The Bobbsey Twins at Home | Page 9

dog, and with the Bobbsey twins yelling, and with men and boys
shouting, there was so much excitement that Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey did
not know what to do.

CHAPTER IV
HOME AGAIN
"Come back, Snap!" cried Bert. "Come back!"

"Run after him," begged Nan.
"I'll get Snoop!" shouted Freddie.
"And I'll help you," offered Flossie, hurrying along as fast as her fat
little legs would take her. Freddie was already half-way down the
platform after the black cat.
"Come back, children! Come back!" begged Mother Bobbsey. "Oh,
Richard!" she called to her husband, "get the children!"
"All right," he answered, but he could hardly keep from laughing, it
was all so funny. Dinah still sat where she had fallen, after being
knocked over by the strange dog, and there was a look of wonder on
her face, as if she did not quite understand how it had all happened.
"I beg your pardon. I'm sure I'm very sorry for what has happened,"
said the man whose dog had caused all the trouble by rushing at Snap.
"Oh, you couldn't help it," returned Mrs. Bobbsey. "Richard," she again
called to her husband, "do look after Flossie and Freddie. I'm afraid
they'll be hurt."
"I'll help get them, and the cat too!" offered Tommy Todd. "I like cats
and dogs," he added, and, carefully setting down the basket of flowers,
he, too, ran down the platform.
By this time Snap, chasing after the strange dog, was half-way across
the street in front of the railroad station, but Snoop, the black cat, was
not in sight. Flossie and Freddie, having come to the end of the
platform, stopped, for they had been told not to cross a street without
looking both ways for wagons or automobiles. And it was while they
had thus come to a stop that their father came up to them.
"Don't go any farther," said Mr. Bobbsey.
"But we want to get Snoop!" cried Freddie.
"And Snap will be lost, too," said Flossie, ready to cry.

"That's all right. We'll get them both. Snap won't go far. I'll bring him
back. Where's your whistle, Bert?"
Bert had followed his father, while Nan stayed with her mother to help
get Dinah up. Dinah was so fat that once she sat down flat on the
platform she could hardly get up alone. It was not often, of course, that
she sat down that way. This time it was an accident. So while Mrs.
Bobbsey and Nan were helping up the fat cook, Bert gave his father a
tin whistle he carried for calling Snap when the big dog was far away.
Mr. Bobbsey blew a loud blast on the whistle. Snap, who was now
running down the street after the strange dog, turned and looked back.
But he did not come toward the station.
"Come here, Snap!" called Mr. Bobbsey. "Come here at once!" And he
said it in such a way that Snap knew he must come. Again the whistle
was blown and Snap, with a last bark at the dog which had made so
much trouble, turned and came running back.
"I wish you could call my dog back as easily as you called yours," said
the man who owned the animal Snap had been chasing. "But I guess I
had better go after him myself," he added. "Your dog and mine don't
seem to get along well together, and I think it's Rover's fault. But he
has never traveled in a train before, and perhaps he was frightened."
"Our dog and cat like to ride in a train," said Flossie, patting the head of
Snap, who was wagging his tail.
"Oh, but we've got to find Snoop!" cried Freddie, who had, for the
moment, forgotten about the black cat. "Come on Flossie."
The two younger Bobbsey twins were about to set off on a search for
their pet when they saw Tommy Todd coming toward them, with the
black cat in his arms.
"I've found her for you," he said, smiling. "She's all right, only a little
scared I guess, 'cause her heart's beating awful fast."

"Thank you, little man," said Mr. Bobbsey.
"Oh, Snoop! Did the bad dog bite you?" asked Flossie, putting her arms
around the cat as Tommy held her.
"No, she isn't bitten," said Freddie, as he looked carefully at Snoop.
"Where did you find her, Tommy?"
"She was hiding behind some boxes down by the express office. I saw
her go that way when the two dogs ran across the street, so I looked
there for her. She didn't want to come out but I coaxed her. I like cats
and they always come to me."
"That's 'cause you're kind to them," said Flossie. "Come on now, Snoop,
you must go back into your