The Bobbsey Twins in Washington | Page 7

at the place where it had slid
from the mow, that it would not have hidden Snap, to say nothing of
covering the two Bobbsey twins.
But something seemed to be wrong. There were no little fat legs or
chubby arms sticking out. The little Bobbsey twins were not in sight,
though nearly all the hay had been moved aside.
Bert, Nan and Dinah gazed at the few wisps remaining. Then, in a
queer voice Nan said:
"Why--why! They're not there!"

CHAPTER II
THE WASHINGTON CHILDREN
THERE was no doubt of it. Flossie and Freddie were not under the pile
of hay that had fallen on them. The hay had all been cast aside now, so
far away from the place where it had fallen that it could not serve for a
hiding place. And Bert and Nan could see the bare floor of the barn.
"Where are they?" asked Bert, looking in surprise at Nan. "Where are

Flossie and Freddie?"
"Dat's whut I wants to know!" declared Dinah. "Where is dey? Has yo'
all been playin' a trick on ole Dinah?" and she looked sadly at Bert and
Nan.
"Playing a trick?" cried Nan.
"We didn't play any trick!" exclaimed Bert. "Flossie and Freddie were
down under that hay!"
"But they're not there now!" went on Nan.
"No," said Dinah, as she poked aside some of the wisps of hay with her
foot. "Dey isn't heah now, an' where is dey? Dat's whut I'se askin' yo'
all, Bert an' Nan? Where is dem two little lambkins?"
Bert looked at Nan and Nan looked at Bert. It was a puzzle. What had
become of Flossie and Freddie between the time they disappeared
under the sliding pile of hay and now, when it had been cleared away to
another part of the barn.
"I saw them playing on the floor," said Nan. "Then, when Bert and I let
go the ropes and jumped in the mow, a lot of hay came down all at
once, and then I--I didn't see Flossie and Freddie any more. They surely
were under the hay!"
"Yes," agreed Bert, "they were. But they aren't here now. Maybe they
fell down through the floor!" he added hopefully. "The cow stable is
under this part of the barn."
"Yes, but there isn't any hole in the barn floor here," said Nan. "And the
cracks aren't big enough for Flossie and Freddie to slip through."
"No, dey didn't go t'rough de flo', dat's suah!" exclaimed Dinah. "It's
mighty queer! I guess yo' all had best go call Sam," she went on to Nan.
"Mebby he know something 'bout dish yeah barn dat I don't know. Go
git Sam an'--"

Just then there came a joyous shout from the big barn doors behind Nan,
Bert and Dinah.
"Here we are! Here we are! Oh, we fooled you! We fooled you!" cried
two childish voices, and there stood the missing Flossie and Freddie,
hay in their fluffy, golden hair, hay hanging down over their blue eyes,
and hay stuck over their clothes.
"Here we are!" cried Freddie. "Did you was lookin' for us?"
"I should say we did was!" cried Bert, laughing, now, at Freddie's queer
way of speaking, for, though the little fireman usually spoke quite
properly, he sometimes went wrong.
"Where have you been?" asked Nan. "And how did you get out?"
"We crawled out from under the hay when it fell on us," explained
Flossie. "Then Freddie says let's play hide and coop and we climbed up
the little ladder and went up in the haymow and then we slid out of the
little window and got outside the barn and then we just hid an' waited to
see what you'd do." By this time Flossie was out of breath, having said
all this without pause.
"But you didn't come after us," said Freddie, "and so we came to see
where you were. And we fooled you, didn't we? We fooled you bad."
"I should say you did!" cried Bert. "We were digging the hay away. I
thought you'd be away down underneath."
"We were," went on Flossie. "But we wiggled out, an' you didn't see us
wiggle."
"No," agreed Nan, "we didn't see you. But, oh, I'm so glad you are all
right!" she cried, and she hugged Flossie in her arms. "You aren't hurt,
are you?"
"No, but I was tickled," said Flossie. "The hay did tickle me in my nose,
and I wanted to sneeze."

"But I wouldn't let her!" explained Freddie. "I held my hand over her
nose so she couldn't sneeze."
"I tried hard so I wouldn't," said Flossie, "and Freddie helped me. It
feels awful funny not to sneeze when you want to. It tickles!"
"And the hay tickled me," went on Freddie. "It's