CHAPTER VIII
BERT SEES SOMETHING
LESSONS were not very well learned that first day in school, but this is generally the case when the Fall term opens after the Summer vacation.
Just as were the Bobbsey twins, nearly all the other pupils were thinking of what good times they had had in the country, or at the seashore, and in consequence little attention was paid to reading, spelling, arithmetic and geography.
But Principal Tetlow and his teachers were prepared for this, and they were sure that, in another day or so, the boys and girls would settle down and do good work. Many of the children were in new rooms and different classes, and this did not make them feel so much "at home" as before vacation.
Nan Bobbsey's first duty, after reporting to her new teacher, was to go to the kindergarten room, and ask the teacher there if Flossie and Freddie might sit together.
"You see," Nan explained, "this is really their first real school work. They attended a few times before, but did not stay long."
"I see," spoke the pretty kindergarten instructor with a laugh, "and we must make it as pleasant for them this time as we can, so they will want to stay. Yes, my dear, Flossie and Freddie may sit together, and I'll look after them as much as I can. But, oh, there are such a lot of little tots!" and she looked about the room that seemed overflowing with small boys and girls.
Some were playing and talking, telling of their summer experiences. Others seemed frightened, and stood against the wall bashfully, little girls holding to the hands of their little brothers.
Nan looked for Freddie and Flossie. She saw her little sister trying to comfort a small girl who was almost ready to cry, while Freddie, like the manly little fellow he was, had taken charge of a small chap in whose eyes were two large tears, just ready to fall. It was his first day at school.
"Oh, I am sure your little twin brother and sister will get along all right," said the kindergarten teacher, with a smile to Nan, as she saw what Flossie and Freddie were doing. "They are too cute for anything—the little dears!"
"And they are very good," said Nan, "only of course they do—things—sometimes."
"They wouldn't be real children if they didn't," answered the teacher.
This was during a recess that had come after the classes were first formed. On her way back to her room, to see if she could arrange to sit with Grace and Nellie at one of the new big desks, Nan saw her brother Bert. He looked a little worried, and Nan asked at once:
"What is the matter, Bert? Haven't you got a nice teacher?"
"Oh, yes, she's fine!" exclaimed Bert "There's nothing the matter at all."
"Yes there is," insisted Nan. "I can tell by your face. It's that Danny Rugg; I'm sure. Oh, Bert, is he bothering you again?"
"Well, he said he was going to."
"Then why don't you go straight and tell Mr. Tetlow? He'll make Danny behave. I'll go tell him myself!"
"Don't you dare, Nan!" cried Bert. "All the fellows would call me 'sissy,' if I let you do that. Never mind, I can look out for my self. I'm not afraid of Danny."
"Oh, Bert, I hope you don't get into fight."
"I won't, Nan—if I can help it. At least I won't hit first, but if he hits me—"
Bert looked as though he knew what he would do in that case.
"Oh dear!" cried Nan, "aren't you boys just awful!"
However, she made up her mind that if Danny got too bad she would speak to the principal about him, whether her brother wanted her to or not.
"He won't know it," thought Nan.
She had no trouble in getting permission from her teacher for herself and her two friends to sit together, and soon they had moved their books and other things to one of the long desks that had room for three pupils.
Meanwhile Flossie and Freddie got along very well in the kindergarten. At first, just as the others did, they gave very little attention to what the teacher wanted them to learn, but she was very patient, and soon all the class was gathered about the sand table, in the little low chairs, making fairy cities, caves, and even makebelieve seashore places.
"This is like the one where we were this Summer," said Flossie, as she made a hole in her sand pile to take the place of the ocean. "If I had water and a piece of wood I could show you where there was a shipwreck," she said to the girl next to her.
"That isn't the way it was," spoke Freddie, from the other side of the room. "There was more sand at the seashore than on this whole table—yes, on ten tables like this."
"There was not!" cried Flossie.
"There was too!" insisted her brother.
"Children—children!" called the teacher. "You must not argue like that—ever—in school, or out of it. Now we will sing our worksong, and after that we will march with the flags," and she went to the piano to play. All the little ones liked this, and the dispute of Flossie and Freddie was soon forgotten.
Bert kept thinking of what might happen between himself and Danny Rugg when school was out, and when his teacher asked him what the Pilgrim Fathers did when they first came to settle in New England Bert looked up in surprise, and said:
"They fought."
"Fought!" exclaimed the teacher. "The book says they gave thanks."
"Well, I meant they fought the—er—the Indians," stammered Bert.
Poor Bert was thinking of what might take place between himself and the bully.
"Well, yes, they did fight the Indians," admitted the teacher, "but that wasn't what I was thinking of. I will ask you another question in history."
But I am not going to tire you with an account of what went on in the classrooms. There were mostly lessons there, such as you have yourselves, and I know you don't care to read about them.
Bert did not see Danny Rugg at the noon recess, when the Bobbsey twins and the other children went home for lunch. But when school was let out in the afternoon, and when Bert was talking to Charley Mason about a new way of making a kite, Danny Rugg, accompanied by several of his chums, walked up to Bert. It was in a field some distance from the school, and no houses were near.
"Now I've got you, Bert Bobbsey!" taunted Danny, as he advanced with doubledup fists. "What did you want to squirt the hose on me that time for?"
"I told you it was an accident," said Bert quietly.
"And I say you did it on purpose. I said I'd get even with you, and now I'm going to."
"I don't want to fight, Danny," said Bert quietly.
"Huh! he's afraid!" sneered Jack Westly, one of Danny's friends.
"Yes, he's a coward!" taunted Danny.
"I'm not!" cried Bert stoutly.
"Then take that!" exclaimed Danny, and he gave Bert a push that nearly knocked him down. Bert put out a hand to save himself and struck Danny, not really meaning to.
"There! He hit you back!" cried one boy.
"Yes, go on in, now, Dan, and beat him!" said another.
"Oh, I'll fix him now," boasted Danny, circling around Bert. Bert was carefully watching. He did not mean to let Danny get the best of him if he could help it, much as he did not like to fight.
Danny struck Bert on the chest, and Bert hit the bully on the cheek. Then Danny jumped forward swiftly and tried to give Bert a blow on the head. But Bert stepped to one side, and Danny slipped down to the ground.
As he did so a white box fell from his pocket. Bert knew what kind of a box it was, and what was in it, and he knew now, what had stained Danny's fingers so yellow, and what made his clothes have such a queer smell. For the box had in it cigarettes.
Danny saw where it had fallen, and picked it up quickly. Then he came running at Bert again, but a boy called:
"Look out! Here comes Mr. Tetlow, the principal!"
This was a signal for all the boys, even Bert, to run, for, though school was out, they still did not want to be caught at a fight by one of the teachers, or Mr. Tetlow.
"Anyhow, you knocked him down, Bert," said Charley Mason, as he ran on with Bert. "You beat!"
"He did not—I slipped," said Danny. "I can fight him, and I will, too, some day."
"I'm not afraid of you," answered Bert.
Mr. Tetlow did not appear to have seen the fight that amounted to so little. Perhaps he pretended not to.
CHAPTER IX
OFF TO THE WOODS
WHETHER Danny Rugg was afraid the principal had seen him trying to force a fight on Bert, or whether the unexpected fall that came to him, caused it, no one knew, but certainly, for the next few days, Danny let Bert alone. When he passed him he scowled, or shook his fist, or muttered something about "getting even," but this was all.
Perhaps it was the thought of what Bert had seen fall from Danny's pocket that made the bully less anxious to keep up the quarrel. At any rate, Bert was left alone and he was glad of it. He was not afraid, but he liked peace.
The school days went on, and the classes settled down to their work for the long Winter term. And the thought of the snow and ice that would comparatively soon be with them, made the Bobbsey twins rejoice.
"Charley Mason and I are going to make a dandy big bob this year," said Bert one day. "It's going to carry ten fellows."
"And no girls?" asked Nan with a smile. She was walking along behind her brother, with Grace and Nellie.
"Sure, we'll let you girls ride once in a while," said Charley, as he caught up to his chum. "But you can't steer."
"I steered a bob once," said Grace, who was quite athletic for her age. "It was Danny Rugg's, too."
"Pooh! His is a little one alongside the one Charley and I are going to make!" exclaimed Bert. "Ours will be hard to steer, and it's going to have a gong on it to tell folks to get out of the way."
"That's right," agreed Charley. "And we'd better start it right away, Bert. It may soon snow."
"It doesn't feel so now," spoke Nan. "It is very warm. It feels more like ice cream cones."
"And if you'll come with me I'll treat you all to some," exclaimed Nellie Parks, whose father was quite well off. "I have some of my birthday money left."
"Oh, but there are five of us!" cried Nan, counting. "That is too much—twenty-five cents, Nellie."
"I've got fifty, and really it is very hot today."
It was warm, being the end of September, with Indian Summer near at hand.
"Well, let's go to Johnson's," suggested Nellie. "They have the best cream."
"Oh, here comes Flossie and Freddie!" exclaimed Nan. "We don't want to take them, Nellie. That means—"
"Of course I'll take them!" exclaimed Nellie, generously. "I've got fifty cents, I told you."
"I'll give them each a penny and let them run along home," offered Bert.
"No, I'm going to treat them, too," insisted Nellie. "Come on!" she called to the little twins, "we're going to get ice cream cones, it's so warm."
"Oh, goodie!" cried Flossie. "I was just wishing for one."
"So was I," added her brother.
"And I'll ask you to my party next week," the little girl went on. "I'm going to have one on my birthday."
"Oh, are you really, Flossie?" asked Nan. "I hadn't heard about it."
"Yep—I am. Mamma said I could, but she told me not to tell. I don't care, I wanted Nellie to know, as she's going to treat us to cones."
"And it's half my party, 'cause my birthday's the same day," explained Freddie. "So you can come to my party at the same time, Nellie."
"Thank you, dear, I shall. Now let's hurry to the store, for it's getting warmer all the while."
The ice cream in the funny little cones was much enjoyed by all. Bert and Charley walked on together eating, and talking of the bob sled they were going to make. They passed Danny Rugg, who looked rather enviously at them.
"Hey, Charley," called Danny, "come here, I want to speak to you."
"I'm busy now," answered Charley. "Bert and I have something to do."
"So have I. I've got a dandy plan."
"Well, I'll see you later," spoke Charley.
He had once been quite friendly with Danny, but he grew not to like his ways, and so became more chummy with Bert, who was very glad, for he liked Charley.
The two boys went on to Bert's barn, where they were going to build the bob sled. The girls, with Flossie and Freddie, went on the Bobbsey lawn, where there were some easy chairs. They sat in the shade of the trees, and Freddie had Snap do some of his tricks for the visitors.
"Can he jump through a hoop, covered with paper as they do in the circus?" asked Nellie.
"Oh, we never thought to try that," said Freddie. "I'm going to make one," and, filled with this new idea, he hurried into the house.
"Dinah," he said, "I want some paper and paste."
"Land sakes, chile! what yo' gwine t' do now?" asked the colored cook.
"Make a kite, an' take Snoop up in de air laik yo' brother Bert done once?"
"No, we're not going to do that," answered the little boy. "We're going to cover a hoop with paper, and make Snap jump through it, like in a circus."
"Mah goodness mustard pot!" cried Dinah. "What will yo' all be up to next?"
"I don't know," answered Freddie. "But will you make me some paste, Dinah? And you know we haven't got Snoop, anyhow, so we couldn't send him up on a kite tail," added Freddie.
"Deah me! Yo' chilluns done make me do de mostest wuk!" complained Dinah, but she laughed, which showed that she did not really mean it, and set at mixing some flour and water for the paste.
Flossie and Freddie insisted on making the paper covered hoop themselves. They started, but they got so much of the sticky stuff on their hands and faces that Nan feared they would soil their clothes, so she insisted on being allowed to do the pasting for them.
"But we can help, can't we?" asked Freddie.
"Yes," said Nan.
Even for Nan covering a hoop with paper was not as easy as she thought it would be. Grace and Nellie helped, but sometimes the wind would blow the paper away just as they were ready to fold it around the rim of the hoop. Then the paste would get on the girls' hands.
"What are you doing?" asked Bert, as he and Charley came from the barn. They had to stop work on their job, as they could not find a long enough plank. They decided to get one from Mr. Bobbsey's lumber yard, later.
"We're going to have Snap do the circus trick of jumping through a paper hoop," explained Nan. "Only we can't seem to get the hoop made."
"I'll do it," offered Bert, and as he and Charley had often pasted paper on their kite frames they had better luck, and soon the hoop was ready.
"Come, Snap!" called Freddie, it having been settled that he and Flossie were to hold the hoop for the dog to leap through. Snap, always ready for fun, jumped up from the grass where he had been sleeping, and frisked about, barking loudly.
"Now you hold him there, Charley," directed Bert, pointing to a spot back of where Freddie and Flossie stood. "Then I'll go over here and call him. He'll come running, and when he gets near enough, Freddie, you and Flossie hold up the paper hoop. He'll go right through it."
It worked out just as the children had planned. Snap raced away from Charley, when he heard Bert calling. He ran right between Flossie and Freddie, who raised the hoop just in time.
"Rip! Tear!" burst the paper, and Snap sailed through the hoop just as he probably had often done in the circus, perhaps from the back of a horse.
"Oh, that was fine!" cried Flossie. "Let's make another hoop!"
"Let's make a lot of 'em, and have a circus with Snap, and charge money to see him, and then we can buy a lot of ice cream for our party!" said Freddie.
"Oh, yes!" agreed his sister.
Well, they did make more hoops, and Snap seemed to enjoy jumping through them. But when Mrs. Bobbsey heard about the circus plans she decided it would make too much confusion.
"Besides, you have to help me get ready for your party," she said to the two little twins.
This took their mind off the proposed circus, but for several days after that they had much fun making hoops for Snap to jump through.
Bert and Charley got a long plank from the lumber yard, and spent much time after school in the Bobbsey barn, working over their bob sled. It was harder than they had thought it would be, and they had to call in some other boys to help them. Mr. Bobbsey, too, gave his son some advice about how to build it.
Flossie and Freddie liked it very much in school. The kindergarten teacher was very kind, and took an interest in all her pupils. "Oh, mamma!" cried Flossie, coming in one day from school, "I've learned how to make a house."
"And I can make a lantern, and a chain to hang it on, and I can put it in front of Flossie's house!" exclaimed Freddie. "And, please, mother, may I have some bread and jam. I'm awful hungry."
"Yes, dear, go ask Dinah," said Mrs. Bobbsey, with a smile. "And then you may show me how you make houses and lanterns and a chain. Are they real?"
"No," said Flossie, "they're only paper, but they look nice."
"I'm sure they must," said their mother.
After each of the twins had been given a large slice of bread and butter and jam, they showed the latest thing they had learned at school. Flossie did manage to cut out a house, that had a chimney on it, and a door, besides two windows.
Freddie took several little narrow strips of paper, and pasting the ends together, made a lot of rings. Each ring before being pasted, was slipped into another, and soon he had A paper chain. To make the lantern he used a piece of paper made into a roll, with slits all around the middle of it where the light would have come out had there been a candle in it. And the handle was a narrow slip of paper pasted over the top of the lantern.
"Very fine Indeed," said Mamma Bobbsey. "Run out now to play. If you stay in the house too much you will soon lose all the lovely tan you got in the country, and at the seashore."
"Children," said the principal to the Bobbseys and all the others in school the next day, "I have a little treat for you. Tomorrow will be a holiday, and, as the weather is very warm, we will close the school at noon, and go off in the woods for a little picnic."
"Oh, good!" cried a number of the boys and girls, and, though it was against the rules to speak aloud during the school hours, none of the teachers objected.
"But I expect you all to have perfect marks from now until Friday," Mr. Tetlow went on. "You may bring your lunches to school with you Friday morning, if your parents will let you, and we will leave here at noon, and go to Ward's woods."
It was rather hard work to study after such good news, but, somehow, the pupils managed it. Finally Friday came, and nearly every boy and girl came to school with a basket or bundle holding his or her lunch. Mrs. Bobbsey put up two baskets for her children, Nan taking one and Bert the other.
"Oh, we'll have a lovely time!" cried Freddie, dancing about on his little fat legs.
Twelve o'clock came, and with each teacher at the head of her class, and Mr. Tetlow marching in front of all, the whole school started off for the woods.
CHAPTER X
A SCARE
THE way to the woods where the little school outing was to be held ran close to the road on which the Bobbsey house stood. As Freddie and Flossie, with Nan and Bert, marched along with the others, Freddie cried out:
"Oh, I hope we see mamma, and then we can wave to her."
"Yes, and maybe she'll come with us," suggested Flossie. "Wouldn't that be nice?"
"Pooh!" exclaimed Bert. "Mamma's too busy to come to a picnic today. She's expecting company."
"Yes," added Nan, "the minister and his wife are coming, and mamma's cooking a lot of things."
"Why, does a minister eat more than other folks?" asked Freddie. "If they does, I'm going to be a minister when I grow up."
"I thought you were going to be a fireman," said Bert.
"Well, I can be a fireman week days and a minister on Sundays," said the little fellow, thus solving the problem. "But do they eat so much, Nan?"
"No, of course not, only mamma wants to be polite to them, so she has a lot of things cooked up, so that if they don't like one thing they can have another. Folks always give their best to the minister."
"Then I'm surely going to be one, too," declared Flossie. "I like good things to eat. I hope our minister isn't very hungry, 'cause then there'll be some left for us when we come home from this picnic."
"Why, Flossie!" cried Nan. "We have a lovely lunch with us; plenty, I'm sure."
"Well, I'm awful hungry, Nan," said the little girl. "Besides, Sammie Jones, and his sister Julia, haven't any lunch at all. I saw them, and they looked terrible hungry. Couldn't we give them some of ours; if we have so much at home?"
"Of course we could, and it is very kind of you to think of them," said Nan, as she patted her little sister on her head. "I'll look after Sammie and Julia when we get to the grove."
In spite of what Nan and Bert had said about Mrs. Bobbsey being very busy, Flossie and Freddie looked anxiously in the direction of their house as they walked along. But no sight of their mother greeted them. They did see a friend, however, and this was none other than Snap, their new dog, who, with many barks and wags of his fluffy tail, ran out to meet his little masters and mistresses.
"Here, Snap! Snap!" called Freddie. "Come on, old fellow!" and the dog leaped all about him.
"Let's take him to the picnic with us," suggested Flossie. "We can have lots of fun."
"And he can eat the scraps," said Nan. "Shall we, Bert?"
"I don't care. But maybe Mr. Tetlow wouldn't like it."
"You ask him, Bert," pleaded Flossie.
"Tell him Snap will do tricks to amuse us."
Bert goodnaturedly started ahead to speak to the principal, who was talking with some of the teachers, planning games for the little folk. Flossie and Freddie were patting their pet, when Danny Rugg, and one of his friends came along.
"That dog can't come to our picnic!" said Danny, with a scowl. "He might bite some of us."
"Snap never bites!" cried Freddie.
"Of course not," said Flossie.
"Well, he can't come to this picnic!" spoke Danny, angrily. "Go on home!" he cried, sharply, stooping to pick up a stone. Snap growled and showed his teeth.
"There!" cried Danny. "I told you he'd bite."
"He will not, Danny Rugg!" exclaimed Nan, who had gone up front for a minute to speak to some of the older girls. "He only growled because you acted mean to him. Now you leave him alone, or I'll tell Mr. Tetlow on you."
"Pooh! Think I care? I say no dog can come to our picnic. Go on home!" and with raised hand Danny approached Snap. Again the dog growled angrily. He was not used to being treated in this way.
"Look out, Danny Rugg," said Nan, severely, "or he may jump on you, and knock you down. He wouldn't bite you, though, mean as you are, unless I told him to do so."
"I'm not afraid of you!" cried Danny, more angry than before. "I'll get a stick and then we'll see what will happen," and he looked about for one.
"Don't let Danny beat Snap!" pleaded Flossie, tears coming into her eyes.
"I won't," said Nan, looking about anxiously for Bert. She saw him coming back, and felt better. By this time Danny had found a club, and was coming back to where Flossie, Freddie and Nan, with some of their friends, were walking along, Snap in their midst.
"I'll make that dog go home now!" cried Danny. "I'm not going to get bitten, and have hyperfobia, or whatever you call it. I'll tell Mr. Tetlow if you don't make him go home."
"Oh, don't be so smart!" exclaimed Bert, stepping out from behind a group of girls. "I've told Mr. Tetlow myself that Snap is following us, and he said to let him come along. So you needn't take the trouble, Danny Rugg. And if you try to hit our dog I'll have something more to say," and Bert stepped boldly forth.
"Huh! I'm not afraid of you," sneered Danny, but he let the club drop, and walked off with his own particular chums.
"Did Mr. Tetlow say Snap could come?" asked Freddie, anxiously.
"Yes. He said he'd be good to drive away the cows if they bothered us," answered Bert, with a smile.
After this little trouble, the Bobbseys and their friends went on toward the grove in the woods where the picnic was to be held. There was laughing and shouting, and much fun on the way, in which Snap shared.
Boys and girls would run to one side or the other of the path to gather late flowers. Some would pick up odd stones, or pine cones, and others would find curious little creeping or crawling things which they called their friends to see.
Each teacher had charge of her special class, but she did not look too closely after them, for it was a day to be happy and free from care, with no thought of school or lessons.
"We'll make Snap do some tricks when we get to the grove," said Flossie.
"Yes, we'll have a little circus," added her brother.
"Can he stand on his head?" one girl wanted to know.
"Well, he can turn a somersault, and he's on his head for a second while he's doing that," explained Freddie, proudly.
"Can he roll over and over?" a boy wanted to know. "We had a dog, once, that could."
"Snap can, too," said Flossie. "Roll over, Snap!" she ordered, and the dog, with a bark, did so. The children laughed and some clapped their hands. They thought Snap was about the best dog they had ever seen.
No accidents happened on the way to the grove, except that one little boy tried to cross a brook on some stones, instead of the plank which the others used. He slipped in and got his feet wet, but as the day was warm no one worried much.
Finally the grove was reached. It was in a wooded valley, with hills on either side, and a cold, clear spring of water at one end, where everyone could get a drink. And that always seems to be what is most wanted at a picnic—a drink of water.
Mr. Tetlow called all the children together, before letting them go off to play, and told them at what time the start for home would be made, so that they would not be late in coming back to the meeting place.
"And now," he said, "have the best fun you can. Play anything you wish—school games if you like—but don't get too warm or excited. And don't go too far away. You may eat your luncheon when you like."
"Then let's eat ours now," suggested Flossie. "I'm awful hungry."
"So am I," said Freddie. So Nan and Bert decided that the little ones might at least have a sandwich and a piece of cake. Nor did they forget the two little Jones children, who had no lunch. The Bobbseys were well provided and soon Sammie and Julia were smiling and happy as they sat beneath a tree, eating.
Then came all sorts of games, from tag and jumping rope, to blindman's bluff and hide-and-seek. Snap was made to do a number of tricks, much to the amusement of the teachers and children. Danny Rugg, and some of the older boys, got up a small baseball game, and then Danny, with one or two chums, went off in a deeper part of the woods. Bert heard one of the boys ask another if he had any matches.
"I know what they're going to do," whispered Bert to Nan.
"What?" she asked.
"Smoke cigarettes. I saw Danny have a pack."
Nan was much shocked, but she did not see anything. She was glad Bert did not smoke.
Bert went off with some boys to see if they could catch any fish in the deeper part of the brook, about half a mile from the picnic grove, and Nan, with one or two girls about her own age, took a little walk with Flossie and Freddie to gather some late wild flowers that grew on the side of one of the hills.
They found a number of the blossoms, and were making pretty bouquets of them, when Freddie, who had gone on a little ahead of the rest, came running back so fast that he nearly rolled to the bottom of the hill, so fat and chubby was he.
"What's the matter? What is it?" asked Nan, catching her brother just in time.
"Up there!" he gasped. "It's up there! A great big black one!"
"A big black what—bug?" asked Nan, ready to laugh.
"No! a big black snake! I almost stepped on it."
"A snake! Oh, dear!" screamed the girls.
"Call Mr. Tetlow!" said Flossie. "He's got a book about snakes, and he'll know what to do."
"Come on!" cried Nellie Parks. "I'm going to run!"
"So am I!" added Grace Lavine. "Oh, it may chase us!"
In fright the children turned, Freddie looking back at the spot where he thought he had seen the snake.
CHAPTER XI
DANNY'S TRICK
NAN BOBBSEY stood for a moment, she hardly knew why. Perhaps she wanted to see the big snake of which Freddie spoke. It certainly was not because she liked reptiles.
Then she thought she saw something long and black wiggling toward her, and, with a little exclamation of fright, she, too, turned to follow the others. But, as she did so, she saw their dog Snap come running up the hill, barking and wagging his tail. He seemed to have lost the children for a moment and to be telling them how glad he was that he had found them again.
Straight up the hill, toward where Freddie had said the snake was, rushed Snap.
"Here! Come back! Don't go there!" cried Nan.
"No, don't let him—he may be bitten!" added Flossie. "Come here, Snap!"
But Snap evidently did not want to mind. On up the hill he rushed, pausing now and then to dig in the earth. Nearer and nearer he came to where the little Bobbsey boy had said the snake was hiding in the grass and bushes.
"Oh, Snap! Snap!" cried Freddie. "Don't go there!" But Snap kept on, and Freddie, afraid lest his pet dog be bitten, caught up a stone and threw it at the place. His aim was pretty good, but instead of scaring away the snake, or driving back Snap, the fall of the stone only made Snap more eager to see what was there that his friends did not want him to get.
With a loud bark he rushed on, and the children, turning to look, saw something long and black, and seemingly wiggling, come toward them.
"Oh, the snake! The snake!" cried Nan.
"Run! Run!" shouted Grace.
"Come on!" exclaimed Nellie Parks, in loud tones.
"Freddie! Freddie!" called Flossie, afraid lest her little brother be bitten.
Snap rushed at the black thing so fiercely that he turned a somersault down the hill, and rolled over and over. But he did not mind this, and in an instant was up again. Once more he rushed at the black object, but the children did not watch to see what happened, for they were running away as fast as they could.
Then Freddie, anxious as to what would become of Snap if he fought a snake, looked back. He saw a strange sight. The dog had in his mouth the long, black thing, and was running with it toward the Bobbseys and their friends.
"Oh, Nan! Nan! Look! Look!" cried Freddie. "Snap has the snake! He's bringing it to us!"
"Oh, he mustn't do that!" shouted Nan. "It may bite him or us."
"Run! Run faster!" shrieked Grace.
But even though it was down hill the children could not run as fast as Snap, and he soon caught up to them. Running on a little way ahead he dropped the black thing. But instead of wiggling or trying to bite, it was I very still.
"It—it's dead," said Nan. "Snap has killed it."
Freddie was braver now. He went closer.
"Why—why!" he exclaimed. "It isn't a snake at all! It's only an old black root of a tree, all twisted up like a snake! Look, Nan—Flossie!"
Taking courage, the girls went up to look. Snap stood over it, wagging his tail as proudly as though he had captured a real snake. As Freddie had said, it was only a tree root.
"But it did look a lot like a snake in the grass," said the little fellow.
"It must have," agreed Nan. "It looked like one even when Snap had it. But I'm glad it wasn't."
"So am I," spoke Grace, and Nellie made like remark.
Snap frisked about, barking as though to ask praise for what he had done.
"He is a good dog," observed Freddie, hearing which the animal almost wagged his tail off. "And if it had been a real snake he'd have gotten it; wouldn't you?" went on the little boy.
If barks meant anything, Snap said, with all his heart, that he certainly would—that not even a dozen snakes could frighten a big dog like him.
The children soon got over the little scare, and went back up the hill again to gather more flowers. Snap went with them this time, running about here and there.
"If there are any real snakes," said Freddie, "he'll scare them away. But I guess there aren't any."
"I hope not," said Nan, but she and the others kept a sharp lookout. However, there was no further fright for them, and soon, with their hands filled with blossoms the Bobbseys and the others went back to the main party.
Some of the teachers were arranging games with their pupils, and Nan, Flossie and Freddie joined in, having a good time. Then, when it was almost time to start for home, Mr. Tetlow blew loudly on a whistle he carried to call in the stragglers.
"Where's Bert?" asked Flossie, looking about for her older brother.
"I guess he hasn't come back from fishing yet," said Nan. "Come, Flossie and Freddie, I have a little bit of lunch left, and you might as well eat it, so you won't be hungry on the way home."
The littler Bobbsey twins were glad enough to do this. Then they had to have a drink, and Nan went with them to the spring, carrying a glass tumbler she had brought.
"This isn't like our nice silver cup that the fat lady took in the train," said Freddie, as he passed the glass of water very carefully to Flossie.
"No," she said, after she had taken her drink. "I wonder if papa will ever get that back?"
"He said, the other day," remarked Nan, as she got some water for Freddie, "that he hadn't heard from the circus yet. But I think he will. It isn't like Snoop, our cat. We don't know where he is, but we're pretty sure the fat lady has the cup."
"Poor Snoop!" cried Freddie, as he thought of the fine black cat. "Maybe some of the railroad men have him."
"Maybe," agreed Flossie.
When they got back to where the teachers and principal were, Bert and the boys who bad gone fishing had returned. They had one or two small fish.
"I'm going to have mamma cook them for my supper," said Bert, proudly holding up those he had caught.
"They're too small—there won't be anything left of them after they're cleaned," said Nan, who was quite a little housekeeper.
"Oh, yes, there will," declared her brother. "I'm going fishing again tomorrow and, catch more."
Mr. Tetlow was going about among the teachers, asking if all their pupils were on hand, ready for the march back. Danny Rugg and some of his close friends were missing.
"They ought not to have gone off so far," said Mr. Tetlow, as he blew several times on the whistle. Soon Danny and the other boy, were seen coming from a distant part of the grove. One of the boys, Harry White, looked very pale, and not at all well.
"What is the matter?" asked Mr. Tetlow, and he looked curiously at Danny and the others, and sniffed the air as though he smelled something.
"I—I guess I ate too many—apples," said Harry, in a faint voice. "We found an orchard, and—"
"I told you not to go into orchards, and take fruit," said Mr. Tetlow, severely.
"The man said we could," remarked Danny. "We asked him."
"Then you should not have eaten so many," said Mr. Tetlow. "I can't see how ripe apples, which are the only kind there are this time of year—could make you ill unless you ate too many," and he looked at Danny and Harry sharply. But they did not answer.
The march home was not as joyful as the one to the grove had been, for most of the children were tired. But they all had had a fine time, and there were many requests of the teachers to have another picnic the next week.
"Oh, we can't have them every week, my dears," said Miss Franklin, who had charge of Flossie, Freddie and some others in the kindergarten class. "Besides, it will soon be too cool to go out in the woods. In a little while we will have ice and snow, and Thanksgiving and Christmas."
"That will be better than picnics," said Freddie. "I'm going to have a new sled."
"I'm going to get a new doll, that can walk," declared Flossie, and then she and the others talked about the coming holidays.
At school several days in the following week little was talked of except the picnic, the snake scare from the old tree root, the catching of the fish, and the illness of Harry White, for that boy was quite sick by the time town was reached, and Mr. Tetlow called a carriage to send him home.
"And I can guess what made him sick too," said Bert to Nan, privately.
"What?" she asked.
"Smoking cigarettes."
"How do you know?"
"Because when I and some of the other fellows were fishing we saw Danny and his crowd smoking in the woods. They offered us some, but we wouldn't take any. Harry said he was sick then, but Danny only laughed at him."
"That Danny Rugg is a bad boy," said Nan, severely. But she was soon to see how much meaner Danny could be.
Workmen had recently finished putting some new water pipes, and a place for the children to drink, in the school yard, and one morning, speaking to the whole school, Mr. Tetlow made a little speech, warning the children not to play with the faucets, and spray the water about, as some had done, in fun.
"Whoever is caught playing with the faucets in the yard after this will be severely punished," he said.
As it happened, Flossie and Freddie were not at school that day, Freddie having a slight sore throat. His mother kept him home, and Flossie would not go without him. So they did not hear the warning, and Bert and Nan did not think to tell the smaller children of it.
Two days later Freddie was well enough to go back to class, and Flossie accompanied him. It was at the morning recess when, as Freddie went to get a drink at one of the new faucets, Danny saw him. A gleam of mischief came into the eyes of the school bully.
"Want to see the water squirt, Freddie?" asked Danny. "That's a new kind of faucet. It squirts awful far."
"Does it?" asked Freddie, innocently. "How do you make it?" He had no idea it was forbidden fun.
"Just put your thumb over the hole, and turn the water on," directed Danny. "You, too, Flossie. It won't hurt you."
Danny looked all around, thinking he was unobserved as he gave this bad advice. Naturally, Freddie and Flossie, being so young, suspected nothing. They covered the opening of the faucet with their thumbs, and turned on the water. It spurted in a fine spray, and they laughed in glee. That they wet each other did not matter.
Danny, seeing the success of his trick, walked off as he saw Mr. Tetlow coming. The Bobbsey twins were so intent on spurting the water that they did not observe the principal until he was close to them. Then they started as he called out sharply:
"Freddie! Flossie! Stop that! You know that it is forbidden! Go to my office at once and I will come and see you later. You will be punished for this!"
With tears in their eyes the little twins obeyed. They could not understand it.