The Bobbsey Twins in Washington | Page 9

the house. Snap, though, kept on growling deep
down in his throat, and then, suddenly, the children saw what the
matter was. A big dog was digging a hole under the fence to get into
the Bobbsey yard. The gate was closed, and though the dog might have
jumped the fence, he didn't. He was digging a hole underneath. And
Snap saw him. That's why Snap growled.
"Oh, Bert! Look!" cried Nan.
As she spoke the dog managed to get through the hole he had dug, and

into the Bobbsey yard he popped. But he did not stay there long. Before
he could run toward Bert and Nan, if, indeed, he had that notion, Snap
had leaped toward the unwelcome visitor.
Snap growled and barked in such a brave, bold way that the other dog
gave one long howl, and then back through the hole he wiggled his way,
faster than he had come in. But fast as he wiggled out, he was not quick
enough, for Snap nipped the end of the big dog's tail and there was
another howl.
"Good boy!" cried Bert to his dog, as Snap came back to him, wagging
his tail, having first made sure, however, that the strange dog was
running down the street. "Good, old Snap!"
And Snap wagged his tail harder than ever, for he liked to be told he
had been good and had done something worth while.
"I wonder what that dog wanted?" asked Nan.
"I don't know," answered Bert. "He was a strange one. But he didn't
stay long!"
"Not with our Snap around!" laughed Nan.
The two older Bobbsey twins were wondering what they could do next
to have a good time, when they heard their mother's voice calling to
them from the side porch. She had come back from a little visit to a
lady down the street, and had heard all about the accident to Flossie and
Freddie.
"Ho, Nan! Ho, Bert! I want you!" called Mrs. Bobbsey.
"I guess she's going to scold us for making the hay slide on Flossie and
Freddie," said Bert, rather anxiously.
"Well, we couldn't help it," replied his sister. "We didn't know it was so
slippery. Yes, Mother; we're coming!" she answered, as Mrs. Bobbsey
called again.

But, to the relief of Nan and Bert, their mother did not scold them. She
just said:
"You must be a little more careful when you're playing where Flossie
and Freddie are. They are younger than you, and don't so well know
how to look out for themselves. You must look out for them. But now I
want you to go down to daddy's office."
"What do you want us to do?" asked Nan.
"Here is a letter that he ought to have right away," went on Mrs.
Bobbsey. "It came to the house by mistake. It should have gone to
daddy's lumber office, but the postman left it while I was out, and
Dinah was out in the barn with you children, so she could not tell him
to carry it on down town. So I wish you'd take it to daddy. He has been
expecting it for some time. It's about some business, and I don't want to
open the letter and telephone what's in it. But if you two will just run
down with it--"
"Of course we will!" cried Bert. "It'll be fun!"
"And may we stay a little while?" asked Nan.
"Yes, if you don't bother daddy. Here is the letter."
A little later Nan and Bert were in their father's office. The clerks knew
the children and smiled at them, and the stenographer, who wrote Mr.
Bobbsey's letters on the clicking typewriter machine, took the twins
through her room into their father's private office.
As the door opened, Bert and Nan saw a strange man talking to Mr.
Bobbsey. But what interested them more than this was the sight of two
children--a boy and a girl about their own age--in their father's private
office. The boy and girl were sitting on chairs, looking at the very same
lumber books--those with pictures of big woods in them--that Nan and
Bert often looked at themselves.
Mr. Bobbsey glanced up as the door opened. He saw his two older

twins, and, smiling at them, said:
"Come in, Nan and Bert. I want you to meet these Washington
children!"

CHAPTER IV
MISS POMPRET'S CHINA
Bert and Nan looked at one another in some surprise as they stood in
the door of their father's private office. What did he mean by saying
that they were to come in and meet the "Washington children?" Who
were the "Washington children?"
Nan and Bert were soon to know, for their father spoke again.
"Come on in. These are two of my twins, Mr. Martin," he