“Oh, you funny little boy!” cried the little girl who had laughed, as she ran up to Freddie, who was now sitting on the grass. “The pumpkin beat you in the rolling race down hill. But maybe you’ll win next time.”
“There isn’t going to be any next time,” laughed Mother Bobbsey, as she ran to pick Freddie up. “He didn’t do that on purpose, little girl.”
“Oh, I thought he did. Anyhow, it was funny!” and she laughed again.
“Yes, it was funny,” agreed Bert. “And here comes a man after the pumpkin, I guess.”
“Be careful that he doesn’t take you and put you on exhibition in the tent,” said Nan to her little brother.
“Will he, Mother?” asked Flossie.
“No, of course not. Nan is only joking.”
“The pumpkin isn’t hurt any,” said Harry, helping the man lift it up on his shoulder.
“I’m glad of it,” the man said. “It has won the prize, and the farmer who owns it wouldn’t like it if it should be broken.”
“Let’s go over to the merry-go-round,” suggested Freddie, who did not like so many people looking at him, for quite a crowd had gathered when word of the funny pumpkin race spread. “I want a ride on the merry-go-round.”
“So do I,” added Flossie.
“And then it will be time for the balloon to go up,” added Bert. “Do you think the wind is too strong?” he asked his father.
“Well, it is blowing pretty hard, and it’s getting worse. I think there is going to be a storm. But I see men working around the balloon, and I think they are going to send it up. Perhaps they think they can send it up and let it come down again before the storm.”
“Oh, let’s hurry and see it!” cried Nan, who was as much interested in the big gas bag as were the boys.
“First we’ll give Flossie and Freddie a ride on the merry-go-round, I think,” suggested Mrs. Bobbsey. So they all voted to have a ride, as Mr. Bobbsey wanted a chance to speak to Mr. Blipper.
But, just as had happened the other time, Mr. Blipper was not there. Bob Guess was taking tickets, and when he saw Nan he smiled.
“I’ll get you the brass ring,” he promised, and he did.
The children liked the lively music, and also the whirling ride on the backs of the wooden animals. Even Mrs. Bobbsey took one ride, but she said that was enough. Nan had a special ride, because Bob Guess had saved for her the brass ring, and when the other children learned that Nan was to ride for nothing, of course they wanted an extra ride, for which Mr. Bobbsey had to pay.
“When do you think Mr. Blipper will be here?” Mr. Bobbsey asked of Bob, as the party was leaving. “I want to talk to him.”
“I don’t know,” was the boy’s answer. “He doesn’t stay at the merry-go-round as much as he used to. He lets me and one of his men run it. He’s away a lot.”
“Well, you tell him I want to see him,” went on Mr. Bobbsey. “I shall be here to-morrow and the next day.”
“I’ll tell him,” promised Bob Guess.
“Now let’s go see the balloon,” suggested Bert.
“They’re getting ready to send it up!” exclaimed Harry, as they neared the place where the big bag, already partly filled with gas, was swaying to and fro. Over the bag was a net work of strong cords, and the cords were fastened to the rim of a large square basket. To the basket were tied ropes, and to the ends of these ropes were bags of sand, thus holding the balloon to the ground.
“What makes it go up?” asked Flossie, as she watched the swaying bag.
“Gas,” explained Mr. Bobbsey. “They put in the big bag some gas, sometimes one kind and sometimes another, just like the gas in your toy balloons. This gas is so very light—it’s not even so heavy as air—that it wants to go up into the air, all by itself. And when it is inside a bag the gas takes the bag up into the air with it.”
“And the basket too? Doesn’t it take the basket?” Freddie asked.
“Yes, the basket goes up with the balloon,” said Mrs. Bobbsey.
“Who goes in the basket?” asked Freddie.
“Oh, the man,” his father answered.
“Do any children go in the balloon?” called out Flossie. “Any boys or girls?”
“Oh, no!” quickly said Nan, for she did not want her little sister and brother to tease for a ride in a balloon basket.
“I’d like a ride in a balloon,” murmured Freddie.
Just then the wind began to blow more strongly, and the big gas bag swayed to one side, toward a crowd of people who ran to get out of the way.
“Get more ropes!” cried one of the balloon men. “Get more ropes and sand bags!”
“That’s right!” shouted another man. “There’s going to be a storm. I don’t know whether we ought to send the balloon up!”
“Oh, let her go!” cried several in the crowd. They did not want to be disappointed. Bert and Harry added their voices to the cries for an ascension.
“Well, we’ll have to tie the balloon down until we get more gas in it,” said the first man. “Come on now, more ropes and sand bags!”
While these were being brought the Bobbsey twins and their relatives drew as near to the balloon as they could get, closely looking at it. At times the big bag, partly filled with gas, swayed until it swept the ground. The basket, too, pulled and tugged at the ropes that held it down.
“What does the man do when he’s in the basket?” Freddie asked.
“Oh, he sits there and rides along up in the clouds,” said Bert. “I wish I could go up.”
“Does he have anything to eat?” Flossie wanted to know.
“Oh, yes,” said Nan. “There are things to eat in the basket. See!” And she held Flossie up so she could look over the edge and down into the basket. Of course Freddie had to be lifted up, also.
The basket seemed a cosy place. There were blankets in it, for it is often very cold high up in the air where balloons go, though it may be very warm on the earth. And there were boxes and packages containing food and many strange things at which the Bobbsey twins wondered.
The wind kept blowing harder and harder, and the crowd grew larger as word went around the fair grounds that the balloon was soon to go up.
“What about those ropes?” cried the man who was in charge of the balloon.
“They’re coming,” another man told him. “Be here right away!”
“Well, those lads want to hurry if this balloon isn’t to go sailing off by itself! My, but the wind is blowing hard! I’ve a good notion to call this off. I’m afraid we’re in for a bad storm.”
“We can’t stop it now,” said the second man. “The crowd expects us to go up, and we’ll have to go.”
“Well, we’ll try it. But we must tie the balloon down and put in more gas. It won’t go up very far only half filled as it is.”
Suddenly some voices cried:
“One side! One side if you please!”
It was the men coming up with ropes to tie the balloon down.
Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey tried to gather the children close to them, to get them out of the way of the men. But, in some manner, Flossie and Freddie turned to one side, and before they knew it they were separated from their friends. And then Flossie and Freddie found themselves pushed close up against the balloon basket.
“Oh, let’s get in!” cried Freddie.
“We’ll just sit down for a minute and then get out,” agreed Flossie.
The crowd was so excited, trying to get out of the way of the men with the coils of rope, that no one noticed what the small Bobbsey twins did. And so Freddie and Flossie climbed into the balloon basket and snuggled down in the blankets.
“Quick now with those ropes!” cried the head man. “She’s going to tear loose! Feel that wind!”
There came a heavy blow, causing the balloon to sway back and forth.
“Look out!” cried another voice. “There she goes!”
Almost as he spoke there was a further scramble on the part of the crowd, and the
balloon tore loose from the holding ropes before the men had time to put on the new ones.
“There she goes!” echoed the crowd. “Up goes the balloon!”
And up it went, taking Flossie and Freddie with it! Up and up it rose, shooting above the heads of the crowd.
“Oh, Freddie!” cried Flossie, “what’s going to happen?”
“We’re going up in a balloon!” shouted Freddie, and then he laughed. He thought it was fun.
“Oh, I want to get down!” screamed Flossie. She looked over the edge of the basket, as did her brother, and just then Mrs. Bobbsey glanced up.
“Oh, my children! Flossie and Freddie!” she gasped, pointing. “They’re in the balloon!”
CHAPTER XVI
On the Island
There was great excitement down on the ground when the cry of Mrs. Bobbsey told her husband, the other children, and the big crowd that Flossie and Freddie had been carried away in the balloon. At first some did not believe it, and even Mr. Bobbsey found it hard to imagine that such a thing could happen.
But one look up at the swaying basket dangling from the runaway balloon showed him the faces of Flossie and Freddie looking down at the earth which seemed to be dropping away from them.
“Oh, my children! My children! Flossie! Freddie!” cried Mrs. Bobbsey, tears streaming down her cheeks, as she raised her hands toward the swiftly rising balloon.
“Get them down!”
“We’ll catch ’em if they jump!”
“Get a ladder!”
“Have the man in the aeroplane go after them!”
These were some of the cries—foolish cries in some cases—that sounded on all sides as Flossie and Freddie were carried away. For how could any ladder be long enough to reach up to the balloon?
“Oh, can’t we do something?” wailed Mrs. Bobbsey, holding to her husband.
“We’ll save them! We’ll save Flossie and Freddie,” said Mr. Bobbsey. Nan was crying also, and Harry and Bert looked at each other with strange faces. They didn’t know what to do or say.
Mr. Bobbsey felt the wind blowing stronger and stronger and saw the gathering storm. As he saw how fast the balloon was moving upward and onward, away from the fair grounds, he, too, was much frightened.
“How did those children get in there?” asked one of the balloon men.
“They must have crawled in the basket when we weren’t looking,” answered Mr. Bobbsey.
“Is there any way of saving my little children?” cried Mrs. Bobbsey.
“Now don’t you worry,” said the balloon man kindly. “They’ll be all right if they stay in the basket. The balloon hasn’t all its gas in, and it won’t blow very far. It will soon come down to the ground.”
“But won’t they be killed?”
“No, a balloon comes down very gently when the gas gives out.” said the man. “It’s almost like a parachute. Your children will come down like feathers. We’ll get up a searching party and go after them.” He knew there was great danger but he did not want to add to Mrs. Bobbsey’s fears.
“Oh, yes! Do something!” cried Mrs. Bobbsey. “We must save them!”
While down below there was all excitement and while a searching party was getting ready to start out to rescue Flossie and Freddie, the two little children themselves were safe enough in the balloon basket. That is they were safe for the time being, for they could not fall unless they climbed over the side of the basket, and they would hardly do this. They were also safe from banging into anything, for they were now high in the air, well above all trees and buildings, and there were no other balloons or any aeroplanes in sight.
At the fair grounds was an aeroplane, but it had not gone up yet, and could not, for the engine was broken, and the man had to mend it before he could make a flight. So as long as Flossie and Freddie remained in the basket they were safe.
They did not even feel the wind blow, for as they were being carried right along in the gale, being a part of it, so to speak, they did not feel it as they had when standing on the ground.
But, in spite of all this, Flossie’s little heart was beating very fast and tears came into her eyes.
“Oh, Freddie!” she half sobbed, “what you s’pose’s goin’ to happen to us?”
“I don’t know,” he answered. “But anyhow we’re up in a balloon and we’re having a fine sail. I like a balloon, don’t you, Flossie?”
Flossie thought it over for a moment. Now that the first fright was passed she rather enjoyed the quiet, easy motion. For there were no bumps as in an automobile, and there was no swaying as on the merry-go-round. It was like flying with the birds, and Flossie had always wanted to be a bird.
“It is—yes, I guess it is nice,” she said. “Are we high up?”
“Not very,” Freddie answered. “Don’t look over the edge or you might fall out of the basket,” he told his sister, as he saw her getting ready to stand on her tiptoes and peer down. Freddie had looked down once, as had Flossie, when they first felt themselves going up, and it had made him a little dizzy. He did not want Flossie to fall out.
“Let’s see if we can find something to eat,” suggested the little boy. “I’m hungry.”
“So’m I,” agreed Flossie. This was something new to think about.
They poked among the things in the balloon basket. There were funny objects, the uses of which they could only guess at, but there were also some crackers and sandwiches, as well as a bottle of milk, and some water.
“Oh, we can have a regular camp-out!” laughed Flossie. “We’ll make believe we’re on a steamer.”
“It’ll be lots of fun,” agreed Freddie. So they ate and were quite happy, while those they had left behind were very much worried and miserable.
The wind blew harder and harder, but, as I have said, Flossie and Freddie did not notice it. Soon, however, they began to notice something else, and this was some drops of water.
“Oh, the balloon’s leaking!” cried Flossie, as she felt a damp spot on her red cheek.
Freddie also felt some wet splashes, but he saw at once what they were.
“It’s raining!” he cried. And so it was. The storm had broken.
“Raining!” cried Flossie. “And we hasn’t got any umbrella!”
“We don’t need one,” said the little boy. “The balloon’s so big it will be like an umbrella over us.”
This was partly true. The bag of the balloon bulged out over the heads of the children, keeping off most of the rain. But some blew in sideways over the top of the basket, and the children would have been quite wet had they not wrapped themselves in blankets. These kept them warm and dry, for one of the blankets was of rubber.
Thus the little Bobbsey twins sailed on in a balloon, the first ride of this kind they had ever taken. Their first fright was over, but they began wondering what would happen next.
Suddenly Flossie discovered a hole in the bottom of the basket, through which she could look down to the earth. And as she looked she cried:
“Oh, Freddie, we’re going down into a lake!”
Freddie looked and saw what his sister had seen. The balloon was now going down. Probably the gas had leaked out, or there may not have been more than enough to carry the balloon a short distance. At any rate it was now falling, and, as the children saw, straight toward a body of water.
“Shall we fall into the water?” asked Flossie.
“No—no, I don’t guess so,” Freddie answered. He hoped that was not going to happen. But as he looked down and saw the water seemingly coming nearer and nearer, though of course it was the balloon going down, the little boy did not feel at all sure but they would drop right into the lake.
“We’d better hold on hard to the basket,” said Freddie, after thinking over the best thing to do. “When we get in the lake we can hold on to the basket until somebody comes.”
This idea made Flossie feel a little better. She was glad she had Freddie with her, and Freddie was glad Flossie was with him.
Down, down the balloon gently dropped. The rain was pouring hard now, splashing into the lake, which was covered in some places with a blanket of fog.
Then, just when it seemed that Flossie and Freddie and the balloon would splash into the water, an island loomed in sight.
“Oh, if we could only land on the island!” cried Freddie.
And that’s just what happened! Through the branches of trees the balloon crashed, this helping to stop it more gently. Down to the island it fell, the basket banging on the ground. The basket tipped over sideways, spilling Flossie and Freddie out, but not hurting them as they fell in a pile of dried leaves. Some of the things in the basket fell out with them.
Once the children were out of the balloon it rose a little, was blown along a short distance by the wind, and then, getting tangled in the tree branches, came to a stop.
“Well, we’re all right now,” said Freddie, as he arose and brushed the leaves from him.
“But I’m getting all wet!” sobbed Flossie. “I’m soaked!”
And so she was, as well as Freddie, for it was raining hard.
CHAPTER XVII
The Searching Party
Every one at the fair grounds was anxious to help Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey get back Flossie and Freddie, who had been carried off in the runaway balloon. The men who owned the big gas bag were the first to make the right sort of plans.
“The balloon is being blown over the lake,” said Mr. Trench, the owner of the big bag. “We must go in that direction.”
“Over the lake!” cried Mrs. Bobbsey. “Oh, if they should fall in!”
“The balloon will float on the water,” her husband told her. “The children will be all right, I’m sure.”
“Yes, indeed,” agreed Mr. Trench. “Don’t worry, lady. We’ll get your children back. The first thing to do is to go to the lake, and then we can hire a motor-boat there.”
“I’m going with you!” declared Mrs. Bobbsey, as she saw the preparations being made for the searching party.
“I think you had better stay with Bert and Nan,” said Mr. Bobbsey.
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