The Bobbsey Twins at Home | Page 6

had there. Later on they went to "Snow Lodge" and helped solve a mystery, while on the houseboat, Bluebird, where they spent one vacation, they found a "stowaway," and, if you want to know what that is, I advise you to read the book.
"The Bobbsey Twins at Meadow Brook," is the name of the book just before this present one. On the farm of Uncle Daniel Bobbsey the twins had had a most glorious time, and they were on their way home in the train when the fresh air children got aboard, and Tommy Todd told the story about his lost father. Then had come the sudden stop, and Bert had seen the men with guns outside the train.
"I tell you they are robbers, Nan," Bert whispered to his sister. "Look, one of 'em has a mask on his face."
"That's so," agreed Nan. "Oh, I wonder what it is!"
"Don't be afraid!" exclaimed Bert. "I guess they won't come in this car. Father won't let them."
By this time Flossie and Freddie had also seen the masked men with their guns standing along the track, and Freddie cried:
"Oh, look! It's just like Hallowe'en. They've got false faces on!"
Many in the car laughed at this.

CHAPTER III
SNAP AND SNOOP
The train on which the Bobbsey twins were coming back from the country had now been stopping for several minutes. There was no sign of a station on either side of the track, as could be told by those who put their heads out of the opened windows. And Mr. Bobbsey had not come back.
"I wonder if anything has happened," remarked Mrs. Bobbsey.
"I'll go and find out, Mother," offered Bert, getting up from his seat.
"No, indeed, I can't let you!" his mother answered. "Your father would not like it. He may be back any moment."
"I don't believe anything much has happened, ma'am," said a man across the aisle from Mrs. Bobbsey. "I can see some men up near the engine, but they are talking and laughing."
"Then they aren't robbers," said Freddie to his older brother Bert, "'cause robbers wouldn't laugh."
"Well, if they're not train robbers why have they guns and false faces on?" asked Bert.
"Maybe they're just making believe--same as when we have pretend-plays," put in Flossie.
"Do you pretend, and make believe?" asked Tommy Todd, of the two younger twins.
"Oh, yes, lots of times," Freddie said. "We have heaps of fun that way; don't you?"
"Sometimes," answered Tommy in a low voice. "Sometimes I pretend I have gone off in a ship, and that I've found my father. I make believe that he and I are sailing together. And oh! how I wish it would come true!"
"Maybe it will--some day," said Flossie softly, as she patted Tommy's hand which was on the back of the seat in front of her.
"I must go out and see what is keeping your father," said Mrs. Bobbsey at last. "Something must have happened. You children stay here with Dinah. Nan and Bert, you look after Flossie and Freddie."
But there was no need for Mrs. Bobbsey to leave the car for, just then, her husband came in. He was smiling, and that seemed to show that nothing very serious was the matter.
"What is it?" asked Bert.
"Are the men playing a game?" Freddie demanded.
"Is the train off the track?" asked one of the fresh air boys. "I hopes it is--that is, if nobody is hurt, 'cause then we won't have to go home, and maybe we can go back to the country."
"No, the train isn't off the track," answered Mr. Bobbsey. "It's a hold-up by masked robbers."
"There! What'd I tell you?" cried Bert to his brother and sisters. "I knew they were masked robbers."
"But only make-believe," went on Mr. Bobbsey, still smiling. "This is a hold-up, or stopping of the train, and a pretend robbery for moving pictures."
"Moving pictures!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey.
"Yes. There is a man up front, near the engine, with a moving picture camera. With him are some men and women, actors and actresses, dressed up--some like passengers, such as we are, and others like robbers, with false faces on. They wanted the train to stop so they could get a picture of that, for it would be a funny movie of a train robbery without a train to be seen."
"And did they actually stop the train?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey.
"Yes. They held up a red flag and the engineer stopped. But it was all right, for he knew it was going to be done. It was all arranged for ahead of time. Now, if you like, you may come out and see them take moving pictures."
"Well, who would have thought that!" cried Bert. "I was sure the men with masks on were robbers. And they're only taking a moving picture."
"I'd like to see it in a theatre afterward," said Nan. "Don't