or something like that.”
“Doesn’t it,” agreed Harry.
“And so that was your secret?” asked Nan.
“Yes, that was it,” her brother answered. “But I wish we had something to do now.”
“Whatever you do, you want to do in the next two weeks,” said Mr. Bobbsey, coming up on deck.
“Why?” asked Bert.
“Because our houseboat trip will come to an end then.”
“Oh!” cried the Bobbsey twins in a chorus. “That’s too bad!”
“But I have other pleasures for you,” went on Mr. Bobbsey. “The summer vacation is not yet over.”
And those of you who wish to read of what further pleasures the children had, may do so in the following volume, which will be called “The Bobbsey Twins at Meadow Brook.”
“Let’s have one more picnic on an island!” proposed Nan, a few days before the trip on Lake Romano was to end.
“And a marshmallow roast!” added Dorothy.
“Fine!” cried Bert. “I’ll eat all the candies you toast!”
“And I’ll help!” added Harry.
“You boys will have to make the fire,” Nan said.
“I’ll gather wood!” offered Freddie. “And I’ll have my little fire engine all ready to put out the blaze, if it gets too big.”
“A pail of water will be better,” laughed Bert. “Your engine might get going so fast, like it did once, we couldn’t stop it.”
“I’ll sharpen the sticks to put the marshmallows on,” offered Harry.
“I wish Will Watson was here to help us eat these,” said Nan a little later that afternoon, when the children were having their marshmallow roast on a little island in the lake. “He was a nice boy.”
“Yes, and he will be well looked after now,” said Mrs. Bobbsey. “Your father had a letter from the miner uncle today, saying he was going to make a miner of Will. He gave up the idea of going to sea.”
“And will he dig gold?” asked Flossie.
“I suppose so, dear!”
“Oh, I’m going to dig gold when I grow to be a man,” said Freddie. “May I have another marshmallow, Nan?”
“Yes, little fat fireman,” she laughed.
A few days later, after making a trip around the lower end of the lake, the Bobbsey twins started for home, reaching there safely, and having no more trouble with Mr. Hardee and his wire fence.
And so, as they are now safe at home, we shall say good-bye to the Bobbsey twins and their friends.
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT MEADOW BROOK
CHAPTER I
A Crockery Crash
“Well, here we are back home again!” exclaimed Nan Bobbsey, as she sat down in a chair on the porch. “Oh, but we have had such a good time!”
“The best ever!” exclaimed her brother Bert, as he set down the valise he had been carrying, and walked back to the front gate to take a small satchel from his mother.
“I’m going to carry mine! I want to carry mine all the way!” cried little fat Freddie Bobbsey, thinking perhaps his bigger brother might want to take, too, his bundle.
“All right, you can carry your own, Freddie,” said Bert, pleasantly. “But it’s pretty heavy for you.”
“It—it isn’t very heavy,” panted Freddie, as he struggled on with his bundle, his short fat legs fairly “twinkling” to and fro as he came up the walk. “It’s got some cookies in, too, my bundle has; and Flossie and I are going to eat ’em when we get on the porch.”
“Oh, so that’s the reason you didn’t want Bert to take your package, is it?” asked Mrs. Bobbsey, with a smile, as she patted the little fat chap on the head.
“Oh, well, I’ll give Bert a cookie if he wants one,” said Freddie, generously, “but I’m strong enough to carry my own bundle all the way; aren’t I, Dinah?” and he appealed to a fat, good-natured looking colored woman, who was waddling along, carrying a number of packages.
“Dat’s what yo’ is, honey lamb! Dat’s what yo’ is!” Dinah exclaimed. “An’ ef I could see dat man ob mine, Sam Johnson, I’d make him take some ob dese yeah t’ings.”
As Dinah spoke there came from around the corner of the house a tall, slim colored man, who as soon as he saw the party of returning travelers, ran forward to help them carry their luggage.
“Well, it’s about time dat yo’ come t’ help us, Sam Johnson!” exclaimed his wife. “It’s about time!”
“Didn’t know yo’ all was a-comin’, Dinah! Didn’t know yo’ all would get heah so soon, ‘deed I didn’t!” Sam exclaimed, with a laugh, that showed his white teeth in strange contrast to his black face. “Freddie, shall I take yo’ package? Flossie, let me reliebe yo’, little Missie!”
“No, Sam, thank you!” answered the little girl, who was just about the size and build of Freddie. “I have only Snoop, our cat, and I can carry him easily enough. You help Dinah!”
“’Deed an’ he had better help me!” exclaimed the colored cook.
Sam took all the packages he could carry, and hurried with them to the st
oop. But he had not gone very far before something happened.
From behind him rushed a big dog, barking and leaping about, glad, probably, to be home again from part of the summer vacation.
“Look out, Sam!” called Bert Bobbsey, who was carrying the valise his mother had had. “Look out!”
“What’s de mattah? Am I droppin’ suffin?” asked Sam, trying to turn about and look at all the bundles and packages he had in his arms and hands.
“It’s Snap!” cried Nan, who was sitting comfortably on the shady porch. “Look out for him, Sam.”
“Snap! Behave yourself!” ordered little fat Flossie, as she set down a wooden cage containing a black cat. “Be good, Snap!”
“Here, Snap! Snap! Come here!” called Freddie.
Snap, the big dog, was too excited just then to mind. With another loud, joyous bark he rushed up behind Sam, and, as the colored man of all work about the Bobbsey place had very bow, or curved, legs, Snap ran right between them. That is, he ran half way, and then, as he was a pretty fat dog, he stuck there.
“Good land ob massy!” exclaimed Sam, as he looked down to see the dog half way between his bow legs, Snap’s head sticking out one way, and his wagging tail the other. “Get out ob dat, Snap!” cried Sam. “Get out! Move on, sah!”
“Bow wow!” barked Snap, which might have meant almost anything.
“Look out!” shouted Sam. “Yo’ll upset me! Dat’s what you will!”
And indeed it did seem as though this might happen. For Sam was so laden down with packages that he could not balance himself very well, and had almost toppled over.
“Here, Snap!” called Bert, who was laughing so hard that he could hardly stand up, for really it was a funny sight.
“Don’t call him, Bert,” advised Mrs. Bobbsey. “If you do he’ll run out, and then Sam surely will be knocked over. And there are some fresh eggs in one of those packages he took from Dinah.”
Snap himself did not seem to know what to do. There he was, tightly held fast, his fat sides between Sam’s bow legs. Snap could go neither forward nor backward just then. He barked and wagged his tail, for he knew it was all in fun.
“Open your legs wider, Sam, man!” exclaimed his wife. “Den de dorg kin git out!”
The Bobbsey Twins Megapack Page 69