The Bobbsey Twins at Cedar Camp Part 28

"Have another!" cried Bert, and the next white bullet struck it on the side. The bobcat leaped up in the air, and then Bert threw another ball which hit it on the head.

This was too much for the creature. With a loud howl it turned and ran back into the woods, and Bert breathed easier.

"Well, I guess as long as I can throw s...o...b..a.l.l.s you won't get me," he said to himself, as he picked up the package of lunch and hurried on.

CHAPTER XXI--ON THE ROCK

Bert Bobbsey felt very proud of himself after he had driven away the wildcat with s...o...b..a.l.l.s. And I think he had a right to be proud. Not many boys of his age would have dared to stand and await the oncoming of a beast that is quite dangerous once it starts to claw and bite. But Bert had spent so much time in the woods and out in the open that he was very self-reliant.

And so, after looking back once or twice as he left the clearing, and finding that the bobcat did not follow, Bert began to feel much better.

"I'll soon be at Cedar Camp," he said to himself, "and then I'll be all right. I'll send 'em back to get Nan and take something to eat to Mrs.

Bimby. I'll be glad to see Flossie and Freddie again."

Had Bert only known it, Flossie and Freddie were nearer to him than if they had been in Cedar Camp, though the small Bobbsey twins were still some distance from their brother.

And while Mr. Bobbsey was forging ahead through the snow with Old Jim Bimby and Tom Case, knowing nothing, of course, about his little boy and girl having followed him, Mrs. Bobbsey was having worries of her own about the absence of the small children from the cabin.

She and Mrs. Baxter had missed Flossie and Freddie soon after the men had started on the searching trip, but, for a time, the mother of the two small twins was not at all worried. She thought Flossie and Freddie had merely run out to play a little, as it was the first chance they had had since the big storm began.

But when, after a while, they had not come back to the cabin, and she could see nothing of them, Mrs. Bobbsey said:

"Mrs. Baxter, have you seen Flossie and Freddie?"

"No, Mrs. Bobbsey, I haven't," answered the cook. "But it looks as if they had been in the pantry, for things there are all upset."

Mrs. Bobbsey looked around the kitchen and pantry, and she at once guessed part of what had happened.

"They've packed up lunch for themselves," she said to the housekeeper, "and they've gone out to play. Well, they'll be all right as long as they stay around here and it doesn't storm again. I'll go and look for them in a few minutes."

But when she did look and call Flossie and Freddie, they were not to be found. Indeed, they were more than a mile away by this time, and they had just met Rover, as I have told you.

"I'm glad Rover's with us, aren't you, Freddie?" asked Flossie, as they made ready to set off again, after having eaten their lunch.

"Lots glad," answered the little boy. "Mrs. Bimby will be glad to see him, I guess."

Indeed Mrs. Bimby, left alone with Nan after Bert had gone out, would have been glad to see almost anyone. For she was worried because her husband was away and because there was so little left in the house to eat, only she did not want to tell Nan so. And she did not think she could shoot another rabbit, as Bert had done.

"I do hope that boy will find my Jim or someone and bring help," thought Mrs. Bimby.

And of course Mr. Bobbsey with Old Jim and Tom Case were on their way to the cabin, but they had to go slowly on account of so much snow.

The snow was worse for Flossie and Freddie than for any of the others in the woods, because the legs of the small twins were so short. It was hard work for them to wade through the drifts. But they felt a little better after their rest under the "Christmas tree," as Flossie called it, and after they had eaten some of their lunch. So on they trudged again.

"Maybe we can find daddy's lost Christmas trees," suggested Freddie, after a while.

"Wouldn't he be glad if we did?" cried Flossie. "Here, Rover! Come back!" she called, for the dog was running too far ahead to please her and Freddie.

The dog came racing back, scattering the snow about as he plunged through it, and Flossie patted his s.h.a.ggy head.

"Don't you think we'll find daddy pretty soon?" asked Flossie, after she and Freddie had trudged on for perhaps half an hour longer. "I'm getting tired in my legs."

"So'm I," her brother admitted. "I wish we could find 'em. But if we don't, pretty soon, we'll go back, 'cause I think it's going to snow some more."

Indeed, the sky seemed to be getting darker behind the veil of snow clouds that hung over it, and some swirling flakes of white began sifting down.

Freddie came to a stop and looked about him. He was tired, and so was Flossie. The only one of the party who seemed to enjoy racing about in the drifts was Rover. He never appeared to get tired.

"I guess maybe we'd better go back," said Freddie, after thinking it over. "We haven't much left to eat, and I guess daddy can tell Mrs.

Bimby about the bear skin to keep her warm."

"I guess so," agreed Flossie. "It's going to be night pretty soon."

It would be some hours until night, however, and the darkness was caused by gathering storm clouds, but Flossie and Freddie did not know that.

They turned about, and began to go back along the way they had come. At least they thought they were doing that, but they had not gone far before Flossie said:

"Freddie, we've come the wrong way."

"How do you know?" he asked.

"'Cause we aren't stepping in our own tracks like we would be if we went back straight."

Freddie looked at the snow. It was true. There was no sign of the tracks they must have made in walking along. Before this they had known which way they were going. Now they didn't.

"We--we're lost!" faltered Flossie.

"Oh, maybe not," said Freddie as cheerfully as he could. But still, when he realized that they had not walked along their back track, he knew they must be going farther into the woods, or at least away from Cedar Camp.

"Oh, I don't like to be lost!" wailed Flossie. "I want to go home!"

Freddie did too, but he hoped he wouldn't cry about it. Boys must be brave and not cry, he thought.

But as the little Bobbsey twins stood there, not knowing what to do, it suddenly became colder, the wind sprang up, and down came a blinding storm of snow, so thick that they could not see Rover, who, a moment before, had been tumbling about in the drifts near them.

"Oh! Oh!" cried Flossie. "Let's go home, Freddie!"

But where was "home" or camp? How were they to get there?

And so, soon after Bert had driven off the wildcat and had run on, this Bobbsey lad, too, was caught in the same snow storm that had frightened Flossie and Freddie. But of course Bert did not know that.

"Say, we've had enough snow for a winter and a half already," thought Bert, as he saw more white flakes coming down. "And it isn't Christmas yet! I hope I'm not going to be snowed in out here all alone! I'd better hurry!"

As Bert trudged along through the storm he found himself becoming thirsty. If you have ever walked a long distance, even in a snowstorm, you may have felt the same way yourself. And perhaps you have tried to quench your thirst and cool your mouth by eating snow. If you have, you doubtless remember that instead of getting less thirsty you were only made more so. This is what always happens when a person eats snow. Ice is different, if you hold pieces of it in your mouth until it melts.

"My! I wish I had a drink," exclaimed Bert, speaking aloud, as he had done a number of times since setting out alone to bring help to Nan and Mrs. Bimby. "I wish I had a drink of water!"