The Bobbsey Twins on a Houseboat | Page 7

happened to any of the children?"
"Yes'm, I s'pects there has, ma'am," said Dinah. "Pore li'l Freddie am done smashed all up flatter'n a pancake, Mrs. Bobbsey!"
"Freddie--Oh!"
"He's all right!" shouted Bert, who had, by this time, reached his little brother, and was lifting him out of the bicycle. "Not hurt a bit, are you, Freddie?"
"N--no, I--I guess not," said Freddie, a bit doubtfully. "I--I'm scared, though."
"Nothing to be frightened at now, Freddie," said Bert, holding up the little chap, so his mother could see him.
"Why, Freddie isn't hurt, Dinah," said Mrs. Bobbsey, in great relief. "What made you think so?"
"Well, I seed him all tangled up in dat two-wheeled velocipede ob Bert's, an' de hoss team was comin' right down on de honey-lamb. I thought shuah he was gwine t' be squashed flatter'n a pancake. But he ain't! Bless mah soul he ain't! Oh, dere's mah cake burnin'!" and into the kitchen ran Dinah, glad, indeed, that nothing had happened worse than the scare Freddie received.
"Good Snap! Good old dog!" said Nan, as she patted his head.
"Bow wow!" barked Snap. He still held the horse reins in his strong white teeth. He was not going to let the horses go yet.
"Oh, Freddie!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey, when she understood what had happened. "What danger you were in! Why did you take Bert's wheel?"
"I--I wanted a ride, Mamma. I didn't think I'd fall off, or that the team would come."
"You must never do it again," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Never get on Bert's wheel again, unless he is with you to hold you. You are, too small, yet, for a bicycle."
"Yes'm," said Freddie in a low voice.
"But where is the driver of the wagon?" went on Mrs. Bobbsey, looking at the empty seat.
"Maybe he fell off," suggested Nan, who had taken Freddie from Bert, the latter picking up his wheel, and looking to see if it had been damaged by the fall. But it was all right.
"Here comes a driver now," said Flossie, who saw one of the men from her father's lumber yard hurrying along the road.
"Is anybody hurt?" the man asked, as he came up, running and breathing fast, for he had come a long way.
"No one, I think," answered Mrs. Bobbsey. "But my little boy had a very narrow escape."
"I am sorry," said the driver. "I left the team standing out in front of the lumber yard, while I went in the office to find out where I was to deliver the planks. When I came out the horses were trotting away. I guess they were scared by something. I ran fast, but I could not catch them."
"Snap caught them for you," said the twins' mother, as she looked at the former circus dog, who was still holding the horse-reins.
"Yes, he's a good dog," the lumber wagon driver said. "I was afraid, when I saw how far the horses had gone, that they might do some damage. But I'm glad no one was hurt."
"I think we all are glad," spoke Mrs. Bobbsey. "It was partly my little boy's own fault, for he should not have gotten on his brother's bicycle. But he won't do it again."
"No, I never will!" promised Freddie, as he rubbed his leg where it had been bruised a little from becoming tangled up in the wire spokes.
Snap barked and wagged his tail, as the driver took the lines from him, and then, when the man drove off with the horses and the load of lumber, Mrs. Bobbsey went with the twins back into the yard.
"Well, I'm glad all the excitement is over," she said. "Where were you, Nan? Grace Lavine called for you, but I looked out in the yard and did not see you, so she went away again."
"Why, I went down to papa's office, Mamma, with that letter you gave me for him."
"Yes, I know, but I supposed you had come back. What kept you so long?"
"Well, I--er--I was talking to papa, and---"
Nan did not want to go on. for she did not want to tell that she had been talking about the houseboat.
Mr. Bobbsey had been intending to keep that as a little secret surprise for his wife, but now, if her mother asked about it, Nan felt she would have to tell. She hardly knew what to say, but just then something happened that made everything all right.
Mr. Bobbsey himself came hurrying down the street, from the direction of his lumber office. He seemed much excited, and his hat was on crooked, as though he had not taken time to put it on straight.
"Is everything all right?" he called to his wife. "None of the children hurt?"
"No, none of them," she answered with a smile. Mr. Bobbsey could see that for himself now, since Freddie and Flossie were going up the walk together,