"Wait, I'll go and catch him," said Bert, and started forward.
But Danny saw him coming, and leaping over the side rail of the piazza, he ran to the back garden.
"Stop," called Bert. "I know you, Danny Rugg!"
"I ain't Danny Rugg!" shouted Danny in a rough voice. "I'm somebody else."
He continued to run and Bert made after him. At last Danny reached the back fence. There was a gate there, but this was kept locked by Sam, so that tramps might be kept out.
For the moment Danny did not know what to do. Then he caught hold of the top of the fence and tried to scramble over. But there was a sharp nail there and on this his jacket caught.
"I've got you now!" exclaimed Bert, and made a clutch for him. But there followed the sound of ripping cloth and Danny disappeared into the darkness, wearing a jacket that had a big hole in it.
"Was it really Danny?" questioned Nan, when Bert came back to the front piazza.
"Yes, and he tore his coat--I heard it rip."
"What do you think of that?"
Nan pointed to an object on the piazza; half under the door mat. There lay a dead rat, and around its neck was a string to which was attached a card reading, "Nan and Bert Bobbsey's Ghost."
"This is certainly awful," said Bert.
The noise on the piazza had brought Mrs. Bobbsey to the door. At the sight of the dead rat, which Freddie had picked up by the tail, she gave a slight scream.
"Oh, Freddie, leave it go!" she said.
"It won't hurt you, mamma," said the little boy. "The real is gone out of it."
"But--but--how did it get here?"
"Danny Rugg brought it," said Bert. "Look at the tag."
He cut the tag off with his pocket-knife and flung the rat into the garbage can. All went into the house, and Mrs. Bobbsey and her husband both read what Danny Rugg had written on the card.
"This is going too far," said Mr. Bobbsey. "I must speak to Mr. Rugg about this." And he did the very next day. As a result, and for having torn his jacket, Danny received the hardest thrashing he had got in a year. This made him more angry than ever against Bert, and also angry at the whole Bobbsey family. But he did not dare do anything to hurt them at once, for fear of getting caught.
Winter was now going fast, and before long the signs of spring began to show on every hand.
Spring made Freddie think of a big kite that he had stored away in the garret, and one Saturday he and Bert brought the kite forth and fixed the string and the tail.
"There is a good breeze blowing," said Bert. "Let us go and fly it on Roscoe's common."
"I want to see you fly the kite," said Flossie. "Can I go along?"
"Yes, come on," said Bert.
Flossie had been playing with the kitten and hated to leave it. So she went down to the common with Snoop in her arms.
"Don't let Snoop run away from you," said Bert. "He might not find his way back home."
The common was a large one with an old disused barn at one end. Freddie and Bert took the kite to one end and Freddie held it up while Bert prepared to let out the string and "run it up," as he called it.
Now, as it happened, the eyes of Snoop were fixed on the long tail of the kite, and when it went trailing over the ground Snoop leaped from Flossie's arms and made a dash for it. The kitten's claws caught fast in the tail, and in a moment more the kite went up into the air and Snoop with it.
"Oh, my kitten!" called out Freddie. "Snoop has gone up with the kite!"
CHAPTER XXI
THE RESCUE OF SNOOP, THE KITTEN
IT was certainly something that nobody had been expecting, and as the kite went higher and higher, and Snoop with it, both Flossie and Freddie set up a loud cry of fear.
"Snoop will be killed!" exclaimed the little girl. "Oh, poor dear Snoop!" and she wrung her hands in despair.
"Let him down!" shrieked Freddie. "Oh, Bert, please let my dear kitten down, won't you?"
Bert did not hear, for he was running over the common just as hard as he could, in his endeavor to raise the kite. Up and up it still went, with poor Snoop dangling helplessly at the end of the swaying tail.
At last Bert ran past the old barn which I have already mentioned. Just as he did this he happened to look up at the kite.
"Hullo, what's on the tail?" he yelled. "Is that a cat?"
"It's Snoop!" called out Freddie, who was rushing after his big brother. "Oh, Bert, do let him down. If he falls, he'll be killed."
"Well, I never!" ejaculated Bert.
He stopped running and gradually the kite began to settle close to the top of the barn. Poor Snoop was swinging violently at the end of the ragged tail. The swinging brought the frightened creature closer still to the barn, and all of a sudden Snoop let go of the kite tail and landed on the shingles.
"Snoop is on the barn!" cried Bert, as the kite settled on the grass a few yards away.
"Oh, Snoop! Snoop! are you hurt?" cried Freddie, running back a distance, so that he might get a view of the barn top.
Evidently Snoop was not hurt. But he was still scared, for he stood on the edge of the roof, with his tail standing straight up.
"Meow! meow! meow!" he said plaintively.
"He is asking for somebody to take him down," said Freddie. "Aren't you, Snoop?"
"Meow!" answered the black kitten.
"Oh, dear me, what will you do now?" cried Flossie, as she came chasing up.
"Perhaps I can get to the roof from the inside," said Bert, and he darted quickly into the barn.
There was a rickety pair of stairs leading to the barn loft and this he mounted. In the loft all was dark and full of cobwebs. Here and there were small holes through the roof, through which the water came every time it rained.
"Snoop! Snoop!" he called, putting his mouth close to one of the holes.
The kitten turned around in surprise. He hardly knew from whence the voice came, but he evidently knew Bert was calling, for he soon came in that direction.
As the barn was an old one and not fit to use, Bert felt it would do no harm to knock a shingle or two from the roof. Looking around, he espied a stout stick of wood lying on the floor and with this he began an attack on the shingles and soon had two of them broken away.
"Come, Snoop!" he called, looking out of the hole. "Come here!"
But the sound of the blows had frightened the kitten, and Snoop had fled to the slope of the roof on the opposite side of the barn.
"Where is he?" called the boy, to the twins below,
"Gone to the other side," said Freddie. "Don't like the noise, I guess."
"Chase him over here," returned Bert.
Both Freddie and Flossie tried to do so. But Snoop would not budge, but stood on the very edge of the roof, as if meditating a spring to the ground.
"Don't jump, please don't jump, Snoop!" pleaded Flossie. "If you jump you'll surely break a leg, or maybe your back!"
Whether Snoop understood this or not, it would be hard to say. But he did not jump, only stayed where he was and meowed louder than ever.
"Can't you drive him over?" asked Bert, after a long wait.
"Won't come," said Freddie. "Wants to jump down, I guess."
Hearing this, Bert ran down to the lower floor and outside.
"Can't you get a ladder?" asked Flossie. "Perhaps Mr. Roscoe will lend you one."
Mr. Roscoe lived at the other end of the common. He was a very old and very quiet man, and the majority of the girls and boys in Lakeport were afraid of him. He lived all alone and was thought to be queer.
"I--I can see," said Bert hesitatingly.
He ran across the common to Mr. Roscoe's house and rapped on the door. Nobody came and he rapped again, and then a third time.
"Who's there?" asked a voice from within.
"Please, Mr. Roscoe, is that you?" asked Bert.
"Yes."
"Well, our kitten is on the top of your old barn and can't get down. Can you lend me a ladder to get him down with?"
/>
"Kitten on my barn? How did he get there?" and now the old man opened the door slowly and cautiously. He was bent with age and had white hair and a long white beard.
"He went up with a kite," said Bert, and explained the case, to which the old man listened with interest.
"Well! well! well!" exclaimed Mr. Roscoe, in a high piping voice. "Going to take a sail through the air, was he? You'll have to build him a balloon, eh?"
"I think he had better stay on the ground after this."
"He must be a high-flyer of a cat," and the old man chuckled over his joke.
"Will you lend me a ladder?" went on Bert.
"Certainly, my lad. The ladder is in the cow-shed yonder. But you'll have to raise it yourself, or get somebody to raise it for you. My back is too old and stiff for such work."
"I'll try it alone first," answered the boy.
He soon had the long ladder out and was dragging it across the common. It was very heavy and he wondered who he could get to help him raise it. Just then Danny Rugg came along.
"What are you doing with old Roscoe's ladder?" he asked.
Bert was on the point of telling Danny it was none of his business, but he paused and reflected. He wanted no more quarrels with the big boy.
"I am going to get our cat down from the barn roof," he answered.
"Humph!"
"Do you want to help me raise the ladder, Danny?"
"Me? Not much! You can raise your own ladder."
"All right, I will, if you don't want to help me," said Bert, the blood rushing to his face.
"So that's your cat, is it?" cried Danny, looking toward the barn. "I wouldn't have such a black beast as that! We've got a real Maltese at our house."
"We like Snoop very much," answered Bert, and went on with his ladder.
Danny hunted for a stone, and watching his chance threw it at Snoop. It landed close to the kitten's side and made Snoop run to the other side of the barn roof.
"Stop that, Danny Rugg!" cried a voice from the other end of the common, and Nan appeared. She had just heard about the happening to Snoop and was hurrying to the spot to see if she could be of assistance.
"Oh, go on with your old cat!" sneered Danny, and shuffled off past Mr. Roscoe's house.
The old man had come out to see what Bert was going to do with the ladder, and now he came face to face with Danny Rugg.
"Well, is it possible!" murmured the old man to himself. "That boy must belong around here after all!"
When Bert reached the barn he found a dozen boys collected, and several volunteered to assist him in raising the long ladder. It was hard work, and once the ladder slipped, but in the end it rested against the barn roof and then Bert went up in a hurry.
"Come, Snoop!" he called, and the kitten came and perched himself on Bert's shoulder.
When Bert came down the ladder those standing around set up a cheer, and Freddie and Flossie clapped their hands in delight.
"Oh, I'm so glad you got him back!" said Freddie and hugged the kitten almost to death.
"What boy was that who threw the stone?" asked Mr. Roscoe of Nan, while Bert was returning the ladder to the cow-shed.
"That was Danny Rugg," answered Nan. "He is a bad boy."
"I know he is a bad boy," said Mr. Roscoe. "A very bad boy indeed." And then the old man hurried off without another word. What he said meant a good deal, as we shall soon see.
CHAPTER XXII
THE LAST OF THE GHOST--GOOD-NIGHT
THE rescue of the kitten was the main subject of conversation that evening in the Bobbsey household.
"I never dreamed he would go up with the kite," said Flossie. "After this we'll have to keep him in the house when Bert and Freddie do their kite-flying."
Bert had seen Danny Rugg throw the stone at the kitten and was very angry over it. He had also seen Danny talk to Nan.
"I think he's an awful boy," declared Nan. "And Mr. Roscoe thinks he is bad, too."
"He had better stop throwing things or he'll get himself into trouble before long," said Bert.
"It's queer Mr. Ringley never heard about the window," whispered his twin sister.
"So it is. But it may come out yet," replied the brother.
That evening the Bobbseys had their first strawberry shortcake of the season. It was a beautiful cake--one of Dinah's best--and the strawberries were large and luscious.
"Want another piece," said Freddie, smacking his lips. "It's so good, mamma!"
"Freddie, I think you have had enough," said Mrs. Bobbsey.
"Oh, mamma, just a little piece more!" pleaded Freddie, and received the piece, much to his satisfaction.
"Strawberries is beautiful," he declared. "I'm going to raise a whole lot on the farm this summer."
"Oh, mamma, are we going to Uncle Dan's farm this summer?" burst out Nan eagerly.
"Perhaps, Nan," was the reply. "I expect a letter very shortly."
"Meadow Brook is a dandy place," said Bert. "Such a fine swimming hole in the brook!"
"Oh, I love the flowers, and the chickens and cows!" said Flossie.
"I like the rides on the loads of hay," said Nan.
The children talked the subject over until it was time to go to bed. Their Uncle Dan and Aunt Sarah lived at Meadow Brook, and so did their cousin Harry, a boy a little older than Bert, and one who was full of fun and very good-natured in the bargain.
Bert went to bed with his head full of plans for the summer. What glorious times they could have after school closed if they went to their uncle's farm!
It was a full hour before Bert got to sleep. The room was quite bright, for the moon was shining in the corner window. The moon made him think of the ghost he had once seen and he gave a little shudder. He never wanted to see that ghost again.
Bert had been asleep less than an hour when he awoke with a start. He felt sure somebody had touched him on the foot. He opened his eyes at once and looked toward the end of his bed.
The ghost was standing there!
At first Bert could scarcely believe that he saw aright. But it was true and he promptly dove under the covers.
Then he thought of Danny Rugg's cry, "Afraid of a ghost!" and he felt that he ought to have more courage.
"I'm going to see what that is," he said to himself, and shoved back the covers once more.
The figure in white had moved toward the corner of the room. It made no noise and Bert wondered how it would turn next.
"Wonder what will happen if I grab it, or yell?" he asked himself.
With equal silence Bert crawled out of bed. Close at hand stood his baseball bat, which he had used a few days before. It made a formidable club, and he took hold of it with a good deal of satisfaction.
"Want another piece of strawberry shortcake," came to his ears. "Please give me another piece of strawberry shortcake."
Bert could hardly believe his ears. It was the ghost that was speaking! It wanted strawberry shortcake!
"Freddie!" he almost shouted. "Freddie, is it you?"
The ghost did not answer, but turned towards the door leading into the hallway. Bert ran after the figure in white and caught it by the arm.
The ghost was really Freddie, and he was walking in his sleep, with his eyes tightly closed.
"Well, I declare!" murmured Bert. "Why didn't we think of this before?"
"Please let me have another piece of strawberry shortcake, mamma,," pleaded the sleep-walker. "Just a tiny little piece."
Bert had heard that it was a bad thing to awaken a sleep-walker too suddenly, so he took Freddie's arm very gently and walked the little fellow back to his bedroom and placed him on his bed. Then he shook him very gently.
"Oh!" cried Freddie. "Oh! Wha--what do you want? Let me sleep! It isn't time to get up yet."
"Freddie, I want you to wake up," said Bert.
"Who is talking?" came from across the hallway, in Mr. Bobbsey's voice.
"I'm talking, papa," answered Bert. He ran to the doorway of his
parent's bedchamber. "I've just found out who the ghost is," he continued.
"The ghost?" Mr. Bobbsey leaped up. "Where is it?"
"In bed now. It was Freddie, walking in his sleep. He was asking for another piece of strawberry shortcake."
By this time the whole household was wide awake.
"Oh, Freddie, was it really you?" cried Nan, going to the little fellow.
"Wasn't walking in my sleep," said Freddie. "Was dreaming 'bout shortcake, that's all. Want to go to sleep again," and he turned over on his pillow.
"Let him sleep," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "We'll have to consult the doctor about this. He will have to have something for his digestion and eat less before going to bed in the future." And the next day the doctor was called in and gave Freddie something which broke up the sleep-walking to a very large extent.
"I am glad you caught Freddie," said Nan, to her twin brother. "If you hadn't, I should always have believed that we had seen a ghost."
"Glad I don't walk in my sleep," said Flossie. "I might tumble downstairs and break my nose."
"I shall watch Freddie in the future," said Mrs. Bobbsey, and she did.
When Bert went to school the next day he met Danny Rugg and the tall boy glared at him very angrily.
"Think you are smart, don't you?" said Danny. "I'm not going to stand it, Bert Bobbsey."
"Oh, Bert, come along and don't speak to him," whispered Nan, who was with her twin brother.
"Went and saw Ringley, didn't you?" went on Danny, edging closer.
"Keep away, Danny Rugg," answered Bert. "I want nothing to do with you, and I haven't been to see Mr. Ringley."
"Yes, you did go and see him," insisted Danny. "Wasn't he to see my father last night?"
"Did Mr. Ringley come to see your father?" asked Bert curiously.
"Yes, he did. And my father--but never mind that now," broke off the tall boy. He had been on the point of saying that his father had given him a severe thrashing. "I'm going to fix you, Bert Bobbsey."
"Don't you dare to strike my brother, Danny Rugg!" put in Nan, stepping in between them.
How much further the quarrel might have gone, it is impossible to say, for just then Mr. Tetlow put in an appearance, and Danny sneaked off in great haste.
The Bobbsey Twins; or, Merry Days Indoors and Out / by Laura Lee Hope Page 10