The Bobbsey Twins at Cedar Camp Part 17

"If he doesn't pretty soon it'll be night, and in all this storm he never can find his way after dark. But you children take your things off and sit up and have a cup of tea with me. I've got some tea and condensed milk left, anyhow."

"We can't take tea unless it's very weak," said Nan, remembering her mother's rule in this respect.

"All right, dearie, I'll make it weak for you twins, though I like it strong myself," said Mrs. Bimby. "My, what a storm! _What_ a storm!" and she drew her shawl more closely around her shoulders as the wind howled down the chimney.

Bert and Nan took off their warm things, laying their packages of lunch and the bags of chestnuts on the table. Nan saw the old woman go to a closet, and the glimpse the Bobbsey girl had of the shelves showed her that they contained only a little food.

"Bert and I have some of our lunch left," said Nan.

"And you can have some, if you want to," went on Bert. "We put up a pretty good lunch, and there's more'n half of it left."

"Bless your hearts, my dears," said Mrs. Bimby. "I wouldn't take your lunch. You'll need it yourselves. I've a little victuals left in the house, though if my Jim doesn't get back soon there won't be much for to-morrow. My, what a storm! What a storm!"

The small log cabin seemed to shake and tremble in the wind, as though it would blow away. And the snow was now coming down so thickly that Bert and Nan could see only a short distance out of the window. There was little to see, anyhow, save trees and bushes, and these were fast becoming covered with snow.

Mrs. Bimby busied herself about the stove, putting the kettle on so she could make tea, and Bert and Nan watched her. The Bobbsey twins were wondering what would happen, how they could get home, and whether or not their father and mother would worry. Nan looked about the cabin. She did not see any beds, but a steep flight of stairs, leading up to what seemed to be a second story, might provide bedrooms, Nan thought. The cabin was clean and neat, and she was glad of that.

"I do hope Jim comes," murmured Mrs. Bimby, as she poured the boiling water on the dry tea leaves in the pot. "I do hope he isn't storm-bound!"

Bert and Nan hoped the same thing, for, somehow, Bert thought if Mr.

Bimby came along he would take the twins back to Cedar Camp.

"Now sit up, dearies, and have some weak tea, and I'll take mine strong.

I need it for my nerves," said the old woman.

And while Bert and Nan had thus found shelter from what turned out to be one of the worst storms ever remembered in the country around Cedar Camp, the other Bobbsey twins, Flossie and Freddie, were safe at home with their mother. Flossie was now cozy and warm after her dip into the water.

"There's your father!" exclaimed Mrs. Bobbsey, as she heard someone stamping off the snow at the front door. "I hope he has Bert and Nan with him."

But when Mr. Bobbsey came in alone and heard that the older twins had not come back from their nutting trip, a worried look came over his face.

"Not back yet!" he exclaimed. "Why, it's getting dark and the storm is growing worse! I must start out after them with some of the lumbermen.

They must be lost!"

CHAPTER XIII--OLD JIM

"Don't you think Bert and Nan will be along in a little while?" asked Mrs. Bobbsey of her husband, as she crossed the big front room in the log cabin to meet him.

"Be in _soon_!" he exclaimed. "Why, they've been gone too long now, and----"

Mrs. Bobbsey, not letting Flossie and Freddie see her, made a motion with her hands toward her husband. Then he understood that his wife did not want him to frighten the smaller twins by letting it become known how worried he was about Bert and Nan.

"Oh--yes," said Mr. Bobbsey, as he understood his wife's idea. "Oh, yes, Bert and Nan will be along soon now."

"I'll be glad!" exclaimed Freddie.

"So will I," added Flossie, from her place on one of the bunks in a bedroom opening out of the living room. "I want some chestnuts."

"h.e.l.lo, little Fat Fairy! what's the matter with you?" asked her father, noticing for the first time that Flossie was in bed. "Sick?" he asked.

"I just fell in the water," Flossie explained.

"I dumped her in, but I didn't mean to," Freddie said.

"Oh! Up to some of your fireman tricks, were you?" laughed Mr. Bobbsey, for he saw, by a glance at his wife, that the small twins were now in no danger.

"No, Daddy, I wasn't playing fireman," Freddie answered, though that was one of his favorite pastimes. "We were going to make a sawmill."

"Oh!" exclaimed Mr. Bobbsey. "Well, whatever you do, keep away from the big buzz saw," he warned. "And now," he went on in a low voice to his wife, so Freddie and Flossie would not hear, "we must do something about Bert and Nan."

"Yes," she agreed. "I'm worried about them, but I didn't want Flossie and Freddie to know. Oh, to think of their being out in this storm!"

"It is pretty bad," her husband admitted. "I was caught in it, and hurried back. I didn't think the children would go far away."

"Nor I," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "I suppose they didn't find chestnuts where they expected to, and wandered on. Are there any wild animals in the woods?"

"Well, no, none to speak of," her husband said slowly. "You don't need to worry about that. But I'll get Jim Denton, and some of the men, and we'll start right out after Bert and Nan."

"I wish I could come with you!" exclaimed his wife, as anxious and worried as was Mr. Bobbsey.

"You'll have to stay here with Flossie and Freddie," he said. "I'll soon find Bert and Nan and bring them back."

"I hope so," murmured his wife, but as she glanced out of the window and saw how dark it was getting and how fast the snow still came down and heard how the wind howled, it is no wonder the mother of the older Bobbsey twins was worried. So was Mr. Bobbsey.

"I'll go right away and get Jim and some of the men, and we'll start out on the search," said Mr. Bobbsey, having warmed himself at the stove.

"We must not wait!"

"No," agreed Mrs. Bobbsey. "I'll stay and amuse Flossie and Freddie."

The smaller Bobbsey twins, of course, did not worry because Bert and Nan had not yet come home. Flossie and Freddie were having too much fun playing a little game on the foot of Flossie's bed. Mrs. Baxter, the housekeeper, had started the game for the children by bringing in some funny wooden blocks her husband had cut out on one of the long winter evenings that were sometimes so dreary in Cedar Camp.

The blocks could be fitted together to make a house, a bridge, a boat and many other play objects, and Flossie and Freddie enjoyed playing with them, for which their mother was glad. She really was so worried that she could not very well talk to them or tell them stories.

Telling his wife to keep up her courage and not to worry too much, Mr.

Bobbsey went out into the storm again.

"Where is daddy going?" asked Flossie, hearing the door shut.

"He's going to bring back Bert and Nan--and the chestnuts," said Mrs.

Bobbsey, quickly. She knew the smaller twins would think more of the chestnuts than anything else, just at present.

"Oh, I like chestnuts!" cried Freddie. "I'm going to boast 'em an' roil 'em!" he exclaimed.

"Listen to him, Mother!" laughed Flossie. "He said 'boast an' roil,' an'

he meant roast an' boil 'em, didn't he?"