The Bobbsey Twins on a Houseboat | Page 9

head, and then falling into her lap.
CHAPTER IV
AT THE HOUSEBOAT
"Did--did I hurt you, Dinah?" asked Bert, after he had gotten his breath. "I'm--I'm sorry--but did I hurt you?"
"Hurt me? Hurt me, honey lamb? No indeedy, but I done reckon yo' has hurt yo'se'f, honey! Look at yo' pore haid!" and she pointed her fat finger at Bert.
"Why, what's the matter with my head?" he asked, putting up his hand. He felt something sticky, and when he looked at his fingers, he saw that they were covered with white stuff.
"Oh, it's the frosting off the cake!" said Nan with a laugh. "You look something like one of the clowns in the circus, Bert, only you haven't enough of the white stuff on."
"And look at Dinah!" laughed Freddie. "She's turning white!"
"What's dat, honey lamb? Turnin' white?" gasped the big, colored cook. "Don't say dat!"
"It's the cake frosting on Dinah, too!" said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Oh, Bert! why aren't you a little more careful?"
"I'm sorry, mamma," Bert said, as he watched Dinah wipe the frosting off her face with her apron. "I didn't know she was coming through the door then."
"And I shore didn't see yo', honey lamb," went on the cook. "Land ob massy! Look at mah cake!" she cried, as she gazed at the mass in her lap. "All de frostin' am done slid off it!"
"Yes, you're a regular wedding cake yourself, Dinah," said Mr. Bobbsey, who had come in to see what all the noise meant. "Well, this seems to be a day of excitement. I'm glad it was no worse, though. Better go up stairs and wash, Bert."
"The cake itself isn't spoiled," said Mrs. Bobbsey, lifting it from Dinah's lap, so the colored cook could get up. It was no easy work for her to do this, as she was so fat. But at last, after many groanings and gruntings, she rose to her feet, and took the cake from Mrs. Bobbsey.
"I'll put some mo' frostin' on it right away, ma'am," she said. "An' I hopes nobody else runs inter me," she went on with a laugh. "I shuah did feel skeered dat Bert was hurt bad."
They could all laugh at the happening now, and after Mr. Bobbsey had told a little more about the new houseboat, he went back to the office.
"Come on, Flossie," suggested Freddie. "Now you've found the book straps, we can hitch Snap to the express wagon. Where'd you find 'em?"
"The straps were on our books, under the hall rack," said Flossie.
"That's just where I left 'em!" exclaimed Freddie. "I knew I left 'em somewhere."
"But next time you must remember," cautioned his mother. "And remember another thing--no more bicycle rides--you stay on your velocipede."
"Yes'm," said Freddie. "Come on, Flossie. Where's Snap?"
When the little twins went to look for their big, shaggy pet, who could do so many circus tricks, they could not find him.
"Have you seen Snap?" asked Freddie of Dinah's husband, Sam Johnson, who was out in the barn.
"Snap?" repeated the colored man. "Why, Freddie, I done jest see Snap paradin' down de road wif dat black dog from Mr. Brown's house."
"Then Snap's gone away again," said Flossie with a sigh. "Never mind, Freddie. Let's play steamboat, and you can be the fireman."
"All right," he agreed, much pleased with this idea. "We'll make believe we're in our new houseboat. Come on."
"Steamboat" was a game the smaller twins often played on the long Saturdays, when there was no school. All they needed was an old soap box for the boat, and some sticks for oars. Then, with some bits of bread or cake, which Dinah gave them to eat, in case they were "shipwrecked," they had fine times.
Meanwhile, Bert and Nan had asked permission of their mother to go over to where some of their boy and girl friends lived, so they were prepared to have a good time, too.
"Oh, but what fun we'll have on the houseboat, won't we, Bert?" said Nan.
"That's what we will," he agreed with a laugh.
Monday morning came, after Sunday (as it always does if you wait long enough) and the two sets of Bobbsey twins started for school.
"I wish we didn't have to go," said Bert, as he strapped up his books. "I want to go down to our new houseboat."
"But you must go to school," said his mother with a smile. "There will not be many more days now. June will soon be over, and you know school closes a little earlier than usual this year. So run along, like good children."
Off they hurried and soon they were mingling with their boy and girl friends, who were also on their way to their classes.
"You can't guess what we're going to have," said Freddie to a boy named Johnnie Wilson, who was in his room.
"Kittens?" asked Johnnie.
"No."
"Puppies?"
"No."
"I give up--what is