The Bobbsey Twins at Home Part 34

"Yes, sir, this is the meadows," said Freddy.

"We know we're on the meadows but we don't know where our house is,"

said Flossie. "We live in Lakeport, and we're the Bobbsey twins."

"The Bobbsey twins; eh?" returned the man. "Well, that's a nice name, I'm sure."

"And there are two more twins at home," went on Freddie. "They are Nan and Bert, and they're older than we are."

"They aren't lost," explained Flossie, carefully.

"I'm glad of that," the man said. "And I don't believe you'll be lost much longer."

"Do you know where our house is?" asked Freddie.

"No, not exactly," the man answered.

"Didn't you say you were lost, too?" asked Flossie.

"Yes, I did, little girl. I was lost. But now that you have told me where I am, I think I am found. And I think, too, that I can help you find your home. So you live in Lakeport. That's where I'm going."

"How did you come to get out on these meadows?" asked Freddie.

"Well, this is how it happened," the man said. "I was on my way to Lakeport, but, by mistake, I got off the train at Belleville. That's the station just below here. I did not want to wait for the next train so I hired a man with an automobile to take me on to Lakeport. But about a mile from here one of the tires of the automobile burst so the man could not take me any farther. Then I said I'd walk, as I thought I knew the road. I used to live in Lakeport about five years ago. I started off, but the storm came up, and I lost my way. The first I knew I found myself out in this big field which you say is the meadows."

"That's what they call it," Freddie said.

"Well then, now I know where I am and I know what to do. Do you think you can walk along with me?"

"Oh, we're not tired now," said Freddie. "We've had a nice rest in here.

But do you know the way to our house?"

"I know the way to Lakeport. I had forgotten about these meadows. You see it was a good many years ago and I did not live in Lakeport long before I went away. But now I know where I am. When I lived in your city I used to come out here to hunt muskrats. If I am not mistaken this shed is near a path that leads to a road by which we can get to a trolley car. I don't know whether or not the trolleys are running, but maybe we can find an automobile."

"If you could find a telephone and telephone to my father's lumber yard office he would come in his automobile to get us," said Flossie.

"Well, perhaps I can do that," the man said. "Come along now, we'll start."

Out into the storm again went the Bobbsey twins. It was snowing as hard as ever, but they were not afraid now, for they each had hold of the man's hands, and they felt sure he Would get them safely home.

"Are you all right now?" asked the man, as he walked along in the snow, kicking away the flakes in a cloud such as a plow might throw on either side.

"Yes, we're all right now," Freddie said. "But we'll be righter when we get home."

"So mamma won't worry," added Flossie. "Mothers worry when their children are lost."

"That's too bad," said the man. "It isn't good for mothers to worry. But I'll get you home as soon as I can. You two youngsters have had quite a time of it, but I am glad to see you are brave and did not cry."

"Flossie's got some tears on her face," reported Freddie, looking over at his sister.

"I have not!" cried Flossie. "Those are melted snowflakes. I wanted to get some in my ear, so they'd make a funny, tickly feeling," she went on, "but there wouldn't any fall in. Some sat on my cheeks, though, and melted, and it's those what you see, Freddie Bobbsey, and not tears at all! I hardly ever cry, so there!"

"You cried when I busted your doll," Freddie said.

"Well, that was a good while ago," Flossie insisted, "and I was only a little girl. I hardly ever cry since I've growed up."

"No, I guess that's right," Freddie said. "She's 'bout as brave as me,"

he went on to the man.

"I'm sure she is, and I'm glad to hear that. You are both brave little tots, and I'm glad I found you. Whew!" he exclaimed, as the wind blew a cloud of snowflakes into his face, "this storm is getting worse. I'll have some melted-snow tears on my own cheeks, I think."

The strays kept on through the drifting snow, and, all the while, it was getting harder and harder for Flossie and Freddie to walk. The piles of snow were up to their knees in some places, and though the man easily forced his way through them, because he was big and strong, it was not so easy for the little Bobbsey twins to do so.

Pretty soon they came again to the rounded pile of snow that the two tots had mistaken for a little house. The white flakes had covered the hole Freddie had made with his stick.

"Let's stop and see if the muskrat is home yet," proposed the little boy.

"What muskrat?" asked the man.

"The one that lives in here. I started to dig in so Flossie and I could get out of the storm, and the muskrat put his head out and looked at us.

I guess he was surprised."

"We were surprised, too," said Flossie. "At first I thought it was a little bear."

"Ha! Ha!" laughed the man. "And so you dug into a muskrat's meadow-house to get out of the storm? Well, that was a good idea, but I guess if you had gone in the muskrats would have run out. But it was a good thing you found the shed, and I'm glad I also found it. We will soon be home, I hope."

They lingered a moment, as Freddie wished to see if the muskrat would come out; but the creature was, very likely, away down deep in his house of sticks and mud, eating the sweet, tender roots of the plants he had stored away before Winter set in.

Once more the man led the Bobbsey twins onward.

Pretty soon Flossie began to lag behind. Her little feet went more and more slowly through the piles of snow, and once she choked back a sob.

She wanted to cry, but she had said she was brave and scarcely ever shed tears, and she was not going to do it now. Still, she was so tired and cold and altogether miserable that she did not know what to do. Freddie, too, was hardly able to keep on, but he would not give up.

At last, however, the man looked down at the two little ones, and he noticed that they were really too tired to go farther. He stopped and said:

"Come! this will never do. I must carry you a bit to rest your legs.

Wouldn't you like that?"

"Yes, I would," answered Flossie. "But you can't carry both of us; can you?"

"Well, I can try," said the man. "Let me think a minute, though. I think I will strap one of you on my back with my belt, and take the other in my arms in front. That will be the best way."

"Oh, I want to ride on your back!" cried Flossie.

"No, little girl, I think it will be best for your brother to do that. I will carry you in my arms in front. That will rest you both."

The man had a wide, big belt around his waist, and, taking this off, he put it over his shoulders, buckling it so that there was a loop hanging down his back. He put Freddie in this loop, astride, so the little boy could clasp his arms around the man's neck. Then, telling him to hold on tightly, and picking Flossie up in his arms, the man started off once more through the snow.

"This is fun!" cried Freddie, as he nestled his head down on the man's neck, keeping the snowflakes out of his eyes.