The Bobbsey Twins at School | Page 6

cup, and when I grow up I'm going to have a bracelet made from my half."
"That will be nice," said the fat lady, as she prepared to drink.
But she never got more than a sip of the water Freddie had so kindly brought her, for, no sooner did her lips touch the cup than there was a grinding, shrieking sound, a jar to the railway coach, and the train came to such a sudden stop that many passengers were thrown from their seats.
Flossie and Freddie sat down suddenly in the aisle, but they were so fat that they did not mind it in the least. As surprised as he was, Freddie noticed that the fat lady was so large that she could not be thrown out of her seat, no matter how suddenly the train stopped. The little Bobbsey boy saw the water from the cup spill all over the fat lady, and she held the silver vessel in her big, pudgy hand, looking curiously at it, as though wondering what had so quickly become of the water.
"It's a wreck - the train's off the track!" a man exclaimed.
"We've hit something!" cried another.
"It's an accident, anyhow," said still a third, and then every one seemed to be talking at once.
Mr. Bobbsey came running down the aisle to where Flossie and Freddie still sat, dazed.
"Are you hurt?" he cried, picking them both up together, which was rather hard to do.
"No - no," said Freddie slowly.
"Oh, papa, what is it?" asked Flossie, wondering whether she was going to cry.
"I don't know, my dear. Nothing serious, I guess. The engineer must have put the brakes on too quickly. I'll look out and see."
Knowing that his children were safe, Mr. Bobbsey put them down and led them back to where his wife was anxiously waiting.
"They're all right," he called. "No one seems to be hurt."
Bert Bobbsey looked out of the window. Though darkness had fallen there seemed to be many lights up ahead of the stopped train. And in the light Bert could see some camels, an elephant or two, a number of horses, and cages containing lions and tigers strung out along the track.
"Why - why, what's this - a circus?" he asked. "Look, Nan! See those monkeys!"
"Why, it is a circus - and the train must have been wrecked!" exclaimed his sister. "Oh mamma, what can it be?"
A brakeman came into the car where the Bobbseys were.
"There's no danger," he said. "Please keep your seats. A circus train that was running ahead of us got off the track, and some of the animals are loose. Our train nearly ran into an elephant, and that's why the engineer had to stop so suddenly. We will go on I soon."
"A circus, eh?" said Mr. Bobbsey. "Well, well! This is an adventure, children. We've run into a circus train! Let's watch them catch the animals."
CHAPTER II
SNOOP IS GONE
"PAPA, do you think a tiger would come in here?" asked Freddie, remembering all the stories of wild animals he had heard in his four years.
"Or a lion?" asked Flossie.
"Of course not!" exclaimed Nan. "Can't you see that all the wild animals are still in their cages?"
"Maybe some of 'em are loose," suggested Freddie, and he almost hoped so, as long as his father was there to protect him.
"I guess the circus men can look after them," said Bert. "May I get off, father, and look around?"
"I'd rather you wouldn't, son. You can't tell what may happen."
"Oh, look at that man after the monkey!" cried Nan.
"Yes, and the monkey's gone up on top of the tiger's cage," added Bert.
"Say, this is as good as a circus, anyhow!"
Some of the big, flaring lights, used in the tents at night, had been set going so the circus and railroad men could see to work, and this glare gave the Bobbseys and other passengers on the train a chance to see what was going on.
"There's a big elephant!" cried Freddie. "See him push the lion's cage around. Elephants are awful strong!"
"They couldn't push a railroad train," said Flossie.
"They could too!" cried her little brother, quickly.
"They could not. Could they, papa?"
"What?" asked Mr. Bobbsey, absentmindedly.
"Could an elephant push a railroad train?" asked Flossie.
"I know they could," declared Freddie. "Couldn't they, papa?"
"Now, children, don't argue. Look out of the windows," adivsed their mother.
And while the circus men are trying to catch the escaped animals I will tell you something more about the Bobbseys, and about the other books, before this one, relating to their doings.
Mr. Richard Bobbsey, and his wife Mary, the parents of the Bobbsey twins, lived in an Eastern city called Lakeport, on Lake Metoka. Mr. Bobbsey was in the lumber business, and the yard, with its great piles of logs and boards, was near the lake, on which the twins