The Bobbsey Twins on a Houseboat | Page 3

went into the house and began searching for the straps. High
and low they looked, in all the usual, and unusual, places, where they
sometimes tossed their books when they came in from school Friday
afternoons, with the joyous cry of:
"No more lessons until Monday! Hurray!"

But this time they seemed to have tossed their books and straps into
some very much out-of-the-way place, indeed.
"We can't find 'em," said Flossie. "Can't you take some strong string, to
tie Snap to the wagon, instead of the straps, Freddie?"
"I don't think so," he answered. "I know what to do. Let's ask Dinah.
Maybe she's seen 'em."
"Oh, yes, let's!" agreed Flossie, and together they hurried to the kitchen
where Dinah, the big, good-natured, colored cook, was rattling the pots
and pans.
"Dinah! Dinah!" cried Flossie and Freddie in a twins' chorus.
"Yep-um, honey-lambs! What yo' all want?" asked Dinah, opening the
oven door, to let out a little whiff of a most delicious smell, and then
quickly closing it again. "Ef yo' wants a piece ob cake, it ain't done
yit!"
"Oh, Dinah! We don't want any cake!" said Freddie.
"What's dat? Yo' don't want cake?" and Dinah quickly straightened up,
put her fat hands on her fat hips, and looked at the two children in
surprise. "Yo--don't--want--no cake!" gasped Dinah. "What's de mattah?
Yo' all ain't sick, is yo'?"
For that was the only reason she could think of why Flossie and
Freddie should not want cake--as they generally did Saturday morning.
"No, we're not sick," said Flossie, "and we'd like a piece of cake a little
later, please Dinah. But just now we want our book straps. Have you
seen 'em?"
"Book straps! Book straps!" exclaimed Dinah in great surprise. "Go
'long wif yo' now! I ain't got no time to be bodderin' wif book straps,
when dey's pies an' puddin's an' cakes t' bake. Trot along now, an' let
ole Dinah be! Book straps! Huh!"

Flossie and Freddie knew there was little use in "bodderin'" Dinah any
more, especially when she was in the midst of her baking.
"Come on, Flossie," spoke Freddie. "We'll have another look for those
straps. Next time I'll put our books where we can find 'em."
Once more the children started through the different rooms. They
looked everywhere. But no straps could they find.
"You see what a lot of trouble it makes, not only for you, but for others
as well, when you don't take care of your books," said Mrs. Bobbsey
gently. She knew it would be a good lesson for the twins to search for
their things. Next time they might remember.
Suddenly, from out in the yard, came a shout.
"Freddie! Freddie! Come out here, quick!"
"That's Bert!" exclaimed Freddie.
"Oh, maybe he's found the straps, so we can harness up Snap," cried
Flossie.
But Bert's next words soon told the younger twins that it was no such
good luck as that, for he cried:
"Snap's running away, Freddie! He's running away. If you're going to
harness him up you'll have to catch him!"
"Oh dear!" cried Flossie.
"Come on, help me catch him!" called Freddie.
Together they ran into the yard. As Bert had said, Snap, getting tired of
being tied to a post with a thin string, had broken the cord, and now
was racing over the fields after another dog with whom he often played.
"Come back, Snap! Come back!" cried Freddie.

Snap paid no heed.
Just then, through the front gate, came a girl. She looked so much like
Bert, with his dark hair and eyes, with his slimness and his tallness, that
you could tell at once she was his sister. As soon as Flossie saw her,
she cried:
"Oh, Nan! We were going to hitch Snap to the express wagon, but
Freddie and I can't find our straps, and Snap ran away, and--and--"
"Never mind, Flossie dear," said Nan. "Wait until you hear the good
news I have for you!"
"Good news?" exclaimed Bert, coming away from his bicycle, toward
his twin sister.
"Yes, the very best!" Nan went on. "It's about a houseboat! Now,
Flossie and Freddie, sit down on the grass and I'll tell you all about the
good news!"
CHAPTER II
SNAP SAVES FREDDIE
Down on the soft green grass of the lawn, sat the two sets of Bobbsey
twins. Yes, there were two "sets" of them, and I shall tell you how that
was, in a little while.
"Begin at the beginning," suggested Bert to his sister. He always liked
to hear all of anything, so Nan prepared to skip nothing.
"Well," said Nan, as she leaned over to re-tie the bow of Flossie's hair
ribbon. It had become loose in the hurried search for the book straps.
"Well, you