The Bobbsey Twins Megapack Page 5

  “Get back there!” roared a boy from the fort and threw a large lump of soft snow directly into his face. But Bert threw the lump back and the boy slipped and fell flat. Then, amid a perfect shower of snowballs, Bert and two other boys fairly tumbled into the fort.

  “Defend the flag! Defend the flag!” was the rallying cry of the fort defenders, and they gathered around the flag. The struggle was now a hand-to-hand one, in which nothing but soft snow was used, and nearly every boy had his face washed.

  “Get back there!” roared Danny Rugg, who was close to the flag, but as he spoke two boys shoved him down on his face in the snow, and the next moment Bert and another boy of the invading party had the flag and was carrying it away in triumph.

  “The fort has fallen!” screamed Nan, and clapped her hands.

  “Hurrah!” shouted Freddie. “The—the forters are beaten, aren’t they?”

  “Yes, Freddie.”

  A cheer was given for those who had captured the fort. Then some of the boys began to dance on the top of the walls, and down they came, one after another, until the fort was in ruins, and the great contest came to an end.

  “It was just splendid!” said Nan to Bert, on the way home. “Just like a real battle.”

  “Only the band didn’t play,” put in Freddie disappointedly. “Real soldiers have a band. They don’t play fish-horns.”

  “Oh, Freddie!” cried Flossie. “They weren’t fish-horns. They were Christmas horns.”

  “It’s all the same. I like a band, with a big, fat bass-drum.”

  “We’ll have the band next time—just for your benefit, Freddie,” said Bert.

  He was tired out and glad to rest when they got home. More than this, some of the snow had gotten down his back, so he had to dry himself by sitting with his back to the sitting-room heater.

  “Danny Rugg was terribly angry that we captured the fort,” said he. “He is looking for the boys who threw him on his face.”

  “It served him right,” answered Nan, remembering the trouble over the broken show window.

  The second fall of snow was followed by steady cold weather and it was not long before the greater part of Lake Metoka was frozen over. As soon as this happened nearly all of the boys and girls took to skating, so that sledding and snowballing were, for the time being, forgotten.

  Both Nan and Bert had new skates, given to them the Christmas before, and each was impatient to go on the ice, but Mrs. Bobbsey held them back until she thought it would be safe.

  “You must not go too far from shore,” said she. “I understand the ice in the middle of the lake, and at the lower end, is not as firm as it might be.”

  Freddie and Flossie wanted to watch the skating, and Nan took them to their father’s lumber yard. Here was a small office directly on the lake front, where they could see much that was going on and still be under the care of an old workman around the yards.

  Nan could not skate very well, but Bert could get along nicely, and he took hold of his twin sister’s hand, and away they went gliding over the smooth ice much to their combined delight.

  “Some day I am going to learn how to do fancy skating,” said Bert. “The Dutch roll, and spread the eagle, and all that.”

  “There is Mr. Gifford,” said Nan. “Let us watch him.”

  The gentleman mentioned was a fine skater and had once won a medal for making fancy figures on the ice. They watched him for a long while and so did many of the others present.

  “It’s beautiful to skate like that,” cried Nan, when they skated away. “It’s just like knowing how to dance everything.”

  “Only better,” said Bert, who did not care for dancing at all.

  Presently Nan found some girls to skate with and then Bert went off among the boys. The girls played tag and had great fun, shrieking at the top of their lungs as first one was “it” and then another. It was hard work for Nan to catch the older girls, who could skate better, but easy enough to catch those of her own age and experience on the ice.

  The boys played tag, too, and “snapped the whip,” as it is termed. All of the boys would join hands in a long line and then skate off as fast as they could. Then the boy on one end, called the snapper, would stop and pull the others around in a big curve. This would make the boys on the end of the line skate very fast, and sometimes they would go down, to roll over and over on the ice. Once Bert was at the end and down he went, to slide a long distance, when he bumped into a gentleman who was skating backwards and over went the man with a crash that could be heard a long distance off.

  “Hi! you young rascal!” roared the man, trying to scramble up. “What do you mean by bowling me over like that?”

  “Excuse me, but I didn’t mean to do it,” answered Bert, and lost no time in getting out of the gentleman’s way. The gentleman was very angry and left the ice, grumbling loudly to himself.

  Down near the lower end of Mr. Bobbsey’s lumber yard some young men were building an ice-boat. Bert and Charley Mason watched this work with interest. “Let us make an ice-boat,” said Charley. “I can get an old bed-sheet for a sail, if you will get your father to give you the lumber.”

  “I’ll try,” answered Bert, and it was agreed that the ice-boat should be built during the following week, after school.

  CHAPTER IX

  Freddie Loses Himself

  Christmas was now but four weeks away, and the stores of Lakeport had their windows filled with all sort of nice things for presents. Nan and Bert had gazed into the windows a number of times, and even walked through the one big department store of which the town boasted, and they had told Freddie and Flossie of many of the things to be seen.

  “Oh, I want to see them, too!” cried Flossie, and begged her mother to take her along the next time she went out.

  “I want to go, too,” put in Freddie. “Bert says there are sixteen rocking horses all in a row, with white and black tails. I want to see them.”

  “I am going to the stores to-morrow,” answered Mrs. Bobbsey. “You can go with me, after school. It will be better to go now than later on, when the places are filled with Christmas shoppers.”

  The twins were in high glee, and Freddie said he was going to spend the twenty-five cents he had been saving up for several months.

  “Let us buy mamma something for Christmas,” said Flossie, who had the same amount of money.

  “What shall we buy?”

  That question was a puzzling one. Flossie thought a nice doll would be the right thing, while Freddie thought an automobile that could be wound up and made to run around the floor would be better. At last both consulted Nan.

  “Oh, mamma doesn’t want a doll,” said Nan. “And she ought to have a real automobile, not a tin one.”

  “Can’t buy a real auto’bile,” said Freddie. “Real auto’biles cost ten dollars, or more.”

  “I’ll tell you what to do,” went on Nan. “You buy her a little bottle of cologne, Freddie, and you, Flossie, can buy her a nice handkerchief.”

  “I’ll buy her a big bottle of cologne,” said Freddie. “That big!” and he placed his hands about a foot apart.

  “And I’ll get a real lace handkerchief,” added Flossie.

  “You’ll have to do the best you can,” said practical Nan, and so it was agreed.

  When they left home each child had the money tucked away in a pocket. They went in the family sleigh, with Sam as a driver. The first stop was at Mr. Ringley’s shoe store, where Mrs. Bobbsey purchased each of the twins a pair of shoes. It may be added here, that the broken window glass had long since been replaced by the shoe dealer, and his show window looked as attractive as ever.

  “I heard you had a window broken not long ago,” said Mrs. Bobbsey, when paying for her purchases.

  “Yes, two bad boys broke the window,” answered the shoe dealer.

  “Who were they?”

  “I couldn’t find out. But perhaps I’ll learn some day, and then I mean to have them arrested,” said Mr. Ring
ley. “The broken glass ruined several pairs of shoes that were in the window.” And then he turned away to wait on another customer.

  Soon the large department store was reached and Mrs. Bobbsey let Freddie and Flossie take their time in looking into the several windows. One was full of dolls, which made the little girl gape in wonder and delight.

  “Oh, mamma, what a flock of dolls!” she cried. “Must be ’bout ten millions of them, don’t you think so?”

  “Hardly that many, Flossie; but there are a good many.”

  “And, oh, mamma, what pretty dresses! I wish I had that doll with the pink silk and the big lace hat,” added the little girl.

  “Do you think that is the nicest, Flossie?”

  “Indeed, indeed I do,” answered the little miss. “It’s too lovely for anything. Can’t we get it and take it home?”

  “No, dear; but you had better ask Santa Claus to send it to you,” continued her mother with a smile.

  Some wooden soldiers and building blocks caught Freddie’s eye, and for the time being his favorite fire engines were forgotten.

  “I want wooden soldiers,” he said. “Can set ’em up in a row, with the sword-man in front, an’ the man with the drum.”

  “Perhaps Santa Claus will bring you some soldiers in your stocking, Freddie.”

  “Stocking ain’t big enough—want big ones, like that,” and he pointed with his chubby hand.

  “Well, let us wait and see what Santa Claus can do,” said Mrs. Bobbsey.

  Inside of the store was a candy counter near the doorway, and there was no peace for Mrs. Bobbsey until she had purchased some chocolate drops for Flossie, and a long peppermint cane for Freddie. Then they walked around, down one aisle and up another, admiring the many things which were displayed.

  “Bert said they had a lavater,” said Freddie presently. “Mamma, I want to go in the lavater.”

  “Lavater?” repeated Mrs. Bobbsey, with a puzzled look. “Why, Freddie, what do you mean?”

  “He means the stairs that runs up and down on a big rope,” put in Flossie.

  “Oh, the elevator,” said the mother. “Very well, you shall both ride in the elevator.”

  It was great sport to ride to the third story of the store, although the swift way in which the elevator moved made the twins gasp a little.

  “Let us go down again,” said Freddie. “It’s ever so much nicer than climbing the stairs.”

  “I wish to make a few purchases first,” answered the mother.

  She had come to buy a rug for the front hallway, and while she was busy in the rug and carpet department she allowed the twins to look at a number of toys which were located at the other end of the floor.

  For a while Freddie and Flossie kept close together, for there was quite a crowd present and they felt a little afraid. But then Flossie discovered a counter where all sorts of things for dolls were on sale and she lingered there, to look at the dresses, and hats, and underwear, and shoes and stockings, and chairs, trunks, combs and brushes, and other goods.

  “Oh, my, I must have some of those things for my dolls,” she said, half aloud. There was a trunk she thought perfectly lovely and it was marked 39 cents. “Not so very much,” she thought.

  When Freddie got around to where the elevator was, it was just coming up again with another load of people. As he had not seen it go down he concluded that he must go down by way of the stairs if he wanted another ride.

  “I’ll get a ride all by myself,” he thought, and as quickly as he could, he slipped down first one pair of stairs and then another, to the ground floor of the store. Then he saw another stairs, and soon was in the basement of the department store.

  Here was a hardware department with a great number of heavy toys, and soon he was looking at a circular railroad track upon which ran a real locomotive and three cars. This was certainly a wonderful toy, and Freddie could not get his eyes off of it.

  In moving around the basement of the store, Freddie grew hopelessly mixed up, and when he started to look for the elevator or the stairs, he walked to the storage room. He was too timid to ask his way out and soon found himself among great rows of boxes and barrels. Then he made a turn or two and found himself in another room, filled with empty boxes and casks, some partly filled with straw and excelsior. There was a big wooden door to this room, and while he was inside the door shut with a bang and the catch fell into place.

  “Oh, dear, I wish I was back with mamma,” he thought, and drew a long and exceedingly sober breath. “I don’t like it here at all.”

  Just then a little black kitten came toward him and brushed up affectionately. Freddie caught the kitten and sat down for a moment to pet it. He now felt sleepy and in a few minutes his eyes closed and his head began to nod. Then in a minute more he went sound asleep.

  Long before this happened Mrs. Bobbsey found Flossie and asked her where Freddie was. The little girl could not tell, and the mother began a diligent search. The floor-walkers in the big store aided her, but it was of no avail. Freddie could not be found, and soon it was time to close up the establishment for the day. Almost frantic with fear, Mrs. Bobbsey telephoned to her husband, telling him of what had occurred and asked him what had best be done.

  CHAPTER X

  Lost and Found

  When Freddie woke up all was very, very dark around him. At first he thought he was at home, and he called out for somebody to pull up the curtain that he might see.

  But nobody answered him, and all he heard was a strange purring, close to his ear. He put up his hand and touched the little black kitten, which was lying close to his face. He had tumbled back in the straw and this had proved a comfortable couch upon which to take a nap.

  “Oh, dear me, I’ll have to get back to mamma!” he murmured, as he struggled up and rubbed his eyes. “What can make it so awful dark? They ought to light the gas. Nobody can buy things when it’s so dark as this.”

  The darkness did not please him, and he was glad to have the black kitten for a companion. With the kitten in his arms he arose to his feet and walked a few steps. Bump! he went into a big box. Then he went in another direction and stumbled over a barrel.

  “Mamma! Mamma!” he cried out. “Mamma, where are you?”

  No answer came back to this call, and his own voice sounded so strange to him that he soon stopped. He hugged the kitten tighter than ever.

  He was now greatly frightened and it was all he could do to keep back the tears. He knew it must be night and that the great store must be closed up.

  “They have all gone home and left me here alone,” he thought. “Oh, what shall I do?”

  He knew the night was generally very long and he did not wish to remain in the big, lonely building until morning.

  Still hugging the kitten, he felt his way around until he reached the big wooden door. The catch came open with ease, and once more he found himself in that part of the basement used for hardware and large mechanical toys. But the toy locomotive had ceased to run and all was very silent. Only a single gas jet flickered overhead, and this cast fantastic shadows which made the little boy think of ghosts and hobgoblins. One mechanical toy had a very large head on it, and this seemed to grin and laugh at him as he looked at it.

  “Mamma!” he screamed again. “Oh, mamma, why don’t you come?”

  He listened and presently he heard footsteps overhead.

  “Who’s there?” came in the heavy voice of a man.

  The voice sounded so unnatural that Freddie was afraid to answer. Perhaps the man might be a burglar come to rob the store.

  “I say, who’s there?” repeated the voice. “Answer me.”

  There was a minute of silence, and then Freddie heard the footsteps coming slowly down the stairs. The man had a lantern in one hand and a club in the other.

  Not knowing what else to do, Freddie crouched behind a counter. His heart beat loudly, and he had dim visions of burglars who might have entered the big store to rob it. If he was discovered
, there was no telling what such burglars might do with him.

  “Must have been the cat,” murmured the man on the stairs. He reached the basement floor and swung his lantern over his head. “Here, kittie, kittie, kittie!” he called.

  “Meow!” came from the black kitten, which was still in Freddie’s arms. Then the man looked in that direction.

  “Hullo!” he exclaimed, starting in amazement. “What are you doing here? Are you alone?”

  “Oh, please, I want my mamma!” cried Freddie.

  “You want your mamma?” repeated the man. “Say!” he went on suddenly. “Are you the kid that got lost this afternoon, youngster?”

  “I guess I did get lost,” answered Freddie. He saw that the man had a kindly face and this made him a bit braver. “I walked around and sat down over there—in the straw—and went to sleep.”

  “Well, I never!” cried the man. “And have you been down here ever since?”

  “Yes, sir. But I don’t want to stay—I want to go home.”

  “All right, you shall go. But this beats me!”

  “Are you the man who owns the store?” questioned Freddie curiously.

  At this the man laughed. “No; wish I did. I’m the night watchman. Let me see, what is your name?”

  “Freddie Bobbsey. My papa owns the lumber yard.”

  “Oh, yes, I remember now. Well, Freddie, I reckon your papa will soon come after you. All of ’em are about half crazy, wondering what has become of you.”

  The night watchman led the way to the first floor of the department store and Freddie followed, still clutching the black kitten, which seemed well content to remain with him.

  “I’ll telephone to your papa,” said the watchman, and going into one of the offices he rang the bell and called up the number of the Bobbsey residence.

  In the meantime Mrs. Bobbsey and the others of the family were almost frantic with grief and alarm. Mr. Bobbsey had notified the police and the town had been searched thoroughly for some trace of the missing boy.

  “Perhaps they have stolen Freddie away!” said Nan, with the tears starting to her eyes. “Some gypsies were in town, telling fortunes. I heard one of the girls at school tell about it.”