The Bobbsey Twins at Meadow Brook | Page 7

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 on business. I am glad I could do
you a favor."
"Indeed it is more than a favor," said Mrs. Mason. "I cannot thank you
enough. When Frank was home I did not worry so much about the girls,
as he looked after them. But my husband thinks he is now old enough
to help in the lumber yard, and so he keeps him down at the office. You
are going down there, you say?"
"Yes," replied Mr. Bobbsey. "I am going along the river road."
"I can show you a shorter route," said Mrs. Mason, who now had tight
hold of her daughters' hands, as though she feared they would run down
to the boats again. "My husband has cut a new road through the orchard,
down to his office," she went on. "You can come that way in your
machine, and save nearly a mile."
"I shall be glad to do that," Mr. Bobbsey answered, "as I haven't very
much time today. We are getting ready to go away."
Mrs. Mason showed Mr. Bobbsey where he could cross the main road,
and take a short cut through an old orchard, to reach the lumber office,
and soon, after waving good-bye to the frightened little girls, Mr.
Bobbsey, Bert and Freddie were again on their way.
"Is--is the lake very deep where those girls were?" Freddie wanted to
know.
"It doesn't make much difference whether it is deep or not," said Mr.

Bobbsey, "they would probably have been drowned if they had fallen
overboard. You must always be careful about boats," he cautioned the
little fellow.
"I will," Freddie promised.
"That must be the lumber yard!" exclaimed Bert a little later, when they
turned from the new orchard road into another highway.
"Yes, that is it," Mr. Bobbsey agreed. "I never came this way before. It
is a good road to know when you are in a hurry."
Mr. Mason's lumber yard, like that of Mr. Bobbsey, was partly on the
edge of the lake, so the logs, boards and planks could be easily loaded
and unloaded from boats. Part of the yard was on the other side of the
road, back from the lake, and it was on this side that the office was
built.
As Mr. Bobbsey and his two boys rode up in the automobile, they saw
out in front of the office a strange and not very pleasant sight. A man
stood there, roughly shaking a boy about Bert's age. The boy seemed to
be crying, and trying to get away, but the man held him tightly by one
arm, and shook him again and again.
"I don't like that," said Mr. Bobbsey in a low voice, as he stopped the
automobile.
"What makes him do it?" asked Freddie. "Is the boy bad?"
"I'll teach you to make me lose money that way!" cried the man as he
again roughly shook the boy. "You ought to have better sense than to
be cheated that way! It wasn't your money that you lost, it was mine,
and money isn't so easily made these days!"
"But I couldn't help it!" the boy cried, trying to pull his arm away. He
could not do this, for the man held it too tightly.
"Yes, you could help it too, if you'd had your eyes open!" the man said

in harsh tones. "I left you in charge of the office, and you ought to have
been sharp enough not to be fooled and cheated. I--I don't know what to
do to you!"
Again he shook the boy.
"Ouch! You hurt, Mr. Mason!" cried the lad.
"Well, you deserve