The Bobbsey Twins at Meadow Brook | Page 6

lighter than Bert, bounced up and down oftener, but then he was so fat, almost "like a lump of butter," as his mother used to say, that he did not much mind it.
"I wish we could take this machine to Meadow Brook Farm with us," said Bert, as they neared the lumber yard of Mr. Mason, with whom Mr. Bobbsey had business that day.
"We can ride in one of Uncle Daniel's carriages," said Freddie. "Or maybe I can ride horse-back. That would be fun!" he cried, his bright eyes sparkling.
"It's fun--if you don't fall off," Bert said.
As the automobile passed around a curve in the road, where the lake could be seen stretching out its sparkling waters in the bright sun, Bert suddenly uttered a cry, and pointed ahead.
"Look!" he exclaimed. "There are two little girls drifting out in that boat, and they don't seem to know how to row to shore."
Mr. Bobbsey steered the machine down to the edge of the lake, over the grass at one side of the road. As he did so he and the two boys heard voices faintly calling:
"Help!! Help! Oh, somebody please come and get us!"
"I'll get them--I can row, and there's another boat on shore," said Bert, pointing to a craft drawn up on the sand.
"I guess I'd better go out--you stay with Freddie," directed the lumber merchant, as he brought the automobile to a stop, and jumped out.
"I'm coming!" he called to the two little girls in the drifting boat. "Don't be afraid, and sit still! Don't stand up!"
He needed to caution them thus, for one of the girls, seeing that help was on the way, grew so excited that she stood up, and this is always dangerous to do in a rowboat on the water. Rowboats tip over very easily, and sometimes even good swimmers may be caught under them.
"I wish I could help get them," sighed fat Freddie, as he saw his father run down to the shore of the lake, and shove the other boat into the water.
"It's best to let papa do it," said Bert, though he himself would have liked to have gone to the rescue.
"They'll mind papa, and sit down and keep still, but they wouldn't mind us," went on Bert, explaining matters to his little brother.
"That's right," agreed Freddie. "Girls are awful 'fraid in a boat, anyhow. I'm not afraid."
"Well, not all girls are afraid, either," said Bert with a smile. "Nan isn't afraid."
"Of course not--she's our sister, and so is Flossie!" exclaimed Freddie, as if that made a difference!
Mr. Bobbsey was now rowing out to the two small girls in the drifting boat. They did not seem to have any oars, and Bert and Freddie heard their father call to them again to sit down, so they would not tip over.
Then the lumber man reached the drifting craft, and carefully fastened it by a rope to the boat he was in.
"Now sit quietly and I'll pull you to shore," he said to the girls. "You must not come out in a boat all alone. Where is your home?"
"Up there," replied the older girl, pointing to a house back of the lake shore road. "We didn't mean to come out," she went on. "We just sat in the boat when it was tied fast to the dock, but the knot must have come loose, and we drifted out. We're ever so much obliged to you for coming out to us."
"Well, don't get in boats again, unless some older person is with you," cautioned Mr. Bobbsey. By this time he had towed the boat, with the girls in it, to shore. As he did so a woman came running from the house, calling out:
"Oh, what has happened? Oh, are they drowned?"
"Nothing at all has happened," said Mr. Bobbsey, quietly. "Your children just drifted out, and I went and got them."
"Oh, and I've told them never, never to get into a boat!" cried the mother. "Girls, girls! What am I going to do to you?" she went on. "You might have fallen overboard."
"Yes, that is true, they might have," said Mr. Bobbsey. "But I think this will be a lesson to them, and no harm has come to them this time. But it is best for children to keep out of boats."
"Indeed it is," agreed the lady. "Oh, I can't thank you enough, sir!" she said to Mr. Bobbsey. "I have told Sallie and Jane never to go out on the lake unless Frank is with them, but he isn't here now."
"Is Frank their brother?" asked Mr. Bobbsey.
"Not exactly a brother. My husband is his guardian," the lady went on. "I am Mrs. Mason."
"Oh, I am glad to know you," said Mr. Bobbsey. "I am on my way to your husband's office now, to see him