The Bobbsey Twins in Washington | Page 4

fall in. I'll make believe I'm a man in the circus, falling from the top
of the tent."
He swung a little farther to and fro, and then suddenly cried:
"Here I go!"
"Oh!" screamed Nan, but, really, nothing happened to harm Bert. He
just dropped into the pile of soft hay.
"Come on, Nan! You try it! Lots of fun!" laughed Bert as he scrambled
up and made for his rope again.

Nan said "no" at first, but when Bert had swung once more and again
dropped into the hay, she took her turn. Into the hay she plunged, and
sank down to her shoulders in the soft, dried grass.
"Come on--let's do it some more!" laughed Bert. Then he and his older
sister had lots of fun swinging on the ropes and dropping into a pile of
hay.
"I wonder what Flossie and Freddie are doing," said Bert, after they had
had about an hour of this fun. "I haven't seen them for a long while."
"Maybe they found a hen's nest and took the eggs to the house," said
Nan. "They'd do that."
"Yes, if they found one," agreed Bert. "Well, we'll see where they are
after I take another swing. And I'm going to take a big one."
"So will I!" decided Nan. "Oh, it's just as nice as Blueberry Island or on
the deep, blue sea, isn't it, Bert?"
"It is when we play this way--yes. But just watch me."
"Here come Flossie and Freddie now!" exclaimed Nan, as she glanced
at her older brother, who was taking a firm hold of the rope for his big
swing. The two smaller twins, at this moment, came into the barn
through the door that led to the cow stable.
"Where have you been?" asked Nan, as she watched Bert get ready for
his swing.
"Oh, we had fun," said Flossie.
"And I squirted water, out where the horse "drinks," added Freddie,
"I hope you didn't get wet!" exclaimed Nan. "If you did----"
"Well, I have on a dirty waist, so it won't hurt me any if I am wet," said
Freddie calmly. "I want to swing like that, Bert," he added. "Give me a
swing!"

"After I've had my turn I'll give you and Flossie each one," promised
Nan. "Watch me, Bert!" she called.
Off the mow swung Nan, clinging to the swaying rope with both hands.
"Come on--let's both let go together and see who falls into the hay
first!" proposed Bert.
"All right!" agreed Nan.
"One, two, three!" cried Bert. "Ready! Let go!"
He and Nan let go of the ropes at the same time. Together they dropped
down to the hay--and then something happened! The two older
Bobbsey children jumped too near the edge of the mow, where the hay
was piled in a big roll, like a great feather bed bolster, over the top rail.
And Bert and Nan, in their drop, caused a big pile of hay--almost a
wagonload--to slip from the mow and down to the barn floor. And
directly underneath were Flossie and Freddie!
Down on the two little twins fell Bert and Nan and the big pile of dried
grass, and, in an instant, the two golden heads were buried out of sight
on the barn floor in a large heap of hay.

CHAPTER II
DIGGING OUT
"Oh, Bert Bobbsey! look what you did," cried Nan.
She picked herself up from the barn floor, to which she had slid after
having come down with the pile of hay, with her brother, right where
Flossie and Freddie had been playing a moment before.
"Look what you did!" she cried again.
"I didn't do it any more than you did!" exclaimed Bert. "But where is

Flossie? And where's Freddie?" He looked around, not seeing the
smaller twins, and not having noticed exactly what had happened to
them. "Where are they, Nan?"
"Under the hay, and we've got to dig 'em out! I'll get the pitchfork.
That's what Sam does when he gets the hay to feed the horse. I can dig
out Flossie and Freddie!" cried Nan,
She started to run across the barn floor, but was stopped by a call from
Bert.
"Don't do that!" he said.
"What?" she asked.
"Don't get the pitchfork! It's sharp and might hurt Flossie and Freddie.
I'll pull the hay off with my hands. You go and tell mother or Dinah!
Somebody's got to help! There's 'most a whole load of hay on 'em I
guess!"
And indeed it was a large part of the pile of hay in the Bobbsey barn
that had slid from the mow when Bert jumped on it. And this hay now
covered from sight the "little fireman" and the "little fat fairy," as
Daddy Bobbsey called his two little