The Bobbsey Twins at the Seashore
L >>
Laura Lee Hope >> The Bobbsey Twins at the Seashore
Pages:
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 This eBook was produced by Gordon Keener.
The Bobbsey Twins at the Seashore
Laura Lee Hope
CHAPTER I
CHASING THE DUCK
"Suah's yo' lib, we do keep a-movin'!" cried Dinah, as she climbed
into the big depot wagon.
"We didn't forget Snoop this time," exclaimed Freddie, following close
on Dinah's heels, with the box containing Snoop, his pet cat, who
always went traveling with the little fellow.
"I'm glad I covered up the ferns with wet paper," Flossie remarked,
"for this sun would surely kill them if it could get at them."
"Bert, you may carry my satchel," said Mrs. Bobbsey, "and be careful,
as there are some glasses of jelly in it, you know."
"I wish I had put my hat in my trunk," remarked Nan. "I'm sure
someone will sit on this box and smash it before we get there."
"Now, all ready!" called Uncle Daniel, as he prepared to start old
Bill, the horse.
"Wait a minute!" Aunt Sarah ordered. "There was another box, I'm
sure. Freddie, didn't you fix that blue shoe box to bring along?"
"Oh, yes, that's my little duck, Downy. Get him quick, somebody, he's
on the sofa in the bay window!"
Bert climbed out and lost no time in securing the missing box.
"Now we are all ready this time," Mr. Bobbsey declared, while Bill
started on his usual trot down the country road to the depot.
The Bobbseys were leaving the country for the seashore. As told in
our first volume, "The Bobbsey Twins," the little family consisted of
two pairs of twins, Nan and Bert, age eight, dark and handsome, and as
like as two peas, and Flossie and Freddie, age four, as light as the
others were dark, and "just exactly chums," as Flossie always
declared.
The Bobbsey twins lived at Lakeport, where Mr. Richard Bobbsey had
large lumber yards. The mother and father were quite young
themselves, and so enjoyed the good times that came as naturally as
sunshine to the little Bobbseys. Dinah, the colored maid, had been
with the family so long the children at Lakeport called her Dinah
Bobbsey, although her real name was Mrs. Sam Johnston, and her
husband, Sam, was the man of all work about the Bobbsey home.
Our first volume told all about the Lakeport home, and our second
book, "The Bobbsey Twins in the Country," was the story of the
Bobbseys on a visit to Aunt Sarah and Uncle Daniel Bobbsey in their
beautiful country home at Meadow Brook. Here Cousin Harry, a boy
Bert's age, shared all the sports with the family from Lakeport. Now
the Lakeport Bobbseys were leaving Meadow Brook, to spend the month of
August with Uncle William and Aunt Emily Minturn at their seashore
home, called Ocean Cliff, located near the village of Sunset Beach.
There they were also to meet their cousin, Dorothy Minturn, who was
just a year older than Nan.
It was a beautiful morning, the very first day of August, that our
little party started off. Along the Meadow Brook road everybody
called out "Good-by!" for in the small country place all the Bobbseys
were well known, and even those from Lakeport had many friends there.
Nettie Prentice, the one poor child in the immediate neighborhood (she
only lived two farms away from Aunt Sarah), ran out to the wagon as
Uncle Daniel hurried old Bill to the depot.
"Oh, here, Nan!" she called. "Do take these flowers if you can carry
them. They are in wet cotton battin at the stems, and they won't fade
a bit all day," and Nettie offered to Nan a gorgeous bouquet of lovely
pure white, waxy lilies, that grow so many on a stalk and have such a
delicious fragrance. Nettie's house was an old homestead, and there
delicate blooms crowded around the sitting-room window.
Nan let her hatbox down and took the flowers.
"These are lovely, Nettie," she exclaimed; "I'll take them, no matter
how I carry them. Thank you so much, and I hope I'll see you next
summer."
"Yes, do come out again!" Nettie faltered, for she would miss Nan, the
city girl had always been so kind--even lent her one of her own
dresses for the wonderful Fourth of July parade.
"Maybe you will come down to the beach on an excursion," called Nan,
as Bill started off again with no time to lose.
"I don't think so," answered Nettie, for she had never been on an
excursion--poor people can rarely afford to spend money for such
pleasures.
"I've got my duck," called Freddie to the little girl, who had given
the little creature to Freddie at the farewell party as a souvenir of
Meadow Brook.
"Have you?" laughed Nettie. "Give him plenty of water, Freddie, let
him loose in the ocean for a swim!" Then Nettie ran back to her home
duties.
"Queer," remarked Nan, as they hurried on. "The two girls I thought
the most of in Meadow Brook were poor: Nettie Prentice, and Nellie the
little cash girl at the fresh-air camp. Somehow, poor girls seem so
real and they talk to you so close--I mean they seem to just speak
right out of their eyes and hearts."
"That's what we call sincerity, daughter," said Mrs. Bobbsey. "You
see, children who have trials learn to appreciate more keenly than we,
who have everything we need. That appreciation shows in their eyes,
and so they seem closer to you, as you say."
"Oh! oh! oh!" screamed Freddie, "I think my duck is choked. He's got
his head out the hole. Take Snoop, quick, Bert, till I get Downy in
again," and the poor little fellow looked as scared as did the duck
with his "head out of the hole."
"He can't get it in again," cried Freddie, pushing gently on the
little lump of down with the queer yellow bill--the duck's head. "The
hole ain't big enough and he'll surely choke in it."
"Tear the cardboard down," said Bert. "That's easy enough," and the
older brother, coming to the rescue, put his fingers under the choking
neck, gave the paper box a jerk, and freed poor Downy.
"When we get to the depot we will have to paste some paper over the
tear," continued Bert, "or Downy will get out further next time."
"Here we are," called Uncle Daniel, pulling up to the old station.
"I'll attend to the baggage," announced Mr. Bobbsey, "while you folks
all go to the farther end of the platform. Our car will stop there."
For a little place like Meadow Brook seven people getting on the
Express seemed like an excursion, and Dave, the lame old agent,
hobbled about with some consequence, as he gave the man in the baggage
car instruction about the trunk and valises. During that brief
period, Harry, Aunt Sarah, and Uncle Daniel were all busy with
"good-byes": Aunt Sarah giving Flossie one kiss more, and Uncle Daniel
tossing Freddie up in the air in spite of the danger to Downy, the
duck.
"All aboard!" called the conductor.
"Good-by!"
"Good-by!"
"Come and see us at Christmas!" called Bert to Harry.
"I may go down to the beach!" answered Harry while the train brakes
flew off.
"We will expect you Thanksgiving," Mrs. Bobbsey nodded out the window
to Aunt Sarah.
"I'll come if I can," called back the other.
"Good-by! Good-by!"
"Now, let us all watch out for the last look at dear old Meadow
Brook," exclaimed Nan, standing up by the window.
"Let Snoop see!" said Freddie, with his hand on the cover of the
kitten's box.
"Oh, no!" called everybody at once. "If you let that cat out we will
have just as much trouble as we did coming up. Keep him in his box."
"He would like to see too," pouted Freddie. "Snoop liked Meadow
Brook. Didn't you, Snoopy!" putting his nose close to the holes in
the box.
"I suppose by the time we come back from the beach Freddie will have a
regular menagerie," said Bert, with a laugh. "He had a kitten first,
now he has a kitten and a duck, and next he'll have a kitten, a duck,
and a---"
"Sea-serpent," put in Freddie, believing that he might get such a
monster if he cared to possess one.
"There goes the last of Meadow Brook," sighed Nan, as the train
rounded a curve and slowed up on a pretty bridge. "And we did have
such a lovely time there!"
"Isn't it going to be just as nice at the ocean?" Freddie inquired,
with some concern.
"We hope so," his mother replied, "but sister Nan always likes to be
grateful for what she has enjoyed."
"So am I," insisted the little fellow, not really knowing what he
meant himself.
"I likes dis yere car de best," spoke up Dinah, looking around at the
ordinary day coach, the kind used in short journeys. "De red velvet
seats seems de most homey," she went on, throwing her kinky head back,
"and I likes to lean back wit'out tumbling ober."
"And there's more to see," agreed Bert. "In the Pullman cars there
are so few people and they're always---"
"Proud," put in Flossie.
"Yes, they seem so," declared her brother, "but see all the people in
this car, just eating and sleeping and enjoying themselves."
Now in our last book, "The Bobbsey Twins in the Country," we told
about the trip to Meadow Brook in the Pullman car, and how Snoop, the
kitten, got out of his box, and had some queer experiences. This time
our friends were traveling in the car with the ordinary passengers,
and, of course, as Bert said, there was more to be seen and the sights
were different.
"It is splendid to have so much room," declared Mrs. Bobbsey, for Nan
and Flossie had a big seat turned towards Bert and Freddie's, while
Dinah had a seat all to herself (with some boxes of course), and
Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey had another seat. The high-back, broad plush
seats gave more room than the narrow, revolving chairs, besides, the
day coach afforded so much more freedom for children.
"What a cute little baby!" exclaimed Nan, referring to a tiny tot
sleeping under a big white netting, across the aisle.
"We must be quiet," said Mrs. Bobbsey, "and let the little baby sleep.
It is hard to travel in hot weather."
"Don't you think the duck should have a drink?" suggested Mr. Bobbsey.
"You have a little cup for him, haven't you, Freddie?"
"Yep!" answered Freddie, promptly, pulling the cover off Downy's box.
Instantly the duck flew out!
"Oh ! oh! oh!" yelled everybody, as the little white bird went flying
out through the car. First he rested on the seat, then he tried to
get through the window. Somebody near by thought he had him, but the
duck dodged, and made straight for the looking glass at the end of the
car.
"Oh, do get him, somebody!" cried Freddie, while the other strange
children in the car yelled in delight at the fun.
"He's kissing himself in the looking glass," declared one youngster,
as the frightened little duck flapped his wings helplessly against the
mirror.
"He thinks it's another duck," called a boy from the back of the car,
clapping his hands in glee.
Mr. Bobbsey had gone up carefully with his soft hat in his hand.
Everybody stopped talking, so the duck would keep in its place.
Nan held Freddie and insisted on him not speaking a word.
Mr. Bobbsey went as cautiously as possible. One step more and he
would have had the duck.
He raised his hand with the open hat--and brought it down on the
looking glass!
The duck was now gazing down from the chandelier!
"Ha! ha! ha!" the boys laughed, "that's a wild duck, sure!"
"Who's got a gun!" the boy in the back hollered.
"Oh, will they shoot my duck!" cried Freddie, in real tears.
"No, they're only making fun," said Bert. "You keep quiet and we will
get him all right."
By this time almost everyone in the car had joined in the duck hunt,
while the frightened little bird seemed about ready to surrender.
Downy had chosen the highest hanging lamps as his point of vantage,
and from there he attempted to ward off all attacks of the enemy. No
matter what was thrown at him he simply flew around the lamp.
As it was a warm day, chasing the duck was rather too vigorous
exercise to be enjoyable within the close confines of a poorly
ventilated car, but that bird had to be caught somehow.
"Oh, the net!" cried Bert, "that mosquito netting over there. We
could stretch it up and surely catch him."
This was a happy thought. The baby, of course, was awake and joined
in the excitement, so that her big white mosquito netting was readily
placed at the disposal of the duck hunters.
A boy named Will offered to help Bert.
"I'll hold one end here," said Will, "and you can stretch yours
opposite, so we will screen off half of the car, then when he comes
this way we can readily bag him."
Will was somewhat older than Bert, and had been used to hunting, so
that the present emergency was sport to him.
The boys now brought the netting straight across the car like a big
white screen, for each held his hands up high, besides standing on the
arm of the car seats.
"Now drive him this way," called Bert to his father and the men who
were helping him.
"Shoo! Shoo! Shoo!" yelled everybody, throwing hats, books, and
newspapers at the poor lost duck.
"Shoo!" again called a little old lady, actually letting her black
silk bag fly at the lamp.
Of course poor Downy had to shoo, right into the net!
Bert and Will brought up the four ends of the trap and Downy flopped.
"That's the time we bagged our game," laughed Will, while everybody
shouted and clapped, for it does not take much to afford real
amusement to passengers, who are traveling and can see little but the
other people, the conductor, and newspapers.
"We've got him at last," cried Freddie in real glee, for he loved the
little duck and feared losing his companionship.
"And he will have to have his meals served in his room for the rest of
his trip," laughed Mrs. Bobbsey, as the tired little Downy was once
more put in his perforated box, along the side of the tin dipper of
water, which surely the poor duck needed by this time.
CHAPTER II
A TRAVELING MENAGERIE
It took some time for the people to get settled down again, for all
had enjoyed the fun with the duck. The boys wanted Freddie to let him
out of the box, on the quiet, but Bert overheard the plot and put a
stop to it. Then, when the strange youngsters got better acquainted,
and learned that the other box contained a little black kitten, they
insisted on seeing it.
"We'll hold him tight," declared the boy from the back seat, "and
nothing will happen to him."
'`But you don't know Snoop," insisted Bert. "We nearly lost him
coming up in the train, and he's the biggest member of Freddie's
menagerie, so we have to take good care of him."
Mr. Bobbsey, too, insisted that the cat should not be taken out of the
box; so the boys reluctantly gave in.
"Now let us look around a little," suggested Mrs. Bobbsey, when quiet
had come again, and only the rolling of the train and an occasional
shrill whistle broke in on the continuous rumble of the day's journey.
"Yes, Dinah can watch the things and we can look through the other
cars," agreed Mr. Bobbsey. "We might find someone we know going down
to the shore."
"Be awful careful of Snoop and Downy," cautioned Freddie, as Dinah
took up her picket duty. "Look out the boys don't get 'em," with a
wise look at the youngsters, who were spoiling for more sport of some
kind.
"Dis yeah circus won't move 'way from Dinah," she laughed. "When I
goes on de police fo'ce I takes good care ob my beat, and you needn't
be a-worryin', Freddie, de Snoopy kitty cat and de Downy duck will be
heah when you comes back," and she nodded her wooly head in real
earnest.
It was an easy matter to go from one car to the other as they were
vestibuled, so that the Bobbsey family made a tour of the entire
train, the boys with their father even going through the smoker into
the baggage car, and having a chance to see what their own trunk
looked like with a couple of railroad men sitting on it.
"Don't you want a job?" the baggagemaster asked Freddie. "We need a
man about your size to lift trunks off the cars for us."
Of course the man was only joking, but Freddie always felt like a real
man and he answered promptly:
"Nope, I'm goin' to be a fireman. I've put lots of fires out already,
besides gettin' awful hurted on the ropes with 'Frisky.'"
"Frisky, who is he?" inquired the men.
"Why, our cow out in Meadow Brook. Don't you know Frisky?" and
Freddie looked very much surprised that two grown-up people had never
met the cow that had given him so much trouble.
"Why didn't you bring him along?" the men asked further.
"Have you got a cow car?" Freddie asked in turn.
"Yes, we have. Would you like to see one?" went on one of the
railroaders. "If your papa will bring you out on the platform at the
next stop, I'll show you how our cows travel."
Mr. Bobbsey promised to do this, and the party moved back to meet Nan,
Flossie, and their mamma. Freddie told them at once about his
promised excursion to the cattle car, and, of course, the others
wanted to see, too.
"If we stop for a few minutes you may all come out," Mr. Bobbsey said.
"But it is always risky to get off and have to scramble to get back
again. Sometimes they promise us five minutes and give us two, taking
the other three to make up for lost time."
The train gave a jerk, and the next minute they drew up to a little
way station.
"Here we are, come now," called Mr. Bobbsey, picking Freddie up in his
arms, and telling the others to hurry after him.
"Oh, there go the boys from our car!" called Bert, as quite a party of
youngsters alighted. "They must be going on a picnic; see their lunch
boxes."
"I hope Snoop is all right," Freddie reflected, seeing all the lunch
boxes that looked so much like Snoop's cage.
"Come on, little fellow," called the baggage man, "we only have a few
minutes."
Then they took Freddie to the rear car and showed him a big cage of
cows--it was a cage made of slates, with openings between, and through
the openings could be seen the crowded cattle.
"Oh, I would never put Frisky in a place like that," declared Freddie;
"he wouldn't have room to move."
"There is not much room, that's a fact," agreed the man. "But you see
cows are not first-class passengers."
"But they are good, and know how to play, and they give milk," said
Freddie, speaking up bravely for his country friends. "What are you
going to do with all of these cows'"
"I don't know," replied the man, not just wanting to talk about
beefsteak. "Maybe they're going out to the pasture."
One pretty little cow tried to put her head out through the bars, and
Bert managed to give her a couple of crackers from his pocket. She
nibbled them up and bobbed her head as if to say:
"Thank you, I was very hungry."
"They are awfully crowded," Nan ventured, "and it must be dreadful to
be packed in so. How do they manage to get a drink?"
"They will be watered to-night," replied the man, and then the
Bobbseys had to all hurry to get on the train again, for the
locomotive whistle had blown and the bell was ringing.
They found Dinah with her face pressed close to the window pane,
enjoying the sights on the platform.
"I specked you was clean gone and left me," she laughed. "S'pose you
saw lots of circuses, Freddie?"
"A whole carful," he answered, "but, Dinah," he went on, looking
scared, "where's Snoop?"
The box was gone!
"Right where you left him," she declared. "I nebber left dis yeah
spot, and nobody doan come ter steal de Snoopy kitty cat."
Dinah was crawling around much excited, looking for the missing box.
Bert, Nan, and Flossie, of course, all rummaged about, and even
Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey joined in the search. But there was no box to be
found.
"Oh, the boys have stoled my cat!" wailed Freddie. "I dust knowed
they would!" and he cried outright, for Snoop was a dear companion of
the little fellow, and why should he not cry at losing his pet?
"Now wait," commanded his father, "we must not give up so easily.
Perhaps the boys hid him some place."
"But suah's you lib I nebber did leab dis yeah seat," insisted Dinah,
which was very true. But how could she watch those boys and keep her
face so close to the window? Besides, a train makes lots of noise to
hide boys' pranks.
"Now, we will begin a systematic search," said Mr. Bobbsey, who had
already found out from the conductor and brakeman that they knew
nothing about the lost box. "We will look in and under every seat.
Then we will go through all the baggage in the hangers" (meaning the
overhead wire baskets), "and see if we cannot find Snoop."
The other passengers were very kind and all helped in the hunt. The
old lady who had thrown her hand bag at Downy thought she had seen a
boy come in the door at the far end of the car, and go out again
quickly, but otherwise no one could give any information that would
lead to the discovery of the person or parties who had stolen Snoop.
All kinds of traveling necessities were upset in the search. Some
jelly got spilled, some fresh country eggs were cracked, but everybody
was good-natured and no one complained.
Yet, after a thorough overhauling of the entire car there was no Snoop
to be found!
"He's gone!" they all admitted, the children falling into tears, while
the older people looked troubled.
"They could hardly have stolen him," Mr. Bobbsey reflected, "and the
conductor is sure not one of those boys went in another car, for they
all left the train at Ramsley's."
"I don't care!" cried Freddie, aloud, "I'll just have every one of
them arrested when we get to Auntie's. I knowed they had Snoop in
their boxes."
How Snoop could be "in boxes" and how the boys could be found at
Auntie's were two much mixed points, but no one bothered Freddie about
such trifles in his present grief.
"Why doan you call dat kitty cat?" suggested Dinah, for all this time
no one had thought of that.
"I couldn't," answered Freddie, "'cause he ain't here to call." And
he went on crying.
"Snoop! Snoop! Snoop Cat!" called Dinah, but there was no familiar
"me-ow" to answer her.
"Now, Freddie boy," she insisted, "if dat cat is alibe he will answer
if youse call him, so just you stop a-sniffing and come along. Dere's
a good chile," and she patted him in her old way. "Come wit Dinah and
we will find Snoop."
With a faint heart the little fellow started to call, beginning at the
front door and walking slowly along toward the rear.
"Stoop down now and den," ordered Dinah, "cause he might be hiding,
you know."
Freddie had reached the rear door and he stopped.
"Now jist gib one more good call" said Dinah, and Freddie did.
"Snoop! Snoop!" he called.
"Me-ow," came a faint answer.
"Oh, I heard him!" cried Freddie.
"So did I!" declared Dinah.
Instantly all the other Bobbseys were on the scene.
"He's somewhere down here," said Dinah. "Call him, Freddie!"
"Snoop! Snoop!" called the boy again.
"Me-ow--me-ow!" came a distant answer.
"In the stove!" declared Bert, jerking open the door of the stove,
which, of course, was not used in summer, and bringing out the poor,
frightened, little cat.
CHAPTER III
RAILROAD TENNIS
"Oh, poor little Snoop!" whispered Freddie, right into his kitten's
ear. "I'm so glad I got you back again!"
"So are we all," said a kind lady passenger who had been in the
searching party. "You have had quite some trouble for a small boy,
with two animals to take care of."
Everybody seemed pleased that the mischievous boys' pranks had not
hurt the cat, for Snoop was safe enough in the stove, only, of course,
it was very dark and close in there, and Snoop thought he surely was
deserted by all his good friends. Perhaps he expected Freddie would
find him, at any rate he immediately started in to "purr-rr," in a
cat's way of talking, when Freddie took him in his arms, and fondled
him.
"We had better have our lunch now," suggested Mrs. Bobbsey, "I'm sure
the children are hungry."
"It's just like a picnic," remarked Flossie, when Dinah handed around
the paper napkins and Mrs. Bobbsey served out the chicken and
cold-tongue sandwiches. There were olives and celery too, besides
apples and early peaches from Uncle Daniel's farm.
"Let us look at the timetable, see where we are now, and then see
where we will be when we finish," proposed Bert.
"Oh yes," said Nan, "let us see how many miles it takes to eat a
sandwich."
Mr. Bobbsey offered one to the conductor, who just came to punch
tickets.
"This is not the regular business man's five-minute lunch, but the
five-mile article seems more enjoyable," said Mr. Bobbsey.
"Easier digested," agreed the conductor, accepting a sandwich. "You
had good chickens out at Meadow Brook," he went on, complimenting the
tasty morsel he was chewing with so much relish.
"Yes, and ducks," said Freddie, which remark made everybody laugh, for
it brought to mind the funny adventure of little white Downy, the
duck.
"They certainly can fly," said the conductor with a smile, as he went
along with a polite bow to the sandwich party.
Bert had attended to the wants of the animals, not trusting Freddie to
open the boxes. Snoop got a chicken leg and Downy had some of his own
soft food, that had been prepared by Aunt Sarah and carried along in a
small tin can.
"Well, I'se done," announced Dinah, picking up her crumbs in her
napkins. "Bert, how many miles you say it takes me to eat?"
"Let me see! Five, eight, twelve, fourteen: well, I guess Dinah, you
had fifteen miles of a chicken sandwich."
Pages:
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8