“Where are you going to take us to-morrow?”
“To Mount Vernon, I think,” was his answer.
“Oh, where Washington used to live!” remarked Bert.
“Where—” But right there Freddie went to sleep.
“Yes, and where he is buried,” added Nan.
And then she, too, fell asleep. And she dreamed that Flossie and Freddie were lost again, and that she started out to find them riding on the back of a big cat while Bert rode on a dog, like Snap.
“And I was so glad when I woke up and, found it was only a dream,” said Nan, telling Nell about it afterward.
There are two ways of going to Mount Vernon from the city of Washington. Mount Vernon is down on the Potomac River, and one may travel to it by means of a small steamer, which makes excursion trips, or one can get there in a trolley car.
“I think we’ll go down by boat and come back by trolley,” said Mr. Bobbsey. “In that way we can see more.”
“I’d rather go on the boat all the while,” said Freddie. “Maybe I could be a fireman on the boat.”
“Oh, I think they have all the firemen they; need,” laughed his father.
“Is Mount Vernon an old place?” asked Nan, as they were getting ready to leave their hotel after breakfast.
“Quite old, yes,” her father answered.
“And do they have old-fashioned things there, like spinning wheels, and old guns and things like those in Washington’s headquarters that we went to once?” Nan went on.
“Why, yes, perhaps they do,” her father said. “Why do you ask?”
“Oh, I was just thinking,” went on Nan, “that if they had a lot of old-fashioned things there they might have Miss Pompret’s sugar bowl and cream pitcher, and we could get ’em for her.”
“How could we?” asked Bert. “If they were there they’d belong to Washington, wouldn’t they, Daddy?”
“Well, I suppose all the things in the house once belonged to him or his friends,” said Mr. Bobbsey. “But I don’t imagine those two missing pieces of Miss Pompret’s set will be at Mount Vernon, Nan.”
“No, I don’t s’pose so,” sighed the little girl. “But, oh, I would like to find ’em!”
“And get the hundred dollars reward!” added Bert.
“Don’t think too much of that,” advised their mother. “Of course it would be nice to find Miss Pompret’s dishes, and do her a favor, but I think it is out of the question after all these years that they have been lost.”
The weather was colder than on the day before, when Flossie and Freddie had been lost, and the sun shone fitfully from behind clouds.
“I think we are going to have a snow storm,” said Mr. Bobbsey, on their way to take the boat for Mt. Vernon.
“Oh, goodie!” cried Flossie. “I hope it snows a lot!”
“So do I!” added Freddie. “Could we send home for our sled if there’s lots of snow, Daddy?” he asked.
“I hardly think it would be worth while,” said his father. “We are not going to be here much more than a week longer. And it would be quite a lot of work to get your sleds here and send them home again. I think you’ll get all the coasting and skating you want when we get back to Lakeport.”
“Anyway, we’re having a nice time while we’re here,” said Nan, with a happy little sigh.
“It’s fun when Freddie and Flossie don’t get lost,” added Bert. “I’m going to keep watch of ’em this time.”
“I’ll help,” added Nan. “Oh, here are Billy and Nell!” she called, waving her hand to their new friends. The Martin children were to go to Mount Vernon with the Bobbsey twins, and they now met them near the place from which the boat started.
“All aboard!” cried Freddie, as they went on the small steamer that was to take them to Mount Vernon. “All aboard. I’m the fireman!”
“There aren’t any fires to put out,” said, Nell, teasing the small chap a little.
“Yes, there is—a fire in the boiler, and it makes steam,” said Freddie, who had often looked in the engine room of steamers. “But I’m not that kind of fireman. I put out fires. I’m going to be a real fireman when I grow up,” he added.
Soon they were comfortably seated on board the boat, which after a bit moved out into the Potomac. Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey were talking together. Nan, Bert, Billy and Nell were watching another boat which was passing, and Flossie was near them. But Freddie had slipped away, in spite of what Bert had said about going to keep a watchful eye on his small brother.
Suddenly, when the steamer was well out in the river, there was the loud clanging of a bell, and a voice cried:
“Fire! Fire! Fire!”
At once every one on the boat jumped up. The women looked frightened, while the men seemed uncertain what to do.
“Clang! Clang! Clang!” rang the fire alarm bell.
CHAPTER XVII
Freddie’s Real Alarm
“I hope nothing has happened—that the boat isn’t on fire,” said Mrs. Bobbsey to her husband. “That would be terrible!”
“I hardly think that is it,” he said. “There may be a small fire, somewhere on the boat, but, even if there is, they have a way of putting it out. I’ll go and see what it is. You stay with the children.”
But just then, after another clanging of the bell, some one was heard to laugh—the ringing, hearty laugh of a man.
“There!” exclaimed Mr. Bobbsey, “I guess everything is all right. They wouldn’t be laughing if there was any danger.”
“Let’s go to the fire!” cried Bert. “I want to see it!”
“So do I!” chimed in his new chum, Billy, eagerly.
“Oh, can’t we see it; whatever it is?” begged Nan.
“First I’ll have to make sure there is a fire,” replied Mr. Bobbsey. “I hope there isn’t. But, if there should be a small one, and the firemen on the boat are putting it out, and if they let us get near enough to see, and if the smoke isn’t too thick—”
“Oh, Daddy! Not so many ‘ifs’ please!” laughed Nan.
The Bobbseys all laughed at this, as did Nell and Billy.
“Freddie would like to see the fire, if there is one,” remarked Nell Martin.
“Oh, that’s so! Where is Freddie?” cried Bert.
Then, for the first time, Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey noticed that the little blue-eyed and light-haired boy was not with them.
But at that moment around the corner of a deck cabin came a man wearing a cap with gold braid around the edge. He was smiling and leading by the hand a little boy. And the little boy was Freddie!
“Oh, there he is!” cried Flossie. “Freddie, where were you?” she asked. “And did you been to see the fire?”
“Well, I rather guess he did!” exclaimed the man, who was the captain of the boat. “He Was the whole fire himself!”
“The whole fire?” cried Mr. Bobbsey. “Do you mean to say that my little boy started a fire?”
“Oh, nothing as bad as that!” said the captain, and he smiled down on Freddie who smiled up at him in return. “No, all your little boy did was to ring the fire alarm bell and then call out ‘Fire!’ But of course that was enough to start things going, and we had quite a good deal of excitement for a time. But it’s all right now, and I think he won’t do it again.”
“Just what did he do?” asked Mrs. Bobbsey, as Freddie came over to stand beside his mother. He looked rather ashamed.
“Well, on the deck, back of the wheel-house, which is the little place where I or my men stand to steer the boat, there is a fire alarm bell. It’s there for any one to ring who finds the boat on fire, and when the bell is rung all my firemen hurry to put out the blaze,” said the captain.
“Now this little chap of yours went up and rang that bell, and then he cried out ‘Fire,’ as I’ve told you. Then—well, lots of things happened. But I couldn’t help laughing when I found out it was a false alarm, and learned just why Freddie, as he tells me his name is, rang the bell.”
“And wh
y was that?” asked Mr. Bobbsey, quickly.
Freddie spoke up for himself.
“The bell had a sign on it,” said the little fellow, “and it said to ring it for a fire. I wanted to see a fire, and so I rang the bell and—and—”
Freddie’s lips began to quiver. He was just ready to cry.
“There, there, my little man!” said the captain kindly. “No harm is done. Don’t worry. It’s all right,” and he patted Freddie on the shoulder.
“You see it’s just as Freddie says,” the captain went on. “There is a large sign painted near the bell which reads: ‘Ring this for a fire.’ I suppose it would be better to say; ‘Ring the bell in case of fire.’ I believe I’ll have it changed to read that way. Anyhow, your little boy saw the sign over the bell, And on the bell is a rope so low that any one, even a child, can reach it. So your Freddie just pulled the rope, clanged the bell, and then he cried ‘Fire!’ as loudly as he could. Some one else took up the cry, and, there you are!”
“And so you rang the bell, did you, Freddie, because you wanted to see a fire?” asked the father of the little fellow.
“Yes,” answered Flossie’s brother. “I wanted to see how they put out a fire on a boat, and the bell said for to ring for a fire, and I wanted a fire, I did; not a big one, just a little one, and so—”
“And so you just naturally rang the bell!” laughed the captain. “Well, I guess that’s partly my fault for having the sign read that way. I’ll have it changed. But your little boy is quite smart to be able to read so well,” he added.
“Oh, I go to school!” said Freddie proudly, “only there isn’t any now on account of—well I guess the boiler got on fire,” he added.
“He’s a regular little fireman,” said Mr. Bobbsey. “He can’t read very much, but one of the first words he learned to spell was ‘fire,’ and he’s never forgotten it.”
The boat was now going on down the river toward Mount Vernon, and the excitement caused by the false alarm of fire was over.
Of course Freddie had done wrong, though he had not meant to, and perhaps it was not all his fault. However, his father and mother scolded him a little, and he promised never to do such a thing again.
I wish I could tell you that the Bobbsey twins were interested in Mount Vernon, but the truth of the matter is that the two younger ones were so busy talking about Freddie’s fire alarm, and Bert and Nan, with Billy and Nell, also laughed so much about it, that they did not pay much attention to the tomb of the great Washington, or anything about the place where the first President of the United States once had his home.
Of course Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey were interested in the place where the wonderful man had lived, and they looked about the grounds where he had once walked, and they visited the house where he had lived. But, really, the children did not care much for it.
“When are we going back?” asked Freddie several times.
“Don’t you like it here?” asked his mother. “Just think of what a wonderful and beautiful place this is!”
“Well,” said Freddie slowly, “I didn’t see any fire engines yet.”
Mrs. Bobbsey tried not to laugh, but it was hard work.
“I think we’d better go back to Washington,” she said to her husband.
“I think so, too,” he answered, and back to Washington they went. This time they rode on a trolley car, and there was no danger of Freddie’s sending in an alarm of fire.
And on the way home something quite wonderful happened. At least it was wonderful for Freddie.
He was looking out of the window, when suddenly he gave a yell that startled his father and mother, as well as Nan, Bert, Nell and Flossie, and that made the other passengers sit up.
“Oh, look! There’s a fire engine! There’s a fire engine!” cried the little chap, pointing; and, surely enough, there was one going along the street. It was bright and shiny, smoke was pouring from it and the horses were prancing.
The other Bobbsey twins turned to look at it, and Bert said:
“Pooh, that’s only coming back from an alarm.”
“That’s so,” agreed Mr. Bobbsey. “The horses are going too slowly to be running to a fire, Freddie. They must be coming back.”
“Well, it’s a fire engine, anyhow,” said Freddie, and every one had to agree with him. Freddie watched the shiny engine until it was out of sight, and then he talked about nothing else but fires on the way home.
Tired, but well satisfied with their trip, the Bobbsey’s reached their hotel, and the Martin children went to their home, promising to meet the following day and see more Washington sights.
It was about the middle of the night that Mrs. Bobbsey, who slept in the same room with Flossie and Freddie, felt herself being shaken in bed. She roused up to see, in the dim light, Freddie standing near her, and shaking her with his chubby hands.
“What is it, dear?” asked Mrs. Bobbsey, sleepily.
“Fire!” hoarsely whispered Freddie. “The house is on fire, and it’s real, too, this time!”
CHAPTER XVIII
The Oriental Children
At first Mrs. Bobbsey was too sleepy, from having been so quickly awakened, to really understand what Freddie was saying. She turned over in bed, so as to get a better look at the small boy, who was in his night gown, and with his hair all tousled and frowsled from the pillow. There was no mistake about it—Mrs. Bobbsey was not dreaming. Her little boy was really standing beside her and shaking her. And once more he said:
“Wake up, Momsie! There’s a real fire! This house is on fire, and we’ve got to get out. I can hear the fire engines!”
“Oh, Freddie! you’re walking in your sleep again,” said his mother as she sat up, now quite awake—“You have been dreaming, and you’re walking in your sleep!”
Freddie had done this once or twice before, thought not since he had come to Washington.
“The excitement of going to Mount Vernon, and your ringing of the fire bell on the boat has made you dream of a fire, Freddie,” his mother went on. “It isn’t real. There isn’t any fire in this hotel, nor near here. Go back to sleep.”
“But, Momsie, I’m awake now!” cried Freddie. “And the fire is real! I can see the red light and I can hear the engine puffin’! Look, you can see the light!”
Freddie pointed to a window near his mother’s bed. And, as she looked, she certainly saw a red, flickering light. And then the heard the whistle which she knew came from a fire engine. It was not like a locomotive whistle, and, besides, there were no trains near the hotel!
“Oh, it is a fire!” cried Mrs. Bobbsey. “Freddie, call your father!”
Mr. Bobbsey slept in the next room with Bert, while Nan had a little bed chamber next to her mother’s, on the other side of the bath room.
But there was no need to call Mr. Bobbsey. In his big, warm bath robe he now came stalking into his wife’s room.
“Don’t be frightened,” he said. “There’s a small fire in the building next to this hotel. But it is almost out, and there is no danger. Stay right in bed.”
“But it’s a real fire, isn’t it, Daddy?” cried Freddie. “I heard the engines puffin’, and I saw the red light and it woke me up and I comed in and telled Momsie; and it’s a real fire, isn’t it?”
“Yes, Freddie, it’s a real fire all right,” said Mr. Bobbsey. “But don’t talk so loud, nor get excited. You may awaken the people in the other rooms around us, and there is no need. I was talking to the night clerk of the hotel over the telephone from my room, and he says there is no danger. There is a big brick wall between our hotel and the place next door, which is on fire. The blaze can’t get through that.”
“Can’t I look out the window and see the engines?” Freddie wanted to know.
“Yes, I guess it would be too bad not to let you see them, as long as they are here, and it’s a real fire,” answered Mrs. Bobbsey. “I hope no one was hurt next door,” she added to her husband.
“I think not,” he replied. “T
he fire is only a small one. It is almost out.”
So Freddie had his dearest wish come true in the middle of the night—he saw some real fire engines puffing away, spouting sparks and smoke, and pumping water on a real fire. Of course the little boy could not see the water spurting from the hose, as that was happening inside the burning building. But Freddie could see some of the firemen at work, and he could see the engines shining in the light from the fire and the glare of the electric lamps. So he was satisfied.
Bert and Nan were awakened, and they, too, looked out on the night scene. They were glad it was not their hotel which was on fire. As for Flossie, she slept so soundly that she never knew a thing about it until the next morning. And then when Freddie told her, and talked about it at the breakfast table, Flossie said:
“I don’t care! I think you’re real mean, Freddy Bobbsey, to have a fire all to yourself!”
“Oh, my dear! that isn’t nice to say,” said Mrs. Bobbsey. “We thought it better to let you sleep.”
“Well, I wish I’d seen the fire,” said Flossie. “I like to look at something that’s bright and shiny.”
“Then you’ll have a chance to see something like that this afternoon,” said Mr. Bobbsey to his little girl.
“Where?” asked all the Bobbsey twins at once, for when their father talked this way Nan and Bert were as eager as Flossie and Freddie.
“How would you all like to go to a theater show this afternoon—to a matinee?” asked Mr. Bobbsey.
“Oh, lovely!” cried Flossie.
“Could Nell and Billy go?” asked Nan, kindly thinking of her little new friends.
“Yes, we’ll take the Martin children,” Mr. Bobbsey promised.
“And will there be some red fire in the theater show?” Flossie wanted to know.
“I think so,” said her father. “It is a fairy play, about Cinderella, and some others like her, and I guess there will be plenty of bright lights and red fire.”
“Will there be a fire engine?” asked Freddie. Of course you might have known, without my telling you, that it was Freddie who asked that question, But I thought I’d put his name down to make sure.
The Bobbsey Twins Megapack Page 143