CHAPTER IV
HOME IN AN AUTO
DOWN on his four legs dropped the big white dog, and with another wag of his fluffy tail he came straight for Flossie.
"Be careful!" warned Mamma Bobbsey.
"He won't hurt her!" declared Bert. "That's a good dog, anyone can tell that. Here, doggie; come here!" he called.
But the dog still advanced toward Flossie, who shrank back a bit timidly.
"You never can tell what dogs will do," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "It is best to be careful."
"I guess he knew what Flossie said to him," spoke up Freddie. "He knows we like dogs."
The dog barked a little, and, coming up to where Flossie was, again stood on his hind legs.
"That's a queer trick," said Mr. Bobbsey. "I guess this dog has been trained. He probably belongs around here."
"I wish he belonged to us," sighed Nan. Like Flossie and Freddie she, too, loved animals.
"Maybe we can keep him if we don't find Snoop?" suggested Freddie. "Oh, papa, will you get Snoop back?" and Freddie's voice sounded as though he was going to cry.
"Yes, yes, of course I will," said Mr. Bobbsey quickly. He did not want the children to fret now, with still quite a distance yet to go home, and that in a trolley car. There were bundles to carry, weary children to look after, and Mrs. Bobbsey was rather tired also. No wonder Papa Bobbsey thought he had many things to do that night.
"Come along, children," called Mrs. Bobbsey, "it is getting late, and we are only about half way to the trolley. Oh dear! If that circus had to be wrecked I wish it could have waited until our train passed."
"Are you very tired?" asked her husband. "I can take that valise."
"Indeed you'll not. You have enough."
"Lemme have it, Massa Bobbsey," pleaded Dinah. "I ain't carryin' half enough. I's pow'ful strong, I is."
"Nonsense, Dinah!" said Mr. Bobbsey. "I can manage, and your arms are full."
"I—I wish she had Snoop," said Freddie, but he was so interested in watching the queer dog that he half forgot his sorrow over the lost cat.
The dog seemed to have made great friends with Flossie. She was patting him on the head now, for the animal, after marching about on his hind legs, was down on all fours again.
"Oh, mamma, he's awful nice!" exclaimed Flossie. "He's just as gentle, and he's soft, like the little toy lamb I used to have."
"Indeed he does seem to be a gentle dog," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "But come along now. Don't pet him any more, or he may follow us. Flossie, and whoever owns him would not like it. Come on."
"Forward—march!" called Freddie, strutting along the moonlit path as much like a soldier as he could imitate, tired as he was.
The Bobbseys and their faithful Dinah started off again toward the distant trolley that would take them to their home. The dog sat down and looked after them.
"I—I wish he was ours," said Flossie wistfully, waving her hand to the dog.
The Bobbseys had not gone on very far before Nan, looking back, called out:
"Oh, papa, that dog is following us!"
"He is?" exclaimed Mr. Bobbsey. "That's queer. He must have taken a sudden liking to us. But I guess he'll go back where he belongs pretty soon. Are you getting tired, little Fat Fireman? And you, my Fat Fairy?"
"Oh, no, papa," laughed Flossie. "I sat down so much in the train that I'm glad to stand up now."
"So am I," said Freddie, who made up his mind that he would not say he was tired if his little sister did not. And yet, truth to tell, the little Fat Fireman was very weary.
On and on went the Bobbsey family, and soon Bert happened to look back, and gave a whistle of surprise.
"That dog isn't going home, papa," he said. "He's still after us, and look! now he's running."
They all glanced back on hearing this. Surely enough the big white dog was running after them, wagging his tail joyfully, and barking from time to time.
"This will never do!" exclaimed Mr. Bobbsey. "Whoever owns him may think we are trying to take him away. I'll drive him back. Go home! Go back, sir!" exclaimed Papa Bobbsey in stern tones.
The dog stopped wagging his tail. Then he sat down on the path, and calmly waited. Mr. Bobbsey walked toward him.
"Oh, don't—don't whip him, papa!" exclaimed Flossie.
"I don't intend to," said Mr. Bobbsey. "But I must be stern with him or he will think I'm only playing. Go back!" he cried.
The dog stretched out on the path, his head down between his fore paws.
"He—he looks—sad," said Freddie. "Maybe he hasn't any home, papa."
"Oh, of course a valuable dog like that has a home," declared Bert.
"But maybe they didn't treat him kindly, and he is looking for a new one," suggested Nan, hopefully.
"He doesn't seem illtreated," spoke Mrs. Bobbsey. "Oh, I do wish he'd go back, so we could go on."
Mr. Bobbsey pretended to pick up a stone and throw it at the dog, as masters sometimes do when they do not want their dogs to follow them. This dog only wagged his tail, as though he thought it the best joke he had ever known.
"Go back! Go back, I say!" cried Papa Bobbsey in a loud voice. The dog did not move.
"I guess he won't follow us any more," went on Mr. Bobbsey. "Hurry along now, children. We are almost at the trolley." He turned away from the dog, who seemed to be asleep now, and the family went on. For a minute or two, as Nan could tell by looking back, the dog did not follow, but just as the Bobbseys were about to make a turn in the path, up jumped the animal and came trotting on after the children and their parents, wagging his tail so fast that it seemed as if it would come loose.
"Is he coming?" asked Flossie.
"He certainly is," answered Bert, who was in the rear. "I guess he wants us to take him home with us."
"Oh, let's do it!" begged Flossie.
"Please, papa," pleaded Freddie. "We haven't got Snoop now, so let us have a dog. And I'm sure we could teach him to do tricks—he's so smart."
"And so he's coming after us still!" exclaimed Mr. Bobbsey. "Well, well, I don't know what to do," and he came to a stop on the path.
"Couldn't we take him home just for tonight?" asked Nan, "and then in the morning we could find out who owns him and return him."
"Oh, please do," begged Freddie and Flossie, impulsively.
"But how can we take him on a trolley car?" asked Mr. Bobbsey. "The conductor would not let us."
"Maybe he would—if he was a kind man," suggested Freddie. "We could tell him how it was, and how we lost our cat."
"And our silver cup," added Flossie.
"Well, certainly the dog doesn't seem to want to go home," said Mr. Bobbsey, after he had tried two or three times more to drive the animal back. But it would not go.
"Go on a little farther," suggested Mrs. Bobbsey. "By the time we get to the trolley he may get tired, and go back. And if we want to lose him I think we can, by getting on the car quickly."
"But we don't want to lose him!" cried Freddie.
"No, no!" said Flossie. "We want to keep him. He can run along behind the trolley car. I'll ask the motorman to go slow, papa."
"My! This has been a mixedup day!" sighed Mr. Bobbsey. "I really don't know what to do."
The dog seemed to think that he was one of the family, now. He came up to Flossie and Freddie and let them pat him. His tail kept wagging all the while.
"Well, we'll see what happens where we get to the trolley," decided Mr. Bobbsey, thinking that there would be the best and only place to get rid of the dog. "Come along, children."
Freddie and Flossie came on, the dog between them, and this seemed to suit the fine animal. He had found friends, now, he evidently thought. Mr. Bobbsey wondered why so valuable a dog would leave its home. And he was very much puzzled as to what he should do if the children insisted on keeping the animal, and if it came aboard the trolley car.
"There's the car!" exclaimed Bert, as they went around another turn in the path and came to a road. Down it could be seen the headlight of an approaching trolley, and also the twin lamps of an oncoming automobile.
"Look out for the auto, children!" cried Mrs. Bobbsey.
They stood at the side of the road, and as the auto came up the man in it slowed down his machine. It was a big car and he was alone in it.
"Well, I declare!" exclaimed the autoist, as his engine stopped. "If it isn't the Bobbsey family—twins and all! What are you doing here, Mr. Bobbsey?"
"Why, it's Mr. Blake!" exclaimed Mr. Bobbsey, seeing that the autoist was a neighbor, and a business friend of his. "Oh, our train was held back by a circus wreck, so we walked across the lots to the car. We're homeward bound from the seashore."
"Well, well! A circus wreck, eh? Where did you get the dog?"
"Oh, he followed us," said Mrs. Bobbsey.
"And we're going to keep him, too!" exclaimed Flossie.
"And take him in the trolley with us," added her little brother.
"Well, well!" exclaimed Mr. Blake. "Say, now, I have a better plan than that," he went on. "Why should you folks go home in a trolley, when I have this big empty auto here? Pile in, all of you, and I'll get you there in a jiffy. Come, Dinah, I see you, too."
"Yes, sah, Massa Blake, I'se heah! Can't lose ole Dinah!"
"But we lost our cat, Snoop!" said Flossie regretfully.
"And we nearly ran over an elephant," added Freddie, bound that his sister should not tell all the news.
"Well, get in the auto," invited Mr. Blake.
"Do you really mean it?" asked Mr. Bobbsey. "Perhaps we are keeping you from going somewhere."
"Indeed not. Pile in, and you'll soon be home."
"Can we bring the dog, too?" asked Flossie.
"Yes, there's plenty of room for the dog," laughed Mr. Blake. "Lift him in."
But the strange dog did not need lifting. He sprang into the tonneau of the auto as soon as the door was opened. Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey lifted in Flossie and Freddie, and Nan and Bert followed. Then in got Papa and Mamma Bobbsey and Mr. Blake started off.
"This is lovely," said Mrs. Bobbsey with a sigh of relief. She was more tired than she had thought.
"It certainly is kind of you, Mr. Blake," said Papa Bobbsey.
"I'm only too glad I happened to meet you. Are you children comfortable?"
"Yep!" chorused Freddie and Flossie.
"And the dog?"
"We're holding him so he won't fall out," explained Flossie. She and her little brother had the dog between them.
On went the auto, and with the telling of the adventures of the day the journey seemed very short. Soon the Bobbsey home was reached. There were lights in it, for Sam, the colored man, had been telephoned to, to have the place opened for the family. Sam came out on the stoop to greet them and his wife Dinah.
"Here we are!" cried Papa Bobbsey. "Come, Flossie Freddie we're home."
Flossie and Freddie did not answer. They were fast asleep, their heads on the shaggy back of the big dog.
CHAPTER V
SNAP DOES TRICKS
"WE'LL have to carry them in," said Mr. Bobbsey, as he looked in the rear of the auto, and saw his two little twins fast asleep on the dog's back.
"I'll take 'em," said Sam kindly. "Many a time I'se carried 'em in offen de porch when dey falled asleep. I'll carry 'em in."
And he did, first taking Flossie, and then Freddie. Then he and Dinah brought in the bundles and valises, while Nan and Bert and Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey followed, having bidden goodnight to Mr. Blake, and thanking him for the ride.
"Where—where are we?" asked Flossie, rubbing her eyes and looking around the room which she had not seen in some months.
"An'—an' where's our dog?" demanded Freddie.
"Oh, bless your hearts—that dog!" cried Mamma Bobbsey. "Sam took him out in the barn. You may see him in the morning, if he doesn't run away in the night."
The twins looked worried over this suggestion, until Sam said:
"Oh, I locked him up good an' proper in a box stall; 'deed an' I did, Mrs. Bobbsey. He won't get away tonight."
"That's—good," murmured Freddie, and then he fell asleep again.
Soon the little twins were undressed and put to bed; Nan and Bert soon followed, but Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey stayed up a little later to talk over certain matters.
"It's good to be home again," said Mr. Bobbsey, as he looked about the rooms of the town house.
"Yes, but we had a delightful summer," spoke his wife, "and the children are so well. The country was delightful, and so was the seashore. But I think I, too, am glad to be back. It will be quite a task, though, to get the children ready for school. Flossie and Freddie will go regularly now, I suppose, and with Nan and Bert in a higher class, it means plenty of work."
"I suppose so," said her husband.
"But Dinah is a great help," went on Mrs. Bobbsey, for she did not mean to complain. Flossie and Freddie had tried a few days in the kindergarten class at school, but Flossie said she did not like it, and, as Freddie would not go without her, their parents had taken them both out in the Spring.
"There will be plenty of time to start them in the Fall," said Mrs. Bobbsey, and so it had been arranged. And now the four twins were all to attend the same school, which would open in about a week.
Flossie and Freddie were both up early the next morning, and, scarcely halfdressed, they hurried out to the barn.
"Whar yo' chillers gwine?" demanded Dinah, as she prepared to get breakfast.
"Out to see our dog," answered Freddie. "Is Sam around?"
"Yes, he's out dere somewheres, washin' de carriage. But don't yo' let dat dog bite yo'."
"We won't," said Freddie.
"He wouldn't bite anyhow," declared Flossie.
Sam opened the box stall for them, and out bounced the big white dog, barking in delight, and almost knocking down the twins, so glad was he to see them.
"What shall we call him?" asked Freddie. "Maybe we'd better name him Snoop, like our cat. I guess Snoop is gone forever."
"No, we mustn't call him Snoop," said Flossie, "for some day our cat might come back, and he'd want his own name again. We'll call our dog Snap, 'cause see how bright his eyes snap. Then if our cat comes back we'll have Snoop and Snap."
"That's a good name," decided Freddie, after thinking it over. "Snoop and Snap. I wonder how we can make this dog stand on his hind legs like he did before?"
"Bert snapped his fingers and he did it," suggested Flossie. "But maybe he'll do it now if you just ask him to."
Freddie tried to snap his fingers, but they were too short and fat. Then he patted the dog an the head and said:
"Stand up!"
At once the dog, with a bark, did so. He sat up on his hind legs and then walked around. Both the children laughed.
"I wonder if he can do any other tricks?" asked Flossie.
"I'm going to try," said her brother. "What trick do you want him to do?"
"Make him lie down and roll over."
"All right," spoke Freddie. "Now, Snap, lie down and roll over!" he called. At once the fine animal did so, and then sprang up with a bark, and a wag of his tail, as much as to ask:
"What shall I do next?"
"Oh, isn't he a fine dog!" cried Flossie. "I wonder who taught him those tricks?"
"Let's see if he can do any more," said Freddie. "There's a barrel hoop over there. Maybe he'll jump through it if we hold it up."
"Oh, let's do it!" cried Flossie, as she ran to get the hoop. Snap barked at the sight of it, and capered about as though he knew just what it was for, and was pleased at the chance to do more of his tricks. The hoop was a large one, and Freddie alone could not hold it very steady. So Flossie took hold of one side. As soon as they were in position, Freddie called:
"Come on now, Snap. Jump!"
Snap barked, ran back a little way, turned around and came racing straight for the twins. At that moment Sam Johnson came up running, a stick in his hand.
"Heah! heah!" shouted the colored man, "You let dem chillers alone, dog! Go 'way, I tells yo'!"
"That's all right, Sam," said Freddie. "Don't scare him. He's our new dog Snap, and he's going to do a trick," for the colored gardener had supposed the dog was running at Flossie and Freddie to bite them.
Snap paid no attention to Sam, but raced on. When a short distance from where Flossie and Freddie held the hoop, Snap jumped up into the air, and shot straight through the wooden circle, landing quite a way off.
"Mah gracious sakes alive!" gasped Sam. "Dat's a reg'lar circus trick—at's what it am!"
He scratched his head in surprise, and the stick he had picked up, intending to drive away the dog with, stuck straight out. In a moment Snap raced up, and jumped over the stick.
"Oh, look!" cried Flossie.
"Another trick!" exclaimed Freddie.
"Mah gracious goodness!" cried Sam. "Dat suah am wonderful!"
Snap ran about barking in delight. He seemed happy to be doing tricks.
"Let's go tell papa," said Freddie. "He'll want to know about this."
"Oh, I do hope he lets us keep him," said Flossie.
Mr. Bobbsey had not yet gone to his lumber office. He listened to what the little twins had to tell them about Snap, who lay on the lawn, seeming to listen to his own praises.
"A trick dog; eh?" exclaimed Mr. Bobbsey. "I wonder who owns him?"
"Maybe he escaped from the circus," suggested Bert, who came out just then to see how his pigeons were getting along.
"That's it!" cried Mr. Bobbsey. "I wonder I did not think of it before. The dog must have escaped from the wrecked circus train, and he followed us, not knowing what else to do. That accounts for his tricks."
"But we can keep him; can't we?" begged Flossie.
"Hum! I'll have to see about that," said Mr. Bobbsey slowly. "I suppose the circus people will want him back, for he must be valuable. Perhaps some clown trained him."
"But if we can't have Snoop, our cat, we ought to have a dog," asserted Freddie.
"I'll try to get Snoop back," said Mr. Bobbsey. "I'll have one of my men go down to the place where the wreck was, today, and inquire of the railroad men. He may be wandering about there."
"Poor Snoop!" said Nan, coming out to feed some of her pet chickens, that Sam had looked after all summer.
"And while you are about it," suggested Mrs. Bobbsey, who was on the front porch, "I wish, Richard, that you would see if you can locate that fat lady, and get back the children's silver cup."
"I will," replied Mr. Bobbsey. "I will have to write to them anyhow, about the dog, and at the same time I'll ask about the cup. Though I don't believe the fat lady meant to keep it."
"Oh, no," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "Probably she just held it, in the excitement over the wreck, and she may have left it in the car. But please write about it."
"I will," promised Mr. Bobbsey, as he started for the office, while the twins gathered about the new dog, who seemed ready to do more tricks.
CHAPTER VI
DANNY RUGG IS MEAN
THAT afternoon a small fire broke out in Mr. Bobbsey's lumber yard. The alarm bell rang, and Mrs. Bobbsey, hearing it, and knowing by the number that the blaze must be near her husband's place of business, came hurrying down stairs.
"Oh, I must go and see how dangerous it is," she said to Dinah. "It is too bad to have it happen just after Mr. Bobbsey comes back from his summer vacation."
"'Deed it am!" cried the fat, colored cook. "But maybe it am only a little fire, Mrs. Bobbsey."
"I'm sure I hope so," was the answer.
As Mrs. Bobbsey was hurrying down the front walk Flossie and Freddie saw her.
"Where are you going, mamma?" they called.
"Down to papa's office," she answered. "There's a fire near his place, and—"
"Oh, a fire! Then I'm going!" cried Freddie. "Fire! Fire! Ding, dong! Turn on the water!" and he raced about quite excitedly.
"Oh, I don't know," said Mrs. Bobbsey, in doubt. "Where are Nan and Bert?" she asked.
"They went down to the lake," said Flossie. "Oh, mamma, do take us to the fire with you. We'll bring Snap along."
"Sure," said Freddie. "Hi, Snap!" he called.
The trick dog came rushing from the stable, barking and wagging his tail.
"Well, I suppose I might as well take you," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "But you must stay near me. We'll leave Snap home, though."
"Oh, no!" cried Freddie.
"He might get lost," said Mrs. Bobbsey.
That was enough for Freddie. He did not want the new pet to get lost, so he did not make a fuss when Sam came hurrying up to lock Snap in the stable. Poor Snap howled, for he wanted very much to go with the children.
The fire was, as I have said, a small one, in part of the planing mill. But the engines puffed away, and spurted water, and this pleased Freddie. Flossie stayed close to her mother, and Mrs. Bobbsey, once she found out that the main lumber yard was not in danger, was ready to come back home. But Freddie wanted to stay until the fire was wholly out.
Mr. Bobbsey came from his office to give some directions to the firemen, and saw his wife and the two twins. Then he took charge of them, and led them as close to the blaze as was safe.
"It will soon be out," he said. "It was only some sawdust that got on fire."
"I wish I could squirt some water!" sighed Freddie.
"What's that? Do you want to be a fireman?" asked one of the men in a rubber coat and a big helmet. He smiled at Mr. Bobbsey, whom he knew quite well.
"Yes, I do," said Freddie.
"Then come with me, and I'll let you help hold the hose," said the fireman. "I'll look after him," he went on, to Mrs. Bobbsey, and she nodded to show that Freddie could go.
What a good time the little fellow had, standing beside a real fireman, and helping throw real water on a real fire! Freddie never forgot that. Of course the fire was almost out, and it was only one of the small hose lines that the fireman let the little fellow help hold, but, for all that, Freddie was very happy.
"Did you write to the circus people today about our silver cup, and that trick dog?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey of her husband, that night.
"I declare, I didn't!" he exclaimed. "The fire upset me so that it slipped my mind. I'll do it the first thing tomorrow. There is no special hurry. How is the dog, by the way?"
"Oh, he's just lovely!" cried Flossie.
"And I do hope we can keep him forever!" exclaimed Freddie. "'Specially since Snoop is gone."
"Did you hear anything about our cat?" asked Nan, of her father.
"No. I sent a man to the railroad company, but no stray cat had been found. I am afraid Snoop is lost, children."
"Oh dear!" cried Flossie.
The next day, having learned from the railroad company where the circus had gone after the wreck, Mr. Bobbsey sent a letter to the manager, explaining about the lost silver cup, and the found circus dog. He asked that the fat lady be requested to write to him, to let him know if she had taken the cup by accident, and Mr. Bobbsey also wanted to know if the circus had lost a trick dog.
"There!" he exclaimed as he sent the letter to be mailed, "now we'll just have to wait for an answer."
Nan and Bert, and Flossie and Freddie were soon having almost as much fun as they had had at the seashore and in the country. Their town playmates, who had come back from their vacations, called at the Bobbsey home, and made up games and all sorts of sports.
"For," said Grace Lavine, with whom Nan sometimes played, "school will soon begin, and we want to have all the fun we can until then."
"Let's jump rope," proposed Nan.
"All right," agreed Grace. "Here comes Nellie Parks, and we'll see who can jump the most."
"No, you mustn't do that," said Nan. "Don't you remember how you once tried to jump a hundred, and you fainted?"
"Indeed I do," said Grace. "I'm not going to be so silly as to try that again. We'll only jump a little."
Soon Nan and her chums were having good time in the yard.
Charley Mason, with whom Bert sometimes played, came over, and the two boys went for a row on the lake, in Bert's boat. Some little friends of Flossie and Freddie came over, and they had fun watching Snap do tricks.
For the circus dog, as he had come to be called, seemed to be able to do some new trick each day. He could "play dead," and "say his prayers," besides turning a back somersault. The little twins, who seemed to claim more share in Snap than did Nan and Bert, did not really know how many tricks their pet could do.
"Maybe you'll have to give him back to the circus," said Willie Flood, one of Freddie's chums.
"Well, if we do, papa may buy him, or get another dog like him," spoke Flossie.
A few days after this, when Bert was out in the front yard, watering the grass with a hose, along came Danny Rugg. Now Danny went to the same school that Bert did, but few of the boys and none of the girls, liked Danny, because he was often rough, and would hit them or want to fight, or would play mean tricks on them. Still, sometimes Danny behaved himself, and then the boys were glad to have him on their baseball nine as he was a good hitter and thrower, and he could run fast.
"Hello, Bert!" exclaimed Danny, leaning on the fence. "I hear you have a trick circus dog here."
"Who told you?" asked Bert, wondering what Danny would say next.
"Oh, Jack Parker. He says you found him."
"I didn't," spoke Bert, spraying a bed of geranium flowers. "He followed us the night of the circus wreck."
"Well, you took him all the same. I know who owns him, too; and I'm going to tell that you've got him."
"Oh, are you?" asked Bert. "Well, we think he belongs to the circus, and my father has written about it, so you needn't trouble yourself."
"He doesn't belong to any circus," went on Danny. "That dog belongs to Mr. Peterson, who lives over in Millville. He lost a trick dog, and he adverstised for it. He's going to give a reward. I'm going to tell him, and get the money."
"You can't take our dog away!" cried Freddie, coming up just then. "Don't you dare do it, Danny Rugg."
"Yes, I will!" exclaimed the mean boy, who often teased the smaller Bobbsey twins. "You won't have that dog after today."
"Don't mind him, Freddie," said Bert in a low voice. "He's trying to scare you."
"Oh, I am eh?" cried Danny. "I'll show you what I'm trying to do. I'll tell on you for keeping a dog that don't belong to you, and you'll be arrested—all of you."
Freddie looked worried, and tears came into his eyes. Bert saw this, and was angry at Danny for being so mean.
"Don't be afraid, Freddie," said Bert, "Look, I'll let you squirt the hose, and you can pretend to be a fireman."
"Oh, fine!" cried Freddie, in delight, as he took the nozzle from his older brother.
Just how it happened neither of them could tell, but the stream of water shot right at Danny Rugg, and wet him all over in a second.
"Hi there!" he cried. "Stop that! I'll pay you back for that, Fred Bobbsey," and he jumped over the fence and ran toward the little fellow.
CHAPTER VII
AT SCHOOL
FREDDIE saw Danny coming, and did the most natural thing in the world. He dropped the hose and ran. And you know what a hose, with water bursting from the nozzle will sometimes do if you don't hold it just right. Well, this hose did that. It seemed to aim itself straight at Danny, and again the rough boy received a charge of water full in the face.
"Ha! ha! here! You quit that!" he gasped. "I'll fix you for that!"
The water got in his eyes and mouth, and for a moment he could not see. But with his handkerchief he soon had his eyes cleared, and then he came running toward Bert.
Danny Rugg was larger than Bert, and stronger, and, in addition, was a bullying sort of chap, almost always ready to fight some one smaller than himself.
But what Bert lacked in size and strength he made up in a bold Spirit. He was not at all afraid of Danny, even when the bully came rushing at him. Bert stood his ground manfully. He had taken up the hose where Freddie had dropped it, and the water was spurting out in a solid stream. Freddie, having gotten a safe distance away, now turned and stood looking at Danny.
Danny, too, had halted and was fairly glaring at Bert, who looked at him a bit anxiously. More than once he and the bully had come to blows, and sometimes Bert had gotten the best of it. Still he did not like a fight.
"I'll get you yet, Freddie Bobbsey!" cried Danny, shaking his fist at the little fellow. Whereupon Freddie turned and ran toward the house. Danny saw that he could not catch him in time, and so he turned to Bert.
"You put him up to do that—to douse me with water!" cried Danny angrily.
"I did not," said Bert quietly. "It was just an accident. I'm sorry."
"You are not! I say you did that on purpose or you told Freddie to, and I'm going to pay you back!"
"I tell you it was an accident," insisted Bert. "But if you want to think Freddie did it on purpose I can't stop you."
"Well, I'm going to hit you just the same," growled Danny, and he stepped toward Bert.
"You'd better look out," said Bert, with just a little smile. "There's still a lot of water in this hose," and he brought the nozzle around in front, ready to squirt on Danny if the bad boy should come too near.
Danny came to a stop.
"Don't you dare put any more water on me!" cried the bully. "If you do, I'll—" He doubled up his fists and glared at Bert.
"Then don't you come any nearer if you don't want to get wet," said Bert. "This hose might sprinkle you by accident, the same as it did when Freddie had it," he added.
"Huh! I know what kind of an accident that was!" spoke Danny, with a sneer.
"You'd better get out of the way," went on Bert quietly. "I want to sprinkle that flower bed near where you are, and if you're there you might get wet, and it wouldn't my fault."
"I'll fix you!" growled Danny, springing forward. Bert got ready with the hose, and there might have been more trouble, except that Sam, the colored man, came out on the lawn. He saw that something out of the ordinary was going on, and breaking into a run he called out:
"Am anything de mattah, Massa Bert? Am yo' habin' trouble wif anybody?"
"Well, I guess it's all over now," said Bert, as he saw Danny turn and walk toward the gate.
"If yo' need any help, jest remembah dat I'm around," spoke Sam, with a wide grin that showed his white teeth in his black, but kindly face. "I'll be right handy by, Massa Bert, yes, I will!"
"All right," said Bert, as he went on watering the flowers.
"Huh! You needn't think I'm afraid of you!" boasted Danny, but he kept on out of the gate just the same. Sam went back to his work, of weeding the vegetable garden and Bert watered the flowers. Pretty soon Freddie came back.
"Did—did Danny do anything to you?" the little fellow wanted to know.
"No, Freddie, but the hose did something to him," said Bert.
"Oh, did it wet him again?"
"That's what it did."
"Ha! Ha!" laughed Freddie. "I wish I'd been here to see it, Bert."
"Well, why did you run?"
"Oh, I—I thought maybe—mamma might want me," answered Freddie, but Bert understood, and smiled. Then he let Freddie finish watering the flowers, after which Freddie played he was a fireman, saving houses from burning by means of the hose.
Snap, the trick dog came running out, followed by Flossie, who had just been washed and combed, her mother having put a clean dress on her.
"Oh, Freddie," said the little girl, "let's make Snap do some tricks. See if he will jump over the stream of water from the hose."
"All right," agreed her little brother. "I'll squirt the water out straight, and you stand on one side of it and call Snap over. Then he'll jump."
Flossie tried this, but at first the dog did not seem to want to do this particular trick. He played soldier, said his prayers, stood on his hind legs, and turned a somersault. But he would not jump over the water.
"Come, Snap, Snap!" called Flossie. "Jump!"
Snap raced about and barked, and seemed to be having all sorts of fun, but jump he would not until he got ready. Then, when he did Freddie accidentally lowered the nozzle and Snap was soaked.
But the dog did not mind the water in the least. In fact he seemed to like it, for the day was warm, and he stood still and let Freddie wet him all over. Then Snap rolled about on the lawn, Freddie and Flossie taking turns sprinkling.
And, as might be expected, considerable water got on the two children, and when Snap shook himself, as he often did, to get some of the drops off his shaggy coat, he gave Flossie and her clean dress a regular shower bath.
Nan, coming from the house saw this. She ran up to Flossie, who had the hose just then, crying:
"Flossie Bobbsey! Oh, you'll get it when mamma sees you! She cleaned you all up and now look at yourself!"
"She can't see—there's no looking glass here," said Freddie, with a laugh.
"And you're just as bad!" cried Nan. "You'd both better go in the house right away, and stop playing with the hose."
"We're through, anyhow," said Freddie. "You ought to see Snap jump over the water."
"Oh, you children!" cried Nan, with a shake of her head. She seemed like a little mother to them at times, though she was only four years older.
Mrs. Bobbsey was very sorry to see Flossie so wet and bedraggled, and said:
"You should have known better than to play with water with a clean dress on, Flossie. Now I must punish you. You will have to stay in the house for an hour, and so will Freddie."
Poor little Bobbsey twins! But then it was not a very severe punishment, and really some was needed. It was hard when two of their little playmates came and called for them to come out. But Mrs. Bobbsey insisted on the two remaining in until the hour was at an end.
Then, when they had on dry garments, and could go out, there was no one with whom to play.
"I'm not going to squirt the hose ever again," said Freddie.
"Neither am I," said his sister. "Never, never!"
Snap didn't say anything. He lay on the porch asleep, being cooled off after his sport with the water.
"I—I wish we had our cat, Snoop, back," said Flossie. "Then we wouldn't have played in the water."
"That's so," agreed Freddie. "I wonder where he can be?"
They asked their father that night if any of the railroad men had seen their pet, but he said none had, and added:
"I'm afraid you'll have to get along without Snoop. He seems to have disappeared. But, anyhow, you have Snap."
"But some one may come along and claim him," said Freddie. "That Danny Rugg says he belongs to Mr. Peterson in Millville, father," said Bert.
"Well, I'll call Mr. Peterson up on the telephone tomorrow, and find out," spoke Mr. Bobbsey. "That much will be settled, at any rate."
"Did you hear anything from the circus people about the fat lady?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey.
"Yes, but no news," was her husband's answer. "The circus has gone to Cuba and Porto Rico for the winter, and I will have to write there. It will be some time before we can expect an answer, though, as I suppose the show will be traveling from place to place and mail down there is not like it is up here. But we may find the fat lady and the cup some day."
"And Snoop, too," put in Nan.
"Yes, Snoop too."
One fact consoled the Bobbseys in their trouble over their lost pet and cup. This was the answer received by Mr. Bobbsey from Mr. Peterson. That gentleman had lost a valuable dog, but it was a small poodle, and unlike big Snap. So far no one had claimed the trick dog, and it seemed likely that the children could keep him. They were very glad about this.
"Oh dear!" exclaimed Bert, one afternoon a few days following the fun with the hose, "school begins Monday. Only three more days of vacation!"
"I think you have had a long vacation," returned Mrs. Bobbsey, "and if Freddie and Flossie are going to do such tricks as they did the other day, with the hose, I, for one, shall be glad that you are in school."
"I like school," said Nan. "There are lot of new girls coming this term, I hear."
"Any new fellows?" asked Bert, more interested.
"I don't know. There is a new teacher in the kindergarten, though, where Flossie and Freddie will go. Nellie Parks has met her, and says she's awfully nice."
"That's good," spoke Flossie. "I like nice teachers."
"Well, I hope you and Freddie will get along well," said Mamma Bobbsey.
"You are getting older you know, and you must soon begin to study hard."
"We will," they promised.
The school bell, next Monday morning, called to many rather unwilling children. The long vacation was over and class days had begun once more. The four Bobbseys went off together to the building, which was only a few blocks from their home. Mr. Tetlow was the principal, and there were half a dozen lady teachers.
"Hello, Nan," greeted Grace Lavine. "May I sit with you this term?"
"Oh, I was going to ask her," said Nellie Parks.
"Well, I was first," spoke Grace, with a pout.
"We'll be in the room where there are three seated desks," said Nan with a smile. "Maybe we three can be together."
"Oh, we'll ask teacher!" cried Nellie. "That will be lovely!"
"I'm going to sit with Freddie," declared Flossie. "We're to be together—mamma said so."
"Of course, dear," agreed Nan. "I'll speak to your teacher about it."
Bert was walking in the rear with Charley Mason, when Danny Rugg came around a corner.
"I know what I'm going to do to you after school, Bert Bobbsey!" called the bully. "You just wait and see."
"All right—I'll wait," spoke Bert quietly. "I'm not afraid."
By this time they were at the school, and it was nearly time for the last bell to ring. Danny went off to join some of his particular chums, shaking his fist at Bert as he went.