The Bobbsey Twins on Blueberry Island | Page 4

Freddie. "I must get my fire engine that
squirts real water!" and he raced on ahead.
"Wait a minute!" called Bert.

The Bobbsey twins saw their mother coming quickly toward them. She
held out her arms and cried:
"Oh, I'm so glad you're safe!"
"Why, what's the matter?" asked Flossie.
"I can't just say," answered her mother; "but Helen Porter can't be
found. Her mother has looked everywhere for her, but can't find her."
"She's been carried off by the gypsies!" exclaimed John Marsh, an
excited boy about Bert's age. "The gypsies took her! I saw 'em!"
"You did?" asked Bert.
"Sure I did! A man! Dark, with a red sash on, and gold rings in his ears!
He picked Helen up in his arms and went off with her! She's in one of
the gypsy wagons now!"
When John told this Flossie and Freddie huddled closer to their mother.
CHAPTER II
A SURPRISE
"What's all this? What's the matter?" asked a voice on the outside fringe
of the crowd that had gathered in front of the Bobbsey home, and,
looking up, Bert saw his father coming down the street from the
direction of his lumberyard. "Has anything happened?" asked Mr.
Bobbsey, after a glance had shown him that his own little family was
safe and sound.
"Dere suah has lots done gone an' happened, Mistah Bobbsey,"
answered fat Dinah. "Oh, de pore honey lamb! Jest t' think ob it!"
"But who is it? What has happened?" asked Mr. Bobbsey, looking
about for some one to answer him. Flossie and Freddie decided they
would do this.

"It's gypsies," said the little "fat fireman," as his father sometimes
called Freddie.
"And they carried off Helen Porter," added the little "fat fairy," which
was Flossie's pet name. "An' I saw the wagons, all lookin' glasses, an'
Freddie an' I are goin' to be gypsies when we grow up." Flossie was so
excited that she dropped a lot of "g" letters from the ends of words
where they belonged.
"You don't mean to say that the gypsies have carried off Helen
Porter--the little girl who lives next door?" asked Mr. Bobbsey in great
surprise.
"Yep! They did! I saw 'em!" exclaimed John Marsh. "She had curly
hair, and when the gypsy man tooked her in his arms she cried, Helen
did!"
"Oh!" exclaimed Flossie, Freddie and other children in the crowd.
"There must be some mistake," said Mr. Bobbsey. "Those gypsies
would never take away a child, even in fun, in broad daylight. It must
be a mistake. Let me hear more about it."
And while the father of the Bobbsey twins is trying to find out just
what had happened, I will take a few minutes to let my readers know
something of the twins themselves, for this book is about them.
It may be that some boy or girl is reading this as his or her first venture
into the volumes of the "Bobbsey Twins Series." If so, I will state that
there are a number of books which come before this, though this story
is complete in itself.
To begin with there were four Bobbsey twins, as you have guessed
before this. Nan and Bert were about ten years old, tall and dark, with
eyes and hair to match.
Flossie and Freddie were short and fat, and had light hair and blue eyes.
So, now that you know them you will have no trouble in telling the

twins, one from the other.
With their mother and their father, who owned a large lumberyard, the
twins lived in the eastern city of Lakeport near the head of Lake
Metoka. There were others in the family besides the twins and their
parents. There was dear old, black, fat Dinah, the cook, who made such
good pies, and there was Sam, her husband. And I must not forget
Snoop, the black cat, nor Snap, the big dog, who once did tricks in a
circus. You will hear more about them later.
"The Bobbsey Twins," is the name of the first book, and in that you
may read of many adventures that befell the children. They had more
adventures in the country, and there is a book telling all about that
happy time, and also one about the seashore.
When the Bobbsey twins went to school there was more fun and
excitement "than you could shake a stick at," as Dinah used to say,
though why any one would want to shake a stick at fun I can't tell. Then
came jolly times at "Snow Lodge," and on a houseboat. From there the
twins went to "Meadow Brook," and afterward came home, there to
have more fun.
The book just before this one you are reading is called "The Bobbsey
Twins in a Great City." In that