"I hope Grace didn't get heart disease," sobbed Nan.
"You turned the rope," went on Danny maliciously. "If she dies, they'll put you in prison, Nan Bobbsey."
"They shan't do it!" cried Bert, coming to his sister's rescue. "I won't let them."
"Much you can stop 'em, Bert Bobbsey."
"Can't I?"
"No, you can't."
"I'll see if I can't," answered Bert, and he gave Danny such a look that the latter edged away, thinking he was going to be attacked.
Doctor Briskett had gone into the house and the crowd hung around impatiently, waiting for news. The excitement increased, and Mrs. Bobbsey came forth, followed by Freddie and Flossie, who had just finished playing horse.
"Nan, Nan! what can it mean?" said Mrs. Bobbsey.
"Oh, mamma!" murmured Nan, and sank limp and helpless, into her mother's arms.
Just then Mr. Bobbsey came forth from the Lavine residence. Seeing his wife supporting their daughter, he hurried in that direction.
"Grace is not dead," he announced. "She had a fainting spell, that is all. But I think after this she had better leave rope skipping alone."
CHAPTER III
THE FIRST SNOW STORM
NAN felt greatly relieved to learn that Grace was not dead.
"Oh, mamma, I am so glad!" she said, over and over again.
"I am glad too," answered Mrs. Bobbsey. "Her mamma has told her several times not to jump so much."
"Yes, I heard her," Nan's eyes dropped. "I was wicked to turn the rope for her."
In the end Nan told her mother the whole story, to which Mrs. Bobbsey listened very gravely,
"It was certainly wrong, Nan," she said. "After this I hope my little girl will try to do better."
"I shall try," answered Nan.
It was long after the dinner hour before the excitement died away. Then it was learned that Grace was resting quietly in an easy chair and the doctor had ordered that she be kept quiet for several days. She was very much frightened and had told her parents that she would never jump rope again.
The time was the fall of the year, and that Saturday evening there was a feeling of snow in the air stronger than before.
"Oh, if only it would snow!" came from Bert, several times. "I like winter better than anything."
"I don't," answered Nan. "Think of the nice flowers we have in the summer."
"You can't have much fun with flowers, Nan."
"Yes you can. And think of the birds--"
"I like the summer," piped in Freddie, "cos then we go to the country where the cows and the chickens are!"
"Yes, and gather the eggs," put in Flossie, who had gathered eggs many times during the summer just past, while on a visit to their Uncle Daniel Bobbsey's farm at Meadow Brook. All of the Bobbsey children thought Meadow Brook the finest country place in all the world.
Bert's wish for snow was soon gratified. Sunday morning found it snowing steadily, the soft flakes coming down silently and covering the ground to the depth of several inches.
"Winter has come after all!" cried the boy. "Wish it was Monday instead of Sunday."
"The snow is not quite deep enough for sleighing yet," returned his father.
Despite the storm, all attended church in the morning, and the four children and Mrs. Bobbsey went to Sunday school in the afternoon. The lady taught a class of little girls and had Flossie as one of her pupils.
To the children, traveling back and forth through the snow was great sport, and Bert couldn't resist the temptation to make several snowballs and throw them at the other boys. The other boys threw them back in return and Bert's hat was knocked off.
"Bert, this will not do on Sunday," said Mrs. Bobbsey, and there the snowballing came to an end.
All through that night the snow continued to come down, and on Monday morning it was over a foot deep. The air was crisp and cold and all of the children felt in the best of spirits.
"Nan and Bert can go to school," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "But I think Freddie and Flossie had better stay home. Walking would come too hard on them."
"I want to go out in the snow!" cried Freddie. "I don't want to stay indoors all day."
"You shall go out later on, in the garden," replied his mother.
"They can watch Sam shovel off the snow," put in Mr. Bobbsey. Sam was the man of all work. He and Dinah, the cook, were married and lived in some pleasant rooms over the stable.
"Yes, let us watch him!" cried Flossie, and soon she and Freddie were at the window, watching the colored man as he banked up the snow on either side of the garden walk and the sidewalk. Once Sam made a motion as if to throw a shovelful of snow at the window, and this made them dodge back in alarm and then laugh heartily.
"I know what let's do!" cried Flossie presently.
"What?" demanded Freddie.
"Let us get some really truly clean snow and make ice-cream."
"Let's!" burst out her twin. "Let us make a--a ton of it and then we can play I have a ice-cream store and you can come and buy from me."
"Will you make cho'late ice-cream?" asked Flossie. Chocolate ice-cream was her favorite.
"Sure--I'll make vanilla, an' cho'late, an' strawberry, an' ev'rything," declared Freddie.
From Dinah the children got several small tin cups and a bowl. They also procured a little sugar and a bit of chocolate from the top of a chocolate cake. Then, from Sam, they procured the clean snow, taken from a drift he had not touched before.
"Now, you let me help make it," insisted Flossie.
"But you got to buy it," said Freddie.
"Well, I'm going to be a--a clerk first and help make it," said the little girl.
So the little twins set to work in a corner of the kitchen to make their ice-cream. Dinah, the cook watched them.
"Don't yo' go fo' to muss up my floah," she cautioned. "An' don't eat dat stuff--lessen yo' wants a stomachache," she added.
"Oh, we can eat a little," pleaded Flossie.
"Jess a taste, chile--jess a taste."
Soon the so-called ice-cream was finished--plain white, which the twins called vanilla, one with a few drops of strawberry juice, and one with the chocolate. Then Freddie pretended to sell it at ten cents a quart--and Flossie bought all three kinds, paying two buttons each time. It was lots of fun. But both children were careful to mind Dinah and ate only a little bit, for neither of them wanted to get sick.
The school was only a few blocks away from the Bobbsey home, but Nan and Bert had all they could do to reach it, for the wind had made the snow drift, so that in some spots it was very deep.
"Better look out or we'll get in over our heads," cried Bert.
"Oh, Bert, wouldn't it be terrible to have such a thing happen!" answered his twin sister. "How would we ever get out?"
"Ring the alarm and have the street-cleaning men dig us out," he said merrily. "Do you know, Nan, that I just love the snow. It makes me feel like singing and whistling." And he broke into a merry whistle.
"I love it because it looks so white and pure, Bert."
They were speedily joined by a number of other boys and girls, all bound for school. Some of the girls were having fun washing each other's faces and it was not long before Nan had her face washed too. The cold snow on her cheek and ear did not feel very nice, but she took the fun in good part and went to washing like the rest.
The boys were already snowballing each other, some on one side of the street and some on the other. The snowballs were flying in all directions and Bert was hit on the back and on the shoulder.
"I'll pay you back!" he cried, to Charley Mason, who had hit him in the back, and he let fly a snowball which landed directly on Charley's neck. Some of the snow went down Charley's back and made him shiver from the cold.
"I wouldn't stand that, Charley," said Danny Rugg, who was close at hand. "I'd pitch into him if I were you."
"You pitch into him," grumbled Charley. "You can throw awfully straight."
Danny prided
himself on his throwing, which, however, was no better than the throwing of the other lads, and he quickly made two hard snowballs. With these in hand he ran out into the street and waited until Bert's hands were empty. Then he came up still closer and threw one of the snowballs with all his might. It struck Bert in the back of the head and sent him staggering.
"Hi! how do you like that?" roared Danny, in high glee. "Have another?" And as Bert stood up and looked around he let drive again, this time hitting Bert directly in the ear. The snowball was so hard it made Bert cry out in pain.
"For shame, Danny Rugg, to hit Bert so hard as that!" cried Nan.
"Oh, you keep still, Nan Bobbsey!" retorted Danny. "This is our sport, not yours."
"But you shouldn't have come so close before you threw the snowball."
"I know what I'm doing," growled the big boy, running off.
The whack in the ear made that member ache, and Bert did not feel near so full of fun when he entered the schoolyard. Several of his friends came up to him in sympathy.
"Did he hurt you very much, Bert?" asked one.
"He hurt me enough. It wasn't fair to come so close, or to make the snowballs so hard."
"Let us duck Danny in the snow," suggested one of the boys.
This was considered a good plan, but nobody wanted to start in, for, as I have said before, Danny was a good deal of a bully, and could get very rough at times.
While the boys were talking the matter over, the school bell rang and all had to go to their classrooms. In a little while Bert's ear stopped aching, but he did not forget how Danny Rugg had treated him.
"I'll pay him back when we go home to dinner," Bert told himself, and laid his plans accordingly.
As soon as Bert got out of school he hurried into a corner of the yard and made three good, hard snowballs. These he concealed under his overcoat and then waited for Danny to appear.
The big boy must have known that Bert would try to square matters with him, for as soon as he came out he ran in the direction of one of the main streets of Lakeport, just the opposite direction to that which he usually pursued.
"You shan't get away from me!" cried Bert, and ran after him. Soon he threw one snowball and this landed on Danny's back. Then he threw another and knocked off the bully's cap.
"Hi! stop that!" roared Danny, and stooped to pick up the cap. Whiz! came the third snowball and hit Danny on the cheek. He let out a cry of pain.
"I'll fix you for that, Bert Bobbsey!" he said, stooping down in the street. "How do you like that?"
He had picked up a large chunk of ice lying in the gutter, and now he threw it at Bert's head with all force. Bert dodged, and the ice went sailing past him and hit the show window of a small shoe store, shattering a pane of glass into a hundred pieces.
CHAPTER IV
THE BROKEN WINDOW
NEITHER Danny nor Bert had expected such an ending to the snowball fight and for the moment neither knew what to do. Then, as the owner of the shoe store came running out, both set off on a run.
"Stop! stop!" roared the shoe dealer, coming after them. "Stop, I say!"
But the more he cried the harder they ran. Both soon reached the corner, and while Danny went up the side street, Bert went down, so the boys soon became widely separated.
Reaching the corner, the owner of the store did not know which boy to go after, but made up his mind to follow Bert, who could not run as fast as Danny. So after Bert he came, with such long steps that he was soon close to the lad.
Bert was greatly scared, for he was afraid that if he was caught he might be arrested. Seeing an alleyway close at hand, he ran into this. At the back was a fence, and with all speed he climbed up and let himself down on the other side. Then he ran around a corner of a barn, through another alleyway, and into a street leading home.
The shoe dealer might have followed, but he suddenly remembered that he had left the store unprotected and that somebody might come in and run off with his stock and his money. So he went back in a hurry; and the chase came to an end.
When Bert got home he was all out of breath, and his legs trembled so he could scarcely stand. Nan had just arrived and the family were preparing to sit down to lunch.
"Why, Bert, why do you run so hard?" protested his mother. " You must not do it. If you breathe in so much cold air, you may take cold."
"Oh, I--I'm all right," he panted, and started to drop into his seat, but Mrs. Bobbsey made him go up to the bathroom and wash up and comb his hair.
Poor Bert was in a fever of anxiety all through the meal. Every instant he expected to hear the front door bell ring, and find there a policeman to take him to the station house. He could scarcely eat a mouthful.
"What's the matter? Do you feel sick?" asked the father.
"No, I'm not sick," he answered.
"You play altogether too hard. Take it easy. The snow will last a long time," went on Mr. Bobbsey.
After lunch Bert did not dare to go back to school. But he could think of no excuse for staying home and at last set off in company with Nan. He looked around for Danny, but the big lad did not show himself.
"What's the matter with you, Bert?" questioned his twin sister, as they trudged along.
"Nothing is the matter, Nan."
"But there is. You act so strange."
"I--I don't feel very good."
"Then you did run too hard, after all."
"It wasn't that, Nan." Bert looked around him. "Do you see anything of Danny Rugg?"
"No." Nan stopped short. "Bert Bobbsey, did you have a fight with him?"
"No--that is, not a real fight. I chased him with some snowballs and he threw a big chunk of ice at me."
"Did he hit you?"
"No, he--he--oh, Nan, perhaps I had better tell you. But you must promise not to tell anybody else."
"Tell me what?"
"Will you promise not to tell?"
"Yes," said Nan promptly, for she and her twin brother always trusted each other.
"When Danny threw the ice at me it flew past and broke Mr. Ringley's window."
"What, of the shoe store?"
"Yes. Mr. Ringley came running out after both of us. I ran one way and Danny ran another. I ran into the alleyway past Jackson's barn, and got over the fence, and he didn't come any further."
"Does Mr. Ringley think you broke the window?"
"I guess he does. Anyhow, he followed me and not Danny."
"But you had nothing to do with it. Oh, Bert, what made you run away at all? Why didn't you stop and tell the truth?"
"I--I got scared, that's why. I was afraid he'd get a policeman."
"Danny ought to own up that he did it."
"He won't do it. He'll put it off on me if he can,--because I chased him in the first place."
"Did Mr. Ringley know it was you?"
"I don't know. Now, Nan, remember, you promised not to tell."
"All right, Bert, I won't say a word. But--but--what do you think Mr. Ringley will do?"
"I don't know."
When they reached the school Danny Rugg was nowhere to be seen. The boys continued to have fun snowballing, but Bert had no heart for play and went to his classroom immediately. But he could not put his mind on his lessons and missed both in geography and arithmetic.
"Bert, you are not paying attention," said the teacher severely. "You just said the capital of Pennsylvania was Albany. You must know better than that."
"Harrisburg," corrected Bert.
"After this pay more attention."
Danny Rugg did not come to school, nor did he show himself until an hour after school was out. Bert had gone home and brought forth his sled, and he and Nan were giving Freddie and Flossie a ride around the block when Danny hailed Bert.
"Come here, I want to talk to you," he said, from across the street.
"What do you want?" asked Bert roughly.
"I've got something to tell you. It won't take but a minute."
Bert hesitated, and the
n leaving Nan to go on alone with the sled, he crossed to where Danny was standing, partly sheltered by a tree box.
"You can't blame that broken window off on me, Danny Rugg," Bert began.
"Hush!" whispered Danny, in alarm. "I ain't going to blame it off on you, Bert. I only want you to promise to keep quiet about it."
"Why should I? It was your fault."
"Was it? I don't think so. You began the fight. Besides, if you dare say a word, I'll--I'll give you a big thrashing!" blustered Danny.
He clenched his fists as he spoke and looked so fierce that Bert retreated a step.
"I haven't said anything, Danny."
"Then you had better not. Old Ringley doesn't know who broke his window. So you keep quiet; do you hear?"
"Are you sure he doesn't know?"
"Yes, because he has been asking everybody about it."
There was a pause and the two boys looked at each other.
"You ought to pay for the window," said Bert.
"Huh! I'm not going to do it. You can pay for it if you want to. But don't you dare to say anything about me! If you do, you'll catch it, I can tell you!" And then Danny walked off.
"What did he have to say?" questioned Nan, when Bert came back to her.
"He wants me to keep still. He says Mr. Ringley doesn't know who did it."
"Did you promise to keep still, Bert?"
"No, but if I say anything Danny says he will give it to me."
A crowd of boys and girls now came up and the talk was changed. All were having a merry time in the snow, and for the time being Bert forgot his troubles. He and Nan gave Freddie and Flossie a fast ride which pleased the younger twins very much.
"I wish you was really and truly horses," said Flossie. "You go so beautifully!"
"And if I had a whip I could make you go faster," put in Freddie.
"For shame, Freddie!" exclaimed Nan. "Would you hit the horse that gave you such a nice ride?"
"Let me give you a ride," answered the little fellow, to change the subject.
He insisted upon it, and soon Nan was on the sled behind Flossie, and Bert and Freddie were hauling them along where pulling was easy. This was great sport for Freddie, and he puffed and snorted like a real horse, and kicked up his heels, very much to Flossie's delight.
The Bobbsey Twins; or, Merry Days Indoors and Out / by Laura Lee Hope Page 2