The Bobbsey Twins on Blueberry Island | Page 6

the pudding before the time to serve it came.
"My, Momsie! aren't you glad the gypsies came and got Helen Porter?
It gives us something to think about," remarked Freddie coolly.
"Freddie Bobbsey!" gasped his mother. "No, I am not glad the gypsies
got Helen--if they did. And you and Flossie find enough to think about,
as it is. And give the rest of us enough to think about, what is more."
"There go daddy and Bert into Mrs. Porter's house now," said Nan.
"Now tell me just what happened, and I'll do all I can to help you," said
Mr. Bobbsey to Mrs. Porter, when he got to her house and found her
half crying in the sitting-room where there were a number of other
women.
"Oh, Helen is gone, I'm sure she is!" cried the mother. "The gypsies
have taken her! I'll never see her again!"
"Oh, yes you will," said Mr. Bobbsey in mild tones. "I'm sure it's all a
mistake. The gypsies haven't taken her at all. What makes you think
so?"
"Johnnie Marsh saw them carry her away."
"Then let's have Johnnie in here where we can talk to him. Bert,
suppose you do one of those errands you spoke of," said his father with
a smile, "and bring Johnnie in out of the crowd where I can talk to him
quietly."

John, or Johnnie, as he was often called, was very ready to come when
Bert found him outside the Porter house, telling over and over again to
a crowd of boys what he had seen, or what he thought he had seen.
"Now tell us just what happened," said Mr. Bobbsey, when the small
boy was seated in a chair in the Porter parlor.
"Well, I was coming from the store for my mother," said Johnnie, "and
I saw the gypsy wagons. I thought it was a circus."
"That's what Flossie and Freddie thought," said Bert to his father.
"But it wasn't," went on Johnnie. "Then I saw Helen playing in Grace
Lavine's yard down the street when I came past. And a little while after
that, when I had to go to the store for my mother again, 'cause I forgot a
yeast cake, I saw a gypsy man running along the street and he had
Helen in his arms and she was crying."
"What made you think it was Helen?" asked Mr. Bobbsey.
"'Cause I saw her light hair. Helen's got fluffy hair like your Flossie's."
"Yes, I know she has," said Mr. Bobbsey. "What did you do when you
thought you saw the gypsy man carrying Helen away?" and they all
waited anxiously for Johnnie's answer.
"I ran home," said Johnnie. "I didn't want to be carried off in one of
those looking-glass wagons."
"Quite right," said Mr. Bobbsey. "Then you really didn't see the gypsy
man pick Helen up in his arms?"
"No," slowly answered the little boy, "he only just ran past me. But he
must have picked her up in Grace's yard, for that's where Helen was
playing."
"Then we'd better go down to where Grace Lavine lives and see what
she can tell us," said Mr. Bobbsey.

"You don't need to," put in Bert. "I see Grace out in front now with
some other girls. Shall I call her in?"
"Oh, please do!" exclaimed Mrs. Porter. "My poor Helen! Oh, what has
happened to her?"
"We'll get your little girl back, even if the gypsies have her," said Mr.
Bobbsey. "But I don't believe they have taken her away. Call in Grace,
Bert."
Grace was not as excited as Johnnie, and told what she knew.
"Helen and Mary Benson and I were playing in my yard," said Grace.
"We had our dolls and were having a tea party. Mary and I went into
the house to get some sugar cookies, to play they were strawberry
shortcake, and we left Helen out under the trees with her doll. When we
came back she wasn't there, nor her doll either, and down the street we
saw the gypsy wagons."
"Did you see any gypsy man come into the yard and get Helen?" asked
Mr. Bobbsey.
"No," said Grace, shaking her head, "I didn't. But the gypsies must have
taken her, 'cause she was gone."
"Oh, please some one go after the gypsies, and make a search among
them, at any rate!" cried Mrs. Porter.
"We'll get right after them," said Mr. Bobbsey. "I don't really believe
the gypsies took Helen, but they may have seen her. They can't have
gone on very far. I'll call some policemen and we'll get after them."
"I'll come with you," said Bert. "Maybe we'd better get an automobile."
"It would be a good idea," said his father. "Let me see now. I think----"
But