The Bobbsey Twins of Lakeport

by Laura Lee Hope

  He shook his head. Although the four children sifted the ashes through their fingers, they found nothing that resembled the cameo or any kind of metal.

  Next they looked in all the forks of the trees which they could reach and searched the ground for any signs of fresh digging. But they found nothing.

  “Well, I guess the tool shed is the only place left to look,” Bert said in discouragement.

  The little house was so small that all four children could not get in at once. It was decided that the younger twins would search the shed first.

  This proved to be a real task. The space around the edge of the floor was filled with cans and buckets of dried-up paint. On the wall hung rusty garden implements covered with cobwebs.

  Across the back wall was a low shelf. Freddie picked his way through the junk and began to examine the things on the ledge. “Here’s something way back in the corner!” he exclaimed. He stretched his arms as far as he could and managed to take hold of a box. He carried it out into the sunlight.

  “It rattles!” Freddie exclaimed triumphantly.

  “Oh Freddie! I think you’ve found the treasure!” Flossie jumped up and down in excitement.

  Bert and Nan watched breathlessly as Freddie pried up the lid of the old cigar box. Then they leaned forward to see what was inside.

  “It’s only some bolts and screws!” Bert said in disgust.

  This second disappointment was too much for Flossie. “I’m tired,” she said forlornly. “Let’s go home.”

  “We might as well,” Bert agreed. “I don’t think we’re going to find anything here today.”

  The twins were so quiet during supper that Mrs. Bobbsey was worried. “You children mustn’t take this search for Mrs. Marden’s heirlooms so seriously,” she cautioned. “I’m sure they’ll turn up sometime.”

  “That’s right,” their father agreed. “And Snoop will be back when he gets hungry!”

  Freddie cheered up a little at this remark. Then Nan said, “I know what let’s do tonight. Let’s have a movie show!”

  “How can we do that?” Flossie asked, her face brightening.

  “We’ll have to wait until it gets dark. Then I’ll show you,” Nan replied.

  Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey were going out for the evening so they said good-by shortly. “Don’t stay up too late, children,” Mrs. Bobbsey said. “Remember tomorrow is another school day.”

  The twins played in the back yard until it grew dark, then they all went into the living room. Nan brought in Sam’s large flashlight which he used when working on the car. She hooked it over the back of a chair and directed Bert to turn out the other lights.

  When the room was dark Nan snapped on the flash and focused it on one wall. It made a round glowing spot.

  “Now watch,” she said. She put a handkerchief over one hand, then with the fingers down like little legs she held her hand in front of the light. It threw a shadow on the wall.

  “This is Little Red Riding Hood,” she explained, wiggling her fingers until it did indeed look like a little girl hurrying along. “And this is the wolf!” She moved her other hand so that the shadow was a wolf sneaking after Red Riding Hood.

  “Oh, Nan, that’s bee-yoo-ti-ful!” Flossie cried. “Let me do one!”

  So all the twins took turns making moving pictures with their hands. Flossie made two little rabbits. “See them hippity-hop along,” she said. Freddie’s movie was of the tortoise and the hare. One hand hopped as the hare while the “turtle” crept slowly.

  Bert made a dog with long floppy ears.

  “Meow, meow!” cried Flossie. “I’m a cat. Chase me I”

  Bert jumped up to put his hand next to hers. As he did he knocked the flashlight off the chair back. It landed with a crash and the room was plunged into darkness!

  Bert ran to turn on the room light and survey the damage. “I hope Sam’s flash isn’t broken,” he said in a worried tone.

  Nan picked it up. “It’s all right,” she observed. “The bulb was just knocked loose. See!” She tightened the bulb and the light came on. “And now we’d all better go to bed.”

  “Making shadow movies is fun,” declared Flossie to her twin as they went upstairs.

  Freddie nodded. Then he said, “I hope lots and lots of people read the paper tomorrow, and see our ad about Snoop.”

  “I do too,” said Flossie. “I think we’ll hear something,” she added confidently.

  Flossie was right. The twins had been home from school only a short time the next afternoon when the telephone rang. Nan hurried to answer it.

  The others heard her say, “Oh, thank you so much. We’ll come right over. The address is twenty-one Maple Street? Yes, we can find it. Good-by.”

  When Nan came back into the living room her face was beaming. “It sounded like a very old lady,” she announced, “but she says she has Snoop, and we may come and get him ! Isn’t that wonderful news?”

  “Goody! Goody!” Flossie cried, clapping her hands. “Snoop is found!”

  Freddie was so jubilant he did three somersaults in a row on the living room floor.

  Bert started for the door. “I know where Maple Street is,” he said eagerly. “Come on everybody! Let’s go!”

  Nan hesitated. “I’m sorry Mother isn’t home to take us, but I’m sure she won’t mind if we go. I’ll tell Dinah.”

  Maple Street proved to be rather a long way from the Bobbsey home, but the children were excited at the prospect of finding Snoop and so hurried across town. As they turned into Maple Street they began to look for number twenty-one.

  Finally Nan stopped, a puzzled look on her face. “This can’t be the right place. It’s a fur store.”

  “It’s twenty-one,” Bert remarked. “Let’s go in anyway.”

  As Flossie followed the others into the shop she suddenly stood still. Her face turned white.

  “Oh no!” she cried. “They didn’t make that out of our lovely Snoop!” She pointed to a black fur piece draped over a chair.

  Before Nan could reassure her little sister, an old man came from a back room. “Don’t you make fun of my furs!” he shouted, scowling and pointing his finger at Flossie.

  “My sister didn’t mean that,” Nan said quickly. “Someone telephoned that our black cat Snoop had been found and was at this address.”

  “Yes,” Freddie spoke up. “We want Snoop! Will you please give him to us?”

  To the twins’ utter astonishment, the man’s face turned red with rage. “I don’t know anything about any telephone call or any cat named Snoop!” he yelled. “Get out of my shop, you meddlesome kids! Get out!”

  CHAPTER XV

  A NEW CLUE

  “COME on!” Nan said to her brothers and sister when the irate man ordered the twins to leave his shop. “I’m sure Snoop isn’t here!”

  Outside on the street again, the children looked at one another in astonishment. “Well!” Bert exclaimed with a gasp. “That phone call must have been a fake!”

  “Ooh! Wasn’t that man in the store awful?” Flossie shuddered. “I’m glad he didn’t find Snoop!”

  “I agree with you, Bert,” Nan stated. “The call was a fake. And I’ve a good idea who made it!”

  “Who?” Flossie’s eyes widened.

  “I know!” Freddie exclaimed. “Danny Rugg!”

  The twins concluded that Danny had made the call to play a trick on them. Bert guessed that the bully had probably seen the advertisement in the morning paper and had hurried home from school to telephone the Bobbseys.

  “I wish we could fool Danny some way,” Freddie said as they began their long walk home.

  “Yes,” Flossie added. “He’s always playing mean tricks on us!”

  “Let’s try to think of something,” Bert suggested.

  For a short while everyone was silent, trying to think of a way to outwit Danny Rugg. Then Flossie began to giggle.

  “What are you laughing at?” Freddie asked. “Have you thought of something?”
<
br />   Flossie outlined her plan. When she had finished Bert chuckled. “That’s great, Flossie!” he exclaimed. “Let’s do it!”

  “But Flossie and I won’t be able to see what happens!” Freddie objected.

  “If it works out right, we’ll tell you all about it,” Nan promised.

  “Okay,” Freddie agreed reluctantly.

  When the twins reached home Flossie ran upstairs but came down again in a minute with a small fur muff in her hands. “This is the one I meant,” she explained to the others. “It belonged to my big dolly that got broken. We can use it.”

  “That’ll be keen!” Bert observed with a grin.

  “Just perfect!” Nan put in.

  “And here is the hot water bottle!” Flossie pulled a little one out of the muff. “It came from my dolly’s medicine kit.”

  While all the twins were laughing about the trick they planned to play on Danny at school the next day, Mrs. Bobbsey came into the room. She had several books under her arm.

  “I’m going to take these over to Mrs. Marden,” she said. “Would any of you like to go with me?”

  “I’ll go!” Flossie cried.

  “So will I,” Nan said.

  The boys decided to stay at home. Bert said he had promised to help Freddie repaint his toy fire engine. “This would be a good time to do it,” he added.

  “That’s a swell idea,” Freddie agreed. “Then it will be dry by tomorrow in case I need it!”

  After Mrs. Bobbsey and the girls had left, Freddie carried his fire engine out to the garage. Bert was examining a can of red paint.

  “I think there’s just about enough here,” he decided.

  They set to work, and the paint job was soon finished. Freddie put the gleaming engine on a shelf to dry, then turned to Bert.

  “Why don’t we go down to the lake and see if we can find our tent?” he suggested.

  “Okay,” the older boy agreed, and the brothers started out.

  When they reached their camping site, Bert and Freddie scanned the near-by shore for any sign of the tent but without success.

  “It may have drifted to shore some other place,” Bert said. “I’ll ask Dad if we may take out a boat and look for it.”

  The boys walked up to the lumberyard office. Mr. Bobbsey was busy talking on the telephone when they went in. He motioned for them to sit down and went on with his conversation.

  In a few minutes he put down the receiver and turned to his sons. “Well, boys,” he said, “what brings you here?” He chuckled. “Another mystery up your sleeve?”

  Bert explained that they hoped to find their tent and asked his father if they might use one of the lumberyard boats for their search.

  “Find Sam,” Mr. Bobbsey suggested, “and ask him to take you in the motorboat. I don’t think he’s too busy just now.”

  “Thanks, Dad,” Bert said.

  The two boys went out into the big lumberyard and looked around for Sam. In a minute they spotted him. They ran over, and Freddie explained what their father had said. Sam grinned broadly, showing his white teeth.

  “They sounds good to me!” he exclaimed. “It’s a right nice sunny day for a ride on the lake.”

  He led the way to the boathouse, and in a few minutes the three were in the motorboat cutting through the clear, sparkling water of Lake Metoka. Sam steered the boat back and forth near the spot where the boys had camped.

  “I don’t see anything,” Freddie said presently. “Do you think the tent sank to the bottom of the lake?” he asked despairingly.

  “Maybe,” Sam admitted. “But it might have caught on something underwater and not be far down.”

  “How can we get the tent if that happened?” Bert asked.

  Sam turned the motorboat back toward the shore. “There’s a hook in the boathouse. I’ll get it.”

  When they reached the dock he threw a rope over a post and hopped out. “I’ll be right back,” he called as he ran toward the boathouse. The boys waited.

  Sam returned in a few minutes carrying a long pole with an iron hook on the end. “You can drag this in the water as we move along,” he explained. “It may catch onto the tent.”

  “I get it,” said Bert. “We’ll dredge for the tent.”

  Once more the boat put-puted out onto the quiet lake. Only an occasional fish coming to the surface for a nibble disturbed the glassy calm. “The lake doesn’t look the way it did the other night, does it, Sam?” Bert remarked with a smile.

  “Boy, it sure was rough then!” Sam exclaimed. Then he laughed. “And I never saw three boys any wetter!”

  “May I dredge now, Sam?” Freddie asked eagerly.

  Sam nodded and handed the long pole to the little boy. Then he showed him how to hold the pole down over the side of the boat so it would catch anything under the water.

  Slowly Sam steered the boat parallel to the shore about twenty feet out. They went up a half mile in one direction, then turned.

  “There’s no tellin’ where the wind took that tent,” Sam observed, “but it shouldn’t be too far away from where it went out.”

  At that moment the hook caught onto something. Freddie was holding the pole very tightly and when it stuck, he was pulled off balance. Bert made a lunge and caught Freddie’s legs just as he was about to go over the side!

  “Wow! Thanks, Bert!” Freddie cried after his brother had dragged him back into the boat.

  “You think you were goin’ for a swim?” Sam teased.

  Freddie grinned. He still clutched the pole. Now he remembered what had caused his upset. “I snagged something!” he cried. “Turn around and go back, Sam!” he pleaded.

  Freddie was about to go over the side

  Obligingly Sam made a turn and in a few minutes came over the spot again. Bert and Freddie both held the pole while the boat moved slowly along.

  “Stop!” Bert called. “I think we have it!”

  While Sam idled the motor the boys carefully pulled up the pole. There, caught on the hook, was the sodden pup tent!

  The wet canvas was so heavy that Sam pulled it in while Bert held the boat wheel. Finally the dripping mass was deposited on the deck of the motorboat.

  “I don’t think it’s hurt a bit!” Freddie cried. “But it’s sure wet!”

  “We’ll hang it up at the lumberyard until it dries,” Sam told the boys.

  In the meantime, Mrs. Bobbsey and the girls had reached the Rolling Acres Nursing Home. Mrs. Marden was very glad to see them.

  “Thank you so much for the books, Mary,” she said. “Won’t you all come up and see my room?”

  Nan and Flossie followed their mother and Mrs. Marden up the wide stairs and into a large, sunny room. They looked at a photograph album which Mrs. Marden gave them while the two women chatted.

  Finally Mrs. Bobbsey rose. “We must be going home now,” she told their hostess.

  “But it’s not late,” Mrs. Marden protested, raising her arm to look at her wristwatch. A startled expression came over her face.

  “Is something wrong?” Nan asked.

  “My watch!” Mrs. Marden exclaimed. “It’s gone!”

  “Are you sure you had it on this afternoon?” Mrs. Bobbsey asked.

  “Oh, I think I did,” the elderly woman said anxiously, “but perhaps I put it some place else.”

  While Mrs. Marden looked in the drawers of her bureau, Mrs. Bobbsey and the girls searched the tables and shelves. Suddenly Flossie pointed to the door handle.

  There, dangling from it was a gold watch bracelet!

  Mrs. Marden looked embarrassed. “Now how do you suppose it got there?” she mused. “You girls are very good at solving mysteries. Thank you.”

  “We have a new mystery to work on!” Flossie exclaimed. “But we’re not having any luck solving it.”

  “What is that, dear?” Mrs. Marden asked, smiling.

  “Our kitten has disappeared !” Flossie replied sadly.

  “That’s too bad,” their hostess said sympat
hetically. “I had a kitten once. I was very fond of him, but when I moved I had to give him away.” She sighed.

  “Did you give him to some friends of yours?” Flossie wanted to know.

  “I can’t remember.” Mrs. Marden shook her head sadly. “I’m sure I must have. I do hope he has a good home. He was a beautiful black kitten and so loyal to me!”

  Flossie and Nan looked at each other in excitement. This description certainly fitted their own pet. Could Snoop have been Mrs. Marden’s cat?

  CHAPTER XVI

  THE TWINS’ TRICK

  NAN and Flossie were excited to learn of the black kitten Mrs. Marden had once owned. They could hardly wait to get home and tell Bert and Freddie about their idea that the pet might be Snoop I

  “That’s a swell clue,” Bert commented when the girls told their story at the supper table. “A cat likes to go back to his first home, and if Snoop is Mrs. Marden’s cat, then maybe Snoop is at the old Marden house!” he ended triumphantly.

  Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey laughed at Bert’s long sentence. “Very good reasoning, son,” Mr. Bobbsey remarked. “Spoken like a true detective.”

  “Let’s go to school early tomorrow morning,” Nan suggested excitedly, “and look around the old house for Snoop!”

  “But we’ve already searched the house!” Freddie objected.

  “We haven’t been inside since Snoop went away,” Flossie reminded her twin.

  “And he could be hiding outside somewhere,” Bert added.

  So the next morning the twins started off to school at an earlier hour than usual.

  “Do you have the things for Danny?” Nan asked Bert as they walked down the street behind Freddie and Flossie.

  For answer her twin held up a brown paper bag. “All here,” he replied, grinning.

  When the children reached the old house, everything seemed quiet. A few boys and girls who had also come early were playing in the school yard. But the Marden mansion and the grounds around it were as deserted as ever.

  The Bobbseys ran around the yard, peering under bushes and calling, “Here, kitty, kitty!” Every once in a while they paused and listened hopefully for an answering meow. But there was no sign of Snoop.