The Bobbsey Twins on Blueberry Island | Page 9

Mrs. Bobbsey, as she saw the
two small twins. "Why are you out of bed?" she asked.
"Freddie thought maybe the gypsies would take our cat Snoop,"
explained Flossie, "so we got up to tell you to bring him in."
"And bring in Snap, our dog," added Freddie. "The gypsies might take
him, 'cause he does tricks and was once in a circus."
"Oh, don't worry about that!" laughed Mr. Bobbsey. "Get back to bed
before you take cold."
"But you won't let the gypsies take them, will you?" asked Flossie
anxiously.
"No, indeed!" promised her mother. "Snoop is safely curled up in his
basket, and I guess Snap wouldn't let a gypsy come near him."
But Flossie and Freddie were not satisfied until they had looked and
had seen the big black cat cosily asleep, and had heard Snap bark
outside when Bert called to him from a window.
"The gypsies won't take your pets," their father told the small twins,
and then, hand in hand, they went upstairs again to bed.
CHAPTER IV
THE GOAT
"Can't we come, too?"

"We're not afraid of the gypsies--not in daytime."
Flossie and Freddie thus called after their father and Bert, as the two
latter started the next morning to go to find the gypsy camp. The night
had passed quietly, Snap and Snoop were found safe when day dawned,
and after breakfast Mr. Bobbsey and his older son were to go to Lake
Metoka and find where the gypsies had stopped with the gay red and
yellow wagons. They were going to see if they could find any trace of
Helen's doll, and also things belonging to other people in town, which it
was thought the dark-skinned visitors might have taken.
"Please let us go?" begged the little Bobbsey twins.
"Oh, my dears, no!" said Mrs. Bobbsey. "It's too far; and besides----"
"Are you afraid the gypsies will carry us off?" asked Freddie. "'Cause if
you are I'll take my fire engine, and some of the funny bugs that go
around and around and around that we got in New York, and I'll scare
the gypsies with 'em and squirt water on 'em."
"No, I'm not afraid of you or Flossie's being carried off--especially
when your father is with you," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "But there is no
telling where the gypsies are camped, and it may be a long walk before
they are found. So you stay with me, and I'll get Dinah to let you have a
party."
"Oh, that will be fun!" cried Flossie.
"I'd rather play hunt gypsies," said her brother, but when he saw Dinah
come out of the kitchen with a tiny little cake she had baked especially
for him and his sister to have a play-party with, Freddie thought, after
all, there was some fun in staying at home.
"But take Snap with you," he said to Bert. "He'll growl at the gypsy
men, and maybe he'll scare 'em so they'll give back Helen's doll."
"Well, Snap can growl hard when he wants to," said Bert with a laugh.
"But still I think it wouldn't be a good thing to take him to the gypsy

camp. They nearly always have dogs in their camp--the gypsies do--and
those dogs might get into a fight with Snap."
"Snap could beat 'em!" declared Freddie.
"No, don't take him!" ordered Flossie. "I don't want Snap to get bit."
"I don't either," agreed Bert, "so I'll leave him at home I guess. Well,
there's daddy calling me. I'll have to run. I'll tell you all about it when I
come back."
So, while Flossie and Freddie, with the little cake Dinah had baked for
them, went to have a good time playing party, Mr. Bobbsey, with a
policeman and Bert, went to the gypsy camp. The policeman did not
have on his uniform with brass buttons--in fact, he was dressed almost
like Mr. Bobbsey.
"For," said this policeman, whose name was Joseph Carr, "if the gypsy
men were to see me coming along in my helmet, with my coat covered
with brass buttons, and a club in my hand, they would know right away
who I was. They could see me a long way off, on account of the sun
shining on the brass buttons, and they would have time to hide away
that little girl's doll, or anything else they may have taken. So I'll go in
plain clothes."
"Like a detective," said Bert.
"Yes, something like a detective," agreed Mr. Carr. "Now let's step
along lively."
Several persons had seen the gypsy caravan of gay yellow and red
wagons going through Lakeport, and had noticed them turn up along
the farther shore of Lake Metoka. There was a patch of wood several
miles away from the town, and in years