CHAPTER XX
MR. BOBBSEY COMES BACK
"Hey, Jimmie! Give us a goat ride, will you?" called a boy in the street.
"I will for two cents," answered the red-haired lad driving the goat andwagon.
"Aw, go on. Give us a ride for a cent!"
"Nope. Two cents!"
"Oh, did you hear that?" asked Flossie of Freddie. "He gives rides for twocents."
"Then we'll have some," said Freddie. "How many rides can you get for tencents?"
"A lot, I guess," said Flossie, who forgot all about the number-work shehad studied for a little while in school.
"Hey!" called Freddie to the boy with the goat. "We've got two cents--wewant a ride."
The boy, who was sitting in an old goat wagon, pulled on the reins andguided his animal over toward the curb.
"Does you really want a ride?" he asked, "No foolin'?"
"No foolin'," answered Freddie. "Sure we want a ride. I've got fivecents." He showed only half of the money he had in his pocket, keeping theother nickel back.
"I'll give you an' your sister a ride for dat!" cried the goat boy, notspeaking the way Freddie and Flossie had been taught to do. "Hop in!"
"Can I drive?" asked Freddie.
"Nope. I'm afraid to let youse," was the answer. "Billy's a good goat, butyou see he don't just know you. Course I could introduce youse to him, an'then he'd know you. But first along you'd better not drive him. I'll steerhim were you want to go. I gives a ride up an' down de block fer twocents," he went on. "Course two of you is four cents."
"I've got a nickel," said Freddie quickly.
"Sure, dat's right. I forgot. Well, I'll give you both a ride up and downde block and half way back again for de nickel."
"Here it is," said Freddie, handing it over, as he and Flossie took theirseats in the goat wagon. There was plenty of room for them and thered-haired driver. Other children on the block crowded to the curbstoneand looked on with eager eyes as the Bobbsey twins started on their ride.Mrs. Bobbsey, talking with her friend in the darkened parlor, knew nothingof what was going on.
"Say, he is a good goat," said Freddie, when they were half-way down theblock.
"Sure he's a good goat!" agreed the boy, whose name was Mike. "There ain'tnone better."
"It's lots of fun," said Flossie.
It was a fine day, even if it was Winter. The sun was shining brightly, soit was not cold. What snow there was in New York, before the Bobbseys cameon their visit, had either melted or been cleaned off the streets so onewould hardly know there had been a storm.
"I wish we had a goat," said Freddie, when the ride was almost over.
"I WISH WE HAD A GOAT," SAID FREDDY.
_The Bobbsey Twins in a Great City. Page_ 216]
"So do I," agreed Flossie. "Let's ask Daddy to buy one," she suggested.
"We will," said Freddie.
"I'm goin' to sell dis goat," put in Mike.
"You are? Why?" cried the Bobbsey twins.
"'Cause I'm going to work. You see I won't have time to look after him. Ibought him off a feller what moved away, an' I keeps de goat in Sullivan'slivery stable. But I have to pay a dollar a month, an' so I began givin'de boys an' girls around here rides for two cents to pay for Billy's keep.But I can't do dat when I goes to work, so me mudder says I must sell 'im.I don't want to, but I has to."
Flossie looked at Freddie and Freddie looked at Flossie on hearing this.Neither of them said a word, but any one who knew them could easily havetold that they were thinking of the same thing--the goat.
"Well, I'll ride you back to where youse got in me wagon," said Mike, "andthen your nickel's about used up."
"Oh, I've got another!" cried Freddie eagerly. "We want more ride. Don'twe, Flossie?"
"Sure we do! Oh, it's such fun!"
So they rode up and down the block again, and when that was over Flossieand Freddie spent some time talking to Mike.
By this time Mrs. Bobbsey had ended her visit and had come out to look forher children.
"I thought I told you not to go off the steps," she said. They were downthe street looking at the goat.
"Well, we didn't mean to," admitted Freddie. "But we did so much want agoat ride."
"And we had ten cents' worth!" laughed Flossie.
Mrs. Bobbsey smiled. It was very hard to be cross with these small twins.They never meant to do wrong, and, I suppose, taking a ride up and downthe block was not so very bad.
"Good-bye!" called Freddie to Mike, the goat boy, as Mrs. Bobbsey led herchildren away.
"Good-bye!" added Flossie, waving her hand.
"Good-bye," echoed Mike.
"And don't forget!" said Freddie.
"No, I won't."
Mrs. Bobbsey might have asked what it was Mike was not to forget, only shewas in a hurry to get back to the hotel, and so did not question Freddie.
When they reached their rooms they found a letter from Mr. Bobbsey, sayinghe would have to stay in Lakeport a day longer than he expected. But hewould soon be in New York again, he wrote.
Bert and Nan came home from the moving pictures, saying they had had adelightful time.
"So did we--in a goat wagon," cried Freddie.
"And Freddie and me are goin' to----" began Flossie, but Freddie quicklycried:
"Come on and play fire engine, Flossie!" so his little sister did notfinish what she had started to say.
It was the next day, soon after breakfast, that one of the hotelmessengers--a small colored boy--knocked on the door of the suite ofapartments occupied by the Bobbsey family, and when Mrs. Bobbsey answered,the colored boy said:
"He am downstairs, Ma'am. He am in de lobby."
"Who is?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey.
"De boy what wants to see yo' little boy, Ma'am."
"Some one to see Freddie? Who is it?"
"I don't know, Ma'am. He didn't gib no name."
"Oh, perhaps it is Laddie," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Bert, please go down andsee, will you? If it's Laddie, who wants Freddie to play with him, I don'tsee why he didn't come here. But go and see."
"Oh, I know who it is," said Freddie, "You don't need to go, Bert. Justgive me five dollars, Mother, and I'll buy him."
"Buy him? Buy what?" asked the surprised Mrs. Bobbsey. "What in the worldare you talking about, Freddie?"
"Mike, the goat boy. He's brought Billy here, I guess, and Flossie and Iare going to buy him. Can't we, please?"
"What? Buy a goat when we're stopping at this hotel?" cried his mother."Bert, do go and see what mischief those children have gotten into now. Agoat! Oh, dear!"
"I'll go with him, 'cause Mike don't know Bert," offered Freddie.
"And I want to come!" said Flossie. "I want to see our goat."
"Your goat!" cried Nan.
"Yes, we're going to buy him. Mike brought him to sell to us."
And that is what had happened. When Mrs. Bobbsey followed Bert and Freddiedown to the hotel lobby, leaving Nan to look after Flossie in the rooms,this is what she saw:
Out at the side entrance to the hotel was the goat and the rickety expresswagon, in charge of a red-haired, snub-nosed boy, Mike's small brother.Mike himself, rather ragged, but clean and neat enough, was in the lobby,sitting at his ease on one of the big leather chairs, waiting.
"I've brought de goat," he said to Freddie, as soon as he saw that smallBobbsey with Bert.
"What does it all mean?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey, while a crowd of the hotelguests and help gathered about.
"Why, your little boy, Ma'am, what I rode in me goat wagon up and down ourblock, said you'd buy Billy when I was ready to sell him. I'm ready now,'cause I'm goin' to work. So I brought de goat an' wagon here to de hotel,just as your little boy made me promise to do. It'll be five dollars forde goat."
For a moment Mrs. Bobbsey did not know what to say. Then she turned toFreddie and asked:
"Did you really tell him you'd buy his goat, Freddie?"
"I said you'd buy it for Flossie and me. Won't
you? We can have such funwith it!"
"A goat in a New York hotel!" cried Bert, laughing, "Oh, dear!"
"Hush, Bert," said his mother. "Freddie did not know any better. Of coursewe can't keep it," she said to Mike, "and I'm sorry you had the trouble ofbringing him here. My little boy didn't stop to think, I'm afraid. Heshould have told me. But here is a dollar for your trouble, and I thinkyou can easily sell your goat somewhere else."
"Oh, yes, I can easy sell him," said Mike. "But your little boy made mepromise to bring Billy to dis hotel to-day and here I am, 'cordin' topromise."
"Yes, I see you kept your word," and Mrs. Bobbsey could not help smiling."But really we have no place to keep a goat here, and we could hardly takeit to Lakeport with us. So I'm afraid Freddie will have to do without it."
"All right," said Mike good-naturedly, as he took the dollar.
Of course Freddie and Flossie were disappointed at not having the goat andwagon, but they soon forgot that when their mother promised to take themto see another play that afternoon.
"It's a wonder Flossie or Freddie didn't try to bring the goat up to ourrooms in the elevator," said Bert, when they were in their apartmentagain.
"Well, he was a good goat!" declared Freddie.
"And he could go fast," added Flossie.
"I was going to play fireman with him when we got back to Lakeport," wenton Freddie. "Now I can't."
"I think you'll have just as much fun some other way," said his mother,laughing.
Three days after that, when Mrs. Bobbsey came in from shopping with thetwo sets of twins, she heard some one moving about in their apartment asshe entered.
"Oh, it's Daddy!" cried Flossie, as some one caught her up in his arms."Daddy's come back!"
"I'm so glad!" called Freddie, running to get a hug and kiss from hisfather. "And we almost had a goat!" he added.
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