The Bobbsey Twins on a Houseboat | Page 6

you see the two sets of twins were
very different.
Oh! such good times as the Bobbsey twins had! I could not tell you all
of them, if I wrote a dozen books. But some of the good times I have
related in the first book. In the second, called "The Bobbsey Twins in

the Country," there are more happenings mentioned.
Uncle Daniel Bobbsey, his wife Sarah, and their son Harry lived in the
country, at a place called Meadow Brook, and there the twins often
went on their vacation.
Uncle William Minturn, and his wife Emily, with their nine-year-old
daughter Dorothy, lived at Ocean Cliff. As you might guess, this was
on the coast, and in the third book, "The Bobbsey Twins at the
Seashore," I have told you of the good times the children had there,
how they saw a wreck, and what came of it.
In "The Bobbsey Twins at School" you will find out how they came to
get the dog Snap, as a pet. They already had a black cat, named Snoop,
but one day, when the twins, with their father and mother, were on a
railroad train, something happened, and Snoop was lost.
They found Snap, instead. He was a circus dog, and--but there, if you
want to read of Snap, you must do so in the book about him. I shall tell
you this much, though. Snap was a very fine dog, and could do many
tricks, and in the end the Bobbseys kept him for a pet, as well as getting
back their lost cat Snoop.
When school was over for the winter holidays one year, the Bobbseys
went to "Snow Lodge," and in the book of that name I have told you
about a queer mystery the twins helped solve while out amid the snow
and ice.
Now the Bobbseys were back in their fine house in Lakeport, where
Dinah, the fat cook, gave them such good things to eat, and where Sam
Johnson, her husband, kept the lawns so nice and green for the children
to play on.
Just now Freddie Bobbsey would have been very glad, indeed, to be
playing on that same lawn instead of being on his brother's bicycle,
rolling toward the team of lumber horses, who were coming straight for
him.

"Oh, look at Freddie! Look at Freddie!" screamed Flossie, dropping the
two book straps which she had at last found. "Save him, Nan! Bert! Oh,
Freddie!"
"I 'clar t' goodness!" exclaimed fat Dinah in the kitchen. "Dem chillens
am up t' some mo' trouble!"
"Freddie, steer to one side! Steer out of the way!" shouted Bert, as he
ran for the gate. He could not hope to reach his little brother in time,
though.
Freddie was too frightened and excited to steer. The bicycle was going
fast--faster than he had ever ridden on it before. All he could do was to
sit tight, and hold fast to the handle bars.
"Oh, he'll be run over!" cried Nan, as she, too, raced after Bert.
The team, with no driver to guide it, ran faster and faster. Freddie
began to cry. And then, all at once, the front wheel of the bicycle ran
over a stone, and turned to one side. The handle bars were jerked from
Freddie's grasp, and over he went, wheel and all!
Luckily for him, he fell to one side of the road, on the soft grass, or he
might have been injured, but, as it was, the fall did not hurt him at all.
One of his little fat legs, though, became tangled up in the wire spokes
of the front wheel, and Freddie lay there, with the wheel on top of him,
unable to get up.
"Oh, Bert! Bert!" screamed Nan.
"Grab him--quick!" shouted Dinah, waddling down the walk. But she
was too fat to go fast enough to do any good.
"Roll out of the way, Freddie!" cried Bert.
Freddie was too much entangled in the wheel to be able to move. And,
all the while, the lumber team was coming nearer and nearer to him.
Would the horses, with no driver at the reins, know enough to turn to

one side, or would the wheels roll over poor Freddie and the bicycle?
Nan covered her face with her hands. She did not want to look at what
was going to happen.
"I must get there in time to pull him out of the way!" thought Bert, as
he ran as fast as he could. But the team was almost on Freddie now.
Suddenly the dog Snap, who had jumped up when he heard the shouts,
saw what the danger was. Snap knew about horses, and he was smart
enough to know that Freddie was in danger.
Without waiting for anyone to tell